Disclaimer: Fate and Persona are owned by different companies, and I hold no ownership and all that jazz.


8/9

"So… does anyone else get weird vibes from this?" Ryuji was the first to speak up, they had purged most of the Shadows around here and had a few minutes to wait before they would return.

"This is… weird." Hakuno was one of the closer ones to the twisting smoke that would lead to the separate area of Mementos, but…

"Why is it changing colors?" Yusuke was frowning, indeed. The Phantom Thieves have journeyed into many of the strange portals, always keeping a somewhat uniform appearance. Dark red and black smoke twisting and churning hinting at the hidden realm.

But she had never seen one that appeared to be a kaleidoscope; reds, blues, yellows all a variety of colors, although she did notice a strange amount of the netting nearby. "Perhaps the Shadow is stronger than usual?"

"It's possible…" Morgana mumbled, his catlike eyes looking over the portal.

"I'm getting weird reading from it," Futaba's goggles zoomed in and out, "It seems… wrong? Compared to the others we visited."

Stable… changing colors… that mixed with the weird location setting…

"Perhaps it is linked to that vine? I sincerely doubt that he would have enough influence in the Metaverse but it is possible." Yusuke pointed out. She couldn't see any vines only a few nets nearby that led into other paths.

"I dunno, could it be makin' a palace?" Ryuji spoke the words right before she did. Hakuno looked at the blonde kicking a stone into one of the nets causing it to get stuck. Morgana smirked as he looked towards the blonde.

"There is no wa-"

She nodded, "I think so too." Looking at it from the point of it being a palace, the strobing lights could hint at its possible distortion or location. "Is it safe to enter?"

"Probably? It seems stable, but if it becomes a Palace, it'll probably leave Mementos sooner than later and might be a bit more expansive than a normal hideout." Futaba answered.

"I got a bad feeling about this Joker," Morgana's voice was raised causing Hakuno to glance at the faux feline, "We don't know what's in there other than Sugimura, and if it is forming into a Palace then who knows what could happen!"

Fair points, but could they choose to leave Haru in her current situation without possibly letting her in a worse fate? While she was… against the idea of the Phantom Thieves going after personal gain, Haru proved that he was an actual bad person, leading her to believe it would be for the best.

"I think we should go in," Ann spoke up.

"We did vote unanimously to go after him." Yusuke said, "It would be uncouth to go against our initial plan before even attempting it."

"It's risky…" Makoto looked pissed that there was a slight roadblock. Her red eyes glared at the glowing portal.

"Up to you, Joker," Ryuji said, their… Leader closed his eyes, a flicker of Magical Energy as he stared at the portal.

"Can you send Avenger in Magus?" Hakuno debated, it is possible sending him alone while focusing solely on him would let her see inside. That is, if he could go into the portal by himself and it wouldn't disconnect her from him. If that happened then she might have to use a Command Seal to bring him back.

"I don't know," Joker nodded in response, "Detaching him from me in the Metaverse could cause problems for which we might not have an answer." A single ring of chains rang through the quiet subway tunnel.

"We are going in." Joker responded, "Magus, can you power up the plow just in case?" Hakuno nodded, it wouldn't be too hard. "Let's go."


Bright shifting lights. "I can't see!" Morgana's voice over the speakers was warped, or perhaps her hearing was acting up?

Hakuno felt a thunk and a drain on her reserve as the wheels screeched in place, the lights slowly began fading causing her to blink rapidly. "Everyone alright?" Makoto's voice sounded strange, so it was her ears then.

"Dazed, disorientated."

"I can't seeeee!"

"Morgana, transform." Akira's voice was quick, "Persona!"

There was a rush of air as they landed, and with barely a thought her circuits lit up as Avenger sprung forth, she could faintly see purple and white blobs. "Maeiha!" Cursed flames erupted clawing at th-

She felt the wind knock out of her as it was reflected to her, Avenger may provide resistance to his Cursed Magic, but he did not bestow her an immunity. Helpfully, the pain made her vision clear up letting her see.

Two… demons sitting on a toilet.

What.

Hakuno took a moment to gather herself as she watched Akira's knife slash into the Toilet Demon a glance told her that most of her group was still dazed, she mentally searched through the Regalia and found the Alert Capsule. Forcing a not-a-cat to eat a capsule was strange, but he quickly recovered.

"Zorro!" Green energy spread out from the faux-feline as his spell worked magic. Blue ice rushed forward as Yusuke's blade slashed down the ethereal presence of Goemon behind him.

"Hell Biker!" A flaming skeleton riding a motorcycle appeared beside Akira as flames it dove headfirst into one of the purple demons, waves of ice melting as the two temperatures clashed.

"Hecate!" Explosions of fire erupted onto the… back of the toilets as Ann held onto Makoto as they managed to circle behind the pair of demons. The pair of Shadows fell to the ground into piles of black dust.

"Well… that was unexpected," Yusuke muttered as he stood up, shaking off the few flakes of ice that went past his blade.

Now that the Shadows were gone Hakuno took a moment to breathe, her eyes scanned the strange place, the bloody veins still surrounding them amongst the walls, distantly she could see a building of sorts with large multi-colored spotlights. A handful of Shadows slowly meandered around what was basically a large parking lot filled with dozens of cars inside of a subway tunnel.

Akira clapped his hands drawing her attention, "Ok guys, we're going to take this like a Palace, find an infiltration route, and set up a plan. Oracle, Mona what can you tell us about this place?"

Necronomicon beeped and spun in place, the UFO's green lights were hypnotic as Hakuno looked up to it. "Hmm… I can't feel any Will Seeds," Morgana was the first to speak, "But I do feel a treasure from the building…"

"Yeah, I can pick up some readings, a good amount of Shadows all about as strong as those Belphegor and Sugimura's own from the building. We should be fine in coming back here if we don't wait too long or he heavily distorts in the Real World."

"Let's secure an infiltration route first to be sure." Akira responded, "Queen, Fox, and…Mona with me. Skull keep our backs safe."

"You got it!" Ryuji, Ann, and herself as the backline with Oracle flickering out of existence, their smaller team stayed where they were, slightly hidden between two large cartoonish cars. Hakuno could faintly see through the glass window panes, hopefully, they wouldn't use to much time in this... weird mini-palace...


Akira breathed out a sigh of relief, he wasn't expecting it to be an almost fully formed Palace, he had forgotten to stock up on Takemi's medicine since their last run thinking this would be an in-then-out situation.

The group slowly made their way from car to car, the few Shadows weren't too much of a match for them, although it was strange that they had yet to encounter anything new. Belphegor, Pisaca, and Lilim are all ones he has either fused or they had encountered in previous Palaces.

It may have something to do with the Palace still being connected to Mementos, or it might have to do with the unoriginality of Sugimura? Akira decided not to dwell on it at the moment, his job was to keep them focused and on task.

Ducking beside another car, they were close to the building that now as clear as day was a nightclub, although…

"It looks like a kid made it!" He stifled a chuckle as Futaba was right, flat colors, large spotlights, and an … obscenely huge Shadow blocking the path… with no mask in sight. Strange.

"Let's circle round." Akira's Third Eye flashed as his hook wrapped around a car bumper to the side reeling him in, the Metaverse warped slightly as the main team appeared around him the shadows stretching over them to hide them. He faintly saw blonde hair poke out from behind a car a few dozen meters away.

"We'll keep an eye on the big guy." Ryuji's voice crackled over the earbuds as he nodded slowly.

"Understood."

Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any visible way inside the back of the nightclub mostly a flat dull brown with a few windows that hinted at either cognitions or more Shadows lurking within, Makoto pulled his sleeve as she pointed to an open window. His Third Eye flashed again but…

He shook his head, "Not sturdy enough." He sighed, it was always the path with the stronger enemies, the paths with the least resistance hardly led anywhere other than a Will Seed or a Safe Room.

"Heading back, status on the big one?"

"It's back is still towards us." Ryuji's reply was swift, "Want us to take it down?"

"Don't engage, me and my group wil-"

"A few heading your way Skull, they haven't noticed you yet. A large fight would for sure get their attention." Futaba's responses had been getting faster, and her Persona's scanning was getting more accurate every time they explored, which helped immensely. But…

He trusted that Ryuji's team could handle anything they have currently dealt with, they should be fine.


"Skull, take your team and slow down the ones approaching, we'll take care of the big one." Hakuno nodded as she glanced at their current leader, the faux-blonde grinned wide before he started giving orders.

"Magus, your Persona and me up front keep an eye on everyone, Panther you chill in the back and fling out your spells like normal." Hakuno nodded, it would be slightly hard with just the three of them, but Ann and Ryuji were strong, their Evolved Personas granting them a slight edge over the rest of them.

Hakuno chose to push aside the strange feeling that bubbled up at that thought.

"Let's do this!" Ryuji's circuits flared as nearly invisible static clung to him, she watched as he jumped onto one of the approaching Shadows as he removed and threw its mask into the other one that was approaching.

Two Toilet Demons, and a three-headed dra- scratch that one of the three heads had a human face, only two heads were draconic. "Belphegor is weak to fire!"

Hakuno clutched onto her staff, the Shadows were slightly dazed from Ryuji's surprise as Avenger dashed forward, his hands outstretched to form claws "Terror Claw!" Avenger's claws tore into a Toilet Demon as he concentrated, the Demon's hands grabbed Avenger and threw him to the ground.

Hakuno felt a minor amount of feedback but shook her head as the formula for digital magecraft filled her mind alongside the crashing of ocean waves, "Hack!" Cubes ruptured from the second one that was attempting to release ice.

Heat waves came from behind as Ann's voice rose "Dance Hecate!" Explosions of fire erupted from within the Toilet Demons knocking them down.

An explosion of lighting from Ryuji as both his Persona and his weapon smashed into the three-headed Shadow. Cursed flames erupted from Avenger's claws as Hakuno fed into "Flames of Love and Hate!" the beam of Magical Energy smashed into the Shadow's side, causing the one human face to grin maliciously at them.

Fire, Ice, and Wind magic erupted from its mouths towards their trio, "Guard!" the pair of blondes managed to raise their arms in defense before they were hit, nullifying their weakness. The flames of the Shadow washed over her it hurt but she has been hit harder.

She grits her teeth as the flames wash over her, ignoring the pain as a Magatama flew from her hands before erupting in white light onto the three-headed Shadow knocking it to the ground.

"Let's finish this." The Metaverse creaked as their forms blurred, their speed and power greatly enhanced as all manners of attacks fell onto the fallen down Shadows.

"We won't stop here." The shadows evaporated into black dust that littered the air above them. She took a moment to catch her breath, those All-out Attacks felt especially draining to her. A glance towards the invisible Futaba told her that they should be fine for the moment.

Seeing a blast of almighty magic Hakuno felt her heart quicken a moment before seeing Akira waving them forward. "Good job guys!" Hakuno nodded towards the nearly invisible Futaba as she flickered into existence descending from her Persona to be with the group.

"We might have a problem," the overly large Shadow was blocking a door, an incredibly strong-looking door, "The door's locked." Akira sighed as he spoke. Weren't most doors locked?

Mona's head was touching the ground, "We tried lockpicking it, blasting it, but both were useless." Ah, that makes sense then. Hakuno placed a hand on the door, her Code Cast formula lit up in her mind "Hack" blocky cubes flittered over the door before dispelling.

"Should we try and go up in the window?"

"Let me see…" Futaba held her hands out as a green keyboard appeared in front of her, green lines of code danced faintly inside of her orange lens, her shoulders slumped, "Nah not a thing we can do, something in his cognition is blocking us from heading in, that window most likely has the same protection."

"So we can't do anything?" Hakuno asked, "It's strange that he would be able to have something like this…"

"Didn't say that," Futaba quickly added, "I did see where the distortion is forming from and it's… Haru's room."


8/10

"So… the door represents that he owns," Ryuji spat out that word, "Haru, couldn't we just like, trick it into thinking we are allowed in? Like what we did with Madarame?"

The Thieves were actually at Ann and her apartment for once, barging down the doors to Leblanc every day couldn't be good for the already struggling business.

"Would that even work?" Hakuno asked, "Can we jump into Mementos from Haru's home?"

Morgana got onto the table, "We could go into another Palace, doesn't Haru's dad have one?"

"He does, but it isn't his house." Futaba didn't even look up from her computer, "And according to Necro we wouldn't know where in Mementos we would jump to." Ah, that made sense…

"Gah!" Ryuji shouted before sighing, "Why does it have to be so complicated."

"Cognition be like that." Futaba sighed, "I mean, if he knows we are allowed in it might work…"

"What if… the one he knows could let people in is with us…" Ann began, an uneasy look on her face.

"There are only three people that would be able to fit that. President Okumura, Sugimura himself, and… Haru." Makoto sighed as she looked at Akira, a resolute expression on his face.

"We have to bring Haru there." Akira's statement hung in the air as the room went quiet.


Author's Note: Uh yeah, well. Been planning this part for quite a while. When starting this fic I always debated on when Haru would be fully introduced to the party, I always figured adding her early. Was deciding either before Summer Vacation or during. Before Summer I felt was a bit too tight of a fit since so much was going on.

And with Summer there isn't any school to get in the way, and with Futaba's Palace before Summer, Ran Ru's palace replacing hers being a lot less complicated, there is plenty of time for the PT to explore a new palace or two.

Well, Sugi's a mini-palace because while he is distorted he doesn't really hide it. More like his rich family hides it away but the dude himself doesn't hide it at all. So his distortion's growth isn't as fast as a normal Palace.

Anyways, see ya'll laters.