The Stars That Guide Us ~ A Jotakak x OC fanfiction

♥ Chapter 32 ♥

We finally made it to a new room after what felt like an endless run through the corridor.

Joseph suggested that we needed to leave the submarine as soon as possible and took us to a room full of scuba diving gear.

"Is anyone else getting nervous here?" Polnareff asked as the room started to shake. Judging by the rumbles and shakes coming through the submarine, the High Priestess was on the prowl after us.

"Try to stay calm," Joseph said as he attempted to strap an oxygen tank to his back with only one hand.

Nori helped me get my oxygen tank on and I helped him with his. "Is that okay for you?" He asked as he fastened a strap around my waist. I nodded and glanced over at Joseph who was still struggling with his oxygen tank.

"Here, Mr. Joestar, let me help," I offered as I walked over to him and assisted him in fastening his oxygen tank to him.

"Thank you, Hiroko." Joseph gave me a curt nod and turned to the rest of the group. "Alright, has anyone ever scuba dived before?" He asked.

"Nope," we all said in unison.

"You'll have to teach us how to use this equipment right now. That thing is going to attack us any second," Avdol warned.

"Try and calm yourself, Avdol. You must never panic, no matter what. That is the most important rule when scuba diving," Joseph said as he glanced over at Avdol before looking back at the rest of us. "When you're traveling underwater, for every ten meters you go below the surface, the corresponding pressure increases along with you. The surface pressure starts at one atmosphere, and since we're forty meters below the surface, we'll endure five atmospheres of pressure. If we surface too quickly, the pressure will cause our lungs and blood vessels to burst. We have to rise slowly, so our bodies can adjust," he explained.

I shuddered at the thought of our lungs and blood vessels bursting because of surfacing too quickly. It wasn't a pleasant thought.

"Since we're nearing the Egyptian coast, it's best to ascend along the sea floor," Joseph said as he turned to face a valve. "Alright, I'm letting the water in," he announced as he slowly turned the valve. The water from the pipe slowly poured into the room. Joseph turned back to us and held out a mouthpiece. "Now, listen closely. This is a regulator. The valve inside only allows air in the tank when you inhale. The air you breath out exits the piece on the left."

Nori tried breathing through the regulator to test it out whilst Polnareff looked at Joseph with a concerned look on his face. "Wait a second. What about spit? When happens if I need to drool or hock a loogie or something?"

I looked over at the Frenchman with a look of disgust. "Why would you even ask that?

Polnareff shrugged and said, "I just wanted to know in case it happens."

"That stuff comes out of the opening here." Joseph pointed at another opening on the regulator. "And this goes without saying, but we can't talk underwater, instead we'll use hand signals. Let's keep things simple and only use two. When things are going smoothly; we'll use this to say 'OK'." He made an OK signal with his hand. "And when they aren't; use this," he added and held his hand out flat with his thumb out to the side and rocked this hand from side to side.

"Mr. Joestar. I think you might have forgotten that Scarlet Phantom is able to listen to other Stand user's thoughts and speak to them. Maybe we could use her to relay any messages that we need to get across?" I suggested as Scarlet Phantom stepped forward.

"That's right, for example, I've just read Polnareff's mind, and he had an idea for a 'really good' hand signal," she said in air quotes as she glanced over at Polnareff and folded her arms across her chest.