• Published 31st Aug 2022
  • 422 Views, 147 Comments

SuShi's Bizarre Adventure: Twilit Curtain Call - Jojoleopard



Shiho Sunfast, granddaughter of Sunset Shimmer, along with a slew of unexpected allies, must stand together to face destructive activists from further ruining their world.

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Chapter 2: Jojos in Berlin

The city of Berlin glowed like a jewel under the sunny morning sky. People walked around the brightly lit streets and buildings, generally just enjoying themselves as best they could. Most people did not remember that the city had pretty much been destroyed some thirty years ago, and that was probably for the best. Berlin had been rebuilt from the ground up into a magnificent city and one of the main attractions of tourists who were planning on visiting Germany.

Every single building had to be rebuilt and unfortunately, that also meant the historical landmarks had been destroyed. One such tourist wearing a fishing hat and sunglasses had been here years ago, the year the city had been destroyed. He had come back here this day to honor the fallen, those who had given their lives defending a country from threats they could not see.

But Cajole Joyride could see them. He could see them all.

“Dad, wait up…” A younger male with light blue hair ran up behind him, holding a map. He had on a loose unbuttoned shirt over a plain tank top and his socks were pulled high up his legs, ending in the middle of his shins. “The map says we’re going the wrong way.” He pointed to a holographic map that was being projected by his phone.

“What, no, it has to be this way. The battle grounds were somewhere here.” Cajole scratched his head. Your mother and I, we defended the world right here in Berlin.”

“Well, it says they built the memorial on the east side of the city.”

“You’d think they’d build the memorial right on top of the actual place…” He ran a hand through his hair and changed his direction. “Right, come on then, Josher.”

Cajole Joyride had returned to Berlin after many years, to pay his respects to the fallen, to those that had been here when a devastating attack had destroyed the entire city. The fighting had been fierce, but in the end, they had triumphed over a great evil and it was all thanks to an old friend, Summer Shine. He wondered now how she was doing in Japan.

He had last heard from his wife, Prism Dash, that Summer was still working as a housewife and that her daughter was quite the little rebel. As for Cajole himself, he had gotten married to Summer’s best friend, Prism, oh so many years ago. He had finally taken up the courage to ask her out and it had taken three long years before Prism had agreed to go out with him. Thankfully, their courting process hadn’t been as long as his wait and they had gotten married in just one year after getting together.

Now twenty-one years down the road, they already had two grown children, Josher Joyride and Color Joyride, but Prism and Color had decided to stay back in Canterlot while he made this trip with Josher. She had said Berlin reminded her too much of what they had to go through in their bizarre adventure across Europe. Cajole didn’t blame her. After all, she had basically been burned to death and had it not been for Sunset Shimmer, Summer’s mother, then Prism might’ve not made it out unscathed. And besides, she worked as a coach for the Canterlot College Firebirds now, and they had to practice during the break to ensure they win the next season. Cajole found he could never pull her away from such things. In all aspects of sports, she was really just like her mother, Rainbow Dash. He wondered what she was doing at this moment. Probably watching a game of dish-quid. It was a reckless sport, with people flying around on personal drones shaped vaguely like mops to catch flying orbs. Just the sort of thing Rainbow Dash would have been into if it had been invented when she was still limber enough to play.

He thought about his own father, Jostle Joyride. Jostle was now retired, living his life at home as a grumpy old man who sat in front of the TV watching football, a classic sport from the old days. For an old man, he was still pretty limber and quick on his feet, likely from all the training he had with hamon, the energy of the sun keeping him from feeling the full effects of old age.

Cajole had attempted to teach his son, Josher, the ways of hamon as well, to pass it down to him like his father had done for him, but he had never really found joy in it and instead, opted to use some of its power for his many card tricks he so enjoyed.

As of now, the sun was still rising in the sky, bearing its heat down around them as they trekked through the city streets of Berlin, looking for anything that resembled the memorial.

“I’m beginning to think we should have just got a taxi there or something…” Cajole looked around for any directions. “Berlin sure is a lot bigger than I thought. Easy to get lost in.”

“Relax, dad. The memorial should be one more block down. We’re almost there.”

“Darn maps. Why’d they have to change the way they looked?” Cajole groaned into a hand. “What was wrong with maps on paper? Or even the ones flat on the phone screen. These hologram ones are a pain!”

Josher rolled his eyes. “You need to get with the times, dad. These holo-maps give you a much better idea of where you are than a paper map would.”

“Psshh, but it just leaves a whole lot of lines across the space…” Cajole drew a finger across one of the streets and the map’s screen got swiped to the side, throwing them way off course.

“Hey, dad, stop, you’re bad with all these!” Josher raised a hand and distanced himself as he used a thumb to search for their current position on the map. Cajole tried to get closer again, but from behind his fingers, Josher brought up a two of clubs card and shoved it in his father’s face. “Here, have a trick instead and ask me, ‘How did you do that?’”

Cajole took the card and flipped it around. “How did you do that? Hey, that’s good. It’s taken me years and I still can’t always do that. Your grandfather is the best at predicting what other people are going to say, though.”

“Yeah. Right.” Josher went back to map reading. “We should almost be there now.”

Following Josher’s map, the two Jojo’s walked down the roads of Berlin towards the memorial. Cajole looked up at all the lights and holographic displays and sighed.

“I don’t know about you, son, but all these fancy projectors kind of take the magic out of sightseeing. Anyone in any country can set up a hologram, but it’s covering up all the architecture.”

Josher rolled his eyes. “Alright, dad. But you have to admit it’s pretty eye-catching.”

Passing by a cafe, the pair discovered a wide open plaza with a tall, obelisk shaped monument in the middle. It had spotlights shining on it and there were some people standing around it, heads bowed. The monument was surrounded by a flower bed, and there was a pair of security guards standing on either side of the monolith.

“And we’re here,” Josher announced. “Good thing it’s not very crowded here. Everyone else must still be at work.”

“That just leaves us tourists.” Cajole pointed to a group of people standing to the left of the memorial, just under the shade of a convenience store, with one of them holding a megaphone to her mouth. “And more activists, I guess. You can’t get rid of them nowadays…”

“Take heed, the rich prey on the poor and weak and while they live in bliss behind their ivory gates and large mansions, there are people suffering from the increased hardships of this world!” she said, her voice full of passion and fervor. “This divide needs to end! The rich need to step down from their thrones and start sharing the resources of this world before it is too late!”

“They’re in every country now, huh?” Josher put his map away as he began shuffling a deck of cards with one hand. “They’re right about one thing, though. The world’s gone the way of a dreg heap.”

Cajole ran his hand through his hair. “It’s not always so simple, son. Just making the rich share their wealth won’t fix everything. It’ll take a lot more than that to make things good for everyone.”

“Well, we don’t give much. Maybe we should start. It’s not like we’re lacking in any way. I mean, we’ve got a mansion to our name.” Josher slipped a card behind his back, then made it reappear from inside his shirt.

Cajole shrugged and walked closer to the memorial. While he hadn’t personally known anyone in Berlin back when it had been destroyed, he still felt that he should honor those who had fallen during the Nugget People’s brief attack. He privately wondered whether Mhagmea, the leader of the Nugget People, was still floating out there, lost in space.

The elder Jojo stared at one particular name that was etched onto the obelisk. Gipsy Dance. The name of one of the brave souls who had teamed up with him and Summer Shine on their quest to stop the Nugget People twenty five years ago. The only one of the group to not make it out of the battle alive.

When they had first met, Gipsy had tried to kill them, thinking they were with a group of elitists called Weather Alternate, who had destroyed her hometown and killed everyone she loved. Since then, they had come to call Gipsy Dance a friend and she had given up her own life to save his wife, Prism.

Cajole Joyride felt eternally grateful to her for her act of kindness and he had decided to come all the way here not just to honor all that had perished in Berlin, but to pay his respects to her. He closed his eyes and silently conveyed his thanks to her. He wasn’t sure if Gipsy could hear him, wherever she was now, but he hoped with everything that he had that she knew just what she had done that day.

Josher’s card shuffling made him open his eyes again and he placed a hand on top of his son’s deck and shook his head. “Really? Now? Put that away, we’re honoring the dead.”

“What, come on, really? I’m not even doing anything. I’m paying attention,” Josher argued.

“It’s distracting.”

“Well, it’s not even that loud.”

“If you want to see another day on this planet, change needs to happen. Now!” the activist with the megaphone yelled.

Josher pointed to her. “See? That’s loud. This isn’t.”

“Shut up, lady!” A plump man with a bowler hat pushed through the crowd and stood before her. “We earned everything on our own strength. On our own hardship. Why should we share what we rightly earned with the likes of you? Nein, go back to where you came from!”

“That guy probably comes from old money,” Josher observed. “Also he’s dressed in a most uncool way. Only super rich people can afford not to give a crap about their clothes.”

“You mean he’s not wearing jackets covered in logos with light up strips?” Cajole snorted. “I’ve seen what you wear to school. How is that cool?”

“Everyone wears them these days,” Josher pointed out. “And besides, they help when you’re in the dark.”

They had missed the last few bouts of words between the man and the woman with the megaphone, but suddenly, the man lurched forward and planted a beefy fist into the woman’s face, knocking her to one side. There was a collective gasp from the crowd, though some of them started cheering the man on instead.

“Eat that, poor trash!” One woman pumped a fist up and down.

“Get out of our city!”

“We don’t need your kind here!”

“When did this world become so corrupt?” The megaphone woman did her best to plead with the crowd. “Humans are meant to band together in times of need! That’s what makes us different from animals!”

“The rich don’t deserve to live!” a new voice made itself known somewhere behind the crowd.

This line caught both Jojos’ attentions and they returned their gaze to the ruly crowd.

“What did you say to me, punk?” The fat man spun his large body around as parts of the crowd stepped back to watch this newcomer.

Behind the man was a skinnier man, his ears filled with piercings from top to bottom and a pink mohawk sat on top of an oval-sized head. He had on a yellow unbuttoned shirt that only went as far as his belly button and he had these sickly green shoes that look two sizes too big for him.

Without warning, the skinny man thrust his head forward, smashing it against his nose.

Mist! What is wrong with you?” The large man recoiled back, clutching at his injury as blood seeped through his fingers.

“We’ve lived too long in the slums of the world while you rich people get fat and slow.” He waved a finger in the man’s face. “How about a time for change, huh? Make equality great again!”

“The heck is going on over there?” Josher stopped shuffling his cards to have a look.

The two security guards by the memorial approached the commotion.

“Alright, break it up, everyone. Don’t make us involve the police.”

“No. No more. We’ve lived in the shadow of the rich for too long!” The scrawny man pushed the fat man back as he bent down on one knee and raised one arm around the back of his head. “You’ve never lifted a hand to help the likes of us. No. Your chances are over. Today, the rich die!”

As one of the security guards reached for a baton at his side, the wall behind the man blew apart, showering all of them with debris. One chunk of concrete smacked into one of the guards and he went down immediately.

The explosion caught Cajole’s attention. He and Josher quickly moved away behind a protruding wall to see what would happen next in relative safety. As the dust settled, they could see something large in the hole in the wall.

It looked like a truck, but as if it had been made by a mad scientist. The wheels were placed at odd angles, and the front of the vehicle was lifted to show off a huge and powerful looking engine. On its sides were two pairs of machine gun barrels and for some reason, the windshield made it look like the truck was frowning.

“The time has come!” The skinny man hopped up on a step of the truck and opened the door. “Die Die Riches is here to reclaim the world from the rich!”

“This looks to be the work of an enemy Stand.” Cajole sighed and dusted his knees. “And I thought we wouldn’t have to bother with more Stand users for a lifetime. Looks like this is a job for us Jojos, huh, kid?”

“Why do you say enemy?” Josher asked. “He hasn’t attacked us. Can’t we just leave it? Let the police handle it.”

“What do you think the police are going to do against something like that?” Cajole gave his son a slap on the back. “Only a Stand can harm a Stand. If we leave it to the police, they’re all going to die, plus many more innocent people. We can do something about it.”

The enemy Stand user hopped into the truck’s driver seat and spun the wheel. In response, the truck began to do a donut, while its machine guns fired at the fleeing crowd, who scattered. He then drove the truck over the courtyard and out onto the road, smashing apart a bus stop while he was at it. The truck Stand began to drive down the sidewalk, causing people to dive and roll out of the way.

“And there he goes,” Josher sighed. “We’ll never catch up to him while he’s in that monster of a truck.”

“Are you sure about that?” Cajole snapped his fingers and his Stand, Tenacious D appeared at his side, steam pouring from its nostrils as it pounded a fist into the ground. Tenacious D’s lower body had two large wheels and they already began spinning on the spot, gearing for action. “Come on, hop aboard Tenacious Express, son.”

Its internal engine coughed and sputtered, but it still managed to support both Jojos. It had been a long time since Cajole had to ride on top of his Stand, but once he was on again, it felt as though he had never stopped using his Stand. After all, it had two wheels, just like a bike, something you could never forget how to use.

Tenacious D took off after the truck, which was plowing through parked cars and tossing them aside like toys. Police sirens could be heard in the distance, but Cajole didn’t think that they would be much help against this guy. Tenacious D gained on the Stand truck, closing in on its rear.

The skinny man must’ve seen them coming from a mirror, because he tucked his head out of his Stand’s window, his face not hiding his surprise. “Looks like a couple of rich folk are coming to stop me!”

“How does he know we’re rich?” Josher asked his father. “Uh, hey, dude, just stop. Then we won’t have to stop you!”

“Ha! Stop me?” He shook his head. “We’ve been preparing too many years for this! I’m not stopping. The divide between rich and poor only continues to expand and every year after the economy falls further and further away, the poor are being left in the dust! Not anymore! With the rich dead, we have a chance to make living equal for everyone once more! You’ll never stop me, Bumper Rooster! Cacaw!”

He pulled himself back into the truck as exhaust pipes on its side suddenly tilted backwards, now facing the Jojos.

“Get behind Tenacious!” Cajole pulled his son’s head down as fire burst out from the pipes, blasting Tenacious D in the face as it raised both arms to expand its surface area.

Because of his Stand’s resistance to fire, Cajole and Josher were completely unaffected as he got his Stand to speed up, getting closer to the truck.

Bumper Rooster leaned out of the truck window, annoyed to see the Jojos still alive. He pointed at them and a short tube grew out of the back of the cabin.

“His name is seriously Rooster?” Josher laughed. “No wonder he looks like a chicken.”

“Take this!” Bumper Rooster crowed, and the tube fired a rocket at Tenacious D.

Cajole thought quickly and had his Stand use its arms to jump over the blast, but Josher was so shocked at the attack that his hands slipped and he fell backwards.

“Josher!” Cajole shouted in alarm.

But Josher never hit the ground. Instead he landed on something warm and hard and metallic. Something was digging into his leg.

“What the…” Josher said as he looked around.

Josher had landed on the hood of a Marecedes sports car that had been driving behind them. The car was colored a bright red and had slightly tinted windows. Josher could see two people inside the car, though he couldn’t make out their faces.

“Uh… hi. Nothing to see here, folks.” He rubbed his head and looked back at his father and his Stand. He wondered what they could see, since they were normal people. Normal people couldn’t see most Stands, would that mean his father would be floating on thin air?

Bumper Rooster fired more rockets at Tenacious D, but the agile Stand of Cajole was able to avoid them as they blew up the road.

Josher waved to the Marecedes driver. “Hey!” he shouted. “Can you go faster? I need to catch that truck!”

The driver of the sports car didn’t react, but the red vehicle accelerated suddenly, weaving around the rocket craters with surprising nimbleness. Josher also realized now that he couldn’t hear the Marecedes’ engine. Weren’t sports cars supposed to be really noisy?

Ach, I’ll do more than get you there.” A boy with blonde hair shaped like a plant leaned his head out the window.

“You look way too young to be driving.” Then he remembered the steering wheel was on the other side in Germany. “Wait, then who’s…”

Josher looked over to the other seat and now that he was inspecting it closer, he realized it wasn’t a human driving the car. A tan colored humanoid being decked out in a jumper stood on the driver’s seat, its hands holding the wheel. Somehow, even though its legs weren’t on the pedals below, it was still making the car go faster.

“Is that a Stand?” Josher blinked. He hadn’t expected to see another Stand user today.

Ja! The boy shouted over the wind. “Now we will go catch your truck! Then after we can go eat weinerschnitzel!”

The boy ducked back inside the Marecedes just as it pulled up alongside Tenacious D. Cajole looked to his side and gave his son a thumbs up.

Bumper Rooster’s face could be seen in the rearview mirror. He had seen the Marecedes and his face was a mask of anger and rage. All of a sudden, the truck swerved and made a sharp spin around, now facing them. It kicked into reverse and kept going, not missing a beat, but this time, it had its four machine guns facing the Jojos and the boy.

“Die, wealthy scum!” Bumper Rooster shouted, the guns on his truck firing at them. Tenacious D and the Stand in the car zig-zagged across the road, doing their best to avoid the bullets.

Verdammnt!” The boy said as his car weaved around the gunfire. “Hold on, mein freund!”

“Easier said than done!” Josher exclaimed, his hands holding on to the side mirror and his leg braced against the hood ornament.

Blue sparks arced out from the spaces between its hood before the car suddenly leapt into the air, sailing over Tenacious D and the truck’s bullets. Bumper Rooster’s mouth was opened in shock as it crashed down on the back of its cabin, just above its rear wheels.

“The car won’t last much longer, but while it stays together, I will use it to slow down our friend!” The boy pointed the finger of one hand up, then the finger of another hand down. “Blitzkrieg! Reverse and break!”

He got out of the car as it reversed off the back of the truck, and as soon as its rear wheels touched the road, it halted completely, dragging against the road as sparks began to fly. The truck shook and almost threw both Josher and the boy off, but they held on to the truck’s exhaust pipes tightly.

“What are you doing?” Bumper Rooster leaned out of his truck’s cabin to see what was happening. “Stop that!”

Josher was about to respond with a taunt, but then he looked past the truck and his eyes went wide.

“Kid! Turn off your car!”

Was?” The boy said.

“Trust me!” Josher shouted, grabbing the kid and climbing up on top of the truck’s cabin, jumping off onto Tenacious D.

As the boy deactivated his Stand, the Marecedes’ wheels stopped turning and Bumper Rooster’s truck roared to life, speeding up while the driver laughed at them.

Then he returned his attention to the road and screamed as his truck collided with a fuel tanker that had been driving across perpendicular to his road.

The resulting fireball sent heat waves across the streets of Berlin, shattering nearby windows and scorching the pavement. Tenacious D spun on a single wheel, then dug its fingers into the ground as it came to a stop. All three of its passengers got off its back as they looked on at the fiery mess in front of them.

To their surprise, Bumper Rooster walked out of the flames, his pink mohawk on fire, along with most of his body.

“Fools, this is not the end of Bumper Rooster and Motorhead!” He reached his arms out. “Die Die Riches will be victorious! We will wipe the rich from the face of this earth and you’ll be next!”

He ran for them, but Josher had enough of his crazy antics. He slid one foot to the side and shuffled his cards in an arc above his head, flicking them from one hand to the other.

“Down Under!” He crouched as his Stand appeared over him. It was a humanoid hulking beast, clad in metal armor, leaving only two glowing eyes visible under them. It stomped forward, then barreled both giant fists into Bumper Rooster’s body, one after the other.

"The rich... they always plunder..." The crazy man fell on his back, one eye twitching as the fire continued to burn his body.

“Well done, son.” Cajole slapped him on the arm. “And who’s our little friend here?”

The boy was looking at the remains of the Marecedes sports car in the fire. “Ach. I really liked that one too. Oh, well.” He turned to the Jojos. “My name is Joshi Horner, the son of Dolfy Horner! My father told me stories of how you and your friends saved the world from the Nugget People, and he named me after you. Is that not wunderbar?” He grinned.

“That crazy son of a witch. He did it. He actually did it…” Cajole swiped a hand through his blue hair. “Anyway, thanks for the help, uh, Joshi... I take it Weather Alternate knows what’s going on?”

Ja, for sure,” Joshi said. “They sent me to find you so we could explain the situation in Berlin to you.”

Josher scratched his chin. “How did you know we were in Berlin?”

“Weather Alternate knows a lot of things,” Joshi explained. “Even though we no longer fight to preserve the purest of bloodlines, we still have the resources of a secret organization. My father remembers the heroes who saved the world very fondly. Once Die Die Riches popped up, he immediately began searching for you and Sushi.”

Weather Alternate, once an evil organization that planned a worldwide genocide, was now a philanthropic organization, using their wealth and connections to build a better world. Berlin’s reconstruction had been their doing.

“Huh.” Josher paused, his mind calculating and processing everything he had just heard.

“Die Die Riches. That Rooster mentioned it.” Cajole looked at the burning body. “What is it?”

Joshi removed a piece of candy from his shorts pocket and unwrapped it. “Another activist group calling for equality, but a more extreme one. They use violence to get what they want and in the last week, we’ve found that they’ve been sending Stand masters out to achieve their goal. Today’s encounter was just another one of many to come. There have been attacks across the world, targeting the rich and wealthy.”

“Great. Another group of Stand users wanting to throw the world off course…” Cajole dropped to his knees and pummeled the ground. “Why? Why does this keep happening? My father had to deal with this, I had to do it, now I have to do it again! Augh!”

“Dad, dad. Relax. Stop it.” Josher grabbed him and tried to get him back up.

Ja, no use crying over spilled beer.” Joshi tilted one leg to the side and covered his face with a palm. “Joshi Horner is here to assist, as is my Stand, Blitzkrieg!”

His Stand appeared beside him, copying his pose, but with its opposite hand. It was as short as Joshi, but it had baggy shorts, making it look like it had much shorter legs.

“We will find where Die Die Riches is planning its next move and we will stop them before they ruin the rest of the world’s economy. Or what’s left of it…” Joshi said. “It’s hard enough to prevent the next economic collapse as it is without these fanatikers running about and putting their noses where they’re not wanted.”

“Just when I thought I was going to enjoy the break here…” Josher groaned. “These DDR guys are gonna pay for ruining my free time.”

“You can still enjoy your day,” Joshi shrugged. “Weather Alternate will help clean up the mess that this man caused.” He gestured to Bumper Rooster. “Another one for the crematorium, it seems. Go and have yourselves a drink. German lager is the best in the world, after all! I will come find you when we’re done here.”

“Meh. I think the Russians have you beat on this one.” Cajole got up and gave his arms a shake. “But I concur. I could use a drink. Come on, Josher. To the bar it is.”

“Yeah. I want to enjoy every second before we’re thrown back into the mix.” Josher followed behind his father. This was just what he needed during his break. An adventure of his own.

Author's Note:

Going with a slightly different route this time around. :trollestia:
You will find Down Under and Motorhead over at the Sushi Group!

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