As it turned out, Shadow Ann Takamaki was still alive and well beside Shadow Kamoshida. After all, none of the team had the guts to take her down in front of the real Ann. Taichi even used the excuse that "Shadow Ann is right next to Shadow Kamoshida, heavily protected by the other Shadows, making it hard to take her out." Reluctantly, Ann followed them, fighting and retreating.
"By the way, doesn't Joker use a gun? Couldn't he just aim for that bitch's head and shoot her a few times?" Ann said, casually glancing at the gun in Ren's hand as they rounded a corner.
"...I forgot I had a gun," Ren said, his silence lasting a suspicious few seconds before he explained.
"Aghhh!" Morgana roared, clutching his head after repelling a Shadow in front of him. "I admit it, when I saw Lady Ann... even if it was just a Shadow pretending to be Lady Ann, I just couldn't do it!"
"...Am I supposed to thank you?" Ann asked, her mouth twitching.
"Ann, my suggestion is that you might want to try awakening your Persona, and then you can take out Shadow Ann yourself," Taichi said. 'Killing myself' was a classic trope, after all.
"I don't recognize that bitch as me!" Ann yelled, her emotions a little unstable. "So, don't use my last name or first name to address that bitch!"
"Then let's just call her 'The Fictional Shadow,'" Taichi said, not wanting to argue. "After all, that Shadow is just a 'princess' born from Shadow Kamoshida's delusion. She has nothing to do with you."
"That's a good idea! We'll call that bitch 'The Fictional Shadow'! Any objections, you guys?" Ann glared at the others, her voice unfriendly.
"No objections at all. That codename is very fitting," Ren said, swallowing nervously and agreeing first.
"Yeah, that's right! That's just Kamoshida's delusion. It has nothing to do with you, Takamaki!" Ryuji quickly nodded in agreement.
"Guys, I think we can keep discussing the Fictional Shadow's name later. The new characters who just showed up don't seem to care," Morgana said, his throat bobbing as he looked behind them. "New characters have arrived."
A pair of sisters who looked 80% similar to Ann, wearing the same swimsuit, appeared. Behind the sisters, six more Shadows followed.
"Faces I've never seen... Are those Kamoshida's women from outside of school?" Ryuji mumbled, swallowing. "They're beautiful sisters... Damn it! I feel more and more that changing Kamoshida's heart is the right thing to do."
"Protect Her Majesty the Queen and Her Royal Highness the Princess!" the Shadows shouted, shielding the two sisters.
Taichi looked at the sisters, a bit dazed. Although some details had changed after the 2D characters became 3D, their overall appearance was the same. After a few seconds, Taichi confirmed his initial impression: Yukino Yukinoshita and Haruno Yukinoshita. They were important characters from a completely different world, unrelated to Persona or tokusatsu. They should have been living with their family in Chiba... Oh, had they moved to Tokyo because of the radiation? It seemed they weren't too lucky, as Kamoshida had set his sights on them.
This world was definitely worth exploring in more detail.
"Charge, you rebels!"
Just as they were preparing to face the Shadows, another unfamiliar voice came from behind.
"I am the Captain of the Queen and Princess's Royal Guard! Prepare to die, rebels!"
Taichi, who was standing further back, turned to look. Before his expression could change even more, he put his helmet back on to hide his face. Holy cow, not only were the Yukinoshita sisters here, but so was the unshakable Shizuka Hiratsuka. But, perhaps because of her age, or Kamoshida's preference for younger girls, Shadow Shizuka wasn't wearing a swimsuit, but armor that matched the other Shadows.
"That Kamoshida guy... he really deserves to die," Ryuji said, grinding the words out between his teeth.
"I'm so jealous!" Morgana shouted, with great masculine pride.
"We're surrounded..." Taichi sighed, feeling helpless. "Everyone, if we keep fighting, we won't be able to escape. It's time to retreat from this Palace."
"[Useless! Let me do it! If I don't take down these Shadows, you can call me by your last name!]" Mordred roared, as usual.
"I really don't want to," Ryuji said, taking a deep breath. "But we'll just have to wait for next time."
"Retreat!" Ren shouted, raising his gun and firing off rounds at the Shadows.
Taichi picked up Ann in a princess carry and ran toward the weakest point in the line: Shadow Shizuka.
"I'll clear a path for everyone!" Morgana yelled, swinging his katana. "Zoro!"
Taichi was the first to rush through the channel Zoro had cut. Morgana and Ryuji followed closely.
"Don't get bogged down in a fight, Joker!"
After a round of rapid-fire shots, Ren, his gun now empty due to the game's mechanics, turned and lightly jogged to catch up with his companions. To be fair, Ren's movements, no matter what, always had a cool, stylish flair to them.
"Chase them! Don't let the rebels get away!" Shadow Shizuka's voice rang out from behind them.
"If we find a safe room to hide in now, do you think we can trick the Shadows?" Taichi whispered to Morgana, who was running beside him.
"Shadows aren't very smart. It might work... Do you want to do that?" Morgana froze for a second, then looked at Ann, who was pale in Taichi's arms. "But Lady Ann doesn't look so good. Maybe we should retreat to the real world first and come up with a better plan."
"No, I can keep going," Ann said, her head breaking free from Taichi's embrace. She looked at Morgana. "I'm not going to let this exploration get cut short because of me!"
"Damn it! If only I could awaken my Persona like you guys did..." Ann said, clenching her fists in frustration.
"My build is the fastest, so I'll distract the pursuers. You guys take this chance to hide," Ren suggested. "Once I shake them, we'll meet at the nearest safe room."
The upperclassmen with the navigation app could use the map to see the areas they had explored.