(AN: Written for a prompt at the ppg_hub_drabble community on LiveJournal.)
…
It happened.
After thirteen years, it finally happened.
The city of Townsville was a wreck, the throngs of panicked citizens from before now all either dead or wisely staying in their hiding places. When Him—of course it had been Him—had turned the city politicians against each other, against everyone… and then unleashed his own full destruction…it was only a matter of time.
Professor Utonium, graying far more than his fifty-five years should have allowed, had had his trembling hand pressed to his trembling face for a good twenty minutes at least, hardly noticing the destruction around him… only the destruction in front of him.
His girls were dead.
Of course they had flown into the melee with determination, when Him characteristically revealed himself, Blossom proclaiming with confidence, "As long as the Powerpuff Girls are here, evil will never prevail!"
The Powerpuff Girls were no longer here.
It took the Professor less than half an hour of standing there numbly, his view of their lifeless bodies only slightly blurred from the stunned tears that trickled from his eyes, for him to gain a determined resolve of his own.
He stumbled his way back home. Past the shelled-out structures that had once been buildings, past the smoldering remains of vehicles, past the now empty and abandoned houses. His own home still looked cheery and bright, the girls' bookbags dropped haphazardly at the front door, their graduation gowns hanging proudly in the entryway… it had only been a few weeks to the big day…
A day that would now never arrive.
The Professor did not pause to grieve this, still mechanically moving through the main floor, taking a detour to the kitchen to grab supplies, and down the stairs to the basement lab, forcing his mind to remain on its mission.
The supplies… were simple. They had been last time, and they would be this time, too. It was almost laughingly simple, in fact.
Sugar. Spice. And everything nice.
The Professor stared at his concoction, the cheery, happy mixture, just as it was thirteen years previously, just waiting for…
He quickly and violently toppled over the vial of Chemical X on the shelf above into the pot.
He knew, from experience, that the mixture would bubble ominously for only a few seconds before the inevitable explosion, and yet still he stared in wonder at what he had just done, at history repeating itself all over again, at—
BOOM!
The explosion knocked the Professor clear to the other side of the room and against more shelves, yet he ignored the pain and quickly scrambled to his feet, hurrying back to the work table.
The debris in the air cleared.
Looking up at him were three little girls; the one in the middle red-haired and pink-eyed, the one to her right blonde and blue-eyed, and the one to her left dark-haired and green-eyed. Three perfect little girls, smiling innocently, their lives only just beginning.
"Hi!" said the redhead—Blossom—cheerfully.
A new beginning. For as long as the Powerpuff Girls were there, evil would never prevail.
The Professor smiled.
"Hello, girls."