"So what you're saying is that this entire room is your Stand?" Joanne asked incredulously.
"Exactly!" Polnareff said. "This entire room is contained within the key embedded in my turtle form's back."
"How do I leave?" Joanne asked.
"Oh, well that's easy, you just-" Polnareff started to explain, then caught himself. "No! You're not going to pull one over on me that easily. You're going to stay right here!"
Without warning, Silver Chariot shot forward, thrusting its rapier at Joanne's shoulder. Joanne quickly dove to the side to avoid the thrust, landing on one of the chairs in the center of the room and knocking it over. Joanne perched on top of the headrest of the fallen chair in a froglike stance.
"If we don't know how to get out of here, what's the goddamn point in still attacking me, asshole?!" she complained.
"Joanne," Scorpion Queen said from slightly behind its user. "I believe I've got an answer to that question. If he were to merely leave us alone, then we would be able to search for a method of escape at our leisure. However, by attacking us, he keeps us focused on avoiding him instead."
Polnareff tapped his right hand on his forehead.
"You know, Joanne," he said, "that Stand of yours is pretty smart. That guess was right on the money. However!"
He pointed forward, and Silver Chariot mimicked the motion with its rapier, aiming it at Joanne and Scorpion Queen.
"Knowing that doesn't change anything, because you'll still never figure out how to get out of here! As I said, you're staying right here in this room until Giorno returns!"
Joanne stood up, stepping back off of the fallen chair and onto the floor of the room and next to her Stand.
"Yeah," she admitted, holding her hands up as if she were surrendering, though she performed the gesture in a way that made it obvious she wasn't. "Yeah, you've got me there."
She changed the positioning of her hands, moving them so that her left hand was just above her face and to the left, and her right one just below it and to the right. As always, Scorpion Queen replicated the pose with the opposite hands next to her.
"Is what I'd say if I were some kinda loser!" she said. "Didja think you could tell me that I couldn't do something, and I'd just lay down and take that? I'm gonna beat you and figure out how to get out of here at the same time!"
"That's right!" Scorpion Queen added. "With our minds working together, there's almost nothing we can't figure out! We'll escape from this Stand of yours!"
Polnareff grinned as the fog that made up his body billowed outward. In front of him, Silver Chariot held its hand above its head and to the right and angled its rapier diagonally downward.
"I admire your spirit!" he laughed. "You remind me of your father! So I'll tell you what. If you can figure out how to leave Mr. President, then I won't attempt to stop you from exiting the hotel room."
"Deal!" Joanne said.
Silver Chariot flew forward, thrusting its rapier at her rapidly. Scorpion Queen tossed a trigger on the floor, and Joanne stomped on it just as Silver Chariot moved behind the other chair, causing it to flip over just like the first one had when she'd landed on it, slamming into Polnareff's Stand and knocking it aside.
"Joanne!" Scorpion Queen said.
"What?" Joanne asked.
Scorpion Queen pointed across the room. Joanne looked to see where its finger was aimed and spotted a door in the wall behind Polnareff.
"Do you think that's the way out?" she wondered.
"Possibly," Scorpion Queen said. "It would make logical sense, and Mr. Polnareff has positioned himself between us and there, so it stands to reason that it could be."
"Maybe he's trying to make us think that it's an exit when it's actually just a closet door or something, though," Joanne mused. "Well, there's only one way to find out!"
She stood in place as if deep in thought, looking around the room, then suddenly charged straight for the door behind Silver Chariot and Polnareff.
"Oh no, you don't!" Polnareff shouted.
Silver Chariot stepped to the side to block Joanne's path, holding its rapier at the ready to slash downward at her. As its foot touched the rug on the floor, Joanne grinned. She performed a short hop into the air, and Scorpion Queen grabbed the edge of the rug from where it was still standing next to the upturned chair and yanked on it. As the rug was pulled out from under Silver Chariot, it slipped and flew up into the air, giving Joanne an opportunity to tuck and roll under it as she landed. Before she could reach the door, though, it stabbed its rapier down right in front of her just as she was coming to her feet from the roll, using it to land on its feet in front of her.
Silver Chariot spun its rapier around and slashed it upward at Joanne, but she dove to the side, avoiding the attack by mere centimeters.
"Scorpion Queen!" she yelled.
Scorpion Queen reacted quickly, throwing a trigger onto Joanne's right forearm. Joanne slapped the trigger with her left hand and was flipped into position behind Silver Chariot the same way it had managed to block her path a few seconds earlier. She leapt towards the door, avoiding a rapier thrust from Silver Chariot in the process, and grabbed the handle, swinging it open to reveal…
An empty closet.
"Yeah, I fucking thought so," she said, annoyed.
"Joanne, look out!" Scorpion Queen warned, throwing a trigger right behind her.
Joanne spun around to see Silver Chariot swinging its rapier downward. She stomped on the trigger, releasing a copy of the Stand's earlier upward slash. When Polnareff saw this, Silver Chariot quickly twisted slightly to the side and angled its slash. The counterattack released by Scorpion Queen's trigger was still somewhat effective, but Joanne received a cut along her right arm from the quick change in attack direction.
"Here's something you'd do best to remember in the future," Polnareff lectured, pointing forward at Joanne with his hand palm-up. "If you're going to use the same strategy twice against the same opponent, make sure to mix it up the second time."
"That's a pretty good tip," Joanne said, grinning. "Hell, it's so good that I already started using it."
She leapt into the air and kicked off the wall, sending herself careening awkwardly toward the center of the room. Silver Chariot thrust its rapier at her quickly, landing a direct hit on her, but instead of stabbing her, the tip of the blade activated a trigger. Silver Chariot was flipped up into the air like it had been when the rug was pulled out from under it. This time, Polnareff was too surprised to react in time, and his Stand landed flat on its back.
Scorpion Queen threw a trigger onto the floor and stomped on it, causing Joanne's body to twist into the position she'd been in earlier when she performed a short hop, just before she hit the floor. Joanne landed safely and stood up.
"When were you able to get that 'trigger' on your body?!" Polnareff asked.
"When I threw the 'trigger' of Silver Chariot's upward slash behind Joanne," Scorpion Queen explained. "You were focused on your attack and how that 'trigger' would affect it, so you didn't notice the second one I threw, even though it flew right through your line of vision."
"Selective attention can sure be a bitch, huh?" Joanne added. Then she turned to her Stand. "Hey, Scorpion Queen, have you figured out how to get out of here yet?"
"I'm not certain, but I've got a fairly good idea," Scorpion Queen said. "You see, when we entered this room, we fell down from the ceiling, and if you look up, you'll notice that the skylight is not only the same shape and color as the gem in the key, but also shows the roof of the hotel room. Therefore…"
"To get out, we go up!" Joanne finished. "Great idea! Let's do this!"
She leapt up onto the coffee table, bending her knees to jump.
"Hold it right there!" Polnareff shouted. "Go, Silver Chariot!"
Silver Chariot, which had stood back up while Joanne and Scorpion Queen had talked, dove forward, stabbing its rapier not at Joanne, but at the coffee table. It broke the table into wooden shards, causing Joanne to drop to the ground. It swung down at her, and she rolled to the side, slamming into the couch. It readied to swing its rapier when Scorpion Queen lunged at it, swinging its fist.
Quickly, it whipped around, spinning on one foot and swinging its rapier diagonally downward. However, as its other foot came down to stabilize its position, Joanne slipped a trigger onto the floor under it. As soon as Silver Chariot's foot hit the trigger, it stopped swinging its rapier toward Scorpion Queen and instead spun it around in front of itself, then sheathed it with a flourish.
"What?!" Polnareff exclaimed.
"We've been saving that one for a while," Joanne said. "Scorpion Queen, get his ass!"
Scorpion Queen stepped forward, and before Silver Chariot had a chance to draw its sword again, it was already rapidly swinging its fists.
"MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!" it shouted, pummeling the silver-armored Stand into the ground.
It finished with an uppercut, sending Silver Chariot, and Polnareff's spirit, flying across the room and slamming into the wall. Then it bent down and held a hand out to Joanne. Joanne took its hand, and it helped her to her feet.
"Let's get outta here," she said, climbing up onto the couch.
She jumped into the air, reaching her hand up. The moment her hand came within about a meter of the ceiling, her and her Stand were sucked upward, popping out of the key in the back of the turtle and landing on the floor of the hotel room. Instead of standing up and leaving, though, Joanne just sat there.
"Well, go on," Polnareff (in his turtle form once more) said, walking slowly up to her. "I told you you could go if you got out of Mr. President."
"Yeah, I'll go in a minute," Joanne said. "I just… what the fuck was that? I mean, a room inside of a key in the back of a turtle possessed by a French ghost who can summon a knight?"
"Oh, I assure you, things will only get weirder for you from here on out," Polnareff laughed, performing the turtle equivalent of a good-natured grin.
"Well, that's certainly something for us to look forward to, huh, Scorpion Queen?" Joanne said as she and her Stand stood up and began walking toward the door.
"Yes it is," Scorpion Queen responded.
The Stand and its user walked out the door of the hotel room, letting it swing shut behind them. Polnareff looked after them, smiling to himself.
"I just realized something," he mused. "It's not just her father she reminds me of. The way she improvised and layered strategies like that, and her joking approach to everything I threw at her… it's just like Mr. Joestar."