Gyalzen POV

A lot had happened over the last few hours. 

We'd regrouped with the others, telling them about our run-in with that 'Gladius' upon hearing the news, it seemed they were caught off guard. Even more-so when Avdol informed them. "If I'm not mistaken, I believe DIO must have put a flesh bud on Gladius."

Polnareff exclaimed "What?!" Avdol added "From what I saw, he didn't seem like himself. He seemed extremely aggressive. Even for an assassin." Joseph's expression turned to one of anger "That idiot, he shouldn't have gone after DIO alone! We'll have to keep an eye out for his next move now."

After that, the conversation had been dropped. Polnareff told us about his run-in with a Stand user of his own, this one named Anubis. Another of the nine gods. How many were left now?  

There was the water Stand Geb. This Anubis and if that fake Jotaro from Aswan was a Stand, was that three? That left six left AND Gladius. We had to tread carefully.

Timeskip...

Seems Polnareff and Jotaro had another run-in with that Anubis Stand. Apparently it was a sword that possessed the user with its Stand. The pair managed to defeat it, a fact I wasn't present to witness and soon enough we were on our way.

We'd left Kom Ombo as well, travelling along to the city of Luxor. Apparently a place rich in history, Pharaohs were buried here in the Valley of Kings. Now wasn't the time for a history lesson, we were one step closer to Cairo, but we weren't out of the woods yet. We could be attacked at any moment.

"OH MY GOD!"

Joseph's sudden shocked exclamation caused my head to snap up. That was the last sound I'd expected to hear from inside the lone cubicle. Originally, me and Joseph both needed the bathroom so we went to find it with Iggy.

Unfortunately, with there only being one cubicle, I insisted that he go first while I waited outside. Hearing him suddenly yell caused me to snap to attention and walk over to the door, asking "Are you alright in there?"

Joseph scrambled out of the cubicle as quickly as possible causing me to ask "What the hell are you doing in there?!" Joseph turned to me exclaiming "You do NOT want to go in there! LOOK!" 

I peered around the door to see what was inside. All there was was a small trough dug out of the dirt and a bucket of sand. Joseph explained in a panicked tone "The air was so arid it turned my crap to dust in an instant! And there's no toilet paper! Just that sand!"

Looking around, I could see he was right. I mean, I lived in an isolated temple in the snowy mountains. And even WE had toilet paper! I had heard that desert sand was sterile, but I had no clue how to make use of the bucket.

Instead I just facepalmed as Joseph continued to act like a child. "Oh for the love of... You know what, I'll wait until later. You had me worried for a moment, I thought a Stand user had snuck into the cubicle somehow!" 

Joseph shrugged "No, just the toilet. Seriously though, what's the point behind this shack? Might as well go behind a rock." I folded my arms, rolling my eyes as I said "Well I'm going to wait until we get to the hotel. I'm not going to lose my dignity." 

Joseph quickly said "Speak for yourself then." However, that's when he noticed something, or we both did. Something that caught both of our attention given how out of the ordinary it was.

A plug socket, attached to a rock.

I tilted my head in confusion. Joseph got right up close to it, inspecting the rock all over before saying "This makes no sense. Why is there an electrical outlet in the rock? I wonder what it's for? There's no electricity here."

I commented before warning "It's certainly strange. Don't get too close though, I don't like this." Joseph didn't listen though, instead saying "Relax Gyalzen, you're getting a bit paranoid. It might just be-. GYAAAA!"

He was cut off as he put his hand on the outlet. There was a sudden surge of electricity that knocked him back! I called out "Joseph!" He fell onto his back just as Avdol approached, asking "Mr Joestar, are you alright? It's time to leave."

Joseph stammered "I-I'm fine. I can't believe it was live." He turned to walk towards the others, muttering "This place is surreal." Before following them myself, I gave one last look to the steaming outlet. My eyes narrowing in suspicion. 

I felt on edge, the same way I did when we were being tailed by that Gladius. Looking around though, I saw no one. Instead, I was cut off by Joseph calling "Hey Gyalzen, hurry up already." I turned to them bowing "Apologies." 

As I walked over to them, I couldn't shake that feeling of unease...

??? POV

Hmm... Seems my little trap snared its first victim. All too easy, now I just had to wait for it to truly take effect. That monk though, Gyalzen, he was perceptive, he nearly became suspicious already. 

Taking my cigarette out, I spoke to myself. "But, you know what they say, curiosity killed the cat." With a snap of my fingers my Stand, Bastet, vanished in a puff.

Image of Bastet:

Power: E

Speed: E

Range: B

Stamina: A

Precision: E

Development Potential: E

I grinned as I watched them walk away, none the wiser to my presence. It didn't matter if the monk was suspicious of me. 

He would just have to become my target as well...

Gyalzen POV

Even though we could make it to Cairo within the next two days. We were all tired from all that had happened, according to Polnareff, the Stand users were getting stronger now. Because of this we deduced it would be best to spend the night in Luxor.

We'd stopped for a drink and planned. We knew we couldn't afford to get too cocky, paying for our drinks, we got up and left in search of our hotel. I was honestly looking forward to turning over for the night...

Timeskip...

The night came and went, before we knew it, it was morning. As soon as I'd woken up, I turned to look at the bed-side clock. I'd awoken at six in the morning. I was often an early riser to begin meditating. However this time I had another idea.

I was in unfamiliar territory. A country I'd never been to. True we'd be leaving in morning, but it'd be interesting to take a moment to look around at my surroundings. Getting up out of my bed, I made my way out of the room.

Before exploring though, I went down to the front desk and asked for something to write with. I was given an old napkin and a pen to which I wrote a quick message.

'Gone out to explore the local area. Will join you in an hour or two for breakfast'.

With that note left, the others knew not to worry and that if I didn't come back, it meant they knew to look for me. I wasn't going to be blind and careless though, I hadn't forgotten the run-in with that Gladius or the strange feeling I got yesterday.

In fact, that was actually partially why I was doing this as well. I was observing our surroundings, making sure an enemy didn't try to infiltrate the hotel in the morning. They hadn't come in the night, but I couldn't take any chances.

I slipped the note under Joseph's door so either he or the others would see it when they woke up and began my little exploration. The sun was already beginning to rise by this point so I wasn't wandering in the dark.

To be honest, I don't really know how long I'd been wandering for. Only about twenty minutes before I spotted a vendor obviously setting up their store for the day. Upon noticing me, they instantly spoke up, ushering me inside.

I decided to humour him, approaching the counter looking over the odds and ends he had on display. And it was in this, I'd allowed myself to become distracted. I placed my hand on the counter and in a sudden flash, a jolt of electricity shot through my hand!

My eyes widened as I recoiled backwards, just about avoiding falling over. The shock itself didn't surprise me, it was the source of it. Another power socket, this one facing upright on top of the counter. I'd been focused on the vendor's wares that I hadn't noticed it!

A snicker caught my attention followed by a voice speaking. "My my, are you alright old man?" I turned to the voice's source only to be met with a young woman. Clad in a red attire with a hood and sunglasses beneath it. 

The smirk on her face combined with the clearly false concern in her voice made me narrow my eyes at her. Her smirk only grew as she introduced "Where are my manners. The name's Mariah. That's all you need to know about me."

Image of Mariah:

Even though her introduction was vague, I began piecing things together. The outlet that shocked Joseph and the feeling of being watched back then. Alongside how her appearance. I asked "Was this your doing?"

Despite my suspicions, I didn't expect such an honest answer. "Ooh, well aren't you a perceptive one? Yes, this is my work, more specifically the work of my Stand, Bastet. I have to ask, what tipped you off?"

I explained "When you attacked Joseph, I had a feeling there was someone watching, that combined with you suddenly appearing here. In all honesty, it was pure suspicion. You simply confirmed those suspicions."

She muttered "Oh..." However I stepped forward demanding "What did you do? Surely there's more to your Stand than a simple shock." At this, the assassin Mariah's smirk returned, she tapped her nose saying.

"I've already said too much, I'll leave that for you to find out. Now that I know you've fallen into my trap, I'll take my leave. Bye old timer!" She turned on her heel and began to run away, however I wasn't about to let this slide.

I leapt into the air, easily landing in front of her and cutting her off, my Stand manifesting with a hiss of steam. For a moment, she seemed shocked as I said "If you are the user, then I will tell you once. Whatever your plan is, stop it, I'm giving you this chance to walk away."

Mariah's expression turned to a glare. "No, I don't see a reason to do that." She reached around and to my surprise, pulled out two knives. She held them in front of her face before throwing them at me!

Not a problem, I just raised my arm and swiped them aside. It's what followed that caught me off guard! For a brief moment, it seemed the knives were gravitating towards my arm. Only for a moment, like there was a weak pull, forcing them closer.

I raised an eyebrow muttering "What the..." However Mariah's laugh cut me off. "HAHAHAHA! Let that serve as a hint to the nightmare you'll soon witness." Looking up, I saw her now running away. She was fast, in my brief distraction, she'd already covered quite a bit of ground.

I took off after her, intent on finding out what her Stand was capable of. Chances are, if being shocked by the outlet was the beginning, then it was likely Joseph was also undergoing its effects.

I had to put an end to this...

Author's Note: That's it for this chapter, the start of this arc. I'm sorry for the long wait, it just took me a while to get this one written. I really hope you enjoyed and as always, thank you for reading.