Butterfly Effect

So, after the last annoying chapter I'm in good mood to write again. Enya and Steely Dan, important and memorable minor villains! They might be scum, but they're far more interesting than ZZ (user of [Wheel of Fortune]). With that said, I hope I can show you more enthusiasm than last chapter through the writing of this chapter. Enjoy!

I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure


Chapter 12: Set in Stone

Continuing their all-male journey, the crusaders drove into a foggy village, intending to stay there overnight. First things first, they had to find a hotel.

Stepping out of the car, the crusaders noticed how quiet the people were. Unlike the indians, the citizens of this village weren't bothering them at all.

"This town is pretty quiet." Polnareff remarked. "The towns we've been to were usually noisy. There are no beggars or people trying to sell us stuff."

"I still don't like it here." Caesar commented. "Sorry, this corner of the world isn't for me."

"Hey, we're only gonna stay one night, it's not gonna kill us." Marco reassured. Compared to him, his father was more negative.

"Right, relax a bit." Joseph agreed, then deciding to ask a restaurant owner in front of his shop about hotels. "As-salam Alaikum!" the old Joestar greeted in the local manner.

He expected an answer, not the expressionless restaurant owner wordlessly flipping the sign beside the entrance from 'open' to 'closed'

"Uhh… this… is there a hotel in this town?" Joseph tried again, not understanding why the man didn't answer. "You don't have to close. I just want to ask you something."

"I don't know." the restaurant owner flatly replied, turning around and reentering his shop. This man didn't seem like he wanted to talk.

"Eh?!" The old Joestar couldn't accept this answer, it made no sense to him. "Hold it! What do you mean, you don't know?! Don't you live in this village? Is there a hotel or not? I just want to ask you-"

"Ah!" Joseph, closely watching the restaurant owner's back, saw two cockroaches crawl on his neck.

'Did I just see cockroaches on his neck?' the old Joestar thought, rubbing his eyes to check if he didn't hallucinate.

"It's probably because you didn't pronounce it correctly. That's why he didn't get you." the frenchman assumed, then pointing sideways at a man leaning on a lone pillar. "Let me ask that guy over there."

Polnareff approached the second man, initially unable to see his face. "Sir, I'm sorry but we're trying to find a hotel. Preferably one with clean bathrooms. would you mind telling me…" he began in a friendly tone, stopping in his tracks when he got to see that man's face. His eyes were bloodshot, his mouth gaping wide open as if that man witnessed something terrible. In general, the man looked dehydrated and in bad shape.

"Hey, you! What's going on?!" the frenchman questioned in worry, grabbing his shoulder. Polnareff intended to shake him so the man would come back to his senses. Instead, he lifelessly dropped on the floor. Two lizards crawled out of his open mouth.

Unlike the pair of cockroaches, the entire group saw the pair of reptiles. Upon seeing that, their senses were alarmed. The crusaders bore unsettled expressions on their faces, flinching backwards.

"WHAT THE…?!"

"HE'S DEAD!"

"HE DIED WITH A SHOCKED LOOK ON HIS FACE!"

"What the hell happened to him? Why did he die on the side of the road?"

"Could that be because of heart failure?"

Jotaro carefully assessed the situation, his eyes fell on a gun held by the dead body, smoke pouring out of the barrel. "Possibly… However, it doesn't look like your typical heart failure."

"Ah! A gun! This guy's holding a gun!" the frenchman exclaimed in surprise.

"You just noticed?" Kakyoin flatly said. Usually he'd sweatdrop, but the case right then was serious.

"The barrel is still smoking. If it was fired, it was very recently." the young Joestar analytically pointed out. "Maybe 2 to 5 minutes ago? Shortly before we arrived…"

"Su… Suicide? He shot himself?"

"No. There are no wounds on his body, nor is there any blood." Noriaki observed, ruling out suicide by gunshot.

"Then why did he die? Look at the expression on his face! It all twisted like he was scared and died screaming!" Polnareff yelled, still shocked from whatever happened to this poor dead man.

"Whatever transpired, it must've been terrible." the Zeppeli remarked, crossing his arms.

"Hmm…" the old Zeppeli mused, resting his chin on his hand. There was an obvious open question that had to be asked. "Why has no one in town seen this?"

The redhead, thinking about the same mystery, saw a veiled woman walking another way and decided to call out for her. "Excuse me! There's a dead person over here. Please call the police."

This woman turned around, reacting to the cherry boy's voice. She was a quiet woman with blisters on both sides of her face. When she looked at him without saying anything, the blisters popped, pus ran out. "I am sorry. The boils on my face are getting infected. Now, why did you call me."

"Uh… I wanted to ask you to get the police." Kakyoin repeated, slightly weirded out by her behavior and look on her eyes.

"The police? Why?"

Noriaki couldn't believe it. 'Is this lady serious? Does she not see this dead body over here?!'

"Look! A man is dead!" the redhead practically shouted at the woman, stiffly pointing at the corpse.

"I see… A man is dead… So what should I do?" she asked with an unfazed voice.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO GET THE POLICE!" the cherry boy screamed, losing his patience. This kind of attitude was unbelievable.

"Yes, yes. I'll go get them… I see…" the woman spoke, turning away then changing the topic. "They are infected. I am so itchy…"

"…"

Kakyoin put his palm on his mouth in concern. The apathy and lack of concern for a fellow human truly disgusted Noriaki. This village was making him uncomfortable. 'What the hell? The people here are even colder than the ones in New York or Tokyo… A person is dead but no one seems to care.'

Marco too found the current state of things troublesome. "Ahem, I'm not that keen on running away just because of one unpleasant surprise… But can we please address the fact that the whole mood of this village feels… questionable to say the least?" the Zeppeli proposed in a pressing way, holding his palms upwards.

"I agree with uncle. This town is undeniably dodgy." Jotaro calmly said, fixing his gaze on the corpse. "Why did he die, for example? I really want to find out. Could this be the work of a Stand user?"

Joseph seemed a little bit more sceptical, but he also assumed a clinically calm demeanor. "Hmm… I don't get it at all. The user got here before us and killed an innocent man. If that's the case, for what reason?"

His curiosity getting the better of him, the old Joestar began inspecting the corpse. Actually the job of the police, but his gloves didn't leave fingerprints, a reason to just say fuck it and go on. Joseph first looked at the deceased man's belongings. "He appears to be a traveller like us. He has tickets for the train and bus. He looks east indian and has indian money on him. So he's not from this town."

Inspecting further, the old Joestar dared a look at that corpse's body. His eyes went wide when he discovered a hole in the man's chest. "HUH?!"

"There's a wound on his chest about the size of a 10 Yen coin. Could this be the cause?"

"Why isn't there any blood?" the young Joestar asked, finding it odd how dry that corpse was. "Normally a big and deep wound like this would leave a lot of blood."

Caesar stroked his chin. "This is turning into a murder mystery…"

"This doesn't even look like a normal murder case." the younger Zeppeli commented.

"We have a right to know how he died." Jotaro spoke. "Screw it, just remove his clothes."

A disgusting sight got into their eyes upon removing the man's clothes. The dead man's body was littered with similar holes, he looked like swiss cheese. Worse than that, actually, at least swiss cheese wasn't completely dry.

"WHAT?! WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS BODY?!" the crusaders reacted in disbelief, utterly disgusted by these mortifying injuries. They didn't know how this person was killed, but it became obvious that a Stand user MUST have done this.

"Careful, there are new Stand users in the area!"

It became evident that this environment was hostile. Joseph knew what was best. "Everyone, let's hightail out of here!"

He placed his hand on what he thought was the hood of their jeep, intending to jump right into the seats. After a closer look, those seats turned out to be spikes of a gate. The old Joestar's eyes widened when discovering the truth.

"AH! What?!" the old Joestar exclaimed in surprise, finding himself in a difficult position. He was already in midair, unable to stop his own inertia by himself. "It's not the jeep! How is this possible?!"

"[Hermit Purple]!" Joseph Joestar still knew how to come up with escape plans. He extended his vine Stand and attached it onto a nearby pole, thus saving himself from getting impaled by a fence.

The crusaders were confused as to why the old man almost endangered his own life.

"Hey grandpa, what are you doing?" the young Joestar asked.

"Oh god! What was I doing?! The jeep wasn't parked there?!"

"The jeep?" Marco repeated, raising his brow in confusion. "The jeep is over there."

"Huh?" Joseph didn't understand what drove him to just do that. "Just… just then…"

Suddenly, a new figure appeared, allowing the crusaders to shift the focus onto something else. The old Joestar was relieved, he didn't have to justify himself for that weird inexplicable moment. That new figure was an extremely short wrinkly old lady with white hair and a walking stick. That hair was separated into two pigtails on the side and a large puffy part on the back.

A notable habit of her was hiding her left hand while walking. Why, because there was something wrong about that left hand? Yes, she was Enya Geil, the mother of J. Geil who also had two right hands instead of just one. She had to hide it, otherwise she'd seem suspicious.

Hol Horse, completely quiet until then, continued staying quiet, except for an inaudible gulp of fear. He knew who this person was. The cowboy looked away in an attempt at avoiding suspicion.

"Are you travellers? It's dangerous to take a car in this weather." the old lady spoke up. "I own a hotel. If you don't mind, you can stay there for the night. I'll give you the group discount."

Polnareff liked the idea, finally a hotel! His expression became cheerful. "Hey hey! Finally someone normal!"

A 'normal' person in a village where abnormal behavior was the norm. Who was really normal? Hard to answer that question, but the question on who the suspicious one is was easy to answer. Especially for someone as sharp and doubting as Jotaro.

"Come, come! That's my hotel over there, Joestar-san." Enya invited, pointing at a better-looking building, at least compared to the others in the village. "I'll lead the way, please follow me."

The young Joestar had no intention of following her request. "Hold it, old woman. Did you just call him Joestar?" he questioned, warily glancing at her. "How did you know his name?"

For a rather high-ranking servant of DIO, she was pretty prone to errors such as this. The old lady looked away, hiding her expression from the crusaders. Enya grimaced in desperation, taking quite a few seconds to come up with an excuse. Her eyes were making crazy irregular movements.

"Come on, Mister… Didn't that Sir over there call him Joestar-san?" she claimed with an innocent expression, referring to the frenchman.

"Eh? Me?" Polnareff said in surprise, pointing at himself. "I, uhh… Maybe I did… maybe not." He couldn't remember such little trivial things.

"You did." the old woman insisted. "I've been in this business a long time. It's easy for me to remember people's names. It's true!"

"By the way, what happened to your left hand?" the frenchman inquired, noticing it was entirely bandaged.

"Oh, this? I burned myself… I'm getting old, I accidently spilled hot water on myself." Enya lied.

"You're getting old? What are you talking about? You look 40 at most, I was thinking about dating you." Polnareff playfully teased with well intention.

"Haha Haha Haha! Stop joking around, Sir!"

"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Inwardly she felt the opposite of laughing. 'What's this idiot talking about? The one I hate the most is you, Polnareff! I want you to feel 1000 times more pain than my son felt. I'm going to cut your balls off, disembowel you and then kill you!'

Hol Horse, also having insight on the old lady's feelings, sweatdropped at seeing them laugh together. 'Welp, you're in for a bad surprise, Polnareff…'

"Anyways, enough laughing for now. Let me show you your rooms." Enya finished laughing.

With that, the crusaders checked in.

XXXXXXXXXX

30 minutes later, after basic unpacking and some relaxing, the Hamon faction of the crusaders met on top of the roof.

"So, what's the plan for today?" the redhead asked.

"Marco and I talked a little. We don't want to disturb the inhabitants, so we'll have a more quiet training session here on the roof, where we won't disturb anybody." the old Zeppeli told.

"Just because the training will be more quiet, doesn't mean it won't be hard." the younger Zeppeli reminded, narrowly smirking.

Shrugging, the frenchman sighed and lowered his head. "You'll never go easy on us, will you… Fine, tell us what we have to do."

"Gladly."

XXXXXXXXXX

Instead of loud disciplines like running or water-related disciplines like swimming, which wouldn't be possible in the desert of Pakistan either way, the 2 disciples were instructed to do things like stretches, yoga and balancing.

These disciplines started off easy, though with time passing they turned out to become harder and harder. Polnareff and Kakyoin constantly had to regulate their breaths to maintain form and balance.

"Agh… ugh…" Speaking was hard, too. Quiet or not, the training of this family pushed these 2 to their limit. Stand fights were life-threatening and pushed them to their limit in one way, but these Hamon sessions were much more physically demanding.

Strangely enough, the Zeppelis always managed to keep the difficulty very high. Both Hamon trainees improved their Hamon and breathing bit by bit after each single training session, and they could feel improvements themselves, though every session felt just as hard to pass as the other.

And the exhaustion afterwards was just the same, tiring them out to the maximum extent.

XXXXXXXXXX

Believing he'd slipped past his temporary overseers, Hol Horse walked down the stairs in order to meet with Enya.

While Polnareff and Kakyoin, the usual designated overseers of the substitute crusader were busy with their Hamon training, the Joestars took over. Jotaro told Joseph he'd covertly monitor the cowboy and his activities.

When the gunslinger got downstairs, he immediately proceeded to approach her. "Enya, we need to talk…"

"Yes, we obviously do, Hol Horse…" she spoke in a strict tone, her expression unamused.

'So I was right, that old woman is DIO's spy after all.' the young Joestar thought, not surprised.

"Tell me, Hol Horse, why are you with these bastards? Did you seriously betray Lord DIO?" the old lady questioned.

"Aah, no! Don't get the wrong idea!" Hol Horse pleaded in agitation, his expression becoming disquieted. He was all jittery. "You don't understand, I was forced into this! After my partner died they ganged up on me and demanded me to join them as a substitute for their friend I shot! They told me they'd kill me if I refused!"

Enya turned furious at the cowboy's explanation. Her eyes twitched madly. "So not only did you betray Lord DIO, you also betrayed my son?!"

"Look, I had no choice!" the gunslinger stated, overwhelmed by stress. "What was I supposed to do in that situation? Die together with your son?"

"YES, YOU WORTHLESS TRAITOROUS PIECE OF COWARDLY SHIT!" she growled enraged, grabbing a nearby sharp pair of scissors and stabbing through his right wrist.

"Aaaaaaaaargh! Enya! What are you doing?!" Hol Horse screamed out in pain, pulling his bleeding arm away. He was so shocked at how this old lady would go for his murder.

"Hol Horse! How dare you ditch my son and betray him just to save your own skin?! You shameless bastard!" Enya hissed in anger, her old eyes full of hate. "I've already decided to kill you the minute I saw you! Unforgivable… Both you and Polnareff! Die by my Stand, [Justice]!"

"Ju- [Justice]?!" the cowboy stammered, beads of sweat running down his face.

'[Justice]?' the young Joestar thought from his hiding position.

"You've probably just heard rumors about it, but never seen it in action, right? Now I'll show you!" She had a confident look on her face.

"Huh?" Suddenly, the blood coming from the gunslinger's wound began getting sucked into the air, thinning out. Before he knew it, a dry hole opened where he got stabbed.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaah!" Hol Horse screamed in shock, becoming really scared. 'It's like those holes on that corpse!'

'Oh shit, it's like those holes on that corpse!' Jotaro thought, also wide-eyed. 'Now I know that witch killed that man!'

"A nicely shaped hole… That's right, my Stand [Justice] is a Stand of fog. All wounds that come into contact with the fog will open a hole like that!" the old lady revealed. "Also…"

A thick fog, thicker than the fog in town, came about behind the cowboy. That fog had an appearance, that of a menacing skull with a crown and 2 hands with sharp claws. This fog was the most intimidating fog the 2 crusaders had seen in their lives.

"Holy shit! What the hell is this?!" the gunslinger yelled, feeling the intimidation.

'This must be [Justice]…' the young Joestar figured, wondering about the right time for him to come out and strike

"Looks like [Justice] wants to dance with you!" Enya finished, intent on finishing off Hol Horse.

All of a sudden, the cowboy's hand began stretching on its own. It stretched in a way the gunslinger wouldn't stretch it himself, because that position was painful. "Yaaaaaah!"

"The wisps of fog are like strings. Once it gets into your wound, you become my puppet." she informed. "Die by your own hand!"

Hol Horse's hand became flat as the fingers neatly pressed together, like during a jab. Following this he unwillingly pushed his hand inside his mouth. He choked on his own hand, choking so hard he barfed out spit through the tiny tiny gaps between his hand and lips. "Hmpf! Hmpf!"

'Disgusting…' Jotaro thought with a deadpan. 'I think I should help him no-'

The cowboy managed to free himself on his own out of his embarrassing situation, using the strength of his free arm to pull out his controlled one. He could breathe again.

"Dammit Granny! Don't get so fuckin' cocky!" the gunslinger cursed.

"[Emperor]!" Hol Horse called, manifesting his Stand gun right into his right hand. "Die you rotten bitch!"

In the heat of the moment the cowboy forgot that he manifested his Stand into his unfree hand. Thus his Stand was also in control of Enya. She forcibly made him aim at himself.

"Shit…" the gunslinger muttered before shooting himself and falling backwards. "Arg…"

'I can't believe it! He's such a retard!' the young Joestar thought in disbelief, believing Hol Horse deserved this due to his own stupidity. 'He can choose which hand he shoots with, why the fuck did he get it wrong?!'

"[Justice] always wins." the old lady smugly said.

Jotaro finally decided to come out and confront the enemy Stand user. "Then my Stand will be the judge."

When Enya turned around, the young Joestar stood just there, without a warning. "Wah!" she reacted in surprise at being exposed. 'Noooo… How could he be there? Damn you, Jotaro…'

[Star Platinum] was ready, standing right beside Jotaro. "Your cover is blown, old woman. You can't act innocent in front of me anymore. Now tell me why you killed that man." he calmly demanded.

With how things were standing, there was nothing she could do to him. Speechlessly, her eyes twitched around like she'd lost the plot yet again. The only thing the old lady could do now was calling forth the masses of corpses she controlled with her Stand throughout the village.

"He was already dead." Enya spoke, preparing for her corpse army to arrive.

"What?" the young Joestar asked, confused. This answer either meant she lied, completely plausible, or she defiled the dead in a disturbing manner. "I demand you to tell me everything!"

"Just wait a few more seconds, you'll get your answer." the old lady told.

One moment later a door leading into the room was kicked open. Familiar faces of various townspeople showed up. They were all dead puppets of Enya, who ordered them to attack Jotaro on sight. They ran towards him, but the young Joestar was prepared. "Tsk."

More like, [Star Platinum] was prepared. The purple Stand unleashed a flurry of punches, not holding back. "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"

As quickly as they entered, they were removed just as quickly, if not more quickly. Flying out the window.

Outside of one, that is. A baby corpse too low for Jotaro to have noticed latched onto his leg and stabbed through it with its tongue.

"Kekekekekekekeke!" she cackled, the cackle eventually transforming into a laugh. "Gyahahahahahaaaaaa! My Stand [Justice] will win! I just need that one little spot! Just one spot! You've fallen into my trap, Jotaro!"

[Justice] the skull fog was flying towards the young Joestar, its clawy hands outstretched. Knowing about this Stand's power, Jotaro couldn't allow to let himself fall under the old lady's control.

"ORA!" [Star Platinum] cried, striking at the fog under its master's orders. But its fists passed right through the other Stand, [Justice] wasn't hit even once.

"Kekekekeke!" Enya laughed at how the purple Stand's strength was useless here. "Can you punch fog with your fists? Can you shoot fog with your gun? It's all useless! Kyakyakekeke! There's nothing you can do!"

The young Joestar always had trouble with enemy Stands. Like [Yellow Temperance], this Stand couldn't be defeated through merely sheer force. But Jotaro, no matter what disadvantages he'd have, would always win. So there was something he could do, and that was not running away.

"Yare Yare Daze." the young Joestar muttered, straightening his hat. "Old hag, before you take another breath, I'll defeat your Stand."

"Eh? What was that? Before I do what one more time?" she mocked, holding her hand near her ear as if she was deaf. "You stupid little fool! Just one more breath, you say? I'll do that right…"

"…One… uh… just one…" For being so cocky, the old lady had difficulties with one of the most basic human tasks. Enya grasped her neck, her failure to breathe became worse by the second. "Just… one… breath… wh- what the…"

[Star Platinum]'s fists were far from the only strong body parts of the purple Stand. Each part was physically extremely strong, in that regard [Star Platinum] had no weakness. Currently it was utilizing the power of its lungs. The purple Stand literally inhaled in the fog Stand like air.

"S… st… stop… it… hurts…" she pleaded, her face running blue. The old lady would collapse any moment soon. Which she did, foam pouring out of her mouth.

Unconscious, Enya was out of Jotaro's way now. He had a multitude of things to do, like alerting his companions and restraining Enya in case she'd wake up.

'The first thing I can do is check up on Hol Horse, I guess.' the young Joestar thought, going over to the cowboy. He knelt beside him, looking at the wound where blood was coming from. The spot where the gunslinger shot himself. 'Hmm, he's still alive. Guess he deactivated his Stand before his bullets could do serious damage. So he isn't braindead.'

"Wake up!" Jotaro loudly commanded, slapping Hol Horse in the face until the latter woke up… with funnily bloated cheeks.

"Owww… You're a dick!" the cowboy complained, his consciousness returning. A minute later he got back up to his feet.

Discovering the old lady beaten on the floor, the gunslinger's jaw dropped and eyes bulged out in astonishment. "What?! You fucking defeated Enya?!"

"Well, obviously." the young Joestar said. "You know, you could've defeated her yourself, had you summoned your gun in your left hand."

Out of the blue, Jotaro suddenly punched Hol Horse in the face, making him stagger and tumble backwards.

"Yeowch! What was that for, asshole?!" the cowboy snapped, holding his bleeding nose. Fortunately for him the young Joestar didn't break it.

"You see, Hol Horse, you're supposed to act as a substitute for Avdol. You have to be just as useful as Avdol." Jotaro explained in a lecturing tone. "Seriously, take your life seriously and learn how to fight smart. Right now you're dumber than bricks and are a liability. This old hag almost killed you with minimal effort."

"Grrr…" the cowboy hissed, though let it be. Perhabs the worst aspect of being a substitute crusader was that he had to listen to them lecturing and talking smack about him all the time. But that was just his style! He hated fighting alone and assuming responsibility. The gunslinger thrived when he had partners backing him up and taking responsibility in case of failure.

'My style of fighting is the real smart one! How do I make them understand?' For the first time, Hol Horse wanted to prove himself. He was maybe cowardly, but stubborn too.

XXXXXXXXXX

The young Joestar called the rest of the crusaders. He briefed them about what transpired, but he primarily wanted to show them an interesting sight, right outside the hotel.

Surprise, surprise, they found themselves in the middle of a graveyard in the desert. The village had been an illusion all along, same as the villagers they believed had been alive. Enya fainted, thus her Stand ceased being active. The only building maintaining some level of stability was the hotel, as the old lady carefully crafted it.

It was quite hard to process.

"What's this…?" Noriaki mumbled in disbelief, looking around. That Stand was damn powerful, easily fooling him like that.

Joseph too was astonished. "Th… this is… real? A graveyard in the middle of a desert?" the old Joestar murmured, stroking his beard.

"This trip has been a never-ending series of surprises. I'm not shocked that the entire town was a Stand." Marco spoke.

"Actually, I'm pretty disgusted by this." the frenchman let know. Sweat ran down his face, it was as if he was in a bad horror movie.

"With her Stand of fog, she turned this graveyard into a village and hotel. We've been talking to corpses that were buried six feet under." Joseph said, eyeing Enya. "This old lady… she possesses a Stand with incredible power."

"What should we do?" the redhead inquired. "She may be unconscious, but if we leave her here, she'll still pose a threat to us. She'll come after us again to take revenge."

"Exactly. We have to keep this in mind." the Zeppeli added.

"Hmm… Then we'll have to take her with us." the old Joestar decided.

"Ta- take her with us?!" the cowboy repeated in shock, sweat even flying off his face. He didn't want to be around that woman any second longer.

"I have a lot of things I want to ask this old woman about." Jotaro spoke with a serious voice. "Like, how many Stand users are currently following us and what their powers are, or where exactly DIO is hiding in Egypt. And more importantly, what his Stand can do."

"What could its form be?" Joseph agreed in the same demeanor as his grandson. "If we can get the answer to these questions, it will definitely give us an advantage."

"I doubt that she would be willing to cooperate though." the cherry boy commented.

"All we need to do is to use my [Hermit Purple]." the old Joestar stated, channeling his Stand into his hand. "We just need a TV to project her thoughts into."

"But there aren't any TVs in this graveyard. We'll have to do that in the next town." Caesar pointed out the obvious.

"Then let's all get into the car already." Polnareff suggested.

That said, the crusaders entered their vehicle and moved on from the fake village.

XXXXXXXXXX

Karachi, Pakistan:

Seeing a random kebab stand, Joseph decided to buy a meal for his group. He negotiated the price with the stand owner, believing he'd scored a bargain. In reality the stand owner ripped off the old Joestar.

The crusaders' car was parked on the roadside. When Joseph walked back he discovered that Enya had just woken up. "Hey, all of you! The old lady is awake!"

Curiously, the crusaders collectively turned their heads. The old lady slept for a long time. Now that she was awake again, she could fulfill her purpose of being brought along and talk.

Enya however appeared to have a problem. Her yes were wide in wear, she was shivering and sweating severely. Something truly frightened the old lady. "I… I- I didn't say anything!" Enya stammered in panic. "W- why have you come for me?! Do you think I, Enya, would ever think of revealing the secret of Lord DIO's Stand?!"

"Huh?!" The crusaders realized she wasn't addressing them. They stared at her in confusion, leaving the kebab man out of their sight. That man took off his arab headdress (?) for males and his sunglasses, uncovering his face. He was Steely Dan, another agent of DIO.

Suddenly, worm-like things sprouted out of the edges of the old lady's eyes. And then more started to appear, all out of her head. "Ah! Ah! AH! ABABABABAAAH!"

"Wh- What the hell?! What the hell are those tentacles?!" the crusaders shouted, making faces of disbelief.

"Why?! Why have you come to kill me?!" Enya demanded, in agony due to the numerous tentacles.

"Lord DIO never trusts anyone. I've come to make sure you never speak… ever again." Steely Dan coldly reported, saying his final words to Enya. "As for the rest of you over there, I'll be taking your lives as well."

"Gigigihhhhh! UPOWAAAAGHHH!" The parasites made her face rip apart. She was about to die a gruesome death, blood spraying around like a fountain.

"Old lady!"

There was nothing that could be done for her anymore. This new lackey of DIO had pretty much fulfilled his mission.

"My name is Dan… Steely Dan." he introduced himself, taking off the rest of his disguise clothes. "My Stand is represented by the card of 'The Lovers'. Soon, you will all meet the same fate as old Enya."

With the woman in question almost dead, the crusaders could fully focus on their new enemy. "Why the hell did you do that?! Isn't she one of you guys?!"

Though Enya wasn't completely dead yet. "T- t- this… this can't… this can't be! Lord DIO would never do something like this to me!" exclaimed with a dying voice, despairing in her final moments. "He would never do this to me… He would never plant a spore! Lord DIO is the reason I live… We both trust each other…"

"Old lady!" Polnareff manifested [Silver Chariot], channeling Hamon into its rapier. He cut through all the tentacles once. The separated parts fell out into the sun, turning to dust carried away by the wind. The other parts were melted by his Hamon.

"What's this?! The tentacles, they melted by Hamon! The spore, it must be made from DIO's own cells!"

"Exactly! I'm impressed that you were able to figure it out." Steely Dan calmly said. "This is what these spores, made from Lord DIO's own cells, look like when they're fully grown. I just grew it inside Enya and activated it."

"Enya, I heard you were the one who taught Lord DIO about Stands…" he went on in a belittling tone. "But it seems you've failed to realize that there was no way Lord DIO would ever trust a little old woman like you."

It really was the end of the line for the old lady. After finding out the man she idolized betrayed her, she'd die any second now. The old Joestar didn't want her death to be a waste.

"Old lady! Tell us what the true nature of DIO's Stand is!" Joseph loudly asked, kneeling beside her. He sounded hectic, as time was running out. "Tell us! You have completely placed your trust and hope in DIO, and now you know he isn't the man you hoped he was! I have to defeat DIO! Please, you must tell me! Tell us about DIO's Stand!"

Everyone watched the scene with interest. What would happen?

Despite being moments away from death, Enya refused. "L… Lord D… DIO… believes in me… I'll never tell you."

And then she died, blindly loyal to the one who gave the order for her murder. Her murderer, a man who was only loyal to the vampire for money, a mercenary like Hol Horse, thought this was extremely funny.

"Heh heh heh heh heh… Heh heh heh heh heh… How tragic… hah!" Steely Dan mocked, snickering about his victim while sitting at a nearby café table and drinking tea. "What a sad little old lady. To think DIO's evil could be so potent as to win her trust at such a deep level… Heh heh heh…"

Very soon afterwards he found himself surrounded by the crusaders. The goofy cowboy, who didn't have their mindset yet aside, their eyes were shadowed, signalizing they were angry and intending to retaliate in her stead.

"I'm not sure how to feel about this… Her son may have murdered my little sister, but… I'm going to kill you." Polnareff had only found out about this after Jotaro defeated her.

"It may be 7 against one, but we won't take this likely." Kakyoin warned.

"…You are among the worst scumbags I've ever met, and that's saying a lot." Marco disdainfully spoke. In his eyes this man was about as rotten as J. Geil and Gray Fly.

"Get up." Jotaro commanded. As soon as he'd actually get up, [Star Platinum] would be waiting for him.

Steely Dan continued drinking, unbothered. This attitude pissed off most the crusaders, he was acting so arrogantly.

"Hey, fuckhead! Stop trying to be cool like a given luxury. Even if you won't attack us, we're still gonna fight you." the young Joestar told.

"Go ahead." DIO's agent offered. "But none of you will be able to lay a finger on me, Steely Dan."

Feeling challenged, Jotaro decided to make it short and just hurl his Stand at him.

"ORA!" [Star Platinum] cried, punching Steely Dan in the chest. He flew away from his table, spewing blood. But at the same time, the old Joestar also flew backwards, in the other direction.

The sudden occasion really caught the crusaders by surprise. "What?!"

"J… Joseph?! What happened to you, you flew back like the other guy!" Caesar asked in disbelief, switching his head between those two.

Crashed into a building, Steely Dan began picking himself up from the ground again. "You fool! I wasn't down explaining!" he lowly hissed. "You were very close to killing your own grandfather. Listen… Do you think I'd show my face to you so I would just kill Enya?"

"Y- You bastard…" Joseph snarled, also slowly getting back to his feet again. "You said your Stand was that of 'The Lovers' card, right? Wh- what the hell is that about?!"

"The battle has already begun." DIO's minion let know. "You fools, no matter how hard you look, you won't be able to see my Stand that easily."

There was a young boy swiping the streets a few shops away. Steely Dan noticed him, taking out a bill. "Hey, brat! I'll give you a tip if you hit me with that broom.

Hearing this request, the boy hesitated. But Steely Dan wasn't a patient guy. "I said hit me!" he barked, intimidating the kid into following the order. The youth whacked the wooden broomstick at Dan's shin.

On the same spot where DIO's agent was hit, the old Joestar also felt pain. "Ugaaaah!"

"Wh- what's wrong, Joestar-san?!" the frenchman inquired, worried about the seemingly unfounded pain.

"It… It hurts!" Joseph yelled wide-eyed, pressing his palms against the side of his face. "I don't know why, but I feel a lot of pain!"

"You haven't figured it out, Joseph Joestar?" Steely Dan asked in an abhorrently mocking manner. He was so calm and condescending as he had leverage over the old man's life. "My Stand is capable of entering someone's body. The instant Enya died, it entered through your ear and burrowed itself into your brain."

"What?!" The old Joestar was genuinely scared, an enemy Stand messing with one's brain was a terrifying thought.

"A Stand and its user are connected. If you hurt the Stand you hurt the user. However, the opposite is also true! If you do so much as to scratch me, my Stand, which is in your brain, will react to the pain by going berserk." DIO's lackey explained. "Through my Stand, I'll give you back the same pain, but amplified several times! As I said before, none of you will be able to lay a single finger on me!"

Judging by the looks on their faces, the crusaders were absolutely appalled by the cowardly nature of Steely Dan. Even the gunslinger wasn't this cowardly.

"Furthermore, [Lovers] also brought a spore from Lord DIO." DIO's agent added. "It's growing inside your brain. It will eat you from the inside and you will die just like old Enya."

Meanwhile, the boy from earlier hit Steely Dan's leg a second time. As a consequence of that, Joseph winced in pain.

Steely Dan was more annoyed than hurt, though. "When did I say you could hit me twice? You little brat…" He knocked the kid away with a swift punch.

"To be honest with you, my Stand, [Lovers], is very weak. It doesn't even have the strength to move a single strand of hair… It is the weakest Stand to have ever existed." DIO's minion said, having calmed down after taking out his brief spike of anger on the unfortunate youth. "But… you don't need raw strength to kill someone. Do you understand, gentlemen? If I were to be in a car accident, hit by a baseball, or even trip and fall, Mr. Joestar… your body will suffer damage several times my own."

The implications Steely Dan made weren't to be taken likely. The crusaders warily widened their eyes, thinking of the plausibility of the man deliberately hurting himself beyond the display of his ability.

"In about 10 minutes, your brain will be completely devoured and you will die just like Enya." DIO's lackey finished, even threatening them with a timeframe.

"You're scum!" the younger Zeppeli lowly spat in contempt, a high degree of that. He had seen and heard enough and so had his friends. He wanted to end this bullshit by manifesting his Stand and just finishing him off, but there obviously was a problem, which is why him and the others all forcibly hesitated. The Joestars and the older Zeppeli were especially pissed.

Jotaro was filled with hatred due to Steely Dan's words. He clenched his teeth in rage, preparing to punch the lights out of this man with [Star Platinum]. He'd already grabbed him by the collar.

Caesar stepped inbetween. After the Joestars he was the most furious at DIO's agent for threating his lifelong friend who was like a brother to him. But a mistake of rage could cost that very life, so he had to stop the young Joestar from accidently killing his own grandfather. "Jotaro! Calm down! Don't do anything stupid!"

"No… I'm going to kill him so quickly, he won't even have a moment to feel any pain!" Jotaro protested, trying to go ahead.

Hol Horse suddenly had a 'smart' idea. He was backed up by several strong Stand users who had the common interest in seeing Steely Dan die. Time to prove how smart his fighting tactics were. "Heh… What better way to kill someone painlessly than a good ol' headshot?"

Marco had to physically hold him back from aiming his Stand gun at DIO's lackey. "Not you too, Hol Horse!"

Steely Dan found these antics laughable. "Without a moment to feel pain, huh? Ha, that's a good idea! Why don't you give it a try?" he provocatively taunted. DIO's minion gestured at his face and chest. "Alright then… Are you going to shoot me in the forehead? Or are you going to punch a hole through my chest? Come on! Let's see what happens! Try it out!"

This man irritated the young Joestar to no end. He grabbed him by his collar, showing him who was strong and weak. "Stop acting all mighty. You don't want to try me. When I say I'm going to do it, I'll do it."

Grabbing Steely Dan by the collar made Joseph cough. It was clear that even the slightest discomfort to that person would negatively affect the old Joestar.

Polnareff and Kakyoin joined the Zeppelis in restraining Jotaro. [Silver Chariot] and [Hierophant Green] helped holding back [Star Platinum]. "Don't do anything rash, Jotaro!"

"You've already seen his ability! Do you really want to kill your grandfather?!"

"He… he's the type that might actually do it…"

DIO's agent hated to be threatened. He smirked, though with a hint of animosity. "You're not taking me seriously…" He punched both the young Joestar and the cowboy in the gut. One took it better than the other, though they both crouched over in pain.

"Jotaro!"

"JoJo!"

The crusaders looked in worry as Steely Dan picked up a decently sized rocked from the road.

"Don't you try me! Haha!" DIO's lackey mockingly sneered, taking advantage of his position. He stretched his arm backwards to gather some momentum. "After that old geezer Joestar dies, next it'll be…" Steely Dan tried striking the young Joestar's head with the rock, but Jotaro blocked it with his wrists "…your brain that I'll send lovers into and kill, and then Hol Horse! Hahahahahahaha!"

Hearing him laugh like that, the young Joestar felt more hatred flow through his body than when he fought Rubber Soul the impostor. And this enemy needed more care when fighting too. 'I'll kill you…'

Marco and Caesar were whispering something in secret to each other. When they were finished, the old Zeppeli shot a glance at Joseph, Polnareff and Noriaki. All together they began running away. Jotaro, Hol Horse and Steely Dan were confused.

"Jotaro! Keep him away from your grandfather!" the Zeppeli instructed, turning his face to him one last time. "We're going to get as far away from the enemy as possible!"

Before Marco fully ran away, he had another message for the cowboy. "And Hol Horse, you better help Jotaro! That guy is your enemy, too!"

With that, he was out of sight. Pretty advantageous for DIO's minion to be alone with these two. "That's right I am." he agreed with the Zeppeli. "Hol Horse, I don't know if you've already heard about this from Enya, but Lord DIO has found out about your betrayal. You're on his kill list now."

"What?!" the gunslinger called in disbelief, his eyes twitching. His breath became uneven, he just learned of his nightmare scenario. "But… it wasn't my intent to betray him!"

"Oh, that doesn't matter." Steely Dan casually stated. "He knows about your circumstances. But you see, he can't have you working against him. If you want to blame someone, blame the Joestar group."

'Dammit, no…' Hol Horse inwardly cursed, wryly gritting his teeth and grimacing. When he became the hired arm of the vampire, he knew what powerful and scary subordinates and mercenaries DIO had under his command. Now he'd been branded a traitor, which meant he was a high priority target because the vampire hated traitors. Those bloodlusted killers would come after him like they usually were sent out against the crusaders. The cowboy had no choice but to become a crusader, it was the only option other than going solo and dying. 'I got to have the worst luck in the world…'

"And now to you, Jotaro." DIO's agent went on. "You think that my Stand will weaken the farther you get from me? My Stand, [Lovers], may be weak, but once it's inside a person's body I can control it from a distance greater than any Stand, even from hundreds of kilometers away."

The young Joestar listened but looked away, his eyes weren't focused on Steely Dan who took offense.

"Hey, Jotaro! I'm talking to you! What are you looking at the distance for?" he snapped in irritation. "Look at me!"

Steely Dan pulled at Jotaro's collar. though the latter didn't budge. Only his eyes did. "You… You sound like you're using your cool." the young Joestar calmly observed.

"So, are you going to follow me until Joseph dies?" DIO's lackey questioned, reacting to Jotaro's observation with calmness.

"Dan, was it? I will make you pay for this."

He deliberately interpreted it literally, taking some items off the young Joestar. "Hehehe… If that's why you're following me, then maybe I should borrow some money." Steely Dan took Jotaro's wallet and watch. He wasn't satisfied with the content of the wallet. "Is this all you got? This looks like a pretty nice watch, though… Let me borrow it, then."

DIO's minion also robbed the gunslinger. "Your wallet is more bountiful… That's Lord DIO's money, eh? Don't mind me taking it back, you don't deserve it anymore."

United in humiliation, Jotaro and Hol Horse exchanged glances.

"Now you two, come follow me. We have some time to pass." Steely Dan deviously grinned.

XXXXXXXXXX

Karachi was a big city with more than a couple of electronics stores. Fortunately for the group of crusaders they found one only a few short streets from where they had run away.

"Here, it's an electronics store! You can use one of the televisions in here, Joestar-san!" the redhead said, finding the store. Its front consisted of a clear glass window with a shelf of TVs on display.

"What are you planning to do?" the frenchman inquired.

"Polnareff, did you think we were just running away? I'm going to fight against the Stand inside my head." the old Joestar spoke. He then placed his hands on the window and brought out his Stand.

"[Hermit Purple]!"

Violet vines went phased through the window and into the TV. The screen activated, putting the inside of Joseph's head on display. [Lovers] could be seen, even for Caesar.

"There it is!"

"So, this Stand looks a lot different from Avdol's." the old Zeppeli reacted a bit impressed. "It looks like a weird crab."

"Oh no…" the old Joestar muttered, cringing. "I never thought I'd have to see the inside of my brain…"

"I can see that there's a really tiny Stand inside of Joestar-san's brain… But how do we plan on defeating it?" Polnareff asked, concerned about both the time limit and how to get in there.

"We send out Stands inside Joestar-san's body and defeat it in there!" the cherry boy explained. "Stands are simply images made up of our energy. We should be able to shrink them with ease."

Marco thought for a second about what Kakyoin said. "To be able to come up with this concept… Kakyoin, I hope you're aware that you have genius intellect." Someone had to mention it.

"Huh, what are you talking about?!" the frenchman questioned, utterly confused. He didn't think that was possible.

"There's no time to waste! We're doing it now, Polnareff!" Noriaki sternly commanded, not going to take 'no' for an answer.

In the open, also in order to show Polnareff how it's done, the redhead shrunk [Hierophant Green] to a size that could fit inside an ear. The frenchman tried the same with [Silver Chariot] and succeeded.

Together the pair of Stands entered Joseph's ear and made their way to his brain. The old Joestar supported them by projecting a detailed image of his brain onto the TV screen. Turns out [Lovers] was located in the brain stem, where the nervous system begins. One way of getting there was by swimming through the blood vessels connecting to the ear.

"Polnareff, open a hole in the wall of the blood vessel." the cherry boy instructed.

"H- Hold on! You're using Stands, right? Can't you slip right through?" The old Joestar didn't like the sound of it, which is why he broke out in sweat.

[Hermit Purple] focused on little [Hierophant Green] and [Silver Chariot] next to a blood vessel.

"At this size, it's not possible." Kakyoin informed. "The walls are too thick. The size of the hole will be microscopic so there's no need to worry. It'll take several minutes to cut down a blood vessel or nerve at this size. Otherwise, we would've struck down the enemy Stand. Though we may have already started…"

"Keeping our Stands this small is hard." Polnareff added. "It requires a lot of Stand energy."

As this was on TV, Caesar got to learn about the appearance of [Hierophant Green] and [Silver Chariot]. Needless to say, he was a lot more impressed than when seeing [Lovers].

"Wow, your Stands look really cool! Makes me wish I had one." the old Zeppeli complimented.

"Hehe, thanks!" his pair of Hamon disciples appreciated.

The silver Stand then started swinging its tiny rapier and slashing a hole into the blood vessel. Eventually the cut got large enough for the pair of shrunken Stands to enter and swim inside the bloodstream.

Joseph didn't feel the slightest bit of pain, that injury was microscopic. Yet he witnessed the entire process, which wasn't exactly pleasant to look at.

"OH! MY! GOD!" the old Joestar winced in disgust, his eyes bulging out and sweat flying off his face. "I think I'm gonna be sick…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Steely Dan took Jotaro and Hol Horse to a stroll in the city. DIO's agent had a lot of activities planned for them.

They ecountered a ditch. "This ditch… I could probably jump over it, but I'd risk tripping and twisting my ankle. And it would be a pain to walk all the way to that bridge over there." Dan claimed. "Jotaro, Hol Horse, lie down across this ditch and make a bridge with your bodies so I can cross over."

Neither of them really wanted to follow his order. Both looked away with disinterest.

"What? You're not going to be my bridge?" DIO's lackey was furious at them for not following his command. "Maybe I should hit that side pillar with my leg to make you recondsider!"

Threatening his grandfather worked. The young Joestar reluctantly leaned over the dirty river, stabilizing himself by leaving his hands and feet atop the ditch sides. The cowboy did the same thing right next to Jotaro after a glare from Steely Dan. Together they made a wide bridge where DIO's minion could walk over them with one foot each.

"Good, you made a sturdy and wide bridge. Now I don't think I'll fall and injure myself. Hehehehe!"

Dan took his sweet time literally walking over them, not forgetting to step on their hands on his way over. The young Joestar hated him as is, but even the gunslinger began loathing him. He didn't give a shit about Enya's death, though getting treated like this ticked him off. He still had self-respect.

After DIO's agent passed over them and they could cease staying in this humiliating and uncomfortable position, Hol Horse dared speak up to Steely Dan. "You're a mercenary like me, right? You only work for DIO for money."

"Who gave you the permission to speak?!" DIO's lackey barked at him.

"You see, there's something I wanna tell." the cowboy said. "I always knew we hired pawns were expendable for him, it's in the business. But I didn't know he would so easily order our deaths for betrayal, as we aren't really his servants in the first place. We don't have to be part of his side."

"Shut your trap." Steely Dan spat, not interested in that speech. "What are you even talking about?"

"I'm asking, are you really in the position to act all cocky when DIO could throw you away like trash and have you targeted just like he did to me? You're not in a better position than I was."

Infuriated about that lecture, DIO's minion clenched his teeth and fist, deeply scowling. He then punched the gunslinger in the face, drawing blood. "You brainless idiot! You incompetent moron! The only reason why Lord DIO discarded you was because you're a failure! You're a fucking failure that got forced into betraying Lord DIO!" he ranted, repeatedly stomping on Hol Horse's entire body after the latter had been punched to the ground. "Don't compare me to a pathetic loser like you!"

Jotaro didn't like the cowboy. He shot Avdol. But on a weirdly spiritual level he could symptathize with him after seeing what kind of man Steely Dan was. 'Endure it for now, Hol Horse… We'll get our revenge.'

XXXXXXXXXX

To avoid useless attention the Zeppeli went and bought the TV Joseph was using.

Eventually [Hierophant Green] and [Silver Chariot] reached the brain stem. When they emerged from another hole in the blood vessel, they were met by a group of tentacles.

"Ahh!"

"What the?!" Noriaki reacted, repulsed by their appearance. "These tentacles are from the spore!"

"We're already at the brain stem, but the spore has already grown so much!" the frenchman complained. "Damn that bastard!"

Among the tentacles there was [Lovers], previously hiding in plain sight as its body was colored the same. The tiny Stand had just been discovered. "KREEEEE!"

"There it is!"

"SQUEEE!"

Polnareff, confident in his abilities, readied his Stand. "Leave it to me. I'll cut him to pieces!"

[Silver Chariot] directly pointed its rapier at [Lovers]. The tip was only a tiny, tiny distance away from the crab's head.

"No, not slice it…" the frenchman corrected himself "I'll dice it like a daikon radish!" The knight-like Stand unleashed a flurry of stabs, though the crab dodged each strike. It then lashed out with its clamp-like hand, but the silver Stand parried.

"You dirty bastard!" the frenchman cursed, making [Silver Chariot] knee [Lovers] in the side.

"EEP!" it let out, staggering backwards. Polnareff used the advantage to have his Stand slice at the other Stand, drawing blood.

"You did it!"

"No, that wasn't enough." the frenchman said. "That thing is pretty fast, Kakyoin. But I've already seen through its moves. If that's the fastest it can move, then it's no match for me."

Suddenly, another [Hierophant Green] appeared from the side. "Polnareff, who are you talking to?"

"H… Huh?" [Silver Chariot] repeatedly switched its gazes from one green Stand to the other.

"Polnareff, that's not me!" the redhead let know, both through his Stand and outside the brain through his own mouth. "And what you cut wasn't the Stand! Its form is breaking apart!"

[Lovers] melted into the ground. One of the [Hierophant Green]s also started melting, but to a lesser degree.

"W- What the?!"

"I am [The Lovers]!" the fake revealed, its red crab arm protruding from the [Hierophant Green] disguise. That hand punched the silver Stand in the gut, its master felt that too.

"Uwaaaaaah!" Polnareff shouted out in pain, spitting blut and clutching his stomach. "It tricked me!"

"Polnareff!" his friends called in worry.

Inside the brain, the green disguise of the crab fully melted, decoloring. The real [Lovers] stood there.

"It disguised itself! It used Joestar-san's brain cells to disguise itself as my [Hierophant Green]!" the cherry boy figured out. "And what you slashed was just a dummy made of brain cells!"

"KREEEE!" [Lovers] screeched, then changing its voice into a taunting one. "You fools! You were so easily tricked!"

There was something interesting happening with the fake crab the knight cut down earlier. "Oh! Kakyoin, look!" the frenchman called, pointing at the mash of brain cells. "Look at the dummy whose head I cut earlier!"

"Now they're splitting in two!" Caesar observed. Stand fights were such a sight to behold, even if it was an enemy Stand.

"Hee hee hee! Heh heh!" [Lovers] laughed. "You have to remember: In this world, you can only win if you truly understand yourself! In Aesop's fable, the tortoise beat the hare because it understood its own psyche and abilities better than anyone else. The same applies to me! I know that I don't have the power or speed to fatally hurt either of you. Everything begins once you've acknowledged your own weaknesses!"

Kakyoin decided that the end of the crab's little speech was the perect time to attack. "Emerald Splash!"

A multitude of emeralds were launched at all the figures of [Lovers]. The gems didn't miss, hitting and ripping apart the crabs into multiple pieces. Though those pieces regenerated, creating even more fakes.

"T- There are more dummies made out of cells… They're multiplying!" Noriaki reacted in surprise. "B- but a person can only have one Stand… Where could the real one be?"

"Right here!" A group of [Lovers] ambushed [Hierophant Green] and [Silver Chariot] from behind. The silver Stand was hit, the damage and pain transferred to the frenchman.

"Gaaaaagh!"

"Emerald Splash!" [Hierophant Green] tried anew, managing to dodge the ambush. Its emeralds crashed into and butchered several copies of the crab, but not the original.

"Almost! Almost!" another one mocked, hiding behind a pillar of flesh. "I was right next to that one."

That one got destroyed as well by another emerald barrage, though the problem was far from over. All instances of [Lovers] gathered at one spot, acting like they threw a crab rave party.

"No, it's me!"

"No no, it's me!"

"Not him, me!"

"No, me! No, me! No, me! No, me! No, me! No, me! No, me! No, me!"

"Noooooooooooooooo! It's meeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Noriaki knew things couldn't go on like that any longer, he had to change strategies. 'Think, what can I do now…?'

XXXXXXXXXX

Next on his list of activities, DIO's agent took the young Joestar and the gunslinger to a jewelry store.

"He he he… Hah hah hah!" he quietly and greedily laughed. "Jotaro, Hol Horse, take a look at this gold bracelet. It looks very nice. You'd make a girl very happy if you would, say, give something like this to her."

There were some holes in the display case, to which Steely Dan then referred. "Jotaro, see those holes in the glass? Use your Stand to take it out."

Jotaro stood defiantly. After some minor annoying tasks him and Hol Horse were forced to carry out, like shining shoes, this was a major crime. Robbery. The young Joestar didn't want to commit a crime for that greedy coward's sake.

"I'm telling you to take it out, idiot!" DIO's lackey lowly hissed. "Do it now… or maybe I'll smash the glass and take it myself. If I get caught by those guys over there, they'll beat the shit out of me! Joseph will surely die from the pain, are you okay with that?"

The young Joestar couldn't refuse this. He let [Star Platinum]'s hand phase through the glass and grab the bracelet. He carefully lifted the bracelet through the holes Steely Dan mentioned.

What came next was a mean trick. "Hey! That guy is shoplifting!" DIO's minion ratted out Jotaro, who conveniently had the bracelet in his real hands.

"You prick…"

A group of muscular locals, a guard, the owner and a lawful customer, maliciously approached the accused.

"What? A thief?"

"Who is it?! This guy?!"

"This asian kid here?!"

"Back where I come from, thieves get their fingers cut off!"

Those men were looking for a fight. Bad news. Steely Dan just made it worse.

"And this guy is his accomplice!" he lied, pointing at the cowboy who frowned after a second at the underhandedness of this villain.

"You fuck…"

Then the angry men started beating up the two, who couldn't just use their Stands against civilians.

"Assholes!"

"Take this!"

"You thieves!"

Jotaro and Hol Horse were kicked, punched, kneed, elbowed and hit with blunt objects. The men were unforgiving, beating the two until they spat blood.

DIO's agent merely laughed at their misfortune, secretly stealing other valuable jewelry while his victims were busy getting beaten.

After a while the men threw the bloody and battered pair of Stand users out of the store, tossing them into the street.

"Get out of our country you losers!"

"We'll let you go with your fingers at that!"

Steely Dan, done with his robbery, joined the two after the angry locals turned away. "Hahahaha! Great job! Well done! Because of the ruckus you caused, I was able to get something better!"

Silence followed for a couple of seconds. Normally they'd mutter something angry under their breaths, but both the cowboy and the young Joestar, despite their current states, began chuckling. "Hehehe… Heh heh heh…"

"What are you laughing about?!" DIO's lackey demanded, unable to understand their reactions. "What's so funny?!"

"Hehehehehe… I can't say for sure, but Hol Horse and I are probably laughing about the same thing." Jotaro spoke. "I'm laughing because I'm anticipating what's about to come… I have much more to look forward to when I kick your ass and I'm excited about it! That's why I'm laughing!"

"Haha! Same! I'll have the last laugh when I can afford to trash you, Dan!" the gunslinger joined the laughter.

Hol Horse and Jotaro really pushed Steely Dan's buttons. His expression changed into a mean scowl as he proceeded to kick these two, feeling these two degraded him. "Why, you! Fucking bitches… You don't seem to understand the situation!" DIO's agent cursed, fury underlying in his voice. "Old man Joestar is going to die in less than a minute! That's what's going to happen!"

"Nah, you don't know any of us well." the young Joestar disagreed in an oddly calm way. He believed in his friends, it was almost time and they would resolve the problem. And then… Steely Dan would pay the price manyfold.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Heh heh heh!" [Lovers] snickered. "The weakest Stand of all is also…"

"The most the most the most the most the most the most the most the most the most…"

"the most the most the most the most the most the most the most the most the most…"

"the most the most the most the most the most the most the most the most the most…"

"terrifying Stand of all! KREEEE!"

Joseph thought things were hopeless. Polnareff was already injured and the enemy was only becoming stronger, at least that's what it looked like. "Call your Stands back and get out of there! You're going to get yourselves killed!"

"No!" the redhead adamantly refused. "Joestar-san, we've come this far and we won't give up on you now! Besides, I know how to defeat that bastard!"

"You do?" the Zeppeli inquired. Steely Dan had mentioned 10 minutes, that time was almost over. "That's good, time is running out! Test out your plan as soon as you can!"

Inside the old Joestar's brain, [Hierophant Green] posingly pointed at the bunch of crabs. "'If you truly understand yourself', huh? That's a very good tip." the cherry boy admitted. "But you clearly don't understand your enemies that well. You lack preparation! Haven't you noticed my [Hierophant]?"

Kakyoin's Stand extended its own green tentacles from below its feet, them stretching out to the feet of all [Lovers]. Like a web, he tagged and binded them all.

"I can extend myself across the ground!" Noriaki informed. "With these roots I can inspect each and every one of you!"

"Huh?! Something is suddenly touching me!" Like this, among the numerous fakes, the true [Lovers] had been exposed.

"It's you! You're the real one!"

Now that he was sure who the real enemy was, the redhead felt no need to hold back. Realizing its mistake and fate, the crab's eyes opened wide open.

No mercy. "Emerald Splash!" With no way of dodging, [Lovers] couldn't avoid the headshot.

"We got him!" Joseph and Polnareff cheered, tightening their fists in victory.

"Holy cow, Kakyoin! Your tactics are incredible!" Marco praised.

"Absolutely, you remind me of Joseph when he was young." Caesar told, thinking the cherry boy deserved the comparison.

Kakyoin could only assume just how smart and intelligent the old Joestar was in his youth. Though the sheer comparison greatly flattered him. "Thanks." he thanked. "Though we aren't quite finished yet, am I right, Polnareff?"

"Yes!" the frenchman nodded. "The flesh bud, we'll take care of that one as well!"

[Hierophant Green] and [Silver Chariot] went to the root of the spore where all the tentacles had gathered.

"Disgusting!" Polnareff spat. The crab Stand had injured him before, so he let his Hamon surge through his body. Not only did that heal and vitalize him a little, it also let his Stand absorb some, too. [Silver Chariot] was a Hamon knight now.

"Kakyoin, I'll take care of this half, you clear the rest!" the frenchman declared, his Stand jumping right in the action. [Silver Chariot] leaped up high, performing quick but firm swings with its Hamon-imbued sword. All the cut tentacles melted and crumbled, no longer posing a danger to Joseph.

"Nice!" Noriaki smirked at his friend. "And about my turn: Emerald Overdrive!"

The emeralds of [Hierophant Green] obviously were different from natural emeralds. The former stock was created by compressed liquid Stand energy. It is basic Hamon knowledge that liquids conduct Hamon especially well. When the redhead took a deep Hamon breath his Stand energy was infused with Hamon energy. One step forward and his emeralds took over attributes especially deadly for anything vampiric. The tentacles never had a chance against all the flying and glowing Hamon emeralds piercing through and thoroughly eradicating the rest of them

Like this, the real threat inside the old Joestar had been eliminated. Everyone was glad, overjoyed and proud. The Zeppelis especially, proud of their students.

"I've already praised Kakyoin, but Polnareff deserves it too! The way you used Hamon with your Stands against the flesh bud was wonderful!" the younger Zeppeli beamed, overly pleased with their development.

"Right, you two have come a long way! Keep it up, you're destined for greatness such as this!" the older Zeppeli bolstered the praise.

"I'm saved…" Joseph muttered, his lips forming a relieved smile. He took a calm breath again, the past 9 minutes he wasn't really able to. "Thanks a ton, guys."

"No problem." [Silver Chariot] and [Hierophant Green] were summoned back. "Too bad the enemy Stand escaped while we were fighting the spore."

"That's bad." Marco remarked, scratching his head. "Jotaro and Hol Horse don't know about this. Hope they'll be okay."

XXXXXXXXXX

Steely Dan suddenly flinched. His head shot back in pain, blood poured out of the spot an emerald hit his Stand. "Ah… AH!" DIO's minion didn't only exclaim because of the pain, but also because his plan was falling apart.

"Well well… You don't look so good, Dan." the cowboy cheekily commented, grinning at the update message from the other crusaders. "Hopefully you still manage to maintain good enough shape for us to pay you back."

"Haa… Haa… Haa…" Steely Dan was in big trouble now, his breathing heavy. But not as heavy as the sins he carried. DIO's lackey started backing away.

"What's wrong? Why are you stepping back? Aren't you going to tell me what's happening to my granpa right now?" Jotaro asked almost mockingly. The roles were reversed now.

Knowing he'd be on the receiving end of their wrath, Steely Dan tried running away. He already turned around, though the young Joestar grabbed him by the hair.

"Hey there… What are you so terrified of? Where are you trying to go? Somewhere else?" Jotaro's demeanor was cold, unforgivingly cold. "Don't tell me you are trying to run away from us… are you?"

"Heeeeaaaaaaah!" DIO's agent struggled immensely against the physical strength of the young Joestar keeping him in their vicinity. His grip was harder than steel. Dan didn't even have to struggle anymore when Jotaro let go of him by pulling out a portion of his hair. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

He landed in front of the gunslinger. "Please forgive me! I admit defeat!" DIO's minion begged, bowing to Hol Horse. "I'll change! I'll lie down on the ground and lick your shoes! I did a horrible thing! I'll even let you hit me as much as you like! Hit me, kick me, whatever, but please don't kill me!"

"Heh…!" the cowboy couldn't help but chuckle. "What happened to your high and mighty attitude? Didn't you say you were better than me? What did you call me again? An idiot? A moron? A failure? Ah, that's right, you called me all of them!"

'Very soon, [Lovers] will be back! These stupid fools have no idea about that! This time, I'll invade Jotaro's brain! Kakyoin is a few hundred meters away… Just you wait, I'll give you both the worst pain imaginable!' Steely Dan thought, hiding his true feelings while licking the gunslinger's boots.

[Lovers] returned. It was tiny and pretty much invisible, but DIO's lackey could feel it. 'It's coming! It's here!' The microscopic Stand was flying towards the young Joestar's ear.

"Ora!"

However, contrary to his expectations, [Star Platinum] caught the tiny crab right between its purple fingers.

Steely Dan lost because he didn't know his enemies well. If he did, he'd have known [Star Platinum] was one of the most precise Stands of all. Jotaro easily noticed the enemy Stand.

Because [Lovers] was so weak, the slightest movement with the purple Stands fingers could do immense damage. When [Star Platinum] barely tightened its fingers, something cracked. Both in the user and the Stand.

"Grrraaaaaaahhhhhhh!" DIO's agent screamed in agony, his mouth opening up wide.

"I knew you were going to do something like this." the young Joestar stated. "Don't you know that my Stand, [Star Platinum], has incredible eyesight and reflexes? Are you sure you did your research on us?"

"Aah! Aah! I wasn't planning anything! Your Stand's power…" Steely Dan tried to lie, making a retreating motion. But Jotaro interrupted him.

"Your Stand?" the young Joestar repeated, holding his palm behind his ear. "Your?"

"N-no! I mean the great and majestic one's Stand is more powerful than any other Stand in the world! I really thought I didn't stand a chance against you, so I brought mine back!" DIO's minion corrected himself. He was crying now. "J- Just look! That attack broke my leg and arm! I can't move anymore! I can't fight!"

"Tch! As if that's gonna stop us from paying you back." Hol Horse sneered, then turning to Jotaro. "Hey Jotaro, can I be Number One just this once?"

"Hm? What do you mean, Hol Horse?"

"You see, it's about my fighting doctrine." the cowboy explained. "I hate fighting alone. The thought of taking responsibility in case of failure puts too much pressure on my mind for me to fight effectively. That's why I have a partner who takes responsibility. Within that partnership, I'm Number Two, he's Number One. Get it?"

"Pfff…" the young Joestar snickered, his lips curling into an amused smile. "You kidding me? That's the lame fighting style of a coward and a loser…"

"…and yet you're nowhere near as cowardly or loser-like as this piece of trash over there." he finished, his eyes darting to Steely Dan. The gunslinger didn't know whether this was an insult or compliment.

"Anyways, what's your answer?"

"Fine, you go first." Jotaro offered. "But don't kill him, I wanna have my round too."

Hol Horse gladly accepted this offer. "Get up!" he ordered DIO's minion. "I need you to Stand."

Hesitantly and with shaking legs, Steely Dan did as he was told. He was all sweaty from the thoughts of punishment.

Oh, what cruel punishment!

Without uttering the name of his Stand, his hat shadowing his eyes, the cowboy summoned his gun. He'd been requested not to kill Dan, so he didn't aim at his head or other important vitals. He aimed at his balls.

*Bang! Bang!*

At his best, the gunslinger was as accurate as a sniper. Hol Horse put holes in the most painful two parts of man.

"HIGYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" DIO's lackey screamed out at the top of his lungs. He was so loud the entire city heard him scream like a woman. His bloodshot eyes bulged out like they were about to fall out.

Whatever pain Steely Dan inflicted on the gunslinger had been paid back. Now it was the younger Joestar's turn. Jotaro manifested [Star Platinum] the second after Hol Horse withdrew [Emperor].

"Wa- wait! Hol Horse has done too much damage to me, I can't bear any more!" DIO's agent desperately pleaded one last time. "DIO paid me in advance… I'll give you that."

Hearing this, the young Joestar's eyes were shadowed. Though even with shadowed eyes it was obvious he condescendingly looked down on Steely Dan with disdain. "Yare Yare… You truly are the lowest scum in history. You can't pay what you owe…"

"…WITH MONEY!"

"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 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 ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"

Following the epic beatdown using punches, kicks and whatever on all parts of Dan's body, the final punch of the purple Stand launched Steely Dan through the brick wall of a building. That guy wasn't dead, but that made the punishment only more deserved. Immeasurable pain instead of the relief of death.

"Here's your receipt." Jotaro scribbled his signature on a note and left it there, turning around and coolly walking away.


For plot reasons I combined the Enya and Steely Dan arcs, main reason being character development for Hol Horse. He got kicked out of DIO's side and has to stick to the crusaders, but that's for the better because his personality improves.

Also, Kakyoin and Polnareff finally got good enough at Hamon to use it in conjunction with their Stands. Future fights will be influenced.

Feel free to review if you like to