Chapter Text
The thieves swiftly dodged the ice attacks, but Kaiyo seemed especially nervous. "I..i don't know why, but…i think I'm weak to ice?" he stammered.
"Hey, I'm here to help!" Joker suddenly heard a voice from behind, seeing Oracle in her Persona Necronomicon.
"Ah, crap, sorry we left you behind!" Skull shouted.
"Hey, you'll want to hear this. I'm detecting something new about Kaiyo there." Oracle called out. "I think he has some sort of sub attribute to a regular one."
"What do you mean?" Kaiyo asked, clearly unaware.
"I'm detecting an attribute called Toxic, and it seems to be a subelement of Nuke!" Oracle shouted, intriguing the other thieves as Kaiyo prepared himself. "Kaiyo, use Stig!"
"Stig?" Suddenly, Kaiyo's persona sent a bolt of concentrated acid into the heart of one of the Belphegors, killing it swiftly through intense poison. "Holy shit, that's what Jobe does?" Kaiyo stammered in awe.
Oracle was rather surprised, since Belphegor is usually strong against Nuke…could these sub attributes have different strengths?
"Dude, it's your Persona!" Skull retorted.
"I just got it? Give me some slack!" Kaiyo said, completely exasperated.
The other Belphegor hit Kaiyo with a Bufu, shutting up Skull before he could once again argue back. "Dammit, I need to be better than that…" He ran forward, gripping his large metal pipe and smacking Belphegor upside the head, getting a critical hit and knocking it to the ground. Skull ran over to Kaiyo while Belphegor was stunned and helped him up. "H-hey, sorry about insulting you. Want to do the honors?"
"Nnh…hell yeah, just need to-" A sudden crack sounded as Kaiyo popped his arm back into place, making the other thieves flinch. "Alright, let's do this."
ALL OUT ATTACK!
The 4 thieves slashed through the enemy with swift cuts.
Kaiyo pressed his scythe blade first into the ground, holding the other end as he turned his head to watch the enemy behind him bleed out and disappear.
I Will Reclaim What I've Lost
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"Man…that…felt awesome." Kaiyo huffed, wiping at his forehead with his ragged sleeve.
"You alright? You took quite a hit." Stone inquired, shaking off the nerves from fighting again after several months.
"I…nn…yeah, the pain's setting in now." Kaiyo nearly collapsed to the floor, but Skull caught him just in time. "Come on, guys, let's get him back downstairs. He needs to rest for a bit…if only we could exit the Metaverse right now…" Joker shrugged and led the others back down the stairs to where the other thieves were.
"Wow. That soon?" Queen was quite intrigued by Kaiyo's new attire, as well as his scythe. "A scythe is one hell of a weapon…maybe even better than my greatsword." Wolf added.
Mona chuckled to himself. He knew Kaiyo had the potential.
"Heh…uh…thanks, guys." Kaiyo laid back on a couch, his breathing steadying. "I…need a codename, right? I remember you guys calling each other names like Oracle, Joker, and Mona so…"
"Hmm…can't say I know what to call you." Mona mused. "Mummy sounds generic…and despite your attire, we can't call you Alibaba, because Oracle already claimed it."
"Lame." Kaiyo shrugged. "Well, I already had an idea. Sure, the name itself doesn't really inspire thievery, but I feel it fits me." Kaiyo sat up straight. "Please…call me Leper."
"Leper? Like…someone with leprosy?" Noir asked, clearly as confused as the others. "Yeah, I knew it wouldn't come off right…but I feel like it sounds cool if you don't consider the context." He replied, clearly bashful.
"I think it works. Welcome to the Phantom Thieves, Leper." Joker shook Leper's hand, and seeing his smile made everyone's day a lot brighter.
Violet got up, stretching a bit. "Well…I think I'd be willing to go in Leper's place if he needs to rest." She said, and the other thieves started to talk amongst themselves about who should be part of the next scouting group.
Joker calmed everyone down. "I think…you should all go, and me and Leper will stay behind for a bit before we join you. I just want to talk with him a bit." The other thieves looked at each other, unsure what to say. "You guys can handle it. You've all been incredible thieves, even without me giving orders. I believe you can go for a few minutes without me. I'll catch up with Leper."
Mona nods, clearly proud. "Thieves, just follow me for a bit. Once Joker is back, he can take over. Take your time, Joker."
The thieves ran to the stairs, and Joker sat down across from Leper, the two sitting in silence for a minute. Then, Joker spoke. "Leper…I need to know more about you."