Hey guys and gals, welcome back to MHA the Value of a Thief and this time around we will be starting up on the rest of Palace Infiltration for Madarame's Palace.
You guys seemed to really like what I have been doing with the stuff for Yusuke's arc with this story, with people wanting to republish this story in other languages and on youtube.
Also since he asked me to credit him, I used some dialogue from MushroomFusion's Phantom Memories fic that I'm helping to write on AO3, just cause it was already stuff I had written for him.
So hopefully I can keep making this story even more interesting for you guys.
But for now, how about we get this chapter started.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my Oc's.
Mementos
Third person P.O.V.
"Phew finally made it" Joker sighed, rolling his neck as he walked down the steps into the first floor of Mementos only to be confused at what he saw "D-Did I miss something."
"MAGNIFICENT! SUCH A CHAOTIC AND MADDENING FORM! IT IS FUELING MY ARTISTIC NEEDS!" Yusuke cackled, as he was painting the landscape in front of him.
"Oh hey you finally made it" Panther noted, as she, Mona and Skull sat on the seats waiting for the Fox to finish up.
"Yeah uh, what did I miss?" Joker questioned, looking at the two.
"Well we managed to do a few of the requests on the Phansite while we were waiting for ya, like that one chick who was acting like a sadist to the guy she liked" Mona explained, crossing his arms.
"And then that one decided that he wanted to sketch out Mementos before we leave" Skull scoffed, pointing a thumb towards Yusuke
"Well of course this is a once in a lifetime opportunity" Yusuke declared, walking up to them "To see the representation of human desire in such a combined form!."
"I see you're starting to get a grasp of this place" Joker smiled, looking over at Yusuke.
"Indeed, who would have thought that a person's distorted desire could become manifested in such detail in this world! Truly inspiring" Yusuke nodded "Though I'm confused about this NAV thing that has the same power as Morgana."
"Ah right, we did sort of skim through it while we were explaining huh" Skull admitted, rubbing his head.
"Ah well pretty much a phone suddenly popped on my phone on the day I first got here that lets us go into these Palaces," he said, showing the app to Yusuke "I accidentally had it on during a conversation with Ryuji and we ended up going into the Palace of the Hero teacher in our school."
"To think such an incredible power would be found in such a simple form…" Yusuke muttered, looking at the app.
"Yeah and it's surprisingly simple, actually; just say a person's name, location and their distortion, then boom, you're in." Panther smiled, as Yusuke looked at her.
"Their location? What do you mean? How does that factor in?"
"Uhh, well, let's see, um…" Panther stuttered, trying to figure out how to explain before Joker decided to give her a hand.
"The location is where they base their desires. For example, Madarame sees the shack as a museum of all his works and Kamoshida sees our school as a castle where he was the king."
"How do you know what their Palace will look like if you have never seen it before?" Yusuke asked, with Morgana perking up.
"As a proper thief, we have to research as much as we can about our target and determine what is the best-" "Blind luck," The others admitted, swiftly cutting Mona off.
Morgana pouted as he glared at the other Phantom Thieves. "So, any more questions, Yusuke?"
"Hmm…no not really, I believe I have a good grasp of the basic concept," Yusuke confirmed. "If there is anything I do not understand, I will simply need to rely on you four, as you are more experienced than I am."
Skull scratched the back of his head, smiling. "We've done this once , dude. I wouldn't really call us 'experienced' yet."
"Yeah, Morgana's probably the one to ask. We're still getting our heads wrapped around this," Panther admitted.
"Ah right speaking of which I should probably mention I believe Madarame intends to take legal action against all of you" Yusuke explained "I saw him grumbling your names while working on some of the reports."
"What! For real" Skull gawked "I get Ann, but why me and Ren."
"Thanks a lot Ryuji" Panther sighed, shaking her head "Now that I think about it I think I heard him notice Mona, could be he have figured out this was all a trap."
"Do you know when he's going to take action?" Joker asked, as Yusuke placed his hand to his mouth
"I can't say for certain but considering the exhibition currently going on I would say early next month."
"The heck? Why so long, is he that busy" Skull wondered, as Mona shook his head.
"It'd probably change how people see him if he was in a trial during an important exhibition," Mona explained, before looking down "Which means we have about two weeks left before he takes charge"
"Well we finished up half of the Palace already, I'm sure we can finish the rest up on our next infiltration" Joker said before looking over at Yusuke "Speaking of which we should probably decide when we should go and do that Palace? Also get you some gear for the next mission, you can use your share of the funds from Mementos."
"Very well, I'm interested in seeing how you get such gear" Yusuke noted, as Skull leaned back.
"I mean, I'm still feeling pretty up to it if you guys wanna do the Palace today" Skull admitted, crossing his arms.
"Same, it's not like we did that much in Mementos today" Panther agreed with a nod.
"Plus getting this Palace done as soon as possible would probably be for the best" Morgana stated.
"If that's the case, Madarame should still be at the exhibit now so we'll be able to get in the Palace easily enough" Yusuke nodded.
"Well alright then, just give me a sec I gotta do something real quick" he nodded, before walking up to the velvet room door and entering inside.
"Oh he's doing that thing again" Panther blinked, as she, Skull, Mona and Yusuke looked at Ren's frozen body
"What do you mean? He's just standing there doing nothing?" Yusuke questioned, looking over at Joker.
"We don't really know, we just know that whenever he spaces out like that he comes back a few minutes later with a bunch of different Persona's" Morgana explained.
"Right, I recall you mentioning Joker's special ability, that he utilises multiple Persona's…is there any way we can gain this ability as well?" Yusuke asked, but Panther shook her head.
"Well we've tried negotiating with Persona's, but the best we can do is get them to give us money and some items" She explained.
"And you won't believe what kinda crazy stuff he comes up with just to keep how he manages his Persona's a secret" Skull groaned "Seriously a blue room that looks like a Prison with a long nose man sitting in the middle and two little girls dressed up as wardens that executes his Personas to fuse them together, how'd he comes up with this stuff."
"Yeah, that sounds crazy" Panther nodded, while Yusuke smiled "However you have to admit, it is quite inspiring for an art piece."
"Yeah I don't think it'll be easy to make a painting of the Velvet- Skull, what are you doing?" Mona blinked, as Skull slowly snuck up to the frozen Ren with a pen he borrowed from Yusuke.
"Just gonna draw a lil something" Skull grinned, getting closer and closer to Joker ready for his prank but before he could.
"GUWAH!" Skull grunted, feeling some kind of invincible force kicking him in the gut and sending him flying back.
"Whoa! What the heck!" Mona blinked, as Panther and Yusuke ran up to Skull.
"You okay Ryuji" Panther asked, helping Skull up who shook his head "Yeah, just felt something kick me in the gut…",
"Was it a Shadow that turned invisi-hmm?" Yusuke blinked, finding a blue note on the ground "What's this?."
The others blinked as they also looked over at the note Yusuke was holding.
"No one gets to pick on the Inmate but me! Punk!"
"Wait…so…IT'S REAL?!" The Thieves gawked, jumping back in surprise.
"Huh-wha" Joker blinked, coming back to reality, spotting his friends looking in his direction shocked while Caroline and Justine looked at them with satisfied smirks.
"What did you two do?"
"Your Chariot intended to draw something on you while you were speaking without a master," Justine explained.
"So we decided to teach him a lesson, you better be a grateful inmate" Caroline nodded.
Joker raised an eyebrow at that before an idea popped in his head.
"Aw, well this is a surprise" Joker grinned, as he began giving the two simultaneous headpats surprising them due to the new sensation "Who would have thought you two would go out of your way to protect me, I didn't know you were so fond of me."
At this sudden praise the two wardens jumped back, with Joker noticing a bit of red on their cheeks.
"W-What! D-Don't get the wrong idea inmate! We weren't doing it for you!" Caroline yelled, waving her baton.
"I-Indeed! W-We were simply performing our duty as your wardens! T-This is all for your rehabilitation!" Justine agreed, with a nod.
And with that the two went back into the dorm while Joker snickered, standing up "Dang, good thing that worked."
He then turned to his companions, all looking at him with different expressions.
"You want an explanation don't you?...ugh, fine I'll tell you on the way to the Palace" Joker sighed, as they made their way out of Mementos.
Opening: Flyers from Death Parade, lyrics be Leeandlie
WOAH! OH! WOAH! OH! OH! YEAH! YEAH!
In the middle of the city we see a gigantic statue of the number 1 hero All Might, however on his chest was a spray painted logo of a top hat and mask with flame coming out the eyes.
YEAH! YEAH! OW!
We then see a blur zoom past the statue, with the camera barely following its movements.
It's your haze of delusion versus reality
We see Joker running from rooftop to rooftop, with a light shining on him as several helicopters chased after him
Just keep stirring the pot to find your individuality
Arsene then flew up behind him before Joker jumped off the rooftop and grabbed his partner's Chain to help him fly.
Delete another problem that is plaguing your mind
We next see Skull running down the highway as several police cars chased after him, a wild grin on his face as he ran
From day to day! To end to end! That's entertainment of our lives
Captain kidd then sailed up and caught Skull as he cheered into the night sky, as face of pure joy behind him
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Dancing through the skies
Several paint marks were slashed at the walls, as we see Fox painting everything in the alleyway around him
Let's celebrate our time, and party while we're still alive
He then spun around as Goemon showed and blew his smoke allowing the paint to glow revealing he had painted different hero posters and stop signs.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Dancing through the skies
Panther then jumped down onto some train tracks and began dancing, as she began spinning around like a Ballerina
Kick your worries to the side and aim up to the sky.
Carmine then appeared behind her, and below a flaming tornado that spun around her as she smiled up at the beauty.
EVERYBODY! Put your hands up!
We see Queen riding on Johana with Mona on her back, as the two of them drove up an elevator through a window.
We'll be flying~ Can you imagine it?
We see a large UFO flying above the city with Oracle inside, before she tapped a few commands into it
Search and you'll find the stage set within your dreams.
The UFO then began flashing several colours like a Disco Ball that lit up the entire city.
The place where you're the one
Down below we see Noir and Milady dancing like in a ball on Shibuya crossing before the two spun around.
That's where you're meant to be!
Noir then struck a pose as Milady revealed the variety of guns below her dress.
EVERYBODY!
We then see the Thieves falling through the sky towards a variety of statues of Pro Heroes.
Put your hands up!
We see both Panther and Mona aiming firing their guns at a statue of Ryukyu which crumbled into pieces.
We'll be flying!
Then Skull and Fox quickly moved past a large statue Edgeshot, cutting it in half.
Can you imagine it?
Next we see Queen and Noir crashing, punching the large statue of endeavour into pieces.
Search and you'll find the stage you set within your dreams
In the UFO we see Oracle typing in a few more codes with a grin on her face, before snapping her fingers causing her UFO to drop a huge bomb towards the All Might statue.
The place where you're the one, that's where you're meant to be
Joker then grinned as Arsene threw him towards the bomb which he shot with his pistol causing a huge explosion of colours.
FLYIN! Within these memories!
We see the whole team of Phantom Thieves cheering at the beautiful explosion they were witnessing.
FLYING! That you're slowly forgetting!
Joker smirked before he spun around and landed towards the ground as the train passed by him.
Just listen close to the song that lies within you~
Ren then gets up in his school uniform with Morgana in his bag, before he waved to us and walked back towards the crowd of people passing by.
Soul~
My Hero Academia! The Value of a Thief!
Madarame Palace
Third person P.O.V.
"What's it like to be in there?."
"Kinda like I'm having one of these lucid dreams?."
"What does the place look like? I need it for inspiration."
"It's blue and shaped in a circle with a bunch of jail cells, in the middle is a desk where the long nose man sits."
"Did you ever figure out who those other guys were?."
"Not really no, didn't even notice them until one of them spoke up"
"Is there any way we can go into the velvet room? Maybe we could get multiple Persona's too."
"Doubt it, the place seems to only allow certain people in"
"What do the girls look like?."
"They kinda look like Jose, but more human and wearing blue warden clothes, anyway that's enough questions" Joker sighed, as they arrived at the Palace.
"Aww fine, but you better keep us updated on what they're saying" Mona said, with Ren nodding.
"Yeah, sure thing" Joker nodded, before they turned their attention back to the Palace.
"So we simply need to get through the rest of the Palace and find the quickest way through to get to the treasure" Yusuke asked, as Joker nodded.
"Pretty much Yusuke- crap right, we never picked a Codename for you"
"Oh yeah! It's gotta be Kitsune with his mask and everything!" Ann grinned.
"Hell yeah!" Ryuji cheered. "Definitely, or maybe something shorter like…Kitsu? Geats?"
"Are you referring to me?" Yusuke asked.
Morgana crossed his arms. "We refer to each other by codenames, we haven't confirmed it yet, but we do it as an extra precaution in case saying our real names affects the real world version in any way." He explained
"It's kinda like our hero's name's I'm Skull, Ann's Panther, Ren is Joker, and Morgana is Mona." Skull recounted.
"Ah, I see, I was wondering why you referred to yourselves like that." Yusuke nodded, as Panther smiled.
"So what do you think? What do you want your codename to be?" Panther asked.
Hmm… if I had to pick…I would like to go with Da Vinci?" Yusuke suggested.
"Nope!" Skull swung his arms. "Veto that immediately!
"What's wrong with it?" Yusuke innocently asked.
"It just doesn't fit with your costume's whole aesthetic." Skull explained, as Yusuke looked down.
"I see… then how about Katsushika Hokusai?" Yusuke declared.
Skull lowered his head in defeat. "That's worse."
"It's also a bit of a mouthful, isn't it?" Panther glanced at Joker. "You got something, Joker?"
"Hmm, I did like Ann's idea but considering we're all english how about Fox?" Joker suggested.
"Ooh, keeping it literal I like it, guess most of us have something to do with our masks." Skull smirked, nudging Joker a bit.
"What do you think, Fox?" Mona asked, as Yusuke nodded.
"It's acceptable" the now named Fox nodded, before turning around towards the Palace. "So how do we get in?"
"Well last time we had to sneak in through a window, but it would mean we'd have to go through the entire first half again" Mona sighed, shaking his head.
"Why don't we just take that vent we used to leave last time?" Skull asked, with Panther shuddering.
"Ugh, I'd rather not go through that again"
"If I remember correctly, the place we were last time was an open area…can we not just scale the walls" Fox wondered.
"I mean we could, but there's probably a trap like electrified wires at the top or censors" Mona explained, but Joker thought about it.
"Actually Fox might be onto something" Joker said, looking at the others "Why don't we use our Persona's to lift us over the walls? I mean if they can stop us from falling I'm sure they can help us get over the walls."
"Ooh! That's a good idea! It'll save so much time" Skull grinned, before the group left the parking lot and began moving around the side of the museum.
After using their Persona's to jump over the wall back to the point where they were last, the Phantom Thieves entered through the door they were able to unlock.
The room in question looked like the entrance of a museum, with a giant golden statue of Madarame in the middle of the room and a particularly strong shadow roaming around.
"Geh, it's probably that Origami shaped Shadow again" Skull shuddered, as they watched the Shadow moving around from their hiding spot.
"Ugh not that thing again, I do not wanna have to fight it" Panther groaned, shaking her head.
"Then guess we'll just have to sneak past- you okay Fox?" Joker blinked, looking over at Fox while he stared at the large Golden Statue.
"I just never thought I would see such an abomination of Vanity in a museum, such a disgraceful site" Fox sighed, shaking his head.
"Well Palaces tend to plaster their ruler's face all over the Palace" Skull said, looking at the statue.
"Yeah, you should have seen Kamoshida's Palace. That castle was honestly disgusting" Panther nodded, catching Fox's attention.
"A castle you say! I must admit, I would not have minded seeing a site like that" Fox smiled, making the others sweat drop.
Seeing their opening, the group dashed past the powerful shadow and headed towards the next room, not forgetting to grab a brochure that came with a map.
"Ooh! A treasure chest!" Morgana as they arrived in a larger room with several paintings including two gigantic paintings on the right as well as several black poles.
"You may want to be careful in this room, looks like those black poles are quite dangerous" Arsene noted, making Joker blink as he took a closer look.
"Guys hold up" Joker called, stopping the others from moving forward.
"Uh what's up?"
"I think the black poles might actually be infrared lasers," Joker explained, making the others blink.
"For real?! But I don't see the lasers" Skull blinked, looking around.
"They probably switched to ones we can't see normally," Panther explained, before sighing "If I could use my Quirk I could probably cover them in the gas so we can see but I'm not sure If I can still use it, I don't even have anything sweet."
"Hmm, oh I got it!" Mona grinned, before turning to Fox "Fox, think you could get your Persona to cover the lasers in smoke."
"Ah I see, very well" Fox smiled, before reaching for his Mask "PERSONA!"
"Kukuku, quite a clever plan you fledgling thieves" Goemon smirked, before ploughing an Icy smoke that covered the area, allowing the lasers to be seen.
"Now's our chance! Let's go!" Joker declared, dashing ahead while dodging the infrared lasers so they could make it to the other room.
"Phew! We made it" Skull sighed, leaning on the wall before noticing Fox looking winded "You okay Fox?"
"Hah, hah… my apologies I don't usually partake in physical activities so I'll need to get used to this" Fox apologised.
"I totally get it, it took me a bit to get used to this too," Panther smiled, patting his back. "Not everyone can be a hero-in-training or an exercise freak."
"Oh come on don't call me an 'exercise freak', I'm just getting back into track" Skull stated.
'Hero-in-training huh…' Joker frowned, looking down 'Do I still even wanna be a hero…I mean, this feels far better then any kind of hero practice I did before…'.
"Okay, we should probably continue" Morgana said, getting up and walking ahead "Checking the map, I think I saw the security room is just around the-" "Hey! Who's there!."
Jumping a bit, the Thieves looked over to see one of the Powerful looking guards moving towards them.
"How could you Thieves have gotten past the security system!" The shadow yelled "If you think I'm gonna let you through, then you're sorely mistaken!"
The shadow's body then burst and transformed into a large Kurama Tengu, along with two Koppa Tengu showing up next to him.
"Alright, we already know that the Koppa Tengu are weak to ice, so Panther, you back up Fox, and Skull you're with me. Mona, stick back and focus on healing." Joker declared, with Panther cracking her whip on the floor in response.
"Right! Come out, Carmen! Maragi!" Panther called, ripping off her mask to summon her Persona, who waved her hand to create a wave of fire.
Both of the Kurama Tengu's goons were burned by the attack, but with a single flap of his wings, their main opponent flew up, and narrowly avoided the attack.
"For real?! It can freaking fly!"
One of the Koppa Tengue then proceeded to perform a chant, covering the larger Tengu in an aura that powered it up and with a flap of its wings, it used its feathers like projectiles that flew towards Thieves.
"Shit! Move!" Joker called, as they jumped out of the way from the incoming attack.
"You've gotta be kidding me! They can power him up too!."
"Then we'll just need to take care of them first, Fox think you can take care of that" Mona asked, as the newest Thief nodded.
"Very well, COME! GOE-" "Shit! Move!."
Skull then rushed in and shoved Fox out of the way as the Kurama Tengu moved in to punch him, with Skull taking the hit.
"SKULL!" Joker and Panther yelled, as he was sent flying back.
"Damn it" Panther growled, as she and Joker took out their guns and began firing at the Kurama Tengu but the smaller Tengu's used another chant to raise its defence, protecting the main target.
"Mona, switch Skull! Panther you two will keep the big guy busy" Joker called, with Panther and Mona nodding.
"Take this!" Panther yelled, as she struck the Shadow with her whip but the Shadow raised its arm blocking her attack.
"My turn!" Mona growled, gritting his teeth while moving in to slash the Shadow across the chest.
The Koppa Tengu were about to do another chant to help the big guy but Joker and Fox moved in front of them.
"Gonna need you to back me up Fox, COME! JACK FROST!" "Indeed, let us do it together! GOEMON!"
"Hee HO!" Jack Frost sang, as he and Goemon materialised behind them, Jack Frost throwing snowball-like attacks that clearly hurt the Koppa Tengu.
"Come! Now you face the wrath of Goemon!" Declared Goemon, who shot snowball-like bullets out of his staff at the Koppa Tengu, pelting them to bits with each shot.
With both combined attacks, the Koppa Tengu were destroyed giving the Thieves the chance to finish off the Kurama Tengu.
"Here goes nothing! Carmen! Dormina!" Ann called, letting Carmen cast a spell that caused the Shadow to become drowsy.
"And now for a wake up call! ZORRO!" Mona yelled, summoning his Persona who took the chance to move in to punch the Shadow in the face causing it to crash towards the ground.
"Now's our chance! All out attack!" The four thieves then rushed in before jumping into the air, attacking the shadow in all directions before dashing past him.
The four of them then striked a pose, with Joker fixing his glove, Mona crossing his arms with a grin, Panther doing a cute pose with a peace sign and Fox striking a dramatic pose.
Behind them we see energy in Kurama Tengu burst out before he exploded behind them.
"Ugh" Skull groaned, rubbing his head as he got up "God that thing could punch hard."
"You okay Ryuji?" Joker asked, looking over at him as Skull joined up with the others.
"Yeah, sorry I couldn't do much back there" Skull apologised, but Fox shook his head.
"No apologies needed, if it wasn't for you I would have been in the same place" Fox smiled "Though I have to admit, that was quite exhilarating."
Joker and Panther spotted Fox's tail wagging due to his excitement, making the two smile.
"Guys!" Mona called, after going to the Security Room to check it out "Looks like the rest of the way is blocked off by a locked door and they changed the password to the security monitor after last time."
"For real!...Actually yeah, that makes sense" Skull sighed, rubbing his head.
"What do we do now, should we try interrogating a Shadow?" Panther asked, but Mona smirked.
"No need, I spotted some of the Shadow's talking to each other on the monitor. Apparently there was a hint about the password, something to do with feet" Mona explained.
"Huh? That's kind of a weird fe-""I think they were talking about the statue from earlier."
"Ugh so we have to go all the way back there" Panther groaned, slumping a bit.
"It shouldn't take too long, I believe I know what the hint was referring too" Fox said, as Joker looked at him.
"You do? Well alrighty then lead the way, Fox. Consider this your training." Joker smiled, bumping his shoulder a bit.
"I will do my best then, leader!" Fox smiled, his tail wagging excitedly.
As Yusuke let the Phantom Thieves backtracked to the place where the Golden statue was and kept away from the powerful guard.
"I recognized this plaque from earlier," He pointed out.
"Huh, I guess that explains why there's a powerful Shadow protecting." Mona grimaced as he looked at the statue.
Panther crouched to the base of the statue, finding the plaque. "Looks like there's something written here too…"
"Here we praise our most holy lord Ichiryusai Madarame, the one ray of hope in this depraved world. He stands alone as his two adept hands paint into the future. None shall ever match his excellence."
Skull scoffed, crossing his arms "Dickhead really likes puffing' his chest out, huh?"
Joker took a closer look at the actual feet of the Statue but sighed in defeat "I don't see any engraving on the feet, maybe it's something else."
"The plaque does mention numbers," Fox pointed out, "'One' ray of hope, standing 'alone', 'two' adept hands, and 'none' shall ever match him…perhaps that is the code they are referring to?"
"Kinda feels like a stretch…but it's not like we have any other leads, so we might as well try." Mona shrugged as they were about but then.
"WHAT THE?! WHO ARE YOU!" The powerful Shadow yelled, rushing towards the Thieves.
"OH COME ON!" They yelled in annoyance as they proceeded to fight Shadow.
A few minutes later
Third person P.O.V.
After taking care of the Strong Shadow, the group returned to the security room to gain access thanks to the password which was 1120, allowing them to unlock the locked doors.
When the group continued onward, they had to stop for a moment as Fox looked amazed at the gigantic paintings.
"The artistry!" Fox grinned, admiring the giant paintings. "This painting is so realistic, it looks like you could step straight into it!"
"Yeah but, this doesn't look anything like the paintings in the places around the Palace" Skull noted.
"Now that you mention it, these paintings look a lot more like the ones from the gallery we went to" Panther noticed, looking up at the giant paintings.
"Maybe these paintings are the one's Madarame stole from his students," Morgana guessed, as Joker took a closer look.
"I wonder…" he muttered, before reaching his hand forward and much to his surprise, his hand was submerged into a painting like water "Woah!."
"Joker, you oka-woah!" Skull yelped, as Joker pulled his hand out of the painting "Dude, how did you do that."
"I remembered seeing the silhouette of someone in one of these paintings, so I thought maybe we could enter them and go through it to get up there," Joker explained, pointing to the higher floor.
"Okay but could we even get out on our own? Back in the real world I couldn't move at all until Yusuke grabbed me" Panther asked, as Joker shoved his hand back into the painting.
"Seems like it" Joker answered while waving his hand.
The Thieves then one by one entered into the painting, and when they entered a voice began ringing in their ears.
"How dare you trample on my tranquil bamboo garden with those grimy feet! You shall not leave alive!"
"What the heck was that?!" Skull gulped, looking around.
"I'm guessing we're hearing Madarame's inner thoughts, nothing to panic about" Mona guessed, crossing his arms.
"So he keeps his innermost thoughts he wants secret within these paintings like what he did to the others…" Fox growled, gripping his hand.
The group moved forward through the painting, even being able to even jump into the second painting before leaping out of the painting onto the higher floor.
"Whoa! That was freaking crazy" Skull gulped, as he looked around.
"To truly dive into the world of painting! This truly is an amazing experience!" Fox grinned, looking up "I must go in again!."
"No, no, no, no!" The other cried, as they began dragging Fox away.
"Awwwwwww"
Later on
Third person P.O.V.
"Hah!" Joker yelled, as he and the other Thieves were currently fighting a Shiki-ouji Shadow
After the group secured the Safe room, they continued onward to the next room which had even more of the gigantic paintings, but we're soon noticed by one of the strong shadows.
"Take this!" Fox yelled, as he slashed downward at large Shadow they were currently fighting
"My turn!" Panther called, giving Fox a high five before rushing in and removing her mask "Carmen! Dormina!"
The Shadow was shot with a pink gas from Panther's Persona causing it to get drowsy.
"Let me, Lady Ann!" Mona grinned, jumping into the air and high fiving Panther.
"Give me a boost! ZORRO!" Mona called, jumping into the air while summoning his Persona who used a wind attack to throw the not-cat forward.
"Hah!" Mona yelled, delivering a power slash that caused to stumble a bit while Mona leapt back and high fived Skull.
"WRECK EM UP CAPTAIN!" Skull smirked, summoning his Persona who fired an electricity blast from its cannon arm knocking the Shadow to its knees.
"Now's our chance! All out attack!" All five then rushed in before jumping into the air, attacking the shadow in all directions before dashing past him.
All five then struck a pose, with Joker fixing his glove, Skull doing a rock out sign, Mona crossing his arms with a grin, Panther doing a cute pose with a peace sign and Fox striking a dramatic pose.
Behind them we see the Shikiouji shadow blowing up behind him.
"Okay guys, let's keep going" Joker smiled, looking back at the others before they dashed ahead only to see several more giant paintings.
"Holy shit!" Skull gawked, looking up at the giant paintings
"Looks like we got no other choice but to go through that" Mona guessed, looking up at the large painting.
"Ah! Excellent!" Yusuke grinned as the others sweatdropped.
'He's like a little kid' They thought, before they proceeded to move in closer to the large paintings.
"Hmm I do notice some of them are blank" Fox pointed out as they looked up at two of the paintings being grey.
"Maybe they're just flat ground?" Panther gulped a bit looking at the paintings
"Or maybe they're like a bottomless pit." Skull grinned, only to be pushed back by Panther.
"Stop trying to freak me out Skull!"
"Indeed! Nonsense!" Fox said with a smile, "A blank canvas merely holds infinite potential!"
"Yeah, like an infinite abyss." Skull added.
"Hmm, maybe we need to fill them in somehow?" Joker guessed, looking at the paintings "We'll just have to go in there and see what happens."
"Alas, this world is a desert filled with laymen who can't understand true beauty! The slow drain of my skills is inevitable when I am surrounded by such mediocrity"
"Blaming society for a lack of inspiration, huh?" Skull scoffed, as they stood in the painting which was of a desert with several camels "Tch, that bastard probably never had any real talent to begin with."
The group continued on, walking through the desert environment with the frozen camels before jumping into the next painting which had a cloudy floor and Mt Fuji in the background framed by a large red by a large Torii.
"The gods, even in their dormancy, are worshipped constantly! People gather under shrine gates, offer their money and return home fully satisfied! While the ones who oppose them are punished! Art is practically the same! In the end, it's all just a matter of imagination! And it is right of me to punish those who get in my way"
"What the?! Even if that's true that doesn't give him the right to be deceiving people" Panther growled, gripping her hand "He's completely ignoring all of the fraud stuff
"Calling what he's doing to his students a 'just punishment' he really is distorted…" Joker scoffed, before looking over at Fox who was looking down "You okay?."
"Indeed, I just wasn't expecting to hear all of this from my old sensei" Fox sighed, as they continued onward "Though I do wonder if he truly had no skill, how did he get his representation, including the Sayuri itself, that was there long before he started taking in students."
"That's…actually a good question" Joker muttered, before they heard Mona calling them.
"Looks like we can get through the Torii…" Mona stated, motioning towards the large red gate before the group walked through it, leading to a lush forest-like area with a large rock pillar above them.
"Hard work is not what makes a sapling grow thick with green leaves, too many young people do not see the true value of youth these days. What a fool he is wasting his talents like that… Is it truly wrong for an expert such as myself to capitalise on youth before it wastes away?"
"What the hell is he even talking about! It sounds like he's jealous of youth" Morgana scoffed, crossing his arms.
"Anyone else notice he was talking about someone?" Joker asked, making the others blink.
"Oh yeah, just kinda figured he was talking about one of his students" Skull shrugged, as Panther looked over at Fox.
"Do you have any idea who he could be talking about?" Panther asked, as Fox pondered the questions.
"No, I can't think of anyone that comes to mind…"
"Well we won't get any answers just standing here, let's just keep going" Joker suggested, with the others nodding.
After pressing a button sitting outside of the painting they were in, the Phantom Thieves were able to see that a new painting was made that looked like a boat at sea being pulled down by a monster which they quickly made their way towards.
"Could a ship skirt across the Ocean if its crew had to constantly worry about what sea life may lie below? Art, life, water… They are all identical. The one who ascends to the summer is the victor!] Don't really see how this one connects"
"Tch, he's using all these fancy words but he's basically saying people are just stepping stones! He crushed all of his students' dreams for his career! What a bastard!" Skull yelled, stomping his foot.
"Skull, calm down, get angry won't get us anywhere" Panther said, holding his shoulder.
"Hah, sorry just the more I hear about this guy the more he pisses me off" Skull scoffed, before looking over at Fox "No offence."
"It's fine, I actually agree with you" Fox nodded, before they jumped out the paintings again to press a button and quickly made their way towards the final painting which looked like the inside of a traditional japanese house.
"Beauty is merely a mirage… transforming that into money is what brings about true happiness. My fine mansion, my lifestyle among the chosen few…those things are the true art!"
"Hold up, Madarame's got a freaking mansion!" Skull gawked, while looking up.
"Well yeah, he mentioned that remember though I have to admit it was pretty hard to take in" Panther nodded, looking around.
"So even living in the Atelier was a part of your act as well…" Yusuke sighed. "That certainly brings up many questions."
"Yeah like why would he even go with the Atelier, you would imagine he would go to a better place like that" Morgana questioned "I mean there's a committing to a role and then there's this".
"Morgana's right, there's something not adding up here" Joker agreed, as they left the painting.
"Maybe we can find something out in the Will Seed area" Panther guessed.
"Will seed?" Fox asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"Basically the manifestation of Madarame's fear and insecurities all merged together into one place" Mona explained, as they walked towards the door "It's not a bad idea to take a look, certainly helped us out last time, luckily I think I can sense it not too far from from here".
"Alright then that's where we'll be going next, come on guys" Joker nodded, before they walked through the nearby door.
Morgana proceeded to lead the group through the hallways, making sure to take cover and stay out of sight from Shadow's that may come their way.
Eventually, the Phantom Thieves arrived at where the Will Seed was. Luckily being on the opposite end of the next door they needed to go to.
"Phew, thank god we don't have to fall down a trap door into an Acid pit again" Skull sighed.
"If I may ask, what was in the last one all of you went too" Fox asked, looking over at the others.
"It was Kamoshida's cognitive version of All Might, he pretty much hated him for taking all Kamoshida's glory" Joker explained.
"I do wonder why this one was a lot easier to get than the last one…" Mona mumbled, crossing his arms.
"Well Madarame didn't sound like he hated this guy, more like he was confused and kind of frustrated with him" Panther reminded Mona who nodded.
"That is a fair point, well Joker you know what to do"
Joker nodded and took out his dagger before slashing the vines off the door "Okay here goes nothing".
With a push the group walked into the room, ready for anything only to see something they didn't expect.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm huh? Oh, yo!"
Standing there was a man that looked similar to Yusuke, being the same height and having a similar face as well as his eyes being the same, however the rest of him was very different. He has wild and messy red hair while wearing very baggy colourful clothes with a lot of them looking like they were inspired from different cultures. HIs Quirk gives him bird-like appearance like feathers coming from his arms and talons at the end of his fingers and toes, which is why he wears sandals.
The room around him looked to be some kind of art room with several paintings hung around the place, with the man standing in front of one that he was working on.
"Uh, who are you?" Skull asked, completely confused.
"Me? Call me Eiji, Eiji Kitagawa".
"EH?!"
A~~~~~~~nd done! That's right it's a cliffhanger folks.
Yeah this felt like a good point to end this chapter, with the next chapter being on the rest of the Palace and hopefully the boss battle.
And if you guys are wondering, yes Eiji is Yusuke's father. I wanted to try doing something with him since they didn't really do anything in the original game.
Yusuke learning more about him will be sort of a focus in the upcoming chapters, so hopefully you'll find the chapters interesting.
But with that said, how about some reviews.
Shadow Joestar: And he especially won't like what he did to his father
Gamelover41592: Thanks
GrandChaosMaster: Yeah pretty much, You'll be getting a lot of non Persona action soon don't worry and I haven't played any SMT
TheBeatles211:
Hey! First thing time you got one of your predictions wrong in one of these, Madarame didn't start throwing his students into paintings until relatively recently.
As for the agency, well let's just say it's not one you've seen in MHA
Yeah that's going to be the major separation that keeps Ren from joining Maruki, and after everything he'll be seeing with the metaverse he might just do something drastic Maruki won't agree with.
Anyway with that said, don't forget to review and favourite this story, also thanks MushroomFusion for letting me reuse the dialogue I helped to work on in his story for this one, which made it a lot easier.
But for now.
SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER~