A woman with long brown hair stood in front of a large three story building. She adjusted the blue purse she wore at her hip, a gift from her girlfriend. This was it, the moment she'd been working her life towards. Hope's Peak Academy, the place where the most elite and proficient students went. Each student had to be high school age and were hand picked for their unique talents. Now, Alice Woodward has been picked to be part of the next class of students finally earning the status of an Ultimate. A status everyone her age strived to earn but only few received. She took a deep breath, passed the front gate, and opened the door to her new life.

But the next thing she knew was her entire world going dark.

Alice woke up in a classroom, her purse was gone. She had no idea what had just happened or why. "Hey, whoever decided to prank me," She called out as she wandered into the hallway. "This isn't funny." But her voice just echoed through the halls with no response. Alice decided to make her way to the entrance hall where it looked like a few more students were gathered.

"Alright, who the hell decided to take my purse," Alice folded her arms, announcing her presence to the others. "Taking someone else's things isn't funny."

"I am appalled you would think I would do such a thing," A platinum blonde haired student scoffed, he looked on the younger side of the group, wore black jeans, a white polo with a green and black striped tie. He took her hand and shook it. "The name's Draco Malfoy, the Ultimate Heir."

"Alice, the um Ultimate Scriptwrite," She hadn't realized her ability would be a part of introductions.

"Did you wake up in one of the classrooms too," Another girl asked, she had dark blonde hair held back into a braid draping over her shoulder. She wore a black skirt dotted with flowers and a blue jean jacket.

"Yeah, was I not the only one," Everyone else muttered or nodded a confirmation that the same had happened to them. She looked between them all, including her there were only 5. Too small for any high school class. "Is this everyone?"

"No, there should be more, if this is it I'd be very surprised," Alice let out a sigh of relief, thank god there was someone closer to her age there. He had unruly short blond hair and brown eyes. He wore a leather jacket, an orange shirt with faded writing, and tattered jeans. "Luke Castellan, Ultimate Swordsman." He roughly shook her hand.

"Good morning everyone," A woman laughed as she strutted into the hall. A few more students trickled in behind her. "I found more sleepy heads. A classroom isn't the worst place I've fallen asleep in, but clearly not the best." She thread a hand through her black and pink dyed hair, tossing it behind her shoulder. She wore a skin tight hot pink shirt and black leggings with a pink and black striped mini skirt. "For those who may not know, I am the Ultimate Popstar, Lady Katherine Howard."

"Ugh, she just loves saying that over and over," Draco rolled his eyes.

"So do you," The original girl said, folding her arms.

"Alright well why haven't you introduced yourself yet," Draco demanded, "I'd like to know the name of the person insulting me so I can make sure they don't get into Pigfarts."

"What the hell is Pigfarts," Alice asked, that sounded like a lame ass name for a place.

"Pigfarts is a school for only the best witches and wizards, like me," Draco said proudly.

"Eh hem," One of the new arrivals loudly cleared her throat. "Isn't orientation at 8?" She was looking at a clock hanging on one of the walls, above several windows boarded up with large sheets of metal, bolted to the wall.

"Where did you find that out," Alice asked.
She pulled out a paper and showed it to everyone. On it were crudely written directions to wait in the entrance hall for freshman orientation. "Did none of you check your classroom?" She rolled her eyes as everyone shook their heads. She wore a black lace dress and matching gloves, black hair framing her face.

As the time the goth girl had mentioned neared more students made their way into the entrance hall, some with the same crudely written note, until finally it seemed no one else would be coming. A boy came running into the hall, his brown hair matted and his eyes went wide when he saw everyone else. He had tucked his hands into his arms, smiling awkwardly at everyone. Like he didn't belong.

"With him that makes 15," Alice muttered, not realizing she had said it out loud.

"Seems like a reasonable size for a class," a boy wearing a blue vest and had longer brown hair tied back said.

"I believe introductions are in order then," Draco stepped forward, proudly announcing his name and title to everyone. Katherine repeated her over dramatic introduction as well.

"This is so lame," Alice rolled her eyes but introduced herself anyway.

"I am Lydia Deetz," The goth girl said, but it was clear she wasn't going to say anymore. Alice thought that maybe she was being smart by not revealing her Ultimate title to everyone. But it was likely people would find out anyway.

"Zoe Murphy, the Ultimate Jazzist," The girl with the braid said, the same who had refused to introduce herself until everyone had arrived.

"Philip Hamilton, the Ultimate Poet," the same boy from earlier said.

It went by painstakingly slow for Alice, so many names and talents to try and fail to remember. Ocean Rosenburg, the Ultimate Influencer. Davey, the Ultimate Speaker. Mike Teevee, the Ultimate Hacker. Hannah Foster, the Ultimate Woodworker. Jesse Tuck, the Ultimate Tourist. Janis Ian, the Ultimate Con-artist. And finally the weirdest name of them all, Mouthface Dikrats, the Ultimate Markswoman. With all of those introductions out of the way everyone looked expectantly at the last one to introduce himself. The boy who had run in late and was very obviously intimidated by them all.

"I-I'm, uh, Je-" He started.

"Just spit it out already," Ocean demanded.

"I'm Jeremy Heere," He hesitated before continuing, "The Ultimate Lucky Student."

"Ha, it's the lottery winner," Draco scoffed, he spat out the last part.

Jeremy was about to defend himself when a strange high pitched voice boomed from the loudspeakers. "Testing, testing. This is a test of the school broadcast system. Ah good it works. Now that you've all introduced yourselves, please head to the gym as soon as you can." A confused murmur spread between them as the loudspeaker cut out. Maybe all the teachers would be at the real orientation in the gym. It seemed quite strange that it was just them.

"Maybe they'll finally give us our phones back," Ocean muttered, heading the group along with Draco. So that's why Alice's purse was missing.

Alice shook her head, they were practically children. They all knew who was actually in charge, it felt obvious to her. Luke, he had the potential to be a leader, and Alice herself wouldn't say no to taking charge if it came to it. Though Lydia did have the potential as well. But only time would tell who would really lead their class. Finally after wandering the halls the group made their way to the gymnasium where on a stage a podium was set up. It was decorated for an entrance ceremony with red banners and the school crest displayed on the stage.

"Where is everyone," Davey wondered aloud, "Isn't this meant to be the best school in the world? You'd think it would have a few teachers or so."

"Maybe it's meant to be self taught," Jesse said, "That wouldn't be a bad gig."

"Forget that, where's the one who called us here," Luke said.

"Hello! Is everyone here? Good, then let's get things rolling!" The same voice from the announcement came from the stage. Everyone turned towards the sound as a large black and white bear leapt up and sat on the table covered with a red cloth.

"Is it a teddy bear," Hannah muttered.

"I am not a teddy bear," It sounded like it was growling out the words. "I am Monokuma! And I am this school's headmaster!" The bear then disappeared and popped up on the floor next to them. "Nice to meet you all!"

"Gah! It talks!" Mouthface exclaimed. "Kill it!" She pulled out a dagger from her boot and threw it at Monokuma. It nailed him in the middle of his head and he fell back. A beeping noise started to grow from the now dormant bear.

"Get it away!" Lydia commanded.

"Why?" Mouthface asked but Alice had already kicked the doll. As it went soaring into the air, it exploded, bits of fluff and robotic parts scattering into the gym. Alice recoiled, covering her ears and turning away from the explosion.

"What the hell was that," Alice said, her eyes wide.

"Is it dead," Hannah asked, starting to sound hopeful.

"Gee I hope so, that guy was the worst," Another Monokuma appeared next to her.

"Evil doll," Hannah exclaimed, running away to hide behind Alice. "Not happening, not happening. Go away!"

"Are you controlled by some sort of remote," Mike walked up to it, looking at him with intrest.

"Ha! Not even NASA could comprehend my control system," Monokuma said, putting a paw in the air and one on what could only be called his hip. "But let's not crush NASA's dreams just yet.

"Anyways, we have more important business than whether or not I'm a teddy bear, so listen up! Now let us commence with a memorable entrance ceremony. First is what your school life will be like. You may be few but you have so much potential and represent the hope of the world." He started explaining, most of them still shocked by the fact that a second one had appeared. "And to protect that you will live a life together as a group, solely within this school. Everyone will live in harmony and listen to all the rules. Including no more violence against the headmaster, consider that explosion a warning. The next person to violate the rules will be severely punished. But that will be further covered later. As for the end date of your communal life...There isn't one! You will live here until the day you die! That is the school life you've been assigned." He just shrugged as the class processed what they had just been told.

"Until the day we die?" Alice could feel Hannah grip tightly onto her jacket. This wasn't happening, it couldn't be.

"Don't worry. We have an abundant budget, you won't be wanting for anything," Monokuma said.

"No one cares about that," Ocean shouted, "You just expect us to forget about everything?! To just accept this new life with no hesitation?!"

"There is no way in hell we are staying here forever," Katherine exclaimed. "You have to be lying!"

"I am no liar, of that you can be 100% sure," Monokuma yelled, then suddenly backed off. "You are also completely cut off from the outside world. You do not have to worry about that dirty land outside of these walls."

This started off another round of protests. But Alice just looked down at the poor girl hiding behind her. She couldn't be more than 14, she had her whole life ahead of her. Alice wasn't going to stand for this.

"That's the reason for the metal plates on all the windows, isn't it," Davey said, "To keep us trapped in here."

"Precisely what they're for," Monokuma laughed. "No matter how much you yell and scream, no one will come. With that all out of the way, enjoy the rest of your life here with reckless abandon!"

"This has to be some sort of cruel prank," Zoe said, "One by the administration to scare us. If it is, it's not funny anymore!"

"Yeah, cut this shit out," Janis demanded, pointing at Monokuma.

"Lie, prank, joke? No, this is reality. You all really are a bunch of skeptics. But it can't be helped. You grew up in a world where you were taught to doubt your neighbors, even your friends." He just laughed again, taunting them. "Well you'll have plenty of time to figure out whether or not what I say is true. And when it comes time you'll find I speak only the truth."

"Living here forever, that's a problem," Mike said, "There's no way in hell I'll stop looking for a way out!"

Monokuma tipped his head, "Come on, what's the matter with all of you? You decided out of your own free will to attend Hope's Peak Academy, right? We haven't finished the entrance ceremony and you already want to leave? Oh, I forgot to mention the one way out, didn't I?"

"Spit it out, bear, tell us how to leave," Luke demanded.

"As the headmaster I made a special clause for anyone who wants to leave. I call it the Graduation Clause!" Monokuma put his paws in front of his mouth. "Let me tell you about this fun little rule. As mentioned earlier, to maintain an environment of harmony here, we rely on a communal lifestyle. If someone were to disrupt the harmony, they alone would be allowed to leave. That, students, is the Graduation Clause!"

"Disrupt the harmony," Draco repeated, thinking about it for a moment. "Explain what you mean by this immediately!"

"You know," Monokuma's voice grew giddy, as if only the thought made him happy. "If one person were to murder another."

"Murder," Philip exclaimed.

"Yup, bludgeoning, strangling, stabbing, drowning, hanging, crushing, bruning, how you do it doesn't matter. You must kill someone if you want to leave. As simple as that." Monokuma laughed. "The rest is up to you. Give it all you got to achieve the best outcome in the worst way possible."

"Bad bear, bad bear," Hannah shouted, pointing at him. "You don't care!"

"I bet that got your brain juices flowing! Beats the heck out of a human catching a salmon, huh? Like I said, you are the hope of the world. But taking that hope and seeing it get murdered creates a darkened shadow of despair. And I just find that so exciting!" He let out a boisterous laugh as everyone cowered.

"But to kill each other is...it's barbaric," Philip said, "No one here would do that, right?"

"We can't be sure, we hardly know each other," Luke said, his gaze narrowed as he looked at everyone. One of them could be plotting a murder right now.

"Exactly! Either accept your permanent communal life or kill someone to leave. Have fun!" Monokuma then disappeared.

"We have to get out, there has to be a way out," Mouthface said, "There's no way we're just trapped in here."

"We could search the compound," Janis suggested, "Monokuma said there's enough things here for us to survive here comfortably. There has to be a kitchen and maybe some dorms for us to sleep in. Perhaps we'll also find a way out."

"Guys look, we may not have phones but there are these things," Mike said, pulling out a small tablet the size of a phone. He messed around with it before the screen lit up, showing his name and saying it was an e-handbook. He started reading out the message on the screen. "This is your E-Handbook, vital to your school life. On it you can find all the rules, it lets you into certain areas of the school, and you can take notes as you see fit."

Alice decided she'd look at all the rules later after locating her own e-handbook. She left the gym with Hannah, wanting to help calm down the poor girl. She, Draco, and Ocean were the youngest of the group, they shouldn't have to go through something like this, they shouldn't have the threat of murder looming so close over them. Hannah didn't complain when she led her out, wanting to leave the crowded area. They eventually found the dining hall, Alice decided she could find the dorms later and grabbed Hannah a glass of water.

"Here, this will help you calm down," Alice said, handing the water to her, crouching down in front of where Hannah sat to be on her level. "Are you okay?"

"Bad day, Webby gone, six down, despair," Hannah rambled as she rocked, shaking her head, unable to properly sort out her thoughts. It left Alice wondering if Hannah knew more than both realized.

~~~~~

Thank you all for reading! I have spent a lot of time working on this first chapter, but it was finished faster than I expected. The next few are going to take a bit longer to come out so that I can have multiple prepared ahead of time. Comment what you think of everything, I love reading them!

Peace out readers from around the world!