So far, Kars is in the lead while Funny Valentine is a close second and DIO is dead last. Still a chance for you to vote and leave a comment as to why you would choose that villain.

"So, this is absinthe?" Sylvia asked as she, Felicia, Ivy and Johan sat at the table, looking at the bottle of green liquid. The team of mixologists hired by Johan and given jobs at Stumpy's showed the final result...after a long series of trials and errors and a lot of explosions caused by faulty machinery. It got so bad people thought they were making a new weapon instead of distilled spirit.

"Anyone want a taste test?" asked Johan. "Right after I put in the last ingredient first." He put a spoon with holes in it over the cup and placed a sugar cube in it. Then he gently poured water over the sugar cube, letting it dissolve into the absinthe, turning it into a light green color.

"Let me try," Ivy said as she reached for it, only to be stopped by Johan. "Hey!"

"Anyone over eighteen want a taste test?" he said. "That's the drinking age in Italia."

"But, you're fourteen," pointed out Felicia.

"Hey, I said I was going to make it, I didn't say I was gonna drink it! My dad would kill me and then resurrect me with Gold Experience Requiem if he caught me drinking underage. I mean, would you let Edera drink aphid beer?"

"Root beer, yes. Aphid beer, no." Felicia exhaled as she reached for the drink. "Well, bottoms up." She took a cautious sip of it, then made a face and spat it out. "It tastes like black licorice!"

"I guess it's acquired taste," Johan said.

Suddenly, Sprig and Polly burst into tea shoppe. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Sprig shouted.

"Hi, Sprig," said Ivy.

"Hi, Ivy." He fell to his knees and grabbed onto Johan's shirt. "YOU GOTTA HELP ME! ANNE AND HOP POP ARE DRIVING ME CRAZY!"

"Whoa, whoa, settle down, Rametto."

"My name is Sprig!"

"Rametto means sprig in Italian. Anyway, what are you talking about?"

"Hop Pop and Anne are getting on each other's nerves! It's always 'In my day' this and 'Where I come from' that! If this keeps up, we'll all end up like the Hendersons!"

"What happened to the Hendersons?"

"Mmm," Sylvia said in pity. "A frog couple that used to argue all the time until..." She pointed out the window and at the burnt shell of a house. Wally came out of the house, holding a bunch of family possessions in his hands. "Nothing like scavenging the remains of a broken frog family," he said cheerfully.

"If we don't do something now, it won't be long before their bickering tears this family apart," said Sprig.

"I told him we should just give them time," said Polly. "Not like we have a lot of options. You can't force people to get along."

"Not unless you have mind control powers," said Johan. "Or make a calamity that makes them put aside their differences."

An idea popped in Sprig's mind as he formed a sly grin. "Yeah..."

"Rametto, what are you doing?" Johan asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing," the little pink frog said as he took the kaiser blade and slung it over his shoulder as he walked off. "I'll be sure to bring this back."

"May I help?" asked Ivy.

"Why not?" asked Sprig with a shrug. The two kids giggled mischievously as they took off.

"Hey! What do you two think you're doing?!" Felicia called out. "Sprig! Ivy!"

Johan buried his face in his hands. "That boy's going to be the death of us all." Polly nodded her head.

Some time later, Ivy returned with the kaiser blade, covered in leaves and carrying baskets of corn. "Here you go, JoJo," she said, handing the kaiser blade to him.

He looked at it in confusion, then at her. "What were you two doing?"

She ignored him and counted her fingers. "Three, two, one..."

"WE'VE BEEN ROBBED!" Sprig's voice echoed in the air.

Johan looked at her and exclaimed, "Oh, my God, what did you two do?!"

"Eee, hee, hee."

Anne and the Plantars got that answer when they found several stalks of corn missing. "MY PRIZE-WINNING CORN!" exclaimed Hop Pop.

"You've won prizes?"

"It's an expression, Anne. What are you, the fact police?"

Sprig hopped onto a plough and said dramatically, "The injustice! The outrage! We've gotta catch this thief!"

"Agreed. And it's nice to see you so passionate about produce, Sprig," said Hop Pop.

"Yes. Very odd," Polly said suspiciously.

"If the thief stole once, it'll steal again," said Sprig. "The only way to catch this monster is a stakeout."

"I like steak," said Polly.

"Good idea," said Hop Pop.

"Okay," said Anne.

"And the only ones who can do it are... Anne and Hop Pop!"

"What?!" Anne and Hop Pop exclaimed.

"Well, I obviously can't because I have the attention span of a..." A butterfly passed by Sprig's head. "Oh, look at that."

"Why not Hop Pop and Polly?" asked Anne. "Seems like a winning combo to me."

"Polly's a baby, Anne."

"Just asking, Hop Pop. Ugh."

Hop Pop sighed in acceptance. "Very well. Let's be honest though. Anne'll probably fall asleep and it'll just be me."

"Why would I fall asleep first?" Anne asked defiantly. "Aren't you like 100 years old?"

"I'm a crisp 68!"

After Anne and Hop Pop returned to the house, Polly stayed behind as she asked Sprig, "You and Ivy stole the corn, didn't you?"

"Oh, absolutely. But now those two have to spend the whole night together and bond!"

"Sprig, you can't manipulate people like this!"

"I can, and I did. And it's going to save this family."

That evening, Sprig set up his telescope and peeked outside his bedroom window to see Anne and Hop Pop sitting by the stone fence. "Just look at 'em. And now to watch the flowers of friendship bloom."

"I think this is a bad idea," said Johan. Wait. Johan?

"How the heck did you get in here, JoJo," said Polly.

"I climbed down the chimney. And I want to say that this is wrong and you know it, Rametto," he said to Sprig.

"But I don't want them to end up tearing this family apart!"

"Rametto, you're being paranoid. Not every argument ends in a murder-suicide. This is just your typical 'old vs new' squabble. They won't kill each other."

"And they won't! Because I made sure of it," Sprig said with a maniac grin.

"Santo cielo," Johan groaned. "Scooch over. I want to see." He took a look through Sprig's telescope.

Hop Pop glared at Anne as she read her book by candlelight. "For goodness' sakes, Anne, put that lamp out. We're trying to catch the thief, not scare it away." Anne grumbled and blew out the candle before she yawned. Hop Pop chuckled. "Had a feeling you wouldn't last."

"Worry about yourself. I'll be fine. I just need a little boost is all. BOOM!" She pulled a bottle of red juice. The label said, "Blam Berry Blitz. The drink that punches you in the face and doesn't stop"

Hop Pop laughed, "Ha! That silly drink won't keep you up! Now, this will keep you up." He pulled out a tea pot made from a gourd shaped like a skull from his bag. The brew in it stank of death.

"Ugh! What is this poison?" Anne asked.

"Mama's old gourd tea recipe. I'm not surprised you don't like the smell. It's way too strong for you."

"Ha! No way it's stronger than my Berry Blitz."

There was a moment's silence. Anne and Hop Pop glared at each other, then at their drinks. "GIMME THAT!" They grabbed each other's drinks and chugged it all down in one gulp. The results were instant. Anne turned green and began dry-heaving while Hop Pop let out a gurgling croak. After losing their lunch, they started laughing. "You should have seen the look on your face," said Anne. "You were dying!"

"And what about you? I didn't even know you could turn that color," said Hop Pop. "What, you got chameleon in your blood?"

The two of them laughed again before they sighed and relaxed against the fence. "You know, sometimes I wonder if JoJo and I will ever get home," Anne said.

"I know what it's like to miss something, Anne. I find myself pining after the good old days way too much."

"Yeah. We're kinda similar that way. You're always going on about the old days, I'm always going on about back home."

"Yeah, deep down we're just a couple of softies, ain't we?"

"Hmm. I think you're plan is working, Rametto."

"Let me see!"

"WAH!" Sprig pushed Johan to the ground and peered into the telescope. "It's working. They're... connecting."

"Ouch..."

Spoke too soon, Sprig. "Of course, my situation is way worse than yours," said Anne.

Hop Pop immediately stood up and snapped, "Always gotta make it about you, don't you? 'I'm Anne, and my life is worse than everyone else's.'"

"Oh, yeah? Well, at least my head isn't a teakettle." That sounded wrong. "Wait. What?"

"Oh, yeah? Well, at least my hair isn't rainbow stardust." Even to Hop Pop, that sounded strange.

The world turned into a whole vibrant of colors and weird shapes floated around them. "What's happening to us?!" screamed Hop Pop.

"How should I know-" Anne stopped and realized, "Oh. The drinks! Our body chemistry must be so different that we're having crazy reactions to each other's extreme beverage." She paused. "That was the smartest-sounding thing I've ever said."

"This is terrible!" Hop Pop exclaimed as his tea kettle head whistled. "I never shoulda let you trick me into trying something new!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, your gross old mama's tea did this to me!"

"Okay, I take it back," said Johan.

"Let me see!"

"WAH!" Sprig pushed him to the ground and peered into the telescope. "Why do you keep pushing me?!"

"No, no! This can't be! They're fighting again."

Polly, who was sitting in Sprig's hammock snarked, "Oh, no. What a surprise."

"Okay, okay. No problem. We'll just have to take matters into our own hands."

"Wait. You don't mean..."

"Oh, that's right, Polly!" Sprig ran into his closet and put on a scarecrow's clothes and hat. "I'm going to steal more corn right under their noses. They'll have to do this again tomorrow, and the next night, and the next night, until they're the bestest friends who were ever friends, and then the family will be saved!" He laughed manically until...

"MUDA!"

Johan punched him in the face and grabbed him by the seat of his pants. "Enough is enough! You're telling those two crazies the truth," he said as he dragged the frog boy out.

"NO! MY PLAN! IT'S PERFECT!"

"I didn't make you drink my Berry Blitz," Anne shouted.

"Well, you grabbed for my tea first," Hop Pop shouted back.

"This wasn't my fault."

"Well, it sure wasn't mine."

"Anne! Hopediah!" Johan said as he approached them, still holding onto Sprig. "I got something for you!"

Anne and Hop Pop looked at him with crazed looks in their eyes. "The corn thief!" shouted Anne.

"Huh?"

Hop Pop pointed at Johan and shouted, "Feel my scalding steam, thief!" He blew out his nose, much to the boy's confusion.

"Do they seem off to you, JoJo?" asked Sprig.

"Are you guys...okay?" asked Johan awkwardly.

Anne and Hop Pop stared at him, then screamed like he had grown a monster out of his back. Hop Pop shouted, "It's the scariest thing I've ever seen!"

"Finally something we agree on," said Anne.

"We've got to take this thing down. Are you with me?"

Anne smiled with determination. "Till the end."

Hop Pop took a deep breath. "RIPPLE CUTTER!" He spat a pitiful bubble of saliva at Johan.

"RIPPLE OVERDRIVE!" Anne shouted as she thrusted her fist forward and made a "FOOOOSH!" sound with her breath.

Johan watched the scene with a raised eyebrow. "Is this how Stand users look like to normal people?"

"Kinda," said Sprig.

"Our Ripple attacks aren't working," exclaimed Hop Pop.

"Quick, grab those power-ups," Anne shouted.

"Power-ups?" asked Johan. The situation turned from humorous to dangerous when Anne and Hop Pop, in their crazed state, grabbed a sickle and a pitchfork and charged at him. "Uh-oh." He ran into the field and past the pumpkin patch, only to trip over a rock and slam into the backdoor of the house, dropping Sprig in the process. He and Sprig screamed and ducked to avoid the pitchfork and scythe being flung at them and the latter fell to his knees and cried, "Anne, Hop Pop, it's me! I've learned my lesson. I promise. I'll never manipulate people and I'll stay out of other people's business!"

Whatever high Anne and Hop Pop were on, it seemed to be wearing off as Anne seemed to realize, "Uh, does the corn thief kinda sound like Sprig to you?"

"Now that you mention it..."

Sprig sobbed, "Don't kill me! Please!"

Anne and Hop Pop blinked a few more times as the high wore off entirely. "Uh, wai- Wha- None of that was real?" asked Hop Pop. "But it was so terrifying!"

"Well," said Johan as he stood up. "That's what a trip will do to you."

"JoJo?" asked Anne. "What are you doing here?"

"I caught your thief," he said as he pointed to Sprig. "He set this whole thing up because he wanted your bickering to shut up. Right, Rametto?"

Sprig nodded and whimpered, "Mm-hmm!"

"It's true," said Polly as she hopped out to meet everyone. "I am a key witness!"

Hop Pop and Anne looked at each other before the former said, "We'll discuss this later, Sprig. Anne, while we were...uh, seeing things, you tried to defend me, did you?"

"I did. And you defended me, too. You know, Hop Pop, back home we call that having a friend's back."

"Well, back in my day we called it 'pulling a Stinky McGuire.' But if you don't know Stinky, the saying don't mean much, so let's just stick with yours." They both laughed, then yawned. "Boy, I'm tir-" Hop Pop and Anne fell flat on their faces and began snoring.

"I'll get them to bed," said Johan as he dragged them into the house.

"Wow, Sprig, I owe you an apology," said Polly. "Your dumb ol' plan actually kinda worked."

"Thanks, Polly, but maybe next time we do it your way," said Sprig before he fell on his back and began snoring.

Polly sighed. "Guess I should drag him inside. But first, I'm parched." She reached for Anne's Berry Blitz, drank it and had a trip of her own. "All right, Boulder-tron, you ready to roll?" she asked the robot stone man.

"Always, my queen."

She hopped on Boulder-tron's head and patted it. "Good man, Boulder-tron. Good man."

"JoJo?" asked Ivy when the boy returned home.

Johan, looking dead tired, muttered, "I had a long night, Edera. Wake me up if it's important." With that, he plopped on the couch.

"I just wanted to say sorry for helping Sprig. I know I shouldn't have gotten involved in other people's business."

Johan peeked an eye open and asked, "Did your mother already give you a lecture?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Good," he said before he shut his eyes and began snoring.

To Be Continued...