Disclaimer: Fate and Persona are owned by different companies, and I hold no ownership and all that jazz.
7/28
Hakunon-Makoto
Hakunon:
Mementos? Mystic Code?
Makoto:... Are you asking if I can join you to make a Mystic Code?
Hakunon: Yes.
Makoto: Would it be safe for us to go in alone?
Hakunon: Ann is coming to, she is shopping atm with Ryuji.
Makoto: Would feel safer if Akira or Morgana was there as well…
MemeQueen: Both busy! Going to Akihabara on mission.
Makoto: Futaba!?
Hakunon: Futaba, what did I say about hacking into private conversations?
MemeQueen: Fine!
Hakunon: Sorry.
Makoto: I forgot she could do that…
Hakunon: she doesn't mean harm, she just is Futaba. See you soon.
"Not today Hakuno." Hakuno tilted her head curiously as Caroline's baton was blocking her from exiting the subway underground.
"Oh?Why?"
Caroline huffed as Justine spoke up, "Something…Is occurring in Mementos as we speak, it would be best to not explore for today." Justine's pause was strange, almost as if she was attempting to hide something... Could she be lying?
"Unless you want to get hunted from the Reaper." Reaper? "A Shadow that lingers about in the Metaverse, somethin's got him worked up in a tizzy."
"Your 'Phantom Thieves' are lucky to have yet to come across it, if you do running away would be advised."
Hakuno mulled over the words, so the Metaverse had something similar to a Nephilim? Or perhaps… something closer to the Angel-like Program the Moon Cell summoned in response to her Servant's outbursts?
Or perhaps something even darker?
But, Hakuno could take a hint, "Thank you." Hakuno sighed, best warn the others though.
"Sorry, I'm late Hakuno!" Ah, Ann. And a walking pile of bags?
"Please help." The pile of bags cried out... Hakuno sighed.
"So Mementos had something that dangerous…" Hakuno nodded as Makoto spoke, they decided at least for now they would spend time in the family diner deciding their next move.
"Psh, so what if the weird kids said it was strong, I bet we could take em." Hakuno shook her head at Ryuji's words, the twins were strong, "Come on, worse comes to it you do that thing you did in Futaba's Palace, ya know that weird red glow."
"Only two left." Hakuno looking back it might not have been necessary between Futaba's shield and everyone else they might have been able to weather out the attack. But, the past is the past.
"For real?"
"We shouldn't rely so heavily on them." Hakuno agreed with Makoto… In Lunar Seraph she had only used two. One to save Tamamo and the other…
Hakuno's brain stalled.
"Anyways, no Mementos means we got the rest of the day to relax~"
"How about we go… bouldering?" Hakuno blinked, she felt an inkling of something but chose to disregard it at the moment.
"I've always wanted to go on go-karts…"
"How about both?"
"Ah sweet! er…," Ryuji's phone went off, "I gotta go, Ma managed to get the rest of the day off."
And in a flash, Ryuji was gone, his leg seemed to be healing decently well…
"He's such a Mama's boy," Ann said with a sigh.
Makoto looked confused, "Don't mind her, she just wants to spend more time with him."
"Oh shut up."
7/29
Hakuno sighed as they re-entered the Palace, "We're pretty close, we should be able to do it with one more push." Then they could truly relax.
She was honestly missing going to Jinbocho, the whole team was staying away from Kanda just in case, Makoto had to cancel a few of her supplementary classes that would've taken place in Kanda.
Joker's eyed each one of the team, "Magus, Queen, and… Skull with me. Mona cover our backs." Hakuno for a split second watched as Mona's ears twitched in annoyance.
Maybe she should talk to Morgana sometime soon… Or, tell Joker to.
The smell of snow and candy hit them like a truck as they exited the Safe Room, "The Treasure is coming from the large tent." The tent was a decent way away… and Hakuno paused… were some of the spikes inside the parameter of the fence before? She couldn't remember.
Deftly avoiding each of the large spikes they slowly made their way toward the large tent, Hakuno felt like they were missing something, why exactly did Ran Rū start her killings and cannibalism?
Yes, she was… hungry in that Will Seed she witnessed but, eating a pet and a person are two completely different things. Hakuno shivered from the cold.
Hopefully, the Shadows were dumb enough not to notice their very obvious path in the snow…
"Come one come all!" A loud voice echoed from all around, spotlights focused on a stage close to where they were traveling…
"Ugh… Lots of Shadows going towards the stage," Hakuno could faintly see a few dozen Shadows, they seemed to have a strange clown appearance, wearing porcelain masks, some sad, some happy, and some angry.
On the stage a plump clown stood, instead of a porcelain mask he wore one akin to a domino mask… close to what Joker was wearing. In the Stage clown's hands, he held a black wand…
"Come and see, the Intruders of our lovely circus! After all ~" Oh no. "They foolishly led someone so tasty to our lovely home!"
Spotlights fell on the group. Oh.
They did think a bit.
The Shadows turned around on them, "But~ They don't have to worry! The tasty child will be defeated and brought to our lovely owner!" Being elevated from under the stage a young woman wearing a plain white dress appeared, she had orange curly ha-
It was Ran Rū's Shadow.
Her yellow eyes looked down upon the group, "Oh my… mine own prey hast cometh to visiteth me. Bid me didst thee arriveth with the one in black and blue once m're?"
What? Black and Blue?
"Doth not fret, thy lives shalt beest used to feedeth our children. Seeketh me in mine own home, I shalt beest waiting. Have fun~." With that the spotlight disappeared from her leaving the Clown Conductor standing with a strange smirk on his face.
"Well, you heard the boss! Let's show these Thieves some fun!" Sickly black goop emerged as they condensed into one large Shadow
An overly large green monster, a dozen large buff arms with three heads smiling mouths as they spoke bullets appeared coming at them!
"Persona!" Avenger sprung forth, black and blue flames struck the bullets.
"Get in position!" Joker's persona was a green dogu statue appeared the bullets bounced off of it as lightning slammed into the Hundred-Armed Watcher, Hakuno dashed to the side as several Pisaca released needles, one grazed her arm, barely any pain but…
So… sleepy.
A thump on the back of her head from a paper fan woke her. She blinked as Queen rode forward nuclear fire flashing off of her Persona as she jumped off her fist slamming into the Pisaca.
"Sorry!" Cursed flames slammed into the Hundred-Armed Watcher it practically bathed in the cursed fire, "Immune to Curse!" Immune to curse great.
And Pisaca was as well.
Greatttttt.
Hakuno sighed as Terror Claw drained her stamina, bullets rained from the green Shadow as its fist flailed helplessly on Joker's persona. The Swift Strike reflected onto the Hundred-Armed Watcher as Joker kept its attention with Happy Bombs, his dagger and gun.
Skull was tearing through the Pisaca group with Queen… Hakuno couldn't really help too much in this fight…
Though calling it a fight was hard.
The Shadows turned to dust as the spotlights flickered off.
"That was a nice warm-up!" Skull's boisterous voice echoed in the now deserted area.
"Strange… Black and Blue could that be the Black Mask?" Hakuno was pretty confident that was the case, maybe…
No, they will need a bit more information.
"That would make sense, Both Kaneshiro and Madarame mentioned them." Joker pointed out.
"That bastard had his hands in even this?"
"Unless there's another one in the Metaverse." Queen pointed out, that would… be more dangerous.
One unknown was bad more would make their excursions harder…
"We'll get it out of her Shadow. Let's keep going."
The Shadows seemed to have taken on a more hungry appearance, Hakuon had to switch out due to most having an immunity or drain to her primary Curse Damage. She had swapped for Mona who perked at the switch.
Even performing his teleportation as he did.
Something like… teleportation wasn't normal, Hakuno believed it was something similar to the ground shrinking but… no sounds of movement, just a blink and he could move.
Perhaps it has something to do with the strangeness of his soul.
Hakuno shook her head, "Will Seed, I'm not sensing any Shadows nearby!"
"Weird… usually the last Will Seed is the most guarded."
"Maybe cause the other two had some protection? All I'm sensing are those weird spikes."
The spikes had unnerved her from the beginning, a strange voice in the back of her head kept trying to nudge her away from them, Hakuno was sure that she had heard of them before but…
"Their loss our gain." Joker's voice echoed as well as the sounds of cutting vines.
Large metal spikes… hunger…all inside of a Chase…it finally clicked.
"RUN!"
Avenger sprung forward as Cursed flames blanketed the nearby spikes, "Hakuno?" Fox asked in confusion.
"The spikes! The one who impaled countless people! The one who is hungry! It's how we were seen from the beginning!"
The beast was most likely following them from the moment they entered!
The chittering of bats swooped down as a man in a black and red tuxedo formed, his fangs very evident. He loosely held a blood-red spear in his hands.
"Dracula."
"Dance Carmen!" Fire blasted the Vampire as it chuckled, spears rose from the ground and shot at them.
This is bad. Hakuno could just feel Fox using his Od to slash at the coming Spears, Goemon freezing the few that he missed. The vampire seemed immune to fire damage which was surprising to Hakuno.
Or perhaps..
"Aim when he reforms!" Hakuno didn't bother with Curse, Avenger dove forward as his arm was impaled by a spear, his claws came forward as the Vampire turned into bats.
A flash and Carmen's flames burned the Vampire. The vampire swung his cape as the embers fell off of him. Hakuno could notice slight damage.
Resistant to fire then? Not immune…still a terrible match then.
The vampire's eyes stared into her soul and Hakuno froze.
"Dracula." The five of them heard Hakuno's voice, quickly Futaba turned her sensors to focus on the smallest detail, her brain felt like it snapped as she felt a flush of her MP as she analyzed the spikes.
Made of wood and steel, lovingly formed by Vlad the Impaler.
Dracula?
Switching her sensors she finally noticed the small plips that she had ignored and watched as they fused to make a large red Shadow.
"Back up teams in danger! Everyone head back!"
She's the Navigator. It was her job to stop ambushes and analyze everything! And she has failed again.
There will not be a next time! "Speed up!"
Necro soared as fast as it could to rejoin the team, Joker and the rest slightly behind her. A cheap man in black and red held Hakuno.
Inari and Panther were lying on the floor, broken spears lying beside them. "Oi! Power Up!" Using two buffs at the same time was slightly taxing to maintain her cover but!
"Go get them, Joker!"
Queen's bike drove as Joker jumped from it, "Persona!" A nine-tailed fox appeared ghostly flames slammed into the Vampire causing it to stumble releasing Hakuno.
Queen dove from her bike, her Persona dissipating as she grabbed onto Hakuno. "She's fine! Just out of Stamina!" Good.
Futaba switched her focus to the cheap Dracula knock-off. She has been working on this since she awakened… come on. She grunted as her Persona's inner workings wined.
Her Persona, her other half wasn't designed for Battle, but.
She was a hacker. Making machines do something they aren't planned to was something she was born to do.
An overly large bomb dropped from the hatch, and a warning light appeared in her vision as she saw her own SP gauge be reduced to a minimum. But!
Kaboom!
Green smoke revealed the Vampire teetering, a flash of bats and he transformed once more. "Zorro!"
Mona's Magarula slashed into the bats, causing the vampire to clutch its chest as it reverted to its humanoid form.
Cursed magic came forward as Hakuno's Servant sprung forward his claws stabbing into Zorro?
Hakuno had moved, a faint cloud of pink covered her head as she fired openly at Queen, Futaba could see the confusion on Avenger's face as his claws were parried by Joker's dagger.
"She was charmed!" Flicking through a list of everyone's skills and stats "Queen!"
"I got her!" Her Motorcycle appeared as a wave of green energy covered everyone, the mist cleared from Hakuno who blinked in confusion, and her stoic face morphed into one of anger.
She had never seen that on Hakuno before.
"Flames of Love and Hate!" Her sensors flared as Avenger released his skill the Vampire tried to turn to bats…
But even the bats were fried.
A sigh of relief came from her as she leaned back… Everyone was OK.
Hakuno shook her head… Now that her mind was… clear, "Sorry everyone." Hakuno concentrated as she used Recover on Mona, as Queen waved her off.
"We have a small hole in our party, Status Ailments are a major problem that we should find a way to keep in control." Perhaps she could work on a new Mystic Code? But, something to block all ailments would be incredibly hard…
"Everyone should hold a few items to stop the more basic ones, I'll look into getting more that can heal multiple people." Joker was the one in charge of the group's main finances.
Hakuno sighed, they all stood crowded around the Will Seed, normal Shadows don't go near it, and between Oracle and Mona, they couldn't sense any not even the strange one like the vampire.
"I'm so sorry everyone." Futaba bowed, Hakuno could see the tears fall from her goggles, "It's my job to be the Navigator but…I messed up hard."
Mona grumbled before she spoke up, "It's your first Palace… And you haven't been to Mementos yet. You'll learn." Hakuno wrapped her arms around the younger girl.
Mona nodded, "Yeah, Navigation's a tough job, gotta keep an ear and eye on everything."
"Ah man, don't get so worked up on it! We all survived!" Hakuno rolled her eyes at Skull's display.
"Shall we grab the skull? I can hear its voices…" Fox spoke as Akira nodded.
"You ready Oracle?"
Hakuno released Futaba as she sniffed, "Yeah I gotta go plus Ultra! With my navigation, Nothing will escape my sight!"
Hakuno felt the room warp as they entered Ran Rū's memory…
Hot, so incredibly hot. Soft Moonlight came from the open window, the dilapidated building the family lived in tiny sake bottles littered the floor as an old man grumbled on a rocking chair.
Ran Rū was there, her face was bruised and for someone… pregnant she was incredibly skinny blood leaked from her left arm as it hung loose. The corpse of an old woman lay on the couch.
"Dad?"
The man grumbled to a start the sake bottle in his hands slipped and crashed on the floor, "Eh? The fuck do you want?"
"I-" Ran Rū seemed nervous as she stammered out, "I think I need to go to the Hospital. The baby… it hasn't moved in a few days… And Mom isn't looking too good either…"
"Good! Our cursed family will be long gone then. Should've never had a failure like you. We used to be Royalty!" The man stood on shaky legs as he punched the already damaged wall.
"But!" They could just feel the hunger come from the young woman, "I… wanted my child to be happy…"
"There can be no happiness in this damn world!" The man raved, his face red with anger as Ran Rū flinched back. "Take Take Take! That's humanity's nature!"
A wave of something came from Ran Rū… an eerie focus as her eyes switched from helpless to anger.
Ran Rū's knife slid from her sleeve into her hands as she lunged.
The memory cleared, leaving them standing in shock.
"So… she just snapped after her Dad killed her Mom and starved her?" Panther was the first to speak.
"I…" Hakuno felt something off, something… "Think something occurred in her Palace."
"Whatcha mean?"
"A Palace could've been formed due to her depression, that would explain the circus we are in but… what if she developed a Psychotic breakdown?"
Queen's eyes widened in horror, "Are you suggesting that the Black Mask induced one on her?"
"It's.. possible?" Hakuno herself wasn't too sure… they were missing something. Maybe… this was the first one they did?
"Your theory makes sense… But, we just don't have enough information." Mona pointed out which was true.
Hakuno had felt something change right as the memory was fading, but… She had never seen a Psychotic breakdown occur so she couldn't be 100% confident it was the same thing.
"Something to keep an eye out, just in case… we might want to look into and see if there are any connections… Oracle we are going to have to rely on you for that."
"I gotcha."
"How close are we to the treasure?"
Mona sniffed the air as Oracle's phantom screen appeared in front of her, "Should be close, picking up a Safe room right next to it as well."
Convenient.
Leaving the Will Seed Room they made their way slowly to the large tent they could see the glimmer of a Treasure.
Author's Note: Yeah this one was a bit harder to do, some fun relaxing time then back to the dive of their Palace escapade.
Such a funny word…
Anyways, strange going ons in Mementos? Again? Whatever could it mean?
Anyways again, was planning to introduce the hunger status effect sometime in this Palace but couldn't find a good time, and I felt like funny old English would just be slightly funny.
Next chapter, The Fall of the Murderer.