"Hey Jotaro, are you leaving already?" Holly ran to the door of her house as her son was getting ready to leave for school. "You forgot something very important!" Jotaro stopped and turned to humour her, but said nothing. "Silly boy! Here's your goodbye kiss!" She planted a kiss on her son's cheek. "Ugh." Jotaro pushed her off him. "Annoying bitch." With that, he began the long walk to school. "Have a great day!" His mother called out.
"What a pain in my ass." Jotaro muttered as he fixed his hat.
Jotaro's bad mood didn't pick up after that either. No sooner than the moment he left his home, girls from his school began to flock around him. He could hear them all announcing "'It's Jojo, it's Jojo!", like seagulls flocking to a trawler.
One of them began talking to him, but Jotaro paid no attention. Then she grabbed his arm, and that was where Jotaro had to put his foot down. He stopped walking and shot the girl a glare. If looks could kill, Jotaro would be a mass murderer. He had this deathly intimidating stare that made sure everyone stayed as far away from him as possible, or else. The girl stopped, but this only exacerbated the problem as another girl came along and shoved the first one away. "Back off!" She warned. "I don't like how close you're getting with Jojo!" The first one retalliated. "Hey what the hell, ugly?!"
"Flat chest!"
"Ugly!"
"Flat chest!"
"Ugly!"
"Flat chest!"
"Flat chest!" "Ugly!" "Flat chest!""Ugly!" "Flatchestuglyflatchestuglyfl-"
"SHUT UP!" Jotaro snapped, having reached his boiling point. "You're fucking annoying!"
The girls were stunned into silence, and for a moment it seemed as though Jotaro had peace. But such hope was false as a dreamy look returned to their eyes. "He said that to me~" One said. "No, he definitely said that to me!" Another piped up. Jotaro sighed in defeat and got on his way again.
Unbeknownst to them all though, was a student around the same age as Jotaro, slightly smaller than him, wearing a green uniform which had the jacket closed. His hair was red and had one large bang hanging over his face perfectly. It didn't even obscure his face at all. He was painting a picture of Jotaro, and not a bad one either. The painter took one look at his work, and then at Jotaro. He was approaching a tall fight of stone steps. The exact thing that might kill him. The man picked up his canvas and took a paintbrush with red paint. With a brief swipe, he cut across Jotaro's leg.
"Ngh!" Jotaro felt a sharp pain cut through his leg all of a sudden, causing him to lose his balance. All of a sudden, he found himself in freefall and heading for solid concrete ground. Using his quick thinking, Jotaro looked for something to grab onto. "The branch!" Jotaro thought, using Star Platinum to grab ahold of it and break his fall, landing in shrubbery beside the step instead of hitting the ground. Jotaro's leg was still sore though.
Jotaro looked at his wound. "Did the branch cut me? No. I was cut before I fell. But how...?"
Soon all the girls had made their way down to him and were trying to take care of him. "You were lucky Jojo, a foot to the right and you would have cracked your head open!" Jotaro slowly got to his feet. "Jojo, you should hold my hand the next time you go down the stairs!"
But Jotaro wasn't paying attention to them. He was more concerned with the man walking down the steps. The same man who was painting not too long ago. "Here." He said, handing Jotaro a hankerchief. "This should help clean up your wound." Jotaro was already suspicious of him, but took the hankerchief. Without another word, the man walked away.
"Hey! Hold it!" The man stopped. Had Jojo noticed? He turned around. "I forgot to say thanks. Are you from around here?" The man shook his head. "I'm from another high school near the border." Without another word, he began to move on.
Hanna, Vahid and Teemu had just gotten off the plane at Charles de Gaulle airport, marking the first time Hanna had ever set foot on soil west of East Germany.
"Well?" Teemu asked. "How is it?" Hanna turned to him. "How is what?"
"The airport!" Teemu said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Does the whole world over here look like this?" She asked, looking up at the overcast sky. "At least tell me it's warmer here than it was in Finland."
It was, thankfully. After picking up what little luggage they had brought with them, they headed for the exit of the airport. "So, how long are we gonna be waiting here?" Vahid asked. Teemu paused. "Three days." He said. Vahid swore under his breath. "If you just got in touch with me sooner then I'd have paid for first class tickets to New York tomorrow!" He grumbled. "Sorry..." Teemu rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't even know you would have paid for tickets at all." Hanna rolled her eyes and headed for the exit by herself, looking back to make sure the other two were following her. But with her eyes on those two, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going.
She walked straight into another person who was going the other way. "Es tut mir leid." She said, steadying herself to look at what she had hit. The other person was a huge man. Muscle bound with white-silver hair that added at least half a foot to his height.
"Huh?" He didn't speak German clearly, which Hanna ended up being okay with. Clearly he was trying to chat her up and if she understood what he was saying then she probably would have broken his nose.
But then another man arrived, and began speaking to the muscular Frenchman. He smiled at Hanna as he began talking. Creepy.
The man who had arrived in was a strange looking fellow, not even as tall as any of Teberhel. He had blond hair, though unlike Hanna, his hair was an almost white shade, while Hanna's hair was more golden. Not to mention that most of this guys hair was on top of his head, rather than spilling down or around the sides. His eyes were hazel as well, not like Hanna's azure blues. He dressed appropriately enough for the weathed though still quite odd by Hanna's own standards, looking more like a tourist than anyone she had seen so far, with a travel book in his hands, a sizeable bag on his back and somewhat appropriate clothing. He wore a white hoodie, albeit with the sleeves cut off at the elbows. He also wore black wooly gloves, as well as baggy jeans. To complete it all, he wore a sky blue beanie on his head. Right now he was talking to the French man, explaining something to him before the man thanked him and left for his flight. That was when he turned to Hanna.
"Sorry it took me so long. Are you Hanna?" Hanna began to stare suspiciously at the man. "Yes." She answered. "What's it to you?"
"Sergio!" Hanna turned to sed Vahid waving. "Ah, Vahid!" Sergio and Vahid shook hands. "You two, this is Sergio Dijkstra. He'll be joining us on our journey." Teemu was stunned, but he managed to compose himself. "Well, welcome to Teberhel in that case! I'm Teemu."
"Teemu's our leader." Vahid informed the new member. "Hey now, I wouldn't go that far..." But more pressing was the suspicious look Hanna was giving Sergio. "Is everything alright?" He asked. "Your name. Dijkstra is a Dutch surname, but Sergio is a hispanic name." Sergio nodded. "Ah, I can understand why you might find that unusual. I'll explain myself, but how about we go to our hotel first?"
"Wait just a minute. I have to cash some cheques." Vahid explained. "I won't be long." With that, he left. Hanna took the opportunity to go to the restroom since she had the time and Sergio wasn't willing to talk in a public location. Nothing of note happened, until Hanna was walking back to the other two. An attendant walked up to her, getting her attention.
"Teberhel?" The attendant asked. "Ja. Das bin ich." Hanna said. Luckily, the attendant had some German on him, and he was able to understand. "Telephone call for you." He said, pointing to a phone booth nearby. "Danke." She said, now growing suspicious. Who would be calling at a time like this? Herman?
No, and there was a good reason. That required Herman to know to call this specific airport when as far as he knew, Hanna was still in Finland. As she entered the phone booth, she found herself asking if she really wanted to answer this call at all. Who knows what kind of lunatic could be on the other end? But at the same time, her curiousity was overwhelming her. So she picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hello? To who I am speaking?" His German was broken. His accent was also strange. East European. Polish or Russian perhaps, but Hanna knew no one like that. "Hanna. Hanna Rommel." She answered. "Good. Is Teemu Toivonen or Vahid Ghoochanejhad there in with you?" Hanna looked around. "They are with me, but not here right now. Why?"
Hanna heard some Russian being spoken on the other end of the line. "Well, Ms. Rommel, you will have to being tell them this: Get out while you still can." Hanna froze. "What?"
"I sorry. My German is no good. I must practice." He said. "I understood what you said, I just don't understand why." She clarified. It then became clear that the Russian she was hearing on the other end of the line was a person translating for the speaker.
"It is because they are coming for you. You and your comrades." Hanna looked around again to make sure no hitmen were lurking nearby. "Who are 'they'?" She asked, this time in a hushed tone. "I am having to learn that myself. It is a thing which I am not knowing." Hanna rolled her eyes. "Is this some kind of a joke?!" She demanded, feeling as though she had been tricked. "It is not a joke." He replied. "Someone paid people to kill you." Hanna still wasn't convinced. "Who? Romanov?"
"No. It is someone I do not know who. But I will find." He answered. "Right. So I'm supposed to believe that the KGB isn't behind it. Who is then?!" She demanded.
There was a chuckle on the other end of the line. "Ms. Rommel, who is it you are thinking you speak to?" Hanna froze. She should have hung up then and there, but she could hear the Russian covering his end of the phone. Something was going on. "I had to speak with the interpreter. I want this perfect understanding." He said. "No one else in the KGB knows about this aside from me, my interpreter and seven other loyal comrades who will supply me with valuable information. Valuable to you that is."
"But why are you doing this?" She asked. More talking. "There are very many grave threats to the safety of the world which Romanov is too blind to realize." He began. "He and his cronies cannot be trusted. I have taken things into my own hands for now, but I needed a field agent. That's where you come into play. I will provide you with information required to stay ahead of the assassins, and in return all I want is-"
"So you want me to run your errands? Well tough shit. I'm not working for any fucking Ruskies." With that, she hung up and left the booth, asking herself why she didn't hang up sooner.
On the other end of the line, in a dark room somewhere in the Soviet Union, the man put down the receiver. "Mr. Mykhaylychenko. Shall we remove her from the equation?" The interpreter asked. "If I wanted that, I would have stung her." He replied, lighting a cigar for himself. "Have faith, Fozil. She will come to. And if not, then we have no choice but to move on."
"For goodness sake, take off that hat!" The nurse reprimanded Jotaro. "It's very bad manners!" Jotaro had gone straight to the nurse's office once he arrived at school to have his wound seen to. Two other students were there too, faking colds.
"Ugh, stop that!" She went on as Jotaro refused to take off his hat. "Say, you think Jotaro's been in any fights lately?" One of the students joked. "What? No, Jotaro wouldn't do that!" The other one replied. That much was enough to make them start laughing.
The nurse produced a pair of scissors, drawing a reaction from Jotaro. "Hey, what are you doing with those?" He asked. "Well, I'm going to have to cut the pants if I want to get a look at that cut. "Like hell you will!" Jotaro retalliated, standing up suddenly. "I'll take them off."
The nurse chuckled. "Oh, I didn't know you were so trendy." She then turned her attention to the two boys. "Now, while Jotaro gets his pants off, I'm gonna check your temperatures and prove you guys are nothing but a bunch of fakers!"
"But we're really sick." One of them said, feigning illness. He couldn't have been more unconvincing if he tried.
Jotaro was standing up to take his pants off, when something fell out of his pocket. "Hm?" It was the hankerchief. Jotaro opened it up. "What the hell?!" He asked himself. A name was written on the back.
Kakyoin Noriaki.
It was at that moment when everything started to go to shit. "Hey nurse, what are you doing?!" One of the students demanded. Jotaro turned to see the nurse waving a fountain pen around like a madwoman. "What does it look like I'm doing?! I'm drying off the thermometer to reset it!"
Ink splashed everywhere as the two students began to get scared. "Does this look anything like a pen to you?! There must be something REALLY wrong if you think this thermometer is a pen!"
Jotaro was looking at her feet. A tail, almost like a snake's, but luminous green. A stand. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Jotaro looked on in horror as the nurse had jammed the pen into one of the students' eyes, causing him to scream. She must have held it there for a good minute before taking it out, and as soon as that happened, both of them were gone out the door in a flash.
But the situation was made even worse when Jotaro saw who was coming.
Kakyoin again.
"Kakyoin!" He smiled somewhat eeriely. "Kujo Jotaro." He said. Jotaro knew exactly what was going on, and tried to put an end to it as soon as possible. "Ah, I wouldn't do tha-" Star Platinum landed a strong punch on the tail of Kakyoin's stand, forcing it out of the nurse.
The stand had a humanoid torso, but a long tail like a snake instead of legs. Jotaro couldn't even imagine how far away that stand must have been able to reach.
The nurse was dead. She lay in a pool of her own blood, motionless and unbreathing. "As I was saying." Kakyoin continued. "If you hurt Hierophant Green, you hurt her as well."
"Emerald Splash!" His stand began to generate a jet of green liquid between its hands before firing an almight barrage of emeralds at Jotaro. He quickly got Star Platinum out to block, but to no avail. The emeralds managed to pierce Star Platinum's chest, hurting Jotaro as well and knocking him to the ground. Kakyoin walked over to him while he was down and began taunting, which was clearly having a rousing effect on Jotaro. But there was something else Jotaro could see...like a little fleshly boil or something on his forehead.
"She's dead!" Kakyoin jeered. "And it's all your fault!" Jotaro quickly picked himself up, paying no attention to Kakyoin's remarks. Star Platinum picked up an overturned trash can and flung it at Kakyoin as Hierophant Green tried to catch Jotaro.
The stand easily caught the trash can and crushed it in a vicegrip, before turning its attention to Jojo again. He was bleeding, but still standing up with a wry smile on his face.
"My name is Kujo Jotaro. I've been labelled as a punk. I go way too hard on my opponents, some of whom are still in hospital. One teacher thought he was hot shit, but when I showed him up, he never came back. I've been known to not pay the bill at restaurants that serve me crappy food."
Then he fixed his hat. "But I know evil when I see it! True evil is exploiting the weak for your own personal gain." Kakyoin chuckled. "The villain is the loser. The hero is the victor. That's the way it works." He countered.
"Emerald Splash!" Kakyoin called out again, preparing his stand's signature attack. Jotaro didn't move this time, getting Star Platinum up to guard against the incoming attack. This time his strategy proved effective, as Star Platinum stopped every single emerald that came Jotaro's way, deflecting more as they came.
"What?!" Kakyoin was in shock. "He deflected Emerald Splash! No one can deflect Emerald Splash!"
But he had. Jotaro capitalised on the opportunity and Star Platinum had grabbed Hierophant Green by the throat.
Star Platinum punched. Then again. And again, and again, and again. It was taking it's toll on Kakyoin, who could no longer keep up.
ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA
"Such...power..." Kakyoin muttered as he lost energy. "I can see why he wanted this one..." With one more punch, the punk knocked out Kakyoin.
"What's going on?" "It sounds like it's coming from the nurse's office." Chatter began to erupt from classrooms. Right. That meant Jotaro could be framed for all this damage. Better get out, quick. That's exactly what he did. "Looks like I'm ditching school again today." He sighed.
More importantly though, he took Kakyoin's body with him.
"Why are we here?" Hanna asked. "I thought you could do with a day out in the French woods." Vahid answered. "Isn't it nice?"
"No."
"Alright, that's true." The Iranian conceded. "But I wasn't gonna stick around Paris for the whole time again."
Wait, again? Hanna was going to ask what that meant, until Sergio interrupted them all. "Look!" He said, pointing to an old lamp lying by a tree.
Speaking of Sergio, he still hadn't told her about his unusual name. Granted, they had only been in the hotel to drop off their things before Vahid in his infinite wisdom decided to take them all off into the middle of nowhere.
The four stopped to look at the lamp. "Ah, I understand." Vahid picked up the lamp. "You have to rub it and a genie will come out." Hanna was highly doubtful. "Toivonen, that's bullshit, right?" Teemu shook his head. "No. I have heard of a similar story."
The genie popped out. "Well, well, well!" He began. "Who do I have to thank for setting me free of that prison? You four!" He clapped. "As a token of my gratitude, please accept three wishes!"
No one reacted. "Is...is everything alright?" The stand asked. "One question." Vahid raised his hand. "Is that three wishes for us each, or for us all together?"
"Erm...well..." Judgement didn't think of that. "Since you were the one to rub the lamp, you alone will be granted the wishes." He explained to the Iranian. "Hey, that's totally unfair! We should all get wishes." Hanna protested. "Fine." The Genie conceded.
Little did he realize how fatal that mistake was.
Kakyoin was safely brought back to the Kujo household and had his fleshbud removed. Turns out that asshole DIO had been using these things to control people like his puppets. So Abdul said anyway, himself having had a close run in with the vampire.
With Kakyoin saved, there was little time to waste. They had to tend to Holly.
Shortly after Jotaro had left for school that morning, Holly had fallen ill with a high tempetature. She was discovered by Abdul, who did his best to make sure she was comfortable, on a futon with a cold towel resting on her forehead. She looked very sick, fatally so.
"It's what I feared..." Joseph muttered. "DIO's curse." Jotaro looked at him. "DIO has placed a curse on all members of the Joestar family, including you and I." Jotaro took another look at his mother. "So how come we're not like her?" Abdul interjected. "Because Star Platinum and Hermit Purple are strong stands."
"How so?" Jotaro asked. "You see, ever since his battle with Jonathan, DIO has a curse placed on the family name. With a stand like Star Platinum, it's easy to fend off. But remember, stands are an extension of one's soul. Someone as gentle and kind as Miss Holly would not have a stand strong enough to fight DIO's curse." Abdul explained.
Jotaro paused for a moment. "So the only way we're getting rid of that curse is cutting it off at the source." Abdul nodded. "We can either convince DIO to lift it, or force him to."
"I'm not sure which one would be harder." Abdul mused. "Having seen DIO myself, I can only begin to imagine the true extent of his power. Never mind that he can plant those seeds into anyone he chooses, but we don't even know what his stand does."
Jotaro conceded. "That's true. But we can't sit back and do nothing."
"We'll have to go to Egypt then." Joseph announced. "Simple as that. Taking out DIO once and for all is our only option now." Jotaro nodded. "If that's the way it is, then so be it. I'll make that bastard pay."
Some time had elapsed since nine wishes had been given out. None of them had decided on even one of them. Cameo was beginning to get bored, until Hanna made one wish.
"I wish...I could speak in all languages! So I know when you three are talking shit behind my back!" She declared. "Very well." Judgement nodded. "Hail 2 U!" A puff of smoke later, and nothing had changed. "I don't feel any different." Hanna shrugged. "Hey Gooch. Say something in Persian."
"Well, I'm glad you know it's Persian that we speak." He said in his native tongue. "Of course I know that!" Hanna responded. "Do you take me for a retard?!"
The response was in Persian, without a single error. "Say something in Finnish." Teemu requested. "No, say it in Dutch." Sergio cut across.
"My second wish!" Hanna announced. "Give them all the same ability." The genie nodded. "Hail 2 U!"
"Thanks!" Sergio smiled, happy with the gesture. "Now whenever I speak to you there is no reason to ignore me." Hanna explained. "Ouch." Vahid responded dryly. "You really have such little faith?"
The stand user in the bushes, the scrawny Cameo, was at his boiling point. He had been listening to these four go on and on and on for hours, and quite frankly, he had enough.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The genie began screaming before it disappeared.
Teberhel were surprised to see a man with no top and a snorkeling mask came out of the bushes, his stand by his back. "Ugh! You guys never shut up! I've had to listen to you guys talking and talking for HOURS! What do you guys want?!"
"What the hell were you doing here?" Vahid asked. "Were you sent by communists?" Cameo shook his head. "No, I was sent by DIO here to look out for the Joestars. I was told-"
BANG!
Just like that, he was dead. Hanna began to move on as if he had merely gotten tired, while Vahid, Sergio and Teemu stared in a mix of confusion and horror. "Eh?! Was that necessary?!" Teemu demanded. Hanna shrugged. "Probably not." She blew the smoke away from the barrel and put her gun back. "Now, let's get moving. Before the police find us." Teemu wanted to protest, but at the same time, he didn't fancy being caught by the police either. Vahid, Sergio and Hanna were already some distance ahead when he finally caught up with them. "Wait up!" He called out, stopping to catch his breath once he caught up. "Hush!" Hanna ordered. "They'll find us if you're not quiet."
"Is she always like this?" Sergio asked. "I don't know." Vahid answered truthfully. "But I wouldn't be surprised."
The next day, the plans had been drawn out. Kakyoin had also come around, which was a relief.
"So here's our route." Joseph said, pointing to a map. "We can't go through Asia thanks to the Red Wall, so we'll have to go the other way. We'll go to New York, then London and hopefully catch a flight to Cairo from there."
Jotaro nodded. "Seems simple. I like it." Joseph's face still showed a little uncertainty though, as though he feared something would go wrong. "Everything alright Gramps?" Jotaro asked. "Well, DIO is going to be throwing everything he has at us, and I don't want us to be too vulnerable."
Jotaro knew he was taking a gamble, but at the same time, his mother's life was on the line. He wanted everything to be done as quickly as possible. "We have no choice." He argued. "My mother is at risk here. If it was anyone else, maybe I'd be okay. But this is different, and we don't have time to waste."
Looking around the room, it was clear no one disagreed. "Alright then." Joseph stood up. "We'll leave tomorrow."
Author's Note
I do not like Cameo.
Joseph will be having his Engrish moments even if he's always speaking English, cause it's funny.
Sergio Dijkstra is kind of more going for a traditional flamboyant Jojo style but also kind of reserved cause that wouldn't really fit here. I made him Argentinian because of the whole "Hitler escaped to Argentina" conspiracy theories. Which, by the way, brings me to mentioning that all the characters aside from Hanna (obviously) are from countries that were either pro Axis or co-belligrents of the Axis during WW2 that officially never joined.
Now that there's one more member left to join, that narrows down the countries they could be from I guess...
Romanov is Grigory Romanov, a high ranking Soviet official who was considered the main rival of Mikhail Gorbachev for leadership of the Soviet Union. It's not tremendously important, but he is in power in this world.
Finally and what I feel is most important, I understand my writings are a gross oversimplification of the events of SC, I just don't feel like typing out the pre-existing material. Thankfully there aren't any scenes after this which follow the continuity of Part 3.