//------------------------------// // Chapter 25: The Stands // Story: SuShi's Bizarre Adventure: Fantasy Friendship // by Jojoleopard //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie had been born one of four daughters to the renowned Pie family rock farmers, masters of harvesting rocks and studying them. When she was younger, she was nothing like she was now, full of laughter and full of fun. Everything back then had been dull and dreary, with smiling and laughing being restricted by her devout rock farming parents. “Laughter is a distraction and you’ll get no harvesting done if you keep at it,” her father, Igneous Rock, had told her once. But Pinkie had been different. Or more accurately, she had wanted to make a difference in her world, in her family’s world. And so she threw them their first ever party, filled with balloons and cake, something she had learned to make out from rocks at first, followed soon by flour. Once they had been exposed to such happiness, they could never go back and the family had never been the same. That had been the day Pinkie resolved to share this happiness with the rest of the world and she had been allowed to go down to Canterlot’s city to study there, and that was how she had met the rest of her friends, all those years ago in elementary school, and till today, she still went around spreading happiness and fun to anyone she could find. But that all changed when Principal Cinch decided to start taking over their minds. She had been on the way back to the farm one day when she found her eldest sister, Limestone Pie had changed, destroying the balloons she had lined up along the farm’s pathway and tearing down their balcony, which Pinkie had set up to be their little, as she had called it, ‘Fun Headquarters’. She only had enough time to open her mouth before Limestone knocked her out and before she knew it, Cinch had already taken control of her mind and she had to do her bidding, and with the awakening of her Stand, Golden Ticket, Cinch had used her more frequently to get to others to turn them. It was not until she had met Jojo that the man had defeated her in combat and removed Cinch’s enchantment on her mind. And that was where the story had begun, with her wanting to stop Cinch so that everyone in the world could once again smile and be happy. And these enemy Stands here were standing in her way to bring laughter to all. Pinkie pushed herself up from the ground and rolled herself behind a boulder, looking over to Jojo who was just lying on the ground nearby. “Jojo!” Pinkie hissed to him. “Jojo!” There was no answer and she quickly dived towards him, then called up Golden Ticket as it opened a door beneath them. Pinkie and Jojo fell through into the dirt below as her Stand slammed the door shut just as a bullet smacked into its frame. Her Stand quickly removed it and began digging a new tunnel to the north as Pinkie checked on her friend. Jojo wasn’t moving, but she was glad to still hear his heart beating when she placed an ear against his chest. “Come on, Jojo, wake up.” Pinkie slapped him on the cheek. “Come on, we’ve got a battle to win and we can’t stop to rest now! Come on now, don’t make me have to do CPR on you. I’ll give you cake if you wake up, how’s that?” “I’d like some CPR…” Jojo croaked weakly, then opened one eye. “You silly, you’re okay!” She grabbed him in a hug and pulled him up. “That was a close one…” Jojo took another deep breath and closed his eyes. There was a buzz of electricity and a bullet was suddenly ejected from his temple. “If I hadn’t used my hamon right there, I would’ve been a goner. I applied some of it to the bullet as it entered my head and I stopped it just in time from entering my brain.” “Wow, that’s useful. You really need to teach me how to do it!” Pinkie grabbed his hands and jumped up and down excitedly. “But you’re okay, you’re okay! What’s next? I think we should use my tunnels to get closer to that first sniper and catch ‘em by surprise! Like a birthday party!” “Good thinking. There’s no way they can get a location on us if we get to them from underground.” Jojo raised a fist to the dirt ceiling and then brought his other arm up to point forward. “Lead the way, Pinkie Pie.” Golden Ticket began digging forward, using its borrowed doors as shovels to scrape dirt out to the sides at superhuman speeds, forming the tunnel inch by inch at a steady pace, pressing on north, where the sniper had last been seen. Jojo didn’t doubt they would try to relocate again, but then he realized they would also have to keep an eye on Sushi and the group, or they would be on their way to the geode’s cave already. That’s where they had the advantage on them. They didn’t have to look out for anything besides the two snipers. Before he had gotten shot earlier, Jojo had caught a glimpse of their second attacker. It had been a figure in blue armor with a sort of triangular head and he had no doubt the yellow one looked the same. “What we’re up against here is a single Stand, but in the form of two Stands,” Jojo told Pinkie. “So Sugarcoat has two Stands? That’s cool! Wish I had a second Golden Ticket.” Pinkie looked at her Stand. “Not that I don’t like just having one, but just saying.” “I think it’s also safe to say she isn’t directly taking part in this battle too.” Jojo wiped a handful of dirt from his face as Golden Ticket shoveled it into him. “Long range Stands are capable of acting on their own and for them to be able to be so far apart from each other to shoot at us, they must be able to communicate and act depending on the situation. We can use this to our advantage. Sugarcoat won’t be able to see us coming. Stand masters with long range Stands don’t exactly know their own Stand’s every move.” All of a sudden, a something flicked past their faces and Jojo only had a fraction of a second to throw himself and Pinkie back as another bullet flew into their tunnel, grazing his right knee in the process. “Its bullets can penetrate the ground!” Jojo warned, then scooped Pinkie up under one arm and ran on as Golden Ticket continued to dig away. “I think that one should be our priority.” “The bullets are coming from the west,” Pinkie inspected as they followed after her Stand. “That means it must be at the top of the slope where I had been. That’s rather close!” “Close, huh?” Jojo looked to the dirt wall on the left. “I think we’ll be taking a slight detour. You keep going, see if you can make your way to the second sniper. I’ll take care of this one.” “You sure? Well alrighty then! It’s all yours, Jojo.” Pinkie gave him a slap on the back, then she was off after Golden Ticket as Jojo called forth his Stand. “Right here, White Buffalo!” He planted a hand against the wall. His Stand rushed forward and burrowed its head through the soil, spinning it as it moved, using its horns to tear away at the ground. In only four seconds, a tunnel back up to the surface had been opened and Jojo was already on top of White Buffalo, riding up the slope as he spotted their attacker above, positioned over a short boulder with its rifle resting on its surface. This one looked almost like the one on the other hill, but this one was blue and it had its sights on him now. “Bring it on!” Jojo yelled as White Buffalo released a torrent of fire from its headlights. It rolled out of the way, then flipped itself around as Jojo and White Buffalo sailed high over it, using the boulder as a ramp to get into the air. It lifted its rifle and fired, hitting White Buffalo in the chassis. Blood flew from a new hole in Jojo’s stomach, but he knew that if he stopped now, he was as good as dead. He had to keep moving. His worry was only accentuated as more bullets flew in from the north, firing at a faster rate from the Stand below him. He had to get out of its sights and fast. Whipping its horns behind itself and down to the enemy, White Buffalo pierced the blue Stand’s right foot, while using it as an anchor point to spin around in the air. Another two bullets from the yellow Stand hit Jojo in his left shoulder, but he braved the pain and pointed a fist at the Stand below as White Buffalo rained fire down on it. The blue Stand screeched and scrambled out of the fire’s radius before pointing its rifle at Jojo again. “Taking aim, prepare to die.” “Not if I have anything to say about it!” Jojo stood up atop White Buffalo and pressed his weight down on his bike. It began to descend faster and they landed atop the Stand as it fired again, nicking Jojo across the cheek as White Buffalo’s wheels began spinning on top of the Stand’s face. “Now, Faster than Fire, flaming circle!” Jojo flicked a hand forward, then the other grabbed the rim of his cap. Fire belched from his Stand and it began to coat its wheels as it spun against the enemy Stand. Then he bent down and pressed two of his fingers against his own Stand, dodging another bullet as he took in a deep breath. “Hamon overdrive, heat boost!” he called out as energy rolled through his arm into his Stand. “You’re done for now. What I’ve just done is transferred some hamon into my Stand’s attack. The sun is over five thousand kelvin in heat and combine that with Faster than Fire, it’s gonna melt your face right off!” The enemy Stand began screaming in pain as its body began to smoke and bubble. It dropped its weapon to the side, then tried to push White Buffalo off, but the heat of the attack was too much and its body turned black and melted away into the ground. Jojo let out a single whoop, but grabbed his Stand’s handlebars and sped back down the hill as more bullets just barely missed him. He didn’t have time to stop and celebrate just yet. But he knew he would’ve bought Pinkie plenty of time. She should’ve already been close to the yellow Stand by now and he had no doubt she’d find a way to beat it. ---------JO-JO--------- “Right here.” Pinkie patted the wall of dirt as she stepped aside to give her Stand some room. Golden Ticket removed a door from its pockets, then slammed it against the wall. Pinkie grabbed the handle and threw it open, glad to be back out into the sunlight again. Jojo was trusting her to deal with this enemy Stand while he went after the other one. “Well, at least if they’re shooting at us, then Sushi and the others are safe for now,” Pinkie reasoned. Pinkie slipped behind a small rock formation and took out a makeup mirror. Using this, she peeked over to get a better grasp of the situation. The important part, Pinkie thought, was to get a grasp on where the shooter was. Then she could deal with it accordingly. By now, she was at the bottom of the hill that the Stand had last been seen at and if it was still targeting Jojo, there would be no reason for it to move yet. There were sounds of gunfire not too far away, and Pinkie guessed correctly that Jojo was under fire. Now, how could she get close without getting shot? “Unless…” Pinkie said slowly. “Unless the secret is to actually get shot?” She looked at Golden Ticket’s door and an idea began to take form in her mind. Pinkie leapt out from her hiding place and began to whoop and holler, waving her arms about her head and generally making herself very noticeable. “Heyooo!” Pinkie sang loudly. “Enemy Stand! Over here!” There was a glint of a scope in the distance and Pinkie quickly had Golden Ticket open a door in front of herself so that the anticipated bullets went inside. Then Golden Ticket shut the door and Pinkie did a few cartwheels forward. She didn’t know exactly how long-range Stands worked, but she thought that if she was the one behind the gun, she would feel pretty confused about why the shots weren’t hitting their target. Pinkie had Golden Ticket grab the door and she danced further ahead, only stopping to catch more incoming bullets in her door. She couldn’t count on the foe running out of ammunition, since Stands weren’t bound by normal rules, but she was counting on that too. At last, Pinkie got close enough to see the enemy Stand for herself. She supposed Jojo was somewhere close by, wondering what she was doing. He would soon find out. “Yoo-hoo! Enemy Stand! I can see you now!” A hail of bullets was her response, but Golden Ticket threw up a door to absorb them.  “Is that the only trick you know?” Pinkie asked. “You wouldn’t do very well at parties. I know lots of tricks! I can make balloon animals, juggle, even do some magic tricks!” The yellow Stand looked at Pinkie with its expressionless face and raised its gun again. “I have a trick for you,” Pinkie said teasingly. “One that you helped me with, actually. Want to see?” The enemy Stand raised its rifle, and as it did so, Pinkie sent out Golden Ticket. Pinkie’s Stand took off its top hat, holding it out in front of itself like a cannon. From within the depths of the hat, a blizzard of bullets came whizzing out, nearly all of them striking the enemy Stand and puncturing holes in its body. The yellow Stand was launched off its perch and fell  towards the ground, disappearing before it could hit the floor. “Woohoo, that’s Golden Ticket’s secret weapon!” Pinkie bent one leg in a ninety-degree angle and pointed where the enemy had vanished. “With hats being doorways as well, Golden Ticket was able to open the way back to your bullets, and this was totally the best way to win. I actually was inspired by Trixie’s hat tricks,” Pinkie dismissed her own Stand and smiled widely. “Jojo! The enemy Stand’s gone. You can come out now!” A motorbike drove down over the next hump and Jojo stopped it before her, giving a pat on the back of his seat. “Get on. It’s time we finish this.” As they sped off up the slope towards the location of the cave, Jojo felt closer to finishing their goal more than ever now. All that stood in their way now was Principal Abacus Cinch herself and they’d fought tooth and nail to get where they were now, beating all the odds each time they came. Cinch was but the final step to finishing their mission and through it all, they were going to see it done.