Jim-Bob and Becky -- Flash Fiction

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Flash Fiction Friday 30/ May/ 2025

Jim-Bob wasn't having the greatest of days. First his ex, Becky, was kidnapped by the very shadow assassins who'd killed his parents. Then his airship, the Darlene, got shot down while he was trying to rescue her. Now he was standing amid the wreckage, sporting a goose egg on his forehead that made thinking harder than it ought to be.

"Head hurts more than that long weekend I had down south with cousin Carl," he muttered, adjusting his sweat-stained ball cap. "Didn't know the difference between heads or tails when making booze."

"Jim-Bob!" A voice called out, distorted like someone yelling into a banjo creating an off-tone echo.

"Wuh, who?" Jim-Bob brandished his trusty wrench, squinting at the translucent outline of— "Becky?"

"You always were a slow one to catch on," she said, her spectral form flickering in the afternoon light.

[Spectral Entity Detected]

[Becky Monroe - Level 0 Ghost]

[Recently Deceased - Soul Tether Status: Compromised]

"Whus happening?" Jim-Bob asked, his system interface flashing warning notifications across his vision.

"Assassins kidnapped me, tied me to an altar thing, then they stabbed me to kickstart that!" She pointed toward a hill that the prow of his airship had pierced through. "I'm dead, Jim-Bob. Or mostly dead. They used me as a sacrifice."

"Oh Darlene," Jim-Bob grabbed the front of his coveralls at the sight of his broken airship, her mahogany hull splintered and brass fittings scattered across the island.

Ethereal arms windmilled through Jim-Bob's chest, making him shiver as the cold spread through him.

"I got stabbed in the chest and you're here complaining about your boat!" Becky's ghostly form vibrated with fury.

"My grandpappy built her," Jim-Bob said defensively, not sure if he should raise his arms to defend himself against the cold onslaught of being hit by a ghost.

"Are you—wait, wuh?" Jim-Bob asked, his attention caught by a deep rumbling from within the hill.

Something strong snapped, the tension that had torn it apart being released like a gunshot. A cable shot out from the opening in the hill, tearing through Darlene's hull and tossing it aside like kindling.

"What in the blazing seven hells and nine infernos is that!" Jim-Bob near jumped out of his skin seeing whatever freaky-deakiness stared out at him from inside the hill. Six glowing red eyes peered out from the darkness, followed by the silhouette of something that had no business existing outside of nightmares.

[Bloodfen Abomination Detected]

[Level 37 Eldritch Construct]

[Hostile - Soul-Bound to: Becky Monroe]

[Warning: Entity power exceeds user level by 32 points]

"That's a Bloodfen Abomination, and my soul is being used to fuel it," Becky explained, her form flickering as another cable snapped. "If you could kill the dang thing, I'd much appreciate it!" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"How the hell you expect me to fight something like that?" Jim-Bob asked, spitting a stream of tobacco juice. "How many legs does it got?"

"Six legs, one oversized head, and four arms. They also strapped armor to the thing like one of your wasteland racers! Then they enchanted that armor with the souls of infuriated squirrels."

"Squirrels," Jim-Bob spat to the side with a look of disgust. "Damn varmint."

His gaze swept over his surroundings, system interface highlighting salvageable equipment. Darlene's armaments lay strewn across the grassy plain - spear throwers, mana cannons, and various mechanical devices that could be repurposed by someone with the right know-how.

[Salvageable Equipment Detected]

[Spear Thrower - 72% Integrity]

[Port Mana Cannon - 46% Integrity]

[Starboard Mana Shot - 88% Integrity]

[Alchemy Deployer - 31% Integrity]

Time slowed as Jim-Bob's mind built up a full head of steam, eyes jumping between parts and components as he started piecing together a plan. His free hand rested on the roll of trusty duct tape on his hip while he adjusted his grip upon the wrench in his right hand.

[Redneck Engineering Skill Activated]

[+35% to Improvised Repairs]

[+25% to Unlikely Weapon Effectiveness]

[+40% to "Hold My Beer" Moments]

“Hold My Bee-”

"Jim-Bob, ohhh Jimmy boy! Hello?" Becky asked, floating in mid-air and waving her translucent hand in Jim-Bob's face.

"What now, Becky?" he grumbled, the formulation of tactical options temporarily interrupted.

"You were zoning out there looking all confused, and cross-eyed and shit."

"I was figurin' me a plan."

"Well, jump to it!"

Another snap of cabling letting go rang through the air like a gunshot, setting Jim-Bob into motion. He bolted toward a spear thrower, hauling it upright with a grunt. Using his wrench, duct tape, and baling wire pulled from his many pockets, he yanked the weapon back into working order.

[Improvised Repair: Spear Thrower]

[Integrity Restored to 91%]

[Added Effect: Delayed Firing Mechanism]

Next was a mana cannon—though it didn't have any shot loaded. Jim-Bob rooted around in the expandable pockets of his coveralls, pulling out odds and ends until his fingers closed around a full bag.

"Oh, come on, it's a brand new bag of sunflower seeds!" With tears at the edge of his eyes, he stuffed the bag of seeds into the cannon's mouth.

[Improvised Ammunition Applied]

[Sunflower Seeds + Mana Cannon = ???]

[Error: System cannot predict outcome]

He activated his Redneck Strength passive, muscles bulging beneath his worn coveralls as he hefted the cannon with one arm. He pushed an ancient brick where the cannon was missing a wheel, leveling it out with practiced precision.

Next was a scatter shot with ammo still in the barrel. Dad would've had his ass for cannon safety!

[Weapon Ready: Magic Shot]

[Ammunition: Pumpkin??? (Substituted for Cannonball)]

[Effectiveness: Unknown]

Two more cables snapped and released, speeding Jim-Bob on his way.

"Jim-Bob, I hope you're hurryin' over there!" Becky's voice was growing fainter, her form increasingly transparent.

"I got this, Becky!" He yelled back over his shoulder, fingers flying as he connected wires and sealed joints.

"I think it's nearly free now!"

There was another snap and then the hill exploded, the creature bellowing from what sounded like five throats simultaneously. Chunks of stone and earth rained down as the Bloodfen Abomination emerged fully into the daylight.

The sight nearly stopped Jim-Bob's heart. Standing three times his height, the creature's disproportionate head dominated its form, bulging with tumorous growths and blazing eyes. Six legs supported a torso bristling with four muscular arms, each ending in talons that could shred steel. Plates of metal had been crudely bolted onto its hide, strange sigils pulsing with a sickly green light.

[Boss Fight Initiated]

[Bloodfen Abomination - Full Power]

[Soul Tether: 89% Complete]

[Warning: If tether reaches 100%, Becky Monroe will be permanently absorbed]

Becky's spectral form became dimmer, clutching at her chest in obvious pain. Her eyes cut into Jim-Bob's very soul.

She was the one that got away. The one he should've cleaned up his act for. Or at least cleaned up the house a bit more for. She'd stood by him in his quest to hunt down the assassins that killed his family, until the obsession consumed him entirely.

Only now did he see the cost his revenge had wrought. For now, he stood on the precipice of losing what could have been his family.

The abomination let out a bone-shaking roar and charged across the clearing, each footfall making the ground tremble.

"Now or never!" Jim-Bob shouted, yanking the firing cord on the magic shot.

BOOM!

The shot exploded from the barrel.

It hit the abomination, washing it in chaotic mana, tearing into the parts of its body that were unarmored.

[Critical-is Thinking Skill Activated]

[Analysis: Conventional weapons ineffective against armor plating]

[Tactical Recommendation: Target weak points between plates]

Jim-Bob rolled to avoid a swipe of the monster's claws, coming up behind the mana cannon. He aimed carefully at a gap in the plating and pulled the trigger.

The sunflower seeds erupted from the barrel, propelled by compressed mana. They struck the exposed flesh between armor plates and burrowed in like tiny bullets.

What happened next defied explanation. The squirrel souls bound to the armor plates suddenly went berserk, their energy signatures flaring visibly as they detected the sunflower seeds. The plates began to vibrate, then tear away from the creature's hide as the bound squirrel spirits desperately tried to reach the seeds.

[Unexpected Synergy Detected]

[Squirrel Souls + Sunflower Seeds = Berserk Reaction]

[Abomination Armor Integrity: 64%... 52%... 39%...]

"Well, I'll be damned," Jim-Bob muttered, a grin spreading across his face. "Squirrels still got a weakness for sunflower seeds, even in the afterlife."

The abomination thrashed violently, trying to dislodge its own armor as the squirrel spirits tore at its flesh. With each plate that fell, Becky's form seemed to grow slightly more substantial.

Jim-Bob's eyes darted to the hill where the creature had emerged. He could make out an altar bathed in an unnatural green light, arcane symbols carved into the stone still glowing with power.

[Objective Identified: Ritual Altar]

[Soul Tether Origin Point]

[Required: Reverse Ritual Flow to Release Becky's Soul]

"Hang on, darlin'!" Jim-Bob called to Becky. "I'm gonna fix this!"

He sprinted toward the altar, dodging the distracted abomination's flailing limbs. Around the altar, complicated machinery hummed and pulsed, drawing her life force into the abomination.

Jim-Bob stared at the arcane apparatus, his brow furrowed.

[Arcane Engineering Assessment]

[Complexity: Beyond User Comprehension]

[Alternative Approach Available: Treat as Mana Engine]

"Well shoot, this ain't so different from tuning up Old Man Henderson's mana still," Jim-Bob muttered, approaching the apparatus. "Input, output, circulation... it's all just energy flow."

He applied his wrench to what appeared to be a flow regulator, reversing the connection. Ghostly energy began to flow backward through the system, making the entire chamber shudder.

[Warning: Unstable Energy Configuration]

[Structural Integrity: 78%... 65%...]

“Woah! Okay, not supposed to go that way,” Jim-Bob tore off some tape with his teeth, slapping it on a crack appearing in the machine’s housing.

The abomination outside roared in fury and pain as its power source began to drain. Jim-Bob worked frantically, using duct tape to reinforce cracking pipes, his wrench to tighten connections that threatened to burst.

Blood ran from a cut on his forehead, and his arms were scraped raw from trying to hold the pulsing machinery together.

[Physical Condition: Deteriorating]

[HP: 68%... 54%... 42%...]

[Ritual Reversal: 31% Complete]

A tremendous crash from outside told him the abomination was approaching. The creature, now half its original size with most of its armor plating torn away.

Its eyes, now focused solely on Jim-Bob, burned with hatred.

"You stay the hell away from him!" Becky's voice rang out, stronger than before.

To Jim-Bob's astonishment, Becky's physical body began to rise from the altar, her chest wound closing as spectral energy flowed back into her. She grew in size until she matched the abomination, her form glowing with ethereal light.

She dashed out of the ruins, grabbing a section of Darlene's hull, as an impromptu bracer while she store out the airship's mast like a spear.

The creature, down to four legs charged her.

She dropped her stance shoving Darlene’s hull-bracer into the thing’s mouth and threw it to the side.

It carved a path through the ground, shaking Jim-Bob who had a finger shoved into the soul-energy machine doo-dikery. Cracks were snaking up the engine.

The whole thing was a mess of barely held together cracked metal.

With a primal yell, Becky drove her spear-mast straight through the abomination's misshapen head, pinning it to the ground with such force that the entire chamber shook.

[Soul Tether Breaking]

[Ritual Reversal: 76%... 89%... 97%...]

"Jim-Bob!" Becky cried as the abomination thrashed in its death throes.

“Woah, that’s a bit more power than this can take!” Jim-Bob laughed.

He understood instantly what needed to be done. He placed his hands directly on the pulsing core of the machine, becoming a conduit for the energy.

"I'm sorry, Becky," he said, his voice surprisingly steady. "I was so caught up in revenge, I forgot what was worth living for.”

The machine would break apart—it would break, and with it Becky’s soul would be torn apart.

Unless there was a bridge.

“What are you! Jim-Bob!” Becky yelled out as Jim-Bob used his own soul like bailing wire, holding the process together.

[Soul Anchor Established]

[Warning: User Vitality Being Consumed]

[HP: 31%... 18%... 9%...]

Pain ran through every fiber of his being, it burned him up from inside. Fiercer than any anger he’d had for those that took his parents from him.

He held the memories he had with Becky in his mind. They’d been good times, the best times in all of his life.

Jim-Bob's last thought was that at least Becky would live. His revenge didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered except that she would be okay.

He had a ridiculous grin on his face  as he collapsed.

*

"Jim-Bob? Jim-Bob, wake up, you stubborn fool!"

Light filtered through his eyelids, and Jim-Bob groaned. Every muscle in his body ached, but he was definitely alive. He blinked, focusing on Becky's face hovering above his, radiant against the sun streaming through the collapsed ceiling.

She grabbed his face and kissed him hard. "Don't you go scaring me like that!"

"How am I—"

"I wasn't about to let you sacrifice yourself for me, you idiot," Becky said, tears in her eyes. "I grabbed some of my returning soul energy and pushed it into you. We're balanced now."

 [Soul Bond Established]

 [Becky Monroe - Permanently Linked]

 [New Abilities Unlocked]

Jim-Bob laughed, really seeing what had been in front of him all this time.

He pulled her back for another kiss, the remains of the abomination already turning to dust nearby.

"So," Becky said when they finally parted, "think we can salvage enough of Darlene to get off this island?"

Jim-Bob grinned, patting the duct tape at his hip. "Darlin', with you, me, and my toolbelt, I reckon we could build a whole new airship from scratch."

Behind them, the spear thrower finally fired with a delayed boom, launching its projectile harmlessly into the sky.

"First thing's first though," Jim-Bob added. "We gotta do something about your ghost powers. I'm thinking Becky and Jim-Bob: Spectral Bounty Hunters has a nice ring to it."

Becky rolled her eyes, but couldn't hide her smile. "One adventure at a time, Jim-Bob. One adventure at a time."

He stopped her with a hand. She looked at him with questions heavy in her eyes.

“Would you adventure with me for the rest of my life?”

He chest balled up, his stomach twisted.

“Kept a girl waiting,” Becky’s smile eclipsed the pesky sun as she kissed him again, this one filled with a promise that filled him with excitement, and hope. Hope for a better tomorrow, together.

[Quest Complete: The Bloodfen Reckoning]

[Revenge Path Abandoned]

[New Quest Available: Rebuild What Was Lost]