//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Sabaton's Last Stand // Story: SuShi's Bizarre Adventure: Fantasy Friendship // by Jojoleopard //------------------------------// White Buffalo bumped into a slope on the way down and slid the rest of the way down, crashing into a tree near the forest floor, sending Jojo and Rarity flying as they continued rolling for a few more feet, before coming to a stop against a boulder jutting out of the forest ground. Flash and Sabaton had dropped straight to the ground, where the battleship crashed nose first into the floor, sending dirt rocketing up into the air as its metal groaned and ripped, before it tipped down to one side against the slope. Blood dripped from the slit in Flash’s helmet as his Stand’s damage transferred to his body. He was bruised and he was sure he had ruptured one of his lungs as he was having trouble breathing. Jojo groaned from the impacts he suffered on the way down and he was a bloody mess from multiple wounds and burns all across his body. He tried to get up, but even his strength had its limits and his head dropped back on the ground. Rarity pushed her arms out under her body, still able to muster the strength to move, spotting Jojo close by. She sported a few cuts and bruises on her body, but nothing major except for a sore right wrist. “Jojo darling, you’re badly hurt!” Rarity crawled over and ran a hand over his face. “Don’t worry about me…” he said weakly. “The fight’s still here. You have to finish this, Rarity. I just need a quick break. You’ll see, I’ll be good as new. But the fight now, is all on you.” “Thank you for protecting me, Jojo.” Tears dripped from Rarity’s eyes as she placed another hand on his other cheek. “If not for you, I think I would be in a far worse state.” “Anytime.” The man grinned and managed a thumbs up. Feeling brave, Rarity leaned down and planted a kiss on his lips. “Ho ho, wasn’t expecting it. Or actually, I was.” Jojo laughed and ran a hand over her right arm. “Your next words will be… I will win this fight for you, Jojo.” “I will win this fight for you, Jojo. How did you do that?” Rarity pushed to her feet. “Family secret. Maybe I’ll tell you one day, huh?” Jojo leaned back again. “He’s all yours, Rarity.” Rarity turned to face Flash, who had his sword planted in the dirt to prop himself up as he looked over to her. There was rage in his eyes and for some reason, they actually looked like they were glowing red. “Just stop, Flash.” Rarity threw one arm to the side and the other in a ‘V’ shape horizontal to her body. “We don’t need to do this.” “Oh, but I do. The master demands it. And she does not tolerate failure.” He raised his shield and removed his sword from the dirt. “You’re beaten. It would not take long for me to end this, especially with the sun almost gone.” Rarity motioned to the light, which was already fading from between the trees. Even now, the trees cast long shadows that she could use. “Just give up, dear.” A shadow copy of Flash emerged from beside him, but he bellowed a warcry and slashed at the copy, cutting it in half and sending them flying through the air before vaporizing in what was left of the sun’s rays. That surprised Rarity. She didn’t think he still had so much strength in him. “Sabaton has many abilities,” Flash explained. “Its best and most powerful is The Last Stand, which strengthens both of us the closer I am to death. In the state I am currently in, I have the strength of ten more Sabatons!” Flash charged for Rarity, kicking off the ground with an explosion of dirt behind him. He was quick to close the distance, his sword arm already behind his body as he brought it forward to pierce her chest. Devil Trigger burst forth from Rarity and punched at his arm, knocking it aside just enough for Rarity to step away from it, followed by more punches towards his face. Flash raised his shield and then bashed it straight into Devil Trigger, knocking it and Rarity back. She created two shadow clones from the ground as she fell on her butt, who descended upon Flash with yells of justice and honor. “This day, you will be brought to justice, for all that is good in the world!” one proclaimed. “Not yet!” Flash slashed one across the shield, knocking it clear as he spun around to slash off his copy’s head. With a kick, he launched the body at the other one, just as it cut down, right through the armor on his thigh and his skin beneath. Blood sprayed from the gash in his armor and he winced, but finished off the other clone with a cross slash on its chest, sending it crashing into a rock and exploding into dark wisps. “You’ve crossed the line now, Rarity.” “More like you have, darling.” Rarity pointed a finger to the sky. Flash’s eyes wandered to the sky where the last inklings of sunlight faded as night took over day. “You’ve crossed from day to night and without daylight, why, I think you’re going to find me more than you bargained for.” The shadows seemed to grow darker around them as more shadow copies of Flash and even Sabaton’s battleship crawled into view from the darkness, their weapons drawn and their eyes focused on him. Flash charged into the fray and began swinging both sword and shield as he tore apart the copies easily with his increasing strength, with one even falling into three pieces as Flash swung his sword through its head, then midsection all within the fraction of a second. The shadowy Sabaton fired its main guns at Flash, smashing up parts of the dirt. Unfortunately for Flash, as he was fending off more of his copies, he missed one of the holes and tipped back into it, falling flat on his back as the shadow copies threw themselves down on him, slashing at his armor and tearing it apart with their own weapons and hands. “No, stop, I am invincible! I am Flash Sentry!” He gasped as one of them cut him across the face. With Sunset not being here, Rarity only had one other way to remove the master’s mind control on Flash and that was to have Devil Trigger waft through the layers of shadow copies and lift his head, before delivering a hard punch right in the center of his temple, where his helmet had been torn off. Flash’s head hit the ground and he stopped moving. “The fight is finished.” Rarity recalled Devil Trigger and the shadowy copies of Flash and Sabaton disappeared into the night. With Flash incapacitated now, she could tend to Jojo, maybe show him a bit more love as well. “My first kiss!” Rarity squealed as she held her face in her hands. “And it’s with a hunk of a man like Jojo!” She pranced around giddily. “Jojo darling, the fight is won!” From his downed position, he threw a thumbs up to her. “Hey, I knew you could do it, Rarity.” “It’s all thanks to you, Jojo darling.” Rarity walked up to him and knelt down beside him to help as he struggled to prop himself up against the large boulder. “You bought me enough time to bring out the night.” “And now you’ve taken out another member of the Bully Squad.” Jojo laughed and then winced. “I wonder how the others are doing.” “I’m sure they are handling themselves well. Can you stand?” Rarity offered her hands. “We should get going from the forest.” With her help, Jojo was back on his feet and they began their long walk away from the forest. Rarity had only taken a second step when she found her third didn’t touch solid ground. Finding that odd, she looked down, only to see she was slowly rising up into the air. “Rarity? What’s going on?” Jojo held on to her, but then he found he was also starting to rise and they were no longer touching the ground. “This must be the work of an enemy Stand!” “But where are they?” Rarity waved her arms around frantically, trying to catch ahold of something to stop herself from floating away. “Devil Trigger!” Devil Trigger came out and grabbed hold of Rarity with one hand, and a nearby tree with the other. They stopped rising, but Rarity didn’t dare do anything else. It was lucky that Stands didn’t get tired from holding things. Jojo held on to her, then pulled himself over to the tree where he also managed to get Rarity to. A shrill laughter came from somewhere around them and they looked around, trying to find the owner of the voice. Rarity knew it well. She has heard this laughter many a time in school, especially after a successful prank or magic trick. It was the leader of the Bully Squad herself. “Where are you, Trixie?” Rarity called out to the dark. The laughter continued as a girl with white hair descended from a tree beside theirs, gently floating down in the air, one leg crossed over the other. She had a magician’s hat with star patterns on her head, along with what looked like robes from a wizarding school. Her Stand levitated in the air right above her, its legs crossed and its arms stretched out to the sides with their palms facing up. It was a black and orange patterned Stand, with spikes covering most of its body, including its head. There was a meter on its chest, where there was a pointer hitting the right side of it like a metronome. It raised one hand up, then the other to its chest. The meter dropped to the left and then, so did Rarity and Jojo as they were suddenly plunged to the ground. Devil Trigger threw itself under both of them and softened the impact, but they still hit the ground hard enough to spew dirt up and create a small crater. “Ow…” Rarity held her hand where she had broken off splinters on the way down. The impact had also hurt her body and blood ran down her nose as she sat up. Trixie put a hand under her mouth and began laughing again as she continued to float slowly towards the ground. When she was close enough, she uncrossed her legs and placed one foot on the ground, while the other stayed in a kicking position behind her. “I’ve been tasked by the master with your elimination by the master. You should’ve never turned against her, Rarity. Now she wants your head.” Trixie began walking around them with her Stand floating closely behind. “You know, I’m actually surprised you made it this far. I was sure my squad members would’ve been enough to take you all on and then I wouldn’t have to dirty my hands. Trixie’s squad, unfortunately, has proven to be incompetent! But fine. With no other option, I’ll do it myself. I’ll eliminate all of you and the master will be pleased with my work!” “I’ll never let you do that, Trixie.” Rarity clenched her fists and Devil Trigger got up and stood next to her. “No one deserves to have their life taken away from them to become mindless drones.” “Fine. Then come, Rarity. Show me the power of your Stand.” Trixie raised both her hands. “And I will show you mine.” Devil Trigger summoned shadow copies of Trixie and her Stand, but immediately, they were all raised into the air, before being slammed right back down into the earth, disappearing from view. Devil Trigger called more from the darkness before charging at Trixie’s Stand with its fist raised and mouth opened in a war cry. The enemy Stand raised one hand and Devil Trigger was immediately stopped in place, along with its shadowy copies. Rarity felt it too. It was as though her body had become too heavy to move and she was also having difficulty standing on her own two feet. It was as though someone was piling bricks on top of her and she wasn’t even able to stand straight anymore. “My Stand, Gravity Kills, has control over all gravity.” Trixie laughed and began walking towards her. “It can lower and raise density on a whim, and by manipulating that, I can move things around how I wish and right now, I’ve increased it so that you will be unable to move.” Rarity groaned under the weight of gravity, but she managed to turn back and look at Jojo, who was still lying on his back on the ground, groaning in pain from the drop. He was badly hurt after the fight with Flash and Sabaton. She had to protect him, no matter what. I’ll keep you safe, Jojo. I have to. I won’t let her lay a finger on your beautiful body. Rarity turned her focus back to Trixie, then as Devil Trigger opened its mouth again, it fired a laser from it. Surprising Trixie, who tried to move away, only to get hit in the shoulder. Her clothes were burned at the spot and she now had a hole through her shoulder. She grasped for it and shot Rarity the evil eye before pointing a finger at her. “How did you do that? I’ll increase the gravity here!” Gravity Kill’s meter on its chest dropped lower and Rarity now felt a crushing weight over her, forcing her down to her hands and knees as she tried to keep herself up. Devil Trigger fought harder and managed to stay on its feet, but it was straining hard against the enemy’s attack. With the shadow clones ineffective here, all she could do was fire another laser at Trixie, but it curved away from her at the last second and singed into a tree behind her. “Ah, that’s right.” Trixie smirked. “Light itself isn’t affected by gravity. But you forget that intense density can warp space itself and seeing as light exists in this space, light can be warped and its path curved. You might’ve had an idea here, but it’s over now, Rarity. The Great and Powerful Trixie will finish you here.” Rarity felt the gravity around her increase and she was now forced down to her elbows. Blood began to run from her nose and ears as she strained against the incredible weight, but no matter how hard she struggled to overcome this, she could not. She had to think of something else. She had to keep Jojo safe. If she could somehow signal the others, perhaps then she could buy him time this time, like he had done for her in the earlier battle. Light. She had light, a perfect signal in the night. With all its strength, Devil Trigger began lifting itself against the punishing gravity, leaning back at the same time so its back was arched backwards. With a mighty scream, it fired a huge laser beam up into the air where it bent and curved as gravity around it warped, piercing through the trees and the clouds before exploding in a burst of light high in the air, illuminating most of the forest for a few seconds, before the blue faded back to darkness. “What did you hope to accomplish with that?” Trixie looked back down from the spectacle and raised both hands; her Stand imitated her and did the same. “Would you like to try again?” Rarity groaned, fighting hard to stay up as blood trailed down her head. She wasn’t just going to give up and lie down. She was going to give this fight her all. With every fiber of her mind, Rarity willed for her Stand to fight on. Devil Trigger fought against the enemy’s ability and soon, it managed to take one step forward, then another. Trixie could only watch in amazement as it continued to move forward. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her leg and she looked down only to see more Gravity Kills grabbing on her limb, climbing up as they crawled higher. “Get off!” Trixie raised a hand and Gravity Kills swooped over and punched them, knocking them to the ground. The shadows began to get up, but Gravity Kills lowered the gravity, making them levitate, which also removed the intense weight over Rarity and Devil Trigger. In that instance, Devil Trigger used the advantage to throw itself forward by pulling rocks on the ground, thrusting itself towards Gravity Kills. It fired more lasers from its mouth as it got closer, then pulled one fist back. The lasers pierced the enemy Stand’s chest, just above the meter, then the left side, which sent blood spurting out from both Gravity Kills and Trixie, who fell back a step as she clutched at her wounds, her hat slipping off head as she did so. Devil Trigger’s punch, however, never landed. Instead, Gravity Kills had summoned nature itself and small trees and rocks began to fly around it, lifted off the ground in low gravity, before manipulating them to serve as a shield. Devil Trigger collided with one rock and was sent flying back, sliding on the ground and kicking up more dirt. “I’ve had just about enough of you!” Trixie yelled and Gravity Kills punched another shadow copy before raising the gravity again. Gravity Kills swirled the rocks in a curve around itself and smashed them into the clones, sending them flying off in the distance only to smash against trees or mounds on the other end. When that was done, she directed them to Devil Trigger, who had only just gotten up and was unable to get out of the way as a trio of rocks smashed right into its chest, slamming it against the slope behind it. Rarity bent low and coughed out blood as three rock-shaped indents appeared on her chest from the blows received by her Stand.  “You’re finished, Rarity,” Trixie said as she floated over to her, still keeping a far enough distance so that she could avoid any more lasers. “If you come back to the master with me, I will spare your life. Trixie can see that you can’t fight anymore. It would be a waste to just kill you. Imagine your powers being used for the master once again. Imagine your potential. You’ve so much more to do for a greater cause.” Rarity choked and gasped. She could barely breathe. “No… I am already… fighting for the greater good. And that’s… ridding this world of the master’s control.” “Are you?” Trixie had Gravity Kills float over her, bringing all its rocks together above the other girl. “You don’t seem to be succeeding in that.” Rarity clutched at her chest, then looked back at Jojo. He was now standing against a tree; he flashed her a look of concern, having watched the battle from the back the whole time. He looked haggard, but he was still able to stand. She needed to keep him safe. She wanted to. A glitter in the sky caught Jojo’s attention. He turned his head to look at it and a wry smile came onto his face. “It’s Sushi,” he breathed. Trixie and Rarity also saw it as it came closer. It was Sunset Shimmer, wearing her Stand in order to fly. Trixie’s face darkened.  “So, the great Sunset Shimmer has come to challenge me. Three Stand users is more than I care to face. So, Rarity, it seems your time is up!” Gravity Kills’ meter flashed and the huge bundle of rocks above began to descend, forming into the shape of a fist, now much larger than even a bus. Rarity was still pinned down by Trixie’s Stand’s gravity well, nor could she move herself after the massive damage she sustained. There was only one thing for it now. “Sushi!” Rarity cried out as the rocks fell closer. “I leave my fight to you! I know you can do this, believe in yourself, Sushi dear and know that in the few days we’ve spent together, you’ve been my friend. Take it from meeeee!” With her duty done, Rarity could only smile as she fell to her knees, thinking about her friends, and Jojo. She had only just made a move on him, but she was glad she had the chance to do it, at least one last attempt at love. And her friends, the ones she had grown up with all these years, she was glad she could count on all of them, whenever she needed them, they were the best friends she could ever ask for and together, there was nothing they couldn’t accomplish. And Sunset. She had been a mysterious girl all this time, but she had learned more about her since getting free of the master’s mind control than all her time in school, and she was glad she was a friend too. She might’ve been from somewhere else, somewhere she had abandoned, but she belonged here now, with the rest of her friends. The rocks pummeled down on the spot Rarity had been at and there was a spout of forest floor that blew up into the air before raining down on everyone. Trixie used this chance to slip away as Sunset flew down to the rocks, her mind reeling from what she had just witnessed. Jojo had also made his way forward, stumbling to the pile of rocks desperately. “No no no, she’s still alive, I know it!” Jojo dug his fingers under the rocks and tried to lift them, but he was still wounded from his fight with Flash and the rocks wouldn’t even budge. “Sushi,  help!” He continued, refusing to give up just because he didn’t have the strength to do it. His eyes returned to Sunset, who was still hovering in the sky and he began to question if she even cared that Rarity was trapped under all of this. How could she just stay there while her friend was in such a bad shape? Sunset eventually flew down to the forest floor, but just then, the moon passed in the sky over their heads, pouring faint light through the trees, illuminating the area. Blood seeped out from under the rocks, trailing down their rugged surfaces and into the dirt below, bubbling as it was absorbed into the soil to become nutrients for the greenery around her. Sunset watched the blood trail down from the rocks and shook on the spot, unable to comprehend what had just happened to her friend. She had only just opened up to them and one had already been lost. It was all too much emotion for her to bear and she collapsed to her knees as her armor faded off her form. She covered her face as tears trailed from her eyes, her voice threatening to break out. Jojo on the other hand, hid nothing. He fell against the rocks as his strength left his body, leaving him only able to punch the ground in grief and frustration. Nothing mattered anymore, not the master, not Trixie, not even Sushi. All that he knew was that Rarity was gone, and it was his fault. “RAAAARITYYYYYYY!!!” Jojo screamed to the night sky as faint wisps of vapour began to drift up from under the rocks. Even though the both of them knew Trixie might still be somewhere nearby, possibly waiting for a chance to strike, they couldn’t hold anything back. Jojo continued to try out Rarity’s name, while Sunset Shimmer leaked tears of sorrow. She had the ability to reset a human body, but there was nothing she could do once they were dead. And no matter how much they called out to her, no matter how much they desired for the outcome to change, there was nothing more they could do. Rarity was gone. But Sunset resolved to fight on. While her body was gone, her soul would live on in her, in all of them, and they were going to stop at nothing until their mission was over. For all the people in the world, for Canterlot, for Rarity. “But for now… rest in peace, Rarity...” Sunset choked under her breath. “Rest now. You’ve earned it…”