BCT Fight 2: All I Wanted...

Fight 2: All I Wanted Was a TV

"I did it…" Jonathan said with a sigh. "… My first step towards escaping this twisted city." After a brilliant escape and defeat of the half-ghost Cody, he could finally relax. Jonathan scoured the area, collecting his arrows by hand or mentally, packed his trusty weapon back in the quiver, and sat on the side of a pier to focus his mind.

"I wonder who, or what, my next opponent will be." He concentrated on the water, looking deeper and deeper…

Beep! Beep! Beep! went Jonathan’s wrist-monitor, snapping him out of his trance and making him jump a little.

"I hate it when that happens," Jonathan grumbled. On the screen it read:

"Well done, competitor! You have defeated your first opponent and advanced in the Battle City Tournament. But this is no time to relax! Your next matchup has already been decided and the information is being relayed to you now. Good luck!"

The message then disappeared and a distance tracker, like in the previous round, appeared with a range number: 2053, NW

"I’d better get going then. My opponent’s a long ways away. Gives me plenty of time to study the info list, I guess." Jonathan threw his quiver on his back and left the docks, back into the heart of Battle City.

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"Hmm, let’s see here…" Jonathan thought aloud as he wandered through a street filled with boarded up row houses towards a shopping district. When he pressed the button to show the info screen he was met with a shock. The face of his opponent looked like a rotted corpse, not human, but simian.

"Man, that what I’m facing? It’s creepy-looking, but at least it’ll be easy to spot." He pressed the button again for a specific bio.

"‘Name: Death Rose. Species: Robot Monkey. A minion of death, she works for her master…" Jonathan gulped nervously. "The Grim Reaper. Can summon the dead to her aid and wields a razor-sharp scythe."

"I thought ghosts were scary enough, but a minion of death? Oh, what have I gotten myself into?" He then slapped himself across the face. "Okay, get it together, Jonathan. Just because your opponent is a zombie monkey who works for Death doesn’t mean you can’t win."

The beeping of Jonathan’s wrist screen grew faster with every step he took until he reached a fountain in the middle of the Battle City shopping district. Lush trees lined the store-filled streets, along with vendor carts and kiosks, like an outdoor mall without patrons or employees.

"Wow… this place is really peaceful."

"Not for long, mortal," said an ominous, yet feminine voice. A small figure, only a couple feet tall, draped in black robes slowly walked out and around the fountain. "I know you are Jonathan, my foe." Jonathan began to back away frightened.

"Are… are you Death Rose?" he asked with a tremble in his voice.

"Yeah, I am, but just call me D.R.," she said, but without the ominous tone. She sounded almost normal, but Jonathan was still a little fearful. "Sorry about the entrance; I’m forced to do that whole routine and I hate it."

"Do you really work for The Grim Reaper?"

"Unfortunately, yeah. He’s such a pain in my butt. Trust me, he’s not like any of those versions from the TV or anything. And just so you know, I don’t want your soul or anything in this fight. The only thing I want is that grand prize."

"Okay," Jonathan said, relieved that his life would not be reaped. "But you’ll have to go through me to win it, D.R. You ready to fight?" He took out his bow and a few arrows, now battle-ready.

D.R. summoned a large black scythe, taller than her whole body, out of a puff of black smoke and gripped it in her metallic yet damaged hands. "I’m ready." Their wrist screen commenced with their countdown…

3, 2, 1, FIGHT!

D.R. charged at Jonathan, swinging her scythe’s blade in a silver blur. Before Jonathan could set his sights on the cloaked monkey, the scythe nearly cleaved into his arm, if not for an almost instinctive dodge.

‘She’s good with that thing…’

D.R. swung her blade again, but this time Jonathan jumped over her, knocking an arrow in mid-air. When he landed, he quickly took aim, pulled the string back and fired.

“I’ve got you now!” Jonathan said as the arrow flew towards his opponent. Just as it was about to land in D.R.’s shoulder, she spun around and blocked the arrow with her scythe blade.

‘Crap, she’s too good with that thing!’

“Nice try, but not good enough!” D.R. said in a singsong voice. “Arise, my minions and do my bidding!” A large plume of smoke billowed around her and a legion of rotting zombies formed with a collective moan. Jonathan’s face went pale at the sight. “Get that boy and play with him a bit,” she said in her ominous tone.

“Yes, mistress…” The zombies moaned in unison as they shuffled their way towards Jonathan.

Jonathan, after regaining his composure from the ghastly sight started to fling arrows at the heads of the zombies, hitting a few, but not making a dent in the whole horde. “Oh, man… I have to hold them off, but they’re so many!”

“You won’t get rid of my minions that way, Jonathan. I make sure to have a lot of them ready in case someone tries to pick them off one by one.” D.R.’s zombie army continued to drag towards Jonathan with louder moans.

‘Hmm… I have to try something else, but what?’ Jonathan thought, worried. He frantically searched for something to use as a weapon, but couldn’t find anything, until he looked at one of the trees that lined the street. “It’s worth a shot.”

Checking on the zombies slowly heading towards him, Jonathan summoned up some of his telekinetic energy to his hands, focusing it towards the tree.

’Come on… lift up…’ His hands began to glow, but the tree would not budge. ’Come on!’ Just then, the horde of zombies picked Jonathan up and launched him through a store window, shattering the glass.

“Ugh…” Jonathan groaned as he got back to his feet. Parts of his jacket were ripped and his hands and face were cut by the broken glass. “This sucks,” he said as he wiped off the small drops blood trickling down his face.

The zombie legion had made its way into the front of the store where Jonathan had been thrown, D.R. now in the lead. She motioned the horde to stop and walked towards Jonathan briskly.

“That grand prize will be mine, Jonathan, and you will not stop me,” she said in her ominous voice, brandishing her scythe.

“Wait, why do you want the prize?” Jonathan said, thinking this could be the end. “Where do you want to go anyway?”

“Hold on a second,” D.R. said changing back to her normal tone. “What do you mean ‘where do I want to go?’”

“The grand prize is a trip anywhere in the universe. I thought everyone knew that.”

DR stood still for a few seconds, stunned. “WHAT?! Nobody told me! The only prize I wanted was a big screen TV!”

“A TV? Really? That’s all you want?” Jonathan asked confused.

“Yeah, television is the only thing that really keeps me relaxed from the stress of working for my boss. Vacations never help, so a trip anywhere in the universe wouldn’t help me at all!” D.R. dropped her scythe, dissipated her zombie army and tore off her wrist screen.

“Forget this, I’m out of here. Sorry about all that with my zombies and whatnot; you’ve had it tough enough without them sending you through plate glass windows.” She pulled up her hood and summoned a large cloud of smoke. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a little bit of… business to attend to.” She then disappeared.

Jonathan’s wrist screen declared him the winner by concession. ‘Well that was anticlimactic,’ he thought. ‘She had me cornered and gave up just because she only wanted a TV… weird how things happen like that…’ Just then, he heard a faint, yet blood-curdling female scream from long in the distance. “What was that?” Jonathan thought for a second, but just shrugged. “Probably just another fight.”




To Be Continued…?