A/N: Welcome back! Today, we have a special guest that I had a bit of trouble getting right but according to my beta reader khaylittle I did his character justice. Anyway, onto responses:
Trueopulence: Yup, a lot of escalations. And Lala getting one-tapped kinda makes sense in my head since not only are devilukeans kinda weaker here, Lala isn't a fighter, not to mention how hard it'd hit someone who's considered to be the daughter of the strongest man in the universe. And yeah, they do, but sadly it won't be much, possibly. Yeah, it's not going to be long before Zastin pops up.
And, that's it. Anyway, onto what you guys came here for.
Within the cockpit of the plane, the captain releases a breath, "Lucky kid, eh?"
"Hm? Who, the kid we're flying? I guess." The co-pilot says, his eyes beady and concentrated forward as he turns to the captain.
"I mean, he's flying on an empty commercial plane with a fine woman. Or maybe it's the other way around since the kid can actually afford flying to a place all the way out here." The captain starts, holding a finger to his lip in thought. "Anyway, the kid's got it good, what've they been doing this entire time?"
Looking back, the captain looks out of the cockpit to spot the two kids playing with some of the stewardesses. Both the girl and the boy had very childish smiles that seemed to fit them even if their eyes didn't completely reflect them.
"Ta-dah!" The pink-haired girl yelled as she revealed string intermingled in her hands into the image of a ladder. "Ladder!"
"Not bad," the boy says as he begins moving his hands around, his tongue popping out in concentration as he begins to attempt to make an image of string, "square!"
"That's not better than what the little miss did." One of the stewardess notes as the others nod while the boy smirks.
"It's three dimensional!" He says, tilting his hand to reveal the three dimensional cube in his hand as the others 'ooh' and clap to it while Lala pouts.
"I'll show you.." She mutters as she begins moving her fingers around.
Looking forward, the captain sighs glad that the two aren't causing trouble while smiling fondly. It reminded him of his own childhood. "Ah, kids." He couldn't wait to get back home and see his parents.
Turning back towards the control, he frowned when he noticed the radar was glitching out, he tapped it hard and then returned to normal as he frowned. "Hey rookie." He spoke to the co-pilot who turned to him, "Go and tell'em we're nearing our destination, I'll call this in."
"I can't let you do that." The co-pilot said as he touched the pilot. Before the pilot could say anything else, his entire body tensed up, his muscles locked in place as he was forced to keep the plane flying. "One male among four women, all incredibly attractive and not to mention Princess Lala is among them despite reports saying she's in Planet Deviluke." The co-pilot began to breathe heavily his arousal obvious as he began to drool but instead of the drool of a human, something red began to fall as it hit the floor, sizzling.
Meanwhile, the pilot couldn't do anything but twitch as he tried to move to warn the others as he glared forward. Incapable of doing much else, he waited, hoping that the two teens were made of sterner stuff.
Meanwhile, from within the seats where Lala was chatting with the stewardesses, Joshua stood up, shrugging as he headed to the bathroom.
He wasn't too tired since he already slept for a long time during the flight but something nagged at him. Almost as if something was biting at the back of his neck, waiting.
He rolled his shoulder after cleaning his hands, walking out of the bathroom after doing his business before jumping as he turned.
Joshua saw nothing except for the glint of something steel. "So you're the guard for Lala here?"
The next second, Joshua was ducking back as he took a deep breath and a gunshot rang out, alarming all the stewardesses along with Lala as they turned to see a man aiming a gun at them.
Lightning softly crackled through Joshua's body as he reeled a leg back and collided it against the other man's leg, the [Hamon] coursing through the man's leg as he coughed.
"Stay back!" Joshua yelled as he got back up, leaning forward to leap into action only for his eyes to widen as a weird goopy substance to collide into his chest, interrupting his breathing as he fell back and onto one of the chairs as he coughed. "Dam-!"
"Joshua, that's a [Temrian]!" Lala says in realization as she clambers over the chairs, "It's an alien made from a colony of bacteria that take over hosts and it can-hya!" She yelled in surprise as one of the stewardess grabs her from behind.
"W-wait, I'm not-ah!" The stewardess yells as she grabs Lala into a choke-hold. Reaching forward, she moves the arm long enough to finish her sentence.
"It can separate and make different colonies that can affect other beings and machines as well!" She finishes before twisting and shoving the stewardess away, her shirt ripping to reveal splotches of red coursing through her back, moving her against her own will. Quickly, Lala got to work, wrestling the stewardess to the ground while apologizing as she tried to tie her down with a belt.
"Shit." Joshua curses, as the man in front of him laughs. "This funny for you?"
The man shuts up, contorting himself to look at Joshua with as much of an unsettling feel as he could, his eyes cold but not dead, as if a scientist was looking at some interesting specimen. "Quite. In fact, I'd even call it [irony], you see, this creature you call a [Temrian] doesn't exist."
This stopped Lala who turned in shock, too slow to see the punch aimed at her as she was sent flying onto the roof, her back hitting it as she groaned in pain before falling on top of a set of seats as the stewardess was crying, splotches of purple appearing in her arms as she kept screaming about how much it hurts. Lala ignored this, turning to the thing in front of her as she tries to understand. "Well, to be accurate, it doesn't exist anymore. You see-."
Before he could finish, his head jerked back from a kick laced with a weak energy that barely crackled but it was enough. Joshua lowered his leg, slowly walking forward and looking down at the man, blood running down his lip caused by his own teeth and Joshua's kick. The cabin was in silence, the only thing that was audible was the hard breathing of the stewardesses and Lala while Joshua licks the front of his teeth from behind his closed mouth before it pokes out from between his lips.
"Hey Lala, check the cockpit for the pilot." Joshua said as he kept his eyes glued onto the person's form.
"Oh, right~!" She says in realization as she clambers away from the seat she was on. As she passed the stewardesses, she saw their panicked stares as their eyes switch from one to the other, the one who was being controlled whimpering as she held her hands while the others tried to stay away from her, as if expecting her to burst into violence. Lala slows down as the apologizing stewardess is still apologizing. Smiling, Lala crouches down and grabs the stewardess' hands. "It'll be fine, Joshua will help you in a bit. Don't worry."
Sighing, Joshua appears behind Lala, "Please, don't make promises in my stead. But I'll try, go help the pilot already."
Nodding, Lala headed towards the cockpit as the others watched her go. Joshua quickly backtracked towards the body and stared at it.
As soon as she heard the door to the cockpit close, he reared back his leg and sent a kick right at his side. "Fucking bastard."
He would have kept going but with a click of his tongue, he walked towards the shirtless lady. "Well, turn around, show me your back, I'll see what I can do." The woman does so, pulling her hair aside and revealing something to Joshua.
It was a line of red following her spine, moving in a very strange way that had him scrunching in disgust. "Right, let's go with the simple option, [Hamon]."
Meanwhile, Lala looked at the pilot as she waved her hand in front of the paralyzed pilot. "Well~, since your eyes are following my hand then it must mean that the paralysis is wearing off. Don't worry, as long as the [Temrian] hasn't spread his colony then we should be fine."
Speaking of the Temrian, "What did he mean that the Temrian didn't exist?"
As the daughter of the Emperor, Lala had what could only be called an elite education, the best textbooks, the best tutors, no expense was spared to give Lala a safe and efficient education, so even if she forgot a few things, she would still have more than enough, especially considering how Temrian are known for being aggressive. They were some of the first species to be exterminated by her father.
The Temrian would use their colonies to force other species to fight for them, which made them dangerous and efficient for things like assassinations since you never know who is the host of a Temrian. While there have been recorded incidents of a living individual becoming a host for the Temrians, those are rare.
While Lala was thinking deeply about such things, she missed how the screws began to spin.
A sense of pain burst into her cheek as she brought her hand up to her cheek before removing it to see that there was a bit of red on it. "What?"
Her eyes widened as she quickly grabbed the pilot. "I'm sorry, but we have to get you to the cabin."
Meanwhile, Joshua was sighing relief as the bits of red fell onto the floor of the cabin, smiling as he helps the stewardess up. "Go with the others ma'am and don't move, no matter what." She blushes and nods, walking towards the others as he turns to where the unconscious body of the co-pilot, as the stewardess identified him, was supposed to be only to find it empty. "Oh fuck."
Lala shoves her shoulder, knocking down the door to the cockpit as he yelled. "Joshua! He has control of the airplane!"
Turning, Joshua saw the lights flickered off and the plane began to tilt downwards, impeding his sight of Lala and the pilot only to find her again because of her bright pink hair. She set the pilot by the stewardess as the sound of wheels began to stand out in the fairly quiet airplane.
Turning, he was too slow to stop the cart of snacks to hit him along with the knife taped onto it as it pierced his side. He coughed in surprise but quickly stopped it as his blood began to flow freely.
"Joshua!" Lala yelled, appearing beside her as she helped him shove it off him. Stumbling, Joshua took a deep breath, holding a hand to his side as [Hamon] began to close it up at a steady and slow speed.
"Shit. Lala stay with the crew." Joshua said, holding onto one of the seats as he tries to ignore the pain. The fact that he hasn't burst into cries is an achievement since that's how bad he felt at the moment.
"No, he's going after me, I'll only put them in danger." Lala retorts as she looks around, tail following her movements as it began to thrum.
"Well they'll be in a lot more danger if no one's with them." Joshua argues as he continues breathing steadily.
"Then we just have to find the main body and take it down." Lala retorts with a smile as Joshua rolls his eyes.
"I don't think it'll be that simple." Joshua notes, "Considering the guy looked human, what are the chances of the Temrian having a human host?"
"The Temrian race are supposed to be extinct." Lala says as she aims deeper into the plane and fires off a laser, lighting it up for a second but revealing nothing.
"Well, maybe the human's body saw the Temrian as a hostile and attacked it?" Joshua muttered loud enough for Lala to hear. "Maybe the human body saw the bacteria that was the Temrian and attacked it with antibodies for long enough, replacing the mind of the colony with the human's?"
"And what if the human had the memories of the Temrian?" The man said from somewhere. "That's what is currently running through my mind. The memories of a species being wiped out by one man. Of course, after hearing the little princess talk about the thing that nearly took over my body, it makes sense. That said, it does not get rid of this unending [rage] that is coursing through my very being. A [rage] that can only be sated by killing Lala. Something I find myself more willing to do after every minute as long as it gets rid of this headache."
The two whirl around trying to find him while the pilot began to whisper something towards the stewardess as she began to nod.
Joshua catches this and elbows Lala, "Keep him talking."
Lala glances at where Joshua's looking and eyes widen as she nods. "Hey, what's your favorite color?"
Joshua couldn't help but wonder if that would distract the co-pilot.
"I...like red?" He responds, almost confused as Lala claps.
"Really? Well, why?" She asks as he could almost feel the co-pilot's confusion.
Joshua glances at the stewardess and pilot as they move as silently as they could. "I really hope Mikan is doing well."
Currently, while Joshua is having the fight of his life against a pseudo-alien, Mikan is trying to figure out who these strange people are in her house.
"Both of you stop making a ruckus, this isn't even our house!"
"You weren't even invited Kotegawa!"
"Yeah, what Saruyama said!"
"Oh~, were you expecting something when you came?" A brunette said, mischief clear in her brown eyes as she looks at a black haired twin tail girl. "Or maybe someone?"
"Well, since its usually only Joshua and his younger sister at home, I was worried for her since Joshua just left all of a sudden." Kotegawa admits, pointing her chin up and away as she pouts.
"You think she's jealous cause she wasn't informed like we were?" Kenichi points out as Kotegawa jumps and tries but they ignore her as Mio and Risa nod in agreement.
Before they could continue, Mikan wandered into the living room, "Here, have some tea."
They thanked her as she began to serve them tea. Meanwhile, Mikan took in the silence with a feeling of gratefulness since they've basically been talking nonstop since she let them in.
The memory of the reason why they stopped by still caused her to blush lightly. "Stupid Joshua."
"Yeah! Only someone as stupid as him could leave someone as cute as you alone!" Risa cheered as she tried to sneak up on Mikan, her hands at her sides making strange motions as Mikan quickly moved to the side to evade her.
"Please, stay as long as you like, call me if you need anything." Mikan offers as she walks back to the kitchen.
With this, Risa turns to the others, "She's really cute. Basically the complete opposite of Joshua."
"Yup." Kenichi confirmed.
"Definitely." Mio added.
"I-I don't know, Joshua is kinda handsome…" Yui said, blushing and whispering at the end as all three grinned and she stiffened.
"Obviously, I'm just saying Joshua is pretty handsome and Mikan is pretty cute, opposites, right?" Risa explained with a teasing grin as Yui's face exploded into a burst of red that overtook her face as her eyes began to swirl in embarrassment.
"Well, now that we're here we should do the homework we got." Kenichi added, amused by Yui but also really wishing to do homework since the only ones out of all them who actually do the work is Yui and Joshua when he's there.
"Ehhh~." Mio and Risa groaned simultaneously and proceeded to bring out their own homework while Yui narrowed her eyes at them.
"C'mon. It's our responsibility as students to do the work assigned to us." Yui said as she brought her own homework out.
"But the teacher is so boring." Risa whines, placing her own notebook on the table. "Barely anything he says actually sticks in my head long enough to really mean anything."
"Yeah!" Mio agrees.
"I swear I saw him sleepwalking once during his lessons." Kenichi adds. "He bores himself. How do you do that?"
"I swear I barely see him breathe." Mio adds, "You know how Joshua can hold his breath for a long time? I saw him try to mimic the teacher's breathing and he passed out at the thirty minute mark during the first class."
"Really?" Yui couldn't help but pipe in, aware of the fact that Joshua is famous for having an unbelievable lung capacity and his 'accidents' with women but it's mostly the former that she focuses on.
"Yeah, and he was talking for those thirty minutes." Mio adds. "So, either we don't notice when he breathes or he just doesn't."
"Well...he is pretty old." Kenichi notes.
"Saruyama!" Yui scolds but Kenichi holds his hands up in mercy.
"What!? You know its true and so do I." Kenichi retorts, spreading his arms out, "And honestly? It makes sense. A living corpse for a teacher, a guy who can secrete ink from his body, what next? Risa pulling out some awesome kung-fu?"
"That's pretty rude." Risa points out as Mio nods along. "Though the idea is appealing."
"Really?" Yui blinks as the others look at her. "Ah, no! I-It's just Risa doesn't strike me as someone who's interested in things like that."
"Yeah." Mio pipes up, "Risa has always been into things like old Hong Kong action movies!"
"Well, not always." She admits scratching the back of her head. "It was a bit before my mom and dad got their own promotions but we would get together and watch Hong Kong action movies and sometimes old American flicks."
"Really?" Kenichi asks as he hums. "What's your favorite movie?"
"Depends. I liked the Rush Hour trilogy, but The Defiant Ones was also good." She mutters under her breath as she taps her lips while pouting.
Mikan walks in with a few snacks as she sat down beside Yui and Risa. "So, my brother set you up to this?"
"Well, everyone except for Yui." Mio answers as she looks at Mikan while Yui stiffened.
"I already know her. She stops by whenever Joshua misses a day." She gives Yui the slightest of teasing looks. "She has a lot to say about him."
Yui flushes red as Kenichi pipes up. "Mikan, what does he work as? He's never told us."
"Really?" Mikan tilts her head in confusion. "Well, he's a model and a security guard for that modeling agency."
This causes a silence to come over the table as they tried to come to terms with such news.
"Is he featured in any swimsuit magazines?" Risa piped up.
It was easier than expected.
As the teens returned to their work, coming to terms with this information, Mikan got two new messages. One was from Dr. Mikado, apologizing for not being able to help when she called, even if she wasn't needed, and another from Joshua.
After responding to Mikado, she opens Joshua's and reads the short and curt message.
[Hi Mikan, I hope you're not lonely without me. I'm sorry for springing this on you so suddenly. I'm alive.]
Mikan did not like how he said he was [alive].
Joshua finishes composing the message he was sending to Mikan as he hears the argument continuing in the cabin, ignoring everything and anything as the pilot and stewardess finish putting on the parachutes.
"You're just mean!" Lala yells at nothing in the darkness as the voice returns.
"And you're naive!" He yells. "Your father is nothing but a dictator!"
"The original federation was corrupt, papa saw that and decided to do something about it!" Lala yells back as she glares into nothing else with nothing but barely contained rage.
"How would you know? You weren't even born at the time!"
"Because Mama is the last of her species after being hunted down!" Lala yells as everyone turns to her, the pilot and stewardesses used to mentions of [aliens] and the like. "She constantly had to run when she was young because of something out of her control!"
"That doesn't-." The man tried but Lala wasn't willing to give up.
"Papa isn't a dictator! He saved the universe from eons of suffering and corruption!"
"And you're blind because of your connection." The man yelled before continuing. "He killed off entire species and subjugated everyone else! Those are the actions of a tyrant!"
"And you're only this insistent because of the memories of the [Temrian]!" Lala yelled back. "Papa did bad things but that doesn't mean he's a bad person! The [Temrian] practiced slavery and would send those enslaved to fight for them, piling up body after body!"
Slowly, the flow of the argument and of the [paint] spreading from under Joshua's pants continued until it covered the floor of the dark plane.
At first, it was a normal conversation until the co-pilot directed it towards the direction of her father. Then it kinda became an argument when he insulted him. During the midst of it, Joshua began to release [paint] when he noticed something. The liquid was like a hypersensitive extra limb, he could feel Lala's steps and the air waves caused by her voice and the tiny shifts of her feet.
Thanks to the darkness, the [paint] isn't obvious and so it was able to spread unimpeded as he wondered something.
Soon, the stewardess and the pilot were outfitted with parachutes and nodded towards Joshua. He nodded back and watched as Lala continued to argue in defense of her family.
There was a second until Joshua yelled. "Now!"
Confused, Lala turned and saw the pilots and stewardesses jump out as the darkness seems to rise to her confusion as a liquid splattered onto the wall and ceiling until she recognized it was Joshua's [paint].
"Kaaaaah~." Joshua took a deep breath, his entire body covered in the paint as the [Hamon] traveled through the liquid to the walls and ceiling as he kept quiet.
Then, he felt it, a small tug at his body as he looks at it. "There!" He points at a luggage compartment as Lala dashes forward, opening it and grabbing the man inside before pulling him out. He hits the floor and coughs as Lala glares down at him, her hands at her hips.
The man stands up, looking at Lala with wide eyes as he tries to stand up. "Now. I think we need to have a conversation." Joshua speaks from in front of him as the co-pilot stutters.
"W-Wait, but-agh!" Joshua lands a [Hamon]-infused punch into his solar plexus as the man doubles over, coughing as the energy of the [Hamon] courses through him. "Wh-what did you do?!"
"It seems like those colonies of bacteria don't do well in extreme weather." Joshua notes as he rolls his shoulder. "I wonder what happens if I aim it at the head of the entire thing."
"Probably losing control of the other colonies." Lala pipes up. "The bacterial colonies of [Temrians] are susceptible to extreme weather conditions and your [Hamon] seems to have the same effect as staying out in the sun too long." She watches as her eyes seem to lock onto the co-pilot and she turns. "I'll leave this to you, Joshua."
"You sure?" Joshua asks.
"Yup~. Though don't go too hard. He said some mean things, but it'd be mean of myself to punish him." Lala said, turning around as she looked around and found two extra parachutes set out for them.
"I think what I'm going to do is mean enough." Joshua retorts, turning as the man was already trying to run. "Oh no you don't."
Joshua grabs him by the leg and forces him back as he grabbed him by the shirt. "You know, I thought this trip was going to be boring but I'm learning so much about myself. Like how I really don't like killing." Curling his hand into a fist, he rears his fist back as the co-pilot's face contorts into fear. "And how much the thought of letting you get away with trying to hurt Lala pisses me off. Less so than being stabbed. So, as thanks," he takes a deep breath, "I won't aim below the belt."
Before he could say anything, Joshua released his fist into his face, "Ora!" A sizable indentation was found in his cheek as he coughed at the feel of his brain rattle. Then the second and third followed. "Ora! Ora!"
Then a veritable flow of punches followed as he continued to yell out, "OraOraOraOraOraOraOraOraOraOraOraOraOra!"
Reeling his fist back one more time, he released an uppercut that sent him straight to the ceiling as his blank eyes stared into nothing as he fell down beaten and bruised as Joshua released a huff of air. "Better mind your fucking manners next time we meet."
As he walked towards the area with their stuff, removing it from the compartment, the plane rattled as he stumbled. "What the-?"
"Joshua! The right turbine blew up!" Lala says before turning to the unconscious co-pilot. "Get up, you need to go!"
Slowly, the man, previously covered in [paint] before Joshua dismissed it, blinked awake, "Wha-argh!"
"The plane is going to crash! Here." Lala hands the co-pilot a parachute and helps him up towards the open door. "Go!"
"Wait, but I insulted you, I hurt you and your boyfriend over there, why are you saving me?" He asks, confusion obvious in his face.
"Because you're not unworthy of being saved." Was all Lala said, her eyes resolute and glinting with growing steel. "Go! We'll be fine!"
Looking back, the co-pilot bit his lip, regret in his eyes as he nodded. "I'm sorry, and thanks."
He leapt out, the wind whipping across his face as he fell to safety while the plane was about to crash.
Joshua stared at the parachute wearing alien and said, "Why did you give him my parachute?"
"It's fine." Lala insisted as she spread her arms. "I'm confident in my ability to keep hold of you while we fall.
"I'm not." Joshua mutters under his breath as he grabs their bags while Lala stares at him, kicking her foot at the floor.
"Are you mad that I gave him the parachute?" She asks as she looks at the floor.
Joshua hums, both backpacks slung over his shoulder as he sighs, "A little, that said…" Lala looks into his eyes, warm with acceptance and pride as he continues, "I didn't hate the guy that much either. He was an ass but I don't think he deserved to die."
Lala blinks before smiling and jumping up. "Yay~! C'mon, let's go." She extended her arms out and expected him to hug her around her shoulders and she'd do the same.
She did not expect him to slide his arms around her waist, sending shivers up her spine to her confusion, before pulling her in to his chest due to the size difference between them as she looked up to him, her arms unable to envelop his form. A strange warmth seems to pop up in her cheeks for some reason and he tilted his head. "Sorry."
"N-No, it's fine." She said, shaking her head as her face cooled down. "Just...hyup~." She jumped up and managed to hook her arms around his neck. This time Joshua was blushing as he felt Lala's breast, the only barrier between them being the clothes they wore. Both of them had slight blushes on their face as they had trouble looking at each other.
Then, another explosion rocked the plane as they stumbled, Joshua's grip going lower as he looked around as the plane began to plummet at greater speeds. "I think that's the left turbine!"
"Shit!" Joshua cursed as he jumped out of the plane, closing his eyes as the two began to fall as their ears popped, causing them to flinch as they take a moment to reorient themselves, the wind whipping across their face and their body tight in anticipation.
Lala gasped out loud, eyes wide as she stared at the large body of water enveloping a city filled to the brim with old and new architecture. "Wow~!" She trailed off, looking at one of Earth's many countries.
Joshua did so next, opening his eyes as the breath left his lungs, watching at Lala as her eyes sparkled with inquisitiveness and excitement, her mouth curled into an innocent smile as the slight scratch she got in the plane was no longer bleeding.
"Beautiful." Joshua muttered under his breath. Lala turns as she blinks while Joshua's face flushes red.
She smiles and nods. "It really is." She turns her head towards what Joshua recognizes as Italy as he follows her gaze and finds himself enraptured.
It was truly beautiful.
The plane blew up behind them, the sound shocked Lala and Joshua as they turned to see the plane blow up into nothingness.
The two remained silent as Joshua comes to a realization. "Shit, Lala pull the cord!"
Following his instructions, the parachute bursts open, the cloth quickly finding its form as Lala tightened her grip on Joshua as their descent began to slow.
Lala looks down at Joshua and asks, "Are you okay?"
Meanwhile, Joshua is buried in between Lala's breast, his head enveloped by their soft firmness along with their surprising size as he nodded. Lala also began to blush at the feel of Joshua's muscular arms around her waist.
She couldn't help but wonder what she was feeling at the moment while Joshua simultaneously hung on for dear life and prayed his arousal would subdue sooner rather than later.
"Te voy-Argh! What do you mean you haven't seen him?" Joshua's uncle, Jose, growls into a phone as he stands up in his office. "You're in the right terminals, right? All of them are being watched?"
"Of course sir." His subordinate says, hiding a yawn with a deep breath. "But I swear we haven't seen him at all. Are you sure he bought the tickets yesterday?"
"I can bet my right arm that he bought them. If he actually wants something and has enough clues to figure it out then he would definitely do so almost instantly. Stay there until midnight, if he doesn't show up then we'll just call it a loss." Jose relents as he releases a deep breath, hanging up the call as he loudly places the phone down on the desk he's working off of.
He sits down on his chair, massaging his head as he tries not to give into the little voices in his head telling him to kill the shaman that planted the idea into his brother's head and had the skill to actually do it. Though if he did decide to act on it he'd have to dig up a corpse with a broken skull.
Placing a lighter on his hands and a cigarette in between his lips, he lights it up and breathes out the smoke. That single event tore their family apart. It also saved them from a life of hardships. Idly, he rubs at his shoulder where a [birthmark] used to be. Now nothing but unblemished skin and a sense of guilt.
Unlike his brother and sister-in-law who fears confronting their previous child out of guilt, Jose is instead afraid.
Afraid of what his nephew would do with the knowledge of what his parents did. Of what he'd do to their current child and everything around them.
Their family has a vicious streak where any perceived slight against them or their loved ones would result in someone going to the hospital and Joshua, despite his kindness, was shown to have this same trait.
After all, he's the reason that the shaman is six feet under and his brother is lacking a guitar from his collection.
After the ritual was done, with no memories, no [identity] and all the way in Japan, he seemed to understand what the Shaman did. And he made him pay before running away.
Sighing, the crime boss exhales smoke as the phone rung once again. Cursing, he answered, "Yeah? What you want?"
The person on the other side proceeded to talk as he nodded before it slowed into incredulousness. "A plan crash near Ita-. Are you fucking blaming me? No we had nothing to do with it." The other person continued to talk as he clicked his tongue, "A plane to Armenia from Japan? What the hell would we want with either?" The other person continued. "Empty except for two passengers? Damn, must have gotten luck…" At that he suddenly realized something as the man on the other side continued talking.
Finally, he had enough, "Yeah, whatever, bye." He hung up, quickly scrolling to a different contact and tapping it to call. At the second ring someone picked up, "Yeah, I need you to look through flight records, one from Japan to Armenia. Quick. Thanks."
He waited for not even ten minutes before a file was sent to him. Clicking it, he sighed. "Of course this happened." Still, he couldn't help but snicker as he tapped at his phone. He needed to make a few calls.
Joshua and Lala landed on the roadside stumbling as they fell to the floor, the soft grass softening their impacts as they take a moment of silence. "One of us is cursed." Joshua states as he flips onto his back, "We've gotta be, plane crashes are supposed to be rare."
"I've never been in a crash." Lala points out. "I've flown multiple times and its been fine." She rests on her elbows as she also relaxes.
"That was the first time I've been on a plane." Joshua admits.
"Then you're the one who's cursed." Lala points out as Joshua groans.
"Probably." He admits. His head hitting the grass as he sighs. "Now what? How are we going to get to America from Italy?"
Lala holds a hand to her chin. "Well~, I can make a plane?"
Joshua thinks on it for a bit. "But we have no tools."
"We'll just borrow some!" She proclaims as she gets up, wiping away some of the dirt that got on her.
"From where?" Joshua asks, following her as he pats himself down from the dirt on him.
"Somewhere! The engineers always let me use their tools." Lala says as she waits for Joshua who grabbed some water from his backpack and took a sip from it before offering some to Lala who also took a sip.
"Lala, you were the daughter of the emperor, I'm fairly sure that's another matter entirely." Joshua quickly points out as the two follow a trail towards the capital city of Italy, Rome. "But, I think we can 'borrow' some."
"How?" Lala asks, confused as she tilts her head.
"Simple, we go in, use the tools, and leave before anyone could notice." Joshua says as Lala frowns.
"That sounds like a crime." Lala points out as Joshua shrugs.
"It is if we're caught, so we won't. Look, they're going to be rich and they probably won't see anything off. We're not going to steal or anything, just use their tools and see if we can build a plane. We'll put them back after but it'll just be a quick thing, okay?" Joshua explains as Lala hums.
"I don't know." She muttered before looking into Joshua's eyes. They were steely but there was a bit of guilt in them. As if he didn't want to do it.
"Personally, I'm a bit desperate not to waste any more money, we're going to need it when we get there." He mutters under his breath as he looked forward under the sun.
Lala thought on it for a bit before nodding. "Okay. But, only this one time." She warns as Joshua nods.
"I'll try." He relents and she smiles.
The two continue their trek to Rome.
The first thing that Joshua realized is that Rome is big. It was also full of large houses.
While it took a bit of research and asking around, he managed to figure out a good target. A cordoned off house that seemed for the really rich along with a garage with a few cars in it.
As Joshua and Lala stared at the house, Joshua spoke, "Right, I'll disable the cameras with my [paint] and we'll run to the garage. It seems empty but there might be guards."
"Right~!" She says, her tail swinging from side-to-side as she licked her lips, excited to be committing a crime. Meanwhile, Joshua was trying to stay calm as he looks at the barren road.
"Why is this place empty?" He mutters under his breath, scratching at his shoulder where his [birthmark] was.
Soon, the time came and the two leapt to action. With the flick of a wrist, the cameras were covered in [paint] and the two leapt over the gate, Lala with her natural Devilukean strength and Joshua with [Hamon] breathing.
The two ran quickly, ducking into the entrance as they stared at the keypad. Already their badly planned heist was sporting some difficulties. "Now what."
"I have an idea." Lala says, raising his hand as she continues. "Use your [paint]."
A bit skeptical, Joshua does so, the liquid splattering onto the keypad as Joshua focused.
Then, he felt it, minuscule and barely existent were a few scratches on four of the numbers along with them being barely smaller than the other numbers.
In the trip, he explained his [paint] to Lala and it seems like she's putting the information to good use.
He input the number into the keypad as a beep came from it and it opened. Smiling, Joshua opened it slowly, flicking his hand to a camera as it blacked out and he nodded. "C'mon, let's get this over with quick."
Excited, Lala walks in and begins to make a mental list of the tools, each one being categorized in her mind as she scrambled around, taking in Joshua's suggestion of being quiet to heart. She brought out her phone, typing into it as she muttered under her breath.
It was kind of cute in Joshua's eyes.
He jumped, the feeling in his heart tightening to unbelievable proportions as he slapped at his shoulder, his hand over the [birthmark] as it seemed to pulse strangely.
"Lala, how's it going?" He asks and she nodded, her green eyes alit with excitement.
"I think I can do it. You think they'll be mad if we take apart the car?" She asks as she points to the car in the garage.
"Probably. But you're probably going to do so anyway, aren't you?" He asks and she nods, wandering off to do her work.
He gulps as she watches her go, rolling a shoulder as he rubs the shoulder where his birthmark is again, the pulse in it intensifying as if warming him of something.
Joshua elected to ignore it in favor of looking around in the hopes of finding something he might find interesting since Lala is already in a trance.
Taking care not to touch anything, he wanders around with no real goal aside from evading Lala who's in a trance. It was as he walked past a glass cage with a turtle in it that he froze as it seemed to follow his movements.
He swallowed, running his tongue by his front teeth from within his mouth as he stared back. The turtle had a weird indentation on its back with what seemed like a key in the shell. Yet that doesn't compare to the [intelligence] in the eyes of the turtle.
Before he could decide on anything else, his eyes caught something shining within a small safe under the desk. It was open with barely a silver of light filtering in but it was enough for something in it to reflect it.
Curious, he used his foot to open the safe out of curiosity. In it is an arrow.
Yet, something in him said it was more. It couldn't have [just] been an arrow, arrows aren't gold with depictions of a beetle on it. Arrows didn't give off an [aura] and arrows didn't cause abilities to go rampant.
But this one did. He only noticed it when he saw a puddle of black on the floor at his feet, Joshua's eyes widen as he steps back and nearly performs the split as the [paint] was slippery, the only thing stopping him was the table that held the glass cage with the turtle in it. He pulled himself up, noticing that [paint] was falling from him at a surprising rate and he couldn't stop it much less control it.
As he learned in the airplane, he has a bit of control over the paint and is able to feel things through it and manipulate it to an extent that varies depending on how far the blot of [paint] he wants to control is from him. He can also manipulate how the [paint] works as either ink or something else.
But at this moment, he can't. The [paint] is coming out of him without his own will and is changing without his input. He can't feel anything from the paint nor does he feel that he can control it, and it's all because of that [arrow].
He looks at it, from within the safe and moves his leg, quickly closing the safe and hiding the arrow from his sight as he quickly regains control of his ability, reigning it in as he sighs in relief. "Thank god."
Joshua hears a click to his side as he freezes, turning slowly to stare down the barrel of a revolver as a man whispers harshly. "Don't move."
The man looks to be around thirty-ish with large irises hiding the color of his eyes while wearing a weird hat with a turtleneck, his overall color seeming to be purple. He glances over to where Lala is supposed to be and is clearly at because of all the sound but Joshua stands in his way. Their eyes meeting as the man glares at Joshua. "Didn't I tell you to stay still?"
Joshua doesn't answer and instead glares into the man's eyes as he aims downwards and fires. Tears sprung up from Joshua's eyes as he bit his lip and fell to a knee, the bullet piercing his leg as he released a long breath, the cold barrel pointing at his head as the man pulled the hammer back. "Let's try this again, don't move, don't talk, and then we'll see what we'll do with you and your friend."
The words click into Joshua's head as it all seems to click in his head. The large house, the limos outside, the security system, the empty street.
What really sold it are the steps that caused his [birthmark] to throb. They were slow but full of weight and seemed to appear from nowhere. "Hey, on your feet."
The man reached for Joshua's sweater as he grit his teeth in preparation to endure the pain but only got as far as to feel the man pull his collar. He seemed to stop and so did the steps of what he could only guess to be the Capone, or the boss, of the mafia. While Lala was working on what she was building, all the attention was on Joshua.
"Young man," a voice spoke, soft but powerful, like a breeze on a hot summer day, "tell me, what is your name?"
Joshua kept his head down as he swallowed his spit, a feeling coursing through his veins that seemed to insist for him to tell him everything concerning his name. "I-I had amnesia, so I don't know what my last name originally was, but at the moment, it's Yuuki. Joshua Yuuki."
A silence overtook the two as Lala simply worked as if she didn't hear the gunshot.
"And your [birthmark]?" He asks.
"I happen to be born with it." Joshua manages as he could feel the tension leave.
"The black liquid?" He continues.
"I don't know, I could always secrete it since I was found by my foster parents." Joshua explains, keeping his head low.
"Hmm. Then, why are you here?" he asks as Joshua licks his lip.
"That's…" He tries to come up with the answer before sighing. "It's a bit of a story and kind of involves her." He points to the pink-haired girl as she continues working on the car. "At its simplest, I'm looking for my foster parents over in America but I bought the wrong tickets and instead got two for Armenia and on the morning we left I was attacked by some monk-looking guy, then another guy attacked us a few hours ago and caused the plane we were on to crash and I really didn't want to use my money on another ticket."
There was a silence as he could feel the amusement in the air. "And you decided to 'borrow' some tools to 'create' a plane you could fly to America."
"Well, she's an alien." He straight up admits while pointing at Lala whose tail was out in the open, "And it seems like she's already halfway through with it."
It was true. What was previously a car is now not a car but what seems to be a small plane in the midst of being created as she used one hand to program and the other to actually build it. It was only now that she turned and saw the owner of the house that she smiled and waved. "Hi, sorry in advance for taking apart your car for parts~!" She said before turning back to work.
There was a pulse of silence until he heard the second man talk. "Raise your head."
Doing so, Joshua was shocked still. The man in front of him was handsome, the front of his blonde hair curled into three rings and his face set into a relaxed expression, as if nothing could surprise him but he'd be fine if it did. Yet his blue eyes held conviction to them and he exuded a pressure that Joshua was fairly sure had to do with his [birthmark]. He wore black clothes with a gap of a heart on his chest, revealing it with two clips of ladybugs on either side.
"My name is Giorno Giovanna. Capone of [Passione]," there was a flash as another figure appeared behind him, it was gold with a cap and purple visors in the place of eyes, there were also wings on its person and purple ladybugs in the same location where Giorno's is, it seems to glare at him before relaxing a bit, "a fellow [Stand] user, and a fellow [Joestar]."
The name causes something in his mind to ring. Almost as if he recognizes it but at the same time it doesn't feel right. And the first term, a [Stand], is that what his [ability] is?
"I see you're confused." Giorno notes as his [Stand] seems to disappear behind him. "I was too. I might not have all the answers, but from one [Joestar] to another, I'm willing to answer a few questions concerning your [ability]."
He walks away, not even offering to help as the man with the gun hides his gun and extends a hand. "Need a hand?"
"Not even a 'sorry'?" Joshua asks as the man simply shrugs.
"I'd say it if I was. Don't get too comfy though, you did kind of break in." He admits as Joshua nods.
Joshua opened his mouth and took a deep breath. "Kaaaaaah~."
With a flex of the muscle, the bullet popped to the ground, covered in blood as electricity courses through his leg and begins shutting it close, the man watching in interest.
Soon, the injury was gone and Joshua was back on his feet. "Interesting. The name's Mista Guido."
Joshua nods and gives a silent greeting as he turned. "Hey Lala, I'll be back in a bit, don't cause any explosions!"
"'Kay!" Was all she said.
Mista glances at him. "She's not going to cause any explosion, right?"
"Not on purpose." Joshua admits as he waits for Mista to lead him.
A/N: Guess who it is? It's Giorno Giovanna!
So, new chapter, and revealing a few things I should've. First, Lala, and Devilukeans in general are weaker than they were in the manga. Why? Cause it'd be interesting. Second, and more as a fun fact, originally this chapter was going to be a lot more violent with one of the stewardess dying in front of Lala but I talked it over with my beta and he said no, so I went with this instead. Finally, a description for Joshua's [paint].
Ability: Paint
Description: Joshua's ability is simply the creation and secretion of a black liquid. He can secrete it from anywhere in his body and it generally acts like either ink or paint but Joshua can also make it slippery, or denser. He can also manipulate it from a certain range. The closer it is from his body, the better. It also acts like an extra limb with hypersensitivity, allowing him to feel certain things and even feel vibrations in the air. Recent realizations have revealed that there might be more to his ability than he thought.
I think that's all. Anyway, if you like this, you can always donate to my ko-fi with the same name I use to write. I might add more to it but for now it's just donations. Granted, I'll write regardless.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.