//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Simon and Garfunkel // Story: SuShi's Bizarre Adventure: Fantasy Friendship // by Jojoleopard //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer stared at Snips and Snails as they continued to pose for her, standing very bizarrely together. With Garfunkel intoxicating them with its debilitating scent, Simon would be able to fire its neon lasers at them, with the chance of them dodging it quite low. And even if they could dodge it, it could still bounce off lighted surfaces and hit them, which Sunset had already learned the hard way. She could reset the disorientation, but she doubted she would find the chance to concentrate enough to use it. She could use her fantasy armor, but she would need a good chance to do that too. But perhaps, that would be something Rarity could help with. “Devil Trigger!” Sunset’s companion said, and shadowy versions of Snips and Snails appeared from the ground. “Time to save the world!” the Snips clone said. “And let’s be quick about it,” the Snails clone added on as he crouched into a stance. “Nice try, Rarity, but they can’t reach us.” Snips poked at his buck teeth. “We’re outside in the sunlight. We know your shadow copies can’t come out here.” “But don’t forget, I can make copies of your Stands too.” Rarity snapped her fingers and shadow copies of Simon and Garfunkel appeared at the doorway. “Have a taste of your own medicine.” The copy Garfunkel opened its bulbs and began spewing its scent. Snips put a hand up to his nose to hold his breath, but Snails made no attempt to do so. Sunset guessed that being the Stand user of Garfunkel, he would have resistance to his own Stand’s ability. The shadow copies could not walk into the sunlight, so from inside, the copy of Simon began firing lasers out at the real one. It began dodging and firing back its own lasers, but they would only pierce one shadow copy and disappear into it. It seemed the shadows could actually stop the light from going any further, which now gave Sunset an idea. “Rarity, keep it up. Your shadows at least keep his lasers from bouncing.” Every word that came out of Sunset’s mouth was slower than normal. “If you can get Simon off me, I think I can take down Garfunkel. I’ll only have a minute to try.” “I’ll do what I can, Sushi dear.” Rarity raised a hand to clench, but then she had to lean against the wall again from the disorienting scent. “Devil Trigger can use lasers too.” Rarity’s Stand stepped forward, then raised both arms parallel to its head. Once it was ready, it thrust both arms down hard and a beam of blue erupted from between its teeth, going straight for Simon’s head. It dodged, then fired its own lasers from its fingers and it would’ve hit Devil Trigger, but more shadow copies emerged from the floor and formed a line between both of them, though a bit slowly. One laser got through before they could fully materialize and hit it in the chest, just barely under its heart. Rarity coughed blood onto the wall and slumped back, clutching at her chest as her blue dress began staining red. But she would not stop. Not yet. As more of the shadow copies appeared from the ground, shadow Simons began firing their lasers back at the original, but without the strength and speed of the original. Simon easily dodged all of them, but with the wall of shadow copies now in front of it, its lasers could no longer penetrate the dark and stopped after going through just one copy. “You think this wall of shadow will stop my Stand?” Snips raised a finger then put his other hand in his pocket. “You forget I can bounce my neon beams.” Simon aimed up at the ceiling and after a second to calculate its trajectory, it fired one laser, which pinged off the lighted ceiling and into Devil Trigger’s left foot. Sunset had enough with waiting. The plan would have to change and she would be the one to buy Rarity some time instead. A minute, to be precise. “Fantasy armor!” Sunset called and stretched one arm behind her. Pegasus Fantasy flew down over her and encased her in itself, once again giving Sunset its special armor and the ability to keep her in a state of reset for the minute. She wasted no time and flew herself towards them, fists at the ready. Garfunkel got in front of Simon and puffed more of its fumes at Sunset, but while her armor lasted, she would be impervious to its effects and she began delivering blow after blow to the flower-looking Stand. Simon fired lasers at Sunset and they seared into her back. She winced, but then glided around, dodging the rest. She got herself behind Garfunkel and kicked it forward, knocking it down over Simon as she followed up with an axe kick. She hit Garfunkel in the gut, making it cough up blood into the air like a water fountain. Snails did the same, then dropped to his knees as he held his stomach. “I gotchu, brother.” Snips bent down to hold his head gently against his belly, then glared at Sunset. “You think that’s all it’ll take to beat us? You haven’t even really seen what Garfunkel can do yet. Do you think all Snails can do is make you see double and slow you down?” Sunset backed up a step just in case. She didn’t know what else it could possibly have in store. “Garfunkel also has the power of acid.” Snails looked at her with a smirk. “Its body is able to secrete fluids that can melt even the strongest metal.” From its head, Garfunkel opened its bulb wider, revealing a yellow blowhole inside. It caved in on itself, then came back out as it spat out a globule of thick viscous fluid. It splashed across Sunset, hissing as it began to make her armor bubble and melt away, but thankfully Sunset had been in her fantasy armor, which was quick to reset itself and her body, but it took some time off her one minute use. She now only had forty eight seconds left of it. She had to give Rarity the chance to end this battle before then. “How do you like that?” Snails bleated, then was thrown to the side by Garfunkel as Devil Trigger fired another laser at him. “You’re annoying.” Garfunkel readied to spit another ball of acid at her, but Sunset was already on the move. With a flap of Pegasus Fantasy’s mighty steel wings, she threw herself in between the plant Stand and Devil Trigger, taking the blow of the acid across her chest. Her silver armor began breaking apart, but in that moment, the molecules in them shifted and reformed themselves, making it seem as though nothing had even happened in the first place. “That’ll have taken a chunk of time off your armor, right?” Snails pointed at her and ordered Garfunkel to keep up its poisonous offensive. “Finish her!” Through its other bulbs, it began spewing a poisonous purple smog instead, blanketing the area around it. With only thirty nine seconds left on her clock now, Sunset flew high into the air, then dove down into the smog from above. At first there was nothing, but then came the sounds of battering and Sunset found the enemy within, smashing apart its face as she armor fought against the corrosion, then opening her hands, Sunset grabbed the enemy Stand and spun around. With all her might, she threw it as hard as she could out of the smog and towards the restaurant. The Stand bounced and slid against the carpet and came to a stop before the reception counter, with Snails being thrown across the room too. His face was bleeding and his nose was slightly bent out of shape from the beatdown Sunset had given him. Simon fired another two lasers at her from both hands. Sunset winced as she took both blows to her arms, but then did the same to it, but this time with a powerful blow from one of her feet. She knocked the air from Snips’ gut and launched him and his Stand into the restaurant as well as the enemy continued to fire laser after laser at her. “You don’t get it, do you?” Snips stood up and struck a pose, pointing one arm over his head and down to the ground, while the other one touched the wooden floor beneath his feet. “Your armor is reflective. Do you know what that means?” Simon lifted a finger and fired. Its laser flew between Sunset’s helmet and chest piece, reflecting off the underside of her helmet and bouncing into her armor. Her insides suddenly began to feel like fire and she dropped from the air to her hands and knees as it continued bouncing inside, reflecting off surface after surface, sometimes tearing through her skin. Blood began to seep from her armor, but with a reset, it was all gone. Unfortunately, this reset also depleted the time she had left and her fantasy armor dissipated, splitting her and Pegasus Fantasy back into two. “Ha! I did it! You can’t beat me when your armor is so reflective!” Snips cheered. “You could never have beaten me, Sushi. Simon’s power is over lit and reflective surfaces. All of your Stand is like that. You never stood a chance.” “I might not have…” Sunset got to her feet and poked a finger through a new hole in her shirt. “But she can.” Snips, only now realizing he was in the restaurant as his fingers ran across the wooden planks, slowly turned around to see Rarity waving at him. She blew a kiss to him, before shadowy copies of Simon and Garfunkel began crawling out of the ground, grabbing onto his shirt and pants. “Hey, get off me!” Snips began pushing them, then they began pulling higher, grabbing parts of his arms and face. “That’s my ear! Simon!” Snips’ Stand began firing neon beams all around itself, bending and ducking as it spun from back to front, firing off up to ten beams a time. They cut into the shadows that were appearing around them. Perhaps it downed a copy or two, more Rarity kept more coming. Garfunkel tried to destroy them with its acid, but more shadows poured over it and soon, both Stands and Stand users were locked in a hold by the army of shadow clones, each one smiling down on them with glee. “For the better of the world!” one Snips clone cheered. “For justice!” a Snails one added. “Wasn’t too hard now, was it?” Rarity walked closer and looked down at them smugly. “Your neon beams might’ve worked in this environment, but my shadows are the absence of light, darling. Away from sunlight, you never stood a chance. Sushi dear. Time to work your magic.” Sunset made her way over and summoned Pegasus Fantasy once more. While the shadow copies held them down, Pegasus Fantasy reached its hands out and began reworking the molecules in Snips’ and Snails’ bodies. Soon, their struggles ceased and their Stands vanished back inside them and Rarity had the copies release them before leaving them to disappear too. “What happened?” Snips sat up and scratched at his spiky orange hair. “Hey, Snails, we’re in some super fancy restaurant!” The other boy mumbled something, then stirred as well, wiping at his face as he got up. “Huh? What’s going on? Did we eat something weird?” “Nothing of the sort, you two,” Rarity said and their attention flicked to her. “You’ve just been released from the control of your mysterious master. You have your own lives again.” “Hey, it’s Rarity. Uh, oh yeah, that master. I remember her.” Snips next scratched at his teeth. “She’s that witch that kidnapped us to help her take over the world!” “Oh yeah. With Trixie and the gang.” Snails nodded and stuck his tongue out. “Her office was disgusting. I remember the smell.” “Don’t forget the wall of trophies too. I’ve always hated those. Though I can’t remember why…” “Wait, wall of trophies?” Sunset caught on to that. “What trophies?” “Like I said, I don’t really remember.” Snails looked at the ceiling, trying to recall something else. “I remember they were trophies of like… things they came first place in.” “You don’t say?” Sunset was ready to slap a hand to her face. “Hey, who are you anyway?” Snips asked. “We know Rarity. She’s one of the most popular girls in school.” “This is Sunset. Sunset Shimmer. Her friends call her Sushi.” Rarity gave her friend a pat on the shoulder. “She’s quite the skilled one, I must say. Good work getting them out of the sun, dear. I would not have been able to do this without you.” “Wait, you mean she’s like raw fish?” Snips dug something out of his nose and flicked it away. Sunset stuck her tongue out in disgust. “Why’d anyone name you after raw fish?” “It’s just… nevermind.” Sunset waved. “You two must be tired, being controlled for so long. You should head out.” “Yeah, it’s been so long. Let’s go find some people to prank.” Snips snickered. “It really feels like it’s been ages since we’ve pulled anything off!” “But we don’t have our mastermind anymore,” Snails said. “Oh. Right. We need a new one. Sushi, would you like to be our new mastermind?” Snips looked at her expectantly. “Me? Really?” Sunset raised an eyebrow at them. “I don’t have the time. Not now anyway.” “Sure, whenever you do. Maybe once school’s back in session. Just think about it, alright?” They both laughed to each other, then left the restaurant. “Uh, well…” Sunset scratched her head as she watched them run off. “That was… weird.” “I think you mean bizarre, Sushi dear.” Rarity grinned. “Right. Sure.” “Umm, excuse me.” Both girls turned to see one of the restaurant waiters, standing there next to the counter with bags of packed food in his hands. “Your food’s been ready for ten minutes now, but you two were jumping all around the entrance to notice.” “O-Oh… Uh, sorry.” Sunset blushed hard and grabbed the bags from his hands.