Orion Divi's Story

---

When Orion awoke, she was staring up at a canopy of green leaves.

Light filtered through the trees, shimmering slightly as she gazed at them with a slightly tilted head. Reaching out a hand, the air felt moist and sticky--when she pressed her fingers against her palm, part of her expected her hand to be wet. Taking a deep breath of a thick, rotten smell, she wrinkled her nose and rose to a stand, ground squishing beneath her.

Where...where am I?

There was something surreal about the situation. Waking up in a strange swamp, all alone with...she paused, feeling around for her purse--it was gone. So she was all alone, with nothing but the clothes on her back, and only vague memories of a program from Hope's Peak that had been kind enough to name her an Ultimate. After that, she was invited into the school to learn, and then...

Nothing. Blankness. Anything beyond that was covered by a fog in her mind.

And then I ended up here. Some sort of bizarre initiation program, perhaps?

Shrugging, she lifted her feet out of the sludge and began trudging forward. Well, no better way to find out than to start investigating! I've been lazy lately, so I'm sure my brain probably needs the kick. Just have to find out what's going on, plan a way home, and get back so I can tell Seth I'm okay...

Orion stepped off the small piece of elevated land she'd been fortunate enough to wake up on and into the murky swamp water, which reached just below her knees. Something buzzed--bugs swarmed around her head, likely drawn to the warm sweat forming on her forehead. She swatted at them, continuing forward.

"Hello?" she called. "Anyone out there? Any other Ultimates? Or just...a person at all?"

Nothing. Left with no option but to move forward, she continued on, keeping her eyes peeled for any human-like shape in the distance.

Don't worry. Things will be alright, even if this is all very strange.

Berit's eye twitched.

Ogre. "Big Bertha"...?

This...insolent child. Does he realize I could shatter his spine with a single punch?

"Wow, your real name is Bertha?" Meri gasped. "And you're an ogre? And this is your swamp? That's amazing! You must know all the secrets to--"

Berit's hand was around Meri's skinny little throat before she even realized it. The sound of his breath struggling to enter his body drew her attention to her clenched fingers--drawing in a deep breath, she released him, offering a very strained smile she hoped would comfort Meri and the child enough to keep them from losing their minds.

"I apologize," she muttered through her teeth. "I lost my temper. Child, if you do not mind, my name is Berit and I would greatly appreciate you referring to me as such. This is not my swamp, I am not an ogre, and I would very much like it if you would refrain from--!"

Her volume had begun to raise--Berit tried her best to control herself again and failed.

"--from speaking about me like a foul monster!"

Meri cooed, rubbing at his neck. "Ooh, you sound mad."

"Well! I am very glad you noticed! What a brilliant observation! Now if you would not mind, I would much prefer to get to searching this place for an escape--I do not wish to remain here around you hooligans any longer than is necessary!"

Meri giggled, beginning to head down the hallway again. "Got it! Ultimate Coward, do you wanna come along? Berit looks scary but I think she's probably not actually that mean."

I am that mean, Berit thought, but she decided not to say anything just yet.

---

Johanna shook the mud off her boots for the twentieth time, feeling at the supplies in her pocket. Waking up in such a strange place was certainly not ideal, but at least she woke up in what appeared to be a nurse's office. If she got hurt during her wandering, she would have a way to look out for herself. That was the first step--the second was getting some food and finding some company.

This appears to be a swamp. The closest swamp to my home is...a good twenty miles southeast, down the side of the mountain and closer to shore. The sun is currently setting, it looks like, which means if I follow the sun I go west, so if I go northwest I should eventually reach some sign of home! Right?

Right. Chin up, Hanna.

Things couldn't be that bad. Sure, she had been wandering for a while and she was hungry and she hadn't found anyone yet, but it could be worse.

Somewhere, Johanna heard the crackling of a loudspeaker. Just as it blared to life, she spotted a human shape in the distance.

"Ahem, ahem. Testing, testing!" a cute voice called out. "Can everyone hear me? Mic check, mic check! ...Ah, yes! That's more like it!"

Johanna wrenched her feet free from the mud more quickly as she got closer to the human shape. "Hey!" she called loudly, hoping to get the person's attention. "Hey!"

"All students," the voice over the loudspeakers began, "please report to the gym immediately! It's time for your orientation! I repeat, all students please report to the gym immediately! Do not make me ask again!"

The gym? ...Well, maybe this person knows where it is.

She could make them out more clearly now--a blue-haired girl, it seemed, slightly muddied from time outdoors. Johanna waved to her as she came closer, then finally found herself near enough to her new companion to begin introductions.

"Hey!" she repeated. "H-hey, hi! My name's Johanna Braun. I just woke up and found myself out here...I'm trying to get home. Um, orientation, students, the gym...so this must be like, a school, right? Uh, I'm the Ultimate Woodcarver! Right."

Was she being too loud? Probably--hopefully she wasn't annoying anyone nearby too much.

"Anyway, that voice just now told us to go to the gym? But the problem is I don't know where the gym is. Could you help me find it? It's just, being alone out here, it's a big place, and...I just would rather walk with someone. Is that okay? Can we find the gym together?"

So her quest to head home would have to wait. If this was a school, maybe it was connected to Hope's Peak somehow, right? Just like the Ultimates. Surely that voice over the loudspeakers would know what was going on.

Surely things could always be worse.

Orion jumped, observing the loud girl for a moment before regarding her with a slightly nervous smile. If nothing else, it was a good thing that she'd run into someone--it meant she wasn't all alone out here. But on the other hand, if they both had no recollection of how they got here, then what did that mean?

Surely, it couldn't be anything good.

"We can find the gym together," Orion decided, offering a somewhat muddied hand for Johanna to shake. "It's nice to meet you, Johanna! To be completely honest, the same thing happened to me, actually. Woke up here and I don't know where I am, so I'm just...trying to find my way home."

Home...

Raul must be worried sick, Orion thought to herself, resisting the urge to bite her lip. How long have I been out here? Why can't I remember what happened? It couldn't be Palmer's fault somehow, could it...?

No, no...whatever's happening, I'm sure it's all okay. There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this--I just can't think of it at the moment. Satisfied with this, Orion pulled herself from her thoughts and offered Johanna a more confident smile. "I haven't introduced myself, have I? I'm Orion Divi, Ultimate Astronomer. If you're an Ultimate too, then maybe your idea of this being a school isn't so far off..."

She glanced back in the direction that Johanna came from, swearing that she could see building-like shapes in the distance. "Oh! Do you think the gym's over that way? I've been wandering the swamp for a while and all I've seen is...well, swamp, so as far as I'm concerned that's our best bet. I wasn't even sure there were buildings here until the announcement mentioned something about them, honestly."

Berit followed Evlo for about thirteen seconds.

She took one look at the absolute chaos that was steadily unfolding and decided not to get involved. So, sidestepping the crazy people, ignoring the loud screams of the dark-haired boy chasing Evlo around the school, and deliberately choosing not to explore any other rooms, she dragged Meri by the wrist behind her and searched for the gym the announcement had spoken about.

"What on earth is going on?! I have had enough of this!" Berit cried, mostly to herself as she stomped along the halls. "That's it! Merimore Long, you shall take me to the gym this instant and we will not be dilly-dallying!"

"Okay!" Meri exclaimed cheerfully, overtaking Berit's lead in a few strides of his long legs. "The gym is right this way! Those other people better hurry or they're gonna be late..."

And so, leaving the absolute madness behind, Berit and Meri headed right out to the gym to wait.

---

"Orion Divi," Johanna repeated. "It's great to meet you too! I'm Johanna Braun, the Ultimate Woodcarver."

She followed Orion's gaze to the building in the distance. Yes, it was rather large...surely if the gym was going to be anywhere, it would be in that building. She nodded, then began making her way towards the building, checking every once in a while to make sure Orion was following.

"That would seem to be where the gym is," Johanna declared. "Good eye! I woke up in this nurse's office, but I hadn't seen any other buildings when I found you. This must be a huge swamp..."

As they got closer to the building (slowly, progress through the mud was difficult), it occurred to Johanna to apologize. She chuckled, fidgeting with the bandages in her pocket. "I'm super loud, aren't I? Sorry. I work with a lot of chainsaws and power tools, so my hearing's a little messed up from all the noise. Sometimes I don't notice how loud I am."

Something crackled--that same voice from earlier returned, sounding significantly more put-out. "I said go to the GYM, you little sh*ts! Do NOT make me say it again! If all Ultimates are not in the gym in five minutes, I'll send out the calvary! Tick tock, nerds!"

"...That doesn't sound good," Johanna said. "Uh...w-we can talk on the way. Hurry to the gym for now, become best friends later?"

"Sounds good!" Orion decided, making a point of quickening her pace. At this point, the worry of dirtying her clothes was one of the past--it seemed her legs and skirt were destined to be coated in mud. Whatever this place was, hopefully there was a washing machine she could use somewhere. Something started buzzing around the side of her head--she swatted at it, frowning slightly. Some bug spray would be nice too.

But for now, she could learn to tolerate these things. Wiping at the sweat on her forehead, she looked back over at Johanna. What were we talking about...? Ah, right!

"You don't need to worry about being too loud," Orion assured her. "I used to know someone who was the same way, so I'm used to it by now. But if it makes you feel better, I'll be sure to tell you if you start yelling or anything like that."

As much as she'd been telling herself not to worry, Orion felt herself pause again. She took a deep breath, forcing a slightly nervous-looking smile. "Say...what do you think that voice meant by 'the cavalry'?"

Unbelievably, the guy that just came in was absolutely lost because of a door in the way. Tzigana watched, jaws slacked at the newcomer who exited, came back through, seemed very surprised, then left again. Then came back.

"Somebody just... Help Dory." Tzigana sighed, shaking her head. Andy cocked her head, watching Saleh with curiosity. What was he hoping to achieve?

The ground suddenly began to shake.

Tzigana regained her balance when it happened, but Andy lost hers and fell to the ground. There was some kind of noise coming from outside. A strange, wavering noise. The room went quiet, everyone was probably expecting the worst to happen.

The gym shook violently as a blast hit the roof and blew a hole in the middle of the ceiling. Large chunks of debris fell on top of the Ultimate Students. Tzigana managed to miss a beam just barely.

"What the heck!?"

"IT'S SPONTANEOUS, IT'S FABULOUS, IT'S GLORIOUS!" A voice echoed from outside. Once the dust and smoke settled, a circular space ship was hovering just above the giant hole it made with its blasters. The space ship was a brilliant silver that was ruined by red graffitied letters that spelled TAKI with a little devil face next to it. "IIIIIIIIT'S TAKI WALKER!"

"Taki!" Tzigana squealed excitedly. Finally, someone she recognised! Then her face dropped as she realized a maniacal child was in possession of a spaceship with lasers. "Oh no, it's Taki."

At the cockpit, a small boy with curly auburn hair was visible. He was looking down at the pipsqueaks below, grinning madly.

"SUP SCRUBS. IT'S YA BOI. NOW I'M SUPPOSED TO SAVE SOMEONE FROM THIS WEIRD POCKET DIMENSION. I'VE GOT HER NAME ON THIS PIECE OF PAPER," Taki took a folded A4 piece of paper out from his pockets. It had the name Ruby E. Hockenjos scrawled onto it. "BUT, LIKE, I CAN'T READ. YOU THINK THEY WILL MIND IF I JUST TOOK ONE OF YOU AT RANDOM?"

"What's going on!? Are the aliens speaking!?" Andy asked, excited and confused all at once.

"No, NO, NO!" Monokuma jumped out from behind the podium with his claws already bared. "You're not supposed to be here! I'm going to total that stupid heap and kill you for interrupting the games!"

"Blah blah I'M A SPACE PIRATE BEEYOCH!" Taki then slammed his fists across the control panels. Whatever he pressed somehow worked, because a tractor beam shot out from the spaceship and fired towards Orion. Before she could even react, she dispersed into thin air, and reappeared right behind Taki in the cockpit.

"AWH, SCREW PLAYING NICE! IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME ALREADY!" Monokuma roared.

Out of the walls, out of the roof and out of the swamp's trees, automated machine guns popped out and aimed at Taki. The little boy grinned and cracked his knuckles. It was time to show what he was made of.

All at once the automated machine guns fired. The spaceship blasted off into the air, spinning around in circles to dodge the oncoming bullets. Taki pressed a button and a screen lit up where the blasters were locked onto a few of the machine guns. He slammed a fist onto the big shiny red button and the blasters blared up to life, shooting out lasers that hit and melted the guns.

Monokuma began to laugh madly as the school bell suddenly transformed itself into a laser cannon. It aimed at the space craft, charged up, then fired. Taki thrust the ship out of the way just in time, having both Orion and him slam to one side of the ship. But there was another cannon just hidden in the marsh that fired as well, piercing through the back of the space ship.

"FUCK!" Taki cursed, then paused. "Don't tell Wrath I said that, okay?!" With that, he pulled down a compartment of switches from above and flicked every one of them. Dozens of missiles were dropped and launched, half towards the laser cannon on top of the school, and the other half to the one hidden in the marsh. The one on top of the school fired at the missiles desperately, but it couldn't destroy enough before it reached it and blew it apart. The story was not so different for its twin.

"Alright, tuts! Time to get outta here!" Taki laughed out. But before he could, a black and white figure appeared out of nowhere and slammed itself into the cockpit's windows. Monokuma glared directly at Taki with a pure hatred while Taki squealed out with shock.

"NO! MY DAY HAS BEEN TERRIBLE. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT ANY WORSE!" Monokuma shrieked. Taki gave a sly grin as he hit the window wipers and wiped Monokuma off. He fell down to the muddy lands below.

"Engine is now prepared to boost into hyper-drive." A monotone computer voice informed from the console.

"Ready for the ride of your life, tuts?!" Taki asked excitedly. He didn't wait for an answer. He hit the button and the ship's shape warped before it sped off into space at the speed of light, leaving nothing but a deafening sonic boom behind.

...

What the hell just happened?