#no i have not figured out the exact reasons their Personas change during P4 and P5 i'm working on it

[yusuke-of-valla]

Just a dumb Blueberry Sibs thing I couldn’t get out of my head. Idk I may write a sequel when I’m not about to pass out

——–

“Joker, look out!”

That phrase had the oddest habit of being said right before something that’s going to ruin any plans for the rest of the day happens.

Ren feels a rough shove at his back, and falls forward. He turns around to see Yusuke enveloped in a puff of pink smoke.

“Fox!”

The smoke clears and where Yusuke was standing is… Yusuke. But smaller.

Oh fuck, Yusuke’s been turned into a child.

Yusuke scowls at them. “Where am I? Who’re you.”

Oh fuck, Yusuke’s been turned into a child who doesn’t remember them.

Makoto takes a step forward, and Yusuke steps back.

“D-don’t come any closer. Or… um. I-I’ll execute you!” Yusuke’s hand goes to the holster at his side. That has a gun in it.

Why the fuck does kid Yusuke have a gun?

“You don’t need to be scared.” Makoto says gently. “We can explain.”

“Guys, I’m getting a weird reading from baby Inari.” Futaba whispers.

“Yeah, ‘cuz he’s an effin’ toddler.” Ryuji mutters.

“No not weird in a 'I have no idea what this is way,’ weird in a 'I know what I’m picking up and it doesn’t make any sense way.’”

“What are you talking about?” Haru asks.

“He has a-”

“Pygmalion!” The cry snatches their attention, and Ren watches as Yusuke points the gun to his head and summons a Persona that definitely isn’t Goemon or Kamu Susano-o.

A wall of ice shoots up between the Phantom Thieves and Yusuke. Through it, they can see Yusuke take off in the opposite direction.

“He has a different Persona?” Ann gasps. “How the hell does that work? If you’re younger your Persona just changes?”

Goro hums. “I suspect it’s more a matter of Fox already being able to use that Persona at that age.”

“We saw his Awakening though, didn’t we?” Morgana says. “And baby Fox’s clothes didn’t change.”

“Though, he didn’t need a mask to summon it.” Makoto poings out.

Gorro nods. “It seems our Fox has been keeping secrets from us.”

“Who cares?” Ryuji snaps. “Even if he can use a Persona he’s still running around down here by himself. With those tiny-ass legs he ain’t getting anywhere before the Reaper shows up and gets him.”

“Skull’s right.” Ren says. “Let’s get going, we’ll sort all this out when we’ve got Yusuke and he’s back to normal.”

-*-*-*-

Of course. Of course

Minato finally puts him on the front lines, and Yusuke immediately sets off or trap or something and ends up in…. wherever the hell he is.

He finds a corner that provides a decent vantage point to watch for any approaching shadows or masked strangers and catches his breath.

Naoto would probably say the best thing to do is take stock of the situation.

What does he know?

One second, he was in Tartarus.

The next, he was someplace else. Other than the ending tunnels and shadows, it has nothing in common with Tartarus. The aesthetics are comepletely different. Where as Tartarus was more somber, this place was bathed in harsh red light.

So he’s somewhere that probably isn’t Tartarus. And it’s underground.

Next, those people in the masks. Maybe they were part of the Nyx cult? Junpei had mentioned cultists wearing masks in one of his scary stories before. It would also explain why they’d nabbed him, if they were the reason he ended up here.

Although, the cat-thing didn’t look like someone in a costume.

So maybe they’re Shadows, but they looked human.

Like Ryoji! Oh! What if they were friends of Ryoji’s who wanted to help!

Although, if they did want to help Ryoji, they’d probably talk to all of SEES, not just him.

Yusuke groans. If only Naoto or Minato or someone else were here, they’d know what to do in a heartbeat. Well, maybe not not Ken or Koromaru but at least if they were here, he wouldn’t be alone.

Yusuke takes a deep breath. His best course of action for finding out more information is to find the guys in masks, but if they’re enemies, he can’t fight them all off.

He has to be smart.

-*-*-*-

“He’s upahead!” Futaba announces.

“Thank goodness.” Makoto sighs. Ren also feels relieved, but he can’t relax. They’d heard the Reaper’s chains earlier, and he won’t feel better until their at a rest area and Yusuke’s fixed.

“There!” Morgana shouts. The bus comes to a stop in a wider area with 3 tunnels branching up in different directions. Yusuke is standing at the mouth of the north one.

“Yus-Fox!” Ann calls. “Thank goodness you’re alright.”

“Stay back!” Yusuke yells. “Come closer and I make another ice wall and we run around again. I want to ask you some questions.”

“That’s alright,” Haru says gently. “We don’t want to hurt you.”

Yusuke takes a deep breath. “Ok. Are you shadows or cultists?”

They all look at each other, dumbfounded.

“Neither?” Haru says eventually. “Look I know this all might seem confusing but-”

“We’re Persona users, we’re your friends, it’s 2016, and a shadow zapped you into being a preshooler.” Futaba blurts out.

Now it’s Yusuke’s turn to look dumbfounded. “Alright, first of all, I’m going to be 10 in a week, I’m not in preschool. Now, admitably that story of yours is… not implausible given what shadows can do and is just insane enough I don’t think you’d come up with it if you’re trying to trick me. But if we’re really friends, you have to prove it.”

“You’re favorite painting is Sayuri.” Makoto says.

Yusuke scoffs. “I tell that to everybody, try again.”

“You eat oranges by just biting into them like an apple.” Ryuji says.

Goro leans over to Ann “Wait he does?”

“Yep,” Ann whispers back.

Yusuke pouts. “The peel tastes the best when you eat it at the same time as the pulp!”

“You’re not supposed to eat the peel!” Morgana responds.

“If I’m not supposed to eat it, then why is it edible.”

“Just because eating it won’t kill you doesn’t mean you should eat it!”

“We’re not having this argument again.” Ann sighs. “Yusuke will you trust us? We promise, we’re not going to hurt you.”

“Alright.” Yusuke says after a moment. “So I’m a teenager. How do I go back to being a teenager?”

“We don’t know.” Futaba says. “You kind of ran away before we could get a good grasp on your condition.”

That rattling of chains echoes through the halls.

“Oh so it is here.” Yusuke muses. He points behind him. “Anyway yeah, the stairs are down there if you want to continue this conversation.”