Chapter 7: Awakening Persona!
A day had passed since Ren's transfer, marking his second day of being a transfer student. Enzo, Ryuji and him were currently hanging out on the rooftop and chatting away.
"So, you're gonna come with us, right man?" Ryuji asked Enzo, his voice having an underlying pleading tone.
"Sure" Enzo scoffed, "Just know I'll be making fun of both of you for the rest of your lives if this shit ain't real" He stated.
"It's real!" Ryuji raised his voice, before looking at Ren as his face showed some hesitation, "I... think at least" He chuckled awkwardly, before rubbing his nose, "Well, we'll see after school, won't we?!" He asked no one in particular
"Yeah" Ren simply replied, giving him a small nod.
.
.
.
The usual, boring, repetitive school day went by relatively quick fortunately, allowing for the trio to meet up at the school entrance at the end of school.
"Yo!" Ryuji, the first one there, waved to Enzo and Ren who came out of their class together to meet Ryuji, "About time! So, I think we should retrace our steps from yesterday, whaddya think?" He asked Ren, who gave a nod in agreement.
After a small walk, the three stood on the side of a street not far from school.
"If it's a castle we're looking for... it shouldn't be that hard to find" Ryuji said, bringing his hand up to his chin to rub in thought as he looked around, "We went that way, right?" He asked Ren
"Maybe" Ren shrugged, his tone having no confidence in his answer at all which caused Ryuji to sigh
"When you say it like that, I'm starting to believe maybe that stuff isn't real" He said, ignoring the "Told ya so" remarks from Enzo.
"...Alright, let's just go this way!" Ryuji instructed, leading the group as they headed back in the direction of the school. This was the exact same way that he and Ren had taken yesterday before 'entering a castle'
.
.
.
"We're... at school" Ryuji tilted his head, scratching the top of his head in confusion, "We must've made a wrong turn, let's try again"
With a grunt, Ren and Enzo followed Ryuji in circling back round just to end up back at school, with no 'castle' in sight.
"I'm so confused..." Ryuji groaned, leaning against a small wall at the entrance of the school as he faced Enzo and Ren who stood in front of him, "What do you think?" He asked Ren.
"How about you check your phone? Your map or somet-" Suddenly, Ryuji's eyes widened as he jumped up and grabbed Ren's shoulders, surprising both him and Enzo who watched from the sidelines.
"Your phone!" Ryuji said, shaking Ren slightly who raised his eyebrows in confusion, "You had a navigation app thingy last time, right?!"
"Uh... I don't know?" Ren replied, stepping back to make Ryuji release his grip on his shoulders as he lowered his arms to his side
"Well, I'm not sure what it was!" Ryuji insisted, "But I'm sure it came from your phone! Remember, it said something like 'you have returned to the real world'?" He asked, jolting a flashback in Ren's mind as he remembered a feminine voice coming from his voice after they exited the castle.
"Yeah... I think so" Ren then took out his phone from his pocket, which got swiped from Ryuji instantly. He just watched as Ryuji began swiping away at his phone.
"You just gonna let him take your phone like that?" Enzo asked Ren, who shrugged, "Fair enough" He gave a shrug of his own in response.
"Oi, what's this eye thingy?" Ryuji asked Ren, showing the phone screen to Enzo and Ren to see an app with a red eye.
"Oh, I keep deleting it but it keeps coming back" Ren answered.
"Hell nah... that's some creepy shit" Enzo commented, to which Ryuji simply tapped on the app to see a search history which he said aloud.
"Let's use it!" Ryuji shouted with a smile, tapping something on Ren's phone as a feminine voice spoke from it
"Kamoshida... Shujin Academy... Pervert... Castle..." The voice from the phone said, creeping Enzo out slightly as he felt like this was some weird stuff in a horror movie which will lead to them having to fight a creepy immortal villain and ultimately lose and die a gruesome death (He is not a fan of the horror genre at all)
"Beginning navigation" The phone said, when suddenly Enzo, Ryuji and Ren felt their minds and world be filled with a red, wavy distortion which caused them to black out momentarily.
.
.
.
"That felt way too weird" Enzo shivered slightly, "What the..." He gasped, looking in front of him to see a massive castle shaped similarly to Shujin High.
"So, whaddya think now, huh Enzo?!" Ryuji laughed, glad that he actually proved his best friend wrong in the end - he ignored the fact that he himself almost thought that it might've not been real in the end.
Enzo turned around to see Ryuji in his school uniform. On the other hand, when he turned to Ren, he saw him wearing a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, cinched black pants, brown-black winklepickers boots with taller heels, a pair of red gloves, and a white, birdlike domino mask with black designs around the eyes reminiscent of full eyeliner and sharp lashes.
"Damn... that outfit's cool as hell" Enzo couldn't help but look at Ren's outfit up and down with envious eyes, "Where's your cool outfit?" He asked Ryuji.
"Shut up, man! That's what I wanna know!" Ryuji cried in reply, kissing his teeth in envy, "But man...! I can't believe we're back, that really means everything was real yesterday!" He cheered? To be honest, he wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that it was real as there were some unpleasant moments and memories made yesterday.
"What the...! What are you guys doing back here?!" A high pitched voice entered the ears of the gang, who turned their attention towards the ground to see a cat-like creature with a large spheroidal head, and black and white fur.
"That talking cat's 'Morghandi', right?" Enzo asked the two boys, pointing his finger at the cat with a blank face.
"I'm not a cat!" The cat shouted, enraged as he was fed up with being called one of those things, "I'm 'M-O-R-G-A-N-A', and I'm HUMAN!" He corrected.
Enzo turned his head to Ryuji and Ren on either side of him, who face-palmed, sighed and shook their heads in confusion, 'Just play along' was what he telepathically gathered from their facial expressions.
"Right. And I'm Obama, a President" Enzo replied sarcastically, causing Ryuji to elbow his rib which did not effect him in the slightest (Instead it hurt Ryuji a little), "Joking. The name's Enzo, an actual human"
With his comment flying over Morgana's comically spherical head, Morgana began to question why Ryuji and Ren came back to Kamoshida's distorted world (The castle is formed by Kamoshida's distorted desires - he thinks of himself as King and Shujin Academy as his castle, with students as his slaves)
After the talk was over, Morgana led the group inside the castle through a not-so-secret hole which they climbed through. At this point, Morgana began to give what felt like a tutorial to the trio as they began to 'infiltrate' the castle.
The group ran down a flight of stairs and eventually ended up in some cell. Outside the cell was a knight in armour.
"He looks strong..." Enzo muttered to himself, stepping forward and cracking his knuckles, neck, and other limbs.
"What are you doing?!" Morgana screamed, jumping at Enzo and grabbing him by his neck in an attempt to pull him back just for his attempt to be futile, 'What the hell?! What is this dude made out of, steel?!' He then felt like a light bulb had flashed in his head, '...Huh... that could actually prove to come in useful... let's just hope he has the potential of that power'
"Intruder!" The knight turned its body and saw Enzo, who looked at it with a smirk from the cell door. He ran towards Enzo, who suddenly appeared in front of him and delivered a strong kick to its metal plated chest.
*DING!* The sound of metal hitting the floor could be heard as the knight fell to the floor. There was little-to-no damage done, but the weight of the armour prevented the knight from getting up as it laid on its back.
"I'll reveal your true form!" Appearing from the shadows in the eyes of Enzo and the others, Ren proceeded to rip off the knight's mask which caused it to splurge into a blob which formed into a monster pumpkin.
"What the fuck?" Enzo looked at the sight, feeling both confused yet intrigued and invested as he witnessed Ren summon a 'Persona': Arsene, to fight for him as he easily defeated the enemy.
"That was awesome you guys!" Ryuji cheered, impressed with both Ren and Enzo's strength.
"Indeed... though, I must recommend" Morgana spoke to Enzo in a serious tone, "It's best if you don't attack the knights in that fashion. If you're going to do that, at least do it after revealing it's true form as a shadow, similar to... Joker, here"
"Joker?" Ryuji questioned, turning his head to Ren who also looked confused as he pointed at him, "This guy?" He asked in clarification.
"Yeah! What idiot of Phantom Thief goes around without a secret identity!?" Morgana asked rhetorically, "You'll be 'Joker' from now on, so you guys make sure you call him that from now on..." He then turned to Enzo and Ryuji, "You guys can have your names decided later"
And so, the group went onwards on their venture through the castle, Eventually, the group ended up in a 'Safe room', a place which wasn't affected strongly by Kamoshida's distortion, allowing for a nice rest/chill room for the gang as they took the time to rest before carrying on.
With Ren defeating a few more shadows by himself, and Morgana joining it at times whilst teaching him (And Ryuji and Enzo who watched) things such as 'All out attacks', '1 More', etc. (And Ryuji also pulled out a gun, a toy one, but it was still interesting nonetheless), the group eventually ended up in the main room of the castle, where a few basic knights, a golden knight, and Kamoshida's shadow stood.
"...You knaves again?" Kamoshida's shadow said in disgust, his voice full of disdain as he looked at Ren and Ryuji, "And..." He turned to Enzo, a smirk appearing on his face as he watched Enzo clench his fist, "Akamatsu~ What a pleasure having you here"
"Ignore him, Enzo" Ryuji muttered, looking at Enzo who said and did nothing as he stayed looking at Kamoshida with no emotions.
To take the attention away from Enzo, Ryuji decided to step forward and proudly announce, "This school isn't your castle, Kamoshida! I've memorised all the faces of the volleyball guys, and you're going down!" He declared, an angry frown on his face.
"Heh" Shadow Kamoshida snickered, "It seems it's true when they say 'barking dogs seldom bite.'"
"What the hell are you gettin' at?" Ryuji asked, even though he had a sneaking suspicion he wasn't going to like Kamoshida's answer.
"Isn't it obvious? I speak about the 'Track Traitor', who acted in violence, ending his teammates' dreams..." He then chuckled as he looked back at Enzo, "It makes sense now why you're both best friends"
"And I'll fucking beat your ass again, Kamoshida!" Enzo rushed forward but was pushed back strongly by the intimidating golden knight, causing him to fall to the floor weakly, "You motherfuc- Gah!" He coughed and gagged, the oxygen in his lungs escaping his body as the knight placed all its weight on him whilst on the floor.
"Ah, yes~" Shadow Kamoshida looked up at the ceiling, a smile on his face as he licked his lips hungrily whilst hugging himself, "A 'mother fucker'... I liked being that...-" He then smirked, enjoying Enzo's angered face which was about to burst any minute
"Enzo!" Ryuji shouted, running towards Kamoshida as he ignored the screams and shouts of Morgana and Ren telling him to stop.
The silver knights revealed their true forms, turning into 'bicorns'. Ren and Morgana stepped in in order to protect Ryuji, but ultimately failed as they were outnumbered and lost drastically.
Ryuji, similarly, got defeated easily as he had no persona. The three were now pinned to the floor by the bicorns as they watched Shadow Kamoshida step forward, crouch down, and grab the pinned Enzo by the chin as he pulled his face closer with a huge grin.
"Your mother really enjoyed when I used her... shame she had to dry up and get thrown away like a small piece of trash"
"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!" Enzo shouted, the phlegm in his voice causing his voice to break as he spat at Shadow Kamoshida's wretched face, "YoU'rE dEaD, Kamoshida!" His voice break a little in anger as he slowly lifted himself up off of the floor, surprising Shadow Kamoshida and everybody else as the golden knight got thrown off Enzo's back.
"About time..." Enzo heard a deep voice filled with authority like that of a king, if not a God, as his heart pumped loudly and his head began to wrong, "These mongrels were getting too noisy..."
"AGhhh...!" Like a wild beast, Enzo grabbed his aching head and began to scream and growl, standing on his feet as the pain grew ever stronger but he wasn't about to lose to it, "AGHGHAHHH!" He roared.
"Are you simply going to let this be? You have the potential to be a king... suitable for me, the King of Kings. Will you remain to let these mongrels believe they're above you... or will you rightfully take your place on the throne above them, in an unreachable realm that only you belong... May all the things beneath you flounder, now call out my name and may my godly strength become yours...!!!" The voice finished with a shout as a gold mask with a red jewel in the centre of it with a singular blue feather appeared on Enzo's face.
"NNGH... RAAGHHHHH!" With a loud, glass shattering roar, Enzo gripped the mask and strongly ripped it off his face, his skin ripping in the process has blood fell to the ground. His wound healed instantly as a gold pillar of aura appeared around him, blinding everyone in the area.
As the pillar dimmed, everyone looked at Enzo to see him wearing a Mesopotamian-influenced outfit as his abs and arm muscles were exposed, two golden swords floating behind him. A little further behind him, sitting on a golden chair made out of pure light sat a persona with blonde hair and red eyes, one leg crossed over the other as he rested his chin on one hand, giving him an aura of a king as the knights felt their legs shake, barely resisting the sudden urge to bow in the presence of a true king. [Images]
Shaking momentarily, the golden knight splurged and revealed its true form of a red knight riding a bicorn.
With an overwhelming presence which could be felt by Ren, Morgana, Ryuji and Shadow Kamoshida, Enzo proudly pointed at the red knight with a face full of disgust, as if he was thinking 'Feel honoured that I'm even acknowledging your filthy presence'
"Shoot these mongrels down, Gilgamesh!"
-----
A/N: As it is evident to see, there is no way in hell I will be writing everything happening in the Persona distorted world. The game is over 100 hours long so there is no way I'm doing that. Instead, from now on, I'll be mentioning visits and talk about some stuff happening in the distortion world, and also focus on characters being introduced and their personas etc. But other than that, as this is a crossover world with things other than Persona, I'll be skimming past most information.
Thanks for reading
Hope you enjoyed
Any questions/suggestions
If you like this story, leave a review. And feel free to give power stones as well as this story has finally reached 15k words. Would be much appreciated.