Fanfic / The Royal Strikers

Cover by Darkrose--chan

The Royal Strikers is a Persona 5 fanfiction by TheNewWorldFool and CloudStrife07. It is a Persona 5 Royal adaptation of Persona 5 Strikers, which includes Sumire Yoshizawa and Goro Akechi joining the Phantom Thieves across Japan to put an end to the Change of Heart epidemic occurring across the country. This story will also feature characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4.

You can find the Fanfiction.net version here.

You can find the Wattpad version here.

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The Royal Strikers contains examples of:

• Action Prologue: Just like in the original game, the prologue shows Joker fighting against a large number of Shadows to serve as a distraction, only this time, he is joined by Violet and Crow.
• Actually Pretty Funny: During the event where Alice is handing out her cards to promote a store opening, she completements Ren's glasses, only for Ren to inform her they're fake, causing Alice to double over in laughter due to how unexpected the reply was.
• Adaptation Expansion: The Phantom Thieves’ summer vacation will last for two and a half months, which is longer compared to the time it would normally last in Japan^note In Japan, summer vacation lasts for about a month, the reason behind it being that the Ministry of Education wanted to experiment on how schools in the west do things. In addition, Sumire and Akechi, two characters that weren’t present in the original game, join the Phantom Thieves on their trip across Japan, as well as the group meeting the Shadow Operatives and the Investigation Team.
• Adapted Out: Due to Persona 5 Tactica being released long after this story was being worked on, the authors have stated that the game will not be considered canon to the story, their reason being that they would potentially have to adjust a lot of things they had planned for the story for it to take place post-Tactica.
• Asshole Victim: Several of them.
  • The girl who bullied Alice during high school and took her crush away from her just so happens to be a victim of Alice through EMMA. Not only did she lose her boyfriend, she also lost her job and her friends, and was forced to work at a low-paying job just to put food on the table. Ann makes it crystal clear that she has no sympathy for the girl when the two meet.
  • Ren also mentions having a small fortune in Yen as a result of bleeding the Shadows of the Takases, the couple who were blackmailing/extorting Sadayo Kawakami, dry of all their Yen, effectively giving them A Taste of Their Own Medicine.
  • Oracle mentions that her uncle, who was trying to extort Sojiro for money and even called Child Protection Services to try to get Futaba taken away from Sojiro, was also one at Joker's hands.
• Badass Adorable: The AI Sophia/Sophie, full stop. When she first meets the members of the Phantom Thieves who aren't Joker, Skull, and Mona, both Violet and Panther ask Sophia if they can floof her outfit, only for both of them to be shot down by the AI. Joker and Violet are also very protective of Sophia, with Word of God going as far as to say that Sophia is Joker and Violet's phone daughter.
• Bag of Spilling: For unknown reasons, the Phantom Thieves’ Personas have reverted back to their initial forms. In Ren’s case, not only does his main Persona, Raoul, revert back to Arsène, he also loses access to the Personas from the Compendium he had before, which, according to Lavenza, is caused by an unknown force of nature. As such, Ren has to start a new Compendium from scratch.
• Battle Couple: Ren and Sumire, the main couple of this story.
• Berserk Button: When confronting Shadow Alice after sending the calling card to her real-world counterpart, she is properly introduced to Violet, whom Joker mentioned during their first encounter. When Shadow Alice insults Joker for having low standards in women, both he and Violet are enraged by this, the latter’s building up even more when Shadow Alice flirts with her boyfriend throughout the fight with her.
• Bland-Name Product: Several different cartoons, video games, and media apps have names along these lines, in keeping with Persona 5 's tendency to do the same.
• The Cameo:
  • Kiria Kurono is mentioned when the Phantom Thieves take the third Core of Alice’s Jail, which takes the form of a CD of Alice’s biggest album, with Oracle commenting that it doesn’t compare to albums from both her and Risette.
  • Takuto Maruki makes a full-on in person appearance in Chapter Eleven, giving Ren, Ryuji, Ann, and Sumire a ride back to Leblanc in his taxi, during which the four Phantom Thieves learn about what the former psychiatrist has been up to since his last meeting with the Phantom Thieves.
• Canon Character All Along: In Persona 5 Strikers, there is an NPC hanging out outside the Shibuya Big Bang Burger and in the alleyway outside Leblanc who seems to be the only NPC who outright despises Alice Hiiragi, and is rather happy when the Phantom Thieves bring about Alice's downfall. In The Royal Strikers, this same NPC is in fact the adult version of the girl who bullied Alice in high school and stole the guy she liked right in front of her, before turning up again to make Alice's life adult life miserable, only to get hit with karma when Alice uses EMMA to ruin her life.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Crow makes a very... colorful... threat to Shadow Alice when they first meet face-to-face.
• Déjà Vu: Joker gets a sense of this when the Phantom Thieves fight Shadow Alice after she transforms into her rabbit form, saying that he feels like they had fought a giant rabbit somewhere before.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Two members from the Investigation Team, Rise Kujikawa and Naoto Shirogane, are mentioned a few times during the Alice arc.
  • Rise is mentioned by her stage name, Risette, two times, the first time being when Ren mention’s Alice being an idol like her, and the second being when Alice’s album, which acts as one of the cores of her Jail, is compared to Rise’s album.
  • Naoto is indirectly mentioned when Akechi introduces himself by his real name to Sophia, which leads her to looking up articles about him being the second coming of the Detective Prince, with the first being a woman.
• Foreshadowing: While the Phantom Thieves are having lunch beside the riverbank on their way to Sapporo, Akechi tells them that before they can get there, they need to make a detour to a city on the coast of Hakodate, saying that his benefactor has requested to meet them. Given that Word of God has stated that there will be a Port Island Jail between the Sendai and Sapporo Jails, one can easily assume who Akechi’s benefactor might be.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Due to not having been a part of the Phantom Thieves at the time, Sumire was not filled in on the exact details of the Police Brutality that Ren was subjected to during the interrogation back during the events of Persona 5: Royal, having been told that Ren's injuries were the result of him jumping out a second-story window and his escape from the police getting rough.
• Not Quite Dead: Thought to have been dead after Maruki’s defeat, Akechi is revealed to be alive when Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana enter Alice’s Jail for the first time, with the rest of the Thieves learning about this after they get out. Chapter Twelve reveals that the reason for Akechi's return are unknown, even to Akechi himself.
• Only Sane Man: When he’s not in the Metaverse, going under his Crow persona and slaughtering Shadows in delight, Akechi takes on this role when he is involved in the antics of the Phantom Thieves, some examples being taking a shot whenever someone says “for real” or coming up with food names for Sophia’s codename.
• Papa Wolf: A good way to slam Ren/Joker's Berserk Button is to harm, insult, or otherwise mistreat the people he cares about. Alice Hiiragi, The Takesaes, Futaba's uncle, and Takuto Maruki have all been stated to have learned this lesson the hard way.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Violet drops a magnificent one before Alice is defeated in Chapter Nine.
  Violet: "Let me get this one thing straight, Alice. There may have been a time where I would have actually believed everything you said about me… but I don't believe any of it, because Joker-Senpai made it very clear to me that he loved me regardless of whoever I was or whatever I've done. He told me that he didn't want to live a life without me in it, even when I originally thought that everyone's lives would have been better if I wasn't around. I have already proven that I am worthy of Joker-Senpai's love long before I was even capable of loving myself. You hear me, Alice? You are not the queen in Joker-Senpai's life… I am. And, as the queen herself always says..." *does a baton pass with Panther* "Panther-senpai… Off with her head."
• Related in the Adaptation: A news report mentions that Alice Hiiragi is a distant relative of Misuzu Hiiragi, the enka singer from Persona 4, whom she shares a last name with. In canon, there is nothing to suggest that the two are related in any way.
• Running Gag: Whenever someone says “for real”, the Phantom Thieves call out "take a shot!" and take a drink of whatever drinks they have on them.
• Ship Tease: Ann and Ryuji get a small amount of this when Ryuji steps up to protect Ann from the drunken businessman before Zenkichi steps in to break up the fight.
• Shout-Out:
  • Upon first seeing the jewel like forms of Desires, Joker compares them to the Discord Diamonds and the Enigma Sapphire from Mr. Needlemouse games, aka the Chaos Emeralds and the Phantom Ruby from various Sonic the Hedgehog games.
  • During his first fight against the Shadows in Alice's jail alongside Mona, Skull, and Crow, Joker compares the fight to being in a Regime Soldiers, aka being in a Dynasty Warriors game.
  • In Chapter Twelve, Ren mentions that the Phantom Thieves, much like Fineas and Pherb, "are gonna do it all." Clearly, Ren has excellent taste in cartoons.
• Token Evil Teammate: Goro Akechi/Crow. Between making rather colorful threats to enemies and declaring that he will add their screams to his Music Cloud, a streaming service akin to Spotify, completely lacking a filter when it comes to his Brutal Honesty, approving of Sophia's decision that Alice's death was an acceptable outcome, and deriving pleasure from slaughtering Shadows wholesale, it is all too apparent that Akechi hasn't changed one bit from when he was last seen, aside from now being truly aligned with the Phantom Thieves.
• Took a Level in Badass: In Chapter 8, Akechi is shown to still possess the Wild Card ability when he lands the final blow on a Shadow blocking the way to the rooftop of Alice’s castle, which then becomes a Persona for him to use, called Bandersnatch. In the following chapter, he would use the Persona during the fight against Shadow Alice.
  • Word of God has also stated that, while Akechi won’t be able to access the Velvet Room and use its functions like Ren can, he will be able to use certain Personas that Ren can’t.
• Too Much Information:
  • When Shadow Alice steps on Joker during their first encounter, he responds by saying that only Violet is allowed to step on him, which makes Mona, Skull, and Crow very disturbed and uncomfortable.
    Joker: "I did NOT consent for Senpai to STEP on me! Only Violet is allowed to do that!"
  • When she's flirting with Joker during her fight with the Phantom Thieves, Shadow Alice makes some very lewd comments that make Joker feel very disturbed to the point of wanting to vomit, and further button mashes Violet's Berserk Button.
    Shadow Alice: "You know, to be honest, I've never really understood the attraction to men who were dangerous and broke the rules, you know, bad boys… but now that I've met Joker, the most dangerous rule breaker and baddest boy of them all… well, it's making my rabbit hole all wet!"
• Villainous Crush: Shadow Alice seems to have one for Joker, which makes him really uncomfortable when she flirts with him during the fight against her, much to Violet’s anger.

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