Prologue: The City That Never Sleeps… Without One Eye Open

"What… is this?"

I woke up in… some kind of hotel room? The bed feels comfier than sleeping on the floor with those futons Tatsumi gave us, but how exactly did I get here?

I observe my surroundings, it looks pretty normal for the most part, but I look in the closet and see many copies of my uniform. As if things weren't strange enough, there's a whole cabinet filled with the same makeup me and the rest of Franchouchou use to hide the fact we're zombies.

Oh, but I should really get to introducing myself before I explain. My name is Ai Mizuno, or Number 3 as I have been referred to on stage.

I'm a member of the idol group known as Franchouchou alongside my companions. The thing is, we're not an ordinary idol group, our manager Kotaro Tatsumi decided that in order to "save" the Saga Prefecture in Japan, they're gonna need idols. So he thought up a crazy idea to revive seven girls from different time periods and make them into an idol group.

I was a former member of an idol group in my old life, yet this plan was so insane that I was opposed to it. Eventually, with the help of those same companions, I was able to overcome that feeling (although I still remain skeptical of our manager) and we became stars of Saga.

This however, is something I'm not used to. Was I kidnapped? Does anyone know I'm gone? But the more important question was, where am I?

As I continued searching the room, I spy a small device with a screen on it, sitting on top of the coffee table. It looks like a larger smartphone, a tablet I believe, the former piece of technology was released a year before I died. I did some research on a lot of things on Tatsumi's computer to catch up on what I've missed in the past eight years, so this is my first time seeing smart tablets in person.

The tablet turned on, revealing a picture of me and a profile, "Ai Mizuno, the Ultimate Idol.", that's a bit farfetch'd. A message then popped up on the screen, telling me to head over to… Enoshima Park?

I proceeded to look out my window, and a large city, similar to Tokyo or New York was outside! I took the time to put on my non-zombie makeup and then walked out the door, which had my name on it for some reason. I take the elevator to the ground floor, and notice someone shivering there in the lobby.

"W-why am I even out here, it's much safer in my room!" The girl with purple hair said to herself, she's terrified, maybe I could calm her down.

"Excuse me?"

"Ah! P-please don't hurt me!" She cried out, clearly startled by me speaking to her out of the blue.

"It's alright, I won't harm you. Please calm yourself."

"I am calm! (breathes heavily) Who are you?!"

I sighed before I introduced myself to her, "My name is Ai.", I thought that since this situation is pretty abnormal, I might as well not hide anything, except for being a zombie of course. "Believe me when I say that I'm not dangerous, now what's your name?"

"U-um… Bernadetta, but some people call me Bernie… or just me." My tablet rumbled and I saw her profile listed there, "Bernadetta von Varley, the Ultimate Recluse.", it seems like she's too timid to leave her room. Surprises me that a recluse would be outside of all places.

"Y-you've got one of those too? It told me to head somewhere, but I'm not sure where that is…"

"Well, it looks like we're in the same boat. Come on, let's go look around to find a way there."

"Oh um, (sighs) I guess…" She must be really hoping to head back to her room, but we need to know where we are.

We walked out into the city and saw that the place we were staying at was called the Hope-Tel. Ha ha. We spot a sign, uh, I mean a bunch of signs pointing to where we need to go. They look like they were made by a child, with the messy writing. We walked for a while until we reached "Enoshima Park" and someone landed right in front of us, startling Bernadetta.

"Whoa, oops! Sorry about that." He was wearing a mask along with a black costume under his clothes. "I was just following the signs and came across you two!" How did he even fall from such a height and land so flawlessly? He took off his mask, revealing a dark-skinned boy with black curly hair.

"Doesn't look like I'm in my dimension, so I don't think secret identities really matter. I'm Miles."

He held out his hand and I shook it, "Ai, pleasure to meet you.".

"B-Bernadetta." Bernadetta told him as she reluctantly shook his hand as well.

Our tablets all began to vibrate as we saw each other profiles. "Miles Morales, the Ultimate Successor."

"You're like me… well, in the same way in that we've all got sent here randomly." Miles said putting his arms behind his head.

"Yeah same here!" A voice said from afar as a guy wearing a red vest walked forward, "This is pretty heavy… the name's Marty by the way." He looks like he just walked out of the 80's.

"Marty McFly, the Ultimate Time-Traveler." Well, uh, it looks like that statement was correct in a way. I won't talk about how ridiculous that sounds, since y'know I'm a zombie. Bernadetta got more timid as more people showed up.

The area around us was similar to Central Park in New York City, but there's a statue of a girl with twintails and a crown standing triumphantly. That smile on her face looks sinister enough to cause me to quit looking.

Eventually seventeen of us were gathered in the park. A lot of them looked to be teenagers, around my age or higher. The tablet continued to rumble until all their names were recorded.

"Gold, the Ultimate Hatcher." I had no idea what that title meant, but he was carrying a pool cue, and wearing a backwards cap with goggles on it. Looks like he's pretty cocky, hopefully he won't annoy me too much.

"Ryuji Sakamoto, the Ultimate Track Star." With his outfit and dyed blonde hair, I would assume he'd be a delinquent. His posture could use some work and he looks bored out of his mind.

"Killua Zoldyck, the Ultimate Assassin." His title made me glance towards him, slightly worried about what this kid was thinking. He looked young, but I can tell he's dangerous.

"Emma, the Ultimate Moral Compass." A white outfit and orange hair, along with a bouncy ahoge. She's got quite the smile on her face as she introduces herself to everyone around her.

"Trunks Brief, the Ultimate Swordsman." No kidding, with that stern expression and that shining sword on his back, his looks can kill. But it looks like he's also pretty kind, seeing his interactions with the others.

"Seto Kaiba, the Ultimate CEO." He obviously thinks that we're all beneath him, just by looking into his eyes. He also called Bernadetta a fool just by looking at him. I can tell he's gonna be a ray of sunshine.

"Yu Ishigami, the Ultimate Pessimist." Yup, this guy looks the type. But it doesn't look like he's paying much attention, he's got his headphones on while he works on his computer.

"Alice Nakiri, the Ultimate Gastronomist." She looks quite intelligent, but I don't know why a scientific type is wearing a chef's outfit. This girl acts pretty friendly, but I can tell she's not too nice of a person.

"Shantae, the Ultimate Half-Genie." Okay things are starting to seem too ridiculous. Can she actually use magic? And why is she dressed like a belly dancer?

"Misato Tachibana, the Ultimate Arsenal." What does that mean? She seems pretty nice after talking to her, but that name confuses me.

"Aoba Kuronuma, the Ultimate ?." This guy was a mystery. He looks nice and normal enough, but maybe he could be hiding something behind that smile of his...

"Sucy Manbavaran, the Ultimate Apothecary." She's dressed as a witch, along with me being a zombie, and the half-genie, it's almost like it's Halloween. She also looks pretty bored with what's going on.

"Espio the Chameleon, the Ultimate Ninja." At this point, I was not going to question that there was an anthropomorphic, purple chameleon next to me. But he does have a serious expression on his face, along with being a ninja, he looks quite intense.

We were all given these "Ultimate" titles and brought here to this strange city, just what is the point of bringing us here? Is what I thought before a loud speaker sounded off.

"Good morning everyone! And welcome, new residents, to the wonderful Monocity!"

That voice is very high pitched, but it sounded condescending as well.

"I am your Bear-y astounding mayor!"

"Mayor?" Shantae asked, confused.

"That means you're the one in charge, right? Finally, I would like for you to escort me out of this dump you call a city. I have a business meeting tomorrow and I would prefer not to be late." An annoyed Kaiba tells the voice.

"Upupupupu~, escort you? But you just got here? Don't you want to have a grand old time here on the Big Honey Pot!"

"No."

"Well, TOO BAD!"

We then see a short little bear, with one side white, and the other side black with an evil looking red eye and an equally creepy half smile jump up from behind the statue of the girl.

"Ah! Wh-what? Is that a teddy bear?!" Bernadetta is spooked at the unsettling creature.

"I am no teddy bear miss, I am Monokuma! The mayor of this great city!"

THIS was the mayor? I mean with a voice like that it matches, but still, how did he bring us here?

"Hey, are you some kind of rare Teddiursa? I've never seen a shiny before so.." Gold holds his pool cue on his shoulder as he rambles on.

"I AM NOT A POKÉMON! I am Monokuma! Now shut up and listen to what I have to say, ahem… You are all new residents of Monocity and you all will be staying here, enjoying life in the many different locations! Shops, restaurants, landmarks, the works, baby!"

"And what if we refuse?" Sucy bluntly asked him.

"Upupupu~, about that, you can't refuse. Because you're all PERMANENT citizens of our city!"

"Permanent?!" We all said at the same time, after hearing this, all of us began to quiver in fear.

"F-for real?! You can't be serious..." Ryuji said as he put his hands to his head in disbelief.

"I am serious, blondie! But there is something that you can do if you do want to move away…"

Alice then spoke up, intrigued by what he said, "Really now? Please elaborate on that Mayor Kuma."

"Yes indeed! If our city were to ever have a 'troublemaker', one who disturbed the peace of our fair city, they would be promptly exported out of here!" The bear giggled to himself.

I finally decided to ask him some questions. "Troublemaker? Disturb the peace? Do you mind being more specific?"

"Specific? Well… what I really meant by 'Troublemaker' is MURDERER, and by 'disturb the peace' I mean killing someone!"

That just rocked us to our cores.

In order to escape this place, we have to kill someone?

I… I have no words to describe what I feel.

"M-murder?" Ishigami was shaking, barely getting the words out.

Emma was still, it looked like she went through something similar before.

Aoba, Alice, and Kaiba were struggling to respond.

Ryuji & Gold gritted their teeth.

Miles, Trunks, Marty, & Killua seemed calm, but they were probably stressed on the inside.

Bernadetta was in tears, while Shantae tried to calm her down.

Sucy and Espio remained silent.

I then noticed Misato was missing and when I looked up, I saw her in front of Monokuma, holding a ROCKET LAUNCHER.

"You better let us out of here or I'll blast you to hell!" she yelled at the bear, now I know what Ultimate Arsenal meant.

"Hold on! Violence against the mayor is illegal!"

She fails to listen and blasts him in the face, leaving him covered in, flour or ash. I then began to hear loud beeping, it was starting to get real annoying. But Miles caught wind of something very quickly.

"Get out of there!" He yelled out, but Misato was still confused on what was going to happen.

He then shot something out of his wrist and it stuck to her shirt. Miles pulled her out of the way and Monokuma exploded.

We all watched in horror as the statue was on fire, but it was mainly undamaged. Breathing a sigh of relief I was sure that all we needed to do now was to find an exit, but then another Monokuma popped out with a fire hose and put out the flames.

"I could have actually…" Misato said as Miles comforts her.

"Upupupu~, you can't get rid of me that easily! I have copies all over the city, so don't even try to destroy me again! It's just a waste of time! Consider that explosion a warning, citizens. Now get to the Monocity Killing Game, woo-hoo!"

As he disappeared from sights, remained silent until someone decided to speak up.

"He's probably joking about letting one of us go if they murder someone, but the question is…. Which one of you actually believes him?" Aoba says.

We watched each other, not knowing what our true thoughts were, but if I had to speak for everyone… there's only one word I could use to describe what we were feeling.

Despair.

Danganronpa: Fictional Nexus

Characters:

Mayor Monokuma (Danganronpa)

Ai Mizuno (Zombie Land Saga): The Ultimate Idol

Bernadetta von Varley (Fire Emblem: Three Houses): The Ultimate Recluse

Miles Morales (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse): The Ultimate Successor

Gold (Pokémon Adventures/Pokémon Special): The Ultimate Hatcher

Emma (The Promised Neverland): The Ultimate Moral Compass

Trunks Brief (Dragon Ball): The Ultimate Swordsman

Killua Zoldyck (Hunter X Hunter): The Ultimate Assassin

Marty McFly (Back to The Future): The Ultimate Time-Traveler

Ryuji Sakamoto (Persona 5): The Ultimate Track Star

Shantae (Shantae): The Ultimate Half-Genie

Seto Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh!): The Ultimate CEO

Yu Ishigami (Kaguya-sama: Love Is War): The Ultimate Pessimist

Alice Nakiri (Food Wars): The Ultimate Gastronomist

Misato Tachibana (Nichijou): The Ultimate Arsenal

Espio The Chameleon (Sonic The Hedgehog): The Ultimate

Sucy Manbavaran (Little Witch Academia): The Ultimate Apothecary

Aoba Kuronuma (Durarara!): The Ultimate ?

By having both Three Houses Saga: White Clouds, as well as The Gauntlet as ongoing series, I doubt that I'll be able to write a full story like this, but I am willing to do it if given the chance to. If people want to see what happens to these 17 participants, I'll try to deliver on it. My writing skills need to improve though, as The Gauntlet isn't very good, yet Three Houses Saga is. Maybe one day we'll get to see the Monocity Killing Game, we just have to have hope…. Go away Nagito.