The Bizarre Adventures of Dio

Chapter 2: Dio's New Home

Dio stepped out of the carriage that had taken him to the Joestar mansion holding a suitcase. He wiped some of his bright blonde hair out of his eyes and gazed at his new home. Jonathan stepped out followed by a dog who was sniffing around, several feet away from Jonathan. "You must be this Dio I've heard about." He said, looking his new brother up and down.
"And you're Jonathan. It's a pleasure to meet y-!" Dio was knocked to the ground by Jonathan's overexcited dog.
"Danny!" Jonathan called out. He ran and pulled his dog off his new brother. "Bad dog!"
"It's fine," Dio chuckled. "Dogs seems to like me a lot." He pulled himself off the ground and dusted himself off.
"Ah, it seems you two are getting along like brothers already." Lord Joestar smiled at the two boys. "Dio, I am Lord Joestar. Feel free to come in." He held the door open for Dio and Jonathan.
    Jonathan came in first. Though he didn't say it, he thought to himself 'It's insultingly shameful that father would dare let a filthy peasant like this infest our manor.' Dio followed after him, taking his time to absorb and study every inch of his new home.
    "Dio," the Lord turned to address the boy, "I'm glad to finally meet you. Jojo and I would have perished with his mother if your father hadn't helped us."
"Any decent man would have done the same, your lordship." Dio protested.
Lord Joestar just smiled at the boy "I've had a permanent room prepared for your arrival. Come, you can see for yourself." He then looked to Jonathan, "Please Jonathan, see to it that Dio's suitcase gets to his room."
    "Thank you very much, Lord Joestar." Dio said with a deep bow. He then excitedly rushed up the stairs.
    "Please, just call me 'father.'" Lord Joestar smiled at his new son as he led him to what would be his room for the next six years.

Meanwhile, Jojo seethed in his anger at the bottom of the stairs. 'That fool's making Dio think he's actually a part of the family?' He thought to himself. 'If a street rat like him thinks he's even near my equal, he's got another thing coming.'
"Butler!" Jonathan snapped at one of the servants. "Take Dio's luggage to his room, but drop it down the stairs a few times," he ordered, "look through it for anything valuable, and feel free to take it." Jojo then began to walk away.
"Where are you going, Master Jonathan?" The butler asked, grabbing Dio's luggage.
"Just down the hill to meet with some friends." Jonathan said innocently.

A month passed by and Lord Joestar began to get annoyed with Dio being better than Jonathan in every way. Dio was stronger, smarter, better mannered, he was even holding a better reputation around the more distinguished folk town, though Jonathan held favor with the rowdy youths and some others. It made the Lord feel inadequate and ashamed, something he was unfamiliar with and it infuriated him. He began giving Dio harder work, just to see him struggle. But Dio kept pushing through and thinking of new ways to deal with problems, adding to the frustration of both Lord and Jonathan Joestar.

One time honored tradition of the area at which Jonathan excelled was boxing. One summer day, Jojo was getting ready for a boxing match with some newcomer, easy winnings of course. He sat down and began to put on his gloves as the small crowd began to part to the sides of the grass ring, revealing his opponent, doing the same preparations, to be his adopted brother, Dio. The man who ran the boxing ring gave the two introductions to the crowd before reminding the rules to them. "Same as ever, land a hit to the other guy's face and the match is over." He stepped back. "Now fight!" He clanged a stick against a pot and the match begun.

Jonathan made the first move, already enraged. He ran in and hurled a large swing at Dio. Dio stepped back and dodged. Jonathan threw another with all the force he could and Dio ducked. After over twenty punches, Dio was still dodging. 'Damn him!' Jonathan fumed in his mind, still throwing punches, 'I can't even land one hit!'
Dio found himself to have an advantage, having grown up fighting in the slums of London, where dirty tactics were considered fair play. Seeing an opening, he threw a simple jab at the side of Jonathan's neck, just grazing him to distract him before his other fist flew in and gave him a punch to the face.

Jojo went down and the crowd went silent, it was unusual for them to see Jonathan, a bold daring man losing. It was inconceivable. However, something even more unbelievable happened a moment later. Dio walked over to Jonathan and outstretched a hand to help him up. "Jonathan, I feel like you could use some work on your defense." He advised as Jonathan grabbed Dio's hand and Dio began to pull up to get Jojo on his feet. On his way up, Jojo smiled and  readied a punch, nailing the unsuspecting Dio in the face, knocking him down.

"Don't forget your place, rat." Jojo spat on Dio and walked out, a fair amount of people going with him, thinking him just and bold. Others stayed, some in disbelief, some there to take down the minimal set up and two helping Dio up before heading off, chatting about the match with an approving tone.

Dio raised a gloved hand to his cheek, not even believing what just went down. 'Does Jonathan hate me this much?' He questioned to himself. 'What have I done to him to make him upset?' He thought, sighing. 'Perhaps he thinks I'm trying to steal his father's fortune. What did he call me again? 'Rat?' I've heard that before. Yet this time it had a sting.' He took off his gloves and walked back to the Joestar mansion, looking up at the sky.