Chapter 7: Birdland

(AKA Weather and Whitesnake, Part 1)

As the colony of sentient plankton inhabiting a human body tightly hugged Weather, all the reporters clapped, cheered, and started taking pictures. They had just witnessed a colony of plankton, the lowest species in the food chain, instantly become human right before their eyes.

Emporio knew he was partially responsible for the mass acceleration of this achievement and took a massive gulp of his chocolate milk. His only problem was that the Chicago Cubs hadn't won the World Series for decades, and he didn't even care that much about that.

All of a sudden, the test subject let go of Weather and ran over to Pucci in an aggressive manner. Jotaro had to use Star Platinum to restrain her. All that the reporters saw was her being held down by some unknown force as she struggled to get loose from it.

"He killed me…", she groaned. "How could you not have avenged me but teamed up with him!?"

Weather came over to the other side of the lab to get a grip on the situation, as he was the only one in the room who had memories of F.F. from the dream.

"F.F., calm down." he said. "He's not who you think he is. By the way, welcome back."

Marco, through Whitesnake, whispered something in Jotaro's ear before extracting a disk from F.F. This disk contained any memories of Father Pucci from Emporio's "dream".

"Who are you?" she asked, Pucci being the only person in the room that she didn't fully know. After she asked, Star Platinum slowly let go of her body and let her stand up.

"I believe we have not had the pleasure. Marco Pucci, Ph.D. Nice to meet you."

"He's my brother.", interjected Weather, wanting to signify the relationship.

"I don't think we've met, either", said Jotaro. "I'm Jotaro Kujo, Jolyne's dad. I'm a Marine Biologist, so I'm kind of interested in creatures like you. Understandably, you remember everyone else, as I deduce that you might have been affected by Emporio's Stand ability."

"I only recall that 'Burning Down the House' can create ghost objects, not create memories.", she said. "Look, I just saw almost everything, and I know exactly who I am. I'm sorry for lashing out, but I was just born, and I am more confused than anything."

"Okay, I need several things," proclaimed Jotaro, who spoke in a quick manner. "I need one gallon of water stat; plankton doesn't last long without it. I also need the reporters out; my daughter and her party can stay. Finally, I need the test subject to have a physical before she gets anywhere outside the facility."

"Yes, Dr. Kujo."

Six hours later, everyone was back upstairs and having dinner. Emporio had Chicken Parmesan with a side of spaghetti and sauce as he sat across the table from Pucci.

"So, Dr. Pucci," he asked, "What is your impression of DIO?"

The man shuddered at the mere mention of the name. "What a terrifying presence he was.", he mused. "It's almost as if he stared into my soul every time we spoke. That's why Whitesnake looks like that; I wanted it to outstare DIO." Briefly breaking tone, he chuckled.

"Seriously," he continued. "I knew from the moment that I first met him that there was something strange about him. This man was not a man, yet he was something more.

'Is this his attempt at charisma?', I thought after he healed my foot of an ailment that I have had since I was born. 'If he is willing to help me, I'll take all the help I can get, but I cannot give in to his goals.'

And then, he told me that he was 'allergic to sunlight'. I knew that there were human conditions like that, but not to the degree that you would have to wait to move between buildings, so I knew right away that he was a vampire.

Now, I was wondering what to do next. I could either become the boy who cried 'vampire', or I could act sympathetic and possibly avoid being killed. Being a man scared of the total oblivion of death, I went with the latter. Just because I believed him, he let me have a Stand arrow. I took it, again, out of courtesy.

In 1987, when I began my quest to sabotage DIO, I took up the insane task of acting like a total zealot for six long months. When he tried to pull my disk out of my head as a loyalty test, I simply let go. I told myself that that was the best thing to do in any tough situation. For the next couple of years, I pretended to look after the U.S. wing of his Stand user army. After I sensed that he had died, I got in contact with Joseph Joestar and met Jotaro in 1988. I'll tell stories about him and me later.

In conclusion, DIO was a man who soothed me, and that is why he scared me."

"When you said 'he scared me because he soothed me'," replied Jotaro, who was sitting at the head of the table, "that reminded me of an old friend of mine that was culled by Vanilla Ice, DIO's right hand man, on the night that he died. His name was Avdol, but I believe I told you that already."

"Oh, please, it's fine. We've known each other for what? Twenty-two years now? I can forgive redundancy."

The two men chuckled. Obviously, they were having a good time, as was everyone else.

"So, Dad…when would be a good time to schedule our wedding?" asked Jolyne, a few seconds after the laughter died down.

"Well, maybe we should go for the beginning of spring, it's the perfect time to be in Florida before things begin to scorch. Plus, it gives us an ample amount of time to plan things out."

"Sounds good", said the ravenous couple in unison. After the brief moment, they simply looked at each other and smiled.

"By the way, we can stay here, right?" asked Anasui.

"Of course, we do have four guest rooms, only one of which are occupied tonight, and that would be mine." replied Marco, smiling a little. "Weather, do you want to maybe bunk up with me, like the (not so old) days?"

"Sounds…good."

A little while later, Hermes, Weather, Marco, and Emporio all made way for the guest rooms. Jotaro, Jolyne, and Anasui went to their own rooms, Anasui staying with Jolyne, obviously.

As he went to what was essentially his brother's permanent bedroom, Weather began to remember when he first got his Stand.

January of 1989 was a very weird month for Domenico Pucci. He had just turned 16, and he was waiting for his brother to come back from Egypt on his quest to learn more about the vampire named DIO for an eventual sabotage. In the meanwhile, he was also feeling weird about his ex-girlfriend-no, sister.

On the fifteenth, Weather felt as if he would rather watch two snails having intercourse than have to go through another relationship with a sibling of his. All of a sudden, he began to see snails everywhere he went within his new mansion in the outskirts of St. Augustine, Florida. In an attempt to escape, he ran outside, only to see snails torrenting down from the skies.

And then, Weather knew it. He was the one doing this. It was a paranormal ability that he had gained somehow. Maybe it was something that his brother did. Either way, he had to seal the ability, so he attempted to jump off the cliffside. Fortunately for him, fate had it in store for him to live, so the winds seemed to lift him from the waters after he jumped and deposited him straight back onto the shore.

Weather instantly knew that that was the worst decision of his life, so as soon as he could, he stopped thinking about snails, sealing away his own ability and turning the rain back to normal.

The next day, Marco came back home from his "espionage mission" as Weather awaited him at Jacksonville International Airport.

"Did you feel anything weird while I was away?" asked Marco. "Gain any abilities perhaps?"

"Yes, actually.", replied Domenico. "I'll show you after we claim your baggage and get outside. By the way, you may want to brace yourself."

After the fraternal twins left the building, Domenico held onto his brother as the stand named Weather Report appeared besides him and a wind began to move them upwards, above the awning, and about 100 feet in the air. It felt divine, as if god himself were lifting them up. Before they knew it, they were flying. Not exactly flying, it was more like gliding on an artificial wind.

"I think I should mention!" yelled Marco over the heavy wind. "This ability is known as a Stand, and it is physically represented by the thing right next to you! I just got one, and that is why you have one as well!"

An agnostic, Marco knew that this was not the work of god, but the work of his brother and his Stand. From that moment, he knew that his brother's new Stand ability could at least control the wind. Ever since he stabbed himself with the arrow, he was very fascinated with the world of Stands, and wanted to learn more. That is all that science is all about: learning about the world around us and how it can be used to our advantage.

After the wind carried them back home, they sat down in their high-ceilinged living room. It was modest; it had a chandelier, a fireplace, and even a color TV with cable. Either way, they began to talk about what abilities they had each gotten after Marco stabbed himself with the arrow that DIO gave him.

"So," started Marco, "Have you found yourself able to control the wind? I know I may be stating the obvious, the answer is yes."

"More than that. Apparently, I can make it rain anything and everything. It was raining snails earlier just because I thought about them mating."

Marco was disturbed at the notion. "Snails? Mating? I'm not a psychologist, but that seems a little on the weird side.", he replied. "Controlling the weather is a very powerful and potentially dangerous ability to have. Because we are young, I dare you to make it rain right now."

Domenico shifted in his seat. "Bet taken. Let there be rain."

All of a sudden, the pair heard a distinct "pitter-patter" sound on the window. Keep in mind that the forecast just said that there would be sun all day. After all, Florida was the "sunshine state". Marco went to look out the window, and sure enough, it was raining, just as he had dared his brother to make happen.

"Oh, my god." He turned around, looking back at his brother. "I don't believe in god that much, but part of me feels inclined to say that you are a god. That is, of the weather."

Domenico shrugged. "I guess I am." The next thing they knew, the rain cleared up, and there was a rainbow stretching from one end of the Earth to the other.

Marco was intrigued and wanted to show his brother his own new ability.

"I want you to meet someone.", he said, sitting down as a figure began to materialize beside him. This figure was Marco's Stand as described earlier. It should be noted that the letters inside the stripes were "GACT" in a repeating pattern.

"Woah." Weather got up and ran behind his chair. "That's your Stand, right?"

"Indeed, it is. What it does is it removes certain properties from living beings in the form of discs."

The figure walked over and retrieved one disc from Domenico's head.

"Try using your ability now."

"I can't."

"Exactly." said the stand, having seemingly developed its own personality.

"Anyway, its abilities haven't been fully tested yet, so I'm going to need some subjects. I hate to have to hurt innocent volunteers, so I have an idea.", continued Marco, who put the disc back into his brother's head.

"What is it?", asked Domenico.

"Okay, so get this. I have a bodyguard sent here by DIO. His name is Johngalli A. As soon as DIO is dead, I am going to incapacitate him and run some tests. This is where you come in, Domenico. I want your help, as my brother, to take down Johngalli A."

"Sounds…good." Weather was not too enamored with the idea of combat. He was worried that he could break out at any moment and endanger every living being within a one-mile radius.

"Don't worry," assured his twin. "I'll try to make it fun."

"Sure…this should give me a chance to let off some steam."

"You made a good choice." Marco stood up. "Now, I am going to need to keep up appearances with DIO, so if any of his agents come your way…"

At that moment, he was interrupted by the phone. After asking Domenico to hold on a moment, he went over, picked up, and said hello.

"Yes, this is Pucci."

"…"

"I see."

"…"

"Kujo…"

"…"

"I'll try to take him out. Uh…tell you what, meet me in the marshes at midnight, and we'll discuss a plan."

Marco hung up the phone before delivering "glorious" news.

"DIO is dead.", he announced bluntly. "I want you to come with me at midnight to 'meet' Johngalli A. He is blind, but very adept at sensing everything around him. The plan is for you to create a heavy wind and rain that will overwhelm his senses while I go to meet him. This way, he won't notice me coming behind him."

"Got it!" Domenico was enthusiastic, akin to a nine-year old waiting for his tenth birthday. He just couldn't wait to snuff out the supporters of his brother's worst enemy.

Five hours later, at 11:00 PM, the Pucci brothers flew with Domenico's wind to a nearby marsh. They were going to wait one hour for Johngalli A. to come.

"Before you say anything, Marco, I know the plan, but I feel like more wind will just help him know what is where.", reasoned the man nicknamed Weather, hiding behind the tallgrass. "I think we should just have rain, that way, he won't know anything by touch or wind."

"You do know that within your first couple days as a Stand user, you have become a more cunning strategist than me, right?" The two laughed before torrents of rain began out of nowhere from the pitch-black sky. The rain continued for an hour and didn't stop until later, when Johngalli A. walked among the tallgrass as Marco made himself known to the blind sniper.

The zealot was tall, thin, and had long red hair that stretched just below the shoulder. His eyes were white, as he was blind.

Through the rain flooding the marshes, the two men walked toward each other as if they were two spies meeting in secret.

"You must be tough," said Marco. "Coming here on such a rainy night."

"You know well that I always keep my promises, no matter what, Mr. Pucci."

Marco's Stand quietly emerged from him. "So, I have a plan to take out Jotaro Kujo. First, we kidnap someone he knows, and that should lure him in. He will try to protect this person and I will take his disc. Now, we want to be ethical so…"

At this point, he simply droned on as his Stand took advantage of Johngalli A's blindness and slowly walked behind him before tapping the back of his head. The rain was so hard, that he thought it was nothing more than another raindrop.

Before he could think another thought, the discs for Manhattan Transfer and Johngalli A's memory slipped out of his head. As soon as he realized what had happened, he pulled out his gun and shot at Marco. His Stand was late to catch the bullet, but there was no bullet to be caught, as the silenced Glock jammed with water whilst Marco smiled.

"I was just bluffing," he laughed. "Here's the real plan: I have a talk with Jotaro Kujo, and he and I will team up to destroy DIO's legacy. My brother is the reason why it's raining so hard right now."

"How…could you…"

"You know, DIO actually told me to leave behind all traces of my past. Well, guess what, I am PROUD of my past, and I would do anything to protect it. Johngalli A., proud follower of the monster named DIO, I shall deliver justice, the way of true fate."

These were the last words that the sniper heard before his blank eyes closed as he passed into unconsciousness.

"Well, that certainly turned out easy.", Marco exclaimed, turning his attention to his brother. "The only question now is, 'How do we get this guy home in a discreet manner?'"

"Yeah, I've thought about that, and I think I have a solution."

All of a sudden, the air around Johngalli A's soulless body began to condense, forming a cloud which enveloped him as if it were a garbage bag.

"I get it. It's because he's trash, right?"

After the pair walked home, "garbage" bag in hand, they entered their house, only to find that their sister was unconscious on the floor of the foyer. Marco dashed over to check her forehead, discovering that she had a fever.

"It could be Stand related," he proclaimed, picking her up and carrying her to her room. "I'm sure it will be fine."

"Brother, what of the zealot?" Domenico spoke in a Shakespearean tone as the "garbage bag" plopped down on the ground.

Playing along, Marco replied, "I pray you take him to the basement. We will deal with his ilk later. I must tend to our sister."

The brothers walked upstairs, their sister in the darker one's arms. They had shared a bedroom ever since Domenico had moved in. Once they got to Perla's bedroom, Marco laid her in bed, summoned his Stand, and pulled out her Stand disc. The next thing that he did was very peculiar: he had his Stand literally sink its teeth into the disc.

"I never did this before, so let's just see if this works." His stand closed its eyes.

"THIS IS A STAND THAT CAN CREATE A SPARK NEAR ANY MATTER THAT IS EVEN REMOTELY FLAMMABLE WITHIN A TWENTY METER RADIUS." spoke the Stand calmly.

Marco opened his eyes. "Hmm…that is pretty powerful. Until her will becomes more apparent, we should leave this out of her." The disc ejected from his Stand's mouth.

"Well, time to hit the hay." Domenico started walking backwards towards the other end of the hall: The twin's room.

Domenico and Marco Pucci shared a bunk bed, with Domenico sleeping on top. Neither of them cared who slept where, but it just felt right.

"Good night…Weather." Marco grinned at the new nickname he had created for his brother.

"Good night." Domenico slowly drifted away from consciousness as an ambient rain surrounded the Mansion.

Author's note: Thank you for reading Chapter Seven. It was a little long, so I hope you enjoyed. I plan to release the next chapter within a couple of weeks. Until then, take care.