Chapter 1: The Skies Darken
Author's Note
This is a story based on the hit anime 'Jojo's Bizzare Adventures: Stardust Crusaders' and takes place more or less after the end of events in the show...
I, in no way, own this anime. And take no credit for any characters that are used in it.
But for the best experience from this story, I VERY highly recommend that you watch it.
Sincerely
The Silver Dodge
Chapter 1: The Skies Darken
"Bright...?"
A filly Bright Lantern sat motionless in front of the Grand piano. With his mother by his side, waiting in anticipation as he seemed to distantly stare off.
"Aren't you going to me that song you were practising?"
The young Jothan still remained unmoved, only showing a frown of pure worry. His mother quickly picked up on this, causing herself to mirror his frown a bit. Just more lovingly.
"Just take your time, dear... And try your best!"
He glanced up at her, a newly laid smile of reassurance spread across her face. The kind of smile that told him 'Everything will be a-okay!'
Jojo, however, continued to frown. Returning her gaze with self-doubt lacing his eyes. "I don't know mom... What if I mess up, and it doesn't turn out perfect?"
"That's what i'm expecting," She said withe a kind, honest smile, "Of course you're not going to get it right on the first try...! And of course it won't be perfect. Nopony gets it perfect, especially on the first try!"
"But I'm not gonna achieve anything if I keep screwing up..." Her words seemed to have no effect... Though, it still wouldn't stop her from getting her point across.
"Actually, that's where your wrong..." She stated with determination,"The whole point of mistakes is to learn from them. Because without imperfect mistakes, how will we achieve the perfection we strive for? It would simply be impossible..."
Jothan, reflecting on her words, peered upon the piano.
Despite knowing he could't play the song fully or to a brilliant quality, he finalised that he would at least try...
For his mothers sake.
And, now facing the piano, placed his hooves on the keys... Taking a long, deep breath and attempting to play Clair de lune, by Dubussy.
Jojo glided his hooves along the piano... Each note was laced with grace, as intended in the original song.
Granted, he did have to stop and take a look at the keys carefully before pressing down.
Though he did mess up ever now and then, Jothan kept up his focus. Still sweating bullets as he played, he focused more than ever will coming to the end.
His mother couldn't feel more proud...!
"See that, Bright...? That's what you're capable of...!" She beamed from ear to ear, "I heard you spent weeks on this. Playing it over and over... That's what dedication can do, you know."
He was pulled into a loving bear hug. "You really are something special... I just know you'll make it far in this world...!"
"Mom... I'm confused." He silently replied.
"Hmm?" She said, not expecting that to be his reply. "About what, dear?"
"It's just...I don't know how I managed to play that song..."
She let go, starring down at him with empathy. "With time, practice and effort."
Though, he shook his head in response, earning a plain, unclear look from her.
"No, not like that. What I meant was... I don't think I should've been able to play that song.
I don't have fingers..."
Jothans' eyes gradually cracked open, finally waking from his outlandish dream. But still scanning his body to see and changes, just in case... After a few quick searches, he was, indeed, the same. Nothing had changed, other than the severe bed head that had ruffled his navy blue hair in almost all directions. But now being (kinda, sorta) awake, Jojo dragged himself out of bed and sloppily walked out and into his bathroom.
During his routine, he caught his reflection in the mirror. Gazing into the mourning mess of a Monday.
And of Tuesdays.
And Wednesday...
And Thursday.....
The more Jothan starred at his mirrored counterpart, the more icy of a look it gave back to him... along with a feeling just as cold.
'So much potential...' The reflexion echoed, 'Just for this? Has there ever been any more of a waste?'
He looked upon himself, casting silent judgment.
'You're better than this, Jothan...'
...
.....
.......
'How the hell does anypony evenplay piano...?' Jothan pondered, attempting to distract himself and tear his eyes and thoughts away from his own demons.
And after some time, he became very good at it...
Now entering the kitchten, he passed by a letter at the feet of his front door. 'Later...' he told himself as he picked it up and carried it with him, placing it on the counter and making a bowl of cereal...
Only to be disturbed by a spontaneous knocking at the door.
With and irratated grunt, he got up and stompted his way to the door.
"The hell do you want?" Jothan stated after swinging the it open.
Nopony lay in front of him.
He did, however, find a newspaper; answering to his initial confusion.
Now making his way back to the table, he read what the newspaper had to offer...
A Vampires Work
Jaws dropped yesterday, as the body of a deceased pony lay motionless on the cold concrete of Manehattan, with no blood in the victims system!
Replicating the work of a vampire...!
The mare in question-
"Good grief... The muggers in this town only get crazier by the day..." Jothan mused, chuckling to himself, "Who even buys into this crap? Tsk, vampires..."
-is the owner of a bakery going by the name of Sugar Rush.
In addition to the extreme amounts blood lost, the mare was found heavily maimed and beaten to the point of several bones.
Sugar Rush was found dead in the back of her own bakery by her own employee and close friend...
"It was horrific!" The worker stated, wishing to stay anonymous- (Continued on the next page)
Jothan put the paper down, sighing with disappointment.
'So this is what the world has come to?' He pondered, 'Equestria, the land of friendship... and where mad stallions poke holes in other ponies necks just for a wallet... Where did we all fuck up?'
For some time, Jothan had been living in Manehattan. Therefore, he was used to hearing about occasional 'petty theft'.
But never amounting to this degree...
And in all truthfulness, the idea of murder just... disappointed him.
Taking someone's life? And for what? A little more money in your pocket?
Or just to quench a grudge...
Nevertheless, he generally disliked murder... Unnecessary murder, to be specific.
He traded the newspaper for the letter that was left counter, opening it...
Hello Bright!
This is your mother speaking. I just wanted to ask, how's life in the big city?
Whatever the response, I hope it's brilliant!
By the way, is your boss treating you any better? Because if he isn't, he'll have to deal with me...
Any who!
I should tell you, I'm going to be visiting your apartment for the week... and if I'm correct, I should be on my way by the time this letter reaches you.
We can continue our talk then. But for now, I wish you all the best.
Love you!
A smile shined across his face. It had been quite some time since they had last talked. In person, at least...
Every now and then he would get letters from her, asking more or less the same question like 'how are you?' and whatnot.
But that could never compare to when he first moved. His apartment was practically overflowing with worried messeges...!
Still, he love her very much.
She was the best of mums... to him at least.
Putting the letter back down on the head counter, he grabbed his satchel that was hanging on a chair and made his way to the door...
Only, as Jothan reached for the doorknob, his surrounding view suddenly turned photo-negative.
"The hell-!!?"
But just as quickly the oddity appeared, it vanished mysteriously. Returning the objects around him back to their original colour...
Leaving Jothan confused and flabbergasted from the event, as he snapped his head in all directions. Trying to find an answer, but to no avail.
"What... What happened...?" He questioned, sighing tiredly as he once more reached for the handle, "I must be going crazy... Or colour blind... Or bo-"
Before he could even finish his sentence, Jothans eyes widened as a great pain spiked his heart. Bringing him to the ground whilst helplessly clutching his chest, screaming bloody murder and writhing in as the pain intensified...
"AAARRRRRRRRGGHH...! Gah! Wh-what is-?" He grunted through his teeth.
It seemed that any move he made, only caused the pain to increase. Unleashing a torrent of hell upon his senses.
'S-shit...! W-what happening? Am I having a heart attack? Am I dying?!' he thought, gritting his teeth and erratically breathing.
However, to his mysterious fortune, the pain instantaneously subsided. Leaving Jothan panting, like a dying animal...
Jothan carefully brought himself back to his feet, still catching his air as he steadied himself
He curiously placed a hoof at his chest, feeling his ordinary pulse irregularly return to normal.
"What the fuck is wrong with me...?"
His question was only answered by silence.
Jothan sighed as he finally managed to make it out the door...
'Whatever this is, it can't be normal.'
***
[STAND NAME]: The World
Power: ?
Speed: ?
Range: ?
Precision: ?
Durability: ?
Potential: ?
Jothan made his way through the thick crowd of Manehatten. Being a Monday, everyone in the City had somewhere to be or someone to see.
And it didn't help that everybody practically went out of their way to push and shove any and everyone in front of them.
Looking back on this, Jothan couldn't really remember why he bothered living here. Well, other than being able to get to work on time... that, and he was also payed good money for it. So he probably just choose to deal with it.
"Hey! Watch it!"
Speaking of which...
A citizen had, unsprisingly, just bumbed into another stallion walking the other way. However, that wasn't the main thing that got Jothans attention... But rather, it was the appearance of that stallion that really caught his eye.
He had a yellow coloured coat, with a golden mane that was all spiked up. His open jacket was orange and bore a pitch black tank top underneath it... Not to mention, the stallion himself was MUCH taller than the average pony and his facial feature were more... chisled. To say the least
His eyes shone the slightest hints of red...
"Are ya deaf? I said watch it, Bitch!"
The yellow stallion gave him a dark and menacing look from where he stood. "Such language..." he said, at last, "Don't you know any respect...?"
"Yeah. I do. I also know that gonna get your shit kicked in if you ram me again...!" Clearly...the pony held no regard for his own personal safety or how much of a disadvantage he would be in a fight like this were to occur... That's a Manhattan citizen alright.
Jothan began walking once again, deciding he had seen enough.
The Stallion sighed as he mumbled something under his breath.
"Oh? What did you say? Well? Speak up, pussy!"
The odd stallion simply let out a long, drawn out sigh...
"I said... My name is Dio.
And let it be the last word you ever hear...
THE WORLD!!!"
The moment he uttered those words, the surroundings, again, flashed with a photo negative arua Jothan had seen before not to long ago.
However, after the arua faded away, everyone and everything seemed to stop and freeze in place. To the point where nothing and no one moved... almost like time itself came to a halt.
Jothan and the mysterious stallion, Dio as he was apparently called, were the only ones who could move...
And as if things couldn't any stranger, a large, muscular and human like hand phased out of Dio's torso. Forming a fist and cocking it back.
"This..." he stated ominously, "Is what happens, when you bad mouth DIO..."
With a single motion, the fist drove itself through the ponies face. A loud crack and crunch echoed as his jaw came clean off and blood flowed from the wound, until it seemingly lost all momentum and froze in a set place in the air.
Jothans only watched in awe and horror of the titanic punch, at a complete loss for words...
The hand phased back into Dio's body as he gave of a small, yet wicked smile.
"You..." Jothan uttered, finally finding his voice, "you... how... who are you...?
Dio's head snapped up in complete surprise as he turned to face Jojo. His features turn sour...
"Tsk...! A stand user? In this world?!"
"A... what user?" Jothan blurted out.
Dio only frowned at his lack of knowledge.
"Don't play dumb with me. You're a stand user, without a doubt. And not only that, but you also seem to posses the ability to stop time. Much like me..."
'Time is about to move again...'
The photonegative aura flashed once again, Time flowed as usual.
A splash of blood and bones and a body hit the cold concrete floor, silencing the city for a moment... And only a moment later, panic broke out.
Screams filled the air.
Fillies cried.
Ponies ran in different directions away from the corpse.
And Dio calmly made his way to Jothan...
"I guess," Dio shouted over the backround riot, "what i'm trying to say is that, whoever you are, you're a threat to me... And I just can't have that." Two arms phased out of his shoulders. The same arms that broke a ponies jaw in to little microscopic bits...
Dio now stood right in front Jothan, menacingly towering over him.
"Die..."
To Be Continued...
Chapter 3: A DeCaying future
***
Look, no one ever said Jotaro Kujo was a nice guy. I beat the crap outta people, more than I have to. Some are even still in the hospital. I've had idiot teachers who like to talk big, so I taught them a lesson and they never came back to class. If I go to a restaurant and the food is bad, I make it a policy to stiff 'em with the bill. But, even a bastard like me... can spot true evil when he sees it!
***
The gun was aimed at his forehead, still threatening to blow his brains out. Jothan was praying that he wouldn't have the balls to pull the trigger, hoping that this would all just end and that he would be able to go home...
But DeCay's unwavering hoof told him otherwise...
"Now listen..." DeCay ordered, breaking the tension by just a bit, "I'ma make myself clear. Very clear. Ok?"
Jojo nodded, feeling he had no other option but to comply.
"At 10:43 AM this morning, I had several upon several reports of a 'murder' in the district.
A local Manehattan citizen had his jaw forcibly torn off of its hinges and you where the only one found there by my officers...
Despite your slim chances of innocence, I'm curious. How on this good green earth do you justify yourself? How do you plead in such an open-and-shut case?" Judging by his scrunched up expression of anger, Jothan knew he wasn't kidding about sending him to death by his own hoof.
Even then, he knew he couldn't show fear.
To him, fear was a big white flag that can be slapped straight on your face.
It's more than a sign of weakness. Its the thing that lets the person responsible for your strife know that they're in your head, and that they've already won...
And Jothan hated losing.
"Another stallion did it." He stated calmly. 'You know you're innocent...Just prove it.' he repetitively said to himself.
"I don't know how, but he did. His method of pulling off the killing blow is... well, it's complicated."
"Elaborate." DeCay countered, forcing a sigh out of Jojo.
"Don't take my word for it for it, I might have been a bit hazy at the time. But from the way it appeared, the guy just sorta... stopped time."
The gun aimed at his head lowered ever so slightly as the detective seemed to flash a hint of suprise and... Wait? Was that fear?
Nevertheless, DeCay shook off his feelings and pressed on with the task at hand.
"You said that he could stop time?" Sounding skeptical, yet the tone didn't feel genuine.
"Yes, not only that. But he also had these weird, ghost arms that came out of his front shoulder joints."
"Excuse you?"
"I'm not kidding! Those arms were the things that punched the stallions face clean off! I think he called that power his Stand or something..." At that exact moment, DeCays heart stopped. His face went pale as he heard the word leave Jothans mouth. Withdrawing his 9mm, the now stressed pony placed a hoof on his temple as he looked away slightly.
Jojo noticed this very easily and asked the obvious,
"Are...Are you Ok?"
"Don't worry about me." DeCay ordered, bring himself back to reality,"Carry on with your statement."
"O-oh. Well, other than the whole 'time stop' shenanigans... Dio, the stallion in question, had a serious abundance of strength...! Or rather his Stand did. I found that out the hard way after blocking what was meant to be a punch that would end my life.
"Even then, a crater formed under my hoofs just from tanking the blow..."
The next few seconds were proceeded by dead silence as DeCay shut his eyes and put a hoof to his chin in thought.
"So the prophecy was true... This is bad..." He thought aloud in a stage whisper.
"Umm, what?" Jothan asked, tilting his head.
"I believe you." DeCay replied, snapping his eyes open.
"Wait, seriously?"
"Yes. You are indeed innocent in all of this."
"O-ok then..." Jothan questioned his sudden change of mind. But if it meant that he would live, then he wouldn't question it any further. "Sooo... Does that mean I can go?"
"Not so fast."
Jojo cursed under his breath, what more did the detective want from him...?
"I can't just let you go just yet, pal. I'm still not done with your interrogation..."
"Come on...!" Jojo said, beginning to grow more and more impatient, "What else do even have left to ask? I've told you everything!"
"No...! Not everything. I just have one more question for ya. But before I ask, please... Forgive me for this."
DeCay whipped out his pistol, in one swift motion, and pulled the trigger.
A 'BOOM' erupted throughout the room as the gunfire flash blinded its target... Jothan Jotaro!
In a fraction of a second, everything seemed to slow down as the bullet tore the air.
...
And not even a second later.
DeCay found that his bullet never even hit Jothan. It had just stopped dead in the air before it had a chance to kill.
"Nice try, Detective... But my Star Platinum is too fast for your 'bullets'."
And, indeed, Star Platinum had caught the shot out of the sky. Before returning it on the table in front of DeCay. In reality though, it was all the Stands work that kept Jojo safe.
He freaked out the moment the detective pulled out his gun... Jothan was playing it cool, despite completely forgetting about his own Stand until then.
"I see..." DeCay said holstering 9mm away, seemingly unphased by the events that just took place, "So this 'Star Platinum' is an invisible force that protects you at all costs...?"
"Yep. That's exactly what I... Wait, did you say 'invisible'?"
"Yes, I do believe so..."
"You mean you can't see him?"
"Does your 'Stand' have a physical form?" He asked, looking slightly confused.
"He is literally floating right next to me...! Right here!" Jothan pointed to Star Platinum, who had his arms crossed as he scowled, "How can you not see him?!"
"Listen kid. Maybe it's just a matter of difference between you and me..."
"Explain."
"What I mean is that maybe... the only reason Star Platinum isn't visible to me is because only you can see him. You are its user, after all."
"I... Guess so." Jothan contemplated his reasoning, bring a hoof to chin in though.
"Well, how about we talk somewhere else. A cafe? Y'know... just get to know each other." DeCay offered, lightening the mood a little.
"You shot me." Jojo replied coldly.
"Dahh, C'mon...! Get over it. You're Stand-thingy stopped my bullet, didn't he?" He said off-handedly.
"You tried to shoot me."
"You lived...! No need to worry about it now, I was just doin' my job. Now let's go, I heard a new diner opened near-by...!"
"You tried to shoot me, completely riding on hunch that could've easily had me dead. All in order to answer a 'question' that you could've just asked me for. And you expect me to have lunch with you?"
"Yes..."DeCay said, rubbing the back of his head and plastering a fake smile.
Jothan let out a long, exhausted and drawn out sigh.
"Pay for lunch... And I just might forgive you." At this point, he just wanted out on this whole situation.
"Deal!"
He quickly trotted out of the interrogation room in order to avoid the tense and very awkward atmosphere...
Forgetting to unlock that chains that held Jothan in place.
Equestria...
So this is where I am...
A place of friendship and magic...
A land overruled by ponies.
How... Strange.
This is a stark contrast to Earth.
But still...
A rightful place to hold my throne...!
...
....
.....
What do you think?
To Be Continued...
