As Joseph returned to the mansion, he stretched out his neck a little bit. "My shoulders feel so stiff from the fight. I've never used my head so much. Esidisi was one tough opponent." He was still unaware that Esidisi, what little was left of him, had attached to his back in such way that he could barely be felt. 'My last resort left me as a nervous system. I doubt I'll ever recover from this. Should they find me I'm finished, since I'd be no match for any of the superhuman warriors that seem to be dotting the island. But there must be at least one human I can use for this last resort.'

Dawn was starting to break on Air Supplena Island. Earlier Lisa Lisa had seen her wine glass break, and became worried. Unlike Caesar, she had no means of knowing what was going on with Joseph's test, and didn't know he had fought Esidisi. As she thought, her maid Suzi Q approached with two sets of clothes. "Master Lisa Lisa, which blouse would you like to wear after your bath?" Lisa Lisa thought for a moment. "I suppose I could go for the snazzier option today. Suzi Q, can you have Joseph and Caesar come up to my chambers when they return?" "Of course, miss," Suzi Q said, laying out the blouse Lisa Lisa picked.

Suzi Q left as Lisa Lisa undressed for her bath. At the lower levels, Suzi Q suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and screamed. "What in the hay is going on?," Applejack said as she rushed over. She then laughed when she saw Joseph, the one who had placed said hand on Suzi Q's shoulder, digging into his ear. "Jeez, woman, my ears are ringing." "Sorry," Suzi Q said, then looked at him. "I don't think I've really seen you before. But you're... Joseph Joestar, right? Wow, this is my first time seeing your face."

Joseph blinked. "I've been here three weeks and this is the first time you've seen my face? You should have at least recognized it if you've seen my grandfather around the island. Everyone says I look like he did when he was younger." Applejack snickered as Suzi Q observed Joseph's face. "What?," Joseph asked, "Am I too handsome?" Suzi Q smiled. "Weird lips..." Applejack burst out laughing as Suzi Q and Joseph smiled nervously. "Well, maybe so. But if we were to fall in love... You'd be kissing those lips..."

Suzi Q thought for a moment, then grinned widely. "Like I would kiss a mouth like yours! Bleh!" Now Applejack was practically rolling on the floor with laughter, and Joseph wasn't sure he knew how to handle the situation. Applejack stopped laughing when she thought she saw something slip into the shadows from Joseph's back, but shook her head, dismissing it as a trick of the light. "Oh, that reminds me," Suzi Q said, "Master Lisa Lisa asked for you to go to her chambers after you returned."

Joseph nodded. "Gotcha. I was heading that way anyway. Seems they've found out about the Red Stone." Suzi Q looked confused. "It's nothing you gotta worry about," Applejack assured her, "Why don't you go see if Caesar got back yet?" "Uh, sure," Suzi Q said. Before she left, she said, "Jojo..." Joseph looked at her. Suzi Q was smiling and blushing. "You are pretty hot..." Applejack grinned at him. "Picking up an Italian maid... Caesar's gonna be jealous."

"Speaking of which," Joseph said, "I'm surprised Caesar never tried to hit on her." "Seems he doesn't try hitting on the girls on this island out of respect for Lisa Lisa," Applejack explained. "Guess even a notorious womanizer has his limits," Joseph noted, "I'm surprised he's never tried to hit on you, that whole incident back in Rome aside." "Oh he has," Applejack said, "He's just been more subtle about it." Joseph an eyebrow and grinned. "Caesar? Subtle? That's not womanizing. I think he might be in love with you, Applejack."

Applejack elbowed him in the shoulder as they walked up to Lisa Lisa's room. As they did, Joseph rolled his shoulders. "Huh... My shoulders feel looser all of a sudden." They didn't notice Esidisi had slipped off and slunk through the mansion silently. "More importantly," Applejack said, "Did you mean what I think you meant when you said they found the Red Stone?" Joseph nodded. "When I got to the trial ground Loggins had been killed by Esidisi. We fought after and I was able to beat him, so now the poison ring is gone. I can face Wamuu without any additional burdens."

"Then he knew the stone was here," Applejack realized, "What about Wamuu and Kars? Do they know?" "Esidisi said they didn't, and I'm inclined to believe him," Joseph said. Down below, they spotted Suzi Q handing something off to a man who took off for the mainland on a speedboat. "Well, Lisa Lisa will be in the bath for the next half hour," Applejack said, "If the other two Pillar Men don't know where the stone is, we have time to wait and tell her about this so we can come up with a strategy."

Joseph got a manic grin on his face. "In the bath, you say...?" "Jojo...," Applejack said, a dark look in her eyes, "Don't make me use my Stand to restrain you. You know it can let me resist Hamon." "Relax," Joseph assured her, "It's just a quick peek to see if she's alright." Joseph put his eye near the keyhole, and was amazed when he saw Lisa Lisa's gorgeous form. Sure it was from behind, but the fact that she was naked made it evident how fit she was. "Nice!," Joseph noted.

He then blinked. "Wait... How did Suzi Q get in there so fast?" Applejack gasped. "Maybe it's a good thing you decided to peek." She grabbed the handle, but recoiled. "It's sticky..." She then kicked the door open. "Suzi Q, how in the sam hill did you get up here from the docks so fast?" Suzi Q looked at her with dead eyes. Then Applejack and Lisa Lisa noticed the Red Stone was missing. Suddenly, thick veins appeared across Suzi Q's body. "You're too late," Suzi Q said, but her voice sounded like Esidisi's.

"She's been possessed!," Lisa Lisa realized. "But I thought I destroyed you, Esidisi!," Joseph called out. "You practically did," Esidisi admitted, "But my brain survived your Hamon. Through this girl I have sent the Red Stone of Aja to the mainland by boat. All that's left is to keep you here long enough for it to reach Kars. This girl is still alive, but you'll have to kill her to remove me. Even your Hamon or superhuman strength won't change that."

Just then, Caesar's voice was heard, saying, "Jojo, are you around here?" He soon spotted the four of them. "Ah there you are, Jojo. I saw your fight with Esidisi. Looks like you beat him." "Not entirely," Applejack noted, "His brain went and voodooed Suzi Q here." "And he's already sent the stone to Venice," Lisa Lisa said. Caesar tried to look away from Lisa Lisa, since she was only covered by a towel. "Jeez, Jojo. Did you burst in here just to get a look at our teacher naked?" "First off, Applejack's the one who burst in here, not me," Joseph said, "Second, even you must admit our teacher looks good. Third, you might want to move before Esidisi uses Suzi Q to crush you."

Sure enough, Esidisi had tried to use Suzi Q to kick Caesar in the head, but he managed to dodge just in time. "You think you have the guts to kill an innocent woman?," Esidisi asked, "You'll be stuck by inaction until that stone reaches it's intended destination!" He then popped his veins out of Suzi Q to fire off red hot bullets made of blood at the group. Applejack blocked the shots from Lisa Lisa, but still felt the burns from the blood. "What is this? Even without pain I can tell how hot his blood is. This guy's body control is on a whole other level from Santana."

"He and the others have had more time to develop their abilities," Joseph noted, "Santana had only mastered the basics." "Jojo!," Lisa Lisa said, "At this rate, he's destroying Suzi Q's body! You must send Hamon into him!" "But that could stop Suzi Q's heart!," Caesar's argued, "It might kill her!" "There may be another solution," Joseph suggested, "Remember that technique our grandfather's showed us in preparation for the Hell Climb Pillar?" Caesar grinned. "I'd nearly forgotten about that. We never did need to use it, did we? But now's a good time to bust it out."

Esidisi looked confused, until the two Hamon masters approached Suzi Q from two sides. The result was interesting. Joseph flooded Suzi Q's body with a positive Hamon charge to drive out Esidisi, while Caesar focused a negative Hamon charge into Suzi Q's heart. The result created a plus/minus zero Hamon charge at Suzi Q's heart, while Esidisi got the full blast of Joseph and Caesar's Hamon. This forced him out, and his brain could longer take the energy, burning up in the sunlight.

"Crazy as it sounds," Joseph said, "And horrible as his actions were, I gotta respect Esidisi. He lived only for his comrades, wanting to help them achieve their goals. He was willing to throw his pride away for that express purpose. However many thousands of years he lived, he was just trying to survive, regardless of good or evil." The others remained silent for a few minutes. "I suppose this means Kars will be extra mad at us when he finds out," Applejack noted, "Those three seem to be good friends. And more importantly, we need to find out where the Red Stone got sent."

Had to squeeze in that little trick somewhere. After all, it was never my intention to kill off Suzi Q. Do you know how badly that could mess up future events? But yeah, now one Pillar Man is down. Let's see how the others get taken care of.