White Album - Be gentler! Gentler, damn it!
Mista's loud screams rang out through the night as the car hit the water. It landed in the water with a deafening splash. Instead of immediately sinking, the car floated atop the stagnant water. An arm hooked around Mista's waist and he pulled to the front of the car by Fiamma.
"Mista! Fiamma! Please hurry up and get out of the car!" Giorno shouted
Gold Experience proceeded to continue its assault on Ghiaccio, sending him flying out the back of the car, his body creating a large splash as he landed in the water. The attack didn't come without a price as the Stands' forearms were frozen which in turn meant Giorno's arms were frozen as well. Gold Experience's left wrist shattered, its hand breaking off. The wound reverberated as Giorno gasped, his own left hand breaking off.
"G-Giorno! You…Your body's already-!" Mista said
"I'm sure you already know this, but our priority is to obtain the item. Getting that thing we're leading to our victory," Giorno said
Mista looked out the window spotting the statue, all fear and doubt wiped away as determination took over. The car shook as it started to sink into the water. Ice crept as the surrounding water started to freeze over.
"We're surrounded by water, so it'll take a while for it to freeze. That's why I drove you to the canal. Don't worry about me! Hurry and get out!" Giorno shouted
Fiamma grunted, kicking out the front windshield. She crawled out of the car climbing onto the automobile's hood.
"Got it, Giorno. But I Don't like your idea of victory! Killing him, and the three of us living to retrieve that thing, that'll be our victory!" Mista stated
As he followed the cleared pathway, Mista made his way to the roof as well but was surprised to find no Fiamma.
"Fiamma!?" Mista called out.
"Did that woman run off? Did she leave you two behind!" Ghiaccio mocked with laughter.
Mista clicked his tongue but ignored the taunts. He bent his knees and turned to the water prepared to dive.
"Like h**** I'm going to let you get away!"
Ghiaccio slammed a fist on the water, upon contact waves of ice rushed forward freezing the entire left side of the car, creating an icy barrier. The ice quickly advanced up the car scraping Mista's hand. The gunner shouted, yanking back his hand, but not without losing a good cut of the skin on his hand.
"Just try and jump in, Mista! I don't mind making a wager on whether or not we can swim faster than my ice!" Ghiaccio shouted
"Sh-Shit! Driving into the canal with a bad idea!" Giorno shouted as the entire lower half of his body was encased in ice. "This guy has no weak point when it comes to ice!"
"Turn the car into a plant, Giorno! The front of the car hasn't completely frozen over yet. Nurture a plant to life while you still can!" Mista yelled into the car.
Giorno nodded bringing forth Gold Experience. The Stand balled its fist sending out a powerful punch towards the front of the car.
"You're trying to grow vines to use them as ropes? That's not happening!"
Ghiaccio countered punching the side of the car causing an explosion of ice freezing Gold Experience's vines.
"I-It's no use. We need the right temperature to grow a plant like a vine that'll grow fast enough to reach the bank. In this low temperature, the only plant that will grow is the short grass to find in the tundra!" Giorno exclaimed
Giorno was right, as the only plant that was left behind was grass littering the hood of the car.
"Who said anything about growing fines that reach the bank, Giorno? This is perfectly fine! Short grass is exactly what we need!" Mista started to pull the grass from the hood. "But I need more! More! If you don't want to die, get me more! If you don't grow more, we're going to die, Giorno!"
"Gotcha! Too bad you couldn't grow it to the bank!" Ghiaccio shouted
"Well done, Giorno! It froze over! Now you won't die!"
Mista jumped from the car on a makeshift snowboard constructed from the frozen grass.
"Th-That bastard! He froze some short grass to create a sled? N-No-a snowboard! Damn it!" Ghiaccio cursed as Mista slid across the icy water.
"White Album! Undo the ice temporarily!"
The sound, similar to glass beak, echoed out as the ice shattered, melting away in mere seconds.
With the support of the chilling temperature, Mista's grass-snowboard broke apart. But this also meant Giorno was free from the ice that had trapped him. He lifted his hand as water slipped through his fingers.
"Th-The ice…"
"-Melted!"
Mista flailed as he fell back into the water.
"Mista!" Giorno exclaimed
Ghiaccio dove into the water cutting through it as he performed a breaststroke, swimming towards Mista with the speed of an Olympic swimmer.
"An extremely low temperature is a world of life or death! Nothing can move in extremely low temperatures! They can stop everything! That's what makes my White Album perfect!"
Mista treaded, managing to make his way to the brick wall that would lead to land. He found a pipe hanging off the side of the barrier, hooking his hands around the pipe he pulled himself up and out of the water. As Ghiaccio drew closer, Mista glowered raising his gun.
"It can even stop the raging ocean if I want it to!" Ghiaccio shouted
At his command White Album activated, Ghiaccio slammed a hand down on the water shooting a speeding trail of ice towards Mista.
"Hurry and get up on the bank, Mista!" Giorno warned.
There was no time to escape as the ice struck Mista, pinning him to the stone wall behind him. The ice quickly grew, spreading up Mista's body.
"Mista!" Giorno shouted, climbing onto the hood of the car. "Gather up the grass that's floating in the water! The grass you were using as a snowboard! While you can fire the gun in your right hand!"
Mista aimed his gun, firing it towards the grass floating atop the water.
"Give it up, Mista! Do you still not understand that attacking me is pointless!" Ghiaccio shouted
One of the bullets hit a small patch of the grass and the sound of metal pinging rang out. A large screw bolt flew up into the air, grass sprouting from the metal of the screw. As it was midair, Mista fired another bullet and it hit the screw ricocheting it right into Ghiaccio's forehead.
"Gathering up grass…I see. Giorno, if you release your ability the short grass turns back into car parts."
Mista jerked his head forward while simultaneously flicking open the barrel of his gun. Bullets dropped out of his hat a few luckily landing in the open barrel, each slot being filled.
"Therefore, we can shoot them into you!"
"What?!" Ghiaccio gasped
Mista fired off several rounds, each one hitting point-blank on the screw driving it deeper and deeper into Ghiaccio's forehead. One more hit and it was driven fully in with blood spurting. Ghiaccio collapsed back into the water, disappearing under.
"D-Did that do it?" Mista questioned
"No, it's shallow. I think we can at least get away for now, but Mista, this just brought us some time! Let's get the thing quickly, then get out of here fast. That same strategy won't work again the next time he catches up. Please go, Mista!" Giorno said
Mista climbed up the wall, getting the upper half of his body on land. Hanging over the side of the wall he stared up at the statue then glanced back down at the water. Bubbles made their way to the surface of where Ghiaccio had gone under.
"We need to end him now! This is our only chance!" Mista shouted
Instead of climbing up onto the solid ground, Mista jumped off back into the water.
"Wha-Mista! What are you doing?!" Giorno shouted
Underwater, with his eyes open, Mista spotted Ghiaccio's body sinking towards the bottom of the canal. His body lay still, stagnant in the water. At first glance, it looked like he was dead, but Mista knew it was an act. He narrowed his eyes trying to get a better look through the murky water and spotted air bubbles coming from the back of Ghiaccio's neck. He was using a hole in the back of his neck as a breathing hole.
"Take your positions, Sex Pistols! Number 1 and Number 2, go around and flank him!"
Number One and Number Two swam at Ghiaccio, just as his body met the bed of the canal. His head moved slightly, a glare boring towards Mista and his Stand.
"Wha, he's looking over here!" Number Four cried.
"He's gonna do another ice attack!" Number Two exclaimed.
Ghiaccio's feet kicked as he moved them under his body, then pushed off the canal bed heading to the surface.
"He's trying to go up to the surface!" Mista said
"Mista! Number One and Number Two are saying they can't see the hole!" Number Three said
"It must be due to his posture! He's facing up right now! The holes' hidden! Sh-Shit! Let's scram!"
Both Mista and Ghiaccio broke the surface of the water, Mista still aiming his gun.
"How dare you do that to my forehead?!" Ghiaccio shouted
"Mista!"
Mista fired his gun, all of his bullets going into the water. A second passed, and two fish floated to the surface of the water, dead, bullet holes in their bodies.
"What the?! You shot some fish that were swimming around? What the hell are you trying to do?!" Ghiaccio said
As he looked down at the dead fish, his helmet shifted forward, revealing the hole in the back of his neck.
"He looked down! We can see it!" Number One said
"It's the hole! Now!" Number Two said
Another shot rang out as Mista shot above Ghiaccio's right shoulder towards his Stand.
"Here it comes!"
"We can do this!"
The bullet went right to Number One and Number Two, with wide smirks they kicked the bullet causing it to arc right into the hole in the back of Ghiaccio's neck.
"We did it! Bullseye!" The two cheered, high-fiving.
Their little celebration was short-lived as a crackling noise surrounded Ghiaccio. It was like mini fireworks were erupting around him.
"Th-That sound…" Number One said
"That sound…It can't be!" Giorno said
"So you found my breathing hole and went after that….Mista! But extremely low temperatures stop everything! Gasses turn to liquids and liquids turn to solids! Take a closer look. Can't you see the air that's stopped?" Ghiaccio said
"Mista, the bullet! That's the sound of a ricocheting bullet!" Giorno shouted
"What?!"
The spark around Ghiaccio continued before shooting off at Mista, the bullet striking him through his right shoulder.
"White Album…Gently Weeps!" Ghiaccio shouted
"Mista!"
"I already created a wall of frozen air! It uses up quite a bit of my Stand's power, but now nothing can shoot a bolt into me! Anything that comes near me will stop! This is a lesson I learned from you, Mista!" Ghiaccio said
Mista made his way back to the wall, getting one hand up as he dangled from it.
"Giorno was right. This is all my fault…This is my responsibility. "
With some struggle, the young man managed to climb up onto land.
"If only I'd prioritized getting that thing," Mista mumbled
Next to him, just a few feet away, Ghiaccio had climbed up the wall onto the ground. He was busy overturning a trash bin shaking out the contents, searching. Searching for the confidential object that he had no clue was hidden in the statue. He dug through the trash furiously and when he came out empty, Ghiaccio pulled out the photo, studying it.
This started to become a worst-case scenario. Ghiaccio studied the picture a moment longer his mind working to solve the puzzle. Not a moment longer he smirked, walking over to the statue. With a swift chopping swipe he broke apart the stone statute, and out came a disc in a red case.
"What the hell is this?" Ghiaccio studied the rubble with the disc resting in it. "It was embedded in there? In one of the cuts or gaps in the statue?"
Behind Ghiaccio, Mista slowly raised his injured arm.
"Damn it! If I'm close enough, I should be able to shoot into the hole in his neck again! If I can just get close enough to aim through the wall of air," He said
"Mista's getting reckless." Giorno stood up, his missing hand having been remade with Gold Experience. "He's willing to take responsibility for this at the cost of his own life. But this isn't just determination resulting from him being concerned. It's resolve! We need resolve right now! Resolve doesn't mean sacrifice!"
"A computer disc! I knew it! The thing you were trying to get was something to tell you how to get to the boss! I did it! Now we can find out who the boss really is? All that's left now…is Trish! Right after I finish you bastards off!" Ghiaccio said
Ghiaccio reached down, going to snatch the disc, but something else happened that he truly wasn't expecting. Something burst through the rubble of the statue, latching onto Ghiaccio's arm.
"AAAAHHHH!" Ghiaccio cried out in pain as something bit into his arm, breaking through his bodysuit.
He pulled his arm back, taking along whatever was attached to his arm. A large black and orange lizard hung from Ghiaccio's forearm.
"Let go! Get the fuck off! Ahhhh!"
Ghiaccio waved his arm around trying to shake the lizard off but its bite only got tighter, gnashing its teeth to generate more pain. Ghiaccio spread ice down his arm and the lizard finally released him. There was a gaping wound on his hand, bleeding profusely. The lizard landed on the ground scuttling back, grabbing the disc in its mouth as it did so. Once it was clear of Ghiaccio, the lizard morphs back into Fiamma.
"You bitch!" Ghiaccio shouted, holding his wounded hand. "You didn't run away, you were just waiting out to attack!"
"Yes, just in case you reached the statue I wanted to make sure you couldn't retrieve our item," Fiamma said
She held up the disc case between her middle and forefinger.
"If I were you I'd just give up. I bit you as a Gila monster," Fiamma said
"The Gila Monster! A lizard native to the desert climates of the United States! This lizard has one heck of a bite and can stay clamped down on its prey for up to 15 minutes. Lifting it off the ground mid-bite only makes it bite harder! It also secretes a rather painful toxin the entire time, using its teeth to chew the substance into the open wound. Those who fall victim to this lizards' bite experience symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, high blood pressure, weakness, faintness, excessive perspiration, chills, and fever. Be careful because its bite can easily lead to an infection and necrosis of the skin. Its toxin rarely causes death in humans, but it hurts like no other!"
"The toxins of the bite most likely won't kill you but, if you don't get to a hospital soon the pain will be too much, and you'll wish I had ended you," Fiamma explained.
Ghiaccio shot a stream of ice at Fiamma who dodged it jumping over him, landing on the other side. As he turned around, he was met with the glaring eyes of Mista, his gun poised and ready to attack.
"Fiamma get out of here with that disc!" Mista said
Fiamma put the disc case in her mouth as she activated her Stand. Horns sprouted from her head curving upwards, as shaggy wool grew from her skin. Hooves hit the ground with a clatter as Fiamma turned into a goat.
"The Mountain Goat! These creatures are nimble and excellent jumpers going as high as 12 feet (3.66 m) in one bound. They have superb balance thanks to their cloven hooves. They have rough pads on the bottom of their hooves that work as grips to keep them stable, natural climbing shoes!"
Fiamma turned tail, disc clamped tightly between her teeth, and bounded away.
"You're not getting away!" Ghiaccio shouted
He shot ice out at Fiamma, but she jumped, easily clearing the attack running away further, her hooves echoing on the stone ground.
Mista raised his gun, firing a shot at Ghiaccio, grabbing his attention.
"Fine, I'll deal with you first! Come at me with all your futile attempts! I'll kill you all and get that disc! Let me finish you!" Ghiaccio said
"Mista!"
Giorno raised his still-healing arm then slammed it down on the ice, still on the water. He yanked his arm up, the skin peeling away, causing blood to spurt everywhere.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Ghiaccio said
"Having resolve is the ability to open up a path we need to follow within the darkness!" Giorno shouted
Mista felt Giorno's resolve and it renewed his own.
"It's there, Giorno! I see the path I need to take through the darkness!" Mista shouted
Giorno's blood coated the almost invisible ice wall Ghiaccio had created by freezing the air, giving Mista the perfect view of where his bullets needed to go.
Mista fired his gun, hitting a pole next to Ghiaccio. The bullets rebounded behind Ghiaccio and Sex Pistols came out, ricocheting the bullets around Ghiaccio's ice wall, sending the bullets right into Ghiaccio's neck hole.
But Ghiaccio didn't go down.
"You guys don't seem to understand. The air is frozen because of the extremely low temperature. If I put air that's been frozen solid in my suit and melt it, the air turns back to normal! Just like a diver who had an air tank out on their back, I don't need a breathing hole anymore!" Ghiaccio explained
"The hole!"
"He deflected the bullets! Six of them! O-Oh, no!"
"I hope you have the resolve for this, Mista!" Ghiaccio shouted
The bullets shot back, hitting Mista, riddling him with split bullet wounds.
"It's over," Ghiaccio said
!?
The blood from Mista's bullet wounds splattered on Ghiaccio's face blinding him.
"I-I can't see! The blood's frozen to me!" Ghiaccio cried out.
"The path through darkness isn't the path for the bullets to get through your wall of ice." Despite being weak and in pain Mista stayed on his feet. "I-It was to splash your face with my blood!"
"Shit! I can't get it off!" Ghiaccio shouted, scratching at the frozen blood on his face.
Mista shot three rounds at Ghiaccio, the bullets bouncing off his helmet but the force caused him to stagger backward.
"Hey, the metal pole from earlier!" Number One said
"Mista, your bullets from before carved it into-!"
Ghiaccio stepped back and tripped, he fell backward on the sharp jagged piece of the metal pole stabbing him in the back of the neck. Blood quickly leaked out from the hole indicating that Ghiaccio was indeed hit.
"That hurts…Something…Something…Something lukewarm is…"
"You asked me if I had resolve for this. Well, let me show you! But you'll have to show me some resolve, too. The resolve to be filled with holes and depart for the next world!" Mista declared standing on his own two feet.
"Shit! I need to get this out of my neck!" Ghiaccio cried out, flailing. "Wha-?! My-My arms!"
Ghiaccio's arms felt heaving as he was now carrying heavy weights. That's when he noticed his legs felt the same way, and he started to sweat profusely. He felt an ache come from his arm, and then he remembered the bite Fiamma had given him as a Gilla Monster. He had been running on adrenaline so his mind did not register the pain, but the symptoms of the toxins were starting to take its toll.
Mista shot at Ghiaccio, but it just bounced around in his ice wall.
"You're crazy! The bullets are going to come flying back!" Number Two said
"You're not gonna last!" Number Seven said
Mista huffed out, "I have to make it through. Starting now, I'm showing my true resolve!" He raised his gun. "Steel yourselves, bullets!"
The bullet came back, hitting Mista in the side of his torso, but he just clenched his teeth and fired off more shots at Ghiaccio, emptying the barrel of his gun. He reloaded his gun, ready to fire off more shots.
As the bullets flew towards him, Ghiaccio panicked.
"White Album! Gently Weeps!"
Mista kept shooting and White Album kept deflecting the bullets back at the gunman. Mista got in one more shot that hit Ghiaccio's chin but caused no damage.
Mista's right leg gave out, but he caught himself in a lunge position, his gun still raised, but he was soaked head to toe in blood. His Stand floated around him worried.
"Y-You can't take anymore, Mista!"
"You're going to lose consciousness!"
"We're also…"
"…Going to disappear!"
"N-Not yet. I'm still conscious! I can still shoot him!" Mista said
Mista's vision got fuzzy, blackness creeping on the edges.
Ghiaccio's head flopped back and a flood of blood poured out of his neck wound.
"Y-You did it!" Number Four cheered
"It went all the way in!" Number Seven said
"Your…Wrong…" Ghiaccio choked out, coughing up some blood. "The one with stronger resolve… Is me…Guido Mista… I'll commend you for… pushing me this far…But the one who took better advantage of all the spurting blood… Was me! I froze the blood that spurted out of my neck to support me! Now my neck won't get pushed further onto the spike! I'm totally secure! The spike won't go any further in! Also… Haven't you forgotten something? The bullet you shot last is still…"
The bullet whizzed around, bouncing off the ice before zooming towards Mista.
"Straight to your head! I win!" Ghiaccio shouted
"You talk too much."
Ghiaccio's eyes widened when he saw Fiamma before Mista, her back to him. Sharp scales coated her back and deflected the bullet.
"Wha-!"
Giorno had appeared and was holding the passed out Mista, Fiamma stood before the two of them like a shield.
"Mista…" Giorno whispered, setting him down. "Your resolve is shining upon the path, Even brighter than this rising sun. And it's shining on the path… That we're meant to take!"
"What the hell?!" Ghiaccio screamed
Gold Experience came out and attacked with a flurry of kicks.
"Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda!"
Ghiaccio was kicked further onto the spike, and it fully pierced his neck all the way to the other side. White Album dissipated, and Ghiaccio's suit fell from him like water. The battle was finally won.
"Fiamma, where's the disc?" Giorno asked
Fiamma faced Giorno, and he instantly knew where the disc was. Fiamma had tucked the disc into her clothing, but since she wore a skin-tight leotard the outline of the case was easily seen, nestled below the woman's chest but right above her exposed belly button. Fiamma fished out the disc, handing it over to Giorno.
The blonde smiled, taking the disc before he crouched down next to Mista.
"Mista, we safely retrieve the disc, thanks to you," Giorno said
"Hurry and fix me up. I-I can't breathe… I wouldn't have the name of the show that resolved without your ability," Mista said
"What about me?" Fiamma thought, frowning a bit.
"Hurry and fix me up, before I actually die…"
"Of course. But I'd like to clear something up first. Golden Experience doesn't exactly fix things. It creates parts of your body. I'll give life to the bullets embedded in your body and plug up the arteries and other parts that were destroyed," Giorno explained
"Just shut up and do it already," Mista said
"Since I'm not exactly healing you, you're paying will remain. Please don't complain to me later,' Giorno said
Gold Experience placed its hands on Mista's chest and the pain was immediate.
"Ow! O-Ow! Be more gentle! Be more gentle, damn it, Giorno!" Mista shouted, swinging his arms and kicking his legs.
"I told you, I can't. You're a gangster, for crying out loud. Please quit fussing. There are about 18 more wounds," Giorno said
Mista continued squirming, flailing his limbs as he shouted and cried out.
Giorno stopped and sighed. "Fiamma, it'd be best if you hold him down."
Mista's eyes went wide as Fiamma sat on his hips. She grabbed Mista's wrist, pinning them above his head, then used her legs to pin Mista's down.
"Some of his wounds require his clothes to come off," Giorno said
"Okay," Fiamma said
Without any hesitation, Fiamma gripped onto his shirt, and the man's face went red.
White Album
Power - A
Speed - C
Range - C
Durability - A
Precision - E
Potential - E
Traveling down the canal by boat was Narancia hidden under a cloak, Coco Jumbo resting on the boat's floor.
"Bucciarati! I'm picking up three signals… It doesn't look like there's anyone else," Narancia said
"Proceed, but very carefully," Bucciarati spoke from within Coco Jumbo. "I'm assuming it's Mista, Fiamma, and Giorno.I'm sure they're bored out of their minds waiting for us since nothing's happening"
"ACK! Giorno! Fiamma!"
"There they are! Hey, Mista! Giorno! Fia-!" Narancia froze words caught in his throat.
"Be gentler! Gentler, damn it! Fiamma, don't take off my clothes! I'll feel it more!" Mista cried out
Fiamma was basically lying atop of Mista. Her hands were under his shirt and she worked on removing it. From an outside point of view, it looked like Fiamma was trying to assault Mista while Giorno simply stood by not helping. It was rather easy to misread the situation, which Narancia did.
The teens' jaw dropped, flustered and confused he quickly tugged down the hood of his cloak.
"Well, Narancia? Did you find those three?" Bucciarati asked
"Huh? W-Well, u-um…No! Huh?! Suddenly, there's something in my eye? I can't see! I can't see them clearly!" Narancia exclaimed
He covered his ears trying to completely drown out Mista's screaming as he allowed the boat to float on by the trio.