Author's Note

Ugh, this chapter... marks an important first in this series: the first time I've been so unhappy with a chapter I've gone back and completely rewritten the entire thing. I think only a few sentences and the general structure carry over from the old version. And boy, it was needed. I swear half of the original was just Jotaro telling you (the reader) information you already know, without introducing anything new when it comes to the lore of this universe. And the other half... *shivers*

So please, enjoy this much-improved version of chapter 4

Chapter 4: Here Comes a Thought

Jotaro was an experienced traveler. He had sailed across all the seven seas to study marine life with his work. More exciting perhaps, his journey's across the globe to find and defeat any stand users who meant trouble. He had been to more countries that he bothered keeping track of.

During the years, he had become somewhat desensitized to the wonders of transporting oneself from one location to another. Especially the conventional methods. Car, boat, plane; mundane and routine by now. He had sailed across the Siberian Sea on a raft and traversed most of Europe on a tandem alongside a very talkative Frenchman. If they had ever entertained him, ordinary commercial airplanes no longer did. It was just another wait to get to another place.

Josuke, Okuyasu, and Koichi, on the other hand, had never once been on an airplane. As such, the three of them were in awe, amazed by every little thing they saw. Every. Little. Thing. And they hadn't even left the airport yet.

A thought flew into Jotaro's mind. When he was younger, he would have probably yelled at them once he got the least bit annoyed, and told them to shut up and sit down. Thankfully, he had better control over his temper than he had back then. Good thing too. It had nearly gotten him killed on more than one occasion.

He supposed it wouldn't hurt to let them be kids for a while. Even if they were too old to be called kids. Their flight wasn't leaving in an hour or so anyway, so they had plenty of time.

As for Jotaro, sat on one of the airport's benches. Leaned backward and eyes closed, you would be excused to think he was sleeping. A quick nap before getting on the plane. You'd be excused, but you'd also be wrong. Jotaro Kujo did not nap. His mind was constantly working.

For now, it was focused on their mission. The premise was familiar enough; find and kill Santana the pillar man before he causes too much damage. However, if previous adventures had taught Jotaro anything, it was that things rarely turned out that simple. Especially not when you had to deal with a blonde bloodsucker…

("Time stand still!" His body coming to a stop, frozen in place. All he can do is watch.)

Jotaro had fought a vampire before. But if what gramps told him was right, pillar men made vampires look like friendly old ladies in comparison. To put it simply, vampires eat humans, pillar men eat vampires. They were ancient creatures, older than any human civilization. They had slept embedded in rocks for thousands of years, awaiting the discovery of a special gemstone. They could bend, twist and manipulate their bodies in ways that should be impossible.

A nigh immortal creature, older than any human, stronger, faster and smarter than any human? Already, beating Santana looked to be a pain.

But then there were other factors. The stone mask for example, that could turn humans into vampires. Or worse yet, the stand arrows.

Once this whole debacle was over, Jotaro was going to have a short conversation with whoever thought it was a good idea to keep these three items in the same vault.

Between himself and the others, Jotaro figured they could take out a vampire, or pillar man. Their natural weaknesses may only be sunlight or an extinct martial arts technique, but as long as the brain was destroyed, both vampire and pillar man alike would die.

The stand arrows complicated this. Jotaro knew from experience that while a vampire was dangerous, a vampire with a stand was a nightmare.

("Too late! You cannot escape!" A crushing weight upon him.)

Jotaro didn't shiver, nor did he shift uncomfortably in place. He didn't even sigh, or in any way indicate any form of discomfort. The memory of that battle didn't stir up any fear in him even after all those years. Sure, it had been the toughest battle of his life. But he had pushed through it. He had won and defeated the monster.

No, the past was behind him. If anything made him feel the slightest twinge of fear, it was what was happening in the present.

"Yare yare," he muttered as the cold steel of a gun was pressed against his neck.

When he told the three boys the world was in danger, he wasn't exaggerating. DIO had posed a threat to the world, Santana was no different. Except he would be even harder to kill.

"Well, ain't it my lucky day? Here I thought it would be a pain in the ass to find you, but hen you just sit here," said a man's voice behind him. He spoke English with an accent… Northern European perhaps?

A metallic click; a revolver being cocked.

"Any last words before I blow your brains out?"

("Useless!" An inhuman screech, a flash of yellow. An aura of pure evil.)

"Star Platinum: The World."

For any onlookers, it would seem like the foreigner had just fallen backward for no reason whatsoever. One second, he was tapping the sleeping giant on the shoulder, the next he fell over. No sooner had he hit the floor before the large man got up to help the poor man. Obviously trained medic. One could tell as much by how routinely he examined the man.

Of course, that was what an onlooker might see. Jotaro's true purpose was to check the man's head. Though he had only heard a few sentences, there was something in those words he recognized. A certain… inhumanity. Like the man wasn't fully in control, and not just because he was drunk or on drugs.

His suspicions were spot on. Attached to the base of the man's skull sat a small insect-like lump of non-human organic matter. A fleshbud. Small parasites planted by a vampire to take control of the victim. A disgusting and cowardly what you'd expect from a true monster, someone completely devoid of morals.

Very well, if that was the gams Santana wanted to play, Jotaro was more than up for it. Over the years, Jotaro had become quite good at faking accidents. While pretending to his pulse, Jotaro summoned Star Platinum's fist. It overlaid with his own, and in one quick motion, he removed the fleshbud. The parasite tried to fight back, extending razor-sharp tentacles that would cut through the skin of any human. But not through Star Platinum, which unceremoniously crushed the thing into a red paste.

Medics soon arrived to take care of the man. They asked some standard questions, to which Jotaro replied as he usually did. No, he didn't know why the man fell over. No, he had never seen him before. No problem, my pleasure to be of assistance.

Soon enough, they left with the man.

"Yare yare…" Jotaro muttered again. The fact that it was his second since they got to the airport alone did not bode well. This trip was going to be a real pain, wasn't it?

He should probably go find Josuke and the others.

xxXXxx

Meanwhile, Josuke was thinking along the same lines as his nephew. He, Okuyasu and Koichi had spent the last ten minutes or so walking around the airport, taking in everything they could. Despite the threat of the end of the world looming over their heads, the three had as much fun as ever.

But after a while, Koichi had needed to visit a bathroom, and Okuyasu discovered a small candy shop, in which he now was entranced. Josuke was interested in neither activity, so he stood waiting outside the candy shop.

On the surface, anyone giving the young man a thought would probably just see someone nervous before their first flight, trying to calm the nerves by watching strangers walking by. Which was not too far from reality. Josuke was nervous and trying to calm his nerves. By watching strangers pass by. However, it was not the flight he was feeling tense about. It was… something else.

Jotaro had shown them a photo of the pillar man they would be fighting. It had been a pretty old photo, from way back when color photography was first invented. It had looked like a man. A man with blonde hair and strong facial lines, giving him a look like he had been sculptured from stone. It had only been briefly, but…

For a second, Josuke had seen Yoshikage Kira in the image. For a moment, the psychopathic serial killer was starring back at him from the afterlife.

Josuke had pushed it out of his mind at the time, distracting himself by having fun with his friends. But now, while he was alone, the thought returned to him.

Why? Why did he keep seeing Kira? Why did that bastard still haunt him? He was dead, dead and beaten. All his victims were avenged. His soul was burning in hell, Reimi had assured them of that. They had defeated him, he… he…

Josuke had replayed the battle many times in his head the last year. He had gone back and considered every step he had taken during that fight. He had analyzed every last angle to it, any mistake she had done, any openings he missed.

The few last seconds, in particular, had stayed in his mind. His broken body, finally within range of the bastard Kira. Out of tricks, the killer was at Josuke's mercy. He had unleashed Crazy Diamond upon the defenseless murderer. At that moment, he had won.

("I've won!")

A man in the crowd caught Josuke's attention. Partially because of his unusual appearance. Black leather jackets, bushy mustaches, and thick glasses do not go well together. Partially because the man was starring at Josuke himself. The fact that he was glowing with a dark red aura surrounding him also helped. The man was a stand user.

Without warning, the man chucked a rock he had been holding at Josuke. Not that it would do him any good; Crazy Diamond had already materialized itself in front of Josuke, ready to deflect the attack… except it didn't need to.

The rock had completely missed Josuke, instead hitting the window to the candy store. Shards of glass rained down, a few hitting Josuke. But if the man's plan was to have the shards cut him, it failed horribly.

"Ha!" Josuke shouted. He rushed forward towards the man, intent on taking him out quickly before he got anyone hurt. "You missed!"

("This always happens when life deals me its worst.")

"Shut up!" the man yelled back. With a manic expression, he shoved his index finger up his upper lip. "Get him, Glasseyesnake!"

The shards from the window started glowing with the same glow as the man himself. As if pulled by a magnetic force, they flew towards Josuke with great speed and force. A trap! The man's intention was never to hit Jouske with the rock… but to produce the shards he needed for his stand!

Josuke scoffed at the thought. Mere centimeters from his skin, the glass shards stopped in the air. Surrounded by a golden aura, the shards flew back to the window. As quickly as the man had broken it, the pieces of glass had rearranged, reassembled and repaired themselves. The last piece flew from Crazy Diamond's fist and fitted itself into the last hole. The window was as good as new.

Such an obvious power, Josuke was actually kinda surprised it had been that straightforward. Having his stand grabbing a glass shard, just in case the enemy tried turning them against him was basically an instinct by now. Something he did unconsciously.

Heh. Speaking of unconsciousness… Jotaro had, two minutes earlier, defeated a man in literally less than one second. Now, Josuke wasn't far behind him.

"DORA!" A pink fist in silver armor hit the would-be-assassin with a mighty cry. And just like that, the fight was over.

If you could even call it a fight. The man was obviously unskilled and his power predictable. Compared to some of the stand users at home, he was practically a joke.

("Luck is on the side of Yoshikage Kira!")

Okuyasu came rushing from the candy shop. He was joined by a group of bystanders, all asking him what had happened and if he was okay.

Josuke assured them that, yes, he was okay, It had just been some drunk who had snuck into the airport and started shouting and throwing rocks.

Through the crowd, he felt Jotaro's strong hand on his shoulder.

"Stand user?"

"Yeah."

Jotaro then proceeded to kneel beside the unconscious assassin. He did something to the back of the man's head… Josuke was unsure of what. He couldn't concentrate. His mind was far away… many months away.

The words of the killer were still ringing in his ears. There was a reason for why they did. Because they were true. When he laid on the ground, the murderer standing over him… a bubble of explosive air coming closer and closer…

He had lost.

At that moment, Josuke Higashikata had lost.

xxXXxx

[Josuke Higashikata]
The bastard son of Joseph Joestar and Jotaro's uncle. Takes offense to his hair being ridiculed.

Stand: Crazy Diamond

Appearance: A muscular, pink-skinned humanoid clad in silver armor with a heart motif.

Notable Powers and Abilities
•Strength and Speed-CD's physical abilities rival that of Jotaro's Star Platinum.
•Restoration-CD can restore, repair or fix objects. This can be used to repair broken objects, heal fatal wounds or even revert an object (such as asphalt) into a previous form (coal tar). This ability is fast and powerful enough to reassemble the pieces of a human, while they are exploding. However, CD can not heal Josuke himself, or bring a person back to life once the soul has left the body.

Stats

Destructive Power: A
Speed: A
Range: D
Durability: B
Precision: B
Development Potential: C

[Billy Opel]
An assassin sent by Santana to take out Jotaro and the Morioh Warriors. Somehow managed to sneak a gun into an airport.

Stand: Bandit

Appearance: Four revolvers hovering above the user.

Notable Powers and Abilities:
•Tough Torpedo-When the user fires his revolver, the four stand-revolvers above his head fires as well. The stand guns have infinite ammunition and are not affected by recoil.

Stats:

Destructive Power: B
Speed: B
Range: B
Durability: A
Precision: D
Development Potential: C

[Eddie Meduza]
An assassin sent by Santana to take out Jotaro and the Morioh Warriors. Has a complex about his glasses.

Stand: Glasseyesnake

Appearance: N/A, bound type stand

Notable Powers and Abilities:
•Anyone Wanna Fight A Glasseyesnake?-The stand attaches to any glass shards in the vicinity. They are then sent flying towards the target at high speeds. The shards become coated in a poison similar to that of the Indian cobra.

Stats

Destructive Power: C
Speed: B
Range: B
Durability: A (bound type, unaffected by damage)
Precision: E
Development Potential: A

xxXXxx

Author's Note

Jotaro: Oh please, not another part of this shit *tiredly pulls out fleshbud*

So this is a one-parter chapter too. The next chapter is gonna be a multi-parter though! And it's gonna focus on Beach City and th Crystal Gems, like the last multi-part chapter... yeah

To be honest, there's not much I can do with the JoJo cast right now. With the Crystal Gems, we have the introduction to stands and a bunch of other stuff to deal with, which opens a lot of interesting opportunities. I really don't have much for the JoJo cast to do until they meet up with the SU cast. Oh, but when they do... it'll be a lot of fun.

As for the musical references… pretty obscure ones. Billy Opel and Eddie Meduza are Swedish singers. Bandit carries the same meaning in both English and Swedish, but Glasseyesnake takes a bit more explaining…

See, the name in Swedish is "Glasögonorm," a derogatory term for someone with glasses. The closest translation I could find was "four eyes." Though the literal translation would be glasses-eyes-snake.

Glasögonorm is also another name for the Indian cobra, which I found out while searching for the song on google. You learn something new every day, I suppose.

FYI, Eddie Meduza is probably one of the greatest Swedish musicians ever. I would go as far as to call him a downright genius. His lyrics have a way of just... hitting you, you know? You just... relate to the words he sings. His words don't just paint a picture, they take a photo of reality.

That, and his name is pretty freakin' cool too.

Okay, next chapter when? Heck if I know. Friday? Though judging by my previous track record, it'll probably be out on Thursday, or whatever.

But until then, take care of the planet Earth. And remember, anything can happen in space