Disclaimer: Persona 5 Characters except Fujin Katsuo belongs to Atlus, this fanfic has no commercial purpose.
Akira: Everyone, to LeBlanc!
I got the message earlier in the morning; it was pretty clear what the deal was. I grabbed everything necessary, including a massive bottle of water and sunscreen. I refused to go back to that Palace without some of that, and it will be a long day for us; no breaks or pauses, we would finish that place in one go. I went to the hideout the fastest I could, and everyone was already in the attic minding their own business. The meeting was something that I couldn't pass on. I had to pay attention, even if there was nothing substantial in the situation.
"Excuse me, Ryuji," Kitagawa said as everyone sat around the table. "I hope you still recall the details of our new battle tactic."
"...Battle tactic?" Sakamoto replied while looking confused. "Ohhh, you mean the stuff we talked about before the summer festival, right? Yup, still got it."
"Very good," Kitagawa smiled.
"What are you guys talking about?" Morgana asked those two.
"We're simply discussing how it's important to spice up our battle tactics here and there," the artist sounded confidant.
"Spice up your...?" Morgana didn't look very convinced of what those guys meant.
"Eh, don't worry about it!" Sakamoto said with an upbeat attitude. "We've got somethin' crazy to show you later!"
"Suit yourselves," I said as I closed my book and focused on the meeting. "Anyways, what can you say about Futaba's Palace? It was crazier than Kaneshiro's."
"I'm honestly surprised at the Palace this time..." Morgana said with curiosity and concern. "Everywhere we looked was just desert."
"Oh yeah, all the other ones until now have just been normal cities outside of the distorntion itself." Takamaki pointed it out.
"Thanks to that, we didn't even know we were in a Palace out first time goin' into Kamoshida's."
"I bet that was such a hassle, if you ask me," I commented to Sakamoto.
"That's still part of the Palace, though. The city may not have been distorted, but it was cognition." Morgana continued. "The Palace rulers may have been criminals, but they were social enough to know the city layout. But Futaba probably doesn't... In fact, I'd bet she isn't even interested in the outside world."
"Hence why the whole thing is a bleak desert..." Kitagawa commented. "Understandable, considering her lifestyle."
"I doubt many famous criminals are shut-ins like her, though," Takamaki said. "Hopefully, that means we won't have to go through all this desert business in the future."
"That might not necessarily be the case," Makoto interjected. "Many upper-class citizens travel by limo or plane, so they don't know or care about city life..."
"A plane...!? Damn, that sounds pretty good!" Sakamoto reacted with amazement. "I mean, wouldn't you wanna go to a Palace wayyy up above the clouds if you could?"
"Totally," Kurusu said while sharing the sentiment with the punk.
"I think a flying bank is quite enough, thanks..." Makoto, on the other hand, wasn't that much excited.
"Same, I rather stick to the ground," I said.
"I have to say, though, the topic of the area outside the distortion is fascinating," Kitagawa commented. "Depending on the criminal, there may be an exact replica of Tokyo within their Palace." He began to smile. "I would love to examine the aesthetics of such a strange place at least once."
"You don't got a damn thing but art in that head of yours, huh?" Sakamoto replied with exasperation.
"But it's true that an observant criminal could have a true to reality city in their Palace," Morgana said. "...Although even if such a place did exist, it's not like we'd have any use for it."
After finally talking for a good while, Kurusu gave us the prompt to explore the Palace. We went outside while not letting Boss suspect us. Once we were standing right outside of his home, Kurusu pulled his phone and activated the Metaverse app. "Starting Navigation." We go transported back to that damn desert once more. We were at least closer to the pyramid last time, but we still needed Mona to get there. We were dying of heat since most of us got black clothes with leather. Queen and Panther got the worse, thanks to their tight outfits. No matter how many cold drinks or sunscreen we could bring, it never was enough to tolerate such a forsaken place.
"Goddamn, this still hot!" Skull yelled as he tried to get some fresh air.
"You don't have to point the obvious," I took a big chug from my water bottle before exploring the pyramid. As we went inside, the place was still fresh and cold. We hand to jump between pillars to go across the area. As expected, there was still the same door blocking our direct route to the Treasure.
"So it still won't open. We might just have to give up on it," Mona commented with everyone standing in front of it.
I tried to knock on it to see if there was some secret button or else. It proved to be very unlucky as there was no such thing. That thing was definitely impenetrable for us. "I guess we can't do anything beyond this point. Any ideas?"
"No point sittin' around though. Whaddaya wanna do, Joker?" Skull asked our leader.
"Look for another entrance, if there is one anyways."
"Not a bad idea. Considering how humongous this building is, there have to be other ways in," Mona explained. It made sense since all pyramids could have any backdoors. We hoped to be the case here as well.
"We will have to investigate every suspicious place we see, both inside the pyramid and out," Fox said.
"Ugh, outside…!? You mean we gotta deal with that heat!?" Skull and I agreed on something, at least.
"I unironically have to agree with him. Can someone stay inside while the rest investigate?" Despite my request, none approved of the idea—much to our disappointment.
"No complaining. Let's begin our investigation right away," Queen ordered us, like always. We went back to the entrance to find clues. The moment we reached the exit, we heard a voice.
"Are you leaving?" We turned our backs to see who was talking; it was Futaba's Shadow. "Come back here. Let's talk for a moment."
"Now that's odd," I whispered to the others.
"Let's just do what she says, for now at least," Joker said as he went back to the room to listen to what the ruler wanted to talk about. She was standing without blinking. It felt weird that a Shadow didn't behave hostile towards us. Somehow, it was creepier.
"Welcome back. I had thought I would never see you again," Shadow Futaba said with a dry voice.
"Yeah, I wonder why-I can't believe you tried to drop a boulder on us!" Skull replied, appropriately, very upsettingly. "You want us to steal your goddamn Treasure or not?"
"Hm, why don't we make a deal? You wish to proceed further, yes?"
"A deal, you say?" Fox got curious.
"There is a town nearby. I would like you to take back that which the bandit there stole from me."
"Oh yeah, I think I remember seeing a town on the way here," Panther commented.
"If you bring what was stolen back to me, I will give you a reward. I'll even tell you how to proceed."
"Can't you tell us any more details? Anything about this bandit, or what was stolen?" Queen asked further.
"You'll learn all the information you need to know once you arrive." The Shadow refused to answer Queen's question. Of course, nothing couldn't be that easy for us.
"We'll need to head outside if we want to go to the town. We can go when you're ready, Joker."
"Let's go, I guess that's all we can do," Joker said. The heat hit us in an instant the moment we set foot outside of the pyramid. The sun was unbearable as always, but the view was unique.
"So, how're we supposed to get to this town?" Skull asked everyone.
"She said it's nearby… We could probably see it from here, right?"
"Good point. Let us observe the surroundings and search for any town that may lie about here," Fox replied Panther. We went downstairs until we reached the ground. Of course, everything was barren as no matter where you looked, more sand. Probably that dune nearby that could be used to slide down like snow. But nothing else. Anyway, we spread out to see where the town was. It didn't take us long until Panther called the group to where she was standing. The spot where we were standing had a clear view of what seemed a pillar from a distance.
"Hey, isn't a town off in the distance?" Panther pointed out. We squinted our eyes due to the sun but got the big picture.
"Are sure that isn't a mirage?" I asked since it was hard to believe for me.
"Yes, I can see what appear to be buildings over there," Fox confirmed.
"Want to head over to the town, Joker? It's pretty far away, so this is my chance to shine!" As always, Mona, being a show-off, transformed into his vehicle form, ready for the short trip.
"Let's go," Joker gave the order before we hop into the vehicle. It wasn't far from the pyramid, just a couple of minutes. The town looked abandoned, but weirdly enough, the architecture seemed oddly familiar.
"We've arrived. This has to be the town Futaba's Shadow mentioned," Mona said.
"It looks quite desolate… She said only bandits reside here, but still," Fox said. We began exploring the streets and turned on every corner. No enemies, strange, but we kept moving forward and looked at every corner. We looked at every pot, box, window, and even the roofs, but there was no sign of Shadows in the area. Weird when Shadow Futaba said the place was full of bandits. However, the more we spent venturing into the abandoned town, the more I noticed the details. "Is it me? Or this town look familiar to you?" I commented while looking around. The others quickly started to pick up the town's weirdness.
"Hold on, you are right," Queen said. "This looks familiar, as if..."
"As if we were in the Yongen-Jaya's alleyways," Joker finished up the sentence. "At least, a mixed of ruins and neeby stores."
"There is undoubtedly a resemblance to this town's architecture. Too bad the buildings' shapes are uneven," Fox commented with lament. "I have to assume that she only knows how limited her vision is of the world from her home."
"I have to say, the mood of this town of definitely strange. I can't sense anyone around," Mona said. Before we could even think of another plan around, we heard a strange voice.
"Hey, guys. You lookin' for something?" We turned our heads to notice there was someone behind us. "Heh, I thought I heard someone rustlin' around out here… and here y'all are. Welcome to the desert, fellow trader."
"Hm? What does he mean by 'trader'?" Fox asked.
"We don't care about your welcomes. You're a bandit, right? Just cough up the thing you stole," Skull said, without thinking.
"Ha! Well ain't this interestin'. A group of criminals comin' after a fellow trader," The Shadow Bandit said smugly. "…Well, you're gonna have to catch me if you want it." The bandit ran away from us, all thanks to that numbskull.
"Wait…! Ughhh, you just had to scare him off, Skull!" Panther complained to the punk.
"Me!?"
"Why can't things for us be simple for once?" I sighed.
"We'll have time to talk later. Let's get after him." Queen got us back on track. We started to chase him down around the town, but he taunted us as we run in circles. Between the streets and some narrow alleyways, the bandit was way too fast for us. It was getting annoying pretty quickly. No matter where we went, he kept easily maneuvering around in a cinch. It would take us all day if we didn't change to a different approach.
"You're too slow, morons. You'll never catch me at this rate."
"He ran off again! Hurry up and catch him fast!" Mona shouted as we continued on the chase. But It was useless; some of us began to lose breath after going in circles. Considering our outfits and the heat, yeah, not the best combination.
"Hahaha, you tired already? What a bunch of losers… Grave-robbing is a game of stamina, y'know?" The Shadow Bandit gloated.
"Urghhh, he got away again! This is really pissing me off!" Panther wasn't in the best mood.
"We'll never catch him if we do nothing but follow his path… We should corner him somewhere," Queen said.
"Corner him? But how?" Fox asked.
"Let's use that square from earlier. We can sneak around and trap him there!"
"In that case, let me chase him down while you go around and cut his exits," Joker pointed out. "Try to take to high ground to surprise him. That should do to stop him." And just how our leader instructed us, we spread out and took different routes. Joker chased the bandit while Fox blocked the main street, and Panther blocked the stairways. Skull, Mona, and I jumped off from one of the buildings while Queen appeared in front of him, forcing him to go to the appointed area.
"There he goes…! We finally chased him into the square!" Panther said with a celebratory tone.
"Perfect. He had nowhere else to run now… Let's do this, Joker!" Our leader advanced after Queen was done talking. He started to approach him slowly, hoping things don't get any more complicated than before.
"Yo, bandit! What's the matter? Not runnin' anymore?" Skull said confidently.
"Tch… Don't even think about comin' one step closer," the bandit started to act more hostile the more we cornered him.
"Give us what you stole," Joker negotiated as he extended his hand.
"Heh, don't be ridiculous. You've gotta let me go. I mean you guys came to raid that tomb too, right? Why don't we work together and share the plunder?"
"Don't talk to us like we're the same as you! We came here to save Futaba-chan. Now give us back what you stole!" Panther got already tired of the bandit as well.
"Better cooperate, asshole. Can we do this the our way, or the highway?" I pulled my gun and took aim at it.
"So you wanna do this no matter what, huh? Well in that case… I guess I don't have a choice!" The bandit transformed into a giant bird, ceasing any negotiations with us.
"Be ready, everyone," Joker warned us as everyone began pulling their weapons.
"Magarudyne!" The Raging Bird God launched wind at us; everyone suffered massive damage with the Skill getting knocked out while Mona and Fox didn't even flinch. "Ominous Words!" He cast some spell that made me feel a little depressed.
"This is useless…." I didn't feel like my usual self, almost like I was driven by fear and sadness.
"Energy Shower!" Queen acted quickly and cured me of that ailment. "Are you alright?"
"Dammit! I hate those spells!" I stood on my feet while trying to shoot at him with my gun, but that Shadow was moving way too fast for us.
"Let me handle him!" Joker was preparing his Persona with a mischievous smirk on his face. "Go, David!" He summoned one that we didn't saw before; it was a skeleton with pink clothes while playing the violin. He looked goofy, to be honest. "Sukunda!"
The Shadow was losing speed, but sadly he was way out of our reach. "Brain Shake!" Its attack hit Mona, and he was looking weird.
"Mreeeeow…" He started to attack us for no reason. He began to shoot at us with his slingshot, making us take cover.
"This isn't good. He is affected with Brainwash!" Queen tried to analyze him while looking at his behavior, just more bad news for us.
"Well, I guess there is one way to snap him out of it." Everyone started to look at Panther. She didn't object about making that cat going back to his senses while we were still on our cover.
"Easy Mona! It's me Panther!" She approached him like he was a stray cat. "Put that weapon down, please!?" Mona leaped towards her started to scratch her with his paws. She got angry because the cat left scars on… well… her bust. "Oh, you little…!" Panther was furious that slapped him swiftly on the head that made him fall unconscious in an instant. "Sorry!"
"Well, that's one way to stop him, I guess?" I commented while we looked at each other with fear. We focused on the Shadow by shooting at the air as it was flying around. He tried to use Garu spells, but we were avoiding them pretty quickly.
"Arsene, Snap!" Joker used his Persona to stop our enemy from the air. The attack knocked down the Shadow. "Baton Pass!" He changed places with Fox as they looked at each other with confidence.
"Allow me to end this… Go Goemon!" Fox's Persona took the offensive with all his might, killing the Shadow instantly without more delays.
After the battle, everyone tried to wake up Skull and Mona. "Mhhh…w-what happened? We won?" Skull asked while feeling lightheaded.
"Yep, and he dropped something," I tried to get the punk back to his feet while I was holding the Stolen Papyrus.
"Owww, what happened to me, why my head hurts…?" Mona didn't remember anything about moments ago. "Panther, what happened to you?"
"Ask yourself…" She was furious at him. Blondie looked away from the cat until Mona realized the damage he caused.
"Oh crap, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do it!"
"Alright, I know it wasn't your fault. Buuuuut I think Joker should get you to cut those claws."
"No, please," Mona begged.
"Enough fooling around, do anyone knows what this thing says? I don't know Egyptian," I said while handing the stolen thing to Mona.
"Is this… some kind of papyrus parchment? It looks like there's something written inside,
"Hey, no peeking at a girl's belongings without her permission!" Panther scolded.
"Y'know, just what the hell's happenin' in her heart?" Skull made an interesting question. "There's this bandit, those weird voices sayin' 'you killed her,' and who knows what else… It's a total effin' mess."
"So does this mean that even though she's the Palace ruler, she can't control what happens in her Palace?" Panther said, making the group lost in deep thought.
"I don't know… I've never seen a case like this…." Mona looked worried, as we couldn't get any answers about it.
"Regardless, we have no more business in this town. Shall we head back, Joker?" Fox asked to out leader.
"Let's go," he nodded in return. Everyone started walking around the town, but I was left behind for a couple of seconds, thinking. Queen looked at me as she noticed something was bothering me.
"Do you think… she really did it?" I asked while feeling uncomfortable.
"Doing what…?" Queen replied.
"Futaba killing her mom, do you think she was capable of doing such thing?"
"That's something we are not so sure about it, but I don't think she did it."
"You think so? I hope it's true..." I couldn't walk faster as my mind kept bugging me. "It's almost like… never mind, I'm thinking way too much." I tried to look straight as nothing terrible was with me, but Queen wasn't convinced enough. "Let's keep going." We walked until we got to the town's exit, where the pyramid was.
"Sweet, we did what we had to do. Let's start headin' back to the pyramid," Skull commented while we looked at the pyramid from a far distance.
"Let's go back," Joker gave the order. Mona transformed once again, and it took us a couple of minutes to reach our destination. Damn, the sun was still killing us.
"Well, what now?" Skull asked.
"We've completed Futaba-chan's request. Let's go see her again," Queen said.
"Sounds good. I'm curious about that reward too!" Mona replied excitedly. We walked all the way back to the pyramid, nothing out of usual, and Shadow Futaba was still waiting in the middle of the room. At least things didn't look that bad for us at the moment.
"We're back. This is the thing you said they stole, right?" Skull showed the object to the ruler.
"Well done. It is yours now."
"Wait, what? Didn't you want us to get it back because it's important?" Panther was pretty confused.
"That is a map of the tomb, stolen by the bandit to aid in his ransacking of this place." Shadow Futaba opened the papyrus, revealing to us that it was indeed a map. Neat.
"Why are you letting them just do whatever they want? This is your Palace, isn't it?" Queen was curious about the odd behavior of the Shadows from this place. I didn't think about it.
"All that matters is that the map is now yours. Just come further in and…Oh." The pyramid briefly shook off the next second. The ruler disappeared in thin air when the temblor stopped. "What the...?" Fox was the first to notice the ruler's absence.
"Huh? Futaba-chan disa…"
Before Panther could finish up speaking, we got into more trouble: A trap door opened beneath us out of the blue. "Goddammiiiiiiiiiit!" Skull yelled while the rest of us screamed in horror as we fell deep into the endless darkness, ignorant of what the pyramid had for us further.
