Anther chapter I feel could have gone better.

It was a warm night in Los Angeles. Busy commuters were busy going about their daily lives, not really caring what was going on. Nor did they notice the figure leaping across the rooftops. It was Giorgio, who decided, after being bored out of his mind from staying in the hotel room all the time, to do some late night exercises and parkour. As he front flipped from one roof top to another, he stopped when he heard the sound of someone in distress.

Down below, a burglar was holding a family at gunpoint. "How about you hand over them pearls and I won't have to shoot ya!"

"Please, take my money, my phone, my underpants, anything," said the father.

"That won't be necessary," said Giorgio, who suddenly snuck up behind the burglar. "You're free to go, people."

"Oh, looky here," said the burglar. "A little girl trying to play hero!"

A vein popped in Giorgio's forehead. "I'm a boy."

"Oh. My mistake. It's just that with that voice, and that body frame, I thought...wait, why do I care?" The burglar pointed his gun at Giorgio. "I'm gonna kill you if you come anywhere near me!" Giorgio took one step forward. "I mean it, I will do it!" Giorgio ignored him.

"Kid, don't do it," said the mother. She didn't want to get mugged, but she also didn't want to see her "hero" get shot.

Giorgio ignored her and kept walking. "Okay, I warned you!" BANG! The burglar fired his gun, but to his amazement, the boy kept walking, even with a bullet in his shoulder. BANG! BANG! BANG! He fired again, this time, in the leg, stomach, and chest. But Giorgio kept advancing toward him. "H-How are you doing this," the burglar asked, becoming afraid.

Giorgio came to a stop toward him, and pointed the gun to his head. "Go on. Fire if you dare." Trembling, the burglar did as he was told. He fired his gun, splattering brain matter all over the ground, making the family scream. Giorgio didn't even flinch. The gun wounds began to heal themselves, much to the burglar and family's shock. Then, Giorgio coughed up the bullets into his hand, and then dropped them.

"Wh...What are you?" he asked. Or at least, that's what he thought he said. He realized something. When he fired the gun, he didn't hear the sound of it going off. In fact, he couldn't even hear the sound of his voice. "What's going on?! I can't hear anything? You! What did you do?! Give me back my hearing!"

Giorgio smirked. DARE had turned off this loser's sense of hearing and was as deaf as a doornail. He wanted so bad to drain this man dry of blood...but he remembered his vow not to drink human blood. So instead, he decided to hypnotize him instead. Giorgio's eyes glowed red and so did the burglar's. "You want money so bad, go get a job."

"Okay," said the burglar and he walked away.

"He'll get his hearing back once he's out of DARE's range," said Giorgio. He suddenly let out a yelp when the family he rescued hug tackled him and began kissing him.

"You saved my underpants," said the father.

"Our hero," said the son.

"How can we ever repay you," said the mother.

Giorgio's eyes glowed red again, hypnotizing the entire family. "Forget what happened and go about your business."

"Okie dokie," said the family and did just that.

Giorgio sighed. "Santo cielo. I gotta get back to my workout." He wall jumped up back up to the rooftop and resumed his parkour.

Meanwhile, in the Boonchuy residence, while everyone was asleep, Anne was wide awake, typing away at her computer, searching for any reference to interdimensional portals, or Stands with an ability similar to Funny Valentine's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Everything from AMA websites, a Wikipedia article on Multiverse theories, and a whole marathon of Inuyasha.

The sound of someone tapping on the window made her eyes tear away from the computer to see who it was. "JoJo?" She opened the window to let him in. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing." Giorgio took note of how tired Anne looked. "Anne, when was the last time you went to sleep?"

"Sleep? Who needs sleep? I can go on for hours! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha," Anne laughed crazily only to fall asleep before instantly waking up again. "Okay! I'm fine now! I'm awake and ready to..."

"Anne, stop!" Giorgio put his hands on his shoulders. "Anne, I'm worried about you. You're not sleeping, you're barely eating. We can find a way to get the Plantars home, but not while you're acting like this!"

Anne shoved him off. "Why do you care?"

"Because you're my friend! And you have qualities that I like about you."

Anne raised an eyebrow. "Like what," she asked skeptically.

Giorgio thought it over. "Well, you're funny, you're smarter than you think you are, you have determination that's rivaled only by Sasha, and...well, forgive me for saying this, but you're beautiful."

Anne replied, "I thought I wasn't your type."

"You're not, but that doesn't mean you're not beautiful. And if you're lucky, you might find someone who likes you for those qualities I mentioned." He put a hand under a chin. "And...there is one more quality I like."

"What's that?"

Giorgio smiled, and his eyes glowed red, hypnotizing Anne. He buried his face into her neck and sniffed her. "You smell delicious. Wrrryyy...Anne...let me...let me..."

Anne tilted her neck back, allowing Giorgio to sink his fingers into her neck.

And then she woke up with a scream. Panting and sweating, she felt her neck to feel for any puncture marks. When she couldn't feel any, she sighed in relief. She glanced at the bedroom window, finding it still closed. She looked outside to see no one there. She closed the curtains and returned to bed. "Why am I worried all of a sudden? JoJo's not Dracula and he's certainly not like DIO." Still, she couldn't get the image of him draining those newts back at Andrias' castle dry out of her mind, not even the image of him pouring the blood from Andrias' severed hand onto himself and sucking it all up.

She shook her head. She had no time to think about that. She returned to her computer to resume her search. But she didn't get far when she heard her mother calling, "Anne! Breakfast!"

Anne looked out the window again. It was morning already? "I'll just hit send real-"

"NOW!"

"YEP! OKAY! OKAY!" Anne dropped her computer and ran downstairs.

Meanwhile, Giorgio had returned to the hotel just before the first morning rays shone. He licked the blood off his fingers. He was fortunate to find a co-op that was open twenty-four seven and buy some raw bloody meat. He opened the door, and was about to go to bed, only to gasp when he saw Giorno sitting on the bed, arms crossed. "Oh. Hi, Dad."

"Where were you?" he demanded.

"I was out doing my nighttime exercises. You know I don't get out much during the day, so I need to do something without having to go around carrying around that stupid umbrella."

Giorno saw the red stains on Giorgio's fingers. "Did you..."

"No! You know I vowed not to drink human blood," Giorgio insisted. "I bought raw bloody meat at a co-op! I got the receipt in my pocket!"

Giorno asked, "And you didn't have any run-ins with anyone?"

"It's fine," said Giorgio as he sat down in a chair. "No one saw me. And if they did, you know I can use my hypnosis to erase their memories. You don't have to keep worrying about me."

Giorno said, "You know, maybe you need a change in pace if you're feeling cramped in here."

"Where can I go? Most of the good spots around here close at night," Giorgio groaned in frustration. "And to top it all off, we still have no leads on how to get the Plantars back to Amphibia."

"I could check the thrift store's records," said Giorno. "That Calamity Box didn't go all the way here to America on its own. Someone had to have found it and sell it to the thrift store."

"Pfft. Good luck with that. Anne and I already tried. That particular store been shut down."

Giorno thought it over. "I'll look for someone who used to work there. Maybe they might know something about the Calamity Box. In the meantime, you could check the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. If the box has been around for a thousand years, there might be a clue regarding it somewhere. And who knows? Anne might be there," he teased.

Giorgio blushed. "Dad! You know Anne's not my type! In fact, the kind of girl I'd like is...wait, why am I telling you this?" And with that, he booted Giorno out of the apartment and slammed the door.

Giorno got up and patted himself off. "That boy's picked up some of Mista's classlessness."

Back at the Boonchuy residence, the Plantars were sitting in front of the TV, watching the Primthistle Manor show.

"Lord Frankerton. May I join you at the window?"

"Only if you wish to torment me."

Anne wasn't paying attention to anything. She just stared out into space with a bowl of cereal in hand. "Whoa. Someone didn't sleep," Sprig stated the obvious.

"Nope. I spent all night researching ways to get you guys home, and possibly the night before that."

Mrs. Boonchuy, who was passing by, said, "You? Researching? Who are you and what happened to my daughter?"

"Har har. So I was thinking. What if there's a second Calamity Box here on Earth? So I mapped out every thrift store in a 50-mile radius and if we leave right now-"

"Pass," dismissed Polly. "'Primthistle Manor' isn't gonna binge itself-"

"EVERYONE QUIET!" shouted Hop Pop. "Lord Frankerton is confessing his love for Lady Franklin!"

"My dearest, Lady Franklin. I simply cannot contain my passion for you any longer."

"Oh, Lord Frankerton!"

And that was it. Cue the credits.

"Amazing!" shouted Hop Pop.

"I'm shook!" said Polly.

"And it only took three seasons!" said Sprig.

Anne sighed in annoyance. "Why does it feel like I'm the only one trying to find a way back to Amphibia?"

"Anne, we have all been trying," said Sprig. "But, it's okay to take a day off to recharge every now and then. Even JoJo takes it easy."

"That's because he sleeps during the day," pointed out Anne. "Creepy bloodsucker."

"Hmm? What did you say," asked Mrs. Boonchuy.

Anne, forgetting she was still in the room, immediately said, "Nothing!"

"Since you seems to enjoy research so much now, what if you all spent a day at the museum and wrote a report," Mrs. Boonchuy asked. "You have a lot of make up schoolwork to do." She pointed to the stack of textbooks collecting dust.

"OH! DO WE HAVE TO?!" everyone asked.

"Yes. I'm also cleaning the house. There's slime everywhere and I'm not pointing fingers, but I need you all out of the way." That's not slime, Mrs. Boonchuy. It's mucus secreted from frog skin.

"Gross, Anne," said Polly.

Mrs. Boonchuy dropped Anne and the Plantars off in front of the museum. "I'll pick you up at 6. Have fun! But also learn!" They all groaned as Mrs. Boonchuy put on her glasses and drove off. As they entered inside, they were amazed by the artifacts at the museum.

Sprig pointed to a dinosaur fossil and said, "Whoa. Looks like you guys used to have a monster problem too. Wait. This kinda looks like one of the monsters Diego Brando turns himself into!" Then he saw someone familiar across the way, carrying an open umbrella and looking at an ichthyosaur skeleton. "Hey, look, it's JoJo!"

Giorgio turned around in surprise. "Guys, what are you doing here?"

"Mrs. B wanted us to go 'have fun and learn'," air quoted Sprig. "But seeing you here, it'll be a whole lot better, JoJo!"

The mere mention of Giorgio's nickname immediately caused Anne to activate her Ripple on instinct, but she quickly deactivated it. "JoJo, what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?"

"I was bored staying at the hotel, and none of the places I want to go to open at night. So, Dad suggested I come here to look for a clue while he looks for and talks to an employee who used to work at the thrift store the music box was in to see where it came from."

"Wait, he is? Why aren't we doing that?" asked Anne. "We should be helping him out and..."

"Ah, ah, ah," said Hop Pop. "Your mother wanted us to stay and learn, and that's what we will do."

Anne whined. Giorgio noticed the bags under her eyes. "Anne, when was the last time you slept?"

"Slept? Who slept?" Giorgio and the Plantars gave Anne looks of concern as she walked away.

Next they entered the Solar System room, and everyone marveled at how the Earth looked. Everyone except Anne, who just yawned.

"Wait, your people think the Earth is ROUND?!" exclaimed Hop Pop.

Giorgio chuckled. "Oh, Hopediah Plantar. You've got a LOT of learning to do."

"I like these guys. They get it," Polly said as she looked at a statue of two cavemen bonking each other in the heads with clubs.

"Yep, prehistoric times," said Giorgio. "Back when Man struggled for survival and dinosaurs ruled the earth. It was a simpler time with simpler pleasures. Man wore fur bikinis, hunted whatever prey he wanted, and knocked people upside the head with clubs and no one would complain about it because that's what Man was supposed to do. Of course, there was a lot more hair to grab on back then, too." Giorgio gestured to another statue of one caveman yanking another caveman's armpit hair.

Hop Pop said, "See? We can have a fun one-off just like we did in Amphibia." There was no response. "Anne? Anne?" Anne was busy looking at her laptop.

"ANNE!" shouted Giorgio, making her scream and almost drop the laptop. "Why do you have that with you?"

"Duh! Doing research!"

"You got to take a break from all this research!" said Hop Pop.

"Don't worry, HP. I'm fine, I'm fine," reassured Anne.

"You're not fine," said Giorgio. "You doze off every five seconds and you're barely eating! You're destroying yourself with this obsession to get back to Amphibia!"

Anne's eyes widened. "Amphibia?"

"That's what I said."

"No! Look!" She pointed to a pot with images on it depicting a frog stepping out of a portal and giving a familiar looking music box to a group of vikings.

The Plantars couldn't believe their eyes. "Call me crazy. But that looks like..."

"One of us," Polly finished Sprig's sentence.

"I don't believe it," said Anne. "Could this be the clue we've been looking for?"

"Didn't expect to see frogs in here, eh?" said a woman's voice.

Anne panicked and hid the Plantars behind her back. "What frogs?!"

Giorgio flexed his fingers, ready to attack the stranger, only to calm down when he saw who it was. It was an African American woman presumably somewhere between her twenties and thirties, and wearing a pair of red glasses, yellowish white gloves on both her hands, a yellow shirt with dinosaurs skeletons on it, a pair of brown khaki pants that's held by a black belt with a silver buckle, and a pair of purple grey boots. "This must be the curator of the museum," Giorgio whispered. He said out loud, "You were talking about the pot, right? Yes, we were wondering about this, considering there is no mention of frogs in Norse culture."

"Yes," said the curator. "This pot came from a dig site all the way in Iceland, estimated to be about 1,500 years old." Then she realized, "Oh, where are my manners? Name's Dr. Jan. I'm a curator here and an AVID lover of all things ancient."

She gave Hop Pop a wink, making him a tad uncomfortable. "Why'd she wink at me?"

"And you are correct, kid," Dr. Jan said to Giorgio. "Frogs are not normally found in Norse culture. Nobody really knows the significance of the frog woman or why she is giving this gold box to the vikings. Maybe it's a frog-shaped alien right from another dimension."

The Plantars immediately started sweating and Anne began fidgeting. Giorgio said, a little too quickly, "You do know that sounds crazy, right?"

Dr. Jan laughed. "Sorry, sorry. I'm really into cryptids. You know, UFO's and stuff." She gestured to her flying saucer earrings.

"So, you would know about Stands, then," Giorgio said before immediately covering his mouth.

"JoJo," hissed Anne. The Plantars mentally cursed him and his big mouth.

Dr. Jan immediately grabbed Giorgio by the shoulders. "No. Way! Are you a Stand user, too?!"

"'Too'?" said Sprig. "Wait, are you...?"

"No. I wish I was, but I have a friend who is. She calls it Was Not Was. It has the power to disassemble anything it touches, learn everything there is to know about it, then reassemble it. It's because of her Stand that she excels in archaeology. She can perfectly determine an artifact's origin, date, what it was used for, and find any hidden messages in it. But enough about my friend. Tell me about your Stand, JoJo! I think that's what your friend called you? What does it do? What does it look like? What is its range?"

"Ahem," Giorgio cleared his throat. "Before we get off topic, did your friend use her Stand on that pot?"

"No. Not yet. If you want, I could bring her over here now and..."

"No! That won't be necessary," said Anne suddenly. "Actually, I hate history and museums. Yuck."

"Anne, what are you..." Anne slapped a hand over Giorgio's mouth.

"Oh. That's too bad and kind of insulting," said Dr. Jan. "Well. if you changed your mind, just holler 'Dr. Jan' and I'll fly in like an information superhero," she said as she made a heroic pose. Everyone gave her strange looks. Realizing how awkward she was being, she said, "Uh- Dr. Jan away!" and moonwalked away.

"She's nice," deadpanned Giorgio before saying seriously to Anne, "Why did you blow her off like that? If her friend's Stand could tell us anything about the pot, we may as well take her help!"

"What? Come on, dude. We don't know anything about that lady. How do you know we can trust her? Plus, she's friends with a Stand user! What if she's not what she says she is?" That comment hurt Giorgio a little.

Polly said, "Paranoid much?"

"But that thing's our first real clue," pointed out Hop Pop.

"Exactly. And we're going to figure out what its secrets are without the use of a Stand."

"Well, if you don't wanna ask that Dr. Jan or her Stand using friend for help, what are we gonna do? Rob the museum?"

When Giorgio saw the pondering look on Anne's face, he knew right away what the answer was. "Anne, don't even think about it! Isn't stealing an ancient artifact the reason you got stuck in Amphibia in the first place?"

"Hey, that was different! I was tricked by my so-called friends into stealing the music box! This time I want to steal something to help the Plantars!"

"It's still stealing, Anne!"

"Why should you care? You're part of a Mafia organization! Stealing stuff should be child's play to you!"

"We don't HAVE to steal, Anne! We can just ask that Dr. Jan woman and her friend's Was Not Was to examine it!"

"I don't want to ask her for help! She can't be trusted and neither can her friend! In case you haven't noticed, we don't exactly have a good track record when it comes to Stand users!"

"Anne, you know not all Stand users are bad! Think of all the good Stand users out there. Ivy, Sasha, Yunan, my Dad, me..."

"For how long," Anne snapped as she poked a finger in Giorgio's chest. "How long until you start drinking human blood? How long until you start acting like DIO?"

Giorgio's eyebrows raised, then furrowed. "Oh, is that why you tremble every time I come near you? Why you activate your Ripple every time you see me? Alright. Let me ask you a question. Are you afraid of me? Do you think I might snap? Go on a blood-driven frenzy? Do you think I might...EAT YOU?!" Anne gasped, backed off and activated her Ripple. "Great. And here I thought I was done with this shit when Wartwood accepted the two of us."

"Anne, this isn't like you," said Hop Pop. "You're just not thinking clearly because of lack of sleep."

"And you're barely eating," pointed out Sprig. "Your paranoia is destroying you."

"No, this is me trying to rationalize here," said Anne as she deactivated her Ripple. "What if Dr. Jan is not what she says she is?!"

"Anne, are you talking about Dr. Jan, or about Sasha and Marcy?" Anne flinched. "Look, I know you've developed some major trust issues, but..."

"But nothing! We're going to steal that pot, and we're doing it tonight!" She was about to storm off, only to be grabbed by the arm by Giorgio. "Let go, JoJo!"

Giorgio's eyes flashed red, and so did Anne's. "Sleep," he commanded. Her eyes shut close and she fell backwards, only to be caught by Sprig. "Take her home, and wake her up in six hours. I'm going to have a talk with Dr. Jan."

As Giorgio walked off to find the curator, Sprig struggled to hold Anne up. "Man, for someone as skinny as a twig, she sure is heavy."

"Put her down here," Hop Pop said as he helped Sprig rest Anne on a bench.

"You do realize we'll have to carry her back home, right," said Polly.

"Sadly, yes," said Sprig. "Hey, do you think anyone heard that argument?"

"I don't think so," said Hop Pop. "There aren't that many people here."

Valentine, who was sitting on a bench on the other side of the room, looked up from the newspaper he was reading.

Giorgio rapped his knuckles on Dr. Jan's office door. She opened the door and was surprised to see him. "JoJo! What are you doing here?"

"I had a talk with Anne, and she changed her mind about the pot. And about museums and history. We would like your friend to use her Stand on the pot."

"Oh, that would be wonderful! I'll call her right away. However...this doesn't come free, you know."

"Fine. How much money do you want?"

Dr. Jan snickered. "I don't want money." She leaned in closer. "Tell me everything about your Stand and I'll give her a call."

Giorgio sighed. "Fine." He summoned DARE, even though he knew Dr. Jan couldn't see it. "DARE has the power over the five senses. It can enhance and dull them with a single touch. For example, it can enhance your hearing to the point you can hear every single sound in the city. Or it can dull your sight until you become completely blind. The helmet has a concealed weapon. If it were to be removed, either willingly or forcibly, it will activate the Superhuman Laser."

"Superhuman?"

"It's not what you think it is. When a person's five senses are pushed to the absolute limit, they experience a sensation where time seems to slow down for them. DARE's laser forces your consciousness into that state of heightened awareness; with it, a bullet would look like it's frozen in midair. The closer you are to DARE, the greater the laser's effects are. For example, if you were a few inches from me when the laser is activated, one second would feel like one hundred years." Dr. Jan shuddered at Giorgio's description. "But, the good news is I can turn off the laser's effects with a simple command. Satisfied now?"

"Oh, yes. But..." Dr. Jan leaned in a little closer. "Why do I have the feeling you're hiding more from me?" Giorgio backed off a little. He knew that if she found out he was a vampire, he'll never hear the end of it. "I'm just kidding," laughed Dr. Jan. "I'll call her." She dialed the number on her cell phone. "Hell, Dinah? Yeah, it's me. Your lovable nerdy curator. Hey, listen, about Was Not Was..."

Meanwhile, Giorno found an old woman of Spanish descent at a malt shop sipping soda. "Mi scusi signora."

The woman looked up and immediately blushed at the sight of Giorno's handsome features. "Oh, hello. Ah, I've never seen you before. Are you new? Are you staying?"

"No, sorry," said Giorno as he sat down in front of her. "I'm only on vacation."

"Aw, that's too bad. An old bag of bones like me could use some strong, young company."

Giorno coughed a little before he held up his hand, showing the ring on his finger. "I'm already taken, but thanks for the compliment."

The old woman pouted. "Damn. So, why do you wish to talk to me of all people?"

"I heard from the grapevine that you used to work in a thrift store."

"Yes, but I retired and am now living with my son."

"Aw, that's too bad. I was looking for something. A gold music box with three colored gems set in it."

The old woman scoffed. "Pfft! That old thing? Too bad, sonny, but it's already gone. A teenage girl and her two friends stole it. And get this, they were those three girls that disappeared five months ago. Rumor has it, one of them is back. Ooh, I'd like to give her what for!"

Giorno said, "I think she's been through enough. What I want to know is how did the music box get into your store?"

The old woman put a finger on her chin. "I can't fully remember, but there was this Icelandic gentleman a couple years ago who said he was willing to sell it at any price. He seemed quite happy to get rid of it, to be honest."

"And you didn't ask any questions? Like where it came from or who built it?"

"Nope. I just took it without asking. Looking back, I probably should have."

Giorno was about to respond when his phone vibrated. He checked and saw he received a text from Giorgio. What he read made his eyebrows raise a little. "Sorry to cut this conversation short, signora, but I have to pick up my son from the museum."

"Oh, don't keep him waiting. It was nice to have a nice conversation with a handsome stranger," said the old woman. "And if you and your wife and son would like to visit my son's store, I'll try to give you a discount."

Giorno smiled. "I'll remember to give my thanks, signora."

"So this viking pot you found in the museum has a clue regarding Amphibia," Giorno asked as he and Giorgio rode in the limo back to the hotel.

"Yep, and Dr. Jan said she can have her friend use her Stand to analyze the pot for anything that might be hidden," replied Giorgio.

"She has a Stand?"

"Yes. With the ability to disassemble, learn everything there is to know about, and repair any artifact it touches."

"This friend of Dr. Jan's, was she pierced by the arrow app?"

Giorgio was about to respond, only to pause before saying, "I...don't...know... Anyway, Dr. Jan says she and her friend will analyze the pot and they'll tell us the results tomorrow."

"You're sure this woman can be trusted?"

Giorgio scoffed. "You're starting to sound like Anne."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Anne is having trust issues, ever since Sasha and Marcy. She doesn't trust Dr. Jan, even though she is willing to help us." Giorgio looked down sadly. "She doesn't even trust me anymore. She thinks I'm going to drink human blood and become just like DIO. That's crazy, right?" Giorno didn't respond. Giorgio realized, "Wait, Dad...do you really think I would..."

"The thought has crossed my mind," admitted Giorno.

"And what would you have done if I had gone on a bloodsucking spree," Giorgio asked, angry. "Kill me?"

"Not at first," Giorno said. "I would do anything to stop you, but I would only kill you if I had no other option."

Giorgio pouted. "I guess I would do the same thing if it were the other way around." He exhaled and looked down at his feet. "I only wish Anne would come to her senses when she wakes up."

Giorno asked, "What do you mean?"

"She's obsessed with trying to find a portal back to Amphibia, hasn't slept in days and it's starting to affect her. She's barely eating and not focusing enough. And get this: she actually wanted to steal that Viking pot, so I had to hypnotize her and told the Plantars to wake her up in six hours. Maybe that will be enough to make her come to her senses."

"Or it will make her angry and she'll be even more determined to get it."

Giorgio stared for a few minutes, and, knowing how stubborn Anne can be, face palmed. "I just hope the Plantars can talk some sense into her, otherwise, I'll have to do something that goes against my Mafioso nature: squeal on her."

Giorno said humorously, "You know, that could get you killed."

"Hey, what Anne doesn't know won't hurt her. Or me, for that matter."

Anne awoke with a yawn. "Aaahhh, man, what a crazy dream. I dreamed I was at a museum and I tried to steal a pot with a clue to Amphibia on it. Where am I?"

"That wasn't a dream," said Polly. "And you're back home."

Anne looked around and realized she was in the living room. "Oh. I'm going back to sleep." She laid down, closed her eyes...and then she awoke. She looked out the window and saw that it was nighttime. "Wait, how did I fall asleep?! How long was I out?!"

"Six hours exactly," said Hop Pop, checking his watch. "Your parents didn't want to wake you up."

And then, Anne remembered Giorgio's glowing red eyes. "Damn it, JoJo! He hypnotized me! I gotta get that pot!"

"How? The museum's closed," said Sprig.

"Easy, we're breaking in and stealing it!"

The Plantars were shocked. "You still want to do this," asked Hop Pop. "I thought a few hours of sleep would have changed your mind!"

"Come on, guys. If you don't break a few rules for this, how are we ever gonna get back?"

"We could ask Dr. Jan."

"The answer is no! I don't trust that woman, or her Stand user friend! What if she squeals on the government? The only ones we can trust is ourselves. Now who's with me?"

The Plantars, realizing there was no way she could be talked out of this, reluctantly agreed. "So, what's the plan?"

Anne ran to her bedroom upstairs to get some disguises. Sprig noticed Anne's phone sitting on the couch and, after making sure no one was looking, grabbed it and dialed down a phone number. "Hello, JoJo? I need to tell you something."

Anne and the Plantars, all dressed in black, snuck their way out of the house and to the museum. They ducked behind a bush when they saw a pair of guards at the front door. "First, we gotta distract the guards. Hop Pop?"

"On it."

One of the guards, whose name is Mitchell by the way, asked her partner Rodney, "So, my question is how did those bones get underground in the first place?"

Suddenly, Hop Pop, wearing cat makeup popped out and said, "Meow! I'm a cat. Meow! Meow!" And then he grabbed Mitchell's shoe and ran off.

"Hey, my shoe!"

"After that fabulous cat," said Rodney as they chased after him.

Anne, Sprig and Polly ran up to the front door. "Then, Polly, you get inside," said Anne as she launched Polly up into the air duct with her Ripple, allowing the little pollywog to open the door from the inside. "Sup, fools?" she said.

As they entered the museum, they failed to notice Funny Valentine hiding behind one of the pillars. He took his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. "Hello, this is an anonymous caller who'd like to report a robbery in progress at your museum."

"Lastly, Sprig, you take out the cameras," said Anne. Sprig nodded and used his tongue combined with Ripple to smash the security cameras.

At that moment, Hop Pop joined the group. "Those guards got tired of chasing me and stopped at a coffee shop. We got a good 20 minutes."

"Nicely done. Now, all we gotta do is..." Anne stopped when she entered the room where the pot was...only, it was not in its display case. "What?! Where did it go?!"

"Looking for this?" Anne looked up and saw Giorgio standing on the ceiling, holding the pot.

"Hey, you can climb up walls too," exclaimed Polly. "And without sticky fingers or Ripple! Dang, you vampires can do almost everything!"

Anne said angrily, "How did you know I would be here?!" Then she had a sudden realization, and slowly turned to look at the Plantars. "Which one of you told him?" Polly shifted her eyes in Sprig's direction. Anne growled, "YOU! You told on me?!"

"I...I...yes."

"Dude, you broke the number one rule: Don't squeal!"

"Anne, normally I would agree with the whole 'snitches get stitches' rule, but you're going too far," said Giorgio.

"No! I'm doing what's right to save my amphibian family!" In her anger, Anne's eyes and hair sparked with blue energy. "And I won't let you get in my way, JoJo!"

"Anne, listen to yourself! You sound like Sasha!"

Anne, clearly not liking that comparison, glared at Giorgio. "Give me the pot. Now."

"Anne, please," pleaded Sprig. "We don't have to do this! There's always another way!"

Hop Pop agreed, "We can always call Dr. Jan or-"

"There IS no other way," shouted Anne, her powers fully activating. Everyone took a step backward. "Give me the pot, Giorgio."

Polly gasped. "She didn't call him by his nickname! She's serious!"

Giorgio hid the pot behind him. "No," he said simply. With a yell, Anne flew up to him, but he summoned DARE, who punched her in the face and sent her crashing down to the ground. "Anne, you know you can't beat me! You don't have a Stand!"

"I don't need a Stand to beat you!" Anne flew up to him and reared her fist back to punch him, but Giorgio caught her fist. Big mistake. She shot a blast of Calamity Energy into his hand, sending him crashing into a wall. She then charged her attack again, but Giorgio managed to dodge it and the attack created a thick dust cloud. Anne blew the dust away and looked around, but she couldn't find Giorgio.

Suddenly, Giorgio, who had snuck up behind Anne, summoned DARE again who then punched her into a mummy's sarcophagus, its lid slamming shut on her.

"What just happened?" asked Sprig. "Why didn't she hear you coming?"

"I used DARE to deafen her when I caught her fist," said Giorgio as he dismissed his Stand. "She couldn't even hear the sound of her own voice." Suddenly, the lid burst out and slammed into Giorgio's body, pinning him to the wall. Anne got out of the sarcophagus, rage fueling her eyes. "Looks like deafening her pissed her off even more," he said, a little afraid now.

"I warned you, JoJo," growled Anne. "You're not going to get in my way!" Giorgio freed himself from the lid, then looked up and an idea hit him. Pressure built up in his eyes until air shot out of his pupils, cutting the ropes that were hanging a whale's skeleton from the ceiling. Anne gasped but it was too late to get out of the way as the skeleton crashed on top of her.

Giorgio looked down at the hole in his stomach as it began to heal itself. "Anne, were you really prepared to kill me?"

"Holy frog, he can shoot lasers out his eyes," shouted Polly. "Is there anything you can't do?! Asides from walking out in the sun, that is?"

Anne's fist suddenly burst out of the pile of whale bones and she slowly got out. Her powers deactivated due to exhaustion, but she still had enough strength to get up and walk over to Giorgio. "Give...me...the pot," she growled as she put a hand around his throat.

"Anne, stop," shouted Sprig. "Getting us back home isn't worth killing your friend!"

"Don't you get it," shouted Anne. "The longer we mess around, the more Sasha and Marcy could be in danger! And what if Andrias found a Stand user just like Valentine's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap? We have to get back to Amphibia and stop him! JoJo, give me the pot!" Giorgio reached behind him and pulled out the pot...or rather, what was left of it. Anne gasped in horror.

"You're an idiot, Anne," he snarled. "Did you once stop to think that fighting me would result in it breaking? You haven't changed at all, Anne! You're still the same selfish girl who doesn't think these things through! Dr. Jan is going to hate us when she finds out about this!"

"Well, maybe if you had just given me the pot in the first place, none of this would have happened!"

Suddenly, Dr. Jan along with the two security guards burst in. "Freeze! Put your hand in the..." Rodney paused when he saw the damage done. "...air?"

Mitchell let out a scream of rage. "What the hell is going on here?!"

"Uh...we can explain," said Giorgio.

Dr. Jan took a good look at him, saw his fangs and gasped. "A vampire?"

Anne suddenly realized something about the Plantars. "Gah! Your disguises blew off!"

Dr. Jan gasped with delight. "Frog aliens?!"

"What the?!" exclaimed the security guards.

Dr. Jan immediately blocked their view and said quickly, "I can't believe I forgot! Mitchell, Rodney, this has been a terrible misunderstanding. These are... performers rehearsing an exciting historical reenactment of some kind. We'll clean this mess up tomorrow. You two can go home. I'll take it from here." The guards, relieved by this explanation, left.

Anne sheepishly said, "Oh, heeey, Dr. Jan. Sooo, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this."

"And I can't wait to hear it. Frog aliens? Robots? Spill it, kid! This is a dream come true!"

Giorgio couldn't believe Dr. Jan's response. "Wait, you're not upset that we destroyed museum property," he asked as he held up the broken pot.

"Normally, I should be," Dr. Jan said as she took it from him. "But I don't have to worry because Dinah's Was Not Was can restore it. Hello! It can disassemble and reassemble!"

Anne looked to the Plantars, nonverbally asking for a way out of this, but Hop Pop said, "We can't do this on our own, Anne. Maybe it's time we try trusting someone."

"And I think you owe me an apology," said Giorgio.

Anne sighed. "You're right. I wasn't thinking clearly, and I let my issues with Sasha and Marcy made me distrust even my friends...and my familia. I'm really sorry, JoJo. I didn't mean to think you were becoming a monster, even if you are a vampire. And I'm sorry that I tried to kill you. That was the lack of sleep talking."

Giorgio smiled. "Hey, I can't stay mad at you forever. Just...take a break and stop worrying every so often and try to trust people more."

She nodded. "After this, I'm going to take a break from doing research and going to sleep. But first, Dr. Jan, we have a lot to tell you."

By the time Anne finished telling the story regarding Andrias and his invasion plot, the group had reached Dr. Jan's office. "Wow. Sounds like you've been through a lot. I see why you're in such a rush for answers, but why the heist? Why didn't you just ask me?"

"Yeah, that's what I was asking," said Giorgio.

Anne scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Uuhh... made sense earlier. If I'm honest, I'm sort of running on empty right now."

"That's an understatement. Me hypnotizing you was the best sleep you had in days!"

"Well, that's no good. Here, look at this." Dr. Jan showed them a piece of a fossil in a glass jar on her desk. "Back when I was younger, I would stay up for days on a dig. I couldn't go home knowing we were so close. One time I got sloppy with a dynamite charge and well, this was a Triceraptops."

"What's a Triceraptops?" asked Polly.

Giorgio asked Dr. Jan, "How do you still have your job?"

"Dumb luck, I guess. And the fact that I met Dinah. She and her Stand were real life savers. She told me to not push myself too hard otherwise I could...well, end up like you," Dr. Jan said to Anne.

"I get it. So what you're saying is if I keep this up I may do more harm than good?"

"That's what we've been trying to tell you," said Giorgio. "You're destroying yourself with this obsession of yours."

"Here. I'll make you a deal," said Dr. Jan. "Dinah and I will keep your secret and help you research this artifact if you go home and get some sleep. Oh, and JoJo? Would you mind staying around a little while longer? I like to examine you for a bit. Maybe you could donate a smidgen of DNA for study? What are the chances of me studying a real vampire?"

Giorgio frowned at her. "Stai sfidando la fortuna, signora."

"Thanks, Dr. Jan," said Anne. "Real quick. Before we go, do you have a black light? I wanna check and see if this baby has any secret codes on it."

Giorgio dragged her away from the vase. "Anne..."

"Black light," joked Dr. Jan as she escorted them out of the building. "Go sleep. Take a day off. The world will still be spinning tomorrow."

"Still not sold on this spinning globe theory," said Hop Pop.

"Santo cielo," said Giorgio. "Well, as for me...I'm going to do my late night exercises. See ya later, Anne!" And with that, he jumped into the air like he was Superman and ran across the rooftops.

"You know, sometimes I'm jealous of his vampiric abilities," said Polly. "Even if I have legs. Do you feel the same, Anne?" Silence. "Anne?"

Anne had fallen asleep right there on the floor. The Plantars carried her home.

The next morning, Dinah, a woman of Korean descent with short hair, a mole under her left eye, and wearing a Demon Slayer t-shirt and khaki pants, shook her head as Was Not Was, a colony Stand that resembled a swarm of termites repaired all the damage done to the museum. "Honestly, Jan, if I had heard it from someone else, I would never have believed it. Alien frogs and vampires? Man, you've got quite the bizarre life."

"What can I say? I'm bizarre. Now..." Dr. Jen led Dinah to the broken pot in her office. "What can you tell me about this?"

"Let's see. Okay, Was Not Was. Do your thing!" The colony Stand swarmed the pot and began devouring it. Flashes of images appeared in Dinah's mind. She now knew every detail about the pot now. Where it came from, what it was made of, who made it, and when it was made. And she knew any secrets it might have held. When she was finished, Was Not Was regurgitated the pot and began to rebuild it piece by piece until it was completely restored.

"Well," asked Dr. Jan. "What did you learn?"

Dinah rubbed her head. "I learned a lot."

⬅ To be continued...

Stand: Was Not Was

User: Dinah Bennett

Power: C

Speed: A

Range: C

Durability: C

Precision: A

Potential: D

Ability: A colony Stand that devours anything its user commands. After the Stand finishes devouring the object, the user will know everything about it, such as the date it was formed, who constructed it, how it was constructed, and where it came from, along with any secrets that the naked eye and technology cannot find. Upon finishing the analysis, Was Not Was will reconstruct the object to its fullest. As a side effect, however, it gives the user massive headaches.