Catch-22: The Return Home

By: M14Mouse

Summary: The gang returns home with a surprise.

Disclaimer: Don't own them. This chapter is unbetaed.

The important thing is this: to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Yu checked his messages when he got into the car. Nothing to really note expect for his students entering the palace. He wasn't too surprised there. They have been talking about entering the palace for a while now. Clearly, it was a trap but they think with their hearts especially after meeting Haru. He couldn't blame them. Only thing that he could hope for that he can cushion the consequences. But for now, he and Morgana will just have to stop by the palace after dropping off Lila.

"Are you sure that it was a good idea to leave Teddie with them?" Morgana asked everyone.

"Oh, my brother knows what happens if he is a bad boy," Lila said with a smile.

Morgana looked at Lila in horror.

"You're kind of scary."

"I'm not. Am I scary?" Lila said as she turned to him.

"Not really. You are confident and firm in your beliefs. For some reason, that scares people," He said.

"Does it scare you?"

"Not really."

Lila beamed at him then she turned back to Morgana.

"You need to be more confident and not be a scary kitten or you will never get a date with Ann," Lila said critically.

"I'm not a scary kitten! And I don't like Lady Ann like that!" Morgana said in a panic.

Lila rolled her eyes.

"You are the only one that calls her Lady Ann. Don't think for a moment that we don't notice that. Honestly, it is cute in a creepy sort of way"

"IT ISN"T CREEPY…I….I'm still a cat!"

"What do humans call it? Groundwork, yes? You can do some groundwork before you become human again."

Morgana just stared at Lila like she was crazy. Lila looked at Morgana like she wasn't impressed. Theo just shook his head and when back to reading his book.

"Anyway, we are almost at the subway stop. You will be okay to carry all of your presents, Lila?" He asked.

"Yup, all in my bag! I can't wait! I get to introduce them to Bob!" Lila said excitedly.

"I think Black Frost will like him."

"Me too."

"Do you think an hour will give you enough time? I'm going to see how my students are doing with the palace before I come down to give them my presents."

"Yup, that should give me enough time," Lila beamed.

"How do you know that they are in the palace?" Morgana interrupted.

Lila rolled her eyes again.

"Morgana, Sensei knows everything. And! They haven't answered the phone. Trust me. I tried."

Morgana mumbled something to himself.

"Here is your stop," He said mildly.

Lila made a squee sound and grabbed her bag next to her. She barely waited for the car to stop before jumping out.

"Bye, Sensei, Morgana, and Theo! Good luck with your palace!" Lila shouted and waved before darting down the stairs. He laughed softly as he waved back.

"LILA!" Morgana shouted back.

Theo shook his head, reached and closed the car door. The car started moving again.

"We are totally going to be found out," Morgana mumbled.

He chuckled.

"You already have. In fact, several times," He pointed out.

"Okay. Point taken. Since Lila is gone, I do have a question. What are you going to do about Masayoshi Shido?"

"At the moment, nothing."

"WHAT?!" Morgana said in shock.

"Master and I have been researching Masayoshi Shido for some time. His connections to the police, the government, some research facilities, and corporations run deep," Theo said.

"I believe that we only scratch the surface," He added.

"So, you are researching to find out everything first?"

"Partly, yes. Mostly, I fear if we change his heart that we will be creating a power vacuum. Replacing one threat with another. Another reason that he is good. He covered his tracks extremely well. If I'm going to take him down, I'm going to need evidence and not just the word of a shadow."

"Then we will help."

"No."

Morgana's eyes widen in shock.

"Wha…Why?"

"I'm setting myself as bait. My hope that Shido will become so focus on me that it will allow you and the others to change his heart. Of course, if he has a palace," He said calmly.

"Master, surely…NO!" Theo said in surprise.

He and Mitsuru-san talked it over. They have plans in place in case things go wrong. Most likely, it will go wrong.

"No! No! I won't…We won't let you do it. Not by yourself," Morgana said in a panic.

He was rather touched by Morgana's concern.

"For this, you can't come with me, Morgana. No one can."

Morgana stared at him then burst into tears.

"NO! Futaba can look up information and she is still looking up information on the flash drive. Makoto…she is smart. She has plans. Yusuke…well…is Yusuke. Lady Ann has a whip and Ryuji can be scary and…and Ren can charm the pants off anyone. We won't let you become some sacrifice!"

"I don't plan to die, Morgana."

"No! You're planning to become something worse! Saklas was right. You are our treasure. So, please…lets us help."

"Yes, let them help, Master!" Theo said.

Theo looked like he was about to cry too.

He sighed. He really should have clarified his statement more.

"You aren't going to take a no for answer, are you?"

Morgana's chest puffed up and nodded his head.

"You may help on some things. You have to make sure that Futaba wipes your trail. And you must keep in mind that I am still going to into arenas that you or the others can't follow. Understood?"

"Yes."

He nodded.

You have only told that cat and your servant half of your plans. You gave them a morsel when you have the rest of the pie.

Oh, that. I think Morgana knows that they can't follow me into some places. We are his family. Suddenly, a member goes to a place that he can't follow him? It bothers him. It didn't help that his brain instantly jumped on the word "bait" and "sacrifice". I don't plan to die but I know that I am going to have some losses before I have any wins especially if I go against him. As much as I love my students, they aren't looking at the larger picture at the moment.

Lad, you plan to steal the whole damn board before your students do a thing.

Nothing wrong with that either.

-P4P5-

"You know, I was wondering when we would run into a spaceship palace," He said as he examined the palace around them.

It was rather impressive with the flashing consoles and robots.

"You really expect it?!" Morgana said.

"I thought Oracle's palace would be the one," He said with a shrug.

"You know…after seeing her room, I can see why you said that."

"Anyway, let me see if I can find the others," He said as he called out to Futaba.

Oracle?

SUPPORT BUDDY! Hold on…a little busy. It is hard to translate for you.

Translate?

Futaba laughed.

You see.

He chuckled.

"Oracle has a surprise for us," He said to Morgana.

"Oh, goody," Morgana said with a sigh.

"Mostly likely, it is for me since she wants to catch me off."

"You might as well do it once to get it over with. She won't stop until she does. She has been trying with Joker for weeks."

Veles snorted and High Pixie giggled.

You aren't going to be too surprise. You will probably be amused.

He shook his head no.

"If I do it, it would annoy her and she would try even harder. Besides, I haven't had a nice surprise since Peru."

"I'm not going to ask about Peru right now but I suppose you are right. Where are they?"

"From what I can sense, they are that way. Ready?" He said as he called his power to the surface. He felt the shadows pool under his feet.

"Oh, I hate this part."

"Would you rather walk?"

"No," Morgana grumbled.

He chuckled softly and then tapped his cane on the floor. The shadows swallow them up.

Traveling this way was disconnecting at times but he has adjusted. The others haven't taken to it as well. He felt the rush of air and darkness around them then the shadow unwrapped. He blinked for a moment to adjust to the light.

They appeared in a large room. He saw his students were talking to two tall green people in long flowing black robes with some weird lights around their heads….wait, are those aliens?

"Pouvez vous parler plus lentement, s'il vous plait," One of the aliens said.

"What are you saying?" Futaba said with a sigh.

"I think that it is French," Ann said.

"I don't know French," Makoto said.

"He said that you are speaking to fast for him," He said.

The group jumped and turned to them.

"MONA!"

"Sensei!"

"How did you get here so fast?!"

"Sensei can travel through shadows. I don't recommend it. My stomach hurts," Morgana said.

"It isn't that bad," He said as he approached the group.

He stopped for a moment and stared at the silver hair alien.

So that is how Okumura view him. He wasn't too surprised. He knew that he often confused the man. He was surprised that he left a big enough impression to have a cognitive version of himself here.

The cognitive version of him beamed at him.

"Merci."

"Why are you speaking French?" Ren asked.

"If I take a guess, Okumura must have heard me talk in French and transfer it to this version. Another oddity that confuse the man," He said.

"Wait, you know French, Sensei?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes and a few other languages. French, Spanish, and English. I get by in a few others like Italian and Chinese."

His students stare at him in awe.

"Wow…."

"Anyway, alien you helped us through some of the doors but I don't think he has access to anymore of the building," Futaba said.

"I will ask," He said.

"Do you have any more access to the building?" He said in French.

The alien shook his head.

"No, you need to talk to some high level employees, the awful creature or Haru to get more access," The alien said sadly.

"Awful creature?"

The alien turned to his companion and mumbled something. He examined the other alien. He smiled a little.

Theo.

He wondered how Theo would react to know that he had a cognitive version as well.

"The Fiancé" The alien said as he made quotation marks with his hands.

He made a face. Yes, that would describe the man pretty well.

"And Haru?"

The pair gave him a sad look.

"That bad, huh?"

"You will try to save her?" The alien version of Theo asked eagerly.

"She is one of my students. I won't leave her behind," He said.

The pair beamed at him. The beeping noise came from the alien version of him. The alien patted himself down and pulled out a phone.

"Excuse me, the mothership is calling," The alien said as he stepped away.

He nodded his head.

"No, thank you for the information," He said as he turned to the group.

"We need to find a high-level employee, Haru's fiancé or Haru in order to get more access." He said.

"I take it the first two choices are out," Makoto said.

"Yes on the high-level employee since you don't find them on this floor. Haru's fiancé might be a choice since he does like to come down here to mock the employees. I would take great pleasure in beating him up or give him to Lila and Ume."

"Man, is he that bad?!" Ryuji said.

"Yes….yes, he is."

"You guys got all sad when Haru came up. What did he say?" Futaba asked.

"I don't think that Okumura has treated her kindly in this world. In fact, they want us to save her," He said.

"Well, it could work. We save her and get more access the facility," Ren said.

He smiled.

"Correct. Now, who wants their gifts from my trip?"

"OOO! Me!" Futaba said jumped hug him.

"I am next!"

"No me!"

He laughed.

End of The Return Home

Next Chapter: The Surprise

A/N: The plot thicken. Hehe…I feel evil…ish. Persona 3 crew make more appearances after this palace (Mitsuru and Akhiko). After Sai's palace, Aegis will make an appearance and stick around for a bit. (We get a little bit of backstory from Yu and Aegis's work as Shadow Operatives) From Persona 4 side, Rise and Naoto will also make an appearance and stick around for a bit. That is all my spoilers on that end. :D Thank you for the wonderful reviews (I am very impressed that you reviewed every chapter Nana). I am hope that answer some of your questions or maybe, I didn't, purpleswan. Thanks for the kudos and favorites. Anyway, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year (we need it, right?!) Be safe. Be well. Seeya next year! Read and review if you wish.