Josh Raiden

*This article is about the Stand wielding highschooler. For the cybernetic Paladin, see Josh*

> "*I've been Yellowwashed in your mind*"
> ― Josh, on the status of his skin color
>
>

Josh Raiden is the friendly class delinquent at Seattleroshima High. He is a Stand User who first appears in the Post-Scratch DeKadian Universe. One of the "Sanmajin" or "3 Devils", he is one of the most feared and respected students in the school due to his Brain Wave-Manipulating Stand.

## Background

Josh was reincarnated from his counterpart in the Pre-scratch. He attended Seattleroshima Jr. High along with his childhood friends, Marissa Komamarii and Trevor Wallace. During the Summer of 2011 the three became estranged from one another due to an argument between Trevor and Marissa and Marissa's sudden change in attitude. Josh was marked as a delinquent for his involvement in a series of fights with older kids from Seattleroshima High. Josh, a scrappy youth, defended himself and earned respect before even enrolling. However, Seattleroshima High initially did not want to enroll Josh due to his behavior. Dirty Lyle, the recent Principal of the school, saw to Josh's enrollment.

During his Freshman year, Josh was introduced to the Stand arrow in possession of Mr. Vermiurge. The teacher's motives while not entirely known also resulted in Trevor and Marissa developing stands. Josh used his Stand, Wayward Son, to climb the delinquent pecking order and became known as the Top Delinquent by students. Josh, while feared, became something of a champion for the little guy in the school, which also positioned him against the New Student Council President, Marissa, and the appointed Student Disciplinary Head, Trevor.

Throughout Freshman Year, Josh began noticing odd happenings at the school and began fighting to achieve peace at the school, even if it meant fighting his former friends. Though at the end of his Freshman year, he was mostly certain that Marissa was the cause of the school's problems.

In his second year at the school, Josh began working loosely with Mr. Vermiurge and his TA and made a loose alliance with Trevor, against Marissa.

## Personality

Josh is a straightforward person who tells it the way it is and isn't afraid to speak his mind. Josh will get into any fight without hesitation if it means defending himself, a friend or somebody too weak to defend themself. Because of the bullying problems that once plagued the school, Josh got a reputation for being violent, however Josh doesn't seek out fights, they usually find him.

Josh prefers to take each day as they come and doesn't like to draw unnecessary attention. He resents both of his once-friends for becoming cliquey high ranking figures in the school since he remembers well a time when they were the underdogs.

Josh is often underestimated due to his reputation, but he is an intelligent and creative person who likes taking novel approaches to solving problems.

## Relationships

### Thomas Vermiurge

Josh's homeroom teacher is simultaneously Josh's closest supporter and the most difficult person to work with. Josh spends much of his free time in Mr. Vermiurge's classroom as he knows it is the one place he is absolutely safe. But getting Mr. Vermiurge to help outside the classroom is difficult. Mr. Vermiurge can not be said to particularly like any of his students, but he does seem to dislike Josh very little and is usually transparent about the nature of stands and their usefulness. Mr. Vermiurge is in many ways a grumpy mentor to Josh.

### Mr. Lax

Mr. Lax, Mr. Vermiurge's TA is a very easy person for Josh to get along with as the way to Mr. Lax's heart is with a tray of Oreo cookies.

### Quill

The young boy who haunts the school is a good friend to Josh and is often willing to do minor errands for him in exchange for some fun. Josh often helps Quill prank Mr. Vermiurge

### Trevor

Josh and Trevor were once close friends in Middle School. The two stopped bullies from attacking Marissa and took her on as a friend. When Josh found himself fighting off the older bullies, Trevor abandoned him which has caused Josh some lingering animosity towards his friend. The two spoke less and less until their second year at Seattleroshima where they two formed an uneasy alliance against Marissa.

### Marissa

Josh defended Marissa from bullies in Middle school and they became fast friends. However after the summer before their Freshman year, Marissa had a fight with Trevor and secluded herself. Josh was too busy dealing with legal troubles at the time to know what transpired. When he made it High school, he found Marissa to be the leader of a strange cult and vowed to snap his friend out of being super Evil.

## Powers and Abilities

Josh is a Stand User but is ultimately still a human teenager, thus his general abilities are within the reach of a human teenager.

* Athletic Strength: Josh is physically fit and is a good fist-fighter and street brawler
* Average Speed: Josh is fairly normal in his running ability.
* Average Intellect: While not the top of his class, Josh is an adept puzzle solver and is a quick thinker
* Average Durability: Josh is capable of taking punches and can hold himself in a brawl but without armor he is vulnerable to anything that would severely injure a normal human

### Stand

Josh's Stand **「W A Y W A R D S O N」**is a mid-range effect based stand.

#### Stand Statistics

* Power- B: Is capable of dealing significant damage with its melee attacks
* Speed- B: Rapid movement
* Range- E: Requires touch to use effects
* Durability- B: Reasonably more durable than the user
* Precision- C: Offers equal precision to a human
* Potential- B: The Stand has a variety of applications and ability to change

#### Stand Ability

**「W A Y W A R D S O N」**allows Josh to manipulate the brain waves of anything his stand touches.  Using this ability he can make his opponents think that their arms have caught fire, making their bodies respond as if they actually were.  Inversely he can also turn off either his own, or other's pain receptors making it so they don't feel pain when they get injured.  This ability also renders him incapable of being mind controlled.  It also prevents anyone from reading his mind, or the minds of anyone that he comes into contact with.

## Trivia

* This version of Josh is Asian-American. Nobody is sure why.
* Josh's gender and sexuality are way, way more straightforward than his counterpart
* Of all of Trevor's transgressions against Josh, the most unforgivable is that one Co-Op playthrough of Portal 2. Some crimes cannot be forgiven.
* Josh has a policy against actually bullying others. Except for Cole, he deserves it.