The Parade of Envy - Mission Start

[phantommods]

“This is Candace Sierra with Wolf News. We’re here again with a special feature on Todd Woodrow Jr. His club, Fight for America, is planning a rally for February 28th right here on the UCLA campus. Todd, what can you tell me about this rally?”



“Thanks Candace. Our rally, Fight to be Right, is our answer to the neo-liberal infection that has taken over college campuses across the country. We conservatives have been silenced and denigrated by the liberal elites for far too long, and we’re here to push back against their narrative of erasure and silencing! We’re going to blow the lid off these safe spaces and remind folks what real America looks like!”



“That’s fantastic! Sounds like it will be quite a gathering.”



“Absolutely! Several groups have already pledged to join our cause, including the Citizens for an Armed America, the Freedom Militia, and Bikers for Jesus. We’re going to show this campus that we will not be silenced any longer!”

The interview, a complete fluff piece, continues for some time but what is most striking is the hollow, malicious smile barely concealed by a veneer of false sincerity painted on Todd’s face.

In the metaverse, the Parade Grounds have accelerated to a fever pitch. The tanks swerve and dive around the pathways as the Shadow of Todd extols his “virtues” on the podium with greater fervor.

[We will commence with the action logs for the February Palace event. Due to this post going live later than anticipated, players will have until March 1st at 11:59 PM EST to resolve their threads. All threads below will be marked with the group that has been selected to take part in it, as well as the opening scenario and who is going to be running it (if anybody). On your first tag, please indicate the Persona you are bringing with you if you have any available through Social Links or Player Plots besides your own. For threads run by Moderators, we will be tagging to advance it once every 24 hours and we recommend players running threads do the same.

Due to the amount of sign-ups and the requirements of completion for the current plot, we are not running a Calling Card plot segment this month, the cards will be considered to have already been sent at a timely manner and will be noted in the current events.

The Palace is ICly assumed to take place over the course of a few nights as the Phantom Thieves are able to congregate and assail it, characters are still free to make IC posts or plots not pertaining to the main Palace during this month.]

Comments

[phantommods]

As the team gets into position, the soldiers seem to shift and start looking around suspiciously. Some searchlights start panning the area, some dangerously close to the team - if a move is to be made, it must be made now.

[katsufemmefatale]

Yuuri stays slightly behind Raincrow and Roll, ready to pull back if their Operator needs help but also in position to hit hard and fast. Then the searchlights start up and he bites back a curse.

"Raincrow, Roll, can you flank the guards and lure them off to either side, make them think you're trying for a pincer attack? Maybe I can get around behind Todd and jump him from the back."

[lyrids]

Behind the visor of her mask, Roll's eyes narrow as the searchlights blare on. She glances back at the sound of Frost's voice, and nods once he's finished speaking.

"Sounds like a plan!" she declares, balling up her fists, before casting a questioning look in Raincrow's direction.

[kotoritori]

"Now or never, huh..."

Grinning back at Roll, she nods, pumping her fists.

"Okay, let's do it!"

And down she jumps, ready to run. She may not be that confident as a Persona user yet, but she's had plenty of experience running circles around people on the basketball court.

[lyrids]

Roll follows Raincrow's lead and leaps down without delay, her brilliant white scarf trailing (quite dramatically) behind her. As soon as she lands, she yanks on her mask, calling the shimmering form of Lyra into her hands.

She doesn't immediately launch an attack, but is prepared to do so at a moment's notice as she moves to flank the guard to the left.

[phantommods]

Shadow Todd's baleful gaze turns on the thieves.

"What's this? Some ants come to ruin our procession? SEIZE THEM!"

The two guards flanking him seem to convulse before exploding in black and red liquid, taking the shape of a massive lion-like demon.

They howl and launch two Agilao attacks, jets of fire racing to consume Raincrow and Roll.

[lyrids]

The attack is not at all unexpected, so Roll is quick enough to jump out of the flames' path that the blaze does little more than singe her. She swiftly counters by pointing Lyra straight at the leonine Shadow and firing the guitar-like Persona's strings as projectiles. The razor-thin wires should easily be sharp enough to pierce the creature's skin, and furthermore twist to wrap around its limbs.

Her next move, should she be successful in ensnaring the beast, is to take a few labored steps away from her target before pulling back with all her might, hopefully wrenching the Shadow right off the stage.

So sorry this is late! T_T

[megacurious]

By the time he joins up with the other by the backline, his eyes widen to see two guards transformed into a lion-like demon and fires two fire spells to two thieves. "Rain, Roll! Look out!"

Regardless whether they listened to him or not, Lifegiver immediately summons Xerneas and uses its abilities to scan their latest Shadow.

"Everyone, be careful. Just like you saw, it can use fire spells. But it is weak against ice." Despite being relieved that it has a weakness, he was still worried about its barrage of physical attacks. In any case, he kept his distance and prepared himself to cast a buffing spell to everyone.

[kotoritori]

"Whoa!"

That's a pretty big gout of flame right there. So big that Raincrow has to dive, and even then she comes out slightly burned. Gritting her teeth as she rolls into a crouching position, she narrows her eyes and calls on her Persona.

"Black Rock Shooter!"

Amid a flash of blue light, the girl with the gun appears - looking not at the monster or Shadow Todd, but straight at Mato. Her gaze is harsh and imperious, as if she's assessing the girl to decide if she's worthy. Peering back from behind her mask, Raincrow gives a confident nod. It's a complicated and wordless exchange that takes only a split second before the Persona turns its attention toward the monster, leveling its gun and firing off a quick Snap attack.

[katsufemmefatale]

Frost slips along the walls, using his natural grace to dodge the spotlights when they get too close. He manages to get behind Todd's Shadow, his eyes narrowing.

Don't kill it, just kick the crap out of it.

He curls his toes over the trigger inside his right boot, and a switchblade pops out of the front between the toe box and the sole. Bracing himself, he snaps a sharp kick at the Shadow's rear, smirking at the painful indignity he's about to visit upon the cruel being.

Get ready to try chasing a former athlete down, Todd!

[phantommods]

Lyra's attack is partially successful, she does manage to bind it but it counters with a Maragi, shaking an area burst of flame from its mane to set the wires ablaze and launch more flames at Roll. It is, however, bound for the moment.

Raincrow's attack strikes the other square, and it flinches in pain before leaping at her with a Double Fangs attack.

As Yuuri kicks the knife, Shadow Todd yelps in pain.

"You bastard!"

He slowly begins stalking toward Yuuri as wave of inky blackness pours from his shoulder. An elongated arm of desiccated flesh covered in mouths whips out of the darkness, flying at Yuuri in an attempt to both pin and strangle him. The mouths on the arm, should they come close enough to Yuuri to be heard, are constantly gnawing and chewing at the arm itself.

[lyrids]

This time, there's no avoiding the fire, and a brief but loud cry of pain does escape Roll before she clamps down on it, gritting her teeth; it's going to take a lot more than that to daunt her.

As the flames die down, with the Shadow within her grasp, she begins to shred the hell out of her Persona, pumping a series of electrifying Shock Notes through the strings. The attacks are individually weak but come in rapid succession, and each has a chance to fully paralyze her captive.

[megacurious]

At least Roll somehow able to take care of Orthus for now. But right now, the only worry was Todd's Shadow. Upon seeing his true monstrous abilities, he knew he had to act somehow. His Persona doesn't have any offensive spells, but he does have one advantage.

With a few keystrokes on his holographic keyboard, his Persona's horns began to turn gold as it starts to glow several colors. "Frost, prepare yourself!" He shouted just as Xerneas casts Rakukaja to the said thief. He can't intervene the attack, but he might as well use a spell to increase his defense.

[katsufemmefatale]

Frost feels the spell take hold just before that disgusting appendage snaps at him. Boosted defense or not, he's not about to let that thing latch on. With a powerful spring, he leaps to one side, and the instant his feet touch the ground again his hand is at his mask.

"Kori-no-Kage!"

He tears the mask away and the dark skater appears above him. It zips around the Shadow, attacking with Myriad Slashes from the skate blades on its feet.

[kotoritori]

Raincrow can't get out of the way of the attack in time, so she brings up an arm to try to deflect the bite away from anything vital. Crying out in pain, she counters with a close-range Eiha attack in an attempt to blast the beast back so she can keep fighting at range.

[phantommods]

Roll feels burns over her body from the flame attack, it hurts very badly but her vicious counterstrike destroys the beast, causing it to explode in black liquid and mist. Likewise, Raincrow's Eiha blasts the monster away, destroying it as well.

The cuts strike true, and Shadow Todd staggers back.

"You... I'LL KILL YOU!"

His body explodes into black liquid, coalescing into a tall, thin creature with stretched, yellowed skin. It's eyes glow a brilliant green and its mouth is an open cavern of staring green eyes. Two long legs protrude from its torso, as well as four long arms. Its body is covered in mouths, and the mouths seem to be feasting on its own flesh, creating an unsettling chewing noise.

Bringing its arms to bear under it, it pushes off on the ground, the arms actually extending as it launches itself in the air, hurtling off the platform and toward the team at frightful speeds.

[megacurious]

With his body exploded into a tall creature made out of an H.P. Lovecraft nightmare, Lifegiver glared at the transformed Shadow towering over them. At last, Todd's true colors are shown and with this, the true fight has begun.

"It looks like your true racist self is beginning to show. Raincrow, hold on for a second." Typing onto his holographic keyboard, he lets his Persona casts Dia in an attempt to heal her wounds.

FINALLY... CUTS IN HERE... FIFTEEN MINUTES LATE WITH STARBUCKS... Sorry........

[zangenasai]

"Master of the Hellish Yard, come forth! Bring forth destruction!"

Naomi had been quiet, keeping her gun on hold, sticking close to Lifegiver, but now is the time for action. And that action is going to be summoning forth her Persona behind her and blasting a Frei to this creature. She promised explosions, after all. So she's delivering.

[lyrids]

With the Shadow's destruction, Roll expels a deep breath and relinquishes her hold on Lyra, the strings that bound Orthrus fading from existence along with the Persona. She looks back to center stage just in time to witness their target's grotesque transformation, and takes only a short moment to get her bearings before moving to join up with Frost.

Faced with the truly revolting form of Shadow Todd, her mouth curls in a clear show of disgust — and contempt. "Just as ugly outside as in, huh..." She looks to her teammates, then back at the monster before them, and says, with a voice full of bravado:

"Alright! You all ready for the main event?"

Of course, in doing so, she casually sidesteps the subject of her own wellbeing, but her ragged breath and the burn marks spread across her body speak louder than any words could. Nonetheless, she wastes no further time summoning her Persona again and with a stroke of its neck, conjuring a single, large Shock Note. The yellow music-note-shaped projectile, easily the size of its creator, flies at Shadow Todd at high speed — and unlike the myriad she used on his guard, this one alone packs a real punch.

[katsufemmefatale]

"Oh crap!"

Frost leaps out of the way, a little freaked out by all those mouths in all the wrong places. The sound of the Shadow chewing on itself is nauseating, but he keeps his focus. Reaching into a pouch at his waist, he draws out a steel snowflake and flings it at the Shadow, hoping to take out at least one of its many eyes. If it can't see, it won't be able to track them as well... or at least he hopes.

[kotoritori]

“Ugh, gross!”

Raincrow leaps back after the Orthrus dissolves, just out of range of those slavering jaws. She turns to give a quick nod of thanks in Lifegiver’s direction before readying an attack of her own.

“Why don’t you try chewing on this?”

Reaching into her cloak, she pulls out a hand cannon that certainly shouldn’t have been able to fit in there, taking aim and firing off a round of burst fire. Hopefully that will shut a few of those mouths for good.

[phantommods]

The nuclear spell explodes on the creature, singing its flesh and causing the gnawning mouths to wail and gnash their teeth. This continues as the Shock Note strikes true. The Snowflake embeds itself in the eye which gushes blood, causing the shadow to shriek and rage. As the blood sprays onto the ground, more green eyes start opening within the pool itself, staring at the party. Finally, the hand-cannon bursts strike it in the chest, more mouths shrieking in pain as it staggers backwards.

"THAT. HURT."

The bleeding stops as the eye refocuses itself and the snowflake drops away - the team can see it has splintered into 9 smaller eyes all of which are glaring balefully. Two of its arms lash out to attack Naomi and Roll, the fingers grasping at their throats and the mouths on the hands drooling in anticipation while a powerful Eiga attack materializes around Raincrow. To Yuuri, however, two arms swing out moving to enfold and encircle him with rapid speed, the mouths, drooling and chomping in anticipation.

[lyrids]

Her reflexes dulled by pain, Roll just barely manages to avoid being seized by the arm, but it still strikes a nasty blow. With a scream that she can no longer do anything to suppress, her legs buckle beneath her, and she falls to her knees, panting heavily. Even still, she doesn't cry for help, only snarl defiantly.

"Hahh... I'm not... done yet..."

With great effort, she reaches behind her to draw her own gun, a hand crossbow. She takes careful aim — at least, as much as she is capable of doing so in her current state — before firing a bolt into Shadow Todd's gaggle of eyeballs.

[megacurious]

As the others continued to fight, Lifegiver was still focusing on the holographic screens showing their current stats as he continued to type in his next spell. Upon seeing the spell that Shadow Todd just did, he can confirm that he used Curse spells.

"Be careful everyone! He is immune to Curse and Psy! Which means he may use more that Eiga spells!"

As he said this, he casts another Dia to Roll in an attempt to heal her wounds from the Fire spell earlier.

[kotoritori]

“Roll!”

Raincrow’s voice rings out in desperation and panic, more concerned about her friend’s predicament than even the extreme pain coursing through her own body after that attack. Holstering her sidearm and pulling out a black steel katana, she bursts forth from the darkness surrounding her to slash at the malformed arm holding her friend by the throat.

“You’re not killing anyone today, or ever again!”