Shadow Operatives to Shadow Minions (Persona TFMC)

Hey folks!

Still writing away (oh god why is February so short) with little to report - but I can say that this week's story comes with art from the magnificent Xxxx52, so look forward to that if you like transformed Persona Girls!

-----

“Dis is takin’ longer dan I thought it would,” the goblin muttered, munching on a cooked leg of meat. “Might not even get to dah stupid palace boss ‘til tomorrow night!”

She was a short one, maybe half the size of even a rather small human, but her figure made up for it in other areas. By mass alone, one might have thought she was maybe 25% boob, her green tits squeezed into a leather harness and just barely kept from bouncing freely. Her ass wasn’t much different, save that it was only covered by a meagre loincloth, the only offering she was giving to chastity. Beyond that, she wore precious little. Her feet were bare, her legs and arms only carrying light leather protectors. Her harness ended in a collar wrapped firmly around her neck, but that was it. The only real clothing she wore was a blue cap that balanced on her similarly blue hair, looking rather at odds with the rest of her rugged appearance.

Around the campfire, a busty orc was already stretching, tired after a long day of fighting and marching. “Yeh…” She grunted. “’S stupid far. Who’s dumb idea was it tah put it so far away?”

She was a chubby sort, her green belly jiggling merrily as she raised a flagon of beer to her tusk-pressed lips – though that fat did nothing to hide the muscles in her arms. If anything, she was dressed even lighter than her small companion – a simple cloth wrap around her chest that barely covered half of her generous chest, a leather shoulder guard, and basic wraps for her arms and legs - though given she was nearly four times the goblin’s height, overall her clothing certainly carried more mass. There was no hat on her head, leaving her short brown hair free flowing in the night’s breeze.

“I dunno…” The third voice at the fire, a minotaur with small horns poking up through her dark brown hair. “We’re gettin’ a ton of levels from the trip, right? Maybe it’s a good thing. Means we’ll be more stronger when we finally get to the guy.”

She was actually the tallest of the group, if they were all to stand fully upright. Her skin was covered in a light sheen of soft fur, from the tips of her long, floppy ears, all the way down to her hooves. Like the others, she was dressed in a loin cloth and a chest wrap, with arm and leg guards… Though her chest was far bigger than the other two, even combined, and the leather straps didn’t do much to hide the fact. Her loin cloth was, at least, more fancy, having been given a tartan pattern at some point. And she did have a thick metal nose ring – that had to be worth something, right?

“Oh, hey… Yeah!” The orc clapped a fist into her hand, nodding her snout-nosed head as she slowly worked out what the minotaur was saying. “Yeah, we’ll be way more strongerer! I’ll bet we’ll be, like, da’ maximumest level by tomorrow.” She laughed, taking another quaff of her beer. “When’d you get so smart, Mako?”

“Huh?” The minotaur blinked, and then blushed, the red hue just barely visible through her fur. “Aw, don’t be dumb, Chie,” she giggled, waving a thick fingered hand. “Naoto’s the smart one, right?”

“Hey, yeah!” The goblin glared as she flicked her now stripped leg bone onto the floor, flashing her sharp teeth. “And don’t ya’ forget it none either, dumbass!”

“Oops. Sorry.” Chie laughed, a slow guffaw as she realised her mistake. “I forgot, ‘cus she’s so small.”

Naoto’s glare intensified, before dying down. It really wasn’t worth being mad at a lunkhead like Chie. Her head was thicker than her belly. “Hmph. Whaddevah. Makky’s right, d’oh.” Naoto nodded to herself, grabbing another leg from the carcass skewered over the flame. “Tomorrow, when we finally reach dah Boss of dis place, we’re gunna be stupid strong. So when we find him – we’re gunna knock his lights out! Den we can go back home.”

“Yeah!” The other two cheered, happy to have a solid, simple plan. Knocking some jerk’s lights out? That was something they could do. They had this down, as good as done!

Though, as the fire died down, and each lady retreated to their sleeping bags for the night, they did all, briefly, have the same thought.

‘I wonder why it feels so drafty out here tonight…’

-

Being a Persona user was an odd kind of existence. It was kind of like being stuck in that weird phase you got into in college. Screaming out your attack names got pretty embarrassing as you got older, and being confronted with the full flamboyance of your actual personality was… Well, it could make it very difficult to ignore certain things about yourself.

Sadly, it wasn’t something that other people really understood. And how could you explain it to them? “Oh yeah, I developed superpowers when I was a teenager, but only between the hours of midnight and midnight, in the magical TV realm, or when I ride a cat in the subway.” It just doesn’t convey well.

Thus, Persona users tended for form fairly tight-nit communities amongst themselves. Sure, the original groups – SEES, the Investigation Team, the Phantom Thieves - they were all going to remain friends with the rest of their circles for life, more or less. You couldn’t go through those kinds of adventures without forming unbreakable bonds and powering up a few Arcana to maximum level. But this went beyond that.

It was things like The Kijijo Heiress being a big fan of Risette’s work, though the actress who played Featherman Pink seemed mildly jealous of the fact. And the famous Detective Prince (the first) was good friends with the Hacker Medjed, somehow, though professionally she’d claim she was just “Chasing a case”.

It was just easy to get along with people who understood your situation, even if you came from different walks of life.

And, of course, if you were in this particular network, then you also had ties to the Shadow Operatives – the group that handled Shadow related activities and tried to prevent them from spilling into the real world. Indeed, most Persona Users were members of this mysterious group, always ready to be called up on a moment’s notice if something dangerous started blooming in the human subconscious. They hadn’t saved this world just for some new semi-divine threat to show up 6 months later to wipe it all away, thank you.

But not every mission for the SO needed to be so dire. They also handled exploration and study of the Shadow World – the one that seemed to run in parallel with the human world and could cause so much trouble. After all, by understanding something, you could reduce the danger it posed, and maybe even prevent the next catastrophe.

That was how this had all gotten started. A simple mission investigating cognitive space, which had somehow turned awry…

-

“Where are we?” Chie Satonaka had been the first to get her feet under her, rolling right into a ready stance as the warp that had ripped them out of the normal strangeness of cognitive space settled down. She wasn’t part of this investigation for her wit, she knew. She was the muscle, and it was a role she was happy to fill. If anything looked at anyone on the team funny, she was going to kick it in the face until it apologised.

“Not sure.” Naturally, Naoto Shirogane was second. She was on the team for her wit, and she was already using it to analyse her surroundings. “It looks like a separate mental realm. We may have crossed into new territory.”

That was definitely the case. The twisting, bizarre nature of meta-reality, where thought determined truth and imagination sculpted the real, had been replaced by… a fairly mundane looking country landscape. A blue sky hung overhead, littered only with the occasional cloud, and a sea of green grass spread out in almost all directions, rolling up and down with the slopes of hills and valleys, only marred by the occasional forest – and a long, long white brick road, leading off into the distance.

They found themselves stood at the edge of a rustic village, a smattering of buildings and houses behind them, surrounded by a wall of sharpened tree stakes that had been arranged in a circle around the settlement, with a single gate leading through it next to them. Shadowed figures wandered around the town, but not with any sinister intent. It looked like they were just living ordinary day-to-day lives.

“It looks like a Palace…” Makoto Niijima was the one who offered an answer. Still only a Junior Police Officer, she was a rookie compared to the other two Persona Users, even if she’d more than proven her mettle to both of them. “But I don’t see the actual palace anywhere around here. Ugh… I swear, this better not be like Futaba’s place. We had to drive for hours to reach her pyramid…”

The older brunette winced. “Man, back in my day we only had to deal with dungeons. Big dungeons, maybe, but, like, you didn’t have to go hunting around once you knew where they were…”

“The Metaverse has evolved, Chie, and we have to keep up with it.” Naoto was, of course, all business. “At least the base mechanics of how these places function seem to be mostly unchanged. If it’s a palace, then presumably there’s a Shadow at the heart of it, and an exit… Somewhere.”

She trailed off, looking around. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be an exit anywhere in sight. The portal that had thrown them in here had completely disappeared, and nothing else seemed even close.

“Hm.” The Detective Prince rubbed her chin. “This might be a problem.”

“Well it’s got to be around here somewhere, right? Maybe it’s one of those invisible exits, and when we leave the village, we-Huh?” Chie stepped over towards the gate, only for a barrier of light to spring up in front of her, blocking her path. “What the hell?”

“Ah, look what we have here!” A voice spoke up from nearby. Turning around, the three Persona users a small wooden building next to the exit, built like a market stall. A shadow was leaning out of it, his face covered in a silver mask with a wide smile engraved on the front. “Three young travellers looking to seek the Demon Lord? But you can’t make the journey like that. Look at you – you don’t even have classes! You’d be eaten alive before you could make it five steps past the town gate!”

The three exchanged a glance. Some silent communication occurred, mostly in the form of hesitant shrugs. Naoto quickly stepped forwards. “So this isn’t the Palace exit, I take it. Are you the gate’s guardian, perhaps? I assure you, we are all capable combatants. You needn’t bar our path for our protection.”

“’Helpful’ Shadows,” Chie snorted in the background. “In my day…”

“Chie please stop making us sound ancient,” the detective whispered to her friend. “It wasn’t that long ago.”

“I’m just sayin’…”

“In any case!” Naoto raised her voice. “If you could let us out, we’d be grateful.”

But the shadow just laughed in her face. “Ha! You three? ‘Capable combatants’? Look at you, you’re not even wearing any equipment! And I can see your class levels are all 0. You ain’t got a fairy’s chance in a sugar factory, ladies. Can’t let you go out there like that.” His mask twisted, his head spinning upside down. “Which is a shame, ‘cus if you’re looking for an exit, that’d be the kinda thing you gotta ask the Dark Lord about.”

“Oh really?” The three exchanged another series of glances. “And who might this Dark Lord be?”

The shadow chuckled, mask spinning again. “Why, he’s the guy in charge around here! You know, lord of darkness, rules the lands around us with an iron fist, served by a horde of snivelling nasties who obey his every command… You know the drill. His castle’s at the end of the road. He’s the one who gets to decide who comes and goes around here.”

“Yeah?” Now Chie leaned past her blue haired companion. “So if we kick his ass, we get to leave?”

“… I mean, yeah, that’d do it, I guess.” The shadow scratched the bottom of his mask. Or maybe it was the top? “Not the route I’d choose, considerin’ how powerful he is an’ all, but yeah, that’d make you defacto in charge around this place. Not that you stand a chance, what with you being a bunch of level 0s, but still.”

“And how do we stop being ‘Level 0s’?” Makoto asked, stepping up as well.

It was hard to be sure, but the shadow’s smile might have gotten a little wider. “Ah, now there I can help you!”

He withdrew into his stall for a moment, before popping back out, three bags of items now arranged on the counter in front of him. “As a special offer for you lovely ladies today, I am in fact offering free starter equipment for rookie adventurers such as yourselves, for the low low price of free! Extras cost extra, of course.”

Naoto raised an eyebrow, looking down at the ‘starter equipment’. Each set seemed to include the same general package – a mix of leather and cloth gear that didn’t look all that protective, a few travel supplies, and a single glowing rock each. The rocks were different colours, red, blue, and yellow, and as she examined them, she could see words floating over each. The red one said ‘Brute’, the blue one said ‘Schemer’, and the yellow one read ‘Bullwark’. Class names, perhaps?

“You’d give us these for free?” She looked back up at the shadow. “Why?”

“Honestly, lady,” the mask dipped down towards her, hand raised to shield its ‘mouth’ with a conspiratorial whisper. “The real money these days is in potions. Gotta build up my client base.”

Ah. How disappointingly mundane… “A moment, then.”

The three Operatives stepped back, forming a small circle to whisper amongst themselves. Chie led the charge. “No way. I bet it’s some kind of trick. He’s gotta be evil.”

“I don’t know…” Makoto weighed in slightly hesitantly, knowing that her two companions were more experienced in these matters than her. “Shadows have helped my friends and I out before. Especially when it means they get to make a sale. It depends on the source of the Palace, I think.”

Naoto nodded with her. “He hasn’t outright attacked us, and we seem to be trapped in here without his help. For the moment, I suggest we play along.”

“Fiiiiine.” Chie huffed. “But I don’t have to like it. The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

Agreement went around the circle. “And to do that, we’re going to have to seek out this Dark Lord, it seems.”

With that, the detective stepped away from her friends, returning to the shadow’s stall. “Very well. Then I will take this one.”

She reached out and grabbed the blue stone set. As she did, the stone itself disappeared, vanishing in a flash of light – and over Naoto’s head, the words ‘Schemer – Level 1’ appeared, written in blue letters floating in the air.

“Huh.” Chie was already grinning. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

The detective looked up and sighed. “I suppose it could be worse…”

Makoto, meanwhile, took one look at the display, and then dashed for the box with the yellow stone. With a flash, she had ‘Bullwark – Level 1’ floating over her head as well.

Which left…

“Here.” Naoto returned Chie’s grin, shoving the last set into the brunette’s hands. “This one can be yours.”

“Huh?” There was a flash, and then the words ‘Brute – Level 1’ were hovering over Chie’s head. “Hey!”

“It was the only one left,” the detective said innocently, which would have been much more believable if she hadn’t stuck her tongue out as well. “Now come on. We have an appointment with this ‘Dark Lord’. His castle can’t be too far – with any luck, we’ll be out of here in no time.”

-

“I may have spoken too soon.”

As it had turned out, the gatekeeper may have had a point. No sooner had they stepped outside of the village than they were attacked by random monsters, literally appearing out of thin air every time they travelled over a set distance. They didn’t even appear to be shadows, either. Each monster seemed to be inspired by traditional fantasy creatures, like pixies and giant spiders, and none of them were interested in peaceful resolutions.

Worse, Personas didn’t have any effect against them. No matter how many Bufus or Freis the Operatives threw out, nothing made a dent in their opponents. The only things that worked were physical attacks, and abilities from their new classes.

Chie, for instance, was proving to be very effective at using her skill ‘Double Club’, where she hit enemies twice with a club, while Naoto was doing pretty well with her ‘Quick Stab’ ability. Makoto’s class seemed to be the odd one, only granting her the defensive ability ‘Bellow‘, which boosted her defences… somehow, and also drew every opponent to attack her exclusively. Which was annoying, but given how fragile the other two seemed to be, though, she’d ended up using it every fight. Once she’d Bellowed, the enemies could barely even scratch her.

On the positive side, though, they’d soon discovered that all of these fights meant that they were getting plenty of experience in their new classes, and they were starting to level up. Each level ding came with more stats and abilities, making every fight easier and less of a chore. It was nostalgic, in a way than none of the three could really place…

So by sunset, each of them had grown to Level 3 in their new classes, and they were exhausted. With no sign of their destination, and the village having long disappeared over the hills behind them, they’d decided to set up a camp. Fortunately, the travel supplies they’d been given included sleeping bags and camping tools.

And so it was that the three women sat around a burning camp fire, cooking up some of the rations in their supplies, along with some of the raw meat that had dropped from random encounters over the course of their journey.

“Any of you guys get this ‘Upgrade Ability’ question yet?” Chie was asking, peering at floating text that only she could see. “I think it’s asking me if I want to learn ‘Triple Club’, but I’ll have to forget ‘Double Club’ to do it.”

“Oh, yes.” Naoto nodded. “It asked if I wanted to upgrade ‘Quick Stab’ into ‘Stab ‘n Steal’. It made it so my attack has a chance of stealing items from the enemy. I didn’t notice any downsides.”

“Huh. Wonder why it even asks then…” The kick chick accepted the upgrade, feeling herself grow that much more powerful. “Old fashioned coding or something, I guess.”

“This place really is just like a video game,” Makoto sighed. “Futaba would love it.”

“I’ll look forward to telling her all about it the next time I need to lure her into saying something she shouldn’t.” No one knew exactly why the great detective and the biggest actual criminal in the Phantom Thieves got along so well, but everyone considered the relationship scary. “Though I suspect I’ll be editing out some details…”

“Tell me about it,” the younger brunette groaned, poking at the settling flames of the campfire with a stick. “I didn’t pack any clothes for a trip like this, and I could swear this place has made my top shrink somehow.”

She gestured down to herself. Specifically, she gestured to the front of her blouse, which was straining around her chest, with several buttons having already popped off the front. It had been a growing irritation over the course of their journey, especially towards the end.

“Do you think their attacks affect our clothes or something?” It seemed unlikely, but she had no idea why her top would be shrinking like this.

“It’s a possibility,” Naoto acknowledged. “Especially since you’ve been taking the most hits. I admit, my own clothes have been feeling rather uncomfortable, though, not to the same extent.” Her jacket was certainly tighter in the chest, and her pants were hugging her hips like no one’s business, but everywhere else her clothes were hanging really loose. A puzzler.

“Oh, so it’s not just me?” Chie stretched – and then winced in embarrassment as her top let out an ugly ripping sound, the zipper pulling itself apart as her t-shirt bound chest bulged out through it. “Yeah – weird, right?”

The trio shared some embarrassed grins, all of them quite glad that none of their male friends were here to see the problem.

“Maybe it’s because we’re not using the equipment we were given?” Makoto suggested, looking at the bags that carried all the items they’d been carrying. Within, the leather and cloth armour still sat, unused.

Naoto looked uncomfortable. “Perhaps. But I can say I like the aesthetics of using that stuff…”

That was hardly surprising. The top that had been provided to each of them was little more than a set of leather straps and a collar, while the less said about the ‘pants’, the better. They were mortifying to look at for anyone, let alone someone who had struggled with body issues in the past.

That said…

“If this keeps up, it might be all we have left,” Chie muttered, shifting uneasily in her tight skirt.

“Mm.” There, Naoto had to concede. “Well, for the moment, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. The castle can’t be too far now.”

There was a chorus of agreements from the group, and the girls all settled down to get a good night of sleep before resuming their march in the morning.

The idea that it wasn’t their clothes that were the issue never occurred to them.

-

The heroine’s morning wake up call was a groggy one. Despite sleeping soundly, none of the three heroines felt like they’re gotten much rest, their thoughts all taking a sluggish tone. Still, they were able to pack up their camp and set out once more without difficulty.

… Straight into yet more random battles.

The enemies were getting stronger now, but so were they. Makoto had finally learned an attack ability, ‘Executioner’s Chop’, which had given her a great axe and the skill to use it. It was an attack that did massive levels of damage, so combined with ‘Bellow’ she was now enjoying these fights immensely.

Chie was doing good as well. At level 5, she picked up an ability called ‘Swift Raid’, which let her attack twice as fast as before, and she was spamming that every fight, clubbing all manner of opponents to death.

Naoto was doing less damage now, sadly. But she made up for it by stealing items from their enemies, and by using her new ‘Mastermind’ ability, which let her order the other two fighters around and give them stat boosts. It was a good thing to, because these battles were starting to get pretty tough. Several times, the Schemer saved the group by reminding Chie to attack with her club, and ordering Makoto to block a hit.

By the time evening set in, they were level 6, and while the castle was nowhere in sight, they felt like they were making progress. The verdant greens had been replaced by darker shades of purple, and the rich forest trees were starting to look wilted and underfed. Surely, these were signs that they were getting close.

“Uh… Okay, if dat’s what you think, Naoto,” Chie nodded. She hadn’t really been able to follow that line of thought, but hey, Naoto was the smart one, right?”

“Yeah! I do think that!” The detective snapped, folding her arms under her mostly exposed chest. ‘Clothing shrinkage’ had continued through the day, alas, and now her jacket and shirt were little more than rags hanging from her shoulders, only barely preserving her modesty. Strangely, the scraps hung low enough to hide her thighs all the way down to her knees, even though they shouldn’t have been that long… “We’re on the right track. Jus’ gotta keep goin’ a bit longer.”

Makoto stared at the confrontation, a puzzled look on her face. Something seemed off about it. Sure, it was understandable for Naoto to be short tempered after two days of being stuck here, but it still seemed weird for her to be acting like that. And was Chie normally that slow witted? Had she always towered over the detective like that…?

… Eh, she was probably worrying over nothing. Everything was perfectly normal. She shook her head, her ears flapping a little at the sudden movement, and went to take a seat as they set up their new camp.

She hadn’t been as fortunate as Naoto, sadly. Her blouse was completely ruined, along with her bra, neither of which were really able to cover her massive chest like hers. (Had it always been massive? Yes, it must have been, what a silly question.) Her skirt was trying, but it was hiked up to the point of being little more than a belt, and her panties had embarrassingly snapped off during the middle of a fight that afternoon. With all the tears in her outfit she’d been worried that she’d get cold, but fortunately her fur was keeping her warm.

Chie, meanwhile, was in a similar state. Her jacket’s zip had torn, but since her chest was smaller (only large, not massive) she could still use it and her torn up t-shirt for cover around her breasts, even if that hiked up the garments enough that her green belly was completely exposed. Her skirt was doing a bit better, but not much. And her sleeves had started tearing too, unable to hold the powerful muscles within anymore.

So yeah, Naoto was the lucky one. Even if she looked kinda ridiculous, sitting in a heap of clothes that were too big for her…

Wait. Wasn’t the problem that their clothes were shrinking? How did that make sense? … Eh, it was late, she was probably just tired. Didn’t matter. She could think on it in the morning if she was still bothered by… By whatever she’d just been thinking about.

She shrugged, settling in for a meal. They had a long journey ahead of them tomorrow, after all.

-

It was funny. Makoto’d thought that she slept like a rock, but when she woke up her head was full of fog. It wasn’t unpleasant, just kinda… hazy. Nothing to worry about though, it’d probably clear up as she went.

First things first, though, she finally had to surrender to the inevitable, putting on the equipment she’d been given. And you know what? She couldn’t remember what they’d been complaining about! This stuff was great. She finally had a top that’d fit her tits – it was even a little loose! And when you thought about it, wasn’t a loin cloth just another kind of skirt? Whatever her problems had been, they must’ve been pretty dumb.

The others must’ve agreed, ‘cus they were all wearin’ their stuff too. Chie was showin’ off her muscles like nobody’s business, and wow did those straps make Naoto’s titties look huge. Were they, though? Makoto thought hers were probably bigger, but ‘cus Naoto was so small, her boobs stood out way more. Or maybe they just were bigger? It kinda made her head hurt to try to work it out, so she stopped trying. They both looked good in their outfits, even though none of them had gotten a cool ass nose ring like her, heh~

“We ready ta’ go?” She asked, looking around the camp – wondering, for a moment, why she had to look so far down to see everyone.

“Yeah. Trust me, this’ll be easy.” Naoto nodded, hands on her hips – though Makoto had to squint a bit to make her out all the way down there.

“Sure thing!” Chie saluted, her pig-nose wiggling. “Lead da’ way!”

Smiling, the three nodded to each other, and turned to follow the road once more. Thus, lumbering at a steady pace, the minotaur, the orc, and the goblin marched on into the dark woods, still seeking the Demon Lord.

-

Makky woke up the next morning with a low mooing grunt, blinking the sleep from her eyes as she stared up at the cloudy sky. Today was the day – Nao had promised it at the campfire last night, and she was the smart one on the team!

Smiling slowly, she tried to get up, but found her pillow was sticking to her head. What was- Oh. It was stuck on her horns. Heh, she’d gored it in her sleep again. Her horns were just so big! What a silly cow she was.

Pulling it off, she stretched up to full height of eight and a half feet, pushing her tough, muscular arms out to the sides and letting her big girls bounce on her chest. Her thick thighs got a nice stretch as well as she leaned down to touch at her hooves, limbering her body up for the day ahead, her long, thin tail flicking above her proudly fat rear all the while. She’d slept in the nude, of course. Her fur was more than enough to keep her warm in her sleeping bag.

But now she was up, it was time to get dressed, and ugh! Her top was so tight. It could barely keep her boobs in, and if she got squeezed in the wrong place then-Oops!

“Moooooo~!”

She couldn’t help but let out a delighted bellow as milk squirted from her teats, dripping down her curves and splashing the ground beneath her. Ooooh, that felt good. She closed her eyes, sinking back down to her knees, smile growing on her face. It’d been ages since she’d had a good milking, maybe she could…

“Oi!” A small green hand with black talons smacked her dark brown paw away from her chest. “Stop dat!”

“Awh…” She opened her eyes, shoulders slumping. “But Nao…”

“No!” The goblin in front of her – well, still mostly beneath her, even though she was kneeling – waggled a green finger in her face. Nao’s long, pointed ears were twitching on the side of her head as she glared up at her teammate, the green-skinned Schemer already having her bulging tits and melon-like ass squeezed into her grear. “You put dem girls away! We gots alotta work ta’ do today, an’ you ain’t slackin’ off squeezin’ yer fat udders ‘til we’s dun!”

Darn. Grumbling, Makky pulled her top back on. “’S not moooo-y fault they’re so big.”

And they really were. She definitely had the biggest tits of the crew, over four times the size of her head. Heck, she was pretty sure they were bigger than Nao, though she’d never asked the little goblin to check. Even a dumb cow like her knew that’d be a bad idea.

“Yeh yeh.” The goblin sniffed, waddling away. “Jus’ get back ta’ work!”

So, the minotaur just got back to her feet and got ready to pack up camp once more.

“Hey Chi’chi,” she waved when she was her orc friend doing the same. “How’dya sleep?”

“Huh?” The second green-skinned babe in their party blinked back at her. “Uh. Me lay down an’ closed me eyes.” Her lips pulled around her tusks in a confused frown, unable to work out why her friend would need to ask.

“Oh right.” The minotaur nodded, her horns bobbing, as she worked out what the orc meant. Her friend was so smart!

Together, they set about packing up. Despite her pudge (especially on her chest), Chi’chi was a fast worker, maybe even stronger than Makky (her muscles were a bit bigger, after all) and between the two of them they soon had their camp all stowed away.

It was only then that the third member of the party reappeared.

“Right!” Nao looked over their work and nodded, before quickly scrambling up Makky’s back and hooking her legs over the cow’s shoulders, resting her feet on her fat pillows and using her horns as handles. “Dat’ll do. Now we’re gunna go find dat Dark Lord! So!” She pointed to the road, off in the direction of the darkest clouds overhead. “Start marchin’ – dat way!”

The two tall girls saluted – Makky nearly accidentally smacking Nao in the face as she did. “Yes Boss!”

And so they began the last leg of their journey…

-

The three had woken up that morning at level 8, and soon enough, between Chi’chi’s club, Makky’s axe, and Nao’s orders, they reached level 9. Their stats grew even higher, with the orc’s muscles swelling, the minotaur’s tits inflating, and the goblin’s height shrinking all the more. The random encounters practically melted in front of them now.

In fact, they were such good fighters that, by the time they actually reached the castle, they were almost to level 10 already.

But reach the castle they did. At long last, they had found their destination.

There was just one problem.

“Uh.” Makky stared at the gate, chewing her lip uncertainly. “Why is the door, like, closed…?”

“Ah, look what we have here!” A voice spoke up from nearby. Turning around, the three monster girls saw a small window next to the gate, set into the stone wall. A shadow was leaning out of it, his face covered in a silver mask with a wide smile engraved on the front. “Three hefty warriors looking to seek the Demon Lord? Oh, but you can’t enter the castle like that. Look at you – you haven’t even gotten to max level yet! There’s no way you’ll get in without level 10.”

Huh. The three looked at each other, each one shrugging. Nao pointed towards a monster, Chi’chi smacked it with a club, and Makky cut it in half with her axe. Ding!

Instantly, all three women hit level 10. New text flashed up before their eyes. Glazed eyes squinted to read it.

‘Do you want to learn: Devoted Minion Mastery?’ it asked. ‘You will forget: Your Old Life’

“Huh.” Makky tapped her nose ring in thought. “Whadd’ya think that means?”

“Who cares?” Nao smacked her on the head. “Just hit yeh so we can get on with it!”

“Oh. Okay!”

All three hit Yes, and-

Eyes fluttered, flashing pink as memories of friends, families, the metaverse, the human world, school, work, the Shadow Operatives, and of Makoto Niijima, Naoto Shirogane, and Chie Satonaka were all deleted from their brains, replaced with loving devotion to the Dark Lord…

- and felt one last surge of power as the Brute, Schemer, and Bullwark all mastered their classes!

“Dere!” Nao turned Makky back to the gate guard. “We gud?”

“Oh, you’re gud alright,” the shadow chuckled. “Yes, you can go right on in. But first, I actually have some orders here for you, from the Dark Lord himself…”

“Wat? Were?!” All three monster girls spun around, looking around, hearts in their eyes, already practically drooling at the thought of their Lord and Master.

Alas, there was no one there, and their attention was drawn back to the shadow with a polite cough, and a gesture to a scroll that he was holding.

“It says ‘Hey, Slim – that’s me, by the way – we’re running low on canon fodder to protect the castle, so if you see any minions walk up, just station them on guard duty at the gate, save us all some time, thanks.’” The masked shadow nodded, rolling the scroll back up. “All clear?”

The trio looked at each other, before looking back to him. Chi’chi was the one who answered. “Uuuhhh…”

‘Slim’ chuckled. “Just stand in front of the gate and fight anyone who wants to come in.”

“Oh, okay!” They could definitely work with simple instructions like that!

Grinning, the three planted themselves in front of the gate and vanished, their minds and bodies going into stand-by mode as they turned into yet another random encounter, waiting for someone to trigger. A little mini-boss encounter, waiting for any likely heroes to come along and get smooshed.

Yes, being a Persona user was an odd kind of existence – but honestly? Being a random encounter was even weirder. None of these three would be complaining, though! No, as far as Nao the Schemer goblin, Chi’chi the orc Brute, and Makky the Bullwark Minotaur were concerned, all they cared about was fighting, following their Boss’s orders, and maybe, just maybe, if they did a good job, getting a visit from their Master himself.

Honestly, it was a lot simpler than what they’d had going before – not that any of them would remember that. They may not have ever really reached the castle proper, but at least now they were surrounded by others who understood them completely~