What's up, peeps? This is the Renegade, author of the Danganronpa: Fictional Quadrilogy. And today I'm joined here by…

Ai: "Hello! I'm Ai Mizuno, Franchouchou No. 3 from Zombie Land Saga and protagonist of Fictional Nexus."

Gold: "Yo, it's Gold! The New Bark Town Hero from Pokémon Adventures, and Fictional Nexus!"

Emma: "Hiya, it's Emma from The Promised Neverland and Fictional Nexus"!

Ruby: "Pokémon Contest Extraordinaire, Ruby, from Pokémon Adventures and Fictional Guardians!"

Junko: "Franchouchou No. 4, Junko Konno, from Zombie Land Saga and Fictional Guardians. It's wonderful to be here with you all."

Linhardt: "Zzzzz…."

Uh, can someone please…?

Ai: (sighs as she bonks his head with a baguette).

Linhardt: Ack! Fine, Linhardt von Hevring, from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Three Hopes, and Fictional Guardians. Are you happy now?"

Yes, I am. Moving on…

Hachiken: "Um… I'm Yūgo Hachiken from Silver Spoon and the protagonist of Fictional Epicenter."

Sayori: "Ehehehe~, hi everyone! I'm Sayori from Doki Doki Literature Club and Fictional Epicenter!"

Saki: "And I'm Saki Nikaido, the badass Franchouchou No. 2 from Zombie Land Saga, as well as Zombie Land Saga REVENGE, and Fictional Epicenter! Nice to have ya!"

Okay! Introductions are outta the way, and we're here to celebrate a little something as a small little gift for fans of these stories.

Ai: "Indeed, it is the 3rd anniversary of Danganronpa: Fictional Nexus. Which also makes it the 3rd anniversary of this entire series!"

Aoba: "Well about a few days late since it was on April 26th, but I guess it's the thought that counts, right?"

Gold: "Go away, you're still dead, y'know!"

Aoba: "At least until another few bonus chapters get made, whenever that could be when the author isn't sitting on his ass instead of writing."

Ai: "I'll take care of him, excuse me for a bit. (pulls Aoba away by his shirt collar)"

Aoba: "Hey, lay off! It was just a joke for self-deprecation purposes!"

Ruby: "Moving on… we're here to give some insight into what made Fictional Nexus how it is today, how the idea came to be and the story decisions made."

Sayori: "We're answering questions too, which will be answered at the beginning of the next Fictional Guardians chapter! Doesn't that sound fun?"

Linhardt: "Not really. This just seems like a cheap way to get more comments/reviews until the next chapter gets made."

Sayori: "Hmph! You're such a meanie…"

Junko: "He's actually much kinder than he seems, although I shouldn't try to spoil anything. My apologies."

It's alright, but before we get started allow me to begin with a quick acknowledgement of a mistake I included in both Fictional Guardians and the end of Fictional Nexus. I originally provided a link to a sound clip for when Tsumugi (and General Tao) were suddenly teleported away, which doesn't always work on certain websites. I'm here to state what the sound clip was for those unable to listen to it: it was the Phantom Ruby sound effect from Sonic Mania/Forces. Those familiar with it might realize who may be on Team Zetsubou's side in future story parts.

Gold: "Enough about that! Let's start talking about our story, the most famous and the one that started this whole shindig!"

Hachiken: "Jeez, no need to compete on which one is better."

Emma: "Yeah! Here we go, it's time to talk about Danganronpa: Fictional Nexus!"

Ai: "So the story began to take form in the wake of both Three Houses Saga and the now defunct fanfiction known as The Gauntlet. Both of which were crossover stories that Renegade made in order to satisfy his need for crossover stories featuring characters he enjoyed the most."

I discovered the Danganronpa series. Through my viewing of various playthroughs, looking up information on the wiki, watching the anime, as well as playing the games themselves via the trilogy on PS4 and later Decadence on Switch, I managed to find a lot of enjoyment in its characters, setting, and themes. This led me into reading up on good fanfics on the series…

Ruby: "And one that caught his eye was Danganronpa: Teenage Wasteland by CleverlyClearly on AO3! A wonderful read if none of you readers have heard of it."

Gold: "A multi-fandom killing game with a diverse cast of characters like Kyon from Haruhi Suzumiya, Osaka from Azumanga Daioh, Napoleon Dynamite, and Shaggy from Scooby Doo? That is DEFINITELY a lineup that would catch someone's attention."

Saki: "Right?! So Renegade browsed through other stories like Hero Killing Semester by Squiped_Mew & Primal Fear by 7th_The_Writer, though he wished for a story that can really get him (and hopefully other people) pumped-up!"

Thus, I decided to make my own crossover killing game. Using FICTIONAL characters from a variety of series' I enjoyed, and bringing them into one singular central location that connects them: a NEXUS if you will.

Emma: "And that's how you got the idea, but how did you choose who was going to be in it?"

Well first off, I automatically decided on including Zombie Land Saga. Like I have mentioned before, Ai is my favorite so—

Aoba: "Ah, shameless favoritism."

Ai: "(Raises her baguette slowly as Aoba backs away) Ugh, still can't stand him. Anyways, he chose me as the protagonist since I'm someone who tends to be the most responsible in a group of dysfunctional people."

Saki: "Got that right, ha! 'Ol Flowerhead here knew how to keep Franchouchou in line, even though I'm supposed to be the leader. Definitely fits what he was looking for, even if he wasn't his favorite."

Junko: "He also chose Ai-san to better reflect her kindness and resilience, something that some critics say that she doesn't show too much of in our own series."

Gold: "Yep, after watching more episodes of the anime, you really are kinda bossy and cold. No offense."

Ai: "Yeah, I could have been less of an obstacle for everyone else in the group. I accept the blame."

It's alright, now we turn our attention to the opposing side of the spectrum, Aoba Kuronuma.

Linhardt: "Oh boy, him."

Looking at the original Trigger Happy Havoc, Goodbye Despair, and Killing Harmony games, they had rivals who would seek to usurp the protagonists. I chose a mix of both Byakuya and Kokichi, someone who would try to win the killing game through intellect and only cared about himself.

Emma: "That sounds like Aoba alright…"

Yup, basically he'd be like if Byakuya never went through his character development or if Kokichi was a lot more malicious than eccentric. Mix that in with the fact that NOBODY truly trusts him and decide to just tie him up like Nagito. Durarara!x2's manipulative bastard suits the role I crafted to a t.

Gold: "After picking the protag and the baddie, we just needed to round out the rest of the gang! The goofballs (Emma, me, and Ryuji), the antisocial crew (Bernadetta, Ishigami, Sucy), the goody two-shoes' (Trunks, Miles, Espio, Shantae, Marty), and the unpredictable wild cards (Killua, Alice, Misato, and Fake Kaiba)!"

Ai: "The 17 member killing game was originally thought up as a way to make it seem big, yet it also made things feel off, as if someone didn't belong in our cast. And sure enough that was Kaiba aka Tsumugi from Danganronpa V3, our first mastermind."

I had to include her since our ongoing title was FICTION after all, although the clues were laid on a lot thicker than they should have been. Her love for Danganronpa was all over the city after all, a setting dedicated to the franchise that she herself would drool over. Inspirations taken from New York and Tokyo, but warped in a way that makes even a large metropolis feel suffocating. Back to Tsumugi though, I did fail to really take advantage of using her, and made her presence a lot less obvious.

Hachiken: "Is that why you decided to switch things up and have Sird reveal herself as the mastermind right away in Epicenter?"

Yeah, I just felt like since she's a lesser known villain in a famous franchise like Pokémon that she should get more attention. Have people see her own form of cruelty, in comparison to the other members of Team Zetsubou. Also sorry for putting you three on hiatus after you just had your first class trial.

Saki: "Eh, no biggie."

Sayori: "Yeah! Focus on one story before heading back to us, it's not like we're not going anywhere."

Hachiken: "Honestly, I'm glad we stopped. I just can't stop thinking about what happened…"

Well, you don't have to think about it for at least a little while, because we'll be quickly diving into the chapters and story beats of Fictional Nexus!

Emma: "The trial of (Fake) Kaiba and Misato wasn't nearly as strong as the trials of other chapters, to be honest. It was only used mainly to get the killing game started, and serve as Tsumugi's escape before we could find out that she was cosplaying. Poor Misato had to be the first sacrifice though…"

Gold: "Well that Gundere probably would have let that temper of hers get her into trouble if she stayed, getting blasted by those weapons ain't helping either."

Sayori: "It's not as heartbreaking as what happened to Marty and Shantae though! A party setup used in Danganronpa 2, an exciting duet of Johnny B. Goode, all to end up with accidental poisoning? I really shed a tear while reading that…"

Junko: "The leadup to it was quite sad as well, with Shantae realizing she had done it and being unable to defend herself. Which leaves Gold and Ryuji to do it for her, meanwhile Aoba spells out the case for them. Made me despise him very much."

Ruby: "That first trial crawled, so this one could run as they say. The next trial's setup though really had me intrigued. Setting Ishigami up, yet having him be quite genre savvy, along with separating the cast and giving Emma the role of protagonist for a while? It even skips over the typical Trial 3 double murder!"

Yeah I'm saving that for another day.

Hachiken: "Wait, wha—"

ANYWAY, Emma really did feel like she fit the bill of replacement if Ai was unavailable. You could even call her a deuteragonist in the story! I also wanted to give attention to the bond between her and Killua, in relation to their bonds with Gon and Ray. They're too great together, aren't they?

Ai: "Speaking of Killua, you decided to use his craftiness to its fullest in Chapter 4. That whole suicide plan with Trunks had to be difficult in both setup and payoff."

Indeed it was. I really had no words after I had posted it, the fact that I killed some great characters who did the crime (somewhat) publically? It really did rock me to my core. It did work out in the end, with Killua coming back, but I did need a big shocker of an ending. No pun intended.

Ai: "Knowing you, it likely is intended. Onto the conclusion of Aoba's story, Chapter 5. Coming off the big reveal of my zombie state, it also needed to feel like a final confrontation between myself and Aoba."

Linhardt: "Although didn't everyone get over the whole zombie thing very quickly?"

Emma: "It was mostly because we know Aoba's a big jerk, so we couldn't believe she was any dangerous like he was."

Gold: "Ishigami did though."

Emma: "He got better."

Saki: "Yo Ai, maybe you shoulda revealed you were a zombie at the start like I did! I mean we got kidnapped into a killing game with other weirdos, so no need to keep hiding it here right?"

Hachiken: "Her experience probably wouldn't be the exact same as yours, Saki…"

Junko: "Indeed, you don't know how these otherworldly people will react. That is why I still need makeup, thanks Ruby."

Ruby: "Anytime, but let's focus on the chapter please?"

Thanks, so the death of both Bernie and Espio, a tragic event that spurs on the whole group to take down Aoba once and for all. No Monokuma File, just them and Aoba with the evidence they collected and the ticket he failed to use properly. Building to a tragic end, since it was all for naught as Aoba would be executed for getting blood on the statue.

Ai: "It was quite the empty victory, was it? All that work to take down someone who had been doing terrible things, and in the end it was pointless…"

Linhardt: "I could laugh at that twist if it weren't for the fact that it involved so much blood, erk…"

Hachiken: "It didn't really make anyone feel too bad for Aoba, but it wasn't really your intention."

It wasn't, just needed to have his plans all crumbling down in the worst way he could imagine. Exactly what he deserved after killing Bernie and Espio.

Sayori: "Let's talk about that finale now, holy broccoli that was intense!"

Gold: "Right? A buncha awesome moments wrapped up in one big package, and I was the one who kicked it off!"

Hacchiken: "By being sneaky and taking back your Pokémon from that hidden classroom, without telling anyone? Thus making things more risky for Killua and Trunks for their plan?"

Gold: "... But you gotta admit that me taking out all my team members and battling the Monokumas was cool, huh?"

Linhardt: "I see that every day now in my fanfiction, nothing special in my eyes."

Gold: "Quiet you. Didn't expect Flower Gal to kick that much butt though."

Ai: "I honestly didn't either. After so much loss in front of me, I just knew I was finished with following these rules. It felt… good."

Same for me while writing it, just banger after banger with the things I had in the finale. Killua's return, Gold's Pokémon reveal, Ai's electric execution, the final confrontation… It tied a nice little bow on this tale.

Sayori: "It was like a roller coaster of emotions, something I really love most when I read any form of literature!"

I feel the same. Ending the story on a high note that brings a smile to my face every time. Now for some mushiness: I truly love Fictional Nexus and I'm glad a lot of people do too. This story is why I wanted to make an entire series of it, even if it takes me forever to finish. Bringing together characters I've enjoyed separately and putting them in situations that help make all of them shine. It's just like how I feel about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all of these elements twisting and turning into a saga that captured my heart. And I want to be able to share that passion and excitement with others. Making this story is one of the highlights of my life, even if that sounds sad and dumb. Write things that you want to read, create things that you want to see, don't be afraid to create a passion project when you can.

Emma: "Aww, that's pretty sweet. Even though it is about a series where we're forced to kill each other."

Saki: "Heh, keep crying ya softie. The ride ain't over yet, and we're just gettin' started!"

Ruby: "We're all very enthusiastic for you all to see what's coming next in the Fictional Quadrilogy."

Ai: "Expect more of what you've seen so far: enjoyable character interactions, surprising twists, and the battle between hope and despair that will keep on going."

Hachiken: "When Fictional Epicenter starts up once more, we'll be sure to provide something to satisfy the killing game itch some of you have."

Junko: "And we appreciate you all supporting the adventures of the Fictional Guardians! Hope you look forward to the next part of the Trinity Trials coming soon!"

Linhardt: "Or… whenever Renegade feels like he doesn't need sleep like I do."

Sayori: "We'll be waiting for any questions or opinions you have on this story or any of the other ones! No pressure if you can't say anything, but Renegade really does love it A TON when you guys comment."

H-Hey… ugh, she's right. Once again, Happy 3rd Anniversary to Danganronpa: Fictional Nexus. See you for Part 4 for The Trinity Trials in Fictional Guardians! And I am very sorry if you don't care for any of this and just want to see that next chapter. I will be sure to get to working on it when I am able to. Thank you everyone! Looking forward to seeing any new comments, this has been the Renegade, farewell!