//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Smooth Criminal [2] // Story: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Roundabout Friendship // by TenTa //------------------------------// Bille... BILLIE...! You have a golden dream... No one can match your gift. TIE 'EM! BURN 'EM!! KILL THEM DEAD!!! I promise... The gang had arrived at Jojo's doorstep, Rainbow claiming with confidence that this was indeed the place she saw him go. The rest of the minute spent there was of the three coordinating who would greet him at the door and how they would get him to showcase his 'abilities'. Twilight figured it would have a link to his escape from the train, coming to the fact that no Earth pony would ever be able to pull a disappearing act like that on his own. 'Maybe he had a unicorn bail him out' the others suggested, but with the circumstances at the time, Twilight theorised that that would've required a ton of tedious planning beforehand. The door flipped open just as Applejack went for it, with a distressed Geo on the handle making a clear switch to surprise at first sight of the members of the mane 6. "Good evenin' to ya. Is this the Jo Star residence?" Geo, recovering from his initial shock, visibly traded away any perturb and worry for his best effort at a neutral expression. "Yes, yes it is. How may I help?" Applejack spared a brief second of unease at the sight of him. His poker face was awful. "*Ahem*... I-- We were just wonderin' if Jolt was in? There was an incident earlier on concerning him and we jus' needed to ask a few questions. Is that Ok?" "No, no. I've 'eard about what happened. But... The police will be here soon enough." "Police? But he hasn't don't anything too critical, has he?" Geo seemed to be staring off somewhere at the floor, taking a moment to collect himself. Before reverting his eyes at Applejack to state with absolute conviction. "He's been kidnapped." The girls fell silent, unsure of how to respond. Geo, at last, caved into the sorrowful feeling that clamped his heart. "Youse have to help me...! I dunno where he is a-and I-I can't have anything happen to 'im, b-but please! Please tell me you lot will help...!" His desperation was no joke. He was worried sick. And each second felt like that opportune moment for a heart attack. "You sure you wanna go about this Twi?" Dash whispered out the side of her mouth, "I mean, I saw what he could do... The guy'll be fine on his own, right?" "All the more reason to investigate. Besides, his absence is tearing this guy apart...!" Twilight, with a gained nod of approval from Applejack, turned her head back and covered her mouth to cough. "Sure thing, Mr Star. Just let us in and we'll go through the details to see what we can do." Arrivederci The face-off had begun for what felt like minutes ago. Billie had yet to make a move, and Jojo remained the same. But there was something in the way she stood. Poised in a light pose that emitted a heavy sense of wariness and danger, only amplified by the inhuman-humanoid Stand that stood behind her, a mirrored extension of the bughorse. Her looks were unreadable, undetected, unpredictable... Jojo wanted to attack, but just couldn't. He had no idea what she was capable of. And so he continued to stand, [Moonlight lady] at his hoof. She brought her arm up in a limped pointed hoof. "Roughly 25 minutes ago, in London, my troops were commanded by my order to steal a certain girl over my supervision. Instead, I find that they've been ragdolified into intensive care. Care to explain, Mug boy?" "They held a girl hostage at stab-point, do I need to explain myself, Ms.'Ragdolified'?" She scoffed, "Bold words, Jojo..." Her voice had collected poison to it, "But if don't wanna be as badly beat up my men are currently, don't be an idiot. I just need a few questions answered." "Ya see, I happened to notice whilst hidden on the train that The Mane Six, Rainbow dash, in particular, took suspicious interest to you. Your choice of wear. Your bizarrely oversized Bandaids." Jojo stepped back, "I didn't think too much of it at first, but my attention was trained to you after your little magic trick. And I saw you, phasing right through the walls after clutching one of those plasters. I can't believe I'm about to ask this, but why in the vast lands of Equestria are you wearing bandaids, of all things? No normal mare, stallion or otherwise would be caught wearing something so... dumb!" "Then I saw it, Your [Moonlight Lady]. Your Stand... I'm truly curious. How can you perfectly conceal a mug inside a bandaid without it sticking out? If your Stand can hide away something like a mug, what else is it capable of? But more importantly... "What else are you hiding in the other bandaids?" Jojo swallowed hard, giving his all just to steady his heavy breathing. What was in his plasters he couldn't let anyone know, no exceptions. Simple as that. And so... He continued to stand, [Moonlight lady] at his hoof... Billie, on the other end, didn't appreciate his lack of answers. She sighed, "I'll wail on your dad to... Since you insist on keeping your mouth shut." A fit of light anger slowly began to boil and seith into Jojo, being the only force to fight off his fear. "...You leave him out of this. If I'm hurt for my choices, then it is completely my fault. But I'll NEVER allow my dad will be injured on my behalf...! So fine. I'll tell you. IF you can actually kick my arse, that it." Confidence found itself onto Jojo once again. A small fire blooming within. "Good." Billie uttered, a small grin sneaking onto her face. "Don't say you didn't see this coming..." "That's the thing, Bughorse...!" His aforementioned confidence leaked out as a smile, "I have one thing that will tip the advantage to my favour! An 'on the spot' plan...! Now I can say with certainty: I will beat you!" Jojo made a mad dash right towards her! At full throttle and never backing down, his sights were set. "Alright then...! If you're so certain, then put on a show...!" She put [Smooth Criminal] at the ready. "I'll pull you right off the stage..." He had nearly closed the distance. [Smooth Criminal] took a titanic straight forward, wound up punch right at him...! But with a sidestep and a brush of wind passing right by him, Jojo had successfully dodged the blow. And in a moment, time seemed to stop for the Bughorse. As she got an eyeful of pure determination that peaked past her Stand. "My Plan...!!" The fire roared in his eyes. Everything was set. She was wide open. The just moment was staring Jojo right in the eyes. The time was right and Jojo wouldn't hesitate a second longer. Jojo leapt forward with every ounce of power in his being and...! Went right past her. "I'm getting the hell out of 'ere!" He booked it with his head held straight for the edge of the platform. What he would do after that... He wasn't sure. But he just needed to buy some time anyway he could. Looking down at the ground wasn't a pretty scene, being that the platform looked to be at most 100 metres high. Hights aside, Jojo made one half look back at Bille as he made one swift and definitive jump off. 'He's... He's insane!' she thought, 'Jeez... if he had this much of a death wish, he shoulda stayed buried with my goons... What the hell is he 'planning' anyway?' Jolt had no time to take a breath of relief, he drew out his Stand and flipped his front to face down before he could be turned to paste. However, what he only saw wasn't the floor. As he continued to accelerate, he discovered that there was no ground anywhere. He saw himself. A complete copy, diving at the same speed. With the wind getting in his eyes, Jolt turned to his back to hopefully see more clearly. But it was the same clone, still facing away from him. And to pile on even more shock to his initial confusion, beyond that copy were even more copies, like those elevators that have mirrors as the walls. All of which were mimicking his movement down to the sway of every hair on his coat. And contrary to his common sense and likeliness to fundamental laws of physics, all the evidence pointed to the impossible truth. Jojo was falling in some sort of loop. バーン ! ! "W-What the Heeell!!!" 'What's going on!!? he looked past all the other copies to find that their ground was no ground anywhere below, 'I knew my Stand was crazy... But this?? This is insane!! Is...? Is this her ability... Making me fall forever??' "Hey, Bandaids...!" he could hear the Bughorses' voice going from above to below his earshot, but could barely keep his eyes open due to the winds bashing against his eyes, "I must say, you are one crazy son of a bitch... Jumping off the side of my makeshift platform without a single thought otherwise. You do know you can die, right?" "You... What are you doing to me...?!! Let... Me... Go!!" "Figure that out yourself, genius. Besides, I know full well that you aren't going let me off easy if I just let you go. I've seen what you can do and I sure as hell ain't gonna let you get the chance to retaliate." Billie relaxed, even turning away as she sat down and stared atop the elevated view she crafted. Roads, houses and people completely unaware of what loomed above them, as they continued their days as normal. "It's beautiful, right?" She looked to a standard, nuclear family. "A family. Two ponies who were once nothing but strangers brought together by chance, together and standing after years of companionship... and with that as the result." She focused more on the child. "It must truly be an experience... Being raised with love and care. I mean, I wouldn't know much." "Heh... What the hell am I saying...?" "As for you..." Jolt abruptly plummeted back down to earth again, yanking him out from his slight fade away. This time the fall felt new... As he looked back down, a sudden surge of electrical bolts all lined up, began to cinematically split apart and form into a circle. Within it, lay a view of the sky above with clouds scattered about. A view clearer than a polished window. Then, gravity violently tugged the other direction as he broke through the window. His initial momentum carrying him far into the sky. He couldn't begin to describe how queazy he felt after that experience. 'But what was that...?? Just now, I fell through some kind of rift... And now I'm falling upwards?' His mind flashed back to his endless fall as he finally reached the apex hight, 'No... That can't be it... Portals! Her ability is portals! That's how she got me falling forever...! That must be it!' "...I envy you, Jojo!" Billie roared from her platform, "That you're not in my hooves...! That you're not born an outcast!" [Smooth Criminal] arose from her, matching the self-made anger with a battle-ready pose from right out the front gate. "And that you didn't grow up under my 'mother'!! Under a nation of starving brothers and sisters! I hhhhate it...! Faust knows how long I've suffered just cus of my race!" Atop her Stand, 10 portals ripped the air. 1 right in front of it. And the other 9 all positioned together in a semi-circle. All of which would be right where Jolt would land. "Well, I'm not just a Changling anymore...! I'm a pony! And I'll fight The World to prove it!! Smooth Criminal...!!" In one quick and sudden spur of panic, Jojo fumbled his bandaid open and desperately pulled his Stand just in time to have a multitude of fists sink into him. With all the motion gained from falling being brought to a painful stop. "Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai "Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai Vai!!!" From the portals she cast, punches rocketed at every conceivable angle with enough speed to rival a Pegasus and enough might to bust down a wall. Alllll connecting with one part of Jojo. The portals snapped out of existence, letting him fall for a second before [Smooth Criminal] followed up with a final punch that sent him packing through another portal that set him diving out form high in the sky once more. His went vision was fuzzy. His nose was warm with the flow of fresh blood. He could barely feel his face. He was falling again. Throughout that entire attack rush, Jojo retightened his loose grip on the mug. 'I... I can't... What the heck...?' He weakly cranked his head toward the blurry platform, 'Please, Gods no... Not like this... Not... Not now. Ugh...! What the hell... did do I deserve this...? Everything hurts... Haaaaah... I still got this... I can still win... I can...' With the most his resolve could muster, Jojo limped his arm up above, holding his mug straight at the Earth as his eyes flicked shut. "Whew... Well... That got... personal." Billie sighed, impatiently watching him fall, "Guess I needed to vent more than I thought... Feels great though...! Like I slapped on a new pair of pants on the night of new years eve... And I don't even wear pants." She thought, smiling to herself. She then brought her attention back to Jojo. "Don't take this too personally, Jojo." She solemnly muttered, "You just need to understand you were lucky from the start. Stand and all. And I wouldn't do it to ya this early any other day, but... gotta do what must be done." Jojo was bound to hit the floor in a few seconds. Billie turned her back to his fated death... and walked away. "And nothing will ever get in the way of my dream..." A pink flash banged from behind, stopping Billie in her stumble forwards. She snapped her neck to the source of the sudden light and found Jojo, alive but hurt, holding himself up on his Stand alone. And in a pose that made it look like he was still in the process of falling. Her jaw collapsed, "W-WHAT??!" 'B-but...?! How!? That distance- His speed he- He was going over terminal velocity!!' Jojo eased himself back onto the floor, setting his vision straight with a look of tired anger. Covered in visible blood and bruises (and possibly more if he didn't wear so many massive bandaids), he looked more than worse for wear. "Don't even start me and that..." He began, "Not having anyone by your side is hard. I should know. Everyone thought I was 'weird' or something and, cus of that, all my life I've had no real friends to... 'hang out' to... get to know. My mother... well, she's a different case. I don't even wanna talk about 'er. You're not the only one who's gone through sheer loneliness." In the second, Billie swore she could feel something resonating within her. "[Moonlight Lady]..." He glanced down at his mug with a smile of nostalgia, "...was definitely a highlight of my life. Y'see, this mug was a gift from my dad when I was sick in the hospital. Gods bless him... But, in the month I was bedridden, I never let go of this cup. Not even once. It was like a part of him was always near me... I'm going off on a tangent... What I meant was with the hell-grade health I suffered, I was scared." "Nausea one hour and insomnia the following night, and getting worse each hour. A flaming headache the next day... No doctor knew my disease or cure for thereof. I thought I was gonna die the way I came to life. Alone. That's why I always held this thing near me. "But one morning, I woke up, sat up, and... well. Everything was fine. An absolute miracle for my state. More importantly, after I noticed a tint of red was glowing from me, I later discovered that I had inherited the Stand ability to absorb, store and steal as much or all kinetic energy from any moving object. I felt like some kinda superhero experiencing his backstory, like Spider-Man or Wolverine." He cut a serious look back at her. "So when you attacked me with a flurry of punches, you hit [Moonlight Lady] with a majority of those punches. Did you ever wonder why a few of those strikes felt a bit... empty?" Her eyes flinched as the realisation settled in. "And right as I hit the ground, I absorbed the impact of the landing. And so, I lived bitch... Now, I have all the kinetic energy from all the abuse delivered stuffed away in one convenient little mug. Of which I can use whatever way I want..." Jojo began his walk, or rather limp, towards her. To which her Stand summoned out in defence, "H-hey! Stay back...! Ya hear?! My portals have more than enough range to keep you away...! Your Stand has nothing again-! Ngh..! Hmmh?!" Her jaw began to lock up and harden in place. The stiffening sensation spread all throughout her to the point where she couldn't move a proverbial finger. "My Faust, do you ever shut up?" Jojo quoted smugly, "What your experiencing is my secondary ability. Anything my Stand touches, it can change the structure of said thing from a solid, to liquid, or to gas. Your skin is hard like a rock, but you can't move." "When I ran away, I managed to get a small touch on you. Granted, it would take a looooong time for the effects to settle considering how light that touch was, but all I needed from that point on was to stall for time..." He loomed above her, a thick red aura resonating clearly from him, "So... What is your plan now?" Her Stand quickly manifested itself to deal a backstabbing blow, only getting her decked in the face. "Oh ho...! No, you don't, you cheeky bastard! I'm ending this...!" Using every ounce of energy garnered from every bit of abuse he took was channeled into one arm. And with his newfound speed and vigor, Jojo unleashed a bullet hell of blows. "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA! ORAHH!!!" Billie glided at near mach speeds and skidded into the dirt of her fading platform. He pointed his mug at her. "Around me, you really are your own worse enemy..." He stated boldly, hiding his child like glee and satisfaction after delivering that one-liner. Billie was luckily still conscious from the number of new craters she had punched into her. Jojo sighed, "Good grief... She's still awake?" He looked around at the deterioration of the floor around them, "...Guess we should get going." "Eh...? Wut...? What are you...?-" "Don't worry about it." He dragged the barely woken bughorse, limped towards a nearby hole and jumped off. ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 Stand name: [Smooth Criminal] Stand Master: Billie Jean Abilities: Long-distance portals and platforms STAND RANKING Power: B Speed: A Range: A Vitality: B Precision: C Potential: B |To Be Continued==>