#Wakaba still discovered the Metaverse

[webbedphantom]

I was thinking about what else to do for this daily segment (not like I'm running out of stuff, I just couldn't decide), and I decided it'd be best to over some of the basics and early events of the timeline, especially since my extended AU doc is taking... way too long.

So, let's start with the reason any of this happens; the Metaverse.

First up, there's no MetaNav. Everything the team does (in my main timeline, anyway) takes place in the real world. The Metaverse still exists, but they can't get in.

There is, however, a way to use their Personas without going in there. A little substance called AF-15, or to put it another way, the Metaverse Serum. Simply put, people exposed to it, if they're ready to accept their shadow, will gain the ability to use their Persona whenever and wherever they want. It does this by basically rewriting a person's genetics to create a link between reality and the Metaverse through them. On the plus side, this means any injuries a person has when exposed will be completely healed, as if they never happened at all.

Now, you might've noticed something there. I said "if they're ready to accept their shadow." Most people aren't, so what happens to them?

They die, slowly and extremely painfully. Basically akin to a mental shutdown.

Also, exposure of any kind, whether through skin contact or just breathing in its fumes (it starts becoming a gas at room temperature), is enough to cause this. No matter how small.

Needless to say, this stuff is INSANELY dangerous. Which is why every sample of it is locked up tighter than Fort Knox. Why not just destroy it though?

Well... the company that made it, the company Aaron's father and Wakaba Isshiki were working at under a government contract to study the Metaverse and create the serum? It was bought out by Masayoshi Shido.

The egomaniac even renamed it after himself, the Shido Corporation, basically akin to Oscorp in Marvel.

Shido is obsessed with the Metaverse. He has sunk billions into researching it, trying to make the serum less deadly, or to find a way inside to use it for his own means.

He may not be a politician in this timeline, but his goal remains the same, to control the hearts and minds of the people, and to turn Japan into a global empire, with him at the helm.

One last thing about the serum; There's another side effect-

The serum works by creating a connection between the Metaverse and the person exposed, right? Well, that connection is a two way street. Aaron getting his powers created a crack that started to let the shadows slip into reality. And the more people who use the serum, the bigger the cracks get, and the bigger the shadows (and other entities) that can come through.

Given enough Persona users awakened through the serum, it could create a rift big enough for Yaldabaoth to just stroll right into reality. And if you've played the game, you already know how that ends.

Needless to say... the shadows really want that to happen.

[cookiecomics]

What's your director's cut on Purple Hyacinth?? :D

Ah yes, Wakaba, the source of my many MANY brain worms. I am no doubt, a big believer of the grey pigeon theory not as a means to undermine Akechi's story but rather to expand on Wakaba's.

I like the idea she was so steadfast and determined to break road in cognitive psience via unethical research. I like the idea that someone can be a kind loving mother and still be passively and actively responsible for cruelty in the name of their goals. One of the reasons I named the chapter the purple hyacinth was after the Greek Lover of Apollo by the same name, Hyacinthus.

Hyacinthus was an intelligent spartian prince both beautiful and misunderstood since he valued knowledge over physical strength. He was killed when the spirit of the Wind was jealous of his relationship with Apollo, who loved him and while they were throwing discs, the spirit of the wind turned the winds and caused it to hit Hyacinthus in the head and he died.

Apollo in his grief turned Hyacinthus's body into a flower hence the name.

Now, I love playing around with personas and mythology and Hyacinthus was the perfect candidate for Wakaba in my eyes for a few reasons.

Hyacinthus like Wakaba, primary role in the narrative and story was to be known for their intelligence and their death. Little else is known beyond that because that was the most important part of the story, how his death affected Apollo and why his death came about.

Apollo, funny enough, has this thing where the majority of his relationships are cursed. Most people he tries to woo either end up dead or turned into plants, cursed child enters Wakaba's life she ends up pretty similarly.

I liked the idea that Hyacinthus's death and how he was grieved became immortalized in Apollo turning him into a flower while Futaba's palace was around themes of immortality, bringing back the dead back to life and ultimately, centered around immortalizing grief.

I like the idea that ultimately, while I believe Wakaba was a complicated woman and person with goals and desires of her own. After all, she wouldn't have had a shadow to be killed if she didn't have distorted desires. She's this..unknown entity in the story, who is only known for how she was loved, how intelligent she was, and how she was killed, just like Hyacinthus.

I love mythology, I love parallels, and I absolutely love the idea that Wakaba's shadow was "studying" her and the real world just like how Wakaba was studying the cognitive world.

I also explained this once before but the reason why Wakaba's garden in her palace became a race track was due to something my professor told me once about how the field of research is a race track.

You have to be the first to discover something, the first to publish, because chances are there are thousands of people trying to prove the same thing as you and you have to win the race or else you're just last place.

That's what I think drove Wakaba as well, the drive to be the first to discover the metaverse, how to use it, similarly to Maruki. Whether her intentions were ultimately for the good of people is irrelevant because she could always justify the means via the ends.

Wakaba spent alot of time with Goro and ended up loving him as a son, but not enough to stop what she was doing, not enough to put her own daughter at risk. It's sad because well, Wakaba is just another complicated adult in Goro's life, a person whose depiction of love and affection was marred by the things she condoned. I find that fascinating that if the two of them had trusted each other just a little bit sooner, then maybe things would have been different for them both.

Wakaba was Goro's Magacian Arcana, which meant she was his metaverse guide similar to how Morgana is for Ren, or rather was supposed to be for Ren.

I think towards the end of her life she ended up with a lot of regrets, and she knew exactly how it was going to end.

[brokenhardies]

Foolsuke AU Character Profiles

Yusuke Kitagawa/Ace

Fool Arcana and the Wild Card

Foster son of Madarame, but was disowned and shipped off to Tokyo after they witnessed Madarame drunkenly abusing a young woman and stood up to him, leading to a scuffle

Is on probation for 'assault', staying with a friend of their late mother in Tokyo - Ichiko Ohya - and going to Shujin Academy

Still an artist - but focused on graffiti and sketch work. Tends to keep it to themselves however

A bit of a cynic and tends to keep to themselves, which doesn't help when their record is leaked

Secretly enjoys puns

Their main persona is Nezumi, who uses Ice skills

Main weapons are katanas and assault rifles

Violet/Rogue

Magician Arcana

A cat-like creature that Yusuke and Makoto find in Kamoshida’s palace following Yusuke’s awakening

Very naive to the workings of the real world, but intelligent when it comes to the Metaverse

A bit insecure and sees Yusuke as being a teacher/mentor - calls them ‘Senpai’ repeatedly

Believes that they were transformed into this form by the distortions of the Metaverse. Wants to get to the bottom of the Metaverse to find a cure for her changed form

More honest with the starting party than Morgana in canon, but still takes on a mentorship role when she can

Her persona is Giselle, who uses Wind skills

Main weapons are rapiers and lever-action rifles

Makoto Niijima/Knight

Chariot Arcana

Former overachiever, Student Council President shoo-in, and A-grade student. However, when one of her friends - Eiko - was being abused by Kamoshida, she tried to call him out

However, this resulted in Kamoshida calling her to his office and attempting to sexually assault her. Makoto refused his advances, which led to him getting violent and breaking her leg, then spreading rumors about her having sex with him in order to stay on top

This resulted in Makoto becoming the school’s pariah

Bit of a loner and is hyper-aggressive, however, is still good at school. She tries to keep her results to herself as she doesn’t want to draw attention to herself

Older sister is a teacher at the school, which is probably why Kamoshida was able to get in and under, as he also wanted to ruin Sae for speaking out against him(?)

Can and will fight people who hurt others

Massive bully hunter

Her persona is Ching Shih, who uses Electricity skills

Main weapons are knuckle-dusters and revolvers

Futaba Isshiki/Jackal

Lovers Arcana

A popular streamer and influencer who gained the attention of Kamoshida

Best friends with Kana Magario, who is on the school’s volleyball team

Later, upon discovering Kamoshida’s sexual offences, she tries to reveal it via social media. Once Kamoshida discovers that she knows the information, he holds Kana’s starting position over her head

After Kana attempts to commit suicide, Futaba joins the Phantom Thieves

Daughter of Wakaba Isshiki, a researcher who was left wheelchair bound after a car accident, which Futaba insists is linked to the mental shutdown incidents that have been happening recently

While loving to stream and talk with fans, Futaba is very introverted, and prefers to hang out with only a select few people

Terrible actress but tries her best to use her skills to distract and fool others

Speaks in mostly anime and video game references

Her persona is Charlotte, who uses Fire skills

Main weapons are spears and hand crossbows

Akira Kurusu/Raven

Emperor Arcana

Music prodigy and student of Atsushi Samuragochi, who acts as a ghostwriter for him (unknowingly?)

Upon meeting Futaba and recognising her on social media, he asks her to go to his concert and meet up with Samuragochi, who’s trying to get a younger audience to come to his shows

Futaba immediately thinks its suspicious that Samuragochi has gone through several students, one of which being Akira’s twin brother Ren, who they’d recently gone to Mementos to save

No nude modelling incident, but when the trio confront Akira on his mentors abuses, Akira kicks them out of the shack that he and Samuragochi have been living in - which is when they find that Samuragochi has a Palace

Eventually, Futaba convinces Akira to join her in going to the Palace, which is when he awakens to his Persona

Akira is flamboyant and energetic, being very high-spirited and talkative. However, when he’s upset, he can get quiet, to the point where it’s scary

He and Yusuke bond over both being artists who were abused by their parental figures

His persona is Rocancourt, who uses Curse skills

Main weapons are daggers and semi-automatic pistols

Goro Yoshida/Baron

High Priestess Arcana

The Student Council President of Shujin Academy, taken in by Toranosuke Yoshida after his mother died in an accident caused by the mafia

He is tasked by the principal to investigate the Phantom Thieves, but - upon finding out who the Phantom Thieves are - he decides to instead use them to stop a recent mafia scam that exploits high schoolers

Upon confronting Kaneshiro - who was his mother’s killer - Goro awakens to his Persona

Becomes the unofficial navigator and strategist for the group for a short period of time, with Violet’s help

Is often considered to be ‘too harsh’ to the students and is considered a buzzkill, which he tries to counteract by behaving ‘pleasantly’ as to not appear threatening

In reality, Goro is a surprisingly vindictive young man with a short fuse, that will often get set off over the shortest of things - which comes in handy when dealing with the injustices that the Phantom Thieves face

His persona is Corey, who uses Nuke skills

Main weapons are single-handed swords and ray guns

Ryuji Ohya/sans/Roger

Hermit Arcana

After his mother was killed due to her involvement in the Conspiracy - a death that also cost Ryuji his right leg due to being in the car at the same time - Ryuji was convinced his mother suffered from a ‘maternity neurosis’ and became a shut-in

As a result, the guilt and trauma from the accident and self-blame for his mother’s death caused Ryuji to gain a Palace

Has a skill in hacking, founding the white hat group Medjed but quitting it following their actions leaning over into black hat territory

However, Medjed decided to use their newfound position as being leaderless to threaten the Phantom Thieves — if the Phantom Thieves didn’t give up their identities, they would perform a large-scale attack on Japan known as the ‘cleanse’

Reluctantly, Ryuji contacted Yusuke, knowing they and their friends were the Phantom Thieves, in exchange for helping them with Medjed, the Phantom Thieves would change his heart

Awoke to his Persona by accepting his Shadow and confronting the image of his mother created by his distorted heart

His Palace is based on a Post Apocalyptic Wasteland, with raiders and bandits scavenging the area

His persona is Nautilus, who acts as the main Navigator for the team

Ann Takamaki/Rose?

Empress Arcana

The daughter of Felix Takamaki, the founder of a modelling studio

She works for her father as a model, predominantly appearing in photoshoots when she was in her teenage years

After her mother’s death, her father slowly began to become isolated and obsessed with material goods and power. Ann noticed that he’d started to become distorted as he’d begun to neglect her in favor of other models, namely Mika

I’m honestly not sure what causes Ann to seek out the Phantom Thieves… Maybe something to do with Shiho like in canon?

But she awakens in her dad’s palace and gains the strength to save herself and her friend from her father’s distortion

Her persona is Fiocca, who uses Psy skills

Main weapons are whips and sub-machine guns

Haru Okumura/Blanc?

Justice Arcana

Former heir to the Okumura Foods Conglomerate, who became a detective prodigy after her father mysteriously died

She’s working with Yoshida, and it’s after the Phantom Thieves are targetted for Felix Takamaki’s murder that she decides to seek them out and ask them to enter Yoshida’s palace

Very sweet and polite, good natured, but has a ruthless streak when in the Metaverse

Probably already knew of the Metaverse as she heard Violet say something about ‘pancakes’…

Her persona is Cagliostro, who uses Bless skills

Main weapons are axes and rocket launchers

Satoru Yoshizawa

Faith Arcana

Information not found, will get back to you later ;)

[ellenripleysbelieveitornot]

What about an Akechi/Joker role swap AU where Akechi is still the detective prince and Joker is still the Shujin delinquent, but the major difference is that Morgana never lost his memories and found Akechi before he approached Shido with his metaverse assassination plot?

Like, imagine Akechi, bitter and jaded, who has just awakened Loki and felt the terrifying and thrilling rush of the berserk power. He's formed a plan to get back at his piece of shit father, even managed to set up a meeting, which he had to set up months in advance, and on the day he's going to present Shido with info on the metaverse, he winds up arriving a few minutes late, because even though he intended to be early, he was accosted by a talking cat (he's been in the metaverse, so he can hear him) on the way over, and in the whole wtf-ery of the moment, lost track of time. Shido, being Shido, refuses to see him and will not reschedule because he doesn't like having his time wasted.

Pissed off, Akechi leaves to find Morgana still waiting for him outside. So he doesn't look like an idiot yelling at a cat on the street, he brings Morgana back to his shitty apartment, where Morgana explains why he had found Akechi and whats up. He doesn't know about Yaldobaoth taking Igor's place, he just knows there's two champions, and Akechi was the one he found first, so he must be Igor's chosen champion. (It is my theory that it doesn't actually matter who was Igor's and Yaldobaoth's champions, it was more about the choices they each made and where they ended up.) 

Akechi has no interest in saving the world, but he knows that if he wants to get back at Shido, he needs to become someone of consequence, so he agrees to undergo Morgana's training, since Morgana clearly knows more about the metaverse than he does, and he can use it to solve cold cases, earning him a place as the Detective Prince. He changes a few hearts, to pacify Morgana, too. It takes a couple years, but during his senior year in high school, he makes it, earning himself the cooperation of the police and the spotlight of the public eye. He's getting so close to making Shido notice him that he can practically taste it. Also, what’s this ‘velvet room’ he keeps dreaming about?

Then Morgana finds Kamoshida’s palace and is like ‘heyo, you thought changing hearts in the metaverse was cool, check this shit out’ and Akechi is admittedly intrigued , so he takes a look. He sees the inside of Kamoshida’s heart and is appropriately disgusted and says to Morgana, ‘hey we should totally kill this guy’s shadow.’ Morgana’s like ‘why is your first suggestion always murder, we don’t know what would happen if we killed his shadow, Igor wasn’t very clear about that bit, we should try stealing the treasure instead’ and Morgana has been useful (and it’s been really nice to have the company these past two years, though he won’t admit that) so Akechi agrees ‘fine, we’ll steal the treasure, but if that doesn’t work, then I’m killing his shadow.’

And that’s when Ryuji and Ann make an appearance (’ohmigawd, goro, be more careful with that damn app, i s2g.’) Ryuji’s mom apparently thinks Akechi is pretty neat and watches all his interviews, so Ryuji knows who he is and is delighted to find out that the lame-ass detective his mom has talked about is actually a grumpy badass in the metaverse, with this shadow that has some kind of insane power, and hey, he helped them bring down Kamoshida (alive,) so maybe he is actually pretty cool, even though sometimes he spaces out and talks about evil twins and some longed-nose dude. He decides then and there that he’s going to be Akechi’s best friend, since he apparently has none, and Ann is all too happy to join in for the ride, and all of Goro’s protests have fallen on deaf ears, and they know about the whole detective prince thing being a facade, so he might as well indulge them for now. 

The ‘Phantom Thieves’ (a name that makes Goro want to roll his eyes whenever he hears it, and why is everyone calling him ‘leader?’) gain fame and change hearts, gaining new members such as this weird-ass artist dude who fights with ice, and oh, god, one Nijima is bad enough, don’t tell me there’s two! and she uses nukes, wtf?!

Around this time, he also meets Shujin’s delinquent, enigmatic transfer student whose talk of hope and justice never quite seem to reflect in his stormy grey eyes, and he and Goro are clearly birds of a feather in a way, he can tell, there’s just something about him, and he thinks this guy might actually be his best friend, but don’t tell Ryuji that, he’d never hear the end of it.

Akechi learns the truth behind Akira’s arrest and Shido’s involvement and he is disgusted to find that he genuinely wants to help this guy, and he can’t do that if Shido’s dead, maybe he doesn’t want his revenge as badly as he thought??? Oh, ew, I have feelings that aren’t anger and it’s all my friends’ fault, I can’t just leave them and go off to get revenge, they’d literally die without me, those lovable idiots. Also, when Ryuji saw his home, he pretty much insisted he stay with him instead, and Ryuji’s mom reminds him of the good times he had with his own mother, and he honestly doesn’t think he has the strength to disappoint her like that. So, he decides to change Shido’s heart, but he knows that there’s no way that this little group of miscreants is strong enough to take on the fucked up bullshit that he’s seen in Shido’s heart, so let’s hit pause on that for now.

Shido had Wakaba killed via completely non-supernatural ways and stole her research, same as before, so Futaba still has a palace. He found out Akira worked at Leblanc a while ago and started dropping by, and then somehow Ryuji found out about it, and now all the Phantom Thieves know, so much for a peaceful place to get away, but he actually doesn’t mind that much, and Akira lets Akechi keep an eye on the shop when there are no customers so he can go out and do errands and Boss doesn’t mind, so they’ve ended up hanging out there as a group from time to time and talking Phantom Thief business, so Futaba knows who they are, and asks for their help.

Okumura’s palace pretty much goes the same, Okumura dies somehow, are we responsible, why does murder actually make me feel kinda bad, stupid friends and their stupid good influence. 

Goro attends the Shujin student fair as guest speaker, whoa, the class president being friends with Akechi does have its perks, doesn’t it? Akira finds them all there together and approaches them, tells them he saw them go into the metaverse, awakened his own persona, and saw a guy in a black mask kill Okumura’s shadow, hey why don’t I join you, you probably need all the help you can get, who’s heart are we stealing next, how about Sae, she knows my probabtion officer and has been giving me hell, plus I already checked, she definitely has a palace.

They agree, and oh, hey, Akira can hear Morgana talk now, but WAIT A MINUTE?! Didn’t he hear Morgana talk before when he told Goro that Leblanc didn’t sell sushi, even though Goro hadn’t asked for any?

They hack Akira’s phone, learn that Shido (Akechi recognizes that voice) will have thugs waiting to capture them when they leave the palace. They plan around it, pull the metaverse switch and manage to sneak a heavily drugged Akechi out of the warehouse Shido stashed him in by traveling through the metaverse. Shido’s lackey’s have written a fake suicide letter from the leader of the Phantom thieves, and the chief of police, under Shido’s orders, delivers a statement confirming its authenticity, and look the plan succeeded. All they need to do know is take down Shido.

Things are going great, until they get to the engine room, where Joker, having realized what happened, is waiting for them. Joker, who lost everything after he transferred, who discovered the metaverse completely alone, who didn’t mean to kill that guy’s shadow, but he attacked him first, and Shido had somehow known, had been keeping an eye on him, had him convicted for a crime that he didn’t commit in the hopes that he would break because he needed an agent in the metaverse, and so far he’s had no luck. Joker, who had nothing left to lose and had accepted the only hand that had reached out for him.

They fight, and when it looks like things are going badly for Joker, he pulls out... a second persona?!?! At least, it looks like a persona, but something about it is off. it looks familiar somehow. And then Akira asks if they knew it was possible to fuse personas and Akechi realizes what he’s looking at. These aren’t the clean executions that Caroline and Justine perform, these are personas that have been ripped apart and haphazardly thrown back together with no thought to form or elegance, look, there’s a Yaksini’s arm, and that bit right there clearly used to belong to a Rangda, and I think that piece might have belonged to a Seiryu, and Akechi should stop listing personas now because Ann thinks she’s going to be sick.

They keep fighting. Joker can’t understand the difference in power between them. After all, aren’t they the same? Unloved, unwanted, soldiers pitted against each other by some bullshit higher power?

When Joker shoots the bulkhead door closed and Futaba reports that she’s lost Joker’s reading, Akechi vows then and there that he’s going to kill Shido after all. And he almost does. He stands there, with his gun pressed to the head of the shadow of his father, his friends can’t blame him, and even Morgana knows better than to try and stop him. But he doesn’t. He remembers Akira’s madness there at the end, and wonders what he would have become of him if it weren’t for Ryuji, who somewhere along the way, he’d realized he’d stopped tolerating and started actually liking. Ann, who shared his woes about being in the public eye and swapped tips with him about how to handle the press. Yusuke, who, although he was still completely bizarre to him, appreciated the beauty in life and didn’t tease Goro for his taste in Grandpa clothes. Makoto, who knew the importance of hard work and who, between herself and her sister, had caused Goro to pick up some healthier coping mechanisms. Futaba, who made fun of him for his food blog, but liked the same nerd bullshit that he did and would bombard him with memes until his day somehow became a little less shittier. Haru, who dreamed of starting her own business and actually cared about Goro’s opinions, and could threaten someone with a smile in a way that even Goro was jealous of. And Morganna, who had reminded him what it was like to not be lonely, and demanded more sushi than he could afford, but always made sure Goro ate his fill, instead of getting so focused on his work that he forgot.

Akechi guesses that he must have turned soft somewhere during the past several months, but after seeing what happened to Akira, he can’t help but be grateful, knowing with certainty that if things had turned out differently, that would have been him. Hey, Morgana, you know that world-saving bs you talked about two years ago? Let’s leave this piece of shit here to rot and focus our attention on that instead.

And you guys know the rest.

Or, at least, that’s how I thought it would go. Feel free to share your thoughts. :)

[patchesthegothictramp]

Feather Seeker and the Okinawa Jail

So anyone who’s been talking to me knows Feather Seeker is a game that’s perked my interest from the get-go, and I’ve been thinking of talking about it for a while. Now that I’ve been able to replay Royal and play Strikers, some other things have come out in the meantime and I’ve been paying more attention to additional media, I want to make a meta post about Feather Seeker, the Okinawa jail from Strikers and it’s connection to Akechi specifically. Be warned, this ended up being a very long post.

Let’s start with just getting a few questions out of the way:

Isn’t it just a mini game made to raise your stats?

Yes, absolutely, it’s optional and honestly if you don’t care for playing the video games it’s easy to miss. I don’t think it was honestly intended to be some massive breakthrough on a character’s backstory but rather an Easter egg that gets you to think about it.

It’s just about Neo-Featherman, there’s references to it in all persona games, so why is this one different?

It’s not different. There’s been plenty of times when Easter eggs have led to something bigger in this game, even specifically featherman ones. There’s an episode of Featherman that describes exactly what happens in the 3rd semester, where a character loves another so strongly it brings them back to life. Now whether you want to apply that to Futaba and her mum, Ren and Akechi or whoever it still fits- there’s an entire semester where at least one character loves another one and wishes them back to life through Maruki’s power. So having another piece of media, like the Feather Seeker game, be another allusion to something else isn’t entirely unjustified.

Feather Seeker is just detailed cos it’s about Featherman, why are you comparing it to other games?

See, here’s the thing and why I needed a second playthrough to make sure I was right about it. Feather Seeker is the odd one out. All of the games have some kind of plot or something going on (except for Golf sim but y’know... it’s a golf sim), but they’re all very, very basic things. Train of Life is just board game with very simple characters, the Goemon game has you just walking through hell but doesn’t really go more in depth with characterisation. Whereas you find out so much about what’s going on with Gray Pigeon and Osagiri in Feather Seeker that it feels a little… weird to simply ignore it. Do I think that the simplest answer, that they just wanted some plot in there for fun, is the right answer? Honestly I think that’s highly likely. But it’s the boring explanation too, it’s easy enough to just write any kind of intrigue like that, so whether what I’m writing about was intentional or not, I still want to discuss Feather Seeker and see people’s own thoughts on the possibility that it could be more than just a basic game.

So with that out of the way… let’s get into it.

First, there’s establishing who’s who. I can pretty confidently say that Gray Pigeon is Akechi in this entire metaphor. This one is the most obvious for multiple reasons, first of which being that it’s the exact same costume Akechi gets in the featherman outfits DLC so there’s the direct correlation there. Beyond that, Gray Pigeon is a character who awakens to a new power and wants to become a hero of justice, just like the feathermen, the hero’s he’s heard about before. Ring any bells?

Also the final revelation of Feather Seeker is that actually the Feathermen see Gray Pigeon as their enemy, who ends up sacrificing himself so they can keep fighting.

Which brings me to discussing who Osagiri and the Feathermen are. Given the timeline presented, I don’t think it’s possible for them to be one specific character or even group of characters. I think these aren’t supposed to be characters, but rather the major influences in Akechi’s life. Osagiri is a scientist (possibly Wakaba, I’ll get into that later), but also the one who pushes him to do bad things. Osagiri starts by training Gray Pigeon to become one of the Feathermen, the good guys, but eventually ends up manipulating Gray Pigeon into trying to kill them. Osaigir at the bare minimum has to be two people- the cognitive scientists who were able to uncover more thanks to Akechi’s escapades in the metaverse and the people who pushed him to commit crimes- the conspiracy.

The Feathermen, at the end of the game, have to be the Phantom Thieves- they’re the ones Gray Pigeon/Akechi ends up sacrificing himself to save but… that can’t be possible. Gray Pigeon’s journey starts with him gaining a new power and wanting to use it for good like the Feathermen do and of course the Phantom Thieves weren’t an inspiration for Akechi to do what he did. I think then the Feathermen are what Akechi aspired to be- the heroes of justice who fought the bad guys.

I can’t lead myself to believe that at 15, Akechi thought of this overly convoluted plan where he would help Shido to become prime minister only to then ruin him, there’s way too many factors in this that could change. I think originally Akechi wanted to avenge what happened to him and his mother, make sure that the man who wronged him would face justice. That’s what the Feathermen would do, right? They fight bad guys. Translating it from Feather Seeker, Akechi was angry, furious even and that rebellion woke hm up to Robin Hood, the embodiment of justice for him.

There’s plenty things that point to Robin Hood being first, his placement when Akechi awakens to Hereward on 2/2 being in the same spot as everyone else’s, the fact that for all of the other Thieves their third tier personas are different versions of their initials personas and that applies to Hereward/Robin Hood and that the trend of initial/second awakening personas is that the first is a fictional who was considered a criminal (Robin Hood) and the second is described in game as a ‘mythological trickster’ (Loki).

Here is where I want to get to the Okinawa jail and why I didn’t post this theory/metapost sooner.

I mentioned earlier that Osagiri could have been in some part Wakaba, Futaba’s mother, and when I initially wrote this I didn’t have all that much to go off of. There’s concept art in the original p5 artbook of Wakaba experimenting on someone. There’s no context given and it’s sort of the odd-one-out. Of course, human subjects would have been necessary to study the cognitive world but this research is so under wraps it seems it’s almost impossible to get. There’s no military connotations anywhere so why is it such a secret? Well, illegal human experimentation would certainly be a good reason to keep this away from the public. They must have figured out somehow that killing a shadow can cause a lot of damage, even death, to a person, we know that from the research notes, but Wakaba was a scientist, working in a lab, she must’ve done experiments that weren’t entirely legal.

Here I wasn’t sure because accusing Wakaba or anyone of illegal human experimentation was a pretty big reach but the Okinawa jail in Strikers shows us that illegal human experimentation is something that was used for cognitive research. I don’t think that Akechi was experimented on there or that was where Wakaba worked, there’s no indication of it but… Konoe and Owada seemed to build on the work that Shido and his scientists began. That being said, I think the Okinawa lab is a continuation of that human experimentation, with whatever lab Wakaba worked in being its predecessor before Shido probably shut it down to prevent it from ever being discovered. Which is also why he had Wakaba killed- the research was only meant for him and no one else.

Beyond what we see in Feather Seeker of Osagiri/sometimes Wakaba experimenting on Gray Pigeon/Akechi, we’re also told (albeit this is of course biased information), that he only targeted people he deemed deserved it but… Wakaba is the odd one out here for the most part. Okumura was hardly a good person and the principal decided covered for a sexual abuser, most of the others were survivors except for accidents which are mostly uncontrollable and unpredictable. Wakaba however, like Kobayakawa and Okumura, were targets that were supposed to die, Akechi intended to kill them. How then was Wakaba a bad person? Illegal human experimentation would explain that, especially if it was done on Akechi himself.

So then, Akechi was experimented on by Wakaba. I don’t think he was fully informed about what he was doing either. Gray Pigeon certainly wasn’t. Akechi was still trying to be a good person, using his power for his own vengeance yeah but I don’t think murdering random people was part of his initial plan at all. I think that Feather Seeker also emphasises just how little he knew about what his actions were doing. How would he know what his effects of shadows are on the real world? He could only know that from the scientists, from Shido. Of course he did find out, eventually, and that rage he must have felt about being used and lied to gave him the power to awaken to Loki, as Futaba puts it, the representation of his anger. It’s only then that he forms his plan, to get back at Shido for all of this, not just him abandoning him and his mother but for using him for his own means as well.

And we know how the rest of the story goes.

The overall story presented in Feather Seeker, as I see it, is this: Akechi awakens to Robin Hood, and realises that his anger is no longer a hopeless endeavour, he can use it, show that he’s useful and get acknowledged by his father. Shido sees this, sees that he can use this power and subjects him to experimentation, as someone who can actually survive the cognitive world and even have an impact on it. Wakaba sees what he can do, tests him but he’s never told what he’s done. He’s manipulated through praise and lack of information. One day he does find out, he realises this wasn’t getting him any closer to vengeance or getting acknowledged by Shido, he’s just another test subject being used by them. He’s angry, he awakens to Loki and now with the unique power of psychotic breakdowns, Shido recognises him and hires him as his assassin.

Granted this is all just my own theory, I think there is a lot pointing us to at least something similar but of course I also think this is wishful thinking as well. At this moment, my biggest wish is that Atlus makes a game that actually delves into what happened to Akechi. All the explicit information we have is given to us from biased sources, ie. Akechi himself, and it’s really the only question I have left for persona 5’s continuity.

[sirenspells]

Dude pls tell me about ur aus I'm curious as heck wjdjjdnwjdje

Oh god this is such a broad question I have a million AUs nfjfnfjfg, you have no idea of the floodgates you’ve just opened. I’ll try to list them off with a summary of what each ones about. This is going to get so long please beware

P3 Chariot/Fool Swap AU: Pretty standard “Aigis and the Arisatos switch roles” AU. Aigis is a human girl named Aiko who’s the leader of SEES. Minato and Hamuko are two anti shadow weapons who were built around the same time and both join SEES together. Metis and Ryoji also switch roles (and by extension, Thanatos and Psyche as well). Minato is the one who inherits Aiko’s wildcard power during the answer and Hamuko is...not happy about that since she believe her and Aiko were closer.

Pokemon Ultra Moon/Persona Crossover: This is an AU I haven’t posted about in a long time, but it’s basically Pokemon Ultra Moon but with Persona characters. The overall plot stays relatively the same, but little changes are made here and there. Akira can be considered the main protagonist, but Yu, Hamuko, and Minato are also main characters. Yu basically takes Hau’s role, Hamuko takes Lillie’s, and Minato takes Gladion’s. Ikutsuki takes Lusamine’s role so he’s basically the main villain. This AU also has a “sequel story” of sorts that’s based on Pokemon Platinum, where Sunako and Azami (my fanmade femcs) are the main characters.

P5 Robot AU: Akira and Goro are anti shadow weapons. In this AU, Wakaba is part of the Kirijo Group and Shido forced her and some other people to create two personal humanoid weapons for him in secret. Basically, both Akira and Goro were conducting mental shutdowns on Shido’s orders, but Akira slowly realizes how wrong it is and tries to rebel, but Goro puts him in his place and trashes him. By the time he’s discovered in the main story, he’s lost all of his memories and has reverted back to having no emotions, though like Aigis, he slowly becomes more human as the story progresses. Also, Ryuji’s the wildcard and the phantom thieves’ leader.

My Persona rewrite/Frisky’s Persona rewrite: The name isn’t really accurate, it’s the best I could think of and it may as well be true lol. Persona but lots of characters who died get to live (Shinjiro, Ryoji, the Arisatos, Chidori, Zen and Rei), some characters are now Persona users (Shiho, Yuuki), and other random stuff like the water element existing now cause I just want them to use it again atlus please. Also big part of this AU and the biggest reason I hesitate to call it a “rewrite” is cause some of the p3 characters are now the (adopted) parents of some p5 characters. This was the AU’s original point then other stuff got added as it went on lmao.

Shadow Protag Adventures: During PQ2, all of the wildcard’s Shadows decide they are going to work together and cause problems on purpose. They all create their own movie (it’s not really a movie like the other ones but for the sake of the theatre they’re in then yeah) and kidnap the leaders so that the rest of the Persona users have to traverse through their dungeon without their “precious leaders”. The Shadows have the ability to shapeshift and use it to hide their true identities until the very end, using their teammates forms instead to toy with them.

Robot Revival AU: 6 years after Persona 3′s ending, Minato, Hamuko, and Ryoji are freed from being the seal/being sealed and revived into robot bodies. They attend Shujin Academy with Ken and Labrys, and get caught up in the goings on of the Metaverse. They end up sort of becoming a second set of phantom thieves that just explore Mementos (I call them the Shadow Executives but that name might change, it’s more of a placeholder if anything atm), but they do end up meeting the actual Phantom Thieves and joining up with them. Also, Akira’s hometown is Tatsumi Port Island, and he was friends with Minato and Hamuko when they were alive, so the first time he sees them at Shujin he’s like “what the fuck what the fu”

P3 Monster AU: All of SEES are mythical creatures. In this AU, there’s no Personas, and monsters exist, but most humans aren’t aware of their existence. I plan to reveal what monster each member of SEES is as I draw them, but right now they are:

Minato - gargoyle/phoenix (I’m indecisive and I like both of these choices so this AU kinda has two versions. The gargoyle version is probably the one I focus more on, though)

Hamuko - siren

Junpei - demon

Yukari - faerie

Akihiko - dragon

Mitsuru - vampire

Shinjiro - werewolf

And today I casually revealed that Ryoji’s an angel in the tags of a post but is anyone really surprised by that

P4 FEMC/P5 FEMC: Putting these in the same slot cause they’re basically the same concept. Persona 4 and Persona 5, but if they had a female protagonist. P4′s is Azami Narukami, she’s edgy and it takes a bit for her to open up at first, preferring to stay quiet and serious. P5′s is Sunako Kurusu, starts out very shy and quiet but around people she likes she’s very bubbly and cheery. I love them both so much.

Minato is Death: This is kind of like a Minato/Ryoji swap, but with a twist. It’s Arisato twins, but Minato dies in the car crash with their parents, and Aigis seals Death within Hamuko. Due to Hamuko’s grief about her brother dying and wanting to see him again, she subconsciously shapes Death’s human form so that it looks like Minato and how she’d imagined he’d be like if he’d gotten a chance to grow up. Ryoji is human in this AU and was childhood friends with the twins, and his family raises Hamuko after the accident.

Devil Survivor Shadows/Personas AU: A devil survivor au where the Shadows and Personas from the persona series are incorporated into it. Demons are still a thing, and those without a Persona could still potentially fight through COMPs/cellphones, but Shadows are explicitly creatures born from the collective unconscious, and accepting your Shadow gives you a Persona.

Plume of Dusk Minato AU: Similarly to Sho Minazuki from p4 arena ultimax, Minato is experimented on by the Kirijo Group and a Plume of Dusk is implanted into his brain, causing a second soul to be born within him, that being Ryoji. Long after they’ve escaped from the lab, Minato/Ryoji joins Strega, but midway through p3′s story they leave and join SEES.

[shxtteredlegacy]

More Persona 5 Vers Headcanons

Sycamore has been currently been living in Japan for about a year and a half in this vers. He has been living out of his airship and the reason why he is here is for both work and personal reasons. He is there because his research of the Azrans had led him there and since he is doing archeological work there he has been speaking at a few schools from time to time.

But we all know his research is all to reach his goal to get back at Targent.

Even in this vers he is still doing horrifically illegal things under his alias. But he has been on laying low and behaving himself SO FAR in Japan. Tension is high here and he doesn’t want to draw attention to himself

Since the Azrans were an extremely scientifically advanced civilization, they had knowledge was were possibly aware of the Metaverse.

Because of this Sycamore does have some knowledge of cognitive psience. He even respected  Wakaba as a researcher and a member of the scientific community. 

Because of this, this vers can split into three ways 

Vers A: He have no idea what the Metaverse is, despite the info he knows, but he does have a palace (X). Needs a change of heart 

Vers B: Same as A but he gets a Persona release  (X).

Vers C: Have complete knowledge of the Metaverse and is a without anyone help and is a persona user (X). Using the Metaverse as a means to know more about the Azrans to get closer to discovering their legacy and to get back at his father.

[shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl]

Phantom Confidants AU

In an alternate universe, I actually write about a P5 AU where the non-party social links are the phantom thieves of that universe. So Mishima, Hifumi, Shinya, Sojiro, Toranosuke, Iwai, Takemi, Ohya, Chihaya, Kawakami and even Sae. Honestly I would have loved to have an animal in the group but Morgana is the only animal social link and he's an original member. But hey it's still a pretty diverse group considering it's a mix of mostly adults, some teens, and a kid. They've got a pretty badass lineup to be honest so here's how I think it'll go. 

Full plot, codenames, and Mementos chats under the cut: 

(SPOILERS AHEAD) 

Plot Your Heart Out!

So first up, who would be the new protagonist? At first I figured Mishima because he's got that work-in-progress good guy vibes. But then I checked the list and realized that most of the group are adults and not really sure if Mishima can handle the leadership role. So who else? Then it hit me. Best dad Sojiro. Think about it. He had a direct connection with Wakaba who started this whole metaverse discovery. It's the perfect setup! He helped Wakaba with her research from time to time and during one of the experiments, they had discovered the metaverse. Maybe. I'm making this up as I go. Anyways! 

The general premise is that Sojiro was the first Phantom Thief in his youth and became an urban legend later on when he retired. When he took in Futaba, he promised he'd devote himself full time into raising her so he quit the calling card business. Except fast forward many years later, he was forced to wear/rip off his mask again. 

In this AU, Sojiro already changed Futaba's heart early on so Futaba was able to enroll at Shuujin Academy. It's all fine at first until she comes home and brings up Kamoshida and how no one not even adults can lay a hand on him. Her concerns bring out his instinct protect his child from such monster. When conventional methods failed and the rumors of sexual assault is less farfetched from the truth, he didn't hesitate to start stealing hearts again. 

During the infiltration he'll most likely be able to recruit Mishima and Kawakami (both obviously carry good reasons to get back at Kamoshida). Mishima has average stats which makes him a good support member. He gets stronger with baton pass! Someone give this child a confidence booster and he will plow you. Kawakami has the best buffs which makes life so much easier. They succeed and the school becomes safe so he thought his comeback was just a one time thing. Oh he was sorely mistaken. 

At this point, gossip about the Phantom Thieves have spread and such news have even reached our local back alley doctor. During the weeks before Kamoshida's confession, Sojiro had been striking up unethical deals for medicine from her and so she connects the dots. She confronts him at the cafe during a slow night. She doesn't plan on ratting him out however she wants in. She wants him to change the heart of this one doctor and gives him a deadline (she doesn't say at first that it's because of that one girl patient although they find out anyway during the confrontation in the palace). She somehow ends up joining them during infiltration, awakens and joins the team. She is probably the closest friend/acquaintance that Sojiro had among the group before they were phantom thieves. 

Then comes my favorite arc temporary title Guns Ablaze. They're somehow managing in the metaverse but medicine can only go so far. They need good equipment and when they realized that model guns were effective in the metaverse (courtesy of Mishima experimentally bringing one with him once because real guns are illegal), they decide to shop at Untouchable. Only to somehow get roped into his yakuza blackmail drama. 

Sojiro develops a camaraderie with Iwai because they're both single parents trying hard to raise their adopted child. Definitely share the father of the year award. He joins them at the first day of infiltration because this is his fight and he will settle this with them. Hell, he doesn't even hesitate to bring a real gun with him and shoot a shadow even without a persona. Turns out the shadow yakuza is stronger than a few bullets but he faces him head on and awakens. He is Sojiro's best bro and they talk about parenting a lot. 

Halfway through though they get stuck because the shadows are surprisingly agile. Gun attacks are effective but they keep missing their shots. And you guessed it. They're going to have a kid teach them how to shoot a gun. It's embarrassing really at first, especially for the adults, but they respect Shinya for his sharpshooting skills. They hang out with Shinya a couple of times and the kid grew on to them. One time though they decided to head to the palace after training/hanging out with him but they didn't know that Shinya followed them due to some undecided plot device. He wouldn't awaken in the palace tho but he's still in awe. Some time later, the mother issue happens and he asks for their help. He asks to join them when they decide to change her heart and that's how he awakens. He is best boy. They dote on him a lot. 

Meanwhile the Phantom Thieves are gaining popularity, hence a greater demand in media. Ohya being one of those journalists assigned to write about them, accidentally discovers more than just your average article. However, good journalism is confirming facts before publishing half-truths and so she investigates further regarding Sojiro's group. She ends up frequenting either the cafe or the clinic (she tried the airsoft shop but that was too obvious). She ends up being a regular of Sojiro's curry and of Takemi's medicine (altho she just goes there to flirt err fish info). It takes a while, weeks even, but at some point, someone slips. She gets her evidence on them being Phantom Thieves but she has no plans on outing them just yet. She asks them to change the heart of her boss and they do, with her help even. She insists on tagging along and they couldn't shake her off so she comes with them. She awakens when she confronts her boss' shadow. From there on, she's been helping the team with selecting their targets because who better than a journalist? 

Recruiting Hifumi was probably the most obscure accident, mostly because I honestly can't think of a good connection just yet. There's the fact that she goes to church and Wakaba's grave is near there but even that is grasping straws. Maybe Hifumi put in a mementos request? Somehow got dragged by proximity when they went to mementos and she was just on her way to catch the late train home? I don't know. Someone help me. Chihaya too. I was thinking that Chihaya gets involved with Ohya's arc. Maybe they're friends since they both frequent the red light district. Yeah let's go with that. Chihaya is obviously the navigator of the group so she's a must have party member and Hifumi is the strategist also a must have. They work hard okay. 

Moving on! At some point they try to target the politician from Toranosuke's social link. But it becomes their shortest case ever. Tora had somehow figured that his old acquaintance could be targeted by the phantom thieves and he wants to stop the, but he has no way of contacting them. One day he went to visit that guy's place but coincidentally it was his place of distortion. Coincidentally, the phantom thieves were there and unaware of Tora's proximity. He gets pulled in with them. They never did manage to beat the Palace ruler. Instead Tora just talks it put with the shadow and the palace crumbles after negotiations succeed. Everyone's confused as to what just happened but they're not against it. Tora awakens on his own the next time he joins them, probably in Mementos. He refuses to fight but he always steps up to talk with shadows willing to negotiate. 

At this point, the phantom thieves reputation is skyrocketing. The hype is so strong that Sojiro gets a warrant of arrest. Sae hadn't confirmed it yet but she has made enough connections to point Sojiro as a suspect phantom thief. They do their own research to find out the best way to get out of this. During their investigation, they find out that there's been a suspicious pressure to have the phantom thieves arrested, abnormally so. They deduce that although Sae was an immediate threat, she was just being pulled by the strings. 

They needed to see the bigger picture and to so that, perhaps Sae was the key. They need her cooperation and to have that, they need her to have a change of heart except without the excessive guilt to render her incapacitated. They tried talking it out with her but when that failed they had no choice but had her face the facts, or rather face her shadow self. Sae awakens in her own palace, realizing how twisted her desires had become. When they escape, she asks if she could join their cause and they gladly welcome her. 

Shido is the last palace not just because of him being a corrupt prime minister but also considering the motherfucker had Wakaba murdered which makes this personal for Sojiro. After all, not only did Sojiro love Wakaba (romantically or not) but she was also the reason he was able to become a Phantom Thief in the first place. That fucking dildo Shido is long overdue to be brought down by Sojiro so that Wakaba can have some semblance of justice. Oh and Japan gets saved too I guess. (Yaldabaoth who?) 

>>Oh yeah, although Futaba isn't a thief here, it's not because she doesn't know. It's only because Sojiro forbade her and his word is law so she's still mad about that. She still helps as Alibaba though. Honestly best non-party member confidant of Sojiro and that's not just father bias talking. Okay maybe a little father bias but he's a proud dad okay. 

>>Also Morgana is a social link of Sojiro's. Except it's really just Sojiro being a softie with the cat. He has no idea what Morgana's meows mean (does he even talk/transform in this au?) but he is a good landlord and sometimes he feeds the cat better than he does Akira. 

>>Originally I didn't want Sojiro to be a Wild Card but due to Persona Tradition, in order to be a protagonist one must be a special snowflake with lots of facades inside. So I guess his velvet room would look like a cafe only without the coffee because Caroline and Justine (or just Lavenza) are kids and coffee is bad for them. Sojiro feels so uncomfortable with Igor behind the counter because for a barista to not touch them coffee beans at all, that's pretty suspicious. 

—

Codenames 'subject to change' 

Sojiro Sakura - Solo (single shot of espresso) 

Yuuki Mishima - Wolf (talk about wolf in sheep's clothing or is it the other way around?) 

Hifumi Togo - Jade or General (because shogi) 

Shinya Oda - Trigger (guns guns guns)

 Munehisa Iwai - Gecko (his tattoo) 

Tae Takemi - Witchdoctor or Plague (she protec but she also attac) 

Ichiko Ohya - Rebel (fight the power!) 

Sadayo Kawakami - Burnout (teachers have no chill) 

Chihaya Mifune - Tarot (fortune telling duh) 

Toranosuke Yoshida - Tiger (his name) 

Sae Niijima - Empress or Judge (her personality)

—

Mementos Chats: 

Ohya: No matter how much I drink every night, my body still gets hangovers sometimes. Hey, Takemi. You're a doctor, right? Know any good medicine for this? 

Takemi: I can actually prescribe you with the best medicine. Prevention. "Drink moderately" is an effectively proven motto to live by. 

—

Toranosuke: I tried checking this "phansite" and I keep seeing the "pound sign heart stolen", could you explain to me what that means? 

Mishima: ...Did you mean hashtag? I think I'll be explaining to you more than just that. 

—

Shinya: Are all adults like this? Stressed? I've been thinking about how I'm not growing up fast enough but now I think I just want to be a kid forever. 

Iwai: Smart move, kid. But don't let us get to you. Us adults are fun too, heh, when we're not too buried in bills and taxes.

— 

Iwai: Hey, know any good places to bring your kid? 

Sojiro: Depends on what he likes and the occasion. From what I heard, your kid already likes you enough so just go out and have fun with the kid. 

—

Mishima: Between studying and phantom thieving, I think I just might be better with the latter. 

Kawakami: Why? Last time I checked, your grades seem pretty okay. Are you having difficulties with any of your subjects recently? You know you can always ask me to teach you. 

—

Kawakami: I know I signed up for this but this is too exhausting! I don't even have the energy to check papers after. When I get home, I just collapse on my bed! 

Ohya: I know what you mean. I can't even make a pit stop at my favorite bar! 

—

Chihaya: I've seen shadows in my fortune tellings but to think that I'll be using it against literal shadows. The city sure is amazing ain't it. 

Hifumi: I'm not sure if it is exclusive to the city. Nevertheless, it is always fascinating to watch you work, Chihaya-san. 

—

Hifumi: Despite this group being composed mostly of adults, I find myself strangely at ease... 

Sae: Even as an adult, I agree with that sentiment. This is... a wonderful group to belong to.

—

Sae: I've been meaning to ask this but how do you juggle Phantom Thief work with your real world jobs? I honestly didn't think you had any free time to spare. As a case example, I myself only get by with four hours of sleep on slow days.

Takemi: We seriously need to reevaluate your working schedule... That or quit your job. Can't have you dying from exhaustion on us. 

—

Takemi: I may be a doctor but you all need to look after yourselves better. If any of you collapse, I'm not footing your hospital bills. 

Sojiro: What's this? Free medical advice? You've gotten soft. 

—

Sojiro: So you've been hanging out with Akira and Futaba lately? Those two can't be good influences on you. 

Shinya: They're cool, I guess. Heh, so what if they're bad influences? I hang out enough with you guys at night so that should balance it out, right?

—

Some other trivia: 

Since most of the group are adults with full time jobs, they do most of the phantom thief stuff at night 

They also work out a schedule because they have a lot of responsibilities outside phan stuff 

Still, since Sojiro is a veterinarian at this, they usually accomplish a lot in an hour or two so that helps 

Mishima and Hifumi are forbidden to do any phantom thief activities during exams week 

Meanwhile Kawakami excuses herself for the week after finals week (checking papers is exhausting okay) 

Kawakami is at the forefront of "long weekends do not touch" and "holidays touch them and you die" because teachers need those okay 

Kawakami volunteers to clean the dirty armor they find but on the condition that she gets first dibs on good armor 

Mishima still manages the phansite and he's super proud about the work they do 

Mishima visits the cafe a lot and eventually befriends Akira and Futaba 

Hifumi still speaks dramatically when giving orders or planning strategies in the metaverse 

Hifumi is actually very extra but they just let her be 

Toranosuke can't really fight much but damn he's good at them shadow negotiations 

Toranosuke can't join much because he campaigns at night but he makes it a point to be present at least once a week and during important meetings 

Shinya can't stay too late either so they either go in earlier sometimes or make up an excuse in unexpected cases 

You'd think Shinya would get teased a lot but he's actually doted upon 

Gee Shinya, how come you get to have three dads? 

Iwai and Sojiro are best dad friends and you can't tell me otherwise 

Iwai only cancels on them for father-son bonding and he usually gives them prior notice 

Ohya is the type who cancels at the last minute or arrives late 

Ohya is also the one who invites the adults out for drinks after 

Sojiro offers coffee as an alternative for those who want or may need it 

Takemi is the strict mom friend who doesn't let anyone get sick on her watch 

Takemi forbids anyone to do anything further the moment the first signs of exhaustion show 

Takemi has a special skill that makes her immune to status ailments (unlockable with social link rank up) 

Chihaya does their fortunes upon request with or without persona (she still uses her tarot cards either way) 

Chihaya still slips in her accent sometimes especially when they get ambushed 

Sae is super conscious about used to having a palace (and the only one in the team who had one) but the squad is understanding and she feels happy to be accepted even still 

Sae actually gets along pretty well with them despite their previous conflicts, which are all water under the bridge 

Sae is probably the most OP out of all of them, maybe it's because she had to face her own shadow, hmmm 

The women of the group do hang, sometimes even go out for drinks 

Hifumi joins mostly on weekends because those are in the mornings and Takemi forbids alcohol as long as the sun is out so they just window shop mostly or eat out 

More often than not, those hang outs extend into evenings so Hifumi excuses herself and Ohya now drags the rest to Crossroads 

Meanwhile the guys just chill at Cafe Leblanc, sometimes Iwai even brings his son 

They do have outings with the whole squad (sometimes plus Futaba!) 

They are a good squad, and god I love this AU

—

I uhhhh wanted to write down everything, like codename, outfit, persona, awakening scene, skills, mementos chats with each other, and all but I didn't have the time. Maybe I'll do them in another post? Maybe. Just know that I love them confidants and this au stole my heart. 

If anyone wants to add, draw, write for the Phantom Confidants AU then feel free to do so! Have fun with this idea and enjoy!!

[blackguard]

Zero-Day

@definitelynotalibaba

     The Phantom Thieves are something of an unlikely group.  What are the odds that a number of criminally gifted disenfranchised youths all happen to be within the Tokyo suburbs and run into each other?  My working response is that I’m a Wild Card and naturally gravitate toward interesting people, but there are limits to cosmic coincidence that even I don’t believe I can cross.  One of them happens to be centered around one Futaba Sakura, the girl who’s more or less become my surrogate little sister.

     The mint green and white striped sheets crinkle under my weight as I sit atop her bed, my arms and legs crossed.  From the other side of her dimly lit room, Futaba sits fetal in her chair, her graceful fingers rapidly moving from key to key after each successful tap.  She’s been at this for an hour or so, coding some program I’m probably better off not know the contents of.

     “Futaba...”  I say, attempting to remind her of my presence and draw her away from her work.  To little surprise, my attempt appears entirely futile.

     Futaba is the daughter of Wakaba Isshiki, a government researcher who pioneered the supernatural field of cognitive psience, the mechanics behind how we navigated the Metaverse.  Unfortunately, this research was discovered by a certain politician who had Wakaba killed and stole her research.  In the process of covering up her murder, Futaba was subjected to extreme mental trauma and withdrew herself from the public.  The extreme coincidence of us both suffering directly at the hands of bald mountain aside, that’s not what’s giving me pause.

     She’s only a fifteen, soon becoming sixteen, year old girl and yet she is still inarguably one of the world’s greatest cyber-security experts.  Being the daughter of a genius, she certainly has a genetic predisposition to having a gifted intellect herself, but natural intelligence can only carry you so far.  The level she codes on puts to shame professionals in the industry.  Even the most die hard black hats can barely keep pace with her.  Despite this, there’s no evidence to suggest she has any kind of teacher on the subject.  Just the opposite in fact.  From what Sojiro told us about the books she asked for back when she was a shut-in, she appears to be entirely self-taught.  To essentially learn an advanced text based language entirely on her own without the help of a fluent speaker, it’s unprecedented, to say the least.  We really should get her IQ tested sometime.

     However, exactly how smart she is isn’t what I’m trying to learn today.  “Fuuuutaba,” I say, lilting my voice as she finally spins her chair around the face me.  “You said you were going to tell me how you got into coding.  Is there some kind of elaborate multimedia presentation you’re putting together for it or...?”

     Today, I’m here to figure exactly how the hell Futaba Sakura became the world’s best hacker.

[ask-the-phan-site]

Phan Cam: The Fight Before Christmas (Part 4)

NOTE: Some characters will not be shown wearing formal attire. So I must ask that you imagine how they look as they are described. Thank you.

NOTE 2: Before we begin, we would like to inform you that we know about the ban of Tumblr content and to let you know that we are in full support of lifting the ban. Don’t worry, we’re on your side.

WARNING: This post is pretty long since we tried to squeeze in a lot that’s happened.

>Shibuya. More specifically, the Wilton Hotel. The Fight Before Christmas Opening Party was going into full swing. The Investigation Team came in first in the lobby.

>Yu was dressed in something he borrowed from his uncle, Yosuke was dressed in a regular black tuxedo, Kanji was wearing a fine black suit, and Teddie was in his standard human form clothing.

>Chie was dressed in an orientle Chinese dress that was green with golden lining and golden flowers (thanks to Kanji), and black shoes. Yukiko was dressed in something similar to her summer clothes. Rise was in her Sapphire dress. Naoto was dressed in a fancy white dress (she was a bit embarrassed about wearing a dress). And Nanako was like Yukiko and wearing something similar to her summer clothes.

Here we are! I can’t believe I made it.

You deserve it, Chie. You’re one of the best fighters I know. We all know that.

(rubbing his bottom) I can believe that.

Chie: (upset) What’s that suppose to mean!?

Yosuke: (nervous) Nothing. Nothing.

I wonder when they’ll get here. They said they were coming.

Oh, there they are!

>Our van comes up to the entrance. We, along with Boss, came out.

Valet: Park your vehicle for you, sir?

Really? I normally self-park, but I guess this once. How much is the tip?

Valet: ¥700.

That much!?

>In defeat, Boss pays the man and he parks the van.

Boss: How I’d let you talk me into this, I’ll never know.

Relax, Sojiro, at least you’ll be getting free food out of this.

>With that, we head inside where we meet the others.

Rise: Hi, guys! I like what you’re wearing.

Thanks. They were a gift from ALTUS.

Rise: Really!? How come ALTUS never gave us anything fancy?

Yosuke: She has a point. We’ve been making money for them since 2008.

Chie: Really? I thought it was since 2011.

That was when our story took place. The release date of Persona 4 was in 2008.

Rise: Well I still think they should give us a gift for all we’ve done.

Maybe if they make a Persona 5 Arena... Maybe.

Anyway, let’s head inside. If Kanamin Kitchen is in there, I’d love to meet them... Not that I unhappy you’re here, Rise chan.

Rise: (scowling) You better.

I’m sure he will. Actually, Ryuji here has decided to become an idol himself.

Rise: Really?

Ryuji: That’s right. I want to be so great, even DearDream and KUROFUNE would be impressed.

Rise: That’s great. You know, if you ever need tips, you can ask me.

Thanks, Rise senpai.

Rise: You hear that, Senpai? Now I’m the senpai.

Yu: Congratulations, Rise.

>With that, we head inside the Wilton Hotel. Inside, the opening party was in full swing. The place was packed with fighters, their sponsors, their supporters, and lucky fans. I’m surprised they managed to fit in the Christmas decorations and the tree. After much walking around, we managed to find Joe, Ryuichi, Setsuko, Yuta, and two old men who I can only guess are Setsuko’s father and Mr. Takizawa, Joe’s coach and Maki Takakura’s father.

(in a tuxedo... and not happy in it) Hey, guys!

(in a cream suit with a red tie) So these are the guys you told me about.

Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you George Takizawa.

(wearing a purple frock with gold earrings and black high-heels) I just want to thank you again for deciding to do this.

Makoto: Actually, I’m earning the money for something else.

Setsuko: Yes, Yuta told me.

Mr. Takizawa: I hope your aikido instructor will be fine.

Makoto: It’s alright. He said that if there’s any money left over, he’ll give it to you for Yuta’s treatment.

Setsuko: Thank you.

(wearing a light blue dress-shirt and a black tie under a red sweater vest, tan pants, and black shoes) Do I really have to wear this? I can’t feel pain, but I do feel silly.

Joe: You and me both.

(also in a tux) You both will be fine. If you two can pull it off at the wedding, you can pull it off here.

I actually know how you feel. I don’t normally wear something like this.

Ryuji: I bet you wanted to wear a kimono or something.

I think you look good in it, Yusuke.

Thank you, Ren.

>He really did look good in that suit.

Ryuichi: Hey, are those two...

Joe: Speaking of clothing, what’s with the mask?

Soul Taker: The identity of Soul Taker must remain secret.

Yosuke: (confused) Dude, it’s only covering half your face.

Soul Taker: Hey, that’s how ALTUS made it.

Yusuke: I brought my mask as well to show support.

I wish we’d done the same.

Makoto: Maybe for New Years.

Thanks, Mako chan.

You’re welcome, Haru.

Ryuichi: Are they also...

Is that all you’re going to ask tonight?

Chie: Yeah, you should be more careful of what you say next.

Yukiko: (intimidating) I’ll crush you in one strike.

Akechi: Anyway, there’s Sae san over there.

Yu: It looks like she’s speaking with Mitsuru san and Akihiko san. Let’s head over there.

Kanji: You guys go on ahead. I just want to do some last minute fixes.

Rise: Again?

Naoto: I told you, that suit I had was just fine.

Kanji: No way. This is a formal event. I don’t think anyone would be happy with that.

Yosuke: And this coming from the guy who came with his bleached hear and piercings.

Kanji: (angry) What was that?

Yosuke: (scared) Nothing.

Nanako: I like it. It’s like Beauty and the Beast.

Kanji: (a little happy) Th- Thanks, Nanako.

Naoto: (blushing a little more) Yes, thank you.

Setsuko: See, Dad? It’s not so bad dressing nicely.

... I think I’ll be fine.

Joe: You go on, too. We just want to look around for a bit.

>With that, we leave to join Sae, Mitsuru, and Akihiko.

(wearing a tight black dress under her coat) Really, you would take the case for us?

Yes. You have the same power Makoto has. I think it would only be fair to help you out.

Mitsuru: I see. Thank you, Niijima, for your support.

Good. This case has been going on for a while.

Makoto: Sis!

Sae: Makoto, you’re here.

Makoto: I overheard you talking about a case. Is something wrong.

Sae: Nothing you need to worry yourself now.

Mitsuru: So you must be Niijima’s sister.

Makoto: Yes. I’m Makoto Niijima. You’re Mitsuru Kirijo, the head of the Kirijo Group and leader of the Shadow Operatives.

Mitsuru: Yes. I’ve seen you’ve done your research quite thoroughly.

Makoto: Well, Yu and his friends told us much about you last year. It also helps that Futaba contributed as well.

You know you really need to improve your security algorithm. It only took me less than 5 minutes to hack in.

Mitsuru: I see. I’ll make sure of it. You must be Wakaba Isshiki’s daughter.

Boss: I’m also her guardian.

Mitsuru: Sojiro Sakura. You must have been a good father to Futaba.

Futaba: He’s been the best.

Thanks for that.

Mitsuru: Good... Now tell me, you, like us, also have Personas?

Soul Taker: We have.

>We began explaining our story to Mitsuru and Akihiko. Of course, we sometimes go off topic and speak of other things... Like that silly useless ban on Tumblr content. We also explain about the cognitive psience.

Mitsuru: I see. That’s quite the story. We knew of the Persona and Shadow activity here in Tokyo for sometime, but we were preoccupied with other things at the time. Forgive us.

Soul Taker: That’s alright. You probably had your hands tied and couldn’t do anything.

I guess it’s party my fault. I caused all of those incidents making people have psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns.

Haru: That’s only because Shido made you do it. You’re just as much a victim as anyone else.

Akechi: I know. And you all helped me. Thank you.

Akihiko: I’ve heard that you have some pretty strong Personas. I’d like to see that in action.

Yu: Yes. We saw just how powerful their Personas are.

Mitsuru: Yes. It sound like you would become valuable assets to the Shadow Operatives.

Makoto: That would be great, but I fear that would mean we would have to reveal our identities to the public.

Akihiko: I don’t think you would have to worry about that. When I’m not in the ring, I’m a police officer. I can just cover up for you.

Chie: So am I! Well, I’m actually training to be one. I guess we really think alike, don’t we, Master?

Akechi: I guess that would be good. But we’re not so sure... However, it might come in handy with our currant heist.

Mitsuru: You mean steal the hearts of the corrupted Tumblr admins?

Soul Taker: Another version of us is taking care of that. How much do you know about Sugimura Sekitan?

Mitsuru: He is the son of a politician. However, after Masayoshi Shido’s confession, Mr. Sekitan was discovered to be in Shido’s inner circle and he, along with others in that circle, came under fire and was forced to resign.

Haru: That’s true. Now his family is suffering some financial problems because of that resignation. In fact, the reason Sugimura is sponsoring Joe Yuuki is so that he could get the prize money to ensure their fortune long enough to restore his father’s reputation and allow him to return to politics...

But I don’t think he’s going to play fair.

Sae: You think he might be up to something?

Haru: I know Sugimura long enough to know what he’s capable of. We checked the Metaverse Navigator. He has a Palace.

Mitsuru: So you wish to steal the distortion from his heart and make him confess the truth?

Ryuji: Pretty much. We had a meeting the other day to discuss this and we discovered where his Palace is.

Makoto: There’s another reason why all of us came here besides supporting our friends for the Fight Before Christmas...

It’s here. The Wilton Hotel.

Mitsuru: I see. Then allow us to help you. We seek only the elimination of Shadow threats and this is no different.

Akechi: That’s probably a good idea...

Since I will not be here when the heist takes place.

Mitsuru: You won’t be here, Akechi?

Akechi: I know I consider the Phantom Thieves my family, but it’s not exactly the same since everyone has their own holiday tradition.And since my mother is dead and my father is... indisposed, it would mostly likely I would spend the holidays alone. However, a friend of ours in New York has offered to let me spend Christmas with him and his aunt. I should be back in time for New Year.

Mitsuru: I see. I guess you’ll need someone to fill in for you.

Makoto: Normally, we would have a reserved member fill in for a main member if they are unavailable, however, they all have their own holiday plans right now and we wish not to disturber them. Even King, who lives here in Japan, has his hands tied.

Mitsuru: Yes, we heard from one of our operatives he and his little girl are busy. However, we do have people available, if that is alright with you.

Soul Taker: As long as they can use Bless skills, or Light as you call it, that would be great.

Mitsuru: Good. I’ll have him come as soon as possible.

Thank you, Mitsuru san.

Naoto: (finally joining us with Kanji) I would be glad to help as well. If that’s alright.

Kanji: If you’re going in there, Naoto, I’m going with you.

Soul Taker: I guess you can.

Naoto: Thank you.

Ryuji: Okay, now that that’s settle, there’s still something else we gotta do. We have the who and the where, now we just need to know what Sugimura sees the hotel as.

Haru: I don’t think even I know that.

Soul Taker: True. He does seem the type who hides who he’s like on the inside...

Which is why I brought a secret weapon.

>Everyone was a bit confused about what I said. So I reached into my shirt and pulled the “secret weapon”.

(groans) Finally! I thought I was never getting out of there!

What!? Mona!? What’s he doing here!?

Ryuji, shush! Someone will hear us.

Soul Taker: I brought him here in case there was sushi here, but it looks like he has something else to do here. Morgana, Sugimura is just over there. We need you to go and listen to what he has to say so we can figure out what his distortion is.

You can count on me, Joker.

>With that, Morgana goes off to spy on Sugimura. Luckily, no one notices him so far.

Boss: Are you sure no one will notice him?

Soul Taker: I have faith in him. We need him.

Mitsuru: (pleased) Good. I like how well a leader you are.

Sae: So, what shall we do while we wait?

Talk more I guess. I still have a few choice words about the Tumblr staff.

>Morgana managed to get to Sugimura who was talking with Yuuki, Maki, and Yuuki’s coach, Matsuda.

(wearing a yellow dress with red and black designs and white high heels) Really!? You’re sponsoring Joe even though you have financial problems?

I’ll pay for the expenses after we win the tournament. Just trust me.

(wearing a tux) My. Aren’t we the sly one.

I really don’t care about the money. I just want to beat the crap out of that Haninozuka and become the new champion. And fighting Akamine is just a bonus.

Sugimura: It’s that determined attitude that will favor us greatly. Just think, with that kind of money and my father's reputation restored, I’ll be living this life even longer. I especially would like to move here to the Wilton. My own privet paradise. Plus, the buffet is to die for.

Matsuda: Heh! The way you talk about it, you sound like a gangster out of a movie.

Sugimura: Yes, it would seem that way. Which is why I would like to discuss something with you... Without those two. (Yuuki and Maki.)

Yuuki: What is it?

Sugimura: Oh, just some boring stuff.

Maki: Alright. We’re suppose to be meeting with the other Favorites now. Suoh will be making the announcement any minute.

Yuuki: Tech! Fine.

>With that, the couple leave.

Matsuda: What is it you want to talk to me about in private?

Sugimura: Well, just in case, to make sure we win this... I had the fights fixed.

Matsuda: (shocked) Really!? Isn’t that cheating?

Sugimura: Just looking after my assets, as well as yours and Yuuki’s. You want your gym to gain more attention and Yuuki just wants to be number one at everything. I’m just making sure we all get what we want.

Matsuda: Oh you wicked young man... But if you really think this will work, I can’t really argue.

Sugimura: Excellent. I knew you would see it my way.

>With that, they leave.

>Morgana managed to get back to us and told us everything.

That effin son of a bitch! He’s fixin’ the fight!?

Morgana: It gets worse. The coach agree with him. As long as he and Yuuki get what they want, they can’t do anything.

Makoto: Does Yuuki know?

Morgana: I don’t think so. I guess he knows he’ll turn him in if he knew.

Soul Taker: So you said that the coach compared Sugimura to a gangster?

Morgana: That’s what I heard. It sounded important.

Makoto: A regular gangster would see a hotel as just a hotel. But he thinks of this place as a kind of paradise. Like his personal hideout.

Haru: I can only assume that might be it. Let’s try it with the Nav.

>I take out my phone and put in the keywords.

Soul Taker: Sugimura Sekitan. Wilton Hotel. Gangster’s Hideout.

Nav: Results found.

Yusuke: It’s a hit. We can get in.

Soul Taker: But it looks like we’ll have to wait. They’re about to start the ceremony.

>We head to a stage where the 10 Favorites of Japan were along with Kanami Mashita, Ms. Ochimizu, the Masters Family, and the Ouran Host Club. Tamaki Suoh comes up to the podium.

Welcome, everyone, to the 15th Annual Fight Before Christmas Tournament! Now normally, my father, Yuzuru Suoh would do this speech, but he thought I was ready to do this.

As goes my own father, who is tied up at work with my older brothers at the moment and couldn’t make it.

Same here. And I really want to support Chika chan.

Tch! As if I need support from you, Mitsukuni.

Anyway!

Tamaki: We hold this tournament to remind us of all the struggle we had endured this year. And that the coming holidays makes us happy of the adventures that came with it. To celebrate who we were, who we are, and who we will be. And we wish only victory to tall of you. Good luck fighters!

>Everyone applauded.

Tamaki: Kanami sama, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Tamaki. Hello, everyone! My meat is marbled, my movement is slow, and I sleep off every meal! I’m Kanami Mashita, your prized cow!

And I’m Ken Masters. Me and my friend, Ryu, founded this tournament with help from the Suoh Group, the Ootori Group, and of course the Haninozuka Dojo. Also with me are my lovely wife, Eliza.

It’s good to meet you all.

Ken: And our son, Mel.

I just wish I was old enough to compete.

Ken: I’m sure you’ll be old enough soon, Mel. As for Ryu, well, he couldn’t make it this year. He’s still resting from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Kanami: Either way, I’m just so glad that everyone’s here.

You rule, Kanamin!

>Everyone couldn’t help but cheer as well.

If you are all quite done!

Kanami: Thanks, Ms. Ochimizu. Anyway, I hope you all have fun at this wonderful tournament to ring in the New Year. Good luck to you all!

>Everyone cheered.

Ms. Ochimizu: And don’t forget about Kanamin Kitchen’s New Years Eve Spectacular, featuring many other performances and Knamin Kitchen’s newest hit, Pull The Trigger.

>The crowd cheered even more.

>A little later after they announced the match up for the qualifiers, Joe, Ryuichi, Setsuko, Yuta, Mr. Koshu, Mr. Takizawa, the Investigation Team (save Naoto and Kanji), Sae, and Boss head home. The rest of us, including Mitsuru and Kanji were just outside the hotel. We were waiting for Akihiko who went inside to get something and Naoto was in our van changing our of her dress.

Ann: I feel bad making Boss take the train back. It’s really getting colder.

Futaba: He’s a tough guy, he can handle it... As long as he hasn’t forgotten to lock the door again.

Naoto: I wonder what is taking Akihiko san so long?

Mitsuru: I don’t know... But I have an idea.

>And it looked like her idea was spot on.

Sorry for the wait. Mitsuru packed this really well.

Mitsuru: (hand to her face) In hopes you wouldn’t find it.

I can see why. You’re practically indecent.

(artist hands out) Then again, the scars on your body are clearly an art that displays the many battles you went through in your life.

Akihiko: (surprised) Uh, thanks?

>I don’t know whether I should be happy for Yusuke or jealous of Akhiko.

(coming out of the van) In any case, we should head inside the Palace now.

Mitsuru: Right. We want to see what the Metaverse is like so the operative we’ll be sending will be ready.

Okay, then. Off we go.

Nav: Beginning navigation.

>The familiar red wave passes us. When it was over, the Wilton Hotel was still the same, however, the top of the building had been replaced with a large mansion that looked like it was made of polished marble and the roofs were made of gold.

Kanji: Yikes! I thought the triplet’s Palace was gaudy.

Same thing with Kanashiro’s Bank.

And Madarame’s Museum.

And Shido’s Cruise.

Mitsuru: I see your clothes have changed. Is that part of coming to this world?

It is. Kinda put your whole “Dark Hour” to shame, doesn’t it?

Akihiko: No doubt. Koromaru never turns into something like you.

Mona: Am I worth the wait?

So this is the distortion in Sugimura’s heart. I’ve always known he had it, but never had the courage to come here.

Well we’re all here now. We can do this together.

You’re right. Thanks, everyone!

>We all nod.

Akihiko: So what now?

Normally, we just go in a ways before we make a route to the Treasure. See what we’re dealing with.

Just be careful in there. I’m detecting Shadows up ahead.

Naoto: We will.

Let’s go.

>We went inside the Palace. The inside of the first room looks like the lobby, but everything was different. The wallpaper were a black and gold diamond design with golden yen signs in the black diamonds. There were also large portraits of an arrogant Sugimura as well as sculptures of him. It was almost blinding. And just as Oracle predicted, there were Shadows that were dressed like gangsters with guns.

Panther: This guy must watch The Godfather a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised of the cognitive beings here woke up to find horse heads in their beds.

>One of the Shadows heard us.

Shadow 1: Hey! What yous guys doin’ here?

Skull: Nothin' much...

Just he to make sure your boss get’s what comin’ to him.

Shadow 2: Is thatta threat!?

Shadow 3: Yous mooks betta be ready!

?????? ????????: Stand aside!

Shadow 4: Y- Yes, boss!

>With that, the Shadows part to show who I can only guess is Sugimura’s Shadow. He was dressed in a black suit with white stripes running up and down under a dark blue dress shirt with a white tie, a red rose in the jacket pocket, a white scarf, a toothpick in his mouth, and a black fedora with a white ribbon. And like all the other Shadows we’ve faced, he had golden eyes.

Shadow Sugimura: Haru, my dame, so you’ve finally come back to me.

Noir: Never! I’ll never come crawling back to you!

Shadow Sugimura: That’s shame. And here I was hopin’ you’d finally came to your senses. What with your ol’ man six feet under, it must be pretty lonely running the company all by yours self.

Noir: I don’t need you. I have my friends with me to help me when times are tough...

Especially when you’re the reason.

Shadow Sugimura: (angry) You little bitch. I was ready to forgive you, but instead, you sealed your fate. As well as the fate of your friends. Men, show these fools what happens when you cross me.

Shadow 1: Right! You heard the boss, you bums! Let’s take care of these punks!

Oracle: Those guys aren’t very original. Oni maybe strong, but all it takes are a few spells and that’s it.

Joker: Then it should be easy enough.

Fox: Mind if I join in?

Joker: Go right ahead. I love it when we fight together.

>We both smile.

Mitsuru: I would like to join in as well. This might be the only time I can see how powerful Shadows in the Metaverse are.

Akihiko: Same here. It’s been too long since I’ve done something like this.

Joker: I don’t know.

Don’t worry. I just saw beauty in Akihiko’s scars. You will always be my muse... No, my god of inspiration.

Thank you, Yusuke.

Oracle: If we’re done with the touchy feely stuff, here they come!

>One of the Oni tries to attack, but we dodged it.

Joker, Fox, Mitsuru, and Akihiko: Persona!

>Arsene uses Maeiga, Goemon and Artemisia both use Mabufula, and Caesar uses Mazionga. The Oni were either Frozen or Shocked.

Joker: Let’s attack the ones that were Frozen. Just be careful of the ones that are Shocked.

Mitsuru: Right, everyone, charge!

>With my dagger, Fox’s katana, Mitsuru’s rapier, and Akihiko’s fists. The Oni were left completely weakned. Luckily, none of us got Shocked.

Oni 1: We ain’t done here. Ready, fire!

>The Oni all use Snap on us. Thankfully, they weren’t that effective.

Mitsuru: That attack wasn’t something I’ve seen before.

Joker: Actually... I can do better. I have Fox to thank for the the Skill Cards he gave me before tonight.

Fox: Consider them an early Christmas present.

>Arsene uses Charge. Goemon uses Masukukaja. Mitsuru and Akihiko simply waited to see what was going to happen. As did the Oni.

Oni 2: Heh! What are yous gonna do? Your attacks can’t even scratch the surface of our skin!

Don’t underestimate what you can’t understand because of your boss... ARSENE, NOW!

>Arsene uses Riot Gun. The Oni were all gone.

Kanji: Way to go, Joker!

Joker: It may not be as powerful as Satanael’s Riot Gun, but it’s pretty useful when it needs to be.

Shadow Sugimura: (already in an elevator) Grr! Useless idiots. No matter. As soon as that dumb blonde, Joe Yuuki, wins the tournament with my ‘help’, I’ll be more powerful than any of yous can ever be.

>With that, the elevator’s doors close and went up.

Skull: Hey, wait!

Kanji: Don’t run away, dammit!

>Skull and Kanji ran to the elevator. However, there was an electronic lock on it that only responds to a password. Then, they notice something.

Skull: Hey, Joker! Come take a look at this.

>We came to look at the sign they were talking about.

Panther: It’s a map of the building.

Akihiko: What does it say?

Oracle: It looks like the Treasure is on the top floor. That mansion on the roof. But it also looks like the only way to get there with this elevator. It’s the only floor it goes to.

Queen: You mean there’s no other way to get there?

Oracle: Nope. And we can’t use this elevator without a password. Which means we have to explore this Palace for any henchmen who might know what it is. Now I’ve already got this map memorized. We can come back here another time.

Queen: I just hope we do have time. The tournament has already begun and me and Joker are competing.

Crow: And I won’t be here either. I’ve already packed my things and will be departing in the morning.

We’ll find a way. Don’t worry, we can do this.

Thanks, Joker.

Yes. Thank you.

Joker: Then it’s settled. Mission start.

>With that, we leave the Palace. We’ll be back soon and we have a tournament to win. Wish us luck.

Pictures and sprites came from the following:

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