Disclaimer: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and all equally bizarre concepts and characters belong to Hirohiko Araki. Original characters and other concepts (as noted) are copyright of me.
Jojo walked into his house with the letter hidden in his jacket. Having word from his nemesis, Dio, wasn't all to pleasing to him in any way. He walked to the left, in to the large living room, and stopped curiously.
"Mr. Zeppeli?" he softly called. "Are you home?" Zeppeli, Jojo's current guardian and caretaker, was an old family friend who dabbled in archeology. He was a renowned speaker on such cryptological myths as alien life and prominence of certain trends in world mythology. His appointment as Jojo's guardian was specially chosen by George himself for unknown reasons, for at the time Zeppeli was not yet out of his masters college. And now he was about to greet Jojo as he stuck to the ceiling just above him like a spider.
"Mr. Zeppeli" Jojo kept calling, unaware of the presence above him. "I may need your help filling out my registration. If you're here, please come find me in my room later."
"Very well!" Zeppeli shouted as he fell. "I'll help you now, Jojo!" Jojo waited until he felt the air on his shoulder shift, then he grabbed Zeppeli by the wrist and threw him across the room with a barreling twist. Zeppeli slowed down before hitting the wall and landed on his feet. He was an eccentric looking man, wearing checker-board pattern suit and tie with an unkempt, curly mustache. "Very good, Jojo."
"You've become predictable, old man" Jojo mocked. "I could tell where you were because of your breath!"
"Oh?" Zeppeli said. "So you've finally distinguished my breath apart from your own."
"Of course I have" Jojo said. "Now that I've done that, you'll teach me how to breath correctly, right? A promise is a promise!" Zeppeli stared him down and gave the matter a moment of thought. He could recall promising a young Jonathan that when he understood how his odd breathing technique worked, he would teach it to him. However, Zeppeli probed his conscience and said
"No, not today. I'm tired."
"No way!" Jojo argued. "You promised me. I remember!"
"Regardless" Zeppeli said with a yawn. "What's that in your jacket? It seems to be causing you a lot of stress." Jojo looked down and retrieved the letter from Dio. Zeppeli didn't know who Dio was yet and, if Jonathan had anything to say, he never would.
"It's just a message from a friend" Jojo said. Even his honest and humble tone swayed Zeppeli, who shrugged and walked away.
"Don't stay up too late, okay?" Zeppeli said. "I'll be in my study."
"Doing what?" Jojo asked.
"Studying" Zeppeli replied. "Archaeology is a progressive field. If you lag a little you get replaced." Jojo waved him away and went up to bed to read Dio's communique. Behind the door of his study, Zeppeli was in dread. "I never expected him to progress this quickly. This is bad..."
Upstairs, Jojo laid down on his bed, exhausted, and opened the letter. He assumed that whatever it was it wasn't good.
Dear Jojo it read. How are you? I and my minions are fine. I have recently learned through my network that you are going to college upstate. Good for you. I, also, will be moving to that area to expand my empire. I'm not writing you to tell you my intentions, as I'm sure you are aware of them, but to warn you. I visited a fortune teller recently and he told me that death would follow after me in my quest for the world. I have come to learn that in the coming of his other predictions, a woman has appeared to take the form of death. I have heard that she uses the alias 'MUSE' when prowling and is a notorious mercenary. Beware her, Jojo, for she may kill you, which is a task only I am accomplished enough to do. Farewell and take care, Dio Brando.
"What?" Jojo said. "Dio's afraid of a woman? That's...strange. He never jokes around though, so I should keep my eye out just in case. Still, why else would he bother to contact me?"
Deep in the heart of the city's putrid under-realm sat the lord of the darkness. To his sides were his most trusted knights, vandals and criminals promised a life of untold riches for their allegiance. At the steps of his throne was his elite, a visage of horror and power that was covered by the darkness. To his immediate right was a woman holding a goblet of fine wine stolen not thirty minutes ago. And of course, at the center of this dark aura was Dio, slouched in his throne with boredom. His azure eyes pierced the stagnant air and his hair even glowed off the palest light.
"Jojo is in for a rude awakening, master" the girl at his side said.
"Perhaps" Dio lacklusterly responded. "Not much can take Jojo by surprise. The one time I saw his jaw drop was when we were kids and I snuck him into a porno theater...No, he already has a plan to keep the peace with us."
"What about that Speedwagon kid?" she said.
"He's just a runt" Dio shrugged off, taking the goblet and drinking it deeply. "We'll let him deal with our runts if he wants to fight. It won't matter."
"I believe we may be facing a crisis sooner than you predicted, Lord Dio" she said.
"How so, Rosalisa?" Dio asked.
"Let us take the more cautious route" Rosalisa explained "and leave the city soon. We shouldn't have to cut any losses in an unnecessary skirmish with this 'MUSE'."
"Agreed" Dio reluctantly said. "We'll follow Jojo once he leaves. Until then, continue to search for more soldiers and set up a small legion to get Jojo moving. The sooner he leaves, the sooner we can follow him."
"Yes, Lord Dio" she said and left into the shadows. She traveled through the intricate network of holes in walls and scrap-wood bridges into the heart of Dio's underground society, the 'Monster Pit' club back room. The trash metal was just beginning as Rosalita made her way into the crowd. With a strange, arcane movement, she glided through the moshpit and stole away several young men and women, taking them outside and using further, unseen methods to send them into a homicidal panic against Jonathan Joestar. They now began hunting him down, an easy task considering he was only a block and a half away.
Unknowing of his coming hunters, Jojo stepped outside for a moment to catch his breath.
"I don't know why" he said, "but I keep losing my breath in the house. I wasn't even moving, but I couldn't breath at all! Like a weight was crushing my diaphragm...maybe I'm spending too much time around Mr. Zeppeli."
"HEY YOU!" one of the sprinting, murderous fanatics shouted. Jojo glanced over and saw at least five people, dressed in devilish black and studded garb with brandished knives and chains. They stopped only a few sidewalk steps from the still breathless Jojo. "You're Jonathan Joestar, aren't you!?"
"Yeah, I am" Jojo replied.
"Then get ready to fucking die!" one of the roared.
Not again Jojo complained. I don't know where Dio gets all these guys, but I really don't want to deal with them right now!
"Get him!" another one of them shouted. They all charged forward, uncaring as to who was watching, and made a leap of faith at Jojo. He stepped back gracefully, drew in a steady breath, and used his log-sized leg to kick the closest one in the teeth. Now that one had no teeth at all and the others were stopped in their tracks.
"ORA!" Jojo roared, locking his leg back in ready position.
"It's useless!" one of them quivered. "We won't back down at all! Lord Dio is an absolute power!" Jojo jumped forth, using only his shin muscle on his one leg, and smashed that one in the side of the neck. While he was in the air, he swung his arm down to go into a spin toward the ground. All this happened while he drew in another shaky breath.
"Kill him!" one shouted, drawing up their knife. Jojo hit the ground spinning, and continued to spin by kicking his legs and balancing on his back. He spun around break dancing like that long enough to kick all of them to the ground. Then, he stopped and got back up, keeping one fist tightly balled up and panting.
This is ridiculous! He shouted internally, unable to draw the power to speak. Why is it so damn hard to breath all of a sudden!? "Guh!" he grunted. Out of his mouth, the faintest sliver of blood trickled dangerously. His breath was back, however.
"According to my research" Zeppeli narrated into a recorder, "the ripple that Jojo and I are able to naturally produce is literally one in a hundred thousand. Similarly, the statistics done at the Speedwagon Para-Scientific institute can solidify my previous claims. The natural ripple of life can be generated through proper breathing technique alone. The myths I have observed from the Mayan ruins would indicate another type of ripple that requires no technique but the ability to manifest it." As he narrated he made notes in Italian, perfectly translating and talking as he went.
"I fear" he continued after gathering his thoughts "that Jojo's symptoms of unexplained strained breath and enhanced perception are the fore-signs to the waking of this new, intangible 'Ghost Ripple'. I must now make it my duty to unlock the 'Life Ripple' breathing technique to further my research. Any means to hinder the growing of the 'Ghost Ripple' will be of great us to the world, as this power is something that is of untold destruction."
He clicked off the recorder, sat back in his seat and sighed. A painting that he replicated on the spot at the Mayan ruins hung over his desk. It depicted, shockingly, the phases of this terrible 'Ghost Ripple', ending with three broken, concentric circles. In his career, Zeppeli learned that three circles forming a ripple shape signified the world, and their breaking was an obvious reference. Fearing the worst, Zeppeli turned for the door to his study. The front door opened and closed soon after, and Jojo was collapsed on the floor.
"Please, God" Zeppeli prayed, "don't let me be too late..."