Chapter 15: Boney Island
Courtney's Resistance paddled across to Boney Island, where it was very foggy. "Here we are," Courtney said, "Boney Island."
"You sure?" Duncan asked, "I could have sworn it was creepier than this."
"Creepier than what?" Courtney asked, "I can barely see the island."
"Oh," Duncan said, "I don't have a problem seeing it. I can see that there are three figures approaching."
"Three figures!" Courtney exclaimed, "Be on your guard, everyone." Everyone prepared for battle. The three figures who approached seemed to be a muscular man holding a large sword, a tall and powerful looking archer, and another girl on a flying horse. Upon closer inspection, they were revealed to be Justin, Heather, and Lindsay. "Oh, it's just you guys!" Courtney said, "I was afraid we were being attacked."
"You are," Justin responded, "Quick, get behind us!"
"Don't you worry about a thing," Heather said, "We'll take care of the fighting of these guys. Courtney, is that the CI Tome?"
"Yes it is," Courtney responded.
"Ugh, I am so jealous of you," Heather said, "But hey, I guess you're intended to fight the ghost. He's at the center of the cave over there, that we can barely see."
"We insist on helping you fight this battle," Justin said.
"Like, I'll help too," Lindsay said.
In a hut on the northeast side of an Island, two young people stayed. "I hear there's an evil ghost, out there," the boy said, "Why did we pick to go to Boney Island for our reunion?"
"Because Boney Island has memories for me," the girl said, "It was here that I… oh, it was soo funny."
"But, Beth," the boy said, "With all of these tales of the ghost, I don't think that it will be funny anymore."
"Oh, Brady," Beth said, "Now I remember why I'm dating you."
"Why?" Brady asked.
"Because you're hot," Beth answered. "Anyway, I'm gonna go see what's up."
"No, Beth, it's too dangerous," Brady said.
"It's okay," Beth answered, "I am an archer now. I can do it."
"Beth! Get back here!" Brady shouted, and then he ran after her, only to become immediately captured by a random mercenary working for Chris.
"Oh, you're keeping Brady safe," Beth said obliviously, "Thank you. Now, let the battle begin!" As it was foggy out, Duncan held the lead most of the time. He could see farther than most of the people in the group did. However, Justin held a torch which he could use to see farther as well.
As far as the strategic planning went, Harold had no idea how to proceed, and he and the others who had been selected for this mission, a group of nine: Noah, Cody, Gwen, Bridgette, DJ, Sierra, Alejandro, Tyler, and Eva, joined Courtney, Duncan, and the new allies in trying to avoid getting caught alone in an ambush. Before going their separate ways, however, Tyler stopped to talk to Lindsay, Alejandro stopped to talk to Heather, and Eva stopped to talk to Justin.
Tyler and Lindsay's reunion was sweet. "LINDSAY!" Tyler shouted.
"Like, who are you?" Lindsay asked.
"I'm Tyler," was his slightly hurt reply.
"Oh, right, Tyler," Lindsay said, "My hot boyfriend."
"Glad you remember me now, and that you remember me being hot," Tyler said proudly.
"You are," Lindsay responded sweetly.
"You're hotter!" Tyler responded sickeningly sweetly.
Alejandro and Heather's reunion was bittersweet. "Hello, my sweet," Alejandro said charmingly.
"You still like me?" Heather asked incredulously.
"What's not to like?" Alejandro responded, smitten.
"I betrayed you," Heather answered.
"No," Alejandro corrected, "You made me love you more."
"Well don't mistake this for love anymore," Heather said, "Leave."
"Touchy," Alejandro said shrugging.
Eva and Justin's reunion was bitter. "Perfect," Eva said, "Justin's here."
"I know," Justin said, "If looks could kill…"
"Then you could kill everyone," she said, "But they don't so you gotta use that sword."
Annoyed, Justin said, "I might as well use it to kill your little dragon."
"Don't you dare!" Eva warned. Thankfully, soon afterwards those two were separated.
Soon after the battle began, a middle-aged woman appeared from the south. "Now, I'm sure this is where he went… where could he be?" she asked.
"Was that my…?" DJ asked. He rode his horse south to greet the woman. "Momma!" he shouted excitedly when he met with her.
"DJ!" she shouted, "You know what they say, power in numbers. This battle looks extremely difficult. Good thing I brought my Momma Staff."
"Thanks, Momma," DJ said. He was right to thank her, as the Momma Staff was more powerful than any other healing staff that Bridgette had ever wielded (let alone DJ himself or those in the army who had learned how to use staves after magic books). If everything looks hopeless, the Momma Staff can quickly heal everyone fighting for the same cause as the wielder.
Lindsay scouted off to the east, while Eva scouted to the west, notifying their allies whenever they ran into an enemy. By complete accident, Lindsay ran into Beth, who attacked her. "Umm, die, Pegasus knight!" Beth shouted.
"Beth? I thought we were, like, friends?" Lindsay said, hurt and confused. Beth shot an arrow directly at her which would have easily taken her down if it hit. Thankfully for both parties involved, it didn't.
Lindsay tried to get an explanation for Beth's unwarranted attack. "Beth?" she asked.
"Lindsay?" Beth asked, "Oh my gosh, sorry! I almost thought you were an enemy!"
"It's okay, Beth," Lindsay said, "Now come with us. We have a Renaissance or something."
"A resistance?" Beth asked.
"Like, yeah," Lindsay responded.
"I'm your girl," Beth said happily. Of course, her happiness ended shortly when several mercenaries surrounded her and practically killed her. Luckily, Harold, Noah, and Gwen were all nearby to help get rid of the mercenaries and heal Beth's wounds.
Heather was meanwhile having a similar problem, as all of the knights seemed to be bypassing DJ and Bridgette to attack her. Courtney and Justin could not condone such behavior, and Duncan decided to just let them be because they were heavily armored. Duncan opted instead to take care of some bishops who were annoying the crap out of Tyler, who looked horribly battered by the ordeals but nonetheless seemed to be fighting just as hard as ever. After a few more battles, the sky cleared.
"Huh?" Courtney asked, "The fog is gone?"
"Gh-gh-ghost!" Duncan shrieked and then jumped into Courtney's arms, causing them to both fall over.
"Duncan!" Courtney said indignantly, brushing herself off, "That's no way to greet our opponent. You must be the evil ghost of the island."
"I am!" the ghost hissed, "Approach me…" Courtney did. "Welcome to my lair," the ghost said. "Now have at it."
"I will," Courtney said. She pulled out her CI Tome and could attack the ghost.
The ghost laughed evilly, and then said, "I will eat your soul."
"Good luck with that," Courtney said, "I have something that will prove you wrong." She shined the light at him, although she was not fast or strong enough to do it twice at once. The ghost sent a tornado at Courtney, which hurt her significantly.
Bridgette stood by to heal her. The ghost decided to counter by attacking Duncan from a distance. "Ghosts are real?" Duncan shouted, both scared and confused.
"Believe it, Duncan," the ghost said, which freaked him out more.
"How do you know my name?" Duncan asked, agitated.
"I have my sources," the ghost answered. The tornado was shot out again, and Duncan narrowly avoided it, which is good, because it would have killed him. Courtney tried to attack the ghost again, which worked, but then he decided to attack Alejandro from a distance, which was even worse, because even though he could not kill him in one hit, he could quickly send out two which would kill him if they both hit.
"You and I come from the same father," the ghost said.
"I disagree," Alejandro said, "You are too old to be my brother."
"I meant our father down below," the ghost responded.
"What a pittance," Alejandro said, "I'm afraid I betray you."
"Good luck getting a blow in," the ghost said. Two tornadoes headed for him, but he managed to avoid the second one. Bridgette helped him feel better. DJ then stood by Courtney.
Courtney attacked the ghost and it looked like he was about to fade. It was not prevented from attacking Justin however. "You wouldn't hurt someone as handsome as me, right?" Justin asked.
"…I'm straight," replied the ghost.
"Hmm…" Justin contemplated, "That doesn't stop most people."
"Well, I'm not a person," the evil ghost said, "I'm a ghost."
"Or sharks or bears or harsh winds…" Justin listed.
"Shut it," demanded the ghost.
"Whatever," Justin said. Happily, Justin managed to dodge both tornadoes that the ghost sent out. Courtney landed the final blow against the evil ghost.
"No… not the CI Tome! I thought it was just… a rumor…" he said, as he faded into nothingness. Courtney collapsed after the battle.
"Courtney, are you okay?" Duncan ran up and asked, checking her for damage.
"I'm… I'm fine," Courtney said. "Don't worry about me."
"That was dangerous," Duncan said, "I'm just glad we made it through that alive."
"More than just alive," Heather said, "We can now beat Chris."
"Well, we shouldn't assume that he will be as easy as this fight," Harold said.
"You don't get to say the fight was easy," Courtney said, "You didn't fight it. I did."
"But, nonetheless, I suppose now would be as good a time as any to head for Chris," Harold said.
"Yeah," Justin said, "Now that we're here to lend you our strength!"
"Agreed," Heather said, "You really needed me on your team."
"I'm here too," Lindsay said, looking cute.
"And Beth?" Courtney asked, "Will you be joining us permanently as well?"
"Umm… I'm gonna have to ask Brady," Beth said.
"Beth!" Brady called out, "You might want to give me a little help first!"
"Oh my gosh! Brady's in trouble!" Beth said.
"Don't worry, I'll save him," Courtney said. She took out the CI Tome and sent its beam of light directly at the head of the man who had captured Brady. The soldier died and Brady was released. "Beth," Brady said, "I think that this life is too dangerous for me. It might be good for supermodels… but not for regular models."
"But Brady," Beth said, "I insist on fighting this war."
"Okay, Beth," Brady said, "I'll wait for you."
"Oh, great," Beth said, "Now I have to wait for you too… I mean… I'll do whatever you tell me to, Courtney!"
"Now, let's get Chris," Heather said.
The network executive, Chef Hatchet, and Chris were meeting at their normal location. "I have some bad news," said the network executive, "The ghost was terminated."
"The evil ghost of Boney Island?" Chris asked.
"No," the network executive said, "The philanthropic ghost of Nanaimo! What do you think?"
"Umm…" Chris said, "Okay. So, Courtney's beaten the ghost. Well, that doesn't mean she'll be able to beat me."
"And it won't get to that point," Chef Hatchet said, "I'll be sure to block the way."
"Not yet, Chef," Chris said, "I've sent out my most loyal producer to take them down. I know that he won't lose as easily as those dumb interns and disloyal producers I've sent before."
"Man, Chris, why won't you let me fight?" Chef Hatchet asked, "Do you hate me?"
"Just the opposite, Chef," Chris said, "I don't want to have you killed unless there's no other way."
"Man, Chris," Chef Hatchet said, "You do have a way with words. Okay, I'll stand down. For now."
Chris said, once the others had left, "Yeah, Courtney, you better hurry… or else… I'll be so powerful that you can't do anything about it…" He laughed.
Author's Note: Goodies for this chapter include unit descriptions (Heather; Justin; Lindsay; Beth), death quotes (Heather; Justin; Lindsay; Beth, unit; Beth, enemy), alternate versions of the beginning/ending dialogue (Duncan died; Heather died; Justin and/or Lindsay died; Beth died/didn't get Beth; Harold died), alternate battle dialogue (Justin fights Beth; Heather fights Beth; Courtney fights Beth; Noah/Cody/Sierra/Harold fights Beth; someone else fights Beth; Ezekiel fights Evil Ghost; Heather fights Evil Ghost; Lindsay fights Evil Ghost; Beth fights Evil Ghost; someone else fights Evil Ghost), Courtney and DJ's Support (Level B), Bridgette and Leshawna's Support (Level C), Gwen and Leshawna's Support (Level C), Noah and Eva's Support (Level C), Cody and Trent's Support (Level B), Cody and Harold's Support (Level B), and Tyler and Ezekiel's Support (Level C)