We're up to the penultimate chapter, and how appropriate that it features a fight against the Big Bad's right-hand man. The time to deal with the Demon Train is here. Disclaimer: I don't own Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or Overlord.
Spirit Tracks Chapter 50: The Demon Train
"The last of the Spirit Tracks extends to a small mountain just a few miles way from Carne Village," Hekkeran said, "The gate between our realities is at its base." "I do remember seeing that mountain as we traveled away from the gate," George noted, "Anything significant about it?" "Pretty unremarkable actually," Starlight admitted, "Until the gate showed up, no one even paid it much mind. Fluder mentioned he would use locations like this that were out of the way to perform his experiments using Kelvin's Stand power." "Then it looks like Barbro's been busy," Holly said, "Because an entire shrine has been erected around the gate."
The group looked out to where the gate was. Sure enough, a stone monument was built around the tear, which had stabilized into a circle. "That wasn't there when I came through," Holly noted. "It must have been built prior to when Jotaro came here," Gyro realized, "He didn't think anything of it so he never mentioned it." Just then, several tracks started manifesting and merging with the line Ticket to Ride was on. "We got company!," Hekkeran called out, "Imina, Arche, Roberdyck, get ready! Looks like Midnight Train is giving us a welcome wagon!"
Six train constructs appeared and moved along the manifested tracks, making a beeline for Ticket to Ride. As the first rode alongside the train, it got smashed apart by Peace Train's axes. The autonomous constructs paid this no mind and kept moving in, only to get roasted by Crazy Train's dragon phantom. As one got close to the front of the train, Ticket to Ride's Gatling gun easily tore through it, while the ballista speared another. Several more constructs appeared, but were easily destroyed one after another. "We're tearing through them easily," Imina noted, "But why would Boullope send in easily destroyed constructs?"
As if in answer, Midnight Train appeared and pulled up alongside Ticket to Ride. "I had been hoping to assess the ammunition output of the legendary train," he explained, "But it seems that, in true Stand fashion, it does not run out of ammunition so long as its user lives." The back car of the demon train opened. "Fortunately, the same can be said for my Stand." Several explosive barrels started dropping out of the car and landing on the tracks. "Oh crap," Hekkeran muttered, "Ticket to Ride!" Creating new tracks to run along, Ticket to Ride avoided the barrels.
"Midnight Train's armaments are more destructive," Shasryu noted, "How do we stop it?" George noticed something. "It exposes its core whenever it uses its weapons. With Ticket to Ride's speed and weapons, we might be able to use that to stop Boullope. Hekkeran, this fight's all you and your team!" "Got it!," Hekkeran called out, "Let's do this!" Ticket to Ride pulled up to Midnight Train. As more barrels came popping out, Imina made the first move. "Love Train!" Her Stand fired off a few plasma shots, penetrating the cargo loaders fusing them, making them explode from the payload they carried.
After taking out each loader, the train car broke off. "Damn!," Boullope cursed, "Well, if it's energy beams you want, Midnight Train has those as well." He hit a few switches and activated the next car, which opened up to reveal powerful energy cannons, which Hekkeran moved to avoid. "For a fantasy realm this is getting a little science fiction," Holly noted. "Hey, Stand's have very flexible rules," Hekkeran said, "You can even get powers from sources you never heard of."
"He's got a point," George chimed in, "Giorno once encountered a Stand user whose Stand was meant to work after he was dead. Normally a Stand can't live without its user." Hekkeran then dodged out of the way as Boullope tried to ram Ticket to Ride. "Don't think you'll hit us so easily," Hekkeran boasted, "We're ending the demon train's reign here and now!" He aimed Ticket to Ride's rocket launcher at the energy cannons and fired, scoring a direct hit and causing significant damage. "Take out as many weapons as you think you can," Boullope retorted, "My Stand will always have more! A mere worker-turned-adventurer cannot possibly hope to overcome the power I wield!"
He fired the laser cannons full blast, but that only left them wide open to attack, and Hekkeran's train was more maneuverable. He was also working with a team of four, giving him more options to attack at once. After taking out four cannons, the next car broke off. Boullope winced. Each car he lost caused him damage. Not as much as a Stand user whose Stand was more human-like, but the synchronization was there. Barbro, who was also riding on Midnight Train, grimaced. "This is getting out of hand." "Then perhaps you should not be on board," Boullope suggested, "I'll drop you off outside the gate and you can slip in. I'll try to buy you time."
Barbro closed his eyes. "I understand." Midnight Train pulled up to the gate and Barbro got off. Boullope then kept riding, this time activating the large rotary gear near his main engine, which fired out several lasers at once. Hekkeran had to make some tricky dodges to keep out of the way, but was finally able to get in a good position. "Let's let him have it! Ticket to Ride!" "Love Train!" "Peace Train!" "Crazy Train!" Boullope, determined to end this fight on his terms, moved to ram the legendary train. "Midnight Train!" As if playing a game of chicken, the two trains rushed at each.
Hekkeran dodged to the side at the last second, just enough to give Midnight Train the full force of his team's combined Stands. The assault was too much, and the train exploded in a massive fireball. As the dust cleared, Boullope could still be seen, but it was clear he had died from the shock of his Stand being destroyed. "You always hear about that happening," George noted, "But this may be the first time I've actually seen it." Just then, the train started shaking. "Ticket to Ride took some hits as well," Hekkeran admitted, "We need to set it down and rest."
The train pulled up just outside the tear. "We only saw Boullope's corpse," George noted, "Barbro must have already gone through. This could be our one chance to defeat him." "One thing before the end," Zesshi said, "We've been talking about it... And right now this is your world that's being targeted." "And as much as we appreciate you helping in ours," Zaryusu said, "Our world is smaller, so the danger is more compact." "And I doubt I'd be much use against Barbro at this point," Holly chimed in. "Besides," Gagaran said, "I think it makes sense that the leaders of our team be the ones to end this fight once and for all."
George and Gyro looked at each other and smiled. "This whole thing did start with just the two of us." "One thing first," Starlight said, as she placed her hands on George's face, Lakyus doing the same for Gyro. Before either men could react, their respective woman had planted a romantic kiss on their lips. They held it for about a minute before pulling away. "Now no one can say we didn't act on our feelings," Starlight noted. George smirked. "All right then." The two friends walked toward the gate. "Speaking of hidden feelings," George said, "This could be our last fight. Barbro can literally make an army, and Greenland isn't the most welcoming of environments."
"What are you trying to say?," Gyro asked. "Well," George said, "Any... Deep secrets you wanna share? Just in case." Gyro thought about it. "Well... I was almost named after my father. He had the idea of calling me Julius Caesar, but Mom was against it. So they ultimately decided to call me Gyro. How about you?" George took a minute to decide. "Actually, I have a fetish for bare shoulders. Just looking at a woman whose torso is covered but still bares her shoulders... It tends to draw the eye down, y'know?" Gyro nodded. "That's an understandable fetish. At least it's not something weird like bug bites." George snorted as they entered the tear. "Who in their right mind gets turned on by bug bites?"
I thought I'd make a quick jab at Johnny Joestar's character. George takes a few cues from him, but he's more of a nice guy, he isn't paraplegic, his Stand has some nerfs compared to Johnny's version, and he has a better relationship with his father. And now, he has a fetish that isn't so weird. Read and review.