Sorry for not updating for two or so weeks. I had to take care of some administrative stuff at work, and things got busier than expected. Plus I spent time editing the previous chapters, up to the point where I gave Endless Dream an entirely new ability since creating miniature planets wasn't versatile or unique enough in my opinion. Anyways, thanks for waiting.

-beef

Chapter Four - Patricia's Spiders from Mars Part 1

When Koichi finally reached his hotel room, he breathed a sigh of relief and stretched. But he had no time to relax, to even unpack.

He had business to attend to. He immediately fished his smartphone out of his pants pocket and speed-dialed Jotaro Kujo's number.

The phone's digital ringing sounded for a while, before Jotaro picked up.

"Jotaro Kujo speaking."

Koichi instantly recognized Jotaro's voice, of how it always carried a calm, gruff and serious tone that bordered on the deadpan.

"Jotaro-san! It's me!" Koichi said.

"Oh. It's you Koichi. I take it you've made it to the hotel?"

"Yes Jotaro-san. I just got off the train a few minutes ago and recently arrived in Mitakihara Grand Hotel. You're not gonna believe this, but I ran into Rohan Kishi-"

Jotaro cut him off. "Rohan? Good. You'll need his help."

"Eh?" Koich said.

"I need you to go on a scavenger hunt across Mitakihara, Koichi."

"A scavenger hunt?" Koich pouted. He wanted to hide the disappointment in his voice, and fought the urge to sound irritated in front of Jotaro. "Um...Jotaro-san. You called me all the way out in Mitakihara for a simple scavenger hunt?"

There was a pause on Jotaro's end, and Koich was afraid for a moment he had said something that offended him. Then again, if Jotaro was offended, he probably wouldn't show it. His face was chiseled like a statue and emoted like one.

"This isn't a simple scavenger hunt Koichi. The Speedwagon Foundation...ran into an accident in the town."

"An...accident?" Koichi whispered.

"Yes. The details aren't clear at the moment, but the only thing we are certain of is that we lost a few valuable items that belong to us."

"Valuable...how valuable?"

Another pause. Then a rumbling came through the hotel room. Koichi waited with baited breath to hear Jotaro's answer.

"I'll just go ahead and say it. We've lost six canisters...each containing a fragment of the Greenland meteorite."

"Eh? A meteorite from Greenland?" Koichi's brow became raised. He thought it was going to be another incident involving the stand arrows, not a piece of rock from a country he's never been to. "Why's that important?"

"Ah...I forgot. You know about the arrow...but don't know where they came from."

The words sunk into Koichi's mind. He connected the dots, and his heart thumped at the sudden realization of what Jotaro had just said.

"J-Jotaro...you don't mean…"

"Looks like you've figured it out without me needing to tell you. And the answer is yes Koichi. The canisters I've asked for you to find...each contain a piece of the meteorite from which the stand arrows were made."

"And they're here...in Mitakihara?" Koichi said. He did his best to keep composed. Not an easy feet given the heavy news he had received.

"Yes...and I don't need to tell you what would happen if a person with「stand potential」comes across one of the canisters and decides to touch whatever was inside."

Koichi gulped. He now knew Jotaro called him to Mitakihara to prevent it from becoming another Morioh. A city filled with newly born stand users could easily spell trouble, since the arrow discriminated only on potential and not on whether the person was good or bad.

Another killer with unnatural powers, another Yoshikage Kira, could very well rise from the bowels of the peaceful town.

Or perhaps...and Koichi shuddered at this thought...the canisters were already discovered, and Mitakihara already had its own Kira. One with a stand that rivaled Killer Queen, or perhaps, and this was the truly terrifying part, even more deadly.

He had no time to lose.

"Jotaro-san...you have my word. I will do all within my power to retrieve the canisters. I will begin the search immediately, and I'll ask Rohan for help. I see no reason for him to disagree."

"Good. I wish I could help, but I'm still in Florida dealing with matters. Contact me whenever you need to, and best of luck." A pause. "And be careful. Who knows what kind of stands may be out there right now."

You don't need to tell me that Jotaro, I already know. Koichi hanged up, and he went out the door without so much as unzipping his luggage.

Around the same time when Madoka Kaname was dealing with Eri Takasu…

"As if I care," Kyoko Sakura murmured to herself. But deep down, the red-haired magical girl felt otherwise. After all that she's been through, she just could not shake the thoughts of her former mentor and friend from her mind, no matter how much she wanted to purge those memories.

Rumors that Mami Tomoe had been possessed by a witch was the reason why she bothered to go to Mitakihara, her reasoning being that the territory was now hers for the taking.

"Pffft...possessed by a witch," Kyoko said. "As if that's even possible. She probably lost her guts to fight as a magical girl should-"

Her soul gem began to glow, telling her there was a witch nearby. Just what she needed, a distraction from her conflicting thoughts. She smiled, a single noticeable fang poking through her upper lip.

It was time to go hunting. She flicked her long ponytail. She went through her transformation, her civilian outfit consisting of a jacket and shorts was promptly replaced by a red dress as she called out her gem. She gripped the spear that suddenly appeared in her grasp and ran off to confront the witch.

She had found it under an underpassand was a weak one, offering little thrill or sport as Kuoko effortlessly struck it down with her deadly, segmented spear. The bout never made it past three seconds. Still, she couldn't complain. The grief seed it dropped was in her hand, and served as a fitting consolidation of her claiming Mami's territory.

But the mood was soured when another magical girl came hopping down from the bridge above.

Her magical girl uniform resembled a black, fancified sailor fuku outfit, making her resemble an emo Sailor Moon, her soul gem being in the middle of her collar. Her legs and her forearms were covered in thigh-high boots and gloves respectively, each made of cross-hatching thread that was meant to approximate the look and feel of spider webs, which also applied to her poofy skirt that made the modest shorts she wore underneath partially visible. She had glasses on, and her black hair was done in a way that gave off arachnid vibes, with her front bangs resembling a spider's fangs, and her eight ponytails tied and bent to have a passing similarity to the legs of a spider. Her only weapon wasn't something like a sword or a musket, but something as silly as its wielder; a yo-yo, with a symbol on its sides that resembled a spider stored inside a web.

She glanced nervously around, then turned to Kyoko. She seemed very fidgety for a person with magical powers. Her voice shook when she spoke.

"H-Hey...wasn't there a witch here? I could've sworn I sensed a witch…"

Kyoko rolled her eyes. The moment the girl opened her mouth to speak with that nasally voice of hers, she was already irritated. "Yes there was, but I killed it."

"Huh!?" The girl's black eyes enlarged behind her glasses. "What...what do you mean

"What? Are ya hard of hearin'? Did I damn stutter?" Kyoko growled. "I killed the witch before you got here."

The girl looked like she's been slapped in the face with a wet fish. Her eyes hovered to the seed in Kyoko's hand. The latter didn't like that, and she quickly curled her fist to hide the seed from the newcomer's greedy gaze.

But it was too late. The girl knew she had the seed, and she may have to fight her for it.

Tch. Great. Just what I need. Kyoko tightened her grip on her spear. She hoped one of her own would provide a more thrilling fight than the witch.

To her surprise, the girl went down on her knees and began to wail and beg.

"Please! I need that seed! I need it to complete my collection! I won't be able to sleep soundly tonight if my collection is incomplete!"

"Incomplete?" Kyoko said. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The girl blinked, then she said in a rushed voice. "Well...ever since I was five years old, I had the undesirable urge to collect everything. First it was stamps, then it was lollipop flavors…"

"Hey hey hey!" Kyoko shouted. "I don't need to hear your life story! You're really damn annoying! And I'm not giving you the seed you idiot."

"Huh?" The girl then brought out a wallet. "Wait! I'll pay you!"

Kyoko was taken aback. This was the first time another magical girl offered to pay for a grief seed in money. "Eh? Are you for real?"

"Yes!" The girl said. "I'll give you thirty thousand yen for that!"

Kyoko nearly choked. "Thirty thousand yen!"

"I can't get it now...but I can get it to you later!" The girl said. "But I need the seed!"

Kyoko considered giving the seed, especially when seeds were easy to come by for powerful enough magical girls. Thirty thousand yen was a great deal in that regard, but then she realized the she needed no money. Of course, anything she needed she would simply take as she always would have.

Plus, the girl was giving her the creeps, and she began to suspect her to have not just a few screws loose, but all of them. She wasn't about to give a crazy person what she worked for.

"No, forget it," Kyoko said. "I'm not giving up this seed for money. And you should shove off."

"Fine...fifty thousand-" The girl said.

"You don't understand. I don't need your money, so again...you should shove off." Kyoko spat out, before she found herself changing her mind.

"Wha-" The girl became flabbergasted. "Then...then...you really aren't giving me the seed."

"Geez, how many times to do I have to tell you?" Kyoko said, rubbing her forehead. "No means no. This seed ain't yours! Now go away, you are really starting to annoy me."

The girl's expression and body language changed. She slowly stood up in silence, her brows furrowed, her eyes narrowed and ferocious. A purple aura began to wrap around her.

"Then I guess I have no choice...I will defeat you and take that seed for my-"

Kyoko clocked her to shut her up. She punched a tooth out and the girl groaned, wide-eyed and slumped back to the ground. She clutched her jaw in pain.

"Talk is cheap," Kyoko mocked. "If you're gonna take the seed from me, then do it instead of say it! But regardless, keep on dreaming if you think you can ever take me on."

She walked away, leaving the girl, but stopped when she noticed a box that had been dropped beside her.

It was a small chestbox of sorts, its lid open to reveal its contents.

It was filled with grief seeds. And to Kyoko's amazement, none of them were used. They were all filled with cleansing energy.

Her eyes began to gleam with joy and she swiped one while the girl she punched was still reeling from her blow. The latter didn't notice, her back turned, her face still tucked into her hands, nursing where she was slugged.

"You...touched my collection..."

The girl stood up, the purple aura returning. She tilted her head back towards Kyoko, glaring at her. Her lip was bleeding.

"The psychiatrists said I have a serious problem with hoarding and collecting...called me a「major kleptomaniac」" The girl hissed. "And even Kyubey-san said I had a problem...he warned me several times that I should use the seeds before it is too late, but I didn't listen."

Kyoko looked up from the box. "What!? You've never used them? Not a single one? What for you idiot!"

The girl smiled, her blood-stained teeth making her grin more creepy than it should have. Kyoko felt a shiver down her back. "I didn't listen of course...after all, a comic book collector wouldn't take the comic right out of the package right? And a car collector wouldn't drive one of his or her own cars. I didn't use the seeds...right up to the point where my soul gem completely blackened."

She whirled around, and Kyoko found herself taking a step back. She released the yo-yo, letting it swing around her finger like a pendulum. "But it doesn't matter now...because I'm no longer a regular magical girl...I can collect as much seeds as I want without fear of becoming a witch! And with Eri scared off from her stash, I can finally complete my collection! But I can only complete it if I have that grief seed in your hands!"

"Hey...you're crazy!" Kyoko said. The girl was most definitely crazy, especially the part about becoming a witch. Then she felt a sharp pain on her hand that wrenched the box from her grasp.

"Ouch!" Kyoko shouted. It felt like a syringe had been forced in the flesh that connected her index finger and thumb. She glanced down.

There it was, the biggest bug she had ever seen in her life, and was also concurrently the smallest familiar she had ever seen.

An insect, wearing a black sailor fuku uniform with a red bowtie around the collar had latched onto her hand without her knowing, a needle-like proboscis coming from the eyeless, mechanical grey head tucked inside its collar and jammed deep into Kyoko's skin. It had six arms in total, many of them having five fingers that made them look more like the hands of a human being or mannequin than the sharp legs of a bug.

The color drained from Kyoko's face when she saw it.

"W-What the hell is this thing?"

"It's my「Spider from Mars」...Kyoko Sakura!"

Kyoko's jaw dropped. "How! How do you know my name-"

A part of her mind dissolved into a white spot that ate her thoughts. She drew a blank, and her face laxed, blinking and unable to comprehend what she was thinking about just seconds ago.

"What's the matter Kyoko?" The girl grinned devilishly. "'Forgetting' something?"

"Kyoko?" Kyoko was flummoxed. "Who the hell is Kyoko?"

"Kyoko Sakura, that's your name isn't it? But I don't expect you to remember." The girl asked. Kyoko drew another blank. "My「Spiders from Mars」can suck out any single memory from whatever it sinks its proboscis into...and they all share a hivemind with its user, which is I, Aimi Aozora! Meaning, any memory that they suck out...immediately comes to me!"

"Huh?" Kyoko said. She genuinely had zero clue on what the girl was talking about, on who this Kyoko Sakura person was, and on why she kept referencing David Bowie's backing band during his Ziggy Stardust years. "What the hell are you saying?"

Aimi's eyes gleamed. "Oh my...and it seems you are friends with Mami Tomoe..."

"Huh?" Kyoko said. She felt a faint prickling on her shoulder, and saw another bug. "Ah!"

Another prickling on the calf of her leg. She glanced at her hand and saw a weapon she didn't recognize. "Hey...who's spear is this? Looks kinda cool."

"Mami Tomoe is your dearest friend...but from the memory I plucked from you I can see you two had a falling out that had yet to be patched up," Aimi said.

The yo-yo stopped swinging and sprung back into her open palm. "You see, collecting grief seeds is fun and all, but I found something rarer that is worth even more in collecting. A special type of canister containing a very special rock, that has suddenly appeared all over town.

"Getting them is harder than getting a grief seed, which you can get by merely hunting a witch. But these canisters no doubt have 'stand users' guarding them...the stand users that they first created. I know that is the true for me, and for Eri Takasu. She damn kicked me out with her Quiet Riot when I found out all I wanted to do with the seeds was to collect them and do nothing with them!"

Aimi pointed to Kyoko. "But you're going to help me get one of the canisters...from none other than Mami Tomoe herself! I heard she locked herself away, fearing her stand as a witch! Consider it as payback for giving for punching me so hard earlier!"

Kyoko scoffed. "As if. I have no idea what you're talking about, but if you think I'm going to help you-"

A dark shadow fell over her. Kyoko lifted her head up, and saw millions of spiders clinging to the underside of the bridge. A whole swarm of them, and they descended upon her before she could blink.

"It's no use…「Spiders from Mars」 is invincible." Aimi said. "With them, I can 「collect」 anything I want in this town! Including your「memories」!"

Madoka knocked on Mami's door. No response. They've been knocking for five minutes straight.

"Maybe we should come back later?" Sayaka said.

Madoka knocked again.

The door opened, and Mami glared at them. There were bags under her eyes, and one of her usually neat drill-shaped blonde twintails could be visibly seen messily draped over her shoulder with coarse hairs sticking out of them.

"Kaname-san...I'm not in the mood to see anyone right now." Mami said. "I'm sorry."

"Wait-" Madoka couldn't get another word out before the door abruptly slammed shut.

"Hey Madoka...maybe we really should come back later," Sayaka said. "She doesn't seem well."

"I...I guess," Madoka murmured. Deep down however, she didn't want to leave. She looked up to Mami ever since she saved them from the witch the first day they met. And in that time since, she had never seen the magical girl act such a way. She looked distraught and exhausted, and had the look of a person who lacked sleep for seventy two hours straight.

If there was something she could do to help…

And Eri's words replayed in her mind. Specifically, the words about how Mami was possessed by a witch.

Could she really be possessed by one? Or is it as Eri says, and she has been possessed by another power? By a power like Endless Dream?

Madoka sighed. Perhaps she can help, but not when Mami didn't want to see them. She was also exhausted from her encounter with Quiet Riot.

Whatever that force, that「dark determination」, was, it had tired her out when it finally subsided and she returned to her regular self. It felt like an out of body experience almost, as if a second, more bestial personality had overwritten her own like some sort of bizarre 21st century schizoid man. The day had put both her and her friends through a lot, and perhaps it was time to take a break to get their bearings straight.

"Yeah, let's go. Perhaps we can talk to Mami later…" Madoka said. She turned to Sayaka. "By the way, the canister is still there with you right?"

"What, this dirty thing?" Sayaka lifted her schoolbag. It was out of shape from having to cram the canister into it. "Why do I have to be the one to carry this."

"Because you brought us into that house," Madoka replied.

"Sheesh, how was I supposed to know there was a crazy magical girl there with one of these...stand things," Sayaka said. "By the way, I still think the name「punchghost」is better."

"If you say so," Madoka said. The two left, not before she took one last, worrisome glance at Mami's apartment door.

Mami heard the footsteps as the two newly made friends had left. She knew she sounded harsh, and she felt bad driving them away when all she ever wanted was friendship.

However, she wasn't about them to expose Sayaka and Madoka to the witch that was haunting her, that followed her everywhere she went.

The witch that was staring at her right now, with unseen eyes hidden behind a visor with a red and white peppermint colorization. It sat hunched on a Mami's favorite triangular glass tea table in a slack lotus position, its yellow arms trailing to the ground, unrolled into ribbons that looked remarkably like the ones produced by her magic powers. A large circular head-dress encircled its head like a halo. It wore a green dress with black lace sleeves and a smile etched on the pouch across its skirt, its legs covered in alternating yellow and white stripes that evoked images of uniquely colored candy canes.

"What...what are you?" Mami said. She was in her magical girl uniform, with a rifle raised. She knew by now traditional attacks were useless; the bullets simply absorbed into its body. At least that way a stray bullet wouldn't strike her apartment. The last thing she needed was to alert her neighbors and the random passerbyers on the streets who might easily notice a frantic girl firing guns inside her own apartment. In that regard, she was also thankful her aim was good enough to be able to never miss a shot, all of them landing on the strangely humanoid witch sitting on her table with little to no effect, absorbed without damage to her apartment.

"Give me orders," The witch said. Its voice was toneless and robotic, and, as Mami finally took notice, sounded almost like hers if it had been distorted.

"No, I won't give you orders," Mami said. "I want you to die."

The witch tilted its head. Its ribbon arms contracted, and became a regular set of arms wrapped in yellow sleeves.

I can't die," It replied. "I am you. And you are me."

"What...are you my 'persona' or something?" Mami growled.

The witch cocked its head. "I find that highly offensive."

"I don't care," Mami raised her rifle, despite knowing fully well this would be the seven hundredth shot she took that was rendered useless tonight. "I just want you to leave!"

She blinked. And the witch was gone. She let out a deep breath and slumped back against her door, her knees causing her to buckle to the floor.

Whatever the witch was, it was the most peculiar specimen of a witch Mami had ever seen. Only now did she take note that it lacked all the other qualities of a witch. No familiars. No barriers.

And then there was the fact it never tried to attack her even as she fired into it. And it kept referring to her as if she was her master, always begging for orders as if it was her servant, not enemy.

Was it even a witch then? Or was it something else entirely? Something that Kyubey never mentioned before?

Her thoughts went to the canister she found this morning, lying on top of a shrub outside her apartment building's front entrance, and of the rock she scratched herself on by accident that was inside. She knew there was something off about the canister and the rock, and she can't help but see connections with getting scratched by the rock and the witch suddenly appearing.

She walked out of the kitchen and glanced towards the cabinet besides her tea table where she kept the heavy safe that she locked away the canister and its contents in. Perhaps Kyubey could tell her more of the strange phenomena happening to her lately…

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

Mami quickly looked around for signs of the witch. She was relieved when she saw nothing and walked to the door.

A list of possible suspects who could be knocking ran through her mind. It could be any of her neighbors, a wayward delivery man that has found his way to the wrong address, or either Sayaka and Madoka coming back to try their luck again to see her.

When she did open the door, she saw that it was none of the above. Instead, she saw a sight that was ripped out from a nightmare.

"K-Kyoko!" Mami could barely choke out the name of a friend she had thought she would never see again.
Kyoko Sakura was wrapped in layers of what looked to be thick webbing that shaped a cocoon which hid her body from the neck down, held in place by thin threads that stuck themselves to the edge of the balcony on the floor where Mami's apartment was, along with more thread anchored to the balcony on the upper floor. For lack of a better descriptor, she looked like she was a fly caught in the web of an impossibly large spider.

Mami reached out from her door. She was about to rush out, to grab Kyoko and bring her into the safety of the apartment.

Until she noticed there was something off about the whole scene. A single thought flickered across her mind, preventing her from taking another step forward.

Wait a minute...her arms are tied. Then who knocked on the door?

Mami turned right, and studied her door.

There was a spider on it. A spider wearing a black sailor fuku uniform, and it lifted its syringe-shaped head to point it towards Mami.

"Mami Tomoe...give me your fragment of the stand giving rock...or I will end your existence right now!" The spider spoke, in a distorted mechanical female voice.

"Huh?" Mami gawked.

Rows of shadows fluttered across the door's faint reflections. Mami turned upward to what cast them, and a scream became lodged in her throat.

There wasn't only one spider. There were more of them, crowding on the very top of the door, all staring at her with eyes that glowed bright red underneath the shadow of the balcony.

"What...what on earth!"

The spiders lunged.

And a yellow fist came out of her chest. Along with a familiar voice.

"TIRORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORO~!"

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: Thanks Doctor Mono for your comment. I've kept it in the back of my mind while I was making the edits, though I wanted to push forward with the new chapters before I go back and edit more.

As for your concerns regarding why magical girls also have both magic powers and stands, it was a response to an earlier criticism I had from a reader (sorry, but I forgot your name!) who suggested magical girls keep their powers while maintaining stands. I personally thought that was a neat idea, though it was too late at that point to implement it because I was too deep into the story. I didn't want to overshadow magical girl abilities as I did with my last fic, so I took inspiration from SBR, and how the stands compliment the user's natural abilities. Most of the magic will be used in conjunction with stand powers. I know this may not be exactly what you wanted and I can understand how some people prefer stands only, but I feel like this was a way to make it different than my last attempt at a crossover. The "Madoka damsel in distress" also came from another previous criticism a reader gave me, though I do plan on making edits to make her closer to her anime version.

Best,
Beef