//------------------------------// // Episode 2: The Dead Sea Groans // Story: SuShi's Bizarre Adventure: Darkness Manifest // by Jojoleopard //------------------------------// This wasn’t going to end well, Subterra Shiver realized. She needed some way to stop this madwoman from using her ghost powers, her Stand as she had called it. Dead Sea’s claws didn’t cut very deep, but any broken skin that came into contact with its salt water felt like she was driving a stake through her arteries. She didn’t black out from the pain, but it still hurt like a truck. “Use me.” The voice was back in her head. “If you do not, you will die. We will both die.” “Use… you?” Subterra spluttered as she clutched her cheek, fighting desperately to get out of the water as Dead Sea slashed at her elbow, drawing more blood. “Think you want to protect yourself. To defeat this enemy. You must fight, Subterra. Fight.” Subterra tried to climb out of the pool, but Dead Sea grabbed her by the foot and dragged her back in, then pressed another hand on top of her back, pinning her underwater. “It’s no use, you can only spend about ten more seconds in this water.” Candlewick leaned closer to the pool’s edge as she explained. “You will feel weaker, but don’t worry, I won’t let your heart give out. We still need you.” The girl struggled and tried to free herself, spilling bubbles of air from her mouth as she worked to do what her voice said. Pain arced across her whole body, blinding at the points where it had contact with her open skin. She felt her strength leaving her with each passing second, needing to get back up and breathe, but also from the intensity of the salt in the water. Her heartbeat began to slow and stutter, and that wasn’t a good sign. Subterra shut her eyes and looked deep in herself, finding that will to fight, that will to survive. Please… Before it could attack her again, Dead Sea was knocked back through the water, spinning as it righted itself just in time to watch as tentacles hauled Subterra out of the water to the safety of dry land. “So you remembered your powers, huh?” Candlewick Dancer tossed her glass aside and bent forward one one leg. “But they won’t save you from Dead Sea!” Her Stand leapt out of the water, reaching both arms forward, but from behind Subterra, a dark shape soared out, flailing its two grey tentacles around. It had a large dark head with spikes adorning it and its body ended in a fishy shape with a tail at the end. “So this is… this is my Stand. This is you.” Subterra watched it as it screeched at her enemy. Images of her Stand flashed through her mind, picturing it and her in a dark room with glass panels. The light above flickered and the darkness crept along the walls, almost like it was alive. “I remember…” She stretched one arm out to her Stand and grabbed her hood collar with her other. “Crafteon.” “So you remember your Stand now. But what are you going to do against Dead Sea’s attacks with those tentacles?” Dead Sea ran at them, brandishing its claws. Crafteon glided towards it, tilting its head low as the enemy slashed at it. Its arms got caught in Crafteon’s spikes, and as it raised its head, it deflected them before wrapping its tentacles around Dead Sea’s waist. Crafteon spun in the air, tossing the enemy Stand into a deck chair, breaking it in the middle before doing a spin in the air. However, Dead Sea looked unfazed and it got up easily, charging for Subterra and Crafteon again. Crafteon weaved away from two of its slashes, then tackled its body against the enemy, lodging one of its spikes into Dead Sea’s shoulder. Candlewick Dancer winced as a wound formed across her own shoulder, and she snarled for Dead Sea to finish the job. Crafteon lashed a tentacle out at it, knocking it under the chin, but instead of falling back, Dead Sea pressed through the blow, grabbing it around the same tentacle as it cut out with its other hand, tearing two lines of red across Crafteon’s body. Subterra found the same wounds appearing on herself and she hopped back a few steps as she clutched her chest, trying to stop the bleeding as it began staining her clothes red. “I’m sending you right back into that pool!” Candlewick yelled as Dead Sea swung Crafteon over its head and towards the water. But with its tentacles, Crafteon grabbed the ground under Dead Sea’s feet, stopping it from flying back into the salty water, then dashed past it, ramming its head against the back of the enemy Stand’s knees, sending it falling on its back as Subterra retreated away from the pool, heading back down the grassy slope she had come from earlier to investigate the commotion at the pools. “The enemy is stronger physically, but we can beat it through other means…” Crafteon whispered in Subterra’s head. “I see it. I know what you can do,” Subterra said to her Stand. “How?” “I am but a manifestation of your will, Subterra. All that I am is known to you.” Subterra’s pupils darkened. She did know. She knew exactly what her Stand could do after the brief flashes of her past. “We’ll have to set a trap.” With a running start, Subterra headed back towards the bar she had stopped at and Candlewick Dancer wasted no time in pursuing her target. There were still people going about at the resort, with the exception of the pool, seeing as people had died there. The bar had at least four other people there when Subterra brushed past the tables and the bartender, who nearly flipped a glass off the counter. “Get back here!” Candlewick Dancer had Dead Sea throw one of the tables into the roof, knocking it out of place as she charged after the girl. Subterra ran and she kept running all the way to the shore where she had stopped her boat earlier. She was careful not to step over any rubbish, with the risk of cutting herself. Saltwater in her wounds wasn’t a pleasant feeling. Candlewick Dancer slid to a stop at the edge of the beach, kicking sand up into the air as she pointed a finger at Subterra. “Where are you going? This is an island. You’re not getting away from me. Dead Sea, take her!” Her Stand leapt into the air, bringing one arm back as it brandished all five fingers, but from under Subterra’s feet, darkness crept out like a tidal wave of black sludge, spreading across the sand and trash, consuming everything in sight. Already in the air and flying towards her, Dead Sea was unable to stop itself as it crashed into the darkness, which consumed it as well. Candlewick Dancer soon found the same darkness around her and no matter which direction she turned, everything was black. “What is this? Where are you?” She spun around and around. A prickling feeling began to dawn on Candlewick Dancer, as if she were somewhere very cold. No, this wasn’t cold; it felt like there were thousands of tiny pins poking her skin, just lightly enough to cause discomfort but not enough to really hurt. The darkness was all-encompassing, and seemed to stretch out in all directions in an endless void. In spite of herself, Candlewick Dancer found herself feeling uneasy. What kind of a Stand power was this? TWI had not given her any details on what Subterra’s Stand was able to do. A rattling sound jarred Candlewick Dancer out of her thoughts, like the sound of an icemaker amplified tenfold. It almost sounded like something breathing, but that wasn’t possible, was it? “Where are you, Subterra!? What have you done?” Candlewick tried to summon her Stand. She could feel its presence, it was out and ready to fight, but she couldn’t see it. Maybe it was so dark that vision wasn’t viable. There was a thumping coming from somewhere in the darkness, like footsteps slowly walking towards her, footsteps of something incredibly large, something that was giving off an eerie aura that spelt doom for anyone who saw it. Candlewick had had enough. She turned around and she began running, rushing to get away from this darkness as quickly as she could. “Get away from me! Leave me alone!” She swatted her arms through the darkness, trying to push it away as she ran, but all of a sudden she was falling, falling deeper and deeper until a splash shook her from her terror. She shook her face free of water and looked around. “W-What, I’m in the water? The beach?” Candlewick Dancer found herself off a pier, likely the pier people docked at to visit Bora Bora. A buzzing sound drew her attention to the right and she only had enough time to gasp as a speedboat went right over her. “We did it…” Subterra clutched at her salty wounds as she watched Candlewick’s body float back up, face down in the seawater. “Very good, Subterra. You have recalled the powers of my darkness and how they create a primal fear within those who see the darkness,” Crafteon’s voice echoed in her ears as it floated along her legs. “Those inflicted by my power cannot help but panic from the vast unknown it holds.” “What did she say these things were called, Stands?” “Yes, I am your Stand. Your fighting spirit, manifested in form. I’m afraid with your loss of memory, your will has been greatly limited.” “I… I don’t know. What should we do now? People are after me?” Subterra walked away from the beach. By now, people had gathered by the pool again and security was fishing out the two bodies floating in it. “We need to find someplace to collect ourselves. It will be difficult to battle any more enemies with your mind in such a state, but there is nothing we can do about that for now. Maybe if you calm down, you will remember more.” She watched one of the security guards asking some of the vacationers questions and that told Subterra that she should get away from here and find some other place to hole up while she tried to recall more of why she was here. “Why is this… TWI after me? What does she want?” she said to herself as she scurried along the resort, heading for the jungle at the edge of concrete. She had more questions than answers right now, but she was sure she would figure it all out eventually. A clatter of footsteps rang about a marble hallway as a man in a fancy suit approached a lone woman sitting on a red velvety couch, holding a folded envelope close to his chest. He coughed when he stood beside her, getting her attention. Shiho Sunfast dropped her magazine and looked up at him, noticing the emblem of a shield on his breast pocket, the emblem of the Crusaders Foundation, a company set up long ago by old friends of her grandmother to help those in need. In this day and age, more than ever, this world needed all the help it could get as it raced towards destruction. “Miss Sunfast, this is for you.” The man held out the envelope to her. Shiho grabbed it from him and unfolded it, recognizing the sigil stamped into its top right corner. “From Daring…?” Daring Do had adventured with her eleven years ago when they fought to save the world from Die Die Riches, an activist group that aimed to eliminate the rich to solve the world’s economical problems. Suffice to say, that had ended up crashing and burning, only for one of Shiho’s allies to rise from the flames like some kind of demented phoenix to continue Die Die Riches’ goal in the name of improving the world. Shiho had dealt her a grievous beating with her Stand before she had been forced to retreat, but with her grandmother, Sunset Shimmer, in tow. She and her friends had spent the last few years looking for TWI and her grandmother, but somehow, she had eluded them for eleven whole years. She didn’t leave behind any traces to follow. “What has she got for me after all this time?” Shiho muttered, using her fingernail to open the envelope and take out the contents. While she thought that Daring Do was a bit too theatrical and dramatic for her tastes, Shiho did not deny the adventurer’s skill and experience, not to mention the power of Daring Do’s Stand had helped her out of many a pinch. The envelope contained a short letter, as well as a small assortment of photographs. Wondering why Daring hadn’t simply used the internet to send this to her, Shiho picked up the letter and began reading. Shiho, I hope you’re well. I’m sorry I haven’t had anything for you in so long, but I think I found something you’d want to see. With this letter, I have added photographs taken on the island of Bora Bora, one of the Polynesian islands, by various tourists. Shiho sifted through five photographs, depicting images of dead people in a swimming pool, one of security standing around looking puzzled, and the rest of a strange girl with black hair being chased by a woman in a yellow bikini from different angles. Witness accounts say that the water in the pools became incredibly salty. Salty to the point of heart failure for the deceased. And it had all started once that girl began running from the woman. Once they were gone, the water in the pool returned to normal. I cannot be a hundred percent sure, but I think this is the work of an enemy Stand. This could point us to TWI, which could lead to your grandmother. I am sorry I am unable to come with you, as I’m helping out with a warlord incident in Gambia right now. Things are getting worse in Africa, with more people rising up against their governments. But do not worry for me, I have Yesterday and we hold out for a better future for all. Be careful out there, Shiho. Your dear friend, Daring Do IV, AKA AKK Yearling. Shiho put down the letter and got off her couch. “Good grief,” Shiho said aloud to herself. “Finally, after eleven years, a possible lead on the location of TWI and my granny. I’ll have to investigate this. Rojas, I’ll need a boat.” As Shiho walked off, she failed to see someone else sitting on a nearby couch, watching her over the edge of her tablet. She got up as Shiho left down one of the halls, straightening her pink suit before following behind her. “Finally, for my parents, for my aunt, for her boyfriend, and her dog… Your family is going to pay, Shiho Sunfast.”