Chapter 16; The Off Limits Area of Museum of Vanity

Location; Aqua House, Yongen-Jaya

The following day at Aqua's house. Once everyone was there, Morgana said to Yusuke as his Pokemon played with the others. "Yusuke, we still need to explain the basics to you, don't we?"

"Oh, you mean about the Metaverse and the Nav. Yeah, I guess that stuff is pretty important." Ann said before Aqua said. "And don't forget about Pokemon and Z-Moves."

"Please elaborate." Yusuke said and then Morgana said. "Okay, let's start from the beginning. First, the Metaverse spots where we act as the Phantom Thieves are called Palaces. Palaces are worlds that take form from someone's cognition… A materialization of their reality."

"So do we each hold Palaces within ourselves as well?" Yusuke said and then Morgana said. "No, not just anyone will have one. It's primarily those with strong distorted desires…"

"They basically gotta be criminals. Real bastards like Kamoshida or Madarame." Ryuji said and then Morgana said. "On the other hand, Palaces can't exist within Persona-users. It's just impossible for them to form. Basically, your Persona is the true feeling of your heart, which arises from accepting your inner Shadow. Then since you have full control over your emotions, there's no way your desires can get distorted."

"S-So that's how it works…" Ann said and then Ryuji said. "O-Obviously I knew that…! Oh yeah, and we use the Metaverse Nav app on our phones to get into that world!"

"It's actually pretty simple. Just say a person's name, location, and distortion, then you're in." Ann said and then Yusuke said. "Location…?"

"It's where the Palace is in the real world. For example, Madarame's location is that shack he is making you stay in, and the distortion is "museum." Ren said to Yusuke, who then said to them. "How do you know what their Palace is going to look like if you have never set foot in it before…?"

"That part's kinda like a quiz or something. It'll prolly get pretty tricky from here on out too." Ryuji said and then Yusuke said. "Hm, I feel as though I have a good grasp on the basic concepts. If anything arises which I fail to understand, I'll rely on those more experienced than myself."

"Good to hear, now onto Pokemon. We don't know why, but they are getting pulled into Metaverse and are getting trapped inside Palaces." Aqua said and then Yusuke said. "So there are more Pokemon inside Sen– Madarame's Palaces." Then Litwick and Smeargle walked over to them and Smeargle said to them. [Actually, besides me, a Person in Red saved all of the Pokemon inside Madarame's Palace. But I don't know where they are now. Or if there are new Pokemon caught after our escape.]

"So the Palace might be empty. Good to know. And thinking back to Madarame thought… I can't believe he'd consider pressing charges." Morgana said before Yusuke said. "Yes, I've never seen him show such anger before. He is most likely quite serious about that."

"What should we do…? There's no way we'll be able to win if that happens." Ann said before Aqua said. "I think we still have some time. Or am I wrong, Yusuke?"

"No you are right. He likely won't act on that threat until the final day of the exhibit. Simply put, I doubt he would be so foolish as to taint his name with a trial during his exhibition." Yusuke said before Ryuji said. "All right, so we just gotta steal Madarame's heart by then. There's no way we're gonna let him press charges… We'll show people who he really is!"

"All in good time. First we need to get Yusuke ready for the fight ahead." Aqua said, pulling out a bag and giving it to Yusuke. "What is this?" Yusuke said, opening the bag and pulling out a Z-Ring that was white and red, a Firium Z and dark purple crystal with ghost inside. Aqua then said to Yusuke. "This is your Z-Ring and Z-Crystals."

"Where did you get those?" Ryuji said and then Aqua said. "The Person in Red gave them to me after you all left me last time."

"Why?" Ann said before Aqua pulled out a piece of paper and said what was on it. "Dear Phantom Thieves of Heart. I am starting to get busy, so I don't have the time to give you Z-Crystal's and very quickly add Z-Rings to your Phantom Thief gear…"

"That explains how we got these." Ann said as she, Ryuji, Morgana and Ren looked at their Z-Rings. "But I am glad to see you have a new member. I hope your next job goes well. Oh, and Ren. I know you were forced on your exams, but next time please remember the Z-Crystals I gave you." Aqua said reading the letter. Ren then remembered that the Person in Red gave him crystals after their battle with her Melmetal.

Ren quickly returned to his place and brought back a bag of Z-Crystals, each marked for their users. For Morgana, he just got a Darkinium Z. For Ann, she got a new Z-Crystal, a dark pink crystal with an eye in the center. For Aqua, she also got a new one that was purple with the symbol of toxic in the center. For Ryuji, he got a Rockium Z, Groundium Z, Darkinium Z, and a new one that was like the one Aqua got. For Ren, he got a Flyinium Z, plus three new ones. One was green with a tree in the center, another was white with a snowflake in the center, and the last one was dark blue with a dragon wing in the center.

As everyone pulled out the other Z-Crystals, Yusuke said to Ren. "What are all of these? They are magnificent." Ren then said, pointing to each one. "Rockium Z, Groundium Z, Darkinium Z, Firium Z, Waterium Z, Buginium Z, Electrium Z, and Normalium Z, but what are the rest Aqua?"

"The dark purple one is Ghostium Z. The dark pink one is a Psychium Z. The purple ones are Poisonium Z. And Ren got Grassium Z, Icium Z, and Dragonium Z." Aqua said before Rotom flew close to her and then she looked over everyone's moves. After Aqua looked at everyone's moves, they started to practice Z-Poses with their Pokemon because they didn't know what they were going to face as they went deeper into Madarame's Palaces.

Location; The Museum of Vanity

The following day, before they entered the museum, Mona said looking at Yusuke. "Oh yeah. We haven't decided on the new recruit's code name yet."

"It has to be "Kitsune." You know, with that kitsune mask and everything." Panther said before Skull said. "Hell yeah. That really leaves an impression."

"Are you talking about me?" Yusuke said and then Keeper said to him. "Yeah, we can't use our real names in a Palace, so we need codenames."

"What about the Pokemon?" Yusuke said before Litwick jumped onto his right shoulder. Keeper then said to Yusuke as Fletchinder was flying around with Joker's Rowlet. "Code names for the Pokemon will only help them find us. Because nicknames make a Pokemon stand out more."

"I see. Then how about "Da Vinci" for a codename?"

"Uh…? Maybe something else."

"Well, he's got that mask like Ann said… and there's that weird tail… All right! You're Abura-age!" Skull said and Mona, his Meowth, Skull's Larvitar, and Panther's Buneary laughed at that name. "Very well." Yusuke said to Skull. Mona and the Pokemon were surprised, and Mona said to Yusuke. "He agreed to it!?"

"It's decided then! Abura-age!" Skull said before Panther slapped him on the back of the head. Keeper then said to Yusuke. "Yusuke, we are not calling you "Da Vinci" or "Abura-age". Ok?"

"Then what would you call me?" Yusuke said and then Panther said to Joker. "Do you have any ideas, Joker?" Joker thought about it and then said to everyone. "How about Fox?"

"Ohhh, just keep it literal, huh? Sounds good to me." Skull said and then Mona said to Yusuke. "What do you think, Fox?"

"It's acceptable." Yusuke said taking the codename Fox. Then they entered the museum. As they were going past all of the paintings, they stopped when Fox saw the painting of himself. This did hurt him, but after everything that happened last time, it wasn't very painful.

Once they reached the door, they saw the security for the main door was down, so all that hard work wasn't for not. And while the security inside was still active, it was nothing for them. Things got weirder the deep they went into the Palace. The first weird thing was that Madarame had gigantic paintings of a bamboo garden all across a wall and it looked like they were making a path to the next level. "What a giant painting…" Panther said before Fox said. "Indeed. It bears such a bizarre texture as well. It's as though I could simply slip inside…" Fox then touched the painting and his hand went inside. Fox pulled his hand out and Litwick said to Fox. [Are you ok, Fox?]

"M-My hand… It actually entered the painting…" Fox said before Keeper said. "Really?" Keeper then entered the painting and used the path to reach the second level. Once Keeper reached the second level, Mona said to Keeper. "Keeper? Are you good?"

"Yeah, and while it did feel a little weird, plus I think I heard some Madarame's thoughts. It's safe." Keeper said and then everyone entered the painting and then went to the next level. As they kept going, they soon found a labyrinth that had multiple gold stairwells, gold lights, and multiple doors with blue lights all over the place and going in different directions. Skull was the first to speak. "Shit… What the hell is up with this place!?"

"There's so much gold…! It's hurting my eyes…" Panther said before Mona said. "The distortion is especially bad here… It's barely holding up. Plus, it's not even on our map…"

"So we must ascertain the truth through our eyes alone…" Fox said before Joker said. "Then let's start looking." Then after a few minutes of walking around, they stopped by a wall and Fox said. "I thought I'd seen everything there was to see of this distorted world. But to think it would conjure up such a bizarre place…"

"So, like, which way are we supposed to go? I didn't see any other ways forward, did you?" Panther said before Larvitar mist his footing, and crashed through a fake wall and entered a gold door. "Whoa, that wasn't an actual wall!?" Skull said as Larvitar returned to them. Fox then said looking at the door. "I see. So it was camouflaged. We may have been trapped here for eternity had Larvitar not tripped."

"Ooh! Nice work, Larvitar! You did it!" Mona said before Larvitar said. [It was an accident, but I'll take it.] They then entered the door and went further into the labyrinth. As they traveled deeper into the labyrinth, they found paintings of Sayuri. As they looked at the Sayuri's, Panther said. "Huh…? Why is this painting here…?"

"It's probably some kind of illusion. We're in a Palace, after all. Well, I guess the painting itself might be correct though." Mona said before Panther said. "You say "correct," but aren't they all counterfeit? Although maybe the real one's here too…"

"Either way, the fact that this is here might mean it's connected to this space in some way." Mona said Fox looked at the Sayuri's. Fox knew which one was like the real Sayuri and touched it. It then turned into a small or that was shining gold and turned one of the doors blue light into a gold. That told them that if they followed the paintings that looked like the real Sayuri, they would find the way out of this labyrinth. And thanks for Fox's love for the Sayuri, he knew which way to go and was able to lead them to a new location.

The location was the treasure room. The room had a lot of security and guard around the treasure and Shadow Madarame. "Just as I expected… Madarame!" Fox said, looking at Shadow Madarame. As everyone took cover, Keeper looked at the way they just came from and said. "Oh, I get it now."

"Get what?" Skull said before Keeper said. "The labyrinth is how he sees going to a place for his art exhibits, and this place is how he sees his art exhibits. A road of gold for him standing with his masterpiece."

"Then is the Treasure behind him?" Panther said and Mona said. "Yeah, there it is…"

[Does Treasure normally look like that?] Litwick said and then Mona said. "For the time being. Once we send the card and make Madarame aware it'll be stolen, it'll materialize."

"I wonder what form it will take…" Fox said before Skull said. "Who knows? Bet it's something like a self-portrait."

"I don't think it's a self-portrait." Keeper said before Skull said. "So, what now? Think it's safe to say we got our route set?"

"Hmm… We know where the Treasure is, but I'm not sure that we've necessarily secured the route…" Mona said and Skull said. "Huh? Why's that?"

"You must be talking about the infrared lasers surrounding it." Fox said and then Mona said. "That, and outer perimeter is swarming with guards. Forcing our way through will be difficult."

"So we'll need to find a way to steal it too… This is tougher than it was with Kamoshida…" Panther said and Mona said. "We just have to make one final push. Let's check this floor…!" As they checked the floor, they found a safe room and the security control room. As Keeper looked over the control and Skull said. "Do you know what you're doing?"

"More or less." Keeper said before removing her hands from the control. Joker then said to Keeper. "So Keeper, do you know how to turn off the security?"

"Yes, but there's a problem. Madarame has made sure the system will not turn off the lasers, unless Madarame does it from where he is standing."

"Can you do anything?" Skull said and then Keeper said putting her hand back on the controls. "I can open the shutters, for a path that leads above all of this. Oh, and this button will turn off the light." Keeper pointed to a big button. Skull then pressed it and the lights didn't turn off. Skull then said to Keeper as he kept hitting the button. "I thought this turned off the lights?"

"It does. I don't know why it's not working?" Keeper said before Panther noticed a small box giving off electricity when Skull tried to turn off the lights on the upper level. Panther stopped Skull and said. "Guys I think there is something up there that is keeping the lights on."

"Let's check it out." Joker said and they went to the box on the upper level. Once they reached the box they saw a small lizard with black top and ears that had yellow triangles inside the box and it looked tired and not very well fed. As Keeper worked on opening the box with Joker, Panther pulled out Rotom and said. "Rotom, who is this Pokemon?"

"Helioptile, The Generator Pokemon. When spread, the frills on its head act like solar panels, generating the power behind this Pokémon's electric moves." Rotom said before Joker said. "You think Madarame is using this Pokemon to keep the power on?"

"No, for the look of this device. If the power was turned off, Helioptile would act as a back-up. And if Helioptile didn't do his job, a heat pad would trigger and start cooking it." Keeper said as she turned off the device, and Joker opened the case. Helioptile ran out of the case and hid behind Panther's right leg. Panther then picked Helioptile and said. "Aw. It's scary."

"After what's happened to it. I'm not surprised." Keeper said before pulling out a Pinap Berry and giving it to Helioptile. Helioptile took it and said with a female voice. [Thank you.] As Helioptile ate the Pinap Berry, Skull said to Keeper. "So can we turn off the light's now?"

"Yeah, but since Helioptile is not powering this up anymore. And Madarame paranoia. I believe we will only have a few seconds before the light comes back on. So we need some way to get through the lasers."

"What about that?" Fox said, pointing at a crane hook over all of the lasers. "Let's get a closer look." Joker said and they tried to get closer to the hook. They reached the end of the hall, which had a control for the hook, a window leading back to the pupil area of the museum, and a way to the hook. They walked on that path and looked down from the hook seeing the Treasure below them. "Hey, ain't this right above the Treasure?" Skull said before Panther said. "Oh, look! There aren't any lasers above it!"

"Yeah. So if we turn off the lights and lower someone from the hook, we can steal the Treasure and get out of here through that window." Keeper said as they returned to the controls for the hook. Once they were there, Fox said to them. "But turning off the lights will only last a few seconds though. There would not be enough time to make it all the way here."

"That's why we're going to split up the tasks and work together to pull off this heist! One person will shut the power off here, one person will lower the crane, and I'll grab the Treasure!" Mona said to Fox. Skull then said to Mona. "You sure that's gonna work? Seems like they'd realize what's going on at some point."

"Sometimes bold moves have the greatest payout. Unless someone has a better idea?" Mona said before Joker said. "That plan sounds good to me."

"Well said, Joker! You understand what being a phantom thief really means!" Mona said and then Keeper said. "Ok, now that we have our infiltration route is secure. Let's get out of here and talk about our calling card."

"What about Helioptile?" Panther said to Keeper and after Keeper pulled out a Pokeball, she said to Panther while giving her the Pokeball. "Since Helioptile like you, you take care of her. Is that alright, Helioptile?"

[Yes.] Helioptile said and then Panther caught Helioptile. As they left, Panther hoped that Helioptile would feel better after leaving this cursed museum.