Lamp Entertainment presents…
Five minutes is not a very long time.
Koichi and Okuyasu responded immediately. "Right!" they said and turned their full attention towards the man in the smiley hat.
Do something you love, and five minutes pass like nothing.
Josuke hesitated. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Can you handle her?"
Yet, five minutes can seem like an eternity. When you're bored when you're waiting. When you're fighting for your life.
"Yes," Jotaro said. "You deal with Ted. Be careful not to follow him through any doors."
When you're fighting for someone else's life.
"Alright. Be careful not to die," Josuke told his nephew.
Innocent lives hang in the balance. Five minutes, and the scale tip.
"I will," Jotaro said.
Five minutes is not a very long time when 0 is death.
Chapter 12: Sweet and the Psycho, Act 3
Grab a cop gun kinda crazy
She's poison but tasty
Yeah, people say "run, don't walk away"
'Cause she's sweet but a psycho
A little bit psycho
His instinct was telling him that this was a bad idea, that he had to deal with the monster first. However, in his mind, Josuke knew Jotaro was right. They had to get rid of the fleshbuds first. He hadn't been able to fix Okuyasu's dad and if there was anything he could do to prevent that fate from ruining anyone else's life… the burning heart of justice told him this was the right course of action.
Josuke was going to end this quickly. Ted wasn't an experienced fighter and his stand might not even have any practical applications in battle. This should be easy.
Right?
Behind him, he heard Jotaro putting his phone on the table where they had been sitting.
"You're not protesting," he remarked
It was weird, Josuke could have sworn he actually heard Ava shrugging. "To be honest, this was my plan from the beginning. Stand brawls are always such… messy. Though I had hoped to kill at least one or two of you before we got to the actual fighting."
Perhaps it was the deep survival instincts within him that made Josuke hyperaware of everything the vampire did. Like his brain was hardwired to follow this most fearsome predator's every move. Because now, he could feel her evil glare directed towards Ted.
"And I would have succeeded if it weren't for a certain useless idiot!"
Ted shivered. Tears welled up his eyes. "Sh-she's right," he sobbed. "I'm j-just a weak-willed coward. I-I had her…. the spider right there and I-I couldn't even…"'
He started moving backward, towards the exit. The door was still ajar. Outside, there was the darkness. Overwhelming, crushing, unnatural darkness. Darkness that was going to swallow him whole.
"Hey Ted, calm down," Jouske told him, following him slowly, careful not to move too suddenly. "It's Ava, she's just manipulating you. Let me help you, I'll…"
"I'm-I'm just a burden," Ted said. From a pocket, he pulled a black handgun. "I should just… go away." But instead of aiming it at Josuke, he pointed it towards his own head.
Josuke's mind went blank. All thoughts stopped. They didn't matter. All that mattered was that he rushed forward, running as fast as his legs could carry him.
"Josuke, no! Don't follow him through the door!" Jotaro yelled, but he might as well have stayed quiet. Nothing else existed in this world, except Josuke and a man that he would not let die.
Ted stumbled through the door, into the darkness and Josuke pursued fearlessly.
And so Josuke found himself in another world.
xxXXxx
"Josuke!" Okuyasu yelled as his friend disappeared through the door into the darkness.
The bellhop-clad form of Ted's stand appeared and gently closed the door to the outside. It bowed and faded from existence.
Thirty-six seconds had passed.
Jotaro cursed under his breath. This was not good. Not good at all. Ted wasn't a fighter, but with his ability… there was no way Josuke would be able to beat him. What's more, Okuyasu and Koichi had both turned their backs against the enemy they should be paying full attention to.
"Hey! Don't let your guards down!" he shouted at them, which was enough to snap them back.
"Indeed." A voice dripping with evil.
"Star Platinum: The World!"
Time stood still.
Ironically, while trying to reprimand the boys, Jotaro had made the same mistake, taking his focus off the enemy. In one second, Ava had grabbed one of the strings around the restaurant and tugged at it. This particular string formed a snare around Jotaro's foot.
Star Platinum grabbed the string with both of its hands and pulled in different directions. The string was as strong as steel wire, yet thinner than a strand of hair. Star Platinum was stronger, however, and the string snapped in two.
One and a half second had pass…
Jotaro looked at his hands. Two small cuts.
Time began to move again.
The string Ava tugged at flopped uselessly. But the webs had been sharp enough to slice through flesh. Had Jotaro not noticed it, he would be missing a leg right now.
Forty seconds had passed.
xxXXxx
Okuyasu was not sure exactly what everything was that was going on. Though even he could figure out it wasn't too good. A vampire had attacked them, nearly killed someone and his best friend had disappeared. There was so much he didn't understand.
So Okuyasu figured the best he could do was what he was told, and fight this guy in the stupid hat.
He was pretty big, but he didn't look all that dangerous. He just kept on nervously backing towards the window that had become dark and quiet. Which was really weird. Okuyasu couldn't hear any sounds coming from the outside and the entire wall seemed to be covered in darkness… but it was light inside?
Either way, it didn't really matter, cause the guy bumped into the wall anyway.
"Hey, Okuyasu, I have an idea," Koichi said in Japanese. "You use The Hand to bring him closer to us, and I'll use Echoes to weigh him down. Then we can knock him out and remove the fleshbud, okay?"
Yeah, that sounded like a really smart idea!
Okuyasu summoned The Hand, his trusty stand standing next to him, ready to swipe away.
The guy in the smiley hat looked at The Hand with fearful eyes. Besides him, a robotic figure appeared. It was red, with steel grey hands, arms, feet, and face with three fins on its head. Its eyes were blue lights and its smile creepy.
"Zoltron!" he said and threw a coin into its mouth. "What do I do now?"
Metallic clanking and grinding gears could be heard from the insides of the stand.
"What is an answer? The opposite of wrong!" it said with an electronic voice.
"Opposite of wrong… right?" the man muttered.
"The Hand!" Okuyasu shouted and had his stand swipe away the space between them before the man could use whatever his stand ability was to harm them.
It was too late! The man dove to the right, out of the way. Instead of the man in the smiley hat being pulled closer, a piece of the darkness covering the wall was brought closer. Which… that was impossible! Okuyasu had tried erasing darkness or bringing shadows closer before and it never worked!
Yet, there it was. A chunk of darkness, about the size of a grown man hovering in front of them and staring at them.
No, wait. The darkness wasn't staring, there was…
Okuyasu squinted. "What the hell…?"
It was really, really weird. It was just a piece of darkness, but it was still like looking into a deep alley. And at the end of the alley… a white mask smiling at them. Like one of those masks that always come in pairs, one happy and one sad…
Suddenly, two hands sprung forward from the darkness, grabbing both Okuyasu and Koichi by their wrists. Before they could react, the hands pulled them violently into the darkness.
The last thing Okuyasu heard was Koichi yelping in surprise and that last thing he saw was that white mask smiling at him before everything was dark.
xxXXxx
One minute and eighteen seconds had passed.
Jotaro cursed. The kind of cursing you don't want to say in front of children or the elderly. This was not what he had planned. First Josuke and now Okuyasu and Koichi. They had all been dragged out of the restaurant.
"What? I thought you wanted to split up?" Ava taunted him. She pulled on another string, this one tied around a chair behind Jotaro. The chair came flying towards him, but Star Platinum swatted it away easily.
Hmph. She would have to try better than that.
Which she did. While Star Platinum was behind Jotaro, Ava pulled a gun out of a pocket in her jacket and fired two shots.
「BANG!」
「BANG!」
Better, but still useless. Star Platinum was fast enough to catch those bullets, even without using timestop.
Haha, the legends were true!" she exclaimed and clapped her hands. "Your Star Platinum really is quite the powerhouse!" She sighed. "You know, back when I was human, I would have been terrified of even the thought of facing you… direct confrontations like this aren't my expertise. I much prefer infiltration and assassination."
"So you're a professional?" Jotaro asked. Stalling for time. An obvious tactic, but she seemed like she wanted to talk.
One minute and thirty-two seconds had passed.
"You bet," Ava said. "One of Passione's top assassins. I was even offered to join the La Squadra once…"
"So you're with the Italian mafia? Are they the ones who sent you to kill me?" As he talked, Jotaro moved slightly to the left. He had to be careful… make it look like an accident…
"Nah, I was sent here to investigate the Speedwagon Foundation actually. There were rumors that they had a few stand arrows in their possession… turns out they were true… and they had something more locked up…"
"You freed Santana?" There was a string tied to another chair behind him now.
Ava shook her head. "Nope." She yanked the string and…
The chair behind him came flying towards him. This time, however, instead of just swatting it away…
"Star Platinum: The World!" Time stood still.
Jotar stepped out of the way of the chair and positioned himself behind it.
Once second had passed in stopped time.
Star Platinum grabbed a bullet from Jotaro's pocket and took aim.
Time resumed at a normal pace.
The chair kept on flying towards Ava.
Pah! Worthless!" The chair was turned into scraps by a single punch from the vampire.
However, the chair was never intended as an attack. A full vampire at her prime might be able to dodge gunfire… if they could see it coming. The chair had provided cover and distraction for only a second, but it was enough.
The bullet hit her right in the head. The force was enough to throw Ava's head backward and make her stumble. It wouldn't be enough to kill her but slow her down for a few seconds.
One minute and forty-nine seconds had passed.
Or rather, it should have. The bullet should have buried itself deep into the vampire's skull and brain, but it didn't. Instead, the bullet was lodged a centimeter at most into her skull. There wasn't even any blood coming from the wound.
"Tsk. Nice trick," she said and plucked the bullet from her forehead. She tilted her head. "Did you know that spider's silk is one of the strongest materials produced by animals in the world? They're even trying to make bulletproof vests with the stuff."
Jotaro remembered what Gramps had told him about vampires. How they had an insane degree of control over their bodies and could do things no human could even begin to dream off. Such as placing a thin layer of spider web right beneath your skin. Through Star Platinum, he could see the web in the wound before it closed.
Ava played with the bullet, rolling it between her fingers. "Anyways, where was I… right, our friend Santana. No, I didn't free him. Ran into him by accident. Or perhaps I should say luck…"
"And he turned you into a vampire?" Normally, Jotaro would sigh if anyone asked such a stupid question. Obviously, it was Santana, he was the only one with a stone mask. But Jotaro had time to kill.
One minute and fifty-eight seconds had passed.
"Yes and no," Ava said. "He didn't force me or tell me to put on the mask, no…" She smiled a wide maniacal grin, showing her sharpened fangs. She grabbed a string and whipped it. It formed a snare, around Jotaro's hand. "No, I begged it off him!"
Jotaro stopped time, Star Platinum grabbing the string, and pulled it. The string tore into Ava's hand, nearly slicing her fingers off.
When timed resumed, Ava looked at her fingers and laughed. It didn't even take ten seconds for them to heal. "I wanted to get out ever since the rumors about La Squadra rebelling started, but I couldn't because then the boss would come after me. But now, with this power…. not even the boss will be able to hurt me!"
Two minutes and twelve seconds had passed.
xxXXxx
Josuke rushed through the door into the darkness outside and… it disappeared.
He blinked in surprise. It was bright as day outside. He heard the sound of a door closing behind him. He swiveled around and saw Ted's red-clad stand close the door to the inside of the restaurant.
This was… Ted's ability?
Josuke took a good look around. It was Empire City alright. But it was… different. For one thing, it was daytime, the sounds were a lot more muted, and the people… All the people were replaced by mannequins. Wooden dolls, all identical and clad in red roamed the streets. They seemed to walk around just like real people.
What was this?
The loud ring of a gunshot snapped Josuke back to the present. Ted was still holding the gun pointed towards his head. He had pulled the trigger. But… he was fine?
"This… is My Own Moon," he said. The hand holding the gun dropped to his side. He was still crying, large tears rolling down his cheeks. "I go here when I want some peace and quiet. I feel… safe in here." His hands shook like leaves, but he still held the gun up, pointed at Josuke. "I-I… I'm s-sorry," he stammered. "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to…" His eyes went blank again, and he pulled the trigger.
「BANG!」
"Crazy Diamond!" The pink warrior stand caught the bullet.
「BANG!」
「BANG!」
「BANG!」
「BANG!」
Ted emptied the clip, but to no use, Crazy Diamond easily caught all the bullets. The restaurant owner sobbed loudly.
"See, I told you. I can't kill anything. I'm not useful for anyone or anything…"
"I'm sorry Ted," Josuke. He really was. The fleshbud was messing with his brain, pushing him deep into despair. He had tried to fight it, but couldn't. The control of the vampire was simply too strong. And even if he didn't want to, Ava wasn't going to let him just surrender without a fight. "I'm sorry Ted, but I'm afraid I'll have t beat you before I can help you…"
Jouske started moving towards Ted. He expected Ted to move too, or to use his stand in some way. But he didn't. He just stood there, crying.
"You don't get it," he said. "You can't beat me. Not in here."
Josuke didn't make it many steps before one of the dolls attacked. It lunged at him the moment he said he was going to beat Ted.
"DORA!" Crazy Diamond delivered a punch to the doll, cracking part of its head. Josuke observed Ted and saw that he was unharmed. So damage on the doll didn't transfer back to him. Good to know.
"DORARARA!" Crazy Diamond tore the doll to pieces. Immediately, more dolls came running. They wouldn't matter much, however. If he could just get to Ted…
Josuke dashed towards Ted as fast as he could, the dolls right on his tail.
"Sorry, but it's for you best!" he yelled and readied Crazy Diamond to deliver one decisive punch. Ted didn't as much as flinch.
"DORA!" Crazy Diamond launched the punch and…missed!? The fist flew right past Ted's face.
"DORARARARARA!" The pink-colored stand almost seemed to grow multiple arms, so fast was its barrage of attacks. And every single one of them missed. As soon as they got close to Ted, they just seemed to slip to the side, as if pushed away by an invisible force.
"D-dammit!" Josuke cursed. The dolls had caught up to him and began clawing, grabbing and punching at him. He turned Crazy Diamond against them, his stand quickly turning a dozen dolls into firewood.
"You can't help me," Ted said. "My stand won't let you. It can't fight. It can't help. All it can do is defend me. And it will do that, no matter what. That is my ability. That is My Own Moon."
xxXXxx
Okuyasu couldn't see anything. It was blacker than coal, darker than the darkest night he had ever seen. It wasn't just some ordinary, run-of-the-mill darkness. No this was… really dark. Seriously, he couldn't see his hands in front of him!
It was silent too. He couldn't hear anything. No cars, no people, no music, no enemy, no Koichi, no nothing, He…
"…!" He couldn't even hear himself yelling! He tried yelling for Koichi as loud as he could but no sound would leave his mouth. He couldn't even hear his own heartbeats or his own breathing for crying out loud!
Just what the hell was this ability? This was some weird stuff, even for Okuyasu, and he had grown up with a mutated monster dad.
Maybe… he tried to think….
Whatever this stand was, maybe it could like… turn sound into darkness?
…
No! That was stupid!
Gah! Useless! He wasn't smart enough to figure this out! If Josuke or Koichi or Jotaro were in this situation they would have already figured it out Koichi had probably already figured it out and was working on a way to beat the enemy as Okuyasu stood here.
Okay, so what would Koichi do?
xxXXxx
Koichi was currently bleeding from a gunshot wound in his side.
After a second in the deafening silence and blinding darkness, he had been dragged out onto the street. On the positive side, he could see and hear. One the negative, what head heard and seen (too late) was the gunshot from the man in the smiley hat.
Koichi also saw that the man wasn't alone. He had a friend with him. A tall man wearing a brown coat and a sad frown.
'Smiley' and 'Frowney' stood next to each other, their stand hovering behind them. Frowney had Smiley's robotic stand, Zoltron draped over his shoulders and with an artificial smile. Smiley had Frowney's stand draped around him much in the same way. It was a tall humanoid, seemingly made from darkness, aside from its face, a white porcelain tragedy mask.
Smiley threw a coin into Zoltron's mouth.
"Zoltron, what should we do next?"
The robot clanked and seemed to think about it before answering.
"Trying to do everything at the same time leads to a path of madness. Always focus on the goal closest to you," it said with an eerie voice. It sounded like it was trying to imitate a cheerful demeanor, but the electric distortion corrupted all emotion.
"The one closest to us," Smiley muttered. "Could you make sure that the tall one doesn't get out?" he asked his partner.
"Sure," Frowney said with all the enthusiasm of a kid being told to clean his room. He turned to his own stand. "Make sure he can't get out of there," he told it. The stand didn't say anything, but its mask turned back into the smile of the comedy mask. It walked into the darkness and disappeared.
Okay. So. Koichi was shot, which was bad. Okuyasu was missing, which was bad. He was facing two stand users, which was bad. But if Frowney had sent his stand to keep Okuyasu trapped… then perhaps Koichi had a chance.
Smiley threw another coin in Zoltron's mouth.
"Zoltron, how do we best defeat this guy?"
"Generosity is a virtue!," Zoltron said," If you have something you don't need, share it with a friend or someone who does need it!"
"Sharing…" Smiley handed the gun to Frowney.
"Dang it," Koichi cursed.
xxXXxx
Goddamn hell's fucking piss-rat! Okuyasu had no ideas. How the fuck was he supposed to beat someone he couldn't even see?
Fuck it. He might as well just try and erasing this darkness. He couldn't see or hear it, but he felt the presence of The Hand behind him. His stand raised its hand to swipe away and…
Okuyasu stopped. No, that was a bad idea. Even if he could erase the darkness, what if… what if Koichi was still in here? What if he accidentally…
No that was not it. But what if… he just… tried to walk out of here?
Okuyasu shrugged to himself. He had no better idea. Might as well try.
He started walking forward and… it worked! Ha, that was it!
He started running. Had to hurry up, he only had like… a few minutes to beat the enemy and get the fleshbud out of him. He picked up the pace and… slammed right into a wall.
"…!" he cursed violently. "…!" Fortunately, no one would hear them lest he cause a little old lady a heart attack.
Okay. Wall that way. He turned around. If he went the opposite way instead then…
He started running again. He ran for a few seconds. It was a bit hard to judge the distance since he couldn't see, but he would say about… a couple of meters. And then… he slammed right into another wall.
"…!"
Okay, he could do this. Think… If there was a wall in front of him… and a wall behind him… and he was on a street… then that meant that… either to the left tor the right, there was open terrain!
He turned to his left and started running again. Now he had figured it out! This time he would… slam into a wall again!
"…! …!"
This sucked! There was no way this could turn any worse.
…
Why did he feel something moving right behind him?
The punch he got in his backside answered that question. There was something behind him!
He summoned The Hand to punch it and… it hit nothing.
The next second, he got a new punch right in the gut. The Hand tried to attack again but to no avail.
Next, a punch to the face, a kick from the left, a jab from the right… whenever The Hand tried to counter attack, the presence would disappear and reappear somewhere else.
The punches weren't very strong, but they still hurt, and they were slowly wearing him down. And this darkness and silence around him were driving him nuts! Okuyasu could have sworn even his thoughts were becoming quieter. He couldn't see, he couldn't hear, he couldn't defend himself…
Now it really couldn't get any worse.
xxXXxx
Two minutes and fifteen seconds had passed.
Jotaro made a mental note to look into this Passione and La Squadra, and their boss at a later date. For now, he had to concentrate on defeating this vampire.
"I thought Santana was supposed to be some ultimate super vampire, but he's an idiot!" Ava was smiling like a deranged madwoman, yanking violently at two strings tied to the legs of a table, which came flying towards Jotaro from behind. "Not only did he make me a vampire, but he even gave me one of the arrows! The fool made me unstoppable, and all I have to do is kill you to repay him? I would do it for free!"
Star Platinum broke the table easily, but…
Jotaro stopped time and examined the table frozen in the air. There, hiding on the underside of the table, left of the center where Star Platinum had punched the table. There sat a spider. The same spider Ted had caught earlier. That was supposed to be Ava's main stand.
One second had passed in stopped time.
Ava had intended for it to jump out when the halves of the table flew past Jotaro. Why? Perhaps it was venomous.
Star Platinum grabbed between its thumb and index finger. It hid the spider behind the back of its hand so that Ava wouldn't immediately see it.
Time resumed at a normal pace. The halves of the table flew past Jotaro. Ava cocked her head, obviously confused as to why her stand didn't jump out…
No. She wasn't surprised, she was… listening?
"You really are worthy of your reputation," she said and clapped slowly clapped her hands. "Not only is your ability to freeze time insanely useful, but you are observant as well. You saw right through my trap."
Too easy. That had been too easy, she had something else planned.
Ava nonchalantly strutted over to one of the broken halves of the table, as if to inspect the damage. She picked up a string on the floor. Jotaro followed the string with his eyes, and…
"Do you think she can see through it?"
Jotaro froze time. Pink hair was still in the restaurant, hiding behind the food counter. The string Ava was holding stretched through half the restaurant and disappeared under the counter… no doubt snared around Pink hair's neck.
Jotaro bolted. Ava had been keeping her distance. Six meters, maybe seven… seven and a half. He only had two seconds to reach her…
One second had passed in stopped time, halfway there.
Jotaro had never claimed to be much of a hero. But damn it if he was going to let an innocent woman die just for a monster to use as a distraction!
Two seconds had passed in stopped time. Time resumed at a normal pace.
He made it just in time, Star Platinum grabbing the string just as Ava pulled it. However strong the curse of the stone mask had made her, she still wasn't stronger than Star Platinum.
"I thought I told you to get out of here!" Jotaro roared to Pink hair. "I don't need you to distract me now." He let Star Platinum squeeze the spider in its fingers.
Cracking could be heard coming from Ava and her right arm and leg bent in unnatural angles. She collapsed on the floor.
"Gah…" she groaned. "Just as planned." Moving fast as lightning, she snatched another string using her left arm, and then kicked Star Platinum's leg, sending herself sliding across the floor several meters… taking her spider with her.
Clever bitch. Her spider had produced a string from the spinnerets on its abdomen. When Jotaro moved closer to protect Pink hair, Ava had grabbed the string and used it to pull the spider out of Star Platinum's clutches. Even those injuries hadn't been as bad as she pretended them to be, considering she stood right back up as soon as she had moved a few meters out of Jotaro's range.
Two minutes and forty-one seconds had passed.
Ava chuckled. "Wryy… as I said, you are worthy of your reputation as the strongest stand user in the world. But still… you're only human. I am more than that. Putting on that mask didn't just grant me a stronger, immortal body, but it also enhanced my senses. Sight, smell, hearing… I perceive the world in so much greater detail now. I can smell the last slices of bacon in the kitchen, or the tiny drops of sweat on your body… I can see the irregularities in the paint on the wall or the small twitches in your movement… I can even hear your heartbeat." She fixed Jotaro's body and soul with her eyes. "And I can tell… did you know that your heart skips a beat every time you stop time?"
Star Platinum chopped off the metal leg from the broken table and chucked it at Ava as hard as it could. The metal leg flew like a deadly spear, but Ava caught it like it was nothing.
Yes. Jotaro was aware of that. Usually, it didn't mean anything, one heartbeat here or there wasn't too bad, but if he overused his timestop…
"Ha! Pathetic! You weren't even aiming for my head." She jammed the metal leg into the floor, cracking it. "I can hear your panting. It's faint, but it's there!" Ava wore the suit of arrogance the undead so often don very well. "Your stand may be stronger and faster than mine, but my stamina is far greater than yours. And if you're not even going to bother with fatal attacks…" she drove the metal leg further down into the floor, as if she actually made a point.
"Tsk. You got it wrong," Jotaro interrupted her spiel. So annoying. "I wasn't aiming for your head." He adjusted the hat on his head. It had gotten slightly askew when he was running. He met Ava's eyes and stared back into those empty orbs imitating life. "There's still time left."
Two minutes and fifty-nine seconds had passed.
"I can kill you at any time I want."
xxXXxx
This was not good. Even though Josuke had destroyed about twenty-five dolls, more were still coming. If they had been out in the countryside, he might be able to fight them all off, but they were in a large city. However big this pocket dimension Ted's stand had created was, Josuke couldn't see the end of it. There could be many thousands of dolls, all ready to protect their master.
He must figure out how to defeat Ted, and quickly. Even if he could fight against an entire city coming at him, he still only had… how many minutes had passed? Two? Three?
The next wave of attackers would hit in a few seconds.
Josuke looked at the pile of broken dolls. He might not be able to hurt Ted, but maybe… Crazy Diamond grabbed a large splinter from the pile.
"DORA!" With a mighty cry, it threw the splinter towards Ted. The splinter flew like a bullet and zoomed right past Ted.
"It's useless. Useless, useless, useless," Ted wept. "It won't work."
Josuke touched the broken doll he had taken the splinter from. A golden aura surrounded it, and the splinter, still flying through the air turned around and flew towards Ted's back. Perhaps if he couldn't see it coming…
The splinter arced around Ted again. Nope.
Alright, then…
About twelve new dolls descended upon Josuke.
"DORARARARARARARA!" While Crazy Diamond turned them to junk, Josuke saw the next wave running down the street. This one was significantly larger. About thirty, maybe forty dolls. This group he might not be able to overpower.
"How do I… gotta end this…"
"DORA!" Crazy Diamond struck the ground, ripping up a chunk of asphalt. With a powerful roar, the stand catapulted it towards Ted.
"You still don't understand," he said. "Nothing can hurt me in here."
The same thing again, the asphalt strayed from its trajectory and flew right past him.
"I see," Josuke said. The next wave of dolls was closing in fast. Their collected feet rumbled against the asphalt. It sounded like he had underestimated how many they were. He would guess about a hundred just from the sound.
Josuke did the only thing he could do.
He sat down.
Ted actually hiccuped in surprise.
"W-what are you doing?"
"I realized something," Josuke said. He rested his head on his hand. "Before, when we entered in here. I heard a gunshot, and you had the gun against your own head. You shot yourself, right?"
"Y-yes," Ted said, his teeth chattering. "I-I can't even…"
"Your stand protects you from any and all harm," Josuke interrupted him. "It will protect you from anything… including yourself, right?"
"I don't… yes."
"As I thought… in that case, I won't have to fight you anymore," Josuke said, relaxed as can be. He reached for his pocket to get his phone and look at the time. "Damn it, forgot it back in the restaurant."
A hundred dolls ran past him, completely ignoring him. Why wouldn't they? Josuke wasn't a threat any longer. No, the real threat…
"Strange stand battle," Josuke mused. "The only winning move is not to fight."
The real threat was a small parasite lodged in Ted's head!
"No! What-what are you doing?" Ted protested the manifestations of his own stand grabbed him, dragged him to the ground and held him still. One of them gently held his hair to the side as another one grabbed the small fleshbud and slowly pulled it out.
"Gahrg!" Ted's protests quieted down and his struggling subsided and he lied on the ground unconscious.
One of the dolls crushed the fleshbud beneath its foot.
They turned their faceless heads towards Josuke as if to ask 'will you cause any more trouble?'
"You did well. Your master is safe now," Josuke said. The dolls didn't say anything but begun to walk away.
Josuke sighed and stood back up. "Right." He walked over to Ted's unconscious body and touched him. A golden aura surrounded him, and fixed the small wound in his head immediately, although he did not wake up. Fair enough, he had been through a pretty dramatic experience.
"Don't worry," Josuke told him. "When you wake up, that vampire will be gone from your restaurant." He turned and walked over to the door they had come through. He opened it and walked through it. But instead of exiting back into the real world, he found himself still stuck within Ted's stand ability.
"Oh fuck."
Ted Guardestad
Stand: My Own Moon
Status: Unconscious and unable to fight
Josuke Higashikata
Stand: Crazy Diamond
Status: Trapped in another dimension and unable to fight
Time passed: Three minutes and two seconds
xxXXxx
Koichi was sweating. His breathing was heavy and he was bleeding. He could hear his heartbeat in his chest. It sounded like a clock ticking. How many minutes had passed since Jotaro started the countdown? Two, at minimum. Which meant Koichi was in a bit of a pickle. He had to defeat two enemy stand users by himself.
He examined his surroundings, trying to find anything he could use. No… nothing on his side of the street. There was a car parked on the other side, where Smiley and Frowney stood. Three Freeze wouldn't be very useful if that was all he had to work with. Maybe if he….
No! He didn't have tome to think about 'what ifs.' He would simply have to power through.
"Echoes!" His stand appeared next to him, waiting for orders. Koichi rushed forward, right towards the enemy stand users.
The two of them jerked, taken aback by Koichi's sudden movement. Seemingly more on reflex than plan, Frowney pulled the trigger on the gun.
「BANG!」
The shot flew through the air, faster than any human could ever hope to move… but not faster than Echoes. The stand blocked the bullet. Koichi felt it like a prick on his arm, but he didn't slow down. He ran as fast as his short legs could carry him. If he understood Smiley's stand ability correctly…
"Z-Zoltron!" Smiley threw another coin in the stand's mouth. "What do we do now?"
…then as long as he could make it there fast enough…
Gears grinding, metal straining. "Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success!"
Echoes, Act 3! Three Freeze!" The shrill voice of Echoes rang out. Koichi had made it! Zoltron was now within his range of five meters! "S-H-I-T!" It delivered a fast and furious rush of attacks to Zoltron's arm.
The small robotic stand dropped like it was made from lead. The psychic connection between stand and master transferred some of the weight over to Smiley, and his arm was weighed down too. He struggled to stay upright. But Koichi was not about to let that happen.
He slammed into the man with all the force he could muster. Which wasn't all that much… enough to drop the man to the ground, however.
"No! Harold!" Frowney raised the gun, but couldn't fire, not with his partner in the potential line of fire.
"Three Freeze!" Echoes released its hold over Zoltron, marking instead Frowney's gun.
"Argh!" Frowney dropped to the ground as well, his hand pinned against the ground by the weighted gun.
The weakness of Echoes was that it could only ever affect one object or person with its ability…
Zoltron righted itself and Smiley began struggling against the small teen trying to wrestle with him. And considering he was at least three times the size of Koichi, he had a clear advantage.
However, while Echoes could only affect one object, that didn't mean it couldn't still fight.
"Z-Zoltron!" Smiley tried to throw a coin to his stand. "Help me!" The coin missed, and the man was left defenseless.
This was Koichi's strategy.
"Beeeeeetch!" Echoes screeched and unleashed a barrage of punches at the tall man. "Sonuvabicth!"
Using Three Freeze to immobilize one of them and then knock out the other. A perfect stratagem!
"S-Sound of Silence!" Frowney groaned. "Return to me!"
xxXXxx
As suddenly as they had started, whatever was attacking Okuyasu stopped and disappeared.
Okuyasu sighed a breath of relief. He had no idea why it had stopped, but hey, he wasn't complaining. Damn, he could feel hot blood running from his nose, and something in his ribcage was definitely cracked.
He was alive though, so that was good. And now he had an idea for how he was going to get out of here.
Okuyasu smiled and summoned The Hand.
He couldn't hear it, but he could feel the sound of his stand scraping away space vibrating through the air.
xxXXxx
Frowney's masked stand emerged from the darkness. It examined the scene with its empty eyes. It reached out towards its master.
"Sound of Silence, help me," Frowney begged it.
Sound of Silence touched the weighted gun. It was immediately covered in darkness, and Frowney stood back up as the weight had just disappeared.
"You're kidding me!" Koichi shouted. He was sitting on top of Smiley, trying to keep the man down with the help of Echoes. "Your stand can neutralize my Echoes' ability!? How is that even supposed to work?"
Frowny stared at him with those blank eyes. Although… now you could spot something more. Anger.
"I had no idea that would work," he said. "But if it helps me save Harold…" He raised the gun, aimed squarely at Koichi. Echoes moved to protect its master.
That was the wrong move.
While he was distracted, Smiley managed to push Koichi off of him and throw Zoltron another coin.
"Zoltron, pin him!" he yelled.
The robot, which had remained still until now sprung into action, zooming towards Echoes. "As you wish!" it said, calm as ever.
"Echoes, use Three Freez…" Koichi began ordering his stand to defend him, but then he saw…
「BANG!」
Echoes blocked the shot from Frowney's gun, which left Zoltron enough time to grab onto the white and green stand.
Koichi felt his body involuntarily jerk and move as the two stands wrestled for dominance. He had to.. try and… get out of… the way…
No. The two enemies were simply too much for him. Smiley kicked his legs from behind, knocking Koichi down onto the ground, and Frowney towered over him with the gun aimed directly at his face. From this range… he couldn't miss.
Was this the end?
「THUMM」
Frowney stopped in his tracks.
"What the…"
「THUMM」
"What is that sound?" he looked around, trying to find the source of the deep bass sound.
Oh, what a lovely sound! Koichi would recognize that anytime!
「THUMM」
Frowney located the source of the sound and looked up. Too late, it turned out, as Okuyasu came crashing down from the sky. The beautiful bastard had used The Hand to lift himself into the air and out of Frowney's well of silence!
Okuyasu crashed into Frowney with all the grace of a steam locomotive. The result was a pile of limbs and angry noises.
"You thought you were gonna shoot my friend, huh!?" Okuyasu yelled, and punched Frowney in the face. "Well, forget it! Not on my watch." He punched him again for good measure.
"NO! Quentin!" Smiley screamed.
"I think you should worry about yourself," Koichi said. "Three Freeze." Echoes had overpowered Zoltron, and now the small robot stand slammed into the ground. Smiley's legs collapsed under this universal force called gravity.
The large man whimpered, but couldn't move.
"Whew." Koichi let out a breath of relief. That got a little too intense for his taste. "Thanks for saving me," he told Okuyasu. He pulled the ugly smiley hat off the man's head, revealing the disgusting little parasite under it. He commanded Echoes to come over and pull it out.
"No problems," Okuyasu said, using The Hand to remove Frowney's fleshbud as well. "I owed you after you saved us on the plane."
"Heh, I guess." Koichi was suddenly feeling very lightheaded. The wound in his side was hurting a lot more. He sat down on the street. "I-I guess we're… even now." The world was spinning around him. He patted the side of his torso and cringed at the feeling of warm blood.
"Hey, are you okay?" Okuyasu asked with concern.
"Yeah, sure, I'm just… a bit… tired" The world became black and quiet again.
Quentin Smiley
Stand: Sound of Silence
Status: Unconscious and unable to fight.
Harold Smiley
Stand: Zoltron
Status: Unconscious and unable to fight
Koichi Hirose
Stand: Echoes
Status: Unconscious and unable to fight
Time passed: Four minutes and twenty seconds
xxXXxx
Ava's eye twitched. Irritated her tactics weren't working? Frustrated that Jotaro wasn't taking the bait with any of her taunts? Please, Jotaro had seen every variation of the same game done to death. Try to make the opponent angry, try to make them lose their cool. Make them sloppy.
Ava had based her whole strategy on using her superior stamina to wear Jotaro down. Wait for the right opportunity, a moment of weakness. Her taunting and trying to piss him off was all part of that strategy.
"Before you said that you were new to this kind of stand battles," Jotaro said. Two could play at this game. "You didn't have to tell me that. It's obvious."
Ava gnashed her teeth. "Listen here you little…"
"I can also tell that you haven't been a vampire for very long. The last vampire I fought was a lot tougher. And I killed him. Like I'm going to kill you."
Three minutes and fifteen-seconds had passed.
Ava actually growled. Like a dog. She even showed her fangs like a wild animal.
"Don't think for a moment I don't know what you're doing, human." She said the last word like you would spit out the name of your worst enemy. "Trying to use my own tactics against me. And as for you…"
Jotaro had seen it. Behind the food counter, Pink hair was moving. Stupid bitch, what was she still doing here? How many times had she been told to get out?
"Calling the police is useless. I ate three of them earlier, you're only gonna bring me more food."
"ORA!" Star Platinum chopped through the other leg of the broken table half, grabbing it and holding it like a javelin…
Jotaro stopped time. He grabbed another rifle bullet from his pocket. One left. He slid the bullet into the hollow table leg.
One second had passed in stopped time.
He looked over the restaurant. Ava's spider. He had lost track of it. Ava was probably planning something with it. Where would it come from? From under a table? From behind a chair? Or perhaps from the ceiling? Before his two precious seconds of frozen time ended, Jotaro took note of a certain string on the floor, It wasn't connected to anything.
Two seconds had passed in stopped time. Time resumed at a normal pace.
Ava's eyes narrowed. "Why did you stop ti…"
"ORA!" Star Platinum flung the makeshift spear forward, and this time it was aimed for Ava's head.
"Ha!" She caught it in her hands again, centimeters before it penetrated her eye. However, as basic Newtonian physics will tell you, an object in motion will remain in motion with the same speed and direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. In this case, the bullet inside the table leg continued on its path, hitting Ava's right eye.
Reflexively, she stumbled backward.
"Grr," she snarled and pulled on a string connected to a point behind Jotaro.
Jotaro whipped around, Star Platinum at the ready to deal with anything the vampire might have sent flying his wa… The end of the string whipped aimlessly in the air. There was nothing. Son of a…
A tiny weight hit Jotaro in the back. Even through his jacket, he could feel the spider crawling across his body. The spider hadn't disappeared, she was still holding it this whole time.
"ORA!" Star Platinum swatted at the tiny stand, trying to get it away before it could bit…
「BANG!」
「BANG!」
The gun from before. Ava had fired two shots.
"Star Platinum: The World!" Jotaro stopped time, the bullet stopping only a few decimeters away from him. The second bullet? On its way towards Pink hair.
Goddamn it.
Star Platinum nabbed the bullet aimed for Jotaro out of the air. It began taking aim for the bullet going towards Pink hair.
One second had passed in stopped time.
He had to aim very carefully. If he was of even one centimeter… five millimeters… two millimeters, then that woman would die.
Star Platinum fired the bullet from its hand. It traveled a short distance before coming to a halt. If Jotaro had done his math correctly, then it should hit Ava's bullet and knock it off course.
Two seconds had passed in stopped time. Time resumed at a normal pace.
"ORA!" Three things happened very fast. Firstly, Star Platinum swatted the spider down from Jotaro's back, and onto the floor. Secondly, the bullet he had launched intercepted Ava's bullet, causing it to stray from its intended path. Thirdly, Ava cursed and yanked at the string that was still connected to her spider, pulling it away before Star Platinum could crush it.
Three minutes and thirty seconds had passed.
Jotaro was starting to feel it now. His breathing was heavier. Long, slow breathes.
Just a bit more. The fight would be over soon.
The two stand users found themselves at a momentary pause, both looking at each other. One pair filled with hatred. The other cold determination. They were waiting for the other to make their next move. Ava would have to act soon. Any rest Jotaro got, no matter how small was a detriment to her strategy.
「Bring, ring, ring, ring, ring…」
A high-pitched ringtone echoed through the room, disturbing the two fighters.
Josuke's phone had started ringing all of a sudden. Who the hell wanted to talk to him right now?
「Bring, ring, ring, ring, ring…」
Not that it mattered, it wasn't the signal Jotaro was waiting for.
For a short moment, the vampire and the human had gotten distracted.
"Hya!" Apparently Pink hair thought it was a good time to run forward with a chair. She slammed it into Ava's back so hard the metal legs actually bent out of shape. Not that it meant anything.
The vampire glared at her. "You just keep on causing problems, don't you?" She swatted at the woman, as casually as one would scare off a fly. Still, Pink hair went flying, and you could hear at least one rib crack. "Stay there, and stay still. I might need you as a hostage later on." Ava smiled a wicked smile, without joy or warmth. "That's all humans are good for. Food and hostages."
Three minutes and forty seconds had passed.
"At least that's more than you are good for," Jotaro said. He moved a step closer. "You are good for one thing."
"What?"
"Dying."
If gazes were bullets, Jotaro would be riddled by now.
Ava took a deep breath. Did she even need to do that anymore? "You know…" she said. "I did some research on you Mr. Kujo… or should I say, Doctor? Or maybe you prefer to be called professor? Doctor Jotaro Kujo, professor of marine biology at Blue Dolphin Street University down in Florida, right?"
Jotaro took another step closer. Five meters between them.
"You live there right, in Dolphin City… got yourself a nice house, a wife and daug…"
The world went dark and before even Jotaro knew what was going on he was standing in front of Ava.
He couldn't tell if the sting in his chest came from him overexerting his timestop of if…
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA! ORA!" Star Platinum's fists were like cannonballs from a machine gun.
Oh, how satisfying it was to see Ava remembering what pain and fear felt like as she was thrown halfway across the room and through a wall into the kitchen. Geysers of blood sprayed the floor with the rotting blood of the evil dead.
Jotaro started walking towards the hole in the wall.
"I have to thank you for your foresight," he said. "Without that armor of spider's silk hidden under your clothes I might have accidentally killed you, and I can't do that just yet."
Three minutes and fifty seconds had passed.
He walked slowly. He wasn't in a hurry.
Metal groaning could be heard from the kitchen.
"Argh!" A water tap came flying through the hole. Star Platinum caught it and crushed it into a ball of metal. The vampire screamed in anger, and more metal was torn apart.
Jotaro approached the man-sized hole in the wall and stepped through it, moving the battle into the kitchen.
Ava had flown through the wall, right into a giant dishwasher, trashing it beyond repair. The remnants were leaking water on the floor. In frustration, the vampire had torn water taps, pipes and hoses apart. Water was spraying everywhere covering the floor.
Four minutes had passed.
"You…" Ava said. "I'm going to kill you." A declaration.
Jotaro eyed the vampire from top to bottom. Her clothes were destroyed. Her hair was a mess. She was licking the blood that she had coughed up. This soon-to-be former assassin had truly fallen from grace.
"Try it."
Despite her body being a broken mangled mess only a couple of seconds earlier, Ava still moved like lightning. Had it not been for Star Platinum's superior eyesight, Jotaro wouldn't even have been able to follow her movements.
「BANG!」
「BANG!」
She pulled out her gun, firing a shot at a large metal refrigerator, and then one aimed directly at Jotaro. At the same time, she pulled her leg back, pulling at a string hidden in the water on the floor.
"Star Platinum: The World!"
Time stood still.
For someone who had just been thrown through a wall, she was a pretty quick thinker. The bullet shot at the refrigerator ricocheted off of it and was headed towards Jotaro. However, it remained out of range for Star Platinum. The second bullet had been fired directly at Jotaro and was within range. The string hidden under the puddle of water was connected to her spider that had hidden under the rubble from the broken wall. Its trajectory put it on a collision course with Jotaro's leg.
Quite the attack. Designed to only give him time to neutralize two threats, letting the third finish the job.
Star Platinum grabbed the bullet closest to Jotaro with one hand. It grabbed some bacon still sitting on a counter with the other hand.
One second had passed in stopped time.
The next step required some finely-tuned motor skills. Star Platinum took aim for the ricocheting bullet while Jotaro took the bacon slices and hid them on his shoulder, under his shirt and jacket.
Star Platinum fired the bullet.
Two seconds had passed in stopped time. Time resumed at a normal pace.
The bullet was blown off its course and harmlessly flew past Jotaro.
The spider hit its goal, landing on his leg.
"ORA!" Star Platinum swatted it away.
That's when the true attack began.
The second Star Platinum went to swat its twin away, a second spider dropped from the ceiling, and landed on Jotaro's shoulder. It bit down, its fangs penetrating his jacket and shirt and injecting a deadly amount of neurotoxin.
The effects were immediate. Jotaro staggered and slipped on the water on the floor. He crashed into a cabinet. He clutched his shoulder and his face morphed into one of excruciating agony.
"Haha! Got you," Ava yelled, her voice filled with malicious joy. "Who's the one good at dying now, huh!?"
Four minutes and fifteen seconds had passed.
Jotaro tried to steady himself on a counter filled with kitchen utensils, but tripped over the rubble, and fell back into the dining area of the restaurant. Ava followed him, while he crawled away from the kitchen, a twisted mirror image of the scene prior. The roles were reversed; now she was the one in control.
"Oh, this is such a wonderful scene!" Ava said. "Finally, I am the strongest! The mighty Jotaro Kujo, the legend… If you had told me I would be the one to defeat you, I'd have thought you were joking, But now, with these newfound powers of mine…"
"T-that stone mask… has robbed you… of you h-humanity," Jotaro said. He had collapsed on the floor now. His breath was uneven and his arm hung limply by his side. The neurotoxin of Ava's spider stand was incredibly potent, capable of killing a human within a few minutes.
Ava looked upon the human with smug superiority. She took a few steps closer, and knelt down, and looked him straight in the eyes. "Putting on that mask was the best decision in my life. Fate gave me an opportunity when I met that Santana. Now I have not only an immortal body but a stand arrow of my own. Plus, killing you will look very good on my resume."
Four minutes and thirty seconds had passed.
She leaned in closer. "You know how spiders hunt, right? They make their web and catches insects in it. Then they inject their venom to paralyze their prey so that it doesn't struggle while they eat it." She slowly reached out her arm towards Jotaro. "Die, Jotaro," she whispered, and let her fingers touch Jotaro's thr…
Her hand froze in place.
"What the he…" Like a cat startled by a sudden sound, she hopped backward. "You-your heart, it's…"
"Hmph." Jotaro sighed and stood back up again. He dusted off his jacket and pants while Ava watched on in horror.
"B-but the venom… You were just faking it!?"
"Indeed. I had hoped I would be able to trick you for a little while longer."
Four minutes and forty seconds had passed.
"I-impossible, my spider bit you! It penetrated your clothes, I know it! How did you…?" She breathed heavily through her nose. The faint scent carried through the air answered her question "Bacon!?"
Jotaro removed the slices of bacon from within his clothes and threw them on the floor. If you had enhanced vision of a vampire or a stand, you might be able to spot two small pricks in one of the slices, with slight discoloration.
"That's… but you would have to know that I had two spiders and that one was going to drop onto your shoulder!"
"The water on the floor," Jotaro explained. He adjusted his hat. It had gotten turned slightly askew while he was 'falling' before. "I saw the reflection of it in the water." He tapped the side of his head. "Though I did have my suspicions… when I caught the first spider before, it seemed a bit convenient that you had somehow managed to snare a string around Pink hair's neck just when you needed it. Also, when I squeezed it, only the right side of your body took damage. That ticked me off that there was something more to your stand."
Ava's eyes and lips were twitching. Her plan had not just crumbled, it had been demolished before she could even enact it properly.
Jotaro took a step towards her.
"D-don't you dare!" Ava screeched. "One more step and… and…"She glanced towards the floor, where only one of her spiders were waiting. "Where…?"
"The other spider is currently inside a cabinet in the kitchen," Jotaro answered her. "When I swatted it off my leg, it flew into an open cabinet."
"That you stumbled int… No matter! I only need one of them!" She reached for her little pet. "I only need one to kill that human!" She picked it up and readied to throw it towards Pink hair.
"ORA!" Star Platinum was faster however and threw its own projectile; a kitchen knife. Jotaro had grabbed it before when he tried to steady himself on the counter.
The knife buried itself in Ava's writs, the force enough to make even a vampire drop the spider.
The little stand arachnid fell to the floor, where Jotaro trapped it under a glass. He put his foot on the glass.
"The thing I said before. About how the stone mask had robbed you of your humanity?" Jotaro said. "That was a lie. You were never a human to begin with."
Ava growled. "Argh! You… you… I'll…"
「Ringringringringringring」
Five minutes had passed
The phone Jotaro left on the table sang its song, a song called death.
"Star Finger!" The index and long finger on Star Platinum's left hand extended out two meters, closing the distance Ava had been so careful to keep the entire fight. The fingers hit her right in the eye, crushing it. The damage was negligible for a vampire. It would heal in a few seconds. But it did its job. It created a blind spot.
Star Platinum grabbed one of Ava's own strings from the floor and whipped it up into the air. It formed a snare that fell around Ava's neck.
"You… NO!" once she realized what was going on, it was too late. She tried to grab the string, but Star Platinum pulled at it with its full might.
「SVISH!」
The razor-sharp string was strong as steel and sliced clean through flesh and bone. Ava made a sound, not unlike a balloon that lost its air.
"Star Platinum: The World!" Time stood still once again and for the last time that night.
The slice had been clean. So clean that given the opportunity, the wound would heal in only a few seconds. Jotaro was not about to give her that opportunity.
Star Platinum grabbed the last rifle bullet from his pocket and fired it.
One second has passed in stopped time.
Normally, the bullet would go through Ava's skull and brain. But with that clever little bulletproof webbing beneath her skin...
Time resumed at a normal pace.
Ava's head was knocked off her body, and flew several meters away from the body. Like a watermelon accidentally dropped while someone was slicing it, the head landed on the floor.
"Ah…" It was still alive. "I-I… kill…" the veins from the head extended out like tentacles, feeling around, trying to find their way back to the body. "I-I will… live… kill…" The vampire's eyes were fluttering as if she was struggling to stay conscious.
Jotaro looked down at what was left of the assassin. He took a deep breath.
"ORA!"
Ava Fusilli
Stand: Sweet Psycho
Status: Deceased
xxXXxx
Sweet Psycho
Mid/Long Distance Operation Type
User: Ava Fusilli
An Italian assassin from the mafia-gang Passione. Recently transformed into a vampire by a stone mask. Just a little bit of a psycho.
Description: Sweet Psycho takes the form of two identical spiders of indeterminate species. If one looks closely at the cephalothorax of the spiders after the user was turned into a vampire, one may find a very faint pattern forming a mask with fangs.
Powers and Abilities
•Don't Walk Away-The spiders can spin webs stronger than ordinary spider threads; strong as steel wires.
•Tasty Poison-The spiders can distribute a deadly venom in their bites! This neurotoxin causes paralysis and can kill a person in less than five minutes.
Stats:
Destructive Power: D
Speed: B
Range: B (ca. 50 meters)
Durability: C
Precision: C
Development Potential: C
xxXXxx
Sound of Silence
Short/Mid Range Utility Type
User: Quentin Frowney
A former comedian. Currently helps run an amusement park. A pessimist.
Description: SoS is a thin humanoid of average human length. Most of its body seems to be made of solid darkness, with few distinguishing features. It blends into shadows and darkness very well. Its face is a porcelain white comedy mask. At times it will change to tragedy.
Powers and Abilities
•Hello, Darkness-SoS can turn sound into darkness. This ability can be utilized to either make it so no sound within a certain area can be heard or be stopping sound from escaping or passing a certain perimeter. The darkness produced by SoS is an actual object, unlike real darkness which is just the absence of light. SoS ability doesn't remove the light, it chokes it, drowns it and hides it.
•That I might Reach You-SoS can freely move through the darkness it produced in a way not dissimilar to teleportation.
•I Walked Alone-The user can also transport themselves and other people through the darkness in a similar way.
Stats
Destructive Power: C
Speed: C
Range: B (ca. 20-25 meters)
Durability: D
Precision: D
Development Potential: B
xxXXxx
Zoltron
Close Range Utility Type
User: Harold Smiley
Runs an amusement park, an arcade, and the occasional underground wrestling ring. Has an unhealthy sleeping schedule.
Description: Zoltron takes the form of The Future Boy Zoltron, a toy created by the now-defunct Feel Good Inc.
Powers and Abilities
•Greed-The stand will follow orders, but only if given money. It will accept any currency, including spare change, as well as foreign currency.
•Knowledge From the Future-The power to know fate! Zoltron can answer any question the user asks it, including forecasting future events. However, it will never just give a straight answer, instead giving riddles, generic advice, sayings or lucky numbers and words.
Stats
Destructive Power: C
Speed: B
Range: C (ca. 5 meters)
Durability: A
Precision: B
Development Potential: A
xxXXxx
My Own Moon
Long Range Utility Type
User: Ted Guardestad
A kind and gentle soul. Plays the guitar.
Description: Humanoid, clad in a red bellhop uniform. Rather than the traditional white gloves, MOM's hands are black, with white specks, like stars. Its face is divided by a crescent, one-half black like the night sky, the other silvery white like the moon.
Powers and Abilities
•My Own Moon-MOM can open a door for the user and anyone else to enter. Once they enter, they end up in a pocket dimension which is a replica of the real world, but with a few differences. The sounds are a bit muted and the light is made softer for a more relaxing atmosphere. The people are replaced with animated mannequins in red clothes.
•There I'll Stay Until Everything's Alright-Within the pocket dimension, the user is completely invincible. Nothing and no one is able to inflict damage upon him, even himself. Every attack will be redirected. Anyone acting aggressive will also be detained by the mannequin people within the dimension.
Stats:
Destructive Power: N/A
Speed: C
Range: A (ca. 1km)
Durability: E
Precision: B
Development Potential: C
Note: The user could still die of things like starvation, and the stand can't heal wounds.
xxXXXxXxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXxxXXXXXXXXxxxxxXXxxxxXXxxXxXXxxxXxxxXXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXXxxxXXxxXXxxxXXXXxXXxxxxXXxXXXxXXXXXXx
Me when sitting down to write this chapter: Hm, this chapter is probably going to be fairly long... might break my old record of 3 450!
*10 780 words later*
Me: Well...
Shoutout to FanficLovingPerson. A while back we had a conversation about some of the potential stands for the Beach City citizens. One of their suggestions was that Smiley's stand should be based on Zoltron and be able to answer questions. And you guys know me, I always try to pander. That pateron is not going to support itself.
I also want to make a shoutout to all my readers who leave kind reviews in general. You guys rock harder than diamond!
(get it?)
Ava Fusilli is named after Ava Max (and her hit Sweet but Psycho) and a type of pasta called fusilli. They're the pasta 'screws.' Why? Well, I like pasta, and... um... the word is believed to come from a word meaning 'spindle,' which are used to make spin threads, so there's that. Also, funny coincidence, but spindle sounds a bit like the Swedish word 'spindel,' which means spider, so there's that.
The reason why her stand is split in two is to represent her soul as being broken; Jotaro mentioned that she was a monster even before she put on the stone mask. Being turned into a vampire wasnät what made her evil, it just made her more capable of committing evil.
I think SoS ability to turn sound into darkness is pretty self-explanatory when looking at the song's lyrics and themes. I will add though that the reason why it can teleport/transport people through its darkness is because when its dark, you get lost easily.
(i swear it made sense in my head)
You'll notice Zoltron isn't named after a song. That's because... I couldn't think of any.
The dolls being clad in red inside MOM is a reference to the people in Rajneeshpuram, that wore red clothes. Oh, you didn't know one of Sweden's most beloved singers was in a cult? Well, now you do.
I had a bunch of fun writing this chapter, which I hope shows. It went fast too. I seriously wrote like... 4 000 words in one day.
The next chapter is either going to be an epilogue to this one, or we switch back to the Crystal Gems' side of the story. I was thinking of going with the later, and waiting with the aftermath to this chapter. See, I know you all have been waiting for a certain moment, and it's about to happen. I might also throw in another scene with Santana, or make another short chapter for him. Not sure yet.
We'll see how it goes. So until next time, take care of the planet Earth, and remember that anything can happen in space.