I do not own Jojo's Bizarre Adventure or the Persona series.

Chie watched as the Shadow's form suddenly turned completely black before expelling black smoke, shielding it from view.

She could hardly believe what had happened in the few minutes just before. Yosuke, out of nowhere, beat the living crap out of her Shadow after shouting an emotion-fueled speech. "I… I didn't even know he had that in him…"

"Oh… man…" Yosuke groaned out in pain, placing his right hand on his left shoulder in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "Please tell me she's finally down for good."

"I believe so Yosuke!" Teddie shouted with a wave of his paw. "I'm beary certain that all the Shadows that made up Chie-chan's Shadow are now leaving!"

"Hah… good." Yosuke sighed in relief. "I didn't have a back-up plan if that didn't work."

"Wait, so that was your last resort?" Johnny asked in surprise, lifting his right arm as water mixed with blood dripped from it. "Then why the hell were you acting so confident?!"

"I thought it was a very good plan!"

"But if it didn't work we would have been screwed!"

"Well, I didn't want the Shadow to know that!"

"Wow Yosuke, you have so much to learn…"

"Man, I don't need to hear crap from you bear!"

Chie could not help but chuckle a bit at the two teenagers' and one bear's post-battle bickering. It was… refreshing.

The expelling of dark energy coming from her Shadow then suddenly stopped, leaving the copy of Chie looking towards her with tired eyes.

"…Are you going to keep attacking us?" Chie could not help but ask the Shadow.

The Shadow then slowly shook its head before looking at her expectantly.

"Chie, I don't think it even wants to keep fighting us." Yosuke spoke up, looking at the Shadow. "I… I think it only did that because you rejected it."

Chie bit her lip anxiously. That was true. The Shadow probably didn't even want to actually fight. It was her rejection (And actual outright physical blows against it) that caused it to attack. Denying her true feelings had enraged it, and while it may have goaded her, she was the cause of all this. Ultimately, that Shadow came from inside her, which meant…

"You know already, huh."

Chie turned towards Johnny who just stared at her impassively. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"That Shadow is a part of you. Just like what happened with our own Shadows, everything it said was true to a degree." Johnny said. "It's okay. Accept your faults and shortcomings and move on. You'll feel better for it."

"But…" Chie struggled with herself.

"C'mon, trust us." Yosuke encouraged, giving Chie a reassuring smile. "We've all got ugly thoughts like that deep inside ourselves. Doesn't mean that's all there is to us. We'll accept those ugly parts Chie. We're not gonna judge you when we've gone through the same thing. Just… accept it yourself."

Chie said nothing and just stared at her Shadow. While she did sort of accept it earlier, it was still a bit hard to accept this part of her. But even if it was painful, and even though it was hard to admit…

"I know you're me. It's true that I do have those kinds of thoughts sometimes. I mean, compared to Yukiko, I'm not much. I'm not that smart, I don't draw attention like Yukiko does, so when I heard she was so reliant on me…" Chie trailed off, shaking her head. She turned her gaze up, looking her Shadow straight in the eyes. "You're me. And I'm you."

"…" The Shadow said nothing, and still looked towards her.

"But even if I have those terrible thoughts, Yukiko is still my… our precious friend. That's no lie." Chie declared, glaring at the Shadow a bit. "So let's stop this crap so we can hurry up and save her!"

The Shadow's lips turned upwards in a mirror of Chie's usual confident smile as it nodded, fading away into blue light. A Persona appeared in its place, a female six feet tall with considerable muscles on its body and modest bust shown through a tight yellow body suit with black lines trailing the arms and chest to the groin. Several zippers were also on the bodysuit with one for each shoulder, one on each wrist, one on the knees, and a single zipper going from the neck to the groin. On each of its knuckles was a single silver button, which would probably make any punches the thing made hurt even more. Around the hips was a chainmail skirt, which had engraved along it a single dragon with a ying-yang symbol where the groin would be. Its head was covered by what appeared to be a white biker helmet which had a single horn on the top, whose tinted visor only displayed the Persona's glowing white eyes and red lips. Coming from behind and under the helmet was waist-length black silky hair which seemed to blow in a non-existent breeze. Held in its right hand was a long double-bladed naginata.

"This is… my Persona…" Chie muttered as the Persona looked towards her and nodded before disappearing into a single card that floated towards Chie. It then burst into blue energy that flowed into Chie and disappeared from view. "Tomoe Gouzen…"

"Wow…" Yosuke muttered with a grin on his face. "It's totally awesome to see that, even if it is the third time."

"Way to go, Chie!" Teddie shouted, practically bouncing in his excitement. "You got your own Persona!"

That made Chie chuckle weakly, but inwardly she felt very good. Relieved more like it. She guessed that it was true what Johnny said. Accepting herself did make her feel better.

Johnny then groaned in pain, regaining Yosuke's attention. "Oh crap dude! Are you okay?"

"Super." Johnny then lifted his left hand. "Let's see how much this thing can fix up." A blue card then floated into Johnny's open palm. "Pixie." Johnny then crushed the card, making the miniature Persona appear. It floated towards Johnny's eye before kissing the wound, and Yosuke saw the wound close up before his eyes.

"Wowie Sensei, that's incredible!" Teddie cried out, moving closer to Johnny. "You're hurt very bad, but thanks to this Persona you'll be healed up in no time!"

Johnny said nothing and instead watched Pixie fly to his defrosted arm. She kissed it, and Johnny watched as the holes that were used to expel blood from his popped vessels seal up. "Well, at least she can heal minor wounds…" The Persona then moved to the young man's chest and kissed it, but this time it looked up at Johnny and shook its head sadly.

"Uh dude, what was that about?" Yosuke asked in curiosity. Johnny lifted his shirt, but instead of seeing completely healed wounds he saw that the cuts were only a bit closed up but otherwise just scabbed over.

"Guess it can only heal minor wounds." Johnny muttered with narrowed eyes. Figures something that could heal had some sort of limit. He then looked to Yosuke, who was a bit messed up himself. "Heal him up." Johnny pointed to Yosuke, making Pixie nod before flying towards the youth. It kissed the wound on his shoulder, completely healing it in a couple of seconds.

"Woah…" Yosuke muttered in amazement, rolling his shoulder as the pain from the stab wound disappeared. "It's completely gone!"

Pixie seemed to smile a bit as if proud of its work and flew to Yosuke's partially torn-up wrist. It repeated the process, and Yosuke's wounds sealed up within seconds.

Chie looked on at the scene, saddened by watching the young men healing their wounds. "Guys…"

"Huh? Chie?" Yosuke asked while looking at the girl. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" They were more worried about her than themselves? Even when they were more seriously hurt? "I-I'm fine." She attempted to walk over, only to stumble a bit.

"Chie-chan! Don't stress yourself!" Teddie yelled as he waddled over beside the girl, placing his hands on her side to steady Chie. "If you do too much then you'll really get hurt!"

"But you guys…!"

"I'll be fine." Johnny said, lowering his shirt and squeezing his right hand into a fist. "It kind of stings, but I just need to put on my spare shirt and Dojima won't notice the difference."

"Speaking of your spare shirt…" Yosuke began, crossing his arms and his eyes closed in thought. "I think we should change our clothes and head back to our world."

That caused Chie to pause in shock. "What? We're heading back?"

"That's what I think." Yosuke clarified with a nod. "We're beat up, and we probably won't last long like this."

"But Yukiko could be on the next floor!" Chie shouted, pointing to the door in front of them. "Even if we're tired and hurt, we can…!"

"We almost got killed Chie!" Johnny shouted, shocking the girl. "Your Shadow almost killed us all, and we were pretty much in great condition. And who knows if Yukiko is on the next floor or not? Who knows how much longer we might have to go? The way we are now… one mistake and Yukiko won't have anyone to rescue her."

Chie looked down, biting her lip. She knew Johnny's reason was logical. After all, she was just before feeling guilty for the boys' wounds. She even personally caused Johnny to get even more hurt while under Motley Crue. "I-I know. But Yukiko…"

"Look, we get it. You're worried sick about Yukiko." Yosuke spoke calmly to the girl. "We are too. But up ahead are even more Shadows. Some of them can and will probably ambush us like the ones before, and they could be even stronger than those Shadows." Yosuke's eyes then narrowed. "And I can guarantee you at this point, we will have to face Yukiko's Shadow. Even if we continued on and avoided all the smaller Shadows, we would have to deal with that thing. We can't even guess what it will be capable of. So if you honestly think we can keep going like this, knowing what might be waiting for us…"

"Okay, I get it!" Chie shouted angrily at the teen. "I-I'm sorry! I just… I don't like the idea of leaving Yukiko in this place…"

"Well… the normal Shadows will probably leave this Yukiko girl alone." Teddie spoke up, making the three look towards him. "The reason why they probably attacked you guys is because you were wandering around and the fog wasn't that thick. But the fog's pretty thick here, and as long as that's there the Shadows will leave her alone."

"…You couldn't have mentioned this earlier?" Johnny asked, causing the bear to look away and whistle innocently.

"You never really asked, Sensei…"

"Hm… so the Shadows will only really attack when it gets foggy on our side." Yosuke muttered in thought. "If that's the case, then it would be safe to leave here and come back tomorrow to get Yukiko."

"Wait, then why did my Shadow just pop up out of nowhere?" Chie asked the bear. "Hell, why did any of our Shadows come out? It was still foggy over here when it happened!"

"Well… I can't really say." Teddie responded with a frown. "I think it might be because the suppressed emotions in your heart were too strong. Or maybe it's because the Shadows could tell you were looking for something and considered you guys a threat."

That made Johnny think a bit. From what he gathered from Igor and Margaret, he was a 'special' Persona User. One that could possess multiple Personas. "Is that the reason my Shadow came out first? Because I would have been a threat?" Well, that was probably part of the reason why. But there might have been something more to it...

"Alright, so we should be fine leaving Yukiko here for the day." Yosuke concluded, looking towards Chie. "We'll recover tonight and go straight to Junes after school. So long as we get to her before it gets foggy on our side…"

"We're going to find her tomorrow." Chie announced, glaring at Yosuke. "I'm not leaving Yukiko in this place for more than a day!"

"Fine. We'll get her tomorrow. Relax." With that said, Johnny looked at his now ruined shirt. "Now can we please go and get changed?"

Chie and Yosuke looked at their own bloodstained clothes. They could already imagine the reactions if they just went out of the TV like this…

"Woah! What's with all the blood!?"

"Is it a new fashion statement or…"

"They're the murderers! Call the police!"

"Body! Where's the body!?"

"Yeah…" With a sigh, Yosuke picked Johnny off the floor before the three teenagers and one bear headed for the stairs leading to the first floor.

xxXXxx

"Teddie, are you sure no Shadows are in this room?" Chie asked the bear as she stood in front of the door to the left of the stairway, who nodded enthusiastically.

"Yep! I have no doubt! My snout isn't getting the scent of any grizzlies!"

"Are you sure you're sure? The last time you were 'sure' was when we got ambushed by Shadows." Yosuke pointed out, making the bear growl in comical anger.

"Don't doubt my nose! The last time was just a small error in Teddie's spotless record!"

"What record? You've only been using that thing with us around five or six times." Johnny got into the conversation, and that comment made Teddie slump in despair.

"S-sensei can be so cold sometimes…"

Chie could not help but laugh at the exchange. This felt… good. It felt natural. Despite the danger from before, they were acting like a group of friends. "Yeah, friends… even Teddie."

However, the memory of what her Shadow said made her look down in guilt. What did the guys really think of her now? She knew that deep down inside, she wanted them to look up to her. That Chie Satonaka wanted people to be at her feet to make her feel better and have self-worth. "I must be really pathetic…"

"I guess we'll go in first." Yosuke declared, snapping Chie out of her thoughts. "We'll be out in a few minutes."

"Oh, okay." Chie stated quickly before Teddie handed Yosuke the bag of spare clothes and the first-aid kit. The two teens then went inside the room, and could not help but be impressed with how… spacious it was. It was like a mini-ballroom, with no pieces of furniture anywhere.

"Dude, how big do you think this place is?" Yosuke asked as he put Johnny down and began opening the clothes bag. "Think we'll run into a roman bath or something? Seems like the kind of thing castles like this would have."

"How should I know? I don't know how Yukiko's fantasies work. Just give me my clothes. I can't stand wearing these things."

"All right, all right. Jeez." Yosuke then saw three sets of folded clothes inside the bag. His on top which he put to the side on the floor, Johnny's clothes which he handed to the youth, and finally…

"You better not go through my clothes Yosuke!" Chie shouted from behind the door, making the young man freeze up.

"I-I wasn't going to!"

"Yeah right! I bet you were thinking about it a second ago you perv!"

"No, I wasn't!"

"You did have a skeevy look on your face a second ago." Johnny commented while he began putting on his pants.

"Shut up, Johnny!" Yosuke groaned as he put down the bag and took off his shirt. Once he did that, he bent down and opened the first-aid kit to take out the disinfectant wipes. He threw several to Johnny before taking some and wiping away the blood on his body.

It was… a bit weird. Knowing that Chie felt that way internally. "But I guess… she is kind of like me in some freaky way." Well, more specifically in the 'I REALLY wanted friends' department and not so much in the 'I thought this town is shit' department, but it was relatable. While Chie had Yukiko to hang out with and had a connection with her, Yosuke didn't really have anyone. But he supposed only having one friend wasn't really enough for Chie, thus leading her to want both him and Johnny. "At least she isn't really into S&M though. THAT would have just been awkward…"

"You done yet?" Yosuke looked to Johnny and saw that the American was now dressed in tight dark blue pants and wore a hooded short-sleeved shirt with red linings on the edges of the hood and sleeves. His hat and shoes were the same as before, probably due to a lack of tears or blood on either of them.

"Uh, just give me a minute!" Yosuke frantically put on his spare clothes. A simple pair of loose jeans and a reddish-orange shirt. Pausing a bit, Yosuke looked to Johnny. "Dude, you put on a lot of red, white, and blue you know that?"

"Yeah, so?"

"…Nothing. Just saying." Yosuke really didn't want to have that conversation right now. Maybe another time.

Finishing in a couple of minutes, the two teenagers left the room to see Chie standing by Teddie, who was looking at them curiously. "Um, we left your clothes in there with the first aid kit. We put ours to the side. Just put them back in the bag when you're done."

"Okay. Thanks." With that, Chie went into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Any reason why Chie-chan is changing separately from you guys?" Teddie asked, making the two teenagers look at him weirdly.

"What? Dude, she's a girl. You don't change with girls." Yosuke answered automatically.

"Oh… so that's why she kept hitting me when I touched her!" Teddie declared, revelation dawning on him. "It makes sense now!"

"…You don't get it at all do you?"

"Nope!"

"Figures." Johnny sighed before noticing Teddie inching his head closer and closer to the doorknob. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I wanna see what makes Chie-chan not want us to be with her while she's changing." Teddie replied as he began reaching the knob.

"You know, there's a reason why we told you guys don't watch girls change."

"Well I just want to see why for myself!"

"Well then go ahead. See what happens."

"No dude, stop." Yosuke grabbed the bear by the top of his head and attempted to pull him away. "Chie'll kill you if you do this crap."

"Grr! Let go Yosuke!" Teddie then pulled his body to the side, making Yosuke trip and fall.

"Gah!" Yosuke fell on his knees, and glared at the bear. "Dude, when someone tells you to stop you should seriously..." Yosuke's voice trailed off as his line of sight then drifted to the side.

Through the lock Teddie was attempting to look through more exactly.

"Oh… Oh…" Yosuke's voice trailed off as he saw through the tiny hole Chie take off her shirt, showing her bust hidden back by a lime green bra. "Nice..." Yosuke's thoughts betrayed him as he froze, his body not even moving as he looked at Chie's body.

"How come Yosuke gets to see and not me, Sensei?!"

"I'm going to kill that bear." Yosuke decided when he noticed Chie got out of his view.

The door then swung open, hitting Yosuke on the face and knocking him back several feet. "Gah! Damn… it…" Yosuke's curse quieted down when he saw the VERY angry figure in front of him. Chie Satonaka was now dressed in a light yellow t-shirt, black pants, and a white skirt that hung around her waist. But despite her bright clothes, Chie's face was red with livid fury. "H-Hey Chie…"

"Yosuke…" Chie's foot shot foward, and Yosuke's voice became soprano within the span of five seconds. Johnny could not help but wince in sympathetic pain as the young man curled up in the fetal position. "YOU ASSHOLE!"

"A-Are all girls in your world this scary, Sensei?" Teddie asked in freight while he and Johnny watched the kung-fu enthusiast chew out Yosuke.

"…Depends." Johnny answered, deciding that it would be best for him to try and explain what really happened before Yosuke got a few more kicks in his family jewels.

xxXXxx

"So it's agreed. You're going to treat me to five beefsteaks. One every week." Chie declared as the three teenagers and one bear walked to the platform they had arrived on. "And on top of that, you still owe me a new Trial of the Dragon."

"Okay! I said I was sorry!" Yosuke muttered in despair. "But why do I need to pay you back that much? Me and Johnny told you that it was that bear's fault!"

"Hey!"

"Oh? So there's another strange bear costume thing running around?"

"Why must you betray me Sensei...?"

"Fine. I'll make it three. You still owe me for peeking on me, even if it was an accident." Chie 'relented', making Yosuke's head slump while his hands cupped over his lower regions.

"Man, at this rate I'm never going to have kids…"

Teddie giggled at the scene as he walked up to the TV. "Here we are Sensei! Your ticket back to your side!"

"Yeah, I can see that." Johnny said with a sigh. "But… are you sure that Yukiko won't be dead by tomorrow?"

"Johnny!"

"Hey, I have to make sure."

"Yup! I can guarantee it a hundred percent!" Teddie assured the three. "Just be sure to rescue her before the fog lifts on your side or she'll be in beary grave danger!"

Chie nodded at that. It was reassuring knowing that Yukiko would be safe, at least for the time being.

"But… If I had accepted my Shadow sooner, we probably could've rescued Yukiko today…"

"Guys…"

The two teens looked towards her.

"I'm sorry." Chie apologized. For some reason, she felt like she had to get this out. "What my Shadow said… it's true that I liked having Yukiko depend on me. It felt good, to be relied on by her because she had the things I lacked." Chie sighed in sadness. "I guess at some point, having just Yukiko look up to me wasn't enough. I wanted more people to be like her in some way. I guess that's why I started hanging out with you Johnny, and that's why I was willing to be around Yosuke more than usual. I just… I just hope you guys don't hate me…"

"…Are you serious?" Johnny asked, making the girl look up at him in shock. Was Johnny really not going to forgive her? "Chie, you're talking to two guys who went through the exact same thing you did."

"H-Huh?"

"Yeah. Our Shadows spouted a lot of crap we didn't want to admit either." Yosuke gave the girl a grin. "Remember? I thought somewhere deep down that this town was a pain in the ass and I came here to try and be a hero?"

"My Shadow also said a lot of things I wanted to keep hidden, to not tell anyone and bring it all to my grave." Johnny didn't really feel like going into details. Yosuke and Chie had been there to see the whole thing. "We're not going to hate you because of your Shadow."

"Chie-chan's Shadow is her, yet it also isn't." Teddie declared, smiling at the girl. "You admitted to the darkness in your heart. That shows that you're more than just that Shadow, Chie-chan."

"Guys…" Chie felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes. It felt… good to be understood. To be accepted despite all her faults. "Is this… is this also what having friends is about?" Closing her eyes, she muttered a quiet "Thank you…"

Yosuke grinned at Chie before turning to Johnny. "Hey dude… By the way, if we're going to be a team…"

"Yeah?"

"I think we're going to need a leader." Yosuke declared, nodding to himself as if agreeing that it was the right call to bring this up. "We're kind of going into this blind. We… gotta have someone who'll make right calls you know?"

Chie then looked at the two curiously. "Huh? But haven't we gotten this far without one?"

"I always thought you guys were just following what Sensei wanted…" Teddie admitted.

Johnny looked down in thought. It made sense that this would come up. After seeing what happened to Chie, Johnny knew that it might be right for someone to be able to call the shots.

"Why not just make Sensei the leader?" Teddie asked, beaming at the prospect.

"…Huh?" Johnny didn't have any words to describe his shock at being elected.

"Yeah! Sensei has the ability to use more than one Persona, and was able to adapt quickly to your plans Yosuke!" Teddie declared in glee. "Not to mention he was beary capable of making his own plans in battle, and you didn't ob-"

"No."

Teddie looked at Johnny in shock. "What was that Sensei?"

"I don't want to be the leader." Johnny elaborated as he looked at the three. "That 'plan' was just something I came up with on the spot. There was a huge chance that Chie's Shadow would have noticed it and swatted the rug away before coming to kick my ass."

"Hey, don't put yourself down dude." Yosuke looked uncomfortable at the scenario Johnny just presented. "Besides, it's not just about fighting. I mean, I'm more of a sounding board when it comes to theories…"

"I don't put those out, you do." Johnny pointed out, glaring at Yosuke. "If anything, I'm the sounding board. I don't have the skills to be a leader of anything. I'm…"

"Come on Johnny, don't say that." Chie decided to break up the small debate that was occurring between the group. "Look, we don't have to decide this now. We've gotten this far without electing a leader. We can go for a bit longer. We just need to stick together and fight as a team. Okay?"

"…Fine." Johnny clicked his tongue in distaste at the previous conversation. Yosuke should have known that he didn't have what it takes to be a leader, not mentally anyway.

After all, he was still a self-centered asshole inside. Someone like that didn't deserve to lead.

"Yeah, you're right." Yosuke sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Besides, this isn't really the time to be having this conversation." Yosuke then shifted his body a bit to feel more comfortable carrying Johnny before saying, "All right, let's go home."

"Um…" Teddie made the three teenagers look back to him. "You guys will come back soon right?"

"Of course! We're coming back tomorrow remember?" Chie asked, only for the bear to look at her quizzically.

"What's a 'tomorrow'?"

"Heh, figures. I don't think this place has a day or night." Johnny gave a soft chuckle at the idea.

"It's… um… well…" Yosuke struggled to come up with an appropriate answer, but failed. "…when we come over, it'll be tomorrow."

"Okay then!" Teddie beamed, as if accepting the half-assed answer. "See you guys!"

The three teens nodded before taking a deep breath and sticking their hands inside the old TVs…

xxXXxx

"DAMN IT!" The three gave a simultaneous cry before they all hit the floor of the Junes Electronics Department in various sprawls.

"I think it's the exit messing with us at this point…" Yosuke groaned out while rubbing the back of his head. Johnny lifted himself onto his wheelchair while Chie got back on her feet.

"Yosuke-kun?"

"Huh?" The teen looked to his side to see a male Junes worker walk towards them. "Ah! Oda-san! Um… this isn't what it…!"

"Your dad is looking everywhere for you, you know?" The worker said with a bemused smirk. "Your shift started half an hour ago."

"Oh… Oh crap that's right!" Yosuke slapped his forehead, remembering that small detail while internally glad that his co-worker apparently didn't see their bizarre entrance to the electronics department. He looked to Chie and Johnny saying, "Um… I gotta go. If I don't my dad'll cut my paycheck and I'll be too broke to buy Chie's apology." He grinned at the two and said, "I'll see you guys later!" With a wave, the Junes part-timer ran off with his co-worker, leaving the two teenagers alone.

"Glad I never got a job in my life." Johnny declared while crossing his arms. "Looks like too much of a hassle."

"Well… we can't rely on our allowances forever." Chie answered with a nod. She looked to Johnny, and decided to get one more thing off her chest. "You know, despite all that crap my Shadow said… Yukiko is my friend, Johnny."

"Yeah, you've made that pretty clear."

"I'm not finished." Chie lightly snapped at the American. "And the thing is… I want us to be friends too. So…" Chie then turned towards Johnny and lifted her right hand. "…I want to start over." Chie gave the boy a grin and said, "I'm Chie Satonaka, it's nice to meet you."

Johnny looked at Chie's hand for a moment. "She's serious? She wants to start all over like this?" Johnny really didn't know how to handle this. Not really anyway. His acceptance of Yosuke's apology was a simple thing, just saying that it didn't matter. Well, it did, but Johnny didn't like to hold it against the guy completely. But Chie was truly trying to start their relationship anew. He could literally feel her sorrow for what happened and her yearning for his acceptance. "…Johnny Joestar." Johnny raised his own hand and shook Chie's. "You know, you could have done something less cliche right?"

"Well, it worked didn't it?" Chie lightly chuckled out.

*SMASH*

Johnny could not help but groan. "This again?"

Thou art I… and I am thou…

"But why again? Didn't I already do this with her?"

Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosiest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana. Johnny 'Jonathan' Joestar has reached the Second Level of the Social Link with Chie Satonaka…

This thing had levels now? If Johnny didn't know better, he would swear he was in some bad video game.

When the frozen time restarted, Chie let go of Johnny's hand. "I gotta get to my place and put these in the wash before my parents show up." Chie then made a face before asking, "Um… you guys didn't change your underwear or anything did you?"

"…No."

"Phew! Thanks!" With that, Chie waved while running off to the stairs leading down to the entryway/exit of Junes. "See you tomorrow!"

Johnny waved back before pushing himself towards the elevator. He stopped for a second to take one last look at the giant flatscreen TV before pushing onward.

Some searches for answers took longer than just a few days…

xxXXxx

"Hey, you're back." Dojima noted as his nephew opened the door to the house, pausing in his meal to look directly at the teacher. "Any reason why you were out so late?"

"I was with some classmates of mine." Johnny answered simply while reaching down to lift his left leg and take off his shoe. "We were screwing around the Shopping District for a bit."

"Huh…" Dojima muttered as he narrowed his eyes at the American, who was bringing his wheelchair up the step and towards the table. "Were you with Hanamura and that girl again?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Weren't they the ones who dragged you into trouble earlier today?"

"Chie had nothing to do with it. It was mostly Yosuke's fault." Johnny answered with a groan. "Besides, he had to pay us back for that."

"…" Dojima let out a huff at the answer. While he liked that Johnny was actually interacting with other kids, the answer seemed a bit… rehearsed…. to him. "But the answer is solid enough. He and that Chie girl definitely looked pissed enough at Hanamura." "…Fine. But please tell me you at least didn't eat anything before coming here."

"I didn't." Johnny replied as he put on the brakes of his wheelchair, lifted himself up, and plopped himself right on the pillow that was meant for him by the table.

Nanako had prepared the meal herself before Dojima came, as she usually did. It was reheated beef strips with cooked rice and a bowl of cucumbers for all of them to share.

"It's probably not much for Johnny… he probably ate things like rib-eye steak every day for dinner…"

"Here you go…" Nanako spoke before handing Johnny a bowl of rice, which he took.

"Thanks." Johnny replied before he set the bowl in front of him. As Dojima took some rice from his bowl with his chopsticks, Dojima noticed Johnny was watching him intently.

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine." Johnny quickly said as he immediately took the chopsticks set on the table for him. He then took the two little wooden sticks and shoved them into his rice. He pressed on them hard before lifting them out of the bowl…

…only to have a single squished grain caught between them.

Johnny clicked his tongue in annoyance before putting them back in the rice. It took all Dojima had to not chuckle at the scene. Kid obviously didn't know how to truly handle chopsticks for food other than sushi. He watched Johnny try to lift the chopsticks up like a spoon without pressing hard, only for the grains of rice to fall from the chopsticks back into the bowl.

"Do you need help?" Nanako asked, only for Johnny to glare even harder at the rice bowl.

"I'll be fine."

"But you keep dropping all your food…"

"I screwed up. It won't happen again." With that, Johnny lifted the bowl closer to his head and tried to repeat the motion of lifting the chopsticks like a spoon without applying force. However that only caused the rice to fall when it was just an inch from Johnny's mouth and fall onto his shirt.

"You know, I can show you how to use that right." Dojima spoke up, lifting up his own chopsticks. "You see, the trick is to press onto the rice softly before…"

"I can figure it out on my own!" Johnny shouted before leveling a seething glare at the bowl and muttering, "Screw this." With that, Johnny set the bowl down and grabbed a fork Nanako thoughtfully placed on the table for him before scooping up some rice and putting it into his mouth.

With an internal chuckle, Dojima quietly chewed on his piece of beef while his eyes scanned the occupants of the table. Nanako was watching TV, her plates cleared of food and Johnny was currently eating his own meal.

While he should have been pushing for giving assistance to the boy, Dojima's thoughts were already occupied with something else entirely. Specifically, what had happened earlier in the day. It wasn't like the Hanamura kid to pull a stupid stunt like that. Sure, from what he had seen Hanamura was the enthusiastic sort, but nobody would be stupid enough to bring weapons, even fake ones, into public without some sort of reason.

And while he wanted to believe that his nephew was alright, that he wasn't doing something stupid, Dojima could not shake off this feeling.

"Hey…" Dojima spoke up, grabbing Johnny's attention. "…you're not getting yourself involved in something dangerous are you?"

Dojima saw his nephew's eyes widen in shock at the question before shifting into something akin to confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"What happened earlier at the station… it's been bugging me."

"Oh, that." Johnny then shrugged as he continued to eat. "Me, Yosuke, and Chie are starting a gang. Those weapons were supposed to help us fi-."

"This is not the time for your jokes Johnny!" Dojima said sternly, making both Nanako and Johnny stare at him in surprise. "With what's happening around town, I need you to be honest with me. You're not getting yourself involved with anything you're not supposed to, are you?"

Johnny stared at him for a moment, the youth's eyes narrowing slightly before saying, "No. What happened at Junes was nothing. Yosuke was just trying to show off, and Chie and I were dragged into the station because he wouldn't just put down the stupid swords."

…Well, at least Johnny was being honest in his own way. Dojima couldn't hear any hesitation or signs that he was lying. In fact, his story matched with what Dojima had gathered at the encounter at the station. Dojima sighed a bit. "…Look, I'm sorry for my tone. But you need to understand that your mom asked me to keep you safe. If you don't do that then maybe it's better that I send you…"

"Do not send me back to that place!" Johnny angrily shouted, taking aback Dojima by the raw hate that came from Johnny's tone. "I won't go back to that bastard! Don't do it just because of one damn mistake!"

"…" Dojima said nothing but stared at Johnny as the young man seemed to grit his teeth in anger. He could tell that Johnny and his father were not on the best of terms, as his sister put it so mildly. But not to this extent, not to the point of being this opposed to returning home.

"W-why are you two fighting?" Nanako squeaked out nervously, making the two look to the girl who had tears forming at the corner of her eyes. "I-I don't…!"

Dojima's previous detective-like state then vanished, replaced with parental worry as he decided to perform damage control. "N-Nanako, it's nothing like that! Johnny and I were just having a conversation and it got a little out of hand!" Dojima then shot Johnny a pleading look to help him out.

Johnny's face seemed to scrunch up with annoyance before sighing. "…Yeah, it was just a heated conversation. It's nothing serious."

"B-but you were both shouting at each other!"

"It's… just a thing that guys do. Right Johnny?"

"Oh yeah. We do it all the time. Practically every day too."

"O-okay…" Nanako then wiped her eyes on her sleeves. "J-Just don't fight…"

'Don't worry, we won't." Dojima laughed out before looking back at Johnny. "But seriously Johnny, try to keep yourself safe. If you're going to stay here for the entire year, you need to keep yourself away from anything dangerous. Just… do normal teenage things. Okay?"

Johnny clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Fine."

"Now onto sports news, the horse racing prodigy from Italy has announced his temporary retirement!"

Johnny's head seemed turn towards the TV at the speed of a whip, looking at it with shock.

Dojima himself looked at the screen to see a clip now playing with the sub-title "Sudden Retirement Shocks Racing World". In it seemed to be a standard press meeting, with reporters sitting down, their arms holding microphones stretched towards a table occupied by a single individual. It was a teenager, a tall one at that, with long light brown hair that seemed to almost reach to his elbows save for some strands that touched his collarbone and green eyes. He had a… fairly strange beard. It was actually several short square patches lining his jaw. One underneath his ears, one on the corners of his jaw, one in the middle of his chin and the end of his jaw, and one on each side of his chin. He was wearing a tight green shirt with metal spiked studs all over, and showing off his fairly thin yet still muscular body.

"The seventeen year old jockey, Gyro Zeppeli, recently announced his retirement early this morning." The voice of the anchorman continued on. "When asked for the reasons as to why he was retiring when his career was going nowhere but up, he had this to say."

The boy, Gyro, drawled something out in a language that Dojima could only assume was Italian. However, there was a voiceover that was translating what he was saying in Japanese. "Well, I believe I deserve a rest don't I?"

"But your form during the races is flawless and you have shown no signs of extreme fatigue…"

"Well, you aren't me. Trust me, I need a break for a while and so do my horses."

"I understand that you're planning on moving from Italy?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Would you like to make a public statement as to where?"

Gyro then smiled, and Dojima could not help but be shocked when seeing that all of the young man's teeth were gold. They were probably those 'grill' things he heard teenagers were into nowadays. But not only were they gold, but there was a message engraved on them. The top teeth from one incisor to the next read in English 'GO! GO!' while the bottom ones had engraved on 'ZEPPELI!'.

"Now that would be telling." Gyro smiled at the reporters. "Nyoho~!"

After saying that, the teenager got up and walked away, ignoring the reporters calling for him and the flashes of the camera before the scene changed back to the anchorman.

"There has been much speculation as to where Zeppeli will be moving, but the young jockey and his family have made no public statements. His manager has reported that all of Zeppeli's planned attendance in races will be canceled indefinitely. This is a great shock to the sport's world, as Gyro Zeppeli made worldwide fame by winning the Gran Premio de Jockey Club in 2007, the Gran Premio de Melino in 2008, and the Derby Italiano in 2009 and 2010. It was a major upset when Zeppeli won the Jockey Club race at the tender age of fourteen, but not that much of a surprise as he had won about fifteen other minor horse-racing championships since the age of ten…"

Dojima looked back at Johnny, whose face was now unreadable. However the man could see the little signs that his nephew was extremely agitated. He could see that Johnny's jaw was clenched, his hands were tightened into fists, and his muscles seemed to flex as if he were ready to punch something. Quickly, Dojima reached for the remote and shut the TV off.

"Hey!" Nanako shouted in surprise as she looked at Dojima. "Why did you do that?"

"Um…" Dojima needed to think of an excuse. Nanako didn't know the full story about her cousin's achievements before he lost his legs. "Well, it's beginning to get to your bedtime…"

"But it's early…" Nanako muttered before looking at Johnny. "Um… are you okay?"

"…Peachy." Johnny growled out before lifting himself onto the floor and back onto his wheelchair. "I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight…" Nanako said quietly, but Johnny didn't even reply to her. He just rolled over to the stairs as usual and dragged himself up the stairs without a word.

"…Was that guy with the weird teeth someone he knew?" Nanako asked, making Dojima impressed once again by Nanako's observation. She could tell that something was wrong with Johnny after the report, even if she didn't know what it was.

"No, I don't think so." After a moment of thought, Dojima decided to elaborate. "Or at least not personally. Your cousin probably heard of him once or twice."

"Then why did he get so angry all of a sudden?"

Dojima sighed. How could he explain this? "Well… it's not my place to give you the full details. But Johnny… he liked to race on horses a lot. Then when his accident happened, he couldn't do it anymore. He probably doesn't like to be reminded of it…"

"Oh…" Obviously Nanako didn't really get it, but Dojima could tell she got the picture more or less. "Were his feelings hurt?"

"You could say that…" Johnny was probably pissed as all hell right now. Dojima could understand why Johnny left right away. If he watched another second of that interview, he probably would have thrown something right at the TV.

Dojima remembered how his sister would occasionally call to inform him of Johnny's latest victory in a professional race, gush over how handsome he looked and all that. When he asked about George, she would always clam up and say that he was too busy to see Johnny's races. At first Dojima thought that it was just family stuff that he shouldn't get involved with.

Then two years ago, he got a tearful call from his sister that Johnny got shot and would never be able to move his legs again.

Dojima may not have been close to his nephew in any sense of the word, but even he was shocked and saddened at the news. He could not imagine what it was to be like, to have to be extra careful to yourself and not be able to do the things you enjoyed because you couldn't move your legs anymore.

"But I don't know what to say to this kid…" Dojima thought with a sigh. "I could say the wrong thing and we'll just end up arguing like before…"

It was times like this where Dojima wished his nephew was mute rather than crippled from the waist down. Maybe then he wouldn't have to worry about arguing so much…

xxXXxx

Johnny kept quiet until he closed the door to his room. He didn't even bother to crawl to his couch, instead just sitting on the floor with his back against the wooden door. "Damn it…"

He had been initially worried about how his conversation with his uncle would go. Would the man notice something? Like him being uncomfortable and ready to scratch his chest because of the scabs? Would Johnny have to be forced into an uncomfortable line of questioning because the detective noticed his nephew was lying? Those types of things filled Johnny's head as he sat down to eat.

But no. Instead, Johnny had to get into the conversation about him doing 'normal teenage things' and not getting involved in anything dangerous.

"Too damn late for that, Dojima."

Johnny looked down and sighed. He had just flipped out when his uncle gave the suggestion he should maybe return home. Johnny had multiple reasons for not wanting to leave. Chie and Yosuke would be alone in their investigation was one of them. Him not learning the truth about the TV world and why his legs moved there was another. And, if Johnny had to really search for another reason, finding the murderer is kind of important.

But the thing that made Johnny so opposed to returning was not any of those reasons.

No, it was the fact that he'd be returning to his father.

"Yeah, I miss him all right. I miss that I never had the guts to deck him across the face." Even Johnny had to admit that the feelings he had towards his father were… conflicted. On one hand, the man was his father. On the other hand, the bastard outright said that he wished that Johnny had died instead of Nicholas.

While that alone should have solidified Johnny's seething hatred for his father… for some reason Johnny missed him. Or at least the man who pretended to have some fatherly tough love for him.

But every time Johnny had the thought of maybe calling the man, try to talk out their relationship… his mind went to that day, and all the races that the man never bothered to show up to…

"Great, now I can't stop thinking about those damn things. Thanks a lot Inaba Sports News Team." Johnny let out a bitter chuckle. He was shocked that the jockey Gyro Zeppeli was actually retiring. He had heard of the Italian in passing when he was thirteen, how he made a splash on Italy's horse-racing scene professionally. Johnny never gave the guy much thought. After all, Italy was across the Atlantic and thus not that important to his racing career. Plus, he probably would never come to America to race like that damn Brit…

"He was doing so well too. His career was soaring higher than mine while I was stuck in a damn wheelchair…"

When Johnny returned home… his mom tried to hide away anything that had to do with horse-racing. He yelled at her when she tried to put away his trophies. He just flipped out on her and ordered her to stay away from his room. He hated it, the damn pity in her eyes.

Johnny also hated the fact he could never ride horses again, at least not professionally and not without assistance.

When Johnny accepted his condition wasn't going to be 'fixed', he'd sometimes watch other jockeys practice or watch races. Most of the time for nostalgia. A part of him yearned to be on a horse again, to ride it and feel the wind on his face again.

"But I never will."

Maybe that's why he got so pissed all of a sudden from the news. Because Zeppeli bowed out of the scene willingly instead of being forced out like he was. It was petty, sure, but it was still his feelings on the matter.

"Didn't mean that Dojima had to shut off the TV." Johnny clicked his tongue in distaste. "Probably thought he was being nice. Thought that it would be 'inconsiderate' to have me watch horse-racing news now that I'm crippled."

"I don't need his damn pity." Johnny grumbled to himself in English. He then turned off the light and dragged himself to the couch before laying on it. He had to be rested for the trip into the TV World tomorrow after all. "Just hope the damn scabs heal by then."

With that, Johnny went to sleep. Not even noticing the blue butterfly studying him in the darkness on top of his TV.

xxXXxx

"Hm, hm…" A soft, melodic, yet distorted voice hummed to itself in a large ballroom. However, unlike the one that the Shadow Chie took residence in, this ballroom featured several red steps that went upwards to reach a large ornate golden throne with red cushions on it. To its sides were two large oval mirrors held in golden frames with intricate feather designs on them.

However, the most important aspect of the room was the occupant of the chair. One Yukiko Amagi, dressed in a frilly pink princess dress, humming to herself while brushing her hair and looking into the mirror to her left.

"Eenie, meenie, minne, moe…" The Yukiko spoke in broken English, a coy smirk forming on her face as her right hand pointed to three figures shown in the mirror. "All of you beat the fearsome foe… However, which of you will get moi?"

Shown in the mirror was Yosuke Hanamura, Johnny Joestar, and Chie Satonaka.

"Oh, this is just too difficult!" Yukiko gushed to herself, ceasing her brushing and instead cupping her face as her cheeks flushed in embarrassment while her eyes closed shut. "One's the dashing heir of Junes… One's a handsome warrior from the land of America… and the other is my beautiful friend who has chosen to become a knight for me! Oh, I wish I could take the whole lot~!" Tears then started to flow from Yukiko's eyes almost comically, and snot even began leaking from her nose. "W-why…! Why must choosing my one true prince be so hard~! T-This is just too much~!"

Yukiko then placed her face into her hands while continuing to cry.

Then suddenly, her body stiffened. Yukiko's head whipped up, and her face contorted to one of rage. Her face seemed to melt into something grotesque as her cheeks puffed out, her bottom lip fell a bit, and beads of sweat rolled down her now cherry red face. "God damn it! It's all those bastard Shadows' faults!" Yukiko then slammed her left hand still holding the brush down onto the armrest, breaking it into tiny pieces. "If they had just done their job right and killed two of them, then I wouldn't have to go through this shit!"

Its anger then suddenly disappeared, and the grotesque expression morphed back into Yukiko's beautiful face again. "Oh, my potential prince~!" Yukiko then dropped the broken brush and hugged the mirror, rubbing her face on the glass. "I'm so in love with you~! But, only one of you can take me far away from this place…" Yukiko then smirked flirtatiously. "I'll give you all a lucky charm!" She then kissed each of the pictures on the lips and giggled to herself at the action, as if it were a game to her.

"But before you come for me…" Yukiko then looked to the mirror to her right, a cruel and delighted smirk going from ear to ear formed on her face as if promising much sadistic pain. "I need to give my tale its proper happy ending!"

Shown in the mirror… was another Yukiko Amagi, dressed in a floral kimono, clutching her head while walking down one of the hallways of the castle.

"Tee-hee!"

[To Be Continued |\|]

Note: Cue Roundabout by Yes or Walk Like An Egyptian by the Bangles!

TIM back here with another chap betaed by Kiiam. Hope you all liked some of the revelations of this chap. I tried to combine the melancholy of defeating a Shadow with some JoJo humor. Especially more culture shock with Johnny as he struggles with the finer uses of chopsticks.

As for the big reveal of the chap and the effects it has on the future of the fic, I only have one word:

Nyohoho~!

This story now has a rec & page on TV Tropes, so check that out from the link on my profile and add whatever you find appropriate.

Please leave any and all constructive criticism.