SuShi's Bizarre Adventure: Darkness Manifest

by Jojoleopard

Episode 5: Come Join the Forest Rangers

“I know, I know what was asked of me, but I can’t help it, you know?”

Against the bar, Seacrest Crescent, a follower of the esteemed TWI, swirled the contents of his vodka tonic as the female bartender close by rolled her eyes for the fourth time that morning. She had only just opened when Seacrest walked in. At first, he had been harmless enough, but he already likely had too much to drink and she just wanted him gone.

“My Stand, Seabear, it has a mind of its own,” he continued. “It will continue to attack vibrations. The bigger the better. And it’ll just eat and eat and eat until it’s done. You see where I’m going with this, darling?”

The bartender ignored him for a while, but eventually she heard the tapping on an empty glass on the bartop. She sighed and turned back around.

“Fill ‘er up,” Seacrest Crescent said, tapping his empty cup.

The female bartender resisted the urge to roll her eyes again and brought over the bottle. This man clearly thought he was someone special, and the bartender had seen her share of tryhards in this establishment. However, drinks were not cheap, and as long as the money kept coming in, she supposed she could put up with this strange man’s antics.

The bartender poured out another drink for Seacrest, who slapped down some money on the table. Sweeping it up, the bartender went back to polishing the mugs behind the bar.

Slouching over the bar, Seacrest drank his beverage slowly, savoring each sip and mouthful. Working with TWI has been one of the best decisions of his life. She seemed to have an unlimited amount of riches, and she generously doled it out to her followers as long as they followed her instructions. Besides, TWI’s end goal was to improve the world, and Seacrest believed she could do it. He remembered reading on the internet about times when the world hadn’t been this garbage, when things were still good, before the dark times had come and swept the planet into a crisis. If anyone could fix the world, TWI could.

At the moment, she was still weakened from an encounter years ago, but soon, she would be back to her full strength and when that happened, she would heal the world. She would bring it peace.

Seacrest could sense his Stand out there, growing larger and more powerful all the time. If it stopped consuming matter for a while, or it was defeated or recalled, it would shrink back to its original size, but nobody had ever beaten him. It was just more convenient to recall Seabear when it wasn’t needed, as its corrosive nature could prove dangerous to people he didn’t want to harm.

Seacrest continued to sip his drink. He would have enjoyed it more if he could drink it under the sun on the beach, but ever since the ozone layer had gone, it was safer to stay indoors and not risk melanoma. “I don’t know how Imbibed Man does it, lying on the beach all day. He should’ve died from radiation by now.”

It was no secret that the world was dying. Years of greed and the need for comfort have brought this planet to the brink, but TWI could solve this all. Seacrest knew it. When she had come to him all those years ago, with money and a plan, he had been more than happy to join her. It was there that she had spiked him with an arrow with a crystalized tip that seemed to have been carved from some kind of jewel. He thought it had all been a trick at first, but it was through that arrow that he soon developed his Stand, Seabear.

With Seabear by his side, he could now do things he normally couldn’t. One of which was to talk to a beautiful woman, like this bartender here. “She’s totally digging me now. Just a few more pushes, a few more drinks, she’ll be right here with me.”

He picked up his glass, putting it to his lips, but instead of the biting liquid flowing down his throat, there was a sharp biting pain on his lower lip instead, forcing him back away from the counter as he threw his glass forward. At the bartender.

“What was that?!” he pressed at his lip, coming away with blood. The bartender flipped wet hair from her face and growled at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. Something bit me!”

The bartender threw her towel down, then stomped off to the backroom. Seacrest attempted to follow her, but it was as though a hand grabbed him around the ankle and he fell, smacking his forehead against one of the stools. As his vision spun, he looked down to his leg, trying to see who was doing this to him, but there was nothing there.

“What have I been drinking…?” He let himself wobble a few rounds before smacking a palm against his left eye. “Where are you? Who are you? What do you want?”

He got up, but something bit his left index finger and he looked down, widening his eyes. Around his fingertip, just before the fingernail was a small round creature with four legs and what looked like two arms. It was munching on his skin with its blue mouth, tearing away his flesh like it was paper off a toilet roll. Its body was entirely in green and orange.

“Begone!” He smacked at the creature with his other hand, but no matter how many times he did so, he could not crush it. More appeared from the bottom of his hand and crawled up his arms, biting away at his skin as he got to his feet. “This-This has to be the work of an enemy Stand!”

He attempted to flee, but his foot suddenly detached from the rest of his leg and he tumbled down, crashing so hard that he rocked the two nearest tables, dropping their contents all over himself.

“Wh-What? How?” He looked at where his foot used to be and it was still on the ground behind him, being swarmed by more of those little creatures.

More of them swarmed over him and he squealed as he flailed his arms around, but he was unable to stop them climbing all over him without Seabear here with him.

“Somebody help meeeeeeeeee!” he cried out. Before they swarmed across his face, they just stopped and he could see a pair of turquoise legs appear before him. “W-Who are you?”

He angled his head up. It was a woman with curly pink hair and she had a look of disdain over him, as though she had just stepped in a puddle of mud. “TWI sent you. I want to know where she is.”

She was dressed in a short orange tank top that had what looked like two shiny eyes on it, along with a pair of similarly orange shorts.

Seacrest gulped. “I d-don’t know what you are saying…”

One of the little creatures jumped into his eye, or rather, through his eye. Blood sprayed up into the air and Seacrest screamed as the little creature began eating it from the inside.

“Tell me!” the woman barked again.

“Stop! I’ll tell you anything, just stop!” Seacrest cried out. Almost immediately, the little creatures scuttered off his body, leaving him a wrecked mess lying in his own blood. “TWI is… on an island.”

Seacreast looked left and right as he struggled to flip himself over. By now, Seabear would’ve already been recalled, wherever it was. He would have to worry about securing the girl later. This woman was a more immediate danger, but she was soon going to regret not finishing him off from the beginning.

“Where is she?” she asked again, taking one step closer.

“She’s…” Seacrest suddenly lunged up and thrust one arm forward. “Far away from you, harlot!”

Seabear appeared over his forearm, slithering forward as it flung itself off at her, back to its normal size again, no bigger than an eight ball. Seacrest was about to let out a bark of laughter when his mouth suddenly exploded in a wave of blood. He clutched at his throat, then staggered back as he realized his mistake. Not all of the enemy’s Stand had left him.

“Did you think I wasn’t prepared for this?” The woman shook her head and sidestepped his Stand. “My Stand, Forest Rangers, is capable of tearing you apart limb from limb, given the time. I left a handful in your mouth, ready to take you apart from the neck up if you called back your Stand. If you tell me where TWI is, I’ll make it quick. Otherwise, you can suffer all the way down to hell.”

“W-W-Who are… y-you…” Seacrest gagged, his throat nearly destroyed. He could no longer breathe. “I will… say not-nothi-nothgguagh…”

Just then, there were footsteps and Shiho Sunfast and Subterra Shiver appeared from around the entrance of the bar. The woman spotted them and narrowed her eyes. “You’re too late.”

She kicked a foot down against Seacrest’s chest. He coughed out blood, then dropped his head to one side.

Shiho looked down at the bleeding Seacrest, then back at her. “You must be the Stand master.”

The woman seemed to ignore her and pointed a finger at Subterra. “This girl. This is the one they’re after.”

Shiho put an arm out in front of her and scowled. “Well, you’re not having her.”

“I wasn’t asking.” The woman began glowing green.

Shiho was about to do something, but her feet suddenly lost their grip and she found herself lying on the ground with her face pressed to its concrete surface. Two little creatures waltzed in front of her face, clacking their fingers together as they gave each other a high five.

Curtain Call appeared from within, sending its fist crashing down on top of them, but from the corner of her view, more of the creatures appeared, climbing on top of each other as they pulled tight against one another, forming themselves into something bigger.

Shiho had her Stand smash a fist into the forming shape, but it expanded around its arm, avoiding it before falling down on top of Curtain Call like a wave. In only three seconds, more of the little creatures had arrived, forming together and pulling close to transform themselves into a humanoid orange and green figure with spider-like appendages coming out of its back.

It grabbed Curtain Call around the neck with its bulging biceps and tugged up. Shiho dropped to her knees, trying to breathe, but the enemy Stand held Curtain Call with an almost unbreakable chokehold.

“An enemy Stand!” Subterra warned as more of the smaller creatures made their way towards her and Crafteon.

She tried to run to Shiho’s aid, but the rest of the little critters formed into hands and grabbed both her legs, stopping her in place. Crafteon swiped its tentacles around, knocking them off in places, but more just swarmed in and filled up the space.

“I’m not letting you get away.” The woman lifted a hand at a forty five degree angle, then touched it down to her right knee. “You’re coming with me.”

Subterra shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Crafteon!”

Darkness began to spread from its back, creeping across the floor of the bar towards the enemy and her little Stands. It touched one of them and almost immediately, the woman leapt back a step and clutched at her shoulders, shivering.

“Forest Rangers, back!” she yelled as her Stands scurried away, avoiding the dark.

Subterra quickly changed the darkness’ direction to Shiho and the rest of the enemy Stand, Forest Rangers. As soon as it engulfed them, the woman cried out and pulled an arm back. From within the dark, a multitude of little Forest Rangers swarmed away, coming towards Subterra and Crafteon. She immediately dropped the darkness, allowing Shiho time to breathe as she shook from the experience.

“Are you okay?” Subterra called over to her as she ran to her side.

Shiho rubbed her throat, looking more irritated than ever. “No lasting damage. Come, let’s get to the boat and get out. We don’t need to fight her.”

“Don’t think you’re getting away that easily!” The woman shook off her stun and pointed at them with both hands. Her Stand combined together again, standing behind her with its fists together in front of her chest. “Come join the Forest Rangers.”

Shiho groaned. “Good grief. How about no.”

She pushed Subterra and the two of them fled out of the bar, rushing for the shoreline and the nearby docks where she had stopped the Brandy 1.

Crafteon began whipping away pursuing Forest Rangers, but a few managed to get up Subterra’s legs and bit into her flesh. She squealed in pain, but Curtain Call managed to pluck them off with incredible accuracy, tossing them aside as they kept running, never once losing speed.

“If we can get to my boat, we can get to one of the other islands, away from this mad woman,” Shiho began explaining as she looked back to make sure she wasn’t following them. She was. “There are thousands of islands out here in the ocean. Thousands to search for TWI, but at least we’ll likely lose her.”

“What do you think she wants?” Subterra couldn’t shake off the feeling that they were missing something. “She killed the other one, the other Stand user.”

Shiho shook her head. “Can’t be anything good. There, my boat’s the first one at the docks.”

The Brandy 1 sat there under the glare of the sun, moving in place on the pristine waves washing ashore. But something was wrong. It was rocking a whole lot more than it was supposed to be when it was tied to the docks.

“Did I leave it untied?” she questioned herself. “But that can’t be. I was sure I tied it down. If it sails away from us now, that would be a real problem.”

And then she saw them. From further away, it had been much too hard to see, but as they got closer, she could see tiny specks of green and orange crawling across the rear of the boat. Bit by bit, the boat began to disappear, starting with the line, followed by the engine and then parts of the leather seats. More of them were jumping off the pier into the water to get to the boat, swimming with their tiny legs, trying to cover the expanse of water quickly.

“They’re taking my boat apart.” Shiho stopped in her tracks. “Our enemy is clever. But not clever enough.”

Subterra looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

“I’ll need to construct something to beat this.” Shiho ignored her question, then pointed to the enemy. “Subterra, I need you to get Forest Rangers out here.”

“W-What?”

“No time to explain. Just trust me. I’ll get things ready.” Shiho nodded as Curtain Call whipped its cloth around its head, then grabbed its ends with both hands and squatted low.

Subterra ran out to meet the charging woman, sliding to a stop as she brought Crafteon out beside her. Its huge head leaned close to hers and it wrapped one tentacle around her shoulders.

Subterra put both hands on her coat collar and pulled at them sharply, before sliding a finger of one hand out towards the woman. “Crafteon, do your thing.”

The woman stopped before her as her Stand swarmed around her. “You’re coming with me.”

“Not. Yet.” Crafteon was no longer beside Subterra.

The woman looked around, getting herself ready as she tried to locate her Stand. From the corners of her vision, darkness began to build, creeping closer towards her as a pit began to form in her stomach. She eyed Subterra, knowing just how dangerous her Stand’s ability could be.

“Your darkness holds nothing,” she began speaking to Subterra. “It is simply just darkness, but somehow it sends signals to my brain to fear it. Impressive.”

Forest Rangers scattered from her, splitting off into two directions as they curved towards Subterra. Crafteon reappeared, slinking out of the shadows by the water, swatting at one group with its tentacles. Darkness continued to pool in from around it, forcing Forest Rangers away from it.

Subterra turned and ran, keeping a good distance between herself and the attacking swarm. She dodge to the side at one point, just barely avoiding Forest Rangers as it formed into a sickle-like appendage before swiping at her.

She spotted Shiho and Curtain Call taking apart what was left of her boat as her Stand began turning part after part into pieces of glass.

Forest Rangers formed together, returning itself to its humanoid form as it sprinted after her now, easily covering the distance with its powerful legs, at the same time, avoiding Crafteon’s darkness.

Its sudden burst of speed caught Subterra off guard and she could only get her Stand forward about three feet before one of Forest Rangers fists clubbed her in the cheek. She dropped to the ground, her vision spinning as she snorted blood from her left nostril.

She struggled to get up, to crawl away from the approaching Stand as it reached a hand out, but it had been a hard hit and it was almost as though it had stopped her legs from working properly. She needed time to recover from the blow, but as of now, time wasn’t something she had.

“You’re coming with me…” the woman stopped before her head as her Stand reached for Subterra’s coat. “You’re taking me to TWI.”

“You- TWI didn’t send you?” Subterra attempted to crawl to the side of the docks.

“Sent me?” The woman scrunched up her brows. “I have no part with TWI. No longer. She has changed. She was not the ruler she once was since coming to your world. No, I am not with TWI.”

Subterra stopped, confused for a second. This woman was not here to take her back to TWI. Not exactly.

Before more could be said, Curtain Call barreled into Forest Rangers before it could reach Subterra, pushing it off the docks as it swung a big box-like structure made of glass at the Stand. Forest Rangers attempted to spear Curtain Call through the chest with its spiny appendages, but it tucked and rolled over it before slamming the box down on top of the Stand, smashing it hard into the water as they both fell.

“I’ve got you now, woman.” Shiho joined them at the docks, sliding a finger down her coat collar, leaving it hanging off its light strip. “I figured your Stand out. While it can be everywhere at once and incredibly versatile, their tiny bodies make them susceptible to dense environments like the sea, which also makes it harder to maintain its body.” She pointed a finger at the woman as Curtain Call pounded its fists together. “Now without your Stand to back you up, prepare yourself.”

“Shiho, wait…!” Subterra called, but she had already begun.

With a yell, Curtain Call began smashing its fists against the woman’s body, repeatedly pummeling her all over as it yelled. “Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!”

“Shi-Shiho, wait!” Subterra lunged up, sending Crafteon over the older woman’s face, blinding her.

“What are you doing?” Shiho grunted, but stopped Curtain Call as the woman dropped to the ground, bleeding and bruised.

Subterra stretched a hand out. “She’s not with TWI. She wants the same thing.”

“She… what?” Shiho eyed the woman through narrow slits, contemplating her options. “Who are you? What are you after? Speak.”

The woman lifted her head off the ground, panting hard as she wiped blood off the corner of her mouth and the side of her head. “I am… Ocellus, one of the Young Six.”

“The what?” Subterra tilted her head to one side as her mouth hung open in question.

The woman called Ocellus shook her head as she pushed the rest of her body up slowly. “It doesn’t matter. I’m from Equestria, the world mirroring yours, where TWI was from. She had come here many years ago to study this world, explained to her from the notes of her predecessor, Princess Celestia.”

She paused to make sure the other two were still following. To her surprise, they looked like this wasn’t the first time they had heard something this bizarre.

“You don’t seem perturbed by the revelation of different worlds…” Ocellus said.

Shiho shared a look with Subterra, then sighed. “Good grief. I would never be. My grandmother’s from your world. TWI captured her, so I’m looking for her to get her back and stop that madwoman.”

“You have ties to Equestria?” Ocellus put a hand under her chin and wiped more blood from it. “This girl, the one you protect, she’s the only one who can lead me to TWI. You see, my mother is with her. After my friends and I tried to stand up to TWI’s change, my mother was sent after us, putting the rest of my friends in a hospital in your world. I’m the only one able enough to track them down. I have to bring my mother to justice and stop TWI.”

“See?” Subterra waved a hand. “She wants the same thing.”

“Good grief…” Shiho turned her attention to the water, where Forest Rangers was still struggling to maintain its form to break out of the box. It seemed it was only able to take apart organic matter quickly. “Curtain Call, get it off.”

Her Stand complied and lifted the glass container from Ocellus’ Stand. It tossed it on the trash-riddled shore before turning it into a similar-sized rock.

“You… uh, sorry. For attacking you.” Subterra put a hand out to help her up the rest of the way.

“It would be better if you found out who you were attacking before you attack,” Shiho said. “That way, I might not have almost accidentally killed you.”

Ocellus managed a smile. “Please, you wouldn’t be able to if you tried…”

Shiho smiled at the corner of her lips. “We’ll see. Anyway, you’ve destroyed my boat with your Stand.”

“Yeah…” Ocellus grunted. “Sorry about that. I have a little dingy at the other end of the island. That’s how I got here.”

Shiho shook her head as she pulled out her lightphone. “No need. I’ll call in a favor. I’d feel safer in a state-of-the-art boat.”

Subterra watched as she dialed in something as a face appeared on her phone’s projected screen. It was nice to know that these two women were after the same thing, but as her thoughts drifted to TWI, a dark feeling passed over her and she gripped her chest. She still didn’t remember anything before getting here, but it definitely wasn’t anything good. And now she was trying to lead them back to TWI, wherever she was.

Subterra swallowed hard. She just hoped she was doing the right thing here.

Comments

[ArcticAce01]

Now that’s a surprise, so Ocellus is from Equestria and not the human one. And the other young six and even Chryslias is here to?

You’re full of surprises, my friend. Can’t wait to see how things will unfold

[nightshroud96]

Will the rest of the Young Six(or at least Smolder) show up too?

[Golden_Reflection]

Interesting developments are coming into play.

And a light nodding to "Celli and Lulu's" pointing to the fact that they were here before, while not making too much work for each of us to add extra stuff in (a light easter egg which doesn't add too much stuff we'll need to consider during writing, just that Celestia will write some notes on the world after the whole situation)