Singapore, 1988
Joseph stretches under the green glow of the emergency lights, his shoulder joints and back cracking in relief. The kid across from him is supposedly his grandson. A very…quiet grandson. Certainly not as much a talker as himself.
"So, we're talking about the same Joestar family right?"
"You have a mark on your neck."
"Oh you mean this pink star?" Joseph turns and points, probing for information by feigned ignorance. "It's the queerest thing, I never knew my father or my grandfather, but Grannie Erina always said they had that same peculiar birthmark."
"Don't play dumb, asshole. I'm on a time limit here." Jotaro grabs Joseph by his now soaked scarf.
"Woah, hey, how about you explain first then, jeez!" Joseph flails in his seat on the concrete rubble as he's shaken around by Jotaro.
Okay, this guy definitely got his strength from my grandfather. It's not just his Stand, either.
"I get it, you're my real actual grandson! Just tell me what year it is and what's going on!" At that, Jotaro drops Joseph back where he sat.
"It's 1988. DIO has returned, gained a Stand, and we are on a journey to Egypt to find him and stop him."
"Okay. Well." Joseph stammers a bit at the sudden influx of information.
DIO? The vampire my grandfather grew up with, Dio Brando?
"I have, needless to say, a lot of questions."
"Fine, but stand up." Joseph does indeed stand up and lean against the wall nearby. Turning around to face Jotaro, he sees that the kid in black has stolen his seat.
"Hey, that was my seat!"
"Take notes, Gramps. I'm not repeating myself."
Time passes…
"Okay I think I have it."
"Then my mother had a Stand develop-"
"Wait why?"
"No interruptions."
Even longer…
"So, in essence, my grandfather's foster brother who is also a vampire stole my grandfather's body, developed a Stand, and anyone with Joestar blood also got a Stand. Stands are psychic projections of our inner selves, and my old crusty self has taken it upon himself to spy on DIO which allows DIO to spy on us. You have a bunch of people accompanying you, half of which are former assassins that were mind controlled. Anything else?"
"You're not as clueless as you seem." Jotaro gestures vaguely to his side.
"Of course, I'm rather brilliant if I say so myself."
Jotaro chuckles a bit to himself, "You're definitely my grandfather." Joseph's eyes narrow, something more than a compliment in that sentence. Wordless, Star Platinum plunges its arm into the seam of the wall and yanks out a section of pipe. The same one that Joseph had pumped his Hamon through earlier.
"Only my grandfather would try to stop a fight like this."
Crap, he knows.
"Pushing your Hamon through this pipe to shoot a cap at me, knowing Star Platinum would be fast enough to catch it, and then warning me. You're definitely Joseph Joestar. The question is, why are you here?" Jotaro chucks the pipe into the shallow water below, apparently not waiting for an answer. He stands, and runs at the wall below the dilapidated ladder, ending with a leap. Star Platinum catches the lowest ladder rung and pulls Jotaro up, and as he climbs, "You coming, Gramps? I don't have all day to chat."
"Wait, you got to sit and talk, why do I have to explain things while we're both on a ladder?" Seeing that Jotaro has continued climbing regardless, Joseph plants a firm foot on the wall and kicks off with a firm breath of Hamon, reaching the ladder almost effortlessly. Climbing is a bit harder, though. One arm and all.
Time passes…
The ladder was almost 40 feet down below the former warehouse building. Even with his intense training, Joseph starts to tire as he nears the top.
It's certainly no Hell Climb Pillar, but this bastard kid has me talking the whole time without him saying a word!
"So anyway, after I defeated Wham, I valiantly battled Kars, beating him fair and square before some German soldiers show up and turn him into a Super Pillarman. After that, I lured him to a volcano and launched him into space." Jotaro continues to climb in silence, not slowing down at all for the battered Joseph tailing below him.
"After that, uh, I show up to my own funeral, move to America with Suzi Q, get married, and then I get a call from the Speedwagon Foundation asking me to look into something. I didn't want to, but, y'know. Speedwagon paid for my new house and wedding so, I thought it was the nice thing to do." As he speaks, Joseph sees an orange light grow brighter above them.
It must be sunset up there, hopefully the military here aren't swarming up there. Fort Sentosa was going crazy when I was, well, back then. Now though, it didn't look very British anymore.
"So I show up, find some shady guy, chase him to the beach, then he does some sort of technique with a Stand I couldn't see, and now I'm here." Joseph bumps into the bottom of Jotaro's boot, and squinting up there appears to be only a small opening letting the sunlight in. "Oh great, we're trapped at the top of a four story ladder surrounded by concrete. Hope you brought a book."
Jotaro just sighs. "Yare yare daze." Joseph taps the kid's calf with his metal stump, "Hey don't go muttering Japanese at me."
With a swift, smooth movement, Jotaro twists and braces his back against the ladder as he's looking up at the concrete debris blocking their exit. "Close your eyes and hold on tight, Gramps. Star Platinum!" Star Platinum bursts out of Jotaro's chest, and Joseph clings onto the ladder for dear life. What seems to be a hundred "ORA"s resound out of Jotaro's Stand, and the sound of crunching stone and rebar fills the vertical tunnel.
After about 2 minutes of Star Platinum's jackhammering, the rubble is small enough to fall down past them both, and orangey-red sunlight floods the chamber. Jotaro hops up and out with a confident landing on his feet, while a shaky Joseph clambers out like a cat in a swimming pool.
"Jeez kid, you almost gave me a heart attack!"
"Would be fitting for an old man."
"Hey! "
"We should leave. I'm sure the police don't like us vandalizing a tourist trap."
"Since when is a military base a tourist destination?"
"Since the end of World War 2."
"The end of what now?" Jotaro simply walks off, leaving a confused Joseph to tag along behind him. The walls of the warehouse had caved in slightly, large holes peppering each side. Caution tape had been placed around the building, and Jotaro just lifts it out of the way and jumps back over the wall he mounted to get in. Joseph notes the bent and snapped barbed wire at the top, and follows suit.
Time passes…
The sun set about half an hour ago. Jotaro is heading somewhere, but hasn't said a word since Fort Sentosa. "This place has gotten a lot nicer in 50 years." Joseph stares in wonder at the television displays in some passing shops.
Full color, all in that little box! What a wild world.
Jotaro, still silent, stops in front of a large hotel. Joseph almost rams into his shoulder, eyes on all of the sights around him, but stops short. "So, the rest of the team in there?"
"Yeah." The black clad kid strolls up to the front door, and Joseph just sighs and follows.
This is gonna be awkward, how do I even greet myself. 'Hello! I'm you, but hotter and less creaky.' 'Hope you remembered to by your mother a gift this year!' Speaking of which, Lisa Lisa should still be alive. Hamon masters do live a while…
Before he knows it, Joseph finds himself at a hotel door. Jotaro produces a card from his pocket, and swipes it at a small mount above the door handle. A small click, and the door unlocks.
Woah. Even hotels are different.
Singapore, 44 Days Remaining
Good grief. They're not here.
Jotaro takes a few steps into the hotel room, eyes scanning the room for any sign of the Fake Kakyoin he had been journeying with earlier that day. Instead, his eyes find Anne sitting on the freshly made bed, legs curled to her chest as she mopes. Joseph walks in whistling, trying to look cool, only to see the near empty room. "Uh, Jojo, are we in the right room?"
"Jojo?" Anne leaps up from the bed and tugs at Jotaro's sleeve. "I ran like you said, but by the time I made it back everyone was gone. I kind of got lost…"
"Hey, you didn't tell me you had a munchkin tagging along with you." Joseph walks up close to Anne and bends over, flicking her nose.
"Asshole! I'm Jotaro's faithful companion. Who the hell are you?" Anne sticks her tongue out and kicks Joseph in the shin, causing him to hop to the bed in pain.
"Ow! Dammit, I don't feeling like kicking a toddler today!"
"You'll regret those words!" Anne lifts her fist to slug Joseph, but Jotaro snatches her arm and lifts her up.
"Anne. Did you find anything?"
Anne blushes, "Uh, yeah. There's a long note on the bedside table over there. But it's in Japanese…" Realizing the pain from being lifted by her arm, she starts flailing, causing a shoe to fly off and nail Joseph in the face.
"Dammit, woman!" Joseph springs up to try and fight back, but Jotaro cuts them both off by dropping Anne. He walks to the note, saying over his shoulder "Play nice. Stop attacking the armless man."
Hm. Seems like that Kakyoin was an assassin after all. Seven days in Pakistan…Good grief. This might be trouble.
Joseph and Anne are sitting on separate beds, eyeing each other in tense silence. "Alright. Our flight is tomorrow."
"Wait, what did that note say?" Joseph shuffles a bit, shifting his attention to Jotaro.
"My grandfather has made travel arrangements for us to New Delhi, and to meet the rest of the group in Pakistan a week from now. We leave tomorrow afternoon."
"He left three tickets, Jotaro?" Anne flutters her eyes at Jotaro.
"No. Two. You're staying here."
"What, why?"
"You're going to drag us down. Go hitchhike somewhere else."
"A week? Where the hell is Pakistan?"
"It's not that far from New Delhi, dumbass." Anne curtly responds before she pouts on the corner of the bed.
"Before we leave, Joseph. I have questions about your story."
"Which parts, the ones with the super-vampires or the mystical Hamon training?"
Anne perks up, "Wait, what did you do to vampires?"
"Later. Tell me more about the Stand user, what did he want?"
"A Stone Mask, but Speedwagon Foundation has been breaking those as we find them. Found them. Huh." Joseph scratches his head on how to word his time travel experiences.
Hm. Seems unrelated to DIO but…Stand users draw in Stand users.
"Tell me about the vampires!" Anne sits like a child at the edge of the bed, facing Joseph with puppy dog eyes. Jotaro heads to the bathroom door, but turns around and stares at Joseph.
"Well, first off-Hey Jotaro, why are you staring?"
"We're leaving tomorrow."
"Yeah, I know. Why are you eyeing me like I ate your lunch?"
"My grandfather very stupidly bought us plane tickets."
END OF CHAPTER 4