1939 - Air Supplena Island, Venice

JoJo's Perspective

We were on a rowboat to Coach Lisa-Lisa's training ground. I'm gonna need all the training I can get to defeat the Pillar Men, I really hope that only 1 months worth of training can help me take them down.

" Air Supplena Island is just about 30 minutes northeast of Venice by boat " my friend Caesar explained, " its mysterious air is a stark contrast to the city of canals, but it possesses a dark beauty that seems to be a perfect fit for Lisa-Lisa, this is your new training ground JoJo. " the blond mozzarella cheese ball explained.

Lisa pointed towards it, " I have claimed that entire island as my home ".

So this is where I'll have to die for my hamon training, we'll just see about that.

The giant fortress of hers towered above our boat, it was extremely intimidating.

We got off of the boat and walked down a pathway into it, we stopped at the giant gateway.

Lisa-Lisa stopped and turned around, " no sense wasting any time, I hope you're ready for the hell climb pillar! " she extended both of her arms to the side.

" wait, seriously!? " Caesar exclaimed in shock.

" What's the big deal? " I asked her, what's this " hell climb pillar " all about?

" but-but coach " Caesar tried to negotiate, " you know that even I haven't made an attempt on the pillar right? Do you really intend for us to start on this!? ".

" So many have died on the hell climb pillar, I've heard countless stories " Caesar whimpered.

" stories that may or may not be true, if you fail you have no place here " she turned away.

" uh HELLO, can you please clue me in to what's going on here? " I asked, " this hell pillar thing doesn't look that tall ".

She opened the giant steel gates into the fortress, " well from up here it's more deep than tall " me and Caesar were suddenly pushed into a giant pit. " coach wait! Please don't do this! " Caesar screamed as we were shoved down.

We landed in a strange liquid, thankfully we didnt turn into pancakes when we collided with the ground.

" What the hell is this? " I reached down and scooped up some of the liquid, I realised what it was, " oil! This pillar is covered in flowing oil! ", I ran my hands across the giant pillar that extended into the sky.

" It's 24 meters to the top of the pillar and you may only use your hands to climb " a distant Lisa-Lisa explained at the top, " there is no other way out, if you can't find a way to climb back up you will die down there ".

" but that's impossible! " I panicked, great… Now the poison in those rings are the last things I need to worry about. " there's no way anyone could climb up that pillar! ".

I collapsed onto the ground, being slightly submerged in the oil, " oh please let this be a dre- ".

" JoJo wake up! " a disembodied voice nagged at me, wait… is that?

Evie slapped me awake, good thing that was a dream, wait… what was I dreaming about again?

" we're here! Get off your bum and look around " she pranced out of my sight.

September 18, 2020 - Outskirts Of Jericho

I groggily got out of my sleeping bag and looked around, there used to be bags everywhere, now the cargo hold is completely empty.

I walked out of the open cargo door and was blinded by the sun. ironic, I fight vampires with the sun but dread it when I wake up.

I was nailed on the head with my suitcase, I looked at who chucked it at me and saw that it was Charlotte, that damn cat.

" get a move-on cub, the boat is leaving in five minutes " she walked away while telekinetically carrying a blue bag, probably hers.

Wait… boat? There's more travelling to do!?

I begrudgingly picked up my suitcase and followed everyone to a nearby dock.

The ferry was massive, and expensive, where does Speedwagon get all that money from?

We boarded it, we were seated on the sides where we could see outside of the boat, Jericho was mostly urban, and almost completely covered in foliage, some parts of it seemed like nobody even touched it for decades.

I was standing on the edge of the ferry where the railings were, looking at my surroundings.

This city is extremely familiar, where have I seen this place before?

My question was answered by the sight of a colossal green statue of a female human overlooking the city, it appeared to be dressed in robes and wearing a crown, and it was also holding a giant torch into the sky. The statue seemed to be extremely worn down, evident by all the scaffolding struggling to hold it up.

Yep, this is definitely-

September 18, 2020 - Outskirts OfNew York

" cool, isn't it? I heard this is where my parents used to live " Evie suddenly popped up behind me, she leaned forwards on the railings, standing on her hinds.

I leaned forward too, " yeah, you know… I'm pretty sure I've been here when I was a human before, New york they called it ".

" New york? Heh, what happened to ' old york '? " I chuckled at her cheesy joke, " what was it like there? " she asked.

" noisy, rambunctious, and the people there were really strange to me, you should've heard their accents ".

" oh really? " the eevee tilted her head.

" yeah " I cleared my throat, preparing to do a new yorker accent like I heard back at my time there.

" ey you! Why dontcha got a clue? What'che doing dumbass? " I imitated while mockingly moving my paws around.

She laughed, " wow… I never thought they were that vulgar ".

Evie's Perspective

We both rambled on about varying topics while we were on the boat.

I learned a lot about him, especially about his hamon power.

He never knew how he could use it, he said he could always do stuff like that. His grandpa could do the same things too, but he died at a young age.

But his dad couldn't use hamon, according to JoJo he died in some war I never heard about, the " second world war " the humans called it, strange…

His mom was also gone, JoJo never even got to meet her.

JoJo was being taken care of by his grandma and his billionaire guardian Speedwagon, the same Speedwagon that was funding our trip.

The Joestars tended to die young, his grandmother, Erina, lost her husband in a disaster at sea involving his grandpas undead vampire stepbrother, considering what we went through, that's not much of a stretch.

Erina was having a kid at the time, that kid grew up and married someone who also survived the shipwreck.

They were JoJo's parents, soon to disappear from his life.

Granny Erina was strict, but kind and giving, she, along with Speedwagon were the only authority he took seriously.

So was JoJo, unlike what I've seen.

Maybe because they dealt with so much hardship, that they're the people I'm hearing about right now.

I tugged at the white scarf around my neck and blushed, this would be a perfect time to-.

The ferry's horn blared, we're here…

We gave our bags to a couple of Speedwagon employees, we were told that they would be kept for safekeeping until we got to the guild.

I got off of the ferry and looked around, the docks were crowded and full of other people who just got off of their boats, mostly tourists.

JoJo was extremely excited to come here, " we have about 3 or so hours until we need to report in to the guild, I'm just gonna do some sightseeing " he ran off before we could pull him back.

" well, he's right, see you at HQ " Raymond walked away too. Soon enough the entire group dispersed, leaving me in the middle of the crowded docks.

" hmf " I muttered to myself as I shuffled out of the docks, being careful not to bump into anyone.

The city was both lively and dilapidated at the same time, a lot of the brick buildings ( which seemed to be human-made ) were bombed out, possibly from the great war a few decades back.

But it didn't seem to bother the residents here, in fact, they were doing much better then what their surroundings would lead you to think.

I walked down a busy street, there was a big traffic jam on the road. I've never seen so many cars in one place in my life.

I kept my head down while I was strolling, it only takes one archeology geek to notice me for my life here to become absolute hell.

I suddenly crashed into something big, I fell back and looked up, it was a cinccino wearing a bowler hat.

" ey you! Why dontcha got a clue what'che doing dumbass? " The cinccino yelled at me, I guess JoJo was right about yorkers being rude.

" oh uh sorry " I hastily said as I got up, wait… what's that badge he's wearing?

The circular badge on his long white mane read " Pathfinder Archeology Organisation ", ohno…

" hey… I definitely spotted that fedora from somewhere " he pondered while inspecting my hat, I bolted away from him, oh of course I had bump into an archaeologist!

" holy smokes! " the cinccino realised, " that dame's a Williams kit! ".

Everyone around me stopped and stared at me, their eyes were wide as hell. I've barely been here for a hour and I've already been recognised!

The crowd around me was chattering loudly, the words I could pick up were, " Williams ", " Archaeologist ", " eevee " and " alive ". I guess they thought I died.

I ran as fast as I could from them, I am not in the mood for autographs or interviews right now.

Later…

" whew " I wiped some sweat off my forehead, I'm pretty sure I lost them.

The sidewalk I was on was empty, I let my head drop down as I continued strolling.

I was pushed to the ground again, I grunted and looked up, it was a young zorua wearing a blue flat cap.

" oh I'm so sorry! Are you okay? " the zorua helped me up.

" yeah I'm fine " I reassured him.

He nodded and ran away abruptly, is it just me or does my bag feel lighter than before?

I opened my satchel and noticed the lack of a coin pouch, that punk pickpocketed me!

" hey! thief! " I called out while running after him. Damn he's fast!

He ran into an alleyway, he's probably trying to lose me. He ain't running away so easily, or my last name isn't Williams!

I ran in after him, the alleyway led into an empty lot, this is definitely a trap.

I slowly crept into the empty lot, careful not to be seen by anyone, I saw that damn urchin zorua worriedly talking with a timburr.

" the hell are you doing in our territory Smokey!? You think we haven't forgotten what you did last time? " the timburr snarled at the zorua.

' I-I didn't know this was your lot! I swear! " Smokey was panicking, some more pokemon emerged out of the dark corners of the lot, yep, he was definitely going to get his shit kicked in.

Under any other circumstances I would've just let karma take its course, but he has my wallet, and I also felt a bit bad about the cub.

" hey! " I called out while walking into the open, they both stopped and looked at me.

" waaaait, isn't that the Williams kit that everyones talking 'bout? " the timburr remarked, " damn Smokey, you robbed a celebrity? " he smirked at the zorua.

" a celebrity!? " Smokey was surprised, he looked at me and gulped.

I noticed a half broken glass bottle on the ground," I'm here for my wallet " I glared at the zorua.

" yeah sure, take it and run off " the timburr grabbed Smokey and took my coin pouch out of his bag, he tossed it to me.

I grabbed it in mid-air and stuffed it in my satchel, I turned around and walked back into the alleyway.

" bitch… " the timburr murmured, I spun around and kicked the glass bottle in his face!

The bottle smashed against the timburr's face, shards of glass were impaled in him, he stumbled back in pain, right into Smokey's back, tripping him.

" aaaaguh! GET THEM! " the timburr screamed at his goons as he writhed on the ground.

Smokey shot out a shadow ball at a panpour behind me, the panpour was immediately knocked unconscious.

A trapinch charged at me, I got down and drop-sweeped it, it fell over. I grabbed one of its hinds in mid-air and spun it around, then slamming it into a brick wall.

A rough-looking pichu ran at Smokey with a lead pipe, it swung at him. Smokey ducked under the pipe and grabbed it with his snout, he disarmed the pichu and smashed the pipe against its head. The pipe cracked in half from the blow, he spat out the other half.

All of our assailants were unconscious, we both standing in the empty lot panting in exhaustion.

I turned to Smokey, " ey, monsieur pickpocket, how about we hightail it out of here? " we both ran out of there.

Later…

We were standing on the sidewalk, finally away from those hooligans.

Smokey turned to me, " thanks, I owe you one ", he placed a paw on his ruff of fur around his neck, " everyone calls me Smokey, what's your name? ".

I dusted off my sable fedora and placed it on my head, " its Williams, Evie Williams ".

Meanwhile at the Speedwagon Foundation HQ

Narrator

Bayleef was doing an inventory check on all the artifacts the Speedwagon Foundation had gathered, now he was at where the various stone masks were held.

He was holding a clipboard with his vines, Bayleef began walking in between the rows of masks.

" Stone mask one, check, stone mask two check ", he went on like this for some time.

" Stone mask eleven, check, empty space where stone mask twelve should be, check, stone mask th- " he stopped in place, eyes widening.

Later…

Bayleef burst into Speedwagon's office, " Mr. Speedwagon! We have a situation! ".

New York, Two Days Earlier

Jack the corviknight was standing on the sidewalk in the dead of night, he was waiting for someone.

A dark bipedal figure wearing a hooded red, orange and black robe appeared behind him, " Jack… " a feminine voice rang out from the figure.

" Elise… " the corviknight raised up a wing and brought it over his chest.

" I don't have time for diversions, I need a way into you-know-where " the cloaked figure calmly stated.

" Are you sure? The distortion realm is a dangerous place " said Jack, suddenly Jack felt a huge figurative weight on his back, " what… what is this? Just looking at her is sending chills down my spine ".

Elise gave him a look that said " I know ", Jack reluctantly handed her a bizarre-looking shiny stone, " I'm in your debt " Elise muttered as she turned around and inspected it.

" Hehe, yeah, don't sweat it, whatever you are, you ain't leaving here alive! " Jack The RIpper thought to himself as he prepared a steel-wing, he brought it over his head aiming straight for Elise's skull.

Jack was panting hard, the aura of this cloaked figure was too much to handle for him, " keep it together Jack, don't let her spook ya. She's nothing to break down over, yeah… she's barely stronger than you ".

Jack canceled his steel-wing, he cracked under the sheer pressure of this person's aura.

" say… Jack? You look a bit worn down, is there something I need to know? " the cloaked figure soothingly but ominously asked.

" I-Its no-nothing, it's just that the authorities are looking for y-you now a-an- ".

The cloaked figure raised up a paw, motioning him to stop, " it seems you misunderstood my question, all I'm asking is if there is something I need to know ".

Jack stood there in shock, he frantically shook his head.

" Well then, if you have no more business with me, run along and help the cause, on my behalf, and if you don't, your end will be unpleasant ", Elise turned around and sat on a nearby bench, pulling out a book and casually reading it.

Jack came up behind her, seemingly without her knowledge.

" you're messing with the wrong guy, fox " Jack thought to himself, trying to repair his confidence, " as if those threats are gonna make me roll over and do whatever you want ", he realised that he was sweating like a pig, " on your behalf my ass! I'm no moron, I only throw in with the strong ones! ". he prepared a steel-wing, " loyalty at the cost of my soul, what bullshit! ", he raised up his steel-wing.

" you're wide open, I guess that stone mask made you thick-headed " Jack thought as his steel-wing was still raised up, " just one motion with this wing, and everything will be alright ", his wing still wasn't budging.

" I can do this, I can do this, I CAN DO THIS! " Jack screamed as he sliced in Elise's general direction, Elise crumbled into dust, " t-that was a double team! " Jack exclaimed, he spun around and swung his steel-wing at Elise who was actually behind him this whole time.

Except that Jack couldn't muster up the courage to strike Elise, he collapsed onto the ground while hyperventilating.

" hmm, it seems I can't trust you with your mortality intact, Jack, it seems I need more than your soul for your help " the cloaked figure pulled out a long branch, she grabbed one end of the branch and pulled it off, revealing that it was actually a sheath for a shortsword.

Jack yelped once he saw the blade, " no, no plea- ", the cloaked figure slashed once at Jack's neck, the sword was now extended towards her right side, dripping with blood.

Jack's entire head detached from his torso, it dropped onto the pavement, the rest of his body went limp.

Elise watched his blood soak into the concrete, she sighed, " too bad Jack, your talents can't be wasted " .

She painlessly slashed at her own chest, blood spewed out and onto the corpse, after a bit of time, Jack's severed head moved on its own and connected back on its body in a grotesque fashion.

The reanimated corpse got up and saw Elise, it then bowed, " I apologise for my past behavior… I truly believe in the cause now ".

The cloaked figure removed her hood, revealing that she was a delphox, she walked backwards into an alleyway and disappeared, leaving the now zombified corviknight to stand there silently.

Present Day, Peacekeeper Agency Headquarters

JoJo's Perspective

Well, we're here.

Me, Evie and Ray were standing in front of the giant gate into the headquarters, compared to the one in Pecha Town, it was 10 times the size, and that's just the main building alone.

In front of us was a gate into a big walled off field, this place is probably taking up a huge chunk of New York.

There was a guard tower situated right beside the gate, there was a gligar in there, " halt! State your business! " he demanded.

" We got invited into the guild, " I explained.

Whirrrrrrrr

I turned to the source of the strange noise and saw a strange floating automaton, it was being hoisted into the air by four large fans on each end of it, a circular blue " eye " was present on its front.

The eye extended out of the automaton by a mechanical grey tendril, it went up to me and shined a bright blue light directly in my eyes, " OW CUT THAT OUT " I covered my eyes with my paws, what's with this thing?

The machine's eye retracted back into its socket, " dont panic " the gligar shouted, " it's just protocol ".

The floating automaton went up to Evie and shined the blue light in her face too, I could see some kind of ray going over her face from the machine's eye multiple times, is it scanning us?

It did the same to Raymond, before floating back a bit, " agents identified: Joseph Joestar, Raymond Redfield, Evie Williams " it said monotony.

gligar pressed a button opening the gate, " good luck in the guild! ".

The gate opened up, exposing an enormous courtyard surrounded by several giant buildings, the one on the opposite end of us was a colossal citadel, possibly the main building. it's bland and industrial architecture contrasted heavily with the wooden and concrete buildings surrounding it.

" wow… that tower, I've never seen anything like it! It's as if it was made by aliens! " Raymond remarked.

" yeah… there's no way any normal pokemon could build something that high, only humans could make skyscrapers, but this tower doesn't look human-made at all " Evie contemplated to herself.

" oh finally you're here " a certain meowstic walked up to us, " the agents told us to meet at the citadel,

" alright " we went over to the giant tower, now that we were right below it I could tell that it was about 120 metres wide and over a kilometre tall, yeah, a kilometre. The tower was geometrical, with some pillars extending out of the ground supporting it, it was mostly grey, with some bigger parts orange. On the side of the tower was the word " BASTION ", interesting...

I saw Oliver and Tom gazing at the colossal tower, " that has to be made by aliens yo " Oliver gasped.

" that architecture, it's completely impossible to build this by normal means ".Tom adjusted his aviator cap.

" Hey Tom, Oliver " I called out to them, they turned around and smiled.

" ey, so the gangs all here then, there should be an agent meeting us soon, " said Tom.

And on cue we heard someone holler over to us, " ooooveeerr heeeeeere! ", we all looked towards the voice.

He was a flareon, a stylish one at that, he was wearing a blue tie that was loosely hung around his mane, and a sloppily pinned badge, " the names Vance, I'm your manager and teacher " Vance introduced himself.

" teacher? We're going to school here? " asked a confused Evie.

" uh, duh, how old are you kids, thirteen? Fourteen? Don't answer that it's rhetorical, it's just that we have to take schooling into our own hands for minors in the guild, did you really think you would escape class by coming here? " Vance asked, we all shook our heads.

" well, enough talking, I'll show you guys to the barracks " Vance motioned for us to follow him.

" barracks?, isn't that where soldiers sleep in? " Raymond was befuddled at Vances wording.

" oh you'll see soon enough~ " we all followed the flareon over to a part of the courtyard.

A tiny bit later…

So that's why they call this the barracks, it's the most militarised sleeping quarters I've ever seen, the bunkhouse was made out of concrete, it had green walls and a grey triangular roof.

The inside wasn't any more pretty either, just some small rooms lined up against each other outfitted with beds, desks, trunks, and shelves.

" Well, I have a meeting to crash, so make yourselves comfortable " Vance pranced away, what a strange individual.

Evie walked into a room marked with her name and pushed down on her bed's mattress with one of her paws, " it's surprisingly soft " she observed.

Raymond opened the trunk marked with his name in front of his bed, " heeey, they packed up our stuff in here too ".

Evie's eyes jolted open in shock, " WHAT!? " she pried open her bed's trunk, what's up with her?

She pulled out a notebook and sighed, " I swear if they looked in this… " she grumbled something inaudible.

I was curious about her notes before, but because of her reaction, I'm determined to see what's in there!

Nighttime…

Everyone was asleep, except for me, I crept out of my room and slowly opened the door into Evie's quarters, she was asleep as well.

I tip-toed my way over to her trunk and opened it, there was some apples, money, the notebook I was looking for and… a stone mask.

" what, why does she have this? ", is she trying to become a vampire? No, that can't be right, she's probably just researching it, I hope.

I placed the stone mask back into the trunk and grabbed her notebook, I opened it and…

I couldn't see a damn thing, there was a lamp on a table in her room but turning it on would probably wake her up, ugh.

I put the notebook back into the trunk and closed it, what a waste of sleep, I guess I'll take a go at it when she's not here.

I went back into my quarters and slumped into my bed, I still couldn't get my mind off of that stone mask of hers, the thought scared me.

I'm afraid that, if she activates that damned stone mask, I would have to put her down myself…

Chapter 17 End