Chapter 3: Part 1

Chihiro had been up all night. He had retreated back into his Ultimate Lab to work. Not on Keebo. The poor robot was still seated, plugged into in his laptop with the screen reading '100% Complete. Start Program?' Of course, Chihiro wasn't trying to ignore Keebo. He was just preoccupied at his work bench. He had been tinkering with a small digital watch since the end of the trial, opening it up, taking out some programming chips and replacing it with new ones, adding a small speaker, before finally adding a new cover to the watch. This new cover was quite interesting. Instead of just being the standard face of a digital watch, this cover was in the shape of Nekomaru's head. Once Chihiro finished screwing the watch back together, he pressed a button on the side.

"TWENTY MORE PUSHUPS! GO FOR IT!" The watch shouted out with the Team Manager's voice.

Chihiro pressed the button again. "THIRTY MORE MINUTES! YOU GOT THIS!"

Chihiro pressed the button once more. "PUSH YOURSELF TO YOUR ABSOLUTE LIMIT!"

"OK, it does work," Chihiro said with a yawn. He laid his head down against his work bench. His eyelids became heavy and shut, causing the programmer to drift off to sleep…for a total of four seconds.

"Ring riiiiing!" Monokuma announced over the school's intercom. "It is now 7 o'clock! As such, all the water will be turned back on and all the food in the cafeteria is available. Now, raise and shine to greet this Beeeeeeeautiful day!"

A quite groan escaped Chihiro's lips as he raised his head back up. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to readjust his vision and wake himself back up. He wrapped his new watch around his wrist and rose from his seat. Upon doing so, he caught sight of Keebo and his laptop.

"Oh!" Chihiro gasped before rushing over to the laptop. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ignore you, Keebo! Here, I'll turn you on," Chihiro clicked the OK button to start up Keebo's programming.

A short musical jingle played on Chihiro's computer before Keebo's body began to twitch. The twitching gave Chihiro a small amount panic, but before he could check the computer for any errors, Keebo stopped twitching. After a few anxious seconds of waiting, Keebo's straightened up before his eyes lit up. The robot's eyes darted around the unfamiliar room while Chihiro approached him cautiously.

"H-hello," Chihiro said with a friendly smile. "Sorry to wake you up like this. I had to fill in some of your programming with another AI, so you may be missing some of your memory for the time being."

Keebo kept looking around the room before looking down at his hands. Slowly but surely, the robot was able to lift his arms up. He would stretch his fingers out and slowly sway his legs. After confirming that all of his limbs were functioning, Keebo hopped off the table, yanking himself away from all the cords connecting him to the laptop, and stood on his own two feet.

"Where…am I?" Keebo asked.

"It's…a really long story," Chihiro said. "We…all technically died…"

"Died?" Keebo turned to face Chihiro but paused when he got a good look at the small programmer. "Wait…I know that face…"

Chihiro took a step back. "Um…what? You know me?"

"You think you can fool me with that old disguise, Tsumugi?" Keebo raised his voice.

"Tsumugi? Wait, Keebo. I'm not-"

Before Chihiro could complete his sentence, Keebo held both of his hands up, transforming them into cannons. With a shriek, Chihiro rolled out of the way just before Keebo fired energy blasts at the lab's wall.

"You're not going to escape again, Tsumugi!" Keebo shouted. "You're going to tell me where I am and what happened to Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko!"

"I'm not Tsumugi, Keebo!" Chihiro pleaded. "My name is Chihiro Fujisaki!"

"Stop lying to me!" Jet wings popped out from the robot's back.

Knowing how bad the situation had gotten, Chihiro made a run for it.

Sayaka had just gotten finished getting dressed and cleaned for the day, but she had returned to her sink. She splashed water against her face, smacking her wet hands against her cheeks before staring at her reflection.

"I'm going to find them," Sayaka said to herself. "I'm going to find Kaito's real killer."

Sayaka nodded at her reflection and left her dorm. Upon entering the hallway, she was greeted with Rantaro. The lime-haired boy smiled at the pop idol and waved.

"Good morning, Sayaka," Rantaro said politely. "Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning, Rantaro," Sayaka responded, although she couldn't smile along with him. "I say I slept as well as I could all things considered…"

"Yeah," Rantaro crossed his arms and frowned.

The awkward since that followed that exchange almost made Sayaka cringe. "But how are you doing? I don't see Mikan following you around. I never thought I'd see that."

Rantaro let out a polite chuckle. "I could say the same thing about you and Tenko. But really, she's still getting dressed, so I'm letting her have her privacy."

"Oh? You spent the night with her?" Sayaka grew a mischievous grin.

Rantaro held his hands up. "I can assure you that I wasn't doing anything like what you're thinking."

"If you say so," Sayaka giggled.

While the two of the students were conversing, another student stepped out into the hall. It was Shinji, however, he wasn't dressed in his usual attire. Instead, he wore sandals, purple pants, a white shirt with red markings, and a purple jacket haphazardly hung over his shoulders. Both Sayaka and Rantaro stared at Shinji for a moment.

"Um, hello, Shinji?" Sayaka said. "Quite a change in wardrobe you got going on."

Shinji blushed slightly and crossed his arms. "I…I simply wished to honor Kaito. He…always had faith in me, even despite the truth of my identity."

"I see…" Sayaka frowned. "I'm sure he'd appreciate that."

"I'm surprised you had some of his clothes in your room," Rantaro commented.

"Well, my Ultimate Lab has plenty of disguises for each of you," Shinji commented. "It's not that strange."

"Hmmm, I guess so," Rantaro said.

Suddenly, a loud thump broke through the group's conversation. At first, they just simply thought it was someone tripping in their room. Not something worth being concerned about, but another thump was heard. Then another. Then what sounded like a crashing bookshelf came from behind them. The continual crashing gathered the attention of other students. Mikan, Leon, Mondo, Peko, Hifumi, Sakura, and Taka all stepped out of their rooms.

"What is all that racket?!" Taka shouted. "That kind of noise is not appropriate for this early in the morning!"

Peko scanned the area before locking her eyes onto Chihiro's door. "There. It's coming from there."

"Really?" Leon raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you think Chihiro's in trouble?"

"Oh, he better not be!" Mondo growled before charging towards the programmer's room.

However, before Mondo could brute-force his way into Chihiro's room, the door swung open with Chihiro dashing out of it. Chihiro immediately dove to the ground with his hands over his head.

"G-get down!" Chihiro shouted.

"Fujisaki, what's going on?!" Taka asked.

However, Taka's answer would present itself immediately. Keebo flew right out of the room, propelled by his jetpack with both arm cannons ready to fire. Mikan shrieked and leapt into Rantaro's arms, causing him to fall backward. Meanwhile, Sakura and Peko assumed battle ready positions.

"Wh-what in the world is that?!" Hifumi gasped.

"Is that…Keebo?" Sayaka asked.

"More of you, huh?" Keebo said upon seeing all these faces. Faces he had seen before. Faces that he knew were façades. "You can hide behind those masks all you want, Tsumugi! I'll still find you!"

Keebo aimed both his cannons at Chihiro and fired blue, energy blasts at him. Thankfully, Peko was able to draw her sword and slice the blasts in half quick enough to protect the programmer. Taking this as a que, Mondo immediately grabbed a hold of Chihiro and carried him as far away from the robot as he possibly could.

"Oh, no you don't!" Keebo attempted to dash afterwards, but he was halted when Sakura grabbed the robot by the leg and flung him backward.

"Out of my way!" Keebo shouted.

"If you plan on harming my friend, you'll have to go through me," Sakura said while balling up her fists.

Peko stood beside the martial artist. "All of you get out of here. We'll handle this."

"What?" Sayaka gasped. "We're not just going to leave you two!"

Taka firmly gripped a hold of Sayaka's wrist. "For the safety of yourself and your fellow classmates, do as they say!"

"Y-you don't have to tell me twice, Mr. Ishimaru!" Hifumi said before sprinting as fast as he could away from the action.

"H-hey! Where the hell are we even running to?!" Leon shouted after the round boy.

Keebo would make another attempt to dash after the fleeing students, however Sakura leapt onto the robot, wrapping her massive arms around Keebo's head. It was most likely an attempt to put the robot in a choke hold, but…well, robots don't breathe. So, all this truly accomplished was obscuring Keebo's vision, causing him to fly out of control. Bashing against the walls and spinning constantly, Keebo and Sakura flew down the halls towards the other side of the school. With her sword out, Peko chased after them. Now free to run away, Rantaro lifted himself and Mikan from the floor before retreating as well.

"Enough stalling, Maizono!" Taka commanded as he dragged the pop idol away. "We must retreat with our class!"

"H-hold on, there has to be a way to get Keebo to calm down!" Sayaka said.

"We will discuss that when we are all together!" Taka said as the two of them made their way to the cafeteria.

Keebo's blind flying eventually led him to crashing on the hardwood floor of the gymnasium. Sakura rolled off of the robot and returned to her feet just as Peko reached her side. Keebo rose up to his feet as well, facing off with his attackers.

Peko took a step forward. "If you just give us a moment to explain the situation-"

"So, you can trick me again?" Keebo asked.

"We're not your enemy here," Sakura said. "Monokuma is. He has placed us in this prison for another killing game."

Keebo raised an eyebrow. "Wait, Monokuma is here?"

"Yes," Peko nodded. "We've all died in our killing games, but we woke up here instead of…anywhere else."

"I see…" Keebo stroked his chin. "I get it now. So, you all signed up for some reunion season…Well, I'm not going to be a part of it! Both of you are going to tell me how to get out of here!"

Keebo aimed his arm cannons at both of the girls and fired off more energy blasts for them to dodge.

"Talking to him won't work," Peko said.

"Then we'll just have to shut him down," Sakura responded.

Keebo immediately darted towards Sakura, but before he could hit the martial artist, Peko leapt in front of the robot and swung her sword right at the robot's face. Keebo did manage to tuck his head backward to avoid being sliced open. In response, he turned his cannon into a fist to uppercut Peko in the jaw. This sent the swordswoman upward into the air, which Keebo follow up with by grabbing her by the throat and flying into the air. Sakura grabbed a hold of Keebo's leg, but he responded by blasting at her. Quick to defend herself, Sakura let go of Keebo's leg and crossed her arms, blocking the attack and falling back to the floor.

"Now, talk," Keebo said sternly.

Peko gasped for air as she attempted to break free of the robot's crushing grip. She could've easily died then and there, but something came to her aid. Suddenly, a blue jay bird flew towards Keebo's face, even pecking at his glass eyes.

"What? Hey!" Keebo attempted to swipe at the blue jay, but when a cardinal flew at his face, the robot couldn't hold onto Peko any longer.

Keebo dropped Peko, which Sakura was quickly able to react to. She slid across the floor and caught Peko in her arms. Peko took several deep breathes.

"Thank you," Peko said.

"Don't thank me," Sakura said. "You should be thanking your friend."

Peko turned to the entrance of the gymnasium to see Gundham standing proud, striking a pose with his remaining dark disciples.

"MUHAHAHAHA!" Gundham cackled. "Foolish machine! I've fought off your kind before and even with the advancements of technology they stood no chance against my dark powers! Tremble at the sight of my Dark Disciples and forever fear the name Gundham Tanaka!"

Keebo shooed the birds away from himself before facing off with Gundham. "You're really going to use some pets to stop me?"

"Stop you?" Gundham chuckled. "No. My Dark Disciples will destroy you!"

Most of the student body had retreated to the cafeteria. Sayaka, Taka, Leon, Chihiro, Gonta, Mondo, Mikan, Rantaro, Hifumi, Teruteru, Shinji, Korekiyo, Angie, Ryoma, Chiaki, Mahiru, Hiyoko, Angie, and Celestia were all around the main table. Almost all of them were huddled around Chihiro, giving reassuring pats on the back and hugs to comfort the programmer. However, when it came to discussing what to do with Keebo, there was some disagreement.

"No hurt Keebo!" Gonta growled. "Keebo Gonta's friend!"

"Look, I get you've hung out with him, but he nearly killed Chihiro," Leon argued.

"But wouldn't turning him off count as killing him?" Teruteru asked. "I mean, you guys said Gundham killed a robot Nekomaru by doing that, right?"

"It would best to avoid risking that then," Korekiyo said.

"What about some sort of remote?" Chiaki asked. "Did you have one for Keebo?"

Chihiro shook his head. "N-no. There wasn't a remote control. At least, I didn't have it."

"So, we have to count on Miu then," Celestia commented.

"Where is that chick anyway?" Mondo asked. "She'd be real useful right now if she'd actually bothered to show up."

"Just be patient, bro," Taka said as he placed his hand on the biker's shoulder. "They will bring her here soon."

Just as Taka finished saying that, Tenko and Kirumi would enter the cafeteria with Kaede, Mukuro, and Kokichi following behind them.

"We're back," Tenko said.

"Are you ok?" Sayaka asked.

"Yep, don't worry about us!" Tenko smiled. "I was there to keep guard for any attacks. Plus, Mukuro kept Kokichi under control.

"So, is it true?" Kaede asked. "Is Keebo really back up?"

"I'd love to catch up with my robo-buddy," Kokichi snickered.

"He is, but…" Mikan fidgeted with her fingers. "H-he's not…"

"He's gone crazy, man," Leon completed Mikan's statement.

"Where's the inventor chick?" Mondo asked.

"While we did tell her of Keebo's attack, she refused to follow us," Kirumi explained. "She ran off to find Keebo."

"We have to go after her then," Sayaka said.

"Gonta go find Miu and Keebo," Gonta said.

"Please, I believe we should follow Taka's orders and stay here," Angie said.

"Besides, I'm sure Peko, Gundham, and Sakura are more than enough to handle the robot," Celestia with a prideful smile.

"I'm not going to stay behind and let my friends hurt each other!" Kaede shouted. "I'm going to find them and get them to calm down!"

"Akamatsu," Taka spoke up, "I implore you to stay here."

"Gonta will keep Kaede safe," Gonta promised.

Chiaki turned to Taka. "I understand you're worried. But they know Keebo. If anyone could break through to him, it would be them."

Taka sighed. "Fine. But, promise me you'll be careful."

"We will," Kaede pumped her fist. "Trust me."

Kaede would nod at Gonta which Gonta would respond with a nod of his own before both of them exited the cafeteria.

Keebo had landed on the ground, covering his head from the pecking birds. Watching his pet birds easily subdue the robot filled Gundham with pride. He chuckled once again.

"HAHAHAHA! You might as well surrender, automaton! My Dark Disciples have already bested you!"

Keebo groaned as both Phoenix and Raijin continued to peck at him. That wouldn't stop him for long. Keebo transformed his cannons into hands and grabbed a hold on both birds. Gundham gasped, his eyes widened in terror.

"R-release them this instant, fiend!" Gundham shouted.

"I don't want to hurt your birds, but I'm not going to let you get in my way either!" Keebo said.

While Keebo was distracted, Peko dashed in once again, swinging her sword at the robot's shoulders. This caused both of Keebo's arms to fly off, releasing both Raijin and Phoenix from his grip. Both birds would return to Gundham's shoulders.

"Hmph," Gundham smirked slightly. "Impressive skills, ronin."

Peko aimed the tip of her sword at Keebo's neck. "Stand down. You're unarmed…quite…literally."

Keebo narrowed his eyes at Peko. "Not quite." Keebo's chest cavity would open up to expose a third cannon. Keebo would aim this third cannon at Peko and charge it. Thinking quickly, Sakura would charge over and bash her shoulder against Peko, knocking the swordswoman out of the way just as the cannon fired off. This energy blast would hit Sakura's right arm. Sakura howled in pain as the blast seared her skin and broke her arm.

"Ogre!" Gundham called out to Sakura.

Sakura fell to her knees, clutching her arm. "I…I will be fine."

Keebo approached Sakura, his chest cannon aimed right at her.

"Keebo!"

Keebo paused and turned his attention to the entrance of the gym to where he heard the voice called from. Keebo's eyes widened at the sight. Two people he had seen die before his eyes, Kaede and Gonta, stood just a few feet from him.

"Keebo, stop it!" Kaede called out.

"Kaede?" Keebo's cannon retracted into his chest and closed up. "Gonta?"

Keebo slowly approached his two friends, moving his head around to look at them different angles, hoping they weren't some cardboard cutout or hologram. "Is…is that really you?"

"Yes, it us," Gonta said before wrapping his arms around the robot, hugging him tightly.

Keebo was stunned. Even with Gonta bearhugging him as tightly as possible, it was still too bizarre for Keebo. "But…I saw…"

Kaede placed her hand on Keebo's shoulder. "It's a long story. Trust me."

Peko and Gundham would help Sakura back up to her feet while Keebo reunited with his friends. Gonta placed Keebo back down.

"Have you finally calmed down?" Sakura asked.

"I…I'm sorry," Keebo began to panic. "I was so confused and I've seen all your faces before as a disguise and I thought I blew myself up and I didn't know where I was and my friends were missing-"

"It's fine," Sakura said. "I'm lucky to only receive a minor injury."

Peko frowned. "But your arm-"

"Just take me to Mikan," Sakura interrupted. "I'll just need to rest my arm for a while."

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" yet another voice called out from the entrance. Just as everyone turned their attention back to the entrance, a wrench flew through the air and smacked Keebo in the middle of his face.

"OW!" Keebo whined.

It was Miu. Still in her night wear of a large t-shirt and no pants, and with Nagito still on his chained leash. Miu stormed over to the robot, yanking him by the hair, her face red with fury.

"I busted my ass trying to fix you up and the moment you wake up you get them cut off?!" Miu screamed in his face.

"M-Miu, not so hard!" Keebo childishly whined.

"Nagicuck, get his arms," Miu ordered. "We got to fix this bitch. AGAIN!"

"I'm on it, Miu," Nagito smiled as he dashed over and retrieved both of Keebo's arms.

Peko sheepishly crossed her arms. "I'm…sorry about that."

"Don't worry, you'll be paying me back later," Miu snapped at Peko.

"Look, let's all just head back to the cafeteria," Kaede suggested. "We all got a lot of things to explain to each other."

The entire group nodded at Kaede and followed her back to the cafeteria.

With everyone finally reuniting back in the cafeteria, there was a lot to accomplish. Mikan had to attend to Sakura's injury, taking her to the nurse's office for the time being. Meanwhile, Miu decided to repair Keebo's arms in the cafeteria itself. She kept a small kit of tools, in between her breasts of course, to put his arms back on. She would reconnect the cut wires of his arms and screwing the bolts back into place. While the inventor was deep in her work, all of the students not from the Ultimate Academy killing game couldn't help but stare at Keebo.

"So, that's Keebo?" Sayaka asked.

"Yeah," Kaede said. "Sorry for making you guys panic like that."

"It didn't even know he had arm cannons let allow a jetpack," Tenko commented.

"Wait, did you say…arm cannons?" Chiaki's tired eyes lit up. "So, you're saying he has arm blasters like Mega Man?! Can I see them?! What color are the blasts?!"

"Wow, calm down, Chiaki," Mahiru said.

"What else does he have going on in there?" Mondo asked. "You think he can transform into…a bike or something?"

"You'd think a guy who built a robot would give him a less stupid haircut," Hiyoko snickered.

"Now, now, Hiyoko," Angie placed her hands on the dancer's hand. "We mustn't judge others by their appearance. It's the strength of one's character we must judge. And Keebo has a strong moral compass."

"The way he moves and reacts," Celestia commented as she observed the robot. "It's so lifelike. I'm curious how well he'd fair at a game of poker."

"I'm more curious about his…equipment," Teruteru licked his lips.

"Oh, are you asking if robots have dicks?!" Kokichi asked loudly.

"All of you stop it!" Keebo shouted. "I can hear all of your comments and they're all incredibly robophobic!"

"Robo…phobic?" Sayaka tilted her head.

"Hey, don't be too hard on them, Keebo," Kaede said. "They've just never seen someone like you before. It's not wrong to be curious."

Keebo pouted as Miu finished reattaching his arms.

"There, you're all fixed now," Miu said with a smirk. "I know, I know. I'm amazing. You can thank me later."

Keebo fidgeted with his fingers for a moment. "Thank you, Miu."

Taka shot up from his seat and marched over to the robot. "Since you are now no longer attacking us and you are fully repaired, I believe now is the appropriate time to give us all a proper introduction to yourself."

Keebo looked up at Taka. "Oh…um. Ok," Keebo stood up from his seat and faced the entire group. "Hello, everyone. I'm sorry for my…less than pleasant first impression, but I hope I can make it up to all of you. My official name is actually K1-B0, the Ultimate Robot. But please, I'd prefer it if you all call me Keebo."

K1-B0: Ultimate Robot

Keebo turned his attention over to Chihiro. "So, were you the one that woke up me back up, right?"

Chihiro was nervous at first, but after a glance at his watch, he looked back at Keebo and nodded. "Yes. I am. My name is Chihiro Fujisaki."

Keebo frowned. "Chihiro, I'm very sorry for my outburst. I was just confused by what was going on."

"It's ok, really," Chihiro responded. "This whole situation has been a lot to take it for all of us."

"I know, but for me to react with violence…it's rather embarrassing," Keebo frowned. "But, that sort of does raise the question. What is this place? I heard that Monokuma was here, so this is some sort of killing game then?"

"Yes," Sayaka answered. "You see, we all woke up here after we died. We've already had our memories messed with, but going through two class trials has only made things more confusing."

"Wait, you've already been through two class trials?" Keebo looked around the room. "I see Tsumugi isn't here."

"Y-yeah, she was the first killer," Kaede said.

Keebo looked around again once more an noticed Shinji and more importantly, the clothes he was wearing. "Kaito…"

The room fell silent once more.

"A…a lot has happened while you were being repaired," Chihiro explained.

"Look, why don't you sit back and allow me to catch you up to speed?" Kaede suggested. "We all still got to eat breakfast anyway."

"Ok," Keebo said before seating himself down next to Kaede to listen.

While Kaede conversed with Keebo, the rest of the group got up to gather their meals for breakfast. As Sayaka grabbed her plate and got in line, she couldn't help but notice something.

'You know, despite everything that just happened, today's been a lot quieter than usual,' Sayaka thought to herself. 'I can't figure out why. Maybe it's just Tenko hasn't talked to me much yet…Wait…'

Sayaka took a look around before noticing just what was missing. "Hey. Where's Ibuki?"

Finally got this done. So, there have been a fair few things going on with my life at the moment. I'm kind of in a depressive funk right now at work and it's really stalled me from doing pretty much anything other than endlessly scrolling Twitter and Youtube. I can barely even bring myself to play No More Heroes 3 which I just started 2 years late. So, that mental state has been holding me back.

As for this chapter, once I actually got around to it, it was a lot of fun. Finally bringing in Keebo has been a long time coming. I'm already trying to think of who to group him with. Grouping characters up has been kind of what has been my way of keeping characters around, but I am trying new approaches too. Finally gave Sakura a big scene to play and Gonta with a little scene to play. May have to do more of a brotherly bond for him and Keebo. There's so much else I'd love to say, but that may lead to spoilers. Who knows.

I also wanted to have the deaths of Kaito and Nekomaru leave an impact. If there's one complaint the series gets that I actually do agree with it's that sometimes characters die and the cast just moves on. V3 mostly avoided that, but 2 and especially 1 do suffer from that. So, gave Chihiro a fun Nekomaru watch and Shinji Kaito's jacket. I think it works.

So, I want to promise the next part will be out sooner, but my computer is acting a bit wonky. The fan is really loud. But, I'll see what I can do. Take care and I hope to hear from you all soon.