Lamp Entertainment presents…

Sweet and the Psycho: After the Fight

"Two hundred elephants. Two hundred and one elephants."

Trapped inside the ultimate defense, Josuke Higashikata paces back and forth.

"Two hundred and two elephants. Two hundred and three elephants."

He has no idea how long has passed. All he could do was count the elephants and hope for the best.

"Two hundred and four elephants. Two hundred and five elephants."

Two hundred divided by sixty… how many sixties fit in two hundred? A little more than three?

"Two hundred and six elephants. Two hundred and seven elephants."

So a little more than three minutes had passed… say three and a half minutes since the dolls removed Ted's fleshbud and he still hadn't woken up. Josuke had tried to shake life in him, but apparently, that was too aggressive. My Own Moon wouldn't even let him touch Ted, his hands just slipped off.

"Two hundred and eight elephants. Two hundred and nine elephants."

At least he had gotten a better look at the place he was trapped in. It was a perfect replica of Empire City about one kilometer in every direction. The sun seemed to be stuck in the sky, set eternally at a comfortable morning lighting. The sounds were softer and quieter than in the real world.

It was probably meant to be a calm and comfortable environment, but personally, Josuke found it unsettling and unnatural.

"Two hundred and ten elephants. Two hundred and eleven elephants."

The dolls that hadn't been smashed to pieces seemed to follow the movements of the people in the real world. In the same way, inanimate objects moved on their own, as the objects on the outside did.

"Two hundred and twelve elephants. Two hundred and thirteen elephants."

Their dolls had been destroyed, but Josuke had still been able to follow the fight in the restaurant… kinda. Occasionally, a chair or table would suddenly fly through the air, as if pulled at by an invisible force. At one point, the wall between the main room and the kitchen had exploded and the kitchen began tearing itself apart.

The question was… who was doing what?

"Two hundred and fourteen elephants. Two hundred and fifteen elephants."

After a while, everything became still and Josuke couldn't follow what was going on anymore. Had Jotaro won? Had the vampire won? Josuke couldn't tell. He couldn't do anything but wait.

"Two hundred and sixteen elephants. Two hundre…"

"Ugh…" Josuke heard a beautiful sound! Ted groaning and beginning to wake up.

Josuke rushed back to the man and knelt beside him.

"Come on man, please wake up… we have to get out of here."

"Mmh… Ah, wha-" Ted slowly opened his eyes. They were unfocused and he struggled to keep them open or even to focus on the face in front of him. "What… happened? I… you…"

"There was a vampire. Ava, remember?"

"Yeah, I… she used a…." Ted's eyes started to get teary again.

"She used a fleshbud on you, but don't worry, it's gone now. She can't hurt you anymore," Josuke tried to comfort him.

Ted tried sitting back up. His hands were shaking and he was covered in sweat.

"Yeah, I… I remember… I'm sorry," he said. "She was too strong, I couldn't resist."

"None of what happened was your fault. She used you." Josuke was very careful when touching Ted to help him stand back up. If he was too rough, then Ted's ability might kick in again.

"T-thanks," Ted said, wobbling slightly as he stood up. "Ah… did… is the vampire…. dead yet?"

"I don't know," Josuke said. "Jotaro was supposed to fight her… he gave us five minutes to get the fleshbuds out of you and the other person. I think those minutes have passed, but I don't know if Jotaro has defeated her yet."

"Oh, right," Ted said. "You need to get back out."

They turned back to the restaurant, to the door they had come from. "My Own Moon, open the doo…" Ted stopped in his tracks. There was… something parked on the street.

It was made from metal, red and shaped like an upside-down teardrop. A ramp was opened from on the front. It had appeared while Ted and Josuke were turned away. Through the window into the restaurant, they could see two new dolls. One was short and with a strange square headpiece, while the other was taller and with a red cape.

"What the hell…?" Josuke muttered.

A police car pulled up next to the restaurant and three police officers exited the car. Two examined the red object, while the third went inside the restaurant.

The two looked at the red object drew their guns and entered… only to be thrown out almost immediately. Their guns were cut in half.

"Ted? What's going on?"

"I-I don't know…"

"Open the door."

The police doll inside the restaurant was… yelling something? The dolls didn't have mouths, so Josuke couldn't hear what, but it was obvious based on its body language. The doll in the cape raised its hands as if to indicate its surrender. But suddenly, it threw… something. Whatever it was, it drilled straight through the police doll.

A quiet bang from the gun echoed, the small doll stumbling backward. The caped doll took one glance at the smaller doll and bolted. It ran through the hole in the wall and hid in the kitchen.

It was strange… Josuke felt as if the inside of the pocket dimension was heating up just a bit…

Then the entire world was consumed by flames.

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This ended up being a shortie. Next chapter is going to be longer… longer and long-awaited, I think… It's already finished and ready, expect it tomorrow.

Until then, take care of planet Earth and remember that anything can happen in space!