Adventurous Anthros
Beasts, Roses and Vampires, Oh my (Season 1 Chapter 14)
Story by TheAnnonymousKat on Furaffinity
All characters belong to their respective owners, this fanfiction is a nonprofit project for fun, please support the official release of the respective series shown.

Kat's eyes were wide with wonder and anticipation, after walking for so long he could finally see the beast's castle in the distance, the design was like Kat had seen from the projection a while ago, after travelling to find the castle for so long seeing the actual castle with his own two eyes was euphoric to Kat. Panthro, Mercenary and Zero caught up with the eager hybrid and also got a good look at the castle, they were pleasantly surprised to find the castle within the distance after so much walking. Kat was about to run ahead of the group once more to get to the castle before them, but Panthro caught Kat's tail before he got very far,
"Easy there kitten, I'm just as excited to be here as you, but let's stay composed as we…. Hm?" Panthro seemed confused when he saw that Kat was slightly shivering and he had a look of discomfort on his face,
"What's wrong?" Panthro asked,
"M-my tail… it's sensitive…" Kat explained in an uncomfortable tone, Panthro quickly released Kat's tail and was blushing in embarrassment,
"Oh! I'm sorry I didn't know!" Panthro explained with an embarrassed tone. Zero turned to Mercenary,
"Say Mercenary, is your tail sensitive as well?" Zero asked, Mercenary pondered for a bit,
"Hmm… I dunno, can't say I've really tested that," Mercenary explained, Zero gained a mischievous expression on her face,
"Oh? If you want I can test it for you," Zero offered teasingly,
"Try it and I'll knock you on the head," Mercenary replied in annoyance.

After the four travellers made their way to the castle, Kat took a deep breath, gingerly approached the door, and knocked on it. After waiting a while there was still no response from the other end, so Kat tried knocking again, after waiting a while longer there was still no reply, Kat knocked once more, though surprisingly the group did hear a response this time, though it was less than pleasant,
"GET OUT!!!" a voice bellowed from within, the voice was somewhat deep and gravely and it roared with the warning so loudly Kat could feel his body somewhat vibrate. Panthro walked over to Kat and put a hand on his shoulder,
"Kat, I think we just got our answer, let me contact Winston and see if he doesn't have the gate hopper running by now," said Panthro,
"I guess this means we can start searching for my grimoire," Zero commented, Kat clenched his fist and took Panthro's hand off his shoulder,
"No! We've travelled for too long to be turned down like this! If he's gonna say no to us, he's gonna do it face to face!" Said Kat angrily, then to everyone's surprise he rammed his shoulder into the door so hard he forced it open.

Kat fell to the floor when he opened the doors though immediately started getting up and looking around, though his eyes widened from what he saw. Panthro promptly walked over to Kat and konked him on the head,
"Kat! Are you out of your blasted mind?! That's breaking and entering!" Said Panthro angrily, as Kat rubbed his head he pointed in front of him,
"I don't think I'm the only one to do that today…" Kat explained, Panthro was confused, but looked ahead to where Kat was pointing to see what Kat was talking about, his eyes widened upon seeing the scene. The foyer of the castle was a mess, there was broken shards of glass scattered everywhere, large claw marks in various places, and several broken pieces of wood which presumably came from the staircase as some of the handrail was destroyed. Zero and Mercenary entered after Kat and Panthro and looked around the trashed foyer,
"Looks like there was one hell of a fight," Mercenary commented, promptly after Mercenary's comment was a loud crash that sounded like it came from upstairs,
"I think it's still going on…" Zero commented. As Kat speculated what could have happened, his ears perked up when he heard weak moans of pain coming from an overturned piano. Kat quickly ran over to the piano and tried lifting the massive instrument, though he was struggling to get it off the ground. Panthro walked over to Kat, and lifted up the piano for him. Beneath the piano was four objects with anthropomorphic qualities to them, first was a candlestick man that held three candles, the candle in the center formed his face while the other two candles presumably were used as his arms. Then there was a small pendulum clock man whose face was on the face of the clock, with the hands making a mustache. Then there was a teapot lady and a little teacup boy, who looked like standard dishware save for their faces. When Panthro properly propped the piano up, the object people got up and dusted themselves off, the candlestick man introduced himself with a bow,,
"Merci catman! We were afraid that it was the end for us beneath that piano, though miraculously, it landed at such an angle that none of us were broken," the candlestick man explained. Kat knelt down so he was closer to eye level with the little household object people,
"I take it you lot live in this castle?" Kat inquired,
"Correct, more accurately we're servants in this castle, we're tasked with serving the master of this castle," the clock man explained. Zero approached Kat from behind,
"Your master is the beast right?" Zero inquired,
"Very perceptive dear, that being said our master seems to be in trouble right now so we should really rush to his aid immediately," the teapot lady explained,
"Just a sec, we're heroes!... Or at least half of us are, we can help you guys, but a brief explanation of what happened would help," Kat explained. The teapot lady seemed elated at Kat's explanation,
"Heroes! And not a moment too soon!... Very well, let's make introductions nice and prompt, I'm Mrs.Potts, this is my son chip, the candlestick is Lumiere, and the clock is Cogsworth," Mrs.Potts explained,
"I'm Panthro, this is Kat, the girl is Zero, and the White Tiger man is Mercenary," Panthro explained,
"So Mrs.Potts, what happened in the castle before we arrived?" Kat asked,
"It was terrible! An Intruder came into the castle and demanded something from the master, a book to be precise," Mrs.Potts explained,
"huh, sounds familiar," Kat thought, thinking back to his encounter with Zero,
"What does the intruder look like?" Mercenary asked,
"He has blonde hair, red eyes, and fangs!" Chip explained in a frightened tone,
"Blonde hair…" Kat repeated,
"Red eyes…" Zero repeated,
"Fangs…" Mercenary repeated, after pondering for a bit Kat shrugged,
"Nobody like that I can think of," said Kat casually,
"Dio Brando…" Panthro commented with a look of anger,
"You know him Panthro?" Kat asked,
"He's a member of the Syndicate of Malevolence," Panthro explained,
"Really? Man, why do we keep encountering syndicate members?" Kat asked rhetorically,
"Kat, what's the Syndicate of Malevolence?" Zero asked,
"I'll tell you some other time, for now how do we go about fighting Dio?" Kat asked Panthro,
"We don't," Panthro replied, his blunt response caused Kat's eyes to widen,
"What? Panthro, come on stop joking around," Kat replied,
"Kat you don't understand, Dio is out of our league, we have no way of beating him, hell, no one is even entirely sure what his power is," Panthro explained,
"Whatever! I've fought syndicate members before and I'm still alive today aren't I?" Kat replied,
"You can only have dumb luck for so long Kat, and luck isn't going to be enough to take on Dio," Panthro replied,
"So what? We're just going to leave the beast to his doom?" Kat asked in annoyance,
"Of course not, we'll help him however we can, but under no circumstances can you engage in combat with Dio, if you see him, get away from him asap!" Panthro explained,
"Speak for yourselves, I bet I could defeat Dio with ease, regardless of what his power might be," Zero replied,
"Wait Zero, you want to help us?" Kat asked,
"Of course, after all you still need to ask the beast to join your team before you make good on your promise to find my grimoire, and this Dio individual stands in the way of that, so it's only natural that I provide my assistance here," Zero explained, Mercenary sighed,
"And I guess I'll help too…" Mercenary replied reluctantly,
"You will?" Kat asked,
"Yeah, Zero hired me to help her out however I can, and in return when her magic ability gets stronger she'll break the curse on me and turn me into a human, so I can't really have her dying on me," Mercenary explained, Panthro turned towards the Beast's servants,
"Well alright then, you four get to safety, we'll help your master," Panthro instructed,
"I think I heard the sounds coming from upstairs," Kat explained,
"Then upstairs we go," Zero replied.

After making their way upstairs the group could hear more crashes and roars, after following where the sounds were coming from for a while, the four of them arrived at a door down one of the hallways. Kat stood in front of the door, and he was about to gingerly open it a bit to peek inside, but suddenly it was forced open, and someone large and furry came out and tackled Kat to the ground. In the moment of confusion Panthro got out his nunchuk, Mercenary got out his sword, and Zero prepared to use a spell, but the three of them hesitated to attack when they saw who was on top of Kat. Kat opened his eyes to see the beast was on top of him with his fangs barred, he looked just like how he did in the hologram, horns, fangs, fur and all. Kat felt a mix of joy and fear, he was happy to finally meet the beast after so much travelling, but he would have preferred a friendlier greeting. When the beast got a good look at Kat his eyes widened and he calmed down,
"Oh!... I'm sorry, I thought you were Dio…" The beast explained with his deep gravelly voice, though after pondering for a moment, he bared his fangs again,
"Are you working with Dio?!" The beast demanded to know in a furious voice,
"No! We're here to help you, please, get off my friend," Panthro requested, the beast turned his head to Panthro, and examined him, Zero and Mercenary for a bit before he got off Kat, carefully helped him back to his feet, and dusted him off with his large clawed hands,
"I'm sorry, I could've sworn Dio had just went out the door," the beast explained, Kat raised a brow,
"What? But I didn't see anyone go out this door besides you…" Kat explained,
"Neither did I," Zero added,
"I don't think any of us did," Mercenary replied, the beast was surprised by the responses he heard,
"That can't be! There's no other way out of that room!" The beast explained, Panthro crossed his arms and looked away in contemplation,
"That's the mysterious nature of Dio's ability, he's done many impossible things within ridiculously short amounts of time," Panthro explained,
"I must find him! He's trying to take something important to me!" the beast explained,
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to searching!" Said Kat as he was about to take off from the group, but Panthro stopped him once again by grabbing his tail,
"P-Panthro!" Kat exclaimed, blushing, Panthro's eyes widened when he remembered how sensitive Kat's tail was, and sheepishly released it,
"Sorry… but you shouldn't go running around the castle blindly, especially since you don't know the layout, and Dio could be anywhere," Panthro explained. Suddenly a woman's scream could be heard from elsewhere in the castle,
"Belle!" Beast exclaimed before rushing to the direction the sound came from, without saying a word, the rest of the group followed him.

After a bit of running Beast stopped at a door, and forced it open, the rest of the group came to a stop behind him and within the room, they saw a cloaked figure with his back towards them, though he seemed to be holding something glowing, as well as a woman with brown hair that was fixed into a ponytail with a blue ribbon, and a white and blue outfit, she seemed to be unconscious in the cloaked figure's arms. Upon seeing the woman being held by the cloaked figure the beast roared-
"BELLE!!!", The figure turned around upon hearing the beast, as everyone guessed it was Dio Brando wearing the cloak, as he was described earlier he had messy blond hair, red eyes, and sharp fangs, in his arms he carried the unconscious woman named Belle, with a glowing rose in a glass container resting atop her chest. Dio smiled when he saw the beast with the rest of the group,
"Ah, it's good to see you again beast, and I see you brought some friends with you this time," Dio commented in a maliciously delighted tone,
"Dio! Release Belle and my rose this instant and leave my castle!" The beast demanded, brandishing his claws,
"You're not really in a position to be bossing me around now are you?" Dio asked mockingly, causing the beast to growl furiously. Dio looked down at the unconscious Belle and the rose in his arms,
"The one you love the most, and the rose that keeps you alive, I wonder which is more important to you…" Dio commented, Kat's eyes widened when he noticed something about Belle,
"Hey! What's that thing in Belle's forehead?" Kat asked, everyone but Dio looked at Kat then Belle in confusion, while a smile spread across Dio's face,
"Very perceptive…" said Dio casually,
"Wait, What IS in her forehead?! What did you do to her?!" The beast demanded furiously. Dio pointed at a small flesh colored growth the size of a penny on the area on Belle's head between her forehead and hairline, when the rest of the group saw it they were quite surprised and disgusted,
"Unsettling isn't it? This is a flesh bud, a tiny piece of my flesh that I've implanted into her brain, when she wakes up I'll have full control over her," Dio explained with a smile, the Beast's eyes widened at Dio's explanation,
"You monster! After I tear you to shreds I'll just take it out!" the beast explained,
"It's not that simple I'm afraid, if you aren't careful when removing one of my flesh buds you can end up destroying the brain," Dio explained, everyone was unsettled upon learning about the nature of the flesh bud,
"Don't worry, I have a deal for you, I'll remove the flesh bud for you if you allow me to take your rose," Dio proposed, the beast pondered for a bit before dark energy started raging around Kat, as did magic aura with the two energy rings around Zero. Panthro was worried his friend was about to do something foolish,
"Kat! Remember what I said! We can't fight Dio!" Panthro instructed,
"Your leader is right, I'm way out of your league," said Dio,
"I don't care! I'm not just about to stand by while this guy treats people like filth!" Kat replied angrily,
"But you are filth to me, someone with my power was born to rule the world, thus I am above humanity, and insects like you and the rest of your group are nothing to me!" Dio explained with a grin,
"Kat isn't alone! I am the powerful witch Zero, and I think you'll find I'm much more powerful than any run-of-the-mill human," Zero explained,
"Oh I'm sure, but regardless of how strong you think you are, I guarantee that neither you nor the feline will even be able to touch me," Dio replied mockingly. The first one to make a move was the beast, he lunged at Dio, though almost as soon as he did he was sent flying back, and ended up crashing into Mercenary behind him. Kat was surprised to see the beast flung back as he didn't even see the moment that Dio hit him. Kat shook his head, and moved at an extreme speed to punch Dio, though he found that Dio had moved out of the way so quickly that Kat hadn't even seen him move, though before Kat had a moment to think about it, he felt a large fist come into contact with his stomach. The fist impacted so hard that Kat coughed up blood and flew backwards, fortunately Panthro was kind enough to catch him,
"Kat! Are you ok?!" Panthro asked, Kat held his stomach,
"I'll live…" Kat replied, Panthro sighed,
"Do you see now why I think it's a bad idea to fight him? I don't know how he does it, but not even your speed is enough to land a hit on him," Panthro explained,
"Try this on for size!" Said Zero before she shot a magical lightning bolt at Dio, who once again moved out of the way within a split second, though this time he appeared behind Panthro, causing much surprise within the group,
"The cat and the girl, they amuse me, I'll hold off on taking something from you for now, how about we go somewhere with a bit more room so we can battle, then I'll have you make your decision," Dio explained before he started casually walking away from the group. Just as the beast was about to lunge at Dio again, Dio raised a hand with the tips of his middle finger and thumb together,
"Oh, and just to make things interesting…" said Dio before he snapped his fingers, immediately after, a few wolves crashed through the window in the room he left. The wolves looked rabid,
"Here are some foot soldiers to give you a warm up, would you believe me if I told you these canines weren't too far from the castle? Crazy to think about right?" Dio asked before giving a sinister chuckle. Kat looked to Dio, only to find he wasn't there anymore, though he did see Zero run off to find him,
"Mercenary, I'll leave the wolves to you! That man is mine!" Said Zero as she ran, Mercenary responded by taking out his sword
"Don't die, I still need you to turn me into a human," Mercenary explained,
"Zero wait! You don't know what he's capable of, you shouldn't fight him alone!" Kat warned, but Zero ignored him and kept running. After pondering for a bit, Panthro sighed,
"Kat, go ahead and fight Dio," Panthro instructed,
"Huh? But you said-" Kat tried replying but was cut off,
"I know what I said, though I thought about it, and you've fought members of the syndicate before and lived, with how lucky you are maybe you can pull off a miracle… just… don't die, I don't want to have to search for a new partner," Panthro explained, Kat nodded then ran in the direction Zero went. Panthro took out his nunchuk and swung it around,
"We'll meet up with you after we take care of these guys," Panthro explained without turning towards Kat, the beast growled and readied his claws, Mercenary looked at him,
"You aren't going after Dio?" Mercenary asked,
"As much as I want to save Belle, I know that she wouldn't want me to leave these things running around my castle so they can hurt my friends," the beast explained, before the three muscular beast men began their fight against the wolves.

Kat quickly ran all over the large castle, checking every room he came across, though the sounds of some nearby explosions led Kat in the right direction, and before long he found himself opening a pair of doors, which led to a massive room with plenty of open space, Kat recognized this room as the ballroom. Kat's heart skipped a beat when he saw Dio in the middle of the room, and Zero lying unconscious against the wall on the opposite side of the room,
"Zero!" Kat called out in concern,
"Relax, she isn't dead, I decided to spare her because I can see how great her powers are, she would make an amazing asset to the Syndicate… though I must say, I'm disappointed, I thought she would put up a better fight," Dio explained. Kat couldn't believe what he saw, he couldn't have been running around the castle for more than five minutes before arriving at the ballroom, and yet despite his own battle with Zero lasting longer than that, Dio's battle with her lasted only half as long. Kat saw that Belle was also resting in the back of the ballroom along with the glowing rose, and clenched his fist,
"Dio, I won't let you take Belle, nor Zero!" Said Kat angrily as dark energy flowed around him violently,
"I'd like to see you try and stop me, I guarantee you won't last more than a minute against me!" Dio replied. Kat ran towards Dio as he took a kunai from a dark vortex, though when he got close he felt a large fist slam into his stomach once again, and sent him flying back. As Kat flew he grabbed the ground to slow himself until he came to a stop. Kat then looked at Dio, the hybrid could've sworn that Dio never raised a hand when he was running towards him,
'That's weird, what's going on here?' Kat wondered, Kat then got the idea to use his Eyes of a Thief technique, when he did his eyes widened in surprise. Floating beside Dio was a large muscular humanoid being, it had red eyes, a yellow headpiece that covered its face to below where its nose would be, with strange segmented cables protruding from the bottom of the headpiece, on its back were two cylinders that looked reminiscent of oxygen tanks a diver would wear, which were connected to puffy straps that ran over its shoulder and connected to its belt, similar to overalls, it seemed to have golden armor on from its chest to its feet, excluding the sides of its chest, its biceps, and its fingers, which displayed the being's dark grey skin, and on its chin, belt, knees and groin were small green heart-shaped emblems. Kat was surprised to see the being as he had never seen anything like it, Kat pointed towards it,
"What is that thing?" Kat asked, a smile spread across Dio's face,
"So you can see my stand, you must be a stand user then!" Dio replied,
"A what? What's a stand?!" Kat asked,
"You don't know?... Hm… perhaps you aren't a user…" Dio commented in contemplation,
"Hey don't ignore me!" Kat replied angrily,
"Very well, if you must know, a stand is the manifestation of one's fighting spirit, they can take many different shapes and possess different abilities depending on the user, so it only makes sense that I inherited a stand with the strongest ability!", Dio explained with a cackle,
"What ability?" Kat asked,
"I'll leave you to try and figure that out," Dio replied, Kat then summoned a dark vortex next to him, and reached his hand within it,
"Y'know what? I'll defeat you without even knowing your ability, let's see how you like flashbangs!" Said Kat before he threw what he grabbed from his vortex, though it wasn't a flashbang grenade, but rather a strange looking ceramic container that scattered a grey, powdery substance in the middle of the ballroom floor upon being shattered. Kat's jaw dropped when he saw the container shatter, he gingerly picked up one of the shards near his foot and examined it,
"I hope that wasn't an urn…" Kat thought out loud, the piece of glazed ceramic was the size of his palm, and flipping it around revealed a description carved into it that read-
"Dust collecting vase," Kat sighed in relief upon reading it,
"Oh ok, that's slightly less gross… I guess vases can be used as weapons," Kat thought aloud. Dio gave an amused laugh,
"You aren't very strong but you're certainly amusing feline," said Dio, Kat responded by charging in Dio's direction, but also leaving some space between them. Then when Kat got close, while still keeping a distance he lunged forward so that he was parallel to Dio while off the ground, though not a moment later Kat suddenly felt the being with the golden armor's fist against his stomach before he was sent flying, this time going behind Dio. Kat landed with a skid, and Dio turned around to face him while he had a big smile on his face,
"Fool! You thought you could land a hit on me? You have no hope of defeating me, you don't even know the power of my stand!" Dio explained mockingly, a smile spread across Kat's face,
"Is it stopping time?" Kat asked, Dio's eyes then widened upon hearing Kat's question,
"What? How could you have figured that out?" Dio asked in confusion, Kat pointed at the floor where Dio was standing,
"Look at your feet," Kat instructed, Dio looked at his feet and realized that he had left footprints on the dust covered floor,
"It'd be one thing if you lunged toward me to hit me, or even ran, though by the looks of it the footprints you casually walked towards me, spreading dust on the floor admittedly wasn't my initial plan, but it helped me piece things together in the long run," Kat explained, Dio chuckled a bit and clapped his hands a few times,
"Ok then, I'll give you a little credit, though even knowing my stand's ability, there is no way you can counter The World!" Dio replied,
"The World?" Kat inquired in confusion,
"That's my stand's name," Dio explained,
"Oh, well I actually figured out weaknesses regarding The World," Kat explained,
"What? Impossible!" Dio replied in disbelief,
"I'm willing to bet that The World can't move too far from you, since you aren't using it to attack from that distance, and your timestoping ability has both a limit to how long you can stop time, and a cool down, considering there are instances where time isn't stopped" Kat explained, Dio tilted his head,
"Cool down?" Dio inquired,
"It's like a term for video games where you have to wait a bit after using an item or ability before you can use it again," Kat explained,
"I see, I must say you're quite perceptive, though I'm curious, even knowing the limitations of my stand how would you go about fighting it?" Dio asked. Kat's dark energy spiked around him violently,
"I wanted to use this technique sooner but I was afraid of hitting Belle or Zero, thankfully you hit me behind you," Kat explained as a large dark vortex opened behind him, this one was much larger than other vortexes he used, the diameter of the opening was twice as big as Kat's height,
"Oh? This should be fun," Dio commented,
"It's been a minute since I've used this technique, try countering this without your time stop! KUNAI STORM!!" Kat announced before countless kunai flew out of the vortex and towards Dio at a blinding speed, though Dio simply smiled,
"Fool! I don't even need my time stop to counter an attack like this, It's Useless!!" Said Dio before The World appeared next to him and deflected the closest kunai with its fist, before proceeding to hit the rest of the kunai coming towards Dio with more lightning fast punches, all while Dio yelled-
"MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!!" before Kat knew it, his barrage of kunais had been deflected and on the floor in a matter of seconds. Dio laughed maniacally as he picked up one of the kunai off the ground,
"It's a shame you didn't know, stands like The World are fast enough to deflect bullets!" Dio explained,
'really? But… most of my weapons fire bullets!' Kat thought as he was now unsure of what to do,
"Let's see you dodge this! ZA WARUDO!!" said Dio before time stopped around him, Dio then threw Kat's kunai at Kat, though given the strange nature of Dio's world of stopped time the kunai slowed down and stopped when it was a foot away from Kat, it was aimed right for his neck, similar to someone Dio tried killing a long time ago. Dio smiled as he knew as soon as time resumed the kunai would continue on its path, and stab the hybrid in the neck,
"It's a shame, I believe you did indeed last a full minute against me, but it was all for naught, no one can defeat The World… and now, the flow of time returns to normal," said Dio before time resumed. To both Dio and Kat's surprise, within a split second after the flow of time was restored, someone with an intimidating voice cried out-
"STAR FINGER!!" Right as the kunai aimed at Kat's throat was deflected away. Kat used his eyes of a thief technique to see what looked like two long lavender colored fingers near his neck. Before Kat even had a moment to wonder about the fingers, he saw them retract to their owner who was only a few meters away from him to his side. On Kat's side stood two individuals Kat hadn't noticed enter the ballroom, both were muscular with broad shoulders, but one clearly looked human while the other had bizarre qualities to it that made it look inhuman. The human was a man wearing a dark overcoat with golden lines accenting the opening of the coat and the collar, which had two star buttons on it as well as one within it, the left side of his collar had a small golden chain attached to it with a hook connected to the end, on the overcoat's sleeves were two gold colored bands with small green star symbols on them, running along the sides of the sleeves was a white strip with the word "JOJO" implemented repeatedly into it in green letters, at the end of the strips were green stars with golden outlines, the man had green eyes and wore a serious expression, on top of his head he had a black hat that had a large green star with golden lines outlining it over the main part, as well as a small gold square with a palm symbol on it, though oddly enough it almost appeared as though the back of the man's hat blended with his dark hair, under his overcoat he wore a white shirt with a the same green star that was on the overcoat and hat in the center, and a pair of greenish yellow pants with a design that looked like a black chain link fence going all around it save for some areas of the pants where it was broken up. Floating beside the man was a purple being with long flowing dark hair, that covered its forehead and the front side of its nose, within its hair was what looked like a golden headpiece that was separated into three pieces, areas under the being's eyes, the outer parts of its face, it's chin and its ears were a darker shade of purple, it had narrow eyes that helped emphasize its fierce expression, it had a red scarf around its neck, metallic shoulder pads over its shoulders, black fingerless gloves that reached up to the being's forearms that had several metal studs on the back of its palms arranged in a pyramid shape, covering it's groin was a white loincloth that was held up by metal fasteners, golden metallic knee pads, a black pair of boots, and running over its pecs to its loincloth and the sides of its thighs were golden lines that zigzagged in a curvy way. Dio's eyes widened upon seeing the two,
"Jotaro?! What are you doing here?!" Dio demanded,
"Couldn't I ask you the same thing? Kinda thought you were dead," the man apparently named Jotaro commented,
"Fool! It's impossible to keep the strongest stand user of all time down for good," Dio replied as a bright yellow aura surrounded him and his stand,
"You? The strongest? Nah, I just need to be more thorough kicking your ass this time," said Jotaro as a bright purple aura surrounded him and what Kat presumed was his stand. Kat was confused as to what was going on, though he figured since the man named Jotaro saved him from getting impaled through the neck by his own kunai it was safe to assume that he was on his side, at least for now. Kat turned towards Jotaro and his stand,
"Wait! Jotaro was it? Be careful! He can stop time!" Kat warned,
"Yeah I know, don't worry, so can I," Jotaro explained casually without turning to face Kat, before Kat even had a chance to inquire Jotaro cried out-
"Star Platinum-!!" Followed by both he and Dio crying out-
ZA WARUDO!!" simultaneously. As the colors around them became distorted it was evidence that time came to a stand still. Jotaro and Dio casually walked closer to each other before their respective stands began making rapid punches towards each other, their fists flew at a lightning speed and seemed to appear in several positions at once. As Jotaro's stand punched he kept yelling-
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA~!!" as Dio yelled-
"MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA~!!" As he did earlier. The power struggle went on for just a bit before Jotaro's stand overpowered The World landed a punch on its chest that hit so hard it sent both it and Dio back a bit. Dio held his own chest in the same area where his stand got hurt as Jotaro casually walked towards him,
"Remember when I kicked your ass in Egypt? Well I've gotten way stronger since then, how do you plan to beat me?" Jotaro asked, Dio's eyes glanced around the ballroom before he saw that next to him was a sizable shard from the vase that Kat shattered earlier, after pondering for a bit, Dio came up with an idea,
"For now? I don't, let's postpone our fight, then when I get stronger, we'll pick up where we left off," Dio explained as he skillfully threw the shard at Kat. As the flow of time finally returned to normal Jotaro swiftly used his stand to deflect the shard that was flying towards Kat, though Dio took the time that Jotaro was distracted to quickly run over to the two unconscious girls and the rose, pick up Zero, and abscond. When Jotaro realized that Dio had gotten away he sighed,
"Good grief…" said Jotaro in annoyance, Kat looked around the room with a look of confusion on his face,
"What happened?!" Kat asked,
"Dio got away," Jotaro replied without turning to face Kat. Upon seeing that Zero was no longer laying beside Belle and the rose Kat quickly ran over to Belle's side,
"Zero! Where's Zero?!" Kat asked in concern,
Jotaro casually walked over to his side,
"Dio took her with him when he left," Jotaro explained, Kat's heart sank upon hearing Jotaro's explanation,
"N-No! That can't be! I promised myself I wouldn't let him take her or Belle…" Kat explained, his tone had a mix of sadness and frustration, Jotaro placed a hand on Kat's shoulder,
"Hey don't worry about it, sometimes things happen that are out of our control, Dio is a tough person for anyone to fight, you did everything you could," Jotaro explained,
"Thanks… Jotaro right?" Kat asked, Jotaro nodded,
"I heard Dio call you by your name earlier, you can call me Kat," Kat explained,
"Nice to meet you Kat, are there any valuable artifacts in this castle?" Jotaro asked, Kat shrugged,
"I dunno, I don't live here… oh wait! There's that rose right there," Kat replied pointing to the glowing rose in the glass container,
"Right, the rose that's connected to the beast, truth be told I don't think Dio was ever after that," Jotaro explained, Kat tilted his head,
"Huh? But it looked like he was…" Kat commented,
"I'm willing to bet that's how he wanted it to look," Jotaro replied,
"How can you be so sure?" Kat asked,
"I know Dio, he wouldn't just steal something for the hell of it, he would only steal something if it can benefit him in some way, can't think of any way that rose would benefit him" Jotaro explained,
"But… he also tried taking Belle," Kat explained,
"The girl? Well her I can understand, Dio could've drank her blood, to nourish himself" Jotaro explained casually, Kat's eyes widened,
"Drank her blood?! What is he a vampire?!" Kat asked in disbelief,
"Yes," Jotaro replied casually,
"Oh, that would explain why he was wearing that cloak… wait! Is he gonna bite Zero and turn her into a vampire?!" Kat asked in concern,
"Possibly not, though women are little more than food to Dio, there have been women he's encountered that he's avoided killing or turning, you'd be surprised to learn that Dio even has a few kids," Jotaro explained. Part of Kat thought about what Dio's children would look like, while another part of him worried about what he would do with Zero,
"By the way, it'd be a bad idea to leave that flesh bud in Belle's forehead," Jotaro explained, Kat's ears perked up,
"Belle! I almost forgot!!" Said Kat as he knelt by her side and held her head off the ground with one arm around her back,
"What are you going to do?" Jotaro asked,
"What do you think? I'm taking the bud out of her head!" Kat explained,
"Wait, maybe you should let me take care of that, I've dealt with them before, they take an insane amount of precision and concentration to take out, not to mention as you take it out tendrils are going to come out of the bud, enter your body and slither under your skin until it gets to your brain," Jotaro explained, Kat shivered a bit at the thought,
"Sh-Shut up! Stop making me nervous!" Said Kat,
"I'm being honest with you!" Jotaro replied, Kat readied his free arm,
"I got this! I failed to protect Zero, I will save Belle!!" Said Kat confidently. Before Kat could move his other hand to start extracting the flesh bud, his clover shaped gemstone started glowing and he felt the same sensation he felt with Zero at the forest clearing welling up within his body. Kat clenched his eyes closed, and immediately reopened them to reveal they were glowing so brightly that his pupils and irises aren't visible. As Jotaro simply observed in confusion, Kat could see the world around him dissolve to white.

Kat opened his eyes to find he was once again on a platform that was in the middle of a dark abyss, like the platform he saw Zero on, the platform he stood on was like a large cylinder, though unlike Zero's platform, the platform he stood on was completely black and lacked any sort of elegant design. Kat noticed a strange individual resembling Dio stood in the center of the platform, though his skin was very pale, and apart from a green headband with a heart symbol in the center of it, he was completely naked, though thankfully he didn't appear to have any genitals, his groin area was smooth, as if he was a Ken doll. Kat couldn't help but stare at the strange individual,
"Who are you?" Kat asked, the pale individual smiled before he spoke,
"I am but a small piece of Dio, and I plan on taking over this woman's mind," the pale individual explained, Kat's eyes widened,
"Wait… you're the flesh bud?" Kat asked,
"Yes," the man replied, Kat pondered for a bit,
'must be like a manifestation of the flesh bud being projected to wherever this place is,' Kat thought before he got out a kunai,
"So when I eliminate you here, you'll be removed from Belle?" Kat asked, the individual laughed,
"You mean if you can eliminate me… but yes, that's the gist of it," the individual replied, Kat furrowed his brow and readied himself to fight,
"Let's go then," said Kat before he lunged at the individual. The fight between Kat and the individual was tense as the individual kept trying to slash at Kat with his sharp fingernails, though Kat managed to avoid all of his attacks and counter with his sharp speed and reflexes. It wasn't too long before Kat outmaneuvered the individual, and stabbed him in the neck with his kunai, despite the individual looking like Dio, he wasn't nearly as fast or powerful as the vampire. Kat backed away as the individual touched the kunai in his neck, and chuckled,
"What's so funny?" Kat asked,
"You got me feline, but don't get cocky, I only possess a mere fraction of the true Dio's strength," the individual explained,
"Yeah? Well just you wait, one day I'm going to become so powerful that I'll take down everyone in the Syndicate!" Kat claimed, the individual weakly laughed as his body began to disintegrate,
"You don't give up, I like that, be sure to get stronger for the next time you meet the real Dio," the individual instructed before he completed dissolved into nothing.

From Jotaro's perspective he saw that Kat was still holding Belle with in his arms while his eyes glowed and gemstone glowed, though the flesh bud in Belle's forehead seemed to dissolve away within moments. After pondering for a bit, Jotaro gave a nod of approval,
"Nice job Kat, not sure what you did but it looks like you handled the issue," said Jotaro before he started walking away,
"I'd love to stay and chat, but I have things I need to do, hopefully our paths will cross again," Jotaro added as he made his way out of the castle.

Back in the dark abyss with Kat, the hybrid witnesses the platform beneath him change, the layer of blackness broke away and flew off like leaves to reveal the true appearance of the platform. Similar to the platform he met Zero on, the platform Kat currently stood on looked like it was designed with stained glass, the part of the design that stood out was an image of Belle in the center, though unlike the clothes Kat saw her in earlier she was wearing an exquisite yellow ball gown, and behind her was a darkened image of the Beast to his shoulders, behind Belle and connecting to the top edge of the platform was a large circle with smaller circles arranged within it, similar to the cylinder of a six shooter, within the smaller circles were the servants of the castle Kat had met earlier, Mrs.Potts, Cogsworth, an image of the rose within the glass container, Lumiere, and Chip, with a floral design in the center circle, though Mrs.Potts and Chip were somewhat obscured by Belle and Beast in the foreground of the design, and finally a ring of circles went around the rest of the platform, within the circles from the top left to the bottom center was an image of a spoon and fork, a wine glass, a feather duster, a sort of teapot, a footrest, an image of a sun, a small bird with a flower within its beak, and in the bottom center circle were a few fallen leaves, after that the design repeats on the right side that makes it symmetrical with the left, though a strange detail Kat noticed was that Belle and the servants had their eyes closed, while the beast's eyes were wide opened, Kat wondered what it meant. While Kat admired the design of the platform he heard a female behind him,
"Do you like my station?" The woman asked, Kat turned around to see Belle, though she was wearing the yellow ball gown that she wore in the platform's design, Kat pondered from Belle's question,
"Station?... Come to think of Zero called her platform a station too…" Kat explained,
"Well I should hope so, the place you're in now is called a Station of Awakening, a reflection of myself, my heart, and the world I come from" Belle explained,
"But, why did I end up here?" Kat asked, Belle shrugged,
"I can't say for sure, though if I had to guess, I'd say your kind heart and strong desire to help people allowed you to come here, speaking of, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for removing the flesh bud from me, I can only imagine what would happen to me if that disgusting thing was left in my forehead, as a reward, I shall grant you a new ability that will help you on your adventures," Belle explained as the world around them dissolved to white.

Kat opened his eyes to find he was once again in the castle, though it was night time, and he was within a room he hadn't remembered looking in when he was searching for Dio earlier, also within the room was Belle and the Beast, Belle wore her same yellow ball gown Kat had just seen her in, while the beast wore a fancy blue dress uniform, behind them the glowing rose within the glass container sat near the window. The beast seemed happy, and he held a hand mirror within his large clawed hands, which he promptly offered to Belle,
"This mirror will show you anything, anything you wish to see," the beast explained, Belle seemed skeptical as she accepted the mirror from him, the mirror seemed so much larger in her hands,
"I'd like to see my father… please," Belle informed the mirror politely, suddenly a green glow emanated from the front of the mirror, as small and thin strands of green electricity surged around it. Kat moved closer to Belle and looked over her shoulder to see a small yet portly old man with thin white hair and a mustache wearing a brown cloak being displayed on the mirror. The world around Kat once again dissolved to white, and Kat was back at Belle's station, Belle looked at Kat with a smile, but before Kat could ask her about what he saw, he could feel an odd feeling resonating through his body, a bright green aura surrounded Kat as he was somewhat lifted off the ground and cradled by an invisible force, Kat's eyes glowed brightly as the feeling grew,
"Similar to your Eyes of a thief technique, this ability will grant you the ability to see things you wouldn't be able to see with your normal vision, not unlike the magic mirror I used long ago, you can use this ability to see anything within the same world as you, whether it's a person or an object, however you can only use this ability once per day, this ability is called "Mirror Vision!"" Belle explained, Kat carefully landed on his feet as his eyes stopped glowing, he was amazed by what he heard,
"Really?! That's awesome, I know what the first thing I want to look for with Mirror Vision is!" Kat explained,
"You want to look for the girl, don't you?" Belle presumed,
"Y-yeah," Kat replied,
"I'm afraid it won't work, both Zero and Dio have left this world, you won't be able to see her with Mirror Vision," Belle explained,
"Oh…" Kat replied in a disappointed tone,
"Is there perhaps something else you'd like to find?" Belle asked. Kat pondered for a bit, he thought about something he might have lost, though after a minute, Zero's conversation with him echoed in his mind,
"Promise me that if something happens to me, you'll keep looking for my grimoire, and you'll keep it safe," upon remembering Zero's words, Kat knew what to do. Kat closed his eyes, put his pointer and middle fingers from each hand on the respective temple, and began to concentrate,
"Mirror, if Zero's grimoire happens to be in this world, show it to me!" Kat requested, then a moment later Kat opened his eyes to reveal they were glowing with a bright green aura, while Kat could see an image of Zero's grimoire within his mind, of all the worlds the book could have ended up, it happened to be in the same world Kat was currently in, as Kat saw where the book was, the world around him once again dissolved to white.

Kat slowly opened his eyes to see his ally Panthro, along with Mercenary, and the inhabitants of the castle, The Beast, Mrs.Potts, Cogsworth, Lumiere, and Chip standing around him in a circle as he held the unconscious Belle in his arms, everyone had a confused look on their face. Panthro was the first to speak up,
"Kat, what were you doing buddy?" Panthro asked, Kat tilted his head,
"What do you mean?" Kat asked,
"You were just holding Belle with your eyes and gemstone glowing," Panthro explained,
"Ah, that, I'm not too sure actually," Kat responded, immediately after Kat's response, Belle's eyes fluttered open as she rubbed her head, upon seeing Belle regain consciousness The Beast carefully took her from Kat's arms and held her in his own, while Kat stood up, and joined Panthro's side,
"Belle? ...Are you ok?" The Beast asked in a concerned tone, it was surprising to see such a gentle and concerned expression from someone who was furious and cold minutes earlier. Before responding to the Beast, Belle checked her surroundings,
"Yes, I'm alright… but Adam… what happened? Who are those three?" Belle asked, referring to Kat, Panthro and Mercenary. The Beast glanced at the three guests to the castle for a moment before returning his gaze to Belle within his arms,
"I don't know, but they helped us, so I trust them," Beast explained before he got a good look at Belle’s forehead, and gently ran his large fingers over it,
“The flesh bud… it’s gone” Beast commented in a quiet relieved tone,
“Flesh bud? What do you mean?” Belle inquired, Panthro turned towards Kat,
“Kat, did you remove the flesh bud?” Panthro inquired,
“Yeah,” Kat replied,
“How did you manage that?” Panthro asked, Kat seemed hesitant to answer,
“You wouldn’t believe me…” Kat commented rubbing the back of his head,
“Try me,” Panthro replied. As Kat looked Panthro in his dual colored eyes he could see his partner spoke with a genuine tone, Kat sighed, and began to tell the group of what all had happened to him after he parted from them.

A few minutes had gone by as Kat told his allies about everything, from his fight with Dio, to meeting Jotaro, to Dio getting away with Zero, and even Belle’s station of awakening, though he did forget to mention the part where he received the Mirror Vision,
“Not long after that I regained consciousness in the ballroom” Kat explained, concluding his story. Panthro pondered for a bit after hearing Kat’s story,
“I see… well, that would explain why your eyes were glowing like that,” Panthro commented,
“So Zero got captured… dammit,” Mercenary commented, suppressing his anger,
“I’m sorry Mercenary,” Kat replied, his feline ears drooped in shame,
“Nah, I’m her bodyguard, her getting captured is on me, it’s alright though, she’s a tough girl, she’ll be able to survive on her own for awhile,” Mercenary explained, The Beast carefully helped Belle back to her feet, then turned his attention towards his guests,
“You three, thank you so much, had it not been for you, I don’t know what would’ve happened to Belle, my friends, or my rose, if there’s ever anything I can do for you, just let me know,” The Beast explained,
“There uh, actually is something… two things actually,” Kat explained, Panthro turned towards Kat and raised a brow,
“Two things? What’s the other thing? It better not be asking for treasure,” Panthro commented, Kat simply gave a sheepish smile,
“Heh, ignore him, the second thing isn’t that…” Kat explained,
“Oh, well… what are the two things?” The Beast asked. Kat’s heart pounded in his chest with anticipation, after travelling for so long, he was finally going to do what he set out to do, and ask Beast the question,
“Well you see, I’m a member of a hero group, and Panthro here is our leader, we go around helping people and solving problems, and uh…” Kat said trailing off. Kat looked around the room, and averted everyone’s gaze, his skin felt hotter than normal, and he was finding it hard to speak, Panthro was surprised to see Kat in such a timid state. After just a bit of hesitation Kat’s gaze returned to the Beast, as he continued his proposal,
“We made our way to your castle because we feel as though with your uh… good nature, and uh… impressive strength, you’d make a nice addition to our team, so we were wondering if uh… you’d be uh……” said Kat as he kept trailing off, the beast smiled,
“Sure” the Beast replied, Kat’s ears perked up, and he felt a warmth spreading through his body,
“Really?! Uh- I mean uh… you should know that it can be dangerous, and there’s a good chance you’ll run into more villains like Dio,” Kat explained,
“I know, that’s why I want to join, I want to help people the same way you all helped me in my time of need today, it also gives me a chance to encounter Dio again, and make him pay for what he’s done… besides, how could I deny helping you after you saved Belle?” The Beast asked rhetorically. Kat was elated from Beast’s response, though after just a bit of thought Mercenary chimed in,
“Actually Kat, I’d like to join your team too,” Mercenary explained, Kat was nearly overwhelmed with surprise and wonder upon hearing Mercenary’s offer,
“Y-you do?” Kat asked, Mercenary nodded,
“Yeah, at least temporarily, until I get Zero back, I’ve never dealt with time-stopping vampires in all my journeys, sticking with you guys might be a good idea,” Mercenary explained,
“Panthro, can we add Mercenary to the team too?!” Kat asked excitedly,
“Do you think we can try some more of your cooking?” Panthro asked,
“Sure,” Mercenary replied, Panthro smiled,
“Then yeah, you can join us, even if it is temporarily, that being said we’ll need to get you two registered,” Panthro explained. Kat nearly felt like jumping for joy, not only had his journey with Panthro paid off, as he managed to recruit The Beast, but he also managed to recruit Mercenary, whom he had grown to like despite only travelling with for less than a full day. The Beast nodded in response to Panthro’s explanation,
“Sounds good, now then, Kat, what was the other thing?” The Beast asked,
“Oh Right! Um… does this castle have a library?” Kat asked,
“It does, why?” The Beast asked.

Before long everyone was in the library, as Kat quickly scanned his eyes over the countless books, after a few minutes of the hybrid searching, and the rest of the group exchanging looks of confusion, Kat finally found the book he was looking for, took it out of the shelf, and presented it to Mercenary,
“Mercenary, is this Zero’s grimoire?” Kat asked, the book in question had a golden symbol on the cover that resembled a strange rectangle or a misshapen diamond, Mercenary’s eyes widened upon seeing the book,
“Yeah, that’s it, no doubt about it… but, what’s it doing at this castle?” Mercenary asked, Belle got a good look at the book Kat was holding, and recalled how it ended up in the library,
“Oh that book! Adam and I were on a walk through the woods together when this thief attempted to ambush us, needless to say Adam took care of him quickly, though he dropped this book, I couldn’t make out the writing, so I decided the safest option would be to keep it in the library should its owner ever come by” Belle explained,
“Well, that’s one less thing to worry about, though Kat, how did you know to check the library?” Mercenary asked,
“I just sort of saw it after using a certain technique,” Kat explained,
“Eyes of a Thief?” Panthro asked,
“Not that one,” Kat replied shaking his head,
“Ah, well regardless, nice job Kat, I’m sure Zero will be happy when you return that to her when we find her, though for now we should set up Winston’s Ready Gate so we can finally-” said Panthro before he was cut off by Cogsworth,
“Oh dear! One of the books have been stolen!” Cogsworth explained,
“What? How can you tell?” Belle asked,
“We kept it on the same shelf that we kept that book Kat holds, it must of been stolen during the invasion!” Cogsworth speculated,
"Dio did demand a book from the master earlier…" Lumiere added,
“Wait, slow down, which book was stolen?” Panthro asked,

Meanwhile, in a world separate from the world the anthros were in, Dio stood in the middle of a large forest clearing with an unconscious Zero slung over his broad shoulders, it wasn’t long before the flapping of wings was heard, and Lord Van Bloot joined Dio in the clearing,
“It’s about time, I hope you procured the book,” said Dio, Van Bloot chuckled, and revealed the spell book he and Dio had set out to retrieve days ago,
“Excellent, I suppose you aren’t completely useless,” Dio commented,
“Why did you take that girl? That wasn’t part of the plan,” Van Bloot inquired,
“She’s a powerful witch, she can potentially be of use to us,” Dio explained,
“Ah I see, do you think Mumm-Ra will reward me for helping you?” Van Bloot asked,
“I don’t know, nor do I care, let’s just return to the Syndicate castle already, it’ll be a huge improvement over the castle we were just at,” said Dio,
“Right,” Van Bloot replied, before the two of them made their way back to their castle, both Zero and the spellbook in hand.

End of Chapter 14