Ileyna inserted the shard into the pocket of her dress, then picked up Hugo and took off. As she flew, she glanced over her shoulder, feeling reassured at the sight of the Stand following alongside her.

Edited by RisingDragon on October 22, 2009 at 10:42:25.

Meanwhile, their clues leading nowhere, Jotaro and R.D. now headed in Ileyna's direction. Jotaro kept focused, staring straight ahead as he briskly walked. He didn't seem thrilled that the whole thing was, in his words, "a distraction".

"Hey, hold up a second," R.D. said, motioning with Shell Bullet. "Look up there. I think I see Ileyna."

Sure enough, the blue light in the air was Ileyna. She was moving at a rapid pace, but she seemed to have spotted them, and was headed towards them. Within minutes, she had landed.

"R.D., Mr. Joestar!" she said, sounding unusually excited as she set Hugo down on the rooftop. "I did it, I beat the Stand user and got the Essence! And I got a Stand!"

===Bahamut's Weyr===

Seril nodded and sat down on one of the cushions, sighing as she propped her head up on her arms. "Every Tribe has faced evil within itself, and kept dark secrets from the world," she said. "The Dragon Tribes are no different. It was our kind that spawned the monstrosity known as Heresy. But there were others."

Her eyes glanced off to the side, towards the entryway that Relayia had departed through. "One of our kind was extraordinarily powerful. Enough that the world quaked in fear when he unleashed his power. The power drove him mad, and the forces of evil sought to harness that power into a weapon. We had no choice but to seal away Nidhoggr's soul with a complicated spell."

She sat up a bit. "Nidhoggr was before the Queen's time, and was before even my time. But his power was legendary. All of us fear a time where we may have to summon Nidhoggr back to the world. If we lost control of him... the results would be catastrophic. And this world cannot take much more abuse. Not with the Nature Elemental awakened."

Jotaro came to a full halt. "What? How?"

"I don't know either," Hugo said. "But as far as I know, she got one and took that other guy out. He already had his Essence removed and used it to lure us into a trap."

"How'd he do that?" R.D. asked, looking surprised.

"All he mentioned was a friend of his did it," Ileyna said. "After that I threw his Stand off with my powers, and then... then Mass Effect appeared and took him out."

"Mass Effect, huh? I'm sure that'll come in handy." R.D. mused. "Well, if we've got both pieces now, we better find the others and get back to your place, Jotaro. Ileyna, you can find them, right?"

"Mhmm!"

Ileyna closed her eyes and stretched out her senses again, looking for more pieces of Omega Essence. Her hair flared blue along with a chime, and she opened them again as she locked onto Matt and Helena's signatures.

"Alright, I found them."

"Let's go," Jotaro said. He bent down and, using the amazing power of Star Platinum, he leapt towards the next rooftop. In that split second, Ileyna could now see Star Platinum-a powerful Stand with charged green hair and strange blue skin.

Ileyna blinked in surprise as she saw Star Platinum, suddenly realizing that now she had Mass Effect, she'd be able to see other people's Stands. She suddenly jumped when R.D. tapped her shoulder.

"Come on, don't space out. You have to lead us, remember?"

She nodded and picked Hugo up before opening up her power again. She took to the air and pulled forward, ahead of Jotaro to lead the way. R.D. quickly followed, using Shell Bullet's abnormal strength to throw himself across the gaps between buildings.

It wasn't long before they found where the others were, on a street that looked like it'd been in a war zone.

R.D. landed hard on his fist, looking down at the wreckage of the crashed jet fighter. "What in the world happened here?" he wondered.

"I don't know," Ileyna said quietly. She raised her voice to call down to the others. "Matt, Helena, Alasea?? Are you guys all right??"

"No!" Matt called back. "We're having a really bad time, thank you!"

"Don't worry, we're still alive," came Helena's voice.

R.D. nodded and dropped down from the building, softening his landing by using Shell Bullet's fist. Ileyna flew down with Hugo in tow.

"Well, luck was on our side today," R.D. said, walking over while looking at the wreckage. "The other Stand user got the drop on Ileyna, but she ended up getting a Stand of her own and took him down."

"Nidhoggr isn't evil... just insane. In all of his time of madness, Nidhoggr has never attacked another dragon," Seril said. "But he saw everything else as fair game... no one but us has ever been able to control him. Should he slip from our grasp... then we'll have no choice but to destroy him."

Leaning casually against a bit of wreckage, Matt snapped up straight. "Wait, WHAT? A Stand?!"

"Yeah," Hugo said.

Matt's eyebrows scrunched. "That doesn't make any sense." He looked at Jotaro. "Don't you get Stands when you're a teenager?"

"Most of the time," Jotaro said. "But some people have had Stands when they were children."

"My Ao-Gem flared up when it happened," Ileyna said, moving over to Matt to give him the Essence she collected. "I think that might've given it to me."

"Is that even possible?" Alasea wondered.

"The Principality did say that the Ao-Gems were artificial Omega Essence..." R.D. mused, shrugging.

Sirens could suddenly be heard in the air, causing everyone to jolt upright.

"Okay, I think we've wasted enough time here," Alasea said nervously. "Time to get out of here!"

===Bahamut's Weyr===

Seril nodded to the Purifier Unit. "Go ahead."

Matt folded his arms. "We're, uh...we're not taking the Firebird."

"It's wrecked," Helena added, supplemented by an exaggerated sniffle from Matt. "We got cursed with bad luck after the other Stand User hit us." She waved her hand at the wreckage. "That explains this."

"We tied him up back down the street," Matt said, "and since we got the Essence, he's no longer my problem."

"Matt, go fold up the Firebird," R.D. ordered. "I'll do a jump with Chaos Control."

"Um, R.D.?" Ileyna spoke up. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, after what happened at GGG..."

"Don't have a choice right now, Ileyna," R.D. said, shaking his head. "I'll worry about what happens after the jump."

"What're they talking about?" Alasea asked quietly, leaning over to Helena.

Edited by RisingDragon on October 22, 2009 at 18:26:36.

Helena shrugged with a thin frown. "Don't ask me. They never tell me anything."

Once the ruined car was folded back up, R.D. motioned for everyone to gather around him while he pulled out the blue Chaos Emerald he had taken from the Space Pirates.

"Alasea, Jotaro, brace yourselves," he warned. "This isn't nice on first-timers."

"What do you mean?" Alasea asked, but R.D. had already tossed the gemstone up into the air.

"Chaos Control!"

Green light flared out around them, and with a thunderclap, they disappeared, only moments before the police rounded the corner.

When they returned back to reality, Jotaro actually grabbed ahold of his nauseated stomach - a rare display of human weakness.

Alasea toppled back, stumbling, and fell on her rear with a groan. "That wasn't fun," she muttered, rubbing her backside as she pulled herself back up."

Ileyna gave the older girl a suffering smile. "You get used to it after a bit."

R.D. stowed away the Chaos Emerald in his satchel. "I don't know the area that well, so I couldn't teleport us back to the house. We'll have to walk from here. Then we can fix up the Firebird and move on to the next world."

Alasea nodded. "Let's get going then. I'm tired after having to stop aircraft from dropping on Matt and Helena."

"YOU'RE tired?" Matt said.

"Its not easy saving your rear, Matt," Alasea said while rolling her eyes. "I don't have all my power anymore, you know."

R.D. just shook his head before turning to walk. When he finally turned the corner and found the house, he stopped dead in his tracks.

"W... what the...!?"

Flames raged through the gaping holes in the building, while smoke billowed out. Debris from the house was scattered about the yard, and between them and the house were the wounded, unconscious forms of Joseph and Holly Joestar.

"Oh my god..." Alasea breathed, staring in horror. She snapped out of her daze and ran over to Holly, readying healing weaves for her and her father. "What happened here!?"

"Holy SHIT!" Matt cried out.

Jotaro barrelled over to his family, knelt between them. He quickly checked their pulse. Though his movements were calm, his eyes hung wide, dumbstruck.

Hugo's antenna extended, and its red light beeped as he searched for life signs. Helena shot a glance towards the sky, allowing her claws to come in.

Ileyna had both her hands covering her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. Alasea settled a delving weave into both fallen Joestars, checking their injuries. Luckily, none of them were really life-threatening, though Joseph had taken an incredible beating.

"They'll make it through this, don't worry," she said to Jotaro, though some of it was meant for herself. What could have done this to a Stand user? She weaved flows of healing energy to begin helping them.

Something in the rubble of the house, drawing their attention. It happened again, and then a alabaster white hand gripped the side of the wrecked wall, causing it to crumple at the touch.

R.D.'s eyes went wide with shock, his whole body going pale as a familiar eel-like head devoid of eyes came into view, followed by a tall body of white skin flecked with black across its torso and arms. The Khaglessi planted a foot on part of the ruined wall, turning its red joker grin towards them.

"Well now," Re-Tuul said tauntingly, his grin widening to show shark-like teeth as R.D. took a step backwards. "It looks like we have guests."

Matt lowered his head, peering over his glasses. "I should've figured an asshole like you was behind this."

"Who else, Willard?" Re-Tuul sneered, looking quite smug at his handiwork. Once more, R.D. took an unconscious step backwards. "Lord Ziatoch has taken quite an interest in your task, and I wasn't going to let your partner get away from me again... not like last time."

Jotaro stood, controlled, and regarded Re-Tuul with a concentrated stare. "Who the hell is this?" he asked.

"He's about to become roadkill in a minute," Matt said, clenching his right fist. "You want to help?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, so you wish to play?" Re-Tuul said with a laugh, seeing Alasea and Ileyna both stand up, staring at him with hatred. He stepped down from the house and began a slow, relaxed approach. "This will be fun. Too bad it'll be--"

R.D. snapped. His eyes flashed with gold light as his head dropped, and energy charged the air, causing Re-Tuul to cut off and stare at him, his grin disappearing from his eyeless face.

R.D.'s head flew up, the golden light blazing full-force in his eyes, and he screamed.

"EEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHGGGHHHHHHGGHHAHHHH!"

The power of Lumiya exploded from his body, blazing outward as azure flame that towered over and around him. Wind buffeted against the others, causing them to stare at him in complete surprise. Re-Tuul began to frown as the power washed over him, helping to further topple the house behind him.

The ground caught on fire from Lumiya's power as R.D.'s scream of rage ended. His clothing was being whipped about by the wind emanating off of him, and the blue light of the power contrasted sharply with the gold light of his eyes. His expression was that of pure fury.

"You son of a bitch."

Each word of his was practically bit off. Around R.D.'s right hand, Shell Bullet clenched into a fist, one finger at a time. There was a stretching, cracking sound as it tightened. The lowest red spike on R.D.'s back began to disintegrate.

"I'm gonna... I'm gonna KILL YOU!!!"

The last of the spike disappeared, and an emerald jet of fire exploded out of R.D.'s back, shooting him forward with another scream of rage. Shell Bullet's Shocking First Bullet chambered back to strike.

Re-Tuul wasted no time. His arm snapped up like a serpent striking, and beams of energy lanced out of his palm, tearing through the air at R.D.. He paid them no mind as they cut through his clothing and skin, causing flecks of blood to shoot through the air as he closed the distance and smashed his fist into the barrier his nemesis had quickly erected.

There was a great crashing noise a the tectonic shockwave blasted out of the Shell Bullet, twisting and warping the light around his hand and blasting more wind and debris back behind him as the two clashed. Re-Tuul sneered as he fell back, the attack quickly overwhelming the meager defense he had tossed up. It shattered, and with another scream of rage, R.D. yanked his fist back and spun around, gathering Lumiya's power into his foot and he swept it up into a tight arc at Re-Tuul's head.

His foot met with Re-Tuul's, smashing hard into one another. The gathered energy of the two attacks exploded as opposing attacks sparked, consuming them both in fire. R.D. was flung out of it with a cry of pain, smashing him hard into the dirt--on the other side of the blast, Re-Tuul was thrown out, seemingly unharmed as he grinned and spread his wings to halt his movement.