Jamison
“J.J.” Rountree
General Facts
Age: 18
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: Books
1–4
Books Narrated
Regular Titles: Books 3 (occasionally), 4, 11, 17 (occasionally), 18, 26, and
34
Super Battlers:
Books 1–4 (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 “Kesse” 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 Kesse 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 Kesse 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.
Kesse 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, Kesse 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 Kesse, 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, Kesse, 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, Kesse, 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
Kesse, 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 Kesse, 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 Kesse 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 Kesse were the only Battlers who
weren’t taken.
Just as they were
getting ready to give up, J.J., Deyon,
and Kesse 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 Kesse 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 Kesse, 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 Kesse’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
