The Royal Strikers

Chapter One: The Band Is Back Together

NewWorldFool: Hello, everybody! The New World Fool and CloudStrife07 coming at you with the new-and-improved Chapter One! Well, outside of that, I don't think we really have anything else to talk about, so let us start the game!

Chapter One

The Band Is Back Together

Tokyo-Train En Route From Shibuya Station Square To Yongen-Jaya

June 14th, 2017

Among the fairly sizable throng of people onboard the train was a young man of around seventeen with frizzy black hair with steel gray eyes that gave the boy an intense gaze that was somewhat nullified by the fake glasses he wore. In addition to these glasses, he wore a black and white polo shirt, gray pants, and black and white sneakers, with a white and black bag slung over his shoulder.

From the bag emerged a black and white cat with intelligent blue eyes and a yellow collar and identification tags. However, in reality, this cat was far from ordinary, and he would be the first to tell you that. Assuming you could understand him like his apparent owner could, anyway.

"It's been a while since we rode this to Yongen-Jaya, hasn't it, Ren?" the cat, Morgana, said to his apparent owner.

The frizzy haired boy chuckled. "That it has, Morgana... that it has indeed..." Ren Amamiya said before he looked up at the television monitors embedded into the train's walls.

"Now for today's Train News. Today's headlines are..." the broadcaster on the monitors said. "Confession of document tampering! The National Diet is in chaos once again over the Vice-Minister of Finance's confession, and the power struggles have flared. Members of the Vice-Minister's party have refused to comment across the board while the country awaits his court summons."

"In Business News, fledgling IT company Madicce reported record first-quarter profits at a conference earlier today. Madicce's earnings have exploded largely in part to their new virtual assistant, which, if stocks are any indication, is gaining fans fast."

Ren frowned at the monitors. He had been hearing all sorts of things about this new virtual assistant that was making the rounds with people as of late, but he hadn't really bothered to look too much into it. After all, technology stuff like that was more Futaba's thing. But, it was the first headline that really got his attention. Ren had been hearing all sorts of stories of people having bizarre episodes and causing incidents all across Japan.

Given the escapades he and his friends had pulled last year, a small part of Ren thought that someone had up and decided to take up the mantle Phantom Thieves of Hearts, and were trying to become their successors by using the Metaverse to trigger changes of hearts. Except, not only were half of these incidents not even remotely similar to what he and his brothers and sisters in arms had done, having seemingly been done for shits and giggles, but due to the apparent annihilation of Mementos and the Metaverse thanks to Satanael blowing a hole in the head of the God of Control, Yaldabaoth, and purging the gentle madman Takuto Maruki's twisted "perfect" cognitive overlay, it was completely and utterly impossible for these new incidents to be connected to cognitive psience.

Ren was pulled out of his thoughts when Morgana spoke up again. "We're almost there..." Morgana said, a nervous sort of excitement entering his voice as he spoke. "We haven't seen everybody in so long... I know it's stupid, but I'm getting kinda nervous."

Ren couldn't help but smile. In truth, he himself was rather nervous to reunite with his old friends and comrades. The crass and vulgar Ryuji Sakamoto. The beautiful and chipper Ann Takamaki. The starving artist Yusuke Kitagawa. The intelligent and driven Makoto Niijima. The socially awkward computer genius Futaba Sakura. The green thumbed and cheerfully sadistic Haru Okumura. And above all else, his girlfriend and beautiful violet, the rhythmic gymnast Sumire Yoshizawa.