Here we back to the prison, what will Aqua and Uzi find out about Gaston, maybe one of his many hidden secrets he keeps hidden from public?
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this.
Persona 5 Royal Fanmake Gaston Arc Chapter 8
Prison Investigation
Aqua and Uzi make there way through the ventilation shaft and enter the room they used to escape, Gatomon was in their waiting for them.
Uzi looks around and said "Man, this place is as creepy as always."
"Mm-hm." Gatomon said nodding "Now make sure you do exactly as I say, alright?" He then goes through the doorway to the hallway "Follow me!"
Aqua and Uzi follow Gatomon and enter into the Central Hall and stop in the middle of it.
"Hey…We went by here when we came in the front…" Uzi said and jumped when it turned into the front entrance of the school before flashing back "What the…?! I was seeing double or something like that just now…! Was that Citadel?!"
"I told you before. This place is your school." Gatomon told her.
"Make sense, I experienced something similar the other day after getting to school" Aqua said thinking.
"Regardless, we don't have time to stand around. Who knows when a Shadow Hengemen might show up." Gatomon said "Come on, this way!"
The three then head for the doorway to the Underground Prison.
The three enter the prison and make there way back to the second drawbridge they used to escape but stopped by an open gate as their standing guard in the area wasa Hengeman.
"Shoot…I had a feeling there would be guards here…" Gatomon said concerned. "It appears we're going to have to start fighting our way forward."
"Oh…for real…?" Uzi asked concerned.
"Oh boy." Gatomon said "I'll just teach you the basics of battle for now. You'd better not forget all of this."
"Okay what you got?" Aqua asked.
"Well a useful tip is to try and ambush enemies rather then charging in." Gatomon said "Attack from behind when you can. You will have to rip their masks off to momentarily break the control the palace ruler has over them. Suceeding will cautch the guard off card allowing us to jump for a preemptive attack."
"Hmmmm that make sense" Aqua said with a nod.
"So, we wanna get the jump on them and strike first…Okay I got it." Uzi said with a nod.
"Uh, you do know you will only be watching, right?" Gatomon said to Uzi "You don't have a Persona…But anyway, let's go!"
Aqua nods and moves when the Hengeman's back was turned. She jumps onto it's shoulders and rips off the armoured face mask off and it turns into a Crpyt-Dwelling Pyromaniac.
"Wait what?! Hee-Ho!" The creature said surprised.
"Hello…goodbye" Aqua said and strikes it with her Keyblade and Gatomon follows up with a Garu from Zorro defeating it.
"Good work now let's get across the bridge" Gatomon said.
The three run along the bridge and reach the cell the unconscious slave was but now it was empty.
"Why isn't anyone here…?" Uzi said in shock and then gets annoyed "Dammit, they were here before! Where'd they go?!"
"Be quiet!" Gatomon whisper yelled.
"Oh, that's right, there were more of them further in too…!" Uzi said and ran on ahead.
"What might have happened?" Aqua asked thinking
"They might have been transferred already…" Gatomon said thinking.
Just then Uzi comes running back and said "Dammit, I can hear footsteps coming! A lot of them!"
"That isn't good!" Aqua said concerned.
"Indeed, it would be a problem if they discover us now…" Gatomon said nodding and heads to a door that was ripple "Hey, let's head into that room. We should be able to hide in there until they leave."
The three go into the room which looked to be a guard break room.
"The Shadow Hengemen probably won't come in here." Gatomon told them.
Uzi pants and asked "How can you tell?"
"There's a lack of distortion here, meaning the ruler's control over this area is weak." Gatomon explained and as if showing the example the room flashes into what looked to be a classroom before turning back.
"Is this a classroom?!" Uzi asked surprised.
"It looked like it" Aqua said nodding.
"Now do you understand?" Gatomon asked "This place is another reality that the ruler's hear projects."
"This is Gaston's reality? Dammit makes no sense at all!" Uzi said to that.
"One could say it's a world in which one's distorted desires have materialized." Gatomon explained "I call such a place a 'Palace.'"
"A Palace?" Uzi said to that.
"This is all happening because he thinks the school is his own castle." Gatomon said smiling.
"That does make sense with all the security and guards" Aqua said thinking.
"So, it became like this because he just thought of it like that?!" Uzi said with realization and then laughs getting angry "Hahaha….That complete muscled jerk!"
"You seem to really hate this Gaston guy." Gatomon points out.
"Hate is only a partial bit of how I fell." Uzi said to him sternly "Everything is that guys fault!"
"Uzi…" Aqua said concerned, it seems Uzi's hatred for Gaston seems very personal.
"I don't know what happened between you two, but don't let you emotions get the better of you." Gatomon explained to Uzi "His henchman are everywhere inside." He looks at Aqua "Your curious about your outfit, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I am curious about this armour myself" Aqua said nodding.
"Same here, I'm curious as heck about it." Uzi added.
"Well simply put that is also because of this world." Gatomon said.
"So, more stuff that makes no sense…" Uzi said sighing.
"Anything distorts according to how a ruler pleases within his Palace." Gatomon explained. "A school can turn into a castle like this, after all." He then shakes his head "In order to prevent such distortions, one must hold a powerful will of rebellion. Your appearance is a manifestation of that. It's the image of rebellion that you hold within."
"Ahhhh! Bite me! I'm so fed up with all this!" Uzi said annoyed. "I'm more curious about you than hher clothes! What the heck are you anyways?!"
"I'm a human an honest-to-god human!" Gatomon said firmly.
"Wait…really?" Aqua said surprised and Gatomon nods.
"No, you're a obviously more like a cat!" Uzi told him.
"This is, well…It's because I lost my true form." Gatomon said looking down. "…I think."
"You think?" Uzi asked confused.
"But I do know how to regain my true form." Gatomon told them "The reason why I snuck in here for a preliminary investigation of those means." He looks down "But I only ended up getting caught…" He then looks at the two firmly "Also I've been tortured by Gaston too! I'm going to make him pay for sure!"
"What is this, a plot to a Shounen anime? This is completely crazy…" Uzi said confused.
"If we're gonna keep going, we should hurry along." Gatomon suggests and looks to Aqua "I'll be counting on your skills this time too, rookie. Got it?"
"Understood" Aqua said with a nod
"Don't worry. I'm not gonna force it all on you." Uzi said to Aqua "I thought it might help, so…" She then pulls out what looked to be a handgun "I brought this just in case!"
"A gun? Seriously?" Aqua said surprised.
"Relax, it's just a model gun, so it can only make sounds!" Uzi told her.
"In that case it's just a toy!" Gatomon told her.
"Yeah but given Aqua's reation it looks completely real, so it'll at least fake those guards out." Uzi explained and pulls out some medicience as well "I brought some medicine too. You know what they say; Providin is pre…something. Huh, huh?"
"So you were planning this from the start…" Gatomon sighing.
"Either way nice you did think ahead Uzi." Aqua said smiling and takes the medicine and also the Tkachev model gun.
"Well fine. If you're ready to go, we'll resume our infiltration." Gatomon said "There are probably still sentries making their rounds out there. Let's use this time to hash out our current situation."
"Right" Aqua said with a nod.
"I will admit, thinks have gotten somewhat troublesome…" Gatomon said concerned.
"Dammit…Where'd those guys who were locked up go?" Uzi said with an annoyed look.
"They probably got moved to another location." Gatomon suggested
"But where?! And why?!" Uzi said more annoyed.
"Don't ask me!" Gatomon said to her. "But…there were Hengemen around, right? Maybe we could try eavesdropping on them…"
"Good idea, I will listen in" Aqua said and goes to the door and puts her ear to the door.
"Yeah, we can also take not of the situation and get out there." Gatomon said smiling.
Outside there were three Hengemen who were outside the room. One of them said "Hm, I thought I just heard something move over there…Guess it was my imagination…"
"And what of the slaves?" Another one asked.
"They're all in the training hall." The third one said "I'd assume they're screaming in pain by now."
"Very well." The first one said "By the way, I head we may have intruders around. Stay on your guard."
With that they separate, two go across the draw bridge while the last goes down the stairs the opposite direction.
"Did you hear that?" Gatomon asked the two girls as they exit the room with the coast clear.
"They said training hall, correct?" Uzi asked.
"I think that's just a little further ahead. Let's go!" Gatomon said nodding.
Aqua nods and leads the way down the stairs but stops seeing a Hengeman at the bottom of the stairs.
"Ugh…There's a guard on duty here…" Gatomon groaned he then points to a gate to the guard's left "The way to the training hall should be just beyond those bars…"
"So…what're we gonna do? Do we have to fight it?" Uzi asked.
"Seems like the case." Gatomon said "Just don't let it notice you beforehand…If it does, the Palace's security level will rise."
"And what do we do if that happens?" Uzi asked, "Run away?"
"Well, the security level will go back down if we can beat more enemies without getting noticed." Gatomon explained.
"That sounds…a bit complicated." Uzi said screatching her head.
"It's okay I understood it." Aqua said to her.
"Well let's take it out" Gatomon said.
Aqua nods and ambushes the guard and rips it's mask off, this time it was two humanoid plants called Gallow-Flowers. She uses Eiha and Gatomon uses Garu on one injuring.
"You intruders!" One of the flowers said and attacks Gatomon hitting him and the other does the same. Aqua then attacks the weakned on defeating it.
"Alright!" Gatomon said and uses Garu on the last one hurting it and dodges its attack when it tried to attack again.
"Time to end this!" Aqua said and uses Cleave to finish the last enemy ending the fight. "Right let's move." She said as they head through the gate.
They enter the deeper parts of the prison, the Underground Corridor
"The training hall's up head, right?" Uzi asked Gatomon.
"Yeah, it's a little further." Gatomon said nodding "Make sure you watch out for any guards along the way."
Aqua leads the way but stops herself before going round the corner and whispered "Guards!"
Indeed two Hengemen guards were standing in a norrow corridor. One said "Hey, have you seen anyone who looks like an intruder?"
"No, nobody yet…" The other said shaking their head.
"Shoot…I had a feeling there would be a lot of enemies." Gatomon said sighing "It'd be impossible to dodge all of them…"
"Then, what do we do? Should we try and take'em out like before?" Uzi asked concerned.
"It's not that simple." Gatomon said and explained "We still have a long way to go, so we should be conserving energy."
"I-I see…Sorry…" Uzi said looking down. "Bite me, I wish I could fight…I'd at least be able to help out a little…But all I got is that toy from earlier…I am such a loser."
"Huh? Do you mean that gun?" Gatomon said and thinks.
"Yeah…It looks real and all, but it doesn't really shoot anything…" Uzi said nodding.
"I see…Well there is a way…" Gatomon said with a grin with a twinkle in his eyes "Okay we'll use that to take down the enemies!"
"What?! Were you listening to me?" Uzi said in shock "It doesn't even shoot pellets…"
Soon the two Hengemen separate, one going further in while the last stays in the corridor.
"Don't worry. I'm sure this'll work." Gatomon said with confidence "Attack way, Blue Hair!"
"Alright, I'll trust you Gatomon. Leave it to me." Aqua said nodding.
"Dude! I-I keep saying it's not fire anything!" Uzi said in confusion.
Aqua moves in and attacks the Hengeman and it turns a Crpyt-Dwelling Pyromaniac and a Gallow-Flower.
"You have the gun with you right?" Gatomon said and Aqua nods drawing it "Point it at a Shadow and fire!"
"On it." Aqua said nodding and shoots the handgun, which really fires real bullets which defeats the Pyromaniac and weakens the Flower. "Woah!"
"How about that?! Surprised?!" Gatomon said smiling, he then explained "There are plenty of instances where rapid fire's going to be more useful than swinging your Keyblade knife."
"Of course, you can run out of ammo, but using it all up does more good than letting it collect dust!" Gatomon continues explained. He then pulls out a Slingshot and said "All right, I'll show you my weapon too!" He fires and finishes off the last shadow.
Uzi comes out of hiding with a shocked look on her face and said "Whoa! Did that toy gun just shoot real live BULLETS?!"
"This is a cognitive world." Gatomon explained "As long as our opponent sees it as real, it becomes such. It's a good thing it's realistic-looking."
Uzi looks confused and said "…I don't get it."
"Because they recognize it as a gun, your ammo capacity is limited in battle." Gatomon continued to explain. "But you enemies are expecting you to come at them with guns loaded, so your ammo's replenished in every new fight."
"So that means no need to actually reloaded, that seems nice" Aqua said thinking "But that means I only have one clip each fight"
"What's this commotion over here…?" A voice said and they see the Hengeman who just left come back to check what was happening and sees them. "Wha….you jerks!" He runs up to them.
"Get ready, here comes another one!" Gatomon said ready to fight "Take them down!" Aqua nods and attacks and the Hengeman turns into a Gallow-Flower. "Our ammo's replenished! Go on, dump it into the enemy!"
"Right!" Aqua said drawing the gun and unloads on the enemy and defeats it easily.
"Just like I thought, all our ammo had returned for that fight." Gatomon said smiling.
Uzi smiles proud and said "I wasn't sure whether or not to bring it at first, but I'm sure glad I did."
"We're definitely lucky to have the additional firearm in our arsenal." Gatomon said nodding "I must say, well done even if it was just dumb luck that it worked here."
"Did you really have to put it like that?" Uzi said rolling her eyes.
"Quit griping, Drone girl. You're still getting praised." Gatomon told her "Oh and should decide how to devide our roles in battle from here on out. There are quite a lot of enemies. It's important to coordinate our moves as well."
"I can keep providing intel for us, but Blue Hair you should decide how we fight." Gatomon added.
"What do you mena, how we fight?" Uzi asked.
"Nothing too much, just she will strategize for now" Gatomon said.
"I will do my best" Aqua said with a nod.
With that the three, keep going, defeating some more shadows, soon they stop and see a door guarded by a lone Hengeman.
"A guard…I'm pretty sure that's where we need to be going too…" Gatomon said in a low voice.
"Let me guess, you guys gonna take it down again?" Uzi asked smiling.
"That is how we usually do it." Aqua said.
"It is our only choice…But wait, this might be a good time…" Gatomon said thinking and smiles "Okay, I've decided! I'm gonna teach you two a special way to fight enemies!"
"Oh, is this a new technique?" Aqua asked interested.
"Something like that! Let's go!" Gatomon said.
Aqua charges in and attacks the guard and it turns into Begrudging Girl.
"Listen there's a distict flow to battles." Gatomon said "Let me show you. After all, seeing is…something? First knock down all the enemies. Everything starts at that crucial step!"
Aqua nods and uses Eiha on the fairy and knocks it down
"All right! Now rush in for an All-Out Attack!" Gatomon said.
"Okay!" Aqua said and charges in with Gatomon and they finish the shadow off with ease. "That was amazing!"
"Mm, that went really well!" Gatomon said smiling "You're definatly fit for this."
"What was that SUPER MOVE thing you just did?!" Uzi said in amazement.
"Like I said, it's called an All-Out Attack." Gatomon said "If you manage to knock all the enemies down, you might be able to use it to best them all at once."
"Yeah, that fight was over lightning fast!" Uzi said nodding.
"That's cause it's a concentrated attack on defenceless enemies, after all." Gatomon said with a nod and looks at Aqua. "Now as I mentioned before, I want you to be the head of our command. You can decide when we use this."
"All right, understood." Aqua said nodding. "So once we hit on the enemy's weakness, knock all of them down and call out an All-Out Attack."
"Yes, that's the ideal pattern" Gatomon said with a nod.
The three then carry one and go through the door and see a door ahead of them in a small room with a banner overhead.
"Alright, this is it!" Gatomon said with a smile.
"Gaston's…. Training Hall…of Love?" Uzi said looking at the banner "What is this?!"
"I don't know…but let's go in" Aqua said and the three enter the room.
As they enter they immediately hear cries of pain.
"That voice…Where's it coming from…?" Uzi asked concerned.
"Coming further in" Aqua said and the three go further in and approach a large, barred window.
"Oh, it's coming from other there?!" Uzi said and they look through the bars and see a shocking sight, four prisoners, dressed in Citadel gym clothes har arms tided to a volleyball net and four Hengemen were hitting them with wooden sticks. Uzi shocked said angered "Dammit! This is so dumb!"
"How many times do I have to tell you to keep your voice down?!" Gatomon told her.
"But this is beyond messed up!" Uzi said shaking her head. She then looks at the barred window "How do I open this?!"
"Stop it…" A faint voice said and they look and see a mobion covered in bandages and in the gym uniform walk up and she said "Leave us alone…It's useless…"
"Wait what?!" Uzi said.
A human male similar to the mobion approaches and said "If we stay obedient, we won't be executed like you guys!"
"Wait so you're saying you all want to stay in a place like this?!" Uzi said shocked and angry.
"Wait…hold up." Gatomon said looking at Uzi "Were you planning on taking these guys out of here?"
Uzi looks back at Gatomon and says while the two slaves leave "We can't just leave them here!"
"How much of a dumb bot can you be?" Gatomon said facepalming
"What?!" Uzi said in anger.
"Wait Uzi. Gatomon, what do you mean?" Aqua asked.
"These are only people in Gaston's cognition." Gatomon explained. "They aren't real people that have entered from reality. They're different from you two."
"Cognition…?" Uzi asked confused.
"It means there's no point in saving them!" Gatomon firmly said "They're different from the real ones in the real world. You could say that these are like similar-looking dolls."
"Bite me! Why's it got to be so complicated?!" Uzi said rubbing her head. "So, the school's a castle, and the students are slaves…It's so on point that it makes me laugh. This really is the inside of that jerk's head!"
"Yeah, I agree with you on that one." Aqua said with a nod.
Gatomon goes to the barred window and said "Still, this is horrible. It must mean he treats them as slaves in the real world too."
"In the real world too?" Uzi said in shock. She then looks at the slaves and said realizing "Wait, I know these people…They're members of the volleyball team the one Gaston coaches for!"
"They must be physically abused every day…There's no way they'd be so beat up normally." Gatomon deduces sadly.
"Don't tell me…They're going through similar stuff in reality?!" Uzi said getting angry.
"I've only been at the school for a day and a half but even I do see several people with bad bruises and bandages." Aqua said concerned.
"Then that most likely is the case." Gatomon said nodding "I mean, this proves that Gaston thinks of them as slaves."
"So it might be for reall…" Uzi said in anger shock "I heard that Gaston's using physical punishment. They're just rumors, but…If they're true, wouldn't this be something to report to the police troopers?"
"Might be worth a shot" Aqua said nodding.
"I'll use these guys as evidence." Uzi said and pulls out her phone "If it all goes well we can take down that jerkward Gaston!" She looks at the phone and is shocked "…Huh? It's not working?!"
"We can use the navigation app, but the camera's a no go?!" Uzi said in shock
"A navigation app?" Gatomon asked confused.
"That's what we used to come here." Uzi explained and looks to Aqua "What about yours?"
Aqua checks her phone and shakes her head "No my camera app won't open either."
"Whatever you do is fine, but we're gonna get caught if we stand around like this." Gatomon warned them. "We need to head back!"
"Hold on a sec!" Uzi said and looks through the barred window "There's no other way…I'll just mamorize their faces before we head home! We should check the other cells too."
"Right." Aqua said and they move to the next cell and see several Student slaves running on a tredmill at the end behind them was a spiked rollar and ahead of them was a hanging bucket of water. "W-What the…?!"
"W-Water" One of the Volleyball players said out of breath but still running. "Ugh,,,Please, no more…"
"Not giving athletes who need it water, even for tough training is a common thing in the real world too…" Uzi said angry "That human jerk…! I'm gonna try and memorize all these guys' faces before we go back…" She examines them "Alright done, let's check to see if there are more!"
They check the next cell and see a robot volleyball play tied upside down and having a cannon loaded with volleyballs repeatedly fired at him.
"Agh! Gah!" The robot player cries out in pain "It hurts…it hurts…!"
"The robot hell…? This ain't training at all…It's just violence!" Uzi said in shock and gets angry "This means he's been doing something similar in reality too, right…? Damn that guy…!"
"I get it, but hurry it up Uzi." Aqua said to her friend.
"I know, I know…Just give me a sec. I'll memorize them quick." Uzi said nodding
"Hey, are you don yet?!" Gatomon asked "We're cutting it close here!"
"Don't freak me out like that, you moron!" Uzi said after jumping "But yeah, I got all of them!"
"Then let's stop wasting time! We need to scram!" Gatomon told them.
"Right" Aqua said as Uzi nods.
The three then hurry to the door to make their escape before they get caught.
Well looks like the group have knoledge but lack evidence. But as they escape next time they will encounter a hurdle, will a new aid arrive to help Aqua and Gatomon fight?
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