"I certainly hope you're right about this, Hajime," Peko muttered as she cut her way through another wave of strange colorful creatures.

"Of course Hajime's right! He's the Ultimate Gamer, isn't he?" said Nagito. "You should be more willing to put your hopes in him, Peko."

The party had decided to take Hajime's advice and head over to the airport. As they went, several of the other students were starting to get the hang of how their job classes worked. The one who seemed to be having the most fun was the Imposter. The group was frequently accosted by creatures who would fire bright colored projectiles at them… and then the Imposter would put on a sly grin and fire those same projectiles right back.

"Power is wasted on those who cannot use it," they said solemnly as the creatures were blown apart by their own attack.

"Kyaaaaaaa! Imposter-chan is so coooool!" Ibuki squealed.

Meanwhile, Kazuichi had discovered that the Mechinist class came with a number of useful tools, including a remote control he could use to make the creatures do whatever he wanted, even attack each other. Teruteru found that he could magically combine two meals together for some impressive buffing and debuffing effects.

But for the life of her, Mahiru couldn't figure out what the Summoner was supposed to do.

"How am I supposed to summon it?" she pouted. "Wait… what is 'it'? What am I even summoning?" She pulled at her hair. "Ugggh. I hate being this useless."

"Don't worry, Mahiru! You'll figure it out, and then you'll be the coolest and strongest party member of all!" Hiyoko gushed out. "Would watching me dance help jog your brain at all?"

"Eh… thank you, Hiyoko, but I think this is something I have to figure out myself."

No matter how many of them were beaten, the creatures weren't letting up their attack. By the time the party got to the airport, everyone was panting and exhausted, battered and bruised… except Hajime and Nagito, who didn't have a scratch on them.

"Whenever one of those things tried to attack me, another one would come crashing into it and take them both out," Nagito said with a smile. "Quite an interesting outcome."

"Yeah, rub it in, why don't you," said Fuyuhiko.

Mikan quickly used her White Mage skills and healed everyone, and then Hajime pushed the gate open and they all walked into the airfield. The place was normally deserted apart from the airplanes standing around, but now it was filled with more creatures. Some of them even came jumping out of the planes to attack the group.

"They're really getting aggressive," said Mahiru after another round of fighting. "I think Hajime's right. We must be getting close."

"The Monobeast must be inside the terminal," said the Imposter. "That's the only place we haven't looked."

Hajime looked at the others. "Okay then. Everybody ready?"

Everyone nodded, even though several of them certainly didn't look ready. Hajime gave a small nod, then led everyone around to the front entrance of the building.

For Chiaki. This is for Chiaki.

The terminal had a number of different gates, all lined up in a row, with a long hallway joining them all together. The group slowly walked down the hallway, disturbed by how quiet it suddenly was. The only sound came from their footsteps padding on the carpet. Everyone was visibly frightened, but nobody dared to speak, to be the one to break the silence.

Then they passed by the gate in the very center of the building.

Most of the back wall was being taken up by the Tiger Mecha.

It was just the way Hajime remembered – the same plated metal covering its body, the same spiked mace on its tail, the same military gun mounted on its back.

It took one look at the students and growled.

Hajime felt everyone freeze up around him. The others all started slowly inching backwards, trying to put as much distance from themselves and the killer robot as they could. Talking big about fighting it was one thing, but now they were staring it in the face.

"…Why isn't it attacking us?" asked Ryota.

"We haven't done anything to provoke it yet," Hajime said in a low voice. "If we make a move, if we try to go on the offensive, it'll start shooting at us." He turned around to face the others. "Quick. We need to talk about how we're going to fight it without – "

"Oh, there's no need for that," Nagito said nonchalantly, pulling out the Monocrystal.

Just about everybody did a double take. "What in the – how did you get that thing?!" said Kazuichi.

Nagito just shrugged innocently. "I just stole it. I am the Thief, aren't I?"

Hajime released his breath. "Okay then. That's taken care of. Now we can just – "

The Tiger Mecha let out a metallic roar, one that didn't even sound like a real animal but did sound exactly like the deadly machine that it was. It aimed its gun right at them and started spraying them with bullets.

Everyone screamed and dived for cover. Behind the counters, in the Baggage Claim area, underneath one of the palm trees growing out of the floor.

Except Hajime. He dodged the bullets without even needing to think about what he was doing, weaving expertly back and forth, not even paying attention to the windows and screens shattering all around him. When the bullets stopped flying, he just glared up at the mecha, his eyes blazing.

"Noooooo! I won't let you hurt my students!" came a voice, and Monomi suddenly came dashing past Hajime, waving around her broken stick. He was surprised to see her leaving a bright rainbow-colored trail behind her as she ran – maybe she wasn't powerless after all.

He took advantage of the distraction. "Nagito! Get that thing out of here now!"

"Hmm? What do you mean, Hajime?" Nagito was hiding behind one of the palm trees, though he'd been dragged there by Mahiru and Sonia. He still wasn't looking too worried about saving himself.

"The Monocrystal, dummy!" Mahiru hissed at him.

"Ah, of course!" he cried. That seemed to do the trick, as he immediately jumped to his feet and ran for the hallway, clutching the black and white crystal in his hands.

Unfortunately, that got the Tiger Mecha's attention. Monomi had been jumping up and down on its back, but now it spun around once in place and sent her flying away. It crouched down and pounced, flying through the air and crashing to the floor right in front of Nagito.

"No! That thing's blocking our escape! We can't get out of here!" shouted Nekomaru.

"Then it is time to face our destiny," said Gundham, standing up from where he was hiding behind a counter. "Emissary of darkness, I call upon you now to fulfill your oath!"

He shot an enormous fireball out of his palm, striking the Tiger Mecha in the side and causing it to tip over and crash onto its side.

Hajime was already dragging Nagito out of the robot's reach. "Right! Everyone who can attack safely from a distance, do it now!"

Sonia didn't need to be told twice. "For Chiaki!" she shouted, blasting the Tiger Mecha with a fireball of her own.

"About damn time!" Fuyuhiko growled, pulling out two steampunk-looking handguns and firing away.

"Okay… here goes…" Ryota whimpered, shutting his eyes in concentration and attempting to cast a status spell. It actually seemed to work; just as the mecha was climbing back to its feet, it suddenly started swaying around, and when it tried to step forward, it started staggering from side to side instead. And just to drive the point home, a cartoonish spiral symbol appeared in the air above its head.

"Good. That'll buy us some time." Hajime ran over to where Monomi was lying facedown on the floor and picked her back up. "Monomi, this thing has to run out of bullets sometime, right?"

"Well… maybe in the real world…" she said timidly. "But this is Monokuma's world. He's always bending the rules."

"Right. Of course," Hajime muttered. "The others are sitting ducks in this cramped space. We need to get outside."

Meanwhile, now that the robot was incapacitated, Akane had run up and started wailing on it with all her might. "WOO-HOO! Best… day… EVER!" she cheered.

Peko had already come up next to her. "Attacking it indiscriminately will not do us any good. We must be more strategic," she said sternly. "Like so."

She unsheathed her katana, whipped it around in one swift motion, and sheathed it again… and just like that, the mecha's left foreleg fell right off.

Unfortunately, that seemed to snap it back to its senses.

It roared in fury, baring its metallic fangs, and lunged down at Akane and Peko before they could get out of the way.

"NOOOOO!" Mikan screamed, running up between the two of them and holding up her staff. At the last instant, a magical bubble-shaped force field materialized all around her and the other two girls, and as the mecha tried to take a bite out of them, it bounced off harmlessly.

"All right! Way to go, Mikan!" Akane said with a grin.

"I can't… hold this… forever…" Mikan whimpered, panting from the effort to maintain the shield.

The Tiger Mecha kept on crunching down on the force field, trying to shatter it, when something else appeared in its optical sensors. It suddenly noticed Nagito was now standing on the opposite side of the room, in front of the windows, next to Hajime and Monomi.

Its true target. The boy with the Monocrystal. He must not be allowed to escape.

Forgetting Mikan and the other girls entirely, it took aim and started firing another wild barrage of bullets across the room. Everyone else ducked out of the way, but Nagito merely stood there looking bemused as the bullets whizzed right by him, shattering the windows behind him and leaving a massive hole leading back out into the airfield.

"…And that's our cue," said Hajime. "Everybody! Out the window!"

Teruteru was the first one out, screaming like a madman as he ran to safety. Nekomaru went jogging out with Ryota and Hiyoko under his arms, and Sonia and Gundham were still shooting fireballs at the mecha as they slowly backed away. Hajime followed the others out amidst the chaos, with Nagito and Monomi on either side of him.

The Tiger Mecha didn't seem to care that it now had only three legs, nor did it care that there were more places for its prey to hide out in the open. It leapt out of the terminal after them, landing on the cement ground with enough force to crack it just as all of the students had made it outside.

And now with more room to move, it started running.

"Shit, shit, shit," Hajime muttered as the mecha took off chasing after the students, sending them all scattering. It weaved in and out, back and forth among the parked airplanes, trying to corner its foes and find Nagito among them. Those with long-ranged attacks kept trying to fight it, but now it was moving too quickly for them to aim.

That thing can't hurt me. This is up to me.

Stepping to the side, Hajime moved himself into the mecha's path, and as it came charging toward him, he, against all survival instinct, ran to meet it. Calculating the exact moment to act, he took a running leap into the air, landing directly on top of the mecha's head. From there, he crouched down and started using his considerable strength to bash its face in. It roared in frustration and shook its head around, trying to dislodge him, but he wouldn't let go.

"Hajime! Lemme lend you a hand!" came a voice. He looked down and saw Fuyuhiko had just come running up underneath him, wielding both of his guns.

Hajime gave a quick nod and crawled out of the way. "Right! Be careful!"

Even with one eye, Fuyuhiko's aim was perfect. He fired once with the left gun, then once with the right. In a shower of sparks, the red lenses on the Tiger Mecha's face were blown to pieces. Fuyuhiko had shot its eyes out.

Now that it was blinded and crippled, the mecha went totally berserk.

"Woah – !" Hajime cried, clinging onto its back as he was nearly thrown off. Fuyuhiko scrambled out of the way as it went barreling across the airfield, ramming indiscriminately into the planes parked in its way and completely tearing them apart. The gun on its back was rotating back and forth, firing bullets nonstop in every direction.

Nobody could get close to it.

"Ugh! If only I could figure out how to a summoning spell!" said Mahiru, crouched behind the wreckage of one of the planes. "How does Monokuma do it, anyway? He's always teleporting everywhere…"

Suddenly she trailed off, and she went very still.

"Uhhh… is Mahiru feeling all right?" Ibuki asked from where she was crouched next to her.

"That's it," Mahiru said, softly at first, but quickly growing louder as she stood back up. "That's it! It's him! He's the only one who can be summoned anywhere on this island!"

She cupped her hands over her mouth. "MONOKUMA! I SUMMON YOU!"

All of a sudden, the sky directly above the Tiger Mecha began glowing red, and an enormous rip started to form in space itself. Hajime took one look up at it and jumped off the mecha's back as fast as he could, racing away to safety. The mecha itself was still thrashing about and totally blind. It never saw what was coming.

A very, very large Monokuma suddenly came falling out of the hole in the sky, landing right on top of the mecha and blowing it to pieces.

Everyone winced and braced themselves, but as silence finally fell over the airfield, it seemed to dawn on them that this was it. The Monobeast was defeated. Very slowly, full of trepidation, they all withdrew from their hiding places and walked over to where the giant Monokuma was sitting on top of the wreckage.

"Oh, poo," he pouted. "You made me destroy my own Monobeast. Oh well! Those are the rules, I guess! Puhuhuhuhu!"

And just as quickly as he had come, he vanished back through the hole in the sky, which sewed itself up behind him.

"That was… strange," the Imposter said in a very flat tone.

"YAY! I knew it! I knew you could do it, Mahiru!" Hiyoko cheered, throwing her arms around the taller girl. "Didn't I tell you? You're the best Summoner ever!"

Mahiru was looking quite embarrassed. "Er… yeah. I guess I should start believing in you more, Hiyoko…"

Hajime came jogging over to join the others. "Guys! Is everyone all right? Do we still have the Monocrystal?"

Nagito was still looking up at the sky, but he quickly snapped back to attention. "Why, of course! I'd never lose it!" he said brightly, proffering the Monocrystal for all to see. "This crystal is the key to our hopes, after all!"

For the first time since getting up that morning, Hajime let himself relax. "Well… that's it, then. We beat the Adventure Phase."

As if the world itself was agreeing with Hajime, at that very moment, all of the students began to glow brightly as their fantasy clothing disappeared. They were all left standing around in their familiar school clothes.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you all!" Monomi gushed out, clutching her Magic Stick and bobbing her head back and forth. "It just goes to show, when you work together as a team, you can accomplish anything!"

"Yeah, yeah… who invited you again?" Nekomaru grumbled.

But Hajime should have known.

He should have known better.

There was no way Monokuma would allow such a happy ending.

In this world… despair was always right around the corner.

"Oh God… oh no…" Kazuichi's voice was close to breaking. "Hajime! Mikan!"

Everyone turned around at the sound. Kazuichi was crouched on the ground several meters away, surrounded by a pool of blood. He was frozen in shock, hyperventilating. There was nothing he could do.

Hajime and the others raced over to him, though he already got the sense that hurrying wouldn't help anything. Mikan let out a squeal of horror. They could both see it. It was too late.

Several of the planes had been reduced to shrapnel by the Tiger Mecha as it went on its rampage. One large, jagged piece of metal that had once been part of a plane had gone flying. Now it was buried deep inside Gundham's chest, sticking up into the air. Gundham was lying on his back, staring up at nothing, his Black Mage outfit vanished along with any life that had once been in him.

––

A/N: So... that just happened. Any thoughts?