Working With Phantoms

Further Into the Vault

June 22nd

Madran arrived back in the Velvet Room to see that everyone was there, aside from herself and Chicory.

"Ah, Madran, you're finally here. Now, I have something to ask of you for just a moment."

The rest of the group continued to chat amongst themselves while Philemon pulled her aside.

"Well, I have figured something out about your chakra personas, and that is that they can be fused."

"Oh, really? That's cool."

"Yes. Also, not only can Elizabeth and Margaret handle it in here, but I can fuse on the go when we're in a palace. Also, don't worry, I can also summon your personas back after you fuse them away."

"Huh. Well, I'm not saying that I want to fuse them immediately, but what about Attis and Ose?"

"That would create Feng Huang, one of the four guardians of the south."

"Hey, isn't that Suzaku?"

"They are one in the same."

"No, they aren't, there's a very noticeable difference."

"Just, bear with me. Oh, wait, hold on..."

Philemon took out a variety of cards and rifled through them.

"Oh, you're right. Sorry."

"Oh, I'm always right."

"Don't get too cocky, Madran. Are we ready to go?"

"Yep! Lemme just get everyone."

Madran then assembled her group and went out to the palace with everyone. Once they were there, Maya looked around at the group.

"Hey, I have an idea, to cover more ground. From what Fwoosh said, this palace is kinda small, so wouldn't it be smart to cover more ground by splitting up into two groups of four?"

"Maybe, we should have one group of five and a smaller group of three for backup and further exploration. Say, we could have Fwoosh leading the main group and, hmm, Butterfly on the smaller one."

"Madame, why me?"

"Well, from what I've seen, you have way more tricks up your sleeve than you're letting on. Hmm, say, a sixth sense, fusing, time stoppage, knowledge of every shadow's weakness..."

"You are correct in that, it would appear. Why, yes, I have the compendium fully memorized, it would-"

"Oh, don't be such a stick in the mud. Let's see, we could have one wild card in each group, one healer, one heavy-hitter, and others set around in the larger group. How does that sound?"

Philemon sighed.

"I... I'll allow it. Well, who's going with me?"

Chicory and Wysteria then walked up to Philemon, which led to Madran shooting a betrayed look at her dog while he simply wagged his tail and sat.

"Well, uh, that'll work, then! Plague, Beauty, Rumor, Excite, let's go do this. Hey, Butterfly, how about you catch up with Joker while we explore the bottom floor separately from them?"

"That sounds like a plan. Good luck, you five. There won't be as many shenanigans as there are when we're all together, but I guess we can save that for the fight against Shadow Kaneshiro."

"Yep! Well, let's get moving."

Philemon then transported everyone to the Safe Room, where they split up and went their opposite ways.