Chapter 20
Sean quickly rushed everyone besides Framme and his son, Jean, out of the Clinic. Polnareff looked at the position of the sun. "Hey, isn't it getting a little late? Maybe we should prepare for DIO's assault. You know just in case…" said the frenchman.
Joseph rubbed his beard "You may have a point. I took care of the bulk of them already, but we should prepare some defenses just in case."
"Wait, what about waiting for Lord Diamant? I don't think he's returned yet." asked Clanne which got everyone's attention.
Joseph gave it some thought "I think it's best not to wait up for him. Since he's a prince his duty to his people comes first. He's probably working on preparing defenses in Brodia right now. I gave them a plan earlier, but now that I think of it. It's not an easy task to gather up that much oil in so little time. They probably needed every able body available." The Joestar reasoned.
Clanne looked pale at this. "Wait, but Diamant has the warp stone. That means we can't get back to the Somniel tonight and the divine dragon is completely unguarded. Shouldn't he at least return that?" said Clanne.
Upon hearing that the Divine Dragon was unguarded Polnareff spoke up "Wait! That's true! Dammit, I was so worked up about seeing Jotaro and visiting Avdol's grave that I completely neglected her. Forgive me, Divine Dragon, I broke my promise to you so quickly!" the Frenchman said in tears.
"Promise?" the older Joestar asked.
"I promised to protect her from harm, but I can't do that while I'm here! I was so stupid, Avdol's grave isn't going anywhere and that bastard Jotaro turned out to be perfectly fine. Well as Fine as a guy that lost his leg can be. I should have went back with Diamant instead" Polnareff stated
"Promise to protect? WAIT do you see how wonderful the Divine Dragon is too? She's truly amazing to charm even people from other worlds that have only seen her a couple times." Clanne said, making Veyle curious to meet the Divine Dragon herself.
"Okay okay, I get it, the Divine Dragon is important. I'm sure if she's that important Brodia will protect her since this Queen Lumera trusted her to them." Joseph interrupted the talk about the Divine Dragon before he looked around and noticed his grandson wasn't with them "Actually, come to think of it, where did Jotaro run off to?"
"Actually, Mr. Vander is gone too." Veyle added.
Joseph's face grew frustrated before he took a breath and calmed down. "I know my grandson is old enough to take care of himself, he'll catch up later. As for the young geezer he probably needed to clear his head after that little firecracker took a couple swings at him. Let's find the Noble leadership to come up with a defense strategy." Joseph said before walking forward.
"Hey, let's stop by Avdol's grave first. Wait… where did they bury him anyway?" said Polnareff.
Polnareff, Joseph and Veyle looked to Clanne. "Hey! Why is everyone looking at me? I have no idea."
Joseph sighed "Guess we'll have to visit him tomorrow. Can't be wasting time looking for his grave now."
With Jotaro and Vander
Vander followed Jotaro out to the edge of the town. "Tch, Why the hell have you been following me?" Jotaro said as he turned to Vander.
"Well, You're injured aren't you? As a knight I can't turn a blind eye when someone is in need of help." Vander replied.
Jotaro looked surprised by this but that surprise quickly turned into annoyance. "You're joking right? Look I don't need someone that needed to be saved from a brat looking after me. Good Grief." said the teenager before he opened up his coat and pulled out some smokes. "I came out here to relax and smoke for a bit, haven't had one for a couple days now. I don't usually offer these to anyone, but after seeing that family drama you may need one." Jotaro said as he rapped the top of the box before pulling a cigarette half way out of it. The teen gestured for Vander to take it.
Vander took the cigarette not exactly sure what it is "smoke? Is this some kind of stress relief from your world?"
Jotaro looked shocked? "You've never seen a cigarette before? Does this world have tobacco?" the young Joestar asked and when he saw Vander's puzzled reaction Jotaro thought if it was a good idea to let Vander have a cigarette. Jotaro sighed and decided against asking for it back since he made the decision to give it away and he'll stick by his choices. Jotaro took a second cigarette out of the box and put it in his mouth "Here you use this to light it up" the joestar said as he took out his lighter and lit the end of it. "Then you let it just sit in your mouth for a bit before breathing in." Jotaro said before he went silent. The joestar took the cig out of his mouth while still being silent. Vander was about to ask what was the meaning of the silence before Jotaro breathed out some smoke through his nose. "Once you breathe in, let the smoke cool then work it through your lungs and breathe out through your nose."
Vander coughed a bit when he smelled the smoke and covered his nose. "I appreciate the offer young man, but that smell is appalling. Here you can have this back." said Vander as he handed the cig back to him.
"Tch, your loss" said the young man before he took it back and stuck it back in his box. The Joestar placed the box back in his coat pocket and went back to smoking. After a couple minutes Jotaro removed the cigarette from his mouth and blew out some smoke. "So, I heard that story of what that Bastard DIO did to you…" said Jotaro which got Vander's attention "it pisses me off, especially hearing that he used Kakyoin's stand to do it. I don't understand how he managed to take Kakyoin's stand though… could that have been DIO's stand power all along?" the teen questioned which Vander quickly cleared up for him with a quick explanation. "So, this world transformed our stands into rings? Hn, I've seen stranger things. Guess I'm used to these kinds of bullshit abilities by now."
"I want nothing more than to destroy DIO right now. That criminal deserves the death penalty and I'll be his executioner." Vander proclaimed.
"Get in line old man, every second DIO breathes is another second my mother is closer to death. He pissed me off enough to kill him with that alone, but every time I hear something more about him he pisses me off even more, whether it be from his followers or even shit I hear second hand. Sorry, old timer, but I WILL be the one to end him." said Jotaro with more conviction than Vander thought possible.
Vander was amazed by this young man's conviction but he wasn't going to back down. "You already know what DIO did to me and you have the nerve to tell me to step aside? He took control of my body to chop up the person I cared for more than anyone else in this world. I still remember her screams as it happened, the feeling of my axe tearing through her." Vander said as his hand began trembling, the knight grabbed his hand with his other hand to stop himself. "The scent of her blood in the air…." The 32nd steward closed his eyes as he said that last bit before opening them with eyes more furious than Jotaro's "I'm sorry, Jotaro, but if anyone will end DIO it will be ME."
Jotaro put out his cigarette and stashed it in his pocket to smoke later. "STAR PLATINUM!" Jotaro summoned his stand and they both looked at Vander as if to test his resolve before speaking "Fine, but there's only one way that'll happen… and that'll be over my dead body. If I die out there, I want you to pick up the slack and finish what I started."
Vander smirked, "The same goes for you."
Suddenly Louis arrived on the scene. "Ah there you are. Sir Vander" Louis said before turning to Jotaro "and I assume Sir… Jotaro?" the knight asked which Jotaro responded by narrowing his eyes and making a grunting noise. Louis accepted that as a confirmation and continued "The princess requests your presence, she is waiting by the beach, allow me to escort you."
Vander agreed immediately but Jotaro looked like something caught his attention. "Is something wrong Jotaro?" Vander asked him before he looked over to Star Platinum that had an intense stare that was looking outwards into the woods.
Jotaro turned to Louis "What are you waiting around for? Take us to this princess"
The Beach
The trio arrived on the beach to see that Celine, Alfred, Ivy, her wyvern, Joseph, Polnareff, Clanne, Veyle, Jean, the recently discharged Framme and Celine's other retainer, Chloe along with her pegasus were all there. Upon arriving Chloe rushed over to Jotaro "Oh my~ is this another one of the men from another world? Here I thought these kind of things only happened in fairy tales yet more and more of you keep popping up! Such a handsome one too."
Jotaro pushed her aside "move bitch!" said Jotaro which got a couple people visibly angry, including Vander who started to think Jotaro wasn't a bad guy. Jotaro's actions had Polnareff and Joseph instantly apologizing on his behalf.
Vander caught Chloe "I apologize Ms. Chloe, I'll see to it that he learns some respect." the 32nd steward said before he set her down and rushed at Jotaro "Sir, Jotaro, that is not how you treat a lady. I should have known you lacked basic manners growing up with that ruffian as a grandfather." Vander said, which was ignored by Jotaro. Vander grew irritated by this and attempted to grab Jotaro's shoulder but the knight was pushed down by Star Platinum.
"Jotaro!? What has gotten into you!?" shouted Joseph.
"Old man! I need a sketch pad and some pencils right now!" shouted the younger Joestar which made Joseph widen his eyes.
"Sketchpad and pencils? Jotaro what are you talking abou-?" Polnareff asked but he was cut off.
"Get him what he's asking for! Quickly! He needs to draw right this second!" Joseph screamed out which got a surprised look from everyone. Normally, they wouldn't have complied with what Jotaro's demands because of his attitude, but since Joseph was now the one requesting they comply someone decided to act.
Ivy went over to her wyvern and took out a small sketch pad and a charcoal pencil. "I take it he's… a passionate artist? I suppose I have an appreciation for art myself which is why I carry these. I don't mind lending them to yo-" the Elusian princess said before handing over the pad and pencil to Jotaro who just snatched it away with star platinum without saying a word of thanks. "How rude."
"Jotaro, regardless of the situation you can't go around treating women like this." Joseph said as Star platinum wasted no time drawing a very detailed sketch in Ivy's notepad. Jotaro just stood there with his eyes closed completely ignoring his grandfather's words, the sound of star platinum's pencil strokes filled the air.
Ivy who was still standing close by to Jotaro after his stand snatched up her sketchpad decided to look over Star Platinum's shoulder and her face went pale as if she saw a ghost. Ivy backed away slowly and her knees started shaking before she fell to the ground. "No, it can't be…"
Alfred quickly rushed to Ivy's side to help her up. "Ivy what's wrong?"
Alfred's voice woke Ivy from her shock and caused her to look at Jotaro "Why? Why? WHY!? WHY!? WHY!? Tell me why you would draw something like that!? How would you even know what he looks like!?" Ivy questioned Jotaro.
Jotaro continued to stand there with his eyes closed in silence. "ORA!" shouted Star Platinum as it handed the completed sketch it just finished to Jotaro. The teen opened his eyes and looked at it. "Old man, earlier as I was taking a smoke break with the old knight Star Platinum caught sight of this." Jotaro said as he handed the picture to his grandfather.
Joseph looked over the sketch and it depicted that there were multiple vampires watching from the shadows of the woods, waiting for the sun to set. "I see, good job Jotaro." said the older Joestar before he handed the picture to Alfred. "Jotaro's stand, star platinum's, eyesight can pick up on the smallest detail as if it was looking at the world under a microscope and the accuracy of its hands not only makes its punches precise but makes it a talented artist as well." Joseph explained not only to Alfred but everyone else present.
Alfred's eyes grew wide as he finally understood why Ivy reacted the way she did "This- this is Lord Hyacinth, the king. No, former King of Elusia." said the prince that got everyone's attention. "It matches the portraits I've seen of him perfectly."
Celine came over and looked it over "you're right, it does fit his depiction. We still have some time to form a perimeter around the town. Louis, please alert the necessary parties." Celine ordered, causing Louis to nod before he ran over to a horse and galloped back into town. Celine glanced at Jotaro "However, I don't quite appreciate you treating one of my loyal retainers the way you did earlier."
Chloe interjected "It's perfectly fine Princess, Celine, I am fine."
Celine looked at Chloe and her eyes softened a bit. "That may be the case but I can't stand someone treating you like that and calling you a- a- I can't even say it" the princess said. Jotaro looked at the two women before turning around and making a dash. However the sand of the beach caught Jotaro's peg leg and he fell. The young Joestar caught himself with his hand and winced in pain as his leg started bleeding. "Trying to run away from our conversation?" Celine said angrily at how Jotaro seemed to be avoiding taking responsibility for the things he said.
"Shut up you brat! You can yell at me later and I'll even hear you out but right now I care more about killing those Vampires. However, this damn sand tripped me up." Jotaro shot back which got Celine to quiet down.
"Wait, you were planning to take them all out? by yourself?" asked Alfred
"As crazy as it sounds, this is definitely something he'd do. And he'd usually win too." Polnareff added.
Ivy went over to her wyvern and jumped on it. "Jotaro, hop on the back of my Wyvern. Joseph has told me how strong you are, but you can't use Hamon to finish them off. I'll support you with my fire magicks" the Elusian princess reasoned. Jotaro nodded and walked over to her.
Chloe noticed Jotaro's injury "Wait, you're bleeding, are you sure you're prepared for this Jotaro? Also are you sure that you can face your own father, Lady Ivy?" said the green haired woman.
Jotaro looked back at the trail of blood in the sand just as he reached Ivy's wyvern before looking at Ivy. "It's no big deal." the young Joestar replied.
Jean poked Joseph "Mr. Joestar can't you patch up Jotaro like you did with Framme?" the boy asked the older Joestar.
Joseph looked to Jean "I can, but I need to save my energy in case another assault comes from the sea. I know my grandson can tough it out so it's no problem."
Once Joseph was done speaking Ivy responded with a nod "It took me by surprise when I learned that DIO revived him, but I'm prepared to face him. In a way it makes sense. DIO would want to station someone with decent leadership skills over here since this is the furthest kingdom from Elusia."
Chloe jumped on her pegasus "I'll be coming too. I can't let an injured man and a princess go out there alone."
"Chloe you can't use fire magic or Hamon either. I'll ride on the back of your pegasus." said Celine as she started to climb on the back of her pegasus.
"Princess? But you're needed here in town to lead our troops." Chloe argued.
Celine quickly responded to her as she got up on the winged horse. "I'll leave Sir Joseph in charge of our militia for now." the princess said before turning to Joseph "That is if you accept." she asked him but gave no room for him to deny.
Joseph grinned allowing his teeth to shine and gave a confident pose "No problem, I'll make sure the town is safe."
Alfred spoke up "I'll join you out there on the battlefield soon sister. Just let me get my horse and-"
Celine interrupted him "Actually, can you stay here? You are the next in line for the throne, not me. You need to learn how to lead and maybe you can learn something from Sir Joseph. It'll also help the people of Firene look at you more favorable since you weren't present during the last wave." the princess said before Ivy's Wyvern and Chloe's pegasus took off.
Alfred wanted to go anyway, but he knew his sister was right. "Okay, Sir Joseph, what should we do?" asked the prince as he turned to Joseph Joestar.
With the Aerial unit
The quartet had just arrived above the woods before the sun had set. Ivy looked down at the dense trees and suggested a plan of action "Perhaps we can rain fire down upon them? Since the sun is still up they wouldn't have anywhere to go."
Celine gave it some thought "It's not a bad idea but we're still close to the village, the fire could easily grow out of control and we could possibly do more harm than good." the princess said on the back of Chloe's pegasus.
Jotaro screamed "STAR PLATINUM!" and jumped off of Ivy's wyvern together with his stand.
Ivy extended her hand "Hey!" the elysian princess Jotaro fell towards the trees.
"He's just as reckless as my brother," Celine said in a slightly annoyed voice. "We have to back him up, Chloe."
"Yes!" the green haired woman said before she tugged on her pegasus' reins to signal the winged horse to go downwards. Ivy did the same with her Wyvern.
"ORA! '' screamed Star Platinum as it uprooted a tree and sent it flying into the air as soon as it reached the trees. The girls stopped when they saw this and continued in amazement as Jotaro began doing the same with other trees. "ORAORAORAORAORA!" the stand shouted as its punches sent several trees flying. A few vampires burned from the sunlight when their shade from the trees disappeared.
Jotaro noticed some holes in the ground that looked like something was recently dug up along with an odd pile of large stones, but he put that in the back of his mind when he noticed some shadowy figures retreating further into the forest. For now the teenaged boy focused on uprooting as many trees as he could before the sun set. "Tch, I don't have much time left. STAR PLATINUM!" Jotaro shouted as he continued uprooting trees left and right exposing more Vampires to the sunlight.
Then the sun finally set and a couple Vampires jumped from the trees. "ORA! ORA!" shouted Star Platinum as it knocked out both of them. One Vampire fell into the ground and created a small crater from the impact while the other went flying through a tree, which fell to the ground afterwards.
"Elfire!" shouted both Ivy and Celine as they set fire to the two Vampires Jotaro dealt with. The Vampires quickly burned to death.
Suddenly, A silver haired vampire stepped forward "I must confess. You caught us by surprise. However, you're severely underestimating Elusia if you sent such a small unit to deal with us." said the silver-haired vampire.
"Father!" Ivy shouted as the silver-haired vampire turned to her.
"Well well well. If it isn't my dearest daughter, Ivy. I'll be sure to kill you and drag your corpse back to Lord DIO so you can take your rightful place by my side. Actually, I may just offer you to Lord DIO as a bride. Just think of a child born from both mine and Lord DIO's lineages." Hyacinth said as he day dreamed.
"Got to hell, Elfire!" Ivy shouted as she shot a fireball at her vampirified father.
Hyacinth dodged it but Jotaro used it as a distraction to close the distance between himself and Hyacinth. "ORAORAORA" shouted Star Platinum but Hyacinth surprised everyone by managing to deflect the assault. Hyacinth threw a kick which Star Platinum blocked but it caused Jotaro and Star Platinum to slide backwards. While Jotaro was distracted another vampire jumped at him from the trees.
"Watch out!?" shouted Chloe as she threw a javelin that hit the vampire in the skull. The Vampire's blood spilled on Jotaro's cheek before the young man roundhouse kicked the vampire in the jaw.
That kick sent the Vampire spinning in the air and Star Platinum followed up with an assault of punches "ORAORAORA!" Star Platinum pulled back its fist and launched another punch to bury the vampire in the ground. Celine quickly set fire to the vampire causing it to burn to death.
Hyacinth pulled out a staff and activated it making himself warp directly to Jotaro and threw an assault of punches; however Jotaro's star platinum was quick enough to deflect them. Star Platinum tried to counter attack but Hyacinth quickly warped away by using his staff again. "Shit, what's going on? How is this old man keeping up with Star Platinum?" Jotaro said in anger.
"My father has always been a powerful Martial Master able to go toe to toe with armed soldiers empty-handed. Now that he's a vampire he's just several times faster and stronger now. Be careful of him" Ivy shouted at Jotaro as she scanned from the air trying to figure out where Hyacinth warped to.
"Right you are, my daughter!" shouted Hyacinth causing everyone to see he was standing on a tree. The former King of Elusia leapt at his daughter from the top of the tree. Ivy pulled the reins of her wyvern to swerve to the left to avoid her father.
"Elfire!" Celine shouted as she figured Hyacinth couldn't dodge in midair. The Vampire surprised everyone as he kicked at the air and managed to propel himself downwards to avoid her attack. "Arcfire!" Celine shouted as she created an even more powerful flame that she aimed at the recently landed Hyacinth. The former king displayed amazing agility by not only dodging it but dashing straight at Celine and Chloe. Chloe tried to pull the reins up to get her pegasus to move upwards but Hyacinth was too fast.
"ORA!" Star platinum punched the ground, creating a crater in the process, to propel Jotaro in between them. "ORA!" Star Platinum shouted as it punched Hyacinth with so much force that it created another crater when Hyacinth hit the ground. A dust cloud was also created by the impact and Ivy didn't waste any time by shooting an arc fire of her own into the smoke.
Everyone cautiously waited for the smoke to clear before they saw the charred remains of King Hyacinth before it crumbled to dust. Chloe gave a sigh of relief "It's finally over…" the green haired woman looked over her comrades to see that Celine and Jotaro looked more relaxed but Ivy who seemed to be deep in thought. Chloe attempted to comfort the Elusian Princess "Ivy I know this must be hard for you… After all he was your father…"
Ivy snapped out of her thoughts for a moment "No… it's not that. I was wondering why did father confront us like that and he just had a couple troops. Why so few?"
Chloe responded by saying "Well, I guess Jotaro exterminated them all earlier while the sun was still out."
"If that were the case my father would see no reason to stay if his troops were so depleted. I know my father, he would have retreated unless there was something to gain."
Chloe offered an answer "perhaps he saw how powerful Jotaro's stand ring was and hoped to gain that?"
Suddenly something clicked in Celine's mind "Wait, this location…" Celine quickly jumped off of Chloe's pegasus and rushed over to the pile of large stones that Jotaro spotted earlier. Celine struggled a little bit but managed to lift one of them up. She turned to her comrades and held up the stone. Due to how dark it was she activated a small fire spell for lighting so they could read and written on it was 'here lies Avdol, a friend and champion from another world.'
Jotaro looked over at the empty holes and realized that they were digging up corpses. "Why!? Why would they even do this! It doesn't matter, I will kill them all for desecrating these graves! Ivy! I need a bird's eye view so star platinum can track them down!"
Ivy nodded and landed next to Jotaro so he could get on. Ivy flew up in the air while Chole hopped off of her Pegasus to stand next to Celine. "I see, Ivy was right, he did have something to gain by fighting us. He used himself as a distraction so he could complete his real mission… raiding our graveyard."
As soon as Ivy and Jotaro were high enough the Joestar quickly called on his stand and scanned the area. He noticed that quite a few vampires were escaping to the sea with caskets and body bags. "Over there! Hurry, they are escaping to the sea!"
Ivy knew there was no time to waste and flew where Jotaro directed her to. It took about 20 minutes for them to arrive at the point Jotaro saw the vampires disappear at and Jotaro immediately jumped in the water after them. However, by this point the vampires were long gone and they had no idea exactly what direction they swam in.