And a one and a two, it's time for another chapter. I got nothing for this intro, so let's move onto the action.
"A… a Stand?" Both Gwen and Lili exclaimed in confusion.
"Yes. A Stand. The main feature of this race." The Golden Voice added. "This will be a primary factor in the race. Found inside care packages, special arrows made of stone can be found. These arrows contain a certain power that can be used to unlock a part of a person's fighting spirit."
"Fighting spirit… So this thing is connected to my soul?" Gwen asked.
"And this ability turned my face into a book?!" Paul exclaimed, still freaked out about the situation.
"Yes. Since Gwen's personality is geared towards art and reading, her Stand has formed with the ability to transmute living beings into pages of a book." The Golden Voice stated.
"But… nothing hit the guy." Millie pointed out.
"Yeah. What's that about?" Paul asked.
"Are you kidding me? You can't see that thing?" Lili asked. "Frankly, it looks well dressed in my opinion."
"Wait. How's that possible?" Priya asked as she got up.
"Those who aren't Stand User's generally aren't able to see Stands with their naked eye. But I can assure you, their energies are very much there." The Golden Voice explained.
"So, is this the main backbone of the combat system?" Priya asked.
"Yes. You may use the Stands in any way you can, whether in combat or in other aspects of the race." The Golden Voice exclaimed. "Now, with that being said, I wish you luck with this information. Things will certainly get interesting in the long run."
The Golden Voice disappears, leaving the racers alone. With this information, Gwen looks down at the third arrow Lili had dropped.
"Don't even think about it." Lili scoffed.
"Listen, I know what your goals in this race are, but I know for a fact that you don't want to take a risk this early in the race." Gwen stated. "I'm willing to let you guys have that arrow if you leave us alone for the time being."
"What?" Aloy was confused about the prospect.
"Hmph. Well. I guess you're also going the survival route as well." Lili asked. "I guess you've got resolve. You'll need it for the race."
"Good call. This Stand thing is easily messing up my brain." Paul stated. "And can someone do something about my face being like this?!"
"Oh, and return his face to normal, if you mind." Lili stated.
"Oh, right." Gwen exclaimed. "Now how do I…"
As Gwen closed the pages on Paul's face, gunfire began to light up the area. A bullet flies past Gwen's face as she dodges backwards.
"What the?!" Gwen exclaimed.
The group turns as Mirage and Octane are seen firing at them with rifles.
"Over there, Witt! Those two have the Stands the Golden Voice was talking about!" Octane yelled.
"I'm trying! Don't rush me!" Mirage yelled.
Mirage fires another bullet, and it barely grazes Lili's face.
"What the fu-"
Before this exclamation can be finished, Lili immediately gets riddled with bullets to her torso, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Whoa!" Owen yelled.
"Oh shit!" Priya yelled.
Seeing the situation escalate quickly, Aloy quickly drops down an energy shield to protect them from oncoming fire.
"Over here! Drag her!" Aloy yelled out.
The group goes to duck behind the shield, with Gwen and Paul dragging Lili's body with them.
"Shit. This isn't good!" Paul yelled.
"Well, things certainly have escalated." Aloy stated.
"Paul, we better fight back." Asuka pulls out her pistol.
"No. I don't think you guys can contest with them in a firefight." Aloy stated.
"Well if that's the case, at least we need to be a distraction while you take them from behind." Asuka stated.
"I'm gonna need someone to help me against them." Aloy stated.
"I better get in on this." Gwen stepped up.
"Are you sure, Gwen?" Owen asked.
"Of course. I'm pretty sure my Stand ability can help in this scenario." Gwen stated.
"Okay then. But you'll need this." Aloy handed her a cloaking gauntlet. "This technology renders you unseen from a distance. You can follow me via the footprints I leave."
"Alright." Gwen stated. "Be safe guys. It would suck if we manage to lose someone this early."
"Will do." Priya stated.
Gwen activates the gauntlet on her wrist as Aloy does, and the two sneak off to get behind enemy lines.
As this happened, Lili began to wake up, to the surprise of the group. The heiress was riddled with bullets, but she seemed more pissed than bleeding out.
"Of course they would ruin this perfectly tailored dress!" Lili growled.
"Whoa! You're alive?!" Millie exclaimed.
"Gah. I guess, but these holes hurt like hell!" Lili exclaimed.
"You've been shot multiple times, and yet this is your reaction?" Asuka asked.
"Look, I don't know why, but something stopped the bullets from penetrating my organs." Lili stated. "My Stand ability, maybe?"
"Hold on, look." Owen pointed something out.
The group turned to see a bullet next to Lili's face. The bullet was suspended in midair, seemingly after grazing her face.
"What?" Lili turned to see.
But as she turned her head, the bullet turns as well, staying in the same position in relation to her head.
"This bullet… it's locked in a fixed position next to my face." Lili stated.
"Try interacting with it. Maybe we can determine your abilities that way." Priya stated.
Lili reaches for the bullet, but as she touches it, the bullet blasts away again, flying off into the horizon.
"Whoa! It continued it's trajectory." Owen stated.
"Kinetic energy, of course!" Millie managed to have a Eureka moment. "Your ability seems to take away an object's kinetic energy, while locking its position in respect to another object! That's why your organs weren't damaged!"
"And you can return the kinetic energy to the object. You can manipulate kinetic energy!" Priya also joined in.
"Well, that's another thing to wrap my head around." Paul stated.
As the mysteries of Lili's Stand ability slowly uncover, the heiress feels an energy manifesting in front of her. The energy shapes itself into her Stand's form. The Stand appears almost robotic, with smooth, green, streamlined armor. It has a spike on each side of the head, bared teeth, orange decals and red eyes patterned with vertical lines.
"Kraftwork." Lili gave her Stand its name.
"Boom!" In a dramatic scene, large Japanese kanji emanated from the heiress, though she and the others didn't notice.
Stand Name: Kraftwork
Stand User: Emilie "Lili" De Rochefort
A close ranged humanoid Stand with the ability to manipulate an object's kinetic energy, locking its position in respect to a nearby object.
"What in the…" Octane exclaimed.
"What is it?" Mirage asked. "Huh?"
The two were perplexed to see Lili still standing, especially after being riddled with bullets.
"If what the Golden Voice was talking about was correct, ugh, we may have something troublesome on our hands." Octane stated. "It seems her new ability somehow makes her survive gunfire. Not looking good for us."
"I guess we're gonna have to get close for melee encounters, and I've got just the thing." Mirage stated.
"Don't tell me you're gonna pull out the statue." Octane groaned.
Mirage then pulled out a small golden trophy in the shape of himself, while grinning to himself.
"And you pull out the statue." Octane groaned.
"Hey, you can't blame me for looking so good. Wouldn't have had this made if I didn't." Mirage stated.
Suddenly, something lands next to the two racers. It appears to be a large battery of sorts, but the two saw that the battery was being overcharged.
The battery blows up as the two brace for impact. But the electric overcharged caused a different type of explosion. In a flash, the two's energy shields were disappearing due to the electrical overload.
"Well, not what I was expecting." Octane said.
"That's what I thought as well after seeing you two have survived that arrow of mine. Then energy shields popped up in my head."
The two turn to see Aloy pointing a bow at the two. They get into a battle stance seeing the threat so close.
"Looks like I was right, you're all defenseless." Aloy snarked.
"Hah, well it's still two to one. Better keep your eyes in check before getting confrontational." Octane chuckled.
"To be honest, I've dealt bigger armies before. But still, even without that fact, it isn't me with the disadvantage." Aloy stated.
"And what's that?" Mirage asked.
"Stand Power!"
Before the two could react, Gwen had used her Stand behind the two Legends, causing their limbs to turn into large strands of paper and rendering them immobile.
"Whoa! This is weird!" Mirage exclaimed.
"Gah! I can't use my legs anymore!" Octane exclaimed.
"That's entirely the point. And it seems my Stand ability does more than open a person's face into a book." Gwen stated.
"Not like any ability I've ever seen, that's for sure." Octane snarked. "Ugh, did you really have to go for my legs as well?"
"Save it. I'm now getting interested in this race, and your attitude isn't helping." Gwen snarked. "I think this is a good test of my Stand. I think I shall name it… Heaven's Door."
Gwen then does a strange pose, tucking her left arm to her side while limping her right arm over her head.
"Menacing…" Japanese kanji slowly flew around the goth.
"Well, at least someone can go into theatrics at a time like this."
The two turn to see Law and Xiaoyu approaching them.
"It seems a lot has happened while we were on guard. I could've joined in on the fun." Law stated.
"So, I guess you're one of the first Stand users. And you did a great job at helping our teammates." Xiaoyu stated.
"Not exactly what we intended, but thanks, I guess." Aloy stated.
Back at the shield, the group had noticed that the gunfire had stopped. They saw that Gwen had already neutralized the two attackers.
"Hey! They did it!" Paul exclaimed.
"Well. Good thing that didn't go longer than it needed." Asuka stated.
"It's over. And I think it's in our best interest to seperate at this point." Priya stood up. "Thanks for the help, even if we weren't on good terms just a-"
Suddenly, Priya gets a massive electrical shock flowing through her. The group turns to see that she has been caught in a fence of electricity, and the fence wasn't there before.
"Huh?! Priya!" Millie immediately acted.
But Millie acted with instinct, and reaches to grab Priya's hand. This in turn, caused her to be caught in the shock as well.
"Ghh-gah!" Millie exclaimed.
"Oh no! We gotta get them out of there!" Asuka exclaimed.
"On it!" Paul exclaimed.
With a plan in mind, Paul rushed to the two for the rescue. He knocks them to the other side of the electric fence, and because of the miniscule contact, the brawler was not harmed.
"Oof!" Priya grunted as the two girls landed into safety. "Well, a fucking electric fence would be furthest on my mind of things to happen if I jinxed the situation."
"I know. Quite 'shocking', isn't it?" Wattson pointed her rifle at the two while chuckling to herself. "I guess my puns still have a 'spark' outside the Apex Games."
Seeing the next Legend on their hands, the group look to see that they're surrounded by electric fences placed by Wattson. That girl is quick to work, that's for sure.
"Now, I wish I can get to know you better, but that doesn't mean I'll not try to win." Wattson smiled. "Now give me the arrow. I don't want things to get 'charged up', you know?"
"One bad pun after the other. Well, I guess I have something to test my Stand on." Lili stated. "Go forth, Kraftwork!"
And that's the chapter! I'm doing more structured forms of combat, culminating into the climax for more natural buildup of conflict and tension. I hope this helps!