Butterfly Effect

So, we go on with the second chapter of Stardust Crusaders. The crusaders will meet a few obstacles in their path. But not all obstacles are to be avoided, some are beneficial to encounter. I don't want to stall too long with the introdruction, so let's just go to the important part!

I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure


Chapter 7: Tower of Hair

Somewhere high above the sea near China, the plane carrying DIO's enemies was flying. The flight started off with zero disturbances. Until a beetle started flying around in the passenger area.

"Honestly, what's an insect doing in here?" Marco asked, scratching his head. "It couldn't have come from outside, this altitude isn't hospitable for bugs."

"You're right, that's not normal!" Jotaro said, standing up from his seat. He was much more alarmed. "And… It's gone!"

The insect disappeared from their sight. Suspicion rose.

"Hey Avdol, is that a Stand? Did DIO send one of his men?" Joseph nervously asked, having a feeling the vampire somehow knew about their trip.

"Yes, a Stand that takes the shape of an insect." Avdol confirmed, highly nervous himself.

Caesar didn't know what they were talking about. As the only non-Stand user he was left in the dark. He merely assumed they were right about what they themselves saw.

Suddenly Kakyoin's inner alarm bells rung. "JoJo! Right by your head! I-It's huge!" he shouted, pointing at the flying beetle roughly the size of a human head.

Turning his head to confirm, the young Joestar saw the insect close-up. Huge and sharp mandibles, numerous actual teeth, a secondary jaw hidden inside its real mouth, and disgusting saliva exiting that mouth.

"How vile. But I'll take care of it." Jotaro spoke, more disgusted than frightened about the Stand. "[Star Platinum]! Grab it!"

[Star Platinum] attempted to grab the insect but failed. The beetle quickly evaded the already fast Stand, greatly surprising his fellow Stand users.

"It's moving in for the kill!" Noriaki warned, observing the beetle shoot out its second jaw.

[Star Platinum] instinctively held its hand in front of its master, intending to stop the sharp and dangerous object. But the insect Stand bit right through the hand, extending its jaw up to [Star Platinum]'s mouth.

"JoJo!"

"Jotaro!"

His allies yelled in worry, though luckily there wasn't anything to worry about the young Joestar beside his hand. [Star Platinum] caught the insect's jaw with its teeth.

"He stopped it with its teeth! In the nick of time!" the old Joestar commented, relieved his grandson avoided further injury.

"Good thing you saved yourself!" the Zeppeli called, his lips forming a narrow smile in relief.

"As I feared, it's after his tongue!" the egyptian man explained, sweating knowing about that Stand's danger. "That's the dangerous Stand going after its targets and killing them by ripping out their tongues to eat them! They call it [Tower of Gray]!"

"I'd heard rumors of this Stand, but not that he's with DIO!" Avdol added. "[Tower of Gray] does his worst work in secret. No one knows… that his mass killings are no accident! Plane crashes, train derailments, fires. They say the plane crash that killed 300 people last year was his doing. Did DIO command that…?"

Jotaro was really furious after learning about those heinous crimes. He projected his anger through his Stand. "Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora… Oraaaaa!"

[Tower of Gray] dodged the flurry of punches [Star Platinum] launched at it. Every single one.

"Heh heh heh!" the insect Stand laughed with its disgusting voice. "Even if you fired 10 guns only 1 centimeter in front of me, none of them could touch my Stand! Not that guns can hurt a Stand…"

'Who is it? Which passenger is controlling the Stand?' Joseph wondered, hastily looking around. But every normal person around him was asleep. 'If we just knew who it was!'

The beetle flew around some more before disappearing from their sight. "It's gone again!"

They raised their concentration to the highest, being extremely careful with the dangerous murderer Stand around. But the insect didn't target them, instead going after a row of innocent civilians in their sleep, ripping their tongues out. The civilians died within their sleep.

Marco and his allies widened their eyes in shock and disgust. Things became even more disgusting when [Tower of Gray] used their blood to write 'Massacre' onto an empty white panel. That was something the old Zeppeli was able to see, and he would've preferred not to.

"That does it! I'm going after that thing!" the younger Zeppeli angrily proclaimed, truly appalled by the enemy Stand user's actions. Zeppeli family members always had strong values of justice. Marco had the strongest sense of justice out of his family's history. He tolerated hurting innocent civilians even less than his father. And Caesar had zero tolerance to that as well. "[Mental Overdrive]!"

He manifested his blue, wave-patterned humanoid Stand. Its pure red eyes locked onto the insect. [Mental Overdrive] had the power to control, produce, but not become liquids. All kinds of liquids. Extremely fitting for a Hamon-using Stand user. The Zeppeli pulled out his unopened water bottle, removed the cap and let his Stand control the water in a way all of it exited the bottle, leaving behind a fully dry plastic bottle. A mass of water floated in the air.

"So this is uncle's Stand ability." the young Joestar muttered with interest, noting its fundamental difference to [Magician's Red]. "Let's see how proficient he is."

"What are you going to do with that water?" the insect spat, unimpressed. "Are you serving me a drink? I'd rather drink your blood!"

Saying nothing, Marco split the mass of water into several smaller pieces and had them chase after the beetle. The very fast Stand evaded all of the small pieces.

"So~ slow!" it taunted, flying away a little further. With this move [Mental Overdrive]'s weakness showed itself. The blue Stand's range depended on the mass of water. With only a bottle of water, its range was pretty limited.

"And so~ short-ranged! How are you gonna defend against this, huh?!" The insect opened its mouth and shot out its second jaw again, from outside the blue Stand's range. But because it attacked from outside its range, the water from the bottle [Mental Overdrive] controlled happened to be located closer to the Zeppeli, who used Hamon to harden the water like iron. A screen of water cleanly blocked the beetle's mean biters.

"Heh, nice one, uncle." Jotaro commended, a little impressed.

"Hamon and Stands… what a combination!" the old Joestar praised, smirking in awe. "I wonder if you're the strongest one of us, Marco!"

'Hmm… That power seems interesting.' the redhead thought, seeing that it worked well with liquids. 'I wonder if he'll teach me…'

Meanwhile, the beetle was furious. His strongest and most dangerous attack had been blocked again. By water.

"I'm not having thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!" it furiously screamed with its disgusting voice, trying out this method again and again, from other angles and ranges, even daring to enter the other Stand's range. But each attempt ended with failure. The Zeppeli suffered not one injury, his water shield was immensely durable.

A fight like that would've ended in a stalemate. [Tower of Gray] couldn't get past the Hamon water screen, though it was too fast for [Mental Overdrive] to catch.

Realizing the battle's nature and the current way of fighting's outcome, Marco made an offer. "This fight isn't going to end like this, it'll go on forever. So here's my suggestion: You get inside the orb of water I'm going to form, and I won't use Hamon to defend against your jaw."

While [Tower of Gray] didn't like the idea of making agreements with an enemy, the insect realized that he was saying the truth. An endless battle wasn't what the beetle wanted, it already killed the pilots and the plane was slowly descending. The Stand's master wanted to finish the battle before the crash and get out unharmed.

"Very well, just this one time!" the insect hissed. "You better hold your word!"

"A Hamon warrior's word is honorable." the Zeppeli reassured, having his Stand form the water orb.

The beetle entered the orb. It had no resistance, just like Marco promised. [Tower of Gray] didn't attack immediately, instead waiting for a few seconds for the effect of surprise.

'That dangerous Stand… Is Marco really going to pull it off like this?' the egyptian man nervously thought, thinking about the beetle Stand's reputation. 'I just hope he doesn't get injured.'

During the seconds where the insect hadn't attacked yet, the entire Joestar group watched and waited intensely, eyes focused and sweat on their faces.

[Tower of Gray] attacked. It shot out its jaw, easily passing through the unreinforced barrier of water. The jaw aimed right for the Zeppeli's tongue. Marco knew, so he prepared for [Mental Overdrive] to catch the dangerous jaw with its teeth. However, this Stand wasn't as fast as [Star Platinum], so the same feat couldn't be pulled off with the same speed, therefore denying the Zeppeli to get out of it unharmed.

"Uncle!"

"Marco!"

Marco received 2 tooth injuries, one on the lower row and one on the upper row. The one on the lower tooth wasn't that bad, only a tiny scratch on the surface, not even 0.1 millimeters wide. Could easily be fixed by any dentist. The one on the upper tooth however turned out to be grin. The beetle managed to bite off half of the tooth.

"Dammit!" the Zeppeli cursed inbetween his teeth, scowling in pain. "You did this to me…"

"Hahahahahahahaha!" [Tower of Gray] arrogantly laughed. "I love it! Your own idea backfired on you, hahahahaha!"

"Backfired? Maybe I didn't get away scot-free." Marco spoke in an irritated tone, narrowing his eyes into a very intimidating look. "But that doesn't mean I can't continue with the second part of my plan!"

Through the extended second jaw, [Mental Overdrive] sent Hamon towards the insect. The Hamon didn't reach the beetle's main body though, it instead went to cover the water orb's surface, hardening the water again and turning it into a prison.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?! I thought you said you wouldn't do this!" the insect Stand exclaimed in disbelief, its red eyes twitching.

"I only promised not to defend myself against your jaw with Hamon." the Zeppeli reminded, shooting a resentful glare at the beetle. "I said nothing about what I'd do afterwards."

"You bastard…"

"Honestly, I'm not a bug expert, though your kind doesn't look like it should be able to breathe underwater." Marco went on. "You're inside my water prison, and I'm not letting through any oxygen. My Stand doesn't let you breathe through your repulsive second jaw either, [Mental Overdrive] still has it inside its mouth. Please suffocate quickly so I won't need to keep your disgusting appendage inside my Stand's mouth any longer than needed."

His allies dropped their jaw at the insult.

"Damn uncle, didn't know you were this savage." Jotaro chuckled.

"Hehehe, you're almost as good with words as I used to be when I was younger." Joseph spoke.

"I taught him well." Caesar prided himself. Shittalking was part of italian culture. "If only I could understand what's so disgusting about this Stand that made Marco say something like that."

"Zeppeli-san, you don't want to know." the cherry boy advised.

[Tower of Gray] was an animal with small lungs. Its master was an old man. It didn't even take 30 seconds for both of them to suffocate. The user was left a corpse, the Stand disappeared to nothingness inside the water.

"Yuck! I won't drink that water anymore." the Zeppeli remarked, grimacing in disgust. "Shame. I hate wasting water and food."

Suddenly, the plane began to take a dive.

"It can't be!" Joseph shouted, running towards the cockpit. His allies followed, afraid of a plane crash.

Two hostesses tried to stop the crusaders. "Where are you going, Sir? The cockpit is off limits for passengers."

"I know that." The old Joestar shrugged them off.

"But Sir!"

One of them noticed the younger Joestar. "Oh."

'So handsome, oh my…' they thought before he brushed them away.

"Eek!"

Kakyoin caught them both. "Don't mind him. His disrespectful behavior is appalling, but it's an emergency. Please don't be hurt."

"Yes." They blushed at the redhead, who carefully left them aside.

"Damn it!" Joseph yelled, already inside the cockpit. "He got us!"

The others then arrived inside the cockpit, sighting something really disturbing. The three pilots were dead, their tongues missing and blood sprayed all over the cabin.

"Not a tongue in sight, and with the autopilot down, we're on a crash course!" the old Joestar added, sweating bullets. "I mean, I do have experience with planes… But this is the third time I'm involved in a plane crash. Am I cursed?"

All of his allies sweatdropped.

"Gramps, no way in hell am I riding with you again!"

Some time later, the plane safely landed in the Hong Kong sea, most passengers survived. While landing, Noriaki asked the Zeppelis about Hamon. Jotaro had [Star Platinum] carefully pull out the remains of Marco's broken tooth. It served as a lesson. Stands can do permanent damage.

XXXXXXXXXX

Stranded in Hong Kong, the crusaders went to a restaurant to fill their stomach and talk about new plans.

Not long after finding a table, a new person approached their table. That person was a young silver-haired muscular man with red earrings and a black sleeveless top exposing his muscles beneath the fibre. His defining trait was an over the top hairstyle, literally.

"Excuse me. Sorry to be a bother. I'm a traveller from France. I can't r-" he spoke up, interupted when 2 people from that table recognized him. They began to gape and their eyes bulged out.

"Polnareff?!" father and son reacted, very surprised to randomly meet a familiar person. "What are you doing here?! We haven't seen you for a year!"

"Huh, you know him?" Joseph asked, wondering why they reacted this intensely.

"That's Jean Pierre Polnareff. Until last year he came to us to learn Hamon." the old Zeppeli informed.

"Last year he stopped coming for whatever reason." the younger Zeppeli said, switching his gaze over to the frenchman. "Polnareff, what happened?"

"Hmph! I merely met a new friend who helped me much more than your Hamon ever could've." Polnareff told, his eyes cold and hard. The Hamon masters never saw his eyes lke that before. "He said he didn't like Hamon, that's why I never told you anything."

"Hm?!" the old Joestar let out, picking up an important piece of information from the frenchman's talk. "He doesn't like Hamon, you say? Very few people in the world know about Hamon, and even fewer people have a reason to not like Hamon. Your 'friend' has to be…" He stood up from his chair, raising his right arm to point at Polnareff. "DIO!"

"DIO?!"

Upon hearing the vampire's name, all the crusaders stood up and manifested their Stands, surrounding DIO's man.

"So you're an enemy!" the young Joestar observed, gritting his fists like [Star Platinum] next to him.

"What on earth made you work for DIO, Polnareff?!" Marco questioned, troubled about his acquaintance affiliating with such a man. He knew him as a person seeking justice.

The frenchman sarcastically huffed in frustration, holding up his palms. "Welp, there goes my assassination attempt…"

"No need. I'll take you on." Avdol declared, letting [Magician's Red]'s flames flare up a bit. "Come! I'd rather neutralize you right here before you try out another assassination attempt at a later time."

"Tch! Are you sure you can take me on?" Polnareff sneered, summoning his own Stand. It was silver and knight-like, had its own rapier. "My Stand is the chariot card… the machine of war, [Silver Chariot]!"

[Silver Chariot] slashed at the air, creating a vacuum that sucked the egyptian's flames on top of the rapier.

"Fire itself is what began life. A Stand which can control such an elemental fury is indeed impressive." he commended, having his Stand hold the burning rapier in front of him in display. "BUT… can it hold its own against my swordsmanship?"

[Magician's Red] shot a ball of fire from its mouth at a nearby table, instantly burning it to crisp.

"Whoa, that's some fire!" the cherry boy commented, in awe at the flame Stand's raw destructive potential.

"It'll take more than ego to kill me, monsieur." Avdol coolly warned.

Being a proud swordsman, the frenchman couldn't leave this unanswered. "Ego?!" He threw some coins from his pockets in the air and let the flames on the rapier hover in the air.

"Is this mere ego?!" Polnareff vigorously called, having [Silver Chariot] swing the pure silver rapier at nearly impossible speeds. Faster than light, almost too fast for the crusaders to see, [Silver Chariot] impaled all the coins onto its rapier. And not just coins. In the gaps between the coins, the Stand also impaled the bits of flames. An impressive feat which allowed some ego.

"I'm far from being conceited! My Stand can cut through the very air and create a vacuum, guiding the fire." the frenchman explained, eyes narrowed into a prideful glare. "My Stand, the chariot card is the card of victory and conquest. I can take you in this small room, but isn't your flame ability better suited to wide-open spaces, Avdol? Beating you at your best is the only victory worthy of my Stand!"

He started heading towards the door. "Follow me outside, where I'll slice you up one by one!"

XXXXXXXXX

Polnareff took the crusaders to the Tiger Balm Garden, also in Hong Kong.

"Heh heh heh! Let me see… How will this all go down?" the frenchman mused, standing pensively as he made up his mind. "I'll make a prophecy right now. Avdol, you will be destroyed by your own Stand's powers."

Making a prophecy to a professional fortune teller was foolish. The egyptian was unimpressed. "That so?" he quietly spoke, manifesting his Stand.

"Hora!" [Silver Chariot] carried out the first strike. [Magician's Red] dodged the first stabs. "Hora! Hora!"

Those stabs were only testing stabs though, Polnareff didn't put true weight into his stabs just then. "What's wrong? Not going to use your flames? If not…" The knight Stand unleashed a flurry of jabs. "Then I'll finish you right now! Hora! Hora! Hora! Hora! Hora! Hora!"

In response to the more serious stabs, the red bird spat flames at the silver knight, who parried the flames away at a nearby boulder. That boulder had a particular shape. It was shaped after one of the fighting Stands.

"What?!"

"Ooh!"

The crusaders reacted with shock, [Silver Chariot] was just this fast. Even on par with [Star Platinum]

"Dammit! He's just playing around! He carved a statue of [Magician's Red] while he was attacking!" Joseph called in outrage.

"So that's how a Stand looks like." Caesar said, this being about the only way for him to see Stands.

"Not bad, eh?" the frenchman praised himself, his ego spilling out.

Avdol posed, recognizing that his opponent was skilled enough to deserve a better experience with his Stand ability.

Posing served as a means of communication, so Polnareff was glad about the message. "You're going to unleash your full power at last? Good! Bring it on!"

"Better watch out, Polnareff. You're better with your Stand than you were last year, but Avdol doesn't joke around when he gets serious." the Zeppeli advised.

"Oh! Is that so?" The frenchman ignored the advice. "I'd like to see!"

[Magician's Red] continued posing even while executing an attack, arms crossed over each other. It breathed out a human-sized Ankh of fire, shooting the flaming egyptian symbol at the silver Stand.

"Crossfire Hurricane!"

"Hora Hora Hora Hora!" [Silver Chariot] cut the ankh into smaller pieces, eliminating the symbol. "So this is the best you can do? The vacuum created in the air by this sword is all that I'll need to cut away your puny fire!"

The egyptian's flames became redder, signalizing rising heat and intensity that even affected the Stand itself. [Magician's Red] squawked in pain.

"Avdol's Flame! So strong it's even burning him!" the old Joestar exclaimed, sweating not only because of the heat.

"…I hope it doesn't get to the point where I have to put out those flames myself." Marco spoke, glancing at his own Stand with a worried look.

"Ha ha ha! You will die by your own flames, Avdol, just as I foretold!"

[Magician's Red] squawked again.

"Come on, man, one last pathetic gasp?" Polnareff spat, growing to belittle his opponent. "Just die quietly!"

As if cutting with a Katana, [Silver Chariot] cleanly bifurcated the red bird man. Though something felt odd about the cut.

"Wait… That blow felt wrong! Was that real?"

Suddenly, flames engulfed the silver knight and thereby its user. "Gyaaa!" he shouted in pain and confusion. "Flames? I cut him in half… and flames poured out?"

It turned out that the [Magician's Red] the frenchman cut wasn't the real Stand, but instead the statue from earlier Polnareff himself carved.

"Funny how flame can cloud your vision, is it not? What you've sliced up was just the statue your [Silver Chariot] created." Avdol stated, smirking confidently. "The one defeated by his own Stand ability turns out to be you! And now enjoy another helping of my Crossfire…"

"…Hurricane!"

The genuine [Magician's Red] sent out another fiery Ankh, blasting away both Stand and master.

"Gah!"

"Challenging a fortune teller to a battle of prediction?" the egyptian man coolly spoke out, narrowly grinning in pride. "Who do you think you are?"

Following the cool words by Avdol, everyone assumed that it already was the egyptian's victory.

"That last line of yours, really cool." Marco complimented.

"Yeah. Was pretty rad." Jotaro agreed. His opinion on Avdol improved since the prison fight, this only served as a minor example.

"But I wonder about that french guy." Kakyoin changed the topic. "Is he dead?"

No. If Polnareff was dead, he wouldn't have removed his knight Stand's metallic armor by blowing them away in the air. And speaking of air, the next thing the crusaders saw when turning around was the frenchman airborne.

Avdol reacted with disbelief. "It… it can't be!"

"He's flying in the air? Shouldn't he be passed out?" Noriaki asked.

"Bravo! Very well done, bravo!" Polnareff sarcastically praised, clapping loudly.

"How can it be?!" the old Joestar yelled in disbelief.

"I don't see a burn on him! And how is he floating in the air like that?!" the young Joestar questioned.

"No, look closely, Jotaro." the Zeppeli said, pointing at the air below the frenchman. "Look closely with your inner eyes."

In reality, Polnareff wasn't really floating in the air. An almost transparent version of [Silver Chariot] carried him.

"Good eyes!" Polnareff commended, getting thrown higher in the air and landing on his feet after flashily spinning his body around five times.

"Yes, this is my Stand [Silver Chariot] without its armor!" he informed, posing. "Do you see now? Well, it would be unfair of me if I killed you all without fully explaining my powers. Do you mind if we take a time-out for an explanation?"

"A time-out?" the egyptian man repeated. He wasn't sure what the others thought of that idea, but he was the one fighting this opponent, so he was the one answering. "That'll be fine."

"My Stand didn't come apart and disappear. My Stand wears a protective armor. This is why I'm not hurt." the frenchman explained. Even his clothes were undamaged. "Your flames only burned the armor which my Stand has now removed."

"And! Now that my armor is off, my speed has increased! Were you able to see my Stand as it held me up? No! That is the top speed of my Stand in this state."

This information spoke volumes about his capabilities. Avdol's eyes opened wide up. He'd have a good shot at another assassination attempt if let go. Though then the egyptian realized a flaw about the silver Stand's current state.

"So… the sturdiness of your armor let me hit you with my Crossfire Hurricane. But you must know, now that you're 'naked' the next hit will mean your life."

"Hmm. Yes, it may be." Polnareff casually admitted, his eyes closed. "If you hit me. Not that you ever will."

"Do you mind if I try?"

The frenchman wasn't so casual anymore, opening his eyes. "First, let me show you something that'll freak you out!"

"If you must."

All of a sudden, [Silver Chariot] appeared to have multiplied.

"What?!" Joseph exclaimed in disbelief, mouth and eyes wide open. "He now has 6, no, 7 Stands!"

"As far as I've been told, a Stand user can only have one Stand." Caesar remarked. "Does he really have 7 Stands? Sounds dangerous to me."

"It looks like he has 7 Stands, but that can't really be it!" Marco told, a streak of sweat running down his face. "That's breaking the rules!"

Avdol looked extremely surprised, and not in the good kind.

"So tell me, freaked out yet?" the frenchman sneered, grinning smugly. "Heh! These are afterimages, a whole army of them! They'll fool your sight and your hearing. Your senses can't follow their movement…"

"…Or their sword speed! How can you ever hope to keep up?!" It happened frame after frame. One instant, the [Silver Chariot]s weren't attacking. The next instant, they were.

"Crossfire Hurricane!"

[Magician's Red] fired the attack as fast as it could. The attack initially seemed to have hit [Silver Chariot], though that turned out to be incorrect.

"Non, non! That was an image. Your attacks won't work on my Stand!" Polnareff wriggled his finger around. "You'll just keep hitting the ground."

One moment later, blood sprayed out of little Ankhs carved all over the egyptian's face. He didn't expect the tiny wounds at all.

"He hit him!"

"As I've said earlier, you really are better with your Stand than last year." the Zeppeli spoke.

"What precision! His Stand ability has been trained at length!" Avdol commented himself. He wasn't a person to commend opponents, though this one really deserved the praise.

"10 years, yes." the frenchman confirmed. "Now! Let's finish this, shall we, Avdol?"

"Hm." The egyptian's expression changed into a thin smirk. "Noble of you to reveal the name of your attack. Now let me do the same in return."

"Oh?" Polnareff was intrigued.

"This is a variation of my C.F.H.. It's still shaped like an Ankh, but I divide it into multiple blasts." Avdol revealed.

Posing anew with arms crossed over, [Magician's Red] fired out multiple fire Ankhs for multiple [Silver Chariot]s.

"Try to dodge my Crossfire Hurricane Special!"

"YOU'RE A FOOL, AVDOL!" the frenchman loudly mocked, placing his Stand and all its afterimages in formation. "HAAAAAA!"

"It's not good! His Stands are in formation!" the old Joestar loudly observed, believing Polnareff would win because of that.

"He's going to deflect it like all the others!" the redhead voiced out his prediction.

[Silver Chariot] and its copies lined up all the different Ankhs using sword slashes and vacuums, making them an easier target.

"So very naive! I'll hit you with your own power just like last time!" Polnareff proclaimed, slicing up the fire and knocking it backwards.

Though the frenchman was unaware of a final flaming Ankh coming at him from another path.

"Wha-?!" he exclaimed in shock, noticing that stray Ankh rising through a small hole in the ground. Polnareff truly was unprepared for this one, it knocked him and his Stand army off the ground. "Gaaaaah!"

"The hole he made earlier!" Joseph figured out the idea behind this attack. "That flame dug a tunnel, into which he blasted the Crossfire Hurricane!"

"My first shot was merely the set-up." Avdol stated. "As I told you, I can divide my flame up into multiple attacks."

Meanwhile, the frenchman was burning in Stand flames, having fallen back onto the ground. The egyptian threw a sharp knife in front of him where he could reach it with his hands.

"Burning is a painful way to die. Use this knife to kill yourself."

When Avdol walked away, Polnareff took the knife into his hands but let go if it shortly afterwards. "My own conceit! I never thought my skill with the sword could lose to fire. I choose to die slowly from my burns. I owe at least that much respect to the ability which has defeated me…"

Reminder that those were the flames of [Magician's Red]. The egyptian could remove the flames simply by snapping with his fingers, which he did. Avdol did this out of respect. "He didn't use the knife to attack me from behind. His sense of honor is so strong that it even overrides orders from DIO himself."

"Heh." Marco and Caesar smiled. That was the Polnareff they recognized, an honorable man to the bones.

Said Polnareff officially returned when [Star Platinum] removed the vampiric flesh bud implanted into his head. Now all that was left was Polnareff returning back to consciousness.

"Hehe! Guess he's not DIO's bud-dy anymore! Get it?" Joseph joked, smiling despite his joke being terrible.

"Geez Joseph, you're still embarrassing." Caesar huffed, shaking his head.

"Kakyoin, don't people who make stupid jokes get on your nerves?" Jotaro spoke, his turn to complain.

XXXXXXXXXX

Time passed. The frenchman was ready to wake up from his sleep, albeit barely. He groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Ugh…"

"You're awake. Excellent!"

He was surrounded by the people DIO told him to kill.

"Wha-" Polnareff let out, eyeing each of them. The frenchman first touched the spot where he'd been invaded by the parasitic flesh bud to see if that changed. When Polnareff felt that it was gone, a mixture of gratitude and happiness eased his mind.

"How are you, Polnareff?" the younger Zeppeli inquired. He had questions to ask, and could actually expect honest answers without that parasite.

"…Relieved." the frenchman replied, rubbing his forehead. The reason for his relief consisted of two things: Regaining his personal freedom and keeping his life.

"Hey, Avdol." Polnareff began, shooting a glare demanding answers at the egyptian. "Why'd you spare me?"

Avdol folded his arms, smiling. "Because I respect you. You didn't attack me from behind when you had the opportunity, even after DIO implanted that flesh bud into your head." the egyptian stated his reason. "You have a great deal of honor. It would be a waste to let you die."

"…" The frenchman said nothing, though he thanked him silently inside his heart.

"Asking you why you're here would be a waste of time, we already know DIO sent you. Why did you meet up with DIO in the first place?" Marco continued with his questions.

"I encountered him when searching for the man with 2 right hands." Polnareff told, his expression looking venomous when mentioning that man.

"Man with 2 right hands?" the old Joestar repeated, touching his chin. "That sounds really bizarre."

"Sorry, should've clarified. I've told the Zeppelis about him last year, but not to you people." the frenchman apologized, momentarily putting a stop to his venomous expression. He then told them about how that weird man killed his sister. He was on a journey to find and kill that man to avenge his sister.

"…And I swore the very same day…" Polnareff finished his story, ending it with an impossible pose "TO AVENGE THE CRUEL FATE OF MY SISTER! TO USE MY OWN STAND TO HUNT DOWN THE KILLER AND MAKE HIM PAY WITH HIS LIFE!"

Going on with the story of how he met DIO, the frenchman told what he had to about his tales. "…And then he convinced me to stop training Hamon and to cut off my relationship to the Zeppeli family."

"I see." the older Zeppeli figured. "Makes sense. The flesh bud would've been eliminated if you continued your training."

"About the man with 2 right hands, he's probably working for DIO." Kakyoin voiced his opinion.

"Sounds likely. If I head towards DIO, my sister's killer shouldn't be far behind. I've made up my mind! I want to go with you to Egypt." Polnareff announced in a determined tone, looking at the men in the same manner.

Joseph was undecided. But he could always ask the Zeppeli father and son who knew the man better than he himself did. "I don't know… What do you say?"

"Polnareff's fine." the younger Zeppeli reassured, vouching for his and his father's former apprentice. "We know him. He's a really good guy."

"Haha, thanks…" The frenchman sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, and his cheeks became red. He didn't blush though, he was merely embarrassed and nervous. There was another tiny thing to admit. "…By the way… I completely forgot how to use Hamon, like, completely."

"SAY WHAT?!" the Hamon masters roared, comically outraged. "AFTER ALL THE EFFORT WE'VE GONE THROUGH?!"

Polnareff could only hold his palms defensively in front of him, smiling awkwardly while stepping backwards.

"Yare Yare Daze…" Jotaro could only say this to their antics. Whatever Hamon was, he had no intention learning it. Noriaki on the other hand…


Chapter end. I have things to say and I'll begin with the most important thing. Last chapter I revealed that Marco's Stand name was a music reference. There's a website I recently discovered called 'Midomi' where names of artists, albums and songs are listed. I wanted the Hamon reference 'Overdrive' to be part of the Stand name above all, so I went with [Mental Overdrive]. Staying with Marco, I wrote a tooth of his out of the Story. Battle manga characters die or get a notable wound in the series sooner or later, so I just made it happen sooner. In the real Stardust Crusaders Polnareff lost toes and fingers. Kakyoin, Avdol and Iggy lost their lives, Avdol even "twice". Joseph lost his hand back in the real Battle Tendency.

One big change is that Polnareff and Kakyoin will learn Hamon. Caesar didn't die in this fanfiction. He had a son he could teach Hamon to, thus the teaching of Hamon continues. I chose Polnareff because he's looking for ways to get stronger in order to be able to kill his sister's murderer. I also chose Kakyoin because he's a strategic type of fighter who could use Hamon in his strategies. Jotaro doesn't have the patience to put up with Hamon training, he'd never wear a breathing mask like Joseph. Avdol's ability is simply not suited for Hamon at all, it's nearly entirely useless for him.

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