Post by Hayate on Nov 11, 2010 20:45:52 GMT -5
“…It’s time to wake up now, Professor Utonium…”
At last stirring from his state of induced sleep, John Utonium exhales a light, somewhat pained moan. His vision was blurred, but at the very least he was able to establish he was in an enclosed space that provided limited movement. “Ohhhh… W-Who’s there?”
“…We wouldn’t want you to miss out on the festivities…”
His vision clearing up, Utonium glances at his new surroundings. The ground at his feet was cold and metallic. The same applied to the ceiling just a handful of feet above his head. The view outside Utonium’s closed space was obstructed by rows of similarly metallic bars arranged in a rectangle around him.
A cage.
Utonium’s next observation: the cage was completely encircled by water. Pieces of the recently destroyed Great Oaks Bridge protrude from underneath the surface. Large steel scaffolding kept the cage suspended over Townsville Bay. “What is all this…?”
“The beginning, my dear Utonium…”, a low-pitched voice replies. “The beginning of the human race’s end…”
Utonium is shortly joined by a flying chimpanzee draped in rags – a sight the caged scientist is well taken aback by. “W-What are you…!?”
“Why, Professor… Do you not recognize me? It hasn’t been that long, has it? Only five months, if memory serves…”
“…!” Utonium’s face goes white. Near-forgotten memories of his Project X days come rushing back. “…Subject ‘X-1’…!”
“Ah, good. You remember. But ‘Subject X-1’ is so very drab, no? I’ve come to favor the nom de guerre… ‘Mojo Jojo’!”
“…What do you want with me…?”
“You and your fellow scientists took something from me, Utonium… My dignity! My pride! …Oh. But as far as your kind is concerned, animals have no such thing as pride, do they? Well… After today, that is going to change.”
Approaching the edge of the cage, Utonium gets a closer look at the structure holding his prison up. It appeared to function similarly to a crane, with interconnected lattice girders suspending the cage over the water. Had Mojo simply wished it, Utonium would plummet to a watery death. He turns back to the diabolical Mojo with knots in his stomach. “…I see… You plan to kill me…”
“Very astute. Before long, the entire world shall know my wrath, but yes, I do intend to start with you.”
Even knowing his own mortality, the confined Professor was oddly calm over the situation. “…I suppose I have it coming to me. One way or another, I had a feeling that I would have to own up to what I did at the Facility. It was… inexcusable. But you have to understand, Jojo, I did only what I thought was in yours and the girls’ best interests. Your conditions improved so much. Had I known what that swine Kepler was up to, I never would have…”
“You show genuine remorse for your actions. But this changes nothing. The repentant words of a single human doesn’t equate to a lifetime of servitude and humiliation. If a normal life is to be denied me, so too shall I deny this world life!”
“You can still live a normal life, Jojo! A better one than before, in fact! The intelligence given to you by the Element X can help mankind!”
“‘Help mankind’… An interesting choice of words. Tell me, what do you define as ‘helping mankind’? Ridding the world of disease? Discovering alternative energy sources? …What about putting your test subjects to work as soldiers!? Is that your definition of ‘helping mankind’!?”
“No, that’s--!”
“ENOUGH!!! Your words are wasted on me, Utonium! You and the rest of your race will know the cost of toying with the lives of the living! The cost of playing God!”
“…”
“…Ah. Our guests of honor have arrived.” Facing the south, Mojo takes notice of three adjacent figures fast approaching. In the glare of the sunlight, they appear to be nothing more than black dots. But as the distance between them shortens, they take on a human shape.
A tall teenage girl with black hair on the right.
A short blonde with pigtails on the left.
And a ‘middle sister’ with long red hair in the center.
The three individuals instantly come across Utonium as familiar. “…Girls…!”
“I recommend you take one final look at your ‘girls’, Professor Utonium… For today is the last day any of you breathe life on this earth…” Brushing his ragged attire aside, Mojo is shown to be wearing an unusual pair of gloves. Mostly black in appearance, electric circuits run the length of Mojo’s fingers.
These too strike a familiar chord with Utonium. “T-Those are my…!”
“And with these…”, Mojo starts again. “…My destiny is assured…!” As he curls his fingers into a fist, the left glove surges with electrical energy.
Driven by their mutual desire to rescue their guardian and, as Midori so eloquently put it, ‘kick some punk chimp ass’, the Powerpuff Girls zip through the skies of Townsville toward the bay. As they close in, two objects come into view: a large metal cage like those seen in zoos, and a smaller humanoid figure hovering near it. “There they are!”, Rose proclaims.
“Can you see the Professor, Aqua?”, Midori follows with, addressing the littlest Powerpuff.
Among the three, Aqua’s eyesight was without equal. She focuses her gaze upon the two objects in the distance, and her vision zooms in like a telescope. It eventually rests upon a figure sitting silently behind the cage’s bars. “…There! I see him! He’s okay!”, the blonde gleefully replies.
Rose sighs heavily, and her hurried heartbeat finally slows. “Thank God…”
Barely able to contain her enthusiasm, Midori repetitively pounds her right fist into her left palm. “Well, he’d better stay okay if Mojo hopes to see tomorrow!”
Even Rose herself was eager to polish her knuckles on Mojo’s face.
But this would prove to be a chore in the long run: as the girls reach the 5-kilometer line between themselves and Mojo, they’re suddenly faced with a violent show of electrical discharge.
“!!!” Upon seeing this, the redhead beckons her sisters to… “Move!”
The trio immediately scatters about and watches the lightning streak past. “The hell was that!?”
In light of Mojo’s new ‘trick’, the girls slow their approach and advance upon the super-smart chimp with caution.
Mojo hovers before the Powerpuffs with a toothy grin and crossed arms. “So nice of you to join us… Rose… Aqua… Midori… You’re just in time for my coronation ceremony.”
“Spare us another of your obnoxious spiels, Mojo.”, Rose hisses. “Now let the Professor go!”
“Well, that wouldn’t be appropriate, would it? After all, it’s because of your beloved Professor that we stand here today. Besides, you are in no position to make demands. As it stands, I hold all the cards! This day shall be decided by me alone!” As he lowers his arms to his sides, Mojo reveals his new weapon to the girls: the black gloves on his hands.
“What’s with the gloves, ‘Monkey Boy’?”, Midori remarks. “You setting a new fashion trend or something?”
“By all means, Midori, make your jokes. It’ll be healthy to have a good sense of humor…as you breathe your last breath!” The maniacal ape throws his hands to his sides, causing electricity to shoot out from his fingertips.
In preparation for the ensuing brawl, Rose directs her sisters. “Aqua, Midori, you handle Mojo! I’ll see to the Professor!”
“Fine by me!”, an excited Midori replies. “Let’s go, ‘Pigtails’!”
“Right!”
Rose splits off from the group and flies toward the cage. Mojo briefly watches as the redhead departs. “Hmph. A predictable tactic.”, he comments to himself.
“Is this predictable, you scumbag!?”
Facing forward, Mojo sees Midori rapidly drawing near. Unable to defend himself properly, he reels back from the blow delivered to his face by her fist. “Tch! You wretch!” Mojo retaliates with an electrical attack of several thousand volts.
“Agh!” The attack stuns the brunette for a few moments, but she quickly bounces back. “Hah! That all you’ve got!? I’ve felt static shocks worse than that!”
Mojo paid the girl’s overconfidence no mind and focused on the matter at hand. With the short break in the battle, however, he notices that Aqua had left his field of view. “Where did…?” A battle cry from above turns Mojo’s attention upward; he throws his arms up to shield himself against Aqua’s incoming kick.
Aqua follows up her surprise dive with a barrage of lightning-fast kicks. “Hah! Hah! Hah!”
She slowly pushes Mojo back, and Mojo has little room to go on the offensive. “Argh!” On top of this, he sees Midori closing in from below. “Grrrr…!” The enraged chimp lets out a ferocious shriek, driving both Aqua and Midori away with a widespread burst of kinetic energy.
The burst throws the duo for a loop, rendering them vulnerable while they recover. As Midori attempts to do so, a clawed hand takes a firm grasp of her face. “!!!”
Mojo bares his fangs… “Heh!”
…and unleashes sheer amounts of high voltage to her system. “AAAAHHHH!!!!”
With the stunning effect this produced, Mojo was free to toss Midori’s limp body away. She flies helplessly over kilometers of water toward the mainland, crashing into the concrete.
“MIDORI!”, cries Aqua in horror. She follows suit and soars off to tend to her sister, as was her nature.
With the strongest Powerpuff temporarily out of commission, Mojo shifts his focus elsewhere – namely, the red-haired Powerpuff to his rear. The malicious monkey grins almost ravenously.
At the mainland, a trail of broken concrete several yards long led to the side of a building, a good portion of it destroyed from something having crashed into it. From beneath the rubble, a figure emerges covered in dust and trace blood. Rising to her feet, Midori staggers forward, exhaling coughs and pained groans. “…I’m gonna kill that monkey…”, she mutters, only partially serious.
Before long, she’s joined by an anxious Aqua. “Midori! Are you okay!? …Aah!” At the sight of Midori’s body, the squeamish Powerpuff shields her eyes. “Uh… Y-Your shoulder…”
“Heh. Relax, would you?” Midori takes a hold of her right wrist and forcibly snaps her shoulder, which had popped out of its socket due to the crash, back into place. “Ahhh. There, see? I’m fine now.”
“…I hate it when you do that…”
“Hehehe. …Come on. This ain’t over yet.”
With an affirming nod, Aqua makes a 180 and shoots back up into the sky, with Midori nipping at her heels.
Meanwhile, just outside the warzone’s immediate range, Rose sees to freeing Professor Utonium from imprisonment. “Don’t worry, Professor! I’ll have you out of here in-- Gah!” Bringing her hands to the iron bars caging him, Rose is cut short by a high-voltage electric shock. “Dammit! Mojo’s always a step ahead of me!”
“…Tell me, Rose: was I wrong?”
“What was that, Professor?”
“Was I wrong to think that I could help people with Project X’s resources? Even knowing full well what they were capable of? The time I’d spent with you girls was some of the happiest in my life, but…do the ends justify the means? Mojo’s right – we were wrong to try and play God. If this is to be my atonement, then--”
“Stop right there, Professor!”
“Huh?”
“I know where you’re going with this, Professor Utonium, and you can just stop talking. Don’t think for a minute that Aqua, Midori, and I hold it against you for what’s happened to us. Before you came into our lives, I used to go to sleep every night thinking I might not wake up the next morning. It’s because of you that Aqua can see, and Midori can walk. You did help us, Professor. You’ve given us hope for a better tomorrow. So don’t tell me you’re ready to die, because I’m not gonna let you!”
“…Rose…”
Flying to the top of the cage, Rose happens upon an abstract device serving as the conduit for the cage’s energy output. “Bingo!” She removes the device’s protective covering and exposes the complex network of wiring underneath. “Okay… Let’s see here…” Rose’s eyes dart about the circuitry, and little by little she gains an idea of how the apparatus functions. “…Looks like Mojo rigged this thing to blow if I tried to remove it by force. Hmph. Way to underestimate me.” By severing just a single cable, she completely disables the device. “There. That should--” Just then, the redhead is struck in the back by a condensed bolt of lightning, instantly coercing her to her knees. She turns her head back and observes a certain spiteful primate hovering a handful of feet away. “M-Mojo…!”
“I applaud you, dearest Rose.”, starts Mojo cheekily. “You’re far more skillful than I’d initially presumed. With the proper conditioning, you’d most certainly be a force to be reckoned with. The offer still stands, my kin -- join me, and we shall reign over this pitiful world together. With the power bestowed upon us, there is nothing -- nothing -- we cannot accomplish.”
“Go to hell…!”, Rose hisses through her chattering teeth. “And don’t you ever call me your kin!”
“Defiant to the bitter end… Even faced with utter despair, you cling feebly to hope… Why do you so adamantly defend those who made you into a science experiment?”
“…”
“…Nothing left to say?”
“…”
Mojo was uneasy. He found Rose’s silence off-putting, and her gaze appeared to frequently shift between him and something else. “…!” He spins around and fires a stream of lightning from his fingers.
The remaining two Powerpuffs Aqua and Midori spread out to evade Mojo’s attack.
“!!!” With Mojo’s back turned to her, Rose leaps to her feet and charges ahead at full speed.
Mojo turns back toward Rose just in time for her fist to make contact with his face. The hit sends him reeling through the air yet again.
Still recovering from Mojo’s earlier sneak attack, Rose tries to catch her breath before picking up where she left off.
“…Rose.”
“Huh?” Looking over the edge of the cage’s roof, Rose meets Utonium’s eye below her. “What is it, Professor?”
“The ‘Tesla gloves’ have an almost inexhaustible power supply. As long as Mojo keeps his distance, he’ll always have the upper hand.”
“‘Tesla gloves’? Those things Mojo’s wearing? You made those!?”
“Listen. You’ll never get close enough to remove them or undo the circuit. But the gloves are extremely sensitive to cold; anywhere below 50 degrees Fahrenheit or so, and their energy output hits near zero. Plus, they aren’t waterproof; get them wet, and the circuits will fry and burn out.”
“Cold and water… Got it! Thanks!”
Mojo shortly recovers from Rose’s punch and wipes away the blood from the corner of his lips.
Ready to resume the fight, the Powerpuffs surround him. Midori bares a smirk as she cracks her knuckles. “Okay, Jojo… Ready for Round 3?”
The girls float about in a circle around Mojo. One by one, they each enter and leave his field of vision. A bitter silence overtakes the two sides – the calm before the storm, as it were. The girls clearly had a numbers advantage, but Mojo’s intellect was vastly superior. “…Hmph.” Curling his lips into a wicked smile, Mojo suddenly drops out of the sky, allowing his body to plummet toward the water.
Without hesitation, the Powerpuffs give chase.
Just moments before touching the water, Mojo changes course, his flight ability in full effect, and soars parallel to the water’s surface. Glancing behind him, he sees Rose, Aqua, and Midori on his tail, creating a scenario much like the one in the city earlier that day. With his psychokinetic powers, Mojo assaults the Powerpuffs with water projectiles.
But even as the water pelted them, the girls didn’t break pursuit. It was, after all, just water.
“Heh!” Roughly a half-minute into the chase, however, Mojo begins sneaking projectiles laced with electricity in with the normal ones.
The first to be stunned by Mojo’s ‘electric water’ was Aqua. “Aah!”
“Aqua!”, Rose worriedly calls out.
“I’m okay! Keep going!”
Now wary of Mojo’s tactic, Rose and Midori decide to exercise caution in the face of his assault.
To top off his attack, Mojo launches a large wave coursing with electricity at the girls.
With no feasible way to avoid it, Rose and Midori dive into the water, and the tidal wave passes overhead.
“Hah! Big mistake!”, boasts Mojo. Having anticipated this course of action, he proceeds to generate as much electrical discharge from his hands as allowable. When the discharge hits the water, electricity pours out over a wide radius.
Unable to resurface due to this, Rose and Midori are forced to go deeper down.
“Hahahaha! Yes! Wallow in the depths of despair, you cretins! Know the same helplessness I felt as a Project X lab rat! Powerless to save your Professor! Powerless to save yourselves! Embrace that feeling and DROWN IN IT!!! Hahahahaha!!!”
All of a sudden, the surface of the water begins to ripple violently.
Puzzled by this spectacle, Mojo faces the west. His eyes go wide with shock as he stares down a tidal wave considerably greater than the one he’d generated moments ago. “W-What the devil!?” He attempts to flee, but the sheer magnitude of the wave engulfs him. “AAAAHHHH!!!!”
From where the wave originated, Aqua is seen hovering proudly, having used a ‘sonic scream’ to wash Mojo away.
Rose and Midori finally resurface, returning to their little sister’s side, followed shortly by Mojo. The splash made by Aqua’s tidal wave causes bay water to rain down upon the group. Once again, the opposing sides go deathly silent, the only sound being the soft rainfall hitting the water below.
At Mojo’s sides, the Tesla gloves spark erratically and uncontrollably. The tidal wave rendered them useless.
“…Many congratulations, girls…”, Mojo begins, taking quite a hateful tone. “You’ve succeeded in making me angry…”
“Let me guess -- you’re gonna turn into the Hulk now, right?”, Midori jokes, making light of the situation as usual.
“I grow weary of your efforts at humor. And I grow weary of this little game of ours.”
“You call messing with our family and home a ‘game’!?”, Rose snaps.
“Indeed.”, Mojo bluntly replies. “And what better way to put an end to a good game than with a round of…‘sudden death’…?” Ever slowly, the monkey mastermind raises his arm…
…prompting the girls to assume attack stances.
But it’s not the girls at which Mojo points his arm. Rather, he points it toward the cage holding Professor Utonium. With his energies focused, Mojo starts to enclose his fingers.
The cage begins to rattle on a random axis. The chain links keeping it suspended gradually come undone, lessening their hold on the cage.
“…I do so hope the Professor…knows how to swim…”
“!!!!!”
The final chain link unravels…and the Professor’s cage falls.
“PROFESSOR!!!!!”
In mere seconds, the cage makes a deafening splash into the bay. In no time at all, it fills up with water and sinks beneath the surface, taking John Utonium with it.
Acting on pure instinct, Rose rockets off to where the cage had submerged and dives in after it.
Again, the fight was two-on-one. Aqua and Midori glare at Mojo with eyes brimming with anger. “You’re gonna wish you hadn’t done that!”
The unfazed Mojo laughs off Midori’s threat. “Oh, I’m positively quivering, I assure you.”
Under the water, the cage sinks further and further. Before long, it reaches the seafloor, joining the ranks of the once-prominent Great Oaks Bridge. Inside the cage, with his hands coiled firmly around the outer bars, Utonium struggles to hold his breath. The cage’s unexpected submersion had left him with only minutes of air.
Rose appears promptly on-scene, positioning herself directly in front of him. She grips the bars tight and endeavors to bend them outward. But the redhead had a limited air supply herself, and with the water pressure on top of the bars’ sheer density, this feat was beyond her. ‘Dammit…!’, Rose curses mentally. ‘It’s no good…! I’m not strong enough…!’ Her eyes meet Utonium’s.
‘…R-Rose…’ Utonium’s vision blurs. Soon, he could no longer see Rose clearly. As the last air bubble escapes his lips, his eyes roll to the back of his head, and his grip on the bars loosens.
‘No!!!’ The despondent Rose continues pulling at the bars, hoping something would give. ‘Come on…!’ Her budding tears were evident even in this water-filled setting.
…Thankfully, she wouldn’t be alone in her struggle for much longer; Midori enters stage-right to assist. Nudging Rose aside, she takes a hold of the bars and pulls. Several metallic creaks later, Midori makes an opening between the bars for Utonium to squeeze through.
Rose retrieves the Professor, and the trio returns to the surface. The drenched Powerpuff leader takes in a big relieving gasp of fresh air, and cradles the lifeless scientist in her arms. “Professor! Are you okay!? Say something!”
“Come on!”, Midori nudges further. “Let’s get him to dry land!”
The red and green Powerpuffs handle Utonium delicately and carry him to the mainland. Midori sets him down on the ground, and Rose brings her ear to his chest. “…He’s not breathing!” With her hands, Rose begins rhythmically pushing down on Utonium’s chest to get his heart beating. “Please, Professor…! Don’t give up…!”
Midori simply looks on with bated breath. “…”
“You can do it…!” Rose’s eyes started to well up again…
…as did Midori’s surprisingly. “…Please…”, she solemnly whispers.
…All of a sudden… “!!!” …Utonium regains consciousness, leaning up with heavy gasping and violent coughing.
“Professor!!!”, Rose exclaims, crying tears of joy and relief.
Slowly but surely, Utonium would open his eyes and be greeted by the sight of his ‘daughters’ leaning over him. “…Rose… Midori…”
Midori rubs away what few tears she shed. “Morning, sleepyhead.”
“…Heh.”
Just then, a booming sound points the group’s collective attention eastward. A cloud of dust was cast over a nearby crash site.
Only Mojo could be seen clearly amongst the debris. With his feet on the ground, he bends down to pick up something: he holds up a battered and bruised Aqua by the strands of her hair.
“Aqua!”
Too weak to belt out another ‘sonic scream’, the petite Powerpuff whimpers in agony.
“Is this truly your limit?”, asks an unimpressed Mojo. “…How disappointing.”
“…” Rose rises to her feet, refusing to take her eyes off Mojo for even a moment. “…Midori.”
“Yeah?”
“Take care of the Professor. …I’ll finish this myself.”
A cool autumn breeze blows over, and Midori could see the tenacity in Rose’s expression. “…” She motions a nod, agreeing not to get in Rose’s way.
Out of the corner of Mojo’s eye, he notices a figure to the west. He makes eye contact with Rose, and callously tosses Aqua’s body aside. “…”
Rose’s scarlet eyes glint with resolve in the sunlight. “…” Her feet start to carry her forward. She walks initially, transitions into a light jog, transitions again into running, and finally she sprints toward Mojo at full speed.
“Tch!” In response, Mojo counteracts with an immense blast of psychokinetic power.
The sharpness of the blast cuts into Rose’s skin at numerous angles, but she doesn’t break her momentum. “YAH!!!” Once within reach, she takes a bountiful leap off the ground, and drives the full force of her upper body into Mojo. With the evil monkey in her clutches, Rose shoots straight ahead like a missile.
She drives Mojo into, and through, an entire building. Two buildings. Three buildings. Four. By the time she realized what she was doing, Rose had propelled herself and Mojo through a total of nine buildings. Her momentum broken, Rose drops Mojo onto the ground, completely winded.
As a result of the successive collisions, Mojo was knocked out cold.
The battle was won.
…Some time later, a police squad and ambulance are called out to the battle site. EMTs treat the group’s injuries, and Mojo is thrown into a patrol car. “What should we do with him?”, the chief of police inquires.
“Throw his ass into the deepest, darkest hole…”, growls Midori. “…and let him rot!”
“Keep him sedated for now.”, Utonium instructs. “I’ll put something together that can suppress his powers, and get in touch with you later.”
“Understood. …Wow. First a bunch of super-powered girls; now a super-powered monkey. Heh. Only in Townsville, right?”
A light laugh is shared, and the patrol cars and ambulance soon take their leave.
Utonium looks down at his three girls, taking a moment just to reflect on the afternoon they had, and the family of four meets in a tender embrace. Townsville’s longest day had finally come to a close.
…Townsville Penitentiary. Three days later.
In a poorly lit jail cell, where the walls were lined with a soft supple material, a diminutive figure is seen sitting at a far corner, away from the cell door. The figure was dressed from neck to toe in standard prison wear, and wore an unusual helmet-shaped device. “…”
At the other side of the cell, a slot opens up underneath the door, and a tray of food slides inside. “Dinnertime.”, a voice on the other side of the door says aloud. The door slot immediately closes afterward.
Reaching out its hand, the figure takes a banana off the tray, peels it, and eats it in silence.
“…A minor hindrance… The humans may think they’ve bested me… But my time will come…and soon… And Rose, Aqua, Midori… You shall know my wrath most of all…”
…Townsville Mall.
In a clothing outlet she frequented, Aqua leafs through over a dozen designer blouses. “Hmm… Ah!” When she happens upon one she liked, she poses with it in front of a mirror. “…Perfect!”, she exclaims, making for the nearest checkout counter. “Excuse me! How much is this?”
“Ah. You have a good eye, miss. This is one of our most famous items. Shipped in from Tuscany just last month. Let’s see… Retail price is $49.99.”
“50 dollars, huh…?” Aqua peeks inside her money purse and pouts. “Aw, I don’t have enough.”
The clerk shows Aqua a sympathetic smile. The blond Powerpuff was a good customer; a little generosity couldn’t do much harm. She rings the blouse up at 20% off. “…This’ll be our little secret, okay?”, says the clerk to Aqua with a wink.
Aqua’s face lights up. “Really!? Thank you!”
…Townsville High, football field.
The crowd is abuzz with excitement over the semi-championship game between Townsville and Anaheim. Assorted cheers and whistles engulf the air. And at the very forefront of the stands, Midori pumps her right arm passionately. “Whoo! Go, Mitch!”
“…Hike!”
The center lineman snaps the ball to the QB, and the entire offensive line charges forward. Mitch dashes down the far right end of the field and catches the QB’s pass on the way to the end zone. Briefly turning his head toward the stands, he catches a glimpse of Midori, sending a confident grin her way.
Midori returns the grin in full…
…and watches as an opposing lineman tackle him to the ground. “Oof!”
“Ooh!” The sight makes Midori cringe. “Hehehe…”
…Utonium household.
At her lamp-illuminated desk, Rose flips through the pages of an algebra textbook and jots down various equations in a nearby notebook. Satisfied with the work she’s completed, she closes her books and lets out a soft yawn. Rising from her seat, Rose walks over to the window and gazes out at the cityscape in the distance.
During the days that followed the girls’ battle against Mojo Jojo, Townsville was on the road to recovery. Buildings were being repaired. Reconstruction of the Great Oaks Bridge had begun. The damage done by Mojo would soon be but a faint memory.
But Rose was still ill at ease. Where one Mojo falls, another could just as easily arise.
“…?” Rose looks to the east wall and sees the Powerpuff Siren flashing and buzzing. “…Hmph!” From her bedroom window, she takes off into the Townsville sky, shortly joined by sisters Aqua and Midori.
The thought of another danger like Mojo didn’t dampen Rose’s spirits though. Come what may, Townsville was their home now. And the Powerpuff Girls would gladly put their lives on the line to ensure its safety.
At last stirring from his state of induced sleep, John Utonium exhales a light, somewhat pained moan. His vision was blurred, but at the very least he was able to establish he was in an enclosed space that provided limited movement. “Ohhhh… W-Who’s there?”
“…We wouldn’t want you to miss out on the festivities…”
His vision clearing up, Utonium glances at his new surroundings. The ground at his feet was cold and metallic. The same applied to the ceiling just a handful of feet above his head. The view outside Utonium’s closed space was obstructed by rows of similarly metallic bars arranged in a rectangle around him.
A cage.
Utonium’s next observation: the cage was completely encircled by water. Pieces of the recently destroyed Great Oaks Bridge protrude from underneath the surface. Large steel scaffolding kept the cage suspended over Townsville Bay. “What is all this…?”
“The beginning, my dear Utonium…”, a low-pitched voice replies. “The beginning of the human race’s end…”
Utonium is shortly joined by a flying chimpanzee draped in rags – a sight the caged scientist is well taken aback by. “W-What are you…!?”
“Why, Professor… Do you not recognize me? It hasn’t been that long, has it? Only five months, if memory serves…”
“…!” Utonium’s face goes white. Near-forgotten memories of his Project X days come rushing back. “…Subject ‘X-1’…!”
“Ah, good. You remember. But ‘Subject X-1’ is so very drab, no? I’ve come to favor the nom de guerre… ‘Mojo Jojo’!”
“…What do you want with me…?”
“You and your fellow scientists took something from me, Utonium… My dignity! My pride! …Oh. But as far as your kind is concerned, animals have no such thing as pride, do they? Well… After today, that is going to change.”
Approaching the edge of the cage, Utonium gets a closer look at the structure holding his prison up. It appeared to function similarly to a crane, with interconnected lattice girders suspending the cage over the water. Had Mojo simply wished it, Utonium would plummet to a watery death. He turns back to the diabolical Mojo with knots in his stomach. “…I see… You plan to kill me…”
“Very astute. Before long, the entire world shall know my wrath, but yes, I do intend to start with you.”
Even knowing his own mortality, the confined Professor was oddly calm over the situation. “…I suppose I have it coming to me. One way or another, I had a feeling that I would have to own up to what I did at the Facility. It was… inexcusable. But you have to understand, Jojo, I did only what I thought was in yours and the girls’ best interests. Your conditions improved so much. Had I known what that swine Kepler was up to, I never would have…”
“You show genuine remorse for your actions. But this changes nothing. The repentant words of a single human doesn’t equate to a lifetime of servitude and humiliation. If a normal life is to be denied me, so too shall I deny this world life!”
“You can still live a normal life, Jojo! A better one than before, in fact! The intelligence given to you by the Element X can help mankind!”
“‘Help mankind’… An interesting choice of words. Tell me, what do you define as ‘helping mankind’? Ridding the world of disease? Discovering alternative energy sources? …What about putting your test subjects to work as soldiers!? Is that your definition of ‘helping mankind’!?”
“No, that’s--!”
“ENOUGH!!! Your words are wasted on me, Utonium! You and the rest of your race will know the cost of toying with the lives of the living! The cost of playing God!”
“…”
“…Ah. Our guests of honor have arrived.” Facing the south, Mojo takes notice of three adjacent figures fast approaching. In the glare of the sunlight, they appear to be nothing more than black dots. But as the distance between them shortens, they take on a human shape.
A tall teenage girl with black hair on the right.
A short blonde with pigtails on the left.
And a ‘middle sister’ with long red hair in the center.
The three individuals instantly come across Utonium as familiar. “…Girls…!”
“I recommend you take one final look at your ‘girls’, Professor Utonium… For today is the last day any of you breathe life on this earth…” Brushing his ragged attire aside, Mojo is shown to be wearing an unusual pair of gloves. Mostly black in appearance, electric circuits run the length of Mojo’s fingers.
These too strike a familiar chord with Utonium. “T-Those are my…!”
“And with these…”, Mojo starts again. “…My destiny is assured…!” As he curls his fingers into a fist, the left glove surges with electrical energy.
Project Powerpuff
Part 4
[/i][/center]Part 4
Driven by their mutual desire to rescue their guardian and, as Midori so eloquently put it, ‘kick some punk chimp ass’, the Powerpuff Girls zip through the skies of Townsville toward the bay. As they close in, two objects come into view: a large metal cage like those seen in zoos, and a smaller humanoid figure hovering near it. “There they are!”, Rose proclaims.
“Can you see the Professor, Aqua?”, Midori follows with, addressing the littlest Powerpuff.
Among the three, Aqua’s eyesight was without equal. She focuses her gaze upon the two objects in the distance, and her vision zooms in like a telescope. It eventually rests upon a figure sitting silently behind the cage’s bars. “…There! I see him! He’s okay!”, the blonde gleefully replies.
Rose sighs heavily, and her hurried heartbeat finally slows. “Thank God…”
Barely able to contain her enthusiasm, Midori repetitively pounds her right fist into her left palm. “Well, he’d better stay okay if Mojo hopes to see tomorrow!”
Even Rose herself was eager to polish her knuckles on Mojo’s face.
But this would prove to be a chore in the long run: as the girls reach the 5-kilometer line between themselves and Mojo, they’re suddenly faced with a violent show of electrical discharge.
“!!!” Upon seeing this, the redhead beckons her sisters to… “Move!”
The trio immediately scatters about and watches the lightning streak past. “The hell was that!?”
In light of Mojo’s new ‘trick’, the girls slow their approach and advance upon the super-smart chimp with caution.
Mojo hovers before the Powerpuffs with a toothy grin and crossed arms. “So nice of you to join us… Rose… Aqua… Midori… You’re just in time for my coronation ceremony.”
“Spare us another of your obnoxious spiels, Mojo.”, Rose hisses. “Now let the Professor go!”
“Well, that wouldn’t be appropriate, would it? After all, it’s because of your beloved Professor that we stand here today. Besides, you are in no position to make demands. As it stands, I hold all the cards! This day shall be decided by me alone!” As he lowers his arms to his sides, Mojo reveals his new weapon to the girls: the black gloves on his hands.
“What’s with the gloves, ‘Monkey Boy’?”, Midori remarks. “You setting a new fashion trend or something?”
“By all means, Midori, make your jokes. It’ll be healthy to have a good sense of humor…as you breathe your last breath!” The maniacal ape throws his hands to his sides, causing electricity to shoot out from his fingertips.
In preparation for the ensuing brawl, Rose directs her sisters. “Aqua, Midori, you handle Mojo! I’ll see to the Professor!”
“Fine by me!”, an excited Midori replies. “Let’s go, ‘Pigtails’!”
“Right!”
Rose splits off from the group and flies toward the cage. Mojo briefly watches as the redhead departs. “Hmph. A predictable tactic.”, he comments to himself.
“Is this predictable, you scumbag!?”
Facing forward, Mojo sees Midori rapidly drawing near. Unable to defend himself properly, he reels back from the blow delivered to his face by her fist. “Tch! You wretch!” Mojo retaliates with an electrical attack of several thousand volts.
“Agh!” The attack stuns the brunette for a few moments, but she quickly bounces back. “Hah! That all you’ve got!? I’ve felt static shocks worse than that!”
Mojo paid the girl’s overconfidence no mind and focused on the matter at hand. With the short break in the battle, however, he notices that Aqua had left his field of view. “Where did…?” A battle cry from above turns Mojo’s attention upward; he throws his arms up to shield himself against Aqua’s incoming kick.
Aqua follows up her surprise dive with a barrage of lightning-fast kicks. “Hah! Hah! Hah!”
She slowly pushes Mojo back, and Mojo has little room to go on the offensive. “Argh!” On top of this, he sees Midori closing in from below. “Grrrr…!” The enraged chimp lets out a ferocious shriek, driving both Aqua and Midori away with a widespread burst of kinetic energy.
The burst throws the duo for a loop, rendering them vulnerable while they recover. As Midori attempts to do so, a clawed hand takes a firm grasp of her face. “!!!”
Mojo bares his fangs… “Heh!”
…and unleashes sheer amounts of high voltage to her system. “AAAAHHHH!!!!”
With the stunning effect this produced, Mojo was free to toss Midori’s limp body away. She flies helplessly over kilometers of water toward the mainland, crashing into the concrete.
“MIDORI!”, cries Aqua in horror. She follows suit and soars off to tend to her sister, as was her nature.
With the strongest Powerpuff temporarily out of commission, Mojo shifts his focus elsewhere – namely, the red-haired Powerpuff to his rear. The malicious monkey grins almost ravenously.
At the mainland, a trail of broken concrete several yards long led to the side of a building, a good portion of it destroyed from something having crashed into it. From beneath the rubble, a figure emerges covered in dust and trace blood. Rising to her feet, Midori staggers forward, exhaling coughs and pained groans. “…I’m gonna kill that monkey…”, she mutters, only partially serious.
Before long, she’s joined by an anxious Aqua. “Midori! Are you okay!? …Aah!” At the sight of Midori’s body, the squeamish Powerpuff shields her eyes. “Uh… Y-Your shoulder…”
“Heh. Relax, would you?” Midori takes a hold of her right wrist and forcibly snaps her shoulder, which had popped out of its socket due to the crash, back into place. “Ahhh. There, see? I’m fine now.”
“…I hate it when you do that…”
“Hehehe. …Come on. This ain’t over yet.”
With an affirming nod, Aqua makes a 180 and shoots back up into the sky, with Midori nipping at her heels.
Meanwhile, just outside the warzone’s immediate range, Rose sees to freeing Professor Utonium from imprisonment. “Don’t worry, Professor! I’ll have you out of here in-- Gah!” Bringing her hands to the iron bars caging him, Rose is cut short by a high-voltage electric shock. “Dammit! Mojo’s always a step ahead of me!”
“…Tell me, Rose: was I wrong?”
“What was that, Professor?”
“Was I wrong to think that I could help people with Project X’s resources? Even knowing full well what they were capable of? The time I’d spent with you girls was some of the happiest in my life, but…do the ends justify the means? Mojo’s right – we were wrong to try and play God. If this is to be my atonement, then--”
“Stop right there, Professor!”
“Huh?”
“I know where you’re going with this, Professor Utonium, and you can just stop talking. Don’t think for a minute that Aqua, Midori, and I hold it against you for what’s happened to us. Before you came into our lives, I used to go to sleep every night thinking I might not wake up the next morning. It’s because of you that Aqua can see, and Midori can walk. You did help us, Professor. You’ve given us hope for a better tomorrow. So don’t tell me you’re ready to die, because I’m not gonna let you!”
“…Rose…”
Flying to the top of the cage, Rose happens upon an abstract device serving as the conduit for the cage’s energy output. “Bingo!” She removes the device’s protective covering and exposes the complex network of wiring underneath. “Okay… Let’s see here…” Rose’s eyes dart about the circuitry, and little by little she gains an idea of how the apparatus functions. “…Looks like Mojo rigged this thing to blow if I tried to remove it by force. Hmph. Way to underestimate me.” By severing just a single cable, she completely disables the device. “There. That should--” Just then, the redhead is struck in the back by a condensed bolt of lightning, instantly coercing her to her knees. She turns her head back and observes a certain spiteful primate hovering a handful of feet away. “M-Mojo…!”
“I applaud you, dearest Rose.”, starts Mojo cheekily. “You’re far more skillful than I’d initially presumed. With the proper conditioning, you’d most certainly be a force to be reckoned with. The offer still stands, my kin -- join me, and we shall reign over this pitiful world together. With the power bestowed upon us, there is nothing -- nothing -- we cannot accomplish.”
“Go to hell…!”, Rose hisses through her chattering teeth. “And don’t you ever call me your kin!”
“Defiant to the bitter end… Even faced with utter despair, you cling feebly to hope… Why do you so adamantly defend those who made you into a science experiment?”
“…”
“…Nothing left to say?”
“…”
Mojo was uneasy. He found Rose’s silence off-putting, and her gaze appeared to frequently shift between him and something else. “…!” He spins around and fires a stream of lightning from his fingers.
The remaining two Powerpuffs Aqua and Midori spread out to evade Mojo’s attack.
“!!!” With Mojo’s back turned to her, Rose leaps to her feet and charges ahead at full speed.
Mojo turns back toward Rose just in time for her fist to make contact with his face. The hit sends him reeling through the air yet again.
Still recovering from Mojo’s earlier sneak attack, Rose tries to catch her breath before picking up where she left off.
“…Rose.”
“Huh?” Looking over the edge of the cage’s roof, Rose meets Utonium’s eye below her. “What is it, Professor?”
“The ‘Tesla gloves’ have an almost inexhaustible power supply. As long as Mojo keeps his distance, he’ll always have the upper hand.”
“‘Tesla gloves’? Those things Mojo’s wearing? You made those!?”
“Listen. You’ll never get close enough to remove them or undo the circuit. But the gloves are extremely sensitive to cold; anywhere below 50 degrees Fahrenheit or so, and their energy output hits near zero. Plus, they aren’t waterproof; get them wet, and the circuits will fry and burn out.”
“Cold and water… Got it! Thanks!”
Mojo shortly recovers from Rose’s punch and wipes away the blood from the corner of his lips.
Ready to resume the fight, the Powerpuffs surround him. Midori bares a smirk as she cracks her knuckles. “Okay, Jojo… Ready for Round 3?”
The girls float about in a circle around Mojo. One by one, they each enter and leave his field of vision. A bitter silence overtakes the two sides – the calm before the storm, as it were. The girls clearly had a numbers advantage, but Mojo’s intellect was vastly superior. “…Hmph.” Curling his lips into a wicked smile, Mojo suddenly drops out of the sky, allowing his body to plummet toward the water.
Without hesitation, the Powerpuffs give chase.
Just moments before touching the water, Mojo changes course, his flight ability in full effect, and soars parallel to the water’s surface. Glancing behind him, he sees Rose, Aqua, and Midori on his tail, creating a scenario much like the one in the city earlier that day. With his psychokinetic powers, Mojo assaults the Powerpuffs with water projectiles.
But even as the water pelted them, the girls didn’t break pursuit. It was, after all, just water.
“Heh!” Roughly a half-minute into the chase, however, Mojo begins sneaking projectiles laced with electricity in with the normal ones.
The first to be stunned by Mojo’s ‘electric water’ was Aqua. “Aah!”
“Aqua!”, Rose worriedly calls out.
“I’m okay! Keep going!”
Now wary of Mojo’s tactic, Rose and Midori decide to exercise caution in the face of his assault.
To top off his attack, Mojo launches a large wave coursing with electricity at the girls.
With no feasible way to avoid it, Rose and Midori dive into the water, and the tidal wave passes overhead.
“Hah! Big mistake!”, boasts Mojo. Having anticipated this course of action, he proceeds to generate as much electrical discharge from his hands as allowable. When the discharge hits the water, electricity pours out over a wide radius.
Unable to resurface due to this, Rose and Midori are forced to go deeper down.
“Hahahaha! Yes! Wallow in the depths of despair, you cretins! Know the same helplessness I felt as a Project X lab rat! Powerless to save your Professor! Powerless to save yourselves! Embrace that feeling and DROWN IN IT!!! Hahahahaha!!!”
All of a sudden, the surface of the water begins to ripple violently.
Puzzled by this spectacle, Mojo faces the west. His eyes go wide with shock as he stares down a tidal wave considerably greater than the one he’d generated moments ago. “W-What the devil!?” He attempts to flee, but the sheer magnitude of the wave engulfs him. “AAAAHHHH!!!!”
From where the wave originated, Aqua is seen hovering proudly, having used a ‘sonic scream’ to wash Mojo away.
Rose and Midori finally resurface, returning to their little sister’s side, followed shortly by Mojo. The splash made by Aqua’s tidal wave causes bay water to rain down upon the group. Once again, the opposing sides go deathly silent, the only sound being the soft rainfall hitting the water below.
At Mojo’s sides, the Tesla gloves spark erratically and uncontrollably. The tidal wave rendered them useless.
“…Many congratulations, girls…”, Mojo begins, taking quite a hateful tone. “You’ve succeeded in making me angry…”
“Let me guess -- you’re gonna turn into the Hulk now, right?”, Midori jokes, making light of the situation as usual.
“I grow weary of your efforts at humor. And I grow weary of this little game of ours.”
“You call messing with our family and home a ‘game’!?”, Rose snaps.
“Indeed.”, Mojo bluntly replies. “And what better way to put an end to a good game than with a round of…‘sudden death’…?” Ever slowly, the monkey mastermind raises his arm…
…prompting the girls to assume attack stances.
But it’s not the girls at which Mojo points his arm. Rather, he points it toward the cage holding Professor Utonium. With his energies focused, Mojo starts to enclose his fingers.
The cage begins to rattle on a random axis. The chain links keeping it suspended gradually come undone, lessening their hold on the cage.
“…I do so hope the Professor…knows how to swim…”
“!!!!!”
The final chain link unravels…and the Professor’s cage falls.
“PROFESSOR!!!!!”
In mere seconds, the cage makes a deafening splash into the bay. In no time at all, it fills up with water and sinks beneath the surface, taking John Utonium with it.
Acting on pure instinct, Rose rockets off to where the cage had submerged and dives in after it.
Again, the fight was two-on-one. Aqua and Midori glare at Mojo with eyes brimming with anger. “You’re gonna wish you hadn’t done that!”
The unfazed Mojo laughs off Midori’s threat. “Oh, I’m positively quivering, I assure you.”
Under the water, the cage sinks further and further. Before long, it reaches the seafloor, joining the ranks of the once-prominent Great Oaks Bridge. Inside the cage, with his hands coiled firmly around the outer bars, Utonium struggles to hold his breath. The cage’s unexpected submersion had left him with only minutes of air.
Rose appears promptly on-scene, positioning herself directly in front of him. She grips the bars tight and endeavors to bend them outward. But the redhead had a limited air supply herself, and with the water pressure on top of the bars’ sheer density, this feat was beyond her. ‘Dammit…!’, Rose curses mentally. ‘It’s no good…! I’m not strong enough…!’ Her eyes meet Utonium’s.
‘…R-Rose…’ Utonium’s vision blurs. Soon, he could no longer see Rose clearly. As the last air bubble escapes his lips, his eyes roll to the back of his head, and his grip on the bars loosens.
‘No!!!’ The despondent Rose continues pulling at the bars, hoping something would give. ‘Come on…!’ Her budding tears were evident even in this water-filled setting.
…Thankfully, she wouldn’t be alone in her struggle for much longer; Midori enters stage-right to assist. Nudging Rose aside, she takes a hold of the bars and pulls. Several metallic creaks later, Midori makes an opening between the bars for Utonium to squeeze through.
Rose retrieves the Professor, and the trio returns to the surface. The drenched Powerpuff leader takes in a big relieving gasp of fresh air, and cradles the lifeless scientist in her arms. “Professor! Are you okay!? Say something!”
“Come on!”, Midori nudges further. “Let’s get him to dry land!”
The red and green Powerpuffs handle Utonium delicately and carry him to the mainland. Midori sets him down on the ground, and Rose brings her ear to his chest. “…He’s not breathing!” With her hands, Rose begins rhythmically pushing down on Utonium’s chest to get his heart beating. “Please, Professor…! Don’t give up…!”
Midori simply looks on with bated breath. “…”
“You can do it…!” Rose’s eyes started to well up again…
…as did Midori’s surprisingly. “…Please…”, she solemnly whispers.
…All of a sudden… “!!!” …Utonium regains consciousness, leaning up with heavy gasping and violent coughing.
“Professor!!!”, Rose exclaims, crying tears of joy and relief.
Slowly but surely, Utonium would open his eyes and be greeted by the sight of his ‘daughters’ leaning over him. “…Rose… Midori…”
Midori rubs away what few tears she shed. “Morning, sleepyhead.”
“…Heh.”
Just then, a booming sound points the group’s collective attention eastward. A cloud of dust was cast over a nearby crash site.
Only Mojo could be seen clearly amongst the debris. With his feet on the ground, he bends down to pick up something: he holds up a battered and bruised Aqua by the strands of her hair.
“Aqua!”
Too weak to belt out another ‘sonic scream’, the petite Powerpuff whimpers in agony.
“Is this truly your limit?”, asks an unimpressed Mojo. “…How disappointing.”
“…” Rose rises to her feet, refusing to take her eyes off Mojo for even a moment. “…Midori.”
“Yeah?”
“Take care of the Professor. …I’ll finish this myself.”
A cool autumn breeze blows over, and Midori could see the tenacity in Rose’s expression. “…” She motions a nod, agreeing not to get in Rose’s way.
Out of the corner of Mojo’s eye, he notices a figure to the west. He makes eye contact with Rose, and callously tosses Aqua’s body aside. “…”
Rose’s scarlet eyes glint with resolve in the sunlight. “…” Her feet start to carry her forward. She walks initially, transitions into a light jog, transitions again into running, and finally she sprints toward Mojo at full speed.
“Tch!” In response, Mojo counteracts with an immense blast of psychokinetic power.
The sharpness of the blast cuts into Rose’s skin at numerous angles, but she doesn’t break her momentum. “YAH!!!” Once within reach, she takes a bountiful leap off the ground, and drives the full force of her upper body into Mojo. With the evil monkey in her clutches, Rose shoots straight ahead like a missile.
She drives Mojo into, and through, an entire building. Two buildings. Three buildings. Four. By the time she realized what she was doing, Rose had propelled herself and Mojo through a total of nine buildings. Her momentum broken, Rose drops Mojo onto the ground, completely winded.
As a result of the successive collisions, Mojo was knocked out cold.
The battle was won.
…Some time later, a police squad and ambulance are called out to the battle site. EMTs treat the group’s injuries, and Mojo is thrown into a patrol car. “What should we do with him?”, the chief of police inquires.
“Throw his ass into the deepest, darkest hole…”, growls Midori. “…and let him rot!”
“Keep him sedated for now.”, Utonium instructs. “I’ll put something together that can suppress his powers, and get in touch with you later.”
“Understood. …Wow. First a bunch of super-powered girls; now a super-powered monkey. Heh. Only in Townsville, right?”
A light laugh is shared, and the patrol cars and ambulance soon take their leave.
Utonium looks down at his three girls, taking a moment just to reflect on the afternoon they had, and the family of four meets in a tender embrace. Townsville’s longest day had finally come to a close.
…Townsville Penitentiary. Three days later.
In a poorly lit jail cell, where the walls were lined with a soft supple material, a diminutive figure is seen sitting at a far corner, away from the cell door. The figure was dressed from neck to toe in standard prison wear, and wore an unusual helmet-shaped device. “…”
At the other side of the cell, a slot opens up underneath the door, and a tray of food slides inside. “Dinnertime.”, a voice on the other side of the door says aloud. The door slot immediately closes afterward.
Reaching out its hand, the figure takes a banana off the tray, peels it, and eats it in silence.
“…A minor hindrance… The humans may think they’ve bested me… But my time will come…and soon… And Rose, Aqua, Midori… You shall know my wrath most of all…”
…Townsville Mall.
In a clothing outlet she frequented, Aqua leafs through over a dozen designer blouses. “Hmm… Ah!” When she happens upon one she liked, she poses with it in front of a mirror. “…Perfect!”, she exclaims, making for the nearest checkout counter. “Excuse me! How much is this?”
“Ah. You have a good eye, miss. This is one of our most famous items. Shipped in from Tuscany just last month. Let’s see… Retail price is $49.99.”
“50 dollars, huh…?” Aqua peeks inside her money purse and pouts. “Aw, I don’t have enough.”
The clerk shows Aqua a sympathetic smile. The blond Powerpuff was a good customer; a little generosity couldn’t do much harm. She rings the blouse up at 20% off. “…This’ll be our little secret, okay?”, says the clerk to Aqua with a wink.
Aqua’s face lights up. “Really!? Thank you!”
…Townsville High, football field.
The crowd is abuzz with excitement over the semi-championship game between Townsville and Anaheim. Assorted cheers and whistles engulf the air. And at the very forefront of the stands, Midori pumps her right arm passionately. “Whoo! Go, Mitch!”
“…Hike!”
The center lineman snaps the ball to the QB, and the entire offensive line charges forward. Mitch dashes down the far right end of the field and catches the QB’s pass on the way to the end zone. Briefly turning his head toward the stands, he catches a glimpse of Midori, sending a confident grin her way.
Midori returns the grin in full…
…and watches as an opposing lineman tackle him to the ground. “Oof!”
“Ooh!” The sight makes Midori cringe. “Hehehe…”
…Utonium household.
At her lamp-illuminated desk, Rose flips through the pages of an algebra textbook and jots down various equations in a nearby notebook. Satisfied with the work she’s completed, she closes her books and lets out a soft yawn. Rising from her seat, Rose walks over to the window and gazes out at the cityscape in the distance.
During the days that followed the girls’ battle against Mojo Jojo, Townsville was on the road to recovery. Buildings were being repaired. Reconstruction of the Great Oaks Bridge had begun. The damage done by Mojo would soon be but a faint memory.
But Rose was still ill at ease. Where one Mojo falls, another could just as easily arise.
“…?” Rose looks to the east wall and sees the Powerpuff Siren flashing and buzzing. “…Hmph!” From her bedroom window, she takes off into the Townsville sky, shortly joined by sisters Aqua and Midori.
The thought of another danger like Mojo didn’t dampen Rose’s spirits though. Come what may, Townsville was their home now. And the Powerpuff Girls would gladly put their lives on the line to ensure its safety.
