[Muscle Growth, Brainwashing, Intelligence Drain, Farts]
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts were a shrewd bunch. Young men and women that aimed to try and free the populace from a conspiracy that had webbed around in the shadows. And they had gotten far, slowly but surely undoing everything that stood in their way.
And yet, they knew that they still needed to hone their skills if they wanted to reach the conclusion that they wanted. Which meant that they had to turn towards alternative methods of increasing their strength or improving their Persona, however they’d manage.
The Leader, Joker, was the most skilled out of all of them. Between his ability to change Persona at will and his nimble build, he spearheaded all of the heists they had planned up to this point. Providing his allies with their weapons and otherwise assisting them in any way that he could.
Which was how he found himself holding such a strange looking gauntlet at an incredibly late hour.
During the downtime between heists and investigating who to strike at next, he had come across a black market website that sold a lot of trinkets. Some of them were good for the sake of improving his abilities or otherwise helped him with something, but this item… This gauntlet was something else.
Labelled as ‘Blairs Gauntlet’ on the website, there was something strangely alluring about it. Even if, by the time that he received it, the gauntlet itself looked completely smothered in dirt and grime. Like it had been buried for years and only just removed from its ancient resting peace.
It took a thorough scrubbing. A terribly thorough cleansing. But eventually, he managed to get it completely cleaned. And when he finally held the gauntlet in his hands, once it shined with its proper radiance…
He realized just how powerful it made him feel. Like a wave of pure power washed over him. And yet at the same time, holding it made it clear that he wasn’t worthy. He didn’t understand why, it was just some sort of feeling nagging away at the back of his mind.
So there was only one thing he could do…
---
“What exactly is this supposed to be, Joker?”
Sometime later, during a routine trip to Mementos, Joker had gathered together with some of his fellow Phantom Thieves. Because it was time to hand over the gauntlet to the one that could use it the best.
Niijima Makoto, or rather Queen as she called herself when they were on heists, was now the one holding the gauntlet as she gave it an utterly perplexed look. She was used to seeing a lot of strange weapons throughout their journeys through society’s subconscious, but this was new. It almost looked like some sort of movie prop, but the weight it had made it clear that it was real. Whatever it was.
“I got it from some black market site.” Joker replied very pointedly. “It went by the name ‘Blairs Gauntlet’, but I’ve never heard of a famous Blair, nor their gauntlet.”
Makoto raised her eyebrow a little. “Then why’d you buy it?” She asked, carefully looking into it. “What makes you so sure that you didn’t make some sort of big mistake? It could’ve been a trap. You never know who might be out for our heads.” She raised very valid concerns, even as her heart started to beat into her chest.
“I know. But that’s exactly why I bought it.” He said, before looking towards the rest of his team, who were currently busy tallying all the loot that they had acquired from their trip so far. “Because we’re going to need all the strength we can get. Otherwise they’re going to overpower us before we’re ready for them.”
“Heeeey! What’s taking you two so long? We gotta get going!” The voice of their navigator, Sakura Futaba or Oracle as she preferred to go by whenever they were on missions, echoed through their ears. “Those shadows we pissed off earlier might just catch up, and we’re not ready for them yet!”
The other two parts of the currently active team, Okumura Haru and Takamaki Ann, alias Noir and Panther, were both beckoning their allies to get going. Whether it was Ann stomping the ground or Haru smiling softly in their direction.
“Just another moment.” Joker said as he turned back towards Makoto. “Just think about it, Makoto. You don’t need to use it if you don’t think you’ll need it, but I bought it because I thought you’d need it.” He explained, before he went to join the others.
Makoto slightly nodded as her leader went to join the others, before she looked down at the gauntlet once again. Just looking at it was enough to send shivers down her spine…
What was with this thing? Why was it making her feel this way? It was just a piece of junk that Joker had managed to find, it wasn’t supposed to do something like this. Was it because they were in the Metaverse? Was that why it made her feel this way? Because somebody had a connection to this thing and made it as powerful as he implied it would be..?
“Guess I have no choice.” Makoto said as she slowly slid the gauntlet onto her hand, noticing how incredibly oversized it was. It didn’t really fit her, it more just slid onto her hand and carelessly slid back and forth whenever she tried moving her hand. It was actually a little bit funny. How did he think she could fight with something this huge?
And yet… Now that she had it on her hand, her heart pounded against her chest. Like she was awakening something primal within her. Something that she never thought existed within. And it felt really good…
Whatever this gauntlet did, she had to try it out. Because otherwise she would never find out why it made her feel this way. Worst case scenario, it was all just one big placebo effect. And even then, it was heavy enough that it’d probably knock out a shadow or two after a good punch. But if it really was as powerful as Joker implied, then she could definitely see herself using it in the long run.
As Makoto ran off to join her friends, she didn’t notice that a part of the gauntlet had started to glow…
---
“Great, just great, we’re trapped!”
Panther’s voice echoed as the Phantom Thieves ended up heading straight into one of the many dead ends inside Mementos, leading them to turn around and see a horde of shadows behind them. And while the plan had to be to attract plenty of shadows so they could try and fight against a greater number of enemies to practice their crowd control… This was a bit too much.
“Oh dear. Joker? What should we do?” Noir spoke up as she readied her axe, gripping the handle tight. While she had only just joined the thieves recently, she had immediately taken to their routine. Mostly because despite her demure frame and her lack of proper experience in the field… She was a menace whenever she held that axe. And if there was one thing they kind of lacked ever since they started their operations, it was a bit of muscle for when the going got rough.
Joker stared at the horde of many shadows ahead of them, weighing his options. “Oracle? Can you see a path forward, or is combat the only option?” He asked the ginger-haired girl that always floated around inside her saucer-like persona.
“No way forward. Get ready, guys!” Oracle shot back as she started hammering on the hard light keys that her persona produced. “Queen! Thin out their numbers a bit and try to split them apart, so that Noir can help you on the other side!”
“Got it!” Makoto shouted as she ran towards the horde of shadows, a bit of sweat slowly running down the side of her face. It was now or never. Do or die. If this gauntlet worked or not, there was no better time to find out..!
The brown-haired Phantom Thief dashed forward. Bracing herself as she raised her fist and wound it as far back as she possibly could. All while feeling all of the power rushing into it, like she was draining the power from the rest of her body to try and fuel this one punch.
She threw it. She let her fist fly through the air as it made contact with one of the shadows…
And it didn’t do anything.
Makoto’s eyes widened as she was forced to jump out of the way of one of the shadows’ attacks, panting as she looked at the gauntlet. It clearly drained her, and yet it didn’t do anything..? What was going on..?
“You want to be strong, don’t you..?”
A voice echoed through her head, as it felt like the world was slowing down around her. She could barely hear her allies crying out towards her before it all went silent. Like everything just suddenly stopped…
“What’s going on..?” Makoto muttered as she slowly looked around her. It was like she was walking through stopped time. Because nothing was moving. Not even the droplets of her sweat were moving down her head. The only thing that moved was her…
“You want to be strong, don’t you?”
The voice spoke again. And this time it was easy to tell where it was coming from… Because the source of the voice was glowing.
It was her gauntlet. And now that she could focus on it, she noticed that it was a lot more intricate than she originally gave it credit for. There were slots across every knuckle for a stone, each slot currently empty. Was that why it didn’t do anything..?
“...I do.” Makoto replied pointedly as she slowly put her hand on the gauntlet. “I want to protect my friends and solve this mystery we’ve all gotten wrapped up in. I don’t care what it’ll take, as long as we can get through it.”
The voice laughed as the words left her mouth. “It won’t take anything. You’ll take everything. And you’ll be strong enough to make sure that you keep everything that you’ve taken.”
With that, a bright light started to shine inside the middle finger’s knuckle. And a bright purple gem appeared there after the light vanished.
A powerful rush of energy pulsed through Makoto’s body. It was like all the strength that she had poured into the gauntlet flooded back into her. Except it wasn’t just all of her power… It was so much more than that. It was so much power that she didn’t understand how much could’ve been stored inside it. But one thing was certain.
She loved every moment of it. She had never thought about being this powerful, to feel like she could break a building with a single swing of her fist… But this was enough to make every hair on her body stand up on its ends.
Even just swinging her fist in this stopped time was enough to make cracks appear in the air. She couldn’t believe it, but she loved it all the same. This was the best gift that anybody could’ve given her, and she definitely had to thank Joker once they were safe. Because this was everything she ever could’ve wanted…
The cracks in the stopped world around her started to spread, as time started to return to normal. And as luck would have it, the shadows were still trying to go after her. All of their many arms and weapons were about to make direct contact with her body.
“MAKOTO!”
She could hear the worry in her leader’s voice. It invigorated her. Because now it was time to show her that she could handle this all on her own.
Makoto clenched her fist as the purple gem on her new gauntlet shone as bright as it could, the power flowing through her body to the point where her bodysuit audibly started to tear itself apart… And then she threw her first punch.
The Phantom Thieves barely had a chance to blink before the horde of shadows went flying through the hallways of Mementos. It was like a whirlwind had just appeared in front of them and made them scatter with the force of so much strength that it was almost unbelievable.
And yet it had happened. And the cause of the sudden gust of wind that turned the tide? It was their Queen. It was Niijima Makoto and all of her own strength that had managed to save them.
“W-Wow. That’s… Okay, I didn’t know you could be that strong, Makoto!” Panther cried out with a slowly growing grin. She really couldn’t believe it. Sure, she knew that the prez was a real strong individual, but this was beyond anything she had ever seen before! Maybe she could get that strong at some point…
Noir was equally stunned, though she didn’t vocalize it. Instead, she merely smiled and clapped a little, pinning the blade of her axe between her thighs for the moment. They still had plenty left to do, but a bit of congratulations was in order.
“Holy crap. What was that!?” Oracle cried out from her tiny living space, rapidly tapping away at her keys. “You weren’t this strong moments ago, Queen! What did you do!? Tell me, I need to know! Imagine if we could all be this strong, we’d be able to do all our heists with ease!” If you were to look past her goggles at this point, you’d be able to see stars of awe in her eyes.
Joker was just as pleased with the showing, but he was also extremely relieved. He didn’t want to end up losing a friend to a failed exercise. “Good job, Makoto.” He said as he walked towards his ally and friend with a smile on his masked face…
Only, there was something off about her. It wasn’t because she had been corrupted or anything, she was still their ally. That much he could tell. But he did notice that there was something about her stature that looked just a little bit weird…
Upon closer inspection, there was a very obvious reason why he felt something was wrong. And it happened to be focused around the gauntlet that he had given her. Because it had disappeared. Or rather…
“Makoto? Your hand. Take a look at it.”
Makoto listened to her leader and slowly looked at her hand and blinked for a moment, before looking towards Joker with a raised eyebrow. “What’s wrong with it?” She asked, still coming down from the rush of everything that had just happened. God, it felt so good to just swing her fist and see all of those enemies getting swept aside. It was such a powerful feeling!
“It’s fused to the gauntlet. Can’t you see?”
Her eyes widened a little as she heard those words, but as she put her hand on the gauntlet… Yeah, it definitely felt like it was twitching. Like it was a part of her. But… Was that a bad thing, now that she thought about it? It was the gauntlet that had brought her strength, so why should she worry about it becoming a permanent part of her? She should just accept it and relax, maybe throw another punch or three..!
“Relax, Joker.” She said with a smile, the purple gem on her gauntlet glowing a little more. “I’m more than strong enough to deal with the gauntlet. Besides, so what if it’s fused to my hand? It just means I won’t ever need to take it off.” She asserted herself, as that very same glow started to fill her eyes. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the gauntlet. Nothing at all.
Joker narrowed his eyes as he quietly looked towards the saucer that Oracle sat inside. With a few simple hand motions, she understood what he wanted her to figure out. Silently, of course. They didn’t want to spring anything on Makoto when she was acting like this, because they could end up in a lot of trouble…
While they were busy doing what they thought was right, Makoto decided to test out just how far her power could go. Because she knew that it had flowed into her before, but… Could she take in more power from that gauntlet? Could she look as powerful as she felt?
It was worth a try. She clenched her hand as hard as she could, and the purple gem started roaring to life. She could visibly see the power pouring into her as it traversed through her veins, quickly making her body tremble as it struggled to handle all the power.
But it was worth it. Because as it continued to pulse through her, she could see the results. Her body was growing. She was becoming bigger, she was growing stronger, she was gaining all the power that she desired…
And it manifested by having her muscles expand. Whether it was her legs thickening as her veins started to bulge out across her body, or her arms filling up as she flexed. Even just moving her arm made every single muscle in the limb cry out in pure ecstacy as they worked at 110% efficiency.
Throwing a punch made her arm bulge out even more. To the point where her suit was ripping rather audibly, though she didn’t care. In fact, she didn’t care as the rest of the suit ripped all over. Her muscled body was being bared to the world around her, and yet that lack of modesty excited her more than it shamed her.
The only part of her current outfit that didn’t rip to shreds was her corset, which held tight thanks to how it had been tied. And yet it only served to contrast how utterly excessive the rest of her body had become…
Makoto grinned as she slowly flexed her muscles one more time. Yes. This was the power that she desired. This was everything that she ever could’ve wanted…
Now, to put it to good use.
---
“Okay, I’m not the only one who’s thinking that Queen’s going a little bit overboard now, right?”
Panther spoke up as they were making their way back towards the entrance to Mementos, a terribly perilous path after everything they had done today. Or rather, it was supposed to be, but a certain somebody’s growth spurt had given her the power to completely ignore all those dangers.
Noir nodded a little. “I don’t disagree, but…” She said, slowly cleaning the edge of her axe. “Makoto seems to be happy, so why should we stop her? If she finds joy in the reckless destruction she’s causing, then who are we to say she’s doing something wrong? Besides, this will only last until we leave the Metaverse.”
“I really hope you’re right.” Panther replied as she shook her head a little. Honestly, how was she going to deal with Makoto from now on, if she really did keep that big body? She might even get a little jealous… Maybe she should try and work out to get that big?
“Ha!” Makoto shouted as she punched straight through one of the shadows that got in their way, grinning as she pulled her fist back. It felt wonderful to punch through the enemies that had given them so much trouble. It felt fantastic… And she could just keep going, that was how enjoyable it was to be powerful.
Joker watched his now-muscled fellow thief clear house, as he looked up at the hovering saucer above. She had been quiet ever since he gave her an order. Were the symptoms really that grave? Were they in danger? He couldn’t tell. Not until she finally spilled the beans.
Just as he started dwelling on the thought for too long, the saucer started moving towards their muscled ally, with Oracle popping out of the bottom as she hung upside down. “Makoto! Listen! You have to stop!” She shouted, trying to get her attention before it was too late.
Makoto looked up at the hanging ginger-haired girl and raised an eyebrow. “What? What’s up?” She asked, clenching her fist a bit. “I’m busy destroying those shadows! Can’t it wait until we’re out of the Metaverse?”
“It can’t! I ran the scans on your body, and that strength’s not good at all! It’s like… Oh, how do I explain it to a meathead like you…” Oracle ruffled her hair as she wracked her brain. How could she explain it?
She evidently didn’t need to. Because Makoto didn’t care to hear it, grabbing her by the neck and yanking her out of the saucer she used as a Persona. “What, you’re telling me this power isn’t good? Why wouldn’t it be? I’ve never felt better!”
Oracle’s arms went swinging all over the place as her sense of balance was rather rudely interrupted by the hand that now held her. “L-Listen, you have to trust me! It’s bad news! Really, really bad news!” She tried to get through to her, but she didn’t realize she was far too late.
“Maybe you just need a taste of it. Besides…” Makoto clenched her fist, both her eyes and the gem on her gauntlet starting to glow in tandem. That same powerful purple glow. “I could always use a minion.”
None of the other Phantom Thieves were fast enough to stop what came next. How could they? They had never imagined that one of their own would try and strike at them, but here they were. Watching the physical specialist launch a punch with full intent to harm.
Oracle let out a pained cry, but the pain didn’t stick around for long. As soon as the gauntlet made contact with her stomach, it was like a whole new world opened up before her eyes. A world that she had ignored ever since she awakened to the internet.
A world that was a lot more fun than all that tech she obsessed about before. A strong world. A world ruled by the Queen in front of her… A world where she never had to think for more than a few seconds before her muscles told her what to do. Because that was what she was meant for. She was meant to focus on nothing more than her own strength…
Of course, she was painfully unaware of what was giving her this new world view. She didn’t know that Makoto was pouring her own power, or at least a small fraction of it, into her body. That much power was utterly incomprehensible to somebody as fragile and as uninitiated as her.
So the only solution was for the body to adjust and deal with anything that didn’t matter. Which in her case… Well, it was her smarts. A powerful girl such as herself never needed smarts. She just needed her muscles and her loyalty to her Queen.
Out of all of the Phantom Thieves, Oracle’s outfit straddled the line between skintight and revealing. Because at the end of the day it was a single bodysuit. And because of her thin frame, it clung to her and revealed everything that it possibly could.
But that was her old body. Her new body, which was filled with strength? It ripped her outfit to shreds, leaving her not only completely naked, but satisfied as she showed off her powerful body. Every little inch was made of muscle. Infact, she was even more muscular than her Queen… But that was because the only thing that mattered about her body was her strength.
Just a simple flex was enough for another muscle to grow, as a bit of drool suddenly started running down the formerly intelligent girl’s chin. It felt so good to show off her body… It felt so fucking good. Why did she ever think? Thinking was for losers! Strength was the way to go! She didn’t even need to think about being polite either, that shit was for losers!
“Ahhhh!” Futaba cried out as she flexed her body once more, grinning widely from ear to ear as she looked at the girl that had turned her into this hunk of pure strength. “Thank you! Thank you so fucking much, Queen! I can’t believe I thought this was a bad thing!”
Makoto grinned and patted her new minion on the shoulder. Even though she had grown a bit taller and more muscular than the one that had changed her, she was still utterly loyal to the shorter girl. “See, I told you that you just needed a bit of power. I’m glad that you got those stupid thoughts out of your head!”
The final nail in the coffin for Futaba’s change from Oracle to mere muscular minion was how her persona started to dissolve, turning into little more than a tattoo on the back of the naked minion. Because she didn’t need to focus on her smarts. She just needed to listen to her orders and keep improving her body.
This time, Panther and Noir had nothing to add. Because they were quickly realizing that this was a terrible situation. What else could they think when one of their closest friends had suddenly turned another into a complete… Well, musclebound idiot? Crude mockery of their former self? There were a lot of ways to describe Futaba, and all of them emphasized just how terrible this change was.
Joker, on the other hand, realized what a massive mistake he had made. He had bought that gauntlet… And now it seemed to have completely corrupted one of his friends. And the price he paid was one of his other friends getting twisted into a muscular freak. If he didn’t need to keep himself composed at all times as the leader of the Phantom Thieves, maybe he would’ve had an outburst right then and there…
But instead, he did the only thing he could think of. “Let’s go home.” He said plainly, leading the gang towards the exit. With any luck, this would all stay within the Metaverse. And both Makoto and Futaba would turn back to normal…
---
Getting out of the Metaverse was a bit more difficult than imagined. Mainly because Makoto and Futaba needed extra coaxing to leave their little power fantasy. But after getting Ann and Haru to go on ahead, Joker eventually managed to get them to go along with him. Promising them that they’d go back the next day to make sure that they could continue enjoying the inhuman strength that they had amassed.
And just as he thought he had managed to get out of the woods. Just as he thought that everything would go back to normal. Reality decided to play a trick on him and pull the rug out from underneath.
“I’m still strong! Haha!”
“Fuck yeah!”
Neither of them had changed back. Or rather, that was a bit of an exaggeration. They were a lot less muscular, but they were still looking a lot more toned than they did when they entered the Metaverse in the first place. At least the gauntlet seemed to have disappeared from Makoto’s hand, so things couldn’t get any worse.
Joker felt the sweat pouring down the side of his head. This wasn’t a good thing. But at the same time… He knew that they could handle themselves. And with any luck, they’d adjust to their new selves, and things would slowly return back to normal over the next couple of days. So he left them by themselves, so that he could go home and cool his head.
While her leader continued to worry about what he had done, Makoto still felt utterly perfect. She felt so much power pouring through her veins that she didn’t know where she should start. This entire experience had been eye-opening. And she wanted to make sure she enjoyed all of this power…
Just as she turned towards her minion with a dominant grin on her face, she felt her stomach bubbling, and she very nearly started to topple over from how much pain it forced on her…
*BRRRAAAAAAAPPPP*
The pain came and went. But what she gained from the experience was immediately evident, as Futaba quickly kneeled down to examine the source of the sound. Such a foul sound that could only be caused by one thing.
Indeed, as soon as she found her muscular body at level with her Queen’s ass, she got another faceful of the gas that just blasted out between her cheeks. Cheeks that were rippling from the sheer force of what was pouring out of that hole.
While Makoto should’ve felt utter debilitating shame from what just happened, she didn’t feel anything but pride. She was proud to make such a filthy cloud that quickly started to surround her. Hell, she was proud of the hole that let it all flow out. She was even proud of Futaba for not fainting as she huffed as much of it as she could, already pressing her face up against that hole as she lapped up as much of it as she possibly could.
She had to admit. She didn’t understand why she had gotten this powerful. She didn’t understand why that gauntlet had decided to help her. If it was even sentient. Whose voice was it? Was it her own, that tried to guide her towards what she always should’ve been? Whatever the case was, it didn’t matter.
What mattered now was that she was strong. She was powerful. And if she understood the gauntlet correctly, there was still so much power she had yet to tap into. And if the tradeoff was that she became a filthy mess..? Somebody that owned the world around it and ruined it for everyone else? It would only make the experience better. Growing stronger, and owning the world at the very same time. What an enticing and exhilarating experience…
For now, she had to work on powering up her gauntlet…