Chapter 6: Awaken, City of Hope! Part 4 (Deadly Life)
Remaining Citizens: 7
Ai Mizuno (Zombie Land Saga): Ultimate (Zombie) Idol
Ryuji Sakamoto (Persona 5): Ultimate Track Star
Emma (The Promised Neverland): Ultimate Moral Compass
Gold (Pokémon Adventures/Pokémon Special): Ultimate Hatcher
Miles Morales (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse): Ultimate Successor
Yu Ishigami (Kaguya-sama: Love Is War): Ultimate Pessimist
Killua Zoldyck (Hunter X Hunter): Ultimate Assassin
Danganronpa Cast:
Gundham Tanaka
Byakuya Togami
Aoi Asahina
Hajime Hinata
Mahiru Koizumi
Nagito Komaeda
Shuichi Saihara
Himiko Yumeno
Maki Harukawa
Third-Person POV
"Almost to the subway, Ishigami pick up the… pace." Ryuji called out to him as Ishigami caught up with him quickly, "Huh… didn't expect that.".
Emma looked a bit confused too, "You're more athletic than I thought!"
Ishigami shrugged his shoulders, "Oh yeah, didn't tell you guys that I'm the fastest on my track team."
Ryuji's eyes were wide, "For real?! You run track?! I thought you were just a treasurer! Man, you should have told me and we could have trained together!"
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't think of doing laps when I'm stuck in a death game. How silly of me." Ishigami sarcastically replies.
The two of them, along with Emma hop into an open subway car.
"Come on, man. It could have at least been a distraction from all the crap that was going on. We all could have had a race!" Ryuji bats off a Monokuma coming through.
"How thrilling. Also, your robot thing." Ishigami pointed at Captain Kidd, who was stuck in between the automatic doors.
"Oh crap!" Ryuji presses a button on his mask and commands the mech to use Lunge.
The robot skeleton pirate charges into the subway car (a sentence I never thought I'd end up writing), making a large hole in the doorway. The train starts moving and everyone falls down into their seats, exhausted.
"Ha ha… and we've still got a big fight ahead of us." Emma tiredly laughs.
"Man I wish there were savepoints around here, I'd even take some weird looking one." Ishigami wipes sweat from his forehead.
Suddenly a training potty shaped like a Monokuma duck gets thrown through the window.
"Ok not that weird." Ishigami raised an eyebrow at the object.
Ryuji then spots another train right next to theirs, within them are Ball Monokumas throwing garbage, "Never mind the kiddie toilet, let's move to the front of the train car!"
"Right! Just avoid the trash and take them down when we have a clear shot." Emma tells them.
"Okay, but how much longer until we reach our stop? They just keep coming and we can't hold them off for long." Ishigami asks.
"Next stop: Pekoyama Station. Directly below Shikiba Diamond Garden." A Monokuma train announcement blares out.
"Looks like we'll be there soon, Ishigami, contact Miles and Killua while we fight the Monokumas." Emma orders him.
Ishigami turns on his earpiece, "You'll be a better shot than me, that's for sure. Ok, it's Yu, Yu Ishigami I mean. Are you two there yet?"
"We're here, but finding out where the city's power source is will be harder than finding a needle in a haystack." Killua answers.
"Yeah, if the haystack had a bunch of killer robot bears scrambling around it." Miles says as he glances over at the crowd below them.
They're beginning to stack themselves up so that they can reach the two of them. They both look unamused as they shock the top of the pile and the electricity spreads to the rest of them.
"Shutting down the power will most likely cease the production of these things, so there'll be no copies left after destroying every one." Killua explains as he looks over the many billboards.
Miles nods, "We should try splitting the work then. I go high, you go low, vamanos."
The two of them bumped fists as they dove off the building they were on. Killua goes for a search on the ground, while Miles chooses to stay above it to check out the billboards themselves. Killua lands on his feet surrounded by a few Monokumas who had managed to escape the little spark the two of them gave.
"You know, I'm glad you all don't talk very much as the main one. It was hard to listen to that voice every day, that I'm glad I was dead for a bit so I could escape it."
Killua's nails sharpen into claws and he goes to town, shredding the machines as if they were made of paper. He delivers a pele kick to the one behind him, before delivering a drop kick to another right into a trash can.
Miles uses his venom powers to shut down one of the billboards and uses his strength to try pulling it down, "Hgggggnh!".
Killua sees what his partner's up to and decides to corral all the Monokumas by making them chase him. It's a good thing that he's so fast, by the time he was under the spot the billboard was gonna fall…
"RAAGH!" Miles lets out as the metal screen is removed from the building and gets affected by gravity.
Killua waves goodbye to the bears and takes a couple steps backwards.
SMAAAAAAAASH!
Computer chips and robot heads are left scattered underneath the rubble.
Killua turns to Miles, "Is it there?".
Miles shakes his head to answer no.
"Ugh, I'm starting to lose some steam. I can't just use my nen forever, so we have to find it soon or else we'll be like salmon to these bears."
Miles gives him a thumbs up as he swings to the next billboard.
Killua sighs, "Man, I hope they manage to rescue Ai soon. I could really use some of that motivation she has right about now."
"Okay guys, you better duck or you'll get hit with this one. Elec Boost, then Mazionga, bam!" Ryuji commands the good Captain to unleash a strong electric move straight at the group of Ball Monokumas.
Emma and Ishigami barely avoid getting touched by the lightning bolts aimed at the opposing side.
"All things considered, this has been an adventure to remember!" Emma smiles.
"I assume that includes the terrible and mentally scarring things we have witnessed. In which case, yes it has been." Ishigami bluntly responds.
"Even though you have changed in good ways, you still act all gloomy, huh?" Emma frowns.
"Hey, it's in my Ultimate title. Better live up to it." Ishigami snarks.
"Now arriving at: Pekoyama Station."
The announcer voice rings out again as the train begins to slow down… and then it keeps moving.
"Uh… it ain't stopping!" Ryuji pointed out.
"Yeah, we noticed. What now?" Ishigami looks ahead at their stop, which they're about to pass.
"We jump."
Ryuji and Ishigami looked at Emma with wide eyes, "What?!".
"Trust me, we all jump out on three through the open door. Ryuji you get your pirate to blast open the side of the train we'll jump out at." Emma orders him.
The train then begins to pick up some speed, if this keeps going then the train is gonna crash.
"O-Okay!" Ryuji commands Captain Kidd to Headbutt the train car until a big hole is created.
"T-This is crazy…" Ishigami shook with slight fear.
Emma clutched his hand tight and looked at him with a reassuring smile and determined eyes. Ishigami gulped as he watched the robot skeleton pirate continue to smash its head into the wall.
"Break through, Captain!" Ryuji shouts.
The hole was created and the three of them grabbed hands and leapt out at once.
The three of them made it to the station.
While Captain Kidd was still inside, due to being too big to fit in through the hole they just made.
"C-Captain!" Ryuji cried out to the replica of his Persona.
"Time to go down with the ship. Continue to wave the flag of rebellion until your fate reaches its conclusion. Farewell." The pirate stated as he gave Ryuji a proud salute.
"... Thank you, for letting me use your power again dude. Love you, man." Ryuji reciprocated the salute tearfully.
Ishigami looked bewildered until Emma softly elbowed him in the chest and the two of them saluted too. Captain Kidd looked towards the end of the line ahead as Ryuji turned him off with his Skull mask. Like closing the eyes of someone who has them wide open as they die.
KABOOM!
Emma approaches Ryuji and hugs him from the back while he sobs. Ishigami walks over to help comfort him as well with a pat on the shoulder.
Ryuji wipes away the tears and takes out one of his strongest weapons, a gun called the Megido Buster. (And yes his weapons are real like Misato's were, instead of being model weapons)
"I'm not gonna lose another friend today, let's go kick Shirogane's ass and get Ai back." Ryuji sniffled.
His friends nodded as the three of them headed up the stairs to the outside stadium entrance...
Ai's POV
I stare ahead at the rows and rows of empty seats surrounding the main stage in the stadium. The stage itself is reminiscent of where I died, the EFS stadium, with one large walkway into the crowd for someone to run out to. For someone who hasn't watched my story the whole way through, Tsumugi managed to match the details right.
I'd be more impressed… if she hadn't hooked me up to this execution machine while hearing a poor creature shriek every minute.
"It's good, right? Though it's a bit empty, as you could see. We should get some butts into these seats." Shirogane said as she approached from behind me.
"I bet you have the best seat in the house, outside of it." My eyebrows furrowed at her.
"Of course, I can't risk getting electrocuted! My clothes will get damaged and I really worked hard on making this outfit for V3. Though the stadium will be sold out soon enough." She holds her hand to her mouth and giggles.
"I'm not interested in performing in front of a crowd of machines." I assumed she just gave every seat to a Monokuma unit.
"Well here's the thing, we actually have a few VIPS in the audience with us. So it's not just the Monokumas here…"
"Huh?" I wondered what she meant by that.
And then I turned around.
Emma, Ryuji, Ishigami.
All three of them are beaten up. They're alive and conscious with no broken limbs, but they could barely move with the Monokumas holding them up.
"Ai…" I hear Emma utter weakly.
"Ugh…" Ishigami's face is covered by his hair, but I can see the pain from him gritting his teeth.
Ryuji manages to get out a smirk, "Heh, looks like we're right on time. Now where is that bitch?"
"Bitch? How rude and vulgar, although I have definitely met worse." Shirogane scoffs at his remark.
Tsumugi walks closer to them and observes all three, "In all honesty, I didn't expect you to make it. Though you've been great with the deadpan snark and sarcasm, which was definitely a good enjoyment factor for our outside audience.", she says to Ishigami.
He remains dead silent.
She approaches Ryuji next, "I thought having both you and Gold in the same game would be problematic, but you both have pleasantly surprised me hee hee. And I see that you've raided the armory, which I'll forgive since I really like your Phantom Thief attire. Made it myself!"
Ryuji grit his teeth.
Emma was last, "Y'know, after thinking about it more, it would have been great to have you as the driving force of the trials instead. Your positivity and belief in hope would have been more interesting than… her."
She looks back at me and I just looked down at my boots, "When I saw that you were leading the trials and got the ahoge too, I was like really? Why her? From what I saw in your own series, you're just a typical hard-working idol girl that just so happened to die young and become a zombie. You even tried to leave and go back to Tokyo at the beginning of the show, I mean you're a zombie for crying out loud!"
I stand there taking her criticisms unphased; she's trying to break my spirit.
"You've basically had normal reactions to what has been going on, and not everyone wants an audience surrogate. You're pretty much if Hajime Hinata was a girl and a zombie. That last part was the only interesting factor in bringing you into this killing game. Also, your character is the reason I stopped watching Zombie Land Saga. Also the CGI, but I could forgive that."
"..." I couldn't fire back at the moment...
"Well, it's been fun to point out character flaws and nitpick, but we better get this concert started. Consider this a front row seat, since you all broke the rules!"
"You're wrong!"
COUNTER
BREAK!
… Since someone else beat me to the punch.
"We broke the rules, yeah, but you broke them first!" Emma lifted her head up and yelled at Tsumugi.
"E-Eh?!"
"That's right lady, you made a dumbass assumption that managed to ruin the whole thing, right from under your nose!" Ryuji teased.
"W-What do you mean by that? Are you just bluffing?!" She was taken aback by their claims.
Meanwhile, I was too. I had no idea what they were all doing while I was stuck to these chains. Aside from Gold, who we haven't seen in a while. Miles as well, what is he up to? I'm just as confused as Shirogane.
"She's not bluffing, because you executed an innocent man in trial 4." Ishigami says with a slight smile on his face, a rare sight.
I then spoke up next, "E-Excuse me? That was… Killua and Trunks's trial, executed an innocent… wait, there was no way to see how Killua died so…"
I tried to piece it together in my head, but Emma decided to explain it instead.
"Killua stabbed himself, rather than having Trunks do it. I know that, because he told us himself."
"HUH?!" Me and Tsumugi let out.
Tsumugi just began to stutter, "T-That should be impossible, even if you managed to find his body he would just…"
"Grab my earpiece and hear for yourself. And trust me, there's no way we could fake it." Emma smiles sinisterly.
"Unless one of us does good impressions. Also put it on speaker." Ishigami tells her as she grabs an earpiece out of Emma's ear.
How did she even get… never mind I'll probably get the answers later.
"Hello?" Tsumugi says into the earpiece.
"You must be the mastermind, your voice is a lot higher than I thought. Thought my ear drums were gonna burst."
No way… it can't really be him, can it?
"I-I-Impossible. How did the upload sequence fail, it should have turned you by now!" She was really getting worked up about this.
"Well, it's because of a little switch that flicked on in my head, if you get what I'm saying… Anyways, my plan has succeeded in more ways than one. You've ruined your own killing game, congratulations!"
It's him, no one else can make someone this angry on purpose.
A smile returns to my face.
But then…
"Tch… start the execution. I'll be in my booth to watch the whole thing. AAAAGGGGGHHHH, I need to see you all despair after what you all did. You're gonna watch your friend be executed, and you're gonna suffer through it! Just how I want you to!" Yup, she's gone a little crazy, although she already was for setting all of this up.
She breaks the earpiece in two and is carried by a flying Monokuma up to her commentator's booth. I looked to see my friends all looking at me with immense worry and fear, but I kept smiling. I simply turned away from them and turned on idol mode.
"Hope you enjoy the show, everyone! This is all for you, so enjoy this performance of our signature song. Mezame Returner!"
"Ai!" I heard them all shout towards me, as the lights turned on along with the holograms of my fellow members.
I gave one more glance at Emma, and then at Pibu, who I gave a smile towards. It's enough for him to smile through the pain he was enduring.
It's showtime.
GAME OVER
AI HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY. TIME FOR THE PUNISHMENT!
My chains have been replaced by puppet strings, and above it a large Monokuma controlling them. Pibu is inside its belly button, struggling to get out. I know the lyrics by heart, so let's do this.
Execution: Shocking Stardom and an Amped-Up Crowd!
Insert Song: Mezame Returner by Franchouchou - (Zombie Land Saga)
Mezame RETURNER negae ba ii n da kiseki, kanjite mitai n da…
Me and the hologram Junko start out the song, and then the others join in.
Mezame RETURNER nozome ba ii n da shigeki, girigiri de hora chōdai daidai daidai daidai…
akogareta no wa itsu no koro no yume? mune no oku ni kakushita sutōrī, iro koku shita tegowai riaru e to, kiechai sō de, I awake in the light!
Bashitto kimetai kono Succeed!
Tomatcha ikenai kono Proceed!
Isshinfuran de iku dōchū!
Yara kai mirai e maishin-chū!
I just continue to let the strings control me as more power is built up. The Monokuma was beginning to lean forward.
Aa mō kore ijō arukenai… son'na koto naideshou hora ne! Furikaette mite guruguru guruguru… guruguru guru!
Hai!
Aiu~isshu!
Ā issho!
Tomoni futtosutanpu!
Anrimiteddona Dreaming!
Ah Ah Ah Ah
hitorijanai!
The giant Monokuma was now above my head and it began to open its mouth, revealing an electric cannon within it.
Mezame RETURNER! Negaeba ī nda!
Kimochi hikari hajimeta nda
Mezame RETURNER! Omoeba ī nda!
Suteki wakuwakuna hodo chō dai dai, dai!
Mezase! Mezase! Saijō! Sairyō!
Kowaimono nado nai! Nai! Nai!
Todoke! Todoke! Atsui kimochi!
I close my eyes as I'm about to finish the first part of the song. I think about the life I lived before dying, the time I've spent after death with Franchouchou, and the experience I went through in this killing game... and it was then that I gave the biggest smile I could at that moment.
Kanaderu Sōru ni… Cut in!
My left arm was suddenly jerked up by the puppet string while I was doing the "cut-in motion", and my finger was pointed to the sky as it did before.
KRAKABOOOOOOOOM!
…
…
...
Third-Person POV
"Why… FUCKING WHY?!" Ryuji cried out in anguish.
Ishigami had tears flowing as he put his head down to hide it.
Emma… had gone mute. Nothing but an empty expression left on her face.
Shirogane hopped on the intercom, "Well everyone, it looks like the rest of the show is cancelled for today. We'll clean up the charred stage and extra crispy idols as soon as you exit! And you all should know that this killing game WILL restart with some new faces."
"Hey Glasses-Lady! It ain't over yet."
"Gold?! How are you here?!" Ryuji looked up to see his friend sitting on top of the giant Monokuma.
"How am I here?! You didn't expect me to come back?! I don't go down that easily!" He shouted at him, annoyed that he assumed he was dead.
"Tch, you're too late anyways, the execution has already happened. Your 'leader' has now been twice fried!" Tsumugi says to him.
"I guess I am late. Maybe I spent too much time watching a little anime… binged the first season and started the first episode of Revenge." Gold scratched the back of his head.
"What… is he talking about?" Ishigami looked to Emma, who was still silent, but had a puzzled expression on her face.
"Although, I feel like I should mention one thing." Gold smirked as Pibu jumped atop his shoulder, "You should have at least seen episode 7 of season 1."
Tsumugi stared at him, annoyed until her expression turned to surprise as the smoke cleared on stage.
BUZZZZZZZZZZAPPPPPP!
Gold pointed down with the smuggest of faces he could muster.
CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE!
Sparks began to fly from a glowing light, as I heard the others audibly gasp at they're witnessing.
And yes I said, "I heard."
Ai's POV
Because I'm still alive.
"Because I'm a zombie." I let out in an auto tuned voice.
"Now it really is party time! Woo-hoo!" Gold hopped off the Monokuma and stood alongside me.
Time to finish the song.
Insert Song: Mezame Returner (Electric Returner Type "R") by Franchouchou - (Zombie Land Saga Revenge)
Aa demo sukoshi, kowai no…
Sonna koto nai kara
Hora ne daijoubu da yo
Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! …Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
Gold took out his team members and gave me a thumbs up.
"Get them!" Shirogane commanded the Monokumas to start a crowd riot.
Mezame DREAMER mune odorun da
Sukoshi mucha na kurai demo iin da
I fire a beam of electricity from my fingers, shocking the Monokumas holding Emma, Ishigami, and Ryuji. They retrieve weapons they were holding and we all go to town on the Monokumas.
Mezame DREAMER tokimekitain da
Yaruki sowasowa na hodo choudai dai, dai!
As the background music keeps building up, I'm releasing more electricity from my glowing body. It's one thing to be immune to lightning, but electronic voices and lasers from my hands? Being undead has some good perks as well. The strings were cut when the bolt struck me, so now I'm just dancing around the stage, shooting up robots.
It's just so satisfying after all this time.
Anrimiteddo na Dreaming!
Aa, aa, aa, aa!
Akiramenai!
The remaining crowd members in the stands are making their way to the stage, but I'm not alone. Emma with a bow, Ishigami with a pistol, Ryuji with a shotgun and hammer, Gold with his entire team of Pokémon.
You're right, Gold, it is like a party.
Mezame RETURNER negaeba iin da
Kiseki kanjite mitain da
Mezame RETURNER nozomeba iin da
Suteki wakuwaku na hodo choudai dai, dai!
The waves upon waves of bears start to lessen and lessen by the second. The holograms are still dancing as well, reminding me of who I need to fight for and why I need to escape.
Negae! negae! saijou! sairyou!
Kanawanai mono wa nai! nai! nai!
Todoke todoke atsui kimochi
Setsuna no souru ni….
I aim my last shot directly at Tsumugi's booth and fire away.
Cut IN!
The song finishes and the Monokumas are all down.
We all strike a finishing group pose right as the music ends.
I then see Shirogane hop atop a flying Monokuma, "UGGHHHH… damn normies! Go backflip onto a landmine and explode, electricity doesn't work like that!"
"Running away, huh? Afraid of a little shock?" I teased her a bit.
"Tch… You'll be sorry after you see my last ace up my sleeve."
She flies away, all of us too exhausted to give chase. I feel like I could pass out standing up, but this isn't over. We've got her cornered, now we need to find out where exactly she's hiding now.
"That was amazing, Ai! She's definitely wrong about you now." Emma gave me a super tight hug.
"A little slip up in the middle, but a super strong finish that helped you recover." Ishigami compliments me.
"That was so awesome how you had lasers coming out of your fingers, makes me kinda want to be a zombie now." Ryuji pumps his fist.
"Trust me, it's a lot more difficult than it seems. Anyways, Gold thanks for—"
"Hey, how are you two doin'?" Gold says as he tries to flirt with the Saki and Junko holograms.
I use the last of my energy to slap him in the face, as everyone else laughed loudly. How I missed this camaraderie.
THIS WAS A BLAST TO WRITE. Seriously I've been waiting all this time to use these ideas, like Gold's Pokémon, Killua's return… it's culminated into a trilogy of hype. It's close to me watching a Smash reveal and the final battle of Avengers Endgame, it's that high of a bar. I hope you all loved this chapter as much as I did, if not that's fine too. See you all next time as the finale is close to its conclusion!