Mountain Tim
Mountain Tim is a character in Part VII: Steel Ball Run. He is a professional and legendary cowboy from Wyoming, USA, thought to be one of the leading competitors in the race. He made a name for himself as a bounty hunter from northern Montana through southern Texas.
Synopsis
Early Years
At 16, when he was part of the army, his unit was assigned to venture out into the unmapped parts of the Arizona desert. The area turned out to be the Devil's Palm and his unit became lost, wandering through the desert. Unable to find water, first the horses and then the soldiers died. Tim, also, was nearly fried to death - but woke suddenly in the middle of the night to discover that a tiny bit of dew had collected on his rope and his body, having merged with the rope, was absorbing the water on its own. He was the only survivor.
Steel Ball Run
Second Stage
After ranking 4th in the first stage of the race, he is called in to help with the investigation of a gruesome murder which took place along the race's course. The sheriff deputizes him, requesting that he pursue all potential suspects and believing that Tim himself will be targeted by the culprit as one of the race forerunners. Once the second stage starts, Tim is able to match the horseshoe prints found at the murder to those of the Boomboom Family and trails them. At night, he finds a horse and the man he believes to be the culprit (but who is actually Benjamin Boomboom disguised as Johnny). "Johnny" throws a horseshoe at Tim and takes refuge in a massive brier patch, but Tim easily lassos him around the neck - making use of Oh! Lonesome Me to prevent "Johnny" from cutting the rope. "Johnny" still manages to do so, however, and flees on his horse while reverting his face to normal. Tim, now believing Johnny to be the killer, begins his hunt for the real Johnny - not aware that now he, Johnny and Gyro have all been affected by the Boombooms' ability and will explode upon getting too close to each other, due to the magnetic pull.
As Tim gets closer, Johnny and Gyro realize that he must have been affected by the Boombooms' ability as well. Gyro ends up using a steel ball to force Tim off his horse, but unfortunately the trio were already too close and Tim goes flying toward Gyro and Johnny. However, he manages to stop the potential impact by utilizing his stand ability and pulling himself onto a high rock. Once Johnny and Gyro explain about the Boombooms' ability, Tim comes to realize that he had been chasing the wrong suspect. The Boombooms soon reappear, attacking the trio using their stand and sending them colliding with each other. They are ultimately defeated by Johnny's awakened Tusk ability and Tim urges Johnny and Gyro to hurry and leave the area, as they all seem to have ended up in the Devil's Palm. The trio are then the first three to reach the midway checkpoint of the second stage.
Soon, Oyecomova arrives and Tim catches him in the hotel room rifling through Gyro's things. When he grabs Oyecomova's shoulder, a chunk of skin comes off and soon blows up, heavily injuring Tim. However, Tim was able to scatter his body parts and survives. He warns Gyro when Oyecomova tries to attack, telling the secret the latter's ability. Tim subsequently drops out of the race to recover and devote his entire attention to assisting the sheriff.
A Cowboy's End
When Mountain Tim shows up later, it is at the behest of Lucy, who had called him to help her escape from the president's compound. He saves her from an otherwise impossible situation, revealing that he has loved her since their first meeting. He is disappointed when she apologizes for having potentially led him on, but advises her to seek out Johnny and Gyro if she gets into trouble. After they go their separate ways, Tim is confronted by Blackmore, who had traced a call from the president's compound to him. Tim refuses to reveal who had made the call, but is unable to defeat Blackmore's stand ability due to the latter's advantage in the rain. Ultimately, Tim suffers severe wounds and is subsequently shot in the head upon refusing one last time to surrender the name of the caller.
Trivia
- He is the SBR counterpart of Speedwagon; they have similar hairstyles and Tim later receives the same prominent scar across the face as the one Speedwagon has. This is further supported when comparing the unrequited relationship between Speedwagon and Erina and that of himself and Lucy (who is most likely the SBR counterpart of Erina herself).
- Horses seem to have a great deal of respect for his presence, bowing their heads when he approaches.
- Apparently he annually travels 4,000 km through the pastures with 3,000 cattle.
- His horse is named for the Johnny Cash song Ghost Riders in the Sky.
References
