Back in the real world, Shiho Sunfast was still standing before her friends, dazed and like in a trace as she gently swayed from side to side. Her mouth hung open and her arms lay limply at her sides.
Daring Do had tried shaking her out of it multiple times, but to no avail.
“It’s dark in here,” Josher said, putting away his lightphone. “My phone’s out of battery. Does anyone have a light?”
“If this was Equestria then I could make a fire,” Spike said regretfully. “But as a human, I can’t do anything like that.”
Daring Do patted herself down. “All I’ve got is my lighter, and it’s out of juice. So is my phone. Anyone else got one?”
“Shiho should have one.” Josher rushed to her side as she occasionally opened her mouth like she was gasping for air. They didn’t know what was happening, but they had to figure out some way to wake her from her trance or she was going to end up like Hagatha.
He gulped as he dug around her skirt pocket. If she knew what he was doing, she would surely give him a good beating.
“H-Here, she has one!” He wrapped his fingers around a lighter, but as he brought it out, he found he had already accidentally lit it. Shiho had one of the new lighters that had just come out in the last four years. It could light immediately, but with the press of a button on the side with the base of the palm. He must’ve accidentally lit it when he had grabbed it earlier.
A small fire was starting across Shiho’s skirt and Josher put his hands to his face in a silent scream as he began jumping on the spot from foot to foot.
“Don’t just stand there!” Twilight gave him a slap on the arm. “Strange World!”
Twilight’s Stand glided over to Shiho and slowed the spread of the fire, buying them more time as Spike brought up Winter Wrap Up, which blew in a frosty wind. It quickly cooled the fire, putting it out, but then they all began to smell something weird, something they had smelt occasionally on their journey.
“Gross…” Josher stepped back and covered his nose. “You know, I tolerate her smoking and all, but I really hate the smell.”
Daring Do reached over and pulled out a half burnt packet of cigarettes from a tatter in Shiho’s skirt. The fire had gone out, but three of the cigarettes were still smoking, releasing the foul stench into the air around them.
“She’s gonna be mad, you know. If she finds out what you did.” Daring Do shook the packet between two fingers.
“That’s if we can get her out of this!” Josher reminded her.
“Have faith, Josher. We’ll get Shiho back. We will.” Twilight clenched her fists. “We’re not letting Duckie have her.”
Strange World rose up on one leg behind her, then bent its arms into ‘V’s’.
All of a sudden, Shiho gasped and her eyes rolled back into place as she collapsed to her knees. Everyone had jumped at her sudden burst of life, but they were quick to gather around her as Twilight grabbed her under one arm and helped her stand.
“Shiho, what happened?!” she was the first to ask as the girl began coughing.
Shiho clutched at her neck, then winced as she inspected her legs and then her face. “It’s… it wasn’t real…”
“Was it Duckie, Shiho?” Daring Do stowed her whip and held her shoulders. “What happened?”
“Her Stand, Psycho Killer, it has the ability to trap you inside your mind, like a dream,” Shiho said. She went on to tell them about the house she was trapped in and how the enemy Stand and its shadow couldn’t be attacked. “And it will pursue you slowly but relentlessly. It seems to have no weakness.”
“Every Stand has a weakness. They must have.” Twilight balled her fists. “We need to find Duckie. That’s how we’ll beat her.”
“Wait, we first need to determine how you escaped, Shiho,” Daring Do interrupted, holding Twilight’s shoulder. “There’s a way to escape her dream attack. But how? You have to tell us what happened.”
“That bloody duck was about to stab me in the face,” Shiho said with some heat. “I couldn’t even beat it in a running race, even though it moves so slowly. I only woke up because…” She frowned. “Why did I wake up?”
“I accidentally set your skirt on fire,” Josher volunteered. “Maybe that was it.”
“Normally I’d kick your butt for something like that, but if you really did wake me, then I have to say thanks. But it was something else, I think. Something familiar…” Shiho felt her eyes growing heavy, and she sank back into the clutches of unconsciousness.
“Uh, Shiho? Shiho?” Josher shook her, but her eyes had rolled back again and her body started shaking on the spot periodically. “Duckie’s got her again! We need to get her out of there!”
“But how? Should we set her skirt on fire again?” Josher held up the lighter.
“We can’t waste more time!” Twilight shook her head and groaned. She pointed down the tunnel and then at herself. “You three find out how to wake her. I’ll try and find Duckie. If we can’t figure it out again, maybe at least I can reach her and take her down before she catches Shiho.”
“Go, we’ll take it from here, Twi!” Spike waved at her and grabbed the lighter from Josher. “We don’t have time to lose, Shiho could be in serious danger!”
Spike placed it below the hem of Shiho’s skirt and pressed the button at the side with his index finger. After two seconds, the flame clicked on at the top of the rectangular shape, forming into a thin jet of fire that instantly started to blacken the edge of the skirt before it caught fire again. As the fire spread, Josher kept his eyes on Shiho’s face, willing for her to wake up any moment, to see what they had done and beat the crap out of them. Anything was better than watching her crumble like Hagatha and the other Die Die Riches agent from before.
“I don’t think that’s it.” Daring Do swiped the lighter from Spike and inspected it. “There has to be something else we did earlier…”
“Think, Daring, what did we do? What did Shiho say?” Spike tapped a finger against the side of his head. “She said… she said… Something about something being familiar! Something we did must’ve been something she does!”
“Something familiar…” Daring Do rubbed her chin and hummed. “Good grief is what she would say. Unless…”
Josher and Spike watched as she held out the packet of cigarettes. “The cigarettes. You don’t think…?”
Josher snapped his fingers. “The smell! That must’ve been it. Shiho recognized the stench of cigarette smoke and familiarity of something from the real world must’ve shocked her out of the dream!”
“Light ‘em up again!” Daring wiggled the pack in front of Spike as he reactivated the lighter.
He swung the open flame straight over all the stubs and each one of them caught on fire as Daring removed five of them, stuffing them in Shiho’s mouth and pushing it shut.
“Here goes nothing!” she said.
“Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!” Curtain Call yelled with each thrust of its arms, desperately trying to take apart Psycho Killer as it waddled towards them, now holding a giant machete in its hands. Instead of wings, this duck had long human hands with snaky fingers. It looked almost comical, but at the same time, it was extremely disturbing, even to Shiho.
“Just give it up, mademoiselle, you cannot defeat my Stand, even if you had all the muscles in the world!” Duckie’s voice rang out around her. “Submit. Submit to your end. The rich will die and the world will move on, it will endure and it will revive! What am I saying? These are the ideals I used to attract the others to join my cause. Do you know why I really do this, Shiho Sunfast?”
“No, nor do I care. But I’m sure you’re going to tell me anyway…” Shiho shook her head in disgust as she hopped back a step and opened one of the wooden doors on the second floor, revealing a rather pristine bathroom with blue tiles.
“I have a penchant for killing, you see…” Duckie continued as Psycho Killer swiped its machete down on Curtain Call’s shoulder, cutting deep. Blood splashed out from Shiho’s wound across the bathroom walls and she dropped to a knee as her vision began to blur. “It started all those years ago when I murdered my sister. Why had I done it? Other than the need to kill, I do not have any other reason for you.”
“You sick f-”
“But that was only the first! I had been sent to a correctional home after that, seeing as I was just a young girl… But over the years, I had killed others in the home, including one of my officers. I escaped when I was thirteen and ever since then, my killcount had risen greatly. The world couldn’t contain me and I continued to prey on those I seeked out. Eventually, a warrant was issued for my arrest. The authorities would not tolerate my spree any longer. But they have failed to kill me, because I had awakened to the power of my Stand, Psycho Killer! I no longer had to follow my targets home. I could simply track them from a distance and send Psycho Killer into their minds once they were home where no one would see them until it was too late.
“Once this world loses its leaders, once it falls into the hands of Die Die Riches, imagine the kills I could make. And no one would stop me ever again! Not you, not your friends, not the police, not the president! No one!” Duckie began laughing all around.
“Enough!” Shiho yelled and thrust an arm out, pointing at Psycho Killer. “You’re crazy. And all your talk about your group taking over the rich or your need to kill people is irrelevant, because you’re not going to see another day.”
“Oh, and what makes you say that?” Psycho Killer turned its eyeless face to Shiho and its machete turned into a fire poker that extended another four feet past the handle.
Before Shiho could make another attack, chains lashed out from below her and wrapped around her wrists and thighs before receding back, slowly pulling her limbs in four directions.
“G-Gah!” Shiho winced. “Curtain Call!”
Her Stand arced forward, spinning its cloth as it shrouded Psycho Killer’s head with it. It began punching rapidly as it grabbed the fire poker’s head, pushing it aside to keep it from attacking her.
But all this while, the chains continued to pull and Shiho was finding it harder and harder to breathe as the pain began to grow intensely. There was a tearing sound from her arms and she could feel the skin ripping right off at her armpits.
She gritted her teeth together and was about to shout when she found herself back in the catacombs, her mouth ablaze. She looked down and spotted five cigarettes cramped between her lips and she spat four of them out on the floor as she looked into the proud faces of her friends.
“What are you doing wasting my cigarettes like that?!” Shiho yelled at them.
She took a puff of her remaining cigarette before inspecting her arms. Like before, the injuries didn’t translate to the real world and for that, she was at least grateful.
“Good grief, this duck…” she sighed, but then she spotted Curtain Call standing to her side, still clutching an oversized fire poker in its hands.
“Shiho? Where did you get that from?” Spike pointed with his one arm.
“The dream…” she said and sucked in another mouthful of nicotine as she came to the realization. “If I’m holding it when I wake up, it appears here with me. How did you wake me? Tell me now.”
“Smell,” Spike began explaining. “We think that familiarity is what wakes you from your dream. Once you’re able to distinguish dream from reality, I think you wake up. You’re incredibly fond of your cigarette sticks, so the smell brings you back.”
“And I’ve the perfect idea now.” Shiho stubbed out her cigarette and looked at the pack in Daring Do’s hand. “Get another one ready. I’m going back in.”
Josher seemed to understand what she was up to and began fanning the smoke away.
“What, what is it?” Spike blinked.
“I’m going to give that psycho a taste of her own medicine, that’s what.” Shiho crushed the cigarette between her fingers and let the ash pour out before dropping it on the ground. “Two minutes. In two minutes, give me another smoke.”
“Then what?”
Shiho narrowed her eyes. “Then be ready.”
She shut her eyes and she steadied her breathing. Now that she knew its weakness, any form of anxiety was gone. She knew exactly what she had to do and she was going to see this through.
Everything eventually grew silent around her and when she opened her eyes again, she was back in the house, though this time she was in a bedroom with a white dresser against one wall and a row of boy band posters along the opposite wall. The bed at the back of the room was messed up, with the sheets spilling over along the floor beside two muddy pairs of shoes.
“Welcome back, Shiho Sunfast…” The door to the room opened and shadows swept into the room like a raging tide.
Two red eyes opened in the gloom and arms began reaching out for Shiho as Curtain Call swung the fire poker at it, doing nothing against it. With a grunt, Shiho spun around and kicked at the window, shattering it outwards as she immediately jumped through it. Wooden planks began forming across the window, but Curtain Call smashed them apart with the poker as Shiho made it through.
Two minutes. I’ve just got to last two minutes.
Shiho began counting in her head as she rolled to a stop in a backyard that had overgrown grass and a rusty swing attached to a withered tree. The backdoor slammed open and Psycho Killer emerged, holding a kitchen knife once again as its shadow creeped across the grass towards her, its knife growing in length as it sliced through the blades of grass on its way to her.
“Come to me, Shihoooo…” Duckie’s voice drawled through the air.
Shiho picked up a rock and threw it to Curtain Call, which whipped its cloth around it to replace it with a baseball bat. Her Stand curled it back, then threw it towards the enemy Stand like a boomerang. It collided with Psycho Killer’s neck and sheared its head off, but it never stopped walking forward. With each step, its shadow continued to grow and soon, the glow of red pierced the blades of grass as they gazed at Shiho and her Stand.
Shiho turned and ran, rushing for the treeline just past a broken white fence that led to further darkness. Thirty seconds had passed since she had reawoken here and she still needed to get through another minute and a half before she could enact her plan.
As the tall grass opened up to a dark forest, Shiho began weaving through trees, attempting to break Psycho Killer’s line of sight. Unfortunately, this was Psycho Killer’s world and just as she thought she was putting as much distance as she could between them, the ground before her split open and white arms began clawing at the air, just nicking her shoes as she threw herself back, falling on the ground.
That had been a mistake and more arms broke out of the ground around her, grabbing at her limbs.
“Curtain Call!” Shiho called.
Her Stand began punching away at a nearby tree, shattering it in half before throwing its cloth over the top half. As it fell, its shape began to change and as Curtain Call’s cloth was removed, the tree had become a Scottish claymore. It grabbed the weapon around the grip and swung it through the arms on Shiho’s right, cutting clean through them as it swung to the other side, freeing its master.
Shiho rolled away and kicked off the ground just as more arms appeared, trying to grab her. She grabbed a nearby tree branch and hauled herself up, standing on top of it with her hands in her skirt pockets.
“Good grief, what else can this Stand do?”
Unfortunately, her question was answered as branches from the tree she was standing on moved and wrapped around her wrists and ankles. They attempted to pull her apart, but Curtain Call returned with its weapon, slicing the branches off as Shiho broke into a run, jumping off to the next tree.
Fifty five seconds left… Shiho was still counting.
The next branch disappeared below her and she widened her eyes as she plummeted down to the ground. Curtain Call grabbed her by the arm and lightened her descent, allowing her to plant her feet on the ground first instead of her face.
“Why do you even bother?” Duckie’s voice echoed through the woods. “This is my world, Shiho Sunfast. There’s nowhere you can go to avoid Psycho Killer. It controls every aspect of this place.”
Psycho Killer melted out of the shadowy floor and its weapon turned back into its mallet. It swung at Shiho as Curtain Call swung its claymore at it and because the mallet was wooden, the claymore cleaved through its head and then through half of Psycho Killer’s bill.
Shiho smiled at that brief victory, but the mallet’s head began to change shape in the air and it dissolved into a metal hand with four claws, slicing at her as it dropped to the ground. Four lines formed on Shiho’s chest before blood sprayed from them, sending her back a step as her vision blurred a little.
All of a sudden, the world around her shifted and the house looked like it was getting pulled towards them. The grass parted to the sides as the scenery moved, bringing Shiho back into the kitchen on the first floor as the backdoor shut behind her. Psycho Killer stood to her right, stabbing its giant knife into her shoulder as she was pushed to the ground.
“Aagh!” She coughed out blood as Curtain Call pushed against the enemy’s weapon, trying to get it out of her shoulder.
Psycho Killer reached out with its off hand and grabbed Curtain Call around the throat, squeezing hard with abnormal strength.
“Your end comes, Shiho Sunfast…” the enemy Stand breathed in her face as it pushed its knife through her shoulder bones. Shiho felt something give way and she could no longer feel her right arm. “After you, I’ll be taking your friends down one by one. And then none of you will be left.”
She cut through further and Shiho’s entire right arm was torn right off her shoulder, spraying blood against the kitchen table and its cabinets above and below. She yelled in anguish, but with her arm gone, she was able to duck under the knife and grab Psycho Killer around the neck with her elbow.
“Ooh, Qu’est-ce que c’est,” Duckie said and her Stand’s mouth crinkled up into a smile.
Before she could tighten her grip, Psycho Killer lifted its other arm, bringing Curtain Call’s feet off the ground and it began to get harder for Shiho to breathe and maintain her grip on the enemy’s neck.
Thirty seconds now. Just thirty more…!
“It is useless. Ever since I received my Stand from some crystals I found in a lost mine, I have never known defeat, not even to the strongest of Stand users!” Duckie began laughing as Shiho lost her grip on Psycho Killer’s neck. It lifted her off its back and held both her and her Stand before its face as it tilted its head to one side. Though it didn’t have eyeballs, Shiho could feel the glare of its eye holes gazing into her soul, like they could just reach in and squeeze her heart dry. “The world is filled with power beyond your understanding and I have inherited one of such powers! You have put up a brave attempt, but you were never going to win from the start. Jamais, jamais. Now, how should I end your life? I don’t want to just strangle you. That would give me no satisfaction.”
Shiho’s head was starting to get light from the loss of blood and the hand around her throat, but she still managed to gather her saliva and spit at the enemy Stand’s bill. “How about you go screw yourself?”
“A screw, huh?” Psycho Killer threw her and her Stand down before a giant screw grew in size from its left palm. “That’s it. I’ll pin you to the wall.”
A look of determination suddenly flashed across Shiho’s face. “Not gonna happen. You’ve lost now.”
“Oh?” Psycho Killer lowered its weapon. “And what gave you that idea, mademoiselle?”
“Because I know just how to defeat you.” Shiho pointed a finger at the duck Stand.
Psycho Killer raised its arms at its sides. “Defeat me? I control everything in this world. I can make the roof cave in over your head to kill you, I could have the ground swallow you whole, I could even stop your heart right now. But what would be the fun in that? It’s always better to chase you around, to give you hope like you have now. But in the end, you will die like all the others before you. You’re no different, Shiho Sunfast.”
“I’ll show you what makes me different, Duckie Effing Deluxe.” Shiho got on her feet. Her two minutes were up and she could smell it, the faint traces of nicotine. It was time to play her hand. “It’s because I don’t operate alone. I have the power of friendship on my side. And you’ve always been alone.”
Shiho barreled into the enemy Stand, using Curtain Call to hold its arms back as it tried to pummel her with the giant screw. She wrapped one arm around the Stand’s waist as Curtain Call wrapped both arms around the Stand’s shoulders, holding it in place, if only briefly.
As the smell of nicotine got stronger, Shiho opened her eyes hard, finding herself back in the catacombs with her right arm still intact. Her left was wrapped around Psycho Killer and now that it was away from its house, it looked a lot less frightening.
“W-What?” Psycho Killer turned around. “What is this?”
Curtain Call spun it around to face it as Shiho took a whiff of the cigarette in her mouth. “Welcome to my world, duck.”
And Curtain Call drove a fist into Psycho Killer’s cheek, knocking it to the ground with a loud crash.
“No! This is not possible!” Psycho Killer lifted itself as its screw rolled away down the catacomb tunnel. “How is my Stand here?”
It sprang up and ran for Curtain Call, but the air suddenly turned cold and frost formed across its feet, trapping it in place before a giant armored hand crashed into its chest, winding it, but it was unable to drop to its knees as the ice held it down.
“Anything we touch returns to the real world with us when we wake up.” Shiho folded her arms and glared at the enemy Stand. “That would mean if I held on to Psycho Killer, I could also bring it back into the real world if I woke up.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that I will kill you here and now!” Psycho Killer waved its knife around before slashing it towards Curtain Call.
But this time, Shiho’s Stand caught the blade with both hands, then with a yell, it snapped it in half as it bent to the side. With a spin, it stuck the blade through Psycho Killer’s abdomen, piercing it out through the enemy Stand’s back.
Psycho Killer bent forward and a waterfall of blood burst from its mouth. “I-Impossible…”
With a torrent of punching, Curtain Call began smashing its body all over, yelling, “Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!” with each blow. Psycho Killer’s body began to crack from the force, but somehow, it managed to slip a foot out of the ice trap and kick out at Curtain Call, temporarily stopping its attack.
Daring Do attached Yesterday to the end of her whip and swung it at the enemy Stand, knocking it in the side of the face as Winter Wrap Up shot ice spikes at its body, impaling it and freezing more of the enemy as Curtain Call swiped its cloth in a spiral between Psycho Killer’s eyes. The blow knocked it back as Spike melted the ice holding it in place. Psycho Killer staggered and tumbled on its back before Spike turned the water back to ice, freezing it in place.
Shiho looked smugly at the enemy Stand, then picked up a loose piece of stone and had Curtain Call turn it into a metal spike that looked like a giant stake. “Now it’s your turn.”
As Shiho drove the spike down into Psycho Killer’s head, it screeched like a duck before fading from view, leaving behind its icy binds in the shape of its body, along with a pool of blood.