DISCLAIMER: I do not own JoJo's bizarre adventure or Rising of the shield hero
Jouta Kujo stood in opposition to the shield hero.
"Who the fuck are you!?"
Naofumi Iwatani angrily growled at the young Joestar.
"A concerned third party."
Jouta had been monitoring Naofumi for a week before getting side-tracked by a strange sensation. It was as though someone was calling out to him, he could feel it. But just as he thought he would get answers, Naofumi snapped and began terrorizing people.
"Get out of my way!"
"Yeah...no."
Jouta prepared his fists, seeing it unnecessary to use [Charmy Green]. He had discovered that since what happened with the princess, Naofumi had no one to help him level up, and without the ability to equip other weapons, he was stuck in a loop. But eventually, he found a way to gain XP.
"You really don't remember me, huh?"
Jouta had changed his appearance: wearing a green turtle neck underneath a long black coat on top with golden jewelry scattered here and there. He altered his hair style to be more in line with his mom's. He stopped wearing his hat, but had it hang from his belts. Heart shaped earrings hung from his ears and black fingerless gloves covered his hands. Tight ripped jeans held by bulky emerald belts and thick stiletto boots covered his lower half. Naofumi had not seen him in a while and took a moment to identify him.
"Jo-JoJo!?"
"The latest one, I think."
"What are you doing here?"
Naofumi's anger subsided a little and was replaced by confusion. While he would never admit it, Naofumi admired Jouta, so to see him disapproving his actions, made him reluctant to persist.
"Look, I know that you've been contracting rare illnesses and spreading them before creating an antidote and selling it for ridiculous prices to small towns and villages."
Naofumi grit his teeth, he hid his identity to ensure no one could track him. He was so illusive that people began calling him 'The Black Plague'.
"You were pretty good at covering your tracks, but I have experience tracking people down," Jouta recalled his previous adventure.
"I gotta say, it was damn smart. Using viruses as companions and letting them grow stronger and spread. And with the way microorganisms reproduce and evolve, you leveled up quickly. But that wasn't the end of it, you crafted medicine to combat the diseases, not just to cure yourself eventually, but sell them for loot and gold."
Jouta explained Naofumi's entire XP strategy, while showing off how much he knew to Naofumi, letting him know it was over.
"How heartless do you need to be to do such a thing!" Jouta shouted in anger, glaring down Naofumi. Naofumi glared back and retorted.
"I wish I gave a shit."
Jouta was holding back his anger this entire time, and those words made him explode.
"Then I guess its time," Jouta put on his hat, and pointed his index finger at Naofumi, "FOR DIVINE PUNISHMENT!"
Naofumi charged at him with his shield, Jouta was going to just tank it, but as Naofumi got closer, he lowered his body and a blinding light engulfed him, he jumped over Jouta, getting behind him and tugging on something. Jouta turned to throw a punch but his entire body refused to complete the 180 degree turn.
"A rope! He must have used that light to distract me."
Naofumi held a rope that seemed to be connected to his shield. Jouta had no time to think as Naofumi threw a punch with the arm holding his hield, adding weight behind it. The punch connected with Jouta's face and pushed him back a bit. Naofumi pulled on the rope again, pulling Jouta back in for another hook. Jouta was prepared this time and moved his head out of the way, Naofumi missed and was left wide open.
"That stung, but you'll need more than rope to take me down."
Jouta kneed Naofumi in the gut, causing him to reel over. Jouta then focused his breathing.
"SCARLET PHOENIX OVERDRIVE!"
Jouta's entire body was set alight and the rope was reduced to ash.
"Practice makes perfect."
Naofumi dashed backward, unequipping the rope shield.
"What the hell was that! Are you even human!?"
Naofumi was shocked, his player menu stated that was not magic, but a natural ability possessed by Jouta.
"More like egg baby."
Jouta set his fists on fire and took on a karate stance, ready for a brawl. Naofumi activated his strongest shield, the Prism Shield. He could see Jouta's power was light based, instead of fire.
"You sure you want to do this?"
Jouta asked, but Naofumi remained silent.
"Good, I definitely do."
Jouta dashed in, practically teleporting in front of Naofumi, who raised his shield using pure instinct. Jouta punched the shield with Hamon. The shield refracted the light billions of times, until the energy was dispersed in a beautiful array of colors. Jouta and naofumi were knocked back a few meters.
"Pretty nice shield. It can tank the force, but what about the heat."
Jouta's fists exploded with blue flames that caused convection currents in the air. The currents hit Naofumi and he as though he was melting.
"AZURE FLAME OVERDRIVE!"
Naofumi gasped in shock; he had learned to utilize his player menu, like reading levels more often. When he encountered Jouta, his level was 22, weaker than Naofumi's 28. The flames engulfing Jouta's fists boosted his level beyond the initial readings all the way to 26. The difference between levels normally being 40%, this meant Jouta became 160% stronger.
"How the hell can he hide his max!?"
Naofumi had no time to ponder this further as Jouta began his onslaught of kicks and punches, using moves he copied off action movies and video games he played. Naofumi could barely keep up with Jouta's technique, despite his level advantage. Thank god for the enhancements and resistances he augmented onto his Barbarian armor, reducing all heat based attacks by 50%.
"The Prism shield is useless if I'm not fast enough to use it."
Naofumi switched his shield to his Slime shield.
"Gross!"
Jouta's reaction to the shield was not unwarranted; the Slime shield looked as though it were melting with strands dangling from the shield. Despite its distasteful appearance, the shield was very useful against close-ranged fighters, and it had great protection against heat and cold, dropping both by 80%. This time, Naofumi went on the offensive, rushing towards Jouta with his shield. Jouta allowed Naofumi to get close before making a move, swiping his legs and planning on slamming his fist downward onto Naofumi's face. Naofumi lifted his shield, his body ready to tank the hit. Jouta's fist impacted the shield, forcing Naofumi down onto the ground. However, as Naofumi fell, so did Jouta, his body trapped by the sticky substance covering the shield. The two hit the ground with Jouta on top of Naofumi, and a struggle began. Jouta was stuck to the shield so his options were limited, so he tried freeing himself another way.
"SCARLET PHOENIX OVERDRIVE!"
Jouta's entire body from head to toe blew up in redish orange flames.
"Perfect," Naofumi grinned.
He flipped the two of them over and was now on top while Jouta was underneath him, the Slime shield being the barrier between them. The shield then lit up in a bright flash of light.
"PRISM SHIELD!"
Naofumi shouted his current shield's name to counter Jouta's ferocity. The Prism shield appeared. Earlier, the Prism shield refracted the energy of the Hamon of this technique, and pushed Jouta back in an explosion, but now, with nowhere to go, Jouta was about to feel the full force of his own Hamon.
*BOOM!*
Within fractions of a second, an explosion occurred, one that engulfed the two in light so brilliant, it created a rainbow that formed a ring that resonated outwards in the sky multiple times.
Somewhere?
A young girl working on a desolate field looked up at the sky and witnessed the rainbow explosion. The girl felt her soul being lifted and set on fire with resolve. Her dull look and empty eyes lit up in a bright pink aura.
"Rainboom!"
Back to the fight
Naofumi laid on the ground, worn out and tired, he had depleted all his mana trying to stabilize his shield. The blast left a deep crater in the ground with smoke emanating from it. Naofumi sat up and looked down the crater, sighing.
"What happens to me now?"
Naofumi looked over his shoulder and saw Jouta standing behind him with his hands in his pockets.
"C'mon, man. You put up a good fight. If I didn't use that emerald shield, I would have been out of commission."
"Tsk."
Jouta went over to Naofumi, sitting next to him.
"Naofumi, why'd you do it?"
Naofumi didn't answer immediately, his hands interlocking as he looked up at the clear sky. Naofumi's body began shaking, the weight of his actions hitting him like a meteor.
"I..." He sighed, unable to find the words.
"I get it: people seeing you as a monster."
Naofumi was genuinely surprised, usually when people say they understand, it's just to appeal to the other person, but he could tell Jouta truly understood by the tone of his voice.
"When I was born, my dad tried to kill me. He thinks I'm an unnatural abomination and sees me as less of a son and more of a punching bag."
Jouta spoke, his words filled with subtle rage and sadness.
"But I never let his words affect me. I'd say they made me stronger, and I used that strength to prove him wrong."
Naofumi pondered Jouta's words, but frustration quickly took over him.
"I'm not like you, JoJo. Before this, I was a normal guy. Now, I'm expected to die for these people!"
Naofumi ranted, the stress of his situation breaking his stoic facade. Jouta placed his hand on Naofumi's.
"I didn't do it alone. I had my mother. And you can have me."
Naofumi looked deep within Jouta's green eyes. The two smiled.
"Let's prove them wrong. Let's show them that Naofumi Iwatani is the greatest hero to ever exist."
Jouta stood up, stretching his hand out to Naofumi. Naofumi took it and got up as well.
"Holy shit! You're short!"
"No...you're just tall."
"Hehe, true."
The two walked into the sunset, leaving a devastated battlefield behind.
"So you're gonna be part of my party?" Naofumi asked.
"Hell no, I got shit to do!" Jouta retorted.
"Then how am I going to level up?" Naofumi asked, slightly annoyed.
"Training, Sir shield hero!" Jouta said in a small voice.
"Good grief."
"Not your line."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
Random Narrator
Since then, Jouta has been training Naofumi to use his fists with multiple martial arts, the two becoming best friends in the process. While Naofumi had no superhuman strength due to being specialized for defense, this could be rectified by certain potions and armor augmentations that boost his offensive power. Not just that, Jouta has also taught him Hamon, even though Naofumi initially lacked the potential, he was able to fix this with aerobic exercises that trained his body. He was a quick learner and even invented his own techniques that matched him as well as mastering his different shields. After enough time, Jouta heard of the rise of Riyute and knew exactly who it was. He plans on going over there with Naofumi, not only to discuss the Waves Of Catastrophe, but also with the hopes of fighting Him, and hey, maybe He can teach Naofumi something new. Oh, and in terms of levels, Naofumi is at a solid 32 and with Hamon 35, using Hamon through the Prism shield gets him to 45, but he hasn't tried that yet; Jouta is at 26 and with Hamon 31 and using [Charmy Green] 48. Using Hamon through [Charmy Green] puts Jouta's max at 54.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Who the hell was that little girl!?