Collab with Wass: Joestar Group (JoJo's Bizare Adventure) vs. Dead Men (Skulduggery Pleasant)

Joestar Group (represented by Me)[]

The Joestar group (name not official) is a group of Stand Users out to fight and stop the vampire DIO. Originally the group just exsited out of Joseph Joestar, Mohamed Avol, and Jotaro Kujo, but gained Jean Pierre Polnareff, Noriaki Kakyoin, and Iggy during their journy to Egypt.

Joseph Joestar

“

Next you're gonna say...

— Joseph Joestar when he's going to troll his enemies.

”

50 years after his final battle with Cars and the Piller Men, Joseph Joestar got word from his daughter Holly that his grandson Jotaro Kujo refused to leave prison, even tho he was allowed to leave, do to an "evil spirit". After getting Jotaro out of jail, Joseph revealed that Jotaro's "evil spirit" was actauly a Stand, a manifestation of ones fighting spirit. Joseph would act like a leader to the rest of the group during their journy to Egypt.

Powers and Abilities

Ripple: The Ripple (also known as Zendo or Hamon in the east) is based on using the energy of the sun's rays through breathing and empowering the body with "ripples" of solar energy. While it can be used to destroy vampires and zombies, it can also affect non-living things. An object, while charged with Ripple energy, will become more dangerous, and its user can perform several techniques that can combine with the warrior's own tactics, to allow for a very flexible fighting style. Ordinary humans can also be affected by Ripple attacks, giving them pins and needkes piercing their skin, similar in nature to symptoms experienced after prolonged exposure to the sun's rays. The biggest weakness to Ripple is improper or stopped breathing, as non-oxygenated blood can't create ripples, tho Joseph has bin trained to control his breathing. Joseph is able to use his Ripple in sevral techniques:
- Ripple Hair Attack: Joseph grabs a handfull of hairs and hardens them with Ripple before throwing the hairs infront of him, creating a bullet proof barrier.
- Overdrive: Sends a large puls of Ripple through an object.
- Rebuff Overdrive: Joseph charges his elbow with Ripple and delivers a powerfull strike.
- Zoom Punch: The attack involves a ripple breathing technique that dislocates and stretches the joints to extend the arm and give it greater reach while also using the same ripple to dull the pain caused by the move.
- Ripple Overdrive: Joseph channels the Ripple into his arm and does a powerful chop attack. This slowly transfers the ripple blast through the point hit, making it advance until blowing up. This attack is not capable of harming Joseph himself even if he directs it to himself, as the Ripple used is his own.
Hermit Purple: Hermit Purple manifests as multiple purple thorn-covered vines that spawn from Joseph's hands. Joseph can uses Hermit Purple to trap enemies or use it as a means of transporting himself between buildings, like a grappling hook or whip.
- Psychic Photography: Apart from combat purposes, this versatile Stand can perform remarkable feats. It can produce psychic photographs by destroying a camera or another object. The photo will reveal the intended target as it is in that moment of time to show were the person is located. It also can produce live psychic videos on a television that will show the intended person and allows communication as well. The Stand can make the TV quickly change channels in a way to create an audible message of what Joseph wants to know. Hermit Purple also allows its user to read minds, but only with the use of a TV. It can also conjure real-time maps capable of tracking moving targets.
- Ripple Transmission: Joseph has shown the ability to transmit the Ripple through Hermit Purple as an extension of his body. Wrapping himself in Hermit Purple in such a manner was able to prevent DIO from touching him.
Clever Tricks and Quik Wit: Joseph's favorite strategy is to psyche out his opponents. To do so, he notably predicts what his enemies will say next or more commonly provokes them to unnerve them and make them predictable in their rage. Joseph is proficient in analyzing the personalities of those he faces, and shamelessly exploit any character flaw in order to return whatever they will be doing next against them, most commonly their overconfidence. When he is cornered, Joseph can still rely on his particularly quick wits to come up with a viable solution in an instant. The most successful instance being Joseph using the Red Stone of Aja to amplify Ultimate Kars' Ripple Attack as to cause a volcanic eruption and send Kars into space. Joseph's tendency to use so many tricks stems from his particular mindset. He considers that in combat, every move is fair-play with the exception of involving civilians and being needlessly cruel. Thus he isn't bound by any code and doesn't hesitate to flee, or cheat if the ends justify the means, as seen against the D'Arby brothers.
Skilled Hand to Hand Combatant: Joseph has bin trained in hand-to-hand combat by Ripple master Lisa Lisa and was able to go toe to-toe with superhuman creaturs such as zombies, vampires, other Ripple users and even the Piller Men

Muhammed Avdol

“

Trying to predict the future in front of a fortune teller? Isn't that rather foolish?

— Muhammad Avdol.

”

Muhammed Avdol is a fortune teller by trade and a long time friend of Joseph Joestar. Initially he was brought in to help get Jotaro to leave the jail cell he had forcibly kept himself in and teach him about Stands he would later accompany Jotaro and Joseph on their quest to defeat DIO. Avdol acts as an advisor to the rest of the gang about Stands and their users and provides guidance on the various Stand users they encounter across their journey.

Powers and Abilities:

Magician's Red: Magician's Red takes the appearance of a humanoid with a bird-like head. Magician's Red allows Avdol to create and manipulate flames hot enough to melt metal within second. Avdol had Magician's Red since birth, and is very expirianced in using it.
- Crossfire Hurricane: Magician's Red can fire a few salvos of the Crossfire Hurricane, a spectacular signature move that sends forth ankhs of flame from its mouth in a great storm.
  - Crossfire Hurricane Variation: Enables Avdol to be able to manipulate the direction/trajectory of his flame ankhs.
  - Crossfire Hurricane Special: One variation of the Crossfire Hurricane, which splits the ankhs to cover a wider area.
- Red Bind: Magician's Red can use his flame to tie his opponent, like a rope. With this, Avdol is even capable of imprisoning his enemy's arms and legs to the wall, as well as his neck. By putting a flame too close to the opponent's face, it eventually burns the oxygen around him to the point of suffocating him.
- Life Detector: Magician's Red can produce a "heat radar", a cruciform mass of psychic flame which flicker in response to enemy presence, indicating the location of his heat source based on a compass rose.

Noriaki Kakyoin

“

My name is Noriaki Kakyoin! For the vengeance of my friend Avdol and so that the sister of my friend, Polnareff, may be at peace, you will pay with your life!

— Noriaki Kakyoin to J. Geil

”

Noriaki Kakyoin was on vacation with his family in Egypt when he first encountred DIO. DIO, having sensed Kakyoin's Stand powers, asked for a demonstration which led to them fighting. When Kakyoin lost, he was brainwashed into following DIO's will via buds from DIO's own cells and given the mission to kill Jotaro Kujo. During his attempt to kill Jotaro however, Kakyoin was defeated, and caputred by Jotaro. When Jotaro brought Kakyoin to Joseph and Avdol, they discovered the flesh bud and destroyed it, freeing Kakyoin. Now free of DIO's control Kakyoin joined the group and became a close friend of Jotaro and the others.

Powers and Abilities

Hierophant Green: Hierophant Green appears humanoid, but has robotic features and with yellow eyes, and has green-colored appendages textured similarly to that of a cantaloupe. The exterior features sport a cream-white or beige color.
- Coiled Body: As Hierophant Green is not a physical manifestation, but instead just a group of connected membranes, it is able to stretch itself to cover long distances. This means that, if attacked, it can simply uncoil itself to avoid damage, without hurting Kakyoin himself. The unfurled strips can be used not only to scout the layout, as anything the Stand "hears" transmits back to the user, but also can weave out a net that detects the enemy's movements.
  - Tentacles: Hierophant Green can extend tentacles from its feet as a mean of detection, able to sense minimum vibration as well as distinguishing decoys. It can also form a Bound Field for area effect, as large as 20m radius.
  - Marionette Control: Hierophant Green's most unusual ability, by extending its coils and sliding them into a person, Kakyoin is able to control that person. Hierophant Green is also capable of sliding into a normal person's body, allowing Kakyoin complete control of the person. This serves to protect Hierophant Green from attacks, as very few people are willing to attack an innocent person. Additionally, he can completely destroy the controlled being's air passage as he emerges, as well as the host's internal organs. Becease of the rather brutal nature of this power, Kakyoin only uses it as a las resort.
- Emerald Slpash: Hierophant Green's most powerful ability. It gathers energy into its body, causing it to glow bright green, before firing off a large amount of energy which takes the form of emeralds. The blast's range and shotgun-like dispersion, along with its incredible destructive power and high speed, make Hierophant Green an extremely capable combatant. Before the blast is fired, a green slime-like material covers Hierophant Green's hands, a byproduct of the large amount of energy the attack is giving off. Interestingly, it seems that though this blast is extremely powerful, it is extremely taxing on neither Kakyoin nor Hierophant Green.

Jotaro Kujo

“

Yare yare daze.

— Jotaro Kujo

”

After beating up 4 armed yakuza thugs thanks to what Jotaro thought to be an evil spirit, Jotaro turned himself in to the police and rufuse to leave his cell, even tho he was allowed to leave. His mother, Holy, soon called her father Joseph to work out the situation. After getting Jotaro out of his cell, Joseph explained that Jotaro's evil spirit was in reality a Stand, a manifestation of once's fighting spirit, and that it was activated by DIO, an old enemy of the Joestar bloodline. Deciding that DIO has to be stopped, Jotaro joined Joseph and Avdol on their journy to stop DIO once and for all.

Powers and Abilities

Star Platinum: Star Platinum takes the apearance of a man with black wavy hair and has the same build as Jotaro and has purple skin.
- Superhuman Strenght: Star Platinum possesses immense strength, being able to throw a Jeep carrying four men and a girl out of the path of an 18-wheeler with one hand, later pulling the same Jeep out of a canyon with only a car as a counter-weight, and destroy large artificial diamonds within seconds.
- Superhuman Speed: Star Platinum can catch a bullet fired at point-blank range, and throw thousands of powerful punches within seconds.
- Self-Preservation: Star Platinum possesses the awareness and reaction speed to protect Jotaro in many instances that he himself seems unaware; halting a bullet he experimentally shoots at his own head; protecting him while frozen by DIO's Time Stop; and reviving him from near-death by directly pumping his heart.
- Enhanced Eyesight: Star Platinum utilizes eagle-like eyesight throughout Stardust Crusaders. At some point, Jotaro, with Star Platinum's eyes, could see across a desert for four kilometers, as well as identify meaningful details, such as a specific type of fly in high-resolution images. It can also follow a card shuffle performed by a professional gambler, subsequently recounting the entire new order of the deck.
- Star Finger: Star Platinum can suddenly and forcefully extend his middle and index fingers to a length of one or two meters, allowing it to perform sneak attacks and stab opponents from afar.
Intelligence: Jotaro is remarkably calm under pressure, and aware of his environment and capabilities; combining to make him a very reliable fighter.
Thoughness: While most of the time Jotaro let's Star Platinum do all the work, he isn't afraid to get his own hand dirty. He is strong enough to knock a grown man off his feet with one punc, and can witsand alot of punishment.

Iggy

“

I guess I don't have the heart to abandon a kid who likes dogs!

— Iggy's inner monologue on why he saved a child from Pet Shop

”

A pure breed with a certificate, Iggy was originally bought by a rich man when he was a puppy. As he grew older, he began to believe humans as stupid and decided to leave home. He was eventually found by Muhammad Avdol in the street slums of New York acting as the king of the stray dogs. Only Avdol was able to come close to him, as ordinary dog catchers were attacked by his Stand. Iggy was eventualy brought to the group by the Speedwagon Foundation becease Joseph thought he would make a valuable assest in fighting DIO.

Powers and Abilities

The Fool: The Fool takes the appearance of dog-like creature, combined with something like a car chassis, with thick wheels for hind legs, and muscular, pawed front legs. Its head and face comprises an Aztec-like mask with eight or nine feathers sticking from its head.
- Sandbody: An unorthodox Stand, The Fool is truly the epitome of "the simplest way is the best way". Though mainly a pile of dirt or sand, The Fool is remarkably powerful. As the Fool is only bound to the sand it manipulates, it cannot be harmed in any way (attacking it would just mean attacking a pile of dirt), and as such, Iggy can not be harmed by attacking it.
  - Shape Shifting: A very basic power, The Fool is able to take the shape of anything it wants, from living people to just objects that are useful to Iggy. This ability also allows basic copying of the object's abilities - if it is in the shape of a glider, for example, it can glide for short distances. In addition to objects, Iggy can also cause The Fool to take the form of anyone it chooses. This skill momentarily fooled Vanilla Ice by taking the form of DIO.
- Superhuman Strenght: Despite The Fool's basic composition, it is still incredibly strong - at least stronger than Polnareff's Silver Chariot. It was able to slice Vanilla Ice's hand apart and smash him down a hall with enough force to shatter a wall and the majority of his bones, and later to lift Polnareff into the air even as The Fool was falling apart from Iggy dying.
- Superhuman Speed: The Fool is remarkably quick, possibly because of its composition, being able to move itself at speeds that most people cannot follow.
Dogs Senses: Being a dog, Iggy has a great sens of smell and hearing.
Human Intelligence: Juding from Iggy's inner monolouge during his fight with Pet Shop, Iggy has human itelligence, possibly due to being a Stand User.

Jean Pierre Polnareff

“

The "Chariot" symbolizes invasion and victory.

— Polnareff on the Tarot Card his Stand represents

”

Polnareff was born with his Stand, though does not realize it until some time later. His mother died when he was still young, leaving him a very lonely kid. This aggravated when, three years before events of Part 3, his sister was ambushed, raped, and murdered by J. Geil, sparking Polnareff's desire for revenge. Subsequently, Polnareff trains constantly with his Stand to avenge his sister and kill J. Geil. His Stand powers attracted DIO, who lured him with Jonathan's Stand and brainwashed him afterward. After his fight with Avdol, his DIO's flesh bud was removed and joined the group in their quest to fight DIO and get revange for his sister.

Powers and Abilities

Silver Chariot: looks like a thin, robotic humanoid clad in medieval armor, armed with a rapier. It has an extremely thin waist, consisting of little more than a cable about as wide as the Stand's head. Chariot's sword can be unequipped for tasks that require two hands.
- Rapier: Silver Chariot uses a rapier that can be used for slashing and thrusting. The blade is strong enough to cut through stone.
  - Shooting Sword: Silver Chariot's only ranged ability. This launches his sword with great force and precision, capable of reflecting off objects and striking with enough force to pierce a human body. The major drawback of doing this is that Silver Chariot can only materialize one sword, so Polnareff must retrieve the weapon before even being able to attack again.
- Superhuman Speed: Silver Chariot is an incredibly quick Stand, as it is able to appear in multiple places at once, due to moving at a speed faster than the human eye can comprehend. Attacking one image would be useless, as Silver Chariot would have moved long before the attack even reaches it (Silver Chariot can only achieve this speed when it is not wearing it's armor). Its speed is great enough that it is able to skewer coins and balls of fire in an alternating pattern, deflect bullets shot at point--blank range, and even match Star Platinum and its barrage of punches.
- Precision: Silver Chariot's speed is perhaps only matched by its precision. It is capable of seeing, and slicing through, a bullet, is able to strategically break several items in a hotel room in order to make up for its weakness, and is able to skewer several coins and balls of fire in an instant.
- Armor: Perhaps Silver Chariot's oddest ability is that it is clad in a heavy suit of armor. This armor lowers its speed, but also prevents it from being injured, as Polnareff does not receive the same injuries that the armor does. The armor is shown to be capable of withstanding extreme heat without melting. This ability's trade-off seems to be Polnareff's inability to see through Silver Chariot's eyes. The armor can be equiped and removed at will.

Dead Men (represented by Wass)[]

The Dead Men were an elite group on the side of Sanctuary during the war. They were named The Dead Men as they were renowned for going on Suicide Missions but always managing to come back alive. The Group has gone had several members over the years but the number of Dead Men has always remained at 7 with new members replacing those who had been injured or ironically enough killed. The current members are;

Skulduggery Pleasant

“

I want you all to know, that we are the first line of defence. In fact, we’re practically the only line of defence. If we fail, there won’t be a whole lot else anyone else will be able to do. What I’m trying to say is that failure at the point isn't really the smart move to make. We are not to fail, do I make myself absolutely clear? Failure is bad, it won’t help us the short term and certainly won’t do us any favours in the long run, and I think I’ve lost track of this speech, and I’m not too sure where it’s headed. But I know where it started and that’s what you've got to keep in mind. Has anyone seen my hat?

— Skulduggery Pleasant's Inspiring Speech

”

Skulduggery Pleasant is an Elemental and a living skeleton. Originally a normal human sorcerer, Skulduggery was originally killed at the hands of Neferain Serpine who lured him into a trap by murdering his wife and children. However Skulduggery was later revived through unknown means but with his skin and flesh gone leaving behind only a skeleton. After the war he became a detective for the Irish Sanctuary and which would lead to him meeting his future partner Valkyrie Cain.

Equipment:

Handgun: Skulduggery carries two Smith & Wesson revolvers with a six round magazine.

Sword: All of the dead men carry a sword with them into combat. While the exact specifications are not known for the sake of comparison it is assumed that it is roughly 2 feet long. The blade is incredibly sharp, able to lop off limbs and heads with ease.

Gauntlet: Originally mages went into battle with a sword and shield but this was impractical as it left them with no free hand to use their magic and thus they created an arm length gauntlet, reaching from the shoulder all the way down to the wrist. This Gauntlet is able to block Cleaver Blades, which are made from an incredibly sharp material able to slice through skin and bone.

Armoured Clothes: Crafted by Ghastly Bespoke, the Dead Men all wear full body armour. Made out of strong leather like material, it helps cushion the damage from punches and kicks and can stop strikes from sword, scythes and even protect against bullets. The armour covers all over the wearers body, with steel toed boots and a hood and is light enough not to restrict the users movement.

Powers and Abilities

Skilled Elemental Magic User: Skulduggery is an elemental, meaning his magic focuses on control of the elements (Big shock I know). The elements and some of their uses are listed below;

- Fire: The flashiest and most used of the four elements. Elemental sorcerers create fire by generating friction, usually the snapping of fingers, and use it for various purposes. These include from creating fireballs, creating barriers of fire, expelling fire in a flamethrower type stream and fireballs can be focused into more concentrated flames which can be used to cut and carve.

- Air: Air magic is the most versatile and, at times, the most powerful of the four elements. Air magic is the easiest to learn with most sorcerers learning this first. Uses of Air magic includes pushing and pulling towards or away from the sorcerer, squeezing and crushing objects, holding a person in place, creating a powerful wall of air to block an attacker, flight, creation of whirlwinds, reading disturbances in the air, depriving people of air, containing an explosion within a sphere of air and can be used to buff up a users punching power by encasing their fists with a layer of air.

- Earth: Earth magic was at first, and for a very long time, thought to be last resort defensive magic. However it has since been shown to have some offensive prowess as well. The main use of earth magic is to turn the user into an unbreakable stone statue but the length of this transformation is unpredictable and could last any length of time, from a couple of years to several centuries. Other uses include collapsing the ground underneath and opponents feet and can be used as a means of travelling through walls.

- Water: Water is the most rarely used out of the four elements . When the user is submerged in water, water manipulation can be used in a similar way to air manipulation. Uses of Water magic includes walking on water, enhancing swimming ability, firing a stream of water as a projectile, creating a wall of water, manipulating water vapour in the air to create small rainstorms and the manipulation of ice or snow.

Skilled Hand to Hand Combatant: Skulduggery is an extremely skilled unarmed fighter and regularly bests some of the toughest mages in hand to hand combat and can fight multiple skilled opponents at once and has shown himself able to beat other members of the Dead Men without much trouble.

Skilled Marksman: Skulduggery is a master marksman and is able to consistently get lethal shots and head shots when in combat even when under fire and can even wield both at once without a decrease in accuracy once managing to head shot someone despite having being literally pulled apart.

Superhuman Durability and Endurance: Skulduggery's skeleton has is held together by magic and this means that having limbs ripped off during combat can be easily reattached and even with all his bones forcibly separated from each other he is still able to survive and rebuild himself (hell he's has spent the last 20 or so years with someone else's skull on his head). Due to his lack of muscles he also has unlimited stamina which allows him to outlast virtually any human in any feat of endurance allowing him to fight without ever tiring.

Skilled Detective: After the War, Skulduggery went into detective work for the sanctuary and has honed his skills to become their top and most effective enforcer. Skulduggery can scan rooms almost instantly when walking into them and can digest and recall complex schematics and maps with only a glance. Skulduggery is also skilled at reading faces and is so effective at such that it almost seems like he is reading a person's mind.

Ghastly Bespoke

“

Fashion. It's life or death.

— Ghastly on his line of work.

”

Ghastly Bespoke is a tailor by trade and a close friend of Skulduggery. When his mother was pregnant with him she was jinxed and as a result he was born with scars that covered his entire head, making integration into normal society almost impossible. As a child, Ghastly told his friends that his mother was a tailor and his father was the boxer - but it was the other way round, with his mother being a famous boxer with a 23 consecutive win streak while his father enjoyed sowing making adjustments to hemlines and all that.

Equipment:

Sword: All of the dead men carry a sword with them into combat. While the exact specifications are not known for the sake of comparison it is assumed that it is roughly 2 feet long. The blade is incredibly sharp, able to lop off limbs and heads with ease.

Gauntlet: Originally mages went into battle with a sword and shield but this was impractical as it left them with no free hand to use their magic and thus they created an arm length gauntlet, reaching from the shoulder all the way down to the wrist. This Gauntlet is able to block Cleaver Blades, which are made from an incredibly sharp material able to slice through skin and bone.

Armoured Clothes: Crafted by Ghastly Bespoke, the Dead Men all wear full body armour. Made out of strong leather like material, it helps cushion the damage from punches and kicks and can stop strikes from sword, scythes and even protect against bullets. The armour covers all over the wearers body, with steel toed boots and a hood and is light enough not to restrict the users movement.

Powers and Abilities

Skilled Elemental Magic User: Ghastly is an elemental, meaning his magic focuses on control of the elements . The elements and some of their uses are listed below;
- Fire: The flashiest and most used of the four elements. Elemental sorcerers create fire by generating friction, usually the snapping of fingers, and use it for various purposes. These include creating fireballs, creating barriers of fire, expelling fire in a flamethrower type stream and fireballs can be focused into more concentrated flames which can be used to cut and carve.

- Air: Air magic is the most versatile and, at times, the most powerful of the four elements. Air magic is the easiest to learn with most sorcerers learning this first. Uses of Air magic includes pushing and pulling towards or away from the sorcerer, squeezing and crushing objects, holding a person in place, creating a powerful wall of air to block an attacker, ~~flight~~, creation of whirlwinds, reading disturbances in the air, depriving people of air, containing an explosion within a sphere of air and can be used to buff up a users punching power by encasing their fists with a layer of air.

- Earth: Earth magic was at first, and for a very long time, thought to be last resort defensive magic. However it has since been shown to have some offensive prowess as well. The main use of earth magic is to turn the user into an unbreakable stone statue but the length of this transformation is unpredictable and could last any length of time, from a couple of years to several centuries. ~~Other uses include collapsing the ground underneath and opponents feet and can be used as a means of travelling through walls.~~

- Water: Water is the most rarely used out of the four elements . When the user is submerged in water, water manipulation can be used in a similar way to air manipulation. Uses of Water magic includes walking on water, enhancing swimming ability, firing a stream of water as a projectile, creating a wall of water, manipulating water vapour in the air to create small rainstorms and the manipulation of ice or snow.

* Note: I have crossed out the abilities which Ghastly himself is not powerful enough to use. I was going to just remove them but this way it makes it easier to tell the difference without having to painstakingly remember all of the powers.

Skilled Hand to Hand Combatant: Trained from an early age by his boxer mother, Ghastly is one of the most powerful hand to hand fighters in the skulduggery pleasant universe. He can fight multiple skilled mages at once, once being able to take down six sorcerers single-handedly. He was also the only member of the main cast able to fight on par with the assassin Tesseract, a mage who defeated four exceptionally skilled mages (which included Skulduggery, Valkyrie and Ravel) single-handedly.

Superhuman Strength and Durability: Ghastly is a stocky man and as such as displayed feats that a are above the standard capabilities of a normal person. He can knock a person out with a single punch, choke hold someone into unconsciousness in a matter of seconds,carry a full grown person without struggle. Ghastly is also incredibly resilient, able to survive a bomb blast at close range and punch a steel mask without injury.

Dexter Vex

“

Yay, we're walking into another ambush. I love it when we do things like that.

— Dexter Vex.

”

Dexter Vex is likely the youngest of the Dead Men and is just as well known for his chiselled abs and dashing good looks as he is for his combat ability. While most of his comrades settled down after the war he continues to live the life of an adventurer, fighting evil wherever he can find it.

Equipment:

Sword: All of the dead men carry a sword with them into combat. While the exact specifications are not known for the sake of comparison it is assumed that it is roughly 2 feet long. The blade is incredibly sharp, able to lop off limbs and heads with ease.

Gauntlet: Originally mages went into battle with a sword and shield but this was impractical as it left them with no free hand to use their magic and thus they created an arm length gauntlet, reaching from the shoulder all the way down to the wrist. This Gauntlet is able to block Cleaver Blades, which are made from an incredibly sharp material able to slice through skin and bone.

Armoured Clothes: Crafted by Ghastly Bespoke, the Dead Men all wear full body armour. Made out of strong leather like material, it helps cushion the damage from punches and kicks and can stop strikes from sword, scythes and even protect against bullets. The armour covers all over the wearers body, with steel toed boots and a hood and is light enough not to restrict the users movement.

Powers and Abilities

Energy-Throwing: Dexter's chosen magical discipline is Energy Throwing which as the name suggests involves firing a powerful blast of energy from the users hands. The power of these can vary from causing a nasty burn to being able to cut through even the toughest of materials and can even be used to slice through and kill Wraiths, beings who are tough enough to shrug off sword blows and bullets with ease.

Skilled Hand to Hand Combatant and Swordsman: Dexter is an exceptionally skilled hand to hand combatant and has shown himself capable of holding his own against other powerful mages and taking on multiple opponents single-handedly, including a 600 year old vampire without the use of magic even after being shot in the leg. Dexter is also a skilled swordsman able to fight and defeat other trained swordsman even when outnumbered.

Anton Shudder

“

And when I let it out there are times when I just can't control it. And it's a sight to behold. Terrifying. Ferocious. Merciless. Tell us what we need to know or I shall release it, and believe you me it your will garner its full attention.

— Anton Shudder

”

Anton Shudder is the owner and proprietor of the Midnight Hotel, named as a such because it changes destination every 12 hours. Dissatisfied with the various sanctuaries around the world and how powerful and bureaucratic they had become the Midnight Hotel was set up as a place for where people could stay as a form of sanctuary. There is only one rule, that no violence must be used against a guest with Anton fighting on behalf of the attacked person if the rule is broken.

Equipment:

Daisy: Anton Shudder carries a Winchester Model 1897 shotgun with a 5 round magazine which he affectionately calls 'Daisy'.

Sword: All of the dead men carry a sword with them into combat. While the exact specifications are not known for the sake of comparison it is assumed that it is roughly 2 feet long. The blade is incredibly sharp, able to lop off limbs and heads with ease.

Gauntlet: Originally mages went into battle with a sword and shield but this was impractical as it left them with no free hand to use their magic and thus they created an arm length gauntlet, reaching from the shoulder all the way down to the wrist. This Gauntlet is able to block Cleaver Blades, which are made from an incredibly sharp material able to slice through skin and bone.

Armoured Clothes: Crafted by Ghastly Bespoke, the Dead Men all wear full body armour. Made out of strong leather like material, it helps cushion the damage from punches and kicks and can stop strikes from sword, scythes and even protect against bullets. The armour covers all over the wearers body, with steel toed boots and a hood and is light enough not to restrict the users movement.

Powers and Abilities

Gist: A gist is a manifestation of a user's hate, anger and determination which effectively powers up and corrupts their soul. When used the Gist takes on the form of the user but with a much more animalistic appearance, with claws hands, sharp teeth and longer hair. A gist is easily powerful enough to rip through and kill dozens of opponents at a time but can only be unleashed for a minute at the longest otherwise the user would be reduced to a being trapped within the Gist as opposed to the other way around. Using a Gist also leaves the user extremely fatigued afterwards and unable to defend themselves until the regain their composure so is often used as a last resort or to take care of many enemies in a short period of time.

Skilled Hand to Hand Combatant and Swordsman: As his Gist can only be used sparingly Anton has to rely heavily on his hand to hand skills to finish off an opponent and as such is a exceptionally skilled unarmed combatant. Anton has can fight on par with some of the best fighters in the skullduggery pleasant universe and was easily able to outmaneuver and kill Baron Vengeous, another powerful mage. He can also take on multiple opponent on at once as showcased where he fought against 23 mages singlehandedly and was coming out on top until cornered. Anton is also a skilled swordsman and is able to fight against a beat multiple opponents at once.

Superhuman Strength and Durability: As the biggest and most heavily built of the Dead Men, Anton can perform superhuman feats of strength such as carrying a full grown man with ease and killing someone with a single punch to the throat. He is also incredibly durable and was able to fight through being stabbed wounds, severely burned and being hit with an energy blast.

Saracen Rue

“

I know things.

— Saracen Rue on his mysterious power.

”

Another former Dead Man, Saracen is a notorious womaniser and ladies man, even being able to seduce enemy combatants. The only people who know what his actual magical power is are himself and Ravel and he takes great pleasure in the annoyance his vagueness causes over his friends. After the war Saracen was the only Dead Man to officially retire and as such became slightly overweight and "soft".

Equipment:

Sword: All of the dead men carry a sword with them into combat. While the exact specifications are not known for the sake of comparison it is assumed that it is roughly 2 feet long. The blade is incredibly sharp, able to lop off limbs and heads with ease.

Gauntlet: Originally mages went into battle with a sword and shield but this was impractical as it left them with no free hand to use their magic and thus they created an arm length gauntlet, reaching from the shoulder all the way down to the wrist. This Gauntlet is able to block Cleaver Blades, which are made from an incredibly sharp material able to slice through skin and bone.

Armoured Clothes: Crafted by Ghastly Bespoke, the Dead Men all wear full body armour. Made out of strong leather like material, it helps cushion the damage from punches and kicks and can stop strikes from sword, scythes and even protect against bullets. The armour covers all over the wearers body, with steel toed boots and a hood and is light enough not to restrict the users movement.

Powers and Abilities

Mysterious Sixth Sense: While his power has never been officially revealed, Saracen has himself stated that he "knows things". While this vagueness makes it impossible to say what magical discipline he follows the abilities he has shown makes it obvious that he has some sort of sixth sense. This manifests itself in several forms including detecting the position of guards (including where they were and how well armed they are), know when he was being spied on, detect the presence of assassins and other sorcerers and even know about events that haven’t happened yet (although this may have been a joke). He has also shown a proficiency in symbol magic, specifically how to create and disable protective barriers although this may just be due to his sixth sense.
Skilled Hand to Hand Combatant and Swordsman:Just like his teammates Saracen is a skilled hand to hand combatant and can take on and defeat skilled sorcerers and multiple opponents once, his claim to fame being that he once took on a battalion of Mevolent’s troops alongside Anton Shudder. He is also a skilled swordsman and was able to fight against and disable a wraith (which he would have killed had it actually been killable).

Erskine Ravel

“

If I’m a hypocrite I haven't noticed. I've never cared much for introspection. I've done my best to leave that to the bleakest of poets and the most self-pitying of vampires.

— Erskine Ravel

”

Erskine Ravel was one of the original four members of the Dead Men before they became an official unit. After the war with Mevolent he spent his time travelling the world with Corrival Deuce, the general in charge of the Dead Men, on diplomacy missions to convince sorcerers to further curtail magic usage.

Equipment:

Sword: All of the dead men carry a sword with them into combat. While the exact specifications are not known for the sake of comparison it is assumed that it is roughly 2 feet long. The blade is incredibly sharp, able to lop off limbs and heads with ease.

Gauntlet: Originally mages went into battle with a sword and shield but this was impractical as it left them with no free hand to use their magic and thus they created an arm length gauntlet, reaching from the shoulder all the way down to the wrist. This Gauntlet is able to block Cleaver Blades, which are made from an incredibly sharp material able to slice through skin and bone.

Armoured Clothes: Crafted by Ghastly Bespoke, the Dead Men all wear full body armour. Made out of strong leather like material, it helps cushion the damage from punches and kicks and can stop strikes from sword, scythes and even protect against bullets. The armour covers all over the wearers body, with steel toed boots and a hood and is light enough not to restrict the users movement.

Powers and Abilities

Skilled Elemental Magic User: Erskine is an elemental, meaning his magic focuses on control of the elements . The elements and some of their uses are listed below;
- Fire: The flashiest and most used of the four elements. Elemental sorcerers create fire by generating friction, usually the snapping of fingers, and use it for various purposes. These include creating fireballs, creating barriers of fire , expelling fire in a flamethrower type stream and fireballs can be focused into more concentrated flames which can be used to cut and carve.

- Air: Air magic is the most versatile and, at times, the most powerful of the four elements. Air magic is the easiest to learn with most sorcerers learning this first. Uses of Air magic includes pushing and pulling towards or away from the sorcerer, squeezing and crushing objects, holding a person in place, creating a powerful wall of air to block an attacker, ~~flight~~, creation of whirlwinds, reading disturbances in the air, depriving people of air, containing an explosion within a sphere of air and can be used to buff up a users punching power by encasing their fists with a layer of air.

- Earth: Earth magic was at first, and for a very long time, thought to be last resort defensive magic. However it has since been shown to have some offensive prowess as well. The main use of earth magic is to turn the user into an unbreakable stone statue but the length of this transformation is unpredictable and could last any length of time, from a couple of years to several centuries. ~~Other uses include collapsing the ground underneath and opponents feet and can be used as a means of travelling through walls.~~

- Water: Water is the most rarely used out of the four elements . When the user is submerged in water, water manipulation can be used in a similar way to air manipulation. Uses of Water magic includes walking on water, enhancing swimming ability, firing a stream of water as a projectile, creating a wall of water, manipulating water vapour in the air to create small rainstorms and the manipulation of ice or snow.

* Note: I have crossed out the abilities which Erskine himself is not powerful enough to use. I was going to just remove them but this way it makes it easier to tell the difference without having to painstakingly remember all of the powers.

Skilled Hand to Hand Combatant: As with all of the Dead Men, Ravel is a skilled hand to hand combatant and can fight against skilled sorcerers and multiple opponent at once including once managing to subdue four sorcerers despite being handcuffed and even held his own against Skulduggery (although he was defeated by him in the end).

X Factors[]

Training

While Dead Men are all skilled magic users and hand to hand combatants it is never really explained if any of this is due to any official training or if their skills are self taught or honed through combat. However it is assumed that they received at least some training even if it just in the basics. Joseph has received high level training from Lisa Lisa in both hand to hand and ripple usage and Polnareff started training after his sisters death 3 years prior to meeting up with the group but the others have no mention of any official training and it is presumed that their abilities are purely self taught.

Experience

Each of the Dead Men are over 250 years old and having been fighting in the war for well over a century and a half at the very least and in that time have faced a variety of sorcerers, vampire and other weird and wonderful creatures. The individual members of the Joestar group have faced stand users, vampires and zombies but over a much shorter time period (for the majority less than 50 days) and while their opponents are no doubt incredibly powerful they've got nothing on the well over a millennium of combined experience that the Dead Men have.

Leadership

While the Dead Men were under the overall command of Corrival Deuce during the war, it was Skulduggery who took overall operation command and has lead to the Dead Men on supposed suicide missions on countless occasions and brought them back alive with his sharp mind able to keep them one step ahead of danger. Joseph has mellowed considerably over the years and is a commanding and wise leader and spearheads the quest to stop DIO, setting up transport and coming up with most of the plans.

Brutality

As a unit in the war the Dead Men would regularly fight and kill their opponents in battle but despite this most of them aren't really that brutal and will happily leave their opponent unconscious as long as they are out of the fight. The two notable exceptions are Skulduggery (who can let his anger get the better of him when pushed) and Anton (whose Gist is remorseless to any enemy, although he himself is likely the least violent of the group). The Joestar Group are also more than willing to kill an enemy combatant, especially if one of their own is badly injured or the enemy is particularly evil and even when they don't kill their opponent they are usually left severely crippled. Iggy, Polnareff and Jotaro in particular seem to have the least qualms with laying down a brutal beat down on anyone who crosses them.

Teamwork

The Dead Men have been working together for at a minimum of a century and a half and over that time have forged an unwavering loyalty and willingness to die for their companions. They were famed for going on Suicide Missions and coming back alive and they work almost as one, with full confidence the person they are fighting besides will get the job done. The Joestar Group shares a similar level of commitment and loyalty but unlike the Dead Men they have only been active as a group for just over a month and while they have gone through a lot they also spend more time fighting in pairs or as individuals than as a full group. Moreover Iggy doesn't really care about the cause nor the people and he joined much later into the journey than the others and this makes him an unreliable ally.

Notes[]

The Stands can only be hurt be mgaic attacks and weapons.
- If a Stand is hurt, it's user will get the same injury. (For example, if you cut off the arm of a Stand it's user will also loose an arm.)
The Gist can be harmed by the Stands, but this won't have any effect on Anton.
Timeline wise, it will be before Iggy's fight with Pet Shop for the Joestar group and during the War for the Dead Men

Voting Rules[]

The rules will be the usel stuff.

Battle[]

The Traveller []

3 weeks earlier

“Unbelievable”

Edmond Vagabond can hardly believe his eyes as he gazes across the vast expanses of Cairo’s streets. The people and hustle and bustle around him, many of them glaring at the man gawking at the surroundings. Edmond is unaware of this however as his mind races in excitement at what he has found. Shunting is mostly frustrating magic skill and it’s nearly impossible to find a dimension with a liveable environment let alone an alternate dimension such as this and the ramifications of this discovery enthral him. He looks on in awe as mechanical vehicles race past him on the road and strange glowing lights sit perched upon metal poles.

“This place is so much more advanced than the world I know” he mumbles to himself. His mind is so caught up in his discovery that he doesn’t even notice as he wanders down a side street and away from the crowds. Despite the sweltering heat he feels a shiver down his spine but this is not a shiver of cold, but of fear. He snaps out of his trance and looks around nervously and spots a man strolling towards him from the shadows. Edmond slows to a stop as his legs seize up in fear and no matter how hard he tries he cannot do anything but watch as the man walks up to him.

“You’re not from around here are you” the man says, his voice soothing and menacing at the same time. “I can tell that by the awe in your face at even the smallest of things”. He places his hand tentatively on his cheek and strokes it with his forefinger.

“Y-yo-you’re a vampire” Edmond stammers and the man moves his forefinger over his mouth and shushes him.

“Not just a vampire my dear boy. I am DIO.”

“Please don’t hurt me” Edmond whispers and tears trickle down his face as Dio observes him further.

“There’s no need to worry. I know that you’re scared but I can make that all go away. All I need is information.” Dio smiles and his hair stands up on end with a purple glow and Edmond can only look on in horror as one stabs into his forehead and releases a spore which burrows its way into the shunter’s brain. Dio releases him and he drops to his knees, his head bowed in respect. “How may I serve you Lord DIO?”

Strangers in a Familiar Place[]

“You’re getting repetitive Polnareff.” said Avdol in an annoyed tone. Polnareff had bin questioning their informants ability to locate DIO’s mansion for a while, slightly annoying the fortune teller. “Honestly. Can’t you just calm down for just a bit?”

“I know it’s hard not to feel anxious,” said Joseph to the Frenchman. “but all we can do now is rely on the knowledge of the people that live here." Polnareff sighed in response and stared at the ground. "Jeez. I haven’t seen Iggy for a while either. Where the hell that stupid mutt run off?” Before any of the others could give a response, a hooded man approached them. The mysterious man came to a stop just a meter from the Stand users. “Um, can we help you?” Asked Joseph. The man stayed silent and slowly raised his arm. “For DIO." He whispered as a white glow appeared around the group. “Star Platinum!" yelled Jotaro, bringing out his Stand. With a loud “ORA!” Star Platinum punched at the hooded man, but it was too late, with a bright white flash, the crusaders disappeared from their world.

The man pulled off his hood, revealing the face of Edmond Vagabond who smiled in satisfaction. “Lord DIO will be pleased.” He said to himself and walked away from the scene.

Meanwhile, the Stand Users suddenly found themselves in a busy market place. There were market stands with merchants selling various goods, and people making their way through the market, some of them glancing at the weirdly dressed foreigners. Jotaro sighed and made his Stand disappear. “Yare yare." The teenager complained in his native language as he stuffed his hands in his pocket. “What the hell!?" yelled Polnareff in confusion “Where are we?"

“We’re still in Cairo by the looks of it.” answered Joseph, “Yet something is off…” he paused for a moment and looked around. There were no lampposts, or cars, the people around them didn’t seem to have any modern technology on them either. “It seems like we have gone back in time.” "Gone back in time?" asked Polnareff with doubt in his voice. “Sounds a little crazy don’t you think?”

“Yes, but look." Joseph pointed at a spot where a group of people were talking to each other in Arabic. "We were just sitting there moments ago,” his finger shifted to the side of the road. “And cars used to be parked over there.”

“Back in time or not." Avdol interrupted. "I think it’s best if we search for a way out, perhaps we will find the one who brought us here.” The others nodded in agreement and began to make their way, through the busy city of Cairo.

The Dead Men Arrive in Cairo []

“Are we there yet?”

“Yes” growls Skulduggery in annoyance.

“Whoa, whoa tiger calm down. What was all that about.” Saracen replies.

“You’ve been asking that same damn question since we got here.” Dexter interjects.

“You guys know I hate walking. Why couldn’t we have just ridden horses?”

“Horses don’t do well in the desert”

“A camel then.”

“Have you ever tried to ride a camel? They’re horrible creatures. The spit and bite and don’t listen to you.” Saracan shrugs his shoulders but doesn’t contribute anymore to the conversation. After being dropped off by boat in the north they have been travelling through desert, with the occasional tribal village scattered around to rest or trade for supplies, for the past week or so and have now finally arrived on the outskirts of Cairo. They walk in silence for a few minutes before...

“Why are we even here anyway?”

Shudder frowns. “Did you not listen to the briefing?”

“Nah, never do, it’s usually the same thing; Go in, kill some guys, get out.” Saracen replies.

“We’re here to find some of Mevolent’s top lieutenants.” Ghastly says from under his disguise. He and Skulduggery had fixed their scarves to cover their faces to not cause alarm to any mortals.

“Couldn’t they send someone else to do it,” Saracan grumbles “Send Quintin Strom’s lot, they were nearer.”

“Strom and his men are being pinned down by the Diablerie,” Ravel responds “and besides this is one of those unsavoury missions that command just loves to give us.” Saracen groans at this.

“Urgh. Does this mean we’re going to be risking our lives against impossible odds?” he asks “Do we at least know what we’re looking for?”

“Skull has a picture of the men that we’re looking for,” Ghastly says jabbing his thumb in the skeleton’s direction. Skulduggery reaches into his inside coat pocket and takes out a folded over picture. The rest of the Dead Men gather around as he unfolds a black and white picture of a group of men stood in a desert, seemingly posing for the camera.

“I’ve never seen these guys before,” Ravel says inspecting the picture “Mevolent has kept them well hidden away. Do we know any of their names?”

“The old man’s name is Joseph Joestar,” Skulduggery says jabbing his finger at the man in the front with a dog cradled in his arm “the tall boy in the hat is his grandson Jotaro. As for the rest I don’t know their names.”

“Never heard of them,” Ravel says and the rest of the Dead Men mumble in agreement. Saracan pushes Ravel aside to get a better look and points at the man called Joseph.

“I’ll take the old guy,” he says and the others look at him. “What!”

“We’re not shopping here, this is war, and we’re not picking opponents,” Shudder says. “And why do you want to fight him.”

“Are you kidding? He’s old. He’s got to be at least 600 years old. He’ll be an easy take down.”

“Age doesn’t make you weak only wiser”

“I disagree. I wisdom has a cut off date of about 120 years once you get to that you’re about as wise as you’re going to get.”

Shudder sighs. “Where did we get this information from anyway?” Dexter asks.

“A sorcerer named Edmond Vagabond gave word to one of our spies here that these men are important to Mevolent’s plans.”

“Vagabond. I’ve heard of him, he’s a dimensional shunter.” Skulduggery folds the picture back up and the others slowly disperse from around him.

“It’s getting late now, we should probably find somewhere to sleep and start the search tomorrow” he announces.

“I could do with a good night’s sleep,” Saracen says stretching “Preferably somewhere I won’t get sand in my pants or be attacked by some crazy tribesmen.”

“It’s your own fault, if you hadn’t have hit on his daughter then you wouldn’t have ended up upside down on a spit roast” Dexter says and the other Dead Men laugh.

“Hey, she was really pretty,” he protests but the others just continue to laugh as the head further into the city, with Saracen cursing under his breath.

“I hate you guys.”

When Stadurst Crusaders meet Dead Men []

As the sun begins to go down and the people begin to filter off the streets, the Joestar Group finds themselves walking almost alone. “Where the hell are we going?” Polnareff asks impatiently.

“I don’t know ask Avdol” Joseph replies.

“What do you mean ask me? I was following your lead.” Joseph looks at him blankly.

“You were the one who suggested we search for a way out. I thought you knew where we were going.”

Avdol’s face is a mixture of confusion, annoyance and surprise as he looks back at him. “You mean for the last two hours we’ve just been walking around aimlessly.” Joseph shrugs sheepishly and Avdol’s face tenses so much that a vein is almost bursting out of his forehead. “Yare Yare Daze” Jotaro says dipping his cap over his face.

“Calm down Avdol,” Polnareff says to try and diffuse the situation “We’ll just ask some around here if they know the way to decent hotel and sleep on it.” He looks around and spots a group of men wandering through the street. Polnareff walks up to them, hands in his pocket and heads for a man walking a little bit behind the rest of the group. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know a nice place to stay. Preferably one without a shitty toilet.” The man shrugs him off but Polnareff doesn’t take the hint and grabs his arm. The man shoots a glare at him but as soon as he sees his face he stiffens noticeably and steps away, pulling his arm loose. He barks something to the other men and throws a punch which hits Polnareff right in the jaw. He staggers back with his hand to his jaw. “What the hell are you doing” he shouts and just as the words exit his mouth he is knocked back by something.

He twists in the air and lands gracefully in splits pose. He looks up at the group of men who have rushed to the side of the lone man, two of them holding their arms up. Polnareff tries to take a step forward but finds a something solid blocking his way. “What the hell” he thinks to himself as Joseph, Jotaro and Avdol rush to his side.

“What have I told you about harassing the locals” Avdol says and Polnareff straightens up and jabs a finger accusingly at the group.

“He just hit me for no reason. All I asked was if he knew a good hotel.” The two groups look at each other for what seems like an age.

“I’m sure there must be some kind of mistake,” Avdol says and goes to walk over to the men but just like Polnareff he finds himself blocked by an unknown force. “This is strange” he mummers.

“Let me see” Joseph says and tries the same thing but he too is blocked off. As the three older men investigate the strange occurrence Jotaro stands with his hands in his pockets, looking at the group of men. Four of them look like normal men but the other two are wearing scarves which cover every inch of their faces, so that not even a tiny bit of skin shows. As he looks closer he realises that both of the clothed men are holding their hands out in front on them, palms facing in their direction.

“Something isn’t right about those men” he says. The other three look back at him. “What do you mean Jotaro?”

“Look at those two men with the scarves coving their faces. They are holding their palms out in front of themselves and none of us can move past this spot.”

“Do you think they’re Stand users?” Joseph whispers. “There’s only one way to find out,” Jotaro replies and steps forward to join the others his hands still in his pocket. “Star Platinum!” he yells and his Stand leaps out and swings his fist at the wall of air, feeling it dissipate under the pressure. The group of men looks visibly shocked as they gaze upon Star Platinum before it disappears.

--

“Did you see that?!” Dexter says and the other Dead Men nod in agreement.

“I’ve never seen anything like it”, Ravel replies astonished. “Is it a Gist?”

“I don’t think so,” Anton says “A gist takes on the form of the user and that thing looked nothing like the boy.”

“Hey,” shouts Joseph and they all look at him as he walks towards them with the other men following closely behind.

“Don’t take another step” Skulduggery snaps sharply and his gun flies into his hand, levelled right at Joseph’s head. He freezes and the rest of the Joestar group follow suit.

“Have you been sent to stop us?” Joseph asks.

“That depends really,” Skulduggery retorts “We’ve come here to stop some very dangerous individuals. You wouldn’t happen to know of these individuals would you?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about”

“Oh really, well let me introduce my merry band of dashing rouges. We are the Dead Men.” Skulduggery expects the men to show some reaction to the name that strikes fear into the hearts of Mevolent’s supporters. Fear, Surprise, Anger. What he is not expecting is a blank looks all around.

“Dead Men?” Joseph asks puzzled “Never heard of you. Have you Avdol?”

“No Mr. Joestar” the Egyptian replies.

“Hey, what’s up with you two?” Polnareff interjects, pointing at Skulduggery and Ghastly. “Why are you wearing scarves in this heat? Do you have something wrong with your face or something?” making Ghastly tenses at the insult.

“Good point Polnareff,” Joseph continues “and what about you? You seem awfully skinny. What’s the matter not got any meat on your bones.” Polnareff and Joseph giggle at the remark.

“Well now that you mention it...” Skulduggery begins and, with his free hand reaches to the scarf around his face and tosses it aside to reveal his gleaming skull beneath.

“OH MY GOD.” yells Joseph in surprise and Avdol’s and Polnareff’s jaws drop. Even Jotaro’s eyes widen before his face returns to his normal stoic gaze.

“He’s a Skeleton,” Avdol gasps “He must be a follower of DIO; only he could be responsible for such undead monstrosity.”

“I’m not going to let some shitty skeleton sent by that bastard DIO stop us!” Polnareff shouts. “Silver Chariot.” Silver Chariot jumps out with his rapier drawn and Skulduggery fires off his gun but Star Platinum is out just as fast to stop the bullets from hitting Joseph. The old man lunges for Skulduggery with a cry of “Hermit Purple.” Ghastly and Ravel are just as quick off the blocks and push at the air which shimmers before catapulting Joseph off his feet and away. However one of Hermit Purple’s vines has latched onto Skulduggery’s arm and he is carried through the air with him and they both crash down together in a heap.

“Saracen go and help Skulduggery with the old man,” Anton says taking charge, “Ghastly, you take the man with all the jewellery. Erskine, you take the swordsman. Me and Dexter will take care of the boy.” The Dead Men nod in agreement and as Saracen hurries over to help Skulduggery the others prepare for battle.

A Tailor Made Fortune[]

Removing the scarf from around his head to clear up his vision, Ghastly settles into a fighter’s stance and waits for his opponent to make the first move. Avdol stands with his left arm held out in front of him, almost beckoning Ghastly to come at his with his fingers. “I must warn you that I am a fortune teller” he says “and I have seen that this battle will not end well for you”. Magician’s Red appears next to him in a blaze of fire with a screeching roar.

“That’s an interesting Gist you’ve got there Mr?” Ghastly asks.

“Avdol. Mohamed Avdol. And this is my Stand, Magician’s Red.” Magician’s Red let’s forth a burst on fire into the air, creating firework like explosions in the sky to show off its power. Ghastly is impressed by the fighting spirit but let’s none of it show in his face as he maintains his stance. Finished with his posturing, Avdol turns his attention back to the scarred man and points his finger to him. Magician’s Red immediately shoots a stream of flames at Ghastly but he swerves out of the way, using the air to create a skin tight barrier around his person which deflects the flames as they lap at him. With a twist of the wrist the flames are swept away and extinguished. “Impressive,” Avdol says “I’ve never seen anybody able to withstand the flames of Magician’s Red before.”

“Nothing a bit of Elemental Magic can’t handle,” Ghastly retorts.

“Well, let’s see how you’re fare against the mighty power of-“Avdol readies his ultimate attacks “CROSSFIRE, HURRICANE.” Magician’s Red fires off the powerful attack and it forms an Ankh of flames. Ghastly puts his hands together and blasts forth a column of wind which collides with the Ankh and splits it off into several smaller flames which sink into the Egyptian Sand harmlessly. Ghastly then manipulates the air particles above Magician’s Red to create a raincloud which douses the flames surrounding the Stand in an attempt to prevent anymore attacks. Avdol chuckles at the attempt and Magician’s Red easily evaporates the liquefied air particles with a burst of flames. “Did you really think that some measly specks of water would be able to contain the power of Magician’s Red?” he asks rhetorically. “CROSSFIRE, HURRICANE,” he shouts again and Magician’s Red sends forth another flaming Ankh. Once more Ghastly sends forth a column of air but that’s exactly what Avdol was expecting and he waits for the air to hit the Ankh before splitting it into several smaller Ankh’s which disperse around the column and burst forth towards Ghastly from several different directions.

The flames are just about to hit him when Ghastly holds his hands out and somehow manages to control the Ankh’s, merging them together into one large fireball which he throws back at Avdol. He tries to leap out of the way but he is too slow and some of the fire latches onto him and set his baggy robes on fire. Yelping as the fire scorches his skin he throws himself onto the ground and rolls around in the sand to beat out the flames. As he does so Ghastly moves towards him, sinking into a Boxer’s stance and shuffling towards his flailing opponent. He reaches him just as Avdol manages to extinguish the flames and gets to his feet, back turned to Ghastly as he checks his wounds. He turns around just in time for Ghastly to slug him across the jaw with a vicious right hook which makes him stumble back. Dazed he doesn’t react fast enough to stop a left handed jab to the nose which causes pain to shoot up his face and make his eyes water. Sensing the opportunity, Ghastly uses the creates a barrier of air which covers his right hand and he lowers himself to deliver an uppercut to the fortune teller’s chin, the extra power added by the air knocking him several feet backwards into a heap, unconscious.

Ghastly relaxes slightly and looks around to see how his comrades are doing. He catches Anton’s Gist out of the corner of his eye, the spirit clawing viciously at Star Platinum. “I guess he won’t need any help then,” he murmurs to himself. Dexter isn’t with him and as he looks for him he spots him circling a kid with long red hair, a strange green spirit floating next to him. “He looks like he’s struggling a bit” he thinks and almost as if his mind is being the spirit shoots an energy blast at Dexter, hitting him full on and causing several deep wounds. He groans and drops to his knees and the spirit to grab onto him with its tendrils. Having seen enough, Ghastly hurries over to his friend to lend his assistance.

Upon the Knife[]

Polnareff twists and turns to avoid the fireballs being thrown at him by Ravel. The elemental is giving him no room to breath and as he tries to get closer a blast of air knock him away and out of the range of his Stand. “Fight me properly you coward!” Polnareff shout in frustration. Ravel doesn’t respond to the challenge with words rather a column of fire springs forwards, setting his hair alight. Cursing Polnareff furiously mashes his hair into the sand to put out the fire, while Chariot protects him from the stream of fireballs. Putting the fire out, Polnareff coughs and splutters at all the sand he’s stirred up.

An idea forms in his head and he begins to kick up sand around him, using Silver Chariot to waft it in Ravel’s direction. He manages to kick up quite a storm and Ravel is forced to divert his attention onto keeping the sand from getting in his eyes. His movements now heavily obscured by the sand, Polnareff can now close the distance and gets within range just as Ravel sends out a booming blast of air to send the sand flying away from him. Polnareff swings his sword downwards in a cutting motion but Ravel raises his gauntlet to block it. Unsheathing his own blade, he parries another slash from Silver Chariot and another and another, getting very little room to attack himself. He thinks he spots an opening and goes for a thrust but it is easily flicked away and this leaves him open, a mistake which is punished by Silver Chariot jabbing the tip of it’s blade into his shoulder.

His armour helps slow down some of the momentum but the blade still pierces the skin. Hissing in pain Ravel lashes out with his leg and catches Polnareff in the stomach, not enough to do any serious damage but enough to make him back off a little. “You’re not half bad with a sword,” Polnareff says grinning, “There aren’t many people who could keep up with Silver Chariot’s speed.”

“Uh, thanks I guess” Ravel says.

“Unfortunately for you keeping up just isn’t good enough.” Silver Chariot’s armour explodes off and the assault continues but this time unburdened by it’s armour the speed is even greater. Ravel is forced back under the onslaught, focusing all his attention on defending and as two quick slashes ring against his sword it is flung from his grip. Now weaponless Ravel tries to use his gauntlet to defend himself but it is not enough and gashes slowly start to open up in his armour. Bleeding profusely, he slumps to his knees and Polnareff stands over him.

“I’ll give you one chance, tell me what you know of DIO and I’ll let you live.”

“What are you talking about?” Ravel says confused.

“Fine, play dumb then. It will only send you to the grave” Silver Chariot lifts it’s sword above it’s head to slice Ravel in two, when suddenly the Gauntlet on his hand launches forward, smashing Polnareff in the chin and knocking him clean out. As his Stand dissipates Ravel collapses onto the floor, slipping into unconsciousness from his wounds.

Joseph Outwits the Skeleton and the Complainer []

The two men untangle themselves and get to their feet. Joseph makes the first move and sends out Hermit Purple to smack Skulduggery across the face and send him reeling. He follows this up with an attempted kick to the ribs but Skulduggery is able to block it with his palms and uses a gust of wind to knock Joseph off balance. “OH NO!” he yells dramatically as he topples backwards and lands right on his behind. Scrambling backwards as Skulduggery advances on him, he uses the opportunity to grab a flat slab of rock from the ground and grip it tightly in his hand. “Please, you wouldn’t hurt and old man would you?” he asks feinting fear.

“Don’t worry,” Skulduggery says “I won’t hurt you at all. I’m just going to punch you so hard you won’t have time to register the pain.” He suddenly jabs forward with his hand but Joseph is expecting the attack and raises the rock, channelling Ripple through it as he does. “When you touch this rock your undead bony body is going to disintegrate” he thinks to himself...

“Don’t touch that rock,” a voice cries from behind Skulduggery and quick as a flash he turns his body and angles the fist away. Joseph grunts annoyed but gets to his feet as Saracen runs over. “He’s done something to that rock, if you’d touched it you’d have been a gonner,” he says breathily.

“How did you know that” Joseph asks intrigued.

“I know things” Saracen replies. Now faced with two opponents, Joseph’s mind races as he tries to think up a way out of this situation. He doesn’t get much time though as Saracen rushes him and he brings his arms up to block a punch before ducking low to avoid a jumping kick from Skulduggery. He desperately tries to hold off the two Dead Men as he backs up and is doing so admirably but he realises this can’t go on for much longer. He surprises the two men by throwing himself forward and grappling Saracen round the shoulders. He controls his breathing and is about to let forth a Ripple charge when he feels a sickly pain move up from his groin. Releasing his grip, his hands go to his crotch as the pain seeps through him and he drops to the ground. He feels the cold hard press of a boot on his back as he lies on the ground and once the pain has subsided he looks up at Skulduggery and Saracen who peer down at him.

“That’s not fair,” he protests “You can’t punch me in the balls that’s the sacred area. You could have ended the Joestar family line right there.”

“I didn’t punch you in the balls,” Saracen retorts shrugging “Technically I kneed you in the balls.”

“Well either way it’s not fair.”

“This is War, anything goes.”

“Well you got me there. Now would you mind letting me get up and we can shake hands and go our separate ways.”

Saracen barks a laugh. “What makes you think we’re going to do that? You’re lying on the ground old man. You’re beaten.” To his surprise Joseph shakes his head and chuckles.

“Either you’re going to let me up or I’m going to have to teach you how to respect your elders.” Saracan raises his boot and slams it down on his back and he jolts suddenly.

“And how exactly are you going to do that?”

“I’ll use this sword you kindly let me borrow.”

“What swo-“Saracen starts but as he reaches to his scabbard he finds his sword is missing. “Hamon Overdrive” Joseph yells and swings the sword at Saracens leg, sending a burst of Ripple up it as he does. The blade alone fails to penetrate Saracen’s armour but the Ripple causes a small explosion which bursts a tear in the material just above the ankle. He jerks his leg away suddenly before his foot gets sliced off and this gives Joseph the space to wriggle his way free from the other boot and throw the weapon right at Skulduggery, who uses the air to slow it to a halt just before it slices into his skull.

“How the hell did you manage that” Saracan says.

“When I lunged forward at you before I slipped my hand around the Hilt. I knew you’d try and take advantage of this to kick me in the balls and used the momentum to drag the sword out, making sure that your eyes were kept on me as I rolled on the floor. I was hoping that Boney M. over there would get close enough so I could give him a Ripple blast but I had to settle for cutting off your foot.” He looks at the shredded leg battle armour. “Although I didn’t think you clothing was that strong.” Saracen looks on in shock before turning to Skulduggery who is still holding the sword inches away from his eye socket.

“I must admit that was really, really cleaver,” Skulduggery says “You are a lot more cunning that I gave you credit for.” Joseph can’t help but smile at the compliment.

“Yeah, that was pretty damn smart” Saracen says begrudgingly. Skulduggery tosses him his sword and he puts it back in the Scabbard.

“But now we know how cunning you are we aren’t going to let you get that opportunity again.” Skulduggery draws one of his Revolvers and aims it at the Ripple user. “Now you’re going stand right there like a good senior citizen and Saracen is going to put these handcuffs on you.” He jingles the handcuffs with his spare hand and tosses them to Saracan. He walks towards him but as he gets close Joseph lets out a chuckle.

“You didn’t really think all I did was throw that sword at you was it.” Skulduggery frowns internally and for the first time he notices that Hermit Purple is dangling from Joseph’s right wrist. He eye sockets follow the direction and notices that it disappears under the ground and he immediately looks down to see a pair of vines wrapped around his foot, glowing yellow with some sort of energy. The vines contort and wrench away and he feels a pop as his leg is pulled clean out of the socket. He yells and, unbalanced, he topples to the ground as his leg is dragged away. Saracan lets out a shout of anger and goes to run after him when something latches onto his foot and he trips, falling head first into the dusty, sandy ground.

“Do you need some help Mr Joestar?” Joseph looks on amazed as Noriaki Kakyoin poses in the dipping sunlight; Iggy stood growling by his side. Hierophant Green floats besides him with one of its tentacles wrapped around Saracens foot.

“KAKYOIN” he cheers happily and the teenager smiles. Skulduggery uses this opportunity to stretch his palm out and yank his leg from Joseph’s grip, pulling it back towards the socket. “Actually you can do me a favour, Kakyoin,” he asks “Take care of the whinging one while I use the Joestar Family Secret Technique.” He winks and Kakyoin nods. Turning on his heels, he darts off further into Cairo as Skulduggery reattaches his leg, testing it out gingerly before chasing off after him.

“So it looks like I’ll have to introduce you to a little friend call Hierophant Green.” Kakyoin says quietly and drags Saracen towards him and flings him into the sand.

“Not so fast kiddo” calls a voice and Kakyoin tilts his head to look at Dexter Vex who is moving towards him, battered and bruised but he’s eyes show that he’s far from beaten. “I’m the one who’s going to teach you and that little buddy of yours a lesson.” Kakyoin shrugs and call Hierophant Green to his side. “Saracen you’re taking the dog” Dexter continues, charging up an energy blast in his hand.

“Are you kidding me? I’m not fighting no stinking mutt.” Saracen protests dusting himself off.

“What. Too worried you can’t handle a little doggy woggy?” Dexter says jokingly and Iggy barks at him in anger making him laugh.

“Fine. But once this is over you and me are going to have words.” Saracen says and Iggy paws the ground and growls.

What a Fool Knows []

Saracen grumbled to himself as he approached Iggy. Seriously, why do I have to take care of the dog? he thought. The damn mutt was almost the size of a puppy. As if it could pose any danger. Setting his objections aside for a moment, Saracen squatted down and reached his arm out towards Iggy, intending to grab him by the neck only for the dog to bark and snap at his hand. “Look, you stinkin’ mutt,” said Saracen. “I hate this just as much as you so just shut it and-” Before he could finish whatever he was about to say, the Adept noticed something, sand and dust of the surrounding area was gathering above the dog.

Before Saracen could react, the sand had already taken form and soon enough he looked directly into the mask-like face of The Fool. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” he whined before The Fool pounced on him, pinning him to the ground by pressing it’s two front paws against his shoulder.

His allies were occupied with the enemy and the was far too strong to just throw off. Saracen closed his eyes, hoping that, at the very least, he would be granted a quick death and painless death. Much to his surprise the weight of the beast suddenly disappeared. Curious as to what happened Saracen opened his eyes only to stare into the face of a more dangerous beast, Iggy who almost seemed to smile at his enemy’s misfortune. “Erm, good doggy?” The compliment did little to appease the Iggy, who promptly began to claw at Saracen’s face, tear the hair from his using his mouth, and, much to the Adept’s disgust and horror, break wind. Saracen flailed his arms, desperately trying to get Iggy off his face, but to no avail.