Five hours had passed since the group’s initial departure. Luckily, they could fetch a ride on a horse-drawn wagon and now were on their way towards Perth once again.

“So...” – Started Brian. – “You two are saying that The Finisher has sent yet another two Stand users to take us down, right?”

“Indeed, thankfully it seems Bali and I could defeat them both…” – Said Staz, – “Mine was an interesting fella, seemed pretty out of place to be fair. Like he didn’t want to be there, didn’t want to fight or something… The Finisher just seems to task them with taking us down and retrieving the package for himself. According to him, he needs the contents of the package to find his way home and I guess to dominate the world? Something along those lines.”

“My opponent was quite the opposite.” – Cut Bali into the conversation. – “His ability was strange… He somewhat took control of me and took all my motivation away, according to him it was draining some dopamine stuff or something. I didn’t listen that much I was more focused on trying to beat the guy. I knocked him out of commission so we shouldn’t be worried about him though… I hope.”

“Yeah, mine’s as good as done for as well. I gave his Stand a good beating and knocked him unconscious.” – Answered Staz.

Silence fell upon the group as the wagon was ever so slowly moving along the dirt road.

“By the way…” – Asked Staz abruptly. – “I still don’t quite understand how you became a toaster, ToTo.”

“Oh, well it’s quite weird, even I don’t know how.” – Answered Toesef. – “I did meet The Finisher previously when I was a human, you see. I unconsciously approached him, I couldn’t move by myself, it’s as if it was pulling me in. Some dark figure was just standing in front of me, I couldn’t see his face, I didn’t know anything about who he was or what he wanted but he grabbed me by the arms, held me tight and suddenly this small pretzel went into my mouth and I fell unconscious. The next morning I wake up and I find myself not being able to move, I became this toaster and I can manifest this red spirit thing next to me… And well, as it turns out it’s called a Stand. I had nowhere to go, people freaked out when they heard a toaster talking to them. If it wasn’t for Brender, Brian’s friend, I would be dead by now. He believed the things I said and didn’t find it weird at all.”

“Of course the dumbass wouldn’t care about a toaster talking to him…” – Said Brian.

“So you’re saying that your Stand ability and you being a toaster correlate?” – Asked Staz again.

“More than likely yes. I was a human before, but then I woke up after my encounter with The Finisher and became a toaster with a Stand ability.”

“Then the pretzels… The three of us are all natural-born Stand users as far as I’m concerned…” – Continued Staz. – “Is it possible that those pretzels somehow could grant Stand abilities?”

“Hey, I’m a natural-born Stand user too!” – Exclaimed Bali.

“Yes, yes, we all know, what part of ‘the three of us’, did you not understand?”

“Oh, I guess I dozed off a little…” - Giggled Bali.

Another hour had passed and our heroes were getting bored.

“Oi, coach guy, where exactly are we headed?” – Asked Staz, who was mad at being bored.

“Westwards to my home village, that’s where I can drop you all off, unless you want to stay here in the middle of buttfuck nowhere!” – Answered the “coach guy”.

“And when exactly are we getting there?” – Asked Brian.

“In about half an hour, take a nap until then or kill some time, I don’t care either way.”

“Oh, I know!” – Started ToTo. – “I wanted to ask this for a while now, why exactly did you two join us all of the sudden and don’t care about what happened previously?”

“You mean Staz and I?” – Said Balin. – “Well, I don’t know honestly. I saw you two admirable, the things you are doing. You were tasked with delivering the package to this unknown location and you just accepted it out of nowhere, it’s quite the feat to go all across Australia with such a quest. You guys don’t know who the person you’re delivering the package to is, you don’t know where he lives, yet you still accepted it. I see pride in your eyes, so that’s why I shall be a loyal follower as well.”

“For me, it’s simply because I wanna fuck The Finisher over by turning to the other side. Also, I simply find it unfair how the guy just wants it all for himself, it pisses me off just thinking about it. I mean, you three look like the good guys either way and I never really cared about The Finisher anyways yet he kept treating me like his pawn.” – Answered Staz.

“I mean, we appreciate all the help we can get, that’s for sure.” – Brian started. – “Don’t worry about ToTo being sceptical, it happens to everyone I guess, getting allies this fast. It was only supposed to be us two on this journey anyways, so him being surprised and a bit paranoid is understandable. I was dragged into this too by my dumb friend Brender. So having more than one person to rely on is greatly appreciated by me.”

The wagon stopped moving. The place was a semi-abandoned small village with no more than 5 houses, 1 of them being the local pub and the other one being a stable for horses. It seemed like it hasn’t rained in 4 years in the place, the entire village was inside the pub just killing time in the boiling heat.

“Guys, I’m not feeling too well, do we have some leftover water?” – Asked Brian nervously. – “I haven’t drunk in hours and it’s so hot in here…”

“It appears we’ve run out of water completely.” – Answered Balin.

“Oh God, this is just great…” – Said Brian as he was slowly losing balance in his legs.

“Good grief, Brian don’t you dare lose consciousness here!” – Screamed Staz.

“Too late dude, someone hold me…” – Answered Brian with his last bit of energy left right before falling on the ground.

Bali quickly jumped to aid Brian.

“He fainted, someone take him inside!”

Staz carried Brian inside the pub while Bali and ToTo were fighting the heat outside.

“Hey!” – Said ToTo suddenly. – “I got an idea… Africa!”

ToTo’s Stand suddenly appeared behind him and it started heavily raining in the area.

“Why didn’t you think of this earlier?” – Asked Bali.

“I didn’t take into consideration that we ran out of water and Brian was gonna faint… Also, a positive part of being a toaster is that I don’t have to drink… Well, I can’t drink or I’m getting short circuited. And for food, well, I only need people to jam pieces of bread into me and pull the knob down, somehow I digest it, even I don’t understand how.”

As Bali and ToTo were discussing the lifestyle of a toaster, a third person started approaching them from the pub. A man of short stature with blonde, combed back hair was walking towards them.

“Stand users! Greetings!” – Said the man in delight.

“Another enemy? This early?” – Said ToTo in surprise while his Stand was preparing to attack.

“Oh you, come on, I’m not here to fight! Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Horace Loveer, I’m a stable-hand and horse jockey! I am the one looking after those horses right there!” – Said the man as he was pointing towards the stables. – “You see our village has been suffering from a serious drought for months now, despite it being April, quite weird weather phenomenon. It’s been boiling hot for weeks as well and we’re running out of water at an alarming rate. I was scared the horses were going to die if this kept up but thanks to your Stand it started raining and we’re saved! Oh dear, how can I show my gratitude towards you?”

“Yo, ToTo. I got a feeling that this guy isn’t dangerous at all.” – Said Bali surprised.

“Oh no, no, quite the opposite! I’m a Stand user too, however, my Stand isn’t anything special, it barely has any fighting capabilities, it simply exists to help my horse keeping job and to make it easier.”

“I see… How is Brian doing? I saw you walking out of the pub my friend carried him into.” – Asked ToTo.

“He’ll be out for a while, the locals are trying to take care of him right now… Oh right! I saw you people were hitchhiking here… I suppose you all don’t have anything you could travel with. How about I provide 3 horses to you? I have them in the stable, granted you can ride them…” – Answered Horace.

“I know how to ride a horse!” – Said Bali like an excited kid in the candy shop.

“Then you’ll be my man, come with me! I’ll let you pick the horses!” – Said Horace.

As Horace and Bali were leaving the scene Staz walked out of the pub.

“Where’s Bali gone?” – He asked.

“Gone horsing…” – Answered ToTo.

“Great… And he left you all alone here? Damn this guy seriously doesn’t realise you’re a toaster and you can’t just walk around using your Stand because people would find it weird.”

“Staz… You’re talking to a toaster right now. Do you honestly not think people find this weird as well?”

“Well, less weird than seeing said toaster flying around. Anyways, how about we look around a bit while Brian recovers?”

“Sounds good to me!” – Said ToTo.

As Brian was recovering inside the pub, the leftover members of our team split into two: Balin A. Thor went to the stables with Horace Loveer while ToTo and Staz decided to go sightseeing around the small village.

“You see this beautiful Stallion? She’s only 4 years old, what a beauty, right?” – Said Horace as he was showing the stables to Bali.

“Yeah, though I love that previous Mustang you just showed me, it seemed so strong and well-behaved at the same time.” – Answered Bali.

“How about you take the Mustang and I take the Stallion out on a small run?”

“Good idea, I love horse riding!”

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And so horse riding they went. Bali and Horace rode around the village until they eventually arrived back at the stables. To their surprise, some dark figure was meddling around with one of the horses, trying to mount it.

“It’s a thief!” – Screamed Horace. – “Hey you! That’s my horse!”

“It’s mine now!” – Said the bandit as he quickly jumped on the horse’s back and started riding away.

“Come, Bali, we must catch up to him!” – Ordered Horace.

Horace and Bali started riding towards the bandit on the horses, however, he had more tricks up his sleeve.

“Look out, he has a gun!” – Screamed Bali.

Bullets were barely missing the two as they were slowly getting closer and closer to the bandit riding the stolen horse.

“Buckethead!” – Screamed Bali as he reached his arm forwards and guitar strings fired out towards the bandit to hopefully catch him.

“No Bali, don’t do that! If you miss the strings might hurt the horse and we don’t want that!” – Yelled Horace at Bali. – “We must get closer to him, I got an idea!”

As Horace and Bali got within a 10 metre distance, their riding speed decreased, as did the bandit’s.

“Tell him to go eat shit, Bali.” – Said Horace.

“Tell him yourself.” – Answered Bali.

“EAT SHIT ASSHOLE! FALL OFF YOUR HORSE!” – Screamed Horace at top of his lungs.

[https://i.imgur.com/R1HwZ55.png]

Surprisingly, the bandit’s horse suddenly stopped and started going insane and eventually throwing the bandit off and kicking him away mid-air.

A pink, muscular cowboy figure appeared behind Horace.

“A Horse With No Name is my Stand…” – He started. – “It allows me to befriend and control horses. It is quite useless in direct combat, however, it helps me in my job, which is the most important in my book.”

“Wow… That was… Quite expected actually.” – Answered Bali.

[https://i.imgur.com/E9UCtvF.png]

As the two horse maniacs were retrieving their stolen goods, ToTo and Staz were “admiring” the scenery the village had to offer.

“IT’S ALL THE SAME COLOUR, IT’S ALL SAND! THERE’S NOTHING HERE, LITERALLY NOTHING!” – Yelled Staz.

“I mean it was your idea to go sightseeing, what do you expect from a village with about 5 buildings?” – Answered ToTo.

“At least some sort of sight worth seeing! What is this place and how does it even survive?” – Asked Staz.

“Oh, it’s simple, there is agriculture here!” – Answered a strange voice from behind them.

“Who said that? Where are you?” – Asked Staz.

“I’m right here behind you, no worries.” – Answered the voice calmly again.

Yet another short man with blonde hair was standing in front of ToTo and Staz.

“Oh, I didn’t notice you because you’re a literal manlet.” – Laughed Staz.

“Excuse me but that isn’t very kind of you.” – Answered the voice. – “Anyways, you asked what the people were eating here or how they lived. It’s quite simple. Date palms actually grow quite well even in these dry desert conditions. So as far as I’m concerned these people grow dates and then either eat them or trade them for other food. Desert agriculture is interesting.”

“Wow, thanks I guess.” – Said Staz. – “Well then, I shall go back to my friends now.”

“Leaving already? I suppose back home.” – Asked the person.

“Nah, not home actually.” – Answered Staz. – “We got a job to do so yeah I better leave…”

“Are you getting paid for said job?” – Asked the person again.

“Uh, technically not I guess. What’s up with all these questions? Who the hell are you?” – Staz started getting angry.

“If you’re not getting paid then why do the job you’re doing? Slavery has been abolished a long time ago. My identity is none of your concerns, however, if you’re so interested then I’m called Nuut Hei. I’m not a local myself, however, I travel around a lot in Australia, especially here in the desert.”

“I’ll just call you Nuut then. Why are you asking me such things?” – Asked Staz.

“Staz, I have the feeling this guy is a Stand user sent by The Finisher…” – Whispered ToTo.

“I’m simply interested in your little escapade, what are you doing in quite literally the middle of nowhere...?” – Said Nuut.

“We were tasked to do something and we shall do it.” – Answered Staz.

“But you’re not getting paid, what’s the point? If you’re not getting any sort of reward for it then why do it? Why come to the desert where I heard your friend even passed out from the heat when there is no reward? You could just go home to your air conditioned room and enjoy your life instead…”

“I mean… He doesn’t sound that wrong Staz… We could be home right now.” – Said ToTo.

“No, this guy is trying to mess around with our minds. Don’t fall for it ToTo! You! Show us your Stand!” – Yelled Staz.

“Us? You mean you and your toaster? Are you schizophrenic perhaps and imagining this whole task thing you must do with your toaster? And what Stand are you talking about? I’m standing here in front of you indeed. Anyways, should I call your doctor or something?” – Said Nuut.

“I’m fine thanks, but you are really pissing me off with these questions…” – Answered Staz.

“You can always just go home, I’m here to tell you that what you’re doing is not worth the effort!” – Said Nuut as a yellow figure holding a horn appeared behind him.

“There’s the Stand…” – Said Staz. – “ToTo, are you okay?”

“Staz, can we go home? He’s right I mean… I could survive being a toaster, we don’t even know what’s in the box anyways! What if L.J. is evil and will kill us once we give him the package?” – Answered ToTo in despair.

“That’s right, it seems your toaster friend knows what’s up. You can always just go home. You could throw out said package. I once had delivery to my house and I never received it actually, apparently it got lost during the journey there. The same could happen to you people and your destination, he would never find out you deliberately lost the package. Imagine being home right now and enjoying a nice beer while watching TV, wouldn’t that be way better?” – Nuut said.

“I… I mean… I guess…” – Said Staz.

“Burzum is working…” – Giggled Nuut Hei in himself. – “I’m actually convincing them that it’s not worth fighting for it.”

Staz slowly started walking towards Nuut.

[https://i.imgur.com/Q8w2ZxD.png]

“Oh, you’re approaching me? Instead of walking away you’ve decided to approach me?” – He asked.

“I need to approach you otherwise I can’t beat the living shit out of you!” – Answered Staz.

“Why would you fight me though? My Stand could be much stronger than yours, who knows? See, your friend is doing the right thing and giving up. You can entrust the package to me. How do you know The Finisher isn’t the good guy?” – Asked Nuut.

[https://i.imgur.com/ZxB7e4s.png]

“The Finisher, you ask?” – Answered Staz. – “Because I’ve met him personally too!”

Staz’s fiery eyes could be seen even from behind his sunglasses. He was mad at Nuut Hei trying to reason against him, he was mad at him for convincing ToTo and turning him against himself and his beliefs. He was mad at the heat for making Brian pass out, he was mad at everything.

“Calm down now friend, we don’t want any trouble here, do we? What if the police come and they arrest you for assaulting someone?” – Asked Nuut Hei but it was too late. Staz’s Stand, Hellraiser was already prepared to attack.

“BRATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!” – A barrage of punches went flying at Nuut who couldn’t even defend himself from Hellraiser’s strength and speed. After having received around 60-80 punches, Staz’s Stand was preparing for the final finishing blow, a punch right into the stomach that sent Nuut Hei flying and eventually being stopped by a date palm tree.

“Your Stand made us believe the bullshit you were throwing at us… Too bad I am stubborn as hell when I get mad and even before we met I was pissed off…” – Said Staz.

Name: Nuut Hei

Stand: Burzum

Status: Retired

Staz and ToTo were arriving back at the pub only to be met by Bali and Horace with the 3 horses they just rode on and retrieved and Brian chugging down on a big bottle of water.

“Oi Brian, are you okay?” – Asked ToTo.

“Yeah, I thankfully didn’t get heatstroke or anything like that. It was just me being weak to the heat I guess. I should exercise and be outside more.” – Laughed Brian.

“I got the horses in the ba-… right here next to me!” – Said Bali with a huge smile on his face.

“Then I guess our journey shall continue…” – Said Staz as he hopped on one of the horses.

“Before you all leave…” – Horace started. – “I just want to thank you all for helping our small community out by making it rain, helping us catch a bandit and defeating an evil Stand user. I hope we’ll see each other again sometime in the future!”

“You can bet, we’ll be in touch Horace!” – Answered Bali.

As our heroes were riding away into the sunset they realised they really should’ve stayed the night at the village as it was getting dark, but turning back now wouldn’t give off a cool vibe so they will just have to hurry to the next town. What awaits them there? Even they don’t know yet…

“What do you mean they’ve all failed?” – The Finisher asked Era who just arrived back at his mansion.

“I mean they all failed, simple as that… Deppo, Akram and Nuut Hei have all failed!” – Answered Era.

“I granted that Stand to Nuut Hei… And you’re saying even he failed?”

“I am scared to admit but yes… He has…” – Said Era in fear.

The Finisher started screaming in anger, breaking the brand new table in half right in front of him.

“Right… I have one more trick up my sleeve… If he fails me… I’ll have to confront them myself…” – The Finisher’s dark silhouette was towering above that of Era’s.

“Master, that was a brand new table… Also, you can’t mean that maniac?” – Asked Era.

“Oh yes I do… I need to stop them before they meet him. So I must send my final trick up my sleeve to stop these fools and get that package…”

The Finisher sat back down on his seat and it was time for things to heat up… Brian's delivery squad better be prepared.