Phantom Files Book 2: Rise Of The Monarchs

by sithlorde1988

The sequel to Persona 5-The Phantom Files. A few years after Ren returns home, the Phantom Thieves find themselves drawn back into the Metaverse once again out of nowhere after a mysterious app surfaces with the powers to access the Metaverse. Can the Phantom Thieves stop a mysterious new group of individuals called Monarchs? Better summary in chapter 1! BOTH STORY AND EDITS DONE!

39. Final Interlude part 2: The Groups Clash

A/N: sithlorde1988 here, with another chapter of Phantom Files, Book 2: Rise Of The Monarchs! Technically, it's part 2 of the final interlude, but it's still a chapter, so I'll count it as such. That being said, after this chapter, there will be no more Interludes for the rest of Rise of the Monarchs. HOWEVER, that's not to say that I won't bring the concept back for other stories I do (most likely just my Persona stories if I do it, but maybe some other stories as well), so we'll see what happens there. And on that note, before we do much of anything else, let's get this disclaimer done and dusted real fast, shall we?

Disclaimer: I, sithlorde1988, do not own the Persona series in ANY way, shape, or form ((excluding the OCs Kusa/Draconis, Taichi, Momoe, the OC Personas Malefor and Albus, and the Phantom Thief attire for Draconis, Pendragon, and Seraphim, all of which I do own. I do not, however, own the OC Personas Hester and Houdini, nor the Phantom Thief attire concepts for Shiho/Flare.

The OC Persona Hester and the Phantom Thief attire concepts for Shiho/flare were created by, and thus belong to, thalassatides (at symbol) bsky on X (or Twitter as it used to be called). If you happen to be on X, feel free to look up thelassatides (at symbol) bsky's work, as they do some good work. As for the OC Persona Houdini, that belongs to Flower Boy Jun over on Amino Apps. If you use that site, go look him up, since he has some very interesting OC Persona designs and also does amazing work.

As far as the Phantom Thief attire concept for Akane/Auburn, Atlus technically owns the attire that Akane/Auburn's Phantom Thief attire was based off of, aka her Monarch outfit, but I own the modifications made to the outfit to create her Phantom Thief attire, so I own Akane/Auburn's Phantom Thief attire, but not the outfit it's based on, if that makes sense at all.

Also shout-out to jdimock for giving me the idea to make Akane/Auburn's Phantom Thief attire a color-swap of her Monarch outfit, even if I ended up making her Phantom Thief attire largely different from aforementioned Monarch outfit, it was still jdimock's idea, so shout-out and credit to him for having the idea)) and the actual ownership credit for the Persona series belongs to Atlus and Sega (where it comes to Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal, as well as Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Reload), as well as to a point Koei Tecmo (where it pertains to Strikers). The rest of the spinoffs belong to various other companies, all of whom know who they are.

And when it comes to Persona 1, Persona 2-Eternal Punishment, and Persona 2-Innocent Sin? As far as I know, they were made by a different studio, who also knows who they are. Full ownership credit for the Persona spinoffs (Phantom X, Tactica, the 'Arena' games, the 'Dancing' games, and the 'Q' games) belong to the studios that helped make them, as well as Atlus and possibly Sega. And full ownership credits for Persona 1, Persona 2- Eternal Punishment, and Persona 2-Innocent Sin belong to the studios that made those games, so all credit to them.

There we go, one disclaimer fully done and dusted! Real quick before we start the chapter, I know I said in chapter 38 there'd be no updates for two weeks since jdimock was working on his finals and needed the time off of edits to work on things, but he apparently got done earlier than planned, so he gave me the go-ahead to post this now. I'm aware it's on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday, but let's look at this as an extremely late upload for last week.

Also, because of when this upload went up, there won't be another upload until probably week after next, due to my likely having to skip next week's upload since jdimock has other stuff coming up that will keep him from being able to help edit the story, so I have to try and work around his schedule, which is fine since he helps with the story so much. So yeah, there's an update on that situation and an explanation for why I'm uploading this on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday. I won't go into more detail than that, since that's not my place to discuss his schedule in detail without his say-so. So yeah, here's an upload to tide you over for now.

Anyhow, with that being said, I don't have a lot else to say just now, so let's proceed to the chapter! Keep reading after the chapter, where I'll probably have another A/N that I mention stuff in, and probably give a preview of chapter 40, so keep an eye out for that. All right, without further ado, here's chapter 39!

Chapter 39- Meetings, Reunions, and Rematches! Arc 7 (and final) Interlude part 2

PREVIOUSLY ON RISE OF THE MONARCHS...

"Given the fact that EMMA is in imminent danger of being shut down, thus cutting off our main venue for what we discussed, I would say now is the only time we can do this. Phantom Thieves, let me be blunt. My team challenges yours to a rematch. After all, with EMMA shutting down, we might not have a better chance for it than now. So what do you guys say? Do you accept my challenge?"

"Phantom Thieves, excluding Nanako? Meet Marie, or Mariko Kusumi, which was her alias when she went on TV during her time as a weather forecaster a few years ago. She was eventually fired for being too flashy with her reports, but she was a well-known personality on TV for a time. However, that's only one side of her. In truth, she's also a minor goddess of the land who goes by the name of Izanami-no-Mikoto. But she usually just goes by the name 'Marie' when hanging with us."

"Yes, well, all potential dynamics aside, we didn't just bring Marie here for a social call. As you might recall from earlier, I challenged your group to a rematch. However, there are still a few others in our group you've yet to meet. This is because they belong to a separate group, and that group's leader is off securing a hotel for them. From what she told me and Rise when we spoke to her recently, she's also securing a meeting room for our groups to use when meeting one another.

So we all have to travel together to Kyoto since the hotel houses the meeting room that Mitsuru reserved for all of us. Oh, and in case any of you are wondering, this is the same hot springs hotel that you guys stayed at earlier when Konoe framed you all."

Anyways, shouldn't we get going?"

(Outside of the hot-springs hotel in Kyoto, with Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Goro, Sumire, Kusa, Sophia, Sojiro, Shiho, Zenkichi, Nanako, Akane, Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, and Marie)

As the group stood outside the hotel Yu had led them to, every one of the Phantom Thieves, aside from Akane and Zenkichi, who were both absent at the time for various reasons, winced as they recalled the last time they'd stepped foot into this hotel, as it hadn't ended well for most of them. Zenkichi then spoke up.

"You know, I still can't believe that your allies ended up staying at the exact same hotel that I booked for these guys about a week to a week and a half ago to celebrate Kusa's 20th birthday." Zenkichi said as Yosuke smirked and spoke up.

"From what Labrys told me once, this particular hotel also holds memories for Kirijo-san's group. Apparently, they visited here for a school trip many years ago, and it was a significant experience for most of them. I didn't ask for more details as I didn't want to intrude, so that's all I know about it." Yosuke said as an unfamiliar, at least to most of the group, voice spoke up with a chuckle.

"Yes, well, that's because for most of the guys in my group, it wasn't a fun time for us. If not for our leader's quick thinking, it could've ended very painfully and miserably for us. Needless to say, I blame Junpei for that. But never mind the reminiscing. Aside from one person whom I seem to recognize, are all of you the Phantom Thieves?" The group heard, turning as one to face the speaker, a smirking man whose arms were crossed across his very scarred, but very ripped, bare chest. Much to Ryuji and Sojiro's amusement and virtually all of the female Thieves' approval, the speaker's chest was only covered by a red hooded cape, and outside of that, the man wore red fingerless gloves, red jeans that looked a bit torn-up on one side with a lot of tape on that leg, and red boots with brown lining and soles. Kusa, for his part, smirked at the man and spoke up.

"Well, well. What're the chances that they'd have you be our welcoming committee, Sanada-san? Long time, no see." Kusa said as the now-named Sanada nodded and shook hands with Kusa before shocking the group as he pulled Kusa into a one-armed manly hug, which Kusa returned before sticking out his fist, which Sanada bumped in respect before speaking up.

"Has it really been that long, though? I thought we ran into each other in the park last week?" Sanada asked as Kusa spoke up.

"That makes sense. Sure, that run-in was on my birthday, but given what happened afterwards, I think I can be forgiven for not keeping a good count of how many days have passed since our last meeting." Kusa said as Ren spoke up.

"From the looks of his appearance, I assume this is the guy that you met earlier, Kusa?" Ren asked as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"Correct, Ren. Outside of Narukami's group who he probably knows already, for those of you who don't know him, this is Akihiko Sanada. He might not look it with his current appearance, but this man used to be a boxing champion in his high-school days. And if one believes what he told me, he apparently also went abroad for a couple of years to train himself, apparently taking it as far as sparring with fully-grown bears and street thugs. Long story short, do not take this man lightly as even I would be hard-pressed to hold my own against him in a fight." Kusa said as Makoto spoke up.

"Interesting. I must admit, I didn't think all of our groups would have at least one person who specializes in some form of martial arts. The Phantom Thieves have me as the main martial artist with my aikido, the Investigation Team has Chie who utilizes kung-fu, and then there's you who specializes in boxing for your group of Persona-users. Although, for the Thieves specifically, Kusa is also capable of martial arts as well, seeing as he is the 'Kung Fu Dragon'. Still, the fact that you push yourself by going through such intense training is very impressive, Sanada-san." Makoto said as the now properly named Akihiko smirked and spoke up.

"Some of that is exaggerated slightly, but you're not wrong to be wary of my fists. But enough about me. I was sent to escort you guys to the meeting room that my group's current leader has reserved for our meeting. So if you'll all follow me, we can make proper introductions there." Akihiko said as the group nodded and followed Akihiko into the hotel where he led them down a side hall, down a couple flights of stairs, and down another hall to an out of the way room where he kept speaking.

"Here we are, the meeting room. Luckily, we were able to get a spacious enough room to fit all of us. So let's file on in, one at a time." Akihiko said as the others nodded before Akihiko knocked on the door as a female voice spoke up from inside the room.

"Yes? Who is it?" The group heard the female voice say, making Sumire frown as she realized this voice sounded vaguely familiar to her, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why it was so familiar. Akihiko then spoke up.

"It's Akihiko. I've brought the Phantom Thieves and the Investigation Team to meet with us as you requested." Akihiko said as the female voice spoke up again, her tone making it fairly easy to tell they were very approving of Akihiko's words.

"Ah, I see. Come in." The female voice said as the door opened and the group filed into the room, one by one, starting with Akihiko and ending with a cautiously wary Goro, who'd chosen to bring up the rear. Once everyone was in the room, the Phantom Thieves looked around at how wide open and spacious the room was. At the same time, there were several long conference tables lined up in the center of the room, each long enough to seat around 8 to 12 people.

As the group walked in, they noticed that six other people were sitting in some of the seats. While a majority of these people were unrecognizable to the Phantom Thieves, there was one person who they were able to recognize based on her long red hair and who is also currently seated at one end of the long table. After everyone was seated, the red-headed female with the white fur coat stood up and spoke up.

"I take it that the people who I don't know are the Phantom Thieves, then?" The female asked as Ren nodded and spoke up.

"That's correct. And judging from your voice and elegant posture, I assume that you're the one and only Mitsuru Kirijo?" Ren asked as the red-headed female nodded before the now-named Mitsuru smiled and spoke up.

"That I am. It's a pleasure to finally meet you all. I've heard stories about the Phantom Thieves myself over the past few years and when Yu told me about your group having the power of Persona, I've been wanting to see the faces behind the people who have changed society." Mitsuru said as she bowed her head as Haru giggled and spoke up.

"Likewise. It is an honor to be in the presence of the CEO of the Kirijo Group. You and your company have been an excellent inspiration for a lot of businesses in Japan, Kirijo-san." Haru said as Mitsuru spoke up.

"I appreciate the compliment. However, I would like to point out that despite all that my company has done throughout the years, there are still some things that we need to sort out regarding its 'past'. But I think that's a story that I can share later. For now, I think it's best if we do introductions, assuming you all don't mind introducing yourselves first." Mitsuru said as Ren smiled and spoke up.

"Not at all. My name is Ren Amamiya, and I'm the leader of the Phantom Thieves. The beautiful redhead on my left is my girlfriend, Sumire Yoshizawa. The short-haired man on my right is my little brother, Kusa Amamiya who is also my co-leader when it comes to missions. The rest of our group, in order of their induction albeit with two minor exceptions, is as follows. Starting with Morgana, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima, Futaba Sakura, Haru Okumura, my older brother Goro Amamiya, Sojiro Sakura, Shiho Suzui, Zenkichi Hasegawa, and his daughter Akane Hasegawa.

In addition, I'm sure most of you already know Yu's cousin Nanako Dojima, seeing as she spoke about you all a couple of times. And last but not least, if Sumire would turn her phone screen so you can all see her, is the youngest member of our group, who Sumire and I may or may not have taken under our wings as a pseudo-daughter of sorts-" Ren said as he was cut off mid-sentence as a 'BIP!' from Sumire's phone, which she'd turned around so the entire group could see her phone screen, preceded a smiling Sophia speaking up.

"Oh, my. There's so many people in this room. Hello, everyone! I am Sophia, humanity's companion." Sophia said as a woman that was sitting a few seats down from the red-headed female who'd spoken up initially squealed at Sophia's self-intro and spoke up, her teal eyes seeming to sparkle as she spoke up, throwing the ponytail of blue-green hair off her shoulder to fall behind her back.

"Oh, wow! A talking, sentient AI!? You're so adorable!" The green-blue haired female said as a dark-haired man wearing a backwards-facing teal-colored baseball cap sitting to the right of the blue-green haired female spoke up, chuckling at the predictable outburst from the green-blue haired female while he spoke.

"Heh, leave it to Fuuka-san to go ga-ga over the digital redhead." The dark-haired man said, as Kusa frowned and spoke up after looking over the man's outfit, noting as he spoke that the dark-haired man was dressed an awful lot like a baseball player, given most of his outfit was a teal-colored baseball player's uniform, aside from the black sports socks, dark grey muscle shirt, and grey cleats.

"That's rich, coming from the guy who looks like he came here straight from a baseball game." Kusa pointed out as Akihiko laughed and spoke up.

"That's Junpei for you. The man practically lives baseball. Apparently, he used to have aspirations to become a professional baseball player when he was younger." Akihiko said as Ryuji frowned and spoke up.

"Used to? He doesn't still have those aspirations?" Ryuji asked in confusion. At that point, a brown haired female who was situated on Akihiko's left giggled at the question and spoke up, ignoring Futaba's eyes widening in recognition as she took in the mostly pink outfit that the female was wearing, and even the helmet that was set in front of her on the table, as she spoke.

"Oh, he still has them. He just isn't making that his only purpose in life these days. I must say, I'm surprised at how mature Stu-err, I mean Junpei has become." The brown-haired female said as Goro grinned at the brown-haired female's slip of the tongue and spoke up.

"You were about to call him 'Stupei', weren't you? Very creative nickname, if a bit of a probable insult to him." Goro said as the dark-haired man, or 'Junpei' as the brown-haired female had called him, frowned at the brown haired female and spoke up.

"Dammit! I told you not to call me that, Yuka-tan! At least you stopped yourself before you finished your sentence, so that's something, I guess." Junpei said as Kanji smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, I feel your pain, Junpei. I swear, if I had a 2000 yen bill for every time that Rise calls me 'Moronji', I'd be decently rich right now." Kanji said as Rise huffed and spoke up.

"If you didn't act like a moron, I wouldn't have to call you one. At least Naoto-kun's done a good job at helping you better yourself." Rise said as Yu spoke up.

"Rise? Kanji? Can you save it for later? Need I remind you both that we brought Ren's group here so that they could meet Mitsuru's group." Yu said as Sojiro spoke up.

"Despite knowing beforehand, it still amazes me that you and your group have allies with influential figures such as the Kirijo Group, Yu." Sojiro said as Zenkichi spoke up with a smirk.

"Take it from me, Sojiro. I lost count of all the times Kirijo-san's group has caused headaches for PubSec over the years with their antics. From forming that unofficial alliance with the police, to the fact that they've given us the metaphorical middle finger by blocking our investigation of that attempted hijacking of an airplane eight years ago. However, I must give credit to Shirogane for being a quick learner and able to adapt to the role of being a PubSec operative quickly enough." Zenkichi said as Mitsuru spoke up.

"Ah, yes. I seem to remember that my group has caused problems for yours in the past, Hasegawa-san. I do hope you'll accept my apologies for any inconvenience my group caused for PubSec. But with that being said, I believe I should introduce my group of Persona-users now. To start off, the brown-haired female who snubbed Iori earlier without trying to is Yukari Takeba. Originally, she was a part of the archery club when we were both in high school. Nowadays, she's more of a professional actress than an archer, though her archery skills are coming in handy for her current acting job." Mitsuru said as a wide-eyed Futaba spoke up.

"FOR REAL!? Holy crap, I can't believe I'm in the same room as THE Yukari Takeba! The one who plays Pink Argus in Phoenix Rangers Featherman Victory! I'm such a huge fan of your work!" Futaba said while addressing the actress, or more specifically Yukari, who blushed in embarrassment of the fangirling she was getting from Futaba for a moment but then smiled as she spoke up.

"Oh, uh, thank you, Futaba-chan. To be honest, I didn't think that there would still be fans of my earlier works as an actress, but I appreciate the support." Yukari said as a chuckle from Akihiko's right drew the group's attention to a brown-haired young man that Kusa recognized who had his arms crossed as he spoke up.

"Well, your role as Pink Argus is one of your most iconic ones, Yukari-san. But with that being said, are you also a fan of Phoenix Rangers Featherman Victory, Sakura the younger? How interesting. I happen to like that show a lot as well. Then again, Featherman R was also really good too." The brown-haired young man said as Mitsuru chuckled and spoke up.

"Heh, looks like you've found someone with similar interests, eh Amada?" Mitsuru said as the now-named Amada nodded and spoke up.

"Seems like it, Mitsuru-senpai. Oh, and nice to see you again, Amamiya the youngest." Amada said as Kusa smirked and spoke up.

"Likewise. And I must say, I had a feeling you were into that sort of thing as well, Amada-san. You know, it's interesting that you're here right now since I thought you and Sanada-san were supposed to be on a cross-country training spree with Koromaru-san? Speaking of whom, I don't think I see him sitting at the table anywhere." Kusa said as Sumire giggled and spoke up, having noticed that the Shiba Inu in question was sitting by Kusa, his head gently rubbing against Kusa's leg.

"I think that's because he's right next to you." Sumire said as Kusa blinked, looked down, and smiled as he saw Koromaru next to him, gently reaching down to scratch behind his ears as he spoke up.

"Ah, I see. I guess I'm not that surprised to see that you sought me out first, Koromaru." Kusa said while petting a very content-looking Koromaru as Akane saw Koromaru and spoke up with a smile.

"Oh, wow! I had no idea you guys had a dog, Kirijo-san? He's so cute." Akane said as Mitsuru spoke up with a smirk.

"Koromaru's kind of a key member of our group. He might look cute and cuddly, but don't be fooled by his looks. Believe it or not, you're looking at one of the few known non-human Persona-users." Mitsuru said as several jaws dropped at this reveal, and it was hard to tell if Goro, Kusa, Ren, Morgana, or Sojiro's eyes went the widest at this. Morgana found his voice first and spoke up.

"Wait, whaaaat!? There are dogs who can wield Personas!?" Morgana said as Sumire smiled and patted Koromaru on the head as she spoke up.

"You're surprised, Morgana? Let's not forget that you used to be a talking cat until recently. Not to mention, we know of Teddie, who used to go around insisting that he's a bear, at least according to Nanako-chan." Sumire said as Nanako nodded and spoke up.

"It's true. Before he grew a human body, Teddie was actually a Shadow in a bear suit. But now he's a human. So if Big Bro's group can have him as a Persona-user, and if the Phantom Thieves can have a talking cat as a mascot and member, then it's fair for Kirijo-san's group to have a dog as their mascot." Nanako said as a giggle from nearby drew the group's attention to a blue-haired female with striking red eyes and a very decidedly petite figure, though both Ren and Kusa exchanged a surprised look after they both spotted the fact that she clearly also had mechanical parts and that she resembles the same girl that the group fought in the Yongen Jail a short while ago. The blue-haired female then spoke up.

"If only Koro-chan were the mascot for Kirijo-san's group, they would probably be better off. Instead, their 'mascot', if you can call her that, is my younger sister Aigis. How a robot girl is considered to be a mascot, I have no clue." The blue-haired female said, giving most of the Phantom Thieves minor whiplash at how quickly they turned their necks towards a spot on Mitsuru's right, where a blonde-haired female with a red tie, mechanical body, and almost exaggeratedly disproportionate curves sat. Yusuke blinked at this and spoke up.

"My word! Look at all those aesthetically pleasing curves on that woman! Not to mention how pronounced her figure is! I can only imagine how dynamic of a muse she could make for my art." Yusuke said as the blonde robot girl named 'Aigis' spoke up as she raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm, may I assume that you have a passion for what is known as the fine arts, Kitagawa-kun?" Aigis asked as Ryuji sweatdropped and spoke up.

"That's just how Yusuke is. Once he sees something that inspires him, there's no stopping him from using it for his next art piece. That being said, I doubt that Aigis-san here would be interested in helping you Yusuke, but who knows? If you can get the busty robot chick to not exterminate you on sight for being weird, maybe she'll model for your art. Just don't try to do to her what you nearly did to Ann." Ryuji said as Ann frowned and smacked Ryuji on the arm as she spoke up.

"SHUT UP, RYUJI! And don't bring that up!" Ann rebuked Ryuji as Nanako spoke up with a frown, not amused by Yusuke's interest in Aigis' body, but also understanding of it, since she'd admittedly had a fairly similar reaction the first time she met Aigis, even if her reaction had been moreso to question if Aigis' figure was real.

"To be fair to Yusuke, Aigis-san does have a rather exaggerated bustline. Pretty sure Labrys-san said something about Aigis-san's creator being a weirdo or something like that. Yet at the same time, part of me can't help but be slightly jealous of how endowed Aigis-san is. Sure, those probably aren't actual breasts under there, but they're shaped an awful lot like them. Luckily, Akane seems satisfied with how I'm built, so I don't have to be too self-conscious about my body." Nanako said as Akane giggled and spoke up while patting her girlfriend on the shoulder.

"Of course not, Nanako. You're plenty sexy just the way you are. Sure, Aigis-san has some rather large breasts, but as you pointed out, they're probably faker than Ren's glasses." Akane said as Ren frowned and spoke up.

"Hey! Leave my glasses out of this, Akane! I don't mind you reassuring your girlfriend, but don't drag my glasses into it." Ren said as Mitsuru spoke up.

"Yes, well, getting back on topic. I believe I left off introducing Takeba. After her, we have Junpei Iori, who coaches little league baseball part-time. Next, we have Fuuka Yamagishi, our group's navigator who is incredibly gifted with technology, even if she's a bit shy." Mitsuru said, noticing the odd looks most of the Phantom Thieves aimed at Futaba, who suddenly blushed in embarrassment at the attention aimed at her while Mitsuru kept speaking.

"Anyways, along with myself, Takeba, Iori, and Yamagishi, we also have a few other members. Next, we have Akihiko Sanada, an old friend of mine who was a boxing champion in his high-school days. After that, we have the 7th Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, Aigis. Aigis, despite being part of our group for a longer period, is effectively the younger sister of our other Anti-Shadow suppression weapon here, Labrys. Or to use her full name, 5th Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, Labrys." Mitsuru said as a 'BIP!' from Sumire's phone prompted Sophia to speak up.

"How interesting. So are you two similar to me in some cases?" Sophia said while addressing the two Anti-Shadow weapons as Labrys spoke up.

"Well, you could say that, Sophia-chan. However, my sister and I were created in a laboratory as robots. Thus, we were able to live amongst other humans." Labrys said as Sophia frowned and spoke up.

"I see. So both of you were created to function as weapons, while also being capable of living a normal life alongside your friends." Sophia said and as Ren, Sumire, and Morgana frowned at seeing Sophia's current state of being stuck in Sumire's phone, Aigis spoke up.

"If it makes you feel any better, Sophia-chan, both Labrys and I also struggled with understanding the nature of humans. Throughout the years, the two of us have experienced so many things that have allowed us to understand what it means to be human, both the good and the bad. Through these experiences, we ended up growing from being machines that follow orders to individuals who want to find their purpose in life. As a result, my sister and I were able to develop our own 'hearts' despite being machines, and it's what has allowed us to become who we are today." Aigis said as Labrys nodded and spoke up.

"That's right. And if Aigis and I can develop a heart despite being different from other humans, then I believe that you can do the same, Sophia-chan." Labrys said as Sophia spoke up after being awed by the android's words.

"Really?" Sophia asked as Aigis nodded and spoke up.

"Indeed. From the looks of things, it seems that you are still learning about the concepts of humans and the heart. It will take a long while, but over time you will be able to become your own person, and therefore live a normal life." Aigis said as Sophia smiled and spoke up.

"Thank you. I promise I will keep your words in mind when it comes to my continued learning of the heart." Sophia said as both Aigis and Labrys nodded as Mitsuru spoke up.

"Well, I had a feeling that the moment I saw Sophia, she would hit it off with both Aigis and Labrys quite well. But I believe we should get back on track with finishing up with introductions for my group. For our final two members, we have Ken Amada, our youngest member, and of course, we also have Koromaru, whom some of you have already seen wandering around the room. Together, we make up the Shadow Operatives, a special group of Persona-users working in conjunction with the police to keep Shadow activity in check." Mitsuru said as Makoto spoke up while looking at Ken.

"So, you're the youngest Shadow Operative, Amada-kun? You look to be around the same age as myself, Haru, and Goro." Makoto said as Ken nodded and spoke up.

"I'm around 22 years old, so I think I am the same age as you three. Most of the others, excluding Koromaru, Aigis, and Labrys, are in their late 20's. Koromaru is around 13 to 14, or at least that's the estimate that Kirijo-senpai gave for his age when we asked about it shortly after taking him in. As for Aigis, she's around 20, while Labrys is roughly 21." Ken said as a wide-eyed Ryuji spoke up.

"Dude, for real!? The robot girls are around our age!? That's crazy!" Ryuji said as Shiho sweatdropped and spoke up.

"They're also robots, Ryuji. Sure, they're cute robots, but they're still robots." Shiho said as Teddie smirked and spoke up.

"That hasn't stopped Yosuke from taking a liking to Labby-chan, though." Teddie said as an embarrassed Yosuke glared at him and spoke up.

"DUDE! Shut up! What happened to the bro code, Teddie!?" Yosuke said as Kusa laughed and spoke up.

"Heh, it sounds like Teddie is just as bad at enforcing the bro code as Yusuke occasionally is." Kusa said, recalling a time when he and Ryuji had had to stop Yusuke from telling Ann about a discussion the guys had had in a hot bath about the females of the group, namely about both Ren and Ryuji calling Ann stunning, even though the former said he sees Ann as a sister. Yusuke frowned and spoke up.

"Yes, well, in my defense, I've gotten better about that since then." Yusuke pointed out sagely. Labrys, for her part, giggled and spoke up.

"I already knew that Yosuke-kun likes me. I haven't mentioned it up until now because, to be honest? I'm not sure if I like him the same way that he likes me, partly since like Sophia, I'm still learning a lot of the more subtle nuances and intricacies of the human heart. And I don't want to lie to him or get his hopes up. So for now, he knows we're keeping it friendly until I sort out if I can return his feelings or not." Labrys said as Ren smirked and spoke up while looking at Morgana.

"Sound familiar, Morgana?" Ren said as Sumire frowned at him and spoke up while lightly swatting him on the arm in a rebuking manner.

"HEY! Don't compare Sophia to Labrys like that, Ren! You know that's an unfair comparison to make, mostly because Labrys is closer to being a grown woman than Sophia is. Besides, we both know Sophia has a crush on Morgana, even if she hasn't realized it herself yet. And that will just make Morgana's day once she confesses to him." Sumire said as Fuuka spoke up.

"Umm, wasn't Morgana the one you guys said was previously a talking cat? Since when can AIs develop crushes on cats, even cats who turned into humans?" Fuuka asked as Futaba smirked and spoke up.

"You'd be surprised what kind of wackiness can ensue in the Metaverse, Yamagishi-san. Mwehehe." Futaba said as Mitsuru frowned at this and spoke up.

"So I assume that based on what Narukami-san told me, the Metaverse is your group's version of the Shadow World?" Mitsuru asked as Ren and Kusa looked at each other before nodding as Ren spoke up.

"In a nutshell, yes. The Metaverse is a world that was formed from the collective unconscious of humans. Not only was this the place where most of us Phantom Thieves awakened to our Personas, but it was also where we went after our targets who needed a change of heart. It's also where a lot of the Shadows we fought came from." Ren explained as Akihiko nodded and spoke up.

"I see. So it's kind of like your version of Tartarus or possibly even the Dark Hour, then." Akihiko said as Goro frowned and spoke up.

"Tartarus? Dark Hour? Never heard of them." Goro said as Mitsuru chuckled and spoke up.

"I'm not surprised. Technically speaking, most of the world is unaware that either one exists. You see, the Dark Hour is, or rather was, a hidden 25th hour in each day that happened between midnight and 1 am every night. Tartarus, for its part, was a tower that appeared during the Dark Hour where Gekkoukan High School is usually located. However, both Tartarus and the Dark Hour ceased to exist a bit over a decade ago, thanks to our valiant efforts, and the brave sacrifice of one of our own to seal the main catalyst for the Dark Hour away. So we shouldn't have to worry about either of those things anymore." Mitsuru said as the Phantom Thieves nodded and Sumire spoke up while looking directly at Mitsuru.

"I know this might be out of nowhere and a bit rude, but ever since we came in here, I've felt like I've seen you somewhere before, Kirijo-san. And then when I looked into your eyes, it hit me. We did see each other before." Sumire said as Mitsuru spoke up.

"We have, Yoshizawa-san?" Mitsuru asked as Sumire nodded as she spoke up.

"Yes, we have met before. I don't know if you remember, Kirijo-san, but about 12 years ago, you briefly instructed me on fencing and how to use a rapier when I showed an interest in both of them. I guess you could say, it's been quite a while, hasn't it cousin?" Sumire asked Mitsuru, whose eyes widened in realization when Sumire called her 'cousin' before she spoke up.

"My goodness, no wonder you looked so familiar to me. I thought there was something familiar about you, but now I seem to remember. I remember teaching you on how to use a rapier and fence when you were just a kid. Who knew we'd meet again all these years later Sumire, and as Persona-users nonetheless? I see that you're doing quite well for yourself nowadays, especially since you seem rather to be rather close to Amamiya the middle from the looks of it." Mitsuru said as Ren, Kusa, Goro, and Akihiko's jaws dropped before all four spoke up in shock.

"WHAT THE HECK!?" Ren, Kusa, Goro, and Akihiko asked as Ren kept speaking while giving a sheepish-looking Sumire an inquiring look.

"Sumire, you mean to tell me that this entire time, despite us mentioning her name multiple times, your cousin is the head of the Kirijo Group?" Ren asked as Sumire nodded as she spoke up.

"Yup, sorry for not telling any of you about this. With everything that has happened to me over the past few years, I ended up forgetting some things." Sumire said as Ren spoke up after realizing what she was referring to.

"I...I see then. Still, this is crazy that your cousin is Mitsuru Kirijo of all people. But then again, it does explain why I always felt a sense of elegance and grace from you. To be honest, I thought maybe it was Haru's influence on you, but now that I know about your connection to Kirijo-san, it makes a lot more sense." Ren said as Akihiko spoke up.

"That's wild. I had no idea you were the cousin to a pair of identical twin redheads, Mitsuru. From what I recall, I vaguely recall Yukari once talking about a pair of twins who were looking like a pair of up-and-comers on the gymnastics scene about four to five years ago. But then, those twins suddenly fell off the grid with no warning. I wonder why?" Akihiko asked as Sumire winced at the mention of Kasumi, but to Ren's surprise, she didn't cry. Instead, she frowned at Akihiko's lack of tact as she spoke up with slightly narrowed eyes, making Mitsuru wince as she realized Sumire had also mastered Mitsuru's glare.

"The reason they 'fell off the grid', as you put it, is because one of those twins died protecting the other from an oncoming vehicle after the other twin got mad at her and stormed off like a fool. Needless to say, the surviving twin was so devastated by the loss that she ended up withdrawing into herself. As a result, she allowed herself to be manipulated into going around pretending that she was her dead twin for months after a madman rewrote her cognition to make her think that she was actually her deceased sister. Luckily for the surviving twin, she was blessed with the miracle of finding a very kind, very supportive, and very sexy boyfriend to help her through her grief, pain, and loss." Sumire said, smiling as she felt Ren wrap an arm around her comfortingly as Akihiko winced once he realized his mistake. He then spoke up.

"Ohh, crap! I am so sorry for being completely tactless. I didn't realize I was bringing up a sore subject, Yoshizawa. And I'm sorry for your loss." Akihiko said as Mitsuru frowned and spoke up.

"Yes, well, aside from the not-so-surprising fact that Akihiko managed to once again put his foot in his mouth, I think there's a much more important question to be asked. Namely, why is it that no one ever told me that Kasumi died? I would think I would at least deserve to be informed that my cousin passed away, after all." Mitsuru said in a mixed offended/annoyed tone as Sumire spoke up.

"Sorry, Mitsuru. We wanted to tell you when it happened, but no one could figure out how to find you at the time. Apparently, you had gone incommunicado or something? Also, the loss was so sudden, and we were all devastated, so it's also possible that we just didn't think about letting the rest of the family know. Sorry about that." Sumire said as Kusa spoke up.

"So would Kirijo-san be your cousin on your mom's side of the family or your dad's, Sumire?" Kusa asked as Sumire spoke up.

"My mom's. Apparently, she was an unwanted child of Kouetsu Kirijo's that he abandoned on the streets at a young age. Fortunately, she was adopted into a loving and powerful family shortly afterwards. But the fact remains that my mom's half-brother is Kirijo-san's father, thus us being cousins." Sumire said as Mitsuru spoke up.

"Then if what Narukami tells me is true, you've been staying diligent with your training, which is good. I'm hoping if the circumstances align, we'll end up facing each other in this rematch. I want to test your progress personally and see how far you have come since we last saw each other." Mitsuru said as Sumire smiled and spoke up.

"We'll see what happens, won't we?" Sumire said as Aigis nodded and spoke up.

"Correct. We will indeed see what happens when the time comes." Aigis said as Teddie smirked and spoke up.

"Well said, Ai-chan. To be honest, seeing you and Labby-chan is definitely one of the highlights of coming here." Teddie said as Marie pouted and spoke up.

"How many girls have you flirted with, Teddie? I thought you were committed to me?" Marie asked as Teddie spoke up with a nervous look on his face.

"I am committed to you! I flirted with all these girls BEFORE we got together. I've not flirted with a single other girl since!" Teddie said as Yosuke coughed what sounded suspiciously like 'bullshit!' under his breath before he spoke up, ignoring the amused grins on the faces of Kusa, Goro, Kanji, Yu, and Akihiko, who were near enough that they heard what Yosuke had disguised as a cough while he spoke.

"I disagree with that, Teddie. I seem to recall you hitting on Ren's girlfriend, and to a point, the little redhead that followed her around when we fought the Phantom Thieves before. Not to mention all the times that you hit on Nanako-chan before she joined the Phantom Thieves. Honestly, I'm impressed Yu hasn't just neutered you already and been done with it." Yosuke said as Yu smirked and spoke up.

"I could have, but why punish Marie for her boyfriend's horndog tendencies? Besides, at least someone wants to be with Teddie. Also, you left out the fact that Rise would ground me from fun time if I emasculated Teddie like that. So in other words, Teddie basically only gets away with being a shameless womanizer because I value my fun time with Rise too much to lose it neutering a womanizing bear." Yu said as Yukiko giggled and spoke up.

"Yeah, that sounds like Rise-chan, all right. I could see her wearing the pants in her and Yu-kun's marriage. Poor Yu-kun is probably forced to wear the panties, if anything. Then again, if Yu-kun does wear the panties in that relationship, it wouldn't be the first time he's had to cross-dress." Yukiko said, referring to a certain culture festival a bit under nine years prior where most of the guys from the Investigation Team got roped into partaking in the cross-dressing section of the pageant after Yosuke had pulled a prank and signed Chie, Rise, Naoto, and Yukiko up for the beauty pageant without their permission. Yosuke groaned and spoke up.

"Dammit! Did you REALLY have to bring up the matter of the cross-dressing again, Yukiko!? You know that's a sensitive subject for us guys!" Yosuke said as Ryuji winced and spoke up.

"You know, since you're bringing up that subject again, did you guys end up getting roped into cross-dressing too?" Ryuji asked as Kanji spoke up with a frown, curious about Ryuji's usage of the word 'too'.

"Too? Have you had to cross-dress before, Sakamoto?" Kanji asked as Ryuji nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah. One time, about four years ago, I went into Shinjuku with RenRen and Kusa, as well as Morgana, to track a lead on one of our group's targets. Unfortunately, I didn't come dressed for the occasion, and had to wait outside with Kusa. Anyways, the incident I'm alluded to actually happened on the way home after Ren got the lead we were chasing.

Apparently, these two guys saw me peeking into the bar to spy on RenRen's meeting, but they took it as me peeking at what I later found out was a drag bar. From there, the guys thought I was curious and dragged me off to try on drag for hours after chasing me off with a dress. And instead of helping me out, Kusa and Morgana just laughed as I ran off like a bat out of hell." Ryuji said as Kusa winced and spoke up, unable to deny that he had been a pretty huge douche to Ryuji on that occasion as he spoke.

"Ehh, you have a point. We really should've helped you out. Sorry about that, man." Kusa said as Ryuji high-fived Kusa and spoke up.

"We're cool, Kusa. I was just telling Kanji the story for reference." Ryuji said before groaning as he heard both Nanako and Sumire giggling as the latter spoke up.

"Somehow I'm not surprised that you'd be the one to end up going through a near-miss with the drag scene, Ryuji." Sumire said as Nanako spoke up.

"True. That does seem like the sort of bad luck Ryuji would have, doesn't it? But if he really wants tips for cross-dressing, he should ask Teddie. Don't ask me how, but that guy can really rock a dress and wig like no one's business. If I hadn't caught him changing into his cross-dressing outfit, I would've honestly mistaken Teddie for a girl that day. Teddie even won the cross-dressing pageant handily, even though I thought Big Bro should've won it, since he pulled off his outfit quite well by all accounts. But in all seriousness, I'm sorry you went through that, Ryuji." Nanako said as Ryuji smirked and spoke up.

"It's all right, Nanako. They say that what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger, after all. So if anything, I gained a lot from that experience." Ryuji said as Chie spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Good point, Sakamoto. As long as you learn from your experiences, you can only come out stronger for them." Chie said as Naoto spoke up.

"While that is true, there are exceptions to that rule, Chie-senpai. I seem to recall a couple of experiences that both Yu-senpai and Nanako-chan did NOT come away from any stronger. But I won't go into more detail than that out of respect for both of them." Naoto said as Nanako giggled and spoke up.

"If you're talking about what I think you are, I used that as a learning experience. Besides, Big Bro wasn't incapacitated for that long afterwards. Not only that, but he didn't even stay mad at me for nearly as long as I thought he would after that." Nanako said as Rise frowned and spoke up.

"True, but if I recall correctly, you basically threw all of us older girls under the bus to save face with your Big Bro. You're lucky most of us couldn't stay mad at you, since you were so young and adorable back then." Rise said, while pouting as she recalled the sternly-worded reprimand and rebuke Yu had given her following Nanako's ill-fated attempt to cook chocolate for Yu on Valentine's Day the year he stayed in Inaba with the Dojimas, which had ended with Yu spending the rest of that night being rather out of it. At that point, Kanji chuckled and spoke up.

"I think Yu was more surprised that Nanako-chan managed to weaponize chocolate rather than being angry at her. And to be honest? I'm shocked she pulled that off too. The moral of the story here is definitely to not anger Nanako, since she might well have the potential to be a serial killer if pushed far enough." Kanji said as Nanako pouted and spoke up.

"HEY! I'm not THAT bad of a cook, Kanji! Besides, if anything, that was Big Sis and Yukiko's fault for giving me bad cooking advice, since I made that chocolate with their advice." Nanako said as Yukiko frowned and spoke up.

"We might have given you advice, but we did NOT tell you to put things like durian, habanero, and bacon into the chocolate, Nanako-chan." Yukiko said as Yosuke spoke up.

"Says the girl who puts unexpected ingredients into a dish that ends up knocking all of us out." Yosuke said as Kusa's eyes went comically wide in horror as he spoke up.

"Wait, hold up, Nanako put WHAT in her chocolate!? Nanako, what in the friggin' hell did you do to that poor chocolate?" Kusa asked as Yu shuddered in remembrance of having to think of the absolute abomination that had been Nanako's first attempt at homemade Valentine's chocolate and spoke up.

"She put way too much stuff in it. Let's see, there was durian, habanero, fermented squid, sausage, wheatgrass juice, bell peppers, dried coffee, and I think she even put fish eyes in there. It was a lot of stuff." Yu said as Sojiro and Kusa exchanged appalled looks as the former spoke up.

"Okay, I think I need to give Nanako a crash course on what does and what does NOT go well with coffee. I'm sure Kusa can do the same with her for chocolate, given how much of a weakness he has for the stuff." Sojiro said as Shiho spoke up with a sly smirk, resisting the urge to giggle at the scandalized look on Kusa's face that suggested he was still clearly horrified by what Nanako had done to something as simple as a bar of chocolate.

"If Kusa doesn't want to, then Ann can definitely do it, since she also has a big weakness for chocolate. And for sweets in general." Shiho said teasingly as Ann blushed and spoke up.

"Shuddup! But I think Kusa is definitely the go-to for chocolate advice, since he likes it more than I do. I say that from experience, since he literally gave me a side-glare when I tried taking the last chocolate from him once. He might not look like it, but Kusa can be surprisingly territorial over chocolate." Ann said as Futaba giggled and spoke up.

"I think he's just that way over everything he likes, really." Futaba said as Kusa huffed and spoke up.

"Enough with the teasing, ladies! I don't mind giving Nanako-chan pointers, but I don't have to sit here and listen to the two of you spew such slanderous lies! I'll admit that I growled at Ann before snatching the chocolate away, but I did not death-glare her. And Futaba? Quit being an instigator before I ground you from fun time." Kusa said with a mock-annoyed frown on his face as Labrys giggled and spoke up.

"Well, well, what's this? I could be wrong, but it sounds like someone's a bit sensitive to me. Don'tcha agree, Koromaru?" Labrys asked as Koromaru tilted his head adorably to the side in confusion before giving off a low and content 'woof' as Kusa scratched gently behind his ears while he spoke up.

"Maybe I am a bit sensitive, Labrys. You're not wrong about that. However, and I mean absolutely no offense by this, what would an Anti-Shadow weapon know about being sensitive?" Kusa asked as Aigis spoke up with a frown.

"You'd be surprised what we know about that, Amamiya the youngest. Especially if you were paying attention to the earlier conversation that my sister and I had with Sophia. But we'll let your remark slide this time, since I can tell you meant it in a genuinely curious way and not an offensive way." Aigis said as Yukari spoke up.

"Not to play devil's advocate or anything, but Amamiya the youngest seems like he was goaded into his reaction by both Sakura the younger and Takamaki-san. Suzui-san might have also instigated it a tad too." Yukari said as Kusa smiled and spoke up.

"True, but they do that a lot. But I suppose that's what sisters, or girlfriends in Futaba's case, are for-to give their brother, or boyfriend in Futaba's case, a hard time. Besides, I know they don't mean anything by it. Also, I'm not trying to scare Koromaru by snapping at them. Then again, Koromaru seems quite calm and mellow for being a Shiba Inu. I suppose that's just because he's such a good boy." Kusa said as Koromaru wagged his tail and gave off a content-sounding bark in response to what he interpreted as Kusa complimenting him, causing Rise and Ken to smirk as the latter spoke up.

"While it is true that Koromaru is a good boy, he's also a bit of a shameless lapdog these days. Heck, before you guys got here, he was legitimately sprawled out across both Labrys-san and Aigis-san's laps while getting lots of head pats and belly rubs with this really content expression on his face. And Fuuka-san even got in on it. I think he just likes being shown attention." Ken said as Koromaru tilted his head to the side in confusion, not sure what Ken meant by his comment. Kusa smirked and spoke up.

"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Amada-san. Sometimes, the best kinds of dogs are the ones that enjoy being shown affection. Also, I think you offended Koromaru by calling him a shameless lapdog. I don't think he realizes that's a compliment." Kusa said as Koromaru laid his head in Kusa's lap, to Kusa's amusement. Fuuka giggled and spoke up.

"Heh, Koro-chan sure seems to have taken a liking to Amamiya the youngest, hasn't he?" Fuuka asked as Mitsuru nodded and spoke up.

"Indeed. I think that just means Amamiya the youngest is good with animals." Mitsuru said as Kusa spoke up with a nod.

"Eh, you're not wrong, Kirijo-san. I've always found that animals seem to gravitate towards me to some extent. First, it was Morgana when he was still a cat, and now it's Koromaru. Good thing Teddie is now a human and not an animal anymore, or I might have had to ask Sojiro to let me put up bear traps in the attic of Leblanc in case I woke up to Teddie trying to spoon me like Morgana unintentionally did to Ren once." Kusa said as Ren and Morgana pouted at Kusa's remark and the latter spoke up while Ryuji, Goro, Ann, Futaba, Sojiro, and Sumire all burst out laughing at the adorable pair of identical looks of indignation on Ren and Morgana's faces while Morgana spoke.

"HEY! In my defense, I was used to sharing a bed with Ren! Also, I forgot that it would be different after getting a human form! I still can't believe Ren told you about that, Kusa." Morgana said as Ren spoke up while frowning at Morgana for trying to accuse him of telling Kusa about what he considered one of his scariest memories from his time living in Leblanc.

"I didn't tell him about that. That was Goro, the meddling prick he can be at times." Ren said as Goro smirked and spoke up.

"All's fair in love and war, Ren. Besides, you had it coming for trying to lock me in that closet with Haru after I rejoined the group. I'm not sure if you were trying to kill me or get me and Haru together. Especially since Haru could've easily killed or kissed me after being shoved into that closet with me." Goro said as Haru giggled and spoke up.

"I was more embarrassed than anything else, Goro. Besides, if I recall correctly, we spent most of that time cuddling, even if it was a bit awkward. To be honest, I think that was when I really started to nurse strong feelings for you. So if anything, Ren's attempt to prank you backfired spectacularly." Haru said as a 'BIP!' from Sumire's phone preceded Sophia giggling as she spoke up for the first time in a while.

"If I recall correctly what Uncle Kusa told me, he said that Goro mentioned it mainly to prank Morgana for trying to come off as a condescending jerk. And this is paraphrasing what he said, since I don't think I'm allowed to repeat the actual words that Goro used to describe Morgana." Sophia said as Sumire frowned at Goro and spoke up.

"Was Goro swearing around you, sweetie? Do I need to have Haru wash his mouth out with soap?" Sumire asked as Haru giggled and spoke up.

"Nah, I can just spank him and then put him in time-out instead. Hee hee!" Haru said as Junpei spoke up with comically wide eyes, unintentionally voicing the thought that went through pretty much the entire collective of the Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives' minds after Haru's last remark as he spoke.

"Uhh, do I even want to know what kind of super-freaky kinks you guys have in the Phantom Thieves?" Junpei asked as Akane spoke up.

"I don't think you do, Iori-san. After all, I seem to recall that one of Shiho's favorite ways of punishing Ann is to break out the-" Akane said before finding Shiho's hand suddenly clapped over her mouth as a red-faced Shiho spoke up in embarrassment.

"Oookay, let's leave it at the fact that we have a lot of unique fetishes, shall we? After all, I very much doubt that Nanako wants her Big Bro knowing what she gets up to with you behind closed doors." Shiho said as Yu spoke up, frowning at Shiho's remark but not questioning it for the sake of getting back on topic.

"Uhh, yeah, I think I'm going to ignore what Suzui just said about Nanako, because I really don't think I want to know what she was talking about. That being said, I think we got off topic here, didn't we? In any case, now that we've had a lot of time to chat, are we all ready to start figuring out where the battle will happen?" Yu asked as Kusa and Ren looked at each other before the former spoke up with a nod.

"I think we are just about ready, Yu. As for the venue, I can think of at least three Jails off the top of my head that would serve our purposes sufficiently. First is the Kyoto Jail, where we had our first bout between our groups. But I don't know if the area we fought in before is big enough for 35 people to fit comfortably. Secondly, there's the Yongen Jail, which has a few areas that are roughly the size of an arena, though the sheer length of it as well as the possibility regarding the Jail's unique gimmick makes me reluctant to suggest it.

Lastly, there's the Okinawa Jail, which has a really large open area at the end that could almost be big enough to serve as an arena. It also provides enough space for each team to have a sideline, similar to the design of football stadiums. Although, despite the fact that this arena does bring up a few unpleasant memories for some of us, it might be the most suitable for our needs." Kusa said as Yu spoke up after exchanging a look with Mitsuru as both of them nodded.

"If that's the case, then I think the Okinawa Jail seems to serve our purposes the best among the Jails you suggested, Kusa." Yu said as Mitsuru nodded and spoke up.

"I agree. So now all that remains is getting all 35 of us into the Metaverse. From what Yu told me, your group utilizes EMMA as the method of entry?" Mitsuru asked as Ren grinned and spoke up.

"That is correct, Kirijo-san. Basically, by inserting a specific keyword when it comes to friending a certain person, we will be able to enter that person's Jail. And since you only need one person to use it, they can pull themselves, along with anyone else that is close by within a certain radius, into the Metaverse. So it would be a simple task to get everyone into the Okinawa Jail if we stick close together. So, with that having been said, are there any other questions before we head into the Metaverse to have this rematch?" Ren said as Chie spoke up.

"No, I think we're all good to go. But if I'm wrong, someone can speak up to correct me." Chie said as no one moved to correct her. At that point, Kusa turned to Yu and Mitsuru's groups and spoke up.

"In that case, are all of you ready to enter the Metaverse?" Kusa asked, getting nods from the collective whole of both the Shadow Operatives and Investigation Team, at which point Ren spoke up.

"Ok then, let's get this done." Ren said as pulled out his phone to access EMMA as he spoke up.

"EMMA? Add Shuzo Ubukata to my friend registry. The keyword is 'Operation Oraculi." Ren said as EMMA spoke up.

"Keyword successfully entered. Beginning navigation." EMMA said and in a few seconds, everyone that was present in the meeting room was whisked into the Metaverse...

(A short time later, inside of the entrance of the Okinawa Jail, with Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, Auburn, Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, Marie, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Fuuka, Mitsuru, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken, and Labrys)

After the group arrived in the Okinawa Jail, Rise shuddered and spoke up.

"Eww, why are we in a creepy place like this!? This place gives me a worse case of the creeps than all of the times when Teddie tried creeping on all of us girls combined." Rise said as Yu glared at Teddie after Rise mentioned Teddie creeping on the girls of the Investigation Team, hoping that Teddie didn't extend said creeping to Nanako, for his sake. At that point, Labrys frowned and spoke up.

"Rise-san has a point. There is a rather ominous air around this place, dont'cha think?" Labrys said as Junpei shuddered and spoke up.

"True, but at least this place pales in comparison to how Tartarus was when we had to deal with that a bit over eleven years ago." Junpei said as Mona frowned and spoke up.

"Hmm, that's the second time now that one of your group has mentioned this 'Tartarus', Iori. I know that Mitsuru told us earlier that this place appears in place of your school during the Dark Hour in the form of a tower, but what exactly is 'Tartarus'?" Mona asked as Mitsuru frowned and spoke up.

"It's a long story, Mona." Mitsuru said bluntly before turning to Joker and speaking up.

"From what I remember correctly, you stated earlier that you were the leader of your group. So how far in do we have to walk to find this arena that you mentioned?" Mitsuru asked as Joker chuckled and spoke up.

"It's a bit of a walk, but it's not an overly long one. However, despite the fact that this place is usually crawling with Shadows, I think we could swiftly dispatch any Shadows that may appear. Especially since there are close to three dozen Persona-users present at the moment." Joker said as Mitsuru nodded and spoke up.

"I see. Well, since we have some time, I suppose my group can inform you about the details of Tartarus along with what we experienced during our time as the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, or S.E.E.S for short. However, I do want to inform you all that this story will also involve a mention of two other members of our group who were not fortunate enough to survive our time as S.E.E.S. They are our late field leader, Minato Arisato, and an old friend of Akihiko and myself who went by the name of Shinjiro Aragaki. Note that it is a bit of a long story, so it will be best if we tell it as we walk." Mitsuru said as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Understood. But before we get going, I should probably point out to those who have only just met us that my group and I use code names whenever we're in the Metaverse. For instance, my code name is Joker. Going in the order from oldest member to the newest albeit with one exception, Morgana's code name is Mona, Ryuji's is Skull, Ann's is Panther, Yusuke's is Fox, Makoto's is Queen, Futaba's is Oracle, Haru's is Noir, Goro's is Crow, Sumire's is Violet, Kusa's is Draconis-" Joker said as Akihiko spoke up with a smirk.

"AHA! I freaking knew it! I had a feeling you were Draconis, Amamiya the youngest." Akihiko said as Joker frowned at Akihiko's interruption and continued speaking.

"As impressive as it is that you were able to figure out one of our code names, can you please not interrupt me, Akihiko?" Joker said as Akihiko spoke up.

"Oh, uh, sorry about my outburst, Joker. It's just that ever since I met him, I had this feeling that your brother may be Draconis. So, I've been wanting to see if that was true or not." Akihiko said as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"You are forgiven, Akihiko-san. Anyways, where was I? Oh, right. Kusa's is Draconis, Sophia's is Seeker, Sojiro's is Pendragon, Shiho's is Flare, Zenkichi's is Wolf, Akane's is Auburn, and last but most certainly not least, as well as being probably the most interesting one for Yu's group, Nanako's is Seraphim. I know that's a lot of code names to remember, but luckily most of them are short." Joker said as Yukari giggled and spoke up.

"Why is Amamiya the youngest's code name literally the term for a female dragon?" Yukari asked as Draconis glared at her and spoke up.

"Very funny, Takeba. It sounds like that, but it's not. The 's' at the end of my code-name is silent. It's supposed to be pronounced as 'dra-kha-nee', but with an 's' at the end." Draconis explained as Yu and Rise winced at Seraphim's code name, both of them being reminded of the dungeon they'd had to brave to save her after she was thrown into the TV world less than a month after her seventh birthday during the year Yu stayed in Inaba with the Dojimas. Teddie then smirked and spoke up.

"While I commend Draconis for the uniqueness of his code name, that's nothing compared to Nana-chan's code name. Her outfit makes her look like a divine angel, so it only makes sense for her to have a divine code name. However, I can't say the same for Mona, as he ends up being stuck in a cat-boy outfit all the time in the Metaverse. I guess it could be worse, though. He could be stuck looking like a glorified butler, like in the way that Joker does based on his outfit. And don't even get me started on how bear-y sexy some of the ladies look in the Phantom Thieves." Teddie said as both Mona and Joker spoke up.

"RUDE!" Joker and Mona said as the latter kept speaking.

"I am NOT a cat-boy! Also, you don't get to try to throw shade at the ladies of the Phantom Thieves, Teddie! Besides, in comparison to you, they do not look like a life-sized mascot." Mona said as Pendragon frowned and spoke up.

"Easy, Mona. Save that anger for the battlefield. If by chance you and Teddie face off against each other, you can let him have it then." Pendragon said as Wolf spoke up.

"I agree. However, I do want to point out that Teddie was just hitting on my daughter just now, as his last remark was him stating that all of the girls of the Phantom Thieves are sexy. And from the looks on her face, I don't think Marie found what he said to be very amusing." Wolf said as Marie frowned and spoke up, ignoring the disapproving look Violet gave her for the language she used as she spoke.

"I didn't. However, I'm quite used to Teddie's acting when it comes to him being both a manwhore and a simp." Marie said dryly, causing both Mona and Draconis to try to suppress their laughter at how harshly Marie was tearing into Teddie. Yu then spoke up, while smirking as he noticed the intense glare Violet was giving both Teddie and Marie and the annoyed glare Mona had given Teddie earlier for flirting with both Seraphim and Seeker.

"As much as I enjoy the banter, perhaps now would be a good time to start walking before Teddie digs himself into a deeper hole with his big mouth. Let alone make me more irritated with his constant hitting on Seraphim." Yu said as Queen spoke up with a nod.

"Good idea. If you'll all follow us, we'll lead the way to the arena." Queen said as Mitsuru spoke up.

"Very well. We can tell you about our story along the way, and if time permits, we can also give you the backstory of how Labrys fits into everything. It also goes hand-in-hand with how my group met Yu's group, to a point." Mitsuru said as the Phantom Thieves nodded while leading the Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives to the arena. By the time the groups reached the arena, Mitsuru had finished explaining the backstory of S.E.E.S and of Labrys, making Draconis' eyes widen slightly as he spoke up.

"Dang. So alongside the fact that your group had to fight in order to get rid of the Dark Hour and Tartarus, you also had to prevent the world from coming to an end thanks to the manipulations of a madman who seemed to be as fond of making puns as Teddie is. Not only that, but your group also had to fight against other Persona-users who were fixated on seeing the world end, and you had two of your other members, one of which being your field leader and Wild Card, sacrifice themselves at various points to protect the group. In regards to both Arisato-san and Aragaki-san, you have my sympathies for your losses, Kirijo-san." Draconis said before turning to Yu as he kept speaking.

"And Yu? Are you sure that Teddie isn't secretly evil? I'm only asking because that Ikutsuki guy that Kirijo-san mentioned was evil, and he loved puns just as much as Teddie even though the latter's puns only utilize the word 'bear'?" Draconis asked as Yu chuckled and spoke up.

"Nah, we're nearly positive that Teddie's not evil." Yu said as Yosuke laughed and spoke up.

"I agree with Yu. Besides, Teddie's too much of a bumbling idiot to be an effective villain. Not to mention the fact that Marie probably wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole if Teddie really was evil, since she has a very dim view of bad guys." Yosuke said as Marie blushed and spoke up.

"If not for the fact that I was trying to spare Yu that day, I think I should've struck you guys harder when I dropped lightning on all of you for peeping on us at the hot springs after the ski trip." Marie said as Kanji spoke up.

"Ehh, yeah, we were pretty big creeps that day. Sorry about that." Kanji said as Seraphim and Draconis both gave Marie confused looks before the former spoke up.

"Wait, you guys went to the hot springs without me?" Seraphim asked as Yu spoke up.

"Yeah, sorry about not informing you. It was kind of an unplanned trip after we saved Marie from herself. And to be honest, I'm glad we didn't bring you. Especially since as Marie just mentioned, she literally summoned a thunderstorm to strike all of us men after she and the girls caught Yosuke, Teddie, and Kanji trying to peep at them. And despite that I refused to have any part in it, the girls insisted that I should be punished for simply being there, despite my innocence. Thus, even if you were with us Seraphim, I'm not sure if you would have avoided being struck by Marie's lightning. Also, I can't bear the thought of you being involved in another hot springs incident, especially considering what happened during the first time we went to the hot springs together." Yu said as Seraphim spoke up.

"Fair enough, Big Bro. Then again, I have a feeling that Teddie and Yosuke were mostly peeking at Marie and Big Sis anyway. Although, I suppose they could've been peeking at Naoto and Yukiko, but I doubt they'd try to ogle those two along with Chie." Seraphim said, ignoring the dry glares aimed at her by Yukiko, Naoto, and Chie as the group walked into the arena, which was a giant square open room at the very back of the Okinawa Jail. Not surprisingly, both Seeker and Mona shuddered as they both were assaulted with memories of the last time they'd been in this same room together. Seeker then spoke up.

"Hard to believe this is the first time we've all been back here since our group's initial run through this place. I still can't believe how much of a close call I had when we were all fighting that Lock Keeper here. Good thing Mona was willing to protect me." Seeker said as Violet and Joker smiled at a blushing Mona, who spoke up.

"Of course I was trying to protect you, Lady Seeker. Not only are you an amazing teammate, you're also someone I have a very high opinion of. The fact you're also very pretty is just the metaphoric icing on the cake." Mona said as Seeker shyly smiled even as her cheeks went red while she spoke up.

"Thank you. That means a lot that you think so highly of me, Mona." Seeker said as Ken spoke up, an intrigued look on his face.

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened with you two the last time you came to this place?" Ken asked as Mona spoke up.

"To make a long story short, we were confronted by a 'Lock Keeper', which is a massive Shadow who keeps the Jail's Monarch trapped within their traumas and prevents them from returning to their original selves by reminding them of their painful pasts. Normally, we have to fight these things as defeating them unlocks the Birdcage that holds our target's source of Desires, thereby allowing us to confront their Shadows and change their hearts. However, in this Jail's case, the Monarch had already fled his post, so this place had no active Monarch for us to go after. Instead, we were greeted by a voice that only Seeker could hear at first. Once we got in here, we were all able to hear it. But once we were able to hear the voice, most of us ended up wishing we weren't able to.

That voice, which we have yet to identify to this day, proceeded to savagely and systematically try to break Lady Seeker's spirit by calling her a number of messed-up things and making her feel worthless. If not for the fact that this voice didn't have a physical form, both Violet and I would be tearing whoever it was apart after what it said to poor Lady Seeker. Also, before you start getting sad again, you are far from worthless or bugged, Lady Seeker. You are a very valuable, very kind, and very amazing person who those of us in the Phantom Thieves are glad to know each and every day that we've known you. All of us love you and appreciate you for who you are." Mona said as Seeker blushed and spoke up.

"Thank you, Mona. I love you too. E-Err! I mean, I appreciate you too!" Seeker said before going bright red in embarrassment at her own slip of the tongue, ignoring the identical set of grins on the faces of Seraphim, Auburn, Flare, Panther, Oracle, and Violet as Oracle spoke up.

"Aww, how cute. Seeker just slipped up and basically confessed to Mona. Mwehehe!" Oracle said as Violet spoke up.

"I had a feeling she had feelings for Mona, so this isn't surprising to me." Violet said as Mona spoke up.

"While some of you may think that, I believe Lady Seeker is still trying to sort out her feelings for me. But enough about that, let's get back to the story. After we denied the voice, it manifested as a four-armed Lock Keeper, with each arm holding a different weapon. One hand had a sword, one had a shield, one had an axe, and the fourth had a ray gun, of all things.

At first, we were confused by the ray gun since we had seen the other three weapons before when battling previous versions of the Lock Keeper. However, we were able to quickly figure out its purpose when the Lock Keeper aimed the ray gun at Lady Seeker and attempted to shoot her. Of course, that fool had no way of knowing I would leap into the path of the attack and take the literal energy bullet for Lady Seeker. And it was on that day that I nearly ceased to exist." Mona said as the members of the Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives gasped as Chie spoke up.

"Wait, so you almost died!?" Chie asked as Mona nodded and spoke up.

"Yup, that energy bullet was meant to kill Lady Seeker's physical form. But since I took it instead, it caused my cat form to be on the verge of being removed from existence in both the Metaverse and the real world." Mona said as Naoto spoke up.

"So then, how were you able to survive?" Naoto asked as Mona spoke up.

"Well, it was thanks to the help of Joker and the others that I was able to be saved. They were able to unleash some miracle by channeling the powers of their respective Arcana into me, while I did the same by accepting their offerings. This not only saved me from being wiped out of existence but also turned me from a talking cat into an honest-to-God human. As I recall, I gave everyone a big surprise when they saw me as a human after we left the Okinawa Jail. However, I'm quite certain that some of them were more than happy, let alone yelling at me for making them think that I almost died, as opposed to them being shocked by my new form." Mona said as Aigis spoke up.

"What an interesting story, Mona. It reminds me of how my friends and I channeled our own powers to help Minato-san seal Nyx back during our initial run as Persona-users." Aigis said as Seeker spoke up.

"While a part of me was still worried and shaken after that ordeal, I never really got a chance to thank you for saving me, Mona. You were so brave and heroic when you took that shot for me." Seeker said as Mona smiled and spoke up.

"You're welcome, and I'm sorry for worrying you, Lady Seeker. I just hope that something like that won't happen again. But I'll always be there to protect you if anything else tries to harm you." Mona said as Seeker smiled while nodding her head which was followed by Yu speaking up.

"As cute as it is that you two seem to be having a moment, I believe we were here for our rematch, and not necessarily for a trip down memory lane." Yu said as Violet spoke up with a frown.

"And who says we can't do both, Yu? Besides, I don't hear Rise-san complaining about Mona and Seeker's moment." Violet said as Rise smiled and spoke up.

"That's because I thought it was super-cute. Sure, it's a bit niche and unusual, since one of those two is an AI and the other is a human who used to be a talking cat. But if Yosuke-kun can develop a crush on an Anti-Shadow weapon, then it's not a stretch to say that love comes in many forms. However, I do agree with Yu that we should stay on task for now." Rise said as Yu nodded approvingly.

"Thank you, Rise. Glad you've got my back. Now then, before we get started, there are a few rules I want to lay down, and these will be VERY strictly enforced." Yu said as Joker spoke up.

"Okay, lay 'em on us, Yu." Joker said as Yu nodded and spoke up.

"First of all, much like our first encounter, this rematch will be a series of one-on-one bouts between our groups until only one side has players left standing. I might have been lenient with a few things in our first encounter, but I will be much more strict this time. That being said, the first rule I have is that these matches WILL be strictly one-on-one ONLY, with NO outside interference permitted this time. Anyone who tries will find themselves disqualified on the spot." Yu said as Draconis spoke up, amused that Yu seemed to like the rules he'd proposed for the first bout enough to re-use them for the rematch.

"That's fair. What's next?" Draconis asked as Yu spoke up with an approving nod to Draconis' question.

"Glad you asked. The next rule I have is that moves that are unique to ONLY one person are on the table. This includes Showtimes, Theurgies, as well as any unique moves that can be used by your own Persona. This also includes finishers such as what my group and the Shadow Operatives had during the P-1 Grand Prix that we told you about where we met Labrys. As for moves such as Triad Specials that require more than one person, those are NOT allowed." Yu said as Fox spoke up.

"Right. If I recall correctly from what we were told on the way here, that would be the fighting tournament that took place in the TV World that your group and Kirijo-san's group were forced into, correct? I'm still stunned that Labrys was a victim in all of that, and that one of the main culprits for that tournament was her own Shadow." Fox said as Flare spoke up.

"And not only that, but that very same Shadow was the one that we fought as an echo recently in the Yongen Jail as part of our training for this rematch." Flare said as Labrys, Yosuke, Rise, and Yu exchanged shocked looks, but figured that it would be explained later. Panther then spoke up.

"Hey, uh, I have a question. What is a Theurgy? I remember hearing Yu mention that as something that can be utilized in this rematch." Panther said as Mitsuru smiled and spoke up.

"Ah, yes, I forgot about that. You see, a Theurgy is a unique move that myself and the original members of S.E.E.S had used during our initial run as Persona-users. By inserting a special cartridge into our Evokers and then summoning our Personas, we are then able to execute a skill that can turn the tide of battle." Mitsuru said as Skull spoke up.

"Whoa, for real?" Skull said in amazement as Junpei spoke up.

"Yes sir. These moves can range from revitalizing our party back to full power, boosting our stats as well our physical and magical skills, and even unleashing massive amounts of damage to our enemies." Junpei said as Crow smirked and spoke up.

"Well now, I suppose this will make the upcoming battle regarding your group a lot more interesting. Am I to assume that these Theurgies are essentially on par with our third-tier Personas in terms of their unique abilities?" Crow asked as Akihiko spoke up.

"You could say that. Although, unlike you guys and Narukami-san's group, our Personas have only evolved once during our time as S.E.E.S. But to make up for that, each of us in the Shadow Operatives can use two different Theurgies in battle." Akihiko said as Draconis spoke up.

"Ok, now you've got me interested. I'm looking forward to seeing what these skills can do once we start this rematch." Draconis said as Noir giggled and spoke up

"As am I. But wait, what about Labrys? You mentioned that all of you had these Theurgies when you were still known as S.E.E.S. But since Labrys joined you by the time your group became the Shadow Operatives, didn't she get one as well?" Noir asked as Labrys spoke up.

"Unfortunately Noir, I didn't end up getting a Theurgy by the time I joined my sister and her group. However, it would be wise for you all to not underestimate me and my Persona, as we can still inflict massive amounts of damage on all of you." Labrys said and as Noir nodded in understanding, Yu spoke up.

"Assuming there are no more questions regarding the second rule, I would like to proceed with laying down the last rule for this rematch. With that being said, the final rule that we have, which will be strictly enforced and has been unanimously agreed upon by my group, is that Seraphim CANNOT be matched against anyone from the Investigation Team, under any circumstances. Furthermore, if Seraphim happens to be the last one standing on your side and only members from my group remain on my side, then your group would automatically be declared the winner. I believe I speak for the entire Investigation Team when I say that we would rather surrender than engage in a fight with Seraphim. None of us feel capable of intentionally causing harm to her, even for the sake of a bout." Yu said as Seraphim pouted and spoke up.

"Hey, that's not fair, Big Bro! I can handle fighting your group!" Seraphim said as Auburn spoke up.

"You might be able to, but do you think that your Big Bro and his friends could live with themselves if they got too carried away and seriously hurt you, Seraphim? Besides, I know that deep down, you would hate having to hurt your Big Bro or his friends." Auburn said as Seraphim sighed and spoke up.

"You have a point, even if I don't like to admit it." Seraphim said as Yu gave Auburn a grateful nod for intervening when she did before he spoke up.

"And other than those rules, the only other rule I have to mention is that where possible, we'd prefer to see you guys giving these fights your all. If that means using your weapons AND your Personas, then so be it. But we don't want you holding back on us." Yu said as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Fair enough. We weren't planning on holding back at all. As it was, it was bad enough that half of us were too drained to be able to take part in the first encounter we had with your group. Fortunately for us, Draconis proved to be a competent leader when he led part of our group to victory when we faced you before. So I think we'll be fine if we give you all we've got." Joker said as Draconis spoke up.

"Yeah, regarding your mention of me leading us, Joker. I was thinking that you can take the reins this time, since you're our rightful leader. I only stepped in before since you were too drained to take part, even though you participated alongside me when we both fought Yu at the very end. So I hope you don't mind leading us this time around." Draconis said as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"If that's what you want, then so be it, Draconis. I will be more than happy to be in command this time." Joker said as Yu spoke up.

"Well, since we seem to be ready, let's head to our respective sidelines, which are clearly marked so we know which is which before planning out who to send in first. Oh, and to give you a heads up, both our groups will be given five minutes to decide who goes in first before the first bout starts." Yu said as Draconis frowned and spoke up.

"Hold on a minute. Before we get started, I think we should bring up the fact that your group has one more Persona-user than ours. Are we going to have to deal with a handicap, or is one of you going to sit out?" Draconis asked as Fuuka smiled and spoke up.

"I can see how you'd be confused about that, Draconis-kun, but unlike Rise-san and Oracle-san, my Persona Juno is only suited for navigation, rather than combat. So, as such, we decided I'd act as both a referee of sorts for the bouts along with being able to step in and heal the winner of each round with my Theurgy skill, 'Oracle'. So, don't worry about me. This is very much an even bout, I assure you." Fuuka said as Draconis nodded and spoke up.

"Fair enough. Ignoring the fact that your Theurgy skill shares a name, or rather a code name with my girlfriend, I can understand you being the referee, Yamagishi-san. My apologies for coming off as accusatory, but I had to be sure that all possibilities were being considered." Draconis said as Yu nodded and spoke up.

"Understandable. Now, shall we start planning out the first match?" Yu asked as the groups nodded and headed to their respective sidelines, which were decorated thanks to the abilities of Oracle, Rise, and Fuuka's Personas with the usual logo of most of the Phantom Thieves' calling cards for the Phantom Thieves, and then a mixed image of the S.E.E.S. logo and a giant image of Teddie's bear suit, making Yosuke groan and speak up.

"What? Why is our sideline a giant effigy of Teddie with a S.E.E.S. logo?" Yosuke asked as Akihiko spoke up.

"Because it was the easiest way to meld our team logos together, even if I disagree with yours being Teddie." Akihiko said as Yukiko spoke up.

"Well, I think Teddie being the representative of our group makes sense, seeing as he is the most unique member. So try not to let this logo bother you both throughout this bout." Yukiko said as both Yosuke and Akihiko nodded as the three headed over to their sidelines with the other members of their joined group.

(On the Phantom Thieves sideline, with Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn)

Once the group was on their sidelines, Crow turned to Joker and spoke up.

"Well, since Draconis has appointed you as the leader for this, have you decided on who's going in first for our side?" Crow asked as Joker spoke up.

"I had to think about this very carefully on the way here. Since the Investigation Team will be using more powerful versions of their Personas and we are unsure of the Shadow Operatives' fighting capabilities, I suggest we send someone who has previously fought in the first bout. This way we can see for ourselves what we're dealing with here." Joker said as Draconis spoke up.

"Not a bad strategy to start. I assume you have someone specific in mind, Joker?" Draconis asked as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Yes, I have. And given that he doesn't have a specific person from the other side who can cleanly match him, I think Pendragon should be our first battler. That is, if he has no objections." Joker said as Pendragon spoke up with a nod.

"I'm okay with going first for this rematch. My Persona has a variety of skills that will make it difficult for me to be easily defeated. However, I just hope I don't end up being the first one eliminated from this bout, as that would be embarrassing. Not to criticize her, but I believe Seeker can understand that sentiment, given that she was the first one to be taken out of the fight during the last time we battled against Yu's group, even though she did technically eliminate Chie before being disqualified shortly after." Pendragon said as Seeker sighed and spoke up.

"I hate that you brought that up, but you're not wrong, Pendragon. Just do your best." Seeker said as Pendragon nodded and started heading towards the arena.

(Meanwhile, on the mixed Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives sideline, with Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Fuuka, Mitsuru, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken, Labrys, and Marie)

After the Shadow Operatives and Investigation Team were gathered on their shared sideline, Fuuka spoke up.

"So Yu-kun, who's going to go in first for your side?" Fuuka asked, deciding to try and be neutral in this rematch as the referee. Yu then spoke up.

"Good question, Fuuka. Considering that we only have a 1 in 17 chance of correctly guessing who the other side will send in first, it's basically up to luck if we can get an early advantage. But I think in this case, we should start with a hard-hitter so that we might have the fortune of gaining an early lead for our side. To be honest, if he's not opposed to it, I was thinking we could have Kanji be our first battler since he's incredibly tanky and can hit pretty hard with his Physical skills. In addition, Rise did a scan on the others in our initial encounter, and none of them have resistance or weakness to Physical moves, making that a valid strategy for Kanji to rely on. That is, provided he's careful to not use more health than he can get back with his 'Regenerate 3' skill. So he's probably our best bet to send out first." Yu said as Kanji smirked and spoke up.

"You want me goin' in first? You got it, Senpai! I'll do my best to take out at least two of them before I fall." Kanji said as Yu nodded approvingly as Kanji slung his weapon, which was a folding chair of all things, over one shoulder and headed out to the arena to see who the Phantom Thieves had sent, only to be surprised to see Pendragon out on the field first. Kanji shrugged and spoke up.

"So, I'm facing you first, eh? I feel bad a bit, but it is what it is. Let's both give it our best." Kanji said as Pendragon nodded and spoke up.

"I agree. Good luck to you Kanji, and may the best fighter win." Pendragon said as Kanji smirked and spoke up.

"Good luck to you too, Pendragon." Kanji said as he shook Pendragon's hand and the two took ready stances as Fuuka spoke up.

"It seems as if our first match will be Pendragon versus Kanji! Who will win this clash of juggernauts and score the first win for their team? We shall see soon enough, won't we? Good luck to both of you. If you're both ready, let us begin immediately." Fuuka said as Kanji and Pendragon nodded to signify they were ready as Fuuka waved her arm to start the first match.

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn)

(Match 1 Start- Pendragon VS Kanji)

As the match started, Pendragon and Kanji both looked at each other and bowed before speaking up in unison.

"COME TO ME, KOHRYU!/LET'S RAGE, TAKEJI ZAITEN!" Pendragon and Kanji said as they summoned their respective Personas, though Pendragon, along with the rest of the Phantom Thieves gasped at the change that had occurred in Kanji's Persona since their last encounter. Instead of the black and white skeletal thing Kanji once had, he now had a very well-built Persona that was mostly white and red with flame patterns, excluding its helmet and mustache, which were both gold, the helmet having a golden circle between the horns atop the helmet, making it look more akin to a samurai, especially with the scimitar-like blade it wielded. At the sight of this new Persona, Pendragon spoke up.

"Oh boy. I guess Yu wasn't kidding when he said that all of you have more powerful Personas now." Pendragon said as Kanji smirked and spoke up.

"You got that right. We ain't holding back this time, so come at me with everything you've got." Kanji said as Pendragon smirked and spoke up.

"Very well, let's see if you have the manpower to face me." Pendragon said as he readied himself with Excalibur.

Kanji then took the initiative by charging forward and swinging his folding chair at Pendragon, who saw it coming and readied his Excalibur, using his shield to block the folding chair and knock it backwards as he swung his sword at Kanji, knocking the folding chair aside as Pendragon knocked back Kanji with his sword. This gave the Phantom Thief time to use 'Concentrate' as Kohryu blasted at Kanji with a burst of enhanced Psy energy that Takeji Zaiten blocked with his sword. However, Pendragon used that distraction to have Kohryu unleash a massive earthquake with 'Gigantomachia' that shook the whole arena.

But much to Pendragon's shock, Kanji was able to resist the Physical move quite easily as he then had his Takeji Zaiten unleash a burst of Elec energy to knock Pendragon back. Although Pendragon was able to not get hurt due to his resistance to Electricity, just before he could counterattack, Kanji's Persona seemingly flexed as he slammed his sword into the ground causing a shockwave that knocked Pendragon onto his backside, making Kanji smirk as he spoke up.

"HA! How do you like that!? Time for you to learn how to do things The Man's Way!" Kanji said as he smirked at the downed Pendragon and nodded to Takeji Zaiten, who aimed a palm towards the downed Pendragon and loosed a massive burst of energy from his hand that slammed head-on into the stunned Pendragon, who only had enough time to blink before a small explosion ensued, and when the dust cleared, Kohryu was nowhere to be seen and Pendragon was seen laid out on the ground, clearly unconscious and defeated. At that point, it was hard to tell if Crow, Draconis, Oracle, or Joker was the most stunned at how Pendragon had been badly taken out by Kanji, who smirked and spoke up after triumphantly pumping a fist.

"Sorry for the abrupt and rough end, but I've proven my manhood!" Kanji said while crossing his arms as the match ended.

(Match 1 End. Winner: Kanji)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon)

At that point, Fuuka raised her arm and spoke up.

"Pendragon is out of the match! Kanji wins the first round! Phantom Thieves, you get five minutes to choose your next battler and send them in to face Kanji." Fuuka said as the Phantom Thieves nodded before Draconis and Joker carried the unconscious Pendragon to the Phantom Thieves sidelines, where Crow, Mona, and Flare worked together to revive Pendragon with 'Samarecarm' as Fuuka used her 'Oracle' skill to heal Kanji. After Pendragon was conscious and helped to the bench, Oracle spoke up with concern on her face.

"Are you alright, Pendragon?" Oracle asked as Pendragon groaned and spoke up.

"I'm fine. Crap, I really just got beaten first, didn't I?" Pendragon asked as Draconis nodded and spoke up.

"I'm afraid so. But to be fair, none of us could've anticipated that Yu's group had evolved Personas to use, much less that they had such powerful skills. We just made the mistake of underestimating them. But no matter. Now that we've got an idea of what they can do, we'll be more careful." Draconis said as Joker spoke up.

"Agreed. And I have an idea as to whom I want to send out next. It's time we gave Yu's group a surprise of our own, as they are not the only ones with new power. Sorry to put you in so soon, and despite the fact that you are similar to him in terms of skills, I think you're the best bet to face Kanji, Skull. With your speed, you might be able to outmaneuver Kanji's attacks faster than he can with yours. So Skull, care to go out there and avenge Pendragon?" Joker asked as Skull grinned and spoke up while nodding.

"Definitely! I've been waiting for a chance to fight in one of these battles since I was left out of the last one. Let me at 'em, Joker! I'll avenge Pendragon for sure!" Skull said as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Go get 'em, Skull! Good luck!" Joker said as Skull nodded and headed out to the arena to meet up with Kanji. Once he got to the arena, Kanji nodded to Skull and spoke up.

"Ah, are you my next opponent then?" Kanji asked as Skull nodded and spoke up.

"Hell yeah! And don't think I'll fall as easily as Pendragon did! Time to throw down, Kanji! Let's see who's toughness comes out on top!" Skull said as Kanji smirked and spoke up.

"Well said. Let's give this our all. Good luck to you, Skull! May the best man win!" Kanji said as he and Skull bowed to one another as Fuuka spoke up.

"Looks like Match 2 will be Kanji VS Skull! Can Skull bring down Kanji, or will the Phantom Thieves find themselves in an early hole? To find out, let the second match BEGIN!" Fuuka said as she swung her arm to start the match.

(Match 2 Start- Skull VS Kanji)

As the match started, Skull and Kanji spoke up in unison while facing one another.

"TAKE 'EM DOWN, WILLIAM!/LET'S RAGE, TAKEJI ZAITEN!" Skull and Kanji said as they summoned their respective Personas, surprising the Investigation Team with the fact Skull's Persona had evolved since their last encounter with the Phantom Thieves. Kanji then speaks up as he looks at Skull's new Persona.

"Whoa, I guess we aren't the only ones who came prepared. I don't remember seeing you with that Persona." Kanji said as he remembered when he saw Skull battle his clone in the Kyoto Jail with Seiten Taisei as the Phantom Thief grinned and spoke up.

"No, you haven't. The rest of us in the original group of Phantom Thieves have evolved our Personas since we last saw you." Skull said as Kanji chuckled and spoke up.

"If you think that's going to take me down, you are mistaken." Kanji said as he readied himself with his folding chair Skull spoke up.

"Then let's see if you have what it takes to back up your claim. My Persona and I are much stronger than you realize." Skull said as he readied his mace as the clash between the two blondes began.

The battle starts with Skull and Kanji's Personas firing a burst of Elec energy at each other. The attacks met in the middle thereby creating an explosion of electric light that forced everyone to cover their eyes as the two attacks canceled each other out. Once the light faded, both Skull and Kanji then nodded to their Personas as both William and Takeji Zaiten used 'Matarukaja' to increase their user's attack power as the two blondes proceeded to charge at each other. Kanji then tried to smack Skull with his folding chair, only for Skull to easily smash the folding chair aside with his mace, knocking the chair out of Kanji's hands.

Kanji then proceeds to have Takeji Zaiten launch multiple blasts of electricity at Skull, only for him to dodge every single one of them. Skull then had William use 'Agenyastra' to launch flaming meteors at Kanji, only for Kanji to tank the Physical move easily. In a bid of desperation, Kanji tried to use the same 'The Man's Way' move on Skull that he used earlier on Pendragon, but to no avail, as Skull easily tanked the hit and seemed unaffected. Skull then nodded to William, who nodded back and shot his cannon arm into the air, causing a bright orange-brown glow to surround Skull, signifying that Skull was under the effects of 'Charge/Fighting Spirit', after which Skull smirked and spoke up.

"So you like to kick people when they're down, do you? Time to put you in your place! LET 'ER RIP, WILLIAM!" Skull said as William nodded, charging forward and firing his cannon with a great deal of force, easily blasting a powered-up 'Megaton Raid' into both Takeji Zaiten and Kanji, making the former vanish before he could finish mustering a 'Primal Force' attack to save the latter, and the latter staggered backwards and spoke up.

"Dammit, I think I lost this one. Well played." Kanji said as he slumped forward and hit the ground in defeat. Fuuka raised an arm to signal the end of the match as Skull grinned and spoke up.

"And that's all she wrote!" Skull said as he fist-bumped William while the match ended and Fuuka had Juno use 'Oracle' to heal Skull.

(Match 2 End. Winner: Skull)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon and Kanji)

"Looks like Skull wins this round and ties up the battle! Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives, you get five minutes to clear Kanji off the field and send in your next battler." Fuuka said as Naoto and Yosuke helped Kanji to the bench on the mixed Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives sidelines, as Naoto spoke up.

"I guess we underestimated the Phantom Thieves, considering they now have Personas that are at an equal level to ours. Are you okay there, Kanji?" Naoto asked as Kanji nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah, I'm fine babe. Damn, that Skull guy can hit like a truck. Sorry, Senpai. Guess I only beat one of them. My bad." Kanji said as Yu smiled and spoke up.

"It's fine, Kanji. You did your best. Now who do we send in next?" Yu asked as Junpei smirked and spoke up.

"Why not send in the weird bear thing? If nothing else, it can rack up a KO or two for us. Worst case, it goes down quickly. Either way, do we really want to rely on it when it's crunch time?" Junpei said as Teddie frowned and spoke up.

"Weird bear thing? Do you mean me!? How dare you, sir!? I am so bear-y offended by what you just said!" Teddie said, not seeing half the Investigation Team facefault at the pun he'd made. Yu frowned and spoke up.

"You know what? I agree with Junpei. You're next, Teddie. Go out there and earn your keep." Yu said as Teddie smirked and spoke up.

"Good choice, Sensei! You can count on me!" Teddie said as he headed out onto the field to face Skull, who frowned as he saw Teddie come out onto the field and spoke up with a huff.

"Really? I have to fight the creepy bear thing? Eh, whatever. Good luck, Teddie. May the best man win." Skull said as Teddie spoke up.

"Same to you, Skull. How bear-y sporting of you to wish me good luck, so I'll wish you good luck in return." Teddie said as Skull resisted the urge to facepalm at that moment. Unbeknownst to Teddie and Skull, over on the Phantom Thieves' sideline, both Draconis and Crow's eyes were twitching slightly at the pun Teddie had made, the latter mouthing what sounded suspiciously like 'kill me' under his breath as he heard Teddie make a bear pun. Back with Skull and Teddie, Fuuka spoke up.

"It seems the third match will be Teddie VS Skull. Can Skull get a second straight win, or will Teddie give the momentum back to the Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives? Only one way to know for sure. Let the third match begin!" Fuuka said as she waved an arm to start the third match.

(Match 3 Start- Teddie VS Skull)

"LET 'ER RIP, WILLIAM!/COME, KAMUI-MOSHIRI!" Skull and Teddie said, and like with Kanji, the Phantom Thieves were shocked to see that Teddie's Persona had evolved since the last time they'd seen it, having turned from a red and silver being to a being with golden claws, a rainbow-colored face-like structure protruding from its chest, a golden crown atop its head, and behind the face-like structure was a red and white body, not unlike Takeji Zaiten's, but minus the flames. On top of that, the Phantom Thieves noticed something protruding from behind Kamui-Moshiri that had most of them wince as a shocked Seeker spoke up from on the Phantom Thieves' sideline.

"Wow, did all of their Personas evolve? Also, why does Teddie's look like it has a missile up it's butt?" Seeker asked as Crow and Joker both stifled a laugh at the implied mental image Seeker had unintentionally created with her question while Violet frowned at the immaturity of Joker and Crow as Draconis spoke up.

"Some Personas are just built weird, Seeker. But there are many that are designed worse than Teddie's. For example, most of our group fought a Persona called 'Mara', which was a literal tentacle monster whose head was a giant-" Draconis said as Violet blushed and cut in before Draconis could finish his sentence.

"OKAY! I think she gets the picture, Draconis. Let's not forget she's not old enough for hearing any adult-level words." Violet said as Draconis laughed and spoke up.

"First of all, would you calm down, Violet? I wasn't going to say that word. I know of many kid-friendly alternatives to use in place of that, such as 'wiener', 'schlong', and 'dong'. Secondly, I'm not going to corrupt my niece just to illustrate a point." Draconis said as a sheepish Violet spoke up.

"Ohh, I see. Forget I said anything, then." Violet said as Oracle, Auburn, and Seraphim all giggled at the embarrassed look on Violet's face as Seeker cutely tilted her head to the side in confusion and spoke up.

"What was Mom trying to stop you from saying, Uncle Draconis?" Seeker asked as Draconis spoke up.

"Don't worry about that, Seeker. Either myself, your father, or possibly your mother, will explain it to you once you're older. However, I feel like you should have a fairly good guess of what your mom thought I was going to say already. That is, assuming your mom wasn't lying about you getting a certain 'talk' from your Aunt Kasumi when you and your mom encountered her in the Yongen Jail." Draconis said as Seeker's eyes narrowed in confusion before widening in realization mid-sentence while she spoke up.

"I don't get it. What are you-Oh. OHH! Yeah, never mind. I think I get it." Seeker said sheepishly, blushing cutely in embarrassment of her own realization as Joker patted her on the head comfortingly and spoke up.

"It's all right, Seeker. You're almost at the age to be curious about that, so it's nothing to be ashamed of." Joker said as Skull and Teddie charged at each other on the battlefield, Skull swinging his mace at Teddie, who rolled out of the way and threw a swipe at Skull with his claws, who barely dodged in time to avoid the attack. At that point, William and Kamui-Moshiri started flinging attacks of their respective elements, which would be Elec for William and Ice for Kamui-Moshiri. Much to Skull's annoyance, Teddie and Kamui-Moshiri dodged all the Elec attacks with ease, making Skull grit his teeth and speak up.

"Dude, what the eff! Hold still so I can hit you, damn it!" Skull said as Teddie childishly stuck his tongue out at Skull, making his eye twitch behind his mask at the disrespect he'd been shown, while Yukiko, Chie, Oracle, Seraphim, Seeker, and Auburn all giggled at the childish outburst from Teddie on their respective sidelines as Teddie spoke up.

"No can do, Skull! I have the power of Evade Elec on my side, so despite being weak to it, there's a good chance that Elec skills can't touch me." Teddie said as Mona pouted on the Phantom Thieves' sideline and spoke up.

"WHAT THE HELL!? How come HE gets Evade Elec, yet I don't!? How is THAT fair?" Mona said in a whiny tone, making Seeker giggle as she hugged Mona comfortingly and spoke up.

"He probably needs the extra support to compensate for his likely lower durability. I think you'd take him easily in a fight, Mona." Seeker said as she gently patted Mona on the shoulder reassuringly, making them both blush cutely as Mona spoke up.

"You know what? You're right, Lady Seeker. Thank you. Who cares if he has better protection for his weaknesses than I do? I have you." Mona said as he gratefully kissed Seeker on the cheek, making her blush as Violet and Joker just shook their heads fondly. Back on the battlefield, Skull scoffed and spoke up.

"So friggin' what!? Even if I can't hit you with my Elec skills reliably, I have other ways to smack you! SHOW HIM WHAT I MEAN, WILLIAM!" Skull said as William nodded, as he then proceeded to buff Skull again with 'Charge/Fighting Spirit', which was then followed by the pirate Persona aiming his cannon arm up and firing it, making a rain of meteors drop down on the field, some of them hitting Teddie head-on, but he dodged most of them. At that point, Teddie skidded to a halt, looking as weary as Skull was.

"Nothin' to it! Granted, that 'Agneyastra' packed a punch! But you're not the only one with a trick or two up their sleeve! Show them what I mean, Kamui-Moshiri! GO! KAMUI MIRACLE!" Teddie said as Kamui-Moshiri nodded, the face-like appendage on its chest briefly turning into a slot machine. What follows is Teddie pulling the 'arm' that was on the side of Kamui-Moshiri's chest, hoping for something good to happen. To not only Teddie's surprise, but that of all the Phantom Thieves, the faces stopped on a trio of Teddie faces with hearts next to them, making Teddie cheer as he spoke up.

"WOO-HOO! I hit the jackpot!" Teddie said as his HP and SP were restored to full, making Skull's jaw drop as he spoke up.

"WHAT THE HELL!? You have a skill that can fully heal you!? That's broken!" Skull said, not seeing the Ice attack Teddie had called for in his shock at Teddie's luck, getting pelted head-on by a 'Bufudyne' from Kamui-Moshiri, knocking Skull backwards to the ground where he landed in a frozen crater, clearly out cold with William nowhere to be seen. At that point, both Joker and Draconis' jaws dropped as Crow spoke up in a mix of annoyance and disbelief.

"Are you friggin' kidding me!? Skull lost!?" Crow asked as Mona finished Skull's line of thought.

"And to a loser like Teddie, of all people!? What the hell!?" Mona said as Teddie giggled while standing triumphantly over the downed Skull and speaking up while shooting the camera a very sly wink as he posed after somehow changing outfits so he was wearing a blue and white dress with a wig of long blonde hair, smirking at the downed Mona in his human form, even if he was currently dressed as a girl.

"Ohh, did I win? Hee hee!" Teddie said as he smirked at the downed Skull as Fuuka waved an arm to signal the end of the match while having Juno heal Teddie with 'Oracle'. *1*

(Match 3 End. Winner: Teddie)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Mona, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, and Skull)

"Despite the odds against him, Teddie wins this bout, giving the edge back to the Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives! Phantom Thieves, you have five minutes to get Skull off the field and send in your next battler." Fuuka said as Draconis, Queen, and Crow carried the unconscious Skull to the Phantom Thieves' sideline, where Mona, Seeker, and Violet worked together to get Skull back on his feet with 'Samarecarm', while Joker used an anti-freeze item on Skull to defrost him, as Queen spoke up.

"You alright, sweetie?" Queen asked in concern as Skull groaned and spoke up.

"Agh. Did anyone get the number of that truck that slammed into me?" Skull asked as Mona gave him a sympathetic look and spoke up.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't a truck, Skull. It was that smug jerk, Teddie. He iced you and then knocked you out of the fight. However, I feel like he's getting a bit too big for his britches, if you catch my drift. That's why, if Joker and Draconis don't object, I'd like to be the next one up, so I can personally take him out of the battle. I might give Skull crap a lot, but he really is a good guy when you get down to it. And Teddie does not get to get away with humiliating him the way he did. I mean, it looked like Teddie was considering T-posing on Skull for a sec after the match!" Mona said as Skull frowned and spoke up.

"For real? That sucks." Skull said as Joker and Draconis looked at each other and nodded as the former spoke up and smiled at Mona.

"Well, I guess this shows that you respect Skull a lot more if you're willing to avenge his defeat." Joker said as Draconis patted Mona on the shoulder and spoke up.

"True that, Joker. If you want to go in next, then go for it, Mona. We believe in you. Go put that overconfident show-off in his place! Besides, I also think you have the right to do this since I seem to recall Teddie taking several cheap shots at Seeker before the battles. So it makes sense for you to defend her honor, for a couple of reasons. First off, it's because of how much closer you two are lately. Secondly, I believe you should go in there and avenge Skull, and to a lesser extent all of the Phantom Thief females, because it's your job as a gentleman! Now go get him, Mona." Draconis said as Seeker smiled and spoke up.

"Uncle Draconis is right. You can do it, Mona. But just in case, let's give you a bit of luck, shall we?" Seeker said as she pulled out a yellow handkerchief from her pocket and tied it around Mona's left wrist in a similar way to how his old scarf sat around his neck before he became a human. Mona blushed and spoke up.

"Uhh, what's with the handkerchief around my wrist, Lady Seeker? I'm grateful, but also confused." Mona said as Seeker giggled and spoke up.

"I looked up old-time battle traditions online on the way here. Based on my research, I read that in olden times, many ladies would tie a symbol of their favor around the neck and/or wrist of their chosen champion. In this case, I choose you to champion my honor, Mona. So go out there and teach Teddie a lesson." Seeker said before kissing Mona on the cheek, making him blush as he spoke up.

"Is that part of the traditions you read about too?" Mona asked as Seeker smiled and spoke up.

"No. That was just for luck, and to hopefully motivate you to give it your all out there. Now go on, Sir Mona! Kick his butt!" Seeker said as Mona nodded firmly yet resolutely, hugging a blushing Seeker before making his way to the arena to face Teddie, who smirked at Mona and spoke up.

"I had a feeling I'd be facing you next, Mona. I hope you're ready to put up more of a fight than Skull did. After all, you're not gonna beat me when it comes to getting the ladies, so you've gotta beat me at something." Teddie said as Mona growled and spoke up.

"What did you say!? I can so beat you at getting the ladies! And at least I didn't have to have my friends set me up on a pity date to get a girlfriend!" Mona said as Teddie frowned and spoke up.

"Shut up! It wasn't a pity date!" Teddie said as he and Mona glared at each other while Fuuka raised an arm to start the match while speaking up.

"Well, our battlers seem to be fired up this time around. So without further delay, let the fourth match between the cat-turned-human Mona and the bear-turned-human Teddie begin!" Fuuka said as the fourth match began.

(Match 4 Start- Mona VS Teddie)

As Teddie and Mona glared at each other, they spoke up in unison.

"SHOW YOUR MIGHT, DIEGO!/COME, KAMUI-MOSHIRI!" Mona and Teddie said as they summoned their Personas and attempted to slash at each other, both of their attacks managing to connect for solid damage. Teddie smirked at Mona and spoke up.

"Is that really the best you can do, Mona? If so, no wonder you lack skills with the ladies! You're so pathetic that you can't even get the attention of young girls! However, perhaps Seeker-chan is too young to truly appreciate being in the company of a man, but I digress. Having said that, if this is all you are capable of, this will be an easy victory." Teddie said as he kept slashing at Mona with his claws while Mona tried fighting back with his scimitar and having Diego throw Wind moves at Teddie. Unfortunately for Mona, Teddie seemed to shrug off Diego's Wind moves as if they were nothing. Mona gritted his teeth and spoke up.

"Dammit! Of course you'd be resistant to Wind, you cocky son of a-!" Mona said as Violet, Noir, and Queen all spoke up simultaneously.

"MONA!/MONA-CHAN! LANGUAGE!" Violet, Noir, and Queen all said as Teddie smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, look at Mona. Getting rebuked by the ladies for swearing. Pathetic! At least I don't get yelled at for my language." Teddie said as Yosuke helpfully chimed in from the Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives' sideline.

"No, you don't. You just get constantly scolded about being inappropriate around Nanako-chan and not getting into trouble instead." Yosuke said as Teddie spoke up.

"Shut up! And that's besides the point!" Teddie said as he had Kamui-Moshiri start pelting Mona with a relentless barrage of Ice moves. Mona winced and gritted his teeth as most of them hit and forced him onto the metaphoric back foot as Teddie smirked and spoke up.

"Aww, what's the matter? Already worn out? Too bad. Looks like I'm going to win this fight easily. And don't worry about your little red-headed waif of a crush. I'm sure she'll find a better man than you easily enough. Who knows? Maybe she'll take pity on you and still want to be with you, despite you being a pathetic loser who is so worthless, that in terms of skill, others can do the same things you can do, but better. After all, from what I recall of your story, isn't that what you once feared? Having your place on the team taken from you?" Teddie said gloatingly as Mona's eye twitched as he heard Teddie's taunts, before he heard Teddie mentioning Seeker and insinuating she might not like him if he can't beat Teddie, making his eyes narrow as he spoke up.

"What was that, you great furry womanizing prick!? I might struggle and ultimately fall short against you, but if there's one thing I know for sure? It's that Lady Seeker will NOT think any less of me for coming up short! However, you seem to have forgotten that I'm one of my team's most versatile healers, after Violet and Lady Seeker. So I'm sure I could easily outlast a braggart like you if I had to, Teddie! But if you don't think I'm right, then try me!" Mona said as Teddie smirked and spoke up.

"Don't mind if I do! Sounds to me like you're bear-y much in need of a lesson in why I'm better than you." Teddie said as Mona frowned and spoke up.

"I don't know that I agree with you on that, especially when you're always cracking bear puns. Puns are evil!" Mona said as he had Diego buff his speed and evasion before he swiftly charged at Teddie, who started firing Ice spells at Mona with Kamui-Moshiri, who nimbly dodged each and every one. After a bit, Teddie started panting as his stamina ran low from the constant spamming of spells. In a bid to try and keep up with Mona, Teddie attempted to use the same trick he used against Skull, but to his disappointment, the faces on the Kamui-Moshiri slot machine didn't match, meaning the 'Kamui Miracle' did nothing. Mona smirked and spoke up.

"Nyahahahaha! Looks like your luck just ran out! Time to teach you some respect, you jerk!" Mona said as he snapped his fingers and Diego used his magic to create ten clones of Mona, who all glowed green and brandished their scimitars. Draconis grinned at this as he nudged Joker and Crow and spoke up so only the three of them could hear.

"Ooh, if Mona's about to do what I think he is, then we're about to see him give Teddie a seminar on how to kick ass and take names. I don't envy being the bear right now." Draconis said as Crow and Joker nodded their agreement as the ten Monas started circling around a confused Teddie, and once he was dizzy, all ten of them rammed Teddie at once, speaking up in unison.

"TASTE OUR MIRACLE RUSH!" The ten Monas said as they simultaneously ran their scimitars through Teddie which was followed by Diego stabbing Teddie with his sword, causing an explosion of Wind energy that blinded everyone present. When everyone could see again, Mona was seen standing over a downed Teddie, who was cowering in defeat, Kamui-Moshiri nowhere to be seen.

"Yield, Teddie! And be glad I'm feeling merciful, since I'm well within my rights to knock you out after what you said about Lady Seeker! But I advise you to surrender now! Otherwise, my next strike will knock you out!" Mona said as Teddie shuddered and spoke up, seeing the hardened resolve and determination in Mona's eyes and realizing he would be foolish to keep fighting at that point.

"O-Okay! I give, I give! I surrender!" Teddie said, kneeling on the ground in defeat as Mona smirked and spoke up.

"That's what I thought. Come back when you can actually put up a fight. Mwehehe!" Mona said, crossing his arms triumphantly while Fuuka raised a hand to signal the end of the match while Juno healed Mona with 'Oracle'.

(Match 4 End. Winner: Mona)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Rise, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Mona, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, and Teddie)

"And in an entirely unsurprising outcome, Mona wins the fourth match convincingly! Investigation Team, Shadow Operatives, you have five minutes to choose your next member and get them on the field after removing Teddie from the arena." Fuuka said as Teddie fled to the joint Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives sidelines, where Yu and Yosuke both frowned at Teddie and the latter of the two spoke up.

"What the hell was that, Teddie!? And don't try to make excuses like you normally would. Yes, you took out Skull, but then you lost to a freaking cat-boy! A CAT-BOY! What sort of bear loses to a cat of all things!? Go sit your loser ass down on that bench!" Yosuke said as Yu patted his shoulder and spoke up.

"Easy does it, partner. I think Teddie gets the memo that he failed us." Yu said as Teddie looked at Marie and spoke up.

"Uh, Emmy-chan. Are you at least proud that I got the team at least one win?" Teddie asked as Marie spoke up.

"I would be, but after the comments you made to Mona during your last fight, I think you and I need to have a long talk later about the behavior you displayed today." Marie said as she held her pointer finger up and it began to glow with electricity as she continued to speak while smirking.

"And I mean A LONG TALK." Marie said as Teddie, now having officially gotten the message, nodded his head frantically and after mouthing 'Yes ma'am' to his girlfriend, the bear-turned-human quickly made his way to the bench where Kanji was. It was at this moment that Yu spoke up.

"Ok, so both teams are down two members each. Now who should we send out next?" Yu asked as Mitsuru smirked and spoke up.

"Sounds like you guys are struggling to get any traction against the Phantom Thieves. Maybe it's time for one of my group to step in?" Mitsuru said as Rise spoke up.

"One of the Shadow Operatives, Kirijo-san? Did you have someone in mind?" Rise asked as Mitsuru nodded with a smirk as she spoke up.

"Indeed. I know the perfect battler to send in next." Mitsuru said before turning to her group, putting two fingers to her lips, and whistling once, bringing Koromaru running to her side to sit at attention, making Yukiko speak up with a smile.

"Ohh, I understand what you have in mind now, Kirijo-san. Who else is better-suited to defeat a cat-boy than a cat's natural rival, the dog? I like it." Yukiko said before leaning down to pet Koromaru as she spoke up.

"What do you say, Koromaru? Think you can go beat up that mean old Mona for punishing Teddie?" Yukiko asked as Koromaru looked at Yukiko in confusion before turning to look at Mona, who childishly stuck his tongue out teasingly at Koromaru, who yelped before glaring at Mona, his ears reared back and giving Mona a low growl, as if signifying a challenge. Mitsuru grinned and spoke up.

"Oh, he's ready, all right. Koromaru? Sic 'em!" Mitsuru said as Koromaru barked once before accepting his combat knife from Mitsuru, which he put in his mouth before trotting out to the battlefield to stare down Mona, causing both Joker and Crow to gape at seeing Koromaru wielding a knife, while Draconis grinned and spoke up.

"Dude, I had no idea Koromaru-san could wield a freaking knife! That's so totally hardcore! I know he's our teammate and all, but given how serious Koromaru looks, I think Mona might be screwed." Draconis said as Skull high-fived Draconis and spoke up.

"Hell yeah, Draconis! A dog that can wield a knife is so badass! I think it's not an inaccurate assessment to figure that Mona's probably about to get his shit wrecked by a dog. I feel bad for him, but he's the one who taunted Koromaru, so he pretty much brought it on himself." Skull said as Seeker frowned and spoke up.

"Don't be so quick to count Mona out, Skull! I have faith in him to pull through! Although, I feel kinda bad cheering against Koromaru too, since he is such a cute dog and all." Seeker said as Violet smiled and spoke up.

"Understandable, Seeker. Most of us think Koromaru is a good boy. Even Draconis, for all he tries to put up a stoic front, is charmed by Koromaru." Violet said as Draconis huffed and spoke up.

"Shut up! Can I help that Koromaru's too adorable for his own good, Violet? I don't see you busting Joker's chops for being charmed by Koromaru." Draconis said as Seeker spoke up.

"That's because Mom's going to wait until she and Dad are alone to 'tease' him, I think. Hee hee!" Seeker said as Joker and Violet both did wonderful fish impressions as the former spoke up.

"Even if that is true, don't be saying such things around our present company, Seeker!" Joker rebuked Seeker, who giggled and spoke up.

"Sorry, Dad. I was just answering Uncle Draconis' question, that's all." Seeker said as Mona spoke once Koromaru was but a few feet away from him.

"You know, I'm not surprised that my next opponent is Koromaru after I just beat Teddie. And even though I'm no longer a cat, I'm dedicating this win to all cats who have been chased around by dogs everywhere. Sorry doggy, but you are just outmatched by my superior strength and charm." Mona said as Koromaru after taking those taunting words in, growled at Mona as he gave a loud bark as Fuuka spoke up in the middle of the arena.

"Well, it seems as if we have a classic clash of egos, with our next battlers being Mona and Koro-cha...err, I mean Koromaru! Battlers ready?" Fuuka asked as Mona nodded as he readied his scimitar while Koromaru slowly barked once in the affirmative and got into a charging stance with his knife as Fuuka nodded and raised an arm as she kept speaking.

"In that case, let the fifth match begin!" Fuuka said as the battle started!

(Match 5 Start- Mona VS Koromaru)

As the match started, Koromaru gave Morgana a low warning growl, giving him a very intimidating, if also slightly adorable, glare as he ran towards Mona, who hefted his scimitar as a precaution. At that point, Koromaru threw his head back and howled at the same time that Mona spoke up.

"SHOW YOUR MIGHT, DIEGO!" Mona said while Koromaru was howling, both of them summoning their Personas, which were Diego and a giant three-headed dog that was mostly black with indigo underneath the black, matching its piercing dark grey eyes rather well. On the Phantom Thieves sidelines, Draconis' jaw dropped as he spoke up.

"Are you freakin' serious right now!? Not only can Koromaru wield a knife, but his Persona is also a literal frickin' hellhound!? That totally friggin' rocks! How hardcore can one doggo be?" Draconis said as Skull spoke up with a nod after high-fiving Draconis to show his agreement of Draconis' assessment of Koromaru.

"Truth! That Persona looks so badass!" Skull said as Seeker winced and spoke up.

"That Persona is impressive, but am I the only one who saw what looked like Koromaru getting slightly shocked by his collar as he was summoning his other self?" Seeker said as Crow gritted his teeth and spoke up with a frown.

"I have no doubt in my mind that it's because Koromaru has a shock collar on him. But I suppose it's better for Koromaru to have that as his means of summoning a Persona than having to seemingly shoot himself." Crow said as Joker and Violet nodded, recalling what Mitsuru mentioned on the way here regarding The Shadow Operatives using special guns to summon their own Personas by shooting themselves in the head. The three then shifted their attention back to the match as Mona spoke up.

"I-I'm not scared of an overgrown three-headed mutt! I'll still beat you!" Mona said as Koromaru growled, clearly offended on his Persona's behalf, before nodding once to his Persona, who nodded back as he proceeded to use 'Masukukaja' to buff his agility/evasion as the three-headed dog proceeded to pelt Mona with a combination of Fire and Curse skills of normal and insta-kill variety, forcing Mona to take the defensive before seeing a break in the attacks and attempting to heal himself as he spoke up.

"Okay, you have some skill. But can you handle this?" Mona said as he used Diego to remove the agility buff with 'Masukunda', which was followed by Diego launching gusts of Wind at Koromaru. However, even without the agility buff, due to Koromaru's small size, he was able to dodge those very easily.

For a while, this cycle continued, with Mona and Koromaru continuing to clash against each other as Mona tried to use his scimitar to block Koromaru's quick strikes from his knife. All the while Diego and Koromaru's Persona, which to Joker's surprise was also named Cerberus despite looking nothing like his, try to run interference by launching Wind (in Mona's case), or Fire/Curse (in Koromaru's case) attacks at each other. The battle lasted for a bit until Mona found himself unable to muster the strength to call upon Diego so that he could use 'Diarahan' on himself, at which point Koromaru and Cerberus nodded to one another and formed up on one another as the background shifted to a view of Koromaru and Cerberus looking up in the moon and both howling at it in unison, which caused Koromaru to gain a boost in Physical attack power.

After the two howled at the full moon, Koromaru and Cerberus wasted little time in glaring intimidatingly at Mona as they charged him together, Cerberus causing a pillar of Curse energy to open up under Mona with his howl as both Koromaru and Cerberus proceeded to slash Mona with their knives and claws respectively multiple times in quick succession. Before Mona had any chance to react, Koromaru and Cerbeus then slashed him one more time in an X-shaped formation, causing the cat-turned-human to be engulfed in a pillar of Curse energy and causing an explosion that blinded everyone with a burst of black-blue light. Once everyone could see again, Koromaru's tongue was wagging as he howled once again, this time standing over a downed and almost unconscious Mona with Diego no longer having a presence in the arena.

After that, Koromaru got a deceptively sly grin on his face before pinning Mona to the ground with his front legs, making Violet and Joker gasp as they realized what Koromaru was about to do, the former quickly hugging Seeker to her and using one arm to cover Seeker's eyes, and just in time, since right after Violet shielded Seeker's eyes, Koromaru mischievously lifted his hind leg and immediately marked his territory by emptying the contents of his bladder right onto a horrified Mona's face before throwing his head back and howling in triumph, to mixed reactions from everyone watching the spectacle unfold.

On the mixed Shadow Operatives/Investigation Team sidelines, most of the group were gasping in shock at Koromaru's choice of a celebration, while some, like Junpei, Yosuke, and even both Kanji and Aigis, were grinning and/or laughing at the horrified look on Mona's face. Meanwhile, over with the Phantom Thieves, virtually all of the female Thieves were cringing at what they'd just seen, aside from Seeker, who frowned as she spoke up after Violet had removed her arm so Seeker could see again, allowing her to separate herself from Violet a bit before pouting while she spoke.

"Why'd you cover my eyes, Mom!? I wanted to see the end of that fight!" Seeker said as Violet spoke up in a no-nonsense tone.

"I don't think so, sweetie. Unless you wanted to see Mona being humiliated after losing, you do not want to know what Koromaru did after winning the fight." Violet said as Skull grinned and spoke up.

"You say that as if Seeker has never looked up on the internet regarding how dogs mark their territory, Violet. I can see that you don't want her to witness her crush being disrespected, just like how Koromaru disrespected Mona just now, but Seeker is not as fragile and innocent as you think she is." Skull said as Crow spoke up with a nod.

"I agree with Skull. As hilarious as that victory celebration was, it was still entirely uncalled for. That being said, Mona did bring it on himself for taunting Koromaru before the match." Crow said as Noir's nose scrunched in disgust as she spoke up.

"Um, I don't think any amount of taunting justifies what Koromaru did to Mona-chan, though. Or are you going to try and tell me that your idea of a victory celebration would be to go to the bathroom on Joker and/or Draconis' faces after beating them?" Noir pointed out as Crow, Joker, and Draconis frowned at the example Noir had used, while Seeker gasped and spoke up, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she spoke.

"Wait, WHAT!? Koromaru did WHAT to Mona!? How dare he!? I want to go in next and avenge Mona!" Seeker said as Panther shook her head and spoke up.

"Sorry, but that's a no-can-do, Seeker. You did see the part where Koromaru used Curse attacks on Mona, right? That tells me that you wouldn't last very long against him, seeing as you are weak to Curse. However, since Koromaru is also a Fire user, I think I might be able to take him on." Panther said as Auburn frowned and spoke up.

"Hold on, Panther. Don't you think I should go next? Seeing as my Persona can deal with both Fire and Curse attacks." Auburn said as Panther spoke up.

"That's true Auburn. However, you are only able to resist Fire attacks whereas I can nullify it. Sure, I'm not sure what I'll do about Koromaru's Curse moves, but I can try to do my best to avoid those, I suppose." Panther said as Auburn thought about it for a moment before nodding her head in acceptance of the older Thief's reasoning, which was followed by Panther speaking up again as she turned towards Joker and Violet.

"So what do think, Joker? Do you mind if I take the next one?" Panther asked as both Joker and Violet thought about it before both nodded as Joker spoke up.

"If you say that you can handle this, then go for it." Joker said as Panther smiled and spoke up.

"Thanks, Joker. I'll do my best to avenge Mona's honor for Seeker!" Panther said as she stood up and prepared to join Koromaru on the battlefield while Fuuka raised an arm to signal the end of the match before speaking up.

(Match 5 End. Winner: Koromaru)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Rise, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, Teddie, and Mona)

"And after a rather, err, unique way of celebrating his victory, Koromaru wins the match! I feel like what he did afterwards should be considered against the rules, but can we really control the call of nature? Besides, I'm sure Koromaru was just excited to defeat Mona. Even so, sorry about that ending, Mona. Phantom Thieves, you have five minutes to get Mona off the field and send in your next battler." Fuuka said as Draconis and Skull carried the humiliated Mona to the Phantom Thieves' sideline, setting him down onto the end of the bench opposite the rest of the group, making Mona frown as he spoke up.

"HEY! Why are you all so far from me!?" Mona asked as Draconis spoke up while giving Mona an apologetic look.

"Sorry Mona, but you did it to yourself. With apologies to both Violet and Seeker for the crassness of this remark, you're the one who chose to put Koromaru in a pissy mood with your taunts before the match. And given what he did to you afterwards, you apparently put him in a very literally pissy mood. And since there's no way to hose you off in the Metaverse, you'll just have to keep your distance until we can get back to the real world and get you to a bath-house to clean yourself off.

Mind you, I'm not sure if this will carry over to the real world or not, but I would imagine it would? Then again, maybe not, as I seem to recall that Wolf had blood stains on his shirt after he took that bullet from the cognitive Owada in the Osaka Jail. However, when we returned to the real world after Auburn's Awakening, his shirt was clean, as if the blood was never there. So maybe you'll be clean of the shame Koromaru inflicted on you by the time we get back to the real world? But we'll just have to see." Draconis said as Mona pouted but nodded as he spoke up.

"Fine, I understand. At least I put Teddie in his place. That being said, who's going next for our group?" Mona asked as Panther smiled at Mona and spoke up.

"That would be me, Mona. We already decided on this as the match was dying down. Don't worry, I'm going to go out there and do my best to avenge your honor for both you and your gi-err, I mean Seeker." Panther said as Mona frowned and spoke up.

"HEY! Were you about to call Lady Seeker my girlfriend, Lady Panther!? RUDE! For one thing, I don't even know if she can like anyone that way with her current state of being an AI, and not understanding the heart. Secondly, that's up to Lady Seeker if she wants me to be more than her friend." Mona said as Panther spoke up.

"Fair enough. Well, here I go. Wish me luck!" Panther said as she strode out onto the battlefield. Once she got to the battlefield, she sighed as she spoke while facing Koromaru.

"I might not want to do this, but we have to. So let's give this our best, okay Koromaru?" Panther asked as Koromaru barked once in the affirmative as Fuuka spoke up.

"Looks like both of our combatants for this round are ready to go. Will Panther be able to avenge her fellow feline's defeat, or will Koromaru walk away with two victories? Without further delay, let the sixth match begin!" Fuuka said as she waved a hand to start the fight after Juno used 'Oracle' to restore Koromaru's health.

(Match 6 Start- Panther VS Koromaru)

After staring down at each other, Panther spoke up just as Koromaru howled at the same time.

"DANCE, CELESTINE!" Panther said as she and Koromaru summoned out Celestine and Cerberus respectively. What follows is the two having their Personas launch Fire energy at each other. The resulting clash of 'Agidyne' spells ended up creating an explosion of Fire that caused a smokescreen to envelop the arena. Koromaru then has Cerberus launch a variety of Curse spells both normal and insta-kill only for Panther to narrowly dodge it out of the way as she used Celestine to cast 'Matarunda' on Koromaru, thereby lowering his attack while giving Panther enough time to heal herself.

Koromaru then unleashed a barrage of Fire spells from his Persona, only for Panther to tank those attacks like it was nothing. Afterwards, Koromaru hefted his knife and made to charge at Panther, only for Panther to crack her whip and snatch Koromaru's knife up, using it to lift Koromaru into the air and toss him upwards, making him yelp in shock as he was tossed airborne, slamming head-on into the ceiling of the room, bouncing off of it, and then crashing to the ground with a pained-sounding yelp, slumping over and whining slightly, as Cerberus disappears from the arena.

Fuuka quickly used her arm to signal the end of the match as she and Panther raced to Koromaru's side to make sure he was okay, both of them breathing sighs of relief when Koromaru got to his feet, even if he looked a bit bruised from his impact with the ceiling. Koromaru then gently rubbed his head on Panther's palm to affirm there were no hard feelings about his defeat, as Panther smiled and spoke up.

"Good boy. You're such a gracious loser. I could name a few people who could stand to take cues from you." Panther said as Skull, Mona, and Crow all pouted at that and spoke up.

"HEY!" Skull, Mona, and Crow all said in unison as Crow kept speaking.

"We aren't as bad about that now as we used to be, Panther! Give us more credit than that!" Crow said as Draconis spoke up.

"I think she was making a point. Either way, I feel like Koromaru deserves some applause for how graciously he accepted his defeat. Let's give it up for him." Draconis said as he proceeded to get up and give Koromaru a standing ovation, followed by most of the Phantom Thieves, with the exceptions of a pouting Mona and an angry Seeker, who was still furious about how Koromaru had humiliated Mona after beating him. At the same time, most of the Shadow Operatives and Investigation Team applauded Koromaru as he slowly made his way back to the Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives sidelines.

(Match 6 End. Winner: Panther)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Rise, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, Teddie, Mona, and Koromaru)

"After that rather scary finish, Panther wins the sixth match! Investigation Team and Shadow Ops, you have five minutes to send in your next battler." Fuuka said as she got a chorus of nods from the aforementioned sideline. Over on the mixed Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives sidelines, Rise spoke up.

"That was unfortunate. At least Koromaru got a standing ovation before he left from both sides, so that's something. But still, I can't believe how harshly Panther handled Koromaru. I wouldn't have taken her for the harsh type, but apparently she is? Either way, I think it's my turn to go to battle." Rise said as Yu blinked at her and spoke up in surprise.

"Are you sure? You are aware that Panther has a whip, right?" Yu asked as Rise nodded and spoke up with a soft smile.

"I'm sure. Even though she's potentially dangerous, I think I can handle her. Besides, I feel like we should send a woman to defeat a woman." Rise said as Yu frowned, but relented with a nod as he spoke up.

"Very well, as you wish. Just be careful, yeah? I'd rather not see you get beaten up too badly out there. But that's probably just the protective part of me talking. Good luck, Rise. Do us proud, my love." Yu said as Rise smiled and nodded as she boldly stole a kiss from Yu for luck before striding out to meet Panther in the arena. Once Rise showed herself as the next battler, at least four different voices were heard speaking up.

"FOR REAL!?" Panther, Oracle, Auburn, and Skull all yelled as Mona blinked and spoke up.

"Is that idol chick really going to try her luck against Lady Panther?" Mona asked as Skull frowned at Mona and spoke up.

"Dude, don't be so quick to write off that 'idol chick', as you put it. Risette might be an idol, but she can also fight if she needs to. Or were you not watching the same fight I was when she held her own rather intensely against Oracle when our group fought the Investigation Team the last time?" Skull said as Seraphim spoke up.

"Exactly! I agree with Skull, Mona! Don't be so quick to write off Big Sis! She might just surprise you if you're not careful!" Seraphim said as Panther looked at Rise and spoke up.

"So you're up next, eh Rise? Just because you're an idol, that doesn't mean I'll hold anything back! You better not hold back either! Let's give this our all!" Panther said as Rise smiled and spoke up.

"Naturally! That was my intention. After all, considering the way you treated Koromaru just now, you deserve no mercy." Rise said as she readied herself with her mic stand Panther winced at the glare Rise was giving her while Fuuka saw the two glaring at each other and spoke up.

"Looks like our next match is set. Rise, Panther, you ladies ready?" Fuuka asked as Rise and Panther nodded before Fuuka kept speaking.

"Good. If there's nothing else, let the seventh match BEGIN!" Fuuka said as she waved an arm to start the next match.

(Match 7 Start- Panther VS Rise)

As Panther and Rise looked at each other, they spoke up in unison.

"DANCE, CELESTINE!/LET'S GO, KOUZEON!" Panther and Rise said as they summoned their Personas to the battle. And once they did, nearly every one of the Phantom Thieves' jaws dropped as they saw Rise's newly evolved Persona, which was a woman in a dress whose head appeared to literally be a telescope with a galaxy over it. At that point, Queen spoke up.

"Is it me, or is Rise's Persona a telescope!?" Queen asked as Oracle spoke up.

"You're not seeing things, Queen. Even Rise decided to take the kiddie gloves off this time. Works for me, since it'll make it all the sweeter if I end up taking her out again. Mwehehe!" Oracle said as Draconis frowned at Oracle's overconfidence and spoke up.

"I respect the enthusiasm, Oracle. But even so, can you try to not underestimate Rise? You're going to need to bring all the tricks in your arsenal if you do end up facing her again. But I have confidence that you can beat her if you put your all into it." Draconis said as Oracle smiled and discreetly stole a kiss from Draconis, who smirked and briefly returned the kiss before pulling away as Fox smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, how picturesque you two look, Oracle and Draconis. Too bad I left my art supplies in the real world, since I bet this would make for a rather dynamic muse." Fox said as Draconis frowned and spoke up.

"I'd have to discuss it with Oracle first, but if you intend to paint us, make sure that you ask for our consent first, okay? We'd prefer to be able to know about it in advance so we can be sure to help you get our good sides. Mind you, this all assumes that Oracle's comfortable with you painting us, Fox." Draconis said as Oracle shrugged and spoke up.

"Eh, it could be fun. Let's leave it as a 'maybe' for now, Ina-err, I mean Fox. We can discuss that after the battle." Oracle said as Fox nodded his understanding while Pendragon frowned and spoke up.

"Can we stay focused on the match for now?" Pendragon asked as he got nods from Fox, Oracle, and Draconis while the camera panned back to Panther and Rise, who were staring each other down before Panther spoke up as she readied her whip.

"Sorry, Rise. But this match is all mine." Panther said as she thrust her whip at Rise all while Celestine decreased her attack power with 'Matarunda'. As the idol tries to block it with her mic stand, the whip ends up yanking the mic stand and it lands a few feet away from Rise, thereby leaving her completely defenseless without her weapon as Panther speaks up again.

"You know what to do, Celestine!" Panther said as Celestine nodded and hit Panther with a 'Concentrate/High Energy' to up her magic damage, followed by waving her hands to blast bursts of Fire energy at Rise, who giggled and spoke up.

"Nice try Panther, but not good enough! KOUZEON, NOW!" Rise said as Kouzeon nodded, sliding a red visor over Rise's face that caused a blue barrier to spring into being around Rise, at the same time that the Fire bursts hit, slamming back into Panther, who was pushed backward despite her resistance to Fire moves. After a bit, Rise smirked and spoke up.

"Seems to me like there's little you can do to harm me. I think I've toyed with you long enough. LET'S FINISH THIS, KOUZEON!" Rise said as she snapped her fingers and Kouzeon nodded before waving her arms and causing a giant atom-shaped sphere of energy to materialize in front of a stunned Panther, who only had enough time to blink before being dragged into the sphere as the screen panned to a shot of a cackling Rise smirking at Panther as she picked up her dropped mic stand and spoke up.

"AND NOW TO SHOW YOU MY FULL STRENGTH! TIME TO BE CHARMED!" Rise said as hearts appeared around her before a burst of attacks flew at Panther, who could only scream in agony as she was relentlessly pelted by damage as a giant speaker appeared and blasted loud music while the attacks slowly damaged Panther until a giant explosion was seen, causing the arena to return to normal as Panther crashed to the ground with a groan, struggling to get up, only to flop down face first in defeat, causing Flare, Mona, and Violet to speak up in horror.

"OH! PANTHER!/LADY PANTHER!/PANTHER-SENPAI!" Flare, Mona, and Violet said as Fuuka rushed over to ensure Panther was okay while Rise posed with her mic stand and spoke up.

"Perfect! Now I can protect everyone! Sorry, but you lose!" Rise said as she smirked at the downed Panther as Fuuka confirmed Panther was okay before waving an arm to signal the end of the match along with having Juno heal Rise with 'Oracle'.

(Match 7 End. Winner: Rise)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Rise, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, Teddie, Mona, Koromaru, and Panther)

After the match was over, Flare sprinted out onto the field to scoop Panther up and carry her to the Phantom Thieves' sideline while Fuuka spoke up.

"Well, after that rather flashy display at the end of the battle, the winner of match 7 is Rise! Phantom Thieves, you have five minutes to get your next battler out on the field." Fuuka said as Flare carried Panther to the Phantom Thieves' sideline, setting her down next to her on the bench after Noir, Crow, and Queen scooted down a ways to make room for Flare to set the unconscious Panther down so that Seeker, Violet, and Crow, the latter filling in for Mona, went to work reviving Panther, who eventually gave off a low groan as she came to and sat up. Once she was sitting up, Panther spoke up.

"Ugh, did anyone get the number of that bus that hit me?" Panther asked as Flare giggled and spoke up.

"It wasn't a bus, Panther. It was a spunky little brat of an idol named Rise. She hit you with some sort of super-flashy finisher and defeated you rather brutally. Now we're deciding who to send in next to try to defeat Rise." Flare said as Panther pouted and spoke up.

"Aww, man. I lost to Risette, of all people? This sucks." Panther said as Mona spoke up.

"Cheer up, Lady Panther. While it is true that you suffered a pretty brutal defeat, at least you were not humiliated afterwards like I was." Mona said as Panther smiled and spoke up.

"Good point, Mona. You did get a worse deal than I did. Not to mention how much it's probably killing Seeker to not be by your side right now." Panther said as Seeker pouted and spoke up.

"PANTHER! I'm more disappointed than anything, but I understand why I can't go near him right now." Seeker said as Flare growled and spoke up.

"Never mind Mona's bad luck, are we going to just gloss over how hard Rise just disrespected Panther with that finisher? I have half a mind to volunteer myself to go in next so I can personally teach that brat a lesson in respect. Because no one gets away with disrespecting my fiancee like that, especially not some stuck-up celebrity lookin' bi-" Flare said as several voices spoke up at once to cut Flare off before she could finish her last sentence.

"FLARE! LANGUAGE!" Joker, Violet, Pendragon, Queen, and Noir all rebuked Flare, who sheepishly spoke up as she recalled who was listening.

"Ohh, uhh, right. Seeker's listening to this, isn't she? Umm, don't repeat what I say, okay Seeker?" Flare asked as Seeker nodded before Panther spoke up.

"To be honest? I have no objections if Flare wants to go in next and avenge me." Panther said as Skull and Mona nodded their agreement when Oracle spoke up.

"As neat as it would be to watch Flare try and challenge Rise to the catfight of the century, I don't think she could beat her. Not because Flare is not strong enough, but because Rise is a navigator. And given the fact that Rise is, in fact, a navigator, I feel like it's a pretty safe bet that she will likely have many tricks up her sleeve that she can use in a pinch. As such, I think it makes sense to fight fire with fire, or in this case, a navigator with a navigator once again. To that end, I propose that I should be the one going in to fight Rise." Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"I agree with Oracle. I think she could beat Rise on her own this time. Especially considering what happened last time when the two faced off, in which my girlfriend had to use that Triad Special with Queen and Pendragon to help her win. However, Oracle has only become stronger since then, even though Rise has also improved. So I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I also support Oracle fighting Rise again." Draconis said as Crow spoke up.

"I also approve of this. However, there is one bit of caution for Oracle that needs to be taken into consideration." Crow said as Wolf spoke up.

"And what would that be?" Wolf asked as Crow spoke up.

"If you all have been paying attention to when Panther fought Rise, from what I can tell, Rise's Persona was only in its non-combat specced form. Due to this, we may very well have not seen what Rise is truly capable of, as her Persona has not shifted into its combat form." Crow said as the others all pondered this before Joker spoke up.

"Both Draconis and especially Crow raise valid points. Furthermore, Oracle's observation about Rise's potential to employ other surprise tactics against us is also worth considering. So Oracle may well be our best bet for taking Rise out of the fight sooner, rather than later. As such, I approve of her going up against Rise." Joker said as the others nodded their agreement before Oracle spoke up.

"Glad you approve, Joker. So all in favor of me going in next to face Rise?" Oracle asked as virtually everyone on the Phantom Thieves' sideline raised their hands. Joker spoke up with a nod.

"It's unanimous, then. Good luck, Oracle." Joker said as Oracle nodded and spoke up.

"Thanks. But I think I can handle Rise, Joker. Mwehehe." Oracle said as she walked out to the arena to face Rise just as Fuuka was about to remind the Phantom Thieves of their deadline. Rise smirked as she saw Oracle walk onto the field and spoke up.

"So, you're my next opponent? Guess we're getting to rematch each other, then. Don't think this match will end like the previous one." Rise said as Oracle smirked and spoke up.

"Oh, I'm counting on it not ending the same way it did before. Mwehehe." Oracle said as Rise blinked in confusion but just nodded as she spoke up.

"If you say so? Good luck, Oracle. May the best navigator win." Rise said as Oracle nodded before the two shook hands and bowed to one another before staring each other down as Fuuka spoke up, intrigued by this matchup in particular.

"Looks like our next matchup is a clash of navigators! Which navigator will come out on top? Will it be Rise, or will it be Oracle? Only one way to find out! Let the eighth match BEGIN!" Fuuka said as she waved an arm to signal the start of the match.

(Match 8 Start- Oracle VS Rise)

As the match started, Oracle and Rise spoke up in unison.

"SHOW ME THE WAY, ALBUS!/COME, KOUZEON!" Oracle and Rise said as they summoned out their respective Personas before Rise smirked and spoke up.

"If you think I was difficult to defeat before, you ain't seen nothin' yet! KOUZEON, SHIFT INTO YOUR COMBAT-READY FORM!" Rise said as literally every single Phantom Thief, Oracle included, gasped at the sight of Kouzeon shifting forms, her previous form of a woman with a telescope for a head, shifting to that of a woman with a satellite antenna for a head, a white vest that she wore open over the black spandex-like bodysuit that had covered her body, excluding her waist, where a golden belt appeared with a blue diamond-like purse attached to her left hip, and a sheet of red hair that fluttered behind her like a cape.

For her part, Violet reflexively covered Seeker's eyes as she noticed that aside from the vest that Kouzeon wore, along with the belt and purse, Kouzeon was essentially wearing only a skin-tight bodysuit for clothes, which did almost too good of a job of framing her lithe yet petite figure nicely. Oracle huffed at the stupefied looks on the faces of most every guy watching the unveiling of Kouzeon's combat form, and even some of the girls (such as Auburn, Seraphim, Flare, Violet, and Panther, all of whom swung both ways or were a lesbian in Flare's case) as she spoke up.

"Really? Out of all the combat forms for Kouzeon to get, did it have to be such a slutty-looking form?" Oracle said as Rise giggled and spoke up.

"Hey, I would think that you of all people would appreciate the concept of fan-service, Oracle. Or am I wrong?" Rise said as Oracle spoke up.

"That's different, and you know it! Besides, we both know Draconis would put his foot down if I tried marketing any of the Phantom Thief couples for fan service. So that's irrelevant." Oracle said as she started trading attacks with Rise, clashing her beam staff against Rise's mic stand. At the same time, Albus unleashes blasts of both Elec and Psy energy to keep Rise on her toes, but every time one of those blasts is about to hit the idol, she either dodges or is shielded by Kouzeon. The clash of navigators does take a turn as Oracle unleashes a quick slash of her beam staff to cleave Rise's mic stand clean in two, much to the idol's annoyance. Rise pouted and spoke up.

"HEY! That mic stand cost a lot of money! Don't you know how expensive it is to buy a new one?" Rise exclaimed as Oracle spoke up.

"Relax, Rise. We're in the Metaverse. You can just will a new one into existence, I'm pretty sure. Granted, that wasn't how it worked when Crow shattered Draconis' staff once, but we were in a Palace at the time. So this should be different." Oracle said as Rise huffed and snapped her fingers to have Kouzeon throw up barriers, only for Oracle to smirk and have Albus use 'Concentrate' followed by grinning as she spoke up.

"Impressive play, Rise. But there's just one problem with relying on 'Makarakarn' all the time." Oracle said as Rise huffed and spoke up.

"And what's that? Does it fail occasionally?" Rise said as Oracle smirked and spoke up.

"No. The problem is that 'Makarakarn' isn't foolproof. It can deflect one singular magic spell per use. HOWEVER! There are exceptions to that, such as the fact that there are some magics that cannot be deflected by a barrier, like this one. NOW, ALBUS! SHATTER THAT BARRIER WITH YOUR ALMIGHTY POWER!" Oracle said as Albus smirked, spinning his staff around and coating it in a silvery-grey energy from his 'Megidola' skill that struck true and shattered the 'Makarakarn' while also throwing Rise back from the backlash of the attack and the unblocked damage as Rise glared at Oracle and spoke up after summoning another mic stand.

"Not bad. But this is far from over! KOUZEON! LET'S FINISH THIS!" Rise said as Kouzeon set up to draw Oracle into the familiar energy atom that defeated Panther, only for a barrier to flash into being and harmlessly deflect the attempt, neutralizing the finisher before it could start. This time, it was Rise and the Investigation Team, along with the Shadow Ops, who were the ones gaping as Rise, who had just now used all of her remaining power into her using her finisher, spoke up.

"WHAT THE HELL!? How did you do that!?" Rise said as Oracle smirked and spoke up.

"Simple. You're not the only navigator here with a combat-specced and non-combat specced Persona. For me, they're two different Personas. And you just got a taste of the powers of Al Azif, my non-combat specced Persona. Her 'Final Guard' skill allows me to nullify and neutralize one attack that would otherwise end me. And since I recall that your finishers leave you rather drained after being used, that leaves you rather vulnerable for me to finish this. ALBUS, YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS!" Oracle said as Albus nodded and she kept speaking.

"That's right! IT'S SHOWTIME!" Oracle said as she hefted her beam staff at the same time that Al Azif dropped an energy bomb down between Oracle and the kneeling Rise, who was trying to catch her breath, as Oracle smirked and spoke up after keying off and using her beam staff to pole-vault off of Rise's torso, flipping backwards to land on her feet a little ways away from Rise, letting her focus her gaze on the bomb in between herself and Rise while she spoke.

"Mwehehe! Here goes! ENERGY BOMB, CORNER POCKET!" Oracle said, lining up her beam staff with the bomb as if making a shot in billiards, to the intrigue of everyone except Pendragon, who'd already seen this Showtime. At that point, Oracle extended her beam staff towards the bomb as if it were a billiards cue and shot the energy bomb right into the face of a horrified Rise.

What follows is Oracle then shooting her wrist laser to increase the speed of the energy bomb all while Albus summons a giant bolt of lightning that was launched straight down towards Rise. The idol had time to only gasp before the bomb and lightning literally blew up in her face, causing a massive explosion of mixed Psy, Elec, and Almighty power that lifted Rise off of her feet and threw her backwards, causing her to slam into the ground about five feet away with a groan and a shudder as she struggled to get up, only to collapse to the ground in defeat. After Rise collapsed in defeat, Oracle smirked and spoke up.

"Mwehehe! Had enough yet?" Oracle said as she twirled her beam staff around by the hilt and then keeping it at the ready position as she used her free hand to do a thumbs up while cutely winking with her tongue stuck out to end the match as Fuuka raised an arm to confirm the result while having Juno heal Oracle with the skill 'Oracle'.

(Match 8 End. Winner: Oracle)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, Teddie, Mona, Koromaru, Panther, and Rise)

As Fuuka waved her arm to end the match, she spoke up.

"And after that rather explosive clash, Oracle wins the eighth match, tying the score up once more! Can either side muster the momentum to take a clear lead in this battle? Or is this going to come down to the wire? In any case, Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives, you have five minutes to clear Rise off the battlefield and get your next battler sent out." Fuuka said as Yu personally walked out and scooped Rise up bridal-style and carried her off the battlefield. After setting her down on the bench next to him, Yukiko walked over to Yu as the two worked together to cast 'Samarecarm' and 'Salvation' on Rise until she slowly came to with a groan and spoke up.

"Ugh, did I win, Senpai?" Rise asked groggily as Yu looked at her and spoke up.

"I'm afraid not, my love. You got defeated by Oracle's finisher, or her 'Showtime' as she called it. I have a feeling that's one of the moves we didn't get to see in our last encounter with the Phantom Thieves. That alone is proof to me that they're improving. But you did well to last as long as you did, plus you took Panther out before you were defeated." Yu said as Rise gave Yu a grateful smile and leaned up to briefly press her lips to his before she spoke up.

"Thanks, Yu. I feel a lot better now." Rise said as Akihiko spoke up.

"As touching as a nice romantic moment like that can be, don't we need to send our next battler out?" Akihiko asked as Yukari spoke up.

"No problem. I'll handle this one." Yukari said, putting on her helmet as she got ready for battle. Mitsuru smirked and spoke up.

"Are you sure, Takeba? I trust your judgement, but do you think you can defeat more than one Phantom Thief before you go down?" Mitsuru asked as Yukari spoke up.

"I won't make any promises. If nothing else, I'm going to focus on at least getting rid of Oracle. If I can get a second win after that, that'll just be the icing on the cake. If not, I'll at least try and weaken whoever goes up after Oracle. Either way, I'll do my best." Yukari said as Akihiko and Mitsuru nodded while the former of the two spoke up.

"Go for it, Yukari. And as long as you at least take Oracle out, that'll be more than enough. If you can take anyone else out afterwards, that'll just be an added bonus. Good luck." Akihiko said as Yukari nodded, striding out onto the battlefield to face Oracle, whose eyes widened behind her visor as she saw Yukari approach. Once Yukari was on the battlefield, Oracle spoke up.

"HOLY CRAP! I have to face Pink Argus herself next!? Talk about your top-tier boss fights! But bring it on." Oracle said as she tried to sound more confident than she felt. Yukari smirked at this and spoke up.

"Try not to take it too personally when you lose, Oracle. Give me all you've got." Yukari said as Oracle spoke up.

"Oh, I plan to. Have no fear of that, Takeba-san." Oracle said as Yukari nodded approvingly before Fuuka spoke up.

"Looks like our next matchup is set! Can Oracle be the first one to score back-to-back KOs, or will Yukari keep the trend of back-and-forth KOs? Only one way to find out! Let the ninth match, BEGIN!" Fuuka said as she raised her arm to start the match.

(Match 9 Start- Oracle VS Yukari)

As the battle began, Oracle and Yukari stared each other down before speaking up in unison.

"SHOW US THE WAY, ALBUS!/BLESS US, ISIS!" Oracle and Yukari said as they summoned Albus and Isis respectively, allowing the Phantom Thieves to get a good look at what appeared to be a floating woman with wings behind her and a giant pink gemstone, along with a somewhat heart-shaped arch around the gemstone. Joker in particular, also took note that Yukari is using a Persona that he also once used, and like with Koromaru with Cerberus, the form of Isis looks completely different than the one he utilized. As the match started, Yukari tried to get off a few chip damage shots with her bow and arrows, which Oracle easily deflected with her beam staff.

In response, Albus started throwing Elec attacks at Yukari after Oracle got a memo from Al Azif that Yukari had a weakness to Elec skills. Yukari was hit by several of the Elec attacks from Albus alongside some Psy and Almighty attacks, but the actress retaliated with some powerful Wind skills from Isis, smiling as she saw Oracle wince from being hit by the attacks that connected, making Yukari realize that thanks to Albus, Oracle had a weakness to Wind skills. For a while, the two traded elemental moves back and forth until Yukari grinned and spoke up.

"Seems like a stalemate, doesn't it, Oracle? Too bad for you, I have the ability to heal, which I don't think you have." Yukari said as she snapped her fingers and Isis waved a hand, causing a healing energy to wash over Yukari and heal her to full via the use of 'Diarahan', making Oracle sputter as she spoke up.

"Wh-What!? You can heal yourself!? This could be bad." Oracle said as Yukari spoke up with a laugh.

"You think that's bad? You haven't seen anything yet! Time to show you what else I can do. NOW, ISIS!" Yukari said as she snapped her fingers and Isis coated Yukari's arrows in Wind energy. At that point, Yukari nocked an arrow and spoke up.

"ALL RIGHT, HERE I GO!" Yukari said as she started unleashing a flurry of Wind-laced arrows at Oracle, who could only grunt as each one struck true before the lighting changed and Akihiko turned to Mitsuru and spoke up.

"She's about to unleash her Theurgy on Oracle, isn't she?" Akihiko asked Mitsuru, who nodded and spoke up with a smirk.

"Indeed. Takeba is about to show Oracle and the rest of the Phantom Thieves the importance of not underestimating the Shadow Operatives. Although, I don't envy our friend if the Kung-Fu Dragon is the next one up. From what Narukami-san has told me, Draconis will most likely not be in a merciful mood after seeing what I would guess is his girlfriend fall at Takeba's hand." Mitsuru said as Akihiko nodded and spoke up.

"Fair. Let's watch the show for now though, shall we?" Akihiko said as Mitsuru nodded while the camera panned back to Yukari, right as she backflipped into the air, nocking a charged-up arrow as she spoke up.

"AND WITH THIS, YOU'RE FINISHED! GO, CYCLONE ARROW!" Yukari said as she fired the super-charged Wind arrow at Oracle, who could only gasp as the arrow impacted against her torso, briefly glowing green before exploding and launching Oracle off her feet with a scream as she was tossed upwards and backward, eventually slamming down into the ground with a series of thuds and slams, eventually rolling to a halt about three feet from where she'd started. Oracle tried to struggle to her feet, but only managed to speak one sentence before collapsing to the ground in defeat.

"Ugh. Mission...failed." Oracle said before collapsing to the ground in defeat, while Yukari spoke up.

"Not bad! Score one for Pink Argus!" Yukari said as she smiled and gave the camera a thumbs-up, right as Fuuka ran over and waved an arm to signal the end of the match while Juno used 'Oracle' to heal Yukari.

(Match 9 End. Winner: Yukari)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Naoto, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Fox, Queen, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, Teddie, Mona, Koromaru, Panther, Rise, and Oracle)

"After that very amazing display, Yukari wins the ninth match! Phantom Thieves, you have five minutes to get your next battler onto the field and clear Oracle off the field." Fuuka said as the Phantom Thieves nodded and Draconis strode out onto the battlefield to scoop his girlfriend up bridal-style and carry her to the bench, where he laid her down near him so that Violet, Flare, and Seeker could use 'Samarecarm' and other healing spells to get Oracle on her feet. After a couple of minutes, Oracle sat up with a groan and spoke up.

"Ugh, what happened? I feel like I got hit by a freight train." Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"I dunno about a freight train, but you were struck down by Yukari's finishing move, which I heard her call the move Cyclone Arrow. If I had to guess, that must have been a showcase of that Theurgy move that Mitsuru told us about, as I witnessed something similar happening in Koromaru's battle with Mona. Either way, you lost the battle, Oracle. But you gave it a good try, so I'm still proud of you." Draconis said as Oracle smiled as she leaned against Draconis as he put a comforting arm around her. While Draconis was comforting Oracle, Joker spoke up.

"As much as I'm sure we're all enjoying watching Draconis and Oracle have a moment together, I think we have a more important issue. Namely, who we're going to send in next to face Yukari. After all, she's not only fast, but she can both heal and fight well from a distance. So that's going to be a difficult skillset for anyone to counter. Do we have anyone left who can counter Yukari?" Joker asked, prompting the rest of the Thieves to exchange uncertain looks before a voice was heard speaking up, making the rest of the Thieves turn to face the speaker in shock, not expecting her to speak up so soon.

"I'll do it, Joker." Seraphim, who had been the one to speak up before, said as Draconis spoke up with a look of surprise on his face.

"Seraphim, are you sure about this?" Draconis asked as Seraphim nodded in determination and spoke up.

"Positive. And there's a reason why I decided to volunteer. From what I noticed, Yukari seems to have a glaring weakness to Elec skills, and since both Skull and Oracle are out of the fight, and it seems too early to unleash Joker, I'm the only one left who can reliably use Elec moves. Therefore, I'm the most ideal choice to go against Yukari." Seraphim said as Auburn looked at her girlfriend in surprise and spoke up.

"Are you still certain about this though? I know you said earlier that you wanted a chance to be forced into a fight with one of the Investigation Team to show what you're capable of." Auburn said as Seraphim spoke up.

"I changed my mind about that. This is far more important. Besides, you heard what my Big Bro said earlier. If I were the last one remaining alongside any of them, then they would forfeit the match. Battling one of the Shadow Operatives such as Yukari will have no repercussions." Seraphim said before turning to Joker and speaking up.

"Well? Am I in or not?" Seraphim asked as Draconis spoke up.

"I think this is a shock to most of us, seeing you volunteer. However, I agree that you're our best chance, so I'm okay with you going in." Draconis said as Oracle nodded her agreement. Eventually the others all nodded their agreement, even Joker, who then spoke up.

"Looks like it's unanimous. Go on and do your best in there, Seraphim." Joker said as Seraphim nodded and walked out onto the battlefield, causing the entire Investigation Team to go wide-eyed at seeing Seraphim take the field, prompting a shocked Yu to speak up.

"Wow, they found an opponent for Seraphim? Interesting. I know I'm supposed to be rooting for my team, but this is my little cousin we're talking about. I want to see what she can do. Besides, it's better to have Yukari as Seraphim's opponent instead of one of the members of the Investigation Team." Yu said as Rise nodded her agreement while Chie frowned and spoke up.

"But still, Yukari is a powerful Persona-user, and from what I can gather, Seraphim has only recently obtained a Persona. This won't be easy for her." Chie said as Aigis spoke up.

"Actually, I think this will be a closer bout than any of us would realize. From what I can see on Seraphim's face, she has the same determination to win as Yu-kun." Aigis said as Ken nodded and spoke up

"I agree with Aigis. Sure, it's a pair of cut-err, I mean amazing women going at it, but I don't expect either to go down easily. So this should be an interesting battle to watch." Ken said as the others nodded before Yu frowned and spoke up.

"Ken, were you about to call Seraphim cute? If so, may I respectfully ask you not to do so when I'm within earshot? Also, she has a girlfriend, so I'm not sure if she's necessarily into men." Yu said as Rise giggled and spoke up.

"Are you always going to be this overprotective of Seraphim, Yu? You're lucky that I find it so adorable and sexy." Rise said as Ken spoke up.

"I'm aware that she has a girlfriend, but that doesn't mean I can't state what virtually every guy here probably knows to be a fact. This being that your cousin is a very pretty woman, Yu. And if she's into other women, that's her choice to make. Also, if she truly prefers, and I apologize in advance for how crass this may sound, pussy to cock, then I say more power to her. Not that I blame or judge her for coming out as bisexual or lesbian, since I like women too." Ken said as Akihiko nodded and spoke up.

"Exactly, Ken. We respect all forms of love within the Shadow Operatives. If we didn't, it would've made things awkward for Fuuka during the brief period when she had a short-lived, if somewhat one-sided, crush on our leader's sister before she moved away shortly after our leader passed away. However, I got the sense that Kotone had at least slightly reciprocated Fuuka's feelings. So maybe there'll be something in the future for our navigator. And that's not even mentioning the brief phase when Mitsuru-" Akihiko said, before cutting himself off mid-sentence as his eyes widened in fear at the very scary death glare Mitsuru was giving him as she spoke up.

"Unless you don't care about being executed, I would strongly advise that you don't finish that sentence, Akihiko. I would think you'd be happy that we're together?" Mitsuru said as Akhiko spoke up with a sheepish laugh.

"I am happy, Mitsuru. I was merely going to say that I was very supportive of your rather brief girl crush on Yukari and your equally short-lived crush on Shinji before the latter passed away and the former ended up friend-zoning you. But that was her loss and my gain, since it meant I got to be there for you and eventually help you warm to the idea of us being in a romantic relationship." Akihiko said, ignoring the amused smirks Yosuke and Junpei exchanged at how hard Akihiko was backpedaling as Mitsuru spoke up with a smile.

"Good answer, Akihiko. And this is why I chose to be with you after you confessed to me five years ago. Sure, I was a bit put off by your scars at first, but over time I slowly realized that they just made you more charming." Mitsuru said as she let herself briefly kiss Akihiko, who smiled and returned the kiss as Yosuke spoke up while looking at Junpei.

"Hey, Junpei. Do you think Akihiko completely backpedaled his ass off to save himself from Mitsuru?" Yosuke asked as Junpei nodded and spoke up with a grin.

"Yep. Akihiko-senpai's not a fool. He knew he was playing with fire the moment that he saw Mitsuru-senpai's death glare come out." Junpei said as Yosuke nodded and went to speak up, only for Labrys to gently swat both him and Junpei on the arms as she spoke up.

"Can you please quiet down, you two? I want to watch Seraphim's fight, so can you please continue your discussion later?" Labrys said as Yosuke and Junpei nodded before Yukari smirked and spoke up after sizing up Seraphim.

"So, you're my next opponent? I feel bad for Narukami-kun, but a fight is a fight. I hope you're prepared to give this your all, otherwise you might not last very long." Yukari said as Seraphim smirked and spoke up.

"Funny. I could say the same to you. Don't underestimate me just because I'm inexperienced compared to you." Seraphim said as Yukari nodded and spoke up.

"Fair enough. Let's do this then, yeah? Good luck to you, and may the best woman win." Yukari said as Seraphim nodded and the two shook hands before Fuuka spoke up.

"Looks like unlike the last couple of battles, this seems to be an actually semi-friendly bout. Will Yukari be the one to finally give the Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives the lead? Or will Seraphim continue the trend of each side exchanging KOs? Only one way to find out. Let the tenth match begin!" Fuuka said as she waved an arm to start the match.

(Match 10 Start- Seraphim VS Yukari)

As the match started, Yukari and Seraphim stared each other down before both spoke up in unison.

"RISE UP, SRAOSHA!/BLESS US, ISIS!" Seraphim and Yukari said as they summoned their respective Personas, making Yu and Rise exchange a shocked look at the sight of Seraphim summoning Sraosha, as Yu remembered using one during his time as a Wild Card. As the fight proceeded, the two exchanged blows with one another, mainly using their bows and arrows, but occasionally, Seraphim would land a glancing hit with her halberd to catch Yukari off guard, which was followed by Seraphim using Sraosha to score an extra Elec hit on the actress. Yukari had Isis unleashed a powerful gust of Wind energy at Seraphim that dealt major damage.

But much to the shock of the actress as well as some of the healers on the Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives, Seraphim was able to heal herself using 'Salvation' which was followed by having Sraosha unleashing a Bless insta-kill skill on Yukari who barely was able to dodge out of the way. As the two proceeded to fire more arrows at each other, Seraphim proceeded to have Sraosha cast 'Charge' on her and doubled her physical attack power as Seraphim then had her Persona unleashed 'Brave Blade' on Yukari. Although this did cause immense damage, Yukari had Isis cast 'Diarahan' to heal herself fully. After a while of back-and-forth mixed attacking and healing, Yukari spoke up while smiling.

"I'm impressed, Seraphim. I didn't think I would end up fighting someone who is also skilled with a bow and arrow, let alone give me a challenge." Yukari said as Seraphim giggled and spoke up.

"To be honest, learning how to use a bow and arrow just came to me upon my Awakening. It felt like I knew how to use it." Seraphim said as Yukari spoke up.

"Well said. But if we keep this up, we're going to be here for a while. I think the only way to efficiently settle this is to clash our strongest attacks against one another. Basically, let's decide this match with one last strike. Are you in?" Yukari said as Seraphim nodded and spoke up.

"Definitely. We need to end this before this gets too long and drawn out. Shall we?" Seraphim said as Yukari nodded and the two got a bit of distance from one another before Yukari spoke up.

"NOW, ISIS! LET'S END THIS!" Yukari said as she started setting up for another 'Cyclone Arrow' Theurgy at the same time that Seraphim spoke up.

"TIME FOR THE FINISHER! IT'S SHOWTIME!" Seraphim said, shocking Yu and the Investigation Team as they saw Seraphim unleashing her Showtime by front-flipping towards Sraosha while jabbing her halberd towards Yukari, who grunted as she felt the halberd slash across her chest, pushing her back as Seraphim tossed aside her halberd and nocked an arrow as she spoke up.

"NOW TO END IT! SRAOSHA, LIGHT ME!" Seraphim said as Sraosha snapped its fingers and made the arrow that Seraphim had nocked become coated in Elec energy right as Yukari fired a flurry of Wind-infused arrows at Seraphim, who tanked the onslaught and seemed only mildly bothered by it despite being weak to Wind moves, in part due to her 'Angelic Grace' passive kicking in and letting her dodge most of the arrows as she and Yukari spoke up at the same time.

"HAVE A TASTE OF THIS!/AND WITH THIS, YOU'RE FINISHED! DIVINE SHOT, FIRE!/GO, CYCLONE ARROW!/" Seraphim and Yukari said as they caused a clash of a Showtime and a Theurgy between Seraphim's 'Divine Shot' and Yukari's 'Cyclone Arrow', which seemed to push against one another pretty equally at first. However, after a bit, Seraphim's attack seemed to absorb most of Yukari's, eventually splitting the charged-up Wind arrow in half and getting a bit larger as it flew on and continued on unimpeded to hit the ground at Yukari's feet before exploding in a burst of Elec energy.

The ensuing explosion had the result of making Yukari scream as she felt the power of the Heavy-tier Elec based Showtime before it lifted her off her feet and tossed her backwards to slam into the ground, where she slowly got to her feet before mustering the strength to speak up once more after giving Seraphim a nod of respect.

"Not bad, Seraphim. You got me this time. Well done." Yukari said before her helmet flew off and she collapsed to the ground in defeat, causing Fuuka to rush over and check on Yukari before raising an arm to end the match as Seraphim giggled and did a sly wink as she spoke up.

"Sorry, but it looks like I win this round. Nothin' personal! Good game." Seraphim said while smiling happily as she celebrated her hard-fought win while Fuuka had Juno use 'Oracle' to heal Seraphim.

(Match 10 End. Winner: Seraphim)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Naoto, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Fox, Queen, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, Teddie, Mona, Koromaru, Panther, Rise, Oracle, and Yukari)

"And after a devastating clash of powerful moves, Seraphim wins the tenth match. Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives, please clear Yukari off the field and choose your next battler. You have five minutes." Fuuka said as Aigis walked onto the field and carried Yukari to the Investigation Team/Shadow Ops sideline, she set her down on a bench, while Yukiko and Ken started working together to use 'Samarecarm' to get Yukari back on her feet. After a bit, Yukari groaned as she sat up just as Aigis spoke up. *2*

"Are you alright, Yukari-san?" Aigis asked as Yukari nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Ugh, did I seriously lose?" Yukari asked as Yu nodded and spoke up.

"You did. But while I'm disappointed that you lost, I'm also amused since you ended up losing to my cousin. I must admit, Seraphim has certainly impressed me with her skills." Yu said as Naoto frowned and spoke up.

"So what's the plan, Yu? Considering that you don't want the members of the Investigation Team to fight Seraphim, our options for sending someone out are strictly limited." Naoto said as Yu spoke up.

"Don't worry, I already have someone in mind who could be the perfect opponent for Seraphim. Someone who can not only match her in terms of skill regarding both their weapon and Persona, but also as punishment for hitting on her while I was around." Yu said while aiming a pointed glare at a suddenly-wincing Ken, who spoke up.

"You mean me, don't you? Eh, that's fair. I did hit on her, so I suppose I deserve to have to face her in battle. Very well, I'll go next. And I'll try my best to not beat your cousin too badly, Narukami-san." Ken said as Yu's eyes narrowed dangerously before he spoke up in a dangerously low tone of voice.

"You'd better not go too hard on her, Amada. If I find out that your defeat of her caused any permanent damage to my little cousin, you'll have to deal with me after the fights, and you won't like what I'm going to do to you. So try not to damage her too much, GOT IT!?" Yu said, making Ken fearfully nod as Akihiko smirked and turned to Junpei as he spoke up.

"Am I the only one who thinks Yu would be scary in a fight with how overprotective of Seraphim he seems to be?" Akihiko asked Junpei, who quickly shook his head in the negative and spoke up.

"Hell no, Akihiko. Yu seems like the kind of guy who'd probably murder you and not think twice about it if you crossed him. So of course we both know not to cross him." Junpei said as Akihiko nodded his agreement while Yu smirked and spoke up, having heard the discussion between Akihiko and Junpei.

"You two can relax. I'm a nice guy. If anyone's the type to randomly murder people who cross him, it'd be Adachi. And although he was somehow roped into stopping Seraphim and the rest of the Phantom Thieves earlier in the Yongen Jail, I hear he's become quite the reformed and model prisoner these days, according to Dojima-san. Besides, Amada brought his punishment on himself for hitting on Seraphim around me. He knows full well how protective I am of her." Yu said as Rise giggled and spoke up.

"True, but surely Seraphim knows you only do it because you care about her so much." Rise pointed out as Yu nodded before Ken headed out to face Seraphim on the battlefield, making Seraphim smile as she spoke up.

"So you're my next opponent, Amada-san? Interesting choice from Big Bro." Seraphim said as Ken spoke up.

"Well, it's more or less punishment, but he can tell you the details later. Also, I'll try not to rough you up too badly." Ken said as Seraphim spoke up.

"We will have to see what happens once the battle starts, as I'm not going to be holding back. May the best battler win, Amada-san." Seraphim said as Ken nodded and shook Seraphim's hand before the two stared each other down as Fuuka walked over and spoke up.

"Looks to me like you two are ready to go. In that case, we should get this match going." Fuuka said before turning to the spectators who were on the sidelines while she kept speaking.

"Our next match has Seraphim going up against Ken! Who will come out on top this time? One way to find out! Let the eleventh match begin!" Fuuka said as she raised her arm from inside Juno to signal the start of the next match.

(Match 11 Start- Seraphim VS Ken)

As the match started, Seraphim and Ken looked at each other before speaking up.

"RISE UP, SRAOSHA!/LET'S DO IT, KALA-NEMI!" Seraphim and Ken said, summoning their Personas and making the Phantom Thieves exchange intrigued looks at Ken's Persona, particularly Joker and Draconis, who were both impressed with the orange and black color scheme on Kala-Nemi as the Persona appeared to be an armored humanoid with bulking shoulders that appear to have various numbers and symbols engraved in each shoulder, which were shaped slightly like spheres, much to most of the Thieves' confusion. But before anyone could question the design of Ken's Persona, the match started.

As the match started, Seraphim and Ken circled each other, and after a few seconds, they charged towards one another as Seraphim's halberd collided with Ken's spear. As the two young Persona-users clashed against each other with their similar weapons, Ken used this opportunity to have Kala-Nemi unleash a barrage of Bless attacks of both normal and insta-kill.

However, Seraphim was able to either tank the attacks or dodge them thanks to 'Angelic Grace'. The angelic Phantom Thief then had Sraosha use 'Brave Blade' on Ken, but the Shadow Operative was able to quickly recover thanks to Kala-Nemi utilizing 'Diarahan'. But that momentary recovery was short-lived as Ken was then shot by multiple arrows that Seraphim fired from her bow.

Seraphim then followed up by having Sraosha use 'Hamaon' on Ken but was able to block those attacks easily. What follows is both Seraphim and Ken clashing again as both Sraosha and Kala-Nemi then used Elec attacks against their respective opponents and much to Ken's shock, while he ended up getting damage, Seraphim was able to heal herself as the electricity was absorbed. After a while of exchanging back-and-forth hits, most of which Ken dodged, Ken was able to back Seraphim into a corner before exchanging a nod with Kala-Nemi as he spoke up.

"I must admit, Seraphim. You match me step-for-step, as both of us and our Personas are similar to each other. But I think it's time to settle this match!" Ken said as Seraphim spoke up while trying to catch her breath.

"While I do agree with your statement, I don't see that you have any chance of beating me since I can resist Bless and absorb Electricity. So despite you saying that our Personas are similar, mine have better affinities than yours." Seraphim said as Ken smirked and spoke up.

"That's where you're wrong. There is still one thing I can do that will get me this win. Allow me to show you. IT'S MY TURN!" Ken said as he tossed his spear out towards Kala-Nemi, who coated it in Bless energy and used it to summon a rain of divine spears that aimed at a horrified and cornered Seraphim, raining down on her, and pelting her for constant damage as Ken spoke up.

"MAY THE POWERS OF THE DIVINE RAIN DOWN ON OUR FOE! GO, DIVINE RETRIBUTION!" Ken said as all the divine spears converged on Seraphim, who literally only had time to gasp in a mix of horror and shock before she was consumed in a giant explosion of Bless energy that blinded everyone except for Ken briefly. Once the blinding lights had receded and everyone could see again, three separate gasps of horror were heard, two on the Investigation Team/Shadow Ops sideline, and one on the Phantom Thieves sideline, as the camera panned to show Seraphim laid on the ground unconscious and unmoving. Before Fuuka could get to check on Seraphim, Yu spoke up after aiming a disapproving frown at a wincing Ken.

"TIME OUT! This match is paused while we confirm that Seraphim is okay! And for Ken's sake, she'd better be all right." Yu said in a scarily calm tone that had Rise wince at how angrily Yu was glaring at Ken while he strode out onto the battlefield to look his unconscious cousin over, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw the slow, but steady, rise and fall of her chest to signal she was still breathing, but very clearly unconscious. After confirming she wasn't in danger, Yu headed back to his sideline while nodding to Fuuka to resume the match, which she did by heading over and confirming that Seraphim was unconscious, which she was. Fuuka then waved an arm to end the match while Juno healed Ken with 'Oracle' as he spoke up.

"Whew, that was close. Sorry for the rather rough finisher, but this was how our battle was fated to play out." Ken said while sticking his spear into the ground and doing what he believed to be a heroic pose.

(Match 11 End. Winner: Ken)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Naoto, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Ken, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Fox, Queen, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, Teddie, Mona, Koromaru, Panther, Rise, Oracle, Yukari, and Seraphim)

After Yu was back on his sideline, Fuuka spoke up.

"After that rather scary ending, Ken wins the eleventh match! Although, is it really a win for him, given how heated Yu looked when he glared at Ken? Who knows? Either way, Phantom Thieves have five minutes to clear Seraphim off the battlefield and send their next battler out." Fuuka said as Queen walked out and scooped up the unconscious Seraphim, bringing her to the Phantom Thieves sideline and laying her down next to a concerned Auburn, who looked down before sighing in relief as she saw the signs that Seraphim was breathing. At that point, Violet, Seeker, and Flare worked together to use 'Samarecarm' and other healing spells to get Seraphim awake and on her feet, causing her to sit up with a groan as she spoke up.

"Ugh, am I back on our sideline? What happened?" Seraphim said before blinking as she felt herself hugged from behind, looking over and smiling as she saw Auburn hugging her as she spoke up with a relieved look in her eyes, though you could tell by the unshed tears in her eyes as she spoke that Auburn had almost cried after seeing Seraphim fall to Ken.

"You defeated Yukari, but then got defeated by Ken. He unleashed a similar finisher to Yukari's to overwhelm you with Bless damage. Luckily, despite the intense damage, at least I'm glad that you're okay." Auburn said as she gave a quick kiss to Seraphim as Draconis spoke up.

"What Amada-san just used on Seraphim must've been another one of those Theurgy moves. However, what strikes me as odd is that Sraosha usually resists Bless damage. Amada-san should not have dealt that much damage to Seraphim, but yet he did." Draconis said as Fuuka spoke up, having walked over to check on Seraphim and heard Draconis's remark.

"Um, pardon me, Draconis-kun. If I may clear up your confusion, there is one thing that we forgot to tell you regarding Theurgies that deal damage to enemies. Unlike most finishers and skills, a Theurgy can bypass elemental resistances and affinity checks when used. So, despite being a Bless-based Theurgy, Ken's 'Divine Retribution' still hit for neutral damage on Seraphim, hence why it hurt her so much. But I'm glad to see that Seraphim is okay." Fuuka said as Seraphim smiled and spoke up.

"I'm fine, Fuuka. Don't worry, I should be fine after a long rest." Seraphim said as Fuuka smiled and spoke up

"I'm glad. I'll leave you guys alone so you can discuss who you should send out next. Remember, you have five minutes." Fuuka said as she headed back to the arena to wait for the next battler. At that point, Joker spoke up.

"Well, with only 11 of us left, our options are starting to shrink slightly. So who do we send in next?" Joker asked as Draconis spoke up.

"Good question. I would have said that we should send someone with resistance or nullification against Bless, let alone Elec. However, based on what Yamagishi-san just said, affinities don't matter when it comes to Theurgies. So I think that we can send any of our remaining battlers in as long as it's someone who does not have a weakness for Bless or Elec." Draconis said as the others nodded before a determined Auburn spoke up.

"I see. In that case, I'd like to volunteer to be the one to face Ken next." Auburn said, surprising both Draconis and Wolf, the latter of which spoke up in concern.

"Auburn, are you sure about this? I know you can handle yourself and all, but what if Ken tries to defeat you in the same way he beat Seraphim? After all, your Persona does have a weakness for Bless attacks. And remembering what Draconis just said, Persona-users who are weak to Bless are the ones we should not send out right now." Wolf said as Seraphim spoke up.

"I understand how you feel, but I think she'll be fine, Wolf. I believe in Auburn, and if anyone can beat Ken, it's her. Sure, we could have someone like Draconis or Joker go, but I feel like we should keep those two in reserve as a last-ditch ploy in case one of the other battlers ends up being really strong." Seraphim said as Auburn looked at Wolf and spoke up.

"Seraphim's right, Dad. I appreciate your concern, but I can handle this. Besides, you said yourself that I'm nearly a grown woman and that you were trying to trust me more, so that I could in turn trust you more. So if that's true, then please, allow me this. That fool knocked my girlfriend out. And even though I may be at a disadvantage given my Bless weakness, I still want to avenge Seraphim for what Ken did to her. Besides, my Persona has 'Evade Bless', in which case I have a higher chance of evading those attacks anyway. So with that being said, can you trust me to handle myself, Dad?" Auburn asked Wolf, who frowned as Joker spoke up.

"I know you worry that your daughter could get hurt, Wolf. But I think Auburn can handle the odds. If she was able to risk her life just to save us from that cognitive Owada, then I think she knows what she's doing going into this battle. I'm okay with sending her in, but it's your call if you want Auburn to be the next one up." Joker said as Wolf thought on this before he slowly nodded his head as he spoke up while facing his daughter again.

"Okay, I'll trust you. I'm sorry if I am being overprotective. It's not easy for me to accept that you're growing up, Auburn. But I believe in you. Now go get him." Wolf said as Auburn nodded appreciatively and hugged her dad before speaking up.

"I will be careful. Thank you for believing in me, Dad." Auburn said before heading out to the battlefield and staring down Ken, who spoke up.

"Oh, geez. Of course Seraphim's girlfriend is my next opponent. Well, maybe I'll get lucky and Yu will consider whatever Auburn does to me as adequate punishment so that he doesn't need to add any of his own. Either way, I guess I gotta do this. Good luck to you, Auburn." Ken said as Auburn spoke up.

"Good luck to you as well, Ken. I can tell you feel remorse and regret for how the last match ended, so I won't be as harsh on you as I originally planned on being. But that doesn't mean I plan to go easy on you. You better give me all you've got." Auburn said as Ken nodded and readied his spear as Auburn primed her fans while Fuuka spoke up.

"Wow, this matchup looks like it's going to be intense. Who will win this next battle? Will Ken finally break the streak of back-and-forth KO's, or will Auburn continue that streak? One way to find out! Let the twelfth match BEGIN!" Fuuka said as she swung her arm inside of Juno to start the match.

(Match 12 Start- Auburn VS Ken)

As the match started, Auburn and Ken glared at one another and spoke up in unison.

"BEHOLD, THE GREATEST OF ALL MAGICIANS!/LET'S DO IT! COME FORTH, HOUDINI!/GO, KALA-NEMI!" Auburn and Ken said as they summoned their Personas, making Yu and Rise both blink in surprise at Auburn's Persona being a magician with no face. Mitsuru grimaced at Auburn's Persona and turned to Akihiko as she spoke up.

"Does that Persona remind you of anything, Akihiko?" Mitsuru asked as Akihiko spoke up with a comforting smile, knowing what Mitsuru was getting at.

"Are you referring to the time when Shinji told us that horror story about an invisible man when we were younger? If so, I don't think this is the same thing. But it's similar at least." Akihiko said as Mitsuru nodded while the battle began in earnest.

As the clash started, Ken charged towards Auburn with his spear, but the newest Thief blocked it with her fans. As the two struggled to push the other back, Auburn had Houdini unleash multiple blasts of Curse energy of which to her surprise, Ken was knocked back pretty hard. Realizing that Curse is Ken's weakness, Auburn then had Houdini let loose more Curse energy on Ken alongside the occasional blast of Fire energy, which the young Shadow Operative tried to avoid by quickly dodging the blasts. Ken then followed up by having Kala-Nemi unleash multiple blasts of Bless energy as he did earlier with Seraphim.

However, thanks to Auburn's 'Evade Bless' passive skill, she was able to avoid both the normal and insta-kill ones. As Ken and Auburn then clashed with their weapons again, Ken had Kala-Nemi unleash a sudden blast of Elec energy that Auburn barely managed to dodge out of the way as she then had Houdini unleash multiple 'One-Shot Kill' attacks on Ken.

While he was distracted, Aubrun then used her Arcane Guns to unleash multiple blasts of magic energy, which to Ken's surprise, caused the damage that he had taken to be transferred to Auburn. As Ken, tries to have Kala-Nemi cast 'Diarahan' so that he can recover from the constant attacks, Auburn intercepts the heal by having Houdini cast 'Life Drain' which results in Ken wasting more of his energy as he speaks up while catching his breath as her.

"Okay, I did not expect to be fighting someone who has the ability to drain their opponent of their energy." Ken said as Auburn primed her fans and spoke up.

"That's one of my specialties, Amada-san. My Arcane Guns along with my Persona can drain the health of a single enemy. Even if you cast any healing spells, I can be able to steal it. But I think I made my point, and seeing as you are exhausted, I think this battle has gone on long enough. TIME TO FINISH THIS! BEHOLD!" Auburn said as she tossed a fan at Ken that was coated in Fire energy, pushing him back and making him wince as it did Fire damage to him before Auburn followed up with a Curse fan that did a lot of damage and knocked Ken forwards as Auburn smirked at Ken before she spoke up again.

"Now you're at my mercy and easy pickings to finish off, so let's put you out of your misery, yeah? Feast your eyes on one of my Master Arts! TASTE MY FANS OF DAMNATION!" Akane said as she charged forward with her fans in hand, one coated in Fire energy, and the other in Curse energy, to do a cross-slash on Ken's torso, knocking him backwards as a giant pillar of mixed Fire and Curse energy erupted from the ground under Ken, launching him into the air and barraging him with constant Fire and Curse damage before the pillar vanished as abruptly as it'd come, leaving Ken to crash to the ground with a groan as he struggled to a knee and looked up.

"Nngh! Not bad. You got me. I yield, Auburn." Ken said before wincing as he fell forward and collapsed in defeat, prompting Fuuka to run up and wave an arm to signal the end of the bout while having Juno use 'Oracle' to heal Auburn, who smirked and spoke up.

"You see that!? Mess with me, and that's what you get!" Auburn said as she crossed her arms triumphantly.

(Match 12 End. Winner: Auburn)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Naoto, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Fox, Queen, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, Wolf, and Auburn) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, Teddie, Mona, Koromaru, Panther, Rise, Oracle, Yukari, Seraphim, and Ken)

After the match, Fuuka spoke up to confirm the result.

"After that rather exciting and intense match, the winner of Match 12 is Auburn! Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives, you guys have five minutes to get Ken off the battlefield and bring in your next battler." Fuuka said as Junpei and Akihiko helped Ken off the field and set him on the bench, where Yukiko, Akihiko, and Yosuke worked together to get Ken revived and on his feet with a combination of 'Samarecarm' and other healing moves. Once he was up and on his feet, Yu frowned at him and spoke up.

"I should be mad at you for how you treated Seraphim. But seeing as you were efficiently beaten by my cousin's girlfriend, I'll let that suffice as your punishment, Ken. But don't expect me to be as merciful in the future if you end up hurting my cousin again." Yu said as Ken nodded his understanding before Naoto spoke up.

"Be that as it may Yu, who do we send out against Auburn? Our options are starting to be a bit limited. Not to mention, aside from myself, Yukiko-senpai, and Junpei-kun, I don't think we have anyone left who can really withstand Fire attacks very well. And while I could also go in myself, seeing as my Persona can withstand both Fire and Curse, I want to save my strength for my rematch against Crow." Naoto said as the remaining people on the Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives sideline frowned before Yukiko got a determined look on her face as she spoke up.

"I'll go next." Yukiko said as both Chie and Yu spoke up in shock from Yukiko's surprise declaration.

"YUKIKO!?" Chie and Yu said as the former of the two kept speaking.

"Are you seriously thinking of going up against Auburn? That girl's Persona has way more skills than what your other self has to offer. And if I have to venture a guess, there's no doubt that Auburn is resistant to Fire in some capacity." Chie said as Yukiko spoke up while giving both her best friend and Yu reassuring smiles as she spoke.

"It's fine, Chie. I can easily handle Fire moves much better than Auburn. In addition, I have something up my sleeve that might take her down even if she has Fire resistance. Plus, I saw that Auburn uses fans like me, so who better to put her in her place than another fan-wielder?" Yukiko pointed out as both Yu and Chie paused to consider Yukiko's words before the latter spoke up while nodding approvingly to Yukiko's reasons for wanting to go in next.

"Alright, if you're that serious about this, then I won't stop you. Just be careful out there." Chie said as Yukiko nodded just as Yu spoke up as he too approved of Yukiko's reasoning for stepping up.

"While I'm also hesitant to send you out, seeing as you're the only one still standing on our side who can use 'Samarecarm', you do raise some valid points. So even though it's a risky move to send you in, if you claim to have a plan to defeat Auburn, then I have faith in you. If you want to fight next, then go on ahead." Yu said as Labrys spoke up.

"I agree. If anyone can handle Auburn, it's Yukiko." Labrys said as Yukiko gave Labrys a grateful smile and spoke up.

"Thank you for believing in me, Labrys." Yukiko said as she headed out onto the battlefield to face Auburn, who spoke up as she saw Yukiko come out onto the field.

"Ah, I see. So you're my next opponent, then? Very well. From what I've been told, you also wield both fans and Fire skills, so this should be interesting to see which one of us is better. So good luck to you, and may the best woman win, Yukiko-san." Auburn said as Yukiko nodded and spoke up.

"Same to you, Auburn. Good luck." Yukiko said as Fuuka spoke up with a smile.

"Well, it seems like this match is at least on a somewhat friendly and civil level. Who will come out on top between Yukiko and Auburn? Let the thirteenth match begin!" Fuuka said as she waved an arm to start the match.

(Match 13 Start- Auburn VS Yukiko)

As the match started, Auburn and Yukiko looked at each other and spoke up in unison.

"BEHOLD! THE GREATEST OF ALL MAGICIANS!/COME FORTH IN THE PETALS! COME FORTH, HOUDINI!/REVEAL YOURSELF, SUMEO-OKAMI!" Auburn and Yukiko said as they summoned their Personas, with most of the Phantom Thieves being surprised at how different Yukiko's Persona was as while it looked like her original Persona, this new one was in a golden color scheme as opposed to pink, and that the being had longer hair.

As the battle began, both Auburn and Yukiko clashed with their fans, and while Auburn's fans were much bigger than Yukiko's, the Amagi Inn heiress was able to hold her ground pretty well with just her single fan. However, the power struggle did not last as Auburn was able to break through Yukiko's defenses and knock her away. The Phantom Thief fanatic then followed up by unleashing a blast of Fire energy from Houdini at Yukiko. However, much to Auburn's shock, not only did the Fire not damage Yukiko upon making contact, but it also healed her. After seeing her attack did the opposite effect of what it was meant to do, Auburn frowned and spoke up.

"You've got to be kidding me. I mean, I had a feeling you were somewhat resistant to Fire, but I didn't think it heals you upon contact!" Auburn said as Yukiko chuckled and spoke up.

"Were you surprised? It seems like you have lost one of your means of attacking me." Yukiko said as Auburn spoke up.

"Don't count me out just yet. Houdini and I have plenty more tricks up our sleeves." Auburn said as Yukiko spoke up.

"Then let's see if you can back up those words." Yukiko said as she then had Sumeo-Okami unleash multiple Fire blasts of her own onto Auburn, and while the Phantom Thief was able to either dodge or tank the hits, she was able to give herself time to aim her Arcane Guns at Yukiko and fire multiple magic blasts at her alongside having Houdini unleashing a 'One-Shot Kill' attack as well. And while those attacks did heavy damage to Yukiko alongside draining some of her health, she was able to quickly heal herself as Sumeo-Okami cast 'Salvation' much to the surprise of Auburn and the rest of the Phantom Thieves aside from Seraphim.

Auburn then tried to have Houdini launch multiple Curse moves while attempting to use a mix of her fans and Arcane Guns to keep some distance between her and Yukiko while the Amagi Inn heiress did the same tactic by unleashing more Fire blasts from Sumeo-Okami. After a while of trading blows with each other as well as healing themselves with either 'Diarahan', 'Salvation', or in Auburn's case, her Arcane Guns and 'Life Drain', the two combatants started to get very tired as Auburn smirked and spoke up.

"Face it, Yukiko-san! No matter how much Fire you can unleash, it's not going to be enough to take me down. It's only a matter of time before you fall." Auburn said as Yukiko smiled and spoke up.

"I don't think so. While I must commend you on your abilities Auburn, you still have a long way to go. Nonetheless, I think it's time I finished this bout, and if you say that you can resist my Fire, then let's see if you can take on this! COME, SUMEO-OKAMI! SHOW AUBURN YOUR FULL POWER! BE CAPTIVATED AS THE SCENTED PETALS WAFT!" Yukiko said as she waved her fan and Sumeo-Okami nodded and thrust her palms at Auburn, and before the Phantom Thief realized what was happening, the Persona of Yukiko ended up unleashing a torrent of flaming petals to shoot at her.

The impact that created when the flaming petals from Sumeo-Okami slammed head-on into her had the result of making Auburn scream as she was blasted backwards by the barrage of fiery petals, eventually being consumed by an explosion that knocked her off of her feet and took her to the ground, where she shuddered and passed out in defeat. Fuuka ran over to confirm that Auburn was okay, and once she did, she waved an arm to end the match from inside her Persona as Juno used her 'Oracle' skill to heal Yukiko, who giggled as she spoke up.

"Hee hee, looks like I won this battle. Good game." Yukiko said as the match ended.

(Match 13 End. Winner: Yukiko)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Naoto, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Fox, Queen, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, and Wolf) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, Teddie, Mona, Koromaru, Panther, Rise, Oracle, Yukari, Seraphim, Ken, and Auburn)

After the match ended, Fuuka spoke up to confirm the result.

"After that rather heated brawl, the winner of the thirteenth match is Yukiko. Phantom Thieves, you have five minutes to clear Auburn off the field and send in your next battler." Fuuka said as Wolf walked over and scooped up Auburn and walked her back to the Phantom Thieves' sideline, where he laid her on the bench next to an anxious-looking Seraphim, where Violet, Seeker, and Flare worked together to heal her using a combination of 'Samarecarm' and other healing moves. After a bit, Auburn sat up and spoke up.

"I lost to Yukiko, didn't I?" Auburn asked as both Seraphim and Wolf nodded, making Auburn smile as she spoke up again.

"That's a bummer, but at least I took out Ken before I lost, so I'm fine with being defeated." Auburn said as Wolf hugged her as he spoke up.

"You did well out there, Auburn. I'm proud of you. But for now, take this time to get some rest." Wolf said as Auburn smiled and nodded her head just as Seraphim spoke up.

"Don't worry, Wolf. I'll take care of her. You go meet with the others to discuss who should go next." Seraphim said as Wolf thanked his daughter's girlfriend as he walked back to the remaining Phantom Thieves who had not fought yet just as Joker frowned and spoke up.

"Okay, we're now down to just the 10 of us. Do we have anyone left who can resist Fire moves and stand a fighting chance against Yukiko?" Joker asked as Flare spoke up.

"Well, it can't be me or Fox seeing as we both have a weakness for Fire. And while there is a possibility that Yukiko has a weakness for Ice or even Nuke, either one of us could end up going down if she ends up using that same attack that defeated Auburn." Flare said as Fox nodded in agreement as Seeker spoke up.

"What about Draconis? If I recall correctly, his Persona also has the ability to drain Fire." Seeker said as Fox spoke up.

"That's not a bad idea, Seeker. With his ability to absorb Fire, along with having access to a variety of other skills, Draconis might be our best bet." Fox said as Violet frowned and spoke up.

"I would have also agreed with you on your reasoning, sweetie. However, I think we should hold off on sending in Draconis since he is one of our strongest fighters." Violet said as Draconis spoke up.

"I agree. While you do make some fine points Seeker, I think it's better for me to conserve my strength for one of the other battlers from Yu's group. Besides, there is actually someone else from that team whom I want to fight anyway." Draconis said as Seeker pondered on this before nodding her head in understanding as Crow spoke up.

"If that's the case, may I give my thoughts on this matter?" Crow asked as Queen spoke up.

"Of course. Is there someone you have in mind, Crow?" Queen asked as Crow nodded and spoke up.

"Yes, I do. Truth be told, aside from my brother, I don't think we have anyone else who could match up against Yukiko-san in terms of affinity. However, if we were to go for someone who could effectively tank Yukiko's attacks, why not send in Noir? After all, not only does she have the best buffing skills after Wolf and possibly Draconis and Joker, but she also has that 'Life Wall' skill that can deflect any attack. Not to mention, I doubt that Yukiko-san can block Gun moves, so this will give Noir the advantage of ranged combat options. Therefore, I believe Noir is our best option to send in." Crow said as Draconis and Joker looked at each other before the former spoke up.

"Y'know, that's pretty smart, Crow. But let's see what your girlfriend has to say about it. Noir, do you want to be the one to go in next and face Yukiko?" Draconis asked as Noir smiled and spoke up.

"I'll gladly do it. If nothing else, I feel like I'd be leaving Crow hanging if I didn't do it. Especially seeing how much he talked me up just now." Noir said as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Very well, go for it. Good luck, Noir." Joker said as Noir nodded, hefting her axe over one shoulder as she walked out to face Yukiko. Once Noir stepped onto the battlefield, Yukiko smiled and spoke up.

"Ah, so you're my opponent then, Noir? How very interesting. You know, out of all the Phantom Thieves, I've been wanting to fight you specifically since we are both the heiresses of our respective businesses." Yukiko said as Noir giggled and spoke up.

"You know, I haven't even considered that possibility myself. If that's the case, then let's see which one of us is the most elegant fighter, Yukiko-san. Good luck to you, and may the best battler win." Noir said as Yukiko nodded, shaking Noir's hand as Fuuka smiled and spoke up.

"How nice it is to see a friendly rivalry. Looks like we're ready to start the fourteenth match. Without further delay, let the match between Yukiko and Noir BEGIN!" Fuuka said as she waved an arm inside of Juno to start the match.

(Match 14 Start- Noir VS Yukiko)

As the match started, Noir and Yukiko stared down each other as they spoke up in unison.

"TEMPT THEM, LUCY!/COME, SUMEO-OKAMI!" Noir and Yukiko said as the two started battling. As Yukiko charged forward with her fan, Noir had Lucy quickly cast 'Heat Riser' to buff all of her stats just in time as she used her axe to block the Amagi Inn heiress attack. As the two clashed weapons, Yukiko had Sumeo-Okami unleash a Fire attack that not only dealt damage to Noir but also inflicted Burn status on her.

However, much to Yukiko's shock, Noir had Lucy cast 'Amrita Shower' to remove the ailment. What followed was Noir having Lucy unleashed multiple Psy and Gun attacks on Yukiko, and while she was able to dodge some of them, the Amagi Inn heiress was eventually hit by a 'One-Shot Kill' attack as she fell to the floor. As Yukiko had Sumeo-Okami cast 'Salvation' to heal her wounds, she noticed that Noir had Lucy waved the briefcase she was holding around, causing a set of barriers to appear over the Okumura Foods heiress, making Yukiko frown and confused as she spoke up.

"What's that about?" Yukiko asked as Noir spoke up with a smirk.

"You'll see soon enough. Attack me again if you dare." Noir said as she primed her axe while Yukiko had Sumeo-Okami throw another Fire attack at Noir, only to gape as it bounced back and hit her for negligible damage. Yukiko frowned and spoke up.

"Did those barriers your Persona put up allow you to deflect different moves?" Yukiko asked as Noir spoke up.

"Perhaps. I will confirm that Lucy's Master Art 'Life Wall' does give me certain levels of protection. But you'll have to work those out for yourself, I'm afraid." Noir said as Yukiko frowned and spoke up.

"So you say. SUMEO-OKAMI! GET HER WITH THE PETALS!" Yukiko said as she waved her fan as Sumeo-Okami attempted to pelt Noir with 'Burning Petals', only to be stunned when Noir was surrounded by a glow after hitting the ground by the ensuring fiery explosion and getting up as if she'd not been harmed. Yukiko gritted her teeth as realization hit her and spoke up as she felt the draining from using 'Burning Petals'.

"I see now. So the reason why your Master Art is called 'Life Wall' is because not only can you deflect one attack, but you can also revive to full health from a fatal blow once per usage. Is that correct?" Yukiko asked as Noir giggled and spoke up.

"Correct! And as your prize, allow me to put an end to your suffering. Lucy, it's time! SHOWTIME, THAT IS!" Noir said as Lucy nodded and Noir's Showtime started. To start off, Noir extended a hand towards Lucy as she spoke up.

"Care to join me?" Noir asked as Lucy nodded, the two doing a rather intricate-looking waltz around the room, before Noir twirled away as the skirt on Lucy opened up to reveal an array of machine guns inside of it that she fired, causing a barrage of gunfire to ensure that pelted the downed Yukiko for a lot of damage, after which Noir flipped into view, axe in hand, and spoke up.

"THIS IS YOUR END! COUP DE GRACE!" Noir said as she swung her axe towards Yukiko, ending the Showtime with a blade of Psy energy slamming head-on into Yukiko, who could only wince as the collision of the attacks caused an explosion blocking Yukiko from view as Noir's Showtime ended. After the group could see again, Yukiko was seen on the ground in a crater, clearly out cold. Fuuka ran over to confirm Yukiko's defeat, waving a hand afterwards to end the match as she spoke up to confirm the result while Noir slung her axe over one shoulder and spoke up.

"You tried, but it wasn't enough. Better luck next time!" Noir said as the match ended and Fuuka had Juno use 'Oracle' to heal Noir...

(Match 14 End. Winner: Noir)

(Remaining Investigation Team/Shadow Operatives Members: Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Naoto, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Labrys, and Marie) (Remaining Phantom Thieves Members: Joker, Fox, Queen, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Flare, and Wolf) (Eliminated from the Battle: Pendragon, Kanji, Skull, Teddie, Mona, Koromaru, Panther, Rise, Oracle, Yukari, Seraphim, Ken, Auburn, and Yukiko)

TO BE CONCLUDED/END OF CHAPTER

A/N: And there we go, part 2 of the final interlude is in the books! I apologize for how abrupt the ending of the chapter was, but I had to split part 2 of the final interlude in half since it was over 60,000 words in length by the time I finally finished typing out all the matches and the post-match coverage, along with a certain something else I have cooked up to end the final Interlude with. But you'll have to wait for chapter 40 to see what I mean by that, since that'll be the third and final part of the final Interlude of Rise of the Monarchs, and I'll probably have all the notes from both this chapter and chapter 40 covered together at the end of the next chapter. So there's that for everyone to look forward to.

Real quick, before I continue with this end-of-chapter A/N, let me take a quick moment to make a couple of announcements. First off, there will be no uploads probably until sometime in early June unless jdimock and I decide otherwise, since he has a lot going on that makes editing difficult for him during the back half of this month.

As a result, I'm having to scale back my upload schedule to accommodate him. But I don't mind that since he contributes so much to the story. That being said, for now, the current schedule is set to uploads being every Wednesday. And that will likely stay true for the next couple of uploads, but after that, it will be likely changed.

The reason for this is that jdimock has stuff starting up in June that will require me to slightly restructure my upload schedule to accommodate his decreased availability for edits and stuff, which I have no problems whatsoever with doing since he's been such a huge help with this story thus far, between all these edits he points out for me, and with helping expand certain parts of chapters to help lengthen them out slightly.

Not only that, but some aspects of this story's plot, like Akane's inclusion as a Phantom Thief, were his suggestion, since he was the reason Akane ended up on that poll that she, Nanako, and Shiho won to decide who would be the remaining three new Phantom Thieves. That, and the rematch with the Phantom Thieves and the Shadow Operatives/Investigation Team that you're currently reading was also his idea. Everything from the matchups to the venue, and even some of the events of each bout, were done on his suggestion. However, some parts, such as Koromaru's 'celebration' after defeating Mona? Those were my idea. So it was very much a mixed cooperative effort between us to create the matchup you just read part of.

Also, we're not even halfway done with the rematch yet, so obviously there's still a LOT left to work on. Just putting that out there. And now, back to our regularly scheduled end-of-chapter A/N. Sorry for the slightly long interruption, and thanks to everyone who read through it.

That being said, let me take this chance to thank everyone who's read not only this far into the chapter, but the story as a whole! All the support I've gotten, be it in the form of the story being followed and/or favorited, and those who have also followed and favorited me as an author, is much appreciated! So thanks to everyone who's followed this story, favorited it, or even left a review on it!

All the feedback I get from my readers is greatly appreciated, as it lets me make this story even better for everyone reading it. So feel free to leave a review below with any thoughts/feedback/suggestions/constructive criticism you might have on the story, as I enjoy hearing from my readers! Furthemore, don't be shy about PMing me, as I enjoy hearing from my readers! And until part 3 of the final interlude, sithlorde1988 out!

PHANTOM THIEF SKILL LISTINGS, ALLY LIST, AND LIST OF TRIAD SPECIALS AS OF THE END OF CHAPTER 39 AND PART 2 OF THE FINAL INTERLUDE

JOKER (Ren) - Level: 76 Current Personas: Raoul (Level 62), Seth (Level 69), Fortuna (Level 65), Ganesha (Level 64), Kali (Level 75), Cerberus (Level 70), Forneus (Level 67), Mot (Level 65), Lilith (Level 62), Norn (Level 74) Equipped Persona: Raoul Persona Moveset: Maeigaon (Curse), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Rebel Soul (Passive), Resist Ice (Passive), Mediarama (Healing), Curse Boost (Passive), Rakukaja (Support/Buff), Recarm (Healing)

SKULL (Ryuji) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: William Persona Moveset: Ziodyne (Elec), Megaton Raid (Physical), Matarukaja (Support/Buff), Elec Boost (Passive), Maziodyne (Elec), Charge (Support/Buff), Agneyastra (Physical), Technical High (Passive)

MONA (Morgana) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Diego Persona Moveset: Garudyne (Wind), Diarahan (Healing), Mediarahan (Healing), Magarudyne (Wind), Wind Amp (Passive), Samarecarm (Healing), Masukunda (Support/Debuff), Dodge Elec (Passive)

PANTHER (Ann) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Celestine Persona Moveset: Agidyne (Fire), Concentrate (Support/Buff), Fire Amp (Passive), Soul Thief (Passive), Maragidyne (Fire), Matarunda (Support/Debuff), Brain Jack (Ailment), Diarahan (Healing)

FOX (Yusuke) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Gorokichi Persona Moveset: Bufudyne (Ice), Speed Master (Passive), Masukukaja (Support/Buff), Knockdown Style (Passive), Myriad Slashes (Physical), Brave Blade (Physical), Mabufudyne (Ice), Evade Fire (Passive)

QUEEN (Makoto) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Agnes Persona Moveset: Freidyne (Nuclear), Dekunda (Support/Buff), Marakukaja (Support/Buff), Mafreidyne (Nuclear), Diarahan (Healing), Flash Bomb (Physical), Mediarahan (Healing), Nuke Amp (Passive)

NOIR (Haru) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Lucy Persona Moveset: Psiodyne (Psy), Ailment Boost (Passive), Heat Riser (Support/Buff), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Evil Smile (Ailment), Amrita Shower (Healing), Mapsiodyne (Psy), Gun Amp (Passive)

ORACLE (Futaba) - Level: 76 Current Personas: Al Azif and Albus Equipped Persona: Albus Persona Moveset: Ziodyne (Elec), Matarukaja (Support/Buff), Megidola (Almighty), Marakukaja (Support/Buff), Concentrate (Support/Buff), Masukukaja (Support/Buff), Invigorate 3 (Passive), Spell Master (Passive)

SEEKER (Sophia) - Level: 70 Current/Partner 'Persona': Pithos Persona Moveset: Kougaon? (Bless), Bless Amp? (Passive), Diarahan? (Healing), Makouga? (Bless), Mediarahan? (Healing), Marakunda? (Support/Debuff), Angelic Grace? (Passive), Samarecarm? (Healing)

WOLF (Zenkichi) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Valjean Persona Moveset: Megidola (Almighty), Gun Boost (Passive), Debilitate (Support/Debuff), Deathbound (Physical), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Heat Riser (Support/Buff), Enduring Soul (Passive), Tetraja (Support/Barrier)

VIOLET (Sumire) - Level: 76 Current/Partner Persona: Ella Persona Moveset: Kougaon (Bless), Dodge Curse (Passive), Diarahan (Healing), Bless Amp (Passive), Vorpal Blade (Physical), Makougaon (Bless), Sword Dance (Physical), Samarecarm (Healing)

DRACONIS (Kusa) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Malefor Persona Moveset: Agilao (Fire), Garula (Wind), Mediarahan (Healing), Assault Dive (Physical), Null Bless (Passive), Gigantomachia (Physical), Megidola (Almighty), Almighty Amp (Passive)

CROW (Goro) - Level: 70 Current Personas: Robin Hood, Loki, and Hereward Equipped Persona: Hereward Persona Moveset: Eigaon (Curse), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Maeigaon (Curse), Laevateinn (Physical), Debilitate (Support/Debuff), Mudoon (Curse/insta-kill), Megidola (Almighty), Curse Amp (Passive)

PENDRAGON (Sojiro) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Kohryu Persona Moveset: Psiodyne (Psy), Gigantomachia (Physical), Concentrate (Support/Buff), Mediarahan (Healing), Mapsiodyne (Psy), Evade Nuke (Passive), Spell Master (Passive), Psy Amp (Passive)

FLARE (Shiho) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Hester Persona Moveset: Bufudyne (Ice), Myriad Slashes (Physical), Mediarahan (Healing), Angelic Grace (Passive), Samarecarm (Healing), Freidyne (Nuclear), Ice Boost (Passive), Nuke Amp (Passive)

SERAPHIM (Nanako) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Sraosha Persona Moveset: Ziodyne (Elec), Brave Blade (Physical), Charge (Support/Buff), Maziodyne (Elec), Salvation (Healing), Elec Boost (Passive), Hamaon (Bless/insta-kill), Angelic Grace (Passive)

AUBURN (Akane) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Houdini Persona Moveset: Agidyne (Fire), Diarahan (Healing), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Maeigaon (Curse), Regenerate 2 (Passive), Life Drain (Almighty), Evade Ice (Passive), Evade Bless (Passive)

LIST OF ALLIES: Ichinose, Taichi, Momoe, Sae, Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, Mishima, Minako, Shinichi, Maruki, Hiraguchi, Shibusawa, Shibusawa's Wife, Marie, TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA

LIST OF KNOWN TRIAD SPECIALS AS OF THE END OF CHAPTER 39 AND PART 2 OF THE FINAL INTERLUDE

DIVINE BLIZZARD (Draconis, Fox, Violet)

PURGATORY ARROW (Crow, Noir, Panther)

REBELLIOUS VENGEANCE BURST (Joker, Skull, Seeker)

SNOW CAT-JUTSU (Mona, Flare, Wolf)

JUDGEMENT STRIKE (Oracle, Queen, Pendragon)

STORM OF HEAVEN (Violet, Mona, Seeker)

HELLISH ELEMENTAL TRINITY (Skull, Panther, Flare)

MIRROR OF THE ORDAINED (Pendragon, Mona, Draconis)

KARMA STINGERS (Seraphim, Fox, Noir)

WRATH OF THE CHOSEN ONES (Draconis, Crow, Joker)

CHAOTIC PLASMA RAIN (Auburn, Seraphim, Oracle)

ATOMIC ONSLAUGHT (Wolf, Auburn, Queen)

BOLTS OF ARMAGEDDON (Oracle, Skull, Seraphim)