2026-02-27: Cangiante

• Log: Cangiante
• Cast:Maria Sakurai, Tsubasa Seki, Ayame Watanabe, Ririka Kawase, Ren Amamiya, Shinjiro Aragaki, Shinobu Shimizu, Aigis, Umie Akabane, Jerri
• Where: Dollhouse Corporation
• OOC Date: February 27, 2026
• IC Date: October 02, 2012
• Summary: At last, the place of the Sovereign is breached, and within is Maria. But, there is one last step in any Ordeal.

---

<Pose Tracker> Granny Penguin has posed.

The door to the board room begins to unseal once everyone arrives to input the code to the vault, as groaning mechanisms shift and whirl, locks disengage, and a door slides open. Inside there is a palatial room covered in Holograms, surrounding an enormous metallic table that seems nearly reflective.

Maria Sakurai is sitting at the end of one table, with shining red threads binding her wrists and ankles. Pacing behind her is an older woman, who looks as if she might be the madam of some establishment, with a low cut kimono barely clinging onto her shoulders, her hair a traditional nihongami, and her skin a shade of bright red to contrast the grey of her hair, with skin lined by the circuitry of futuristic cybernetics.

Though over her eyes is a Holo-Visor of Green. A woman of power. A woman of wealth. A woman who controls anything and everything around her.

Sovereign 'Granny' Kasahara, CEO of the Dollhouse Corporation

Theme of this Predicament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GET8ax8uWXk

"Do you have any idea how upsetting it is that all of this is necessary, Maria?" As she steps forward, placing a hand upon each of Maria's shoulders, as she clucks her tongue, "And now all of these bad influences upon you have broken into our boardroom."

She smiles so wide, "Just as I wanted." As she snaps her fingers, a machine descends from a hatch on the ceiling. A whirling array of parts and mechanical limbs joined to a great sphere. No... not a sphere.

It opens, revealing a great eye, shining a field of Crimson Light upon all the rescuers across the room. Anyone touched by it suddenly finds themselves completely and utterly unable to move anything from the neck down, frozen in that position, as a constant mechanical hum echoes maddeningly in their skulls.

Sound effect - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5J9Fg1RGOY

A holographic screen emerges over it with an elderly man's face, devoid of any color, consisting of flowing strings of code that distort to outline his aged lines.

Sovereign Y45U-M454 the All-Knowing, Dollhouse Corporation's Master AI

Two clawed limbs reach out to pluck Izumi out of the mix, crossbars flaring as numerous threads race out like tiny grabbing hands - rather literally, if one looks closely - restraining her arms at both sides of her as the limbs pivot away, holding her dangling above the board room table.

"Now child. This can all be over this instant... you can go home." The woman smiles at her, as she withdraws a small futuristic looking ray-gun, and places it in front of Maria. "With one simple gesture to prove you've learned your lesson from what you've done. This criminal is the reason why you are here right now. The reason why you're suffering so very much. Doesn't that make you angry?"

The glowing red restraining her slide off of Maria's wrists, as the woman steps back, and commands, "Well I'm giving you an opportunity to express that in a healthy way. Eliminate her. Prove you can do as you're told... this will all be over."

<Pose Tracker> Y45U-M454 has posed.

     Hovering above, an old, flickering CRT display shows an elderly man, eyes closed. Placid, in the moment, despite everything. Brighter colors (barely, still faint) are projected further ahead in a wireframe mesh of a three-dimensional look to his head between those two clawed hands. Even then, he seems... detached.
 
     "This dishonor is not yet beyond mending. Just a little guidance, from your elders' hands..." Dispassionate, simply stated, neutral. Patient.
 
     Inevitable, as that head tilts downwards towards Maria as those strings reach out further around Izumi.

<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.

    She doesn't struggle in those cords that initially bind her. Maria has long since learned in her capture here that it's of no use. Confused and clearly bewildered, there isn't a trace of recognition in the gaze that greets those who have come to save her.

    "Did you come to save me? Who are you guys--"

    But that's as far as she gets, before the CEO deploys her ace in the hole, disabling the ones who have come to her aid through her AI.

    "No, wait! You can't--" she pleads, twisting towards the CEO. She grimaces as the bonds pull at her limbs: so much, and she still can't move.

    There is a way out of this, promises the CEO. Despite all the trouble she's caused. All she has to do is one little thing to salvage everything.

    She just has to kill the leader of the rebellion against the CEO... Izumi. Freed, Maria rubs at her arms and wrists, her gaze on the weapon left on the table before her.

    "..."

    Killing someone else is no small matter.

    "...If I... if I do this... you'll let us all go, right? They have to be able to leave, too..." If they came to save her... then they shouldn't get stuck in exchange. Hesitantly, Maria reaches for the gun, only to look up at Izumi.

    "No, you can't!" shouts the captured rebel leader. "Think, Maria! Remember who you are!"

    As if stung, Maria's hand jerks back, away from the gun. Her gaze falls on the stunned would-be rescuers, though. Her hand wavers in the air, as if she were caught in that one, terrible moment, searching for the lesser of the two evils.

AS: Ayame Watanabe has left Granny Penguin's bucket!

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    "SAKURAI-SAN!"

    Phoenix bursts into the room, all stealth forgotten -- sorry, Joker -- when they see her bound there. (BOUND there!) Visually, they much resemble their namesake -- a bright orange feathered hood is pulled up over their head, with feathers at the sides which suggest the features of a bird's face. Their orange gloves match, but the rest of their clothing is much more understated, ninja robes braced by white sarashi at their belly, ankles and wrists.

    They soon find themself captured, though -- and bile rises in their throat, a thing they choke down as their head wrests from side to side wildly.

    "Don't do it, man!" They yell, a desperate edge to their anger. "Coppin' it ain't never fixed SHIT! You reckon you do what she wants, and you won't have to live with that tension in the back a ya head?! Soon as ya do, th' goalposts shift, man! People like that, they ain't never happy! No matter what you do, no matter how many parts a yaself ya chop off to fit down into what they want...!"

    They growl, as they try, again, to get free -- but it's all fruitless. "You can be fuckin' perfect, an' it ain't never enough! It's never enough for those people... or the world they livin' in! It'll just take an' take 'til you TAKE BACK! You can do it, I know you can! I seen it! Jus' steal what's yours, an' fuck 'em!"

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.

As the time came to rescue Maria, Ayame Watanabe had no intention of being anywhere else. Together with her sister she joined the others, following Izumi towards the boardroom. And so she sees--

"Sakurai-kun!"

The older woman... Ayame recognizes parental authority when she sees it, though the way she's dressed is certainly a surprise. But just as--

"No!" Ayame calls, "I--I can't move!"

The sword in her hand remains in her hand, down, unable to be brought to bear. Her Persona won't come just by asking. So she's... stuck.

That mechanical hum--

'Eliminate her.'

"That's not 'healthy'!" Ayame snaps, her voice more heated than most of the others have ever heard. "A parent or grandparent who just pushes their child into doing whatever they think is best, regardless of their wishes, their hopes--"

"It's wrong! You have to let her decide for herself who she's going to be!"

She looks instead to Maria. "Sakurai-kun... You were so brave, when you decided to try to warn that boy, even after you'd done wrong by calling the Joker on him. You made a mistake, and you did your best to make up for it..."

"Are you really going to give in now? "Don't think of us--think of the person you want to be! The woman you want to grow up into!"

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

When the PErsona USers had first investigated the Kingdom, Ririkq had offered to contact Maria, to let her know that help was coming. Eve, perhaps (probably) not trusting Ririka not to screw it up, showed her how to do this securely, though the decision was made not to do this until they were ready to move, to make sure not to ruin the advantage of surprise.

They're finally moving, and at the base of the tower, Ririka reaches out with her senses, trying to find the trapped girl and make a connection.

<Maria Sakurai-san--I know things are tough, but don't give up hope--there's people coming to help you.>

She's tall for a girl, and dressed in what looks like Gekkoukan's winter uniform--but with a red armband on her left shoulder, an armor plate on her right, armored boots and gloves, and--is that a gun on her belt? Don't worry about it.

... And they're all immediately incapacitated as they try to enter, and Izumi is singled out.

Ririka struggles. "Oh, c'mon," she mutters. "Sakurai-san!" she shouts. "Whatever that woman wants you do do, don't do it! I don't know what she's after, but--she's been keeping you here against your will, right? Do you really think someone like that has your best interests at heart?"

"I don't think you're a killer, Sakurai-san. I watched you do something really brave to try and stop a murder, remember? So... I know what kind of person you really are!"

She looks at the Sovereigns. "And for you two... Your stupid bird couldn't stop us, and we didn't come all this way to back down now! So if you know what's good for you, let her go!"

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.

    Given Phoenix's own recent experiences with being bound, Joker doesn't blame them at all for getting hotheaded and charging in. They chase them in, Umie and the rest of Izumi's allies no doubt at their heels, and face 'Granny' Kasahara even as they keep Maria in the corner of their eye.
    
    While they did come here to save Maria, though, it becomes rapidly apparent that this was all part of Granny's plan. A machine descends and shines a red light down; instantly, Joker is frown from the neck down. "Kh!" they grunt, baring their teeth in a grimace.
    
    That's far from the worst thing. "Izumi!" Joker calls as she's plucked out of the group--and then Granny bids Maria to prove her obedience by gunning Izumi down.
    
    Phoenix has some very emphatic opinions about this. They glance at them, surprised--not by the fact that they have them, but the fact that they're able to express them with such awareness. For all they protested otherwise to them, they know perfectly well what's going on in their family home, huh...
    
    But they understand how they feel. Joker's eyes narrow behind their domino mask, and if they could move their body, their red-gloved hands would clench into fists as the Granny Sovereign talks down to Maria, backed up by AI Y45U-M454. Somehow, for some mysterious reason, this talk of righting a "wrong" that was never a wrong in the first place really pisses them off.
    
    "Maria Sakurai. It's noble to try to save others, but you mustn't kill to do so," Joker urges her, dark eyes locked on her fair face. Their voice might just be one in the throng of the many who've come to help save her--including, ironically to Joker, one Shinjiro Aragaki--but they're not about to say nothing given what's on the line. "The others are right. Don't become their puppet. All they care about is their own convenience!"

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

Shinjiro is here with Ririka. He does not know Maria Sakurai, but he's a bleeding heart, so he's here to risk himself to save her regardless...

When an evil grandma paralyzes the group, his hammer still in hand, unable to move. The grandma and her old man AI try to get Maria to execute her rebel friend, and Shinjiro's lips curl down.

As everyone calls out to her, he's not sure what to do, struggling as he can, but failing. He curses... but if she doesn't recognize any of them as is... maybe his words can help, too.

"...it might seem like it's no big deal. Kill one person. You're already hurting, aren't you? Feeling powerless?"

An exhaled breath. "You'll keep feeling powerless even if she dies. No, you'll feel more so. It'll take a piece of you with it, and you're not going to ever get that back. You'll shatter yourself, Sakurai. I won't say don't do it, because only you can decide that, but..."

"Do you want to break further, or do you want to heal? Think about that... and keep in mind what the others are saying. Make your choice for yourself, not because someone else told you to!"

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

They've retrieved their passcodes, and the plan to infiltrate the board room and reach Maria is devised. It's time to put it into action, now. Alongside Ayame, Shinobu joins everyone. The doorway opens, and Shinobu races into the board room, drawing her staff. She looks over the situation. There's Maria, bound by red thread... and pacing behind her, an older woman. A slow frown crosses her face - particularly when she hears how she talks to her. She hates that condescending tone. It's all too familiar.

"This is gonna turn into a hostile takeover real quick if you don't let the kid go." Shinobu warns, looking between Maria and the old woman. She gets ready to make a move - and then, a machine descends from the ceiling. An eye opens, shining a field of red light over them all... and Shinobu feels her body freeze up, unable to move. She winces, at that sound that echoes into her brain as a face begins to form over the machine. "...The hell!? What is this?"

So that's the AI... Damn it. She should've expected something like this. Of course it couldn't be that easy... This was bait all along, wasn't it?

Unable to move to help her, Izumi is snatched by a pair of clawed limbs, and Maria is given an ultimatum - kill her, and it'll all be over.

A small frown crosses over her face as she says Ayame's words.

"...Nee-san." She mutters. She's more heated than she's ever heard her... and Shinobu can imagine why.

...Shinobu forces a grin, then, looking toward Maria.

"...Ain't that always the way? It's never her fault, is it." Shinobu says, jerking her head in the old woman's direction. It's the only bit of movement she has left to her - she's going to use it for all its worth. "It's always someone, something else. When someone stands up to them, they're the problem. And then they'll make you scramble and scrape for every last scrap of recognition... of approval, but it'll never be enough."

She shakes her head, and then nods toward Phoenix.

"It's just like that. It's never gonna be enough. You kill her now? It's just gonna be something else tomorrow. You could climb up mountains, and she'll be disappointed it wasn't Everest."

She would shrug, if she could move her shoulders.

"...But you're the one with the gun. Make your choice, Sakurai. Just be ready to live with it." Shinobu concludes.

<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.

    "Kawase-chan, please indicate the direction we should proceed. Aragaki-san, I am right behind you."

    To Aigis, this is a mission like any other. The more ... individual nature of Palaces and Kingdoms hasn't yet been made clear to her, and she perceives no difference between them and the more universal and impersonal phenomena of the Dark Hour and Mementos.

    On one hand, it wouldn't matter even if she was aware of those distinctions: a human is trapped within a supernatural space, and the goal of the mission is to rescue her. If she can lend her aid, she will. She was expressly made to risk her own safety in order to save real people with real lives.

    On the other hand, however, her lack of understanding has left her unprepared. She was expecting a fearsome Shadow, a masked blob of ichor, not -- not the Sovereign Kasahara and this floating head. She was expecting Maria to remain helpless, not for her captor to let her go -- provided they execute her.

    Consequently, as she tries to process all of this new information, she's caught entirely flat-footed by the immobilizing eye. "What's -- ahh! Functions ... shutting down ..."

    Unlike the others, she doesn't have any words of her own to provide Maria with. She's quiet as she listens to everyone else's pleas.

    Now she finally gets it.

    She looks at Maria. "I would recommend that you retain your own agency. Following someone else's design is for those such as myself, not people like you."

    Given her current clearly-robotic appearance, it's likely apparent what she means.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    Following in after Phoenix is someone who doesn't quite fit. The oversized raincoat is a little stained, the starry mask slightly warped from wear, red sneakers scuffed. Her kyoketsu-shoge? Well maintained. (She also has a chip on the wine red nail polish of her right index finger that she's been subconsciously running her thumb over every moment there's been way too much tension and not enough movement.)

    That matters very little, however. As soon as she enters the room and quickly tries to assess the situation, the blonde's tactics become moot.

    There may have been a blackbird here, for a moment, but that was an illusory placeholder. The noise is too loud, and the bird is instead Umie Akabane, locked in that hunched position with a furious, panicked look on her face.

    Calm yourself, Umie. Breathe. This is a lock, and a lock is just a barrier to overcome.

    In a palace, this would not matter too much, but Shinjiro is correct: this can't go without repercussions. Otherwise, why would this person want this to happen?

    "Sakurai-san. Take it from a fellow 'inconvenience'," Umie begins, using the time were others were speaking, making their own points, to form her own. "Do you want to live your life resenting yourself for not taking the path you yourself wanted? It may seem like the better choice, but you can never go back and undo it. Even if you come out of this wih a peaceful, productive, uneventful life, ask yourself this--"

    She gives Maria a calm, direct gaze.

    "---Would it be the life you wanted, or the life you settled for, because you felt you didn't deserve anything better?"

AS: Granny Penguin has readied for combat as Sovereign 'Granny' Kasahara! They are now fully healed! Ready for 4
opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Granny Penguin has posed.

As they reach out to Maria, there is a growing irritation in the Sovereign CEO, which becomes annoyance then anger.

"SILENCE!" She snaps, finally, as she heavily slams a fist down into the board room table, cracking part of it.

"What a wretched influence all of you are, putting these ideas in this girl's head. You must think you're so righteous... rebelling against my authority. But all you're doing is making this worse for EVERYONE! Most of all her! This criminal needs to die. For her own sake. So that she can become who she was always meant to be."

That's odd phrasing there, isn't it? However, there's little time to consider it before she glares at Maria with a withering look and she enunciates her command forcefully, "Pull the Trigger, NOW!"

Jerri has arrived from The Rooster Inn.

<Pose Tracker> Jerri has posed.

And then a brightly colored Pink Cockatoo, bedecked with Jewelry suddenly flaps in from above to land upon the table. "I do beg your pardon for interrupting, but unfortunately with so many intruders, I'm going to have to make a last minute change to our little 'family' drama."

The elderly woman narrows her eyes in fury at the bird, "You said we'd do this MY way, Jerri!"

"And I've changed my mind, thanks to all these dirty little delinquents you have running amok." Jerri asserts as she gives Maria a look of something adjacent to pity. "Poor girl. I do so hate to be unkind- but this infestation has made this rather necessary. If we do this the usual way then there's a chance that they all make it out of this alive. And I find that to be unacceptable."

That expression instantly transforms into one of glee, as she spreads her wings, and a sudden swirl of vacuous energy around Maria's head.

As she remembers everything. Suddenly the woman behind her is a parody of her Grandmother, and the AI system looks so much like her Grandfather.

The moment of the train's impact, the first seconds of awakening, the look her boyfriend gives her as he breaks up with her.

And all of that rage. That smoldering, pervasive rage.

The entire Kingdom shudders under the weight of this moment, as visuals become strange. Like a TV that's devolving into static, everything glitching before it all self-corrects.

Sound Effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a5UMZ4kihM

The woman who Maria now has the memories in her mind to recognize her growls, and throws a datapad in her hand at Jerri, who simply sidesteps it with a mocking laugh as it shatters. "Now what kind of example are you setting with behavior like that?"

And fluttering off, she arcs in a circle as she ascends, "Do try to kill all of them, quickly, except your precious Maria. We'd rather not have to deal with this inconvenience ever again."

<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.

    She doesn't know any of them, as one by one they try to tell her not to do it. Then, they add their own suggestions, one after the other.

    Don't give, take back.

    She has to decide for herself.

    She's not a killer.

    Don't become their puppet.

    If she kills, she'll only shatter herself.

    It's always going to be someone, someone else.

    Retain her agency, rather than follow someone else's orders.

    She doesn't want to live her life resenting herself.

    "Please," says Izumi, "Don't do this, Maria!"

    One by one, she looks them all in the eyes and Maria takes a breath. "Okay," she says.

    Then she picks up the gun. But it's not Izumi at whom she directs it. Instead, the girl whirls about, aiming the gun right at the CEO. "They're-- they're right! I'm not going to kill someone just to please you! I'm going to take you down! You're the real villain in this room--"

    Pink wings cut through the air. There, landing on the table, is a pink cockatoo.

    Just like that, the enchantment is stripped away. The gun slips from Maria's hands as she staggers under the weight of memory, and she clutches at her head as if in pain.

    "No... no, that was me...! I did that--?! I-- there was the accident, and then, then, he broke up with me like that and I--"

    Slowly her hands slide down the sides of her face and she rises to meet a room with an audience. "Everyone..."

    Her gaze slips upwards to meet Izumi's still-trapped form. "...Mom?"

    Higher still, to meet the animate sphere of the AI. "...Grandpa? But, you died--"

    Her hands slip from her face to hover in the air but inches before her face as she turns sharply to meet the gaze of the CEO.

    "You're..."

    "...Not my grandmother!!"

    Her hands curl into claws as she gazes at the woman who has been her captor with nothing but rancor in her gaze. "You... you think you can trick me? Who are you? I'm--" Red cords leap across the distance to catch her in their grasp, again binding her fast to the place she stands. Maria struggles this time, seemingly in vain.

Thou hast been given a ring most cruel, my other self.

    "I'm-- I'm tired of this! I've had enough! You--" The cords don't hold her this time.

Now let me give thee mine own vow:

    "I'm done with you!" She rips free, one limb at a time, and reaching her hands to her face, peels it off.

I, Artemisia, will with thee paint a richly colored world!

    "Persona--!"

    BGM: Back to the Drawing Board - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFGH1gwlMIo

    In one movement, Izumi closes her eyes and vanishes from her bindings. Instead, what rises at Maria's beck and call is a singular figure, a woman dressed in a fusion of Baroque Venetian fashion and cyberpunk streetwear who rises to meet the CEO with a short blade in hand.

    The Persona darts in once, quickly, the arc of the blade rising on the air like a feather caught on the wind.

    Cables, draped across Artemisia's shoulders and hanging from her wrists in the manner of a shawl, then dance as the Persona swirls to turn her attention to the CEO. Darkness erupts in a burst of petals right in the face of the all-seeing eye of Y45U-M454.

    Not once do the Persona's feet touch the ground.

    Where Maria had been now stands a young woman clad in brightly-colored attire. A white jacket adorned with pink spikes sits atop a ripped black vest, itself atop a sheer teal shirt. Torn black hose covers her legs; a grey double skirt, itself held in place by a shockingly pink belt sits just under her exposed midriff. She wears white gloves, teal shoes with hot-pink soles. Chunky hot-pink earrings, a choker featuring a single jet-black diamond-shaped stone and...

    ...her eyes are veiled by a transparent visor. It is, of course, bright pink.

    In her hands she bears a bladed polearm. It itself bears a pink-pink blade.

    She is not Maria. No one here can recognize her as Maria. It is simply as if a mysterious Phantom Thief has swept in to save the day.

    "Wow! Was that me?" she says, as if trying to come to grips with her new power. "I guess-- it was!" But her shoulders sag as she takes in her weapon. "Aw, I was hoping I'd have a sword." She tests her grip on her new weapon, as if to take its measure. "Oh, but it's like a sword, right? It's like a sword with a very long handle!"

    Her attention falls again on the CEO, however. "Kidnap me and hurt my friends, will you? I'm gonna take you down, you-- grandma imposter!"

    She has not yet realized what the CEO truly is. But then... one rarely recognizes the self at first glance.

AS: Maria Sakurai has readied for combat as Artemisia! She is now fully healed!

<Pose Tracker> Granny Penguin has posed.

"No." Says the Grandmother, softly at first, before her hand clinches, sparking from the circuitry with an increased amount of heat, "NO!" And with a scream of utter rage she rushes towards Maria, "STOP! You have no idea what you're DOING!"
 
'Persona--!'
 
Izumi vanishes, and the Grandmother screams louder, clutching her face as the holo-visor snaps within her hands, red bleeding through her own fingers, dripping... dripping.
 
And between the slits of her fingers, the colors of her eyes change to a distinct.
 
Yellow Hue

Alter Ego - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBBc1qlkMD4

Maria transforms, and brandishes the sword and the Grandmother looks like she's in agony for a time further, before she begins to laugh, and laugh, and laugh in a rising crescendo of unhinged desperation, "Ahaha... HAHAHAHA... how stupid can ONE GIRL BE?"

The Grandmother makes a shambolic motion as she rises, and her face has bled off the red, revealing that it was merely makeup. With one flip of her hand, the wig comes off, burning into nothingness as it hits the floor.

And everyone knows who the Grandmother is now, all it takes is having seen Maria Sakurai's face previously.

Shadow Maria -The Repressed Self-

"Baka... BAKA! Can't you see I'm trying to prevent you from ruining your life!" She says with growing anger, "What have YOU DONE!? Haven't you figured it out yet after calling the Joker? Some things you just can't take back!"

She clinches both of her hands into ever-tightening fists, "You LIVE with a reminder of that every day! You see the way they look at your Mother. Look at you. Judge you, because you live with a cripple. And guess what? With this little tantrum, you're proving them right. That a broken mother led to a broken daughter!"

One step forward, another, it's less like some school bully, and more like someone who's been backed into a corner, with a manic gleam in their yellowed eyes, "A miserable little girl who can't even control her own temper enough to grow up. So you got dumped, boo-hoo. But no, you had to lash out. You had to let these feelings out! Nothing else mattered other than this selfish anger of yours."

Reaching up, she grabs Maria by the collar of her outfit, "I know better than anyone that you can't be left to make your own decisions. Because you're always choose to do the worst, most self-destructive thing possible. All in the name of your self-righteous fury. You know how I know?" As she pulls her in roughly, until they're almost face to face.

"BECAUSE I'M YOU!"

AS: Granny Penguin has readied for combat as Shadow Maria -The Repressed Self-! They are now fully healed! Ready for 4
opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.

    She stops dead, staring at the figure that wears her face. "Don't talk about my mom like that!!" she just about shrieks, furious.

    But it's a comment that had certainly stopped her dead. She's staring at her still as the figure names her many private sins, shaking her head in denial--

    And then they grab her, right by her jacket's collar.

    Maria, struggling in the grip of the figure that holds her, twists her face away, grimacing. "Stop it-- let go of me--" She takes one breath, then two, then--

    "Stop-- stop saying you're me! Stop wearing my face! You're not me, you faker--!"

<Pose Tracker> Granny Penguin has posed.

And as Maria says it, those words. There's silence for a moment as the Shadow stills, then splits a wide grin, and that's when the laughter begins. "Hahaha...AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Darkness descends as Legionnaire after Legionnaire throughout the Kingdom entire gets sucked into their form.

She shakes as her arms disjoint, and distort, and unfold, into spidery limbs sprouting so many cybernetic blades, as her spine distends into one great wicked metallic curve, alloyed razor sharp mandibles extruding from inside of her mouth as she now towers over Maria.

"Look at me... LET THE WORLD SEE ME AS I TRULY AM!" As her voice becomes a synthetic, resonant baritone, "THIS is how ugly this ANGER is! THIS is how they will see you! You think you can get MARRIED acting like this!? This was supposed to be only a PHASE! But you're just too STUPID to know WHEN TO QUIT, aren't you? To know when to GROW UP!"

Her own Shadow leans down, to meet Maria's eyes with its smoldering yellow ones.

"But fine. FINE! We'll do this the HARD WAY!"

And opening her maw wide, she lashes out, mandibles trying to latch onto the girl in front of her, to pick her up and then FLING her to the side.

"IT'S HOW YOU'D REALLY PREFER IT ANYWAY!"

The cybernetic horror that is Shadow Maria then turns upon the others, "RRRRAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!" With a leap across the room, it comes down with shredding talons across Phoenix, "STUPID!" Before the upper half of her body turns a full one hundred and eighty degrees towards Joker, "GODDAMN!"

The words that comes out of her mouth are directed towards Umie, a sonic hell given the power of the winds behind it, cutting and slashing through her repeatedly, "PUNKS! I'M GOING TO LEAVE NOTHING LEFT OF YOU!"

AS: Weapon! Granny Penguin has used the Slash skill Rip and Tear on Maria Sakurai!
AS: Aggression: Granny Penguin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Granny Penguin has used the Slash skill Cleave on Ren Amamiya!
AS: Weapon! Granny Penguin has used the Slash skill Shred on Tsubasa Seki!
AS: Persona! Granny Penguin has used the Wind skill Mortal Gale on Umie Akabane! 3 Hits!
AS: Counter Best! Tsubasa Seki takes 140 Slash damage from Granny Penguin's Shred. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Granny Penguin takes 90 Slash damage in return for their attack! Resist!
AS: Avoid Worst! Ren Amamiya takes 111 Slash damage from Granny Penguin's Cleave. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 16 Wind damage from Granny Penguin's Mortal Gale. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 35 Wind damage from Granny Penguin's Mortal Gale. Critical Hit!
AS: You have 1 more attack in queue!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 23 Wind damage from Granny Penguin's Mortal Gale.
AS: Avoid Best! Maria Sakurai takes 19 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Rip and Tear.

<Pose Tracker> Y45U-M454 has posed.

     "It is the role of an elder to mold those who would succeed them," the dispassoinate AI that is Y45U-M454 speaks down to Ayame, "lest they fall into disorder... and break."
 
     "You know not what's good for a young woman," the AI grandfatherly projection retorts - gently, with restraint - as if for all of Ririka's protest it means little, "but that is why she will be set to rights."
 
     "You speak of her breaking? Tell me," that elderly projection teeters on the verbal precipice of sneering, "who has she already broken, misbehaving like so?"
 
     "All will be as it should. She won't need to concern herself of what comes next, sure of mind and health, as all good children should be," too calmly chiding Shinobu.
 
     "You appear to understand," the grandfatherly figure says after Aigis' declarations, "all young women like yourself must be handled and guided with care, lest they destroy themselves..."
 
     They wait for compliance. They wait for the inevitable submission... and, seemingly, does not react so readily to the appearance of a certain brightly colored feathery agitator. As if there is an earnest belief, in so much something like this 'believes' rather than 'is.'
 
     '...Grandpa? But, you died--'
 
     "But I have not left you, have I?" The words should sound kinder than they are, from this AI construct of a deceased grandfather. That may explain the practically grayscale appearance on the monitor. "I have molded a model granddaughter... a beautiful doll. Even if your mother became a worthless, broken husk..."
 
     The dissonance against these outbursts of emotion, until...
 
     "What are you doing?" Emotion creeps into the face, as it tilts, physical clawed hands besides this virtual projection of her grandfather's face contorting and flinching as the cords are severed. "You--!"
 
     The face twists, contorts, grimaces and growls as static interference makes the holographic projection of what was on the monitor less stable as petals explode before him.
 
     "She's right... she's right!!" The calm, detached character of the deceased grandfather rendered in memory and metaphor gives way to fury, slamming both clawed hands down into the ground as so many things clatter and shake. "The likes of you... the likes of you are no granddaughter of mine!!" He shouts to Maria - the self-actualized Maria, whom has awakened to the power of Persona, as he raises those clawed hands and those crossbars anew.
 
     "I will have order in this house! This house I built! This house I lead! This house's future I created!!" A power wells up, as the very environs darken, irregularities turned more uniform in appearance as these cords from the crossbar-like extensions of these clawed hands reach down and tidy up the surrounding environs, pulling things into place.
 
     If that false Grandmother is the Shadow, then the Sovereign...
 
     The Sovereign here - the reigning individual who must be overcome in order to fulfill the rebellion against this twisted Kingdom is...!
 
     "This broken generation! Of a damaged society!! Ruining the way paved by my father's father... no, you are all beyond fixing."
 
     The clawed hands whirl, and these threads lash out not to grab, but to sever and slice apart like monofilament wires to Ayame, Ririka, Shinjiro, Shinobu, and Aigis.
 
     "You will be thrown away like the broken garbage all of you are!!"
 
          Reintroducing... Sovereign Y45U-M454 the All-Knowing, Dollhouse Corporation's Master AI

AS: Y45U-M454 has readied for combat as Sovereign Y45U-M454 the All-Knowing! They are now fully healed! Ready for 5
opponents!
AS: Weapon! Y45U-M454 has used the Slash skill Monofilament Wire on Ayame Watanabe! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Y45U-M454 has used the Slash skill Monofilament Wire on Ririka Kawase! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Y45U-M454 has used the Slash skill Monofilament Wire on Shinjiro Aragaki! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Y45U-M454 has used the Slash skill Monofilament Wire on Shinobu Shimizu! 2 Hits!
AS: Weapon! Y45U-M454 has used the Slash skill Monofilament Wire on Aigis! 2 Hits!
AS: Block Neutral! Ayame Watanabe takes 26 Slash damage from Y45U-M454's Monofilament Wire. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Ayame Watanabe takes 13 Slash damage from Y45U-M454's Monofilament Wire.
AS: Block Best! Shinobu Shimizu takes 13 Slash damage from Y45U-M454's Monofilament Wire. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Shinobu Shimizu takes 6 Slash damage from Y45U-M454's Monofilament Wire.
AS: Counter Worst! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 63 Slash damage from Y45U-M454's Monofilament Wire. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Y45U-M454 takes 27 Strike damage in return for their attack! Weak!
AS: Counter Best! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 42 Slash damage from Y45U-M454's Monofilament Wire. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Y45U-M454 takes 39 Strike damage in return for their attack! Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Aigis takes 35 Slash damage from Y45U-M454's Monofilament Wire. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Aigis takes 35 Slash damage from Y45U-M454's Monofilament Wire. Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.

    Speaking of Shinjiro Aragaki, that certainly is a very specific way of phrasing his warning to Maria. Given the crowd and how many people are chiming in, they might not have noticed had they not been paying attention to him in particular. There's a depth of certainty to it, like he knows that's how she'll feel. And how could he know that...?
    
    There's one answer that stands out to Joker, given that Umie spoke up for him to them before. They can't be certain, but they've got a strong hunch of just why she said he has his own reasons for being against changes of heart for unrepentant criminals.
    
    But this is neither the time nor the place to bring it up. A lot of things happen in rapid succession: Granny demands Maria pull the trigger; Jerri flaps in and does a sudden-but-inevitable betrayal, doing something to Maria in the process, before flying off and bidding her kill everyone; Maria does not do that, instead calling to her family(?) before vanishing and beng replaced by an unknown Persona User; the Persona User (who looks bright and punk as hell) faces off against the Sovereign seemingly in her stead, which in turn transforms almost in a way Rulers often do before unleashing all hell, which in turn makes the AI companion freak the hell out and start his own version of hell; and, sure enough, all hell is unleashed as the Shadow leaps to attack not!Maria, Phoenix, Umie, and--most relevantly--Joker.
    
    It's a lot. Particularly when she fully bodies them claws-first before they can recover from the restoration of their control of their own body. Joker snarls in pain as she sends them flying; when they land, they land hard, and they come up a moment later clutching bloody wounds.
    
    Joker does not understand what's going on at all anymore. That doesn't matter at this point. They can take in the events as facts for now and work through them with their friends later. Right now, they need to make sure they can work through it with their friends later.
    
    "Persona," they intone, clutching their now-fiery mask as Arsène arises over them in blue flame. The winged thief spreads their own clawed hands, then thrusts one towards the former CEO, now... Maria's Shadow...?, triggering a spell. That spell drains at her cyber-horror form, temporarily draining the speed and agility from her many, many limbs.
    
    When Arsène vanishes, restoring Joker's mask, they lower their hand to call their dagger into it. "Are all of you all right?!" they call to the room--but in particular Phoenix, Umie, and the new Persona User, dragged as they've all been into this side of the fight.

AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Almighty skill Sukunda on Shadow Penguin!
AS: Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Shadow Penguin takes 0 Almighty damage from Ren Amamiya's Sukunda.
AS: Spd_Dn added!

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.

Ayame realizes how much she said a moment later, and her eyes turn to Shinobu--who understands. Yes, she would understand. But...

Others have more to say, too. About how it won't end there; about the cost of killing someone to the self. Even the AI rebuffs her, and Ayame stares at him in turn. "I won't accept that. It's our role to guide, not to force!" The CEO may become more and more angry, but Maria--Maria does her own choice after all. Ayame smiles to see it. "Yes! Go, Sakurai-kun!" She'd pump her fist if she could.

Jerri shows up. Ayame narrows her eyes. "You!"

But suddenly--Maria changes. She recognizes... She knows. And it becomes clear to Ayame that for a while she didn't.

A Persona comes forth, and a girl to rescue Maria. "Where--" Wehre is Maria?

...She canonly be freed if they can defeat these two. That must be it.

'A broken mother lead to...'

"Shut up!" Ayame calls sharply to the Shadow. "You can pretend to be whatever you won't, but don't speak such poison!"

But that girl, too, that Phantom Thief has her own trouble with the girl. The girl who can't be Maria. And then the other girl, who was the CEO, turns into a monster...

"Give Maria Sakurai back!" Ayame calls. "Even if she's angry... even if she does things that aren't wise--"

"She has a right to it!"

The calm grandfather becomes furious, and Ayame blinks. She can move though. She can move, and--

"The future isn't just yours!" Ayame counters him. "It belongs to everyone! To those who build it--to those we build it for!"

"This generation..."

Ayame swings back at the wire, but her sword is caught in it--she can barely evade the second accordingly. She grits her teeth at the pain of the strike, but then continues, "This generation! I'll fight for them! And for me, too!"

"ATROPOS! Come forth!"

She throws out her hand, and emerging in a column of blue is a tall woman in a long dress and hooded cloak, wearing her wheel medallion and carrying her shears. Her sharp golden eyes shine; her pale lips curl into a sickle-smile.

"Bring him down, Atropos!"

The Persona liftss her hand--and from the ceiling, purple-yellow distortions slam down, one after another, try to pin down the Sovereign.

"Yes!" Ayame calls to Joker. "We'll handle him--you focus on that monster! Together, we can do it!"

AS: Persona! Ayame Watanabe has used the Earth skill Riotous Gry on Y45U-M454! 3 Hits!
AS: Ruin: Ayame Watanabe gains 1 Limit!
AS: Block Best! Y45U-M454 takes 8 Earth damage from Ayame Watanabe's Riotous Gry. Resist!
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 52 Earth damage from Ayame Watanabe's Riotous Gry. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Block Best! Y45U-M454 takes 21 Earth damage from Ayame Watanabe's Riotous Gry. Critical Hit! Resist!

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    Shinobu talks about scraping for approval, and Phoenix feels a sick weight of recognition, in their gut. Man, Big Sis knows the whole damn score, huh? Ol' Auntie Watanabe, too.

    ... there's something weird about one of those girls, though. That... kinda freaky-lookin' one. Phoenix gives Aigis a long look, hearing her talking about following someone else's design. Is she... in some sort of trouble...?

    They can't worry too much about that right now, though. "You!" They bark, when Jerri flaps in. "Why you gotta be like this?! Leave her alone!" They're still heartbroken by the bird being evil, for the record.

    "Nnh -- Boss, th' fuck we do?" Phoenix grits out, to Joker, looking to them with that same desperate edge in their eyes, behind their witch's-hat mask, as Maria pleads. "We gotta do somethin'!"

    They're not looking at Maria, when it happens. Darkness erupting like petals pulls their blue eyes back forward, though -- and they widen, at what they see. "Where'd she go?! Hey! Maria--!!"

    Maria, in a sense, does reveal herself: in the bones of Grandmother, she bursts forth. It makes perfect sense to Phoenix, who sees their shadow bent to a different shape cast behind them... what separates the apple from the tree it fell from?

    It's less distance than a lot of people think.

    "You changed your tune real quick," Phoenix scowls, listening to Shadow Maria's screed. "Somethin's wrong..." That mystery girl denies her, and Phoenix calls to her: "Hey, you! Did you show up here to protect Maria?! Y'know, the real Maria!" Not the real Maria who just said she was real, apparently. "If that's your deal, we're on the same page--!"

    That cybernetic horror slashes her talons down towards Phoenix -- and Phoenix, finding themself cut free, cuts back, slashing their sword into her space. They're shocked to find it's not very effective; they're more shocked to hear what the AI has to say, looking up to it.

    "Holy shit, man..." They say, the bottom half of their face drawn with terror, as they look up to Y45U-M454. "H--hey, Boss?" They call, to Joker. "I... I can't fuckin' fight that guy, man... if ya reckon we oughta beat on this weird monster Maria, that's cool, but..."

    Their fingers tighten, against the hilt of their blade. "... shit like that..."

    Phoenix shakes their head, teeth grit, and reaches up to their face. "... can't get caught up in it. Izbushka na Kur'ih Nozhkah!" They invoke, as they tear their mask from their face in a spray of blue flame and blood. What rises behind them is massive -- a hut on chicken's legs each as tall as a man, flapping its little window-hatch wings, with something shadowed in the windows. It ruffles itself as red, angry energy settles over that mystery Persona user (Phoenix is just gonna have to take a chance on her being here to help Maria--!), Joker, Umie, and Phoenix themself.

    And the fact that they were given so much pause is best written in the fact that they don't immediately leap into violence.

AS: Persona! Tsubasa Seki has used the Almighty skill Matarukaja on Maria Sakurai, Ren Amamiya, Umie Akabane, and
Tsubasa Seki!
AS: Tsubasa Seki regains 8 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Take! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Almighty damage from Tsubasa Seki's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!

AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from Tsubasa Seki's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Tsubasa Seki's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Block Worst! Ririka Kawase takes 15 Slash damage from Y45U-M454's Monofilament Wire.
AS: Block Neutral! Ririka Kawase takes 18 Slash damage from Y45U-M454's Monofilament Wire. Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

As Granny calls them out for being 'rightous', Ririka glares back at her. "How 'righteous' is it that you're demanding she kill someone to get her freedom?"

But Jerri shows up again--"Hey! Get out of here, haven't you caused us enough problems?"

But Jerri does something, and the Kingdom shudders--and Ririka winces as all of the REsonance around them goes crazy. "Wh--what the hell-- hey! Knock that off! You wanna bring the place down around us?"

She can't recognize Maria in her new outfit--but Artemesia definitely makes an impression on her senses anyway. But the things that Shadow Maria says about Maria's mother. "... hey! that's uncalled for!"

But her attention is drawn back to the other Sovereign. "I am a young woman, thankyouverymuch," she retorts. "And I think I--and Sakurai-san--can make our own choices!"

"If you were really her grandfather you should be supporting her!" The Sovereign moves to attack, and Ririka goes to grab her sword to attack--but she's slow on the draw and the first claw tears across her chest, sending her back.

"Augh--!" She barely brings up her katana to try and deflect the second one, but she still staggers, as the blow is especially strong.

"Alright--Let's put this thing down, whatever you are." Ririka goes for her Evoker, her hand trembling for a moment before she pulls it. "Amphion!"

She points her sword at Y45U. "Amphion, Analysis! Tell me what we're dealing with!"

Amphion puts a pair of headphones on her head, and then strums, sending out sound waves--Resonance--out to deflect off of the Sovereign. Ririka clutches the ear cup as she listens, calling out what she senses as it comes back.

AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Almighty skill Full Analysis on Y45U-M454!
AS: Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Y45U-M454 takes 0 Almighty damage from Ririka Kawase's Full Analysis.
AS: Ririka Kawase's Strength Scan! Y45U-M454 resists Fire, Elec, and Earth!
AS: Ririka Kawase's Weakness Scan! Y45U-M454 is weak against Strike, Water, Light, and Dark!
AS: Ririka Kawase's Support Scan! Y45U-M454 has passive skills Ailment Boost, Elec Boost, Explode Boost, and Mind
Shield!

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

Shinjiro may not have phrased that in that way in most cases. But he's not in the best of moods, either, and being honest about something so important...

But a Persona comes forth, with a new rebel to rescue Maria, who disappears somewhere. Where? He's not worried about that, because...

Y45U-M454 comes forth with clawed hands, moving to try and slash the group apart!

"Fuck you, old man! The future... is in her hands! Only she gets to decide what it looks like!"

The claws strike at him, and Shinjiro takes the full brunt of the blades to his supernaturally-reinforced coat in order to counter with his hammer, smashing straight into them to bat them back.

Then, he pulls out a GUN (it's an Evoker), points it to his head, and pulls the trigger.

"Persona!"

Castor comes roaring out, and if Y45U-M454 plans to take everything head on...

Instead, it's going to *crash* forward, with enough force that a heads-on block is the worst possible thing that could happen.

AS: Persona! Shinjiro Aragaki has used the Strike skill Bash on Y45U-M454!
AS: Shinjiro Aragaki regains 15 HP from Regenerate!

<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.

    It's like she flipped a switch, somewhere, somehow. Or perhaps more accurately, like she'd said the Magic Words. That girl -- who absolutely isn't her -- undergoes a horrific change, her body unfolding into something that is, indeed, ugly and twisted. Just like that thing that she's--

    "Stop! Stop it! Let everyone go! I'll take you on by myself--"

    A fanged maw snaps right for her, and only by the grace of instinct and reflex does she twist her body just so to spring -- barely -- out of those snapping mandibles. A small scratch is all that she has to show for her narrow escape. "You could have killed me!" she tells her shadow.

    By the look on her face, one might catch the moment when it occurs to 'Not-Maria' that this might have been the intention.

    "I'm fine!" she assures Joker. "Just a scratch!"

    She has to keep her eyes on the enemy before her, but it still doesn't stop her from glancing back over her shoulder and calling for the AI that wears her grandfather's face, "Well-- my grandpa was never as cruel as you...!" But has she already forgotten with his demise that he'd said the same things? More gently, yes. With all the best intentions in the world, yes. Girls don't play baseball...

    "Watanabe-san, I'm okay!"

    Wait. Maria falls silent, thinking this over, just as Phoenix calls out to her. Did she show up to save Maria? "Phoenix-san! Actually, I'm--" Wait.

    She realizes, then, that no one here can tell that's her. "Oh, um, call me..."

    maria_math.gif

    "...Cherry! Call me 'Cherry'!" She throws up a 'V' with her fingers sideways, right in front of her eyes. "I'm your super-cute superhero!"

    And, on that note, as Phoenix's power sinks into her body like a warming flame, 'Cherry' pulls off her mask to summon her own Persona in a burst of blue flame. "Artemisia, to me! Let's speed them all up, okay?"

    Manifesting at her side, her Persona spins in a pirouette, her shawl of cables dancing to an unheard tune. May everyone else's reflexes be as fine-tuned!

AS: Take! Maria Sakurai takes 0 Almighty damage from Tsubasa Seki's Matarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!
AS: Persona! Maria Sakurai has used the Almighty skill Masukukaja on Maria Sakurai, Ren Amamiya, Tsubasa Seki, and Umie
Akabane!
AS: Pressure: Maria Sakurai gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Maria Sakurai takes 0 Almighty damage from Maria Sakurai's Masukukaja.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Take! Tsubasa Seki takes 0 Almighty damage from Maria Sakurai's Masukukaja.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Almighty damage from Maria Sakurai's Masukukaja.
AS: Spd_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

Shinobu meets Ayame's look, and she nods. Right now that's the best support she can offer, when everyone's frozen and a daunting choice lies before Maria. A choice that Maria weighs - and then turns the gun on the CEO. Shinobu smirks, briefly proud.

...But then, a little pink menace appears.

"...Ah, hell. It's Jerri." Shinobu says the name like a swear. Shinobu can hear the venom dripping from her words. She doesn't know what she does, but she can see Maria's reaction.

"H-hey, Sakurai, are you alright?" Shinobu calls out. But Maria declares that the old woman isn't her grandmother. Shinobu looks her way - and it only takes a moment with her out of view for a change to occur. Maria is gone, with a visored vigilante in her place - and the old woman's face melts away, revealing... Maria's?

Shinobu does a double-take, and frowns as she listens as the two go back and forth. And then, there's that machine - that digitalized representation of her grandfather...

"...I'm not gonna claim to know the full story. But, Sakurai's still young. Kid's gonna make mistakes, but they've got time to learn and grow from 'em, too. It's the job of us adults to give 'em the opportunity to do that. So butt out, got it?" Shinobu comments. "When all you wanna do is control them, the only thing you're gonna get is a puppet."

And the AI shuddenly shifts to fury. Clawed hands lash out with monofilament wires. Shinobu can move again. She flexes her arms experimentally... and then sweeps out with her staff to redirect the attack.

"Maybe some things are better off smashed and broken. It's the only way you can pick up the pieces and put them back together better next time." Shinobu replies. "...And we're gonna start with you! Times have changed, old man. If you're going to get in the way of the youth, you're obsolete!"

She stands ready, resting her staff across the shoulders.

"What she said! We'll take care of things on this end, Phantom Thieves. You deal with the Shadow." Shinobu says - and then rushes in. As Ayame brings in gravity distortions, Shinobu thrusts her staff forward toward the AI with a series of rapid jabs.

"Thanks for the heads-up!" Shinobu says to Ririka, and then offers Shinjiro a brief grin. "Good fighting alongside you again, Aragaki. I'd ask how you're doin', but this isn't the best time."

She looks between Ririka and Aigis - and then double-takes at the latter. ...She'll think about that later.

"Look after him for me, alright?"

AS: Weapon! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Jab Flurry on Y45U-M454! 3 Hits!
AS: Aggression: Shinobu Shimizu gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    The worst part with being frozen is Umie's realization that nail on her right index finger is *still* chipped, and her thumb cannot do a thing to remedy it.

    That this coincides with Jerri's arrival cannot be a coincidence. "Ms. Rotisserie Chicken over here thinks she's got a point to make," Umie says, lips and tone spread in a deadpan manner, as Jerri arrives. "... It's a real shame we have to suffer through it."

    Yet, this is *not* what happens; the battlefield changes quickly, foes melt and transform, and chaos throws the room into freefall.

    The Badb in her revels in it; Umie can feel it in the way her heart beats, her eyes widen, and her voice lifts. Also, *she can move*.

    "My, my," Umie coos, as she ducks underneath the first blade of sound. "You're showing your true face." The second catches the edge of her jacket's hood, whipping it back with a clip of blonde hair and a flash of blood, and the third, her shoulder, throwing her back.

     And what is this shadow's true face, one may ask? _Umie does not know (quite yet)_.

    Her thumb rubs over the clipped nail. Rub rub. It fails to change anything, but...

    Umie's lips instantly curl in a sharp smile, with just a touch of white teeth. ".... Theeere we go..."

    The shortt blonde raises the hoop of her weapon, holding it in place as she splays her red nails wide, "Don't you know? It's bad luck to see the Badb."
    
    The grey-black feathers of the Badb rise from Umie, a bone-rattling *shriek* announcing the arrival of the pale-skinned woman in red and grey.

    "_I'd watch it_."
    
    Glancing back towards her teammates (plus one), Umie doubles back, keeping close by them.

    "I'm... just playing it by ear," Umie quietly indicates to Phoenix, tugging the hood of her jacket down. Noting the fear in Phoenix's tone, she reaffirms her resolve, donning a calm countenance as she sharply tips her chin towards the Phantom Thief. "I trusted many of those people over there quite a few times. They'll be able to handle it."

    Joker asks if they're fine, and Umie shoots him a concerned look, eyes flicking to their wound, and then up. "I'm fine, but your--" She hesitates, remembering again what role Joker is playing here, and bobs her head in a simple nod.
     
    "Mask-san? Or... Cherry." Umie keeps her stage whisper as low as she can, while poking the bladed end of her weapon towards Maria. "Can you give us a han--"

    'I'm your super-cute superhero!'

    "....." Umie stands there, dazed, as Phoenix and 'Cherry's' buffs level over her.

AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Bad Moon Rising on Shadow Penguin!
AS: Umie Akabane takes 45 damage from Stress!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Shadow Penguin takes 0 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Bad Moon Rising. Resist!
AS: Omen added!
AS: Block Best! Y45U-M454 takes 123 Strike damage from Shinjiro Aragaki's Bash. Weak!
AS: Block Best! Y45U-M454 takes 54 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 98 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Best! Y45U-M454 takes 30 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Jab Flurry. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.

    As Shadow Maria appears and registers in her sensors, Aigis nigh-instantly snaps her arm to point in her direction. The swiftness of her response isn't guided by any vehemence for Shadows; the reflex is simply in accordance with her programming. The back-and-forth between whether the Shadow is or is not actually this person only briefly gives her pause -- she cannot hesitate when it comes to eliminating Shadows, even if she risks hurting someone else in the process.

    The exact particulars of the situation evade her. That 'Cherry' person seems to have saved Maria and magicked her off to safety somehow, but now extraction is going to be a problem. (She hasn't seen Maria's face prior to this, either, so she's especially in the dark when it comes to some of the finer details.)

    Then the true Sovereign reveals himself. Aigis swivels to face him instead. "This reading ... you are dangerous."

    She shakes her head before she calmly replies to his statements. "I believe you are slightly mistaken about my own nature. Still, it is true that everyone requires at least some amount of guidance when they are new to the world. However, is it not their ..." Aigis falters for a moment as she corrects herself -- this must include her too, right? " -- our destiny to leave the nest?"

    It's inevitable; she'll outlive her own creators. Maybe not today, but one day, she'll have to figure out how to operate on her own.

    One thing Y45U-M454 says strikes a raw nerve, causing Aigis' face to flicker with a rare flash of outright anger. "I am not 'garbage,'" she retorts. "You will find that I am in perfectly functional order. All of my systems are operating at nominal capacity." She's so incensed (despite how she just sounds a notch more stern than normal, this is 'incensed' for Aigis) that she's too prideful to move to a safer vantage point as the filament wire shaves away at her chassis --

    -- okay, if the AI Sovereign can make that deep of a cut in her, maybe she should try to keep a hold on her own emotions. Re-evaluating priorities.

    It turns out, Tsubasa, that when she spoke of how she was 'designed' herself, she was being exceedingly literal. Even her Persona is mechanical in nature as the statuesque "Palladion!" drops down into existence with a heavy thud, then opens up several compartments to reveal the weapon it really is.

    The weapon she really is. Aigis fires several shots from her fingers, though these are only meant to maintain space and discourage close combat. It's just to buy time while Palladion emits twin pulses of red and blue to extend its blessings and protection to the others fighting Y45U along with her.

AS: Persona! Aigis has used the Recovery skill Spear and Shield on Shinjiro Aragaki, Ririka Kawase, Ayame Watanabe, and
Shinobu Shimizu!
AS: Pressure: Aigis gains 1 Limit!
AS: Aigis regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Recovery healing from Aigis's Spear and Shield.
AS: Atk_Up and Def_Up added!
AS: Take! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 0 Recovery healing from Aigis's Spear and Shield.
AS: Atk_Up and Def_Up added!
AS: Take! Ayame Watanabe takes 0 Recovery healing from Aigis's Spear and Shield.
AS: Atk_Up and Def_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Shadow Penguin has posed.

It is a confusing, chaotic mess that arises in this orderly Kingdom. How quickly a place of law devolves into anarchy.

"Too late. You made another STUPID MISTAKE!" She tells Cherry with no small amount of rancor. "Now the only way to correct it is to REMOVE all of them from our life!"

"That's exactly it. I'm here to protect her..." Before her face becomes a wild grin of glee at Phoenix's statement, "... from YOU!" From her back, red razor wire like cords stretch forth and Phoenix has the uncomfortable realization they're surrounding them. "RAWRRRRRRR!" The cords collapse inwards, trying to catch Phoenix in the middle of the hellish surrounds.

"I'm going to cut ALL of you rebellious little twits out of my life! Before everything gets worse than it ALREADY IS!"

Joker knows not what is happening, only the threat in front of him, and the friends at his side.
 
Arsene appears, and Shadow Maria's speed and agility are suddenly sapped from it.

She cackles, murderously, "Ahahaha-HAHAHAHA! What a shame, you're actually kind of cute." Slashing at the air sends razor sharp projectiles at Joker, gouging the wall behind him deeply, "Not that it matters."

'You're showing your true face.'

"Heh heh- it was always there. I've always been like this on the INSIDE! It's why we're HERE! Because I just can't figure out how to keep it to MYSELF!"

The Shriek of Badb leaves behind it's impression, but the power causes a strange reaction from Shadow Maria. As it leaves its mark upon them.

The Shadow's eyes turn a stark red. "LET'S SEE WHAT YOUR INSIDES LOOK LIKE!" As she leaps suddenly towards Umie, one spindly hand trying to wrap around her and slam her to the wall, right before trying to skewer.

Shinjiro curses at the AI, and Shadow Maria whirls on him, "Don't talk to my GRANDFATHER like that you little shit! He's a better man than you'll ever be!" This version may not be a man at all, but it hardly matters here, in this place. "MY future can only be better under his guidance! I won't let anyone take him from me EVER AGAIN!"

Abyss of Despair - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZo0BJzvf40

"Cherry." The Shadow Maria repeats, with a certain derision. "What a stupid name. Of course you came up with it." And the cybernetic horror throws out a doll of Maria Sakurai, in perfect articulated detail, as two red cords extend in the air, crossing about it in an X.

Then she runs it through with a finger, as it sprays red in a silhouette, Cherry feels it, like a nail straight to her soul.

"Superhero!? You think this is some kind of GAME?! LET ME SHOW YOU HOW REAL THIS IS!"

AS: Persona! Shadow Penguin has used the Slash skill There Will Be Blood on Tsubasa Seki!
AS: Persona! Shadow Penguin has used the Slash skill Raving Cut on Ren Amamiya!
AS: Persona! Shadow Penguin has used the Dark skill Hell Hath No Fury on Umie Akabane! 2 Hits!
AS: Aggression: Shadow Penguin gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Ren Amamiya takes 0 Almighty damage from Maria Sakurai's Masukukaja.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Persona! Shadow Penguin has used the Dark skill Mudoon on Maria Sakurai!
AS: Counter Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 66 Dark damage from Shadow Penguin's Hell Hath No Fury. Resist!
AS: COUNTER! Shadow Penguin takes 16 Dark damage in return for their attack! Resist!
AS: You have 1 more attack in queue!
AS: Avoid Neutral! Tsubasa Seki takes 45 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's There Will Be Blood.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Umie Akabane takes 14 Dark damage from Shadow Penguin's Hell Hath No Fury. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Avoid Worst! Ren Amamiya takes 89 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Raving Cut. Critical Hit!
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Recovery healing from Aigis's Spear and Shield.
AS: Atk_Up and Def_Up added!
AS: Block Worst! Maria Sakurai takes 136 Dark damage from Shadow Penguin's Mudoon. Resist!
AS: Panic added!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.

    Phoenix understandably is unnerved by what is apparently the true Sovereign of this Kingdom--that controlling old AI man, whose stripe of garbage nonsense sounds disgustingly familiar. Even as Phoenix backs away, though, Ayame calls out that she, her sister, and the members of SEES will handle Y45U-M454.
    
    "Very well. We leave the Sovereign to you all!" they call to her, Shinjiro, Aigis, Ririka, and Shinobu. They glance at their fellow Phantom Thief, intimidated into hanging back for a moment to boost their side of the room's strength with a Matarukaja spell. "No need to explain," they reassure them. ...They've met Hanzo. Only once, yes, but that's more than enough. They get it--all too well.
    
    What are they doing, though, as a team? Joker may not understand what's going on, but they hear a request for direction from The Leader when they hear it, and that helps them regain their mental footing too.
    
    "If this is anything like a Palace, then that Shadow must be a reflection of her inner self--but distorted, like a funhouse mirror. Once we defeat it, we should be able to convince it to return to Maria Sakurai, where it belongs," Joker declares, projecting their deep voice so everyone can hear. (They have no idea if it will work like that or not, or if they're even right. This is clearly not a Palace; they don't know how the rules are different. But it's all about projecting confidence to their rattled friend.) "We shall subdue it--but be sure not to slay it!"
    
    Not!Maria--or rather, Cherry, as she introduces herself--says she's doing fine, and calls up her own Persona to speed up the group with a Masukukaja. "A pleasure to fight alongside you, Cherry," they say with a brief smirk of approval at her cheery self-introduction. (Cherry, like the sakura in Sakurai. This will not occur to him, any more than it occurred to them that 'a Persona User suddenly appearing to save an unpowered person' was very similar to how Phoenix debuted to the world. Cognition!) Between her and Phoenix, they feel their muscles strengthened and refined.
    
    "I am Joker, and that is Phoenix," they continue, nodding over to their friend. Umie... well, she's wearing a mask and does not actually have a codename. They'll let her introduce herself when she gets her mental bearings back.
    
    On which note, Umie's cut-off concern gets a shake of the head. They're still injured, but they all are. (They do raise their eyebrows when Shadow Maria calls them 'kind of cute.' That sure is a thing that happened. (For a split-second, they wish Akechi were here to hear and get annoyed by it. Just as well he's not, though.)) They're about to all get more injured as Shadow Maria vents her spleen on their spleens, enacting a murderous violence through their side of the room as she launches projectiles at them. They sweep nimbly from side to side to avoid getting outright impaled--but their injuries slow them down, and for a moment, they're pinned as the projectiles pierce through their coat and deep into the wall.
    
    Their eyes narrow. They noticed that Badb's shriek was less effective on Shadow Maria than they all might like--not ineffective, but clearly it has a resistance to the Dark that is her province. Considering it's Arsène's as well, that's a problem... or it would be, if not for a trick up their sleeve.
    
    Joker flashes a razor-sharp grin. "You're right. It doesn't matter. Whatever distortion of Maria Sakurai you might be..." They flick their gloved hands off their mask, and once again, Arsène arises, cackling silently as they send forth power to break Shadow Maria's resistance to to their native element--theirs and Umie's, which will set /her/ up for a fine one-two Curse punch. "...we all have rage within! It need not define us!"

AS: Persona! Ren Amamiya has used the Almighty skill Dark Break on Shadow Penguin!
AS: Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!
AS: Take! Shadow Penguin takes 0 Almighty damage from Ren Amamiya's Dark Break.
AS: Dark_Break added!

AS: Ren Amamiya spends Limit on Shift! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Y45U-M454 has posed.

    "This generation you're fighting for is broken," Y45U-M454 sneers with hissing static as Atropos tries to bring down a tremendous pulling force, but the clawed hands raise in defiance with only a violent twitching in the right hand as it dips - briefly - before righting itself to the height it desires.
 
     "Your 'grandfather' is either a fabrication or a soft, lazy man who would let a vase shatter and leave the pieces in disarray!" This man - or this manifestation of a memory of a man - could never understand any other way. A victim of his own programming - and a conveniently occupied victim of a well-placed Full Analysis. (It feels like he's weak to a lot of... colors?)
 
     "You, young man, one day you'd come to understand when you have grandchildren of your own," Y45U-M454 scolds as the cords wrap uselessly around Shinjiro's weapon only to be able to guide that hand up against the projection, causing it to glitch and spin out in a way not so different from just punching a guy in the face hard enough. Stray pixels fall out like bloody spittle when Castor meets with an extended clawed hand to try and catch him, violently pushing it back and crashing it into the wall.
 
     "...Listen to her," Y45U-M454 calls, as Shadow Maria defends his honor. "Listen to her! That is my granddaughter... an obedient doll of a beautiful, unbroken, unscarred young woman... she won't end up like her mother!"
 
     Shinobu, rightfully, calls out the desire to control people like puppets - they've all seen what this horrid Kingdom is doing to its denizens, especially those who break under duress or circumstance beyond their control - making good on Shinjiro's openings by jabbing violently at the other hand just as it might be thinking of swinging again, violently keeping it pushed back.
 
     "And you speak as you will never grapple with this, watching your own daughters fall apart and bring dishonor to those who spent all this time preparing them...!!"
 
     Aigis, uniquely, seems to speak on an existential level between this metaphorical all-knowing, infalliable AI construct of a dead man versus a living artificial being of mind, heart, and will enough to wield a Persona. "Then you understand what you are doing is unlike how those of your stature should act," the clawed hands shake themselves out, the crossbars' threads disentangling themselves as they ready anew.
 
     "You will not strike back at your elders, your betters!" A harsh commandment, and againt a psyche of those who have already made up their mind this Sovereign is beneath them, a contradiction - a Logic Bomb, one might say - as globules of streaming data and logic rush into Shinjiro and Shinobu.
 
     "You will be made to behave!" Another snap from Y45U-M454, bearing down upon Ayame with subtractive palette energies muted into grayscales but the psionic forces no less overbearing for it, lead with a hardened glare towards her.
 
     "I'll take that bratty thoughts away from you," a gesture with one clawed hand as the extremely tiny hands at the end of the attached threads wiggle and whirl hypnotically towards Ririka.
 
     "And you... no, you could still show them a perfect, spotless, obedient, beautiful doll..." Eyes flicker, and the cords seem to snap forth towards Aigis as electricity runs through them, a brief connection attempting to be made as to shock the Anti-Shadow weapon into submission. As he draws them back, a shimmer runs through his troubled, glitching face as it seems to start to turn more translucent, less... reachable, beyond the glow of his eyes as a reminder of the distance between them... and the comparative length of his reach.

AS: Persona! Y45U-M454 has used the Almighty skill Logic Bomb on Shinjiro Aragaki and Shinobu Shimizu!
AS: Ruin: Y45U-M454 gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Y45U-M454 has used the Elec skill Furious Psi on Ayame Watanabe! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Y45U-M454 has used the Almighty skill Mafui on Ririka Kawase!
AS: Persona! Y45U-M454 has used the Elec skill Shock on Aigis! 2 Hits!
AS: Persona! Y45U-M454 has used the Recovery skill Cybernetic Cloak on Y45U-M454!
AS: Take! Y45U-M454 takes 0 Recovery healing from Y45U-M454's Cybernetic Cloak.
AS: Cloak added!
AS: Ren Amamiya spends Limit on Shift! Maria Sakurai can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Block Best! Ayame Watanabe takes 8 Elec damage from Y45U-M454's Furious Psi.
AS: Avoid Best! Ayame Watanabe takes 6 Elec damage from Y45U-M454's Furious Psi. Avoid Elec!
AS: Block Worst! Ayame Watanabe takes 23 Elec damage from Y45U-M454's Furious Psi.
AS: Block Neutral! Aigis takes 55 Elec damage from Y45U-M454's Shock. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Best! Aigis takes 40 Elec damage from Y45U-M454's Shock. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Take! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Y45U-M454's Logic Bomb.
AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Almighty damage from Y45U-M454's Logic Bomb.
AS: Take! Ririka Kawase takes 0 Almighty damage from Y45U-M454's Mafui.
AS: Panic and Sick added!

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.

Broken, Y45U-M454 says, and deflects Ayame's spell. Ayame narrows her eyes. "Not yet they aren't. They're still baking!"

That's... a lot of colors.

Shinjiro is gruff, and he speaks like he's done and witnessed some very dark things. ...he also uses bad language. But he seems sturdy, and he's part of the other group. ...Luckily it's not her first time seeing an Evoker...

Ririka calls out the weaknesses and strengths of the target, and Ayame nods. "I can do that!" she calls. Maria--no, Cherry!!--calls out that she's fine, and that's good at least. "Then we'll save Sakurai together!"

Shinobu returned her look earlier, but now, Shinobu is supporting Maria--and working with them. Fighting alongside her sister again...

It's stressful, but not bad.

"Right!" she calls. "Go, Shinobu-chan!" She pumps her non-sword fist. "Smash him!"

Aigis asks about destiny, and Ayame smiles, though it's a little bittersweet. "We never want you to leave too soon," she admits. "But one day..."

Red and blue pulses; Ayame finds herself feeling stronger, and she calls, "Thank you!"

Bringing dishonor...

Subtractive energies bear down against her, and Ayame lifts her sword to block, darting to the side to get past another--before the last hits hard. "Gh--"

"I will not!" Ayame calls. "MY daughters would be proud to know their aunt is standing against something like you!"

"Dishonor... That's just another word for your child finding their own way! And I won't let you rob this precious girl of her chance!"

Ririka said Darkness would work. Which means...

"Atropos!" she calls. Atropos whirls into being once again, and whirls of terrible cursed runes erupt around and around the AI.

"Shinobu-chan! You're up!"

AS: Ayame Watanabe spends Limit on Shift! Shinobu Shimizu can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! Ayame Watanabe has used the Dark skill Maeiha on Y45U-M454!
AS: Ruin: Ayame Watanabe gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    "Stop it!" Phoenix yells, when Shadow Maria declares the only way to fix everything is to cut out the rot. "You'll never stop cuttin', will ya?!"

    But she's here to protect her from them, Shadow Maria says -- and Phoenix squarks as they see those cords whipping out, leaping backwards to avoid the worst hug of their life. (That's most hugs, according to Phoenix.) The cords tangle around their great Spanish greatsword, instead, and they're yanked after it for a terrible moment before they manage to claw back their footing and wrench their blade free. "Tch... look, I get it! I ain't a good guy!" They say, and perhaps it makes sense, when their advice to Maria was to selfishly steal all they were owed. "But sometimes she don't need a good guy lookin' out for her! She wanted me to be--!"

    Joker says that the Shadow is her distorted self... and Phoenix scowls, beneath their mask. "Yo... you mean that's seriously Sakurai-san's...? But she's not..." She's not a bad person, Joker might be able to fill in the blanks, based on the scepticism they've held before. "... man, this is so fucked up," they shake their head, grasping their blade again. "But it's jus' like ya say, Boss. We'll kick her ass!"

    Phoenix, as it happens, is completely unaware that Cherry's just pulled the same trick Phoenix pulled saving Tsubasa, when they awakened. "Cherry! Alright!" Phoenix nods, sternly, to her cheerful 'V'. "We can use a superhero right 'bout now. Me friend Maria Sakurai, she's in trouble! This fuckin', Shadow Maria... we gotta kick her ass to save her, but if we kill her, it's game over, man!"

    They take a moment to stare at Aigis, though, when they hear her talking about her 'systems'... and realise that she's some kind of weird MECHANICAL GIRL?! "This some Android Eight shit?!" They yelp, invoking one of their animes, even though anime's not real, Phoenix.

    (... 'an obedient doll of a beautiful, unbroken, unscarred young woman...' Phoenix heard it; in the same breath, they feel it, deep to their bones, the reason why they can't just give Joker and their friends clearance to find Hanzou's Palace.)

    "Swords ain't cuttin' it!" Phoenix snaps, only to pause... "god DAMNIT!"... and shake their head, as they toss their greatsword aside (where it ceases existing) in favour of pulling something massive from their cloak. "That weren't on purpose," they grouse, as they load a massive shell into it. "But this is. EAT ROCKET LAUNCHER, YA FREAK!"

    They're blown off their own feet by the explosion; they can only hope it will be just as effective on the business end.

AS: Weapon! Tsubasa Seki has used the Pierce skill Rocket Launcher on Shadow Penguin!
AS: Aggression: Tsubasa Seki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tsubasa Seki regains 8 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Avoid Best! Shadow Penguin takes 47 Pierce damage from Tsubasa Seki's Rocket Launcher.

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

Shinjiro strikes in, but Y45U-M45A counters, both by forcing Castor and Shinjiro back. But that hurts less than what he says.

Grandchildren of your own.

Shinjiro staggers, a weight sinking into his shoulders. It gives the AI time to send off that logic bomb, stagger him back further. Shinjiro grimaces sharply, everything he's lost hitting him once again.

Suzume told him he was lucky. He forgives her for that, but he can't be lucky. Not when he'll never have a legacy, never leave anything behind. He's going to be forgotten someday.

...but Maria won't. He may not know her, but so many people are fighting for her. They believe in her, so he will, too.

"You're *wrong*. Betters? Elders? I don't give a shit about that. She, her friends, they have futures, and they're going to see them through! You...?"

He grins, but it isn't happy. It's an *angry* grin, more like a bare of teeth.

"YOU'RE JUST A RELIC OF THE PAST HAUNTING THE LIVING!"

It takes one to know one, as Shinjiro fires the Evoker again. Castor empowers, and swipes at that Logic Bomb, smashing it into pieces, before charging forth, spreading a wicked aura over Y4YU-M454, weakening it to strikes.

And then, Shinjiro whistles. "Now, let's send you to where you belong... HELL!"

Castor stampedes forward, another strike that probably shouldn't be taken head-on. The difference here?

The ground cracks beneath. A shockwave blasts out, as Castor picks up speed and leaps up, moving to *trample* over the AI and stomp on those hands to damage them!

AS: Shinjiro Aragaki spends Limit on Exploit! Shinjiro Aragaki can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! Shinjiro Aragaki has used the Almighty skill Guard Buster on Y45U-M454!
AS: Pressure: Shinjiro Aragaki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Shinjiro Aragaki has used the Strike skill Black Spot on Y45U-M454!
AS: Shinjiro Aragaki regains 15 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 157 Dark damage from Ayame Watanabe's Maeiha. Weak!
AS: Blast added! Paralyze removed! Explosion! 75 damage!
AS: Take! Y45U-M454 takes 0 Almighty damage from Shinjiro Aragaki's Guard Buster.
AS: Strike_Break added!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 297 Strike damage from Shinjiro Aragaki's Black Spot. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

"Right on, Nee-san." Shinobu replies with a grin, as Ayame encourages her. She's concerned about Ayame too, of course... but it is nice knowing they still have each other's backs, even in situations like this.

Aigis is firing bullets out of her fingers. ...So Shinobu's first reaction was the correct one. Everything she said... so it wasn't just metaphor, huh? She has a Persona, too - one which emits pulses of red and blue. Shinobu can feel the strength fill her.

"Thanks!" Shinobu offers her way. "Now let's wreck 'im."

The Sovereign retorts. As if she'll never grapple with this... A smug smirk crosses Shinobu's face. Oh, he's the kind who thinks like that, is he?

"Joke's on you. Having kids isn't exactly in my future. Process that, asshole." Shinobu replies with a shrug. Ayame's own refutation buoys her. "...And even if I did, if my kids fell apart, I'd be there to support 'em and help them pull themselves back together. Not stand apart and shake my head at them. But what do I know, right? My sister knows what's up, at least."

Y45U-M454 issues a command, and streams of data and logic rush at her. She feels that sudden pull - she should put down her weapon, she shouldn't strike at her elders, her betters...

"...Screw that." Shinobu replies through gritted teeth, as she forces herself forward. Ayame is counting her to follow up, after all.

"Lachesis!" Shinobu calls out. A hooded woman appears behind her, bearing a measuring staff. She levels it at Y45U-M454, taking his measure. And then there's a pulse. He's angry - and Shinobu seeks to stoke that rage further, if such a thing is possible for the AI.

...Because through that rage, it might make it harder to recognise what else lie within that pulse - a weakning aura, sapping one's physical strength.

Shinobu makes sure there's little time to recognise it by rushing in right after, her staff spinning wildly.

AS: Persona! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Almighty skill Goading Break on Y45U-M454!
AS: Weapon! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Spinning Staff on Y45U-M454! 3 Hits!
AS: Aggression: Shinobu Shimizu gains 1 Limit!

<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.

    A perfect, unscarred, beautiful granddaughter--

    Maria, or rather, Cherry, grimaces, shaking her head. "I can't stand it! My mother-- my mother is just fine! I'm just fine!" Alas, she has her own battle to fight, however much the Sovereign with her grandfather's face seems to want to sink talons into her very soul with those words. "Watanabe-san! I'll-- leave it to you! Please, get rid of them!"

    Can she give them a han--
    "Sure!" bubbles Cherry, even if Umie didn't quite finish her sentence there.

    "And it's good to meet you too! Joker-san, yeah!" she cheers pumping a fist with her left hand.

    "Right! I'm on it! I'll save her, too! Don't worry!" she tells Phoenix. "I'm not going to die!" Cherry pauses, panic crossing her face. "Um, I mean... she won't die!" nailed it

    "We're all in this fight together! I'm not leaving unless everyone can leave!" she declares, angling her bladed polearm at her own Shadow. "And besides, I can't just let this faker do what she wants with my face-- um, Maria's face!" ...No yobisute for Maria? Perhaps it's fine...

    "Shut up!" she tells her own Shadow in the next breath. "You don't get to decide who lives or dies!" Even if that's something Maria herself tried to do-- she tried to make it right, didn't she? Even if she can't undo it, she had tried to take responsibility for it. This person stealing her face certainly hasn't! ...Isn't there something a little too familiar about that...

    Is it just stupidity, or does 'Cherry' really not recognize her own worst traits?

    "Stop it!" she shouts at her Shadow, as it targets Phoenix and Joker, and the woman in the bird mask (Umie), who are all people who had tried to save her last time she'd made a mistake. "If you want to punish someone, punish me! I'll take you on myself--"

    Her Shadow (that faker!!) calls Joker 'kind of cute'. This, for just a moment at least, gives Cherry pause. She'll think about this more late, particularly the ramifications thereof for her Shadow to be flirting mid-battle.

    "--What? It's a great name! It's cute, and it's-- oops," Cherry says, almost giving the meaning of it away. 'Sakura' means 'Cherry blossom' and...
    ...and her Shadow might just have a point, here.

    But the fact that it undercuts that statement with a curse driven upon Cherry's very essence, well. "Gh--" she utters, doubling over as the shockwaves of the dark curse, mediated by Artemisia's presence as they are, still punch home with all the force of a wooden nail. "That-- hurt, you know!" she shouts at her Shadow.

    They all have rage inside them? "..." Maria breathes, at a loss for words just for the moment. So it's... normal. Fine, even.

    "Hey, Artemisia," she says, reaching out her hand for her Persona. "Let's do it together. Okay?"

    And she runs, right for her own Shadow, Artemisia in flight keeping pace with her the entire time. She swinges her bladed polearm for her Shadow once in a diagonal arc, darkness crackling down the length of her weapon. Artemisia answers it with her own blade in the opposite direction, light shining the length of her short sword.

    "Taaaaake, this!" she cries out, as the attack slams inwards. Cherry ducks back, brandishing her weapon before her; Artemisia doesn't follow.

    "Did you think I was finished? Take this, too!"

    Spinning once, Artemisia tosses an explosion of dark petals for the Shadow.

AS: Tandem! Maria Sakurai has used the Dark skill Chiaroscuro on Shadow Penguin! 2 Hits!
AS: Maria Sakurai takes 90 damage from Panic!
AS: Pressure: Maria Sakurai gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Maria Sakurai has used the Dark skill Eiha on Shadow Penguin!
AS: Block Worst! Shadow Penguin takes 60 Dark damage from Maria Sakurai's Chiaroscuro. Resist!
AS: Panic added!
AS: Block Neutral! Shadow Penguin takes 61 Dark damage from Maria Sakurai's Chiaroscuro. Critical Hit! Resist!
AS: Block Worst! Shadow Penguin takes 54 Dark damage from Maria Sakurai's Eiha. Resist!
AS: Blast added!

<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.

    Ren recives a nod and "Understood!" from Aigis. No need to tell her twice.

    Aigis, in turn, curiously glances back over to Tsubasa. "I am an android; that much is accurate. However, no part of my designation contains an 'eight'."

    As they pull out a rocket launcher, she has to wonder if they're an android, too ... no, they register as biological in nature, do they not?

    She tilts her head to Ayame in confusion for a moment, but then realizes, "Oh, you did not mean me specifically, but you were speaking in a more general sense. You must be a parent, yourself. I comprehend."

    Y45U is correct, to some extent, when he said 'what you are doing is unlike how those of your stature should act'. He perceives it as some rebellion against him and her elders, her betters, but in truth, she is heeding the instructions of a different master. He's just not included in that group.

    'And you... no, you could still show them a perfect, spotless, obedient, beautiful doll...'

    That's what she is, through and through. The perfect soldier, the perfect weapon.

    And that's the entire problem.

    Just look at where it got her! Guilt, shame, and battle damage to the tune of disrepair for the better part of a decade. All this talk of perfection when Y45U clearly demonstrates that the design of her creators has fatal flaws; case in point, her vulnerability to electricity right here! Aigis screams in agonizing pain as she's left too immobilized to muster a counterattack of her own.

    ... no. That's what she was. Those are the limitations which she must exceed. The way they made her wasn't good enough. Her design specifications are not strict guidelines, they are confines.

    Something new flickers in her eyes as she steels her resolve again. While she may still be recovering from the shock, she can still stand as a symbol of inspiration. Palladion, ever the battle standard, pulses yellow with a boon meant for Shinjiro. "Aragaki-san. Give him hell."

AS: Aigis spends Limit on Shift! Shinjiro Aragaki can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! Aigis has used the Almighty skill Rebellion on Shinjiro Aragaki!
AS: Aigis regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 0 Almighty damage from Aigis's Rebellion.
AS: Crt_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

The new Persona User that definitely isn't Maria identifies herself. "Thanks for the help, Cherry-san!" Ririka calls.

There is... an awful lot of information that comes back, nad Ririka struggles to process it all. "I'm gettiung..." Ririka frowns. "... colors...?" Quietly to hersef she mouths, 'Why am I hearing colors?' She shakes her head and adjusts. "He resists Fire, Electricity, Earth!" Bad news for her.

"But he's weak to... Strike, Water, Light, and Dark!" Deep breath, and... "Be careful, hsi Electric attacks are strong--" (still bad news for her) "--and... watchout for his ailments--he'll try to inflict multiple at once."

And a nod for Shinobu. "Got it, Shimizu-san! We'll keep an eye out for him. And I'll support all of you as best as I can!"

But Aigis covers buffing all of them to aid their attacks and defense. "Thank you, Aigis-chan!" she calls.

Broken. Ririka scowls. "Hey, ojii-san." It's not polite. "Speaking as a member of this generation--screw you! We're gonna make the world better in ways you never dreamed of!"

aRirka blinks as those threads start to whirlm staggering back and trying to shake her head, but she's suddenly not feeling so hot. "Ugh... what the hell..."

"C'mon, focus." Ririka gestures for Amphion. "Speaking of--let's get everyone riled up! Ampion! Do your think!"

The Persona plays--and this will take a toll on her, but she grits her teeth through it--fingers rapidly flitting across the strings of his golden lyre as srings of energizing music flow out to encircle and amp up Ayame, Shinobu, Shinjiro, and Aigis.

AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Recovery skill Victory Song on Aigis, Shinjiro Aragaki, Shinobu Shimizu, and
Ayame Watanabe!
AS: Ririka Kawase takes 90 damage from Panic!
AS: Insight: Ririka Kawase gains 1 Limit!
AS: Ririka Kawase: Loses 8 SP and TP from Sick!
AS: Take! Ayame Watanabe takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Take! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Take! Shinobu Shimizu takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Spd_Up added!
AS: Ririka Kawase spends Limit on Shift! Ayame Watanabe can use another Weak skill this round!  They both receive 8 SP
and 30 HP!
AS: Take! Aigis takes 0 Recovery healing from Ririka Kawase's Victory Song.
AS: Crt_Up added!
AS: Take! Y45U-M454 takes 0 Almighty damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Goading Break.
AS: Block Neutral! Y45U-M454 takes 94 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 74 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. Weak!
AS: Block Best! Y45U-M454 takes 44 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Spinning Staff. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    "We all have the parts of ourselves we hide," the young woman says, glancing back towards Phoenix. "I guess, whatever that overgrown piece of limp Karaage did managed to collect those parts into this... whatever."

    Her lips purse briefly at Phoenix's cut-off sentence. Maybe, a lot of them found some part of their own story in Maria's own, rather than just Umie herself. "..." Behind the starry mask, her expression softens.

    Maybe, she can trust Phoenix on more than just Joker's suggestion to go ask them. (or how Phoenix shoulder-checked her out of the way of a speeding legionnaire train, but that'll take more time for her shoulder to stop aching.)
    
    ..... oh no Cherry needs names, Umie is not ready for this

    For a moment, all Umie's face can imagine is Kurou hands and face, as he goes 'piko-piko', or Maria's expression when she called Umie 'Superumie'. ".... Mitsuhide?" There's a brief concerned look towards Joker and Phoenix. ".... We, er... the Kuzunoha Agency uses that one," she tries to share, under her breath. Tamaki made it sound so intelligent...

    The blonde's expression grows serious at Cherry's words. "Take on all the pain yourself, and you'll hurt people around you," the hypocrite says.
    
    'What a shame, you're actually kind of cute.' "..." Umie's eyes widen briefly. (Well, this puts that one comment from Maria into perspective.) She turns to Joker, a knuckle covering her lips, curious to see his reaction.

    As much as she'd like to tease Joker over it, now is clearly not the time. Especially as Umie's curse leaves its mark on the Shadow.

    The hooded blonde takes one part of Shadow Maria's vicious attack with a *CLANG* of the ring of her kyoketsu-shoge, though that proves less effective than the duck and sidestep maneuver Umie does a moment later.

    Swords aren't cutting it, and Curse isn't either. Umie ponders 'break'ing her assault tactics... but Joker, it seems, proves to be faster on their feet.

    The blonde's eyes glint impishly as Arsène breaks that resistance on Shadow Maria. No stop necessary. "Thank you, Joker-san~"

    .... Don't mind Umie. She's just planning how much room she has to stretch.
    
    ( https://youtu.be/eXfKULfW8ew?si=gxXKOHdjaSGrHMoP&t=23 ) And stretch her wings, the two-bunned devil shall.

    "Badb!" Umie shouts in her next breath, as Cherry attacks. The coy red-lipped smile of the Badb hovers behind her, gesturing out with eerie red-laced claws.
    
    The claws echo the raised hand of 'Mitsuhide', as she gestures out with a half-gloved hand, and crisply snaps.

    "And another!" The assault is puctuated with a wave of shadowy dark, as the blue light ebbs from underneath the young woman.

AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Hooded Smile on Shadow Penguin!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Mudo on Shadow Penguin!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Shadow Penguin takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Hooded Smile.
AS: Charm added! Panic removed! Explosion! 120 damage!
AS: Block Neutral! Shadow Penguin takes 132 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Mudo. Critical Hit! Resist!

<Pose Tracker> Shadow Penguin has posed.

There is a shattering noise as Arsene strips Shadow Maria of her protections against the darker elements. And she narrows her eyes upon Joker. "It DOES define her!" She shouts at Joker, before rushing towards him, and leaping - at Arsene, as those arachnid like mandibles try to sink into the Persona and rip it to pieces. "That's the whole POINT! This self-destructive RAGE of hers needs to be TAMED for her OWN GOOD!"

'Shut up!'
'You don't get to decide who lives or dies!'

"Don't we?! Ahahaha- even NOW you almost pulled the trigger! It didn't even take that much! What happens the next time your boyfriend breaks up with you? Will you grab AN AXE?"

'That--hurt, you know!'

"GOOD! It's the only way you ever LEARN isn't it!? It's going to keep hurting right until you give up and act like you're SUPPOSED TO!"

Badb appears, and the gesture causes Shadow Maria to writhe in agony, "Gah! You little bitch!" Before more Darkness floods her form, when combined with Joker's earlier assault, she reels in pain.

The Grandfather AI praises her 'an obedient doll of a beautiful, unbroken, unscarred young woman.' and she looks Cherry straight in the eye, "Don't you understand, this is what he would have wanted for us! It's something to aspire to be!" She grasps her face, clawing at it, "What man wants to look at their wife and see THIS!? You're only HURTING YOURSELF!"

And that's when Phoenix fires the rocket launcher. It feels for a moment, as if it would hit her head on right in the face. There's a moment of detonation, filling the air full of smoke and heat.

"Just what are you aiming at?"

Look up, Phoenix. There Shadow Maria is, attached to the ceiling, crawling on it like a spider. Then draping down from her feet, she fills the space around Phoenix and Umie with so many furious blood-red slashes, that they might have a difficult time escaping.

"They said it themselves! Freak! FREAK! This is what everyone will say about you IF YOU DON'T WISE UP!"

'YOU'RE JUST A RELIC OF THE PAST HAUNTING THE LIVING!'

Her entire body pivots while hanging upside down.

'Now, let's send you to where you belong... HELL!'

"YOU PIECE OF SHIT! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU!" Her eyes turn a blood red, as she screams in furious desperation, and suddenly she carves through the air, even from a distance, those slashes are aimed right in his back. You're just like everyone else that acts like he was just IN THE WAY! His body was still WARM and everyone was trying to forget he even existed! I'm going to CARVE HIS MEMORY INTO YOUR SKULL!"

And then Cherry comes at her, along with Artemisia, and the Shadow tries to drop down from the ceiling, crossing it's blade like fingers to take the bladed polearm and Artemisia's blade at once, but there's a metallic clang, before several of her bladed fingers are sheared right off and knocks her back into a the board room table, heavily.

Right as that explosion of dark petals consumes them.

"Haha... ha..." The Shadow emerges, chuckling, "Of course you're not... all that anger welling inside of you... it's BOTTOMLESS!"

Tearing herself up from the board room table, there's a rising aura of rage surrounding her, sparking from the cybernetics and circuitry.

No matter how angry she is on the surface, the sheer depths of anger she can't even articulate is so much worse.

Those crimson strands of razor wire come down upon Cherry, upon each side, before- then growing taut to catch her in the middle of the whole mess, and TWISTS to rend them across her and her Persona.

"I know that BETTER THAN ANYONE!"

AS: Persona! Shadow Penguin has used the Slash skill Blade of Fury on Umie Akabane, Tsubasa Seki, and Shinjiro Aragaki!
3 Hits!
AS: Charm results in party damage! Shadow Penguin takes 90 damage!
AS: Weapon! Shadow Penguin has used the Slash skill Rip and Tear on Ren Amamiya!
AS: Aggression: Shadow Penguin gains 1 Limit!

AS: Persona! Shadow Penguin has used the Slash skill There Will Be Blood on Maria Sakurai!
AS: Persona! Shadow Penguin has used the Almighty skill Voiceless Rage on Shadow Penguin!
AS: Shadow Penguin: Charm and Omen removed! Omen: 120 damage!
AS: Take! Shadow Penguin takes 0 Almighty damage from Shadow Penguin's Voiceless Rage.
AS: Atk_Up and Crt_Up added!
AS: Avoid Worst! Maria Sakurai takes 132 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's There Will Be Blood.

AS: Avoid Worst! Ren Amamiya takes 84 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Rip and Tear.
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 10 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Blade of Fury.
AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 13 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Blade of Fury. Critical Hit!
AS: You have 1 more attack in queue!
AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes 56 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Blade of Fury.
AS: Block Best! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 22 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Blade of Fury. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 22 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Blade of Fury. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Best! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 16 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Blade of Fury.

<Pose Tracker> Y45U-M454 has posed.

    "Chances? Chances..." An offended Y45U-M454 sneers. "There are no 'chances' for a daughter of this family! I leave nothing to chance!!" He glances right on by the 'aunt' issue, as if he were willing to just fully disregard and disown Ayame right then and there.
 
     Colors... they can be bright, vibrant, joyful. But they can also be scary. There is something to be said of rendering a world so sterile and stagnant that it is born of a fear of what an unknown sight may be, flinching to hold a hand up as Maeiha overtakes and something shocks them.
 
     "Cease this...! It is unbecoming..."
 
     Shinjiro states his resolve in the face of something this entity simply cannot ever know the depths of. Both of those clawed hands move forward to try and clasp against Castor as the ground breaks underneath (this still seems to connect, in some fashion) as sparks fly between stomping feet and those hands... throwing both of them wide and smashing into walls, as the holographic head sputters.
 
     "You would forego..." This is too 'traditional' a mindset to comprehend what Shinobu is saying, that the AI cannot simply speak of it, as Shinobu channels Lachesis to bring some manner of deleterious influence as she then launches herself against those clawed hands, spinning them about like they're the ones caught in strings.
 
     ...There is a brief moment of levity. "And you would have a mouth like that," to Aigis, even though the Shadow representing the apparent ideal of the Sovereign is right there, cursing out Shinjiro for his declarations. ...This is a bit of hypocrisy they can laugh over soft drinks later, perhaps.
 
     "...You would still defy me even now," he sneers as Ririka breaks down Y45U-M454's capabilities like he's a simple mach-- uhh. Moving on. "You would shatter her with these delusions, these wastes, these... poor... bearings...." The voice flashes in and out of coherency, the head twisting, angrily, as the clawed hands clap loudly above.
 
     "Don't break my granddaughter...!" Almost pleading, in his fury, as if a guilt - his, or projected? - came in the form of streams of data. "She will be happier whole...!" The hands separate, as lightning strikes down along the gathered - a Mazionga, in the common vernacular of the Persona-user community - as the various strands connected to those clawed hands and crossbars rise up and gather energy along the tips before they strike out at them, each like tiny targeted laser blasts.
 
     In his desperation, in his apparent weakness after such youthful defiance in the face of elderly disapproval and entrenched authority - real or imagined - now may be the time to finish this.

AS: Y45U-M454 spends Limit on Break! 
AS: Y45U-M454 spends Limit on Reach! 
AS: Y45U-M454 spends Limit on Exploit! Y45U-M454 can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Counter Best! Tsubasa Seki takes 82 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Blade of Fury. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Shadow Penguin takes 44 Slash damage in return for their attack! Resist!
AS: Persona! Y45U-M454 has used the Elec skill Mazionga on Ayame Watanabe, Shinjiro Aragaki, Shinobu Shimizu, Aigis, and
Ririka Kawase!
AS: Ruin: Y45U-M454 gains 1 Limit!
AS: Counter Neutral! Tsubasa Seki takes 97 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Blade of Fury. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Shadow Penguin takes 34 Slash damage in return for their attack! Resist!
AS: Counter Worst! Tsubasa Seki takes 116 Slash damage from Shadow Penguin's Blade of Fury. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Shadow Penguin takes 25 Slash damage in return for their attack! Resist!
AS: Weapon! Y45U-M454 has used the Pierce skill Targeted Laser on Ayame Watanabe!
AS: Block Neutral! Aigis takes 80 Elec damage from Y45U-M454's Mazionga. Weak!
AS: Break! Aigis can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Weapon! Y45U-M454 has used the Pierce skill Targeted Laser on Shinjiro Aragaki!
AS: Weapon! Y45U-M454 has used the Pierce skill Targeted Laser on Shinobu Shimizu!
AS: Weapon! Y45U-M454 has used the Pierce skill Targeted Laser on Aigis!
AS: Weapon! Y45U-M454 has used the Pierce skill Targeted Laser on Ririka Kawase!
AS: Y45U-M454: Blast, Break, and Reach removed!
AS: Y45U-M454's turn has ended. It's time for an All-Out Attack!
AS: Block Neutral! Aigis takes 12 Pierce damage from Y45U-M454's Targeted Laser. Resist!
AS: Break! Aigis can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Best! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 42 Elec damage from Y45U-M454's Mazionga. Weak!
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Break! Shinjiro Aragaki can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Counter Neutral! Shinjiro Aragaki takes 27 Pierce damage from Y45U-M454's Targeted Laser.
AS: COUNTER! Y45U-M454 takes 18 Strike damage in return for their attack! Weak!
AS: Break! Shinjiro Aragaki can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Worst! Ayame Watanabe takes 67 Elec damage from Y45U-M454's Mazionga.
AS: Break! Ayame Watanabe can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Avoid Best! Ayame Watanabe takes 11 Pierce damage from Y45U-M454's Targeted Laser. Critical Hit!
AS: Break! Ayame Watanabe can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Neutral! Shinobu Shimizu takes 38 Elec damage from Y45U-M454's Mazionga.
AS: Break! Shinobu Shimizu can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Neutral! Shinobu Shimizu takes 17 Pierce damage from Y45U-M454's Targeted Laser.
AS: Break! Shinobu Shimizu can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Block Best! Ririka Kawase takes 37 Elec damage from Y45U-M454's Mazionga. Weak!
AS: Break! Ririka Kawase can take another Weak action this round!

<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.

Shinjiro calls out, and Ayame looks to him for a moment. "Aragaki-kun!" she calls. "Be careful!" He has a future too, after all. Doesn't he...? Regardless, the Shadow (She doesn't recognize her quite as such) grows angry--and Ayame's expression softens at that desperation, despite the danger to the young man. "Aragaki-kun!" she calls. And then she looks to this... monster...

"Is it true?" she wonders. "Are you really a part of her...?"

Shinobu grins at her, and Ayame smiles, though it's very brief, given the situation. But kids... aren't in Shinobu's future. And Ayame knows that. "You'll be there for mine," she says, nodding firmly. "...And I bet they'll need it. Not because they break--but because everyone needs someone!"

She's worried about stoking the AI's rage, but... Shinobu knows what she's doing. And Aigis is confused--and frankly, Ayame is confused. "Ah, I meant Sakurai-chan, but.." She slipped! -chan! "I'm sure a robot also has the right to find her own way!"

Chances. Nothing to chance--

"You--" yame calls, "That's unacceptable!"

He pleads. And Ayame understands, in the moment. 'Happier'. She grits her teeth. "I know you believe that," she says softly, "But I..."

Energy rushes towards them. Ayame can't block the elctricity that hones right in on her sword--but she can avoid the laser much more effectively. With a pained breath, she looks back up.

"I know you believe that!" Ayame calls to the AI, the 'grandfather'. "But you're wrong. I've..."

"I've been that daughter!" Ayame says. "And I..."

Something in her purse starts to gleam golden--and it rises, up into the air for a moment. Ayame looks down at a photograph of her family.

She closes her eyes. "This warmth..."

The photograph falls back into her purse, the wallet it was in deposited nicely there, as the glow has turned to Ayame instead. "I won't allow it to happen to her."

She calls, "Atropos!" Atropos rises--

And rises. And rises. Three of the same Fate, in a triangle around the AI's form. She lifts her shears, and the other, and the other does the same, a golden thread within each.

Snip. The lights go dark, and Ayame surges forward into the gloom--

There is a slashing senseation, and Ayame on the other side, her sword still outstretched. Cursed runes BURST from the area where she cut, exploding upward in a spiral.

AS: Persona! Theurgy! Ayame Watanabe has used the Dark skill Empty Motion on Y45U-M454!
AS: Ruin: Ayame Watanabe gains 1 Limit!
AS: Weapon! Ayame Watanabe has used the Slash skill Swift Cut on Y45U-M454!
AS: Persona! Ayame Watanabe has used the Dark skill Multi-Eiha on Y45U-M454! 3 Hits!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 304 Dark damage from Ayame Watanabe's Empty Motion. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 87 Slash damage from Ayame Watanabe's Swift Cut.
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 78 Dark damage from Ayame Watanabe's Multi-Eiha. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 51 Dark damage from Ayame Watanabe's Multi-Eiha. Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 51 Dark damage from Ayame Watanabe's Multi-Eiha. Weak!

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

Shinjiro's expecting all responses from Y45U-M454, so the response from Shadow Maria isn't received in time. Claws rank his back, even as his coat does its best to defend him, pushing him forth and causing a yelp of pain before she pivots back.

"Sorry for your loss, but I'm not gonna justify this!" he calls to her, before turning back on the Grandpa AI. Electricity and lasers alike rake into his defenses, stunning him back...

But Aigis's boon locks on, as does Ririka.

"...I hear you, Watanabe. Aigis, you said give him hell? I know how to do that."

With a click of the Evoker, Shinjiro rushes forward, leaping up to slam the hammer into the AI once, before Castor comes forth, slinging darkness over it. The hammer strikes again, this time coated in inky shadow, as Castor pulls backwards.

Shinjiro's not done.

"I don't know anything about you. I don't know what you were like when you were alive. What I do know... is I hate everything you stand for now, old man, and I'm not going to let you crush any more hopes."

He slides out a Theurgy Cartridge, slamming it into his Evoker. Shakily pointing it as his head. he staggers back.

"Castor, fuck him up."

Castor grins in that skeletal maw, before stepping backwards. And then, he charges.

Nothing in this world of cardboard can hold back Castor's charge, as if all goes well, the boardroom's floor *shatters* beneath his feet, as cords are likely to tear apart, crumble, shatter, as not even steel can hold his assault. He hopes to push the AI back so far that Y45U-M454 breaks under the force of his power, in conjunction with Ayame's runes!

AS: Counter Best! Ririka Kawase takes 35 Pierce damage from Y45U-M454's Targeted Laser.
AS: COUNTER! Y45U-M454 takes 18 Pierce damage in return for their attack! 
AS: Break! Ririka Kawase can take another Weak action this round!
AS: Weapon! Shinjiro Aragaki has used the Strike skill Heavy Strike on Y45U-M454!
AS: Pressure: Shinjiro Aragaki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tandem! Shinjiro Aragaki has used the Dark skill Cursed Sword on Y45U-M454! 2 Hits!
AS: Persona! Theurgy! Shinjiro Aragaki has used the Strike skill World of Cardboard on Y45U-M454!
AS: Shinjiro Aragaki regains 15 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 144 Strike damage from Shinjiro Aragaki's Heavy Strike. Weak!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 103 Dark damage from Shinjiro Aragaki's Cursed Sword. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 103 Dark damage from Shinjiro Aragaki's Cursed Sword. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 309 Strike damage from Shinjiro Aragaki's World of Cardboard. Weak!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.

    Joker does hear that unspoken conclusion to Phoenix's assertion. They don't debate the point with them--not here and now--but they can at least agree that this indeed fucked up. Cherry seems uncertain about this and that, like who exactly isn't going to die, but surely it's fine. They can't know the effect their words on rage have on Cherry, but she makes good use of her new powers.
    
    The flirting, as seen, they take in stride. Shadow Maria is not their type, but they're flattered just the same.
    
    Umie's codename of 'Mitsuhide' is a new one on them though. Maybe if they knew the rationale, they'd be impressed, but to their ears, as is, it sounds less like a codename and more like... just a name. Joker isn't going to undermine her in the middle of a fight, though, and merely nods in acknowledgement. "You're welcome, Mitsuhide," they reply, crooking a half-smile.
    
    Phoenix yelling about Android Eight--and Aigis acknowledging Joker's statement--does draw their own attention over to the android girl. They hadn't seen before in the crowd, and had been too focused on Shadow Maria to hear her talking about her systems--but that is a mechanical girl. They can't help but stare for a second. Will wonders never cease... It's rude to stare, though, and more importantly they're still in the middle of a fight, so they tuck that one away as something else to examine later.
    
    The momentary distraction costs them, though. It means they take more time than they should freeing themself from the projectiles pinning them by their costume to the wall, which opens them up to Shadow Maria's assault. Arsène leaps in the way to take the brunt of those tearing jaws, protecting their other self in the process--but it shatters them, and Joker screams in pain, clutching their chest as they stagger to one side, then fall into a roll to get out of the way.
    
    "Hah--and that rage of hers is you, then?" they growl as they rise, chest heaving from the effort of getting out of the immediate path of those mandibles and the shattering of their Persona. But--then she screams, not at their group, but at Shinjiro for telling Y45U-M454 he's sending him to hell. And what she says... His body was still warm...
    
    "I see... This isn't just rage, but grief." They stand tall, however haggard they've been left by Shadow Maria's attacks by this point, and thrust out a splayed hand. "Then rage even more!! Go as wild as your heart desires!! You've been subject to agonizing cruelty from the ones who should have loved you the most! Who wouldn't lash out in anger at such treatment?!"
    
    They leap high up into the air and twist their body in an arc, moonlight seeming to trail over them as they land on higher ground. They press a hand to their now-blazing mask, from which Arsène erupts anew to charge at Shadow Maria. A massive pulse of darkness follows them, taking over the air around her and bulging out into a sphere that Arsène redirects into her.
    
    Joker stands behind them, aiming their Makaronov straight at that heart of darkness. "And then, once you're satisfied... tame yourself. Both your rage and your grief!"
    
    Blam. They fire, and that bullet pierces through, rupturing the magic and causing a massive BURST of Curse energy all around her.
    
    "If those are what define you, then let you control them! You, and no one else!!"

AS: Ren Amamiya spends Limit on Exploit! Ren Amamiya can use another Weak skill this round!

AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Ren Amamiya has used the Dark skill Twilight Pillager on Shadow Penguin! 3 Hits!
AS: Ruin: Ren Amamiya gains 1 Limit!
AS: Avoid Best! Shadow Penguin takes 31 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Twilight Pillager.
AS: Avoid Best! Shadow Penguin takes 46 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Twilight Pillager. Critical Hit!
AS: Block Worst! Shadow Penguin takes 141 Dark damage from Ren Amamiya's Twilight Pillager. Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.

    "Uh -- it's anime shit -- don't worry 'bout it," Phoenix calls out to Aigis, clearly a touch unnerved.

    what the FUCK robots are REAL?!

    Trust is a difficult matter. Names are not; if Umie says hers is 'Mitsuhide', they'll repeat it that way.

    But can this really be Maria?

    Cherry can't possibly be Maria -- but she's got some real slick moves, Phoenix realises, as she watches her move in tandem with her Persona. "Hey, you really are some kinda superhero!" They yell, to her, quite pumped.

    It's another type of energy which has them yell, "FUCK THAT!", after Shadow Maria insists that Maria's rage needs to be leashed. "GET MAD! Shit sucks! You got hit by a fuckin' train! Fuck, man, if you knew th' truth you'd be mad at me, too, an' that's cool! I don't give a shit, jus' get loud 'bout it!"

    But apparently getting mad doesn't fix all life's problems -- for instance, Pheonix fires their rocket launcher where Shadow Maria was, not where she's going to be. "Fuckin'--?!" They yelp, not quite able to angle the rocket launcher up in time for it to matter. They're at least able to get their greatsword in their hands again (with a frankly acrobatic stash-and-grab, they're graceful when they want to be) by the time those coils slash at them so grievously.

    They meet every ribbon with a slash of their own blade, but Maria, as they said, is a freak; her body splits in ways they can't begin to fathom, let alone track. They're thrown from side to side by the force of the blows, as they snarl and slice in turn; for each cut they make, there's four laid into them.

    ... under those ninja robes, they're still injured from Shiryuu's horrors. Don't worry about it. They might... just have to go to Kameya Alley, after this, as much as they hate being touched by other people...

    Anyway. Doesn't matter. What matters is this: "Fuck off! So I'm an asshole, okay?! Don't put that on her!"

    His body was still warm... she says.

    What would they say, if their father died? Would everyone just... forget him, move on with their lives? No... even if he went to prison... it wouldn't be that easy, would it. Even if they buried it in their soul, they'd just get sick with it... like Maria clearly is.

    "... maybe there's really no escapin' it," they admit, growing quieter, looking to Shadow Maria. "People like that... yeah, maybe they jus' scar the inside a ya skin. Always under there... waitin'. Guess you kept all that learnin' inside yaself... 'cuz you never could outrun it. They say th' apple don't never fall far from th' tree, an' a rotten orchard only makes rotten apples... I get it."

    They bow, to her, then, deeply, one foot stretched out in front of the other. Their arms fan out to the sides -- and cross over their chest, as they straighten, to pull out that rocket launcher again, and another shell. It's a fluid motion, despite the savagery of how they slam that shell into the rocket launcher, a breath later.

    "But if you can't run -- you gotta fight. IZBUSHKA NA KUR'IH NOZHKAH!"

    Phoenix tears off their mask, as their Persona manifests, behind them, again, massive and furious.

    "So I'm tellin' ya now..."

    Izbushka's skirt-skulls all turn towards Shadow Maria, at once, as the sockets of their eyes glow.

    "... get mad."

    As fire flares from the skulls, Phoenix fires that Rocket Launcher, again -- in a fiery cataclysm.

    "GET FUCKIN' MAD!"

    It's not dissimilar to what Joker has to say about it... but one of them is much more sleek in their execution, and it's sure not Phoenix.

AS: Tsubasa Seki spends Limit on Exploit! Tsubasa Seki can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Tsubasa Seki has used the Fire skill Rocket Sublation on Shadow Penguin!
AS: Tsubasa Seki takes 60 damage from Stress!
AS: Aggression: Tsubasa Seki gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tsubasa Seki regains 8 HP from Regenerate!
AS: Tsubasa Seki is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Avoid Worst! Shadow Penguin takes 246 Fire damage from Tsubasa Seki's Rocket Sublation.
AS: Tsubasa Seki is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

"Hell yeah I'm gonna defy you!" Ririka says with a scowl. But shattering? "Sakurai-san's stronger than you think!" comes the reort. "Ahs eidn't let herself be subjected to whatever it was you w3ere doing to her, did she? And I watched her face the Joker Killer with only a sword to try and fix a mistake she made!"

Granted, she's got a Persona now, but Ririka can't exactly know that because of the whole WoR thing.

"You need to ahve more faith in her! People can be a lot stronger than you think!" Even if this is just... a Cognition, or a Sovereign, or whatever... Ririka's still hoping the real Maria can hear it somehow.

Lightning comes--and Ririka grits her teeth as she brings up her katana to try and block it--she at least parry the worst of it, but she still seizes up a bit and drops to her knees, panting.

Then the laser attacks come, and Ririka gestures for Amphion, who strums his lyre. A wqall of sound repells some of the lasers back, even as the rest strike at Ririka. But thanks to Aigis' help she can weather it well enough.

Ririka pushes herself to her feet, grip tightening on her katana. "If everything stayed exactly how you wanted it--the problems of the past would never get fixed! And even if things were perfect for you, they might not be perfect for those who come after you! The world needs room for new ideas, for new voices! And new ways of being!"

She raises her Evoker to her head. "Alright, Amphion! Fortisimo!" She fires, summoning fresh strength to her Persona.

She gestures with her katana, as if she were conducting a symphony. Amphion strums, high, tinkling notes ringing out as delicate crystals of ice start to form. Three hsards of ice form, Ririka raises her katana up--

And as she slices downward all three shards of ice are flung towards the Soverieng.

AS: Ririka Kawase spends Limit on Psych! 
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Water skill Bufu on Y45U-M454!
AS: Ririka Kawase takes 90 damage from Panic!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Water skill Bufu on Y45U-M454!
AS: Persona! Ririka Kawase has used the Water skill Bufu on Y45U-M454!
AS: Ririka Kawase: Loses 8 SP and TP from Sick! Psych removed!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 194 Water damage from Ririka Kawase's Bufu. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 125 Water damage from Ririka Kawase's Bufu. Weak!
AS: Bind added!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 135 Water damage from Ririka Kawase's Bufu. Weak!
AS: Bind added! Cloak, Phy_Down, and Strike_Break removed!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

"...Yeah. You bet I will. I might never be a mom, but I can be a damn good aunt." Shinobu replies to Ayame with a grin.

Y45U-M454, meanwhile, is baffled by this idea.

"That's right. Like I said... times are changing." Shinobu replies. She won't go into the details why. Ayame knows enough, and most others here are teenagers. She doesn't need to put that on them. "We're moving on, so you don't need to cling to those ideals anymore."

He's desperate - lightning strikes down and Shinobu braces herself. Electricity dances across her body. She grits her teeth and fights through it... and as he sends lasers toward her Shinobu spins her staff in front of her to deflect the barrage.

"You've gotta let go. You've gotta let her move on. Hold on too tightly, and you'll be the one breaking her." Shinobu says. She hears Ayame's determination to protect Maria...

...Her sister really is pretty cool.

Shinobu taps her staff against the ground. Might as well follow suit. She draws out a card - the Hanged Man, and its power fills Lachesis. "Lachesis! Let's show him on his way."

Lachesis takes the Sovereign's measure again, framing him between her hands across her measuring rod. As she does, Shinobu races forward. Power fills her staff, lengthening to match Lachesis's own. Lachesis goes to meet her, and the two act as one - a practiced combination of staff strikes, as if the two of them are ready for his every move.

The two staves meet in the middle for one final, simultaneous strike - which Lachesis finalizes with a final Kouha in a flash of light.

AS: Shinobu Shimizu spends Limit on Psych! 
AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Strike skill Measured Fate on Y45U-M454! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Shinobu Shimizu has used the Light skill Kouha on Y45U-M454!
AS: Shinobu Shimizu: Psych removed!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 182 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Measured Fate. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 182 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Measured Fate. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 130 Strike damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Measured Fate. Weak!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 146 Light damage from Shinobu Shimizu's Kouha. Weak!
AS: Haze added! Bind removed! Explosion! 75 damage!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.

    'A robot also has the right to find her own way.' Ayame's response flusters Aigis. "I -- I suppose so." These are thoughts she's coming to grips with all of ten seconds ago, herself.

    To Tsubasa, she replies, "Anime. I am familiar with it in passing. I comprehend." She'll have to look this up later.

    Put a pin in it, Joker; she's not shy about her nature. It's just necessary to hide it in more public settings.

    She glances at Shinobu and considers her own role: is she being held onto, or is she doing the holding on?

    The Mazionga shocks her system just as badly as it did before, and this time it's coupled with laser fire. It's only through sheer force of will that she powers through this time and glares at Y45U in defiance.

    "You may be my elder, but you are not my better. Allow me to demonstrate the flaws you possess." The cannon within Palladion turns to him and with a targeting laser of its own, it highlights parts of his polygonal mesh with lingering red dots, indicating the areas to fire at for maximum damage. "Your structural integrity is weak here, here, and here, for instance."

    She levels her arm towards him. "That veil you hide behind may protect you from direct oncoming attacks, but wide enough coverage is sufficient to flush you out. Observe:"

    A) Shinjiro has already handily exhibited this.

    B) Aigis and Palladion follow up with a full-on assault of rapid finger-gunfire and cannon blasts leaving Y45U no room to dodge even behind the distorted cybernetic veil.

    "Finally, allow me to show you what I am capable of when I bypass my constraints." Her bright blue eyes briefly flicker red, then return back to blue as Palladion disappears and she emits bright blue light behind her from her visible joints; from a certain perspective, the stream of sparks resemble wings. "Entering fully autonomous mode!"

    In a flash, she runs circles around Y45U and fires at him from every possible angle. Try as he might, there is no escape.

    ... about those flaws in her own system, though, weeeeeeeell. She's going to pay for this in a minute or two; limits are there for a reason, after all.

AS: Aigis spends Limit on Psych! 
AS: Persona! Aigis has used the Almighty skill Pierce Break on Y45U-M454!
AS: Pressure: Aigis gains 1 Limit!
AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Aigis has used the Pierce skill Orgia Mode on Y45U-M454! 2 Hits!
AS: Aigis takes 60 damage from Stress!
AS: Aigis: Fast Heal! Psych removed!
AS: Aigis regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Take! Y45U-M454 takes 0 Almighty damage from Aigis's Pierce Break.
AS: Pierce_Break added!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 224 Pierce damage from Aigis's Orgia Mode. Critical Hit!
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Worst! Y45U-M454 takes 176 Pierce damage from Aigis's Orgia Mode.
AS: Y45U-M454 is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.

    "I told you!" she cheers back at Phoenix. Yeah! She can do this!

    Cherry tilts her head, confused. "Mitsuhide?" She looks, silently from Joker, to Phoenix, to Umie again. "...Mitsuhide. Okay, then! Mitsu-chan! I finally have a name!" ...Is she really not recognizing Umie, or is she just playing along. It's honestly hard to tell sometimes.

    Cherry just about flinches at the words of 'Mitsuhide', as if she said something that had struck true. "That's-- I just meant--" Cherry stammers, shaking her head. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt on my-- on Maria's behalf! But..."
    She's thinking about it, though. She's really thinking about it. It's just that,

    it's harder for things to necessarily sink in when,

    "I did!" she shouts at her own Shadow. "I did! Without any memories, I did! But I did it to help them!" She jerks back at the Shadow's statement about a future 'boyfriend' as she'd been slapped. "I-- wouldn't! I'm not like that!"
    But she is, isn't she? She did, didn't she?

    Because she didn't see another way. Because there's nothing wrong with what her ex-boyfriend had done to her as far as society was concerned. Because it was just another twist, another indignity, another torment in a year of torments, coiling up something ugly inside her until she couldn't take it anymore.

    But she was supposed to take it and more, wasn't she? To be a good girl. A pretty little doll for her husband to cherish.

    "...." Cherry doesn't respond, her face contorted in misery and grief as she turns away from her Shadow.

    "...That's right," she says, at last, finally, as the Shadow rages before her in those moments before and after that three-part attack between her and her Persona. "I was so sad when he died... and then it was like he hadn't ever existed at all. Mom stopped talking about him, and grandma started dating younger men, and dad..." Her shoulders slouch. "I got mad about it, but, but, first I was sad--"

    'It's not rage, it's grief'. Yes. About her grandfather. About getting dumped. About the world. And if you can't run, as Phoenix says, then you gotta...

    It's an epiphany into herself that she doesn't quite yet get to articulate because her Shadow, her well of bottomless rage is--

    There's nowhere to escape the wires that lance out for her and her Persona. Cherry does her best to try to cut herself free as they lace around her and pull, and so does Artemisia, but, in the end...

    Artemisia shatters outright in the twisting wires. Cherry, bloodied, drops to her knees.

    "You're me," she says, not yet looking at her Shadow. "The reason why you're mad... why we're mad. Why I'm mad," she finishes as she slowly picks herself up onto unsteady feet. "...It's because I'm just so sad. I can't do what I want, or be what I want. I lose the things that are dear to me. And... and I think that's ok! I think it's ok to be sad, and to be mad about it. The world... is really unfair," she sighs, looking up at her own Shadow.

    "...But that means... I can't give up. Right? I have to keep fighting! And--"

    She starts to lift her bloodied left hand to her visor, her mask, only to hesitate.

    "Sorry. You're me, but I'm gonna put a stop to you, too, anyway!

    There before her in the air, it seems like there's a spectral card, translucent blue and barely-there. Her lips part and slowly, Cherry reaches out to touch. "Oh--" In the moment after she again reaches for her visor, and then her hand is full of blue flames.

    "Artemisia...! I want to show her the world I want to see...!"

    Here again is Artemisia, her blade held as if she now awaits the start of a duel. Just blink: that's how much time it will take to miss the Persona's forward lunge. Another blink, and it will be possible to miss all seven of the swipes of the sword that follow. None of them touch the Shadow.

    But if one thought that Artemisia had missed -- the Persona lunges forward for one singular strike and from each of those cuts in reality does a streamer of color come to join her blade. The colors smear together then swirl apart, joining the Persona's attack with an explosion of brilliance.

AS: Maria Sakurai spends Limit on Exploit! Maria Sakurai can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Persona! Theurgy! Maria Sakurai has used the Almighty skill Kaleidoscope on Shadow Penguin!
AS: Maria Sakurai takes 90 damage from Panic!
AS: Pressure: Maria Sakurai gains 1 Limit!
AS: Maria Sakurai: Atk_Up removed!
AS: Maria Sakurai is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Block Neutral! Shadow Penguin takes 100 Almighty damage from Maria Sakurai's Kaleidoscope.
AS: Maria Sakurai is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Y45U-M454 has posed.

    Ayame, who has been that daughter, chooses not to perpetuate the cycle through Atropos.
 
     Castor, true to Shinjiro's command, fucks Y45U-M454 up.
 
     Ririka, through Amphion, declares the Sovereign needs more faith in his granddaughter.
 
     Shinobu, with Lachesis, moves to show them on their way.
 
     Aigis, engaging Orgia Mode, overwhelms from every possible angle.
 
     It all comes together culminating in surges of electricity running through the cables as they all grab at the projection of Y45U-M454 - and get stuck. The little hands at the end of those threads grab at the hologram, pulling it and stretching it beyond recognition as those hands slam together against the head, resulting in a tremendous explosion of pixellated matter, destroyed metal, and inert, tangled, ruined threads.
 
     ...
 
     Over yonder, Maria comes to terms with her Shadow, in her own way, with Artemisia - curious a situation as it must be, a Persona-user that has awakened yet is fighting their own Shadow.
 
     ...
 
     All that remains of Y45U-M454 is that flickering monitor in the wall behind. His image... fainter, blurrier now. Static, as the picture starts to lose cohesion and fade.
 
     "Maria..."
 
     The voice is clear... but firm.
 
     "Should you continue this way... if you don't become the perfect doll you were... meant to be..." Words, as if a dramatic final statement worthy of a piece of fiction, enunciated clearly despite audio artifacts...
 
     But not warm.
 
     "You'll always be a disappointment... for those who broke before you... just for you to choose... this..." His facial expression cannot be seen, as the picture dims, and the monitor fades as the ruins of the hands and strings start to fade into motes of whatever supernatural energies make up the existence of this Kingdom.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    'You little bitch!' Umie laughs as she leaps back. "Just go ahead and call me that again, I dare *you*. Maybe it'll hurt my feelings this time!"

    'I hate everything you stand for now, old man, and I'm not going to let you crush any more hopes.'

    The gremlin-esque behavior halts; the back of Umie's head turns towards Shinjiro, just enough to glance at him out of the corner of her mask's eye. ".... that's why you get to be called senpai, Shinji-kun."

     Joker was correct to notice the connection between the two. They're also correct to play their reaction straight at Umie.

    ".... It's just until I know who she is," Umie tries to whisper back nervously, but her lips crack in a half-smile.

    (It's... just that easy, huh...)

    Umie's word still, as she lets Phoenix's righteous rage and Joker's theatrical delivery shine. Well, less 'lets' as she's looking towards them, as she allows herself a small, dumb little smile.

    And a few private thoughts, at Joker's words of wisdom, and Cherry's... strangely poignant statement.

    ".... There was a man who thought I was beautiful the way I was," she begins, "he would have made me a well cared for little wife, if I just accepted."

    "So I dyed my hair blonde, painted my nails, and told him to stop bothering me." She'll keep her words simple, less a speech and more akin to a conversation over coffee. "... Many people'll wait for you to give in. You can tie down all your anger, but it'd just get bigger, until it consumes you from the inside out, all while you just spin a web of lies around yourself."

    And the last part-- "If you pause at every lock and accept that there's no way around it without a key," she says, adopting a softer tone, "then you'll never free yourself."

    Her eyelids lower. "And until you break that final lock," she says, as she raises her right hand, "failure is no option."

     Don't worry, Cherry. Umie'll make it work, by being a complete hypocrite.

     "...!" Her eyes widen, a red pulse erupting behind her eyes. Teeth set, and she mumbles a set of words, projecting a sliver of a valley of thorned brambles and mud, of carried calls. "A child lies on
 the edge of two breaths. A razor's edge at the sacred junction," she continues, below halting breaths. "By first snow, the time for change had come and gone."

    .... That chipped nail on her shaking right index finger still bothers her.

AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Exploit! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round!

AS: Tandem! Theurgy! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Garden of the Crow on Shadow Penguin! 3 Hits!
AS: Umie Akabane takes 60 damage from Stress!
AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit!
AS: Umie Akabane: Atk_Up and Spd_Up removed!
AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
AS: Counter Worst! Shadow Penguin takes 103 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. Critical Hit!
AS: COUNTER! Umie Akabane takes 45 Dark damage in return for her attack! 
AS: Shadow Penguin is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Avoid Best! Shadow Penguin takes 29 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow.
AS: Shadow Penguin is unable to continue fighting!
AS: Avoid Best! Shadow Penguin takes 44 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Garden of the Crow. Critical Hit!
AS: Shadow Penguin is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Shadow Penguin has posed.

'I see... This isn't just rage, but grief.'

"What was your first CLUE?" She snaps at him, even as Joker tells her to rage more and more, and the Shadow clutches her head, trembling, as she whispers, "No..." Then lets out a blood-curcling screech at what feels like enabling that which she doesn't want in herself, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" And as she begins to charge at Joker, what's left of her bladed cybernetic fingers at the ready.

"BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR YOU STUPID-"

A massive pulse of darkness consumes her at that moment, and a bullet meets center mass, as she sparks and sputters within.

'GET MAD! Shit sucks! You got hit by a fuckin' train!'

"SHUT UP! I'm... a freak. A freak!" She sobs out caught between her anger and her sorrow,"Just like all of YOU! This isn't right-! I'm not right!"

And even as they tell her to get mad again, the fiery cataclysm of Phoenix's rocket launcher and Persona combined, consume her within it, as she screeches in the wake of the inferno, clawing her way out of it, all blackened flesh and charred circuitry.

"This isn't some rotten apple, it's a CANCER! I need... I need to cut it out... before it's too late."

'... There was a man who thought I was beautiful the way I was,'
'he would have made me a well cared for little wife, if I just accepted.'

"Pointless." Shadow Maria meets Umie's eyes, "You should have given in. Look where it's gotten you. ... Deeper, and deeper it drags you into the Abyss."

It reacted poorly to Badb's power before, didn't it? Why can something of Maria's tell this about her?

"I deserve to be caged. I'm no better than some ANIMAL!"

Badb's thorned brambles and mud perhaps do that work, caging her in that power, and she tears her way out, as it slashes, and slashes, and slashes at her with the darkness of the deepest abyss, she cuts through, but at great cost.

'I'm not like that!'

Shadow Maria just glares at her angrily, she doesn't even have to say anything there. What she doesn't expect though, is Maria's acceptance afterwards.

'You're me.'

It's like she slapped her Shadow in the face, "Why!? Why can't you just give up!? This anger... it's so..."

The next word hangs heavy from her as she slumps some under the weight of these feelings, this assault.

"... exhausting. You know that too. After Takeshi almost died because of what we did... we were so... tired."

Maria is coming to put a stop to her. Whereas her Shadow is trying to put a stop to Maria's way of life, of living, of her choices. This disagreement, this disharmony between Ego and Shadow. Despite her acceptance, it cannot be resolved with only words.

Artemisia holds her sword aloft, and Shadow Maria straightens up, heaving herself to a standing position, as she meets that explosion of brilliance and light. And all at once, the swirl of power from the Legionnaires that she absorbed, just dissipates.

And the Shadow of a girl, caught in sorrow and grief, falls to the ground.

Tragedy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkyv6HgfJvI

The Kingdom is already beginning to dissolve. It's a strange effect as it does, like so many green cubes from a 3-D model suddenly dispersing into orderly building blocks, and fluttering away.

But the heart of the Kingdom is still held together, this stagnant domain. And the kneeling Shadow Maria, grasping its arm, looks pathetically at Cherry.

"It's not right. We're not right. We always were so... so angry at all the injustice we saw. It's not how a girl ought to be. Why couldn't you just understand? In this life, it's better to be a doll, than a woman that can't fit in... because they can't let go. Who wants to grow up to be a spiteful, angry witch?"

There's a pathetic sort of sigh, as now she starts to fade, the shadow becoming motes of golden light, from her toes and trailing up to her head.

"But I guess you've made that choice for us. Maybe one day, you'll see it my way. And when you do... I'll be there, waiting. Waiting for you to become who you're supposed to be. But by then... you may have already done too much damage to salvage things. Sure you'll take responsibility for all of your choices..."

She's almost completely gone now, and the Kingdom has almost completely faded away, leaving even the heart of it deteriorating into those green building blocks.

"...but they'll have left us completely and utterly alone."

The world becomes only a warm light, as the Kingdom fades from existence completely.

<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.

    You'll always be a disappointment, for those who broke before you.
    She needs to give in, before it's too late. Before she loses her chance to play the role she's supposed to play.

    A perfect granddaughter. A beautiful wife. What lies outside the bounds of what is expected and accepted? To rebel against the status quo means that one will forever be a 'freak', an 'outsider'. She will never again know the peace and contentment of accepting her place.

    Maria acknowledges her Shadow in the same instance she says she can't, won't back down and strikes at it. But, that attack feels... as if it takes everything she has to give. This, in a world that will chew you up and spit you out. Hasn't she seen that? Doesn't she know that?

    Even she is not nearly so stupid as to not be aware of any of that. Of all of this.

    "Yeah," Cherry tells her Shadow, there on the floor herself. She can't quite reach her, even if she tries.

    "I know.

    "But, I'm tired of feeling angry about what I can't have, or what I've lost. That's what you, right? All these feelings I've wadded up inside me..." She shakes her head. "I don't want to be a witch. But I don't want to be a doll, either. Can't we be something else? ..."

    She heaves out breath, more like a long sigh.

    "...Yeah. There's no going back, not really. Maybe I can't be forgiven, and some things can't be taken back." She nods, her hand dropping at last to her side. "...But that's how it is. And, I'm okay with that. Who I'm supposed to be, and things like that... I'll figure it out."

    "I promise."

    And there is light that seems to swallow her along with the rest of them, the metaphorical string of the Kingdom unwinding until there's nothing left and nowhere left to go except 'home'.

    "Oh-- I'm back here!" Maria is just Maria again, school uniform (the summer version -- they've only just changed into the winter uniform!!) and all. "Wow! How long has it been?"

    Like nothing at all bad happened. Like she didn't see any of that back there, or hear any of that.

    "Oh! I better call grandma and mom!"