Fandom Persona 5: The Meta War CLOSED

It was night, but the emerging moonlight that bore down on the group felt to Shiro as if it was the brightest sun, beating down on her, desiccating her like she was some kind of salted meat. The battle had been long, very long. Her skin in the real world betrayed little of the blazing heat that Phoenix had turned upon her and Thrud, but she still felt it. And the bloodthirsty blades of Countess, the thought of whom gave her a chill more severe than the ice that could actually be conjured in the Metaverse. Those mercs just kept coming. Kept entangling them in their affairs. On the street, there were few foes that Shiro couldn't just crush if she put her mind to it. But they were different. Even if she wanted to throw herself heedlessly at them...

She sighed. Her steps carried her a short distance away from the group, amongst the trees. Her fatigued physical state made her recent feelings of being unmoored needle her more than before. She had very little to plan, to look forward to, until her new job and new life began. She didn't generally acknowledge herself as being...unintelligent, but most of her problems up till now were fairly direct, easy to run away from or intimidate if more practical solutions didn't work. But to face this particular palace master, with her knot of conspiracy, and the mercs propping her up...that was far from Shiro's strong point. While the others worked their strength on that front more, she chose to keep her mind on tactics whenever they were brought to battle. But would that be enough for what they would be facing?

As Masami spoke, Shiro allowed herself to answer. "You can count on me. All of you." She didn't let her spine falter for even a moment when she was leading her gang, and she wasn't about to now. "Next time, we'll win like we have before. Not just survive." She craned her neck, turning around as she kept her eye out for Agata.

Ann had never wanted to collapse more at the moment. She and the other thieves had fought to the bone in order to get this far. They would soon face off against Hosan and take her treasure, bringing another palace user down. Ann was beginning to realize that she also had fought to the bone and definitely held her own. Maybe she wasn’t a liability to the team after all. Though, she couldn’t afford to let her ego get ahead of her, because they still had to fight to the bone.

Yet that merc who captured Prophet…she reminded Ann of someone very familiar. Someone who she has butted heads against to get a photoshoot. Oh, how that person would get a kick out of her being beaten and bruised. Or at least see the reaction on her face as she was trapped in webs. Ann had a few suspicions on who the mysterious merc could be in her real life. But none of them would make sense except for Sadako, but Sadako was not a fighter...or was she?

Ann was pulled out of her thoughts by Masami giving them praise for their efforts, Ann agreed. The speech was very inspiring and lifted her spirits. She glanced at the team, grimacing at Imato’s wounds. The blond wanted to join in on the inspiring moment.

“Ya, I think we are going to get stronger,” Ann piped up, “considering our last escapade with Kamoshida, we’ve gotten a lot better and more coordinated.” This was true, during Kamoshida's palace, it was true that they were not very well coordinated. The Thieves have noticeably gotten a lot stronger and a lot better at working on a team. She was proud of her fellow thieves for doing better and prouder to be a Phantom Thief. Dying alongside these guys sounded ideal if need be.

"That Mad Monk guy should be a part of our ranks," Ann said to the team, "we could use someone like him honestly." Ann thought of the time in the mobile when Prophet was skillfully driving away from the danger and managing to save Imato. She glanced at the white-haired boy and shook her head, "you know, next time try not to get knocked out." She grew red from Imato being on her lap, clearly Ann was blushing. She did not know how she felt about this, but she knew that she should ignore the feeling because she did not want to cheat on her feelings about Roadkill.

Anthem Azurian Dream Maeve Valor Nellancholy

Frozen pride

Within the steel compound of the metamerc arena, a symphony of weapons clashing with one another filled the air. The battle between Frostbite and Slayer had been raging on for an hour now, with neither side backing down.

After his "defeat" at the hands of Phantom Thieves, the icy warrior was eager to reclaim his glory and needed an outlet to vent out his frustrations. This feeling, it was like a sickness, an obsession. To think his otherwise perfect track record was blemished by this chance encounter. He couldn't let things be as they are. He wanted to take action to right things that were wrong. But even he realized the the futility in this pursuit. The one he desired to defeat the most, Prophet, was already marked by Thunderlord. To defy the will of a fellow MetaMerc is one thing, but to get in the way of the All Father's champion was suicide.

"One way or the other, I will have that damned rematch. So you best watch yourself.. Prophet."

On the other side, there was Slayer, an infamous metamerc who has lost a lot standing as of late. Despite his status as one of top enforcers of the metamercs, he has had an abysmal turn of events over the course of the last month. Failing to finish off Prophet on his first encounter has weighed very heavily on him. While he wasn't directly involved, a handful of mercs blame him for Fixer’s banishment. Apart from that, the younger mercs have also began to stand up for themselves, directly challenging his authority given the chance. The new merc, Jester in particular, was very vexing to him. To think someone so weak, so fresh would be promoted to almost equal his strength.

Slayer clenched his sword, covering it with flames of darkness, summoning the 8 shrouded warrior to his side. This is it, today is the day Slayer will finally best Frostbite, putting the hero wannabe it his place once and for all. Thanatos remained by his master's side, concentrating curse energy into its mouth. Meanwhile, the spectral minions closed the distance, firing smaller beams of cursed energy towards their opponent from multiple directions with coordinated precision. Slayer had been training for a confrontation like this, he won't let the past repeat itself.

"This circus keeps on getting more and more clowns. I'm sick of this. All of them with their quirks. I'll get stronger and one day, I'll crush them all, meta merc or phantom thief."

With feline like grace, Frosbite weaved through the blasts, dodging deadly beams that are just centimeters way from his body. Using his Ice affinity to his advantage, Frostbite froze the ground, allowing himself greeting mobility, while also creating ice platforms to change directions mid air. Despite being on the defensive, this was exactly where he wanted to. To test his limits, his instincts, to go further beyond.

While the battle rages on, the team on the observation deck continue to monitor the two combatants, making sure that they are both adhering the perimeters set by overseer, Maestro. He seemed rather pleased with both combatants, seeing that both of them were fired up for their own respective reasons.

While slayer’s character leaves a lot to be desired, his usefulness as an enforcer leaves a lot to be desired. But even so, he needed him to remain strong enough to be useful.

On the other end, Frostbite while a formidable fighter still needed time to mature his personality. His newfound obsession over the Prophet is a notable factor in his surge in motivation. However, Maestro recognized that this obsession could lead to complications. Sooner or later, Maestro will need to address this behaviour, lest it be addressed by someone who was a lot less civilized.

Peering into another section of the arena, Maestro could observe a hotrod-clad fighter hard at work through the obstacle course. Roadkill, arguably the fastest of the new-gen mercs, had always been the more laid-back metamercs, often not taking things too seriously. But something was different about him today.

Having just acquired a new weapon, the speedster would put it to good use, laying waste to soldier shadows that stood in his way. The sound of intense gunfire was ever-present today, deafening to most but for road kill it was only slightly louder than his Persona’s motorcycle engine.

Zooming past the bullet riddled soldier shadows, Roadkill left a trail of empty lead casings and skid marks. He was on roll today, going through the course in record time. Normally, the merc would be overjoyed by this, but his mind was preoccupied with something else, which explained his lack of usual chatter.

“Why…would she tell me that? Why me of all people?”

Frustration and confusion filled his mind as he continued forwards, decapitating a soldier with a well placed kick, using the momentum to latch onto a nearby wall and began scaling it, utilizing his new skates. The remaining soldiers struggled to land their shots, with their target becoming increasingly more evasive. Seconds later, their attacks were reciprocated in kind by the speedster, bringing to bear an onslaught of bullets from his guns, both of which were glowing red hot. And yet no matter, how many of them he took down, he couldn’t get rid of this sinking feeling in his heart. He was feeling helpless, and powerless in this situation.

“If things keep going the way they are now..she’s going to..”

His thoughts went back on the day she decided to reveal to him about her other life. He warned her the best way he could, but was that really enough? Could he have been more sterner? Some stronger words to push her away from such a life. And now their friendship was in an awkward spot because of that interaction.

Eventually, Roadkill would find himself before the final obstacle to the finish line. A disaster shadow, cerberus. A wild shadow that is difficult to subjugate but an ideal monster to fight against. While the merc has fought larger opponents, it was always alongside his teammates. Despite being alone, he knew the same rules still apply when engaging an adversary such as this.
Clearing his mind of distraction, Roadkill took a deep breath, turning off the engine mounted on his back for a short moment. Closing his eyes, he visualized an image that always puts him at ease, a green field that stretches as far as the eye can see. A place where he could crawl, walk or run to his hearts content. Only this time, it looked a bit different. He could see something on the horizon, the vague silhouette of a person.

Roadkill smiled behind his mask, getting into the a sprinter’s stance, the roar of his ignition filled the arena. Blackrider materialized to his side, popping a wheelie as the fires from his bike enveloped his master.

“I will find a way.”

With determination, Roadkill bolted forward, breaking the sound barrier in the process. No matter what challenges may come, he knows what must be done.

---

The ride to Inokashira Park seemed longer than Baron had expected. Cruising through the metaverse on his bike, he couldn’t help but think back the conversation he had with Gecko. The sense of uneasiness, conflict and hesitation had crept into cold-blooded Baron.

Riding his motorcycle through the open path of the park in the metaverse, his eyes wondered to the rear view mirror where he would spot the hilt of the storm sword mounted his back. He couldnt help but think back to the times he had spent with Ace. The countless hours he had spent training under him, clashing blades and sometimes ideologies, it was only natural that he would adopt some aspects of it.

Ace was a hero, something that was largely mocked by the majority of the metaverse netizens. But even so, none can deny his strength, his dedication and his kindness. While he himself is gone, his actions and legacy still remained, honoured by individuals who have been touched by his deeds, the Samaritans.

While Ace tried to steer Baron and his compatriots onto the righteous path, he never did so with an iron-grip, only providing when needed but ultimately letting them choose their own path. While its master its gone, the weight of the blade and its legacy was something Baron did not enjoy carrying with him. A constant reminder of what he had lost in exchange for choosing his own path.

No matter how much he wanted to deny it, Baron knew it in his heart that Ace would not approve of this. Recklessly endangering individuals in the pursuit of a selfish desire, just like many of the targets they have taken down in the past.

Upon closing in to the agreed meeting space, Baron deactivated the metanav, allowing the motorcycle to appear in the real world next to a bench covered under a resting hut. Parking the motorcycle to the side, he removed his helmet and began unpacking a care package he had prepared in the case of the emergency, laying everything out on the table. It had all the latest medication from Tae’s clinic. While he was not privy to the current condition of the phantom thieves, he had his suspicions, based on the fluctuations of their vitals from earlier that they must have came back from combat with strong opponents.

“I am parked at the resting hut near the lake. Medical supplies are ready if necessary.” His response was brief and curt as always.

~Function & Tact~

"Well, that was more than we bargained for in our goals today," Dascal lethargically groaned as he slipped slowly onto the bean bag in Futaba's room. He watched his adoptive sister go to town on her computer, chugging an energy drink down like a champion as she went supersonically on her keyboard. He was frayed out, and while his wounds were gone thanks to the metaverse medicine, the pain, along with the bloodless, had sapped out all he had. Yet she was still trucking along even after all the first-time boots-on-the-ground scares she had been hit by.

A serene smile appeared on his lips. He had a lot of concerns about letting her be a legit targetable member of the plans, but he had been happy to see how much she had proven of herself... even if it was at the cost of a mini heart attack with some of the things she had told him she had pulled off of course. However, Swan had been instrumental in her success in blooming out into the social world of responsibility/chivalry, and he owed the crow-skulled girl a lot for that.

He turned to the whiteboard he had been furiously at work on, seeing what had caused the plan to go sideways and hilariously go right back up. At the halfway point, everything unpredictable had hit. Crow's extremely powerful hate for Swan, along with the very psycho boyfriend vibes at Baron, Countess's unique transforming form Persona, Syren's hatred of Baron, someone named Kaiser, the unknown underwater beast tendril creature they were now fully aware of, and atop that... a three-part palace ruler... it was a lot to take in.

While this cleared up many Metaverse tangles, it now knotted the fabric of their real-world evidence. Kagura Koga was no longer a viable suspect of being HoSaOn. Yet that also twisted the issue of her role in all this. She had extensive knowledge of psychotic breaks and was even able to read the Tragedys system so efficiently, but she was a business owner. Atop that, she was rather melodramatic apparently while Tragedy and Swan fought this Riot person. It was almost as if she was losing will during the botched cornering... and she had won with a nuke over their heads.

The Phantom Thieves were not as organized as he had initially thought. No matter how well he had tuned it to work, every plan went wrong. They were not professionals, they were not fully coordinated, and they were not all there. Yet...

"Yet most impressively... they turned the tide nonetheless. They stood by each other's decisions no matter how undermanaged or underskilled. Operations-wise, they are not cohesive at all, but past that, they worked off each other and trusted one another. That unbreakable will of bond to one another allows them to work off their mistakes and faults. Though when Swan gave commands, I noticed a sudden structure of elevation of efficiency spike up... there pretty insane all things considered," Dascal spoke aloud, letting his head gently lay against the bean bag as he watched his sister with an upside down view as she turned around on her chair.

"So they're precisely like us, is what I am hearing. Hehehehe, good thing we found them then, bro. Let me introduce you to Big Sis Swan; I think the overall sexy tight-skinned Panther, if I am honest, those pigtails are way too familiar, and... grumpy bug Tragedy... pre-wounds," Dascal lowered an eyebrow in confusion before righting himself up to be introduced... to the true identities of Swan and Tragedy. After all, he had already discovered Panther's Identity through the bizarre world of a talking cat, Mona; thus, that didn't have much impact as more of a confirmation.

Having hacked directly into Ms. Koga's cloud device, she could worm her way into Koga's office computer before spoofing her actual address from it. From there, hacking the wi-fi established at home was simply a matter of minutes.

"Rookie mistake using her personal computer to hide this little dreary secret blackmail of hers," Futaba nodded to herself while wagging a finger disappointedly. Though the fact Futaba had pulled it off didn't surprise him, what indeed took Dascal for a loop was the faces that were now on her screen.

Masami Ogawa, and Imato Makage. Dascal froze at their images momentarily before a hand gently rubbed his chin. Futaba, noticing the sudden change in the air, gave her brother a look.

"Something on your mind?"

"I know both of them."

"Wut?"

"They both go to Shujin Academy, a year under me. I met Masami at the library while she was trying to decrypt something. At first, I thought it was an elective project, but now I see I was wrong. I helped her handle something, I assume, under her phantom thieve belt, though I did hang out with her a few other times as well, and now that I think about it, I see that she did have some oddities to her. As for Makage, well, it makes sense now how he was able to go so heavy toe to toe with me in the gym," Dascal expressed, going over his memories with both of them, trying to initially pull out anything of a weave of sense about all this.

"How does that make sense of a boy's fight... wait a second, have you been dating a girl behind my back... THE BETRAYAL BIG SIS," Futaba was serious for a moment before becoming a bit melodramatic, dropping her head onto her desk as she lazily punched it a few times.

"Still siblings, and your 15 Futaba."

"Guh!!!... Not by blood though," Futaba lunged back as if pierced by a verbal arrow of defeat from that point out.

"Well, as you know, we get super strong in the metaverse, but that strength doesn't transfer back into the real world. What does is muscle memory. He had a fully formed combat style for someone his age like me. Not to say, with great practice, a teen could get to that point, but when we spoke, it was clear to me his life was rather shambled too much a mess to commit to something like that, but with the addition of the Metaverse fueling him, it now makes sense how he is lightyears ahead like myself. The metaverse speeds up growth processing and mental ability, resulting in combat style improvement on steroids," Dascal explained, pulling a chair up as he thought things over.

"Can you kill it from here?"

"No... that's the problem. It's a two-part program. If I just kill the computer version, it will trigger the phone version to send the message, and the same goes the other way around. Koga's using her phone as a timer and a secondary mail-out system. I have to kill both at the same time, which means... I need to be connected to both at the same time wirelessly," Futaba mumbled, sitting upright in her chair again, unhappy about the inability to finish it here and now.

"Sounds like we have some work tomorrow."

"You gotta idea?"

"Well, you just need a wireless connection to her phone. Given that she has to keep it online, all I have to do is get close enough to her long enough for you."

"To ping in, and hack and then BAM shotgun them both," Futaba smiled wildly, mimicking a shotgun blast on her chair before spreading all her limbs out as if she had been shot, spinning her chair before jumping dead onto the bean bag from earlier.

"Exactly."

"So should we tell them we got out for them," Futaba asked, pulling out her phone. Dascal mulled over that moment, clasping his hands together as he leaned back in the chair. That was a rough question to answer.

"Probably shouldn't for now until we accomplish it, at least. Atop that Swan, in particular, is dangerously smart, as is that Cryptic kid. We bring this up, and they might question us into a corner about the potential reveal of identity. They might be able to ascertain that we know almost all of their identities, minus Cryptics. The kid is surprisingly the sleuthiest of them all, oddly enough. Even if by accident in the process they might not see it in a good light," Dascal admitted with a side nod, though, to be fair, had it not been for Baron, he wouldn't have known Shiro was Heartbreak, which still bothered him as well.... why would he change their identities, and were they aware of that.

"So we wait to tell them after this is accomplished, the palace itself, I mean?"

"That would be the best route because we can have a calm setting after victory to discuss everything when everyone's heads are cleared. Doing it during this is risking a bow already tensioned tightly. We might accidentally snap an arrow into our own shoulder," Dascal waved a hand. It's not exactly how he would like to do it, but the Phantom Thieves already had enough on their plate from this palace; potential mistrust was too dangerous to add to the pot. They needed a game plan for tomorrow on how to kill-switch Koga's insurance over Swan & Tragedy.

.........................................................................

~Icey Burnout~
Maeve Valor Nellancholy Anthem That Weird girl TreasureSniper

"Strangely, he shouldn't even still have that mouth wound," Isao pointed out before expanding on his comment as he winced in memory of Countess-bladed thorns stripping at his more petite frame.

"The power of our persona and Takemi's medicines should have sealed it like the rest of them... maybe that Countess truly is Kuchisake-onna, and Imato has been mentally infected to the point our modern ways can't heal. However, Masami still has hers from her fight with the unknown element Riot, making it vexing. It's almost like they are mentally blocking the supernatural healing process," Isao mumbled in response to Mona, drained very much from the excursion they had survived. Though he should have been joyous upon the revelation of proving the mothman real as a meta merc in disguise, he didn't have the energy to go into one of his ramblings on the occult.

Instead, he was slung over in a daze as he slowly pulled out a go-gurt from his pocket, fidgeting with it until the container gave way to the tear, at which point he plopped it into his mouth, letting it hang as he slowly vacuumed out the contents. As they made it to the park, Masami did her best to rally the troop, reminding them that while they were dinged up, they had indeed won the night. Shiro spoke up, seemingly bothered by something on her end, but was still just as proud as ever, singing her assurance of their victory timing.

"You know, it's funny. I remember when we had no idea at all what we were doing. When I ran straight into proving the other side of reality by mad dashing with a crazy blonde calling out some wackos cultist who I had hoped to be part of the eldritch entity Paradox queen... into the metaverse, I was nearly ready to die with a bunch of people I didn't know upon discovering my research-born fruit with," Isao paused realizing he was going into his ramblings again this time surprisingly cutting himself off as he coughed a few times fighting the urge to continue his theories as he got back on point.

"I agree with Masami, Shiro, and... Ann. I didn't know what to think of you guys, but now I agree we will pull this together. I guess this is what it's like to have a band of friends with unplaced/unfounded optimism... probably get us dead, though," Isao mumbled, catching the go-gurt wrapper from his mouth, barely catching it with his sore hand. Isao was so spent that his lingo was normalizing in his weakened state. Yet his words were oddly thankful. Then Ann spoke up about the Oracle and the Prophet. At first, Isao was silent, but he decided it was okay to give his opinion.

"They did give us a lot more open scope. I mean, most of the time, Baron's plans, if not ourselves, point in a direction, and we scream like rabid dogs... to end up causing explosions, getting our rears kicked, and botching into fights we cant manage. Though this time, during the explosions, getting our rears kicked, and botching into fights we couldn't manage... were minimized," he spoke, coughing again as his petite figure was still sore all over his torso from when he had gotten captured by the Bathory Persona's whip-like appendages.

"For once, we also caught them entirely off guard, and they didn't even realize what we were up to until it was too late. We were ahead of them, baffled them, and even countered their own home team tactics... which we had not achieved before. We should effectively think about an operator and a strategist when recruiting, and as Ann said, they fit the bill pretty well. Also, he can drive, and I honestly think we need a legit wheelman... over whatever Masami thinks she is at the wheel," Isao spoke, giving his vote on the thought and a slight jab at Masami's horrendous driving there nearly scared the soul out of all of them.

As they continued, Isao noticed Sougo on a bike near a hut. For now, rest sounded good while letting out some vents of explanation unto what had transpired and could be managed by Masami for now in his mind.

~ Imato

With a few words rambled on throughout the group, the white-haired rogue's attention was finally dragged away from the depths of his own mind and instead back to the situation at hand. He would take a slow breath to cool his nerves, they all had been through hell today... now wasn't the time to ramble on and cause any more worry within their minds. Despite feeling his injuries plaguing his body, he would suck it up and force himself to stand tall like pain was a bygone concept that no longer applied to the moment. A grin would slowly grow onto his damaged visage as he first paid attention to Ann's quick comment of his precarious position after being KO'ed. "I can certainly try. But even you have to admit despite passing out after the second use. That new spell, Freidyne is fucking epic." Perhaps the talk of spells and such wasn't a good idea in public but around someone like Isao who talked cryptics nonstop, maybe it would seem a bit normal to the unknowing ear.

But the advice was still good to follow... Even though it was a nice awakening, he didn't fancy waking up to a touch of embarrassment.

"That is some food for thought." A quick mumble befell his lips as Isao started his report on his observations for the night, the injuries they were sustaining were... more concerning than he'd care to admit. While growing tired and sore of being within the cognitive realm was somewhat expected, to start taking some of the received wounds out with them was starting to make the Fool believe that it was simply more than just cognitive now... it had to be. His lips became pursed and his eyes closed, trying to wrap his mind around the continous development of knowledge from their second lives. The uninjured side of his mouth would rise into a smirk as he would throw his hands and shoulders up into a shrug as the idea of the recruitment of Oracle and Prophet were brought into the mix. "Now that's using the noggin. The quicker we get Masami away from the wheel the better ya know?"

The casual walk was brought to an end as more of the group would start to finally spot Sougo awaiting them, this included Imato. "Yo." Doing a little bit too well at acting like injury was the least of his worries, Imato would see a few meds beside the blondie. He would walk over and grab a painkiller, downing it before turning back to the rest of the group. "Any how, I like that way of looking at things. We got the info, and to add to it we gave the mercs a run for their money! We'll kick their asses in due time." Imato's wide grin returned once more, his fist clenched as a fire burned in his cold eyes now.

"Oh great... we got him fired up for battle again..." Morgana mumbled under heavy breath as he trudged along with the group, remaining beside Masami for the most part.