Camellia leans over the railing at the zoo, staring down at an enclosure full of lions. She bares her teeth and roars at them. The lions ignore her and enjoy a midday nap. "Be careful, it'd be bad if you fell into the lion pit," Kelly says, leaning against a tree and sipping a soda. "I mean, not for me, you dying would finally get your out of my hair, but it'd be bad for the lions if they ate some strange meat."
"They're just laying around and sleeping," Camellia says. She groans and lays her forehead down on the metal bars.
"Lions are nocturnal," Kelly says with a sip. "Probably. I don't know. Everything I know about wildlife comes from animated musicals from the 1990s."
A pigeon lands right next to one of the lions and it immediately perks up. It licks its lips, staring at the small bird. It raises up from the ground, tail swaying back and forth, and pounces. As it touches the ground next to the pigeon, its feet slip and it falls flat onto its chest, legs splayed out like a cartoon. The pigeon flies away.
Kelly chuckles to himself as he returns his hand to his pocket. "Come on, let's go find some more animals to mess with," he says.
He follows Camellia to the next pen, a large pool with a large plastic rock in the center. Penguins waddle back and forth on top of the fake rock. Kelly zaps it with his Stand, hoping to see the penguins freak out. Instead, the penguins shriek with joy as they slide across their newly slippery home.
"Aw, they're adorable!" Camellia shouts.
Kelly sighs and takes a sip of his soda. The straw makes that "skllp" noise straws make when there is nothing but ice cubes and a few measly droplets of liquid. Kelly sighs and chucks the cup over his head. It hits the rim of a trashcan and bounces out. "I'm going to go get another drink, try to avoid getting kidnapped or whatever," Kelly says.
As Kelly throws some crumpled pound notes down on the windowsill of a food cart and grabs his soda, he hears a familiar voice. "Kelly Zuko?" the voice says.
In an instant, Kelly turns on his heels and reaches into his jacket, pulling out three nails. Electricity from his Stand jumps between the nails as he pulls his arm back to throw them. The woman standing before puts her hands up over her head. "I mean you no harm! Not that I could pose you any harm," the woman shouts.
Kelly glances over his new adversary. She looks vaguely familiar, but he can't quite place her. "It's me, Sandra Dee," the woman says. "Your friend Nero saved me from Fleetwood Mac? We met literally two days ago?"
Kelly puts the nails back in his pocket. "Sorry, I've been a bit jumpy lately," he says shyly.
"It's my fault, I suppose, for sneaking up on you," Sandra Dee says. "Are you here on Stand User related business?"
"If I was told there was another Stand User at the zoo, I wouldn't be at the zoo," Kelly says. "I'm taking a personal day. What about you?"
"The same," Sandra says.
"Funny coincidence, running into someone I know here."
"I suppose. Although, it isn't too surprising. After all, Stand Users attract other Stand Users."
"Stand Users do what?"
"Attract other Stand Users. It's an observable phenomenon, the destinies of those with power are intertwined. It is common for Stand Users to run into one another, completely by coincidence."
"Oh, that's cool," Kelly says while taking a step back. "It's been nice talking to you, but I should get going."
"What's wrong?"
"Well, if Stand Users attract other Stand Users, that means there're at least three Stand Users in this zoo right now, two of which are completely useless in a fight," Kelly says, backing away. "I think I'm going to get out of here before some guy with the power to make flaming lion tornadoes or whatever shows up and kills me. Have a nice day."
Kelly runs back to the penguin enclosure, but Camellia is gone. He sighs. "Of course, just my luck," he mumbles. "Camellia! Where are you, Camellia, it's time to leave!"
"Camellia?" Sandra Dee says as she approaches Kelly. "Camellia Floyd?"
"Yeah, she's this weird girl I'm babysitting," Kelly says. "Wait. Hold on. How do you know her last name?"
"I knew her father," Sandra Dee says. "Would you like my help in searching for her?"
"Yeah, sure," Kelly says.
Sandra Dee summons her Stand, a floating eyeball she calls Summer Nights. The Stand floats up into the air and gazes down at the zoo. "She just entered a building on the north side of the park," Sandra says.
Kelly zaps the ground with his Stand and skates across the slippery concrete, chasing after Camellia. Sandra Dee starts to run after him, but slips on the greased ground; her Stand flies down and catches her at the last moment and she rides it the rest of the way. On the north side of the zoo sits a small, dark auditorium. Two large signs sit outside the doorway. One announces a new attraction, The Terrifying Beast of the Antarctic Plains. The other is covered in rules for entrants to the auditorium; no flash photography, keep cell phones silenced, do not speak during the show, that sort of thing.
Kelly and Sandra Dee step in and look around the auditorium. Kelly notices a girl with pink hair sitting in the front row. "There she is," Kelly says while pointing.
"Shhhhhhhhhh," a nearby security guard shushes. "Doctor Biafra's presentation is about to start; either find a seat or leave the auditorium."
"I wasn't even that loud," Kelly protests.
"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
"Fine, whatever."
As Kelly and Sandra Dee sneak their way to the front of the auditorium, the lights dim. A pair of spotlights shine on the stage, illuminating a middle-aged man with a curly mustache. He wears a thick green parka and stands in front of a large crate. "This is a weird zoo," Kelly mumbles to himself.
"Greetings, common plebians," the man in the parka shouts. He doesn't have a microphone, he doesn't need one. With each word, he swings his arms in great arcs, like a maestro conducting an orchestra. "As you have probably gathered, I am Dr. Jello Biafra, the famed explorer you have all come to see."
Kelly ducks down and sneaks his way across the front row, getting him his fair share of complaints from people in other rows. "Please, stay silent during this show, the information I have to share is amazing enough to justify silencing your cellular telephones for a few minutes," Dr. Biafra says, annoyed. "By the grace of this zoo's extremely generous funding, I was able to mount an expedition to the far reaches of Antarctica, the frozen continent at the bottom of the Earth. I was supposed to bring back already discovered native wildlife. Instead, I brought back something amazing."
He pulls a crowbar out from his parka and jams it into the crate. With a heavy breath, he pops the wooden front of the crate off, revealing the creature that sits within. A large orangutan with white fur crawls out of the crate and stares out at the staring crowd. The orangutan wears a large pair of earmuffs and has a blue scarf wrapped around its neck.
"I found this strange creature in archeological ruins at the heart of Antarctica. This beast, which I have dubbed The Antarctic Monkey, completely reshapes everything we thought we knew about the history of man's closest genetic ancestors!"
Sandra Dee stops and looks up at the stage with curiosity. "Why are you stopping?" Kelly whispers.
"I'm interested in the show," Sandra replies.
"It's just some huckster who gave a chimp a dye job to scam a zoo. Now come on, let's find Camellia and get out of here."
"Right."
Kelly walks along the front row of the auditorium, generating dozens of boos, which he ignores. He reaches the seat where he saw pink hair and sighs. It's a different girl, a teenager with pink hair lazily watching the show.
"Damnit, you aren't who I thought you were," Kelly says.
"That's, like, cool," the teenager says. She pulls her cell phone out of her pocket and begins texting. "You should probably, like, take your seat. It's super rude to stand up and talk during a show."
"Ok, fine," Kelly says as he slumps down in a chair next to the teenager.
Sandra Dee sits down next to him. "I definitely saw Camellia enter this building," she whispers. "We must have lost track of her in the dark."
"Can't you have your Stand fly up and find her?" Kelly whispers.
"It's dark in here."
"So?"
"My Stand can't see in the dark."
"Why can't your Stand see in the dark?"
"Can your Stand see in the dark?"
"My Stand isn't a giant floating eyeball."
As Kelly and Sandra Dee squabble, Dr. Biafra continues his speech. His orangutang stares out at the crowd with its beady black eyes. "Your lack of response to the fact that I found a primate on the really cold continent must be a sign that my scientific genius is so grand that you have been stunned into silence!" he shouts, moving his arms widely. "And that's without even discussing the ruins. Were there once hyper-intelligent antarctic orangutans that ruled this world. Is this humble creature the last of a once-great race of supermen?"
As he shouts this last point, he swings his arms back like an Olympic swimmer. By accident, he smacks the orangutan in the face, knocking its earmuffs off. He doesn't notice this.
Suddenly, the teenage girl's phone begins to ring, filling the auditorium with a peppy K-Pop ballad. "Oops, forgot to put my phone on silent. My bad," she says. "Now, where's the silence phone button?"
"It's like, super rude to answer your phone during a show," Kelly says, sarcastic.
"Sorry, it's like, a new phone, and I don't really know to silence it without answering the call," the teenager says.
Dr. Biafra points out at the pink-haired teenager. "You there, child, silence your infernal contraption at once!" he shouts. "You're ruining my big moment!"
"Maybe I should just take the call, I have been expecting a phone call from my broker to, like, discuss my stock portfolio," the teenager says.
As she says this, her phone begins to glow yellow. "That's, like, weird," she says.
Kelly, sensing the fact that something is wrong, does the only logical thing: stands up and begins walking away. Dr. Braifa notices the glowing phone and his skin turns pale. "Oh god, not again," he whispers.
The teenager stands up and holds her ringing phone up, trying to get a better look at it. The phone grows brighter and brighter as the ringing continues. Sandra Dee jumps to her feet and summons her Stand. The Stand flies straight into the girl's chest, knocking her back. The girl drops her phone and it crashes to the ground.
A moment after it lands on the ground, the phone explodes in a great flash of light. The force of the blast throws Sandra Dee backward. She goes limp as she lands in a row of empty seats. Kelly runs over to her body and places to fingers on her throat.
"Just unconscious," he mutters to himself.
Kelly jumps up on a chair and looks out over the auditorium. The people sitting in their seats stare at the crater in front of the stage, stunned. The pink-haired teenager sits on her knees, confused. Dr. Braifa stands on the stage, horror in his eyes. "It happened again," he mumbles.
Kelly sighs and runs across the chairs, jumping onto the stage. As he lands he zaps the ground below Dr. Braifa, making it slippery. Dr. Braifa stumbles and lands on his face.
Kelly reaches into his jacket pocket, pulling out a couple of nails, and points them at Dr. Braifa. "You're the enemy Stand User who just tried to blow me up, I presume?" he asks.
"The enemy what? I don't know what you're talking about," Dr. Braifa says.
"So, that girl's phone exploding, that wasn't your fault?"
"I mean, yes, it was my fault, but I am not your enemy!" Dr. Braifa shouts. "Please, everyone, you must exit this auditorium in a calm and peaceful manner! And, whatever you do, stay quiet!"
As he says this, his skin begins to glow with the same glow as the phone. "No, I wasn't even that loud!" he shouts. "Please, have mercy!"
Kelly jumps off of the stage as the light surrounding Braifa becomes blinding. A loud bang fills the air as Dr. Braifa explodes.