Part 29: Mother's Wrath

nightmaster000: Why, thank you very much.

Rising Reaper: I'm glad you liked it. To answer your question, I did explain what happened to Grim, but it was in the story that came before this one, Grim Tales: End of Reign, so don't feel too bad about not knowing or not remembering it. Anyway, Mandy used the waters of the fountain of youth (in bullet form) to bring Grim to life. But since Grim is Death and Death is not supposed to be alive, there were…complications. Basically the waters tried to keep him alive while his natural essence tried to kill him. Eventually the two forces cancel each other out and Grim with it. So he's not exactly dead. It's more like either he was completely destroyed, soul and all, or he's on another plane entirely that is beyond life, death, and the Underworld. Either way Mandy made sure that Grim wasn't coming back.

Emeraldalex123: I'm glad people seem to be liking the conversation between Junior and Mandy. That was a part of the story I was worried that wouldn't turn out well just because I don't have quite the hang of writing Mandy's character yet.

But yeah, I'd like to think Mandy would be proud of Junior for taking her life and her throne and wants him to succeed. She just can't make it easy for him.

And this is the chapter Chi does stuff, so hopefully you'll enjoy it. Thanks again for reading.

ReadLoverNumber1: Thank for saying so. And also I'm happy to see a new reader/reviewer. I hope I can get this story to stay good until the end, as I'm trying to wind things down into the final acts. But we'll see. Thanks again.


Chapter start:

Down in the Nightosphere:

"I don't like this." The angel said.

"Hm?" One of the Jackal warrior's heads said while the other took a sip of coffee. Both men stood guard inside Hunson's palace.

"Hunson is a demon of pure chaos and madness. I do not like that we're helping him." The angel explained bitterly.

"Understandable. But considering that by siding with him we're taking a stand against the Grim Reaper, it's not like this is a favor for Hunson." The Jackal's other head explained.

"Choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil." The angel pointed out. "If my teacher, the Redeemer, were still around there's no way he would have stood for this. He would argue that we should just let these two mongrels fight it out and destroy each other."

"Clearly your boss thinks otherwise." The Jackal warrior retorted, causing the angel warrior to glare at him. "Probably because the last time two Underworld beings went at it, one of them nearly conquered all of existence, including Heaven."

"And now her spawn seeks to do the same, or at least that is what Abadeer claims." The angel spat his name, making it clear he didn't trust anything that came from the demon's mouth. "…My teacher once told me the tale of when he went to the Underworld to collect a noble soul and first met the Demon Reaper, back when he was but a child. Sometimes I wonder how much trouble would have been avoided if he'd recognized what Junior would become some day and just slain him on the spot."

"To be fair, we had a similar opportunity not too long ago." The jackal commented.

"You mean when the Reaper was weakened?" The angel asked.

"I mean when his daughter was."

The angel raised a questioning eyebrow.

"You've heard the rumors, I'm sure. Half of existence has by now." The jackal went on. "That she was responsible for the destruction of the Nightosphere. If it is true that she is a Demon Reaper like her father, aided by the bloodline of Aku, then the threat she represents for us all is just as great, if not greater, than that of Junior."

"So you're saying that because she escaped us with her father, we missed our chance to end that threat?" The angel asked.

"And that, like your teacher, if we had ended that threat, we would have been responsible for the murder of a child."

The angel opened his mouth to respond but paused and then went silent. "…As immature as it sounds of me…I do not like that the battle of good vs. evil has so many grey areas…"He said sullenly.

"I don't think any of us are supposed to." The jackal patted him on the shoulder.

The two resumed their guard in silent, partially distracted as they pondered their situation.

Distracted enough so that they did not notice the unnatural shifting of the shadows behind them.

In a flash of red, the angel warrior's head was severed cleanly from his body with nary a sound.

Before the jackal warrior had time to react to his fallen ally, Chi grabbed him from behind, wrapping around his body to pin his arms. Her left arm formed a muzzle to silence the warrior's two heads, while her right jabbed hard into the side of his stomach.

"Abadeer's location. Now." She whispered into his ear. She loosened the muzzle on one of the heads, allowing it to talk, but keeping it tight enough so he couldn't shout.

"Why would I tell you?" He growled through his teeth.

"Because this arm of mine that I've jabbed into your midsection? I can shapeshift it until it's small enough to enter your bloodstream and travel along through it." She threatened calmly. "You know what it feels like to have every vein in your body burst at once?"

"Then I would die and you'd gain nothing!" The jackal pointed out, refusing to be intimidated.

"I know." She said. "That's why I'm going to start small."

Even if the jackal had the ability to scream, he would not be able to. He felt his arm tear apart and explode from the inside, sending such blinding pain through him that his brains could barely comprehend it.

"Three more limbs, then your torso and other head. I have options. How about you?" Chi whispered darkly to her victim.

"Alright!" The jackal whimpered. "His office...down the hall…right next to the main balcony."

"Is he alone in there?" She asked.

"Yes." His said strenuously.

"What about his family?"

"His grandson is in his room, still recovering. Marceline is still in Ooo. Hunson hasn't told her about what's happened yet."

This stuck the queen's curiosity. "Why hasn't he told her?"

"I don't know! I swear!"

Chi studied the jackal's faces. He was clearly in too much pain from his arm to lie properly to her.

"Good boy." She whispered. The jackal's eyes went wide as his body made one sudden jerk, before he went limp and fell dead, brought down by as relatively painless of a stroke Chi could give him.

Chi placed his body silently on the floor and retracted herself from him, resuming her normal form. She'd suspected his office was where he'd be, but after finding these two, she figured it'd be best to be sure, and to make sure they wouldn't interfere. If her plan was to work, it needed to be just Hunson she'd face.


The Nightosphere ruler was in his office, just as the jackal had said, for when Chi got close, she saw the doorknob turn. She hid herself from view just before the door opened and Hunson stepped out, his stomach grumbling.

"Triple decker with mustard or the Pizza guy again? Ah, the choices." He said to himself as he walked along the balcony, likely heading towards the kitchen.

Chi eyed him carefully, finding her target by the glint of the purple Nightosphere Amulet around his neck.

This needed to be quick and clean.

She trailed carefully behind him, using her shapeshifting to travel in the shadows in silent. She had to act before he left the balcony or she'd risk others finding them.

She slowly unsheathed the Devil's Essence infused katana.

She then leapt right at Hunson, catching him by surprise and grabbing the amulet.

Unfortunately, it would not budge from his neck.

Chi slashed down at him with her sword, but Hunson's leg swept straight up above his head ("Karate kick!"), striking her and knocking her back behind him.

Chi landed with grace, her sword held steady at her side, while Hunson turned to face her.

"Chi!" He smiled. "I honestly wasn't sure if I'd be seeing you today. How have you been? Have you lost weight?"

Chi just glared at the ruler.

"Ah, feeling a little sore that that plan just now didn't work?" He asked. "Don't beat yourself up over it. Trust me, every now and then someone makes a grab at it. I've worn it for so long that the only times it ever comes off is when I let it."

"Like when my daughter took it from you?" Chi glared.

"Yeah, exactly." Hunson said casually. "If it was that easy I'd have been overthrown a long time ago, but hey, good effort." He gave a thumbs up with both hands. The gesture annoyed Chi to no end, but she kept herself calm.

"Figured it was at least worth a shot." Chi shrugged. "In a way, this is even worse for you. Without your powers this could have been over quickly. Now…I get to make you suffer." She pointed the blade's tip at the Nightosphere ruler.

"Ooh…that's not bad. Reminds me of Aku back in the day." He applauded her. "Which reminds me, how are the Monochromicorns I gave you two doing?"

"Mandy made them into glue after she killed my father."

Hunson blinked for a moment. "…Wow...just…wow. That's…that's pretty heartless even by my standards. I mean, I've made those things into glue before and that stuff barely sticks to anything enough to be-"

Chi dove at him in midsentence. With his superior flexibility, Hunson simply bent himself back at a 90 degree angle to avoid her sword.

And that's when he saw the five red servants the queen had brought with her, as they leapt up from the side of the balcony, into the ambush Chi made for him.

Hunson's head split in half and his true bulbous one took its place, with the numerous black arms coming out from under his chin to ensnare the ninjas. This did not last long as Chi's eyes lit up and blasted beams of power from them, severing the appendages and freeing her forces.

Though the arms grew back quickly, Hunson knew he was at a disadvantage. He may be more flexible than anyone in the room other than the shapeshifting Chi, but the ninjas were significantly faster, leaping and ducking around the room and knocking him into each other's blows. Twice he nearly found himself impaled on the Shogunness's demonic blade. And with the size of the room and limited access to souls, he could not grow to his full stature and simply overwhelm his attackers.

Still, he wasn't one of the Big Five lords for nothing. Despite his disadvantage he was able to press heavily against the ninjas, occasionally able to get his hands on one or two of them and beat them into submission, hitting them point blank with the power the erupted from his hands. Tough as they were, they were nowhere near his level.

As soon as Hunson finished dispatching with another of the guards, Chi came at him again with the sword. This time Hunson caught the blade between his hands and kicked her hard in the stomach, sending her flying back across the room, though her grip on the sword's hilt was strong enough so that it flew back with her. Something Hunson couldn't help but notice.

"Why would you bring that with you to fight me?" Hunson asked curiously as the shadow of his massive head loomed over her. "I mean, I can understand it poetically, as that is the sword that ended your father's life. But the reason it was able to kill him is because Mandy was the one wielding it and even the Shogun of Sorrows' evil was nowhere near hers. Forgetting for moment that I'm chaotic evil (one of the best kinds of evil, if I do say so myself), you want to kill me because of what I did to your husband and daughter. By the look of things, you're just a woman who wants to protect her family. Now what's more noble and less evil than that?"

Chi stared at him determinedly before taking in a deep sharp breath. She then let it loose as one massive fireball. Hunson's main arms moved and blocked the attack from hitting the rest of him. He knew another sword strike was coming and readied himself to catch it again, this time to take it from her.

And he was correct. From out of the flames came the attack

But instead of a flash of red, it was a flash of silver.

Hunson found his hand cut through and then a large gash across his chest.

It hurt.

It REALLY hurt.

Hunson's scream of pain was interrupted as Chi grabbed him by the face and scraped him against the wall, before throwing him hard into the other side of the room.

As the dazed Hunson took a moment to recover, he heard Chi say "You're right, Abadeer. What is more noble than that?"

Getting back to his feet, Hunson could see the change in the Shoguness. The red evil that once infected the blade had left it, spreading instead to Chi's left arm, where it seemed to be contained. The arm was slightly larger than the other, looking scaly and powerful, with a deep dark red color and massive claws. That was likely the hand that manhandled him a second ago. And yet, even with this transformation, it was the other hand that he knew to fear. The one that held the sword, now restored to its former glory. The slayer of evil.

There was little time to be impressed, as Chi leapt into attack. Her essence fueled arm and the sword made a surprisingly effective fighting style, the arm hitting him hard as Hunson did his best to avoid the quick blade, likely feeding off the great rage the former brat of Aku City was known to have.

The battle slowly started to turn in Chi's favor as she powered on against the Nightosphere lord. The damage inflicted on him was healing, but slowly, as new wounds from the sword kept appearing on his body.

Finally when the opportunity presented itself amidst Chi's barrage, Hunson lined up as many tentacle hands as he could to launch a massive blast against her. Chi blocked the attack with her sword, through the force did push her a bit. Using this reprieve to his advantage, Hunson opened his sideways mouth wide, creating the soul stealing vortex of wind.

As a creature of power and darkness like her father, Chi was able to protect her soul well enough through sheer force of will to keep it from being stolen. Her servants however were not as lucky, as the five souls of the scattered fallen ninja entered the maw of the Nightosphere lord.

Upon taking them in, Hunson's wounds instantly healed and he grew slightly bigger, his power increasing with it. Smiling as he returned to 100% and beyond, this time it was Hunson's turn to launch the attack.

The fight went on in fairly close-quarters, as that was where both would have their own advantages. Hunson would sacrifice some of his lesser appendages to Chi's sword. It hurt, yes, but he could handle it, especially when it could set her up to be struck by his remaining tentacles and even a blast of fire or two. He even was able to use his soul stealing technique to occasional knock her off balance, as she needed to focus to protect her soul from him.

Chi took quite a few hits, but she kept at him, staying in close and within range of her blade. Any damage to her red arm healed instantly due to the Devil's Essence, but it was clear she was not letting it spread to the rest of her injured body, not wanting to lose herself in her sin and leave herself potentially vulnerable.

The clash went on for several minutes, the sound of sword swings, energy blasts, and the hammering of flesh echoing around the balcony. Chi blocked a karate chop from Hunson with her sword and her eyes lit up, blazing her laser eye beams across his chest. Hunson winced at the attack, but didn't think much of it. Not until it occurred to him that that attack should not have hurt him as much as it did.

As he threw himself forward to hit her, Chi easily dodged around his arm and got in close. Easily enough that Hunson realized he was slower now than he had been at the start of the exchange. A weakness Chi was going to fully exploit.

She slashed her sword multiple time far faster than he could see, leaving numerous "X" markings all across his head and chest. The Nightosphere lord howled in pain as black demon blood sprayed from his open wounds and splashed across the floor. It was so bad than he fell to his knees.

"Why? Why am I suddenly getting weaker?" Hunson thought through his dazed mind. And then he realized what was the cause.

He fired a long arcing blast around the room, just to get Chi to fall back for a second and allow him time to see. Twisting his head to the proper angle, Hunson bent over and looked into his soul sack. Within it were a number of souls he'd collected, including those of Chi's red clad servants. To any observer, it would appear that they were simply mediating. But Hunson could feel it. They were doing something to him. Weakening him.

Chi smirked at Hunson's realization. "You may have been the first soul-stealer, Abadeer, but you were hardly the last." She explained as she stared him down. "Long ago, there was a man who served my father known as Demongo. He had abilities very similar to yours, at least in regards to taking souls in. He gave nothing less than his total and complete loyalty to my father. But my father was no fool. He would not name anyone general of his armies without some way of countering their abilities, should they turn traitor. Those five men you've ingested? They were trained by my father and Demongo himself for one sole purpose: to battle those who steal souls."

Chi walked up to Hunson, putting her sword at his throat (or whatever his biology has in place of one). "They're in a very special type of battle meditation, one that suppresses their own power and that of those around them. Great for suspending all those that Demongo would send out to fight his battles and great for giving you little energy to feed on."

Hunson looked up at her and at the blade at his throat.

"You've lost, Abadeer."

The demon stayed in stunned silence for several long seconds, and then he started to laugh.

Chi did her best not to react to it, but the suddenness of it from an opponent she thought she had at her mercy, it struck a bit of fear at her core and caused a bead of sweat to go down her face.

"Oh…don't worry, Chi." Hunson said after he calmed his giggling a little bit. "I am laughing at your plan, but not in the way you think." Chi's sword pressed in a little deeper at his side, but stayed steady. "It's a good plan, honestly. I'm pretty well pinned. It's just…you don't think I see it, do you?" He chuckled. "The surprise twist with the sword so that it does slay evil, not good? The henchmen made to combat a soul eating monster? This plan wasn't originally meant for me, was it? It was meant for Junior!"

Chi glared hard at the demon, but noticeably didn't deny anything.

"Ah, don't feel bad about it, Chi. Heck, with what you've managed to do to me with it, I'd say you have a pretty good chance of taking him out." He praised her. "In fact, I'd say you have a significantly better chance of taking him out than you do taking me out. Know why?"

Hunson paused for a moment for dramatic effect, then leapt right at her. The sword cut through his side as he did, but that didn't seem to slow him down.

Hunson pinned her to the ground, slamming her arms to the floor hard enough to knock the sword away from her hand and slide it across the room. Before she had a chance to shapeshift out of his grip, Hunson opened his mouth and his whirlwind of soul-sucking began.

"Unlike your husband, I'm not Death. I'm Deathless!" He yelled as sucked. "Slice me up, overfeed me, toss me in a vault of bananas for a hundred years. It doesn't matter. Unlike him, I can't be killed. I have no life to be taken!"

This close to the source, Chi struggled to keep her soul. It took every last ounce of her strength to barely hold on. Through the glimpses she could manage to take through her pain and the incredible winds, Chi could see her guards fairing far worse. Each of them held their hands near their throats, as if to free themselves from some invisible enemy strangling them from within their pods. This was Hunson's way of destroying them, now that he knew what they were doing to him. The moment they were gone, Hunson would regain his strength and her chances of survival would drop.

It was now or never.

Chi opened her own mouth wide and from it a beam of several white "O's" shot out. Impressively, Hunson managed to shift his entire bulbous head to the side just enough to avoid the beam without ending his suck.

Hunson smiled, his victory all but assured.

That is, until he heard the small boom from behind him.

Turning his head at the noise, behind him was a massive black and white spiraling portal, whose winds were now attempting to drag him in.

"What-! What is that?!" Hunson exclaimed in surprise.

Her enemy momentarily distracted, Chi stretched her arm far enough out to latch onto a wall. She then bent her legs up by enough and slammed her feet into him, kicking him off her.

Just a hairsbreadth away from the portal, Hunson's many arms grabbed at the walls, the floors, and whatever else they could reach to keep him from being sucked in.

"You're right, Hunson. The sword and the guards? Those were for Junior." Chi said as her free arm reached for the sword, her eyes never leaving the demon as she spoke. "This? This is for you."

Stretching out the arm holding the blade, Chi cut through one of Hunson's tectacles. Another quickly regrew in its place, but the winds of the portal were too much and pulled the appendage back, too much force working against it for it to reach back out and act as a tether again.

"I know I can't kill you, Abadeer." She yelled over the winds as she cut another tentacle, the results the same as the first. "But I can send you far enough into the future to get you out of our hair until Junior and I figure out what we can do with you. I just had to make sure I softened you up enough first."

Hunson could feel the pull the portal had on him, almost stretching him back to bring him in. He wasn't strong enough yet to effectively fight against it. Not with Chi's men still fighting him from within. And with each limb Chi severed, the closer he got to falling through.

He couldn't see any way out.

It was over.

"Lord Abadeer! What's going on in here?!" Exclaimed one of the camo jacketed Care Bears as he ran into the room, the only one to have heard the commotion.

Chi and Hunson stared blankly at the bear for a solid minute.

". . . FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!"

"And there's my door!"

Freeing the closest appendage he could, Hunson grabbed the bear and before the soldier knew what was happening, Hunson threw him behind him.

The Care Bear fell deep into the portal and it closed up behind him.

Hunson breathed a sigh of relief as his tentacles released their grips around the room. "So…since you didn't just start off with that, and since I've only ever heard of Aku doing it once, I'm guessing that was your one time you could open that portal. Am I right?" He asked.

Chi just sat in defeated shock.

"I thought so." Power lit up in Hunson's many hands and he fired them all at once on Chi.

The resulting explosion took out a good chunk of the balcony, wall and floor included. Hunson checked the smolders for any living remains. He found none. But when the smoke cleared a moment later, he saw why.

Just past where the blast had struck, the black wings of the hooded Reaper flapped, their owner carrying his very surprised wife in his arms.

"I've been getting way too much practice with this last-minute-rescue thing." Junior quipped.

Chapter end


Author's notes: So that was Chi vs. Hunson. I like the idea that Chi would be a quick learner when it comes to her powers, given that even Demongo had to comment on how quickly she was mastering shapeshifting. So given enough time to mature Chi could become quite formidable in combat. And I just thought that her learning to fight with Samurai Jack's katana (the weapon her father feared) and channeling the power that once belonged to Mimi (the girl she loved) would be poetic (or at least interesting).

And I'm guessing the portal to the future power is a one-time deal, given that Aku never used it again against Jack after the first time, which is why Chi had to wait for the perfect opportunity to use it.

So Junior has now come to the rescue for his wife and is going to face off against the man starting a war with him. What's going to happen next? I'd say you make the call, but I've already got the next chapter pretty much written. So all I can say for now is stay tuned, loyal readers! Thank you.

QTP: What's Junior going to think of his wife running off to fight Hunson? Better yet, what's he going to think of the fact that she had a plan designed to kill him? What's Junior going to do now that he's confronted Hunson yet again? Why hasn't Hunson told Marceline about what's been happening in the Underworld?