Greeeeeetings everyone! It's your favourite one-of-a kind bear extraordinaire, author and soldier of despair, Monokuma!
What was that? Why am I breaking the fourth wall?
Why is there no story yet?
Why is the author of this story poorly impersonating the poster-bear of a beloved franchise?
Such predictable and meta questions!
Can't say I blame you. But I can't say that I really care, either.
(Sorry, not sorry)
...
Okay, I'll answer ONE question!
...
What am I doing here you ask?
Well it turns out, this hack of an author wanted to write a Danganronpa based fanfiction, and wanted a celebrity like ME to represent him in the forward! Said it'd help make it morerealistic and help explain things-something like that.
(I don't get it either, but hey, it's a living.)
That just reminded me! The author himself gave me a list of things to read out while he writes/procrastinates the first chapter for you all.
…
Where'd I put the damn thing?
...
...
Aha! Here we go!
*Ahem:
"1) This fanfiction will have characters from various fandoms-all fictional and definitely not owned by the author in anyway (except for one, but you can figure that out). For everyone reading this on , yes this does indeed make it a crossover. However, I've named it a Danganronpa Fanfic as the majority of the plot involves aspects of that fandom, rather than that of the others. Only the characters are from different fandoms, but the story is predominately Danganronapa. (If this breaks regulations, you are welcome to suspend this fanfic, as I still have it on AO3.)
2) For optimal enjoyment, it is recommended that you (at least) have bare knowledge of these characters and/or their fandoms before jumping straight into this story. There may be references/minor spoilers shown that rely on readers having this information.
3) That being said, references are nowhere near the main focus of this story, but rather the development of some of my favourite characters-how they handle their predicament/why they murder/get murdered etc. Also, who doesn't want to see beloved characters become murder investigators/victims/perpetrators? (Probably a couple of people, now that I think of it.)
4) This is likely one of the most ambitious projects I have to date, so an update, let alone a completion of this fanfiction, will not be something I can promise at all, especially in conjunction with other things I'm writing. (Also, writing murder mystery and trying to make it original? What am I thinking?)
5)This forward will (probably, maybe not ) be the only place I make an author's note. I may provide some helpful information here and there, if I feel the need to. But aside that-I feel that saying something before or after a chapter would slightly ruin the mood of the story, or something like that. Still, I'm happy to answer burning questions or criticism in the comments, or through a private message.
6) I was going to explain all of this by impersonating Monokuma, but I didn't want to make you all cringe at my terrible first-person rp-narration. I want this fanfiction to be taken seriously, don't I?
Phew, that was a mouthful! Oh-uh, ignore that last part, ok? Guess he forgot to edit that part out, or something….
Now that that's out of the way, the story can start, and when that happens, people can finally start dying one by one!
What? Doesn't it just excite you?!
The tension, the excitement, the thrills, the chills?
Who will live? Who will die?
Who will kill? Who will be killed?
Well, it doesn't really matter what you think, at the end of day. Either way, people are gonna die!
So Ladies, Gentlemen, and others. Prepare for despair!
-M
Prologue:
I'm gonna start off by saying that my writing is nothing spectacular, so bear with me here. I'm not the kinda guy who writes frequently, so this is weird for me, but hell, considering my situation, this is a decent way to stay calm, I think.
First things first, for anyone reading this that doesn't know me (which is very likely), I should probably introduce myself. My name is Jackson Walles, 19 years old, nobody special. People who know me can figure out the rest, as for everyone else, that's all you really need to know right now, I guess.
Maybe you haven't figured it out yet, but I'm not exactly in a great situation right now, in fact, my life's could possibly be in a great deal of danger. I don't even know where to start-there's this black and white bear, holding us captive against our will-in this damn hotel building place in a city, and the only way we can go home is to-
I-uh, just realized how insane this is looking on paper. I should explain some things first.
The last real place I remember being was in my house, my bedroom, on my bed-I think. Maybe I was on my laptop, watching anime, gaming, or whatever (it's kinda hazy), not that any of that matters. Thing is, at some point, I must've blacked out, but the next time I woke up, I was somewhere completely different.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a chandelier, which startled me enough to slowly get up and look around. The place looked like a large foyer, well lit and expensively decorated, not the first place I'd ever see myself in. It was one of those fancy joints, with a minibar, tables and doors, leading to a supposed 'Stage Room.'
My first guess was that I was dreaming, but I became less sure the more I thought about it. My dreams were never this self-aware, or so attentive to the details of my surroundings. I even hit myself to check-and I definitely felt that.
If it's not a dream, then where-
I noticed something else in the room-a person, no, multiple people. Each keeping a small distance from one another, all complete strangers.
The first to catch my eye was a 6 foot anthropomorphic cat with yellow tanned fur.
"What the hell-?" I heard myself say, too loudly.
That caught the cat's attention. "Huh? Oh hey, the kid's awake…"
Okay never-mind...this is definitely a dream. I mean what the fuck?!
I couldn't think of any explanation at the time, obviously, and my sense of surrealism only intensified when I saw more people acknowledge me.
A raccoon, a fox, a lizard fish thing, another damn fox, all these animals standing on two legs, with equally confused expressions on the faces (muzzles?). It was something out of a TV show, a video game, fictional stuff like that. There were humans too, granted, but I couldn't really pay as much attention to them (could you blame me?).
"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say he doesn't remember anything either." A (human) girl, grunge-dressed with wildly colored hair, eyed me. "Right?"
"Uh y-yeah, I don't." I stammered carefully.
Another chick, short blue hair and a calculative gaze spoke up. "I presume you blacked out sometime in your everyday routine and woke up here, correct?"
That summed it up perfectly.
"Y-yeah, that's right." I stuttered again. My vocabulary was at a loss.
"Is that all of us?" The yellow furred fox with two tails (?) finally asked.
Something about his appearance got my mind going.
Yellow fox, two tails...
"Well, do you see anyone else lying asleep here?" The raccoon pitched in, folding his arms, frustrated.
That was when it hit me. I recognized some of these people. No, they weren't exactly people ….
Yeah, I've definitely seen some of them before. It's almost as if...no, but that doesn't make sense-
I didn't have time to complete a train of thought, as the sound of a bell pierced the room.
*Ding dong, bing bong
I hadn't noticed the monitor in the room until it flicked on, revealing a silhouette in front of static."Heeeello everyone!" It spoke, with a jarringly light hearted voice.
We all froze in place, eyes only on the screen.
"Who the hell are you?" The cat demanded.
The voice ignored him, clearly it was some sort of recording. "It's a great pleasure to welcome you all to the five star DC hotel complex; home to our city's highly esteemed citizens!"
I processed the information.
So that's where we're supposed to be? A hotel, in a city? Where are we, exactly?
"You must be all terribly confused, I can imagine! But fear not, questions may be answered at our first community meeting-scheduled at 8:30pm (half an hour from now) in the Stage Room-see those doors that say 'Stage room'? There you go!"
A community meeting? What the hell is that about?
I looked for a clock, and found one that said it was in fact 8:10pm.
"Now, twenty minutes is still a long time to wait around…(I know *I'd* get bored) so feel free to look around the foyer, grab some water, whatever! Just remember that attendance at the meeting is mandatory. So don't loiter for too long, ok?"
The way he emphasized those last words put me off, intimidated me, almost.
The voice went on. "This is also very important, but if you wanna unlock the Stage Room, everyone is required to introduce themselves. I'm a firm believer in a thriving community of friendship and co-operation-and that should extend to you guys as well! Go on, don't be shy, you're all in the same boat anyway!"
There was clearly some ulterior motive behind those statements, not that I could figure out what exactly.
"That's all I have to say for now, so I'll see you all at the meeting! Don't disappoint me …"
And just like that, the monitor turned off. Those last words had been spiked with a threatening tone, which I admit, scared me a little. Sure, the voice was annoying as hell, but things have a habit of scaring you when you don't expect them to.
"What the hell, this is so weird…" Someone muttered.
There was a moment of silence, nobody was sure what to say in response. I felt so out of my element, and I could only assume that everyone else felt the same.
That was, until a rabbit broke the silence. "Now what?"
"I believe introductions are in order..." It was the blue haired chick again.
"What, are we really gonna do what that asshole says?" A young girl with brown hair objected.
"Do we even have a choice?" The raccoon retorted. "We already checked, remember? All the doors are locked and bolted, windows bulletproofed, no way out."
A rabbit spoke up. "So what, we stand around and just talk ? But that's so boring !"
"Better than just standing around silently with a bunch of random strangers." The normal(ish) looking fox replied. "What do we have to lose, anyway?"
The blue haired chick nodded. "Precisely. Besides, we may be complete strangers, but I have a feeling we will need to cooperate to understand our situation more…"
She stepped forward. "My name is Naoto Shirogane. I hope we can all get along, despite our...differences."
This chick, Naoto, seemed to know what she was doing-intelligent too. I had no idea how she could take all this so calmly, but it made me feel slightly better.
There was a short silence before the grunge-dressed girl sighed. "Okay, I have no idea what the hell is going on here, but screw it, I've had stranger dreams. The name's Ramona Flowers, but...just call me Ramona, ok?"
I recognized the name, but beside that I didn't know what to think about this girl. There was definitely something mysterious about her, with that guarded yet relaxed personality. Intriguing.
"Well I sure haven't seen anything like you guys before…" It was that fox, the one with only one tail. "But hey, I'm all about making new and strange friends, so why not? I'm Nick, Nick Wilde. Nice to be acquainted with you."
By this point, a talking fox didn't surprise me, but rather that he was decently dressed and well mannered. A green shirt, striped tie and pants made him look surprisingly human, almost as if his species was evolved to the point of sentience.
That was when it hit me. Nick Wilde-that name definitely rang a memory in me from back home. Wasn't there a movie that came out with a character just like him? The one with all anthropomorphic animals living together?
Holy shit...
Then the talking raccoon spoke. "Alright fine, let's get this over with. I'm Rocket. No fancy second name, just Rocket. Got it?"
I already knew that, of course. Rocket Raccoon was my favorite character in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, after all-hell he was probablyeverybody's favorite character. Now there he stood, orange jumpsuit and all, realer than he looked in the film.
A man in a white lab coat, mid forties I think, cut in. "Hey, I don't suppose any of you guys work for O.W.C.A?" He eyed everyone. "I didn't know they had the technology to make their animals talk..."
"Who the flark are you calling an animal?" Rocket snapped back.
"Oh, I uh…" The man placed a hand behind his neck. "Well this is awkward…Forgive me, you may call me Heinz Doofenshmirtz. I'm a professional evil scientist, so social skills aren't my expertise, perse…"
I vaguely remembered this character from Phineas and Ferb from when I was twelve, with his slouchy demeanor and distinctive accent. He was never really good at being an evil scientist, from what I recalled-always thwarted by a secret agent platypus almost every episode. Kinda sad, the more I thought about it, but also really funny.
"Well, that's pretty impressive, for a LOSER! " The fish lizard chick's voice boomed unnecessarily loud, as she leaped to the centre of the room, proclaiming attention. "I don't know what I did to get stuck with weirdos like you, but I don't back down from anything! I'm Undyne, don't forget it!"
Ah yes, how could I forget? Undertale only came out a year ago, but already it's considered by many to be a masterpiece. I never got around to finishing the game (not that it really matters) but I could tell by appearance alone that she was one tough chick. Definitely won't get on her bad side, not if I valued my life.
"And here I thought I was gonna have a boring day…" A guy in what looked like a varsity jacket smirked. "The name is Dandy , but you can call meSpace Dandy, baby."
His posture emanated self-confidence, not quite arrogant, but certainly not humble. His haircut was styled in a pompadour, and hell, even his jacket had a little starred 'D' design on it. I would definitely remember a guy like him if I ever saw one before, which I hadn't.
"I-I guess I should introduce myself, too!" A young lady with short tan hair and significantly shyer voice stepped forward, and bowed. "My name isTuuri Hotakainen, I don't know you, but it's nice to meet you..."
That threw me off, I had no idea who this chick was. Everything, her name, uniformed clothes, foreign accent, none of it struck a memory, and that really confused me. If I was dreaming, why would a completely unfamiliar character be in my subconscious memory? Now that I thought about it, there were more people I didn't recognize at all.
The girl named Tuuri paused, thinking about something. "This is a really strange thing to ask, but...can any of you understand me?"
Everyone looked at her, we all nodded.
"Why do you ask?" Naoto replied.
"It's just….it doesn't really matter but…"
"Just spit it out already!" Rocket snapped.
"Sorry!" Tuuri winced. "I -uh, didn't think you'd all speak Finnish , that's all…"
Wait, Finnish?
"Hang on, you mean to say you're not speaking English?" Dandy asked, clearly puzzled.
"Sounds like Japanese to me…" Makise muttered.
"What? No, you're obviously speaking Standard!" Rocket protested.
Doofenshmirtz groaned. "Urgh, does it really matter? This is all in my head, anyway!"
Naoto processed this. "I-I suppose we can take some time to figure that out later…Shall we move on?"
"God, this is so damn weird…" The brown haired girl shook her head. "Okay fine, what the fuck-I'm Ellie, weird to meet you..."
Ellie? Isn't she that chick from The Last of Us?
She certainly looked and acted like the character, similar clothes, too. If it's the same girl, then it's no wonder she's so distrusting. That game was freaking dark, after all.
"Oh, me, me next!" The white bunny rabbit with a manic smile presented himself. "Ladies and gentlemen, you may be alarmed, but fear not, as I, the President of the United States is here!"
There was an awkward pause.
Even Naoto, cool and composed, was thrown off. "Do you...are you...is there any name we may call you by?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, it's Max. Hi!"
Max the talking rabbit. Strangely enough, I felt like I recognised him, only vaguely, though. Was he from a video game, a kids show? He was by far the most cartoonish character here, so that seemed likely. Who else would make a bizarre claim so confidently?
"What matters is that we can all agree on one thing; we need to find a way outta here." That talking cat, again. "Name's T-Bone, if you wanna know."
From the way he stood, to the helmet and bandanna covering his eyes-he definitely looked like vigilante of some sort. His muscular build and claws, combined with a fierce expression, could make most think twice to provoke. A cartoon character, no doubt, but not one that I knew.
"Strange, this is all very strange…" The young boy with pointed hair muttered. "I don't remember ingesting any hallucinogens, nor do I have the imaginative capacity to dream a scene or characters of this detail…"
Chance turned to face him. "You alright there, kid?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, sure…." The kid in question took a breath. "I'm….I'm Dib Membrane from planet Earth."
That's right, he was from that cartoon, Invader Zim. He always tried to expose the main character, Zim, as an alien-but failed every-time. That aside, he looked quite intelligent for his age-if not a little paranoid-not that I could blame him.
A young girl with long red hair, around my age, spoke up. "I can't believe that any of this is real either, but yet..." She gave us all another look. "In any case, my name is Makise Kurisu. Forgive me, but this is a little hard to process..."
I couldn't for the life of me figure out what work of fiction she was from. There was nothing cartoon about her, that's for sure, but instead she had a personality I couldn't quite place. For some reason, I felt compelled to get to know her more.
"Don't worry, I'm pretty confused, too." The very short two tailed fox spoke. "Oh, I'm Miles Prower , by the way. But I'm used to being Tails, too."
A young fox with two tails called Tails. As if I didn't need help figuring that one out; who doesn't know Sonic the Hedgehog? That's when another realization came to me-I was probably the only person here that knew about anyone else.
But of course, I couldn't exactly share this revelation; like I could tell Rocket freaking Raccoon in person that he was a fictional character from a fictional movie universe-how the hell would they react to that? Even if they were figments of my imagination-that'd kinda be rude, right? How would they even react to meta shit like that?
Honestly, what the hell am I even saying?
"Natasha." Hearing the name snapped me out of my introspection. I looked for the source, and found a ginger haired woman had uttered the name. "You wanted my name-there you go. It's all you need to know anyway."
The bluntness of her tone irked me a little. It was clear she didn't trust anyone, especially in such an uncharted situation like this. But it wasn't a nervous paranoia she had, no, it there was definitely a professional element to her distrust. Why did I recognize her from somewhere?
Everyone now looked to me, expectantly.
Oh crap, I haven't introduced myself….
"I guess that just leaves me, huh?" I spoke, trying to keep my voice stable. "I'm Jackson, Jackson Walles...Nice to meet you?"
As conversation starters went, it was pretty unoriginal, I know. But hey, what else was I really supposed to say?
The door behind us, the entrance and exit of the hall, made an unlocking sound.
Naoto nodded. "That's all of us. Shall we enter?"
We didn't really have a choice, did we?
All sixteen of us somewhat reluctantly entered the Stage Room, unable to shake a feeling of unease, but all the more desperate for answers.
It wasn't a very large room, even taking the stage into account. In fact, I could only see sixteen seats facing the stage, two spaced out rows of eight to be precise. The stage itself was nothing descriptive either, bland wallpaper in the background, and a miked podium at the center.
"Pretty small for a auditorium..." I muttered out loud.
"It just fits our number, too." Nick added. "Seems a bit convenient, doesn't it?"
"You're suggesting our captor planned this?" The lady, Natasha, spoke up. "A small theater is hardly rare…"
"But look, there are only sixteen seats here." Tails pointed out. "What if this really was planned?"
T-Bone huffed. "Does it matter? We're still here regardless..."
"No kidding," Ramona sighed. "Guess we just take a seat and wait, huh?"
"But that's so BORING." Max groaned.
"Hmm…" Naoto closely examined one of the seats, then gasped. "It's..."
"What, what is it?"
"The chairs, our names...they're inscribed on here."
"What?"
"You serious?"
"You're bullshitting me…"
"Wait, lemme see…" T-Bone was quick to dash over to search for his seat, muttering to himself until he stopped. "...She's right. This is...weird..."
Something bothered me with the way T-Bone reacted. It was almost as if his confident persona just changed in an instant, and he was trying to cover it up or something.
I decided not to mention it, and instead searched for my seat with everyone else. I found it in the back row, two seats along from the left end;Jackson Walles neatly stitched on it's back. Seeing my own name so carefully inscribed made me uneasy as hell.
T-Bone had already taken his seat, and nothing had happened, so assumably it couldn't be booby-trapped. Everyone else seemed to realize that, as others found their seat and tentatively sat down. The cushion was barely comfortable.
*Ding dong, bing bong
That was the bell again, I instinctively checked a nearby clock (those seemed to be everywhere), which read it was 8:30pm.
"Guess this means the meeting starts…" Dandy hardly looked excited, leaning back in his chair.
Tuuri looked around. "I don't see anyone arriving…Maybe there's running la-"
The voice answered. "Over here!"
Without warning, a half-black half-white bear (the one I mentioned earlier) leaped down from (I guessed) the ceiling, landing on top of the pedestal, in front of the microphone.
Everybody was speechless, save for Ellie muttering. "What the actual fuck?"
"Now now, don't be so quiet...Allow me to introduce myself!" The bear made an extravagant pose. "I'm Monokuma, your city mayor!"
"I'm not the only one seeing this, right? A talking bear?" Dib sputtered.
"No…" Nick Wilde shook his head. "I know a couple of talking bears, this...this is something else."
"That's right, I'm a one of kind state-of the art plushie doll, baby!" The Monokuma thing replied.
Dandy stood up in protest. "Hey, not cool dude. 'Baby' is my trademark, ya hear?"
"Who the hell cares what you are, that doesn't matter!" Rocket spat. "Why the hell are we here? Flark, where the hell are we?"
"Puhuhu, questions questions. So predictable, yet so satisfying to hear!"
"So you will give us answers?" Natasha asked, her voice carefully selective.
"Hmm? Now what would be the fun in that? Oh, but I will give you all something else!" Monokuma pointed at us. "There should be something strapped underneath your seats, go on, check!"
That threw Naoto off. "What? But I made sure…"
"Secret Compartments are a wonderful thing, aren't they? Just press the underside twice, should open right up!"
There was nothing for it, I carefully tapped the underside of my chair twice, and heard a *click* . Out came what looked like a small tablet, which turned itself on immediately.
"I present you, your E-Handbooks! Don't worry, there's one for each of you!"
"And why exactly should we have these?" Ramona asked,
"Why, it's only got everything you need to know to survive here! City Regulations, Evidence, a camera, everything! It's even got everyone's profile, just basic information, don't worry!"
"And how do we know if they're not trapped?" Dib asked.
"Oh please, that's way too not-subtle! Besides, they're basically indestructible, so they couldn't explode if they tried!"
"Um, I'm sorry…" Makise spoke up. "What did you mean by 'evidence'?"
"Oh? Don't worry, we'll be getting to that part later. Just give yourselves a moment to check everything else out..."
I browsed the menu, scrolling through the somewhat limited options. Curious, I tapped the 'Resident Report' area, which brought up the faces of everyone here, including my own.
Naturally, I tapped on my face to bring up my information. It gave me a rundown of my full name, age, and strangely enough, the dimension I was from (Earth 200000 apparently). I also had no idea where that photo of me was taken, but it showed every detail I had flawlessly. This really concerned me-how did Monokuma-no-our actual kidnapper pull this off?
All of a sudden, I heard T-Bone growl. "You...how the hell did you know…."
"Hmm? Is something the matter, Chance?"
Chance? Could that be…
"WE DIDN'T TELL ANYONE!" T-Bone, or Chance I guess, stormed his way towards the edge of the stage. "Who the hell are you? And….and how the hell do you know so much about us?"
Monokuma didn't flinch. "I already told you! I'm your city mayor, and I do not allow any unlawful viole-!"
"THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER!"
"No kidding, it's not like he was gonna tell us anyway." Rocket muttered. "He's not that stupid…"
"T-Bone," Naoto calmly spoke. "Getting mad will not get us anywhere, we don't know how dangerous our enemy is…"
"Screw that, what's a plushie toy gonna do?" Undyne made a running leap onto the stage. "We're getting some answers, NOW!" She strolled over and grabbed Monokuma without hesitation.
Monokuma didn't flinch, but spoke condescendingly. "Now now, let's not get ahead of ourselves here…."
"WHO'S IN CHARGE OF ALL THIS?" Undyne demanded. "WHY CAN'T WE GO HOME, HUH?"
"..."
"TELL ME, DAMMIT!"
" ..."
Undyne finally lost her patience, and we all were feeling the same. "Okay that's it! If you ain't talking, then it's time for a beat-"
" You are all going to stay here for the rest of your lives."
Monokuma's tone suddenly changed, cutting through Undyne's threat. What was a whimsical, carefree (and annoying) voice, now turned into a sharp color of malice-which scared the living crap out of me.
Then, without warning, and before any of us could respond, the Monokuma plushie exploded.
My ears rang from the noise, as I saw Undyne thrown to the back wall of the stage, and Chance thrown the other direction towards us. The smoke and smell of explosives filled my senses, but at least it wasn't suffocating. I could see Naoto immediately go to check on Chance, who was closest to us.
That's when my hearing returned. I could hear Naoto say "He's still breathing…" Which was never bad to hear. But Undyne...
"I-I can check on the fish-lady…I'm a doctor." Doofenshmirtz shielded his face as jogged to the back of the stage.
A moment passed until I heard a voice. "Get off me, punk!"
"Don't worry guys, she's alive!" I heard Doofenshmirtz shout back to us, as he followed Undyne off the stage to regroup with us.
It was certainly a relief. I remembered Undyne being a very strong character in her game, but to withstand a real world explosion? That was something else. Maybe monsters were just that tough in general...
Chance, however, wasn't doing so well.
"He's breathing, but barely conscious…." Naoto stated. "A concussion, most likely..."
"What do we do?" Tails asked, just as stressed as we were.
"Not like we can call an ambulance around here…" Dandy muttered..
"No kidding, we don't even have our things…" Nick added.
"Oh he'll be fine!" A terribly familiar voice resounded from the stage again.
"Oh God…."
"There's more of them?!"
"Are you fucking shitting me?"
Monokuma ignored our comments. "A small explosion like that, he'll be back up in no time!" The bear then stuck out his claws. "But that was just a warning, you hear? I won'tbe so lenient on rule-breaking from now..."
No-one said anything to object, not even Undyne. If this guy, this freak had explosives and god knows what, while we had nothing to defend ourselves, we couldn't afford to argue.
"Now, since you're all so anxious , I'll explain things a little more, because I'm nice." The bear actually fucking winked at us. "This building right here, is only part of a HUGE city that was built, just for you guys! Isn't it great?"
"B-but why?" Dib asked. "Why go to all that effort for a bunch of people you've just kidnapped?"
" Kidnapped ?! Oh no, you've got it all wrong!" Our captor held his paws up in defence. "You're not hostages, you're guests, valued residents in fact! Voluntarily placed as a part of the Multiple Dimension Co-operation Initiative (MDCI)!"
"Multiple Dimension Co-operation Initiative?" Naoto questioned.
"Well duh, you're all obviously from different dimensions! Didn't you figure that one out by yourselves?" Monokuma was getting steadily frustrated.
"Sure, but what's the point of all this?" Ramona folded her arms. "And why are we being held against our will for it?"
"Against your will? Did I say you couldn't leave?" Monokuma looked genuinely confused for a moment. "You guys can leave whenever you want!"
"Really? How?" Tails had a tinge of naive hope in his voice. Too bad there was obviously a catch.
"Simple. All you gotta do is kill someone else here and get away with it, then you can go home!"
The bluntness of that statement left a silence hanging in the air.
Somehow, I broke the silence. "What?"
Monokuma huffed. "Well, I obviously can't allow a murderer to stay in the city, that'd ruin my reputation!"
I couldn't believe this, none of us could. Was that the reason why we were put here? Some sick freak wanted us to fight to the death?
"You're...you're kidding, right?" Nick shook his head. "You really expect us to do something like that?"
Monokuma shrugged. "Hey, if it happens, it happens-just letting you know that's the only way out. Dem's the rules! Oh but there's more to it than that, obviously!"
"More?" Natasha sounded way less calm than before.
"Of course! When someone gets murdered, the murderer becomes blackened, and they're allowed to leave, unless they get discovered. If that happens, they get executed! It's in Rule #6 of the regulations, didn't you read that? Or were you too busy checking yourselves out...?" The bear giggled to itself.
"So...you want us to commit murder, and get away with it?" Naoto, somehow, was actually going with this bullshit...
"Yep! But don't worry, we can't make it THAT easy for the killer-that's why we have a City Trial!"
"A city trial?" Max repeated. "What, like those sappy legal dramas on TV?"
"Only way more thrilling!" Monokuma replied.
Rocket gave the bear a fierce stare. "Go to hell, we can find our own way out!"
"Puhuhuhu...you're welcome to try!" The bear snickered. "But even if you could escape by yourselves (which you definitely can't), even if I let you escape by yourselves (which I definitely won't), what would you expect to find on the outside?"
When no response came, the bear laughed again. "Exactly, you don't know ! How could you?"
"So the only way home is murder…" I heard myself say. Never had I felt so hopeless saying anything before that realization.
"That sums it up, kid! Now that we're clear on that, can I move on?"
Monokuma coughed before continuing. "Upstairs you'll find an elevator leading to a couple of rooms, including your own accommodations, courtesy of myself! Your keys and other essentials are inside, so totally check it out!"
Our own rooms? How far did this asshole think through all this?
"Other than that, you are free to roam the entirety of this building tomorrow, get to know each other more, plan a murder...I don't care! Just read the regulations in your handbook, ok?" It winked at us again, the bastard. "Until then, see you all tomorrow morning!"
And just like that, Monokuma disappeared behind the pedestal.
"Fucking psycho…" Ellie spat. "I...this can't be real! Why is this fucking real?!"
There wasn't an answer to that.
"So...what do we do?" I asked, not expecting an agreeable answer.
"I think...we should look at the regulations before taking any further actions..." Naoto pulled out her E-Handbook.
"What's the point? That's not gonna get us out of here!" Dib shouted, clearly in panic.
"Yeah, rules are boring anyways! I WON'T BE A SLAVE TO SOCIETY, DAMMIT!" Max roared.
"Well, if it helps us not piss off our kidnapper, I think we should try it..." Nick spoke tensely.
Naoto nodded. "In our position, we lose nothing by understanding our kidnapper's rules, especially if we are too defenseless to defy him at this moment."
Nobody could argue with that, really, so we all took out our handbooks and browsed the Regulations section.
These were the rules:
Rule 1: Residents may only reside and explore within city boundaries, which may change at the choice of its Mayor.
Rule 2: "Nighttime" will occur from 10 pm to 7 am. The following areas are off limits during nighttime: Dining Hall, Foyer/Stage Room.
Rule 3: Sleeping anywhere outside a bedroom is prohibited and will be punished accordingly.
Rule 4: City duties are assigned to each individual via their E-Handbooks, failure to complete a duty by the end of the day will result in punishment of the individual.
Rule 5: Violence against Mayor Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction/littering of any property (without permission).
Rule 6: Anyone who kills a fellow resident becomes "blackened" and will be allowed to leave if they are not exposed during the City Trial.
Rule 7: If the blackened is exposed by the end of the City Trial, they alone are executed. However, if they are not exposed, the remaining residents will be executed-and the blackened will be pardoned for their crime and returned home.
Final Rule: Additional city rules may be added at the Mayor's discretion.
Just after I finished reading, Ramona suddenly spoke up. "Crap, guys-isn't it nearly 10pm?"
She was right-a nearby clock read it was 9:30pm.
"Then we must move quickly…" Naoto looked to Chance, who was still unconscious. "We'll need to move him to his room, or he'll violate regulations…We'll need two people, our strongest, to carry him..."
I didn't have the upper body strength to helpfully volunteer, but we had Undyne, who was more than qualified in terms of strength, and Dandy, who seemed eager to impress, even under the dire circumstances. We made our way out of the stage room, finding the stairs and making our way up.
When we reached the top, we found two elevators, already open. I happened to be one of the first people already there, so I went inside an elevator to check it out.. There were a row of buttons, of course; but each button had four of our names, two labelled on each side. Hang on, I took a picture with the E-Handbook's camera. Let me show you the list of rooms, Top floor to Bottom:
Penthouse
Miles P Undyne Chance F Tuuri H
Natasha R Max Ramona F Space D
Jackson W Nick W Rocket R Ellie
Makise K Heinz D Naoto S Dib M
-Dining Hall/Kitchen
-Recreational Room
-Foyer/Stage Room
Now that I've just noticed it, it's strange that there was a major gap between the Dining Hall and Residential Rooms, does that mean our rooms were purposely placed on the upper levels? What was the point of that?
Well, it didn't cross my mind at the time, as I called everyone over. "Hey, they've got our room floors here!"
There was just enough room for eight people to fit in one elevator, conveniently. I couldn't have been a coincidence, not at this point, but did it really matter anyway?
It didn't take long for us to figure out who would go where. Undyne and Dandy took one elevator with Chance, and were joined by Miles, Tuuri, Natasha, Max, and Ramona. The rest of us, myself, Nick, Rocket, Ellie, Makise, Heinz, Naoto and Dib took the other elevator. It was the most efficient way to get everyone to their rooms, since it couldn't hurt to spare us some time.
Before our two groups went our separate ways, Naoto made a point for us to meet up tomorrow morning at the dining hall, to talk about our next actions, which gave me some hope. I could only wonder if Chance was gonna pull through the next morning. Monokuma said he would, but did that assure me? Fuck no, freaking psycho probably would say that just to mess with us, how fucked up would that be? No, I shouldn't think about that, that's not going to calm me down.
The elevator ride up was certainly as awkward as they came-nobody spoke for the duration of what seemed like a long couple of minutes. Even after four of us, those on the first floor left, I was still left in an elevator with a talking raccoon, a fox, and a pissed off teenage girl. It was like a set up to a really interesting joke, but I didn't want to bring that up at all.
When the doors opened to our floor, we found ourselves at the end of a short hallway, two rooms each to our left and right. I found my name on the second door down to the left, which happened to be the room next to Nick's. I dunno why I felt the need to mention that, but there you go-a talking fox from a fictional kids movie is my next door neighbor.
Jesus Christ….
I opened the unlocked door to my room, and looked around. It was….actually pretty adequate. There was a king sized bed taking up a good deal of room, drawers beside it and a desk on the other side of the room. Hell, there was even a walk in bathroom with a shower here! Everything from the floor to the wallpaper. It was a typical high rise apartment, which nearly made me forget I was being held captive.
I also noticed a slide door leading to a balcony, so I figured I'd step outside for some fresh air. It was nice, but I made the terrible mistake of looking down, which made me swear like hell. There was a massive drop to the ground, so great that I could barely make out the other buildings surrounding the bottom, I'm not kidding. Who the hell has the resources to build a place of this height? This is like the goddamn Burj Khalifa in Dubai, seriously! I wasn't even afraid of heights, but staring down the urban abyss made me uncomfortable-vertigo, they would call it. Reminds me of that U2 song, not that you needed to know that.
Slowly going back inside, I noticed a key at the head of my bed, on a pillow. I took it, and after a second of thought, locked the front door to my room. The idea of killing someone to escape was still on my mind-it was something I'd never do, but I didn't want to take any chances with everyone else. Even if I did kinda know them, you never know…
I'm just being paranoid, aren't I? Maybe? I hope so...Jesus, I really hope so.
But anyway, that's about all the events leading up to right now, so I don't really know what else to say. God, what can I say? Is this really real, or my mind playing a convolutionally twisted dream in my head? Would I really be using words like 'convolutionally' if I was asleep? Fuck, I just don't know….
Either way, I gotta get some sleep, if that's possible. I'll write some more when I can, but until then, that's all I really have to say.
-JW
Surviving Residents:
16
Rocket/Subject 89P13
Ultimate Escape Convict
Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth 1999999)
Age: Unknown to most.
Height: 1.22m
Status: Alive
A gun-loving escapist with a troubled creation, and an arsenal to match his bark.
Intelligent, Determined, Resourceful.
Short-tempered, Defensive, Unsociable.
Max
Ultimate Freelance Sidekick
Universe: (Sam & Max)
Age: Unknown, believed to be mid-twenties.
Height: 1.10m (top of head), 1.40m (top of ears)
Status: Alive
A sociopathic, yet loveable lagomorph, and half of the Freelance Police.
Loyal, Joyful, Energised.
Unfocused, Impulsive, Psychotic.
Chance Furlong
Ultimate Vigilante Pilot
Universe: (Swat Kats)
Age: Mid-Twenties
Height: 1.77m
Status: Alive
A former veteran of Megakat City's Enforcers, a skilled pilot and unfearing vigilante.
Decisive, Fearless, Hardened.
Frustrated, Emotional, Prideful.
Undyne
Ultimate Warrior
Universe: (Undertale)
Age: 250 Monster Years
Height: 1.65m
Status: Alive
A monster that used to live Underground, with fierce fighting skills and determination.
Passionate, Unfearful, Forward.
Tactless, Brutish, Unaware.
Dib Membrane
Ultimate Paranormal Investigator
Universe: (Invader Zim)
Age: 11 Years
Height: 1.35m
Status: Alive
A pre-teen with a knack for the paranormal, and a history of feuding with invading aliens.
Precocious, Strong-willed, Cautious.
Paranoid, Unapproachable, Obsessed.
Makise Kurisu
Ultimate Prodigal Scientist
Universe: (Steins;Gate)
Age: 19 Years
Height 1.60m
Status: Alive
A young genius in her field of neurology, and a member of the Future Gadget Lab.
Mature, Bright, Collected.
Isolated, Shy, Stressed.
Tuuri Hotakainen
Ultimate Scholar
Universe: (Stand Still, Stay Silent)
Age: 21 Years
Height: 1.57m
Status: Alive
An adventurous lady with the desire to learn, particularly about the unknown world.
Bookish, Eager, Optimistic.
Pushover, Impressionable, Quiet.
Dr Heinz Doofenshmirtz
Ultimate 'Evil' Scientist
Universe: (Phineas and Ferb)
Age: 47 Years
Height: 1.82m
Status: Alive
A mad inventor seeking for tri-state power, and arch nemesis of Danville's top O.W.C.A agent.
Inventive, Self-Aware, Persistent
Clumsy, Over-Eccentric, Tormented.
Nicholas "Nick" Piberius Wilde
Ultimate Justice Conman
Universe: (Zootopia)
Age: 22 Years
Height 1.22m
Status: Alive
A former con-artist predator turned police officer, says it all in the title, really.
Cunning, Charismatic, Opinionated.
Cynical, Cocky, Sensitive.
Ellie
Ultimate Survivor
Universe: (The Last of Us)
Age: 14 Years
Height: 1.60m
Status: Alive
A hardcore survivor of a devastating plague, and mature beyond her years.
Tough, Reasonable, Valiant.
Rude, Childish, Insecure.
Miles "Tails" Prower
Ultimate Aviation Engineer
Universe: (Sonic the Hedgehog)
Age: 8 Years
Height: 0.80m
Status: Alive
A loyal friend and sidekick to an iconic hero of Morbius.
Helpful, Smart, Modest.
Naive, Malleable, Weak.
Ramona Flowers
Ultimate Girlfriend
Universe: (Scott Pilgrim vs The World)
Age: 24 Years
Height: 1.75m
Status: Alive
A ex-American delivery girl, and partner of a kick-ass derp of a protagonist.
Independent, Humorous, Capable.
Intrusive, Sarcastic, Uncommitted.
Naoto Shirogane
Ultimate Detective
Universe: (Persona 4)
Age: 17 years
Height: 1.52m
Status: Alive
A key member of the Inaba Investigation team, hails from a long line of legendary investigators.
Analytical, Thoughtful, Composed.
Cold, Guarded, Unsure.
Natasha Romanova/Black Widow
Ultimate Agent
Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth 1999999)
Age: 31 years
Height: 1.6m
Status: Alive
A graceful yet deadly woman, fitting of her profession and abilities.
Skilled, Beautiful, Fearless.
Distrusting, Secretive, Apathetic.
Space Dandy
Ultimate Alien Hunter, Baby
Universe: (Space Dandy)
Age: Late Twenties
Height: 1.76m
Status: Alive
A Terran who specializes on going with the flow, if nothing else.
Dandy, Relaxed, Confident.
Arrogant, Uninformed, Uncaring.
Jackson Walles:
Ultimate Fanboy
Universe: (Earth 200000)
Age: 19 years
Height: 1.71m
Status: Alive
A kid out of high school, with no claim to fame, but a lot of ideas.
Rounded, Opinionated, Resourceful.
Average, Unimportant, Boring.