//------------------------------//
// Chapter 22: IAM 
// Story: SuShi's Bizarre Adventure: Twilit Curtain Call 
// by Jojoleopard 
//------------------------------//

“Underground… that makes sense.” Daring Do clapped her hands together as she leaned back on a green sofa. “Reminds me of the one time my grandmother was tracking an old cell in the jungle who were trying to ship drugs and stolen treasure overseas. She discovered tyre tracks coming from one of the mountains and she soon found a rather obscure tunnel leading down where they were hiding.”

“She’s right. No one would think to look in the sewers.” Joshi Horner nodded as he sucked his orange juice out from a metal straw. “The perfect place for poor people.”

“You know, we need to stop treating them like they’re lower.” Cajole Joyride grabbed his shoulder firmly. “That’s what’s gotten us into this mess in the first place. The divide.”

“Ja, I guess you’re right. But still, they’ve done enough to warrant their destruction.” Joshi pounded a fist on the table.

The group had met up in a more proper restaurant overlooking the manhole that Flower Castle had attempted to reach. With the help of Sunset’s Alicorn Fantasy, everyone was feeling much better and their injuries had healed right up. Twilight had been extremely fascinated with her Stand’s power; it was as though they had never even engaged in battle. All the weariness was gone and she was feeling rather energized.

One of the waiters brought over a plate of snails and both she and Spike had never looked more disgusted in their lives.

“You eat snails here?” she had asked.

Sunset had given her a rather good reply. “Well, humans eat pretty much anything, especially in Asia.”

“What’s Asia?”

“It’s another continent. The one we’re in now is Europe. Western Europe, to be precise.” Joshi raised a finger. “And it is where I am from. Berlin, Germany.”

“Your world is indeed truly fascinating…” Twilight picked up one of the snails to inspect it, but put it back down when slime flowed out from inside the shell. “We do have other cities in Equestria, like Manehattan and Canterlot, but nothing like what your world has, with borders and passports.”

“Man, I’ve got to see this world one day…” Josher shuffled his pack of cards. “And you said they have magic there? Imagine that! Real magic.”

“You should all come have a visit.” Twilight gave him a smile. “Of course, when our worlds open up again. They do so every thirty moons, at the portal in front of your Canterlot High School.”

“I guess that’s something to look forward to after we deal with Die Die Riches,” Josher laid his cards out in a fan formation before skillfully returning them into a deck. “We can’t be that far now.” 

“It would be nice to see home for a while…” Sunset closed her eyes and imagined her old world. “But first, we’ll need to settle this DDR problem. And fast.”

Everyone at the table nodded. It was no longer a secret that Die Die Riches was after France’s president and planned to assassinate him.

Daring Do took out her phone and tapped a few keys. “According to this news report, the President of France is going to be passing through this area in less than twenty four hours,” She said, projecting a map and a news article up for all to see. “According to the Chairman of Public Relations, it’s meant to be a gesture to remind the people of France that their president hasn’t forgotten them. I’m willing to bet my grandmother’s hat that this is when Die Die Riches plans to make their move.”

“Think we should let the president know?” Cajole asked. “Maybe if we tell him, he’ll cancel his trip.”

Joshi shook his head. “Nein. This trip is important for building unity in France, where many people are already losing trust in their government. Besides, I do not think that the president’s security detail, no matter how skilled they may be, are ready to go up against Stands.”

“Besides,” Skyburn added. “If we play it right, maybe we can use the president to lure the remaining members of Die Die Riches out into the open where we can eliminate them.”

“Do we have to kill them?” Twilight asked. “Maybe we can work something out without any further bloodshed.”

Shiho snorted. “No way. They killed my friend, and for that I’m going to send every single one of those rich-hating degenerates right to hell.”

Sunset sighed. “Shiho’s right. We don’t have time to plan a parlay here. We’ll have to stop them here and now before they attack the president.”

“So, what, we have a few hours to settle this?” Josher dropped his stack of cards in bewilderment. “How are we going to do that? That means we have to go guns blazin’ down into that manhole.”

“Either that or we should sit here and wait for the president to appear and protect him from DDR.” Skyburn shrugged. “Any alternatives?”

“We can’t risk the president’s life to take DDR down.” Spike looked between the others. “Doesn’t the life of your leader mean anything?”

“Well, for one, he’s not mein leader,” Joshi said.

“That doesn’t mean we just use him as bait!” Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “How could you even consider that?”

“Twilight, I’m sure Joshi didn’t mean it like that.” Cajole stretched a hand out in front of him. “But… we have to consider the chance we might not get to Duckie Deluxe to wipe out her operation before they attack the president. What then?”

“Then we’re wasting time.” Twilight stood up and pointed at the manhole. “We have to go down there now. We have to find Die Die Riches.”

“I’m with Twilight on this one.” Daring Do joined her in standing. “We can’t afford to lose more time. We should find them and stop them before their attack on the French president. Who knows how many other countries they’ll be attacking at the same time? If I were a terrorist, I’d hit countries worldwide to send a message.”

“But Die Die Riches is a bunch of broke people hiding in a sewer,” Shiho grunted. “Like they’re going to have the resources to hit world leaders all across the globe. The fact that they’re waiting here for the president of France to come by means they don’t even have a way to get him when he’s not traveling.”

“Sunset shrugged and scratched her chin. “They had enough to send their agents all around the world. That’s what brought all of us here, anyhow. But I agree. I think we should strike now.”

“If there’s machinery down there, I could have Blitzkrieg tap into them. Perhaps I could find out where they’re hiding. They won’t be sitting in the dark for sure.” Joshi tapped his fingers on the back of his other hand. “They might be poor, but they still need lights.”

Shiho didn’t like any of their plans. “Daring Do, how many charges do you have left for today. We might need it if things go south.”

She called out her Stand and tapped a finger on its side. “Yesterday can reset time two more times today. I used one earlier when we met up with the others.”

“Good. Hopefully we won’t need you to use your Stand, but it never hurts to be careful,” Sunset said.

“Blindly rushing into the sewers, then?” Josher let out a short laugh that sounded more like a snort. “Down Under and I can handle that. The sewers are full of water.”

“We need a plan, Josher!” Skyburn slapped him on the shoulder. “We can’t just blindly charge down there. Who knows what could be there. We could very well lose our lives before anything happens.”

His cousin gave him a weird look. “Are you really Skyburn?” 

“Hey, uh, of course it’s me, but this is the fate of the world we’re talking about here. We need to risk it all if we want to win big.” Skyburn raised a fist.

Shiho sighed and shook her head, going back to her beer, and the rest really paid him no mind, but Josher narrowed his eyes as he watched at least three beads of sweat suddenly trail down from Skyburn’s hairline.

What was that just now? That was weird.

“Skyburn? Taking a riskless approach?” Spike seemed to pick up on it as well. “That’s not what you’d normally do.”

The boy’s sweat only continued to drip and he managed to crack out a weary smile. “C-Come on, what are you guys talking about?”

“He has a point,” Twilight said. “When it comes to as high risk an operation as this, we can’t afford to be reckless. Nice to see Skyburn being sensible for once.”

“Twilight and Skyburn are right. We can’t just run in there without any info. Even with Sunset’s Alicorn Fantasy behind us.” Cajole gave them a thumbs up. “Sensibility’s what we really need right now, so close to the end.”

Skyburn sighed with relief, then nodded along, though Josher noticed his shaky breath. He wasn’t behaving normally and Josher knew his cousin well. He was never one to shirk from danger, nor did he ever feel nervous like that. But there was the possibility that, like Twilight had said, this was a high-risk operation, one they had thankfully never had the chance to experience until now. Perhaps he was just being paranoid now.

Josher decided to calm down and pulled out his pack of cards again, sending flying from one hand to the other before beginning to shuffle them with one hand. The conversation had steered back to how they were going to proceed here, even as their mains arrived at the table. Josher had ordered a plate of creamy fettuccini himself, and yes, he knew he was in France, but a plate of pasta never hurt anyone before. Unless it was a Stand. But it was not.

But even as he put a spoonful of it up to his mouth, he could not shake the feeling that something was off about Skyburn. He didn’t seem himself and even now, as he continued to dab at the sweat on his forehead with a tissue, the way he moved made Josher continue to question what was wrong.

“Sunset, you’ve helped save the world twice.” Cajole motioned to the older woman. “Surely you have some ideas of what to do.”

“You saved the world too, dad,” Josher reminded.

“Yeah, well, she’s done it one more time than I have.” Cajole shrugged. “Just trying to get the strategies out there.”

Sunset sighed and took off her hat and placed it on the table. “You know, we just… went. Perhaps if we had an actual plan, some of my friends would still be alive today. But as for the time you and Summer went to save the world, Cajole, we split our focus into two parts, if you recall.”

Josher’s father snapped his fingers. “That’s right! When Summer, Prism, Fuchsia and I left for the Nugget Run, Sunset and the others stayed back to be targets for Weather Alternate.”

“Some of them nearly got us too.” Sunset let out a small laugh. “Your people were persistent, young Joshi. It was too bad they didn’t realize their mistake until it was upon them.”

“Ja, how the only Stand users in Weather Alternate are my vater and I.” But then he beamed up at them and clenched both fists. “But you showed us the error of our ways! If it were not for the great Sushi and Jojo and friends, Weather Alternate would not be trying to make the world a better place for everyone.”

“So, all in favor of splitting the team, then?” Cajole raised his hand. “That way, just in case, another group can protect the president when he comes rolling through.”

“Wait, no, we shouldn’t split up!” Skyburn interrupted as the others were beginning to see reason. “We should stick together above ground. That way, we know they’ll, uh, surely come to us.”

And there it was again. Everytime he spoke now, he seemed to sweat even more and he continued to dab his forehead as Josher watched intently. Ever since Josher had pointed it out, it was as though he had suddenly become conscious that someone knew something was wrong.

“Skyburn, what’s going on?” he finally asked. “You’ve not been yourself.”

“What, no, I’ve never been more myself…” Skyburn laughed and dabbed his forehead some more. “I’m uh, just a little nervous of our coming battle. If we go underground, it’s so narrow and tight. If anything happens, we’ll be… in more danger.”

“Okay, something’s really going on here.” Josher stood up and stowed his cards. “Skyburn, come on. I grew up with you. You’d think I’d know more about you than anyone else here.”

 With all eyes on him, he began to sweat even more and already, the tissue he was using had become so wet that it began to drip sweat onto the table.

“Ugh, gross…” Shiho shook her head.

“Hey, come on. I mean… this is stressful, thinking of ways how to… to kill the enemy…” Skyburn looked between everyone. “Josher, as my cousin, you should know me the most.”

“That’s why I’m asking you.” Josher placed one foot on his chair. “Skyburn, how are we related?”

“W-Wh-What? What kind of question is that?” He threw his arms to his sides. “Everyone knows this. There’s nothing to prove.”

Sunset seemed to catch on to something and she leaned closer. “Come on, Skyburn, it won’t hurt to let us know. It’s a simple question, is it not?”

“This is s-some kind of prank, right?” Skyburn began laughing, though it broke at times. “As if I wouldn’t know I’m related to Skyburn because of his dad?”

There was silence at the table and Josher narrowed his eyes as he shared a look with Cajole.

“Di-did I say dad?” Skyburn began croaking. “Ha, I mean, his mom.”

“Okay, that’s it!” Josher pushed is chair back and pointed forward. “Down Under!”

His Stand charged out from him like a freight train and it barreled right into Skyburn, throwing him back off his chair and into the wall, cracking it.

The other patrons of the restaurant scooted away from them, but because they weren’t Stand users, they hadn’t seen Down Under crash through the table and into Skyburn.

“Josher, what are you doing?” Twilight called out her own Stand as it waited behind her. “Why did you do that?”

“He’s clearly not Skyburn. He doesn’t even know how he’s related to me!” Josher bent low and then drew one arm from his side over his head. “And Skyburn would’ve avoided that. His Runaway is much faster than my Down Under.”

Skyburn peeled himself off the wall as blood dribbled down his chin. He took two steps forward, then reached a hand out. “How did… How did you know…?”

Josher slid one foot back, then folded his arms. “This is an easy one. It didn’t take me long. You see… I didn’t actually know. It just started out as a harmless comment. You know me, I joke quite a bit. I was just messing with you, asking you if you were really Skyburn. But ever since then, you’ve gone out of your way to make it a point to prove you weren’t Skyburn by being all sheepish and fearful. Skyburn would never do that, not even in the face of death.”

“D-Darn…” Skyburn looked up and glared at him. “Well, I’m not through yet. Watch this…”

Raising both arms up, Skyburn’s body turned into a rainbow colored sludge, swirling up in the direction of his arms as his body grew and stretched, eventually turning white and gold. When the sludge swirled back down, Alicorn Fantasy now stood in his place, swinging its arms at its sides as it let out a deep neigh.

“It’s a shapeshifter!” Joshi brought up an arm. “And it can turn into a Stand! Amazing!”

“Be careful!” Sunset reached a hand out as her own Alicorn Fantasy slid out from her position. “Don’t let it reset you!”

But Josher stopped her. “No. He imitated my cousin. He’s mine.”

“Did you just assume my gender?!” the shapeshifted Alicorn Fantasy growled and stomped forward, bringing an arm back to punch him.

Down Under brought up its anchor and when Alicorn Fantasy’s punch connected with it, the shapeshifter was knocked back and it clutched its hand. “Y-You broke it!”

“It seems our enemy’s shapeshifting doesn’t copy a Stand’s power.” Daring Do sat back down and drank from a cup of tea. “That’s good.”

“W-Wait, stop!” Alicorn suddenly dropped to its knees and raised its one good hand. “I… I surrender. Don’t kill me!”

“That was, uh, that was quick,” Spike said.

“What have you done with the real Skyburn?” Twilight demanded and stepped forward, brandishing Strange World next to the false Alicorn Fantasy.

“Nothing! Nothing!” It waved its hands around wildly. “I just slipped laxatives into his drink. He’s been in the restroom all this time!”

Everyone nodded, remembering him getting up to go to the restroom earlier. When he returned, they had just assumed he was the real Skyburn Dash.

“So, Die Die Riches doesn’t want us to go down to the sewers, huh?” Daring Do planted a leg on its back and leaned on her knee. “I wonder why’s that? Where’s your headquarters located?”

“I can’t! Duckie will kill me!” Alicorn Fantasy wailed uncharacteristically.

Shiho grabbed Alicorn Fantasy with Curtain Call, hoisting it up. “If you don’t tell us, I’m going to pound your face in.”

“You don’t understand. To cross Duckie is to cross death itself! Gaagh!” It choked as Curtain Call held it higher. “I can’t… I can’t say! I’ll tell you, you were right, it’s in the sewers! But that’s it, okay? That’s it!”

Shiho grunted, but then put it down, recalling her Stand.

Alicorn Fantasy dropped to the ground and its Stand undid itself, flying around in balls of sludge-like liquid before forming back into a thin girl with freckles and short blue and turquoise hair that covered one eye. She was dressed in a striped blouse that had light strips near the collar, along with a similarly striped pair of pants with a torn hole on her left knee.

“Qu’est-ce que c’est…” Shiho said, her voice gaining a second tone over her normal voice. “Poor poor Stripes Stash…”

Stripes did a doubletake on her, then looked up as shadows began to creep across the restaurant.

“No… No. Du-Duckie?” she asked as a smile formed on Shiho’s face. Everyone else around them had vanished, leaving Stripes alone with her. “How… How? How are you reaching me from the base?”

“You didn’t think I’d have a plan if you were to give away information on where we’re hiding, did you?” Shiho walked closer as her body began to grow dark and change shape, shrinking down. “I know my Stand’s limits, but there’s something I haven’t told any of you. I planted dreambugs into your heads, extensions of my Stand, and I can listen in on everything you hear, I can see everything you see, even as you retreat past my Stand’s range. You were going to break under pressure. You were going to give us away.”

“N-No, I would never, Duckie! I would never!” Stripes crawled back on her bum and her hands. “I… I will use IAM again, I will run, become someone else, they’ll never find me!”

Her back bumped into something and she turned around. The scene around her had shifted and she was no longer in the restaurant. Instead, she found herself against the wooden banister of a two-storey house, with only a dim lamp above the staircase lighting up her immediate area. 

The walls were shaded in a dark blue hue and there were photo frames hanging from rusty nails sticking out of the walls, depicting a young girl or a young woman in a white suit.

“D-Duckie…” Stripes Stash immediately recognized as she stood up, using the banister as support. She knew the frightening tales of Duckie’s Stand, but she had never thought she would ever be on the receiving end. “I have to get out of here!”

She ran around the banister for the staircase, but suddenly, the door just opposite the staircase blew open and an unnatural gale sucked her towards it.

“Aaaah, no!” Stripes clawed at the banister as she tried to hold on. “Duckie, please! Duckie! Don’t kill me! I can still prove useful! Please! Please! No!”

She dropped to the ground, but before she could even catch her breath, the door on the other end of the hall opened with a slow creak and the shadow of something malicious spread out across the wall. It was small and walked on two legs, but the weapon it held was at least twice its size and Stripes couldn’t tell what it was; sometimes it looked like a giant mallet, and sometimes it looked like a giant kitchen knife.

The figure stalked towards her, holding its weapon high as its shadow slid over her cowering body. Stripes couldn’t take it anymore. She took flight, fleeing, or rather, rolling down the staircase in her desperate attempt to get away.

Once she uncurled herself at the bottom of the steps, she raced for the front door, just a few feet ahead of herself, but just as she touched it, she noticed wooden planks had formed across it, barring her from opening the door. She grabbed the handle with both hands and began pulling with all her might, but the planks kept the door secure.

There was a clicking sound and she turned around, pressing her back to the door. The shadowy figure had reached the bottom and its shadow was now cast all the way from the staircase to the front door and up the ceiling. It raised its weapon and Stripes dropped to her knees and covered her face as her screams rang out across the desolate house. After that, there was an eerie silence in the air.