so basically, this au is a big arcanaswap au, with the main variable being that the main trio are yusuke, goro and hifumi
i dont have many ideas for them yet but here we go;
starting gang - madarame’s palace
the biggest difference is that instead of opening with kamoshida, we open with madarame’s palace. goro is trying to use his detective skills to figure out what happens to all of madarame’s students, and while initially adverse to the idea of his mentor being a bad person, yusuke goes along with this after being dragged into the metaverse alongside goro. morgana is kept in a laser cage in the palace.
yusuke - the fool
codename is ‘azure’. initial persona is goemon. basically the same overdramatic nerd as in canon, raised by madarame, the usual. however, he’s the one who yaldaboth chooses for his scheme, and is classified as the trickster. wild card user
goro - the lovers
codename is ‘ace’. initial persona is robin hood. still the detective prince, but tires to keep a low profile by attending kosei. very popular, especially amongst girls. gets dragged into the metaverse alongside yusuke due to him researching madarame’s plagiarism
hifumi - the chariot
codename is ‘rook’. initial persona is nobunaga, first great unifier of japan and head of the oda clan. still has the same background as in canon, complete with being made fun of for her overdramatic nature. yusuke asks for her help with strategising madarame’s palace which leads to him showing her the metaverse. navigator
morgana - the moon
codename is still ‘mona’. initial persona is zorro. there’s a heavier focus on mona’s lack of identity in this au, as well as how distant he feels from the other human persona users. sort of like his thing for ann, he has a thing for hifumi, which she more sees as just him being an affectionate pet
the team expands - kamoshida & kaneshiro’s palaces
kamoshida’s palace gets kicked off by goro being given an assignment to investigate a recent suicide attempt by shiho suzui at shujin high. the group immediately discover that this jackass has control of the whole school, treating it like his castle, and has been using male students as slave labor, and assaulting female students on top of that. the party members introduced here are;
shiho - the star
codename is ‘knight’. initial persona is medusa, a beautiful mortal turned horrific gorgon by athena after she was assaulted by poseidon. her main confidant is learning to recover from kamoshida’s abuse, as well as how to find peace in herself. she joins the team by accident due to trailing goro as he’s trying to investigate kamoshida
ren - the emperor
codename is ‘noctis’. initial persona is arsene. still has the same background as before, being falsely accused of a crime and dragged to tokyo on probation. he feels like he has no control of his surroundings, because no matter what he does, he’s considered a delinquent or criminal. even after they defeat kamoshida, he still feels deeply insecure - which he hides with sarcasm
kaneshiro’s palace occurs after kamoshida’s, with our gang of 6 persona users being brought into the world of the yakuza thanks to a certain ‘detective prince’ not being able to keep his mouth shut. the person who drags them into this world is
ann - the justice
codename is ‘agent’. ann is still shiho’s best friend and a model, but she has a much darker backstory. she got into modelling following an accident that left her mother bedridden and the family lacking in funds. as a result, she has a side job -- that being basically acting as a spy for siu.
goro figures this out and when she badmouths the phantom thieves, he decides to bet his job on whether or not the phantom thieves can change the heart of a notorious mafia boss. ann ‘awakens’ during the palace, but it’s quite clear that she’s hiding something from the gang...
the rising star, fallen from grace - ryuji’s palace
ryuji - the hermit
codename is ‘seer’. persona is captain kidd. instead of just having his leg broken by kamoshida, ryuji also got ‘expelled’ by him as well. now with no real prospects and working two jobs to help support his mother, poor ryuji is a shadow of himself in the game, basically locking himself in his room, and only leaving the house to work because that’s all he thinks he’s good for.
it’s actually one of his bosses who puts forth the request to change ryuji’s heart, knowing full well that he’s suffering under all the stress he’s putting himself through, especially considering he still has a busted leg that he can barely walk on.
his palace is one of his workplaces, which takes the form of a massive sporting arena, with shadow ryuji forced to fight in gladitorial style battles for the entertainment of a giant cognitive version of his mother. ryuji winds up entering his palace through the metanav, and the group help him come to terms with his deep seated issues.
i imagine he takes the navigator role. he and morgana still bicker from time to time as well, bc some things dont change
an accident - okumura’s palace
much like in canon, the phantom thieves have been starting to get popular after helping destroy medjed (which happens at the same time as ryuji’s palace, as a certain someone is pulling the strings). but morgana has been starting to doubt himself more often, especially now that most of his roles (navigator, healer, strategist etc.) have been taken up by the rest of the thieves. he and ryuji get into an argument that leads into him running off, but unlike in canon, yusuke follows morgana. this leads them to a backstreet, wherein they meet;
sumire - the fortune
codename is ‘rouge’. persona is cendrillon. sumire got injured in the car accident that took kasumi, removing both of their dreams of gymnastics for good. even though she is still a first year, she’s taken on a part time job working at okumura foods as an analyst.
it’s through her that yusuke discovers about the mistreatment of the employees by okumura and feels especially sympathetic due to the fact that he understands what it’s like. he contacts the thieves and returns to the hideout with sumire, who is mainly there to help with the planning.
morgana is initially hesitant to communicate with the team, which leads to a whole bunch of miscommunication between the gang. yusuke decides that maybe the group need to take some mementos requests to improve team morale before they go for okumura’s palace, but the phansite is blowing up with requests for him.
during one of these mementos requests, morgana nearly gets killed going up against a dangerous shadow by himself, which leads to sumire’s awakening. this only serves to make morgana MORE insecure about his position on the team, which makes okumura’s palace even harder
also; at the same time, yusuke has been working at a flower shop, and one of his fellow employees is one haru okumura. yusuke is high wisdom, low intelligence personified so he didn’t spot the thread until either sumire or ann basically tells him that haru is related to kunizaku. he decides to ask her a few questions for the metanav, but haru asks why he’s doing this, which leads to her getting dragged along for the ride
haru - temperance
codename is ‘rose’. persona is milady. haru has to juggle being both the heir to okumura foods and an ordinary student with a part time job. she and yusuke have been working on a confidant for a while (id say shes about the same rank as shiho or ren, as the job opens around about the same time as kamoshida’s palace) and have become close due to their shared eccentricities.
haru awakens pretty much the same way as in canon, with the reveal that the biggest threat is her being basically sold into marriage with a total creep. blah blah blah worst palace in the game blah blah blah after they defeat shadow okumura and get his treasure, ann stays behind...
only to shoot shadow okumura in the head. this leads to okumura’s death, public support for the phantom thieves collapsing, haru having a breakdown and the group needing to decide whether what they’re doing is morally right or not. the bad news is there’s one more thing they need to do - one last job before the phantom thieves disband, set up by ann;
steal the heart of her boss, sae nijima.
the harder they fall - nijima’s palace + interrogation
this is where things get tricky. when the group arrive to the siu building, they have an encounter with nijima’s younger sister makoto.
makoto - judgement
codename is ‘hero’. persona is johanna. makoto is very brash and headstrong, but also desperately wants to prove herself to her sister. the group don’t really have the heart to tell her that they’re stealling nijima’s heart, until much later. and she joins the group at that point, unlocking her persona while facing off against her sister in a stand down.
then just as theyre about to grab the treasure... yusuke is arrested. they were betrayed by one of their own.
cue the interrogation, which leads to yusuke and sae bonding, forming a confidant on top of that (sae is the high priestess in this world). but then, yusuke hands sae his phone, telling her to give it to her ‘agent’ - ann takamaki
ann walks into the room, pointing a gun at yusuke with a frown on her face.
“i’m sorry, kitagawa-kun. i have to do this.”
“i know. just get it over with.”
BANG
she places the gun in his hand to make it look like a suicide... but here’s the thing -- he’s alive. that was a ploy by the thieves to discover the true traitor...
ann takamaki is the black mask who is organising the mental shutdowns
the final countdown - shido’s palace and yaldaboth
the group are rattled by ann’s betrayal, ESPECIALLY shiho. how could someone she’s known since childhood betray her and her friends like that?
we discover that one of the main reasons she was kept around on the siu was because she was doing sexual favours for the group. to make things even worse, the conspiracy blackmailed her into performing the shutdowns with threats of making the acts even worse
ann really doesn’t want to do this, but feels like she has no choice. she grew to respect and love the phantom thieves during their time together, but its the only way she can take revenge on the rotten adults who ruined her life
nearly everyone has been through the same amount of shit, but they’re willing to forgive her... but this leads into shido’s palace
basically, same shit as canon - big ass cruise ship, swimsuits, and a fight with black mask that ends with them getting shot by a cognition of themselves. (oh and sidenote; ann’s 'true’ persona is nemesis, the goddess who enacts retribution against those who fall to hubris. surprisingly fitting!)
they defeat shido, in the process finding out that he’s goro’s biological dad and that he was the one who put ren on probation. then the whole yaldaboth shennanigans happen. a note; everyone has their ultimate personas by this point, and their mostly the same in canon, except for yusuke. atm im thinking of giving him mephistopheles, who is the demon from faust, bc yusuke’s a dramatic little shit. the day is saved! everyone’s lives are back to normal, but ren’s going back to juve following christmas...
or at least, that’s what yusuke thought, only to be shocked to find out from the man himself that he isn’t... and that ann takamaki, who died in shido’s palace, is alive
the ideal & the real - maruki’s palace
so basically the shujin students have been recieving counselling from maruki, and he’s also been visiting various students from kosei. yusuke has a social link with him that’s been increasing his sp, but he finds maruki suspicious (again, remember him and madarame)
suddenly, as if by magic, everyone’s lives have been improved -- hifumi’s mother is nicer and she’s back to being a shogi wiz, akechi’s mother is alive and shido is in jail, morgana is human now and can spend more time with the phantom thieves, shiho’s best friend is back to life and she’s recognised as a star volleyballer, ren’s no longer on probation and can spend an extra semester in tokyo without fear of jail time, ryuji’s no longer working 2 jobs and his leg is no longer hurting, sumire’s sister is alive and she no longer has to live with survivors guilt or living up to her expectations, haru’s father’s alive and is considerably less of a jerk, and makoto’s father is also alive and her relationship with sae has been improved.
hell, even madarame’s back and offering yusuke to be his pupil again, but god yusuke will not accept it. neither will ann. unlike goro, ann’s personality of being sweet and bubbly wasn’t really a ruse, but she can be a little short tempered and aggressive in battle as the black mask. they find maruki’s palace and discover that maruki has been doing all of this using cognitive psience. he also needed a fellow person to perform these, which leads the group to sojiro sakura’s house
futaba - the faith
i know. i know. it took me long enough. she’s more or less here as the last confidant, introduced following hawaii. still the same backstory, she goes along with maruki’s plan as they have similar goals.
maruki even offers to bring her mother back, and while she initially accepts, she realizes that it’s wrong fairly quickly. she also doesn’t have a persona, she’s more like just a confidant here, but she’s very important to the plot as she’s the one who helps with discovering the plot
then maruki’s palace happens, complete with him and yusuke fighting on the glass roof. maruki begs him to reconsider, saying that he can create a world where beauty doesn’t need to be hidden beneath the evils of the world, but yusuke counters, basically with a variation of his amazing awakening speech. he goes back to the mona-copter and everythings back to normal.
u ever think about an arcanaswap with hermit!ryuji where kamoshida didnt just break his leg it was broken beyond repair so it had to be amputated and it happened in ryuji’s first year so he was pulled out of school by his mom who kept him away from the world in fear he’d be hurt and that fear transferred onto ryuji so he was terrified of the outside world and how it could hurt him and while he does join the thieves for their first palace he doesnt fully accept captain kidd so he ends up getting his palace before madarame’s and then when he fully accepts captain kidd hes got a cool map n compass that tells him where to go and now hes the navi and hes slowly learning to deal with his fear and grow as a person with his friends by his side and also its got fool!akechi??
cause,,,,,cause i did,,,,
(pls note that that prosthetic did not have a ref i was just doodling for funsies and then decided to finish the picture just cause)
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