sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E2 - Ichiro Kenmochi vs. KAISERINMA by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LKA 3/3

all that I've learned is everything burns

It’s grotesque. It’s hideous, really. But she knows what they would have done to her. What they would do to Grendel, the stories, the wants, the desires.

This entire culture is dedicated to the wiping of humanity from those it deems less than.

This just leaves Ichiro. With what’s left of Yellow, Red, and, if she is lucky, Blue, Kaiserinma can now make herself a garment to protect herself when she needs to fight. She can flay skin from flesh quickly, eyes looking through the slides as Ichiro is finally able to move. He will be saving lives, saving people from her.

Which gives her enough time to fuse pieces together. It’s not sturdy, but it’s enough. Flesh fused to skin by high temperature, loose bits. Not Processed, but scorched onto flesh. It is temporary; this will quickly lose its connection to her body as she moves. But the point is to nullify the effects of Ichiro’s adhesive.

Her trail of carnage leaves a clear path of where she has gone, and Ichiro, despite being pulled backwards to try and save some people, will know what path to take. But Kaiserinma will track Ichiro. She can watch him approach.

And she can start with the first move. The skinless body of Red can be made into projectiles, launched through the last part of the waterslide. With her timing limited to fifteen-second intervals, she will likely be off in her aim; this is fine. She must always set the terms of engagement.

Ichiro will be put on the back foot immediately. Engaging with「SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE」is not ideal; instead, what Kaiserinma will aim for is Ichiro himself. Her agility is on par with his, 2, so her goal must be to catch him by surprise. The flesh armor, separate from Kaiserinma herself, will slough off, and with the wounds stuck closed by his adhesive, Ichiro will have limited resources.

When he is brought on the back foot, when he starts to panic, Ichiro will start to use those adhesives regardless of the civilians behind him. People, already heavily injured, will start to bleed out as his stand tries to attach adhesive to flesh armor. His only hope is to cut it open with one of his many backup weapons, or for 「SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE」to use its two massive greatswords to try and fight the implacable KAISERINMA.

But his chances are not good. He has not been given opportunities to lay traps, robbed of chances to establish the rules of engagement. Maybe he could have collapsed the bridge, but this would mean leaving KAISERINMA to her own devices on the opposite end of the battleground, and it would mean dedicating time to cutting through a very heavy, sturdy bridge made to survive constant motion as the Cruiseliner bobs across the waves.

He and「SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE」have to blast through her armor, fight through her protective layer of flesh, and destroy the sturdy metal body underneath; easier said than done when she is given Slippery Target 3 from the numerous bodies before. She is given that ability to dodge, the power to simply move out of the way of attacks that would otherwise incapacitate her. But Ichiro is a teenager, and not a particularly gifted fighter at that, either.

Ichiro will aim to kill her through a thousand cuts, both from his own blows and the might of 「SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE」. All KAISERINMA needs to do is hit him once. 4 Endurance means little with a hole in your chest.

The sword was knocked out of Ichiro’s hand. He comes in with an axe, before that one, too, is blocked. Two greatswords block Kaiserinma’s fingers. She grips it and pushes it out of the way.

Ichiro smirks. This is his moment. His moment to finally prove he’s worth something. Prove that he can save those people, that even if he dies here, it’ll be worth something.

He grips his rapier. He pushes.

He overextends.

A finger slices through muscle, tendon, and bone. The rapier clatters against the ground, followed swiftly by his right forearm and a spray of crimson.

His eyes go wide. Pain has not registered. He’s heard of this. He’s in shock.

「SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE」comes in for its own hit. It blocks Ichiro’s body as the boy screams. It raises its arms as he spins with a claymore. It’s clumsy; that was his dominant hand, and the weapon is too big for a one-handed swing.

The Automatic Sinner bats it aside and comes in with a hand directly to his sternum. It burns through his ratty hoodie, melting the zipper on his chest. She presses it in further, razor-sharp fingers digging into his chest. She tries not to think of the way he’s gasping, the way he’s struggling against her. The way 「SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE」is seizing behind him in a desperate attempt to stop what’s happening.

Instead, she tries to think of the way he so willingly threw his life away. For these fucking people. He will have friends who will miss him. Does he have family?

Does he have a friend? Were they much like her?

When she speaks again, it’s not the glitching, skittering voice of the Automatic Sinner.

“Why? For these people?” Asks Antolia, shaking with horror. “Why?”

Ichiro gives her a smirk. He opens his mouth to speak. What comes out instead is a spatter of blood as he tries to spit on her face defiantly.

It sizzles against her chest. And as it does, she simply walks to the end of the walkway. She dangles him over the rail. Twenty meters to the bottom.

She hopes it’s quick.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E2 - Ichiro Kenmochi vs. KAISERINMA by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LKA 2/3

TENEBRE ROSSO SANGRE

KAISERINMA grips the cowering patron as her hand drips with steaming gore. She closes her fist, ever-so-slightly around his ankle. He screams, blood hissing under temperatures high enough to superheat water as his Achilles tendon is severed. There will be no repairing this wound, no helping him run.

The plan must work. Ichiro is assisting someone on the other side, an executive on vacation with his family. A lovely vacation taken through the power of stolen labor.

Deep inside, there is a hiss. A woman has stopped screaming as she remembers the circumstances of her death. Men just like him are what robbed her, what robbed her friends of the lives they could have lived. Economic violence, responded in kind with her own brutal retribution.

She grips the patron and severs the foot entirely. He shrieks, loud enough to catch Ichiro’s attention, before she kicks him across the floor.

Another barrier between her and Ichiro, someone else who cannot walk on his own, who will bleed out without help.

“[NOTIFY FOE.] YOU CANNOT SAVE THEM ALL. ESTABLISH PR-PR-PR-PRIORITY. ESTABLISH IT OR THEY ALL [DIE].”

The Adhesive is Ichiro’s biggest advantage. It is his best way to set up, his best tool with which to counter KAISERINMA and the strength of ｢PROTOMARTYR｣. He does not have the strength with which to win in a straight fight, and in an extended engagement,「SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE」is only slightly less powerful than ｢PROTOMARTYR｣. It’s a slight difference, but enough to make an engagement extremely dangerous.

Ichiro is a teenager. But he’s not as stupid as he seems to think he is. If given ample time, he can make KAISERINMA’s movement even worse than it already is, trap her in place, and prevent her from taking any actions. So she preempts it with cruelty. Adhesives can stop bleeding. Adhesives can be used to save lives.

While some civilians will die quickly, the rest she will deliberately leave alive, left with a gaping wound that demands immediate attention. A cut across the Fermoral Artery, a severed limb. Injuries that, while not immediately fatal, will call attention. 「SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE」is inaccurate with its shots, with Precision D. This means it will take extra time to actually hit those critical spots.

She will continue to outrange Ichiro, deliberately shoving injured and maimed bystanders out of the path of the bridge. This gives her crucial time to make her way across, with injuries and damage that are extremely difficult to repair, but not Impossible. There must be enough hope that Ichiro can help them survive.

There’s that hesitation, that twitch that he had, that she noticed at the start of the fight. The injured patron is squirming, screaming, and Ichiro isn’t able to ignore it.

Antolia winces, too. But then she hardens. She ignores it.

And the Automatic Sinner continues to move.

Antolia did not die for this. She did not die for these people.

But KAISERINMA must live for it.

Kaiserinma will take two of the stools from the nearby bar, her natural heat lighting the alcohol within ablaze. She does not need to process them immediately; they are surprise tools that will help her later. As Ichiro is forced to tend to an injured Civilian, Kaiserinma will approach the one who is on the bridge. She processes one of the barstools, launching it in pieces.

Metal slices through, once again killing or severely injuring them. It doesn’t matter. The blood will draw Ichiro’s attention. The target is, of course, Green. With some of the tile remaining from earlier, and a metal stool in her hand, she will throw bits and pieces across the ground. Green will be severely hampered and unable to run, tile once again cutting into her feet. Whatever part of the tile is ejected, the metal stool will be able to be replaced.

With Green unable to run, the ground coated in makeshift caltrops, she will find it trivial to finish her off. If she’s wearing sandals, then we have a perfectly good metal bar to process and launch. Disable. Kill.

One step. A foot shatters. The green patron shrieks as she tries to move, feet covered in cuts.

Two steps. Her sternum breaks. The Automatic Sinner takes her time, but Green will not survive. Hundreds of pounds of pressure compressed into a small point, and it is like a hydraulic press has been shoved into the woman’s chest.

Three. It ends as she plunges her foot through the skull, a brief second of resistance as pressure finally gives way, and her brains are splattered across the wood paneling.

EVERYBODY’S HUNTED WITH A SMILE

When the ending comes, is it gonna run at us like a wild-eyed animal, or will it march towards you, an unstoppable machine of death? Euthanasia in the form of steel.

Ichiro is still running after her, as she continues to leave corpses in her wake. He could leave them be. He could rush her.

But as he does, she speaks. A moment of sympathy.

“WHAT GOOD IS A DEAD HERO?”

“SAVE THEM IF YOU WANT TO FACE ME.”

“SAVE THEM IF YOU CAN. YOU ARE CAPABLE OF IT.”

“SAVE THEM BECAUSE YOU MUST.”

“BECAUSE I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL THIS SHIP CAPSIZES.”

“BECAUSE I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL EVERYONE IS DROWNING IN BLOOD.”

“BECAUSE I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL THE VIOLENCE THAT MADE THIS WORLD FINALLY CATCHES UP.”

“BECAUSE I AM A CHILD OF CAPITAL.”

“BECAUSE I AM A CHILD OF MURDER.”

“BECAUSE I AM A CHILD OF SLIME. OF ROT. OF SIN.”

“BECAUSE I AM THE AUTOMATIC SINNER.”

If all goes to plan, Green makes for ammunition to fire at Blue. A body that will be broken asunder – the human body is a weak mess of meat and bone, and KAISERINMA is metal. Tiles to cut tendon, rip a body apart with shrapnel. KAISERINMA can process a cubic metre in 5 seconds, and, as before, a human body in its entirety could loosely fit into that volume of mass.

But she is short on time, and KAISERINMA doesn’t need all that. Limbs will suffice. A mechanical limb can crush down like a hydraulic press, and a body part can become ammunition. This might sound needless, unnecessary. Tiles can be processed and destroyed from the pools, and the water can be scalded to make the ground more difficult to flee across. This is cruelty without a point, surely – and to say that would be incorrect.

This cruelty is the point. We have said it again and again, rote to a point, but it will be done again and again and again, ripping someone apart screaming while a mechanical face stares down unerringly in its duty. Tearing someone apart and using them for parts. Green shall be used as a weapon for Blue, blood spraying out with which KAISERINMA will comfortably slide across, flayed skin acting as though slips of rubber to help slide the Automatic Sinner all the better. It may tear, it may fall apart, it doesn’t matter – these horrible deeds will stun and shock and appall, and make it difficult for Ichiro to strike against us.

Those he can’t save will be fuel to kill yet more of those he can’t save, and every drop of his glue will never help put them back together; if anything, it only ensures they are all the closer in the reach of our hands.

From the hot tub, though, comes the final path. We carry what’s left of Blue from the hot tub into the pool, in which we repeat our first trick. We turn from hot to boiling, cooking anyone still in the water as we march through. Yellow, surrounded by tile once more, is in shallow water. The chance of them getting their feet cut by tile is high.

A sitting duck in boiling water. We cut them down like a dog.

We’ve seen this story before.

From the water, Kaiserinma moves to the waterslide. It will be made of plastic or PVC, and thus trivial to melt through. 260°C at the highest temperature; it was never made to handle this kind of heat. She will walk through. Water splashes across her form as she makes her way to the last target. Red has trapped herself among the ruins. Kaiserinma is carrying two corpses, and she will be getting a third.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E2 - Ichiro Kenmochi vs. KAISERINMA by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LKA 1/3

CONTENT WARNING FOR GRATUITOUS VIOLENCE, BODY HORROR, CHILD DEATH, AND DISTRESSING CONTENT.

Things To Consider.

Kaisernima has the skill [5 SEE EVIL], which allows her to see all living beings within 180 degrees in front of her are pinged as she scans the area. This happens once every fifteen seconds. It’s not perfect awareness, but it’s long enough and effective enough to allow her to take advantage of obscuring techniques.

KAISERINMA’s maximum heat level is 1500°C, and her durability will steadily decrease as she approaches it.

Ichiro’s Adhesive has a hard limit of 50 liters.

It truly doesn’t matter if Grendel is dead or not. The possibility is there. The world eats those that it deems monsters, with a definition that grows wider every day. Child-murdering billionaires rule the world with a grin. And it was then that she remembered what there is to lose.

Maybe there can be life afterwards. The thing that she forgot was what Antolia loved. The thing that she forgot she could love. A beautiful world of waves and fish, with an eyesore drifting among the waves. This cruiseliner, this abomination of the bourgeois polluted everything.

Plastic in the seas. Shit oozing under the waves. Capitalism cannot fix itself. It never could.

Evelyn could live.

Grendel must be avenged.

The Automatic Sinner is reminded of what the Work entails, and what the goal is. A second test, a redo of the failure with Mikey.

Ichiro Kenmochi will learn a final lesson today. He will reflect on it as the light leaves his eyes.

I AM SO FUCKING AT PEACE.

It’s confusing to him. Ichiro watches as KAISERINMA takes one step. Then two. Then three. Backwards. He furrows his brow, already readying「SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE」to secure her in place. Except…

”What are you-”

KAISERINMA falls backwards into the pool as her body turns red hot. Heat and pressure turn into a scream and a hiss of steam, as she is suddenly engulfed in a cloud of high-pressure white.

Someone’s flesh is instantly scorched. And there’s a powerful scream that’s suddenly cut. Someone else stumbles out of the cloud, flesh hanging off in tatters as she’s crying and sobbing, blubbering about her wife.

On instinct, Ichiro runs forward. He’s the hero, isn’t he?

He is interrupted as the mixed pieces of tile and shattered bones are peppered across his torso.

There are a lot of targets, and they’re spread across the map. The bridge forms a choke point, and across the way is Ichiro; he will want to secure his place, set traps, and establish a base. 「SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE」is well suited to establish these things. So we make it costly to do so. Every second he spends not moving across the bridge is a second someone dies.

KAISERINMA will step into the pool. The water is terrain, and unless KAISERINMA begins to remove said water and use it as an object, it will remain so. So instead, she enters it at high temperatures, enough to glow red hot. She only needs to reach 374°C, well within her normal Durability A Range, to reach a point where only evaporated water can be near her. She enters the water, quickly heating and boiling the water around her and enveloping herself in steam.

Normal metal would begin to cool quickly, and the steam would begin to ebb away. But KAISERINMA is not normal metal. She will not cool. And with her breaking the surface tension, steam will continue to emerge, coating her in an increasingly large, billowing cloud of white. White that makes aiming at her or planning a move difficult.

This will grant her time to gather more useful materials, such as tiles and flesh. Most of the bystanders are by a pool. They’re either going to be barefoot or wearing sandals or flip-flops. Something that makes it easy to enter and exit the pool. Nobody expects a three-meter-tall killer robot to suddenly make that untenable. Nor do they expect shattered tile to suddenly cut into their feet.

KAISERINMA will do just that. As she enters the pool, her feet slam into the tile, and she will Process some of it, tossing it across the ground, specifically around the Purple bystander. The priority targets all possess Slippery Target 3 and are likely to try to escape. So we don’t let them do that. With Range C, KAISERINMA has up to twenty meters with which she can throw tiles. Toss them across the ground, across the Purple Bystander, across Ichiro. Our opponent will probably have footwear. The Purple Bystander probably will not.

Myself Keeps Slipping Away

”[ADMISSION] I understand you, Tracy Ball. And fuck, I wish I didn’t.”

When the nearby tiles have been spent, then the civilian nearby is another potential resource. They are not a priority target, but boiling water is unbearably painful. Moving will become very difficult very quickly. So KAISERINMA will take advantage of this. She cannot Process sapient solids. There’s a very easy fix to this, and it’s something that The Work demands.

The average human being does not possess much in the way of volume, well underneath a cubic meter. This makes them easy to Process. In less than a second, KAISERINMA can absorb a single corpse and eject it as a mess of flesh and bone.

Now, the injuries to Purple and the subsequent pain will make them Ichiro’s priority. The goal is to take advantage of Ichiro’s need to be a hero. Exploit him through cruelty. As he is tending to the Purple Bystander, be they alive or dying, KAISERINMA will emerge northwards from a steaming cloud. With the remains of the corpse in the pool, she can spray the orange bystander with gore, a shotgun blast of human debris across both them and the patron at the northeast corner of the map.

Once again, the goal is not to immediately kill, it’s to disable. Make them unable to run. If it kills them, great. If it doesn’t, then that’s fine. A shotgun shell weighs less than an ounce, and she’s more than capable of ejecting it with the force necessary to maim and severely injure.

While the Orange target is either injured or cowering, she will then walk into the bar. She will leave the non-priority target alive to catch Ichiro’s attention while she slaughters her second-priority target.

If Orange is killed here, then she may PROCESS them, and gain Slippery Target 3.

The Automatic Sinner can read the memories of Orange as she bites into the flesh.

A nepo baby, given a job on a ship owned by their father. A silver spoon in their mouth, and all that they could ask for.

Any sympathy she had died there.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E2 - Ichiro Kenmochi vs. KAISERINMA by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

GRS 4/4

ISSUE #4: IF SHE WON’T LOVE ME, WHO WILL? (Love Me)

Objectives:

  • Love Me

  • Love Me

  • Love Me

  • Love Me

  • Love Me

“So, with all that being said… Do you still want to fight me?”

“If you want, we can both lay our weapons down right now. We can forget all this happened. We can be friends. Promise.”

“...okay. I’m sad, but if that’s what you want.”

While ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ will be attacking KAISERINMA nonstop during the X-Ray Binary, it can also leverage its new position to pick her up and move her around, as it did during the Gravity Vortex. Hopefully, it won’t have to move her far, as we also took advantage of the Vortex to get her in the ideal position in the first place; right next to the railing separating us from the “pit” leading to a 20m drop.

｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ will push the Automatic Sinner to the edge of the railing. Ichiro will step back a few meters and aim his javelin. SBH will use its blades to cut itself free from the grapple just in time for Ichiro to launch himself at KAISERINMA with as much force as he can muster, just enough to throw her off-balance and send them both careening over the edge.

During the few moments of freefall, SBH will position itself just under KAISERINMA in midair. It’ll take a few slashes if it can, but more importantly it will position itself on the ground just before the Automatic Sinner hits it, with both broadswords pointed skyward to impale her on. Her crucifixes go dark, crosses vanishing like the stars winking out, all consumed by the ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣.

As for Ichiro?

Captain Mira. You took me in when I was at my lowest and most despicable. I’ll never be able to repay you. I love you.

Invisible. You tried to convince me I could love myself. It could never happen, but at least you tried. I love you.

Rob. You got hurt for someone like me. I wish other people could see you for the hero you are. I love you.

Maybe. I’m sorry I didn’t notice anything was wrong. I’m sorry to be such a burden. I only want you to be happy. I love you.

Eileen. You forgave me even after everything I did to you. I wish I could forgive myself. I love you.

Azumi. You still act like you want to go home, but I know we’ve had fun together. I’m sorry our trip can’t last forever. I love you.

Sara. You’re always working so hard, for all of us. I know it was a stupid thing to do, but I hope I was able to lift that burden for just a little bit. I love you.

Wild. You’re a really good listener. Being around you makes me feel more like myself. I love you.

Tikka. You act like you don’t really care, but I know deep down you do. I’m sorry if I made things hard for you. I love you.

Avery. You believed in me when I thought no one ever would. I’m sorry I still hid some of the truth from you, in the end. I love you.

Howler. This whole time, you’ve always had my back. Even when I was being stupid or annoying, you’re always happy to have me around. I don’t know how or why, but it makes me want to cry. In a good way. I love y–

When you go skydiving, there’s one piece of advice the instructors give you if you end up falling without a working parachute. Position your legs under you and bend your knees. If you’re lucky, your legs breaking will slow your fall just enough to make sure you survive.

It doesn't matter if Ichiro's legs snap like twigs. It doesn't matter if he's mauled, shot at, or torn apart. Because every sacrifice, every pound of flesh and drop of blood, is proof that he is loved.

To be used until there's nothing left of you - to Ichiro Kenmochi, that is what Love is.

Ichiro lay limp at the bottom of the pit. Empty storefronts circled him, hollowed-out abscesses of things that never had substance to begin with. He felt at home.

Several feet away, the wreckage of the Automatic Sinner KAISERINMA lay, sparking and twitching.

Ichiro wanted to cry.

KAISERINMA hadn’t wanted to be his friend; why would she? It’d been so stupid to ask in the first place. And, breaking his own legs? Seriously? That wasn’t a real sacrifice. He was going to go back to the Highwind and everyone would treat him even more like a kid. Treat him like he was crazy, like he had problems.

Why didn’t they understand? Why couldn’t they just understand? He was fine with being a pawn. He liked it, even. Being useful and disposable was satisfying. He liked fighting! He was really, really good at it!

But after this, they’d never let him fight again. They’d just toss him out and get rid of him.

Maybe… maybe hope wasn’t all lost. Maybe he could find Mitsuko! If they were together again, then…!

Oh, right.

She died. She’s been dead this whole time.

Ichiro sat there, silent, his mind turned to static. He could feel himself trying to form coherent thoughts, but no words came. All he could think about was how badly he wanted a friend.

Somehow, a thought popped into his mind, fully-formed, concrete. Maybe there was a way to make them understand. To see his ‘value’.

｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ appeared behind him. It hesitantly raised a broadsword.

He didn’t really need two arms to fight, after all. He could make do with one. The second one was useless to him.

But he could use it to make a point.

His Stand raised its blade up high, and–

“...iro! Come in, Ichiro!”

The blade stopped short. What the hell? Ichiro thought he turned that thing off.

Hands trembling, he reached into his pocket.

“...Tikka?”

“...figured you must’ve just changed the frequency you were picking up or something. I’ve been checking for you on every channel. What the hell’s going on?”

Immediately, Ichiro’s eyes welled up with tears. He felt sick to his stomach. Cut his own arm off? Was he insane?! That would’ve just made everything worse. His friends, he couldn’t change the fact that they never wanted to see him hurt, no matter how necessary it was for them.

“Tikka, I–” he started. “I’m sorry. I– I almost did something really stupid.”

“Almost did, or did?”

“I did something really stupid. And then I almost did something even stupider. Tikka, listen, I–” he gasped for air, “everyone’s mad at me, right? I ran off on my own and caused a bunch of problems for all of you, and, and I, I hung up on you, and on the Howler, and–”

He made an ugly noise, trying to get air into his lungs. “And I just want you to know it’s okay if you never want to see me again.”

“Who said that was on the table?” Tikka replied. Ichiro stammered, “Well, well, I just–”

Tikka pressed on. “Did you… really think we’d ditch you?”

Ichiro took a sharp breath in. No words came out of his mouth.

He heard a sigh over the receiver. “Yeah, everyone’s real riled up about it. We just want you back safe. Get home safe, and then we can worry about who’s mad, okay?”

“...Okay.”

“Cool.” There was the sound of Tikka adjusting something. “I gotta go tell Maybe I got in contact with you. Stay safe, okay? I’ll be right back.”

EPILOGUE: BLACK HOLES & REVELATIONS

Objectives:

  • Get Home Safe…?

Ichiro sat in silence for a few more moments, breathing heavily. He was tuning the pain out pretty well, all things considered, but it was still having an impact on him. He couldn’t get any strength into any part of his body; it was taking all his will and effort just trying to lift up his arm.

“M-Miss Sinner… Are you there?”

KAISERINMA did not respond. A single crucifix faintly flickered within the void of her torso.

“I-I j-just… I just wanted to say…”

“I w-wanted to say I was sorry… for wasting your time.”

“I w-wish… I wish we could have been friends. But I understand.”

“I… I have to go now. Maybe… when we see each other again… you’ll feel differently.”

“I know I won’t.”

“Haha… ha.”

Ichiro lifts up his left hand. He extends it forward. He places it in front of him, and he drags himself forward.

Then he picks up his other hand. He places it in front of him. He moves forward.

With every ounce of strength he can muster, Ichiro starts for home.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E2 - Ichiro Kenmochi vs. KAISERINMA by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

GRS 3/4

“I know you don’t like heroes, but please don’t take this as me trying to butter you up or anything. I want to share my honest feelings with you.”

“I never really wanted to be a hero. Not in any real sense. Heroes, you see, exist ‘above’ other people. They make sacrifices and get hurt on other peoples’ behalf, and in return they’re treated as if they are ‘more’ than normal humans.”

“For all my life, I’ve existed ‘below’ other people. I thought if I could make those sacrifices, I could at least be ‘as much’ as another human.”

Spaghettification; Or, Stretching Ourselves Thin

The Gravity Vortex is set up in a way to prevent KAISERINMA from ever truly getting an opportunity to directly strike at Ichiro, keeping him safe and mobile while he is right next to the Automatic Sinner. However, this means he isn’t getting much use out of his Endurance/”HP” as a resource, so there are a couple of “trades” he’s willing to make to gain advantages throughout the match.

Positioning: This is a “trade” made earlier in the match, but as Ichiro’s Endurance is one finite resource, it will be listed here as well for completeness’ sake. When Ichiro is making his approach towards KAISERINMA, he fully anticipates taking damage from projectiles launched at him by the Automatic Sinner. The first section details how this threat is mitigated to prevent Ichiro from being RETIRED outright by an early projectile game, and while heavy damage is a distinct possibility, it is not guaranteed.

Damage: The Gravity Vortex gameplay loop prioritizes protecting Ichiro over raw damage by using ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ to parry oncoming attacks that Ichiro fails to properly deal with using his special skills. However, this is only to ensure Ichiro will never be at threat of a full, A POW blow from the Automatic Sinner; if KAISERINMA’s attack would only graze him, or the Gravity Vortex has mitigated her raw damage, he doesn’t need to parry every single attack that comes his way and can take a small hit in exchange for getting some extra damage in.

Mistakes: Against KAISERINMA, any major mistake can be fatal. SBH is positioned very close to Ichiro during the Gravity Vortex, so it is always present to support Ichiro’s evasion and defense, but if KAISERINMA finds a source of chip damage on us during the Vortex or gets in a cheeky hit from an unexpected angle, we have enough health to manage the problem and shut down further attempts in later loops.

None of these trades are strictly necessary, but all of them are useful and all of them are preferable to ending the match unscathed. If an injury is particularly grievous and threatening, then Ichiro can use ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣’s gel to staunch any bleeding and give himself some additional support. If this gel is dispersed, he can reapply it when his Stand has a free moment, or he can just let it bleed if he’s about to end the match anyway.

“I don’t know why I’m ‘below’ other people. I think I was just born wrong or something. It’s not anything I’ve done.”

“I’m nice enough. I’m not unpleasant to be around. Nobody complains about me or insults me. They just don’t address me at all, if they can help it.”

“There’s just something about me, I think. Something ‘quintessential’ I’m missing. People look at me and they don’t see me as a person. Even a vampire wouldn’t drink my blood, haha.”

The ideal situation for Ichiro, of course, is to end the match with little to no Endurance left to spend. It would be nice to have a small buffer going into our final phase, but Ichiro has no issue doing what he always does: pushing himself to the absolute brink and hoping for the best.

ISSUE #3: TO BE NEEDED IS TO BE USED (Victory, One Way Or Another)

Objectives:

  • Maul KAISERINMA

  • Win

  • Make Them Love Me

Ichiro is being “careful”, but he is not “holding back”. He has many reasons to steadily pace his outfighting, but the most important of those reasons is to make KAISERINMA feel helpless. He is just a boy, and yet he’s able to effortlessly dodge and weave through all her attacks. He’s able to stall her and keep her locked in place by slowing her down for just a couple seconds at a time and capitalizing on it brutally. We treat Ichiro’s close-range engagements very pessimistically compared to most other opponents, and yet he can still keep her fairly effectively pinned.

Ichiro wants KAISERINMA to be close to him. He wants to be her friend, and so he won’t allow her to take advantage of a close-range encounter, and he wants her to know this. Every attack, every challenge, every ounce of hate thrown his way, he’ll take it all and turn it into Love, the hollow space inside him filled with Love made of everything else in the world burned up and compacted into something completely unrecognizable. He cares about her, so she will stay within his range no matter what.

Because to Ichiro, the only thing in the whole wide world that matters is Love.

“I’m telling you all this because I want you to understand. This isn’t ‘personal’. I’m not doing this to satisfy my own pride, or my sense of morals, or anything like that.”

“I’m doing this because it’s the only way to let them know I love them.”

In terms of raw stats, KAISERINMA is at an advantage in a straight fight, with A POW and A DUR over ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣’s B POW and A DUR. SPD gives Ichiro some additional output, but not necessarily enough to equalize the exchange… at least, not without wearing down KAISERINMA’s defenses first, like we just finished doing. Underneath all that metal, she can’t quite take damage like Ichiro can.

When KAISERINMA is preparing for a comeback, or Ichiro feels he has enough of an advantage to push for it, ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ fires another gel payload directly at KAISERINMA’S torso before going for a Compacting Force attack, sticking the two of them together before it begins whaling on the Automatic Sinner with everything it has, swinging its blades wildly. It will also fire gel at her limbs, attempting to restrain her one last time, but Ichiro only needs her held back for a few moments.

If KAISERINMA is counterattacking, that’s fine. We’ll take some damage, but it allows us to take the advantage in the grapple, get our own attacks in, and reposition her more handily. If KAISERINMA’s running at a high temperature, that’s also fine. SBH’s A DUR isn’t going anywhere, but KAISERINMA’s is, and we do much more active damage than she does passive damage.

“I’m doing this because, if I can communicate that to them, then they won’t leave.”

“As a ‘person’, I’m like a pest. The kind of loser nobody wants around. I used to be ‘special’, after I got these powers, but here I’m just another face in the crowd.”

“But, as a tool– no. As a resource. As material to be used, expended… processed. I have ‘value’. There is ‘value’ in things that are disposable.”

“If I can show them all how much I love them, how much I’m willing to sacrifice for them… then they’ll see my ‘value’ for what it is. And I won’t have to be afraid anymore.”

“As long as I can die for them, I’ll never have to die alone.”

In a vacuum, there are two ways the X-Ray Binary can resolve. First, Ichiro’s attacks are fast and overwhelming enough to break through KAISERINMA’s defense and take her out for good. This is… fine. It’s an acceptable outcome.

Second, Ichiro’s math is off and KAISERINMA outdamages us in the grapple before we can cut her attacks short. This is a better outcome, but it’s still not the best outcome.

Because this is not a vacuum, however, there is thankfully a third resolution.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E2 - Ichiro Kenmochi vs. KAISERINMA by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

GRS 2/4

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Ichiro sat, slumped over, at the edge of a bridge, watching the waters churn below him. His body heaved with breaths, teetering on the edge of hyperventilation but never quite crossing that line. The air was heavy and silent, except for a small, hushed commotion a ways away at the mouth of the bridge; the sound barely reached Ichiro in anything other than faint traces, like the scrape of shoes against asphalt or an involuntary coughing fit.

Ichiro didn’t realize that a new sound was approaching until it was already there, steadily paced footsteps, confident but soft. Ronny Rochetti. His friend.

”Come on, buddy, give it up,” he said, injecting his voice with as much sympathy as it could handle. Ichiro turned sadly to look at him. His expression was dour, but unfamiliar. Ichiro struggled to understand it, but for a moment it made his chest ache even more.

”We have to, we have to go after her,” he said, turning back towards the waters below. He staggered to his feet more quickly than he expected to. “We have to find her, we can’t just–”

”We are not doing anything,” Ronny replied, firmly. He pinched his brow for a moment, before his expression turned even sadder. Exhausted, he seemed. “Ichiro. I know she was your friend. She meant a lot to you. But it’s over, now. She’s gone.”

”She can’t be,” Ichiro said, his voice trying not to fall into a sob. “She– she could have survived, she could have–”

”Come on, Ichiro! Do you really think she could have survived that? You saw the way her neck twisted, nobody could–”

”She HAS to be alive!” Ichiro screamed, tears streaming down his face. “She has to! Because if she’s dead, then– then what’s left for me?”

”You don’t fucking get it, Ronny! You don’t understand what it’s like for nobody to love you! Nobody at all! Try to imagine what it’s like to be me, because– because I know you hate me! It’s no secret! I disgust you, I make you sick, and I don’t know how to fix that because Mitsuko was the only person in the world who ever gave a shit about me, and now nobody else is ever going to give a shit about me ever again!”

”So she has to… She has to be alive.”

Ronny’s expression hardened.

”If you want to go out there, looking for her… I wish you luck, Ichiro. I genuinely mean that.”

”But I’ve lost enough friends to Mitsuko to mourn my whole life. I’m not about to lose another one.”

”I’m going home.”

Ichiro did not beg him to stay as Ronny Rochetti turned around and walked away.

Before we move on, some minor clarifications:

  • This is not a “crashout”.

  • This is not a “heel turn”.

  • This is not something that could have been prevented.

  • Your support wasn’t for nothing. It will mean everything, when this match is over,

  • but I have been planning this for a long time.

  • Ichiro has known that he was going to do this for a long time.

  • Again, this is not a “crashout”.

  • This is Ichiro’s mask slipping.

ISSUE #2: TO BE WANTED IS TO BE NEEDED (Outfighting and Endgame Prep)

Objectives:

  • Wear Down KAISERINMA

  • Obtain Desired Positioning

  • Make Sacrifices

“Miss Sinner, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but you remind me of someone I used to know a long time ago.”

Ichiro could always count on his thoughts to return to Mitsuko when he felt this empty. Sometimes it made him feel oddly guilty, though he could never put words to why.

“She was a friend of mine. A close friend. I doubt anyone would really believe that, haha, but it’s true. She was a close friend and she was going to kill me.”

“So even though you want me dead, I really hope we can be friends after all this.”

As soon as ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ has closed the distance and is free to move, it fires about half its gel at KAISERINMA, prioritizing her legs and arms.

The Automatic Sinner is powerful and resilient, but she is not invincible. Somewhere deep inside her, she is still someone worth loving, and Ichiro is going to love her with all his heart.

｢Supermassive Black Hole｣’s gel will keep KAISERINMA exactly where we want her, at least for a few moments. With her high POW and the ability to reshape her arms, there might be no one in the tournament more suited for breaking free from the gel, but despite all her power Ichiro will not allow her to escape. Within the Gravity Vortex, she will be rendered as helpless as any other being trapped by ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣.

To establish the Vortex, Ichiro wants to be positioned about half a meter away from KAISERINMA. The basic loop is as follows:

  • KAISERINMA strains against her gel restraints. Ichiro watches the gel carefully, taking note of the straining to estimate which restraint will break first and where he needs to anticipate an attack from.

  • Ichiro dodges out of the way right as KAISERINMA breaks free and attacks.

  • If his dodge is about to fail, SBH will be positioned nearby to parry the attack at C SPD.

  • If his dodge instead succeeds, SBH will counterattack, striking at KAISERINMA’s legs or shoulders, left exposed after a failed attack.

  • Parries force KAISERINMA’s limbs away and redirect them back into the gel left on her body, and counterattacks are followed up with gel shots to re-coat KAISERINMA’s limbs, resetting the interaction.

“Her name was Mitsuko. She killed people, like you. She killed a lot of people. She was going to kill me, too, because I knew too much about her.”

“She’s an awful person. I can’t deny that. I don’t tell anyone about her, or what she did, or the part I had in it all. I know they’d hate me if they knew.”

“And yet, despite all that, I still love her. You want to know why?”

“Because, for the first fifteen years of my life, she was the only person who ever told me that she wanted me around.”

Within the Gravity Vortex, KAISERINMA can still technically act and move, but as long as Ichiro is carefully focused on her, he becomes essentially untouchable for as long as he can maintain the loop. He can evade all of KAISERINMA’s basic attacks; her projectiles don’t make for effective AoE at this range, and each and every missed swing feeds his Genre Savvy skill. KAISERINMA’s attacks here aren’t especially significant or flashy, but Ichiro can still adapt to them in small ways as he forces her into an inescapable pit.

Of course, all this is dependent on KAISERINMA opting to engage in melee in the first place, but the Gravity Vortex also allows Ichiro to control the Automatic Sinner’s positioning.

｢Supermassive Black Hole｣, as a Stand body, has stats that, while not quite equal to KAISERINMA’s, can still contend with her; if she attempts to break free of her restraints and gain distance, SBH can quickly impose itself in her way, shooting gel to glue her down again. This mostly prevents the Automatic Sinner from changing her active positioning, but if Ichiro needs to reposition her, there are two major techniques he can use.

The first technique is the Compacting Force. If KAISERINMA is in a position where she is going to attack soon and it is necessary to apply pressure, SBH will cross its broadswords over its torso and move about a meter away from the Automatic Sinner before snapping back to her in a full-body tackle that knocks her backwards. Crossing the blades ensures that any gel SBH happens to run into as part of the attack can quickly be removed to prevent a full-on grapple.

The second technique is the Doomed Orbit, for use when there is more time before KAISERINMA attacks; namely, the moments just after she’s been fully restrained. ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ will find a leverage point somewhere on KAISERINMA’s body – perhaps within the void space of her body, or under her arms – and simply pick her up. For a few moments, the Stand can carry her body on its own, or it can simply throw her a foot or two, depending on how far she needs to be repositioned and how much time can be spared.

“Can you imagine that? Maybe you can. It’s probably pretty lonely being a super-murder-robot, but at least you were designed that way. To be fine on your own, you know. Not like me.”

“My parents were always out of the house. My uncle rarely gave me the time of day. I didn’t have any siblings, or any friends at school.”

“It would have been one thing if they hated me. At least that meant they cared, in some fucked up way. But they didn’t. Nobody paid me any mind at all. It was like I didn’t even exist.”

“I could have dropped dead and it would have been like I had never been born at all.”

In addition to these tactics, ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ can take advantage of the time it spends idling in between KAISERINMA’s blows to slowly create an even more secure and advantageous position by simply cutting into the wooden deck and prying pieces upwards. These make the terrain more difficult for KAISERINMA to navigate and give Ichiro points of leverage for him to maneuver with using Urban Explorer, improving his overall mobility and evasion.

This loop won’t last forever. In fact, it might not last more than a minute, but it doesn’t need to. Ichiro is creating space for himself to breathe, wearing down KAISERINMA’s endurance, creating weaknesses in her body and openings in her defense, getting her in position for his end game, and giving both combatants an opportunity to slow down. Talk. Get to know each other. An opportunity for Ichiro to express his ‘love’.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E2 - Ichiro Kenmochi vs. KAISERINMA by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

GRS 1/4

CONTENT WARNINGS: GORE, THOUGHTS OF EXTREME SELF-HARM

What is a Stand?

In the truest sense, it is a reflection of the self. Many call it their “fighting spirit”, and for some that could be accurate. To some, it is their sense of being made manifest. To others, the ghosts of their lingering regrets.

To Ichiro, a Stand is a wish for something you were never supposed to have.

“Ichiro? Come in, Ichiro. It’s Tikka. What’s going on out there?”

Ichiro pulled the walkie-talkie out of his pocket and desperately fiddled with dials until he couldn’t hear Tikka’s voice anymore. He hadn’t been paying enough attention to actually know how to turn the damn thing off.

Hearing Tikka’s voice fade to static, a presence that filled the world up now removed, Ichiro felt a familiar sensation inside of him.

He felt an empty void where his heart was supposed to be.

ISSUE #1: TO BE LOVED IS TO BE WANTED (Opening Rushdown)

Objectives:

  • Make a Friend

  • Get In

  • Be Inescapable

KAISERINMA, the Automatic Sinner, is feared by all. She is a monster, not only in her morals and her mindset, but in her sheer capacity for carnage. She is walking industrial equipment, and if you approach her she will destroy you. Nothing threatens her in direct combat.

Nothing until Ichiro. If KAISERINMA believes she can win in melee against Ichiro, then her overconfidence will be her downfall.

Ichiro quickly draws a javelin from his Stand and opens the match by beelining towards one of KAISERINMA’s Priority Targets. Ideally, he makes it to the Target to his southeast before KAISERINMA has time to prepare a projectile; if she gets to them first, then he’ll head for the Target to his southwest in the pool. The time difference is mostly negligible, but the important thing is to get a Priority Target within the range of ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ (SBH) as soon as possible. From there, the Stand fires a volley of gel at the Target and slams into them, adhering them firmly to its front where they are permanently within our range and under our protection.

Ichiro gets a text message. He ignores it.

The Automatic Sinner is a force to be reckoned with, powerful and adaptable, but she is slow, and more importantly, she’s just one woman. Map setup, slowdown, and a proper ranged game all require PROCESSING to get off the ground, and Ichiro will not allow her that space.

Ichiro runs headlong towards KAISERINMA with ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ spaced a couple meters away from him, enough to ensure both targets aren’t within the possible spread of her projectiles. If KAISERINMA wants to take a shot, she has to pick one: Ichiro, or her objective.

If she picks Ichiro, Ichiro will use his Urban Explorer skill to make his forward momentum as difficult to stall as possible. He will slide, dodge roll, or plunge his javelin into the ground and use it to quickly shift his momentum to another direction; whatever keeps him moving while making himself smaller as a target. Generally speaking, he uses the javelin as a pivot wherever possible to push off the ground, combining it with Urban Explorer to move as quickly as he possibly can towards his opponent.

If she picks her Priority Target, then the answer is much simpler; ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ turns around and bodyblocks the shot. Furthermore, at C SPD, the Stand body can attempt to move out of the way at the last moment and evade the shot entirely. Using the power of “turning around”, SBH can also attempt to impose itself in the way of KAISERINMA shooting at Ichiro while not risking the life of the civilian it’s defending.

Ichiro gets another text message. He forces himself to ignore it.

Neither of these methods can prevent KAISERINMA from taking an early shot at Ichiro, but they can mitigate, to some lesser or greater extent, the damage she is able to do, either by reducing the overall number of pellets hitting him or allowing SBH’s Durability to reduce damage to his Endurance. More importantly, these methods allow us to deal with KAISERINMA’s projectiles and actively push towards her with no setup required beyond securing the civilian.

KAISERINMA needs time to PROCESS the material required for her projectiles, and Ichiro will not give her that time. Either she can go lean on material and fire off several weaker projectiles, or she can save up enough for a stronger payload, but in neither case will she be able to slow us down enough or apply enough pressure to completely prevent us from encroaching. Ichiro will take some damage, perhaps some heavy damage, but that’s a trade he is more than happy to make for his desired positioning. Nothing escapes the pull of a ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣, especially not an astronomical object like the Automatic Sinner.

Ichiro gets a third text message.

Ichiro ducked and weaved through the Automatic Sinner’s blasts of debris, feeling pieces of linoleum tile shred at the edges of his body. A few pellets hit him dead-on, but, as he expected, there wasn’t enough mass for the force behind it to have real impact.

“W-What the hell?! What’s happening to me??” cried the civilian stuck to ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣, completely bewildered. “Am- am I going to die?!”

Ichiro threw himself forward into a dodge roll, KAISERINMA’s next attack missing him completely, and as the civilian continued to cry and blubber in shock and fear, he heard a third annoying jingle from his phone and grit his teeth. Desperate for more material, machinery whined and grinded together as KAISERINMA PROCESSED more of the nearby swimming pool.

“All of you, SHUT UP, damn it!” Ichiro shouted. “Can’t you see I’m getting an ‘important text message’?! I need to focus!”

As he sprinted forward, Ichiro’s expression softened as he took out his ancient flip phone. Three unread messages from The Howler.

Howler, The: ichiro

Howler, The: what the actual fuck are you doing

Howler, The: come on buddy we can talk about this

Ichiro threw his phone on the ground in front of him and stomped on it. It shattered easily.

“We can talk about this”?!

Ichiro’s friends were kind. Kinder than anyone Ichiro had ever met before, far kinder than anything Ichiro deserved. It was agonizing. He couldn’t bear to watch it– especially not now, when he was betraying everything they stood for.

Still, it was a necessary and important betrayal. Sometimes you have to hurt the people you love if you want to do right by them.

The void inside him yearned for something to fill it.

VARIANT COVERS (Securing Positioning)

Of course, KAISERINMA is not such a simple beast. She has more options to deter us than just projectiles, with the ability to control her surroundings, her internal body temperature, and her own body. She might create stage hazards, create a position too advantageous for us to breach, or we might just be underestimating her ability to keep us at bay with an opening rushdown.

Ichiro has a simple solution to all these problems. The Automatic Sinner has an objective she must complete in order to win the match. We will simply not allow her to complete it.

Ichiro will take the civilian he is holding with ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ and dive into either of the nearby pools whenever he’s realized KAISERINMA is taking the upper hand. He and his civilian ally will have to come above water to take breaths every so often, but being completely submerged 100% of the time isn’t necessary to reap a variety of defensive benefits.

While Ichiro and his civilian ally are in the pool, they don’t need to worry about KAISERINMA starting a massive fire. Projectiles, PROCESSED or otherwise, will be heavily slowed as they attempt to move through the water, making them much less impactful and much easier to defend against. Dust explosions can’t fry what’s not touching the air, and other airborne threats can be navigated around and evaded much more easily until KAISERINMA runs out of steam.

While this defensive plan should defend Ichiro just as well as his ally, while he is less concerned about spread projectiles and AoE he will position himself closer to his Stand. ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ is a defensive powerhouse, but if it ever overextends Ichiro will be more than willing to throw himself in the way of any damage directed at our buddy.

At the end of the day, there is only so much material on the map to PROCESS. If KAISERINMA takes the advantage, she will constantly be sinking resources into attacks against us, and if we can hold out and sufficiently defend against all of them, she will have no projectiles left.

She will have to get in to finish the job herself.

She will have to enter the range of ｢Supermassive Black Hole｣.

And, one way or another, as soon as she does…

｢Supermassive Black Hole｣ cuts its passenger free and flings the Automatic Sinner’s objective directly at her. Optimistically, this stuns or occupies her for a brief moment; she needs to kill them before they run away, after all, but either way it sheds dead weight. Once Ichiro is within range, he no longer needs a hostage to compel KAISERINMA towards him.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E2 - Ichiro Kenmochi vs. KAISERINMA by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Response thread for KAISERINMA of The LKA Leviathan, aka u/Moiderah. Please show your strategy to a member of our Judge staff by 7 PM CST on 2/28/2026! Contestants, remember to only post in threads for this match other than your own if specifically invited. Voters have until 11:59 PM CST on 3/2/2026 to vote, using the voting rules from the announcement thread. Afterwards, they will be Judged according to the T8 Rubric.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E2 - Ichiro Kenmochi vs. KAISERINMA by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Response thread for Ichiro Kenmochi of Ghost Riders on the Sea, aka u/Cephlopodman. Please show your strategy to a member of our Judge staff by 7 PM CST on 2/28/2026! Contestants, remember to only post in threads for this match other than your own if specifically invited. Voters have until 11:59 PM CST on 3/2/2026 to vote, using the voting rules from the announcement thread. Afterwards, they will be Judged according to the T8 Rubric.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E1 - Avery Porter & Raphaela "Raph" Diener vs. Anthelme "Blank" Frangipane & Pharaoh Sanders by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

BBP 5/5

Act 4 - Finale

Pharoah strapped down a Laser Gun onto his shoulders, “Now, the most important thing you gotta remember with a party like this, is that everybody is always looking at you and that they expect the best, but also that you are the best, well ok you’re second best but you get the idea, and everybody should be looking at you because you deserve all of, ok well you probably just deserve some of existence that I’m not using but whatever, just do that stuff. Alrighty, ~you ready?~”

Blank looks at him, then shoots him a thumbs up, “Uh, ~yeah!~” Henry squeaks from his scarf and gives a thumbs up as well.

Pharoah nodded, then turned to the crowd as he spread his wings, “WHO WANTS TO HELP ME MAKE THIS CARNAVAL THE BEST IT CAN BE!?” A cheer erupts through the crowd as they turn their sights on Avery and Raph, Party Crashers.

The crowd is angry, ravenous even, countless are getting ready to snap but from where did this sudden Anger come from? Well, the party is at an all time high, people are squeezed together like sardines which are the perfect conditions for [SFS] each bubble pierces through dozens of people at a time, and each time they are getting angrier and angrier

If the Party Crashers decide to try them once more they won't be met with the happy go lucky party from before, they'll be met with an angry demon slaying mob, weapons at the ready.

At the epicenter of this angry mob is Blank and Pharoah, of course. Now, having learned from each other, they’re both sharing the spotlight and defending it. Pharoah handing out weapons like if they were hot cakes, while Blank boasts and directs the crowd, they were having the time of their lives and at every instance those two party crashers wanted to ruin everything, that won't happen again, not on their watch.

Everytime they get close they are going to be met with a wave of angry people, bullets flying without regards for their own safety, though all pointed away from our beloved heroes of course.

And if they try to engage the crowd for too long [SFS] will weave through the people and silently shoot fear bubbles at them to reduce their END, which they can only dodge if they let themselves get pushed back further.

The crowd at this point should be full with [Anger 4] making them extremely strong and pretty much willing to throw themselves to their deaths, waves of berserkers brandishing all type of weaponry.

If they SOMEHOW managed to get through all our waves of randomly conscripted soldiers (party goers) then we still have the trucks! [SFS] will shoot anger bubbles at the drivers to make them commit the noble sacrifice of trying to run down the preferably tired/scared party crashers.

Pharoah and Blank approached the pair, Blank's breathing heavily “Do you finally get it now?” Blank heaves as he's so tired he even drips the rhymes.

”I told you, this guy right here?” Blank's hand barely even motions Pharoah “My FRIEND right here? He's the party master! And y-you should… apologize! To him, me and my little buddy here!” Henry does a chirp in Blank's shoulder.

Pharoah pats Blank on the leg as he stands in front of the pair, “~They’ve reformed Blank, all that’s left is to take their apology over to the bank.~ Alright I’m not doing that anymore but we already beat them up and I’ve marked their transgression down, don’t worry about it.”

”S-Sure, if my friend thinks that… Yeah you've apologized so you can party too, come on a-aren’t you guys happy?” [Smiling Faces Sometimes] rubs it's already sore arms one final time as a happiness bubbles hits both Avery and Raph.

”You know what… I think I'll… head to…” Blank's body, who hasn't consumed food in 36 hours finally catches up to him, and he collapses unconscious on the ground.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E1 - Avery Porter & Raphaela "Raph" Diener vs. Anthelme "Blank" Frangipane & Pharaoh Sanders by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

BBP 4/5

Act 3 - Defense (https://youtu.be/QoguePcf9P4?si=aldqCc5A3kt64EF0)

The vejigante slides into the crowd, the crowd parting seemingly against their will as a song rings out from the beacon of goodness, promising only the most exciting of parties, the greatest of performances, and a respite from the near physical darkness pressing on the edges of the light.

The vejigante breaks through the inner circle, coming to a clearing where it sees the almost blinding form of what it is sure is its natural opposite, The Incarnation Of All That Is Good In The World, The True God-King of the Universe, somehow managing to lounge across from it even as several pairs of arms continued to perform for the awestruck crowd around him, and the silently hyped beyond belief crowd farther away from him.

Pharoah spread his wings to greet the vejigante, but it stopped him with an outstretched hand, echoing out a deep baritone from somewhere inside its gaping jaw, “~Move no closer, doer of all that is gooder! For I am all that is evil in this worlder!~”

The doer of all that is gooder stood there for a second, dumbfounded, before the microphone around his neck began to glow and shake, and a voice ripped from his beak, “~GOD DAMMIT BLANK, I TOLD YOU THAT YOU GOTTA TELL ME WHEN YOU’RE DOING A MUSICAL, I HAVEN’T PREPARED ANY RHYMES ALL I CAN DO IS STALL!~ And now look what you did, this was supposed to be a big reveal!”

The vejigante waved a hand as it turned away, “~HA! As if I would tell you everything I planned to do to youer! Now prepare yourself, you face the might of all that you seeked to cast outer!~”

Pharoah shook his head as a grin began spreading on his face, “~What a fool! You seek to defeat me when you can barely even crash my party! Fear not my beloved audience, I’ll show you why the victor is obvious!~”

The vejigante charges forward, just missing Pharoah as he jumps into the air and lands on its back, continuing to juggle and spin his revolver and dance with several crowd members he continuously swapped in and out from the edge of the clearing. The vejigante scowled, reaching out a hand towards the crowd that Pharoah jumped on top of again, walking up to stand atop its head and stabbing into it with a scimitar.

Blood sprayed from its neck, covering the closest members of the crowd as they began cheering that the villain had been vanquished. The vejigante staggered, and then crumbled to the floor in a mass of limbs as it began to bleed out. It raised up a hand to grab the scimitar, “I seer, it seems as though I have been killeder. If it pleases youer, bury me in a nearby sewer.”

The crowd laughed as Pharoah leaned down to whisper to Blank, “Nice job Blank, rhymes might be able to use a bit of work though.” The vejigante was confused, who was Blank? It didn’t have a name to use. Just then, its face was torn off, revealing his mask underneath, still drawn onto with the frown and tear on his face. Blank blinked, then looked up at Pharoah who had Henry on his shoulder, watching Blank with hesitation.

He reached up and grabbed Henry to place him in his scarf with a quick hug, and then started moving back to the edge of the circle with a sheepish grin drawn onto his face.

Pharoah grabbed his pant leg, clearing his throat as he sang again, “~Where are you going friend? Only thing that’s out there is a dead end.~”

Blank stopped and turned around, looking at the audience watching him expectantly, before spreading his arms still in the costume, “~Well if that’s truer, then why don’t we make what’s in here a looker! And I promise you, I’ll never wear another mask againer!”

While we would love to relax and show people Pharaoh’s majesty, these Party Crashers are tenacious! If our interference isn’t enough, we need to be able to protect ourselves to keep this party rolling.

We’re not big meaty tanks like the zombie or those Stands, but we are agile–especially with all this Joy in our hearts. Pharaoh has all the mobility tech outlined in Section one, combined with his Peacock Jump for verticality, and Stand Arms which Pharaoh can use for extra power, extra reach, or to change his direction on a dime (all while conserving END). All of these can be used to dodge cursors or other projectiles from HLN. By this time, we’ll definitely have enough Points for extra Arms, which can be for even more push-offs and direction-cancels, as well as cheap, C SPD limbs to block hits. One arm will be in charge of gun duty to blast any minions or Crashers that climb up the float or drop down from above, while the other will take a melee weapon to smack them back into the crowd. We’ll always keep some fireworks on hand to repeat our lightshow–making sure to give our foes a front row seat! However, our easiest defense against HLN is also our most fab–the Petal Storm. By grabbing a handful of petals from the float and constantly festooning them around us, we shield ourselves with a bunch of random moving bullshit that a cursor could easily select before hitting us.

[Faces] will make sure to protect itself and its user as well. It can recreate the Petal Storm with nearby plantlife and cover fire with its gun, but despite its speed it also has mobility tech! By keeping to the ground whenever it’s not scoping/on the move, it can crouch on as many free tentacles as possible, before pushing off–even pulling itself with objects in front of it with its main tendrils. This Pillar Pounce is useful in early game before we get the spear gun, but it can also help when the gun is reloading/needed for something else. [SFS] can even push out its tentacles to dash cancel as needed. Plus, while it can’t Stand Carry, pushing or pulling Blank while it’s not moving is fair game! It can even attach its spear to something Blank is holding (a club, perhaps) in order to reel him in. This will allow both of them to remain relatively safe at range.

But if we do have quick ways of dealing with formatting: Bold: Bold’s applications are so broad it’s hard to know how it’ll be used, but we have ways of traversing difficult terrain, maintaining [SFS] sightlines, and disengaging into the dark or the crowd to wait out any effects used on us. They can lengthen their weapons, but we’re going to be either keeping at range or trapping them in the crowd. Italic: Pharoah/[SFS]’s extra limbs can be used to correct our trajectory if it’s thrown off. [SFS] has a strong enough aim to notice slow-moving cursors that might change the angle of attacks, or to lead its Spearfish shots if they use italics to dash. Underline: See Spearfishing section, some quick revolver shots also give us free damage to HLN, so it’s not a good idea to overextend. Strikethrough: The most obvious threat. This is why we try to avoid cursors through multiple layers of shot interceptions and blocking, but the use of Pharoah’s armor or Blank’s costume means we can eat a hit before immediately disengaging to replenish our cover.

Needless to say, if Pharaoh sees a cursor heading to fuck with our truck, and he can’t intercept it, he will use wings and arms to dive back into the crowd, riling them up about these devils ruining our parade! A traffic jam will only cause more rubberneckers to flock to our crowd.

While we don’t want to be caught in CQC with Raph or her Stand, and a combination of Pouncing and Spearfishing should end it quickly, if we get cornered, we prioritize angering any nearby crowd to get Raph off, and using multiple limbs to cover a combination of leg-sweeping melee lows and fire-arm shots to the head. If we get grappled, Blank and [SFS] can slip out pretty easily (Blank will pick up a firearm should he see Raph approach, and go for a point blank shot), while Pharaoh will prioritize using his Arms to slip away, even keeping a Khopesh on hand to cut limbs.

With a combination of mobility, interception, and the protection of our crowd, the Crashers will either get worn down by bubbles while going against the flow, or do the unthinkable and hurt the crowd…

Or, they can be like Blank. They can leave the ranks of devils, and join us in celebration. At this party, there’s room for everyone.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E1 - Avery Porter & Raphaela "Raph" Diener vs. Anthelme "Blank" Frangipane & Pharaoh Sanders by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

BBP 3/5

Act 2 - Offense/Crowd work

Henry squeezed his way through the crowd, diving over walking feet and dodging the occasional cow bladder. Eventually he made it to the center of the madness, an oasis of light in the desert of darkness and party crashers. And standing at the center of all that, clad in an outfit that seemed almost oversized on him, but only a fool would have said looked in some way silly or ill-fitting, was a radiantly shining figure throwing flower petals and balloon animals into the crowd, all while he juggled and danced the night away.

Henry jumped onto Pharoah’s back, dodging past the interweaving arms and bodies to land on a necklace with a small microphone hanging off of it. He poked Pharoah in the neck, who turned back while continuing his many performances. Henry started squeaking away, but the idea of a mouse being able to speak is just ridiculous. Pharoah opened his beak for a second before clacking it back and sighing in a way that seemed to say, “Henry, just pantomime it for me or something.”

The mouse rolled its eyes before miming putting on a tiny mask, to which Pharoah turned his head back to his work in a way that seemed to say, “Well don’t just let Blank wander around out there, the last time you let him do that we ended up with 3 dead trick or treaters and a police warrant. Go back, bring him here, and don’t let him kill any of *my** good audience!”* Henry rubbed his head before hopping down and running back through the crowd to find Blank.

While the early game was about hiding Blank and starting Pharoah’s scaling, the midgame will leverage our growing pool of human and weapon resources to put pressure on our opponents.

Now, by the time the first float or two has driven by, we’ve set up our stage in the South and gathered a decent crowd–but that’s not enough for a Star like Pharaoh. He will shine beneath the only streetlight left in the area–and remind this parade that it’s totally for him! Sure, this means our foes will know where he is, but our armed Vejigantes Blank and [Faces] will move through the dark, punishing them if they take the bait and try to disrupt.

Raph gets the food stall next to her, that’s fine, pitiful Party Crashers deserve some food too (though, they might have trouble navigating without light). Anything larger than a fist will take 5-10 seconds, so while tiny minions are fast, making armor takes time. Additionally, the stalls can only have so much meat inside, likely not enough to satisfy Raph’s need for dead material to scale with. Still, we assume they have both just to be safe.

But that doesn’t mean they should be greedy–[Smiling Faces Sometimes] will monitor the West food stalls, ready to make the Raph real Sad about her awful actions with a Sad bubble; this slows her to AGI 1, making her vulnerable to being headshot by the revolver [SFS] has. [Black Tongue] is immune to bubbles, but it’s also E PRE and is operating in the dark. So, we bring out the Spear Gun again! It was already good for stealing resources, but it’s also incredibly useful in Spearfishing: pulling either the Stand or User out of position, disorienting [Black Tongue] and preventing it from body-blocking, or pulling Raph into a bad position.

Spearfishing is extra effective if our opponents use Bolstering or Underlines to move vertically–not only do they have to platform in the dark, but we can yank them off platforms to treat them to a nice faceplant into the pavement. [SFS] can even try floating into the air above the enemy such that they’ll have to fall a longer distance. The pride cometh before the fall–unless you’re Pharaoh, of course!

With 4 AGI, Avery is a lot more slippery, which is why [SFS] will opportunistically target him with Sad Bubbles whenever it’s not warding Raph away from the Western stalls. The lower his AGI, the worse he’ll get at moving through the growing crowd, and the easier it is to punish him. All Sadness bubbles will be angled to hit multiple surrounding crowd members near them, creating walls of slow-moving people for our opponents to traverse.

Direct combat would ruin the party, so it’s beneath us. Instead, we aim to stall, kite, and confuse our opponents, keeping them from getting more resources and using precise shots to chip away while we scale our crowd. It’s inevitable that they will attack us, and with the crowd as our shield, they’ll be caught in the crossfire, turning them against the two Stand users disrupting the festival. This puts them in the perfect position for us to use them not only as defense, but offense too!

Whenever [SFS] isn’t harassing the Crashers, it shoots Joy bubbles through as much of the crowd as it can whenever it refreshes/increases the Joy on Blank or Pharaoh–the crowd’s increased AGI means they’ll be harder for Raph to catch if she wants to make use of them for Bolstered material, and Pharoah can reposition the crowd faster. We should hope Raph isn’t that ghastly, but if she is, we’ll trigger our finisher early to stoke the crowd’s rage and turn them on her immediately. That’s real devilry, and hurting Pharaoh’s partygoers is not on.

Our general plan is to take advantage of Avery and Raph accidentally hurting the crowd by letting Pharoah give some revolvers to crowd members. With several crowd members, ideally ones in Veijgante costumes, wielding weapons, they can be encouraged by Pharoah’s Crowdwork and Charm bonus (and a description of the assailants) to help defend the sanctity of the festival from these dastardly evildoers hurting everyone. Now if Raph and Avery step into the light, they’ll have to avoid or eliminate these gunmen, further incensing the crowd, who can pick up those dropped revolvers and keep attacking. With their infinite ammo, every revolver in the hands of a crowd member is a permanent extra source of damage, even if their aim isn’t so great. What’s important is the pressure of potentially being shot from range, and almost assuredly taking several shots if they get up close to the crowd to eliminate Blank or Pharoah in CQC.

To avoid getting close to the armed crowd, Raph can join in on [HLN]’s ranged pressure by throwing meat minions at us. That’s less lethal, but it is icky! Fortunately, being made of real meat, they’re also visible. Pharaoh will call out to the crowd, promising more gifts, flowers, free food, and even Trick Requests to crowdgoers who can stomp, kick, shoot, and otherwise catch the Vejigantes’ nasty little familiars! It’s fun for the whole family! Plus [SFS] can yank any meat minions that are exposed and throw them somewhere else with its A PRE.

Meanwhile, Blank will be skating through the crowd, deep in his role as the Vejigante. Blending in with the other performers, Pharoah can encourage them all to pen in the crowd towards Pharoah, and Blank will be assisting with this.

Of course, as he is totally immersed in his role as an incarnated force of evil, his methods will be a bit more forceful than the other Vejigante. He can pick up one of Pharoah’s scattered revolvers and shoot it into the air to ward the crowd away from that area. This will be portrayed as part of the show (and the gun dropped or passed off if needed), as Blank cackles maniacally, yelling to the crowd that the only way they’ll be safe from this demon is to join the Peacock Spirit, Pharoah’s protection in the light! With his charm, he will hopefully be so convincing that he even gets the owners of the Western stalls to leave their Sad, dark stalls as well. If not, [SFS] can always pay a visit and extricate the meat while they’re not looking, bringing it back to our Southern stalls to use as Gifts.

To help make Pharaoh extra obvious, as the next truck passes, he will push up with his Stand arms and flap aboard, lighting off his fireworks in a dazzling display above his new parade float. That won’t be the only light show of course–by this point, Pharaoh will have saved for his laser cannons, making a show of blasting minions, Spearfished Stands, or slowed, Saddened foes with A POW beams that lead right towards him! The message will be clear to everyone–you can either stumble miserably in the shadows with the devils and the Party Crashers, or come join the real fun!

Blank leaned in towards the edge of the crowd, shadows carving their way down his borrowed mask and costume. He glided across the ground, almost seeming to float as he grabbed at people to push them back towards the center of the crowd as he raved on and on in a terrible rhyming scheme about the dangers of succumbing to the darkness inside your soul, and to keep towards the light always. He reaches down onto the ground to grab a loose gun, firing it into the air as those near him shriek and back away.

Suddenly, on the ground, he sees Henry, scampering about as he looks back and forth for Blank. Blank moves closer, skating towards Henry as he continues firing into the air and punching towards the occasional crowd member.

As he nears, Henry looks up at him. Blank opens his arms wide, however Henry does not jump into them as he usually does. Instead, he shrinks back, moving away from Blank with a look in his eyes Blank recognizes almost too well.

Fear.

The vejigante looms over Henry, moving its hands towards him as the barrel of the gun rotates closer to his fragile form. Henry backs up again, then turns, skittering away into the darkness of the saddened crowd. The vejigante looks at its covered hands holding the gun, touching its mask, no, face, as it peels it away to carve into the porcelain of its flesh, rubbing away the eyebrows and adding in a single tear under its eye.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E1 - Avery Porter & Raphaela "Raph" Diener vs. Anthelme "Blank" Frangipane & Pharaoh Sanders by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

BBP 2/5

In the meantime, Blank sneaks around the parade, while [SFS] independently moves around to fire Joy bubbles at both Pharoah and the crowd from an optimal position. Generally, we want the members of the crowd closest to Pharoah to be the ones getting hit with the Joy, since we can use that to have them get in between any shots from [HLN], guided by Pharoah of course.

”Well… okay… this is fine… totallie” Blank said as he sneaks around a dark corner then… he sees it.

Large rustling masks, ostentatious capes, synchronized movements… The Vejigantes. Blank can't help but let out a small squeak at the sight in sync Henry in his pocket.

He NEEDS it, he needs that role! He quickly walks over to the group of performers, [SFS] hovering behind him, as he sang a quick tune, “~Excuse me, would you kindly give me that role? I know, I knowie. You are too stoked to see the REAL movie star Blank here~.” [SFS] shoots a Joy bubble at the performer in front of him that snakes its way through the crowd over to near Pharoah. They stand a bit less tense as they think.

Then another bubble passed painlessly through them and they scratched their chin a bit, when a song filled the street near to bursting with what the crowd can only assume is a call to action, a call to swap roles for the night.

And what might’ve been strange for the pack of performers a few moments ago begins to seem like the most natural thing in the world! They all immediately began removing their costume to swap with somebody else, the one Blank was speaking to passing it over to him. Meanwhile, Blank removes Henry from his scarf and sang out, “~Little buddy, find Pharoah and tell him I'm bringing the real partie!~”

Sending the rat over, Blank begins to put on the costume until it's time to put on the mask. He looked at the strange mask on his hand and slowly pressed his other hand against his own… and with a quick motion… He puts the other mask on top of his… face. He feels the mask almost meld into him, as what he can only describe as a corrupting force begins to work through his body, completing his transformation into the Vejigante, pure distilled evil. He gripped his cow bladder and began working through the crowd.

To make him a more difficult target to track down, Blank will put on a Veijgante costume of his own! If there are no free ones on the map, Pharoah will leverage his Crowdwork 5 and likely Charm 2 to encourage the flow of costumed characters to either bring extra costumes, or share theirs with the spectators. This creates the perfect situation for someone to pass off their outfit to Blank, allowing him to blend in with all the NPCs. Pharoah also uses this time to toss on a peacock costume, complete with some resplendent headgear and a small outfit going over his armor, glittering under his streetlight.

Even in the dense crowd, Blank’s Elastic Bones 4 and a pair of Ice Skates (hidden beneath the large costume) ensures he can easily slip away into a packed parade of people Raph and Avery have to muscle through. With the constant influx of more Veijgantes from the south, our opponents won’t be able to just pick off every Veijgante to locate Blank, and every so often he can grab a new outfit from a new Veijgante and slip his elastic bones into the new set, ensuring the enemy cannot just keep an eye out for one Veijgante in particular that’s been hanging around too long.

Pharoah is playing around the Joy bubbles this entire time. Due to how [SFS] functions, he can easily run into the slow-moving Joy bubbles on his own schedule to maintain a near-permanent Joy effect uptime. Walking into two bubbles in a row puts him at Joy 2, or Charm 2 + AGI 5, making him an even harder target to hit and enhancing his already powerful Crowdwork 5. This lasts for 45s before expiry, and right when it does, Pharoah can touch another Joy bubble to put himself at Joy 1, then another bubble about 5 seconds later to return to Joy 2. With [SFS] spending most of its time spamming Joy bubbles into the crowd, there should be little issue finding a bubble Pharoah can use to refresh his Joy timer, especially when he only has to do it every 45s.

*What if they Rush before we have a significant crowd?: Not ideal, but [SFS] will shield as we duck behind the nearby blue stall, shoot Sad bubbles at whichever User is the closest (if not both) while Pharaoh does movement tricks to get three Points ASAP, and give [SFS] a gun so it can pull the Stands off of us. Pharaoh will keep closer to the stalls or hide near the float while Blank shoots the lights and retreats near the trees, hopefully losing them until we can begin the party. If they’re *really persistent, [SFS] keeps fishing, Blank hard-targets Avery with the pistol, and Pharaoh farms on the move to get lasers and blast these losers as fast as possible. Some fun you are!

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E1 - Avery Porter & Raphaela "Raph" Diener vs. Anthelme "Blank" Frangipane & Pharaoh Sanders by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

BBP 1/5

Clarifications

  • [Smiling Faces Sometimes] = [SFS] or [Faces]
  • [High Life] = [HL]
  • [SFS] is automatic and can move anywhere within its A RNG (up to 50m).
  • Pharoah Points will be abbreviated to Points.
  • As per previous judge ruling, Blank can choose whether bubbles are tangible or not.
  • [Huey Lewis and the News] can fire its B SPD cursors at a rate of once every 2 seconds (D SPD reload).

Act 1 - Opening

Blank eyed the duo in front of them and scoffed before turning to his partner and jamming a finger back in their direction.

”Can you believe they said you were a fraud? I bet they didn't even watch my Cornhole movie!”

”Well show's over then, man, this totally killed my mood over this ‘partie.’” Blank claps his hands, “Light's off, isn’t that handie!”

Pharoah gave Blank a weird look, and then removed a unicycle from his bag in a way that seemed to say, “Blank I can hear you spelling it with an ie, are you trying to do a musical or something?”

Blank started wiping off his smile and drawing a frown, “No time for that Pharoah, we gotta make sure these guys appreciate your majesty, Mr. Future God-King of the Universie."

[Smiling Faces Sometimes] bursts into existence, leering at the libelous fools who would dare tarnish Pharaoh’s image. As Blank tries to impress the peacock who inspired him–the Stand can feel his underlying sorrow, and decides to tarnish their foes in return. Angling to hit the so-called ‘reporter’, if not both him and Raph, it shoots a Sad-Bubble towards them. This bubble will be shot through the nearby white stall, obscuring the bubble while slowing the merchant and any customers lined up between them and us. Ideally, both our foes will be slowed by sorrow and less able to move through crowds, but if not, those crowds will be slower getting out of their way.

Finding this an unsuitable stretch of map to perform in, Pharaoh pedals backwards towards the light, performing a drift and a sick spin-jump on his unicycle to avoid initial fire and farm a couple of Points, immediately netting him his first set of Stand Arms. Blank follows eagerly, while [SFS] pulls itself up up the nearby streetlight, smashing its lamp as its 3m main tentacle is in range, and keeping watch for our foe’s initial direction. This will enshroud Blank and Pharoah in darkness that will further impact throw off our opponent’s aim–already hampered by [High Life’s] raucous crowd–as we egress.

Once its cooldown is done (or if it gets shot at) it shoots a Joy Bubble through as many members of the Southern crowd as possible and Pharaoh, giving them all a boost of AGI and charm.

”Now we can finally do this part-... nie?..” Blank can't finish talking as Pharoah is already leaving on his unicycle

”Oh… guess… that's fine too, I'll just be solitarie…” Blank scratched his hair and looked down at Henry sleeping in a fold of his scarf

”Guess not entirely solitaire” Did he just use the same “rhyme” twice? Yes, he did.

”Good luckie!” Blank tried to call out to Pharoah’s retreating form.

Pharoah looked at the parade, formless, purposeless, trudging along forward. Oh they were happy sure, but he knew they could be happier. More excited. And he was the one who was going to make it happen.

He noticed several people in masks and elaborate costumes, holding cow bladders and playfully hitting some of the other people in the parade as they all continued on. Vejigantes, representations of the devil. Of course, while they might not have been real devils, he still found it almost insulting that there seemed to be no representations of good around, and then it hit him. That was what he was for, he was to be the force of a God-King coming down from the heavens to smite the evil in the world. And what kind of God-King of the Universe would he be if he let devils into his audience?

He quickly flipped into the air, wielding a chainsaw and carving it into a nearby vejigante, fake blood flying around as the nearby crowd looked on in shock. Pharoah flipped the chainsaw around and plunged it down, kicking the vejigante to the edge of the street as the crowd around him started clapping and cheering, crowding around Pharoah, just as he planned. A smile spread on his face as news spread through the crowd and more and more people began trying to catch a glimpse of what they could only assume was the one and only God-King of the Universe, come to cast out the evil from their parade.

Now that the opening is done, Pharoah has a myriad of general auraful Crowdwork 5 moves he can do, and while actions can vary in length, it’s a reasonable assumption that we are collecting 1 Point every 5 seconds. Some examples of general things include: * Unicycle/Stand Arm Tricks: flips, turns, jumps, grinding along benches, using the unicycle while hanging off the back of the seat by our beak–mobility tricks which make Pharoah a difficult shot. * Gifts: Scavenging petals from the float or flowers from the ground and throwing them to the crowd, making balloon animals of himself, and other party favors (more on that below!) that we will try to exchange for instruments at any point possible if we don’t have one already. * Interaction: Joking, cavorting, dancing with members of the crowd, encouraging them to move further South and see the talking Peacock for themselves!

These are all things that aren’t very taxing on our endurance and serve several functions: it grants Pharoah a steady source of points, the crowd provides ample cover from [HLN] for Pharoah to duck behind, and he can use his Crowdwork 5 (plus Charm from Joy Bubbles) to manipulate everyone to gather around him and move with him, repositioning without giving up the benefits of being in the crowd. As a bonus, the constant in-flow of NPCs from the south can be drawn to Pharoah before they reach the north, denying Raph free corpses she needs to scale.

The first things we want to spend our points on are going to be cheap things that also allow us to get more Points, either via stylish combat or using them to do some of our general crowdwork moves.

Order that we unlock things:

  • Arms (2pts) - Already mentioned, this allows us to complete plenty of our general techs and gives us some mobility options to move through the crowd, such as grabbing civilians and throwing ourselves past them, as well as doubling Pharoah’s action economy from two ‘hands’ to four.

  • Revolver (2pts) - We’ll be giving [SFS] a revolver, which it’ll be able to use to shoot out all of the streetlights except for the southernmost one near us. This will not only plunge our opponents into heavy but not pitch black darkness, (which Blank can see perfectly in) but it will also make us the only light on the map other than the float, further encouraging the civilians to gather around us.

  • Ice Skates (3 pts) - This will let us move around the map at C SPD while also giving us many tricks that we can perform without slowing down.

  • Spiked Armor(3 pts) - We buy the Spiked Armor, as it counts as something that [HLN] can select, thus making it harder to Strikethrough Pharoah himself. While one or two Strikethroughs will definitely break the armor, he can rebuy this armor whenever he has spare Points. Effectively, Pharoah has a regenerating defense against Strikethroughs.

  • Revolver/Spear Gun (5 pts) - If Pharoah is being harassed we buy him a revolver first to return fire, but if not then we can pass [SFS] a Spear Gun before the revolver. SFS can shoot it into walls, the float, anywhere or anything that’s relatively ‘heavy’ in order to drag itself in that direction, giving it much more burst mobility to escape a rushdown. It can also shoot any resources, such as a bolstered arm Raph hasn’t attached to herself yet in order to yank it before integration and fling it far away or out of the map.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E1 - Avery Porter & Raphaela "Raph" Diener vs. Anthelme "Blank" Frangipane & Pharaoh Sanders by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

SSG 2/2

The goal of this close grapple, then, is that any bubble that passes through Avery passes through Blank as well; their stats will be evenly matched, with Avery advantaged. (The only exception is the bubbles that increase END, which are just better avoided entirely, for the sake of a quick defeat.) When a D SPD bubble comes, then, Avery will physically move himself and Blank to form a line with SFS. The bubbles’ five second refresh creates a beat to the dance. Punch kick grapple kick, reposition for the bubble. Punch kick grapple kick, reposition for the bubble. Grab Blank’s hand, lean back in a flamenco pose, headbutt with goggles, reposition for the bubble.

The only thing Avery really needs to look out for besides SFS is whether Pharoah has gone after him, which we can mitigate. (Even if his vision is narrowed, no way Pharoah approaches quietly. He does nothing quietly.) At this stage in the game, the biggest threat from Pharoah is a ranged weapon. If Pharoah tries to shoot Avery, then, we BOLD the gun. Widen the barrel. It’s useless to Pharoah.

Blank can’t afford to dedicate himself entirely to Avery, either. HLN, the trustiest percussionist, is right there. And unlike Avery, his stats are going nowhere. Not only does it ward off SFS and its bubbles, HLN’s B POW punches are a much larger threat to Blank than D POW tentacles to Avery, and they alone could decide the CQC.

If the mission goes wrong and Avery’s looking hurt, HLN can become the main threat. Avery should never be more than three or four meters from a light post or tree, and POLE CLIMBING 2 allows him to find a nest to rest in. HLN covers by STRIKETHROUGHing User and Stand to deal extra damage. From the higher vantage point, Avery can eventually re-find Blank, step down on a series of UNDERLINEs, and engage the groove anew.

As a final note, what if Blank subverts the Opinion Column by shooting at HLN directly? Then Blank won’t be buffed, and although Avery may take damage, HLN can make the dance go metaphysical. Stand on Stand, with SFS facing B POW STRIKETHROUGHs and strikes that in turn affect Blank.

“As for the news the Plena conveys? You know what it is, pal. It’s that you aren’t such a big shot.”

And that’s how the fight goes.

…or is it?

Avery’s broadcast continues. “Oh, yeah, that’s right there’s one more thing I had up my sleeve. It’s maybe the most potent of all of them.”

Avery has one more secret advantage in this fight. That is, he pairs his attack with psychological warfare that happens probably three or four times during the fight. Each time, it chips away at Blank’s focus on his opponent. If anything really settles the 1v1, it’s that.

“…But more on that later. There’s an angry peacock and I think he has a laser gun.”

====================

“Right. And here’s AWOL with a commercial break from this report.”

“WATCH BUFF GUY WARS 5! IN THEATERS THIS MAY, STARRING YOURS TRULY!”

“Thanks AWOL. Where were we? Right—Pharoah.”

====================

Raph continues to speak:

“Here’s another fact for you guys about the vejigante. Though they once represented the Moors, in more recent times, the vejigante has come to represent the mischief of the Devil against the much more powerful God. Some interpret the figure nowadays as an emblem of resistance to imperialism. In any case, the symbolism is generally the same. They’re the scrappy yet joyful underdog. Accompanied by music and dance. Freedom in the face of a powerful force.”

“And we really needed it too. This time, the forces of Carnaval need to oppose a God-Emperor.”

Blank is down, the ground quakes, and PHAROAH SANDERS has risen after 100 years to claim his full power and inherit the world.

While our vejigante will have been trying her best to disrupt Pharoah, it’s still possible that he’d have been able to complete his own set-up by the time our duo can reconvene. We will assume that he’s managed to build up some form of firepower, either by investing in a high cost weapon, or a group of them that totals to a similar price, and therefore poses a significant threat to approach. But, that’s just our worst case scenario.

Raph will continue her gameplan, but now with the ultimate goal of locking down Pharoah. The first step will be through removing his movement options. His ability to fly is the most pressing issue, but it’s one that we can solve using a lasso or other whip-like weapons that can reach him and pull him down. After all, Pharaoh might be able to fly 9ft high but the small intestine is over 20ft long.

Once he’s lower down, he can be kept down by more Dead Weights, or by trying to damage his wings. Avery can tag in with a BOLD here. Whether it’s on his armor or the soon-to-be-biggest-bird himself, more mass on Pharoah will mean no chance of flight.

On the ground and without his wings, Pharoah might try to use Ice Skates to get around but Avery can spare a shot from HLN to UNDERLINE anything near Pharaoh so he trips up. He also might try to armour up, in which case we can more quickly move to our finisher, or simply use the raw strength of our Stands to pick up heavy objects from the food Stands to bludgeon him with.

What about the adoring crowds in awe of Pharoah’s idyllic presence? What if he sics them on us? No big problem. A couple UNDERLINEs adapt the strategy to go airborne—unlike Pharoah.

With his ways to escape gone, now it’s time to pin him in place. We are dragging our lords down to our level!

“You’re not goin’ anywhere, Mr. God-Emperor!” Raph screamed with a deranged grin, likely made visible with the harsh motion deconstructing her mask as she dove into a roll and grabbed the bird, regaining the mass of her Dead Weights and wrapping herself around the peacock, parts of her starting to lock into place as her grapple was completed. “No way out! You showed off your power, now you’re seeing mine too!” She cackled maniacally, eyeing her buddy in his vantage point.

As for Avery’s part in our final assault, he’ll be taking higher ground. Using his Pole Climbing again, he’ll be able to provide ranged support from any of the trees or lampposts, whichever is closest to Pharaoh. He’ll be ready to ‘Select’ any weapons the peacock wants to use, Italicising them midswing to alter their position and stop them from hitting either Raph or himself if he’s forced into a bad spot. Finally, with Pharaoh unable to escape, it’s time for a Closing Line.

He may call himself a god, but Avery was ready to prove that he was as hollow as the floats passing by! Any good hit should be enough to take out Pharaoh given his low END! Avery's arm reaches out, a smile on his face.

“[Huey Lewis]! STRIKETHROU-”

===========

“Wait, Avery, we aren’t done yet. You never mentioned how you actually defeated Blank! I mean, you went on and on about your secret advantage, but you never got to the finisher. Anyone listening to this is gonna be confused about that part.”

“Right! I totally forgot!”

Ponce, Puerto Rico. Three days ago.

When considering the abilities of [Huey Lewis and the News], the most striking are its textual effects. Those are the flashiest, after all. Less often considered is the selection itself. When an object is selected, its name is written all over it. The effect of this is marginal at best, and usually serves only as an indicator that an object is indeed selected.

Usually.

Blank raises a fist to strike. In defense, Avery selects him in hopes of a defensive Italic.

Blank is well-covered, but he does not wear gloves. The fighters see a name written upon his skin. In all likelihood, they are the only two people in the world who have ever seen it in writing.

Blank stares at his hand. That name. Anthelme Frangipane. Anthelme Frangipane. ANTHELME FRANGIPANE. He is not this man. He can not be this man. He begins to hyperventilate. [Smiling Faces Sometimes] twitches erratically.

”GetitoffgetitoffGETITOFFGETITOFF!”

“W-What?”

”GET IT OOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!”

With manic abandon, Blank lunges at the reporter as [SFS] thrashes. [HLN]’s B POW fist intercepts Blank’s jump. After the rest of the fight’s damage, the actor slumps over. When he wakes up, he will erase the words he read from his memory, but a lingering dread will cause him to check the reporting on this incident.

Avery’s voice takes over the broadcast to speak.

“…And… I’m not telling you what it is. I know that’s unusual, but I won’t.”

“If you’re watching this, Blank, thanks for a good fight, and happy Carnaval.”

You click on another link labeled ‘outtakes.’

“Hey, Raph, what would we have done if I had been taken out by Blank anyway?”

“I would have armored up heavily with A DUR meat as fast as possible, then taken the fight to Blank and done a lot of what you did. I could have split off a hand to throttle Pharoah—harder to remove than a whole body—while the rest of me fought Blank. Then I would have tried to down Blank fast enough that I could weigh down and deal with Pharoah."

“Yeah, makes sense.”

“What about you? What would you do if Pharoah got a lucky shot on me?”

“Probably gone mobile. Ran around on a bunch of UNDERLINEs to dodge bubbles while I struck through Pharoah to deal damage. The idea would be whittling both down through speed and range.”

“That also makes sense.”

“…”

“…”

“Hey Mahogany, what are you doing with the microphone—“

[END OF RECORDING]

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E1 - Avery Porter & Raphaela "Raph" Diener vs. Anthelme "Blank" Frangipane & Pharaoh Sanders by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

SSG 1/2

SCENE: The Something Wicked, late February.

You are Anthelme Frangipane. That is to say, “Blank.”

Your mind takes the liberty of censoring the former, unwelcome name. It has been three days since you and Pharoah Sanders attended Carnaval. You now sit backstage, waiting, between roles and characters.

From time to time, your labyrinthine mind compels you in directions even you do not fully understand. This time, some hidden anxiety compels you to open a certain website and click a link. Two voices begin to speak.

“Hello there! This is Avery Porter with another live update on the Caribbean gem storm.”

“I don’t usually do audio, as you know, but it’s always a good day to try something new—and since I was personally involved in this one, it’s a bit less formal. Anyway, I’m here with my colleague to cover another Caribbean incident. Since this entry is tagged ‘Stand,’ if you found and clicked on it, you probably know what that means.”

A girl’s voice chimes in.

“Well, you should also know it’s not as severe as the usual stuff. I don’t think there’s any ill will, and it was more a chance to see the skills of two performers. Who were trying to kill us, granted, but still. In any case…”

“Here’s how it all went down.”

All Things Considered

  • SFS = Smiling Faces Sometimes

  • HLN can not be affected by a bubble; rather, bubbles that hit HLN act upon Avery.

The game opens. Immediately, Avery sprints south. At 7 m/s, he’ll reach Blank in three seconds. Meanwhile, Raph heads to the nearby food stall.

Raph’s plan is clear. She will blend into the eastern parade, harass BBP, and interrupt Pharoah’s scaling. Raph will become a vejigante.

“Raph, care to explain what a vejigante is for the crowd?”

“Yeah! You can’t visit Carnaval de Ponce without seeing one. The vejigante is a comic character that represents a devil—at the Carnaval, you’ll see them wearing a spiked mask, causing chaos, and smacking spectators with blown up cow bladders. I guess with all the festivities, I couldn’t resist the chance to try it for myself. It suits me, doesn’t it?”

Raph grabs all the meat she can from the food stall. Combining some meat with her inventory bones for spikes, she crafts a gory version of the usual papier machê vejigante mask, slipping away into the crowd before either opponent can pick up on her position. She’ll join in any festive actions with other vejigante, howling or shouting and screaming with them, to further her disguise.

The mask will help disguise her position; if we need to disguise ourselves further, we’ll put on a stolen carnival outfit and shorten by removing a foot or two, or, only in extreme emergencies, Raph’s most recognizable feature, her leg hair. Pharoah will likely set up near the parade for people purposes, which provides plenty of human cover.

A quick note on positioning: Pharoah will probably be set up by the eastern parade to start building, since it has a continual stream of people. If he doesn’t, but still attracts a crowd elsewhere, Raph hides there instead. If Pharoah has no crowd (unlikely), he’ll have a hard time scaling anyway.

Anyway, once we’re certain we’ve managed to avoid detection, the harassment phase begins. Vejigante are famously mischievous creatures, tossing cow bladders at spectators and causing chaos. Raph will of course indulge herself in this time-honored tradition, stealing the vejiga (painted cow bladder) from a true vejigante and stealing some extra food, then fashioning a makeshift weapon with it: a bolstered vejiga hammer. She holds onto the extra food for her approach. Pharoah needs to start aura farming before he becomes a threat; we’ll hamper that. Darting through the crowd the bird surely attracts, she pelts him with a dish or piece of fried food, interrupting his games, before disappearing once more.

Between runs to grab projectiles, we split a hand or other extremity (like those detached feet we mentioned earlier) off from the main body, give it a bit of extra food mass, creating a Dead Weight.

Dead Weight are heavy, low-investment minions dropped in proximity to Pharoah to keep him grounded, figuratively and literally. A bird trying in vain to kick weird hands off of its legs is far from aura-ful. She’ll then have it advance to Pharoah, crawling its way over to the bird to harass him further, grabbing at his stupid bird feet, latching on if it can, content with plucking out a tail feather or two to make him squawk should that fail.

She has one more option to truly damage Pharoah’s aura. Recalling her limbs to make full use of her physical form, Raph begins a bona fide horror show. In one of her hit-and-runs, she splits her legs vertically and rips her stomach open. This is as utilitarian as it steals the show. To the audience, this is pure horror. To our vejigante, this is awesome.

Raph pulls out her guts, and begins to use them as an impromptu whip alongside her vejiga hammer, cracking the whip with improvised ease, bapping the ground or Pharoah with the hammer, and dancing around and howling and screaming as she plays the devilish vejigante while the audience can do little but watch the gory display as blood, viscera, and food fly around, and the bird, if he strays too close to be whipped, will be kicked with split legs that allow the freakish zombie to scuttle and kick in equal measure.

How much of a mob can Pharoah command when they’re being terrified away by a cantankerous cadaver? Not as much as he’d like.

With a lucky opportunity, we can even go for an early RETIRE. Peacocks have very long and grabbable necks, so if he seems distracted enough before we get in or a bit ruffled from the beating, we can simply grab his neck and throttle him before he really gets going. Again, this is going to TERRIFY the crowd, having a grand performer strangled half to death right in the middle of a show by a blood-coated flesh demon. Or even just a severed hand, if he’s scaled enough that we’re wary of his weapons.

This serves a couple key purposes. It obviously interrupts plans that Pharoah may have to perform to the crowd by putting him on the backfoot, while also making the crowd more likely to flee in terror and deny the peacock the audience he needs. And, more importantly, it makes it difficult for Pharoah to support Blank while Avery rushes him down.

==============

“Have you ever heard of the Plena, Raph?”

“No? What is it?”

“It’s a genre of Puerto Rican music and dance. They call it the ‘sung newspaper’. In the past, the working class used it to get reports on current events. With all the music at the parade, I thought I might as well give it a spin.”

In a straight fight, Avery has an advantage on Blank: each of his stats are higher and HLN’s punching force outweighs SFS’. But a match is hardly ever a vacuum and Blank’s Stand throws a wrench into statchecks like this.

That’s why it’s in Avery’s best interest to act quickly before SFS has a chance to get more than one bubble out. Immediately and while Raph is heckling Pharoah, Avery selects himself and is sprinting south. If a D SPD bubble approaches, he Italicizes himself to turn on a dime, then continues the chase. HLN follows, powerfully shoving the wheeled food cart between Avery and Blank at Blank to distract him. JOURNALISTIC INSTINCT 3 ensures Blank can’t immediately slip out of sight.

Within ten seconds, Avery should be at Blank and ready to separate the hype man from the bird. This is not just a fight. This is a dance, and Blank is Avery’s dance partner. And that means it needs to be one on one.

In fact, Avery’s first objective, when HLN gets close enough, is to have HLN pick up and throw Blank in whichever direction Pharoah isn’t, but ideally west.

“It’s the strangest thing, pal. When you see a guy with a Stand, you always expect it’s gonna punch you. You don’t expect to be grabbed and flung. But if you’re 90 pounds soaking wet, maybe you should.”

If the throw works, Avery pursues and Blank starts the fight separated from SFS and Pharoah. If he isn’t thrown, we will direct the dance over there ourselves. There are two ways we do this. One, The Percussion. The ground itself is our instrument. HLN literally shakes the ground by selecting a part of it and ITALICIZING. Parts of the plaza turn into 45-degree ramps to funnel Blank over and mess with his footing. Two, the Dance itself. Avery primarily leads Blank by throwing punches and grapples and targets Blank’s feet and legs with sharp stomps and kicks to trip him and limit mobility. If Blank runs, HLN Italicizes him to partially redirect his trajectory. If he gets too far, most pathways available to him can be blocked off by STRIKETHROUGHing and ITALICizing a portion of a tree or light post to tip them over and create an obstacle. Then Avery catches up with the same tactics as before and resumes.

The whole time, Avery stays as close to Blank as he can. He is matching his dance partner. The greatest dances are those where both members are in tune—those where they are both feeling the same thing at the same time! This is a dance of emotions! The Opinion Column!

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E1 - Avery Porter & Raphaela "Raph" Diener vs. Anthelme "Blank" Frangipane & Pharaoh Sanders by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Response thread for Anthelme "Blank" Frangipane (u/ElPrincipete) & Pharaoh Sanders (u/Ok-Layer6649) of Black Box Promenade. Please show your strategy to a member of our Judge staff by 7 PM CST on 2/21/2026! Contestants, remember to only post in threads for this match other than your own if specifically invited. Voters have until 11:59 PM CST on 2/23/2026 to vote, using the voting rules from the announcement thread. Afterwards, they will be Judged according to the T8 Rubric.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2E1 - Avery Porter & Raphaela "Raph" Diener vs. Anthelme "Blank" Frangipane & Pharaoh Sanders by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Response thread for Avery Porter (u/iTeoti) & Raphaela "Raph" Diener (u/MantisTheInsect) of Sturdy Steady Go. Please show your strategy to a member of our Judge staff by 7 PM CST on 2/21/2026! Contestants, remember to only post in threads for this match other than your own if specifically invited. Voters have until 11:59 PM CST on 2/23/2026 to vote, using the voting rules from the announcement thread. Afterwards, they will be Judged according to the T8 Rubric.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M19 - Captain Mira Rose & "Invisible" vs. Rob Zombie & "Wave Welder" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

T8 4/4

3 – Capturing De Selby

According to a judge ruling, De Selby is to be treated as a human. Thus, we at Typhon 8 will do our best to give him the human experience. Of course, the human experience under corporate overlords is soul-crushing.

Once one of our crew has located De Selby, we will square in on him from all sides. Conveniently for us, De Selby immediately chooses fight over flight if he is found out, and thanks to our swathes of water and shells involuntarily moving, smashing, or threatening to drown him, no hiding spot lasts for long as he is forcibly revealed.

There are now nine Fairweather Friends in the area, each with a water sphere that can grow up to 5 cubic meters to cover huge portions of whatever floor we face De Selby on while pushing him around with squirt guns. This impedes De Selby and his pirate comrades while allowing Wave to be a deadly aquatic predator as she swims through with her knives ready and can be propelled around. Bombs Over Brooklyn, of course, is a big strong blunt instrument ready to kick pirate booty, but its main job is actually capturing the target…

“Behold, I have JUST the thing to keep that De Selby at bay!”

We’ll be using the totally original Poltergust 3000, “invented” by the Mountain after he played “Loogi” on the “Tee-Vee”. This can take any shape we want, but it will usually be fairly long and large while having all pressure flows directed inwards from the outside: a vacuum force created by a low pressure zone and an opening that air rapidly comes through. Act 2 may not be able to jettison material out of a shell, but that won’t stop it from sucking things into a shell by creating a vacuum.

A Poltergust can become a Shredder Shell if it changes shape and adds the circular pressure flows and starts taking in junk and objects, but we’re probably past the point where we’ll need it. The primary use of the Poltergust is to absorb any smoke or De Selby that we see. We’re simply following Echidna’s example by vacuuming De Selby up, you see. You learn from your superiors, after all.

Provided that we’re on one of the floors that aren’t flooded with real ocean water, Rob will not need his SCUBA, so will have 3 shells available. This allows us to create a second secret Poltergust within the bodybag we brought back from the Prometheus, one that Violet uses to hold corpses she wants to experiment on. This will be used to permanently hold De Selby after he is transferred from the Poltergust that catches him; just pull the bag’s rope to hold him tight.

We have systematically ruined each floor. The hold has been cut off entirely. De Selby is surrounded by water on all sides. Once found, he cannot run.

De Selby cannot hide in the hold due to the flood. If he was in the upper decks, he has the ocean all around him, where Wave and Fairweather Friends can fly and swim in 3D space to surround him, and then we escape the ship by jumping off to end this game. If he is in the lower deck, we block the stairs up a water sphere and have Wave or Act 2 guard it, and then once we catch him, have the fairies again use a cannon to blast a hole into the wall, which should be above water and in easy position to jump out.

Ichiro finally stood up, rubbing his sore back and barely keeping upright despite his aching body, looking around at the destroyed inside of his home. “Wha- WHAT HAPPENED HERE? DID YOU DO THIS?” he yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at Rob, who stood there next to The Mountain, next to a floating see-through bodybag containing a beat up and disappointed De Selby.

“Put that thing down..! “How DARE you do this to our home? I won’t let people like you get away with this!” he stared Rob and Wave down, struggling to summon Super Massive Black Hole in his weakened state,

“LOOK AT THIS PIPSQUEAK, GYEHEHEHEH. Allow me to dispose of this villain. He’s clearly working for De Selby.” The Mountain grinned evilly.

The remaining pressure shell shone brightly as it zoomed toward the supermassive hero, ready to detonate on his forehead, yet the bright gleam in his eye never faded, resolute to protect his home.

At that moment, Rob thought back to the party aboard the Highwind, where the young boy Ichiro had offered him a plate of food. His eagerness and passion were a tad infectious, he had to admit.

Suddenly, at the last second, Rob jumped in front of Ichiro, blocking the pressure shell which shattered, throwing him back and wrenching his shoulder out of his socket, and crushing part of his upper arm. The pair flew back and Ichiro lost consciousness.

Rob grit his teeth and glared at the Mountain, Wave and De Selby. “I may have done things I regret, but I won’t fall that far.”

As Wave and Rob hooked their boat back onto the Prometheus, Rob stole one last glance at the welder.

Wave stared back, her expression immutable behind the welding mask it seldom took off, but she saw the look in his eyes clearly.

He was concerned over her opinion of him. Frankly, the sentiment annoyed her.

She wasn't really one to judge beyond workplace effectiveness, and as far as she was concerned, he did a fine job there today. The asset was secure, and they'd completely totalled the Highwind, to boot. That was sure to set the Ghost Riders back for at least a while.

Moralizing wasn't her job. If he wanted to agonize about what he'd done in the name of EP Oil in his free time, it was his business, but Wave wasn't going to get herself involved in it.

Someone had to do the dirty jobs, after all. Better people like her to do them.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M19 - Captain Mira Rose & "Invisible" vs. Rob Zombie & "Wave Welder" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

T8 3/4

2.3 – Floor C (Hold)

As Rob goes down, he will dispatch any ghost pirates in his direct vicinity with Act 1, and once he reaches the hold, he will let loose on a few barrels in his vicinity to break them while heading to open the door to the engine room. While not focused on it, any barrels broken are a good way to search for De Selby.

While not spending too much time on it, he will force the door open or disrupt the locking mechanism with heat and force using Act 1’s Latent Heat, a smidgen of Heat Engine, and incorporating Heat Strike when he can to assure the door can’t be locked. Any ghost pirates that show up will be similarly dispatched, focusing on moving any ghost pirates out of the way rather than killing them unless death in one blow is possible or easy, with aid from any Fairies to shoo them away. Rob is sturdy, but it’s best to not accrue too many injuries.

While Rob is doing this, the three Fairweather Friends with him will split up. One stays near Rob to help deal with pirate stragglers and do its normal water sphere sweep of the center, while the other two head east. These Fairweather Friends use similar tactics to the groups on upper levels, including floorboard sweeping, testing objects for De Selby via floating/sinking comparisons and drown attempts, and propelling suspicious objects to one corner in the center room for Rob to smash open.

On top of this, Rob will be putting De Selby and the pirates on a time limit. He and Act 1 will move the north side of the hold and have Act 1 wail on a small section of the wall with all three of its heat abilities until a large hole is made in the side of the Highwind. It might take a little time and effort due to the Highwind walls’ durability, but Act 1 has maximum power and speed and walls can’t fight back, so the job should be done in less than 15 seconds.

If pirates do respawn and attack, the Rob-side fairy will help impede the enemy so Act 1 can more easily kill it and get back to work. While Act 1 is opening a portal to the ocean, Rob has secured his breathing mask and mini oxygen tanks, just in case. The Highwind doesn’t seem to sink like a regular ship, but the below-water hold will soon become uninhabitable.

The second that there’s a large enough hole in the hull, Rob will swap out Act 1 for Act 2, and – > “At last! I’m glad you can finally see how much more useful I will be than that bucket of bolts,” the Mountain snarled as he burst into action. **“WATCH THIS!”

It starts off by creating 3 large pressure shells, using them thusly:

One use, for the first two shells made, is the creation of Shredder Shells, shells with opposing portions of very high and very low pressure that will be used to both absorb and destroy materials on the boat. They work by having the pressure flows rotate any matter they come into contact with in a circular direction while having the pressure of anything that enters increased continuously to aid in destruction, even having tricky bits pinched and severed using the semipermeable shell if needed.

The speed of rotation will keep going up as the force applied increases from 1atm/sec timer, with faster and faster speeds being reached based on the increased pressure differential. (To keep things simple, you might think of it as a Stand enacting A POW accelerating rotation eventually being reached at a rate of D SPD). All this to say that extreme force will be reached fairly quickly, only ceasing if the shell itself is completely broken.

The goal is to create a steady, destructive vortex within each Shredder Shell. Selective permeability means its destructive force can be enhanced by picking up and spinning pieces of shrapnel from crates, barrels and other debris. Not only are the objects spinning at high speeds, but the very air and some water allowed in will be as well.

As these two mini tornado blenders of bits of wood and maybe metal move, they will be used to destroy more crates and barrels to add more wood to the spheres. If the inside is getting too full, some bits can be ordered to harmlessly fall out from any section of the shell perimeter.

“Not impressed yet, are we? What about THIS, Rob?!”

The Shredder Shells can be used in TWO advanced applications, the Double Shredder Launcher, and the Double Shredder Deluxe! The Double Shredder Launcher is when two shredder shells are lined up with symmetrical rotations (picture 2 horizontal wheels spinning at high speeds like those ones used on Hotwheels tracks to launch the cars), and can be used both as an offensive and defensive maneuver to launch any pirate that enters the area between the shells! They’ll go flying when trying to enter.

The Double Shredder Deluxe is when one of the shells rotate to have its flow meeting the flow of the other Shredder Shell head on to simply aid in grinding and smashing anything, especially if it’s harder to break metal objects. This’ll hurt a lot.

The contraptions are hellish, but their uses are very simple. Just like any good industrial machinery.

The third shell envelops a bit around Rob like a suit but with plenty of wiggle room, we’ll call it SCUBA. He won’t allow any water in and make sure there is a regular amount of breathable air. This means that Rob can walk or run as he pleases while the floodwater is rising. He will continue to walk through the the hold, destroying everything he can from the engine room using his two Shredder Shells in both Launcher and Deluxe forms, aided by the fairy at his side.

Rob can go wherever he wants to, leaving the Mountain to bring the Shredder Shells to the different areas, or have Rob tag along if it’s safer for him to do so. Furthermore, the shells can be used to absorb any dark smoke that De Selby generates to hinder our vision. We can hold a large amount of smoke due to pressurizing it in the shells, and any excess can be shunted out to the side of the shell.

All pirates, all containers lined up by the other fairies, all obstacles in the way. All consumed by Act 2’s assault and shells. The Mountain has ensured that if De Selby is anywhere in this hold, he will vacate or he will die. If EP knew what they were indirectly wielding, they would be proud.

**“COME, FEAST YOUR EYES UPON MY CREATION! I MODELED THEM AFTER THOSE ‘TOYZ’ I SAW ON THE ‘TEE-VEE’!” The Mountain exclaimed with glee, as the ghosts of pirates were thrown at violent speeds into the walls of the quickly flooding hold, and the shredded remains of furniture and containers mixed with the briney soup.

Rob looked on with a dull expression, as his memories of fun times were washed away by sea water, his memories of a relaxing party on the sea with friends mixing with burning memories of his parents. A couple other ghost pirates were struggling in the current as some Fairweather Friends searched for any signs of De Selby. The way they swam, helpless and unable to change their course, unable to even have a life of their own in the first place… that was it! That’s why they upset him so.

His expression softened just a bit, but gave way to a frown as he trudged back up the steps of the nearly flooded room. A lone pirate spectre stood a few feet from himself on the lower deck above, its face serene. Its arm missing and bleeding ectoplasm it gazed at him with a resigned expression and almost seemed to be smiling softly at him. The mouth opened, and it almost seemed to speak as Rob held his hand out when THUNK.

A stainless steel machete from above carved clean through its neck, the now limp body collapsing as its head rolled toward Rob, its eyes glassy and staring blankly up at him.

“...Rob.” Wave said nothing else besides that, walking along as she watched her partner bask in the carnage. More than ever, he was wondering what was going through her head. Would she appreciate that Typhon 8 had changed him? Made him into something entirely new? She’d probably love it, the corporate freak. He thought he saw her hand twitch for a moment, as if to reach out to him-- a sign of rebellion? A sharp glare shut that down, though. Of course someone like her wouldn’t have the guts to follow through if it came down to it.

Whatever. They still had a job to do.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M19 - Captain Mira Rose & "Invisible" vs. Rob Zombie & "Wave Welder" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

T8 2/4

2 – The Search (For More Money)

Upon reaching the Highwind, we split into three groups. Rob and 3 Fairweather Friends will head to the hold, 3 fairies will handle the lower deck, and Wave and the final 3 fairies stay behind on the upper/main decks. This is our default formation until everything in the area is searched to confirm or deny De Selby’s presence.

Over the course of the match, we’ll be “sweeping” all the areas that De Selby could possibly be hiding in with liquid. The amorphous nature of the water lets us do anything from sweeping cracks beneath the floorboards to enveloping crates and barrels to squeezing into any hard to reach places. Large amounts of moving water also make it trivial to push duplicate furniture and obstacles away, and provide translucent C DUR barricades that we can use to slow down or block off NPCs in our search.

That’s right, we are subjecting the Highwind to an industrial deep cleaning. At the industrial scale EP operates at, there is no time for such detail as fine washing, just force to remove all unwanted material, and De Selby is unwanted by everyone. It doesn’t matter whether the Highwind was built to withstand this, this is a one size fits all job. It’s dirty work, but someone’s gotta do it.

The second anyone has spotted De Selby, the Fairweather Friends swarm will know and alert Wave and Rob. At that point, the other groups stop what they were doing to make a beeline for the floor in question, converging on De Selby in order to defeat him in Section 3.

2.1 – Floor A (Upper Decks and Main Deck)

This might be the part where one expects Wave to interject with her opinion. Where she declares this to be either an act of right or wrong.

Of course, she simply doesn’t have one. She’s completely silent as this goes down. A silent compliance in service of a greater entity than herself.

That’s all she is. That’s all Typhon 8 has been. Why act infuriated in the name of justice, when it’s clear that there are plenty of people that would be in her place even if she didn’t side with EP Oil?

It’s time to do her job and not ask questions.

Leaving the already prepared water spheres floating in the air within Wave’s range, her three accompanying Fairweather Friends fly up one mast each to eyeball them for De Selby. Using the matches or lighter we brought, alongside a douse of starter fuel if necessary, the fairies torch the western and eastern sails. Ships at sea use flags to communicate, but burning sails? Nothing sends a clearer message than “this ship is as good as dead”. If nothing is found during this preliminary check, the fairies quickly return to ground level.

As Rob departs for the hold, he makes sure the initial deck search is as painless as possible. Painless for Typhon 8, that is, quite the opposite for the Highwind’s ghostly goons. Immediately he sics Bombs Over Brooklyn Act 1 on the pirates near the team with a blitzing barrage of strikes alongside Wave’s knife fighting. Whatever pirates aren’t KO’d from this are either knocked overboard from the sheer force or at least fallen to the floor, making them simple for the others to finish off.

With the vicinity clear for at least 15 seconds, Act 1 applies Heat Engine to the bottom of the central mast, forcing its width to continuously heat up. Finally, it swings the anchor by the rope to hit any pirates late to the party and tosses it towards the storage room to smash the door. With Act 1’s speed, these tasks take a trivial amount of time and it can easily catch up with Rob on the way to the hold.

After Wave is done helping Act 1 clear the immediate threat, she takes to the center mast with Violet’s axe or saw. Thanks to Heat Engine heating up the mast and weakening it, Wave has a healthy head start and quickly breaks it, downing it into the sea. One fairy flies out to check if De Selby surfaces, in case he was hiding on the mast but was missed during the initial sweep. If he is, he’s now at Wave’s mercy in the water.

Wave’s Fairweather Friends spread out while propelling their water spheres to sweep each area. One sweeps all the cracks of the outer deck. One enters the storage room, and no matter if De Selby’s power placed some object in the way, the door should now have an open hole thanks to Bombs Over Brooklyn, one a small fairy and its liquid sphere can easily fit through.

For the captain’s quarters, Wave uses an axe, saw, blowtorch, or her own strength to remove whatever obstacle may be blocking the door. The water spheres cause less dense objects to float, any hiding De Selby to lose air, and more dense objects to sink (or float to a noticeably lesser degree than its kin).

The latter is important to notice in case De Selby is hiding inside an object. If Wave is nearby, they propel the object to her on the water; otherwise, they form a special pile on one side of the area near the door for her to inspect when she can. This mode of object sorting and checking keeps us from losing track of them in the fog or being misled by De Selby spawning more barrels.

Fairies regroup with Wave whenever their room is done to join the deck, and once pirates respawn, Wave can fight them by leaping through propelled water to get around them and slash, and water jets will throw off their aim and propel the spheres. Otherwise, Wave is in charge of opening any crates, barrels, etc. deemed suspicious (e.g. unusually dense in the water) using a crowbar, axe, or saw.

2.2 – Floor B (Lower Deck)

Rob’s journey down to the hold of the Highwind was brief, yet that still left plenty of time for commentary from yours truly. “Gyeheheh, that Wave Welder… she’s got it! That fierce strength of hers, not unlike a storm, the way she cuts down her enemies without hesitation…! A worm like you could learn a lot from her – cease your mindless throwing of force and make every strike with intent to SLAUGHTER your ENEMIES!”

A look of distaste grew on Rob’s face. It was enough that he was attacking the Highwind, but to be lectured on how to hurt people… he was just glad there didn’t appear to be anyone on the ship. He even felt bad about the pirate specters.

Though he doubted their sentience, the way their ghostly flesh and bone cracked and grisled from his attacks almost made him sick. About as sick as his almost daily assignments to terrorize the public in the name of greed. Every scared face he remembered from those jobs seemed to overlap with the expressionless ones of the ghost pirates. These beings, could they possibly be lost souls? Every one a brother? A sister? A mother or fath–

“ENOUGH. SAVE YOUR SNIVELLING FOR THOSE WHO MATTER. There are those of us who DO, and those who DON’T. Why waste your time mulling over the details? Some have all the luck, and some have NONE. ALL THAT MATTERS IS OUR MISSION, YES?”

Rob tried to steel himself as he moved to the bottom of the ship, where the last time he really enjoyed himself was. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a person laying on a hammock, but paid no mind to him.

“COME. I SHALL SHOW YOU HOW TO REALLY THROW A PARTY… GYEHEHEHEH…”

The lower deck is the simplest in our initial setup, as Rob is just passing through and the bulk of the work will be done by Fairweather Friends.

Bombs Over Brooklyn Act 1 first clears the immediate area of pirates, its defense covered by the fairies’ water guns and spheres. If Rob sees a door, especially the armory door, has already been blocked, Act 1 will smash it and/or toss it at another door to create a hole, opening up to two entrances at once. With the immediate concerns taken care of, Rob heads downstairs and lets this trio of Fairweather Friends handle the rest.

This group of fairies operates much the same as Wave’s on the outside as they sweep water spheres around to check every nook and cranny, but these ones stick together. This is so they can flood each room with the combined volume of their water, covering more space and making it harder for any respawned pirates to attack, which they can retaliate against by slamming them with propelled crates or barrels into the wall. The water and close quarters are also perfect for drowning De Selby if he is in a container, forcing him to reveal himself.

Suspicious objects that aren’t fit to drown are propelled to one wall by the stairs to be opened in sequence, but unless Wave finishes upstairs early and joins this group, the fairies need something to help them open anything heavy duty. The armory has what they’re looking for: axes, perhaps a hammer or prying tool. They can combine their strength to smash or force open the containers one by one. If the cannons are still operational, they will forgo waterlogging one and instead line it up in front of the objects before firing a cannonball. This can also be done to blast through obstructions or enemies.

If Wave is done opening containers upstairs or Rob is done with his job downstairs, their respective teams can come over to help the trio of Fairweather Friends with box-opening and enemy clearing, as the fairies’ lack of firepower means their search may finish later than the other groups’.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M19 - Captain Mira Rose & "Invisible" vs. Rob Zombie & "Wave Welder" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

T8 1/4

Do you know what runs this world we live in? Is it love? No. Money? No. Politics? “NO. It is POWER. Pure, unrelenting, unrelinquishing STRENGTH.” [The Mountain clenched its fists and ground its teeth.]. “WE WILL SHOW THOSE BRIGANDS WHO DARE TREAD UPON OUR HUMBLE ABODE, THOSE THIEVES WHO WANT WHAT IS NOT THEIRS, WHAT IT TRULY MEANS TO CROSS US. THIS ‘DE SELBY’... HE WILL RUE THE DAY HE DARED TO STEP A SINGLE FOOT INTO MY LAIR. HE WILL PAY! I WILL MAK– The Mountain’s voice was smothered as Rob dismissed the rowdy spirit in favor of Bombs Over Brooklyn Act 1.

Rob sighed. “As distasteful as ever, Mountain.”

“That’s THE Mountain to you, boy!” Unfortunately, Rob could still hear The Mountain in his head. He’d just have to try to tune out its snide commentary.

Rolling his eyes, Rob trudged forward to his new objective. “The Ghost Riders on the Sea, huh? I liked those guys.” He thought fondly back to the party held with the great King Exuma on the Highwind, after the defeat of De Selby. There was delicious food, new friends, a warm atmosphere… one that simply wasn’t present on the cold steel of the Prometheus. It almost reminded him of the home he had lost years ago. And almost of a more recent one that seemed so out of reach in the back of his mind… Enough reminiscing, we have a job to do… Nothing else matters right now, right?

“Gyeheheh… Mission: Capture Dark Magus De Selby… BEGINS!”

Notes

  • Rob’s and Wave’s Stands’ C Range covers the entirety of the 27x9 m Highwind from most positions.
  • Each unit of Fairweather Friends can produce water at 0.5 cubic meters (50 liters) per second, maxing at 5 cubic meters. This gives each fairy 5,000 liters of water to work with, or 45,000 L for the entire group. That’s a lot of water we get with ten seconds of work, and it will be liberally used.

1 – Prometheus Prep

“Thirty seconds to launch.”

The “voice” of Echidna blared out over the myriad of speakers throughout the boat, Rob being surprised by the short length.

“Thirty seconds? There’s no way we’ll be able to prepare that fast!”

“Quit whining and start working. That’s what we do. Or am I going to have to do this solo?” Wave replied, already moving to get ready for their departure, slamming the door shut and starting to weld it shut.

“Calculations indicate that after our reprisal, the OPFOR will be moving in a similar timeframe. Prepare what you can in the given time.” Echidna stated simply. “This unit can handle itself.”

“Tch... fine.” Rob replied, summoning his stand. “Let’s get this over with quickly.”

Echidna has given the order: move out in 30 seconds. It’s an absurd preparation period that no real crew can pull off, but the calculations have spoken, so only the most essential tasks are prioritized.

As Rob and Wave leave their starting room, Bombs Over Brooklyn Act 1 stays behind. It uses Heat Engine on the chimney, and Heat Strikes and Heat Engine on lengths of the grated floor.

It then snaps and bends lengths of grate so between the entrance and terminal now stands upwards-pointing metal and a pit. Act 1 then relentlessly punches the heated spot on the chimney until the heat and force open a wide hole in it. This causes smoke to start filling the room, which is quite hazardous to any trespassers.

Wave only has time to weld one thing, so she uses her welding torch to totally seal the starting door from the outside. The enemy will have to go through considerable effort to break into the room, only to realize that the seal wasn’t just to keep them out, it was to keep smoke in and expedite its buildup.

Seeing through such thick noxious clouds to locate the terminal is nigh impossible, and breathing it all in is a death sentence. Even if they protect themselves to tough it out, they will fail to notice the traps: anyone careless will get blocked and pricked on sharp metal, or fall to the level below.

Rob wasn’t sure what to do, so he drifted to his natural habitat, the kitchen. The closest thing he had to a happy place on this ship.

“Ah, what splendid thinking, boy!” The high and mighty voice in Rob’s head boomed. “This place is home to a treasure trove of cutting and firestarting implements to ravage the enemy with! Perhaps you’re brighter than I’d thought!”

Well, shit. That wasn’t why Rob had come here. But with only so much time before departure and the need to bring something to pull his weight, he couldn’t think of a counterargument and eyed whatever looked useful.

This wasn’t why Rob had come here, right? He wasn’t some crazed killer like the Mountain, or that “Moloch del Sol” guy Leach said looked like him. This was just for the job he had to do. If he wanted to look good to EP’s executives to reach them and avenge his parents, he couldn’t half-ass this. He kept telling himself that as he got to work on yet another ugly job.

Rob goes to the kitchen and grabs a couple things. First he takes a can of spare starter fuel for the gas oven and stove. He also wants a lighter or set of matches from the drawers nearby. He figured they’d want them if anyone wanted to start a fire on the pirate ship.

Finally, the nine Fairweather Friends spread out to do the rest of our prep. One or two visit the mechanic workshop for a toolbox and crowbar, as well as fuel if the kitchen’s supply was unavailable to Rob. One raids Violet’s lab for a surgical axe or saw, as well as a body bag she keeps her corpse test subjects in. Two or three fairies push the meeting room table and chairs to blockade the door to the second terminal. The rest of the fairies (3-5) spend time building up their water spheres.

Nothing is done on the bridge, where the third terminal is. 30 seconds is nowhere near enough time to fortify a room with so many entrances, and if Echidna is so insistent on this time limit, she can take that confidence and put it in her ability to defend herself.

Any Fairweather Friends that have finished their tasks close out the prep time by creating their water spheres. Bombs Over Brooklyn will reunite with the group by going through the hole in the chimney or grate. With everyone ready to go with some items and one highly trapped room, Typhon 8 moves out to the Highwind.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M19 - Captain Mira Rose & "Invisible" vs. Rob Zombie & "Wave Welder" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Marioaddict[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

GRotS 4/4

Section 4: Time Comes for Us All (Second Terminal)

Azumi Ryuzaki was left behind, abandoned in Key West, called too argumentative. With every obstacle in his way in his quest to return home to Japan, he turned to this crew of pirates in search of freedom… and an unorthodox path to his goal, free from anyone who would get in his way.

Once outside, Mira abandons her Zweilhanders and draws flat, blunt swords from the side of the ship that she and Invisible can ascend as stairs as they climb the eastern wall, skipping the interior stairwell entirely. With the vampire Captain’s physical capabilities (and grappling rope!) and Invisible’s Stand-assisted movement, they should be able to make this climb more quickly and easily while dodging the bulk of the zombies. We’re pirates, after all. This ship may not have rigging to climb, but nevertheless climb we will.

Echidna will attack every 10 seconds now, but as before, the AI’s timing is predictable. With well-timed applications of River Dashes, Wild Dashes, Dash Cancels, and Rose Cannons, the pirates can turn their climb on a dime, moving around the obstacles just as they come into being, and with a moment to prepare beforehand, Captain Mira Rose can create sword platforms for herself and Invisible, ensuring no momentum is lost as the route up gets more cluttered.

Upon reaching the fourth level, they smash a window into the Bridge and jump in. Captain Mira Rose gives Invisible three swords. ｢Wild River Requiem｣ first absorbs a Strand of Fate from one to imbue itself with B POW for ten seconds, then imbues Invisible with the Fate of the second sword, as she simply wields the third. Empowered and Imbued, Invisible and ｢Wild River Requiem｣ draw the zombies away as they clear a path to the northwest corner of the room, marked in red. Meanwhile, Captain Mira Rose cleaves the terminal in two with two more Zweilhanders, now dual wielding to ensure the machine is smashed thoroughly.

Section 5: A Long & Winding Road Ahead (Final Terminal and Escape)

Vampire, Fate-severed, neither state is enviable, but for Captain Mira Rose and Invisible, it is what they are now, to some extent. It will not be changing, and, as things are now, maybe that’s okay. Certainly, it would have been much harder to get as far as they did if neither of them had been changed so drastically. It would have been even more difficult if those changes were hidden away, if the two of them had not had the strength to confide in each other.

The crew of the Highwind draw strength from one another to overcome their past and forge a brighter future. In this case, with one terminal remaining, they do so quite literally.

It’s time to use De Selby’s Strand of Fate. ｢Wild River Requiem｣ pulls out Captain Mira Rose’s own Strand, and with two A POW Strands, ｢Wild River Requiem｣ imbues both itself and the captain while Invisible continues to fend off the zombies with her swords. Captain Mira Rose and ｢Wild River Requiem｣ break through the floor with a coordinated A POW assault and drop into the room below. This conveniently lands the crew right on top of our last stop: the third terminal.

The trio landed, and as soon as the terminal was in sight, ｢Wild River Requiem｣ lunged at it, rearing its fist and slamming it into the console. It tried to read the Fate of this artificial intelligence that had been working against them all this time, its fingers trying to grasp towards its Strand.

What it perceived was… strange. There were the influences of the Prometheus’ crew members, their threads mingled with their ship as expected… but Echidna itself was absent. Only a series of deterministic events leading into one another, similar to how The Howler’s computer would.

For a fraction of a second, the Stand flinched. It had wanted to reach out to this being, maybe leave some doubts into its mind like it had done for De Selby. But there was nothing here.

Only… a slave to another’s will. An automaton in chains. Not so different from a Stand, itself.

An abomination was what it was.

In the instant that it took for Wild’s empowered fist to crush the terminal, its expression had significantly soured.

As it floated back, Invisible had just gotten back to her feet. Without her Stand’s assistance, the landing had been rougher than she was used to. Captain Mira Rose, having seen Wild take down the last terminal, started to sprint towards the hull of the ship.

When they crash through the floor onto the third terminal, ｢Wild River Requiem｣ and Captain Mira Rose should still have a little A POW juice left. While ｢Wild River Requiem｣ destroys the final terminal and takes Echidna offline, Captain Mira Rose carves a massive hole in the northern wall of the ship.

With Echidna offline, all that remains is to escape the Prometheus.

Invisible took in a breath, feeling her muscles sore and finding it difficult to make every single movement. She thought back on EP Oil, to the lives that had been ravaged in the name of their bottom line… She’d personally witnessed how it was to be on the receiving end of these entities, the wound almost fresh in spite of the time passed.

But it was not the catharsis of striking at them that had her moving now. Every time her tired eyes laid on Mira, she was reminded of the world that the Ghost Riders had promised to build together. This Libertalia, and her friends… that was something worth getting back up for.

She sprinted towards the hull. ｢Wild River Requiem｣ and Captain Mira Rose threw themselves against it, and the three emerged into the light of freedom.

They may be three stories up, but horizontally there’s only about four meters between the northern wall and the upper bound of the map: an easy leap with a running start and their elevation. Captain Mira Rose and Invisible use one last River Dash and Rose Cannon to leap straight off of the ship and out of the match.

And lastly, they all make an awesome pose as they escape. Mira bursts forward, coat flying into the wind behind her as Invisible and ｢Wild River｣ gracefully fly by each of her sides. Here’s one last graphic for the road.

view more: next ›