When Joan Jett and Johan came to, they found themselves in an open field with a forest in the background, a set of train tracks nearby and the sun was starting to set. "Where are we?" asked the latter as he looked around.

"Somewhere in the middle of nowhere," said the former. "Where are the girls?" The sound of groaning made the two of them turn around and find Anne, Sasha, and Marcy lying on the ground, the glow in their hair and eyes flickering. "Girls!" Johan and Joan Jett ran up to them, and the former helped Anne up while the latter helped Marcy and Sasha up. "Are you okay?"

"No," said Anne. "I feel weak. Like something got ripped out of me."

"Where's Valentine," asked Sasha, looking around. "He pushed us into the floor and...where are we?"

Joan Jett narrowed her eyes. "He's here. Somewhere."

Johan took out the gunblade and looked around. "Come out, Valentine! Unless you're a chicken! Ba-kawk! Ba-kawk!" His echo was the only response. He exhaled. "Why did I think that would work?"

"Good grief, this isn't a cartoon," said Joan Jett.

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be nice if it was?"

Then suddenly, there came a flash of blue, green, and pink lights and Valentine appeared, his back facing the group. His jacket had been removed, revealing his bare back which had a huge birthmark that reminded Johan of the Betsy Ross Flag. Around his body was an aura that changed from blue, to green, to pink, and back to blue again. As he turned around to face the group, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap appeared next to him, prompting Joan Jett and Johan to summon their own Stands. "I managed to take some of the Calamity energy and make it mine. Why are you still resisting," he asked. "Can't you see I'm trying to save you? They will enslave your kind, they will destroy your planet. The future I offer is the only one that can ensure both Amphibia and the multiverse's survival."

"A future that involves sacrificing innocent lives in the process," snapped Joan Jett. "Uncle Rico, Hot Pants, and countless others!"

Valentine shook his head. "What everyone thinks of me in the short term won't matter. It's the long term that matters. In time, history will validate me as the one who brought down a tyrannical Royal Family, and replaced the monarchy with a democracy that brought Amphibia to a better harmony."

Johan said with anger, "I'll admit, you do have a valid point. Hell, you'd probably make a better leader than Andrias. But, the future you want, there's no hope. And your methods are too brutal for anyone to tolerate. Besides, after what you've done, making my friends go through those trials on Crazy Train, I cannot condone your actions!"

Valentine scoffed. "Can you even call those girls your friends? They're the reason you're stuck in Amphibia to begin with."

Johan looked back at the girls, who either had looks of anger or guilt on their faces. He looked back at Valentine. "Are they? Maybe. Or maybe I just jumped right in at the right moment. Or maybe it was the wrong moment. I don't know which, really. The point is, we all made mistakes, Valentine, but that's not going to stop us! We're going to stop you, and then, we're going to put an end to Andrias' plan our own way!"

"And it starts with getting a little revenge," said Joan Jett.

Valentine shut his eyes, then opened them again before he rushed forward and punched Joan Jett first. D4C grabbed her and slammed her into the ground. Johan took out the gunblade and fired six times, but to his amazement, the bullets disappeared the moment they made contact with the aura.

Back in Wartwood, Wally was singing one of his songs, "Oh, there once was a lass named Anne the Fair. She put up a front and played her part. But soon enough, touched this loon's heart." Suddenly, six bullets rained from the sky and shot his accordion. "No!" He wept loudly and said, "Everybody's a critic!"

Seeing that didn't work, Johan stabbed the gunblade at Valentine, only for it to be blocked by D4C.

Somewhere in Ribbitvale, a little girl frog was eating lice cream, only for a blade to pop out of nowhere and stab it, making her cry.

"Uh..." was all Johan could say before D4C grabbed him by the face and threw him into a bush. Joan Jett got back up and sent a series of punches at Valentine. "ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA, ORA!"

A strange phenomenon happened all across Amphibia. A mysterious hand popped out of nowhere, and stuck sticker bombs to animals, people, buildings, trees, and they all exploded. Even sections of the moon were destroyed, leaving huge holes in it.

"What's going on," Joan Jett asked. "I know I'm hitting you, but nothing's working!"

Valentine said, "Where there are places the sun's light hits, there must also be shadows… where there is happiness, on the other side, there must be those who have misfortune… From a god's perspective, happiness and misfortune balance out to zero! Then stable peace! Far more feasible than people firmly shaking hands as equal is one absolutely superior person governing over them. That is the reality of the world of sentient life!"

"What are you talking about?"

Valentine kicked Joan Jett away. "Did you see it, Joan Jett? Your attacks reaching the ends of the world? Some sort of karma? Harmful energy flies from the barrier created from the Calamity energy and is undertaken by someone a great distance away. We're all equal, aren't we? Good things and harmful things balance out to zero. But not for this place of good fortune where I am."

Johan realized. "Wait, are you saying that if we attack you, it will just go somewhere else?"

"In layman's terms, yes," replied Valentine. "This is the result of the Calamity Powers I stole merging with my Stand. Even in it's incomplete form, D4C Love Train is a sight to behold. But, for me to have its full power, I need to have access to all its power. I have taken the first napkin."

"To hell with the first napkin," snapped Sasha. "You weren't even invited to the dinner table!" She tried to make a lunge at Valentine, but she couldn't even make two footsteps without falling flat on her face.

"Sasha," Anne shouted, helping her up. "Are you okay?"

Sasha glared at her. "Did you have to ask that question?"

"What's the plan, JoJo," Joan Jett asked.

Johan thought of one technique. He turned to Joan Jett and the girls and said, "Everyone, close your eyes." DARE appeared and pressed its hands on its helmet.

Joan Jett said, "It's come to that, huh?"

"Oh, shit," said Sasha. "I know what he's going to do. Everyone do what he says!" She shut her eyes tight.

"What," asked Marcy as she and Anne covered their eyes.

"When DARE's helmet breaks, it fires a laser that enhances the senses of anyone who sees it to superhuman levels, slowing their sense of time to the point that one second is one hundred years!"

"Oh, right," remembered Marcy. "He used that technique on Hellbender back in Newtopia."

DARE's helmet began to crack as Johan said, "Physical attacks don't work on your good fortune, Valentine, but what about one that has no form?" The helmet shattered and the entire area was enveloped in a bright light...

.

.

.

.

.

"You can open your eyes now," Johan said as DARE's helmet repaired itself. Everyone lowered their hands and opened their eyes to see Valentine frozen in place with a look of shock.

"We got him?" asked Anne.

"We got him," confirmed Joan Jett. She cracked her knuckles and approached Valentine's frozen body. "I am so gonna enjoy this. One hundred years of punches and explosions!"

"Hold on," said Johan. "I want to kill as much as you do, hell, probably even more, but we need to find a way to extract the Calamity powers from him and give them back to Anne, Sasha, and Marcy. What if you kill him and the powers disappear?"

"JoJo's right," said Anne. "Maybe we should wait for Valeriana to find us and she'll tell us what to do."

"Shouldn't we bring him to Andrias instead," asked Marcy.

"Marcy," Sasha said, grabbing Marcy by the cheeks. "Get it through your thick skull! Andrias! Lied!" Then she let go and said, "Like what you did."

"Wait! Anne, Sasha, JoJo, I know I did a stupid mistake! I just didn't want us to drift apart!" She fell to her hands and knees. "Please, let me make it up to you! I'll do anything! Anything!" None of them responded.

"Aren't you being a little harsh?" asked Joan Jett. "Sure, she did probably the dumbest thing you could ever do in reaction to her parents packing their bags and ready to leave town for a new job, but she is wanting to make things right."

Sasha made a disgusted noise and said, "She had no right doing what she did! She pushed us into an adventure we didn't ask for! Nothing could ever make up for what she did!"

When Marcy heard that, her heart broke. Was this it? Was this the end of their friendship? Then Anne said, "Yeah, she made a stupid mistake, but did we all?" Everyone turned to look at her. "I mean, I can't even count the many dumb mistakes I've ever done, and I was forgiven for most of them. The others I'm not forgiven for, I can easily count."

"Are you kidding me," said Sasha. "You actually want to forgive her?"

"Look, I admit, it's going to take a very long time for me to forgive her, but, I'm willing to give it a try." Anne looked down at Marcy, who was looking at her with disbelief. Anne held out her hand. Marcy wanted to reach out, but instead she saw something made her say, "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

"Huh?" was all Joan Jett could say before she and Johan were hit with a flurry of punches from Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and sent crashing to the ground. "JoJo, why did you turn off the superhuman laser," she groaned.

"I...didn't..."

"I was faking it the whole time," said Valentine. "Waiting for you to drop your guard."

Earlier, a dragonfly was flying by when suddenly, it was hit by a flash of light, freezing it in place. Then it fell from the sky and into the mouth of a giant fish.

The girls eyes widened. "No way," said Sasha. "Even JoJo's special technique didn't affect him?!"

"He really is invincible," said Anne. "Every attack will just go through him and hit someone else!"

"What's the plan now, JoJo," asked Joan Jett.

Johan knew one last technique he could use. "Well, there is my last resort."

Anne's eyes widened. "Wait, JoJo, you're not thinking of using THAT technique, are you?"

Sasha knew what she was talking about. "Oh, he better not!"

Marcy gave them confused looks. "What technique?"

"Everyone," shouted Johan. "I need you to do exactly as I say!"

"What's that?" asked Joan Jett. Then she realized, "Wait...you better not be thinking..."

Johan glanced up at Valentine, smirked, and got up. And then he turned tail and fled. "FUGGIRE!"

"WHAT?!" shouted Marcy in disbelief. "THAT'S YOUR LAST RESORT?!"

"AW, MAN, I KNEW HE WAS GONNA DO THAT," exclaimed Sasha.

Nevertheless, everyone did what Johan said and took off running. "So, what do we do after we run?" asked Anne.

"Well, we do what we do best," said Johan. "Wing it!"

"So, make it up as we go along," said Sasha. "Why am I not surprised?"

Joan Jett realized something, "Wait, where's Marcy?"

Everyone stopped and turned around to see Marcy facing Valentine. "What is she doing?!" exclaimed Sasha.

"Marcy, don't fight him," shouted Anne.

"You should heed your friends," said Valentine. "I have taken the first napkin and fate is mine to control."

Marcy glared at Valentine and said, "I'm not running away. That's what got us in this mess to begin with. I made a huge mistake, and if stopping you will make some things better, fine!" Her powers reignited and she activated the Spin, combining the two powers together, and creating a ball of spinning energy. Then she slammed it into the barrier, only for it to bounce her back and send her flying.

"I gotcha!" Joan Jett shouted, catching her with Cherry Bomb.

"Marcy, what were you thinking," said Sasha. "We can't beat him!"

Marcy didn't respond. Anne said, realizing, "Wait. I think we can."

"Huh?" everyone asked.

"Did you see the way she bounced off D4C Love Train? Her attack didn't go through him! That means we can break through his Stand's barrier!"

"Does that mean we can hurt him," asked Marcy.

Johan thought it over, then said, "I think...it might work! He took your some of powers, so it only makes sense that you three girls take it back! Hell, it's crazy enough to try it out!" Then he realized, "Wait, Anne. Can you and Marcy see his Stand?" Anne and Marcy nodded. "Goddamn. For normal people to see a Stand, it must give off a lot of energy. Is it really that strong now?"

Sasha said, "This is suicide...but, like JoJo said, it's crazy enough to work!" We're going to die, she thought.

The three girls ignited their Calamity powers and flew at Valentine, only to be confronted with alternate dimensional counterparts summoned by D4C. While Anne and Marcy fought the two Valentines, Sasha focused her attention on the prime Valentine. She summoned Slash, who stabbed into the barrier. In an instant, the pink energy began to slowly travel up into Slash's sword and into its arm, and Sasha began to feel stronger.

D4C kicked Sasha away and Valentine fired his pistol knife, only to have the bullet fling back to him by Anne, who, along with Marcy, managed to dispatch of the other two Valentines and were ready to aid their friend. Valentine disappeared, then reappeared and fired his pistol knife at the three girls, but Anne reflected them with her Ripple.

Valentine disappeared and reappeared again, sneaking up behind Anne and cut into her with the pistol knife, but she was expecting this and grabbed him. She could feel the blue power being drained from him and flowing into her. Valentine disappeared and reappeared, then fired the pistol knife at her, but she managed to dodge it, though she had to let go of him.

Marcy placed arrows in her crossbow and fired in a circle around Valentine, and used her Calamity powers to hold them in place. Then with a flick of her Spin-powered die, she launched them all at once at Valentine, giving her the chance she needed to launch herself at him and take back some of her powers from him, before he kicked her away.

Valentine disappeared and everyone looked around, but couldn't find him. Then suddenly, he appeared behind Johan and D4C grabbed DARE by the throat, tightening its grip. Johan, choking, had DARE grab onto D4C's wrist, enhancing it and Valentine's pain receptors. But to his shock, Valentine ignored it, he was that angry with him. Then Johan changed tactics and enhanced Valentine's hearing and screamed as loud as he can. Again, Valentine kept his grip on him, even as his ears began to bleed.

"JoJo!" shouted Joan Jett. She tried to rescue Johan, only to be kicked aside by Valentine. He then summoned another alternate Valentine who was armed with a pistol knife. Joan Jett ran toward Johan and Valentine, only for the alternate Valentine to fire the pistol knife. Joan Jett summoned Cherry Bomb, who grabbed the bullets and stuck bombs on them before she flung them at the Valentine, blowing him up. "That's kinda satisfactory," she said. Then she ran up to Johan and the prime Valentine and stood right between them. Then she grabbed Johan and tackled him out of the way.

Johan took deep breaths, grateful that he wasn't choking. He said to Joan Jett between breaths, "Thanks..."

"Good grief, you're just lucky I was around," she replied. "But you're welcome."

Anne, Sasha, and Marcy flew up to Valentine with rage in their eyes as they began to pummel him, taking more of their power back from him. Then suddenly, he flew up, and activated what little Calamity powers he had left to bring forth a hail of laser blades and fired them all at once. Johan and Joan Jett thought for sure this was the end. However, the girls began to deflect and block the blades with their own Calamity powers combined with their unique abilities, creating a light show that filled the sky for all of Amphibia to see. Joan Jett and Johan watched with awe as the scene played on for about thirty seconds.

When the light show ended, the girls were exhausted, their powers almost drained. Suddenly, Valentine kicked Anne in the face, sending her onto her back. "Anne!" Sasha and Marcy shouted. Valentine pointed the pistol knife at Marcy, then raised it, ready to bring its blade down on her head. However, Sasha blocked it with her swords, and pushed Marcy out of the way, allowing herself to take Valentine's bullet. Anne flew up and grabbed one of Sasha's swords, then took out her tennis racket and used both weapons to slash into Valentine's bare chest.

Sasha stood up and summoned Slash. Anne and Marcy put their hands onto her, and all three energies flowed into Slash. The Stand then flew up to D4C, and drew out all the remaining Calamity powers from it and Valentine. He fell to his knees, severely drained. The three girls stood over him, their powers fully restored. "You're making a mistake," he groaned. "The Royal Family won't stop until they get the Calamity Box back. I could have gotten you all home. I could have saved this world, all worlds."

"That's not the way we see it," said Anne. "Valeriana was right. All this is is replacing one tyrant for another."

"And now," said Sasha as she raised her swords. "We're going to end you!" But then she lowered them. "But as much as I want to be the one who does you in, there's someone else who deserves it more."

Valentine turned around to see Joan Jett, accompanied by Johan, the former of whom looking down at him with a look of absolute rage. "Dirty Deeds..." POW! Joan Jett summoned Cherry Bomb, who placed a bomb on D4C, causing it and Valentine's chest to explode. He fell to the ground, grabbing his wound. Joan Jett and Cherry Bomb raised their fists, only for Valentine to say, "Wait." Everyone held their breaths, watching and waiting for what will happen next.

Valentine said, "This is my defeat. My complete defeat. I can no longer win...you and your friends are...the victor. But, there are still living Suave Ricos in other dimensions. I'll make a deal with you. I can bring 'Suave Rico' here, to this place. I'm the only one for whom this is possible. If I were to die here like this...that would be lost forever. Suave Rico will never come back to this place. What would you choose?"

Joan Jett stared at him. "You can bring Uncle Rico back," she asked emotionlessly.

Valentine nodded. "Yes. When two versions of the same person are in one dimension, they both die. But that's not the case anymore. This dimension's version of Suave Rico is currently digested and turned into garbage lizard waste. So even if I bring a Suave Rico from another dimension, there will be no situation where the two Suave Ricos will meet and be annihilated. I can do that..." He paused to cough up blood. "All I ask is that you spare me, let me heal, send Anne and her human friends back to Earth along with the Calamity Box. Make sure that no one will ever get it back."

"You can bring Uncle Rico back," she asked again.

"I promise," Valentine said.

"And...you'll let us go?"

"I promise. I won't take revenge on anyone...I vow that I'll act like nothing ever happened between us. Hereafter, I will absolutely not lay a hand on any of you and I'll let you do whatever you want."

Johan saw that Joan Jett was actually considering Valentine's offer. "Joan Jett, wait," he said. "Think about it. It won't even be the same Suave Rico you know. He'll probably have another Joan Jett in his own dimension. That's why he didn't bother bringing another version of Scarlet to this dimension!"

Valentine said, "Joan Jett...do you think there's anyone who knows the future? Even if it's a Suave Rico with a different past...or possibly even one who doesn't even have a niece named Joan Jett...from this point forward, Suave Rico will walk the path of Suave Rico...the 'important thing' is that he's alive here, in our world. All I ask is that you help me get the humans safe back home, safe."

Tears started to fall down Joan Jett's eyes as she gritted her teeth. "I want to do it," she said. "I want Uncle Rico back. I want to believe you, and I want to believe your word, Valentine. But...somewhere in my heart, I know you're not being truthful. I have to know you're not going to take it all back at the last second!"

Valentine raised his eyebrow. "And what proof would you need?"

Joan Jett grabbed Johan's gunblade and tossed it at Valentine's feet. "If you are sincere, don't pick it up. Come to me, take my hand, and we have a deal."

Valentine slowly rose up and started to walk forward. "My heart and actions are utterly unclouded," he said. "They are all those of 'justice'." There was a moment's silence. Then suddenly, Valentine grabbed the gunblade and pointed it at Joan Jett.

BANG!

Valentine dropped the gunblade and fell to his knees, his head bleeding. Joan Jett held up a pistol knife, smoke was coming out of its barrel. "Do you recognize it," she asked. "It belonged to that counterpart you summoned to stop me from saving JoJo."

"D...Dirty...Deeds..."

"Oh, no, you don't," said Anne. "You're not switching dimensional counterparts this time! Girls, I think we should get rid of this creep with the very power he wanted!"

"How do we do that?" asked Sasha.

"Valentine said so himself. We have the power to open portals on our own without the music box."

"How do we do that, Anne," asked Marcy.

"I guess we just think of a random world and hum the tune from the music box. I think," said Anne. All three girls raised up their hands, activated their powers, pictured the very first random dimension they could think of, and together, they hummed the song that brought them to Amphibia. Suddenly, a ball of light shot out of their hands and formed a window that revealed what looked like a set of islands made out of a horned giant's bones.

Before Valentine could recover, Joan Jett grabbed him by the collar and threw him into the portal just as it began to close. Then, there was silence, save for the wind blowing. Then, Joan Jett dropped to her knees and began sobbing. Johan and Anne walked up to her and gave her a comforting hug.

Sasha watched on and then looked up at the sky. "At least we managed to avenge you, Hot Pants and Suave Rico."

Meanwhile, Marcy saw the music box lying on the ground where Valentine once stood and went over to pick it up. She looked at it, thinking back on how her foolishness led to this madness. Stopping Valentine did not make things better and she knew it. She knew what she should do, but she was too afraid to do it.

The sound of a train approaching made everyone look at the train tracks, and saw Crazy Train coming by, its brakes screeching as it stopped. Hop Pop, Sprig, Polly, Grime, and Valeriana hopped out and rushed toward them. The Plantars tackled Anne and JoJo and pulled them into a hug.

"Anne, you're okay," cried Sprig.

"I thought I'd lose you," said Hop Pop.

Polly just bawled as she buried her face into Johan's chest. He smiled as he leaked tears and held her close.

Frobo ran up to the Plantars, Anne, and JoJo and hugged them all, squeezing the air out of them. "Too tight," wheezed Johan. "Too tight!" Frobo let them all go and made an apologetic gesture.

Grime and Sasha were about to hug, only to stop, coughed awkwardly, and gave each other a fist bump. "It's good to see you're well, Sasha," said the former.

"You too," said the latter.

Valeriana looked around. "Where is Valentine?"

"Dead," said Joan Jett emotionlessly.

The Plantars and Grime turned to face her, surprised to hear that. "He's dead?" asked Grime.

"I killed him, but...why don't I feel happy?"

The one-armed newt sighed. "Vengeance never makes you happy." Using her tail, put a comforting grip on her shoulder. "But, I'm sure Suave Rico, wherever he is, he's at peace."

Joan Jett said, "I almost accepted Valentine's offer to give me another Uncle Rico from another dimension. I knew no one could replace him, but I just wanted him back so bad. Does that make me a bad person?"

Johan said, "Honestly, I probably would have done the same thing if I were in your shoes." He then turned to face Marcy, "So, that just leaves us with one last question: what are we going to do now?"

"It's obvious the box can't stay here," said Hop Pop. "If Andrias gets his hands on it, what we saw on Valentine's slide show will happen all over again. If anything, we have to get these girls home right now and destroy the box immediately afterwards!"

"And it's a good thing we did invade Newtopia," said Grime. "We may have put a stop to a great evil from rearing its ugly head."

"But who's going to believe you," asked Sasha. "Without proof, everyone will look at the toads as just a bunch of traitors."

"We still have the slide projector on Crazy Train. That should be enough evidence."

"How can we get home without the box working?" asked Anne.

"Valentine said so himself," said Joan Jett. "You and your two friends have the power to go to other worlds, and you can do it without the music box."

"But Valentine said it works by matching vibrations. How do we do that?"

Johan said, "When Anne opened the music box back in the park, I remember hearing it make a tune that sounded like..." He hummed the song.

"So, all we gotta do is hum the tune and we'll be back home," Sasha asked skeptically.

"In theory, yes."

Then Sprig asked the most important question, "If you guys have this power, we will see each other again, right? You can come back any time you wanted, right?"

Anne looked at Sprig, and smiled. "Of course, Sprig. I told you I wouldn't. Heck, I can even bring you to Earth as well. Mom and Dad would love to meet you, and Hop Pop and Polly."

Then, Marcy said sadly, "But if we go back...I'll have to move." Oh. Right. There's still this issue to deal with. She held the music box close as she said, "I'm still going to have to leave you."

Sasha didn't say a word, clearly still angry with Marcy. Johan gave Marcy a look that mixed concern with sympathy. Anne said, "JoJo was right. You should have said something. We could have made it work!"

"Yeah, we could have done something," said Sasha finally. "Something that doesn't involve tricking us into stealing a magic music box and dragging us into an alien world!"

Marcy said as tears started to form, "I had no other choice! No. That's wrong." She paused before admitting, "The truth is I didn't know what to say."

Johan said, "All this happened because you wanted to run away from your problems. You only make things worse if you don't face them head on."

"Oh, and what you have done to stop my parents from moving, huh," Marcy asked, starting to sound angry. "Use your gangster connections to convince Dad to keep his job? Maybe get them a different job, but stay in Los Angeles?" Johan didn't respond. She scoffed and said, "That's what I thought. There's nothing any of you could do."

Johan knew Marcy was right. Even if he was part of the most powerful Mafia gang in all of Italia, there was nothing he could do to stop Marcy and her family from moving. Besides, he hadn't been honest himself. Maybe now is the time to rip off the bandaid. "Girls, if we're all being honest now, there's something I have to tell you." All eyes fell on him. "I..."

"Wait," said Valeriana. "Someone is coming, very fast!"

Something sped toward the group, then came to a stop in front of them. It was a snail, one that Johan immediately recognized. "Silver Bullet?! But that means..."

Sure enough, sitting on the snail's back was Diego Brando. "Do you have any idea how hard it's been to track you? Good thing that battle made it easy."

Everyone let out a noise of shock.

To be continued ➟