When Jesse poked her head through the door, she observed an ordinary-looking area shaped like a capital letter L, its walls adorned by works of art without any trace of the eldritch. The door to the Shadow Gallery, heavily locked for all that mattered, sat at the bottom-right of the L and gave her the chance to get a feel for the room’s layout. More of a decorated hallway than an actual gallery, its design would have helped traffic flow from the skewed cutout doorway at the bottom to the double-doors at the top, if any guests ever came here. Heading up the intended way seemed to be the best option, and only one guard strolled around on patrol to obstruct it.
Jesse took a moment to appreciate the visual of her face just sticking right out a door. Then she retracted, turned, and relayed what she saw to the team.
Had these guards been normal men and not monsters in disguise, it would have been a simple thing for Primrose to flaunt her stuff and make a temporary new follower out of him, easily clearing the floor and increasing the party's overall power and options. As it was, she could still act as an attention grabber - distract it, draw it closer, and let the others jump it. Considering the area didn't quite set the stage for the guard's true form to be a monstrosity like the last one, Primrose felt this simple plan had a good chance of success.
"I will bring it over, be ready," she said quietly, stepping into the hall. Jesse nodded and got into position. She made her way to the corner, taking a quick peek before slipping around it and out of sight of the others. For a few long moments there was no movement, no sound. Then came the heavy footsteps of the guard, chasing the crimson clad intruder as she rounded the corner back into view. She winked at the others as she passed them, the guard following after with it's club raised high.
Through the solid wood of the door itself lashed Panther’s whip to strike and wrap around the Shadow’s upper body. Taken totally by surprise, it offered minimal resistance as the lady thief yanked it off its feet and dragged it across the floor into the Shadow Killer. It slid to a stop directly between Jesse and Joker, pistols drawn and leveled at its toppled form.
A noisy few moments later the group made for the end of the hall at a brisk jog, and together Joker and Jesse pushed through the doors. The moment they forced it ajar a brilliant yellow-white light shone through, requiring a moment for everyone to adjust once they entered. When they did, they found themselves faced with a reality that had taken leave of its senses. Impossible, illogical constructions of blocky masses and staircases connected in odd, inexplicable ways floated in a lambent void. Paintings plastered them where nobody could possibly get close enough to read their plaques, and trains of jagged screens flowed like ribbons through empty space, ambivalent to gravity. And naturally, every inch of it save the canvases of the paintings themselves glittered with aurous opulence.
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Panther squinted as the group moved up to the nearest edge and got a good look at the unreal room in its entirety. “Ugh. All this gold still hurts my eyes. I never understood how that grizzled old counterfeiter managed to drum up so much self-worth.”
“That’s for damn sure. Makes me wanna kick his ass all over again.” Skull sauntered up and put a hand on her shoulder. “I hope we don’t gotta do the thing with the fake Sayuris again though. That was one hell of a drag.”
“Heh, you said it,” his friend laughed, still a little woozy from the previous fight. “You know, at this point I’d be surprised if we didn’t get to fight Madarame. Now that we know his gimmick it won’t be nearly as much of a pain.”
“Don’t get too excited,” Mona cautioned. “Our goal today is to save Fox. We can come back later if we wanna take down the ruler.” He shaded his eyes with a white paw as he surveyed the room like a seasoned expeditionist. “I don’t see any Sayuris. I see some enemies, but nothing that serious.”
“How about that?” Joker pointed straight ahead.
Mona narrowed his eyes. “How about…? Whoa!” With a start he realized something else was different about this room. Inside the huge central space that the golden superstructure surrounded, there appeared to be a massively upscaled version of the Infinite Spring sculpture. Its slide spiraled from the haze on high all the way to the bottom like a tornado of gleaming gold. At its apex there appeared to be a disk of some sort, or perhaps a plate. “Good eye, Joker! That definitely wasn’t there before. I can’t say for sure, but it given the circumstances we should definitely climb up there and take a look.” He glanced between the group members. “That said, there are a number of ways we could go about it. What do you think?”
Jesse cast an annoyed look at the room in front of her, like she just realised she had to talk with an unpleasant family member at Thanksgiving. This room was a familiar type of obstacle to her. “If I could fly, this would be a lot easier.” The Director commented off-handedly.
“I mean,” she gestured to the area around her. “Where are we even going? Is there an obvious exit point?” She stepped closer to the edge and looked around.
“We could leave the way we came without too much trouble. Or maybe get out through an upper window,” Mona hypothesized. He crossed his little paws. “First though, we need to get up to that platform up there. At least to check it out.”
Skull gave his furry friend the side-eye. “What about you? Can’t you get us up there?”
“Did you forget what I said last time?” the not-cat questioned him. “I could drive us up if we reached the sculpture since it spirals all the way to the top, but I can’t fly us or anything.”
“Ohhh...right.” As Skull rubbed his head it seemed clear that he had, in fact, forgotten. “But...maybe there is a way you can fly us.” He gave Jesse a thoughtful look, a sudden excitement in his eyes. “Just like that old guy flew around. What if we stuck a whole buncha balloons and rockets to ya?”
“Wha...huh!? No way!” Mona protested, but when he looked to Joker for support he found the thief leader smiling. “Oh no. You’re not actually thinking…?”
Jesse reached into her jacket holster and drew the Tool Gun. She considered Skull’s proposition. “The paracriminal made it work. I attach balloons to each corner of Mona so he’s balanced, and one thruster on each side of him. I get four channels for the thrusters so I can activate them individually. Then it’ll be a controlled ascent to get where we need to be.” Jesse concocted their scheme.
“It’ll be me controlling you, Mona.” The Director said, looking to the not-cat seriously for a moment. “And that goes for everyone else inside the Mona-mobile. You’ll have to trust me. I like to think our shared near death experience has bonded us somewhat. That’s how I bond with pretty much everyone I know. But still, I’m basically a stranger. So that’s your call.”
“I’ll do my best not to crash us, but I don’t have a lot of, uh...balloon thruster cat van flying experience.” She shrugged. “It might be fun, though.” She said, a smile in her eyes and voice, if not necessarily on her face.
Everyone’s eyes had fallen expectantly on Mona, and he got the sense that he’d been volunteered. Many a time had he stood on the shoulder of the team’ leader as he was dealt such a hand, but only now did Mona start to get a feel for the sensation. “Ugh. Fine,” he grumbled, flicking his ears. “It’s definitely crazy enough to be a Phantom Thieves plan. But we’re gonna be careful.” He addressed Jesse directly. “I want you on top to add more balloons if something happens and they start popping.”
Once he had her assurance, Mona jumped up and transformed. Everyone piled inside save the redhead who went around attaching thrusters and balloons. By taking to the sky the group would be able to avoid the Shadows patrolling the golden room’s stairs and walkways, but they couldn’t dismiss the possibility of airborne enemies, either. After a few moments the makeshift dirigible was ready, with enough balloons stuck on to float the living vehicle’s tires just above the ground. “Can’t say I like this,” Mona remarked, an edge of nervousness in his voice. On the back of the car his cat-tail flicked recklessly. “Let’s get going already. Get it over with, you know?”
It was a sentiment everyone could get behind; in just a couple moments the Morgana-car was airborne and on his way to the top.
Their ascent began slowly but without issue as Jesse got a feel for how to control her ride. Though no strangers to peril, the Thieves inside were a little uneasy. Of all the ways they’d thought up to get from Point A to Point B, this was a real contender for being the most hackneyed, and over yet another bottomless pit, too. Skull fidgeted one leg up and down as he sat, one arm against the car door while he surveyed the surreal surroundings. “How long ‘til somethin’ attacks us, ya think?” he asked the others, more rhetoric than anything.
“Ten seconds seems about right,” Panther mumbled.
Primrose smirked at their pessimism. She couldn't help it, the almost playful way the teens went about bringing up potential danger was humorous, in a dark sort of way.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, smoothing her expression. While the Thieves fretted, Primrose scooted closer to the driver side window. She hadn't been present when the 'paracriminal' was active, and having no frame of reference she'd kept silent while the others discussed how they could
fly to the top of the sculpture. When the plan ended up being this - carried inside the Mona-mobile while it floated gently up assisted by whatever contraptions Jesse had attached to it... well, the dancer took it in stride.
Now she peered out the window as was becoming a custom of hers. With no airborne enemies in sight (
yet, at least, she thought, mirroring her companions' suspicions), she leaned out of the opening a little and glanced towards the roof, seeking a head of red hair.
"How is it going?" she asked the Director, light and conversational.
“Err...” Jesse replied, unsure. The Director had welded her boot to the roof of the Morgana-Car. As evenly as possible she had applied the balloons. Now the vehicle was slowly floating upwards. With very gentle activation of the thrusters she nudged the crew in the direction they needed to go. The Director had her arms out, her posture low, to maintain balance.
“I think it’s going all right. There’s no better place I operate than on the brink of catastrophic failure.” She said. She looked down at Primrose and smirked, giving a little wave with her free hand. The dancer shared her expression. This too was that dark sort of humor that tickled Primrose for some reason. It was a kind of making the best out of a bad situation, she supposed, though given everything their situation could be much worse.
"Well. That is reassuring," She said playfully. The precarious swaying of the car followed her words. After a few moments of quiet where Primrose made sure that her distracting Jesse wouldn't result in any disastrous consequences, she rested an elbow on the window's ledge and went on, starting with a quote.
"'Our shared near death experience has bonded us somewhat'... I had a similar thought this morning." She glanced back at the Thieves before her attention returned to Jesse.
"There is truth to that. We've only just met but... I've come to find you reliable." There was no mention of the word "trust," but the way Primrose's lips quirked upwards at the ends implied that she was leaving some things unsaid. Maybe it was the red haired woman's easy snark, or their perceived similarities with bonding with the people in their lives back home, but she was warming up to Jesse more quickly than she usually would.
"Of course, one doesn't expect to have so many in one day," she added offhandedly.
Jesse chuckled at that last addition. “You’d think so.” Jesse concentrated for a few moments. “I’ve only gotten used to being relied upon recently. I won’t let you down.” She fiddled with the Tool Gun. “Well, in this case, I’ll let us all down easily.” Cue laugh track.
After what felt like ages the flying circus that was the Morgana-Car finally crested the edge of the great golden disk that fed the infinite spring. In front of them stretched a large garden, much like the one in between the two buildings of Madarame’s gallery, but far bigger and more grandiose. In the midst of the endless, tasteless gold lay a haven of verdure, of green grass and pink cherry blossoms, all washed in the light yellow hue of the strange void but beautiful nonetheless.
But the pretty scenery didn’t even register with the Phantom Thieves. They climbed out of the Morgana-Car so their companion could turn back to normal, the thrusters and balloons falling off or drifting away. Jesse sighed sharply, relieved and amused. In this museum of distortion every detail from the paintings to the petals was a product of just one man’s vainglorious ego, unchecked and allowed to impose its will upon the cognitive world. Nothing that the eye could see was original, least of all this place, a homage to a cultural legacy to which Madarame so proudly lay claim. When the Thieves moved closer and got a better look at what it housed, their disgust only grew.
Scattered across the garden was a collection of easels, each surrounded by canvases and art supplies, and at each a painter was laboring. Joker observed a
man with a thin mustache and big head, a
girl in a beret with floppy rabbit ears, a
Pokemon, a
strange painter who looked like a wooden figure, an
haunted painter in old-fashioned clothes, a
lovely ninja who stood before an evil-looking work of art, and a
young man in spectacles. Each and every one of them looked haggard and tormented, utterly miserable, as if made to brute force their craft without adequate food or rest. Horror and anger welled up within him, but as much as his heart went out to the others Joker needed to find just one man right now. “They’re trapped here and forced to paint for Madarame. Or whoever runs this place,” he growled, and with purpose in his stride he moved forward.
The others followed close behind. “This is beyond fucked,” Skull swore through gritted teeth. “It’s freakin’ inhumane! How could this even exist?”
Jesse was silent, dark eyes scanning the situation.
Panther looked close to tears. “It’s so messed up. If Yusuke is really here, this is way worse than just being a symbol of how Madarame treated people in the real world. It’s actual torture!” Her gun had already appeared in her hand, and her finger itched to pull the trigger on whoever was responsible.
A gentle hand glided over Panther's shoulders, comforting but only briefly. Primrose moved about the prisoners, posture unusually stiff. No shackles held them in place. So what kept the artists there? A spell, a threat of force?
"Can we take them with us...?" Primrose wondered aloud, her brows pinched beneath the masque she wore. Mona had said getting out the same way they came wouldn't be too much trouble, but they couldn't fly everyone back down at once. They'd have to take the long way down, and who knew how long that would take - or how dangerous it would be. She knew that their priority was saving 'Fox,' the Phantom Thieves' missing friend, but leaving the rest of the suffering there seemed cruel, even if they intended to return.
Joker looked grim. “They must be here both because of the palace ruler, and there being no way down. Taking them with us may be difficult, but we’re not going to leave them here. We could return with the full team and a way to rescue them, or else tip off the authorities so they raid this place. Either way, once the ruler is deposed, they’ll all be free.”
Primrose nodded, having figured that was the case. Between the two options, returning themselves with the full force of the other Seekers seemed the best bet... but they also had the Grimleal and Resistance to deal within Al Mamoon, and more outside of the city. Slowly she stepped away from the artists, though she cast her eyes about looking for any that might seem similar to the Phantom Thieves. There was at least one they could save now, after all.
"...is there any sign of your friend?" “There,” Mona alerted the others in a low, flat voice, his expression stormy. He pointed toward a waterfall feature that fed the central pond. A
young man, stick thin and with dark blue hair, sat on the stone there by an easel streaked with purposeless paint. The Thieves recognized him instantly, and were wracked by pity. As one they broke into a headlong sprint, running for their lost friend.
“Yusuke!”
The boy’s head turned upward. “...What?” His Gleaming eyes widened. “...How!? ...Oof!”
Together the Thieves surrounded him in a multi-man group hug, tears streaming down more than a couple faces. “Yusuke…!” Panther bawled, holding him close.
Jesse stood at a polite distance, hands in the pockets of her jacket. She smiled at the heart-warming sight. Without a doubt, her tagging along was worth it. Glancing over at Primrose, Jesse said, “Not bad, huh?”
"Not bad at all," the dancer replied, coming to stand next to the other woman.
After a moment the friends broke apart, and at close range they could really tell the sort of condition that the captives were in. Exhausted, malnourished, miserable, and worst of all, hopeless. Though Yusuke did his best to greet his companions’ arrival with the joy it was due, even that was troublesome for him. “It’s...so good to see you all. I fear...I am not well. I’ve been...wasting away up here.” He looked at Panther, perplexed. “It would even seem that I’ve gotten shorter, as well…”
“Oh no,” the girl laughed, blinking away tears. “I just got taller, is all. It’s a long story.”
With as formidable a smile as he could muster, Skull squeezed his friend’s shoulder. “We’ve got a whole lot to tell ya, dude. We’re gettin’ you outta this hellhole.”
Yusuke nodded, his gaunt face resolute. “The overseer was too strong for me, but with all of you I know we can make it.”
“Can you summon your Persona?” Joker asked.
“I...don’t know,” the young artist admitted. “There’s no spell stopping me, but...I’m so terribly weak. I don’t know if I can sustain it.”
Panther bent down and picked up Mona by the scruff of the neck, although the not-cat didn’t seem to mind. “Here then. Come on Mona, heal him!”
“Lady Panther!” Mona exclaimed, clearly distracted. “I-I mean, I could heal his wounds, but it’s not just that he’s wounded. He’d need some kind of total recovery.”
Joker laid his hand on his chest. “Got that covered.” He pulled out a friend heart and offered it to Yusuke, who didn’t know what to make of it but accepted it regardless. The moment he touched it a wave of wholesome magic flowed through him, restoring him to his default state.
Yusuke blinked, stretching his fingers and shoulders. “...Fascinating. I feel completely refreshed!”
“Hell yeah!” Skull cracked his knuckles. “Then let’s bust out of here!”
The arrival of the strangers had drawn not just the attention of Yusuke, but the other artists as well, but their slacking off did not go unnoticed. As the group prepared to move out, a
stranger appeared in a burst of magic. Like Validar he looked very much the part of ‘evil sorcerer’, but the clownish aspect to his look and garb gave him an entirely different sort of flavor. He wore a bright red smile and wielded a staff with a plume of magic shape like a paintbrush. Three colored scrolls -ocean blue, light yellow, and grass green- floated around him. “Such a touching reunion,” the sorcerer sneered. “But Is much as it pains me to so much as look at such inferior creatures, I’m afraid I must cut it short. You’re not going anywhere.”
Together the other Thieves opened fire, but the painted scrolls flashed elemental barriers to protect the newcomer. Yuga yawned, snickering, until the Thieves ceased fire a moment later. “Had your fun, worms?”
Yusuke stepped forward, glowering. “I’m afraid I must insist otherwise. Though long overdue, I’m taking my leave of this place. And neither you nor your master will stop me!” He placed a hand across his face. “Goemon!”
Blue flame burst from nothing to rake across his body, and behind them they left an
outlaw with a kitsune mask. The dancing azure blaze then resolved itself into the shape of an
extravagant warrior, awash in splendid color.
Yet Yuga was unfazed, for he’d gazed upon Goemon once before, and emerged the victor. As he whirled his staff it took on an inky darkness. “If you will not make art for the Master, your blood and flesh will be pigment and canvas for the others! Fade to black!”
He struck the ground, and streaks of ink spread out in all directions. From the ribbons of blackness climbed
creatures of darkness, a horde hundreds strong. Cackling and with arms upheld, he floated off the ground. “Take them, Heartless!”
Can't say something like this wasn't expected, Primrose thought.
"Please cover me," she whispered to Jesse, taking a step back from the horde of Heartless. Her body was already starting to thrum with energy as she prepared to dance.
Jesse only nodded, producing her Service Weapon. Now it was time to paint some strokes of her own. She wrenched a heavy white limestone from the Earth and Launched it at the horde of shadow creatures. It carved a swathe through the dark horde, crushing them under its weight before bursting on the ground and shredding several legs of the creatures. Heartless, as they were so called. Unfortunately her Service Weapon was only a semi-automatic weapon, but the gun could be fired as fast as she could pull the trigger. The Director was intending to hold the line. Each shot she landed- and it was hard to miss- carved a hole into a Heartless that returned it to the shadow.
At the same time the Phantom Thieves leaped into action with gusto. No strangers to facing hordes of enemies, they executed strings of techniques designed to combo as many enemies as possible, finishing them off with bombastic flourishes and tactical invocations of their Personas. Joker’s knife carved through Heartless like butter as he dashed to and fro, a dark blur whose deft movement and well-placed pistol shots more than made up for his weapon’s range. After taunting to give himself a sunny sheen, Skull fought with everything at his disposal, stomping and smashing the Heartless into the ground and shrugging off stray hits all the while. With acrobatic grace Panther struck wide swathes of enemies again and again with her whip, and once she’d gathered them up she unleashed a blast of flame to put them down. Even Mona got in on the fun: since he lacked the stamina to use Zorro, he just changed into the car to batter through the ranks of the Heartless, simple but brutally effective.
This performance of Primrose's was a particular one. Sensual and powerful,
Sealticge's Seduction wasn't a dance that she performed often. With divine power channeled through her body, it could be incredibly tiring - but making sure they all escaped in one piece, with friend in hand and in good enough shape to return for the others, was a worthy cause.
"With the grace of Sealticge," she breathed. A step forward, a step back. She lifted her arms up over her head, shimmied her hips, then brought her hands back down over her chest, her curves. She threw her head back, hair splaying out through the air. A turn in place, then another, faster, clockwise then counter clockwise. Because it was her first time performing the steps since regaining her connection to Sealticge, every little action was careful and deliberate. It wouldn't do to make a misstep here. The dance ended with her arms brought slowly up, palms out, and when she gently wrapped them around herself the performance was over and she practically shivered with power.
This time it was a self-buff, and it transitioned well into the
Lion Dance. Well practiced, the next performance was much faster and fiercer, and when it was finished it empowered not just one of them, but all of them. Jesse, every Phantom Thief, and even Primrose herself saw an increase in their attack power.
The Dancer’s use of support magic, however, did not go unnoticed. As she finished her first dance Yuga sprang up from the ground in a burst of magic. Sorcery swirled around his staff as he swung at her, but Panther wasn’t about to let her friend get sucker punched. “Look out!” She jumped in to take the hit for Primrose, and Yuga’s magic imprisoned her in a picture frame. He cackled as lightning coursed from his staff as a ruthless follow-up, and Primrose’s dance finished to the tune of Panther’s shocked cry of pain.
“Panther!” Skull bellowed, turning on a dime to sprint her way, only for the resident redhead to beat him to the punch.
Feeling her increase of power and looking to experiment, Jesse wrenched another boulder from the garden grounds and flung it, this time directly towards Yuga. The stone sailed through the air and smashed into the sorcerer’s barrier and was deflected, sliding off at a tangent, but the force carried through enough to put Yuga off-balance. Ceasing his electric attack he sneered at Jesse. “Boring, trite, and utterly typical! My defense is impreg-!”
“RAAAGH!” With all of Skull’s magic-boosted strength behind it, the pipe crashed down on the barrier, once, twice. The boy leaped forward and stomped on it, but bounced off. Irritated by the stupidity on display, Yuga tossed the painting aside to changed back into a dazed Panther and turned his electrocution on Skull. But even as the torrent of power struck him Skull powered through, planting one foot in front of the other as he advanced with arms crossed, charging. Strength welled up around him, and after a moment Captain Kid appeared with cannon outstretched.
“...Get smoked!”
A staggered series of yellow lightning bolts dropped in front of him, turning the tables on Yuga. Lacking Skull’s resistance to his own element, the sorcerer staggered, and as the arcing electricity destroyed ocean-blue scroll that floated at his side its barrier also faded. “What!?” Yuga cried, reeling. Just two remained: light yellow and grass green. In petulant rage he stomped one foot on the ground, then disappeared back into the second dimension. Skull knelt at Panther’s side, helped her to her feet, then turned to give her a chance to use Diarama to heal herself as the Heartless closed in.
From where he stood near Jesse, Joker watched the whole thing, and it made a lot of sense. “Those are elemental barriers!” he called. “Just like with Madarame, we’ve got to hit each one with the element it’s weak against!”
"Then leave the fire to me," Primrose said. Her voice was tinted dark from the storm brewing within her. She'd summoned her dark magic while Skull was on the attack, and she let loose her wide range spell to rip apart the Heartless making their way towards the two blonde teenagers. Primrose changed over from shadow to flame, sparks dancing between her fingers as she prepared to summon the pyromancy at a moment's notice. If Yuga dared to show his face again he'd feel her burning desire to get back at him for hurting Ann.
A moment later Yuga appeared--three of him, in fact. That meant two had to be fakes, but the electricity unleashed by all three was very real. Skull soaked the attack with negligible damage but Mona ran like the wind to avoid taking extra damage. The Yugas then prepared fireballs, targeting Fox in order to exploit his weakness to flame, but only one of their staffs glowed. Panther shot one with her submachine gun and the copy turned into a
spear-wielding soldier. She hissed and turned her gunfire on the Heartless coming to get her.
By then, the Fire Orb was forming in the palm of Primrose's hand and ready to cast. She sidestepped the lightning as best she could, her own elemental defenses woefully low for a magic user. She was a little singed, but not as much as Yuga's barrier was going to be. Primrose drew her arm back and threw the orb, the magic growing in power as it absorbed any of the mage's fireballs in it's path. With a keen eye the dancer aimed the pyromancy at the clone wielding the glowing staff, though ultimately when the spell collided with Yuga's barrier and burst, it didn't matter. Flames spread out from the point of impact, and while Yuga's clone was quick to escape the worst of the explosion the main mage himself was engulfed. His barrier kept him safe, until the green scroll caught fire and burned up and took a portion of his defense with it.
"How dare you...!" He shouted, his visage melting away and then reappeared to shed the flames clinging to his last remaining barrier. Primrose just narrowed her eyes, letting out a
tsk.Though none of the Heartless could get close enough to Jesse to harm her, she was still looking for ways to contribute against the real threat. She didn’t have elemental attacks. The barriers were magical in nature, but they were present enough to be physically pushed around by her Launch ability. If this next strategy didn’t work, there wouldn’t be much opportunity cost. Switching to the Tool Gun, she activated No-Collide mode. Levelling up a shot she briefly turned away from her fight with the Heartless and aimed a little blue beam at the final, remaining yellow barrier. Unfortunately, even if it interacted with physical force, the barrier was still energy and not matter. The No-Collide bolt struck it with no visible effect. To follow this up she reached out, wrenched a smaller rock, about three feet across, out of a nearby pool in the garden. A shiny pond stone- did this count as a water attack? It was just a big, wet rock. “Eh.” She flung it at the Yuga with the glowing staff nonetheless. But though the infuriating barrier shook, under the weight of the stone, it held--if Jesse’s rock counted as a water-aspected attack, it wasn’t the right element to beat the radiant, pale yellow. With malicious laughter Yuga turned and blasted more lightning her way.
Meanwhile, Skull and Joker went to help Panther with the Setanta that now attacked her. The hound-slaying maverick attacked with both sweeping spear strikes and loci of nuclear energy, and since the team had no Psy on deck, they were obliged to deal with the Setanta the old-fashioned way. Joker called Leena to shoot the spearfighter with One-hit Kill, then stepped back to allow his spent health to recover while the others got to work. After a series of whiplashes Panther unleashed Ominous Words to drive the enemy to despair, giving Skull all the time in the world to charge until he glowed with energy and could send the spearfighter soaring with a brutal baseball swing. “Whew!” the rogue breathed, wiping his brow as he shouldered his pipe. When a Heartless ran at him he kicked it like a football into the pond. “Really feelin’ Noire missin’ after fightin’ those guys again.” He followed Panther’s gaze as she watched Jesse’s soaked stone bounce off Yuga’s barrier, and shared her confusion at what she’d been trying. Even if that was the yellow of electricity, water didn’t exactly beat it, but there was no way that subdued, pastel color indicated the energetic power of lightning. “Hey Joker! That look like bless to you?”
The leader of the Thieves nodded. “One Eigaon, coming right up. Arsene!” The daunting Persona appeared behind him, wings outstretched. Joker would need to get a lot closer to use him, but luckily he had someone already in position. “Fox, slow him down!”
Yuga sneered when he heard him. “Yes, come and die!”
Dauntless, the outlaw sprinted the sorcerer’s way, carving through the Heartless in his path. “Try all you like!” With elegance he dashed out of the way of fireball after fireball, only to slide to a stop directly in one’s path with his hand on the hilt of his katana. When the attack struck him he disappeared in a blue flash, and when he appeared he stood calmly, eyes averted, and slid the blade into its scabbard with distinctive slowness.
Clack.
A whirlwind of slashes appeared around Yuga’s barrier, falling upon it with enough force to jar the bubble and disorient the villain within. Fox turned back, roaring, and unleashed a flurry of energy slashes on the barrier at high speed. None breached it, but they applied such constant, frenetic pressure that Yuga couldn’t compose himself. Then Joker leaped into the air, and behind him Arsene slammed down his arms. A dark detonation, like an accursed mine going off beneath the ground, burst up beneath Yuga to disintegrate his final scroll.
“What!?” Yuga cried. “How could such loathsome insects…kuh!?”
The Eigaon also wiped out most of the other enemies around him but triggered the other copy, causing a second Setanta to appear, but Mona had his eyes on the prize. “Yeah yeah yeah! He’s wide open guys, let’s finish the job!”
“Darkness.” Jesse pointed out the answer like it was a Jeopardy question. “Maybe I could have tossed an umbrella at him, or something.” Jesse levelled pocketed her Tool Gun and got out the Service Weapon, levelling it at the Setantas. Those spear wielding guys that looked like they might be tough? It was hard to tell. The only way to find out was to shoot something in the face, and she didn’t want them getting in the way of the Phantom Thieves getting their revenge.
"I'm sure that would have gone over well." Despite the masque on her face, Primrose had much the same idea to leave the Phantom Thieves to their own. While Jesse took on the lancers and the Thieves surrounded Yuga, Primrose focused on cleaning up the remaining Heartless with her spells, keeping them from interfering.
Though by no means excluded from laying waste to the defenseless sorcerer, Primrose and Jesse elected to tend to the other enemies littering the rock garden, leaving the Thieves the chance to square things with Yuga personally, which suited them just fine. As they charged in the colors of the area warped in a way familiar to the dancer, with solid objects turning black and the backdrop fading to red. Even the Phantom Thieves themselves vanished into dark blurs as they fell upon their hapless target. Empowered by the thrill of victory they struck faster than the eye could see, black streaks of punishment across a blood-red canvas.
A moment later most of them cleared out and the discoloration faded, leaving just Fox to take the stage. “It’s Showtime,” he called, his mask disappearing to summon Goemon behind him. Using his fingers the boy outlined a frame around Yuga shere he reeled, bleeding from a dozen wounds. Goemon unleashed a stream of glittering powder that spread across the rock garden, coating everything before him in a thick layer of ice. “Such beauty!” he declared before breaking into a headlong sprint toward Yuga, his hand on his katana’s hilt. “Better than you deserve. Now die!”
He disappeared for a moment as he dashed through his target, executing a single sweeping slash. Nothing seemed to change, but as he slid to a stop Yox slid his blade back into his scabbard once more. “It was fun while it lasted.”
Clack. “Goodbye.”
All around the spires of ice slid apart and fell over, severed like tree trunks in the forest, and Yuga’s prison was no different. His top half his the ground as his lower half stayed behind, and with a shocked look frozen on his face he groaned his last. “Curse...you...miserable...ugh…”
As his body dissolved, the Phantom Thieves relaxed. Their allies had disposed of the remaining enemies as they enacted their coup de grace, and though partially frosted over the rock garden in the golden void was still and serene once more. The others celebrated, with Mona and Skull in particular congratulating him on a job well done. But Fox sighed, his features covered by his kitsune mask once more. “Unfortunately this is far from over. That wretched overseer merely kept us in line at his master’s behest. And he is already likely on his way. As much as it pains me to leave my fellow artists behind, we have no choice but to flee for now.”
With a nod Mona jumped up and turned back into the Morgana-car. At the same time haunted-looking man had approached the newcomers, his manner jittery but hopeful. “You...have you come to save us?” he asked.
Joker frowned. “I’m sorry, but we only anticipated Fox being here. We don’t have enough room for every...huh.” He blinked as he remembered Jesse’s Tool Gun shrinking everyone before, and everything clicked. If the car stayed the same but the passengers got smaller and lighter, everyone here could escape with room to spare. The ground started to shake, galvanizing him to action. “Jesse! I need you to make everyone smaller. We can all get out of here together!”
“On it.” Jesse held the Tool Gun in both hands. Like she was at the firing range she hit every artist's center of mass with a few well placed beams of blue light, shrinking them all down to size. Starting with the suffering soul that had approached them first. She snapped from target to target with practiced efficiency. “Everyone stay calm, we’re getting you out of here. One of us can turn into a car.” She explained helpfully. Each artist was nine inches tall, the same size as she turned herself into earlier. She and her allies could gently scoop a couple up and place them in the back of the rescue vehicle.
The team worked quickly as the rumbling intensified. Spurred on by the hope of escape from this hell the artists rushed forward, each assenting to being shrunken and stowed without question. Even if they didn’t understand one bit who these people were, how they were doing this, or what a gun or car even was, all recognized their shot at salvation. As the enormous golden saucer itself started to rock, Mona bounced his chassis impatiently. “C’mon, c’mon! This is gonna be close! Jesse, start sticking the balloons on!”
“Working on it!” She replied.
Scarcely had the words left his mouth(?) than a swarm of paintings shot up over the lip of the platform. They flew skyward in a gigantic stream, like a reverse waterfall of paint, canvas, and golden frames. Once high enough they floated over the ground, arranged in a humanoid shape, and turned to face the hasty heroes together. Each painting bore a piece of a much, much larger depiction of an old man with garish, revolting makeup in a kimono of threaded gold. One apiece contained each eye, his mouth, and his nose, making a face that glared down at the escapees with unbridled contempt.
“All you good for nothings!” the Shadow growled. “Barging into my museum and doing whatever the hell you want! How dare you try and rob me of my art!”
Fox bared his teeth at the false curator of vanity, unafraid. “Such drivel, coming from the likes of you! You, who used me like an object once again! You, who have stolen the futures of promising young artists, driving some to suicide! You, who allowed my mother to die so you could profit off my work! You are a hypocrite and a fiend, and you will rue the day your distortion overtook you once more!” He drew his katana and leveled its tip at Madarame’s fragmented face.
A red glove fell on his shoulder. Fox looked behind to see Joker, his face stern. “He will face justice--no doubt about it. But our stamina is depleted, and we need to get these people to safety. It’ll have to wait.”
Outrage bubbled up within the young artist, but he knew Joker was right. “Then...when the time comes, his defeat will be a masterpiece.”
As Jesse applied the balloons she cast a look up at Madarame. “Fuck you, by the way.” She added off-handedly.
He accepted the hand and was drawn into the Morgana car. Madarame raised an eyebrow. “So you thieving scoundrels won’t so much as face me? I will not let you scuttle away into your holes! Hrah!” As one the paintings broke formation, becoming a golden cyclone. The heroes jumped into the car and slammed the doors, but something was missing. “Not enough balloons,” Joker noticed, teeth clenched. He watched the paintings flying toward them in the side mirror. “We’re not going to make it!”
“Good thing I’ve been saving a little magic!” Mona piped up. “Zorro, it’s Showtime!”
His Persona appeared behind the car, and with a flick of his wrist summoned a whirlwind. The wind tunnel swept up the car, lifting it into the air, and after another moment of gathering power Zorro flourished his rapier to send the car flying off the platform and into the air.
For a moment Joker’s heart was in his throat, not even daring to beat. With everyone inside it the vehicle soared through the empty space. The others were flailing, yelling. Maybe he was too; it was hard to tell, or to think. A couple seconds passed like molasses before the car finally touched down, the impact enough to jolt everyone to the core. Mona pumped his brakes as he slid into the wall on the other side, managing to slow down enough to not mash his front on. “Oww, my face!” he whined.
Jesse landed with a breathless laugh, ensuring the smaller artists among them weren’t squished by the impact.
Joker smacked on the dash. “Good work Mona! We’ll get you sushi later, but for now we’ve gotta motor!”
“Sushi?! Now we’re talking! But where are we going?”
“Just go!”
The storm of paintings bore down on them, but Mona quickly threw himself into reverse before burning rubber up the nearby stairs. Only barely did the vehicle keep ahead. Joker tried to stabilize himself from the constant jarring of going up stairs in a car enough to tap his mask. “Necronomicon! We need a way out of here.” His eyes fell on the Tengu,
long-bodied Inugami, and
Dead Fish in the way. “And fast!”
The heavy shaking and jostling of the car hardly made for a performance-worthy stage. Though granting Mona a speed boost would help them escape, there wouldn't even be time enough to attempt a two-step before Primrose would be thrown off balance. Instead she held fast to the seats as much as possible, trying hard not to get sick. At times one of the miniaturized artists would be shaken out of their hiding place and be bounced into the air, only to be snatched by the dancer and tucked safely into the hippo robe bedding within her bag before she went back to trying to keep herself still. It was all she could do, really, as she knew that wildly slinging spells wouldn't exactly work out.
She
had tried it anyway, reaching out of an open window and throwing a fireball at the nearest batch of paintings as soon as the car hit the staircase. The bumpy ride did nothing to help her accuracy and she watched as the spell sailed right passed her intended target. If it burst and managed to hit anything, it would be the pursuers at the very back of the pack, and still more followed.
Jesse would have more luck. Launch wasn't fickle, guided more by intention then it was accuracy, dexterity, or knowledge. “Excuse me, Primrose.” Jesse said. The Director brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face and stuck some of her upper body out the window. She tore a section of golden material out of the stairs behind them and flung it at a high speed toward the nearest paintings. Launch only worked on objects incapable of resisting, usually inanimate ones. Curious if these paintings counted as alive or just remote piloted, she reached out for one of the paintings in the golden cyclone and attempted to tear it out from Madarame’s control. She quickly found that the paintings resisted her plenty, but her hurled projectiles did the trick. Hitting her flying targets wasn’t difficult, but circumstances meant that she couldn’t strike down enough to matter. Still, she managed to strike down the frontrunners as the Morgana-car slowed to make turns.
With some added gunfire from the other Thieves from the three other windows it combined to give Mona the space he needed to keep ahead of danger, long enough for Necronomicon to plot a route out of this place. “There’s a exterior window not too far. Make a left, then head up the stairs and straight out.”
“Make a left when?” Joker pressed her.
For a second she was silent. “Now.”
On instinct Joker just about jerked the wheel, but he restrained himself after realizing that the van and all its contents would flip end over end into the abyss. A couple of Madarame’s paintings struck the van and nearly helped tip it over. Fox spared a few shots for them from his rifle before turning his steely focus back to the Tengu. Though typically unflappable, Joker was beginning to feel the stress of the situation. “Gah! More...more notice next time, please!”
“Sorry! Well, um...once you hit the next wall, there’s a staircase down into a painting that should teleport you to the other side of the room. There’s a door to the left that leads to a gallery, with another window.”
“Painting, right.” Joker remembered the warp paintings his team encountered in this place the last time. With a heart still racing he followed Necronomicon’s instructions. Passage through the painting stopped his heart for a moment, but the Morgana-car landed smoothly on the other side. Once the vehicle swerved to the left he bashed through a double-doors and out of the impossible room’s celestial atmosphere, into a more normal gallery. Half driving and half sliding, the unlicensed teenager piloted the Morgana-car around the displays and through several Japanese demons. A moment later he plowed through the vivid blue glass of a window, crashing back into the afternoon sunlight of Al Mamoon--about six stories up.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Mona cried, yowling over everyone screaming inside. “We don’t take fall damage in the Metaverse, but you guys might! We need balloons, more balloons!” he pleaded with the FBC director.
“Oh, my
God.” Jesse said, exasperated. Once again she leaned out the window. Wind rushing past her face she spammed the trigger as fast as possible at the front corners of the roof of the Morgana-car. It all happened pretty fast, she couldn’t exactly afford to be the most accurate. Some beams missed the roof and balloons appeared on the rooftops below.
Still, her ability to keep calm under pressure pulled through. Enough balloons took hold of the Morgana-car’s frame to slow its descent, so much so that when the vehicle landed it did so with a jostle rather than a smash, and without a single occupant turned to paste.
Jesse breathed a sigh of relief, deleting the balloons so the car was even on the ground. “Thank you for flying, don’t forget your luggage.”Jesse crouch walked over to the rear doors of the van and flung them open, stepping out into daylight once again. Jesse took a few steps and began to indicate a spot for the shrunken artists to stand, though she sneezed halfway through. “Achoo!”
As the dust cleared the doors flew open, allowing the passengers to stumble out into the open and quell their frenzied hearts. Joker dusted himself off with deliberate slowness, looking upward all the while to make sure no rogue paintings followed them from the building. Nothing came; it would seem that Madarame’s influence ended where his distortion did.
The moment everyone got out and Jesse started restoring the gallery’s refugees to their normal sizes, Mona poofed back into cat form with spirals in his eyes and collapsed. Being in the best shape among his friends Fox wordlessly volunteered to take care of him and picked him up. “Though I could use a rest as much as anyone, we had best not linger,” he advised the others. “More Shadows may appear at any moment.”
“Right.” Joker spotted Necronomicon cruising down to join them, a way out of the museum grounds no doubt already in mind. He quickly turned to address the team. “You all did well. We managed to make it out in one piece, but we’re not out of the woods just yet. We’ll help you get to a hospital as fast as we can. Come on.”
