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“Another fine mess you’ve gotten us into, old man,” grumbled Jotaro as the Stardust Crusaders found themselves in the mouth of High Priestess. Leading them straight down to the stand’s mouth was a dumb move for Joseph’s standards. “Good grief.” Jotaro got back on his feet while looking around in the dim ocean floor which now reflected the mouth of High Priestess. The stand was so strong it managed to control the ocean floor and swallow them up whole. On the plus side, however, there was no water in the area they were sitting in.
As the entourage got up on their feet, they heard High Priestess’ imperious voice loudly echo in the room, speaking in accentuated Japanese. With each accentuated syllable, Joseph couldn’t help but put his hands over his ears.
“Hey, Jotaro! Jotaro, you’re my type, so this will be hard for me. It’s too bad I have to make my Stand, the High Priestess, eat you up. If only we had met under other circumstances, sorry. Don’t hate me, alright? It’s my orders from DIO.” Although she sounded regretful, the men understood the danger they were in. They needed to act quickly.
As she spoke, Polnareff whispered instructions only a romantic could think of at that exact moment in Jotaro’s ears. A twinge of annoyance mixed with embarrassment flashed through Jotaro’s face as the others looked in confusion. The teen adjusted his cap over his eyes before giving Polnareff a sharp look.
“Good grief… why do I need to say that?” he complained.
“Say it! Come on, say it!” Polnareff urged back, not caring their conversation could be heard. But it seemed like he made it more convincing by saying, “She might really be your kind of girl, right? You’re always complaining about how your last girlfriend would’ve been a target since she didn’t have a Stand!” He gave a faux French laugh (hon hon hon!) before elbowing Jotaro in jest.
Kakyoin seemed to get the gist of the conversation while Joseph and Avdol looked at the two bickering young men in confusion. “I see… I’ve always encouraged JoJo to find a girlfriend over the last few days, but he always shrugged me off, saying, ‘It’s not easy. They won’t understand me, especially if they don’t have a stand.’” It seemed like High Priestess’ stand user also was eavesdropping, seeing the cavern they were in was starting to get brighter and pinker, reflecting an actual mouth.
“Midler. I’d like… to see your face once. You might be my type, too.”
Jotaro said these words, truncating Polnareff’s instructions… since the whole script was just so damned embarrassing. He couldn’t help but think it seemed like she was truly reluctant on killing them. She had plenty of opportunities to kill them in the submarine, including letting them drown early on. Instead, she played tricks with them and only hurt Polnareff once. Plus, she didn’t use a tone of reverence when referring to DIO’s name.
Joseph cut in, interrupting Jotaro’s thoughts. “I bet you’d be a great partner for my grandson! He’s always so focused, he needs someone to ground him a bit! Why don’t you leave DIO’s service since at this rate, Jotaro will beat him down?”
As the group murmured accolades to their mysterious assailant, they felt the ocean floor moving up from under them. There were a few sounds of surprise especially when tendrils of sand grabbed Polnareff, Kakyoin, Joseph, and Avdol from underneath, leaving only Jotaro perplexed, bringing out Star Platinum in case he had to defend against another assault. However, there was no screech of disgust or irritation from Midler, which was a plus.
Instead of killing them, Midler brought the Stardust Crusaders up from the ocean floor in a safe manner. As safe as could be, anyway. By the time they got up there, the crusaders didn’t even have the bends, although Polnareff complained of a bit of nausea. The entire effort took about fifteen minutes or so. The mouth retreated into the ground, basking the five in the bright Egyptian sunlight. It was only Jotaro who was free to move as he pleased.
“Only Jotaro is permitted to parley with me! Come forward, please, Jotaro,” echoed Midler’s imperious voice from underneath.
The teen trudged his way forward, eyes darting left and right in anticipation of any traps. Surprisingly, there were none. Only a lone figure in yellow clothing surrounded by sand, sand, and more sand. When Jotaro took a look at her, he was shocked. The lady in front of him was very slim and curvy, clad in a yellow dress similar to a belly dresser’s uniform and a hood donned with many stars. Presumably the hood was to block out the intense sunlight. The sunlight shining on her pale skin made her look even more ethereal.
Deciding to partially take Polnareff’s advice, he said, “Thanks for not ending us back down there. I’m Jotaro,” he introduced himself, trying to be less stiff than he normally was, as he faced her, the distance no more than two feet separating them. Still, his left fist was clenched as he was prepared to unleash Star Platinum in case.
He took in a deep breath before admitting, “You know, you are very pretty… but I’ve got a question for you, if you don’t mind, Midler…?”
“Yes, ask away!” she said quickly. “What do you want to know, Jotaro?” Up close, she looked like she was only a year older than Jotaro at most. Though she didn’t look like she posed a threat now, things were dangerous with her stand holding his comrades firmly by the coast. Still, he felt like he had to take a gamble which would benefit both parties.
“Your attempts to kill us several times weren’t very… direct. It felt like your heart wasn’t into it. How come?”
Midler looked around slowly before saying softly, “I don’t want to. I joined his entourage only because Lord DIO is very dangerous. He’s selfish and powerful. You really don’t want to cross a person like that, especially with a weaker stand like mine. I honestly have no love for him, not like Mariah,” she teased with a tint of humor, wondering how Jotaro would react to Mariah and her sultry ways. “I like strong and handsome men, too, but with a good heart. Like yours.” In a brazen act of accentuating her point, she took a few steps closer and pointed right at his heart.
Looking at Jotaro with her blue eyes, she then looked a bit more somber. “He knows where my family lives, too. I can’t openly defy someone who knows this, even though they’re in hiding now.”
“Tch…” Jotaro grunted as he looked at her intensely. Sensing there wasn’t any deceit hiding in her, he said, “Listen, you can pretend we slipped your gaze. I know you don’t want to defect…”
He was suddenly cut off as Midler grabbed his wrist and tugged him to face her. “Don’t you see?” she whispered. “I want to leave. So I’ll help you as much as I can, but promise me you’ll do it quickly. I’ve already released your friends,” she said before pointing behind him. Sure enough, the silhouettes of the other four were getting larger, steadily, but surely.
“Yeah, I promise.” Jotaro turned around to thank her, but she was gone. Only a sheet of paper scribbled with an address of a hotel was proof she was there to begin with. From a quick glance, it was in the next city over in Aswan, which was separated only by a large body of sand.
He felt his grandfather’s hand clasp his shoulder. “How did your little rendezvous go?” was the gruff but mischievous question.
Feeling his cheeks heat up at the prospect he was going to get something more intimate out of this trip than just saving his mother, Jotaro tipped his cap over his head to hide the embarrassment.
“Shut up, Gramps.”