Chapter 6: Awaken, City of Hope! Part 5 (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
"I could really go for a chocolate shake about now…" Killua says as he crushes a robotic equivalent to a heart with his right hand.
Miles's stomach rumbles like how his Spidey-Sense goes off, "Want a burger myself, honestly. Let's hit up Na-Egg-i Diner after this, man."
Killua wipes off a bit of drool from his mouth, "Good idea, better let everyone else know, now that Ai's safe. Speaking of, she did pretty well with her idol stuff."
"Right?! Wish I could have been there to see it, but I did not expect that ending! Autotune and lasers? She could put on a whole show by herself with a fork and an outlet!"
"Without context, that sounds a lot more dark dude." Killua says with a blank expression.
"Hoo, my bad." Miles realizes the mistake in his last sentence.
Killua looks at the amount of electric billboards left running, only a handful have been shut down and yet there's no sign of the city's power source. He heavily sighs.
"Dinner is going to have to wait if we don't figure out where that damn power source is…" Killua grumbles.
Miles lands next to him, "It's gotta be around here somewhere, how about we see which area the bots are most defensive around?"
"Good thinking, if there's more of them around a specific point, it has to be important. You got an idea?" Killua asks.
"You still have juice in the tank?" He responds with a question of his own.
"Just a bit, why?"
"I need a bit of a distraction while I sneak into the area they're guarding, I'll let you know if it's right so you can come in too."
"Eh, as long as you don't take a while…" Killua activates his godspeed and heads toward the spot with the most Monokumas.
"Come on Miles… Come on Spider-Man!" Miles hypes himself up before taking a deep breath and turning invisible.
"Ha! Tch, ha!" Killua dashes around, leading the crowd of robot bears away and knocking back a few that come too close.
However, one Monokuma is there. It sees something moving up the side of the electric billboard and zooms in. If it was nighttime, the camouflage could have been flawless, yet it's merely evening. Miles opens up and crawls through a small hole he makes in the building.
When he lands he finds… something very interesting. A small computer area, tons of wires and fuse boxes everywhere. At the center of the room however, was two large glass containers with wires plugged into them. One was empty while the other contained...
"Uh, hey Killua, I think I found it but… I'm not sure." Miles used his earpiece to contact his ally.
"What do you mean 'not sure'?" Killua replies.
Miles senses something, so he shoots a gadget into a nearby fuse box, "Well… it's a yellow diamond. And there's an empty pod next to it, meaning that there's probably another diamond in the city too. Can you come get a look at this?"
"Right away, but I just counted up the Monokumas following me and it looks like I'm missing one. Can you take care of it?"
Miles activated the remote mine he attached to the fusebox, and it shorted out the approaching Monokuma, "Already have."
"Nice one." Killua complimented.
"The walls, they're coming down!" Shuichi points to the now revealed Monocity.
"Hina, send a report for reinforcements, I expect to see Monokuma units all around this place." Byakuya tells the swimmer girl.
"You got it!" She gives him a thumbs up.
"The survivors have succeeded in their tasks, now let us locate and recruit them into our forces. We shall drag Shirogane straight into Pandemonium!" Gundham exclaims as he makes his way into the city, his Dark Devas in tow.
"He just can't drop the 'dark lord' act, can he?" Mahiru squeezes the bridge between her eyes.
"Nope. But I feel like it wouldn't be Gundham if he didn't do it." Hajime scratched the back of his head.
"Yes! We shall unleash a force of mystical power that will bring her to her knees!" Himiko chimed in as she walked by Gundham's side.
Maki rolled her eyes, "Dear god, it's spreading… Hey Komaeda, why are you staring off into space like that? We should get going."
Nagito just chuckled to himself, "For our survivors to have pulled this off, they must have extraordinary abilities themselves. How truly wonderful…"
Ai's POV
*Munch munch, chew chew, nom nom nom nom*
The sound of all of us eating was noisy, but we all were too hungry to care very much. I'm glad I don't gain much weight, another perk of being a zombie, but even then I didn't like consuming carbs. My meal was just a large burger and a shake, with tempura green beans.
"It's so good to have the gang together again. And that we can chow down, even without the power on! Thanks Pibu." Gold says before stuffing fries into his mouth, handing a few to Pibu and his other Pokémon (who were given food items specifically made for them, mostly sweets and berries).
"I mean, excluding Shirogane Kaiba, there were 9 other people when we first ate here. Really makes ya think about how far we've come, right?" Ryuji lowers his head a bit as he chews on a hotdog.
"Right, and seeing them back there inside the school building… I really hope we can save them. Then we can all eat together somewhere away from this city!" Emma stood up, milkshake straw in her mouth.
"Sounds like a plan." I hear someone say coming from the door, and Killua walks in along with Miles.
"W-Whoa?! How are you…" Gold stumbled back as he spotted him, we were both kept out of the loop.
I immediately stood up and hugged the boy, "I really have so many questions on my mind right now, but I'm just glad you're okay."
"Heh, good to see that I was right about you. Now let's eat while I explain everything." Killua tells me as he reciprocates the hug.
Everyone told me (and Gold) all that we missed, the hidden weapons room and lab in the school building, Shirogane's plan to plunge everyone who died into despair and control them, and what Miles put on the table.
"This thing is what she was using to power the city, and there's gotta be a second one. That empty container is proof of that." Miles explained.
I inspected the shining jewel from every angle, "For a city this large, this diamond must have a lot of energy stored inside. And the fact that Shirogane has another one…"
"It means that she is using that one for another purpose, for what that is, no idea." Killua shrugs as he slurps his shake.
"Gotta be some kind of machine, a weapon?" Gold tilts his head.
"My intuition is telling me it's something much more dangerous than that. Emma, what do you think?" Ishigami asks her.
Emma puts a finger to her chin as she holds up the yellow diamond.
"Hm… I'm thinking about something Shirogane said back there at the execution." She says to us.
"Uh, which part? Her words pissed me off, so I didn't want to listen." Ryuji finishes his hot dog in three bites.
"What she said about the killing game starting over…" Emma recalls.
"And you all should know that this killing game WILL restart with some new faces."
"New faces… hold on, she had to have brought us to this city somehow…" A lightbulb turns on in Ishigami's head.
"Restarting with new faces means that she'd have to go to other worlds…" Killua realizes this too.
Miles's eyes widen as he remembers Kingpin's Super Collider, which he brought up after the end of the first trial.
"She must be using the other diamond to power the machine that brought us here! Planning to escape and make other killing games!" Emma hit her left palm with the bottom of her right fist.
She's right, Tsumugi did mention that she wanted to start over after she broke her own rules. A new game requires new players, meaning that she'd try to get out of here to gather more.
We have to stop her, but… we need to find her first.
"Holy shit… I don't want anyone else to go through hell like us!" Ryuji banged his fist on the table.
Killua nodded, "Same here, we need to find her quickly. That machine could also break down reality or something if it malfunctions, and with only ONE of these gems in her possession…"
"Ugh, this sounds way too familiar for my taste. But how are we gonna find her anyways? The city is huge and we don't know how long we have until she activates it! We're gonna need a lot more hands on deck." Miles leaned back in his booth.
"Unless you want to take a chance with the pod people, we have no other options." Killua shrugged.
I then heard some unfamiliar voices coming from outside the diner.
"Be wary of your surroundings, it may take one whole earth day in order to locate our survivors…" A voice that sounded like it was trying too hard to be sinister.
"Or… they could be right here." A young man in black with dark blue hair opened the door.
"Uh… yo." Ishigami waved to the incoming group.
"S'up?" Gold greeted them.
They all walked in and the diner was just as full as it was as the beginning of the killing game. Are these the people who were outside of the city walls? Then the guy with the dark clothing and scarf must be…
"Gundham Tanaka, I presume?" I approached him as he fed his hamsters.
"You know my identity? No mere mortal could determine something like that so easily, you must be a creature of the night in disguise…"
I mean… he's not wrong, but I feel a bit insulted.
"I do know because we were the ones who sent the letters, nice to see you again Maga-Z." I wave to the little hamster on his shoulder with the chipped ear.
"Ah… then your name must be…" I shook my head before Gundham could say it.
"No, I'm not her. She's not around… anymore, it's… complicated."
We explained the situation to the newcomers in a way that was simple, yet summarized quite a bit.
The camera girl that Tsumugi turned into, Mahiru, sighed in relief, "Well thank goodness your friends are not 100% gone just yet."
"Yeah, but even then it's probably not likely that we'll be able to help them anytime soon." Ishigami sulked in his corner.
"You say that, but the three of us actually went through the same thing and made it out alright." The spiky haired young man, named Hajime pointed to himself, Mahiru, Gundham and the wavy haired Nagito.
The latter had some words for us, "That's right, with just enough luck, and an extraordinary amount of hope. Although the talents Hajime used to bring us back was a strong factor, it was hope to see us all together that brought us back. Even if there's a small possibility, you can still put faith in it. Oh, my apologies for saying something so cheesy."
"Future Foundation will also assist with preserving your companions until we find a way to reverse the effects of the mind control. I'm glad we didn't have to round any of them up this time, instead having them all in one place." Byakuya Togami, the man who asked us to take pictures of the city, said to me.
"Thank you for the offer, I think it would be wise to evacuate them now before things get worse." I bowed my head to them.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to give you another offer." Shuichi, the detective, stood up next.
"Uh, go ahead Emo Boy." Gold allows him to speak.
"E-Emo… never mind. You said that you didn't know where Tsumugi could be, perhaps we could go search for her while you all rest up. You've all been through a lot so…"
Emma immediately stands up, "We couldn't possibly let you do this, not without us!"
Miles chuckles, "She's right, it's our fight too. Can't just let Shirogane go after what she did, we have to make her pay. You have to let us make her pay!"
"I'm all for working together, but I'm not staying on the sidelines for a fight like this." Killua smirked.
Maki, the girl with a familiar voice and long pigtails, said "You all want to die? Didn't you just face waves of Monokumas and just barely scrape by?"
Ryuji grinned, "Nah, I ain't tired yet. Plus there's a bunch of weapons in the armory that I haven't tried out yet. There's this hammer based on Thor's and—"
"Eh, I could use a break myself after all that running, fighting, and being beat up by robot bears. I mean, I'm lucky to have survived the entire game." Ishigami stated.
"Oh no you don't, it's your fight too. Plus I saw some things in your weapon section that could be useful, perfect for you being away from the battlefield as well." Emma pulls on his hair.
"Whatever the case, are you truly sure?" Shuichi asks.
I turn to my companions, the six others who have survived this killing game with me. Throughout all the pain, the sadness, we kept going. Why should we stop now when we're so close to ending it?
"We are. Now let's prepare for the final confrontation, everyone."
"Splendid! Lead your forces into the war alongside our own, and we shall topple Shirogane's empire! We shall make her shiver with fear…" Gundham's hand trembled while saying that.
"R-Right, last chance to walk away, anyone?" I turn to my friends.
"Nope!" Emma looked determined.
"Hell no, let's go!" Ryuji pumped his fist in the air.
Gold spun his pool cue around, almost hitting Mahiru and Maki, "Not backing down now!"
Miles pulled down his mask, "With great power, comes a great beatdown for Shirogane."
"Maybe once my arm is properly treated…" Ishigami clutched his injured arm, maybe we shouldn't just drag him in…
Killua just simply nodded and smiled at me, "Looks like all hands are on deck."
I pocketed the yellow diamond into my shirt pocket, I need to find a better place to hide it. I then turned to Miles to ask him a quick question.
"Do you have any good music to listen to while we get ready?"
(Insert Song: What's Up Danger by Black Caviar and Blackway - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)
Two-thousand on thermometers
Two-thousand surroundin' us
Travel two-thousand kilometers
To hang out with us
What's up, danger? (Danger)
What's up, danger? (Danger)
"Look here, this, uh, laptop does more than just take funds. It can launch explosives and some gun turrets as well." Emma points out to Ishigami as he brings up his weapon screen.
"Hopefully I'll know how to aim this stuff, but I have played a few games like this before. Engineer seemed kinda cool." Ishigami studied his arsenal.
Ayy, gettin' old, they doubted us
Makes it that more marvelous
Sign 'em up, 'cause I'm in this vibe and I get synonymous
What's up, danger?
Ayy, don't be a stranger
Ryuji grabbed the hammer he mentioned, as well as an impressive looking shotgun.
"This fucking rocks." He says with a big grin on his face.
"Got that right, pal." Gold tied bandanas to the heads of his Pokémon, while also packing healing items for them in his bag.
'Cause I like high chances that I might lose (lose)
I like it all on the edge just like you, ayy
I like tall buildings so I can leap off of 'em
I go hard wit' it no matter how dark it is
"How about a game, Emma? First one to get hit by a Monokuma loses." Killua turns to her.
"Like a game of tag? You definitely don't want to challenge me in that heh." She gave him a smug smile in response as she gathered bullets and arrows for her weapons.
I'm insane but on my toes
I could keep the world balanced on my nose
I had a slumber party wit' all my foes
Now I wear 'em like a badge of honor all my clothes
If I'm crazy, I'm on my own
If I'm waitin', it's on my throne
If I sound lazy, just ignore my tone
'Cause I'm always gonna answer when you call my phone
Like, what's up, danger? (Danger)
Like, what's up, danger? (Danger)
D-don't be a stranger
What's up, danger?
"Whoa… nice looking suit, Miles!" Emma complimented.
"Some damn good shine to it too, (whistles)." Ryuji looks over it.
"That's nothing, check it." Miles turned around and large metallic spider-like legs came out of it.
"Jeez! Definitely superior to your other suits." Ishigami stumbles back after seeing the legs.
"Not really, but it's close to being the ultimate one. How about you, Ai?"
Two-hundred miles-per-hour wit' a blindfold on (on)
Mama always askin', "Where did I go wrong?" (wrong)
What's up, danger?
Ah, what's up, danger?
I look ahead at the contents in my section of the armory. Metal baguette shaped batons, spare bandages, earpieces to contact the others, and a sentai suit. I believe I wore this suit for the cover for a cd of our song Adabana Necromancy.
It's like a blue tracksuit, with a skirt, white tennis shoes and a white helmet with a z on it. If I'm heading into battle, I better wear it, despite how it looks kind of silly…
"Looking good, Ai." Miles said.
"Really? Mine isn't nearly as creative or powerful as yours I assume…" I replied.
Gold then chimed in, "It suits ya pretty well! Fits perfectly since you're not very bust— OW!"
I bonked him lightly on the head with one of the baguettes, which even then would hurt, "You mind saying that again?".
"S-Sorry ma-am!" He clutches his head in fear.
We met back up with Gundham, Shuichi, and the others and handed them earpieces so that we could contact them. Right before heading to the top of a building overlooking the entire city.
"Are you ready to fly?" Gold asked as he gripped two of his Pokéballs excitedly.
"No no no no, I am not ready to fly." Ishigami was paralyzed with fear.
"We'll be fine, right?" Emma reassured him as she looked at Killua who shrugged.
"You better not drop me, Morales, ya hear me?" Ryuji says to him.
Miles laughed a bit, "Of course. It's your call now, leader."
I took a deep breath in, the wind blowing through my hair as I overlooked the city. It's nighttime now, the lights are all shining brightly, like the stars above us.
"Let's take that leap of faith now, shall we?" I told everyone as I put on my helmet.
Like, what's up, danger? (Danger)
Like, what's up, danger?
We all hopped off the building at once, falling faster and faster towards the concrete ground. Right as we're a couple feet above…
Like, what's up, danger?
Miles swings with Ryuji on his arm, Gold releases both of his flying Pokémon, with me hanging onto his pool cue on "Tibo", Emma and Ishigami are riding on Togebo, and Killua is hopping off the buildings with ease, breaking windows with each jump.
Can't stop me now
I said, "I got you now"
I'm right here at your door
I won't leave, I want more
What's up, danger?
Yeah, what's up, danger?
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Miles shouted as he swung upwards.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Ishigami screamed as he and Emma went for a nosedive.
Can't stop me now, yeah
I said, "I got you now"
Come on, what's up, danger?
Come on, I said, "What's up, danger?"
We crossed the many buildings with ease, as we crossed many of the city sights we have seen before. Our final battle is about to begin, and we're prepared for whatever happens next.
It's your move, Shirogane. Try not to miss your shots.
I can actually picture that last scene being animated. I wish this could be animated, but alas, it is what it is. Although I am getting art commissions based on the story that I'll link to once they're done. I think there's… two parts left? Maybe? I'll include the epilogue and post credits scenes in the last chapter too. No idea when I'll be done, but hopefully by the end of this year! See you all next time!