Hello! And welcome back to another chapter already! (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧
I recently made a return 2 days ago with a brand new chapter and now we're here with another!
We're very close to the end! Only a couple chapters remaining! AAHH! (⁀ᗢ⁀)

ALSO! This battle between Noriko & Dio will be a bit different (*/_\)

I hope you guys enjoy! (ノ´ヮ`)ノ*: ・゚


Dio's World, Part 2

After explaining her plan to the elder Joestar, Noriko and Joseph swung from building to building with the use of their Stands, fleeing from Dio. While doing so, Noriko took a moment to look at her Stand that brought back a certain memory from when she was a child.


xxx


Noriko's mother, Nami, was having a private meeting with a teacher after school. Noriko was told to wait outside the room while the adults discussed.

"Your little Noriko doesn't try to make friends at all." The teacher stated. "It's not that the other kids don't like her, she just doesn't want to open up to anyone. As her teacher, I'm quite concerned." He set the paper down on the table.

Nami lowered her head, "I'm her mother, yet I still don't know why she's like that. We recently moved from Morioh due to my husband's job. We thought she would be able to open up…"

Noriko heard her mother's words and lowered her head.


xxx


Ever since Noriko was a child, she thought that living in a city meant meeting a lot of people. A lot of people who she thought she could relate to. But no matter how many people she met, none of them ever understood her.

Her classmates' address books were always filled with their friends' names while hers remained blanked. Her parents have each other, her classmates have each other, but she has no one because she's different.

After many attempts to befriend her classmates and trying to show them her Hierophant Green, they all gave her weird glances. They believed it was some imaginary friend, just like what her parents thought of as well. That was when Noriko decided to no longer befriend anybody and strictly only focus on her studies.

With zero distractions and no friends, Noriko became an honor student with straight A's and perfect attendance. Her parents were proud of their little bundle of joy but they were still worried about Noriko's loneliness. At this point, Noriko believed she would never meet someone who sees her for who she is because nobody was able to see Hierophant Green. It was impossible for those who couldn't see her Stand to understand her.

That is, until she met Joseph, Jotaro, Polnareff, Avdol and Iggy. It made her realize what true friends are like. Whenever she remembers Avdol and Iggy about their near death experience it brings shivers down her spine. She asked herself if it was because they all shared a common goal.

This journey to defeat Dio. For the past couple months, they all became very close friends.

When she first met Dio, she easily fell into his charms due to him being the first person who could see her Stand. She didn't feel lonely anymore and desired a friend. Her family barely noticed any change after her encounter with the vampire. She sometimes asks herself if she never had a Stand, she wouldn't have met Dio but then she would've never met the rest of her friends. This is the happiest she's ever been for the past couple of months and being true to herself.

"I'll make her invisible to everyone just like it was before…" Noriko thought when gazing at her Stand. "I'll use the invisibility as my advantage to reveal Dio's true identity and defeat him! I'll make his presence completely disappear!"

Before Hierophant Green's tendril could reach the clock tower, both Noriko and Joseph heard a familiar bark behind them. Turning their heads to the side to see who it could be, they were astonished to find the Boston Terrier trying to catch up to them.

"I-Iggy?!" Joseph said. Both Crusaders stopped on one of the rooftops of the building.

"What are you doing here, Iggy? Shouldn't you be recovering?" Noriko asked, kneeling down to pick him.

Iggy barked a few times. Showing he was determined to rejoin the battle and that he was fine. His injuries were treated and bandaged up around his body, but if he were to push himself too hard he could reopen his wounds.

"Well, this will change my plans a bit." Noriko said with a smirk and turned to Joseph. "We're gonna make some adjustments to it."


xxx


Jotaro and Joseph drove the streets of Cairo with the stolen motorcycle in silence.

"Hey, Jotaro! Look over there!" Polnareff said, pointing at an accident that has a crowd surrounding it.

Jotaro pulled over next to the accident, taking a look at the wrecked vehicle.

"The car's completely totaled!" The Frenchman stated. "But I don't see Noriko and Joseph around."

Jotaro glanced up at the top of the building. "They're somewhere on the rooftops. I can sense Dio chasing after them."


xxx


Dio leaped from rooftop to rooftop and came to a stop mid-air.

"Noriko and Joseph are the only ones here…" He smirked, spotting the two Crusaders. "I see… They split up to attempt a pincer attack on me. That means Jotaro and Polnareff must be preparing an attack from behind."

He scoffed, "How useless…" He descended on a rooftop.

His feet stepped on an invisible green thread and emerald gems began shooting at him out of nowhere. He quickly deflected it with his arms and jumped back in the air.

"This is…" His back touched another green thread and more emerald gem projectiles were shot at his direction.

The vampire frowned, "... Noriko's Hierophant!" He deflected the attack again.

The more he moved around, the more he triggered the attack with more emerald gem projectiles shooting at him. He deflected all of them and came to a realization.

Noriko created a barrier.

Another set of gems were shot from behind and Dio roundhouse kicked the projectiles to a billboard. He stopped moving and looked down at his shoulder seeing a hole on his cape. The vampire tch in annoyance. His eyes widened when he could finally see the green threads surrounding him.

"This is…"

"That's right!" Noriko shouted from a distance, standing on top of a metal tower with a clock tower building between them.

"With the barrier my Hierophant created, I can hit you within twenty meters from any direction! I can also sense every move you and The World make!" She stated.

Joseph hid behind a building nearby Noriko, watching and waiting for Dio to make his move and reveal his Stand. There was a moment of silence, no words were exchanged between the two Stand users as they stared at each other.

Suddenly, the billboard that was damaged from the emerald projectiles collapsed.

"Take this, Dio! Twenty-meter radius, EMERALD SPLASH!" Noriko yelled.

All emerald projectiles shot from every direction towards Dio.

"You're such a fool, Noriko!" Dio said, his lips curling up into a sinister grin. "You better prepare yourself! The World's true power, as its name suggests, is to reign supreme over the entire world!"

"Show me your Stand, Dio!" Noriko thought, knitting her brows together and not taking her eyes off the vampire.

"THE WORLD!"

Time has stopped. The world around the British vampire froze in place. The incoming emerald projectiles and the billboards that's collapsing, all froze in mid-air.

Dio removed his red cape and began making his way over to Noriko by ripping the green tendrils that were in his way. Once he was within range, he stared down at Noriko with his sharp-golden crimson eyes. The teen, completely unaware of what's happening.

"Behold, The World…" He told Noriko. "While time is stopped, you will neither see nor feel anything that befalls you."

The World raised its fists and Dio smirked, "DIE NORIKO!" The World punched through the red-haired teen's abdomen.

"You don't even realize I have killed you…" Dio said. "You will never know what truly transpired." But Dio felt something was off.

As soon as The World removed its fist from Noriko's abdomen, there was no blood gushing out, instead it was sand.

"What the?! Sand?!" Dio gasped.

He looked around and found Noriko with Iggy hiding on the opposite side of the clock tower.

"That damn dog…" Dio growled under his breath. "Those bastards tricked me!" The vampire clenched his fists, he was infuriated that a mutt like Iggy fooled him.

Realizing he was running out of time, Dio quickly approached the clock tower. Summoning The World, he kicked Iggy where his wounds were treated and landed a couple powerful punches to Noriko, though these punches weren't powerful enough to burst a hole through her.

Time resumed and Noriko was instantly sent flying along with Iggy through the air.

"WHAT THE?! NORIKO! IGGY!" Joseph screamed. "They were suddenly just blown away! But how?! Did The Fool's double didn't work?! That's impossible!"

Iggy disappeared between the buildings and Noriko collided into a water tower.

"NORIKO!" Joseph screamed again.

Noriko could feel the cold water splashing all over her body. She attempted to move but she was in so much pain. She most likely has a few broken bones and probably busted a couple of her organs. She can feel herself getting weaker.

"Wh-What… just happened?" Noriko thought. "Did he defeat me?" She didn't understand. How was Dio able to figure out their trick and attack them? "I.. I can't move… it hurts… really bad… I can't speak… not even lift a finger… it's no use…"

Noriko slowly shifted her gaze at the clock tower. Her vision blurred in and out, her green threads were torn into pieces, falling down and fading away. She doesn't even know where Iggy is and she immediately felt regret and guilt for getting the small dog involved with her plan. She can see Joseph reaching his hand out, screaming the girl's name but the sound of his voice sounded muffled to her.

Her eyes focused at the time from the tower. It was 5:15 PM, meaning it's midnight in Japan. She wondered what her parents were doing, most likely asleep by now. She wanted to apologize to them for making them worry about her disappearance. She should have called home at least once or twice, or maybe written them a letter.

But Noriko's thoughts of her parents drifted to the final question that puzzled her. She can sense every movement of those who touch Hierophant Green's barrier but yet Dio was able to rip apart the entire barrier within a blink of an eye.

"It wasn't done strand by strand… not even a microsecond of time between them… how… how did he destroy a twenty-meter radius, all at once? Without any delay… how…?" She recalled the moment when Dio summoned The World when her projectiles were about to hit him. He suddenly vanished from her sight in a blink of an eye, her attack didn't touch him.

"NORIKO!" Joseph cried out. "I-I can't just stand around and do nothing! Hermit-!" He stopped when he felt the murderous aura from behind and turned to the side seeing Dio facing him.

"Joseph Joestar… You're next." Dio declared. He pulled the collar of his turtleneck down, revealing the scar around his neck. "Isn't it fitting that a Joestar Blood is the only way for Jonathan Joestar's body to be completely mine?" A sinister smirk spread across his face.

"Dio, you bastard!" Joseph snapped at the vampire with anger.

"How was he able to hit them all with no time passing between them?" Noriko helplessly asked herself. "Wait… time… time passing… time… time…" Her eyes widened in realization. "I… I understand now! There's no other explanation to it… It's time!… Dio can stop time!"

Her lavender eyes averted to Joseph. "I… I have to tell everyone about this! They need to know… this terrifying truth!" She forced herself to lift her head up, ignoring the excruciating pain. "I have to tell Mr. Joestar somehow! Or else… at this rate… everyone will be defeated!"

"You'll pay for what you did to Noriko, you bastard!" Joseph threatened the vampire in front of him. "I'll make sure I take that body back for my grandma Erina!"

"Erina? Ah, you mean that simpleton country girl. How foolish." Dio remarked. "I shall drink your blood and kill you."

Noriko, face filled with determination, a green aura glowed around her, summoning her Hierophant Green. Her Stand was barely visible, it looked like it was fading away. Hierophant Green clasped her hands together, to let out her signature attack but the red-haired girl threw up blood all over her. She began to breathe heavily. If she keeps pushing herself, she most likely will die.

"JOSEPH JOESTAR! DIIIEEEE!"

Noriko's eyes widened in horror and with all her strength she had remaining, she used it to quickly manifest her Stand to fire her Emerald Splash.

Before Dio could attack the elder Joestar, an explosion came from the clock tower. Both Dio and Joseph turned around to see the clock from the clock tower destroyed from Emerald Splash.

"I… I guess… This is it… My final… Emerald S-Splash…" Noriko murmured.

Joseph's eyes widened, seeing the state Noriko and her Stand were in.

"What the hell was that? She completely missed me." Dio scoffed, looking at the clock tower. "I suppose she wanted to use up all of her strength to go out with a bang. Hmph."

"That's impossible! Noriko isn't the type to do something pointless at a time like this!" Joseph thought. "So why? Why did she aim at the clock?" He averted his eyes at the clock tower. "What does it mean? Is she trying to tell me something?"

"I-It's a message…" Noriko thought, tears forming in her eyes. "It was… the best I could do…" Her eyelids become heavy, feeling death approaching her to take away the pain and suffering. "Mr. Joestar… Please… understand… Please, figure it out…" A tear ran down her cheek. "Mr. Avdol… Iggy… Polnareff… Mr. Joestar… Jotaro… I'm sorry everyone… this adventure… was the happiest I've ever been…"

Closing her eyes, her body went limp.

"No… Noriko…!" Joseph muttered in grief.

There was no time to mourn, all the sorrow immediately turned into rage.

"Hermit Purple!" Joseph screamed, his purple vines wrapping around Dio's body. "And take this! The sun's own energy, Hamon!"

"You senile old fool!" Dio laughed. "Your Stand is the weakest of them all!" He ripped the purple vines off of him before the Hamon could reach his body and charged at the Joestar.

Joseph turned around and made a run for it, swinging from building to building with his Hermit Purple.

"You cannot escape!" Dio said, chasing after Joseph.


xxxxx


While running away from Dio, Joseph took one last look at Noriko, seeing her body get farther away. "Noriko, why did you shoot at the clock tower? What were you trying to tell me by shooting it? Could it be that you figured out the secret of Dio's Stand, The World?!"

From a distance, two Crusaders watched the chase happen as soon as they got on the rooftop.

"I-It's Mr. Joestar!" Polnareff said. "And Dio is chasing him! But…" He looked around, not seeing the red-haired teen anywhere. "... where's Noriko?"

A cold shiver ran down Jotaro's spine from the mention of Noriko's whereabouts. The thought that something terrible could have happened to her ached his heart. He clenched his fists, he hoped nothing bad happened to her. Any worries he had for her had to be put aside and focused on taking down Dio.

Joseph continued to flee from Dio, still trying to figure out the message Noriko gave him from earlier. He recalled the moment when Noriko's Emerald Splash hit the clock tower. It landed directly on the clock's hand, destroying it… which stopped the time… stopped…the time…

His eyes widened in realization, "T-That's impossible! The true power of Dio's Stand is… the ability to stop time!" Joseph shouted.

The elder Joestar kept his eyes glued to the vampire who was still chasing him with horror from how dangerous he is.

"I understand now, Noriko..." Joseph said. "You sacrificed your life to send me that message! I got it loud and clear."

Joseph almost couldn't believe it. He was in disbelief. The ability to stop time and keep moving? Such a dangerous and powerful ability. How is he and others supposed to beat him?!

"Calm down… you need to calm down and think!" Joseph told himself. "The word 'panic' isn't even in my vocabulary! I need to come up with something to defeat him…"

Joseph looked back and saw Dio disappear in a blink of an eye. He came to a halt at one of the rooftops and scanned the area.

"Where the hell did he go?!" Joseph asked.

He got his answer when he felt the presence of someone behind him. Turning around, Dio and The World were less than ten meters away from Joseph.

The World leaned his fist back and went for an attack but quickly stopped within a few centimeters away from Joseph. This allowed Joseph to jump back.

"W-What's the matter Dio? Not going to hit me?" Joseph gave the vampire a nervous grin, still shaken from being almost killed. "Didn't you say you were going to drink my blood?"

The vampire had a finger on his forehead and narrowed his golden-crimson eyes at the Joestar.

"You guarded yourself by channeling Hamon around your body." Dio firmly pointed out. "When your Hermit Purple is imbued with Hamon, it acts as a high-voltage wire wrapped around your body, correct? You're quite the schemer, you cunning old geezer."

"The same goes for you." Joseph said. He pulled the collar of his shirt down to reveal the purple vines infused with Hamon that's wrapped around his body. "You realized I was using Hamon and you restrained yourself, you shrewd bastard."

"But I learned something about your Stand." Joseph continued, letting go of his collar. "You are able to stop time but it seems you can only do it briefly. About three to four seconds, I'd say. If you could stop time any longer, you would've killed us all back at your mansion and wouldn't be chasing us down around the city."

Dio simply stared at Joseph with his arms crossed. "So you understand how my Stand The World works? I'll spare you a bit of praise for that."

Joseph gritted his teeth, raising his clenched fist. "It was Noriko who figured it out!" He snarled. "I won't let her sacrifice be in vain! The same goes for Iggy!"

"And so what of it?" Dio grinned. "What good does understanding my Stand's power do for you? What can your pathetic Hamon possibly do now?!"

"HERMIT PURPLE AND HAMON!" Joseph yelled, summoning his purple vines infused with Hamon.

"It's useless Joseph! I don't need to touch your feeble Hamon to attack you!"

Manifesting The World, the Stand punched a hole into the building's rooftop. The debris forced Joseph to lose his balance and fall off the building. His Hermit Purple failed to grab onto the ledge of the building and fell down on the concrete below.

Joseph groaned from the fall he just took and several civilians laughed at him thinking he was trying to be Santa Claus. Ignoring their childish remarks, he forced himself to get up from the ground when he saw Dio coming after him.

As soon as he got up, his eyes met with the delinquent's up ahead, who was across the street by himself. Most likely he and Polnareff have split up.

"Old Man…" Jotaro called out.

"J-Jotaro!" Joseph said. He saw that his grandson was about to take a step forward to walk over to him but he held out his hand.

"Stay back!" Joseph warned. "Don't come any closer!

"Jotaro… What perfect timing." A sadistic grin spread across Dio's face while descending to the ground. "But he's not within my range. I'll have to deal with Joseph first."

"Jotaro! The secret of his Stand, The World, is time!" Joseph frantically yelled. "His Stand can stop ti-!"

"THE WORLD!"

And just like that, time froze before Joseph could finish his sentence. Dio's feet touched the ground with a hand on his hip.

At first, Dio could only stop time for a mere blink of an eye. However, as the wound on his neck began to heal, he was able to stop for two seconds, then eventually to three. He began approaching the elder Joestar. He killed a cat who shrieked in fear from his presence and aggressively pushed the civilians that were in his way. At this point, Dio is able to stop time for five seconds. It's strange to think of it as five seconds since it occurs when time is stopped but those five seconds Dio can act.

Eventually, Dio will be able to stop for a minute, then ten minutes, then an hour. Soon he'll be able to stop time as long as he desires.

Dio stood next to the Joestar and was about to strike his neck with his hand but then he remembered…

"Oh, that's right, Joseph…" Dio said. "You're using Hamon to protect your body. Hamon used to be troublesome for me a hundred years ago but it's powerless against The World." He pulled a knife out of nowhere and raised his hand up.

"MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDAAAA!"

Dio threw the knife at Joseph's throat. The knife halted midair, a couple centimeters away from Joseph.

"And just like that, Jonathan Joestar's grandson, you are already dead!" The vampire then turned to Jotaro. He couldn't wait to see the delinquent's reaction when time resumes. To have the last descendant of the Joestar witness the death of their beloved relative.

"One… Zero…"

Time resumed and the knife pierced Joseph's throat. A gasp escaped from Jotaro's lips.

"GRYAAAHHH!" Joseph screamed in agony as the blood gushed out from his neck.

Jotaro watched in horror as his grandfather screamed and fell to the ground covered in blood.

The civilians screamed from the dead animal that had its body parts all over their food, one of couples that were having dinner ended up stabbing their partner with a fork on their cheek and a woman accidentally burned her face with her lighter. They all ran away in fear.

Joseph tried to reach over the knife to remove it but more blood spewed out from his wound and from his mouth.

"Old Man…!" Jotaro called out his grandfather with worry. He was about to rush over to his side to help him but Joseph weakly lifted his hand up.

"N-No! S-Stay back!" Joseph struggled to speak with the knife on his throat. "R-Run… J-Jotaro… D-Don't get near him… K-Keep your d-distance…" His Hermit Purple was barely visible on his hand. "Stay away… Stay away from him… Y-You're n-no… match…"

Hermit Purple disintegrated, his hand went limp to the ground and Joseph's eyes rolled back.

Jotaro's blood boiled with fury and rage, staring angrily at Dio. The vampire stood there with an evil smirk on his face, proud of himself for what he had just done.

"Your lovely girlfriend has also been dealt with, along with that dog of yours." Dio stated.

Jotaro narrowed eyes.

"And I supposed Avdol and Polnareff are nearby… Hmph, but it matters not." Dio then pointed a finger at the delinquent. "You're next… Jotaro!"

Jotaro clenched his fists tightly, "You bastard…" He growled and began approaching the vampire. "DIO!"

"Oh? You decide to approach me?" Dio asked with a sinister grin. "You wish to face the mighty Dio instead of running away? Despite your grandfather, Joseph, telling you the secret of The World, he was nothing more than a desperate, pathetic old man; no better than a student rushing to complete their exam before time has run out!"

"I can't beat the living shit out of you without getting closer." Jotaro said, still glaring at him.

"Oh ho! Then come as close as you'd like!"

Dio and Jotaro approached each other and once they were within their Stands' range, they summoned their Stands.

Star Platinum was about to punch Dio but The World reacted faster and kicked Star Platinum on the leg, causing a small part of Jotaro's pants to rip from the hit. A red bruise was revealed from the lower part of Jotaro's leg.

"You're too slow!" Dio taunted, crossing his arms. "My Stand, The World is the ultimate Stand! Even without stopping time, his speed and power far exceeds that of your pathetic Star Platinum."

"So it's the same type of Stand like Star Platinum." Jotaro noted. "Powerful and precise, but short-ranged."

"I wanted to try a little test to find out just how powerful The World is compared to your inferior Star Platinum. However, it appears it'll no longer be necessary from what I have just seen…"

"Is that what you call a test?" Jotaro asked and glanced down at his bruised leg. "You hardly grazed my leg and it didn't even hurt. Though I guess you hurt my wallet by ruining my twenty-thousand yen pants."

"Why are you damn Joestars too stubborn to admit defeat?" Dio said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Hmph. I suppose I shall humor you to see what more you are capable of."

Both Stands face off each other, trading powerful blows with their fists. Star Platinum managed to graze Dio's skin on his cheek. They started comparing the speed of their punches and let out multiple barrages of powerful attacks.

"ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA!"

"MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA!"

With their Stands letting out their warrior cries and the sounds of their fists colliding, Jotaro and Dio stared at each other.

The battle has just begun.

To Be Continued….


So... what did you guys think? (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)

As you just read, the fight was a little different, even having Iggy rejoin the battle only for him to be kicked by Dio D: !
And Noriko didn't get punched through the abdomen this time but she's heavily injured! (ಥ﹏ಥ)

But the battle is still far from over! See you guys next time! ~('▽^人)