The Rebel Persona, Strikers

Roadblock

(The Next Day, Metaverse, Alice's Jail)

as everyone gathered around, the group all went back in the metaverse once again, getting past some of Alice's defenses, and finally reaching Alice's castle, inside, Mona was able to sense a treasure up in the throne room, and everything inside seemed to be more fasion and a carnival theme in the room, some shadows had ambushed the thieves, but they all powered through and eventually reached the top of the castle

"This is where the smell's coming from, be ready for anything guys", Mona stated

"Is this some kind of birdcage", Fox asked, looking around, pillars were around the room, chains were up on the outside

"What is this doing here", Queen asked

"And where's Alice", Skull asked

"She doesn't seem to be here", Noir said

"Hey, look", Panther said, pointing towards what seemed to be a giant distortion

"Is that a treasure", Mona asked in disbelief, before speaking, "No, I can tell now, this is something completely different from a treasure",

"Everyone hide, shadows ahead", Sophie stated, causing everyone to run into cover, peeking out to see two shadows near a pile

"What're they doing here", Mona asked

"Have you brought all the desires", Shadow A asked

"Yes sir, this is all of them so far", Shadow B stated

"Desires", Mona said

"More are coming soon, capture every last one of them, seize their desires, and bring them here", Shadow A instructed

"Understood, sir", Shadow B said

"Hey, those are...", Skull began

"Those are Desires", Mona stated in shock

"The same one's we saw back when we first entered here", Phantom stated

"No mistake there", Joker said, the pile of desires began glowing into a distortion and floated up towards the giant distortion

"Where'd they go", Panther asked, "What was all that",

"They said they were bringing Desires here, right", Noir asked

"So those jewels are the desires, they looked like they got sucked up into that light", Panther stated

"There's no question, that treasure-like shimmering up there, that's the desire", Mona stated

"That's it", Fox asked

"We did hear Alice was collecting them", Queen said

"And that more would be coming in soon", Light added

"People's desires don't have a concrete form, because we all find our own desire's precious, that could be why they look like gems here", Mona explained, "when the people had their desires seized by the shadows, they consciously felt them being taken, so the desires took form then",

"But, what turned them back into light, their desires are still stolen", Oracle asked

"When one things stolen, it becomes the thief's possession", Crow stated

"Yeah, Alice doesn't seem to believe they can be stolen back, that's why they turned back into their base form", Monna explained

"Does seem to follow logically", Queen said

"At any rate, if we reclaim the desires and release them from this cage, the people may well return to normal", Fox stated

"Yeah, that's definitely worth a try", Oracle said

"One moment, how does one steal light", Sophie asked

"We use a calling card", Joker said

"A calling card, what is that", Sophie asked

"It's how we make that shimmery light take material form", Mona stated, "if we make the owner aware that someone is after their treasure, it takes form... desires should work the same way, to do it, we send a calling card to our target that says we're going to steal whatever is most precious to them",

"I got it, I think", Sophie said

"Are we sure it'll work though, this isn't a palace with a treasure", Panther said

"Nothing is obtained without action", we must at least try first", Fox stated

"For now, let's focus on securing our infiltration route", Queen stated

"I'm getting there first", Skull cheered, running forward, only to run into an invisible barrier

"Ryuji, are you ok", Panther asked with worry in her tone

"What was that", Queen asked

"Skull just ran into some kinda jail cell door, is there another barrier", Oracle asked

"Am I... hearing something", Sophie asked, walking towards the barrier and touching it, later, voices could be heard

(Warning, below might trigger people, read with caution) 

"Ugh, would you just go away",

"What do you think you're doing, looking at the guys like that",

"She is like, suuuuch a waste of space, ya know",

"Totally, she's such a loser, it hurts to look at her",

"No... I just...",

(Warning End)

"What was that", Skull asked

"You heard it too", Noir asked

"A memory hidden by the monarch", Sophie said

"Sophie, are you alright", Oracle asked

"No problem here", Sophie said, "however, I did figure something out, that memory we heard is the key to the barrier",

"How's that", Panther asked

"This cage is currently locked", Sophie said, looking at the giant lock on the birdcage

"And the keys in the place we heard the voices, right", Light asked

"Correct", Sophie said, "to find the room, we need to return to reality",

"Reality, why's that", Skull asked

"The room has been completely isolated, it's entrance exists only in the real world", Sophie explained

"If Sophie's right, what we heard just now is a memory of the monarch, that means it's extremely important to her", Mona stated, "I have a feeling that memory's acting as the lock on her heart, keeping us from getting past that door",

"So, the lock's an important memory", Panther said

"Doesn't seem that important to me", Light muttered

"This could be another difference between the palaces and this jail", Queen stated

"Didn't it sound like she was getting bullied", Oracle asked

"Maybe... school age", Panther muttered

"Yeah, that's it", Noir said

"If she's right, does that mean the key we need is somewhere in Alice's old school", Queen asked

"That would be logical", Sophie said

"There's many schools around here, this is gonna be tough", Light stated

"Alright, let's do some investigating back in the real world", Mona said, "We're gonna need a calling card too, looks like we've got our work cut out for us",

"I got the calling card", Oracle stated

"No, I let it slide the last time, I won't make the same mistake again", Light announced as Oracle just laughed and the group returned to the real world.