Hey Ya! How are you guys doing? I hope you're all doing good and staying safe in these trying times.
Now, it took me a little longer than I expected it to, but I'm back now, with more JoJo and the Crystal Gems for you! And hoo boy, let me tell you, I've been far from idle this last one and a half months. Aside from a brief stint of writer's block in April, I've been working hard on the new chapters. And I'm really excited, we've got some cool fights coming up and stuff.
So without further ado, please enjoy!
Lamp Entertainment presents…
"That was awesome!" Okuyasu said excitedly. "Koichi, you made the car fly! Just like in that movie we watched in English class once!"
"Heh, yeah, I guess it was pretty cool," Koichi giggled, feeling very proud of himself. Despite coming right out of a cold snowstorm, he felt lively and energized, as if the storm was nothing but a pleasant nap. Discovering a new power usually had that effect on him. There were few things as satisfying as that thrill.
"We gotta try that again sometime," Okuyasu said, his entire being filled with this child-like glee and excitement. And really, who could blame him? Koichi certainly didn't. After all, how dull would you have to be to not like flying cars?
"Alright, maybe we can try it aft-"
The world blinked, Koichi hit the ground, rolled around several times, and slammed into a tree.
"…ow."
Wha-what the…? The car, Okuyasu, Josuke, Jotaro… they were all gone. Or rather… Koichi had disappeared and appeared somewhere else. Somewhere in the forest, next to a dirt road. One second, he was sitting in the car, the next, he slammed into a tree. It was almost like he had been teleported out of the car…
…
Actually, that was probably exactly what had happened.
S-H-I-T
Chapter 16: Welcome to Beach City, Act 4
You've seen it. Now he can hear you.
You've touched it. Now he can see you.
Never ring it. If you hear it, he can touch you.
Earlier…
Vidalia was humming a happy little tune while paining, not a care in the world. She seemed awfully cheerful for someone possessed by a monster and forced to turn on her friends. Really, it was a showcase of an admirable level of optimism. Amethyst wished she could be that happy and carefree. But, you know… a bit hard to do that while trapped by an invisible force.
They had all struggled against it, trying to break free from whatever it was that was holding them prisoner. But no matter how hard they struggled, it was all in vain. Not even Garnet couldn't move a single millimeter. The three gems were very firmly stuck where they were, locked in place by something they couldn't see.
"Mother Onion!" Garnet said, stern like a frustrated mother herself. "Let us go!"
"Huh?" Vidalia said and turned her gaze away from the painting for a moment. The light in her eyes flickered and she looked confused. Almost like Garnet's words had reached her ears but not her brain.
"Onion?" she said after a few seconds. "He's upstairs. He was really worried last night and couldn't sleep very well so he's a bit tired right now…" She looked back at her painting and the light returned to her eyes as she continued working.
"Vi, please," Amethyst said, pleading, desperation bubbling up inside her. She couldn't stand seeing her friend acting like this, so… unnatural. Unnatural, possessed… obsessed… "Come on, you've got to fight it!"
"Fight what?" Vidalia said absentmindedly while applying some more paint to the canvas.
"Santana's control! He's messing with your head and making you do all of this!"
"Do… what?" Vidalia was looking more and more confused by the second. "What are you even talking about, Amethyst? I'm not… I'm not under anyone's control. Santana, he… gave me something…" Her eyes wandered around the studio, unfocused and unguided until they fell back upon the canvas. "Oh, that's right!" she exclaimed. "I've got to finish the painting!" she said, the manic light returning to her eyes. "It's almost done, just you hold on a few seconds… Trust me, you're going to love this."
She took a few steps away from her latest composition, scanning it up and down. Amethyst had seen her do that before. She was checking if there were any imperfections or mistakes that needed to be corrected before the paint dried.
"You know what?" she said slowly. "I think I'm done… Wow, that was fast, wasn't it?" She grabbed the easel and carefully turned it around so the gems could see the fresh masterpiece.
It was like looking right into a mirror.
The painting was of the three gems and it was the most life-like portraits Amethyst had ever seen. More alive than any drawing, more accurate than any photograph, deeper than any statue. She could have sworn the images were actually moving on the canvas, that's how realistic they were!
"It… it's done," Vidalia said, drawing the attention of the three gems away from the painting. She was standing, swaying back and forth, like a tree in a breeze. Her eyes were a thousand kilometers away and her voice just as distant.
"Now Michelangelo's true ability awakens," a voice that wasn't Vidalia's said through her lips. "The image of life shall come alive itself."
The images on the painting suddenly started moving, coming to life inside their flat world. The drawing of Garnet reached towards the real world, its hand breaching the barrier between fact and fiction, reality and depiction. It emerged from the canvas, followed by the portraits off Pearl and Amethyst.
They stood up, looking a bit confused at first. Exact copies of the three gems, it was uncanny, bizarre to behold. Like an out-of-body experience.
"There's… there's someone coming here," Vidalia said. "To Beach City. Stop them." She then stumbled backward, slumping down on a stool.
The three replicas nodded in unison. Without saying a word, they started walking away, leaving their creator and inspirations behind.
Vidalia sat on the stool for a minute before suddenly jumping back up on her feet, like a puppet being yanked off-stage by its master. She grabbed the painting of Kars and then she too left. Amethyst tried to protest, but her words fell on deaf ears.
…
"Hey, Garnet?" Amethyst said after a while.
"Yeah?"
"This sucks."
xxXXxx
Back in the woods…
Koichi sighed. What was it Jotaro always said? Yare yare daze? Yeah, that.
He looked around, trying to figure out where he was. He couldn't be too far away from the others, right? Come to think of it… hadn't they passed by a dirt road just like this one going into the forest only a few seconds before he disappeared? If this was the same road, then he should be able to find his way back pretty easily…
His thoughts were interrupted by the faint sound of a car in the distance. It soon became visible, approaching on the small road through the forest. As it got closer, it became apparent that it wasn't the rental car driven by Jotaro coming to rescue him. No, it was… a pizza delivery car? It was decorated with pepperonis and mushrooms, and the license plate said "PIZZA" in large letters, so Koichi felt confident in assuming it was a pizza delivery car. Strange, who would have ordered pizza at this time of day? It was morning and you can't eat pizza for breakfast… right?
Koichi shook his head, redirecting his overactive mind from pizza to more important things.
There were two people in the car, one pale guy with sunglasses in the backseat and dark-skinned girl driving. He estimated that they were two or three, maybe even four years older than him. For some reason, both of them were wearing black suits. Granted, they were stylish as all heck, Koichi would freely admit that. But still, it was a bit weird, wasn't it?
After all, wasn't it terribly convenient that just after he got teleported to this random place in the woods, two people showed up in a car, as if on cue? No, something fishy was going on, Koichi was sure of it. This was a trap, deliberately set up and perfectly executed.
Koichi quickly weighed his options. On one hand, recent experiences had taught him that Echoes wasn't great at dealing with multiple opponents at once. But on the other hand… he did have a way to get out of the fight if he needed to. And perhaps they weren't all that strong individually and that's why both of them got sent to take care of him? If that was the case… he might be able to handle them both. If he played his cards right, he might even be able to knock one of them out before the other even had time to react.
Still.. as the car came closer and closer, he felt a sense of dread creeping over him. Like he was already under attack before the fight had even begun…
The girl pulled up next to him, stopping the car. Some funky electronic dance music played on the car stereo.
"Hey there little man," she said. Her smile made Koichi feel uncomfortable. It was… empty. "You lost?"
Koichi didn't bother answering.
"Echoes! Act Three!" He commanded his stand to attack. If there was any doubt in his mind before, that doubt was now gone! He was absolutely sure these two were stand users. This sense of dread he felt… it wasn't natural! It could only be the effect of an enemy stand!
"BEEEEEEEEEEEETHC!" Echoes cried as it flew forward, its tiny fists shooting like bullets from a machine gun girl towards the girl.
"EEP!" she yelped and flinched, terror filling her face. But before Echoes fists even reached her, a large dark hand appeared to block them. The stand's strikes bounced of the hand like an angry fly bouncing off a tank.
"Aren't we all lost?" the guy in the backseat sighed, speaking with a monotone, yet philosophically inquiring voice. "Aren't we all lost on the road of life, endlessly walking on the crossroads of destiny, looking for purpose? Some people find the way, while others get lost or wander down dangerous paths leading to death and misery."
He made a dramatic pause before a small smile graced his lips.
"Heh. You got scared," he said playfully.
"I was not!" the girl protested. "I was surprised is all!"
"Sure, whatever you say," the guy said.
The girl muttered something and turned up the volume on the stereo, blasting electronic music for all the of the forest to hear.
At the same time, Koichi rushed forward, Echoes at the ready. They had both seen Echoes, which meant that both of them were stand users. He had to end this quick-
Something hit Koichi hard in the chest. It knocked the air out of him and he flew back.
He crashed into a tree for the second time in a way too short time span. His back hurt from the impact and his chest from the punch. He collapsed on the ground, gasping for his escaped breath. As he inhaled the precious air into his lungs, he saw… something in front of him.
It was… hard to distinguish exactly what it was. It was like the image in front of him was distorted, glitching, like a badly rendered texture in a video game. He could catch glimpses of the background through the stand as it flickered in and out of existence. What he could see was a large dark humanoid figure with long arms and large hands.
Its empty eyes looked down upon him. It raised its foot into the air and let it fall to the ground again. Koichi rolled out of the way, the heavy foot coming way too close to him for comfort. It landed on the ground like an anvil falling from the top of a three-story building.
"Hey Buck," the girl said.
Echoes attacked the enemy stand with a flurry of punches. It didn't even flinch, even as it was struck a hundred times in only a few seconds.
"Yeah, Jenny?" Buck responded.
The dark stand punched Echoes, swatting it away like a fly. Koichi was violently jerked along with his stand, falling to the ground. The enemy stand attacked again, swinging at Koichi. Echoes blocked, but the power from the blow was enough to make the bones in his arms ache.
"You said you were working on a new song, right?" Jenny said. "How about we try it out?"
Buck smiled.
"Sure thing."
Jenny turned off the stereo and as suddenly as it had appeared, the dark stand disappeared.
Koichi stood back up on shaking legs. He could already feel the bruises on his arms and back forming.
Such power… by the truest definition of the word, this stand's strength was truly awesome! Koichi had no doubt in his mind that it would be able to go up against even Crazy Diamond or Star Platinum, at least as far as strength was concerned.
Buck grabbed a guitar a tried a few chords, the same uneasy as before filling Koichi as they reached his ears.
Jenny held up something, showing it to the battered Koichi.
It was a cowbell. An unremarkable and rusty cowbell that Koichi recognized. It was the same cowbell that had been in his hotel room the night before!
"Hey little man, are you ready to Evacuate the Dancefloor?" she giggled.
Buck started playing, Jenny joining in, tapping the cowbell with a drumstick.
Just a little too late, Koichi realized what was going on. Neither of them was actually controlling the stand directly. He rushed forward, trying to stop them, but it was too late. The eerie music reaching his ears and Evacuate the Dancefloor appeared before his eyes before he could reach the teens sitting in the car.
The mighty stand raised its massive hand above its head and brought it down like a giant hammer. Koichi managed to step to the side just before he was crushed like an ant. The sheer force of the fist flying past him created a wind that nearly threw him off his feet again. Had it hit him…
Buck started singing.
"All our times have come
Here, but now they're gone"
Echoes blocked and incoming swing from Evacuate the Dancefloor, the force nearly enough to break Koichi's arm.
"Seasons don't fear the reaper
Nor do the wind the sun or the rain"
"Act Three: Three Freeze!" Echoes cried and hit Evacuate the Dancefloor's arm. Its hand plummeted to the ground like a meteor, creating a small crater upon impact. For a moment, it looked like the enemy stand would topple over, pulled down, and trapped in place by the weight of its own arm. But then… it stood back up. Its arm was clearly a lot heavier, making the stand tilt slightly to the side and move slower. Yet, even though it lumbered closer and its hand got heavier, it was obvious that Echoes' ability was little more than a mild inconvenience.
Jenny started backing up Buck's singing with some surprising harmony between them.
"We can be like they are," Jenny sang.
"Come on baby," Buck continued.
Don't fear the reaper"
"Baby take my hand"
"Don't fear the reaper"
"We'll be able to fly"
"Don't Fear the Reaper"
"Baby, I'm your man"
Evacuate the Dancefloor swung and swiped, punched, and kicked at poor Koichi, who could barely defend against the stand's continued and constant assault.
I-it was just too strong! Koichi felt like a mouse fighting against a mountain, a roaring volcano spewing lava and poisonous gas. Evacuate the Dancefloor was unstoppable! None of Echoes' attacks even seemed to slow it down. Its fists just bounced off it, doing no more to stop the enemy than an ant can do to stop a train in its tracks.
He couldn't even attempt to attack the user. If even one attack from that terrifying stand connected with his squishy human body… he'd die, no question about it.
But… he couldn't keep defending forever. Eventually, he'd be worn down and overwhelmed. Then he'd be crushed and grounded into dust!
And until that happened… Buck and Jenny would keep singing.
"La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la"
"Stop!" Koichi cried as Evacuate the Dancefloor's fist very nearly crushed his head. "This beat is killing me!"
But they didn't even stop and neither did the invincible stand. It swung at Koichi once again. Echoes blocked, but it sent it and its master flying several meters through the air.
Koichi crashed to the ground for what felt like the thousandth time that day. He was lying on the ground, covered in grass and dirt, mixed in with some blood. His vision was blurry, but he did see something. A little something lying on the ground, mere centimeters from his face. A stick. A completely ordinary, unremarkable, uninteresting stick. On literally any other day, he'd have walked past it without even registering the fact that it was there.
Yet, on this day, at this moment, that stick was the most important thing in the world, the only thing that could save his life now.
A desperate plan had hatched in Koichi's mind. A very, very desperate plan. He grabbed the stick. The stick was long and thin, yet sturdy. He threw it to Echoes, who snapped it in half.
The tall, towering enemy stand approached him slowly.
"Valentine is done
Here, but now they're gone"
Koichi's own stand looked at him as if to say "are you sure?"
Yes! He was sure!
The large, intimidating stand raised its hand above its head to strike him down for good. Koichi braced himself. Not for Evacuate the Dancefloor's strike, but for what his own stand was about to do.
Echoes jammed the sticks deep into his ears.
It hurt. Like hell. Like all hell. All of it.
His head couldn't have hurt more if he so had slammed it against a rock a dozen times. The pain was so intense that he couldn't even scream, just grit his teeth so hard they might crack. If he hadn't already been lying down, he would have fallen.
His mind went blank for several seconds. He couldn't think, only feel the pain.
Through teary eyes, Koichi saw Evacuate the Dancefloor flicker and disappear. He wished it had stayed and put him out of his misery.
A lifetime passed by before Koichi could breathe again and yet another lifetime before he could think. A hundred years passed him by in that forest before he stood back up, his entire body shaking.
He wiped his eyes and looked at Buck and Jenny. They looked like they had just gone through several lifetimes of shock and surprise themselves.
"Automatic stand," Koichi said. "An independent stand capable of acting without direct input from its user. Automatic stands often have some form of activation condition or trigger." Or rather, that's what he meant to say, he wasn't actually sure if that's what he did say. He literally couldn't hear himself talk. He couldn't hear anything. "This stand, in particular, is activated by music. As long as I hear any music, the stand will continue to attack me. But if I can't hear…"
He pulled the stick out of his ears. They were covered in blood from his ruptured eardrums. Pulling them out hurt quite a bit too, and Koichi stumbled but quickly regained his footing. He started walking towards the car and the two shocked teens.
"The main advantage of automatic stands is that the user doesn't have to get anywhere close to their target to attack," he continued as he approached the car. Their expressions changed from surprise and shock to fear and terror as Echoes appeared by Koichi's side.
"That's the mistake you made. You got close to me."
xxXXxx
Buck Dewey
Stand: Don't Fear & The Reaper
Status: Unconscious and unable to fight.
Jenny Pizza
Stand: Evacuate the Dancefloor
Status: Unconscious and unable to fight.
xxXXxx
Koichi sighed deeply as he let Echoes pull the fleshbud out of Buck's head. He crushed it and watched it disintegrate in the sunshine.
He was in pain. All over. He had never been run over by a road roller, but this is what he imagined it would feel like afterward. He hurt in places he didn't even know you could hurt in. Like your eardrums. But he was alive, so that was a plus he supposed.
He took a few moments to sit down and breathe. Fill his lungs with fresh air and exhale the stale air, as if trying to expel the pain from his body.
His mind wandered for a bit, accidentally stumbling over an old memory, He had once read this comic about a girl who could fly, by 'exhaling the heavy air and inhaling only light air.' Even as a kid, Koichi realized how dumb that was, but still… the idea of flying was so alluring to him that he had completely suspended his disbelief and gone along with it.
After all, who hasn't wished that they could fly at some point in their life?
After maybe a minute or two, he stood back up again. It didn't really hurt less, but he had to get going. The sooner he got back to Josuke and the others, the better.
He glanced at the two unconscious bodies he was leaving behind. He felt a bit bad about it, but he couldn't bring them with him. Even if he could carry them, which he doubted, he might bring them right into danger. The car was also out of the question since Koichi couldn't drive.
Besides… the car could only drive on roads, and where Koichi was going, he didn't need roads.
He smiled to himself and summoned forth his stand.
"Echoes Act Three: Three Free!"
Koichi suddenly felt light, lighter than air. He kicked against the ground and shot up, soaring high above the treetops. He let out a scream of excitement as he floated high above the ground. The pain in his body melted away, almost like he left it back down on the ground.
He scanned the ground, his eyes following the dirt road Buck and Jenny had used. In the distance, maybe a kilometer and a half away, he saw the bigger road he'd been traveling on just a few minutes earlier.
Slowly, he released Three Free, and he sunk back to the ground. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he reengaged the ability and kicked off again, flying in the general direction he wanted to go.
Okuyasu had been spot-on! This new ability was awesome!
xxXXxx
Evacuate the Dancefloor
Automatic type stand
User: Jenny Pizza
Appearance: The cowbell portion of EtD is just that; an unremarkable cowbell, with no markings or engravings but a lot of corrosion. The 'body' of EtD is a large humanoid, dark, with abnormally large hands. Its body appears to 'glitch,' with small chunks of it appearing and disappearing randomly. It has no distinguishable features aside from empty, soulless eyes.
Powers and Abilities
•Now You've Seen It-The rusty cowbell manifest itself close to its target. Should the target ring it or hear it being rung, EtD's main ability will activate.
•This Beat Is Killing Me-Whenever the victim hears any music or singing, they will be attacked by the humanoid manifestation of EtD.
Stats
Destructive Power: A
Speed: C
Range: ∞ (will follow the victim until the ability is dispelled by the user)
Durability: A
Precision: B
Development Potential: D
To be continued…
It's a cowbell, never ring EtD
Or else you will be watched by an unseen entity
It is tall and will stalk you everywhere
Behind you when you're not aware and floats into the air
Man, I love Glenn Leroi's SCP songs. Go check out his song on SCP-513 and see if you can spot any references in this chapter.
So, obviously, Jenny's stand is named after Evacuate the Dancefloor by Cascada. It's a horror song about a woman infected by some cursed song that forces her to dance until she dies. That's my interpretation at least, tell me what you guys think.
The second inspiration was, of course, SCP-513. Look it up on the SCP Wiki, but please, don't tell [DATA EXPUNGED] that I sent you.
I loved the SUF finale, in case anyone was still wondering.
Now, as I aid before, I've been working hard on the new chapters and am really excited to share them with you. So please, be sure to come back here next week, on Friday the 22nd for Welcome to Beach City, Act 5, where we continue the action with Josuke Higashikata vs. Sadie Killer!
In the meantime, take care of the Planet Earth, wash your hands and remember that anything can happen in space!
