Georgia Geovana, Frida Dynamo, Dalia Harrison, and Harry Warhol stood in a rocky clearing, on an island in a pocket dimension. The island was covered in twisted electrical pylons, and beyond the shores was ocean as far as the eye could see. The beheaded corpse of Edvard Crowley lay at their feet. A vortex of earth, wind, fire, and water swirled above them - the witch Michaela Newton contained within.
Harry held his arms out. Rapture appeared on his shoulders, aiming their tiny mouths towards the cocoon. Yellow Submarine emerged from the ground, carrying golden throwing knives from the nearby treasure pile. Yellow Submarine tossed a pair of knives to Frida, who deftly caught them. Miss Robot stretched a handful of wires out of Frida’s arm, loading the knives into them like a crossbow.
There was a quiet hiss, like air escaping from a pressurized canister. The vortex of swirling elements vanished. Michaela Newton gently descended to the ground. Behind her was a stand with plush green skin, and a feminine figure. The stand’s hair was in a reddish-brown ponytail, and it wore cyan goggles that attached to its head in metal struts. Gone were Xanadu’s frilly skirt, top, and gloves - leaving in their place a pair of yellow rubber gauntlets and a flowing off-white lab coat. A pair of corked glass test tubes adorned the stand’s back, with red liquid sloshing through them. The stand’s legs were cut off at the thighs, growing out into a pair of lab-grown quartz crystals. Stuck in its collarbone was a small, blueish-grey USB flash drive.
“Open fire!!!” shouted Harry.
Rapture shot a barrage of metal shards, as Frida launched the throwing knives from her arm. Michaela’s stand lifted an arm up to its chest. A thick cyan textbook appeared in the figure’s hand. The flurry of projectiles bounced off the hard cover, and clattered to the dirt. The book’s cover displayed a green drawing of an atom, alongside a single word in bold, black lettering - PHYSICAL.
“Xanadu Remix: Physical,” said Michaela, as the stand flipped its book open. “This textbook actually has some helpful information, if you know where to look. For instance - do you know what happens when one tectonic plate slides over another? The plates squeeze together, causing rock to melt into magma. Magma is less dense than rock, so it rises to the surface… creating an eruption that’s totally hot!”
Xanadu Remix: Physical thrust a pair of outstretched fingers towards the ground, and tapped the rocky floor. Michaela jumped backwards as a protrusion grew from the point of contact. A volcano appeared in the middle of the clearing, about half Michaela’s height. Rivers of lava flowed across the island, separating each stand user from each other.
A door appeared in the distance - round, and seemingly made of brick. Michaela spun around and ran towards the exit. Suddenly, an attack smashed into Michaela’s tailbone. Michaela fell over, her remixed stand stopping her inches away from landing in the lava flow.
Michaela’s head swiveled back. Shattered Dreams’s right hand was floating in the air, the arm behind it drooping downward. Georgia’s stand was leaning close to the lava. Its right arm was stretched out, and glowing red hot. Georgia stared back at Michaela, a look of fury in her eyes.
“Well now,” chuckled Michaela. “I had hoped to save Giovanna’s brat for last… but, if you insist. Little girl, you can be the first recipient of my perfect evolution!!!”
Xanadu Remix: Physical shot a pair of fingers towards Shattered Dreams’s dangling hand, and gave a light tap. A wave of green energy shot through Georgia’s veins. Shattered Dreams vanished. Georgia clutched her stomach in agony, and began dry-heaving.
Michaela stood up, and brushed the dust from her leather outfit. A golden boot slammed into her cheekbone. Michaela rubbed her face as Rapture’s cells scattered at her feet. She looked up. Frida, Dalia, and Harry swung in on a black cable - hanging from a nearby electrical pylon.
“The plan is that if you all approach from the same location, I won’t have a way to counter all three stands?” chuckled Michaela. “Tell me, treasure hunters. Do you know what happens when a large amount of mass compresses itself into a single point? It’s an astronomical anomaly that’s beyond gravity… and a darkness that comes after dark itself!”
Physical shot its hand up towards the trio, and summoned a black dot on its palm. Light distorted around the black spot as Xanadu Remix quickly retracted its hand. The faces of Frida, Dalia, and Harry all slowly twisted open in shock, as they fell towards the floating black hole.
Michaela walked up to the trio. Miss Robot appeared, and threw a punch towards Michaela - however, the stand seemed to be moving in slow motion, and completely missed its target. Xanadu Remix: Physical tapped each of its opponents on the neck, sending green energy through their bodies.
“As you approach the event horizon of a black hole, your flow of time slows to infinity,” explained Michaela. “This simple property gave me ample time to bestow my soul kiss~!”
A loud crunching sound filled the air. Michaela peered over her shoulder. Georgia Geovana lay on the ground, writhing in pain. Chunks of rock and lava were fused into her limbs, and a twisted shard of an electrical pylon grew out of her tattered star-shaped birthmark. Clumps of Georgia’s hair began to turn a bright blue. Georgia opened her mouth, spraying out blood as she sputtered in agony.
“You certainly like to sneak up on people, don't you, Geovana?” said Michaela. “Well, I’m afraid you’re in for a rude awakening as my perfect evolution runs its course. But, I don’t believe I’ll be sticking around for your completed upgrade. There’s still seven billion people left to evolve! You understand, don’t you?”
Michaela skipped over a thin river of lava, and through the nearby circular door. The door vanished as Georgia lay bleeding on the floor.
Harry, Dalia, and Frida fell towards the miniature black hole. Their hands slipped away from the wire, as they felt an incredible gravity pull them forward. Dalia glanced to the side, witnessing Michaela’s hyper-speed escape.
“S-something’s wrong with time!” sputtered Dalia. “Not only is Michaela sped up, but so are all the other sounds on the island!”
“It’s a black hole!” yelled Frida. “If we keep falling, our time will slow down infinitely! We need some way to move horizontally to get back to the ground! But… nothing can escape a black hole’s gravity!”
“Well, I bet most black holes aren’t in the middle of the ocean,” said Harry. “Rapture!”
Rapture appeared behind Harry, spitting out metal to form six long poles. Harry passed half of the poles to Frida, and stuck the other three into his jacket. Frida attached the poles under her lab coat, creating a small hang glider. Dalia grabbed onto Frida’s leg as the three rode a gust of sea breeze back down to the rocky ground.
Dalia dusted herself off, and scanned her surroundings. A few meters away was Georgia - with rocks, lava, and shards of metal still stuck in her body.
“Georgia!!!” shouted Dalia. The trio ran over to Georgia’s side. “Wh-what happened?! Are you ok?!”
“I’m… not sure!” sputtered Georgia. “One second I was using light refraction to sneak up on Michaela, and the next thing I knew these… things appeared in my body! I… I think Michaela’s soul kiss has something to do with this! She’s evolving us to have ‘perfect’ souls like her - and since stands are a representation of the soul, our abilities will become corrupted!”
“Just… just hold still, Geo!” yelled Frida. “I can get those things out of you, and fix you right up…!”
“D-don’t bother!” stuttered Georgia. “This is apparently my own stand’s ability, so I should just be able to undo what I did to get here! Just… follow Michaela! Stop her before she infects anyone else!”
Harry, Dalia, and Frida looked toward each other. They nodded at Georgia, then turned to run away over the streams of lava. A door with a cloth texture appeared, and the trio hurried through.
A cool breeze slapped against the faces of Frida, Dalia, and Harry. They were back in Geneva, standing in the middle of the Mont Blanc bridge. Flags lining the bridge whipped in the wind. A fountain could be seen in the distance, a jet of water blasting 140 meters into the air. The cloth-textured door vanished. Traffic across the bridge had halted - cars were pulled over onto the sidewalks, and abandoned. The streets were covered in pedestrians - doubled over in pain, their hair turning blue.
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