Good Day Readers! Obviously, I do not own anything connected to the Persona series in general or Persona 5 specifically, I DO own Chiba Natsumi and Anais Ouvrard, along with Natsumi's immediate family members and the original Personas that will be showing up on occasion.

I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy.

Chapter 17: - The Voyage

Everything was prepared. The dojo was already unlocked and I'd prepared food for us to have afterwards, bottles of chilled water alongside a bowl of cool water and several cloths were placed on one of the cabinets that lined the walls. I'd already run through a kata and now, all I could do was anxiously await the arrival of the other thr- no, four, as I'm certain Morgana would tag along even if I couldn't realistically teach him anything.

A knock reverberated through the house, rising to my feet, I quickly approached the door and opened it, finding all of my comrades stood there dressed in clothing suitable for exercising. Amamiya wore black, Takamaki wore pinkish-red and Sakamoto wore blue; all three stared at my outfit with different ranges of expressions but all at least contained confusion.

"I thought this was a trainin' session?" Sakamoto commented. Did I really look out of place? I had always trained in haori and hakama, it was comfy; stepping back I urgently waved the trio inside and closed the door behind them, turning around I saw Morgana pop out of the bag that Amamiya was carrying on his shoulder.

"Your outfits are fine. This is just what I prefer to wear," I stated. The three were looking around the hallway in silence as Morgana wriggled free of the bag to drop to the floor. "Let's get started, shall we?" I suggested. Stepping passed them, I headed for the dojo and slid the door open. "The weapons are fake, unable to cause real damage but everything else is as the same as a proper weapon. Pick one and we'll begin," I explained.

"What the eff Natsumi… what kind of a family do you come from?" Sakamoto asked. A quick look from picking up my favourite naginata showed all three were gaping at the weapon collection; thankfully, the urgent need to stop Kamoshida pushed each of them to their respective Rebel's Weapon so that they could select one to train with.

Takamaki was first, she picked up a simple whip and came over to me, practically vibrating with energy. Amamiya was next as he came over with a dagger hanging limply in hand, but unlike Takamaki who I couldn't read at the moment, he was likely nervous about the prospect of what was to come. Sakamoto took the longest, but eventually he selected a mace, close enough I suppose, and came over to join the rest of us.

"I'll teach each of you what I can about your weapons. I'm no expert but I did do research. Now, who wishes to spar with me first?" I asked. Surprisingly, it was Takamaki who answered the fastest with her hand shooting into the air like it had been dragged there by a piece of invisible string. "Amamiya-san, Sakamoto-san, please stand to the side. Takamaki-san, with me, please," I requested.

Moving to the centre, me and Takamaki came to a stop, glancing at the blonde allowed me to see how nervous she was becoming despite how excited she had seemed before. Setting my naginata in the floor, I held out my hands to the girl, understand my reasons without the need for words, Takamaki raised her hands so that I could take the weapon that she had selected to use.

"The first thing my father taught me," I began. My voice slight raised so that everyone could hear me easily. "And what all of you must remember, is that the weapon is an extension of yourself. It is a part of you, not some foreign thing but another limb, as linked to your body as your own heartbeat, your breath. It is not something to fear or revile, embrace and accept it," I advised. Memories of being with my dad caused a stinging sensation to burn the back of my eyes.

In an attempt to distract myself from the budding tears, I lightly flicked the whip causing it to softly uncoil from its' curled up state. Taking my right hand, I slid it down the fabric length some distance before stopping and tightening my grip, although I allowed the length of the whip between my right hand and my left hand – which was curled around the handle – to simply hand limply towards the floor.

"A whip is a mid to long range weapon, meaning you should avoid letting enemies get too close. A whip's anatomy is split into four parts, the handle which is the most important part as it is the link between you and the rest of the weapon," I started. Releasing the handle, I moved my left hand down to grip the whip's fabric. "This is the thong. Its' purpose is to immobilise by wrapping around objects or people," I continued. Replacing my right hand with my left, I slid the right further down until it neared the tip. "This is the fall, the prime area to use for attacks, strikes from this area deal the most damage. The last bit is the cracker, swung hard enough, it can break the sound barrier," I finished. I handed the fake whip back to Takamaki. "Now show me what you can do," I insisted.

Grasping my naginata, I moved away from Takamaki and set my stance. The blonde girl looked nervous, but she managed to swallow it down and she shuffled about with her feet before setting herself into a stance that mimicked my own. I gave the girl a nod, both to reassure her and encourage, whilst ensuring that my grip was tight enough on my weapon.

Swinging her right arm out, Takamaki sent the whip sailing towards me, but the strike was slow and all it took was a flick of the wrist to change my naginata's position to block the blow and send the whip flying wide. This was repeated a few more times before a block of mine allowed the whip to loop around the shaft, I used that anchor point to pull the whip's handle free from Takamaki's grip. The girl pouted in frustration as she started to mess with one of her ponytails.

"Your arm has three joints," I called. Takamaki perked up at my words and I swapped weapons before walking over to Takamaki. "Shoulder, elbow and wrist. All three can affect the whip's movements so don't limit yourself to only using the shoulder. Your stance and grip can also be improved. A grip that alternates between soft and firm is best as when it's strong you will be less likely to lose your grip while a looser grip aids you in fluidly changing a weapon's direction," I advised.

"Okay," Takamaki responded. I handed the weapon back to her and gave her a pat on the shoulder before turning to the boys; before I could say or do anything, Sakamoto jumped to his feet with a wide grin, a shrug of her shoulders came from Takamaki before she walked to the edge. When Sakamoto stood before me, I held out my hand and he gave me the weapon.

"It's not an exact match but a mace is still a bludgeoning weapon. Bludgeoning weapons can be wielded one handed or two handed, though that is dependent on the wielder and the impact area known as the head since bludgeoning weapons are typically top heavy," I explained. I handed the weapon back to Sakamoto. "Bludgeoning weapons are close range but require some speed and force before they can deal damage. Let's see what you can do," I finished. With that I turned to walk back to my weapon.

But I didn't get far; roughly just before the halfway point, pounding footsteps closed in from behind. I quickly threw myself forward into a roll to widen the gap whilst bracing my arms and hands before my face and head. The impact shuddered up my limbs, but I grit my teeth against the pain and used my hands as a springboard to catapult myself further away.

The moment my feet graced the wooden floor, I swept my hands out in an arc. My left grasped the naginata's shaft, so I twisted around and stood up. Quickly setting my stance and grip, I focused my gaze on Sakamoto. I found the boy teetering slightly but he seemed more focused on me than righting his balance properly, need to correct that before he gets hurt.

"Very good," I complimented. Surprise slapped Sakamoto so hard in the face that his jaw dropped as my lips twitched up slightly. "Combat is about controlling its' flow more than anything else. You saw that I was exposed and tried to take advantage. It didn't work but it was still good. Now, show me more," I explained. A grin appeared on Sakamoto's face as he rotated his right shoulder in big circles.

We continued for a few more minutes before I stopped it, by diverting an attack away from me and sharply cracking him on the wrist with the blade of my palm, forcing him to release the mace. Sakamoto had been fast, but his swings were wide and reckless, often almost falling over before he actually ended up doing that on the last few swings when I dodged the blows instead of blocking them.

"Bludgeoning weapons are top heavy, if you overswing the sheer weight will drag you down as you witnessed for yourself. You don't have the muscular strength to pull it back if that happens when an enemy dodges, try to under-swing instead or stun them with an unexpected attack like a kick or a punch. People get surprised when a person holding a weapon doesn't use said weapon and Shadows are the same. Grip and stance also need work," I advised. Handing the dropped weapon to Sakamoto, I looked over to the edge. "Amamiya-san, you're up," I pointed out.

The ravenette stood to his feet and began to walk over to me, Sakamoto walked to the edge, pausing briefly to clap a hand on Amamiya's shoulder with a friendly grin. Amamiya immediately flicked the dagger around so that the handle faced me, but the move was done in a surprisingly dexterous manner which caused me to raise an eyebrow, the dexterity was a surprise but it might serve him well, I took the false blade from his hand.

"Daggers are extremely close range weapons but luckily they don't rely on speed to maximise damage like the other two. The pommel," I began. Tapping the orb of wood attached to the end of the handle and then doing the same to the bar that separated the handle and the facsimile of a blade. "And cross guard will stop your hand from sliding off the handle or onto the blade. The handle to grip and the blade to strike," I explained. I then twisted the dagger around so Amamiya could take it back. "One last thing," I insisted.

Without any more warning than that, my hand flew up and plucked the glasses off Amamiya's face before he had a chance to react. As I pulled my hand away, Amamiya attempted to grab for them, but I quickly swung my arm behind my back so that he missed; yet instead of trying to grab at them some more, Amamiya did something different. The hand he had reach out with flew back to latch over his eyes and he tried to curl in on himself.

"I'm sorry," I admitted. And I was, but this was something necessary that needed to be done even though the twisting of my stomach caused discomfort the longer I looked at Amamiya. "I'm sorry Amamiya-san, but it had to be done. You fight without glasses so it's better to train without them otherwise the slight change could endanger your life. Their weight and the lens' presence would be ingrained so that you'll think and react differently without them," I explained.

Despite my words, Amamiya showed no sign of movement and instead remained curled over with a hand pressed over his eyes. In fact, the grip of that hand was so tight that it had turned the knuckles bone white and the arm was ridged as steel with not even the slightest gap between his fingers. The words from the boys' second visit to the Palace rang in my head, the reason why Amamiya wore glasses he didn't need.

"I see," I whispered. I slid the glasses across the wood to the other two and then moved in close to Amamiya, gently gripping his shoulders. "I won't be afraid of your eyes," I vowed. He'd hidden them because he was sacred, sacred of new people running away from him before they knew the real him; that meant I had to reassure him that I wouldn't be scared by them.

"Really?" Amamiya questioned. Before I could answer, his hand fell from his eyes revealing the grey irises to me and I realised that he was right; his eyes were sharp, like a fine blade forged by a master smith, yet nothing spurred me to move away, least of all in fear and Amamiya's eyes widened. "You aren't afraid?" Amamiya asked. His voice wavered with an emotion I couldn't identify.

"Of course not, they're only eyes," I stated. With that, I moved away from him to prepare myself, once I was set my eyes focused on Amamiya who hadn't move so much as an inch. "Shall we begin?" I asked. My words snapped Amamiya out of his daze and he quickly settled into his own combat stance as his eyes glowed with resolve.

Amamiya was surprisingly fast as he easily closed the distance between me and him but his movements with the dagger were slow. He was also repetitive as he kept using those same wide moves even after I blocked them several times. Darting in close, I trapped the hand holding the dagger and quickly disarmed him, causing Amamiya to pause in his movements.

"You have good dexterity," I began. Releasing my grip, I turned to look at him and saw he was looking at the ground shyly instead of the steady fierceness that had been there before. "A dagger is a much lighter weapon than the others, so you can use that dexterity to change its' angle quickly. Try not to repeat attacks either, especially if they've been repelled. Once more grip and stance also need work," I explained. With that, I turned to Takamaki and Sakamoto. "Now that I've evaluated you three, it's time to train you!" I declared.

*Persona 5 Royal*

"Now then, I looked into your background… there's nothing in there to imply you should have any capability at all with a weapon. Yet, reports state that you and the rest of the Phantom Thieves were all capable of wielding their weapons with some measure of skill. Which means… that someone must have trained each of you in how to wield them. Well, am I right?"

I am thou, thou art I…
Thou hast acquired a
new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion
that
breaketh the chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Voyage Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new
power.

*Persona 5 Royal*

For the next lesson, I drilled each of them on what I'd mentioned all while adjusting their grip and stance to what was suited to each weapon and what they felt comfortable using. Once they were passable, I decided to have them spar against one another in order to see how each of them did after having participated in the drills.

Currently, me and Amamiya stood to the side as Takamaki and Sakamoto sparred. Takamaki utilised the whip's length to keep Sakamoto from closing in, but every time she tried to strike Sakamoto, he used his mace to block or divert the attacks. Even though Sakamoto blocked most strikes, Takamaki had prevented the whip from twisting around the mace ensuring it couldn't be pulled from her hands.

Takamaki swept her false whip back to her and then swiftly pirouetted around before cracking the whip forward. This was a good move as it added more velocity to the strike to come, normally I'd have praised Takamaki for this move except there were two issues; Takamaki had lost control of the fall the further it moved from her and now it was aimed for Sakamoto's leg, his right leg.

"Sakamoto! JUMP!" I roared. Mild surprise fluttered through me at how loud my voice had gone but it was drowned by concern for the blonde boy, Takamaki had gone slack which meant she couldn't pull the whip back and the distance prevented me or Amamiya from reaching the whip or Sakamoto in time to stop the collision from happening, plus no arrow would be able to affect it no matter how fast I was able to loose it.

To our collective relief, Sakamoto jumped just in time and the whip harmlessly sailed beneath his feet before dropping to the floor in a spiral. Unfortunately, the moment Sakamoto's feet slammed into the floor, a cry of pain tore from his lips and he dropped to his left knee whilst gripping his right leg as if it had been wounded; Takamaki and Amamiya bolted for the downed boy whilst I dropped my practice weapon and rushed out of the room.

Moving into the kitchen, I quickly grabbed an ice pack and painkillers alongside the four boxes of food. Supplies in hand, I raced back to the dojo and placed the food down to one side along with the medicine; I swiftly removed Sakamoto's hands from his leg, he had been led down by the other two but refused to loosen his grip which meant he'd been partially sat up before I'd returned.

With the removal of his hands, Sakamoto flopped onto the ground with a pained groan which I ignored and pressed the ice pack over where he'd been gripping the leg. Carefully removing my hands so as to not disturb the pack, I rose to my feet and quickly moved to the cabinet with the water and grabbed a bottle before heading back.

Amamiya had sat Sakamoto up and Takamaki had a couple of tablets in her hand whilst Morgana pressed his paws against the pack… where had he come from? Pushing aside my confusion, I helped Sakamoto sip the water once the tablets were in his mouth by supporting the shaking arm that held the bottle. Soon, Sakamoto finished and I took the bottle from him, feeling myself relax slightly.

"After that, I think we're done for the day. Each of you has the basics of your weapons down and that will help us during the infiltration," I decided. Yet, when I looked at the others, I saw that the three humans were exchanging looks that I couldn't understand but all of them were identical whilst Morgana stared at me with an intense stare. "What?" I asked. Perplexation was clear on my face as I looked at all the others.

"Well… uh… it's just that… um, how do I…," Takamaki muttered. She trailed off into unheard mumbles and began to twist and curl a part of her false whip around her fingers; Sakamoto was looking to the side and fidgeting in place as Amamiya – his glasses back on – kept his head tilted down to obscure his vision and prevent me from reading his face; but his body language proved he was as uncomfortable as the other two.

"Where's your family?" Morgana suddenly asked. I felt as if I'd just been sucker punched by Lavenza as my skin went pale and my eyes widened. "Whilst you were training these guys and Ann-dono, I went for a walk and found this house is empty except for you," Morgana explained. I drew in a deep breath and abruptly rose to my feet whilst turning away from the four.

"They've been dead for two… almost three years now. I live alone," I answered. I did not wish to see their faces; I despised the looks of pity that people gave me when they learned I was an orphan because after seeing them so many times the looks felt empty. "The boxes have food in them. Enjoy," I stated. Grabbing a box for myself, I walked into the living room.

Strangely, I felt worried about what the others would do. Would they cut me out of the mission to stop Kamoshida? I didn't know if they would but the mere idea of it, of being left alone again after these last few days, caused my hand to shake slightly as I tried to grip the chopsticks. Before my thoughts could potentially spiral down more dark paths, a light nudge on my shoulder snapped me out of it.

Glancing up, I saw Takamaki sat to my right with a big smile on her face and a box in her lap, a warmth to my left drew my gaze and I saw Amamiya had taken a seat there. Sakamoto soon appeared, gingerly limping on his right leg, before dropping onto the ground; both of the boys also held a box of food, a sudden weight appeared on my lap and I looked down to find that Morgana was curling himself up.

Light hearted chatter filled the meal, I couldn't contribute to it so I settled for quietly observing and occasionally offering pieces to the hungry feline in my lap. I was content to soak in the warmth that had been brought to this cold house by these people; sadly, that came to an end all too soon as the food was finished and since the other three had places to be, I told them where they could get clean and change their outfits.

"Hey, Chiba-san," Takamaki called. I looked up as the girl gave me a gentle smile. "Would you mind coming with me to visit Shiho? I just don't know if I can face doing that alone yet, plus you were there when she got rush in and…," Takamaki requested. My eyes were wide as Takamaki trailed off and started to fidget slightly, clearly leaving something unsaid.

"I'll go with you, Takamaki-san," I decided. I didn't feel like staying in this empty building after they left, perhaps later I could but not while their presence was so fresh; I headed up the stairs and found Amamiya stood outside the bathroom, fiddling with his phone before stopping when he saw me approaching his location.

"Thank you for the lessons today, Chiba-san," Amamiya admitted with a small smile. Sakamoto's voice faintly echoed a similar statement from inside the bathroom; I nodded my head and continued on to my room with a slight bounce in my step.

*Persona 5 Royal*

We stood in front of the hospital with Takamaki bouncing on the balls of her feet as her hands seemed to be trembling slightly. I gently placed my hand against her spine and pushed her to move forward, she stumbled slightly but quickly caught herself and turned back to look at me with a tension present around the corner of her eyes.

"Go on Takamaki-san, you can't see Suzui-san if you stay out here," I insisted. Takamaki nodded her head and seemed to swallow thickly before stepping inside the building as I followed after her; we were easily able to get in to see Suzui but once we reached the hallway where she was, Takamaki ground to a stop. I looked up and saw two people moving towards us, from the dark hair and eyes along with the physical features they shared I could guess that they had to be Suzui's parents.

Suzui's mum was dabbing at her eyes with a cloth as Suzui's father rubbed his wife's spine with care. He spotted Takamaki and gave her a strained smile with a nod of his head, but Suzui's mum was completely oblivious as they walked passed us, yet Takamaki remained unmoving as I kept my eyes focused on her. She was stock still as if she had become stone, an empty expression rested on her face as she stared straight ahead yet the tears gathering in her eyes gave some indication of what she might be feeling. I moved in front of her and proceeded to snap my fingers right beside her ears, startling the blonde as she jumped backwards slightly and blinked watery eyes at me.

"You aren't to blame you know. Kamoshida is the reason Suzui-san is in this situation, you haven't any reason to be ashamed. Go and see her," I encouraged. Takamaki nodded and wiped away her tears as she marched down the hallway with her head held high, but the slight tremble of her hands gave away to some lingering emotions. I trailed after her as we drifted closer to Suzui's room.

'Once we deal with Kamoshida, then she can get rid of those feelings. She has no reason to feel them but stopping him will help put an end to them.' I thought. Avenging Suzui, Mishima, Sakamoto, Takamaki, and everyone else who had suffered had to be our primary objective in the days to come.