Chapter 7: Everyone Wants To Go To Heaven But Nobody Wants to Die, Act 3
"We're headed somewhere, and I don't know where
I hope we can figure it out while the planet's still here"
One of the neat little extra abilities To Heaven possessed was the ability to measure the strength of a person's soul. And because a stand is connected to a person's soul, the strength of that soul determines the strength of the stand. Of course, strength meant nothing before To Heaven's main ability. Didn't make it any less useful though.
Take, for example, the two idiots that had been sent alongside him on this mission. Jason had slipped a small wisp of To Heaven into each of them, and wouldn't you know it they were laughably weak. He was pretty sure a rat had more spiritual potential than the two of them combined. That's how he knew they would lose. He didn't even use his full ability on them. Even with his assistance, they would lose, and it was much more satisfying watching them fail just so utterly.
No, Jason had known that he needed the big guy. The man Jotaro Kujo. He had told to watch out for him in particular. Supposedly he was (or rather used to be) the strongest stand user in the world. Even stronger than the one known as DIO. But strength meant nothing before To Heaven.
Jason watched as Jotaro's Star Platinum launched a mighty punch against the midget. Right before its fist connected, you could see his eyes widen in shock at the sight of this… the last thing he would ever see.
"DORA!"
The small bastard was lucky he had strong friends. A pink fist clad in silver-blue armor intercepted the punch just before his head became mush.
"Oi, Jotaro!" said the teen with the stupid hair. "What the hell are you doing?" Josuke Higashikata. Another dangerous stand user. Supposedly, his stand, Crazy Diamond, was the second strongest in the world.
"Yeah, what's wrong? Why did you attack Koichi like that?" said the second teen. Okuyasu Nijimura. His stand, The Hand was also supposed to be very dangerous, though the man himself was not very bright. Not that it would really matter if he was or not. After all, strength meant nothing before To Heaven.
"Okuyasu, I-I think Jotaro has been possessed!" said the midget. "He sucked up the man's stand… I think it's controlling him! That must be his power. He can take control over anyone who breathes in a part of his stand!"
Whoop dee freakin' doo. What, you want a prize or something, brat? A toddler could figure that out! Though some of the details were wrong. He was not actually in control, per se… just enough. Those punches Jotaro's Star Platinum was throwing? That was Jotaro willing them to be, alright. That anger, the blind hatred that caused him to do it? It all existed within him before To Heaven even came into existence. It was within all humans. To Heaven simply provided a spark, put fuel on the fire and gave it a target.
"ORA!" Star Platinum launched another punch, this time at Jouske himself. "ORA! ORA! ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" It almost seemed to grow several new pairs of arms, each one intent on killing the life out of that stupid-haired teen and his stupid hair.
"DORARARARARARARARARA!" However, Crazy Diamond was not far behind, as it blocked every single punch of Star Platinum with punches of its own. It seemed like the two might be equal…
THUUM!
A deep base sound, the distorted sound of messing with reality vibrated through the air. The Hand had swiped its, uh, hand in an arc through the space in front of it. Space seemed to contort and collapse in on itself. And so, Jotaro found himself violently pulled to the side, throwing of Star Platinum's punches.
"Sorry Jotaro sir, but I think we gotta kick the, uh, stand out of you," Okuyasu said as The Hand raised its left hand to throw a punch of its own. "I mean, that's what we've got to do rig…" A satisfying 'crack' could be heard when Star Platinum's fist connected with the bumbling idiot's face, and he flew backwards into one of the seats, blood running from his face.
One would believe that even the legendary Jotaro Kujo would have trouble against two other strong stand users…
"Act 3!" yelled the midget Koichi. A small, white and green humanoid stand appeared before him. "Three Freeze!"
Jason scoffed at the thought. It had become quite clear to him that he wasn't needed here anymore. He had done what he came to do. Time to go sit back and enjoy the show as these animals tore each other apart. Another one of To Heaven's abilities; it allowed him to see through the eyes of those he used it on.
Only the intervention of Josuke had again saved the midget from certain death. Jason didn't know what 'act three three freeze' was supposed to mean, but it was not like it mattered. Jotaro had simply vanished at the spot as soon as the white stand performed its attack. He had appeared right behind the midget, Star Platinum's hand raised, ready to perform a karate chop to separate his arm from his shoulder…
In the split second he had, Josuke moved Crazy Diamond at lightning speed, grabbing Star Platinum's hand just before it could reach its target. Star Platinum tried to punch the annoyance away but ended up having its other hand grabbed as well.
Back in the real world, Jason heard Josuke saying something through gritted teeth.
"Koichi! Okuyasu and I can handle Jotaro, you go get the stand user!"
And wouldn't you know it, the midget actually did it! He nodded to the stupid-haired teen and rushed after Jason. Very well, if he wanted to play with the big boys, Jason would give him something to play with.
It was funny... no, poetic. It was poetic. These three people, plus the midget... he had been told they were dangerous, that they shouldn't be underestimated. Pah! If anything, he had overestimated them. Were they so arrogant they didn't realize To Heaven could affect multiple people? Jason had figured that out within minutes! Of course, the effect wasn't visible immediately… still not an excuse. He had turned the entire plane into a ticking timebomb, and the fools hadn't even noticed!
The small boy burst into the next section of the plane, business class. Jason didn't even look back. He had a seat in economy class, so that's where he should be. He didn't want to break any rules, did he? He did give a thought to the situation and the people seated in business class. A thought to the small wisps of mist within them, small fragments of gaseous darkness. With this quick thought, the darkness Jason had placed within the people tingled on the darkness already inside them. It awoke, like a monster with, seething blood and sharp, red teeth. Oh, what a beautiful destructive force! All it needed was a little focus, and…
Every person present turned their eyes towards the midget, their eyes black like a bird's.
Hell was unleashed.
xxXXxx
Koichi's heart was racing as he pursued the enemy stand user. He had nearly died two times in the last five minutes. And Jotaro had been the one to attack him.
To be honest, he should probably be a lot gladder he was alive then he already was. He had no doubt that Jotaro could have killed him. He had seen first-hand just what kind of power Star Platinum possessed. Especially his stopped time… truly, it was a terrifying stand. They were lucky he was (usually) on their side.
A twinge of worry for his friend shot through his heart like an arrow of ice. He had no doubt in his mind or soul that Josuke and Okuyasu were powerful. But could they fight against Jotaro? It was not just power either; Jotaro had, under the influence of To Heaven, attacked with pure killing intent. Could the two defend themselves against that? Even if it meant hurting Jotaro? Crazy Diamond could fix almost anything broken, sure. But it had its limits. It couldn't restore what The Hand erased…
Koichi shook his head and banished the thought from his mind. They wouldn't have to fight Jotaro for long if Koichi finished his mission quickly enough… All Koichi had to do was catch up with the enemy, Jason, and defeat him. Star Platinum had inhaled Jason Timbuktu's entire stand. That might give him control over Jotaro, but it also deprived him of his only defense.
Koichi yelped in surprise as one of the other passengers suddenly grabbed him by the arm. A man, no older than fifty, but already balding had grabbed ahold of his arm. He didn't look like he was very well trained, but the man practically lifted Koichi of his feet.
"And what the fuck do you think you're doing?" he yelled, a wind of bad breath roughly caressing Koichi's face. "Didn't you parents tell you, you little shit? No running!"
His eyes were completely black and his face warped with raw, primitive anger. He aimed a punch at Koichi's gut, but Koichi was faster.
"Act 3!" he yelled, and his stand appeared before him. "Three Freeze!" The sound stand punched the man's hand once. As if a 100kg weight had been put on it, the man's hand was pulled down towards the floor, and the man after it. He let go of Koichi and…
With an almost inhuman screech, Koichi was attacked from behind by a woman. She grabbed his face, her long nails burying themselves in his skin, leaving red clawing marks.
"Beeetch!" Echoes proclaimed as it let go of the man, and instead punched the woman, applying Three Freeze to her. She immediately dropped down, unable to move under her added weight.
Then the first man continued his assault, now with the added assistance of two other men and one woman and…
It was then that Koichi realized the entire cabin was attacking him, all at the same time. A mass of people, their eyes, faces, and voices filled with a dark, burning fury. They were like animals… no, worse. Animal anger is born from survival instincts. This… completely unnatural rage… it wasn't even human. Only the power of a stand could do this.
That bastard… had he infected the entire plane with this madness?
It was then that Koichi suddenly remembered the three other people in first class.
xxXXxx
This was just 'great.' He knew he would calm down later, but right now, Josuke was furious. Furious at Jotaro for doing something so stupid as inhaling Jason Timbuktu's stand. What was he thinking?
"Yare yare," Josuke muttered as Jotaro launched another Oraora barrage at him. He figured that if Jotaro wasn't around to do it, then he might as well do it himself.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Star Platinum yelled. The dark smoke of To heaven puffed from its mouth with every 'ora.'
"DORARARARA!" Crazy Diamond met Star Platinum in a clash of raw power and speed. The dark smoke was caught in strong gusts of wind the two stands produced and was promptly blown away. Josuke could see it trying to reform in the corner of his eyes but to little use. The Hand would just scoop it up and erase them from the reality.
The clash between Crazy Diamond and Star Platinum only lasted three or four seconds. He could've kept going, but Josuke didn't want to take the risk. Jotaro did seem a bit… unlike himself due to whatever To Heaven was doing to him. He was not fighting as smart as he usually did.
Which was a good thing, that meant Josuke and Okuyasu could use a simple strategy to keep him at bay. Josuke would meet one of his attack-rushes. Meanwhile, Okuyasu maneuvered behind Jotaro, and used The Hand to pull him away from Jouske. When Jotaro tried to attack Okuyasu, Josuke would intercept him with Crazy Diamond. Rinse and repeat until Koichi beat the guy responsible for this.
There was one obvious weakness to this stratagem however; Jotaro's frozen time. If he stopped time, two seconds was enough to kill one of them. Thankfully, even though he had used it earlier to avoid Koichi's Echoes, he hadn't used it since. Josuke figured it had something to do with how To heaven operated. During the course of the battle, Jotaro had become less and less refined, less intelligent. Star Platinum seemed to almost be just flailing in the general direction of Josuke, like the beast it looked so much like. Not that Josuke was complaining, that would make it easier to distract, or even defeat him. Josuke happened to have a little surprise for Jotaro the next time he turned his back to face Okuyasu…
THUUM!
Jotaro was pulled backwards again. With an uncharacteristic roar, he turned to the punk who had summoned him.
Seeing his chance, Josuke picked up a small round object from his pocket. A small steel bearing. He had started carrying them around after the fight against Kira… He should probably have started doing it already after the whole ordeal with the rats. Powerful as it was, Crazy Diamond had pitiful range.
Wasting no time, the pink warrior stand took the bearing in its hand. From this distance, he could not miss, but he had to make sure he didn't hit…
The moment he shot the bearing, something grabbed him from behind, throwing off his aim. Instead of hitting Jotaro's back, in the upper right lung, it hit his shoulder. However, Josuke didn't have time to worry about what his nephew was gonna do to him as payback, because he had more pressing matters on his back.
The man that had been staring at them before Jason attacked had clung himself to Josuke's back, clawing, kicking and even biting. He had gone completely nuts!
On the other end of the cabin, the couple was attacking Okuyasu like a pair of rabid dogs.
What had gotten into these people?
Jotaro suddenly stood in front of him again, black mist leaking from the mouth of Star Platinum as it once again attacked.
"ORA!"
xxXXxx
Koichi had to beat To Heaven's user. Right now.
Act 3 could only affect one thing at a time, so he couldn't just increase every person's weight… but Act 3 wasn't without physical power. While it lacked the terrifying strength of Star Platinum or Crazy Diamond or the absolutely destructive power of The Hand, it was fast and stronger than a human.
Koichi remembered when he had first gained Echoes, forcibly unlocked by the stand arrow. Back then, it was just an egg, so he couldn't do anything. All he could do was watch as Josuke fought against Bad Company, the stand of Keicho Nijimura. Something Josuke said back then…
"Just like Moses, who parted the Red Sea and walked across its floor, I'm gonna make my way through your army and beat you down! Act 3, create a path for us!"
"Okay, masta," the sound stand said. With a reverberating cry, it too performed its own attack barrage. Any person standing in its way would get knocked down so Koichi could make his way forward to the next cabin where Jason was hiding. All he had to do… was force his way… there…
Act 3 was struggling. There were just too many people. Even if it knocked someone down, they wouldn't stay down for long. Driven by some adrenaline high induced by the mist stand To Heaven, they ignored any pain and broken body parts, and kept throwing themselves at Koichi. And Echoes couldn't be everywhere at once. Here and there, someone would manage to slip past it, clawing or kicking at him, or trying to grab his leg.
But Koichi pushed forward! Like a bullet, Echoes may be small, but it would still pierce through this shield of human flesh that the coward Jason had put up!
With a strength of will Koichi hadn't known he had just a year prior, he made it to the curtain separating business class and economy class. His target was soon within his reach. Soon, he would end this.
That's when the even larger mass of people in economy class attacked.
If the relatively small crowd in business class had been a challenge, imagine the overwhelming pressure of that, times three! A mass of bodies, fueled by norepinephrine and stand mist, flung themselves at the teen.
If you've never seen one, you will not know the terror of an angry mob. A single angry human may be dangerous. But a mob of people are a hundred times worse. Humans are group animals, and when strong emotions are involved, there is nothing to stop them. They would not stop until their target was rendered a bloody mess.
Koichi was drowning. Drowning in the unrelenting bodies of dozens of people, all after his head. Act 3 was doing its best to keep them at bay, but it just couldn't. Its power and speed were useless against the hoard of people. Sweat and blood streamed across his face. He wasn't sure how much of it was his own.
He would fail. He would die here, killed by innocent people, forced by a hand of evil. And then, Josuke, Okuyasu, and Jotaro would be next… and then what would happen to the passengers? What would Jason do to them once they served their purpose? Would he kill them too? Force them to fight, mano a mano, until there was only one left?
The thought of such an evil being allowed to exist… it reignited the fire within Koichi. He wouldn't have it!
He willed Echoes to make one last attack rush against the mob, pushing them back just a bit. Only for a second or two, but that was all he needed. Koichi anchored his arms around one of the seats, and held onto it with all the might his little body could muster.
"Act 3! Freeze the plane!"
xxXXxx
It happened in less than one second. One second, the midget was being crushed by the anger of humanity. The next, the plane careened through the air. It was as if a god, in anger over humanity's arrogance, had slapped the metal machine, to give the people inside a reminder of their place.
Jason could actually feel his head hitting the roof as the floor was jerked away from under him. For only a second… no even less, the plane plummeted from the sky. It was like gravity had increased tenfold for half a second. And for a universal force, half a second was all it needed.
Everyone inside the plane was hoisted into the air (though in reality, it was inertia acting up as the plane fell downwards). Everyone… except one, who had held onto a seat, which was screwed to the floor.
Men and women rained down on the floor as soon as the plane stabilized. A disgusting pile of flesh, bones, blood, hair, and clothes. Jason found himself pinned under an overweight tourist in one of those stupid-ass Hawaiian shirts. He hated those fucking things! Why was she even wearing it on a trip to Japan?
"Get off of me, you piece of…"
"S-H-I-T," said a certain white and green stand suddenly hovering in front of Jason. Its master stood just behind it, on one of the piles of humans. From his position down on the floor, Koichi didn't even need to stand on the pile to tower over Jason. Had… had he… was this midget the one who had thrown the plane of course? With just one punch from his stand? Was this the kind of power his stand possessed?
"Hey, masta," the stand said. "Give me orders."
"Oh, right," the tiny teen said. He scratched the back of his head. He cringed and brought his hand back almost immediately. His fingers were covered in blood. "Uhm, if you could beat this guy up, that'd be great."
The stand smiled, somewhere between mischievous and sadistic.
"Okay, masta. Sonuvabeetch!"
The first punch wasn't that bad. Neither was the second, or third one. But after the fourth and fifth, Jason could feel something in his face break. Six, seven, eight… there goes the nose. Nine, ten, elven, and there goes a tooth. And that was just the beginning. Small fists, fast as lightning, pummeled Jason Timbuktu, master of To Heaven with a thousand punches, all the way into unconsciousness.
xxXXxx
[Jason Timbuktu]
An assassin sent after the Duwang Gang. Has a lot of pent-up anger.
Stand: To Heaven
Appearance: To Heaven takes the form of a black mist of smoke. It can mimic the shape of other stands, but not their abilities.
Notable Powers and Abilities:
•The Consequences Don't Matter-To Heaven is nearly completely invulnerable to normal physical attacks.
•Wilder Than Animals-To Heaven can enter another person when inhaled. From the inside, To Heaven can unlock the worst of a human being; pure, mindless anger and aggression. It can focus the anger towards one, or several targets, whether it be a living person or an object, or even an abstract concept. The victims will then mindlessly attack the target until it's destroyed.
•I See What I See-To Heaven also allows the user to see through the eyes of its victims, and judge the spiritual strength of that person.
Stats:
Destructive Power: N/A
Speed: C
Range: B (ca. 30-36 meters)
Durability: A
Precision: B
Development Potential: B
Status: Retired
[Koichi Hirose]
A slightly below average height teenager from the peaceful town of Morioh. Is a lot braver and stronger than he gives himself credit for.
Stand: Echoes Act 3
Appearance: Short, semi-robotic, with green protrusions all over its body.
Notable Powers and Abilities:
•Three Freeze-By punching a person or object, Echoes can dramatically increase the gravitational pull on the object. In practice, this makes the object a lot heavier. The exact limits of this power are unknown, but the effect decreases the further away from the object Koichi is. The closer, the stronger pull.
Stats:
Destructive Power: B
Speed: A
Range: C (ca. 5 meters)
Durability: B
Precision: C
Development Potential: B
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Okay, so this took just a wee bit longer than I wanted to… but overall, I'm pretty happy with the chapter. It's a lot more… dynamic, I think. Maybe I should start cutting between perspectives more? Do you guys think that'd work alright (especially in fight scenes like this)?
I am happy with this battle, let me know what you think!
As for the musical reference…
Jason Timbuktu and his stand To Heaven are references to Jason Diakité, a.k.a Timbuktu, and his song "Alla Vill Till Himmelen Men Ingen Vill Dö." Take a wild guess at what it might translate to in English.
If you want to listen to it, here's a link to the official music video: watch?v=NDHlDb9AOsU
Anyway, next chapter will feature the return of Steven and Connie, as well as Lapis and Peridot. Also, another stand battle, cause why not? Expect it maybe… I really do hope I can have it ready next Tuesday or Wednesday, but I don't dare promise anything. We're in for the last stretch in school, you know how it can get. Even without having to worry about all those assignments that need to be written, there's a lot going on before graduation.
But that's my problem, not yours. Just try to be patient, and I'll get something out sooner or later.
Until then, take care of the planet Earth, and remember that anything can happen in space!
EDIT: Thanks to SaturdayLemon for pointing out problems with the chapter and suggesting edits. Hopefully, this new and improved version is less confusing.