Bab 362: 362. The Truth ~What is Truth?~
Shizuka slowly opens her eyes.
"Hey..." smiled Mercuria.
"Costello-San..." Shizuka slowly tries to sit up, but Mercuria lets her stay lying down.
"Whoa, there... We tried having the others heal you, but they're currently knocked down. Mr. Ligera tried healing you, but it didn't work. Rick is on his way to fix your injuries."
"I-Is Dad okay?" asked Shizuka.
"Yeah..." said Mercuria. "Your father is okay."
"I feel like..." said Shizuka. "I feel like, sooner or later, the third world war is about to start... Or at least a massive war... Because of Nocturna."
Mercuria tilts her head. "Who?"
"She's a hybrid. She has a Black Quartz for a Gemstone in her naval. She claims to be Black Diamond."
Mercuria. "She... showed you her face?"
"I saw... that she had a Memory Gun in her holster... She was planning to... make us forget her face... But... Dad... Made her run away."
"So... she's the boss?" asked Narcos, who is reading a newspaper on the chair near them.
"Kind of... But... she's more like a... daughter of the Boss... The true Boss is her mother... slash... father..."
"What?"
"Gabrielle told me before that you... Narcos... fused with Ermes Costello... No... You swapped minds with her..."
Narcos' eyes widen.
"And then he turned into a pickle! Funniest... shit... I've ever... seen..." said Miguel, speaking with the nurses while gravely injured. He has bandages all over his body. "God! I can't regenerate fully for some reason even after all those prayers!"
"Uh-huh..." The nurse leaves him and walks out of the room. "God, is that guy annoying or what?"
"Hey! He's a stand-up guy!" yelled another nurse.
"Would you date him?"
"Ew. No."
They both walk away.
"I could-..." said Miguel. "I could hear you... earlier... Yeah. You're totally gone..."
Meanwhile...
"I can't... regenerate..." whispered Gabrielle.
Bruce sighs, watching her. "You're gonna be okay, kid..."
"Where's Rick?" asked Peter.
"Fighting off Eldritch Birds in Daxam District 12."
"Those things are friggin' annoying."
"Hey..." said Gabrielle.
"Yeah?" asked the pair.
"Are the others okay?" asked Gabrielle.
"They're fine..." said Bruce. "Doctors say that they've found Dark Mist Venom in your blood. We're waiting for Rick to come and help you."
*beep beep...*
Bruce presses a Bluetooth speaker that forms in his ear. "Yeah? Uh-huh? I understand..." He turns it off and it retracts. "Rick's not coming."
"But-!" yelled Peter.
"But he found someone who could help," said Bruce.
The seven are gathered into a single room.
Shizuka, Irene, Gabrielle, Jotaro, Miguel, Josuke, and Yurielle all stay in this room in beds.
*step step step step...*
Steven Universe enters the room.
"Uncle Steven...?" asked Gabrielle.
"Hey, Gabby," said Steven.
"You're a doctor now?" asked Gabrielle.
"If you remember I told you that I actually went to medical school after battling the Gems for so long.Anyway... So... All of you have the Dark Mist Venom in your bodies?"
"Apparently so," said Jotaro. "We don't know where we've gotten it."
Steven Universe checks them up, removes their bandages, and shines flashlights into their wounds.
Steven then takes samples of their wounds and places them in vials. The wounds are placed like broken lines on their skin. Luckily, they've been all disinfected.
He then tests the wounds with a scanner. "The poison is from these injuries... They're like... stab wounds... It says in the 3D Ultrasound that you guys apparently have square-shaped wounds?"
"The Macuahuitl..." said Shizuka. "It's based on an Aztec, Maya, Mixtec, and Toltec weapon used for decapitating enemies. It's Nahuatl for 'hand-wood.' Grimms have been using it for years... I've read that in our history books."
"Whose Macuahuitl?" asked Steven.
"Nocturna's... Black Diamond," said Gabrielle.
Steven's eyes widen. "There's... another Diamond?"
"Apparently your granny White had a sister," said Josuke. "Kinda horrifying that she was way worse... and her daughter's basically the worst..."
"What does she want?" asked Steven.
"Bring chaos and anarchy to reality itself by destroying natural law," said Miguel. "The usual bad guy stuff... Y'know?"
Steven facepalms. "I... just can't believe this... I thought after all that, it was finally over...!"
"Uncle Steven... You gotta chill..." said Gabrielle.
"Yeah... I just... I find it uneasy, y'know?" asked Steven. "'Black Diamond...' I believe I was told of her before... I just thought she was long-shattered..."
"Well..." said Irene. "If it helps, we'll be happy to work with you if you wish. Right Yurielle?"
Yurielle stays silent.
"She's blind and deaf right now," said Josuke. "The pyramid thingy hit her head pretty hard."
"Jesus..." said Gabrielle.
"Yeah... Can't... I have a family... But if you need me, I'll be on my Universe..."
Steven smiles and walks out of the room.
"Uh..." said Miguel. "Excuse you!?"
Steven walks back inside. "Right... Healing spit..." He licks his hand and slaps it on Yurielle's face.
"EW!!!" yelled Yurielle. "WHAT IS THAT!!!? WHO'S DOING THIS!? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! HELP!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!!"
Later...
Everyone thanks Steven for the healing.
"Th-Thanks..." blushed Yurielle. Oddly enough, her eyes weren't healed.
"Sorry... Still can't do anything about the eyes..." said Steven. "What blinded you?"
"I honestly don't know..." said Yurielle.
Jotaro turns to Miguel, noticing that he's staring at Yurielle with a suspicious look.
Miguel looks away suspiciously.
Jotaro squints his eyes.
"You guys should walk around the city," said Steven. "You need movement to keep your body healthy."
Later...
"Well?" asked Gabrielle. "Where should we go?"
Miguel observes that Shizuka is bowing her head. "Maybe we should split up!" he smiled. "Jotaro goes with Shizuka... Irene with Gabrielle and Josuke... and I'll go with Yurielle!"
"What? Why?" asked Jotaro.
"Uh... bonding!" smiled Miguel.
Everyone stares at him with a long awkward pause.
"Heheh..." Miguel turns red. "Don't you want to bond...?"
Jotaro sighs. "Alright... Let's do whatever he's saying. It might be a good idea for that... Team building, we should say..."
Everyone agrees and goes their separate ways.
Later, Irene, Gabrielle, and Josuke walk around the town square...
"No way!" laughed Irene. "You also had Daddy issues?"
"Yeah... I kinda hate that I was the cause that my... parents are dead..."
"Oh... I see..."
"Yeah... I blame myself for that..."
"I blame myself for that, too, Gabrielle," said Josuke. "I offered to heal him up... So did Lord... But he spoke in our minds and told us not to... That if he doesn't die... You wouldn't be the hero you are now..."
"He... really said that...?" smiled Gabrielle.
Josuke smiles and nods.
"I wish Papa would say something like that to me..."
"Hey... I'm a version of your Dad..." said Josuke. "And I can tell you, that he does care about you..."
Irene smiles. "Thanks... Maybe there's a reason why we'd fall for our versions of Narciso..."
"Because he talks like Dad?" asked Gabrielle, laughing.
"Probably..." sighed Irene.
"I feel like..." said Gabrielle. "We're about to encounter a-..."
A smoke bomb falls before them and Rat King trips on the ground and falls facefirst before them.
"Fuck!" yelled Rat King. He stands up, slowly. "Oh... God... Oh... That hurt... ANYWAY!!!"
(theme begins)
Rat King stands up. "Hello, random people!"
"Simoun JoJo?" asked Josuke.
"Hello!" yelled Rat King. "Also... Who the hell is Simoun JoJo? Sounds like a prick!"
"You're Simoun JoJo... And we've met... Like... a few days ago..."
"You callin' me a prick, asshole?" he leaned toward Josuke, scarily.
"No... Your name's Simoun JoJo..." said Irene.
"No! I'm RAT KING!!! KING OF RATS!!!" he poses as he spreads his arms in the air, cackling.
"No... You're Simoun JoJo."
"Oh, I understand... Okay..." yelled Rat King. "Also... Who the hell is Simoun JoJo? Sounds like a prick!"
Gabrielle facepalms.
"I am here to do a magic show! A magic show with a challenge! If you win, I'll tell you the location of the Jump Force! If I win, I don't, but you can ask me one question about them except their location! Shall we...?"
"What...!?" asked Irene. "You can do that!?"
"I can do... anything... Darling... Because I'm the Rat King... Now... Figure out where this piece of gum is!"
Rat King takes out three cups and puts the gum underneath. "Schrodinger's Cat, baby!"
(theme ends at 0:55)
Meanwhile...
Miguel and Yurielle walk around the city. They're both eating ice creams. Miguel is eating vanilla ice cream and Yurielle is eating strawberry ice cream.
"So... Can you hear color?" asked Miguel.
"No... But colors feel different when I touch them," said Yurielle.
"What?"
"For example... This ice cream... It feels like it's pink... When I touch it, a certain color appears and flashes in my head."
"That's weird," said Miguel. "But at least you get to feel color..."
Yurielle sighs. "You know what Stroheim used to blind me, don't you?"
The pair stop.
Miguel warps a bench by the sidewalk. "Let's sit down for this..."
Meanwhile...
Jotaro and Shizuka silently walk together in the park.
Jotaro and Shizuka are still silently walking together in the park.
...
Jotaro turns to see a dog, who barks at him. Shizuka is uneased and backs away from it.
"You're scared of dogs?" asked Jotaro.
"I told you that a long time ago..." said Shizuka. "Oh, right! No, I didn't. Because you weren't there."
Jotaro sighs. He bows and pets the dog's face and brushes it.
Jotaro grabs Shizuka's face and makes her hand pet it.
She turns red and shivers out of fear.
The more she pets the dog, she begins to lower her eyelids and smile. "They aren't that bad, huh?"
A girl greets them, tired and exhausted. "Hey! I see you've met my dog!"
The pair say goodbye to the lady who thanks them for finding her dog.
Later... Jotaro drinks some more pills while walking with Shizuka.
"What's your illness called?" asked Shizuka.
"Oh... just a cough..." said Jotaro. "I forgot its name."
Shizuka squints her eyes. "You've had that sickness for around two weeks already."
"Probably COVID..." said Jotaro.
"COVID was cured ten years ago in every Universe of Maharlica," said Shizuka. "Are you really okay?"
"I'm fine," said Jotaro.
Shizuka squints her eyes. "In Japan, there was that one kid..." said Shizuka. "You see before I used makeup going out, I used to be not very pretty. I bet you didn't even know that..."
"You look beautiful, kid..." said Jotaro.
Shizuka turns red and sighs. "Geez... That's beside the point. This kid... I really liked him. He's about the same age as me. I would turn invisible and follow him around to school. And while doing it, I felt really bad and gross about myself."
Jotaro stays silent.
"When I finally walked up to him, he said I was creepy for stalking him. So, I said I was sorry. I told him that I just wanted to be his friend. He said that he didn't want to. Then, I told him that I liked someone else. And we became friends and bonded over this person. When this person confessed to me, I had to say that I actually liked the other guy: The guy I was stalking. The guy got angry at me and called me manipulative for lying to him. He was really grossed out by me and didn't talk to me again. A rumor spread all over Morioh that I had sex with him, but the schools recognized it as false."
Jotaro spoke. "That was me. The reason the school recognized it as false."
Shizuka sighs. "I had a feeling... But... Again... That's beside the point. I'm trying to tell you that liars are the worst kinds of people. Unless you have a disorder that causes you to lie, if you lie to get what you maliciously want, you're the worst. So, don't lie to me, Papa."
Jotaro sighs. "I'm not lying to you to get what I want."
"Yes, you are. You're lying so that I'd be the leader of Jump Force. You're lying so that I'd end up feeling a false sense of trust toward you... and I'll be forced to end up being the leader of-..."
"I'm dying, Shizuka-chan," said Jotaro, turning to her.
"-Jump Force. And when I'm leader, you'd be-..." Shizuka stopped talking. "Eh?" she spoke softly.
Jotaro stares at Shizuka. "I'm dying. The meds are only slowing it down."
Shizuka's eyes quiver. "You're just saying that..." she laughed.
Jotaro grabs her wrist.
"Let go of me..." she struggled to push him away.
"I'm dying, Shizuka-chan..."
"LET GO OF ME!!! LET GO OF ME!!!" she hollered.
Jotaro grabs her by the shoulders.
She looks around and realized he had her enter a moment in stopped time.
"Shizuka-chan..." said Jotaro, with eyes quivering. "Gomen... but... I'm dying..."
Shizuka begins to cry. "You're lying..."
"I'm not... Lying..." said Jotaro.
"You only said you loved me because you're dying..." she began to cry.
"That's not true... I've always cared about you, Shizuka... You... Your sister... Your mother... I loved you all so very much... Believe me, Shizuka..."
Shizuka sobs. "B-But... But..."
"But I promise you... I'll find a way... to pick myself back up... and knock down this illness..."
Shizuka is absolutely hurt. She grabs her heart. "It hurts... I can't breathe..." she said, panting and crying.
"Breathe... Shizuka..." said Jotaro. "Breathe in... 1, 2, 3, 4... Breathe out... 1, 2, 3, 4..."
Shizuka follows this pattern of slow breathing.
"This is why I want Shizuka to enter the Jump Force..." Jotaro hugs Shizuka while thinking this to himself. "So that she'd be able to work on herself in case she loses someone like me... So she would be able to grow past me... And I want Irene to become Head and CEO of Speedwagon Foundation so that she'd be able to take care of the world, and most importantly, herself, her mother, and Shizuka when I'll be gone... I've accepted my fate... But I know... she won't... Not my little girl..."
Shizuka kept on crying...
Meanwhile...
"It was the face of an entity..." said Miguel. "An entity known as The Axolotl had blinded you."
"He's an evil being?"
"No... He's actually a gentle creature... He's the Anti-Bill Cipher... As the Cosmics say, 'Praise the Axolotl!' Haha! His name is Quetzalcoatl the Axolotl, the Angel and Old God of Knowledge and Reality. Meanwhile, there is Xolotl, the Angel and Old God of the Weirdness and Bizarre.The Axolotl blinded you because if you hadn't, there would be no one to stop Bill Cipher along with the four."
"The Four Stars?"
"The Four Stars will lead Bill Cipher against the Four Horsemen. You're one of them. Gabrielle, you, Shizuka, and me," said Miguel. "It is said that one of the Four Horsemen possessed one of the Four Stars... And he's whispering thoughts to her right now..."
Meanwhile...
Rat King presents his arguments.
"Gabrielle..." whispered The Other Guy in Gabrielle's thoughts.
"What do you want...?"
"The Rat King... Don't... Trust... Him..."
"Get outta my head!"
"You can control soul energy! Just peak into his mind!"
"I'm never gonna use that ability! That ability killed my Dad! You caused Dad's death! It made him the Angel of Death!"
"You fool... He never was the Angel of Death..."
"Huh...!?"
"Gabrielle! Pick a card!" yelled Rat King.
"Huh!?" asked Gabrielle.
Rat King laughs. "Ah! Too bad! You lost! All three of you!"
"DAMN IT!!! Why do you always have to blue-ball us!?" asked Josuke.
"Could you always tell us the secret of that trick!?"
"A magician never shows his secrets!"
"COME ON!!!" yelled Irene and Josuke.
But Gabrielle kept on thinking quietly.
"But...!" smiled Rat King. "I will show you a secret-!!!"
*SPLAT!!!*
Rat King vomits blood as he is stabbed by Gabrielle's claws in her Aswang form.
"GABRIELLE!!!" yelled Josuke.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" asked Irene.
Gabrielle, in her Aswang form, slowly turns to them. She speaks in a creepy deepened voice similar to a female Green Goblin. "Gabrielle? She's on sabbatical..."
Rat King realizes what's going on. "O-Oh! Another guy in her head! I'll see myself out..."
Rat King teleports away.
Josuke gulps. "Irene... That's not Gabrielle."
"Huh!? Then I'll kill her-!"
"No... I mean..." said Josuke. "There's another guy... in her head... Just like... Just like me..."
"I know you... Josuke, right? I've watched you behind Miguel's foolish eyes... You're just like he was... Now that I have her daughter's body... I'll take all of you out one by one..."
"PRINCE!!!" yelled Josuke. He can't bring out Prince. "Oh... shit..."
"STONE FREE!!!" yelled Irene. "No...!"
The Other Guy approaches them using Gabrielle's body. "Well...!? Heheheheheh... Do you wish to battle me with my Stand?"
"No...!" yelled Josuke.
"Well... Let's be fair, then... Higashikata Josuke... But do realize this... You're going to have an awful time..."
She leaps at Josuke, who woges and slaps The Other Guy away.
She shakes her head and charges at Josuke.
"NO!!!" yelled Irene.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone