Hello, King Spike Rules here and here is the next chapter to Lonely Wars. Here is the end to the Poison Rose arc with the battle of Brett and John coming to an end along with more reveals as to why this is happening.
Chapter 15: Growing like a Weed part 3.
John stood strong while facing off against the Stand user Brett, who had a serious look on his face. After defeating half their team, only now was Brett done planning games with John. Behind him was his group: two in bad shape, the third only a little better, the fourth couldn't fight. Which left on their leader, Kite, with his own Stand Renegades ready to protect them.
"Do you really think you can beat me?" Brett asked him while more vines burst from the ground and surrounded him, forming a wall around him. From his safe place, Brett took a moment to think. 'This wall should help with those bubble bullets of his, but he's been unusually persistent. I might need to use more to beat him.' With that thought, Brett smirked and let out a light chuckle, instantly putting John on his guard. With a gesture, vines shot out from the ground towards John, who had Lonesome Dove launch an onslaught of bubble bullets to counter them. The two attacks met, but they seemed to cancel each other out.
'What is he planning?' John wondered, cautiously watching the vines and bullets clash. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he noticed Poison Rose, with what seemed to be a missing arm. But by that point, it was too late. Poison Rose's arm appeared out of nowhere to strike John in the face. Hard. The force knocked John off balance for a moment, but in that moment, two vines shot through both of Lonesome Dove's shoulders. John yelled out in pain, holes appearing on his body as he was knocked back, landed on the ground with a thud.
"John!" Kite yelled, shocked to see the sudden attack when Poison Rose was so far away. He quickly turned his attention to Brett's Stand, his eyes widening when he saw that its left arm was connected to the rest of its body by a vine. Its arm was pulled back to it, the vine transforming back into the Stand's shoulder. A smirk formed on Brett's face.
"Do you two know what the oldest battle tactic is?" Brett asked them while John struggled to get up, sweat running down his face. Blood poured out of his wounds, staining the ground red, but he forced himself to get to one knee. Without waiting for an answer, Brett continued, "It's the flank."
"So, a cheap shot," John said panting and getting Brett's attention while forcing himself to his feet, standing on his two feet and looked at Brett with a glare in his eyes.
"No, it's just what you have to do to win a war," Brett said, shooting out vines towards John and like before, Lonesome Dove came out and used its bubbles to block them. Then, also like before, the fist shot towards John, who stepped back. The fist zoomed past him, and in that opening, Brett was shocked to see Lonesome Dove tear through the wall of vines. It was gearing up to knock him out for good when Brett smirked. Two vines shot through John's feet and caused him to collapse, making Lonesome Dove miss the punch.
"Y-you bastard," John said, holding his feet and looking at the blood coming out of them. Brett just smirked at his pain, enjoying the sight of John laying on the ground before him.
"I just got tired of you standing all high and mighty as you were. This suits you much better," Brett said, still smirking while John winced before forcing himself to stand up, nearly falling from the pain of his feet. Yet he remained upright and looked at Brett with fury in his eyes, making Brett's smirk suddenly vanish. Something in those eyes terrified him to his very core.
"High and mighty you say?" John asked slowly, taking a deep breath to catch his thoughts before looking right at Brett with the same fury from moments earlier. Controlled, but still burning. 'I have to beat him somehow, but his Stand's long range is keeping me from doing any real damage. And now that he knows what would happen if he gets hit, he's keeping his distance.' John thought it over and let out a long sigh before having Lonesome Dove launch towards Brett at maximum speed, much to both Kite's and Brett's surprise.
"You really think an all-out attack will work?" Brett asked incredulously, vines shooting from under Lonesome Dove. The Stand crossed its arms and let the vines strike it, the momentum pushing Lonesome Dove forward in the attack. More cuts formed on John, but he didn't seem to care once his Stand was mere feet from Poison Rose. Lonesome Dove pulled its arm back and yelled out loud, throwing the winning punch towards him. But Brett's Stand's suddenly turned into vines, the punch going through its chest harmlessly. The bubble bullet that was made launched past him and into the diner wall. Smirking, Poison Rose punched Lonesome Dove several times in a barrage and sent John flying back with blood coming out of several injuries all over his chest.
"JOHN!" Kite screamed in horror watching him fly across the and landing in a heap, unmoving. Gasping in shock, Kite reached out to him.
"Huh, I thought he had more fight in him," Brett said, looking at John's body laying on the ground before turning his attention to Kite, saying, "Well, that leaves only you." Kite's fists clenched tightly and he was starting to lose his cool while he walked towards him.
"K-Kite, no," John rasped out. Both of the men turned to look at John, who slowly began to get to his feet, wincing from the pain all over his body.
"John, stay down," Kite said with shock that John was even moving, little lone seeing him try to stand in front of them and he was not sure he could go any longer as he yelled, "I can take it from here! Just stay down!"
"N-no." John said forcing his body to his feet and stared at Brett with blood running down his face while he panted heavily from the attack he went through. Both Brett and Kite were in shock that John was able to stand even with all the blood was pouring out of the wounds in his body. "I-I have this battle in the bag." John added, breathing heavily from how much he had gone through in the last few minutes. Seeing him like that, Brett smiled and let out a small chuckle while looking at him.
"Damn kid, if I had met you sooner I might have been on your side. That spirit of yours is honestly impressive," Brett said, slipping his hands into his pockets as he continued. "But I have someone just as great. Someone I'd follow to the end, and for him, I'm afraid I have to take you out." Brett then launched vines at John and Lonesome Dove came out once again, countering the attack. The two seemed to be left in a stalemate yet again. But Kite could see that John's Lonesome Dove was starting to slow down in its punches and Brett noticed this too, leading him to unleash even more attacks at John who was holding himself up with nothing except his own willpower. "This is the end. Nice meeting you," Brett declared, launching two more vines towards John. Lonesome Dove, already busy throwing out punches, had no time to react.
"JOHN!" Kite yelled with the vines just feet away. John was barely able to duck under them, dodging the attack completely and leaving the other two surprised. Then John smirked, Lonesome Dove destroying the last vine in its way before launching towards Poison Rose with its right arm pulled back.
"You think that's going to work a second time?" Brett asked mockingly, while his Stand's torso turned into a vine. Lonesome Dove's attack missed once again, and Brett continued, "You didn't learn anything, did you? My Stand is unbeatable."
Lonesome Dove remained still. John turned his head to the ground, and Brett smirked, seeing he had finally run out of options. That was until John looked up to him, with a broad, victorious smile on his face.
"No, I do learn," John said, leaving Brett confused until he saw Lonesome Dove's hand. Fully realizing what John had said, Brett's eyes widened in horror. For Lonesome Dove's right hand was covered in a bubble and, pulling its left hand back, Lonesome Dove swung it directly into the bubble. As the bubble popped, a shock wave severed the vine that was the torso of Poison Rose. Kite and Brett were both left in shock, the latter coughing up blood before falling over with his body cut nearly in half.
With its victory, Lonesome Dove vanished and John collapsed to his knees, groaning from the pain. "John, hang in there." Kite said, running up beside him. Kite, with just a moment of looking, saw so many injuries that John looked more like Swish cheese than a human.
"Th-that was sure something," Brett's voice came out, Kite turning to see him. Even John tried to watch as Brett stared into the sky, the light from his eyes slowly fading. Even so, he continued, "J-just be warned, there are more people coming, people of a higher ranking than me. If you keep trying, you'll never even find the Major." With those words slipping out of his lip, his eyes grew dim and his spirit headed up to the sky, leaving them in a state of confusion.
"Major?" Kite said, confused turning from Brett to John, who was slowly starting to pass out. Kite's anxiety increased as he looked into his eyes, seeing they looked similar to Brett's. Kite looked around desperately for anything that could help him. Suddenly, a hand was placed on his shoulder and he turned to see Mary standing there.
"Bring him over to the others," she said. Kite looked at her with visible confusion, but seeing the serious look on her face, he decided to listen to her. Kite gently carried John to the others and placed him in between them. Mary let out a long sigh and placed her hands together, before a figure came out from behind her. The figure had a yellow body with a golden dress hanging off of it. Symbols of what looked like letters covered its body, and it stared at the team with purple striped eyes. As the Stand floated over them, Mary ordered, "Go, Birmingham. Do your thing." Birmingham clapped its hands together and then pulled them apart, creating a rainbow of colors before bathing the team in the light. Kite watched all this in shocked silence, seeing all of their injuries fade away. In seconds, the team sat up, looking at the Stand that was now floating beside Mary. She let out a sigh and looked at them, seeing their looks of confusion, except for Kite, whose crossed arms and annoyed facial expression were directed entirely at her.
"Mary, we've been ambushed by almost half a dozen people in the last two days, John nearly died, and now I see you've been lying to us for that whole time. You need to explain exactly what our job is, now, or we're heading back to Chicago," he said with a grave expression. The others nodded in agreement, looking at her with curious eyes. Seeing their resolve, Mary sighed as she looked back at all of them.
"I work for the Speedwagon Foundation, and for the CIA," she said, taking out her wallet and opening it. She turned it towards them, leaving the others to stare at the badge in stunned silence. Giving them a few seconds, she added, "And I need your help to save America from a madman calling himself the Major."
TBC.
That is it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it and please leave a review to tell me what you think, and if I should do like the real JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and have more to this fic with John's family? Vote in the poll.
