"What are you doing, little girl? Let me go. Grim needs my help," Velma complained as Mandy continued to drag her and Irwin off.
As usual, Mandy didn't worry for Billy's safety at all. At worst, she and Bonehead would have to pick the idiot up at Asgard if he got himself killed. And Mandy knew perfectly well that nobody there would complain about them coming to get him. Instead, Mandy cocked her eyebrow at Velma and sardonically asked, "The same Grim you were going to kill a few minutes ago over a 150,000 year old grudge?"
Velma's corpse-white cheeks pinkened in a muted way that made Mandy suspect her current look was a lot of make-up rather than her natural skin tone. Which made sense, considering Velma looked perfectly human above the waist in Grim's memories of junior high. "Th- that's different. I had thought Grim had betrayed me," Velma protested weakly. Her voice gained strength as she continued, "But that doesn't mean he doesn't need me now. We just started to patch things up. I don-"
"Don't want to see him destroyed?" Mandy interjected with a roll of her eyes. It was obvious to Grim's "co-owner" that Velma had not thought things through much beyond her own hurt feelings. That in itself irritated the little girl. Evil itself was all well and good, but executing it without a plan was just plain stupid. And Mandy got all the stupid she would ever need in her life dealing with Billy.
"Are you saying you want to just stand here and see Grim hurt?" Velma challenged rather than elaborate on her own motivations.
"Occasionally," Mandy shot back with cool confidence. "But considering the fact he knew what that thing was, how it goet here, and he wasn't running for the hills I have to assume he knows how to handle it. Better to let him do it than get in the way."
Velma's head hung low as she conceded the point. It was just hard to imagine the frail boy that had been her friend could handle such a creature. But, like he had said, it was what they had made him for. Wait a moment. That was a rather odd way to phrase that. I could see "That's what they made the job for," or "That's what they expect me to do," but not "That's what they made me for." That makes it sound like Grim was groomed to the position instead of winning it. That doesn't make any sense, Velma thought to herself.
"Um Mandy? Where are we headed?" Irwin asked fearfully. Any kind of contact with his dream woman was always welcome, but life threatening danger like this tended to take some of the fun out of it.
"Your house, Irwin. Your Mom's crypt can act as a decent bomb shelter if things between Grim and that "hollow" get too far out of hand," Mandy explained as they turned a corner and headed down the street to Irwin's home.
*****
Grim nodded to himself with satisfaction as Mandy got everyone but Billy out of there. Mostly because Jeff had returned to his "father's" side the moment he was free of his giant spider bretheren and had carried the red-headed boy off. With all the distractions out of the way ot would be easier to deal with things as the Reaper floated up to face level with the emeerging hollow qand prepared to strike with his Scythe. If he was lucky, this would be a simple one stoke finish to things after the Hollow finished emerging. Grim just had to let the beast exit the dimensional tear comepletely so he could make certain it was closed and no other Hollows would sneak in as he fought the bigger one.
The Reaper deftly dodged a claw swipe the grought the Menos Grande off balance and caused it to plummet out of the portal head first, crushing the local community center, much to Grim's entertainment. "Ahahahaa~. Not too stady on your fee are you?" the Reaper taunted with his baritone laugh before firing a bolt of energy at the portal and ensuring it was sealed. That moment of distraction cost him as a backhanded swipe from the Hollow sent him flying halfway across Endsville into the local part with a palpable thud as he left a crater from his impact.
Grim crawled out of the hole before he reached in to collect his missing jawbone ans replace it on his face. "Well, that was unpleasant," Grim commented to himself as he scanned for the hollow. As expected, the corrupted soul was running toward his location at full speed. "No subtlety or planning at all. Must have just evolved," the Reaper said as he rose into the air to meet the Hollow half way.
What followed would remind any with the spiritual awareness to see it (which was more that two thirds of endsville thans to Gim's residence there) of King Kong swiping at the by-planes circling him. Finally, Grim saw an opening and drove the blade of his Scythe deep into the Hollow's mask, banishing the lost soul to whatever afterlife awaited it.
"I'm getting too old for 'dis," Grim muttered as he noted the aches in his bones and made his way toward home.