THEME SONG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEUb6LioH38 (Credits Below)
Morning came like any other. The sun hovered comfortably just above the horizon as the denizens of Babylon Gardens began their morning routines. Some early risers tackling the day with vigor, others are just now getting up, while others saw fit to continue sleeping well into the noon.
Grape would have been securely in the latter group had it not been for the step-step of padded paws on the hard linoleum floor her cot was on. She rubbed her eyes, preparing herself to greet the new day whether she wanted to or not.
“Morning Grape!” She heard Peanut say, his voice way too happy for how early it was. “You want some coffee?” He asked.
Grape mumbled something unintelligible while holding out her hand, hoping her body language would get her point across. She felt the hot mug slip into her fingers before she gave a grunt that almost sounded like ‘thanks’.
A few sips later, and the caffeine was already working its way through her system. Enough that she eventually realized something was... off about this whole morning.
Her eyes, now wide awake, fell to Peanut. He was standing off to the side of the room, pouring his own cup of coffee as if he needed the caffeine.
Peanut, whom the day before yesterday had an arrow strike him in the chest, was standing on his two feet without a care in the world. “P-Peanut!?” Grape sputtered, mentally cursing as she splashed hot coffee on herself. She would worry about that later.
She quickly scrambled off the cot and onto her feet, placing the mug down on the counter the coffee pot rested on. “Peanut! What are you doing out of bed!?
How are you out of bed!?”
Grape gave Peanut a quick look-over. Aside from the bandages across his chest, he seemed perfectly healthy. He did not appear to be in any pain.
“Oh! Right…” Peanut said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh… Honestly? I just felt… a lot better today. Like, whatever happened to me didn’t happen at all.”
He awkwardly took a sip of his coffee as Grape continued to stare at him in confusion. “That’s not, like, weird or anything. Is it?”
~
After a few moments, Grape had managed to corral Peanut’s doctor before dragging him back to Peanut’s room. Peanut dutifully waited for Grape to return after she told him, under no uncertainty, that he was forbidden from leaving his bed until the Doctor could take a look at him.
The Doctor walked in the room with Grape in tow, happy to see that his patient was feeling better but sharing Grape’s concern over just how quickly he got better. “Peanut, Grape tells me you are feeling… remarkably better since last night.” He said carefully.
Peanut shrugged in his bed. “I don’t know what to tell you, Doc. I woke up this morning feeling right as rain. If anything, I feel better than I have in a long time.”
The Doctor rubbed his chin while Grape looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for the Doctor to explain this medical impossibility.
“Well before you go off and run a mile, why don’t I take a look at your wound and see how it is healing?” The Doctor said. Peanut shrugged as the Doctor began unravelling his bandages. “I hope for your sake you didn’t jostle any of the stitches loo…” The Doctor would have continued, but his train of thought was quite derailed upon seeing the stitches in question fall from Peanut’s now bare chest and onto his lap.
Both Peanut and the Doctor stared incredulously at the bits of strings and staples that had only been recently attached to Peanut’s chest. Indeed, the chest in question was still shaved to make room for the sutures, but any evidence of an arrow wound had completely disappeared.
Peanut’s chest was as unscarred and unmarked as the day he was born.
“I… What?” The Doctor said, summing up the thoughts of everyone in the room.
The Doctor kept staring at Peanut’s chest, even grazing his fingers across it as if looking for an invisible wound. “That’s… not possible…”
Peanut could offer no explanation to the Doctor, who was currently going through a minor mental breakdown, so instead he just shrugged. “Sooooo, does this mean I can go?”
~
With Peanut the picture of perfect health, the hospital could do nothing to keep him, despite the Doctor’s insistence at running tests over his miraculous recovery.
In truth, Peanut was willing to take any excuse to leave the hospital as quickly as possible. He was all too ready to begin his search for the one who put him in the hospital in the first place.
Mr. and Mrs. Sandwich, happy that their boy was going to be okay but just as confused as everybody else over his recovery, were currently signing Peanut’s release papers with the hospital’s receptionist.
Meanwhile, Peanut and Grape were in the hospital gift shop, attempting to alleviate the issue of Peanut’s furless chest.
“So, you still gung-ho on this ‘Join the neighborhood watch’ thing?” Grape asked, looking through the collection of pet-sized shirts and jackets the gift shop had.
“Yep. That’s priority number one as soon as we get out of here.” Peanut replied, browsing a stack of comic books. “This hospital’s actually got some pretty old issues. I might be able to re-sell these for a decent profit.”
“Don’t change the subject.” Grape snapped, taking a… colorful jacket off the rack. “Here, try this on.”
Peanut looked over at Grape’s choice before wincing. To say the jacket was ‘gaudy’ would be polite. It was primarily electric blue in color, with gold trimming on the collar, ends of the sleeves, and bottom of the jacket. A gold star was embroidered across the entire chest with gold lettering in the center that read ‘
You Go, Buddy!’
Grape obviously knew how hideous it was, and pre-emptively added “Hey, it’s either this or the pink shirt with the smiling heart.”
Peanut huffed and took the jacket. As luck would have it, it was a perfect fit. Grape nodded, apparently satisfied, as she pulled her wallet out of her collar to pay for the jacket. “Well, I’m telling this to you right now: You’re not joining without me.”
Peanut smiled. “You think I’d have it any other way?”
~
Of course, it took a week of constant pestering before their parent’s would even think of letting Peanut actively search for his own assailant. And a week longer before they finally relented to let him join the G.O.D.’s neighborhood watch.
The major turning points in the argument were Grape’s insistence that she would be at Peanut’s side the whole time, and even some assurance from Fido himself who claimed it might actually be the safest place for Peanut, surrounded by pets who were specifically looking for his attacker.
Unfortunately, there still remained one hurdle to jump over: Asking the head of the G.O.D. himself, Bino.
Still, the two kept their hopes up as they marched into the G.O.D. clubhouse, spotting Bino looking over something on a clipboard. When Bino spotted the two walking up to him, he visibly sneered.
“Oh god no, what do you two want?” Bino said, already feeling a headache coming on. He almost didn’t take notice of Peanut’s choice of apparel. “Nice jacket.”
Peanut looked down at the blue and gold offender before covering up the ‘
You Go, Buddy!’ with his arms. “It’s just until my fur grows back in…” He mumbled.
“Nice to see you too, jerk.” Grape scoffed.
“Need I remind you, Grape, that you are a cat in a clubhouse
for dogs?” Bino smirked. “You’re not exactly welcome here.”
Just as he said this, two dogs passed by, offering Grape a couple of friendly waves. “Hey, Grape! Wassup!” “How’s it going, Grape!” The two said, high-fiving Grape as they passed.
Grape gave a smirk to the now livid dog in front of her. “You were saying?”
Bino slapped his face, giving an angry sigh. “What… Do you want?”
Peanut gave a friendly smile, trying desperately to salvage the situation. “We’re here to join the club’s neighborhood watch.”
To their surprise, Bino didn’t immediately shut them down. Instead, he raised an eyebrow inquisitively. “That so?” He said simply.
“Yeah. We wanted to try and find the guy who shot me with that arrow a few weeks back.” Peanut said before giving Bino an earnest smile. “By the way, I never got to thank you for giving me some of your blood. You might have saved my life.”
Bino’s eyes widened, apparently not expecting any gratitude. He looked away, rubbing his arm. “I said don’t mention it.”
The three stood in an awkward silence for a solid few seconds, the two obviously waiting for an answer from Bino.
“... Fine. The watch isn’t really a part of the club anyway, we just oversee it. So you don’t technically have to be members to join.” He finally said. “Plus… I guess I can understand wanting to find the guy who shot you.”
He held out his hand towards Peanut. “Welcome aboard, I guess…” Peanut quickly took the hand and shook it happily. Bino hesitated before offering his hand again to Grape who was just as hesitant in shaking it.
“Okay.” Bino said. “First thing you can do, Grape, is go find Max and ask him about patrol routes.”
Grape cocked her head. “Wait,
Max is in the watch? You let
Max join?”
Bino shrugged. “Like I said, the watch isn’t technically a part of G.O.D.. Pretty much anyone can join. Anyway, he should be able to point you guys where you need to go. You should be able to find him in the park along with some other volunteers.”
Grape shrugged, turning to leave. “Good a start as any. Let’s go Peanut.”
Peanut turned to leave as well before Bino placed his hand on Peanut’s shoulder.
“Ah, actually I need to talk to Peanut.” Bino said. “In private.”
Grape turned back, clearly confused. “Why?”
Bino tried to keep his cool. “I… want to talk to him about the attack. Y’know, get his eyewitness report and all that stuff.”
Grape wasn’t exactly buying Bino’s excuse, but Peanut held up his hand before she could say anything. “It’s okay Grape, I can stay for a bit. Go ahead and meet up with Max, I’ll catch up with you.”
“You sure?” Grape said. Peanut nodded, motioning for Grape to get a move on.
Grape stood still for a few more seconds before turning on her heel. “Head
straight for the park when you're done, I’ll be waiting for you.” With that, Grape began to walk out the clubhouse.
Peanut called after her. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!”
When Grape was out of sight, Peanut turned back towards Bino. “So you wanted to talk in private?” He said, motioning to all of the dogs milling about the clubhouse around them.
“Right.” Bino said. “Follow me; we’ll talk in the meeting room. It should be empty right now.” The two walked towards the room in question. “Unless Sasha and Kevin are making out in there… again.” Bino said with a groan.
~
Luckily, the meeting room was devoid of any such snogging, leaving Peanut and Bino as the only two in the room.
“So what exactly do you want to know?” Peanut asked, Bino standing across the room with his back turned to Peanut. “I’m afraid there’s not much I can tell you. It kind of happened in an instant.”
“Oh I know.” Bino said. “I know
exactly what happened to you.”
“You do?” Peanut asked. “Then why did you want to talk to me?”
Bino turned around to face Peanut, who gasped when he saw just how icy Bino’s stare was. “Because the same thing happened to me…” Bino said.
Peanut looked confused. “The same thing? You mean you were shot with an arrow, too!?”
To Peanut’s surprise, Bino suddenly cracked out a humorless laugh. “Oh man, how long has my brother and his merry band been trying to find that dang thing?” Bino pointed accusingly at Peanut, clearly getting angry. “And now suddenly their oh-so-fearsome ‘enemy’ just leaves the arrow sticking out of you!?”
Peanut started to become nervous as Bino started ranting, more to himself than anybody. “Oh! But when it’s MY turn to get shot, he’s gotta rip that sucker out so he can just keep on making more Stand Users.” Bino started to glare at Peanut again. “I don’t mind telling you that it freaking hurt when he did!”
Peanut was now suddenly very afraid to be in the same room with this raving dog. “Uh… Bino? What on earth are you talking about?”
Bino stared incredulously at Peanut. “You don’t know, do you?” He said. “Have you summoned your Stand yet?”
“Uh…”
“Answer the question, Peanut!” Bino yelled. “Have. You summoned. Your Stand yet?”
“Bino, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Peanut said. “What is going on!?
Bino scoffed. “Fine… Fine…” He paced around the room. “Chances are that little witch is already planning something to do with you. But I wanna see what you're capable of for myself, first.”
Bino spread his legs as he took a stance in front of Peanut. “And unfortunately for you, the best way to awaken a Stand is when its User is under… duress.”
Before Peanut could say anything in response, something utterly strange happened. In a flash of light, Bino was suddenly surrounded by a bright, red aura. “You wanna know what a Stand is, Peanut?
This is a Stand!
Crush 40!”
As soon as Bino said its name, his Stand suddenly materialized out of the red aura surrounding his body.
Crush 40 was humanoid in shape with a slim figure. Its body was seemingly split in half, lengthwise. On one half, the Stand’s body was composed almost entirely of fire while the other half was composed almost entirely of ice. It had no facial features save for glowing, white eyes that looked absolutely furious.
Peanut shrieked at what appeared to be a monster hovering just behind Bino. “What…! What is that!?”
“So you can see it!” Bino accused. “That proves it, you
are a Stand User!”
Bino started walking towards Peanut,
Crush 40 following its master dutifully. Peanut, not wanting to see where any of this insanity was going, ran straight toward the door.
“Oh no you don’t!” Bino said. He raised his left hand toward the door, causing
Crush 40 to do the same with his ice covered hand. A blast of cold air shot past Peanut before hitting the door, exploding into ice that covered the door almost completely.
“Ah!” Peanut screamed, forced to turn and face Bino and his pet monster again.
“You’re not going anywhere until you summon your own Stand.” Bino said. He raised his right hand this time, with
Crush 40 mirroring his movements. The air above the Stand’s hand suddenly ignited into a large fireball. “You might want to hurry up.”
Crush 40 reeled back his hand before hurling the fireball straight towards Peanut like a Baseball pitcher.
Peanut covered his eyes and placed his arms over his head, completely unaware of the green aura glowing around him. He waited for the fireball to burn him to a crisp but he felt… nothing. Nothing other than a gentle breeze.
He risked taking a peek before seeing what looked to be a transparent, glass square in front of him. It was clearly what took the fireball for him. The ‘glass’ disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving Peanut to wonder where it came from in the first place.
“Ahem.” Peanut turned towards Bino as he was trying to get his attention. He didn’t say anything, instead pointing to something behind Peanut.
Against his better judgement, Peanut turned to look at what Bino was pointing at before gasping. What stood behind Peanut was yet another Stand. Like Bino’s, it was humanoid in stature but with clearly avian features like a beaked face, feathers, and razor sharp talons for feet. Its plumage was a pattern of green, black and white vertical lines.
Peanut didn’t know why, but he felt like he instinctively knew the name of this creature.
“
Ballroom… Blitz…”
“It’s about time.” Bino said. “Seriously Peanut, I’ve got better things to do than kick your butt.”
That did it. Peanut would be the first to admit he never got along with Bino, but at least he tried to be amicable with him. But after this whole stunt of cornering him like an animal (his actual status as an animal notwithstanding), taunting him, and trying to set him on fire!
Peanut had
enough.
Bino wanted to see his Stand so badly? Peanut was going to show him just what his Stand could do… as soon as he figured that out himself.
Peanut stood back up on his feet,
Ballroom Blitz standing by his side. Bino smiled wide as
Crush 40 prepared another fireball.
“Alright Bino, You want this, you got this!”
~
STAND BIOS (In Order of Appearance)
Stand Name: Crush 40
Stand User: Bino
Power: A
Speed: C
Range: D
Durability: B
Precision: B
Development Potential: B
Crush 40 has the ability to manipulate the temperature of anything it touches, including air. Its left hand can generate extreme cold while its right hand can generate extreme heat. It can also fire ‘temperature blasts’ that don’t come into effect until they actually hit something other than air. Crush 40 also makes its User immune to extreme cold and heat.
Music Reference: The band Crush 40
Stand Name: Ballroom Blitz
Stand User: Peanut
Power: A
Speed: B
Range: D
Durability: C
Precision: B
Development Potential: A
Ballroom Blitz has the ability to make invisible constructs of empty space. Anything caught within these constructs, including air, will be forcibly pushed out. The bigger the object, the more force behind the push. Ballroom Blitz has two major weaknesses. Its constructs can only take the form of simple geometric shapes, meaning it cannot make complex, moving constructs. Also, its constructs are static and cannot be moved once created, only dissipated. Beyond these limitations, Ballroom Blitz can create any shape of construct the User can imagine.
Music Reference: Ballroom Blitz by The Sweet.
Theme Song Credits:
Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town, Opening theme to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable
Originally composed and performed by THE DU
English cover composed and performed by Triv and Mark de Groot (JorporXx)