The Phantom vs. Goldenrod

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cbishop

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Edited By cbishop

RANKED 1st BY VOTERS IN CHARACTER CREATION CONTEST #121!

DateStory:ViewRead the...
11/02/22The Phantom vs. Goldenrod(Blog) (Forum)Disclaimer
RatingRating explanation
TGun violence.
The Skull Cave
The Skull Cave

The Phantom had not left the Skull Cave more than a few minutes before when a shot whizzed past his head and sent splinters and bark flying off of a nearby tree. He immediately dove from the back of his horse, and rolled to a standing position behind another tree. "Hero! Run!" he called, and the horse did so.

Drawing his pistols, he waited silently. It was only a minute until he heard, "Phantom! Are you dead, man?"

A couple of shots rang out, and bullets chopped into the tree he was standing behind. As the mystery man clearly knew his position, he saw no reason to remain quiet. "Who are you?" he called out before ducking low, and shooting a couple of times in the direction the shots came from.

"Name's Goldenrod!" the man called back, shooting once.

The shot landed in the jungle floor near The Phantom's foot. He raised an eyebrow, and drew his foot in closer behind the tree. "I've heard of you," he called out, firing back, still unsure of Goldenrod's position. When the gunshot faded, he added, "What does an assassin want in Bangalla?"

Goldenrod laughed. "Ha! Today, I'm no mere assassin." Another shot buried itself in the tree, and when the noise died, he shouted, "Today, I'm a Ghost hunter!"

"Ghost hunter?" The Phantom called back, sounding amused. "If you know who I am, surely you've heard that I'm immortal? I am the Ghost Who Walks!"

"And I'm the assassin who balks!" growled Goldenrod, sounding much closer than before, and the two shots that rang out sounding closer too.

Phantom dropped low, spinning around the other side of the tree, and firing three shots. One of them clipped Goldenrod in the leg. The assassin, who Phantom saw had wild blond hair, mutton chops, and a thick blond mustache, had fired back at the same time, and the shot grazed Phantom's left shoulder, knocking him backwards, and causing him to drop his gun from that hand. He scrambled behind another tree as Goldenrod did the same, holding his leg as he went.

They're something the living can understand.
They're something the living can understand.

Leaning heavily with his back against the tree, Goldenrod called out, "How do bullets affect you, 'Phantom?' What does a ghost need with M1911 .45's?" He cocked his head forward, straining to hear anything after all the shots so far.

"They're something the living can understand," came a whisper from his left.

Goldenrod jerked his head back against the tree in surprise, a shot whizzing by his head, and another burying itself in his left shoulder. A gold colored Glock nine millimeter fell from that hand. He dropped low, and shot twice from an identical gun in his other hand. He was fairly sure he hit the ghost in his stomach, but The Phantom was already on the move.

The assassin forced himself to his feet, and moved around the other side of the tree, only to find himself looking down the barrel of three rifles. He chuckled ruefully, dropping the other gun, and raising his hand. "I hope you don't mind if I only raise the one." Nodding his head sideways towards the wounded arm, he said, "I can't move it. You guys must be part of the world famous Jungle Patrol?"

I'll be wanting them... back.
I'll be wanting them... back.

Another member of the Patrol gathered up the assassin's guns as they led him away. "Hey," said Goldenrod, sounding weaker than before, "hold onto those. I'll be wanting them... back." He then fell out on the jungle floor, managing to land on his right side, and roll to his back. The men escorting him immediately trained their guns on him.

Raising his right hand slightly, he said, "Relax, men. I'm... I'm not going... anywhere. How... how did you guys find me an..." he trailed off as he saw a white horse with a saddle trot by without a rider. It lowered its head toward Goldenrod and nickered loudly as it passed. He recognized it as the horse The Phantom was riding, and he chuckled weakly. As the Jungle Patrolmen helped him up, he muttered, "Like fuggin' Lassie, that one."

Meanwhile, The Phantom had picked up his other gun, and holstered both as Hero trotted up to him. With some difficulty he clambered into the saddle, coughing up some blood once he was mounted, and grabbing his stomach due to the pain. Drawing his hand back, he saw the blood on it, and said to one of the Jungle Patrol, "Find my son."

The man nodded, and ran off to follow The Phantom's order.

Patting his horse, he said, "Back to the Skull Cave, Hero."

***

And father, I will find your killer... I swear it.
And father, I will find your killer... I swear it.

A couple of months later:

The Phantom stood before the grave of his father, contemplating silently as he looked at the M1911's that were in his hands. Finally, he holstered them, knelt on one knee, and swore the Oath of the Skull. "I swear to devote my life to the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty, and injustice, in all their forms, and my sons and their sons, shall follow me."

Still kneeling, he put on the rings, drew the guns again, held them towards grave, and said, "And father, I will find your killer, and bring him to justice. Goldenrod recovered enough from his gunshot wounds to make his escape, but he will not remain escaped for long. I swear it."

Please let me know what you think, and thanks! -cbOriginally Presented In: CCC #121.

Story and original characters owned by Chris Bishop, copyright 2022.

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#1  Edited By cbishop

The Phantom vs. Goldenrod

OC Names:
Characters:
  • Goldenrod
Comic Characters used in this fic:
King Features Syndicate:
Picture credits:
GIS = Google Image Search
PictureCredit
  • The Skull Cave
  • I'll be wanting them... back.
Found via GIS
They're something the living can understand.Found in a Facebook group. I futzed with it in MS Paint to get rid of a thought balloon.
And father, I will find your killer... I swear it.Found in the CV wiki, cropped in MS Paint.
CCC #121 comments for The Phantom vs. Goldenrod:
CommentWho
I vote for The Phantom vs. Goldrenrod.The Impersonator
Thanks! :)cbishop
cbishop: You're welcome.The Impersonator
cbishop: I think what this story needs is pathos. The main character dies, but it doesn't feel like it's a big deal. I WANNA SEE REAL TEARS DAMN IT!!!

The villain is alright. I like campy villains, but he's not campy enough for my tastes. I think this guy would benefit from having the camp-level of, let's say, Gaston from Disneys Beauty and the beast.

Maybe you're thinking that if you turn the camp of the villain in to the extreme, and the pathos of the heros death in to Shakespearean heights, that it will just result in a clusterfuck.

Or, maybe you agree with me, that if done right and written with care, those two polar-opposite elements can actually work really well together. Like salty toffee!

So, even though the execution lacks this time imo, this isn't a bad premise for a story, or a villain.

As for the construction of the story, it works fine.

kfhrfdu_89_76k
kfhrfdu_89_76k: if I had had more time I would have liked to have made Goldenrod really crazy. Just show how much he just wanted to hunt the ghost who walks. I didn't have that kind of time left though LOL.cbishop
cbishop: Time, that dastardly thief!kfhrfdu_89_76k

kfhrfdu_89_76k: Procrastination and international date lines actually lol. I thought I had more time, and then mrmonster reminded of the Australian time, and I was like, "D'oh!" Then I was writing at the last minuteagain. lol

cbishop
I hate to be that guy who ties up the votes...but gotta go with cbishopmrmonster
mrmonster: Woot! :)cbishop

cbishop: Procrastination is my housemate too.

I hadn't noticed or didn't remember that you used my silly fan-art of your character in a story! = D That's really cool! [he's referring to a Hole in the 4th Wall Bar story]

kfhrfdu_89_76k

I had to! It's my only fan art! Well... this and the college movie that someone made off of my Redlinecharacter. (Yes, I'm totally bragging- I love that goofy movie so much!) :)

cbishop

cbishop: Gosh, it's an honor when people do fanworks! Kinda wish there will be fan-fic of my stuff if I ever publish anything.

Maybe I'll check the movie out sometime.

kfhrfdu_89_76k

kfhrfdu_89_76k: Totally. I'm actually really pleased with the movie. It's definitely a low budget college movie, but the character is danged near perfect to what I envisioned.

I love the Heironymous pic you did too. Why do you think I had to include it in his story? :)

cbishop

Congratulations to all involved, I enjoyed reading all of your posts.

But for an official vote, I'm choosing cbishop

But again they were all good! You all did some good work.

Referee

referee: Woot! Thanks. :)

cbishop

That is time. Batkevin' & Cbishop are tied. Next vote for one of them wins.

cbishop

cbishop:

"Totally. I'm actually really pleased with the movie. It's definitely a low budget college movie, but the character is danged near perfect to what I envisioned."

Low budget movies are really cool! Except the ones that suck the soul outa you but hey, I've seen plenty movies like that with 100 million budgets.

"I love the Heironymous pic you did too. Why do you think I had to include it in his story? :)"

Oh you charmer you! X )

kfhrfdu_89_76k

UPDATE: So, Batkevin' and I did a video chat on Facebook- in Australia and the US respectively- and flipped coins to break our tie. First two of three fell to me, so I will have a new contest up soon-ish. Happy Independence Day if you're in the States. Happy "We Didn't Need That Wanker Country Anyway" Day if you're in Britain, and Hey, you- the rest of the world: you're beautiful. :)

cbishop
.Fic-O-Pedia: cbishop. (My library of fics)Fic #395

Thanks for stopping in! :^D

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#2  Edited By cbishop

The Phantom vs. Goldenrod

The Origins Behind the Origins (or how some of these characters got their names):

Goldenrod

Goldenrod has been on my character list since 1997. It's a name that has rolled around the back of my brain since I saw it in a Crayola box as a child. It is of course also the name of a flower, and my grandmother was a big fan of flowers. So, anytime I can incorporate a flower name into my characters, it gives me a special joy to do so.

"Rod" being slang for "gun," and The Man With the Golden Gun surely somewhere in the periphery of my brain, I thought a guy with two gold handguns would be really cool. It wasn't too long after I thought of it that I started noticing characters with dual golden guns all over the place, so I've never really had a reason to unpack what would now seem like a copied idea.

Since CCC #121 was for The Phantom, and he has two guns, I thought, "Well, why not my guy with two gold handguns?" So, enter: Goldenrod. I'd never really invested any time in his characterization, so I was coming up with that on the fly. I tend to think in a Silver Age sensibility when I think of looks, so a guy with a gold theme would have blond hair. He does in this forum repost, but in the contest version, I gave him red hair.

The reason for that is that I was stalled trying to think of what Goldenrod would be like. I was desperately trying to meet the deadline, so rather than fight with the blank slate, I reached down for another as yet unused character whose characterization I had thought a bit about, and copy/pasted it onto Goldenrod. That character has red hair. I didn't want to be tripping over trying to remember to change "red" to "blond" (I was really close to the deadline) so I just went with giving him red hair.

Like I said, that's changed back now. So, now the character seems like a wild eyed blond Irishman? Ooo, so mold breaking! lol yeesh. Anyway, I don't really plan on continuing this Phantom story, but Goldenrod will probably turn up elsewhere.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading. :^D

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terry2012

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I like this story and the villain.

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I like this story and the villain.

It is one of the shortest ones I have written in quite some time, but I did really enjoy it. I have found that the ones I enjoy the most are the ones that I don't stop to think about so much. Also: pastiche characters, and funny animal characters. I guess because I don't fret over those so much- I'm much more willing to follow my train of thought, even if it derails and gallops through a cartoon undersea kingdom... or something. :}

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@cbishop said:
@terry2012 said:

I like this story and the villain.

It is one of the shortest ones I have written in quite some time, but I did really enjoy it. I have found that the ones I enjoy the most are the ones that I don't stop to think about so much. Also: pastiche characters, and funny animal characters. I guess because I don't fret over those so much- I'm much more willing to follow my train of thought, even if it derails and gallops through a cartoon undersea kingdom... or something. :}

Yes, they are funny animal characters. I like the talk between The Phantom and Goldenrod while they were shooting at each other. The way they interact with each other is very good. Is there going to be a continuation of this story?

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Yes, they are funny animal characters. I like the talk between The Phantom and Goldenrod while they were shooting at each other. The way they interact with each other is very good. Is there going to be a continuation of this story?

I haven't really planned on it so far. My knowledge of The Phantom only goes so far. As it is, looking at his wiki page, there's a list of common phrases about The Phantom that makes me think maybe I wrote him a tiny bit out of character here. Still, the son that swears the oath at the end is a new character. I could write him however I please, but typically characterization is the same from Phantom to Phantom- that's why everyone thinks he's The Ghost Who Walks. ...I'm thinking on it.

At the very least, I've been thinking about a return of Goldenrod in all-original stories. :)

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@cbishop said:
@terry2012 said:

Yes, they are funny animal characters. I like the talk between The Phantom and Goldenrod while they were shooting at each other. The way they interact with each other is very good. Is there going to be a continuation of this story?

I haven't really planned on it so far. My knowledge of The Phantom only goes so far. As it is, looking at his wiki page, there's a list of common phrases about The Phantom that makes me think maybe I wrote him a tiny bit out of character here. Still, the son that swears the oath at the end is a new character. I could write him however I please, but typically characterization is the same from Phantom to Phantom- that's why everyone thinks he's The Ghost Who Walks. ...I'm thinking on it.

At the very least, I've been thinking about a return of Goldenrod in all-original stories. :)

Okay, that's what is up. I'm looking forward to the Goldenrod stories.