Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 251

[madimpossibledreamer]

imposter is sus
also, I randomly got 1 month of paid membership!  it doesn't change all too much, except I have a search bar on my journal now, so get good use out of that while you can, and I'm thinking I'm going to create a poll about Shadowed Suspicion so far, so look out for that probably Monday (things like favorite new Stand, etc).  Any answers I'll back up before the end of the month because I have no idea if the post would just vanish.  I'd like to get good use out of new icons and the like, but I have experience doing that with inventory in mmorpgs during free weekends, and as fun as it is at the time, it becomes a big headache later.  (plus I haven't figured out what to do with the last 3 free icon slots anyway)

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Fitz fights the Stand.
Word Count: 1102
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

 

        It transpires that the Stand really can do more than just imitate friends and attempt to cause emotional damage. Not much, although its incompetence might be just another ploy, but still, it does have more than one weapon in its arsenal. Really, Fitz had wondered.
        It would have been obvious, if not for the very clear personality shifts that were a glaring beacon to anyone who knew the man well, by the fact that, as it moves, Fitz notices it has no shadow. Although the blond has to admit he could have interpreted that fact in a different manner. If it had been a better imitator, perhaps it would not have been so suspicious, and perhaps such a sign would not have been as obvious as a sign something was wrong with Jojo and could have been taken as a sign of an attack, like with the woman using Twisted Sister, perhaps by bringing their own shadows to life to attack them. As it stands, Fitz is…impressed by the blazing show of ineptitude.
        It also doesn’t work like the earlier Stand Darling had fought, Sons of Dixie. It isn’t mimicking Jojo with his hamon, and if it could call on Pretender to protect itself, it would have already done so, judging by the panic in its eyes, glowing a pale yellow ever since it started using its more offensive style powers.
        No, what it’s doing is controlling what feels like invisible water. The same invisible water that Lotus Juice floats in and uses for its own locomotion, although the blond doesn’t actually interact with it all the much. For the most part, though, that substance is intangible, LJ happily floating and splashing around in midair.
        The Stand, however, seems to be trying to pull the liquid into reality, but doesn’t seem all too practiced or even confident in its attempt. A massive wave, like the effects of a tsunami, picks Fitz off his feet and throws him into a wall, but aside from a little bruising, it seems the force the Stand can muster is…relatively lacking, since he imagines it was trying to knock him out or kill him.
        “Do you need some help, by any chance?” he asks, looking as casual as he can manage, anger and worry about his friend leading him to be vicious.
        The frustrated, humiliated, and furious glare suggests that if the Stand could kill simply by wishing Fitz would be gone on the spot. “I’d like to see you perfect this. Oh wait, you haven’t yet.” It’s mastered sarcasm, at least.
        “If you tell me where Jojo is, I might not kill you or your User,” he suggests instead, trying another stab without warning, mostly because this is a pathetic excuse for a fight otherwise. Seriously, he almost feels embarrassed for this Stand.
        What it lacks in offensive capability, it does seem to have mastered defense, since it dodges out of the way without hesitation. Slightly faster than mere human reflexes then. “I-if you kill me, Johan will die too,” the Stand warns, voice shaky, and quickly exclaims, “Hey!”
        He’d managed to dodge out of the way of another stab and the water bottle’s worth of water Fitz had tossed to LJ for Have a Nice Dream. Even faster than previously thought, then, and also able to multitask. “That’s cheating!” While it’s monologuing about facts which he’s already aware? That hardly seems unfair to this Speedwagon.
        “This is a fight, one you started by taking a hostage in the first place,” he responds, unsympathetic. “Speeches about honorable fights don’t bring back the dead, and if my options are ‘don’t play the gentleman’ or ‘die and disappoint Jojo’, I know my choice.” Stands, generally, are more resilient than regular humans. What if he just traps it underneath a wall using Mass Destruction? On one hand, that would possibly allow him to regroup with the others, assuming they haven’t gone too far ahead. On the other, it might not have as impressive a durability as he thinks, and there’s always the possibility he might injure himself and thus be of little help to affect Jojo’s rescue…Psychadelic Souljam? It’s taken a human form, so perhaps it’s weak to a poison, too, and particularly since that’s nonlethal, all he has to do is ensure it comes into contact with the Stand’s skin, like a poison dart frog, if far less colorful. Not too easy, given that the Stand seems to jump around like the aforementioned frog, but not impossible, either.
        “In any case, I hope you’d considered that there was a reason I didn’t just stab you in the heart, and why I’m opting for some of my more nonlethal techniques now.”
        For a Stand that relies heavily on mental attacks to achieve its goals, it’s certainly not well-equipped to deal with any attacks back, because his matter-of-fact statement rattles it. Just enough, too, for it to be just a little too slow, and for him to barely manage to graze it. Not what he was hoping for, and judging by the slight stumble appearing more out of fear than from an effective attack, it’s slightly resistant to LJ’s attacks, too. A slight handicap, if only a slight one. If one attack is not enough to have the desired outcome, he will have to simply keep going.
        “Man, you are terrifying. Honestly, terrifying,” the Stand complains, though it appears it’s capable of learning and adapting, since it continues moving, to be defensive. And even its grasp of Johan’s vocabulary seems to be improving slightly. That has nothing on the thought that suddenly strikes Fitz cold, though: perhaps this faint, weak mimicry is not an inherent characteristic of the Stand. Perhaps this is actually the power of Pretender, if wielded by one who really doesn’t understand how it works.
        It’s his turn to be distracted, long enough for the enemy Stand to act on its next use of its newly discovered power. The blond finds himself floating upward, and sadly, a more stalling type of use, rather than direct offense, is far more within this Stand’s wheelhouse. It doesn’t have the finesse or control it would desire, or it would have already removed his knife from his grasp, but this massively complicates his own ability to attack, given that endeavoring to swim toward the Stand feels like trying to swim through molasses (he’d imagine; he’s never done that before). He hears LJ burble in distress, and understands, but there’s little he can do about that—directly, anyway. He has one obvious next move he can take, but it’s a risky one.