Subterra Shiver didn’t know how many hours she had sat there on the beach that night, gazing out at the waters beyond the shore as it reflected the purplish night sky filled with stars of all shapes and sizes.
Something about the dark intrigued her more than she could understand. Perhaps it had something to do with her stand, Crafteon, or perhaps it was the silence she related with, but whatever it was, the night gave her a sense of calm like no other. But through the calmness of the night, one question continued to tug at her heart.
“What was I before I got here…?” she wondered. “What did I use to do? What do I do now?”
Her Stand appeared beside her, resting its large head against hers. “You make your own path now, Subterra. What would you like to do?”
“That TWI, whoever that is, is after us…” Subterra looked at her hands. They were caked with a light layer of sand, which she began dusting off. “What does she want with me? How did she even find me?”
“Stand masters are drawn to each other, Subterra,” Crafteon whispered. “Surely they will find us again. You will have to be ready.”
“So we can’t just find somewhere to hide, huh?” She got up and dusted her butt. “That woman, Candlewick, she said she was going to take me back. Back to TWI. Why did we even leave? Did she do something to me?”
“I cannot help with lost memories. But do not fret, I am here with you. You are not alone in your predicament.”
Subterra mused over her mysterious beginnings. Running away meant that there was something to fear about TWI. Perhaps she had been some kind of prisoner, snatched away from her family to be some kind of indoctrinated believer, or perhaps she had discovered some malicious secret this TWI was keeping and she escaped to let the world know, only to lose her memories and make her escape pointless.
“I don’t want any of this…” Subterra admitted. “I just want to be left alone. But it can’t be helped… I can’t stop them from coming after me to bring me back.”
“We should focus on accommodation, then. You will need time to rest, to recharge for another day.”
Subterra stuck her lips out and started walking back towards civilization. Perhaps she could get into one of the resort’s rooms with Crafteon’s help. She just had to make sure they were empty so she didn’t have to kick someone out.
A woman in a grey jacket suddenly walked out from between some bushes, waltzing down the small slope towards her. In the darkness, it was hard to make out most of her features, but because of the light strip on her jacket collar, Subterra could see the light bouncing off the bottom of her stern face. Shadows were cast over her cheeks from her neck-length hair, giving her mouth a sort of demented look, so Subterra steeled herself and kept an eye on her movements. Whoever this was, she gave off a familiar vibe, similar to Candlewick Dancer from earlier.
“Subterra Shiver?” The woman flicked on a light on a rectangular device in her hand, a blinding pinpoint in a world of darkness.
Subterra had to lift a hand to shield her eyes. “Who are you?”
“My name isn’t important at the moment, but I have reason to believe you can help me out here.” She walked closer, until Subterra took a few steps away. The woman raised both hands and nodded her head, then flicked her light off. “I’m not here for you. But you have something I need.”
Subterra kept a foot behind her back, ready to go if anything happened, but so far, the woman didn’t look like she was going to attack her. At least for now. “What do you want?”
“I’m looking for my grandmother. Eleven years ago, she was taken away by a powerful monster known as TWI,” she said as she chewed on something in her mouth.
“TWI?” Subterra seemed to relax a bit. “You’re looking for her?”
The woman nodded. “I am. And I take it you know where she is?”
Subterra shook her head. “I’m sorry. I cannot help you. I’ve… somehow lost all my memory. I don’t even remember why I’m here.”
“You… lost your memory?” The woman rubbed her chin. “Tell me what you know.”
“Uh…” Subterra rubbed her head.
She started on how she had woken up on the beach in a boat, then how she had been attacked by Candlewick Dancer and her Dead Sea Stand. She recounted how the strange woman in a bikini had tried to take her back to someone called TWI, someone she had apparently run away from. All this while, the newcomer had listened to her intently, nodding at intervals, her eyes darting up and down Subterra’s smaller frame like she was assessing her, trying to find out her value.
“You came all this way by boat…” She raised an eyebrow in question. “Of course. My earlier assumptions were right. That’s why I couldn’t find TWI all this time. She was out here, hiding amongst the islands where our radio signals from the other side of the world do not reach thanks to the failing ozone layer. But you don’t remember which one?”
Subterra shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember anything except for my name, Subterra Shiver.”
“And I thought I finally had it…” The woman planted a hand on the top of her head and whirled around. “I’m so close…”
Subterra rubbed an arm. “I’m uh… sorry. That I can’t help you more…”
The woman shook her head and stuck an arm out, which Subterra hesitantly took. “It’s fine. At least I have a big lead now. I know she’s out here. She’s on one of the islands. I’m Shiho, by the way. Shiho Sunfast. Do you have anywhere to go?”
“A-Anywhere to go?”
“If you need a place to stay, I’m sure the Crusaders Foundation can arrange for something.”
“But… TWI. She’s after me,” Subterra said. “If she continues to come after me, I might… put you all in danger.”
“Yes, Stand users do attract other Stand users. I suppose that’s how I found you in the first place.” Shiho nodded.
“You have a Stand too?”
She slipped a hand into her jacket pocket and a pink and purple being appeared behind her, grabbing a purple cloth off its shoulders. “This is Curtain Call. My Stand. It has the ability to turn any object into another singular object.”
“That sounds useful.” Subterra brought Crafteon out. “This is mine, Crafteon. It creates a fearful darkness, I suppose. One you can’t help but run from.”
“Can’t help, huh?” Shiho rubbed at her chin. “Interesting.”
Subterra nodded in acknowledgement as an orange tinge began to spread across the sky. It had seemed that she had sat here much longer than she intended and the sun was already making its way up from beyond the horizon line.
She turned to Shiho, thinking to ask more questions about TWI when her eyes caught something in the bushes Shiho had come from. She spotted a faint red glow from inside and all of a sudden, the entire bush began to shrink, almost like it was being sucked away.
“Behind you!” she called out as Shiho whipped her body around, taking one step back as her Stand materialized.
From the bush came a small shimmering pale form, gliding along the grass like a slug. The grass disappeared in the wake of its trail and its body bubbled and seemed to expand, creating a dark shape in the middle where a multitude of yellow orbs appeared.
Shiho stretched an arm out in front of Subterra and pushed her back. “This has to be the work of an enemy Stand!”
Her Stand, Curtain Call, whipped its cloth out at lightning speed, forming its tip into a razor-thin point. It smashed against the little blob-like Stand, leaving behind an imprint that pulsed out across its body, but otherwise had no detrimental effect on it.
They looked at the edge of Curtain Call’s cloth and it was already starting to smoke, almost like something had burned the ends of it. Meanwhile, the enemy Stand continued to slide forward, eating away at anything in its path.
“Subterra, can your darkness do something about this?” Shiho stepped back to her.
“I’ll try.” Subterra gulped as Crafteon waved its tentacles around.
Darkness began to spread out from under it, crawling towards the enemy Stand like some kind of evil specter, and once it hit it, it spread out like a bubble, consuming the Stand and everything around it within a meter radius. But to her surprise, it did nothing and the Stand slithered out of the darkness, coming right for them.
“Th-That can’t be. Crafteon’s darkness should affect anything, regardless of how brave you are.”
Shiho had Curtain Call hold out its cloth like a matador. “This must be something else. A long range Stand with a single goal in mind. It will not have the emotions of its master.”
She had Curtain Call turn a nearby lamppost into a crowbar and as it approached, Curtain Call grabbed the iron tool and swung it against the enemy Stand. The Stand didn’t react, nor did it leave the ground. Instead, the crowbar bent around it before being absorbed into its body, enlarging it as it continued its advance.
The two women stepped back, moving away from the shore to avoid being cornered as the enemy Stand changed paths, following after them. Crafteon grabbed a few inflatable rafts from a nearby shack, tossing them at the enemy Stand as they retreated back up the hill towards the resort, but like with the crowbar, all they did was help the enemy grow in size. Before, it had been no bigger than a small pot, but now, it was about the size of a beach ball.
“This thing feeds on anything it touches,” Shiho surmised. “We can’t beat it by beating the crap out of it.”
Subterra glanced at the older woman. Even in this predicament, Shiho looked firm and calm. “What do we do?”
“First we need to get some distance between it and us. If possible, we should try to locate the Stand user as well. While only a Stand can hurt a Stand, there’s nothing stopping us from beating the crap out of the user if we can find them,” Shiho instructed. “Come on, this way.”
Shiho dragged Subterra up and past the pools, heading towards the main building as the sun rose higher in the sky, now casting long shadows across the ground at its low angle. She turned back to see the enemy Stand continue to pursue them, gliding up the hill with ease as it sucked up a row of tiles along the ground. All of a sudden, it stopped, turning its entire body to face the pool. Then it tossed itself into the water, diving deeper to the bottom.
Subterra would’ve stood there to watch, but Shiho dragged her on. “Come, we need to find the master.”
Subterra pointed to the pool. “B-But what is it doing? Why did it stop coming after us?”
Shiho grunted. “This Stand mustn't be tracking us based on sight. It must be something else.”
“But if it’s in the pool now and it absorbs it…”
On cue, the Stand burst forth from the pool as the water began to swirl away. The bottom of the pool was now a gaping hole underground and the enemy Stand was now the size of a small car and it continued to grow as it slid out over the pool’s edge, picking up anything in its path, faster than before.
Part of its body bubbled and a tendril shot out with lightning speed, forcing Shiho to tackle Subterra down as it sheared off the top half of an outdoor bar, pulling it back into itself.
“It keeps eating…” Shiho frowned. “We can’t go to the buildings. We have to stay out here.”
“What?” Subterra asked, looking between the Stand and Shiho. “But what about the Stand master?”
“If this thing gets to the building, who knows how powerful it could get.” She stood up and straightened her jacket. “We have to bring it away. Back to the waterfront.”
As the morning light shone in, Subterra and Shiho headed back around, using the remains of the bar as cover as the enemy Stand slid towards them, sprouting more tendrils from its body.
“Goooooooood morning, guests!” Both of them spotted a speaker above one of the poles in the resort spurt to life. “What a lovely morning we have. Cloudy with a chance of activities and with a low chance of rain! Today, we’re pleased to say the yoga instructor has returned from his vacation to Rurutu with exercises beyond your comprehension! He will begin at-”
The Stand’s tendril had stopped before the bar, then in a blink, it swung around itself, spearing through the speaker before grabbing it and pulling it to itself. Another appendage burst forth from its body, heading for the bar. Shiho and Subterra got ready to defend themselves, but instead, it yanked out the entire cooler beside the counter and lifted it into the air.
Seeing their opportunity, Subterra pulled Shiho’s arm and motioned for them to get away while they could.
“You saw that?” Shiho said as they ran back towards the water. “The speaker. Then the cooler at the bar. It went for those instead of us.”
Subterra thought about it. Then snapped her fingers. “Vibrations! Sound and machinery vibrates. And before that, we were quite still. They would’ve been vibrating more than us. That’s why the Stand changed targets.”
Shiho nodded. “Just what I was thinking- Get down!”
She shoved Subterra down the hill before throwing herself to the side just as one of the Stand’s tentacles sailed over their heads.
Already, it was the size of a pickup truck, and it could move as fast as they could.
“Subterra, distract it. I have a plan.” Shiho crawled for some bushes. “Just don’t get eaten.”
The girl plucked grass from her black hair and got up. “Easier said than done. Crafteon!”
“My darkness is ineffective against this Stand,” it said, but spread out its darkness anyway. “It does not see with its eyes as well.”
“We’ve just got to keep up our vibrations. Umm…” She pointed to the ground.
Crafteon glided low and began drumming its tentacles against the soil to the point where bits of it began bouncing up and down.
The enemy Stand’s own tentacles shot out towards them, sending Subterra rolling back as Crafteon dodged them in the air before sailing back over to her side, continuing to slap the ground around them. The Stand took the bait and followed, sliding down the hill, eating away at loose soil and grass.
“As it continues to absorb everything around itself, it will get faster and stronger,” Crafteon told her as it soared beside its master. “We will not be able to outrun this thing forever.”
Subterra looked behind her, watching the enemy Stand catch up to her as more tentacles sprouted from its gelatinous body, and behind it, she spotted Shiho Sunfast by the docks under the rising sun, putting something metallic together as her Stand began transforming the planks of the boardwalk into metal. She had to buy Shiho more time.
“You got a problem with me, huh?” Subterra called out to the enemy Stand. “Voices are vibrations through the air. Surely you’ll sense that and come over here.”
She bent backwards, dropping on her back as a tentacle shot out in a straight line, grabbing at empty air where she had once been standing. Subterra quickly rolled away as it then lashed down against the sand, smashing it up into the air and all over her body, but it didn’t stop there. With a spin, the tentacle smacked Subterra’s left leg and instantly, she felt a searing burn through her limb, almost as though she had dipped it in a vat of molten acid on steroids. It was the most painful thing she’d ever felt. She dropped to the ground, cradling her injury as Crafteon dragged her away from the next attack, bringing her closer towards Shiho’s position.
The skin around her ankle was gone and below it, it was just smooth red meat, eaten away revealing a little bit of bone as the enemy Stand turned to follow her movement. Crafteon latched on to Subterra’s back and used its tentacles to pull her away from the Stand’s next attack as it flailed two tentacles around itself wildly, trying to catch them. She bent down and picked up a stone, chucking it in its direction, but by now, its tentacles were much too fast and it caught the stone right out of the air, absorbing it into itself.
“Shiho, you better be ready…” Subterra said to herself, unable to distract it any longer.
She could see it now. She was inserting what looked like a propeller into some kind of contraption that somewhat resembled an hourglass in shape.
“Get over here!” Shiho had her Stand pick up the machine, running over towards them. “Duck!”
Without looking, Subterra threw herself down, having Crafteon stop her from falling flat on her face as two tentacles shot over. This time, she had her Stand drag her forward before using its tentacles to spring her back up on her feet, shooting her forward faster than the enemy Stand’s appendages could smash down on the sandy shores.
She ran behind Shiho as Curtain Call dragged the machine out. With a push of a silver button, it began revving, spinning the propeller faster and faster as its entire body began to vibrate. Only now did Subterra realize what Shiho had made. It was some kind of motorboat engine.
Subterra could feel the attention of the Stand divert to the motor and with a mighty throw, Curtain Call tossed it far into the water. As soon as it touched down, it began speeding off in a zig-zag pattern, chugging up water in its wake.
The enemy Stand immediately picked up on the sudden amount of vibration and reached its tentacles out for it, but it proved to be faster and zipped out of its reach. With a bellow, the Stand charged into the water, pulling itself forward in pursuit of the motor.
Shiho gave Subterra a pat on the shoulder, then pointed over to the resort. “Come. It’s time to find that son of a Stand master and end this before the Stand comes back.”