:rotating_light: Disclaimer :rotating_light: : The following crossover contains spoilers for Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, and Infinity War. Viewer discretion is advised.

Goro Akechi had traced his opponent all the way to a standalone red door. There was no edifice it was the entrance to. It was just there. Even so, Akechi was certain this was where he needed to go. He hesitantly opened the door. Despite there not being a building connected to the door, there was a room behind it. “It must be something persona related,” Akechi assured himself as he entered the mysterious room.

He had only taken a few steps before for he was lifted into the air and strangled by the one he was pursuing. “You know you shouldn’t have come here.”

“I know…who you are. I want to…join you…”

“You planned to betray the phantom thieves and assassinate their leader. You deserve to die.”

Akechi struggled to free himself from Thanos’s choke, but to no avail. “Just like Loki…” Thanos recalled.

Hours earlier, SEES sat together in the lounge discussing the events of The Journey. Junpei and Fuuka were trying to be upbeat, but the moody emotions of everyone else in the team extinguished their attempt to lighten the mood. Interruptingly, Koromaru burst through the entrance to the dorm! He barked loudly and excessively, similar to how normal dogs act when they encounter a mailman or squirrel. Junpei asked him what was wrong, but at that moment, the atmosphere changed. Their environment glowed green, and the eerie impulse of the dark hour became present in all of them. Aigis translated for Koromaru. “Someone restored the dark hour.”

The members of SEES rushed out of the dorm, immediately recognizing the looming tower of Tartarus, back in its original position over the school. Junpei exclaimed, “I thought we ended the Dark Hour!”

Ken consented. “I thought we did, too! It actually felt right this time. We defeated Nyx, what else do we need to do??”

“We need to re-enter Tartarus and figure it out.” Akihiko answered. Mitsuru held her arm and looked away, emotionally hurt. Akihiko urged her to follow as the rest of the group ran towards Tartarus.

When everyone arrived, they all entered the lobby together. “We should use the checkpoints,” Aigis suggested. “The problem can most likely be exposed at the top of Tartarus.”

“Give me a sec! I can scan the floors to locate where the solution to the problem is!” requested Fuuka.

Mitsuru agreed,”It would be unwise to traverse the floors of Tartarus again with the possibility of something unknown and dangerous lurking around. We need knowledge of where the solution actually is.”

Fuuka summoned Juno and began scanning the floors for any signs of why the dark hour is still in place. She detected nothing until the 260th floor, where she became aware of a very powerful presence, and several small ones surrounding it. “It’s on the 260th floor, but be careful! Something’s going on up there that I’ve never sensed before!”

”How are we supposed to handle this without Minato…” Yukari lamented.

“I don’t know, but we at least have to try. Thanks for the support, Fuuka.” Akihiko asserted. Agreeing with Akihiko, everyone used the most convenient checkpoint to teleport as close to the 260th floor of Tartarus as possible. There, SEES was confronted with an abundance of shadows! As if every possible shadow in Tartarus, excluding The Reaper and floor bosses, had all gathered here on the same floor. Junpei stuttered, “You serious...?” No one responded. It was unnatural to have so many shadows all in one place. It had left them all speechless. Fortunately, they regained their senses when some of the shadows turned their attention towards them. “Prepare yourselves,” Aigis stated. A frenzy of constant attacks were performed by the group. They almost never had the chance to breathe; the shadows kept swarming them one after another. Because of the group’s high level, the shadows were all defeated in one blow, but after one died, another always appeared to take its place. Akihiko vociferated, “Damn! There’s too many of them!”

In response, Yukari asked, “Where’s that one BIG shadow that Fuuka was referring to earlier?”

“Compared to all of these shadows, I am that ‘big’ presence.” The answer came from a voice unknown the SEES members. A purple behemoth swept away all of the shadows between him and Yukari as he approached her. “Who are you?”

“I…am Thanos.”

Thanos stared down at Yukari, who was much shorter than he was. He had a golden gauntlet with four holes in it covering one of his muscular arms. One of those holes was filled with a red and blue, but mostly blue, stone. Yukari asked about it as her teammates defeated the shadows surrounding her so she could continue her conversation.

“This is the Atlus Stone,” Thanos answered, “It’s what allowed me to edit your reality and restore the dark hour.”

“So you did this!?” all the SEES members accused simultaneously.

“Yes. There was another similar stone here in Tartarus, and I had desired to retrieve it. I killed The Reaper, the arcana guardians, and thousands of these insignificant shadows. However, none of them dropped the Demise Stone.”

Yukari quickly aimed an arrow at his head and released it, but Thanos smacked it away before it could make contact. “You shouldn’t have done that.” Thanos scowled. He swiftly knocked her into the checkpoint she came from, teleporting her back to the lobby with Fuuka. “None of these shadows are likely to have the demise stone.” Thanos muttered to himself. The stone in his gauntlet glowed, and he teleported away, leaving only a shrinking portal behind. “You’re not getting away!” Akihiko raced to the portal, striving to follow Thanos through it. “Wait for me, Sanada-san!” Ken called as he too, followed Thanos through the shrinking portal. The other SEES members similarly attempted to enter the portal, but the several shadows between them and the portal kept them from doing so. Koromaru whined in disappointment. “Now what do we do?” Junpei asked.

Mitsuru answered, “Since we can’t follow this threatening ‘Thanos’ character, we should execute the remaining shadows on this floor. All we can do now is place our hope in Ken and Akihiko.” Following her orders, the remaining SEES members continued fighting the multitude of shadows still on the floor.

Thanos emerged out of his portal. Ken and Akihiko followed suit. They were on a stone sidewalk in a wide alleyway. If cars passed through here, the place would’ve been considered a road. A metal building was in front of them, a brick one was behind them, and no people were to their right or left. It was an ideal place for a gang fight. “I told you you weren’t getting away!”

“It seems you were right,” said Thanos. “If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get.”

Akihiko sprinted towards Thanos and began punching his chest. Every punch made contact, but they weren’t effective. Expecting retaliation, Akihiko jumped back right before Thanos swung his gauntlet arm. Ken rushed in to counter attack, jabbing his spear into Thanos’s chest. Thanos grabbed the spear’s handle and, to Ken’s terror, snapped it in half. The pointed part fell to the ground, and Thanos pulled Ken towards him. He struck Ken in the head threw him into a brick wall, defeating him. Thanos scrutinized the area. Akihiko was nowhere to be seen. Several moments later, Akihiko reappeared with even larger boxing gloves! Successfully ambushing Thanos, Akihiko pounded at Thanos’s face and chest! He backed Thanos into a metal wall, constantly battering him. He prepared to hit Thanos in the head again, but Thanos gripped his arm. “My turn.”

“No, it’s not!” Akihiko used his other hand to bash Thanos in the head. The critical hit caused Thanos to release Akihiko’s arm. Thanos pointed his gauntlet in Akihiko’s direction, and a blue and white laser seared out of it! Akihiko ducked, and the laser decimated the wall behind him! As Thanos moved his gauntlet to the right, the direction of the laser moved right too, chasing Akihiko away from Thanos. Eventually, the laser made contact, burning Akihiko to the ground. Ken and Akihiko were both defeated. “Easy.” Thanos mumbled as he left the wrecked area in search of another stone.

It took a while, but Ken and Akihiko returned to consciousness. The cracked sidewalk and destroyed walls instantly reminded them of what had happened. Akihiko helped Ken crawl out from under a pile of bricks. Ken asked him where they were, but he didn’t answer. His attention was focused on a newspaper that had floated out of the building that had been damaged in the fight. It was torn, but he was able to read one important name in the newspaper. The name of where they were: Inaba.

“Ken, I know who we need to find.”

The streets of Tokyo had always been a busy place, at least for as long as Akira had been there. Mail was uncommon. That’s why he found it strange when Futaba told him someone left him a letter. “I didn’t get a good look at him. I was focused on this new game called Persona 5: Dancing Star Night! Have you heard of it? It’s AMAZING!”

“Why did you tell him to drop off the letter in my room??”

“I don’t know! I was focused on dancing!”

Akira walked upstairs agitated. He noticed a letter in a red envelope lying on his bed. He tore it open, expecting it to be some sort of spam mail. After reading its content, however, he instantly texted his fellow phantom thieves on how severe it was.

Akira: I just got a calling card!

Ryuji: What the hell!?

Makoto: How is that possible!?

Haru: Oh dear...

Yusuke: How ironic. The leader of calling cards received his own calling card.

Ryuji: We don’t need your cryptic crap right now!

Anne: Are you sure it isn’t some sort of prank?

Akira: I’m not sure, but if it was a prank, how would a prankster get my address?

Makoto: I don’t think it would be that difficult. Your probation into the Sojiro residence was a pretty big deal.

Ryuji: How would a prankster gain access into the metaverse!?

Yusuke: What if it was Futaba? She has access into the metaverse AND knows your address.

Futaba: You guys are spamming my phone!

Futaba: Wait!? Inari, you think it’s ME!?

Futaba: I didn’t know Akira’s mail was a calling card!

Akechi: I think I know who sent the calling card. I’ll go investigate.

Haru: Don’t! The sender could be dangerous! Wait for us so we can come with you!

Makoto: We need to focus on Sae’s palace! Akechi, if you know where to go, go there.

Akechi: Already on it.

Akira looked away from his phone to check on Morgana. Morgana was freaking out. His eyes bounced back and forth between the top of the letter and the bottom. He was constantly rereading it in disbelief. He squealed, “This is bad news! What are we going to do?”

“Akechi’s trailing the culprit, but we should probably patrol the streets to locate anyone suspicious.”

Akira: Meet me at the train station. I think we should look for suspicious people.

Mitsuru’s yacht finally docked on the island of the Kirijo Group. “Alright. Break’s over. We’re here.”

“For once, I’m not happy to be at the beach.” Junpei groaned.

Exterminating all of the shadows in Tartarus left the team extremely exhausted, but Mitsuru payed no mind to that. She wanted to get a portal built as soon as possible, and the Kirijo Corporation lab was the best place to construct one. Everyone trudged off the yacht and followed Mitsuru into the lab, where they encountered the new lead scientist. “Did you get my message?” Mitsuru asked.

“Yes ma’am. The dimensional gateway outline and border are complete, we just need something to power it. Not even all of our electricity can maintain the gateway for even a second.”

“So what do we do?”

“Well, I’ve heard rumors that a shadow exists that has the possibility to drop the ultimate battery. Whether or not the rumor is true is beyond my knowledge.”

“If there’s a chance we can power the portal, we need to take it. Where do we go?”

“I’ve heard it’s on the island adjacent to this one. Be cautious.”

“We will. Thank you. Everyone, back on the yacht.”

Ken and Akihiko entered the Junes food court, informed that this is where Yu’s friend group often hung out. Sure enough, there they were, sitting at a round table goofing off. Akihiko and Ken came near the table. “You guys are the investigation team, correct?” The question shocked all of them. No one called them the “investigation team” except for themselves. They examined Akihiko and Ken, trying to recall who they were. Chie was the first to remember. “I remember you two! You’re part of SEES, right?”

“Yeah, we worked together to escape Rei’s Yasogami High Labyrinths!” Ken answered.

Teddie remembered who they were too.

“Is the rest of your group here? I can’t wait to see Mit-Chan again!”

“No, it’s just us. It’s an emergency.” responded Akihiko.

“Awww…”

Yosuke chimed in. “An emergency? Sounds persona related!”

Naoto added onto his statement, “Looking at your injuries, if it’s Persona related, it’s definitely crucial. What do you need?”

“Your help. We tried defeating Thanos on our own, but he was too powerful. He possesses something called the ‘Atlus Stone’ and it allows him to edit reality.”

“Sounds tough.” Kanji muttered.

“Well, Kanji’s mother owns a little textile shop down the street,” Rise lilted, “I’m sure you two could rest and get your weapon fixed over there, right Kanji?”

“Damn straight! You don’t have to worry about a thing!”

Akihiko looked around. “Where’s Yu?”

“He’s back in his home city,” Yosuke replied, “He was only staying in Inaba for a year.”

“Try to call him over here. We need as many people as possible.”

The group stood up and headed towards the Tatsumi textile shop while Yosuke called Yu. He always went to voicemail. “Dammit! He won’t pick up! Maybe he’s busy.”

“Here. Let me try.” Chie whipped out her own phone and dialed Yu’s number.

“Hey, Chie!” Yu answered!

“WHAT!? Why does he pick up for you and not me? Put him on speaker!”

Yosuke, Chie, and Yu argued over the phone as they entered the textile shop. Ken walked to the counter, leaving everyone else behind him, and asked Kanji’s mother how long it would take to repair his spear.

“Ooh. I don’t know about that. It could take quite a while.”

“Oh crap...”

“I do have this however.” Kanji’s mother reached under the counter and pulled out a glaive. It was sturdy, and its silver blade was shining. “Whoa! How much for it?”

“Free, dear. Now run along now and save the world.”

Ken thanked her as he returned to the group with his new glaive. Yukiko and Rise were joyfully chatting away at how with Akihiko and Ken, the team could become the “Neo Investigation Team.” Akihiko offered Ken a Soma Tear to heal his wounds. As he consumed it, the group exited the textile shop. “So Akihiko,” Chie began, “How is the rest of SEES? Are you still into protein as much as you were back then?”

“Most of them aren’t doing well. After the death of Minato, everyone’s been pretty depressed lately. And no, I grew out of my protein obsession after Shinjiro died saving Ken over there.” Ken winced. October 4 was not a good memory.

“O-oh. Sorry about that.” Chie apologized.

Yosuke whispered to Teddie, “Dang. Akihiko’s group is so depressing!”

The conversation died after that, and the group continued to walk around Inaba until they found the wide alleyway Ken and Akihiko came from. Two dark looking figures stood there talking to each other. “Hello?” Rise asked.

The female turned towards the pack. “Oh thank goodness you guys came to us. I was not looking forward to having to hunt you down.”

“What do you want with us?” Akihiko inquired.

The other figure spoke, this one was a male. “You have no manners. I’m Tohru Glaive, and the woman next to me is Nyxima Midnight. We’ve come for the Television Stone. Your friend there has it.” Tohru Glaive pointed at Teddie.

“ME!?”

“Give it to us, or we’ll fight you for it.”

Akihiko declined, “Someone else was looking for stones too, and he used one to revive a ton of shadows in Tartarus! There’s no way we’ll let you have Teddie’s stone!”

“So be it.” Tohru lunged towards Teddie, but Ken blocked it with his new glaive. Chie attacked Nyxima, expecting hand to hand combat. However, Nyxima revealed an electric staff, which she proceeded to jab at Chie with. The two continued to attack each other close range, both of them dodging the other’s onslaughts every time. Naoto, from the back row, aimed her gun at Nyxima, but the shot was almost impossible to aim with Chie so close to her. Naoto decided she had a high enough luck stat and fired. The headshot caused Nyxima to flinch, and Chie took that opportunity to preform a solo all out attack. The damage was increased even more when Yosuke and Akihiko joined in for a co op assault! Ken and Tohru continued to try to skewer each other. Ken wasn’t used to holding such a heavy weapon, and Tohru took advantage of it and thrusted his weapon into Ken. “I messed up…” Ken fell to the ground, waiting to be finished off. But Tohru didn’t want to kill Ken. He just wanted him out of the way. Tohru chased Teddie as Yukiko healed Ken. Nyxima survived the all out attack with more than 50% of her health remaining. “Huh. That actually hurt.” Nyxima ripped a mask off of her face, summoning Alice. Alice inflicted agility bind, magic bind, and strength bind on Yosuke with Salome’s Kiss. “Oh, come on!!” Akihiko summoned Caesar. “You take care of Nyxima, I’ll fight her persona!” Chie agreed to the plan and attacked Nyxima solo again. Kanji and Naoto stood between Tohru and Teddie. Naoto fired her revolver at him, but he dodged the shot by moving three inches to the left. Kanji charged at Tohru and began bettering him with his chair. “This is silly.” Tohru grumbled. He grabbed Kanji’s chair and threw it Naoto. Next, he summoned Principality by tearing a mask off of his face. Principality kept Kanji occupied as Tohru pursued Teddie again. This time, he caught him. Tohru removed Teddie’s head, reached into the suit, pulled out the Television Stone, and dropped something else into Teddie. After putting Teddie’s head back on, he stabbed Chie in the back, getting her off of Nyxima. “I have the stone. Let’s go.” The pair teleported away, leaving the Neo Investigation Team behind. Akihiko asked if they had gotten Teddie’s stone, to which no one responded. Teddie emptied himself out. A purple snow globe necklace was all he cleaned out. Yukiko asked what it was. “It looks like a portable rift,” Yosuke answered, “Maybe if we squeeze it, it’ll teleport us to where we need to go.”

Naoto obliged, “We don’t have anything to lose by trying.” Everyone gathered around Teddie as he crushed the necklace in his hands.

Yu’s private jet finally landed in Inaba, next to the bus station. Pimping on everyone really does have its benefits. He thanked the pilot, whose social link he had maxed out a few days ago. According to Chie, two members of SEES came to Inaba needing their help. Before searching for them however, he had someone he needed to see again. He walked across the streets of Inaba, absorbing all the nostalgia. He arrived at the Dojima Residence and entered the house. Inside, he saw Nanako, a cousin he considered to be his little sister, singing the Junes theme song. “Everyday is great, at your June-“ Nanako noticed Yu at the door and her face lit up with happiness. “Welcome home, Big Bro!” At that moment, Yu got another text from Chie.

Chie: Yu! We’re in Tokyo! I want to eat its equivalent of the big beef bowl challenge! But yeah, we’re still having an emergency. Get here ASAP

Yu said goodbye to Nanako, left the Dojima Residence, and dialed Margaret’s number. “Yeah, Margaret. I need Igor’s limo. It’s an emergency.”

“Those guys look suspicious.”

“What makes you say that?”

“They’re walking around with weapons! What’s not suspicious about them!?”

The Phantom Thieves were hiding on the roof of a small building, monitoring the Neo Investigation Team’s activity.

“Maybe we should wait for a response from Akechi.” Haru suggested.

Makoto disagreed, “We need to ambush them while we can. This may be our only opportunity to use the element of surprise.”

“Futaba, scan the targets. See if they’re persona users.” Akira added.

“Don’t rush me! I’m scanning the targets!” Seconds later, Futaba answered with the results. “Yeah, they’re persona users! But…oh my… their power levels…they’re OVER 9000!”

“Let’s go.” Akira ordered. The Phantom Thieves dived onto the Neo Investigation Team.

Futaba cheered them on, “Surprise Attack: Successful! Now just don’t lose!”

Anne landed directly behind Rise and whipped her, instantly OHKO’ing her. “They’re working for Thanos!” Ken shouted! Makoto challenged Chie first. “Come at me! Hi-yah!” Makoto and Chie exchanged blows, expertly evading the other’s attacks frequently. If a bystander were to watch the fight, it would seem like a scene straight out of an anime. Kanji and Ryuji started to wrestle as well, except with more bashings to the face and less taking the time to dodge an attack. Yusuke preyed on Yukiko next. “Such beauty. It’s a shame I’m going to have to eliminate you.”

“Hahaha, you’re funny!” Yukiko laughed and unleashed her fans. “This will end here!” Akihiko caught on to what was going on before Haru approached him. “I’m not afraid to hit a girl, you know.”

“Oh, I’m not worried!” Haru smiled as she showed Akihiko her grenade launcher.

“You have a GRENADE LAUNCHER!?”

Haru fired her grenade launcher, and Akihiko immediately uppercutted it into the sky. “Caesar!” Akihiko shot himself with his evoker, and Caesar rose into the air, throwing the grenade away from the battlefield. Morgana pounced on Teddie, repeatedly scratching his face with furious swipes. Yosuke searched for someone to fight who had a similar arsenal to his own. To his luck, he spotted Akira, who was also studying the battlefield in search of an opponent. They charged at each other, and Yosuke jumped in the air just as Akira slid under him. Yosuke spun the knives around in his hands, resulting in a rebuke from Akira. “Those are weapons. Not toys. You should figure out how to use them.”

“Pff! They’re knives! You stab things with them! What else is there to it?”

Akira’s experience with knives trumped Yosuke’s unprofessional simple stabbing. Yosuke, as fast as he was, could barely land a hit on Akira, who swiftly cut Yosuke with every given opportunity. Anne finally leapt from behind Rise’s unconscious body and attacked the nearest Neo Investigation Team member, which turned out to be Ken. “Aww. You’re too cute to be doing this.”

“Don’t underestimate me because of my age!” Ken entered a fighting stance just as he heard a shot ring out behind him. Anne flinched, and Ken took this opportunity to impale Anne, shoving his glaive as far as possible into Anne’s chest. “Oh my God…” Anne collapsed on the ground. It took a lot of effort, but Ken finally removed his glaive from Anne’s body. He took a few steps away to observe the rest of the fights. He prepared to help Yukiko fight Yusuke, but he heard a “Oh, that’s a big help!” behind him, and was abruptly tackled from behind, knocking his evoker and glaive out of his grasp. “On your knees!” Anne snapped. She had been healed by Futaba. Naoto aimed her revolver at Anne again, but suddenly, she felt weaker than usual. “Did someone just lower my stats?” She investigated the skirmish going on, but no one she could find could’ve lowered her stats. Naoto concluded that someone must be hidden. She fled the scene to search more thoroughly. Chie threw more punches at Makoto, but none of them made contact. Makoto backflipped out of Chie’s range. She tore off her mask, landing on her summoned motorcycle persona. “Oh, so we’re using personas now?” Chie kicked a card, and Haraedo No Okami was summoned! At high speed, Makoto drove towards Chie, planning to run her and her persona over. However, Johanna crashed into Haraedo No Okami, coming to a sudden halt. Makoto flew off, and the momentum brought her straight into Chie’s punch. “Call me when you want a rematch!” Chie left Makoto groaning and crumbled on the road. Ryuji took another step towards Kanji. “Effin...bastard!” Ryuji slugged another punch at Kanji, who took the hit like he’d taken all of them so far. Kanji smirked. He was battered and bruised, but so was Ryuji. Kanji brought a chair down onto Ryuji’s head! The two pummeled each other senseless. Eventually, their punching began to slow until it came to a stop altogether. They collapsed onto the ground, exhausted and bruised. “I totally won that…”

“Shut up.” Kanji retorted. A grenade from Haru’s squabble with Akihiko rolled between them. “Ah, shi-“

Electricity and psychic waves splattered across the battlefield. Caesar and Milady clashed as Haru swung her battle axe towards Akihiko, smiling excitedly. Haru contemplated on another fighting plan. After settling on it, Milady pushed Caesar away. She dove towards Akihiko, shoving him onto the ground! Haru raised her axe above Akihiko’s head. “This won’t hurt a bit!” At that moment, Chie collided into Haru! Chie kicked Haru again and again, never letting off! Akihiko rose to his feet. Chie walked towards him dragging a defeated Haru. “Thanks for the support, Chie.”

“Don’t mention it!”

Anne remained on top of Ken, holding him by the throat. “How’s that? Hehehe” Ken reached for his glaive. Just as his fingers touched the handle, Anne stood up and kicked it away. She pulled out her whip. Using his other hand, Ken reached for his evoker. “Squeal like a pig!” Anne snapped her whip at Ken. He rolled over, evading the whip, and finally grasping his evoker. “Kala-Nemi!” Ken shot himself, and Kala Nemi barreled into Anne, sending her flying into a wall! He took a few deep breaths. “That ended too soon.”

Akira looked around, noticing his defeated teammates. “Futaba, we need support!”

“What do you want me to do???”

“I don’t know! Lower their stats! A bunch!”

Futaba desperately began lowering the Neo Investigation Team’s stats. They all began dropping like flies. Yukiko toppled over as Sumeo Okami was vanquished by Goemon. Ken fell to his knees as Morgana avenged Anne. Yosuke no longer had his only advantage, his speed, and was completely vulnerable to Akira. “Come on, stupid legs! Move!” Yosuke blocked Akira’s incoming stab. He aimed his own stab attack at Akira, but his speed was too low to keep up with Akira’s evasiveness. Akira slashed Yosuke’s legs and kicked him over. Due to the damage he had taken over the course of the fight, Yosuke was unable to get back up. Naoto finished her observation. There wasn’t a single person nearby who wasn’t recording the war on his or her cell phone. There was however, a floating green UFO with a gargoyle attached to it. Naoto aimed her revolver at it. “Never underestimate the blue revolver.” Naoto fired, and the bullet tore through the exterior of Necronomicon, hitting Futaba square in the head.

Necronomicon faded away, and Futaba fell onto the rooftop. Naoto rendezvoused with Akihiko and Chie, her only remaining teammates. Akira and Morgana also regrouped. Yusuke stayed by Yukiko’s side. “You have a very beautiful persona. Maybe we could meet again, but next time, on the same side.” Yusuke joined Akira and Morgana. Before the teams could resume fighting, a purple limo drove over Morgana and parked.

Akira turned around and watched as an elderly man with a long nose exited the vehicle. “Igor?”

“Yu?” Chie queried. Out of the backseat was the leader of the investigation team, Yu Narukami.

Igor discerned the battlefield and the damage it had brought unto uninvolved buildings. “Now, what are your teams doing? You are on the same side.”

Akira was confused. “This gang sent me a calling card!”

“What’s a calling card?” Akihiko inquired.

“You guys were working with Thanos!” Chie argued.

Yusuke was now just as confused. “Who is Thanos?”

“Your LEADER, right?”

Morgana intervened. “We don’t serve anyone! We’re the phantom thieves of hearts!”

Naoto pretended to nonchalant, but she was actually very intrigued at where this conversation was going. “It doesn’t matter who you serve. If I recall correctly, your squad of persona users attacked us first.”

Margaret departed from the limo with Elizabeth Theodore, Caroline, and Justine. “It seems this engagement was all a misunderstanding.”

“Ooh! I wish I had watched it!” Elizabeth added.

“Of course. Our stupid inmate attacked his potential allies.” Caroline barked.

“Who are they??” Chie questioned.

“Calm down. All will be resolved shorty,” Igor informed. “A foe approaches who will prove to be quite the adversary. But first, we will need many Revival Beads… and an even greater amount of Somas.”

Mitsuru’s yacht finally docked at the island of the rumored ultimate battery. By now, everyone had recovered from their exhaustion, and they were eager to challenge more shadows. Junpei asked the group what they thought the rumored shadow would be like.

“According the knowledge stored in my database,” Aigis answered, “a shadow that drops an ultimate battery is very likely to be electric type.”

“So watt are we going to do against it?”

Yukari rolled her eyes. “Of course you’re going to be the one to make silly electric puns, Stupei.”

“Don’t hate, Yuka-tan! Have a snickers! It’s made of shockolate!”

Fuuka lit up, “Do you actually have chocolate? If Yukari do-“

Aigis interrupted, “INCOMING!”

Three humanoid machines dive-bombed into the group, firing consistent red lasers out of their palms! Everyone summoned their personas to protect themselves from being incinerated. “Their lasers are too accurate! We’ll never get the chance to attack!” Yukari yelled. The machines showed no signs of running out of whatever ammo lasers consisted of. Another pair of arms emerged from the robots’ backs, providing even more firepower. They took another step towards the group. Aigis’s Athena suddenly shattered, and Orpheus was summoned in its place!Orpheus blasted the robots with Maragidyne, and they were all reduced to a puddle of melted metal. The team’s personas vanished. Everyone was more confused than relieved now. “How did you summon Minato’s primary persona?” Mitsuru questioned.

“I do not know. I will analyze what just happened to determine the answer.” Aigis went blank for a few seconds. Everyone watched her. When she returned to her senses, she had the answer. “I have inherited Minato’s wild card ability.”

Junpei joked around, “So you get to change your persona too? That’s kinda cheating!”

Yukari was serious about it, though, “It really is cheating. Why do you get the wild card?”

“It doesn’t matter how,” Mitsuru stated. “What matters is that she has it. I elect Aigis to be our new leader.”

Junpei and Fuuka agreed without debate. Koromaru barked happily. Yukari didn’t say anything. Her acquiescence was obvious. The six-membered SEES journeyed deeper into the forest. As if someone could even call it that. Technology was everywhere. Security cameras were positioned in every other tree. “Is that a robot village over there???” Junpei pointed at a break in the trees. Indeed, beside the forestry was a village entirely made of steel. “Does it contain the ultimate battery?” Mitsuru asked.

“I’ll scan the village.” Fuuka replied. She summoned Juno. After a while, Fuuka replied again with the results. “The battery isn’t in the village. It’s up ahead.”

“Ok. Aigis, it’s your call. Do we investigate the village or get the battery?”

“We don’t know how much destruction Thanos has caused with the Atlus Stone,” Aigis concluded. “The earlier we power the dimensional gateway and regroup with Ken and Akihiko, the better we’ll be.”

Aigis’s team followed her command and trekked to what Fuuka called, “Up ahead.” There, in the center of the island, was a colossal factory, with several robot factory workers. “There’s no way we can fight through all of them. We’d have to sneak in.” Mituru advised.

“Yeah, there’s some foes even we can’t defeat. Especially without Minato…” Yukari added.

Junpei disagreed. “But Aigis has the wild card now, Yuka-tan! We can beat any enemy!”

“We’d still be better off just sneaking in and killing the shadow. That way we can snag the battery as quickly as possible.” Mitsuru argued.

The team settled on sneaking in, so they worked their way around to the back of the factory. Aigis flew each of them up to the roof one at a time. Junpei humored himself. “I rate the Aigis Transportation System five stars!”

“Focus, Stupei.”

Aigis drilled a hole in the ceiling, and team fell through it, trying to make as little noise as possible. “We need to find the boss’s office,” Mitsuru whispered. “The shadow is probably in there.”

“Yeah, well reading signs isn’t going to help.” Junpei pointed at a sign. “They’re all written in ones and zeroes.”

Aigis, a robot, read the binary code and explained it. “The door to the left is the women’s bathroom. The door to the right is for men.”

“I wonder how robots use the bathroom. Hey, Aigis, how do rob-“ Junpei was interrupted by Fuuka! “Aigis, do you need me to scan the area for the boss’s office?”

“That might take too long, Fuuka.” Yukari answered. “We should let Aigis read every sign we come across.”

“Oh, alright.”

SEES tiptoed around the factory, seeking the boss’s office, or at least a sign that would lead them in the right direction. After what Mitsuru considered way too long, they found the boss’s office. Another humanoid robot sat in a desk, typing away at unrealistic speed. They entered the boss’s office, weapons equipped! The robot didn’t even flinch, though. It just stood up and talked to them. “I’ve been expecting you. My name is Omegatron, and I’ve watched you enough to know that you seek my ultimate battery. You cannot have it. Without it, my civilization will have no power, and many innocent artificial intelligences will shut down.” Omegatron looked like Aigis, except male and uncolored. His voice was deep and metallic, like someone speaking through an active fan. Aigis noticed something else too. His arm was glowing. Omegatron stared at SEES and extended his glowing arm. Before anyone could move, he fired the ball lightning he had been charging for the entirety of the conversation.

Aigis sprung forward, and knocked the ball back at Omegatron! He moved to the left, and the lighting exploded the wall behind him. “I won’t miss!” Yukari shot an arrow at Omegatron, and he moved three inches to left, avoiding it. “Trismegistus!” Junpei summoned his persona, who flew in Omegatron’s direction, but he blew a hole in the floor, allowing him to plummet out of the line of fire. Koromaru jumped down the hole, but was immediately thrown back up, whimpering in pain. “Damn! This robot is too fast!” Junpei declared.

“I wish I could help…” Fuuka apologized.

“It’s fine, Fuuka.” Mitsuru summoned Artemisia. The team dashed downstairs to challenge Omegatron again. An alarm rang throughout the factory. The simple factory robots escaped the building as many more soldier bots entered, firing lasers at random. “The factory is falling apart!” Fuuka screamed! Junpei pushed Fuuka out of the way as an overhead chandelier fell from the ceiling. As a consequence for saving Fuuka, Junpei was crushed instead. Mitsuru gradually began to freak out. “Everyone, try to find a way out of the factory!” Yukari picked up Koromaru, and Mitsuru and Fuuka helped carry Junpei, who was incapacitated. The injured team hurried as much as they could, but the factory was too large. The entire place exploded, killing everyone in it.

“Well, that’s unfortunate. Let’s give that a redo.” Thanos stood at the base of the destroyed factory, witnessing the broken metal turn to ash or continue to melt. He outstretched his gauntlet arm, and the Atlus Stone began to glow. Slowly, the factory began reconstructing itself, and the explosion blew inward instead of outward. The factory had returned to the way it was seconds before the explosion. “That’s better.” Time resumed, and Thanos teleported inside the building. He blocked the staircase SEES was planning to run on. “Thanos!” Yukari shrieked.

“No time.” He teleported himself and SEES out of the factory, safely out of harm’s way.

The factory exploded behind them, but everyone was focused on regaining their breath and calming down. There were no more killer machines pursuing them. Fuuka cried, “Why did you help us?”

“Because your redhead friend has something I want.”

Everyone turned towards Mitsuru, but she remained unfazed. “I’ve had the Demise Stone since I first entered Tartarus with my father. He allowed me to keep it…as long I kept it from monsters like you.”

Thanos bellowed in rage! Fuuka dragged Junpei out of his line of sight. Koromaru bolted at Thanos and chewed on his leg, but Thanos walked towards Mitsuru anyway. Yukari fired an array of arrows at Thanos, but he walked towards Mitsuru anyway. Aigis flew in front of Thanos, and Thanos endeavored to shove her away, but Aigis placed her hands in Thanos’s and began to shove him back. It was like a reverse tug of war, and Aigis was losing. Despite Aigis’s pushing, Thanos pushed Aigis closer to Mitsuru. “If Thanos gets close enough to Mitsuru, he’ll take the Demise Stone!” Aigis thought to herself. She initiated her jets, strengthening her push. Even though Aigis was still losing, she was losing a lot more slowly. Thanos was closing the gap between him and Mitsuru. “Entering…ORGIA MODE!” Aigis’s power limits were loosed, and she pushed Thanos with even greater power.

And she began to win.

Aigis shoved Thanos farther away from Mitsuru. Mitsuru’s Artemesia fired a Bufudyne at Thanos, but it crashed behind him, creating an icicle wall. All Aigis would need to do is push Thanos into an icicle, and the impalement would kill him. Aigis continued to push Thanos towards the wall, but her Orgia Mode was coming to a close. “Yukari! Help Aigis!” Mitsuru requested!

Yukari looked at Aigis, looked at the icicle wall, and looked back at Aigis. She really couldn’t stand her anymore. Aigis did not deserve to inherit Minato’s wild card. But with her help, Aigis could kill Thanos. The same Thanos who restored the dark hour, but also the same Thanos who had saved them from the factory’s destruction. Yukari looked away. She did not want to help Aigis.

Thanos’s backside touched the tip of the icicle. He shoved Aigis with all of his might, but he couldn’t move forward. Then his hands burned, and Aigis stoped pushing. She had overheated. “You put up a good fight.” Thanos picked up Aigis’s overheated body and lied her on the icicle wall to cool off. Afterward, he walked past Yukari and returned to Mitsuru. “Give me the Demise Stone.”

“You’ll have to kill me for it.”

Thanos took a step closer to Mitsuru.

Mitsuru didn’t move.

The Phantom Thieves apologized once again for ambushing the Neo Investigation Team. Everyone was fully recovered and ready for Thanos’s coming. Igor had also taken them to the mirror dimension so no bystander would be injured in the group’s coming battle. Yukiko and Rise proposed another idea. “Since we’re all working as a team, we should come up with a team name for all of us!”

“What about The Phantom Investigation Team of Hearts?” Morgana asked.

“Nah, that’s too long.” Ryuji shared his criteria for the team name. “The name should be something simple, but also cool enough to strike fear into Thanos!”

“I got it!” Yosuke revealed his idea for the team name, “The Avengers!”

Akira have a thumbs up. “I like it.”

“I’m still worried about Akechi…” Haru whispered to herself.

“The Avengers shall be the ultimate squad of persona users!” Elizabeth exclaimed!

Futaba, Rise, and Theodore climbed into Necronomicon. Yusuke and Yukiko stayed close to each other. Chie entered a fighting stance. Akira and Ken spun their knives around. Teddie reverted back to his human body. Everyone, included the velvet room attendants, did their own thing to ready themselves for a universally important battle.

Thanos, Tohru Glaive, and Nyxima Midnight had just entered the mirror dimension.

Ryuji and Kanji launched Morgana, Ken, Caroline, and Justine at their opponents! “ARDHA!” The Twins executed their instant knockout at Thanos, but he blocked it with his gauntlet! He waved his hand around, and the twins were sent flying in opposite directions! Ken, still airborne, thrusted his glaive at Nyxima! She stuck her staff out to block it, but Ken’s glaive broke straight through it, stabbing her right above her breast! Nyxima pulled the glaive out effortlessly, and just as quickly, stabbed Ken with the two broken halves of her staff! Morgana relentlessly scratched Tohru! When Tohru decided it was his turn, he swung his glaive at Morgana like it was a golf club and knocked him away! Akihiko, Chie, Kanji, and Ryuji charged at Thanos! They punched and kicked at his chest, dealing what would normally be called heavy damage, but Thanos snapped his fingers and they stopped. Thanos walked around the frozen foursome and headed closer to the Avengers. “MEGIDOLAON FOR EVERYONE!”Elizabeth casted one of her most powerful spells at Thanos! However, they bounced back at her, ridding her of HP. Margaret set up the most efficient way to deal damage back in her Persona Q adventure. Margaret agility binded Nyxima, power charged, used shura tensei, and casted Myriad Arrows! However, all the arrows targeted Thanos, who flicked his wrist, sending all the arrows flying in varying directions! One of those arrows hit Margaret, forcing her to take the time to recover. Naoto fired countless shots at Thanos’s trio. Yosuke sped towards Thanos. His headphones then suddenly exploded, incapacitating him instantly. Makoto hopped onto Johanna and drove into a binded Nyxima.! This time, Johanna rolled right over her target! Nyxima was too crippled. She could no longer tank like she had been. In a rage, she hurled her broken staff at Makoto! The impact knocked Makoto off of Johanna! She fell onto the asphalt road and rolled over in pain. Anne summoned Carmen and charged a Maragidyne that’d deal the damage of ten Megidolaons! Yukiko joined in with Sumeo Okami, and Haru bombarded Thanos and Tohru with grenades! The explosions blocked their sight, preventing them from being able too see the incoming inferno. Anne and Yukiko took advantage of this and fired the megamaragidyne at Thanos! The combustion erupted onto Thanos, blazing around the battlefield, igniting every nearby building. The battlefield became extremely hot, and smoke consumed the air. Thanos was now at much less than 50% of their HP. Tohru was defeated. Teddie tried to extinguish the flames surrounding his team, keeping them from gaining the burn status. There was now no distance between Thanos and The Avengers now. He smacked Naoto and Haru out of his way! Yusuke’s Goemon inflicted Thanos with Freeze, but only a moment later was Thanos mobile again. He grabbed Yusuke and flung him Yukiko! She dodged Yusuke’s body, only to be slapped by Thanos seconds later. She fell to her knees instantaneously. Futaba flew Necronomicon into Thanos! Thanos caught it and tossed it away. Futaba, Rise, and Theodore all wished Necronomicon was equipped with seatbelts. Yu spun into Thanos! He slit every major artery as fast as he could before finally slashing Thanos in the head. Thanos touched his forehead. “All the damage I’ve taken, and you’re the first one to make me bleed.” Every avenger hurried behind Akira and Yu and charged an all out assault. Yu somersaulted to them and assisted in the charge. Thanos took a step back. All the Persona energy from within them was materialized into a blast of ultimate energy. “No, not like this…”

Akihiko’s, Akira’s, Anne’s, Chie’s, Elizabeth’s, Futaba’s, Haru’s, Igor’s, Kanji’s, Ken’s, Makoto’s, Margaret’s, Morgana’s, Naoto’s, Rise’s, Ryuji’s, Teddie’s, Yosuke’s, Yu’s, Yukiko’s, and Yusuke’s energy forged an attack capable of killing Thanos. Together, the released the attack! Nyxima and Tohru instantly disintegrated in the blast, even their ashes were reduced to nothingness! Thanos began to decompose, his armor and skin gradually dissolving off of his body. “I can’t defeat you here, but maybe, in there!” Thanos whipped out his phone, protected in a life-proof otter box case. “Persona 5.” Thanos spoke. He teleported into the metaverse, safe from the Avengers.

Thanos traversed through Akira’s palace. He didn’t need to bother with any shadows. There weren’t any. All there was to oppose him was Shadow Akira. Shadow Akira boasted about how much of a game his persona adventure was. It was all just a fun experience, only for entertainment purposes. Shadow Akira lunged at Thanos, stabbing his neck and heart. “I’m not here for your desire, Akira!” Thanos thundered! He flicked Shadow Akira away from him. “I’m here for another treasure. One that’s only inside you because it chose to hide in you.” Shadow Akira didn’t complain. Instead, he was intrigued! He followed Thanos into the very corner of his palace, where a red and black stone laid. Thanos placed it into his gauntlet. “Finally, I have them all.”

Thanos snapped his fingers.

A young Gamora stood in the velvet room with him. “Did you do it again?”

“Yes.”

“What did it cost you?”

“My only two remaining allies…”

“What did it cost you?”

“Everything…”

Thanos returned to mirror dimension. Before anyone saw him, he used the Atlus Stone to teleport away.

“Chie?” Yukiko asked for Chie’s attention. As soon as Chie turned around, Yukiko took a step forward, disintegrating into ash. Yusuke watched her particles float away as he too, dissolved into nothingness. Haru sat beside Futaba weeping as they both turned gray and dissipated. “What’s going on!?” Kanji’s arms disappeared. Soon, his body followed the pattern. “Steady, Yosuke.” Akira commanded.

“Oh man…” Yosuke looked at Akira as he disintegrated, dropping his knives. Yu stood honorably as he waved goodbye to Chie. Makoto struggled to rise to her feet. Her body parts kept disappearing. She succumbed to her fate when the remainder of her body turned to ash. Morgana held onto Anne’s leg. “Oh, Lady Anne…” He pointed to Ken and Akihiko. Ken was clinging to Akihiko, begging for his life. “I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go, please, Sanada-san…” Akihiko lied Ken down. “I’m sorry, Ken…” Ken dissolved in Akihiko’s arms. Akihiko covered his face with his hands. It was a Shinjiro repeat. All the velvet room attendants gradually dematerialized as well. “It was the only way.” Igor informed them. He vanished too. Ryuji queried about what was going on. “Did we just lose?”

“Thanos did something big.” Naoto confirmed.

On the robotic island, SEES also suffered casualties. Aigis stiffened. “Shutting down…” She disintegrated right in front of Fuuka and Junpei, who had just recovered from his chandelier accident. Yukari was too occupied mourning over Mitsuru’s corpse, which was piked on a metal rod from the factory, to notice Koromaru whimpering behind her as he withered away. “Fuuka, what’s happening?”

Fuuka sat on the grass, emotionally defeated. “I don’t know.”