DIO was still processing the information given to him as he sat in the darkness of his abode. "A Joestar... and a Zeppeli. Together." He shoved his fingers into the woman he had brought back with him last night, digging them deep into her neck. The sensation of sucking her dry made his head clear slightly. "Be careful, Diego. Or else they will overtake you."
XXXXXXXXX
"Joestar, you need to calm down, for both our sakes," Ojiro checked the corner and all the glass in sight, and saw that he and Johnny were alone at the moment.
His companion did not hear the words. He breathed heavily. "We can't do this. We are gonna die in here, either from Villains, burns, or smoke."
The tailed member of 1-A put a supporting hand on Johnny's shoulder. "We have to keep our heads straight. We want to be Heroes, right? Well, Heroes don't give in."
Again, his reasonings fell on deaf ears as Johnny panted. Fate is catching up to me, surrounding me!
Fortunately for him, his companion was not one to give up. "Don't you have people who would miss you if you just accepted defeat here?"
Those words dug into him. Father... maybe the wrong son did die. Nicholas... big brother... He looked down at his hand, at the currently stationary nails. Then it hit him. The Golden Rotation that Gyro had shown him. Johnny had seen firsthand what Zeppeli's Steel Balls could do. He dropped to his knees and, with his spinning nails, drew a rectangle with the same measurements that Gyro had sketched.
"What are you doing?" Ojiro asked. "Making an escape plan?"
"No. Something else." He held up his hand and tried to align it with the rectangle.
Ojiro checked their surroundings again, only to see three silhouettes coming from the smoke. "Well whatever it is, it'll have to wait!"
XXXXXXXXX
"Well, that was fun!" Gyro exclaimed as he followed Midoriya and Asui, dragging Mineta behind him. "I gotta tell Johnny about this when it's all over."
"You seem pretty optimistic, kero," Asui stated.
"It's part of my charm," he replied with a grin.
The foursome made their way to the edge of the water, looking at Aizawa and Hierophant take down the horde of Villains.
Gyro lowered himself so that the water went up to his chin. "All that's missing is us being in the Cambodian jungle, looking for a rogue Colonel."
Midoriya looked at him, completely lost. "... What?"
The Spin User sighed and raised himself to be level with him comrades. "Never mind."
The small group continued observing the spectacle before them.
Mineta spoke with fear as Gyro let go of him. "You aren't planning on making us go into that, are you, Midoriya?"
All Might's protégé thought for a moment. "Maybe we can lighten Sensei and Hierophant's burden. Let's just see if there's an opening."
While his Stand dealt with the ne'er-do-wells, Kakyoin noticed the spectators. What drove them to that spot, he could only guess. But he would not allow them to get into the thick of things while he and Eraserhead were still standing. He gave them a quick gesture that, while lasting only an instant, made it blatant that the four students were to stay back.
"I'll take care of the rest!" He shouted to Aizawa. "You go handle the boss!"
Aizawa made a beeline for the man covered in what everyone hoped were fake hands. The normally sleepy teacher sent a strand of his Capture Device out to ensnare him, but the lanky Villain was quicker than he looked. He grabbed the carbon fabric out of the air and started charging, making the gap between them close twice as fast. Just as they were about to collide, Eraser adjusted his torso, and sent an elbow into his foe's gut. The momentum combined with thr impact surely must have hurt his target, so why was he feeling such agony?
Through his goggles, he saw that the Villain leader's fingers were on his elbow. The black fabric of his shirt crumbled and fell away, revealing his skin. That too blackened and chipped off. Aizawa could not recall experiencing such a horrendous feeling before. He tried to pull his limb away, but the pain coupled with the Villain's suprising strength, made it a fruitless attempt.
"You know, Eraserhead, it took me a minute to figure it out, since you and your buddy kept hopping around." the evildoer had a voice so raspy, he might as well be coughing up broken glass. "But you've got a tell. It's your hair! It falls whenever you stop cancelling out others' powers. Aizawa's skin completely flaked off, exposing sinew and muscle. "You've bitten off more than you can chew!"
Having heard enough, and wanting the pain to stop before it reached his bone, Eraser drew back his free arm, and delivered a hook punch to his opponent's face, knocking him away. The Sensei found that his damaged arm was next to useless.
The leader regained himself. "That Quirk of yours isn't all that good for fights out in the open, or when your outnumbered. Despite all that, you jumped right into battle. You and Hierophant. Is it because your brats needed a piece of mind? I gotta admit, Eraser, you're so cool! Oh, and I should probably tell you something. Or maybe, I'll just show you. Nomu."
As Aizawa readied himself for another attack, the bird-like bodybuilder, who had been silent and still until that moment, let out a roar and ran towards the Erasure Hero. Before he could even think, the creature had his leg in its grip. Hierophant, about finished with the pawns, turned around just in time to see Aizawa be thrown at him like a dodgeball. The collision of the two Heroes was sickening. Limbs went in unnatural directions and both coughed up blood before they hit the ground.
XXXXXXXXX
"Do you really think I will let you escape, child?" The misty Villain belittled his future victims. "Such a poor strategy, 13. Letting me hear your plan before you even inact it."
"Then you aren't as smart as you seem," 13 shot back as the tips of their glove flipped open. "It isn't an issue that you heard us!" Their Quirk, Black Hole, activated. The foggy Villain's black mists were sucked into 13's fingers. While it seemed that he could regenerate as quickly as 13 could dispose of him, the noises he let out made it evident that the ordeal was causing him pain.
Despite his apparent agony, he still found a way to speak derisively. "Oh, 13. As somebody who specializes in disaster relief, your combat skills are sorely wanting." As soon as he was finished speaking, another wall of black manifested behind 13. The affect was instantaneous. The back of 13's spacesuit began to crumble as it was sucked into the portal, only to come out of the Villain in front of her to go into her Black Hole's starting point.
"You need to leave now, Iida!" Uraraka shouted as the Pro she admired was dealt the other side of their own Quirk. After but a moment, half of 13's outfit was disintegrated, and they collapsed.
The brother of Ingenium knew that she spoke the truth. It was now or never. Giving his Engines all they had, he sprinted towards the door. As he moved, his thoughts raced even quicker. What if it's locked?! Will I be able to pry it open in time?!
He put the fear aside, know that while it was a possibility, him doing nothing would certainly seal his and everyone else's fate. He wasn't the only one who found motivation in that moment.
Uraraka sprinted towards the warper. When 13 had been sucking him up, she had noticed something silver in the darkness. All the pain he and his followers caused... they would answer for it.
"Do you see it?!" She shouted towards her classmates as she latched her fingers onto her target, activating her Zero Gravity on it. "If this is here, then he has to have a real body somewhere in here, right?" She tossed the collar upwards, sending the ne'er-do-well high into the air.
Iida did not stick around to see how they dealt with him further. He made for the door, and it his immense relief, it gave way instantly. The sun shining on him gave no relief as he sprinted down the road back to the main building of UA.
XXXXXXXXX
Kaminari continued to giggle and give a thumbs-up as he aimlessly walked in circles.
"I think he'll be okay," Yaoyorozu said. "So long as he doesn't walk over any ledges."
Diego scoffed and sniffed the air. After one whiff, he went rigid. "I smell water..."
"Maybe you're just picking up the Flood Zone?" Jiro guessed.
The User of Scary Monsters shook his head as his scales and tail appeared. "No. This is... closer." He took a few more huffs and turned around. He scanned the rocks of the Zone the four of them were in. While it was true he was susceptible to slow attacks, this would not be a problem. His sight instantly registered something headed towards them. Whatever it was, it was short but fast. As it got closer, he was the first to realize what it was. Water, maybe a large puddle's worth. His eyes narrowed as he failed to recall any of his classmates who had water manipulation powers. "What the-" The liquid shot up, headed right towards him. He quickly ducked down, thanking Scary Monsters for giving him reflexes that could dodge with ease. The two females behind him watched in shock as the water grazed his head, clipping the 'O' on his helmet. After passing him, the hostile puddle stopped.
The foursome remained completely still, unsure whether to attack or to wait and see what its ject move was. Then, Kaminari, still burnt out from his overload from earlier, let out an absent chuckle. He might as well have set off an alarm. Despite not having a head, the other three could tell it had turned it's full attention to him.
Not needing many guesses on what was about to happen, Jiro positioned herself at the ready. Knowing that if she did not time her attack perfectly, Kaminari would certainly die, she focused. As the water slid across the terrain between Denki and Brando, she plugged her ear-jacks into her boots, letting out a funnel of vibrations. Her timing proved to be accurate as the liquid was caught right in the center of the sound. Her attack, unbeknownst to any of them, had damaged both their attacker and its User.
Near the edge of the dome, N'Doul let out a shout of pain, moving his head away from his cane as his ear leaked blood. "What was that? It was like an explosion going off."
"Having trouble there?" His partner laughed.
"This is not funny, Geil!" The blind Stand User switched his cane to his good ear, refocusing on his quartet of prey. "Nothing. They must be standing completely still..."
As he listened in on the area far away from him, something was occurring right behind him and Geil. A baby blue arm came out of the material, followed by thr shoulder, head, and ridiculously tall ears. More and more came out, silent as a clear night. When the humanoid fully exited the wall, a certain American UA student followed. Just as her own upper body was free, she willed her Stand to go forth to the absolute limit. The perfect spot. Bringing its foot back, it swept the air, its foot colliding with the bald sadist's cranium, sending him off to collide with his colleague with a pain-filled screech. Both of them toppled.
Since there no use in hiding her presence any longer, Siri left the wall entirely, allowing Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap to move even closer to the horrific duo. Wasting no time, she made her inherited Stand plant a boot on the hairless one.
N'Doul had not the slightest clue what was going on. On moment, all was fine, and the next, Geil had yelped out and... tackled him perhaps. He could feel weight on his legs. That just have been his partner. "Get off!"
No response.
And then, something grabbed his head, pressing its cold palm into his nose and lips.
With a mere thought from its User, D4C gripped the enemy firmly, and slammed the back of his head into the tree, hard, making the bark splinter. The pain was instant. He groaned, earning himself another cranial assault. And another. And another. And then several more.
With the back of his head bleeding, but still drawing breath, he went limp.
"I'd say I abhor violence," Siri said to nobody. "But that would probably make me a liar."
XXXXXXXXX
"I don't get it..." Johnny murmured to himself as he fired more nail bullets into the Villains following him and Ojiro. Finding another moment of no immediate danger, he again drew a sixteen-by-nine rectangle on a wall. This was what Gyro had shown him, so what was he missing? He began to cough from inhaling smoke as he panted.
Ojiro had not the slightest clue what Joestar was up to, but it seemed the zombie in the mirror was no longer chasing them. That was a relief to him, but his comrade was too focused on other things.
Then, Johnny began to think deeply. Wait. Gyro said that he and his family use the golden rotation, and that it is the core of art... surely they didn't invent it. There has to be an original! The diagram Gyro drew for me, and the ones I'm making right now, they're just copies! My hands, Gyro's belt buckle... I need to find the original! But... is there an original?
Then it hit him. "Maybe there isn't a physical original!"
Ojiro looked at him with utter confusion. "Original what?"
"Maybe it's been right in front of me all along!" Johnny looked around with sheer focus and determination. Ojiro watched him with a cautious interest. The Tail Quirk user kept it to himself, but he honestly thought there was something wrong with Joestar in the head. Johnny looked around, focusing on several objects for no more than a second, each making his expression less macabre. Then, out came his Stand. At least, Ojiro thought it was Tusk. Joestar's pink manifestation had always looked like a sort of exotic plushy animal. This thing looked more like a robot with no legs and pincers. Johnny looked down at his hand. His nail was spinning, but not the way he was accustomed to. It was twirling around his finger on an axis, like a drill.
His time to gawk at this new ability was cut short by the sound of more Villains. Through the smoke, the two young men could hear them.
"Over here!"
"I think I see them!"
Their outlines soon appeared in the haze. There were only two this time, less than the groups they had hit and run from so far. Johnny aimed and fired. The Villain closer to them saw it, and narrowly dodged due to the distance between them.
"Ha! Nice shot, Hero!" He shouted. He cackled as he and his murderous partner closed in, but the two UA students were, for once, not retreating. They were focused on the sight behind them. The spot of impact where the nail bullet Johnny had fired was black, like a hole. And that hole began to move down the wall like a fast snail, leaving a trail of void behind it. It slithered up the Villains leg, and then seemed to explode, as chunks of the man's flesh right above his knee flew off, making his blood shoot out like a morbid fountain. He fell to the ground screaming, making his partner panic for a moment. By that time, Ojiro and Johnny were long gone.
"How did you do that?!" the former asked with winded breath as they ran.
Johnny did not answer, opting instead to look at his hand. "My nail isn't growing back yet... and I can only make one rotate at a time..."
Omake: Tale of the Valentines...
Funny Valentine was many things. A former President of the United States. A uniter. A widower. A father. A grandfather. A great-grandfather. But right now, it was blatant that he was mortal. The few remains of his once blonde locks were now whispy and colorless, and his sapphire eyes were becoming glassy.
The hospital bed he currently lied in was soft enough to comfort his crumbling body, but the room reeked of sterility. And the pure white coloring of nearly everything did not help. The only sounds to be heard were the heavy breathing and steady beeps from the heart monitor.
Along the sides of his deathbed were his closest family and a very close comrade. His only son, Funnier Valentine, held his hand as he struggled to keep himself together. The politician's son had braved getting on a rocket and breaching the exosphere to be among the stars, but seeing the man who had raised him slowly but surely leave their plain of existence was too much for him, despite his efforts to hide it.
Funnier's son, The Funniest Valentine, was going through the same emotional ride, but doing a worse job at concealing it. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he gently had a trembling hand on his distraught daughter's shoulder.
"Are you gonna die, Papa Funny?" Siri Valentine could hardly be blamed for her lost composure. She was only a child and a harsh truth about life was staring her in the face. She cried as she held Funny's other hand.
The former President could not bring himself to lie to his family's newest line on his way out to the afterlife. "Yes. I am." Those three syllables made her cry harder and she buried her face on his arm.
His body may have been failing him, but he could still smile. The final occupant of the room tenderly patted her back in an effort to comfort her. The being, unlike the rest of the occupants, was not human. It lacked a mouth and had a bluish-white hue to its entire body save for a few patches of pink on its thighs, shoulders, eyes. Coming out of its neck were five spikes going upward with an equal amount of space between them, giving the impression of a high, upturned collar. This was Funny's Stand, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.
Funny drew in a laborious breath. "Don't be so sad. My time has come." He turned his head so that he was looking straight forward, letting him address all of those present. "Don't grieve for me. I had a good life, and I would do it all again. I'm so proud of all of you." He felt his insides locking up. "I'll be with Scarlet soon." His breathing became ragged. It was then that he made his choice. He had brought about prosperity and peace in his home country, but his ultimate goal had eluded him.
Sure, he could easily pass on Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Activating his Stand's ability would be effortless, as he was between the mattress and the blanket of the bed. But if he was dying of old age, then nearly every other version of him was as well. Finding a suitable replacement would be too time consuming. So, he decided to keep it in the family, rather to himself.
"Take care of her, old friend." He closed his eyes.
As the rest of the Valentines tried to process what he had meant, an irritating sound filled their eardrums. Funnier, not letting go of his father's hand, looked over and saw that he had flatlined. "He... he's gone."
The Funniest let go of his daughter and ran to the door, forcing it open. "Nurse! Doctor! Anybody!"
Then, something most unusual happened. An odd, golden smoke seemed to manifest out of nowhere above the recently departed Valentine. It twisted and morphed, changing into what could only be the upper body of Funny. His kin was not sure if they were all hallucinating, or if this was something more spiritual.
The image in the mist gave a salute and said, "I leave it to you."
With that said, it rose and vanished through the ceiling. Funnier blinked in astonishment. Had he just witnessed proof of something coming next? As he lowered his vision, he noticed that D4C was still present, standing next to Siri. Then, the dimension-hopping Stand began to change. The plates of pink in its limbs began to break up and move, leaving trails like stitches along its body. Then, the collar retracted into its shoulders before horns began to sprout out of its cranium. Funnier gaped as they grew and grew. He had not seen D4C look like it did now since he was a child.