Mojo Jojo floated as he moved along the weird sensation of the spirit world. It felt almost the same as his dream had, but it was slightly colder and lifeless. There was not much gravity to hold him on the ground, yet the anti-gravity of this world wasn't strong enough to lift him entirely off his feet and send him floating endlessly around the place. It was a steady movement, moving aligned with the current.
He looked around to see where the girls are. Since he's here, he might as well start searching. It was really dark, just like in his dreams. He tried calling out their names but there was no response. He turned on his portable torchlight he had fixed on his shoulder sleeve and shone it around to get a better view. It was no use. The atmosphere was so thick of the undead that it swallowed whatever light there is to offer. He called again, but still there was no response.
"I do not understand," Mojo Jojo began to ramble to himself as usual. "I've built the portal that will take me to the girls. I've made the right calculations and built this portal according to the right materials and numbers. I've constructed the portal that would take me to the place where I've dreamt. How can the girls not be here? Have I entered the wrong dimension? Have I entered the wrong world? Have I been sucked into another parallel world that would leave me stranded with no safety, no solace, no security, no..."
He would carry on rambling like a mad man if he hadn't seen a dim glow a few feet before him. He drifted his way towards the glow as fast as the current of the world allowed him. It was still too dark to make out what the glow was, but as soon as he got there, he soon saw what he was looking for ever since he entered this world. There, before him, was the Powerpuff Girls, looking battered and bruised in their chains. They were paler than ghosts and seemed resigned to their fate. Their bodies were in a stupor, bound by dozens upon dozens of chains that held them in place. Mojo Jojo drifted towards them and patted their cheeks.
"Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup. It is me, Mojo Jojo. Wake up. I'm here to save you."
There was no response from the girls. They seemed as if they were just too weak to even open their eyes just a little bit. Mojo Jojo had to take matters in his own hands. He fished a pen-sized laser from his pocket and started cutting through the chains one by one. It was tedious work and a lot of chains to go through, not to mention that they were tougher than any steel he had cut through. He had to wipe off the sweat from his brow once in a while, but finally, after long hours of cutting and slicing and dicing, he had finally cut through the chains. The girls floated down one by one towards the ground and Mojo Jojo grabbed them in his arms just in time. Again, he tried to shake them awake, but to no avail. They were tortured and beaten to the point of extreme. Their spirit were horrendously broken, literally.
"Let's get out of here," Mojo Jojo sighed finally after trying in vain to wake them. Before he could carry them off, he was stopped in his tracks by a chilling voice.
"Leaving so soon?"
Mojo Jojo spun round and was shocked to see that it was no other than the boss of all evil villians: Him! He was standing menacingly tall and evil with the weird scythe in his hand. Quickly, he hid the girls behind him, unconsciously trying to shield them from Him.
"What's the matter, Mojo Jojo? Surprised to see lil' ol' beautiful me?" Him asked sarcastically before letting out a long, ear-piercing laugh.
Mojo Jojo was shocked. He recognized that laugh. That laugh that had been haunting his dreams and sending him in pools of sweat every time he wakes up. The long and menacing laugh that rang in his ears and are the ones that had been trapping and torturing the girls throughout the years of their death. He looked from Him to the girls and began to comprehend everything that was going on.
"You're behind all this?" Mojo Jojo exclaimed.
"Oh, so you really are not as dumb as you seem to be," Him grinned maliciously. "Yes, that's right! I'm behind all this! This is my ultimate evil plan, the one that actually and finally succeeded in destroy the Powerpuff Girls! I've waited for this moment for a long, long time, and nothing in the world can stop me now! Now I can conquer the world as I like it!"
"Conquer the world? I don't see you doing anything!"
"Oh, have you enjoyed the dream that I've been giving you? Puts a nice touch into your lil' ol' conscience now, doesn't it?"
Mojo Jojo widened his eyes in disbelief. It was Him all along who gave him all those nightmares and created those sleepless nights? How...?
"That's right, I lured you here. I created the nightmare so that you would be prompted to investigate. I know you'll be curious about the dream and decide to find out what exactly is going on. I know you well, Mojo Jojo. I know exactly everything about your characteristics. Each and every one of you is just so predictable. I knew that you would go looking for that wretched professor because he was the only one who was the closest to the girls. And while you and that professor created the portal and became totally isolated from the outside world, I've been really, really busy. I started plagiarizing the city, taking down every evil villian there is in this world. Gangreen Gang, the Amoeba Boys, Princess, Fuzzy Lumpkins, you name it, I've got em!"
"What...? You mean...You mean you've killed them all...?"
"Perfectly correct, monkey boy! I've killed them all, and have taken the evil energy they have in them. I know I can't take you down too easily, because you've been the longest living villain in all of Townsville, so I'm getting you the psychological way. I knew about you having a hand in creating the girls and this is exactly what I have in mind: I decided to play around with your emotions and make you suffer through the dreams. I want to watch you work effortlessly on the portal machine just to get to see with your own eyes how I'm going to destroy the girls. I want you to see your own creation die in front of your eyes and suffer the pain of losing them.
"Don't try to deny, Mojo Jojo. You do have a fatherly liking for those little girls. Deep down inside, I can see that you care for these girls! You love them just as much as Prof. Utonium loves them! You love them just as any father would love their children! There's no doubt about it! Ever since you've found out about the girls are part of your doing, your heart had begun to develop the sense of responsibility over them. Oh, I've seen everything, Mojo Jojo, and even if you don't know the truth, I've seen through your heart your deepest and darkest secret--you want to end your career as a super villain and for once be a real normal person to be able to care for these wretched Powerpuff Girls!"
Mojo Jojo carried the girls close to his chest. Impossible! He's Mojo Jojo, the greatest super villain ever lived! How could he care for an archenemy he was bent to destroy? This was way out of the equation! He couldn't go that far to save the girls just to destroy them again! He would've just ignored the dream and let them rot in their dark prison! He wouldn't give a damn about those girls! Let them die and decay for all that is worth! He wanted them destroyed anyway! Wasn't that what he had been working on ever since the Powerpuff Girls decided not to join him in his quest to dominate the world? To get rid of the girls once and for all? How could Him think of something absurd as this?
But then, he began to have second thoughts. Was that it? Was the feeling of responsibility and fatherhood, after finding out about him being part of the reason they were created, the reason why he cared so much about those nightmares he had? Was that the feeling that prompted him to go and look for Prof. Utonium? Was that the feeling that made him feel sick and not right about what Prof. Utonium was trying to do with the girls' bodies? Was that why he was willing to cooperate with the professor to build the portal so that he could enter the spirit world? Was it because he cared? Was it because he really wanted to save the girls from their dark prison?
"Now that every useless villain in Townsville is gone, I can rule the world and watch everyone suffer as they follow every whim and fancy I can come up with!" Him gloated at his success before looking sideways at Mojo Jojo while brandishing his scythe. "But first, disturbances like you must be demolished!"
"You'll have to catch me first," Mojo Jojo said as he brought the girls tighter in his embrace and fled. He had a built-in jet propeller in his boots just in case, and as soon as he activated the boots, it was like a cat and mouse game. He dodged every swish of the scythe as he tried to find the entrance of the portal. He had to make it out quick. His hour was running out. A few minutes of trying to escape Him, Mojo Jojo grinned at the thought that he had lost him. But his victory was short-lived. He heard Him's voice echoing throughout the dimension, with nowhere of Him in sight.
"You can run, Mojo Jojo, but you can't hide. This is my domain. I created it! There is no escape!"
So saying, he felt a sharp pain on his left cheek. Seeing the blood, Mojo Jojo realized that he was attacked by Him's scythe. Him laughed menacingly as he disappeared into the fog that appeared out of nowhere. As he struggled to get up, another slash cut through his right cheek, then under his chin. Suddenly the pain came in twofold, threefold, even tenfold as Him's slashes became even faster and more frequent, spreading throughout his whole body. Blood began to pour endlessly, just like in his dream, only that it was him bleeding instead of the girls. The last blow caused him to drop the girls out of his embrace. The girls began to stir as they hit the ground. Him came out of his hiding and loomed over Mojo Jojo and the girls. His scythe suddenly increased twice its size. He raised it high above his head and laughed out loud.
"Say goodbye to your sweet little girls, Mojo Jojo!"
Mojo Jojo was shocked. He was going to witness Him slash the girls in pieces, just like he said he would. Despite his bloody body, Mojo Jojo suddenly jumped forth with a burst of unknown Herculean strength and grabbed the girls close to his chest. He let out a strangled yell as the huge scythe cut through his body and pierced his back, breaking his spine...
Blossom could hear a weird yell. It seemed as if someone was in pain. The superhero instinct in her forced her to open her eyes. The metallic smell of blood stung her nose as she realized that she was covered with it. She looked around in her hazed vision and saw her sisters Bubbles and Buttercup also covered in blood. They didn't seem to be hurt though, and neither was she. She remembered the last time she was hurt was when Him brought down the scythe and cut her abdomen, and that was before she passed out for goodness knows how many times. But then that wound had healed itself, as always. There's no way they could be bleeding now and not feeling anything. Bubbles and Buttercup were beginning to stir as well. Their bunched up faces showed that they, too, smelt the blood.
"Buttercup...?" Bubbles muttered weakly.
"Bubbles...?" Buttercup groaned, struggling to open her eyes.
"Girls, are you alright?" Blossom asked. 'Alright' was an understatement judging by what happened to them.
"I don't understand..." Bubbles blinked. "I feel so strange...So light...I feel like I could float on the sunbeam or something..."
"Yeah, that tight feeling of chains didn't seem so tight anymore..." Buttercup admitted. "What hap..."
Buttercup's question stopped halfway after hearing Blossom's gasp. They turned to where she was looking at and saw that it was Mojo Jojo holding them in his arms, bloody and battered as his back received more and more stabs from the hysterically laughing of Him. He was struggling hard not to fall forward and crush the girls with his weight every time the heavy heave of the scythe cut through him. Bubbles was first to react, tears welling up in her eyes immediately.
"Stop it, Him! Stop it! Stop hurting Mojo Jojo!"
Him seemed surprised. He thought he had broken their spirit, but it seemed like they looked energetic as before. He aimed his scythe at Bubbles, but somehow Mojo Jojo manoeuvred his body so that it blocked her, and he received the blow in return. The girls stared in horror as Mojo Jojo, their archenemy, continued to protect them and receive the hard blows from Him's scythe, risking death.
"Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!" Bubbles continued to scream and plead, and somehow activated her supersonic voice. It went in full blast and threw Him about a few feet away from them. Him tried to move forward, but Blossom held up her head and blew her ice breath at Him, holding his feet in place. Him, after much struggling, freed himself from his icy encasing and glared at Mojo Jojo with a vengeance.
"I'll be back for you later! I still have a world to conquer!"
So saying, he disappeared into the abyss. Mojo Jojo panted and groaned as the pain began to kick in again. His knees were failing him and he didn't seem like he could hold on much longer. His grip loosened and the girls hollered one by one asking how was Mojo Jojo. They gazed in horror as more blood began to spill out of Mojo Jojo's body. He doubled over and began to vomit red crimson. Bubbles rushed towards him and yelled, "Hang in there, Mojo Jojo! Hang in there!"
"I think...that'll be something...I won't be...capable of..."
"Why...?" Blossom asked in remorse. "After all we've done to you...After all the fights and rivalry and all that...Why are you helping us?"
"I guess...you girls...kinda got into me..." Mojo Jojo forced a grin before letting out another vomit of crimson red on the girls. The girls stared at all the blood in horror. How could he withstand all this? How could he be able to hang on to the pain inflicted on him without even considering that he's not in spirit form? Why would he do this for them?
"Please, Mojo Jojo! Don't die on us! You can't die! Not after what you've done for us!" Bubbles cried pool of tears as she tried to support Mojo Jojo. She could tell that he didn't have much time in his hands but she couldn't face the fact. She just couldn't.
"How stupid can you get?" Buttercup blasted at him, holding back tears. She didn't know whether it was because she was worried about him or was just plain angry. She had to let it out. "You came here risking your life without even thinking that you're still human, and you held back all those blows for us! Don't you even know for just one second that you're gonna get killed? Why are you doing this? We're your enemies, for crying out loud! You shouldn't be helping us! Why? Why are you so stupid? WHY!"
"Because...you're my girls too...I...I created you too...remember...?"
"But..." Blossom's words were cut short when Mojo Jojo suddenly brought them to his embrace again, holding them tightly.
"You're my...perfect little girls too..."
Without warning, he clicked something under his glove and a huge ball of light engulfed him. The girls could feel the power surrounding them. They recognized that feeling. It felt almost the same as Prof. Utonium was crying over their lifeless bodies after rescuing them from his money-minded colleague (I forgot his name, sorry ;), showering them with his love, which brought them back to life and returned their superpowers again. But the feeling was much more powerful. It was a mixture of Mojo Jojo's new-found love for the girls and the Chemical X entity within him. The girls felt their superpowers coming back to them again and increasing in tenfold. Mojo Jojo had somehow created some sort of gadget to extract the Chemical X within his body and transferred it to the girls.
After what seemed like eternity, the glow slowed down and dimmed. The girls opened their eyes and stared at each other. They were all clean and free of blood, and they could feel their familiar powers inside them again. Their happiness over their return of status were short-lived when they saw that what was left of Mojo Jojo was a small black ape in its diapers without his protruding brain, sprawled on the ground lying in his own pool of blood as steam erupted from its body.
The extraction of the Chemical X had changed Mojo Jojo back to who he was before--a small, lifeless body of Prof. Utonium's lab assistant Jojo.
Bubbles sobbed and whimpered as she picked Jojo up and held him close to his chest. Buttercup cried as well, unable to hold them back anymore. Blossom stood before her sisters and stared long and hard at Jojo's dead body in Bubbles's arms. This wasn't fair. After all he had done for them, this wasn't fair. He shouldn't end up like this. No matter how evil he was in the past, he doesn't deserve this. He doesn't deserve such pitiful and pathetic a death like this. He had risked his life coming here and he risked his life trying to save them and protect them from Him's attacks. How could fate let it end this way? If the original Messenger of Death was here, he wouldn't want this to happen. He wouldn't want to collect a soul that died in such a way that no justice can be done. Him had been misusing his power as a Messenger of Death and he has got to be stopped.
As a lonely tear trickled down Blossom's crimson eyes, she said in a voice low and filled with hatred, "Let's get Him."
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