Prologue: A Sudden Detour 2
The wind blew as we rejoined the others, grouped around the large fire pit in the concrete circle. A low din of conversation broke the silence - some were excited to see what was going to happen next, while others couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.
"Well, we're all here," said Dr. Hooves.
"So... where's whoever told us to come here?" asked Juniper.
"Here I am! Sorry to keep you waaaiting!" the strange voice called out, very close by but still hidden away. And before anyone knew what was happening, it leapt out from the center of the fire pit with a flourish.
*boing!*
And so we came face to face with the source of the voice... I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but definitely not this. It appeared to be a teddy bear about one and a half, maybe two feet in height. Its design was unsettling - its right half was pure white with a black button eye and a cute, toothless snout, but its left half was jet black with a glowing, red eye in the shape of a bat wing and a grin that ripped all the way to his ear, full of large, sharp teeth. Its belly was white on both halves, with its bellybutton protruding like a small tumor.
The bear didn't move or speak after appearing, however. Everyone was silent for a few moments as we reassessed the situation.
"Uh..." Ocean mumbled.
"It's a bear..." Soarin' pressed his lips together.
"Wow, that thing is rad!" Indigo squealed. "I wish I had a bear like that..."
"You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding..." Sugarcoat tutted. "There's no way a fucking stuffed bear is our captor. Is this some kind of stupid joke?!"
"Joke?! Why you little-" the bear suddenly snarled in an angry, yet excitable voice. Three razor-sharp claws poked out of his paw as it shook it angrily at us.
"WHOA! IT TALKED!" yelled Kotenage.
"I am the god of this new world... and the Head Camp Counselor of the Ultimate Campgrounds!" it continued grandly. "The one, the only... Monokuma!"
"Mono... kuma...?" Button mouthed, his eyes wide as dinner plates.
"It doesn't look like an ordinary stuffed bear," Mountain muttered as she took a few steps forward. With her walking stick, she gently poked at Monokuma's chest. "Hmm... metal."
"Whoa," Monokuma grunted, shaking his clawed fist at Mountain. "First of all, I'm no teddy bear. I'm Monokuma... And show some respect! I'm the Head Camp Counselor of this place!"
"Head Camp Counselor...?" Sunset tilted her head while glancing at me. I could only shrug in reply, just as confused as she was.
"Metal? Is it some kind of robot, then?" asked Dr. Hooves, choosing to ignore the bear's speech.
"Maybe a new type of animatronic?" added Sunburst.
"Whatever it is, it better start talking," Sugarcoat clenched her fists. "Why are we here? What even is this place?!"
"Oh, that? I already told you this is my Ultimate Campground, and it's smack-dab in the middle of my Hidden Valley of Ultimate Despair!" Monokuma grinned. "Do ya like it? 'Cuz you'll be staying here for a while..."
"'Hidden Valley of... Ultimate Despair'...?" Sunburst echoed.
"Sounds like a salad dressing..." Ocean mumbled.
"The name sure doesn't ring any bells for me," commented Mountain.
"Of course not!" said Monokuma. "This valley is only open to you sixteen special little Ultimate cretins."
"There's that word again... ultimate. Why?" asked Dr. Hooves.
"Ultimate means that you're particularly prodigious in a particular talent," the bear explained. "Each of you has one... so that's why you're here."
Each of us has an Ultimate talent...? Even me...?
"O-Oh... well, I guess I am pretty talented," Juniper smirked.
"So we each have some kind of special talent... then what exactly do you want from us?!" Sugarcoat ordered. "You must want something."
"Huh... well, aren't you a wisegirl?" sneered Monokuma. "Fine... there's only one wee little thing I want from you guys..."
"...Which is...?" I gulped. Somehow, I knew the answer was not going to be a good one.
"I want you all... to murder each other."
In an instant my heart dropped into my stomach. I was expecting a horrible answer, but this... this was outright bad.
...M-Murder...?!
Everyone around me reacted much the same way, with horror, disbelief and shock.
"Uh... I-I don't think I heard you right..." Silver giggled nervously.
"Oh, you heard me, sweetheart," Monokuma smirked. "I. Want you guys. To murder. Each other."
"O-Oh... T-That's what I-I thought y-you said..." Silver giggled even more nervously.
"A-ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Kotenage recoiled. "Y-YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"
"But I am," the bear replied matter-of-factly.
"W-We can't kill each other! That's terrible!" Memento shivered. "And extremely illegal!"
"Do I look like I care? ...Puhuhuhu..." He smiled from ear to ear and began to laugh.
"You're laughing... so it was a joke... right...?" Flash gulped.
"Puhuhu... It's just... when I said it before, I kinda just phoned it in and now I feel awkward," Monokuma chuckled. "Now... I want you guys with your Ultimate-level talents to participate in a killing game."
I felt Sunset grab onto my hand. "K-Killing game?!" she stuttered. "W-What the hell are you talking about?!"
"...Why?" asked Sonata, an eyebrow raised. She didn't seem as scared as the rest of us... more confused and inquisitive than anything, really.
"Why? You mean... you don't wanna do it?" asked Monokuma.
"Of course not! What the fuck kind of stupid question is that?!" Sugarcoat yelled.
"...But if you've looked around the campgrounds, then you already know, don't you?" the bear smirked. "You're surrounded by a thick, dark forest, untouched by human hands... and beyond that? Sheer cliffs and an ice-covered mountain on all sides! You can't escape to the outside world... not only that, but there are no flight paths anywhere near this valley, so you can't signal a plane. In fact, even GPS doesn't work here, so even if someone tried to look for you via satellite, they'd pass right over you and be none the wiser!"
Sunset's grip on my hand tightened. "...S-Seriously? Nobody will find us...?"
"In other words... I hold the power of life and death over each and every one of you," Monokuma leered. "You can't leave without killing someone... or without my saying so."
"Oh, man... oh, maaan..." Button began to wail. "Aw, this is some Danganronpa bullshit!"
"What?" asked Flash.
"...Dang ol' romper?" Sonata tilted her head to one side.
"Danganronpa..." Button repeated, his voice full of fearful reverence. "It's a game series... half visual novel, half murder mystery. Sixteen high school students are trapped somewhere, and the only way they can escape is if they murder a classmate of theirs and deceive everyone else in a trial... This is exactly what's happening, isn't it?"
"And just how do you know this?!" Sugarcoat demanded angrily.
"I streamed it a while ago... huge success with the fans," Button gulped. "It's pretty popular."
"Well... aren't you so smart?" Monokuma slumped over suddenly. "...And here I thought I was being original..."
"Oh? A copycat, perhaps?" asked Dr. Hooves.
"Awwww... where are my children? Daddy needs a hug..." the bear moaned.
"What? Children?" I bristled, unwilling to believe there were possibly more murder-craving bears in our midst. But suddenly...
*Rise and Shine, Ursine!*
...A chorus of four new, strange voices chimed in close by. While I was wondering where the heck the voices came from, four more creatures similar to Monokuma leapt out from behind him, two on each side. They were slightly smaller than Monokuma, and each seemed to have a unique color scheme and personality. One had blue rather than black, wore spiky metal pauldrons and gray, star-shaped eye makeup, had chest hair lazily scribbled onto his body, and held a blue electric guitar in his paws. Another one was yellow with brown tiger stripes, wore black glasses and held an abacus. Yet another one was red rather than black and wore a long, dark gray scarf pinned together with a star-shaped brooch that looked like an actual weapon. And finally, the last one was light pink with darker vertical stripes, wore a seashell-pink cosmo flower behind her left ear and a black bikini top decorated with cherry blossoms, and held a small sunflower in her paws. Each one had a yellow pacifier crammed inside their mouths, yet it didn't seem to impede their speech one bit.
"Oh-hohoho, my cute little cubs!" Monokuma squealed. "It's about time you showed up to support your father!"
"C-Cubs?" Mountain hissed.
"Yes... my dear little Monokubs!" he smiled as he pointed to each one in turn. "Monokid, Monosuke, Monotaro, and of course... Monophanie!"
"Wow... those stuffed bears are cute, too!" Indigo bit at her lower lip.
"We're not Monokubs! We're the stuffed animals!" Monokid roared while haphazardly plucking at his guitar.
"...Psst. Monokid. You're saying your lines backwards," Monosuke stage-whispered.
"No stuffed animals, us! The Monokubs, them!" he yelled even louder as he snapped his guitar in half. He then threw it away after a moment and immediately pulled a brand new guitar out from behind him as if nothing had happened.
"Oh, geez... it's even worse now," Monosuke slapped his paw to his forehead.
"...Am I really seeing this?" Button slumped in disbelief. "Is this for real? Did someone lace my weed?!"
Ah... well, that explains the smell...
"Yo, you got weed on ya?!" Ocean exclaimed with a grin. "Maaan, I'm gonna need a good hit or two after this shit."
"This isn't the time for that! What on earth is happening here?!" Dr. Hooves gestured wildly.
"Surprised, huh? I totally understand how you feel... the first time I noticed, my teeth and fingernails fell out!" Monotaro grinned.
"T-That's not a healthy way to react to a surprise!" Monophanie wailed.
"And what do you suggest a healthy way to react to this is?!" groaned Flash.
"...Hey, wait a minute," Button Mash drawled, "...there's five Monokubs in the games... where's Monodam?" His question was met with confused silence from the Monokubs.
"...Who?" Monosuke was the first to speak.
"Monodam?" Monotaro followed a moment later. Beside him, Monophanie stiffened up and adopted a thousand-yard stare.
"...We learned our lesson last time," she remarked.
"Last time...?" Sugarcoat grimaced.
"Soooo... juuust to be sure, in case I've inhaled too much formaldehyde..." Memento cocked her head. "...Are we really stuck here with some Five Nights at Freddy's rejects? And we'll apparently get out if we kill someone and get away with it? Oh, noooonononono... there has to be another way out. How else did we get here?!"
"There's nothing to explain... this is simply how it is, so please don't bother," Monophanie shrugged. "...You can't get out of here. The valley has no entrances or exits, and the cliffs cannot be climbed."
"An Ultimate could probably climb it partway," Monokid admitted, "but most of the time it's impossible!"
"...But they can still sorta climb it, huh...?" Monosuke readjusted his glasses.
"...SOMEONE! HELP UUUUUSSSSS!" Indigo suddenly shrieked, causing everyone present to jump in place. "HEY! WE'RE STUCK IN THIS STUPID VALLEY! GET US OOOOOUT!" She continued to scream for a good twenty seconds more until her voice was a raspy wheeze.
"Please, stop! You'll hurt your throat!" Monophanie gasped, seeming to be genuinely worried for Indigo.
"Yea! Scream all you like... no one can hear you anyway!" taunted Monokid. Suddenly the four Monokubs whipped out various guns from behind their backs - I only knew the names from TV shows and movies, but Monokid had an AK-47, Monosuke had a tommy gun, Monotaro had a pair of Uzis, and Monophanie had... a Celestia-damned grenade launcher. They cackled wildly as they began unloading the guns into the air, Monophanie thankfully aiming far away from any of us before firing her launcher.
"Get down!" Mountain screamed. Everyone immediately threw themselves on the ground to avoid the crazed gunfire, but not before I felt a flash of searing heat against my right cheek. I barely heard Sunset shout my name as I instinctively clapped my hand to my cheek and felt something stinging raw and... wet. I stared in abject horror at my palm... my blood-covered palm.
Sweet Celestia...! I... I-I could've just died there...!
Finally, a few moments later, a loud BOOM from Monophanie's launcher heralded the end of the gunfire. Breathing heavily with satisfaction, they stowed away their guns.
"What is this...?" Sunburst paled, struggling to stand back up. "You things... this valley... What is all this?!"
"You bastards'll have to use your legs, hands and eyes to find that out for yourselves," Monotaro smirked.
"But please be careful," said Monophanie. "It's late autumn, the temperatures are already quite low here. We wouldn't want you to catch a cold or freeze to death."
It is...? I thought back to yesterday when I had arrived in the human world. ...Yea, it was kind of chilly out. So at least we're in the same hemisphere...
"D'aww, my cute little cubs..." Monokuma squeezed himself while shaking from side to side, not only his red eye but his entire face glowing angrily. "You're all so freakin' cute! The only reason I can tolerate your tiresome antics is 'cuz you're all so cute... Even when the prologue is going on way too long, I'll allow it because you guys are cute!"
"Er... pops, are you mad at us...?" Monosuke asked carefully.
"Don't be an idiot! I would never get mad at my cute little cubs!" Monokuma screeched.
"Gah! He's mad!" Monokid panicked.
"But... Daddy is still cool even when he's angry," Monophanie sighed.
"Pops is from a planet of handsome bears that get cooler as they get angrier," Monosuke nodded, not noticing that their "father" was shivering with rage. Before he could continue on with his story, Monokuma suddenly leaped forward and punched him directly into his siblings, knocking them all over and away.
"How many times do I gotta say it?!" he fumed. "I'M NOT MAD!" The Monokubs spent a few quiet moments picking themselves up and scuttling back to their father while he calmed down. "...Anyway, I'm really not mad. In fact, I gotta admit that I'm actually proud of you guys. You kids really stand out from the rest of the second-generation failures in the world."
"Isn't that a little harsh?" asked Monophanie. "I'm sure there are some second-generation success stories..."
"I can't think of any, though-"
"If you can't think of any, it's 'cuz there's none worth remembering!" Monokuma cut off Monosuke with yet another gut punch straight into his siblings.
"But Father remembers! 'Cuz he knows everything!" Monotaro yelled as he tumbled along the ground.
"Holy shit! That's right, Papa Kuma!" Monokid howled through a mouthful of dirt. "You know all kinds of useless crap!"
"Because Daddy gets all his alternative facts from the most trusted names in fake news!" Monophanie wheezed.
"...What the fuck are we even watching right now?" grumbled Soarin', utterly confused and terrified as the rest of us.
"I'M SO LOST..." Kotenage sighed.
"You guys need some serious family therapy..." Sugarcoat sighed, slapping her forehead.
"Heehee... I love embracing my children," Monokuma laughed. "They're so cute, I just can't help myself!"
"I... wouldn't exactly call a sucker punch an embrace..." Memento grimaced.
"But you're right," Monokuma smirked. "You're stuck here until you kill, kill, kill! Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting... how you do it doesn't matter! You must kill someone if you want to leave, and then fool the rest in a trial. It's as simple as that."
"Ohhh, but... I don't like that..." Monophanie gulped. "I'm not good with violence or gore or sad situations... Um, Daddy? Instead of a killing game, could we do a rock-paper-scissors tournament?"
"Who'd wanna play a game where no one dies?!" whined Monosuke.
"Uh... me. I would very much like to play that kind of game," Button commented. "And usually I'm all about blowing people away on a computer screen."
"Ooh! I like games," Sonata replied.
"Well... you do have a compassionate personality," Monokuma sighed. "It's so cute I can barely stand it... why, it's cute enough to eat! Cute enough that I wanna eat it!" He grinned wickedly, opening his mouth to show off his teeth.
Monophanie shivered. "Uh..."
"Hey, Monophanie," Monotaro whispered. "You might wanna dial back the cute schtick a bit."
So many thoughts were racing through my head, I wasn't quite sure which emotion I should've felt the strongest about. Here I was, supposed to be on a week-long vacation visiting Sunset... and now this?! Being held captive with a number of people from Sunset's past... by five insane robot bears that wanted us to kill each other?! And they were obviously more than willing to kill us themselves if we didn't comply... Stuff like this was par for the course back home, but here? In human Equestria? ...Although I don't remember any kind of mountain valley like this there, so it's not exactly Equestria.
But these bears wanted us dead, yet not by their own paws. And setting up an entire campsite like this must've cost a ton of money...
...No... no, there has to be a deeper explanation for this. Someone's obviously controlling these bears... there's just not enough magic in the air for them to be actual living creatures... But who...? And why...?
Meanwhile, Button sucked in a deep breath and sighed. "Soooo... can we just get our Monopads or whatever now?"
"Monopads...?" asked Sunburst.
"Oh, yea... go hand 'em out, would ya kids?" Monokuma pushed surprisingly gently. The Monokubs produced a couple of black and white computer tablets each and handed one to everyone. "Now, as I'm sure Weedman over there will tell you, your Monopad is essential to living a healthy outdoor life! They're waterproof, crushproof and contain all of the rules of the campgrounds, so be sure to review them thoroughly!"
"Eh? You want us to kill each other, but there's rules?" blinked Indigo.
"Oh, yea!" nodded Monosuke. "After all, it wouldn't be all that fun if one o' yous just decided to get yerselves killed!"
"K-Killed?!" Juniper shivered.
"If I had to wager a guess, breaking the rules probably means..." Flash cleared his throat as he pointed to a nearby minigun.
"Correct! You may hear me say this a lot, but any violation of the rules will not. Be. Tolerated," nodded Monokuma. "Welp, that brings our entrance ceremony to a close! Please do enjoy your abundantly dreary outdoorsy life! See ya!" And before anyone could speak, he somehow leapt directly into the fire pit and disappeared.
"Have fun, you bastards!" Monophanie called out cheerfully.
*So long, bear well!*
After shouting their catchphrase, the Monokubs followed their father into the fire pit and vanished as well. While Sugarcoat angrily demanded they return to explain themselves further, the rest of us stared at each other. Various emotions swam in everyone's eyes - confusion, terror, disbelief... suspicion. I pressed my lips together, silently cursing my luck.
We can't escape... And nobody knows we're here... Can anybody even find us...?
"Autonomous robots with guns that demand their captives play the most dangerous game..." Sunburst sighed deeply. "Unbelievable."
"W-We don't really have to... kill each other... right?" Silver gulped. "I mean... that's..."
"Hell no!" Sunset shouted. "Look, there's five of them and sixteen of us. Metal or not, we can get out of here without any killing each other or dying if we work together!"
"No..." Button sighed morosely, garnering everyone's attention. "If this is really Danganronpa... it's gonna be a reeeeeal bad time. Most of us are definitely gonna die before there's even a chance of escape."
Geez... whatever that is, it sounds... terrifying...
"...Ya know, you're not very good at the whole 'encouraging others' thing," Sonata remarked, tilting her head.
"Soooo... what are we gonna do?" asked Memento. "I mean, I don't wanna kill anybody, and I hope no one else does, either."
"But if what those bears say is true... nobody's coming to save us, and we may be in such a remote area that we might all die of exposure or something even if we do escape," Mountain frowned. "Well... I'm positive I can survive, but the rest of you..."
Quiet mumbling and grumbling filled the air as we all considered our chances of survival either way. If we did manage to find a way to escape, we'd likely need all of the supplies we could carry, which would slow us down. Plus no one had found a map, so we wouldn't even know which direction to go... unless we happened to find whatever means of transportation our captors had used to bring us here. But then what if it wasn't something Sunset was capable of driving? She has her motorcycle and she's driven a car before, but... maybe one of the others could drive it?
Ugh... this must be what Twilight feels like whenever she has to go over new bills and laws...
"Well, first thing's first: you're gonna tell us everything you know about whatever the fuck Dang Gang Romper is," Sugarcoat snarled, pointing a finger at Button.
"No, no... Dan-gan-ron-pa," Button enunciated.
"NEIGHPONESE FOR 'BULLET REFUTE'," Kotenage chimed in.
"...And yea, sure. Let's all go into the dining hall," he swallowed as he pulled at his sleeves. "It's cold out here."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and we began to trudge to the largest cabin, our feet dragging. I glanced over to Sunset, wondering how she was holding up against our predicament... a tense scowl was etched onto her face. But then she glanced my way and met my eyes, and they softened into a confident smile.
"Hey... I've been through life-and-death stuff like this before, and from what Twilight's told me, so have you," she grinned. "We'll be fine. We just gotta come up with a plan first."
Her smile gave me confidence, and one blossomed onto my own face. "...Yea. We'll be fine." Sunset nodded once before returning her gaze to the cabin door, and we all walked inside.
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Interesting decision to bring in the Monokubs.
Any particular reason Monodam was left out?
Okay I was NOT expecting Button to be a stoner
Okay I know V3 had "Make this country great again", so I should have expected something like that, yet somehow I didn't.
Okay, I'm glad he never did THAT in the games.
Definitely getting the feeling that Sunset's going to die in either the first trial or the fifth.
10640612
There's a reason... also, he was my least favorite Monokub, but there's a reason...
10640652
I liked him more than Monosuke and Monokid myself, but he's definitely not my favorite.
Monodam is left out again or maybe they didn't build him. they did say they're not going what they went for the last time with him
10640655
Monophanie's my favorite. She's just so pure and sweet for a Monokub, and then she calls the kids "you bastards".
10640612
I believe Monophanie used that line in the game somewhere. I want to say she did it in the prologue of V3.
But oh my dear, the Monokubs. I'm torn. On the one hand, I did enjoy their theme music in V3. On the other hand, they tended to bog down the story, and rarely felt like they amounted to much. That said, I'm confident you'll find some good use out of them.
And naturally Button Mash knows Danganronpa, though it seems Sunset doesn't. More reason to think she's going to die early.
Indigo, meanwhile, is reminding me a lot of Ibuki. Which is either a really good sign, because I loved Ibuki, or a bad sign, because it means she'll die around Chapter Three and then we'll be sadder for it.
10640712
This'll seem weird, but my favorite was Monokid. He was genuinely funny during his brief appearance, and I thought it a shame he was slain early in V3, especially since as the Monokub cast dwindled they became less and less interesting, culminating in the... ugh, awful, awful way they used Monotaro and Monophanie in Chapter 4.
10640744
I liked Monokid, too. Plus he was voiced by Nekomaru, my favorite.
And... yea, that's where it's from. It was just too good not to include, really captures how bizarre the whole situation would be. They will definitely have a bigger role than in V3, though.
10640744
I actually think its the reverse, let one with the most knowledge die before revealing it, heck knowing how the situation works seems like a huge target for button to be killed
10640760
10640744
Huh. Somehow I forgot about that one. Probably because I don't tend to rewatch the prologue.
And... despite how the Monokubs ended, I actually still really like Monotaro and Monophanie
10640760
Oh he was? No wonder I liked him so much. Nekomaru might be my favorite character from 2. He's funny, but also inspiring. And um... muscular.
10641068
)
Hrm, good point. It's not like Button is the protag. It would make sense to off the knowledgable one early. But that all depends upon why this KG is going. We know the deaths in this one will be real, but I still wonder if it's going to be the same or similar mastermind as vPs. I feel like the answer to that is no, but there are ways I could see it done that would be quite fascinating, so... we'll have to see. (I may have also been projecting from my own story, where Sunset is the protag and the one who knows Danganronpa so I assumed that knowledge equaled survival.
10641145
Honestly I only remembered because I watched NicoB's playthrough of V3 sometime late last year. Was one of the things that inspired me to write a DR fic.
Monotaro and Monophanie weren't bad characters. They could be fun, in a way, though I feel like 'Taro's memory schtick got old pretty fast. I liked him getting attached to Miu. And Monophanie was funny in a "I'm like an evil Monami" sort of way. So I don't dislike them. But I do dislike what was done with them, especially since all it seemed to culminate in was providing the main means of death for Gonta's execution. Which could've just as easily been done several other ways.
10641156
While I've seen bits and pieces of that LP, the two that I find myself going back to the most are Lucahjin's and Johneawesome's.
And yeah, that whole thing was definitely a bit of a waste.
I am still trying to understand why very few people are not even trying to create a unique security system for Danganronpa fanfics. They're in the forest camp, lot's of open spaces. How Monokuma is supposed to enforce his rules with stationary machine guns? Why machine guns in the first place? (Just for reference I think the author confuses minigun with a sentry gun)
10644063
The Monokubs will be wandering around nearby as well. They might not have Exisals, but they do have shitloads of guns.
10640760
Didn't all the Monokubs have the same voice actor, and that was part of the joke?
10644677
Nope.
They have different VAs
Monokid was voiced by Patrick Seitz
Monotaro was voiced by Sean Chiplock
Monosuke was voiced by Brian Beacock
Monophanie was voiced by Natalie Hoover
Monodam was voiced by Jason Wishnov