Post-completion AN:What you're about to read is a sequel to an old fanfiction of mine, written in more than a year and a half. As such, it has suffered a little from the long hiatus periods between updates at the time and between its chapters the story may change in tone and style quite visibly. Still, I hope you'll be able to enjoy it, if the fic manages to keep your interested through its twelve chapters. I left the few notes scattered around untouched, so as to let you read what I thought back when I was writing it.
Repeating the warnings of the original starting note, this story is a sequel, and as such I warmly suggest you to read 'The Perfect Little Boy' first (you can find it easily on my profile) if you didn't do it yet: the original goal of this story was expanding on the plot of the first one, after all. Secondly, keep in mind that this story features original characters in both main and secondary roles, even more so than the first one.
Extract from Prof. Laurentium's Journal:
10th May (five years before the Incident),
the last meeting at the general lab has been quite a success. Thank goodness I have been able to convince most of my colleagues to abandon the strategy they had chosen yesterday with the last experiment… that one was far too dangerous for comfort. We need to keep the security level of our tests at the safest possible level: we cannot take lightly our work. For now, I've been able to do so, but for when that will no more be possible, I'm afraid I'll need to leave and build my own laboratory here at home if I want to continue my studies.
One of my colleagues was particularly hard to convince. To be honest, I think he didn't change his idea and that he stopped arguing only because he was the only one left. I'll have to keep an eye on the man… I don't like him at all.
Dust from the Past
Chapter 1
Ultrapolis
The city of Ultrapolis! A true rarity in the European panorama.
Ultrapolis is one of the youngest cities that were ever built on the old continent, perhaps the youngest one of them all. Unlike other metropolises of the same area, this place has no old town centre where every building is basically a piece of history. Instead, the city centre is one of the finest examples of modernity: towering skyscrapers, crowded streets, and enormous plazas make Ultrapolis rival with American cities like New York, Chicago, Townsville, San Francisco, and many more.
Yet, the similarities with the United States' counterparts of Ultrapolis don't stop here. Economy, structure, how the town is governed, that giant monster, and so on. In fact, there are certain aspects that Ultrapolis shares with another city in particular, and-…
Wait, did I say giant monster?
Yes! A giant lizard monster is currently chewing the remains of an office building near the city centre, terrorizing people and leaving behind itself a path of destruction impossible not to be noticed. How can Ultrapolis resist to this bringer of terror?
Well, I did say that there are aspects shared with other cities, didn't I?
The monster watched the people inside the room he was going to devour. It licked his fangs, eager to bite something a bit tastier than hard concrete.
Men and women screamed alike as the creature attacked them, but when his teeth clenched shut, he was surprised to notice he had not eaten a single human. In fact, the entire piece of building had disappeared from his hands.
Perplexed, the monster straightened his back and rotated his head, inspecting the surroundings in search of his stolen meal. It didn't take him much time to locate the room he was previously holding, flying away and landing calmly on the ground. Then, a yellow streak bolted from it, directed towards the reptile.
The monster was not pleased to see his lunch taken away from him. He glared at the fool that had dared to challenge him and his patience.
The Godzilla-like creature stood on four paws and launched an angry roar towards his opponent, almost breaking every glass object in a radius of one kilometer.
"...that is a declaration of war, isn't it?" the little yellow eyed boy calmly said, not at all dazed by this showcase of strength.
The monster had had it of the insolence of this brat. With another growl, he slashed his claws at the boy with surprising speed for a being of his size. But it was not enough fast, as the boy disappeared in a yellow beam before the giant could reach him. Immediately, the superhero began launching yellow energy spheres at the body of the monsters, continuing to move in order to avoid the sharp claws. Soon the boy understood that it was no good keeping at it: the lizard was covered by a thick draft of reptilian scales as hard as metal, and there was no weak point visible.
This thing is the first one of its kind I fight! How the heck I am supposed to know how to beat him?, the boy thought while he flew away at a safe distance, studying the monster. The lizard did not follow him at first, and this gave him some precious seconds to regain his breath and think of a way to finish the battle as soon as possible.
Of course, this boy wasn't normal, neither in abilities nor in shape. His head, a bit disproportioned to the rest of his body, was only the tip of it, given the enormous eyes with yellow eyelids and the fingerless hands. He was wearing a yellow long-sleeved shirt and simple black trousers, with a pair of sneakers that shared the colour of his eyes. The appearance was completed by his short, straight, dark blonde hair.
This boy was no other than Donnie, the same boy the Powerpuff Girls had saved from a terrible fate six months ago. And he seemed to have slightly changed from that event.
Before he could think of a good plan, the monster decided it was time to make his move. Quickly, he inspected his surroundings until he located something he could use against the superpowered kid. Something dangerous.
Donnie braced himself when the lizard grabbed a near powerline framework and threw the thing at him. Avoiding the flying metal was easy, but Donnie had failed to realize that the monster had not cut the electrical wires. This caused the wires themselves to follow the flying object in the air, and there were too many of those for Donnie to evade. Soon the boy was used as a conductor by a high voltage current, event that momentarily stunned him.
The monster was already on him before Donnie could recover, and it wasted no time as it literally punched away the kid, with a force enough to send him through three lines of skyscrapers and eventually crashing him in the outskirts.
The monster grinned, confident to have already achieved an easy victory, and marched towards the crashing site in order to give the final blow in case it was needed.
Soon, he knew that he would have to work harder to win against the yellow puff.
In an explosion of yellow light, Donnie darted away from the crater he was lying on and made a beeline for the monster's stomach. Before the above mentioned monster could defend itself, Donnie was already on him and kicked with all his strength the creature, making it stumble back. But the boy did not left him alone and continue to storm him with close combat attacks, trying to find a scale or a zone where the armour was weaker.
The lizard was beginning to get ticked off: he waited for the right moment to grab the kid while he tried to slash him continuously, keeping him busy. The monsters' arms were incredibly fast for an organism of his size, and Donnie soon understood his second error when he suddenly found himself trapped inside one of the lizard's fists. With a roar, he tossed the boy towards the ground, where he crashed into again, and the last thing Donnie saw was the enormous green foot coming towards him.
It was in that moment that the monster felt something strange as soon as his foot stopped its movement…like, it was levitating from the earth instead of touching it.
Under the monstrous paw, Donnie was still alive and in one piece, sweat forming around his face. He frantically moved his hands over him, where a trembling blur in the air revealed the presence of a force field.
I can't keep this up!, he thought as he darted away from the hazardous position. The shield was able to sustain itself for some moments before disappearing, giving Donnie enough time to escape before everything under the foot was reduced to dust.
Now the monster was mad. Donnie knew he had little time, so he decided to modify a little the previous tactic with the straight forward kick. He moved his hands up-and-down, and a second after a force field appeared in front of him. He thereafter charged towards the giant being, hands forwards and keeping the shield active.
Oblivious to the addition, the monster growled and stood up on the two posterior legs, proceeding to throw back the right one in preparation for a powerful kick. When Donnie was fifty meters away from him, the monster attacked, and the boy hoped that he wasn't going to be slammed to the ground for the third time.
At the impact, there was no sound… except for the loud lament of pain coming from the monster and the disturbing noise of giant bones breaking.
Donnie immediately retreated, just in time as sharp claws tried to reduce him to Swiss cheese. The force field had actually given more momentum to Donnie's attack, and now the monster was visibly moving with a limp. What Donnie needed now was a way to make the beast fall.
After the nth angry roar the monster charged forward, demolishing everything in his way. He was furious, but that also meant he was distracted and vulnerable.
When the monster reached him, the beast tried to go with a direct punch, which hit nothing but air. Donnie, instead of moving back, began circling around the monster's arm in order to get nearer to his head. The move was effective, as the disoriented monster limited himself to shake his arm in a pathetic attempt to shoo away the kid.
After some seconds, Donnie found himself face to face with the titan. The being opened its massive mouth and leaned forward in an attempt to eat the kid in one bit, but Donnie was actually expecting him to do this. He didn't move, but something light blue shined in his hands before he disappeared behind the monster's fangs.
The lizard was already going to celebrate when something exploded inside his mouth, and an entire series of teeth was literally shot away from his jaw. Through one of the newly opened holes Donnie flew away, leaving the death trap behind him. He immediately turned in order to react to a possible retaliation, but nothing attacked the boy.
The monster was too much preoccupied in moaning and trying to soothe the pain in his mouth. Actually, he was so distracted he completely failed to see the water tank he stumbled over while walking back. The monster showed an immensely surprised face while he fell to the ground, causing the earth to rumble loudly around him.
Donnie crossed his hands and waited patiently for the monster to get up, something that actually required an entire minute of struggle by the battered lizard. When the giant was confident of the equilibrium he had reached, he glared at the boy for a single second before eventually turning the opposite way and escaping in the direction of the great lake which occupied the East side of Ultrapolis.
Donnie didn't actually believe it until the last green scale disappeared into the deep waters. I… I did it!, he thought, I've beaten him! I've defeated my first monster!
Donnie had more than one motif to be happy of this achievement. For the last six months he had done nothing too much different from helping old women's cats to get down from trees. To be honest, he had thwarted two heists in two different banks preventing anyone from getting hurt, and he had helped the police more than one time, but that was it, and Donnie couldn't help but think about the extraordinary deeds of the three superheroines who still were his reference model.
Of course, he didn't want Ultrapolis to be invaded by mad genius monkeys, infernal demons or irascible hillbillies. His only goal was to show to the entire town that he had changed, that hewasn't the same one and that he wanted to remedy to the damage he had caused in the first months of his life.
Donnie hoped that the defeat of this monster, one beatable only by a true superhero, was going to give an important blow to the prejudices people still carried about him. While he would have needed to investigate about how a giant monster had appeared in the lake, as it was basically the first one which attacked the city from the date of foundation, Donnie was too much in good mood to think about it now. He still had something to do before he could go home, and this time he sure didn't want to be late.
After waiting for some additional seconds, just in case the reptile returned for a comeback, the boy hastily whirled and zapped away in the direction of the city centre.
While he flew, Donnie couldn't help to give some quick glances to the people under him. In the previous months, he had examined every face he could see, searching for something different from anger, hatred, disgust, doubt and hostility. The remembrance of what he had done was hard to forget, and Donnie couldn't really blame them. He only hoped that this recent event could change things.
During the travel towards the Town Hall, Donnie didn't find any of the usual emotions over the townspeople features, replaced by indifference, curiosity and… gratitude?
Maybe he had just been lucky… or maybe something had really changed!
Soon Donnie found himself in front of the entrance to Ultrapolis' Town Hall, a construction which, to put it simply, erupted modernity from every hole. It was built with a classic steel metal frame, but almost all the external walls were made of glass. From every room of the tall building it was possible to see the city ahead and, over a certain height, below. It somewhat resembled the design of the palaces who hosted the most important meetings of the countries part of the European Union.
Donnie approached the wooden black door, huge compared to his size, and opened it. Nobody in the busy crowd around him tried to stop him or whatsoever. In fact, they didn't even acknowledge his presence, apart from some rare glances directed towards him. Everyone was used to his presence: in any case, it was his duty to come and talk with the Mayor of Ultrapolis about what he had done.
The boy had to take the stairs in order to reach the first floor of the Town Hall, where the Mayor's office was located. He calmly proceeded towards the room and timidly waved at the Mayor's secretary, who happily saluted back. That woman had a rather joyful behaviour and for the first period she was the only person in the entire administration that dared to smile at him.
Her response meant that the Mayor was waiting for him, as expected.
Donnie sighed, tried to look calm, and entered the office.
What greeted him was a stunningly austere workroom, though visitors could still be amazed by the sight visible through the glass walls around. It only hosted some simple cacti plants, two chairs for guests, various lockers, two medium sized bookcases and the desk of the Mayor of Townsville.
"Ah, Donnie. Saluton. I was waiting for you," the mayor greeted formally.
"Saluton… Are we going to speak in English, Mayor?" Donnie responded and asked, perplexed by the language chosen by the Mayor. After all, Esperanto was Ultrapolis' official language.
"Yes, we are. We both talk fluently it, but some exercise here and there is not going to harm us, is it?" the Mayor said as he turned off his computer and stood up from his chair.
Donnie smiled. Actually, he had been talking more English than Esperanto during the last months. It was a way to keep him fresh with the new language, and he sure didn't want to already forget it. After all, Aunt Katja had told him that basically all people in Ultrapolis knew at least English as second language. It was a city created to be international in every way.
The Mayor of Ultrapolis circled the desk and went to stand right in front of the yellow puff. This Mayor was the exact polar opposite of his naïve Townsville's counterpart: he was a tall man who wore a formal suit and tie, cloth who couldn't really hide the first signals of ageing. The Mayor was an about fifty-years old man who had a long career in politics, and he basically considered his role in Ultrapolis as the peak of it. He had learned to use power in the most efficient possible way, and many had questioned if he actually had some morals out of the ones he used to gain the voters' support.
It was probably a blessing that this man had already been elected Mayor when Donnie had made his return to Ultrapolis, six months ago. The question of the 'Little Superhero' or 'Devil's Pawn', the name changed depending on the side chosen, had quickly become the main object of discussion in the entire city. But the Mayor had rejected both solutions: sending Donnie to some unknown laboratory to be imprisoned and studied, or just accept him as he was right away.
Donnie remembered how he had been called by the Mayor himself and how the two of them had made a personal pact, even though it was one between him and the entire town in a way. Donnie had accepted at the time to see the use of his powers limited. He couldn't fly around, he couldn't use his energy or force powers, he could only act as the little kid he looked like… unless asked. Because every time a high tier problem appeared in time, there was a chance that the Mayor would have called for Donnie's help.
So, in the past six months, Donnie had worked to protect the city, but only if necessary. Sometimes the little boy had doubts, and he wondered if he was actually fighting crime like his American friends or if he was being tested by the weird man. After all, he had to wait for some time before he was asked to do something a bit more important than saving cats. But until now, the Mayor had had only good words for him, though he had never smiled, and no kind of punishment had to be used. Donnie was actually good with the pact. Even though he had been under the control of the powerful demon, he was still the one who had terrorized the city, and the first motif for his return was to try and fix things.
"I have watched you while you fought with that titan, Donnie. You did well. God knows what we would have done without your help," the Mayor said, his expression indecipherable as always.
He walked around, like he usually did when he talked for more than ten seconds, "Your show had raised at lot of commotion in the city as usual, but this time it was definitely bigger. I can already see the journals tomorrow with the main title: 'The Savior of Ultrapolis'."
Donnie tried his best to remain calm. Maybe this was the moment where the tests ended and he was recognized as a true superhero?
"Nevertheless, I can also see some other titles like 'Giant lizard attacks the city,' with the subtitle 'Is the mutant kid responsible for its arrival?' "
The sparks of hope inside Donnie were disintegrated as the Mayor continued imperturbably his speech, "You know, there were various articles written about how the Powerpuff Girls actually increased the attack rate of the monsters directed towards their city, and on the internet there are groups forming which state that the giant lizard had appeared only because of you, Donnie."
Donnie watched the ground gloomily. Here it was, all his efforts had been useless again.
"I personally think that those ideas are quite imaginative, but completely untrue."
Donnie blinked and stared at the Mayor, dumbfounded.
"Reality is, they are blinded by their hostility towards you to see the pollution problem with the factories aside the lake that I have been trying to resolve for the last five years myself. I was surprised to see only one of those beasts emerge from those waters, to be honest."
The Mayor finally watched Donnie directly in the eyes, and the boy felt like he was being inspected in his inner soul, "Members of the Committee had also accused you of being the cause of a supposed increase in criminality. But those are still suppositions, and there can be dozens of other reasons for that."
The Mayor broke eye contact with the little boy and walked towards a new recent addition to the office Donnie had not noticed. It was a tiny table which supported something, though both the object and the table were concealed by a simple brown-coloured wool cover. The implications of that sight were so big that Donnie nearly fell down to his knees.
"All of this is for saying that, in my honest opinion, you have struggled for enough time Donnie."
With a fast move, the Mayor picked up the cover and removed it, revealing the hidden object under. It was a simple grey, digital cordless phone, not even the most modern model available on the market, of which the charging station was red coloured. The strange things was, its buttons were all blank with the exception of the buttons for making and accepting calls. It was like the phone, this way, could only call for one number. But that meant…
The Mayor suddenly put himself between Donnie and the little table and kneeled down to his own height, something he had never done before. He was keeping something in his right hand, but Donnie had not the time to imagine what it could be as the man handed it over at once.
"This is your personal pager, Donnie. It's obviously more advanced than it looks: we can talk to each other with it through this phone, even at very long distances," the Mayor explained as he pointed at the cordless behind him, "and it can also receive coordinates and tell you where to go in the city. It's a little present of mine for your new status."
Donnie slowly looked up to the Mayor. His eyes were definitely teary, though not of sadness, but of complete euphoria.
At this sight, the Mayor just had to abandon his formal composure and smiled, for the first time since Donnie's first encounter with him.
"Obviously, you're supposed not to lose it. You know, it's very expensive. Got it?"
Donnie found it hard to believe that this Mayor was the same one who had watched every one of his movements with detached analysis for the past months.
"G-… Got it… Th-.. Thanks…" were the only words Donnie was able to babble as an answer.
"You're welcome. Do not fail me or the citizens of this city. Now you have our faith, but it's up to you to use it wisely," he reached out with his hands and once again stupefied Donnie by messing up his hair, "you're a good child. Go home now: this is your first day out of our little pact, and the first day where you're free to use your powers as much as you want."
Donnie did not wait for the Mayor to repeat himself. He gave him a fast nod before turning on his hells and running away from the buil- scratch that. He flew through the entire thing, leaving behind him swirls of air that messed up more than one accountant's work, but Donnie was too happy to care now. Half of the employees gave him angry stares… the other half laughed at his passage.
He was free! He was ready to take the next level and actually become for Ultrapolis what the girls were for Townsville!
Professor Laurentium would have been proud of him. Or better, he was proud of him right now, to put it more like how he liked to think about him.
This was one of the best days of his life.
Donnie spent a single minute of flight to reach the small flat he lived in. When he had returned to Ultrapolis, the child had thought at first that he would surely have had to go back sleeping in the alleys inside cardboards. He actually would have accepted that, he wasn't in the position to make requests anyway, but Aunt Katja, his creator's cousin, had other ideas.
Donnie had only known of the woman thanks to the few notes about her written on Professor Laurentium's journal, including the role that her single visit had in the process of his birth. That meant that when she stepped forward and greeted him as a nephew, he was surprised to see her in the real world and probably would have refused her offer if it wasn't for her insistence. Afterwards he had learned to respect her, with the fact that not only she had to cope with his creator's death similarly to how he did, but that her husband Thomas and their two sons had right away made clear that they didn't like the idea of the puff living with them.
He felt an enormous gratitude towards her, and he'd always tried to pay back the help she had given him. That was true even now, when for the first time he entered the flat directly through the kitchen's window.
"Hello Donnie!" Aunt Katja said smiling. She had transferred to Ultrapolis with her family only one year ago, and therefore she usually spoke in English with him. "You look happy. I guess something important has happened today, hasn't it?"
Donnie needed five second to register her reaction. Wasn't she surprised by the fact he had flown into the building? That didn't make sense! Unless…
"You know?" he simply asked.
"Woops… I'm not really a good actress, huh?" she giggled, "the Mayor himself has called to tell us about your new status, to use his words." It wasn't strange that the Mayor had called Donnie's new home. In his will to have everything under control, he personally contacted and kept informed both Katja and her husband about Donnie's situation and what he did during his trips in the city. It was another thing that was supposed to stop happening from that day.
Which reminded Donnie of the good news he had brought with him, which immediately made him leap at her Aunt and hug her, stopping her attempt to say her congratulations.
"I did it!" Donnie almost shouted, "Look! He gave me this!".
For Katja it was quite unexpected to see Donnie put much importance on what was at first impact a simple pager, but she didn't want to stop Donnie's fast speech, who at the moment was acting exactly like the kid he looked like, laughing and explaining at the same time excitedly. After ten seconds she had to join him, and thus they didn't notice the entrance of a third figure in the room, who sat down at the kitchen's table before announcing his presence.
"Well, well, it seems like there is some happiness in the air….?" Uncle Thomas commented with a neutral face. As soon as the second 'well' had left the man's mouth, Donnie immediately separated himself from his aunt and looked around, like he wanted to make sure that he didn't hit anything during the commotion. Donnie was afraid of his uncle, who had been the most hostile member of the family towards him and had always stated his opposition to his presence. Even though their relationship had largely improved during the last two months, Donnie was still scared of him. Figures that a simple human could actually fright him more than the giant lizard he had just beaten half an hour before.
"Relax, Donnie. It's the big one today after all, isn't it?" he said while what could be confused for a smile appeared on his face. That scene had the only effect to make Donne feel even more awkward.
"We're all proud of you, Donnie," Katja continued, the smile never leaving her face, "Your father would have been proud of you as well…"
Donnie nodded his agreement. That was one of the few things he was one hundred per cent sure of.
"You know, Donnie," Uncle Thomas resumed, "That thickhead of a mayor has suggested us to give you some type of prize for all the hard work you had done for Ultrapolis, and frankly I cannot disagree with him. I must admit you really need some time to rest. So we and Katja have reached a little agreement."
Donnie moved his gaze to her aunt, whose grin was wider than ever. "Jimmy and Jonathan are leaving in two weeks. We had a big stroke of luck, because the two of them will have the school trip in the same two weeks, and that gives us a big occasion we cannot waste. They have already told me and Thomas that they don't mind using their room while they're away."
Donnie had also succeeded in gaining the confidence of her aunt's two sons, so he wasn't surprised by their willingness to leave their room free to use. The question was, for what?
"You have gone visiting your American friends only two times from your arrival here, Donnie. It's time to reciprocate the favour."
For the second time that day, Donnie felt his legs collapse and didn't fall to the ground only because of pure luck.
"Wait, aunt… Are you-… are you telling me that…?" Donnie was bewildered over measurement. In less than one hour he beat for the first time a giant monster, he was officially free to use his powers and unofficially elected a superhero, and now they…
Uncle Thomas stood up as for leaving the room, but not before gesturing for the phone located on one of the kitchen's cupboards.
"Go on, call them. You really don't want to wait more than you should."
With that, he left for another chamber, but Donnie executed his order nonetheless. He literally rushed for the phone, but before starting to dial up a number he wouldn't have forgotten for all the gold in the world, he watched Katja, looking for a confirmation of sorts. The woman smiled again and motioned him to continue.
Donnie sighed. He called them every weekend, and now it was Tuesday. He hoped both to find them home and not disturb either them or the Professor, but Uncle Thomas was right, if he'd dared to wait he probably would have exploded.
In a moment, the number appeared on the screen, and after the usual seconds needed for an international call it began beeping into Donnie's ear.
The next ten seconds seemed like hours to the little kid, but they soon ended as the phone clicked and a certain male voice answered the call.
"Hello, this is Professor Utonium. What can I do for you?"
Donnie swallowed and tried his best not to babble, "Ahem… uhm… Professor… it's me, Donnie…"
"Ah, Donnie! Nice to hear you! Is there something wrong? You usually call us on Sundays."
"No, no, Professor, we're all good. I don't want to disturb you…"
"Go on, go on, I was preparing a little afternoon snack for the girls, but I can continue later."
"The girls?" Donnie was once again surprised by his luck. He knew that the girls usually passed their afternoons at school. "Are they home?"
"To be precise, they're in their room at the moment. You should know, Mojo Jojo with his last plan has turned Pokey Oaks into a crater, so they're three or four days out until their teacher can find a temporary place to continue their lessons. Do you need to talk with them?"
"Yes, but I… I think I must ask you before. Aunt Katja and Uncle Thomas have agreed to let me… uhh… to let me invite the girls to.. to go here, in Ultrapolis."
There were some seconds of silence, during which Donnie thought that Professor Utonium was going to begin screaming into the telephone. But of course, the boy had known the Professor for too little time.
"That's a great idea, Donnie! You know, the same thought has passed through my mind more than one time. The girls themselves had talked with me about it. I guess they're very curios to visit the city they know only thanks to your descriptions."
With that, he heard something moving and the Professor's voice again, "Girls! Answer the phone and turn on the speakerphone. It's Donnie, he needs to talk with you!"
Before the channel was changed the Professor had just the time to tell an astonished Donnie, "No need to thank me!"
Maybe he didn't really want to be declared that way, but it wasn't really important. Donnie waited for some seconds but no one said anything, so he slowly asked, "…girls? Are you there?"
"DONNIE!" a chorus of three voices fired back, and he was right away overwhelmed with a flow of words ranging from questions to comments to declarations to salutes and so on.
"Donnie! How you're you doing, kid?" Buttercup began.
"You've never called us during the week! Has something bad happened there?" Blossom questioned.
"Donnie! I'm so happy to hear from you!" Bubbles said.
A lone tear escaped one of Donnie's eyes. He just couldn't stop it, every time he heard the Powerpuff Girls' voices, it went out like a mechanical reaction. And every time he had to be the one to stop their simultaneous chat before Uncle Thomas could complain about the price of the international call.
"Girls! Girls!" he said until he was sure there was silence in the room on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, "One at a time, or we'll stay there forever… and anyway, I have to ask you something… ugh. You know, I've been guest to your house more than one time… and I thought that maybe we could… do stuff, ahem, like the other way around… If you like the idea too…"
Donnie's attempt was stopped by the girls themselves, specifically Blossom who as usual was the first one to link the dots together and realize what Donnie was trying to ask them.
"You want us to go and visit you there? In Ultrapolis?" she said with a tone that had a little hint of expectation.
"uuhmm… yeah, something like that…" Donnie confirmed. He would have wanted to add in details, but the girls once again prevented him from talking, though this time they remembered about the 'talking-one-at-a-time" rule.
"Donnie, that's a wonderful idea! We've always wanted to visit you one day or another!" Blossom exclaimed.
"Yeah! You know, I'm pretty curios to see if the criminals there are something worth fighting with!" Buttercup immediately joked.
"You need to show us the entire city! The monuments, the landmarks everyone you know, everything!" Bubbles listed, visibly the happiest one out of the three, which is saying something given how much happy the other two were.
"But you're sure we can? Have you already told the Professor? What about your aunt and uncle?" Blossom inquired, preoccupied by the possible opinions of the people she mentioned.
"The Professor has already told me he's good with it, and as for Katja and Thomas, they were actually the ones who proposed the thing in the first place. No need to worry, Blossom," Donnie said, smiling at how the redhead wanted to make sure that there weren't any problems with their idea.
"You know what? You're inviting us only because you can challenge me again and play at home. Aren't you?" Buttercup teased.
Donnie chuckled at the remark. Buttercup and him had been challenging each other during the previous times he had visited them, silly things like races of various sorts, but the brunette had still proved to be a hard opponent to beat. "Maybe, Buttercup. Or maybe you're the one who's actually scared to play away from your home…"
The strike was effective, but Buttercup had not the chance to retort as Bubbles interjected, "When are we going then? I'm sooo looking forward to see you Donnie!"
Donnie thought he had heard some type of little giggle, but he wasn't totally sure about it. The noise was followed by Bubbles' protest, "Hey! What's so funny?"
He continued talking with the Powerpuff Girls for some additional minutes, telling them the when and where with the help of Aunt Katja.
When he finally put down the phone, a second tear streamed down one of the yellow eyed boy's cheek.
Now it was definitely the best day of his life.
More than six thousand kilometres away….
"CURSES!"
Mojo Jojo, the most intelligent being in the world, the terror of Townsville, one of the worst enemies of the human race… was bellowing his discomfort.
"CURSES! CURSES! CUURSEEES!"
The chimpanzee was walking with heavy footsteps in his observatory main hall, following a circular path. "Wretched, insufferable Powerpuff Girls!"
Mojo Jojo had just returned to his lair after miraculously escaping his three little nemesis. He was so sure that this plan was going to work, that this was going to be the day where the accursed girls would have been pulverized and disposed of, but he had been wrong, once again. How it was possible that a genius like him, an entity so much superior to the other inhabitants of this city, could be repeatedly defeated by a bunch of kindergarteners?
"CURSES!" was the only answer Mojo Jojo could think of. He finally abandoned his walking pace and headed for another part of the observatory, where most of his weapons were located. He glanced at every one of them: "How can it be? For what reason I, Mojo Jojo, persist in being beaten? Why do my perfect plans continue to… malfunction?"
Furious as he was, he kicked one of the machines, some type of laser turret which crumbled right after being hit, shouting, "Why are the Powerpuff Girls still alive?!"
"Jeez, Mojo, calm down! What happened, you forgot your daily banana ration or somethin'?"
Mojo Jojo seethed at the remark. The day seemed to be getting worse and worse.
He slowly turned his head to face the three intruders that had dared to enter his observatory without announcing themselves. The problem was, the Rowdyruff Boys didn't need any announcement.
"You chose the most wrong time of them all to come here, boys. That is to say, you should turn on your heels and leave immediately before I consider resort to extreme measures!"
"Relax, Mojo," the redhead boy that insulted him before said, the one he considered the most annoying out of the three, "You're not even going to realize we've been there. Right boys?"
"You said it, Brick!" another black haired one replied as he began testing the strength of his punches on one of Mojo's battle bots. The last blond one seemed to be more interested in one of his personal laser rifles.
Normally Mojo Jojo would have begun screeching until the boys stopped their rude behaviour, but by now he was too much focused on his main problem to care. After all, these things they were ruining had been part of plans that had already made their course. In other words, scrap.
After the reconciliation between the evil genius and the demon known as Him, the Rodwyruff Boys had begun visiting both of them regularly. Mojo Jojo didn't really care about what they were doing when they weren't at the observatory, because to him the boys were not much more than a remembrance of a past failure. Maybe the additions made by that weird Him had something to do with it, the boys were much different now from his first design, but nevertheless he couldn't really be interested by them if they continued to be defeated by the Powerpuff Girls similarly to how he did. He would surely have been more inclined to not get angry at them if they brought the heads of the accursed girls to him.
Which made Mojo remember about the recent events, which also made him curse again aloud. Brick eyed him with an almost amused face before losing any interest and walk away to join his brothers.
The mischievous monkey looked around and in the end left himself fall on a chair he normally used to relax while thinking of the next plan. He absently observed the Rowdyruff Boys while they played with, and therefore destroyed, his collection of machines of various sorts. Brick was still walking without a final destination, looking for something that could remove the boredom visible on his face, while Butch had succeeded in activating two battle bots and was laughing aloud while the two of them fought stupidly each other. Boomer was still trying to understand how to shoot with the laser rifle he had stolen.
Boomer… who did the boy remind him of?
When the memory returned to Mojo's mind, his hands clenched the sides of the chair. Because Mojo now had more than three little problems to deal with. His main goal had always been taking over the world, and until now he had believed the Powerpuff Girls to be the main and only obstacle to reach that objective. Six months ago, after his umpteenth voyage to jail, the obstacles had grown in number from three to four.
"Dimwit of a boy..." the monkey muttered while one of the fighting battle bots exploded, much to Butch's delight. He knew that one day or another he would have had to deal with him again, he had looked for information and had found out that the fourth superkid had settled somewhere in Europe and was defending a city just like the girls did in Townsville. It wasn't only a problem of getting him off his path towards world domination: Mojo was no fool and knew that, if the boy knew that his little friends were in trouble, would have sprinted to go help them. Facing three superheroes was a problem, but four of them? That was something he should have avoided if possible.
Maybe he had to destroy him now that he was alone. The yellow puff was powerful, but he was young and inexperienced. Without him a quarter of the thorns in his side would have disappeared, and he would have been able to focus his efforts on the Powerpuff Girls.
Yes, he thought, I should strike now, when my nemesis and him do not expect it. But how?
Mojo had not the chance to brainstorm ideas as a laser beam suddenly passed on his side, missing his protected brain by a few centimetres. The evil monkey right away reacted by bellowing the name of the responsible of the incident: "BOOMER!"
Boomer looked like he was scared by the furious monkey. He found the ground suddenly more interesting than anything else in the room as the footsteps of his irritated first creator approached him and eventually his shadow loomed over him. Butch and Brick were watching him from a distance, and they looked like they enjoyed the show.
"What in the world were you trying to do? I may let you use my powerful inventions one day every ten decades, but trying to harm my extremely valued life is something else! Now tell me why I shouldn't get that rifle and shoot it into your mouth!"
"I… ahem… dunno… it was an incident, you know… tee hee…" Boomer stuttered, trying to sound sincere. Mojo was obviously not affected by the display, and he would have described the ten ways he was going to torture him when something hit him. Boomer raised his head when no one spoke for ten seconds straight and he was surprised to see Mojo Jojo watch him, then turn to his brothers, then watch him again. He did so for about twenty seconds, before eventually stopping. His anger had mysteriously disappeared… in its place there was an evil smile.
"Hey, Mojo, maybe your brain has finally short circuited?" Butch joked.
"Oh, not in the slightest, little Butch," Mojo replied with a quiet and strangely soothing tone, "To be honest, I have been too much hard with you, Boomer. My apologies."
Boomer made a step back, unsure if the one talking to him was actually Mojo or someone else. Butch was bewildered as well, but Brick was enough smart to know that Mojo was up to no good.
"Forget it, Mojo," he stated, "We'll not help you in one of your stupid plans, plots and whatsoever."
"Well, Brick, who said I was going to ask for your help?"
Mojo Jojo had put a strong accent on the 'your' word. Choice that had the effect the evil genius expected: Brick quirked an eyebrow and crossed his arms, "Hmph, what, are you trying to tell us that you're going to ask for someone else help? Like we care…"
"You're right, Brick," Mojo explained, "I am going to ask for someone else help. You know, when you see someone who's definitely better in every way than you three, you cannot not to be interested by it…"
"Hey! Who's better than us?" Butch asked, already feeling offended by the monkey's speech.
"Maybe you used to be stronger, maybe you have weakened during the past months, but nonetheless, my future co-operator will definitely be of more help than any of you, or you three altogether, could be."
"Weakened? Are you nuts, Mojo?" Butch was now angry, "We're the Rowdyruff Boys! Nobody is stronger than us!"
"Not even the stupid Powerpuff Girls!" Boomer added, feeling insulted as well. However, the phrase had the only effect to gain a punch directly from the boys' leader. While Boomer scratched his head, Brick fixed Mojo with a cold glare that could have scared anyone… except for the wicked primate.
"Say… Not that I believe your words, but who is this guy?"
Mojo grinned. His plan was working perfectly.
"Oh, I haven't come yet to know his name, but he's currently living somewhere in Europe. The good boy had already helped me once, and he had proved to be-…"
"I don't care what he did to help you, Mojo," Brick interrupted, "I don't even care about what's going on in your mind right now. My only concern is to meet this show-off you're talking about and see if he is as strong as like you say, something which I highly doubt about. In either case, we'll see who is stronger when this 'boy' will be crying at my feet!"
Mojo Jojo tried his best not to laugh aloud. He didn't even need to lie! Except for the part where he said he needed the yellow puff's help, but that was just a side detail.
"I bet the coward will bolt like a little rabbit as soon as he sees us!" Butch said, completely agreeing with the red capped boy.
"We'll show him who's the weakest!" Boomer chimed in. Brick limited himself to roll his eyes this time, and afterwards he said, "Let's go!"
The Rowdyruff Boys finally left Mojo observatory, of course crashing into the roof and producing a new hole in the already battered ceiling. But for once, Mojo was not annoyed by it.
The Rodwyruff Boys may have not been able to beat the girls… but what could a single puff do against the three of them?
The answer was simple: nothing. Mojo Jojo launched himself in an evil laugh. One problem was solved, he only needed to make sure of the result in a few days or so. Now to deal with the other three…
Before he could start up the project of a new plan, a ringing sound echoed in the chamber. It was Mojo Jojo's phone. Normally Mojo Jojo would have just left the thing ring unanswered or zap it with his laser pistol, but his mood had improved during the last five minutes and he decided to personally greet the caller. Not to talk with him, mind you, he would have just stated he had not time to chat when his duty called him.
To be honest, it was hard someone called him at all, but he didn't find it strange at all. After all, he was dreaded in the entire city and beyond.
Mojo Jojo picked up the receiver and said in a slightly annoyed tone, "I have not the time to talk about your pathetic problems, whoever you are, as I, Mojo Jojo, have more important matters to attend to, and therefore I cannot in any way put myself in something different from finding a way to destroy the Powerpuff Girls. And this means that…"
Despite those words, the caller did not gave up. He or she said something that succeeded in stopping Mojo's speech, as he said "Hmph, you say an advantage, huh? Continue and hope it's something worth my time…". The evil genius calmly listened to what the caller had to tell him.
After half a minute, Mojo Jojo finally said, "This is… much interesting. I must say it's something that can actually help me in my goals. Yes… Your offer is good, and I might help you… what was your name?"
