Chapter 15 – 『Dance Battle Tendency』 part 1
Today was a very strange change of pace inside the Mystery Shack. Instead of the usual chores, Stan had everyone clean up and decorate the floor room so that they could throw a party.
A party for whom? Well, for no one in particular. This was another of Stan's schemes to rip money out of kids and teens alike.
And if Joseph was openly honest, it wasn't such a bad idea at all. A party would really cheer up the place.
"Alright party people... and Dipper. Let's talk business." The old man addressed everyone on the room who were standing in a straight line, and for once the usual dismissal wasn't directed towards Joseph for a change. "Soos, because you'll work for free, and you begged, I'm lettin' you be DJ."
"You won't regret it, Mr. Pines. I got this book to teach me how to DJ R-R-Right!" The repairman now DJ, said while holding up a manual. Any other time Joseph would've protested so that Stan paid Soos a fair wage for his work, but Soos really had to beg Stan to get the chance to DJ, so JoJo wasn't going to take away his opportunity.
"Wendy, you and Mabel will work at the ticket stand." Stand pointed to the girls, and surprisingly the one to raise an objection wasn't Wendy, but Mabel.
"What? But Grunkle Stan, this party is my chance to make new friends!" It was something that she was severely lacking. Sure Dipper, Soos, Wendy and JoJo were great, but she needed other girls her age to socialize with.
Seeing her distress, Joseph was about to offer himself to take her place, not to mention avoid whatever not-so pleasant job stand had prepared for him, but then Dipper beat him to it by raising his hand first. "I... I could work with Wendy."
Stan rolled his eyes at his grand-nibling. "You realize that if you do, you gotta commit to stay in at the ticket stand with Wendy. No getting out of it, just the two of you, alone, all night."
Somehow this didn't discourage the boy one bit. "I promise."
"And finally, we got you Joe." Stan turned towards the large teen.
"Let me guess, waiter and bathroom duty." Both a miserable and disgusting way to spend a party; he much preferred the boredom of the ticket stand.
"It crossed my mind." Stand admitted without a hint that he was joking. "No you are going to be part of the entertainment."
"What?" Just what the heck did that mean?
"You are going to be the party man, in charge of making sure the atmosphere doesn't go down and people want to leave."
"Wait so my job is to pump the party up?" Now that didn't sound bad at all. "Do I get paid?"
"You are attending the party, that's your payment." Of course it is, why would Joseph ever think otherwise? Still, the idea of partying all night sounded fun enough that it didn0t bothered him all that much. "Also you have to wear this!" Stan then handed him what was going to be JoJo's attire for the evening.
"A crop-top?! Are you serious?!" Not to mention the tight black pants. It wasn't as if he couldn't pull the look of, he was more curious as why Stan was giving him such outfit.
"One of you only good attributes is that you can serve as an attraction for a very unmarketable demographic here at the shack." Stan explained what in simpler terms would be that Joseph was basically eye candy for female customers.
"Fine! I'll wear it." He would've fight against it harder, but the outfit really did catch his interest.
く==LaterInsideTheTwinsRoom==
Dipper was standing in front of a mirror grooming in preparation for not only the party but to impress Wendy. He took a bath, used deodorant, put on some fresh clothes which included a small bowtie.
All of his preparation didn't go unnoticed by his twin sister, who had a knowing smirk adorning her face. "Oh!"
"What?" Dipper turned to look at her since her constant staring was getting to him.
Mabel took this as an invitation to imitate how Dipper sounded back on the floor during their assignments. "Uh, uh, I could work the counter with you, Wendy! Let's kiss!"
Instead of getting mad at her, Dipper decided to ignore her. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want, but I devised a plan to make sure my night with Wendy goes perfect."
"Plan?" She repeated as she realized what it could only mean. "Oh, you're not making one of those overcomplicated list-y things, are you?"
"Psh. Over complicated? Let me just..." He then took out his master plan from his pocket and proceeded to unfold it. "Alright, fold that there, kay. Step 1: Getting to know each with playful banter. Banter is like talking but smarter."
"That sounds like a dumb idea." Mabel said flatly letting him know how she felt about this plan of his.
"Yeah, see? This isn't banter. This is what I want to avoid with Wendy. The final step is to ask her to dance." Dipper could already see himself dancing all night with Wendy as his partner who would be totally impressed by his list making and planning skills. "If I follow steps 1 through 11, nothing can get in my way!"
"Dipper, you're the one getting in your way. Why can't you just walk up and talk to her like a normal person?" She offered her simple wisdom in relation to matters of the heart.
"First of all, that's step Nine." He showed her the list and how it really said «Talk to her like a normal person.», as one of the steps. "And second of all: how can you judge my methods, when yours hasn't gotten you far with Joseph."
"Joseph and I are in a pretty comfortable zone with each other." Ever since a few days ago, he cheered up again and was back to his normal self; which was great because now she didn't have to worry about cheering him up from his depressed funk he was trying to hide and instead enjoy their time together, like the knitting lessons for example, were going smoothly. "I can walk up to him anytime during this party and ask him for a dance because I know he'll never say no, but tonight isn't about him, it's about me making friends!" She huffed and walked away from Dipper.
She knew he didn't mean it, but his comment really offended her. Let him try and fail getting a dance from Wendy using that list of his. She had a party to enjoy and friends to be made.
く==TheParty==
Mabel watched from the stairs as the floor room was slowly but surely getting filled with kids and teens from town, who wanted to party. And among these people she will surely find someone who would become her friend.
"Yadda dee, yada doo, yada doo." Grunkle Stan came from the house dressed up for the occasion, he too was ready to enjoy this new business opportunity. "Can your uncle throw a party or what?"
Indeed everything was going fine so far, although Soos was having slight hiccups here and there trying to follow the instruction manual in how to be a DJ.
"The energy, it's electric! Uhh, lightning," he pressed a key on his keyboard only to get a different sound effect. "lightning, lightning, lightning..." he kept on pressing trying to find the correct one.
"And if anyone wants to leave, I'm charging an exit fee of 15 bucks!" It was brilliant, because if the party turned out to be a disaster, he could still reign in some cash.
"Wouldn't that be illegal?" Joseph cut in coming from the house the same way Grunkle Stan did. He was dressed in the dark purplish crop-top and tight black pants that Stand had gotten for him, and he looked really good in it. "How do I look?" He asked.
"Passable." Was Stan's response, but Mabel had other thoughts.
The outfit left very little to the imagination in respect to his well defined torso, and the tight pants really accentuated his hips and legs, and those fingerless gloves he had were very stylish. In her opinion JoJo looked beyond great in that outfit; it was as if he had been born to wear it.
"You look awesome!" She finally said, receiving a small in return.
"Thank you Mabel." He was really grateful for that compliment, it showed to him he really didn't look silly wearing it. "Although I think I'm missing something." There was an itch in the back of his neck that told him that.
"I know! Wait just a sec." Mabel went back inside the house and in a matter of seconds she came back carrying something in her hands. "Here take this!" It was a long purple scarf with blue stripes. "I made this for you with some of my left over yarn."
"This is it!" Joseph cry excited as he quickly put it on. "Yes, this was what was missing!" Not only did it complete the outfit, its colors really matched it. "Great job Mabel! I love it."
"You're welcome!" Now it was her time to bask in his compliments. "It was nothing really."
"How about I repay you with a dance?" He offered earnestly. "That is if you aren't very busy partying with your new friends." He still recalled what her objective for this party was and he didn't want to get in the way of her fun.
"Sure, if you say so." Mabel accepted almost exalted. Not only did she prove to Dipper she could get a dance with JoJo, he offered it himself! That was almost like asking someone to a date right? Her slow but sure tactics in order to win Joseph's heart were really working!
"Great! Now let's hit up that dance floor and get this party started!"
く==AnHourIntoTheParty==
Mabel was having lots of fun on the dancing floor, yet she still hadn't managed to stir up some conversations with the other party-goers. Despite that, her resolve was still strong and was determined to continue trying to make some friends.
As another song, came to an end, Mabel decided to take a little break from dancing. Walking to one of the sides of the room, Mabel took her seat as well as a healthy gulp from a water bottle; she really was working up a sweat. While she recuperated some of her energy to go back into the dance floor, she noticed something on the shoulder of the person that was sitting next to her.
"Wow! You've got an animal on your body!" If that wasn't a conversation starter, she didn't know what it was. "I'm Mabel." She introduced herself to a far bigger girl than her. This girl had auburn hair styled in a ponytail, wearing a cool pink shirt and purple shorts, but most impressive of all was her size and some of her muscles; meaning she was really strong.
"Hi, I'm Grenda." The girl said with a low gruff voice, not that it bothered Mabel a single bit. "This is Candy." The bigger girl gestured to another girl sitting on the other side. Candy was a mirror opposite to Grenda; she was petite and had long straight black hair and wore large round glasses, as for her attire she had a jade stripped shirt and a dark green skirt. And what was noticeable from Candy wasn't her Asian ethnicity, but the fact had forks taped to her fingers when she waved hello to Mabel.
"Why do have forks taped to your fingers?" Mabel couldn't help herself but ask, finding it very peculiar.
"Improvement of human being." Candy demonstrated by putting her hand inside a bowl of popcorn and pulling several thanks to the forks.
Just her luck, of all the places Mabel could've seated she did so next to the most unusual pair in the whole building.
"I've found my people!" She just knew these girls were perfect best friends' material. "Say do you want to come and dance with me at the dance-floor."
"Thanks, but we are comfortable here." Candy answered slightly disappointing Mabel with that answer.
"Yeah sorry." Grenda apologized. "Not because we don't want to, but because from here we can watch that hunky dreamboat over there." She then pointed at said dreamboat dancing among the crowd of party goers.
"Oh that's Joseph!" Mabel said when she noticed whom Grenda was referring to.
"You know him?!" Both Candy and Grenda asked surprised.
"Sure! He's my friend and if you want I can call him out here to meet you girls." Mabel offered trying to be friendly.
"Oh no, I wouldn't know what to say." Candy instantly turned red just thinking about talking with such hunk.
"Yeah, we're better of watching from afar." Grenda resigned. "You are very lucky!"
"Oh come on! JoJo doesn't bite." Mabel reassured the girls. "He's very nice!"
Before their conversation could continue on, a voice resounded around the place thanks to the speakers. DJ Soos was trying to make an announcement. "Remember dudes," he said while reading ahead on his DJ manual, "who ever, um, party hardies, what?" maybe that was a typo, "Gets the party crown! Most applause at the end of the night wins!" He announced while holding up a pretty nice-looking crown to show it off to all interested.
"Wow" amongst the interested where the duo of girls sitting on the side who had been watching Joseph dance before.
"Party crown? I'll take that, thank you very much!" A trio of girls Mabel didn't know walked up to Soos' booth and a blond girl demanded to be handed the crown, without even looking at Soos and instead more focused in looking at herself with her compact mirror.
This new individual was a girl with very long blond hair with bell-shaped bangs. She was wearing a very stylish purple jacket over a lavender dress with a periwinkle belt. She also wore black leggings with cream colored boots.
Mabel had to admit the girl knew how to assemble a great outfit, although the make-up she was wearing was a little too much. "Who's that?"
"The most popular girl in town, Pacifica Northwest." Candy answered sounding both awed and a little scared of the blond girl.
"I always feel bad about myself around her." Grenda confessed looking down on her feet, letting Mabel know that this Pacifica girl was bad news.
"I can't just give you the crown. It's sort of a competition thing." Soos tried to explain why he couldn't simply handed down somewhat nervous, never expecting someone to come so forward for the crown.
In turn Pacifica just laughed and took a microphone from the booth. "Honestly, who's gonna compete against me?" she asked rhetorically, making it sound like she believing herself to be far above others. "Fork girl? Lizard lady?" She pointed at the now self-conscious girls, putting them in the spotlight just to mock them alongside her posse.
"Hold me, Candy!" Grenda took hold of her friend seeking confort from the embararsment.
"Our kind isn't welcome here!"
Now this pet Mabel's peeve. She wasn't going to stand doing nothing while Pacifica made fun of these girls who didn't do anything. Walking heatedly up to the booth, Mabel declared with a smile, "Hey, I'll compete!" much to Grenda and Candy's shock.
"I'm Mabel." She introduced herself to the blond trying to show some friendliness and sportsmanship since they would be competing for the crown.
Pacifica gave Mabel a once-over before speaking up. "That sounds like a fat old lady's name." She mocked in an attempt to bring the girl's cheer down and destroy her self-esteem.
"I'll take that as a compliment!" Mabel didn't let that insult affect her one bit. She was far stronger than that.
Seeing as her initial tactic failed on the girl, Pacifica decided to leave and plan a better way to humiliate Mabel for stepping up to her. "May the better partier win." She declared before she and her posse menacingly walked away.
"She's going down." Mabel said to Grenda and Candy who were still amazed at her for confronting Pacifica like that.
Meanwhile, now they were out of sight, Pacifica turned to talk with her posse about how they will ensure she will get that crown at all costs, but instead she came across the large frame of the last person she expected to bump into in a place like this.
"Hey Pacifica, long tome no see." Joseph Joestar, the young man that had visited her family's mansion alongside the Oil Tycoon Robert Speedwagon weeks ago, greeted her not with an idiotic grin like the one he had the last time she saw him, when he jumped over the walls surrounding the mansion getting her in trouble with her father. Instead he had his arms crossed looking at her almost as if he was disappointed. "I would say nice seing you, but not after that little display at the DJ booth."
Pacifica gritted her teeth. "Well, I'm not thrilled to see you either." How dare he look and talk to her like that? Did he not care how much trouble he got her with her father after he pulled his little escaping stun? Not only did she have to sit though a harsh lecture from both her parents she had to endure hearing that infernal bell ring over and over again! "What are you even doing here?" Last time she heard, Sir Speedwagon had left weeks ago and still hadn't return, much to Father's disappointment who wanted to get into the man's oiling business.
In turn Joseph dropped down his upset look for a totally different. "Why haven't you heard the rumors going around town about the dashing and handsome young man who works at the Mystery Shack?" He leaned in with a knowing smirk.
"As if." Pacifica responded petulantly with crossed arms. In reality she did hear about said rumors, but because her reputation would suffer a heavy blow if she ever showed her face around this place, she didn't have an opportunity to come and check if the rumors were true or just pure exaggeration. "I don't care what the common folk gossip about."
"Really? Because I thought that was what your whole family's attitude is all about." Otherwise why would they care so much about flaunting their riches and keep up the appearance that they very nothing short of perfect about everything all the time. "That reminds me, what are you doing here? I believe this place would be below the standards of the Northwest Family."
"I-I I will not dignify that with an answer." she huffed and turned to the side to not look at him. "But you are right about one thing: this place is defiantly below me." Pacifica only came to the shack because this party was the talk of the town and she needed to at least make an appearance.
Not that she wanted to party or anything, she was in fact planning of coming and then leaving immediately after to let everyone who knew her how little she thought about the place and the party so that later when people talk about it they would all say it wasn't that good of an event.
That was until it was announced there was a crown to be won. As a Northwest she needed to prove how perfect and superior she was to everyone around, so she had no other choice but to stay and win that crown in the name of the Northwest honor.
"Hm… is that so?" Joseph said tapping the side of his head as if he was having a contemplating thought, as if he was trying to see underneath her and figure out her motivations. "Well, good luck trying to win that crown, because you're gonna need it."
"I don't need luck to win." She sneered. "Much less if it comes from you."
"Why, Pacifica that's way harsh, you wound me." He said mockingly placing a palm over his chest. "I was just trying to be nice to a fellow competitor."
"Fellow competitor…?"
"Yes, I am also competing for that crown." Well, Joseph had to compete for it whenever he liked it or not because Stan had spent some of his salary to buy it, so in a sense that crown belonged to him. And by god, he was gonna win it and recover his rightfully earned money! "Not to mention Mabel is no push over!"
Joseph then pointed towards the dance floor where Mabel was dancing to her heart's content.
"Let the battle for the party crown begin! Mabel comes out strong! Watch out, Pacifica!" Soos announced as the people around cheered, meaning that Pacifica was falling behind.
"Now if you excuse me I gotta tell Soos to play some of my songs next." He said unworried, since if Mabel won the crown he could easily asked it back from her. "See ya later, Paz." He ruffled her hair much to the girl's irritation.
"Don't you call me that! Hey come back here!" She demanded but the tall teen was long gone by the time she put her hair back how it was before. "How I hate him!"
く==ToBeContinued==
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Author notes:
The Return of Pacifica Northwest is here! And she's not happy to see Joseph after all this time. Much less when he is now a competitor for the crown!
Oh also, Grenda and Candy are here too.
No training or Hamon battles in this chapter, but I guess Joseph deserves a little break and have fun once in a while.
Also, I guest pointed out that the Hamon Mask from the previous chapter was "way-off" from the original one in Battle Tendency.
That that I say, that I did modify how it works since Oxygen Deprivations Masks Training and Studies are something rather new, so Araki couldn't possibly know what the true effects of such equipment has on a real human body. So my interpretation of the mask is similar to the real-life counterpart, that it helps with the production of blood cells which are the ones that carry the oxygen; which in this story context helps with the channeling and production of Hamon energy, and this will help increase his output.
Now the guest pointed out that the mask, "corrects the rhythm of Joseph's breathing, forcing him to breathe in a certain way or else begin to suffocate.", To this I admit that I didn't make this point clear since I thought this explanation was inherently implicit. If he is getting less air and oxygen that means that to produce Hamon he needs to find the most appropriate way to breath.
I guess this was my mistake since I didn't make it state it and make it clear.