Chapter 1

The Beginning of the End, Part 1. is the first chapter of the Apocalyptic Souls RP.

Summary
Everyone arrives in the town of Moab, Colorado separately. Notarou Higashikata and Jack Wilson happened to bunk in the same hotel. They're in Moab for the same reason, to document the spike of Stand Users in Moab. Vincenzo Fermi rented a ranch house for a month, and then called up some of his friends who were also staying at Moab, Isabella Garza and Maikeru, and asked them if they wanted to come over. They agreed, and not long after, Isabella arrives at Vince's house. While on his way to Vince's home, Maikeru meets Jack and Notarou in a coffee shop. Maikeru figured out that both of them were Stand users, so he ran over to Vince's place, unaware that he's being followed by Jack with the help of his stand. When Jack gets to Maikeru's location, he meets Vince, and they get into a brief scuffle over Maikeru's whereabouts and the fact that he has a Stand. Jack explained to them why he followed Maikeru and asked them about their stands, and after a short conversation, Jack leaves and gives them a phone number to contact him if they need anything.

Transcript
Notarou sat in the back of a greyhound bus, listening to Black Label society. He was fairly new to America. But Jotaro had contacted him, telling him of a little known town in Colorado. He had told Notarou of strange occurrences and how it may have to do with a lost Stand Arrow. Notarou was out to find that arrow. That was when his bus stopped in the small town of Moab. He stepped out, his MP3 player playing "Scars". He looked around at the town. A population of 133,000. And the stand user could be any one of them. Notarou needed to begin his work.

Jack arrived in Moab. It wasn't the kind of place he would go to normally, but others in his company advised him to make a small storage facility just to advertise his products to smaller towns like this. He accepted the idea and construction began, but in truth that was all just a public cover up. Jack knew about stands, and his company had a small secret part of it devoted to stuff involving stands. He heard rumors of strange stuff occurring in the town and concluded that it could only mean that someone possessing a stand was there. Jack came to Moab to officially open it publicly in a week, but just came early to look and see if the strange occurrences were indeed caused by a stand user.

Jack: "This town doesn't seem like its worth the money to build a facility here, but if a stand user is here it might just give me research that would be worth it."

Jack left the airport and went to an Inn, and unpacked. He would be staying in Moab for a while, so he obviously needed somewhere to stay.

After an hours-long drive to a town he'd known little about, Vincenzo was relieved when his rental ranch came into view. He'd paid for a month of use two days prior, and planned to use every minute. He felt excited to finally leave the Chicagoan skyscrapers that shackled him and boxed him in. Here, he could see a mile or more in almost every direction, and the thought drove him wild with anticipation.

Maikeru arrived in Moab by plane. But everything looked so different… It seemed like it was a whole different reality. Although, he knew something disturbing was in the city. With his cape and hood, he wouldn’t let anyone see an inch of his skin or his face.

Vince called up his friend Isabella.

Isabella, in her own car, scoffs and picks up.

Isabella: "Whaddya want? I was just about to go get some ice cream, Vincey.” She grumbled.

Vince: "Hey Izzy, I just pulled up to the ranch I rented out. It's got a lot of room, so you and Maik can crash if you want. My car's got gas if you need me to pick you up."

Isabella: “I’m currently on a street somewhere, I would just need the address.” She said, in a slightly happier tone, since they haven't seen each other in a while.

Vince: "Well, I'm at Palmer Trail, near the southeastern part of town. Come and see me if you need anything." Vince replied.

Isabella: ''“Alright, alright, I’m just gonna get me my chocolate ice cream, then I’ll be over in 20 minutes or so. I’ll see y’all there.”'' She hung up, went for her ice cream, then went to said address.

Vince then called his other friend, Maik.

Vince: ''“What’s up Maik, I’m at my new ranch that I rented. You can stay here if you want to. I can also pick you up with my car.”''

Maik: ''“Nah, don’t worry, I can walk there. I’m at my new home, too.”''

Vince: "Huh? You're living here, like, permanently? I'm only staying for a month. I hear Moab's got rafting, hiking, and the unclouded night skies are supposed to be beautiful."

Maik: ''“Well, yes. I’m here since I heard that this is the new Morioh. Rumors that it’s even better!”'' Maikeru said, while washing his dishes.

Vince: “Cool, the ranch is at Palmer Trail, so head up here if you want.”

Maik: ''“Alright-o. Be there in about 25 minutes.”'' Maikeru hung up.

Jack went out, as he was getting bored of not doing anything in the hotel

Jack: "Might as well go about the town, try and see what I can do." He looked around the town learning his surroundings before just heading to a cafe and getting something to drink, though not coffee. He does not like coffee.

Notarou showed up at the same small inn Jack was staying at. It was like the mom and pop, bed and breakfasts that showed up in places like this. The walls painted a soft blue. Notarou came up to the desk.

Notarou: "Excuse me, I have a reservation." The woman who was in charge of the keys just looked at him as if he were the first japanese man she had ever seen.

Innkeeper: "Higash-gash-gash..."

Notarou: "Higashikata." he finished it for her.

She nodded.

Innkeeper: "Room 4." She handed him the key.

Notarou walked up stairs and opened the door. He turned on the light and sat his bag down. He cautiously looked the room over to be sure that there was nothing that could be watching or listening in to what he says. A silvery aura appeared about Notarou as he looked the room over. It seemed clean. There was a small TV and a phone (Checked for bugs) and a bed (Checked for bedbugs) and a table where he could sit his laptop and important work. He opened the window to see that it stared straight into another window where another person stood staring at him... Notarou could not lie. He was starting to feel a little bit like a sore thumb. He smiled, waved and closed the window again. He sat down and flipped up his phone and made a call to Jotaro.

Notarou: "...Yeah, it's me. I made it."

Maikeru didn’t like running/jogging/walking normally. He’d jump from house to house, tree to tree. This was because it felt faster for him and it’d build up jumping & speed power.

Maikeru: “Might as well get some coffee.” He landed nearby a coffee shop.

Notarou walked the streets. He looked over his map. This town was large. It seemed to have been built around a mega church that served as the town's center. from there, there were coffee shops and restaurants and breakfast places. From that, main street heading south was full of tiny shops and some larger things like a Food-Lion and a Dollar General. There was no super centers or anything in Moab, the nearest walmart was about 10 miles north-east in Pueblo, but as for here, it was small. The people lived simply, and seemed very happy. Notaro stopped in the local starbucks for a cup of their hot chocolate (he disliked coffee) and paid for it. He asked about the exchange for Yen and the American dollar, as that was next on his list; stopping by the local bank at Carrier parkway and exchanging some of his Yen for bucks.

Jack was pretty happy that a lot of people here either don't know who he is or just don't care. In a big city he could find many people who recognize him and it's a bit annoying, but in a small town like this he has only met a few people who know who he is.

Maikeru put on his hood and costume, opened the door to the cafe and sat on a chair. He’d show his stand, aware that there could be stand users.「Zipping Diamond」, his stand, was humanoid and looked very ominous. He knew that no-one would go charging on him.

Maikeru: “Can I please have some coffee?” He said, calmly.

Jack being in the same coffee shop saw the stand and was a bit shocked seeing another one this soon. He simply stared observing the stand.

「Zipping Diamond」realized someone was looking at it, then alerted Maikeru.

Maikeru: “Oh, you gotta be kidding...” He said in a frustrated way.

Notarou: "Already? That was lucky" He noticed the stand and let his stand, Xanadu, out to stand by his side.

The nanobots that made up Jack’s eyes activated. They didn’t visibly change in appearance, but allowed jack to scan and gather detailed data about the person. The scan even went as far as to checking the internet and finding out the person's name. Jack then noticed the other stand and scanned Notarou.

Maikeru: “YOU!” yelled, pointing at Jack.

Notarou: "...Wait... He can see it? HE'S a stand user too?!" he noticed Jack's gaze. Notarou looked at the two men. "I think we need to have conversation."

「Zipping Diamond」Then threw a nickel at high speeds at Jack, using the coin as a bullet. A small portion of nanobots on Jack’s shoulder activated only for a fraction of a second and formed into a small energy turret and blasted the coin, destroying it before it even reached Jack. Then, the nanobots returned to normal.

Maikeru: “Another stand user, just when I thought that I’d live peacefully. ''WELL?! ARE YOU HERE TO KILL ME?”''

Jack said nothing, his face stayed blank as he just picked up his cup and slowly finished it without saying a word. He didn't seem to care much about the attack or the yelling.

Notarou: "Kill you? I don't want to, but I won't hesitate if you use your blessing to harm the less fortunate."

Jack then went up and got another cup of tea and went back to the same table he was at, seeming way too calm for this situation. He still said nothing.

Maikeru panicked, seeing as there were two stand users. He bursted out of the door, jumping from streetlight to streetlight, heading towards Vince’s home. Jack then went and paid and left the cafe. He went off and activated the nanobots in his eyes again and scanned to see where Maikeru went. He found traces of him and followed the trail leading him to the house he was at.

Notarou: "Wow. There are a LOT of stand users here. I might need to inform Jotaro of how far this has gone here." he walked out of the cafe and sipped his hot chocolate.

Vince hurriedly made up the place and started cooking a pizza in anticipation of his friends. After that, he set about hooking up his Wii, brand-spanking-new. Isabella, arriving at the place, parked nearby. She honked while licking her ice cream, and yelled.

Isabella: “HEYA VINCEY!” She honked again.

Vince: "YOOO! IZZY!" Vince hollered, bursting out the door. "You know that new Nintendo Console we'd seen advertisements for? I got one, and it's here! I got all the newest games too, like the Sports one and this shooter called Elebits! It's gonna be rad!"

Isabella: ''“OH SWEET! I can’t wait for that! Just gotta wait for Apple Juice Man!”'' She hurriedly got out of her car, and practically fell into the house.

Vince: "Yeah, should we call him again? He said he'd be here by about now."

Isabella: “I think he was gonna get something before he came, so it’s good.” Taking off her jacket, she walked to Vince.

Vince: "It's been a bit, hasn't it? Wait, where are my manners? Lemme get your jacket."

Isabella: “Oh it’s finneeee!” She pat him on the head.

Vince: "A-Awww, that was really sweet of you. I've got a pizza in the oven, and I just hooked up that Wii console. It came with two controllers, and it even works with my old GameCube controllers too."

Isabella: “Oooo!~ it's always a classic when ya play video games with your best friend and eat pizza!” She practically bounced off of the couch when she jumped to sit on it.

Vince: "Alright, I'll have it right up! You can boot the Wii up if you like."

Isabella: ''“Alrighty! Let’s just hope we don’t get robbed again!” She chuckled. “You also better get ready for ya ass gettin’ beat at Mario Kart!”'' She laughed, turning the console on.

Vince brought the fresh pizza into the living room.

Isabella: “Ooo!~ it’s been a while since I’ve had a good Pizza!~” She took a small whiff and squealed a bit

Vince: "Well of course it's gonna be great, I made the ingredients myself! Or did you forget I was Italian?"

Maikeru: “OPEN THE DOOR, OPEN THE DOOR!” knocked incredibly hard at Vince’s door.

Vince: "MAIK, IS THAT YOU? YOU'RE LATE!" He yelled back.

Maikeru: “SHUT UP AND OPEN THE DOOR!”

Vince: "Geez, what's up? You alright?" Vince said as he opened the door.

Maikeru: “STAND-” He pushed vince, then grabbing both Isabella and Vincenzo together.

Isabella: “What the HELL!?” Isabella squirmed a bit “CALM DOWN!”

Vince: "WHERE? THERE'S MORE OF US?" He replied.

Maikeru: “I SAW A STAND USER, AS WELL AS ANOTHER PERSON WHO COULD SEE STANDS-”

Vince: "They probably had a Stand too, they just didn't show you. And for good reason, you look absolutely goofy with that cape." Said Vince.

Isabella: ''“Exactly, and can ya let me go? You’re hurtin’ me!”'' She squirmed around more.

Maikeru: “S-sorry.” Maikeru said as he calmed down a bit.

Vince: "Okay Maik, did the other user follow you here? If so, I don't want them wrecking my house."

Maikeru would then look in realization

Isabella: “Yeah, me and Vincey already once went through that once.” She relaxed back into the couch.

Maikeru: ''“Act like I was just going here for a visit. You don’t know me and I don’t know you, alright!?”'' He said, worried again.

Isabella: ''“U-uh.. Okay..”'' she questioned the situation. ''“Get the hell outta here..? I guess..?”'' Isabella said with an unconfident voice.

Vince: "You can chill out inside with Izzy. We've got a game console setup, you can play with her on that for a bit. If the guy shows up, I'll make it look like I was working on my car's engine. My brother taught me a few things about 'em, I should be able to squeeze by." He replied.

Isabella walks outside into the back, takes some allergy pills from her pocket, and lies on the grass.

Jack eventually found the house where Maikeru’s trail ended, and he knocked on the door. No one answered. He then knocked harder.

Vince: "Hey, mister. Whaddaya need?" He said, coming out of the garage with oily hands.

Jack: "I’m looking for someone. Their name is... 'Maikeru'. I just need to talk to them. I believe that they might have stopped here."

Isabella peaked over, opening one eye and attempting to see the man in question.

Vince: "What do you need to talk to him about? 'Cause depending on your answer, I might have some questions of my own." Vince replied.

Jack: "What I need to speak to him about is between me and him. You do not need to know."

Vince: "You won't be able to get to him if you don't answer me first." Vince definitely doesn't like being left out of something so potentially serious.

Isabella sat up and ran over to Maikeru.

Isabella: ''“Dude I think you should hide or something! I can make a flower bush and hide ya there!”'' She whispered to him.

Jack: "Listen I'm not looking to hurt him but he has something I am interested in and I need to speak with him about it. That is all I will say." He said. Jack’s activated eyes started sensing life signs in the house and pinpointed 2 other life signs. He couldn't tell which was which but he knew 1 was Maikeru.

Vince: "What's he got? Did he steal something? As long as I've known Maik, he's never been a thief, nor anything else unsavory."

Jack: "Its uh… No he hasn't stolen anything. Just let me see him now." Jack said, his tone becoming annoyed.

Vince: "Well, I want to know what you think he's got. I'm interested now."

Jack: "And I'm telling you no. Now, let me see him before I have to get a bit… extreme." Jack said this in a calm but threatening way.

Ignoring any outcome, Isabella pushed Maikeru somewhere and made a flower bush to hide him in. She shoved him in and walked away.

Vince: "Oh, you want to get extreme? Don't pick fights with people you don't know. That'll end badly for you sooner than later." The air begins to shimmer around Vince.

Two small globs of what looks like grey goo crawled onto vinces hands. The grey globs were detached nanobots from jack. They started slowly eating the biomass but wouldn't severely damage the hands, just trying to stop them from doing anything with them.

Isabella walked over in a panicky way, hoping to intervene.

Isabella: “What the hell!?” She went to Vince.

Vince: "Augh! What the hell's this? Now you've done it! Space Oddity! Send him to the moon!" Space Oddity bursts forth, assuming an aggressive stance.

Maikeru: ‘''Vince, you idiot. Don’t mess with him, or something bad will definitely happen!''’ he thought.

Jack: "Oh so you have one too? I might need to speak to you as well then." Jack said, as the goo started consuming at a faster rate trying to remove skin.

Isabella then wrapped restricting vines around Jack, hoping to stop him from causing any further damage.

Isabella: “Both of you calm down!”

The vines would be consumed by the nanobots only giving Jack more energy.

Jack: "3 stand users? Must be my lucky day."

Isabella then gasped a bit, and hunched down.

Isabella: ''“Agh! What the hell! He got my plants!”'' Since the vines were consumed, she got hurt because it was her stand.

Vince: "Space Oddity! Get these things off of my hands! I bet they can't resist the cold depths of space." Vince creates a small bubble of cold space around his hands, freezing the strange goop. The goop while frozen became a solid metal, but then flew back to Jack using thrusters that formed on the metal pieces combining back into him.

Jack: "Stop attacking with those plants. It will only kill you and I don't need that." Jack said.

Isabella: ''“Who the hell are you to talk! You’re trying to practically kill my friends!”'' Isabella replied angrily.

Vince: "Why would meeting stand users be lucky for you? And what's with the goop?" Vince rubs his hands, now a little raw from the goop's treatment. "Yeah, why'd you hunt Maik down if you didn't want to kill him? I feel like this could've been avoided if you'd told me what I wanted to know." Vince replied. "Wait. You wouldn't come to the middle of nowhere to jump three kids with abilities. There's gotta be more like us, right?"

Jack: "Your abilities. They are why I came to this city, to study them." Jack said. "If I wanted to kill you I would have done it a while ago"

Isabella: “Oh, of course there has to be more stand users and weirdos!” She grumbled and put her hands on her hips.

Maikeru: “That’s it!” Maikeru jumped out the bush, then stealthily used Shock! (Zipping Diamond zips through a human, touching a nerve and messing with it, making the human hyper-active for 5 seconds) on Jack, but behind him. Jack completely activated all nanobots, which gave him the durability to block the attack from Maikeru.

Isabella: ''“M-Maikeru! I told you to stay in the damn bush!”'' She shouted.

Vince: "There he goes again. Maik! Get over here before he catches you in that goop! It'll eat away at you if you aren't careful!" he said.

Jack: "I didn't know you had a stand and I don't need non stand users knowing about this stuff that's why i didn't tell you my intentions" he explained.

Maikeru: “Heh.” Maikeru then zipped his hand, giving the chance to use Shock! once again.

Vince: "You really don't listen well, do you, Maik?!" he yelled.

Maikeru: “SHUT UP, I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!”

(He didn't know what he was doing)

Since Jack is currently armored up in the robotic suit created by his stand, the attack doesn’t work.

Jack: "Was that supposed to do something?" he scoffed, glancing at Maikeru.

Vince: "YEAH, THAT REALLY AFFECTED HIM! YOU TOTALLY KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" Vince said to Maikeru.

Maikeru: “I’M BUYING YOU TIME” Maikeru replied.

Jack: "Why do you fight? I'm not here to harm you. As I said, I want to talk with you all." he said, calmly.

Maikeru: “Eh?” Maikeru said, confused at what he heard.

Isabella then looked back and forth between the three, not sure of what to do.

Jack sighed visibly annoyed.

Jack: "If I were to pay you all $1000 each would you all shut up and let me talk with you?"

Isabella: ''“Oh please! I’m kinda broke eheheh.. let’s just forget about this. Okay? Okay.”'' Isabella then looked at Jack desperately.

Vince: "We're fighting 'cause you started making moves with the goop, not to mention wanting to 'see' my friend without telling me why! Are you gonna tell me you're sorry, and that we can settle this like adults?" Vince said, also annoyed.

Jack: "No. You threatened me and I could tell that you would attack me even if I didn't use the goop. I just prepared for a fight. And I will still pay you just as long as you calm down" Jack replied.

Isabella: “Pleaseeee!” she whined.

Vince: "Space Oddity was only out to keep me and my friends safe, and if that meant taking you out, then that's what I would've done. Now, if you don't mean any harm, then maybe we can settle this over some food. I just made pizza." Vince said.

Jack pulled out his wallet and got out $3000, equally distributing it between everyone "I trust you all will find this to be a fair deal and speak with me"

Maikeru: “I don’t want it.” Maikeru said, as he declined the money.

Jack: “Fine, then you two get $1500 each…” Jack replied as he gave Vince and Isabella their money.

Isabella then rushed back inside, and squirmed into a corner of the couch, not being so confident about the current situation. She just looked at the money.

Vince: "Okay. Want to come inside?" Vincenzo said to Jack.

Jack: “Yes.” he walked in, but didn't eat. "I just have a few questions for you all. When and how did you develop your stands and how often do you use them?"

Isabella: “I got my stand when I was young, and it’s decently powered, so I’ll use it every here and there.” She said after finishing her pizza. ”I’m not so sure on why, maybe because my ancestors..?”

Jack: "Good good. And the rest of you?" Jack said looking to those who have not answered.

Maikeru: “I had a fever, and not soon after that I got stand.” Maikeru said, while eating a slice of pizza.

Vince: "I'm not totally sure when I got it, but I remember the day it appeared. And I only ever use it when I feel my friends and I are in immediate danger, as you already know." Vince explained.

Maikeru: ''“Any of you got birthmarks? I got one dot on my right index finger, as well as my mother.”'' Maik asked.

Jack: "Good. Alright. Thank you. I may contact you again or if you ever need anything call this number and say you are a personal friend of Jack Wilson." Jack said as he placed on the table a business card for his company Wilson Tech Industries with a phone number on it.

Isabella: ''“Oh uh- bye. Other than that, I have three dots on my neck and right hand.”'' Isabella said.

Vince: "Wait, didn't this company collaborate with Nintendo for the MotionPlus attachment for the Wii?" Vince asked.

Jack: "I believe so" he said before driving off. When he returned to his room at the Inn, he wrote down this whole encounter. Jack sent what he wrote down to a person at his company whose job is to just read the reports Jack sends in, and help him out if he needs something sent in.

Isabella: “How could someone like him be apart of a company that collaborated on a video game?” she giggled.

“Probably engineering,” Maikeru scoffed. ”I used to dream to be one, but lost that dream because of not enough resources.”

Vince: "So does that mean this guy has connections... with Nintendo?!" he gasped "You think he might know about any upcoming games?"

Isabella: She then pat Vince on the head again and sighed. “Don’t tell me you’ll try and get something out of him.” She said laughing a  bit.

Maikeru: “I just feel like somethings sketchy about him, though.” Maikeru added.

Isabella: “I do too.” she said.

Vince: "Aww, fine. I mean, we did just get $1500 each, anyway." Vincenzo said.

Isabella: ''“Yeah! I’m not broke anymore!”'' Isabella chuckles.

Maikeru: ''“Well thank you guys for the food, but I have to go. I wanna train my「Zipping Diamond」”'' Maikeru said as he headed for the door. They hugged and Maik left Vince’s house.

Isabella: “Ughhhh” Isabella flops onto the couch, “What’s with us getting robbed or whatever recently..?”

Vince: "Maybe it has something to do with these powers. You know how everyone we've met has some kinda power like ours? What if that same power draws us all together?"

Isabella: ''“I think I remember someone saying that stand users are attracted to other stand users. But I also think it’s a pro and a con. I met you, Vincey, and Maik, but we keep on basically getting attacked.”'' Isabella chuckles.

Vince: "And did you notice what that rich guy said earlier when he was talking with us? He said something about looking for people like us, which means there's definitely more people like us."

Isabella: ''“For sure. I hope I can make more friends than foes.”'' she replied.

Vince: "For sure..."

 To be continued… 🡆