-

"Akira," he said with a rather serious tone in comparison to his usual one. He continued, "Avdol is alive, so no need to worry." You sighed in relief. "He's with the Speedwagon Foundation as we speak. You can talk to him soon once he's better, but we need to keep this quiet."

You nod.

"Polnareff, as I'm sure you've figured out, he has a big mouth. We can't let the secret slip, because a stand user may find out and attempt to get Avdol when he's down. Jotaro is planning on telling Kakyoin about it."

"I won't say a word," You assure him.

"I know you won't. However his absence will make your life more difficult, seeing as you're the only one with a mind comparable to his about the knowledge of stands."

"I figured. I'll do my best to fill his shoes until he's better enough to get back to us," you say. "That is if that happens before we get to Egypt."

Mr. Joestar nodded.

"He's expected to make a recovery, however there is an issue."

"What is it?"

"The coat you put under his head got ruined."

You hummed. "That's fine. It was a spare one."

Mr. Joestar smiled and patted your head after giving you back your belongings.

"I see my old partner in you, Akira" He said with a sad smile. (SHHHHHIIIIIIZZZAAAAAAAAAAA)

His comment caught you off guard, not only from it being out of no where, but also from being an emotional thing to say. Mr. Joestar had recalled stories of his past and the fights he had before, but he rarely mentioned his old partner. You didn't even know his name.

"How so?"

"You both have that same fire about you, that same fighting spirit."

He smiled.

"I'm glad you're on this trip, Akira"

"Me too"

The both of you made your way back to the rest of your group.

Polnareff was attempting to romance the girl, who for some reason was still with you.

Jotaro and Kakyoin were talking amongst themselves.

You walked back over to them to wait for the bus.

After it arrived, you got on and sat next to Kakyoin.

You were pissed his girlfriend tackled you, and that you weren't able to finish the Emperor off.

Polnareff was still talking to the girl, who you found out was named Nena.

"Listen up," he said. "It's easy to do that when you're in love, but you can't see things so close minded!" He stood up. "Take a step back and look at everything rationally!"

"Shut up, flat top," you said. "You're being annoying."

You slumped down into your seat.

There was an aura present around you. You'd felt it since Calcutta, but because of that, you chalked it up to either your soul or Polnareff soul's rage.

The aura you could feel from people was based on their soul rather than their stand. In order to have a stand in the first place, one must have a strong soul, since a stand is the manifestation of one's soul. Since stand user's have stronger soul's, their aura is more prevalent, especially when they feel strong negative emotions. How could you sense other stand user's souls? No clue. It was something you were in the process of discovering before the trip. Better than to question it, you just decided to be grateful you can.

"Damn, this thing is getting worse," Mr. Joestar complained.

"What is?" You sat up and looked over his shoulder to see a massive bug bite on his arm.

"Well, I could have lived without seeing that." You sat back down while lighting a cigarette.

After exiting the bus, you stretched your arms out, almost accidentally hitting Polnareff in the process.

Mr. Joestar was showing his bug bite to Jotaro and Kakyoin.

"It's swollen," Kakyoin observed. "You should go to the doctor's before it gets any worse."

"Hey," Polnareff chimed in. "Doesn't that kind of look like a face?"

"Quit it Polnareff! That's creepy!" Mr. Joestar yelled.

You slapped the Frenchman's arm. However, you couldn't help but feel that he was right. Something was definitely off about it.

"Sorry about that," He apologized. "Do you want me to go to the hospital with you?"

"No!" Mr. Joestar replied. "I'm not senile, I'll be just fine."

He walked off.

"Well, Nena," Polnareff turned to the girl. "Why don't we go off somewhere?"

Before the girl could even reply, he practically dragged her along.

You pinched the bridge of your nose out of a feeling of both disgust and frustration.

"That girl is going to have the worst day of her life."

Kakyoin chuckled.

"We should probably find something to do," Jotaro said.

You nodded.

"We should probably find the hotel and then do something around there." Kakyoin added.

You began your walk to the hotel, talking on the way.

The conversations weren't anything in particular, but Jotaro was participating in them more than before.

You allowed your mind to wander while the other two were talking about their favorite manga.

You thought about how Polnareff and Mr. Joestar were doing.

You stopped when you came to a realization.

"What's wrong, Akira?" Kakyoin asked.

"It all makes sense now...The aura I felt on the bus, Polnareff's remark about the bug bite. They're connected, it makes sense!"

"You aren't making any sense right now." Jotaro sighed after emphasizing the first word.

"Well, let me put it this way," you responded. "It's likely that the Emperor has his Empress."

The realization seemed to click with them then as well.

"So, Nena's a stand user," Jotaro said.

"Holy shit, The old man's in trouble," You realized. You looked at the two in front of you. "Go look for Polnareff and Nena, because he could be in danger too. I'll look for Mr. Joestar."

You saluted as you ran from the boys. They called after you, but they knew that there was no stopping you.

You ran to the nearest alley with a fire escape that you saw. You climbed up to get access to the roofs of stores and apartment buildings that overlooked the city.

You ran and jumped rooftop to rooftop, seeing no one from your party in the process.

When the roofs ended, you climbed down, only to be met with a group of cops.

"You!" One of them yelled at you. "What were you doing up there?"

You had two options. Play dumb and charm your way out of this, or beat them to a pulp.

Though the former was probably the best way to go, the latter was ten times more attractive.

You put your arms up as a fake surrender. When they made their way over to you, you swiftly kicked one in the gut, making him fall backwards.

With that, the four other officers present started charging at you. Adding to that, the first cop was getting back up. You ran to the cop you first kicked and knocked him back down. You grabbed his baton and then knocked him upside the head, knocking him unconcious.

Rinse and repeat four more times with a few more punches and kicks here and there, you were done. Only one was left concious, and so you walked over to him. Crouching down, you picked him up by the back of his collar to look at you.

"Have you seen an older man, a little shorter than me, gray hair and beard?"

With a grunt the cop looked down. You grabbed his chin and forced him to look at you.

"Yes or no? It's a simple question, and unlike a couple of your friends, your jaw isn't broken. However if you refuse to cooperate..."

His eyes widened, and he pointed behind him. You dropped him and grabbed the baton you'd acquired.

You ran off in the direction of Mr. Joestar. You went to a nearby alley with a fire escape and regained access to the roofs of the shops and apartments.

You were in deep shit now. You beat a group of officers to death's door. They were cops, and all cops are the same.

Despite your thoughts of how you were going to get out of this one, rooftop to rooftop you went.

When you were mid jump, you looked down to see Mr. Joestar with something hardened on his arm. It had to be Nena's stand. It appeared he was taunting it. You ran to the edge of the roof where a pole extended into the ground and slid down it.

Just as you did he pulled out Hermit Purple. You made eye contact with him, but neither of you said a word. Instead you caught your breath.

"You used the ashes to make a map of the city!" The stand sticking out of his arm cried.

"Yeah," he started. "You should be able to see the difference in our experience now. When your opponent starts boasting, he's already lost."

That's the first piece of fight advice Mr. Joestar taught you. While Avdol taught you how to control and use your stand, Mr. Joestar taught you how to read your opponents.

"That's how Joseph Joestar does things," he said. "That's a line from my younger days. I guess I get better with age, just like a fine wine."

After he said that, Hermit Purple latched onto a pipe, and then held a firmer grasp on the stand.

The stand was begging to be spared.

"This'll hurt me too," Mr. Joestar spoke.

Mr. Joestar used Hermit Purple to jump high up onto the wall, and then jumped down.

When he did, the stand was cut into pieces.

Once he got up he turned to you.

"Let's find the user, Akira."

"I know who it is," you said. "Logical thinking says that it's Nena, and her card is the Empress."

"You never fail to impress me, kid. If that's the case, Polnareff could be in danger."

"Most likely," you say as you start to walk with him.

You heard a scream come from a couple streets away.

"Right on cue," you comment as the both of you run in that direction.

Once there, you find Polnareff panicking with an ugly woman's corpse on the ground.

"So that's the Empress..." you say disgustedly.

Polnareff backs up and hides behind you.

"She's a troll of a woman," Mr. Joestar spoke. "She attached her tumor like stand to me, and camouflaged herself as a pretty woman."

"You're pretty gullible Polnareff," you turned your head to look at him. "You got played like a fiddle."

He was still trying to process everything.

You patted his shoulder.

-

You and Mr. Joestar (for separate reasons) were on the run from the cops , which led to the group of you running to the city outskirts.

Once you reconnected with Kakyoin and Jotaro, you broke the news that we had to leave. Mr. Joestar explained how Nena's stand killed a doctor, but everyone accused him of doing it. You had to explain how you beat a group of cops unconscious.

You all found yourself standing at a river bank staring out onto the water.

You stood in between Kakyoin and Jotaro while Polnareff sat closer to the riverbank.

"And here I thought we'd be able to sleep in an actual bed tonight," Kakyoin sighed.

"If the old man hadn't screwed up and gotten the cops to chase him, we would have." Jotaro responded.

"I'm not the only one who screwed up!" Mr. Joestar retorted. "Akira did too!

"Don't drag me into this! Aggrivated assault and avoiding arrest aren't nearly as bad as being accused of murder," you defended, sarcasm lacing your tone.

"But we know I didn't kill anyone!" He huffed. "Regardless, I got us this car we can use to get out of here. Polnareff," Mr. Joestar threw a set of keys at him. They landed right in his hair and got stuck. "You're driving."

He was sat in a ball on the ground.

You walked over to the front of him and knelt down.

"He's still in shock," you waved a hand in front of his face.

"Why's he in shock? I was the one that got attacked!" Mr. Joestar said.

"I'd rather have gone through that," he mumbled.

-
To be continued...>