BCT Fight 3: Homeward Bound

Fight 3: Homeward Bound

"What do I want if I win?" Jonathan said to himself. Nestled in the branches of one of the few trees left in Battle City's park, he was lost in thought surrounding the end of his confrontation with Death Rose.

"I never considered the prize because I didn't think I'd make it anywhere in the tournament, but here I am. There's always Amity Park... I'm sure Danny and Sam would be happy to see me...”

All of a sudden, Beep! Beep! Beep! went the wrist monitor once again, making Jonathan nearly fall out of the tree, hanging onto the branch by one hand.

“Grrr... I'm really starting to hate that thing...” Jonathan growled as he inched his way back to the trunk of the tree and slid back down to the ground. “Alright, what do you want this time?”

The screen read:

“Congratulations! You have advanced again in the Battle City Tournament. The field has been thinned and now the cream of the crop remains. Your skills and wit have guided you to become the elite challenger you are, but the hardest fights are yet to come. Your next opponent has been selected and the information is being relayed to you now. Good luck!”

As in the previous round, the message disappeared and the distance tracker appeared, only this time the number was much lower: 427, E.

“Oh man, my opponent's really close. Hmm... I should stay put for now, I'll control the environment. In the meantime, let's check the profile.”

Jonathan pressed the button on his screen, revealing his opponent: A young girl with black hair, sky blue eyes and a big, sweet smile on her face. At first glance, she reminded him of Danny. “Name: Tammy. Species: Human/Spectral. A young heroine with seemingly limitless potential; has all standard spectral powers, but can amplify her abilities by use of a special crystal. Somewhat clueless and distracted by cute things, but focused and brave in battle.”

“Okay, compared to what I've fought so far, a normal-looking half-ghost is a real change of pace.”

Just then, a girl, looking very lost, wandered into the other side of the park. She looked around the open space between the withered trees and the patches of long brown-green grass and saw a figure in the distance.

“This may just be the right time to dig out those wrist things that Danny gave me...” Jonathan said to himself as he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Excuse me,” said the girl, “can you help me?”

Jonathan turned around and stopped immediately when he saw that the girl was the exact one from his wrist-screen.. 'It's Tammy! What luck. I knew staying put would work.'

“Hello, you in there?” Tammy said, waving a hand in his face.

“Oh, sorry about that, miss,” he said, somewhat embarrassed. “You said you needed help?”

“Yeah, I'm looking for someone named Jonathan. He's my next opponent. Do you know who he is?”

Jonathan smiled. “You're looking at him.”

“Oh, wow, I actually found you!” Tammy said with a smile as big as her profile picture's. “I thought I'd have to wait for you to find me; This stupid wrist-screen thingy just hasn't been working for me since I got it.” She held it up a few inches from her face and stared at it for a second. “You. Are. JUNK!”

Jonathan just observed, confused. “Okay... getting back to the task at hand... what matters is that you found me. Now let's get down to business; the sooner we fight, the sooner I can get out of here.”

“Wait, wait, wait. I want to get out of here too. I don't even know why I'm here.”

It was then that Jonathan had a brainstorm, a veritable light-bulb-over-the-head moment. “I've got it! I've got the exact way we can both get out of here!”

“What? What is it? Tell me!” Tammy squealed.

“What if we teamed up? I don't think there's anything against it, heck, I don't even know if there's a rulebook for this tournament.”

“Hmm, I never thought of that. Then again, I haven't met anyone I'd want to team with, much less be around. Okay, I'll do it... on one condition.”

“And that is...?”

“You have to show me what you're capable of! I don't want to team up with someone who can't keep up with me or something.”

“All right then, sounds like a challenge to me,” Jonathan said, pounding a fist into his hand and cracking his knuckles. “Just give me a minute to prepare myself and I'll give you all I've got.” He took his quiver off his back and started to look through its pockets.

“Take your time,” Tammy said cheerfully. “All I have to do is this!” She reached into her pocket, pulled out a small crystal and held it to the sky. “Phantom Crisis Crystalize!”

In a flash of white light, her clothes changed into a shiny, black tank top with a white collar and emblazoned with the letters 'TP” on the front like lightning bolts, a black skirt with a lightning bolt on it with black pants underneath and knee-length white boots.

“Okay, I'm ready!”

“And so am I,” Jonathan replied, bow in hand with Danny's parting gift, the pair of Fenton Wrist Lasers, equipped. “Let's do this.”

They walked to a wide open patch of grass and stared each other down. The wrist-screens began to count down...

3, 2, 1, FIGHT!

Tammy and Jonathan continued to stare each other down, strafing each other in a large circle and waiting for the other to make a move.

'Just focus on her eyes...' Jonathan thought. 'When she moves, let the energy flow and prepare to strike.'

As soon as Jonathan saw his opponent raise her arm even an inch, he grabbed, knocked and charged an arrow, prepared to fire. “Not so fast on the draw, now are you, Tammy? You gave me an eternity!”

Tammy was stunned. “That's incredible! How did you do that so fast?!”

“In the wild, you never know when your next meal's coming, especially when it's got its own life on the line. You have to react as soon as you see it.”

“You may be more powerful than you let on.”

“If your wrist-screen worked, you may have known that already,” Jonathan joked.
“But I digress... now that we have some idea of reflexes, let's get down to some real brawling!”

“Fine by me!” Tammy sped towards the archer in full flight, hands glowing green and flinging balls of energy towards him.

“Oh, crap!” Jonathan shouted as he tumbled out of the way of the ghost girl's attack. “You've got some speed on you yourself, girl.”

“Thanks... for an opportunity!” Tammy continued her assault, swerving and turning while tossing energy orbs so fast Jonathan could barely dodge them.

“Ha! You can't handle the power of Tammy Phantom!” Just then, Jonathan lined up a shot and his arrow whizzed at her, cutting her slightly in the arm.

“Oww!” the halfa girl yelped. “That hurt, why'd you do that?”

“You let your guard down,” Jonathan quipped. “Don't gloat in the heat of battle, you'll get burned.” He deposited his bow back in his quiver and pressed a button on his lasers, arming them for use.

“Now it's my turn.” He placed his hands on the ground and spread them around in a circle, focusing his energy deep into the earth. Dirt and stone began to rise, lifting Jonathan into the air on a platform of pure terra firma. 'I can't believe that worked!' he thought with a smile. “Now prepare to eat laser, Tammy!”

The ghost girl immediately took flight with the archer right on her tail, diving and weaving in a spectral dogfight through the withered landscape of the park to avoid Jonathan's laser blasts.

“I've got you now, ghost girl...” Jonathan said with confidence as he lined up another laser shot until he realized his opponent has disappeared! “Where did you go?”

“BOO!” Tammy yelled from behind and as her rival turned around she took in a deep breath and unleashed a thunderous sonic roar, breaking up Jonathan's earth platform and causing him to fall. Luckily, he grabbed onto a branch of a nearby tree as he did before and quickly jumped to the ground.

“Maybe you should have taken your own advice about the gloating, buddy boy,” Tammy said floating above Jonathan's head near the tree.

“Yeah, maybe...” In a flash Jonathan drew his bow and arrow, channeled some telekinetic energy into it and fired, hooking the arrow through one of Tammy's pant legs, taking her along with it and pinning her upside-down to the tree. “...or maybe you just didn't follow it closely enough.”

The ghost girl struggled to free herself trying everything she could from trying to grab it with her hands, phasing out, to even blasting it with her own ectoplasmic energy, but could not free herself. “Stupid arrow...” she muttered angrily. “Why can't I get out?!”

Jonathan simply stood there, observing.

“Don't just stand there, get me down!”

“And therein lies the problem, Tammy. You've certainly proved that you're powerful, but you can't escape from being pinned to a tree by one of my simple arrows? That's kinda sad.”

“Stop being mean! This can't be a normal arrow, if it was I could phase out and escape.”

“Okay, okay, you caught me,” Jonathan said sheepishly. “This is one of my energy-infused arrows. Since I can channel my telekinetic energy into objects, I frequently use this technique to make my attacks stronger, but in this case, it's a test for you.”

“A test? How?” Tammy answered, puzzled.

“From my experiences, I've learned that the only type of energy that can cancel out ectoplasmic energy is telekinetic energy.”

Tammy continued to hang there, even more confused by Jonathan's explanation.

“It means my mind energy stops your ghost energy, like 'rock-paper-scissors.' If you can escape from being pinned by that arrow, we can be partners, but if not, you have to accept defeat and we'll go our separate ways.”

Like before, Tammy tried every way to escape from her opponent's trap, focusing all of her own power onto the arrow, but it would not budge. “Okay... I concede,” she said sadly. “Now please, could you get me down?”

“Of course, hang on – whoops, sorry about that. Didn't mean to use the pun there.” Jonathan scaled the tree and dislodged the arrow, freeing the ghost girl from her awkward position.

“That's much better.” Tammy then changed back into her human form, but a sad look stayed on her face.

“I'm sorry it had to come to that,” Jonathan said as her walked over and put an arm around Tammy, trying to console her. “You were pushing me to my limits and there wasn't any other way. I didn't mean to be hostile towards you or anything, I just got caught up in the fighting.”

“Yeah, I understand, I think I was like that too, but I have to admit, you did get the best of me this time.”

“No, I think you have much more potential than you realize. Just keep working hard and remember that there are no lessons in victory but many in defeat.”

“Thanks, Jonathan,” the ghost girl answered, her chipper smile returning. “You're really wise and a great fighter.”

“You're not so bad yourself, light-bulb butt.”

“HEY! Where'd you get that?!”

“Your profile,” the archer chuckled. “Well, I guess it's time for us to head our separate ways. Have a save journey, Tammy Phantom. It was certainly a pleasure.”

“The same to you, Jonathan. Looks like I'm heading home, finally. I guess I kinda got my wish.”

As the girl made her exit, a thought struck Jonathan. 'Home...'

“That's what I want: to go home. Not just to Amity Park, but back to my real home, Wolf's Crag. I haven't seen it in so long, I've nearly forgotten what it looked like. Things have changed me so much since I left there... but if I ever want to see it again, I have to win!”

To Be Continued...?