Sorry that this one is shorter than normal. Anyway, Star vs the Forces of Evil is owned by Disney and Stands are the creation of the brilliant and talented Hirohiko Araki. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Enjoy.
1-Up Girl: Chapter 11.
(Forty-five minutes later)
The sky was angry, dear reader.
Angry like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.
Thunder roared.
Lightning flashed.
The wind howled.
And the clouds were so thick and so black that it may as well have been the dead of night.
But as terrifying as the storm above might have been, the real nightmare was happening down below.
The final battle was underway and Ringo wasn't pulling any of his punches.
When he wasn't summoning meteor showers or flying demonic snakes, the emerald jinn was either shooting lasers out of his eyes or trying to flatten Annie with his bare fists.
So far, the young otaku had successfully managed to dodge her adversary's attacks by way of her almost uncanny proficiency for overlaying. But alas, she knew that she couldn't keep this up forever. Sooner or later her aura would start to take its toll on her body. A bone would crack or a blood vessel would burst, or God forbid she'd suffer some sort of stroke, and then the evil jinn would seize the opportunity and destroy her in any number of horrifying ways.
In short, the situation was less than ideal.
And yet, Annie could not allow herself the luxury of giving in to her fate. There were too many people counting on her to win this fight and save all of their lives. And that is precisely what she intended to do.
Somehow.
"Annie! Watch out!" cried Jackie from her spherical prison, shaking the young otaku back to the present.
Reacting quickly, Annie leapt sideways; narrowly avoiding getting her head bitten off by a flying snake.
A close call.
But then, she'd already survived at least a dozen others in the last five minutes, so what was one more?
CRASH!
Annie dodged yet another attack; a fist this time. Ringo's attacks were becoming predictable. But that didn't make them any less dangerous. That last punch alone had smashed a hole straight through the stone floor. She shuddered to think what it would've done to her bones.
High above the tower, floating just below the layer of clouds, the young otaku could see her enemy's health bar; still at 100%, of course. She'd been so busy dodging she hadn't had the chance to attack. But in order to attack she'd have to release her aura and summon her Stand the normal way. And that would leave her wide open to an attack.
But again, she couldn't just stay in overlay forever. Eventually she'd have to at least try to do something.
Oh well, no time like the present.
After letting herself skid to a halt, Annie recalled the aura enveloping her muscles and used it to materialize her Stand proper. Within moments, a tiny lime green anime frog burst from her chest and struck an overly dramatic pose.
"Gero! Gero! Party Time!" it shouted excitedly.
"Okay, Aqua Boogie! Let's do this thing!" the young otaku said heroically. "Giant Aqua ShurAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Before she even knew what had happened, Annie was on her knees, clutching a large smoking hole in her side. And judging from the way he was smirking, it was pretty obvious that Ringo had something to do with it.
"Word to the wise, cupcake. This isn't an anime, so don't go announcing your attacks out loud." The emerald jinn said mockingly before raising his massive fist. "Not that you'll live long enough to learn from your mistake."
And with that, he threw what surely would've been a game ending punch.
Fortunately, Annie was able to recall her Stand and focus her aura back into her muscles. So she was able to jump out of the way in time.
Unfortunately, there was still a gapping hole in her side. And although the overlay was numbing the pain, it couldn't stop the bleeding. So really, it almost didn't matter.
'Oh my gosh, that was so stupid!' she thought to herself frantically. 'What's the heck is wrong with me? My friends are all counting on me and I just stood there and announced my attack like an idiot! Ringo's right, this isn't an anime. I need to take this seriously. The only problem is I can't bring out my Stand while I'm overlaying. But if I stop overlaying I'll be too slow to dodge these attacks. Plus my wound will start hurting again. Oh man, could this get any worse?'
Just then, one of Ringo's laser blasts tore through her left shoulder; sending a whole new wave a pain through her entire body.
'I had to ask.' She thought as she collapsed onto the cold hard ground; both wounds just oozing with blood.
"ANNIE!" cried Jackie.
"Oh my god! Is she okay?" asked Ferguson.
"Come on, Lightfoot! Don't quit on us now!" shouted Britney.
Meanwhile, Oscar and Chantelle just looked on in stunned silence; both looking deeply concerned.
Back on the tower, Annie was barely keeping it together. With a bit of overlaying, she'd managed to numb the pain and get back on her feet. But again, she could do nothing to stop the blood loss, so… you know.
'Oh man, this isn't good.' She thought to herself hysterically as she, against her better judgement, performed a triple backflip to avoid a random meteor. 'I can't attack, I can't stand still, and if I overlay too long I'll OOOOOOOOOH THERE IT IS!'
As if on cue, the young otaku felt something tear in her right leg; most likely a muscle. Finally, the constant overlaying was starting to take its toll. The pain was unbelievable. But it was nothing compared to what she felt when she landed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" she howled in agony as her feet touched the ground.
It was as if someone had just taken a butcher knife to her calf muscles. And unfortunately it didn't stop there. Before she could even blink, the poor dear felt several similarly painful sensations all over her body.
Her muscles were ripping apart at the seams, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Nothing except scream.
Scream like a tortured animal.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she howled as the sinews in her chest were torn asunder; magnifying her agony to almost biblical proportions.
For a split second, Annie thought her heart had been torn in half.
It was miracle she was still standing.
Hell, it was a miracle she was even still alive.
According to every known law of nature, she should've been dead by now, and yet somehow she endured.
It was as if something deep inside her just refused to give up, no matter how much her body wanted to.
High above her, Ringo was rambling on about something; presumably gloating about his supposed superiority to her and all other living things. But luckily, the pain had dulled her senses to the point that she couldn't hear a thing he was saying.
Thank goodness for small miracles.
Beyond the emerald jinn she saw her fellow captives; all of whom were looking at her with wide, fearful eyes.
They were all counting on her to save them and she let them down.
Because of her, they were all going to be dipped in lava.
Oh, how it made her young heart ache.
'I… I have to do something. I have to try.' She thought to herself groggily as a dark shadow fell upon her. 'If I could just… just…'
High above, Ringo readied himself to finish off the young otaku with one final attack, but of course she paid him no mind. She was far too busy focusing on her own aura.
'If I can just overlay one more time… just for a few seconds… I can line myself up for one last attack.'
In spite of the unbelievable agony ravaging her body, Annie tried to focus her aura back into her muscles. But, as you might've expected, this proved to be a costly mistake. Almost immediately, the pain intensified.
Sinews ripped.
Blood vessels burst.
Bones cracked.
It was like her body was being disassembled one piece at a time by some unseen ethereal biology student.
And all the while, a massive green fist was hurdling towards her like a meteor.
Her fellow captives were screaming at her; telling her to get out of the way. Not that she could hear them; her ears had already filled with blood. But even if she could've heard them it wouldn't have mattered. Her body was so heavily damaged that even if she could move it would've been pure agony.
No, as it stood, the only things Annie could do was stand there, suffer, and think.
'I have… I have to keep trying… People in trouble… Need me… Have to try again…'
Against all logic and common sense, the young otaku focused even more of her aura into her muscles, causing over a dozen blood vessels in her face to burst simultaneously.
Crimson tears began to run down her cheeks.
'Can't… let him… win… can't let… friends die…'
She tried to force even more aura into her body and at least nine of her ribs suddenly broke.
'Don't care how painful… Don't care if I die… Have to win… Have to save everyone…'
Ringo's fist was nearly upon her.
Within seconds she would be crushed into a gruesome paste.
But still she poured more and more aura into herself.
In spite of the pain.
In spite of the damage.
She pushed through it all.
'I… will… save… everyone!'
And then, something unbelievable happened.
She exploded.
End Notes:
About five more chapters and this story will be complete.
Then I'll go on break again.
Until then, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.
Peace.