View source for 2026-09-05: Mother Joker

*'''Log: Mother Joker'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Tsubasa Seki]], [[Miho Ijuuin]], [[Ren Amamiya]], [[Shinobu Shimizu]], [[Hibari Aoki]], [[Ririka Kawase]], [[Futaba Sakura]], [[Hyousuke Suzuki]], [[Umie Akabane]], [[Yusuke Kitagawa]], [[Makoto Niijima]], [[Maria Sakurai]], [[Penguin Mom Joker Edition]], [[Goro Akechi]], [[Junes]]
*'''Where:''' Port Island Station - Main
*'''OOC Date:''' September 05, 2026
*'''IC Date:''' January 05, 2013
*'''Summary''': ''The Phantom Thieves have been watching Etsuko Seki for signs of her change -- but they haven't been watching alone. When Tsubasa's mother is taken by the Joker Curse, by her workplace at the flower shop Rafflesia near Port Island Station, someone will be there to retrieve her... and despite Umie's desperate attempt to summon demons and stop her, the Groom steals Etsuko away.''

----

 (|======================== Port Island Station - Main ========================|)
 -======================================= Iwatodai City/Tatsumi Port Island ====-
 A sunny arrival greets people who ride the monorail to the artificial island    
 every day, as once off the platform, Port Island Station is open-air, allowing  
 the sea breeze to spread throughout it. Columns slice a diagonal towards a      
 curved wall that makes the station take on an amphitheater type appearance.     
                                                                                 
 A vendor at Rafflesia makes the enticing offer of flowers for decorations and   
 gifts to your sweetheart alike, while Screen Shot Cinema presents matinee       
 pricing for students getting away from the stress of school and wanting to catch
 the latest releases. Police dot the place, stopping people before they might    
 make a wrong turn towards certain alleys. Of course, you wouldn't know anything 
 about going to places like that, now would you?                                 

 <Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
<poem>
    The Phantom Thieves have been watching Etsuko -- first amongst them, Futaba and her digital surveillance. But there is a complicating factor which stays their hand, even as Futaba reports erratic phone activity which could indicate the Joker process. 

    "... we need t' catch out th' agent," Tsubasa explained it, one day, as they gathered for a secret meeting in Ren's room. "Get a bead on what they doin'... it's me an' Ichika an' Ryuji's lives all countin' on it." They've spoken to the two of them about the threat Shiryuu's hung over their heads at length -- at least, length as far as the laconic Tsubasa is concerned. "Might be th' one shot we got to get th' ''jump'' on one a 'em... if I can't grok some way to wreck their shit, we're sunk."

    It may come as a surprise to some of them; Tsubasa only expressed the danger they were in to ''everyone'' once, when they were getting rescued. All this time, they've been bearing the wind up music of that locket... largely ''alone.''

    Perhaps that comes as no surprise, though.

    The explanation they offer is more wordy than they've been all ''week.''

    And so, game, set, match: Port Island Station, one chilly afternoon. A dusting of snow has fallen over the steps leading up to the station, and the flowers of Rafflesia stand out all the more strikingly against the white backdrop. More than that, though: one of the workers has come in ''quite'' odd.

    "Do you know when my daughter will get here?" Etsuko Seki asks, smiling dreamily to her manager. "I've been calling her all day... have you seen her?"

    (Not shown: Tsubasa's silenced phone, with sixteen missed calls.)

    Her manager looks to a bruise she ''hasn't'' bothered to put makeup over, today, frowning slightly. "Eh, Seki-san... are you feeling okay?" He asks, gently. "If you need to work in the back today again, you know that's fine..."

    "I'm feeling fine!" Etsuko abjures the kindness people around her extend her, seeing the outline of her secrets. She denies it cheerfully, with a smile which splits just a little... too... ''wide.'' "Everything's fine! Peachy keen! I ''love'' being ignored! No news is good news, right?!"

    A few customers have turned to stare, hearing her raise her voice, her manager growing uneasy as she ''causes a scene.'' "Seki-san, come on," he urges her, gently. "Let's just go back and..."

    "Oh no no ''no!''" Etsuko snaps, slapping his hand away as he tries to guide her. The sound rings out with her voice, across the afternoon snow: "I am ''not'' having my ''husband'' accuse me of cheating with you ''again!'' If that no good daughter of mine won't show up..." ... her face has more in common with the snow than his, as a sick shadow falls over her eyes, "... I'll just start by killing ''you.''"

    Her manager pales, as he takes a step back -- and Tsubasa, crouched by the alley with the other Thieves, growls out an agonised, "-- arrrgh, fuck this!" It was their idea to set a trap for the Order... but apparently they don't have the ''stomach'' for it, when they're faced with the reality of a Joker's violence. 

    Because they run right out there, just as Etsuko's grabbed her manager. "Mom!" They call -- and that's oka-san, not oka-sama, unlike the way they address their father. "You were callin', right?! I'm here!"

    "''There'' you are," she snarls, tossing a man who's only gotten increasingly concerned for her over the months down like a sack of potatoes. "Tsubaki-chan, you've caused a lot of trouble...! You ''ruined'' our family, then refused to make up for it! And do you know who was blamed for raising you wrong?!"

    "You were," Tsubasa says, biting down the blow of hearing how their mother views them. (Particularly given their binders, it's becoming increasingly difficult to ''mistake'' them as a girl... at least not without significant ''confusion.'') "Father ain't good about it, I get --"

    "YOU'RE JUST LIKE HIM!" Etsuko ''screams,'' as her hand -- which seem, in the moment, a little more like a ''claw'' -- lashes out to strike her child, backhanded, and viciously enough to send them tumbling backwards. "''Neither'' of you stop to think about me for a ''second!'' About how ''hard'' it is for me! Do you know how hard I had to fight just to keep you -- because I wanted a daughter! And HOW do you repay me?! I had to make the hardest decision of my life... but in the end, you brought it on yourself, Tsubaki-chan! I really, really, really ''hate'' you! You're just going to tell me ''one thing'' before I gut you like Friday Fish," and that should have been a fun affectation of a housewife, except for the way she's advancing on them, shadow cast long in the Winter afternoon.

    It warps, as the space becomes Supernatural, as her change completes... but Tsubasa can't hope to transform, out in the open like this.

    "Ngh -- what?!" They grunt, as they scramble back, favouring one leg with a sharp wince.

    "Where did I go ''wrong?!''" Etsuko wails. "What did I ''do?!'' You're proof I'm a failure of a mother...! You must tell me ''why!''"

    There's real panic on their face, and it's not hard to tell why... or why that question feels so impossible to ''answer.'' When Etsuko screams, "SAY SOMETHING!", that shadow rises up around her -- not her shadow but the ''Joker Persona,'' stranger than they've seen it before. It is as if the Joker's robes have swollen with sick potential, something like eyes or boils seeping from their edges; the Joker's mask splits into a permanent jawish gape, teeth like some creature from the deep sea, and its horns fan back massively behind it. A tail lashes from beneath those robes, with three-clawed heels each pointed the wrong way; barbed wire coats its wrists and neck. Her anguish reverberates through it, echoing with particular sharpness into the minds of those with Personas... though the ''impacts'' of that terror are worn in the soul, not the body.

    In that terror, how many of them will forget this was a ''trap?'' Etsuko has transformed into a Joker Monster... and there's a specific type of person seeking to ''collect'' them.

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
<poem>
'The Agent', as it happens, is the Groom. She, too, has been watching this space. See the small camera set up in one of the plants at Rafflesia? No, you probably didn't. That's the point. 

Thus, no one sees her put on her mask within a building nearby, and few even see her walk out into the station, watching Tsubasa in great danger from their own mother's monstrous form. 

"Yes," the Groom says, all in black and gray armor, with a mask over her face. "You are a failure." 

"A wretched thing, hoisted on her own ill deeds." 

"Where did you go wrong...?" 

"...You called the Joker," the Groom says, lifting her dragon-motif sabre in salute to her opponents. "On your child." 

"For this, you have forfeited your life." 

Behind her there are men in cheongsams, familiar to those who might have seen them at Club Zodiac--members of the Tien Tao Lien, waiting by the edges of the station. 

Her boots sound against the pavement as she walks--and then lunges, her Persona Faust emerging in a flash of red mist. "PERSONA!" 

Faust--dressed in plague leathers--extends one hand, and a bolt of nuclear flame ''erupts'' towards the Joker's hands, aiming to free the youth. 

"I am your opponent now, monster." 

She then lifts a hand to her ear, to a radio there. "Subduing the target. Stand by for retrieval."

</poem>
 AS: Penguin Mom Joker Edition has readied for combat as Joker Mother! They are now fully healed! Ready for 11 opponents!
 AS: Persona! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Almighty skill Tentarafoo on Miho Ijuuin, Tsubasa Seki, Futaba
 Sakura, and Hibari Aoki!
   | Defense: Penguin Mom Joker Edition gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Persona! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Almighty skill Tentarafoo on Hyousuke Suzuki, Makoto Niijima, Maria
 Sakurai, and Ren Amamiya!
 AS: Persona! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Almighty skill Tentarafoo on Ririka Kawase, Shinobu Shimizu, and
 Umie Akabane!
 AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.
   | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!

 AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.
   | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!

 AS: Block Best! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.
 AS: Block Worst! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.
   | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!
 
 AS: Nerve Up! Futaba Sakura's SP +8!
 AS: Avoid Best! Futaba Sakura takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.
 AS: Block Worst! Hibari Aoki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.
   | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!

 AS: Avoid Best! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.
   | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!

 AS: Take! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.
   | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!

 AS: Penguin Mom Joker Edition has readied for combat with Joker Mother! They are adjusted! Ready for 6 opponents!
 AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.
   | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!
 
 AS: Miho Ijuuin has readied for combat as Faust! She is now fully healed! Ready for 5 opponents!
 
 AS: Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) applied to Miho Ijuuin!
 AS: Yusuke Kitagawa has readied for combat as Goemon! He is now fully healed!
 AS: Hibari Aoki has readied for combat as Danzaburou! She is now fully healed!
 AS: Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) applied to Hibari Aoki!
 AS: Avoid Best! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.

 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    Ren had long been operating under the misunderstanding that when The Phantoms rescued Tsubasa from Shiryuu's clutches, the threats he'd levied upon them were null and void. Never directly talking about it to them afterwards allowed them to maintain this wrongful assumption--until today. Their expression is dark, hands folded over their mouth, when Tsubasa explains what the plan is during that secret meeting.
    
    Morgana, who'd been privy to this misassumption and followed their lead when it hadn't come up again in the group chat he watches from over their shoulder, glances at them in concern. "Ren... This is..."
    
    "...Right," they murmur, deadly serious as they raise their head. "Let's make this happen."
    
    They won't make this mistake again.
    
        ---
    
    They watch silently with the others from the back alley near Port Island Station, arms folded over their chest, Morgana balanced over their shoulders. The two are grave as Etsuko's condition gets worse and worse, until she finally crosses a critical threshold.
    
    Neither argue with Tsubasa nor try to hold them back. Ren chases after them, though they hang back a reasonable distance as Tsubasa approaches their mom. This lasts precisely long enough for her to backhand them.
    
    "Tsubasa!!" Morgana shouts, leaping off Ren's shoulder to race to their side. As Etsuko transforms and that Joker Persona rises from her, the space allows him to change from not-a-cat to monster-cat, conveniently out of the shot of that hidden camera or sight of those watching. An advantage of being so small.
    
    Ren, too, passes behind one of the columns throughout the station, and on the other side, Joker emerges. As terrifying as the aura of the 'Joker Killer' aura, it pales in comparison to Joker's rage, both for Tsubasa and for themself and their own fraught relationship with their parents. They get bodily in between mother and child, one arm outstretched as a barrier. They assume the others will want to get in on this too, and there's space enough for them to help form a wall.
    
    "Your failure is in refusing to accept your child for who they really are," they tell Etsuko coldly. "When you come to your senses, actually listen to their truth."
    
    A masked woman arrives then with her own answer for Joker Etsuko in the form of both words and nuclear fire, and Joker (the one and only) shoots her a sharp-eyed scowl. They haven't encountered the Groom directly before, but it's clear that she's with the NWO, here to collect Etsuko Seki for their nefarious purposes. They glance back at the rest of The Phantoms here with them now. "Mona! Get them to safety." (Or in other words, behind cover so 'Tsubasa' can leave and 'Phoenix' can arrive. "Fox, keep the Order agent off us. Oracle, scan this so-called 'Joker Killer' for weaknesses; Mujina, support her and keep a sharp eye for more of the Order's people. Everyone else, let's subdue this woman!"
    
    They don't know if there's any way to salvage both the trap for the NWO ''and'' Etsuko Seki, but if there isn't, it won't be because The Phantoms didn't fight tooth and nail for it. For their part, Joker whirls, coattails flying in their wake, and splays their hand over their face as their mask burns away. Arsène rises above them, clawed fingers pointing at Joker Etsuko.
    
    "Steal her speed away!" Joker commands, and with a whirl of Arsène's own finger, magic drains the speed from the transformed monstrosity.
</poem>

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

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

 <Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Anyone who has called the Joker Killer in the past is effectively a ticking time bomb. It's hard to tell when or where the curse will take hold of them, so Shinobu has been doing her best to keep track of the ones she knows about - especially now that they know the NWO is after the cursed individuals.

Shinobu hears word of the commotion and comes running... and by the time she gets to Port Island Station, Etsuko Seki has already turned.

"Tsubasa! Get out of there!" Shinobu shouts, drawing her staff from her duffel bag. "As for ''you'', lady... you've got some nerve treating your kid like that."

She recoils back suddenly, as she feels the anguish roiling off of the transformed Etsuko - that anguish claws at her soul, disorienting her, making her stumble...

...But there is another here. The Groom is here, releasing a blast of nuclear flame to try and free Tsubasa. Shinobu grimaces internally, recoiling as she feels a spike of gratitude toward someone who ''should'' be her enemy right now. She tightens her grip on her staff and for a moment she has to choose where to aim her efforts. And then, she charges -

- at the Groom, interposing herself between her and the monster Etsuko has become. Her staff lashes out in a series of jabs, to try and drive her back.

"...Yeah, she's a piece of shit... But you really think comin' here and saying you're going to kill their mom right in front of them is doing them any favors either?" Shinobu asks. "That, or carting her away to wherever the hell you take them..."

She backs up, readying her staff. She looks up, eyes straying toward the members of the Tien Tao Lien accompanying the Groom.

Really... not the people she wanted to see right now. Things could get ''really'' bad if they decide to move.

"Eyes open, people! This could get bad quick!" Shinobu calls out, trying to clear some heads.
</poem>

 AS: Weapon! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Jab Flurry on Miho Ijuuin! 3 Hits!
   | Aggression: Shinobu Shimizu gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Shinobu Shimizu spends Limit on Help Up! Panic removed from Hyousuke Suzuki!Hyper (Next Attack Boosted/Incoming
 Damage Down!) applied to Hyousuke Suzuki!
 AS: Shinobu Shimizu spends Limit on Help Up! Panic removed from Umie Akabane!Hyper (Next Attack Boosted/Incoming Damage
 Down!) applied to Umie Akabane!
 AS: Block Best! Maria Sakurai takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Tentarafoo.
   | Panic (Damage when using Persona/Tandem!) added!

 AS: Block Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 26 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 74 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 74 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry. Critical Hit!

 <Pose Tracker> Hibari Aoki has posed.
<poem>Hibari was not entirely thrilled about the plan. It &#42;felt&#42; dangerous in a way she didn't quite know how to express her discomfort with.

But it's not like Tsubasa was &#42;wrong&#42;, either. They did have to do it, and it was them on the line more than her; if they want to take that risk, it's not Hibari's place to stop them, only to maybe try to make it a little easier for them. Plus, from what she knows, Etsuko is going to become a Joker no matter what they decide. So it's a little out of their hands regardless; it's not something they can force to happen at a better time or place.

So aside from saying - once, and only once - that she was a little worried about the decision, Hibari hadn't objected, and she'd done her best to help.

Which is why she's here, now.

It's not Hibari that shows up but Mujina, Phantom Thief - though since it's one of the first times she's done anything &#42;as&#42; a Phantom Thief and not a semi-independent operator, that part's easy to be unaware of. Her coat is trenchcoat-shaped in dark colours, a ruff of fur around the collar, and underneath it she has a black top and leggings. Her hair is red, probably dyed, and she has a mask. She's on the heavy side, though the billowy nature of her coat obscures it to an extent.

The mask has a distinctive aesthetic: traditional Japanese, red and white, similar to kitsune masks. Except instead of a fox this is a broader shape, with stripes that go up from the cheeks and over the eyes in a wide arc, and wider, more triangular ears with red along the outside; it's a (very) stylized animal that is either a tanuki-ish badger or a badger-ish tanuki.

She runs along behind Joker, and the horrible shout only makes her miss a single stride, though behind her mask she's feeling a lot more afraid than she wants to let on. And she's already summoning her Persona, spinning a pair of jade balls in one hand as something between a focus tool and a fidget. Danzaburou, the tanuki lord, appears above her, sweeping his gunbai from left to right.

And a mist rises. Not a physical mist; it's not wet, for one. It's just... obscuring, thick, a little hard to see through, and particularly hard to focus through, as if there were moving shapes in the cloud that aren't, strictly speaking, actually there. She's put it through the area the Phantoms have to run through, and a little bit of it carries with them, a slowly roiling shield like a soap bubble of mist that makes them waver like being in a heat haze.

But the lingering cloud also does a pretty good job of making the little side alley between Rafflesia and the next building hard to see into, given that's where the main mass of mental fog is centered. The eye tends to slip away from it...

"Already on it," Mujina replies to Joker, as she looks around. There's a fair number of them... that fog's going to have some hard work ahead of it.
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Hibari Aoki has used the Recovery skill Mirage Shroud on Futaba Sakura, Makoto Niijima, Tsubasa Seki, and
 Ren Amamiya!
   | Hibari Aoki takes 90 damage from Panic!

 AS: Take! Futaba Sakura takes 0 Recovery healing from Hibari Aoki's Mirage Shroud.
   | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

 AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Recovery healing from Hibari Aoki's Mirage Shroud.
   | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

 AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Recovery healing from Hibari Aoki's Mirage Shroud.
   | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

 <Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ririka was ''not'' part of the Phantom Thieves' stakeout. But Port Island is her home turf, and she was already on her way to a station when she heard the alarming call of Mementos. So much for her Saturday... Moments later she appeared near the flower shop, dressed in a winter jacket and jeans, coming to a sharp stop with a surprised blink. "Wait-- I ''know'' this place."

She sucks in a sharp breath as she spots the newly-transformed Joker. "Oh, no-- Seki-san!" Crap, she can't let anything happen to them.

And then a ''second'' burst of Resonance she's only encountered once but could never forget--from the day she Awakened. Ririka whirls around to face the Groom. "''You''! You're not getting away with this!" She retrieves her Evoker from her bag, hand trembling as she steels herself. "Amphion!"

Shattered glass and blue flame give rise to a giant stone man bearing a golden lyre, and a moment later light sweeps in front of Ririka to enclose her with a keyboard made of light.

Panic washes over her, and she grunts as she struggles to fight it off, relying on her training to try and keep a level head. It isn't easy, though--she's already assessing the situation as she reaches out to play and scan the area. A fight on two fronts is always trickier.

"Joker!" It looks like they're already issuing orders to their team. And Shinobu gives her own heads-up. "I clocked them," she reports. Her ''own'' team, sadly, isn't here, but she can support those that are. "And I'll provide support. Amphion--Analysis!"
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Almighty skill Full Analysis on Miho Ijuuin!
   | Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Full Analysis.
 AS: Ririka Kawase's Strength Scan! Miho Ijuuin resists Slash and Fire!
 AS: Ririka Kawase's Weakness Scan! Miho Ijuuin is weak against Light!
 AS: Ririka Kawase's Support Scan! Miho Ijuuin has passive skills Blast Boost, Defender, Fire Boost, Quick Weapon, Sharp
 Student, Skill Card Affinity, Slash Amp, and Slash Resist!

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
EARLIER...
        in da group chat

&gt; ATTENTION &gt;&gt;LOOK&lt;&lt; ATTENTION 
&gt; Sorry to yell. 
&gt; I'm getting unusual phone activity from Target E.
&gt; Give me five minutes and I'm ready. 

Futaba let out a 'hmf!' of resolution. "Time's a wasting," she tells herself then, turning away from her computer--

COFFEE
        in the afternoon

Futaba has underestimated the scope of the situation. 

To her, the sketch was simple. Assist Tsubasa. Help them get the drop on their mother -- their mother who isn't, in Futaba's somewhat complicated view, being a very &#42;good&#42; mother. On the other hand, there is a mute certainty in her heart that... that... 

She can't define it, really: but she understands how, love them or hate them or some mix of both, mothers can be important. 

Coming out to the site was an ordeal. Futaba kept her thoughts on Tsubasa, on double and triple checking the results on her phone (which, somehow, apparently connects to her home computer), on not saying more than one syllable to anything or anyone, and -- towards the end -- thinking about knives, and about courage, and about the basic elements of close-quarters combat. Anything and everything other than the screams, and the half-intelligible words. 

When that strange and uncanny sense of the shift of permitivity of free space expands outwards, it's honestly kind of a relief to Futaba. Straightening up from the nook where she had been squatting with her phone connected to a battery and a supplementary antenna, she sweeps everything into the bag and snaps the bodyglove where it rests on her wrist. "Yosh," Futaba says to herself, before looking up...

And so it is not, exactly, Futaba Sakura that emerges but ORACLE -- and she is within the luminous and fabulous form of Necronomicon, burning with passion and mystery!

"Heh -- well said, Joker!" speaks Futaba from within the thankfully-comfortable and oh-so-delectably-hidden space within. "I think she's not in the mood to have a conversation." 

"Joker, Joker," Futaba says more quietly as the lights flash strangely on the outside of Necronomicon. "This could get confusing really easily, huh." An instruction. "On it!" Several of those lights flash twice, and then green and red ovoids swirl around the ground, centering on the thing that was, or is, or might be Etsuko. 

"That's right... screw up their visibility, Mujina!" Futaba says. "Scan completing -- done! They're weak to--" 

</poem>
 AS: Persona! Futaba Sakura has used the Almighty skill Reveal your secrets to me! on Penguin Mom Joker Edition!
 AS: Take! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 0 Almighty damage from Futaba Sakura's Reveal your secrets to me!.
 AS: Futaba Sakura's Strength Scan! Penguin Mom Joker Edition resists Fire!
 AS: Futaba Sakura's Weakness Scan! Penguin Mom Joker Edition is weak against Water!

 <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
<poem>Though not a part of the Phantom Thieves in any official capacity, Hyousuke was Tsubasa and Ichika's friend. All they had to do was call, and he would come running without a moment's hesitation. So it was that, when Tsubasa asked him to join forces with the Thieves, the only questions he had were 'where' and 'when.' It was a little difficult for him to blend in with the crowd and maintain any semblance of subtlety, being a six-foot blonde with a scar carved into his face like a trench, but he counted himself grimly fortunate that Etsuko made enough of a scene that eyes weren't on him.

Whatever relief he might have felt in that moment drained quickly away as he watched the scene unfold, however. It was bad enough to watch her speak with the manager - the display was painful to watch for more reasons than he cared to recount. And when she threatened to take his life, Hyousuke simply could not stomach standing back and watching. The plan be damned - he refused to watch another person die when he had the power to keep it from happening. He twitched forward, fists balled as he readied himself to fight... but Tsubasa beat him to the punch.

He stood back, just another face in the crowd, though it was another issue entirely that he faced there. It was personal business that Tsubasa faced, and he knew that he couldn't intervene... But hearing her speak that way to them left him clenching his teeth and his fists, each as tight as the other, until his jaw threatened to snap and his nails verged on carving through the skin of his palm. He hated to admit it, but her scream and lashing out was, in its own way, a relief. It was a signal of a clear course of action.

The cold talons of fear raked though his mind, demanding that the stop and submit, or turn away from the fight and flee like prey. Run, they told him, and abandon everyone to their fate - this was not his fight. But it was Shinobu's shout that brought him to his senses, and he nodded at her in acknowledgement. Proper thanks could wait - they had business to attend to.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" He roared, sprinting onto the scene with Achilles behind him. That titanic mass of war-scarred bronze loomed behind him, red eye glowering like hellfire from the void within the helm, and Hyousuke strode forward to meet both monster and fencer.

"She's not yours to take! That woman's coming with us, and if you want to try and stop us, I'll break you in half! ACHILLES - SHIELDS UP!" With that, Hyousuke stood before Miho, glaring at her with a challenging, raging, fire in his eyes. The titan behind him creaked and clanked to life, metal straining against its own weight as Achilles heaved his shield to the sky, and roared out a rallying cry to bolster his allies' defences.
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Recovery skill Invincible General on Hyousuke Suzuki, Shinobu Shimizu, Ririka
 Kawase, and Yusuke Kitagawa!
   | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Invincible General.
   | Def_Up (Block Improved!) and Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!

 AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Invincible General.
   | Def_Up (Block Improved!) and Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!

 <Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem>    This bad event really couldn't have happened at a better time.... if you specifically wanted Umie Akabane to be there.

    That distant explosion of 'kegare' would be the first signal for the Badb, if Umie was close enough. The second, and more likely reason Umie started heading here, would be a supernatural arena -- 'a battleground' -- springing like a thorny bramble from rust-colored mud.

    Nearing tripping into a staring bystander, the young woman in the white hoodie and paper maiche half-mask rudely rushes by with nary an apology for his distress. Her sights are instead set on the source of that cloud of so, so much kegare. So little time, so much distance to cover, too late, too late, too late.

    She tries not to flash back to the panic and helplessness she felt with Hodai, instead, focusing on acting. "Seki-san, run! You're not going to get anywhere with her right now!" 

    (Well, that's not quite the situation, but Umie's trying to condense a massively traumatic event down to a single command.) 

    She wants to say more, but when Umie looks at the mutated &#42;thing&#42; spring from Etsuko, the words erupt as a soundless choke, her hands shaking as they clutch the ends of her kyoketsu-shoge. "... You're... mutating...?"
    
    Miyu, agent of the Order, couldn't have picked a better time to arrive. Umie wheels on her like a startled cat.    
    
    "Well, aren't &#42;you&#42; the saint for taking this &#42;terrible&#42; possessed person off everyone's hands," Umie spits at Miho. "You're clearly not here to collect her for the Order." Glancing over her shoulder to see Joker delivering commands, her expression relaxes a touch.

    She's blissfully unaware of the reason for this seemingly fortunate coincidence.

    "They can handle it. So &#42;back&#42; off." Shinobu intervenes, and Umie joins her, raising her hand to point at the agent.

    Badb rises with a shriek as Hyousuke charges in, unleashing a simple, charming, red-lipped smile on Miyu.
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Hooded Smile on Miho Ijuuin!
   | Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Hooded Smile.
   | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) added! Panic removed! Explosion! 59 damage!
 
 <Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
<poem>The plan was to set a trap.

Seeing Etsuko lose her grip on herself, and her physicality, so quickly is unnerving, though - so much so that Tsubasa breaks cover to try and stop the transformed woman from killing anyone.

Yusuke stays near Ren, watching the altercation - and the arrival of the people they were here to get the drop on. The moment nearing, he nods to their leader and ducks away in the opposite direction, flickering blue flame distracting from the disappearance of Yusuke Kitagawa and the arrival of Fox.

With a curt nod to Joker as they give the order to intercept the NWO, Fox draws his night-dark katana and breaks off from the rest of the Phantoms. Recognising Ririka - at least, by the fact that she's the sister of one of his teammates - he pushes forwards, drawing a deep breath and reaching for his mask.

"Goemon! Let us begin!"

With a mighty "iyooooooooo!" the spectral ronin manifests in a whirlwind of woodcut inks, adopting a ready high guard with his pipe, which Fox matches with his own blade - hungry for the battle to come.
</poem>

 AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Invincible General.
   | Def_Up (Block Improved!) and Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!

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

 AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Almighty damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Rebellion.
   | Crt_Up (Critical Up!) added!
 
 AS: Hyousuke Suzuki spends Limit on Help Up! Panic removed from Shinobu Shimizu!
 AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Invincible General.
   | Def_Up (Block Improved!) and Spd_Up (Avoid Improved!) added!

 <Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
    As the Phantom Thieves' strategist, Makoto can't say she exactly likes the plan for the operation ahead of them. Unfortunately, given the situation, and Tsubasa's decision to try and bear up under it, they don't have much choice.

    "We're going to need one group to focus on containing Tsubasa's mother, and the other to pin down this agent." She frowns, not liking their options. "...Do you have a way to get Ryouhara's attention once we've got them, because we're going to be limited on how we can contain them. We don't exactly have a setup to capture a Persona User and keep them as contained." She fears some handcuffs won't exactly do the job in Mementos.

    Still, if Ren's declaring that they're going to make this happen, it's what they're going to have to do.

    ----

    Waiting in the back alley is tense- unfortunately, there's not exactly a much better option. Even from there, it's not hard to tell how much of an effect this curse has had on Etsuko.

    "Wait-" Makoto tries to hiss to Tsubasa, but honestly, once they're off, it's not like Makoto can stop them without chasing after them, and that's a danger in and of itself. If Etsuko is already willing to lash out at her boss, who knows how someone else turning up with Tsubasa would agitate her.

    It doesn't stop Makoto wanting to run after them anyway.

    Reality shifts and with that shift comes a terrible wave of panic. There's something truly horrifying about the Joker Killer form of Etsuko, Queen's mask helps her resist. Helps, but doesn't prevent.

    When Joker starts advancing, so too does Queen, the Student Council President gone and replaced by some kind of post apocalyptic Rider. A run becomes a sprint. A sprint becomes a leap. A leap becomes a roar, and Queen crashes to the ground atop Johanna, her tires screeching as she speeds toward Etsuko. "Tsubasa-kun isn't your daughter- and you have ''no right'' to call yourself their mother after what you did!"

    Queen leans into a sharp turn just before impact, manifesting Johanna's power into a sweeping, vicious strike, a mix of anger and fear for her friend and teammate consuming her.

    "Run," She yells to any remaining bystanders still standing back, as Mujina's protection washes over her, Johanna skidding to a halt between Etsuko and where Tsubasa was. "We'll deal with ''her''."
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Strike skill Flash Bomb on Penguin Mom Joker Edition!
   | Makoto Niijima takes 90 damage from Panic!

 AS: Block Best! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 25 Strike damage from Makoto Niijima's Flash Bomb. Critical Hit!
   | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) added!

 <Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
<poem>
    It has not been, in fact, a very good winter holiday for Maria Sakurai. Fresh off her own possession, she then went on to really bomb her exams, a fact of which her grandmother, her mother, and even her ''father'' had taken poorly to. She had been instructed to stay home and study, excepting a few outings with family around the new year. In theory, that's exactly what had happened.

    In practice, though...

    Well, if you're being grounded, you can't just be a cool superhero, right? And if something awful is happening, shouldn't even bad grades get a pass if you're one of the only people who can fight against the awful stuff?

    In practice, Maria Sakurai has been a good girl and done her best with the studying thing and stayed home.
    In practice, Cherry the phantom thief has... not done that.

    Mementos is a good place for someone like her to hone her skills and stay in shape. It's safer than the Dark Hour, she's found.

    But then that train had pulled up with an alarm clanging and Maria, without a second thought, had jumped aboard (aome people would say that she hasn't ever had a first thought, either).

    Where is she now, anyway? No, wait, that doesn't matter--
    Something's wrong, she realizes the moment her sneakers hit the pavement out here. And she knows exactly what it is. Is that what it was like for...?

    "Seki-kun!"

    Hadn't Tsubasa asked her to call them by first-name? In the moment, Cherry's focus is solely on the figure with the white-mask face, and only at some remove realizes that she's not the only threat she has to worry about.

    "Your mom's a--! No, get out of there!"

    She draws back, raising an arm as she twists away from the wave of terrifying anguish that rolls of Tsubasa's mother. "Aa--!" she shrieks, her soul resonating with with that howl in spite of herself.

    Shaking her head, Cherry squares up as she pulls herself together. Into her hands she draws from the air itself a polearm that looks one part industrial scrap pile and one part scavenged neon lights: this, she brandishes at Tsubasa's Jokerized mother.

    "I know you can't help it right now, but you're not helping!" Cherry shouts at her, sparing but a glance at Miyu. "Get away from them--!"

    With that, with the apparent help of her brightly-colored sneakers, Maria leaps into the air. She brings her polarm to the fore before her, falling like a shooting star. If Etsuko won't back off, she'll force the issue.
</poem>

 AS: Weapon! Maria Sakurai has used the Slash skill Daring Dive - Polearm on Penguin Mom Joker Edition! 2 Hits!
   | Pressure: Maria Sakurai gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Counter Neutral! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 94 Slash damage from Maria Sakurai's Daring Dive - Polearm.
   | COUNTER! Maria Sakurai takes 39 Slash damage in return for her attack! 

 AS: Counter Worst! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 152 Slash damage from Maria Sakurai's Daring Dive - Polearm. Critical
 Hit!
   | COUNTER! Maria Sakurai takes 36 Slash damage in return for her attack! 

 <Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
<poem>
    ("Yeah, me too," Tsubasa had said, to Hibari, back then. "Shit sucks." But even though they were worried, they were still convinced it was the best of their bad options.

    As for Makoto's concerns about reaching the Ryouhara? Well, there's a reason some of the ''most'' likely suspects aren't present right now...)

    Tsubasa happens to know that Miho is associated with the Order...

    ... but they know that ''Miho'' is associated with the Order.

    As for the ''Groom?'' No fuckin' clue. They know she's bad news, though, in that faceless ceramic mask of hers.

    (Etsuko, as it happens, knows ''Makoto,'' too -- so it's wise for her to not run out beside them.)

    Does that mean it's ''weird'' to hear the Groom calling Etsuko out for being a bad mom? Yes, actually. How is the horror lady making a decent point???, Tsubasa scrambles to grasp, in their mind, as they scramble away from their mother.

    "Fuck was that?!" They bark, because of course they're not supposed to ''know'' what Frei is. (Sorry, monster cat Mona, they're implicitly wrapping you up in the same surprise. They know who the fuck is you, promise.) They scramble up, with a bit of a wince, to get some more distance in the wake of Faust's assault. "You're -- helpin' me?" ''Joker'' and the other Thieves protecting them isn't a surprise -- Shinobu and Ririka and Umie jumping in isn't, either -- and they ''asked'' Hyousuke to come help them with this shit going down, as one of his contacts to the otherwise-inscrutable Thieves -- but the ''Groom?!'' "C--cool, man, but fuck off me mom!" In their own way, there, they've asked for help making sure Miho doesn't hurt Etsuko. "She jus' --"

    Tsubasa shakes their head, turning back to Etsuko. "You ain't never left me father! That's it, okay?! That's what ya fucked up, mom! You ain't never ''left'' him, so we all had to deal with him, an' -- an' you coulda ''left!'' Look, it's easy, fuck -- fuckin' -- like this! I'm outta here!" They can follow advice if it's from people who ''actually help them,'' apparently -- case in point: Shinobu and Maria telling them to scram.

    With that, Tsubasa scrambles out to flee through the alleyway -- surely not ''realising'' that Hibari's misty Shroud has helped to obscure their escape. Luckily, Mona's there to make sure no one ''follows'' them, as the world's fiercest tiny monster cat.

    (Oh, they realise. It's precisely that obfuscation which gives them a private moment to pull their ''own'' Will of Rebellion on, and --)

    OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySC3gvKsIY8 Nevermore - Evolution 169

    "-- Etsuko Seki!"

    Phoenix, the Phantom Thief, is apparently ''late'' as they charge in, greatsword casting sparks as it scrapes along the ground beside them. They swing that sword around, to lash out at the Joker Persona she's wielding. "I don't wanna hurt ya, but you're in real hot water--!"

    Swinging around, they call out: "Fox! Help those guys deal with th' Groom, she's got a fuckin' sword!" ''YOU'' HAVE A SWORD, PHOENIX! Okay, except ''Phoenix's'' sword is more akin to the broad side of a barn compared to Yusuke's elegant instrument...

    ... and the Thieves know just why Phoenix is focused on Etsuko, even if not everyone else here does. (Well -- not ''everyone.'' Hyousuke and Maria, on the other hand... man, does Tsubasa have a ''type'' of person they tend to trust their shit with?!)

    "Cherry!" They cry, seeing her dive for Etsuko. "That's me -- friend's mom!" Good save, Phoenix. "We jus' gotta... knock some sense into her, right?!"

    A beat, and they look to Queen, as they repeat, again, to their strategist: "Right?!"

</poem>
 AS: Take! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Recovery healing from Hibari Aoki's Mirage Shroud.
   | Eclipse (Weakness turned to Resist!) added!

 AS: Weapon! Tsubasa Seki has used the Slash skill Greatsword Destruction on Penguin Mom Joker Edition! 2 Hits!
   | Aggression: Tsubasa Seki gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Block Neutral! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 103 Slash damage from Tsubasa Seki's Greatsword Destruction.
 AS: Block Neutral! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 122 Slash damage from Tsubasa Seki's Greatsword Destruction. Critical
 Hit!

 <Pose Tracker> Penguin Mom Joker Edition has posed.
<poem>
The Groom calls the Joker's attention, as her head turns, not even looking at the Saber, or her. It's an unnatural angle, so far that normal vertebrae would snap.

"Hahaha-" She laughs even as tears fill her eyes, her smile unnaturally wide now, "-EhehehHAHAHA- you're wrong. That isn't where I failed. That's where I acknowledged my failure- a failure of a mother in this wretched, sinful world!"

The bloated form of the Joker rises again, and with an inhalation that distorts its body, it exhales a cone of icy cold upon the Groom.

Even in that angle now her head turns sideways, looking as if it might snap at any moment, but still she grins, even as she cries, running little rivulets of makeup down her chalk white eyes. "It's where I tried to correct my failure." Her body turns now, but where her eyes should be are now fixated on the groom, unmoving, as her body catches up.

"Maybe in our next lives, she'll want to be my daughter. But before we go- I will find out ''WHY''!"

Joker offers their own wisdom, on where things went wrong, even interposing themselves. "Ehehe- but I do accept them! I accept them for who they really are! My Tsubaki! My daughter!" A step forward, as she brandishes her purse, and even as Joker steals her speed away, "NEVER get between a Mother and her daughter!"

The Purse swings right at the Phantom Thief's face, before trying to strike him again on the backswing. Each time it would feel as if there were the weight of something far more solid inside- far too solid to be normal contents.

Well there kinda are. She brought a few bricks in her purse to work today. Always gotta be prepared for a supernatural breakdown!

Tsubasa though... makes a certain point. Where she went wrong is- "Stop lying, Tsubaki." She says with tearful eyes, "STOP LYING TO YOUR MOTHER! That's not what made you decide to stop being my little girl! You- You decided-" A sob hitches in her chest, before becoming a giggle, "-hehehe-EHEHEHE- you decided to stop! You can't just stop being a girl! You left ''me''! You left me to deal with your mess, ALL BY MYSELF!"

But, Tsubasa says they're outta here and Etsuko straightens, "Don't you ''DARE''! Don't you leave me again Tsubaki! DON'T YOU DO IT!" But with Joker's spell, there's no hope of her catching up, as she whispers, "Everyone- I'll just kill EVERYONE HERE UNTIL YOU COME BACK TO ME TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!" 

Futaba meanwhile tries to analyze the Joker Persona- and there's a nonsensical readout. Even besides it's composition, it's vulnerabilities. There's something inexplicable. A factor that makes it like Joker - Ren Amamiya, and not at the same time, a commonality- despite the fact that the two have nothing to do with each other other than a shared name.

But before she can look more closely, the readout of 1's and 0's and characters beside changes, the code warping to show the outline of a mask, with open gaping mouth in a grin, that mouths silently a single word.

Interesting

And then vanishes, as if it never were, whatever she sensed- the evidence quite simply erased without a trace in her cognitive lair of the Necronomicon, followed by an ice spell being aimed to freeze their systems quite solid, by the Joker Persona.

The Joker gives the heavier girl of Hibari a strange look as the Joker turns upon her as well, sending a spray of ice upon her as well, "All these masks. Are you supposed to be some kind of gang? Tsubaki- I told you to stay away from the alley when you come here! If you don't, you attract delinquents like these!"

Case in point, as the Motorcycle Delinquent, Queen screeches towards her on a Motorcycle!? It sweeps towards her and, the Joker raises her purse, apparently deflecting part of the impact with a brick.

"What do you know!?" She shouts, spittle and tears flying off of her face, "Even if I am a failure - I'm still her MOTHER! Do you know how long I was in labor with her!? Well, DO YOU?" 

Then advancing upon Queen, she swings the bag round and round before slamming it down angrily upon Johanna, again and again with wild abandon, in her frenzied rage, before spinning around for Momentum to aim another blow for Queen, right on the jaw and try to knock her off her Persona.

"Don't you tell me how to raise my child- until you've had one yourself! Your attitude is only encouraging her to act out!"

Cherry's Polearm slashes through the air and the Joker Persona catches it in it's strange bulbous body, one of those venus fly trap like maws surrounding it leaking filth. More filth bursts forth, before it then slashes down at Maria with her claws, once, twice causing great gouges in the air.

"Can't help it? I've never thought more clearly than right now, young lady." She tells Cherry, despite the tears in her eyes, "I'll help her. I'll help Tsubaki. I'll take her to the next world myself-!" Surging forward, she slams her purse against Maria, trying to dislodge her from the Joker, even as the air chills and the Joker forms long claws of ice, growing out of its spindly fingers like warped icicles as they slice down at Cherry, shattering on frigid impact. "Maybe- maybe in the next world, we can live as mother and daughter-!"

That's when Phoenix reenters the fray, though Etsuko certainly has no idea that it's her daughter, the Greatsword slashing down twice, forcing the Joker away from Cherry. "Yes dear, I know." On being in hot water, her mouth splitting open extra wide. "Her friend... her friend." She echoes, before anger fills her tone, "Her friend- HER FRIEND! Just look at you- the way you're dressed. Now I know where Tsubaki gets it from!"

Phoenix will find herself face to face with her Mother, as her Mom no longer swings the bag at her, but uses it as a bludgeon inside the reach of her Greatsword. Once, twice, thrice she tries to strike her across the face.

"Are you- why I failed!? Because you were there leading her astray- putting ideas in her head!? ANSWER ME!"

The Joker meanwhile, flings a dark orb, which splits into several nuclei, encircled by power, weakening those that it touches.

</poem>
 AS: Persona! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Water skill Cold Breath on Miho Ijuuin! 3 Hits!
 AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Strike skill Handbag Smack on Ren Amamiya! 2 Hits!
 AS: Persona! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Water skill Mabufula on Futaba Sakura and Hibari Aoki!
 AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Strike skill Mother's Pain on Makoto Niijima! 3 Hits!
   | Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 45 damage from Stress!

 AS: Tandem! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Water skill Frigid Wrath on Maria Sakurai! 3 Hits!
 AS: Penguin Mom Joker Edition spends Limit on Exploit! Penguin Mom Joker Edition can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Persona! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Almighty skill Matarunda on Tsubasa Seki, Maria Sakurai, Makoto
 Niijima, and Ren Amamiya!
   | Defense: Penguin Mom Joker Edition gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Weapon! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Strike skill Titanslayer on Tsubasa Seki! 3 Hits!
 AS: Block Worst! Makoto Niijima takes 76 Strike damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Mother's Pain. Critical Hit!
   | Pain (Attacker takes damage on healing and PL 0 attacks!) added!

 AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 29 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Cold Breath. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Neutral! Miho Ijuuin takes 65 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Cold Breath. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 29 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Cold Breath. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Best! Makoto Niijima takes 22 Strike damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Mother's Pain. Critical Hit!
 AS: Counter Worst! Makoto Niijima takes 109 Strike damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Mother's Pain. Critical Hit!
   | COUNTER! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 53 Strike damage in return for their attack! 

 AS: Avoid Worst! Makoto Niijima takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Matarunda.
   | Atk_Dn (Damage down!) added!

 AS: Block Best! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Matarunda.
   | Atk_Dn (Damage down!) added!
 
 <Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
<poem>
To the Joker, the Groom stands impassively. "This world is wretched and sinful," she agrees. "...And thus, it suits you perfectly." She stands still as the ice crashes down around her, mist freezing her to the bone. ...Nevertheless, she does not stop. 

"I would not say I am 'helping'," Miyu the Groom says to Tsubasa. And indeed--Shinobu has the right of it. "No," the Groom says to Shinobu. "To take the child's mother is a cruelty, for all her faults. ...But it is a cruelty I am willing to commit." 

It could get bad quick--but Shinobu successfully drives her back in the moment, and while Miho can seamlessly block the first strike, the second and third impact hard enough to ocupy her attention for the moment. 

In the next, Ririka's scan comes; she can detect the sheer power of Faust, a sinister Persona who exemplifies hubris. There is something otherworldly about Faust, even beyond most Personas, as if it is not entirely of this... something. And of course, she can detect resistances and strengths. 

"That is why it is 'theft', young man," the Groom answers Hyousuke. "I am taking that which does not belong to me for my own purposes. ...Can you stop me? I think not. Your rage will be your undoing." 

Then Miyu turns to Umie. "And your emotions will be yours. I will not be 'backing off'. This battle is more important to me than it is to you." 

She looks to Goemon and Fox yet. "A swordsman, and a stoic... This, I respect. Come at me, man of the sword." 

Miyu hacks through the air to bring her sword down, pointing towards feet. "Protectors of this false world..." 

BGM: Virtual Star Embryology (Utena OST) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfj4_IU968s 

Miho brings her sword up parallel to her body. "I understand why you cling to it so. There is something to love in any world, I think." She then steps off, pushing her weight onto her forward foot--and then ''lunges''. As Faust appears to light her blade ablaze with blue nuclear waves, Miyu ''swings'' once twice three times for Ririka's Persona, darting around her to throw out her hand. Faust ignites again with a huge cerulean explosion hurtling for Hyousuke. Then, Faust ''swings'' her razor for Umie, and the finality of the grave tones with it. 

Finally, she lifts her blade once again, in tune with Faust, and a shockwave of vitriol slashes towards Shinobu and Yusuke both--at the same time that a flash of healing sparkles rain down over Miyu. 

"But I too, have those that I love. ...These Jokers can be studied. They can be used. And they may hold the key to the salvation of many who would yet die. One life, against that of many--one unrelated life to me, against those that are precious." 

"Can you say you would not choose the same bargain? ...Would you lie to yourself if you did?" 

"I won't," she tells Maria simply.
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Fatal End on Umie Akabane!
 AS: Charm results in party damage! Miho Ijuuin takes 90 damage!
   | Defense: Miho Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Freila on Hyousuke Suzuki!
 AS: Tandem! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Atombrand on Ririka Kawase! 3 Hits!
 AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Blight on Shinobu Shimizu and Yusuke Kitagawa!
 AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Recovery skill Dia on Miho Ijuuin!
 AS: Take! Miho Ijuuin takes 132 Recovery healing from Miho Ijuuin's Dia.
 AS: Avoid Best! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Strike damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Titanslayer. Resist!
 AS: Avoid Best! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Strike damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Titanslayer. Critical Hit! Resist!
 AS: Avoid Best! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Strike damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Titanslayer. Critical Hit! Resist!
 AS: Miho Ijuuin spends Limit on Salve! Charm removed from Miho Ijuuin!
 AS: Block Best! Hibari Aoki takes 96 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Mabufula. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Worst! Shinobu Shimizu takes 107 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Blight.
 AS: Avoid Neutral! Ren Amamiya takes 44 Strike damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Handbag Smack. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Best! Ren Amamiya takes 5 Strike damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Handbag Smack. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Best! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Matarunda.
   | Atk_Dn (Damage down!) added!

 AS: Hibari Aoki spends Limit on Help Up! Pain removed from Makoto Niijima!
 AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 54 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Fatal End. Critical Hit!
 
 AS: Block Best! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 27 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Freila. Critical Hit!
   | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) added!

 AS: Avoid Neutral! Futaba Sakura takes 171 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Mabufula. Critical Hit!
   | Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) added!

 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    Ren gets how Hibari and Makoto feel, really. It ''is'' risky. But it's exactly as the former's already realized: it's going to happen no matter what, and it's a chance to protect their friends who're in danger from the Ryouharas, so they've got to be all in about this.
    
    Joker's relieved to see that the NWO isn't the only one getting reinforcements; other Persona Users, known friendlies race in to join the battle. Joker shoots them all a decisive, grateful nod as Shinobu leaps on the Groom along with Hyousuke, and Umie casts debilitating magic while Ririka scans her for weaknesses.
    
    ...and reveals the Groom's strong to slashing attacks, which means by sheer coincidence, Fox is a terrible match-up against the Groom--and ''would'' have been a good match against Etsuko, as ''Oracle'' then reveals. No going back now, though. These aren't enemies they can casually trade up against. They've got to lock in. Hopefully Fox can make do now that they all know this.
    
    Mujina raises her obscuring, defensive fog; her long experience as a solo agent serves her well here, anticipating their orders as well as she does. Joker trusts her with their back, and Queen with their front as she literally runs into (over??) Etsuko. Moms really are tough, though. She takes that beating like a champ--so too from Cherry, who leaps in out of seemingly nowhere, shouting warnings to Tsubasa and wailing on Etsuko with her staff.
    
    "Our thanks for the assist," they tell Cherry with a quick nod of acknowledgement.
    
    (Mona knows. When he and Tsubasa get to that foggy cover and they transform, he tags them in with a high-four. "Good luck! I'll be right behind you!" he hisses. He'll need a moment more; after all, he's supposed to be getting Tsubasa to safety.)
    
    Etsuko Joker claims she ''does'' accept 'Tsubaki.' Joker's lip curls as they look upon her with disgust. They bite back their initial, angry retort, though; they know that at this point, she is at best a distorted funhouse mirror of herself now. "Fortunately, I've done nothing of the sort," they quip instead of getting between a mother and her ''daughter''.
    
    Of course, she gets them back with that brick-in-a-purse to the face. They snarl in pain as they recoil--but they turn that motion into a duck to avoid the backswing, at least, nimbly leaping into a backflip off one hand. That spell of Etsuko Joker's descends, draining them of some strength... which means they'll all have to aim even harder for her weak points. And with Fox on the Groom...
    
    In their soul, they call up another self, a chime ringing in their mind. "Tell me about it," Joker mutters over their shoulder to Oracle about Too Many Jokers, knowing nothing of what she just scanned, as they raise a hand to their face again. Louder, they call in their deep voice, "Naga! Wash her sins away!"
    
    Their mask once again erupts into blue fire, but this time, what arises over them is not the dark, cackling form of the Great Thief, but a great serpentine warrior with a spear and shield. The Phantoms will recognize it as a Naga--specifically, the Naga that they recruited in Futaba's Palace. He's a little different from the way he was back then, though...
    
    He raises that spear and casts it down towards the transformed Etsuko. A torrential downpour gushes down to crash into her, taking advantage of the weakness Oracle scanned.
    
    "Right," they tell Phoenix upon their official arrival, demeanor smooth and calm to their loud and panicked, though they'd addressed Cherry and Queen, not them. "Then she can be brought to the Velvet Room and restored to normal."
    
    That's something Joker will leave others to do. Somehow, they're iffy on what the residents of ''their'' Velvet Room would do. Just as iffy: the Groom's talk of 'this false world.' Joker shoots her a look, but not knowing what she's talking about or if she's even just being dramatic, they don't remark. None of them will let her have her way if they can help it, and that's the beginning and end of it right this second.
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Water skill Aques on Penguin Mom Joker Edition!
   | Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!

 AS:  applied to Makoto Niijima!
 AS: Avoid Best! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 138 Water damage from Ren Amamiya's Aques. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Block Worst! Ririka Kawase takes 44 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Atombrand.
 AS: Block Worst! Ririka Kawase takes 44 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Atombrand.
 AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 32 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Atombrand. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Best! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 1 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Blight.
 AS: Block Worst! Maria Sakurai takes 108 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Frigid Wrath. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Best! Maria Sakurai takes 22 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Frigid Wrath.
 AS: Counter Neutral! Maria Sakurai takes 119 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Frigid Wrath. Critical Hit!
   | COUNTER! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 91 Water damage in return for their attack! Weak!

 AS: Avoid Neutral! Maria Sakurai takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Matarunda.
   | Atk_Dn (Damage down!) added!

 <Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
<poem>'The Groom' lifts her blade, and the air itself seems to tear as a virulent cutting wave descends upon Fox.

Exhaling, the modern ronin drops one hand to his saya and brings it up to deflect the formless blade, gritting his teeth as he's pushed back several feet. He twists his back foot, and then the lacquered wood in his hand - and with a tiny fleck of crimson from his exposed cheek, the wave of cutting intent smashes the tiles apart a handful of inches from where he's standing.

His eyes flicker to Ririka, accepting her gift of knowledge. This is going to be a challenge.

His Will exults in crossing swords with a superior opponent.

He paces clockwise as the others begin to mount their counter-attack against Miyu and her agents, grey eyes watching her. Her stance is immaculate - if her form shows any weaknesses, they are ''certainly'' feints. Goemon too looms over his shoulders, massive pipe held vertical like a blade in itself.

Nothing for it but to press the attack, he thinks, and in response to his thoughts Goemon reverses the pipe in his great hands, tapping the bowl twice on the ground. The sparks it kicks up seem to leap to Fox's blade, crackling along it in a wreath of lightning, before he lunges for Miyu!
</poem>

 AS: Tandem! Yusuke Kitagawa has used the Elec skill Crashbrand on Miho Ijuuin! 2 Hits!
   | Pressure: Yusuke Kitagawa gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 83 Elec damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Crashbrand.
 AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 104 Elec damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Crashbrand. Critical Hit!
 
 <Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Amphion strums, sending out waves of Resonance towards Miho, and Ririka listens as they come back. "The Groom resists Flam and Slashing weapns, and is weak to Light." She'll share the rest of the data Amphion gathered, too, and keep tabs.

But there is something more, and Ririka frowns, behind her keyboard. "What ''is'' that..." she murmurs, eyes closed so she can listen. She opens her eyes again to lock them on Miyu. "... What did you do to your Persona? Everyone, be careful, she's... powered up her Persona, or something!"

Ririka has fought alongside and met a few of the Phantom Thieves now. She knows she hasn't personally met ''all'' of them, but...

She's pretty sure she'd remember Necronomicon though. Ririka looks up. "Is that-- a ''UFO''?" And there's something about her Resonance...

Ririka sends out a pulse of Resonance towards Oracle as a greeting, in the form of a quick string of notes.

But there are more allies here, and she definitely recognizes Hyousuke. "Thanks!" she calls out as she feels Achilles' magic welling up around her. Since Hyousuke handled the defenses... she's looking ahead to offering other support.

Fox might also recognize Ririka as a fellow schoolmate! Though, obviously, Ririka isn't going to recognize ''him'', right at this moment. But yes, she is also Ichika's sister.

There's some confusion about the Groom. Ririka knows Tsubasa is, unfortunately, aware, but not ''Awakened''. But even so, she can't let there be any ''more'' confusion in a complicated battle than there already is. "The Groom isn't here to help. Get somewhere safe and let us handle this!"

She's relieved when Tsubasa finally bounces.

"Who are you to say this world is false?" she retorts to Miyu. " But then Miyu ''rushes'' for her, sword blazing, and Ririka throws an arm out. "A-Amphion!" Even with Achilles' help the first two hits rock her soundly back, clashing against Amphion's defensive presence as Ririka clutches her chest. "Augh--" The third one she resists but just barely. "Ugh." And here she is without her own katana...

... but was she really going to ever match that level of skill and power anyway?

No, her talents lay elsewhere.

"I'm not saying..." Ririka gets out through gritted teeth as she recovers. "... she's a ''great'' person, but... who said you get to judge someone and sacrifice their life?!"

Ririka shakes her head, gesturing. "Amphion! Bright Revel!" Amphion strums, and as the melody wraps around Fox, Umie, Hyousuke, and Shinobu, they'll find their attacks bolstered, guided by her Navigator senses to strike more true against Miho.

"And for an encore, Healing Song!" More soothing melodies stream out, wrapping around Umie, Shinobu, herself, and Hyousuke, to work at continually mending their wounds as the battle goes.
</poem>

 AS: Ririka Kawase spends Limit on Exploit! Ririka Kawase can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Recovery skill Bright Revel on Umie Akabane, Shinobu Shimizu, Hyousuke Suzuki,
 and Yusuke Kitagawa!
 AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Recovery skill Healing Song on Umie Akabane, Shinobu Shimizu, Hyousuke Suzuki,
 and Ririka Kawase!
   | Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
   | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

 AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Bright Revel.
   | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) and Crt_Up (Critical Up!) added!

 AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
   | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

 AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Bright Revel.
   | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) and Crt_Up (Critical Up!) added!

 AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
   | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

 AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Bright Revel.
   | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) and Crt_Up (Critical Up!) added!

 AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Healing Song.
   | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!

 AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Bright Revel.
   | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) and Crt_Up (Critical Up!) added!
 
 AS: Ren Amamiya spends Limit on Shift! Makoto Niijima can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Ren Amamiya spends Limit on Help Up! Panic removed from Hibari Aoki!

 <Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>Shinobu glances back toward Ririka as she gives her report, and nods.

"Good. Let us know if it looks like they're about to get involved, yeah?" She replies.

She meets Hyousuke's nod with a nod of her own - and then he comes in shouting. Achilles appears with a rallying cry, and Shinobu can feel herself back up to full potential.

"Thanks." She says, grateful for the help.

Umie is here, too, and Shinobu offers her a nod of support as she points at the Groom.

Also on the scene is Fox - and with him, other Phantom Thieves, too.

"Nice to see you, Phantom Thieves." Shinobu offers Fox and Joker both with a nod - and then turns her attention back to the Groom. They've got some good back-up today... They'll need all the help they can get.

And Tsubasa is able to get away, retreating through the mist. Shinobu exhales a sigh of relief. That's one less thing to worry about amidst a sea of problems - and the biggest problem right here is the one with the sword in front of her.

The Groom admits that taking Tsubasa's mother would be a cruelty - but one she's willing to commit. Her strikes drive her back, at least long enough for the others to move on.

"'False world'? What does ''that'' mean?" Shinobu asks. Is it like what Sudou was talking about...? She's forced on the defensive as Miyu and Faust lash out. She raises her staff to intercept the blade - but it slides right along the weapon, biting into her shoulder. She seethes a hiss of pain in response, backpedaling.

Ririka issues a report. Weaknesses and resistances... that's useful.

"Good to know." Shinobu calls out - then pauses. "...She what? You can ''do'' that? Aside, from like - the normal way?"

She's momentarily baffled, but the Groom's words focus her back on the situation at hand. She, too, has those that she loves, and the Jokers can be studied. A frown crosses her face.

"...I get it. You're doin' this for the ones you love." Shinobu comments. "...Yeah, if I were in your shoes right now... Maybe I'd be doing the same thing."

With how deeply she cares for her sisters... If she were put into that position, what ''wouldn't'' she do for their sake?

"But that don't mean I can just ''stand aside'' and let this happen, either. I dunno what's pushed you to this..." She shakes her head. "...But I'm not going to sit by and let anyone be used like that if there's something I can do about it."

Amphion's song rings out, and strength and healing surrounds her. The pain in her shoulder subsides. In that case... the best thanks she can give Ririka is to put her information to good use.

"Lachesis!" Shinobu calls out. Behind her, Lachesis appears. Shinobu raises her staff - and with a gesture, both of their weapons brim with light. With a sweep of Lachesis's measuring rod Shinobu is sent upward as Lachesis herself races toward Miyu from the front. The measuring rod sweeps out in two long strokes - and then Shinobu descends, bringing her light-infused staff crashing down like a star descending from the heavens.
</poem>

 AS: Tandem! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Light skill Comet Drop on Miho Ijuuin! 3 Hits!
   | Aggression: Shinobu Shimizu gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 154 Light damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Comet Drop. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 76 Light damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Comet Drop. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 57 Light damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Comet Drop. Weak!

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
"-- water attacks! Fire won't work!" 

"Flank her, Queen! We've got her surrounded, even with those scumbags coming in!" Oracle crows when Johanna roars and &#42;peels the f out&#42;. (Though, Futaba thinks, there's only one scumbag. Right? A quick glance at the LIDAR screen, but there's no incoming blue dots.) 

(On this scanner, blue shift means they're approaching, red means they're moving away. Very advanced and scientific.) 

"... Even if you had a hard time giving birth to them," Oracle answers, "you --" 

The topic isn't one she can grapple easily. The screens are safer to look at. Though there is a vocalized "tch!" as the Joker demands they not judge her until they've gestated a mile in her shoes. A moment later there is a screaming burst near Necronomicon; the ice shards smash into the outer hull, skewing the entire vessel nearly thirty degrees to port and downwards a full three meters. "Gah! This is bad--" 

Level it out. Look at the scopes. And see...

A mouth. A grin. A strange shape. 

One that vanishes, a blink afterwards. Futaba stares at the scope, and feels something strange in the back of her mind. The iron trap of her memory seized that visual input, but somehow it's fuzzy -- but it's only fuzzy. It was real, Futaba tells herself. All of this is real, even if it's different than most things. 

If it wasn't real, after all... &#42;Her&#42; mom--

Oh right, the battle didn't stop. "Woah! Another friend of Seki-kun leaps in!? She used Jump--!!" 

FWASH! "It's super effective! Don't let it beat you down!" Another console is swung closer and hasty tapping on a one-hand-mode keyboard processes in... something. There's a trackball underneath and Oracle swings it around with her thumb, pressing a button once, twice, THREE times as three target boxes linked by a glittering string of green highlight several of the battlers against the Cursed Mother. 

"Deploying fix! Boom!" The boom was the narration for hitting the execution button. A warm fountain of green particles rises upwards around Mujina, Queen and Cherry, the feeling of a cheer as well as the ineluctable yet satisfying sensation of one's Hit Points replenishing. 

"I'm working on a better solution, try to keep it on the back foot!" 

</poem>
 AS: Persona! Futaba Sakura has used the Recovery skill Moral Support on Hibari Aoki, Makoto Niijima, and Maria Sakurai!
   | Support: Futaba Sakura gains 1 Limit!

 <Pose Tracker> Hibari Aoki has posed.
<poem>Hibari knows that sometimes you have to take a risk, and sometimes it's not exactly your choice whether you're going to take one; the situation demands it. If it was up to her she would have tried to do this somewhere that was less exposed, less in the middle of Port Island - but this is the way it's got to be, no matter what she'd &#42;rather&#42; do.

That doesn't mean she has to like it! 

"That's the first step," Mujina calls back to Phoenix, because there's no way they're going to get ETsuko somewhere safe without subduing her (Hibari privately does not think they will manage to knock some sense into her, but she'll settle for disabling whatever horrible Joker monster this is). Though it's more like the first-and-a-half step, since the first step is keeping Miyu and her minions away from this.

"Hardly a gang," Mujina replies to Etsuko - she &#42;is&#42; in a gang and it's the same one as Tsubasa (twice over, now) but she's hardly going to say that, is she? The Phantoms aren't really the same as a Kasugayama gang, anyway...

When ice rains upon her, Mujina hunkers down, using her coat as cover. She is a lot tougher than she looks, apparently; it only drives her back a step or two, though she feels the impact and it's starting to become a problem. Especially with her lingering panic, which hasn't exactly died down yet. She &#42;knows&#42; it's at least partially imposed on her but that doesn't make it any easier to handle!

But Joker's there for her, and knowing he's there helps a lot. She does double-take at the new Persona, because she hadn't seen that one before, but only for a moment. She's got her own job to do, and fast.

"Persona!"

Back comes Danzaburou, and this time he thumps his belly with his free hand. Once, twice...

A sphere of energy appears in Mujina's hand, and she flings it - not a real overhand throw, more of a hand-thrust in that direction that launches the ball. It crackles with energy, about the size of a baseball, and if it connects...

It doesn't &#42;hurt&#42;, really. It's almost electric, the pop of a shock or a fuse blowing, except directly behind the eyes; a neural shock accompanied by dazzling confusion, like your choice of Psi spell except more intense. (And less damaging, but Hibari doesn't care about that if it stuns her.)

Then she looks over toward Ririka, at the pulse of notes. She heard it too, and Danzaburou has the same sort of energy about it with its rhythmic belly-drumming. It &#42;is&#42; drumming, not just impact. It has its own music, but... different.

Don't get distracted, Hibari tells herself, as she looks back, hand tightening around the balls and no longer spinning them.
</poem>

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

 AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Shift! Ren Amamiya can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Persona! Hibari Aoki has used the Almighty skill Stun Sphere on Penguin Mom Joker Edition!
   | Ruin: Hibari Aoki gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Block Best! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 0 Almighty damage from Hibari Aoki's Stun Sphere.
   | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) and Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) 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! Maria Sakurai takes 0 Recovery healing from Futaba Sakura's Moral Support.
   | Regen (HP restored on end of turn!) added!
 
 <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
<poem>Ever fibre of Hyousuke's being wanted to leap in and list every reason that Etsuko was wrong. He wanted, with every ounce of his soul, to scream into her face just how awful a person she was, how reprehensible a man her husband was... and how she did not deserve even the slightest fraction of care that Tsubasa allowed for her. His mind raced with every thought and idea that plagued it, until it all became a raging tempest, but he kept his lips curled into a tight snarl and his jaw clenched shut. Phoenix and their allies had that handled. It was his and everyone else's job to lock down the Groom.

Before Hyousuke could offer up his answer to the Groom, a burst of flaming blue erupted out towards him. Quick as a thought, he sent Achilles charging towards it with his shield raised high. He could feel the heat from where he stood, even as the mighty general stood against the burst of force and fire, and the flames licked at the bare skin of his face until black marks were singed into his cheeks. Flesh wounds at best - he could ignore the singing pain on those streaks for now.

"You think that's gonna stop me?!" Hyousuke roared, casting Achilles to the side so that he could look the Groom in the eye - or, rather, whatever passed for her eye. Fists clenched and raised into a guard, his Persona by his side with its spear readied, he looked more like a hound snapping at its leash than a man ready to fight on his friends' behalf. But he was no leashed warhound, and he needed to wait for no orders. It was only when Ririka offered up her magicks that he paused, and with a nod her way, he called back a quick "Thanks!" to her as well.

"Who gives a shit?!" Was Hyousuke's blunt response to Miho's question. Whether it was asked in earnest or not didn't matter to him. It made no sense, and he had no time to think about it. Thus, he was disinclined to answer. Yet, answer he did, as eager to beat down her beliefs and ideals as he was her physical body. "I don't know what you're planning, and I don't care! You're trying to take someone my friend cares about, and I told them I wasn't gonna let it happen! And if you think my rage is gonna stop me from beating you down...!"

Then he would just have to prove her wrong.

Hyousuke burst forward, closing whatever distance remained between him and the Groom, hoping to smother her and force himself past her effective range. But he wasn't quite dumb enough to use his body as the battering ram. No - that honour fell upon Achilles, who raised his shield and turned into a mighty wall of surging bronze. He hurtled towards her, heedless of any attacks borne against him, stopping only when he slammed into her with savage force.
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Strike skill Stunning Strike on Miho Ijuuin!
   | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!

 <Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem>
    'This world is wretched and sinful.'
    'But it is a cruelty I am willing to commit.'

    "You're so blinded by the possibility of a better world that you'll commit sins and look past injustices, just like the rest of them.  Jun had told Umie in further detail about how the world Miyu and Yumi seek for themselves is different from the 'pure world' Tatsuzou was seeking. Yet, as Umie stands here, it all just feels like the same thing with a different book cover.

    Even as Umie tries her best to ignore the squelching wrongness of the Joker possessed person behind her, her senses might as well be staring directly at it. Every lurch and lean wafts kegare, filling the space with a 'stench' that sets her on edge.

    And then, there's the Groom.

    'And your emotions will be yours. I will not be 'backing off'. This battle is more important to me than it is to you.' In a way, Miho is right: Umie can't talk to her like Jun could. In the middle of a battle, her emotions and resentment cloud any means of discovering further truth.

    Umie tries to pay attention to what Ririka is saying about the Groom's persona, casting a look back to Shinobu and Hyousuke to better calibrate where she needs to be. 

    Keep calm. The others at the other side of this battle need all of them to keep the Groom at bay.

    And in fact... she has the advantage here, doesn't she? "Sounds like someone's a massive hypocrite." Umie tsks.

    Faust's razor delivers a clean line of red as Umie doubles back with a nimble side-step back, not as fast as Fox to evade the Groom and her Persona.

    Umie's not about to let up, however. 

    "Tell me, Groom-san," Umie says, taking advantage of Fox's advance, "how many people called the Joker Curse, thinking the same thing? 'Things will be better, if this person was gone.' Now look at them. You might look like you're in the right going after this one, but you've attempted to kidnap others for less." 

    She raises her fingers up in the air, and &#42;snaps&#42;, bringing Badb's shrieking form to manifest.
    
    "You're just like those old men. You think none of them have made the same bargains?!" Her lips slide wide in an open mouthed grin. "There's no salvation in &#42;any&#42; of this!!"

</poem>
 AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 52 Strike damage from Hyousuke Suzuki's Stunning Strike. Critical Hit!
 AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Pale Shriek on Miho Ijuuin!
   | Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
 
 AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 278 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Pale Shriek. Critical Hit!
 
 <Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
    You can't exactly blame Makoto for assuming Etsuko wouldn't remember her- she honestly figures Sae wouldn't remember Tsubasa either. (She would probably be wrong on that count too.) For her own part, Makoto wonders how she could have been so blind to all that was wrong with Tsubasa's family, back then.

    For better or worse, Etsuko doesn't know Queen, apparently delinquent in chief- whose attack is fended off with something as little as a handbag. Queen's eyes widen behind her mask, even as the spittle and vitriol is sent toward her.

    "I know Tsubasa-kun," Queen says, anger seeping into her voice, "which is more than you do!"

    Unfortunately, that first handbag strike hits Johanna hard, stopping the motorcycle in it's tracks and shattering the windshield above her face. Queen brings up her arms to block the second strike, but in that big third swing, Queen sees and opportunity.

    "How about you stop talking like your pain is the only pain that matters!?"

    When Etsuko swings, Queen hurls a vicious punch, that diamond crusted tekko going for Etsuko's face-

    But Queen is the one who comes out worse off, Johanna shattering under her and Queen sent flying, scraping across the ground as her mask sparks across the bricks when her head rebounds off them. It's rough, and Queen would be doing a lot better if she could stand.

    Fortunately, Mujina has her back there and Queen takes the offered hand. "Thanks. I needed that." She really did, she was already panicked, but the sheer force that Etsuko had hit her with felt like it was reverberating through her bones and through her link to Johanna as well. How can she hit that hard...

    Joker confirms things for Phoenix- who has made their dramatic entrance, and Queen nods. "Taking her down is step one. Let's focus on that for now." Still, it's hard not to feel concerned for Phoenix in this moment. "We've got your back, Phoenix. We'll make her see sense."

    Oracle, too, offers some much needed health, but given the damage to her and Cherry- whoever Cherry is, beyond another Persona user like them, Queen doesn't know- things are rough. "Can you keep going?" She asks the newcomer, as if Makoto herself didn't just somehow avoid a concussion.

    She sweeps her hand out, and a spell card manifests. It's not as good as Johanna's healing, but this lets Queen reach more people at once. "Media!" She shouts, and the green sparkling light falls over herself, Cherry, Mujina and Oracle in Necronomicon. "Joker, Phoenix and... Cherry, right?" Queen frowns. "Keep up the assault- I'll take care of that spell!"

    Queen flips toward the back row, and Johanna manifests beneath her so Queen can land comfortably atop her, and revs her engine. "Dekunda!" She shouts, and the vibrations of Johanna's engine rumble through the ground to Joker, Phoenix and Cherry to dispel the debuffing magic cast by Etsuko.
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Recovery skill Media on Makoto Niijima, Maria Sakurai, Hibari Aoki, and Futaba
 Sakura!
   | Support: Makoto Niijima gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Take! Hibari Aoki takes 106 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Media.
 AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 106 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Media.
 AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Almighty skill Dekunda on Ren Amamiya, Tsubasa Seki, and Maria Sakurai!
 AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Makoto Niijima's Dekunda.
   | Atk_Dn removed!

 AS: Take! Futaba Sakura takes 106 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Media.
 AS: Take! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Almighty damage from Makoto Niijima's Dekunda.
   | Atk_Dn removed!

 <Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
<poem>
    She won't, the Groom tells Cherry.

    "What if we make you?" she reponds, petulant.

    Maybe Tsubasa just has a type. That's fine.

    "Sure!" she responds to Joker, recognizing them from their rescue from the Joker Killer months ago. "I gotta help!" She's got debts to work off, and besides, it's just what a hero does.

    Tsubasa gets on out of there, just as they've been told to by Cherry, the phantom thief that they most certainly don't know the real identity of, nope, no siree. Soon, as a late arrival to this stage, the absolutely unrelated phantom thief Phoenix makes their arrival...!

    Of course, in the moment, Cherry is a little bit occupied as the Joker Persona snaps at her weapon. "Hey! That's mine!" she blurts out, struggling to free her weapon (and thus herself) as she dangles in mid-air. A few swipes from the Persona follow, but Cherry's a hero and heroes don't just give up...!

    "Phoenix! There you are!" Cherry declares, clinging to her weapon as she continues to struggle with the Persona. "It'll be all right! I-- a friend of mine had it happen to them, and she was ok! We just have to get her to the Velvet Room after we beat up the Joker in her!" she insists, grinning (a little forcedly). It ''had'' worked for Maria, but...

    ...is it different, perhaps, if you don't have a Persona?
    It in fact isn't, but Maria doesn't have that information.

    Etsuko, though, insists that she'll help Tsubasa. She'll help take her to the next world!

    "What the-- that's not helping!" Cherry insists, shaking her head. "That's not helping at all! I know you're all messed up by the curse but isn't that-- messed up?!" Cherry blurts out. "We'll help you out, but you gotta--"

    And that's when she takes an icy purse to the head, followed by a flurry of now-frigid swipes to her own self. It's no good, she can't keep it up like that. Shoving the polearm in further, or at least, as far as she can make it go, Cherry then releases her grip as Phoenix cleaves in. She has her freedom-- to fall a few feet to the pavement, that is.

    She shudders, though, as if the winter's chill had just gotten too intense to shake and wraps her arms about herself. "...That was really cold," she complains, rubbing at the place she'd been hit with the purse (never mind the clawing from the Persona...). Dropping back a step, she's just in time to receive a reverse shower of greenish particles that help clear the lingering haze from her mind. She glances up to look at the source of that, and:

    "Oh wow, aliens are real!" Cherry gushes, because there's a reason she ended up in the bottom ten in grades this semester.

    She's feeling a little bit better, even if the chill still lingers. "Yeah! I can still fight. Can you help me out, though?" she calls to Queen. "That really smarts! And, I haven't even gotten started yet!"

    Fortunately, her request is answered. Healing magic cascades over her, reinvigorating her ability to keep on keeping on. "Thanks! And yeah, it's Cherry! I'm here to save the day!" she proclaims, lifting one gloved hand to her electric pink visor and tugs it off.
    Her face goes with it.

    "Here! Artemisia! I need a hand!"

    And into reality at her partner's beck and call comes the blade-wielding woman-in-masquerade, her electrical cable shawl dancing in an invisible wind. "If it's water that works, use that fun skill we got!" she says, pointing at the Jokerized Etsuko. She hardly need to ask: Already, Artemisia conjures a sparkling spray of ice in one hand, casting it out towards Etsuko with a single dance-like twirl.

    If it takes on a certain familiar shape of a certain ice fairy's head, well... that's just fitting, isn't it?
</poem>

 AS: Take! Maria Sakurai takes 106 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Media.
 AS: Take! Maria Sakurai takes 0 Almighty damage from Makoto Niijima's Dekunda.
   | Atk_Dn removed!

 AS: Persona! Maria Sakurai has used the Almighty skill Jack's Bufu on Penguin Mom Joker Edition!
   | Maria Sakurai takes 90 damage from Panic!
   | Pressure: Maria Sakurai gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Avoid Neutral! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 75 Almighty damage from Maria Sakurai's Jack's Bufu.
   | Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) added!

 <Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
<poem>
    "Sorry, mom. In my next life... I wanna be a bird."

    It's not so much that Tsubasa is deeply religious -- as much as there's a kind of synchreticism woven deep into society which they can't shrug off as easily as that.

    But perhaps it's a wish like that which is why someone like Phoenix keeps showing up to protect them.

    Because they decided to stop -- and run away -- and thanks to Mujina's mists, no one but Mona could really ''see'' the way their fingers dig in against the brickwork, for a pained moment, lips curling up over their teeth. "Welp," is what they said, as they straightened up, that blue flame consuming them and baring their soul as the Phoenix. "Thanks, man," they nodded, sternly, to him, in that moment. It's a high-five of ''destiny.''

    "Ain't you looked at them for a year? ''They're'' th' delinquent, Etsuko," Phoenix tries to reason with her, as she shrieks -- they ''heard'' some of her prior anger, apparently, even before they entered the field. (Sadly, they're far too direct to take advantage of Mujina trying to throw her off the scent.)

    They shudder, as that wave of power crashes over them, leaning back on a heel. Their ankle still hurts, but the Will of Rebellion is ''really'' good at helping to cope with shit like that -- which is even luckier, as that handbag lashes out at them. They see the movement almost as soon as it begins -- because they're looking at her ''muscles,'' at her stance, at her intent to do harm. Their battle-instincts allow them to leap out of danger before it's even closed into their path -- once -- twice -- and three times; each time, they leap ''away,'' though those same instincts scream at them to answer aggression with aggression.

    Anger spikes through their voice, as they yell, verbally aggressive instead: "Tsubasa ''got it'' from everyone lookin' at them like they was a ''freak!'' From ''you!'' Lookin' at them! Like they was a piteous FREAK! 'Til they stopped goin' outside at ALL," a scream which might catch Futaba's attention, particularly; "'cept they couldn't DO that when they was goin' back to school, HUH?!" Their voice climbs higher, as they yell: "YOU REMEMBER WHAT HE DID WHEN THEY FIGURED HOW TA COVER IT UP, ETSUKO?! WHERE TH' ''FUCK'' WERE YOU WHEN HE WAS SCRUBBIN' THEIR TAN OFF! HIGH OFF YA ''ASS,'' WEREN'T YA?!"

    They stopped talking to Makoto, back then... because they couldn't bear to even go outside, huh?

    Their grip on their greatsword tightens, white-knuckled, as they snap: "Didn't ''have'' no one to lead me! I had to figure it ''meself'' before I found someone, an' it was way ''longer'' 'til that was anyone weren't takin' advantage a me shit!" Between Kyoko and Hajime...

    ... well, at least they have Ichika and Ren ''now.''

    Miho, though -- Miho declares that Etsuko is a worthy sacrifice, and that just seems to make the hotheaded Phoenix ''more mad.'' "GET FUCKED! Jus' 'cuz she don't mean shit to you don't mean she don't mean shit, Groom! You know what?! Same fuckin' deal for pricks like you! YOU COULDA ''LEFT'' INSTEAD A SACRIFICIN' PEOPLE!"

    (They're ''really'' glad they're not fighting her with the report Ririka makes on ''her'' resistances, though. Fox is at a disadvantage... but then again, that's where Fox is ''strongest.'')

    Luckily, Queen is there to cleanse that draining aura from Phoenix's feather cloak. "Thanks," they nod, sharply, to her. And to the plan: "Yeah." It's something they can elaborate on, as they look to Cherry: "You're th' expert here," they recognise her, given how she's ''lived'' it. "If ya reckon, I reckon!"

    They take a breath, as they say: "Yeah, she's messed up. Uh, all them Sekis pre' messed up. Goes with th' territory. Uh, heard Oracle, so maybe me Persona can't help none here, but..."

    They grasp their mask, as they growl: "... still gotta try. IZBUSHKA NA KUR'IH NOZHKAH!"

    Their Persona, as it happens, is entirely worthy of ALL CAPS -- three times the size of anyone here, the hut on chicken's legs emerges, a shadowy figure inside steering it as its thatch-roof floofs and its window-hatches rattle like wings. A ring of spines and skulls encircles it, like a fence or a skirt, and the eyes of those skulls glow with flame as Phoenix charges the Joker Monster inside Etsuko. Greatsword and flaming gaze meet it, at once, in a flurry of violence...

    ... but they've always resisted each other.

</poem>
 AS: Tandem! Tsubasa Seki has used the Fire skill Blazing Wrath on Penguin Mom Joker Edition! 2 Hits!
 AS: Block Worst! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 98 Fire damage from Tsubasa Seki's Blazing Wrath. Resist!
 AS: Block Worst! Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 98 Fire damage from Tsubasa Seki's Blazing Wrath. Resist!
 
 <Pose Tracker> Penguin Mom Joker Edition has posed.
<poem>
'This world is wretched and sinful,'
'...And thus, it suits you perfectly.'

"Haha- you're right. This world. It's my punishment. My daughter- my husband-" Her eyes brim with tears as she smiles in the way of a woman who's made peace with what comes next, "-it's only fitting that it turned out this way."

As for Oracle- well, she literally just doesn't understand what she's saying at all. It's so chaotic, so random! So- "How old even are you!? What would your Poor Mother think, seeing you hitching rides in strange UFOs?"

Because that's the important part, apparently?!

'Fortunately, I've done nothing of the sort.'

She's crying, she's smiling, in that contrast, does the Joker arise from her again in all of its bloated, unholy glory as it bodily picks Etsuko up and turns her around to avoid the wave of torrential downpour, even if the Persona itself is not so lucky, smoke spewing up from it as if it had just been doused in holy water. 

"Ahahaha- Hahahaha- go ahead, disrespect me. Just like every other man in my life. I deserve it." And in that grin, does the Joker weave a new spell upon Joker, "But I think you deserve some of my misfortune, I have plenty to go around!" Joker suddenly finds themselves- feeling a wave of dread, like a pervasive feeling of misfortune pressing upon them.

A sphere of energy from Mujina launches into Etsuko, as she's blasted back a pace, but begins moving again right away at Mujina. "You certainly look like a gang. The masks are new but- motorcycles-" There's only one motorcycle here!!! "-when I was younger, girls formed gangs much like your own. It's how it started- they were doing it to attract criminals. To be their girlfriends."

It's a reductive way of looking at that subculture, isn't it? But, one can understand why she has that perception.

The Joker rises again, with frigid claws of icicles, bearing down on that girl.

"It's better to die young- than to settle down with the wrong man."

Cherry insists her attitude isn't helping, that it's messed up, "There's no helping it, there's no helping anything anymore- dear. This is just how things have to be." She tells her, tears in her eyes.

Artemisia though sends Jack's Bufu at Etsuko, who yelps in pain, taking a step backwards, "Whatever this 'Velvet Room' is- my husband wouldn't approve of me going there. I'm not going anywhere- not unless it's the next world with my Tsubaki!"

Queen announces that she knows Tsubasa, and Etsuko's far too wide smile falters a little, "It's true. I no longer know my little girl- she's drifted so far from me. So far. If she were there with me- doing as she was told." Her fingers spasm, and suddenly the Joker erupts, "He wouldn't beat me so much for crying over her!"

From the Joker's hands falls a deck of cards, spiraling over the room, face down, before turning over again, face up to every single step of the Arcana, from the Fool to the World.

A surge of energy erupts forth when the Hanged Man turns over.

"He would be KINDER!"

Phoenix though, begins yelling, yelling at her about where Tsubasa got it from, shock enters their face, something faltering, even as she says it, "I just- it's- I know how the world will look at her! I don't- I don't want that for her! I'm only trying to be a good mother to my Tsubaki-chan! I just- the pills... I can't take it anymore. I can't live without them."

Before she then repeats, as Phoenix charges the Joker Monster, with Witch's Hut in tow. "I can't live like this anymore, knowing the whole world will treat her like she's scum for the rest of her life! Who would want that for her!?" 

The two brutal slashes carve through the Joker Persona- forcing a Persona Break as it shatters. And she sinks down, like it's becoming too much for her, even despite her hellish supernatural strength.

"All I ever wanted was my Tsubaki back..." She whispers, piteously. "... please give her back to me."

</poem>
 AS: Persona! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Almighty skill Slumpa on Ren Amamiya!
   | Defense: Penguin Mom Joker Edition gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Tandem! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Water skill Frigid Wrath on Hibari Aoki! 3 Hits!
   | Penguin Mom Joker Edition takes 90 damage from Exhaust!

 AS: Persona! Penguin Mom Joker Edition has used the Almighty skill Old Maid on Makoto Niijima, Maria Sakurai, and Futaba
 Sakura!
 AS: Avoid Worst! Futaba Sakura takes 185 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Old Maid.
 AS: Block Best! Hibari Aoki takes 51 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Frigid Wrath. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Best! Hibari Aoki takes 27 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Frigid Wrath. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Worst! Hibari Aoki takes 101 Water damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Frigid Wrath.

 <Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
<poem>
"That would be a problem," the Groom admits to Maria. She does not intend to let them. 

Fox is first to respond. As he is pushed back, the Groom turns towards him. However... 

While her stance has no weaknesses, his skill is significant--and lightning makes for something that is ''atracted'' to her blade. As Fox and Goemon press the attack, Miho brings up her blade to parry--and lightning courses down her blade to her arm. Once, two--before she has a a chance to consciously decide another approach. 

She leaps back as a result, shaking out her blade arm to ward off the numbness of electrocution. "Clever," the Groom says to Fox. 

Be careful? Ririka's advice goes out. "Hmmm." 

But then, she asks the question: who is she to say it? "I am one who Sees," Miho says simply. "I know the True World. ...And if I cannot restore it, then this--these Jokers--are my only path to saving those I must save." 

"As to who says it... Who indeed? Would you feel better if I had 'permission'? Would it require an executive's assent? A god's?" 

Shinobu asks what she means. The Groom replies, "This world is an illusion; it is not the natural state of the Earth or Japan. Many things are different, in the 'True World'. ...There are things I value in this world. But nothing so much as I value 'her'." 

"Thus, I shall seek the 'truth'." 

Shinobu understands... 

"I respect that," Miyu says to Shinobu. "Nevertheless--Ng--" 

With a tandem attack to her weakness, Miyu is ''blasted'' by the initial strike, her off arm the epicenter of an explosion of light. She is able to bring up her blade to parry the second and the third, but each still shines brightness into her being, suffuses her with hateful radiance. 

"If the light is to be brought to bear..." Miho rises to her full height, "Then so too the darkness!" Faust rises--and suffuses Miho's blade with a horrible curse, as she hacks one-two-three against Shinobu and her staff once again in an effort to drive her back and prevent her doing ''that'' again. 

And then to Phoenix--Tsubasa--she replies, "I'm aware she means something to you. And yes, I could have left... If I were willing to leave others to die. Not everyone has the ability to leave and live through it. ...And though it is 'sin' to save her, I will suffuse myself in the dark if I must." 

"I don't think your rage is going to stop you fighting me," Miho says to Hyousuke then, and lifts her off-arm to ''block'' Hyousuke's charge. There is a terrfic ''crack'' of her bracer against him, and Miyu is knocked backward a few paces--but stays upright still. 

"I think it's going to get you killed." 

"No," Miyu says to Umie. "I am not blind. I see what I would give up, for the True World--what we would all lose. There are things to love in any world, as I said..." 

"One who knows nothing can understand nothing," Miyu tells Umie then. "I do not care about looking as if I am in the right. I care for the results." 

Badb ''shrieks'', and Miyu takes one knee from the sheer force of the impact. "...Funny," Miyu says. "That you know those 'old men'. Do your friends realize that you are a part of the very same structures that you claim to oppose?" 

"I do not seek something as weak and vague as 'salvation', Umie Akabane. I seek life for one person." 

She lifts her blade to the sky, and red mist gathers around her. Faust reappears--and begins to rise, as that red light intensifies. A sense of wrongness permeates the world--angles are sharper, wounds hurt more. And an echoing laughter takes hold of the world. 

"...if the cost is all else..." 

Her sword pulses with crimson light, as she looks down upon Umie. 

"THEN I WILL SEE IT PAID!" 

She ''darts'' forwrd--and an unblockable attack issues forth. With the power of her Persona and more, Miyu hacks at Umie once, twice, three times, the stones and the concrete around ''shattering'' with the force of the shockwave that results. 

Miyu rises to her feet. "Faust!" she calls. "Clear the way!" Nuclear flame ''erupts'' in fractals around Yusuke and Ririka then, as Miyu sprints across the battlefield, busting through with a checking shoulder to ''leap'' behind the Joker. 

"This has gone on long enough," she says, and wraps one arm around the Joker--while lifting her blade, Faust raising both hands to erect a magical shield. 

...It would be easy to miss the way she jabs a needle into the Joker as her Persona acts. All too easy. 

She leaps back after that. It will take a few moments for the sedative to take effect... Moments during which she can exhaust herself fighting.

She did not answer the Mother Joker's statement about her punishment. But now... 

"...You can never go back," she says, as she lifts her sword to face her foes once again. She says it to the Joker. "No matter how hard you may wish it..." 

"'Truth' cannot be escaped."
</poem>

 AS: Miho Ijuuin spends Limit on Psych! 
 AS: Miho Ijuuin spends Limit on Exploit! Miho Ijuuin can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Tandem! Miho Ijuuin has used the Dark skill Unholy Wrath on Shinobu Shimizu! 3 Hits!
   | Defense: Miho Ijuuin gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Hellfire on Hyousuke Suzuki! 3 Hits!
 AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Miho Ijuuin has used the Slash skill Inexorable on Umie Akabane! 3 Hits!
 AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Fire skill Mafreila on Yusuke Kitagawa and Ririka Kawase!
 AS: Persona! Miho Ijuuin has used the Recovery skill Spell Guard on Miho Ijuuin!
 AS: Take! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Recovery healing from Miho Ijuuin's Spell Guard. Safety! Magical damage reduced!
   | Magi_Safety applied!
 
 AS: Block Best! Ririka Kawase takes 76 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Mafreila. Critical Hit!
   | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) added!

 AS: Block Best! Shinobu Shimizu takes 48 Dark damage from Miho Ijuuin's Unholy Wrath. Critical Hit! Weak! Block Dark!
 AS: Block Worst! Shinobu Shimizu takes 90 Dark damage from Miho Ijuuin's Unholy Wrath. Weak! Block Dark!
 AS: Block Neutral! Shinobu Shimizu takes 61 Dark damage from Miho Ijuuin's Unholy Wrath. Weak! Block Dark!

 <Pose Tracker> Penguin Mom Joker Edition has posed.
<poem>
The syringe enters her neck, and despite the adrenaline of the moment, the supernatural fueled frenzy that is the Joker Curse... and her long addiction to Benzodiazapenes...
 
... her eyes begin to blink, and she slumps down against the Groom right away, only barely sensate. "Can't go ba.... please... just let me..."
 
What is in that syringe that it can have this effect on an already drug addicted Joker!?
 
"... Tsubaki..."

</poem>
 AS: Block Worst! Umie Akabane takes 163 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Inexorable.
 AS: Block Worst! Umie Akabane takes 211 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Inexorable. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Worst! Umie Akabane takes 163 Slash damage from Miho Ijuuin's Inexorable.
   | Umie Akabane is unable to continue fighting!
 537

 AS: Avoid Best! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 89 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Mafreila. Weak!
   | Blast (Magic and Block Penalized!) added!

 AS: Avoid Best! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Slumpa.
   | Poison (Damage on end of turn!) added!

 AS: Miho Ijuuin has readied for combat as Faust! She is now fully healed! Ready for 10 opponents!
 AS: Avoid Worst! Maria Sakurai takes 205 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Old Maid.
 AS: Block Neutral! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 85 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Hellfire. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Worst! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 94 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Hellfire.
 AS: Block Neutral! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 70 Fire damage from Miho Ijuuin's Hellfire.
 AS: Makoto Niijima spends Limit on Brace! 
 AS: Avoid Worst! Makoto Niijima takes 145 Almighty damage from Penguin Mom Joker Edition's Old Maid.

 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    ''Sorry, mom. In my next life... I wanna be a bird.''
    
    That's the most Tsubasa thing Joker has ever heard them say, and they're proud of them for it.
    
    There isn't time to trade more pleasantries with Shinobu or respond much to Ririka's surprise at the "UFO", but Joker does hear them all arguing with the Groom--and in particular appreciates the support Ririka's freely giving Fox. Shinobu's take on doing whatever you can for the ones you love... Joker can understand that too, but there's lines being crossed here; as Umie points out, making bargains out of people's lives is not something they can get on board with. Best to leave it to Hyousuke's blunt refusal, and force. Some things you just shouldn't engage.
    
    Just like their only response to Etsuko Joker encouraging them to disrespect her, just like every other ''man'' in her life, only gets narrowed eyes and an icy silence. However, stonewalling people is their style, not Phoenix's. Their chest squeezes at Phoenix's raw anger and anguish as they relate their--Tsubasa's--past, the parts that were the worst and most painful for them, and how mother ''and'' father failed and wronged them. Their jaw sets when they scream at the Groom next that she, too, could have just left instead of putting others on the altar of sacrifice.
    
    When Phoenix settles for an instant, Joker will stop at their side to offer a supportive hand on their shoulder and a slow nod. The touch won't last long, partly because they're all still mid-battle, partly because of Phoenix's aversion to touch, but it's there all the same.
    
    Joker shoots Oracle in her Necronomicon a worried look when it's impacted by Etsuko Joker's ice attack--but she's hanging in there, thanks to being literally in midair. (They have to suppress a laugh at Cherry gushing about aliens, though.) Mujina's next, and they keep themself between her and Etsuko, a silent reassurance that will help (has helped) her rein in her panic and help Queen out of hers in turn. In return, they trust Mujina to keep Etsuko Joker off-balance with the drumming of her Persona's belly, as Oracle has encouraged them all to do.
    
    "Will do," they call over their shoulder before turning back towards the Jokerfied Seki. Queen speaks for the trees on the matter of her pain, and dispels the power drain that had weakened their magic in turn. Joker slips her a crooked smile, standing a little straighter. "Many thanks, Queen," they call, not just for the help they received but that she gave their friends and allies in turn.
    
    They're all going to continue to need that healing.
    
    "Nice work, Cherry," they remark approvingly, seeing the jovial head of her Jack's Bufu. (Though--is it their imagination?--it seems awfully ''intense'' for an ice spell.) They remember her from the same Kingdom, and add to Queen, "She helped save Maria Sakurai in that Kingdom from some time back." They ''don't'' know her secret identity for the time being, but they trust that her desire to help is genuine. She came in to help with Maria out of nowhere, after all.
    
    Etsuko Joker radiates her misery then, and it hits Joker like the wave they'd washed down onto her. They stagger back, clutching their face this time out of a sudden nausea as they're rendered sick to their stomach. In that instant, they miss as the Groom grabs Etsuko Joker and jabs a needle into her neck--
    
    Only for Mona to leap down out of the fog before them! "Ha! You think you're chasing the 'truth'?! Sounds like you're just coating up doing whatever you want in excuses to me!" he declares to the Groom, brandishing his cutlass. He half-turns to the others with a bright kitty smile and a wink to Phoenix. "The rest of you, don't worry--I got Tsubasa to safety!" He turns back to the Groom with a fierce scowl. "Now get your hands off Etsuko Seki this instant! Otherwise..."
    
    Blue fire erupts around him. "ZORRO!" Mona calls, and the moustachio'd Persona arises, raising his rapier to the sky. Waves of empowering energy shower down on Phoenix, Joker, Fox, and Cherry--Queen's focused on healing, and Oracle and Mujina are doing support of their own, and this energy is all about increasing the strength and force of attacks.
    
    "We'll just have to FORCE your hands off!" Mona concludes boldly.
    
    For their part, though still queasy, Joker forces themself back into the game. There's still all those NWO agents around, and with Etsuko drugged and already in the Groom's hand, they're going to have a narrow window in which to save her. Maybe they'll get out-maneuvered, but once again, if they fail, it won't be because they didn't try. With the Groom as their enemy now, they once again change their inner mask. This time, when they call up their inner fire, what responds to their will is...
    
    "PRINCIPALITY!"
    
    ...an avatar of Justice.
    
    The thorn-crowned angel raises their staff and swings it down towards the Groom. However, rather than a direct strike, they unleash a purest blast of holy light.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
"Will do!" Ririka reports to Shinobu. "... I think they're waiting for the fighting to stop, first, but I'll watch them." It's not like they can stand up against Persona users... but it's not like the PErsona Users can counteract conventional weapons once the supernatural space collapses, either. They could still be a threat.

But Shinobu is confused about the additional report Ririka ahd. "I-- I'm not sure," she admits. "I haven't sensed something like it before. But there's ''something'' there..." She wasn't there, for the attack in Akihabara.

She notices Danzaburou's drumming belly rhythm, too, and appreciates it. Even if it's too chaotic to focus on extensively at the moment.

Hyousuke's fervor might concern her, but... the best thing she can do in the moment is provide him support. "Welcome!" she calls back.

Ririka is also noticing the kegare the same as Umie is. It's an effort to focus her attention, to entrust that the Phantom Thieves can handle themselves while she supports the people fighting Miyu. And unfortunately she doesn't have more information for Umie, yet, regarding the Groom.

It's upsetting to see how fixated Etsuko is on her 'daughter.' Maybe she was just fortunate that her parents were more accepting of ''her'' (even if she only found that out at the tail end of several tragedies for the family...) But to hear what's happened to ''her'' doesn't sit right with Ririka either. "''You'' don't deserve that! You're missing out on your kid when they're just... trying to live their life and be happy! You could accept that, and get away from that bastard and be happy too!"

But Miho has an answer. "The one who 'Sees'?" Ririka frowns. "What are you seeing that I'm not?" she challenges. "Because I can't see anything that would justify... any of this!" She scowls. "Anybody willing to give you permission I wouldn't respect anyway."

An illusion...? But nothing so much as... 'her.' "... You mean the Bride. Yumi." It's not a hard leap to make--they have matching codenames, after all. "... there are people I've cared for deeply that-- that I would do a lot for. But I can't think they'd want me to stoop to something like ''this''!"

Fractal fire erupts under her, and Ririka gestures. "Amphion!" Fire explodes against Amphion's magic, and the two forces struggle before Ampnion's magic finally shakes it off. Ririka is panting, though, eyes already tracking Miyu's movement. "Oh no you don't!"

Ririka redoubles her efforts as her fingers fly over her keys, listening as the battlefield rings out around her, directing her attention and focus. Achilles' magic is about to fade from Fox--but she can do something about that, can't she? She can see the pattern, the rhythm... "Amphion! Let's make the magic echo a little bit longer--Reverb!"

The stone Persona standing behind Ririka strums his lyre. The song that rings out isn't ''new'', but instead is an echo f the magics in play, and as it rings out, it synchronizes and strengthens the magics on Umie, Hyousuke, Fox, and Shinobu so they'll last just that little bit longer.

And then Ririka shifts her attention to Shinobu. "Shimizu-san--" she relays privately. "I'll find an opening for you to attack!"
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Recovery skill Bright Revel on Ren Amamiya, Maria Sakurai, Tsubasa Seki, and
 Yusuke Kitagawa!
 AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Recovery skill Reverb on Umie Akabane, Hyousuke Suzuki, Yusuke Kitagawa, and
 Shinobu Shimizu!
   | Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Recovery healing from Ren Amamiya's Bright Revel.
   | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) and Crt_Up (Critical Up!) added!

 AS: Ririka Kawase spends Limit on Shift! Shinobu Shimizu can use another Weak skill this round! Hyper (Next Attack
 Boosted/Incoming Damage Down!) applied to Shinobu Shimizu! They both receive 8 SP and 30 HP!
 AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Light skill Holy Light on Miho Ijuuin! 3 Hits!
 AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Reverb.
 AS: Block Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 71 Light damage from Ren Amamiya's Holy Light. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 60 Light damage from Ren Amamiya's Holy Light. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Avoid Neutral! Miho Ijuuin takes 69 Light damage from Ren Amamiya's Holy Light. Weak!
 AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Reverb.
 AS: Ren Amamiya spends Limit on Shift! Hibari Aoki can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Take! Maria Sakurai takes 0 Recovery healing from Ren Amamiya's Bright Revel.
   | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) and Crt_Up (Critical Up!) added!

 AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Reverb.
 AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Recovery healing from Ren Amamiya's Bright Revel.
   | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) and Crt_Up (Critical Up!) added!

 AS: Yusuke Kitagawa spends Limit on Exploit! Yusuke Kitagawa can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Take! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Recovery healing from Ren Amamiya's Bright Revel.
   | Atk_Up (Damage Up!) and Crt_Up (Critical Up!) added!

 AS: Maria Sakurai spends Limit on Help Up! Poison removed from Ren Amamiya!
 AS: Yusuke Kitagawa spends Limit on Psych! 
 
 AS: Futaba Sakura 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!

 <Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
<poem>As Miyu commends his cunning, Fox tilts his head in a sideways nod, acknowledging her respect.

Her dedication to one singular being... that too is to be respected. Yet... this lamenting about a true world...

... something sits wrong in his heart about that.

"'Truth is beauty, and beauty, truth,'" he quotes, as Miyu declares her intention to seek the truth - but he cannot continue his thought before she unleashes her Persona again, Faust lashing out with shadow and fire and forcing him to give ground in the wake of the nuclear-bright explosions.

Goemon having shouldered the worst of the blast, he pushes himself back to his feet, adjusting his singed mask. The fading ink that comprises Goemon's form seems to brighten as he regathers his will, and he twirls his blade to loosen his wrists again.

"... Though it be buried in grime and shadow, there is still beauty in this world, and thus still truth, and I will fight for it."

Goemon takes a deep draw from his pipe, and exhales, bathing the battle in a chilly mist. Through this mist, Fox steps forward, rime coalescing around his blade as he... sheathes it?

"Even if I must confront impossible foes to do so."

He ''draws'', icy stalagmites flashing upwards in the wake of his strike towards Miyu and Faust.
</poem>

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

 AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 241 Water damage from Yusuke Kitagawa's Sublime Cut.

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
"Cherry?" echoes Oracle. "That's different... I like it. Keep her busy, Cherry! And keep watching the skies......" 

("Thanks, Queen... but we've got bigger fish to grill! Focus on our target!" See, Oracle's doing better already after that Media, and Necronomicon seems to have levelled out as well.) 

There is enough of a balance in the conflict against the Joker Mother that Futaba's able to turn a screen, briefly, towards the Groom. Necronomicon has eyes round about, and so this is no strain on the Persona, but Futaba's heart doesn't follow it. Her eyes look at the Joker as Phoenix steps up. Countering. 

They're speaking at least. I guess that's good, thinks Futaba. 

"Phoenix..."

... And as for the collapsing mother, Futaba says quietly, "You should've left that guy ''ages'' ago." The best she can do, maybe. (It may ease Joker, if they're worrying too much, that she doesn't sound small or shrinking. It's just not something, it seems, she can take joy in. Too real, as the kids might say.) 

But fortunately, there is another who can speak truth to power (and moms, being strong, do have their share of power). "Mona! He's giving her the business, alright-- huh??" Because that plate she'd turned to follow the Groom is showing convergence with...

Zoom in. 

Magnify. 

&#42;Enhance&#42;. 

"She injected her with some kind of drug! We're running out of time-- And as for YOU!" 

Nothing actually moves on Necronomicon, but the Groom may have a sudden acute feeling of being watched. A sensation of many things turning towards her. Many eyes, and one intelligence behind it, and it's a rather angry intelligence. 

Because anxiety and fear and sympathy and sorrow simmering in Futaba's emotional core have to go somewhere. Etsuko is the mother of someone she knows... and perhaps, so fundamentally pathetic even in her cruelties and exuberance, that Futaba can't bring herself to full outrage. 

Against the Groom, this is not a problem. As Faust gets scanned by unseen energies, Oracle continues, "What gives you the right to talk about 'truth'?! Are you going to act like you're some kind of rescuer, showing up at the last moment, when everyone's already hurt?! Or did you make up some kind of secret definition of truth when you were throwing them back at the corner bar!" 

Of course, as Oracle says this -- and perhaps draws attention, and perhaps worse, &#42;fire&#42; -- she is also watching Joker, who has reared up (she knew they would!!) but has clearly, themselves, been pressed by the battle. The sensation the Groom might've felt, of many eyes watching her, snaps into sudden certainty when a number of the bulbous roundels and other cute features on Necronomicon suddenly ignite into a painfully bright light-- 

-- though, it is &#42;only&#42; a light, in this case. 

</poem>
 AS: Persona! Futaba Sakura has used the Almighty skill Analyzing the target's capabilities! on Miho Ijuuin!
 AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 71 Almighty damage from Futaba Sakura's Analyzing the target's capabilities!.
 AS: Futaba Sakura's Support Scan! Miho Ijuuin has passive skills Blast Boost, Defender, Fire Boost, Quick Weapon, Sharp
 Student, Skill Card Affinity, Slash Amp, and Slash Resist!

 <Pose Tracker> Hibari Aoki has posed.
<poem>"Thanks, Oracle - Queen!"

Mujina knows who to thank for that surge of energy. She's durable, but she's not THAT durable - if she's going to keep taking hits like that, she &#42;needs&#42; the help, armoured longcoat or not. Ren getting in front of her gives her the moment she needs to recover, straightening her sleeves and beginning the spin of the baoding balls in her hand again. It really does help her focus.

Who knew it was so much easier to work as part of a team?

She doesn't precisely respond to Etsuko-Joker. She's not sure talking to her is going to do much, but Phoenix - Tsubasa - hearing those words from them; that hurts. "We're here for you," she says, her voice a little lower, but not so much that Phoenix can't hear it. She hopes. Over the flames, it's easy to miss things. 

Mujina's coat comes in use again as she braces against the sudden rush of Etsuko-Joker. Ice rakes across it, and while the icicle-claws don't precisely penetrate Mujina feels the impact against her body; she's going to be bruised tomorrow even if she hasn't been slashed open by them. She has the better of it at first, but as she tries to slip away from the last hit, it catches her solidly in the ribs.

Mujina ends up knocked head over heels - literally, she rolls backwards through a whole rotation before she manages to catch herself. Now, Hibari is not the most acrobatic person in the world and never has been, but Mujina still manages to roll to her knees, if not her feet. She's had half a year of practice, by now, in spaces like this. They're just not normally on Port Island.

But in the time it takes her to pick herself the rest of the way up, Miyu has made her move. Even Hibari didn't think she was going to move &#42;that&#42; quickly; it's all she can do to call a warning, and she's &#42;still&#42; late by the time she does it. "Watch out!" she calls, whether it's to the Phantoms (she sees you there, Mona; you're one of them) or to, of all people, Etsuko. Futaba gets a better view of it, but Hibari can tell enough. 

This is the trap, she thinks. They're depending on her to do her part, she can't back away. They have to spring it &#42;now&#42;. 

Or... be sprung. 

"Danzaburou!" Mujina spins the baoding balls faster in her hand, clicking them together a couple times before they spread further on her palm and don't quite touch each other like they do at rest, pushed outward by their speed. She's never drawn quite this much power before. She's trying to do like three things at once and it's all she can do to keep them straight - 

The first thing that happens is that Danzaburou smacks his stomach again. Pon, pon, poko pon... it's a musical rhythm, but with every beat the air &#42;quivers&#42; around Miyu, pressing in - and down - against her. With Danzaburou's other hand, he sweeps the gunbai, and colourful mental fog starts to spread, dazzling and confusing and making reactions sluggish.

(She doesn't bother not catching Etsuko-Joker in it, either. Easier for &#42;them&#42; if she's not fighting, too.)

And then, finally, Mujina stops spinning the balls. Instead, one in each hand, she tucks them back up her sleeve so her hands are free as she crouches, pressing both hands flat against the ground. This had better work, she thinks, as a card floats in front of Danzaburou, spinning slowly.

A whirlwind of ofuda spins up around Miyu, forming a cylinder of blessings a good ten feet tall - before a pillar of light &#42;slams&#42; downward from the sky, right down the whole length of the cylinder and focused inward by the paper talismans!
</poem>

 AS: Hibari Aoki spends Limit on Exploit! Hibari Aoki can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Persona! Hibari Aoki has used the Earth skill Echo Beat on Miho Ijuuin! 3 Hits!
   | Ruin: Hibari Aoki gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Persona! Hibari Aoki has used the Almighty skill Hapirma on Miho Ijuuin and Penguin Mom Joker Edition!
 AS: Persona! Hibari Aoki has used the Light skill Hama on Miho Ijuuin!

 <Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem>    'Do your friends realize that you are a part of the very same structures that you claim to oppose?'

    Umie's detached expression betrays a flinch, as she positions her half mask. 

    Thanks to a fellow bird, however, Umie has her answer.

    She looks up.

    ".... I _left_."    

    It happens in the next moment, faster than Umie would have preferred: Miho's Persona powers up, and a problem that was meant to be kept to their side of the battle has become cast across the entire field.

    But first--

    One barrier is cast down, in Umie, who is thrown across the field from the brutal force of Miho's attack.

    ... If there was a reason to worry about Umie, however, it's quickly overshadowed by Miho herself, who shows just how powerful she is. Can all of you stand up against her, or will she get away with this Joker Possessed?

    There's nothing, after all, that Umie could do. 

    ......... It'd take a miracle.

    "Stop..."

    Nothing at all.

    'It's just like Shiryuu-kun said: this power can produce miracles.' That Shiryuu said and meant something different doesn't matter here, of course. But Mai-chan just isn't worried about little details like that.

    "STOP."

    It's the short blonde again, her bleeding left hand pressed over her mask, holding it in place.

    "You're not the only one... WHO CAN DO THAT?!"

    (SFX:https://youtu.be/RARotEaobh0?si=ceVyqWpf9qVaQBr3)

    For everyone here, it's a familiar feeling, a discordant chord ringing deep in one's chest. It happened when Sudou used his powers, as well as when agents such as Yumi and Miyu used certain abilities of theirs. 

    Something answers: a mothman, with a ribbon loosely tied on its little spindly ankle, now chirps helpfully at Umie's side to draw her attention. As she looks, the blonde's eyebrows rise, that grimaced fury falling away to a brief spark of nostalgia and... joy? "Taro...kun...?"

    No, don't get distracted. This isn't close to enough, she thinks. If this power is like opening a door to the supernatural, dipping in a toe will not work. Throw away your hesitation, and- 

    rip it further open.

    "&#42;I'm&#42; the one in control of the situation here..." The chipped red fingernails of her right hand splay outwards, Umie's angry intent cast through that empty gesture, translating it through cognition into meaning.

    "... and I'll &#42;make&#42; YOU LISTEN!"

    More demons come, heeding the Mark's call and snapping into existance. Its signature reverberates further, broadcasting its 'wrongness' through the cognitive veil, a quality unchanged despite it coming from someone most would consider an ally. 

    ...........

    You'll have to forgive Umie for being a little distracted, when that mothman launches itself happily on the nearest occupant, not caring if it's friend or foe.

    ... Well, in this case, it's unfortunately a trapped bystander, huddling under a display table. Clearly, she didn't heed Makoto's earlier command. 

    By the time Umie's able to notice what's happened, it's far too late to go back.

    "Stop...!!"

    One cannot unring a bell.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>"...Good to know." Shinobu replies to Ririka. That ''is'' a problem... but one they'll have to deal with later. And as for her other report... Shinobu frowns. If she can't figure it out, that must be something serious. "Something, huh... The hell could it be...?"

The 'True World'... A frown crosses Shinobu's face. She hears what she says, about how it's different, and how there are things she values - but nothing so much as she values 'her'.

She doesn't think she has to guess who that is - she can only think of one reason why they'd label themselves as the Groom and the Bride...

"An illusion, huh. ...Sorry, you sound serious about it, but - I just can't accept that." She replies with a shake of her head. "What makes this less 'true'? All this pain, everything we've been through... like hell that's just an illusion. I wish you all the luck with 'her', but... This, right now, is real!"

The light is brought to bear - and Miyu, then, brings the darkness. Her full height is imposing as she bears down on her. With gritted teeth Shinobu raises her staff to defend.

"Shit!" She hisses. Each strike reverberates through her soul, and with each one the Groom's blade finds better purchase - but the weapon in her hands, a metal bar charred black by the Joker Killer's flames, absorbs some of that curse. Without it, she would've fared far worse... But even with it Shinobu stumbles back, exhaling sharply. Their opponent's getting serious now, and -

"The hell!?" Shinobu gasps, as the Groom suddenly ''sprints'' across the battlefield, injecting ''something'' into Etsuko. "The hell did you ''do''!?"

Tsubasa's Joker-cursed mother doesn't seem able to fight any more... but with the Groom seeming to seek to end this quickly, their situation has only gotten worse.

Amphion's tune plays, reinforcing the supporting magic Ririka and Hyousuke have provided her with. Ririka calls out to her specifically, and Shinobu nods.

"Right. On your word, then!" She says. She waits for the opening, and then - "Lachesis!"

Lachesis levels her measuring rod at Miho, centering her between her hands. Purifying seals rise up to surround her and Shinobu races forward. Her staff spins wildly, lashing out toward Miho... and then those seals erupt with blinding light.

And then, something ''else'' happens. Shinobu feels a familiar, discordant pulse - one much like the Joker Killer's, and the Groom's. Demons are appearing.

"Shit, where'd they come from!?" Shinobu hisses. Things just keep going from bad to worse - how far can things go before this becomes unsalvageable? She looks around - and her gaze settles on Umie. That feeling, it's coming from... "...Wait, you...?"
</poem>

 AS: Shinobu Shimizu spends Limit on Psych! 
 AS: Persona! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Light skill Hama on Miho Ijuuin!
 AS: Weapon! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Spinning Staff on Miho Ijuuin! 3 Hits!
   | Aggression: Shinobu Shimizu gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Block Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 47 Earth damage from Hibari Aoki's Echo Beat.
 AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 51 Earth damage from Hibari Aoki's Echo Beat.
 AS: Avoid Worst! Miho Ijuuin takes 51 Earth damage from Hibari Aoki's Echo Beat.
 AS: Block Neutral! Miho Ijuuin takes 253 Light damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Hama. Critical Hit! Weak!
 AS: Avoid Neutral! Miho Ijuuin takes 56 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff.
 AS: Avoid Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 52 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. Critical Hit!
 AS: Avoid Neutral! Miho Ijuuin takes 87 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. Critical Hit!
 AS: Block Best! Miho Ijuuin takes 0 Almighty damage from Hibari Aoki's Hapirma.
   | Charm (Attacker or Ally takes Damage!) added!

 AS: Block Neutral! Miho Ijuuin takes 171 Light damage from Hibari Aoki's Hama. Weak!
   | Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added!

 <Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
    Phoenix's pain- Tsubasa pain's is roared at the Joker, into the sky.

    ...Would Makoto have even answered, back then, if Tsubasa had reached out? After all the Student Council were made to be aware that 'Tsubaki Seki was a mentally ill criminal'? It's not as though the silence between them wasn't mutual. It wasn't like Makoto wasn't wrapped up in her own problems. "Phoenix..."

    Joker gives her the information that Queen is missing on Cherry, and Queen nods. "Understood! Let's work together to get her under control!"

    Queen shoots Oracle a thumbs up. "Got it. Stay out of the line of fire, Oracle!"

    'He wouldn't beat me so much for crying over her!'

    The words strike into Queen's chest. "How is that Tsubasa's fault!? A parent is supposed to protect their child, why didn't you go to the police, or ask for help!?" Queen shouts back, reaching for reason, reaching for sense-

    But the Hanged Man washes over her, and even bracing herself Queen finds herself knocked off her feet by the surge of horrifying magic that comes from the Joker Killer. It means that Queen is barely able to stand up as she sees Phoenix shatter the Joker Persona-

    And sees that the Groom jabs her in the neck, and the change in the battle. Etsuko Seki is all but in the hands of the NWO.

    "Stop! Stay away from her!" Queen shouts as though the Groom will listen- even though she knows she won't.

    Fortunately, the Phantom Thieves have one last piece of cavalry of their own.

    "Good timing, Mona!" She shouts, before glaring at the Groom. "We won't let you escape with Etsuko Seki. She has to face Justice- so does her husband!"

    Oracle lays out the Groom's strengths- but there's a lot of them. But at least they also know a weakness.

    "Mujina, Joker, Fox, keep up the assault! Oracle, maintain support and keep eyes on the situation! I'll keep up support as best as I can! Phoenix... do what you have to do."

    Which is a sudden, real concern now that more demons are entering the field of view. "What...?" The Tien Tao Lien backing up the NWO were already a problem, but this...?

    Queen reaches for that spell card again, releasing another wave of healing over herself, Hyousuke, Oracle and Fox- before once again she mounts Johanna revving her engines, this time solely for Cherry's sake. "Diarama!"

    She has to hope it'll be enough to keep everyone going.
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Recovery skill Media on Futaba Sakura, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima, and
 Hyousuke Suzuki!
   | Support: Makoto Niijima gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Take! Makoto Niijima takes 109 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Media.
 AS: Persona! Makoto Niijima has used the Recovery skill Diarama on Maria Sakurai!
 AS: Makoto Niijima has no more TP available for healing!

 <Pose Tracker> Ruin has posed.
<poem>
A sudden urge comes upon Umie Akabane to 'Look Up.'

Further up, Umie Akabane.

As you lose control of the situation, while claiming you have it.

Who should you see, but Ruin, standing atop the Mall near Rafflesia, filtered through the haze of Mujina's field.

A gun is raised, you know where it's pointed.

'Stop...!!'

"Say pretty please." Ruin says, finger on the trigger, and a vicious grin on his face. "Go on... Beg me for it. And maybe I'll give it to you this time."

Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's only a mirage, through that haze of a spell.

Because when one looks again, he's not there.

But if he is, certainly he's still listening.

</poem>
 AS: Take! Maria Sakurai takes 174 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Diarama.
 AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 128 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Media.
 AS: Hyousuke Suzuki spends Limit on Exploit! Hyousuke Suzuki can use another Weak skill this round!
 AS: Hyousuke Suzuki spends Limit on Brace! 
 AS: Persona! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Recovery skill Godly Ward on Hyousuke Suzuki, Ririka Kawase, Shinobu Shimizu,
 and Yusuke Kitagawa!
   | Hyousuke Suzuki takes 45 damage from Stress!
   | Defense: Hyousuke Suzuki gains 1 Limit!

 AS: Take! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Godly Ward. Safety! Damage reduced!
   | All_Safety applied!

 AS: Persona! Hyousuke Suzuki has used the Recovery skill Phalanx on Ririka Kawase!

 <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
<poem>Hyousuke moved like a man possessed. Where one of his allies - be it Fox with a lightning strike formed into a crashing blade, or Shinobu bludgeoning the Groom with a staff burgeoning with light - created an opening, he stole forward. Flesh and metal moved as one, Achilles protecting him with every inch forward that he fought to claim, and he refused to give any of it back. Fox was not the only one that sought to press the attack, it seemed, though the pressure Hyousuke exerted was more like a hunting hound seeking to clamp its jaws around its target.

But it wasn't just for practical purposes that he approached her. There was something he had to say in response that was not meant for the ears of those that cared for him. Fire burnt in his eyes, so hot and so bright that it was as if Hell itself raged in his gaze. There was conviction there too, stoking the flames that threatened to melt even the invincible armour of his Persona.
"You think I give a shit if I go down? You said it yourself - one life for everyone else's. If me dying means I'll take you assholes with me, then it's worth it."

With his piece said, Hyousuke readied an attack, but the Groom pulled away before the striking spear or bursting scattershot could impact her. Jaw clenched in frustration, his gaze snapped towards her, but consternation turned to dread as he saw that monstrous amount of force levelled against Umie. He didn't trust her - not as far as he could throw her - but she was still his ally, and she was still the friend of his friends. So when he saw her fall to that tremendous strike, he couldn't help but call out to her.

"Akabane-san! No!" Dread fought for dominance with fury in his features, but he hadn't the chance to leap in and help her. Fire, hot as the depths of Hell, burst out against him with force enough to send him staggering back. Even with the protection of Achilles's shield and armour, the heat threatened to singe the skin from his flesh, and burn him to the marrow. The first of the three blows scorched Achilles to a blackened, crouching, mess. The second dispelled him entirely, leaving Hyousuke stumbling to one knee as the sound of shattering glass pierced the air. He was denied the chance to cry out in shock as the third engulfed him, turning his surprised cry into a howl of pain.

Yet when he arose, singed and smoking, he still threw his hands into a guard. He didn't care how much it hurt. He didn't care how much it would cost him. His heart still beat, and that meant he could still fight. But he couldn't move - not fast enough to catch the Groom as she struck the possessed Etsuko. He lurched forwards on shaking legs, willing the pain to subside just enough for adrenaline to force his seared limbs into stability, but no force he could muster let him close that gap again.

"Shit... No! Get the hell away from her!" Hyousuke called out. It was all he could do. His mind still reeled from the break, he couldn't manage a clean shot with his gun, and even a hurled chunk of debris wasn't guaranteed to get anywhere close. It was all he could do to will his body forward, and once more act as the shield for those that yet remained. He hated it. The powerlessness of it all, the knowledge that he was too weak to fight back, that his enemies could stand tall before him... and that even the struggles he'd managed had been cast away in moments.

It took Ririka's melody to shake him out of his stupor, and Queen's healing to restore his strength, but even then, he refused to move. He looked back and called his thanks out to them both, standing taller than he had as bolstering magic renewed his vigour. He remained defiant in the face of power, who'd already cast down a member of his team, and he refused to cede ground. But he hadn't the strength for more than that. Etsuko was in the Groom's clutches, and he had neither the strength nor speed to see her work undone.

But he could spare those that yet remained. He could shield his allies - Ririka, Fox, and Shinobu - as best he could, and use whatever strength he had left to spare them the brunt of the Groom's wrath. It was all he could do, and he prayed that it would be enough.
"I'm sorry...!" He called out to them, though he did not look towards them. "But this is all I can do!" Were one to peer closely at his gaze, they might have noticed how it flickered towards Etsuko... and then to Phoenix.

"I don't know what kind of truth you're looking for! But we're not gonna be the price you pay for it! I'M NOT GONNA LET YOU TAKE ANYTHING ELSE FROM US!" It was not a bellowing warcry that ripped itself from Hyousuke's throat, nor a vicious howl, but a hoarse and desperate shout of defiance. Golden light shone down upon them as Achilles invoked the pantheon's favour. But it wasn't enough - it was never going to be enough. There would always be more attacks, always more fights, always more-

Marks.

There was a Mark.

He didn't know the name, but he knew the feeling, and Hyousuke craned his neck around to face the source. He couldn't speak, for that gut-churning, teeth-itching &#42;dread&#42; stole the air from his lungs and the thought from his mind. Wide-eyed and with muscles tensed, he mouthed his surprise at Umie, and immediately began to bristle with every thought, question, and accusation that his mind - already shaken by the chaos - could conjure. Where conscious thought failed to settle on a course of action, however, instinct took over. He moved before he could think, and acted before he realised it. By the time he came to, Hyousuke had placed himself between his team and the demons, ready to sacrifice his very flesh if it meant keeping them from harm.

He stood, braced for impact, with Achilles reforming before him. The titanic suit of battle-ravaged wargear forced itself upon existence, and stood with his wielder as a bulwark against those that would harm those behind them.
</poem>

 AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Godly Ward. Safety! Damage reduced!
   | All_Safety applied!

 AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Godly Ward. Safety! Damage reduced!
   | All_Safety applied!

 AS: Take! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 109 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Media. Safety! Damage reduced!
 
 AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Godly Ward. Safety! Damage reduced!
   | All_Safety applied!

 AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Recovery healing from Hyousuke Suzuki's Phalanx.
   | All_Safety expired! Full_Cover applied!

 <Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
<poem>
    Her daughter... and her husband.

    Two devils, hanging Etsuko by a thread.

    And what is unsaid, as Phoenix falls quiet, looking to her?

    "Yeah, well... even if they fucked ya up... you still got ya son."

    The question is not 'what' -- but 'who'.

    The golden son... who never could do any wrong.

    "''I'' got a girlfriend!" Is what Phoenix snaps, when she talks about girls attracting criminals with Mujina, though -- she talks about settling down with the wrong man, and a pit of horrific realisation settles in their stomach, as their blue eyes widen, behind their mask.

    "... you... were that kinda chick, weren't ya? Settlin' down with..." Their grip tightens, around their greatsword, as they yell: "If you know he's no good, just leave! You can just leave! JUST -- COME WITH ME!"

    Here, Joker leaps to them, a hand on their shoulder -- and they look to them, for that brief moment, their brow knit with tension. Their Rebellion is fueling their thirst for reparative justice... but it's all too easy to imagine how readily they'd be crushed ''without'' that feather cloak, beneath their palm.

    "Yeah," they add, a touch raw, hearing Mujina say they're with them. "I'm -- uh -- don't count me out yet." It's a small miracle, honestly, that they ''don't'' just insist they're cool as they're close to tears.

    It's a tear to their voice which becomes all the more raw, as she addresses Queen. It's not that they didn't know what she was dealing with, it's just --

    Hearing her say it --

    For some reason, Phoenix is crying, too.

    "He won't be nice, man! He fuckin' won't! It's always everyone's fault but his, don't -- don't that sound weird to ya?!" They stab their greatsword into the cement, before them, leaning on it with both hands as their head bows. "Why can't you decide to live, Etsuko?! That's what Tsubasa did! Why -- why can't you -- why ''can't'' you protect them, huh?!" Just as Queen says...

    Like she's scum... is it? "Carin' 'bout Tsubasa's image... that's his deal! Has he really jus' -- replaced you with -- all he wants?! Gettin' rich, gettin' known... all 'bout his rep... an' I..."

    ... Tsubasa values their rep mighty highly, too. They don't like to let ''anyone'' see them bleed -- not even their ''friends.''

    "Fuck... ain't jus' you, man... ''fuck''..."

    Their grip tightens, as they hear the Groom, too. "... it like that?" They ask, looking to Etsuko, monstrous as she is. "Reckon it'd kill ya? Well, we -- we could still help, do... somethin'..."

    Another thing catches their ear, though, and they snap to the Groom: "Don't fuckin' kill him! He's my friend!" They have a lot of friends, fighting here --

    Though --

    The Groom says that Umie is part of that structure, and their eyes narrow. "Ain't like that," they snap, reflexively, hearing her group Umie with their tormentors. (She left, she says. That matters. That ''has'' to matter, or they're also...)

    And then, eyes widening anew: "Holy shit."

    Luckily, shocked as they are by that explosion of power, Mujina and Oracle are still there to call out warnings and orient Phoenix to the threat the Groom poses. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" Phoenix barks, but there's a moment of pause, there, as they have to heft their greatsword ''out'' of the cement --

    As she cries out for them, a word starts to leave their lips: "Mo --"

    'Ha!'

    "-- Mona!" Phoenix cries, and perhaps they were calling out for him the whole time. "Right on time, man! Shit's fucked!" If Mona ''hadn't'' picked that moment to rally, would Phoenix have blurted out something revealing in front of everyone? ... well, shit's ''proper'' fucked. They'll put it down to one more thing they owe Mona, as that strength washes over them, and they wrench their sword from the stone.

    They charge for the Groom --

    -- but then --

    -- the feeling isn't nostalgic, to Phoenix, the way it is to a lot of the people they care about. Even so, they ''recognise'' that wvoopish noise -- a noise they've heard before, when fighting the Old Maid.

    "Eh... Akabane... san?" Phoenix asks, stunned and numb, as that horrific feeling floods the station grounds, and the hidden perils of Sumaru come to visit a place they're rarely seen. They feel like they see Ruin, up there -- but their attention is stolen away by a charred woman, setting the frozen flowers alight.

    They tear their gaze back to the Groom, but -- "WAIT!" Phoenix yells, as they try to reach her, only to get knocked back by a glorious, shining Unicorn.

    "FUCKIN' -- HORSES -- FUCK OFF FUCK FUCKIN' ''SHIT!''"

    That outsized reaction definitely doesn't make any sense unless you know about Tsubasa's secret equinophobia... but it's no wonder they're frustrated, with so much on the line.

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
<poem>
    Was that spell actually ice, though...?

    "Yeah! I like it too! And... and I will!" she tells Oracle. Will she more or less disappointed when she learns the truth? ...Are aliens even all that weird of a concept when it comes to dealing with demons and Shadows and Legionaires and so on?

    Cherry shakes her head, fiercely. "Is it? Or are you just telling yourself that! Seki-san!" she blurts out, her eyes blazing behind her own version of a mask. "It's easy to give in and just-- think that's all! That's why I can't just let you!"

    Even if she says she's not going to let them help her. Even if she says she won't go anywhere but to the next world with Tsubasa.

    "Uh uh, that's where you're wrong! You're messed up because of the curse, right?" Cherry exhorts. "It was like that for me-- my friend! You'll feel better soon, promise! But, you have to be better to Tsubasa-kun!"

    Now is the point when she remembers what she'd agreed to call them, and it's to this that she glances at Phoenix, grins, and effects a little 'eh heh' as if to actually apologize right in the middle of this deeply emotional moment...

    But the cards are laid out.
    Cherry calls out wordlessly as Artemisia blocking the eruptive blast of magic that follows the unveiling of the Hanged Man card and in so doing, evaporating into shadow just before her. Cherry stares at the space her Persona had occupied in shock, reeling from that just as much as the actual Persona Break she's just suffered. "That was... that was mean..." she utters, clearly dazed.

    Consequently, Cherry doesn't see the jab of that needle. Instead, what she does note is how Etsuko is acting:

    "Hey, is she...?" She rises wobbily to her feet "She's not down yet, right?" That was way too fast! Did they all hit her that hard? "No, she's still a Joker! We need to take care of that other lady! Or else--"

    She doesn't need to say it, does she?

    Patting her chest as she's introduced ("Yep, that was me!"), Cherry squints at the latest join-ee to the melee fray. "Is that a kitty?!" she gushes, even her injuries forgotten ''before'' that envigorating wave of energy is discharged upon her. "Thank you! I'm feeling better now!" ...Her injuries haven't actually been handled yet, though.

    That's for Queen to help her out with, that soothing tide coming to wash over her various aches and pains and smooth them away.

    'She injected her with some kind of drug'. To this, Cherry gasps, covering her mouth with one gloved hand. "No! That's... that's super mean! And, and she's still a Joker!"

    Which means, as she's been asked to do, she has to act fast. "Okay! I know what to do--"

    She moves to draw something from her hip, something that wasn't there moments ago. Here in her hand she produces a hand-operable crossbow, easing her finger over the trigger. "Seki-san! Sorry!" she tells Etsuko. "But we're running out of time!"

    She fires a bolt, then leaps into the air. Seeming to hang there for a long moment, she unloads the rest of her ammunition into Etsuko Seki.

    She gets to land, maybe. And that's as far as Cherry gets before the world tilts sideways. "What's--"

    "--Why are there... demons...?"
</poem>

 AS: Weapon! Maria Sakurai has used the Pierce skill La Tempesta on Penguin Sniper! 3 Hits!
   | Pressure: Maria Sakurai gains 1 Limit!

 <Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
<poem>
Hyousuke counters. And Miyu says, "No. You will not 'take me with you', not as you are. At best, you will delay me a few steps--your rage will burn you long before you can defeat me." 

Then, "Think as you wish," Miyu says to Mona, though she cannot so easily deflect the empowering magic he shares with his friends. Her frown is invisible past her mask, as she looks upon the others. "I will not. And you will not stop me." She darts forwrd towards Mona--and ''hacks'' across his small form, clashing blades with him--and perhaps coming out the victor in that clash of strikes. It is perhaps cold comfort that she saw the need to remove him from the battlefield quickly. 

Perhaps it should sit wrong; maybe insisting on a 'true world' is madness itself. But Miyu speaks that madness full-heartedly, with the iron certainty of the believer. "Yes." Truth is beauty; bueaty truth. But... 

There is still beauty in this world, too. "I cannot deny it," the Groom answers Yusuke. 

Then, she moves forward to strike--and instead, those stalagmites and that blade ''cut'' across her, leaving a visible rent in her armor. It does not go all the way through, but it is still plain to the eye, as she steps back, aborting her assault. 

"...You have that right. Fight for your 'beauty', as I will mine." 

She turns to Ririka. "No. You cannot see it. You lack the gift--it is no mere resonance, to be perceived through the power of Persona." 

But... the Bride. "How good that you have such kindly friends. My Bride is not so soft as to wish to die that others might live. And I do not intend to ask her to shrink herself to do so." 

'I left', says Umie. "Did you?" Miyu wonders. ...But she will not ''kill'' Umie. Not so long as Shiryuu is her ally. Batter through her to get her goals, sure... 

Umie calls for her to stop, and Miyu turns towards her. "You think you are in control," she says. "But you are not. ...Did you think summoning more demons was going to ''improve'' your situation, Umie Akabane? ...They are not ''my'' demons, but I will use them, as I must." 

The ''beats'' of the earth strike Miyu thanks to Hibari--it presses down, down... until those ofuda spin up, and light ''shines'' brightly upon her. She grits her teeth, as something on her person ''shatters'' against the attack. 

"Tch," she starts. But Shinobu has more to say. "It's because the world was 'changed'," Miho says. "...Someone changed it. I have Seen it, in dreams. I could tell you so much about the world that was..." 

"We have fought before, Shinobu Shimizu. In another time and place. When I wore a different mask, as part of a Circle..." 

The situation is far worse. But still, Shinobu strikes--her staff spins, and these strikes she can parry--but the seals erupting ''throw'' her from her feet, backward again into a wall, which cracks under the impact. 

She turns to Queen, as she rises from her crouch. "Do you think there is 'justice' in this world?" Miyu wonders. "No... if there were 'justice', then I would never have embarked upon this path. If there were 'justice'... perhaps you would win today." 

She turns then to the UFO--the Necronomicon. She is 'watched', indeed, and grits her teeth against the sheer force of that anxiety. 

She gets Miyu's attention: "Nothing 'gives' me the right. I hold it by virtue of the truth. I do not seek to rescue any of you. ...To be honest, you are largely irrelevant to my true goal, except that you are IN MY WAY!" 

Hyousuke won't let her take anything else... Miyu considers. Hmm. "...perhaps, if you can defend them this way, you will accomplish something after all," she says. "But I will take one more thing from all of you--only one, today." 

"You could not help," she assures Phoenix, though. She caught that statement. "...There are things that are beyond an ordinary person's power in this world." 

The Groom finally makes her way back to the Joker, and reaches to pick her up. The demons swarm; there are too many in the weay to focus on her until after she's slung Mother Joker over her shoulder and taken her blade out once again. "Now!" she calls, and she jumps--

Landing below, at the van where men in cheongsams wait to usher her package into their vehicle and on to some final destination.
Junes has arrived from Staff Lounge.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Junes has posed.
<poem>
The demons swarm. 

Jack Frost, the adorable fairy, ''slams'' towards Hyousuke, aiming to punch him right in the stomach. A Unicorn charges, knocking over a display of bottled plants--and shines holy light down upon Makoto, Hibari, Yusuke, and Ririka. Sati--a woman in flames--lifts her hand, and flames rush for Futaba's position. While Mothman--of course, gray Mothman--starts throwing lightning all over: at Shinobu, Ren, Tsubasa, and Maria. 

There aren't ''that'' many of them, but if they aren't taken care of, they could leave this place--leave this place, and start hurting ordinary people. They must be stopped here and now. 

...Which means there is little chance of chasing down Miyu and the Tien Tao Lien. 

The day is lost, but there are those who can still be saved.
</poem>

 AS: Persona! Junes has used the Strike skill Sonic Punch on Hyousuke Suzuki!
 AS: Persona! Junes has used the Light skill Mahama on Makoto Niijima, Hibari Aoki, Yusuke Kitagawa, and Ririka Kawase!
 AS: Persona! Junes has used the Fire skill Maragilao on Futaba Sakura!
 AS: Persona! Junes has used the Elec skill Mazionga on Shinobu Shimizu, Ren Amamiya, Tsubasa Seki, and Maria Sakurai!
 AS: Take! Futaba Sakura takes 109 Recovery healing from Makoto Niijima's Media.
 AS: Block Best! Futaba Sakura takes 112 Fire damage from Junes's Maragilao.
   | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) added!

 AS: Avoid Best! Ren Amamiya takes 70 Elec damage from Junes's Mazionga.
 AS: Block Best! Ririka Kawase takes 80 Light damage from Junes's Mahama.
   | Exhaust (Damage when using Weapon/Tandem!) added!
   | Cover! #-1 NO SUCH OBJECT VISIBLE takes 80, protecting Ririka Kawase!

 AS: Counter Worst! Shinobu Shimizu takes 143 Elec damage from Junes's Mazionga. Critical Hit! Safety! Damage reduced!
   | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added!
   | COUNTER! Junes takes 13 Elec damage in return for her attack! Resist!

 AS: Block Worst! Makoto Niijima takes 148 Light damage from Junes's Mahama.
 AS: Counter Worst! Tsubasa Seki takes 228 Elec damage from Junes's Mazionga. Critical Hit!
   | COUNTER! Junes takes 135 Slash damage in return for her attack! 

 AS: Block Best! Hyousuke Suzuki takes 0 Strike damage from Junes's Sonic Punch. Resist! Safety! Damage reduced!
   | Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) added!

 AS: Block Worst! Hibari Aoki takes 212 Light damage from Junes's Mahama. Critical Hit!
 
 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    "Myaha~! Leave it to me to make a dashing entrance!" Mona calls cheerfully back to Queen--a cheer that's wrecked by a torn grimace when Cherry calls him a kitty cat and then thanks him. "I'm not--ugh, you're welcome!"
    
    However, this not-a-cat will soon eat crow. For all Mona's proud defiance, drawing the Groom's attention on him proves an immediate mistake. And for all that he's much smaller than her and should present a tougher target to hit, when she swoops towards him, blade meets blade with a loud CLANG before he's sent flying.
    
    "Myagh...!!" he yelps as he goes. There's no comfort to be had here, cold or otherwise. His body will recover from the impact of his fall, but his pride has taken a severe blow.
    
    "Mona!" Joker calls, turning towards him--but then several things happen in rapid succession. Umie, laid low herself, tears open reality with the sickeningly familiar sensation of her Mark, and Demons start to pour forth into reality. For an instant, they're torn on where to go.
    
    Then another new presence makes itself known. One most terrifying of all to them.
    
    "Ruin!!" Joker hisses, the adrenaline of fear and hatred lancing their heart. They sprint over to Umie to present a physical barrier between her and him, though they know it's more symbolic than anything else given Ruin's ridiculous trick shots. For the same reason, their pistol is in their hand in an instant, and they open fire on the spot in the fog where he'd vanished.
    
    They have no illusion of significantly injuring him or even hitting him at all. It's all about making a statement.
    
    Oracle warns everyone about the drug, alerting Joker to the Groom's covert actions. Fortunately, they're not the only one to get the idea to shine Light down on the Groom; Mujina's Hama spell rises while Oracle spotlights the Groom's attributes. Queen calls for everyone to keep up the assault, and with their statement made, they shoot a look back at Umie.
    
    "Don't be reckless, Umie Akabane," they chastise her, though one may as well tell water to stop being wet.
    
    Even so, they focus back on the Groom. They already know of Umie's connections to the NWO and so didn't react to the Groom calling her out on them, but Phoenix's ''big'' reaction to the Unicorn seems bigger than usual, even for them. Something to wonder about later. Between the Demons, the drugging, and the Tien Tao Lao, it's exactly as Phoenix reflects: shit's proper fucked.
    
    "Bring forth your light, Principality!" they call, a last-ditch effort to strike the Groom back, away from Etsuko Joker and in revenge for Mona--but she leaps up with her prey over her shoulder and out of the way of the waves of light they summon.
    
    What's more, that's precisely when the Demons swarm forth in her wake, answering her bidding as she'd told Umie she'd do. People are in danger, and though Joker starts to race after her, a Mothman flutters down in front of them and calls down lightning bolts in every direction. Joker swears as they barely avoid a direct hit and are forced back; even with that, the power buzzes over their coat, numbing them.
    
    By the time they deal with that and the Demons threatening the area, then regroup with their friends and allies, the NWO and their target will be long gone.
</poem>

 AS: Avoid Worst! Maria Sakurai takes 186 Elec damage from Junes's Mazionga.
   | Paralyze (Physical and Avoid Penalized!) added!

 AS: Avoid Worst! Yusuke Kitagawa takes 91 Light damage from Junes's Mahama. Safety! Damage reduced!

 <Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
<poem>Miyu is powerful indeed, to weather such a combined assault and still stand.

Yet even greater power shakes the world around them, and Fox's stomach lurches as he looks towards Umie. "What...?"

There is too little time to comprehend what's happening, only that it ''is'' happening, as demons pour out of nowhere, hidden angles beyond eyeline and thought to swarm upon them.

Gritting his teeth, Fox backs up, Goemon manifesting low over him. If this keeps up, they won't be able to escape...

Assaults of light bombard him.

"Queen!" He calls out, blade sheathed again. "I'll carve an opening, drive into it!"

His sword flashes out, a hail of strikes that Goemon imitates, turning the very air itself into biting slashes that drive the demons back.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
<poem>
"We'll have to investigate more later," Ririka replies to Shinobu in a rush. "Right now we just have to try and hang on!"

She scowls at Miho, who claims this isn't something to be perceived via ''Resonance''. "Oh how convenient for you, then," she retorts. She's not really sure if she ''believes'' Miyu--but it's not like she can claim to know all the workings of the supernatural, even as a Navigator.

She still isn't sure what that power Miyu has, after all.

Ririka is trying to entrust the other half of the battlefield of the Phantom Thieves so that she can focus on the Groom, Miyu. Unfortunately, Miho has broken through their lines and made this one giant cluster.

"Shit--" Ririka's trying to cast a wide net, to keep her eyes on the men waiting on the edge of the battlefield, to adapt to the need to shift targets, to monitor what's being said--

She can't fail to notice when that twisted power comes forth from Umie, clutching the side of her head as that foul Resonance suddenly invades her senses. "Augh-- what the hell!?"

Her head whips over to lock on to Umie. "What are you ''doing''?!" It starts with one--did she give it a ''name''!?--and then more, and Ririka looks around helplessly. "Hey-- stop!"

There's a demon going for a bystander, and Ririka throws a desperate hand out. "Magna!" Amphion strums, and sends a rock flying for it. Hopefully she's not too late--! "This isn't helping, Akabane!"

And here's Hyousuke saying he doens't care if he goes down to save everyone else. Right now Ririka is... let's say a ''tad'' stressed, and she snaps at him to hear him say that. "Suzuki don't-- don't be an idiot! You don't think your friends would care if you got yourself killed!? What would my sister think? What about ''Pudding''!?" (This is not as much of a non-sequitur as it may seem at first.)

She can track Miyu getting away--but she can ''also'' track more bystanders that will be in harm's way. "Dammit!" She redirects Amphion's defensive efforts to provide a bulwark against a spell of light. She can't very well chase Miyu down herself. The only thing she ''can'' do, in this moment... is to keep playing, to throw her senses out to all of the PErsona Users present and start sharing the locations of all the demons with them.

And once all the demons have been cleared out, she'll ahe to fight the urge to collapse. How are they going to explain this to Tsubasa? What can they possibly say? She can only hope that Tsubasa, at least, is safe for the moment.

But she'll need a few minutes of humming a repetitive tune to herself before she can start to focus on anything else, tapping on her thigh the whole time.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
"Get 'em, Mujina!" cheers Oracle as booming light and power smashes down at the behest of the noblest of tanuki. Then her eyes move towards Umie. 

Stop! she says. 

And then STOP again. 

Something is happening. 

A strange warning appears on the boundaries and corners of Oracle's screens. She doesn't recognize it, nor does the text it flashes make sense -- but -- but some of the words, she thinks in the half-moment before it seems to resolve to something simpler, an urgent flash of RED ALERT, some of those words were -- 

"What are you doing? What is she doing??" Oracle says, with alarm, which may be a bit of advance warning before something else is opening up and DEMONS ARE COMING OUT OF THE WOODWORK! "Multiple new contacts appearing! They're coming from -- from --" 

They're all shouting. Panic is settling in. They were prepared for a third party, but this is a fourth! Or is it five, now, when Joker calls out the appearance of that man. Ruin! Could it get worse? 

Before Oracle can produce more information a sudden klaxon and focus on Sati makes Futaba stare dumbfounded for a split second. At the end of it, Necronomicon is struck with an enormous burst of flame, hitting the ship on its prow and shaking it violently. 

"Kuh!!" Futaba clings to the console in front of her as her heart lurches. It's not just the motion, it's everything. Fear and doubt and anxiety and tension and shame and anger. All of them do a five-forty spin and land directly on Futaba's diaphragm - so it feels. For the space of one heartbeat, it seems like everything's lost. 

She exhales. 

Nuh uh, she resolves, before pulling herself up and shoving her glasses back up her face. "Fox! Break left, you're aiming her right at a crowd!" She reaches over without thinking and pushes her hand into a patch of open space -- which resolves into a steering joystick control, which she clings to. 

... and pulls back sharply to execute a loop in the air. Things must be serious: Oracle does not exclaim in what must surely be a thrilling maneuver to experience. There are bigger things on her mind. "The roofline over the station's clear!" A route out?? (sorry ririka) 

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
<poem>"It's fine, this is good enough!" Shinobu assures, as Hyousuke apologizes. The gift of defense is key in a battle with a dangerous opponent.

"Right." Shinobu replies to Ririka with a nod.

The world was 'changed', the Groom says. She's seen it. The world that was...

"I'm the kinda gal that tends to focus on the here and now. I dunno that that would do me much good." Shinobu replies. They've fought before... This is the first time the two of them have fought each other directly, as far as she knows - often, another of her company finds her occupied... but somehow, that seems right. "...Well, that does ''sound'' like me."

She's able to push back - but Miyu is stronger. And she maneuvers through the crowd of attackers, until she's near Etsuko.

"Get away from her!!" Shinobu shouts. She charges in - but the demons swarm. There are many of them. Too many. Too many to count, and they're all thirsty for violence. A mothman hurls lightning. Mazionga crashes down toward her - and Shinobu dives ''through'' it, regardless of her own safety. Electricity crackles over her body, but with Achilles' protection courtesy of Hyousuke, she's still standing. Her staff sweeps out left and right, striking away demons... but for each one, another takes its place. "Damn it... DAMN IT!!"

The van is gone. It's too late. ...They've failed.

Shinobu seethes, shutting her eyes tight. They don't stay closed for long.

"Let's just... deal with the rest of these before they can hurt anyone." She exhales with a sigh. There's still fighting to be done. Her staff will see more work yet.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Makoto Niijima has posed.
<poem>
    There's so much, all at once. A horde of demons all beckoned here, the Groom grabs her target and there are still civilians here. Not everyone ran. Not everyone could run.

    Holy light surges down, and Queen lets out a shout of pain as she's sent sprawling a third time. "Damn it..." She doesn't have time to lie down on the job, and once again she leaps to her feet, though it's clear that she's flagging.

    Fox plans to carve a path for an escape, and Queen frowns. It's a smart idea, but-

    "...Fine- cut a path and I'll forward it, but we focus on making sure everyone gets out, not just us!" Even though it is important that they're gone before the cognitive space is. ...especially Oracle, if she's floating.

    "Mujina, get Mona and cover the wounded and anyone who needs to evacuate first! Oracle, let us know when we can pull out! Joker-"

    Joker is already in the middle of the scramble. Of course they are. And Phoenix...

    ...can she even give orders to Phoenix right now...?

    "Phoenix! Stay the hell alive!"

    Queen summons Johanna as Fox readies his cut. Her engines roar, and nuclear flame bursts from exhausts- and Oracle gives them their new target. "Fox, you heard her- set them up! I'll knock them down!"

    Johanna surges forward, a trail of flames following behind her as she makes for her new destination-

    Mostly, though, Queen's focus is on making sure that no one else gets hurt- as worried as she is for her friend right now.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
<poem>
    "Ya cool," Phoenix assured Maria, before their world came crumbling down.

    And just as Joker notices: it's about the fact that there's a fucking horse knocking them down, but it's also not at all about the fact that there's a fucking horse knocking them down. It's a fucking horse knocking them down when they're trying to catch the woman trying to steal their mother to unimaginable horrors -- when their mother couldn't even imagine a world where the perpetrator was to ''blame.'' It's... it's...

    "God... DAMNIT!" Phoenix yells, slamming a fist into the ground.

    The world doesn't even have the decency to let them have that jagged moment of frustration in ''peace,'' man.

    Because there's Mothman -- "Fuck off, Mothman!" -- bolting them from the blue, and if nothing else it at least electrifies Phoenix into ''movement,'' charging into the bolt to cleave through it with that massive greatsword of theirs.

    "It's this evil demon-summonin' power," they explain the Mark, sharply, to Cherry, as their sword cleaves into a woman burnt on her husband's funeral pyre before she can take advantage of Mona's downed state. (Perhaps it's no wonder Sati would be called to a fight like this...) "Makes th' world go sideways an' get all fucked up. Ain't thought Akabane-san had that in her... fuck, where'd th' Groom go?! Shit!"

    They can't see her -- or them -- through the din of these demons, but they ''can'' see a little boy getting hefted up by Jack Frost.

    "OH ''YOU'' CAN GET ''ULTRA'' FUCKED," they yell, as they charge in to slice up ''him'' too -- and catch the kid by the scruff, in their other hand, right as the greatest villain alive, Jack Frost, throws him upwards.

    "You're okay," they tell him, as he cries. "Hey. Hey. Hey, look at me!" Somehow, they find the space to put the kid down, a hand on his shoulder. "Look at me. You gon' be fine."

    "I'M SCAAAAARED," the boy wails.

    "If you're scared, run away," Phoenix advises him, pointing down the street. "That way. Can you do that?"

    "Uh-huh," the boy sniffles, and Phoenix covers his escape with that massive slab of a sword of theirs.

    ... someone might need to yell at them a bit to get them to actually evacuate over that rooftop Oracle found, because now they have something to hit they only really ever ''stop'' hitting things to try and talk sense into the bystanders getting menaced.

    Luckily, there's one order they ''can'' HUA without skipping a beat: Queen's demand they ''stay alive.'' "Got it!" They yell, back to her.

</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
<poem>"Shit...! We gotta move! That asshole's gonna get away!" Hyousuke, with whatever energy his screaming muscles could be forced to muster, rushed blindly forward. He grit his teeth against the pain, clenched his fists so tight the knuckles turned a paler shade than the bone beneath, and barged through whatever obstacles were in his way. But it was useless. The Groom had strength and speed to spare, and agility enough to leap free from the group's combined onslaught. Demons swarmed them like vermin, and even if he fought with all his might, there wasn't a chance in hell that he could catch up with her.

Searing light blinded him for a moment when he intercepted a blow meant for Ririka, sending him stumbling back and away. A Jack Frost tried to take advantage of it, but his anger was more than enough to force a recovery, and Hyousuke took the blow without so much as flinching.
"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU!" He shouted, heaving his boot into the unfortunate Demon's gut. He'd failed to protect Tsubasa's mother, Umie had succumbed to whatever curse had been inflicted on her, Mona - someone he did not know, but recognised to be an ally - had been flung away like a ragdoll... and he'd been powerless to stop it all.

Frustration melded with fury, and the Demons in his path were the unfortunate targets.
"If you assholes don't clear out, I'll rip all of you to shreds with my BARE FUCKING HANDS!"
He hoped that they'd be stupid enough to stay and fight. He knew it was wrong... but nothing else could quench that raging fire in the pit of his being.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
<poem>    Shit is truly fucked, as some heavy sword wielding poets would say. "Mona!!"

    Umie continually tries to reverse her actions, splaying her half covered fingers over and over again, trying to find some undiscovered muscle in her brain or arm that could undo her actions.

    "_Stop_. Stop! I'm commanding you!" She's staring up at Futaba's UFO, and panicks, throwing her hand up to try to command that is very obviously yet another demon--

    Look up.

    No, further up, Umie.

    There, on that building, where you know who is standing. Umie freezes in place. 

    ".... Don't... look at me..." she grits her teeth.

    There is something standing there. 

    'Don't be reckless, Umie Akabane.'

    "...." Her eyes focus back on Joker, blinking, as she comes back.

    "... he could have shot clear through you, you know," the blonde mumbles out of reflex, dazed.

    Then, with a few second's worth of gained awareness, she says, shakily, ".... Thank you. I needed the reminder."

    But then again, Joker already knew. So did a few others among the crowd, where she's allowed herself to share. And even those she hadn't, they're defending her. They're bewildered, yes, 

    Don't be reckless.
    Don't forget you have people you trust.

    "Go. I'll clean things up from my end."

    Ruin is still listening.

    'Look. Over there.'

    On reflex, Umie looks, over where Phoenix cleaves through a Mothman-- Taro-kun? Or...

    She fights back the urge to throw up, right then and there.

    Phoenix is, after all, cleaning up the mess &#42;she&#42; made.

    She rubs her mouth, grits her teeth, and readies her weapon to jump in.

    She'll have all the time she wants to cry and feel sorry for herself later, Umie thinks.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
<poem>
    It's already too late, even if Cherry doesn't yet realize that fact.

    No sooner has she remarked upon the horde than she whirls about, eyes wide as she realizes there aren't just a ''few'' demons here. There's an entire horde. "Hey, wait..." She turns slowly, circling back to the Groom and Etsuko Seki, the latter of whom has collapsed. "Did you--"

    Akabane, Miyu tells her, is the one responsible. "No... no way..." Cherry utters, at a loss. Lifting her pistol crossbow, she trains it on Miyu, only for her would-be opponent to instead swoop in to retrieve the collapsed Etsuko. Cherry's bolt handily misses her, and after that point, there's no longer any room to take a shot at her again.

    "Hey, no! You can't!" she calls out. "You can't!"

    The Groom already has.

    Nor is there any time to lament over this fact. Cherry has no sooner let her shoulders slump than she hears a cackling from the swarm. She turns again, sharply this time.
    Again too late.

    It starts for her with the Mothman that sets upon her and others with a flash of lightning that cracks into the place she stands. But even this isn't quite enough to lay her out: she brings again her polearm to bear, calling upon her Persona as she charges on ahead. They have to be dealt with, right? And,

    and

    and Maria's just really angry right now.

    "Get out of the way! Get out of here!" she yells, not able to close on that Mothman, but instead cleaving into a blazing figure with a pumpkin for a head.

    It's a demon-summoning power, Phoenix explains as they hack and slash their way through the horde. "Y-yeah! I get that! But why did Akabane-san...? That's not something people can just do, right?" says a very confused (and mildly blood-thirsty) Cherry.

    "Ah! Look out, there's another one of those guys!" By which Cherry, apparently, means another Pyro Jack. Why does it have to be more fire...
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
Elevated, it is easier to think. To breathe. Futaba exhales hard, and Oracle takes a deep breath. The last few minutes (just!) of memories get riffled through. The words of Etsuko; did the Joker curse twist her, or was it a liberation like she had had, with her Shadow? How much was poor decisions, bad luck, the curse, or just...

For a silent midair moment, Oracle admires Phoenix; not for their personal presentation, but for that brief consideration of what they faced. A bigger burden, without the blessing of Sojiro stepping in. Would she have been able to rise like that? Without someone to give her a hand? Or, as it turned out, a large number of people? 

Johanna surges forwards, even as she picks up Phoenix's explanatory summary. In her head, a notarized but unsorted list: 

&#42; Evil demon summoning power. 
&#42; Makes world go sideways 
&#42;&#42; And get all fudged up &lt;- this is how you know Futaba is still young
&#42; Akabane maybe didn't have it? 
&#42; Groom is gone?? 
&#42; Shit!!

Dangit, blinks Oracle even if one of the others - Hyousuke in this case - power-stomps through one of the demons. "Yeeeech," Oracle vocalizes (approvingly). 

"You have to trust the evidence of your own senses, Cherry," Oracle continues while levelling out. "You saw it happen - either it's some super complicated trick... or it's real. What's left when you've eliminated the impossible?"

"Though I guess that's kind of from the other side of the fence," she continues, and with each of these little flibberts of mental exercise, the demons and the despair feel just that tiny bit further away. 

For now, at least... 

</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
<poem>
    For now, at least, they're able to protect the people of Port Island Station... except for the woman who worked at Rafflesia part time, with those bruises she had to explain away, now and then.

    But Etsuko isn't the only Seki... if, indeed, she remains one at all.

    "Yes. ... yes. I understand. Do what you have to do... the children are grown, anyway. I'll tell them she's receiving sanitarium care... all right. Let me know if the situation changes."

    Click.

    Hanzou Seki puts down his phone, with a deep sigh, as he massages his temples behind the glasses sitting there. "... so it was part of their scheme," he sighs, as he looks out his window -- and as the ''vice-president,'' he has a spectacular view. (One which Ichika Kawase happens to be taking advantage of, right now, with a pair of binoculars from where she's perched in an opposite building... because there were always several moving parts to this plan, and they knew it would be a bad idea to ''discount'' how he might play into things.)

    He's still hungry to improve the view from outside his window. Five years ago, he was no one worth speaking of. Now...

    "Damn inconsiderate... taking a man's wife like that. Tch... so I'll never see her again... they should have ''warned'' me," he insists, as he pulls a bottle from his desk and pours a stiff drink. "It's not my ''fault,''" he insists, stormily. "I never told her to do that in the first place... stupid woman!"

    Beneath all the bodies he throws between himself and blame, he does feel grief... though he thinks it is grief for what ''he'' has lost, and no further than that.

    Three drinks in, he picks up his phone again.

    "Find me a maid service," he issues, to his secretary.

    ... you can tell a lot about a man through his priorities.

</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 2]]