Soloing and Stocking Up

"Vile,disrespectful little ingrates, prostrate yourselves before our King!" The Head Shadow knight in charge burst forth from a pile of ooze and transformed itself into Belphegor; A giant demon atop the john.

"I've had enough of this! I won't be bowing or begging for anyone that I do not respect, so let's do this together, Carmen!" Ann growled as she cracked her whip.

"I am the ethereal dancer of flaming passion; Carmen…I have heard the call of your heart and now I will offer you my strength to break free~"

"Skull, Mona….Let's back her up!" Joker announced as he twirled his knife; "Let's see what you got." He remarked to Ann as he everyone lined up to take on the growling demon.

"Let's start things off blazing! AGI!" Ann yelled out as Carmen formed a burning orb in her hand and threw it to knock the Shadow off of it's high horse into the ground.

Once the Shadow toppled over, The four quickly jumped in to pile on it and rally strike after strike on it. "It's weak to fire…Ann, let's wipe it out!" Joker suggested to her as he summoned Jack O'Lantern since he managed to buff it a few times in the fights leading up to this.

"You got it." Ann smirked as she summoned up another Agi while Jack charged a fireball in his lantern.

"AGI!" The two yelled out as a twin pair of fireballs formed into a larger one to knock a lot of health off of Belphegor and leave it ready for another All Out Attack. The foursome quickly pounced on the prone Shadow and watched it end with Ann posing with a playful wink; "A beautiful rose always has it's thorns~"

"You…You could have had it all here…Why turn against the King like this?" The Shadow croaked out before he finally vanished when Skull delivered the last few swings of her weapon to him.

"Simple, Kamoshida's a dirty pig and I've realised just how much better I can do then him." Ann mentioned as she watched the Shadow vanish.

"That was….So cool!" Skull mentioned as they finally got out of the fight; "Takamaki, you really laid the smackdown on that smarmy crapsack!"

Ann was about to respond but felt faint as the adrenaline caught up with her and fell to her knees; "Whoa…Headrush…." She groaned as she felt her body lose all of it's energy from before and Carmen vanished.

"Take it easy, the first time is always intense." Joker mentioned as he knelt in front of her; "Just deep breaths and we'll go one step at a time…But for now, we need to leave here."

"No. Way. I am not leaving here until I give that pervert with Kamoshida's face a black eye or two!" Ann yelled as she struggled to get to her feet but found it more difficult then she cared to admit.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Cool it, Takamaki! You don't wanna push it in a place like this...Believe me, I know." Skull warned her as she put her arm around Ann to help her up; "We should get out of here before that creep musters up the balls to try again!" Skull mentioned to the others as she lifted up the other blonde to get her walking.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Skull's right; we can't both look deeper into the Palace and keep a watch for Lady Ann…" Mona admitted; "Let's leave for now and then we can come up with a new plan…."

"Couldn't have phrased it better." Joker mentioned as he looked to Ann with a sympathetic smile; "Trust me, I want to hit that guy as much as you do but we can't go in there worrying about what might happen if you can't stand straight."

With a defeated sigh and a nod, Ann agreed and asked to be taken back.

"While we're on the subject of unwanted surprises; Don't activate the app unless you're sure we are alone!" Morgana yelled at Ryoko as they left the Castle and the Metaverse altogether. Everyone but Lee now looking wiped out from everything. "Let's go find somewhere quiet so we can discuss what to do next." Morgana suggested as they headed down towards the train station to find a place to sit in quiet, unaware that a figure with brown hair caught a quick glance into the alleyway where they were as they walked out of the school.

——Later at a Diner——

"So this is what you guys were doing all this time?" Ann asked as she took a drink of coffee while being filled in on what exactly happened including the torture chambers and how she could understand Morgana talking.

"Sorry about all the secret stuff but how do you explain something like this without sounding like some doped up loony?" Ryoko mentioned as she had a soda on hand; "But yeah, me and this guy over here have been on Kamoshida's shit list from the day we met." She added before explaining all the stuff they went through before.

Ann thought on this and realised that all this time that everyone gave them crap including the teachers and no one could see who the real problem was. "Let me join…" She practically demanded; "You saw it all back there, I can do stuff now and I know just what that scumbag would do if you two get expelled! I can help you guys more rather then just picking up gossip on the outside."

Ryoko looked a little confused at first but then started to grin; "Forget what I said before, after that verbal and physical ass kicking you gave that Shadow…You're definitely coming with us!"

"She has the potential to help us so I'm all for it, but rest assured Lady Ann! I will protect you until my last breath!" Morgana proclaimed while swinging their paw around.

"The more, the merrier." Lee smiled softly as he was happier that Ann wasn't as hostile or apprehensive anymore; "Plus since we're doing this, it helps that we have someone else who can use magic too."


"Oh yeah, Takamaki can do the whole "Fwoosh!" thing and turn Shadows into Barbecue…" Ryoko mentioned with a wide smile as she mimed the actions from before; "Man…It's a lot cooler than mine…"

"Ryoko, you can shoot thunder from a Pirate Ship…Ann's got the Flamenco dance of fighting and you've got pirate metal." Lee mentioned; "Plus it kind of fits that Ann's ability is to be too hot to handle."

The three of them stared at him with a rather confused expression; Morgana looked unsure as to whether they agree or feel jealous that Lee could say that so brazenly, Ryoko looked like she was about to burst out laughing though underneath that was a twinge of something else there and Ann was just blushing from the fact that Lee said that without hesitation. "Damn, you work fast for someone you just saved~" Ann teased him playfully while patting his cheek; "Though let's try and keep to the task at hand, so what should we do next."

Morgana grumbled as they climbed out of Lee's bag onto the table; "Now we should have enough for a full team to venture through the Castle with no problems…But our main concern now is to make sure we have provisions to fall back on while we're in there." They mentioned as the topic was changed; "Lee's got that new dagger while we were exploring but we should also see about getting weapons for ourselves."

Ryoko nodded as they had a good idea in mind on where to fix that; "I know a good place we can get some gear, it's where I got that fake gun from before…Though I guess if we're going in there for the long haul, how do we get stuff to fix us up?

"We can take care of that, I saw a clinic's business card in the bag that me and this casanova can visit to get some good medicine." Morgana mentioned as they climbed back in; "Though we should probably head back, things are getting late and this guy'll get in trouble if we're out too long."

"We have each other's numbers now so if anything comes up, we let everyone know…Okay?" Ann pointed out as she made sure she still had Ryoko's number too while they were all there.

"And if we're going into the Palace, none of us go in there alone, got it?" Lee added, making sure that considering that it wasn't just Ann who was at risk of being "played with" by S-Kamoshida anymore. "We'll meet back at school tomorrow and we can figure out what to do next."

——Later, in the late afternoon——

Lee was currently tapping on his phone outside of the school; "I gotta make this right…"

Morgana would be eyeing Lee with a mix of judgement and concern; "Are you really sure that this is a good idea? You were all okay with Ryoko and Lady Ann being with you but this is dangerous…Even for you…."

"If we're going in there, I wanna make sure that we're prepared or at the very least…No one ends up like the last few times that we ended up in there! First we all ended up in prison and Ryoko nearly got attacked…Then it was Ann that nearly had the same happen, I just wanna make sure that I can protect them and not feel….Useless…" He mentioned softly; the memories of watching Ann and Ryoko struggling for dear life….Then a vision of being stuck behind a giant metal door and yelling for Akechi played more vividly in his mind.


Morgana sighed as they realised what this was really about; "Lee…I know it sucks to be unable to help but you'll do more good with the others, besides they can protect themselves…Plus you know better then anyone that going in there as you are is not going to benefit anyone."

Lee groaned to himself as he had his finger over the app; "I'm not going too crazy…I'm just gonna bulk myself up on the first floor and make sure that the Personas I get can put up more of a fight."

"Wow...Despite all the confidence and the guts, he still worries this much..." Morgana mused as they realised where Lee was coming from and knew that he wouldn't back down from this so the best possible way to ensure that things wouldn't be AS bad; "Alright, but I'm going with you…With me around then you're not technically doing this alone and I can at least heal you…But I'm still going to say this is a bad idea!"

The two firmly agreed before vanishing into the Palace to work into the night.

——The Next Morning——

Morgana groaned as they felt their body ache even as a cat; "I'm not sure what compelled me to go with him or why…But I can feel stronger now...and also the regret of doing this twice in a day…"

Over the course of the late afternoon to the late night, Morgana and Lee both went into the lower parts of Kamoshida's castle to train themselves up. Morgana protested the whole way through but even they had to admit that this yielded results; when the pair went in to the palace for the first time the two were at level 3 but by the time they had left, they had boosted themselves up to Level 10.

Lee had been able to capitalise on his journey as he was able to beat the Shadows there; Recruiting the Shadows, leveling up and use the Velvet Room to fuse each new Persona to match, along with filling out the Compendium with the Personas that he recruited and fused.

Lee's Current Party:

1. Arsene: Level 10

2. Berith: Level 9

3. Silky: Level 7

4. Cait Sith: Level 7

5. Angel: Level 9

6. Succubus: Level 8

Lee strained himself through the harsh ache of his muscles to get up and check his phone; "Y'know…The feeling sucks hard but at least we can handle the Palace a lot better when we go in next today." He pointed out as he saw that Ryoko was messaging him about their plans; "Oh yeah, we've got supplies to get today…we should see what Ryoko's turned up and then we can check out that clinic."

"Yo, you still gonna meet up to see what we can get? Takamaki said she can meet us at the school today but we can still find a chance to stock up for the time being."

Lee nodded to himself as he sent her a response; "Sure, I'm just gonna grab some stuff and then we can get on the trains to Shibuya." He then climbed out of bed and then grabbed his bag to put Morgana in and headed downstairs to make his exit.



"Hold it!" Sojiro called out from behind the counter as he caught Lee trying to leave; "I'm not giving you the easy treatment after you got caught being late to school….You're cleaning dishes for the mornings!" He remarked and then pointed to the pile of dirty returns from customers with very little room for the contrary.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me! I get locked up in a castle and my reward for it is dishwashing…I guess considering he can easily boot me out of here, it could be worse…" Lee thought to himself and then sighed as he figured that doing this might show he could be trusted a little bit extra by Sojiro. "Alright, hand me a dishcloth…." He remarked with a soft sigh.

—A couple of hours later and a few minutes of negotiations/compromises later—

Lee would reach Shibuya where Ryoko was waiting by a statue of a dog. "I'm really, really sorry! I got stuck with chores all morning."

Ryoko would shrug it off as she got up from where she sat and threw an empty bottle of juice in the trash; "It's all good, I figured that you would've gotten a slap on the wrist for what happened anyway…My mom kinda just expects this now…But we can still do all the prep work, Takamaki can't join us though…Sudden shoot or something came up while I was waiting."

"Well, it's better than nothing…So lead the way." Morgana mentioned from the bag as the two headed into one of the side streets to find Untouchable: The Airsoft Shop where Lee had spent a lot of time to make sure that he had a yen in his wallet and that everyone had a working weapon.

"So this is where you got the gun? How come you know about that kinda stuff anyway?" Lee asked Ryoko as she headed for the door; On the last journey he made, he had been able to buy and sell stuff with no questions asked but talking with Iwai was like a minefield considering that glare of his.

"I uh…Kinda collect them…" Ryoko mentioned with an embarrassed laugh and glanced away; "They look cool, okay?!" She protested and then stomped her foot.



"Hey, I'm not gonna comment on it…." Lee pointed out and then smiled; "Besides I kinda get it anyway." He admitted as he glanced in the glass part of the door; Seeing the stacks and stacks of packaged airsoft guns along with that familiar cap bobbing in the corner meant that not much could've changed from where he could see.

"Well, let's stop with the stalling and see what we can find!" Morgana bugged them impatiently as they were already way behind thanks to Sojiro's delay and the two having their moment meant that it was delayed for longer.

The bell tinkled as the door opened up and the faint sounds of music could be heard on the speakers; Much like how it's business usually was, not many people were in there and the only person who seemed to be at home in this place was the clerk.

"Pretty intense place you picked here, Ryoko…" Morgana whispered from the bag as the blonde began pretending to scan the shelves while Lee legitimately perused.

"This was the only place that doesn't ask questions about that sorta thing, the guy at the counter gave me a good recommendation back when I got the other one." Ryoko mentioned as she then headed over to the counter; "Scuse me, I wanna try and get something for my friend here."

There was a resigned grunt of annoyance as the clerk didn't look up from the magazine they were reading; "What exactly is it you want, kid?" A rough voice was heard as they barely gave them a second glance.



"Well…Can you help us find something new for us? My friend here is looking for something new to start off with?" Ryoko tried to push it as she was getting annoyed herself at this lack of service.

"Alright, what exactly is it that you want anyway? You looking for a revolver, an automatic? Work with me here blondie…" The clerk grumbled as they put the magazine down; they were wearing a gray pin-striped hat with yellow ear defenders around their neck, a black turtleneck sweater, a long gray coat with a red peace symbol on the left hem of their coat, simple blue jeans and black leather boots that were kicked up on the counter with the airsoft pellets and attachments on a sale.

"Automatic? Why are we talking about cars now?" Ryoko asked with a confused look on her face as the clerk's rather judgmental glance.

"Amateurs…" The Clerk scoffed loud enough for Ryoko to hear.

"H-Hey, I know what I want, okay? Some service…Besides I bought stuff from you last week!" Ryoko protested as the snark was getting more and more annoying.

"Sorry kid, but I only keep record of regulars and you don't look regular here to me." They grumbled with a snort and looked back to their magazine.

"Jackass probably isn't used to seeing girls in his shop all that much." Ryoko remarked with a similar eyeroll and determined to get under the clerk's skin.

"The hell'd you just say, you lil shit?" The Clerk said with a very quiet yet equally dangerous tone and suddenly reached down to grab Ryoko by the collar, yanking her up to their face with what was quite possibly the scariest look barring Sojiro's. "Do I look like an insecure man to you?!"

"I think what she means is that we want something that is the closest thing to looking real as we can get." Lee would say as he jumped between the two before an argument or a fight could arise, not quite picking up on what exactly was being said.

"Real, huh?" The Clerk would remark before letting go of Ryoko's shirt collar; "You two punks looking to rob a bank or something?" They mentioned with a sly smirk as this now had their attention.

"I-It's not that…We just like collecting them for how they look, y'know…without cops busting our ass." Ryoko mentioned, still a little shaken up from the sudden altercation.

"That right? Well then, lemme go get the sample spread." They remarked and then headed out back to grab a variety of fake weapons for the two.

"Jeez…That clerk's an asshole but they know how to intimidate…" Ryoko shivered a little as she straightened herself up and looked to Lee who despite having been equally stared down was barely batting an eyelid. "Seriously though, how do you have the balls to stare 'em down not freak out?"

"Probably because HE doesn't pick fights like you do?" Morgana retorted with a peek through the open zip in the bag; "Plus Phantom Thieves have nerves of steel so how can we hope to steal Kamoshida's treasure if we're afraid of a store clerk?"

"Cat, that clerk is a whole other level of scary…like Yakuza scary or somethin'…" Ryoko mentioned before getting cut off with a loud BANG! as a tray of boxed kits was placed in front of them.

"If you're quite done flirting with each other, I brought your spread, take a look and see what your fancy is…But be quick about it…" The Clerk remarked before sitting in front of them back in their spot.

"I'm uh…Just pick somethin' good for me like a shotgun…Here's my cut of things." Ryoko mentioned as she handed Lee some money; "I'm gonna go hang about outside." She quietly whispered and headed outside to the sound of a tinkling bell.

"Your girlfriend looks a little rattled…" The Clerk mentioned casually as they watched Lee rifle through the firearms; "Sorry if I spooked her but I don't really have much patience for people up in my face, m'name's Iwai...If you are gonna become a regular here then you can at least know that much."

"She's not my….She's just a friend." Lee mentioned as he felt himself getting a little embarrassed at getting pegged like that. "I know we don't really look all that much like hardcore fans, we're new to the whole scene…That's all." He added to try and apologise for Ryoko's outburst earlier.

"Eh, it's water under the bridge buddy…I just can't roll out the red carpet for every window shopper that just wants something cool looking or a punk trying to threaten some kids for money…Plus it's not the first time that someone mistakes me for a man in a store like this." Iwai shrugged it off as they separated the stuff that Lee decided to buy.

"Yeah, it kind of sucks tha-Wait…What?" Lee agreed with them but then took on board what this clerk said and then looked up at them; "No…You're kidding right?"

Since "Iwai's" face was hidden by the magazine and the hat pulled down low; Lee barely noticed the changes between this Iwai and the Iwai from before, that and the fact that by the time he got to the end of his journey; he barely even registered it.

Unlike Ryoko or Mishima, "Iwai" barely looked that much different from her other self; she had the same intense stare but she had a narrower jaw and her hair was cropped short in a messy pixie cut, her neck still had the gecko tattoo on it along with the lollipop that hung out of her mouth that made it look like she was smoking. "Kid? You done starin'?" Iwai asked as she put all the accessories in opaque bags.

"Y-Yeah…All good…" Lee remarked with a little more uncertainty in mind as he paid for all the armour and gear for Ann, Ryoko and Morgana. "Thank god for that late night grinding…I still have enough scratch for the clinic, plus whatever drinks I can get from the Vending machines." He thought to himself but felt himself getting stopped as Iwai called out to him.

"One last thing kid…Take this with you…" Iwai remarked as she took out a slender looking box and tucked it inside of Lee's pocket before patting him in that spot; "Don't open it or tell anyone about it and you don't have to worry about it...So just hold on to it for me..." She said with a tone that indicated a necessity for the utmost discretion.

After mumbling an "Uh huh…" Lee finally left and saw Ryoko walking out of the arcade; walking over when she saw him and the numerous boxes.

"Je-sus dude! How much did you buy?!" Ryoko asked with wide eyes as she knew that she chipped in but this was insane; "You got all this yourself?!"

"Yep, I got a new shotgun for you, an SMG for Ann and a better slingshot for Morgana…Plus some armour for all of us…unless you count a sweater for Morgana as armour…" Lee explained as he hand over a large bag to Ryoko; the box on the inside read: "Granelli M3"

"So what happens next? 'cause I'm pretty sure that you showing up late means we can't do the Palace today…" Ryoko pointed out as she kicked away a discarded can.

"Unfortunately…But we still have tomorrow…With the better gear, we might be able to have more of a chance for whatever's in there." Lee mentioned optimistically; "I'll let you know more once we all meet up tomorrow." He promised her as he walked to get some ramen with her before the next train.

——Later back in Aoyama——

"You sure this is the right place?" Morgana asked as they peeked out of the bag; "I know you said this was a clinic but it feels a little…off…"

"This is the place, alright…A doctor gave me her card when I first got in town and this is the address…Though I think you should sit out of this one…" Lee pointed out as he looked over the business card that Takemi gave him.

"Why? You worried this Doctor's another woman and you blow a gasket?" Morgan said to tease him and smirked from the bag; "Because man, you were really knocked for a loop back there in the Airsoft shop…."

"No, I'm not worried about that…It's because animals aren't normally allowed in human clinics…Allergies for other patients and everything…." Lee mentioned with a good point; "Plus if what I remember about Takemi is right…She'd probably try to make me into a guinea pig with that medicine…Then again with what Igor said…It might be worth trying to pursue that."

Morgana paused for a moment before climbing out of the bag; "Well…That is a solid point, I'll just keep watch outside and look around…Just try not to get poked with too many needles."

Here's hoping…

——Inside Takemi's Clinic—

"So, you say you're dealing with migraines and a lethargic body? To me, that just sounds like stress...You're still a student right?" Takemi asked him as she looked over a checklist with Lee sat on the bed.

"Yeah, ever since I came here…It's been non stop and I can't really focus right…I heard this place had some real good wonder-medicine to help me with it." Lee mentioned as he tried to convince her or at least get her to meet him halfway.

Tae blinked curiously but then reached over to lock the clinic room door; "So how exactly do you know about this stuff?" She would ask him with a more pointed look; "I'm not some super-chemist and I don't have anything like that which is fit to sell…what I do have is in the prototype stage so forget it."

"But I really need it; school stuff's piling up, most medicine isn't working and regular Painkillers aren't cutting it." Lee tried to reason with her as he knew that the medicine was a prototype regardless though his memory of the process was…shaky at best.

"I'd normally suggest an energy drink…But you DO realise what you're asking for, right?" Tae asked him as she leaned in close, determined to find a bluff in his reasoning "Stuff in it's prototype stage, ESPECIALLY medicine is unpredictable and incredibly dangerous if you don't take it seriously..."

"I'm not leaving until I can at least get the medicine to help." Lee affirmed with a look of steadfast determination.

The Doctor could almost feel some respect for this level of dedication, figuring that this kid wouldn't budge. She sighed as she reached up to a medicine cupboard to grab the prototype medicine, "Tell you what, I'll make you a deal…You help me with testing this medicine of mine and make sure it's perfected…And I'll look the other way when it comes to offering you some of my "other" types of medicine."

Lee was patiently waiting but as he watched her reaching for the medicine, he started to notice something that he hadn't really addressed to himself before; "Wow…Tae has some surprisingly nice legs, it's hard to imagine she isn't a-NO! Keep focused, don't think with the wrong head…." He mentally scolded himself but then pinched his wrist to try taking his mind off of those kinds of thoughts…For the time being at least.

"Alright, I hope you know what you're in for so last chance…Are you up for this?" Tae asked as she held out the gloopy mixture to him.

Lee nodded and took the mixture; "I asked for it so now I can't really complain…Down the hatch!" He remarked as he pinched his nose tight to block out the horrific smell and then gulped down the thick and tar like liquid with some gagging.

Tae watched with wide eyes as she saw him drink down the whole thing; "O-Kay, I was only going to ask for just a si-"

THUMP!

"Well…Game Over, I guess…"Tae said with her usual dry sense of humour and watched as Lee collapsed onto the bed in a fit.

—A Couple of Hours later——

"Good, looks like you've woken up." Takemi mentioned as she turned to see Lee sitting up; "I would say that you're nuts for drinking the whole thing but you've been stubborn about this since I suggested this…" She elaborated and started writing notes while carefully examining him for any side effects.

"It's for my exams so I'm gonna go with whatever it takes to get ahead." Lee mentioned while trying to work the dedicated student angle.

"Uh huh…Look, just make sure you're careful with this study program of your's. As your doctor; I wouldn't recommend too many all nighters or going overboard with this." Tae mentioned seriously before putting the clipboard down; "Back to what I said since you've done your part; I'll let you buy my special medicines in exchange for you helping me test my medicine…And just as a fair warning; For my sake and your's…Don't go telling anyone what you do here, I could lose my license and you could land yourself in a lot of trouble…Got it?"

Lee nodded; "I promise, as long as you don't tell either." He added with a rather gutsy retort and a smirk.

Tae raised her eyebrow in an attempt to look serious but then chuckled softly; "Well, if you can be snarky about all of this then I guess you're fine….Okay, my little guinea pig…We have ourselves a deal~" She accepted his terms with a playful wink.

"I am thou... Thou art I...Thou hast acquired a new vow... It shall become the wings of rebellion hat breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Death Persona: I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power..."

Lee would feel his body tingle as Takemi's bond formed and added to his current abilities; "So is there anything else I need to do for you?"

Takemi shook her head as she turned to her computer; "Thanks to your generic body makeup and almost bland medical history, you should be okay to go home…I'll have something special for you when you next visit, my little guinea pig." She mentioned and smirked a little to herself when she heard the door close; "He's a gutsy one, that's for sure…But he is kind of cute, I think I'll put in the effort to make sure he has what he needs~"