2025-08-15: Scarface
- Log: Scarface
- Cast: Junya Kaneshiro, Niko Kirisaki, Jin Shirato, Tatsuya Sudou, Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Haru Okumura, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima, Shinjiro Aragaki, Katsuya Suou, Myunghon Yeo, Akihiko Sanada, Yukari Takeba, Umie Akabane, Shinobu Shimizu, So-young Park
- Where: Kaneshiro's Palace
- OOC Date: August 15, 2025
- IC Date: June 26, 2012
- Summary: Rumors about a new Palace surfaced: a flying bank. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts know it belongs to Junya Kaneshiro. They and others explored it, and the Phantoms are about to secure their Infiltration Route. ...But Kaneshiro's Shadow has some hired guards. The Phantom Thieves encounter Strega -- but the rumors about Kaneshiro's Palace has led Persona Users outside of the Phantoms to /also/ be here, and be able to help.
<Pose Tracker> Junya Kaneshiro has posed.
Kaneshiro's Palace is a monument to gluttony.
Oh, yes, one might be inclined to call it a monument to greed -- but that's only a surface level reading. Gluttony is the desire of excess -- and not just in food. The excess of money; the piggy banks everywhere, the huge stacks of cash, the way everyone is seen as a literal ATM machine. Money is simply the excess that Junya Kaneshiro consumes.
The excess, too, comes in the form of allies.
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts have worked their way to the very bottom of the Palace. They've gotten through the entrance area, then past each lock in succession. The difference with this Palace is that others have found it too.
Morgana looks back at the other Phantoms. His masked face turns, a grin splitting it. "I think... there might be another Will Seed ahead!"
He starts to hurry towards the central elevator, in the center of the massive underground vault. The room that is, itself, a lock -- though now unlocked.
YESTERDAY -- DARK HOUR
Daisuke Yamashiro adjusted his suit collar, nervously, as he stepped inside of the darkened alley on Port Island, near Iwatodai Station. He hadn't set this meeting up -- his boss had -- but that meant he had to not mess up.
He looked at the members of Strega, then lifted up the briefcase. "We're paying you," he said, "to protect a target. The problem is... he doesn't -- and can't -- know that you're protecting them."%rThe seemingly non-descript salaryman's eyes gleam, before he adjusts his glasses. "...Ever hear of a Palace?"
NOW -- KANESHIRO'S PALACE
Morgana runs forward -- and then he shrieks in the way only a cat can, as a bullet shoots down from the top of one of those curving walls. Then, the ground in front of them shimmers, and a black ooze bursts forth.
A Shadow, taking form.
Initially, it is a large, blue uniformed security guard, though with a mask. "INTRUDERS!" he yells. "Stop! Because we have hired..."
His black eyes fix on the Phantoms. "...contractors."
There are others in this Palace. And while they might have wondered if they've taken the right path -- they have an answer now. A gunshot. A shriek of a cat. (He's not a cat!)
And then a ROAR.
The security guard's mask is blasted away, as shadow explodes up the Shadow. Then, he assumes the form of a lithe, black humanoid with a horse head -- wearing a red bowl hat, and with a red cloak. One arm ends in a wicked, bladed claw.
BGM: Persona 5 - Blooming Villain - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aShp3H7xiU
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
YESTERDAY
Before anyone else could even say a word, Niko Kirisaki's hand shot up. "Oooh, me, let me go! Sounds like they're expecting all kinds of fun, I want in!"
Nobody could argue that the punk-styled junior Strega member would be unsuitable for a job like this. Guard duty doesn't take a whole lot of thinking. And if they're expecting trouble, she is absolutely the most keen among them to take on any and all comers directly. This is solidly among the best options in which she can pull her weight.
NOW
Shortly after the gunshot, there's another loud noise, a shrill sound echoing throughout the room. A whistle...?
"Hold it right there!"
Calmly and confidently, Niko strides forward to face the approaching intruders. Not everyone may yet be aware of exactly who she is, but that toned body she's showing off alone is probably plenty to infer that she's here to be The Muscle.
...She's also wearing a Tokyo Police cap. It looks genuine. Where'd she get that? Is that really important? What's important here is--
"You're all under arrest~"
Wait no, that's just Niko being Niko. Who, after her dramatic declaration, just casually tosses the whistle and then the cap aside, snickering.
"Just kidding! I'm not even a real police officer!"
At least she admits that much, not that anyone could possibly have been fooled, given the everything else she's wearing. She looks more dressed for a rave than anything else, but that's how she always dresses.
She proceeds to single out one particular face in the crowd, waving cheerfully at Shinjiro. "Oh, Shin-chan! You came all this way to play with me? I'm so happy!"
Dropping back into full casual mode, she puts her arms behind her head. "So sorry, all y'all, but we got paid good money for this, so I gotta bring the pain! Wasn't told to kill ya though, so if you wanna run, now's your chance."
With a grin, she adds, "You know. If you're chicken."
<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.
Jin facepalms at his Niko's introduction. How did he wind up getting paired with this musclehead again? And where was Takaya, anyway. It wasn't fair that he was the one that always had to babysit her.
Though... she had kind of saved his butt last time. Not that Jin would actually admit it aloud. But he did have the decency to bring Niko a convenience store bento when he picked one up for himself the night after. That was probably the closest thing that Jin came to a 'thank you' these days.
"You still have the chance to turn tail," Jin says, juggling one of his grenades (hey, where did that come from)? "It's probably best that you did."
<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.
The Old Maid steps out from behind the security guard opposite of Niko, and gives a wave. Particularly he notices Mona and gives an extra wave with wiggling fingers towards the mascot of the thieves. It absolutely was not because he was getting paid to take revenge that he showed up tonight.
Looking at Niko, Sudou chuckles, "You should have kept it on. It is only proper that the police stop criminals and that is what we are doing tonight. " Looking at those who have appeared he laughs before shouting, "That's right kiddies! Tonight we are the good guys!" The joke makes the Joker Killer cackle a bit as he finds it humorous.
"Anyways, I disagree with my colleague, we are absolutely here to kill you all. Just for some of y'all it may be more painful than others."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
The Phantoms have secured the infiltration route to Kaneshiro's Treasure. However, after a violent run-in with the Joker Killer, the team has agreed: it would be smart to get stronger, together, so they're fully ready for anything Shadow Kaneshiro might pull when they send the calling card and go in for the steal.
There's also the Will Seeds--Jose has a particular interest in those, and so Joker has a particular interest in those--especially since there's only so many per Palace. Mona's been acting a little weird today, breaking off from the group and coming back and breaking off... He'd mentioned that he had a "surprise" for everyone, so he's playing along for now.
But as they approach where the Will Seed is supposed to be, a gunshot comes down, nearly striking their not-a-cat companion. Joker is instantly on alert, whipping around towards the 'contractors' and the Shadow guard that rises up to block their way.
He narrows his eyes behind his domino mask as Officer Niko approaches. A cop, here? Seriously? ...No, not seriously, as it turns out. Joker doesn't laugh along with the joke either way. That's because the Joker Killer is here with them too... and some guy in glasses. Not to mention a whole HUGE crowd of other folks, now gathering together.
He remains stoically silent, even as Jin tells them they ought to run--especially as the Old Maid says, nah, they're all going to die. Joker looks over his shoulder at his friends and nods. There is a message in his masked eyes: they're not getting driven away like this.
Though if this was Mona's surprise, he's going to be very annoyed.
The guard Shadow ROARS as it transforms, that mask blasting away--about to strike Mona!
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.
The Guard's claw is only inches away from meeting Mona's fur - before a blast of psychokinetic energy sends him briefly stumbling back, and Morgana scampering away with his life. "Defender of this palace, your time is over... for Beauty Thief shall strike you down!" Are the words that come from a girl's voice, its owner slowly stepping forward donned in a black mask to face Mona and the rest of the group. "How did that sound, Mona-chan?"
Morgana catches his breath, caught off-guard by both the Shadow and Haru's arrival at the same time. "You sounded, uh... great, Beauty Thief! But this guy's a serious threat, and we're surrounded by criminals and murderers. Are you ready for this?" He sounds concerned, and looks back at the rest of the Phantoms. Evidently, this must be the surprise he'd spoken of.
Mona is right - this is dangerous work even for more experienced Persona-users like himself. But Haru felt that if she didn't do something, they'd all be in trouble. "The best way to learn is by doing, right? I'm not alone... I can do this!" She turns to the rest of the group. "Let's fight together! If you're true Phantom Thieves... show me you won't be outshined by the alluring Beauty Thief!" It's an act - 100% an act.
"I'll explain later!" Mona promises. "Let's get 'em!"
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
So far, this little sojourn into the Flying Bank of Kaneshiro has been progressing well. Fox and Queen's Shadow-hunting competition has been proceeding as one might expect - whenever one of them manages to gain a lead, the other manages to catch up shortly afterwards. Spirits are high as Mona spots another Will Seed and starts to rush towards it -
- GUNSHOT -
Instantly Fox darts to cover, blade drawn and ready as he assesses the threat that's just presented itself. The Shadows here have hired contractors? What does that -
The answers quickly present themselves: A punk girl accessorising with a police hat and whistle, who asks if they're chicken despite the obvious animal motifs on his and Ann's Phantom Thief outfits... a boy with glasses and is that a grenade...
... And a familiar figure wearing a paper bag over his head.
Their leader's stony silence as the Joker Killer threatens all their lives (in stark contrast to the way the other two say they can run) speaks volumes. From his position, Fox glances to their Joker and to Queen, and wordlessly indicates that he's going to split off to confront the so-called Old Maid. However, the Shadow guard transforms, the strange clawed horse-demon lunging towards Mona --
Things happen very quickly in short order -
"... 'Beauty Thief'?" Fox blinks. "... While I commend your aesthetics, that epithet is going to need work."
Mona is safe, for the moment, so Fox vaults his cover, stepping to the front of the Phantom Thieves' lineup and raising his katana to point towards the Old Maid. "Ironic, for a serial killer to claim he's on the side of justice - especially one with such an odious presentation."
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
BEFORE
Everything was going great!
"Yay!"
ONLY SLIGHTLY BEFORE BUT STILL TECHNICALLY BEFORE
And then it wasn't!
"Oh no?!"
THAT'S THE EXTENT OF THE FLASHBACK
because Ann's coming to a boot-squealing stop in the present day, mere moments after a sudden and unexpected gunshot ricochets WAY TOO CLOSE to their precious (not-)cat companion. Her yelp of dismay comes on the heels of her head doing a twintail-snapping turn towards the source of the violence, only to find--
-- COPS?!
no wait it's clearly just a like gyaru girl in a cop hat
Still though, "What the heck!?"
Panther's hand is already at her side, a blue flare manifesting her whip at her hip as the Shadow Security boss starts to gloat. Sky blue eyes narrow. And then widen like saucers at that familiar face - or bag - among them. Joker is a master of stoicism. Panther...
"Oh crap...!"
Really is not.
But she has other qualities! Like the fact that her surprise and fear are instantly snapping back towards bold defiance like a rubberband. Or how she's narrowing her eyes in determined readiness as the others reveal themselves and tell them they better run. Or even--
You know. If you're chicken.
-- the grand way she rolls her eyes and sarcastically offers up, "Oh please. Does that line even work on anyone over the age of 13??"
she resists the urge to side-eye skull just in case she wants to but they can't they need to present a united front here
Still, though. This is bad. She's already considering how to make an opening so they can just get -out- of here -- this is not the mission, after all -- when she hears that gunshot, again. Eyes widen. She moves.
"MONA--!"
Too late--!
Ann's on her second step towards a rush that will never begin when a psychedelic flash of color intercedes between her and her mark. The cat burglar goes into a stumbling stop, arms kinda-sorta-flailing in the motion. "Wh-what??" she exclaims (and/or squeaks), looking aside towards their cavalry, their savior, their--!
Defender of this palace, your time is over... for Beauty Thief shall strike you down! How did that sound, Mona-chan?
"..."
Panther just sort of stares for five solid seconds as Mona goes back and forth with Mysterious Beauty Thief X. She's still staring, just a little blankly, as she turns to address them all with that bold (??) kind of embarrassing (!!) declaration.
One more second passes before Ann scratches her cheek and looks aside. "O-okay...?" Two more seconds pass.
"Did you really just call yourself a Beauty Thief--?"
The wind is just -- completely taken out of her sails. Is this the allure of the Beauty Thief--?!
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
The Queen's time with the Phantoms has so far been a trial by fire- one that she's been rising to meet with eagerness. However, the opportunity to work on their teamwork while *not* under fire from entities like the Joker Killer is an opportunity not to waste. She can only imagine things will get tougher from here, and having everyone on the same page for stealing Kaneshiro's heart is important.
Also it is vitally important that she does not let Fox creep ahead on the tally.
She's not sure what Mona is playing at- initially theorizing that he was teaching them about teamwork under communication difficulties or something, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Instead, she's focusing on doing her part. Even if the appearance of the Will Seeds is deeply unpleasant. "Mona, hold on-"
And then a gunshot rings out, and Queen is seeking where it came from. Above. Kaneshiro's beefing up security.
Then, a whistle, and that draws Queen's attention. Contractors. A girl, a young man- and the Old Maid himself. The fact that they're encountering the Joker Killer so soon after fighting him- the fact that he's in the palace- is worrying. Is he hunting them?
The problem is, the Phantoms are surrounded and penned in. While the contractors are on the walls of the giant lock, it's much harder for them to escape an ambush like this-
And then, suddenly, here comes the cavalry, saving Morgana's skin perhaps literally. And it's... one hell of an entrance, and they appear, at least, to be friendly. Or at least not an enemy, and Makoto wishes she had more than a second or two to absorb what's going on.
In that moment an opening is created, and it seems a shocking number of *other* Persona users are here. Most of them, however, don't seem to be Phantom Thieves. "...What's going on?" Her question is thrown to Joker. She knew there were other Persona users on paper, but it's different to see them, here, in a Palace.
But that's all the time she can spare to the idea. Is she why Mona was running off? Still, the promise of later explanation will have to do- especially since the Beauty Thief has just thrown down the gauntlet, as it were.
Fox communicates a lot with just a head tilt and intent. "Be careful, Fox. If you can't hold him off, make sure you get away. Panther, you and I will back up Joker and the Beauty Thief." She walks forward standing at her full height. She finally addresses the shadow and three enemy Persona users. "Just remember that you made the choice to get in our way here. I'm fine with my way forward being through you." Despite her lack of volume, Queen's voice is intense, with an anger waiting to erupt, casting a look at the Shadow like it's a bug to be squashed rather than an opponent. "And I don't mind sending what's left of you back to your boss as a message!"
Where the Beauty Thief is glamour and style, Queen is a force of violence wrapped in spikes and darkness. "The winner is the one who lands the killing blow, then?" She asks, to set the rules for the challenge the Beauty Thief has given them.
Sorry, Fox. The Shadow Killing Contest may no longer be exclusive.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
It's been a rough few weeks. Between Akihiko, Mitsuru, the Joker Killer, and such, Shinjiro's had trouble focusing on any one thing. But Myunghon's plight has him here, to stop Kaneshiro from destroying Hirasaka block by block.
The group made it down the elevator, and Shinjiro was still carrying his Shibuya Stop Sign, preparing to fight whatever lies ahead and regroup with the rest of the Benny's Party.
But before they could proceed... HORSE!
And... Strega?!
Shinjiro's eyes ignore the horse. They don't really lock onto the Phantoms, even with their new ally drama (Beauty Thief?!). They latch onto *every* member of Strega instead. Jin gets a tch because fighting your drug dealer always sucks, Niko gets a grimace as she rudely calls him out with that moniker, and the Joker Killer...
They have personal business to deal with.
But this isn't the time to capture the Joker Killer. He has allies, and it's too crowded to get any information. So instead, Shinjiro turns to Niko, stepping forward.
"Niko, get out of here. That's my only warning." Despite the fact she's clearly a dangerous Strega, his voice is... more compassionate than you'd expect... and he's using first name yobisute?!
Still holding onto that sympathy, but also, last time they met she had a knife. That sticks with you.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
What Katsuya knows about Palaces is quite scattered, indeed. Even for the experienced among Darkside's users, 'Palaces' are it seems a new phenomenon: the most that he could learn had been from Baofu himself. He himself had only seen one for the first time in May, following a distortion he'd 'felt' from kilometers away. Yet he hadn't gone far into the place. But why did an officer want to know that, the man had asked?
As Katsuya had said to Umie, he'd seen posts from those identifying themselves as (or at least claiming to be) Strega on the boards. If what Umie had told him was true about Strega allying themselves with #501... then they've definitely, with the help of others on the boards, worked out how to get into a Palace, and likely #501 as well. Baofu might be more of a pragmatist about this sort of thing (Katsuya is still struggling with how he feels about that -- isn't this aiding and abetting?), but... doesn't it mean that they should also be looking into what a Palace is, too?
By now, the rumor has taken effect. It's possible for those not as 'attuned' as someone like the webmaster of Darkside to locate a Palace that has formed-- assuming, among many other things, one knows whose Palace it is. By now, it's just about common knowledge in the right circles (however small those circles might be).
"So this is what a Palace looks like."
It also rather suggests what Junya Kaneshiro's psyche looks like. A world where people are walking ATMs, where the form of the Palace itself takes the form of a bank... Getting in isn't easy. Neither is getting through the halls of the Palace. But at the bottom, eventually, they arrive.
"--Is that a cat?" To his credit, he doesn't sneeze (yet), but the sound of a catlike scream is unmistakable. ...As are the gunshots. Katsuya draws his own sidearm, until-recently holstered following his last altercation with one of the strange denizens of the Palace (it hadn't gone well) and proceeds at pace towards the sound of the disturbance. Even though his sight soon falls upon the form of the Shadow barring the way and those arrayed before it (is one of those figures familiar...?), another disturbance presents itself.
There are other people here, and they are serving to similarly block the path.
Yet, it's upon Niko whom Katsuya's immediate attention falls. He points a finger at her.
"Impersonating a police officer?! Under Article 246, that's fraud!" He looks quite mad about this for all of the few moments that pass until Niko tosses both cap and whistle aside. ...Well, he still looks mad, but also a little disappointed. His gaze snaps across the others who are gathered here, catching, as the young man tosses it casually in hand, the grenade in Jin's possession.
"And that's in violation of the Explosives Control Law! Explain yourself!" ...is this really the time for that though...
But neither of them, despite their law-breaking ways, are the ones that can hold his attention. Not even the presence of that enormous Shadow, or the ones facing it down can fully hold Katsuya's attention. Not when he's here.
He'd recognize that feeling again in a heartbeat alone: that trembling crawl that makes its way unbidden down his spine. The sense that something isn't right. But here the man is in the flesh, and he is unmistakable.
"#501!" Katsuya roars, pointing his gun right at the man with the paper bag mask. "So the rumor was true! Put down your weapon at once! You're under arrest!" The fact that he keeps his firearm trained on the Joker Killer suggests that he doesn't expect him to put down his weapon, though.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon Yeo -- Rumourmonger Merry -- is one of those others that have infiltrated the Palace. They're here because Junya Kaneshiro messed with Hirasaka, and it turns out... that's the wrong neighbourhood to mess with. It's been an incredibly difficult journey to get through here, through driving around trying to find the right place where their senses cause them to feel incredibly sick, to trying to figure out the right keyword for the palace, and also Takeba requesting (reasonably) that they actually get some calories in them before the trip in the form of a half of a Benny's hamburg steak...
And not just that. They nearly died just now -- and were saved by their sister, So-young Park, awakening to their Persona. They had no time to gawk, however -- they had to keep going, because they were still in the belly of the Palace, and though Myunghon would really like to find an exit and secure their infiltration route...
It looks like that hope's going to be dashed for now.
"Everyone!" Myunghon calls, noting the other members from Benny's (they really need a better title) that they were split from. They're really quite glad that they were able to filter on in again... though in the commotion-- shoot, where did Vesper go? Did they get separated... or did he slip away at the last moment when they weren't looking?
By the time they arrive to the centre of the vault, a confrontation is already well underway -- between a massive phantom that's transformed into a creature of red, and... those are Persona-Users. Were they here to deter them? Niko's acting as if she's a cop, but her rave outfit doesn't have Myunghon fooled even for a minute. Still, coming face to face with other people within a Palace is new territory for them. They were paid money... mercenaries? No, they're not as formal-looking at that--
Oh, Shin-chan! You came all this way to play with me? I'm so happy! Niko calls Shinjiro out.
"You know these people, Shinjiro-ssi?" Myunghon looks mildly surprised at Shinjiro. Their eye is locked onto Jin for a moment longer, trying to size up each of their capabilities. That thought is disrupted in an instant when... when...
The Old Maid appears.
"O-Old Maid...!" Myunghon looks alarmed. "Why is the Joker Killer here?!" They're clearly distressed and alarmed by this turn of events -- the Old Maid has allies, plain enough to see, and they're also capable and knowledgeable about Palaces. This spoke a lot to the network that assisted them, but it also raised more questions -- not to mention escalated the threat they were all in. Katsuya's appearance where #501 goes makes sense -- but they're in quite the danger here.
But enemies aren't the only factor that've entered the vault -- there's also a group of other Persona-Users that don't appear to be allied with the Old Maid. Ren -- the other Joker -- garbed in a striking dark coat and mask, with his companion Morgana, a... talking cartoon cat?
"Watch out--!!" Myunghon calls for Joker and Mona, as they spot the Shadow about to strike the latter, but--!! The Guard is deflected by a blast of psychokinetic energy from... Beauty Thief?! It seems they're associated with one another. But Haru also speaks of how they're - Phantom Thieves...? Panther, just as striking in red, follows suit, bantering with the rest of the team. Queen, in turn, is an iron-clad enforcer, though she appears to be startled at the rest of their appearance. And Fox, evoking classic Noh theatre, but also armed with a deadly blade...
Are these... -the- Phantom Thieves of Hearts?
It didn't surprise Myunghon that there were other infiltrators, but the timing -- and how they'd all been lead to the exact same place to be ambushed by the Old Maid -- had their paranoid mind spinning. Was this Vesper's doing? No, don't jump to conclusions -- others are missing still too. They can't account for Kazama anywhere right now, despite the fact that she was with them.
There's so many unaccounted-for variables, and Myunghon is already mortified at the idea Shinjiro might just immediately lunge for the Old Maid.
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
It's been a while since Akihiko has stretched his legs - and truthfully he was rather excited after Shinjiro filled him in real quick on what was going on. Whatever that was going on in Sumeru. And then Takaba-san was constantly sneaking out towards Sumeru. So, the young man ever so subtly decided to invite himself along for the ride. Other Persona users, huh? It sounded like a fine challenge! And a good chance to expand his understanding the world.
What he discovers is a surprising group of strange Persona users, a talking cat, inside a freakish bank that reeks of the greed hidden within human hearts. Or, at least, a human heart. It's almost frustrating how greedy this bank is. Regardless, pushing away the invading feelings of greed, Akihiko rushes to catch up to his friend and fellow SEES Member.
Although Akihiko is coming in with limited information here, any cause Takeba-san and Shinji are willing to take up is something he's willing to take up too, even if he doesn't particularly know much about Hirasaka, nor the particular community leader. Regardless, he comes up next to Shinji and gives his childhood friend a side look.
"Oh? Friend of yours?" Akihiko says with a smirk as the cop who should be at the club points Shinji out by - not just name, but a nickname. He smacks his fists together. "I'm with you, 'Shin-chan'!" He can't help but snicker a bit.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
A lot of boys at Gekkoukan read Yukari Takeba as a Material Girl. After all, she's fashionable, keeps up to date with all the styles and trends. But that too, is a surface level read.
If she were merely a material girl, then why has she turned down so many guys? Why hasn't she asked Mitsuru Kirijo for money even once?
Excess. It really doesn't impress her much. Guys like this who wave their money around. She's keeps up with style and fashion for herself, as the mask with which she presents herself to the world as self-confident, in control. It's not for anyone but herself.
This place to her is...
"Disgusting." Guys like Kaneshiro who throw their money and power around like a bludgeon? She hates that, but she also doesn't know what can even be done about it?
What are they planning to do here? She came with Merry and Shinjiro because she wanted to figure out more of the Supernatural World beyond what Mitsuru and the Chairman are willing to share with her. Maybe the more she knows, the closer she'll get to figuring out what they're hiding.
It's only when they all cross paths after coming down from the elevator and screech to a stop that she hears the CONFRONTATION in progress...
"Contractors?" She seems taken aback by the colorful crew that's gathered here, "Wait who are all of you?! And uhhhh-" Her eyes fall upon Panther's catsuit, Queen's's spiky outfit... Joker's Domino MaskCoatRed Glove combination... Fox's Mask and Tail, as her tone shifts to being low key confused, "And what's with those costumes?"
Yukari, Ixquic and Merry were with you infiltrating this place! Except it's one thing to have a few people in the crew like that, and to see a whole crew like they're going to a cosplaying convention.
'You're all under arrest~'
"Oh no! Waitttttt a minute-" She squints, then gets taken aback, "-You're that girl from the Arcade! The Killer!" Ririka told her about that, though a little too late for Yukari's liking. Either way, she looks towards Shinjiro in suspicion, "Do you two know each other?" Which, gets her a glimpse of Katsuya-
"Well that's... perfect timing Officer?"
But he's not alone, as he has companions and- Yukari looks towards Jin and Sudou with the Paper Bag on his head, "Really not beating the cosplay accusations..." She says as if Jin himself was dressed in a cosplay outfit with his military gear. Merry though identifies him, "Old Maid? Huh? He's... pretty clearly a guy." She says to Merry in confusion as Akihiko shows up, "Huh!? Senpai!? When'd you get here?"
Yukari seems astounded though as Jin and Niko give them a chance to run, "Uh wait- you're not here to kill us?" 'We are absolutely here to kill you all.' "Oh come on- What's with these mixed messages!? Anyway-" She turns to face Niko's accusation headon, "-I'm not chicken!"
'Does that line even work on anyone over the age of 13?'
Yukari suddenly gets hit by every teenager's truest vulnerability, public embarrassment.
"... Wow that actually really hurts." She says in a reflective tone, "A girl in a catsuit just called me childish..." Now the despair and awkwardness is just permeates her tone as she looks away, "... without even really directing it my way."
And then Beauty Thief takes the stage, defending that... weird cat!? (What!?) and says her title, several times-
"Beauty thief?" She repeats it seemingly in disbelief, "What kind of a name is that...?"
Thief, thief, thief... and suddenly it's like an array of light bulbs from Shujin High School Host Club just lit up brightly, as Yukari has her 'Eureka' moment, and recoils physically!
"Wait a second, are all of you the Phantom Thieves?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
The sound of a shrieking cat echoes in the hallway as Umie's group (wait, was Umie the leader? Umie, did you even ask, you are terrible at this) exits their elevator.
A million thoughts and connections fire off in Umie's mind. Cat in Palace->Cat in Mementos->Cat-shaped Phantom Thief Who Saved her->CAT BURGLAR, oh of course, she gets it now->Cat Burglar is named Mona->Mona is with Detective-san, aka Joker->Katsuya's allergies acted up when they first met Joker (they did not know he was Joker)->_Mona was there when she and Katsuya met Joker_->Mona is in trouble->GO TO MONA GOGOGO
"I'm going towards that sound!" Umie says to her group, before rushing away at a quick pace. (Unfortunately, what Umie didn't think of is that Badb's abilities apply to both friend and foe; once she's far enough away, it's very easy to lose her.)
Katsuya was more right than he realized, when Umie and he met; Strega is not only accessed Mementos, they're *here*.
As are the Phantom Thieves. As is she.
And Badb's shroud has Umie in control of her entrance. (It'd be a good chance to signal to the others to help the Phantom Thieves, wouldn't it?)
It would be.
"_This is for his motorcycle, asshole_!" starts a voice of someone who is now quite noticable, suddenly, attempting to barrel towards Jin with a burning fury of a million tutor-senseis.
......
'Tonight we are the good guys!'
Umie's feet might as well have turned into wood, as her forward momentum goes as nimble as a bird to numb as a rock. Her previous bravado when he came for her is not there; a few sleepless nights have made her forget how she felt when she saw the entrance the Phantom Thieves made.
And she panicks.
".... Get... AWAY!" Badb answers her call, manifesting above her crouched form, unleashing a mass of dark energy.
She hasn't noticed Yusuke, or Katsuya; she looks over towards Myunghon, and shouts, attempting to get ahead of the confusion:
"Joker Killer's with Strega, that group of masked people were the ones who saved me from him! _We need to help them_!"
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Mudo on Tatsuya Sudou!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
"Seriously." Shinobu mutters her agreement to Yukari, as she condemns Kaneshiro and his excess. The group had gotten split up while exploring Kaneshiro's Palace, but thankfully, the paths eventually rejoin.
"Boss! ...Good, looks like everyone's accounted for. Didn't expect to be split up like that." Shinobu calls out, as Myunghon appears and calls out in turn. She also notices...
"And, uh... you came out with an extra...? Did you guys make it through alright?" Shinobu asks, as they start to move ahead as one group, now. There's someone here who wasn't with them one they came in... And unfortunately, the Palace security is well aware of their presence - as they meet up near the central elevator, they find themselves face to face with a security guard... as well as his hired help.
"They even got the goddamn Joker Killer... How'd they swing that?" Shinobu mutters. Whose name did they call to make that happen? Or is this just a freebie? ...Does he do freebies?
"...They're the ones who attacked Kasugayama." Shinobu asides for Myunghon's benefit. And then...
They aren't the only ones here. There's a gang in elaborate costumes, too, as well as a...
"'Beauty Thief'?" Shinobu repeats. ...Her entrance is elaborate enough for a name like that, she supposes.
...Time to focus up now, though - there's dangerous opponents ahead of them.
She shakes her head at Jin's suggestion to turn tail.
"Nah. I owe you guys for last time... but it looks like the creepy axe chick isn't here, so you're just gonna have to take her share, four-eyes." Shinobu replies. She reaches for her duffel bag, drawing out her staff and brandishing it. She knows she's playing a dangerous game, antagonizing him. He's got the firepower to back up his threat. She glances toward Myunghon, nodding quietly - and then at So-young, who she assumes will be right there with them.
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
So-young is beaming. She hasn't stopped in a while. She probably shouldn't be.
Buoyed forwards by the electrifying sensation of a brand new Resonance, the conductor is clearly in that state where she's too busy riding the high of adrenaline and power and hasn't yet had to pay attention to the exhaustion that threatens to claim her the moment she stops. Not that she looks in danger of stopping any time soon - her eyes are wild and alive, moreso even than normal. She looks unprepared, having been pulled into this Metaverse without any warning - she's not hiding her face, isn't geared up in any way, her dress is definitely more for showing off around Shibuya than crawling around a Palace - but she holds herself with a supreme confidence anyway.
She'd be lying if she didn't attribute at least a little of what was moving her to a righteous sort of anger at Kaneshiro, a feeling that's been crawling through her veins ever since she meet the man - but honestly, her driving momentum is the raw excitement and glee at the world she's suddenly found herself thrust into. She can feel the presence of her Persona wrapping around her like armor, the sensation nearly lifting her off her feet into flight.
It's already more than clear to anyone halfway experienced that her exhilaration is likely to end up a double-edged sword. It's the look of someone who hasn't yet realized they have stepped both feet forwards into a much more complicated world - someone who hasn't yet had to confront the fact that they nearly just died or come to an even worse fate, let alone fully understood the ramifications of standing against members of Strega or Kaneshiro's power.
Racing after Myung-hon, it's not even _super_ clear at first whether So-young actually registers that there's other humans standing in their way and alongside them, her gaze set more towards a distant horizon that only she can see. It takes her a few moments to even pull to a stop, nearly blasting right past her half-sibling before she plants one foot heavily and uses it to ground herself.
"... oh?" she blinks at the sight of the Phantom Thieves, and only now does she seem to realize that maybe it would have been wiser to at least drape something over her face. She finds herself grinning anyway. "Very chic! Love the energy. Have you considered the Takarazuka Revue? You'd be perfect."
Forcing herself into the aside does seem to ground her a little, pull her back to the moment as she turns towards the members of Strega facing them down. So-young is sadly completely lacking when it comes to evaluating her opponents - she's the polar opposite of Myunghon in many ways, and that apparently includes a lack of forethought and introspection as she simply and slowly draws a long breath in and out.
"'Boss'? Exactly how many kids do you have as employees? You'd better be giving them adequate compensation," she adds without any bite to it, beaming back towards Shinobu with an expression that says she's going to have many, many questions for Shinobu later - any chance to dig further into Myunghon and those orbiting the Rumormonger is clearly something she's going to chase up, especially after the day she's had diving through the Metaverse.
Looking back up towards Jin, she breaks into a warm smile that doesn't meet her eyes. "I do apologize for the trouble, but for your convenience I do have to kindly request that you go pleasure yourself. That is how it works, yes? So long as you use soft words and decorum, you can bend or break others however you like?"
She sweeps her right arm to one side in an elegant wave, then brings her hand down to slowly raise it higher, palm upwards as if willing an orchestra that only she can hear into a slow but building overture. Above her, her Persona - an ornithopther-shaped collection of spindly metal arcs and wooden slats making a frame held together by linens and feathers - belies its fragile looks as it soars high above her.
<Pose Tracker> Junya Kaneshiro has posed.
Kumbhanda, the Shadow, roars. It looks towards Niko, then at Jin,and then at the Old Mad. The Shadow's slightly glowing golden eyes blink, before he looks back at the Phantom Thieves.
And then at the Beauty Thief. He tilts his horrible horse head at her, quizzically.
Then breathes steam through his nostrils.
The horse-headed Shadow slams its bladed claw-arm into the ground. This causes a ripple in the air around it. Then, towards the Beauty Thief, Joker, Panther, and Queen, a wave of crackling Shadow explodes outward. It comes, first, as a blur of violet light. It takes a more coherent form before striking, though, and turns into a fiery blast -- but made of shadowstuff instead.
"The boss won't tolerate people who won't PAY WHAT THEY OWE!"
AS: Persona! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Dark skill Maeiha on Ren Amamiya, Haru Okumura, Makoto Niijima, and Ann Takamaki! AS: Avoid Best! Ren Amamiya takes 10 Dark damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Maeiha. Resist! AS: Avoid Worst! Ann Takamaki takes 89 Dark damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Maeiha. Critical Hit! AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Mudo on Tatsuya Sudou! AS: Block Worst! Tatsuya Sudou takes 111 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Mudo. Critical Hit! AS: Panic added! AS: Avoid Worst! Haru Okumura takes 89 Dark damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Maeiha. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Best! Makoto Niijima takes 34 Dark damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Maeiha.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
At the last second, a psychokinetic blast diverts the Guard, allowing Mona time to get away. And the source of that attack is... Beauty Thief? Joker stares, nonplussed, at the black-masked young woman who nobly announces herself and then asks Mona for notes.
"...Your surprise?" he asks Mona--but he says he'll explain later, and Joker nods once. To Beauty Thief herself, he quirks a half-smile. Whoever she is (and however audacious her naming sense), she's certainly got the attitude down pat. "We'll show you how it's done," he promises.
Queen asks what's going on. "Good question," he murmurs. It doesn't look like it's part of Mona's surprise. "But it looks like we're not the only ones with an interest in this Palace."
He catches Fox's eye and shares a nod with him and Queen. If any of them are going to break off to fight him, he's the logical choice--after all, his trength is the Old Maid's weakness. "Careful of the guy in the suit and shades. He's an actual cop," he warns him sotto voce before Fox vaults away. Granted, Fox could probably tell given that Katsuya is immediately yelling at people about breaking the law and trying to arrest the Old Maid, but it's the thought that counts.
Panther meanwhile is completely bewildered by 'Beauty Thief.' "Focus," he tells her, because he values his life too much to insinuate that maybe Panther wanted to be called Beauty Thief first. He nods at Queen as she suggests a plan--and chuckles at her suggested winning condition to the Beauty Thief.
It's nice that Umie remembers them and is insistent on helping--though she seems pretty terrified, very understandably so, given the Old Maid's presence. "Take care of yourself first," he calls to her. They might have driven the Old Maid off once, but Joker has no idea if that means she's actually safe or not. They didn't have a chance to talk about it afterwards. He glances next at Yukari, who demands to know who they are, and also what's up with their costumes, and--actually, are they all the Phantom Thieves?!
"...heh," he utters, smirking at her as he turns away to his Shadow foe. "And if we are?"
There isn't much point in being coy after Beauty Thief's self-introduction. Still, a proper phantom thief needs to play it cool--right, Mona?
Besides which, Kumbhanda clearly has no intent of letting them just stand around chatting for any longer. The horrible horse-headed Shadow slams the ground and sends out a wave of dark light to smash into them. Joker, recogizing his own element, backflips out of the way of the worst of it; by the time he lands, the portion of the attack that does make it to him does barely anything to his Arsène-empowered soul. His friends aren't so lucky, and he shoots them all sharp looks as they have much harder times of it. However, he keeps himself in check--he has to trust that they won't get taken out that easily.
"Funny, that. We won't tolerate his misbehavior, either," he replies coolly. He raises a red hand to his mask, which lights up in blue flame. "Arsène!!"
A great black-winged entity with a massive top hat and an eerie, macabre grin materalizes above him and gestured to the Shadow with a clawed hand. Their power will sap at Kumbhanda's speed--hopefully making it easier not just to avoid its attacks, but for Panther, Queen, and Beauty Thief to issue some well-deserved payback, too.
AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Almighty skill Sukunda on Junya Kaneshiro! ARCANA: Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.
Jin mentally commits each face -- at least whatever he can see of it -- to memory. Some are familiar. Others, not so much. Thankfully, hes got a guy on the inside tonight who owes Strega a little favor.
So Jin doesnt give away that he knows Shinjiro. He regards him with the same dismissive expression he gives everyone else.
Everyone except Katsuya, who he smiles smugly at when he lectures him about the legality of his weaponry. "Why don't you try and stop me?" he asks, juggling the grenade tauntingly.
But it doesn't take long for Katsuya's gaze to drift over to Sudou and Jin bristles at the snub. Why was everyone so obsessed with that guy, anyway? He's been killing people too -- and a lot more directly, on top of it. Did he need some stupid schtick for people to realize he was a threat?
Sudou hadn't grabbed just Katsuya's attention. Everyone's eyes seemed locked on him. That really pissed Jin off. And so did the barrage of insults being levied his way. First cosplay, then 'four-eyes'? He's getting insulted like he's a grade schooler! And did that girl just tell him to go fuck himself?
Okay, that's it. It was time to set everyone here straight. He's not about to be disrespected by a bunch of clueless punks like these!
"Moros!"
AS: Take! Junya Kaneshiro takes 0 Almighty damage from Ren Amamiya's Sukunda. AS: Spd_Dn added! AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Jin Shirato! AS: Take! Jin Shirato takes 0 Almighty damage from Jin Shirato's Tarukaja. AS: Atk_Up added!
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
You won't hear Niko complain about being teamed up with Jin. Or the Joker Killer. Or anyone else, really. She gets along well with everybody! Because she's decided she does. Her cognition won't be changed.
When Sudou tells her 'you should have kept it on', she blinks blankly. "Kept what on?" Yeah that hat's gone. Out of sight, out of mind, as is the Niko way. Doesn't matter, she'll laugh anyway when he does.
"Oh Ojisan, you make a TERRIBLE good guy, that's not how you're supposed to play one at all!" Look at him, he's just gonna go ahead and kill people anyway even though he's one of the good guys today, that's hilarious.
To Jin, she asides, "Oh look, there they are. Those Phantom people you keep going on about." She's not really involved with the business side of things, but she knows that he's been annoyed with them interfering with business. Nothing she's gonna lose sleep over, either way. She's just here to have fun. Speaking of!
"Tsk tsk tsk, were you not paying attention, Shin-chan?" she questions, wagging a finger. "I'm not leaving until I've had my fun."
Katsuya, evidently, is the anti-fun here, being the Actual Cop. That just makes her shrug, showing little in the way of concern, and much in the way of sarcasm. "Oh nooo, help, it's the po-po."
...she actually says it just like that, 'kei-kei', for keisatsu. Nobody does that. But she does. That's kind of Niko's whole thing, doing things no one else would.
Far more interesting to her is Akihiko's appearance, who also seems to know Shinjiro. "Oooh, who's your friend, Shin-chan? He looks ready to fight, that's more like it." She cracks her knuckles.
Yukari then identifies her as 'The Killer', which just causes Niko to jab her thumb at Sudou. "Nope, that's this guy, my name's Niko!" She blinks. "Hey wait. Hell yeah, it's Hell Girl! The hell are you doing here?" Hell is a fun word to say.
"Looks like the Cheater is here too," she muses calmly when Umie charges, and subsequently gets distracted. "Rude, make up your mind who you're gonna fight." She snickers at Shinobu insulting Jin, commenting, "She seems fun."
She only has so much patience though. Time to get this party started already. Reaching into her jacket, she picks the correct pocket in one go this time, drawing her Evoker. "All right, I've waited long enough, let's go!"
BGM: Unavoidable Battle (Niko ver.) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdY8dES2ug4
Niko steps forward, bringing the Evoker's barrel close to her mouth, taps it a few times, and clears her throat. What is she doing? Well, if you've never seen someone pretend an Evoker is a microphone before, you're about to. It may not magnify her voice at all, but it's loud enough as it is when she belts out a freestyle rap.
All my enemies gonna get ROCKED!
Like the way I rock the party 'til the doors are LOCKED!
My fists rise up - make you hurt a BUNCH!
When I hit you in the face with a SONIC PUNCH!
On the last syllable, she pulls the trigger. Shards of glass explode out the back of her head, and the giant blue-tinted head that is Ate appears wearing her usual blank expression. Though she has no visible arms, there are still spectral fists - manifesting out of thin air, flying towards Shinjiro, Akihiko and Yukari in sequence.
AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Strike skill Sonic Punch on Shinjiro Aragaki! ARCANA: Ruin: Niko Kirisaki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Strike skill Sonic Punch on Akihiko Sanada! AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Strike skill Sonic Punch on Yukari Takeba! AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 61 Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Sonic Punch. AS: Haze added! AS: Counter Best! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 71 Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Sonic Punch. AS: Haze added! AS: COUNTER! Niko Kirisaki takes 45 Strike damage in return for her attack! AS: Avoid Neutral! Akihiko Sanada takes 89 Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Sonic Punch. AS: Haze added! AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Fire skill Maragilao on Shinobu Shimizu, So-young Park, and Myunghon Yeo! AS: Block Best! Shinobu Shimizu takes 108 Fire damage from Jin Shirato's Maragilao. AS: Avoid Worst! Myunghon Yeo takes 132 Fire damage from Jin Shirato's Maragilao. AS: Avoid Neutral! So-young Park takes 198 Fire damage from Jin Shirato's Maragilao. Critical Hit! Weak!
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"As in -- the card game, Takeba-kun. Either way, be -very- careful with him," Myunghon definitely has an edge of tension to their voice, unable to joke about the Joker at a time like this. But Yukari also identifies the boy who greets Shinjiro, Akihiko. "A friend of both of yours...?"
Umie's a little more clued into the situation than they are. The Joker Killer is with Strega, and that group of masked people saved her from them... all right, clear enough. Strega... that's a current blind spot in their mill of intelligence, and they're going to have to look more into it. "All right. Akabane-san, we'll need to talk later."
Myunghon picks out Shinobu in the chaos, and steps closer -- "Shinobu-ssi! I'm so glad. I couldn't sense you or the others until now, so I thought the Palace had us hopelessly split." Shinobu points out some additional information -- Strega's the ones who attacked Kasugayama, on that day they were out. "Tsk... just how organised are they to be able to strike at real-world targets and Palaces...?"
They don't like finding out about this. The potential webs validated within the spiderweb of their mind juts make the conspiracy more threatening.
"Shinobu-ssi's not a kid, nuna," Myunghon points out to So-young, but there's similarly no bite back because their attention is currently split trying to keep track of all the dangers each of the members of Strega could pull on them. "We're about to go into active combat, nuna, so keep your wits about you!"
But before long, their attention has to be on Jin, even as So-young lays some smack talk upon him. Those grenades aren't just for show -- a part of their body's already feeling rather haunted by the idea of having to avoid shrapnel again. Don't worry, Jin, Myunghon thinks you're a threat already--
And you might know them too as a fellow Rumourmonger, because they're not particularly quiet as being Rumourmonger Merry.
Case in point, it isn't long until fire erupts within their vicinity as Moros rises, and Myunghon has to throw themself horizontal to stop, drop and roll as Cognitive flames set their Coat ablaze. "Ngh...! So-young!!"
"Do-- I at least get the pleasure of the name of he who's setting me on fire?" Myunghon inquires of Jin, as they weakly get to their knee and gathers power within themself. In a rising column of Blue, Kudlak -- an inky-black Shadow of a humanoid with white hair and red eyes -- emerges from within their Cognitive Coat, seamless with the jet-black fabric. "Suou-san, don't do anything rash just because you have your quarry in sight!"
It's now time to show their power--
"Criminal Raid!!"
With a dramatic pose and thrust of their hand, Coat fluttering behind them, Myunghon imbues So-young, Shinobu, Katsuya and themself with the cutthroat power... of crime!! There's that icky Crime-flavoured buff again! Are you going to protest, Officer Suou?! And is now the time?!
AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Almighty skill Criminal Raid on So-young Park, Shinobu Shimizu, Myunghon Yeo, and Katsuya Suou! AS: Take! Myunghon Yeo takes 0 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Criminal Raid. AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added! AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Criminal Raid. AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added! AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Criminal Raid. AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added! AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Criminal Raid. AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"I do," Shinjiro tells Myunghon when they ask if he knows them. "I'll explain later." His tone of voice is the kind that makes it seem like he doesn't *like* this fact.
Umie doesn't get a shout when she reveals that she was attacked by the Joker Killer... does Shinjiro already know?
His head quirks to Akihiko. He did tell him the gist of what was going on... guess he decided to show up. Should have expected that. "Tch, don't call me that." Shinjiro says, before immediately deciding if he should elbow Aki in the stomach for his crimes against humanity (or more specifically, crimes against Shinjiro).
Akihiko gets a stay of execution, however.
Because Yukari asks him the pressing question: do you know her? And he can't just say 'I'll explain later' again.
"Yeah. Her name's Niko Kirisaki. We travel in similar circles." He does not MEAN murder circles but it might be assumed as murder circles.
And then, Niko pulls out her Evoker. Shinjiro knew she'd have it... after all, Strega sold him his. Which only he and Akihiko currently knew.
And she turns it into a makeshift microphone?! Freestyle...
"Tch!" he shouts out as the fists come at him. Holding his sign closely, he rushes forth, taking the blows that batter him and slide him backward before swinging his sign once as a counterblow.
"Niko... if you want to have some fun, then fine. I'll keep you company until you get bored!"
His sign goes up to his shoulder, as he draws his Evoker, the one they gave him. "Persona!"
Shooting himself supernaturally in the temple, Castor surges forth, the skeleton with a spear in his chest and a hobby unicorn he's riding. He rams at Niko, trying to bash her as hard as possible and break her guard. Much like how when she hugged him... it won't be fun to take head-on!
In the end, though, he's glancing towards Aki. Need to keep him safe, too...
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
Ann Takamaki has -so- many questions in this moment. Even despite the presence of obvious deadly mercenaries and also THE SERIAL KILLER WHO ALMOST SERIAL KILLED THEM ALL THE OTHER DAY, the red-clad Panther is just sort of.
Lost, pondering the ephemeral nature of the beauty thief.
"Is this whole thing some kinda LARP deal...?"
Losing the frantic intensity of the moment, however, does surprising wonders for bringing clarity in other ways. Like, say, how there's, like, -eight other people in the Palace now-. It hits her when she hears someone lamenting her criticism behind her; frowning, Ann turns around, hand on her hip, intent to give them the downlow on bullies--
"Seriously? You can't rise to their tantruming! People like that are just sad, there's no reason you have to join them,"
whereupon she turns to look sincerely Yukari's way, "okay?"
Three seconds pass in which Ann digests the fact that she has never seen this strange teenager with attitude before in her -entire life- and there's like -so many others with her- and one of them -is barking out hot cop nonsense-!
"H-huh?!"
And so Panther recoils a whole half a step back, unfurling her fancy new whip and cracking it against the ground like a real bonafide catwoman. "Wh-who the heck are you people?! Did Kaneshiro seriously hire this many goons just to deal with us--!?" Wait. That doesn't make sense. For one, Kaneshiro shouldn't realize any of this exists. So how did these people even get hired??
A question Ann isn't equipped to grapple with right now -- not when there's much more relevant information to digest, like the fact that these people are... squaring off against the people attacking them? They're not cognitive; they can't be. Kaneshiro's cognitive people have a very distinct, very reprehensible look. These people are... they must be...
What the heck is going on here??
"Guys, this is -so- not normal," she asides to the other Phantom Thieves with a grimace. "I think that stuffy-looking guy is totally a cop, too...!"
Joker tells her to focus. Panther, who is absolutely -not- wishing she was named the Beauty Thief (she'd want a -dangerous- and -sexy- name like -- the Scarlet Outlaw! Or Red Le Femme Rouge! Or-- (yes this is just a long sequences of titles belonging to carmen sandiego)), just blinks; oh right. There's -violence afoot-.
"R-right--" she begins
just in time to learn the value of focus.
Violet light bursts into shadowflame. Ann lets out a strangled sound of surprise; she tries to get out of the way, but far too late, as shadowstuff hammers into her with an unexpected amount of force, sending her launching through the air.
Thanks to the good graces of the cognitive world, Panther shows an uncanny - catlike, perhaps - degree of flexibility that she never ever in a million years could in the real world as she recovers mid-air, bends and twists with a gymnast's grace -- and lands, only a -little- roughly, in a crouch, one hand bracing herself on the ground.
"... nngh... you... are -so-..."
The other? On her mask.
"You are SO COMPLETELY the least of my concerns right now!!"
The mask glows. And with a motion as if she were ripping it away from her face, blue flame ignites behind her, taking the fuchsia form of Carmen. The Persona grins that chaotic grin of her, cigar chomped betwixt clenched teeth. Her heart-eyed, heart-headed servitors float around her like they were caught in her orbit (and in her leashes) as she draws back, sucks on that eternal cigar --
"Go squealing back to your boss, you creep!"
-- and then puffs, smoke igniting into a great plume of flame to engulf Kumbhanda in.
"Joker," Ann begins -- but it's for -all- of them, really. "We might not wanna stick around here for too long, y'know, because of the--"
Ann tries to do a pantomime of a police officer, awkwardly beating someone with an invisible stick. It's.
Pretty bad.
But the point remains!
AS: Persona! Shinjiro Aragaki has used the Strike skill Bash on Niko Kirisaki! AS: Persona! Ann Takamaki has used the Fire skill Agi on Junya Kaneshiro!
<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.
The Old Maid looks at those who call him out as he picks his targets. First he is going to go after that damn fox boy and the cat girl. Is her outfit even appropriate for her to wear? Thats not important now, the important thing is that she dies by fire. Then of course there is Umie, she will be the last to pay, slowly, he was going to use her to beat the world record. As if a thousand papercuts were enough.
Everything is going to plan until he hears someone telling him to put down his weapon and that he is under arrest. "OH? Oh wait?! Are you an actual cop? " Sudou's grin is hidden by the paper bag but it is totally there. "Hey hey is this the guy?" Sudou asks, what one could only guess is his own shadow. Sudou peers more at Katsuya for a moment , tilting his head before it dawns on him. "Oh right, I know you! You were there with Maya. Is she here? That would make things easier!" Looking around he droops his head a bit as he doesn't see her, or the bane of his existence . So it balances out.
That is when his eye catches the dark magic being thrown at him and Sudou raises his sword to block it. "Hey, there are rules in combat, young lady. You don't attack until I say go and especially not when I am talking with the popo." Sudou chastises but the state of his jacket is soaked in dark magic and it is starting to itch.
The Old Maid is totally getting disrespected as he looks at all those brats in front of him. "Fine new plan. first thing first. We satisfy the copper." Sudou spins his sword and stabs it into the ground and flames erupt in two spots. One burst of flames around Sudou as it tries to purge some of the dark magic from Umie, and then around Umie as well trying to pay her back for the dark magic. Then for good measures he rushes Fox, and throws a punch at his face.
AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Recovery skill Burning Spirit on Tatsuya Sudou! AS: Tatsuya Sudou takes 60 damage from Panic! AS: Take! Tatsuya Sudou takes 74 Recovery healing from Tatsuya Sudou's Burning Spirit. AS: Atk_Up added! AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Fire skill Blaze on Umie Akabane! AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Strike skill Sonic Punch on Yusuke Kitagawa! AS: Avoid Neutral! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 73 Strike damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Sonic Punch. AS: Haze added! AS: Avoid Worst! Niko Kirisaki takes 85 Strike damage from Shinjiro Aragaki's Bash.
<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.
"Beauty Thief is well... a working title. Yes." Haru says, as both Yusuke, Ann, and even Yukari both call her name into question. Actually, she was pretty satisfied with what she had come up with, but it won't certainly won't make her seem intimidating if no one can take it seriously. "That's what I like to hear!" She answers's Joker's confidence. "See, everyone seems quite impressed, don't you think?" She asides to Mona.
"More like downright confused," Mona suggests. "And hey! How many times do I have to say it?" He glances at Katsuya. "I'm not a cat, you hear me?" More of a cartoon cat than anything, Katsuya will notice.
Haru can't help but spare a giggle at Morgana's adorable insistence, but she regains her composure as Queen, one of the more intimidating-looking members of the group has a proposition. She's going to be some serious competition. "I agree to your terms!" Haru says, pulling down her musketeer hat - though she probably sounds more 'cute' than 'cool'. "May the best hunter win~"
The horse-like enemy Shadow proves he means business, too, firing off a wave of darkness that engulfs herself and the Phantom Thieves both. Haru watches how Joker, the leader, moves and tries to match his timing, but she lacks both the experience and stylish moves he has and she finds herself forced back by that dark power. This won't do at all, she thinks, clearly she still has a lot to learn.
"Beauty Thief!" Morgana calls, too distant to heal for the time being. "Are you all right? Try going on the defensive here!" Though it takes a good few moments after such a heavy hit, Haru recovers from the enemy Shadow's attack and enters the fray again. "I'll be more careful... but I have a trick or two up my sleeve~"
She rips off her mask, summoning a Persona of her own. "Come to me, Milady! Shield us from this darkness so that we may pierce through it!" It's a little dramatic, but as Haru commands, her gun-slinging, dress-wearing Persona surrounds her with a barrier that helps reflect magic attacks.
AS: Block Neutral! Junya Kaneshiro takes 68 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Agi. AS: Haze added! AS: Persona! Haru Okumura has used the Almighty skill Makarakarn on Haru Okumura!
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
Akabane-san from the other day is here too. Fox's eyes flicker over to her, and then to the actual policeman showing up to order Sudou to surrender.
... Well, in this instance, he'll take assistance from the law; he was not confident about fighting the Joker Killer one-on-one.
Shinobu will recognise the masked, kitsune-themed swordsman from that peculiar fight in Sumaru City during the Dark Hour; the one who called to cease hostilities when things became more complicated than they first appeared. He smirks a little as Queen extends their little competition to the newcoming Beauty Thief; fine by him, apparently.
There's little time for him to acknowledge her in turn, though, because the Joker Killer is charging in to punch him -
Fox staggers back, hand on the side of his face as the blow smarts, mask knocked slightly askew - but, somehow, not off. He spits blood, looking back up to their enemy. "So be it," he says, and hooks the thumb of his free hand under his mask. Despite the lack of straps securing it to his head, it seems to cling to his face as he pulls at it, blood streaking down from under it only to be consumed in a flash of blue cognitive flame. "PERSONA!"
tok. tok. tok tok tok tok toktoktoktok
BA-BAM
Stepping out of a woodcut painting, Goemon swings his arm wide, whipping up a wind that shrouds itself around himself, Katsuya and Umie's feet, lending them swiftness in this desperate situation.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 81 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Blaze. AS: Blast added! AS: Persona! Yusuke Kitagawa has used the Almighty skill Masukukaja on Yusuke Kitagawa, Katsuya Suou, and Umie Akabane! AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Masukukaja. AS: Spd_Up added! AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Almighty damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Masukukaja. AS: Spd_Up added! AS: Take! Haru Okumura takes 0 Almighty damage from Haru Okumura's Makarakarn. AS: Reflect_Magi added! AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Masukukaja. AS: Spd_Up added!
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
As Joker warns Fox of the presence of an actual cop- who does the citing of regulations at one of the 'contractors'- Queen's eyes fix on Katsuya for a second. It means they'll have to be careful, obviously, but even more importantly. "...I've met him before." Makoto says quietly, but she can't remember where right now. He was younger, though. Still, she doesn't have time to focus on that memory nagging at the back of her head.
Someone in the crowd asks if they're the phantom thieves, Joker responds. Style is, after all, his field of expertise, more than the rest of them. Queen, on the other hand, deals in a different aspect of things. "If they were Kaneshiro's people, they'd already be on us. The enemy of our enemy is our friend for the moment." Someone has to be able to keep a cool head.
The Beauty Thief agrees to Queen's terms, however, and a scary and yet excited grin comes to her face, and she gives the Beauty Thief a thumbs up. "Let's make each other work for it."
The wave of darkness from Maeiha comes for them surges towards Queen, but she's already moving, leaping and rolling out of the way as the worst of the blast misses her, but it still catches her, but it's a light sting compared to the impact on all of them but Joker. That stings, badly.
"Panther, save it for later!" Queen yells, analyzing the damage taken by both Beauty Thief and their own red suited wonder, but she doesn't charge in. No. She's analyzing the Shadow as it fights, watching it, keeping her distance. "Take out the shadow first, then we'll adapt!"
Still... she needs to know... how can they *really* hurt this thing. One might notice, if they are *really* paying attention, a momentary appearance in Queen's hands of an old calculator- with a panda motif? It disappears again after a moment. Maybe it was just an optical illusion??
AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Almighty skill Shadow Factorization on Junya Kaneshiro! AS: Take! Junya Kaneshiro takes 0 Almighty damage from Makoto Niijima's Shadow Factorization. AS: Makoto Niijima's Strength Scan! Junya Kaneshiro resists Dark! AS: Makoto Niijima's Weakness Scan! Junya Kaneshiro is weak against Light!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
"Yeah, good to see you too. Glad you guys made it through alright." Shinobu replies to Myunghon as they greet her. "Figure it might've been a distance thing... or maybe that's just how Palaces are."
She's still pretty unclear on how they work - there's a lot of unknowns. Like... are they actually high above the city right now?
"Seriously. Who the hell are they, really...?" Shinobu replies, shaking her head. This isn't the kind of place the average person can just be... The fact that they're here suggests they might know a lot more than they do.
Shinobu glances toward So-young, then - and raises an eyebrow when she comments on Myunghon's employees.
"Don't worry. They're more fair than most of my bosses." She assures.
She glances toward the side, looking at the costumed gang and - oh, there's a familiar mask. The Fox with the katana and the keen eye... She remembers him, alright, and how he made what was ultimately the right call during that late night heist interruption. She sends him a brief nod of acknowledgment, but she won't distract him for long.
Shinobu's taunting seems to have done the trick, after all, as Jin's attention is squarely on them, now. Downside... 'attention' means there's a Maragilao coming straight for all of them. Shinobu readies herself, bracing her staff ahead of her to take the brunt of the attack. Fire explodes against her, pushing her back and nearly causing her to lose her footing. She slams her staff in the ground to keep herself standing.
"Damn." Shinobu mutters through clenched teeth. Myunghon invokes their power, though - and soon, she's filled with the power of Crime which lets her pick herself back up.
"Thanks, boss." She says, then rushes toward Jin, staff at the ready. "Get ready...!"
She jabs the staff toward Jin three times in rapid succession.
AS: Weapon! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Jab Flurry on Jin Shirato! 3 Hits! ARCANA: Aggression: Shinobu Shimizu gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Best! Jin Shirato takes 30 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Merry clarifies the Card Game, "Uhhhhh... that makes even less sense-" But with the power of context clues from others! "-Wait... you mean he's the Joker Killer?" Yukari pales as suddenly it becomes abundantly clear that the Old Maid is not indeed an 'Old Maid' but aforementioned bag on his head guy as she then whispers to Shinjiro, "He's not just some urban legend!?"
Panther jolts her out of that fear by turning around to talk to her about bullies kindly, "Hey I know how to deal with bullies!" Perhaps Natsuki Moriyama is on the mind, but the way she looks at her afterwards, "Um- wellllll-" She just doesn't want anyone to think she's weak! But rather than double down, the embarrassment is enough that she responds instead with, "-Does it really matter if we're fighting them anyway?"
'A working title' Beauty Thief calls it, "Well... I guess it's not that bad?" She has to admit, from what she can see of the girls features, she is very pretty, "Just, you know... I'd be a little worried about people cracking up."
Merry asks if Akihiko's a friend of theirs, "Well I'm not sure I'd call him a 'friend', but he's definitely on our side?" It'd be presumptuous to call her senpai a friend after all, but now she wonders if Mitsuru sent him.
That would be irritating.
Yukari is alarmed as the Shadow begins attacking the Phantom Thieves(?) and takes up a stance, as she draws her Evoker. "We don't owe him anything. Except a piece of our minds." But she doesn't pull the trigger, stopping short at Joker's '... heh,' 'And if we are?'
Her brain locks up for a moment, as if in confirmation of all of her fears of Persona Users changing hearts, before she finally responds to him in a more even tone, "Then I've got questions for you later."
Shinjiro answers her on knowing Niko and, "Oh I know who she is... I was warned about her, I'm just surprised you know her."
But the Evoker is still pointed at her head as Niko dodges the accusation of being the Killer, "What am I supposed to think about a crew that uses Land Mines?" Oh so her reputation precedes her! But Niko calls her the Hell Girl and asks what she's doing here, "You think I'd just tell you that?"
And then Niko- steps forward, and raps!? Yukari is so taken aback, by it, that she fumbles the trigger and only hits it at the last second, but not before Ate comes at her, and Yukari twists, as the Sonic Punch's spectral fist slams against her shoulder, staggering her back - one, two, three steps before she spins around and faces her to pull the trigger.
"Why're you rapping!?" Yukari rolls her shoulder, trying to resist the urge to rub it given how bruised it is, and pulls the trigger, as suddenly there's an effect like she's sinking amidst bubbles, before the world shatters, and Io appears.
The Naiad is chained to a bull skull, the fey like features of the girl suddenly locking upon Niko, before her hands rise, and the winds pulse from her as rising winds, over and over as they pulse out from her, before all that building wind pressure just slams into her.
"We're not a karaoke booth! Aren't you fighting us!?"
As if she's weirded out by how unseriously Niko seems to take this situation in a crew of supernatural killers!?
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Wind skill Magaru on Niko Kirisaki! AS: Yukari Takeba: Haze removed!
<Pose Tracker> Junya Kaneshiro has posed.
Joker calls forth Arsène, and the very speed seems to sap from Kumbhanda -- making the Shadow slow by a few degrees as it stands back upright. His eyes blaze as he looks between the different Phantom Thieves -- and all the others coming to threaten the Palace's ruler.
"Kaneshiro won't tolerate all of these interlopers," he says. "The only bad behavior... is yours!"
Then, Kumbhanda rushes forward at Joker. That huge claw comes back -- and swings down, slicing at the Phantom Thief with the sharp edge of the claw. Panther's blast of flame hurls forth from Carmen's cigar. The fire slams into Kumbhanda, blasting him backward.
He turns to look at her, lips curling back to reveal PERFECTLY STRAIGHT AND WHITE TEETH and then he screams at Panther. Pink and violet light explodes about her, with the threat of a shock of fear to be sent through her.
Then he turns his head, looking at Haru as she summons that barrier. He thrusts his other hand out -- and an orb of shadowy flame explodes off it, hurtling for her.
The Shadow doesn't notice the odd calculator in Queen's hands. Really, it isn't that smart. Instead, it looks to her after sending off a blast of shadow for Beauty Thief -- then leaps into the air, and comes crashing down at Queen.
It slashes the claw across her with two, rapid-fire slashes with that wicked, curved blade.
AS: Persona! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Slash skill Straight Slash on Ren Amamiya! ARCANA: Aggression: Junya Kaneshiro gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Almighty skill Pulinpa on Ann Takamaki! AS: Persona! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Dark skill Eiha on Haru Okumura! AS: Weapon! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Slash skill Razor Claw on Makoto Niijima! 2 Hits!
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
"Don't blame me! There's so many kids here I feel old. I'm not supposed to feel old for another twenty years," she rapid-fires back to her sibling as the wind slowly picks up around her in greater and greater force. She doesn't exactly look like the most staid twenty-late years old ever, between the gothic dress and the immaculately dyed hair to evoke a piano's black and white keys.
So-young certainly hears Myunghon's warning about going into active combat, given the way she huffs under her breath, but-- well, for all that she might be full of endlessly bolstering self-confidence, she's yet to really face a situation like this, let alone one from another persona user with a will and a force behind it greater than your average Shadow. "... I get it already!" she grumbles as she definitely does not get it. Give her about 17 seconds or so, she'll learn.
Actually, less than that. Jin reacts to her taunting with a deeply upset expression and also a sudden, violent burst of flame. Already, So-Young's hubris and lack of caution is punished - the wind around her only serves to feed the attack's power higher, and there's a cut-off yell of angry pain as she momentarily disappears within the conflagration, engulfed by it.
Then Myunghon's power rolls over her and the gout of flame twists sharply to one side, before an explosion of buffeting wind blows it outwards and away as the shape of Icarus contorts to hover around her in a protective bubble. So-young is visible where she stood, now hunched over and deeply singed, still on her feet but with her arms hanging in front of her as if she were a zombie. She lifts her head, and from under her hair there's a whole other fire rising in her eyes.
"I may be a newbie... but don't think you'll take me down quite that easily," she grinds out, concentrating as she draws power from Icarus and hauls herself back up to her full height. She's-- already clearly being more cautious, because the best way to learn is via experience and that really, really hurt. But there's a deeply stubborn core to her that refuses to show any kind of weakness, and if there were ever a time to draw from that well, it's now.
Already she's moving again, this time drawing herself back as if capturing the ebb and flow of the movement of battle, the imaginary baton in her hand rising to follow the motion. A thrust of her hand forward combines with the practiced clack of one heel stamping against the ground for effect, and she pushes forwards as Icarus rises anew with a piercing cry of gears rattling together.
"Shinobu-ssi, you're up!" she yells. You-- you can't just steal Myunghon's employees like that, So-young. Nor her suffixes either!
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Recovery skill Crescendo on So-young Park! ARCANA: Support: So-young Park gains 1 Limit!
AS: So-young Park regains -3 SP from Invigorate! AS: Take! So-young Park takes 127 Recovery healing from So-young Park's Crescendo.
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
Akihiko gives his kouhai a nonchalant wave, as if it's nothing that he's present. "You're not as slick as you think, Takeba-san." He follows that up with a sheepish grin. "Though, let's keep this from Mitsuru, yeah? I'm here mostly to scout the field and support my friend." He playfully nudges Shinji, maybe trying a bit too hard.
He also offers Myunghon a similar curt wave! "Akihiko Sanada, Boxing Champ of Gekkoukan High and SEES member."
Akihiko overall seems pretty amused by the beauty thief thing, Strega, and the freestyling cop who definitely should be at the club. (Are clubs not the 'hip' thing to attend anymore?) It doesn't matter. A new Envoker in play is certainly interesting, and Akihiko is able to manage the attack fairly okay.
He pulls off an okay dodge from that sonic punch, the force shudders throughout his clothing. "Heh, not bad, girlie! But I won't let you hurt my friends!" Akihiko brings his own Evoker out as he casts.
"Let's bring this down a NOTCH."
"I'll see to it that you BOTCH."
"We'll hit you like a HonDA?"
"Here's a MatarunDA!"
Although the embarrassment starts to creep in half way through, (seriously, how do people free-style like this seriously?), Akihiko nonetheless finishes his response and pulls the trigger. Polydeuces is summoned, who brings his cannon to bear and aims at the foes. His cannon then fires an invisible magic, weakening the enemies present.
AS: Avoid Best! Ren Amamiya takes 31 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Straight Slash. AS: Persona! Akihiko Sanada has used the Almighty skill Matarunda on Niko Kirisaki, Junya Kaneshiro, Jin Shirato, and Tatsuya Sudou! AS: Take! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Pulinpa. AS: Panic added! AS: Mind Up! Niko Kirisaki's SP +8! AS: Block Best! Niko Kirisaki takes 81 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Magaru. Critical Hit! AS: Haze added! AS: Take! Junya Kaneshiro takes 0 Almighty damage from Akihiko Sanada's Matarunda. AS: Atk_Dn added! AS: Take! Niko Kirisaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Akihiko Sanada's Matarunda. AS: Atk_Dn added! AS: Take! Tatsuya Sudou takes 0 Almighty damage from Akihiko Sanada's Matarunda. AS: Atk_Dn added! AS: Avoid Worst! Makoto Niijima takes 80 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Razor Claw. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Neutral! Makoto Niijima takes 49 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Razor Claw. AS: Counter Best! Haru Okumura takes 40 Dark damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Eiha. AS: Blast added! AS: COUNTER! Reflect Magic! Junya Kaneshiro takes 51 Dark damage in return for his attack! Resist!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
There are rumors about the Phantom Thieves, of course. Not rumors in the usual sense that it's come to be for Katsuya of late, of course -- or at least, he thinks that's the case. There's been a story that not once, but twice a group of thieves have claimed to have 'stolen' someone's heart, reforming their target in the process. That they're the ones behind the sudden confessions from Kamoshida and Madarame, of whose crimes had gone unseen until their admissions of guilt. It's a prepostorous concept, of course, and upon seeing the assembled clad in fanciful constumes, the only thing Katsuya can think is that they're essentially doing some form of... it's called 'cosplay', isn't it?
Once a square, always a square.
A cat-like... creature yells at him. Katsuya is visibly taken aback. "You're a-- what are you? You-- certainly look like a cat," he utters, dumbfounded. Then, out of the blue, he sneezes.
He's allergic to cats, you see. Mona may remember this from the last time they crossed paths...
But there is various sorts of crime afoot, which must be addressed. He narrows his eyes at Jin's taunt, and directs a look at Niko in the wake of her sarcasm that suggests that a killer glance might just run in the family. So they're Strega. The ones who attacked Kasugayama and are allied with #501. He might have guessed.
But there's one here who earns his full attention in the moment, if only because he'd vowed to take the man into custody himself for his crimes. It seems to take him a moment, but the 'Old Maid' recogizes him. And he mentions Maya, too.
If looks could kill, the Joker Killer would be at least gravely wounded. "You're not getting near her again!" he warns him, shifting his stance ever so slightly as he zeroes in on his target. "I'm taking you into custody, #501! This all ends here!"
don't do anything rash just because your quarry is in sight
There's that familiar feeling. That awful, crawling sense that he's done something... wrong, somehow. "Yeo-san?" He pauses. She's not the only one here he recognizes, nor is he the only one who has stepped up against #501. "Takeba-san. And...?" He doesn't know 'Fox', after all. "What are you all doing here? This is--"
Umie's action in the next moment has him look away even from his target at a critical moment. "Akabane-kun, stop--!"
Maybe, given their current opponent, he shouldn't be begging her to stop. Baofu certainly wouldn't have hesitated.
And the man in the paper bag mask answers tit for tat. Flame roars towards Umie; the Joker Killer himself lunges for the young man in the fox mask who had joined their side in this fight. "Why you--!" Katsuya barks out, and though he himself is unscathed in this moment...
A wind has arisen at his feet and Katsuya answers #501 in the way he is now able. "Persona...!"
And there, breaking across the distance, is the summoned corpus of Helios, the feline Persona launching itself at the Old Maid to lash at him with its claws.
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Slash skill Scratch on Tatsuya Sudou!
<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.
"I thought a good Rumormonger like yourself would already know who I was." Jin couldn't help but feel a flicker of satisfaction that no one had figured out who he was yet. Maybe the reason they didn't respect him was because they really had no idea who he was. People were probably too busy talking about bag-head over there.
It was hard not to notice someone when they looked that stupid. How often did he have to switch bags, anyway? All it would take is one good attack or two and that thing would be in tatters.
One spell goes off that Jin doesn't recognize (some kinda buff or something? he'd have to look into that later) and then short stuff comes at him with her staff. That's going to leave a mark. And Jin isn't the least bit happy about it. Especially since it screwed up his jacket. His eyes flicker up in irritation at Shinobu before they're drawn back over to So-young.
"It doesn't matter if you're new, so long as you learn your lesson. Don't screw around with Strega." Jin delivers the words with the same, flat lecturing tone as a schoolteacher.
And with that, Jin begins lobbing grenades in So-young's direction. Just to really drive the lesson home.
AS: Avoid Best! Jin Shirato takes 14 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry. AS: Avoid Best! Jin Shirato takes 30 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry. Critical Hit! AS: Take! Jin Shirato takes 0 Almighty damage from Akihiko Sanada's Matarunda. AS: Atk_Dn added! AS: Tandem! Jin Shirato has used the Fire skill Error 410: Gone on Myunghon Yeo! 2 Hits! AS: Avoid Neutral! Myunghon Yeo takes 40 Fire damage from Jin Shirato's Error 410: Gone. AS: Avoid Neutral! Myunghon Yeo takes 40 Fire damage from Jin Shirato's Error 410: Gone.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Panther raises a good question: how did Kaneshiro know to hire 'contractors' to help deal with them? The logical answer is that one of these many, many other Persona Users tipped him off somehow, but that logic doesn't have a good place here. For one, how did he hire the Joker Killer? (Sorry, Jin. You might be every inch as much a murderer, but he's just got more heat than you.) His buddies said that there doesn't need to be a murder, which implies he wasn't called, even if he himself wants to kill them. There's no clear answer to that, though.
"No kidding," Joker murmurs to her. This is definitely not normal, no. She also suggests they not stick around because of the AHEMAHEMpigAHEMAHEM (as made more or less clear by her extremely bad pantomime), and he flashes her a brief smile. "Agreed. When we beat this guy, let's grab Fox and leave." Even if Queen has a point and the enemy of their enemy is their ally--for the moment. When that moment passes, all of these people are likely to want to question them--Yukari says as much explicitly--and Joker doesn't particularly want to give them that opportunity.
He does shoot Queen a quick glance when she says she knows that cop, though. He's met him before too, but he didn't exactly learn a lot about him at the time. That'll be something for them all to discuss later. For now, he shoots Beauty Thief a concerned look--but Mona seems to be on top of coaching her through the battle. She might seem inexperienced as far as fighting goes, but once again, her dramatics are on point. Joker approves--of that, and of that magic shield she conjures up.
Kumbhanda meanwhile insists on the same line he gave before. Joker can only roll his eyes as he repeats that Kaneshiro Won't Tolerate etc. etc.--it's arguably not the Shadow's fault that it lacks creativity, but Joker can't respect that all the same. ...He suffers for it a second later when it rushes at him claw-first; Joker sidesteps swiftly to avoid the worst of the attack, but not without getting his black coat carved up, strips of it dramatically flying away in his wake. Right. It might not be creative, but that doesn't make it weak. He needs to focus, too.
Even slowed down, the Kumbhanda is a foe to be reckoned with; it charges all around the four of them (five of them, technically) without hesitation. That wave of darkness it unleashed earlier implies what Queen will tell them momentarily, too. Fortunately, Joker has long since prepared his Persona(s) with Skill Cards.
"Arsène! Electrify them!" he calls, once more clutching his mask as it goes up in blue flame. The great thief in black and red re-emerges, cackling silently, and swirls a pair of fingers upwards until they--
*snap*.
A bolt from the blue, literally, falls down from the distant ceiling of the vault towards Kumbhanda, aiming to strike it down and potentially paralyze it and slow it down further. The faster they can take this thing out, the sooner they can get Fox and get out of here.
Meanwhile, there is an epic rap battle going on in another part of the fight. This seems like an appropriate place for that, somehow.
AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Elec skill Zio on Junya Kaneshiro! ARCANA: Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Best! Junya Kaneshiro takes 44 Elec damage from Ren Amamiya's Zio. AS: Paralyze added!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"I didn't see him when I was coming in!" hisses Umie back at Joker over her shoulder, though not necessarily unkindly. "Strega and the NWO have been scouting Mementos, but I didn't think the former'd be *hired*." She has absolutely no idea how this place works. "..... Thank you, by the way. I didn't get a chance to say it, last time."
At least this time Umie is not in a konbini clerk uniform; the half mask on the top half of her face is a matte black and plain, like something still being developed. Her light colored oversized windbreaker hangs over her form, hood up, and her shorts and sneakers, likewise, are about freedom of movement, as is the kyoketsu shoge spread across her hands.
Myunghon's comment is given a nod. "Sorry. With how short on time we were, the last thing I wanted to do was derail things. ... Especially when it would've led to some awkward questions I didn't want to answer." She really did mean to not say anything about the Phantom Thieves, and in a sense, she hasn't.
However, it's not like she'd be able to deny who they are, either.
'Looks like the Cheater is here too.' Oh, Umie has *words* for Niko. "And *you*: next time the Old Maid makes you guys do up a letter, *use stronger glue on the letters*. Did you *want* me to freak out people around me?!"
Umie's had a lot of thoughts the last few days, and right now she's finally able to unleash them all.
That is, until she hears a familiar voice. ".... _Katsu-- Suou-san!?" Umie's eyes widen behind that mask as she looks at the older Suou brother. She couldn't tell him about the Phantom Thieves, even after he answered her question.
Again, Sudou is asking that 'other', likely the 'him' Tatsuya mentioned. He's coming.
"... Didn't that girl over there tell you? I cheat." Some of that old bravado is coming back, even as she dodges back, fire highlights her movement, but also Yusuke's wind.
"Thank you. This'll make things a *lot* easier," she says to Yusuke, attempting to ride that burst of confidence. She opens her mouth, about to say something else, but instead veers towards the helpful: "Your ice is going to come in *very* handy, but you'll need something first, Fox-san." Just like that night, Badb comes to Umie's call, giving Yusuke a shroud of energy of his own. "Work with me on this, Suou-san. He can be beaten back, they did it, and now we're going to!!"
(_now is not the time to tell Fox you were going to steal his mask idea, Umie_)
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Recovery skill Shroud on Yusuke Kitagawa! AS: Avoid Best! Tatsuya Sudou takes 58 Slash damage from Katsuya Suou's Scratch.
AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Shift! Yusuke Kitagawa can use another Weak skill this round!
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
As Shinjiro shares some of the basics of who Niko is, she very exaggeratedly pretends to sneeze. "Someone must be talking about me... because I can hear them doing it! Don't talk about me like I'm not there, that's super rude!" Not that he said anything bad, but she can talk about herself just fine!
As for Yukari's assertion, "Land mine wasn't me either, that was this guy!" Thumb goes to Jin this time. "You're really bad at keeping people apart, aren't you, Hell Girl?"
No notes on Akihiko though. He looks like he finds this as much fan as she does. Not to mention, "Boxing champ, awesome! Show me what you got!"
After sending her fists fly, she should hope they're feeling more ready to play her game. Sure enough, Shinjiro sends his Persona her way in short order. Though she tries to avoid Castor's guard, she misjudges the speed of the horse and its rider, taking the blow full-on. That does cause her to stagger... but she manages to stay standing, grinning ear to ear. "Oof, that smarts. You play rough, huh? Great! Just the way I like it!"
Yukari asks why she's rapping, which gets the simple answer, "Because it's fun?!"
Aren't you fighting us!?
"Well yeah?! That's fun too?! Why are we yelling?!"
This is clearly a futile effort. The wind magic has more effect, Niko bracing herself as it slams into her. Again, she staggers. Again, she stays standing. She's nothing if not resiliant, but with that physique, that only stands to reason.
Next Akihiko comes in with a... a rap of his own?? Niko just sort of stares blankly, seeming confused. Even though she just did the same thing literally a minute ago. Her simple assessment, in the end: "I think... you should probably stick to boxing."
Instead, magic is used to weaken her, first. She doesn't appreciate that, if her frown is any indication. "Ugh... what'd you do? I hate feeling like this! Ate! Do something about it!"
The Evoker comes up again, fired so casually that she almost misses her own head. But her narrow hit is enough for Ate to respond, red and purple light radiating from Niko's body as her Persona empowers her even more. With an outstretched hand, Niko silently commands for a follow-up, Ate's eyesockets glowing purple just before a wave of psychokinetic force is sent to impact her direct opponents.
"If you thought this was gonna be easy, you got another thing coming!"
AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Niko Kirisaki! AS: Take! Niko Kirisaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Niko Kirisaki's Tarukaja. AS: Atk_Up added! AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Almighty skill Rebellion on Niko Kirisaki! AS: Take! Niko Kirisaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Niko Kirisaki's Rebellion. AS: Crt_Up added! AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Elec skill Mapsio on Shinjiro Aragaki, Akihiko Sanada, and Yukari Takeba! ARCANA: Ruin: Niko Kirisaki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Best! Akihiko Sanada takes 51 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Mapsio. Resist! AS: Avoid Best! Yukari Takeba takes 64 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Mapsio. Weak! AS: Block Neutral! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 121 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Mapsio. Critical Hit! Weak!
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"I've got a lot of people to talk to after this. Looks like Shinjiro-ssi and Akabane-san know a bit more than we do," Myunghon advises to Shinobu, but they don't have a lot of time to theorise about Strega and their involvement in Palaces. It *is* clear that this is a mission for them, so their motive isn't in question, at least. In a way, that makes a whole lot more sense -- they can work with people who're in this for the money.
They can't help but smile as Shinobu voices for their fairness, though. "Needier sometimes, maybe, but... we didn't get to that game you said you loved last time yet." Is that something like fondness in their voice? Their exchange with Tsumugi and Yanagi has made them think more about it, it seems.
But Akihiko introduces himself, even though Yukari isn't sure if he's a friend! He seems like a steadfast sort, and... friend or not, the SEES students seem like they can work together long enough to not die horribly to the urban legends before them. "Boxing Champ, huh? ... okay, Sanada-kun. Take care of Shinjiro for me, okay? I'm worried about him." So, Shinjiro made friends outside of SEES and Port Island, huh?
Katsuya asks what they're all doing here. "I should be asking you! We're here to save Hirasaka from Kaneshiro's threats! You were there!"
Myunghon hurries to their sister's side, but even singed as they are, Icarus has protected them from grievous harm -- and that fire in her eyes reminds her of how energised Kazama was this entire time. Have they lost their fire, somewhere along the way? There's no time to think about that, because grenades are coming their way--
"Nuna, watch out!" Myunghon yells, as several grenades come flying -- one after another. They throw themselves and So-young out of the way of the blasts, and grimaces as the explosives rock the vault chamber deafeningly. By the time the blasts subside into a hollow ringing noise and smoke, they feel a sharp burn and pain on their back -- but rolls off in one swift motion as they get up once more.
Jin taunts them by mocking them about their intelligence gathering, which is always a point that can rile Myunghon up. Their Cognitive Coat with burn marks and holes from shrapnel, the white-haired Rumourmonger rises to the challenge, even on unsteady feet.
"You're right. Those grenades aren't just bottom-drawer army explosives -- they're each carefully hand-made with personalised timers to sequence their reach and damage, aren't they?" Myunghon points out to Jin. "With that kind of craft, there's only one person I know who fits the profile... Jin Shirato, of Strega."
Perhaps, just perhaps, Myunghon can appreciate a lovingly-crafted bomb too. In this sense, they can be kindred spirits.
Their head's ringing, and Jin's bombs have them seeing double -- but they're not out of the fight just yet. "Kudlak!"
A column of Blue rises once more, as that pesky caped vampire of a Persona emerges even from their ruined Coat without fail. "Shibaboo!" Myunghon shouts, as nauseating waves of debilitating energy starts to stream and surround Jin. At his most powerful, they've got no chance, so they have to figure out a way to even their chances...!
"You take next, eonni!" Myunghon calls to So-young. They've got to practice their teamwork under trial by fire -- in a way, it's not so different from what Queen is experiencing, though they have no idea of that.
AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Dark skill Shibaboo on Jin Shirato! ARCANA: Pressure: Myunghon Yeo gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
"Huh? You know that super stuffy guy?" Why does Panther's description for Katsuya just keep getting longer every time she says it--
But there's no time to discuss. No time, really, even to dwell. Leave that for later. They're wise words on Queen's part, though in the present circumstances, Panther is forced to shake her head at her fellow Thief emphatically.
"There might not -be- a later!" protests Panther, who immediately realizes how grim that sounds.
"Err. You know, because of legal troubles, not, like. Death trou-- AH HORSE!"
Kumbhanda is -fast-. Before she knows it, the Shadow is lashing out at -all- of them, including the beauty thief, with rapid and unrelenting violence. What -Panther- gets -- is a FACEFUL OF WHITE HORSE TEETHS. She squeaks ineloquently, stumbling back -- but it's not really the face that gets her (well, kinda); it's the subsequent light-show, its panic-inducing properties sinking into her and sending such a pronounced fear response in her that she can't help but stagger back in a weak, unbalanced stumble.
"Gh--!" It's bad. It's so bad. That fear permeates through every inch of her nervous system, trying to freeze her in place. Her teeth grit. She looks the self-proclaimed Beauty Thief's way, taking no small amount of abuse -- just like Makoto. And yet still, they fight, Haru breaking out that (frankly, totally awesome!) Persona, Makoto honing in on its weakpoints -- even Joker, despite those abuses, conjures forth Arsène.
They're all fighting. Even the ones she doesn't know who might have questionable skills in rap battles (she gets it, really, free-styling is -rough-). Her trembling jaw sets.
There's three natural responses: freeze. Flight.
"T-to hell with you!"
Or fight.
She fights past it, even though it hurts to. Fights past, and grips her mask, symbolically ripping it free.
"I'm not letting you hurt my friends!"
She could press an offensive -- but for right now, she focuses instead on Queen in the distance. Carmen whips one of her little servitors forward; the man swings past Makoto, and as he's yanked back -- heart eyes alight, dousing her in a quick, warm burst of healing magic -- like finding rest and strength in a sunbeam.
Ann's steeled gaze, in the meantime, rests squarely on Kumbhanda. He hurt her friends. He's not getting away with that.
AS: Myunghon Yeo spends Limit on Shift! So-young Park can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Persona! Ann Takamaki has used the Recovery skill Dia on Makoto Niijima! AS: Ann Takamaki takes 60 damage from Panic! AS: Take! Jin Shirato takes 0 Dark damage from Myunghon Yeo's Shibaboo. Resist! AS: Charm, Exhaust, and Poison added! AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 74 Recovery healing from Ann Takamaki's Dia. AS: Ren Amamiya spends Limit on Shift! Makoto Niijima can use another Weak skill this round!
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"The Joker Killer is *very* real," Shinjiro says with a hint of grudge to Yukari. "We met recently," he explains about Niko. It is entirely possible (and in fact true) that she just claimed him as a friend and he's kinda allowing her to because he doesn't want to get randomly stabbed.
Niko gets mad at him talking about her. "...tch. I don't think you have much to say about rudeness, given who you hang out with." He side-eyes Jin.
Myunghon gets a sigh. "He's cool," he admits about Aki. That will get him -5 points in the contest. (What contest?)
And then Shinjiro is given such an advantage in the contest (what contest???) by Aki's rap that he actually nearly laughs. "What the fuck, Aki," he says even as he's nudged. "That was terrible. No."
It feels like the good old days. And for a moment, Shinjiro is amused... but a moment later, sadness blows through him. It can't be the same way. Not after what he's done.
The roiling psychic blast throws Shinjiro backwards, rolling him briefly against the floor. But he's more durable than the average human, so he just rises, spitting out a small bit of blood that comes from the heavy impact. "Shit... you hit hard." And with his weakness, too... gotta be careful about that.
Though, the debuff against their enemies IS appreciated, as Shinjiro readies for a charge. He roars, as the Bloody Charge suffuses through his system, pain boiling through him as red strands of blood are pulled from the air, suffusing into an aura around him.
He needs time to setup, though, so no damage... yet. Hopefully he can get his next hit off before he's taken out...
AS: Persona! Shinjiro Aragaki has used the Almighty skill Bloody Charge on Shinjiro Aragaki! AS: Shinjiro Aragaki: Haze removed! AS: Take! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Shinjiro Aragaki's Bloody Charge. AS: Atk_Up, Crt_Up, and Def_Up added!
<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.
"Now that I say it out loud might be just a little too similar to the Phantom Thieves that have been running around as of late. But if my Persona wants me to play the role of masked vigilante, who am I to say no?" Haru asides to Yukari, as if she isn't basically one by association at this point. She's definitely independent. However, Yukari has far more important things to worry about... like her own teammate. Haru is secretly a little glad she isn't the most embarassing one on the field.
"You might have the numbers, but I won't make it easy for you, Thieves!" Haru agrees, when Queen challenges her. Such a powerful presence. Haru can't help but spare a grin herself. They're fighting against the same enemy, but this brings out a certain competitive streak Haru didn't even know she had. Panther's spunky attitude, and Joker's measured confidence inspire her just the same. When Kumbhanda fires his next blast of darkness, Haru is ready for it this time, facing it down with a fierce expression.
As she planned, Milady sweeps in with her shield as if a ballroom dancer circling her partner. "I have you!" Beauty Thief declares. Though she is not completely unscathed by the attack, and the barrier shatters, Kumbhanda's attack is sent flying right back at him. "Thank you, Milady. Now it's my turn!" Pressing the advantage, Haru rushes in with her axe, aiming to cleave the enemy Shadow with it.
There's almost something sadistic about the glint in her eye as she brings the axe down.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
"...Later." Makoto says, as she tries to shut down the search in her memories for now. It's not going anywhere pleasant. Still, Panther's afraid of not making it out of here. Queen frowns. It's a legitimate concern but- "He has higher priorities than us. The Old Maid is a more important target than the Phantom Thieves." At least, she hopes so. "...Besides. I don't think evidence found in a Palace is admissable in court."
Makoto pays for her taking time to analyze the Shadow by catching two rapid, brutal slashes across her body that she's not quick enough to avoid. That hurts, badly, even with the protection of the will of Rebellion. She stumbles backward, caught in close combat, but she keeps her focus. "It's resistant to darkness!" She calls out to her team and competition. "Use light attacks instead!" Unfortunately, Makoto doesn't have any of those. What she does have is something else.
"JOHANNA!" She yells, and flips backward and away from the Kumbhanda, as a motorcycle that is also a Persona emerges from the space behind her, and Makoto lands on it, glaring angrily at the enemy in front of her. "The only thing I want to hear from your scum sucking boss is him begging for mercy!" She roars, as the angry nuclear heat she shares with Johanna rises in her. "And the only thing I want to hear out of you is your death rattle! FREILA!"
She revs Johanna's engines, and the persona's exhausts flare out with white blue flame, as she does a burnout towards the Shadow, but never touches it- that's that the spherical flame surrounded by plumes of nuclear fire is for as it descends upon Kumbhanda, while Queen tries to get some distance from it, gunning it towards... the Beauty Thief?
Still, she isn't planning a collision with her new rival. No, she extends a hand to her, as if offering a high five...?
"Show me what you can do, Beauty Thief! Mona, watch her back!"
As she does so, she keeps moving, heading back towards Panther. As Panther's Dia bought her respite, she can tell that Panther is in danger and panicking. "Energy Drop!" She calls, revving Johanna's engine again as she slides next to the team's other 'not a cat', summoning the restorative magic for the sake of her teammate.
AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Fire skill Freila on Junya Kaneshiro! AS: Weapon! Haru Okumura has used the Slash skill You shouldn't annoy a girl with an axe! on Junya Kaneshiro! AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Recovery skill Energy Drop on Ann Takamaki! AS: Makoto Niijima spends Limit on Shift! Haru Okumura can use another Weak skill this round!
<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.
Sudou watches the Fox begin to use the magic of teamwork ad so many damn flashbacks of a few days ago with all the damn cosplayers working together. So on top of healing people Sudou adds that to his list of illegal things for people to do when fighting him. This goes even an extra level when one of Niko's brats are trying to hit him too. Then he hears a name related to the copper, "Suou? Really?" He takes a scratch across his chest as he stares at the cop. "Are you related to him? Tell me are you related to Tatsuya Suou?" There is an excitement in his voice as he asks
Sudou moves back to the sword he jabbed in the ground and looks at Niko, "Niko-chan, sweetie pie, please keep your toys to your side of the supernatural space. Otherwise they may get burned." The Old Maid never addresses Akihiko but as he grips the sword flames begin to radiate outward magically infused to track their targets down. His three opponents, and Niko's toy Akihiko.
The sword is drawn from the ground and he smiles at Katsuya, "You never said how long I have to put the weapon down." The Old Maid charges at the Fox first, as his sword bursts into flame and he slashes at the Fox. Quickly he moves on to Katsuya, and slashes rapidly at the cop, before targeting Umie. When he reaches her he towers over her a moment before raising the sword and bringing it down towards her as hard as he can.
AS: Take! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Energy Drop. AS: Panic removed! AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Fire skill Heat Wave on Akihiko Sanada, Katsuya Suou, Yusuke Kitagawa, and Umie Akabane! AS: Tatsuya Sudou takes 60 damage from Panic! AS: Tatsuya Sudou spends Limit on Exploit! Tatsuya Sudou can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Block Neutral! Junya Kaneshiro takes 65 Slash damage from Haru Okumura's You shouldn't annoy a girl with an axe!. AS: Block Best! Junya Kaneshiro takes 85 Fire damage from Makoto Niijima's Freila. AS: Blast added! Paralyze removed! Explosion! 50 damage! AS: Tandem! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Fire skill Burning Slash on Yusuke Kitagawa!
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
"In my defence, I was simply stalking my new half-sibling around Shibuya!" the conductress calls over to the police officer as she straightens up with a hiss of effort, as if that explained anything at all about the situation she's landed herself in. Distracted, she immediately beams over at Akihiko as the boxer introduces himself. "Oh~! You're a friend of Shinjiro's? He showed me this excellent little place in Sumaru where you can enjoy a delightful cocktail _and_ buy a gun all in one evening!"
... ... it's not clear if she's genuinely delighted or just freely and eagerly willing to drop Shinjiro in trouble because it would be very funny.
A wave of gratitude does at least wash over her face as Myunghon rushes to her side, mixed with a quieter smile at the way they banter back and forth with Shinobu. She hadn't really been sure when they first met whether or not Myunghon actually had anyone in their corner, or if they were just too prickly a sort to bother with something like that. But the more she stays near Sumaru, the more she learns--
"--shit!--" So-young hisses under her breath as several grenades are suddenly flung in her direction. That's something of a victory in and of itself, that Jin can manage to cut through her walls of self-confidence so forcefully and get a response like that - though maybe it's somewhat cold comfort when a fierce anger still manages to flash across the conductress's eyes despite the situation she's in.
Perhaps it's that same core of stubbornness that keeps her rooted to the spot, or perhaps she's actually petrified and simply unwilling to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing it. Either way, she somehow manages to stand her ground for better or worse, bringing her hands up and around as if it's going to help at all against repeated applications of heavy ordinance, before she's flung to one side by Myunghon as they shield both of them.
An ungainly attempt at a roll brings her back to her feet, grimacing at herself as she pushes back up. "I can already tell you're going to make a habit out of this, but don't think for a moment I'm going to let you be the self-sacrificing sort if I can help it!" she calls back to Myunghon, as Icarus screeches forwards, a gigantic swoop of speed taking it soaring ahead over Jin. The wave of wind comes next, slamming into him as So-young snaps her imaginary baton forwards to punctuate it.
"Now! Over to you!" It's not exactly _fine-tuned_ as far as teamwork goes, but the way that So-young passes the bat onwards to Shinobu in turn is at least a start towards trying to work together rather than just barrel head-first into every one of So-young's problems.
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Wind skill Coda on Jin Shirato! AS: Weapon! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Slash skill Overhead Slash on Umie Akabane! AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Almighty skill Giocoso on Shinobu Shimizu! ARCANA: Support: So-young Park gains 1 Limit!
AS: So-young Park regains -3 SP from Invigorate! AS: Tandem! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Slash skill Slice & Dice on Katsuya Suou! 2 Hits! AS: Tatsuya Sudou: Panic removed! AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Almighty damage from So-young Park's Giocoso. AS: Crt_Up added! AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes 80 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Heat Wave. Critical Hit! AS: You have 1 more attack in queue! AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes 57 Slash damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Overhead Slash.
<Pose Tracker> Junya Kaneshiro has posed.
The blast from Polydeuces slams into Kumbhanda -- and that saps at his strength for a moment. Tragically, the Shadow cannot appreciate the power of Akihiko's rapping, though.
Kumbhanda throws back both arms and roars. Light explodes around the Shadow; both crimson and gold, shooting up into the air, as he strengthens himself.
Electricity erupts from Joker's Persona. The blast of electricity slams into the Shadow from above, sending Kumbhanda reeling backward. The horse-headed Shadow screeches.
"Don't think I'll let you escape," the Shadow security captain says. "Once you're here, everything you own belongs to Kaneshiro!"
He turns his head, when Ann calls out to him. He expected her to run; instead, she fights him, gripping the mask. Kumbhanda screams again at her.
Crimson and violet light surge up around Kumbhanda. The Shadow roars, before a large blade manifests over its head. Then, with a bellow, the spectral sword sweeps forward. It slashes at Ren and Ann once, then a backhanded strike back across them, before it lifts up -- and cleaves down diagonally for them. Then, his own shadowy blast of energy slams into him--
And he turns, just in time for his robe to be split by Haru's axe. He whirls around, and then slams the clawed arm straight for Haru's midsection. Before he can bring the blade back for another strike, though, nuclear flame erupts nearby.
The huge explosion slams Kumbhanda backward, into one of the bank vault walls. He turns to Makoto, bellowing his defiance. Then, he rushes forward -- nearly a blur -- and slashes his blade brutally for Queen.
AS: Junya Kaneshiro spends Limit on Salve! Blast removed from Junya Kaneshiro! AS: Persona! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Almighty skill Rebellion on Junya Kaneshiro! ARCANA: Aggression: Junya Kaneshiro gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Junya Kaneshiro takes 0 Almighty damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Rebellion. AS: Crt_Up added! AS: Persona! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Junya Kaneshiro! AS: Take! Junya Kaneshiro takes 0 Almighty damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Tarukaja. AS: Atk_Up added! AS: Persona! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Slash skill Blade of Fury on Ren Amamiya and Ann Takamaki! 3 Hits! AS: Weapon! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Slash skill Claw Thrust on Haru Okumura! 2 Hits! AS: Junya Kaneshiro: Haze removed! AS: Junya Kaneshiro spends Limit on Exploit! Junya Kaneshiro can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Persona! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Slash skill Straight Slash on Makoto Niijima! ARCANA: Aggression: Junya Kaneshiro gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Worst! Haru Okumura takes 68 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Claw Thrust. Critical Hit! AS: Block Worst! Haru Okumura takes 44 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Claw Thrust.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
The 'Beauty Thief' explains herself, and Yukari seems incredulous, "What do you mean the role your Persona wants you to play?" Like the idea doesn't even make sense to her. "... Are you sure about that?" Like she's even more incredulous about the idea that it went 'Hey how about you become the Masked Vigilante, Beauty Thief?'
Suddenly she wonders if the Beauty Thief and Ixquic have something in common.
"Aha..." There's a small nervous chuckle as Akihiko calls her out, but also offers to keep it from Mitsuru, "Oh- uh-" She didn't expect that! "Sure? I guess? I'd appreciate that actually."
Katsuya however asks why she's here and suddenly her approach shifts now that it's not Niko asking but the cop, "Uhhh do you mind if I explain later? It's a little complicated..." Though she's glad it's him rather than her fighting a serial killer, "... but uh - if you get in over your head, don't be afraid to fall back."
It's her way at least of saying she'd heal him if the Serial Killer is too much for him without committing openly to the idea she cares. Even if she does.
The Joker Killer is real, she was hoping it really was a stupid urban legend. "How do you just meet serial killers?" She asks him, taken aback by him saying it just as casually as if he said he went down to the store.
"No I'm not!" Yukari retorts to Niko's assertion, quite maturely. "You're all together though right?" Because, she doesn't understand the distinction. "That guy just called you all Strega-" As she cants her head towards Jin? "-whatever that means!"
'Because it's fun?!'
'Well yeah?! That's fun too!"
"I don't - is that why you're doing this?!"
She tables the discussion on yelling, because she's just stunned that people fight for fun.
So here's the thing. Yukari Takeba thinks of Akihiko at least as the Senpai who has it together, along with Mitsuru. The cool, responsible guy. She's not into him certainly, but she gets why other girls would be into him!
And then he begins to rap. "Huh!?" Could it be that actually Akihiko Sanada is not that cool after all, "Senpai...?" Could it instead be that he's a bit... of a dork? As her tone suddenly deepens as if she's taken damage from the cringe, "...Really?"
Well she's no longer under the misconception that he's a cool guy, so that's less pressure on him, maybe? Possibly a net win for him, save the way she's looking right now like he's one step closer to Junpei in her mind. "... I kinda agree with Kirisaki-san on this one."
SORRY SENPAI!
Yukari quickly brings up her Evoker again as Niko brings her own up, but Niko is quicker on the draw, sudden psycho-kinetic force rocketing at her, and suddenly Io sends a wave of wind, meeting the force for just long enough for Yukari to quickly sidestep.
She's definitely sweating - because she knows now that this girl is dangerous, especially to her.
"Just what is fun about this!? Someone could get really hurt!"
And if indeed, to illustrate that point, she suddenly falls back some, "Senpai! Cover me." Maybe an awkward request after dragging his rap but look, don't worry about it-!
She places her Evoker to her head again, "Help us, Io!" And with a pull of a trigger, Io appears again, as the Naiad figure aback the Persona raises her arms, and healing energy spreads out amongst the three members of SEES.
AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 42 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Heat Wave. Resist! AS: Avoid Worst! Jin Shirato takes 135 Wind damage from So-young Park's Coda. AS: Haze added! AS: Block Best! Katsuya Suou takes 49 Slash damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Slice & Dice. Critical Hit! AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes 43 Slash damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Slice & Dice.
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
"Looks like it. They're pretty well-connected..." Shinobu replies with a nod, as Myunghon advises her. There's a slight smirk as Myunghon admits to being needier than most bosses, too.
"...Yeah. Kinda wasn't feeling it after that whole... thing. We'll have to go sometime when it's a little less packed." She replies.
Her strike lands - and it seems like she catches Jin's jacket. She catches that look if irritation.
Katsuya asks what they're all doing here, and Myunghon explains. Shinobu nods.
"Sorry, officer. You heard the boss. This is the only way to keep him off our streets." She adds.
So-young complains about feeling old, and Shinobu laughs, just a little.
"If it helps, I'm probably the oldest person in the room right now - me or the officer over there. So you've still got a ways to go." Shinobu helpfully provides. ...She isn't counting the horse-man Shadow right now, and the Joker Killer seems like more of a force of nature than anything. She's running purely on Vibes here.
"You got it." Shinobu confirms, as So-young calls her forward. She doesn't even wait to check if Myunghon accepts it. What a capricious employee...
...But Jin retaliates with a barrage of grenades.
"...Shit! Take cover!" She calls out... but they're all directed solely at So-young. Is he trying to teach her a lesson...? Thankfully, Myunghon is there to protect her. But they...
"You alright, you two?" Shinobu calls out - and then whirls toward Jin again.
"Attacking schools and taking deals with the Yakuza... Think you can just do what you want and get away with it?" Shinobu asks. "...Lachesis!"
The image of a shadowy hooded woman rises behind her, a measuring rod for thread held in her hands. Her hands travel down the rod - and then they come to a stop, as her eyes turn toward Jin.
"Sonic Punch!" The rod shifts, held like a weapon now - and is then thrust toward Jin, sending a powerful shockwave of force in his direction. At the last second, So-young's empowerment falls over to make it hit that much harder.
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Media on Akihiko Sanada, Shinjiro Aragaki, and Yukari Takeba! ARCANA: Support: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 83 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media. AS: Persona! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Sonic Punch on Jin Shirato! AS: Ann Takamaki spends Limit on Shift! Ren Amamiya can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20! AS: Yukari Takeba spends Limit on Shift! Akihiko Sanada can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20! AS: Avoid Neutral! Jin Shirato takes 132 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Sonic Punch. Critical Hit! AS: Haze added! AS: Avoid Worst! Ren Amamiya takes 43 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Blade of Fury. AS: Avoid Neutral! Ren Amamiya takes 48 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Blade of Fury. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Ren Amamiya takes 43 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Blade of Fury. AS: Avoid Best! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 44 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Heat Wave. Weak! AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 54 Recovery healing from Umie Akabane's Shroud. AS: Eclipse added! AS: Counter Best! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 32 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Burning Slash. Eclipsed! AS: Poison added! Eclipse removed! AS: COUNTER! Tatsuya Sudou takes 20 Fire damage in return for his attack! Resist! AS: Take! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 83 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media. AS: Avoid Neutral! Ann Takamaki takes 46 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Blade of Fury. AS: Block Worst! Ann Takamaki takes 50 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Blade of Fury. AS: Avoid Best! Ann Takamaki takes 41 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Blade of Fury. Critical Hit! AS: Shinobu Shimizu spends Limit on Shift! Myunghon Yeo can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Counter Best! Makoto Niijima takes 64 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Straight Slash. AS: Paralyze added! AS: COUNTER! Junya Kaneshiro takes 41 Slash damage in return for his attack!
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
Well, his impromptu rap ends up just running Niko's mood and embarrasses himself. Well, that's just... Fine. He makes a mental note to very politely ask that Yukari keep this between them. At the very least, his spell seems to have the intended effect in demoralizing the rapper.
Akihiko expertly handles Niko's Mapsio. Partly thanks to his resistance to electricity, but also thanks to his fancy footwork that prevents the psychic blast from landing. As he does so, he responds to Myunghon. "Sure thing! Shinji's my friend too, after all!" Though, he has to wonder just how far Shinji's been expanding outside of him.
t However, it's time for Akihiko's counter attack. "You can take this, Shinji! Keep your guard up!" He yells as he brings his Evoker back up. "Polydeuces, to me!" He pulls the trigger and Polydeuces is summoned once more. Polydeuces launches a lightning attack, as Akihiko rushes forward, aiming to smash his fists into Niko. "Allow me to show you what I am proud of! Hyyyyah!" He yells as he finishes his combo with a charged up smash.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Akihiko Sanada takes 134 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Heat Wave. Critical Hit! AS: Take! Akihiko Sanada takes 83 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media. AS: Tandem! Akihiko Sanada has used the Elec skill Polydeuces, to me! on Niko Kirisaki! 2 Hits! AS: Persona! Akihiko Sanada has used the Almighty skill Sukukaja on Akihiko Sanada! AS: Akihiko Sanada: Haze removed!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Strega? The NWO? ...What are those? In just a couple of lines, Umie's made it clear to Joker that he and The Phantoms really do need her information. It's not like he was planning on blowing her off, but... "You're welcome. We'll talk more another time." And that police officer--she calls him 'Suou-san.' It was 'Katsuya-san' before. Katsuya Suou... He'll have to remember that name.
Panther screams about the horse. Frankly, she is right to. Joker can handle it because he's all the way over -----> here, but Panther getting a faceful of HORSE TEETH is enough to make anyone panic. The fact that she does too is only natural. Joker shoots her a concerned look--but Queen already has it handled with a Nervundi after gunning a Freila on the Shadow. Still, emotional support takes more than just a spell, so when Panther cries defiance, he calls to her, "That's the way. Don't let him scare you off, Panther!"
Beauty Thief meanwhile swings around that axe like she's really enjoying herself. Joker appreciates that, too. Trusting Mona to keep her covered, he considers Queen's analysis. Dark resistant, and light weak... For an instant, Joker shuffles through the deck of Personas in his mind. He has an option here--but it's a risk. Does he dare go for it?
The Kumbhanda charges in at him again at that moment, spectral sword sweeping and lashing for him and Panther both. He moves to try to dodge it, but this time, there's simply too many attacks to evade cleanly. He snarls in pain as he's driven back--but just before that sword can cut him or Panther in twain, magic reflects off Beauty Thief and knocks him off-balance. Nice timing.
"Panther, hang in there," he urges his friend again. It's like she says: he can't abide by this thing hurting his friends. He'll take the risk. Clutching his mask, spinning around and coat twirling with him, he commits to a change. "Our escape... isn't for you to decide! ANGEL!"
A blindfolded, winged entity in black bondage gear appears above him, arms lifting to the heavens. At her call, a surge of light sears down from them towards Kumbandha, lighting up the darkness for a moment... until banishing ofuda rise up around him to call forth an even more devastating, purifying light.
"Begone!" Joker commands, just before the destructive illumination ignites.
AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Light skill Kouha on Junya Kaneshiro! ARCANA: Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Light skill Hama on Junya Kaneshiro! AS: Block Best! Junya Kaneshiro takes 60 Light damage from Ren Amamiya's Kouha. Weak! AS: Haze added! AS: Block Best! Junya Kaneshiro takes 98 Light damage from Ren Amamiya's Hama. Weak! AS: Exhaust added!
<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.
"D-Dammit!" Myunghon's attack lands true and it completely knocks the breath out of Jin. Even after he manages to regain his bearings enough to speak, everything feels harder. Everything looks out-of-focus.
"So," Jin says through a pained grimace. "You do know something about me after all. Guess now's a bad time to ask if you have any good arms contacts. Though that really isn't your speciality, is it, Rumormonger Merry?"
The conversation can't go on for long. Before Jin can direct another quip in Myunghon's direction, So-Young has summoned her persona. A furious gale pummels into him, knocking the breath out of him for the second time.
Jin doesn't even have a moment to recover before Shinobu comes at him with her rod. The shockwave is so powerful it thrusts him back. He only barely manages to keep on his feet, staggering forward as he struggles to maintain his balance.
"You guys don't know when to stop, do you?"
Jin spins around, then directs his evoker at his head. "Moros!"
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
Oh crap, fire! Fox dives out of the way of the flaming wave that crashes into them, the tail latched to his sash getting singed again as he picks himself up off the floor - in time to realise the Joker Killer is coming for him again, flame now coalescing around his blade.
He moves quickly, catching the sword with a clang on his saya, wincing at the searing pain from the sheer aggression of the strike. "Rrgh... Get away from her!"
As Sudou moves away from him towards Umie, Fox picks himself up and pursues. "Goemon! Strike with me!" The ronin materialises, massive pipe descending like a blade as Fox strikes in sync with his Persona, the two figures becoming a blur of supernatural cutting motion.
AS: Tandem! Yusuke Kitagawa has used the Slash skill Blade and Brush on Tatsuya Sudou! 3 Hits! AS: Tandem! Yusuke Kitagawa has used the Slash skill Dual Slice on Tatsuya Sudou! 3 Hits! AS: Yusuke Kitagawa: Loses 50 HP from Poison! Haze removed! AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Almighty skill Rakunda on So-young Park! AS: Charm results in party damage! Jin Shirato takes 60 damage! AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Light skill Hama on So-young Park! AS: Persona! Jin Shirato has used the Dark skill Mudo on Shinobu Shimizu! AS: Jin Shirato: Loses 45 HP from Poison! Poison removed! AS: Block Best! Tatsuya Sudou takes 18 Slash damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Blade and Brush. AS: Block Worst! Tatsuya Sudou takes 23 Slash damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Blade and Brush. AS: Counter Neutral! Tatsuya Sudou takes 26 Slash damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Blade and Brush. AS: COUNTER! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 9 Slash damage in return for his attack! AS: Take! So-young Park takes 0 Almighty damage from Jin Shirato's Rakunda. AS: Def_Dn added! AS: Block Worst! Shinobu Shimizu takes 98 Dark damage from Jin Shirato's Mudo. Weak! AS: Block Best! Tatsuya Sudou takes 18 Slash damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Dual Slice. AS: Block Worst! Tatsuya Sudou takes 23 Slash damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Dual Slice. AS: Counter Best! Tatsuya Sudou takes 31 Slash damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Dual Slice. Critical Hit! AS: COUNTER! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 20 Slash damage in return for his attack! AS: Avoid Best! So-young Park takes 39 Light damage from Jin Shirato's Hama. AS: Counter Worst! Niko Kirisaki takes 35 Elec damage from Akihiko Sanada's Polydeuces, to me!. Resist! AS: COUNTER! Akihiko Sanada takes 3 Elec damage in return for his attack! Resist! AS: Counter Worst! Niko Kirisaki takes 35 Elec damage from Akihiko Sanada's Polydeuces, to me!. Resist! AS: COUNTER! Akihiko Sanada takes 3 Elec damage in return for his attack! Resist!
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Though Myunghon probably shouldn't have been paying as much attention to it in combat, they can't help but watch a little how Shinjiro banters with Akihiko... and how natural they seem. Shinjiro entrusted his secret to them -- but try as he might, they know they ultimately can't stay away from their closest friends. Shinjiro's become integral to the Hirasaka community, but that's not the only place he belongs too.
They'll try harder for his sake.
But So-young reveals that Shinjiro took her to a gun bar. There's that customary Myunghon fisheye at this reveal. "... ... did you buy a gun?" A pause. "Do you have it on you now?? Because that could be really useful right now!"
Fighting for their lives here! So-young lectures them for their self-sacrificing nature which... yeah, it's a fair enough call-out, eonni, but much like Shinjiro, it's definitely going to be an incredibly hard thing to beat out of them. "I hear you. Keep up the pressure, nuna, you're doing great."
"S-still standing, Shinobu-ssi," Myunghon answers, though it's with some meager bravado -- they're feeling the sting of something physical that's gotten through their Persona's defences. And that coat's going to need replacing, with how cindered it is at this point. Fortunately, the spoils they earned from this run and the Peacock Silk revealing itself to be a purveyor of Cognitive goods might give them an out...
"Arms dealers? Well, you know that Rumourmongers don't work without a trade, Shirato-san," Myunghon answers as Jin directly confirms that they know them as Rumourmonger Merry. It's not necessarily a secret -- Rumourmonger Merry is someone you're supposed to be able to find -- but Myunghon's never met this guy before, so that speaks a lot to how wide his intel network might be... who's responsible behind the info Strega knows? Is it him? Someone else? He does fit the bill...
Myunghon has been spared of direct attack at this point -- but their eye is keen on how Jin uses that Evoker to, well, evoke Moros. And Jin's a clever guy -- by tipping their hand as to what Myunghon cares about protecting, they've inadvertently just doubled the aggression on So-young. "Tsk...!"
"I'm thinking the price is a little rich for you right now, Shirato-san! Kudlak!"
Myunghon times their attack while Jin's in the midst of his Hama spell -- and dark tendrils shoots out from their Coat in opposition Moros' light as they try to take advantage of that debilitating, nauseating wave they've induced before. Where the tendrils touch, they'll create a chain-reaction of energies to pop into dark and ghastly explosions -- such is the specialty of the vampire.
AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Dark skill All According to Plan on Jin Shirato! 2 Hits! ARCANA: Pressure: Myunghon Yeo gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Myunghon Yeo has used the Almighty skill Intoxicate on Jin Shirato! AS: Avoid Best! Jin Shirato takes 25 Dark damage from Myunghon Yeo's All According to Plan. Resist! AS: Panic and Rage added! Charm and Exhaust removed! Explosion! 120 damage! AS: Avoid Worst! Jin Shirato takes 9 Dark damage from Myunghon Yeo's All According to Plan. Resist! AS: Take! Jin Shirato takes 0 Almighty damage from Myunghon Yeo's Intoxicate. AS: Poison added!
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
Things aren't going well for Ann Takamaki.
THE GOOD: she's managed to salve some of Makoto's wounds and Makoto, in turn, does a drive-by dispelling, wiping away the paranormal panic mercilessly holding her hostage!
"So cool, Queen!" Panther calls out, complete with an enthusiastic hop and the wave of her hands as the biker tactician drives past like a total badass.
ALSO GOOD: the totally amazing way Haru is fighting! Panther is distracted - albeit momentarily - staring at how Milady moves so gracefully, redirecting Kumbhanda's own horsey fury against him -- only for the so-named Beauty Thief to rush in with violence and aplomb, an axe in hand and a savage song in her heart. Once again, Panther finds herself scratching her cheek. She even scuffs a toe this time!
"Huh. Maybe there is something to that whole Beauty Thief thing..."
ALSO GOOD: Joker's encouragement! Really, things seem like they're on the up-and-up now, and Ann can't suppress the big goofy grin that touches at the corners of pink lips. "Hee," she beams. "Of course! I'm not gonna--"
HORSE SCREAM
THE BAD: literally every single thing that happens next. just. -all of it-.
The horse-demon rips out that roar, and Ann's attention snaps back to see that great blade looming above it like a Sword of Damocles. She reacts instantly, to her credit; the first swing of the blade is met by Carmen, swinging one servitor forth to literally -block the blow with the thing's face who is oddly and disconcertingly into it-. A heart-shaped burst from the servant dulls -some- of the pain from the blowback, but not -all- of it--
because another blow comes, and this one smashes Carmen aside, just in time for a -third- to do its hard work, SMASHING Panther aside like a ragdoll. She strikes a wall with a violent, painful CRACK of impact, a strangled cry of pain loosing from her lips.
She slumps to the ground a moment later, pigtails dangling towards the right as her head weakly lolls.
"... ngh..."
She can hear Joker calling out to her, his voice distant and numbed down. Other people are talking -- words and names being bandied about that she knows she should be curious about - especially with how little she seems to understand all of them - and yet...
"..."
... and yet...
"... hey. Did you... think I'm done with you?"
... She has other things on your mind.
Ann drags herself up slowly. She presses her hand to the wall for support, and stumbles only briefly before she finds her footing. Bruised, dirtied, a bit bloodied--
But that sky blue stare of hers is no less wrathful as it affixes on Kumbhanda. Maybe even moreso.
"... You think your boss is so great," Panther mutters. Her gloved hands raise to her mask, fingers trembling with the pain. She pushes past. "But y'know what? He's just a piece of scum. So... so what does that make you? A piece of a piece of scum...?"
Blue fire ignites. Her eyes narrow.
"I don't care how little you matter to him. You're still something that belongs to him. And we're gonna take -everything Kaneshiro has-. Starting with YOU."
And she yanks the mask.
"DANCE, CARMEN!"
Carmen rises, fuchsia and scarlet and black swimming together into the looming silhouette of the primordial femme fatale. She stares down at Kumbhanda, then looks away dismissively, snapping her fingers once.
A dance of heat sparks to life around the Shadow's field of vision.
"Once we're done with him, that bastard Kaneshiro won't own a damn thing -- not even his self-respect!"
BOOM goes the spark, climbing into a towering, heat-hazing inferno.
"Not that he had any of that to begin with!"
AS: Persona! Ann Takamaki has used the Fire skill Agilao on Junya Kaneshiro!
<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.
Haru finds herself... a little confused by Yukari's question. "I thought it was normal for your Persona to change you? That's why I decided to play up the secret alter ego aspect!" That, and it's also very magical girl esque. She sounds a little dejected, but then again, it's fairly obvious that most of the Persona users here aren't wearing nearly as outlandish outfits as she and the Phantom Thieves are.
Haru's focused bloodshed against Kumbhanda comes to a halt as she learns the enemy fights just as dirty, stabbing into her with one of his claws. Haru raises her axe to guard it, but she flinches in sharp pain as the claw knocks her axe just out of balance. "Milady! Some backup, please!" Haru calls, clutching her midsection, as her Persona reaches her.
"Haaah... between the four of you it hasn't exactly been easy to keep up with the heals." Mona answers Queen. "Hang in there, I've got your backs! You too, Beauty Thief! Stay quick on your feet!" He summons Zorro, who summons a tailwind that makes her just a little faster.
Makoto's analysis is helpful, but it doesn't change much for her, personally - she doesn't have any Holy attacks. She'll just have to stick to what she's used to. What Makoto does give her is the chance to strike back, and even if they're competing, they're still in this together. "Won't escape? Hehe..." Haru agrees. "Yes. You won't escape from this. Milady, give them a little payback~" As her command, Milady fires off a furious wave of psychic energy. "Your turn, Biker Thief!" (She's really committing to the bit.)
With Queen covering her, Haru turns her attention to Panther. Milady offers pain and mercy both. "A true Beauty Thief always looks out for others. I'll protect you!" Haru offers, as Milady offers Ann a similar wall to the one that protected her earlier, this time against Physical attacks.
AS: Persona! Haru Okumura has used the Elec skill Furious Psi on Junya Kaneshiro! 3 Hits! AS: Persona! Haru Okumura has used the Almighty skill Tetrakarn on Ann Takamaki! AS: Haru Okumura spends Limit on Brace!
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Niko lets out a whine when Sudou comes over to chide her for letting someone slip by her. "It wasn't my fault, Ojisaaaan. I'll make up for it, I promise! In fact, Ate!" Casually deciding to directly assist the Joker Killer, she has her Persona grant him power as well, in the form of those red and purple aura she summoned before.
Niko has an easy counterpoint to Shinjiro's assertion. "This isn't about him, it's about me!" Not denying Jin is rude, that would be rude to him, not giving him proper credit. "I have perfect manners!" Ok now she's just lying, unless she actually believes that, which would be entirely possible.
It's fine, though. He makes up for it by praising her strength, at least that's how she chooses to interpret that. "Thanks! You hit hard too! But I think you can do better than that~" And perhaps he will. That aura seems promising.
She directs a handwobble towards Yukari, as she refers to them as 'being together'. "More or less. We help each other out. Same as you and your team, right?" Does she mean the people that happen to be together here right now... or is she implying that she knows about SEES? She'll never tell.
What she will tell of is her personal motivation. "Of course! Why would you ever do anything that isn't fun? I dunno why you won't just admit it - it's fun playing the hero like this, isn't it?"
It's not even meant to be an accusation or anything. This is actually how she perceives the current situation. Yukari using her healing abilities to keep everyone on their feet? Totally playing the hero part. Anyone can see it.
That only leaves Akihiko for attacking her directly. With a wide grin, she puts up her own fists. "Awright, let's see what you got!"
And the result is... almost a stalemate. Akihiko clearly has the advantage in technique, Niko is just kind of swinging her fists wildly and takes the brunt of the hits. But as it turns out, their elemental powers just about cancel each other out, leaving the actual damage inflicted fairly low.
You're strong against electricity, Ririka's words are called back to Niko's mind. Imagine that, maybe that girl did know what she was talking about.
Breaking off from him, she calls back, "Not bad! But you all are gonna have to do better than that! Ate!"
Another shot of the Evoker, and large phantasmal chains appear on both sides of Niko's Persona, lashing out towards her enemies as she taunts, "Come on, come on! Fight harder! Don't you wanna beat the bad guys?!"
AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Tatsuya Sudou! AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Almighty skill Rebellion on Tatsuya Sudou! AS: Niko Kirisaki spends Limit on Blood! AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Strike skill Crazy Chain on Shinjiro Aragaki, Akihiko Sanada, and Yukari Takeba! ARCANA: Ruin: Niko Kirisaki gains 1 Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
He's put down the sword. But that doesn't mean he's unarmed. Katsuya is naive, but he's not stupid. He keeps his firearm trained on the Old Maid.
"That's-- quite reasonable!" he calls back to Yukari, perhaps realizing himself the awkwardness of their current situation for that conversation. "But please do not worry! As a dedicated civil servant, I shall hold the line!" ...is this guy for real, though.
Half-sibling? So-young's comment clearly goes right over his head. It's true, though, he was there in Hirasaka when Kaneshiro arrived to make his threats, but there's a key piece of the puzzle he's missing here. "I remember!" he calls back to Myunghon. "That still doesn't answer what you're doing here!" Shinobu's comment only further muddies the waters.
...He doesn't really know what it is that you can 'do' in a Palace, does he? After all, it's a secret even to those adept Persona-users who frequent the Darkside website. Even Baofu likely doesn't know it.
Yet.
'Suou-san.'
Is he perchance related to 'Tatsuya Suou'?
This strikes far too close to home for Katsuya to shrug it off or even attempt to hide his feelings on the subject. "Tatsuya?! How do you know my brother!"
Just because he'd put his sword down as asked doesn't mean he was going to leave it there. Katsuya bites off an oath as the man charges at Fox, then at him, and then at Umie. Flames sear as the arcing blade closes on him, their sting ameliorated only by Helios' affinity for the same. This cannot be said for the additional cleaving cuts that follow. Katsuya drops back, catching the blade once against his service weapon. He's not so lucky the second time: the blade meets his left forearm as he shifts his posture to avoid a more dangerous wound.
"Fox-san, is it--"
Work with her on this, Umie pleads, and let it not be said that Katsuya can't be sensible. They did it, she says, and he receives her meaning perfectly in this moment. "Understood! The last time we faced down his minions--" he means Ulala, Maya, and himself, and the way they had collapsed under the Joker Killer's spell in the clocktower at Sevens, "--but that was then, and this is now! Helios!" He can see that the Joker Killer is adept with flame. Fortunately, there's something he can do about that. In a flare of blue-white fire, Helios manifests before him, its clawed hands stretched wide as if to bar passage: in the same way someone might build a firebreak, flame erupts before himself, Yusuke, and Umie, then is gone again, perhaps helping to prevent future fire's advance.
AS: Block Neutral! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 69 Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Crazy Chain. AS: Take! Tatsuya Sudou takes 0 Almighty damage from Niko Kirisaki's Tarukaja. AS: Atk_Up added! AS: Take! Tatsuya Sudou takes 0 Almighty damage from Niko Kirisaki's Rebellion. AS: Crt_Up added! AS: Take! Akihiko Sanada takes 0 Almighty damage from Akihiko Sanada's Sukukaja. AS: Spd_Up added! AS: Avoid Best! Akihiko Sanada takes 50 Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Crazy Chain. AS: Block Neutral! Junya Kaneshiro takes 100 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Agilao. AS: Haze added! AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 100 Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Crazy Chain.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Momentairely, Umie looks towards Joker, and gives him a nod and a slight grin. Everyone's just got to get out of this alive, first.
But with so much of what Umie knows being what Tatsuya Suou has let slip, just how useful is she going to be to either Joker or Myunghon? Is it really true?
Well, Old Maid is here, with Strega, and they're in Mementos, sooo.... yes. Maybe.
'Tell me are you related to Tatsuya Suou.'
'Tatsuya?! How do you know my brother!'
Ah. In trying to keep her way of addressing Katsuya a little more professional, she gave *Sudou* information. "... Keep your eyes on me, _Old Maid_," Umie spits, suddenly. "He's not here. _I am_." Tutor-sensei mode engaged.
Umie's movements, assisted by Goemon's wind, is much faster than she was when she was found lying in the mud of the alleyway. Evasion is more her style than taking on the damage straight on. There's a reason she managed to survive long enough for the Phantom Thieves to get there.
But still, this is the Old Maid. She's getting to that point where it's going to be harder to play keep away, as he brings his blade down on her.
Fox intervenes, and Umie takes advantage, nimbly escaping half the force that was intended for her.
Think, Umie. Get the field back. You can be a team player too, right?
"_Badb_," Umie hisses and raises a hand, blue light casting off the lower half of her body. The ghastly red-lipped grin of Badb's cloaked form hunches overhead, a red moon rising against her head.
"_We're your problem now._"
AS: Persona! Katsuya Suou has used the Almighty skill Fire Wall on Katsuya Suou, Umie Akabane, and Yusuke Kitagawa! ARCANA: Defense: Katsuya Suou gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Fire Wall. AS: Fire_Wall added! AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Fire Wall. AS: Fire_Wall added! AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Bad Moon Rising on Tatsuya Sudou! AS: Umie Akabane: Blast removed! AS: Block Neutral! Junya Kaneshiro takes 15 Elec damage from Haru Okumura's Furious Psi. AS: Bind added! Haze removed! Explosion! 50 damage! AS: Block Best! Junya Kaneshiro takes 13 Elec damage from Haru Okumura's Furious Psi. AS: Block Best! Junya Kaneshiro takes 13 Elec damage from Haru Okumura's Furious Psi.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"I hang out in an alleyway, Takeba," Shinjiro says brusquely at the 'how do you meet serial killers', as if that'll explain everything.
Aki calls Shinjiro his friend, and tells him to keep his guard up. "I can handle myself!" he says, like he would have in the past. Even then... they're too close. It's obvious even now. Aki seems to want to pretend nothing's changed... but Shinjiro knows it has. How can you be friends with a killer?
If Myunghon thinks Shinjiro belongs with Aki and friends... he would never agree. Because being near Aki is only going to hurt him. And that's not something he could ever accept.
Niko tells him to show them what he's got. While their shouting doesn't enrage him, he's ready to swing, as the chains hit him, striking him back and causing him to grunt in pain, even as he uses his sign to deflect most of the damage.
"I don't care about 'good guy' or 'bad guy'. Don't get it twisted." It's kinda true... isn't the world more grey than that? "I just can't let you win."
The evoker rises back to his head. "Castor!"
With a bang of the gun, his Persona arises again, before smashing forward, creating a veritable heat wave around Castor. A shockwave barrels out, striking into Niko with extreme power, especially with his boosts going on.
"Aki, Takeba, keep up the pressure!"
AS: Persona! Shinjiro Aragaki has used the Strike skill Heat Wave on Niko Kirisaki! ARCANA: Pressure: Shinjiro Aragaki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Niko Kirisaki takes 147 Strike damage from Shinjiro Aragaki's Heat Wave. AS: Avoid Worst! Tatsuya Sudou takes 90 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Bad Moon Rising. AS: Crt_Dn added! AS: Take! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Haru Okumura's Tetrakarn. AS: Reflect_Phys added!
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
Kumbhanda's sword swings down towards Queen, and once again she's not in position to move quickly away after it's torn rapidly into Panther and Beauty Thief. Nor is she inclined to- so she goes for a trick she pulled off on the Old Maid- and sends her enormous knuckle duster up to meet the sword strike with a powerful punch-
And judging by the painful jarring in her arm, she definitely needed to use both hands. She's lucky her shoulder isn't dislocated from the force, but that's probably Johanna's doing. She takes the opportunity this moment grants her to drive a fist toward the Shadow's midsection, to grant them more breathing room which Queen will definitely need in this case. Mona expresses the difficulty of the
Joker's providing the moral support that Panther might need, but moral support doesn't matter if you're not breathing. "Panther, hold on!" Queen rushes away from the offensive, focusing on keeping her people alive. Even as Ann drags herself to her feet, full of rage, letting out her fury.
..Was this how Makoto looked to the others, when Johanna awakened? It's... powerful. Strong. Breathtaking, a little...?
And then the Beauty Thief takes advantage of the opening, unleashing her psychic power upon the Kumbhanda. She's fierce, and the joy and laughter in her voice as she threatens the Shadow. It's... also a lot.
Still, the Beauty Thief challenges Queen to show her own power, and Makoto frowns. She'd love to, but... looking after Panther is the priority. "In due time!" Queen responds, her voice harsh but... not a harshness toward Haru.
Instead, she pulls next to Ann again, and leaps off Johanna to stand next to her, maneuvering Ann toward the bike persona to keep her upright. Hell, if Ann needs to, she can just sit on Johanna as Makoto channels her power into healing magic. "Diarama!" She shouts, the sparkling green lights surrounding Panther.
"We're making good on that." Makoto says, a touch more quietly, as she heals Ann's wounds. "So you better stay with us!"
A grateful look comes from Queen to the Beauty Thief, as she casts a shield onto Ann, before she looks toward Joker taking point. He's got the weakness, but this Shadow has been throwing darkness spells like nobody's business. This... could be close.
AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Recovery skill Diarama on Ann Takamaki! AS: Shinjiro Aragaki spends Limit on Shift! Akihiko Sanada can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Take! Ann Takamaki takes 93 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Diarama.
<Pose Tracker> Junya Kaneshiro has posed.
When Joker summons Angel -- and looses purifying light upon Kumbhanda, it scorches the Shadow. He screams, then screams louder at the second blast of light that rips through him. He stumbles backward, howling in pain.
"You... you show such insolence at the MASTER OF THIS HOUSE!"
Then, he turns his head to Ann. His golden eyes blink -- is she done with him? -- and then he meets her eyes. Flame explodes around him; when he screams this time, she can't see it, as a column of fire engulfs him. As it fades, psychic energy slams into him, one shot after another, and drives him backward.
"RrrrRRRGH!"
Golden eyes ablaze, Kumbhanda swings both arms down in front of him. Two spectral blades appear -- one over each shoulder, aglow with a fell violet light. Then, they slash down in an X-shape as one -- and across Joker, Queen, Panther, and the fabled Beauty Thief.
"You'll never beat me! I'll STOP YOU RIGHT HERE! FOR THE BOSS!"
AS: Junya Kaneshiro spends Limit on Blood! AS: Junya Kaneshiro spends Limit on Break! AS: Persona! Junya Kaneshiro has used the Slash skill Bloodbath on Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Haru Okumura, and Makoto Niijima! AS: Junya Kaneshiro: Break removed! AS: Junya Kaneshiro's turn has ended. It's time for an All-Out Attack!
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
"--yes I bought a gun??" So-young replies, her eyes wide in repressed panic. "It was a gun bar! It seemed the thing to do! I didn't want to be impolite!"
That statement hangs in the air as silence blossoms around it.
She's obviously somewhat frazzled, her exhaustion starting to creep up with her as more and more exertion is piled on top, and as worry towards Myunghon's condition starts to creep further through her. "But it's at home! I wasn't expecting to shoot it _at_ someone! Doesn't that kind of cross a line from-- whatever this is? This is basically just thoughtcrime, right?!"
She's forced to divert her attention when Jin's power lunges for her, the feel of it suffocating her with a leaden feeling that doesn't help her burgeoning tiredness. Something inside of her rails against the sensation, as if the thought of slowing down and being stifled is some kind of anathema to her nature - and it very much well be, because it gives her the werewithal to dig deep for that frustration and pull upon it.
The air sparkles around her dangerously, but her reflexes somehow manage to be just fast enough, and she surprises even herself as she kicks back into a little spinning pirouette that manages to divert much of the energy away from her. Maybe she's getting used to this? There's no time to examine that thought further, especially not when she's busy not thinking at all but running off of complete instinct. When she swings back around to face Jin she's clearly panting, having to blink the dazzle from her eyes. The artful flick of her hair to punctuate the evasive move isn't really something she even means to do, so much as a deeply-ingrained motion that's part of her core.
Her eyes narrow as part of Myunghon's advice at least manages to hit home, and a flicker of thought crosses her face as she lines up. "--Shinobu, get down!" she calls sharply. This time she doesn't add a flick of her hand to the order, but only because she's raised both hands as she twirls back around and then--
--points two fingerguns at Jin.
"Bam~!" she calls as she 'fires' both with a wink. That is definitely not an approved Cool Spell Chant, So-Young, why are you trying to vogue-- two blots of solid mist-like energy abruptly explode around Jin, pinning him down as the puffs seek to obscure his vision and give Shinobu another opening.
AS: Persona! So-young Park has used the Pierce skill Ostinato on Jin Shirato! 2 Hits! AS: So-young Park: Atk_Up and Crt_Up removed! AS: So-young Park regains -3 SP from Invigorate! AS: So-young Park spends Limit on Shift! Shinobu Shimizu can use another Weak skill this round! SP +8! Healed 20! AS: Avoid Worst! Jin Shirato takes 45 Pierce damage from So-young Park's Ostinato. AS: Bind added! AS: Avoid Neutral! Jin Shirato takes 67 Pierce damage from So-young Park's Ostinato. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
As a dedicated civil servant he'll hold the line? Yukari blinks in disbelief, "Did he actually just say..." Well wait, maybe she can make him not put too much on the line, "Well don't forget you're also a part time photographer for Coolest?"
He says, perhaps trying to bring up Maya and the fact she thinks they're dating to mind - briefly forgetting how oblivious he can be, "I'm pretty sure they wouldn't expect you to die to a serial killer for a scoop."
Beauty Thief though? "I uh-" Well she knew something was up with Merry and Ixquic and 'Battle Nun-chan' but, "-don't think that it is?" She says almost apologetically to the Beauty Thief.
"Why do I feel like I crushed her dreams or something?"
The pact is sealed. This time at least, the price is not too high.
Fortunately Yukari is not much of a gossip when it comes to sharing the deep secrets and cringe moments of SEES. She'll keep his secret... and just hope he doesn't ask too many questions about what she was doing here.
So Strega is a team of killers? That's at least how Yukari parses Niko's statement, even if Niko may be more complicated than that???
Shinjiro notes he hangs out in an alleyway, and Yukari side eyes him before replying, "Right but... they don't just all congregate in alleys right?"
Maybe she's rethinking again how wise it was to take Junpei, Minako, and Minato to the alleys behind Port Island Station.
But then Niko asks her why she doesn't admit it's fun, and Yukari's eyes go a little wide. "Fun... you think I'm having fun!?" There may be some in SEES where playing the hero might be accurate, but Yukari Takeba? "What about this do you think is FUN to me?"
Ate appears again, swinging that phantasmal chain, and Yukari darts to the side, as the chain swings around, and quickly puts her bow up, as the Phantasmal Chain scrapes against it, nearing bowling her over outright, but with a quick step, she manages to stay on her feet, right as Shinjiro commands that she keep up the pressure..
"...I'm not a part of this because I ENJOY IT!"
And that sudden shift in volume might as well be the sound of pulling a trigger, as she does, Io reappearing, as the Naiad points a manacled hand at Niko. A spherical surge of shredding currents then erupting to rise up and attempt to engulf Niko in that singularity of wind pressure before surging upwards.
Perhaps her own way of keeping up the pressure.
"What's wrong with you!? There's a million other things I'd rather be doing!"
Then why is she doing it? Why is she even so dedicated to this that she's seeking out opportunities to come to Sumaru and 'Palace Crawl'? Well... that is the question, isn't it?
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Wind skill Garula on Niko Kirisaki!
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
In response to So-young Park, Akihiko turns out to be a little freaked out. "Shinji, you're WHAT?!" In response to learning that Shinji is teaching people how to buy booze and guns. Though, this is immediately followed by Akihiko dodging and weaving through Nika's rather haphazard counters. "And serial killers?!" Ultimately, the boxer decides, "We're talking about this later, Shinji!"
The stalemate pains him, but no matter. The two's fists hit each other in a stunning showcase of skill - on Akihiko's part, anyways. "Seems we're well matched in elements!" He says with a grin. "But you're on the backfoot!"
Akihiko cracks his knuckles and uses Polydeuces to buff himself as he begins another flurry of fists. "Come on, let's see how you handle this! If you're playing the bad guy, this should be no problem, right?~" He's clearly enjoying the battle just as much as Nika is, as he puts so much more force behind his fists.
AS: Akihiko Sanada spends Limit on Psych! AS: Makoto Niijima spends Limit on Brace! AS: Block Worst! Makoto Niijima takes 126 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Bloodbath. AS: Break! Makoto Niijima can take another Weak action this round! AS: Persona! Akihiko Sanada has used the Strike skill Skull Cracker on Niko Kirisaki! AS: Persona! Akihiko Sanada has used the Strike skill Sonic Punch on Niko Kirisaki! AS: Akihiko Sanada: Psych removed! AS: Counter Worst! Ann Takamaki takes 114 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Bloodbath. AS: COUNTER! Reflect Phys! Junya Kaneshiro takes 115 Slash damage in return for his attack! AS: Break! Ann Takamaki can take another Weak action this round! AS: Block Neutral! Niko Kirisaki takes 102 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Garula. AS: Haze added! AS: Block Worst! Niko Kirisaki takes 97 Strike damage from Akihiko Sanada's Skull Cracker. AS: Panic added! AS: Block Best! Niko Kirisaki takes 74 Strike damage from Akihiko Sanada's Sonic Punch. Critical Hit! AS: Haze added! AS: Avoid Neutral! Ren Amamiya takes 106 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Bloodbath. AS: Break! Ren Amamiya can take another Weak action this round!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Myunghon's still standing. Shinobu sends them a nod.
"Alright. Hang in there. ...Probably going to take all three of us." Shinobu replies with a nod.
Katsuya says their words don't answer what they're doing here. ...And to be fair, Shinobu doesn't know that, either. She just figures it has to mean something that this place exists, even if it just means searching it for blackmail they can use.
Jin snipes back at her.
"Nah. 'Fraid we don't. This only ends once one of us is on the ground." Shinobu replies with a casual shrug.
Jin calls upon his Persona once more. So-young calls out a warning and, thanks to that, Shinobu braces herself at the last second. A powerful curse burns itself into the air in front of her and then erupts in darkness, sending Shinobu staggering back. She props herself up with her staff.
"Thanks for the warning." She offers So-young a nod.
Lachesis returns to hovering behind her. Her measuring rod is held once more. She raises it, hands sliding down the numbers... and they come to a stop, framing Jin between them.
Suddenly, a feeling of fragility begins to try and overtake him - brittle like glass, vulnerable to a powerful strike.
And Shinobu immediately moves to capitalise on that, racing into the mists that So-young provides. If he can't see in time, the whistling of her staff through the air will be the only warning he gets. She lashes out with a spinning strike, filling the empty air with a kick in Jin's direction before the staff comes around for a third and final hit.
AS: Persona! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Almighty skill Strike Break on Jin Shirato! ARCANA: Aggression: Shinobu Shimizu gains 1 Limit!
AS: Weapon! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Spinning Staff on Jin Shirato! 3 Hits! AS: Shinobu Shimizu: Atk_Up and Crt_Up removed! AS: Take! Jin Shirato takes 0 Almighty damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Strike Break. AS: Rage and Strike_Break added! AS: Avoid Best! Jin Shirato takes 6 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. Weak! AS: Avoid Best! Jin Shirato takes 27 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. Critical Hit! Weak! AS: Avoid Worst! Jin Shirato takes 53 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Worst! Haru Okumura takes 123 Slash damage from Junya Kaneshiro's Bloodbath. AS: Break! Haru Okumura can take another Weak action this round!
<Pose Tracker> Jin Shirato has posed.
A rush of satisfaction fills Jin as he grimaces through the pain of Myunghon's tendrils landing their blows. The power behind Myunghon's attacks said it all. He might not have figured out Myunghon's elemental weakness, but this was just as good. Maybe even better because it didn't matter what kind of attack he used. Just as long as he used it on Su-Young.
Unfortunately, targeting So-Young had some unfortunate pitfalls. Like So-Young's hits, which were more than just physical attacks. They didn't just screw with his body, they also screwed with his head.
Not to leave Jin's head neglected, Shinobu steps up to the pitch and gives him a walloping. Jin wishes he could snap that stupid weapon right in half right now, but there's no way he's going to stay standing if he doesn't get out of here now. He might have signed a contract, but he wasn't about to throw away his life for them.
There's only one person Jin Shirato would do that for...
"Sorry, but you're not going to get what you want." Jin briefly gives Niko a sidewards glance, trying to catch her attention. And then Jin throws a grenade, smoke clouding the area around him.
When it finally clears, he's gone.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
That was a hell of a nasty hit Panther took. When she's slammed across the room, Joker's heart feels like it stops for a second. He hardly needed to worry, though. Her fury only ignites that much hotter and brighter, as she reads the Shadow and his gross-ass boss the riot act. A hint of relieved laughter carries on Joker's breath. Once they're done with him, Kaneshiro won't even have his self-respect--as if he had any to begin with...
"Well said," he murmurs, whether Panther can hear him or not. Beauty Thief's retort is well said, too. 'Yes, you won't escape...' That's scary, in a good way. That psychokinetic power of hers remains impressive, too.
Mona's providing some healing for Queen, who heals Panther in turn, and Beauty Thief's placing a Makarakarn on Panther to help ensure that healing isn't immediately removed. They're all working together well. Whoever Beauty Thief is, Joker can see why Mona was working up to introducing them. How much does she know about them? It doesn't seem like she knows a lot at baseline, but they aren't exactly in private. They'll have to talk about that later, too.
He takes an instant to glance towards the rest of the fight. That boxer helped them earlier with that weakening spell that hit Kumbhanda and the others, and he's grateful for that, but Joker is honestly more concerned with Fox and his group at the moment. Umie seems real pissed... Good. She should be. The three of them seem to be hanging in there even as they're taking a beating, though it's hard to tell for sure with the battlefield as chaotic as it is. Joker has some extrasensory abilities, but they're about hiding and finding things that are hidden rather than scanning a huge fight and understanding the second-by-second interplay.
He focuses back on Kumbhanda once that instant is done. It's screaming and howling and accusing them of insolence.
Joker flicks an insolent hand along his dark, curly hair. "Phantom Thieves," he replies, insolently.
Now, he pays for that flippant attitude when Kumbhanda comes back in for him and his friends with those spectral blades and X-Slashes across the lot of them. Joker screams in pain as the blades cleave through Angel, the psychic pain as devastating as if his own body had been cut in twain itself. He crumples for a moment, palms hitting the floor.
"..."
But he's still alive. Still alive, and still able to fight. A knifeblade of a grin slashes his face open.
"'Never,' huh?"
He draws himself up to his full height, shoulders square as he positions his feet first tight together, then wide in a powerful, unyielding stance. Angel reappears above him in a crash of light as his mask burns away beneath his hand, leaving behind shadows through which his dark eyes stare.
"Then the first thing we'll have to steal--"
Light coalesces from all directions around the Kumbhanda--a spell normally meant for a group of enemies, all collecting around the hateful horse-creature. Those beams pierce inwards, save for one stray lance that the Angel appears to clasp. She draws it back like a lance...
"--is that delusion of yours!"
...and lets it fly, straight for the Shadow's rotten heart.
<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.
Sudou smiles as Fox seems to be protected of Umie, working to block his attacks before going in to counter the last one for each of his techniques. "Does the Fox have a little puppy love? Is that why you are so set to protect her? " He leans in a little as the grin can almost be heard in his swords, "Are you sure she even knows you exist?" Does Sudou know any of this for certainty, no , but he is an asshole who totally just likes to throw spaghetti at the wall. Jin can attest to this as Sudou usually tells him to clean it up.
Sudou is considering digging the verbal knife in and twisting it till the Fox breaks until Suou-san attracts his attention. "Your brother?! I was expecting a nephew, maybe a cousin, but brother! Oh this is how Christmas in July is !" Does Sudou answer Katsuya, not at all, but there are surely some hints on what he knows and doesn't know there. Unfortunately this is the distraction that Umie needs to pull off a spell of moonlight.
Sudou tries to avoid the light from Umie, but well have you ever tried to outrun light, it's hard. Not to mention it appears to burn, a lot. The Old Maid chuckles as he shouts to his friends, "Niko, Jin, I'm bored. Wrap up and lets go find an arcade or something!" If the phantom thieves taught him one thing last time its to not wait till the last second before throwing his cards on the table.
Sudou takes a moment to slash at each one of his opponents while creating distance between them. With enough space between them Sudou's magic power begins to increase as he builds spell after spell. From behind Sudou his persona can be seen as the Joker Persona floats there. From the Joker's hand fireballs spread out hunting down the Fox, Katsuya and Umie.
After that though the Joker draws forth a deck of cards and throws a card at each opponent. The card isn't deadly, doesn't hurt, it just has a picture of the Joker on it. That smiles and winks at you before it explodes in pure magical energy.
AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Light skill Makouha on Junya Kaneshiro! ARCANA: Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Pierce skill Holy Arrow on Junya Kaneshiro! AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Slash skill Vortex Slash on Yusuke Kitagawa, Katsuya Suou, and Umie Akabane! AS: Block Worst! Junya Kaneshiro takes 85 Light damage from Ren Amamiya's Makouha. Weak! AS: Haze added! AS: Block Worst! Junya Kaneshiro takes 65 Pierce damage from Ren Amamiya's Holy Arrow. Block Pierce! AS: Charm added! AS: Tatsuya Sudou spends Limit on Broad! AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Fire skill Blaze on Yusuke Kitagawa, Katsuya Suou, and Umie Akabane! AS: Persona! Tatsuya Sudou has used the Almighty skill Joker Wild on Yusuke Kitagawa, Katsuya Suou, and Umie Akabane! AS: Tatsuya Sudou: Broad removed! AS: Counter Best! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 61 Slash damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Vortex Slash. AS: COUNTER! Tatsuya Sudou takes 27 Slash damage in return for his attack! AS: Avoid Best! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 37 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Blaze. AS: Avoid Best! Yusuke Kitagawa takes #-1 ARGUMENTS MUST BE NUMBERS Almighty damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Joker Wild. AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Brace! AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 44 Slash damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Vortex Slash. AS: You have 2 more attacks in queue! AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes 43 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Blaze. Resist! AS: You have 1 more attack in queue! AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes #-1 ARGUMENTS MUST BE NUMBERS Almighty damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Joker Wild. AS: Take! Katsuya Suou takes 0 Almighty damage from Katsuya Suou's Fire Wall. AS: Fire_Wall added! AS: Block Neutral! Katsuya Suou takes 99 Slash damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Vortex Slash. Critical Hit! AS: Counter Neutral! Katsuya Suou takes 68 Fire damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Blaze. Resist! AS: COUNTER! Tatsuya Sudou takes 12 Fire damage in return for his attack! Resist! AS: Katsuya Suou spends Limit on Brace! AS: Block Worst! Katsuya Suou takes #-1 ARGUMENTS MUST BE NUMBERS Almighty damage from Tatsuya Sudou's Joker Wild.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"We may be able to find incriminating evidence here to save Hirasaka, and if we do, I'm trusting in you, as a public servant of justice, to do your part!" Myunghon answers Katsuya. "But-- that is a rich question coming from someone who's pursued their target to a supernatural space, now is it not?! I'm far more surprised to see you've made it here! I was forced to eat half a hamburg steak to come in here!!"
Was... was the hamburg steak really the sticking point, here, Merry??
Myunghon knows Shinjiro would disagree. It doesn't mean they can't still see it, though. But that's what So-young called them out on earlier, right?
Myunghon looks flummoxed twice as hard as So-young admits she DID buy a gun, but--
"What do you MEAN you LEFT THE GUN AT HOME??"
Well-- well, okay, they weren't expecting to go into a Palace so they can excuse why they aren't packing, but-- "I thought you were ready to cave Kaneshiro's mental walls! But a gun is crossing the line??" A pause.
"Also--... maybe... throw the piece away since you don't live in Sumaru before it becomes incriminating, nuna." It doesn't fly anywhere near as well in Tokyo. Their eye flits left and right. "I can help you hide your crimes."
Wow, maybe Niko had a point in that Strega's on the good guy here. Who're these extremely shady people??
But Myunghon can sense it -- even if they didn't figure out their elemental weakness, Jin earned something incredibly informative tonight. Who their weakness lies with -- and that's big, for someone with a presence like Rumourmonger Merry. Trying too hard might've just roped So-young harder into the supernatural life... tsk... was this really your plan all along, mother?
"Get clear!" Myunghon yells as they spot Jin throwing another grenade, but it's a smoke grenade-- and coughing through the thick mist and smoke, Jin's nowhere to be found when the haze dissipates.
"Argh. He's a slippery one... Shinobu-ssi, eonni, how're you..." Myunghon's vision doubles again as a piece of shrapnel spikes wildly within pain and they droop to one side. "I'll be all right. I need a moment."
Myunghon spares another look now that the threat of Jin Shirato isn't immediately in their face -- looking towards Shinjiro, Umie, so many other people gathered here... but they also take note of the Phantom Thieves that've appeared. They're each in their own way bombastic -- Myunghon's never seen a motorcycle for a Persona before, nor one as outlandish and dramatic as Milady, not to mention that switch to Angel by Joker, a skill they haven't observed. None of them are people they've worked with before, but Umie's got a connection to them. ... is it possible to forge a deal with them? It'd be much smoother if they could work together on Kaneshiro, rather than at odds.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Niko lets off Shinjiro off easily enough, when he denies he's playing the good guy-bad guy game. "Well of course you don't, Shin-chan~" She doesn't seem to mind that at all! Yet when it's Yukari, protesting so very vehemently... "You look like you're having a great time to me!"
Could Niko possibly be... a bad judge of character?? Impossible. People just don't know themselves very well, clearly.
Akihiko at least never introduces any such complications. He's not denying that he enjoys a good fight, he makes it more clear than anybody. See it's easy, if you just don't argue, she won't have to argue back!
The responses to her challenge though... well, she gets exactly what she asked for. Starting with Shinjiro, whose powerful Heat Wave finally succeeds at knocking her off her feet. Flailing her arms as if it would disperse the heat more quickly, it's clear that she didn't like that. She didn't like that at all.
"D-dammit... I said fight harder, not hotter! Why did you even need help warming up if you can do that?!"
Yukari makes his fury felt in the form of cutting winds, which at least help disperse the heat a little, though it's not exactly a pleasant experience all the same. Even so... Niko grits her teeth, biting back the pain to rise back up. Once she manages it, that grin returns once again.
"Then, I guess I should feel pretty special, that you put aside a million other things just so you could fight me. And so soon after our first meeting! I had no idea you felt that way... Yuka-chan." Looks like Niko did remember her actual name, and now she's been upgraded(?) from Hell Girl. Though if this will be considered an improvement...
Now well and truly on the back foot, Akihiko's assault gets through much easily this time. It's clear enough by now that she didn't get her physique through boxing, she has a poor sense of judgement for where those fists will be coming from next. She finds herself forced to retreat further back, in the wake of that, too out of breath for even a retort.
But is she done? Not quite yet, that manic grin returning once again.
"That's good... that's really good, everyone! How about it? Are you having a good time now? It's great, isn't it, these powers... they let you have all sorts of fun. Do whatever you like, to whoever you want. Like. This."
The Evoker goes against her temple, the shot quick this time - returned to its holder after, as Niko breaks into a run. As Ate, with glowing purple eyes, unleashes an absolutely vicious assault on the senses on Yukari, the giant spectral head seeks to physically ram into Akihiko, spawning a rain of fists to pin him down.
While she heads directly for Shinjiro. Removes the chain she wears for a belt... and tries to wrap it around him, pulling it tight. Though hardly pleasant, it's almost gentle compared to her Persona's attacks, moreso aimed at immobilizing him for a moment than anything else. Just so she can tell him...
"Hey, Shin-chan... it's been fun, but I think I'm just about done playing for today. I just wanted you to know... no hard feelings, okay? You can come see me aaanytime you want. You know where to find me~"
AS: Niko Kirisaki spends Limit on Salve! Haze removed from Niko Kirisaki! AS: Niko Kirisaki spends Limit on Psych! AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Elec skill Furious Psio on Yukari Takeba! 3 Hits! AS: Niko Kirisaki takes 60 damage from Panic! ARCANA: Ruin: Niko Kirisaki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Niko Kirisaki has used the Strike skill Serial Kill Rush on Akihiko Sanada! 3 Hits! AS: Weapon! Niko Kirisaki has used the Strike skill Ensnaring Embrace on Shinjiro Aragaki! AS: Niko Kirisaki: Blood and Psych removed! AS: Avoid Worst! Akihiko Sanada takes #-1 ARGUMENTS MUST BE NUMBERS Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Serial Kill Rush. AS: Avoid Best! Akihiko Sanada takes #-1 ARGUMENTS MUST BE NUMBERS Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Serial Kill Rush. AS: Avoid Worst! Akihiko Sanada takes #-1 ARGUMENTS MUST BE NUMBERS Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Serial Kill Rush. Critical Hit! AS: Avoid Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 30 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Furious Psio. Weak! AS: Counter Neutral! Yukari Takeba takes 47 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Furious Psio. Critical Hit! Weak! AS: COUNTER! Niko Kirisaki takes 17 Wind damage in return for her attack! AS: Block Worst! Yukari Takeba takes 35 Elec damage from Niko Kirisaki's Furious Psio. Weak! AS: Block Worst! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 47 Strike damage from Niko Kirisaki's Ensnaring Embrace. AS: Bind added!
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
So-young looks ready to push her attack on Jin further, her brow furrowing as she finally seems to truly take the threat of this fight seriously. She may not be aware of the social aspect of Sumaru's underbelly to be able to put it eloquently into words why she's concerned, but it's enough that there is concern there - that some part of her instinctly understands she's just become a potential target and what that might mean for her down the line, and that it's important she display a show of strength now. She can't just be a damsel in distress, not if she wants to ensure that Myunghon isn't constantly diving into the path of every bit of danger that comes for her.
Luckily, 'not being a damsel' comes pretty naturally to her.
With Shinobu pressuring him from close range, So-young has the space to flick a hand back into the air as she forces herself to stand tall, humming a snatch of Brahms under her breath at a rapid pace. Icarus manifests in a whirl of motion above her, hovering in place as its wings unfurl outwards in a series of clacking mechanical sounds, the thread of rising power--
--and in a flash of bright light that leaves her wincing past spots in her eyes and an acrid gout of smoke, he's gone.
She wobbles in place, half out of surprise and half out of the sudden release of tension in her muscles. The strength vanishes from her legs almost instantly, and she sags back down abruptly, nearly losing her footing entirely as she sags out a deep, long breath. "... I'm alright," she mutters more to herself than anyone else, "I'm okay. I think."
"I'll smuggle it over to you. Bill Shinjiro for it," she grumbles, too tired all of a sudden to keep up their shouting match as she leans sideways and then takes two staggered steps towards Myunghon. Despite her exhaustion, she pulls inside of herself for the same source of power she tapped into after the bomber's initial volley at her, and a healing breeze washes over the rumourmonger to take the edge off before So-young sinks to one knee and offers her a shoulder up. "Is this a usual day for you? It would explain a lot."
<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.
Ann unleashes her wrath, in all its blazing glory. It is impressive. Frightening, even, if one were to look at the pure, unabashed fury in her masked features.
There's a reason why people who know her do their best to -not- make Ann legitimately mad.
But it's also, despite the sincerity of it, a slave to Ann's circumstances. As soon as all that anger is vented like an exploding volcano? Panther stumbles forward, vision swimming. She gropes air in vain for something to hold on to, and just as she's about to fall--
Diarama!
--someone is there to catch her.
Bright blues shutter in a blink. She didn't even hear Johanna's approach; and yet soon enough she finds herself in Queen's grasp, slumping into the seat as that healing magic channels pure vitality into a body in desperate need of a salve.
"Q-- Queen--?" she wonders lamely. Her vision focuses, finally. And as it does -- a soft, rough laugh escapes her.
She better stay with them?
"Hell yeah!" she proclaims, firmly, as she pushes back up onto her feet. Resolutely, proudly.
And with a bright, beaming smile.
"... Thanks," Panther offers, and then nods in Kumbhanda's direction. "I'm not going anywhere. So let's teach this jerk who he's messing with, right?"
A second passes. And she smiles, awkwardly.
"Hey, um." She looks at Makoto. With big blue eyes.
"Can I catch a ride??"
~ <3 ~
"WHOOOO! THIS IS SOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOL!"
This is Panther.
Belting out joyous laughter as she tears down cognitive reality on the back of a nuclear-powered motorcycle at the speed of psyche.
Leading her -straight- towards Kumbhanda even as he rages and manifests those swords.
As Panther and Queen ride -- that magical reinforcement courtesy of Haru's chaingun-sporting Persona comes. Ann blinks -- and then glances Haru's way as they blaze past, offering her a confident smile and a wink.
"Okay! Then I'll protect you, too, Beauty Thief!"
See? She even managed to say it with a straight face. Because this is a genuine Moment.
The magic helps. Would Ann have chosen to do what she's going to do if she didn't have it? ...
Probably. But it -helps a ton- when she reaches out -directly- towards those swords--!
They slash, striking Ann -JUST- as Carmen manifests before her. It hurts -- it hurts a lot. And yet, despite that, despite the sucking "gah!" of a gasp escaping her -- Ann pushes -past- it with grit teeth and flinching features, raising her hands up--
"I made this SO -- nhhg! -- clear! You're -- just--"
And -snaps- them outward. The Tetrakarn shatters.
And Carmen's servitors ride the magical wave, intent to grip those spectral swords and -skewer- Kumbhanda with his own monstrous power.
"-- A STEPPING STONE!"
Ann gasps. Slumps against Makoto's back. But--
"K-keep going!" -- she doesn't stop. Gripping her whip, she unfurls it with a snap; Carmen is soon leaning down, pressing her lit cigar tip to its length even as Ann calls out,
"We've got your back covered, Joker!!"
The whip IGNITES into a band of pure flame. As they drive past, Ann STRIKES with abandon, seeking to capitalize on Angel's onslaught. One zoom past, one crack of that flaming whip; as they cross his field of orbit a second comes, each coming with a burst of heat and wrath. On that bike, Ann tilts her head up, blows Kumbhanda a kiss, and leans in against Queen on that bike--
-- just in time to reveal Carmen just behind them, winding up--
--and hurling a narrow cone of flame STRAIGHT towards the Shadow. The second it impacts, it'll ignite into a blazing column -- one that burgeons FURTHER with one more application of flame magic, even as Carmen's love-lorn followers swim around her as if singing her praises.
"Consider THAT just a taste of what's coming for you and your boss! Beauty Thief! Show him what we've got!!"
AS: Weapon! Ann Takamaki has used the Fire skill Feel the Heat on Junya Kaneshiro! 2 Hits! AS: Persona! Ann Takamaki has used the Fire skill Agi on Junya Kaneshiro!
<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.
Thanks to Yukari, Haru's fundamental understanding of Persona that she thought she was starting to get a good grasp on shatters again...
"Good call. It's important to look after your own right?" Haru breaks character a little, to nod affirmation at Queen, when she declines to attack in order to tend to Panther. Hopefully, between the heals and the shield, she won't be too seriously injured...
Unfortunately, Haru risks that herself by getting just a little too bold against Kumbhanda. The psychic energy forces him away, but between the four of him, it has only served to anger him even more than he was before.
The way his eyes flash can't be good, so Haru prepares to take advantage of Morgana's Sukukaja to make a break for it, but she's still not quite fast enough. She finds herself staggering back from the sheer impact, feeling pain she doesn't think she's ever felt before. She grits her teeth, tightening her grip over her axe and taking a deep breath. She doesn't know how to feel about the fact it only makes her want to tear into the Shadow even more.
But she does. And she's not alone on this, fortunately. Finding her grace and resolve, Haru spins back up to join her partner, Milady, once again tilting her hat down over her mask. As Joker's Persona fires of fusilade of light towards the awful horse-like Shadow, Milady takes a similar approach. "Do you all thrash about and struggle like this when your end is near? I wonder..." Haru says, as Kumbhanda shouts about how they'll never beat him.
Ann turns up the heat with her blazing hot attack, and Haru wonders how she'll measure up on that one. Still, they all seem to work suprisingly well together. "I'm more than happy to~ Milady, fire everything!" She commands. The assorted cannons and guns Milady wears underneath her dress reveal themselves, all firing in a deadly hailstorm of (cognitive) bullets, in tandem with Haru herself, who finishes with one surprisingly graceful yet deadly, axe attack.
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
There is the wave of cutting wind again. Fox plants his feet, angling his blade to deflect at least some of it back into the Joker Killer. He's also grateful for Katsuya's defensive power warding some of the flames the Old Maid wields so frighteningly effortlessly.
But then -
It's not clear, exactly, to Fox, what happens. A card with a joker on it winks at him and then everything is pain.
By the time his head clears, he's flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the room they were obstructed in, Phantom Thief outfit tattered and mask somehow still attached to his face despite the extreme cracking across it.
An insightful remark passes his lips: "... urgghhhhhh"
AS: Persona! Haru Okumura has used the Pierce skill Sadistic Cruel Attack on Junya Kaneshiro! AS: Weapon! Haru Okumura has used the Pierce skill How's this? Painful? on Junya Kaneshiro!
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"It's a normal thing!" Shinjiro responds about the gun bar and serial killers to Akihiko, which is not normal whatsoever. They're gonna have to talk now...
"Yeah." Yukari gets *that* as a response to 'so serial killers just hang out in alleys?'. It's that simple, Yukari!
As Niko responds about the heat, "Don't be picky!" he shouts out, a little frustrated.
But then the lash comes out, restraining him. Niko says there's no hard feelings, even as he can't move...
"...I'll consider it."
He has questions for her... or, perhaps, he wonders if she's really as bad as she presents. Maybe he can be a good influence.
Even if she's talking about doing whatever the fuck you want and hurting people.
In the meantime, he breaks from the lash, bound in his movements, and...
Shinjiro lets Niko go. "She's going to retreat. Let's finish what we came for," he decides instead of continuing the fight.
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Jin says she isn't going to get what she wants. Shinobu readies her staff again. A grenade comes out. Myunghon shouts - and Shinobu backpedals away from it. The grenade explodes into plumes of mist and smoke. Shinobu covers her mouth with her jacket, just in case there's more to it than that.
...And when it clears, he's gone.
"That's fine. I'm good with this, too." Shinobu says... even though there's no way he can actually hear her.
She straightens up, resting her staff across her shoulders and letting her arms drape over it as she eyes the rest of the battlefield.
"...I'm hanging in there, anyway." She replies, glancing toward Myunghon. She looks toward So-young - and is grateful when she ends up okay, too.
Still - things aren't done here. Not by a long shot...
AS: Avoid Worst! Junya Kaneshiro takes 97 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Feel the Heat. AS: Avoid Worst! Junya Kaneshiro takes 97 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Feel the Heat. AS: Avoid Worst! Junya Kaneshiro takes 87 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Agi. AS: Haze added! AS: Avoid Worst! Junya Kaneshiro takes 169 Pierce damage from Haru Okumura's Sadistic Cruel Attack. AS: Junya Kaneshiro is unable to continue fighting! AS: Avoid Worst! Junya Kaneshiro takes 79 Pierce damage from Haru Okumura's How's this? Painful?. AS: Junya Kaneshiro is unable to continue fighting! AS: Makoto Niijima spends bonus actions on Recover! Makoto Niijima converts bonus actions into Limit!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Even if Umie's pride won't admit it... there was something extremely... nice, about Yusuke coming in to try to take the blows for her. He's.... cool. Incredibly so. If she was a little younger, a little more naive, she'd feel alright in admitting it aloud.
Small tokens of normalcy felt like something out of her reach for so long. To be amazed at people so theatrical, outrageous, wild, and now, she sees they just might be *growing*.
She's glad; she wants to see this little group grow, and hope it doesn't fall to corruption like so many things do, in time.
Sudou's taunt to Yusuke sets it up-- a weakness, in his argument.
And Umie, as she begins to make that blackbird grin, can't resist chasing after it.
".... You realize the memory of what happened that night is what kept me from being scared of my own shadow, right? I knew you could come after me at any moment. No one took me seriously at the hospital. Police were more willing to think *I* did your dirty work than admit there was an Old Maid. Suou-san knew better; but there's a reason I've trusted him."
"Fox," she says, dropping the '-san' as a means of making a direct point, adopting the more casual tone she's used in debates, "has been a perfect gentleman. If he'd accept it better, I'd call him a _perfect gentleman thief_." She holds up a finger. "So no. You're wrong, Old Maid."
She begins to laugh, the scimitar smile spreading on her face. "And furthermore... in general, I've had more fun in the past few months than in an entire, dull, dismal year, of waiting to fly away. Better to die thinking you're alive, than to live thinking you're *dead*," she hisses.
The battle still calls, and Umie darts forward, ready to continue the fight.
Because the Badb in her knows something's about to end: it has to be Joker Killer, or she'll--
She deftly reacts to Sudou's slash, ducking around it with a line of red for her efforts; she weathers the next, taking the long way around, attempting to get closer to him.
Except when she looks up, and sees the macabre vision of Suou's Joker Persona.
--the thing had his face-- --why did that thing have his face-- --what is the Mark-- --why does tatsuya have one-- --why does she feel like--
-- it'll all-- --- break ---
She screams as the joker card explodes in front of her, flying in the opposite direction and landing like a doll against the lush tiling.
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
The fight is nearly reaching it's end as Akihiko strikes several solid punches, along with his allies. Though, while the boxing champ still has plenty of strength behind him, he's gradually running out of steam. He attempts to avoid the spectral head, but the fists that follow up and pin him down is just too intense for him. His legs start getting sloppy, and he takes some bad hits that knocks the boxer on his ass. "Damnit!"
He's able to climb up at least. Akihiko has the familiar feeling of a liquid begin to dripple down his cheek. He smirks as he whips some blood from his face. "I'm not down for the count yet, girlie."
Though, Shinji cuts in and suggests letting the girl away. Admittedly, Akihiko didn't even realize that was a surrender. While it isn't his favourite thing... (he still hasn't even won yet!) A strategic retreat doesn't completely ruin his unbroken win streak. Still, he wants to solidify his victory. "You sure you're tapping out, girl? We can still go for the TKO!" Say what you want, the dude knows what he wants.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
So-Young calls out Shinjiro in front of Akihiko and Yukari is just, "I don't know anything about that, Senpai!" It's not so much throwing him under the bus, because she really doesn't know anything about it! Go figure! But the Phantom Thieves... they're fighting really hard aren't they?
One might be caught by their spell for her to become a 'Phan-girl' herself, if she hadn't just heard something that gave her the shivers.
Then the first thing we'll have to steal--
--is that delusion of yours!
It's a cool line, there's nothing about it that's wrong in and of itself, but is it only a line? Yukari is suspicious, and perhaps worried that it might mean more than that.
Could it be that Niko is a bad judge of character!?
"I'm really not!"
Well, probably.
"What are you even saying!?" To her telling the boys to fight harder, not hotter! Look, she would never ever say anything about a boy is hot in their presence, they might get ideas.
'Then I guess I should feel pretty special, that you put aside a million other things just so you could fight me-'
"I didn-" 'And so soon after our first meeting. I had no idea you felt that way... Yuka-chan.' "-Why are you being so weird about this!?" Yukari says, suddenly flustered, because it sounds like she's hitting on her, even when she's definitely not.
Because it makes no sense that another girl would hit on a girl!
But then Ate reappears, and that assault begins, for some reason Yukari suddenly ducks, avoiding a worse blow of psychokinetic energy, as Io suddenly unleashes a burst of wind to carve through the next wave.
The last though? It blasts her backwards, end over end before the girl skids on the ground, and... she crawls back to her knees, her eyes watering, like she's barely holding it in.
As she thinks of Kaneshiro, and the people 'he contracted' to protect him. What he does to anyone who gets in his way.
"... Who would want that?" Is her simple whispered reply, like she's encountered a mindset that's wholly alien to her, like Niko and Strega and all this is fundamentally an anathema to her way of life - her way of living.
She doesn't know how to live, she'd perhaps never judge most people for not knowing either, as she sure doesn't. But she knows this way of life is wrong.
"Nobody should."
She can't understand how anyone could celebrate this, it'd be like tearing a piece of yourself away and smiling as you do it. But she doesn't look away, indeed - it's no longer an option.
Rising to her feet, Shinjiro advises to let her go, even as Akihiko tries to taunt her into still going. Yukari gets up to her feet, just in time to see Panther's Wild Joyride on the back of Queen's Motorcycle...
Why am I suddenly glad Kirijo-senpai's Persona isn't a Motorcycle?
... and walks over to Shinjiro, roughly smacking away his spectral binds with her bow. "... I don't really think there's any fight in us fighting anymore, Senpai." She says idly to Akihiko, her stomach for continuing it just non-existent. After all, if things continued - Niko could die, or perhaps one of them. And she can't think of anything else more horrible than Persona Users fighting to the death.
With a power that lets them do 'anything they want' to 'anybody they want'.
AS: Yukari Takeba spends Limit on Help Up! Bind removed from Shinjiro Aragaki!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Has he forgotten that he's also a part-time photographer for Coolest? Judging by the deer-in-headlights look Katsuya gives Yukari, yes, he has. But it comes back to him quickly, along with other dark recollections from that event. "--I, I assure you, I do not intend on dying here!" Smooth.
There's no answer forthcoming from Shinobu. Is she uncertain, too? Or...
He can't imagine what it is that one would do here in the first place. It stands to reason that there should be some connection to the 'real' Junya Kaneshiro from his Palace, given how other cognitive feats (Personas, largely, which are the one thing that Katsuya does know well) work so far. But what? Many strange things have been happening lately. Is it connected somehow?
Perhaps they can only know if they get to the depths of the Palace and see what it is that awaits within.
There's too much going on here for him to honestly hope to ever catch on to (which is to the benefit of various unnamed parties hither and thither), but when So-young shouts that of course she bought a gun, it was a gun bar, she earns for one moment in the silence that follows a look from Katsuya.
(Does he... look a little unsettled about this? Perhaps a little guilty? Surely it's nothing and he's just appalled that she bought a gun in defiance of the Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law. Surely.)
Be as it may, she hasn't even brought it, but fortunately, that's of little concern when it comes to being a Persona-user (well, unless you use an Evoker, but appearances aside, they're definitely not guns...).
The Old Maid answers him, after a fashion. He's surprised that he's Tatsuya's--
"What do you mean by that? How do you know my brother?!" He's being toyed with, and it's also not as if Katsuya isn't aware he's being toyed with! But however it falls, he can't help but react honestly, especially not when he hasn't seen his own brother in--
Weeks is it, now?
But the Joker Killer is getting bored, or at least, so he claims. "You-- you aren't getting away!" Katsuya shouts back, and he makes to lunge at the man in the paper bag mask. It's just a pity: he never even gets close. He meets instead #501's blade, which gouges another hit against him; staggered, Katsuya is easy pickings for the burst of flame that follows--
Or at least, so it seems. Like for like: through Helios, he's able to send a shot of that attack back #501's way. But when it comes to the 'parting' shot...
"What is... this?!" The card 'winks' at him, and for an instant, all that Katsuya can see is blinding flashes of light, even when he closes his eyes. Stumbling backwards, he drops to one knee here in the Palace hallway. By the time the glare in his eyes is gone, their opponent is...
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Niko making it weird? You're imagining things, she makes the most sense of all. Frustratingly, she stops answering Yukari's demands for answers entirely. All she does is smile, from that point on.
You wouldn't think that Niko even noticed Sudou's words, or Jin's signal, with how she takes her time retreating. Getting Shinjiro's captive attention for a second was very important! And when she gets his response...
"Okiedokie~" is her simple reply, then pulls back her chain, hangs it off her neck, and waves cheerfully at those assembled.
"I had a good time today! Let's do it again sometime!"
Looks like Shinjiro was right, she's planning to just leave. When Akihiko suggests they could keep going, she simply goes, "Nah. Don't feel like it. You can call it a win if you want, that's cool."
Then she turns, and quite unlike the dramatic exits of the others, just... calmly saunters off towards the elevator, talking to herself.
"Haaa. Well, I did my part. If he can't finish them off it's his own damn fault. Who has their minions go behind their back like that, anyway? Preeeeetty sad."
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
Queen braces herself as the slash comes for her, two long cuts across her torso, and it takes everything she has to maintain her footing and that's with Johanna helping brace her. The sheer power this shadow is throwing out now is tremendous. If it's a war of attrition, they'll lose. Even with her, Mona and Panther, they can't heal enough. No. It's time to shift the approach. Even if the Beauty Thief is right about looking after their own...
"Joker... We need to put an end to this." She can tell that Joker is badly battered, while the Beauty Thief seemed to barely withstand this attack. "Beauty Thief... are you with us?" Sure, it's still a contest- but no one wins if the Shadow beats them. "If you can, pour everything you have left into the attack! If it gets too much, you and Mona get out!" It could potentially be seen as an insult, but really... "We can always go double or nothing."
Ann reassures Makoto that she's still going to be here, and that lets Makoto breathe a little easier.
And then she asks for a ride, and Queen blinks. Ann, unleashing the puppy dog eyes, in the middle of battle...?
"Hold on tight."
----
Johanna's engine roars to life, as they become a burst of speed toward Kumbhanda, and Panther prepares to stop the incoming attack, while Ann reaches to meet the incoming blades with her Carmen's powers, turning the blades on him, Makoto keeps going. She drifts around Kumbandha, as Ann has the opportunity to whip the devil horse from all angles, nuclear flames burning from her exhausts, trailing, leaving a ring of blue white flame behind them. Fire rises around it, as Ann grabs on, and as Carmen finishes her charge, Makoto speaks up. "It's gonna get rough."
That's all the warning Panther gets when Johanna goes into a full spiraling skid, Queen's knee almost touching the ground. "Don't bother trying to tell your boss." Makoto manifests her revolver out of the air and fires at the ring of nuclear flame- and fuel- on the ground, igniting a spark that matches Carmen's.
Johanna's engine roars, Makoto pulling her upright again with strength of will, and her blue white flames mix with the fiery red of Ann's, a wild, scorching pillar of burning death, hot enough to reduce Khumbanda to ashes if it can't withstand their combined powers- and if it doesn't well... the sight of the Beauty Thief emerging through a wall of flames to bring down her axe is something.
As they finally come to a halt, though, energy spent, Makoto is breathing heavily. "...He'll get the message."
Viewed from above, those sure are the words 'You're Next' scorched into the metallic floor in an forceful, flame-licked script.
AS: Tandem! Makoto Niijima has used the Fire skill Full Throttle on Junya Kaneshiro! AS: Makoto Niijima: Paralyze removed! AS: Avoid Worst! Junya Kaneshiro takes 125 Fire damage from Makoto Niijima's Full Throttle. AS: Junya Kaneshiro is unable to continue fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Akihiko Sanada has posed.
Akihiko sighs a bit. It's a win that lacks any...punch, but it's a win nonetheless. He dusts off his shoulders. "I suppose you're right, Takebe-san." He smiles at his kouhai, but it's pretty thin. The disappointment is palpaple. He isn't used to a fight being ended like that.
That's only just part of it though. The promise of a next time gets Akihiko pretty excited. "Until next time, girlie!" He calls after Niko. "I'm looking forward to our next encounter!"
Then, to Akihiko's allies, "Let's get some ramen you two. My treat for a job well done." He gives the two a pretty goofy grin. Then, quietly he adds, "And as a bribe. Let's keep my embarrassing myself juuuust between us, yeah?"
<Pose Tracker> Tatsuya Sudou has posed.
The Old Maid waits for Niko to get the message that they should be leaving before he disappears himself. While Niko is standing around chit chatting he uses the moment that all his opponents are disabled to gloat, slightly. "Umie, you shouldn't have said that about yourself. You are certainly not a problem. You are just a name on my list I haven't circled back to yet."
Walking towards a shadowy wall Sudou looks back to Katsuya, "Tell your brother I said hi. Also tell him that I will fix his mess so just sit back and wait." Sudou chuckles before adding to Fox, "Oh you fake mask wearer. The originals were far superior to you lot. " As he reaches the wall, he just steps into it disappearing into the shadows .
<Pose Tracker> Junya Kaneshiro has posed.
The reflected magic slams into Kumbhanda. It throws the Shadow off; he stumbles from the blow of his own spectral swords, before they wink away.
Joker's beams of light rip into the Shadow. Kumbhanda cries out as they strike into him -- and then that piercing lance slams into him. He raises both arms up -- but it strikes through, regardless.
Ann comes rushing in with Queen. Kumbhanda whirls, trying to keep up with her -- but the flaming whip strikes again and again, as he tries to get a bead on Johanna--
Only for Carmen to unleash her fire, blowing the Shadow backward. As he flies backward, Milady's arsenal is revealed -- and gunshots from the weapons within riddle the Shadow.
And Johanna's flames erupt to life. The blue, fiery coup de grace following after Panther's and Beauty Thief's attacks. The flames shoot upward -- and the Shadow explodes apart into so much shadowstuff.
And it doesn't mar the threat left behind.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It is important to look after one's own. Beauty Thief might've been addressing Queen with that line, but Joker wholeheartedly agrees--with that, and with Queen's own statement that they need to wrap this up.
Similarly, he grins ferociously as Queen gives Panther a ride on her Persona, joining forces to unleash unholy flame of two separate types upon the Kumbhanda in the wake of his own Angel attack. Beauty Thief continues to prove herself just as ferocious as her theatrical Persona unleashes a bombardment of guns while her User swings her deadly axe. Mona's keeping them all on their feet too with his healing. Frankly, the Kumbhanda doesn't stand a chance. Seeing it go down decisively after it gave them all so much trouble is extremely satisfying. The only one who's left is--
"FOX!" Joker shouts, seeing his friend fall in the wake of some sort of--card attack? He didn't quite see what happened, but he sees the outcome quite clearly. He doesn't hesitate to race across the battlefield to Fox's side, dipping in a knee slide that carries him to his side. Umie and Katsuya are down, too. But... the Old Maid's apparently decided to give up on protecting this Palace, if the way his friends have left or are in the process of leaving is any indication. They should be all right. (Even if Joker narrows his eyes at the Old Maid's parting barb. What is he talking about?)
Even so, he offers an arm to Fox and supports him as he helps him to his feet. The obvious enemies are gone or leaving; now it's a matter of the enemies of their enemies and if they're going to stay friends. With Fox this badly injured and the rest of them having struggled too, Joker is not inclined to give them a chance. Maybe it would be smart for them to join forces against Kaneshiro--but he has a team to think of, and friends to protect.
"Phantoms! We're leaving!" he calls. "Split up and meet back at the rendezvous point!" Panther is with Queen, Mona will take care of Beauty Thief, and he's got Fox with him--it's a logical split. For his part, Joker turns back to look at the remaining Persona-Users with intense eyes.
"Make sure you take care of them," he says, referring to Umie and Katsuya, just before he throws down a smoke bomb.
A moment later, when the smoke has dissipated, the Phantom Thieves are all gone. With Arsène resonating in his soul again, Joker can make sure to mask their departure, too. All that's left of them now is the message Queen burned into the floor of the vault.