“Finally, we’re here!” – Said ToTo in relief as the group dismounted their horses. – “Now only to find a hotel and sleep I guess… It was a bad idea to leave at sundown now, wasn’t it?”

“I suppose yes… That was my bad.” – Responded Brian while rubbing his eyes.

“At least we’ve finally reached this small town… Where are we anyway?” – Asked Staz.

“I lost track of the road and the time the minute we started this trip so don’t ask me.” – Answered Bali.

“So we’re just going to ignore the fact that we’re travelling across Australia to Perth?” – ToTo asked.

“I mean as long as we know which way west is we should be fine… Come on, let’s find a hotel for the night.” – Answered Brian.

The team arrived at a local small hotel and checked in. The town they were in was slightly urban with some high-rise apartment buildings around the town centre and the outskirts having suburban houses, the hotel was around the edge of the two town sections.

“WHO PISSED IN MY BED?” – Screamed Staz in anger.

“Guys the faucet doesn’t work.” – Said Bali as he was walking out of the bathroom.

“At least there’s some protein around, look at all these cockroaches!” – Laughed ToTo at the others. – “Perks of being a toaster! You can just put me down on the counter and I’ll have no problem sleeping!”

“I see you’re getting accommodated with your new body, dipshit!” – Yelled Staz at ToTo.

“Calm down everyone, it could be worse, right?” – Said Brian. – “I mean… At least we have a roof to sleep under!”

“It’s leaking…” – Said Bali promptly. – “How does it even leak when there’s no rain?”

“The faucet isn’t working because the waterline above the ceiling leading to the faucet is broken, thus making the ceiling leak as well I guess.” – Answered Brian.

“Couldn’t we have picked an even worse hotel???” – Asked Staz.

“At least I got in for free… Hehe… Nobody suspects the talking toaster!” – Laughed ToTo even harder.

“Just try to get some sleep, for now, we got a long road ahead of ourselves tomorrow, it’s already 2 in the morning!” – Said Brian.

After a short night of rolling around the uncomfortable beds, our sleep-deprived heroes left the hotel to get on their horses.

“They’re gone!” – Shouted Bali.

“What the hell?” – Screamed Staz.

“Who stole the horses?” – Asked ToTo.

As the team was looking around the horses they noticed some red liquid around the corner of the building.

“Kool-aid!” – Exclaimed Bali.

“Kool-aid my ass you idiot, that’s blood!” – Said Brian in shock.

They went around the corner and the sight almost made them puke. Two dead horses with flies around them were piled on each other, the two horses both had a huge chunk missing from their bodies and it smelled burnt.

“No wolf or coyote or any sort of wild animal could’ve done this to our horses…” – Said Brian.

“Then what was it? A terrorist attack that was directly aimed at our two horses?” – Asked Staz.

“I suppose it was a Stand attack sent by The Finisher...” – Answered Brian. – “But what does it do and who is the Stand User?”

“Maybe if it touches something it turns into a bomb? That would explain the burnt smell.” – Bali started thinking.

“That is probably not it, I know someone with that Stand but he died last year so that is not possible. Two Stands with the same power? That is not possible, is it?” – Brainstormed Brian. Or did he Brianstorm? – “Let’s look around for more clues, gang!”

There was nothing around. Only two dead horses, blood everywhere and an unbearable stench coming from the dead horses. Or so they thought. Bali suddenly started walking away from the group looking at the ground.

“Bali just where the hell do you think you’re going?” – Yelled Staz at him.

Staz and Brian carrying ToTo ran after Bali and stopped him.

“Look! There’s a trail of blood leading to that abandoned block of apartments!” – Explained Bali. – “I thought if I followed I could maybe find the enemy.”

“That is cool and all but Bali, you realise this guy took out two horses during the night and we didn’t even notice it? Who knows how powerful this guy is?” – Said Brian.

“Let’s follow the trail, but this time, together!” – Staz said.

The closer Brian’s group got to the abandoned buildings the colder the atmosphere got. Shivers ran down the spines of Brian, Staz, and Balin. Even ToTo would’ve been shivering if he could move. As the group arrived at an open space between the buildings the trail of blood stopped. There were 5 tall apartment buildings with nothing surrounding them. In the middle was an open area with a playground, though it has been abandoned long ago, rubble and debris piled up everywhere that fell from the buildings due to poor maintenance.

“This place is giving me the creeps, I don’t like any of this!” – Said Bali frightened.

“Just be on the lookout, the enemy could be anywhere. Be prepared for the worst.” – Answered Brian

“Guys! Look over there! What is that?” – Shouted ToTo.

A small green creature was crawling slowly towards the group. It was almost translucent with tiny lime eyes and a body resembling the consistency of jelly.

“Is that... A slime?” – Asked Staz. – “Is that seriously the enemy’s Stand? A SLIME?”

“That cannot be the thing that killed our horses. This thing is pathetic!” – Laughed ToTo. – “Come on let me show you something funny. AFRICA!”

ToTo’s Stand grabbed its cane like a golf-club and was preparing for a swing at the slime.

“So you guys know how golf works, right? If I am able to hit this thing into that bucket lying there you guys owe me 20 dollars!” – ToTo said as Africa started to swing its cane.

“Wait ToTo! STOP! IT’S A TRAP!!!” – Shouted Brian, but it was too late…

Right as the cane touched the slime ToTo went flying in an explosion.

“I knew it! The slime can explode!” – Screamed Brian.

Brian ran to pick up ToTo who was greatly injured, his stand bleeding from multiple wounds.

“G-good thing I just get dented in but I don’t bleed…” – Giggled ToTo.

Another slime started approaching the group.

“There are multiple ones?” – Said Staz in surprise. – “Take this!” – He shouted as Hellraiser threw a rock at the slime which got crushed. – “Huh, I guess they are pretty fragile.”

“They might be fragile alone, but when more of them come at you at once, you stand no chance!” – A voice said from one of the buildings. Slimes were oozing out from the window in high numbers.

“Bali! Grab ToTo and run! Staz and I will handle this…” – Yelled Brian.

Bali grabbed ToTo and used Buckethead’s strings to swing up to a balcony. – “This should be safe.” – He said.

“Korn!” – Brian shouted as his Stand appeared behind him and started shooting cobs of corn out of its hands. – “This won’t be enough… Staz, how is your situation?”

“I’m alright, but I’m slowly getting overrun for fuck’s sake, just how many of them are there?”

“How about some machinegun fire?” – Laughed Brian in enjoyment. – “Korn! Shoot individual kernels!” – Kernels were shooting out of Korn’s hand at incredibly high speed. – “I am able to shoot out kernels at the strength and speed of an M4 Carbine rifle. Which roughly translates to 700 rounds per minute.”

“That’s cool and all, but could you help me a bit?” – Staz was surrounded by slimes as he was saying that. Brian quickly aimed around him to clear his area, but he wasn’t careful of his own surroundings. A slime crawled up to Brian. The only thing he was able to do in that small timespan was jumping away really quick without thinking but it was too late… Brian got hit straight by the slime’s explosion and landed on a pile of rubble, ashes covering him and coughing up his own blood.

“This guy… He’s got some… Incredible power…” – Even speaking was hard as he was struggling.

“Brian! Are you alright?” – Staz ran up to him to pull him away from the incoming attack of more slimes.

“Staz… I got an idea. What the heaviest thing your Stand can lift?” – He asked.

“I guess a truck when I’m mad.” – Answered Staz.

“Okay then Staz… How angry are you right now?”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HOW ANGRY I AM? Dude you just got hit by an explosion and the enemy is right in front of us, do you actually think I was calm this whole time?”

“Good…” – Brian said promptly.

Brian stood up and was preparing for his next move.

“I see they aren’t giving up yet, huh?” – Giggled the voice in his hideout. – “It’s a good thing I packed plenty of stuff, this fight could go on for hours… Or I could end it in just a minute.”

However, the person’s confidence didn’t last long as a massive object crashed into the room.

“What the hell is this?” – The person asked in surprise.

“The largest ear of corn can be found in Olivia, Minnesota. It is almost 8 metres tall and although it is not real corn, I just recreated it and made Staz throw it at your room!” – Brian screamed.

The person stepped out from the shadow. A tall, fat man in a black jacket and a green mask was revealed.

“So you’re the Stand User of these slimes!” – Screamed Staz.

“I have a name you know… It’s Samy… Slender Samy... And this is my Stand! BILLY THE FRIDGE!”

“You call yourself slender but I can’t lie you’re pretty fat!” – Laughed Staz.

“Silence!” – Shouted Samy. An army of slimes appeared behind him again as he started munching on a bag of crisps. Brian and Staz were once again cornered.

“What do we do? I can’t shoot constantly! I am basically completely out of energy after that massive cob…” – Asked Brian.

“Retreat! That’s the best we can do for now!” – Shouted Staz as he grabbed Brian’s arm and started sprinting. – “Bali! Give us a guitar string and pull us up!”

Bali quickly reached out the balcony and shot one of his guitar strings out for Staz to grab with his Stand while he had Brian under his arm almost passed out.

“Pull! Pull Bali! Come on! You can do it!” – Staz screamed with a slight fright in his voice.

The slimes almost caught Staz’s foot but Bali pulled them up just in time for the pair to avoid another direct attack. Staz let go of Brian who fell on all fours, still coughing up blood and bleeding from his leg.

“How’s ToTo?” – He asked. – “Is he still alive?”

“Of course I’m alive what are you on about?” – ToTo answered from the corner of the balcony. – “You should be more concerned about yourself, you don’t look so well…”

“The enemy is still out there but…” – Bali pointed at Samy. – “He’s not moving at all. He’s just standing there and eating! Look there’re even more slimes coming out from his body!”

“Guys! Below!” – Staz screamed suddenly. The slimes were slowly piling up on top of each other, forming a ladder for the rest to be able to climb up to the balcony.

“We should… Get inside!” – Said Brian who struggled his way through the doorway.

Our group swiftly moved inside and barricaded all entrances so no slime can enter. Brian sat down and leaned against the wall while trying to catch some air.

“We’re surrounded…” – He said. – “I can hardly move, ToTo’s also damaged, Staz and Bali are the only two still capable of fighting… The dude’s got huge range on his Stand… He can just stand still and the slime will still reach us! Staz and Bali both have a range of about 2-3 metres, which is quite useless in this situation. We have to get close to him somehow.”

“But how do we do that?” – Asked Bali. – “My guitar strings are too weak on their own and wouldn’t reach him anyway. Best we can do is for him to come closer.”

“That is out of the question. We have nothing in this room. No water, no food, we wouldn’t last. He has a full stash on the other hand.” – Said Staz.

“I think him eating and his Stand are connected.” – Started Brian. – “He is turning his fat rolls into the explosive slime.”

“Why the mask though?” – Asked Staz.

“Simply to stay anonymous. He must be a well-known assassin underground or something. The name is probably a nickname and not his actual name.” – Answered Brian.

10 minutes have passed and there was no change in the situation. Brian was still suffering from his injuries, ToTo was slowly recovering while Staz and Balin were looking out for the enemy possibly attacking.

“Shouldn’t we try exiting? I mean if he really wanted to he could’ve blown through any of the barricades, maybe he has given up?” – Asked Bali.

“It’s impossible someone like him would just quit. I know he’s still outside, I can hear the slimes as well.” – Answered Staz.

As the group was waiting for something to happen, a small splattering sound could be heard from the floor above. Samy has broken into the apartment above the group’s. But the worst was yet to come. Suddenly a tiny green figure appeared on the ceiling and started slowly making its way through the gap until suddenly, a slime dropped into the middle of the room.

“BALI, STAZ! LOOK OUT!” – Brian screamed as he jumped on the slime with a bunch of corn spawning around him.

Everything went black for the group for a bit… Bali slowly woke up but he wasn’t able to see due to being stuck under something rather strange. He started sniffing in the small space around him.

“Is this… Popcorn? Did Brian jump on the slime to create popcorn and cushion the explosion for us?” – He asked.

“Bali, is that you?” – ToTo’s voice could be heard from across the popcorn which was slowly disintegrating.

“Bali, ToTo?” – Asked Staz from yet another location.

The popcorn was slowly disappearing from around our heroes, however, they wish it wasn’t. In the middle of the room laid Brian… At least, what remained of him. Half of his body was torn off, his ribcage completely exposed, in a pool of fresh blood spewing out of his body.

“ToTo, Staz, Balin… Thank you for making this journey… This much more enjoyable... Thank you so much for joining me, but it’s time for me to go… Tell Brender goodbye…” – He struggled to speak.

“Brian no! You cannot just die here!” – ToTo was crying in agony.

“Half of my body has been torn off, ToTo… E-either I die from the pain or the loss of blood but… This is my journey’s end…” – Brian closed his eyes.

“This can’t be… He… He’s gone…” – Bali started tearing up.

Staz slowly stood up, he didn’t say a single word. He started slowly approaching the balcony door. Hellraiser was already behind him, the aura around him a fiery red, so were the diamond shapes on the Stand’s body, signifying rage. As Staz reached the door, he punched it open with the strength of a thousand elephants, the door went flying away. What’s even more surprising is that he didn’t even use that much force. He got to the balcony railing, Hellraiser grabbed it and tore it out of the bearing. Staz jumped down from the balcony onto the ground, a fiery rage glowing in his eyes, a murderous intent.

“Are you seriously approaching me?” – Samy started laughing.

Staz didn’t answer. He stopped right next to one of the abandoned buildings.

“Oh, so you aren’t… Have you given up already? Am I that intimidating? Hah! Billy the Fridge!” – Slimes started coming out of Samy again as he started munching on a piece of cake. – “You see you’re going to die either way so like I don’t mind telling you that an individual slime of mine lasts about 5 minutes. After that the fats it was created from start to decompose under the sun. Weirdly enough under the moon as well for some reason. I still don’t know why they’re green though.”

Staz looked up at Samy and used Hellraiser to punch the building right next to him. A crack slowly went up the wall of the building and suddenly, the entire building started collapsing.

Balin and ToTo were just watching in awe as Staz leveled an entire apartment building in just one punch. Once the dust started clearing up, Staz was beginning to dash towards Samy’s previous location, but he was clever enough to run while the dust was settling and was already on the 2nd floor of the apartment building he was originally hiding in. Staz’s Stand grabbed a massive piece of the crumbled building and hurled it towards Samy, punching a big hole into the building. Samy was throwing slimes at Staz on the run, explosions all around Staz but he didn’t even care to look at the things. Samy was panicking, Staz, however, was going berserk. His anger and grief were bottled up and his Stand resembled his hatred towards the world, the agony he was going through. Staz showed no expression but that fiery glow in his eyes. He dashed towards Samy’s building and jumped up to the 2nd floor, where Samy was and started running towards him at speeds unimaginable. Samy turned a corner and left a wall of slimes behind him, Staz figured the way around would be entering one of the rooms and punching the wall out to get around the slimes, which is what he did, but he was too slow… Samy was nowhere to be found on the other end of the hallway, there was only a hole in the wall. Samy has escaped…

Staz soon got back to the open space between the buildings… Or at least the remains of those buildings.

“Staz… Are you alright?” – Bali asked.

“He clearly isn’t, let him be.” – ToTo answered.

ToTo was right. Only moments after he’s said that Staz got on his knees and started crying.

“BRIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!” – He screamed in the most agonizing voice one could imagine.

Name: Brian Law Korn

Stand. Korn

Status: Deceased

Name: Slender Samy

Stand: Billy the Fridge

Status: Escaped

The three started crying and screaming together over Brian’s death. ToTo slowly dragged Brian’s lifeless body out from the apartment building using his Stand.

“W-we gotta bury him! We-we cannot just let him decay here, can we?” – Started ToTo.

“Y-yes, we do… Staz, please I know it’s hard but give us a hand!” – Said Bali.

Staz and Bali grabbed some sharp debris and started digging while Africa made it rain so the soil became soft and it was easier to dig. After having dug a two metres deep hole, Brian’s body was finally resting at peace.

“Staz… I’m proud of you” – A voice said from above to Staz. He looked up in the sky, it was Brian looking down on him. – “It’s not that bad, is it? Please, take care of ToTo for me. I’ll entrust you with delivering the package… But it’s time for me to finally leave this earth. Don’t grieve over me, I’m sure we’ll meet again in the afterlife!” – The spirit has disappeared, and Brian’s body has been completely buried.

“Well then…” – Bali said. – “What happens now?”

“We’re delivering the package no matter what!” – Answered Staz promptly.

“But Brian, the person who was supposed to be the deliverer is dead!”

“I don’t care, Bali. With or without you, I’m going to deliver this package. Same goes to you ToTo. You either stay with me or head back to Sydney…”

“I’m with you!” – Answered ToTo. – “Otherwise I’d be all alone again…”

“I have nowhere to go either so… I guess I’m in!” – Answered Bali.

“Then it’s settled! Let us continue our journey across Australia. We shall fulfil Brian’s legacy! Let’s go, everyone!” – Staz said.

“Sir… I-I’m back and I have both good and bad news…” – Era started.

“Start with the good news…” – The Finisher ordered.

“Well, the good news is that… Samy has killed Brian.”

“That’s excellent! Then what is the bad news? There surely cannot be anything bad, right?”

“Well, the other three are still alive. Samy had to escape.”

“Does he have the package though?”

“He, unfortunately, doesn’t, sir…”

“It’s fine… They probably left it there anyway, considering it’s no longer their concern. They no longer have a leader or a purpose. You could just go there and retrieve it for me.”

“Sir, there is a problem with that... Staz has assumed leadership and is guiding the other two towards Perth. And you know who’s about to come… They are nearing central Australia already… Then if they head south…”

“If they reach Fowler’s Bay I’m sure he’ll be there… I cannot allow that…” – The Finisher slowly stood up.

“Yes, sir… Fowler’s Bay has the only person aware of your identity. He has become quite a popular person there as well, despite the town being quite small.”

“I can’t believe it!” – The Finisher smashed down on the table in the room. – “I’ve only been in this hellhole for half a year and this person also lives here… The person I met on an unfortunate occasion back in Europe… You know what Era, screw the leftover Stand Users at my disposal, I’m heading for Fowler’s Bay myself…”

“Sir, this is the third table…” – Era started. – “Also, isn’t it a bit dangerous to go out by yourself to stop them? Wouldn’t it just cause more problems?”

“I don’t care anymore… Besides, I don’t have many Stand Users left…” – The Finisher answered.

Who lives in Fowler’s Bay that The Finisher so wants our group to avoid meeting? How did our group travel to the middle of Australia in just 2 days? How will they overcome the death of their lost friend? One thing’s for sure, our trio is in for a surprise.