Total Dangan Island Contestant No. 7.5: Mechamaru NidaiWeek Challenge: (Funhouse Catacombs

Total Dangan Island 

Contestant No. 7.5: Mechamaru Nidai

Week Challenge: 

(Funhouse Catacombs) Down to the Final 8, this week’s challenge is a “Race to Escape”. All Players are “placed” deep underground and must choose a path to escape before the time limit is up. Each path has a series of connected Escape Rooms (both physical or academic with random difficulty levels) that instantly traps Player(s) once steps inside with no way out and must be completed in order to move onto the next. 

Players must quickly run through every escape room because there’s only one correct route that leads to the outside whereas the rest leads to dead ends, so choosing a wrong path will waste more time. But don’t worry, once a Player enters and goes back from a dead end, that path will be automatically closed off in order to prevent Players from  becoming too lost or redoing that same Escape Room. 

Every 5 Escape Rooms on certain paths leads to one massive connected Safe Room where Players can relax and recuperate. With both teams merged, players will race and have to decide on whether to cooperate, compete, betray or sabotage another in order to clear this week’s challenge. In order to keep things fair, every item or possession that each Player carries that might give them an advantage will be confiscated. The only things that are allowed are the Monopads for communication purposes and the clothes on their backs.  Last one to escape will be automatically eliminated off the island.

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Episode Summary: 

The next morning after resting up and ready for their next Challenge, everyone went ahead and met up at the lobby to have breakfast. But before anyone was able to sit and chow down, they were all knocked out by a mysterious gas. The next thing they saw when they opened their eyes was a rocky surface covering their entire surroundings. After a massive panic when they realized that they were trapped in a cave (mostly done by Kazuichi), everyone’s Monopad lit up and notified that Monokuma made an announcement for their newest Challenge. After explaining what this Week’s Challenge was, everyone quickly hopped in their first Escape Room and got started. 

The Challenge went on as intended without a hitch until the Players arrived at their first Safe Room. Upon arriving after an agonizing day went by, everyone was understandably exhausted and wanted rest, but noticed that there was something wrong. Absolute horror and shock appeared on everyone’s faces when they noticed that there was no food or water at sight, at that moment Monokuma was in a surprised panic (mostly due to possible drop in ratings if the challenge had to be called off) and suddenly realized what happened. 

After constructing the Escape Rooms, he was worried that his co-host Monomi would intervene with this week’s challenge and give out too many “hints” like she did prior. So he unintentionally used up the remaining funds for the week on heavy defenses and artillery to keep her out from meddling in the challenge until it was cleared instead of spending it on food and water for the Players. 

While Monokuma pondered on what to do, Monomi suddenly showed up and immediately understood the situation. Without hesitation, she grabbed the Master Remote Control to stop everything but Monokuma tried yanking it back and told her to wait until he made a decision. This tug of war continued back and forth until they accidently destroyed it together; now with no way to pause the challenge, get in to help, or even communicate to provide instructions, the Players are forced to continue the Challenge while battling hunger and dehydration. 

Days went by and the challenge has far exceeded its time limit, most of the Players are seen on the ground either passed out or barely conscious due to the pain of immense hunger and thirst. Everyone has given in to the situation and was waiting for the END, all except for two. The remaining Players that had enough will and strength to stand were Nekomaru and Gundham. 

Having seen their friends in such despair, both agreed on a temporary alliance and started to plan for a suicide mission. Both planned to sneak away and use up what little strength they had to complete the challenge and find the escape route to get help for everyone. Gundham decided for both of them to use the “cremated ashes of his enemies”(aka his eyeliner) to mark arrows to notify one another, if either of them got lost, on which way was correct and avoid any more unnecessary dead end paths.

Hours passed and both Players parted ways and reunited so many times, their minds were so blurry and their bodies were in ruins. On their next meetup they decided to stick together and  continued to march on, but they both knew that they couldn’t last any longer. There were moments when they wanted to give up, but Gundham would always remind the both of them that life is a gift and giving up on it is a sin. As they continued It was like an eternal agony for them who were practically empty husks with flickering lights in their eyes, that was until they felt a fresh air breeze pass their faces. Like a sudden jolt of energy they ran towards that direction and saw a light at the end of the cave. 

When arriving at the end, what they saw was Monokuma and Monomi teary-eyed jumping in joy with sacks of food and water behind them as they witnessed Gundham and Nekomaru running out of the exit. Both Players looked at each other in disbelief and started cheering in victory alongside the mascots, but all that came to a halt when Monokuma stared back in the cave and saw no one else behind them. Monokuma alone started to panic once more as everyone was baffled and confused by his actions.

He explained that since a Challenge is built in large scales and takes up so much space on the island, there needs to be room for the next one to be made. So after every challenge exceeds the time limit and almost a full week has passed, the entire course is set to self destruct and demolish itself in order to make room, and also to prevent any boring repetitive challenges from occurring. After mentioning that the demolition will occur and that there was no way to stop it due to the Master Remote Control being destroyed, Gundham was about to lunge at Monokuma in anger until all four of them felt abrupt shaking below their feets.

They knew that the self-destruction was commencing, so Nekomaru immediately jumped right back into the cave and ran to retrieve the others. Gundham raised his hand and whistled with all his strength, attempting to summon an army of Demon Beasts to help carry everyone else at once. But due his dire state he was only able to conjure one “Feral High-Leveled Demonic Beast” (aka a brown bear) to his side and followed pursuit after Nekomaru. Monomi wanted to help but the heavy defenses were still active, thus making her and Monokuma sit on the sidelines once more. 

Both of them dived into the cave trying to reach the others, while nearly avoiding the boulders and rocks crashing so close around them. Thanks to the markings that they made previously, they finally reached the others and got ready to leave. Shockingly, a revelation appeared when there wasn’t enough space to carry everyone on the bear and Nekomaru was only able to carry two people at a time in his state, meaning someone had to be left behind. While griping over the situation, Sonia woke up and requested them to get everyone out while she’ll stay behind and wait for their return. Before either Gundham or Nekomaru could argue with her, the cave shook violently again and more rubble started falling. With no other choice both of them left and ran as fast as they could, when they were no longer in sight, after using what little energy to stand, Sonia closed her eyes and collapsed once more. 

After avoiding everything and reaching the exit, Gundham threw everyone off the bear and onto Nekomaru in order to quickly ride back to get Sonia. Before Nekomaru could get the chance to follow, his legs went numb and fell to the ground with everyone laying beside him. From the far distance, Gundham screamed at the top of his lungs at Nekomaru that he alone is enough to retrieve Sonia and that he needed him to take care of the others and rest up. Begrudgingly, he had to accept his limits and screamed right back at him for both of their safe returns.

The situation became more dire as the number of falling boulders increased and the path became more narrow, but against all odds and close encounters Gundham was able to reach the Safe Room. After securing Sonia onto the bear and was ready to leave, the largest tremor so far caused the ceiling above them to fall. Right before it landed, Gundham pushed Sonia and  the bear out of the way. When the dust cleared it’s shown that Sonia and the bear were safe, but Gundham unfortunately got his leg crushed and stuck underneath the rubble. After a couple attempts to escape, Gundham was silent and realized that there was no way out for him. Then after taking a quick glance at Sonia he unraveled his scarf and put it on her, once he was done he gave a gentle smile and forcibly commanded the bear to leave and head towards the exit. With a sad look on its face, the bear turned around and ran as quickly as it could without looking back. Shortly after seeing their silhouette disappear from the distance, Gundham finally gave into the pain that he had held back for so long and passed out, and on his face was a smile of a man who had no regrets. 

Back on the surface, everyone regained consciousness after eating and drinking to their fullest, but all of them were still extremely  anxious when waiting for the last of their friends to return. Then suddenly they saw the bear charging towards the exit and everyone started celebrating and cheering, but that immediately stopped when they only saw Sonia on the bear. With Gundham nowhere to be seen and Sonia wearing his scarf, only the worst case scenario ran through everyone’s head. Then with some strength returning to him, Nekomaru leaped off the ground and rushed back into the cave. Everyone was about to follow in pursuit, but after Nekomaru passed through first an immense tremor suddenly shook the ground that caused the exit to cave in and block it with piles of rocks in the way. 

Moments passed since the rubble first trapped Gundham, he’s still seen on the ground lying unconscious, but that was until some small debris landed on his head causing him to wake up. While both being shocked and amused that he was still alive, he felt a sharp pain not just from his leg that was just crushed but other parts of his body as well. When he looked down he saw that some rocks landed on his left arm, right shoulder, and his upper right thigh. Then he looked around and saw that the current situation was in a much worse state than it was before, all he could do was wonder if everyone else was okay. 

Another violent tremor occurred and Gundham saw that a large boulder above his head was about to fall on him. Seconds away from making contact, Gundham closed his eyes and accepted his fate. But then he heard a loud shriek coming from the tunnel and saw a large fist flying above him, crushing the boulder into pieces right on time. Who he saw was Nekomaru standing there and desperately trying to get him out from underneath the large rubble. He tried pushing, crushing, punching, and pulling but nothing worked. Though as he continued on, Gundham suddenly started yelling that he shouldn’t be here and that he should be with everyone else safely, but then Nekomaru yelled back and called him a hypocrite for giving up on life and explains that a team manager would never leave one of his star players out to dry alone. The two continued arguing back and forth like this for a while, and after a long pause; the both of them stared at each other, smiled, and agreed to resume with their temporary alliance until they both made it out alive. 

Gundham tried his best to pull his leg out as Nekomaru did his damndest to lift the rubble. The two Players kept at it as more and more of their surroundings started to fall apart. Then after a few more attempts, they could finally feel it being lifted and loosened up. But right when Gundham was about to be freed, everything around instantly fell into ruins and caved in,  everything just went black. 

As hours pass by, most of the remaining Players on the surface are seen to dig where the Challenge once stood. Kazuichi tried making tools for everyone to use from leftover parts from previous Challenges, but they would immediately break after a few uses since the materials were not the best quality. Even so, that did not stop everyone from trying, they would even use their bare hands if it meant reaching for their friends even faster.

After a while, Monokuma was finally able to receive a replacement for his Master Remote Control, along with some top tier excavation equipment from the show’s Executive Producers. Even though the gravity of the situation is dire, deep down Monomi is happy to see her co-host Monokuma, so worried about the well-being of the kids. Though in contrast the reason why he was in such a panic was because he knows that Gundham and Nekomaru are fan favorites and if they die under his watch then HIS ass would be on the line; endless amounts of lawsuits against him and the Producers, thus leading to the immediate termination of the series.

Once Monokuma quickly went cracking on excavating, along with everyone else’s help, they were finally able to make some progress in getting through all that rubble. After more time had passed, they were finally able to reach the Safe Room near the bottom of the challenge course. When they got rid of that first massive rubble in their way, they saw Gundham’s face through the cracks. When they saw him all beaten and bruised they saw him trying to say something, with a whimpering voice that was gasping for air, all he said when he saw everyone was “…Help”. Then everyone jumped in and started digging more rapidly than before. 

They kept on digging where Gundham was at and when they finally reached and were about to pull him out completely, he suddenly stopped them. Everyone was confused for a second, and then Gundham, gasping for more air, explained that what he was trying to say before was that they should leave him be and focus on getting help for him. As they got closer and dug him out completely, what they saw shocked them entirely. They saw Nekomaru’s unrecognizable  crushed body hovering over Gundams’, knowing that he used himself as a shield in order to protect Gundham from meeting his end. After that revelation, they quickly got both of them out and sent them to the infirmary for immediate medical attention.

Later that night, almost everyone met up at the Elimination Site, with the exception of two people. Surprisingly, a casted Gundham was present whereas Nekomaru and Kazuichi were not. Monokuma explained that it’s thanks to Nekomaru’s sacrifice that Gundham is still alive and able to (just barely) move around, but unfortunately the same couldn’t be said to him. He says that Nekomaru is in a critical state and that he assigned Kazuichi a special project to help him, thus giving the reasons why they’re absent. 

Despite his explanation, everyone was still confused as to why they were there at the Elimination Site in the first place since the Challenge was incomplete. However, Monokuma interjected and said that there’ll still be an Elimination Ceremony tonight, he explained that it’s contractually obligated that after every Challenge, no matter the conditions or reasons, that there must be an Elimination of a Player. So with his hand raised up and a dramatic pause, Monokuma dropped down his hand of judgement and pointed at the Player who’s going on the chopping block. As the camera pans over and everyone’s eyes directed their attention, who Monokuma pointed at was the one going home.

It was none other than Gundham Tanaka himself.

In an immediate fit of rage, nearly everyone was against Monokuma’s decision and argued that it should’ve been impossible since he and Nekomaru were the first ones out of the cave, at one point Sonia even interjected and said that she should be the one going since she was last to escape. But despite their pleas, Monokuma shook his head in disappointment as he said sarcastically that no one ever listens to him. He reminded everyone at the beginning of the Challenge that the last one out to escape will be immediately eliminated, he never said that you would be safe if you escaped before anyone else. So both Nekomaru and Gundham were technically tied for being last to escape, and since Nekomaru isn’t in any condition to attend the Elimination Ceremony Gundham was the only viable choice. 

After giving his explanation, everyone still didn’t accept the results and demanded Monokuma to take back his decision. The arguments continued on ceaselessly until someone finally shut everything down, the one that silenced everyone was Gundham himself. He had no qualms with Monokuma’s choice and explained to the others that he never regrets anything in his life and how he does so is by accepting any and all consequences that come from his actions. With such a determined look on his face, no one dared to say anymore and were forced to accept the outcome.

As Gundham packs up and was ready to leave on the Boat of Loserdom, he sees most of his friends lined up ready to say their goodbyes. One after another, Gundham parted words of endearment and acknowledgment to everyone (despite it being hard to understand and overly dramatic, ~ as usual). When he finally reached Sonia there was a brief silence and a long pause, the one to break it was her when she tried giving back his scarf. But before she could Gundham stopped her and says that she should hold onto it until their next meeting. 

He explained before, from previous other Challenges, that the “Clothe of Gehenna” (aka his scarf) is made up of the Strings of Fate that’s been woven by his Guardian Angel, thus allowing the wearer to bend destiny at their will. The point he’s making is that he wants to bestow some of his “power” to Sonia in order for her to protect herself and the others when things get dire once more, but more importantly he wants her to have it as a keepsake from him and as a reminder that he’ll be watching over her from now on. Just as he finished talking and headed towards the boat, Sonia grabbed Gundham by the collar of his jacket and gave him a final kiss goodbye. 

After seemingly over a minute pass by and suddenly realizing what she’s done, Sonia pulls back, says what was on her mind, and storms off all embarrassed. Gundham on the other hand dramatically turned around and said his final farewells to everyone once more in an eerie fashion, but in reality he turned around quickly in order to hide his face before anyone noticed how red he was.

After getting on and leaving the coast, he looked at the confessional camera on the boat to talk about his experience on the island. He gloats about the number of Demon Beasts that he tamed on the island and prattles on about how he could’ve demolished all the Challenges with ease if he used his true powers, but chose not to in order to make things interesting. Though most importantly, he talked mainly about the other Players and how much his opinion of them changed from the start of the competition. He continued on that the more he spent time with them, the more he was able to recognize them as something more special than mere mortals. He states that he would grant each of them high-ranked elite positions in his army of evil once he conquers the World and how each of them will be granted a country of their choosing as their rewards for serving him. 

Then before he could continue his grand gestures of world domination, at the corner of his eye he sees countless shadowy figures staring at him near the coast edge of the forest. What he saw was all the wild inhabitants of Dangan Island, facing down and looking all depressed as they saw Gundham drift away from the island. But before being taken too far away, he stood up in anger and proclaimed that they should never show any weakness as they are all part of the Tanaka Empire and that this whole thing was but a stepping stone for his plans to take over the world. He shouts that this will not be the last they see of him and until they do let the whole cosmos know the power of his minions. After that, Gundham let out a loud laughter that was soon accompanied with powerful cries and roars from the animals. 

As Monokuma did the show’s outro and said his farewells to the audience, all anyone could hear was the noises bellowing from deep in the forest, but the most distinctively sound that everyone could hear was Gundham’s laughter ringing and echoing all throughout the whole night. 

Bio/Extra info: (Read Previous Bio) With his body in ruins, Monokuma, since it was his fault, decided to allow Nekomaru to continue with the competition with aid and time to recuperate. He tasked Kazuichi and brought back Mikan (who was eliminated previously) to help bring Nekomaru back on his feet, in exchange he promised Mikan that she’ll be compensated and Kazuichi will be given “Invincibility” for the next challenge if they both complete the task. While Mikan tended to his conditions, Kazuichi pondered to himself on what he could do. Then he suddenly remembered a post from long ago on an online forum that he often visits, of this perverted and weirdo inventor who just wanted to boast and brag about their latest schematics of an exo-suit that allows people to do everyday tasks while they sleep. With some modifications to the schematics and gathering materials from previous demolished Challenges, Kazuichi went to work. Now after a few tests and research with Mikan and Kazuichi, Nekomaru has now transformed into Mechamaru. Kazuichi explained to him that the suit is only made for rehabilitation purposes only, meaning that it allows him to move around with very little effort exerted while his real body is recovering. Thus he’s not able to perform at his peak or demonstrate monstrous feats like he did. He further explained the the diameter located on his mouth, measures the pain he feels and the condition of his body; any ranges of Green meant he was great or fine, Yellow or Orange meant that his body is in great pain and that he needs long periods of time to rest, but Red meant that he needed to stop whatever he’s going and seek out immediate medical treatment before he dies. Now despite the situation he’s in and explaining his limitations, that didn’t get him down. He was just so happy that he was alive and appreciated the effort that both of them showed him, he continued being his big ol’ Jolly and Passionate self (but more shiny~ XD).

Goal: (Read Previous Goal) Same as before but now wants to use the prize to help fix his entire body.