Jamison “J.J.” Rountree


General Facts

Age: 17
Grade: College Freshman
Gender: M
School: Occidental College


Occupation

College
Student

Actor
Former Battler
Former Part-time UNITY Agent


Appearances

Regular Titles: Books 1–21, 24, 26–29, 32–34, 37, and 40

Super Battlers: All


Books Narrated

Regular Titles: Books 3 (occasionally), 4, 11, 17 (occasionally), 18, 26, and 34

Super Battlers: All (Alternated with the other Battlers)


Immediate Family

Gregory “Greg” Rountree (father)
Regina Jamison Rountree (mother)
Aaron Rountree (younger brother)

Unborn Brother or Sister


Character Summary

 

While Jamison Rountree, nicknamed “J.J.,” appears to be an average black teenager who does everything normal black teenagers do — going to school, hanging out with friends, spending time with his family, and studying — he isn’t. He was once the timid White Battler, one of two assistant leaders of the Black Crystal Battlers. His glasses seem to repel nearly all girls his age from him. He’s friends with current Battlers Deyon Davis, Maurice Eazel, Shauna Davidson, Diahandra Christian, Jon Crawley, and recent newcomers Richard Montgomery and Jay Dixon. He’s also friends with fellow ex-Battler, Marcquise “Keese” Eazel. His little brother, Aaron, has always tried to follow in his footsteps.

J.J.’s high level of intelligence has gotten him out of many scrapes, such as giving the other Battlers the idea of using their Battler Growth powers to escape from Manchomper’s stomach in Book 4. Another situation was using Doomondback’s amnesia to his and the other Battlers’ advantage in Book 17. He even thought of a way for Predator, king of the Gatorans, to let him leave Gatora in Book 18. He thought of a way to beat him in Super Battlers #2, as well. He gave the others the idea of adding Jon Crawley to the group as the Red Battler, too, in Book 20. So his intelligence may thus be needed by many yet-to-be-met villains.

J.J.’s been known to have visions from time to time that prophecize events yet to come. In Book 4, he had a nightmare that foretold of him and the other Battlers getting devoured by Manchomper. In Book 18, he had three different visions foretelling an encounter he’d soon have with Predator.

J.J. was all excited about celebrating Aaron’s birthday in Book 24, but the festivities were interrupted when he, Aaron, Maurice, and Keese were all kidnapped by new friend-turned-enemy Pestilence Vermin, who’d been planning to eat them all if Deyon and Jon didn’t find them in time. They were all found and rescued and Vermin was fatally defeated.

 

In Book 26, J.J., his family, and his friends were caught in a whirlpool and washed up on the island of Crocoa, where they met a new ally — King Reptilius “Stalker” Crocous. J.J. remembered that he’d seen him before going back to Canada. He was spying on him from behind a tree. Stalker let them stay at his palace, Big Tooth Palace. Then, after meeting Bitena, the queen of Crocoa, Stalker asked him and the others to fight his enemy kingdom, Gatora, and its king, Predator. J.J. was reluctant to accept. He became even more reluctant when Stalker asked him to be the general and lead his army. But he accepted when he found out that Predator was getting help from the Battlers’ newest enemy, Liam DiCapa.

 

J.J. was nearly eaten by Stalker’s younger brother, Chompus, while he was touring the palace alone. But Stalker saved him at the last possible second. During the battle on Gatora, Chompus redeemed himself by saving J.J. from being stabbed to death by a Gatoran soldier. Predator captured J.J. later during a battle, and then added Aaron to the list when he tried to save him. Their father, Greg, was also taken prisoner when he tried to save both of his sons. That’s when they found out about a terrible secret about their father — he had been hunted by Predator’s father, Jawssius, in the past and had escaped him using his military survival skills! J.J. forgave his father for keeping the secret from them for so many years, but just as he did, a battle erupted between the Battlers and Predator in his throne room.

 

During the battle, J.J. was devoured by Predator while trying to escape him. But after he got out, he killed Predator’s wife, Scala, by reflecting a spell Predator cast that was meant to kill Maurice off a mirror and back onto her. Her death drove Predator insane and forced him to try to destroy the Crocoan’s palace with a large missile. However, it was protected by steel walls, so the plan was a failure. Predator escaped later, taking his baby son, Fangorus, with him. And before returning home, J.J. saw Stalker’s newborn son, Gnawbin, just after the battle. Stalker, Bitena, and Chompus became permanent allies to the Battlers and promised they’d do whatever they could to help them.

 

In Book 27, J.J. was nearly eaten alive and whole by Albert Labinnac, who attacked him when he sneezed thanks to some pepper DiCapa had thrown at him. After the battle against DiCapa was over, he was sent home because the Battlers had to rescue a kidnapped Keese from Predator and Chief Manhunter, and the others didn’t want him with them since Predator was involved.

 

In Book 28, J.J. was willing to do anything he could to keep Aaron safe from DiCapa’s new killing machine, Goril Primus. He barely rescued him from Goril in the park one night and again the next afternoon. When he and Aaron found out that Aaron’s middle-school crush, Juliet Kwarteng, was a part-time UNITY agent who was working with Goril to find Aaron, he demanded the full story from her. After he got it, he was kidnapped by Goril, along with the other Battlers, and thrown into a shut-down elevator. Aaron rescued them later just seconds before the cables holding the elevator up broke. He was there to comfort his brother after Goril murdered Juliet by eating her alive.

 

In Book 29, J.J. and the other Battlers were kidnapped from Deyon’s home by Polar Tundros, also known as “the Gamester,” and his penguin cohort, Funguin Waddlesworth, whom he was revealed to be afraid of.

(J.J.’s afraid of penguins.) They were taken to his Palace of Fun near the North Pole and forced to play deadly games there in order to rescue Santa Claus and his toys. He lost in the fourth game — Ice Cage — and became the third Battler to be eliminated. He was turned into a game piece on the heels of Deyon and Maurice. Keese and Aaron followed him eventually. Jon rescued them all with Funguin’s help after he turned on his master.

 

In Super Battlers 3, while celebrating New Year’s Eve, J.J., the other Battlers, Vivian, and Monique were transported to Dare Island, where they reunited with Shauna and Diahandra. Bin Dare, the ruler of the island, challenged them all to compete in a tournament against their ultimate enemies. Winners got to live, losers got eaten.

 

J.J. was separated from all the others and forced to make his way through the jungle on his own. He ran into Predator during this time and engaged in an underwater battle.

 

The battle was made difficult and deadly when Predator used his magic to disable J.J.’s unlimited underwater breathing and make it limited to six minutes. Then, he placed a barrier over the surface of the water so that J.J. couldn’t escape. J.J. nearly ran out of time, but while Predator taunted him with a pre-victory tasting, he bought himself some time by taking in some air inside Predator’s mouth. Then, after getting spit out to finish the fight, J.J. finished Predator off with a Waterspout and knocked him out by making him hit the barrier he’d placed. So he won his fight. And after finding the others, they defeated Dare in a battle and were sent back home.

 

In Book 32, J.J. and the other Battlers met new friends Richard Montgomery and James “Jay” Dixon, two agents visiting from UNITY’s West Coast Branch in Los Angeles. They were assigned to rescue another agent named Miranda Hawkins, who was being held prisoner by DiCapa. After an attempt to rescue her failed, Richard and Jay ended up being kidnapped by Albert Labinnac. This was because DiCapa saw how well they fought against his henchmen. They used a sleepover being held by DiCapa’s son, Phil, to infiltrate the mansion and save their friends. But DiCapa, who’d been about to use a very potent truth serum on Richard and Jay to drive the Battlers’ identities out of them, Keese drank it instead, thinking it was a cool drink. Under the influence of the fast-working truth serum, he spilled the identities of every Battler except Deyon, and with that, the days of secrecy were officially over.

 

In Book 33, J.J., Deyon, and Maurice had to deal with Les B. Ian returning to town after spending a whole semester in a mental institution. The former school bully, who’d learned their identities in Book 16, was now on DiCapa’s payroll and was using all the resources he got from him to try and take them out. He tried attacking them directly on their school’s football field, but they defeated him with their magic. Then, Les attacked Maurice in his home after DiCapa set it up. Finally, when that didn’t work, he kidnapped the three of them, along with Keese, Aaron, and Jon and had a showdown with them at a factory. J.J. tried to reach out to him to get him to stop trying to kill them (he’d been driven insane from learning their identities and not being able to tell anybody for so long), but it didn’t work and he prepared to kill them. But it would all be for naught when the Deadly Duo — Predator and Chief Manhunter — showed up and Predator devoured him in one gulp. So Les was dead. But the two dastardly villains were knocked out by Jon before J.J., Deyon, and Maurice could share his fate. Things got worse for J.J. and the others as Maurice was put into a coma by DiCapa. But it got a little bit better when, after performing splendidly in a musical the school put on, he was offered to be cast on the NBC soap opera Passions. The only thing he was conflicted about was that he’d have to move away from Alexandria . . . and all the way to L.A.

 

J.J. tried to get Aaron to speak to him in Book 34, but he’d hear nothing of it. He couldn’t believe J.J. was being such a coward to leave the group to join Passions. He eventually forgave his brother, but only after their next problem with Predator surfaced. During a battle with him, Predator accidentally left Fangorus, his baby son, behind. J.J. and Aaron had to take care of him. While caring for the baby, J.J. realized that Predator was grooming him to become like him. He didn’t want another Predator in the world, so he refused to give Predator his son back when he came calling for him. Because he refused, Predator hit J.J. with a series of newly-learned spells and kidnapped Deyon, Keese, Aaron, and Jon when they tried to save him from his wrath. The ransom was bringing Fangorus back to Predator at an old homeless shelter.

 

J.J. called on Stalker for help. He gave him a poison that he could use on Predator when it was finished reacting. J.J. then left to try it, but not before witnessing a close moment between Stalker and baby Gnawbin. That gave him an idea. When he got back to his home, J.J. called on Richard and Jay for help in saving the other Battlers and Chief Anderson for help in locating them. They were navigated to an old homeless shelter, where Predator was preparing to cook the other Battlers. J.J. returned Fangorus to Predator, but Richard and Jay ended up fighting him when he went back on his promise. Predator eventually took them hostage, too.

 

Then, he turned Deyon, Keese, Aaron, and Jon against J.J. with his magic. Although J.J. got the upper hand, at first, they all managed to beat him up in the end. Then, they prepared him for Predator’s big feast. After taunting J.J. with several licks and nibbles on the stomach, he finally began his feast. Aaron, who was still entranced, couldn’t stand seeing J.J. get ripped apart and broke free of Predator’s spell. After taking down Predator temporarily, the other Battlers and Richard and Jay were free from the different spells placed on them. Richard and Jay were asked to leave while Predator took on the five Battlers. During their battle, he successfully ate Keese, Jon, Aaron, and Deyon. He was about to eat J.J., too, but he realized Maurice was missing and, after getting tipped off by Chief Manhunter that Maurice was in a coma at the hospital, a hungry Predator went off to get him. When J.J. tried to follow, Chief Manhunter grabbed him and held him there until Predator got back. J.J. got free by thinking about how Predator had broken their deal by eating Keese, which angered Chief Manhunter enough to let him go and get knocked out.

 

J.J. rushed to save Maurice, but it was too late. Predator got there first and ate him whole. Or so he thought. He’d just eaten a pile of pillows planted in Maurice’s bed by Richard and Jay, who’d been (off-page) called ahead of time and warned about Predator. So they switched Maurice’s body with the pillows and shipped him off to UNITY headquarters. An angry Predator immediately went after J.J. again and trapped him up on the hospital roof, where their final battle finally began. J.J. got the upper hand at the beginning of the battle, but Predator managed to overcome him. After J.J. knocked him off the hospital roof, Predator blinded him and made him fall off, too. But J.J. grabbed a wall statue with his grappler that saved him from falling. When the statue started breaking, however, Predator saw it as the perfect opportunity to finally eat J.J. and got ready to catch him in his open mouth. J.J. dropped the Crocoans’ poison, which had finished reacting, into his mouth first and then followed it a few seconds later. The poison caused Predator to throw up all the Battlers and killed him. But before he died, he had some last words to J.J. that said he was admitting defeat.

 

J.J. finished out the last part of his plan by taking Fangorus, who’d been brought to him by Chief Manhunter, to Big Tooth Palace. He gave him to Stalker, who realized a question J.J. had asked him earlier (“Well . . . do you do legal adoptions here?”) was to prepare him for bringing Fangorus to them. Stalker agreed to adopt Fangorus and raise him to be an honorary Crocoan, and it wasn’t long before the adoption was official. In the end, though, while contemplating on everything that’d happened, J.J. was kidnapped by DiCapa and locked in his panic room — without his Battler Crystal, which was snatched from him. Earlier on, J.J. had been warned that he was DiCapa’s next target, but he didn’t remember it until then. He was going to be DiCapa’s prisoner for a long time, so DiCapa said.

 

J.J. made no appearance in Book 35, but the other Battlers did find out he’d been kidnapped in that book. And Keese and Jon, while on a reconnaissance mission in DiCapa’s home office, had a serious near-miss in finding him.

 

In Book 36, J.J. didn’t appear again, but Vivian accidentally discovered him in DiCapa’s panic room. DiCapa used a nearly-fatal kiss on Vivian that put her in the hospital and nearly erased her memory of finding him in the panic room. But Vivian remembered and told Aaron about it. But just as the other Battlers came to rescue him, he was moved out of there by Labinnac and put onto his yacht, where he’s still currently being held.

 

In Book 37, J.J. was seen again by Deyon, Jon, Shauna, and Diahandra, thanks to Gamester’s magic, being held by DiCapa in the brig of his yacht. But he was kidnapped from DiCapa’s captivity by Gamester, who turned him into a game piece to keep him from escaping. His freedom was won by Jon when he defeated Gamester in the Battle Game, one of Gamester’s favorite games. But after he was turned back to normal, he was immediately eaten by Gamester. He was freed after Jon hit Gamester with a Volcanic Eruption spell. So he finally got to go home with Jon and reunite with the other Battlers. But just as the team was getting back on track again, they found out that DiCapa was now going after his ultimate target — the President of the United States.

 

In Book 40, J.J. and the other Battlers put a risky scheme in motion when they snuck into the White House to protect the President. The mission was successful as the Battlers nipped DiCapa’s attack in the bud by finding out that he’d planned to have himself smuggled into the President’s Oval Office in a box addressed to him. Unfortunately, although the Battlers’ plan to stop DiCapa succeeded, an unfortunate thing happened — using a very clever ploy, DiCapa managed to unmask Shauna and Diahandra, finally learning their secret identities. He had Albert Labinnac, his right-hand man, take a picture of each of them before they escaped.

 

From there, it was utter chaos for the Battlers. J.J. and Aaron were attacked in their home by DiCapa Enterprises guards sent to kidnap the Battlers in order for DiCapa to unmask them to the public, as he’d promised to do in a statement to the press. While J.J. managed to keep himself from getting kidnapped, he couldn’t save his brother from suffering the same fate. He later found out that he, Deyon, and Keese were the only Battlers who weren’t taken.

 

Just as they were getting ready to give up, J.J., Deyon, and Keese came up with an “eye for an eye” plan — DiCapa planned to expose the Battlers, so it was time to expose him right back. They went to Chief Marshall Anderson, the Chief of UNITY, to get his help in exposing DiCapa by getting all UNITY agents infiltrating the press.

 

The three Battlers headed to the DiCapa Enterprises Office Building and made their way toward the roof to face DiCapa and save their friends, but while waiting for an elevator to take them there, J.J., who had a cold, sneezed. Unfortunately, the elevator door had opened up at that time, revealing that Labinnac was on it. J.J.’s sneeze had triggered his psychotic cannibal mode. He attacked J.J. and tried to eat him, but after a bout of violent sneezing, J.J. unintentionally revealed a surprising secret about Labinnac. There was a chip in his head that controlled his cannibalistic impulses, and J.J.’s sneezing had short-circuited and destroyed it. Thankful to be freed from the chip’s control, Labinnac decided to sever all ties with DiCapa and got the three Battlers to the roof without anymore interruption. However, as soon as the Battlers got to the roof, J.J. and Keese were captured by some of DiCapa’s guards and were forced to join their already-kidnapped friends. Then, they learned that DiCapa had already been waiting for them there and was waiting out the last thirty minutes before the press arrived so that he could reveal the Battlers’ identities on live TV.

 

J.J. and the other Battlers then watched as Deyon, who needed time to distract DiCapa so that the UNITY agents posing as the press could get there, engaged in the final battle against DiCapa that resulted in Deyon getting shot eight times after his Battler Crystal powered down on him, returning him to his normal form. But he and the others also watched as Deyon made a miraculous recovery when he used a Crystal Advance, a phenomenon only possible when a Battler Crystal has obtained and used so much power in previous battles that it is ready to advance to the next level — the Battler Emerald. So after Deyon’s crystal shifted its shape into that of an emerald, J.J. and the others watched as he used his new Battler Emerald to assume his new Battler form.

 

It was all downhill from there. Deyon defeated DiCapa with his brand-new physical abilities and powerful new spells to defeat DiCapa. But just as Deyon was about to slice DiCapa open after all the hell he’d put the Battlers through, Susan jumped in the way and Deyon ended up slicing her, instead. The attack was fatal and Susan died almost instantly. DiCapa became so enraged, he went off on Deyon, shouting out every crime he’d committed and how much he wished he’d done them to him and the other Battlers. Unfortunately, the UNITY agents masquerading as the press showed up, captured his confession on camera, and broadcast it live to every single television in the country.

 

DiCapa, knowing he’d be going down, anyway, decided to try and make light of the situation by revealing the Battlers’ identities as planned. He tried to tear Deyon’s helmet (which was part of his new Battler costume) off his head, but Deyon tore himself away. Unfortunately, he pulled away a bit too hard because DiCapa’s momentum sent him barreling over the edge of his thirty-story building and plummeting to his death. With DiCapa now dead, the war against him and the Battlers was now over, and J.J. and the other Battlers were released from working with UNITY. With their work finally done (at least for now), J.J. and the others headed for home, ready to go on with their lives.

 

In Super Battlers 4, Deyon led J.J. and the other Battlers on a journey to a new world — the realm of Magicia. The mission was to locate the Exchanger — mace with the power to exchange the magic powers of two different individuals or simply transfer the power of one mage to one with no magic. They would then use the mace to transfer J.J.’s powers to anyone he chose. And after a long journey that included being captured by Killer Beavers, a reunion with the Mutant Guerrillas (that resulted in J.J. once again being eaten by old archenemy Manchomper), who’d been in hiding in Magicia to get stronger, an encounter with some Magician rams known as Ramblings (one of which ate J.J.), and a harrowing battle with a fire-breathing dragon (that also devoured J.J.), J.J. and the other Battlers found the Exchanger on top of a mountain known as Mount Cagim and brought it back to Earth with them.

 

That night, J.J. was about to meet with his potential replacement when he was kidnapped by the hungry Manchomper, who tried to make a living hotdog out of him. But J.J. escaped by emotionally damaging the hungry mutant beaver by dropping the bombshell that he was leaving town soon. Manchomper laid off and let J.J. go, and he met with his potential replacement.

 

The next day, J.J. revealed his chosen replacement — Richard. The Battlers then used the Exchanger to transfer J.J.’s powers to Richard. At the same time, they also used it to transfer the powers of Keese, who’d surprised everyone that he was leaving town, too, to Jay. After that was done, graduation followed a few days later, followed by J.J. and Keese’s departure from town the very next morning after an emotional goodbye from Deyon and the other Battlers.


Despite no longer being a Battler, J.J.’s archenemy continues to be Manchomper, a mutant Canadian beaver who’s one of the Mutant Guerrillas. Although J.J.’s managed to outsmart him many times, he’s eaten him several times over the course of their adversarial relationship. But in Book 18 and Super Battlers #2, they were forced to cooperate with one another to defeat and escape the evil, hungry Predator. When J.J. left town in Super Battlers 4, he found out Manchomper snuck onto the plane he was taking to Los Angeles.

J.J.’s ultimate enemy, however, was King Reptilius Gatorus, who went by the nickname “Predator.” They first met in Book 18 and were enemies ever since. In an attempt to eat him, he even trapped J.J., Aaron, Manchomper, and Owlina in a book of fairy tales, where they were forced to complete every story in it. They got out of it safely, though. He met him again in Book 26, when he killed his wife, Scala, while battling his kingdom. He died himself of poisoning in Book 34.

J.J. was the Water Battler and is armed with the Battler Hydro Grappler. He had three Battler Animals which are now under Richard’s control. Steeltooth, his magical alligator, came with his weapon. J.J. captured his dog, Ace, a Labrador retriever, in a battle against Steeltooth in Book 18. He also captured his killer whale, Seastriker, while on the whale-watching tour in Book 26. J.J.’s Elemental Fighter was the Water Fighter, which he drove on and below the surface of water.

 

J.J. was last seen on the plane to Los Angeles, when he found out Manchomper was stowing away on the plane to follow him out West. Rather than panic, J.J. just smiled and anticipated the continuation of their adversarial relationship as he left Alexandria, set on starting a successful acting career out in the City of Angels.


About the Series
Book List
More Character Profiles
Downloads

Online Reading

Tidbits
Questions
Home