This is another chapter that I didn't like to write. It's clear need help writing race scenes. Or at least ones that have action in them.

People gathered at the arena in about thirty minutes and in the next thirty minutes, it was packed. People cheered, placed their bets and wore T-shirts that showed support for either Johan or Diego. Bets were being placed on the sides, people were determined to make money off of this and no one was going to miss this amazing moment.

Anne, the Plantars and Marcy were in the top box with King Andrias. "You got it, JoJo!" shouted Anne.

"Knock that jerk off his saddle," shouted Sprig.

"Restore Hop Pop's honor!"

Hop Pop didn't cheer, and instead made a concern look for Bessie.

At the starting line, Diego and Johan polished their snails' shells. Bessie looked over at Silver Bullet, who let out a growl. She immediately hid in her shell. Johan patted her gently and cooed, "It's okay." He then glared at Diego. "Diego, I want to ask you something. Ever since Anne, the Plantars and I arrived, you've been on our cases all day, even though we've done nothing wrong to you personally. Why? What did we do to piss you off so much?"

Diego snarled, "Let me make this clear. I won't have any of you looking down on me just because the king has taken a fancy to you. I am the greatest there is, and I won't have anyone look down on me!"

A chill ran down Johan's spine when he heard that. Then he said, "You know, I acted just like you when I was younger. I thought just because I was the son of Passione's boss I was untouchable, but my dad gave my a harsh lesson on what happens to people who put themselves on a pedestal. Looks like I'm gonna have to teach you the same lesson."

Diego scoffed and got onto Silver Bullet's saddle. Johan jumped onto Bessie's as the barker shouted, "Greetings, racers! Today your nerve and skill will be tested for our amusement. If our challenger, Johan Shiobana, by some small chance beat our grand champion Diego Brando, then he will be awarded a month's supply of beetle mead! And a small cash prize of one thousand coppers, standard procedure," he added quietly before saying out loud, "Good luck, racers! On your mark..."

Johan and Diego glared at each other and revved their snails.

"...get set..."

Silver Bullet and Bessie growled.

"GO!"

The two snails took off, but Silver Bullet didn't go too far before he started thrashing about and making shrieking noises, almost throwing Diego off his saddle. "Steady, now! What's gotten into you?! Huh?" White powder covered the tracks in front of the snail, making his flesh foam. "Salt?! How in..." Diego got his answer when he saw salt spilling out of Johan's pocket.

And he wasn't the only one who saw it either. Anne chuckled to herself, "Clever."

Diego growled, "So that's how you want to play, huh?" He gave his snail a crack with the reins and Silver Bullet jumped over the salt and chased after Johan and Bessie. Somehow, the injured snail caught up with them and Diego took out a knife and cut into Bessie's saddle's straps.

"WHAT?!" Johan fell off Bessie, but he grabbed onto her eye stalks, making the old snail squeal in pain. "Sorry, Bessie!" He climbed back onto Bessie's shell and growled as he watched Diego take the lead.

Anne shouted, "He can't do that!"

"Actually, he can," said Marcy. "In this race, anything goes."

"WHAT?!"

"No, she's right," said Andrias. "The only rule is win at any cost. As long as no one dies," he quickly added.

Anne paused for a moment, then shouted, "JOJO, BE THE BIGGEST CHEATER YOU CAN BE!"

Johan caught up with Diego as they reached the first turn. Diego glared at him and made Silver Bullet ram into Bessie, making the old snail nearly crash into the wall. Bessie rammed back, and Diego responded by kicking Johan in the side. It seemed to work as Johan was forced to pull back.

"Come on, JoJo," shouted Polly. "Pound that dirty cheater in the dirt!"

"Come on, Bessie," said Johan. "Are you going to let that mean snail get the better of you, are you?"

Bessie made an angry chirp as if to say, "Hell, no!"

"Alright, then! Show them what you can do, old girl!"

With a mighty chirp, Bessie took off, intending on catching up with their rivals. When Diego saw that Johan was catching up to him, he wasn't worried. He whispered something into Silver Bullet's ear that made the snail snigger wickedly. They allowed Bessie and Johan to catch up and that's when Silver Bullet unleashed his secret weapon. He opened his mouth and shot out a barbed tongue that pierced into Johan's arm. The boy let out a scream and almost immediately, his vision started to become blurry and the left side of his body began to feel numb.

"Holy frog," exclaimed Hop Pop. "Silver Bullet is a cone snail!"

"A what?"

"Cone snails are a deadly form of sea snail," Marcy explained to Anne. "Their tongues are like barbed harpoons which they use to paralyze and swallow their prey whole! It gets worse. There are some variety of cone snails which can kill an adult man in a matter of minutes!"

When Anne heard that, she immediately shouted, "Hey! Diego should be disqualified! His snail could kill JoJo!"

"Anne, Diego's snail is of the variety that won't kill, but it will leave them paralyzed for several hours," said Olivia sadly. "Otherwise, he would have been banned years ago."

Anne and the Plantars gritted their teeth, feeling frustrated with the helplessness of the situation.

Johan began to lose all feeling in his body and his vision began to darken. Then, suddenly, driven by pure instinct, he jammed his foot into Diego's stirrup. The two racers were now stuck side by side. Johan slumped forward and nearly slid off Bessie.

"Look at that!" exclaimed Hop Pop.

"They're stuck together," shouted Sprig.

Diego, after seeing the finish line right in front of them, began violently trying to wrench himself free from Johan, but the boy refused to budge. "I'll beat you once and for all! Fair and square! I'll teach JoJo so his whole body will remember: he can't beat Diego! In a fight or in life!" He reached out and punched Johan in the face, bloodying him. Finally, he managed to free himself from Johan and laughed as he was sure victory was his...

And then his laugh turned into a scream as he, along with his saddle, slid off Silver Bullet and he crashed to the ground.

"What happened," asked Sprig. "He fell off his snail!"

Anne chuckled. "Diego was so focused on getting JoJo off him, he didn't notice he was loosening the straps of his saddle."

"How?!" exclaimed Marcy. "He shouldn't be able to move his fingers!"

Anne simply shrugged her shoulders. "Joestar luck, maybe?"

In truth, everyone was so focused on watching Johan and Diego, that they did not see what was going on underneath Silver Bullet's saddle. Johan had summoned DARE and, after using the same shrinking trick he used earlier, had it undo the saddle's straps without anyone noticing. Except for Olivia, who had her Book Of Memories at the ready to keep track of any Stand activity. She kept this fact to herself.

Johan and Bessie crossed the finish line and everyone cheered. But then cheers turned to gasps of shock as Johan slid off the old snail and did not get back up.

Johan slowly awoke to the sound of muffled voices. His vision was still blurry as he spoke. Well, not really speak and more like make a moaning, gurgling noise. "He's waking up!" he thought he heard Anne say. His vision became clear enough for him to realize he was in a hospital room, surrounded by Anne, Marcy and the Plantars. He tried to say, "Did I win?" But all that came out was more gurgling noises.

Somehow, Anne knew what he was trying to say. "You did, JoJo! You won!"

"Woo hoo!" Polly jumped onto his stomach and grabbed his cheeks. "You really showed that jerk who's the best!" Johan responded with a groan of pain.

"Polly, get off him," Hop Pop shouted, grabbing her off him.

"High tongue, JoJo," said Sprig before he slapped Johan in the face with his tongue. "Oh, right. Still paralyzed. Sorry."

"'ow...'ong...wash...I...out?" Johan managed to say as the feeling in his tongue returned.

"A whole day," said Marcy. "We managed to flush Silver Bullet's venom out of your body, but the paralyzing effect is going to take a while to wear off."

"Guess what," said Sprig as he showed the newspaper. On the front page was a photo of a bedridden, drooling Johan surrounded by his friends, Andrias, Olivia, and Billie, all giving a smile to the camera. The headline said, "Weirdo From Another Planet Now Champion! Diego Brando Defeated!" Sprig grinned as he said, "The celebration was great! There was lot's of music, dancing, food, an interview with the press! They even gave you a medal for first place!" It was then Johan became aware of the medal around his neck.

"So, you're telling me I MISSED MY OWN CELEBRATION?!" he shouted in outrage.

"Not true," said Anne. "We made sure you wouldn't miss out on the fun." She showed him pictures on her phone, pictures of him at the celebration while still lying unconscious in the hospital bed. For example, one showed Anne feeding him cake with a spoon. Another showed Billie dancing with his comatose body. Another showed Andrias giving him a medal. Another showed everyone drinking that month's supply of beetle mead that was promised.

Johan looked at the medal he was currently wearing. It depicted an Amphibia frog foot symbol with a laurel wreath and a snail on it. "Well, at least I have proof that I had a good time, even if I have no recollection of what happened." Then he asked, "How's Bessie, Hopediah?"

"She's happy she won," said Hop Pop with pride. "And I spent the cash prize on a new saddle to replace the one Diego Brando broke!"

"We all went on a spending spree!" said Sprig. "We didn't even use the royal credit card this time!"

"Hey, wait a minute! How much am I left with?! I won the money and bragging rights!"

Hop Pop sheepishly placed a small moneybag on his lap. "You can buy a makeover with that. They don't exactly come cheap here in Newtopia." Johan gave him the stink eye. "Hey, don't give me that look! You have no idea what it's like to be poor!"

"I should kill you for spending all my money, Plantar." Then Johan realized, "Wait, where's Diego? I haven't heard what happened to him."

Anne, Marcy and the Plantars glanced at each other before Anne showed him a photo of Diego begrudgingly shaking hands with him. "He left immediately after that. He didn't show up for the celebration."

"My guess he's nursing his pride somewhere," said Marcy. "It's probably for the best not to go looking for him."

"It's not like I plan to." Johan collapsed with a smile. "All in all, I had a good time. Well, except for that poisoning part."

Visiting hours were over and Johan was left alone in his bed, reading The War Of The Worlds on his phone. Suddenly, heard the door open. He looked up, Stand at the ready, and his heart nearly sank when he saw it was Diego Brando. "What? You want to give me your thanks in person now that I'm awake?"

"No." He grabbed Johan by the shirt and got in his face. "This is the last time I ever lose to you, JoJo. The next time we face each other, it won't be in front of a cheering crowd, but in front of your friends, who will cry at the sight of your bloody body."

Johan smirked. "Careful. Andrias might get upset if he finds out you hurt the winner."

"Don't you get it, you idiot?! He's been doing all this to earn your trust and to see how useful you are to him! That's why he hired you to kill the Bearded Dragons in the first place!" Almost instantly, Diego slapped a hand over his mouth.

Johan raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Diego smirked. "I said too much. I just wanted to say congratulations. Get well soon, JoJo."

"Wait!" shouted Johan as the newt left. "What is going on, Diego?! What is Andrias hiding?!" He did not get any answer as Diego closed the door behind him. Johan slumped into his bed. He looked up at the ceiling with suspicion. "Something's rotten in Newtopia. What could the king want from us that he would go out of his way to be nice to us?" Then he remembered the music box and how Andrias seemed very eager to get it. "Maybe it's a good thing Hopediah left it with his contacts."

The day before...under Marcy's bridge...

"How the mighty have fallen," said Diego to Gozaburo, who looked like a piece of bloody meat.

"Why..." the giant newt wheezed. "...I did everything you wanted..."

"Indeed. You proved that Passione can be very useful to King Andrias and you got them on his side. Although, you almost blew it when you revealed that little deal the two of you made. Should have kept that fat mouth of yours shut."

"But...but..."

Diego began to glow with Stand energy. "Scary Monsters."

The last thing Gozaburo Hellbender saw was the interior of Diego Brando's mouth, now lined with razor sharp teeth.

To be continued ➟

Stand: Scary Monsters

User: Diego Brando

Power: B

Speed: B

Range: D

Durability: A

Precision: C

Potential: B

Ability: The Stand's main ability is to infect other living beings with a virus which transforms them into dinosaurs, but also allows the user to control them. The user is also capable of changing his own body into a dinosaur, either completely or as a hybrid of the two.