Within the depths of You in Wonderland was the Queen of Hearts. While the Phantom Thieves and company were not aware of the meaning of her presence, she was in their way. As such, they needed to defeat her to escape this place. The Queen of Hearts, however, sent her many card soldiers to attack them in her stead. Minako rushed forward, swinging the bladed edge of her naginata forward, cleaving through a card soldier with ease. She then jumped back to avoid the spear strike of another, while pulling her Evoker out. "Orpheus!" With a click of the trigger, Orpheus appeared in front of her. The Persona flew forward while grabbing her harp, spinning around to knock back a number of card soldiers. "Got em!"
And despite the fact Minako was able to take out a few of them in just a few attacks, even more appeared! Red eyes widened for a moment and she let out a low groan. Of course it wasn't going to be that easy! "Okay, that's fine! I knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk!" A card soldier pointed a spear at Minako, releasing a Zio in her direction. The bolt of lightning was about to strike her, but Skull was the one who jumped in front of her, arms crossed. "Skull!?"
Skull took the hit pretty easily. While it had been a while since a lightning attack hit him, he was able to shrug off the resisted hit with ease. "Don't worry about me, that barely tickled!" Skull replied with a smirk. His mask burned away and he pointed ahead at the group of card soldiers. "Blast 'em away, Captain!" Skull returned fire with a Zio of his own. The bolt of lightning struck a few card soldiers due to how grouped up they were, and it was an effective hit! They weren't quite defeated, but they did slump over. "Alright!"
Skull then saw Panther nearby and sprinted to her, holding his hand out. A silent signal as the baton was passed the moment their hands made contact. Panther followed up on Skull's opening by summoning Carmen. "Let's go, Carmen!" Carmen spun around before flicking a fireball at the paralyzed group of card soldiers, putting them down.
"What…whoa!" Minako gasped at such an effective display of teamwork. "What was that!?"
"That's our Baton Pass, a Phantom Thief speciality!" Mona said proudly. "After exploiting an enemy's weakness, we pass the momentum to another and keep the train going!"
"Could I do something like that…?" Such a thing hadn't occurred to Minako.
"Of course you can!" Oracle smirked, her hologram appearing next to Minako. "All it takes is a little practice! And what better time to practice than right now! Zen, Rei, this applies to you, too!"
"A baton pass?" Zen was too busy shooting down card soldiers with his crossbow. Zen was also ensuring that Rei wasn't in the conflict, standing in front of her to shield her from any attacks.
"That sounds like a lot of fun…!" Rei was shaking, but she was doing her best to be brave. She wished she could throw an attack out to help everyone, but her healing powers were going to be pivotal in keeping the team off their feet. "But how do you know what they're weak to?"
"Mwhehehehe!" Oracle's lips curled up into a mischievous grin. "I've been scanning the enemy the whole time! I'm proud to report that these card soldiers are weak to every single type of elemental magic!"
"Really? I'll give it a try!" Minako pressed her Evoker to her temple once again. "Pixie!" And she used Pixie to cast Zio, zapping a card soldier and weakening it greatly. With this opening, she ran to Rei, who extended her hand. "Your turn!"
Rei and Minako's hands collided together, and Rei could feel the momentum. She pressed her hands to Zen's back, to spread that motivation and momentum to him. "Go, Zen!"
Zen wasn't really sure what this feeling was, but he did feel…stronger for a moment. He pointed his crossbow at the weakened card soldier and fired off a spear of ice from it. This ice flew through the sky, piercing through not just one card soldier, but a few more behind it as well. "I see…"
"Don't stop there! Raise your hand!" Mona said while sprinting forward. Zen was still confused, but he did just that. He raised his hand, and Mona leapt up, his paw colliding against it. The baton was passed once again, and he slid to a halt in front of a group of cards. "Zorro!" Zorro appeared before Mona, swinging his saber in a Z shape to release a strong Garu that swept the card soldiers up in a single motion. They were defeated, and Mona patted himself on the back. "As expected!" But then, even more card soldiers just appeared. "Wha-!?"
"There are a lot of them!" Queen narrowed her eyes while riding forward on Johanna. The card soldiers were a threat in large numbers, so she did her best to cull them as quickly as she could. Running over the card soldiers with Johanna was a simple task, since they were vulnerable to nuke magic. She stopped on a dime, providing to sideswipe as many as she could. "But surely it has to end…"
"Robin Hood!" Crow stuck to mid range, using Robin Hood to rain down arrows of light and curse down upon the enemies. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep up such a bombardment forever due to the rules of this world weighing him down. So, whenever a card soldier attempted to strike him with a spear, he dodged and used his beam sword to run them through. "If we were all full strength, this encounter wouldn't be an issue…"
"He's right…" Noir used the wide swing of her axe to cleave through some soldiers. They were all much weaker than normal, and everyone could feel it. Still, Noir was going to strike. She spun around with her axe, becoming a mini tornado of destruction that sliced through card soldiers like paper. The final swing was a homerun swing, which knocked away an incredible number of soldiers…..only for an equal amount to spawn into the battle. "H-Huh!? Is there really no end to this!?"
"They have to run out of numbers at some point!" Fox was quick on the draw with his sword. Any soldier attempting to strike him with a weapon lost that race before it began. His mask burned away, and Goemon appeared by his side. "Goemon, strike!" Goemon exhaled a breath of frost to freeze over a number of soldiers.
Violet used this chance to glide across the ice, using her rapier to slash at the frozen soldiers one after another. She cut them down with ease, and then looked up, where Dragon was. She pushed off the ground, passing the baton to Dragon. "Dragon-senpai!"
"Excalibur!" Dragon flipped around as Belle Star appeared beside her. Belle Star charged head first towards a group of card soldiers, her mighty sword slicing right through them with no effort. She landed on the ground and twirled her staff around, only to see Joker blast a few more with Eiha. But again, even more card soldiers just appeared to replace the ones that were defeated. "It's nearly endless…!"
"Tch…" Joker grit his teeth slightly. The fighting continued, but the result was the same. Every time it felt like they were making progress, they were continuously walled by more card soldiers showing up. "We're never going to be able to punch through these defenses at this rate…" And the exhaustion was going to set in slowly. Under normal circumstances, this was a Shadow he felt like they could take with little difficulty. But right now? He knew the team wouldn't be able to last in a never ending fight like this…
Rei was doing her best to keep everyone healed up, but she'd run out of stamina herself at this rate. "S-Stay strong!"
"We need more firepower…or at least a moment to breathe." Dragon said with a narrowed gaze.
"We'll run out of stamina long before this fight is finished." Crow hated that, too. If he had access to Loki's power right now, he'd blast a god damn hole through the Queen of Hearts and be done with it! He stared at the Queen of Hearts, who remained silent the whole time. She was just watching. Mocking them. How it pissed him off…!
"Everyone, retreat!" Zen exclaimed with a few labored breaths. "I'll do this."
"Are you crazy!?" Minako shook her head. "You're in no condition!"
"If only we had even a moment…!" Queen knew they could muster enough power if they just had a moment to rest. "But we hardly have any breathing room…!"
"Yo, sorry about the wait!" An unfamiliar voice called out to the group.
"Who in the…!?" Skull turned around and so did the others. From the other side of the room, a group of eight silhouettes stood in the light. For some reason, they were all striking poses as well.
"H-Huh…?" Panther took a step back. Who were these guys!?
The young man standing in the center stepped forward. He had silver hair and yellow eyes, and he looked to the Phantom Thieves with a smile. No doubt they had a lot of questions, but a battlefield was hardly the time for such things. "We'll talk later. We're here to help."
"ALL RIGHT!" A girl with short brown hair and eyes excitedly leapt forward. "Let's do this!" She was the first one to charge forward, and the others followed right alongside her. That girl was the first one to strike, a tarot card appearing in front of her. She was bouncing with excitement, aiming a spinning kick at the tarot card to shatter it. "Tomoe!" And that action summoned a Persona, which shocked the Phantom Thieves. Tomoe appeared in front of the girl, spinning around and striking down a large number of card soldiers in a single strike. Chie Satonaka was not going to hold back!
"Holy shit!" Skull gasped. "That girl's tough!"
"More Persona users…!?" Even Crow was taken aback by this. How many Persona users were in this place! However, they didn't look like the people Minako described, which meant…this was an entirely different group of people altogether!
"Good one, Chie!" A girl with long black hair and a red school outfit exclaimed with a grin. Yukiko Amagi didn't want to be left behind, especially when her best friend was putting in so much effort. A tarot card appeared in front of her and she shattered it with her fan. "Konohana Sakura!" Kohonaha Sakura formed in front of Yukiko, doing an elegant spin before releasing two fireballs to torch the card soldiers in her way. After clearing the enemies, she proceeded to use her fan to fan herself.
"W-Who are these strangers invading my kingdom!?" The Queen of Hearts finally spoke, and she wasn't happy about this either!
"Just as I thought." Naoto Shirogane adjusted her hat, staring at the Queen of Hearts. "That Shadow is the ruler of this labyrinth." She then turned to the Phantom Thieves, noting their strange outfits, but also their ability as well. "Allow my friends and I to clear the way for you." A tarot card appeared in front of her and she pulled out a gun, breaking it with a single shot. "Sukuna-Hikona!" Her persona appeared above her and flew forward, peppering some holy talismans onto the card soldiers. This was Hama, and the nature of light magic spells instantly killed the card soldiers.
"That…couldn't be…could it…?" Crow instantly recognized Naoto, but he found this hard to believe for a number of reasons.
"BEARSONA!" Next was Teddie. The most outrageous looking member of this group by a long shot. With a twirl, he called forth Kintoki-douji. The rotund Persona appeared in front of Teddie, flying into the air with the rocket in hand, and threw it down. The collision with the ground resulted in a small explosion of ice, completely freezing the card soldiers over.
"We're gonna kick your ass!" Kanji Tatsumi dropped down from above with Take-Mikazuchi. The large robotic-like shadow stabbed his thunderbolt into the ground, sending a shockwave of lightning to rip through the ground and destroy whatever Teddie failed to take out.
"Leave the rest to us, Partner!" Yosuke Hanamura was fast on his feet. With twin daggers in his hand, he was able to swiftly slice through card soldiers and avoid their stabs at the same time. A tarot card appeared in front of him and when he broke it, his Persona appeared before him. "Jiraiya!" Jiraiya sped forward, a gust of wind following his movements to blow down as many card soldiers as he could.
"They're strong!" Dragon was glad their reinforcements packed this much of a punch. "At this rate, we can turn the tide of battle!"
"Excuse me!" Rise Kujikawa spoke directly to Oracle, standing back with Himiko.
"GAAAH!?" Oracle jumped. She wasn't expecting someone to directly talk to her like that! Rise was literally right there next to her! Especially a new person! It was incredibly nerve wracking, but she could work out that Rise had a navigator type Persona as well. "Y-Y-Y-Yes!?"
"I'm not much of a fighter, but I can help navigate!" Rise told Oracle.
"R-R-Right!" Oracle just nodded. When she took a glance at Rise, she felt like she recognized her from somewhere. But that wasn't important! "Okay, guys! Let's work with these new people! A few of you can go forward and make a path to the Queen of Hearts!"
"Zen, Rei, Dragon, Panther, Minako, with me!" Joker exclaimed, and those called were very willing to join the fight against the Queen of Hearts. The others were going to help the newcomers in the fight against the neverending card soldier army. They wouldn't be alone, as Yu Narukami stepped up next to them, his sword held by his side.
"I hope you don't mind if I join you." Yu said with a slight grin.
"The more the merrier!" Minako grinned. She had so many questions, but a group of Persona users that would fight on their side? Nothing to question about that!
"No, no, no, no!" The Queen of Hearts angrily waved her fan around. "What loathsome peasants! I will not hand over my treasure! I refuuuuuuuuse!" The Queen of Hearts swung her fan towards the peasants that dared to oppose her. This action prompted a potent wave of ice to fly towards those in front of her.
"Incoming!" Dragon held her hands out, Belle Star's shield appearing in front of everyone to protect them from the attack. It did sting, but she was used to putting herself on the line for defense.
"She's got no weaknesses, you'll just have to hit her as hard as you can!" Oracle reported about the Queen of Hearts.
"Of course it'd come to that! Alright, then!" Minako summoned Orpheus with her Evoker once more. Orpheus' harp lit up in flames and she bashed it against the Queen of Hearts, causing the royal Shadow to recoil slightly from the impact. "Direct hit!"
"Arsene!" Joker called forth Arsene, blasting the Queen of Hearts with another Eiha for a direct hit. The Queen of Hearts attempted to swat this away, but the blast hit her arm. Right after that, another explosion of fire took her by surprise, along with everyone else. "Huh?"
"Heh!" Minako smirked at her efforts. "I took that Baton Pass idea and tried something! If you keep attacking her, my flames will follow up!"
"You came up with that on the fly!?" Panther was shocked at Minako's ingenuity.
"You're so cool, Minako!" Rei giggled.
"Looks like I can't afford to fall behind then." Yu held his palm up in front of him, a tarot card appearing within his hand. He closed his hand around the card and crushed it, summoning forth his Persona. "Izanagi!" Izanagi appeared before Yu, firing off a Zio to strike the Queen of Hearts, and another explosion of flame occurred as a result.
"How dare you attack me!? The Queen herself!" The Queen of Hearts shouted angrily. "What insolence! Such impudence! It's all very vulgar of yoooooooou! UNFORGIVABLE!" The Queen of Hearts swung her fan to the side, prompting a powerful gust of wind to strike all six of those that stood before her.
"Hold on, Rei!" Zen was using his body as a shield to protect Rei. He was taking most of the damage in her stead, and Rei was quick to use her healing to make sure Zen wasn't too hurt by it. The others were knocked back slightly by the Queen of Heart's rage, but Zen held his ground. Yu took the hit harder, but he managed to prevent himself from being knocked down. He pointed his crossbow forward and proceeded to open fire on the Queen of Hearts. She was a big target and not really a mobile one either, so his shots were landing without issue.
"Carmen!" Panther followed up on Zen's attack, using Carmen to hurl a large fireball towards the Queen of Hearts. It exploded against the Shadow with ease, causing the Queen to let out a grunt of annoyance.
"You must protect me!" The Queen of Hearts lifted her hand up, summoning some card soldiers in front of her.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Minako growled. More card soldiers!?
"I'll take care of them!" Yu spoke as lightning sparked along his sword. He lunged towards the card soldiers and slashed at the one in the middle. It was a direct hit, causing the card soldier to fold over. The lightning then splashed to the other card soldiers, paralyzing them before they had the chance to even move.
Dragon decided to follow up on this, lifting her hand into the air as Belle Star appeared once more. "Megido!" Costly, but still a useful spell to use. Multiple orbs of almighty magic formed around the card soldiers, releasing numerous beams down onto them to destroy them. "Whew…"
"Take this!" The Queen of Hearts swung her arm forward, using her fan to try and mow down everything in front of her. Everyone was able to avoid this with ease, but her range was still terrifying. If that hit, it wouldn't have been good! But she wasn't done yet. She twirled her fan once again, sending a wave of fire towards the group.
"Eep…!" Dragon knew she wouldn't take this hit very well. She braced for impact, but Panther was the one who stood in front of her to protect her. The resisted hit did sting a little bit, but Panther could take it. "Panther…!"
"I got you!" Panther grinned.
As for Minako, she was able to withstand the Fire Dance with little issue. She saw her opening and charged with her naginata, ducking under the Queen of Hearts' fan to slash her not once, but twice! She got her both times, and pushed back with a grin. "I know that hurt!"
"Eeee! Who are you!? Who do you think you are?!" The Queen of Hearts slammed her fan on the ground. "I am the Queen. THE QUEEN! My reign is ABSOLUTE!"
"This Shadow really likes to hear itself talk…" Yu remarked. The Queen of Hearts turned her attention to Minako, swinging her fan to let loose a potent bolt of lightning towards the leader of S.E.E.S! Minako brought her naginata up to block since she knew this hit wouldn't be a good one. Yu, however, acted quickly. Inzanagi flew forward, using its blade to deflect the Zionga off to the side.
"Thank you…!" Minako let out a sigh of relief.
"We have to grab that fan!" Dragon pointed at the Queen of Hearts' fan. "She's using it to unleash all of her attacks!"
"Leave that to me!" Joker had a plan in mind. He rushed ahead and Yu decided to follow his lead. The Queen of Hearts pointed her fan forward to fire off a strong blast of ice at the duo. The two of them leapt in separate directions to avoid being blasted. Joker spun around, his grappling hook shooting forward to latch onto the Queen of Hearts' fan. "Got you!"
"How dare you!? You impudent knave!" Naturally, the Queen of Hearts didn't take very kindly to this action. She tugged against Joker's grip, and with her size, she was going to easily overpower his hold.
However, this brief power struggle did leave her open. Zen fired a bolt from his crossbow that struck the fan. The bolt carried the fan all the way over to the otherside of the room, where it was unintentionally trampled by the others fighting her card soldiers. "Got it."
"NO!" The Queen of Hearts gasped. She wasn't able to process the shock of losing her beloved weapon, as Yu was in front of her. He leapt up, delivering a rising slash against her chest. This did do a little damage, and she intended to counter…but another explosion of flame occurred from her chest, thanks to Minako's attacks from earlier. "Ugh!"
"Now's our chance, Panther!" Dragon saw the opening and they were going to take it. The greatsword on her back split into two parts and Panther grabbed the other half that lit up in flames. The two sprinted forward; Dragon on the left, Panther on the right.
"DRAGONFIRE STRIKE!" It was showtime! The two zigzagged, creating a trail of flame behind them. They met in the path together, a fiery dragon forming around the two of them as they lunged forward, colliding right against The Queen of Hearts for a massive explosion. This did take a lot out of them, as they both practically flew backwards from the impact, but they slid across the ground, heavy pants escaping the,.
"Was that enough!?" Panther asked.
The smoke slowly cleared, and the Queen of Hearts was slumped over, twitching violently. "I….I will not hand it overrrrrr…the treasure…it's mine…this treasure…it's…"
"She looks like she's almost done!" Rei pointed out. "Just a little more!"
Joker smirked while adjusting his glove. He knew exactly what to do in this moment. On instinct, Yu and Minako also had an idea. "Let's wrap this up!"
"I love this part!" Minako grinned while holding her naginata forward.
"On your lead!" Yu said confidently.
"What…?" Zen looked at Rei, who also had no idea what was happening. He knew they were planning to finish this fight up, but how…
"Zen! Rei-chan! Just watch and follow our lead!" Panther winked.
"I won't….let you…have IIIIIIT!" The Queen of Hearts attempted one final attack to stop these peasants. She didn't have her fan, so all she could do was swing her arms to put them down. Of course, such haphazard methods didn't even come close to touching them. The group advanced forward, all of them moving into separate positions at different angles. They all had the Queen of Hearts surrounded, and then lunged forward for an All Out Attack! Joker, Panther, Dragon, Minako, Zen, and Yu all attacked the Queen of Hearts at once from various angles. The Queen of Hearts had no defense for this overwhelming assault. The group landed a few feet away from the Queen of Hearts, and Joker adjusted his glove one last time.
"The show's over."
"This…can't be…the Treasuuuuure…." The Queen of Hearts moaned her final words as she fell to the ground, disappearing in a black mist. When she faded, the card soldiers did as well.
"We did it…" Minako let out a small exhale. What a battle that was!
"I guess you didn't really need our help." Yu rubbed the back of his neck.
"You masked guys are pretty tough!" Chie spoke with a wide grin.
"...While we are grateful for the help, I do have to wonder…who are you all?" Fox asked. A group of Persona users showing up out of nowhere to help them? This was strange to say the least.
"Hello, masked ones! We're the wandering Persona-users! The bear-illiant Teddie and his delightful friends!" Teddie said while bouncing around.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaat is that…..?" Minako pointed at Teddie. The others had no idea.
"Isn't it obvious I'm a bear!?" Teddie stomped on the ground a bit, scowling at Minako questioning him. "I even said 'bear' to emphasize it, and you still doubt me?!"
"That's enough of that…" Chie shook her head, before looking at the Phantom Thieves. "Can we…er, may we talk about it later?"
"Senpai, why are you talkin' like some kinda rich girl?" Kanji questioned. From how it sounded to the others, Chie was far from the type to speak formally.
"Shaddup!" Chie huffed. "I wasn't sure how polite I was supposed to be, and it got weird! All Margaret said was 'they're high school students'. How was I supposed to know how old they are?"
Margaret was the woman in blue, who stood off to the side until she was mentioned. "One, two, or even twenty years' difference doesn't matter, does it?"
"I would say it matters quite a bit…" Naoto commented.
"They're a little excitable, but it doesn't appear as if they are foes." Dragon felt confident in this conclusion.
"It seems you understand." Margaret turned to the Phantom Thieves. "My name is Margaret. I am the older sister to Elizabeth, Theodore, and La…those two twins, Caroline and Justine. My siblings told me of your predicament, so I rushed to your aid. These people here who wait upon me are my servants." She said while flipping her hair.
"We're not your servants." Yu said with a deadpanned expression.
"It was a jest." Margaret smiled.
"Look, why don't we leave the details for later and just get outta here?" Yosuke suggested.
"We can't leave just yet!" Morgana shook his head. "There is something important that we have to take care of!" As a Phantom Thief, he couldn't leave a Treasure behind! In fact… "Treasure…" His eyes turned to stars and he rushed towards the Treasure box, proceeding to mewl and rub his face over it.
"...What is that talking cat doing?" Rise was a little freaked out.
"Embarrassing us." Oracle sighed.
"But he's right. I want to see what was in this box." Zen spoke. He and Rei tentatively stepped towards the box in question.
"The Shadow was very protective over that box." Queen said while staring at it. Now that the Queen of Hearts was defeated, the chains on the box fell off. "She kept saying that she wouldn't let us have it. That it was all hers. I can only imagine how important it is to this place."
"You're opening it…?" Rei asked Zen quietly. For some reason, her heart started pounding. She couldn't explain it. She felt so nervous…
Zen silently opened the box and leaned down into it. His hand grabbed something soft, and he pulled up. When he turned around, he revealed a stuffed rabbit in hand. There was a nametag on the legs which had the letters N. I. K. O. on it.
"It says Niko…I wonder what it means." Noir stared at the stuffed rabbit, and then she giggled. "It's a very cute plush, though!"
"It must be saying to smile!" Rei surmised.
"Is this the same rabbit we were chasin'?" Skull rubbed the back of his neck. "It ain't the same color, though."
"But we ended up here by chasing it. So I'm going to consider this a victory. Because we did catch a rabbit." Dragon said firmly. If she could declare it a win, she would.
"Do you two know anything about this rabbit?" Violet asked the mysterious duo.
"Nope!" Rei shook her head.
As for Zen… "I feel like…I've seen this somewhere."
"Zen…?" Rei turned to Zen.
Slowly, Zen could feel some information rising to the surface. "There are four labyrinths here. Something is hidden in each one, and 'guardians' are protecting them. There was something I had to do here…a task I had to accomplish. But I lost my memory…"
"He's remembering…?" Joker narrowed his eyes a bit.
"Four labyrinths…? But there were eight locks…" Crow mumbled to himself.
"It's no use. I can't remember." That was all Zen could recall.
"That's still progress!" Violet smiled. "I wonder…could these guardians be like that big queen we just fought?"
"Yes, that's right." Zen nodded. "Powerful Shadows like that are protecting something."
"Could they be related to your memory?" Mona asked.
"Yes, I think so. When I touched it, the memory surfaced, like a crack formed in something." Zen's eyes drifted to the stuffed rabbit. "What about you, Rei? Do you remember anything?"
"I said I don't know…" Rei's voice quivered a little bit when she was pressed about her memory. She even retreated into herself a little bit, hands coming up to clutch her chest. She didn't know, and there was a strong part of her that wanted to keep it that way.
"Rei-chan…" Violet frowned.
"I see…" Zen wouldn't press the subject any further. "I'll hold onto this stuffed rabbit, then."
"The Queen Shadow said she wouldn't let us out of here, right?" Minako placed her hands behind her back.
"From how it sounds, there could be an unknown party that intends to keep us trapped here." Dragon paced around the room, all eyes on her as she did so. Since this did include Minako and the new group of Persona users, they decided to listen to what she had to say. "I believe the keys to our escape lie within Zen and Rei's memories. They were here before us. And as such, our best course of action would be to dive into the rest of these labyrinths and defeat these guardians."
"She makes it sound so simple…" Yosuke whispered to Yu.
"Yes. That 'unknown party' must've hidden my memories within the labyrinths." Zen had to agree with that assessment. "But Rei's memories aren't returning. Where are her memories hidden…?"
Before the conversation could continue, the sound of a bell rang through the labyrinth. "The bell again…!" Violet gasped.
"We heard the bell, too." Yu said. And after a few seconds, the chime came to an end.
"It stopped…" Naoto commented.
"Oh! Oh! Guys!" Oracle piped up. "One of the locks in the Velvet Room is about to blast open!"
"Wait, really?" Joker looked to Oracle.
"We defeated one of these guardians, and now one of the locks is about to come off? I believe this is far more than a mere coincidence. Still…" Crow wasn't entirely convinced. The number of locks and guardians just didn't match why?
"You should come back as soon as you can!" Oracle said.
"Right…" Joker nodded and looked to their new companions. "I think we have a lot to talk about. But let's head to the Velvet Room, first."
"Fine by me." Yu had no complaints about that. Everyone had questions for each other. Everyone started to make their way out of You in Wonderland.
Minako trudged behind a little bit. Since nobody was looking at her, she allowed herself to frown. A group of people this large, and she still felt….. "I hope you guys are okay.." She mumbled to herself, before putting on her trademark smile, and going off to catch up with everyone else.