Chapter 7: Friend in Me
-One Month Later-
It's been a month after battling Dio-Linc and Joey still couldn't get it out of his head. The alternate universe, or time leap if he can call it has been much different ever since he got here; Joey tracked down the man that hit him with the arrow in his world, but here…the same man that gave him his stand was a different man that gave Lincoln his stand. Despite searching all of Royal Woods, he failed to find the person that gave Lincoln [The World].
So far, the changes was that Lincoln got his stand early (Joey received his during the "Bad Luck" incident) Dio has shown himself much earlier (Joey met Dio during the time he thought he was adopted) Lincoln was a popular kid like Chandler (Joey was a dork with a circle of friends also being dorks) and there was little interaction between Lincoln and Clyde, which was odd, but then again, Lincoln was a stand user and wanted to hang around others like him.
He heard from Lincoln that Clyde was at summer camp, but even though it ended, he still hasn't returned to school for months now and it was before the incident with Lincoln and the arrow. Joey hoped Clyde was okay.
Another thing he still couldn't figure out was which Loud family member had a stand. In his world, he wasn't the only Loud to acquire a stand; Lynn, Luna, and Lucy gained theirs, but when he spied on the three sisters of this world, they didn't have one. Who else besides Lincoln will gain a stand?
He sat back in his office chair and sighed.
He didn't know that his presence here changed the world, or maybe it was the world that was different.
A week after the incident with DIO, Joey decided to give Lincoln a special watch called a Roll-X. It appears as a normal orange digital watch, but it was high tech equipment that he built during the dimension hopping; the watch was not a stand.
Now, Joey did not like giving a powerful weapon and all-purpose tool to a child, but the watch was there so Joey can keep status on Lincoln's mind and health, act as a tracking device, and make Lincoln fight with the Roll-X instead of his stand. Like DIO said, the more he uses [The World] the more his influence will start to consume Lincoln's mind and soul.
Not to mention Joey went through a 'Hero' process back in his version of Royal Woods where after obtaining his stand, he had to fight stand users to protect the community. All is peaceful here, so far…he hasn't encountered any trouble making stand users yet, which is a good thing and a bad thing.
Good because Lincoln is fine and sitting pretty, but bad because this Lincoln will deal with different enemy stand users instead of it being the same ones Joey fought. Unlike his experience where he was fumbling to survive, he needed to make sure this Lincoln was strong, tough, and ready for a SHTF scenario.
He didn't care it was unorthodox to turn an innocent kid into a battle ready child soldier, but Lincoln isn't prepared for what awaits him being an out-of-shape comic book-loving dweeb. Joey's life of being a skinny dweeb that read comics and played games didn't prepare him at all for the shitstorm that hit his Loud family like a freight train.
He couldn't do these constant meet ups with him and the other boys because everyone will get the wrong idea of why a grown man is always hanging around little boys. So far, a month has went by and the boy has been doing okay with no DIO activity brewing in his mind ever since that day.
Hopefully his training and giving the watch to the boy made him grow a spine made of steel. However, he hoped that it doesn't backfire, as he has seen a few scenarios where Lincoln was too aggressive and stubborn and it didn't end well…
Joey heard a knock on his front door. He stood up and walked over it to, confused as to who would want to speak to him that was few minutes to midnight.
When he opened the door, Joey's jaw dropped at the sight of who was there. Standing in front of him was a muscle-bound black man with a bald head, a goatee, brown eyes. He was wearing a gray shirt, camouflage pants, black boots, a pair of gray specs over his eyes, and a brown backpack.
"C-C-Clyde?" Joey stuttered in shock. The man smiled.
"Eric Stevens now, but deep down, I'm still Clyde McBride. Just like you are still Lincoln Loud." He walked up and hugged Joey tightly.
"I thought you were dead during the dimension hopping?"
Clyde, or in this case, Eric chuckled.
"Nope, I didn't die, but was sent to a different dimension. I pinpointed your location here using some tech I found during the travel to different worlds."
"Well, come on in! There's much to discuss!" Joey brought him in the house.
After nearly an hour of talking about life, problems, what Joey has been working behind the scenes to toughen up Lincoln, and Eric giving Clyde a helping hand during his summer break, Eric told Joey about a plan he had.
"Jo, you told me earlier that Lincoln is the only one with a stand, right?"
He nodded.
"Yeah, why?"
"I got this…" Eric took out a golden stand arrow from his backpack. Joey's eyes widened.
"A stand arrow? Where did you get that?"
"From a different dimension. During my traveling, I discovered alternate worlds where Lynn Sir was the one to gain the stand, not Lincoln. In this arrow contains the memories and stand powers of the alternate dimension Lynn Sir; I think we should give it to the Lynn Sir of this world." Eric told him.
"Hmmm…" Joey thought for a moment.
"Think about it? Lynn Sir won't be the bumbling dad cliché that is ignorant of the problems his kids are going through. And I think it's best to have an reasonable authority figure in the same house as Lincoln watch over him, you can't be on his back every hour watching him." He said, trying to persuade him.
"Besides, I think its best if an adult in the Loud House got it, not any of the sisters."
"Actually…that's a pretty good plan. I didn't have a super dad looking over my shoulder and helping me, maybe if I did…DIO would have lost. Alright, I'll do it." Lincoln shook his best friend's hand.
"Mind me asking what memories and the stand powers that alternate dimension Lynn Sir had?"
"Ten years of military training to prepare himself for battle after DIO killed his family, super soldier serum that puts him at peak superhuman potential and extends lifespan to counter the ravages of old age, and two stands. However, he didn't obtain Hamon and his stands are different from yours."
"What are his stands like?"
"The first stand he got was a sword-type stand that appears in the form of a two-handed claymore that gets stronger depending on the strength level of the enemy. The second is a necklace-type stand." He replied.
"What are their names and what can they do?"
"The sword stand which is called [Abaris] is a stand that can be seen by anyone. It grants him professional swordsmanship skills and enables him to release different types of energy, depending on what color the aura surrounding the sword is: the green aura poisons enemies upon touch, red aura releases fire blasts with a swing of the sword and can manipulate fire and heat, blue aura releases ice spikes and can manipulate ice and cold, and the purple aura saps away the enemy's energy and stamina, taking them out non-lethally."
"Wow…" Joey said in amazement.
"It's a superpowered version of Anubis…right down to getting stronger by knowing the enemy's moves and appearing in the form of a sword. Is [Abaris] possessed by something?"
"Yes, inside the sword is Lynn Sir's soul. I found out that he put his soul into his stand after winning the Great War."
"Interesting, so what does the shield do?"
"The necklace stand called [Smokestack] is a defensive stand that's worn around the neck and can be seen by anyone. The stand can generate invisible barriers which can be used to protect the stand user, or others and reflects damage back at the attacker." He explained.
"Fascinating, and you say his soul is in the sword?"
"Correct, you won't have to give Lynn Sir any training, or talk to him about his stands. The alternate version Lynn Sir will be his guide and conscious."
"Great." Joey smiled.
"So, when do you plan to hit him with the arrow?" Joey asked.
"I'll be like this…" Eric began…
Lincoln danced down the hallway of his house towards the bathroom, listening to Fuel by Metallica with his headphones on.
"Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire, oh!" He sang along to the lyrics.
He felt damn good after all his training with Joey and gave him the confidence and assertiveness that he wanted. His attire changed, he now developed a biker-esque look.
Lincoln now wears a black leather jacket that he keeps zipped down that has an orange star on the back of it, a black belt around his waist with a silvery belt buckle of a star, a pair of black fingerless biker gloves, a pair of shades on his forehead and the orange watch on his right wrist. His orange polo shirt, pants, shoes, and the dog tags (which were [Pressure Time]) remain unchanged.
After doing his business, headed back to his room, avoiding the stampede of sisters rushing to the bathroom. He couldn't help but chuckle as Lori and Leni were in a shoving match, trying to get into the bathroom while trying to push each other out at the same time. No more waiting in a line for the white-haired child.
When he closed his door, his walkie talkie beeped under his bed and he heard a familiar voice. It wasn't the one he was using to speak with Joey, but his best bud Clyde. He quickly grabbed the walkie talkie.
"Hey, Clyde! Where have you been man?! I have so much to tell you! Over."
"What up, Linc? Sorry for spending a long time at summer camp, it actually ended, but I received help and training from a stranger named Mr. Stevens. Over."
"What kind of training? Over."
"Don't call me crazy dude, but I have a ghost that I can summon called a stand. Over."
"WHAT!? Dude, I got a stand too! And I was trained by a man on how to control it! Over."
"Me too! Hey, want to meet at the park so we can see each other's stands, then we can duel? You know? Maybe have a little stand off? Haha, get it? Over."
Lincoln groaned.
"Good Luan pun. As for the duel, you're on! I want to fight you! Over."
"Haha, you're starting to sound as competitive as Lynn. Over."
"What can I say? My stand must have gave me an iron spine. When do you want to meet? Over."
"Tomorrow in the afternoon at two o' clock sharp. Over."
"Got it, I'll be there. Over."
Lincoln put away his walkie talkie and smiled. His good friend was finally back and he got a stand like him; the white-haired boy wondered if Clyde's stand was stronger than his, but tomorrow, he will find which kid had the best stand. He can smell breakfast from downstairs thanks to Rita and Lynn Sir cooking it for the family and his belly growled.
A growing boy and his time stopping ghost buddy would really like eggs and bacon right about now and there was no need to rush downstairs.