A day ago...

As Anne met up with Marcy and Sasha at the park, carrying the music box, she didn't know she was being followed. Just as they were about to open it, a voice stopped them. "What the hell are you guys doing?!"

The girls turned to see Johan arriving. "I mean, I understand sneaking out, but stealing from an antique store?! Cosa stavi pensando?!"

"JoJo! Uh...this isn't what it looks like!"

"You stole from a store! What else could it be?!"

Sasha frowned at him. "Wait. Were you following us?! That's creepy!"

"No, it's called being concerned! This is the last straw, Sasha! I turned a blind eye to you and your friends' antics, thinking it's just usual teenage hijinks, but this is going too far!"

"This doesn't concern you! This is something Anne wanted to get for her birthday and I helped her get it! Besides, she left some money on the counter, right Anne?"

"Uh..."

Johan face palmed. "Ugh! Do you know how much trouble you're in right now?! The store manager saw you and called the police!"

It took a while for those words to sink in. "The...police...are coming?" Anne said slowly with dread. "Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no! Mom's gonna kill me!"

"I can't go to jail," Marcy panicked. "When Mom and Dad find out..."

"QUIET!" Sasha shouted. "This isn't going to end this way!"

Marcy quickly said, "Anne, just take a quick peek in the box then go back and pay for it!"

"But...but Marcy..."

"Hey, I'm not going to let you spend the rest of your birthday in a cell!" Sasha snapped. "I promise you!"

"Are you kidding me?! You're in too deep, Sasha! TOO FRIGGING DEEP!"

"This doesn't concern you, JoJo!"

Anne did what Marcy said and opened the box, then there was a flash of light.

Johan awoke with a start. "Dad! I just had a crazy dream! I was in America and three girls stole a magic music box that sent me to a world of weird talking frog people!"

"Ahem."

Johan turned to see Ivy and Felicia standing by the bed. "Oh."

Felicia croaked in annoyance. "Ready to start the day?" she asked as she folded her arms. "Assuming you don't mind working with weird talking frog people, weird mammal thing."

"Oh," Johan chuckled. "You heard that. Just let me get showered and dressed."

"Don't take too long. I've got a long list for you to follow."

"I won't." As Felicia left, he noticed Ivy smirking. "What's so funny?"

"Do you know why I didn't want to be an only child?"

"No... In fact, this is the first time I've heard of this."

"It's because I had no one to share the chore list with. Congratulations for lifting the burden off me!"

"Why do I feel like I've made a bad decision all of a sudden?"

While Johan filled the tub, he took a moment to look at himself in the mirror. His pale skin, blonde hair, honey brown eyes eyes, pointed face and the small scar on his lip. Yep. Everything seemed in order. He took off his clothes and sunk into the hot water. As he relaxed in the tub, his mind began to wander off as he thought of those three girls. "Anne, Sasha, Marcy... Where are you?"

Then he thought of someone else. "Dad..." Tears began to form as he whispered, "I'm sorry. You must be so worried right now... I wish there was a way to speak with you."

Suddenly, there was a knocking on the door. "Will you hurry up in there?!" Ivy's voice shouted. "And save me some hot water!"

"Oh! Sorry!"

Johan quickly dried off and put his clothes back on. He went downstairs to find Felicia setting up the tables. "Oh, JoJo," she said. "Good to see you. I need you to help me set up the tables."

"Si, Signorina." Johan did as he was told: set down the table cloths, place the sugar bowls on the table and light up the candles.

"Huh," said Felicia. "That was in record time. Ivy never finishes this fast."

"Yeah, well, I worked at a restaurant back home. I sort of know the ins and outs of this kind of business."

"I see. In that case, maybe you can do another job. I need you take stock. Make sure every last tea leaf is accounted for."

Johan blinked in surprise as he stared at the back room. Crates full of tea lined up the walls and almost reached the ceiling. "Isn't this a bit...much, Felicia?"

"What? This is how much that goes through the day! We're pretty popular."

Johan muttered, "Oh, God. I don't even know where to start."

"I'd start alphabetically," Felicia said as she left.

"But, which one is the..." The door closed. "Oh, boy. Okay..." He looked down at the list. "Black. Which crate is the one with the black tea?"

"It's the one on the left," Ivy said as she entered the room. She chuckled. "You aren't going to last long."

"H-How do you know which is which?! These crates are so haphazardly stacked up that I can't tell where it begins and where it ends! There's no system!"

"Hey, I have a system! Bleh!" Ivy stuck her tongue out and pulled a crate from one of the huge towers and brought it down. Johan yelled and stepped out of the way before it could land on his toes.

"Are you kidding me?! You almost killed me!"

"Oh, come on. Where's your sense of fun?"

"I lost it when a little frog tried to crush me with a crate full of tea bags."

"Mmmm..." Ivy pouted then shrugged her shoulders. "Fine."

As they did their duty, Ivy couldn't help but glance at the scar on Johan's lip. "What?" he asked.

"Where'd you get the cool scar on your lip? Did you get it while fighting another Stand User?"

"Uh...no."

"I wanna be just like daddy!" Five-year-old Johan said as he stood in front of the bathroom mirror. And then he held up a razor...

Johan licked the scar and said, "Not one of my brightest moments."

Suddenly, they heard the muffled sound of shouting. "Sounds like grandma's home," said Ivy.

"Shh." Johan put his ear to the door and listened.

"I'm telling you, you're making a mistake!" an old woman's voice shouted, whom Johan could only assume was Ivy's grandmother.

"And I'm telling you, he's got nowhere else to go! And don't you dare suggest the zoo," he heard Felicia say.

"I was going to suggest the swamp, but that works too."

"Mom!"

"Don't 'Mom!' me, Felicia! People are already starting to talk! The reputation of the tea shoppe is at stake! And the fact that he's a Stand User as well..."

"There aren't that many Stand Users around Ivy's age, Mom! I think it'll give her the chance to make new friends!"

"That's another thing! We don't know how dangerous he can really be! And besides, you know how Stand Users attract other Stand Users. Who knows if the next one we'll meet we'll be dangerous than JoJo?"

Suddenly, Johan fell through the door and landed on his face. "Ow." He looked up to see Felicia and a frog that could only be her mother looking down at him in surprise. "Ahem." He got up, dusted himself off and said, "Buongiorno, buona signora." The old frog raised an eyebrow. "Uh, that means good morning, good lady."

"Well, at least he has good manners, that's one good quality," Mrs. Sundew muttered as she walked upstairs.

"Looks like I didn't make a good impression with your mom," Johan said.

"That's Sylvia Sundew for you," Felicia said. "She's more stubborn than Hopediah Plantar."

"Who?"

"One of the local farmers. Although, he's not really good at his job even though he takes pride in it." Felicia turned to Johan. "So, how was taking stock?"

"Everything seem in place. And then I nearly got my toes crushed by your daughter."

"What?"

"We're still missing some emperor's jade oolong tea," Ivy said a little too quickly.

"Oh dear," said Felicia. "I ordered a whole crate of this weeks ago to celebrate the anniversary of the opening of this store, but it still hasn't arrived yet." She handed Johan a bag of money. "Head down to the station and be sure to give this to the merchant when he arrives."

"You're trusting with me with the money?"

"Well, no. But unless you want to keep taking stock with Ivy..."

An image of a huge crate landing on his head flashed in Johan's mind and he turned pale. "Station it is!" He turned tail and ran.

"WHAT?! JoJo! I promise not to aim at you!" Ivy shouted, but he was already gone. "COWARD!"

"Whoa," said Johan at the sight of the huge line of frogs waiting at the trading post. "This place sure is popular."

"It is," said a voice behind him. He turned around to see an old red frog wearing a simple farming clothes and neckerchief. Beside him were a young pink frog wearing a pair of goggles and a green conical hat and vest and a little pollywog wearing a yellow bow sitting in a bucket. "Especially when it comes to emperor's jade oolong tea."

"Wait, you're after that tea too? Felicia needs that for her tea shoppe."

"Not surprised. Emperor's jade oolong tea is the most coveted tea there is. And the most expensive."

"That explains the moneybag." Then Johan realized, "Oh. Scusami. I don't think we introduced each other. I'm..."

"Everyone knows who you are, JoJo," said the old frog. "You're that thing living in Felicia's house. Hopediah Plantar. Local farmer. These are my kids, Sprig and Polly." Sprig didn't say anything while Polly eyed Johan suspiciously.

"Oh, you're Hopediah. She's told me about you. Says you're not good at your job?"

"Hey! We Plantars take pride in our work and the proof is in the pudding!" He pointed to a house that was sitting on a hill. Although, it looked more like a rundown shack carved from a tree stump with a yellow letter P sign on the front.

"It looks...much?" Johan said, uncertain.

"Quiet, the merchant's here!" the frog with the lazy eye shouted as he played his accordion. Johan learned from Felicia that his name was Wally.

The cart was driven by a rather fat green toad and was pulled by a spider the size of a horse. Johan shuddered a little at the sight of it. "Maybe it's a good thing Narancia isn't around to see this. He'd flip."

The cart came to a halt in front of the trading post and the frogs gathered around, fighting to get to the front. Johan tried to struggle his way through, but kept getting punched and kicked. "Alright, this is getting ridiculous! DARE!" His Stand appeared and dulled the frogs' sense of touch to the point where it felt like they were hit by a powerful anesthetic and they fell to the ground. "Thank you," Johan said as he walked to the front.

"No fair," Toadie groaned. "You've got a Stand!"

"Cheater," mumbled Wally.

"Hey, all's fair in love and war," Johan said with a shrug. He approached the cart and placed the moneybag in front of him. "One crate of emperor's jade oolong tea, please."

"Here you go." The merchant placed a single leaf on the counter.

Johan blinked in disbelief and in the process, cancelled DARE's effect on the other frogs. "The hell is this?"

"It's your emperor's jade oolong tea."

"This is a joke, right?" asked Sprig, getting irritated.

"How can this be?!" an old frog named Sadie Croaker shouted.

"And where's the fancy dough I ordered," a baker named Mr. Flour shouted.

More frogs behind them began shouting.

"I waited months for my fabrics!"

"I grow tulips!"

"And for my shipment of spices straight from Newtopia! It cost me almost all my lifesavings!"

"RIOT!" Polly shouted. "LET'S START A RIOT!" Everyone cheered with her.

Johan sweat dropped. "Queste persone sono intenso," he muttered.

"I can't help it!" the merchant protested. "Ever since that band of highwaymen came to town, it's been rather difficult to make the deliveries!"

"Highwaymen? What's a highwayman?" asked Polly.

"It's what old people like Hop-Pop call bandits," explained Sprig.

"Cool." Hopediah glared at her. "I mean, not cool! Very not cool!"

"Consarn it," cursed the mayor. "This is the fifth time this month those bandits stole our deliveries! I need my frilly lilac soap! For my pet flea!"

"You have a flea?"

"Shush, Toadie!"

"Sheriff," Johan said to the old frog. "Why didn't you catch these guys?"

Leatherleaf spat at the ground. "You think I hadn't tried? Even with Good Bad Ugly, I couldn't try. They're so elusive."

"So, who are these guys?"

"They're a trio of thieving newts who wear tall black caps and long black capes. Folks say they live in a cave high in the hills."

Johan raised an eyebrow. "You know where they live and you didn't catch them?!"

"Too many hills to check," the sheriff said with a shrug. "And besides, no one actually gets a good look at their faces without falling asleep."

"Asleep?"

"Yeah, they got a gas that knocks people out and lets them rob even the clothes on their back."

"It's true," said a naked frog wearing nothing but a barrel.

"Guess it would take a miracle to find them," Johan said to himself, but the mayor must have heard him because he pinned a "deputy sheriff" pin on his chest and said, "And here it is."

"Eh?"

"You wanted a miracle, let's send JoJo to catch them. It'll save us the trouble of sending more frogs and it'll not cost us anymore frog lives."

The other frogs seemed to agree with him. JoJo was stunned. "Wh-What?!" Then he sighed in resignation. "Me and my big mouth. May as well give me a weapon then," he said to the sheriff.

"Why bother?" he asked. "You got a Stand."

"Sometimes a Stand isn't enough," Johan explained. "I don't know if these guys are Stand Users or not."

"I don't know..."

"Look, do you want to send a poor boy out into the wilderness or do you want your stuff back?" Leatherleaf thought it over, then reached into his back pocket to hand him something. JoJo thought it was a gun, but his face fell in disappointment when he saw what it was. "A fucking pocket knife?!"

"Here. Take it. It's all yer gettin'." Johan reluctantly accepted it. "I'll give you a map and circle the bandits' last known location."

Johan looked down at the knife and muttered, "What am I going to do with a knife?"

"Are you crazy?!" Felicia shouted. "You can't just go out there by yourself!"

"I say let him," said Sylvia. "The boy might as well prove his worth around here."

"You're not helping, Mom!"

"Who said I was doing it by myself," said Johan as he looked down at the knife. "I asked the sheriff and a couple of guys to help me out."

"And how did they respond?" asked Ivy.

"Well, the sheriff agreed. Reluctantly, I might add. Hopediah said he had Sprig and Polly to take care of. And Chuck said he plants tulips. I don't know if that was a yes or no."

"What exactly trying to prove," asked Felicia.

"That I'm useful and not a burden on you and your family," Johan said as he put the map in his bag and his knife in his shoe.

"What are you talking about?"

"Ivy and I heard you and your mom talking about me."

Felicia and Sylvia's eyes widened. "You...you heard that?"

"Hey! You don't snoop on other people's conversations," Sylvia snapped at him.

"JoJo..."

"It's fine, Felicia," the boy insisted. "This way, you won't have to worry about people bad mouthing your store and saying you're making a bad decision."

"JoJo, wait!" But Ivy but was too late as he slammed the door shut. Felicia turned to glare at her Sylvia.

"What?" Felicia folded her arms. "I... Oh, I suppose I may have been a bit harsh, but..."

"Mother, I love you, but if this is the way you're going to treat our guest, you're going to have to improve your behavior!"

"Why, I oughta..."

They heard the door slam again and the two women turned to see someone missing. "Ivy?"

"According to the map, the robbers were last seen here," Johan said. He and Sheriff Leatherleaf had been walking through the forest, following the bandits' trail. But now, it had gotten cold.

"That there's an obvious remark," the sheriff said.

Johan rolled his eyes. "Strange thing is," he said as he looked down at the footprints. "These tracks just seemed to stop. It's like, something picked them right up and carried them away." He looked up and around the forest. "Sheriff? What kind of flying predators live here?"

"Birds, bugs, bats," he replied as he reached for his gun.

Johan frowned at that. "Dude, that is so not fair."

"Life ain't fair." Then suddenly, he pointed the gun straight at Johan's head. "Don't move."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Look I know you don't like me, but there's no reason to shoot me!"

"Good Bad Ugly." Leatherleaf's stand appeared on his hat and began to laugh.

"Now, look, I know we got off on the wrong foot yesterday but..."

"Boy, just shut up."

Johan summoned DARE. "Did you come with me just so you could kill me where no one would find me? Do you even trust me at all?"

BANG BANG BANG!

Before Johan could react, Good Bad Ugly were shot out of his gun. Johan shut his eyes instinctively then slowly opened them. He patted his chest and stomach, then looked up to see the sheriff's smoking pistol. Suddenly, something big and heavy fell from the tree behind him to the ground. It was the body of a large snake. Its open mouth had three bleeding holes.

"That was about to swallow you head first," the sheriff said nonchalantly. "I told you to shut up."

"Truth be told, you were probably better off dead anyway," Ugly laughed.

"He didn't mean that," Good assured Johan.

"Thanks," Johan said unsurely as DARE disappeared.

"For the record, if I wanted to kill you, I would have done it back at Wartwood. But killing a kid won't feel good for my conscious."

"Well, thanks for not killing me," Johan said, a little uncertain.

As the two walked on, Johan began to notice something odd. "Look, more footprints! And it looks like they're in pairs!"

Sheriff Leatherleaf gave him a deadpanned look. "Those are our footprints."

Hearing this, Johan's left eye twitched. "Are you kidding me?! We've been going in circles this whole time?!"

"No. I think we've found the bandits," Leatherleaf said. "They've been following us the whole time. And they've been tricking us."

"How can you tell?"

"Listen." The two of them listened and Johan's eyes widened when he heard... "Wheels?" Then he saw it: the trees were moving. It was then he realized, "Oh, damn it. We walked into a trap."

"Yep. And we fell fer it," Leatherleaf said as he took out his gun. Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching and he fired at the three figures wearing long black capes and tall black caps. They dropped dead.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Johan protested. "You didn't tell me you were the 'shoot fist ask questions later' kind of cop!"

"What? They was armed!" Then he looked again. "And...made of straw?"

Johan raised an eyebrow. "Are those...scarecrows? Then where are the real...?" He suddenly began to feel tired. "What's wrong with me? Sheriff, what is..." His eyes widened when he saw the sheriff passed out. "Sheriff, what's...what's..." That feeling of exhaustion was getting stronger and he suddenly remembered what the sheriff said about the bandits using knockout gas. He fell to the ground and his eyes slowly began to close.

The last thing he heard was the sound of footsteps and a girl's voice saying, "Well, well, what do we have here?"

To be continued...