Chapter Text
"Uh, w-what?"
Steve lifted his square head off from the floor. His vision was very blurry. He could only see a bunch of colors merging into a bunch of circles. He grabbed a nearby desk and lifted himself from the floor. He tried to remember what last happened to him.
Nothing.
Steve's vision finally started to become clear. He looked around the room he was in. There were desks neatly arranged in rows. Supplies that ranked from pencils to pieces of paper were spread across the room. The windows looked to be bolted shut. Steve tried to open them but to no avail. Along the walls were pictures and drawings of what seemed to be a black and white bear.
"Am I in a classroom?" Steve asked himself. He took one of the bear pictures and put it in his pocket. He looked at a podium next to him and noticed a piece of paper written in Japanese. He picked it up and looked at it. There was an English translation on the back of the paper. He read it thoroughly.
"Please meet at the gymnasium at 8 o'clock sharp for the opening ceremony."
Steve glanced up at a clock above the blackboard.
It was indeed 8 o'clock.
Steve panicked and ran outside of the classroom and down a hallway. He looked around for a door that led to the gymnasium. He ran at the speed of light until he finally found a double door with the word "Gymnasium" written on it in both Japanese and English. Steve grabbed the handles and opened it up, hoping to see the familiar faces of his friends, like Alex and the villagers back home, waiting to greet him.
Unfortunately, he did not recognize any of the faces he saw.
Fourteen faces turned to see Steve. Some seemed to be relieved. Others seemed to be mad that he was late. Some didn't seem to care at all and just stared at him.
"Hey look, the last person is okay," a rabbit with hollow eyes and mouth said. She ran up to Steve and held her paw out.
"I'm Coco, the Ultimate Normal," she said a bit shyly. Steve shook her paw a bit worriedly. He had no idea what this… thing was, but he was scared.
"What do you mean by that?" Steve asked her.
"My Ultimate? I honestly don't know, but I think it has to do with what my mayor calls my personality," she answered.
"I-it means t-talent."
Steve looked behind Coco and saw a girl with purple, braided hair staring at the two. She wore a navy schoolgirl uniform. Steve thought she was kinda cute.
"That explains it," Coco said quietly to herself.
"My name is Toko, the Ultimate Wr-Writing Prodigy," the girl stuttered, "I've b-been here b-before." Tears started to roll down her eyes, but she used her sleeve to wipe them away. She smiled sweetly as if nothing had happened at all.
"Well, I'm Steve," Steve said to the girls. Immediately, a schoolgirl with long, green hair ran up to him. She looked like she was from an anime.
"Where are you from? Why do you think we're here? What's your Ultimate?" she asked annoyingly and quickly. Steve didn't even know how to answer them, since the questions were so sudden.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I get carried away," the girl said, "I'm Midori Gurin, the Ultimate Gamer, but if I was with my friends, they would say I was the Ultimate Annoyance. Anyway…" Steve wasn't paying attention to her anymore as she asked even more questions. He was paying attention to someone else in the large crowd of people waiting for Midori to stop asking questions so they could introduce themselves. They were a rabbit, similar to Coco, but even more creepy because, unlike her, this thing was an animatronic. It was dark green, and it looked very worn out. Wires were poking out, and holes that ranged in sizes were spread out. It noticed Steve looking at it and glanced at him with cold eyes. He immediately started paying attention to Midori again, who was yelling at him.
"Why aren't you-" she started to say, but a stickman wearing red headphones pushed her off to the side. She let out a sigh before talking with a girl with two big, teal ponytails. Steve looked at the stickman with relief.
"Thanks for that," he said.
"You're welcome," the stickman said, "I'm Charles, the Ultimate Pilot with the greatest plan 24/7." He saluted Steve before the girl with the teal ponytails walked up behind him. Charles noticed her waiting to introduce herself and stepped off to the side.
"Hiya!" she exclaimed. She smiled as Steve waved at her.
"I'm Hatsune Miku, or just Miku for short, and I am the Ultimate Diva," she said while striking a cute pose.
"Pleased to meet you," Steve said.
"Will you hurry up already? I wanna introduce myself to this square-like figure."
Steve and Miku looked at the small boy behind Miku. He had black hair with large glasses. He was wearing a black jacket that reached his knees and a t-shirt with a ghost on it. He ran up to Steve and looked at him suspiciously.
"Who are you?" he yelled in Steve's face.
"I'm Steve!" he yelled back quickly.
"Well, I am Dib Membrane, the Ultimate Paranormal Investigator!" Dib exclaimed heroically, "I am here to find out what Zim has planned!"
"W-who's Z-Zim?" Toko stuttered.
"He's a foul alien that has come to invade the Earth!" Dib answered loudly. He seemed to hate Zim to the bone.
"He did this! He did this! Believe me!" he exclaimed. Steve backed away from him
"Can you be quiet about it already?" a teenage boy with black hair said, "You already annoyed me with it when the both of us first woke up." He walked up to Dib and picked him up. He screamed as the teen put him next to the animatronic, near the back of the crowd.
"Stay there with what's-their-face," he said as Dib was still yelling at him, even pointing at the animatronic repeatedly calling him a supernatural being. It ignored everything he said. The teen walked back to where Steve was and signed.
"Sorry about that," he said. He slightly smiled.
"I'm Danny. Ultimate Ghost Hunter," he said with little enthusiasm like the others.
"Wait, ghost hunter?" Steve said confusingly. He looked at Danny and had the mindset that he spent more time playing video games than anything.
"It's hard to explain," Danny answered as he chuckled a little bit. Steve walked away from him and walked towards the bleachers. He noticed that the windows here were also bolted shut. He started panicking and ran back to the crowd, just as a young woman with short, brown hair ran into him. He fell on the cold, hard floor and felt pain running through his head.
"Sorry 'bout that," she said in a British accent. She held out her hand, which Steve reluctantly grabbed. She helped lift Steve up and smiled at him. The woman had a weird portal-like device on her chest.
"You can call me Tracer, the Ultimate Cadet!" she said proudly. She took a glance back at the crowd and frowned.
"I wish some people I knew were here," she said quietly and less enthusiastically. She and Steve walked back to the crowd. Well, Tracer ran back the crowd at record-breaking speeds. Steve just walked there, or he would have if he didn't almost accidentally step on a white muffin.
"Aw come on," the muffin complained, "I wanted to die." Steve picked him up and held him in his palms. The muffin smiled.
"Are you going to eat me?" he said happily, but the happiness faded from his face when Steve shook his head.
"Well, I'm Mr. Muffin, and I'm the Ultimate Muffin," the muffin said quietly. He jumped out of Steve's hands and hit the floor. He let out a moan as he stood up unharmed. He kicked a crumb as he walked back to the crowd. Steve followed him behind. He was still extremely terrified about what to expect next. He looked up at a digital clock. It was 8:05. Wouldn't the ceremony have started by now?
"Hey, you there with the square face. Come with me and we shall go back to the crowd and prepare for the entrance ceremony."
Steve turned behind him in shock and saw a man with cartoonish, black hair and also a red and blue jumper suit. He looked like an evil jester. Steve stepped away from him cautiously.
"I am the one, the legend, Robbie Rotten, and I am the Ultimate Number One Villain!" the man exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"Villain?" Steve said with shock. Robbie smirked devilishly as someone wearing a red astronaut suit started speaking.
"That's sus."
"And what do you mean by that?" Robbie asked him rudely.
"It's what we call people who did one thing suspicious back at my place," the astronaut answered. He gave Steve a death stare.
"Red. Ultimate Crewmate," he said. Someone in the crowd called his name and he ran back to it. Robbie and Steve went along with him. Once Steve was back in the crowd, almost everyone was talking with one another. One duo was a starfish and a woman with blond hair tied in a ponytail. The starfish was doing all of the talking, while the woman just listened. They both noticed Steve and they turned to introduce themselves.
"Well, hello there," the starfish said goofily, "I am Patrick, and I am the Ultimate Idiot." Drool came out of his mouth as the woman sighed. She turned to look at Steve.
"I am Samus. I am the Ultimate Bounty Hunter," she said coldly.
"What do you hunt?" Steve asked her.
"Space Pirates," Samus answered simply. Steve imagined alien pirates sailing the seas on a pirate ship. At this point, Steve fully understood the Ultimates and, while he didn't like them all that much, came up with one on his own.
"I am Steve, the Ultimate Architect!" he said heroically. He jumped in the air proudly. Everyone turned to look at him overreacting. That's when the animatronic, who hadn't spoken the entire time, finally said something, albeit quietly and distorted.
"Say that again," Tracer said to it. It looked like it was about to say it again, but a voice erupted from the stage.
"Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, and weirdos to the entrance ceremony!" it exclaimed. Everyone looked up at the stage, expecting the headmaster to walk up toward the podium. The headmaster instead jumped on the podium out of thin air.
And that headmaster was a bear.
The same bear that Steve saw in those pictures.
"What are you plotting, Zim?" Dib asked the bear almost immediately.
"Oh, that perfectly normal human worm boy? I'm not him! I am Monokuma, your principal!" the bear exclaimed. Dib looked even angrier than before, but Danny dragged him further away from the stage.
"Anyway, the reason why we started late is because of tardy pants over there," Monokuma said. He pointed towards Steve, who started sweating as everyone stared at him.
"Don't be late again, tardy pants!" Monokuma yelled at him. Steve sighed and nodded.
"Let's get back on track here. The building your smelly feet are standing in Hope's Peak High School!"
"It can't be," Toko whispered.
"You're an impostor, and I know it," Red said angrily, "What's your plan?"
"My plan, huh?" Monokuma said. He laughed sinisterly.
"Well, I just wanna let you students know when your school year ends. It ends in… never!"
"What?!" Steve yelled. The word "forever" ringed in his ears. Would he ever see Alex and the village again? He wanted to just pinch himself and wake up in his home like this was some kind of nightmare.
"This has to be a prank!" Tracer exclaimed.
"You have to be joking. You have to." Danny said in shock as he stared at the bear.
"I'm not, kiddo! Be grateful that you can enjoy all of the school drama again," Monokuma responded, "I can imagine all of the smooching, the cheating, and fighting for your next sweetheart. Just kidding! I have something different planned…"
"How do I escape from here?" Robbie asked.
"What does "escape" mean? Last time I checked, there is no escape," Monokuma answered sinisterly.
"Someone needs to help me open these windows," Miku said to the crowd. She, Midori, Dib, Robbie, and Charles went up to one of the bolted up windows by climbing up the bleachers and tried to open it, but they failed miserably. Steve watched as the hope of escaping started to drown under ocean waves.
"Why are you even trying? The windows and doors are shut reeeal tight," Monokuma said to them.
"This plan was a failure!" Robbie exclaimed angrily.
"You may not be able to escape the old-school way, but there is one way to get out of here," Monokuma said. Everyone got back together in the crowd and listened to what Monokuma had to say.
"The reason why all of you are here is to participate in my little game," Monokuma explained. The next words that he said will forever be engraved in Steve's brain.
"In my game, you have disturb the sweet, peaceful school life by killing someone and getting away with it to escape!"
"Not a-again! No!" Toko screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Yay, death!" Mr. Muffin exclaimed cheerfully.
"Why are you cheering? Our lives are at stake!" Charles said to the cheerful muffin.
"I don't wanna die," Midori mumbled. Steve looked up at Monokuma, who seemed to be enjoying watching the students panic with fear and anxiety.
"I'll kill you first because you're a stupid, monstrous bear!" Steve declared. Monakuma started to mutter quietly before finally being clear and understandable.
"The rules state that no damage shall be done to the headmaster!" he said while panicking, or at least that's what everyone else but Steve seemed to think.
"Anyway, back to the point. Poisoning, stabbing, shooting, strangling, anything your pea-sized brains can think of. It doesn't matter how you do it! It matters if you do it!" Monokuma explained proudly.
Steve couldn't just kill strangers. People he just met. He couldn't comprehend what the bear had said. He felt like he could break down and cry any second. In fact, Toko was already on her knees crying out loud.
"This isn't a funny joke," Tracer said, "Stop joking around."
"I'm already liking the people here. I can't kill them," Coco muttered.
"Your dumb prank isn't, and never was, funny," Samus said seriously. She gave Monokuma a death stare.
Toko was the only one not confused, but that didn't mean she wasn't upset about it. She was only just now starting to calm down.
"I c-can't do this a-again," she stuttered while breathing heavily.
Again, the animatronic said something, but its voice was muffled by the panicking students. Monokuma seemed to hear it just fine, though.
"I was waiting for someone like you to ask that," he said, "The killer just can't get off scot-free. That would be lame and boring! So, you can investigate the murder of your poor little classmate, which is followed by the class trial!" Steve understood what the animatronic had likely asked and followed that up with another question.
"What happens during the class trial?" he asked.
"Good question," Monokuma answered, "You present your evidence for who you think is an evil murderer. If you find out who the culprit is, then… oh my! They will be punished instantly. If you pick the wrong person, which your dumb brains probably will, then the true culprit will get to leave the school and the rest of you will be punished!"
"This makes no sense!" Dib said.
"That's pretty bad," Red mumbled.
"We won't kill anyone! We can't just kill strangers we just met!" Miku exclaimed.
"I agree with her," Danny responded.
"But doesn't being unfamiliar make killing each other easier?" Robbie asked.
"It does?" Patrick said.
"Of course, fool. It makes it less regrettable," Samus answered him angrily.
"Oh," Patrick simply responded.
"You kill someone is to kill someone. You guys must have really small brains," Monokuma interrupted.
"Hey!" Tracer yelled.
"Are we done with the reactions?" Monokuma asked, "Good! Before you guys start killing, I need to talk before you all leave, and it's riiiight here." Monokuma pulled out fifteen digital-like pads and tossed them to each person. When Steve caught his pad, he saw that it appeared to be a device.
"These are e-handbooks. These babies contain all of the information for your new life. There's a map of the school, info for each student, and many more exciting things! There are also very important rules listed here. Make sure you read them. Don't lose these things, either. I have no extras," Monokuma explained.
"Are there video games on here?" Midori asked. Steve was getting tired of her talking over and over again.
"What about-" Coco started to say, but she was immediately interrupted by Monokuma.
"Oh, I'm super excited to see you all start killing each other! This concludes your entrance ceremony. Get to killing as soon as possible! Thank you, everybody!"
And just like that, Monokuma vanished without a trace.
"What do we do now?" Steve asked everyone. Everyone turned to look at each other.
"I guess we're stuck here forever," Mr. Muffin whimpered.
"That bear has to be lying!" Red declared.
"Toko, have any ideas?" Steve asked her. It seemed like she had been here before, so maybe she could explain everything.
"W-what?" she said, "W-we just k-kill each other. T-that's all."
"That can't be all!" Danny yelled.
"Be q-quiet, g-g-ghost hunter," Toko responded.
"Is there another escape?" Robbie asked.
"J-just sur-survive," Toko answered after a moment of silence.
"I'm not staying here!" Dib exclaimed angrily, "I have an alien to catch at home!"
"Emily must be so worried," Tracer mumbled.
"Sam and Tucker probably are as well," Danny responded.
"I was supposed to go on a mission with Henry and Ellie today," Charles said.
"I was supposed to eat some Krabby Patties today."
Everyone stared at Patrick weirdly.
"They're hamburgers!" he exclaimed, "I love them!"
Steve started thinking about Alex as everyone else started to think about food. He remembered mining iron with her. He remembered running in the fields with her ginger hair flowing through the wind. He couldn't forget about the villagers at home as well and their… decent trades. He wished to be back at home and forget any of this ever occurred. If only he could make a portal, but he already tried doing the usual and punching the walls for resources, with no luck. He couldn't build his way out of this.
"Wait!" Midori yelled, silencing the chattering and worrisome crowd, "Monokuma said that there was one way out, right?"
"He did, but I can't kill anyone," Coco replied. Her body started shaking as she said that sentence.
"Don't tell me you're planning on killing already," Red told Midori.
"I'm not!" she exclaimed.
"Sus. Sus. Sus!" Red continually said, annoying the schoolgirl.
"Okay, break it up," Samus said as she went between them and held her arms out, preventing Red and Midori from reaching each other.
"What do we do now?" Mr. Muffin asked. Everyone stayed silent as they looked at each other. Steve looked at everyone and wondered if he could trust them.
He couldn't even trust himself.
"Stay calm," Steve answered, "We'll find a way out."