Butterfly Effect
Hear me out, to make up for the long wait, I'll publish 2 chapters in a row. This one will be about the Jotaro vs DIO fight, the next one will be the epilogue and end of Part 3. It was quite the journey, both in the story itself and for me as the writer. Just a bit more, and it will be the biggest milestone yet for this fanfic. To all readers, I hope you'll enjoy.
I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Chapter 23: Friends make the difference
After assessing that the timing and distance was right, Jotaro commenced the first attack, quickly manifesting [Star Platinum] and initiating a right punch.
"ORAA!"
[Star Platinum] threw a punch, but it failed to land as despite attacking later, [The World] struck its shin with a kick, stopping the purple Stand from completing the attack.
"Rrgh!"
Part of Jotaro's pants were torn at the corresponding spot his Stand was struck at. Below it came forth a small wound that wasn't bleeding, but very red still.
"Too slow, too slow! [The World] is the most powerful Stand. Even without its power to stop time, [The World]'s speed and power are far superior to your [Star Platinum]." DIO braggingly proclaimed while calmly and confidently crossing his arms.
"So it's the same type of Stand as [Star Platinum]." the young Joestar observed, not impressed. "Not much range, but immense power and precise movements."
"I always wanted to test how powerful [Star Platinum] is compared to [The World]. Well… it seems pointless to even compare." the vampire nonchalantly mocked, assuming a belittling position.
"Test? Is that what you call patting me? I'm not even hurt." Jotaro cleanly handled the weak mocking, still not impressed. "Well, I guess you did rip my 20000 Yen pants."
"Why are you Joestars so stubborn about admitting defeat?" DIO questioned with annoyance, his voice still calm and low. Though then he smiled and shrugged off the young Joestar's response. "Hmph. I suppose I shall rise to your pointless provocation and test you just a bit more."
The talking came to an end though, with [The World] doing the talking with its fists from there on.
"HMH HMH!"
Like a boxer it attacked [Star Platinum] with a combo of quick punches, who also guarded like a boxer. Done taking attacks, the purple Stand briefly after switched to offense, trying to hit the golden Stand with an upwards rapid kick combo.
Instead of hitting the dodging golden Stand, it destroyed a speed sign that just happened to be there. The circular sign flying away briefly obstructed its vision, [The World] with its enormous speed taking advantage of it and attempting to strike the purple Stand from behind with a hard chop. [Star Platinum] managed to react to the sneak attack in time, stopping the chop with its very hard elbow.
"ORA!"
It was the purple Stand's turn to attack again, aiming at the yellow Stand's head with a straight right.
"ORA!"
The first attempt failed, but a follow up with the left managed to graze [The World]'s cheek.
As a result of that, a little but bloody wound opened on the vampire's cheek. He said nothing, but his eyes indicated quite an unexpected feeling of surprise.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
"HM HM!"
Both Stands unleashed a flurry of punches, matching each other in the end. The fists of both Stands collided with one another.
"Shall we compare the speed of our attack rushes?"
Jotaro silently took on the challenge.
"MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!"
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
For the time being, neither Stand came out above. The resulting continuous tension was so large, the Stands and their masters started levitating into the air.
As the tension was rising, literally and figuratively, the punching duel came to a halt when the golden Stand finally landed a punch following a well executed feint. It struck the purple Stand's face, knocking it away. Jotaro bled.
"Ha ha ha! It seems I was right, [The World]'s power and speed are far greater than yours." DIO concluded, so sure of himself that he posed with his hands placed on his hips. "That's enough, I'm satisfied. Playtime is over… Jotaro, I'm going to finish you with one blow."
"RAAAAAAAAAAHH!" the young Joestar let out a defiant, deep battle cry, sending out [Star Platinum] to launch a barrage of even stronger punches.
"After what happened a hundred years ago, I swore I would show no mercy to any descendants of the Joestars. All of you must die, quickly, utterly." the vampire made clear his convictions while preparing for a big attack. "[The World]'s true power will finish you off!"
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
"[The World]! Stop time!"
*THUUUUUUUUM*
Time had stopped. So did Jotaro and [Star Platinum], who ceased to make any movements. Their bodies and faces were frozen.
Above the rules of time and space, DIO flew towards his target. Earlier he couldn't get so close but now he could, fearlessly and calmly.
"And now, the Joestar line ends here." the vampire declared, right into his enemy's reaction-free face. "Farewell, archnemesis. You were the only ones who threatened my destiny."
Like his Stand earlier, he straightened and put his fingers together, forming a totally flat hand. A chop to the neck was how he was going to execute the Joestar.
Having already said his part, DIO went for the hit.
"!"
However, he suddenly aborted the attack. A completely unexpected thing occurred, which previously was unconsidered to the vampire. For some inexplicable reason, Jotaro's fingers on his right hand started twitching.
"Wh… What?! H- He just moved! Impossible!" For the first time towards the young Joestar, DIO showed genuine fear. The vampire quickly put some distance between himself and the otherwise immobile teen. "His finger just moved! C- could it be…?"
'"Same type"… "Same type of Stand…"' he mentally quoted Jotaro, sweating at the suspicions he was having. DIO had a real reason to be concerned. '[The World] and [Star Platinum] are the same type of Stand'
Wanting to get answers, the vampire looked into the young Joestar's eyes. They were frozen, yet it seemed to DIO that Jotaro was also staring at him.
"Jotaro… Can you see me?" DIO questioned with stress in his voice, his eyes without a trace of ease. "Or are you just moving your hands unconsciously?"
"…"
The young Joestar didn't answer. No sound from him in the vampire's world.
"Tsk… Time's up."
DIO wouldn't get his answer anyway. The time stopping ability of his Stand had reached its maximum extent.
*DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN*
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
[Star Platinum]'s rush attack from before the stoppage of time briefly went on from where it left off, but was stopped when its master realized that the vampire wasn't in that direction anymore and the purple Stand was punching at nothing.
Resuming their battle from a new standpoint, both fighters turned their heads toward one another. Their gazes were sharp and full of vigor.
"…Were you able to see me?" DIO asked with a quiet voice, lowering his eyebrows.
"…" Jotaro refused to answer, merely staring back in a defiant manner.
"Well?! I asked you if you could see me, Jotaro!" the vampire repeated, raising the volume. He wasn't nearly as patient anymore.
"See what?" the young Joestar calmly replied, much unlike his enemy. "I don't know what you're talking about… What are you talking about, DIO?"
Following those words, Jotaro started flying away, using his Stand energy to levitate. The irritated DIO followed suit, tailing the young Joestar.
A chase ensued, with Jotaro diving downwards. He had [Star Platinum] punch a building with the intent of letting some rubble hit his chaser, though the latter effortlessly dodged that.
"Fine! Even if you can see me while time is standing still, who cares? What matters is if you can move! If you can move like [The World] does, then show me!" the vampire challenged, wanting to investigate the mystery.
It took a small while, but DIO caught up. The young Joestar finally was in his range.
"I, DIO, have surpassed all living things! Including all Stand users! Now I can stop time for 5 seconds. And day by day, the time grows longer!" the vampire aggressively claimed, adding some reasoning. "Jotaro! Show me just how powerful you are!"
Because Jotaro was in his range, DIO used his trump card again.
"[The World]! Stop time!"
*THUUUUUUUUM*
For 5 seconds, the vampire had all the freedom in the world, literally and figuratively. In this interval, he wouldn't face resistance. So he closed in, preparing to take the Joestar's life. Doing so, he triggered a bodily response from Jotaro. Like before, the young Joestar's right fingers twitched.
No longer shocked by the surprising unfolding, DIO was able to think more analytically. He gestured around with his left hand, moving it left and right to find out if it in particular was responsible for Jotaro's movements.
Turns out it was, as the young Joestar's fingers only moved when the vampire's hand approached a certain distance. To top things off, Jotaro was staring in the distance and not at DIO at all. The vampire thought that the expression on his face was a really dumb and stupid one.
"Heh heh heh… Heh heh ha ha ha… AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Mystery figured out, DIO let out a loud and pompous laughter at the top of his lungs. He was so relieved that he forgot all the previous anger. He figured it was a bluff.
The vampire then turned around his wrist, discovering a small, round magnet stuck to his golden jewelry. He picked it up and held it towards the young Joestar. From the top of his finger, the magnet launched itself away to connect with a similar magnet on Jotaro's sleeve, which resembled his uniform's buttons.
"He put a magnet on me… Tsk! He must have put it on my sleeve when we exchanged blows. It looks like a wallet magnet or a magnet taken from a pocket planner…" DIO observed, understanding what the young Joestar did. "You did it so your arm would move when I came close…"
In the midst of his monologue, the vampire switched from referring to Jotaro in third person to directly speaking to him.
"Hmph! You had me fooled! What cleverness… Only a man of incredible composure could ever pull off a bluff like this. You've earned my praise…"
That was the last time DIO would respect the young Joestar. After this short-lived moment, he switched his approach and moved to finish the job.
"But a trick like this just proves your Stand can't move while time is standing still! All you did was postpone your death by a few seconds!"
[The World] surged forward from behind Jotaro, again aiming for his head with a heavy attack.
"IT'S OVER! DIE, JOTARO!"
*THWOCK*
From absolute silence, not having moved even a nanometer, Jotaro executed a surprise attack that left DIO more than shocked. Wasting no time at all, putting all his cells' effort into coordinating the attack, the young Joestar made [Star Platinum] punch a massive hole in [The World]'s torso so fast that the vampire only managed to barely notice it. He couldn't put up any resistance in the slightest.
"WHAT?!" DIO couldn't believe it. And he found out about it the worst way.
Immediately after the single attack was over, Jotaro became unable to move again. The facial expressions of him and his Stand were so composed when frozen, it added salt into the vampire's already huge wound.
"H… He can really move!" DIO found out in the most painful manner, trying to cover the gaping hole in his chest. He was losing blood at a rate faster than his previous victims. "I knew it! It's only for a second, but he can move! What he did was just an act! It was so I would think he couldn't move! It was a trick… to lure me close to him! ARRRGHH!"
Furious again, the vampire was also experiencing immense mental anguish.
"Damn him… To think that one of the Joestars could invade my domain… Could move in my world!"
*DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN*
At that point, his time was over. Technically it wasn't purely his time anymore. Jotaro now had a share as well, and he wouldn't give it up.
"BUGGAAAAH!" DIO yelled in pain as the laws of physics worked again and he was sent flying far away.
Meanwhile, the young Joestar regained his consciousness due to reality becoming normal again. His eyes widened in surprise. Right in front of him he saw the vampire getting launched towards the ground, but that wasn't the main thing on his mind.
"I was able to move for a second… Just a second, but… I did it…" Jotaro realized, huffing and puffing in the midst of his sentence. His heart was beating extremely fast and his adrenaline spiked as he was now conscious of his mighty new power and ability. "Yare Yare… I only had enough time for one punch… *Huff Huff Huff*"
XXXXXXXXXX
Several meters below, DIO crashed into a building. It was a porcelain shop with a massive glass front that he shattered due to the impact. An extra large and sharp shard of glass even split the lower half of his left leg before he ultimately came to a stop.
"AIEEE! AAGHHH!"
The poor woman at the counter screamed in horror, experiencing the single greatest shock of her life. She was frightened to no end, looking at the vampire's unmoving body.
"…?!"
However, she really became speechless when the man she assumed was a corpse started moving, slowly sitting up. To top it off, DIO was making a deadly serious face.
"You, woman… Go get my leg and bring it to me…" he ordered, commandingly pointing at her.
"AIEE! AAAAGHH!" the woman screamed anew, most definitely losing her sanity.
"Hurry up and bring it!" the vampire shouted, having no patience. "Imagine you're a flight attendant bringing wine and caviar to a customer sitting in first class!"
Outside the shop, the young Joestar controllably landed in a squatting position. He was slowly getting up to stand upright, his eyes constantly directed towards his enemy.
"I acted like I couldn't move and used that magnet trick to lure you in. I was able to get a punch in… But it looks like I'll have to blow your head off to do any real damage…" Jotaro admitted to his trick, bearing a distasteful expression on his face.
He then got a better look at DIO. The vampire's leg was reattached and the huge hole was gone. In his left hand he held a young lady's corpse with his fingers stuck in her neck, clearly sucking all her blood out.
"Looks like you just recharged your energy." the young Joestar remarked, the look on his face even more disdainful. "You had a gaping hole in your stomach, and now it's completely healed…"
*THUUUUUUUUM*
*DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN*
"!"
For just an instant there was a gap in time. DIO disappeared from Jotaro's field of vision, no longer being in front of him. The young Joestar rapidly turned around, seeing the vampire standing atop a round traffic sign.
"You followed me with your eyes within my world of stillness… You can see me moving, can you, Jotaro?" DIO inquired, calmer now that they were distant again.
"…Yeah, thanks to him." Jotaro admitted with a quiet voice in a rather relaxed tone, referring to his Stand. He'd already answered the question with sharp action, so verbally confirming it didn't make any difference to him.
"Kakyoin did you quite a favor, didn't he…" the vampire commented, telling the young Joestar that it was Noriaki who relayed the message to Joseph, who in return relayed the message to him. "Because Kakyoin figured out [The World]'s secret, you know I can make time stand still… And then you learned how to do it."
*THUUUUUUUUM*
*DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN*
Again, there was a slight Stand-induced interval in time. DIO was no longer standing on top of the traffic sign, which prompted Jotaro to quickly turn around for a second time. This time, the vampire stood atop the roof of a three floored building.
"Which leads me to think… How long can you move while time is standing still? 2 seconds? 3?" DIO continued from where he stopped, speculating the extent of [Star Platinum]'s ability's potency. "Maybe you can move 5 seconds like me, but you're just pretending you can't move longer? Ha ha, well…?"
"…"
The young Joestar kept quiet, holding his voice. He didn't want to give the vampire any clues by answering, precisely because he knew that the current maximum extend of his power was 1 second.
Though DIO didn't need to hear it from Jotaro.
"Hmph! Of course you won't tell me. My guess is that you can only move for a second…"
"…"
"But still, you managed to infiltrate my world. Only a fool would take the risk of getting close to you…"
"…"
"I may have the advantage, but I'm not an idiot." he claimed, beginning to look down on the Joestar again.
"…"
"So look at this, Jotaro! I've come up with a fool proof way to kill you, no matter how long you can move!"
"!"
Jotaro's eyes widened in disbelief when he saw what the vampire just did. DIO pulled out knives, lots of them. In both hands he held more knives than he had fingers. Not to mention all the other dozens of knives strapped to his belt and in his pockets. He was armed to the teeth.
"You just went pale… You're no fool. You know what I'm going to do." The vampire said, grinning at the young Joestar. "I borrowed these from the shop. You know what I plan to do with these knives. You're going to die a death worse than Joseph's."
He 'borrowed' their entire stock.
'Bastard! How could he even think of something like this… This is bad!' Jotaro thought, sweating at the thought of what DIO would do to him. He was alarmed, really feeling the danger.
Using the energy of [Star Platinum], the young Joestar performed a swift vertical jump of over 20 meters, rising higher than most rooftops. Getting away from the vampire was his current top priority.
"Hmph! You can't escape! If we were playing chess or shogi, I'd say this was CHECKMATE!" DIO declared, deviously smirking sure of victory.
"[The World]!"
*THUUUUUUUUM*
"Five seconds!"
This was the beginning of the short span of stopped time. Immediately entering the span, the vampire used [The World] to throw tens of knives at Jotaro, all of which stopped in midair, but clearly pointing at him.
"When time starts moving, your [Star Platinum] can deflect the knives with his 'ORA ORA'. But with so many of them, can you really block them all?" DIO provocatively challenged, knowing he was being listened to.
"Four seconds!"
[The World] continued throwing them, chucking the next wave of knives towards the young Joestar, who was screaming inside.
"Ha ha ha… It must be terrifying to be able to see this, but do nothing. You'd better knock the knives off course or you're going to have some problems when time begins to move… Jotaro!"
"Three seconds!"
Taking the vampire's advice for his own sake, Jotaro activated [Star Platinum]'s ability and had it punch away all the blades within its reach, reducing the amount aimed at him.
"ORAAA!"
However, the amount punched away was ultimately only a fraction of the total barrage. And more was on its way.
"Two seconds!"
That said, DIO now knew the extent of [Star Platinum]'s power. It was just like he'd predicted.
"Is that all you can move? Ha ha ha… That just proves you can only move for 1 second."
Having learned that the Joestar's power is much inferior to his own, the vampire was able to relax. He then calmly sat down on a chimney as if he was just chilling.
"One second."
Jotaro's eyes became increasingly intense as DIO's free time approached its end. His heart was racing. Soon enough, he'd be in serious trouble.
"Zero."
*DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN*
All the knives stopped in motion instantly sped up, on their way to stab the young Joestar in droves.
Already prepared for this, [Star Platinum] went on punching from where it left off.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
It gave its all, punching as hard and fast as it could in order to protect its master. It actually did manage to deflect the majority, but some knives in hidden angles managed to slip through, going past the shield and striking the target.
"UNGGHHHH!"
Stabbed in various places, Jotaro coughed up blood. Be it his arms, legs or torso, no part was spared.
"GRRGHHH… GGGH…"
Like the vampire previously, by his own hand, the young Joestar was sent flying when the flow of time resumed. Blood splayed all around.
"It's over." DIO said, though not celebrating yet. "One more just in case."
[The World] then chucked a knife at high speed towards Jotaro, who then ordered [Star Platinum] to deflect the harmful projectile. The purple Stand tried to, with his fist, but had no success as its course only changed to eventually to stab into the young Joestar's hat. Specifically in the part that was above his forehead.
Jotaro looked extremely shocked when the knife hit, and the vampire managed to capture that expression.
"I'll be honest with you, Jotaro. I'm glad I killed you sooner than later. The Joestar family has been nothing but trouble for me, ever since 100 years ago. I never would've thought you'd infiltrate my world of stillness as well." DIO told as the Joestar was in the midst of crashing into the ground, just like him not too long ago. "Only one man should be able to move while time is standing still. It's like automobiles, those moving machines… They're useful, but since everyone has one, it gets crowded. The only master of time should be I, DIO!"
XXXXXXXXXX
Down below, Jotaro was laying on his back. Before colliding with the asphalt, he had [Star Platinum] protect his back, absorbing the impact instead of him. He was in a tight situation but quite far away from the vampire for the time being.
"Ungh…"
The young Joestar was inspecting his injuries. Four serious stab wounds in his left shoulder, arm and leg, four minor stabs with three in his chest and one in his forehead.
"He just had to make a bunch of holes in my favorite school uniform…" Jotaro complained with a low voice, using this sentence as a mechanism of calming down after realizing how narrowly he got away from death. "I'm glad I stuffed magazines in my hat and shirt just in case after DIO went flying into the shop… I figured he'd try some long range weapon, but I wasn't expecting that many…"
He stifled his voice at the pain of his wounds, both the shallow and the deep wounds. The shallow wounds also gave him quite the shock, since if not for the magazines, the knives would've gotten to his heart and brain, killing him. Due to the deeper wounds, he was also experiencing some blood loss.
It was a pain both literally and figuratively, but the young Joestar refused to move and even stopped speaking. He could already feel DIO's presence coming closer to him.
'He thinks I'm dead, so I'd better just lie here… The best option right now is to play dead and wait for an opportunity to strike. If he throws so many knives at once, I don't think I can dodge them again…' Jotaro thought, knowing what to do. 'I have to smash his head and destroy his brains, or he'll never die…'
Not long after he mentally predicted, the vampire actually showed up, landing not too close, but also not too far from the young Joestar. The latter tried to play dead as well as he could, but at the same time tried to pay as much attention to the former, who was being quiet for short while.
"…Better safe than sorry." DIO finally broke his silence, talking in a composed manner. "The Joestars have always been blessed with ridiculous luck. He could be playing dead for all I know."
'!'
"I have to make sure he's dead…"
'…'
Jotaro was alarmed, tensing up as he laid flat. On the outside he wasn't moving, but on the inside his heart and blood were moving fast.
On the roadside, there was another round traffic sign. The vampire broke the post, taking it as a weapon.
"I'll cut off his head." DIO menacingly declared, his tone deadly cold and quiet.
'…!'
The situation was becoming more and more dire for the young Joestar. If the vampire was going to pull this through, he'd be forced to move to protect his life. Though by doing so, DIO could repeat the knife move again, killing Jotaro for sure.
Raising the traffic sign above his head, the vampire took the final steps towards the young Joestar. Once close enough, he'd swing it downwards like a battle axe and decapitate him.
"THIS IS THE FINAL BLOW, JOTARO!"
It was at this crucial moment, that another player entered the game.
"!"
'!'
Having jumped tremendously high in the air, Polnareff was already in an attacking position. [Silver Chariot] was with him, its rapier aimed at DIO, ready to impale. He bore an expression of severe murderous intent, the likes of which he displayed against J. Geil and Vanilla Ice.
And when he attacked, the vampire was unable to stop him. Coming from behind already helped the frenchman stay undetected up until that point, but it was his speed that did his enemy in, for DIO being too slow to activate [The World]'s time stop.
*SHINK!*
Few milliseconds later, his brains were skewered by the silver Stand's blade.
'Polnareff!' Jotaro was very surprised about his appearance. He was glad about it, since it distracted the vampire and essentially saved his life. On the other hand, he was also worried, since by entering DIO's range, he could easily fall victim to his powers.
"GO TO FUCKING HELL! DIE, DIO!"
However, the attack hadn't been complete yet. It had a second phase, that only now had been initiated.
Once inside the vampire's brain, the weak and invisible flames around the rapier skyrocketed in intensity, grilling DIO's brain. The courtesy of Polnareff and Avdol's combined attack was hotter than any other fire on Earth. The one thing that burned even more fiercely was only their hatred of him.
"GGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the vampire screamed his lungs out as his brain and central nervous system were getting scorched. He remembered getting burned in the Joestar mansion a hundred years ago back in England, but this was even more painful than back then. Fire came out his mouth and nose, even his eyeballs were flaming.
"What?!" the young Joestar accidentally let out in reaction to witnessing this shocking scene, revealing him being alive. Not that this was the biggest concern of DIO, though.
"I'M DYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYIIIING?!" the vampire screeched while suffering hellish agony. "IMPOSSIBLE! KONO DIO DA… KONO DIO DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…!"
With the last words said, he also drew his last breath. DIO was no more, gone. His burnt out head stopped resembling him in the slightest, looking more like a big slab of charcoal.
Watching this, the frenchman and the egyptian breathed and sweated heavily, allowing the accumulated tension and stress to escape. Thanks to the vampire, there were mountains of it.
Jotaro too was still tense, staring in disbelief at the corpse of his greatest enemy. The battle was over, but all the stress still wouldn't dissipate that easily. All he could do was to let it all sink in and process it.
The terror, the nightmare was over.
DIO – Stand: [The World] = Annihilated; Dead
At long last, Part 3 is (almost) finally over! There's still the epilogue next chapter, but that doesn't matter so much. Sadly, this took years longer than I'd initially anticipated, but it is what it is.
Now I'm going to talk about my writing decisions.
Obviously, up until Polnareff and Avdol showed up, the fight's pretty much the same as canon. I admit, it's kind of lazy, but the Stardust Crusaders part was not supposed to be a rewrite. I merely wanted to write a "happier" Stardust Crusaders, where more characters survive. Was this happy to you, my readers? Because I do hope that I managed to fulfill my original intention.
Some of you may be wondering why Jotaro wasn't the one who killed DIO. That's because I personally felt like Polnareff was done dirty in canon. He was so close, which DIO himself admitted, but was only utilized as a distraction in Jotaro's favor. Do some of you think the same? If so, please let me know in the comments.
Also, I kinda wanted DIO's death to be a team effort, because DIO's singular sense of superiority is supposed to be the opposite of the strong bonds that all the crusaders formed as a group. Did you like this implementation? Let me know in the comments.
Overall, I'm content with this peace. A more elaborate final say about Stardust Crusaders will come next chapter.
Feel free to rate and review if you like to