Lamp Entertainment presents…

Meanwhile, on the beach…

"Kiki, please stop!" Steven cried. "I-I don't wanna hurt you…"

She didn't answer. She just crouched down into a starting position, like a professional runner before a lap. Her eyes were firmly locked on the target, Steven.

Steven summoned his shield. He really hoped his plan would work…

Chapter 16: Welcome to Beach City, Act 6

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Vidalia's studio…

The invisible force trapping them disappeared as suddenly and abruptly as it had appeared to trap them in place. The three gems kept captive in the art studio fell to the ground in a very inelegant pile of multi-colored limbs and distinctly purple curse words.

"What on Earth…?" Pearl mumbled. She had somehow managed to find herself at the bottom of the pile. An impressive feat, since she had been the only one standing up. "We-we were let go," she said, crawling out from under Garnet and Amethyst. "But why?"

"Maybe the stand was on some time limit or something?" Amethyst suggested. Her legs felt a bit wobbly as she stood back up. Almost like she had forgotten how to move normally in that short time locked in place by Kiki's ability.

"Perhaps…" Garnet muttered. She adjusted her visor and looked mysterious like she usually did while looking into the future. "Perhaps… or maybe…" She scowled and looked displeased. Amethyst figured she was still having difficulties predicting anything. Garnet's future vision was based on information she already knew to some extent and there were so many unknown factors at play, such as these bizarre stands and their unpredictable abilities. If anything, it almost seemed like Santana could see the future himself! How else was he able to set up the trap in Vidalia's studio unless he knew where they were going beforehand?

"The stand users!" Pearl suddenly exclaimed, giving Garnet and Amethyst both a jump scare. "Vidalia sent those… those copies of us to intercept them! They might be in danger!"

Garnet tapped her visor again and you could almost see her third eye glowing through the visor, frantically trying to predict the enemy's next move based on what little data she had to go off.

"Yes…" she said after a few seconds. "Yes, they're in danger… they're in danger right now!"

xxXXxx

On the road…

You know the expression 'actions speak louder than words?' Jotaro knew these words well and he wholeheartedly believed in them. Really, they summed up his personality rather neatly, didn't they? He was a man of few words and preferred to let his actions do the speaking for him.

It seemed like these three colorful women, whoever they were, too subscribed to this belief.

None of them said a word. The tall red one only leaned forward slightly and dragged her finger across the windshield, leaving a trail of red paint smeared on it.

"Leave," it said in big, blocky letters. Jotaro was mildly impressed that she managed to write it backward so he and Okuyasu could read it from inside the car. Although, of all the questions floating around in his mind, how she was able to do that was one of the less important ones.

Far more important at the moment was the question of who these people were? Between the primary colors, crystals implanted into their skin, and the square afro the tall one sported, they shared a clear resemblance with Moonstone and Ruby. Was this their allies? Jotaro remembered Ruby mentioning that they had at least one more person as a backup, someone called Titanium.

"Hey Jotaro?" Okuyasu said, sounding as if he was confused about whether he should be scared or just confused. Really, Jotaro couldn't blame him. "Are these the weird people you were talking about earlier? The ones Josuke's dad had joined up with? They were supposed to meet us here, right?"

"Don't know," Jotaro said. That was a possibility too. This could all be a silly mistake, a simple misunderstanding. Although, knowing his luck, this was bound to be another violent confrontation Jotaro would have to push past.

Either way, he did have a very quick way of figuring out which answer was the true one.

He opened the door and stepped outside. Okuyasu followed his example, getting out on the other side of the car.

"My name is Jotaro Kujo," Jotaro said. He may prefer actions over words most of the time, but words did have their uses. It's a lot easier to ask questions with words. "Who are you?"

No answer. The three women just looked on them, silently following their every move. The red one, in particular, seemed locked onto Jotaro, while the other two stared down Okuyasu.

"I am here to meet up with Joseph Joestar," Jotaro said and took a step forward. "We-"

Her mouth stayed firmly shut, but her actions spoke louder than any scream or howl. As soon as Jotaro took a step forward, the red one pushed him in the chest. Hard. Jotaro didn't just stumble, he was thrown two or three meters back. Star Platinum appeared to take the brunt of the impact, preventing Jotaro from scraping his back against the rough asphalt when he landed. It was still far from a pleasant experience.

"Hey! What was that for!?" Okuyasu yelled. The Hand stood by his side, waiting for its master's commands. Okuyasu himself looked over at Jotaro as if waiting for orders himself.

Jotaro stood back up, cursing under his breath. This day had started bad and it just kept on getting worse with every minute passing by.

"You wish to fight us?" he asked, staring into the reflective visor of the red one. She still did not say anything, only dragging her foot on the ground, creating a line of red paint. A pretty clear statement. If they wanted to pass, they'd have to fight.

"Yare yare daze," Jotaro muttered. He rushed forward, Star Platinum appearing to teach this woman a lesson or two.

"ORA!" the stand roared as its fist flew through the air like a small meteor falling through the atmosphere towards an unsuspecting group of soon to be extinct dinosaurs.

The red woman reacted quickly, her fist clad in a giant gauntlet meeting Star Platinum's mid-air.

「KA-WOOSH!」

A burst of wind spread from the impact, going outwards like a small explosion of air. Jotaro felt it pushing against him and nearly ripping the hat off his head. He gritted his teeth. This woman was strong. The bones in his hand were shaking, that's how hard she had hit Star Platinum's fist.

Still… Star Platinum wasn't exactly a pushover either.

"ORA!" it yelled, launching another attack, which the red woman blocked. "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA !" Star Platinum's fists moved so fast it almost seemed to grow multiple arms just to pummel the red woman with.

At first, she managed to keep up, blocking several of Star Platinum's punches. But as the mighty stand sped up, going faster and faster, she was quickly overwhelmed and her defenses broke down. Star Platinum got a hit in. And then another, and another one and another one…

She was sent flying and landed on the hard ground about ten to fifteen meters away.

Jotaro afforded himself a second or two to take a look at how Okuyasu was doing. Badly, by the looks of it. He was struggli-

"Star Platinum: The World!"

Time stood still.

That one second Jotaro had let himself be distracted was enough for the red woman to get back on her feet and dash towards him. Looking at her body frozen in time, it almost looked like she was flying through the air. He had just barely reacted in time after seeing a red blur in his peripheral vision before she slammed into him.

One second passed in stopped time while Jotaro processed this. This woman… not only was she strong and fast, but she was tough too. Star Platinum had hit her hard enough to knock most people unconscious or at least render them immobile for more than two seconds. But she got up like it was nothing. Examining her up close, Jotaro couldn't even spot any dents or bruises in her skin or the weird bodysuit she was wearing.

Star Platinum raised its hands above its head and swung them down upon the woman in a violent haymaker. The blow pushed her down to the ground. Jotaro estimated that the impact, once time resumed, would be enough to break a few ribs.

Two seconds had passed. Time resumed as normal.

「CRASH!」

The woman slammed into the ground, cracking the asphalt and creating a small crater. She didn't stay down for long, however.

She pushed off the ground with her hands, swinging her legs around like a breakdancer, aiming a kick at Jotaro's chest. Star Platinum blocked it, but it was still powerful enough to push him back a meter or two. His feet skidded against the ground, crossing over the line the woman had drawn earlier, smearing the fresh paint. Jotaro felt a small ache in his chest where her foot had struck Star Platinum. Fifth or sixth rib. Probably not cracked, just hurting.

The red woman was already back on her feet. She stared at Jotaro but didn't move. She just stood there, waiting.

Who was she… what was she? There didn't seem to be any stand ability at play, at least not as far as Jotaro could tell. Yet this woman was clearly too strong to be a regular human. And that's not even to mention her deep red skin, unnatural proportions, or the odd trails of paint she produced from her bare skin. She couldn't be a vampire, that hypothesis was disproved immediately by the warm rays from the sun raining down upon them both. Maybe a vampire dyed in a thick layer of paint to shield it from the sunlight…. but no, the red skin looked too… natural for that. But if that wasn't the answer, then what the hell was going on?

For a brief moment, a truly ridiculous thought intruded into Jotaro's mind, pestering him like his daughter insisting that he get her a lollipop or chocolate bar while they were grocery shopping.

It was a memory from last year of something Josuke and Okuyasu had told him while he was staying in Morioh. Something about a boy who claimed to be an alien…

Jotaro quickly pushed the thought out of his consciousness like an embarrassing memory preventing him from falling asleep at night. He had seen some pretty weird shit in his days, but space aliens? No. Just no. Until presented with irrefutable evidence, he'd refuse to believe in such nonsense.

For now, the origin of these strange women would have to wait. It mattered very little at the moment. What mattered was how to beat them.

Jotaro considered his options, trying to find something, anything he could use. Any viable strategies or approaches, something in the environment he could use…

But… there wasn't anything. There wasn't much of note around, only the road, some grass, and the car. This lady had no discernible weaknesses or limitations to her ability that he could exploit or work around. Only a pair of fists that matched Star Platinum in strength.

This wasn't a fight that would be won by a superior tactical intellect or devious trickery. No, this fight would be won through sheer strength, speed, and combat prowess.

Then so be it. Star Platinum had plenty of that to spare.

Jotaro rushed towards the waiting woman.

"ORA!"

xxXXxx

Okuyasu was confused, but saying that was sorta like saying "the sky is blue." True, but not that unusual or interesting. Not knowing what was going on was basically the state he was in like… half of all the time, at least. He wasn't someone who thought too much about things. Okuyasu was the kind of person who relied on his instincts and the feeling in his gut to tell him what to do. It had worked out pretty well so far.

Right now, for example, his instincts were telling him that he was in danger. And wouldn't you know it, he really was in danger!

When he saw Jotaro attacking the red one, he figured he should do the same. So he summoned The Hand and ran towards the two women in front of him. One was short and kinda round, with purple skin. The other one was thin, had a pointy nose and white skin. Very white skin. Okuyasu almost felt a little bad for attacking her first, because she looked almost sickly with such pale skin.

He stopped feeling guilty almost immediately. She easily dodged The Hand's punch and tried to stab him with her spear. The Hand managed to grab it with its left hand, but she spun around and kicked him in the chin. Despite looking like a bundle of sticks that would break if you looked at them too harshly, she was pretty strong. Okuyasu stumbled back, his jaw nearly dislocated from the kick.

While he was distracted and his eyes were teary, the short lady swung her whip at him. The Hand blocked it, but he could still feel the impact on his chest. It stung. An ugly and uncomfortable memory reared its ugly head in his mind. A memory from when he was a little kid. His father would get angry and lash out at him and Keicho…

The thin lady lunged forward with her spear, only pure reflexes saving Okuyasu from getting skewered.

「THUMM」

The Hand swiped away at the space behind Okuyasu, dragging him out of the way. Thin lady's spear hit nothing but the empty air where he used to be. She looked confused for a moment, tilting her head to the side.

The Hand swiped a few more times to make some distance between Okuyasu and the enemy ladies. He landed on his feet but stumbled a little.

Then the short lady rolled up into a ball and… spin dashed!

He was so flabbergasted by the sight that he almost forgot to defend himself! the purple ball slammed into The Hand hard enough to send Okuyasu flying into the air. Again, only a quick reflex saved him from landing on the ground with a splat.

「THUMM」

The Hand erased the space above its master to slow his fall, but Okuyasu still crashed on the ground in a not very comfortable manner. His chest and arm hurt from the short lady slamming into his stand and his shoulder hurt after landing on it. But the pain was nothing compared to the utter bewilderment he felt.

Wha-what the hell!? Did she just spin dash like Sonic? What kind of fresh bullshit was this? Was she a video game character? Was that why she was purple?

Whatever, Okuyasu didn't care who or what she was. He was pissed off.

He got back up and ran towards the two of them. The short lady swung her whip again, but The Hand grabbed it and yanked hard at it. The short lady was unprepared for it, lost her footing and was pulled along by her whip. The Hand kicked her in the stomach, which sent her flying back. That should teach her a lesson or two! Except… she got up almost immediately like it was nothing!

No time to be puzzled, the thin lady was trying to kill him again! She leaped forward, soaring like a bird of prey with a very sharp beak, except the beak was a spear.

「THUMM」

Again, The Hand erased the space behind Okuyasu to save him from an untimely end as shish kebab. But then the thin lady spun around and threw her spear at Okuyasu…

「THUMM」

…only for The Hand to catch it and erase the spear completely for existence in one swipe!

"Ha!" Okuyasu yelled triumphantly.

The thin lady jumped backward, doing a backflip and landing on the ground gracefully. Without a word, she coupled her hands and a jet of something gooey appeared in them as if secreted directly by her skin. The liquid extended into a long rod and hardened into a new spear.

"Oh…" Okuyasu said disappointedly.

xxXXxx

"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Star Platinum and the red woman's fists met once again in a clash of flying fists, a deadly destructive dance of colliding hands. "ORA ORA ORA!" One punch slipped past her guard, a devastating blow connecting with her face.

A blow like that would snap a normal human's neck. But, evidently, this was not a normal human. Far from it. The red woman barely looked faced by it, only a few cracks in her visor to show that she had ever even been attacked. Still, her mouth turned into a silent snarl and she raised her enormous gauntlet into the air.

Like the tension in the air right before a thunderstorm, Jotaro could feel the power in this one single punch before it was even thrown. He readied himself for the impact.

"ORA!" Her and Star Platinum's fists collided like two trucks speeding down the highway crashing into each other. Jotaro had braced himself, but he still wasn't ready

「KA-BOOM!」

The impact seemed to shake the entire world and a powerful gust of wind washed over Jotaro like a tidal wave flooding an unsuspecting beach. The ground cracked beneath his feet and he was pushed backward, falling over on the hard ground.

Sh-she…

His left hand was shaking, warm blood dripping from his bruised and cracked knuckles.

In all his years, Jotaro had never encountered anything like this. He had seen stands with greater destructive power, but when it came to throwing hands, his Star Platinum had always come out on top. Only Dio's The World had ever been able to overpower him in a fistfight, but even then it was a close match. But with this woman, there was no doubt…

She was stronger than Star Platinum!

The red woman towered over Jotaro who was lying on the ground, still a bit dazed. She raised her foot into the air, ready to stomp down on him as if he were nothing but a bug to be crushed beneath her boot.

Star Platinum appeared and kicked against the ground, sending itself and its master skidding on the ground, away from the red woman. Jotaro felt his jacket shredding and he got a few scrapes on his back. It hurt, but, when he saw the woman's foot burying itself deep into the asphalt where he had just been lying, he felt that it was worth it.

Jotaro stood back up, panting. The red woman… stayed where she was. She still looked at him but showed no other interest in pursuing him.

Come to think of it… She had done that during the entire fight. She had never come to him, instead always waiting for him to get close. Waiting behind that line she drew on the ground earlier.

That's when it all clicked in Jotaro's head.

This thing… inhuman strength and durability. Seemingly not equipped with a stand of its own, but still able to see them. Unable to talk. Following some arbitrary rule or limitation slavishly.

"You're not human, are you?" Jotaro asked. The red woman didn't say anything, only tilting its head. "You're not even really alive, right? You're the creation of some stand."

'She' nodded in response.

That explained a few things. Not everything, but enough for the moment. Jotaro could worry about the details later.

"I see," he said. He threw a glance over at Okuyasu. He was struggling against his two opponents. "And I suppose your purpose is to stop us from entering Beach City?"

Nod.

"So if we turn around and leave, you will not attack or pursue us?"

Another nod.

Jotaro sighed. As tempting as it was to just turn his back and walk away, he couldn't. His conscience wouldn't allow him to let the pillar man roam free. He briefly considered trying to sneak past the guard sentries, but it seemed too risky. As far as he knew, they could track him, or there might be more of them set out at other points around the town. No, the best option was probably just to destroy them.

He ran forward, charging at the red woman or whatever it was she was. She crouched down slightly, ready for whatever attack he was about to throw.

"Star Platinum: The World!"

Time stood still, but Jotaro kept running. The red woman was fast enough to react, block, or even counter any attack if he was just running straight at her like this. His only chance to actually get an attack to connect would be to do so while time was stopped.

One second passed in stopped time. Jotaro's target was fiver meters out of reach.

He had to end this fight quickly if he was going to be able to help Okuyasu before the poor boy was overwhelmed by the other two sentries. Even if they were only a third or fourth as powerful as this one, the two of them would probably be too much for Okuyasu to handle on his own. His stand may be powerful, but he was a very limited and restrained fighter.

Two seconds passed in stopped time. Jotaro's target was within reach. Star Platinum raised its right fist. Jotaro didn't want to use his left hand if avoidable. There were definitely a few cracks in his bones already. No need to make them any bigger.

Two and a half seconds passed in stopped time. Time resumed as normal.

It didn't even take a second between time resuming and Star Platinum's fist reaching its target. And yet, despite the impossibly short window of time the woman had to react and move, she was still able to put her gauntlets up to block the punch. She was pushed back a few decimeters, her feet ripping through the asphalt, but she took little to no actual damage.

Jotaro cursed violently. How the…? She was fast, but not that fast! It was almost like she could see it coming… like she had peeked into the future and seen exactly what Jotaro was going to do!

He didn't have time to contemplate however as she counterattacked. Star Platinum was forced to block another one of her titanic punches. The bones in Jotaro's arms vibrated and he staggered backward, stumbling right into the car.

With a furious roar, Star Platinum toe the door right off the car and hurled it at the red woman like an enormous frisbee. She caught it like it was nothing. And it wasn't. As an attack, it was a pathetic attempt against such an opponent. Except it wasn't an attack. It was a distraction. The door left her blind for a single but valuable moment.

"ORA!

Jotaro lunged forward, Star Platinum driving its fist straight through the door like it was a piece of tinfoil. The mighty stand's fist collided with the woman's chest hard enough to break the bones of any animal on the planet.

Still not enough.

The woman held onto the door firmly. Before Jotaro had time to react and recall Star Platinum, her gauntlets started to spark.

"AAARGH!" Jotaro cried out in pain as a powerful electric current surged through the metal door and into Star Platinum. Some of the energy carried through the psychic connection between stand and master. Blue lightning flashed before Jotaro's eyes and he teetered back, the shock nearly enough to knock him unconscious right then and there. Somehow he found the strength to stay awake and keep moving.

Star Platinum grabbed the door with its cracked left hand and tore it away from the red woman, breaking the circuit and canceling the electric attack.

Jotaro took a deep, sharp breath. Star Platinum readied both of its fists.

"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA OR ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA OR ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA OR ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"

A veritable meteor shower of punches rained upon her, a hailstorm of flying fists and pure pain. Star Platinum seemingly grew four, six… no, a hundred additional arms!

The red woman tried to defend herself, but she was quickly rendered helpless against the wave of destruction washing over her. She couldn't do anything but be tossed around by the powerful fists pummeling her. Had there been a normal human standing there in her place, they would be reduced to little more than red mist and white dust in only a few seconds.

"ORA!" One last attack, one last punch. It tore right through the red woman's chest with a disgusting sound, like a sledgehammer crushing a watermelon.

Jotaro exhaled. It was over.

For a moment, he and the red woman stared at each other. Jotaro couldn't tell whether she was afraid, relived, or just indifferent. At most, she looked a little surprised.

Then, suddenly, her skin seemed to bubble and swell…. and she exploded in a cascade of red paint, showering and covering Jotaro from head to toe in the goo.

Well, if nothing else, he could definitely say that this was the toughest bucket of paint he had ever fought.

Jotaro cursed and tried to wipe the paint from his eyes. He had to help Okuyasu before it was too late…

As he managed to clear some of the paint from his face, he saw Okuyasu… but the young man didn't need Jotaro's help at all. Help had already arrived.

xxXXxx

Josuke had once told Okuyasu that he needed to improve his combat techniques. At first, Okuyasu wasn't entirely sure how he could even do that. Usually, his plan in battle was just to pull the enemy in close with The Hand and then punch them. But then one day he got an idea, like a flash of lightning in the dark. There was a really simple and easy way to improve this stratagem.

He'd just punch them harder!

「THUMM」

So that's what he did! He scraped away the space between him and the thin lady and punched her really hard in the face before she had the time to try and stab him again. She staggered backward from the punch, but before Okuyasu could take advantage of her temporary vulnerability, the short lady attacked again.

She swung her whip at him, forcing The Hand to block. It stung pretty bad, like a slap in the face, but on the arm. Okuyasu growled and The Hand swiped away at the whip, erasing it from existence. The short lady threw the remains on the ground and a new one started forming in her hands. The Hand raised its right hand to bring her closer before she could get her new weapon ready.

But in the time it took him to do that, the thin lady was back. She ran towards him, swinging her spear. She moved so gracefully even while running, it looked like she was dancing, the deadliest ballet on Earth.

Okuyasu tried to dodge, but he was too slow, her spear gracing his shoulder and getting dangerously close to his neck before The Hand could block it. He grunted in pain and tried to punch her with The Hand, but she pirouetted away. The short lady attacked again, The Hand barely managing to block. This time, it stung even worse. He could almost feel the red bruises forming on his chest and arms from her whip lashings.

「THUMM」

The Hand erased space just in the nick of time, the thin lady's spear mere centimeters away from separating his head from the rest of his body.

「THUMM」

He pulled himself further away, trying to get some distance between him and his opponents before he found himself at the receiving end of another lashing from her whip.

He landed on the ground, scurrying back up on his feet.

This fight was going badly for him, he didn't need to be a genius to figure that out. He might have been able to handle one of them…maybe. But the two of them were simply too much. If he tried to concentrate on one of them, the other one would simply attack him from any opening or blind spot.

All in all, he was pretty fucked. Could this get any worse?

It could.

The short lady did another spin dash, launching towards him like a rocket-boosted bowling ball. Okuyasu readied The Hand, but she zoomed right past him. He tried to steer her off-course by erasing space, but she was moving too fast for him to keep up! She circled around him, her whip came flying out of the purple blur and wrapping around him. In not even two seconds, Okuyasu was completely tied up, like a ham wrapped up in steel-wire. He struggled against the constraints but didn't dare to use The Hand on them, in case he might accidentally erase himself alongside the rope.

The short lady came to a stop a few meters away. A bright purple fire ignited at the handle of her whip. She flicked the whip and the fire traveled down it like a spark down a fuse headed for a stick of dynamite.

「THUMM」

The Hand erased part of the whip before the fire could reach Okuyasu, but it still exploded in a small purple explosion.

「Ka-Boom!」

The Hand shielded him, but Okuyasu could still feel the force of the explosion and it pushed him over. He fell to the ground, the air filling with smoke, blinding him and making him cough.

When the smoke cleared, he saw in the corner of his eye the thin lady flying towards him with her spear ready to impale him.

But… she never reached him.

Okuyasu was still dazed from the explosion, so he wasn't fast enough to react himself. He would have died right there if it wasn't for a purple whip wrapping around the waist of the thin lady before her spear could reach Okuyasu.

The thin lady was yanked away, flying through the air towards… herself?

Turning his head, Okuyasu could see what looked like exact copies of the three women that had attacked him and Jotaro. Another short purple lady had wrapped her whip around the thin lady and pulled her away from Okuyasu, while another tall red woman kicked her. The thin lady turned into a white paint splatter on the road. Another, completely identical thin lady charged forward, not towards Okuyasu, but towards the first short lady.

The first short lady looked shocked but didn't even try to fight back when the thin lady impaled her.

「SPLATT」

The first short purple lady exploded into purple paint, covering both Okuyasu and the second thin lady.

"Ew, disgusting!" she shrieked in terror.

"Dude, the second purple lady said. "That was so weird!"

"I know!" the second thin lady said. "I'm so sorry Amethyst!"

"It's fine… I think?" second purple lady (Amethyst?) said. She then smiled and started laughing. "Heh, at least my clone's last action was covering you in goop! Way to go, fake me!"

"Amethyst!" second thin lady barked. "This is not funny!"

"It was pretty funny," the second red lady said.

The second thin lady groaned in defeat and turned to Okuyasu. Her spear disappeared in a cloud of sparkles and she extended her hand towards him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Uh… yes," Okuyasu said. He grabbed her hand and she helped him back up on his feet. He was alright, just a small flesh wound in his shoulder and a few bruises. Nothing life-threatening. "Um… thank you for, ah… saving me," he said, stumbling a bit over the words. He wasn't all that good at English.

"You're quite welcome," the second thin lady said. "Thank goodness we got here in time…" She frowned and looked over at Jotaro. "But… aren't there supposed to be four of you? JoJo told us th-"

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

A sudden scream from above interrupted her! Looking up into the sky, Okuyasu saw… Koichi! He was falling from the sky… very slowly.

He landed roughly on the ground with a 'thud,' his knees visibly shaking.

"H-hey," he said. He looked like shit. He was covered in grass and dirt, he had large bruises all over his body, and blood flowed from his ears. " Um... Hi!" he yelled and waved at the strange women "I can't hear! Where is Josuke!?"

"HYYYYYAAAAAHHHHH!" Josuke was currently flying through the air on top of the tailgate from the car, yelling loudly. But Koichi couldn't hear that, so he just looked confused when everyone suddenly turned away from him and to Josuke instead. He came from the forest, riding the tailgate, laughing and yelling madly, having the time of his life.

The tailgate reached the car, hovered above it for a second while Josuke jumped off it, and then it reattached itself. Josuke looked rather pleased with himself.

"Yo!" he said. "What did I…" he trailed off as he saw…. well, everything. Jotaro covered in red paint, Okuyasu in purple, Koichi bleeding. Oh, and he looked pretty puzzled by the three strange ladies as well. "What… what did I miss?"

The tall red lady sighed.

"Welcome to Beach City," she said.

xxXXxx

Michelangelo
Short-range utility type stand

User: Vidalia

Appearance: Michelangelo takes the form of a white palette and paintbrush made from marble. It seemingly never runs out of paint and provides the user with all the colors they need. The stand also makes the user's eyes glow bright golden light when they are inspired and using the stand to create. The palette and paintbrush, alongside the light in the user's eyes and the portrait they create are all visible to non-stand users as well.

Powers and Abilities
•Answer Please-In order for Michelangelo to activate, the user has to feel inspired to create a painting of a person they're currently viewing.
•Capture the Image of You-Once the user has created an image of a person while in this inspired state, they can bring the painting to life as a life-sized replica of the original person. These portraits can not talk and have very little personality or agency. They possess no will of their own and will blindly follow their creator's orders to the letter. Michelangelo can not recreate stands, but can copy most other powers inherent to the original person, such as strength, fighting skills, gem powers, etc. Depending on the complexities of these abilities, the portraits might not be able to use them to their fullest potential. Damage done to the portraits is not carried over to the user. The user can not create a new portrait of the same person until the first one has been destroyed.

Stats
Destructive Power: N/A
Speed: N/A
Range: E
Durability: E
Precision: A
Development Potential: A

To be continued…


Josuke: "So… what did I miss?"
Jotaro: "Josuke, I think I broke every bone in my left hand. Fix me."
Koichi: "Josuke! I gouged my own eardrums out! Fix me!"
Okuyasu: "Oi, Josuke! I missed you, man!"

Michelangelo is one of those stands where I had to continuously go back and edit the description as I kept coming up with new loopholes that I wanted to avoid.

The stand is, of course, based on the song Michelangelo by Björn Skifs. It's about a guy who's trying to paint a picture of a pretty girl, but he can't seem to get it right, so he tries calling Michelangelo (the renaissance painter and sculptor) on the phone. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

The main purpose of this fight was to show roughly how the two groups, gems and stand users, stack up to each other., that they're roughly on equal footing as far as physical ability goes.

As pumped as I'm sure all of you are (I know I am at least) for the next chapter, you're gonna have to wait a teeny tiny bit longer. Writing has been going slower for me the last week or so and I refuse to rush something out just to get something out. I wanna take my time to make sure that every chapter is at a level of quality I'm happy with.

So the next chapter will be out in two weeks, on Friday, June 12th.

Oh, but trust me, it's going to be worth the wait. The next few chapters are going to be very interesting, beginning with a thrilling, heart-pounding fight against Kiki Pizza's invincible, unstoppable stand, Running in the 90s! How will Steven defeat the mighty stand that immobilized the Crystal Gems without breaking a sweat? Find out in two weeks in Chapter 17: Evil Ways, Act 1. Until then, take care of the planet Earth and remember that anything can happen in space!