“Taking your time, aren’t you?” Will. I. Knoe tipped his hat lower as he adjusted his shades. “If you’re not coming out, then I’m going for it!”
Ripple pointed both hands forward, one on top of the other. Rings around its arms began to glow a bright blue and as it pumped both arms forward, energy blazed from them and hit the closest of Jellyfish’s tentacles. The tentacles went slack and dissolved into liquid, merging with the ocean.
Leilani clutched her arm and fell back against her seat as she wailed in pain. It began to bubble and dissolve, turning into liquid. Jellyfish released its net of tentacles and disappeared, giving Ripple a direct line to Subterra and the others, but this time, she was going to protect them.
A hand emerged from the darkness, metallic and sharpened, grabbing Ripple as it attempted to pass. The enemy Stand raised a fist, intent on melting away its sudden captor, but as it swung, the darkness in the air spread out, sending it skating back along the water’s surface in fear of being enveloped by the darkness. As it spread out, it slowly began to thin and instead of the floating Stand with a large head, in its place was now what looked like a mermaid, floating in the air above the water. It now had a more humanoid face on top of its neck, which snarled at the enemy. Instead of hair, it had tentacles trailing back down its neck and its eyes were now on its face, staring and unblinking at Ripple as it waved its arms around as though some unseen current was pulling them.
“What happened? Impossible.” Will took off his hat and wiped the top of his scalp with a cloth. “Stands can’t do that. They can’t change for no reason!”
“What do you know about what Stands can or can’t do?” Ocellus pointed a finger at him.
“I’ll show you! I’ve never been beaten by Subterra before!” Will spun around, then flicked the corners of his opened shirt. “Ripple, take her down.”
Ripple leapt over the boat, aiming a fist for Crafteon’s head, but it glided back, raising both hands as its fingers began moving as though it was casting some kind of ancient magic. Darkness spiraled out from its back, wrapping around Ripple’s arms before tossing it over to the other side of the boat. Will. I. Knoe’s body followed suit, but he slid against the water’s surface and got back up, unharmed.
Ripple got back on its feet and punched at the darkness, but nothing happened and the tendrils remained wrapped around its wrists.
“Darkness has no state,” Subterra explained. “It cannot be solidified and it cannot be liquified. You may have beaten Crafteon before, but now that it is Crafteon ACT2, things are going to be different.”
“I’ll show you different.” Will clapped his hands together. “You haven’t seen everything Ripple can do. I only save this for when I’m certain of my victory. And I am certain now.”
The rings on Ripple’s arms began to glow a bright red and Subterra had Crafteon fling it to the side with its shadowy tendrils. Ripple crashed against the water’s surface, but flipped itself from a roll, getting back on its feet as the water around it began smoking.
As Ripple spread its fingers open, streaks of yellow light shot out towards Crafteon across the water’s surface. They traveled under Crafteon, but because it was floating, nothing happened.
Subterra looked at Will, but he seemed unfazed. He snapped his fingers and flashed her a grin. “Wait for it.”
The water bubbled under Crafteon where the yellow streaks had appeared and suddenly exploded in a flash of energy. Subterra drew back and shrieked as her arms began to boil. Her skin turned red and began bubbling at the spots her Stand had been hit. She pulled back Crafteon, sending it spinning to the opposite end of the boat as she fell back against the side, grabbing her injuries.
“Plasma is another state of matter. In case you didn’t know.” Will drew circles with a finger in the air. “It’s not something I go around showing off, but for you, Subterra, I’m making this exception. TWI didn’t say how I needed to bring you back. As long as I bring you back alive, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Subterra grimaced and gritted her teeth as her Stand floated along beside her.
“Destroy him, Subterra. He is not fit to continue existing.”
Subterra agreed with her Stand. As Ripple pummeled its fists together, generating its arm rings with more energy, Crafteon twisted its arms through the air, creating more shadows between its fingertips.
A searing bolt of plasma shot at Subterra, but she dodged it at the last second and the projectile hit the water, sending up a huge gust of steam and vapor.
"Stay still!" Ripple continued throwing plasma at Subterra and Crafteon. Fortunately the shots were very bright and noticeable, and Subterra was able to evade the next volley. The missed shots also hit the water, hissing and spluttering as more steam filled the air.
Leilani and Ocellus ducked down, just narrowly avoiding one. Subterra dodged another, then saw Shiho underwater, still hammering against the surface trying to get out. She had already been there for four minutes and surely she was running out of air. Whatever she and Crafteon planned, she had to do it now.
“End it…” Crafteon whispered.
As her stand weaved together its shadows, Subterra watched as Ripple pummeled its fists against the water’s surface, turning it into plasma bit by bit. It seemed generating plasma took more time and energy from it, unlike how it could alter something to the other states. With each smash, streaks appeared across the water, boiling and warping the air around it. In a few seconds, it would reach Shiho, and she wouldn’t survive swimming in a sea of plasma. She had to finish this fast.
Crafteon placed the shadows between its two hands and with a push, the shadows expanded forward, flying to Ripple like a fireball.
It kicked up a splash of plasma at it, but the shadows surrounded it anyway, swarming around it like a small tornado.
Will shut his eyes and geared himself for the feeling of dread that followed Crafteon’s shadows, but this time, nothing happened. He blinked and ran his hands down his body before making Ripple leave the shadows.
“Ha! You’re losing your edge, Subterra. I’m not afraid!” He pointed at her. “What are you going to do now?”
Subterra lowered her eyelids and assumed a neutral stance. “Are you sure about that?”
A growl came from the darkness and instantly, Will’s heart dropped in his chest and he eyed it with wary suspicion. “N-No…”
A striped paw emerged from the dark, touching the surface of the water gently as two shining eyes pierced out of the gloom. As it approached, a growl revealed a row of fangs, sharp and bloodstained. A scar ran down the side of its furry face, and Will immediately recalled his childhood.
It had been when he was only seven years old. His father had taken him to a meat shop to get beef after finding a bag of cash just outside their apartment. Back in the day, meat was scarce, because without a job, his father could not keep up with the rising prices of luxuries like meat. It was at this shop that they encountered a tiger that escaped from the zoo.
Like a coward, he had hidden in the darkness under a stained table as the fierce tiger devoured the butcher, two other people and his father, who would do everything he could to make life better for him. After everything his father had done, he could not find it in himself to save him as the tiger ate through his stomach while he was still alive, pleading for Will to save him.
Will remembered the scar on the tiger’s face, an injury it had supposedly received by gamers on a safari. And now it stood there, looking back at him with burning eyes; it had unfinished business with him.
“N-No, you can’t be… you can’t be here…” He backed away as his Stand stood between them, arms raised.
It roared and leapt at Ripple. Will ducked instinctively as his Stand swung a fist at the tiger. It missed as the tiger went low, slashing at Ripple’s abdomen, drawing blood before sinking its fangs into the Stand’s right thigh.
“Aaaaugh!” Will clutched his leg and fell back on the water’s surface as his Stand’s power began to falter.
Leilani’s arm reformed itself, solid once again as the sea around the boat liquified, allowing Shiho to breach the surface with a huge gasp of air.
As Will’s fighting spirit began to fall apart, the plasma that he had created fizzled away, and the water’s surface beneath him no longer remained solid. The Stand user fell into the salty liquid, flailing his hands to try and remain afloat. As he breached the surface, a sudden rush of clarity hit him.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “This is the middle of the ocean! There’s no tigers here.”
Will grinned and summoned forth his Stand, but something else appeared first.
A black-painted speedboat drew up alongside the Brandy 2, crewed entirely by men and women in crisp black suits.
“Are you Will I. Knoe?” One of the people in suits asked formally.
Will’s skin began to crawl as he looked at the people in the black boat. A sprout of unease began to make itself known in his head. “No… I mean, yes, I am.”
The suit who had spoken nodded to his companions. “Mr. Knoe, we are here on behalf of the global government. You’re being audited.” Holding up a roll of paper, the man in the suit unraveled it, revealing a series of class-action lawsuits written on the paper’s surface. “Here’s the date; we’ll see you in court. Fail to comply, and you risk being incarcerated and fined.”
“L-L-La-Lawsuits!” He clutched his head as his eyes grew to the size of baseballs. “N-Not the lawsuits!”
The lawyers suddenly grew claws and their eyes became red burning coals as fangs emerged from their mouths. They snarled at him and jumped at him from different directions.
“N-Not tigermen lawyers! My worst fears!” Will shrieked as he dived under the water’s surface, trying to flee.
But the tiger lawyers dived in after him, and water churned and splashed all around beside the Brandy 2. In only a few seconds, blood bloomed out from the deep, spreading along the surface as Shiho climbed back into the boat.
“Good grief, these TWI followers…” she pushed her hair back out of her face as she removed her outer coat. She put a hand over her eyes and looked up to the sky. “How long have we been out here? The seats are burning.”
“Hey, at least you had a dip in the water.” Ocellus rubbed at her arms, which were starting to glow red. “It’s all thanks to Subterra that you’re even back on the boat.”
Subterra pulled her hood over her head as Crafteon’s darkness returned from underwater, disappearing into its arms. She hadn’t really paid attention to the heat the entire fight, but now that Shiho had mentioned it, she could feel her arms blazing as though someone had lit them on fire.
Ocellus pointed ahead. “The island’s just over there. Step on it and we can get under some trees to cool off.”
“Or…” Leilani adjusted her shoulders till a crack was heard. “We can just go for a swim.”
And she jumped into the water before swimming downwards.
Ocellus and Subterra shared a look before the former shrugged. “I don’t yet know how to swim effectively with this body, but a dip sounds nice.”
And she jumped in after Leilani with a big splash.
Shiho wiped her face again and groaned before starting the boat. “Good grief.”
- To be Continued...-