1vAll Part IV (Patreon)

time with Christina and Ashley, but he was still uneasy. Instead of

playing video games with the sisters, he decided to stand by the

window and keep a lookout in case anything happened in the city. From

where he stood, he had a pretty clear view of the slums, which is

where the trouble normally happened. He was lost in thought for a

good while until he felt a soft pair of lips touch the nape of his

neck, which drew a shiver down his spine. He quickly looked behind

him to see his freckle faced lover, Christina, inching closer to him,

wrapping her arms around his abdomen from behind. At that moment,

Joaquin calmed down and gently smiled at her.

“Babe, you really need to

relax. Clara's out with Alan, Michelle and Tori can handle

themselves, and your mom is safe at home.” muttered Christina

against his earlobe. “Not to mention, none of these bad demons out

there know where we are and even if they did, my sexy man will take

care of them,” she continued as Jojo's ear twitched and a

satisfying tingle emanated from his ear. “Have I told you how much

I love you today?” he asked her. Christina only shook her head and

rested her chin on his shoulder. He turned his body to face her and

took one of her hands in his, “Well, I love you. Seriously, on top

of being an awesome person, your healing kisses keep me in top shape

so that I can always fight to protect the people I care about.” His

hand found it's way onto her cheek as his thumb stroked a path from

her cheek to her lips. He began leaning in for a kiss, when he

suddenly heard a loud bang, startling both Christina and Ashley.

The lovers pulled apart

from their embrace as Christina went to check on her sister, who ran

away the instant the bang happened. “Jojo! Ashley ran off, I'm

going after her!” shouted Christina from downstairs. Jojo

acknowledged her and instructed her to be careful. He kept looking

outside the window to see what he was dealing with and barely noticed

Lord Azul and Cora flying through the sky while both Mimi and Toto

were hoisted over his shoulders. Still not knowing the truth, he

assumed Azul had saved them from the disaster, so he was at ease for

the moment. He continued surveying the surroundings outside the house

and noticed several members of Azul's Demon Army patrolling the

streets. He kept a watchful eye under the assumption that they were

there to help the people, but as it turned out, they were the cause

of the bang and several of them began forcibly shoving innocent

civilians back into their homes, targeting only the human ones.

The demon civilians were

granted mercy, but several of them chose to stand against the army

and were met with brutality. Not being able to stand and watch this

anymore, Jojo opened the window and swooped down to fight off the

army. “Are you guys crazy?! These guys did nothing wrong!” he

shouted as he assumed battle stance. The soldiers had their mouths

covered by skull masks and all didn't appear to be under any kind of

control. The leader of the soldiers signaled his men to stop and

walked forward to greet Jojo, “Mr. Joseph, we've been looking for

you.” “Me? What for?,” replied Jojo, still unnerved and ready

to throw a punch, he was just waiting for a reason. “We were given

orders to apprehend you, you can either cooperate or be forced into

submission,” the leader offered an ultimatum which only gave Jojo

the ammunition he needed to not trust him. “The way I see it, you

have two choices: either walk away and leave these people alone or

you have to deal with me,” Jojo declared as he tightened his fist.

He was outnumbered, but it was nothing he hadn't handled before, the

difference is that these were Azul's men, who were nothing like the

lowlife criminals he'd faced alongside Toto and Mimi. The leader then

responded, “Fine, have it your way, k-...” before he could finish

his sentence, he was cracked in the face by Jojo's fist and stumbled

until he fell back against his small army.

Once he was oriented, he

noticed that both the civilian demons and Jojo had disappeared. “Damn

it, he's a fast one,” thought the leader to himself,”hopefully

Raul will take care of him. I'm too old to be dealing with this

bullshit.” Jojo had grabbed both of the bystanders and flew them to

the top of a tall building in the city. They thanked him endlessly

and Jojo simply told them to stay down as he looked on the city from

atop the building. He was shocked to see several small armies

policing the residents of Hell City and using excessive force. “What

is going on here?” thought Jojo, “Is there some kind of civil war

between Azul and his army?” He wanted to jump into action, but he

knew he wouldn't be able to take on all these men at once by himself,

so he restrained himself. “It's quite the sight, isn't it Amigo?”

uttered a voice from behind.

Jojo turned to see Raul,

Lord Azul's top mercenary and the man who delivered money to his

family's house all these years, putting Jojo at ease. “Oh, it's

just you, Raul. Do you know what's going on?” asked Jojo as he rose

to his feet and stood next to Raul. “Yes, it seems the King is

moving forward with his plans.” responded Raul as he crossed his

arms over his poncho and let his caballero fall from his head, being

caught by the string around his neck, letting the hat rest softly on

his upper back. “Plans? What plans?” asked Jojo urgently as he

began to feel his heart sink. “Lord Azul wants to return to the

ways of the ancients; before demons and humans lived together in

harmony. He wants demons to become the superior species once more.”

answered Raul as Jojo began panicking. “Are you..wait! He's got my

mom and my friends! Dude, we have to get them! If what you say is

true, then doesn't that mean they're his prisoners or something?!”

as Jojo panicked, Raul put a hand on his shoulder. “Relax, amigo, I

do know that El Rey won't bring harm to them. He only wants her as a

bride to rule the new land. Something about tu padre stealing her and

Azul always deserving her over him.” said Raul as Jojo began

shaking in anger. In his rage, one thing became clear, he was going

to have a long talk with Azul and his mother, but first, he needed to

get to the palace.

“Raul, I need you to help

me protect these people and then we can go to the palace and get some

answers, you good with that?” asked Jojo as he looked down at his

city's life being drained. Raul stood behind Jojo, “Of course, I'll

help you get to the palace, Joaquin.” “Thanks man, it's good to

have someone I can trust fighting by my side,” uttered Jojo as he

began stretching out his neck and loosening up his arms. As he

readied himself, he felt a large crack on the back of his head and he

saw white and then it was all dark as his body crashed onto the

ground of the roof. Raul stood over his unconscious body and put his

caballero back on his head. “Sorry, amigo, when El Rey pays me to

do a job, I do the job efficiently,” declared Raul as he hoisted

Jojo's body over his shoulder and flew off to Azul's Tower.