Hey guys! Sorry for not uploading last year. My first year of Uni really kicked my ass. I have no clue how people can make content and have an education simultaneously. I've downgraded to part-time and not full-time, so when school and work aren't giving me a hard time, I'll try to get these out for you to read. I've updated the previous chapters with more realistic dialogue and moments, and they're a lot less cringe. I'm more proud of them now so a recommend you read through them again before reading this. Remember to favourite, follow and review. Thank you for reading.
Updated: Isaac no longer has the hots for Mandy.
Chapter 4: He'll do
Dark and desolate, the red clouds flowed like a river of blood, blotting out all the light that touched the horizon, just the way she liked it. The underworld, her playground, her property, her kingdom. She stood in her courtyard, adoring her accomplishment.
"Isn't it beautiful Pain?" she asked her servant.
"Umm, Mistress Mandy? Are you alright?" he replied.
"I'm killing time Pain, humour me."
"Oh! Umm, alright! Yes, it is quite a spectacle."
"And it's all mine. All the living things out there are at my mercy. Powerful men have bowed before me. Though some have rejected my allegiance, and instead have taken up arms against me."
"You refer to Kære, Milady?"
"My history with Kære appears to be outweighed by this 'warrior' Grim has promised me. When he sends his armies to kill me and my family, he will know the true definition of consequence" she firmly stated.
"I'm sure he will, Mistress Mandy"
Before their conversation could continue any further, a swirling portal opened up in front of them. They moved out of the way to allow passage. First emerged the Grim Reaper.
"Hello m'dear." said Grim
"Where is he bonehead?" sounding disgruntled "You've made me wait a damn long time!"
He moved out of the way of the portal, "Patience is a virtue m'dear.".
All of a sudden Isaac fell out of the portal onto his hands and knees, then proceeded to vomit.
"Ooooooargh!" he convulsed.
"Nice" Mandy said sarcastically
"Mandy, Pain, dis is Isaac" Grim introduced
Isaac hacked and coughed as he got back up, "Sorry. Ahem! First time teleporting."
"Isaac, dis is mah wife Mandy, and our commander, Lord Pain"
Isaac stood up and made a little wave "Hey, nice to...*cough*...meet you."
She paused in awe of how pathetic his introduction was, "Pleasure" she said sarcastically
"A pleasure meeting you, Master Isaac!" said Pain.
As Isaac recovered from the ejection of his lunch, he noticed Mandy wore a dark, scanty leotard dress, and Pain wore a knight's armour, fit with a visor helmet, chain-mail and crest.
"You guys didn't get all dressed up for 'me' did you?" Isaac asked laughingly.
"No" Grim answered, "Dat's how dey always look. Let's begin deh tour shall we?".
As Isaac followed behind the group, he scanned his surroundings, taking in this massive structure known as Castle Grimskull, and found that it looked something right out of a gothic art book.
In awe of its massiveness, he asked "How long will that take, exactly?"
"Oh don't fret Master Isaac!" answered Pain in a cheerfully English accent "It looks much bigger on the outside!"
On their way through the main hall, Isaac kept his hand firmly on his cross. Being his first time in the underworld, he was careful not to run into anything he might have sent back there. He noticed a large number of skeleton guards, somehow supporting the weight of themselves and their armour without any muscles. The house, however, was exquisite. Beautiful red carpets that stretched all the way down the corridors and red drapes that reached up to the twenty-meter high ceiling. Cobblestone walls lined with paintings, giant stone pillars, portraits of ancient skeletal figures and the occasional knight statue standing guard in front. All quite great but somehow terrifying at the same time.
As they passed the kitchen - or more appropriately kitchens - was larger than any restaurant kitchen Isaac had ever seen, with many chefs of different Lovecraftian forms busy preparing the Reaper family's next meal. Looking in, Isaac saw they were preparing a crab dish.
"I'm allergic to crustacean by the way." said Isaac
"Allergic? Hold on…" Mandy asked before turning to her staff "Is that crab you're cooking?!"
"Yes, Mistress!" Replied the sous-chef
"Well start over!" she sternly requested "New menu!"
"Right away Mistress!" then turned to the kitchen and called out "start over guys!"
The kitchen erupted in remarks such as "aww your kidding!", "This is hell!" and "I work minimum wage for this?!"
One chef looked right at Isaac menacingly before breaking a crab shell in half with his claws. Isaac replied by flashing his crucifix butterfly sword. The beast grimaced before tossing the shell into the trash.
"Speaking of which…" announced Pain "…the head chef must join his crew!" putting on his apron then heading into the kitchen.
As the burning smell of craw-fish finally began to dissipate from his nostrils, he caught the smell of something else he disliked, demon. The kitchen door flapped open, revealing a skeleton child wearing a hoodie with a tentacle protruding from its back, holding a plate of baked sweets. As Isaac met eyes with the one-eyed skeleton/demon, he pulled the cross from his belt and held it towards the creature. The tentacle on its back hissed and retreated behind the child.
"H-hey! What's the deal?!" the child exclaimed.
"No need Isaac," said Grim "this is our son, Grim Jr"
Isaac paused "…son?"
"Don't be rude Jr, say hello to our guest!" Mandy instructed.
"Jeez! Okay!" Jr replied "Hello?"
"If that thing on your back so much as looks at me I'll split it down the middle." he replied
"Well," said Jr "nice to meet you too!"
Isaac looked to Mandy and asked "You aren't a demon, are you?" tightly gripping his cross.
Mandy raised her eyebrow at him, sighed then said "No, I'm human. From Endsville actually."
"Huh," Isaac responded "so was I." then holstered his cross.
"The staff need to use those ovens Jr." Grim told his son "You can't go making muffins all day."
"Just so you can feed your pet" Mandy added.
"She's not a pet!" he shouted "she's a person! God!" then stormed down the hall with his tray of confectioneries.
The tentacle on his back formed into the shape of a hand and flipped off Isaac.
Isaac saw this, "Did you see that?".
"Don't mind him." Grim told Isaac.
"Has to be a phase." Mandy said.
"Girls and such" Grim added.
"You heard what happened between him and Minnie?" Mandy asked Grim.
"Regrettably" Grim replied, "we'll have to talk to him aboot dat."
"Is Minnie this pet?" asked Isaac.
"No" Grim Replied "Minnie is our daughter. It's short for Mini Mandy"
"Mini Mandy and Grim Jr?" Isaac snickered.
"You got a problem with our children's names, Isaac?" Mandy replied.
"No!" he chuckled "Not at all."
"I suppose we'll move on den!" Grim interrupted "Deh next stop is the back yard."
The three exited out a large wooden door, similar to the front door, and Isaac found himself in somewhere more like a training ground, workout space and a firing range than a yard. Though it was surrounded by a lovely garden. Skeleton soldiers fought each other with their standard spears, swords and shields with no remorse, dismembering each other, then putting themselves back together again just to continue fighting.
"Any training you're willing to subject yourself to is available here." Grim told Isaac
"Pretty cool setup here, I have to admit." he replied
"You can come here anytime you like" Grim added "we'll be able to see you from deh balcony up dere" pointing to the third story balcony on the mansion wall.
"Well, that's good food for thought." Isaac commented sarcastically.
"Don't flatter yourself." Mandy replied "speaking of which, you haven't signed that contract yet, have you?"
"No, not yet."
"Well then, I wanted to take this opportunity to test you myself."
"Pardon?" Isaac replied.
"Mandy!" Grim interrupted.
"Hold on." Isaac interrupted "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, I heard you were bounty hunter at a point in your career."
"Your point?"
"My point is, so was I"
"Well!" Isaac said enthusiastically.
"And I understand what is required to be one. So without some pesky contract burning your soul every time you swing at me, how about a sparring session?"
"Mandy, I strongly advise against dis" Grim recommended.
"Actually I see where she's coming from!" then faced Mandy again, "No weapons?"
"No weapons!" she replied.
"Well then!" he took off his white coat and dropped it.
It hit the ground with a thud, revealing his black Kevlar vest and battle-scarred bare arms. He unhooked his holstered cross on his belt and tossed it as they made their way to a clear arena to fight in, with unbroken eye contact.
"Oh boy, dis isn't goin' to end well" Grim muttered in anguish.
They moved towards each other without breaking into a sprint and stopped merely a meter and a half away from one another. Mandy made the first attack, performing three high kicks at the left of the head, Isaac dodging two of them. He caught the third kick with his left hand, pulled her in, and then landed a right hook to the face. She stumbled back a few feet before turning her head toward him.
She said "Alright!" somewhat surprised.
"Footing 'is' important" he commented.
She charged him and threw a flurry of jabs at him, though he dodged a good number of them only taking a hit to his cheek and left rib. He caught her final hit, however, then wrapped his arm around hers, lifted her up by the shoulder and over himself, slamming her into the ground, then twisting her wrist to force her to submit. She, on the other hand, wrapped her ankles around his neck and judo flipped him over, then twisted his wrist while stretching his arm.
"Argh! Okay! I admit, other things are important too!" he added, "But…!"
Isaac rolled over, Mandy still holding on, and slammed her into the ground.
"Aargh!" she yelled.
She let go so she could reorient herself and find her footing.
"You're unnaturally strong" she commented.
"Oh! So you think I'm strong?!" he asked, getting up off the ground.
"Focus on the fight!" she instructed.
"All my life, lady."
Isaac performed two jabs and a right hook. She dodged the two jabs and prepared to counter the hook, but it was a fake-out. He instead grappled her right shoulder and head-butted her. While she was disoriented, he grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the ground. He liked that move.
"I like that move!" he commented.
Her expression became furious in response to his cockiness. She folded her legs and pressed onto the ground with her arms.
"RrrrrrrrARGH!" she shouted as she sprung off the ground, landing her feet onto his chest.
It didn't knock him over, however, though it did knock him back about a meter. Her feet still firmly planted on his chest, she kicked him in the teeth and then kicked off of his face, performing a backflip and landing on the ground. He shook his head and spat out some blood. Before putting up his fists, ready to continue.
"I think…I think I remember you!" he said, "You're The Bitch Bounty Hunter!"
"My reputation proceeds me!" she exclaimed.
"Oh really?" he called out "In that punisher rip-off getup you rocked? Not to mention that your body count score was easy to beat!"
"What?!" she shouted, "I killed hundreds!"
"I killed thousands!" he replied.
"Mother FUCKER!" she shouted before charging at him.
They sparred for another 10 minutes, and within that time they seemed to have gained a crowd. All the skeleton soldiers had realized what was going on and stopped their training to watch these two warriors duke it out. Mandy's quick flexible and acrobatic combat style was matched to Isaac's slower brute force strength. It was truly mesmerizing to witness. It was a constant stalemate of elegance and strength. After beating each other senseless for ages, eventually, they stopped. They seemed to have just stopped moving and lowered their guard, panting and sweating. Through this, they seemed to have physically communicated that the fight was over, and they made their way back inside.
As Isaac passed Grim he patted him on the shoulder and said "Good pick!"
As Mandy passed, she told Grim "He needs work, but he'll do."