Dog

……………………………………

“Don’t follow me!” Joshua shouts as he walks back to the orphanage.

The stray puppy that he shared food with is right behind him...

“Shoo! Shoo!” He makes some abrupt movements to scare the little dog away, but even after getting scared and stopping... It always goes back to follow him after he turns around.

“I don’t have food anymore!” He waves his hands helplessly.

It’s not like the thought of taking the puppy with him didn’t cross his mind, but he can barely survive on his own; how will he take care of another life? A puppy!

After the umpteenth time that he tried to send the stray dog away, Joshua had enough and decided to change strategy.

He dashes away, leaving the puppy in the dust. Using his knowledge of the streets, he moves left and right, right and left to lose the small dog. He only stops when he reaches the orphanage.

Huff Huff

“Stupid dog... haah Don’t you know that dogs and Jojo don’t go well together?” He says while recovering his breath. “Let’s eat... I’m not really hungry, so I will save the bread for tomorrow and just drink the watered-down juice.”

.........................................

It’s raining. 

So Joshua can’t go out and is stuck at the orphanage. He observes the rain through one of the windows on the first floor... 

He doesn’t like the rain. Never liked it even in his previous life, and the sentiment persisted through this life; his experiences with the rain also don’t help.

In his other life, he was poor, so he always needed to go out to study and work even in the rain. Only the people that goes through this struggle understand how awful it is to walk through rainy weather, flooded and muddy streets, and the danger of catching a cold.

He likes that time before and after the rain, the period when the weather cooled down, a cloudy sky, wind... But not the rain.

You can’t blame him, in Brazil, instead of Winter, Autumn, Spring, and Summer. You have Rainy, Warm, Hot, and Hotter.

The heat sucks, but the rain is always an annoying obstacle.

In this life, rain continues to be an annoyance... He doesn’t have opportunities to show off and shock people. It also has other meanings...

“Someone is being killed right now...” He says in a low voice, his eyes glued to the glass window.

The rain is a good cover up to murders and executions. In this area, after the rain, you can always find some bodies lying around in bushes and alleys. People use the lower visibility and the noise that rain provides to commit crimes.

In some way, like in his last life, rain brings good things... But only when it ends. After the rain, the streets will be naturally cleaned, the smell subsiding...

But again, only after its... He only likes the aftermath.

“[Weather Report]... [Catch the Rainbow]...” He lists those stands slowly. “Will I start liking the rain if I can make use of it like those criminals?” He asks himself.

He thinks about the answer and is probably… yes.

“Maybe that is life... You like what you can use...” He continues to try to occupy his mind.

He has nothing else to do; he doesn’t even have friends to play with. And he is worried that if he acts up to show off, it would bring trouble with himself and the matron. It would be a huge loss to be grounded for some days.

“Maybe I should go read a book...” There are only boring educational books in the orphanage, but it's better than nothing.

He was standing up to go study, but when his field of vision changed because of that, he noticed something. “Hm? Whattafuck?!”

Just there, outside the gate of the orphanage, the caramel colored dog that Joshua shared a snack it still waiting.

“I thought that I lost him...” He says, a little shocked by seeing that the dog found him. His nose must be pretty good.

Now he is in the rain, all shrunken...

“Hmpf, stupid fucking dog...” Joshua rolls his eyes and turns around to ignore the animal.

What does that have to do with him? It’s better to let it figure out by itself that no one is giving more food to him, he will eventually go seek shelter somewhere else.

 “...” Joshua continues to look away... He is not gonna help; he can barely help himself.

It’s raining... There are thousands of dogs in the same situation... He can’t bring it inside anyway... He is gonna get wet... There’s no warm water in the orphanage, so he is sure to catch a cold...

He is absolutely not helping.

...................................................

“Damn it, you fucker!!” The front doors of the orphanage burst open by Joshua’s tiny hands.

With a battle cry, he speed walks to the dog, because he remembers from somewhere that if you run, you get more wet... Something about the raindrops hitting your front.

He reaches the front gate and, with an angry face, grabs the small dog with his arms. In the end, his front got wet anyway because of the dog.

“Only this time!” He shouts as he speed walks back to the orphanage.

He hurried across the front door, but obviously, things can’t be easy; no good deed goes unpunished after all.

“What are you doing?!” A shrill voice stops him in his tracks. One of the employees of the orphanage was glaring at him angrily.

“Uh... he was suffering outside.” He goes on the honest route. Maybe the plight of the small animal will touch her heart...

“And what does that have to do with you?” Or maybe not “You dirtied the floor!! Look at this mess!!” She yells

“...” In Joshua’s eyes is not even that bad. Just a few footprints.

“Throw this mutt out and go grab a floor cloth to clean your mess!” She doesn’t acknowledge him anymore, turning around and leaving him to do what she told him.

Joshua grits his teeth, his options weighing in his mind... With another annoyed sound leaving his throat, he cleans the footprints in the ground and leaves the orphanage together with the dog.

“Why am I even doing this again?!” He shouts to himself as he runs through the rainy streets, searching for a dry and protected from the rain place to put this dog in.

He ends up in front of a closed bar, where the front porch is covered, so they will be protected from the rain at least.

He takes off his shirt and squeezes the water out of it.

“That’s what I gain from trying to act nice...” He mumbles for a bit before turning to the dog “Stay here!” He shouts angrily, with the full intention of scaring it away. To not follow him.

He prepares himself to go back to the orphanage under the rain again, but the dog walks on his heel… in the rain…

“...” 

He stares at it, completely done. Really considering beating it a little to make his message clear.

He even raises his hand, Tusk appearing close to his wrist.

“...”

He glares at the dog for a long time... But he can’t bring himself to hurt it, even to his own good.

Haaaah He releases the biggest sigh of his life

“It’s not my problem if you die because you got involved with me”. He says, sitting down on the ground. The dog gets close to sniff and lick him.

“Well, I don’t think that a bicurious vampire will appear trying to get my inheritance, that’s for sure.” He shrugs while caressing the dog’s fur

“From all the Jojos, I think I’m getting the Giorno Backstory experience, so... be careful with a mafia boss with schizophrenia.”

He ended up cuddling with the dog and sleeping right there till the rain stopped.

.............................................

“You’re really hellbent on following me, huh?” Joshua turns again, only to still find the dog a little behind him.

The dog tilts his head in confusion, seeing him stop.

“...tch.” At this point, Joshua was already accepting his fate. He now has a dog; he was adopted by a dog...

He heard of the cat distribution system, but a dog one is new to him.

“Don’t think that you’re gonna eat good like last time, you fucker...” He warns “And you know what... I’m calling you, Danny. If you die is on you. I’m not gonna get attached.” He scoffs before going back to walk to the orphanage. The dog is following closely.

To his surprise, no one noticed his absence, and he doesn’t know how to feel about it.

“Let’s go, Danny. Let’s collect some cans, and I’m not waiting for you, so if you get distracted by a butterfly or some shit like that... I’m abandoning you.”

That is his last try. If this dog follows him everywhere around the community, he will consider it destiny.

“...” He pauses and turns to the dog “Hey, do you believe in gravity?”

“Woof?”

...............................................

“You are smart when food is involved.” Joshua says while sharing bread with the dog. “Now roll over.”

After a day of hard work, he stopped to teach the dog some tricks. He is still young so it’s manageable.

“Roll over... Like… rolling. Roll!” He tries to make the dog roll, but the dog instead went to bite at the food on his hand. “Thief!” Luckily, he has fast reflexes

After some more attempts, the two sit on the sidewalk, observing the people, bicycles, and cars passing.

“I will teach you to be a killing machine.” Joshua says to the confused dog “Oh yeah, you need vaccines, right?” He gives the caramel dog a look “And this stomach... You must have intestinal parasites. Tch. Having a dog is expensive!!”

He stands up and looks around. He saw a cyber café around here.

“Half an hour.” Locating the place, he puts the coins in the front desk and gets himself an old computer to use.

He searches for “veterinary clinics that do charity work” and any other related places that can help him.

“I even need to pay for the paper...” He grumbles as he leaves the place with the address of some place where he can try his luck.

“In the worst case, we will be separated.” He says to the dog “Not that is a bad thing, I can’t take care of you.” He says with a strange tone in his voice.

The kid and dog duo go back to walk around.

“I need to buy some sandals...”

..............................................

“Eat this pill, you stupid dog!!” Joshua is now wrestling with Danny

After visiting the veterinary clinic that does charity work, Danny received his vaccine shot, and Hector was even given some cheap medicine free of charge.

He tried to make Danny swallow by using some food, but the dog would eat the food and spill the medicine out.

“Son of a bitch! Literally! You bite me!” Joshua recoiled, throwing the dog away after the canine bit him.

To be fair, he was trying to shove the medicine in the fella’s throat.

But Joshua is angry and disappointed now.

“Ugh, why am I even caring about you?! This is not a cute story where the MC gains a cool pet! You’re just a fucked flea-filled stray dog!!” He shouts angrily

“...” The dog shrinks back in fear of being yelled at

Joshua breathes heavily for some time, letting his anger subside. He crouches down with his hands around his head.

For the tenth time, he asks himself “Why am I doing this again?”

Is it just because he likes dogs? Some sense of responsibility? Is he tired of being alone?

Danny went to lick his hands while he was still pondered about all those things

"..." Joshua looks at the dog, resting his cheek in one hand, his eyes half-lidded. “Tch. You are Lucky that I am a dog person and I am not a quitter.”

He pats the dog's head. “But if you bite me again, I will bite you back... Or shave your fur with my spinning nails.”

“?”

………………………………..

Another day, another trial for the small Joshua.

The little Joestar leaves the orphanage and whistles as loudly as he can. Not long after that, Danny, his caramel dog, comes running from somewhere to him.

“There you are~ Let’s continue the grind today.” He plays with Danny a little before he walks in a certain direction, the dog following just right behind.

He trained the dog enough to wait for him in a hole in a wall nearby. With food and water that he bought with his hard-earned money.

At this point, he spends more time with the dog than with any other human.

“You know what I discovered?” He asks Danny “There’s a junkyard not that far from here... But the kids who make the trip sometimes come back with pretty nice things. A boy in the orphanage has a pair of sneakers, a umbrela and a lot of comic books.”

“Woof”

“So, what do you say that we try to explore there?”

“Woof”

“But the kids that go there are older than me... And fights are common… It is a new area, with stronger enemies.”

“Woof”

“You are right, let’s do it!” They decide to visit the junkyard. “In more or less 10 years, the Main Character of this world will clean a junkyard too...” He says with no apparent reason.

Sometimes he likes to remind himself of the plot. It sounds so distant in both time and space that he is afraid of forgetting about it. He can’t let go of this clear advantage.

They walked a lot, for a long distance... So long that Joshua was rethinking if it was Worth it, or considering taking a bus. He can sneak up inside a bus, because of his age, but he was not sure about the routes.

“I should’ve checked more about my immediate condition than searching for All Might in the Internet Cafe.” He sighs

All Might is active and strong in Japan right now, already the greatest hero. But beyond grounding him a little in the timeline, this information doesn’t help Joshua.

“Instead of thinking about an uncertain future, I should focus on increasing my life situation. I only have 621 Bizarre Points, Danny.” He talks with the dog.

“...” The dog obviously doesn’t understand him.

“I can buy some weak stands, but I’m saving to [Moody Blues], which is 2000 credits. [Emperor] is 500 Bizarre Points, I can buy it, I was almost tempted to do so, but it would be dumb as hell... I have [Tusk].”

He likes talking about his cheat with Danny, the young dog is his only friend, and his “golden finger” is the only thing going on in Joshua’s life. The only thing that he can brag about.

“Oh, we are here.” They finally arrive. “Damn, this place is biiig! Much bigger than a beach.”

There’s trash as far as the eye can see. All types too, everyday items, electronics, books, old and broken furniture.

“Let’s go treasure hunt!” He shouts to hype himself and make the best of the situation.

Danny barks to him and jumps at his enthusiasm. The duo of dog and kid running around, checking the piles of trash. They met other children, but they kept to themselves... Apparently, everyone here is afraid of being robbed by another.

But Joshua saw some groups playing in the piles, like they were in a castle or something.

“Better avoid the groups.” He whispers to Danny.

He goes around the outskirts of the junkyard. He will not risk being singled out by a big group.

“Look, books!” He found some old and dusty books, pages missing and spots, but it was still an interesting finding. Some are in good condition, but a little old.

The kids who are illiterate must ignore anything without pictures.

“Hehe~, it’s already worth the trip.” He smiles to himself. Some are self-help books, some are fiction, some are from high school... But all of them will keep him entertained.

“A backpack!” With a broken zipper, with only one strap and some holes... But still usable.

He also found some shirts full of holes, plastic containers, and pillows...

“After cleaning, they will be new.”

At this point, he reached the limit of what he could carry, and a thought crossed his mind... “Should I buy [Mr. President]?” The storage room sounds like a good investment. “I can even put you there...” He looks at Danny

He was sleeping on it because he really had nothing to keep safe beyond the Stone Mask, and he still needed the orphanage for his steady meals.

There’s also the fact that people can see stands here, so a red gemstone would attract attention. He read the description, [Mr. President] is an object Stand that can’t be de-summoned. And anyone can use it, like in canon.

“Only 100 Bizarre Points will not make a difference...” He considers his options “But at the same time...” He looks around “... it’s not like there’s anything that I want that I can’t carry.”

Suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, Joshua saw a movement; his recently acquired backpack was yanked away from him.

“You dare steal from me?!” He is already getting used to acting up during interactions with others.

He turns away just in time to see another kid pulling the backpack to him using what can only be his quirk, some rope-based power.

Instead of clumsily running in the direction of the thief, Joshua raised his hand to eye level, aiming not-so-carefully and shooting three nail bullets where the rope was coiled around the backpack.

Bang Bang Bang*

Two of the three bullets hit the rope, cutting them... Joshua’s Tusk doesn’t have the same firepower as Johnny’s, but it can still cut a rope conjured by a kid’s quirk.

Now Joshua runs to secure his backpack, while still keeping an eye on the other kid. 

He grabs the backpack without stopping his run. “Brat, if you’re being sneaky, it means that you’re not strong, right?” He arrives where the kid is, looming over him with an angry, crazy face.

+1

And punches him in the face with a right hook in the best Joestar Style.

“I will be magnanimous and forgive you this once.” Joshua points at the fallen boy in an exaggerated way, his wrist making a upside-down “U” to maximum flamboyancy.

+1

“Piss on him, Danny.” Psssssshh

After teaching the other kid a lesson, Joshua decides to go back, but his Joestar luck strikes again... Nothing is easy to him.

“...” He looks around the small gang of kids circling him; they are obviously older than him and friends with the rope kid he just punched.

Joshua sighs exaggeratedly “Any chance you guys leave me alone?” He asks in a monotone tone while collecting some rocks and similar-shaped items from the ground.

“Punch your own face, and you can go.” One boy says in a bullying tone

“And leave everything that you have.” Another adds with a nasal voice

Joshua stares silently before striking a pose while pointing at them “You’re lying!”

“...” The kids look at each other, their faces strange. Joshua is a weirdo in their eyes.

“You are not gonna let me go even if I do that... I bet you guys will still beat me...” He says in a strong tone “So, if that’s the case... I will fight to pay back the eventual pain.”

+1

+1

“We are a lot.” One kid shouts, speaking incorrectly.

“So what? Have you never been in a fight? Do you think my fear of pain and the inevitability of getting hurt will stop me from fighting? Think again!!” Joshua shouts righteously.

+1

+1

+2

Joshua opens his legs in a horse stance, his fist balling while hypes himself “Bring it ooonn, suckers!!”

It’s a messy and dirty street fight. 

Joshua threw everything in his hands in the overall direction of the other kids with the power of Spin. With the time gained, he advanced on the smaller kid. The said kid has a “normal” appearance, so he guesses he has an emitter quirk, so it’s better to take him down before he activates it.

Most of the other kids have strange appearances, so he guesses they have mutation-type quirks, and these ones, most of the time, increase their physical attributes. 

So, having to choose one to take down fast, he chooses the one that he is sure to take out of the fight.

He grabs the small kid by the waist and slams him down on the ground. He can hear the air escaping the kid's lungs. 

He doesn’t check the small kid, moving instantly to the side... No, he didn’t feel an attack or anything. But in a fight like that, he needs to keep moving. He tries to position himself in a way that the other kids will come in a line, so they can’t use their numbers...

That’s how he wins all of his fights till now, even against bigger kids or against groups. He knows how to fight... 

And the Joestar bloodline helps a little.

The next kid he confronts already recovered from the initial throw powered by the Spin. He guesses this one is strong physically or has some power to help in a close-range fight because of its appearance. This one has strangely shaped elbows that look suspiciously like a hammer, and arms that are too big for his small frame.

Joshua raises his left hand and shoots his nails at this kid, all five of them.

“Grah.” The kid makes a strange sound as the nails hit with enough strength to break the skin, but not go that deep.

The hammer elbow kid tries to put his arms in front of him to protect his face, but the fact that his arms are big makes the movement clumsy.

Joshua steps on his hand, holding him in place and Pow punches him in the face.

He moves fast again, now because an attack was coming. He heard the wind whistling, and he dodged enough to not be hit by all objects that flew at him. But he was still hit by some.

“...” He was hit in the back by some smooth, round, heavy rocks; it hurts, and he looks around to identify the assailant.

It’s a kid with long arms... The arms appear to be covered in stone, so Joshua thought that he was close ranged fighter, but the thing is that his grey stone-like arms are more like sea coral, where he can expel pellets from the holes.

Joshua jumps to the side again.

Luckily, the pellets are much slower than his nails because they are heavy. And the kid doesn’t know how to aim because the holes are awkwardly all over his arm.

As Joshua jumps to the side, he raises his right arm now; his nail bullets are much weaker than bullets, but they are still very fast. No one has dodged it till now.

But the numerical disadvantage finally catches up with him after his initial attack. One of the kids, the biggest one, jumps at Joshua... He didn’t jump at him with a fighting technique or even a deep thought.

The big kid simply jumped and grabbed Joshua, making the two roll on the ground. The kid at least knows how to use his size and weight to his advantage.

“Let go of me, you mongrel!” Joshua shouts at the two rolling on the ground “I can kill you in this situation, you know that?” He really can.

His spinning nails can cut the kid's neck because the fat kid is not holding him down properly. But Joshua doesn’t want to go this far...

The two wrestle on the ground fiercely, Joshua trying to apply some moves of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu he learned in his last life, but he is three times smaller than this kid, and his opponent is moving like a wild animal.

Hits are delivered from both sides, but the big kid is obviously stronger, and he eventually ended up on top... his hits hurt Joshua much more; he was even hit in the face, nose bleeding. 

He is starting to get angry... If he was not holding back against this brat... He is almost snapping...

Suddenly, a growl was heard, and the big kid stopped his flurry of attacks. Danny just bit the kid’s calf.

“Mutt!” The big kid groans in pain and swings his arms to hit Danny. It seems he has some sort of physical-enhancing quirk.

Danny was sent flying a little with a whimper of pain.

The big kid was satisfied with the result and was turning to continue hitting Joshua, but he felt a chill.

“Oy...” Joshua grabs the kid’s face while his own is twisting in an angry expression.

One of Joshua’s thumbs is going into the big kid’s eyes

“Don’t hurt my dog.” He says in an angry, calm voice, spitting the words. Then he kneed the kid's groin and beat him up with his fist, like a hammer. “Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora” He punches repeatedly without pause, as fast as his body can

After that, the fight got even messier. Joshua started using dirt tricks like throwing sand and aiming at the eyes and groin.

He even cuts one slightly with his spinning nails, the sight of blood frightening the other kids, creating an opening for to Joshua beat them even more.

...........................................

Joshua walks out of the Junkyard with Danny in tow.

“Thank you for saving me from becoming a murderer.” He says in a warm voice while patting the caramel dog's head with one hand.

On the other hand, he is carrying a shiny object that looks like a coin with a Ruby in the Middle. In the end, he decided to buy the Stand [Mr. President], where he is now carrying all of his things and the loot he took from his opponents.

Different from the Jojo universe, this stand is not a key that fits into a turtle. In truth, it seems that it’s only the flat octagonal part of the key.

“As expected, there was nothing inside...” Joshua comments while looking through the red gemstone with an eye. “But there are four power outlets.” 

He also doesn’t have much control over this stand.

“I think it loses effectiveness far away from me, but I will try not to lose it.” He says before putting the octagonal coin on his underwear. It’s too flashy. “Let’s go back, Danny. But let’s buy some snacks before... We deserve it.” He smiles, his bleeding nose painting his lips.

Danny barks in agreement.

…………………………..