2026-06-06: Contact

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AS: Penguin Mom has readied for combat as Beast that Rules the Palace: Queen Momorah! They are now fully healed!
AS: Penguin Mom has readied for combat as Beast that Rules the Palace: Queen Momorah! They are now fully healed! Ready for 8 opponents!
AS: Penguin Mom has readied for combat with Beast that Rules the Palace: Queen Momorah! They are adjusted! Ready for 9 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Mom has posed.

Previously on the Velvet Room MUSH

It could be mistaken for the sounds of their own battle. Dust shifts, tiny pieces of stone fall off crumbling brickwork. Did you feel a vibration? It's easy to doubt your own senses.

The next time the pyramid shakes, the chunks of ancient mortar and stone are far, far larger. The impact wrecks parts of the floor, revealing green circuitry as if from some internal motherboard, the dust becomes a thicker cloud, blinding momentarily through a beam of desert sunlight piercing the particles, reflecting off each of them.

There's a gaping hole in the pyramid now, a glimpse of the frame of enormous spectacles, and an eye, bloodshot with fury behind it.

"FUUUUTAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAA!" screams a woman's voice, with a shriek that pierces the heavens, feels like it might penetrate eardrums. It's soon after joined- by two others, these ones more masculine, but more restrained, as if they were subordinate to the woman.

"You think you can hide from me? I'll find you! And when I do- you know what will happen!"
"Maternity Neurosis- you did that to her! It was all your fault!"

The wall shatters, in fact, the entire top of the pyramid shatters with swirling air currents that whip faster and strike harder than any hurricane that has ever existed sending their bodies everywhere, as part of the floor crumbles and collapses- taking at least some of the Wild Hunt with them- and ensuring that others will have to follow.

Now they see it.

The body is sphinx-like at a glance. A woman's head, a lion's body, two dark bat-like wings of emerald hue stretched out over them. The head is easily recognizable by those who have followed the Palace's thread to be the face of Wakaba Isshiki, Futaba's Mother.

However, it's head begins to extend forward past its body on the reptilian neck, and two others are revealed upon the three-headed beast. A man in his thirties, sporting perfectly coiffed - slicked back hair, an earpiece and sunglasses. And another man, middle-aged, wearing a dark blue baseball cap, face sallow and red from the signs of heavy drinking.

Within the fur of each paw, strange blue barnacle like protrusions suddenly open wide- revealing that they were never barnacles at all, but eyes. Segmented green scales line her belly unevenly like natural armor.

And more unusually, her tail isn't a tail at all, but instead an enormous tentacle, sinewy and snake like, but without a recognizable serpent head instead merely more of that green segmented tip slithers forward to lash the top of the pyramid with a crack of great force.

Beast that Rules the Palace: Queen Momorah

The three headed creature of horror screams again balefully with its three maws- and all the Phantom Thieves of Heart feel they might be in trouble.

NOW - AT THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID

Blooming Villain (ver. Strikers) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jERcvK8Sb90

The flapping horror wastes no time, as the central head- Wakaba Isshiki lets out a piercing scream that fills the Phantom Thieves full of despair. Then flapping, it takes off in an arc, before swinging by the platform again at high speed, its tentacle tail slamming down upon the platform with whip-quick speed.

"Where is she!?" The central head shrieks as its head writhes upon its long neck attempting to spy for Futaba amongst them, "I didn't raise you to be this way! FUTABA! COME OUT RIGHT NOW! ALL THOSE HOURS OF LABOR I WENT THROUGH- YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL TO ME FOR YOUR USELESS EXISTENCE!"

Whereas the Man in Black head continues speaking simultaneously, "Didn't you hear me? Your selfishness killed your own mother. Aren't you going to say something? Why won't you say anything? ... What a cold, ungrateful little shit. You should be on your knees apologizing for all you're worth!"

And the final man's head wends serpentine towards them, his bloodshot eyes and gnashing teeth, "Are you hiding her!? Where IS she? If you're taking a minor away from her legal guardian- I'll take you for everything you've got!"

It's unusual, chaotic- like all three heads are out of synch, a trio of self-absorbed wardens that share one body and yet don't even understand the other exists. Each fixated on a different point of Futaba's life, another element of her trauma. But the fact they're out of sync is meaningless given that all three appear to have a consensus on murdering them all.

This is bad. They're already worn down from facing the Wild Hunt, and this thing flies around with a killing intent, like a predator that is already considering how best to toy with their prey. This beast of the Palace circles around again at a distance, readying for another pass- just out of range of most close range attacks.

OOC Note: You just came off the other battle and did not get heals proper! Despite the +heal/full, treat it as digging deep into your stamina reserves. Joker could not afford Trish's prices between the two scenes to do it properly, RIP

AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Dreadful Scream on Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Ichika Kawase, and
Ryuji Sakamoto!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Dreadful Scream on Tsubasa Seki, Makoto Niijima, and Haru Okumura!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Tentacle Slam on Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Ichika Kawase, and Ryuji
Sakamoto!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Tentacle Slam on Tsubasa Seki, Makoto Niijima, and Haru Okumura!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Dreadful Scream.
AS: Avoid Worst! Ann Takamaki takes 161 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Tentacle Slam.
AS: Block Worst! Ichika Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Dreadful Scream.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Ichika Kawase takes 77 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Tentacle Slam.
AS: Block Neutral! Haru Okumura takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Dreadful Scream.
  | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) and Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!

AS: Avoid Worst! Haru Okumura takes 168 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Tentacle Slam.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Dreadful Scream.
AS: Counter Neutral! Tsubasa Seki takes 114 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Tentacle Slam. Resist!
  | COUNTER! Penguin Mom takes 62 Slash damage in return for their attack! 

AS: Yusuke Kitagawa has readied for combat as Goemon! He is now fully healed!
AS: Avoid Worst! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Dreadful Scream.
AS: You have 1 more attack in queue!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Ren Amamiya takes 126 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Tentacle Slam. Critical Hit!

AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Dreadful Scream on Yusuke Kitagawa!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Tentacle Slam on Yusuke Kitagawa!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Dreadful Scream.
  | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) and Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!

AS: Avoid Best! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 36 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Tentacle Slam.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.

    "FUUUUTAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAA!" And then, not just her screaming--but two more. The top of the pyramid shatters; as the stones fall, they hurtle down to smash through the platform.
    
    "Fall back! Through the door!" Joker orders, snapping a hand out to their friends in a flash. "Get everyone through, NOW!"
    
    They'll leap to Skull's aid without hesitation and yank him to the far end of the platform, away from the break where the Wild Hunt will partially fall through and be forced to retreat. They'll trust Fox and Ogre to the others. As a team, The Phantoms will head through to the Treasure room, now a pitched battlefield against not Futaba's Shadow, but the three-headed horror, Queen Momorah.
    
    The Phantoms are in a bad, bad spot, battered as they are after their conflict with the Wild Hunt. Even with Mona still on his paws and already dumping as much healing on the Ogre, Fox, and Skull as he can to at least get them back on their feet, all of them can only pull on their deepest reserves of willpower to recover enough the rest of the way to take on this foe. Mona, for his part, will be too worn out from using all that healing, after all the healing he dumped on Phoenix during their match against Joy, to participate--at least to start.
    
    On some level, though, there's a certain ugly satisfaction to this current form of Hell. Whatever monstrosity of Futaba's perception this is, it chose them as its true threats, not the Wild Hunt. Joker doesn't linger on that. The important thing now is to defeat it and save Futaba. They don't exactly understand why it's this and not Futaba's Shadow, but at this point, it really doesn't matter. They've got a fight on their gloved hands either way.
    
    A horrific screech pierces the air, sending chills down Joker's spine. They manage to keep their wits together, though, and raises an arm defensively as Cognitive Wakaba slams against the pyramid's broken ceiling. The impact rattles their bones in a deeply unpleasant, painful way, dropped to their knees to keep from getting swept away. They shoot their friends a quick look, and once satisfied that they're all still here too, they glare defiantly at the terrifying creature--not just Wakaba, but a head of one of the black suits and some unknown relative.
    
    "This monster... It's a cognition!" Mona declares, at least still able to identify that much and tell the others. "This must be how Futaba sees her memory of her mom and everyone else who blamed her for her death... It really is twisted!"
    
    Joker's fists clench. "You won't get your claws on her," they state to the cognitive sphinx's central head, raising their deep voice as they rise to their feet. "We are The Phantoms, and we'll make sure you won't torture her any longer."
    
    Not that they're convinced any of those heads really hear anyone else. They're the same sort of shitty adults as the Wild Hunt, even if they are just cognitions. They might not be real, but that perception comes from somewhere.
    
    More than that, though... They're all worn out from that battle with the Wild Hunt. This is going to be a bitter fight to the finish.
    
    "Everyone... It's showtime!!" they declare to their friends. With that, Joker summons Arsène in a plume of bright blue flame to drain the three-headed sphinx of its speed. With as huge and mobile as it is, they'll need every advantage there they can get. 

AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Almighty skill Sukunda on Penguin Mom!
  | Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!

AS: Take! Penguin Mom takes 0 Almighty damage from Ren Amamiya's Sukunda.
  | Spd_Dn (Avoid Penalized!) added!

AS: Take! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Dreadful Scream.
AS: Avoid Best! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 55 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Tentacle Slam. Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    Phoenix is looking a touch ragged in the cloak, as they flee to the Pyramid's apex. More pressing, perhaps, is the blood which doesn't stand out at all against their ninja robes -- except for those splotches of red which have stained the bandages bracing their belly, wrists, and ankles. Whoever that Joy woman was -- she must have known all the tricks and then some. Ow. Fuck.

    (They're so grateful Mona was watching their tailfeathers on that one; if it wasn't for him, would they even be able to follow Joker as they direct them to the final battle, now?)

    ... that screaming hurts, too. "FUCK YOU!" Phoenix lobs back at the voice of Wakaba and the men with her. "DON'T TALK SHIT 'BOUT SAKURA-SAN!" Any hopes of convincing them not to be hotheaded about this were probably forfeit the minute they had to bleed all their HP in a fight before this even started, but honestly, the way those Cognitions are talking probably would have taken them from zero to a hundred regardless. In particular, that last one... "LEAVE HER ALONE!"

    'Legal guardian' has the exact shape and cadence of 'lock and key', to Phoenix's ears.

    Perhaps they manage to run away from the material impacts of that verbal abuse -- is that what Futaba's been coping with this whole time? -- but that tentacle is another thing entirely. "GET FUCKED!" They yell, as they cover Mona, this time, leaping into the attack to slice their greatsword down into those sick serpentine scales and giving their feline teammate the opportunity to find a place to shelter.

    (No Ailment may have hit them, but, see, there's this special Ailment called 'Goad', and it hits Phoenix EVERY TIME.)

    As that tail whips away, though, Phoenix is confronted with the sheer scale of how immensely fucked they are...

    ... because they might have invoked a bird for their rebellious power, but they still can't fly.

    "Why fuck can her Cognition fly?!" Phoenix howls. "THAT'S NOT FAIR! Fuck! Uhhh -- aight! IZBUSHKA NA KUR'IH NOZHKAH!" They tear their witch's-hat mask off of their face, in a shower of blood and blue flame, and...

    ... normally, Phoenix's Persona is huge. Massive. At least thrice the size of any of the humans fighting, with its chicken legs themselves as tall as Ogre herself.

    Now...

    Now, when Izbushka flaps into existence, its thatched-hut roof and hatches like little chicken wings...

    ... really seems...

    ... quite...

    ... small.

    Even so, that power explodes out, washing over those amongst them whose Personas might have a better chance of hitting at range -- Panther, Queen, Noir, and Joker.

    (Ogre, they estimate, will be busy with keeping them upright...)

AS: Persona! Tsubasa Seki has used the Almighty skill Matarukaja on Ann Takamaki, Makoto Niijima, Haru Okumura, and Ren
Amamiya!
AS: Take! Haru Okumura takes 0 Almighty damage from Tsubasa Seki's Matarukaja.
  | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) added!

AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Tsubasa Seki's Matarukaja.
  | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) added!

<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.

Say what you will about the Wyld Hunt's methods and intentions... they are impressive foes, particularly the firebrand daughter.

Fox is standing, now, after that grueling fight, but even after the group has done their best to patch themselves up he is much less sure on his feet than usual.

"A cognition..." He frowns. "... Could that monster be the true distortion?"

After all, Futaba's Shadow has been testing them, not opposing them. Her becoming a transformed, monstrous Ruler to confront them here doesn't line up with that.

... But then where is Futaba's Shadow?

There's little time to wonder about that, as they push forward to engage Queen Momorah. The chilling scream makes Fox's already-unsteady legs even twitchier, but he is able to step aside from the tentacle slam with a minor glancing strike.

Staring up at the winged creature as she takes aloft, the ronin Phantom Thief frowns, and instead of calling his sword to hand, a red-lacquered rifle appears as he brings it to his shoulder, slotting in a magazine and sighting upwards.

His aim wavers. Making an annoyed grunt, Fox drops into a more stable crouching position, and squeezes the trigger down, a volley of ink-black tracers rounds lancing up towards the chimeric sphinx. 

AS: Weapon! Yusuke Kitagawa has used the Pierce skill Wounding Burst on Penguin Mom! 2 Hits!
  | Pressure: Yusuke Kitagawa gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.

After being dragged to safety, there is a long moment where Skull keeps his eyes shut, still feeling sore from the ass kicking he dealt and received. Finally, the Phantom Thief opens his eyes slowly, yawning before smacking his lips and looking around.

 "Wha? What is---"

 Thats about when the screaming three headed mom comes into view and the taste of blood enters his mouth. "Ah come on! I was dreaming of my girlfriend naked and now I gotta deal with this...Greaaaaat."

 The delinquent gets to his feet, wincing when the piercing shriek rattles his bones and then the tentacle slams into him, sending him skidding backwards like an Akira slide.

 "Tch...Ok...now I'm not happy for two reasons." Skull steps forward, brandishing his nail bat as he begins to walk back to where he was standing previously. "Ugh...I really want to go back to bed but it seems I need to cook this chicken before I get to go back to my sweet dreams. LET'S GO, LADY! Your days of bullying Sakura are over!" He points the bat defiantly, as Captain Kid sails into reality once more, aiming it's canon arm. It blasts a Rapid Zio toward the large bird Mom, aiming to flash fry it. 

AS: Persona! Ryuji Sakamoto has used the Elec skill Rapid Zio on Penguin Mom! 3 Hits!
  | Aggression: Ryuji Sakamoto gains 1 Limit!

AS: Take! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Tsubasa Seki's Matarukaja.
  | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) added!

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.

Ann Takamaki, whip on fire, every bone in her body aching in the wake of an offensive she just barely made it out of conscious, prepares herself to fight Laurent to the bitter end. Part of her knows -- after this confrontation, none of them will be in good condition to face whatever inevitably awaits them in the Treasure Room.

But if they can just make it through, maybe they can reach a Safe Room, and--

                         FUUUUTAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAA!

"Wh-what--"

And then the pyramid explodes.

Not the entire thing, of course, but that's how it feels in the moment: there's very few things quite as disorienting as being in the middle of a violent, architectural collapse, and for a split second as that impact rocks through the structure of the tomb, 'everything falling apart' is exactly what it feels like.

"I-is the Palace collapsing?!" is Ann's confused cry as she stumbles backwards across the stony earth, desperately trying to weave through falling chunks of rubble. The crashes are deafening. She's fairly certain, for a moment, that they're all going to fall into some endless pit of blackness and be forgotten by all their friends and family or -- or -- WHATEVER happens when a Palace falls apart.

Panther lets out a terrified and dismayed cry as chunks of stone collapses all around her.

...

When the dust settles -- when Panther finally gets her wits about her -- when she knows for certain the Palace isn't crumbling --

The reality's not any better.

The good news? The Wild Hunt is gone.

The bad news?

"What... what is that...?"

Literally everything else.

Blue eyes widen as Ann takes in the hideous, malformed sight of the three-headed would-be sphinx, blotting out the once-oppressive presence of the desert sun. Mona calls it a cognition.

Panther immediately pivots towards him, one fist clenched and one finger jabbing in the direction of the GIANT MONSTROSITY OF CONGEALING TRAUMA.

"Wh-what kinda cognition is THAT?! This is WAY crazier than any kinda thing we've seen before! It's--"

It's screaming. The cry is earsplitting, inspiring Ann Takamaki to instantly cover her ears and wince out a sharp cry of "AH?!" as she stumbles backwards. Despair refuses to bleed into her. Not when she's come this far.

But it still distracts her, more than long enough for a long shadow to cast over her.

"--?!"

WHUD

The tentacled limb of Momorah's tail CRASHES into them all. Ann is directly adjacent to the epicenter, the impact more than enough to send her flying, bones rattling and ears ringing as a strangled sound of pain is smothered on her lips. Twisting through the air, she hits ground with a bounce and a roll, coming to a skidding stop as she huffs out a desperate breath.

It hurts. Everything hurts. They're not prepared to face this after what the Wild Hunt put them through.

... But she promised. She promised Futaba...

"--"

Emboldening magic flows through her veins thanks to Tsubasa. Blue fire flicks off the edges of Ann Takamaki's mask.

"d-dance, carmen."

And in a sapphire burst, the pink-hued lady of danger rips back into existence, disdainful stare locking onto that three-headed visage beyond. Three heads. The officers who deceived Futaba. The image of what they burned into her must be her mother. And the third... who is...?

No time to think. For now, Ann focuses, directing Carmen to swing one heart-headed servant forward, a pulse of pink unleashing a rip in space before that cognition and manifesting a shrilling vortex of bubbling black and scarlet magics, aiming to suck as much of the sphinx-thing's strength into its gluttonous depths as it can.

No offensive. Not yet; they need breathing room. She can't afford to misstep here. They need to prepare as best they can.

They need--

they need to win this. 

AS: Persona! Ann Takamaki has used the Almighty skill Tarunda on Penguin Mom!
  | Pressure: Ann Takamaki gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.

Exhausted as she may be from the Wild Hunt's intervention - both physically, and mentally, thanks to Vivienne's trickery and illusions, the Phantom Thieves' heist has not come to an end just yet.

"This pressure is...!" Noir winces, as Queen Momorah's ear-piercing shriek echoes in their eardrums. For Noir, it takes everything in this moment just to remain standing. As she struggles, the tentacles sweep into her legs, pushing her back. "Futaba-chan's mother...? So this is the true extent of the distortions in her mind. How horrible!" Having already emphasized with Futaba before, hearing what she's hearing right now only strengthens Haru's desire to help save Futaba.

Despite her emotions running high, Noir carefully observes Queen Momorah's behaviour. As the team's markswoman, her abilities may very well be needed soon, so she knows she can't do anything too reckless just yet. Once they are, Phoenix's power boost will be much welcome. For now, she watches... carefully, while focusing on supporting the others. "Milady! Energize us!" Haru calls, countering the sheer anguish being caused by Cognitive Wakaba with a soothing burst of energy, to ensure Fox hits his mark. 

AS: Persona! Haru Okumura has used the Recovery skill Energy Drop on Yusuke Kitagawa!
  | Haru Okumura takes 90 damage from Panic!
  | Pressure: Haru Okumura gains 1 Limit!

AS: Avoid Neutral! Penguin Mom takes 25 Pierce damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Wounding Burst. Weak!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Penguin Mom takes 62 Pierce damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Wounding Burst. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 27 Elec damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Rapid Zio.
AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom takes 7 Elec damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Rapid Zio.
AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom takes 7 Elec damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Rapid Zio.
AS: Take! Penguin Mom takes 0 Almighty damage from Ann Takamaki's Tarunda.
  | Atk_Dn (Damage down!) added!

AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Recovery healing from Haru Okumura's Energy Drop.
  | Blast and Panic removed!

AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Dreadful Scream.
  | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!

AS: Avoid Neutral! Makoto Niijima takes 63 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Tentacle Slam.
AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Almighty damage from Tsubasa Seki's Matarukaja.
  | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) added!

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.

Ogre's in bad shape, or was before Queen got her out and Mona healed her. Even so, she's tired. But there's no time for being tired. So she hears that piercing scream, and grits her teeth against it, and indeed--they're in trouble.

But 'grateful'. "That's not right!" Ogre snaps at the Cognitive Wakaba, "That's not how a mother--her mother was!"

And that man. The men, even. Ogre glares--but, having been picked up by Makoto, at least she can fight now. So as she looks around at her friends...

"Noir!" Ogre calls. "I've got your back!"

Momiji whirls into being as Ogre rips off her mask again in blue flames. With a wave of her hand, the Persona drops sparkling light on Noir, to mend her wounds, to help her stay back in the fight.

"Fair or not, we gotta kick its ass!" Ogre calls to Phoenix. "Let's show her we give a shit!" 

AS: Persona! Ichika Kawase has used the Recovery skill Diarama on Haru Okumura!
  | Support: Ichika Kawase gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.

    It turns out that Noir and Queen's combined assault is not enough to finish off their Wild Hunt opponent- and that's worrying in and of itself.

    Unfortunately, a bigger threat has emerged, both literally and threat wise. The positive is that the Wild Hunt have been dealt with by the ground collapsing under them- or needing to fetch their allies.

    This is still a net negative.

    (Queen did not try to stop Vivienne leaving to help her team, for the record. But that's less important right now.)

    Joker calls the retreat and Phoenix launches a strike to distract the monstrosity coming for them. "I have Ogre, Noir- grab Fox! Panther, assist whoever needs it! Move!"

    Indeed, Queen guns it on Johanna and leaps off to grab Ogre and haul her to her feet. Unfortunately, they don't have time to actually put people on the Persona to escape, so pulling the taller woman over her shoulder and running is the best Queen can do.

    The momentary time they have to recover is spent grabbing that revival bead from earlier, and crushing it above Ogre's head to revive her.

    It's clear that everyone's exhausted, and in many cases, panicked. It's the sensible response to something like that cognition.

    "...That's..." It wasn't just her mother's death that put Futaba in this place, was it. Those other heads...

    They need a strategy, otherwise they're all going to die. And that means Queen doesn't have the liberty of panicking. Joker declares showtime, and Queen frowns. Fine. Time to think on her feet.

    "Focus on ranged attacks- guns, magic, whatever you have!" Queen starts, as she tries to find the opening to work out a weakness on something that large- but does she even have that opportunity?

    "Ogre, support! Panther, get back and help Noir and Joker with the ranged assault! We're not in a position for a drawn out assault, but we can't be careless! Keep away from physical attacks until we know what we're dealing with- and focus on staying alive for now!"

    No casting from HP everyone.

    Still... Even as Queen studies the cognition, she's not sure what she can glean from it- those three overwhelming faces of cruelty, that plan to rip them apart to get to Futaba.

    "Johanna!" She cries, summoning her persona to grant her a shield, a wave of energy coming from the Persona toward the beast as Makoto tries to work out, well, anything. 

AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Almighty skill Shadow Calculus on Penguin Mom!
  | Makoto Niijima takes 90 damage from Panic!

AS: Take! Penguin Mom takes 171 Almighty damage from Makoto Niijima's Shadow Calculus.
AS: Makoto Niijima's Support Scan! Penguin Mom has passive skills Ailment Boost, Apt Pupil, Avoid Physical, Heavy
Weapon, Sharp Student, and Strike Amp!

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

 
MEANWHILE...

Was she smiling?

She was smiling.

Smiling, was she?

Was smiling, she.

She, smiling, was.

Futaba gazes at the frieze until the freeze is broken when something else entirely frees itself. Her head turns, and she rises up. It's uneasy. Her head feels thick. Even though it's autumn outside and somehow managing to be a perfectly air conditioned summer-time space in this pyramid, it feels like there's a thunderstorm.

Someone called her name, and Futaba is afraid to know just what - or who - it was. But there's nowhere to run now. She could stay here until the end, or she can move forwards. She heaves herself up, takes a deep breath, and moves forwards despite the terrors.

AND THAT IS WHY...

        RIGHT HERE - RIGHT NOW -

"W... what?!" comes a familiar voice, high and terrified.

Standing off to one corner, at the apex of the self-same stairwell the Phantom Thieves had used to ascend into the treasure chamber, now bared to the remorseless desert sun and sky and the tender mercies of the triune monster...

is Futaba Sakura.

Not the Shadow. Indeed, she's wearing the exact same shirt that the Phantom Thieves saw her wearing yesterday - though that's the shirt on top of another shirt, and this one's pattern of stripes is slightly different.

She sees everything. She doesn't *hear* everything. Futaba looks around at everyone - they all feel familiar even if she doesn't quite recognize any of them, not like this. Phoenix howls at the unfairness of it and for a moment Futaba feels guilty, which comes easily to her right now after all. The guy in the fox mask pulling out an actual GUN. The tough guy with the skull mask summoning a LIGHTNING PIRATE.

She doesn't know them in the particulars, but Futaba knows *who* they are. The Phantom Thieves. And beyond them...

Beyond them is a dizzying nightmare beyond her imagination and now they're all gonna get killed by that thing, thinks Futaba, with a sense like swallowing lead and feeling it slam into her gut.

Futaba staggers back a step. Everyone's words reach her in snips and snatches. "That's... that's from my heart...?"

Her legs give out; she tilts to the side, hands spreading out, before finally collapsing to her knees, staring with horror at the great beast. 

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Mom has posed.

Joker declares that they won't get her claws on Futaba, rather than Wakaba responding- that sallow faced ballcap wearing head glares murder him from afar, "You're just some brat. What can you do? You're not gonna get between me and my Golden Goose!" He snarls, as the whole beast moves fractionally slower. But that difference might be all that stands between the life and death of the Phantom Thieves.

'LEAVE HER ALONE!'
"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO TELL ME HOW TO RAISE MY OWN DAUGHTER!"
 
The central head shrieks at Phoenix, but at that moment, Fox's tracer rounds tag her from afar- and her flight dips enough to show that it really hurt, whereas Skull fires off Zio spells, the first tags her- before she picks up speed and swerves around the second- and third.

Panther meanwhile tries to declaw the monstrosity, or perhaps 'de-tentacle' as it were, Carmen's energy taking it down a notch.

The man in black head looks right at Ogre, "What do you know about her Mother anyway? What do you actually know? Are you sure that she wasn't?" As he tries to get her to doubt herself.

Then that wave of energy blasts the beast- and from its movements, Queen gleans a great deal about the Cognition's abilities, gets a sense for its strength, its speed.

Around and around the monster comes again, this time though, it stops short of the platform hovering just out of range as those batlike wings begin to flap wildly, buffeting the platform with hurricane force winds.

Suddenly, the serpentine head of the Men in Black whips forward, so close to the platform. "All you did was ask her to go on a trip? Can't you understand she was already at the breaking point trying to deal with a kid as self-centered as you? What happened to filial piety in this generation? This is what happens when rotten kids don't respect their parents as they ought to."

His sunglasses dip down- and behind them are red irises swirling as hypnotic spirals. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts are suddenly filled with a compulsion trying to turn them against Futaba, trying to imbue them with the rage of all good members of society towards selfish children like her.

It's her fault. It's all her fault! Anyone can see that!

Being protected by Personas, it won't actually turn them against Futaba, but the lingering anger there- unable to be directed elsewhere, certainly makes them quite vulnerable now, doesn't it?

The creature then with a mighty flap of its wings, suddenly makes a rapid ascent at high velocity, so fast that there's a sudden sonic boom as it launches itself into the clouds- then higher still.

Soon enough, they can no longer see it- and they're filled with an awful sense of dread.

For what goes up-

AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Wind skill Hurricane Winds on Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Ichika Kawase, and Ryuji
Sakamoto!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Wind skill Hurricane Winds on Tsubasa Seki, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima, and
Haru Okumura!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss on Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Ichika
Kawase, and Ryuji Sakamoto!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss on Tsubasa Seki, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto
Niijima, and Haru Okumura!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Rapid Ascent on Penguin Mom!

AS: Take! Penguin Mom takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Rapid Ascent.
  | Slash_Wall (Slash Affinity Up!) and Strike_Wall (Strike Affinity Up!) added! Spd_Dn removed!

AS: Take! Haru Okumura takes 148 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Diarama.
AS: Avoid Worst! Haru Okumura takes 179 Wind damage from Penguin Mom's Hurricane Winds.
AS: Block Best! Ann Takamaki takes 22 Wind damage from Penguin Mom's Hurricane Winds.
AS: Avoid Worst! Ren Amamiya takes 200 Wind damage from Penguin Mom's Hurricane Winds. Critical Hit!
AS: You have 1 more attack in queue!
AS: Avoid Best! Haru Okumura takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss.
AS: Avoid Best! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss.
  | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) added!

AS: Avoid Best! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss.

AS: Take! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss.
  | Rage (Weapon Attack and Incoming Damage Up!) added!

AS: Block Worst! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 166 Wind damage from Penguin Mom's Hurricane Winds. Weak!
AS: Ren Amamiya spends Limit on Shift! Ann Takamaki can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Block Neutral! Ichika Kawase takes 51 Wind damage from Penguin Mom's Hurricane Winds.
AS: Block Worst! Ichika Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss.
AS: Ryuji Sakamoto spends Limit on Shift! Ichika Kawase can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Ann Takamaki spends Limit on Shift! Ichika Kawase can use another Weak skill this round! Hyper (Next Attack
Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Ichika Kawase! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP!
AS: Avoid Best! Tsubasa Seki takes 71 Wind damage from Penguin Mom's Hurricane Winds. Critical Hit!
AS: Mind Up! Tsubasa Seki's SP +8!
AS: Avoid Best! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss.
AS: Block Neutral! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 74 Wind damage from Penguin Mom's Hurricane Winds. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss.
  | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) and Rage (Weapon Attack and Incoming Damage Up!) added!

AS: Block Neutral! Makoto Niijima takes 70 Wind damage from Penguin Mom's Hurricane Winds. Critical Hit!
AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss.
  | Rage (Weapon Attack and Incoming Damage Up!) added!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.

    Fox suggests that the cognition is the true distortion here, which Noir immediately accepts as fact. No wonder; it rings true to Joker's ears, too. "There was a discrepancy between Futaba's view of her mother and what Sojiro-san told us about her. If that's because it's her distortion... everything falls into place," Joker calls to the two of them.
    
    Joker doesn't comment on the nature or content of Skull's dreams. That's between him and Ogre, and if Ogre minds, she doesn't see fit to comment either.
    
    Instead, as Queen calls out a battle strategy, they nod to her too. Ranged attacks are only sensible here. "We're counting on you to find its weakness, Queen!"
    
    That bright red energy that coalesces around Joker strengthens their soul, energizing them for harder hits. They shoot Phoenix a grateful, lopsided smile before turning a sharp glare back towards Queen Momorah--or rather, the ballcap-wearing head. His golden goose? What a scumbag... Who even is that? No, doesn't matter. What does matter is--
    
    "On the contrary, we'll get in between Futaba and anything that tries to hurt her, no matter how many times it takes," they retort boldly. "We promised we'd save her. Nothing will stop us from keeping that promise!"
    
    Queen Momorah turns her vast wings against The Phantoms them and buffets them all with wings so powerful they're like a physical force, more sledgehammer than light breeze. Joker is knocked off their feet and slammed hard into the stone floor, snarling in pain as they nearly crack their head open. They're sent tumbling, and they grip hold of a crack in the floor just in time to keep from getting blown away entirely. At the end, they're left panting and trembling, that energy seemingly sapped from them again.
    
    They're angry, all right. But not angry at Futaba. Angry at the Wild Hunt--angry at this cognition--and angry at the pervasive attitude that parents deserve respect no matter what hell they put their children through.
    
    "Respect... IS EARNED!" they roar, punching a fist on the ground to force themself back up onto their feet. "Arsène!! Show them that truth!!"
    
    The cackling Great Thief materializes above them, spreading their clawed hands wide as a mass of darkness forms between them. The spell grows and grows and grows, until at least they fling the Eiga spell at Queen Momorah and have it roil against her loathside hide.
    
    Meanwhile...
    
    "I-I don't know! It's my first time seeing something like this too! ...I think!" Mona shouts back to Panther, likewise rattled. Phoenix at least takes on Queen Momorah's tentacle attack so he can get to cover long enough to recover his stamina, towards the back of the broken pyramid's surface. Of all the times to end up so exhausted...! If only there was--some kind of massive ballista or something that needed dedicated aiming so he could still help out that way! He feels so useless here...!
    
    But then something else even more pressing happens. Something completely unexpected.
    
    Futaba wanders up and out to join all of them.
    
    Mona's already enormous eyes bug out. "F-Futaba?!? What in the world are you doing here?!" There's no time to be hiding like a coward right now--he dashes out, legs a cartoonish blur, to place himself protectively between Futaba and Queen Momorah and draw his slingshot, 2 SP be damned.
    
    However, that's when the sphinx beats her wings again, not to attack but to soar high, high, high up into the sky, so high up she can't even be seen.
    
    "Don't tell me..." Mona utters, eyes widening again. 

AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Dark skill Eiga on Penguin Mom!
  | Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!

AS: Avoid Neutral! Penguin Mom takes 81 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Eiga. Resist!
  | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) added!

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.

Skull groans when the lightning misses the mark from the flying mother. He admittedly is too beat up to really comprehend this all, still drowsy from his nap just a moment again. Still this Cognition was starting to make his blood boil.

 "Tch...Lady, could you stop telling us like we don't know any better."

 As the winds start to blow, Skull uses the bat to anchor himself to the platform and avoid certain doom. It was all about keep upright and fighting. Even as he struggles to keep standing, he can feel the new burst of strength draining by the moment, wincing as he holds on for dear life.

 Then the Men in Black head starts trying to use hypnotism to make him hate the girl they are doing this for. Yeah, he sure is pissed but somehow Skull is able to hold onto his target as he digs into his pocket. "OK! LETS SEE HOW YOU DO THIS TIME!"

 "ABSOLUTE FATAL END! LETS GO! HAAAAAA" There is something like a magical crack and Skull winces with widening eyes. "FUCKFUCKFUCK THAT ALWAYS HURTS!! WHY DOES THIS STUPID CARD DO THAT?! GAH I'M SO FREAKIN PISSED AT EVERYTHING!" 

AS: Persona! Ryuji Sakamoto has used the Slash skill Absolutely Fatal End on Penguin Mom!
  | Aggression: Ryuji Sakamoto gains 1 Limit!

AS: Block Neutral! Penguin Mom takes 122 Slash damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Absolutely Fatal End.
AS: Yusuke Kitagawa spends Limit on Exploit! Yusuke Kitagawa can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.

Golden Goose. These words, spat condescendingly from the third head of the sphinx, make Fox see red.

"She is not," he snarls, training his ironsights on that head specifically, "someone you can use up for your own personal gain! GOEMON!"

Ink dripping down in thin air, Goemon steps out of an imaginary woodcut, but before the painted samurai can strike, the great cognitive Sphinx spreads its wings and leaps into the sky, out of sight.

Dismissing the possibility of blind-firing into the sky, Fox glances up at his Persona and gestures, sweeping his arm wide and stirring up an icy breeze that lends haste to his comrades' actions as he stands up. Unable to look up due to the sun's fierce glare, he instead steps backwards as Goemon crouches protectively over him, the rifle in his hands disappearing in favour of his blade as he stands ready to draw. 

AS: Persona! Yusuke Kitagawa has used the Almighty skill Iaijutsu Stance on Yusuke Kitagawa!
  | Pressure: Yusuke Kitagawa gains 1 Limit!

AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Almighty damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Iaijutsu Stance.
  | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) and Reflect_Phys (Phys Counter Improved!) added!

AS: Persona! Yusuke Kitagawa has used the Almighty skill Masukukaja on Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Tsubasa Seki, and
Yusuke Kitagawa!
AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Almighty damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Masukukaja.
  | Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!

AS: Take! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Masukukaja.
  | Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!

AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Masukukaja.
  | Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!

AS: Take! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Almighty damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Masukukaja.
  | Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!

<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.

"Ogre! Thank you so much!" Noir replies, feeling invigorated by Momiji's healing spell. As much as she was trying to put up a strong front for Futaba's sake, she really did need that. "I'm still worried... but show that cognition we truly do believe in her, shall we?"

The Men in Black's snake-like head lurches forward, trying to turn them against Futaba. The anger fills their minds, and it will take some serious mental fortitude to resist it. "It was never her fault!" Noir struggles, redirecting that anger towards someone who deserves it. "It won't become true just because you keep saying it!" She reiterates. "That's right, Futaba-chan... it was never your fault." She adds, more quietly, understanding that the source of these distortions comes from the mind of Futaba herself.

"Futaba-chan... she's more than just a golden goose. She's her own person... she just never got the chance to show you that." Noir shakes her head, sadly. This isn't like the Phantom Thieves' previous battles. There's no righteous justice to be found here. Just a sad family situation which may never become fully repaired. But if their battle can help Futaba move on... then press on they must.

Queen recommends ranged attacks, it'll be difficult to get close enough to Cognitive Wakaba to attack her that way. Fortunately, Milady has plenty of bullets up her sleeve. "Understood, Queen! I know just the trick! Double... Shot!!" Milady fires twice - aiming to clip the wings of the Sphinx with each one. Unfortunately, as panicked as the situation is - she lacks her usual aim. Will their teamwork be enough at a time like this? 

AS: Persona! Haru Okumura has used the Pierce skill Double Shot on Penguin Mom! 2 Hits!
  | Haru Okumura takes 90 damage from Panic!
  | Pressure: Haru Okumura gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    Don't worry, Fox! That firebrand got knocked off of the pyramid and out of your life forever.

    Probably.

    Hopefully.

    Goddamnit, Isabeau's going to show up and drag them into a totally unnecessary midboss battle at the worst moment, now, isn't she.

    But right now, there's a bigger boss to worry about -- Cognitive Wakaba and her hangers-on. Speaking of which, does Izbushka count as a pre-cooked chicken? That's another question for later.

    'That's not how a mother is'...

    Phoenix can tell that's the first thing Ogre was going to say, even if she remembered it's not always like that. "Ain't how a mom oughta be," is what they say, to underline it -- because even if some mothers are that awful, the mask they're wearing is a symbol of how much the status quo sucks.

    Fuck it up and build in something better! That's their Will of Rebellion...!

    "I'LL DARE A LOT MORE'N THAT, ASSHOLE!" They yell, at Wakaba-and, that distortion which has built a Palace around an innocent girl.

    But that man speaks of filial piety -- and Phoenix still lives in a society, you know? They do know how important everyone says that is. They can tell themself that the blood of battle is thicker than the water of the womb, but it's the clipped, warped version which keeps repeating through Tokyo's speakers.

    Yeah. Yeah, they know. They know.

    If they were fighting this on their own -- they'd have lost their head about it, no question.

    They're not.

    'Respect... IS EARNED!'
        'Respect is earned, Seki-san.'

    "Fuck you," they spit, instead -- and yes, they are angry, hearing those words.

    But they're angry under their own power.

    ... this Rebellion is something Ren's helped them with before, when they were struck at their weak underbelly.

    Even as those hurricane winds knock Phoenix over, with a critical hit -- they plant their greatsword in the Phaorah's stone, and use it to leverage themself upwards. Goemon's alacrity helps them to do so without stumbling, one foot stomping forward as they gesture to the Cognition, quite rudely.

    "You wanna know somethin' they say over in America an' shit? They say 'blood is thicker than water', an' they use that to bludgeon every fuckin' kid they're hurtin' with the idea gettin' hurt is their fault. Here's th' trick, asshole: it's bullshit." Phoenix spits out a little blood, and a whole mouthful of contempt. "What they're sayin' means th' opposite a what they meant. Shit goes, 'th' blood a battle's thicker than th' waters a th' womb'. Who you choose matters more'n who's fuckin' freeloadin' off ya family tree."

    They haven't noticed Futaba, even if what they're saying...

    It's something she ought to hear, too, isn't it?

    "Also,"

    With a flourish, Phoenix stows their greatsword in their feather cape, and pulls out AN ENTIRE FUCKING ROCKET LAUNCHER,

    "GET DOWN HERE AN' FIGHT!"

    (The ammunition counter, at the bottom of their screen, reads '2'... apparently, Phoenix can't conceive of being able to carry more than two of those massive shells.)

AS: Weapon! Tsubasa Seki has used the Pierce skill Rocket Launcher on Penguin Mom!
  | Aggression: Tsubasa Seki gains 1 Limit!

AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom takes 23 Pierce damage from Haru Okumura's Double Shot. Weak!
  | Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) added!

AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom takes 44 Pierce damage from Haru Okumura's Double Shot. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 275 Pierce damage from Tsubasa Seki's Rocket Launcher. Critical Hit! Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.

Carmen's sapping magic does its work, but with the state they're in right now, it feels like casting stones into an ocean. Ann Takamaki isn't one to let the hopelessness of a situation deter her - and she's not about to start now - but even her relentless positivity faces difficulties at the sight of that - monstrosity - that is so unlike any cognition they've seen before.

They're facing the entirety of Futaba Sakura's self-loathing and fears and warping guilt given form after barely fending off veteran Persona-Users. Can they really win this--?

Dragging herself back up onto her feet, Panther is still struggling with these uncertainties--

W... what?!

... when a new and completely unexpected variable enters the fray.

The red-clad Phantom Thief blinks out a single blink. Her surprise is a muted thing, even as the tempestuous wrath of the three-headed monstrosity continues to rage. She's expecting Futaba's Shadow, frankly. But even with that expectation, she immediately feels like something is wrong, even before she turns to look. It's something about the high pitch of that voice, confused and terrified.

She feels that wrongness, even as reflexively she starts to turn and shout, "You're here! Can't you deal with this--"

--only to see not the Pharaoh garbs of Futaba's Shadow--

"--thing--?"

But a very bewildered Futaba Sakura. In the flesh. Still wearing the very same outfit that they all saw her in last, when they put all this in motion.

"--Futaba-chan--?" Ann wonders, sky blue eyes widening in dawning horror and confusion. "What -- how are you even here--?"

She feels those wings pick up, making the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Eyes snap even wider. The question can wait.

"Watch out--!!"

Right now, instinct tells Ann exactly what she needs to do.

Wings beat out a hurricane buffet across the stony platform. And Panther lunges across the distance, intercepting Futaba before those deadly gusts can just sweep her up and off the pyramid entirely. The sheer force of that gushing air is like a battering ram against Panther's ribs. She ignores it as she launches herself and Futaba towards the ground, taking the brunt of the impact before she releases with a messy roll towards the side.

"Ngh!" Ann skids across the stone slab beneath her, kicking up sand and dust in her wake. She hears the screeching, the demands -- her allies' counter-arguments, and the anger that rips through them all. Is it -- trying to enrage them all?

For a second, Ann Takamaki feels the tug, that they might all die here, and it's all Futaba Sakura's fault--

"NO!"

The rejection is a visceral and immediate thing as pink gloved fists pound the ground. Ann -yanks- her head upward from her kneeling position, glaring up at that hellacious, monstrous silhouette in the skies.

"She's... she's -not- your daughter -- or your golden goose -- or anything! M-maybe -- maybe we don't know as much about her or her mother as we should--"

She thinks back to what she accused of Laurent. How much do you know Futaba Sakura?

"-- but I know she's suffering, and I know she doesn't want to be, and -- I know in my heart--

"-- you are NOT her MOTHER! There's no way -- there's no way anything like you could be her mom! CARMEN!!"

Flames ignite. Carmen rears forward as Ann lurches onto her feet. One high heel grinding into the face of one of her servants, Carmen smirks a disgusted smirk as she looks up at the sphinx, lifts one gloved hand, and--

snap!s

--her fingers.

"There's no way her mother would torment her about this! Make her feel like death is the only thing she deserves! I won't accept that!!"

As the cognition of all Futaba's tormentors, both real and perceived, tries to ascend, the winds left in its wake ignite, chasing frantically after in an attempt to burn it to cinders.

"Carmen! MORE!!"

--only to be followed up as Carmen takes a drag of her cigar and then EXHALES, breathing out pure, (cigar-fueled) smoke and flame after the beast.

But it's not enough. Whatever happens -- that sphinx keeps flying up, and up, and up--

oh, crap, Ann thinks, as realization falls upon her. Like those nature shows, with the hawks diving from the skies-- and it's so big--!!

Can they really --

        --win this--?

Can they--

"N-no."

Red leather fills Futaba Sakura's field of vision as Panther staggers in front of her beside Mona, whip manifesting. It won't stop the cognition. It can't. But--

                                "I'll win!"

Ann Takamaki stares defiantly up at the disappearing visage of the would-be Queen Momorah

"Futaba-chan is worth so much more than what any of you see! How dare us?! I'll show you how much I dare! I'll win!!

"I won't let Futaba-chan talk about dying, ever again!!" 

AS: Persona! Ann Takamaki has used the Fire skill Agilao on Penguin Mom!
  | Pressure: Ann Takamaki gains 1 Limit!

AS: Persona! Ann Takamaki has used the Fire skill Fire Breath on Penguin Mom! 3 Hits!

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.

They might die. But not without a fight. Ogre is still moving, and she nods sharply at Queen's directive. "You got it! I'll keep everyone up!"

But the man calls back to Ogre, too, and Ogre calls, "I know you've twisted her memories! I know that whatever we saw in there it's not how it was!"

She doesn't doubt--this time. ...She already has the doubts, after all; how can she say a mother would never, would Tsubasa's did?

"She loved her daughter! I'm sure of it!"

Wait. Futaba is here!? "Shit!" Ogre calls, seeing her. But that rage comes--that compulsion--

Here is how Ogre fights it off: she thinks of the child she never met. And as she does, she raises her shield, to try to block that mighty flap of wings. "I won't--"

She has it register a moment later--Ryuji's dream, earlier. She barks a laugh. She would flirt, but... she's not really in the mood, for the moment.

Instead she says, "I got you, Skull!"

She looks at Futaba. "Mona, you got her!?"

She isn't liking the look of that ascent...

Phoenix knows full well what Ogre wanted to say, and they say something true. It's not how it should be. And Ann--fierce Panther--says it as Ogre wants to say it. "SHe's right! Futaba-chan is worth the whole mile! We'll put it all on the line for her!"

"MOMIJI! Help us!"

Thorns enwrap Noir and Joker, but do not dig in; they instead grant vitality, green life. Calming energy rains down on Skull and Queen. And then, still more shining light for Skull, Phoenix, Queen, and Noir.

"I'll back you all up! I won't let you down!" 

AS: Persona! Ichika Kawase has used the Recovery skill Thorn Mediarama on Ren Amamiya and Haru Okumura!
  | Support: Ichika Kawase gains 1 Limit!

AS: Persona! Ichika Kawase has used the Recovery skill Me Patra on Ryuji Sakamoto and Makoto Niijima!
AS: Persona! Ichika Kawase has used the Recovery skill Media on Ryuji Sakamoto, Tsubasa Seki, Makoto Niijima, and Haru
Okumura!
AS: Take! Haru Okumura takes 174 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Thorn Mediarama.
AS: Take! Haru Okumura takes 18 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.
AS: Haru Okumura has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Take! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 0 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Me Patra.
  | Rage removed!

AS: Take! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 115 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.

AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 174 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Thorn Mediarama.

AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Me Patra.
  | Rage removed!

AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 115 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.
AS: Haru Okumura spends Limit on Shift! Ichika Kawase can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.

    Joker declares that they're counting on Queen to find a weakness, and while Queen can grasp a lot about their opponent- "...I... I can't- I need more time to work it out! Just... it'll be too hard to hit with melee attacks and it can keep wearing us down with ailments and we can't stop it at this range! It's just... fast and strong, and if it decides to swing at us, we're in trouble!"

    And then, a terrified voice cuts through the chaos of battle, and Queen turns to see it's source. Her eyes go wide behind her mask. "Futaba-chan? You entered your own cognition?!"

    Seeing Queen Momorah rise up, Queen's instincts overtake her- and she sprints toward Futaba- while Panther tackles Futaba out of the worst of it, Queen risks putting her back to the Cognition to cover Futaba with her body, wearing the rest of the hit so Futaba doesn't have to- but that rage rolls over her, and with panic that's already set in, it's paralyzing.

    "Because... because Futaba-chan thinks she killed her mother, because she thinks she deserves to die..." Logic has always been Makoto's refuge when the emotions get too fierce, too much, too difficult, too childish. But that unbridled rage taps into Makoto's own, and that pain. "...She created a palace where... where her mother wants her dead?"

    Queen's eyes come away from Futaba, only for a second, as they pass over Phoenix. She knows this isn't how a mother should be- and yet...

    Is it possible that Futaba's mother hated her as much as she thought? That much anger had to have come from somewhere, right...?

    And yet, the others don't seem to have that moment of doubt. As much as Fox and Noir aggressively refute the baseball-hat wearing head, and Joker and Tsubasa lash out about respect being earned, about blood being thicker than water'- and Ann, most fiercely, most strongly stands and screams back at the false mother.

    Momiji's light washes over her and the rage subsides for a moment. And that clears her mind just enough for now. Enough to realize that Ogre can't handle all the healing. "Johanna!" She calls, and the Persona interposes itself between Queen and the monstrosity. "Energy Shower!" The magic healing magic ripples out, focused on herself and Noir. Enough to steady her mind, and hopefully Noir's, completely.

    And while Carmen and Panther stand, Queen reaches out to put a hand on Futaba's back, steadying her, staying protective. "...Your mom never abused you, did she?" Makoto says, not yelling, her voice is soft, and patient.

    There's enough screaming going on from Queen Momorah.

    "Boss told us she did her best to raise you alone." Queen says, gently rubbing her hand on Futaba's back. "Would a mom like that really want you to die because you told her you wanted to go on a trip?" She takes the words from the Man in Black's head, trying to defuse them. "There's no way that this was your fault. No matter what some cruel adult in a suit told you." 

AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Recovery skill Energy Shower on Haru Okumura and Makoto Niijima!
  | Makoto Niijima takes 90 damage from Panic!
  | Support: Makoto Niijima gains 1 Limit!

AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Energy Shower.
  | Panic removed!

AS: Take! Haru Okumura takes 0 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Energy Shower.
  | Panic removed!

AS: Haru Okumura has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom takes 84 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Agilao.
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 105 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Fire Breath. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 60 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Fire Breath.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Penguin Mom takes 76 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Fire Breath. Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

 
Despite everything they're still caring about her. The first one to come is the little guy Futaba doesn't recognize, though there's something familiar about him. A slingshot against the monsters from the id. For an instant Futaba's heart is warmed, but the weight crushes her back down soon enough.

Oh, her uncle is there too. Some of the Phantoms disapprove of him, too, in one case with what Futaba estimates is probably an RPG-7 derivative although she can't quite see who was wielding it so who knows? It would have been better if he hadn't been there. At least that's someone who Futaba doesn't have kind thoughts for. A rocket launcher? Fair enough to her.

A moment later Futaba's half-squatted form is suddenly pressed down against rising wind that had been stirring her hair and which she hadn't yet noticed as a threat. How can the wind be a threat? You can't just attack someone with the wind, right? Either way, however, there's a sudden slam and she's brought DOWN and it's tight and close and disorienting and there's that weird creak of rubber before Panther releases her.

"... I'm sorry," Futaba says to Panther very quietly and very miserably, before Panther gets up and Futaba is, momentarily, alone. Condemning the creature even as it rises. She's saying so many nice things, I tricked her so bad, thinks Futaba, although something about it feels strange to her. It had power but tasted vile, fading. Like the thin lees at the bottom of a coffee pot, left on heat for hours.

Panther has battle to fight. Futaba startles at Queen's touch, her head whirling around to look at her through teary eyes. She swallows. Her eyes focus on Queen for a moment, then seem to get hazy. After that she suddenly clutches at her head, letting out a whine as one side of the earphones slides off her right ear. With a hand on Futaba's back, she can tell when the shaking suddenly stops, as if something went 'click.'

The sky darkens, as though the Sun itself had been eclipsed.

The translucent form of Futaba's Shadow appears across from the group.

"Remember."

Futaba, hunched over and clutching her head, looks up, for a moment, but the pain is too much. The Shadow walks towards her, sweeping one hand to the side with a stir of tomb-cloth. "'You're the reason. You were getting in the way.' That's what they said. Why did you believe them?"

"... b... because of the note," Futaba forces through with a whimper.

"Yes. The men in black suits read it. The shock and the pain made you turn your eyes away and they did not stop. Cursing you in the eyes of your kin. Think hard. Remember."

Futaba trembles. Her mind whirls, and wheels, and finally despite dizzying lurches...

The Shadow steps closer to her. "Would the mother whom you loved have written that note? Did she ever say such horrible things to you? Was there precedent or an incitatory moment?"

It hurts, thinks Futaba. It hurts so much. It's like I'm being pressed against iron wires. She thinks of mandoline slicers, something she saw in a video 11 months ago. Slicing onions. Something she saw in a video eleven months ago which she can recall down to hearing the droning British-English voice explaining the process.

Despite the pain, her eyes crack. Heat and shame and tears and pain have fogged her glasses but not her mind. If she can remember a video she watched eleven months ago, she can remember something even more important. "no," she whispers.

Once more, with feeling. "No!"

Futaba staggers upright, the shaking fading. "She scolded me when I threw tantrums. She didn't give me everything I asked for. But she cared for me."

"What does that make the suicide note?"

"A complete LIE!"

The Shadow's voice rises in a way that only the Wild Hunt have heard. "Yes. You were used. They forged your mother's suicide note to put the blame for her death on you! They trampled over your heart and left you to rot in despair! Get mad! Don't forgive those shitty adults!!"

Futaba's hands clench. "... I couldn't look at it, I couldn't see what happened, or Mom's death, but - but why --"

Now *she's* saying it, and somehow it sounds just like the Shadow: "Why did they have to yell at me like that??!"

Futaba looks at everyone for a moment - and then winces again. One sleeved arm comes up, a hand on the side of her head. "Ngh..."

"An illusion. An illusion placed upon you like an iron cage by heartless adults! Even from the beginning you know, but your fear restrained you."

"I... I knew, but..."

"Will you perish? Who will you heed? The cursed words vomited up from a thousand faceless throats? Or the truth?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjzQXrUXuHk 

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

 
Futaba swallows, the hand not against her head clenching. "... I won't let these lies blind me any more. I won't listen to these treacherous voices just because they're easy. I'm going to trust my own eyes and my own heart! And -- and that THING--"

"ISN'T MY MOTHER!"

"I'll never forgive them!!" Futaba shouts, but the Shadow has already moved. Behind her, rising, arms spread apart. The uncharitable might see it as a T-pose or something static, and maybe it is that, but for a moment it's something much more exalted, and then with a shimmering green-blue light...

it becomes something else.

Futaba blinks, visibly relieved of pain. For a moment she looks at the others, hunting out the more familiar faces. None of them are really familiar but --

Above her is a wheel of fire.

No, it's not fire. It's a disk, marked with myriad glowing-green runes. Flames, unreal and fearsome, flicker out from its upper torso. The bottom holds five lights, suggesting a pentacle. The lights glow; a cone of green light shines on Futaba Sakura, and tentacles(?) reach down(??) and grab her by her arms and legs(?!) before she is gradually lifted upwards.

"Wh... woa... Waah--!!"

... and then she is devoured by the disk entirely.

        Contract... I am thou, thou art I.
        The forbidden wisdom has been revealed.
        No illusions, no mysteries, shall deceive you any longer.

From the perspective of Futaba, she is in a soft and green-glowing space. It feels perfect. Comfortable, with crisply conditioned air and the lights of information. She raises one hand and feels a slightly weird tension in the sleeves but - lights appear, forming screens, forming shapes. Touch and it responds, supple and knowing.

"Oh - wow - ah -" Screens appear, presenting a panoramic view of...

... Everything. The world had been a terrifying and chaotic nightmare ride minutes ago. Now she can see it, where all of it's going.

"I'm OK!!" Futaba says, and it echoes out from within the unidentified disc that is the truth of the Necronomicon. "But that thing -- Look out!"

Futaba has no idea what she does; it is something like reflex, and it happens quicker than it will again for a long time. Maybe everything had been arranged just-so. She hits some buttons, sees a screen, pulls an indicator apart to create a sphere that just barely encompasses everyone and--

The ground glows green with cryptic glyphs! A dome of light shimmers briefly into place-- surrounding each and every member of the Phantom Thieves! Other things are happening too. It's difficult to define; it's as if the world is skipping and trembling slightly, like a stuttering DVD. Individuals near Mona in particular may have a weird sense of deja vu.

"Hahh... this is my heart's world, right? So I guess it's to be expected," comes the strained but *energetic* voice of Futaba from the chubby little UFO, "that I could hack it so easily!"

"Look behind you," Futaba continues.

When someone (everyone?) does steal a look, they will see that there is something there that wasn't there before. But it isn't something menacing or evil. Glittering with white-painted shining metal, the recurved shape and taut string of a massive bow are highlighted by gorgeous panel lines and an operator's station with foot-rest, gel-cushioned seat, and twin steering sticks behind them. Green lines seem to be tracing along something -- and then they finish, a massive bolt with a polished-gunmetal head, pointing slightly upwards, the sunlight gleaming on its razor-sharp edge.

"I -- need a moment -- but you can use that... hurt it! Mess it up, kill it!!"

And so, at the very end of things, the Phantom Thieves may have found a new hope. A new way of looking at things. Perhaps...

A survival strategy.

                THE VOCAL THEME YOU DIDN'T EXPECT
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GytgHEDY37E

AS: Persona! Futaba Sakura has used the Recovery skill Overcharging Shields! on Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Makoto
Niijima, and Ichika Kawase!
  | Support: Futaba Sakura gains 1 Limit!

AS: Persona! Futaba Sakura has used the Recovery skill Overcharging Shields! on Ryuji Sakamoto, Yusuke Kitagawa, Tsubasa
Seki, and Haru Okumura!
  | Support: Futaba Sakura gains 1 Limit!

AS: Take! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Overcharging Shields!.
  | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

AS: Take! Haru Okumura takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Overcharging Shields!.
  | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

AS: Haru Okumura has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Take! Ichika Kawase takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Overcharging Shields!.
  | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

AS: Persona! Futaba Sakura has used the Recovery skill Moral Support on Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Makoto Niijima, and
Ichika Kawase!
  | Support: Futaba Sakura gains 1 Limit!

AS: Persona! Futaba Sakura has used the Recovery skill Moral Support on Ryuji Sakamoto, Yusuke Kitagawa, Tsubasa Seki,
and Haru Okumura!
  | Support: Futaba Sakura gains 1 Limit!

AS: Take! Ichika Kawase takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Moral Support.
  | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

AS: Take! Haru Okumura takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Moral Support.
  | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

AS: Haru Okumura has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Take! Tsubasa Seki takes 115 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.
AS: Take! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Overcharging Shields!.
  | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

AS: Take! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Moral Support.
  | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Overcharging Shields!.
  | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Moral Support.
  | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Overcharging Shields!.
  | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

AS: You have 1 more attack in queue!
AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Moral Support.
  | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Overcharging Shields!.
  | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Moral Support.
  | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

AS: Take! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Moral Support.
  | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

AS: Take! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Overcharging Shields!.
  | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

AS: Take! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Moral Support.
  | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

AS: Penguin Mom spends Limit on Exploit! Penguin Mom can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Penguin Mom spends Limit on Exploit! Penguin Mom can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Penguin Mom spends Limit on Exploit! Penguin Mom can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Mom has posed.

Arsene appears to send darkness at the Queen- only to find that while it finds purchase, it finds it less effective than it ought to. The narrative of this tentacled horror grants it some protection from those that dwell in the Abyss.

Fox condemns the cap wearing head for using her for personal gain, whereas Noir says she's so much more than that, "What are you blabbering about you stupid-ass kid? That's all she's good for. You think taking some useless shut-in is easy on a man?"

Panther tries to appeal to the Mother, whose head winds around to glare at her balefully, "And what about MY suffering! She needs to take responsibility for THAT-! SHE DID THIS! IT'S ALL HER FAULT!" The first Agilao scorches her, as she banks to the side- "HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO HER MOTHER!" -which only puts her in the path of smoke and flame which burns her side more and more.

"You're SMOKING!?" She questions, "What kind of a bad influence ARE YOU on FUTABA!" What the heck, that's what she's concerned about right now?

"WHO COULD LOVE A EGOTISTICAL GIRL LIKE HER?" She snipes back at Ogre.

Whereas Skull, manages to just barely clip the creature while it's ascending rapidly. Fox gets ready for its descent. Noir fires up, and finds Milady's shots grazing its flank, causing it to slightly change directory- putting it right in the path of Phoenix's rocket.

What follows is what is known colloquially as 'Mass Destruction'. There is a fireball in the sky, and the thing is shrieking in the distance

 but it's still climbing. And climbing until she

"YOU SHOULDN'T GET BETWEEN A MOTHER AND HER CHILDDDDDDDDDDD!"

-comes screaming down, with terrifying force. Its paws now sport writhing tentacles out of every talon, as it makes to destroy the Phantom Thieves in one terrifying, fell swoop. The doppler effect of the force alone is already pressing down upon the Thieves.

And then, a miracle happens. A miracle in the form of a freaking UFO with more tentacles-? Their savior is-

A newly awakened Futaba Sakura blocks it, with one shining green forcefield. The creature slams into it, and all three heads at once recoil as if in pain, the rebound of the force causing the creature to rear up in agony.

"FUUUUTAAAABAAAA!" Shrieks the mother, while the Man in Black says, "Shameless. Can't you see how much you are hurting your own Mother?" And finally the other head scowls, "You think you're being clever!? Let's see how you like sleeping on the floor again tonight!"

They all glare at the Persona UFO as one- like they've finally sighted their true quarry. After all, they are the beast that guards her- keeps her in this tomb.

The Uncle's head comes close to it, as his eyes flash- and suddenly gravity bears down upon the Necronomicon, trying to force it to crash down into the ceiling of the Pyramid, as if to make good on the threat of her sleeping on the floor tonight.

The Phantoms, meanwhile, are filled with a certain overpowering revulsion, as that same head snarls at them, "You brats- you think you can just hang out with her without MY say so!? You owe me for the right!"

It's an exhausting sensation, just dealing with this man at all, like an energy deficit just for him being within their lives. It presses down on them like something physical, a tension in their shoulders, in their entire being.

She swings by the platform, its tentacle-like tail gliding out to strike down heavily at Phoenix before then swapping towards Panther, before it arcs around again, raising its paw, its talons becoming a writhing nest of tendrils, extending as she slams it down, the whole mass striking outward in chaotic patterns to lash at them like so many whips.

It's only once she's a safe distance that the Mother's head starts shrieking at her again, "How can you be so HEARTLESS as to say I'm not your MOTHER! I gave you everything- EVERYTHING!"

AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Nose Dive on Penguin Mom!
AS: Take! Penguin Mom takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Nose Dive.
  | Crt_Dn (Critical down!) and Rage (Weapon Attack and Incoming Damage Up!) added!

AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Earth skill The Gravity of Abuse on Futaba Sakura! 2 Hits!
  | Aggression: Penguin Mom gains 1 Limit!

AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Shameless Exploitation on Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Ichika Kawase,
and Ryuji Sakamoto!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Shameless Exploitation on Tsubasa Seki, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto
Niijima, and Haru Okumura!
AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Tentacle Lash on Tsubasa Seki!
AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Surprise! More Tentacles! on Ren Amamiya! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Surprise! More Tentacles! on Haru Okumura! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Surprise! More Tentacles! on Ichika Kawase! 2 Hits!
  | Aggression: Penguin Mom gains 1 Limit!

AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Tentacle Lash on Ann Takamaki!
AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Surprise! More Tentacles! on Yusuke Kitagawa! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Surprise! More Tentacles! on Ryuji Sakamoto! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom has used the Strike skill Surprise! More Tentacles! on Makoto Niijima! 2 Hits!
AS: Block Best! Futaba Sakura takes 32 Earth damage from Penguin Mom's The Gravity of Abuse. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Futaba Sakura takes 83 Earth damage from Penguin Mom's The Gravity of Abuse. Critical Hit! Weak!

AS: Avoid Best! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Shameless Exploitation.
  | Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) and Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added!

AS: Avoid Neutral! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Shameless Exploitation.
  | Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) and Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added! Haze removed! Explosion! 120
damage!

AS: Avoid Worst! Ren Amamiya takes 73 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!.
AS: You have 1 more attack in queue!
AS: Avoid Worst! Ren Amamiya takes 120 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Neutral! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Shameless Exploitation.
  | Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) and Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added!

AS: Avoid Worst! Ann Takamaki takes 115 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Tentacle Lash.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 35 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!.
AS: Block Best! Ichika Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Shameless Exploitation.
AS: Counter Best! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 25 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!.
  | COUNTER! Reflect Phys! Penguin Mom takes 94 Strike damage in return for their attack! 

AS: Block Neutral! Ichika Kawase takes 36 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Ichika Kawase takes 74 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Haru Okumura takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Shameless Exploitation.
  | Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added!

AS: Take! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Shameless Exploitation.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Haru Okumura takes 59 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!. Critical Hit!
AS: Counter Best! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 80 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!. Critical Hit!
  | COUNTER! Penguin Mom takes 81 Strike damage in return for their attack! 

AS: Ren Amamiya spends Limit on Shift! Haru Okumura can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Avoid Best! Haru Okumura takes 16 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 8 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!. Block Strike!
AS: Haru Okumura spends Limit on Shift! Ren Amamiya can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Shameless Exploitation.
  | Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) added!

AS: Avoid Neutral! Makoto Niijima takes 46 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Makoto Niijima takes 73 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Surprise! More Tentacles!. Critical Hit!
AS: Ann Takamaki spends Limit on Shift! Makoto Niijima can use another Weak skill this round! Hyper (Next Attack
Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Makoto Niijima! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP!
AS: Makoto Niijima spends Limit on Shift! Ann Takamaki can use another Weak skill this round! Hyper (Next Attack
Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Ann Takamaki! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP!

AS: Penguin Mom has set a trigger!
AS: Mind Up! Tsubasa Seki's SP +8!
AS: Avoid Best! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Shameless Exploitation.
  | Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added!

AS: Counter Best! Tsubasa Seki takes 84 Strike damage from Penguin Mom's Tentacle Lash. Critical Hit! Resist!
  | COUNTER! Penguin Mom takes 109 Slash damage in return for their attack! 

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.

    "Lady Panther!!" But Panther's in a much better way than Mona, and she reaches Futaba to protect her before he can manage. All he can do is do his best to stand in front of both of them--even though he's got a sinking feeling, much like Panther herself, that they're all screwed once Queen Momorah descends.
    
    Joker grits their teeth as Queen admits that she just can't figure out this cognition's weaknesses, not this quickly, not with all the force it's employing against them all. That's bad news for all of them; for all that Ogre's doing her best to heal them all, and they're very grateful for that energy showering down on them and healing some of their wounds, they're all just too exhausted to keep this up for long against such a powerful foe.
    
    But then they hear a voice--Futaba's voice. They turn and see her on the ceiling, noticing her for the first time thanks to being so caught up in the battle. Their eyes widen in shock, not just at Futaba herself but her Shadow, as translucent as a ghost, as darkness grows over all of them. But Futaba shouts her own defiance, her own Will of Rebellion, against the lies that heartless adults forced on her for their own convenience... and her Shadow transforms.
    
    A broad, sharp grin blooms across Joker's face like a villain as a UFO apparently abducts Futaba--then becomes her power, which she transmits to all of them along with her assurances of being okay. Their weaknesses are obscured; energy wells up in them like an eternal spring. A green forcefield erupts above them, protecting them from the Sphinx's would-be devastating swoop. As appalling as what that ballcap head says (sleep on the floor "again"?!), they stand tall and turn to the rest of The Phantoms.
    
    "You heard her," they call to their friends. "Let's give that thing hell!!" They sweep a hand out towards Noir in particular. "Noir! I leave controlling that ballista to you!" (She, after all, has the big guns... and, with all love to Phoenix, the other big-guns Phantom is not known for their control.) "Time to turn this fight around!"
    
    The Uncle head isn't done, though. It really is exhausting to listen to his abject bullshit, and it weighs on Joker's soul as they glare back at him. Those tentacles writhe towards them and their friends, but before all those horrific whippings, they still have to shout, "We owe you nothing, and neither does Futaba!"
    
    They pay for their defiance--but it's a price they pay gladly. Costume torn and slashed by the impact of those tentacles, they grit their teeth as they force themself back upright again, pain screaming through their body. However, they aren't down yet. They can still fight. And if they can fight, they WILL.
    
    "Arsène," they intone, calling upon their other self. Once again, the Great Thief rises, darkness whirling around them despite the intense desert sunlight all around them. That darkness spreads like the mist of an eerie Pennsylvania town, momentarily obscuring Joker and Arsène within its depths. Bam bam bam--several bursts of darkness blast against Queen Momorah, until within that haze, Joker and Arsène can be seen raising their hands to their respective masks in unison, fingers spread to reveal one eye.
    
    One eye that flashes bright red.
    
    BLAAOOOW. Like a gunshot, the red sears forth and carries the haze of darkness with it to smash clean into the great and awful cognition.
    
    Futaba might recognize it, if the experiences of her other self within the Palace have carried over into her now that the Shadow exists now as her Persona. It's the same attack Joker used against the Black Mask to defend her. 

AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Dark skill Multi-Eiha on Penguin Mom! 3 Hits!
  | Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!

AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Dark skill Nightmare Eye on Penguin Mom! 2 Hits!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 52 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Multi-Eiha. Resist!
  | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) added!

AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 85 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Multi-Eiha. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom takes 14 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Multi-Eiha. Resist!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 98 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Nightmare Eye. Resist!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 145 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Nightmare Eye. Critical Hit! Resist!

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.

The healing light washes over Skull, making the pain and anger wash away in their cooling embrace. The delinquent grins and blows Ogre a kiss before turning back to his charge: frying up this chicken monster.

 To be fair, Ryuji isn't an expert on birds. Most birds are chickens to him.

 Then it finally hits him. Why is Futaba here. "Wait. What the hell is she doing here? Can someone get her to safety while the rest of us deal with Mommy dearest?" Skull isn't sounding aggressive but he is trying to get the girl to safety when everything changes. The delinquent watches the transformation and whistles. "OK...nevermind then...I think she's gonna be ok if we all don't get pecked to death."

 The strange power from the actual UFO floating with the girl they are trying to save. Its all a lot.

 So much that the tentacles catch Skull off guard and knock him onto his ass. He sighs and reaches for his shotgun, loading a couple of shells as he takes aim at the flying monster mom. Taking aim, Skull fires right when the beast soars past, once in retaliation to the next tentacle attack.

 Skull clicks his tongue, reloading his gun and taking aim once again. "Come on, birdie. Lets go!" He fires again and again. 

AS: Weapon! Ryuji Sakamoto has used the Pierce skill Shotgun Blitz on Penguin Mom! 2 Hits!
  | Aggression: Ryuji Sakamoto gains 1 Limit!

AS: Avoid Neutral! Penguin Mom takes 78 Pierce damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Shotgun Blitz. Weak!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 116 Pierce damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Shotgun Blitz. Weak!
AS: Ichika Kawase spends Limit on Shift! Tsubasa Seki can use another Weak skill this round! Hyper (Next Attack
Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Tsubasa Seki! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP!

<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.

"I've heard enough. Men like you only see women as tools!" Noir refutes the cap-wearing head, as he reiterates that this is all someone like Futaba is good for. As much as she feels repulsed by this man, he's not the overwhelming cognition they're here to destroy.

The space around the Phantom Thieves distorts, as if someone had hacked directly onto the battlefield, manipulating it to her will. A UFO floats, granting them incredible power and protection. "Futaba-chan, is that you?" Noir's eyes widen to see the awakened form of Futaba Sakura - accompanied by a UFO-shaped Persona of all things. "...Thank you. We won't let you down!" She nods, and smiles up to Futaba, respecting her newfound strength and resolve.

"Somehow... I think it must be her protecting us this time." Noir smiles to Skull in his confusion. Not only that, there's something new available to them that wasn't there before. Futaba encourages them to fire it - to mess up her condition of a mother. Joker leaves it to her, and Noir nods. "Understood, Joker! I'll do what I can!" Handling something like this is... unfamiliar, but with some luck and good aim, she should be able to pull it off.

Before she can get there though, the Queen roars at them for corrupting her daughter so. Noir feels the exhaustion setting in strong, but combined with the adrenaline of the situation, with the power granted to them by Futaba, she manages to avoid the surprise tentacle strike as she makes her way to the Ballista!

"Everyone! Please her distracted with ranged attacks while I figure this out! Once we pin her down... I'll shoot!" She calls to her allies, placing her gloved hands on the control panels. Noir has certainly handled her fair share of guns before, and Milady gives her a certain expertise, but this is far more complicated than anything she's used before. All she needs is for the right timing... and they can turn this around!

Keeping her fingers on the controls, Noir stares down the vengeful Queen Momorah. "You are not her mother." Is the extent of her response to Cognitive Wakaba's aggressive helicopter parenting. 

AS: Haru Okumura has no more TP available for healing!

<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.

Fox has his eyes closed, and seems to not have noticed the actual Futaba's arrival on the battlefield, at first - but as he repositions, focusing on the sounds of the fight and the wingbeats overhead, he happens to stand with Panther, Queen and Futaba to his back, Goemon still guarding him and, by extension, them.

The overbearing pressure of the cognitive monster's malice forces him back down to one knee, but as Futaba seems to argue with herself, he opens one eye to glance towards her - in time to see the Shadow who guided them through the palace transform and engulf the real Futaba in green-blue flame and tentacles, before pulling her up into what appears to be a UFO.

Well, if a bike is a valid form for a Persona, why not a hypothetical space vehicle?

Energy surges through Fox, and he closes his eye again to push himself back to his feet, grip tightening on the hilt of his katana. Listen - carefully - the wingbeats have stopped, and there's a rushing of air...

He ducks forwards as one tentacle whips barely over his head - to be met by Skull's retaliatory hammerstrike on the other side of the sphinx - and as the second strike comes back towards him, he steps to one side and performs an iaijutsu draw, cutting edge of his black katana meeting the tentacle and biting deep, even as he's caught by the swing and flung to the ground!

As Queen Momora howls in anguish and fury, Fox picks himself up, looks to Joker and nods once as their leader gives their orders, then back up at the sphinx, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. "That's quite enough, I think. It's time, Goemon! Cut that beast down!"

Standing up from his protective crouch, the kiseru-wielding ronin pulls that great pipe back, and seeming to draw strength from Fox's building exhaustion lunges towards Queen Momora, swinging the kiseru like a great blade! 

AS: Persona! Yusuke Kitagawa has used the Slash skill Getsu-ei on Penguin Mom!
  | Pressure: Yusuke Kitagawa gains 1 Limit!

AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom takes 96 Slash damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Getsu-ei.

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    Panther calls attention to Futaba -- and Phoenix double-takes, when they actually register that she has. "Get outta here!" They snap, blue eyes wide behind their mask. "It's dangerous!"

    They... forgot that nothing can be dangerous to Futaba in her Palace, huh?

    (Then again, do the rules still apply if...)

    And Panther -- and Carmen -- they dance, and dance, and dance, and... and Phoenix doesn't tear up, hearing her own denials, but they do kind of have to remind themself not to.

    They remember being the kind of person who needed to hear that, before they remade themself into a symbol of eternal rebirth. The fires which could forge a Phoenix... hot and unrelenting. Panther's willingness to fight that, to spite that, to get up even as she's staggering with the effort...

    Her ferocity touches them, too.

    Still -- their own experiences with suicidality are a thing they remember because it's a weight they've since burned away. And just as Phoenix denied their mother's wish to see them dead for the sake of family peace, so too does Futaba deny the twisted form of that distorted Wakaba. "You got this," they urge her, as she struggles to reckon with what her Shadow is saying.

    If only Panther were the only ferocious thing on the battlefield, perhaps they could have offered her more support than that, though they hear her claiming the truth for herself, at the periphery.

    Wakaba's distorted possessiveness of her daughter...

    Phoenix doesn't have to figure out whether they could stab it, in the end -- though they do get their greatsword in hand, and their teammates might, for a split second, have had to reckon with the idea that they would leap forwards to counter even something akin to the God of this world, large as a building and powerful as an army. Could they survive that power, breaking the speed of sound as it hurtles down--?

    It's impossible.

    It never happens.

    It never happens, because cryptic glyphs get between Wakaba and her prey, and Phoenix -- not only lets out the breath they were holding, but draws in five more, rapid-fire. "Holy shit," they say, their voice dwarfed, for a moment.

    They were going to try and carve through that...?

    The exhaustion from one of the men in Wakaba truly does land, after they realise that. "Legal rights over a kid... gives you a lot of power, huh. So what's your deal, asshole? Closest livin' relative?"

    At least that tail is something they can fight -- though it's different, this time, as Phoenix's blade tries to cut into those scales only to find them hardened against their slashing assault. "Shit!" They bark, hopping back. "Blades ain't workin'!"

    Give them a minute...

    Another minute...

    Aaannd...

    "... wait, GET FUCKED! Persona!"

    HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO REMEMBER YOU HAVE ATTACKS WHICH DON'T INVOLVE STABBING THINGS PHOENIX!

    Ripping off their mask a second time, that hut on chicken's legs appears again, and Izbushka na Kur'ih Nozhkah flaps window hatches like little chicken's wings as all the skulls on the fence surrounding it like a skirt orient to face the Cognition.

    The eyes of the skulls glow...

    ... and in unison, fire blazes from them to set her alight with a witch's curse!

AS: Persona! Tsubasa Seki has used the Fire skill Crimson Sublation on Penguin Mom!
  | Aggression: Tsubasa Seki gains 1 Limit!

AS: Persona! Tsubasa Seki has used the Fire skill Fire Glare on Penguin Mom! 3 Hits!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 220 Fire damage from Tsubasa Seki's Crimson Sublation.
AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom takes 34 Fire damage from Tsubasa Seki's Fire Glare.
AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom takes 44 Fire damage from Tsubasa Seki's Fire Glare. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Penguin Mom takes 56 Fire damage from Tsubasa Seki's Fire Glare.
AS: Ryuji Sakamoto spends Limit on Shift! Futaba Sakura can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.

What kind of BAD INFLUENCE is Panther (by way of Carmen) on poor Futaba?!

Ann's response is a simple one:

"A BETTER ONE THAN YOU!!"

Whereupon she pulls at the bottom of her eye with her finger and sticks out her tongue, the undisputed ultimate comeback of all.

"Bleehhhhhhhh!!"

Her defiance aside, though, she knows something awful is about to happen -- and so, all she can do is brace herself alongside Mona and Queen, and hope she can at least keep Futaba safe in the girl's own Palace. She can't spare a single thought towards the strangeness of it all (though seriously, how is she here--) -- all she can do is prepare for the pain.

Which means she almost - almost - misses the appearance of Futaba's Shadow, addressing Futaba. Directly.

They're already well into that pivotal conversation by the time Panther clocks it, turning a bemused glance Futaba's way -- and then double-taking with parting lips.

"Wh -- guys...?" she begins tentatively, because she's not really sure what she's seeing here. This - all of this - is so profoundly different from every Palace they've been in before, and she's still uncertain whether the Shadow is an ally, or if it's going to somehow turn into a six-headed Mumm-Ra and assault them all alongside its wrathful cognition--!!

A question that becomes INCREASINGLY UNCERTAIN AS IT BEGINS ASSERTING DOMINANCE ABOVE FUTABA

"Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuys--??"

Panther, quite reasonably, responds to all this the only way she knows how: tugging on the two nearest people she can find to DIRECT THEIR ATTENTION TO THE POTENTIAL UNFOLDING MENACE

which

ultimately means there's Panther, half-crouched, yank-tug-yanking on Queen and Mona's badass kamen scarf and cutie-cute thief neckerchief, respectively

"GUUUUUUUUUUYS!!"

She's ALMOST POSITIVE she's right to be concerned when the Shadow does what Shadows ALWAYS DO and transforms -- into a weird disk spewing--

"Wh-why'd it have to be more tentacles--!!"

But it doesn't matter how DISCONCERTINGLY PREVALENT tentacles are at this moment. Futaba is, apparently, in danger. Ann reaches out, Carmen turning to compulsively redirect her attention--

"Futaba-cha"

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Down comes the Queen. (no, not that one; the bad one)

Ann screams. She flings herself forward, arms flying over her head in a vain attempt to shield herself.

The impact is deafening. Ann is certain she has been so thoroughly flattened into a delicious Anncake that she doesn't even feel it--

"--Wait. What?"

So there is Ann, kneeling in a 'hide under desk in case of nuclear war' position, cracking one eye open in abject confusion. Her lips purse. Her one eye squints.

And she gropes at herself with a few squeezes to her twintails, a few pinches to her cheeks, and a firm double-smack against her hips to confirm she is still fully three dimensional.

"I--I'm okay--?" Both eyes open. Ann blinks. "Guys--!"

And she shoots a concerned glance outward, only to see them -- Ren still standing, Ryuji and Tsubasa still cursing, everyone -- everyone still-- alive?!

"Oh, thank god--!"

And then she sees why. The runes -- that glowing sphere -- all protecting them. All coming from that weird UFO above them. No -- wait. That voice. It's not the Shadow. It's--

"F-Futaba-chan--?" Panther needs a moment to process this.

"THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A PERSONA!? F-FOR REAL?!"

Moment: processed.

"but all the tentacles--"

No -- she doesn't have time for that. Somehow -- Futaba Sakura has returned, stronger than ever, hacking her own Palace, the weirdest Persona Ann has ever seen protecting her -- protecting all of them. And Panther gets only that handful of seconds to appreciate this new reality before in comes the Thrice-Faced Sphinx, screaming and scowling and shaming; the pressure exerts upon Ann, who lets out a soft "ghh!" as she stumbles in the midst of standing -- but does not fall.

She sees that giant bolt thrower. She hears Joker's orders. And she hears Noir's request.

Blue eyes narrow.

"--You got it!"

And, panicking pressure still trying to weigh her down, Ann Takamaki just starts -sprinting- as the Sphinx starts to circle back once again, whip unfurling in her clenched hand.

"C'mon, everyone! Noir needs a distraction -- so let's show this creepy cognition what we've got!"

Carmen manifests; as Panther's whip snaps out, she dabs it with her cigar, igniting the snapping strap of cognitively-reinforced leather. The Persona disappears.

And then she reappears at the top of the chicken-hut that is Izbushka na Kur'ih Nozhkah in a luxurious lounge, using her servants as her personal chairs upon the roof. Glowing eyes hooding, Carmen snaps a hand out in a dismissive motion.

A field of flames burst through the skies shortly thereafter, a femme fatale's ban joining a witch's curse to light the heavens aflame.

And even as she does?

Panther charges forward alongside Fox's Goemon. He lashes out with his sword.

And she lashes out with her whip, trying in a recklessly dangerous move to get close enough as the Sphinx screams past to WHIPCRACK that flaming weapon right across the Mother's eyes and blind her - however briefly - with flames before she rises.

That tentacle-tail bashes into Ann's side a second later, sending her flying with a pained cry at the whip-crack impact. But Phoenix was right. She's ferocious. She has every reason to be, right now, with what's at stake.

And she'll keep fighting to protect Futaba, even from herself, even from her own self-loathing.

Just like Ann would do for every single one of them. 

AS: Futaba Sakura spends Limit on Shift! Ryuji Sakamoto can use another Weak skill this round! Hyper (Next Attack
Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Ryuji Sakamoto! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP!
AS: Tandem! Ann Takamaki has used the Fire skill Blazing Wrath on Penguin Mom! 2 Hits!
  | Ann Takamaki takes 90 damage from Exhaust!
  | Pressure: Ann Takamaki gains 1 Limit!

AS: Persona! Ann Takamaki has used the Fire skill Maragi on Penguin Mom!

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.

"I would," Ogre answers with defiance. "And I think her real mother did."

But Futaba... is here. And so is her Shadow? Futaba apologized, but--

"Futaba-chan!" she calls in surprise. The lies won't blind her. She will trust her heart. Ogre, though exhausted trying to keep the Phantoms up and exhausted even before that--pus on a grim smile.

"HELL YEAH!"

But Futaba is OK, after all that, and--hurt it.

But what Phoenix said, Ogre finally has time to talk about now. She calls to Phoenix, "The ones we choose, huh? ...Well, you know what that means." She manages a brief smile. "Tell me more about that saying later!"

Well, not that long, though. Because while they were saved from that one attack--

"Fuck you, old man!" Ogre spits back at the one inspiring her with that revulsion. She manages to shrug it off, though that kind of ownership is familiar to her--reminds her of the boy she had to escape. That the Phantoms helped her with...

The tentalces come, and Ichika puts up her shield--but they hit hard despite her best efforts, and Ogre is sent flying back to slam into a pillar. "Ugh--"

"Not... giving up!"

"I'll protect them!" she calls. "All of them!"

And once more, light surges around the Phantom Thieves, an Oni's power raging against their injuries. 

AS: Persona! Ichika Kawase has used the Recovery skill Thorn Mediarama on Ren Amamiya, Makoto Niijima, Yusuke Kitagawa,
and Ann Takamaki!
  | Support: Ichika Kawase gains 1 Limit!

AS: Persona! Ichika Kawase has used the Recovery skill Media on Ichika Kawase, Futaba Sakura, Ren Amamiya, and Yusuke
Kitagawa!
AS: Take! Ann Takamaki takes 139 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Thorn Mediarama.
AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 139 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Thorn Mediarama.
AS: You have 1 more attack in queue!
AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 2 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.
AS: Ren Amamiya has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Take! Ichika Kawase takes 97 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.
AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 140 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Thorn Mediarama.
AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 98 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Penguin Mom takes 162 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Blazing Wrath. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 171 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Blazing Wrath.
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 191 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's Maragi.
  | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) added! Bind removed! Explosion! 90 damage!

AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 139 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Thorn Mediarama.

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.

    "Futaba-chan!" Futaba's sudden, violent, pained reaction gives Queen a moment of fear for the girl's safety- and the she fills Futaba suddenly still- eerily, instantly- and her shadow appears. For a moment, Queen is ready to move, to get between Futaba's Shadow and Futaba herself- as hard as that is, under fire as they are.

    But she doesn't. She told the Wild Hunt that this Shadow isn't an enemy. She'd better put her money where her mouth is.

    Which means she gets her scarf yanked on by Panther and startled out of position- and the Shadow and Futaba rise and-

    "Futaba-chan!" Queen shouts, as Futaba is swallowed by the disc- only for Futaba to declare that she's okay- and prove it by shielding all of them from the oncoming onslaught, and while the tentacles lash out, Queen now has the freedom to dodge the worst- but far from all. They still hurt, and her magic is dampened by the cruel emotions coming off the monster.

    Even so, smile comes to Makoto's lips. She was right about Futaba being stronger than she looked.

    "...You heard her! We're taking that monster down!" She doesn't have it in her to calculate the Shadow's weakness, but she doesn't need to right now: Skull has kindly revealed that for her. "Piercing attacks! Open up on it with gunfire, stabbing weapons, whatever you have!" Makoto calls out, her pistol appearing in her hand as she lines up a shot at the flying monstrosity. "Limit it's movement so Noir can finish it!"

    Her shots fired, Queen leaps onto Johanna, summoning her Persona again to grant her speed. "Johanna, we're going to need some real speed. Are you with me?"

    The engine roars in response, glowing green with nuclear flame as it starts to wash over Queen as well. "Good. It's time for you three to shut your lying, scheming, greedy mouths! 

AS: Weapon! Makoto Niijima has used the Pierce skill Fast Draw on Penguin Mom!
AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Almighty skill Crash Out! on Makoto Niijima!
  | Makoto Niijima takes 45 damage from Stress!
  | Support: Makoto Niijima gains 1 Limit!

AS: Makoto Niijima has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Almighty damage from Makoto Niijima's Crash Out!.
  | Atk_Up (Damage Up!), Crt_Up (Critical Up!), and Inner_Strength (Affinity Damage Up!) added!

AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 165 Pierce damage from Makoto Niijima's Fast Draw. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

 
Everything is clear to Futaba now. Reality is mediated and gradiated; a hyper-real simulacrum fundamentally in synch with the underlying substrate. She can see the visual representation, and in another, its underlying logic. She can barely make sense of the fine details, but the overall cues are intuitive.

Profoundly so.

It's too bad that one of the first things she receives, other than a single triumphant sweep of the eyes over everyone, stretched before her, is the words of that THING. The shriek of the head that mocks her mother. The voice of Uncle Youji through a face that even *he* doesn't deserve. Futaba's lip curls up in scorn and she makes a noise, something like 'nyih!' and then turns her attention to the others.

"You greedy little... ugh," because the seat of power, this gorgeous throne, the form and shape of the soul, the NECRONOMICON, is... sagging downwards underneath the pressure of Uncle Youji's scorn! (Of course, the Phantom Thieves may have to learn about Uncle Youji later.) The flames hasten, a strange thereminic whine accompanies it struggling back up to that stable altitude.

And then Futaba sees things with her new eyes. Arsene appears and this time it isn't a strange looming shape. Something about Arsene's technique feels familiar, but it's a sense of deja vu. "Yes!" Her voice is *triumphant*. But what is that feeling? She prioritizes. Right now everything is clear and they have to win because if they don't win -- Futaba isn't sure where that goes but it isn't good.

Skull addresses the problem in a classic yet often under-rated style. "Is that a legit shotgun??" *Excited*. "Be sure to aim for sensitive parts *like their mouths* so the pellets have max impact!"

But someone is going there. "Cover her! -- Um - fluffy hair!" The most identifying feature of Milady that Futaba can make out at a glance. "It's me, but we have to take this thing out first. Increase the vertical elevation! Be sure to lead the shot."

"Be careful about those tentacles!" Futaba warns Fox: "The counter's acting weird. Assume there's more than you can see!" Why is there a counter, Futaba thinks, even as she blinks at a highlighted image. Is it showing how many are visible or is this number actually indeterminate?

She gets downright conversational towards Phoenix. "Ugh! That guy... as if all of this wasn't bad enough... Woah!" That was the first eruption of cognitive flame Futaba has really *seen*. Philosophical flame, you might say, as opposed to the mere appearance of flame. "Fire, huh..."

And as for Panther, who had been unfailing in her support even if the interpersonal drama skills of Shadow Futaba (rest in persona) overshadowed her for a moment... to Panther, Futaba *converses*. "Persona... that sounds right. And tentacles are incredibly flexible manipulative organs! There's a reason they keep evolving, but that's not the point right n-- Ah!! Look out!!" But she's already down.

Or at least knocked down for a moment. A screen pops up to show Panther in profile.

VITALITY: 52%
GUTS RSV: 51%
SPIRIT!!: 83%

Futaba's eyes flick back and forth from the read-out to Panther, from Panther to the readout. It is illuminating. "... Don't let those ones grab you, though. Promise me!!"

"Yes!" she answers Ogre even as the pop-out windows show her in a similar review. "Thank you, all of you... we just have to get rid of THIS thing! I can't believe something like THIS was in my heart..." The words echo her own big mouth from earlier, but now it sounds like she's describing finding out she had a boil.

"... Thank you," she answers Queen with a quieter tone, before there is a whoop (at the revolver) and then a "Woah!!" at the revelation of Johanna's form. A *sick motorcycle*. "Road justice time! Watch the edge, going DOWN from a pyramid is way more dangerous than going up--"

Weapons, thinks Futaba. They have to have weapons. Her eyes hunt around but nothing seems to really speak of... guns, or... missiles, or... Where did they even get all of those guns? Futaba wonders, focusing (of course) on the important part; a shotgun or a revolver might be something you can find but if they *all* have them...

"Softening it up for you. Light beam!" An emanation, like a conical theatrical spotlight that glows despite the harsh desert sun. "And... ice beam!" A second one, this one more clearly blue and producing a brief cooling breeze. "... Hm. Alright, that should have affected the cognition's polarity. Darkness and fire attacks should work even better!" 

AS: Take! Futaba Sakura takes 97 Recovery healing from Ichika Kawase's Media.
AS: Persona! Futaba Sakura has used the Almighty skill Dark Break on Penguin Mom!
AS: Persona! Futaba Sakura has used the Almighty skill Fire Break on Penguin Mom!
AS: Take! Penguin Mom takes 0 Almighty damage from Futaba Sakura's Dark Break.
  | Dark_Break (Dark Affinity Down!) added!

AS: Take! Penguin Mom takes 0 Almighty damage from Futaba Sakura's Fire Break.
  | Fire_Break (Fire Affinity Down!) added!

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Mom has posed.

'A BETTER ONE THAN YOU!'
'Bleehhhhhhh!!'
"YOU LITTLE BITCH! HOW DARE YOU!"

It pays for its flyby on the platform with darkness from Arsene, blast after blast that even taxes its considerable resistance to darkness. And while it is reeling from the last gunshot-like blast, Skull follows up with several shotgun blasts that pepper its entire form.

It doesn't get its mouth but you know- it still feels like it has the max impact Futaba wanted.

A blade from Goemon slashes the Man in Black's sunglasses, crumpling them on his face, as he growls, "Stupid punk kid! You know how much those cost?"

"What's my deal?" The Uncle head looks at Phoenix, glaring, "Who are you to even be asking me that? I've got every right to do whatever I want with her!"

Chicken legged house fires show him how he can get fucked, as he yowls in horrid pain. Which is when Panther quite simply, sets the Sphinx on fire, its entire form writhing in agony between the pair of them.

'Fuck you, old man!'
"Fuck you, brat!" He retorts elegantly, "I'll sue!" Which probably triggers Joker a not insignificant amount at how many shitty middle-aged men use this same line in his country, right as the shot from Queen hits him on the side of his drunken looking face.

All three heads are quite thoroughly distracted by the very elegant defense of Futaba by the Phantom Thieves- moreso when Futaba's light beams and ice beams strip away its protections.

The Mother head whips around to face the Necronomicon- "FUUUTAAAA-"

And then- Noir fires.

AS: Haru Okumura sets off Penguin Mom's trigger! 720 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Mom has posed.

The ballista is aimed expertly by Noir and the bolt flies true. The mass of the projectile more than most cognitive creations can even fathom. The head of Wakaba Isshiki, the woman, turns to look at the blur coming her way.

Only to be struck dead center in the forehead, the bolt sticking out, as black ichor leaks out of it, her eyes roll back, and the whole cognitive creature lists in flight, out of control as it careens chaotically towards the pyramid.

The Wakaba Isshiki head appears to be quite dead- or at least unconscious, but the whole body of Queen Momorah hangs onto the edge for dear life, its tentacles digging into the stonework of the pyramid. The other two heads writhing in alarm.

The Uncle's voice takes on a note of desperation, even as he hurls more and more abuse, sweating profusely. "You think you can take her out of this place? Her happiness is HERE! She's a shut-in! A living failure who can't even live a normal life. She's too much of a freak to live anywhere else but out of sight from polite society!"

The Man in Black head glares at them, still defiant even now through his broken glasses. "You have no idea who you're messing with, you brats. It was her fault for being born to Wakaba Isshiki! Blame it on the misfortune of her birth! You think anyone cares about a worthless shut-in? You should be thankful we made use of her!"

There's cognitive power behind it, trying to draw them into the despicable narrative, trying to have them march to the beat of society's drum. So many people would agree, wouldn't they?

But that's why the Phantom Thieves of Hearts were formed.

AS: Penguin Mom spends Limit on Break! 
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Downfall! on Penguin Mom!
AS: Take! Penguin Mom takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Downfall!.
  | Spd_Dn (Avoid Penalized!) added! Slash_Wall and Strike_Wall removed!

AS: Nemesis! Penguin Mom can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Victim Blaming on Ren Amamiya, Ann Takamaki, Ichika Kawase, and
Ryuji Sakamoto!
AS: Persona! Penguin Mom has used the Almighty skill Victim Blaming on Tsubasa Seki, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima,
and Haru Okumura!
AS: Penguin Mom's turn has ended. It's time for an All-Out Attack!
  | Penguin Mom: Rage and Break removed!

AS: Take! Ryuji Sakamoto takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Victim Blaming.
  | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) added!

AS: Nemesis! Ryuji Sakamoto can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Victim Blaming.
  | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added!

AS: Nemesis! Yusuke Kitagawa can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! Ann Takamaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Victim Blaming.
  | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added!

AS: Nemesis! Ann Takamaki can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Haru Okumura takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Victim Blaming.
  | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) and Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added!

AS: Nemesis! Haru Okumura can take another Weak action this round!

AS: Mind Up! Tsubasa Seki's SP +8!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Victim Blaming.
  | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) added!

AS: Nemesis! Tsubasa Seki can take another Weak action this round!

AS: Block Neutral! Ichika Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Victim Blaming.
  | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) and Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added!

AS: Nemesis! Ichika Kawase can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Ann Takamaki spends bonus actions on Recover! Ann Takamaki converts bonus actions into Limit!

AS: Ann Takamaki spends Limit on Psych! 
AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Victim Blaming.
  | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) added!

AS: Nemesis! Makoto Niijima can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Best! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom's Victim Blaming.
  | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) added!

AS: Nemesis! Ren Amamiya can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Tsubasa Seki spends Limit on Help Up! Charm removed from Ren Amamiya!

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

"Oi, Joker... this shit... can it really be some kid's fault for bein' born in th' first place...?" Phoenix can't tell, themself -- but they remember Ren making it clearer before. 

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.

    Panther tugs insistently on Mona's scarferchief. Normally he would deeply appreciate that she's relying on him, except for one problem. "Wahh--L-Lady Panther, that's tight, you're ch-choking me--!!"
    
    Joker quirks a half-smile at Panther as she leads the charge this time. "Leave it to us!" they call over to Noir. That ballista does seem like a lot to handle, but if anyone can figure it out, it's her. The rest of them just need to buy her time to do it, as she requested.
    
    Fire, fire everywhere. Between Panther and Phoenix, they outshine the sun. As Futaba flies overhead in her UFO, Queen Momorah will get even more vulnerable to fire--and to darkness, but they have another idea after Queen advised everyone of what she observed of the Sphinx's weaknesses. Yet, isn't it a waste not to make use of the opportunity that Futaba's given them? No, they can't let it go.
    
    Healing energy doesn't just flow, it pours into Joker, filling them like a cleansing breath through their lungs and into their veins. Even their costume knits back together into solidity thanks to it, somehow. It's the Metaverse; no need to question it.
    
    What's worth questioning instead is the bile dribbling out of the three mouths of Queen Momorah. Joker sneers at them all with contempt--and a sharp, emotional agony at those words: I'll sue... They suck in a hard breath as their body seizes up for a moment. They can't remember that man's face, not clearly, and they can't quite remember the sound of his voice either, but what he said--
    
    THAT much is burned into their brain. No matter how much they hate it.
    
    However, Phoenix asks them a crucial question. "Never," they rumble, voice low and angry. "How can it be the child's fault when it was their parents who chose to make them in the first place? They're only looking for a way to blame someone who can't fight back!" The tails of their coat flare as they raise one hand over their face, cast in shadow as blue fire erupts around them. "You hateful nightmares of Futaba's... you've been running your mouths for long enough. It's time to shut them for good," they declare coldly. "Begone!!"
    
    As their other self materializes, they lean into a forward dash, joining Fox and Panther in the fray. Arsène follows close behind, swooping forth on their great black wings. Joker summons their crescent knife--practically a short sword, at its size and length--and it ignites with roiling darkness at the flick of Arsène's claws. They leap up and carve down, the Harpe Knife cleaving into Queen Momorah's central face as if to cut those glasses right off her; at the same time, Arsène flaps hard and high into the air and sweeps an arm back. They might not be able to climb as high as the triple abusers had earlier, but they've still got more than enough height to unleash a deadly long, shimmering needle straight towards Uncle Youji's eyes.
    
    Good night, foul beast. May flights of devils wing you to your rest. 

AS: Tandem! Ren Amamiya has used the Dark skill Cursed Sword on Penguin Mom! 3 Hits!
  | Ren Amamiya takes 90 damage from Exhaust!

AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Pierce skill Dream Needle on Penguin Mom!
  | Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!

AS: Ren Amamiya has no more TP available for healing!

<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.

Skull looks over to Noir and nods slowly. He still looks out of his element...and bloody. It's a bad combination really...

 He lets out a sigh, watching the Phantom Thieves give the bird woman hell. After a moment, he clicks his tongue and begins to think of something crazy to bring down the shrieking bird.

 He pauses as Futaba gives him advice, grinning widely. "Yeah, right. Hit her in the face. I think I'm getting it!" That gives his brain a cunning plan...or a stupid one. He wasn't in his right mind right now.

 No, right now, he wants to be up there.

 Fine! Take it to the skies, Skull.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VopScslvPo

 

 Without much warning, Skull begins to run at full speed toward the UFO, leaping and using his nail bat to hook into one of the nooks of the vehicle. Careful, now. He clings to his bat, pulling himself up onto the smooth surface of the UFO. Then the attack hits, almost knocking Ryuji off with some charming words. He stumbles slightly, righting himself like one on a surf board. He hears Fox call out, giving him a thumbs up. "Yeah! Messing up now would be bad since I think I'm high up!" This is higher than he anticipated but he DOES NOT look down. This is going to hurt on the way down but....

 Skull takes a leap off the UFO and raises his bat, screaming the magic words as his tiny teenage body flies toward bird woman.

 "SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT-SHIT-" Skull pulls back his weapon and attempts to cleave through the bird as only a bat full of nails can---not very well and painfully. He tries to dig the nails into the bird to hang on and not drop down too quickly. Either way, he is going down and trying to take this shrieking banshee down with him. 

AS: Makoto Niijima spends Limit on Help Up! Charm removed from Ichika Kawase!
AS: Persona! Theurgy! Ryuji Sakamoto has used the Strike skill Riot Culture on Penguin Mom! 3 Hits!
  | Aggression: Ryuji Sakamoto gains 1 Limit!

AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 102 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Cursed Sword. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 102 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Cursed Sword. Critical Hit!
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 102 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Cursed Sword. Critical Hit!
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 149 Pierce damage from Ren Amamiya's Dream Needle. Weak!
  | Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added!
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 109 Strike damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Riot Culture.
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

AS: Avoid Neutral! Penguin Mom takes 71 Strike damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Riot Culture.
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

AS: Weapon! Ryuji Sakamoto has used the Pierce skill Bullet Hell on Penguin Mom! 2 Hits!
AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom takes 47 Strike damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Riot Culture. Critical Hit!
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.

His muscles are aching - despite the surge of morale from Futaba realizing her Persona, the two back-to-back battles are taking a deep toll - but Fox strides forward as the cognitive monster wearing these twisted mockeries of human faces, bare blade glimmering as frost begins to form across its edge. He takes heavy, misty breaths as the temperature around him plummets and Goemon again manifests over him. The two figures lower their weapons to almost touch the stone beneath their feet, and despite the oppressive heat of the sun dewfrost trails behind them.

Noir's aim is picture-perfect - high praise, from Yusuke Kitagawa - and the moment has come. He looks up to meet Panther's gaze, as she and Tsubasa ready what will surely be a devastating fiery volley... and commits himself to aiding their assault. Once they've cut this beast down, Futaba has a future, and he will not slacken in helping her realize it.

"Be silent," he says as he gets within striking distance of the sphinx, and as Skull descends on Queen Momorah from on high, Fox sweeps his katana upwards into Goemon's chilly smoke, a vicious uppercut slash that promptly sprouts a stalactite of ice that lingers for a moment before exploding into icy shards. 

AS: Tsubasa Seki spends Limit on Shift! Ann Takamaki can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 119 Pierce damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Bullet Hell. Critical Hit! Weak!
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 119 Pierce damage from Ryuji Sakamoto's Bullet Hell. Critical Hit! Weak!
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

AS: Persona! Theurgy! Yusuke Kitagawa has used the Water skill Sublime Cut on Penguin Mom!
  | Pressure: Yusuke Kitagawa gains 1 Limit!

AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 250 Water damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Sublime Cut. Critical Hit!
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Ann Takamaki has posed.

A BRIEF SOJOURN BACK IN TIME, MOMENTS BEFORE ALL THE FIRE

And tentacles are incredibly flexible manipulative organs!

"I-I don't want to hear about tentacles' manipulative organs!! The only thing tentacles belong in is dessert takoyaki--!"

PLEASE NOTE: DESSERT TAKOYAKI IS A TAKOYAKI FACSIMILE THAT DOES NOT USE OCTOPUS BUT DELICIOUS CAKE BATTER, DISTINCT FROM OCTOPUS MEAT

NO OBVIOUSLY ANN NEVER REALLY REALIZED THIS

Which brings us to NOW,

Where, her takoyaki knowledge be damned, Phantom Thief Panther takes a beating and yet refuses to drop.

This time, when that tentacle limb strikes her, though? The red-clad cat burglar makes an expert(-ish) recovery, flipping in mid-air to land with a crouch before lurching a shallow lurch forward to grab at her abused rib cage. "Urrggggg... yeah, that's smart," she mumbles in response to Futaba's advice, a small smile touching on pink lips. Promise her?

"... Of course.

"Pinky swear!"

Thankfully -- that physical damage is swiftly remedied, at least in part, thanks to that wave of warm, suffusing healing magic that protects and re-energizes her. Panther blinks -- and then shoots a beaming smile Ichika's way as she hops - not drags, hops - back up onto her feet.

"Whew, I really needed that," she sighs out, stretching her arms over her head with the bend of her back as she hears a few cracks too many in the process. "Thanks, Ogre."

But still. Her gaze turns skyward. And in that fateful moment--

"--!! WOO! Heck yeah, Noir!!"

Noir's aim rings true, DRAGGING the three-headed beast down to the fundament with the rest of them with a shuddering THOOM of impact that rings out even as Panther pumps a fist in eye-squinting, beaming victory.

As the gush of dust fades, Ann squints, trying to look past the haze. And she sees it. The Sphinx, the Queen Momorah, felled -- with only those two subordinate heads - the ones TRULY responsible for all Futaba's woes - remaining. Still spewing their vile, truth-distorting venom. She feels the throb of it in the pit of her stomach; a gasp sucks the air from her lungs as she lifts a hand and grips at her chest, red leather squeaking and zipper teeth biting into her fingers.

Trying to make her think like them, be like them--

"A-a--"

--disdain Futaba like them--

"--As IF!"

That pink-gloved hand releases from her chest to SNAP out to her side, the knife of her fingers through the air almost acting as if they could cleave all that hate, all that toxin away with its singularly defiant motion. Blue eyes glare DAGGERS at the vast, fallen form of the Sphinx, like the fallen, pathetic splendor of Ozymandias.

"You think any of us would ever accept that crap?! Blame the 'misfortune of her birth'?! Please!"

Blue flames lick at Panther's mask. Her gloved hand turns to grip it, narrowing eyes glimpsed dangerously between the cracks of those digits.

"The only misfortune Futaba-chan has to deal with is you, twisting the truth of an innocent, brilliant girl! And all that ends -- RIGHT NOW. Carmen!"

                               FWOOOOOOOOSH

A wall of flames erupts behind Ann, empowered with perfect timing to Futaba's own inspirational assistance. Carmen emerges from that flame wall, cradling both her servants' chins gently, lovingly in her palms.

But Panther doesn't move. She waits. She waits for Joker to unleash their cool, stylish wrath with Arsene. For Skull to recklessly ride off the top of Futaba's very UFO to JAM the Beast with a faceful of nail-lodged bat. For Yusuke and Goemon to execute with glacial eloquence.

She waits in the onslaught, for an opening, until she's -sure- no one else will be within the blast zone, and then--

"Let's finish this!"

It is CARMEN who acts, lifting up into the air. CARMEN who draws her servants towards her, chins in hand, to plant a lipstick-printing kiss on the heart-shaped cheeks of each of them in turn, the act making both of them light up with heart-throbbing pink light as they wiggle in delight.

And CARMEN who releases them from their thorny leashes, in freedom.

"In the name of Futaba Sakura, and everyone like her who's had to suffer because of selfish, thoughtless, shitty adults like you--"

Freedom that the servants use to go ROCKETING through the air, leaving ethereal pink light trailing behind them. Their trajectories are mirrored, on opposing sides of the Sphinx's body: careening outward and upward away from each other, before arching inward and downward towards one another and the Sphinx below.

The flight and the light it leaves? Creates the perfect pink outline of a heart.

And the reason why will become abundantly clear to anyone in close enough to see one simple fact:

Both servants are carrying giant, classic-cartoon bombs.

Their fuses lit and burning straight down right at the point they both impact the Sphinx.

"The Phantom Thieves PUNISH YOU!"

                             B O O O O O O O M

The resultant, heinous explosion fills the entirety of that pink heart outline with accusatory fire and judgmental force.

--look

magic girls are NOT ann's idols they're not even a tenth as cool as the femme fatales

but sometimes they have cool lines okay that's all!! 

AS: Persona! Theurgy! Ann Takamaki has used the Fire skill My Love For You is Like a <3 B O M B <3 on Penguin Mom!
  | Pressure: Ann Takamaki gains 1 Limit!

AS: Ann Takamaki has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 233 Fire damage from Ann Takamaki's My Love For You is Like a <3 B O M B <3.
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.

    Futaba's quiet thanks gets a nod of acknowledgement- before Queen herself is thrown by Futaba's sudden cheer and energy- yet, it's infectious all the same.

    "Got it. Just means I need to hit the angle just right- and enjoy the speed!"

    Futaba lets them know that Darkness and Fire will work even better, and Queen gets that sadistic grin. "Well. You heard her. Phoenix, Panther- let's light them up!"

    She doesn't give orders to Joker- she doesn't need to. They've got their own goal.

    Queen glares down at the Uncle. "Shut it!" Queen shouts, angrily. "Anyone trapped and alone could have been stuck in a situation like this. You should have helped her!" Her eyes then turn to the Man in Black. "And you! What kind of sick piece of shit takes such enjoyment from reading a suicide note to the surviving family!? You wanted her to suffer like this! To think someone like you would pose as a Public Servant. It's time you faced Justice!"

    Johanna's engines roar, and Queen urges her forward toward the Man in Black's head, that wreath of flames bursting to life around Makoto and her persona both. Normally, she'd drive clean through an opponent like that, or over them- but this close to the edge, it would be, as Ryuji says, bad to mess up.

    That's fine. She can adapt.

    She knows she's burning the last of her energy into this, Johanna's flames burning bright before they both burn out. That's fine. She can carry the flames with her.

    As Johanna keeps accelerating, Queen takes her hands off the accelerator- it doesn't depress when she does. With way too much confidence and athleticism, she pushes herself up to stand on Johanna, and grits her teeth, and launches herself from Johanna with a shout!

    "Fist... of... JUSTICE!"

    And, airborne, she slams her fist, all her body weight and Johanna's acceleration- not to mention Johanna's flame- into the Man in Black head with explosive force, only to land and start walking away from it with what would be too much confidence if it weren't for knowing the amount of power the team are about to put out. It's a calculated risk.

    "...Justice has been served."

    she's probably out of SP it's safe to mention to fist of the phantom star now 

AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Makoto Niijima has used the Fire skill Full Throttle on Penguin Mom!
AS: Charm results in party damage! Makoto Niijima takes 90 damage!
AS: Makoto Niijima has no more TP available for healing!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 148 Fire damage from Makoto Niijima's Full Throttle.
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.

That awful narrative... Ogre finds herself nearly drawn in--in rage, in anger, but drawn--but Queen draws her back out.

But Joker answers critically--

"RIGHT!" Ogre replies boldly--and then watches Skull... charge. She stares after him a moment and--

"You BETTER land safe!" she calls after him. "KICK ITS ASS!"

And Panther hops up, not just drags up. Ogre smiles uncomplicatedly for a moment. Just a moment; it's all still very complicated otherwise. "You're welcome!"

But Ogre can't let herself be outdone; she looks around at the others, sees they're all still up. All still standing. ...She feels good about that. SHe ffels accomplished.

But it's not over yet. Ogre pulls out the beautiful gun she got from this very Palace...

And starts firing. 

AS: Weapon! Ichika Kawase has used the Pierce skill Snipe on Penguin Mom!
AS: Weapon! Ichika Kawase has used the Pierce skill Shot on Penguin Mom!
AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 104 Pierce damage from Ichika Kawase's Snipe. Weak!
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 73 Pierce damage from Ichika Kawase's Shot. Weak!
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    "Creeps me out too," Phoenix admits, to Panther, not realising that the reason they're creeped out might be different to why she's creeped out, "but that's for sure Sakura-san! She saved our shit!"

    And lo -- atop a thatched roof, a commandeeringly free woman. The flames of rebirth, and the flames of desire... they burn even brighter when they're burning together.

    "I get it," Phoenix calls, to Futaba, in her UFO, and they're just as conversational. "... entitled prick. Noir's right, y'know? Uh -- chick ya called 'Fluffy Hair'," they add, in a helpful aside. "Fucks like that... think they own ya. Hey, asshole!" They lob back to that man who they don't recognise right now to be Futaba's uncle. "Cool rapist's logic, prick!" Men who have a right to do whatever they want to the girls and women under their power...

    ... it's something Phoenix wants to attack head-first, for Ogre's sake, too.

    Light beam? Ice beam...? "Whoa... you used ice to make fire stronger...?" Phoenix sounds flabbergasted. "Never knew anyone could do that..."

    They're called tactics, Phoenix. Umie's definitely used a skill which broke someone's resistances against Dark before. Keep up. "On it!" They affirm, to their strategist, Queen.

    And so, Noir's tactics fly true --

    -- but there are two more heads, even with that direct hit to Wakaba.

    Phoenix takes a step back, greatsword grinding against the stone; something about calling Futaba a freak seems to hit them particularly hard, judging by the thin press of their lips, the way their lips part to hiss out breath and reveal grit teeth.

    "They're... ashamed..." They say, slowly. Of her, the sentence might go; of me, that's how it might end, too. "H...hey..."

    It's got to be bullshit, right?

    ('Stop coddling her, woman. If you keep bringing her food, she'll never make it up to us -- let alone them. If she's so damn sorry, she can stop crying about it and do the laundry! If it weren't for your loose morals, she would never have acted out this way to begin with!'

    'What's this you've come home with?! You're a freak! Give me that!'

    'You're nothing but a disappointment, but unfortunately, even an unworthy girl like you will drain support from me for a few more years. Go ahead and die before you turn twenty, if you'd like to do something to make my life easier... you're bound to end up that way anyway, with the lifestyle you lead.'

    'Am I satisfied with that?! You should be beside yourself thanking me!')

    ... right?

    "Oi, Joker... this shit... can it really be some kid's fault for bein' born in th' first place...?" Phoenix can't tell, themself, the clarity of their anger disrupted by the rotten roots of their own family tree -- but they remember Ren making it clearer before.

    And Joker, at least, clears things up -- the damage of that moment of doubt cleaved through by their convictions. "Fuck," they swear, as they stow their greatsword. "You're right, gal." (Joker is both a dude and a gal. They have dominion over all gendered interjections.) "Hittin' someone who can't fight back... that's the most despicable shit. The worst fuckin' thing," they add, to contextualise the vocabulary.

    (They're always teaching Ogre new words.)

    Skull shows them the way. "Yeah! Get 'im!" They bark, energetically. Fox, too, calls for them to shut the fuck up (that's the Phoenix internal translator -- everyone swears 200% more!), and Panther shows her fiery anger once more, as Phoenix raises their voice to herald her: "That's it! That's exactly it! Fuck 'em up!"

    Queen's Fist of Justice flares forward -- and behind her, Phoenix bows, to the distortions. From their feather cloak, they pull --

    THEIR FUCKING ROCKET LAUNCHER --

    -- and the one shell remaining to them for this battle, arms crossed in front of their chest.

    "If it didn't mean anything," they say, bowed to those forces, "you wouldn't hurt nearly this much."

    Are they giving up...?

    No.

    As they unfurl, their arms unfurl, too, with a flap which sends their feather-cloak fluttering much like wings. "Too bad for you -- we're the no-hopers you fucks reckon are to blame!" Their rough speech is punctuated by a surprisingly fluid loading animation -- and as they rest their rocket launcher on their shoulder, they tear their mask off, with their other hand.

    "IZBUSHKA NA KUR'IH NOZHKAH!" They invoke their massive Persona, as that hut on chicken's legs flames into existence once more. All those skulls orient on it again, and they'll set the distortions alight again -- but this time, it's accompanied by the tracking bead of their rocket launcher, aimed through sights on the side because there's no looking over that thing.

    "Eat SHIT--!"

AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Tsubasa Seki has used the Fire skill Rocket Sublation on Penguin Mom!
  | Tsubasa Seki takes 150 damage from Exhaust and Stress!

AS: Charm results in party damage! Tsubasa Seki takes 90 damage!
  | Aggression: Tsubasa Seki gains 1 Limit!

AS: Avoid Worst! Penguin Mom takes 253 Fire damage from Tsubasa Seki's Rocket Sublation.
  | Penguin Mom is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Penguin Mom has posed.

'How can it be a child's fault when it was their parents who chose to make them in the first place?'

"It's just the way things are. Kids have no power- so they learn to submit to it the hard way. You think you won't?" He glares at Joker with a certain contempt, "They'll find you. And when they do-"

'Begone!'
'--AS IF!'
A crescent knife, roiling darkness cleaving into the face- it rears up, as needles blind the creature, "YOU BASTARD!" It reels in pain as Panther sets the score straight on the only misfortune being his presence in her life. He howls, right as a bat full of nails batters him full force, alternating with shotgun blasts.

"You think you delinquents will get away with this!?" The Man in Black snarls, right as Fox slashes into Queen Momorah with a chilly slash, stalactites of ice puncture through its weird, green segmented carapace on its belly.

He's not quite silenced yet though, snapping at Panther, rasping faintly from the torturous pain it's received so far, "You really think she's got any value to society as she is? THIS head case!? Live in reality you little-"

He looks down at the movement, too far down, he sees the cartoon bombs being carried by Carmen's little men.

'The Phantom Thieves PUNISH YOU!'

The man looks up like he's a certain cartoon coyote, realizing what's about to happen, staring at a non-existent audience watching what happens next.

 B O O O O O O O M

Sucks to be you, you are not in fact inside the TV right now.

Its grip slips further, the tentacle like talons writhing to grasp again and again with greater purchase.

"Why would I help her? What good would that do? A little shit like her would leech off the system forever." Nuclear fire- and a fist of Justice, cause the creature to slip further down from the awful impact. "Her suffering had- purpose!"

Unfortunately, it's a brick wall there for any probing beyond why they made her suffer. This part of the cognition born of what the Shadow knows, from what the man in the Black Mask told her. Anything deeper, he can't answer.

One shot. Two shots.
Ogre plants one in the foreheads of each surviving head, barely hanging on.

'Too bad for you -- we're the no-hopers you fucks reckon are to blame!'
'Eat SHIT!'

"GO TO HE-"

The tracking skulls give them a target- one final rocket lands center mass, where each neck joins to the body.


The carcass of Queen Momora begins to disintegrate, and as its paws cease to exist- it starts to fall off the side of the Pyramid- rolling down the incline.

Before it can reach the bottom though, it is no more, as the last wisps of cognitive energy just fade away into nothingness.

Everything is still and quiet for a time. Except, then there is a rumbling that abruptly increases until their footing starts to be challenged- and Mona will certainly realize that with the Shadow of the Palace gone.

The Palace cannot continue to exist.

The footing will begin to crumble beneath them, as stones are perilously close to forming a rockslide down their only possible escape route that can get them to safety in time.

The side of the Pyramid.

Cue the running! Also the screaming!

-=-=-

ELSEWHERE

In a secret underground lab of sterile walls and tubes. A man watches scientists work upon a catwalk. He smiles, knowing that for all of their study, their research was completely useless. The scientific method will not quantify that which cannot be- all their breakthroughs are because of 'Him'.

In the distance, a glass cylinder houses his prize, the shadow of the Hierophant, bobbing up and down weightlessly, insensate through the condensation of the glass.

He walks, until he hears that another set of footprints have joined him- no, two sets actually.

"Ah- would this be an encore performance?" He asked, without looking at either of the two figures he knew to be present behind him.

"Our Master isn't pleased by this outcome. The Palace Rulers were supposed to be off limits." Justine says evenly, while Caroline says to him more forcefully, "You're really pushing it!"

"Let him be displeased." He says ambivalently, "It was all in-bounds. What occurred was not due to 'his' Power- but that girl being drawn into the narrative of the 'Man from Egypt'."

"Which was your intention all along!" Caroline blurted out angrily, "Don't think we don't see what you're both doing!"

The man smiled, and reached out a fingertip to adjust his glasses, "Then why don't you tell me what it is that 'I'm' doing. I don't think either of you- or your master knows."

Justine's single eye, uncovered by an eyepatch narrowed cutting even Caroline's tone of outrage with a tone as cold as ice, "Such impertinence. Continue to think your activities have escaped his notice if you wish- it only shows your disrespect towards our agreement."

"It is in 'his' nature to stir things up. Your master knew this when he bound himself to a pact with the Crawling Chaos."

Caroline snarled at him, before stating, "LET ME AT HIM-" "Caroline." Justine said again, before glaring at Kandori, "By edict of our master- you are hereby banned from accessing Mementos and its adjacent realms-"

Now Kandori turned around- his eyebrows raising, "You'd actually break the pact entirely over this trifle-" "-Takahisa Kandori. You were not a part of the original agreement, and thus there is no reason to allow a god such as yourself entrance."

"Heh." Caroline looked smug, "Now what do you have to say about that, BA-KA?"

There are few things in life that could make Kandori angry- this almost does, as he looks annoyed, his hand closing over the Baoding balls so heavily that they break within his hand, and then- it dissipates, back into that pervasive ambivalence.

Like he'd never felt it in the first place.

"Fine. Tell your master I'll abide."

Caroline looked almost disappointed, like she wanted to get that rise out of him, before harrumphing, "Let's go, Justine. This guy is a waste of our time." The pair walked away- then vanished entirely.

There are several minutes of footage missing from the security tapes at this New World Order lab. Or at least- there seem to be. Those that try to review it anyway don't come to work the next day.

Or ever again.

<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.

<poem> When the ballista bolt spears through the head that has the form of Wakaba Isshiki, Futaba is struck silent. All that chattermouth just shuts up? Is she going back to the room?

No; the image, the thought, just became difficult. But it's not her: it's only her image. And soon enough the head slumps, slain or disabled or whatever. "Good shot," Futaba says, fairly neutrally. Her lips thin as the sweating and abusive Uncle-head, as the cold and glaring Agent-head, try again. Even now, that's what they do.

Maybe it's all they *can* do, thinks Futaba. Huh.

Either way, there isn't more cheering from the Necronomicon's mistress. She sees it all. She can watch and she can hear. Joker pulls their blade and moves to slash and cut; Skull comes in and is towards her? what? "Wrong w--woah!!" Futaba gurgbles as what seemed to her to be a perfectly reasonable warning turns to be all part of Skull's keikaku (means plan). Skull even finds a gargoyle ornament he can use to vault up.

"You're higher than I am, that's for sure," Futaba answers, and Skull probably has the feeling that Futaba's eyes are now turning up at the roof of the... cockpit? Then he's gone, and his blows rain down just as the Thing might be recovering from Joker's assault. And just as *Skull* moves away, the vicious ice-uppercut follows up.

"Keep going," Futaba says, not loudly. Though Panther has drawn her attention with the power of a pinky swear, and her eyes move towards Panther, and so she sees, first, Carmen's elaborate artistry with tantalizing her two servitors -- Futaba wonders for a moment at the weird, hyper-real visuals of Carmen -- and then, despite everything...

She whoops in delight at the result. "Ahh--?" Futaba says afterwards, because *they aren't done!* Queen smashes in with overwhelming force against that damn agent-face, and Ogre is dumping her weapon into the Thing. "Yes! Use it all!!" And then Phoenix is able to cap it off. Futaba doesn't have the scream - the rocket does that itself.

And when the horrid Thing has slid out of view, and Futaba's waited three heartbeats to be sure it's not going to just lunge back up, she feels something in herself begin to relax. The UFO descends as Futaba considers herself, and finds that little bit of the internal twist...

As Necronomicon is dismissed, Futaba is suddenly buoyed to the ground on a conical column of downward-radiating waves from its base, landing -- seated down. Unprepared, maybe. She is wearing something different, and as she looks at everyone, some of the details become clear. Most tellingly of all: the boxy red-lensed goggles she's wearing. They sit hugely on her face. And beneath that is...

"Wha-- what in the world? Ooh, it's totally skin-tight," says Futaba, as she tugs on the side, shifts her legs, pushes herself upright with a shifting of techwear thigh pouches. She kicks up one leg to look at the fluorescent-green toe of one boot, and then folds her hands behind her back.

"A-ah..."

Her head suddenly swivels, in a direction where nobody else happened to be standing.

Someone's standing there. It's a translucent figure, like Shadow Futaba often was, but it's not Shadow Futaba. It looks like a slim woman in a sleeveless dress with a lanyard. Black all around.

"Mom?!"

"Futaba" says the cognition(?) of Wakaba Isshiki. Everyone can hear her, though she sounds distant. "Thank you for choosing to remember the real me."

"... I'm - I'm sorry f-for," Futaba begins, before the cognition(?) says her name.

"You shouldn't be here - should you?"

"But I, I fuh-finally, and it was," Futaba begins to say and it might be notable that the goggles on her face completely hide any of the signs that she's crying, other than her voice.

"Are you being selfish again?" The words might not be great, but the tone is gentle, and it brings a huge sniffle from Futaba.

"... u-um... I love you, mom."

"I love you too." The cognition(?) turns her head to look at the Phantom Thieves for a moment. Then, back to Futaba. "You should get going. You mustn't stay here."

Futaba is silent. People who got close to her would tell she's muffling sobs, for a moment. Without any sound, the shade becomes more transparent, then seems to break apart into a cloud of small sparkling lights or something terribly reflective for several moments more.

"She's right," Futaba says, her voice thick. "You guys should use the Nav and exit." Her head tilts slightly and... ... ... disappears.

That's an option??

A heartbeat later, a tremor runs through the great pyramid. This isn't *absolutely* the first time this had happened; there had been a couple of little rumbles when the Phantom Thieves were coming in, which might have been taken as either a sign that the alert level was near max (which it was) or that, in hindsight, was something the Wild Hunt was fighting (and good thing they did, prolly).

Mona startles... and then puts his little white pawsi-- hands on his hips. His tail swishes back and forth as he looks up at everyone with a knowing look in his big eyes. "Iiiii get it! Unless someone's holding out on me... SKULL?... then I think the Treasure must have been Futaba herself!"

Mona touches his chin with one hand. "And now that she's left... especially since she fused with the Ruler of the Palace when her Persona awakened..."

Mona's eyes go blank in shock. "The Palace is going to collapse!!!"

Which is the exact point where two pillars which had stood up through all of that fall over, throwing shards of dressed stone everywhere. "We gotta make a break for it!!"

AND SO

The Phantom Thieves run down the outside of a pyramid! As Futaba had been about to say, it's a lot harder to get DOWN from a Pyramid safely than it is to get up it. The individual 'steps' aren't that high from the perspective of a person, though Mona might have a little trouble, and they're so conveniently placed! Going up's a pretty easy climb, yes sirree... but they're AWFUL steps. On the other hand, the occasional eruptions of dust suggest this was a way better idea than going back into the Palace, whose vast and airy interior regions are FALLING APART RIGHT NOW!!

Futaba would have also probably, if not stopped, started talking about how pyramids actually had smooth limestone exteriors which were systematically robbed and can now mostly be found in old buildings in Cairo, because people have no respect for the dead!

"Hahh - hahh -" Mona is forced to skip down. The cloud of dust behind them is forming a front and fragments of stone are flying outwards, including one particularly notable chunk from -- is that one of those big black spheres that *cracked in half somehow*?? Fortunately it's not going down the same way you are!

When reminded of what *his* role in this getaway is, Mona cries out, "I know, I know! I'm - w-wahh - LADY AANNNNNnnnnnnnnnnn n n n n n n" 

                   *twinkle*

And thank goodness, Mona *is* able to become a car once he hits flat ground -- maybe he's got geometry restrictions to deal with? -- and thanks to the cunning positioning of his cushioned trunkside door, any Phantom Thieves lagging behind can leap for it and get caught!

And with some swift swerving and expert driving to get out of the blast radius, the Phantom Thieves tear past that silent town, racing ahead of the expanding dust cloud and soon enough finding themselves leaving a cognitive realm...

... and returning to where they started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK20OK8VTUw

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