Chapter Text
For the Phantom Thieves, it began with the MetaNav.
"What's wrong, Joker?" Morgana had asked from over the leader's shoulder, the cat peeking out of the bag he was placed in to get a look at the teenager's phone. Joker, Ren, blinked in confusion, tapping the screen multiple times.
Gathered in a secluded area just outside the train station were the group of vigilantes plus Akechi, all ready to enter Mementos. With Ren making the decision to stay in Tokyo—with his parents permission, of course—their thieving days continued, despite the lack of any big targets for months. They had long since proven their existence to the world, but they continued changing the hearts of those with crooked minds nonetheless.
Having Akechi, who they'd all come to accept as a member on their team, was rather fortunate. His strength was an excellent addition to their force, and he was often on the front lines.
Said detective was leaning against a tree, expression dark with impatience. He'd softened up a bit, yes, but his personality never dwindled from taunting. "What are we waiting for, Amamiya?" He smirked. At his side, Yusuke had his sketchbook in hand, precise strokes meeting the paper. He often brought it into Mementos at the chance of not being placed on the front lines to fight. "Is there something wrong, leader? You've been staring at your phone for quite a while. Did something come up?" He snapped his sketchbook shut, just as their navigator Futaba tried to yank it out of his hands. The short girl huffed at the missed opportunity to tarnish his art.
Ren shook his head, though his brows were furrowed in confusion. An error message stared back at him from the app, one he'd never gotten before. Was there something wrong with his phone? Ryuji leaned in at his side, the blond delinquent scratching the back of his neck. "Uh, guys? I think somethin's wrong with the Nav."
Morgana leaned closer over Ren's shoulder to get a closer look at the phone, just as Ryuji was on the boy's other side. "Huh... It says... 'Unable to access Mementos at this time'?! What?!" The cat let out an annoyed grumble as Ann's hands went to her hips. "This... Has never happened before. You didn't drop your phone in the sink or something, did you?" The model bit the inside of her cheek, expression making it clear she was deep in thought at trying to figure out whatever this was.
"Hah, fools. Of course you drag me away from work just for this shit to happen," Akechi barked out a laugh, seeming to eat up the moment. Futaba sent him a teasing glare, just as Makoto pulled her own phone out. "Huh.. " The student council president mumbled, turning her phone screen to show everyone. She got the same error message.
"Oh my..." Her girlfriend Haru spoke softly from beside her, mouth covered in thought. Makoto and her shared an unsure look; they both had an uneasy feeling.
"Man, this is so unfair!" Ryuji groaned, finger pressing repeatedly at Ren's phone in an attempt to get it to work. "I was lookin' forward to beatin' some Shadows' asses today!" He lay his cheek against the leader's shoulder in hopelessness, as Yusuke pushed himself away from the tree he and Akechi were leaning against. "You and I both, Ryuji." He sighed, arms crossing with his sketchbook protectively held against his chest and safely away from Futaba's reaching hands.
"Let me try to hack it!" She piped up, a mischievous giggle escaping her lips as she whipped out her phone. "There's no code I can't hack, no firewall I can't bypass! Lemme handle this!" Futaba got quick to typing on her phone, but after a few minutes with no show of her getting anywhere, she let out a dramatic whine. "What?! I've never been beaten before!! I can't get through this one, guys!" She wore a defeated pout, shameful from being unable to bypass the error message.
Ann scratched the back of her head, frowning as she turned to their silent leader. "So, should we all just go home? This was kinda pointless," she spoke, giving a pity smile to the man. Ren glanced up at her from the phone, sighing quietly with a wistful nod. He pocketed the device, Morgana settling himself back in his bag with a low meow.
"Man, this sucks..." Ryuji grumbled, stepping back from their leader and shoving his hands deep in his pockets.
Everyone seemed disappointed, but Akechi only laughed, finding it more amusing than anything.
"Wait, before we go, could I try my phone?" Haru asked quietly, giving them a hopeful smile. Everyone turned to her with sighs and nods, Ryuji grumbling a discontent, "Might as well."
The girl got out her phone, and Makoto blinked in surprise from beside her when the error message didn't show up. She got out her own phone to check, seeing it gone there, too. She smiled. "There's my Haru, looks like we all just needed to be patient," she chuckled, as the short girl smiled brightly.
"Yeahhh, Haru!" Ryuji pumped his fist in the air, Ann meeting his excited shout with one of her own. "There's our girl! Now, let's go!"
With the Thieves in good spirits, the leader reached again for his phone, staring at the MetaNav. There was no error message to be seen. Maybe it was a stroke of luck that Haru managed to pull her phone out at the time the message disappeared?
Nevertheless, as the world distorted and they found themselves standing in Mementos with seemingly nothing out of the ordinary, Ren couldn't shake an uneasy feeling.
For the Investigation Team, it began with the entrance to the TV World.
"Let's get going!" The ever-excitable Chie bounced on her feet, swinging a punch right in front of Yosuke's face as they walked down the aisles of Junes, the store containing the TV they used to get into the shadow world.
"Woah— sheesh, Chie, watch out!" The boy grumbled, stumbling back to avoid her punch, still working at untying the back of his work apron. The girl only laughed, Yukiko giggling from beside her. "Wow Chie, you sure are 'pumped up' today," she said, the phrase falling awkwardly from her lips. Chie nodded quickly, practically jumping in place when the group stopped in front of the biggest TV in the store. "Come on, Yu! Let's get in there, I'm ready to kick major ass right now!"
The leader of the group glanced back at the rest of the teenagers, silver bangs hanging over his eyes as he huffed out a laugh. Yosuke tossed his apron behind the TV lazily, just as he usually did whenever everybody else barged in during his working hours to enter the other world. He stepped to Yu's side, elbow resting on the taller male's shoulder. "Everybody got their glasses?" He asked, taking his own orange pair out of his pocket.
The three others nodded, but Yukiko blinked. The refined girl glanced around them, eyebrow raising. "Where are the others? Weren't they following us?" She asked, voice light with confusion. Yosuke and Chie finally seemed to notice their absence, glancing around as well. At that moment, a crash was heard somewhere in the canned food section, undeniably the sound of many cans toppling to the ground. "Ah, goddammit! Who the hell is messing around over there?!" Yosuke grit out, grabbing his work apron again and hastily tying it on as he ran over to the source of the noise, ready to give whoever was messing around a piece of his mind.
"Should we go with him?" Yukiko asked, hands folded in front of her, failing to contain her giggling at the brunet boy's annoyance. Yu shook his head, getting out his pair of glasses as well. "No, it should be fine. It's probably just some kids. He'll be back soon."
They knew it was no big deal when they heard Yosuke's loud shout of "What the hell, Teddie!"
With their full group finally in front of the TV—Yosuke sending the pouting Teddie a frustrated glare—Yu put on his glasses. "Do we finally have everyone?" He asked, glancing around at everyone. Naoto, check. Rise, check. Teddie, check. Kanji, check...
"Yeah, so can we just get in there, or what?" Kanji sighed, the muscular boy placing his glasses over his eyes. Beside him, Naoto did the same. "Yes, this is all of us. Apologies for falling behind, Teddie said he had something to show us," the Detective Prince said, a low sigh leaving their lips. Rise nodded, arms crossed, the idol's glasses already on. "Yeah, and all he did was jump into a stack of canned vegetables!"
Yu shook his head, giving the short boy a fond smile. Teddie sent him a mischievous grin back, seemingly eating up Yosuke's frustration.
"Alright, let's do this!" Yosuke smirked, reaching toward the TV after a thorough look to make sure nobody in the store was looking. It was fairly late on a Sunday, though, so there weren't many people in there anyway.
Yosuke's hand made contact with the TV, but instead of allowing them entrance to the shadow world as it usually did, he found himself... Awkwardly touching the screen. "Huh?!" The boy squeaked, pressing his other hand against the screen as well.
"What are you doing, Yosuke!?" Chie sighed, pushing him to the side. "We're supposed to go in the TV, not stand there with our hands in front of it!" She laughed, eyes rolling. But, as she moved her head toward the TV in an attempt to enter it, it bumped against the screen instead of allowing her entrance.
"Ow! What the heck?!" The protein junkie stumbled back, grumbling and rubbing her head. Yukiko placed a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it soothingly.
"Is something wrong with this TV?" Naoto asked, eyebrow raised. They stepped past Yu to place their hand on it as well. "... Hm. How peculiar. Maybe we should try to use a different one," they said, turning to glance back at their leader.
Yu nodded, eyebrow raised on his otherwise blank face.
Izanagi was buzzing from inside him, the Persona discontent. Yu shook it off, turning to the television beside the one they were trying to use. He placed his hand on it, and much like before, the entrance didn't open up for him.
"What's happening...?" Rise whispered, now awkwardly moving her hands against their usual TV's screen with the irritated Kanji doing the same. Teddie laughed awkwardly, a worried look on his face. "Uhm... Sensei? Even you can't get in?" He asked the silvernette, and Yu sighed as he shook his head.
What did this mean for Teddie, whose home was the TV World?
"Maybe we should come back tomorrow," Yukiko weakly suggested, taking her glasses off her face. Naoto stood back with a nod. "I agree. The other world is odd, maybe something's happening within it at the moment. We should try again later," they spoke quietly, arms crossing.
"Man, I don't know..." Yosuke mumbled, hands placed on his hips. "Something feels really weird... Like, I can feel my Persona acting up inside me... Jiraiya's not happy about whatever's going on right now," he said, grimacing and rubbing his head. Everyone nodded in agreement, seemingly feeling the same.
Yu stared into the TV, at the repetitive Junes ads that were playing on it. Just what was going on? This had never happened before. It was pretty foggy outside, so it was the perfect time for them to go in. It wasn't going to be as ideal tomorrow, with the skies clear.
"I say we head back," he finally decided, seeing Teddie's frown out of the corner of his eye. "Everything's going to be fine, I bet it's nothing." He'd have to check with Igor about this later.
"How bear-y sad..." Teddie mumbled. Yosuke wrapped his arm around the short boy's shoulders, shaking him gently. "Oh, c'mon, it's gonna be fine! You heard them, we'll come back tomorrow."
Just as everyone was starting to make their leave, the sound of static could be heard from the TVs. Yu stopped and turned toward them, and everyone else soon followed suit, the group staring at the TV static in confusion.
"What the hell...?" Kanji muttered, glancing over to Naoto's perplexed look.
Then, like nothing ever happened, the TVs returned to normal.
"We- we all saw that, right?" Yosuke quickly yelled, eyes blown wide. "I'm not going crazy, right?!"
"No, Yosuke, you aren't. I saw it too," Naoto spoke slowly.
Murmurs of agreement were heard from the rest of the team.
"It's not like Yosuke could get any crazier anyway," Chie huffed, ignoring Yosuke's offended glare. "Maybe we're all just getting as crazy as he is?"
Yu shook his head, ignoring Yosuke and Chie's quiet bickering. He took tentative steps toward the TV, slowly reaching out to it.
And, sure enough, the screen engulfed his hand.
"Woah, so it's workin' now?" Kanji marveled, taking a few steps closer.
Everyone shared an unsure look behind their leader, who gave a swift nod. "Alright, looks like we're good to go. Glasses on everybody, we're headed in."
As the Investigation Team entered the TV, Teddie wore a concerned frown, unusually quiet during their trip.