Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 336

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: A summary of Volume VIII through X.
Word Count: 1697

Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

 

Volume VIII: Four Speedwagon Foundation employees, Galanis, Marchant, Vasquez, and Dunstan, are sent ahead to Mexico to scout the underground pyramid and learn more about Wesley’s plot to Ascend to a Pillar Man, but despite their experience and Dunstan’s Stand Stone Temple Pilot, which can travel through stone, fall prey to the Stand Writing’s on the Wall, which can manipulate reality via short phrases usually predicting a person’s death.

Diavolo dies again.

Johan and crew arrive and discuss the plan with each other and an astrally projecting Willow. They investigate a little to find Wesley has sacrificed many of his followers as part of the ritual.

Xander gets separated from the group, and they argue about whether or not to go after him or to continue to try to find Wesley before he completes the ritual. Fitz goes after Johan on his own and encounters the Stand Change Your Way, which can mimic people you know well. He manages to win, but disappears at the end of his fight.

Darling, Robin, and Captain Beefheart encounter Balam, a Xibalban Lord of the Underworld, who warns them that Wesley created a connection to Xibalba in order to slow them down and gives them a hint to navigate. It turns out Whisper has a connection to Kukulkan.

The only way forward is through Xibalba, so they continue. They find a talking crossroads that attempts to confuse them and give riddles as to the correct way to go. Once they leave, they find themselves filled with doubt and the feeling they’re being followed, but guess it’s mostly mind games.

They make it to the Lords of Death and navigate the treacherous situation, being respectful while also not falling for the verbal (and physical) traps. The Lords of Death introduce themselves, as Kukulkan shares what he knows about each. Captain Beefheart tries to make an offer so that they can go and deal with Wesley, given that he’s a common enemy and presumed to use the Lords of Death as a trap for his own ends, but while impressed they insist on tradition: the Captain and the others must go through the trials.

They manage to navigate Awilix’s House of the Night and its dark maze and survive Tohil’s House of Rattling and deadly attack. The Jaguar House would usually not be dangerous given that they have Balam’s blessing, but Zipacna and Cabrakan ambush them as a pack of jaguars attempts to save them. Exposure to an unfamiliar power in a lake makes them argue, however, allowing the party to escape. In the House of Bats, Camazotz and his bat swarm manage to wound Darling but they manage to escape this Lord, too. Buluc Chabtan goes for a more straightforward fight (with the addition of potentially deadly traps, of course) in his House of Razors, and manage to plan a counterattack, though Darling is wounded again and Robin has to use his hamon to heal her. They lastly encounter the House of Heat, during which Jacawitz attempts to kill them and is not very successful.

The last trial is a ball game with the Lords of Death, though the teams have some Lords of Death on both sides (to be “fair”). Lord Kisin also knows that Balam has been helping them and is not particularly happy about that fact. Those with a lesser showing are also ‘punished’ by serving as the referee or sitting on the sidelines. Lord Kisin’s dead dogs and jaguars also serve as the audience. The Captain is especially enthusiastic, while Darling simply tries to keep up.

A dog interrupts the match, warning them that they’ve run out of time just as the Lords of Death tie the match. Awilix and Buluc Chabtan are sent with them to help them exit Xibalba and to make Wesley pay.

Xander comes to himself on an altar, helpless, thanks to Wesley’s Stand, Writing’s on the Wall, and waiting to be sacrificed. And then, at last, the moment comes.

 

Volume IX: On the way to Mexico, Jotaro and Josuke discuss the anonymous tip-off about Wesley and come to the conclusion it’s probably a trap, maybe from the Water Guy.

Diavolo dies again.

While Jotaro and Josuke are having their talk, Josie confronts Giles about his actions thus far, as well as Willow’s, and he shares his findings, because this has been bothering him, too. He shares the prophecy from the beginning, with Xander sacrificed, the fact that he does care about Xander despite the fact that neither of them get along particularly well, and the information about the chalice thought to cause the previous distrust: there is no spell on it, but its fundamental nature has changed to cause suspicion. Josie then contemplates the warnings and notes that no one is as confident as they’re letting on.

Once they enter the pyramid, they, too, see the dead members of Wolfram & Hart and the Speedwagon Foundation team members. Jotaro finds Transmissions from a Lonely Room, the last recording of Dunstan’s experience, which harbors vital clues to the nature of the threat facing them, and a Xibalban god appears and offers to be their guide. Kakyoin and Shizuka sneak off. They take a different route, dealing with more traps, and they also find the remnants of the previous Lords of Death, trapped and rotting, unable to move, after the revenge of the Hero Twins. They also see more of Xibalba, the dead city.

They arrive just as Xander is sacrificed, which puts Josie into a state of shock. Buffy is furious. Jotaro notices that according to the stories something about Wesley as a Pillar Man went wrong, though he’s still extremely dangerous. Writing’s On the Wall does manage to target some of them, but Star Platinum’s timestop manages to save Josuke and Willow. Jotaro figures out that Writing’s On the Wall needs light to be able to target, and he turns out the lights to be able to destroy Wesley. Josephine gets the killing blow.

Kakyoin finds a half-drowned Johan, and they do their best to perform first aid. Josie, still a little in shock, is happy to learn Xander’s actually alive, and they bring Xander to the paramedic waiting outside, Geoffrey. Hamon, Crazy Diamond, and Wesley’s remaining blood from his bloodletting during the ritual are used to bring Xander back.

 

Volume X: Johan wakes up, but it’s not a relief: he can’t see at all, and they haven’t found Fitz. Jotaro attempts to be supportive, pointing out that they haven’t found a body, either, and that they’re going to go confront Wolfram & Hart.

Diavolo dies again.

Josie wants to prove herself from freezing up during the last fight and look after her son. Josuke promises to go in her place, but isn’t handling it much better, and the fact that he’s having to deal with the supernatural isn’t helping.

Wolfram & Hart, however, knew they were coming and had a contract ready for them to sign—neither side is allowed to use violence. Both Giorno and Giles inspect the contract and then everyone signs.

Josuke decides to wander off to try to learn some more, and ends up flirting with the coffee demon lady, Imogen.

The group is attempting to be the most obnoxious they can in order to get on the nerves of the Wolfram & Hart representatives. Their leader, an older woman named Acheron, who wants to thank them for dealing with Wesley, but are concerned about another threat, and unfortunately she is correct, because Josuke emails Jotaro and then calls him to warn him about a threat: he’s noticed the paramedic, Geoffrey, dressed as a maintenance worker, and chases after him.

Koichi can’t use his Stand, and neither can Josuke. Jotaro decides it’s probably the no-hostilities contract and sets fire to it, allowing use of their Stands. The deluge sprinklers go off and appear to be filled with holy water. Meanwhile, Josuke doesn’t manage to catch ‘Geoffrey’ and gives up, returning to Wolfram & Hart. At the same time, Jotaro thinks about their situation, noticing the drains appear to be stopped up, and decides (thanks to Kakyoin) to use fancy pens to try to open up the drains, only to find they’ve been stopped up with cement, at which point he begins to suspect their adversary has some scientific training. Josuke meets the security staff and manages to evacuate some people, including Imogen, but lights come on outside. Koichi silences the water, and Jotaro plans to break the windows to vent the water. Josuke gets a few volunteers to help in the lobby, since several of the employees are experiencing burns so those are UV lights. One of the volunteers can recharge his energy, and he sets about rescuing survivors using Crazy Diamond and his own first aid knowledge as a police officer. Jotaro correctly identifies them as scientific UV lights, which will harm everyone, not just vampires, and Buffy and Jotaro set about using the pens and water pressure to break the lights.

The aftermath is a problem, and some of the paperwork was destroyed, but Acheron suspects that ‘Geoffrey’ is a commonly used alias for their enemy. Darling, Dawn, Awilix, Giles, Willow, Buffy, and Beefheart perform a séance to bring back Courtney Love to ask her about a statue of hers discovered at Wolfram & Hart. Courtney messes with them for a bit, but eventually reveals that Sarde was working with ‘Geoffrey’, a non-human, and the marine researcher. She also suspected that they were planning on killing her, which is why she went on the offensive with London Calling.

Kakyoin asks Jotaro about what he learned about their enemy during the fight and about how he’s acting around Buffy, and Jotaro finally admits that she reminds him of memories he’s had before their worlds merged.

Johan hears about all of this as Josie emails the group, mopes around a bit, and listens to Giles’ findings about Sarde’s real estate holdings. They are then contacted by Father Styx, who is only protected by his magic, network, and moat from ‘Geoffrey’. He has traced their enemy down the centuries, though the most common name he is called is Rush.