AN: Welcome back everyone!
I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter!
To answer some of the things in the reviews, remember, the Corpse parts are exclusive to Cyrus at the moment, who only possesses the Heart and the Ribcage. The Saint did not travel to America in this universe, so his parts are non-existent in this universe.
Right, enough talk.
Let's begin!
Disclaimer: I, Beowulf, do not own PJO or JJBA. I only own this plot, my OC, and the disappointing truth that I do not possess D4C. If I did, I'd be jumping around universes like a bunny on crack.
~Chapter 18~
Apollo frowned deeply as he drove the Sun across the sky. Currently he was just over the Sonoran desert...and he couldn't see them.
He couldn't see the demigods that were in charge of bringing back his sister...clouds had gathered over the junkyard of his half-brother Hephaestus, blocking his sight.
He scowled deeply. This was not a good sign.
It wasn't anything to do with Gods or monsters, he would have felt it, which left only one logical conclusion.
Stand Users.
Which was a disturbing thought.
"If one Stand User can do something like this, it's concerning what they could do even to us...hell, Cyrus was able to take Ares out of action with ease, and he was only what, fourteen?" Apollo's face creased into another frown. It had been funny seeing his half-brother being laid low with such ease...but damn was that a frightening possibility.
He trusted Cyrus a decent bit. The boy had a good heart. But these secrets were getting to be too much...not to mention, the sheer power that D4C possessed.
It was a pretty simple power when you thought about it in concept...but in application...
The Sun God shuddered a little as he recalled Percy's recollection of the events and Cyrus's explanation.
"Allowing neighboring realities to coexist at the same location, along with the ability to warp in between these worlds...not to mention what happens when someone meets their counterpart, considering only Cyrus can travel freely..." Apollo thought to himself as he analyzed what he had been told/heard.
Zeus would...probably not be pleased with the possibility of such a fearsome power being in the possession of a mortal being. Combining that with the mystery of Cyrus's divinity, which was likely not one from any Pantheon they knew, made for a deadly combination. One that did not seem to be in favor for Cyrus.
However...
Apollo smirked a little as he recalled his father's musings on the boy.
Call the King of the Olympians whatever you wished, but even he knew the mark of a leader and a ruler. As annoyed as Zeus was with the mystery of Cyrus Khan, he was similarly intrigued. Hence his orders of 'find out the truth' and not 'destroy him at all costs'.
Then again...
Apollo smirked as he recalled what he had seen from his chariot. So, his mortal sister had the hots for the Stand User huh?
He chuckled, "Oh, dad's gonna be pissed, and I can't wait to watch!"
"I'm super super sorry, sir...please forgive me...Catch the Rainbow."
Cyrus's eyes widened as he remembered. "Blackmore!" The vision of one of Valentine's closest servants entered his mind, the blonde man with the same mask. "This must be this universe's counterpart!"
"But this is all wrong...Catch the Rainbow only works on natural rainfall (1)...unless this is a different variant from the Blackmore that Valentine knew? Even then, there's no way this little girl caused the rainstorm..." The teen Stand User racked his brain for an explanation as he looked up at the raining clouds above.
"Sorry to say this, sir, but I only need to stop you...I don't want to hurt them, but I will if I have to..." Rina said quietly, somehow audible even over the rain above them. She spoke in a more hardened voice, but Cyrus detected a slight waver in her tone.
He gave a glance to Grover, who nodded even as he kept his eyes on the young girl that seemed to be standing on thin air above them.
"Who's telling you to do this?" Percy shouted up to the girl, who suddenly seemed more apprehensive than before.
"I-I...I'm sorry, but I can't say. I don't want him to..." She stopped, gulping nervously before her eyes glanced towards the junkyard.
Thalia frowned at this. Considering that the last two enemy Stand Users were...well to put it bluntly, assholes, this was different. Something felt...wrong about this girl.
It was almost like she didn't want to do this at all, but she was being forced. Cyrus reached the same conclusion, before his eyes widened in realization, snapping to the entrance of the junkyard.
Apparently, Blackmore realized that Cyrus had put the pieces together, and struck quickly, throwing a volley of something down at the group.
"Scatter!" Phoebe shouted out. The group spread out, dodging the projectiles that had been thrown. Percy's eyes widened as he realized what they were. "Blades...blades made of rain?"
Zoe snarled as she took aim, firing an arrow up at Blackmore who stood in the air. The young girl in the raincoat flinched, but the arrow, which was flying true, snapped suddenly as it made contact with the air, as if it had run straight into a wall.
"What is this sorcery?!" The lieutenant of the Hunters scowled as she drew another arrow, only for Cyrus to stop her. "Stop! I know what's going on here."
"You know this girl Cy?" Thalia said as she held up her shield, blocking the strange blades that seemed to be fashioned of water with her Aegis.
Cyrus shook his head. "I don't know her, but I recognize the Stand. Long story short, it's a rain manipulation Stand. It's her mask."
"So how do we beat her? Do we have to..." Phoebe drew her hunting knife slowly, trailing off as she implied all she had to.
The demigod Stand Master gave her a look of horror. "No! We don't have to! She's just a kid, you all could see it!"
"Well even if that is the case, she is trying to kill us!" Zoe growled out as she took cover.
Percy frowned at the Huntress even as he deflected rain blade after rain blade with his Riptide, but his guard slipped. His eyes widened as one rain blade made a beeline for his eyes.
"Percy!" Thalia cried out in horror as the son of Poseidon shut his eyes, praying it wouldn't hurt too much.
Splash!
The rain blade collapsed as it touched his face, turning into harmless water.
Everyone gasped at that, while Rina's eyes seemed to widen under her mask.
Percy opened his eyes for a moment, before grinning.
Cyrus shook his head with a smirk. Of course, how could he forget? Son of Poseidon with an immunity to water.
He quickly dropped the smirk though as he quickly analyzed the situation. "So, her Stand is Catch the Rainbow, which requires rainfall to work...this rainfall isn't her doing...which means..." He recalled how Rina had glanced towards the junkyard, and the pieces finally clicked together.
"There are two Stand Users!" His exclamation made everyone look at him.
"Two? Are thou sure?" Zoe asked.
Thalia glared at her a little. "Are you forgetting that he's our resident Stand expert?"
The Huntress scowled back, getting a pointed stare from Cyrus that stopped her retort in her throat. "Yes, I'm sure. Her Stand allows for free manipulation of the rain, but she can't be the one making the rainstorm. Which means that someone else is making the rain."
"Okay...so where's that Stand User?" Grover asked slowly, not fully understanding but going with it. Cyrus just pointed to the junkyard.
"Whoever it is, is in there somewhere." He concluded with his analysis.
Thalia nodded as she gripped her spear. "Alright, so what's the plan?"
"You guys run ahead, me and Sharkbait will deal with Blackmore."
"Wait what?"
"WHAT?!"
The two voices of the Big Three children spoke in unison, one in confusion, the other in outright refusal.
"We're not leaving you behind!" The daughter of Zeus growled out.
Cyrus gave her a frown. "You're not leaving us behind, we'll catch up."
Thalia frowned right back as she refused again. "That's still not happening! We're not leaving you behind to fight this girl alone!"
"Hey! I'm right here Pinecone Face!" Percy shouted in annoyance at being ignored, only to falter at the glare from the child of lightning.
"Same thing! Bottom line is we're not leaving you guys behind!"
"Yes, you will!" Cyrus insisted firmly, not willing to budge.
"Bu-"
"Look at me Thalia." He said as he held her face gently, even as she fought down a blush. "You aren't leaving us behind. I need you guys to get into the junkyard, and find that other Stand User who's causing the rain. If you can stop them, you stop the rain, and Blackmore's Stand stops working."
"Percy and I will catch up with you guys once you defeat the other Stand User, alright?" Thalia hesitated, but nodded, earning a kiss from Cyrus on her forehead. He let go of her before barking out orders. "Zoe! You're in charge. Find the other Stand User while me and Percy deal with Blackmore!"
Zoe nodded as she began to sprint towards the junkyard with Grover and Phoebe in tow. Thalia hesitated again, before her worried eyes met Cyrus's. He gave a nod, and she took the hint, following after Grover and Phoebe.
No one noticed her wipe away a tear as she thought of the last time she had to leave him behind, before her face hardened. Cyrus was counting on her, and she would never let him down again.
Cyrus watched as the four left, before looking up at the floating Rina Blackmore. Percy shuffled nervously as he realized he was left with Cyrus facing the child Stand User.
"So uh, why am I with you again and not with them?"
The boy with the Nemean cloak over his shoulders gave him a flat stare.
Percy winced at that, "Right, son of Poseidon and the water stuff..."
"There you go. Come on Sharkbait, think before you talk."
"Fine fine, what's the plan?"
"What's the plan?"
"...huh?"
Cyrus smirked as he put his hands in his pockets. "I'm asking you what the plan is."
Percy stared at him in surprise. "...huh?!"
The teen Stand User looked at Percy with an almost disdainful expression. "Do I need to explain it again in more simple terms? I brought you on this quest for a reason, among many others: you wanted to impress me, to prove me wrong about you. Now's your chance."
"What the Hades are you..." Percy remembered suddenly, Cyrus's comments to him...
"You are naïve, and foolish! You don't think about the consequences of your actions!"
"Well? Time to prove yourself Perseus Jackson."
Percy stared at him with wide eyes. "W-what are you- I don't know what to do, why would you put the plan-making on my head?! I can't make plans like that!" Annabeth was always the one with a plan, not him!
"No, I suppose you can't," Cyrus agreed, earning a glare from the son of Poseidon, but he ignored it, "but despite your naivety and foolishness, you still have a knack for unorthodox thinking and strategy. Have you forgotten everything else I said about you back at camp?"
"Some stuff about me having determination, cunning and resolve? Sure but what does that have to do with-"
"It has everything to do with it. Now...plan. Make one."
Percy stiffened up as he looked back up at the enemy Stand User floating above them. She didn't seem to be keen on attacking them, but that didn't fill him with any confidence.
"I-I don't know! I can't do this! I need...help..." Percy thought to himself as his panic slowed down, before turning to Cyrus. He swallowed for a moment.
"I...I don't know how. I can't do this alone, I need help. I need your help."
Cyrus regarded him with a blank facial expression, before his lips curled into a smile. "Well done, you passed the test."
Percy blinked.
"Wait...what?"
Cyrus regarded him with a touch of pride as he explained himself. "It takes a lot to ask for help. It takes swallowing your pride, and submitting yourself to someone else, knowing that you can't do something. The fact that you can do that, even with your...frankly quite blatant dislike and distrust of me..." Here Percy looked a bit guilty as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"I mean...you were also a jerk to me."
The green-pink eyed teen paused, before nodding. "Fair point, but that was for a good reason. The fact that you can ask me for help, proves to me that you are a good person. You're someone I can trust to have at my back. Well done."
"Uh...thanks? We still have to deal with her though." Percy said uncertainly at the praise he was suddenly given as he pointed up at Blackmore.
Cyrus grinned. "Alright. Lesson One."
Percy blinked again. "Huh?"
"Lesson One, Sharkbait: Notice Everything."
"Notice Everything? What's this about Lesson One? What-?" Percy looked up at the enemy for a moment, thinking it through. "Notice...Everything..."
Blackmore wasn't attacking them. He and Cyrus must have been talking for the past five minutes in this rain, and Blackmore wasn't attacking them at all. "Why?"
Looking closer at the little girl, Percy saw her blue eyes through the mask. It clicked in his head. "She...she doesn't want to attack us?"
Cyrus smiled as the son of the Sea began to reason it all out. "Good...what else?"
"She's nervous," Percy continued, noticing the apprehension in her eyes, "She isn't attacking us, so either she's waiting for us to make the first move, or she really doesn't want to do all this...or both?"
"Good. She doesn't want to do all of this, but she is anyway. What does that tell you?"
"...that she's being forced into this." Percy looked at Cyrus with realization on his face. Cyrus grinned, like a teacher who was pleased with their student answering correctly. "Very good...but what about her abilities?"
Percy squinted as he looked up at Rina. "You mentioned her power is manipulating the rain...she used the rain to make blades of water..."
His eyes widened as he looked under the girl's shoes. "She's standing on the rain!" He exclaimed as he noticed little raindrops frozen in the air under her feet, "So that means she can freeze the rain in place! That's how she was able to make those blades and how she's able to stand in the air! That's how she stopped Zoe's arrow too!"
Cyrus grinned. "Got it one Sharkbait. Now then," he smirked as he looked up at Blackmore as she stood on the rain, summoning D4C to his side, "what's the plan?"
Percy grinned back at him as he readied Riptide in hand, "She has full control over the rain, but that doesn't work if there is no rain. So we stall and keep her occupied until Thalia and the others deal with the other Stand User."
"Full marks Sharkbait! Now, let's do this!"
Bolting into action, Cyrus dashed through the rain, a warp enveloping his figure as D4C's power triggered as he put himself in between raindrops. Percy smirked, before he closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing on the feeling in his gut when he usually manipulated water.
"Rain is just more water, it already can't harm me, which means..." He put a step forward and upwards slowly, before setting it down. Opening his eyes, his smile widened.
The raindrops held.
Grinning at his newfound power, Percy kept his hold over the feeling as best he could as he began to freeze raindrops in place, just as Rina Blackmore had done, racing up towards her.
The little girl gave a yelp of fear, before she turned and began running in the opposite direction, hopping from patch of raindrops to patch of raindrops. Cyrus's hand materialized out from some raindrops near her back, reaching forward quickly.
"Where are you going Ri-grk!"Cyrus materialized fully, pulling his hand back with a grimace as Percy finally caught up to them in the air.
"What is it?" Percy asked in concern, before he looked down at Cyrus's hand and gasped.
The teen's hand had been almost bisected, cut right between the metacarpals of his hand to the point where his hand was almost hanging open. Cyrus swore a little as he tried to staunch the bleeding from his near ruined hand. "She's clever, she materialized the blade in the air before I could see it...when I reached for her they cut clean through."
"She doesn't want us to pursue her, someone's forcing her to do this..." Percy felt his heart burn with anger. Who would make a little girl do something like this? What was it she'd said? 'He said he would stop if I stopped you...'
"What do we do?" Percy asked him, even as Cyrus gritted his teeth regarding his wound, "better question, are you alright?"
Cyrus waved him off, "I'll be fine, I'll swap out in just a second. We need to keep chasing her and stalling this fight out. We can't even call this a fight."
Percy went to ask his question, before Cyrus continued, grabbing his shoulder and making him look him in the eye. The Stand User's gaze was concerned, but not for himself or for Percy. "You're immune to damage from water, and my Stand turns all these raindrops into ways for me to warp in and out. This isn't a fight. This was never a fight; Percy, this is a child who's scared out of her mind into doing something she doesn't want to."
The son of Poseidon nodded as he turned back to the rapidly escaping Rina Blackmore. Even now, her steps weren't those of someone with malicious intent...they were those of a scared little girl. He gritted his teeth in anger.
He glanced back at Cyrus, the boy had already swapped out, his hand healed. "Let's move."
With that, they began in swift pursuit, with Cyrus warping in between raindrops while Percy continued to run on the rain, racing towards Blackmore who was now over the junkyard.
Back with the rest of the group, they had entered the junkyard, only to be greeted by massive amounts of fog. Thalia scowled alongside Zoe and Phoebe, while Grover warily eyed the mists around them.
"Okay is anyone just uneasy about this whole thing? I mean, mists and fog in the desert..." The half-goat asked nervously.
"Not really." Thalia bit out, marching forward as she looked around. The Stand User that Cyrus mentioned was definitely here. Nothing else would be able to make this kind of fog or the rain clouds above them.
"So, you're the brats that the rat Khan is traveling with." A dark male voice spat out from the depths of the fog as it swirled around them. The Hunters drew their bows and Grover held his pipes, while Thalia readied her spear and shield, her eyes sparking with lightning.
"Don't you dare insult him!" The daughter of Zeus snarled out into the fog as her guard raised.
Dark laughter seemed to echo out from every direction as the four stood back to back. "And what will you do about it, little bitch? Look at you all, squirming little children. Why he associates with you all, I don't understand, but I don't care. As soon as Rina kills him, I'll kill the rest of you and all will be well with the world. The Boss will reward me handsomely."
"Wait, you know him?" Phoebe asked, drawing her bowstring back a bit more, "and what do you mean your Boss? You mean the Titan Lord?"
"Oh but of course...how could I forget the one who ruined my life?! As to my Boss...as if I would ever serve the Storto. How little you children know about your own leader..."
Thalia gritted her teeth. This guy was really starting to piss her off. But what was all this about ruining his life? Did Cyrus tangle with this guy before?
"No matter, I know exactly how to kill you all..."
Suddenly, the Hunters and Grover's eyes widened before rolling up into their heads. They collapsed onto the ground in seconds, leaving Thalia as the only one standing.
"Wh-what happened? What did you do to them?!" She cried out as she knelt down quickly, checking each of their pulses.
She paled a little as she felt them. They were there...but thready. Barely alive.
The voice echoed out once more. "Hmmm...interesting...so you managed to escape the toxin I placed into the vapors you're breathing in right now. How is that the case I wonder...?"
Thalia blanched at that. Poison. Not good...
"I estimate that in about fifteen minutes, your friends will succumb to the toxin...but you are a curious one...how are you immune?"
She paused for a moment. Why wasn't she affected?
Then it hit her. She was a child of Zeus, daughter of the sky. The air was her domain, just as it was Lightning and Thunder. Concentrating on the air around her, she took a breath and held it, her eyes closed in focus.
Her eyes snapped open as she willed the mists to dissipate. The air heeded her mental command, the winds blowing and breaking apart the fog...revealing their enemy.
He was tall, probably about thirty years old, with dark hair and darker eyes. He was Caucasian, and wore a green jacket with dark black cloud-like patterns all over it. Under that, he wore a gold shirt with a deep V-neck. He wore torn grey jeans and dark red shoes.
The man scowled at her as she opened her eyes, eyeing the mists that had now been cleared away. "Strange...you are no Stand User...but I can see you have some strange power to you."
Thalia glared at him. "So, you're the Stand User that's making the rain for Rina to use." She said, more a statement than a question. The man's nostrils flared in a moment of anger.
"Don't speak that pest's name to me." He snarled out, materializing his Stand next to him.
It was surprisingly small, probably about the size of a crow, and serpentine. It had the body of a very long black snake, coiling around the man's waist. However, where the head of the snake would have been, was the upper body of a bat, complete with gold wings tipped with a single digit and a red belly, and atop the body of that bat, was the head of a grotesque imitation of an old human being.
Its face was humanoid, but gaunt, and a blue color, like a person who was lacking oxygen. It had a long flowing grey beard, like something out of Lord of the Rings, sharp teeth jutting out from its lips. A crown of inky darkness sat atop its head as it sneered at Thalia.
"So you're something different...whatever. It doesn't matter. Once you and the rest of your rat-shit brats are dead, the Boss will reward me! My King of the Clouds has already won this battle!" The man sneered as his newly named Stand coiled around his shoulders. (2)
Thalia's nose wrinkled in disgust as she hefted her spear and shield in hand, "Holy Hera that thing looks disgusting...whatever, focus Thalia. You're fighting a Stand User, what would Cyrus say to do?"
Cyrus' voice whispered in her ear as she thought hard. "He's ridiculing everyone like he's above everyone else, which means he's arrogant. One way or another, try to use it against him."
"Who the hell are you anyway?" She asked, fishing for information as she kept her eyes on her enemy.
The man grinned cruelly as he stood tall, his Stand coiling and twisting itself around his shoulders as he struck a pose. He tilted his head, holding one arm, with the held arm's hand open as the disgusting head of his Stand nestled in between his fingers.
"Oh, didn't he ever tell you about me? A pity...my name is Brandon Blackmore, loyal soldier to the Old Blood of Passione!" He declared, his teeth bared in an unnervingly wide grin.
She winced inwardly as she saw creepy-ass grin on his face. "Do all Stand Users have screws loose or something...?" But she shook her head as more questions came up. Who were the Old Blood? And Passione? She frowned a little. What else had Cyrus kept locked away from her?
Suddenly she tilted her head in confusion as his words registered in her mind. "Hang on, so you're related to Rina? Why did you call her a pest?"
Brandon scowled, "That useless daughter of mine is weak. If she manages to kill off that leader of yours, then she'll be at least worth something!"
Thalia felt anger burning in her chest. So this bastard was Rina's father? She recalled how Rina had been acting, and things began to click together quickly. "So you're who she mentioned! You're the one who's forcing her to fight Cyrus!"
The enemy Stand User's lips curled into a grimace at spilling so much information, before smirking at her. "What about it? If she can't carry her weight, she's not worth the shit under my shoes."
With a snarl of hatred, Thalia vanished in a blur of movement. She gave a battle cry as she swung down with her spear.
Clang!
Her eyes widened as her spear didn't meet flesh, the tip piercing the topsoil of the desert. She looked up suddenly and gasped.
Brandon's body was no longer there, instead replaced with clouds that were dissipating. His cruel laugh echoed out from around her.
"You're fast, I'll give you that...but 'fast' means nothing if you can't find which one of me is the real one!" He crowed as multiple copies of him appeared out of the mists surrounding the clearing.
Thalia swore to herself as she hefted her spear and raised her shield once again. There were...one, two...five of them. All of them at equal distance from her, probably seven feet away from her. All of them wore the same twisted grin as another version of Brandon walked out from the fog.
"Let's see how well you fare when you're stumbling around in the fog..." He sneered as King of the Clouds hissed at her, before its cheeks suddenly bulged out. They swelled to astounding degrees, making Thalia almost concerned that the disgusting thing would explode.
Instead, it opened its mouth, spewing out the densest fog that she had ever seen, as if the thick clouds of the skies above were brought to ground level. She grimaced as the new fog clouded everything around her, yielding not even a foot of visibility.
"That must've been how he did it. How he created the clouds for Rina to use." Thalia realized as she readied herself. She had to work fast. Not only were her friends counting on her to save them, but Cyrus was too.
And she refused to let any of them down.
Risotto frowned.
Something wasn't right, he could feel it. Anette had realized it too as the usually talkative blonde was now silent, her gaze alert and ready.
They were currently driving in their all-terrain jeep that they had rented through the Sonoran Desert. Anette was in the shotgun seat while Risotto drove. They of course had stopped here and there along the way for directions, but they already knew where they had to go.
All they had to do was follow the pull of Gravity. The Strange force that seemed to pull Stand Users towards one another.
The Stand-using assassin frowned again as he rolled to a slow stop. He stole a glance at Anette. "You feel it too, don't you?"
Anette nodded, her joking demeanor now gone. "Yeah, it feels like there's more than one Stand User that we're approaching..."
She looked back towards the front, stiffening as she did so. "Risi?"
He followed her gaze for a moment, blinking in surprise. In the distance, despite being in the desert, were a large mass of rainclouds, as dark as his own clothing.
Risotto cursed as he made to floor the accelerator. "Shit, that has to be where they are. They must have already engaged the enemy!"
"Wait Risotto!" He paused, looking at his companion with confusion.
She licked her lips nervously. "What if...what if that's not a Stand User doing that? What will we do if its one of those Gods or something that Cyrus told us all about?"
Risotto grimaced as the thought wormed its way into his head. Facing a God...that would be a concern, for sure.
Most Stand Users were able to see through the Mist, but that didn't mean they always fully understood.
For example, a Stand User could see a monster, and simply think it was a Stand, not realizing what exactly was happening.
However, Passione definitely knew. Cyrus had made the leap to inform them about it all. La Squadra were like his family, and he had trusted them with the knowledge. After the takeover, the organization quickly uncovered the world of Gods and Monsters, and, especially regarding the higher-ups, began to make themselves as informed as possible regarding it.
That included Risotto and Anette, the former of which simply shook off his misgivings. "It can't be one of the Gods, they're on Cyrus's side from what he told us, and no monster could cause something like this...this is a Stand attack Anette."
"And if it is one of those Gods or monsters...we'll deal with them." He finished, his serious red eyes burning with determination. Anette nodded, reassured as her own features hardened as well.
He muttered under his breath as his resolve hardened. "Passione defends their own." His eyes glowed as he felt his Stand manifest within his body.
Risotto was an assassin, a killer. But just like any person, even he had things that he would lay down his life for. Risk everything for. He had risked his life to defeat the former Boss of Passione alongside his team and Cyrus, and he would do it a thousand times over.
And one of those things he would risk himself over, was Cyrus. He remembered even now, when he had first met the teen. He had been so strong...powerful. But above all, he was...a good person. He reminded him of himself, before his cousin had died in that crash...
"I know you are a good person, Risotto Nero. I know the pain in your heart as you look across this proud city of Italia, along with the poor child on the ground there. And that is why I know you will not attack me again."
"You, are going to join me. And together, we will take down the Boss who poisons Italia with his crimes. I swear it in the name of the Gods!"
Those words, the Oath he had taken, still echoed in Risotto's ears even now. The determination and resolve that had given la Squadra new life, and new resolve to stand up to the Boss.
The words that had given Risotto new life...
Risotto and Cyrus were brothers-in-arms. Brothers in all but blood. And damn him if Risotto would ever abandon him to face the evils of the world alone after Cyrus had done so much for him.
"Cyrus, my brother, hold on, we're almost there. No beast, man or God will stop me from defending my own!" Risotto gritted his teeth as he floored the accelerator. The jeep surged to life, racing towards the battle that was no doubt occurring.
AN: Hmmm...not gonna lie, this chapter seemed a bit iffy, but I am planning on stretching these fights out a bit so we'll see how they turn out.
So, some good ol fashioned Double Trouble huh? Should be a solid challenge for the gang at the moment...even if half of them are unconscious...
Also a little sneak at Apollo peeking in on the questgoers in charge of rescuing his sister along with some of his musings. Not too much in terms of him but hopefully a decent bit.
And finally, a peek at Risotto and Anette as they make their way towards Hephaestus's junkyard! Methinks things will escalate quite quickly...
Notes:
(1) Catch the Rainbow in the source material is stated to require natural rainfall in order to work, as when it stops raining, it becomes useless and all of its power disappears. In this case, I made it so it works with ALL rainfall because hey, new universe, new rules. However, all other powers are still in effect.
(2) So, this is an OC Stand I just came up with on the fly because I wanted a double Stand attack, along with something that could enable Catch the Rainbow.
Meet 'King of the Clouds' based off the name of the Panic! At the Disco song, with its user being named after Brandon Urie, the lead vocalist for that band!
Alright, that does it for the notes! Not too many notes this time around, but hopefully a decent bit of material for you guys to chow down on!
Hopefully you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed making/struggling with it.
Remember to leave solid reviews if you would be so kind. The criticism and feedback sustain my mind.
Cheers!
Beowulf