With the group ready, they begin to infiltrate.
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this.
Persona 5 Royal Fanmake Gaston Arc Chapter 20
Castle Infiltration P1
The group made their way to the safe room, on the way Aqua used her new third eye ability to locate hidden treasure and gathered it and they also fought some shadows. During which she reclaimed Pixie and welcomed a Gallows-Flower known as Mandrake.
"So good to be back even if it was a short seperation" Pixie said with a smile
"Thank you so much for freeing me from that influence, I will lend my aid to you" Mandrake added.
Aqua nods and continues to the Safe room and goes in with the team.
"Huh? What's up with this place?" Alexis said surprised seeing the room shifting from it's castle form to a classroom.
"It's a gap in the cognition. A safe room, if you will." Gatomon explained.
"Uh huh…I still don't fully understand it." Alexis said following it but still hard to process.
"Right?" Uzi said with a nod "Uhhh, I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, but I think it's some kind of spot where Shadows can't find us."
"That's right" Aqua said nodding to Uzi, she got it right.
"Huh…I didn't think a pace like that existed in here." Alexis said thinking "So, what do we do in this 'safe room'?"
"Take a break of course. Oh and we talk about stuff too." Uzi replied.
"So, the place is for resting up and plotting…Got it." Alexis said understanding "I guess I'll rest for a bit too then. Let me know when we're ready to head out, Waterwave."
"Right." Aqua said and they sit round the table and accepts a Stamina kit for Gatomon to use when we "Now then, let's do a progress report."
"Yeah, you think the Treasure's far?" Uzi asked.
"Didn't we just get in here?" Gatomon asked "Base on how the castle looks, we still have a long way to go."
"I still can't believe a phone app took us somewhere like this." Alexis notes looking at her phone.
"Well not all of us need that app, you know…" Uzi said grinning looking at Gatomon "The cat can just come in on his own."
"I am NOT a cat!" Gatomon told her.
"So wait, what's the deal with those soldier footsoldiers that are serving Gaston?" Alexis asked. "They transform into weird monsters whenever we fight them…"
"Huh? Oh, you must be talking about the Shadow Hengemen." Gatomon said.
"What are Shadow Hengemen?" Alexis asked.
"Yeah I've been wondering about those guard guys as well." Uzi said nodding "What's their deal?"
"I can explain it…but it'll be complicated." Gatomon said "Do you want to hear?"
"Be good to now." Aqua said nodding.
"Well, the Hengemon is just the variot of Shadows for this world" Gatomon said. "As for Shadows, deep in the innermost depths of every person's heart lies their true personality their Shadow. So it's not that the guards are transforming into those things…Those are their actual forms."
He then added "The reason they look like gods and other mystical beings is because they spawn from the human psyche."
"Wow…it's almost like Dual Monsters" Alexis said amazed. "But wait, what are they doing in Gaston's castle to begin with?"
"It seems like the distortion of the Palace draws them in." Gatomon explained. "Once they're here, their form change and they become underlings for the Palace ruler."
"Make sense, the Shadows I claimed talk about how they lost who they were." Aqua said nodding "Why I am trying to save at least one of them from Gaston's control."
"When you think about it, the Palace ruler is just the Shadow of whoever owns the Palace…" Gatomon said thinking. "Maybe these places have something to do with the worlds in our minds or the collective unconscious…"
"Oh, okay." Uzi said nodding "Wait, that don't make any sense!"
"I had a feeling you'd say that…" Gatomon said sighing. "Well, you don't need to think too hard about it. They're enemies, so don't let your guard down, okay?"
"Yeah, but once we take this Castle down all the Shadows will be free." Aqua said.
"Thank you." Bicorn said and the other Personas nod.
The group move out after Gatomon gives some stuff to help out. They move though the kitchen and also along the way learn about a technique known as Baton Pass that passes on energy to an ally making attacks more powerful.
"Ha, that is a usual skill" Incubus said,
"Agreed but use it wisely" Arsene said.
Aqua nods and they enter the next room and up the tower and enter the fancy corridor and see a Hengeman ahead.
"Damn…There's one here too…" Uzi said seeing the guard. "Oh, well…Guess we just got to ambush it from behind again…"
"I mean sure, if you want to go about it the orthodox way." Gatomon said serious "But there's a more stylish route! See those sofas on the sides of the hallway?" He points them "Hide behind those so you can get closer to the enemy. When in range, jump on it and rip its mask off!"
"Wow…That does sound pretty damn cool…" Uzi said amazed.
"Hey! This isn't a movie!" Alexis said.
"Waterwave, with your poise, you should be able to pull it off." Gatomon said "Give it a try!"
"Alright." Aqua said nodding. She does it and is amazed and ambushs the Hengeman and they fight the Shadows and defeat them. "That was amazing!"
"Sweet! That totally works!" Uzi said impressed.
"That was so cool!" Alexis said smiling "They totally can't spot us while we're hiding!"
"That's right so long as we lay low like that, enemies won't even notice us." Gatomon said nodding. "Whenever we hide, we can take our time preparing for the next ambush."
Aqua nods and the group continues on there way and enter the next room which was a huge room with a central area caged.
"Look! There's something in there." Uzi said pointing into the cage. On a table seemed to be a piece of parchment "But these bars are in the way."
"If he's protecting it this securely, it has to be in important." Gatomon deduces "That means there should be a way in and out of there. Waterwave, do you think you can solce the mystery of this room?"
"I think I can." Aqua said and uses her Third Eye ability.
She sees foot prints going to some chain switches and follows them and pulls the chains. The cage after the two switches were pulled opens up allowing access to the table.
"Whoa…" Uzi said amazed.
"As expected from you, Waterwave!" Gatomon said nodding.
The group go to the table and pick up the parchment revealed to be a Castle Map.
"What the heck?" Uzi said confused "He had it all locked up and stuff, but it was just some old map…?"
"You're hopeless…Don't you see how vital a map is?" Gatomon asked and details it "Having this will give us a better grasp of the topography of the Palace. It's a true necessity for a phantom thief. This should make securing a route much easier."
"Hang on, does it say where the Treasure is on there?" Alexis asked.
"Oh…Actually, it seems like this map is incomplete…There might be more of them around." Gatomon admits.
"Alright, let's start checking what we can." Uzi said shrugging "We'll probably find another map along the way somewhere."
"I think so too, the second half of the map is no doubt deeper in the Castle." Aqua said nodding.
The Group keep going and make it to the area above the Central Hall. Aqua sees the chandeliers can be used as platforms, The group find another Safe Room and go into it after opening a nearby treasure chest.
Alexis sees Uzi grinning and asks "Um, Circuit…What are you grinning about over there?"
"Oh, sorry about that." Uzi said smiling "I was just thinking back to how we crossed over those chandeliers earlier. I mean, don't all this just make you feel like we're real thieves?"
Alexis sighs and said "You know we still have a long way to go, right?"
"She's got a point." Gatomon said nodding "Even looking at this optimistically, there's still plenty ahead of us."
"Along with different and more powerful Shadows" Bicorn said to Aqua.
"We should be on our toes" Aqua said nodding.
"I know, I know…Don't worry, I'm going to keep giving this everything I've got!" Uzi told the group.
With that the group leave the Safe Room and into the next area.
They enter the area that on the map was marked as the East Building the group look at the map to see what was left to check.
"If the map's right, we still got a long way to go…" Uzi comments nodding.
"That's not all there an awful lot of patrolling Shadow Hengemen, too." Gatomon said "Now you can't just blindly rush into a fight. First you need to ascertain how strong they are."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Uzi asked
"Well, we'll need to observe the enemy's actions and get some insight into their skills." Gatomon explained "You should be capable of that, Waterwave."
"Yeah, my Third Eye ability will help with that" Aqua said nodding.
The group keep going and going through the hallway Aqua recruited three Shadows one was a blue cat in a musketeer like outfit called Hunting Puss in Boots but their real name was known as Cat Sith.
"Wow, this is so exciting" Cat Sith said excited.
"Joy…. young ones" Bicorn groaned
"Oh, cheer up grouch." Pixie said giggling.
The next was a green ghostly woman with long hair in a red dress called Troublesome Housemaid but was real named Silky. The last was a demon in a yellow pot called Apprentice in a Jug but was really named Agathion
"Happy to be of service when needed" Silky said bowing.
"Let's go on an adventure!" Agathion cheered
They move and stop seeing another barred door "Seriously…More bars?" Uzi groans
"But there's a way to open it, right?" Alexis said smiling "Let's start look, Waterwave."
Aqua nods and finds the way to open the door and enters into a dining room with more bars "This is getting ridiculous." Aqua said.
"Boy, there are an awful lot of bars in here for being…what looks like a dining room?" Alexis said to this.
"Yep, sure looks like it to me. Now according to the map…" Gatomon said looking at it and points to the path across the room also barred up "There's a path beyond those bars there."
"Looks like they're making this tougher for us yet again…" Alexis points out,
"Eh, it should be too bad." Uzi said shrugging "Let's just get it done."
"Yeah, let's move" Aqua said and moves in.
She manages to get int a room that had the master switch. She then opens a chest contatining Sooty gear.
"Hey…That stuff is disgusting." Gatomon said "You should get it cleaned somewhere…I think I also seeing a Shadow with one"
"Maybe one day I will, or not" Aqua said thinking. For some reason she felt she should hold onto this and all like it as is, she doesn't know why.
Anyway she opens the way and the group keep going. But soon came to a locked door.
"Bite me…it isn't opening?" Uzi said shocked.
"Well…I can hear a faint breeze blowing in from somewhere…Is there another way through?" Gatomon said thinking.
Aqua looks and sees an open vent and the group goes in and crawl through it and come out to see a lone Hengeman standing card over a treasure chest.
"Look, a treasure chest! Let's take whatever is in there too!" Gatomon said smiling.
"Uh, there's a guard there…" Alexis said concerned.
"That's okay." Gatomon said "Hey, Waterwace, do you think we can ambush it from here? It ought to go the same as when you hide and jump on an enemy. Give it a shot."
Aqua nods and ambushed the Hengeman which was a Jack-O-Lantern who was wailed on by the four, it then begged for mercy and got scared. Feeling sorry she accepted and Jack-O-Lantern remembered all the memories and returns to her side.
"I didn't realize even Shadows beg for their lives…That's actually kind of surprising…" Alexis said shocked.
"Trust me, they are full of personality" Aqua said nodding
"Indeed, Shadows have emotion too, you know. Of course they'll be afraid if you corner them like that." Gatomon said "Might be worth creating a situation to get them begging for their lives. Different attitudes all the Shadows have to take advantage of."
"I'll keep that in mind" Aqua said nodding and loots the chest for an accessory and the group keep moving and enter the next area.
They come to a spiral tower with a collapsed starcase making it impossible to climb.
"Man…" Gatomon sighing "Looks like it's in pretty bad shape…"
"Ummm…I don't think we're going any further this way…" Uzi said concerned.
"Should we check somewhere else?" Alexis asked.
"Wait, look up there." Gatomon said and points up to what looks to be a grapple point.
"What about it?" Uzi asked confused "Are we throwing a rope over that and climbing it?"
"Phantom thieves do things a bit more stylishly than that…" Gatomon said smiling and gets a twinkle in his eyes "…and I know just what'll do the trick."
She pulls something out and takes Aqua's left gauntlet and begins to ad an attachment to it..
"Good seems like it fits properly." Gatomon said smiling.
"What did you strap onto me?" Aqua asked concerned.
"That's just a little something I've been working on in secret." Gatomon explained "The grappling hook let's you zip to hard-to-reach locations in a flash. You'll see what I'm talking about when you test it out. Go ahead, give it a try."
"Alright." Aqua said and tries it on the grapple point and zooms up "Whoooa!" She lands on the ground "That was intense."
"Yeah, it was amazing" Uzi said nodding.
"Yeah, great gadget Gaon" Alexis said smiling.
"Thanks, be sure to put it to good use, Waterwave." Gatomon said proudly.
The group head to the opening but stop and head as they see another Hengeman but this one was different, it was like the regular Hengeman guards but it was emiting a red shadowdry aura.
"Whoa, that guy looks like bad news." Uzi said concerned.
"Yeah, he does look pretty tough…" Gatomon said nodding "Not only that, but it seems like he's more aware of his environment than the others. We'd better proceed with caution."
Aqua nods and sees a Safe Room nearby and they take a break for a bit.
"Phew…There's seriously tons of enemies around here…" Uzi said sighing. "Hey Gaon, how far in are we?"
"I think this is still the beginning stages." Gatomon said thinking "I don't sense the Treasure anywhere near here."
"I guess we have a long way to go…" Alexis admits.
"Yeah, though I am wondering where the Generals are." Aqua said nodding as she sits to take a break.
Meanwhile somewhere in the castle the Cathedral General was aware of the intruders progress.
"Sir, should we alert King Gaston?" One of his men said.
"No, we don't need reinforcements. Go and deal with them but if they make it to here…heh I look forward to slaying them myself" The Cathedral General said chuckling.
The group are making good progress but one of Gaston's generals is planning an ambush on the group.
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