It was nighttime when the boat reached the outskirts of Rome. Cassie had morphed owl to fly ahead and let others know if anything was suspicious. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she landed back in the turtle and demorphed. Mista and Narancia docked the boat, checking their surroundings from inside the boat.
"Just a couple drunks, we can wait till they leave," Mista reported.
"We should find a car and take off for the coliseum," Bucciarati said from inside the turtle.
"Aye aye captain," Mista said.
"Mista!" Narancia hissed. "Look!"
Jake jumped out of the turtle in time to watch as strange green mold formed along the drunks' bodies, dissolving them.
"What the hell?!" He exclaimed.
"There's a stand!" Mista said, raising his voice.
At that moment, the mold began to appear on his hand that was holding his gun.
"What the hell did you touch, Mista? It's crawling all over you!" Narancia said.
"I know as much as you," Mista replied. "We need to sniff out the user!"
Inside the turtle, Rachel was morphing owl.
Narancia let out his stand and gasped as he surveyed the area. "This isn't good. The stand has already massacred a bunch of people!"
"What's going on up there?" Bucciarati asked.
Jake answered. "This mold stuff is on us, it feels like it's eating away at our flesh!" He looked at his arm, which was crawling with the weird mold.
Narancia leapt into the boat, but at that moment, the mold began to crawl all over him. He cried out.
"It's getting inside!" Giorno yelled from inside the turtle.
Cassie had figured out the secret of the mold. "This is like the kind of fungus that grows on an insect and dissolves it. And the trigger must be going to lower ground!"
"How do you know that?!" Abbacchio yelled angrily at her.
"I read about it. And look at what happened to Narancia. Narancia, get to the dock!"
"Narancia, throw the turtle!" Bucciarati commanded.
Jake was just about to reach for Narancia and sacrifice his arm when Narancia threw the turtle, and Mista shot at the engine of the boat. The boat exploded, throwing both Narancia and the turtle on the dock. Rachel, now fully owl, along with the rest of the animorphs, came out of the turtle. Bucciarati jumped out as well. Rachel took off to the sky, Tobias on her tail, though his morph wasn't meant for darkness. The others began to morph either bat or owl. Abbacchio came out of the turtle as well, placing Narancia in the turtle. Giorno patched both him and Trish up.
Abbacchio, Bruno, and Mista headed for the staircase.
Man, this would've been easier if we brought the morphing cube with us. We could've made them animorphs and we all could've flown away from the mold, Marco, in bat morph, commented.
What are we going to do now? Rachel asked.
We should try to locate the stand user, Jake answered. If we can at least let them know what he or she looks like, we can give them an advantage.
I am not seeing anything, Prince Jake, Ax reported.
The staircase! It's sinking! Rachel exclaimed in alarm.
She was right- the staircase that Mista, Bucciarati, and Abbacchio were climbing was sinking right into the ground. Luckily for them, the three stand users managed to hold onto a dangling sign as the staircase disappeared out from under them.
Still not seeing anyone, Cassie said, her thought-speak voice tense.
Split up, Jake answered. I'll keep an eye on Bucciarati and the others.
Rachel spread her wings, flying higher into the night air, searching with her owl eyes.
Rachel of the dark heart.
The thought speak voice sent a shock through her.
This enemy stand user- no, enemy stand users- are a dangerous pair. Your mafioso friends don't stand a chance.
Crayak? What the hell do you want? Rachel snapped.
I want to give you the opportunity to be a hero, Rachel, Crayak answered.
Piss off. You're trying to trick me, Rachel told it.
Don't you want to be a hero, Rachel? Don't you want to save everyone and make everyone else feel guilty? You don't really need Jake or Bucciarati telling you what to do.
I can do this by myself, Rachel argued.
I have the kind of powers you need, Rachel, It argued. Follow Jake and Bucciarati's team, and then we'll see if you still think you don't need my help.
Rachel didn't have to fly far to catch up with Jake.
I slashed at the stand user with my claws so the others could get away, Jake called to the animorphs. Bucciarati injured him as well. They're in a getaway car.
Rachel flew faster, and that was when she saw something tailing team Bucciarati's getaway car- a helicopter.
Bucciarati? Can you hear me? She called down to her leader.
That was when their getaway car flipped, and Rachel's heart almost stopped until she saw Bucciarati pull himself, Mista, Giorno, and the turtle out of the car with the power of his stand. They were alright. For now. She watched helplessly as Mista shot at the helicopter, unable to do anything to help Bucciarati's team defeat these stand users as she herself wasn't one.
Mista and Giorno took off after the helicopter while Bucciarati was to defeat the other stand user.
The Drode, Crayak's henchman, was on the ground, unnoticed by Team Bucciarati. The Drode was a creature with two legs, a stubby tail, weak, flimsy arms, and a bird-like body, sort of lie a dinosaur. Its head was humanish, with a narrow lower jaw and big eyes, with jet black wrinkled skin that resembled a prune. Green rimmed its eyes and mouth.
"Rachel," It said, speaking only to her, "You'd be better off taking my master Crayak's offer."
Rachel stared in horror as the stand user Bucciarati was fighting lashed out at him, sending him flying back.
"Make your decision wisely, Rachel. Everybody's life is in your hands."
The enemy got Bucciarati in the shoulder, a wound appearing. To dodge his enemy's punches, Bucciarati unzipped the ground below his feet, landing on even lower ground. The mold came for him.
"You must decide soon, Rachel of the dark heart," The Drode said.
What exactly is the offer?