"So, what's the guy's name?" asked the performer.
Avinni huffed. "They're not with us, idiota!"
The figure above them brought one leg out and tilted off of the roof's ledge before falling right on top of the van.
Thunk!
The performer lost composure when he saw this. "Hey, what the hell?! That's me ride! If I find even a little dent then I'll be breaking me foot off in yer ass! Hear that?! That thing is me pride and joy, so if you think you can just-"
The figure just ignored the rant and rolled off of the van, hitting the pavement facefirst. With trembling arms, it sat itself up and came out of the shadows.
"-and if you dare even think I'm gonna show you any...any...oh my god…"
The four looked at it. The thing in front of them was covered in purple veins and pencil thin. Imagine if a naturally scrawny man had a child with a grey alien and the offspring hadn't had a thing to eat in its entire life. After that you give it hollow eyes and an elongated, toothless mouth that always stays open, as if begging to be fed for once in its miserable existence.
"Um, is this one of those enemy Stands you all were talking about?"
"Move aside," said Avinni, pushing the performer out of the way.
He summoned BB, which then pulled back its fist and delivered a single, powerful jab straight towards the Stand's face. The thing's head caved in, folding around the shape of the fist and...just stayed there. The enemy Stand hadn't moved an inch from where it stood. As Avinn started to withdraw, he realized that he couldn't budge. Seconds later he felt a stinging sensation in his hand.
"Uh!" Avinni grunted.
"What is it?!" Joanne asked urgently.
"It won't let me go!" He took notice of how BB's hand was engulfed into the thing's now pulsating head. He had BB grab its own wrist with its free hand and started yanking back harder than before. "I said...LET GO!"
"Avinni, let me help!" said Joanne, willing Wonderwall to slam one of its disks on BB's hand, an arrow pointing away from the enemy Stand's mouth.
POP!
The orange fist was finally released. The grey Stand's cratered face pushed itself back out with no sign of damage, almost like it was made of plastic.
"Avinni, your hand!" exclaimed Erika.
He looked down and saw that his hand was covered in blood. His blood.
"Mate," said the performer, "that...doesn't look good."
"Veramente?" Avinni said under his breath.
"Enough of this," said Erika, priming herself. "Cranberry!"
The bronze Stand leapt into action, arcing its two pieced sword down on the grey Stand. The blade embedded itself deep into the side of the Stand's torso, but to Erika's shock the Stand neither dissipated or even flinched, staying as still as it had seconds earlier.
"I-I don't get it," she said, "how could this thing not feel something like-AHH!"
Joanne's eyes grew. "Erika? What is it?"
"I...feel...weak?" she grunted out, falling to her knees.
Avinni urgently looked to the grey Stand. In just a couple of seconds he noticed how some of the thing's enlarged veins were pulsating, as if they were trying to suck in something.
"Erika!" he yelled. "Take your sword out of that thing! Now!"
Hearing this, Erika was quick to comply. Cranberry tried to withdraw its sword, only to find it stuck.
"It's not letting me go!" she exclaimed, getting up and trying what she could to force her sword out of the Stand's gut. No such luck, as the harder Cranberry tried to pull away, the more the veins on the enemy Stand throbbed. The bronze on Cranberry's skin started to dull.
Thinking fast, Joanne had Wonderwall slip another disk out and attach it to Cranberry's sword. Momentum was instantly built up and Cranberry was freed. Any relief they would have had disappeared when they saw the large, crescent shaped wound on the grey Stand's torso seal itself up.
"Mate, your wrist!" the performer said to Erika. She looked down and gasped, seeing blood freely trickle down her hand, much like Avinni's.
Joanne nervously looked away, only to see a more terrifying sight. "That's not the only thing...look."
The other three took attention to the grey Stand. Its purple veins were still throbbing, and its once skeletal figure started to enlarge, muscles becoming more defined.
"What the hell is going on with that thing?" asked the performer breathlessly.
Almost as if to answer his question, the thing made a fist and slammed it into a wall on its left. It slowly withdrew its arm, leaving behind a sizable imprint in the concrete.
"I think I have an idea," said Avinni, cautiously walking backwards and motioning everyone else to do the same. "It seems to feed on our blood, making it stronger with the more it consumes."
The performer looked at the thing in disbelief. "Like...some sort of leech?"
"Si. That would be a good way of describing it."
"So what do we do?!" asked Joanne.
"I don't know. Making contact with it only seems to be a way for it to get stronger."
"How much stronger?" asked Erika.
Arf!
They turned their heads to see a stray border collie enter the alley, repeatedly barking at the four strangers for being in its usual resting spot.
The performer's face filled with fright, watching as the dog started to circle them and unknowingly get ever closer to the humanoid leech. "Shoo! Shoo! Get away! Get away! Get away from here, doggy!"
The collie ignored the man's pleas, becoming more agitated as it hopped up and down, trying to get them to leave its turf. As it was about to do another rotation around the humans, it bumped into something it couldn't see. It looked around in irritation, not sure what was happening. The dog began to growl regardless.
Arf!
Arf!
Arf!
Arf!
Ar-WREE!
In a fraction of a second the leech Stand plunged its hand deep into the dog's back, ignoring its thrashing and whimpering as it lifted the poor creature into the air. The Stand's veins pulsated, filling with blood. The dog, with a final confused whimper, went limp.
Its body shrank, skin starting to stretch against its bones. At the same time, the Stand's body grew, looking much healthier than it had previously. With every last drop of blood now gone, it carelessly let go of the animal, letting its dry carcass plop on the ground.
"A lot stronger than it was before," Avinni finally answered.
"That poor little doggy…" was all the performer could say.
The leech Stand crouched down, getting into what seemed to be a running position. It then lunged forward, arms outstretched and eyes filled with hunger.
With it only inches away, it abruptly came to a stop when it saw its prey get mysteriously shot into the air. It tilted its head to the side, not sure what to make of this.
The performer found himself flung into the air along with everyone else, panic in his heart rising.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" was all he could get out when he felt the scruff of his shirt get grabbed by an orange hand.
He got hoisted upwards and grunted when he hit the hard roofing. He was quick to stand up and dust himself off, surprised to see Avinni, Joanne and Erika up there with him.
"Who did that? How did they do that?"
"I-I did," said Joanne, holding up one of her vector disks for the performer to see. "These things allow me to push anyone or anything in the direction I want them to. The second I saw that thing get ready to charge us I put these on all of our backs."
"Wow," the performer murmured. "I definitely owe you for that one, eh?"
"Guys," said Erika, peering down the roof, "you might want to take a look at this."
They all leaned over the edge and saw the leech Stand place its hands on the wall. Its fingers dug into the concrete like picks to ice as it hoisted itself up, soon after placing its toes in as well to gain momentum.
"Well...shit," said the performer, placing his hands on his hips, "think we should run like all hell?"
"That doesn't sound like too bad of an idea," commented Joanne.
"Ugh," grunted Avinni. "I can't believe we're doing this again."
"Wait, again?" asked the performer.
"JoJo, another boost!" yelled Avinni.
"On it!" said Joanne, using Wonderwall to place more of its disks on the backs of herself and the other three.
They were once again launched into the air, landing on top of a roof higher than the previous one. For the last few minutes this was their system: jump from roof to roof as the leech Stand was chasing them and use vector disks whenever one of the roofs was too tall or too far away for them to make a landing with their own athleticism.
"We won't be able to keep this up forever!" exclaimed Erika, her heart racing nonstop. "We're going to have to slow down eventually!"
"What then, huh?!" asked the performer dubiously. "Gonna beg that creep not to suck us dry?! Is that what ya mean?!"
"I'm just stating a fact, guy!" she said angrily, the adrenalin in her system causing her rage to mount.
"Name's Terry! I-ahhh! Damn it all!"
"What is it, did it get you?!" asked an increasingly exhausted Joanne, who turned her head to see the grey Stand still some distance away.
"No more running! It's time to fight!" said the now named Terry, skidding to a halt on the loosely graveled roof. His Stand appeared above him and traced a circle in the air, creating a small blue vortex. Out fell a pistol, which found itself in Terry's firm hand. He took aim. "Eat lead, you doggy killing bitch!"
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Each bullet found its mark in the leech's body, causing it to halt its continuous sprint. The trio of Stand users stopped running as well, unsure of what was going to happen next.
With his other hand, Terry reached into the vortex and pulled out a large monkey wrench. He charged the leech and violently slammed the wrench into the thing's gut. Then an uppercut into its face. Then an underhand swing into its crotch.
"You think you can scare me so easily, huh?! A good comedian never lets-ugh!"
Terry found himself grabbed by the neck and lifted off his feet. Between pained grunts he looked in shock to see the three bullet holes on the leech's body close up. The very same bullets then traveled up the Stand's body and tumbled out of the permanently open mouth. Immediately after, Terry began to feel his blood quickly leave him.
"Good comedian?" it asked in a tone of false surprise. "I was watching your show from a distance and I have to tell you now there wasn't a single moment that made me laugh."
"What do you-"
"What I'm saying is simple: You. Aren't. Funny. The only even mildly hilarious thing I've seen from you is that you consider yourself to be a good comic."
Something in Terry went off. "Why...you…!" He unloaded three more rounds point blank into the Stand's chest.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
"LET GO OF HIM!" Joanne cried out.
Once again a disk was flung on Terry's back, prying him free from the leech's death grip. His body rolled on the ground before he got up, coughing and rubbing his bloodied neck. With a frustrated grunt he threw his wrench at the Stand, only for it to harmlessly bounce off of its growing abs as it steadily walked forwards, its user wanting to savor a slow death for the idiot aussie.
"Come on, let's go!" said Erika, gesturing for Terry to follow them.
Terry just shook his head, anger burning in his eyes. "Nah, to hell with running." He bent his sore neck to the side, making a few audible cracks. "I'm just too damn angry to run away. This freaky lookin' punk over here is so arrogant he thinks we can't touch him."
"That's because we can't touch him!" pleaded Joanne.
Terry let out a dispassionate chuckle. "I'm not betting on it. If you see an obstacle that seems impossible to overcome, you just aren't trying hard enough. Me mum said to me the best way to get over any obstacle is to have a shit ton of confidence and even more balls to fill up what's left."
"What is this?" Avinni asked with a snort. "Some kind of half assed self-help seminar?"
Terry looked at Avinni with expectation. "You seem to be the most sure of the lot, so you gonna stand there and watch or are you gonna help me kick some ass?"
"With what? Touching it seems to not do a thing."
"Yeah, unless you're not directly touching him. He doesn't seem to be fazed with what I hit him with, but maybe I'm just not hitting him hard enough."
Terry's spherical Stand formed another portal in the air, this one hanging right above Avinni. Out came a large barbell, which BB immediately caught in its hands.
Avinni looked to the barbell and then back at Terry. "I doubt this will work the way you want it to and you're probably not stupid enough to think that it will. So why even try?"
Terry just stared at the leech, his hate filled eyes not wandering. "He said I'm not funny. I take shit like that very personally."
Avinni's scarred lips couldn't help but crack a little smile. "You really are set on doing this, aren't you? I guess I'll humor you, pazzo figglio di puttana."
And with that both he and Terry rushed the blood sucking Stand.
Joanne and Erika looked on, dumbfounded by the two men's reckless abandon. This was incredible. Neither one had a clue as to how to beat this thing and they still threw caution to the wind.
BB slammed the end of the barbell into the leech's rib cage while its user dodged a swipe of its hands. Terry fired two more rounds into its head. When his gun ran empty, Terry's Stand created a new portal. He reached his hand in and took out a sledgehammer. When the barbell hit the top of the leech's head, Terry used this as an opportunity to throw back his arms and swing the hammer with all his might into the thing's knee. While both smushed into its body, the moment both objects were released from its flesh both parts simply popped back out. The leech slashed at them again and both dodged, Avinni with ease and Terry just barely. They continued this back and forth at an even pace.
There was no thought out plan. Just hit it hard and hope you deliver something that could hurt it. Hoping with everything that it would flinch in pain. Feel something. The two women of the group were for now just spectators to this pointless struggle.
'Why are they doing this?!' thought Joanne, silently pleading for them to stop.
Erika was just as confused, but this was mixed with something more. She couldn't quite explain it herself, even after the fact, but that feeling grew.
It was anger. People who she had never met before wanted her dead simply because she didn't sign a contract, and here was one of these people's psychic puppets trying to violently kill two others who also had the misfortune of not being a part of their fanatical little club. They were doing what they could to hurt something that wasn't being hurt even though it was the only thing it deserved. This pissed her off. So much so that that mix of confusion and anger she had in her was replaced with simple rage.
"I can't watch this any more. Not a second more," she said through clenched teeth. "Cranberry!"
The mannequin-like Stand struck its sword into the ground, vibrational energy immediately forming.
VRRRRRR!
It withdrew the sword with blinding speed, upheaving the gravel that surrounded it. With a flick of the wrist the two pronged blade touched the bits of stone that were closest to it as they were in mid-air, relocating all kinetic energy from the sword to the bits of stone.
The same wrist flick propelled the stones forwards at a velocity not too far away from breaking the sound barrier. Such speed combined with the amount of kinetic energy they had absorbed made them red hot. But Erika knew this would happen. Their heat was her wrath, and that wrath was heading straight towards a distracted, much hated blood sucker.
Dozens of fiery stones impacted the leech, embedding themselves into its legs, arms and torso. Avinni and Terry, who were both ready to carry out another fruitless hit and dodge, paused when they saw this. The leech froze as well, but not from surprise. It leaned back and let out a terrible screech of pain.
"I don't get it!" exclaimed Terry, letting go of the sledgehammer and covering his ears. "How did that hurt it?!"
Realization hit Erika. "It's heat! It's vulnerable to heat!"
When he heard this, Terry grinned in excitement. "Heat, eh? Kinda sheer luck that you found that out but I can do something with that!" His Stand placed one of its portals next to him and he removed two items from it that he had in mind. "This should be worth my time."
"AHHH!" the leech screamed. "Don't think for a second that this is going to-"
"Hey, mate!"
It furiously turned to the voice and immediately felt terror when it saw what was being held in front of its face. It was an aerosol spray can and a lit candle lighter.
"Smile."
Bwooosh!
"AHHHHHHHH!"
The incendiary spray engulfed the leech's head, making it stagger back and desperately pat the flames away. When Terry followed it and tried to set it ablaze once more, he was met with a quick kick to the stomach.
"Oof!" he grunted, falling on his back. Terry immediately sprung back up, his Stand by his side. Out of a new vortex he took out a large blanket which he bunched up and tossed towards Avinni. "The thing's flame retardant fabric."
"How will this help us?" Avinni questioned.
"Ever see that Thai martial arts movie Ong Bak? There's a scene in it where Tony Jaa's character lit up his own feet so he could scorch one of the bad guys. Director's commentary said they shot that scene by getting the actor to wear pants made out of the same material. Think you can get your big orange fella to do something similar?"
BB promptly grabbed the blanket and ripped it in half, and at a dizzying speed wound both pieces around its fists. Then one of the blue rings appeared in front of the orange Stand, which deposited a miniature waterfall of some sort of liquid, splashing onto outstretched meaty fists.
Both hands were now soaked in a strong smelling substance. Gasoline.
"Here ya go, mate," said Terry, igniting the cloth with his lighter.
The leech started to walk backwards, eyeing for an exit. Right as Avinni and his Stand started to lurch towards the blood sucker, it pivoted and desperately tried to flee.
"No you don't!"
BB grabbed a hold of its leg with an ignited hand and dragged it forwards as it fruitlessly tried to claw onto the ground. Now dangling in the air, it came face to face with a smug Avinni.
"Don't you know it's rude to leave without saying goodbye?"
Even if it was going to respond, it wouldn't have had the time as a fire coated fist was smashed square in its oval shaped mouth. Then another and another, picking up pace until BB's movement became a glowing blur, raining blows over its helpless opponent.
Finally letting up, BB stopped its barrage and let go of the scorched and broken leech. It now just lay there, staring up into the light polluted sky, twitching in pain.
"Shit," said Terry, walking over to see the damage for himself. He put special attention on its still gaping, bruised mouth. "Surprised to see the thing's still conscious. Care to let me finish it off for ya?"
Avinni casually shrugged his shoulders. "Go right ahead."
Terry made a devious smile, something wicked forming in his head. "Well alright. Oi, Erika, right?" he called out to the Spanish girl.
"Yes?" she replied.
Terry's Stand withdrew a ring and out came a three foot long metal pipe. The Stand's user felt it in his hands, getting comfortable with the grip. He excitedly took a plastic bag out of his back pocket and slipped its contents into the pipe's opening.
"Think you can make the end of this thing get hot like you did with those rocks? If so, make sure to make it only hot enough so the thing I just put inside melts. After all, I'm no sadist or anything like that."
"Uh, I'll see what I can do," she said with uncertainty.
Cranberry whacked its sword against the ground and focused all of the vibrational energy into the tip. Walking forwards, the bronze Stand placed the blade against the end of the pipe in Terry's hands. Focusing all energy into a specific point rather than letting it spread across the entire object to prevent vibration, molecular friction went to work and the end was now hot to the touch. The sheet of wax based blotter paper inside melted and became a gushy sludge.
"That's about right. Much appreciated, ma'am," Terry said with a little salute.
"What are you going to do with that?" asked an uncertain Joanne.
"Adding insult to injury," was his simple reply. He walked over to the leech and positioned the pole above its head. His face now darkened. "Never say I'm not funny, ya bastard."
He tilted the pipe over the leech's gaping mouth, letting the boiling sludge go down its throat. The thing gave out its most blood curdling scream yet and finally vanished.
Joanne nervously looked away. "T-that was...going too far."
Erika placed her hand on her forehead. "I...agree with her sentiment."
Avinni just gave an indifferent wave of the hand. "Hmn."
Terry stood there triumphantly, handing the pole back to his Stand, which placed it back into the portal as it closed up. "Soooo?"
"So what?" asked Avinni.
"Aren't you at all curious what was in that bag?"
"I don't really c-"
"Good that you asked! It was just me good old friend lysergic acid diethylamide!"
"Wait," said Joanne, "isn't that the scientific name for psychedelic acid?"
"Exactly. Take it from me personally when I tell you that using just a shred of the stuff or so makes your trip amazing."
"But you gave him the entire sheet," Joanne pointed out. "Wouldn't that overwhelm the system?"
"Which was my intention. I did it me self once and I regretted it ever since. Let's just say whoever our pal the doggy killer is, he's gonna be getting a little something I like to call a nightmare trip."
On the other side of Vegas, a man in his car was pleading with his wife over his phone's speaker.
"Mary, please! You need to understand my job requires me to sometimes go overtime! I can't just go up to Mr. Crusoe and tell him that I don't feel like working for an extra couple of hours! How's that going to look on the record of a man vying to get a regional promotion, huh? Only after I get it will I be able to have a more flexible schedule!"
"Then why is it that everytime I call into your office I'm told you only work an extra one and use the other to hang out with your buddies?! Can you explain that to me, Logan?! Can you?!"
Logan gave an exasperated sigh. "I keep telling you that that's part of my current schedule! Those 'buddies' as you call them are my superiors! I'm going out to bars with them in order to show them my worth! That's part of the process, okay?!"
"You know what I have to say about that, Logan?! Bullshit! Just bullshit!"
"You know something, Mary?! Maybe I should just go right over to-OH CHRIST!"
Without warning, Logan's car had just collided with a human body. Logan immediately hit the breaks, lurching his car to a sudden screeching halt. Feeling a cold wash over him, he ignored the honking of horns behind him and the anguished yelling of his wife from the phone. He instinctively put his car into park and rushed out of his seat to see who he hit.
The man in front of the grill of Logan's car was lying on his back, motionless. He was riddled with both blood and, for some reason, burn marks around his face.
"Oh my god...oh my god...oh my god...please be okay...please be o-"
"AHHHH!" screamed the still living man.
"Ahhhh!" screamed a startled Logan. "S-s-sir, a-are you all right?"
The man lurched up and looked around wildly with a pair of very dilated pupils. His expression was one of utter fright.
"Sir, d-do you need hel-"
"BATS! BATS ALL AROUND! GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF NOW!" he howled, kicking and swatting at the air. He suddenly froze and stared at his clothes, proceeding to rip them off. "THEY'RE WEARING ME! THEY'RE WEARING ME! T-THEY'RE IN MY SKIN! THEY'RE CRAWLING UP MY SKIN! UHHAAAAA!"
On a busy sidewalk, the three of the four were tracing their steps back to a location they went to first when they got to this city, with the fourth deciding to tag along. Avinni and Erika were busy wiping their bloody wounds with strips of gauze provided by the aussie
"I gotta say that was a pretty convenient weakness that thing had, eh?" said Terry, who was walking with a light skip. "I mean, whoa, that whole pyrophobia thing really came out of nowhere. Heard writers call that one a deus ex machina."
"Doesn't really matter. We got out of it alive and that's what's important," Avinni responded, dabbing away the last bits of blood from his neck and throwing away the gauze in a nearby trash can.
After passing another block, the four stopped next to a rain gutter. Avinni reached his arm into it and pulled out a backpack, then a second and a third.
Terry looked on with interest. "What gives with all the backpacks?"
"These are ours," answered Joanne, taking hers from Avinni. "In case we need to run when we get to a new place...like what we did just now, we hide our stuff so there won't be any extra weight dragging us down."
"So you just hide them until you decide to leave?"
"Pretty much," Erika concluded.
"Huh." Terry scratched his chin, an idea forming in his head. "You ladies mind if you give me your bags for a sec."
Joanne and Erika looked at each other for a moment. Shrugging, they handed both of their backpacks to Terry, who took a hold of them and promptly flung both into a portal that vanished as suddenly as it appeared.
"Why did you do that?" Avinni grumbled.
"Wherever me portals go to is very spacious, which I'm guessing is some sorta pocket dimension. I can put just about anything in there and it stays perfectly preserved. I mean, look!" He reached behind Avinni's ear and withdrew a soft serve chocolate ice cream cone, which he then proceeded to take a lick out of. "This thing was put away a week ago and it hasn't even started to melt! You can just throw anything you want into there without having to lug it around all the time or have to go through the hassle of trying to remember where you put it!"
Avinni folded his arms. "What you're implying by saying this is that you're going to come along with us. What happened to agreeing to find a place to lay low?"
Terry waved his hand in dismissal. "Tch. Forget about all that after what I just experienced a few minutes ago. That sorta thing just got me reinvigorated with a spirit of adventure."
"But this is an effort to get our lives back to normal," Joanne spoke up, "not some sort of...bizarre adventure."
Terry just smiled. "But it sure feels like one. And besides, that's the best kind of adventure. I helped you guys up back there and I can continue to do it as long as I breathe. So what do you say, what's-your-name?"
"It's Avinni," Avinni muttered.
"Right! So what do you say, Avinni? Oh, and just bringing this up, did I mention I have a van?"
The Italian man took a deep breath, trying to hold back his frustration. "Given that you have both JoJo and Erika's supplies and they can't really go very far without them, just make sure not to piss me off for the rest of our time together."
Hearing this, Terry pumped his fist in victory. "Yesss! Come on, guys! Back to me sweet ride! You're not gonna regret this!"
"Sono gia," Avinni grumbled. "One more thing. Give me your phone."
"Hm? Oh, sure thing." Reaching into his pocket, Terry took out his phone and handed it over to Avinni. "Why you need it?"
"For this."
BB's hand enveloped Avinni's own and with a small squeeze the thing collapsed on itself.
"Wh-wha...why?!"
"Prevent tracking," was all Avinni said with a mild amount of pleasure evident in his voice.
"You might've seen it before, but here it is again! Introducing the...Badass Van!" Terry opened the backdoors to his van, letting the trio see a large king size mattress in the center and an assortment of boxes in the corners. "That's not the best part! Look!"
Terry leaned in and pulled a cord dangling from the ceiling, suddenly coating the interior a bright blue. His three newly made companions peered in to see a neon sign above their heads that read: 'TERRY'S BADASS VAN'.
"That's...lovely?" Joanne said hesitantly.
"Of course it is! But the one thing that I need before we go is a name for me Stand-thing."
"A name?" asked Erika.
"Yeah, you guys have names for yours so I need one for mine. Maybe it can be named after some inspirational saying or something. Got any ideas?"
Joanne and Erika shifted uncomfortably while Avinni tapped his foot impatiently.
Erika went first. "Mmm...a north wind has no corn, and a poor man no friend? It's a fairly common proverb back in Spain."
"Ehhh, can't find anything there." Terry then pointed to Avinni. "You?"
Avinni shrugged his shoulders. "Too much goodness ends up in the trash?"
"Yikes, not exactly the most positive one." Now he pointed to Joanne. "JoJo, right? What do you have?"
Choosing to ignore the fact that yet another person was referring to her by an incorrect name, she went on ahead with a saying that popped up in her mind. "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link?"
"No," Terry said with a sigh, "I don't think-wait a minute. I...like that one," he realized. His eyes lit up. "Oh, I can already see it! From this point on, my Stand's name will be 'The Chain'! Give me five, buddy!"
His newly named Stand appeared and gave him a high five.
Erika gave him an annoyed stare. "You could've just come up with a name yourself you know."
"I know, eh?!" Terry laughed. "So what do ya say, ready to hit the road?"
"Just one thing," said Avinni.
"Yeah? What would that be?"
"Do you have any strong drinks that you have stored away in that pocket dimension of yours?"
Terry chuckled. "Ah, I see! A little liquid courage to start the trip! I like the way you think!"
Out of a portal came a bottle of whisky and two shot glasses. Carefully pouring into each glass, he handed one to Avinni while keeping one for himself.
"Let this be the beginning of a wonderful friend-"
Avinni immediately downed his glass and just as quickly took Terry's as well. He then grabbed the bottle from Terry and took a long swig of it before handing both it and the glasses back.
"You drive. I'm not going to be able to," he said, climbing into the van and resting on top of the mattress.
Terry put the bottle and shot glasses away in his portal. "Huh, well alright then. Come on, ladies!" he beckoned. "That Illustratum guy isn't gonna kick his own ass!"
"This will be a very strange journey," said Erika.
"Please don't say that," pleaded Joanne.
=To Be Continued=
Next Time: The four travelers try to tolerate and learn from one another as their adventure begins in earnest.
Stand Name: The Chain
User: Terry Legend
Namesake: The song "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac
Stats
Destructive Power: E
Speed: C
Range: B
Persistence: C
Precision: D
Developmental Potential: C
Abilities
Portals: The Chain can create an undetermined number of portals of multiple sizes that lead to a miniature pocket dimension, which allows the user to store various materials at a presumably limitless quantity. Any material inside can be immediately withdrawn so long as the user is actively wanting to use it. These portals are limited in that they can only accept non-organic substances that weigh less than the Stand's user. The user themself is the only one who can access a portal's entrance.
Overall Power
This Stand is ill suited for direct combat due to having little to no physical strength or attack capabilities of its own. However, this can be circumvented through strategy and improvisation. Ideal for storage.
Stand Name: Minor Threat
User: Vinnie Glaze
Namesake: Minor Threat
Stats
Destructive Power: D-B
Speed: D-C
Range: B
Persistence: B
Precision: C
Developmental Potential: B
Abilities
Steppin' Stone: Much like the mythical vampire, this Stand's physical abilities increase with more blood it intakes from any lifeform.
Overall Power
Weakness from high temperatures aside, Minor Threat can be a dangerous adversary by greatly increasing its strength through consumption of blood and already has an exceptional amount of durability in its base form. Despite this ability to improve its strength, the simplicity of its powers makes versatility difficult.
Things are going to get MUCH more JoJo from this point on… Consider it a transitional phase from the odd to the absolutely insane. Expect updates soon. I MEAN it! (0_0)