Spike had called up Winter Wrap Up and with a flap of its wings, it pushed him through the air, closing the space between himself and Flower Castle as she ran into an incomplete building at the next road. The building was only a skeleton at the moment, about five storeys high with metal rods sticking out from pillar to pillar, buried into concrete.
He didn’t know the basics of construction in this human world, but he would guess that the rods would be used as support when they layered more cement over them.
Construction tools and mechanical devices were left unwatched across the site; the workers must’ve headed off for lunch at this time. There were panes of glass left against one of the pillars and as Spike guessed, Flower Castle stopped next to them as Guerrilla Radio picked one of them up and held it over its oversized head.
“Take this!” she yelled as her Stand threw it towards Spike.
Winter Wrap Up grabbed the pane, but vibrations surrounded it and Spike and the glass shattered in its hands, cutting it across the arms all the way to the elbows.
Blood began to spread out across Spike’s sleeves and he clutched at them and barred his teeth at the enemy Stand master.
“I’d give you points for following me all the way here. But what did you plan to do?” She grinned. “Did you not see me destroy your friends with glass all around? And then you decided to catch it with your own bare hands? Nicely done.”
“I’ll stop you yet!” Spike swung his arms back at his sides. “And you’ll tell me where Die Die Riches is!”
Flower Castle put a hand on her collar and smirked. “As if I’d ever do that. We might not be wealthy like you, but we still have our ways of getting things done. Soon, the very world you stand on will change and the lowly and less privileged will take over, ushering in a new age of peace and prosperity! And it all starts here, right here in Angers… with the death of our president.”
“What?” Spike raised both eyebrows. “You intend to kill the leader of your home?”
“World leaders only care for themselves. Believe me, I know…” Flower Castle put her fingertips together. “They hide behind their gigantic mansions, while some people live in cardboard boxes that can’t even fit a cat. This wealth should be shared and once they’re out of the picture, the divide between rich and poor will cease to exist.”
“You can’t possibly think the world will heal just because you kill all the rich people off!” Spike threw his arms down, then winced as more blood oozed from his wounds.
“Oh, but it’s a start.” Then her smile faded and she glared at Spike. “But you. You and your friends wish to undo everything Duckie has strived to accomplish. For that, you will die, here and now. You won’t live to see our new order.”
“We’ll see about that.” Spike nodded to Winter Wrap Up. “The world should be at peace, helping each other towards a better future. This isn’t the way.”
“How it is now isn’t the way either! Humanity is innately selfish and greed has brought our world to where it is now. On the brink of extinction! If nothing is done, there won’t be a planet left to live on!” Flower Castle growled. “You’ll never understand. Guerrilla Radio, get him!”
Her Stand bounced off one of the pillars and rushed Spike and Winter Wrap Up. Spike had his Stand whip up a wintery storm, raining icicles down from its position to Guerrilla Radio’s.
To his surprise, it opened its mouth and all of a sudden, its icicles all shattered into tiny particles. He blinked, but then had his Stand try again. Guerrilla Radio constantly shattered his icicles with each growl or breath and Winter Wrap Up grabbed the enemy Stand’s arms as it barreled into it, pushing it back. Winter Wrap Up flapped its wings, taking to the air, but Guerrilla Radio grabbed one of the pillars and swung around it, smashing Spike’s Stand back into the ground.
But before it could push off the pillar and attack again, Guerrilla Radio found itself stuck to the pillar, where a buildup of ice was already spreading over its hand and down its wrist. But to Spike’s dismay, all it did was speak towards it and the ice shook and broke into pieces before it fell towards Winter Wrap Up.
“Stay still, will you!” Spike called out as Winter Wrap Up began throwing icicle after icicle.
And then it raised both arms and began to form an ice storm around them, and as wind began whipping around, Flower Castle stepped further away, putting her back to one of the pillars as tiny bits of frost flew into her eyes.
Ice began to snake out from under Winter Wrap Up, coating the floor in a thin layer as they made their way up some of the pillars. Guerrilla Radio continued to speak into its mics, shattering what ice it could as they flew towards it, but still Winter Wrap Up could not hit it.
“You can forget about trying to catch my Stand now.” Flower Castle buttoned her suit jacket more as it began to flutter around her body. “Guerrilla Radio’s speed is definitely higher than your Winter Wrap Up. You may be able to freeze the place, but at the right frequency, ice shatters. You can’t stop me!”
With a bark, Guerrilla Radio’s next sonic blast shook Winter Wrap Up to its core, sending Spike down on his knees as vibrations passed through his body from head to toe.
“The louder it speaks, the more powerful… its sonic blasts are…” Spike gasped for air. “If it shouts, it may very well tear the solid ground to pieces.”
He looked up as the enemy Stand rushed forward on all fours, swinging one arm up against Winter Wrap Up’s chin, knocking its head high before using its other arm to launch it back. Spike felt a tug on his body and he flew along with his Stand, crashing against the icy floor and sliding for a few feet. His vision blurred and he rubbed his chin before spitting out a clump of blood.
“Your two friends couldn’t stop me. What makes you think you’ll be able to?” Flower Castle began laughing again as the icy winds died down. By now, the construction site looked like an arctic wasteland, with ice coating everything around them with exceptions of circular areas where Guerrilla Radio had spoken against. “Man or machine, there can be nothing between me and Die Die Riches’ goals of saving this world. I know my cause is just and I will give it my all to see it through.”
“Whether it’s good for the world or not, that doesn’t give you the right to kill!” Spike rubbed his chin and pushed himself up. This fight was far from over. “That’s why I’ll stop you yet.”
Guerrilla Radio huffed and thumped a hand on the ground.
“You’re welcome to try again, mohawk.” Flower Castle raised a palm up. “But there’s nothing much you’re going to do. You can’t use your ice powers. Guerrilla Radio will just shatter them all.”
“There’s so much more Winter Wrap Up can do than shoot ice at you.” Spike staggered forward one step.
Winter Wrap Up stood behind him and raised both arms as an icy gale began to swirl around them again. It brought the winds closer to itself, shrinking its radius before stretching its arms out, sending the wind erupting into a cloud of mist, which quickly filled the area around them.
Flower Castle raised an arm to protect her face, but the drop in temperature was immediately apparent and she already began to shiver. “Not if-if I h-h-have anything to-to say ab-about that…”
Guerrilla Radio made its way back towards her, but then it slipped and skidded into one of the pillars, cracking it. Before it could even bounce off the pillar, Winter Wrap Up was already on it, grabbing it behind the head and smashing it against the pillar twice.
Flower Castle cried out in pain as she grabbed her forehead. Blood was already seeping through her fingers and staining her white suit, but her eyes bulged in her head and she breathed angrily as her fingers hooked forward. Guerrilla Radio opened its mouth and uttered a quick shout, sending sonic waves up around its face, throwing Winter Wrap Up back as the pillar in front of it shattered into tiny particles. It turned around and shouted again, each time only using it for a second.
“I know my own power and its devastating effect…” Flower Castle said to herself at a volume only she could hear. “If Guerrilla Radio were to shout for too long, I could lose control and destroy more than I want to. Even I’m not strong enough to contain the power within me, that’s how powerful my Stand is. And that’s why I’ll win!”
Winter Wrap Up spread its wings and flew around the site, spinning and dodging its shouts as it did so. The shouts began tearing apart the construction site, starting with a few pillars and even bits of the ceiling, shooting straight through the unfinished building to its highest floor. All the while, Spike had his Stand continue creating icicles, sending them out at the enemy Stand as it shouted again and again.
“Try this one on for size!” Spike exclaimed as Winter Wrap Up sent a larger icicle crashing into Guerrilla Radio, but one of its shouts hit it in the wing and his Stand went down, sliding against the icy floor before Spike managed to create a frost barrier to stop it. “I’m going to be feeling that one.”
Guerrilla Radio had also been thrown back and the icicle now stuck out of its left shoulder. Flower Castle had screamed in pain before tearing off her white jacket and clutching at a gaping hole between her neck and shoulder.
“Aaaaagh, how dare you! You’ll die, you’ll die!” She jumped up and down, waving a finger angrily at Spike. “I don’t care anymore! Guerrilla Radio has yet to unleash its full force. I’ve never used it on anyone before, but today you’ll have the chance to witness my true power, a power no one will ever know because after that, you’ll be dead! Guerrilla Radio, Lights Out!”
Guerrilla Radio stood on two legs, then sucked in air, puffing up its chest. Spike recalled Winter Wrap Up and bent his knees, ready for anything. When it was ready, the enemy Stand released it all in a shout that rang out louder than a ship’s horn, sending ripples through the air in a radius around itself, cracking ground and shattering ice as Spike was blown off his feet, slamming against a half-finished wall of iron rods, bending two of them.
But Guerrilla Radio was not done. Its shout continued to ring out as its body began to flail around, unable to contain the power of its voice and Spike was kept from dropping to the ground from the sheer force of its voice and soon, even the rods could no longer withstand his weight and they bent at a ninety-degree angle as he was thrown to the road, out of its range. Spike rolled to a stop in front of a moving black truck, but to his relief, the driver managed to stop in time, an inch from rolling over his nose with his front tyre.
“Stop, stop it already!” Flower Castle tried to stop her Stand.
Guerrilla Radio reached up with both hands and forced its mouth shut, finally quelling its enormous power.
“We did it… We did it!” Flower Castle looked at Spike’s body beside the truck as she brushed a hand through her messy hair. “Die Die Riches always wins! We will not be defeated. Not until we’ve accomplished our great goal! You hear that? We’re going to change this world!”
Spike pushed up and rubbed at his chest. It felt as though he had been run over by a road roller. His ribs were definitely broken and he was having difficulty breathing. Then he spotted the pillars keeping the building up and he smiled. It seemed his enemy had not yet realized her mistake.
A cracking of ice drew Flower Castle’s attention over to the pillar behind her and she watched in horror as it shattered, destroying the pillar completely.
“The ice. The ice had frozen the building to the extent of turning everything it touched into ice!” she understood. “With Guerrilla Radio’s immense power earlier, all the ice around us is breaking and that means the whole building’s going to come down on top of me!”
Spike grinned. “That’s… right. When we were fighting earlier… I had Winter Wrap Up inject ice into all the surfaces. I knew your power’s vibrations would shatter all the ice around and that meant it would collapse the whole building. The fight’s over…”
“No, I’ve got to get out of here!” She whipped her body round and round and then towards the east, where she could see another road and a few store fronts. In front of them was a manhole and she had her eyes set on it. “The manhole. I’ve got to get to it! Once I get there, there’s no way they’d find me again!”
She made a mad dash towards that direction, dodging a huge chunk of ice as it dropped down beside her right foot. Another one clubbed her in the back and she dropped to her knees. She spun around and narrowly avoided another one landing on her before getting back up, but all of a sudden, her actions slowed and no matter how fast she attempted to run, it was as though she was running through a pool of sludge.
“No, what is… Strange World. That girl!” She looked to Spike and behind him stood Twilight Sparkle and her Stand, Strange World. “No, no! I can’t! Not here!”
Another chunk hit her in the side of her head and she went down silently. Twilight released her power on Flower Castle as the entire construction site caved in around her, crushing her under its immense weight. If they weren’t sure whether they’d beaten her for good, one of the cranes tipped to the side and landed on top of all the rubble with a metallic crash.
“Spike, you okay?” Twilight helped him up, only for Spike to wince as he grabbed his chest. “Your ribs are broken, I think.”
“I think so too…” he breathed. “But we did it. We got her. And there’s bad news.”
Twilight tilted her head to one side, waiting for him to continue.
“The president. They’re after this country’s president. I think they plan to take out all the world leaders first,” Spike said. “If the world goes into disarray from losing their leaders, there would be chaos, and nothing would stop Die Die Riches as they rise to power.”
“Not if we can help it, Spike. We still have time.” Twilight looked at the fallen building, then to the direction Flower Castle had been running to. “She mentioned something. A manhole.”
He looked where Twilight was pointing and nodded. “That could be it. That’s why we can’t find them. They must be hiding underground!”
“Rats hide in sewers. That makes sense.” They both turned to see Shiho standing beside the truck. “My granny called. They’re on their way. She said they could hear the commotion from where they were, across the street from the cafe.”
“She’ll be able to reset your broken ribs, Spike.” Twilight smiled.
“I’d like that. She’s got quite the ability. Wish I had it too.”
“We wouldn’t be here if not for your Stand’s ability.”
Spike ran a finger along his chin. “Mmm, okay, I’ll take that. Yeah! It’s great to have Winter Wrap Up!”
“Come on. Let’s go.” Shiho helped Twilight in hoisting Spike along. “I’m sure my granny and the others will have an elaborate plan instead of just jumping down there.”