It had been a month since Jordan moved to Riverford. It was nice to have a few weeks of no stand fighting. It was then that the we-tried-to-beat-up-Jordan-but-then-he-beat-us-up-and-now-we're-friends-with-Jordan club decided to go to the old saloon at the edge of the beach. It was a preserved saloon that is supposedly kept exactly the same as it was over a hundred years ago.
In the middle of the saloon was a crude chalk silhouette of a sprawled-out figure. "That man there was supposedly killed in a duel with Bill Bagans," A server described enthusiastically, "Before he could fire at Bill, his chest blew up like he'd already been shot!"
"Wow," Jordan said, "Did that really happen?"
"Probably not," The server admitted, "But it's just one of the stories that makes Riverford so unique!"
Once they ordered and the server left, Jordan asked his group, "So are stand users a part of this town's history?"
"Probably," Melvin shrugged, "It would explain a lot. Why everyone here has stands, why there are so many mystery spots, and why we hate outsiders."
Jordan nodded, and then his attention turned to Donny. He seemed absent. He was subtly biting his nails, and looking past the swinging saloon doors to the beach. "Hey, Donny, what's going on?" Jordan asked.
Donny jumped a bit, "Oh. Nothing, I guess."
Jordan lifted an eyebrow.
"Oh fine," He sighed, "Look, a friend of mine is a stand user. He hangs out at the beach a lot, and I haven't seen him since I got...de-cubed. If he sees me, I don't know what he's gonna do."
"Probably beat up Jordan," Melvin said.
"What?" Jordan turned to Melvin.
"I tried to kill you when you just showed up at my club," Melvin reminded him, "If a guy with cubes in his head sees you, and thinks that you're stealing away one of his friends, he's gonna attack you on the spot."
This made Donny break into a sweat. "Maybe we should just leave," He squeaked, "Being in his zone is probably a bad idea."
"'His zone' is a weird way to phrase it," Melvin said.
"But it's true!" Donny stood up, looking at the saloon doors, "I'm telling you man, I don't think we should be here!"
"Woah, relax," Jordan walked over to Donny, trying to calm him down, "We'll cancel the order and leave. It's fine." He put a hand on Donny's shoulder.
They decided to go with that. Once out, Donny was scanning the horizon for his old friend, keeping the collar of his jacket up toward his face to make sure that he couldn't be recognized.
Then, past a corner came a horde of high school girls, crowding some mysterious figure. The gang had to stop to allow them to pass, and although these three young boys would definitely be looking at the girls in beach wear, even their eyes were drawn to the man they were crowding.
A fellow student, but his body appeared as if it were sculpted by Greek Gods. His skin was dark and sun-kissed, like a true surfer. His blond hair flowed in the wind like a royal prince. At each of the girls he winked at with golden irises, they would swoon for him even more. His presence stole the show. Then he looked at the boys, and pushed the girls away like nothing.
"Donny!" He shouted, "Where you been, man?!" He looked at Melvin and Jordan, "And who are these dudes?"
Donny froze behind a fake smile, and Jordan quickly spoke up, "Oh. Are you a friend of Tony's?"
Donny looked at him.
"We just met," Jordan continued. Melvin, Donny, and this figure were all looking at Jordan.
"Dude, his name's Donny," He said, "Get it right." Though his words were sharp, he seemed calm. But Donny did, too, before he attacked Jordan.
"Oh, right," Jordan shrugged, "Sorry. I'm bad with names."
"Hi, Lars," Donny said. He pointed a thumb at Melvin, "You know him, don't you?"
Lars squinted at Melvin, "Uh...M...Marco?"
"What about me looks Italian?" Melvin grumbled.
Lars ignored the comment, and looked back at Donny, "So where you been?"
"I got grounded," Donny lied with a convincing smirk, "Parents wouldn't let me out of the house. I tried to get out, believe me."
"Shaaaa," He walked up and high-fived Donny. Lars turned over to Jordan, shifting his focus. Lars was taller than Jordan, and really, everyone else in the group. He held out a hand for Jordan to shake, "Lars murphy."
Jordan exchanged looks with his friends, who didn't know how to respond. Jordan found himself grabbing Lars's hand and shaking it, "Jordan Johanne-"
Lars pulled Jordan closer, into an almost-hug, "Dude, your name is like Jojo!" He looked to the girls, "Hey, call this guy Jojo!"
"Please don't," Jordan begged quietly. But it was too late. Now that Lars asked them, they were all giggling "Jojo" to themselves. Jordan glared at Donny, who could only shrug back.
Jordan was let free from the almost-hug, and Lars turned back to Donny, "So, you want to hang out? Just the two of us, to catch up?"
Donny gulped, and without thinking, said, "Sure...I guess?" He looked at Jordan and Melvin.
"Go ahead," Jordan said, "Catch up with your buddy."
Donny seemed relieved. Then Donny grabbed him by the shoulder, shooed away the girls, and went for a walk on the beach. Once the girls dispersed, and Lars was out of earshot, Jordan spoke.
"Do you think he knows I'm a stand user?" Jordan asked.
Melvin sniffed, "Probably."
They heard the waves lapping against the beach and the cries of seagulls.
"It's been fun, Jordan," Melvin said, waving as he left.
"Oh, bye-" As he lifted up his hand to wave, he felt something. A bit of pain. He looked down at his palm, and saw a rather deep cut. He stared at it for a few seconds, trying to remember when he could have cut his hand. Champion easily sealed it with a little blue spark of energy.
Stand user: Donny Falcon
Stand: Skate or Die
Power: E
Speed: E
Durability: E
Precision: E
Range: E
Potential: A
Ability: The more dangerous stunts he pulls, the more powerful his stand gets.
Jordan was walking through downtown on his way home. It was a nice day, which is probably why so many people were at the beach. In the air, he smelled a high amount of diesel, a side effect of the car show that brought older cars into the open. Jordan saw some middle-aged man trying to impress young kids with his old red car. Jordan didn't know the make of car, and didn't really care. He doesn't find that interesting, and he didn't want to stay around town once the car show started, so he speed-walked past the car.
Then he heard a very loud pop that sounded like an explosion. He stopped and turned to it. The front tire of the car had exploded. The man who owned the car rushed to the tire, pushing Jordan aside with a shove. When he saw the damage, he immediately pointed at Jordan.
"You punk!" He shot up, grabbing Jordan by the collar, "What, did you think this is funny?"
Jordan stammered in shock, "I-what?"
"Don't deny it!" He screamed, "You were walking right past when the tire popped!" Jordan looked down at the tire as the man continued, "I paid good money for this, you know!"
"I-I didn't-" He saw something in the concrete. Little folds moving out from under the car, moving forward. Like tiny ripples in a puddle. That's not usually what concrete does, Jordan thought. He pushed the man away suddenly, and crouched down on the ground, lowering himself to the tire with one hand.
"You can't do that!" The man yelled, "Respect your elders!"
But Jordan wasn't paying attention. Under the car, it was dark. But he could swear that under the car, he could see...a glint. Yes, something reflective from under the car, rising out of the concrete. Then it shot forward.
Jordan could barely even react before it sheared off the heel of his hand, almost taking the pinky with it. A wave of blood lapped onto the concrete, and Jordan rolled back to the sidewalk, trying hopelessly to cover the bleeding with his other hand.
The kids looking at the car screamed, and the man yelled at Jordan, "What-what's going on?!" It shot forward again, narrowly missing Jordan, but cutting off the side of the man's shoe, luckily causing no injury. The man stumbled backwards before running away from the scene.
Whatever was attacking Jordan made its way to the hedges on the edge of the sidewalk. From what he could see, it was like a curved blade that emanated ripples through the pavement.
Man, I'm bleeding a lot right now, Jordan thought, Is it bad that I'm at the point where I'm treating gushing blood like a minor nuisance? Man, I hate this town. It's at that point that it pointed towards Jordan. I can't have Champion heal me now!
The blade poked out of the ground, revealing it was more like a curved chainsaw. Then as more of the stand rose out of the ground, it had the shape of a shark with golden, razor scales. As it drove towards Jordan, it opened its mouth to reveal several layers of teeth with similar saw blades spinning on them.
"YATATATATA!"
When it jumped at Jordan, Champion unleashed a barrage of punches that launched it over the hedge, and out of mind. Jordan calmed down for a few moments, only for the stand to shred through the hedge to rush at Jordan. This time, he jumped out of the way and started running down the street. The giant wound on his hand began to heal, though as he ran, blood fell beside him and onto the street.
The shark was rushing around where Jordan was for a few moments, striking randomly at sticks and rocks on the ground, before once again going after Jordan. It was only going in his general direction, though. I should probably get somewhere that it can't hurt other people, Jordan thought.
Jordan's running got him in front of a restaurant, filled with people. Behind him, he saw that the shark had gotten closer, and the closer it got, the faster it went. He dodged out of the way as it lunged past again, this time cutting away the bottom of a trash can and spilling litter onto the street.
A waiter from the restaurant pointed at Jordan, "Hey, what did you do? Don't think that you can get away with that!"
Jordan looked up and glared at him, "Shut up!" He yelled at the man savagely, "You have to get away!"
Before Jordan heard the waiter make any remarks, the sidewalk was split open by a dozen deep cuts made by the shark. Once again, it was attacking sporadically, without any real target. Jordan looked to his hand, seeing that the wound he gained earlier had disappeared.
"Now, Champion!" Jordan pointed his stand towards the shark, and unleashed another "YATATATATATATA!" Into it. It was thrown into the street, though Jordan felt sharp pains in his knuckles. He looked down at them, finding that Champion had struck either particularly sharp scales, or one of the razor fins.
Which meant that the stand wasn't dead yet.
Jordan grabbed at his face. He was panting like never before. He was running, using up Champion's energy, and he was healing wounds. Even in the fight with Melvin, I wasn't running, fighting, and healing at the same time! He tried to stand up, only for his head to flush and he had to support himself by the nearby table.
He saw the stand's dorsal fin protruding from the asphalt, sending ripples through the water as it went forward. The waiter, not able to see the impending doom, asked Jordan, "Hey, are you ok? Do you know what just happened?" He looked at Jordan's bleeding knuckles, "Do you need anything?"
"Lars Murphy," He growled.
The waiter squinted at Jordan, "Excuse me?"
Jordan leaned forward, and Champion floated beside him to get ready for the attack. "It's the only explanation," Jordan said, "This has got to be his stand."
The shark hurtled towards Jordan. Champion lunged forward to attack, but instead of its usual barrage, it threw one sluggish "YATA!" That, for the first time, the enemy stand was able to dodge. The shark weaved under Champion's fist and it's pectoral fin dug into his chest. Jordan's white shirt was tainted by a dark bloodstain. Champion was able to elbow it back into the ground, but Jordan's body was covered with pain.
Jordan clutched his stinging wound, and ran off to the side of the restaurant. He saw a child watching the predicament next to a colorful bike, which Jordan stole regretfully. He said to the child, "You can find this near the Riverford beach in about half an hour-maybe."
Then he started biking his way down the street.
Stand User: Lars Murphy
Stand name: ?
Power: C
Speed: B
Durability: A
Precision: D
Range: A
Potential: E
Stand ability: ?
It was a strange sight to behold: Jordan Johannes riding down the street, pedalling the bike with one leg (people can't see his stand doing the other pedal) and the other spurting blood onto the street behind him. It was about to get even weirder.
Jordan saw the shark racing after him. All he could think to do was to get help from either Donny or Melvin. He scanned the environment. Near the corner of an intersection, he saw one of the last phone booths in Riverford. He jerked the bike toward the sidewalk.
"YATA!"
As Jordan passed the booth, the glass shattered, and Champion dropped the phone book into the basket at the front of the bike. Jordan took out his mobile phone as Champion flipped through the phone book to the "M" section. I feel bad I don't know Donny or Melvin's mobile phone numbers, Jordan thought, but I might as well try to call their home phone.
Click!
"Hello, this is Wanda Moranis," said Melvin's mom.
"Hiiii," Jordan faked enthusiasm, "This is, um, Jordan-"
"Johannes?!" She yelled incredulously.
"Yeah. Can I please speak to Melvin?"
She growled into the microphone, "Now listen here, you punk! I know what you did to my son, and I don't know how you convinced him to be your friend-"
"Mrs. Moranis, this is very important-" Jordan was just barely hit by a car before Champion swerved the bike out of the way. The car blared its horn.
"What was that?" Wanda demanded, "Was that a car? What sort of dangerous things are you trying to get my son into?!"
Then Jordan hung up. He did not want to listen to Wanda Moranis's shrill voice again anytime soon. "Ok," Jordan sighed, "Let's try Donny."
Click!
"Hello, this is the Falcon household," Said a deep voice.
"Hi," Jordan said, "Is Donny there?"
There was a pause, "I'm sorry, do you mean 'Donald?' Because we have a son named Donald, not Donny."
Jordan felt extremely awkward, "Uhh...sorry? Yes, is Donald home?" It felt weird to call him "Donald."
"You're one of his skater friends, aren't you?" He sneered, "I hope you aren't asking him to...do drugs or something. You're leading him down the wrong path, I hope you know, he could have friends in some business club, but instead, he has you, a lowlife-"
Jordan hung up again. This had become really depressing really fast. What do I have to do to get some help right now? He looked back to the shark. It was still following him. He saw blood still falling from his leg. Champion was doing too much to heal it right now. Lucky for Jordan, he could see the beach through the gaps in the buildings. Lars Murphy was in his sight. He didn't need to worry about this for too much longer.
Then he sped past cars waiting at the edge of an intersection. He realized that in this intersection, it wasn't his turn to go. One car honked as it passed behind him, but the terrifying part was that he saw a big wheeler blocking his entire crossing. He was too fast to turn, and if he stopped he would be attacked by the shark.
He knew what he had to do. He had seen it done in a ton of movies.
Under his eyes, he saw a faint blue light. The gears of the pedals were a light blue, shrouded in Champion's aura. It was sparking and pulsating, in the way that Melvin's electronics did under Champion's power. He had never seen that before, but he had no time to think about it.
Then Jordan was pushed forward with a speed unlike any he had experienced before, as if his legs were replaced by a diesel engine. Before he turned to paste against the side of the truck, he whipped the handles to the side. He drifted under the truck in a stunt that would make Donny jealous. His skin would have torn off against the pavement if Champion didn't block the damage. Jordan could barely even process what was happening before he found himself upright on the other side of the truck.
He would have cheered if he didn't immediately hit another car, and go flying off the bike into an alleyway. When he landed, there was no way Champion could block all the damage. He was in a worse position than before. Blood stained the concrete below him, his glasses were nowhere to be found, he was struggling to breath, and he could barely stand up. A lot of bystanders tried to help, but Jordan yelled at them to go away, and slinked into the small alleyway.
He went further into the trash bags and rats. He looked behind him, and saw the shark following Jordan's trail of blood. People were keeping distance from Jordan's blood stain, so when the shark got to it, it attacked a nearby trash can.
Wait a minute, Jordan thought. He started to connect the dots in his head. Of course! It's a shark! It follows blood!
The shark started to get closer. He had to think fast. His head spun to look at his surroundings, and his stomach sank when he saw what he had to do. A rat was picking innocently at a piece of trash to his right. As far as he saw, there was no other choice.
"I'm sorry!" Jordan cried. Champion grabbed the rodent, and without hesitation, shot it at the shark like a football.
Lars quickly found that Donny was not the friend he once knew. It didn't take long for Donny to find an excuse and take off. So, Lars was left by himself. He found time to impress a few girls, so he started to talk about his workout regiment with them.
"Yeah, I get these muscles from nature," He said, "You see, if you spend enough time out on the waves, muscles just naturally build up over time."
"Omygod, reallyyyy?" Said one of the girls.
"Yeah, it's just what happens when you risk you life like I do."
Out of nowhere, the girls shrieked in terror. Lars raised an eyebrow, "Hey, what's going on? You can't be screaming at me, can you?" Before they could answer, they ran away.
Behind him, he heard the dragging of something through the sand, and pained, exhausted panting. When Lars looked behind him, he saw Jordan Johannes. Covered in blood, no glasses, dragging a useless leg behind him, heaving like a dog.
"Jordan Johannes!" Lars smiled at him, "How you doing? How'd you escape my stand?"
Jordan had a hard time speaking, "I...threw a rat at it. It killed the rat, then forgot about me."
This angered Lars, but he wasn't going to let it show. He shrugged, "Well, it seems that you aren't doing so well," He put his fists up in a mock boxing pose, "You wanna slug it out now?"
Jordan kept pulling himself forward, "You're as dumb as your stand-" Jordan heard the grinding of sand. He looked away from Lars, and saw a shiny blade curving out from the beach.
"My stand, Dani California, is a semi-automatic stand," Lars told him, "Usually, it just follows people based on the trail of their blood. But when it's near me, I can control it just as easily as a normal stand."
Dani cut through the stand towards Jordan, and leaped towards Jordan. Just like earlier, Champion's attack was avoided, and Dani's grinding teeth dug into his shoulder. His blood soaked the sand below him.
"You shouldn't have tried to come after me!" Lars crossed his arms, relaxing in his secured victory, "You should have just run away after getting Dani off your scent. Now, I'll drive my stand through your chest and eat your heart out!"
The teeth sank deeper into Jordan's chest. He was losing balance, and he was probably the closest to dying he'd been so far. But even with that, he was calm. In a serene voice, he said to Lars, "I guess we'll see who faints first, then."
Lars squinted at Jordan, "What? What do you-"
"YATA!"
Lars felt his body go limp after the first punch. He thought in a panic, What? He's been running across town! Does Champion really have enough energy left? He was about to fall out of his range, but was pulled back towards Champion. For a moment, he looked into the white eyes of that luchador mask, watching as the red fists cocked backwards.
"YATATATATATATATATATA! YATATATATATATATA! YATATATATATATA! YATA! YATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!"
The stand latched to Jordan's shoulder began to jerk violently. It's skin dented with every punch that landed on Lars. As the jerks became more and more violent, Jordan could feel the bite waver in strength. Then it flew off, the once strong and intimidating teeth having been shattered to pieces, scattering into the wind.
For a moment, everything stopped. Jordan took a deep breath of the beach air. It was relieving to finally be rid of that stand. He looked over at Lars, who was stumbling backwards towards the ocean. Jordan called to him, "Hey, are little black cubes falling out of your ears?! I don't have my glasses, so I can't see very well!"
"Aaaaaaaaaggrhaagh…" Lars cried through his broken face.
"That a no?" Jordan sighed, "I guess you have to be fully knocked out. Sorry about this, man." Champion hovered above Lars, lining up one final shot to the head.
"YYYYYYYYYAAAATA!"
And with one hit to the side of the head, a squirt of cubes fell onto the beach sand. Lars's head swooned, and he fell into the lapping waves. And then Jordan fainted.