The writing piece contained in this thread is intended to be part fanfiction and part personal writing project. In an effort to work on and improve my personal writing style and quality, as well as push my creative limits, I've begun a project to work on a rewrite of the third part of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure series, Stardust Crusaders. The primary difference in this rewrite is the removal of the concept of Stands, Stand Users, and Stand Abilities. Instead, the focus has been shifted back to that of the first and second parts, with usage of the Ripple/Hamon, Vampiric Powers, and bizzare mystical artifacts. This is NOT a disguised complaint about the existence of Stands, or an attack on the parts after one and two or the fans who prefer those parts. It is simply an extrapolation of common fandom "What If?" discussions, as well as a personal enjoyment of writing fiction.

If you wish to contribute thoughts, criticisms, comments, or general discussion, I'd ask that, for now, you send me a private message here on the forum. If, for some reason, I start getting an overwhelming number of these, I'll likely redirect such conversation to a Discord server or other such live chat service, simply to avoid cluttering up the thread I plan to use for this story.

Deep in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Africa, a small fishing ship uncovers a dark secret, lost for over one hundred years to the depths of the sea. The crew on board successfully recovered a lost item from the sea beneath the Canary Islands. A large metal coffin, mistaken by the crew for a treasure chest, bearing the emblazoned text of a mononym: DIO.

By morning, the ship was found abandoned and adrift, the crew was nowhere to be seen, with not a hint of damage across the entire vessel, and only three half-empty cups of coffee in the mess room. The only sign of anything strange or bizarre was that of the aforementioned coffin, ripped open with a blowtorch and revealing a secret compartment of unknown usage beneath the main chamber. Eventually, both the ship and coffin were forgotten from public memory, leaving the secrets held to both lost to all but a select few in the world.

---

Several years later, in Japan, a woman named Holly Joestar-Kujo finds herself at a local jail, arriving on request to pick up her estranged teenage son, Jotaro Kujo.

“Oh..just tell me? How many was it?”

“How many..?”

“How many people has my Jotaro killed?!”

This outburst caught the jail wardens off-guard. Being sure to give her plenty of room, they hurried to console the woman, who by all means was nearly bursting to tears.

“Ma’am, please! He hasn’t killed anyone! Yeah he was in a fight, but no one died. Though he roughed ‘em up good for sure. Four street rats with nunchucks and knives, and he left them with fifteen broken bones between ‘em! He put ‘em all in the hospital!”

“I see, well I’ll make sure he learns his lesson from all this.”

“It’s not just that, ma’am. He’s been acting very strange lately. Let’s show you what I mean.”

With this, the guards would escort the woman further into the jail, through a winding path of holding cells. Emotions overwhelmed the woman as they walked, and the police were more than shocked to see her begin to sprint down the halls, calling out her son’s name.

“Jotaro! Jotaro! Jojo..?!”

“Shut up, you bitch! I’m sick of hearing you scream!”

Holly and her police escort stopped in front of the cell holding Jotaro Kujo, his outburst further stunning the guards as Holly simply smiled and let out an ecstatic “Okay!” With frustration, one of the duo of guards stormed over and began kicking and rattling the bar.

“Hey, Kujo! Get the hell up! Your mom’s here to take you home. Now get outta here!”

Holly looked over to the other officer. “You’re really letting me take him after all this?”

“We can’t keep him here forever, ma’am.”

Still going at the bars, the other officer hollered in a vicious tone. “Hey Jojo! How many times we gotta tell ya?! Get out!”

Finally Jotaro rose from the jail bed, casting a glare so stern the two police officers nearly jumped back in shock. Looking his mom dead in the eyes, he let out a growling speech.

“So they called in the big guns, huh? Go home, mom. I’m staying here for a while. I’ve got this...energy flowing through me, and it hurt those guys far more than I meant to. I almost killed them with it. And that’s why I can’t leave until I figure this out.”

“Now do you see, ma’am? He refuses to leave! But we aren’t some kind of hotel, so you gotta get him outta here!”

This discussion led to a rush of the other inmates sharing Jotaro’s cell to push themselves against the bars, pleading to be let out into another cell. Their clothing was covered in scorch marks, and as the officers examined them, they noticed most of the rest of the cell was too. One of the officers began to swing his baton around berating the pleading prisoners and ordering them to quiet down.

The commotion ground to a sudden halt as a bright flash of light caught the attention of everyone involved. Looking back to Jotaro, they saw him holding a burning scrap of fabric torn from the cell’s bedsheets. A piercing white flame flicked its way across the strip of cloth, charring it to a black crisp. Upon seeing this, the officers finally processed what all was happening, and one of them began to shout at the top of his lungs.

“Hey, what the hell’s going on?! How’s he lighting fires in the damn cell? Hey Kujo, you better not have a lighter in there or something!”

“I told you, there’s this energy inside me, and this is one of the things it does. It’s difficult to control, so I’m trying to study it. Now go away.”

“Oh no you don’t! If you’re gonna be lighting fires in our cells, we sure as hell aren’t keeping you here. Get your ass outta there right now!”

“If you’re gonna insist on being so damn stubborn, then let me show you how scary this power of mine can get…”

As Jotaro stood and began to approach the cell bars, the other inmates hurriedly pressed themselves flat against the walls, trembling in fear. Standing eye to eye with his mother and the two officers, Jotaro took in a deep breath and flexed his right arm in the direction of one of the officers.

A dazzling white bolt of what felt like pure heat and light arced along his arm, causing it to appear as though his arm had dislocated itself to bend between the bars and down to the officer’s belt, grabbing his handgun and snapping it from the officer’s safety cord in one swift motion, withdrawing the revolver and his arm back into the cell, his arm looking perfectly healthy, a stark contrast from the dislocation Holly and the officers were positive they’d witnessed.

Jotaro took the handgun and removed a single bullet from the cylinder of the police revolver, holding it upright to point towards the ceiling. The same white arcs of energy coursed between his fingers and into the round, causing it to fire its payload directly into the concrete slab above him. The sound of the shot caused everyone to jump and yelp in alarm, as Jotaro simply flicked the shell casing to the ground outside the bars, before twirling the revolver in his hand and returning it to the officer handle-first.

“Now do you believe me?”

Holly Joestar-Kujo stood inside the common area of the New Tokyo International Airport, nearly trembling with excitement. Since the incident with Jotaro refusing to leave the jail, Holly had made the decision to ask her father, Joseph Joestar, to come to Japan to help her. Joseph had always had strange powers of his own, as long as Holly could remember, so she figured that he'd be the best chance to get her son the help he needed. Spotting him departing from the terminal his flight had arrived at, Holly eagerly waved her arms and called out to capture his attention.

"Papa! Over here, Papa!"

"Holly! There you are. Hope I didn't leave you waiting too long."

As the two embraced, Joseph looked down into his daughter's eyes, and felt a sense of sorrow and worry that deeply betrayed her happy demeanor on the outside. There was no use denying it. His daughter was truly troubled by current events, and Joseph was glad he had responded to them so seriously. As his daughter pressed into his arms, a warm smile crossed over his face.

"Thank you for coming all the way here, Papa."

"Please, when my own daughter asks for help, I'd cross the globe in a day to save her!"

"And what about mom? Is she here too?"

"Suzie wanted to come, but I insisted that this was business for the real estate company, and that she'd get bored."

As Joseph spoke, Holly clung to him ever tighter, and he found himself unable to pull away without having to force her. An uneasy chuckle escaped his lips as he tried to peel her off of him.

"Okay Holly...You can let go now."

"No! It's been too long since we saw each other. I miss you too much."

"Holly, you're a fourty-year-old woman now. You need to act just a bit more mature!"

"Don't remind me about that! Why I oughtta tickle you for that."

As Holly began to tickle and prod at Joseph's ribs, uncontrollable laughter and hollering began to rock his whole body. He found himself twisting and writhing in his daughter's grip, enjoying himself far too much for a near-seventy-year-old businessman. Eventually this outburst began to attract a crowd of onlookers from the airport, which made Joseph quickly snap out of his teasing-induced daze and shout at the crowd to leave him and his daughter alone.

With the crowd around them dispersing, Joseph leaned in close to converse in private with his daughter. The incident she described involving his grandson, Jotaro, was weighing heavily on his mind as well, and he knew the importance of keeping it out of the public mind. Whispering sternly, he asked her the most important question he had on hand.

"Holly, about Jotaro...You're positive he mentioned an 'energy' he could manipulate, right?"

"Oh papa, it was terrible! Everyone there saw it. It was like his arm was on fire, and then it bent in a way that should have hurt him, but once he had the gun, it was like it never happened! And when he shot the bullet with just his fingers, I nearly screamed!"

"Now, Jotaro said this power came to him very recently. But what about you? Have you experienced anything at all like this?"

"No, papa, not at all! But Jotaro refuses to leave his cell until he figures this out. What are we going to do?"

"Oh, Holly! Don't worry, now that Joseph Joestar is here, everything will be just fine!"

As Holly knelt down to pick up her father's luggage and began to walk with him towards the exit, Joseph looked back over his shoulder at a man of dark skin and desert garb seated on an airport bench. The two exchanged a stern look, and Joseph snapped his fingers and gestured to the door, prompting the man from the deserts to stand and walk calmly after them.

---

Inside the jail, flashes of blinding white light shot from the cell holding Jotaro Kujo, the officers assigned to watch over him huddled behind a corner. As they muttered to themselves about how much of an issue Jotaro was becoming, Joseph stepped up behind them and spoke aloud.

"Relax. My grandson's coming with me now."

Joseph's voice managed to catch Jotaro's attention, and the teenager moved towards his cell's bars as Joseph approached the cell, the police attempting to stop him from getting any closer. Joseph pushed his way past them as Holly shouted for her son to relax, that his grandfather would be able to explain everything. As Joseph reached the cell, he stood in a deadlock stare with Jotaro, the two very clearly sizing each other up.

"Come out, Jotaro! We're going home."

"Get lost, old man! I didn't ask for you. I'm glad you wanna help but I don't think there's anything you can do for me."

Jotaro then held up something that stunned Joseph and left a look of pure shock smeared across his face. It was a piece of metal and wire, roughly the size of a human pinkie. Bright white bolts of energy traced around it for a brief moment, and as Joseph looked down, he saw that not only was the pinkie on his artificial left hand missing, but the glove surrounding it had been burnt away.

"Did you see it? Feel it? That mysterious energy is causing me to do things that shouldn't be possible...Now, stay away from me, before you lose whatever's left of your life."

Joseph was caught off-guard by the sheer boldness emitting from Jotaro as he flicked the pinkie back at Joseph, and stepped back towards the cell cot. Joseph had been similar once, and although he understood exactly what this 'energy' affecting Jotaro was, he knew the boy would never listen to him. With another snap of his fingers, Joseph called out for the mysterious man of the desert that had accompanied him and Holly from the airport.

"Abdul, it's your turn to talk to my grandson. Jotaro, this is a friend of mine who I met in Egypt about three years ago. Abdul here is going to get your stubborn ass out of that cell."

As Abdul approached the cell, his swirling robes relaxed around a strong form, indicating that he was far from a pushover, or cannon fodder being sent in by Joseph to do dirty work.

"Look, Abdul, you seem like a tough guy, but I'm not the type to just bend over to do whatever anyone else wants. Your intimidation only makes this cell seem more inviting."

Abdul glanced back to Joseph before speaking. "Mr. Joestar, I may have to get a little rough. Sometimes suffering is the only way to make a fool see reason."

"That's fine, Abdul. Do whatever it takes to get him out of there."

At this, both Holly and the two policemen began to panic, before a quick snapping order for silence from Joseph got the three of them to settle down and watch. Abdul began to take long, deep breaths, striking a pose resembling those used in Tai Chi and other spiritualist martial arts. As he did so, a billowing cloak of crimson flames began to course over Abdul's body, leaving the surrounding cell block with a distinct hue of red light, and an intense heat. Jotaro's face told everything as he took a step back from the bars of the cell.

"Yes, Jotaro! Abdul also shares that 'energy' you discovered. But unlike you, he's learned to master and manipulate it freely! He's perfected it into a spiritual and martial style he calls Magician's Red!"

As Joseph shouted this explanation above the roar of the flames, tendrils of the fire leaped past the bars and around Jotaro's limbs, lapping at the edges of his clothing and threatening to set it ablaze. As Jotaro began to scream from the heat of the red-hot fire, Holly begged for Joseph to stop Abdul, and the two prison officers cowered in fear behind the hallway corner. Eventually, Jotaro's screams began to turn to deep, labored breaths, before a piercing white counterpart to Abdul's flames began to coat Jotaro. Joseph's eyes narrowed as he cast a fierce glare at the scene before him.

"So, Jotaro's true potential finally reveals itself."

The flames around Jotaro's limbs whipped across the cell, charring the walls, ceiling and floor with streaks of pitch black soot and ash. Jotaro's own fiery energy had begun to unveil itself, dazzling white light tracing in arcs across the teen's form. The tendrils around Jotaro began to receede as their white-hot counterpart raced its way back towards Abdul.

"Remarkable. The form his energy has taken is the purest I've ever seen!"

"So you and I, we share this energy...and my grandfather knows of it too! What is it?!"

"Jotaro, your energy is the most powerful I've ever seen. Stronger than Abdul's, even..."

"Mr. Joestar, you asked me to get your grandson out of that cell. I don't want to hurt him, but he's far too powerful. If we do not stop our battle now, I will be forced to do everything I can to defend myself, even if it costs him dearly."

"Go ahead, Abdul. Let him learn."

"Yes sir! Red Bind Overdrive!"

Abdul took an intense breath, almost like he was attempting to inhale every last trace of oxygen in the room. The tendrils of fire lapping at Jotaro flared up with a heat so intense, objects in the cell began to catch fire. The smoke engulfing the cell began to overtake Jotaro, leaving him choking and gasping for air.

"Papa, what are you doing?"

"Be a good girl and stay quiet, Holly! Jotaro, As the heat takes your breath, your power will grow weaker! It's far from the evil you believe it to be! Indeed, what you called an 'evil energy' is actually a powerful current created by your very life forces! As I'm sure you can feel, it ripples out from your heart and across your body. This feeling is why it is known as the Ripple!"

"Come on out, Jojo! As Aesop's fable says, when facing an icy wind a traveler needs only a coat, but the heat is lethal..."

"I'm staying put until I can control this without hurting anyone else...It's nice to meet someone else with this power, but if you keep this up...you will die."

At this, white Ripple energy entwined around Jotaro's leg, contrasting deeply with the crimson color of Abdul's flames. His leg seemed to bend with inhuman flexibility, reaching behind him to smash against the cell's communal toilet. The bright Ripple from his leg caused the toilet to shake violently before outright exploding, a torrent of water showering the cell, dispersing Abdul's Ripple-formed fire entirely. With this, Jotaro surged forward, his Ripple forcing the cell bars apart, and him imbuing one with torrents of white-hot Ripple as he prepared hurl it like a javelin towards Abdul.

At this, Abdul simply turned his back and stepped away, sitting against the walls of the jail hallway. This further incensed the rage burning within Jotaro.

"Don't you turn your back on me, coward!"

"Mr. Joestar, as you can clearly see, your grandson is out of his cell."

With a long exhale, Jotaro let the metal bar clatter to the ground, his blinding Ripple energy dispersing. Tucking his hands into his pockets, Jotaro assumed a calm, casual demeanor, in sharp contrast with his behavior just moments before.

"So, you got me eh?"

"Not really. I had planned to send you to the hospital. But it seems that was not to be."

"What if I'd thrown the bar I had straight through you?"

"My Ripple techniques, the style I call Magician's Red, could have easily melted such a small piece of steel into nothing before it came close to me."

"Jotaro, Abdul is just like you, his Ripple is proof enough that you don't need to stay here to keep studying your own."

As Jotaro stepped away from the ruined cell, Holly excitedly rushed over and clung to her son's arm, much to his chagrin. A smile plastered itself across the woman's face, which only caused her son to grow more frustrated with every second.

"Jotaro! You're finally coming home!"

"Get the fuck off of me, woman!"

"Oh! Sorry about that."

"What?! How dare you address your mother with language like that! And Holly, stop smiling at the boy!"

"Wait, Grandpa. Tell me one thing. How do you know about all this? How do you know about this 'Ripple'? I don't get it."

"That's the other reason I came all the way out here to Japan. There's something else I needed you two to hear. But they say a picture's worth a thousand words, so have a look at these..."

Joseph held out a set of photographs detailing a sight forgotten to the world. A small sailing vessel, utterly abandoned. And on its deck lay a coffin, covered in barnacles and torn open with a blowtorch. And upon it was emblazoned the single word: DIO

"What the hell is this?"

"Something that goes way back in the Joestar family...A coffin lost at the bottom of the Atlantic, until four years ago. I've already determined that this same coffin was on board the very ship where my grandfather, Jonathan Joestar, perished. When they found the coffin, it was empty. But I know what was in it. Abdul and I have been chasing him..."

"Him? Hold on, you make it sound like a person was in there. Why would you call something that's been at the bottom of the ocean for so long a person?"

"His name is DIO! He is the living incarnation of evil, awakened after a century of sleep! Our family's destiny is to fight this man."

The party of four, consisting of Mohammad Abdul, Joseph Joestar, Holly Joestar-Kujo, and Jotaro Kujo were seated at a local cafe within the city. Joseph had moved them there from the jail cells in order to have a more comfortable location to explain the situation with Dio's return in full. Annoyed with the entire arragement, Jotaro sat aloof, ignoring the others and gazing out the window of the eatery.

"Jojo! Pay attention to us! Your grandfather and I came a long way to tell you this."

"Yeah, yeah. Your name was Abdul, right? And as for you, gramps. Come on, this Dio guy died a hundred years ago and has been raised from the dead? You expect me to believe a load of shit story like that?"

Abdul let out a soft chuckle and smirked "A story like what? Like spirit energy that summons fire, perhaps?"

"It's okay, Jojo, you'll have to believe us soon enough. Especially after you here about how I know who Dio is...and why we're chasing after him."

Abdul set a camera down upon the cafe table, causing perplexed looks from Jotaro and Holly as Joseph continued to explain.

"Let me show you. You see, I've had the power of the Ripple all my life, but about a year ago I began to practice a new technique with it."

Joseph raised his right hand over the camera on the table, palm flat in the shape of a martial arts chop. Lifting his arm back for a heavy swing, much to the protest of Holly and confusion of Jotaro, a purple Ripple energy began to take shape around Joseph's hand. Bringing it down onto the camera as a fierce chop, the Ripple energy dispersing throughout the camera as it shattered from the blow, a single photograph sheet being propelled from within.

"You see, this new technique can reveal faraway visions, place them on film. Of course, I gotta bust up a 30,000 yen camera every time I use it. But now, Jotaro. The vision that will come from this photo will reveal our very destiny!"

"What do you mean, gramps?"

"Jotaro, Holly, have either of you ever taken a close look at the back of your necks? It's not a spot most of us pay any mind. But on the back of my neck is a mark like a star."

Jotaro and Holly would both stretch to look at the spot upon which their left shoulder met with their neck, noticing a small star-shaped birthmark. This caught them both by surprise, and only served to make Jotaro more irritated and desperate to reach Joseph's point.

"My mother said that my father had it too. It seems all of those with Joestar blood have this star. That star is our link to the Joestar family destiny."

"Listen, quit messing around and tell me what's on the damn photo!"

With this, Jotaro would snatch the photograph from Joseph's hand, stunned speechless at what he saw. It was the back of a man with long, blonde hair. Shirtless, and with a distinct line of surgery around his entire neck. The most defining feature, however, was the star-shaped birthmark in the same spot as Joseph, Holly, and Jotaro's.

"That's Dio, Jotaro! My Spirit Photography Overdrive always shows only him! And look at the back of his neck...From the neck down, that bastard's body is that of my grandfather, Jonathan Joestar! From what my grandmother Erina told me about the way Jonathan died, Dio must have survived by taking his body. And one thing I can say for sure is that he's out there, hiding somewhere. It's been four years since he was revived, and our Ripple abilities have begun to strengthen since then. What other reason can there be but Dio?"

---

As the group led by Joseph Joestar departed from the cafe, another individual was roused from their stupor by the events occuring. The being in question was Dio, the man Joseph had been spying on via his Ripple technique not moments before.

"Just now, I felt as if someone was watching me...It would seem they know. Jonathan's descendants must be receiving some kind of spiritual signal from his body. It must be fate. But fate can be purged, and I've already taken the first step towards that..."

---

Meanwhile, upon the next morning in Japan, Jotaro Kujo departed for his final day of school for the year. A large throng of girls of his school quickly gathered around him as he walked, showering him in praise and begging for his attention, despite his irritated silence. Eventually this chorus of praise and chatter would devolve into a pair of the girls hurling insults at each other before an enraged shout from Jotaro led them to stop, but not without a cheerful cry of excitement from them over Jotaro talking to them at last.

As Jotaro neared the steps of the school campus, another student of the school, one with red hair and a green uniform in sharp contrast to the black of the school's, stood at an easel, painting an angled caricature of Jotaro himself. As Jotaro descended the staircase near the mysterious student, a flickering of green light spread from his fingers to the paintbrush, infusing the paint on the tip. With a quick stroke, the student ran the paintbrush across the knee of the painting, hurling a sudden splash of paint bubbling with the same green energy across the knee of the real Jotaro, slicing it open and causing him to trip off of the staircase.

Alone in his mysterious chambers, the being known as Dio clutched at his stolen body as he thought of the past and its impact upon the present.

"At the time of Jonathan's death, I was but a head. The strength of the ocean surely would have killed me had it not been for the energy within Jonathan's body. But, this body is a bond that ties me to his descendants. They seem to know of my new life, and of the power I have gained by taking Jonathan's body. The Ripple. It is the Ripple which reaches out to his descendants. The Ripple gives me power, and so I live. But at a cost...The Joestar clan must die. Now."

---

As Jotaro's body was propelled through the air from the force caused by the sneak attack, his mind quickly raced to take action. Spotting a series of tree branches just out of arm's reach, he took a deep breath and channeled his Ripple energy, piercing white arcs of light, strong enough to rival the sun, raced over his arms as they seemingly extended, grasping the branches and slowing his fall to the ground.

As the schoolgirls that had been pestering Jotaro screamed to ask about his safety, he took to assessing the situation. He deduced that the cut on his knee was the reason for his fall, but could not deduce why such a cut had appeared. As he searched around for his attacker, the mysterious student in green looked on from his point of watch.

"My, he moves fast. I see his Ripple contains great power. No wonder the master wants him dead. Luckily, my power will do the job quite easily."

The crowd of schoolgirls fawned over Jotaro at the bottom of the steps, attempting to console and coddle him in every way possible. Jotaro looked past them to notice someone he had never seen before, the student with red hair in a green uniform. The student approached him, hand outstretched to offer him a freshly-folded handkerchief.

"Here, your leg seems to be bleeding. Take this to clean up. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, the cut's not too deep. Thanks for this. I can't say I know you, though. Are you new to the school?"

"Yes, I just transferred here in fact. Noriaki Kakyoin, at your service."

---

After the fateful meeting with the new transfer student, Jotaro found himself in the school nurse's clinic, the same annoyed look plastered across his face as usual, though by all means not helped by the nurse's insistence on teasing him, as well as two other students in the clinic.

"Oh Jojo, did you get in a fight again? And take off that hat, its rude!"

"Come on, since when has Jojo ever gotten hurt in a fight?"

"Yeah, think about it!"

"Oh, fine! I'll believe you fell down then, Mr. Clumsy! Now sit still while I cut those pants off."

"What? No way! I'll take 'em off myself. It's a waste to cut 'em up like that."

"Oh, now he's Mr. Stingy too! And while Jojo does that, I'll take your temperatures you big fakers!"

"No, really! We're sick, let us go home!"

As Jotaro started to remove his torn pants, the handkerchief from earlier fell out of his pocket, unfolding slightly to reveal a message Jotaro had missed before.

Jotaro Kujo, I will kill you today, with my Ripple! - Noriaki Kakyoin

This death threat took Jotaro completely by surprise, a shock that was only exacerbated by the sudden yelling behind him from both the sick students and the nurse.

"Uhh, doc what are you doing?!"

"What do you mean? Can't you see that I'm shaking out the thermometer for you?"

"But doc! That's a pen, not a thermometer!"

"A pen?! A pen you say? Does this look like a pen to you?! Can't you tell the difference between a thermometer and a fountain pen, you idiots? Maybe you should take a closer look!"

The crazed nurse then lunged at one of the two students, impaling her pen into the boy's eye. Jotaro noticed a faint crackle of green energy arc across the woman, and that her body movements seemed strange and jagged. Suddenly she turned to face him, pulling the blood-soaked pen from the other student's eye in the process.

"Jojo, you aren't going to tell me this looks like a pen too, are you?!"

Suddenly, the nurse leaped towards Jotaro, lunging the bloody pen towards his face, slicing open his cheek with the sharp tip just before he could stop her from driving it any further. Behind him, he was just able to look upon Noriaki Kakyoin, the student in green, seated upon the windowsill, a string puppet in hand.

"I've taken over her mind with my Rippe, Jotaro. Try and fight back and you'll be hurting an innocent woman. Surely you wouldn't do that?"

"Just who the hell are you?!"

"My style of Ripple powers is called Hierophant Green! Much like your friend Abdul, I have studied the arts of the Ripple. But I have pledged my loyalty to the master. Which is why I will be the one to kill you!"

With this, the woman suddenly surged forward, driving yet more strength into the pen and sharply cutting into Jotaro's face. Green energy swirled around her, giving Jotaro an idea on what to do. Shoving the arm holding the freshly-bloodied pen away from the two of them, Jotaro locked lips with the nurse, forcing a Ripple-infused breath into her, freeing her of the spell that Kakyoin had placed her under.

"I won't let you harm her any more! Now that I know how you use the Ripple, I know you're nothing more than a parasite!"

"You'll come to regret fighting back, Jotaro. If anything happens to that nurse because you resisted, it'll be on your hands."

"Since you decided to send a hostage to fight me, I doubt I'll have any trouble crushing you. But I don't need to go that far, I can just knock you out and take you to gramps instead. I'm sure he'd be happy to meet you, and you can tell me all about this Dio guy too."

As Jotaro turned to fully face off against Kakyoin, the servant of Dio leaped from the windowsill and raised his arms. Stark green Ripple energy coursed down them, to the tips of his fingers, which were now seemingly drenched in liquid that reflected the green energy.

"Don't you think about any sudden movements, Kakyoin. Back down now, do you hear me?!"

"Oh I hear you, and you can hear this in return...Emerald Splash Overdrive!"

A series of large droplets, colored by and arcing with Kakyoin's green Ripple energy, shot forth from his hands. Shattering objects in nearly all directions, many of them hit Jotaro square in the chest, bloodying him badly and sending him flying into the clinic door with enough force to knock it from its hinges and snap it in half.

"You see, that water was infused with pure Ripple energy. My Ripple style, Hierophant Green, specializes in the use of the Emerald Splash Overdrive as well as manipulating other liquids through the Ripple. Now that its pierced your chest, you'll suffer from intense internal bleeding. And not just you..."

Behind Kakyoin, the school's nurse began to bleed profusely from the mouth, nose, eyes and ears, much to Jotaro's horror.

"The nurse...? But how?!"

"You see, when you forced your Ripple energy into her to expel my own, it had been residing inside her bloodstream. Now that her body is using your power to reject it, its expelling it the only way it can, by forcing her blood out! This is all your fault, Jotaro. She didn't have to get hurt. You should have just let me kill you quietly."

Slowly, Jotaro began to brace his battered and beaten body against the rubble of the doorframe, before bringing himself to a standing position, an enraged stare locked firmly onto Kakyoin.

"And yet, you get back up. Almost like a punching bag swinging back to a boxer. Maybe you just like getting beaten to hell and back?"

As he stood, faint Ripple energy began to flicker across Jotaro's body, his bloody wounds slowly stopping their flow as his breathing became less labored and deeper. His eyes gazed upon Kakyoin from the shadow cast by the brim of his hat. Pure hatred drenched every word he spoke, like poison coating a weapon.

"No one's ever said Jotaro Kujo is a nice guy. I beat the crap out of more people than I'll ever have to. Some are still in the hospital, even. There's plenty of teachers that got on my bad side, and never came back to class. And I make it a personal policy to skip out on a check if the meal's bad. But even a guy like me can recognize evil when he sees it...True evil is using the weak for personal gain, and then crushing them when its over! And that is what you've done to this woman, while you get to hide from the victim, the law, any consequences of your own actions...Therfore, I'll be the one to judge you!"

"My my! How noble of you! Certainly not what I expected. But also dead wrong. The side which survives is good, and how they do it is beside the point. The loser is the one who is evil...Now enough talk, its time to end this! Emerald Splash Overdrive!"

"If the loser is the evil one, then let me show you just how evil you are!"

As Kakyoin's Ripple-infused droplets pulsed with green energy while flying towards Jotaro, his own blinding white Ripple took full form and power. The white arcs of Ripple energy traced around his forearms, which Jotaro held in front of his body, directly in the way of Kakyoin's attack. The energies collided, Jotaro's dazzling white coloring reflecting off of the droplets and casting a blinding glow across the room. The droplets reflected off of Jotaro's forearms and dispersed into nothing, leaving Kakyoin utterly stunned at the fact his signature technique had failed him.

"My Ripple will be used to uphold justice! Barrage Overdrive!"

Jotaro's Ripple-entwined arms rapidly grappled Kakyoin and began to deliver a series of swift, heavy blows. The servant of Dio was bludgeoned beyond measure by this speedy attack, the force of which propelled him through the very wall of the building and left him laying outside the school.

"You caught me off-guard the first time you tried that. I'm glad my Ripple isn't weak, but it tends to make me feel more savage than I am. Luckily the nurse should be alright. Our fight left this place a real mess, so I'd say this is a good day to skip class. I'm taking you with me, to make sure we can get you to spill the beans on Dio."

Hefting Kakyoin's battered form over his shoulder, Jotaro stepped out into the schoolyard through the gaping hole in the clinic wall, making his way to his home, hoping to interrogate Kakyoin with the help of Joseph and Abdul.

As Holly Joestar-Kujo flitted about her home, upbeat pop music bounced and echoed out from and beyond the Kujo estate. In the midst of her activities, Holly was stricken with a sudden and intense feeling, that of the presence of her son. Rushing over to a photograph of her son, she picked it up and hugged it tightly in her arms.

"Oh! I just felt my son! He feels so close! What a special moment...Jotaro must be thinking about me at school."

"No, I'm not."

"Aaaah!"

Jotaro stepped into the room, much to his mother's surprise. A bloodied and barely-conscious Kakyoin was hefted over his shoulder, groaning in pain. A horrified expression grew across Holly's face as she slowly brought herself to speak.

"Don't sneak up on me like that! Why aren't you in school Jotaro? And who's that? He's covered in blood! Don't tell me that you..."

"It's none of your business. Now where's the old man? This house is too damn big... Is he in the tea room?"

"Oh yes, he's with Mr. Abdul."

As Jotaro stepped off to look for his grandfather, Holly watched him, tears trailing down her cheek as she reflected on her son. Oh Jotaro, you never talk to me about anything! I worry about you so much, but I can see right through you. I know you're really a good kid deep down.

"Hey mom!" Jotaro called back suddenly, breaking Holly from her reflection. "You aren't looking too good today. Are you okay?"

Holly's face shifted to ecstatic glee, nearly shouting her reply in excitement! "Yes son, I'm fine, thank you!"

Jotaro reached the tea room, carefully laying Kakyoin on the floor, with Joseph examining him closely, as Abdul sat off to the side.

Joseph spoke sternly as he finished looking over Kakyoin. "This is no good. It's too late, we can't save him. He'll die in a few days. You did your best, Jotaro. It's not your fault. Do you know why this young man would obey Dio, even to kill innocents? This is why."

Carefully lifting up Kakyoin's hair, Joseph revealed a sinister pustulent embedded within the youth's forehead. It pulsed and writhed with an inhuman nature, the vile, almost necrotic flesh a stark contrast from Kakyoin's skin.

Jotaro's face took on a look of heartfelt worry and concern at the sight of it. "What is that?! It looks like a spider...Or a piece of rotted flesh."

At this, Abdul spoke up, gesturing to Kakyoin. "That...meat is of Dio. A sprout of his vampiric flesh in the boy's brain. The undead cells of Dio live within him, poking the very core of his mind."

Joseph would step in with his own passionate remarks. "It stirs him, awakens a certain feeling far beyond his own control. Awe. Charisma. Appeal. The sheer emotive power that drives a man to follow someone like Hitler, put his faith in a corrupt cult, or swear loyalty to a monster like Dio. Once his control was in place, it was simple for Dio to order this boy to kill us."

"Then take it out, Gramps."

"We can't. The bud would rebel, thrash around in the brain. The pain would leave him in a state far worse before his death."

At this, Abdul spoke again, his face taking an even sterner look than it usually carried. "Let me tell you what happened to me four months ago. I was in Egypt, in Cairo, when I met that creature Dio."

---

"It was a full moon. I had come back to my fortune-telling shop in Khan Kalili, when there at the top of my steps was a man like none I'd ever seen. He had eyes so cold it felt like he was invading my heart. Golden hair rest atop his head, and skin so pale it almost seemed transparent. But most of all, he carried a dubious sensuality, the kind you wouldn't expect from a man of his stature. I had already met Mr. Joestar, so I knew at once that this was Dio, the one who had been resurrected from the Atlantic."

"He spoke to me, asking for a demonstration of my 'special ability' as he called it. Somehow, his words calmed my heart. That was what scared me the most, the dangerous sweetness of his voice. I ran for my life, and I was lucky to escape. Had Mr. Joestar not warned me about him, had I not been escaping into a maze of familiar streets, I would have been Dio's willing pawn too, just like this boy."

"And like him, Jotaro, Abdul would have died in a few years, his brain eaten by the flesh bud."

"Died? Let's not jump the gun. He's not in great shape, but he isn't dead yet! I'll pull it out with my Ripple!"

Jotaro's fingers shone with the energy of his blinding white Ripple as they carefully hovered over the flesh bud, preparing to pinch and pull it out from Kakyoin's forehead.

"Jotaro, wait!"

"Back off old man! I'll pull it out fast, with no damage to the brain. My Ripple is easy to channel solely into my fingers, so it should be taken care of with no problem!"

"But that thing is sentient, don't you see!? Even a skilled surgeon couldn't remove it! That's why part of it is outside the skin!"

As Jotaro moved to remove the flesh bud, a strand of the necrotic meat embedded itself into Jotaro's hand, slithering its way up his arm and towards his brain.

"It's gone into your arm! Let go of it, Jojo! It can infiltrate the brain of anyone who tries to remove it."

As Jotaro carefully worked to channel the necessary Ripple energy to remove the flesh bud, Kakyoin regained consciousness, watching Jotaro with confusion and concern.

"Don't move, Kakyoin! One mistake and this thing will destroy your brain."

"Let go now, Jojo! It's reached your face!"

"Hang on, Abdul. Look at Jotaro. His body is under siege from the vampiric flesh, but he's as calm as can be! He's moving more accurate than any machine! His hand isn't shaking one bit!"

With a careful flick of his wrist, and the cry of "Ripple overdrive!", Jotaro ripped the flesh bud from Kakyoin's forehead and incinerated it with his Ripple in one precise maneuver. Once the bud was removed, Kakyoin slowly sat up, rubbing at his forehead and looking to Jotaro.

"Why did you risk your own life to save me?"

"Well...I don't think I have to answer that."

"Holly, hey Holly, do you hear me? I need your help sorting out the laundry! I can't wear my grandson's pants! I'm glad he's my size, but the style is all wrong... Oh, that's right! Holly wanted me to start calling her Seiko while we're in Japan, because her friends think her name is Holy and Seiko means 'holy child'..."

As Joseph hollered for his daughter, Jotaro was also calling out for her as he left for school.

"I'm off for class today, don't try and stop me!"

Jotaro's quiet annoyance quickly turned to concern as he also realized Holly was nowhere nearby. Usually she would be around to pester him as he left, but she was nowhere to be seen.

As Mohammad Abdul walked through the Kujo residence, he stumbled upon an odd sight, a single spoon on the floor. The spoon led Abdul to a ruined kitchen, upon the floor lay Holly, caught up in a pile of kitchenware. Abdul rushed to pick her up, immediately noticing she was burning to the touch with fever. Suspicion mounting, Abdul asked openly for an apology before tearing open the back of Holly's shirt, revealing his worst fears.

Vampiric tendrils weaved themselves through the flesh of her back, writhing and twisting as they fed off her very life force. Abdul quickly realized that while Joseph, Jotaro, and Abdul had been so preoccupied with their own safety, they had never acted to keep Holly safe from attacks by Dio. The form of flesh writhing across her was different than that of the Flesh Bud that had been embedded in Kakyoin's forehead. Rather than focusing on mind control and direct impact on the brain, these tendrils were focused on solely draining Holly of her life force while forcing themselves to become so intertwined in her body that they would be impossible to remove.

As Abdul carefully cradled her comatose body in his arms, Jotaro and Joseph arrived on the scene, looking grimly at Holly from over his shoulder. At the sight of his daughter infected with such an evil disease, Joseph fell to his knees in anguish.

"No...I've always known that this might come to pass, but Holly's spirit is so pure that I had hoped that Dio's curse on this world would pass her by...But there's no way such a pure spirit could resist what comes next!"

"Gramps, what can we do?"

"...We must find Dio. The only option left for us to break the curse is to kill Dio! But my pictures don't ever show us where he is! The backgrounds are all pitch black!"

"Yes, we can never figure out where he is with Dio always hiding in the darkness. We've used every form of tool and computer, but to no avail..."

"Wait, gramps, let me try something..."

Taking hold of the picture, Jotaro's fingers flickered with his bright Ripple energy, coursing across the surface of the picture and crackling at specific points. The Ripple energy began to burn the outline of an image into the surface of the photograph. A single fly, barely visible in black of the photo. Abdul quickly recognized it as a fly native to the Nile river, in Egypt.

"So, he's in Egypt still...When do we leave? I want to join you."

Entering the doorway stood Kakyoin, a bandage around his forehead being the only sign of the past damage suffered at the hands of Jotaro and the flesh bud.

"Three months ago I was on a trip to Egypt with my family. That's when Dio put the flesh bud in my brain. It would seem that he doesn't want to leave Egypt."

"Why would you want to come with us?"

"who can say...? I don't really want to face Dio again, but lets just say you opened my eyes."

"Fine, you can join us."

Within the Kujo residence, Kakyoin and Abdul stood in the courtyard, eyeing the entrance as doctors sent by the Speedwagon Foundation, a longtime ally of the Joestar family, arrived. As Abdul spoke, grave concern for Holly and her condition laced every word. The nature of her illness burrowing at the forefront of their minds.

"For now, Mrs. Kujo's stand is only on her back. But in time, her whole body may very well be overtaken by that vile mass of vampiric tendrils. Many forms of sickness will then come over her. First a high fever, then eventually a coma. But the end of the journey will be death, for sure. These doctors sent by the Speedwagon Foundation at Mr. Joestar's request will care for Mrs. Kujo nonstop, but no doctor can even understand what we're dealing with, much less cure her of her ailments. In the past, I've seen people far stronger than her fall to the corruption of vampire infections just like this. But there is still hope for Mrs. Kujo. It'll take nearly a month, almost fifty days or so, for her to reach the final stages of her illness. We just need to defeat Dio in Egypt before then, to sever the link between her infection and Dio's vampiric body!"

---

Meanwhile, within the Kujo home proper, Jotaro and Joseph were keeping watch over Holly as she suddenly roused to an awakened state. Her sudden energy was a sharp contrast to the illness she'd been showing just moments before. This caught both Jotaro and Joseph by surprise, eyes looking at her with grave concern as she tried to conduct herself with the same cheerful tone and attitude as usual.

"I don't know what happened, I never pass out like that! But I feel much better after taking some medicine."

Jotaro watched his mother carefully as she smiled cheerfully at her father and son. She doesn't know yet. It's on her back, so she can't see it...

"Holly! You had us all worried. You shouldn't scare your old man like that, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Brush your teeth when you get up, its good manners!" As Joseph continued to spout personal care orders at Holly, he rushed about, cleaning her hair, cutting up some food, and coddling over his daughter in every way imaginable.

Eventually, Holly had enough of this coddling and cooing from her father, shifting the blankets covering her aside to try and stand up. "Okay, its time I got up and started to cook dinner! What would you like, Jotaro?"

Jotaro and Joseph both grew wide-eyed as Holly tried to get up from the bed, and Jotaro even began to shout. "You don't need to do that! Stay in bed!"

"I mean...don't spread your germs around, the rest of us don't wanna get sick. Besides, I'm not that hungry anyway, so just rest up."

"Heh heh...Yes, son. Everyone is so nice when I'm sick. I guess a little cold isn't bad from time to time..."

As Holly laid back into the bed, she almost immediately dropped back into a deep sleep, catching Joseph and Jotaro off-guard. Joseph rushed to check on her, feeling for a fever.

"Holly! She's passed out cold again! She was acting fine, but now she's got a huge fever. She didn't say a word, but I'm sure she noticed the tendrils on her back. Its just like her, to try and hide it from everyone, to keep us from worrying. We have to save her. We can't let Dio get away with this! Listen to me, Holly, we'll make it better. I swear. There's nothing for you to worry about, just lie back and take it easy."

As Joseph watched over Holly like a wolf guarding his cub, Kakyoin and Abdul entered the room as well. Upon seeing Holly laying in the bed as she was, a look of solemn sadness and concern stretched itself across Kakyoin's face.

"Jojo's mother...She's the kind of woman who can make you feel relaxed just by being near her. If I was going to fall in love, I'd want it to be with a woman like her. I feel like I want to protect her with my life, to see her feeling better and smiling."

"I think its time, everyone. Kakyoin, Mr. Joestar, Jotaro, let's go."

---

Elsewhere, within his mysterious hideout, the infamous Dio eyed a camera very carefully. Raising a hand, a similar purple energy to that of Joseph's Ripple technique swirled around it, however it also carried within it a baleful and sinister energy, like the very Ripple essence itself had been corrupted. As the hand came colliding with the camera, the dark energy of Dio's Ripple coursed through the device, not damaging it like Joseph's own version of the technique, but still depositing out a photograph of Joseph Joestar and Jotaro Kujo aboard a plane.

"Just as I thought. They've found out where I am, so they've come for me. Joseph. Jotaro."

---

Aboard the plane, a sleeping Joseph Joestar was startled awake by a bizarre sensation. He could sense it in the very fiber of his being. Dio was watching him. Jotaro opened his eyes and cocked his head to look at his grandfather subtly. He had felt it too.

"He saw us, Jotaro. Dio was watching us just now."

"Yeah, I felt it too..."

"A new henchman of his could already be on the plane. We better watch out."

Just as they finished speaking, a faint buzzing sound caught their attention. A large insect was darting about the cabin, eventually headed right for the Joestar party. As it flew closer, Joseph was able to get a quick look at it, noticing that it appeared necrotic and rotting in nature, as though ruled by the same undead forces as vampiric zombies and other biological terrors of that nature.

As the party of four all came to and spotted the creature, it quickly darted back out of sight, into the seats of the plane. The group conferred among themselves, noting its necrotic nature and that it was some form of beetle, likely spawned from the lands of Egypt, where Dio lay in waiting for them.

Suddenly, it shot up back into view, directly beside Jotaro's head. As he turned to look, it frothed and snarled, a malformed and vampiric pincer tongue began to slither out from its jaw-like appendages. Slowly channeling his piercing white Ripple energy around his hands, Jotaro suddenly darted out to grapple the tainted beetle. However, it quickly managed to dodge his grappling attack, darting to the side and suddenly lunging its pincer tongue out at Jotaro. Using his Ripple-infused hands, he tried to catch the tendril, but it pierced through his palm instead, lunging for his tongue directly. Thinking quickly, Jotaro channeled some of his Ripple energy into his teeth, carefully catching the beetle's tongue and holding it in place.

As Jotaro held the beetle's tongue with his teeth, the others looked on in shocked awe and grave worry. The tongue of the beetle, despite being stopped by Jotaro's teeth, was ever so slowly inching its way into his mouth proper, the pincer-like fangs at the end of the necrotic tongue snapping and gnashing, trying to grasp Jotaro's own tongue.

Abdul eyed the beetle carefully before speaking in a stern, matter-of-fact voice. "Its as I feared, its after his tongue. This beetle is one of many linked to a long string of attacks leading to great calamity. Fortune tellers have linked the mysterious benefactor of these attacks to one of the tarot cards, earning them the name Tower of Grey! I've heard rumors and stories of the villain behind them, but nothing linking them to Dio. Tower of Grey does their work in secret, and very few people know that his attacks lead to mass disasters! Plane crashes, train derailments, and even fires. Many suspect the plane crash in England that killed three hundred people last year was Tower of Grey's doing!"

As Abdul finished his speech, Jotaro inhaled deeply, rushing air past the grip he had on the beetle's tongue. Quickly, his hands began to shine with his signature bright Ripple energy, the beetle's tongue barely able to withdraw as he let loose a wave of attacks accompanied by a cry of "Platinum Barrage Overdrive!"

The beetle manipulated by the mysterious Tower of Grey managed to avoid the attacks, however, much to the chagrin of the Joestar party. As the looks of panic began to wash over their faces, the voice of an elderly man began to speak, seemingly coming from the beetle itself.

"My control over the beetle is far too fine for such brutish attacks. Even if you fired a dozen guns from only a centimetre in front of me, none of the bullets could even touch any of my creatures. Not that guns could hurt the undead anyway..."

As the Joestar party quickly began to scan the cabin of the plane, desperately trying to identify the person in control of the vile insect, the beetle quickly darted out of sight again, moving almost too fast for the eye to see. As quickly as it darted away, it reappeared on the far end of the cabin from the Joestar party, catching their attention just long enough to swoop down and puncture through several of the passengers' seats and up into the back of their skulls, exiting out their mouths before swooping back up. Four passengers were killed in the dive, and the beetle controlled by Tower of Grey carried four human tongues along its own tendril-like one. Darting over to the wall of the cabin separating it from the cockpit, it used the blood of the tongue to write the phrase 'Massacre' across the wall.

"Now he's done it. If anyone sees that, there'll be a massive panic. It's time to burn that bug alive. Red Bind Overdrive!"

"Wait, Abudl, you can't! You'll burn the whole cabin!"

As Kakyoin rushed to stop Abdul from unleashing his attack, one of the passengers aboard the plane began to rouse from his sleep. The passenger in question was an elderly gentleman, complaining absentmindedly about the noises around the cabin and standing to march off to the restroom. As he walked, his hand brushed against the bloody text on the wall, and he slowly began to realize his hand was coated in blood. Before he could shout his fears to the cabin, Kakyoin rushed over and carefully knocked the old man unconscious.

"I'm sorry I had to do that, but we can't have any passengers causing an uproar. We can't have your flames igniting the airplane either, Abdul. Nor can we afford Jotaro's punches ripping a hole in the plane by accident. This calls for a more subtle form of Ripple manipulation, like my Emerald Splash."

"Heh heh heh! Noriaki Kakyoin, eh? Dio told me all about you, so don't even bother! You may have silence and subtlety on your side, but your speed is no match for my insect's!"

"We'll see about that! Emerald Splash Overdrive!"

As Kakyoin's hands were rapidly coated in the stash of Ripple-conducting water he kept on his person, his signature green Ripple energy began to charge through the water, turning the droplets themselves green and starting to solidify them. In one fluid motion, he shot them out towards the insect, hoping the supercharged water would puncture the beetle's undead flesh. However, the beetle was able to dodge the attacks, which quickly dispersed their Ripple and splashed against the cabin walls as harmless water once more. The beetle's tongue lunged out, slicing Kakyoin across the side of his face, nearly managing to reach his mouth.

The voice from within the beetle began to echo a series of taunts and jeers as Kakyoin fell to the floor of the airplane cabin, the others in the Joestar party growing increasingly panicked. As the insect buzzed above him, Kakyoin took the chance to lunge out with another splash of his signature Ripple technique with one hand, but the beetle dodged this as well. But as it lunged in again for another attack, Kakyoin gave a sly smile and shifted his other hand. The fabric and metal of the seatbelts of various empty plane seats near Kakyoin lunged upward, infused with a careful lace of green Ripple energy. These punctured and bound the beetle, before carefully ripping it to shreds.

The nearby old man, who Kakyoin had previously knocked unconscious, writhed and flexed in pain before collapsing back to the floor in a heap, his body withering into a shriveled imitation of its rejuvenated self, looking true to his vampiric nature.