Chapter 5: A Daring Endeavor
Shiho Sunfast had only stopped running when her grandmother had begged her to. She groaned and turned around to see Sunset panting and leaning against a small house, holding her hat in her other hand as she attempted to wave off the heat. Already, the sun was beginning to set beyond the mountains and the sky was turning a dark orange.
“Summer in Japan… This is no joke…” Sunset gasped for air. “Why did your mother have to move here? Why couldn’t she have moved to… I don’t know, Scotland, or something.”
“What do you expect? She married a Japanese man,” Shiho shot at her. “Now stop complaining. Is that what people do in their old age? Complain like there’s no tomorrow? Good grief… If that’s what it’s like, I don’t ever want to get old.”
Sunset grumbled. “If you weren’t my granddaughter, I would sock you in the mouth, young lady.”
“Like I’d let you, granny.” Shiho sighed, then pointed ahead. “We’re home. Not a word of this to mom.”
“Not a word of what to me, Sushi?” Summer Shine hopped down from one of the trees and grabbed her daughter by the ear.
“A-Ah, ow!” Shiho struggled, but she had fingers of steel, which refused to budge.
Summer looked from her to Sunset sternly. “What happened, mom? I expect the truth.”
“Someone blew up the house of someone Shiho knew,” Sunset sighed. “She… didn’t make it. None of her family did.”
“That lardface was a Stand user,” Shiho supplied. “But he won’t be going home. He won’t be going anywhere except the mortuary.”
Oh, Shiho, I’m sorry.” Summer attempted to console her daughter, but Shiho just brushed past her and went into the house. “Are you okay, mom?”
“Had a few burns.” Sunset showed her a charred sleeve. “I reset most of it, but I’m really rusty. It’s been too many years since I’ve had to use Alicorn Fantasy this extensively. It’s amazing how much you forget when you’re not saving the world.”
“Tell me about it…” Summer stretched her arms back. Her hair had been tied back into a loose ponytail, but it still resembled what her mother’s hair used to look like once. “I haven’t had a use for Pegasus Forever’s kinetic energy thing for a decade. Makes me wonder if I still know how to do it. Come on. Dinner’s getting cold. We should eat.”
Sunset Shimmer had forgotten all about dinner and the reminder of it made her stomach churn and rumble. “Yes, that would be very nice. Especially since I had been preparing myself for your spice since getting here.”
Sunset followed her daughter in, finding that the dining table had already been prepared. Everything had been placed atop table mats dotted with tiny suns, with the main attraction of Summer’s spice soup sitting in the center of the table in a large black pot. The smell was even more powerful than before and Sunset imagined herself floating over to it as she sniffed at its smoky tendrils.
“Go wash your hands, mom,” Summer smiled. “I’ll ladle out the soup.”
Sunset did as she was told before sitting down at the table. Bushido and Summer sat across from her and next to Sunset was an empty seat.
“Shiho’s not eating?” Sunset asked as a bowl was placed in front of her. The soup’s aroma wafted up into her nostrils and it made her smile.
Summer sighed. “I told you, mom. She doesn’t join us for meals anymore.”
Sunset shook a fist and bent lower. “That girl. She’s forgotten all that she’s had from young! She has a family that cares about her.”
“I won’t push her today. Neither should you.” Summer tapped her mother’s head with the ladle. “She just lost a friend today. She might not show it nowadays, but she’s still sensitive, you know?”
“Gah. Fine…” Sunset leaned back and folded her arms. “I’ll just take a bowl up for her when I’m done. It’ll be nice to have some food after an evening of fighting.”
The three of them ate their dinner in relative silence, with most of the sounds being the clinking of chopsticks and spoons on bowls.
“Thanks for cooking for us, honey,” Bushido said as they ate. “I’ll do the washing up so you two can catch up.”
“Yes. I want to hear all about everyone back home too,” Summer smiled as she sipped from her spoon. “I also want to hear about dad’s big break. He’s there right now, isn’t he? At the royal family’s palace in England?”
“I wouldn’t call it a big break.” Sunset hungrily scooped up at her soup. The taste was invigorating. “He’s already seventy four. Same as me. Not much time left for him to suddenly get super famous.”
“At least he gets to take photos of the queen!” Summer waved a hand in the air. “I mean, how many people still get to do that today with a queen that’s been alive for hundreds of years!”
“That still mystifies me,” Bushido said. “Here in Japan at least our emperors have the decency to die at a normal age.”
“Maybe it’s a Stand power,” Summer suggested. “She could be the strongest Stand user in the world!”
“Well, it’s a good thing she’s not plotting any global domination, then.” Sunset gulped down a mouthful of soup. “At least, not that we know of. Hopefully she isn’t. As for everyone back home, hmm… I guess you’ll want to hear about Prism first?”
“Nah, she’s my best friend, remember mom?” Summer laughed. “I hear from her all the time. I want to know more about… say… how’s Fuchsia doing? I haven’t been in contact with her for a while now.”
“She’s doing alright. As nihilistic as ever, but she owns her own cake shop now. Though… all she makes are chocolate cakes. Really dark chocolate cakes.”
Fuchsia Blush was Pinkie Pie’s eldest daughter. She had gone with Summer and the gang on their last adventure to stop the Nugget People from destroying the world. She had a complicated internal struggle, and only Summer and her friends knew the real Fuchsia.
“Hey, can’t fault her for doing what she loves.” Summer shrugged and smiled. “How’s Sweetie Belle? I’ve seen her Crusaders Foundation on the news. They’re doing a lot for the world, even if the growing activists don’t think so.”
“Last I heard, she was still living in Canterlot with Button Mash,” Summer said, picking up a piece of pickled radish with her chopsticks. “It’s quite remarkable that she continues to work for the Crusaders Foundation at her age. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo have already taken back seats to this, but she’s still spearheading work outside, hoping to make the world better for everyone in the coming years.”
“That’s right.” Sunset nodded and toyed with the spoon in her bowl. “Sweetie Belle has a heart of gold for the unprivileged. Even though the activists pine against her, she continues to do what she has to to make the world a better place for us all. You know, I don’t even know what they’re going on about her. I think they just want to see some immediate change. Some of them have called for her to give away everything she has, but if she does that, how is she going to continue helping the world? That just doesn’t make sense to me.”
“Just handing out money isn’t going to help in the long run,” Bushido pointed out. “It’ll just encourage people to be lazy and expect free bread. Better that they learn how to work, with some extra capital to start them off.”
“Exactly.” Sunset pointed at him and snapped her fingers. “Crazy activists. But that leads us to a new problem, one Shiho and I had just dealt with. There’s this group called Die Die Riches. They’re a little more extreme and they want to kill all the rich people in the world so that they can remove the divide between the rich and poor and stabilize the economy.”
“That,” Bushido scoffed. “Makes no sense. Money doesn’t just disappear when the owner dies. It goes to someone else. Sometimes the government, but they won’t make a society where everyone is equal just by killing rich people.”
“Not if they kill the world leaders too. After all, they’re all rich.”
Summer exhaled and got up. “Are you alright, mom? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”
Sunset smirked and flexed an arm. “They couldn’t do a thing against me. My outfit just got a little burned when I ran through the fire to help Shiho. Not that she needed any help, though. She took out an enemy Stand master all on her own, the little devil.”
“An enemy Stand user so close to home,” Summer shook her head in disbelief. “What is the world coming to?”
“It’s coming to an end, that’s what.” Bushido picked up the now empty pot and carried it to the sink. “I don’t know how much longer the world will last at this rate. We’re using up all our resources, inflation is on the rise, it’s just more expensive to be alive these days.”
“Perhaps the Nugget People were right. Maybe humans are really heading towards an end of their own making.” Summer looked at one of her hands.
“No, don’t look at it like that. Look at all the technological advancement the world has gone through.” Sunset took out her phone and scrolled through its projected screen. “Look at this thing. You know when I first came to this world from Equestria, they still only had the earlier models of smartphones. Shiho only knows what a lightphone is since she was born.”
“Times change, mom. I mean, none of us used sundials anymore. It’s the same thing.”
“I suppose…” Sunset tapped a finger on the table as she drank down the last of her soup. “Hopefully they get better.”
“Don’t we all hope for that?” Summer sagged her shoulders. “We fought so hard to protect the world. The least it could do is make things better for everyone.”
“Won’t that be something…” Sunset looked at her reflection in her glass of tea.
She had come to this world all those years ago to escape her torment back in Equestria, and she had stayed, enjoying the way this world worked and the conveniences of a human body. With the world like that now, she wondered if she should just take her family and return home one day. Perhaps Equestria was doing better than they were.
What is going on back there, I wonder…
—----------JO-JO—---------
Shiho Sunfast lay on her back amongst dead leaves and dirt as she looked up at the darkening sky. She had climbed out her window and onto the second floor roof about half an hour ago to just think about life and how fleeting it could be. One moment, you could be having fun with your friends and the next, you could be fighting for your life and for the life of your friend, only to fail.
“Mom should’ve just let the Nugget People destroy the planet,” Shiho said for herself to hear.
There was just so much wrong with the world right now and now her friend Ban Kai was dead. If Die Die Riches was after the rich, then at least she wouldn’t have to worry about Kami Kaze, but she had to make sure that Spinner was alright. Spinner Udon lived with his mother and grandmother over at Chirirodo Street, two down from herself and with Kantarijji being the small town that it was, she could easily go over and make sure he was alright, but with technology such as phones, she could just call and make sure he was still alive.
Shiho removed her mobile device and tabbed over to her call screen. She was scrolling through names on her contacts page when something caught her attention. Everything around her had been quiet as the sun continued to set, but there was something above her. It had been faint, but it sounded to her like the heel of a shoe on ceramic.
She stashed her phone and got up, looking at the top of her home. An incline led up to a higher spot of the roof and standing there with perfect balance was a female figure, shrouded in a gray cloak and hood, her arms folded across her chest. Under her cloak, Shiho could make out a pair of greenish safari shorts, dark colored socks and thick orangey boots that looked like they could stomp right through a swamp.
“Who are you?” Shiho asked as she kept both arms at her sides, ready for anything. “What are you doing on my house?”
“I’ve been watching you. You and the old lady since the attack on that mansion earlier… I must say, I’m impressed that you would risk your life for that of a friend, even when you knew saving her wasn’t guaranteed.”
“You watch your mouth. This is my home.” Shiho pointed a finger at the mysterious woman. “I suggest you beat it or feel my fist against your nose.”
“Why so angsty, girl?” She let out a small laugh. “You’ve got a lot of anger built up for nothing.”
“Well, you’re asking for it now.” Shiho lowered her hand and balled both fists.
Without betraying anything, Shiho sent Curtain Call up to attack the woman. It drew an arm back, but before it could punch, the woman was in the air, leaping over the Stand and doing a somersault as she landed next to Shiho, moving a gloved hand out to give her a peace sign.
“Why you!” Shiho threw a punch herself, missing the first one as the woman weaved to the left.
She threw another, then another, and when she found her punches were ineffective, she spun a low kick out at the same time as another punch, catching the woman around the back of the knee, knocking her down.
“I don’t need my Stand to beat you!” Shiho said as she threw another punch, knocking the woman’s hood off, revealing a head of black and gray hair.
“Why so angsty, girl?” She let out a small laugh. “You’ve got a lot of anger built up for nothing.”
“Well, you’re asking for it now.” Shiho lowered her hand and balled both fists.
Without betraying anything, Shiho sent Curtain Call up to attack the woman. It drew an arm back, but before it could punch, the woman was in the air, flicking out a long stick in one hand from a belt at her side. Raising it, it shot out a long whip and she used it to latch around a statue of a sun on top of Shiho’s roof, swinging herself out of reach of Curtain Call before landing on the other end of the roof, facing Shiho as she made a peace sign with a hand.
“Why you!” Shiho ran towards her as she primed one arm to give her a good beating.
The woman lashed her whip out, catching Shiho around the arm as she yanked to one side, throwing her off balance and dropping her on her right shoulder.
“Not a bad move, isn’t it?” The woman gave her whip a flick before spinning her stopwatch by its strap around her arm until it was in her palm. “This reminds me of a time my great-grandmother whipped a stolen aztec idol out of the hand of a thief at the London Museum. He had been twenty feet away and the chances of her grabbing it without damaging it was about one to a hundred, yet, she still did it. And now I’ve just done it to you, albeit a little less epically.”
What is that stopwatch? Did she always have that out? Shiho looked at her opponent, then pushed herself up.
That whip would make it hard to get close to her, but Stands weren’t affected by normal things. She could send Curtain Call to get her again. And earlier, she had dodged Curtain Call’s attack. That would only mean that she must be a Stand user too. Shiho had yet to see her Stand, but if she was this formidable without one already, she had to be careful and keep her eyes peeled.
“Curtain Call, get her!” Shiho pointed a finger at her opponent, watching as her Stand fled her body and rushed for the stranger.
The woman gave her whip another flick and sent its end straight for Shiho’s face, but she moved Curtain Call in the way, and it grabbed it with both hands, giving it a hard pull, yanking the woman off her feet and towards them. She crashed into the ground in front of them with a low grunt, rubbing at her cheek as she looked up at the girl.
“You’ve done it now. Prepared to be knocked square.” Shiho drew a line across her neck as Curtain Call raised a foot over the woman’s head.
“Why you!” Shiho ran towards her as she primed one arm to give her a good beating.
The woman lashed her whip out, catching Shiho around the arm as she yanked to one side, throwing her off balance and dropping her on her right shoulder.
“Not a bad move, isn’t it?” The woman gave her whip a flick before spinning her stopwatch by its strap around her arm until it was in her palm. “This reminds me of a time my great-grandmother whipped a stolen aztec idol out of the hand of a thief at the London Museum. He had been twenty feet away and the chances of her grabbing it without damaging it was about one to a hundred, yet, she still did it. And now I’ve just done it to you, albeit a little less epically.”
What is that stopwatch? Did she always have that… wait a minute. Shiho blinked. It felt as though she had thought this before. Very recently.
“What’s the matter? Is that it? Are you done, girl?” The woman retracted her whip, but continued to hold it in her hand.
Shiho wiped the corner of her mouth, then got back on her feet. Something was wrong here. She didn’t know what it was exactly, but she felt it in her bones. Something was going on and she was out of the loop about it. She eyed the woman’s stopwatch suspiciously, wondering why she was holding on to it if she was trying to fight her.
“Noticed this, have you?” The woman caught her looking and held it up as the last of the sun’s rays died beyond the mountain range, turning the sky a dark blue hue. “Yes, you must’ve guessed it by now. Yes, this is my Stand, but I prefer to think of it as my lucky charm. Even the best adventurers make mistakes, but thanks to Yesterday, I don’t have to live with them.”
Shiho was careful to not rush into combat again just yet. She had to find out what was making her warning signals go out of the roof.
Even the best adventurers make mistakes, but thanks to Yesterday, I don’t have to live with them… Shiho repeated in her head. The clue was right there in front of her the whole time. That strange sense of deja vu earlier, the stopwatch Stand, and now her words from her own mouth.
Somehow, the enemy was rewinding time.
“I don’t have time to deal with you now, so I’m going to make this quick.” Shiho crossed one arm across her chest and placed the other arm’s fingers against her forehead. “I know your secret now and you’re not going to rewind time again.”
“Clever. Very clever. But what makes you think so?” The woman waggled her stopwatch next to her head. “You won’t even know if I did it.”
“That’s because I’ve figured out how to beat you.”
This time, she sent Curtain Call out, its cloth already in its hands. The woman got her stance ready and as the cloth passed by her, she jumped to one side, flicking her whip out as it extended towards Shiho. From the side, Curtain Call threw the cloth aside, revealing a small pinkish glob between its fingers.
Distracted by the Stand’s object, she failed to see Shiho step to the side, avoiding her whip as she stepped down on it, lodging it in place. The woman pulled, but Shiho held it down firmly as Curtain Call grabbed the stopwatch with one hand.
“Oh no you don’t!” The woman clicked down on the stop button.
They stood there for a few seconds, no one moving an inch. That was when she realized time hadn’t reversed and clicked it again. Still nothing.
“W-What?” Only now she looked down at her Stand, realizing the pink glob Curtain Call had in its fingers earlier was now smeared all over the button, wedged between the gaps, keeping the button from depressing. “What have you done?”
“You see, I knew you had to press a button to rewind time and it definitely had to be the stop button. My Stand has sharp eyes and it was able to see all the buttons on your Stand easily.” Shiho twisted her body sideways as she placed one hand against her hip. “After I determined the button, I had Curtain Call transform one of the many leaves on the roof into chewing gum. It can only change an object to an object of similar size, but I didn’t need that much to get your button stuck. It’ll take you some time to unstuck it, but I only need five seconds to beat you into oblivion.”
The woman gave her a look of approval before swinging the stopwatch down from her hand, raising both into the air as she smiled. “Looks like you got me. That’s the battle concluded then. It seems you’re quite formidable. That’s how you were able to take down Die Die Riches.”
Shiho raised an eyebrow. “You’re not with Die Die Riches?”
“What, me? Pshhh, no way.” She waved a hand. “I’m an adventurer. I’ve been tracking their movements for weeks. You can call me Daring Do.”
“Daring Do?” Shiho didn’t read english books often, but even she knew the name of the famous explorer. “Daring Do’s as old as my granny. You can’t be her.”
“Why not?” Daring Do asked, coiling up her whip and twirling it around her arm. “The Daring Do character is a timeless figure of fiction and adventure! It doesn’t matter how old she is. As long as there’s someone willing to be Daring Do, she may as well be immortal!”
“So you’re not the real Daring Do?”
“What? Of course I’m the real Daring Do!” Daring Do said, looking astounded as she threw her cloak aside. She had on an outfit that would match with a jungle raider. She even had a beige vest with dozens of pouches. “I’m just the newest person to take on the name. I told you, as long as there’s somebody willing to do it, Daring Do will live forever.”
“Uh, right. So why’d you come picking a fight, then?” Shiho folded her arms and called back her Stand. “I would’ve decked you hard if you didn’t say anything.”
“I just wanted to see how good you were. Taking down that Die Die Riches Stand user was no easy task, but I wanted to see if you’d be fit for the rest of the journey ahead.” Daring Do clipped her whip to her belt. “Of course, your family lineage saved me some trouble. You come from a line of strong Stand users, after all.”
Shiho was a little surprised that this Daring Do already knew who she was, but she wasn’t in the mood to give one to her. “So you’ve been following them. You must know what they’re up to next and what they plan to do.”
“Meh, I’m pretty sure everyone knows their plans by now. They’ll be all over the news after today.” Daring Do panned a hand above her head from her left to right. “Die Die Riches, an extremist activist group has taken to eliminating the rich all over the world and to take the world into their own hands. Who will stop these dastardly villains? Well, that’ll be me, of course, the latest Daring Do in a long line of Daring Dos’.”
“Good grief, where do these characters keep coming from…” Shiho brushed her fringe to one side. “But… your Stand is quite useful. It might be good to have you around, at least for now.”
Daring Do’s grin widened and she snapped her fingers. “See? I knew you’d see reason. Daring Do, reporting for duty, Shiho Sunfast. Or is it Sunfast Shiho? I never get which name is the first name in Japanese culture.”
Shiho just shook her head and climbed back down to her window. Explaining this to her grandma was going to be a chore.
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Amazing chapter!
Nice introduction to Daring Do and like her stand. Very interesting
Ringo roadagain: finally a worthy advisory, our battle will be legendary!
Ngl yesterday gives me mandom vibes and I love it~
If I had a nickel for every concept for a Stand power I had that I haven't written yet, but you published your interpretation first...
I currently have one nickel.
11365762
Ah, I actually don't know what this is.
11365879
You can thank Golden_Reflection for this one. It was an idea he suggested that I really liked.
11366027
Steel ball run/jojo part seven reference there was a guy with a similar stand ability to yesterday
11366040
Ah, nice. I have unfortunately not passed part 6. I should get into that sometime.
11366043
Shoot sorry if I spoiled anything then *zips lips*
11366093
No worries, I've read up bits of it ahead of time. I don't mind spoilers.
It just makes me more interested in what's to come.
Yeah! Nice to see Yesterday pop up!
I like how you gave it to Daring Do, an person who's line of work would see it used at least somewhat frequently.
The start of showing Yesterday's ability was slightly confusing at first, but after realising what was going on, I couldn't help but get excited to see it used as well as how it can be defeated.
Working with time when you don't know it's going to happen can definitely be disorienting, which can be seen by what happened with DIO and Diavolo in their parts of JoJo's.
11369195
I most certainly agree on that, especially when putting it into writing can be challenging for some but luckily jojoleopard nailed it and showed off the execution for the reader as well to experience the time rewind effects.