Working With Phantoms

The Advent of Uncertainty

July 21st

Madran arrived back in the Velvet Room to find everyone sitting there, waiting for her.

"Uh, hey, everyone, sorry for the wait."

"Oh, it's fine. Well, what do we do today?"

"I feel that this'll be the last major part of the palace. Like, this place was surprisingly short."

"Not as short as Madarame's, that's for sure."

"Yeah, we kinda blew through that palace like nothing."

"True, true. Hey, we should get this out of the way right now. Who's going to be on Philemon's team as they look further into the palace?"

Suga and Maya stood up, with Madran nodding.

"Gotcha. Well, everyone, when we're ready."

"Hey, hold on."

Madran looked down the Velvet Room to see another door opening.

"Oh, hey, Marie. Long time no see, huh?"

"Yep. Hey, uh, Margaret finally convinced me to join in. Um, so, I have an idea of what I can do to contribute to you all, so meet up with me after your help out that poor girl."

"Um, ok...? Can you give us a spoiler?"

"Ugh, fine, it's a different way to learn something other than doing a thing. That's all I'll give ya."

"Ok, well, bye bye! I'll see you soon, then."

"Oh, how close are you to finishing the palace?"

"This place isn't nearly as old as Fourete's palace. It seems that younger palaces aren't as large-"

"Actually, it depends, Madarame's palace was there forever. They can just... shift due to circumstances. Anyways, enough stalling, let's move."

Following Philemon's words, the group filtered out of the room and into the Metaverse. Once there, Philemon transported everyone to the Safe Room and set out with Suga and Maya. Madran's group then stood at the top of the stairs, awaiting Akira's return.

"So, how long do you think he'll take?"

"Eh, not that long, he's probably going to use the Safe Room to teleport this time."

"One would hope..."

Madran's group then waited around for seemingly forever until she heard the Safe Room door open and saw Akira's group walk through.

"Oh, y'all finally listened to reason!"

"I know, right?"

Morgana laughed and looked around.

"Well, we have the next and hopefully last section ahead of us."

"Goodness, I just hope we get this palace done soon. It makes me angry to see a girl suffering like this..."

"Calm down, Panther, we do have a somewhat long road ahead of us, but there's 11 of us and one major section to go across. We got this."

"Well, if you say so..."

Sheila then chuckled and walked up to Ann.

"Hey, it's gonna be fine. C'mon, let's get moving."

Ann nodded and began to walk towards the door with everyone else. Then, when they reached the door and stepped through, both Madran and Makoto began to scan.

"Alright, so, currently, this place looks like an inconspicuous hallway, but we know firsthand how that can change. Detecting traps isn't really easy, so please, watch your step."