Persona 5 x persona 4

chapter 47

Ahead of them was more floor puzzles and enemies. Joker was starting to hate these damn puzzles as they only seemed to slow them down. Even so, the group pressed ever onward despite the slight annoyances. The end had to be near right? Joker had stop counting how many puzzles they seemed to have solved before the way before they suddenly opened and sloped downward. The leader of the Phantom Thieves could only praise his good luck as they descended the slope and were greeted with a new view. A large tower with many windows. Joker didn't know what to make of it, but Oracle had told them they were super close so they all pressed on downwards, on to what looked like some strange bone bridge.

"It's up ahead there! I can feel it!" Mona darted forward into the strange structure.

Joker looked among his companion before they all nodded. This seemed to be the end and they were all ready to push forward. Joker crossed the threshold taking charge and heading down into the depths that were before them. However, what greeted him was something he wasn't quite expecting. Joker stared up at the mechanical monstrosity before them that was in the vague shape of a cup that had all those strange red lines converging into its basin. Around him, everyone else seemed to be marveling at the thing before them. But that wasn't all. There were prison cells all around them stacked from floor to as far up as Joker could see. A single occupant in each one looked even more lifeless than all the other prisoners they had come across. It cemented Joker's uneasiness about this whole trip even more than anything before it.

"The hell?" Skull shouted as he looked around.

"Look at how many there are. Are these all prison cells?" Panther gasped.

"Who knows, but I'm gettin' a real bad vibe about this place." Yosuke gripped his weapons tighter.

"This is it. This is where all that energy pools. Right into that cup!" Oracle pointed to the large mechanical structure.

"That is disturbingly grand." Fox admired.

"Are there any other passages out of this room?" Crow asked.

"No, this is the end." Rise stepped up to stare up at the cup.

"We hit bedrock folks," Oracle explained.

"In that case, is there treasure somewhere around here?" Noir looked towards the navigators depending on them for answers.

"Should be. How you feelin' about it, Mona?" Oracle stepped up to Mona and hovered over him.

"I think you're right. I've never been here, but I can sense it. There's no mistaking that presence. If we get rid of it... If we get rid of it the public should come to their senses, but I don't know how this will save Kingpin." Mona looked towards Joker.

"There should be something here." Joker visually swept the room.

"I only see this eyesore. We just gotta make it disappear right? If we can't move it, then we'll just hafta destroy it!" Skull cracked his knuckles looking ready to wreck something.

"Good thing we got a good wreckin' crew." Kanji stepped up next to Skull looking just as eager to destroy the cup.

"Yeah, that should do it." Mona nodded.

"What do you think is supposed to be here Joker?" Queen inquired as she looked around as well.

"The piece of the impostor that is sleeping here," Aigis explained.

"The impostor?" Naoto seemed interested in that.

Suddenly an alarm sounded in the air as warning lights flashed. They were starting to lose their credibility as thieves with their recent lack of stealth. Joker looked up at the machine as its clockwork exterior spun before them as if there was some life to the seemingly random machine. Joker had to wonder what it was for and what it was doing down here.