Last Time: Korra and the Crusaders are "rescued" by an abandoned ship.
Their mystery begins-Now!
-[Track 3: EMOTION]-
Jotaro walked down through the dead-silent passages below deck. Every step taken bounced off walls, traveling up and down until they came roaring back to him. He'd long since given up walking softly; it did nothing to help. There was no sound to mask his own on this entire ship.
That wasn't right. A boat this big would've had a crew of twenty or more, working round the clock to feed the engines or run all the lightning-bent machinery. It should be a zoo for sounds… but, nothing?
'A Stand Master's at work here,' Jotaro knew, 'But, they made a huge mistake disappearing the crew'.
He clenched his fists.
There'd be nothing the enemy user could do to hide if his own footfalls made this much noise. All he had to do was listen, strain his ears to perceive the slightest, quietest, soun—"HELLO!? IS ANYONE HERE?"
Korra screamed through cupped hands.
"HELLO?"
"Oi, what the heck are you doing!?"
"What does it look like?" Korra asked, eyebrows arched incredulous. "I'm bringing all the bad gals to us so we don't have to search the entire ship, duh!".
…*Twitch*… Jotaro took a deep breath as Korra began to scream again, and tried, struggling, to remind himself "Why" Jiji grouped him with the kuso-gaki?
◎⃝⃘
"Ok, listen up," Joseph called, getting everyone's attention on deck.
"Me, Avdol, and Kakyoin will take the Port side. Sailors, you can come with us or investigate the Starboard. I don't like leaving you alone, but us Stand Masters could be attacked any moment. It's safer if you stay out of the Enemy's range".
Loud grumbling could be heard from one of the four sailors.
"Jotaro and Korra," he turned on the pair, "Stick together—Got it". He pointed from his eyes to Jotaro's who scoffed.
"No worries JoJo, I'll keep him close!" Korra pulled him down by the sleeve and smiled; giving both JoJos a thumbs up with a dancing flame on top.
"…Jiji, why?".
"Isn't it obvious?" mirth twinkled in his eyes.
◎⃝⃘
"He'd find it hilarious!" Jotaro glowered, pulling down his cap.
"HEY BAD GALS! If You Come Out Now, Me And JoJo#2 Will Let You Walk Away With MOST Your Limbs"… "Well, not walk exactly, but—
"Shut the Hell up, you annoying girl!" His Stand grabbed her face.
She clawed at the hand, scraping away thin air. Jotaro rolled his eyes. "Oi, idiot. That's not going to work. Stop".
Fire erupted from her fists in response. Some came spurting out the nostrils like a war pig, but Jotaro felt nothing.
She kicked wildly, treading a meter up in the air as Star Platinum held her firm. Silence, finally, was back.
—And immediately broken by a hydraulic machine pushing out Korra's flesh. Her Stand came slowly jerking free with stiff, rigor mortis movements. Each biomechanical joint screaming hard against tightly wound muscles-threads. Finally, they snapped up Korra's flames in their fingertips and Jotaro's hand began to 'Burn?!'
He flung her away, quickly nursing bubbling blisters.
Korra tumbled back, arms spinning overhead; and tried to right herself, windmilling forward, overcompensating and landing smack on the floor. Her head came crashing less than an inch to red hot metal fingers, burning away her right eyebrow.
"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR!?" She whirled up at Jotaro who still cradled his hand. He studied the 10 blister rings matching Star Platinums metal studs.
"You can bend through your Stand".
"Yah?! So?!".
"Stop being so loud, Gaki" he sighed, "What would you do if there's a Stand User behind that bend?" He tersely pointed at the blind corner barely two meters away.
"We'd be dead before we'd know who or what attacked us".
"Oh…" Korra's eyes widened.
'Good. At least she's got some sense'
"Ooooooooh! You're scared, aren't you?" she gushed swarm.
God damn it.
"We'll don't worry, I'll protect you from all the evil Stand-ders!" *Hi-YAH*
She punched forward igniting sparks into intense orange flames. Her PIN emerged, jumping out the back of her hand before sliding forward through the palm and into the fire.
Her power rang out, encircling the flame's base. Force rapidly applied itself, channeling the orange into an intense stream. The backdrafted kicked, almost knocking Korra off her feet. Her fires screeched as the pressure continued to build; two-times.. four times! The flames howled at ear-splittingly decibels trapped inside the tight corridor. Their temperature skyrocketed, transforming them brilliant blue!
The halls instantly were scorched black as they splashed off the wall and down the blind corner, evaporating everything in sight.
"Korra! Korra! That's enough!"
"What- You want me to go hotter? Okay-". Jotaro Stand placed his hand on her shoulder, flexing into a fist.
"Ok fine I'll stop. Jeez," she cut off the flames.
"See?" she panted, "No big bad Stands will-*wheeze* will get you on the Avatar's watch".
She posed teetering, hands on her hips, a cocky grin wobbling against the need to suck in as much air as possible.
Her Stand's disembodied arms continued their silhouette of her, smoking fingertips still glowing blue.
Above, the ship's fire sprinklers kicked on, flooding the hall. Korra's Stand moved, catching the downpour.
Jotaro was drenched…
Korra looked out beneath her water dome and gave a nervous smile. It wilted under Jotaro's glare.
"Oops?"
"This is such—
"Gemsbok-Bullshit!"
"Language, Li! And what's the matter, I thought you'd be the most ecstatic of us all to finally meet real Spirits?" Uki asked, still smiling.
Sailor Li stopped stomping around, triggering a pileup of all the other sailors, and whirled back on Uki.
"A fire chicken and pervert vines are Not. Real. Spirits." He jammed his finger into Uki's chest with each word, fire sparking out and singeing his clothes.
…
…*Pat*…*Pat-Pat-Pat*
Li hurriedly patted away the soot, eyes averted to Uki's patented, "Really, Silly?" look.
*Pat-Pat…Pat-Pat-Pat*!— "There, all done!" He looked up, Uki smiled and he blushed, relieved no damage was done. Which meant he could continue his rant!
"Oh no".
"Oh Yes!" Li swept his arms wide, "These 'spirits' are utter disrespect to the classics".
The third sailor paused lighting their cigarette to look at the fourth. She shrugged and rolled up a blunt.
'Typical Li'.
"Maybe you're being too hard on them?" Uki offered, "You just met them after all".
"Oh, you think so?" Li kicked the railing. "We're on a Haunted Ship leagues away from civilization, and I feel nothing!"
"Wait, why do you think it's haunted?" Uki joined close to Li at the railing.
"There's 5 spirits onboard and you won't call this ship haunted? I rest my case," He bounced his eyebrows over with a smug:angry smirk and Uki couldn't help but snort. Above them, a heavy crane used for lifting multi-ton cargo containers shifted against the wind.
…
"How could the Avatar think those are real Spirits?!" Li asked, dejected.
"Well she's got one too, billy?" He booped his nose and Li made the cutest-angry face. "I know they are not what you've been expecting, but give 'em a chance. They're still the real deal, right?l".
"Oh, you wanna see a real Spirit?"
"No…"
"You want to see a Real Spirit?!"
"Please No— "This is a Real Spirit!"
Li threw his shirt over everyone's stunned faces. Tattooed across his entire torso was the snarling face of Hei Bai. Even his nipples were bleached white into its giant bulbous eyes.
Sailors 3's crack pipe fell out of their mouth.
"That's Horrifying!..Everytime" Uki cried.
"Exactly!" He shook Uki by the shoulders, "That's what a Spirit's supposed to be!" He pulled Uki to Hai Bei's hyper-realistic slimy tongue and waved his hand. "Imagine you're Avatar Aang,".
"Ripped from your body and suddenly trapped in a bizarro, nonsense world; facing down what looks like the monster from your darkest nightmares, and You. Can't. Bend!"
"I.. can imagine". The tongue was almost licking him now.
"Think of that, an Avatar that can't bend. What does that even mean?!" He slammed his fist down against the railing. "I want to know those questions. Find something out about *well* Everything! But with these "Ghost Butlers". He sighed, "All I know is that the old guy belongs on some sort of list!".
…
…Li took a deep breath, flicking a bit of soot into the water as the shadow above lengthened. "I mean, am I right, or just-?
"Weird? Yes-yep!".
"Schlong sucker" Li let out a chuckle; then, "None of this was worth spending all my spare Ban trying to find?".
"You spent all your Ban on Spirits?" Uki looked Li up and down, price estimating the dozen spiritual nick-nacks hung on him.
"Is that why our last Anniversary was so cheap?" Uki winked. "No, no, nononono! It's because you threatened to dump me if I ever spent so much on you again, —Which BTW, is not how someone 'lovingly' accepts a pearl necklace".
"It's still so much," Uki sheepishly tucked his pearls away under his shirt.
"I was on track to be an accountant, remember? If I wanted to buy you diamonds, you won't even notice our savings dip".
Li stared into the wide sea… "Could've been an accountant, parents would be proud, but.." he swallowed in the shadow. "That job's nothing but counting beads all day".
"Beads, beads, beads. Everythings just…"
The waves sprayed up, dousinging him with water as it slipped back into the sea. He watched it pool in his open palm, becoming droplets again as they fell off one by one.
Water tugged off his hair following Uki's hands. Li gave him an appreciative smile before looking lost back out to sea. Uki looked back at the other sailors for support, but they were too busy doing coke off eachother's shoulder blades.
"Tch!"
He reached out his hand but hesitated, the black round eyes of Hei Bai's panda face staring into his soul. Morbidly, he tilted his head to see Hei Bali's monster face on the front stretch back and connected with its panda half on Li's back.
'I've got weird fucking tastes,' he thought, grabbing Li and pulling him close. His head rested on his shoulder.
"You like the weird and freaky, I can't fault you for that. Well, maybe a little" he drummed his fingers over the inked monstrosity. "But I get it. Life's better weird, like you".
Li huffed and Uki snuggled him close.
"Give 'em a fair shot though. Your first impressions were eavesdropped talkie-talk. A dull lifeboat and bright sunny skies are hard sells for any ghost story". Uki chuckled, "Even Hei Bai".
Li perked up at that.
"They may turn out to be just as horrifying as Sifu Panda-Venom, if you let them"
"Maybe…" and Li gave a growing smile. "It's the Avatar, right? That has to make these things… legit".
Uki hugged Li tight, enjoying his warmth against the sudden cold.
"…Thanks for listening to me, just fly off the handle," he groaned. "I know I'm alot-{Least you don't lock it away forever} —Which We Need To Talk About, UKI! But yah, I shouldn't be such a fire tosser just because I'm right and we almost blew up".
"Oh shit! That did happen… got any more rants in you to completely suppress it".
"You. Me. Talk. No more bottling, Uki".
"We'll see…"
…
…
"Ok," he sighed, "Let's go help the Avatar and her bizarre friends find more "Spirits"," he gave one last smile as the shadow above dropped.
ゴ
Salty droplets cover his face again. A big wave must have hit while he wasn't paying attention. Everything was now "slick" with water.
"Uki, could you bend the water again".
ゴ
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ゴ
Some of it had gotten into his nose. It smelled…coppery for some reason?
"Uki?"
A misshapen weight hung off a hook, dribbling red drops pooling on the deck. The other two sailors stared up in horror.
ゴ
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"Uki..? Uki-"
The pearls dropped, scattering across the deck.
ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ
Uki hung from the ship's gantry crane. Its hook punched out through his teeth, both slowly turning with the wind.
Dead.
Li screamed out a hellish wail.
◎⃝⃘
The other Crusaders came rushing from the Port side.
"What's going on— Oh… God!" Joseph clapped his hand over his mouth while Kakyoin and Avadol stared in horror.
"Uk-u..ki-Uki's DEAD!"
Jotaro's eyes darted to the south wall of the Captain's quarter. The metal, there was something… off about it…
He rapped his Star Platinum's knuckle's against it and its metal quickly bent. But?.. He rapped again and got the same result. The sheet caved around his fist, proving the wall was hollow.
But, where was the echo?
*KTNK*
*KTNK*
*KTNK*
Every hit along the wall brought back that same quick tap.
*KTNK*
*Tap*
*KTNK*
"You know *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* It's pretty rude to ignore your god".
-Don't dignify that with a response
Jotaro walked across the wall, testing it every step while Korra's glare burned daggers into his back.
"As Team Leader I command you to stop being such a jerkbender!"
'What?' He paused. "You lead me?".
"Of Course dummy. I'm the Avatar, after all" ٩(˘◡˘)۶
*THNK!*
"So that makes you my leader?".
"Not just you. I'm everyone's boss, just like Aang was".
"You're not Aang".
*THNK!*
"Yah, w-well Aang never had a Stand!"
"And you having one matters why?"
"Well duh! I'm the Avatar-
"Not of Stands".
*THNK!* *THNK!*
"…You're j-just jealous mines, like, a million times more powerful than yours". Jotaro shrugged as Korra fumed.
"Well does The Avatar need help dissaperating her Stand, or are their arms gonna stick out of you forever?".
Korra froze, eyes wide; her three metal arms jostling back and forth. "I-I could pull these back whenever I want to. But you-!" she pointed at him with her many hands, "Said we could be attacked at any moment. Why," she took a deep breath, "Wouldn't I keep it out?".
"Because it's taxing on every aspect of her being". Jotaro looked down at the out of breath Korra struggling to stand.
"You ok down there, twerp".
"I'm Fine! A-And readier than you". Jotaro Stand flashed before her eyes fully formed then gone entirely! She blinked, rubbing her eyes, staring blankly at the empty spot next to Jotaro.
She then caught his eyes, the condescending smirk, and broke eye contact.
"Hmph".
"Hmph!" Korra mimicked. "You're talking pretty big for someone I had to save".
"...Thank you".
"See was that so hard–"
"But you had a lucky matchup. Even a kuso gaki like you couldn't have found a way to lose that fight".
"You are UNBELIEVABLE!" She threw her handssss up and stormed off.
Jotaro chuckled and went back to checking the wall.
*THNK!*
"You know my Stand's the Bestest, don't you Mr. Monkey?"
ゴ
Korra stuck her arm into the large cage snug at the end of the room, and tried petting the oversized Orangutan.
"Korra, get away from him!"
"Why? Look at him. He just wants to have fun". The smiling monkey was dancing around, clapping his hands, coming closer.
"He can rip your arm off with a tug. And we don't know how people have treated him".
ゴ
ゴ
The orangutan, named Forever by his cage's nameplate, smiled wide at Korra. Large, rotten teeth; slinging drool everywhere.
"Relax, if he gets handsy my Super Stand will beat him. Or is this matchup too hard for me?".
"Yare Yare Daze"... "Fine, 'God', go bother the monkey. You're right, this matchup's fair for you".
"See, was that so hard to admit-HEY! Stop dissing my Stand. You don't even know all it can do".
"I figured it out instantly," Jotaro said, leaving the room.
"Hey wait! No you didn't—!" Forever grabbed Korra's arm tight with his big meaty hands. He held her firm, caressing the contours of her muscles. They scraped their fingers deep inside their jowls, wetting them with spit so that they could slide across her skin. Dead yellow eyes crinkled up as his tongue came towards her arm.
Korra's Stand shot out at him, but he backed off before it struck, waddling back to the end of his cage, hands up.
Korra stared dumbstruck at the monkey, slobber still dripping off her arm.
"Ew".
"Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. EW!" She flung her arm around as fast as she could. "What's wrong with you?!"
The monkey shrugged and… lit up a pipe?
"Hey, if you're so smart then you know you shouldn't do this!" She raised her sticky arm. The monkey waved her away.
*RRHAGH!* "I can't believe I vouched for you!" Korra stormed off. Forever shrugged and leaned back against his cage, looking out at a nearby porthole.
ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ
Outside was a mirror, reflecting another mirror that reflected another and another. All the way up and down the ship they went, set up in convoluted places that served no rhyme or reason. Without him touching them, one of the mirrors rotated its angle, focusing back on the Starboard deck. There he saw the Crusaders carefully untangling Uki's corpse from the hook.
The sailors were in utter shock. One was crying beside themselves. Forever grinned.
◎⃝⃘
Korra raced out the door after Jotaro, arm still wet. She stepped over the doorway lip, dropping her foot on what was supposed to be the ship's floor—!
It's gone!?
The thought was all she had to cling to as she tumbled down a gaping hole. Firebending smacked her into the shear walls face first. Her Stand dug their nails into the sudden shaft, but the metal was now all wrong! Slipping through her hands like water. She crashed to the bottom with a terrible groan of pain.
Forever watched above, straightening away the last wrinkles from his new captain's jacket. Sick yellow eyes focused on the dark depths where Korra disappeared too, gaining a glint with anticipation. His lips stretched wide in the most hideous grin, revealing his long, sharp glistening fangs.
He jumped down, following her into the Boiler Room!
ゴ
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Korra : Destiny's BIZARRE Child!
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Author's Note
Next Track Korra's Stand is FULLY Revealed! Last chance to guess its powers. The most specific correct answer gets this cookie: 🍪🐛... It's three months old now, the worms have gotten to it.
For those reading my What if Ruby was VENOM... story, first THANK YOU! I really appreciate it. Next Issue #6 is 60-80% done. Message me more more details
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