Chapter Text
SEVERAL YEARS BEFORE
A tall, bearded man in a long cape-like suit marches through the dark. His deep black blends in with the forest around him, and he finds himself in the darkest depths of the jungle. As he marches forward, he hears a crunch. He drags his leather boot away for just a moment. As he turns over, he sees something jerking around violently in the grass.
As he approaches it, he sees a rather small figure thrashing around and swimming frantically. A small Jaguar pup was in its death throes, minutes before death. As she thrashed, the man noticed long bite marks in the side of its neck.
As he turns over, he can see something lingering on its paw. It was deformed, but not in a way that indicated it was mangled or simply bent out of shape by an ordinary attack. No, this seemed to be innate to the creature. He leans over and picks up the small form. As it thrashes around in his hands, he begins to recognize the spotted black patterns in the yellow.
He’s seen such a creature before on his journeys through the peaceful jungle. This creature… this mystical creature… was a Panthera Onca, a Jaguar. From the looks and size, it seemed to be a few weeks old and rather small for its expected size.
He looks back up and stares at a pair of eyes glaring back at him. They stare for a moment, only to turn away and disappear into the darkness.
Likely, the mother of this creature simply killed her offspring. From the looks of its deformed seemingly mangled paws, it was a natal deformity. As it struggled, nearly finding it hard to breathe. The man’s hands traced its neck. With its index and middle finger, it pressed into the skin.
A sudden black goop seemed to have surged into its body, filling it with its essence.
The creature became suddenly still.
Without even thinking about, the man stuffed the large cat into his coat pocket and carried away with it without a care in the word.
---
Overtime, the man noticed that the creature’s abilities start to improve. Over time, it’s paws realigned and seemed no different from any ordinary Jaguar. It’s fur seemed to glisten and it returned to some sort of kitten-like vitality that it was robbed of in it’s younger stages.
It wrestled with the creature for a moment with his hand. He played with it, petted it, comforted it, all with a distant cold look. The man knew what he had done, but hardly cared. However, he could tell there was some dissatisfaction in his work.
He saved the Jaguar, but it was still too weak and fleshy for his taste. Regardless, it could remain a loyal servant to his cause.
It only needed a name.
---
“Digital Silence…” The Jaguar hummed through the trees.
“That is what my master called me,” It said.
“In exchange for saving my life, I serve my master to the very end,” She said, turning over to the unconscious Jotaro with his arms outstretched and sprawled out through vines and tree branches.
“So what do you say to that…”
She snickers, “Jotaro?”
She then rushes over, grabs his collar, leaving both to disappear into the jungle. Blood splatters and makes wet-branches, but Jotaro was nowhere to be seen.
---
Birds chatter and scurry different ways in the dense jungle. Ants march downwards across the dense greens in search of dead things to scavenge. Worms dig through the dirt and grime and chew on the rotting meat. Panthers, jaguars, and other large cats scatter across the dense trees, and blend into the natural surroundings.
It was a marvelous site for travelers across the nation and the world. Yet, in this wonderous deep is the raw cruel face of mother nature in all her glory. In that face, in the caverns of wood and meat lay a small Boston Bull Terrier dog gasping terribly as he clung to the bark. He dug sand and intrenched himself further so that he matched the floor of the jungle.
“I barely made out of there,” He gasps, breathing desperately as he clings to his mangled stump wrapped hastily in bandages.
Iggy gasped, it felt like a metal bear trap had sunken its teeth into his paw. He turns, seeing the wild eyes in the Jagur. He gulps down a bit and looks at her as she smiles. Her teeth move, grinding and shredding through his leg like sharp files that slowly grinded away his flesh.
“Y-you bastard woman!” He thought.
He barks back, trying to pull away.
“Shit, if I don’t pull away now! I’m toast, what do I do?”
A sudden and harsh thought races through his mind… he only had one answer. He bites the paw and chews at it aggressively. The cat almost looks puzzled, raising an eye muscle that makes it look like its confused at his antics.
Then she feels a sudden looseness in his weight, and when she looks down… there was no dog there… only a paw.
---
He wasn’t human, so the procedure was hardly clean. He needs to return to a human and have it fixed up before it can get infected.
“My leg is, that kitty’s teeth were on there like a vice! If I hadn’t gnawed it off…” he croaks, clinging to the hollowed-out wood tightly.
“I think I’m going to hide down here for a while, maybe if I wait long enough, that oversized house mutt will finally go away!”
He peeks at the stump through his other good paw, frowning at it slightly.
“After this is over, the Speedwagon Foundation can make me an artificial leg!”
He hisses, turning his head upward.
“But I’m still pissed as hell, damn that cat!” He growls.
“You’re not getting away this!” He screams.
CRUNCH
Loud footsteps dig into dirt and push through. He gasps, desperately holding his breath as the deep breath and chatter of the cat makes him shudder. Through the outside light, he can see a tail swooshing around, back and forth like a snake.
She was getting impatient. No, hungry. There was something in that tail that made her seem extremely agitated.
“Oh boy, what now?” He thought.
“It found me, how, is that possible?”
His eyes widened, “Wait, did I leave something?” He thought.
He smelled himself, and he gave himself his own answer. Jaguars are not too different from dogs. They had strong, superior senses to humans. However, being larger and far more agile, Jaguars could hunt down potential prey for much longer and much faster.
Soon, there wouldn’t be much time.
“I-I have to get out!” He thought.
“Find a way to ditch this little piece of wood before kitty over there notices, but how?” He turns to the bark and scratches it slightly.
“I have to dig underground!”
Sand slowly rises to his feet and sharp claws wrap around his paws. One made of sand, and one that merely wraps around his digits.
“Hurry, The Fool!”
He starts to dig, slowly but surely he digs. Maybe if he stealthy enough, the rate at which he’s going will make the large cat lose his trail. Then, with the added noises, she slowly lose interest and go away. As he digs, he no longer scraps against wood, but bark. More sands floods the hollowed out wood and he digs and digs.
He stops digging when his paws scrape against dirt, a small tunnel opens a path beneath him.
“SUCCESS!” He thought.
“Now I just gotta leave this place!” He said.
“Then, that kitty will never know what happened!”
He shrugs, pushing through the dirt. He holds his breath desperately, the dirt and other debris piles on top of him and makes it hard to move. Yet, he keeps pushing, The Fool wraps around him and fashions itself into a large drill to dig through the dirt. It finds an opening near some lose sand and pushes himself out of the pile.
He gasps, looking around. He whips his ear, flicking it every so often that he makes sure not to lose track of the cat. Yet, his ears stop when he hears something, like a wheeze.
“What’s that?” He asks himself.
“That’s not a bird, and I’m pretty sure I know what the kitty sounds like.”
He whips his ear again, ensuring to tune in on the noise.
“No, wait!”
He lifts his head, peering his eyes from behind him towards a large silhouette in the distance. It’s nearly motionless as he turns towards it. Large vines and other structures seem to wrap themselves around this large silhouette and clings to its skin.
Drip, one drop of liquid falls into the dirt below him, forming into a nasty mud.
Drip, drip, drip, and that deep iron stench fills the air.
Drip, drip, drip, it just keeps going.
“W-wait!” Iggy gasps.
“I know that face!”
He steps back, getting a better picture of the image above him.
“Th-that’s—” He gasps, seeing a large Asian man wrapped in deep vines. They cling to him as he’s straddled above like a web. Earthly green wraps around his legs and arms. He couldn’t move, but he wasn’t awake either.
“That’s—” He gasped.
“JOTARO!”
He steps back, making sure to look behind him every so often. This is where the large cat beast brought Jotaro? Is this is where she’s keeping him? He looks around again and smells the air.
“Damn, kitties got all the bases covered!” He thought.
Iggy hardly liked the sight, Jotaro wasn’t in good condition at all. It seemed like that cat was smart enough to hit him in a spot to leave him unconscious for several hours as a more conservative estimate. With his luck, that boy could be in a coma for several days.
Just what he needed.
“Oh no, Jotaro!” He thought.
He has the urge to shout back at him, but keeps his mouth shut. He turns towards the jungle above him and back towards Jotaro.
“Man, talk about bad luck. Yet…”
He crawls back, “I can’t risk myself getting hurt.” He stops for a moment, turning back to Jotaro again. It was a pattern, he continuously flipped back and forth from Jotaro to the jungle behind him. Back and forth, back and forth, as more rage was building within him.
He snaps, turning back to the large man in rage.
“You know what?” He asked.
“This is your fault, Jotaro!” He says, turning to the unconscious boy in a tense rage.
“Had I never gone with you into that shady back alley there, I wouldn’t be in this mess right now!” He screams, crawling forward and looks at him more carefully.
“You’re always actin’ like this tough little punk boy all your life!”
He stomps down on the dirt below with his good paw.
“I hear how you be treatin’ your mother! As far as that goes, I’m not happy with you!” He grunts, looking back up to him again.
“You disrespect your friends, your family, me!” He harks on.
“How do we expect to do anything for you, huh?” He asked.
“You know Jotaro,” He laughed.
“You like to think you’re the big bad alpha here, but in my opinion! You’re a fraud! There I said it, You’re a fraud! Everything about you is fraud! From your punk ego to your clothes, all of it!”
He spins in an anxious circle, almost debating his current life choices.
“You’re nothing but a fraud!”
He shakes his head, turning down to the ground for just a moment.
“Heh, talking to a human whose near the end of his rope. Talk about my life!” He kicks a rock and continues his little ramble to Jotaro.
“But I’m right!”
“You bark around orders, yet you sit there like a wimp! You haven’t done anything at all for me! What do you plan to do for me then, huh? Huh?”
He gets closer.
“You know Jotaro, one of these days, a big bad alpha is going to come up to you and you’re going to learn how to be a better man! In my opinion, it’s going to hurt before you do that.” He huffs, jumps to the ground and spins in a circle.
“How about instead of lying around all day with that stupid look on your face, and actually HELP US!” He shouts, his voice echoing through the forest.
“HELP US AND STOP BEING A LAZY—” His voice catches for a moment.
“Dog…”
Suddenly, he was aware of a loud silence in the forest. No birds chirped, no things howled, snarled, or barked in the trees. The trees stayed motionless, and the earth under his feet was quiet. There was no noise, only him.
His mind panic, fulling realizing the error of his ways. There was no going back now.
He covers his snout as he slowly backing away from the entangled boy in the vines.
“I-I’m sorry!” He pleads, backing further.
“I’m sorry!” He says again.
“I-I didn’t mean it!” He cries.
“I-It-it-it wasn’t like that. I didn’t mean it!”
His footsteps back further, as his trembling body becomes even more agitated.
“L-Look I was just a bit angry, you’ll understand that, right? Jotaro?”
Yet, Jotaro wouldn’t come answer his call. As suddenly, and without warning, his body vanishes, leaving nothing behind by dense trees and an intense green thicket of brush and leaves. He gasps, trembling as he backs away quickly.
“Wh-what?” He gasps, backing away suddenly.
“No! No! No!” He thought.
“This can’t be!”
He looks around quickly, trying to find any sight of him in the forest. He was gone, he was all but gone now without even the smallest hint of his smell or presence. It was like he totally disappeared.
“Oh, no! No! What happened?” He asked himself, crawling through the shrub and towards the dark trees behind him.
“Where’d he go?”
He looks around, nearly wanting to scream out his name, but he knew it would be futile to even say it aloud. He just wanted to find him again.
“L-Look I’m sorry Jotaro!” He pleads.
“I-I-I didn’t mean what I said! You’re a good boy! You’re good! You’re just trying to save your sister. That may not have nothing to do with me but…”
He shrugs.
“If you die, who’s going to look after her?” He asked himself. He lays on the ground, almost seemingly meditating. There was a time when Iggy was in a sprawling family with multiple siblings of pups. There were four of him in his litter.
Yet, the world is not kind to street dogs. He remembered how one by one, each and every one of his litters was cruelly killed. The oldest, a smart dog, had to chase after some food for the family and got smashed in by an oncoming police car.
The next one, the second oldest, had been swooped up and taken away without a prompt warning. He didn’t ever know if he got a good family or not. He sometimes imagined he found a nice little girl to swoop him up and carry him in her arms. He imagined him being a good house pet. Yet, he wasn’t ever sure as he never saw him again.
The car came for him and went, and by the looks of the thing, it didn’t seem friendly.
Then, there was the second to last, a girl dog. She was a good dog, Billie. Billie was nice, always brought him treats and taught him how to forage for snacks in the dumpsters. Then, in a strange accident, a stray bullet from a random gang encounter left her injured.
Then, like the others… she died.
He was the most fond of her out of all the pups. Yet, time and time again, they all seemed to have vanished in the blink of an eye.
Iggy was the only the one left, Iggy the runt. He made a promise to her, to prove to her that he would get stronger each and every day, to get better.
He got bought out by a rich man simply for the fact of his breed. All of this happened, when he was a puppy. As a puppy, under the care of humans, he already went through too much for one dog in his lifetime. For rich humans, they hardly cared for dogs like them, unless they become a specific breed. Stupid humans poked him, prodded him, and fashioned him into a rich man’s house pet. Yet, a guy like Iggy wasn’t going to be anybody’s underling.
Unfathomable and strange, they were swept up. Then, like the others, he too was swept up in something almost unknowable and unconscionable. Unfathomable, and unconceivable, he was swept up into something much more than he could have ever known.
He hardly had the chance to say goodbye to them.
Iggy was alone.
He turns back to the jungle, what would it be for Jotaro? To die, and leave the youngest pup alone in the world, starving, sick, not knowing when the elder came back.
Must be a nightmare.
“You know what, fine.” He thought.
“I’m going to get you back, Jotaro.”
His eyes narrowed, “And I’m not going to leave you alone.”
He turns back to the jungle.
“I’m going to find that cat! I’m going to stop her, and then you’ll be freed! Not before you give me all the coffee gum in the world because God damnit I deserve it!”
Drip, drip, drip.
His eyes light up, confused and almost curious.
“What the hell was that?” He asked himself.
Drip, drip, drip.
“Wait, that’s—”
One drop of blood falls from the sky. It lands right in front of him. A few more centimeters, and then it would have dropped on his head. Drop, drop, drop, and another one does.
“Huh?”
He swipes his head with his paw, and widens it when his paw fills with hard iron stench. Human blood, on his paw.
“This is—” He stammers.
“Jotaro’s.” He looks up, and around, and under.
“Yet, he’s no where in sight! Wait a minute, that cat’s ability. It makes things invisible. So the fact of the matter is, Jotaro could really be hiding anywhere! Yet, where could he be? It’s not like you can just hide a nearly two-hundred pound man in the forest, even if he’s invisible!”
A loud thump makes him jump. Not too far, there’s a large indent in the dirt. Something in the dirt drags along, scraping the bottom of the grass and pushes along into the darkness. Iggy steps back and shakes his head.
“I know what it’s doing now,” He thought.
“That little bitch!” He thought angrily.
“That little bitch simply wants to make a fool out of me!”
He gnarls and grinds his teeth and anger.
“That stupid cat, she wants to lure me in! She’s using Jotaro as a lure, you cursed girl!” He thought, balling his paws with rage.
“Nothing could make me angrier than using me around like that!”
He turns to the sky.
“Just who does the kitty think she is?” He asked.
“Either way, she’s going to be mince meat if she annoys me further with her antics!”
He shrugs, almost struggling against the urge to laugh. Fine, if this is how the kitty is going to play, then he’ll play too. That doesn’t mean he isn’t going to show her a thing or two in the tricks department. He laughed, that’s right, he’ll show her good. He turns back towards the jungle and follows the trail closely.
“Here, Kitty, Kitty,” He thought.
---
Jotaro’s body lands on a large tree branch. Deep claws scale up the tree and perch on a branch beside the boy. His breathe is deep as his slumber continues.
“So, this is the boy that my master warned me of?” The jaguar giggled to herself.
“How utterly pathetic,” She sneered, looking down at the boy with anger and disappointment.
“Thought he would put up a better fight against me,” She thought.
“Now he’s just a hopeless damsel waiting on a mere dog to save his skin,” She chuckled turning to the deep jungle with glee. The dog’s scent was getting closer, he was hot on her trail, just as the kitty predicted. Will not be long until she sinks her teeth into his flesh once again.
“However…” She thought, leaping from the tree and scaling down the bark towards the road.
Through the dense thicket she travels.
Through the forest, there was a large road. She smiles, raising one paw as she drags it towards a large metal sign. A long sharp claw protrudes and carves its nail deep into the steel. Then, where the claw dug, came out a large gaping hole.
It grew, until half of the sign vanished into thin air. The seemingly strange void sucking in the sign seemed to spread like a virus before nearly taking it up completely. It vanished, like it wasn’t even there. She scales down the tree and towards a nearby building. She looked at the large red brick and steel with disappointment and discontent.
“Disgusting, ungrateful, humans,” She thought as she shook her head.
“They take and take from the jungle but never give so they can build their large brick homes. They build and build until there are no trees left.”
She treads alongside the building and places her paw on the red brick. It was grimy and covered in some green. Mother nature was starting to take back what humanity stole. It was such a shame that it was now her responsibility to look after it.
“And will leave when the jungle no longer serves its purpose, abandoning their homes.”
She watches as light peers through gaping holes where the paw touched, nearly consuming the brick and mortar entirely.
“But not anymore.” She cackled.
---
“I’m hot on her tail, I can feel it,” Iggy thought as he raced down winding paths of the jungle. He stops once to take in his surroundings.
“I can feel her,” He thought.
“She’s—” He turns his head upward.
“Hiding above me!”
He turns his head up, looking at something in empty branches hanging above him. Something peers at him through the darkness, and he scurries away for a moment. As he runs, he can feel it getting closer and closer.
“Heh, I understand now,” He thought.
“She relies on ambush and distraction tactics to lure her victims,” He thought, running faster as he speeds away from the giant cat.
“Not to worry, I got a few tricks up my sleeve.”
Yet, something gaining up on him from the horizon makes him pause. He turns slightly to see something in the mist creeping ever closer.
“Wait,” He thought.
“What the hell is that?”
A large semi truck begins to blast its way through, horns blaring and obnoxious lights nearly cover his vision entirely.
“Wait, a truck?” He thought, running for a moment.
“Shit, I better get out of the way!” He thought, racing around it as blares down the jungle. He pauses suddenly turning back as he sees it cross the peripheral of his vision. Something was wrong here, he could feel it.
“What’s a truck doing in the middle of a jungle?” He thought.
“And why is it getting faster?” He asked himself, turning back for a moment.
His eyes grow with terror as he could see the path where it was heading. It was heading forward, but there was something in the trees. A human form, a large human silhouette hiding in the midst with the dense thicket of jungle and shrubbery.
“Wh-what?”
---
Felicio speeds down the highway, with no signs in sight and no policia on his rear he can take the next few hours easily. He always enjoyed backroads such as this that carved through the jungle, it was a rejuvenating experience. It reminded him of who he was. He was at the top of the food chain, no man, city ordinance, federal law, or land protection act is going to stop him from getting a view.
This was his land, and he was the top. It was everything else that needed to know their place. Should anyone have a problem, well… He giggles, patting a long double barrel twelve inch in his passenger’s side.
This was his turf, and no one was going to carve a way through his turf. This was his land, and he owned it. To hell what everyone said, this was going to be his day. He gasps, his head rocking back and forth and some large bumps on the road.
“Damn, why does it have to be so lopsided?” He asked.
“Gehh,” He shook his head.
“Whatever, I’ll just take a u-turn if this is a dead-end and go around,” He thought.
As he marches forward, he sees something in the trees.
A large silhouette appears, dangling from the vines above him. He raises a brow, seeing the larg form in a tight leather jacket seemingly entwined with the branches.
“What the hell?” He asked, putting a hand over his eyes and shielding them from the sun.
“The hell is that, a guy?” He thought.
“That guy seems to be right above me,” Then, something happens.
The wheels right under his car seemingly shut off. Without warning, he finds himself spinning across the road. He panics, trying to get a good grip on the wheel as the truck begins to spin wildly out of control. Felicio panics, trying everything he can to stop himself.
He slams on the brakes and tries to back off the accelerator.
Nothing in his power could make it stop.
Then the worst thing he feared comes to pass, something snaps under him and his car goes flying. It rolls around like a ball as it gets dangerously closer towards some trees.
---
Iggy gasps, unable to believe his eyes as he sees the car spin out of control and begin to flip over. As Iggy walks across the dirt under him morphs.
“Wh-what’s happening?”
Something rather white and shiny appears under him, and suddenly he finds his paws touching concrete. He raises his front slightly and looks to the ground. He knew he had to have been touching concrete sometime when he was marching along this path.
“Wh-what?”
He turns back, looking around. Around the corner he sees something. Something large appear over him and casting a shadow, he turns back to look at it carefully. His eyes grow wide with the sign. It was a warning, a warning to drivers.
“WARNING: PROTECTED ROADS UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE NATURAL COMMISSION OF NATURAL PROTECTED AREAS (CONANP). SPEED LIMIT: MAINTAIN UNDER 30 KM/H.”
“Woah, wait.” Iggy thought as he stepped back.
“Road ordinance sign?” He asked himself.
“Where was that?”
“Why wasn’t it—” He gasps, turning back to the road.
“W-wait a minute, that sign wasn’t there before? Knowing my luck, that kitty was likely the culprit for the spinning truck. So why did she cover up that sign—” His eyes light up.
“W-wait a minute…”
He thought, looking back to the cat.
“What’s that cat doing now?” He asked himself.
As he sees the car spin, it get seems closer and closer to Jotaro. As he watches it get closer, he starts to notice something off. Despite all the vines and branches, there is something else keeping him upright. No vine or branch can make him appear so stiff on his back.
“Wait a minute, if the kitty can transform a back-alley and hide bodies and roads, what would that mean for an entire building?”
His eyes light up.
“N-no wait! I got it now!” He thought.
“She turned a whole building invisible and stashed Jotaro there!” He gulps, watching the truck topple along the path towards him.”
“If she get’s her way… he’s a goner!” He thought.
“That is what she was using Jotaro for, and it wasn’t just lure!”
He stomps on the ground and chases after the truck.
“I-I got to stop that truck!” He thought.
“If that truck hits that building, he’ll get hit! I know those damn vines won’t do anything to keep him upright! SHIT! SHIT!” He thought, racing forward.
---
As he runs, a long quadruped creature with long arms and a heavily armored body races with him. It’s body large but agile races forward, it notices something. The driver. As it flopped around, the driver caught the brunt of the force.
At that speed, the driver was likely dead for sure. Yet, there was keeping the truck in this long role. What could it be? He keeps looking, peering through the side of the smashed passenger-side window for a clue. Some large stick was jammed into the accelerator.
While not likely needed anymore in this circumstance, it was likely keeping the car in acceleration as it barreled along.
“W-what is that?”
The more he stared at it, the more he realized it wasn’t a stick.
“GUN?” He thought.
“Uggh, not too much for a worry, don’t think that thing could harm Jotaro or me, I do think it’s a good idea to not let this dumb bastard thing get too far.”
He chuckled, “Lucky for me, I know just how to do it.”
Sand morphs around him, and hovers above the truck. A might large from the paw sweeps forward, blocking the path of the truck. It cracks, creating a loud bang as it collides with The Fool, this act managed to turn it upright.
However, it’s path was still focused on one direction: Forward. It continues barreling forward as it finds itself struggling against the weight of the large semi in its paws.
“W-what’s going on?” Iggy thought.
“That should have done it? What’s holding up my Fool?” He asked, running farther as he had been before.
Something was off, and he knew it.
The Fool struggles, digging its claws into the dirt as it treads along the path towards the building. Yet, the acceleration was too much and not slowing it down in time for the truck to move. This was life or death, and the truck was hardly stopping.
“IT’s NOT STOPPING! IT’S NOT STOPPING!” Iggy thought.
He leaps on-top of The Fool, seemingly spectating it as if it were a rodeo. There was nothing to do now, the car wouldn’t stop.
Not even with what he tried to do make it stop. He tried pushing the gun out of the way, but that only stopped the truck’s acceleration for just a moment. He tried to place the Fool right in front of the car, but again, it wasn’t stopping.
“COME ON! TRY SOMETHING!” He thought.
“What do I do? What do I do?”
His eyes widen as The Fool turns back, realizing just how close it was to Jotaro.
“AHHHHHH!!” He screams.
The Jaguar smiles, watching her work from above. Soon, she expects to find the mangled corpses of Jotaro and the dog below. She leaps down and treads through the chaos.
---
BANG. A large collision shatters the windshield and creates an explosion as it collides against an invisible force. The force cracks, revealing floating pieces of red. They connect, drawing lines towards each other and Iggy suddenly finds himself looking in front of a large building.
Luckily, as the Fool is nothing but sand, it slithers through the car and comes back towards him. He coughs, looking back through the dense fog and debris as he rests for a moment in the soft coarseness of the sand below him.
However, he hardly was concerned about himself. What concerned him more was Jotaro. He peers his head around through the chaos, looking for the large punk boy in all the wreckage and carnage unfolding around him.
“Where’s that boy?” He asked himself.
“He couldn’t have just upped and vanished like that.”
He keeps pushing, rising upright and onto his feet and crawls forward.
“Did the Fool save him in time?”
As the last of the smoke settled, something appears in the far distance. A large body lied in a large gathering of sand. Blood caked its face as it rained down its long jacket coat and leather shoes.
“YES!!” He thought, racing forward.
“Luckily, since I couldn’t stop the car, I could save Jotaro with a large pile of sand. So most of the impact was on the sand!” He thought, pushing himself more.
He stumbles to the ground.
“I did it, he made it in time,” He thought.
He pants heavily, marching towards the body with triumph and glee in his eyes. He’s finally done it! He’s finally found Jotaro! Yet, there was something wrong with Jotaro. Something about his form rippled and deformed in the wrong ways.
Suddenly, large eyes appear before him and he stops.
“Wh-what?” He asked.
The Jaguar appears before him, and nearly swats at his face. He can only dodge for a moment as he’s flung across the patch of grass into a tree. He slams his back against it, and moans hard. This jaguar’s raw strength was nothing to bat.
One swat with its paw, and he was already left bruise. He struggles to rise to his feet as the Jaguar inches near him.
“N-no!” He gasped as the jaguar begins to loom over him.
“Haha,” The jaguar laughed.
“Think it would be that easy, huh?” She asked him. As Iggy tried to regain his balance, he summoned some sand forward to protect him. Digital Silence sees the trail leading behind her, as it trails off, she could see it creep forward.
She slaps him again, sending him flying further. He hits the ground and stumbles for a few times. He grunts and moans, trying to gather his senses as he wobbles back and forth.
“DAMN THIS STUPID CAT!” He thought.
“NOTHING I CAN DO CAN STOP IT!” He growled, trying to push himself to his feet. As she saw the dog rise, an insulted look stretched across her face. She slaps him again, and he slaps against the dirt, scraping his already bruised body several more times before coming to a complete stop.
“IDIOT!!!” The jaguar growls.
“NO ONE CAN SURVIVE AGAINST ME AND LIVE TO TELL THE TALE!”
There was no use fighting anymore. His stand was no where near him, and he hardly had any energy left to fight himself. All he can do now was race forward and give Jotaro a bit of time to wake up and find him again.
“No one can survive me, no one can get past me. You should have known this dog from the first time that damned fool Jotaro stepped a foot into my domain!”
Yet as he ran, he can see the shadow creeping ever closer.
“You’ve run out of options, and your chances have been dried up! You should have run the very moment I took your precious Jotaro away, now…”
“Hah! It’s no use!” He panted, wincing as he sees the shadow growing ever larger above him.
“N-no!” He thought, stepping back for a moment as he sees something grow in his vision.
“Th-this is it! I’m done for! I’m sorry Jotaro! I let you down! I let your mom down, I let everyone down!” He gasps, turning back to path where Jotaro lay.
“If you ever wake up, please know that I’m sorry!”
He winces, expecting the worst as the large paw raises above his head.
“PERISH DOG!!!”
---
Miss Polnareff never felt right when she left the group. She could always tell that there was just… off about the environment around her. All she thought she was doing was leaving Guadalajara, and yet… due to some poor money decisions and her rather lacking navigational skills she’s found herself only deeper in the forest.
She lamented times like these, all of her stubbornness and fierceness has only lead her to a more horrifying demise. If she couldn’t be killed off by a terminator, it would have the satisfaction of her own idiocy gutting her in the end.
She was never good at maps, that was something Jean Pierre did. Big brother Polnareff loved traveling, loved exploring.
He always promised to take her on a trip once she graduated Lycée. Once she passed her baccalaureate with stunning remarks, they would embark on a journey across the world… together. Then, they’ll settle back in their home town so they could move their things and live in the upper echelons of Paris, where they will live happily ever after.
He said to never worry about maps, because he will do the guiding. In fact, he would have taught her how to do it.
Yet… that day never came, and she was left alone.
“What sort of fool am I?” She thought.
“I am nothing but a foolish idiot,” She thought tearfully.
“All I wanted was to avenge my brother and stop this terminator, but my stupid ego has lead me to my own undoing,” She thought.
“What a fool am I, huh Jean?” She asked.
She was going to lean against a rock. Sit there, and think until death came for her. Which to her own realization, would take quite some time. She wasn’t depleted of all her essential items… yet. However, to say she was going to have a long while to get it back wouldn’t also be accurate either.
“Big brother…” She thought.
Just as her neck kisses stone, she hears something behind her. A loud thump makes her jump and she quickly rises to her feet. It sounded like a whimper.
“W-what was that?”
She ran, speeding through the dense jungle thicket towards something in the distance. She sees something like a rock being flung through the air. As it flies, she sees something with bright eyes stare down at it. As it pushes through the thicket, she could see it with more clarity. She gasps, never in her life had she seen such a large creature.
It’s eyes were gleeful, nearly determined to swat the object again as it treaded down the heavily stony and densely packed area of trees. The large thing swats it again, and as it flies, she can see it with more clarity. It seemed small, soft, with a black-and-white coat. From its apparent shape and head size, she could tell it was a dog.
There was something familiar about that dog.
“That dog, it looks familiar to me,” She thought, stomping closer.
“No, that isn’t just any dog.”
As the Jaguar hunches over, pushing it to a corner, it raises its paw.
“N-no, that’s…”
Her mind panics, rushing forward towards the thing.
“IGGY!” Her mind screamed.
---
“PERISH!!”
CHINK— CHINK— CHINK— CHA— CHINK
Something fast and sharp zooms past Iggy’s vision.
“W-what was that?”
The jaguar grunts, hunched over as it feels something sharp poke at its face. It tried to aim for her eyes, but luckily she shielded herself in time for it to recover. Iggy’s face contorts to a confused and bewildered expression.
“H-Huh?” He thought, looking over to whatever made the noise.
As he crouches down, terrified and alone, he sees a large slim silhouette form above him. As he turns, he recognizes the short hair.
“W-wait, that’s— POLNAREFF?”
She sighs, looking down at him as she shakes her head.
“I should have never abandoned you,” She said, turning back to the Jaguar.
“Alright beast,” She threatens, raising her sword and daring the beast to come closer with a motion from High Charity’s hands.
“Come forth,” She says, daring the creature.
The beast only chuckles, dancing away from her vision and disappearing behind some bushes.
“Huh?” She asked, raising her head, looking around for the creature.
“Wh-what was that?”
A sudden slice across her chest pushes her back, she collides with the back of a tree and falls right next to Iggy. Iggy’s eyes sparkled with hope, only to be burned out in an instant when he saw the human flying through the air.
All that hoped, all that promise for him to be saved, gone in an instant. In that moment, he simply wished the kitty’s claws got to him first. At least then it wouldn’t have been such a burden to endure than it already was.
“N-no!” Iggy thought.
“Are you kidding me?”
The jaguar does a backflip in the air before landing on its feet. It turns over and glares at the two giddily. Almost like it was waiting for this moment.
“YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! NOW I’M REALLY GOING TO DIE!”
Digital silence chuckles, preparing for her last attack. Just as she steps forward, a sudden impact hits her across her face, and sends her flying into the air. She gasps, choking out and spitting blood into the air and all over the dog’s face.
“ORA!” A voice shouts.
Then, another hit, and she flies further into the air.
“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!”
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
Boom, she slams into the ground, splattering and puking nothing but bile, blood, mucus, and whatever else her body could muster. Her body struggles, just as she tries to lift herself up, the blood loss hits her and she faints.
In her state, there was no shot at waking up for a long while.
---
Jotaro snapped. His fists clenched as he raced towards the Jaguar’s feet. Star Platinum roars, rushing towards its head and wrapping it’s hand around her neck. Jotaro’s bloodshot eyes indicated only one thing to Miss Polnareff, and she recognized it all too well. Star Platinum presses down hard, nearly screaming as it grabs a hold of the Jaguar.
Jotaro had enough of being the victim of the stand user’s attacks. He was supposed to be strong, he was supposed to be there for his mother. Yet again, he is used as a pawn for someone else’s game, and he grows tired of it.
No more shall he be a pawn.
“RAUUUGH!”
“JOTARO!”
Steel hands wrap around Jotaro’s fingers. While she was not too fond of the Jaguar, she wouldn’t let Jotaro kill it. It was just an animal defending its master, it deserved dignity, not an ungraceful death. Jotaro struggled, hesitating for a just a moment.
“JOTARO DON’T!” Miss Polnareff pleads.
“Please…”
It suddenly hits Jotaro, what the hell was he doing? Mangling a poor cat? Had he lost his frickin’ mind? This was a cat! Not some enemy he had to deal with.
“I—” He stammers.
Jotaro lets go, his eyes filling with tears as Star Platinum slowly releases the cat.
He turns over, watching Miss Polnareff as she races over and scoops Iggy in her arms.
“Iggy?” He asked.
Miss Polnareff weeps for a moment, cradling him as he turned back to her. His eyes water, and for a moment they both simply stare at each other.
“I’m sorry,” She weeps, wiping away some of the blood from Iggy.
“Had I know this happened I—”
Jotaro says nothing, his face grows stern as he places a hand on her shoulder.
“No need, let’s just… get back to the others, okay?”
She smiles, wiping a tear from her eyes and nodding profusely.
“Okay.”
Then, Digital Silence, was left alone. When she would wake up, if she ever did, she would see no one there for her. Not even her master would be there for her when she needed it the most.
She would be gone.
---
“Jotaro, Jotaro!” Holly screams frantically, running wildly around in circles as she tries desperately to find where her beloved son ran off to.
“JOTARO!”
“Jotaro!” Kakyoin says, joining the search party as he treads along the grass, searching for the large man. He almost hopes he comes forward and pop out like nothing happened.
“Jotaro!” Hol Horse shouts, whistling out to him with no response.
“This can’t be good!” Holly cried with teary eyes.
“He’s been gone for too long!”
She steps forward, pushing through the grass as she runs into something. She stops, stepping back as she sees a feminine figure step out towards them. She moves away her light hair and smiles as she approaches them with a smile.
“Hey there, long time no see, am I right?” Miss Polnareff laughed.
“It’s—” Kakyoin gasped.
“MISS POLNAREFF!” The group gasped.
“I— I can’t believe it.” He looks down, noticing something cradled in her arms.
“That’s Iggy!” He shouts.
“Wait—” He notices something, there was something wrong about his paw. It seemed bandaged, almost like it was missing. Then, there was his wounds, he looked horribly scraped up. His mind almost chalked it to being an accident.
Then he realized, Iggy wasn’t the type of dog to get into one willingly.
“Iggy, did you—” He mouths, stepping back for a moment.
The answer was all too clear, he did.
“Miss Polnareff, did you—”
“No, she didn’t.” A male voice interrupted him.
“It was the enemy, Kakyoin. I thought you would know this by now.” A heavily scraped Jotaro stumbles out of the jungle. With no hat in sight, he rests by a tree.
“Jotaro!” Holly screamed.
“Wh-what happened?”
“What do you think,” He groans, shuffling through his pocket and fumbles for a cigarette. He holds it to his lips and lights it.
“We got attacked by the enemy,” He shrugged.
“Enemy?” She asked, looking around.
“Where’s the enemy?” Luis asked.
“Don’t worry,” He shrugs, pointing over to Iggy.
“Iggy’s got it covered.” He says, gesturing to the dog. As he says, Iggy raises his head, sniffing the air and drags his head over somewhere.
Holly shrugged, lowering her head in shame.
“We should have never left you alone,” She said regretfully as she sits on a rock.
“I don’t imagine that would be your fault,” Jotaro said, letting a puff of dark smoke leave his lips and entangle in the air.
“Not something you were really in control over,” He says, turning back to the long winding path of trees, vines, and green around him.
“Man, this place is large.” He notes.
As Iggy lifts his head up, he seems to notice something. He immediately becomes energetic and springs into action. He leaps out of Miss Polnareff’s arms and marches off towards somewhere.
“Hold on, Iggy!” She shouts, rushing forward.
Kakyoin’s hand blocks her path.
“Hold on!” Kakyoin protests, blocking her way.
“Are you just going to run off again?” He asked.
She turns back to him, her eyes become narrow and a more stiff and serious expression overcomes her face.
“No, in fact,” She huffs, looking towards him.
“I’m returning,” This caused an uproar in the group. They turned to look at each other in confusion. Was she really serious? Did she really mean it? Was she just going to run off again like she did before, or would she finally come back?
“You’re really serious?” He asked.
She shrugs, “Yes, I’m sure.”
She turns back to Iggy.
“Seeing the state he’s in, it was cowardly for me to leave.” She marches forward, following after the young dog’s trail.
“And for that, I’m sorry. I’m joining back up with you,” She said, turning towards his path and following him. She stops, looking back at the others in confusion.
“Hey, come on!” She says, gesturing towards the others.
“Aren’t you coming?” She asked.
With that, Holly felt something familiar with that call to action. The same tone of voice when she was trying to goad Holly along to beat Willwood the first time around. This time, though, she wasn’t hesitant to follow along with her.
“Alright, let’s see where Iggy’s taking us to.”
---
The path Iggy was winding down was long and very narrow. Multiple trees, shrouded their path, and the trek downward was very steep. One wrong step out here, and Holly would be slipping and falling for days. Bugs hummed in the air and screamed in their ears. One tries to land on Jotaro’s neck, but Jotaro swats it away.
“Go on, beat it,” He thought.
However, Holly could hardly care about the bugs. Bugs, pain, splinters, rodents, parasites, those didn’t scare her.
She was only afraid of one thing, and that was losing her daughter. As they got deeper into the jungle, she could tell where Iggy was taking them. She knew it deep down in her bones, she could feel the deep and menacing energy in the air.
It was small, and casually knocking at her conscious back in Japan, but the closer she came to Mexico, the closer she was to it. Now it was unbearable, this meant only one thing, the terminator was close. Her expression came stiff.
“W-wait,” Kakyoin said, turning to Holly.
“Seiko-san, where is Iggy taking us?” He asked.
“Wait, you don’t think he might be taking us to—” Before Kakyoin could even answer, Holly interrupted him.
“Oh yes, I do.” She said.
Iggy pushed himself through tall grass, and through the tall grass the group happened to stumble into something large and blocky in the distance. Hol Horse’s eyes light up and he begins to shake as he looks around the scenery. By every second, the environment was getting more and more familiar, but he could hardly say it aloud, he too feared the terminator.
“Oh, yeah, this is the place alright,” Hol Horse thought.
“We’re here.”
Luis stops, looking ahead as he stands before the large steps to examine the stone carefully. He turns back to Holly, confirming everything she needed to know.
“We’re here, the building structure is an exact match.”
“So, we’ve arrived,” Avdol said darkly as he examines it with his own eyes.
The crew finally stop. For a moment, they take in the dark and sinister form of the large stone pyramid. Like knights, they look like they’re prepared to charge in for battle. They know what awaits for them in there, and they know it won’t take long for them to be consumed by its dark force.
Miss Polnareff stands before it, almost marveling its ancient form.
“So, this is it.” Miss Polnareff sighs.
They stand side by side together and stare at the Pyramid with dark determination in their eyes. Finally, after all the tears and bloodshed they can finally find and stop the man who has been plaguing the Joestar family for generations. After pain, after heartache, after Pescadero, after the chaos. After everything, they’ve finally reached their destination.
For the many days they have travelled and spent on their trip towards Guadalajara, they’ve finally arrived. None of them ever stopped to think for a moment that they would actually arrive. Even in the darkest moments, Hol Horse hardly believed he would see it himself.
After everything he put himself through, all the hell and heartache, it’s finally over.
Finally, after years of heartache, lives lost, it all ends here…
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Hol Horse asked, marching along the path towards the long steps ahead of them.
“Can’t waste anymore time,” He said, turning up towards it.
“The sooner we get this over with,” He grumbles, “The sooner this can all be over.”
Holly reaches out a hand, and grips hard on his shoulder. Hol Horse turns violently and looks back at her with a slight bit of confusion.
“Huh?” He asked, looking back to her.
“Remember.” Holly said, gesturing towards the Pyramid.
“This isn’t over, it’s only over till that damn machine sings its death throes.”
She turns to look back at the group. There was something different about her now. While strong, determined, and unafraid before, she still is not dissuaded by the path ahead. Now she seems more determined, more fearless then she once was.
“Right,” Avdol nods, walking up beside her.
Jotaro keeps his head down but can’t keep the smile from growing under his face.
“Got it?” She asked.
“Loud and clear.” Jotaro replies.
“Good.” She nods.
As they walk, Jotaro reaches up to adjust his hat, but stops when he feels nothing over his head. He gasps, turning his head upright and looks back towards his mother.
“Say, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare hat, don’t you?” He asked, fumbling around in his pockets and looking back towards her.
“I—” He grumbles, looking down for a moment.
“Need another,” He sighs with defeat.
“Please.” He begs.
“Of course!” She sings, marching towards him with something under her shoulder.
“Like I said, I always come prepared!”
With that, Hol Horse bellows out a huge laugh from his gut. He can hardly contain himself as Holly moves towards him. He could hardly believe, still, after all this time. Jotaro was just a big mama’s boy who would do anything for his mama.
“HA!” He snorts, leaning back for a moment.
Jotaro balls his fist, turning towards Hol Horse with rage.
“Why you—” He mutters.
Yet, before he could do anything, Holly leans over and kisses his cheek. Then, with the flick of her hand, a nice comfortable hat lays on Jotaro’s head. She tussles it a bit before giving him another kiss on the cheek.
Jotaro grumbles, shaking his head with shame.
“Aw, Ma!” He growls.
This only made Hol Horse’s laughter much louder. It was almost a pleasant experience, made him nearly forget the kind of journey they’ve been on for the past month. Hol Horse winced for a moment. It’s been only a moment, but for him it felt like a year, maybe more.
“Aw, Ma!” Hol Horse mocks.
“Man, when this is all over, I’ll be sure to tell everyone the kind of Mama’s boy you are, Jotaro!” He says, laughing maniacally.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jotaro growls, treading up the steps carefully.
“Let’s just get this over with already,” He grumbles.
So, their final stretch of their journey began as they climbed the ancient stone towards the top. The pyramid was large, and the sun was unforgiving. Hol Horse could barely keep up, sweating and only able to come up with shallow breaths.
“Damn,” He mutters.
“Much more of a hassle than I remember,” He said, climbing them.
As they climb, Miss Polnareff could notice something approaching them in the distance. To them, it looked like a white ghost hovering towards them.
“Ha!” She gasps, outstretching her hand and pointing forward.
“Look there!” She notes, seeing the long white form approach them.
“Who is that?” She asked, seeing a figure almost gliding towards them.
“No way, I recognize him!” Hol Horse said, as he pointed forward.
“He’s coming fast!”
---
“Master,” The tall man said as he approached him.
“Master this is of the upmost precedence,” He says, urging him.
“Yes?” He asked his loyal servant.
“I am sorry to inform you of this, but we did everything in our power to keep them at bay… yet…” He says, almost hurt by what he is about to say.
“Well, go on,” His master urged.
“Spit it out, there’s no time to waste.”
“The Joestars, they’re here.” He said with a serious look in his eyes.
“They’re at your front door!” He says, while always calm there was a growing panic in his voice. As he goes to speak, the master waves his hand.
“Uh, uh, no need to worry,” He said.
“I’ll have it taken care of.”
“But master!” He protests.
“What should happen if they come after you?” He asked him.
“My loyal servant,” The master said as he shot up from his stone throne, closing the book in his hands. He smiles, almost calming the tall man.
“Remember what I said before? About us not having much time?”
“Yes, but I don’t understand how—”
“Our time is almost up,” He said.
“However, not to worry,” He reassures him again.
“This is our last moment together,” He said.
“I can feel it.”
“But no!” The tall man pleads.
“You don’t really mean that, right master?”
He nods slowly, confirming his worst fears.
“B-but—”
“No, don’t worry yourself. Remember what I told you?”
“I—”
“If anything were to happen to us,” He said firmly.
“You carry out the rest of my plan, as promised. Understood?” He asked, his eyes narrowing. The master knew his time was steadily approaching, but never once did he fear it. Perhaps he will beat the Joestars, or perhaps not. That is not what concerns him. His only concern now is the continuation of his plan through his loyal servant. That, above all else, must take precedence. He will not be afraid if he knows the puzzle pieces he has laid out will fall into place. There was no more time for fear, only determination. He will see who lives and who dies. That is his only concern, now it is his loyal servant's job to fulfill his promise.
He's trained him all his life for this very moment.
“Captain?”