Lian's Peculiar Journey: Starlight Paladins
Chapter 30
THE CHILD OF HIGH PRAISE, SERENO
PART II
"How did you find us?" Sarah asked as she quickly jumped aboard the craft, "I thought you had gone your own way!"
"Men going their own way isn't really that popular where I come from, darling." Sha Lin smirked as he saw Sereno start to mount his horse.
"I'm assuming that's the bad guy."
"He sure is." Lex grumbled and called out the Law, then fired upon his enemy.
Sereno's horse was startled and knocked its rider off.
"Quick, take off while we have the time!" Zhin instructed Sha Lin, "Oh give me this!" he growled and took command of the reins himself.
The horses neighed as the strong whip urged them to start moving.
"Hold on their partner!" Sha Lin growled, "At least let me know the deets!" he shuffled in between Zhin and Lian, "What's the bogey we're fighting?"
"First you tell us how you found us." Lian shoved him when she noticed he was getting a little too touchy during his shuffling.
"It's hard to miss the big sleep and all the fire around a large building." Sha Lin responded, "Plus, I thought I'd at least share in some of the glory taking that bad bitch down. She does owe me quite a penny." He looked at his nails.
"Of course that would be your reason." Lian scoffed, "Lex, what's the status on the bad guy?"
"We have a Code November Oscar Golf Oscar Five Zero." Lex responded, "All units keep clear of the ARV as it makes a transport. ATL man of medium height riding a strawberry roan stallio-" he stopped when he noticed all his friends staring at him.
"I mean, he still has not left the fortress grounds." He cleared his throat.
"That's more like it." Zhin cleared his ear, "All that pig language sure confused my brain." He smirked and kept his eyes on the road.
"Pigs…" Lex snarled, but focused on more pressing issues.
"Say, how did you get an ARV from a Constabulary…" he glared at Sha Lin.
Sha Lin felt the iron gaze of Lex pierce into the back of his head and gave a loud gulp.
"I mean… Uh… Let's just say… Uh…. It was a loan from an old friend of mine, yeah." He chuckled uneasily, "Look, all that matters is that I saved your butts from whatever magical powers that guy has in his fighting spirit!"
"He's right, Lex." Sarah interjected, "What matters now is losing Sereno and making it to Hadea. Hopefully we can take out Seris before her demon children regroup."
"You are sorely mistaken." Lex told them, "If he stole this vehicle, that mean-"
A bright light shone above them.
Then another.
Then another.
"What are those things?" Moji murmured.
"They look like-" Lian gasped when the lights revealed something in the sky.
A hot air balloon.
No, two hot air balloons.
No, three.
Blue and white hot air balloons with the majestic logo of the Outer Tribunal on them.
From the basket of one of the balloons were three enforcers looking down at the streets below them. One of the enforcers, a blond woman, looked at the armored wagon through her telescope. After spending a few moments fixated on them, she moved her sights to see Sereno and his horse chasing behind them.
"All units be advised, we have an ARV on the ground being chased by an unknown white male." She spoke into a magical golden shell, "Subject appears to be armed and dangerous. Currently operating a brownish horse with golden armor."
On the wagon, Lex looked up to see small flares shooting out of the side of one of the balloons.
"Mr. Lex." Moji spoke up and popped out of one of the windows, "I found this strange shell that's speaking to me!" she said and held up a similar golden shell.
Lex turned back and saw the item.
"Moji! Give me that!" he nearly snatched it from her hands and immediately placed it near his mouth, "All units, this is Sheriff Officer Lex Lawson, Unit number 777." He spoke, "I am currently being pursued by an armed assailant, over."
"Officer Lawson." A woman responded, "Are you currently operating Wagon Number 24?"
Lex tapped Sha Lin on his shoulder and pointed towards the side of the wagon.
"What?" Sha Lin asked, quite confused as to the action.
"What's the number on the side of the wagon?" Lex curtly told him.
The archer took a deep breath and hung over the edge of the wagon in order to see the sides of it.
"Uh… It's a 4…" he squinted, but then saw a most terrifying sight.
Sereno raised his rifle and fired.
"Yikes!" Sha Lin retracted his head as several bullets screamed past him.
"What's the other number!?" Lex yelled.
"I don't want my head to be blown off!" Sha Lin winced when another bullet richocheted off the metal armor of the wagon.
"Tell me now or I'll throw you into prison for stealing this vehicle!" Lex grabbed the man's red scarfed and choked him.
Sha Lin escaped his grasp and once again popped his out.
"It's a two! It's a two!" he screamed as more bullets came his way.
"10-4!" Lex spoke into the magic conch shell.
"Officer Lawson, backup is on the way." The woman responded, "All enforcers be aware that suspect is to be considered armed and dangerous."
Lex put the shell in his pocket and turned his attention back to their attacker.
"The Law!" he called out his stand, "5 Officer Police Shootout!"
Multiple Copies of the Law stood on top of the Wagon and aimed their arm cannons at Sereno.
The son of Seris glared at the enemy stands and made his horse careen to the right in order to avoid the subsequent fire from their cannons.
"You insolent bastards!" he pulled out his own stand and grabbed a spare bullet from his belt.
BAD! grabbed the bullet from its owner's hand and placed it on its palm, then hovered its other hand over it.
The bullet started to levitate between the two hands and began to spin and spin and spin. The spinning became so fast that the metal of the bullet started to glow a bright red. Despite the gunpowder igniting, the explosion itself couldn't escape the sheer speed of the spinning energy and clumped together with the now molten metal.
Sereno kept his sights on the carriage despite The Law firing upon him.
"Despite your distance, you will still see the truth of Gravity!" he yelled and noted that another armored wagon was turning the street.
The enforcers on that wagon immediately pulled out their magnums and long gun and started to fire at the criminal.
"BAD! SHOW THEM THE SPEED OF GRAVITY! THE SPEED OF DESTINY!" Sereno yelled at the top of his lungs and pointed at the other wagon.
BAD!, which now had a glowing ball of mass within its palms, separated its hands.
The mass of light stopped spinning and shot out in a flash, and within the same second that the flash went off the armored wagon that had join the chase suddenly had its armored panels completely blown off.
The enforcers screamed as shards of metal and wood struck their bodies and retired them from action.
"What the hell was that!?" Lian yelled as she saw the wagon nearly fall over.
Sereno chuckled, pulled out a small pipe of metal and handed it to his stand.
BAD! made the pipe spin in its hands until it became red hot and molten, but still retrained some form of cylindrical shape to due the high spin.
"He seems to be making something in his hands…" Lex used The Law to look back at their attacker, "It seems he is using that mysterious force to la-"
Molten metallic energy suddenly ripped the armor of the left side of their wagon.
"AGHH!" Zhin, Lian, and Sha Lin yelled in shock as the horses suddenly panicked.
"ALL UNIT BE ADVISED! STAY AWAY FROM THE SUBJECT!" Lex pulled out the magic shell and yelled into it.
"All units, subject is armed and dangerous." The woman from before spoke, "Officers Leonard and Pewalski are down! I repeat, Officers down!"
"DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ENGAGE!" Lex yelled again.
From one of the observation balloons, the blonde enforcer looked at the scene below through her telescope.
"Station, this is Balloon 5, What the hell is happening down there!?" she spoke into her shell, "Should we engage! Ballista is ready!" she looked at the large crossbow that was attended by her fellow officers.
"Balloon 5, do not engage!" the dispatcher responded, "All units! Do not engage!"
"What do you mean do not engage!" the enforcer yelled, "We have a clear shot! He just blew up a wagon!" she peered into her telescope again, "I Have him at 200 meters! This-"
She saw the most peculiar sight.
Sereno was looking right back at her.
"What the…"
All the enforcer saw was a flash of light before the top part of her body and her telescope was completely vaporized, leaving only a fine red mist which was only noticed for a few seconds by her fellow officers since the balloon they were on was no better.
"By the gods!" Lian looked up to see one of the balloons erupt in flames and start its plummet back down to earth.
"That's it!" Lex yelled and jumped to the top of the wagon to look at Sereno with his own wrathful eyes.
"THE LAW! 15 OFFICER POLICE SHOOT OUT!" he yelled and added 10 more copies of The Law to his arsenal.
Sereno took a deep gulp as he saw all the stands aim their cannons towards him.
"On your six, cop man!" Sha Lin joined the fray with The Bow and aimed it straight at Seris' son, "Take this, you rat faced freak!" he laughed and fired two arrows in quick succession.
"FIRE!" Lex commanded all The Laws to fire.
Sereno closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Then felt the calm weightlessness of peace.
"What the…." Sha Lin stepped back as the man and his horse slowly started to rise up into the sky.
"Bingo." Sereno got a peek of Lian's head from his higher position and aimed his rifle.
KAPOW!
Power Khan suddenly appeared and intercepted the bullet before it struck its master
"Huh?" Zhin turned to see the hulking stand holding the bullet in its hand.
"What's this?" Lian also turned, "Oh, you caught it." She said rather nonchalantly and looked at the item, "It's time to return this to sender." She smirked and glared at Sereno.
Power Khan placed the bullet in between its fingers and flicked it at an astounding speed.
"What-" Sereno's right cheek was cut as the bullet raced past him.
"That stand…" he murmured as he looked at Power Khan, "I must defeat it. There's something about it…"
He had no time to think as some arrows came towards his horse.
"BAD!" he called out his stand and reverted gravity so that his horse no longer rode on the sky.
"Nice try, punk!" Sha Lin laughed and redirected his arrows.
Sereno was in shock, but still managed to redirect gravity in such a way that his horse slid down the face of the road, causing the arrows to overshoot and strike the ground. However, the consequence of this was that the sudden planting of his horse to the ground in a horizontal manner caused the equine's legs to break and its body to slam Sereno's left leg with all its weight into the cobblestone ground.
"I have him now!" Lex pointed at the criminal scum and made The Laws fire.
Ignoring his pain, Sereno made BAD! appear and made it punch the ground.
The cobblestone started to crack as the gravity intensified until it gave way to a large sinkhole.
"Where'd he go?" Sha Lin grumbled as his target disappeared into the pitch darkness of the hole.
Though Sereno was far from down and out, for his smart plan paid off and he and his steed were soon carried by the waters of an underground sewer way.
"Finally…" the proud son exhaled as he finally felt some reprieve from his situation, "Perhaps these waters are fast enough to catch up to the wagon. These lowlifes will pay for their insolence! Mother! I swear it!" he looked up at the top of the sewer way and saw that there was some dust falling down in a consecutive and linear motion.
"Bingo…" Sereno freed himself from his horse, allowing the waters to carry him with greater swiftness.
"BAD!" he called out his stand as he brought out another bullet from his belt.
The stand did the usual and took the bullet and spun it in its hands.
Sereno looked at the small tremors and falls of dirt above him, concentrating on the advanced trigonometry he had to commit to in his head. After a few minutes, and despite the churning of the waters and echoes of the sewer walls rattling in his ears, his eyes opened.
The bullet BAD! was holding was so hot from all its spinning that the sewer water that came towards it immediately became vapor and sizzled loudly, adding to more distractions that slowed down the rotations slightly.
"I can't concentrate…" Sereno growled, "Gravity! Give me strength!" he yelled.
Then it clicked.
"BAD!"
The gravity stand opened its hands and the flash appeared, illuminating the sewerway and scaring all the rats and critters that were there.
KAPOOM!
The cobblestone road in next to the armored enforcer wagon suddenly erupted with such violence that the horses screamed in fright.
"What was that!?" Sarah yelled as the left wall of the wagon was torn off with all the armor and wood falling apart.
"DAMN IT!" Zhin tried to control the vehicle as the back wheel was struck by shrapnel.
"What was that!?" Lian looked overboard and saw the gaping hole.
Then felt it.
Something in her soul. In her spirit.
Power Khan immediately appeared and pushed her and Zhin back.
KAPOOOM!
The ground underneath the driver's bench erupted and ripped the front half of the wagon apart.
"AGH!"
"ACK!" Lian and Zhin tumbled down the road.
"WOAH!"
"ARH!" The force of the wagon losing its forwards momentum catapulted Sha Lin and Lex from the top and led them to the same fate as Lian and Zhin.
"Moji!" Sarah grabbed the leipori and used her stand to fly them out of the large opening on the side of the wagon before it overturned and tumbled.
KRASH! The wagon broke into pieces when it struck a large column, sending large pieces of wood and metal flying all around the street and into buildings.
The draft horses escaped unscathed and continued down the road in a fright.
"Argh….." Lex groaned as he lifted himself up, "Sheriff Officer Lex here… ARV is a 556." He spoke into the magic shell.
"We have been notified of the crash, Officer." The dispatcher responded, "Sending fire and medical to your location."
Lex panted and dusted of his armor, then turned his attention to the groans and moans of his Paladin allies and Sha Lin.
"Is everyone alright?"
"I think a broke a spleen…" Sha Lin grumbled and popped his back.
"Shut up." Zhin grunted as he and Lian walked towards the enforcer, "Say… who left the pig pen open?" he asked and pointed behind Lex, Sarah, and Moji.
A cavalcade of enforcers was coming down the road.
"Huh…" Lex sighed in relief and wiped the sweat of his brow, but then noticed something peculiar.
Instead of forming streaks across his leather glove, the liquid started to form small spheres and gloat away.
"No…"
"What's wrong?" Sarah asked the now worried Lex.
The enforcer pulled out his shellphone, "Everyone get out of here! Cease Engaging! Cease-"
Another explosion came out from under the road and stopped the enforcers in their tracks. Some managed to get off and prepare for action, taking positions behind lampposts and columns as the others stood watch over the crater.
"Get out of here!" the Paladins called out to their civilian allies.
"Get out!" Sarah screamed.
"Come forward with your hands up!" one of the enforcers, an elf with gray hair and a peppered mustache, called out as he aimed his rifle at them.
"Walk backwards to the sound of my voice!" another screamed as she reloaded a shotgun.
"Get back!" Lex intervened.
The enforcers were unmoved, but it was only for a moment as one of the enforcers operating a spotlight jerked it back to the crater.
A shadowy figure started to rise from the smoking rubble.
"What the…" Zhin squinted as he tried to figure out who it was.
"Is that…"
"What kind of magic spell…." An enforcer murmured as he kept his magnums fixated on the rising person.
"WATCH OUT!" an enforcer screamed as one of the armored wagons suddenly came tumbling down the road, causing many men and horses to run for cover.
The wagon stopped and covered the crater and the figure.
"That's him!" Lian used Power Khan to look at the figure before he was covered, "That's that damn blowhard!"
The wagon started to rise up much to the amazement of the enforcers and whatever civilians looked from their windows.
"That's him! The Blowhard got in the GODSDAM ARMORED WAGON!" Lian continued.
The back doors of the wagon opened, revealing Sereno clinging on to the sides and looking up towards the night sky.
"Gravity. Destiny. Fate." He spoke out loud, "These are the things that guide me to a better path. Towards a better tomorrow. It is the reality that is gravity that will lead mankind to the TRUTH.
It has taken me a while to see it, but thanks to my Mother's Wisdom.
My Father's Practicality.
And the Power of my Lineage.
I will rise above the common man as a disciple to the Greater TRUTH.
No! Not only a disciple, the Prime Inheritor as the First Born!"
Lian snarled and used Power Khan to get a boosted jump towards the wagon.
"Hngh!" she caught hold of it and maneuvered towards the rear.
"Even then, I may be sorrowed saying this!" Sereno continued,
"It took more than my Mother's Wisdom or my Stand to realize this.
The ones who finally pushed me was the traitor, the fallen bloodline!
When Sarah brought her dogs of war, I felt it.
My Body, My Soul! Oh it spins in infinite wonder.
It was her actions that led me to it. To the TRUTH!"
"SHUT UP YOU STUPID CONDESCENDING BASTARD!" Lian yelled and popped out from the side,
"POWER KHAN!"
"RAH!" The hulking stand shot out of its owner and raised its golden fist in the air.
"The time to show these degenerates the truth has come. The time for my bloodline to usurp the gods from their place in controlling Fate is here." Sereno's eyes started to glow.
A bright flash of light engulfed the wagon.
"AHHHHHHH!" Lian's scream sounded.
"What's going on!?" the elven enforcer yelled as he tried to find a target.
Out from the flash Lian's body tumbled down and struck the earth, but Power Khan had saved her from the brunt of it.
"Lian!" her allies ran to her side.
"What… was that?" Lian groaned as she lifted herself up.
"I got him!" Sha Lin stepped forward with The Bow and aimed it at Sereno.
"BAD!" Sereno called out his stand, which outstretched its arms and raised them to high heaven.
"Woah woah woah! WOAH!" Sarah yelled as all the people in the vicinity started to rise up from the ground.
"Not this again!" Zhin groaned.
"What's going on!?" some enforcers yelled as they were also lifted into the air.
"Stop this!" another enforcer yelled and aimed her shotgun, then fired.
Sereno saw this and manipulated the gravitational pull on the pellets so they fell to the ground.
"Pitiful!" he directed BAD! to grab a splinter of wood from the wagon and spin it in its arms.
"He's doing that thing again!" Lex alerted his friends.
BAD! opened its hands and released the sphere of molten wooden energy.
The enforcer that fired her shotgun was immediately vaporized, leaving only badly burned boots and gloves, as well as singed hair.
"OFFICERS! FIRE!" the elven enforcer yelled.
Sereno saw the incoming assault and further decreased the gravity on the enforcers, lifting them high towards the sky.
"SEE THE TRUTH, AUNT SARAH!" he called out.
Once the officers were high enough, the son of Seris returned gravity to them.
"AHHH!" many screamed as they plummeted to the ground.
"That bastard!" Lex yelled and called out The Law, "The lowest of criminals! An absolute Reprobate to THE LAW!" he clenched his fist.
"Watch out!" Sarah screamed as the armored wagon now careened towards them.
"CROSSPYRE HURRICANE SPECIAL!" she called out Furious Flame and made it shoot out the large sigils of fire that consumed the wagon entirely.
Moji took out her stand in the form of sand to extinguish any remaining embers and flames that threatened them.
"Time to take a sho-" Sha Lin stopped when he saw Sereno and BAD! looking at them.
"Gravity shift!" Sereno switched the gravity and made the Paladins fall back.
"Not smart, kiddo!" Sha Lin continued his attack and aimed The Bow, firing an arrow at him.
Sereno growled and made Sha Lin's gravity shift again, however, this action was useless as the archer just winked at him and kept switching the arrow's trajectory at every position.
"Hrrr!" Sereno changed his own gravity, but even then it was still following him, "This stand is a nuisance!" he was struck by the arrow in the leg, "I have to get rid of this rat!"
"Keep going, Sha Lin!" Lian motivated the archer as he drew back The Bow.
Sereno normalized his gravity to walk back on earth, figuring it would be easier to avoid the incoming arrows.
"No matter where you run, you cannot escape THE BOW!" Sha Lin redirected his arrows.
"And neither can you escape the power of GRAVITY!" Sereno shifted Sha Lin's gravity so he impacted a wall, but even this relief was cut back when Lex and the Law added to his worries.
"You are my biggest threat!" he pointed to Sha Lin and pulled out a bullet from his belt.
BAD! Spun it around in its hands.
"What is that….?" Zhin squinted, "Princess, do you know what he's doing?"
"I-I don't know! I never seen gravity do that!" Lian murmured, "I didn't know it could do that!"
"Do what?" Sarah asked as she grabbed Moji and placed her in her bosom.
"Whatever that spinning is." Lex interrupted, "He grabs some random thing and then launches it after spinning it. I don't understand it. I think it has to do with that Gravity posh he speaks of. Whatever- SHA LIN!"
BAD! opened its hands, and in a flash of light let go of its payload.
Sha Lin narrowly avoided being vaporized as the projectile missed, but the force of the blast still sent him flying into the air.
"ARGH!" he landed back on the walls of the building.
Sereno grabbed a nearby shard of metal from the armored wagons.
"Impotent race of cretins, how long will you live in the dark and not see the TRUTH." He handed the shard to his stand,
"I guess I must share this gospel to you unenlightened barbarians!"
All the gravity returned to normal, causing his enemies to fall to the ground.
"Gravity and spinning objects are directly intertwined, just look at this world we live in! It spins to bring us night and day!" Sereno proclaimed.
"The Sun revolves around the world you dumbass!" Zhin yelled, "Just look at the sky!"
"Stop making an idiot of yourself!" Lian smacked him on the back of the head.
"I have seen Gravity's speed manifest itself in this spinning! It is a speed without equal! For the Speed of Gravity is the Speed of Light!" Sereno pointed at Sha Lin, who was making his way towards Lian.
"THE SPEED OF GRAVITY IS THE SPEED OF TRUTH!"
BAD! held the molten metallic ball of energy in its hands and opened" them.
Zhin jumped in front of Sha Lin to shield him.
Thousand Hands appeared and immediately removed its armor.
The flash of light shone from BAD!
KACHLING! The energy reflected off Thousand Hand's sword as it swung across the air.
"WHAT!?" Sereno screamed in shock.
"What? Impressed?" Lian stepped up, "Don't you know Zhin's stand is one of the fastest in The World? At least second to my own." She smirked.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Sereno yelled and handed another projectile to BAD! and changed his gravity so he fell back and gained more distance.
"Thanks, princess, but you have the order wrong!" Zhin laughed, "The speed of light is nothing to me!" he pointed at the fleeing Sereno.
"But it is to them!" Sereno responded and aimed at Sarah and Moji, "SO LONG TRAITOR!"
The gravity speed bullet shot out.
"RAH!" Power Khan appeared and intercepted it with its fist, causing the projectile to careen away and destroy a column behind them.
"NO!" Sereno screamed, "THIS CANNOT BE!" in desperation he switched the gravity on his enemies.
"I AM THE ONE WHO IS SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE TRUTH! I CANNOT BE OUTDONE!"
"My stand is the world's strongest and invincible stand!" Lian made Power Khan grab Zhin and throw him towards Sereno.
"Nice idea, Princess!" Zhin laughed as the strength of Power Khan's throw fought against the gravity, "Sha Lin! Cover me!"
"On it! Lex!" Sha Lin pulled out The Bow.
"Princess! Take him out!" Lex made a daisy chain of The Law which each threw Lian towards Sereno.
"Begone!" Sereno made gravity pull Zhin and Lian away, but they kept coming.
"This is the TRUTH Sereno, the one your mother failed to see!" Sarah called out from the back, "Love is the most powerful thing in this universe! Love is the fastest thing in this world! Love is what makes our destiny! Your mother has lost all that!"
"That is… Kinda corny." Sha Lin commented before launching a volley of arrows.
"TAKE THIS!" Sereno made BAD! shoot out another gravity bullet.
"RAH!"
"ZYAHH!" Power Khan and Thousand Hands completely deflected it from point blank range.
"It's time for you to see the real truth!" Lian glared directly at Sereno's eyes.
In a final act of desperation, Sereno normalized their gravity in hopes they would crash on the ground, but this did not affect their stands.
"BAD!" he cried out to his stand, "GRAVITY! TRUTH! MOTHER!" he screamed.
Thousand Hands stabbed BAD! Multiple times in its body while Power Khan struck Sereno proper with all its might.
"RAH!" Power Khan sent Sereno flying into the sky with a fierce uppercut.
"Bingo!" Sha Lin redirected his arrows show they struck the man.
Sereno looked up to the stars as he recalled his stand.
He saw it.
The Truth.
And he smiled.
"Mother… I have seen my destiny." He spoke softly as he fell back to the earth, grunting when he struck the cobblestone path.
The Paladins felt their gravity return to them and made their way towards the downed son of Seris.
"Let's finish this." Lex looked at Sarah, who nodded with a hint of remorse, "Sereno, by the power invested in me by THE LAW, I condemn you to death for your crimes against these servants of the Law. There will be no trial. There will be no plea. There will only be divine Justice."
Sereno laughed and called out his stand, which was quickly intercepted by Power Khan with a choke.
"Don't even try it." Lian snarled.
"I have seen the Truth…" Sereno murmured as he directed his stand's arms to hug him, "My FATE smiles upon me, lowborn… can you say the same?"
"Pathetic." Sha Lin looked down at the man, seeing that his stand was the only thing comforting him.
"No… It's not pathetic." Sereno responded, "I know my destiny… yours…. However… is left to be scattered in the wind. To be the droppings of buzzard… But Gravity has cemented my spot in the place of the Firmament. The wonderful spinning. The wonderful pull. The Pull that drives a man to a position beyond the gods. Beyond love. Beyond the Death.
You cannot see this spinning…."
Sereno's body started to do just that.
Spin.
It was at this moment Zhin noticed the position of BAD!'s hands.
Perfectly sandwiching its owner's body.
"After all... We come spinning out of nothingness… Scattering our stars like dust…" Sereno looked up to the heavens, seeing the stars become white streaks of circles that became brighter and brighter.
"But my stars are… returning…"
BAD! started to dissipate and finally vaporized as its owner did the same.