Rikiel

"I'm ! (オレは「アポロ11号」 なんだアーーーツ！)"

- Rikiel

Rikiel (リキエル) is a minor antagonist featured in the 6th part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stone Ocean, specifically the "Sky High" story arc.

Rikiel is one of DIO's illegitimate children with an unnamed woman. When he fatefully meets with Enrico Pucci, he awakens his Stand, Sky High, and battles Jolyne Cujoh and Ermes Costello.

Appearance
Rikiel is a young, decently built man with a long face. He has dark hair styled into several dreadlocks. He wears a sleeveless and hooded bodysuit patterned after the hide of a stereotypical cow with an opening on his chest. He wears an assortment of arm warmers.

Personality
Rikiel is initially a meek youth distraught by the numerous afflictions he suffers from, causing him to have confidence issues. When Pucci unlocks his Stand Sky High, Rikiel becomes more confident and is seen evolving into an honorable and brave fighter during his fight with Jolyne. He holds human progress in high esteem and sees as a symbol of human growth. Rikiel is a man of honor and fights to repay his debt to Pucci, and when Jolyne defeats him, he congratulates her and reveals details about Pucci. He inherited his father DIO's determination and hardcore actions as well as a rare trait of acknowledging a worthy opponent.

Abilities
Sky High allows Rikiel to control creatures known as flying rods which absorb body heat and create localized illnesses.

Background
Prior to meeting Pucci and obtaining a Stand, Rikiel suffered from what seemed to be constant panic attacks: his eyelids constantly fell and his knees gave out. He would attempt to take exams in school, only to suffer from his conditions, which caused him to stop attending school. These conditions were so severe that he wasn't even able to drive a car, and this dramatically decreased his self-confidence.

Stone Ocean
Fate pushed him into meeting the priest in Orlando when, after driving against the traffic and colliding with the dividing rail, he was brought to the hospital and crossed paths with Pucci. Rikiel learns from Pucci that he is a son of DIO. He begs Pucci to open his eyelid, which closes for no apparent reason. Rikiel then begins to lament his whole life, which was ruined by his lack of confidence and his strange illnesses. Pucci listens, then tells Rikiel to think of his lineage, stating that he has a purpose in life and uncovers his ability to control organisms named skyfishes, or rods. This allows Rikiel to regain control of his eye and a confident Rikiel leaves he hospital to attack the Joestar Group. Rikiel finds Jolyne, Ermes and Emporio flying above the swamps and sics his rods on their helicopter, forcing their eyes to shut. They are forced to jump out of the helicopter and Rikiel confronts them. Jolyne and Ermes approach Rikiel, ready to fight, although Rikiel knows it will be to his advantage. However Jolyne and Ermes work out quickly why Rikiel is trying to lure them closer, and discover one of his weaknesses. Disturbed, Rikiel's bad luck begins to reappear as his bike is sinking in the mud and the loses his keys. Ermes uses Kiss to throw pebbles at Rikiel, but the skyfishes deviate them. However, those pebbles where doubles Kiss created and Ermes manages to hit Rikiel's head from two sides as she detaches the stickers. Overwhelmed by the multiple rocks Jolyne and Ermes throw at him, Rikiel begins to lose his confidence: his illnesses come back and the skyfishes stay still in the air, deprived of their master. Yet, Rikiel finds his keys, and manages to control the rods again, stopping Ermes from throwing any more rocks by manipulating her hands indirectly. Confident again, Rikiel rants about Apollo 11's symbol as a triumph of the human spirit and inflicts new ailments on the heroes. Rikiel's attack cause Emporio to urinate blood while Ermes's fingers are falling off. Jolyne rushes toward Rikiel trying to punch the skyfishes, but they effortlessly avoid Stone Free's strikes. Jolyne's ankle joint suddenly bends backward, immobilizing her. Rikiel then begins to toy with Ermes, forcing her to say thanks to the skyfishes. However, Emporio deduces that the skyfishes are able to suck off body heat, causing illnesses and controlling the muscles from the outside that way. Rikiel takes Emporio and Ermes out of commission, making their eyes and throat swell while damaged tissues is spat out of their mouths. Rikiel plans to attack Jolyne's brain stem where a temperature loss will be fatal. A swarm of skyfishes rush toward Jolyne's first vertebrae, but Jolyne decides to set herself on fire, protecting the brain stem from the heat sucking rods. Stone Free lands a punch, sending Rikiel against his motorcycle, but also revealing Rikiel's Joestar Birthmark, to everyone's astonishment. Planning to interrogate Rikiel later, Jolyne runs forward to finish off the enemy, but Rikiel douses himself with gas, and sets himself on fire too. Out of sheer resolve, and determined to find a weakness, Rikiel stands in front of Jolyne as his body is burning. Rikiel's new condition allows him to see a new weakness, he sends his rods into Jolyne's mouth, targeting the hypothalamus near the inside of the upper jaw to disrupt the eye perception and cause afterimages. That way, he is able to induce hallucinations in Jolyne and avoids her attacks for a moment. However Jolyne decides to shut her mouth and simply stop breathing, trusting the mystic sense of the Joestar Family to detect Rikiel, and lands a kick.Jolyne, still on fire, has managed to strike Rikiel thanks to her determination. Stone Free violently pummels Rikiel but surprisingly, Rikiel catches Jolyne by her neck. Rikiel declares that he will be the most determined in this fight and severed his own nerves to not feel pain, meaning he won't fall until he dies; planning to finish with a draw and have both dying, Rikiel lashes out the skyfishes into Jolyne's neck, which is not in fire anymore. Jolyne continues to pummel Rikiel as the rods suck her body heat, and both collapse. The rods, without their master, now leave in the sky.

Rikiel slowly stands up, but feels defeated, having seen that his hand protected Jolyne's neck. Jolyne stands up too, while Rikiel finally falls to the ground for good. She reveals that she couldn't calculate that Rikiel's hand would shield her, and she won out of luck. Rikiel questions that dumb luck favored Jolyne, and also feels fulfilled for having gone beyond his limits. Rikiel announces that Jolyne will play a role serving Pucci's goal, as she is favored by destiny. Rikiel then reveals that Weather is Pucci's younger brother, but is interrupted when Kiss puts him out of commission and Ermes refuses to believe that Weather is linked to Pucci, violently punching his head against the ground. The skyfish leave Rikiel's side.

Eyes of Heaven (PS3/PS4)
Rikiel appears in Eyes of Heaven as a support. He has one voice line, performed by.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * Jigsaw's "Sky High", the namesake of Rikiel's Stand, can be viewed as being about a person who achieves great things, only to fail miserably, as seen in the lyrics "I gave you love, I thought that we / Had made it to the top / I gave you all I have to give / Why did it have to stop?" This reflects Rikiel's fate: He managed to conquer the rods, the very beings that crippled him in life, only to suffer a humiliating defeat.

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