Light from the setting sun shines on Viva La Vida’s crown. The Stand’s tattered red cape waves back in forth in the breeze as it stands behind Nero, ready to fight. “My Viva La Vida has a single, deadly ability. Anything its fists strike decays, including your webs.”

“This can’t be happening,” Rabbit Jimmy mutters. “My abilities are supposed to be unique. I can’t believe you have the same type of abilities as me.”

“What’s more, Johana over here also has a Stand,” Nero says.

“I don’t have a Stand,” Johana says.

Nero raises his eyebrows. “You don’t?” he says.

“No. When have I ever said that I did?”

“I just assumed. I mean, everyone in our family has Stands!”

“I’m not part of our family anymore.”

“You can see Viva La Vida though, right? And Jimmy’s weird spider Stand, you pointed it out earlier.”

Johana sighs. “I don’t know what to tell you,” she says. “I have the potential to unlock one, I suppose, but I’ve never had the need nor the desire to try and summon one.”

Nero places his arm in front of Johana. “In that case, let me handle this,” he says. “Stand battles can be dangerous for regular people.”

Nero and Johana turn back to Rabbit Jimmy and notice that Wrap God has left his shoulder. “The spider’s gone,” Johana whispers.

“I noticed. Fortunately, I can get rid of it if I knock its user out,” Nero says.

Nero charges at Rabbit Jimmy. Viva La Vida bursts out from behind Nero and strikes Jimmy in the stomach, knocking him on his ass. Wrap God crawls out of the ground holding a cord made of silk in its teeth. Rabbit Jimmy grabs the cord and leaps to his feet.

Jimmy turns his head to the side and dodges a punch from Viva La Vida. Jimmy uppercuts the Stand. His fist, instead of doing any damage, simply bounces off. Viva La Vida kicks Jimmy, knocking him away.

“Word from the wise, James. Stands can only be hurt by other Stands,” Nero says.

“Good to know,” Jimmy snaps.

The spider crawls out of the ground once more, bringing Rabbit Jimmy a new silk cable. Jimmy grabs the cable and smiles. His muscles grow as he stands back up. “What’s the deal with the cables?” Nero asks.

“Wrap God’s strings bring me energy to increase my strength and healing,” Jimmy says. “Earlier, while Johana was trying to remember my name, I had him tie up some new victims for me to drain.”

Nero frowns and Viva La Vida punches the ground a few times, trying to find where the cables are located. Rabbit Jimmy laughs. “Good luck finding my cables,” he says. “They’re buried far too deep for you to dig them up while fighting me.”

Wrap God climbs down onto Jimmy’s hand and attaches a long string to his fist. Jimmy spins his Stand around his head like a ball and chain. He approaches Nero in an attempt to strike Nero with his Stand.

Viva La Vida crouches down and punches the wire connecting Jimmy and Wrap God, severing it and sending Wrap God flying away from its user. As it flies through the air, Wrap God spits a glob of silk at Nero, hitting him in the back of the head.

Nero closes his eyes and yawns. “Nero, you have to rip the silk of!” Johana shouts.

Nero’s eyes shoot open. In an instant, rips Viva La Vida off the silk. “That was close,” Johana says.

“I don’t understand, I just felt really sleepy all of a sudden,” Nero says.

“It’s that silk, it sedates people so the spider can tie them up. Remember when we were in the basement? We both fell asleep when the silk touched us.”

Nero turns back to Rabbit Jimmy. “I guess I’ll have to keep my guard up then,” he says.

Wrap God crawls around the battlefield in a circle, covering the grass in string. “That’s the beauty of my Wrap God,” Jimmy says as Wrap God finishes the web and burrows underground. “When I create webs like this, all I need to do is knock you over once and I win.”

Nero charges at Jimmy, being careful to avoid stepping on the web. Viva La Vida launches forward to strike Jimmy. Wrap God climbs out from underground once more, bringing with it the silk cable. Rabbit Jimmy grabs the cord and the Stand. He punches Viva La Vida using Wrap God as a brass knuckle.

The blow knocks Nero over onto the string covered grass. At first, Nero tries to strike the grass with his Stand. But, before long, he falls asleep. Wrap God crawls over and ties its latest victim up in a white cocoon.

“Nero!” Johana shouts.

“One down,” Rabbit Jimmy says while putting his mask back on. “Now for you, Johana.”

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“Let Nero go before I break your neck,” Johana says.

Rabbit Jimmy laughs. “What are you going to do?” he asks. “Even if you could defeat my Stand, which you can’t, the energy Wrap God brought me makes me strong enough to win any battle.”

“You’re a monster.”

“You don’t even know the start of it, dear archenemy. Where do you think I’m getting this energy from?”

At that moment, Johana realizes that she hasn’t heard the concert since the fight began. “No,” she whispers.

“That’s right! I ensnared an entire concert full of people, including your friend Kan Nijimura, to increase my strength.”

Johana closes her eyes. “I’m going to start beating the shit out of you, and I don’t know when I’m going to stop,” she says.

Johana takes a deep breath. Energy from her lungs spreads through her body, filling her muscles with strength. Power ripples through her fists as she charges at Jimmy. “Wait a minute, something’s different!” Jimmy shouts. “You’ve changed!”

Johana punches Jimmy in the stomach. “It’s called Hamon,” she whispers. “It works kind of like your string energy, allowing me to punch harder and heal injuries.”

Johana kicks Rabbit Jimmy in the stomach, knocking him away. Wrap God climbs up Jimmy’s leg. He swings his Stand around by a string once more, releasing it and throwing it at Johana.

Johana ducks to avoid being hit in the head by Wrap God. She grabs the string hanging from the Stand and uses it to fling the Stand dozens of meters away. Johana approaches Jimmy as he draws his knife.

Jimmy lunges at Johana, knife aimed for her throat. Johana grabs his wrist and squeezes, forcing Jimmy to drop the knife. Johana kicks the knife as it falls, sending it flying into Jimmy’s throat.

“Right now, that knife is lodged in an artery. If you pull it out or even move to quickly, it’ll fall out and you’ll bleed to death. If you let Nero, Kan, and the rest of your victims go, I’ll heal your wounds and let you live.”

Jimmy rips the knife out, swinging it at Johana’s throat. Johana sighs and kicks the knife out of his hand. “What did that accomplish?” she says as he grabs Jimmy by the throat.

“A distraction,” he whispers.

Johana turns around just in time to see Wrap God shoot a pile of string at her face, hitting her in the glasses. Johana rips the glasses off, throwing them away before they knock her out.

She turns back to Jimmy as he grabs the silk cord leading to the concert cocoons. He absorbs the energy and the hole in his throat closes up. “I don’t need your mercy, dear archenemy,” he says. “Any injury you give me I can heal from.”

Wrap God fires a glob of web at Johana. She jumps to the side to dodge it as Jimmy charges at her with the knife. She pulls her arm back and it rockets forward, dislocating itself from her shoulder and striking Jimmy in the nose.

Jimmy smiles. “You’ve fallen for my trip, dear archenemy!” he shouts. “My mask is made of Wrap God’s silk! By punching me in the face, you’ve exposed yourself to my sedative silk! Soon, you’ll-”

Johana’s fist engulfs in flames, setting Jimmy’s mask on fire. Jimmy screams and rips the mask off. “What the shit?” he screams.

“Scarlet Overdrive,” Johana says as she ignites her other fist. “It’s a Hamon technique that allows me to set myself on fire. I wasn’t going to use it because of the damage to my body, but then you reminded me that I can heal.”

Johana unleashes a rush of punches on Jimmy, beating him to a pulp and knocking him out of the web. Wrap God lunges at Johana and she grabs Jimmy by the shoulder, using him to block his own Stand. Jimmy wrestles himself free and slaps Johana, knocking her away.

Jimmy and Johana both fall to their knees. The fires on Johana’s arms and Rabbit Jimmy’s clothes peter out. Johana looks at her burn covered arms, one dislocated. Jimmy looks at his burn covered body, filled with broken bones. Wrap God brings Jimmy the cable, Johana takes a deep breath, and both fighters begin to heal. “We’re almost evenly matched,” Rabbit Jimmy says. “We can both heal any damage the other deals. The difference is, if I can knock you on that web, I win. This fight can go on for hours, but inevitably, I’ll win.”

“You’re right that one of us has a slight advantage, but you’re wrong about which one,” Johana says. “That web you made? Take a closer look.”

Rabbit Jimmy looks at the web and gasps. Fire, lit by the sparks falling from Johana’s arms, has engulfed the web. “I never intended to defeat you using my fire,” Johana says. “The true reason I set my fists ablaze was to destroy your net.”

“That’s okay, I can just make another-”

“You don’t realize, do you? If the web is burning, so is the cocoon connected to it. Nero’s free.”

The cable in Jimmy’s hand whithers away and turns to dust. “Nero’s started freeing the people you wrapped up in cocoons,” Johana says. “You know what that means, don’t you? Your strength is gone!”

Rabbit Jimmy runs away from Johana, making his way towards the stage. “If I can’t kill you, I can at least kill your friend!” Jimmy shouts.

Kan and her band lie unconscious in the center of the stage. Nero stands in front of them, arms crossed, Viva La Vida at his side. “It’s over, Jimmy,” Nero says.

“My name is James!” Jimmy shouts.

He throws Wrap God at Nero. Viva La Vida punches Wrap God, sending it and Jimmy flying back into one of the support beams for the rafters. “This can’t be happening,” Rabbit Jimmy yells.

Viva La Vida flies forward and punches Rabbit Jimmy through the chest. “I’m supposed to be invincible,” Rabbit Jimmy says as he dies.

Rabbit Jimmy - Age 20 - Deceased

Johana climbs up onto the stage. “Did you take out Jimmy?” she asks.

“He won’t be a problem for anyone else going forward,” Nero says while gesturing to Jimmy’s corpse.

Johana gags. “Thank you for assisting me in defeating him, JoJo,” Nero says. “Your friend and the people at this concert are unconscious, but they will live because of your help.”

“How are we going to explain all of these people falling unconscious? And what about the bodies?”

“Don’t worry about that. The Speedwagon Foundation specializes in this kind of thing,” Nero says. “Speaking of the Foundation, they could use someone like you. You did an excellent job defeating the enemy Stand user.”

Johana glances at Jimmy’s body and sighs. “I hate fighting, Nero, and I hate watching people die,” she says.

“I understand. After I clean this mess up, I’ll let you enjoy the rest of your life far away from me.”

Suddenly, Johana hears a creaking noise coming from the rafters. “Oh no,” Nero says.

“What?”

“I may have, completely by accident, of course, decayed the support pillar for the rafters when I killed Rabbit James.”

The metal rafters begin to collapse. “Kan!” Johana shouts as she runs for her friend.

As the rafters fall onto the unconscious band, Johana reaches for Kan. As she reaches for Kan a blue arm appears in front of her and strikes the metal rafters. The rafters fly off the stage and twist together into a large ball.

“That’s new,” Johana says.

TO BE CONTINUED IN:

Chapter 5: Coldplay, Part 1

STAND STATS

Name: Viva La Vida

Dub Name: Long Live Life

User: Nero Zeppeli

Namesake: “Viva La Vida” (Coldplay Song)

Appearance: Takes the form of a large, muscular man made out of salt crystals. Lacks a mouth, a nose, ears. Has yellow eyes without pupils. Wears a rusty metal belt with a “V” shaped buckle, a rusty crown, and a tattered red cape. Has the letter “V” printed on the backs of each of its fists.

Abilities: Viva La Vida has the ability to “decay” or age objects by punching them. Using this ability, Nero can rust metal, rot wood, melt ice, and turn stone into sand. This ability doesn’t work on living beings.

Stats: Power-A, Speed-B, Range-D, Durability-B, Precision-D, Potential-D