The last spar was interesting...
Morgana and Yosuke were too similar on multiple levels.
Morgana was trying to mimic Yosuke's casual charm. Yosuke was trying to mimic Morgana's gentleman act in turn.
"I don't even want to watch this." Ren cringed.
Yu shook his head. "Deal with it. The Magician is your partner."
The Thieves didn't quite understand, but they were beginning to pick up on the naming conventions.
Ren had mentioned tarot a few times when he got sucked into conversation.
Morgana — The Magician.
Ryuji — The Chariot.
Ann — The Lovers.
Shiho — The Tower.
Orihime — Faith.
A few Thieves decided to ask Ren more about these names and what they meant. Orihime had a slightly better understanding of what they represented, seeing as she had learned a bit from Chihaya. But overall, they were lost.
Ryuji turned to Chie to ask, but before he could open his mouth, she shook her head.
"So everyone has fought except Orihime, right?" Shiho asked as Morgana and Yosuke approached.
Morgana was being carried by Yosuke carefully while being apologized to. Yosuke had gotten hit in the eye with a rock from Morgana's slingshot, and well—
"Jiraiya is soooo fast," Morgana mumbled with spirals in his eyes.
"Uhm," Orihime gently interrupted. "I don't really have much attack power. I can heal and give power boosts, though!"
She seemed embarrassed and upset.
"Sorry for being weak," she mumbled.
Ren chopped her on the head.
"Ryuji!"
"Sir!"
"What is a white mage?"
"Someone who keeps the party alive, sir!"
"Now add on buffs and debuffs?"
"Sir!—ouch!" Ryuji answered again, rubbing his head. "What was that for?"
"You're overdoing it," Shiho grumbled as she walked up alongside Ann and gave Orihime a hug.
Ren was pushed aside in mock frustration as they passed him.
"Oh, so he doesn't win eit—"
BOOM!
Yu had been knocked onto the floor by an angry Chie.
Yu was nursing a bump on his head. A quick cast of Dia would have gotten rid of it, but the Investigation Team claimed it was his punishment. Yosuke laughed about how things never changed.
Shiho and Ann were looking at Chie with sparkling eyes.
Chie raised her fist triumphantly!
"Punish the idiots fiercely!" she roared.
"Hai!" the girls responded.
Orihime had been quiet, but she couldn't help but smile. The atmosphere around them was always light and goofy. They knew they were in danger, but instead of focusing on the danger itself, Ren and his older friends had been keeping everything contained and allowing them to goof around. The stress of this strange movie theater faded to the wayside.
Elizabeth approached with a clap.
"Very good, everyone!"
Kotone burst past her in excitement, bouncing around.
"That was awesome! I wanna fight too!"
Elizabeth chuckled and patted her head without saying anything before turning to Orihime.
"Little Faith, you are not weak. You never have been."
Orihime blinked. "Why—"
Elizabeth's eyes danced with amusement before she cut her off with, "Did you not ever wonder why Maria doesn't talk much to you?"
Before anyone could ask, Elizabeth cleared her throat and continued.
"Now that you all have a grasp of each other's combat capabilities, I believe it's time for you all to begin."
The teams met eyes and nodded.
"You must explore one viewing area at a time. You can't split into groups. You will go through these rooms and see things familiar, things you have experienced, things unfamiliar, things that you may not have experienced, but others in the group have."
She paused to let it sink in.
"You will see things that are familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Memories you have lived but don't remember. Dreams that are real but have been false in the past."
The teams looked at her, urging her to continue, until she spun on the spot, took a magical-girl pose, burst into blue butterflies, and floated away.
"I hate that woman."
The others couldn't help but want to agree.
"She's nice," Orihime said with a strained smile.
---
The first team was chosen to be Ren, Ryuji, Rise, Orihime, Morgana, and Ann.
Yu refused to go first like they had originally planned, citing the small bump on his forehead.
In reality, everyone knew he wanted to observe the Thieves' teamwork in real time.
"Alright, team. Let's show Team Dumbass how the Thieves do things," Ren cackled with a face-splitting smile.
"Don't call us that!"
"Ignore them," Ren said as he activated his Third Eye and took a glance into the room.
"I haven't detected any Shadows yet. The next room is a hallway with three doors. One on each side of the room. There are chairs staggered down the hallway like the halls in Kamoshida's Palace."
The Thieves remained silent, waiting for Ren to continue.
"Keep yourselves hidden. Ambush when necessary," Ren said.
The Thieves all flickered and vanished.
---