Raging Demon Reaper
Disclaimer: I Don't Own Grim Tales. If I did, this would be on the SNAFU website.
Kenju- If that almost broke your mind, than this chapter surely will. Thank you for all the advice and praise. And yes, getting that accent right is not always easy. I'm still conflicted how to right 'still'- the normal way or like steal. Not sure if this fight scene will live up to everyone's expectations, but they all are getting either surprised or running low on fuel.
Coldblue- As always, love your reviews. The only issue with Grim getting Horror's hand because of his lost arm is becasue it's his RIGHT arm and the hand is infact a LEFT hand. Still, I won't rule out the possibility of Grim or someone else getting the Hand in the future. As for Mandy and Dan...just read on. Pain? He's got a part coming later. The towns people will get a bit more screen time soon- the focus right now is mostly on the fight and I can't get a good way to change it to the town's folk without it feeling like a break in the story-flow. Will the hybrid and his clones show more reaper powers? Oh yeah, just be a bit patient on that front. I didn't answer the question on if Junior will start a new race because I'm wanting that to be a surprise for later.
Onto Jack and Grim. Believe me, you will find out exactly what kind of powers Grim and Jack have soon, and eventually why they don't use them as much. And we will pull a bit of epicness out of Grim soon.
As always, I thank you for the many answers. I also realize I may be too many QTPs at the end of the fic and will try to tone it down some. If the tikbalans hadn't lost so many already, they'd probably be able to keep the clones occupied and pinned for a good while, as long as Clone and the RB weren't involved. Well, I won't deny that Clone is starting to get a bit desperate. However, in reference to his own fight, he's...not exactly a fair player. As for their senses coming back, well, just read. We're getting to HIM soon. As for the aftermath, I have more than a few plans for how this story goes on.
And yes, I firmly believe Timmy Turner is Junior's father. The only other character I can think of that MIGHT have his hair and eye colors is Number 2 from KND.(don't know his eye color) And since GT and PPGD don't have any established facts about Timmy Turner in their universes, authors can go nuts with what's happened to him and why Mandy slept with him of all people.
PS Can't wait for your review in GIR!
Cf96- Wait and see.
bubbajack- Well, here's the next fight scene. Enjoy...or be terrified. And yeah, Junior will have some issues once this is over with- I kind of ensured that here. What I won't spoil exactly what though.
nightmaster000- It will change the course of the story more as it goes on.
Regular speak
Thoughts and Emotions talking to person outside mind
Demonic or Animalistic speak
Demonic or Animalistic Thoughts
In the Belly of the Beast, there is only darkness...and many groaning tentacles with red eyes; it kind of creeped Grim out a bit. Not the tentacles, but to know that this was all his son, 'We've made quite de monsta, Mandy,' Grim thought, somewhere between sorrow and pride, "Knew I shoulda made Minnie a Reaper, ta hell wid de slimy Nergal bastards!" Grim mumbled out loud, wincing lightly as he felt something going on with his missing arm, 'Junior probably ate de ding, knowin my luck...'
"That may not have changed much, Grim," Clockwork added in as they walked, or floated in his case.
"Wha's dat suppose ta mean?" Grim asked suspiciously, looking at his ancient associate with narrowed eyes, "And fer dat matter, why didn't ya jus prevent dis from happenin?" He asked, the gears in his head turning. While the Grim Reaper may not live up to his reputation, he was a very, very old being and he was far wiser than Mandy gave him credit for. He knew how Clockwork worked and something about this all stunk worse than Billy with beans!
"It is never that easy, Grim. The simplest of events build up to moments where all the fates of all worlds are altered. Taking one such event out of the picture will only lead to a similar event later taking its place," Clockwork answered cryptically, yet it was all clear to Grim.
"So...ye're sayin dat me Son becomin dis...dis raging beast, is not because of Minnie's powers...but because of Junior himself," Grim translated evenly, his tone taking a dangerous edge, "Is dat wha ye're tryin ta tell me, Ghost of Time? Dat me boy was always goin ta be turned into a monster?!" Grim asked, gripping his scythe tighter and tighter.
"Grim, calm yourself," Clockwork advised coolly, really not wanting to have a Time Vs. Death fight at any point during his own lifespan.
"Don't tell me ta calm down, Clockwork! I've been calm enough today!" Grim yelled again, "Now tell me...wha made Junior into dis, really?" Grim demanded. Had he been outside, the Underworld would have been shaking under the growing rage of its king.
"Do you want answers or your son?" Clockwork countered calmly, making Grim seethe.
"Fine, but mark me words, Clockwork. You are not above me scythe, nor do I fear de idea of wha migh happen if I reap ya," Grim warned as he marched past the ghost, onwards into the maze of dark emptiness and slimy tentacles.
'...Well, I guess all of Junior's rage isn't from Mandy,' Clockwork thought in amusement. Not every day Death gets angry enough to threaten Time. That hadn't happened since Clockwork's younger and less experience self created a time paradox and caused all kinds of trouble for everyone. Ohh, had that been embarrassing...
"Clockwork! Ya dere or is my son getting yer job now?!" Grim called in annoyance, tapping his staff twice for emphasis as he saw the ghost seem to mentally wander off for a few seconds. The Master of Time just rolled his eyes at that as Grim looked around impatiently, "How de heck are we suppose ta find Junior wid all dese slimy dings?" Grim asked, not expecting an answer.
"A little help?" Nergal Senior asked, half way pulling himself out from underneath a particularly large tentacle.
"Nergal? Ya bastard, what de fook ar-" Grim paused before grimacing, "Righ, I be fergettin dat ya hadda copy of yerself in Minnie's mind," Grim remembered, glaring as he reluctantly pulled the demon out from under the appendage while holding his scythe in his arm.
"Good to see you too, Reaper," Nergal thanked sarcastically, grunting as he stood up straight, something popping in his projection body. He blinked as he saw Grim's one-arm state, "...We really can't get a break today, can we?" Nergal Senior asked, sighing as he realized how bad this situation seemed. It was kind of bad when you weren't sure personifications of Death and Time would be good enough to even the playing field.
"Not today, I'm afraid, Nergal," Clockwork confirmed, drawing the attention of both creatures, "I'm sure you both want to have a long...chat, but now isn't the best time." He cautioned.
"Unfortunately, he be right. Any chance of de...real you showin up?" Grim asked, obviously not wanting to, but he felt compelled to ask for any help at this point. He was, however, unsurprised by the negative headshake, "Can ya at least tell us where Junior is?"
Nergal Senior nodded at that, "Yeah...but it's not pretty," He warned, gesturing for him to follow.
"What be wid all dese tentacles?" Grim asked, moving around them as best he could without touching them, lest they wake up Junior into another fit of rage.
Nergal chuckled hollowly at that, "Let's just say I tried to talk some sense into Junior and it didn't end well for me," He explained as he stopped and pointed to his right, "There he is."
Grim's sockets went wide as he saw Junior. His soul looked human now with dark brown hair and, ironically enough, a healthy looking tan skin. He was lying face up on the ground, groaning lightly in his unconsciousness. Lurking over his form protectively was the distorted, mutilated, possessed, and demonified corpse of MiniMandy. The once green and now red eyes of Grim's daughter scanned the area, every tentacle slowly moving, prepared to strike in an instant.
"Now to get by that thing," Clockwork mumbled, almost sounding annoyed for once.
"Any ideas? Grim?" Nergal asked, blinking as he looked over and found the skeleton gone. His jaw dropped as he saw Grim calmly walking straight up to the bodies, "...Guess he's not completely spineless," He muttered, a bit impressed.
The twisted form of Mandy's daughter snapped its attention to Grim as he approached, narrowing its eyes dangerously. Grim stopped not too far away and just stared into its red eyes for a while, the body of the Underworld Princess tilting its head back and forth, as if it was examining Grim.
"...This might actually be working," Nergal commented in shock, "This is the first time Junior hasn't tried to kill whatever he was looking at."
Slowly, the remains of Minnie crept back ever so slightly, allowing Grim Senior to approach. The old skeleton knelt by the child's soul, looking sadly at him and wondering how this night went so wrong. His son, his heir, driven mad with rage over the death of his sister; so mad that he would strike down his own family and kingdom, along with all of existence. So young yet so powerful now that he could do just that, "How could dis have happened...yer just a boy still...," Grim murmured, setting his scythe down and brushing his boney hand across Junior's hair, Minnie's corpse growling warningly yet not making any move to stop him otherwise.
"...Dad...," Junior murmured softly, his eye lids twitching.
"Son? Junior, ya gotta wake up now!" Grim said strongly and hopefully, grabbing both shoulders and starting to shake him gently. He never noticed the corpse of Minnie slithering away.
"...This is too easy," Nergal Senior commented to himself, looking around in suspicion.
"Getting in here wasn't easy," Clockwork countered, but didn't sound like he really disagreed with him.
"Not that, Junior...you weren't here, you're not connected to him. The kind of rage he had isn't cured with a simple knockout," Nergal explained, saying it more to himself than Clockwork, knowing that the being was probably aware of this fact in some way.
"Which means it wasn't cured," Clockwork filled in the blank, making Nergal go wide eyed.
"Grim, get away from him!" Nergal Senior warned loudly, racing to the father and son.
"Wha?" Grim asked in surprise, only to stop as he saw his son open his eyes and look up at him, Junior's two scrunching eyes a shade of crimson not unlike his mother's.
"Dad?" Junior asked, sounding confused...before his eyes turned into two glowing red orbs, narrowing angrily as a snarl formed on his lips. He kicked his father in the gut, sending him flying back with a thud.
"Wha de fook jus happened?!" Grim asked in alarm, watching as the beast that was his son slowly and groggily rose to his feet, glaring at them in a mix of annoyance and outrage.
"Grim, he's far too angry to come back to his senses just like that!" Nergal informed, helping the one armed skeleton to his feet.
"Dat woulda been nice ta know sooner!" Grim all but yelled before looking back at his son, not sure what to do, "Nergal...wha exactly is makin him so pissed?" He asked, glancing at his scythe on the ground, which Junior had taken no notice of yet.
"...Minnie's memories combined with her death are creating...an emotional feedback loop of sorts. He hates himself for being a bad brother and, in his mind at least, causing her death. Watching everything from Minnie's point of view is inflaming his rage to the point of madness. Everything else is just adding fuel to the fire," Nergal explained, leaving out some details for the sake of time, among other things.
Grim was thankful he didn't have eyes, or the feral Junior would have caught him glancing at the scythe by now, 'Dere's a lot more ta dis den he's tellin...still, dat makes sense. Children are unstable enough on deir own, let alone one wid another's memories,' Grim thought, tensing as Junior leapt at him. The elder reaper dived under the berserking child, aiming for his scythe, 'But how do we break dis loop?!' He asked himself as he grabbed the mystic weapon, knowing that getting through to Junior was like going through a minefield.
He turned just in time to see Nergal Senior flying towards him, sending them crashing to the floor, "...He's very strong still," Nergal noted as they scrambled to their feet.
"This IS his mind, of sorts," Clockwork reminded calmly, floating by them, "It would be surprising if he didn't possess a natural advantage here."
"No, that's not it," Nergal corrected, watching with narrowed eyes as Junior just stood where he had thrown him from, "He kept a good number of souls in the Reaper-Beast for power. Enraged or not, he is prepared."
"Great, Mandy's temper and mind, jus wha we need," Grim murmured, looking suspicious as Junior smirked at them, "I don't like dis..."
Grim's words were punctuated by Junior bringing his hands together and cracking his fingers outwards, the noise rippling through Junior's "Belly" as every tentacle sprouted hilts of many swords out of each appendage, light trails of green blood oozing from them. While there was only one Junior, the effect was still intimidating. He may not have an army in here, but he did have an armory.
"...Just be glad he hasn't retaken complete control yet or you two would be his newest snacks," Nergal commented after a moment, Junior walking over and pulling out a rapier and kopis out of a tentacle.
"How long ya give dat?" Grim asked, clutching his scythe, readying himself as best he could with one arm.
"...I'm amazed he hasn't already, to be honest," Nergal answered grimly just before Junior charged at them.
'Mandy, I hope ye're havin betta luck dan me,' Grim thought as his scythe clashed with the rapier...
Outside The Beast
Mandy was decidedly not doing better than Grim, same goes for her two allies in this fight. Dan, being the must unspent and uninjured one of them, was doing the best so far, but Jack was doing the worst. Honestly, Mandy was privately impressed the old bag of bones was doing this good. Still, Clone was not going down without a lot of fight...
The Queen of the Underworld glared into the red eyes of the duplicate as he jumped at her and swung his tail at her sword, using that to propel himself back and give a right kick to Dan's face. Turning his arm into a blade, he blocked the Sword of Tengu from cutting him down the middle. Dan grabbed Clone's axe-tail with his right hand, prompting him to use that to jerk himself to the side and around to Dan's backside, avoiding a hit to the head that almost got Mandy. Using the force of his swing, he slammed Dan forward. It was just a bit, but combined with Mandy's lurch forward from the sudden lack of resistance, it was enough to get the ghost stabbed in the right shoulder. Dan's hold on the tail weakened, allowing Clone to slide it down hard and cut into Dan's hand, forcing him to let go.
"Damn," Dan snarled as he held his hand, now bleeding ectoplasm from the cuts, as Clone jumped off his back. Thankfully, it was after Mandy had taken the sword out and pointed it away from Dan, "Watch what you're doing with that thing, bitch!" Dan yelled in anger as his uninjured hand now moved to his pierced shoulder.
"Suck it up," Mandy growled lowly, not wanting to put up with the Ghost's attitude but not having the time to correct it. She turned to where Clone had leapt to...only to see his clawed hand inside the mouth of Jack's pumpkin head, grabbing Jack's real skeleton head within it, and slamming his head into the ground repeatedly, even as the flames burnt Clone's hand and arm. With one great toss, he threw the Pumpkin King through a wall and into a building, "One down, two of us left," Mandy drawled in annoyance, doubting the reaper would be getting up from that soon.
Clone, his arm still ablaze, looked at the pair, as if deciding who to go after next. Mandy, however, didn't give him a chance to decide and shot a bolt of electricity at him. He was too close to dodge and he had nothing to block with. With a mental shrug, he held out his hands as if to catch the beam...
"You have got to be kidding," Mandy drawled with an annoyed glare of her own as Clone seemed to absorb the attack, sparks of white magical lightning covering his body. On the upside, he did seem to be in a good deal of pain from absorbing it. Dan, taking this as an opening, shot a powerful Ghost Beam at Clone, who quickly stuck out his arm. It looked like he was creating a Ghost Ball. Than his Nergal eyes, regular eyes, and mouth all went from glowing red to glowing white as Clone let out a roar, the green ball of ghost ectoplasm turning a very pale shade of green as it seemed to vibrate with a thundering noise.
When it fired, it not only collided with Dan's Ghost Beam, it tore right though it and headed toward the powerful ghost. In an effort to avoid being hit, Dan turned intangible...but the ball still made contact, striking him in the chest and sending him flying, only detonating when Dan crashed through several buildings. Mandy was doing everything she could to hide her shock as Clone stood there, panting. His eyes and mouth had returned to being red and he was no longer sparking. He looked wide eyed at his hands, still briefly giving off a few sparks, before looking to where Dan had gone flying and then to Mandy. He gave her the first non-murderous look she had seen from him since this fiasco began. The look said simply 'Let's not try that again.'
Inside the Beast
Nergal Senior gritted his teeth as he healed yet another gash from trying to help Grim take on Junior, Clockwork helping as little as possible, like always. Oh how he wished right now that he had even a fraction of the powers his true self wielded. Alas, he did not and had to work with what he had; which wasn't much.
Still, Nergal had to hand it to Grim. He was really good with his scythe. Deflecting all the rapid attacks, with one arm no less, from a berserking child with two blades that he wielded easily? That was pretty impressive, 'Good thing Grim's not right handed or we'd be screwed right now,' Nergal thought with a shiver before taking a glance at one of the weapons nearby. It was a bit of a gamble, but it might work.
Grim spun his scythe to deflect another head shot with the bottom of the staff and kept spinning to block a bottom jab with the bladed end. Junior growled low in his throat as he pushed hard against his father's scythe, trying to get past the one-armed skeleton's defense. His glaring eyes widened slightly as he heard Nergal Senior charging at him with a flammard ready to swing. The reaper child kicked up his feet and kept his blades locked with the scythe, using them to twist his body and land his sole of his shoes against the wave-edged blade. To the Demon from the Center of the Earth's amazement, the blade didn't cut into the soul's footwear.
The hybrid rose an eyebrow, as if surprised Nergal would even attempt that, before giving a powerful leg thrust to kick himself off the blade. Like a great splash in a puddle, many small tentacles busted forth and began grabbing onto Nergal, as if to strangle him. Using all of the strength he had available, the demon ripped the blade off him and tossed it aside before it got a good grip on him.
Clockwork, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes in thought. This had dragged out a lot longer than he had hoped and Junior was in full control of his powers, even if he wasn't exactly in control of himself. He had to end this soon or it would be truly too late, for everyone. With that in mind, he pointed his staff and froze the boy as he made another leaping swing at Grim. Stopping in mid swing of his own weapon, the reaper blinked as his son came to a stop, floating in the air and still as a statue.
"You couldn't have done that sooner?" Nergal Senior asked, now sporting a footprint on his face and looking mad, borderline seething at the chronokinetic specter's lack of action until now.
"Don't boder wid him, mon. I stopped expectin mooch outta him eons ago. I be surprised he's still here," Grim commented harshly, Clockwork not reacting to the accusations. This was all personal for the Embodiment of Death, so anything the Epoch Lord said would only upset him more. Grim moved from in front to beside his son's frozen body, readying his scythe to hit Junior over the head with the non-bladed side of it and knock him out again...
Outside the Beast
Eleven…That was the number Mandy couldn't helping thinking of right now. For the longest time, she had honestly thought of Junior as the average child out of this family of monsters and freaks; Just a regular boy that happened to be a skeleton. No noticeable skills, no grand interests, no powers as of yet, a simple interest in a few sports, average intelligence for his age, no desire for cruelty or lack of empathy, etc. She had actually thought it was tradition that Grim Reapers were people that, if they were human, would seem very ordinary.
'Freaking Eleven!' She roared in her head, swinging her Sword of Tengu at him again. Her reign of terror began at age ten when she met Grim. Before that, she was just a malignant resident of Endsville. Seeing Death and tricking him into servitude had been a bit of a private wake up call. Nothing changed as far as anyone could tell, but she had been plotting and learning from every incident brought on by Grim's living in their town, usually caused by Billy's chaotic nature. She learned of the underworld, the afterlife, the world at large, creatures of all kinds, and so much more. She may have been unimpressed on the outside, but on the inside, she had made hundreds of possible plans using all she had learned. She even planned on making armies of werewolves/vampires once, and she hadn't even seen the movie Underworld.
Now it was like her eleven year old boy was cranking his own malevolence to eleven to make up for lost time, 'I'm not about to have my reign become one of the shortest in the history of the underworld, boy!' She vowed as she surprised Clone with a kick to the stomach. Her own defiance to lose was probably her greatest weapon in this fight now. Gritting her teeth, she forced her hands to keep a grip on the sword. It was supposed to be her trump card, something she would pull out and add an extra pound in her favor of things, and hopefully end the fight soon. Now it was becoming more and more useless now that Clone was figuring out how to absorb the attack. Her hands were getting fried all the time and she was starting to lose feeling in them at this point. This was one of the many reasons she didn't like to use this weapon. It had the risk of leaving her near helpless.
She resisted the urge to shiver in nostalgia as she saw Clone's jagged grin. The grin brought back a lot of memories...but it was obvious that he was catching on. He knew it was only a matter of time before she couldn't use the sword any more. Then, nothing would protect her from his claws and lasers. Mandy hated to admit it, but she was in a bind. Junior wasn't calming down, his power was growing greater, her available weapons were proving less than effective, and she wasn't sure back up would help in the long run. She was running out of time and options.
None the less, she smirked as she saw him turn his right arm into a cannon. She had fought Nergal Junior more than once and knew a few tricks for this. With all the speed she ever had, she slammed the sword straight into the muzzle of the weapon, getting a screaming roar of pain for her actions. One weakness the Nergal cannons had was that if something that could disrupt their energy by being stabbed into the cannon, like a magical sword for instants, than it could cause an implosion...
Mandy debated for all of a second whether she should risk blasting him. While he had absorbed the attack before, that was an external attack and he had time to 'catch' it. Taking this as her only clear shot at taking him down a few pegs, she fired a blast into Clone's cannon, smirking as she saw and sensed the dangerous reaction going on in his arm. Clone howled and fell to his knee as Mandy tried to pull away from the inevitable combustion...only to find the cannon arm now had a firm hold on her sword. Her eyes went wide when Clone's pained look turned into a smirk. He said one word to her and one word only, "Loser."
Mandy didn't scream when the arm exploded, sending her flying, and flying far. She landed head first against something. If she were mortal, her head would have been bashed in. Thankfully, immortality still had its benefits of quick healing vitals, leaving her with just a few thick trails of blood rolling down her face. She moved to arise, and get her sword back, but found two things wrong. One, she wasn't lying on the ground and two, she couldn't move much. She then became incredibly aware of her surroundings.
The tentacle in the sewer had risen up, almost like some tree of flesh emerging from a ground of stone. She had landed against this and it had grown extra appendages to wrap around her, pinning her to it. Her arms trapped to her side and her legs held together, along with one that was curling around her neck. As great as her strength was to a normal human, the limbs would not yield to her. She watched without a bit of panic on her face as Clone marched out of the smoke.
His right arm was completely without flesh now, just skeleton bones with a bit of tentacle-flesh creeping over the shoulder. Without even flinching, he picked up the Sword of Tengu with the same arm. It sparked madly, as if trying to reject its new wielder. Mandy wasn't sure if Clone was ignoring the pain or if his bones just didn't feel any. Still, it didn't really matter as Clone walked to her, slowly yet victoriously as the sword scraped against the ground. She wondered what he would do exactly. Behead her with her own sword? Eat her alive? Rip her limbs off? She didn't know or care really; she just stared apathically as he approached.
Than she did something not that surprised even herself. She smirked at him. It wasn't triumphant, it was just...a strange mix of bittersweet and pride, "Not bad, Junior. Not bad at all," She murmured as he tilted his head curiously at her, as if trying to understand her words.
Once again, that word plagued Clone as a semblance of rationality returned to him, his red haze fading anew. Why? Why did this woman refuse to hate him when he could sense so much within her? Why did she look at him like that? Why was she speaking like that? Why...did she suddenly seem so familiar? Why was his chest starting to hurt? He almost jolted as he felt an inkling of something from his true self. A word the original had said to the skeleton...Dad? For some reason, another word now tugged at the back of his mind as he stared at the Red-Eyed One...
He blinked as he looked back up into her eyes with confused eyes, "...M...Mo...Mom?" He asked unsurely, his eyes squinting as the red glow began to flicker.
Mandy went wide eyed at that as Clone continued to stare at her, feeling the tentacles begin to weaken their hold and to gently lower her back to the ground. The Queen honestly held her breath now, not wanting to risk interrupting Junior's apparent return to sanity and sending him back into his madness. 'Come on, Junior, I know you're still there...,' She thought, just a bit hopeful for once in her life, the appendages restraining her almost loose enough for her to get free...
She knew there was no chance of that the instant Clone's eyes stopped flickering before going wide with shock and rage again, the tentacles tightening again and almost strangling her this time as they did. She watched as he gripped the Sword of Tengu hard, placing his other hand on it while raising it. For a moment, she thought he was going to blow her to pieces with it and resigned herself to it. Than he did something that confused her. He swung the sword to his left a little...aiming at the body of the Reaper-Beast. He fired and she saw the beam leave the blade. Had this clone of Junior's come to his senses?
That idea was thrown out the window when she didn't hear or see an explosion. She couldn't get a good look, but she could see some flesh warping on the behemoth's form. She had a good guess as to what he had done and if she was right, it didn't bode well for her.
Inside the Beast
Nergal Senior felt his scales stand on end as Grim brought the scythe down, feeling something was very wrong, but he couldn't tell what...until it was too late. Before the blunt end of the weapon ever made contact, a beam of light came out of nowhere, "Clockwork, look out!" Nergal Senior yelled, seeing it before the others. The Ghost of time look over his shoulder and mentally willed the beam to slow down...
Junior, still in midair, smirked. The beam did the opposite and sped up, crashing into the time manipulater who let out a scream of shock. Junior suddenly unfroze and fell to the ground just before his father's weapon made contact. He used the blades to quickly chop off Nergal's arms before throwing the kopis at his throat. He than reached around and grabbed Grim's scythe and swung his rapier to take the elder reaper off his feet. Grim kept an iron grip on his staff as Junior tried to pull it away from him, causing him to come face to face with his son's angry soul, glaring into his sockets.
'I am soooo fooked,' Grim realized blankly. 'On de oder hand...,' He added as Junior raised the rapier. Grim twisted his grip on the staff lightly, causing Junior to be shocked with some kind of electricity, allowing Grim to hit him in the stomache with the flat bottom of the scythe's staff. 'I still gotta few trick up me sleeves,' He thought with a smirk, his feet reattaching as he got up. He brushed himself off and glanced at Clockword, seeing the Time Lord was groaning on the edge of consciousness. 'Let's see...Clockwork's power don't work righ at the moment, fer whateva reason and Nergal...,' Grim thought, glancing over as the demon's arms tried to wiggle back to their own to heal. 'He's out fer de moment. Jus leaves me and me son, eh?' Grim thought in hollow amusement. "Watch an learn, Boy,"Grim declared, his scythe radiating a bit of blackness around it as he watched Junior get up and crack his neck menacingly. This was far from over with and they both knew it. It was time they both start taking this seriously.
Outside the Beast
Mandy watched as Clone lowered the blade's tip to the ground and turned to look at her again. She could see it. He was hesitating. Even with his wrath returning and clouding his mind, he still recognized her now, even if he was having trouble registering who she was. But she could also see something else in those bloody orbs. A look she had seen on many a soul; the hesitation to hesitate. From a strategist's view, from a predator's view, he needed to kill her while he still had the chance. If he didn't, he might never get another opportunity like this, might never have her helpless again.
She saw him glance off into the distance with his eyes narrowed thoughtfully, as if seeing his handy work for the first time. The clones had long since driven the Tikbalans away from the area where the main fighters were having their rather one-sided duel. A field of bodies, all of them flaming horse-humanoids along with scraps of Nergal flesh the clones had lost in their fight. The ruined town was drenched with the orange-red blood of the Tikbalans and the green Nergal-blood of the hybrid's clones and Reaper-Beast. They mixed and oozed down the streets, bits of flesh floating along, and poured into the various pockmarks and craters from the battle, flooding into the sewers.
Unknown to Mandy, he was also looking past them. Beyond the Town Square War, there were the thinning three battles in the streets. The street on the right had completely fallen to his clones, which were now attacking the middle though the alley. The one on the left only managed to hang on this long because of a building that fell, courtesy of the Mega Death-Ray Clone used to finish off Nergal Junior, and buried his clones for a bit, giving the Tikbalans some makeshift cover to work with and then there was Lord Pain still fighting desperately in the center street for his Mistress and Master, even as he knew how fruitless this fight would be.
The Royal Guard of Flaming Tikbalans had numbered close to thirteen hundred when they arrived. Before this plan of Mandy's had started, they were down to five hundred. The fifty in the right street were gone. There was barely half left in the opposite street. Pain had only ten to thirteen left with him. Another fifty were eaten in the sewer. Of the three hundred Mandy had successfully smuggled in close to the Reaper-Beast, they were slowly dwindling as well, already close to losing a hundred. That put the Tikbalans at less than a quarter-thousand left.
A thousand soldiers slain, Clone privately realized. A thousand souls devoured. When the original was better rested, he could make many more clones. And these abilities he was gaining from the enemies could be better harnessed in all the clones, just barely used now and only when needed, even if they were but a fraction of the True Junior's power. And the souls of the ghosts and skeletons were worth so much more than one of these horse-faced ones. As feeble as their resistance was, their souls could supply them with a great army...
Clone pushed himself out of that line of thought and looked beyond the Battle of Three Streets and saw what he had to assume were the inhabitants of this land. Though they were far, he could see them with ease, aided by his own impressive eyesight and the link of his fellow clones. Creatures of flesh, these people were: rotting and living, fur and scales, and more….even a living tree of some kind; Mothers, fathers, and children. Clone remembered himself and the others eating more than a few of them. They were far more fearful and weak than the horse-headed army that had fought him so defiantly. These beings were monsters of a kind, but not warriors.
But unlike the Red-Eyed One and her allies, there was a hate for him in these souls. A hate bred of fear and sorrow. It confused him on even an instinctual level. Why did those he had hurt the least hate him the most when those he inflicted the greater pain upon bore him none at all? Something was wrong with that, something he felt he knew but couldn't remember...Remember. He couldn't remember anything. In his infinite rage, that hadn't mattered to him. But now, as the red haze began to lessen over Clone, he was beginning to realize that that shouldn't be, that he should remember...something; many things actually. And he felt the Red-Eyed One was such a thing...
He raised his head a bit higher as his sight zoomed past the settlement entirely and to the forest on the outskirts. He could see the army emerging from there now, ten thousand strong with cannons and more. They'd be at the town very soon. He was running out of time. Even with the fact blaring in his rational mind that something was very wrong about all this, his survival instincts were still very prevalent. And the fact blaring in his animal mind was that this female was a bigger threat left alive, especially with that new army. Clone was sure the True Junior might consider a retreat when he was done with his intruders, but for now, Clone had to hold out as best he could. And the Red-Eyed One was his biggest obstacle to that...
Clone turned back to the Queen and raised his free hand, holding it out like he was grabbing something. Mandy could feel many things growing along the tentacles holding her in place that poked against her like thorns. She knew what was coming and she could see that Clone wasn't sure he wanted to do what he thought he had to do, 'Never thought I'd wish my soldiers were tardy rather than on time,' Mandy thought in irony as the thorns got sharper and sharper. She gave a small sigh as she stared into his eyes, steeling to take her life, "Son...," She whispered, not really even sure what she was going to say anymore.
Clone's eyes went wide at that simple word. Perhaps that was all he needed to hear to come back at this point. Perhaps, but thanks to a certain skeleton, they would never know...
Clone squeezed his hand on reflex as he was batted way with one great strike. He spun around and landed on all fours like an animal, glaring at the one who struck. It was...the flaming skeleton…only he wasn't flaming anymore. He was now just a tall skeleton in a suite with rather long limbs. However...something was different about him, something Clone couldn't see so much as sense. The way his skull snarled, the way he crouched instead of standing straight, and that look in his eye sockets, the way he glared at Clone. This wasn't the same skeleton from just a while ago. This...this was something new. Something far worse than a simple creature of fleshlessness.
Clone risked a glance at his blonde captor and resisted the urge to flinch and grab his chest. She laid lax against her fleshy restraints, human blood pouring from down her body and pooling beneathe her. Spikes had run her through the chest, arms, legs, and throat from nearly every angle. To top it all off, two lone spikes pierced through from the back of her skull, into the brain, and our though the eyes. Clone didn't make the spikes retract. That was done on instinct for reasons he couldn't understand still. He didn't have time to dwell over why he suddenly didn't want the Red-Eyed One dead. For the Master of Fright was upon him...
End of Chapter
The Queen is Dead! Time is Out! Yeah, no happy moments for the Grim family yet. And yes, your readers are not imagining a bit of diverging mentalities between Clone and Junior. Junior only noticed his father for a breathe instant when waking up while Clone hesitated to kill Mandy, almost fully registering her as his mother. He knew what to call her, but the emotional connection to the title wasn't fully restored. Junior is still rampaging while Clone is starting to realize something is wrong with them. There is a reason why this is happening to one and not the other and no, they are not seperating into their own complete individuals.
Dan is at least temporarially KOed from a Tengu-Ghost Ball. And no, Clone was not expecting that to happen. He took a gambit, it paid off, and he doesn't want to try it again. Nergal Senior is pulling himself together at the moment. Clockwork is down and a bit useless right now. Mandy is...swiss cheese. Grim, despite having one arm, is holding his own against Junior. For how long is anyone's guess. And as you can all see, something is going on with Jack Skellington. Let's just say he's not Death's little brother for nothing folks. Pain and the last of the tikbalans may survive if they hold on a bit longer for the new army to help them.
QTP: What is going on with Jack Skellington? Will he present a true challenge for Clone now? Will Junior's Soul be a match for the One-Armed Death now that they're both serious? What other tricks does Grim have? What happened with Clockwork's powers? Is Grim right, was it something about Junior himself that made him into a monster and not Minnie's powers? With Junior go after the dazed Ghost of Time? Will Junior come to his senses or will Clone's haze fade completely before Junior mentally reconnects with the Clones? What did Clockwork mean by 'too late for everyone'? Is Dan out of the fight for good? Is Queen Mandy truly dead? If not, can she forgive her son for matricide? And how will Mandy's Death, permanent or temporary, effect everything? How powerful will Junior be when fully rested?
PS. There's an Role Playing thing on the Grim Tales forum now. If anyone wants to join, feel free.
