JORGE JOESTAR Chapter 11

ELEVEN: Gremlin (ELEVEN・グレムリン) is the eleventh chapter of JORGE JOESTAR, a light novel based on the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series.

Summary
George starts hearing rumors from pilots who have seen strange things like gremlins on their flights, and blamed those creatures on any airborne mechanical failures they had. They are small, skinny, and have no eyes, reminding George of how Faraday described the Spanish child he saw. George's friend, Jim Graham, also sees one clinging to his plane, Simone. The gremlin takes off a few screws and messes with the plane's engine. Before Jim crashes, he manages to land back at the base safely, assuming the gremlin had dropped off somewhere. Jim starts carrying a pistol with him whenever he would go flying, but never sees the gremlin again. George starts taking a camera with him into his cockpit so he can take a picture and then verify with Faraday later. Before that, George takes a photo of a mysterious plane's silhouette, which he later realizes is Steven Motorize's Motorizing plane. George had only seen the schematics for it when they were younger, before it was actually built. George wonders what Steven is doing in England since he was apparently in France. George had asked his French pilot friends about Steven, but nobody there had heard of him. Curious, George decides to go visit the Motorize home for the first time in five years.

Ben Motorize lost his desire for business after the case with Kenton became impossible to prosecute further. He retired to Miami and Darlington became the official heir of the business. George interrogates Darlington about Steven's plane and she's surprised to learn that George had become confident. She hesitates for a long while and then deflects the topic, asking if George thinks it's possible for the dead to come back to life. George knew it was somewhat possible by becoming a zombie, but lies and says it isn't. Darlington agrees with him but says that there are cultural and religious precedents of resurrection which several people believe. Betting on that possibility, Steven and Ben began researching ways to bring back the dead. Eventually, they found a folk religion called where a sorcerer called a  could turn the dead into zombies. She brings up the and then suddenly asks George if he knows about the Stone Mask, catching him off guard. She explains everything they learned about his family in more detail than George himself knew, including how Jonathan Joestar studied the Stone Mask, how Dio Brando became a vampire, and the events surrounding George Joestar I's death. They also learned of the incident in Windknight's Lot, where Dio Brando wiped out the town and created several zombies. Steven and Ben found two survivors from that town, Poco and his sister. Although they were sworn to secrecy, Poco's sister ends up revealing the truth after the Motorizes show them a photo of Dio. They learned about the ship Erina and Jonathan went on for their honeymoon and found records from the port which listed a suspicious piece of cargo. They discover that it was Dio's coffin from one of the dock workers, and another mentions that he heard a voice coming from it. Finally, the Motorizes traveled to La Palma. They learned of the Mothman, the Torres family incident, and how Lisa Lisa defeated Alejandro. Darlington teases George for being in love with Lisa Lisa, ultimately understanding why George never showed interest in herself or other girls.

Getting back on topic, Darlington pleads for George's help because Steven and Ben have gone too far in their desperate attempts to bring back Kenton. Steven had contacted Darlington earlier that day to tell her that he found Lisa Lisa's group of Ripple warriors. George says he'll contact Lisa Lisa and assures Darlington that her group is composed of trustworthy people who would help Ben and Steven change their minds. Darlington cries and thanks George. He considers hugging her but decides it would be best not to. Just then, William Cardinal arrives at the door and Darlington introduces him to George as her fiancé. George becomes jealous after seeing that Cardinal is rather handsome with an impressive build compared to his own. The two have an awkward handshake after George congratulates them on their engagement and then they say nothing to each other. Darlington invites George to their wedding but George declines thinking he wouldn't feel welcome there because of his history with the Motorize family, and Cardinal confirms by saying George is correct. Cardinal tells George to never visit their home again, as he tends to be a bad influence there. George and Darlington say goodbye to each other, but George notices how weak and depressed Darlington appeared as soon as Cardinal arrived.

George manages to get in touch with Lisa Lisa and informs her about the Motorize family situation. Lisa Lisa convinces him that the Motorize men are being watched so everything will be fine, and Steven having his own airplane design will come in handy for the upcoming war. Shortly after that, George joins the Royal Naval Air Service. Several countries got involved in the war and George would have to fight as well. George is initially partnered with a navigator named Frank Dimarest, but the man keeps blaming George that it is George's fault he was out there risking his life. As soon as they land, George punches him and fires him, although Frank is grateful for that. George piles bombs in Frank's empty seat and uses them to bombard enemy ships from the air. George prefers that strategy than fighting them head on which would cause lots of casualties, but Jim disagrees with him, believing they should follow their orders. The two end up having a big fight.

One day while flying his Star Shooter, George's plane is suddenly shot from the side. George wonders if Jim suddenly snapped and betrayed him, but then looks to his right to see an enemy German fighter plane headed towards him. They shoot again, breaking Jim's Simone in half with several machine gun bullets. Jim falls toward the ocean but George manages to catch him in his plane. Unfortunately, Jim's navigator, Peter Fraser, falls to his death. Jim throws a bomb toward the Albatros from the back seat of George's plane, and then George shoots the bomb with his pistol, causing a massive explosion. Two more Albatros planes come after them, and Jim throws another bomb preparing to shoot it with his own pistol. However, the two Albatros planes shoot straight into the bomb and blow themselves up instead. Jim and George laugh at how lucky they were, but their fuel suddenly runs out and they are forced to make an emergency landing. A gremlin reveals himself between the plane's propeller blades, with petrol running down his chin like drool after sucking the fuel all out of the plane. He announces that he'll kill George and his family and does a shrill laugh. George manages to take a photograph of it, but the gremlin then dives into Jim's mouth. Just then, Jim starts convulsing and groaning. He shoves his hands deep into his mouth, pulling out his tongue, flesh, parts of his ribs, and his internal organs. Disgusted at the horrific scene he just witnessed, George cries and vomits all over the plane's cockpit. George considers whether he should just fall to his death along with Jim but then his mind instantly clears and he becomes determined to survive. Jim slowly asks George to help him while continuing to pull out his organs. George manages to ignore Jim, hoping to be able to help him after they land. He lands the plane successfully on the water, but Jim had already died. Alone while drifting in the sea, George thinks of Erina's experience, but then decides there's no point comparing their experiences. He becomes confident that he would survive and waits for Lisa Lisa to come get him.

George falls asleep and he eventually wakes up from the sound of an airplane engine. Lisa Lisa arrived with Steven and his Motorizing plane. She leaps down, running across the water to ask if George is okay. George and Steven awkwardly gaze at each other. George couldn't decide whether he was angry for being framed for Kenton's murder or if he was happy to see Steven again. Lisa Lisa hugs George, explaining that the Ripple master Tonpetty predicted George would crash in the morning and told her the location of where he would be stranded in the North Sea. Steven was the only pilot nearby who could fly her there so they rushed to find him. George suddenly becomes jealous of the thought of Lisa Lisa and Steven getting close, but Lisa Lisa reassures him with a kiss on the cheek. Steven breaks the silence between him and George, explaining that he had tried finding Kenton's real murderer to prove that George was innocent. However, Steven became a suspect three years later. Ben had Steven flee to France, worried that they would force a guilty verdict on Steven so that the military could do experiments on him due to his Wound. He asserts that he did not kill Kenton, and that it was a Spanish midget with no eyes who actually did. Kenton had told Steven about the monster for months before her murder. He would appear whenever she flew in the dark or when it was raining and then do things to her plane. They didn't take it too seriously since they were used to weird things happening like Steven's wings. One day, Kenton heard the monster say "Horhe Joestar". She didn't know much Spanish but could tell the monster was insulting George and couldn't stand for it. After she yelled at the monster, it threatened to kill her. She planned to tell George and then was called to the cliffs by someone using George's name, and then she was murdered. George questions Steven about his plans to bring Kenton back to life, but Steven confirms that he changed his mind after Lisa Lisa showed him a real zombie.

The trio climb into the Motorizing and head to France, leaving the Star Shooter behind. Steven flies the plane, while George sits behind him with Lisa Lisa on his lap. Although the two are embarrassed, they start talking to distract themselves. George tells them about the rumors of the gremlins and how Faraday had seen one in 1905, just before Kenton was murdered. Lisa Lisa realizes that it must have followed George from the Canary Islands. They finally reach France and the Ripple masters take the trio to their secret underground lair. George meets Tonpetty for the first time. Tonpetty reveals that George had entered his dreams several times and that it is an honor to meet Jonathan Joestar's son in person. He claims that George has inherited Jonathan's courage, although George denies it. Tonpetty continues encouraging him and George attempts to be respectful, saying he'll do his best. He borrows a phone from them and contacts the English Naval Air Service. On the other end, William Cardinal answers, revealing that he is now the officer in charge of George's unit in the RNAS. He angrily yells at George asking where he is and why he abandoned his injured companion, Jim, then ran off on his own. He insults George for playing dumb, who is confused about Jim seemingly being alive. Thinking George is mocking him, Cardinal hands the phone over to Jim, who promises to testify that George is a spy and the he'll kill George the next time he sees him. While George is still confused, Lisa Lisa shows George the photograph he took of the gremlin, explaining that it's his old childhood bully, Antonio Torres.

Lisa Lisa realizes that Antonio's discarded skin had lived on as a zombie. Since fifteen years have passed, she calculates that there must be 16,384 (2¹⁴) clones of Antonio by now if all of them constantly cloned themselves every year. They also determine that not all of the gremlins that pilots have reported seeing were Antonio, since their descriptions didn't fully match up. Some descriptions of gremlins were short whereas others had different features. They were making up stories based on their fear and then their planes would get damaged just like they imagined, like how Lisa Lisa previously imagined the Gorilla Spider in Rome's temple. They recall how the Mothman incident was a similar occurrence of mass hysteria. Remembering those horrifying drawings and the blood from the burning bodies, as well as the realization that scared pilots will be attacked by an eyeless Antonio Torres from now on, George faints.