Chapter 6: My Stand is the Shadowkhan?!
The gears in Jonas's mind began to turn, piecing together the impossible sequence of events. He remembered it clearly: just before Diavolo murdered him, the arrowhead had sliced his finger. The searing, unforgettable pain of that moment... that had to be the catalyst.
And the sea of black phantoms he had witnessed in that dark, empty void? That must have been the manifestation of his Stand.
No... that's not quite right.
Jonas immediately refuted his own theory. There was a finer detail he was missing.
He held out his hand, focusing his will. Instantly, specks of black particles began to drift from his palm like dissipating smoke. He understood now. The phantoms themselves weren't his Stand. His true Stand was the particles—the Invisible Black Matter—that composed them.
As for its ability? Based on his current, very resurrected state, the primary power seemed to be Immortality, applied directly to the user's body.
Of course, this was all just speculation. A Stand's powers were often multifaceted and bizarre. Who knew what other abilities lay dormant, waiting to be unearthed?
It is a well-known fact that Stands are the manifestation of a user's fighting spirit, and they typically appear in a humanoid form. Knowing this, Jonas attempted to summon his. He held out his hands, and the black particles began to gather before him. He focused on the image of the phantoms from the void, trying to will the particles into a humanoid shape.
But just as a lighter eventually runs out of fluid, the stream of particles from his body began to dwindle. All he could manage to coalesce was a pathetic, palm-sized ball of shadow.
Jonas stared at it. "..."
What the hell is this supposed to do?! he thought. Turn into a black kitten and hiss at my enemies?
As if on cue, the ball of particles shifted and transformed. In the next instant, a ten-centimeter-tall creature stood before him. It was entirely black, its body nothing more than a silhouette with a single, enormous mouth.
Jonas got off the mortuary slab and blinked, a look of profound confusion on his face. The little creature looked exactly like a member of the Maw Clan from the Shadowkhan.
The tiny monster saw Jonas and immediately let its long tongue loll out. Like an excited puppy, it scrambled up his leg and began to affectionately rub itself against his cheek. Jonas couldn't help but let out a wry chuckle. The little guy clearly possessed a primal, animal-like consciousness and instinctively recognized Jonas as its master.
Jonas plucked the creature from his shoulder. It clearly disliked being held, squirming and wiggling in his grasp like a cornered rat. He examined it closely. There was no mistaking it. It was a perfect replica of a Maw Clan Shadowkhan.
The logic quickly clicked into place. From what little he knew of the JoJo universe, a Stand was a supernatural ability born from one's spiritual energy. Its form and function were intrinsically linked to the user's soul. It was possible that when his Stand was first forming in the crucible of his death, it latched onto the latent memories of Jackie Chan Adventures from his past life.
But even if it looked like a Shadowkhan, it was still a Stand. Its true abilities needed to be tested.
Before any of that, however, he had to get out of here.
Jonas surveyed his surroundings. Besides the slab he'd woken up on, there were several other corpses under white sheets. The air was thick with the sickeningly sweet smell of disinfectant and decay, a combination that turned his stomach. He had to leave. Now.
With a grimace, he walked to the door. But just as his hand was about to touch the handle, it began to turn from the other side.
The door was thrown open, and a police officer stood in the doorway, his pistol aimed directly at Jonas.
The officer froze, his eyes wide with utter disbelief. He'd heard a noise and assumed a thief was looting the dead. He never, in his wildest nightmares, expected to see the very same man he had personally pronounced dead just a few hours ago standing before him, very much alive. Even a staunch materialist would be shaken by the sight, let alone a superstitious man like this officer.
His first thought was: Ghost!
He let out a terrified shriek and his finger tightened on the trigger.
"WAIT! DON'T SHOOT! I'M ALIVE!" Jonas yelled, his own heart lurching into his throat. He had absolutely no desire to experience being shot to death a second time.
The officer's finger trembled on the trigger, but he instinctively paused. Jonas had no doubt that another millimeter of pressure would have sent a bullet into his brain.
"Y-You were dead!" the cop stammered, breathing heavily, his gun still trained on Jonas. "How are you standing here?! HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?!"
Jonas knew that if he couldn't answer that question, a bullet would be his only reply.
As the tense standoff unfolded, the tiny creature at Jonas's feet crept towards the officer. It began sniffing intently at the man's shadow, as if it were the most delicious meal it had ever encountered. It was eager, but it made no move to attack. Without a command from Jonas, it seemed it wouldn't dare take a bite.
From this, Jonas deduced two critical properties of his Stand.
First, the officer was completely ignoring the creature hopping around his feet. As he suspected, his Stand was invisible to non-Stand users.
Second, the creature's desperate yet restrained behavior confirmed its absolute loyalty. It was awaiting his command.
This so-called officer of the law had already proven to be corrupt. Now, he had a gun pointed at Jonas's head. If you draw a weapon on a man, you had better be prepared for the consequences.
A sliver of dark light flashed in Jonas's eyes. He gave his command.
"If you're hungry... then feast."
His Stand was clearly not a close-range power type like Star Platinum or The World. It was a long-range, automatic type that acted on the user's orders.
"What are you talking about? I asked you a—AAAAAGGGHHHH!!"
The officer was cut off by a sudden, searing pain from his leg. He looked down in horror to see his trousers inexplicably rip open, and a chunk of flesh from his calf was torn away with it. The piece of meat vanished into thin air before it could even hit the ground.
If it weren't for the excruciating pain and the fountain of blood erupting from the wound, the officer would have thought he was dreaming.
From Jonas's perspective, the scene was perfectly clear. Upon his command, the little creature had opened its massive maw and begun viciously biting the officer's shadow. As its ethereal teeth tore into the shadow, corresponding wounds appeared on the man's physical body. He lost his balance and crashed to the floor.
Interesting, Jonas thought. The abilities of my Shadowkhan Stand are slightly different from the ones in my memory.
He didn't have time to dwell on it. Seizing the opportunity, Jonas lunged forward, wrenched the pistol from the screaming officer's hand, and turned it on him.
The cop's eyes went wide with terror. He clutched his bleeding leg with one hand and covered his head with the other, terrified Jonas would execute him. Jonas kept the gun trained on him, watching for any sudden moves.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his creature, still happily munching on the man's shadow. And was it his imagination, or had it gotten... slightly bigger?
A smile touched Jonas's lips. It seemed the developmental potential of this little guy was something special.
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Stand User: Jonas Jourdan
Stand Name: ????? · ????
Destructive Power: ?
Speed: ?
Range: ?
Stamina: ?
Precision: ?
Developmental Potential: A