A/N: Let's get a few things out of the way before we can begin.
1. If you don't know by the summary, Part 6 does not exist in this universe, the only original character from Stone Ocean present in this story is Jolyne. So Dio never had a diary and whatnot.
2. I know that there are many returning characters from part 3, especially part 4, but this story isn't really about them. You'll see in future chapters that this story will really be about my own original characters and their own Stands, (I've made 20+ original Stands for this fanfiction).
3. This will be updated every Friday with no exceptions. Doesn't matter if it's a holiday or not. So expect a new chapter every Friday without any breaks until the story is finished. (As I said before, I've worked ahead and have already written the first 24 chapters). If I don't post on a Friday, then assume I'm dead. Or my internet's down. You choose.
4. Lastly, there is a bit of cursing in this fanfiction, but there will be no slurs or f words. Enough rambling, enjoy and feel free to comment, I will respond to all the comments I can, so feel free to ask questions.
...
Episode 23: Flood Part 3
Loni Dodson was born on December 21st, 1988. Her mother lived in poverty and sold her body to make money for food. Loni was the outcome of this. Loni's mother loved her daughter, but couldn't afford enough food for two people. So she gave Loni most of her food and grew weaker every year. When Loni turned 12 years old, her mother died from malnutrition. Loni, living on the streets by herself, took to petty theft to afford enough money for food. At the age of 18, Loni stole the wallet of a young woman but was found, caught, and beaten bloodied by the police. When the woman whom Loni had stolen from found her beaten up by the police, she covered for her, saying that she gave her the wallet. The police reluctantly let Loni go.
"Who are you?" Loni asked as she wiped her blood off her face.
"You can call me Greta," the woman said, "Fate has not been kind to you, has it, Loni?"
"How do you know my name?"
"It is my job to keep tabs on those left in the dirt by the cruel hands of fate," Greta said, "If you come with me, I can grant you an ability and a job that can take you out of poverty."
Loni didn't hesitate to accept Greta's proposal.
...
"Wh… What happened?" Joanne muttered as she woke up. She looked around and spotted Kenna next to her, "Hey K-Kenna… Are you okay?"
"Hmmm?" Kenna asked, barely awake.
Joanne's eyes slowly adjusted to her surroundings. She was inside Loni Dodson's cell with Kenna. She looked down and saw that she was wearing handcuffs, Kenna was wearing them too.
"The hell?" Joanne asked as she walked over to Kenna and started to shake her, "Kenna! Wake up!"
"Hm? What?" Kenna raised her head and saw the cell and handcuffs, "What's going on?"
Joanne saw someone on the other side of the bars and looked to see June and Ally.
"Bitches!" She yelled, "Abstract, turn these cuffs into liquid!"
"Don't try," Ally said, "Or I'll put you back to sleep with Vertigo. And I don't wanna sit around and wait for you to wake up again. The handcuffs are merely for our protection. Yours and Fletcher's Stands could easily break out of here, so let's just talk."
"What do you need to talk about?!" Kenna yelled, "You break into this prison, knock everyone unconscious, pretend to be Tenmei, then put us to sleep, and throw us in a cell? How can we trust you?"
"If we wanted to harm you, we would've killed you while you were sleeping," June said, "or better yet we would've let Loni Dodson have her way with you. Plus it was Ally's idea to have me pretend to be Tenmei."
Ally shrugged, "What can I say? I really missed him. But that's not the point."
"Oh yeah?" Joanne asked, "Then what's the point? What's going on?"
Ally sighed, "We were dragged into this against our will. Kenna, you know Bill Cliff and Danielle Miller, right?"
"Uh, yeah," Kenna said, "I think I spoke to them once. But I never really got to know them."
"Well, those two balls of sunshine tracked us down, tied us up, stuffed us in the trunk of their car, and took us straight to Dianne," June said, "And just like that, we were forced to help her."
"Dianne," Joanne said, "So she came clean about her identity?"
"She did," Ally said, "And we've spent over a month devising a plan."
"A plan that started with us breaking Loni Dodson free," June added.
"Plan?" Kenna asked, "Wait, why are you telling us this? Are you trying to help us?"
"We don't want to work for her," Ally said, "We just want to stop being a part of this. We're grateful that we got our Stands because of Greta, but don't want to risk our lives over Dianne's dumb revenge."
"So does that mean that you're going to let us free?" Joanne asked.
"Yes," June said, "We never meant you any harm, but didn't know how we would talk to you without you thinking we were enemies. So we decided to keep you in one place. Also, not killing you is a quick way to gain your trust, right?"
"That's right," Kenna said, "But where is Loni Dodson, now?"
"We told her that you two managed to escape," Ally said, "When we let her out of that cell, she ran out looking for you guys."
"Great," Joanne said as Abstract appeared and turned her handcuffs into a liquid, "Now we've got a mad psycho bitch that's hungry for our blood after us." She walked over to Kenna and Abstract turned her handcuffs into liquid as well.
"Crazy psycho bitch that's hungry for our blood?" Kenna asked, "I thought we were talking about Loni, not Dianne."
Joanne laughed, "That was a good one!" Abstract swept her hand against the bars of the cell, and they turned to liquid and fell to the floor. Joanne looked at the liquid bars and handcuffs, "These could be useful. Suck them up, Abstract."
"Way ahead of you, Jo!" The liquid entered into several tubes around Joanne's waist.
"Anyway," Kenna said, "You said that Dianne has a plan, right? Would you mind telling us what that plan is?"
"Actually we were planning on telling you anyway," Ally said, "There are six Stand users. Seven counting Loni Dodson. Obviously, there's us two, but there's also Bill Cliff, Danielle Miller, Khan Miran, and Dianne."
"Khan Miran?" Joanne asked, "Didn't he blow up?"
"No," June said, "He survived. But that's not important. We've all split up. Ally and I were tasked with breaking Loni out while Bill Cliff and Danielle Miller were tasked with finding and killing you, Joanne."
"What?" Joanne asked, "Just me?"
"Yes," Ally said, "Just you. We also had permission to kill you too if needed, Fletcher. But You're not our only target, Joanne. Dianne and Khan are going to finish Josuke off."
"What?!" Joanne yelled, "Josuke's defenseless! He's just a statue! We can't let Dianne kill him!"
"Damn," Kenna muttered, "This is bad. We need to leave now. Do you know what Cliff and Miller's Stands are?"
"We do," June said, "Cliff's Stand is called Thunderstruck, its ability is to—"
"So you were traitors all along!" June felt a punch hit her on the back of her head.
Ally turned around in shock to see Loni Dodson, "I thought something was suspicious!" Loni yelled, "The two of you seemed too eager to get me away from here, so I decided to stay behind! And look what I found! You two are plotting against us, aren't you?!"
"Damn," June said as she stumbled back from the punch, "This is going to be an issue."
"Loni!" Joanne yelled, "Don't you see Dianne is just going to use you just like she used these two? Why stick your neck out for someone who doesn't care about you?"
"If she didn't care about me then why'd she send these two shit stains to save me?" Loni asked as Freakshow began to materialize beside her.
"Just so she can throw another pawn to their deaths," Joanne said, "Please listen to me. I care about you, Loni! Please don't do this!"
Loni laughed, "Nobody cared about me. You're right, I mean nothing to Dianne. I am a worthless piece of shit whose existence was an accident. I shouldn't be here right now. My mother should've cast me aside and let me die. All I did was make things harder for my mother and drive her to her death. You think I've 'learned' anything from my years at Dianne's mansion? You think I've 'thanked' the world for giving me another chance? No. I've cursed the world every day for allowing me to live. So why don't we just all go down together?" Freakshow spat its acidic webs at the support pillars holding the roof of the prison. She then shot tiny flecks of acid into the ceiling, causing it to begin to crumble, "Do you know why I've refused to tell anyone what I know about Dio? It's because I thought you would all get tired of this and finally kill me. I don't deserve to live. None of us do." Loni looked deep into Joanne's eyes, "If you really care about me then stay. Don't let me die alone. Die along with me. That will make me happy. Of course, I won't allow you to say no either way. The five of us are all dying here today!"
"She's crazy!" June yelled, "We need to get out of here, the ceiling is falling on us!"
"I won't allow you to escape!" Loni yelled, "Let our stories close with a grand collapse!"
"Sorry," Joanne said, "But I Can't allow that! Kenna, fix those pillars!" Abstract threw half a dozen tubes at Kenna. Kenna knew exactly what Joanne was referring to when the liquid in the tubes turned into the bars from the cell. She quickly put one in Redbone's chest along with the debris from the pillar that hadn't been melted by the acid. She used Redbone's chest to twist two of the iron bars together and wrap the debris around them, reinforcing them and allowing them to stand on their own. Kenna quickly put the reinforced bars in the position where the pillar would be, allowing it to hold on to the roof. She repeated this process for another pillar.
"You think I'm just going to stand here while you try to save this place?" Loni yelled, "Freakshow!" The spider Stand lunged towards Kenna, ready to stab her with the claws sprouting from its back.
"Kono!"
With a punch from Double Abstract, Freakshow, along with its user, was sent back.
"Be grateful when someone's trying to save your life, dammit!" Joanne yelled.
"That's the thing!" Loni said as she got back up, "You're not doing this for me. You don't care about me, none of you do. All of this is just to save yourselves! You are all selfish, living your lives so peacefully! And I am selfish for clinging on to mine for so long. It's time for us to go! For good!"
Joanne's fist began to shake, "Selfish?! Was it selfish of your mother to not cast you aside the moment you were born?"
"What the hell do you know? You never grew up as I did! You're not even worth talking to right now! Accept your death and stop talking as if you know me!"
Joanne turned to Ally and June, "This isn't working, we're going to have to put her to sleep."
Ally sighed, "What a pain. But this can be arranged. Vertigo!" The dark green and yellow Stand appeared next to her.
"Are we using that technique?" June asked as Elastic Band appeared beside her.
"We've got no choice," Ally said.
Elastic band snaked on the floor before wrapping around Loni's legs and going up to her body. Freakshow tried to use its claws to cut Elastic Band, but the rubber Stand didn't get harmed.
"You can withstand my claws, but can you withstand my acid?" Freakshow spat acidic webs.
"I don't think so!" A punch from Vertigo sent Freakshow's head twisting to the left, sending the acidic web to the floor. Elastic Band wrapped around Loni's arms and began to squeeze her.
"Is this your plan?" Loni muttered through the pain, "To crush me to death?"
"No," Ally said as she turned around facing away from Loni, "This was just to keep you still so you'd be opposite of me."
"No!" Loni yelled before she was put under Vertigo's spell and fell silent.
"Don't worry," Ally said, "I'm not going to make her face her fears, I just put her straight to sleep." Joanne sighed in relief. She looked over at Kenna and saw that she had finished with the last makeshift pillar. The ceiling would hold for a little bit longer now. This gave the four enough time to drag Loni along with the other Speedwagon Foundation members out of the one-cell prison before it collapsed.
Joanne wiped sweat off her face before turning to June and Ally, "Will the Speedwagon Foundation wake up?"
"Don't worry," Ally said, "I only put them to sleep for a few hours, they should wake up on their own."
"What about Loni?" Kenna asked, "What will we do with her?"
"Wake her up," Joanne said as Abstract handed her a pair of handcuffs, "I need to ask her something."
After Joanne put the handcuffs on Loni, Ally used Vertigo to wake her up.
"The hell?" Loni muttered as her eyes fluttered open, "Am I finally dead?"
"Hate to break it to you," Joanne said, "But we all made it out alive."
Loni's eyes burst open, "What?! Why didn't you leave me in there to die?! Why the hell did you take me out?"
"I said it before, and I'll say it again, Loni Dodson, it's because I care about you."
"Bullshit," Loni said, "You're the most stubborn person I've ever met, there's no denying that. I'll give you a few parting words, Joanne Jones. Here's my advice: Stop trying to save your enemies. Not all of them are going to be like me. The others are going to kill you." Loni sighed, "And piss off. When someone tells you that you don't know what you're talking about, then you really don't know what you're talking about." Loni stood up in front of Joanne, "Either way I hope you all die. That way you can all greet me soon."
"Wait," Kenna said, "What do you mean by that?!"
"Freakshow," Loni uttered the name of her Stand quietly as she closed her eyes. Joanne didn't react in time, and Freakshow's claw stabbed through Loni's heart. Loni coughed up blood before falling to the floor, Freakshow disappearing behind her.
"No!" Joanne yelled, "I won't let you die! Kenna, heal her!"
"It's too late, Joanne," Kenna said, "That went through her heart. She died instantly, there's nothing I can do."
"Damn it!" Joanne yelled as she pounded her fist on the ground. She sighed, "There's nothing more we can do here. Besides, we need to stop all the other Stand users in Morioh."
"June and I can't come with," Ally said. "We need to stay here and wake these Speedwagon guys back up. We need to tell them about the attack as well and formulate a plan to stop Dianne from killing Josuke."
"If we get the chance, we'll help you," June said, "But for now we'll stay here."
"Alright," Kenna said, "Come on, Joanne."
Joanne took one last look at Loni's body before waving at June and Ally and running towards Morioh with Kenna. The city wasn't very far, it had taken just under fifteen minutes to walk to the prison, so they were back in no time. Luckily, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The two decided that the first place they should head to was the Speedwagon Foundation building where they were keeping Josuke's and the other's stone bodies. They heard a kid crying as they ran towards the building and turned around to see Hozier running towards them.
"Hozier?" Kenna asked, "What happened? Why are you crying?"
"There's this scary blue man!" Hozier cried, "And he hurt Tenmei really bad!"
"What?!" Joanne yelled, "Where?!"
"Over there!" Hozier pointed in the direction from where he came from, "The blue man is very scary!"
"We're going to help Tenmei!" Kenna said as she looked at Hozier, "I need you to hide and if anyone tries to hurt you, go behind your mirror."
Hozier nodded, "Don't get hurt, Kenna. I'll be really sad if you get hurt!"
"I won't get hurt, I promise,"
Kenna and Joanne ran towards where Hozier had pointed. In the distance, they would see Tenmei lying on the ground, clutching his leg. And the blue Stand, Thunderstruck, was kneeling beside him.
"That's him," Joanne said, "Kenna, did you use up all the bars?"
"I've got one left," Kenna took a bar out of Redbone's chest.
As the two grew nearer, they could hear what Thunderstruck was saying, "What a shame. I really wasn't looking forward to seeing your head smash open. But you leave me no choice. Goodbye, Tenmei Kakyoin."
"There's no time!" Joanne yelled, "I'm going to intersect the punch!"
"Joanne no!" Kenna said, "You heard what he said, that punch is powerful enough to smash your head open!"
"Then Tenmei will be provided with enough blood to kill this son of a bitch!"
Thunderstruck drew back its fist, and with an incredible speed, sent it flying right towards Tenmei's head. Joanne jumped in between the two, and took the impact of the punch straight to her collarbone, just under her throat.
"Joanne!" Tenmei called, "Joanne, what are you doing here?! Are you alright?!"
Thunderstruck looked at Joanne, who had fallen to the floor, "There she is. You may live, Kakyoin. The Jones girl is my only target."
"No, you don't, you bastard!" Kenna threw the bar, aiming for Thunderstruck's head. The blue Stand managed to dodge the bar, but focussed on Joanne who had just gotten up.
"The hell?" she said, "That punch barely hurt! What a pushover! You let this guy beat you, Tenmei?"
"It's not what you think," Tenmei said, "The force of his punches increases every time. I think it's exponential growth!"
"Exponential growth?" Joanne asked.
"It means my punches keep getting stronger," Thunderstruck said, "They double in power every time. On the topic of math, why don't we play a little counting game? Let's see how many hits it takes before your head cracks open."
"I won't let you touch Joanne!" Kenna yelled as Redbone got ready to punch Thunderstruck. Before a hit could land, something grabbed Redbone and threw it back, sending Kenna back as well.
"Don't interfere, Fletcher,"
Kenna got off the ground and looked ahead to see a purple Stand speckled with yellow dots. It had spiked elbows, and its fingernails looked long and sharp.
"Is that you, Miller?" Kenna asked, "I've never seen your Stand before."
"Haven't seen yours either, Fletcher," The purple Stand said, "Outside of what Dianne showed me. I never got its name though. I've called mine, Evil Twin. What about yours?"
"Redbone," Kenna said, "Any hints as to what your ability is?"
"You go first," Evil Twin said.
"Sorry," Kenna said, "Not happening!" Redbone picked up the bar and swung it at Evil Twin who grabbed it.
"That wasn't nice," Evil Twin said, "We were still talking." With a snap of its fingers, the bar was gone.
"What?" Kenna asked, "How'd you do that? Is your ability making things disappear?"
"No," Evil Twin smiled as it punched Redbone in the face, giving Kenna a bloody nose.
"Thanks," Tenmei muttered, "I'm gonna be borrowing this," Ruby Tuesday appeared next to Tenmei as the blood from Kenna's nose flowed towards it and formed a needle. Tenmei threw the needle at Thunderstruck, aiming for its head. The blue Stand was able to stop the attack.
"Didn't you hear me, Kakyoin?" Thunderstruck said, "I told you you may live. We only have one objective, and it's to kill the Jones girl."
"Why me?" Joanne said as she faced Thunderstruck, "I didn't even know Dianne before all of this. Why does she specifically want me dead?"
"Joestar blood flows through your veins," Thunderstruck said, "That same blood plus that of Dio flows through hers. These two bloodlines have done nothing but cause trouble. Dianne is as much at fault as you are. But she is willing to sacrifice herself at the end, something that you are not."
"What kind of damn logic is that?" Joanne yelled, "How the hell would Dianne even know what my family and hers have done? She has no proof and is acting without it, endangering the lives of many. I don't give a damn about what she wants. If she wants to die then she can go jump off a cliff. But bringing me into this was not right. I didn't even know my family until a few months ago. I was in foster care with a few visits from my grandfather, Joseph. If it wasn't for his death, I wouldn't even be here!"
"Dianne knows more about your family than you do," Thunderstruck said, "You are misinformed. Accept your fate and your friends will live."
Joanne looked at Tenmei on the ground, still clutching his broken leg, unable to do anything. Then she looked at Kenna, weaponless against a Stand with an unknown ability. She sighed, "Alright. I accept."
"Good," Thunderstruck said, "Now stand still, three more punches should finish you off. Don't worry, I'll make this as painless as I can. I don't enjoy killing or watching people suffer."
"I accept," Joanne repeated, "I accept the fact that Dianne is wrong. I accept the fact that my fate should not be predetermined based on who my mother is. I accept the fact that I won't let you hurt anyone else! I accept the fact that I'm going to kick your ass!"
"Foolish," Thunderstruck sighed, "I envy all the optimism inside you. But it will amount to nothing, I'm sad to say. This is just how it was meant to be."
"That's what you think, asshole!" Joanne yelled, "Abstract!"
Double Abstract grabbed the container holding the liquified handcuffs and threw the liquid at Thunderstruck's face. The liquid entered his eyes, causing him to close them.
"I'm sad to say," Joanne said with a smile, "But this is just how it was meant to be! Abstract!"
"Kono kono kono kono kono kono kono kono kono kono kono!" Abstract punched Thunderstruck repeatedly and with one last, "Konoyaro!" The blue Stand was sent flying back and crashed into the ground.
Thunderstruck got back up almost instantly, "I've taken a few beatings before. I won't be going down that easily!" He lunged toward Joanne and managed to hit her gut twice, sending her to the floor. She groaned in pain as she began to puke. The first punch had hurt bad, but the pain from the second was indescribable. She felt as if a hole had been punched through her.
"And one more to finish you off!" Thunderstruck yelled as the last punch zoomed towards Joanne's head.
...
A/N: That's chapter 23! A few things happened. First is the backstory and death of Loni Dodson. I'm glad that I fleshed out her character a bit more before killing her off. My only regret is that I didn't get to do any more cool things with her Stand. Freakshow is probably one of my favorite Stands that I've created just because of how versatile it is. Anyways, I'm glad that June and Ally were able to switch sides. I guess one thing I'd like to clarify is Vertigo's ability. If some of you are confused as to why it can suddenly put people to sleep, I'll give an explanation. Vertigo's ability was never to show people their worst fears, it was to create hyper-realistic illusions. Some of these illusions can shut the brain down and put the subject to sleep. Lastly, I want to confirm Thunderstruck's ability and Evil Twin's musical reference. Thunderstruck's ability is to double the strength of its punches every time it hits a target. But if this target is reset, the punches revert to their original strength. Thunderstruck is named after the AC/DC song of the same name, and Evil Twin is named after the They Might Be Giants song, My Evil Twin. Anyways, hope the cliffhanger wasn't too annoying. See you all next week for episode 24: Flood Part 4!