CHAPTER TWO: THE WARRIOR'S PLEA
"No, girls, I don't think he's hurt."
The dog from the alley sat on a long, white table in the center of Professor Utonium's lab. It was situated in the modest basement of the Powerpuff Girls's house. Charts of double helixes and periodic elements hung uniformly on the plain white walls. The Professor peered into a fancy-looking magnifying glass directed at the dog while the girls hovered nearby.
"Is he, like, normal?" asked Buttercup. "He's not gonna talk our ears off like that one dog we had, is he?"
"As normal as normal can be." The girls's father and creator stood from his inspection device. "I think he's going to be juuuuuuust fine."
Seeming to sense his presence was no longer required, the dog stood and stretched. Now that he was indoors and far away from his abusers, he had at least lost all tension. He hopped off the table and made a trek around the laboratory, his bouncing nose skimming across the ground. His purple reflection passed in distortion through the many beakers the Professor kept on shelves.
"Professor?" Bubbles ventured, "can we―?"
"You know the new rule, sweetheart," the Professor said. "If you can be responsible for him, you may keep him."
"Yay!" Bubbles ran to her new pet, who immediately took off across the lab floor's shiny tiles. She pursued him, to no avail, behind one of the shelves.
"Where did you say you found him?" the Professor asked. "On the east side of town? What on Earth were you doing all the way out there? There was no trouble there today."
And like a slap to the face, they were reminded. "Professor," Blossom spoke up, "there's something you should know…"
"Bygone era!?" the Professor raved, once they were done. They had migrated to the living room, where he now paced back and forth across the indigo rug. The girls had never seen him this worked up. "Why, I ought to give this new, more 'qualified' mayor a piece of my mind! You three are just as important to this town as you have ever been."
"But what should we do, Professor?" Blossom asked.
"Well, I say we pay him another visit," Buttercup said, clapping her fist into her palm. "He tried to tell us what to do in Citiesville, too. It didn't work there, and it's not gonna work here!"
"You're just mad you couldn't think of anything to say," Bubbles said helpfully. In the meantime, she pet the dog, whom she'd insisted on bringing upstairs, even though he continued to be disengaged.
"Watch it…" growled Buttercup.
"No…no," the Professor said. He stopped his pacing and came to sit among them on the aqua-colored sofa. His clean, veined hands rose to his temples. His faintly lined face had fallen from indignation into something resembling regret. "I'm sorry girls, I…I shouldn't lose my head, and neither should you. It just gets under my skin when you're not valued, because you deserve it."
For at least a moment, the girls felt that terrible hopelessness vanish. That's what it meant to have the Professor as a dad.
"You see, I knew this would happen someday. It was natural and probably inevitable."
"Professor!" Buttercup protested. "You just said the town needs―!"
"And I meant it, sweetheart," he said. "I think the town is forgetting far too quickly what you've done for them, and just as importantly, what you've meant to them. But, at the same time, this is the town growing naturally. It's coming into its own, but it doesn't quite know what that is yet. You know what that's like. You're showing signs of growing up, too, and you're noticing things you never noticed before. Am I right?"
One by one, the girls nodded. Sometimes it felt like the whole world was deepening, becoming simultaneously more distinct and more complicated. It was more frightening than all the monsters they'd faced put together. Well…most of them.
"But that doesn't mean it needs to be all bad," the Professor went on. "Many of the villains you used to fight aren't a problem anymore, and those that still are will get the justice they deserve. That's a good thing."
"I don't know…I kind of miss fighting them," said Bubbles in a small voice. "Is that wrong?"
"You miss the old days," the Professor answered, putting an arm around her. "That happens to everyone. Everyone has something or someone in their past that they can't let go…even if that's the best thing for them."
"So, is that what we have to do?" Blossom's voice was uncharacteristically, unnervingly small. "Let Townsville go?"
The Professor struggled with words―but he never got them out. Clinking and crashing from the lab interrupted him. A slow, warbling sound pulsated from below, rattling the abstract paintings on the walls. Both the Professor and his daughters leapt off the couch. Bubbles' dog remained seated, stiff and nervous.
"Working on something, Professor?" Buttercup asked wryly but warily.
"No!" the Professor almost cried. "I wasn't even down there today before you three came home."
"An intruder, then." Blossom's voice was as cold as her ice breath. "Let's check it out, girls."
They burst through the basement door, and could only hover and gasp. The entire laboratory was rippling. It was as though the air had turned to crystal clear water, distorting every beaker and chart. The warbling was stronger, like music being played on a hundred wine glasses asynchronously. Bright light emerged from nowhere and briefly split into multi-colored spirals.
Then it was all gone, all of it, and in the middle of the lab stood a man in a white robe with black, shaggy hair. The robe was torn in several places, showing skin and wounds beneath. He held a grimy and chipped longsword parallel to his head and was looking wildly at the girls. When they didn't move or attack him, that wildness slowly dissipated into calm readiness.
"Are you yet another obstacle," he asked them, "or have I arrived?"
"My name is Jack. I have come from another world."
The strange man had reluctantly allowed himself to be guided to the same examination table around which the Utoniums had been clustered earlier―the same place, in fact, as the dog had sat. Bubbles, who was helping the Professor and her sisters apply bandages to the fighter's wounds, suppressed a giggle at the thought.
"Yes, and not a particularly friendly one," said the Professor. He applied anesthetic to a gouge on the man's back, causing him to grimace.
"Who were you fighting?" said Buttercup, who seemed fascinated by the new arrival. "Was it other guys with swords?"
"Buttercup," Blossom scolded. "Do you think he wants to revisit that just yet?"
"Just asking," she muttered.
"Monsters," he said, startling Blossom a bit. He stared more deeply into the periodic table than it really deserved.
"Now that you mention it, these do resemble claw marks," the Professor said. "I've seen more than a few in my day." He finished patching up Jack's ribs. "But no worries. I'll sew your…er, robe," he offered. "I have some clothes you can borrow in the meantime."
Jack nodded shortly. "Thank you."
They led him back upstairs and through the house to the other set of stairs leading to the top floor. The whole way, he studied his surroundings, almost unconscious of doing it. His eyes rejected the modern angles, the levitating steps, which were unlike anything he had ever seen. But he was accustomed to adjusting to the unfamiliar.
"Wait here, girls," said the Professor. "I'll show Jack to the closet."
Blossom hesitated. They didn't really know this man, and he was violent and bloodied. She didn't want to leave him alone with the Professor. "Actually…"
"Perhaps I should stay," Jack said. "I will change elsewhere once you have returned."
"Oh. All right." The Professor ascended the stairs. "Please, make yourself comfortable in the meantime."
Jack took a seat in the upholstered chair, sitting up sharply as he sunk into it. Blossom wondered. Had he read her mind about her suspicions? That certainly wasn't out of the question. Or was he just that aware?
They sat there, waiting for the Professor.
"Um…cool sword," said Buttercup.
"This?" He stared at the crude weapon across his lap as though his stare would break it. "It suffices."
Buttercup, uncomfortable, wasn't sure how to go on, so they all sat in silence.
A motion at the corner of Bubbles' eye. Her new dog, who had disappeared since the action surrounding Jack began, approached the chair. The purple canine sat on his haunches and regarded Jack blankly.
Jack spotted him. After a moment, something seemed to alarm him, and, faster than could be believed, he drew his sword and rested its point inches from the dog's nose.
"No!" Bubbles cried, leaping into the air. She wasn't going to let this mean man hurt her pet! But her pet hadn't moved. Nothing about him had changed.
Jack's demeanor, on the other hand, was haunted. "Its eyes. They see far. They…" His face crumpled. For the first time, lines appeared in that hard plane of a face. He sheathed his sword and reached his bare hand toward the dog. "I am so sorry."
The dog darted out his tongue and licked the man's hand. Then, he trotted away.
Jack noted the questions in the girls's eyes. "I saw myself in him," he said. "I saw my own darkness."
The Professor returned. He had chosen a simple grey jogging suit. Jack visited the bathroom (at their hasty requests) and came back out wearing it.
"You know (my goodness) I'm so sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves." The Professor stuck out a hand. "I'm Professor Utonium."
"Professor?" Jack haltingly took the offered shake. "A learned man. You may be just whom I need."
"And these are my…daughters." The girls nodded, following his lead. It was a simple enough explanation for now.
Jack sat again, resting his reviled sword on the ground. The dog promptly began to gnaw on the sheath, which the warrior ignored. "You have been so kind. One day, I hope to return the favor, but for now, I must ask for more help." He pushed his still-straggly hair behind his shoulders. "It has been a while since I have told this story. It seemed everyone I encountered in my travels, after a time, knew it in some form or another.
"Long ago, in a distant land, Aku, the shapeshifting master of darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil. My family is a family of samurai. It was our duty to defend our village; when Aku surfaced, my father was then responsible for defending the very Earth. He failed to destroy Aku. I nearly succeeded, many years later, but he cast me into the future before I could finish him."
"Sounds like a dirty cheater," Buttercup said.
"I come from that future today, and all I have wanted for many more years is to return to the past and finish what I started. Now…"
"Now?" The Professor seemed riveted, which Blossom found quite funny, but she held in her laughter.
"To aid us in our task of defeating Aku, the gods gifted my family a sword, one that is capable of harming and even killing him. This sword was my one constant companion in all my travels…and now Aku has broken it."
The story of its breaking alone was just as incredible. An ultimate battle, Jack vs Aku, no sword or magic allowed. The hiding of the sword. The strategic game of fake swords, in which Jack was ultimately outsmarted.
"Aku left me alive to torture me, knowing I could not retrieve the sword in any way, not even with time-travel. My only hope, then, has been to find allies powerful enough to stand with me against him." Jack eyed the girls. "Professor, I can see your daughters have…undeniable gifts. Flight, and great speed."
"SUPER-speed," Buttercup bragged. "Yeah, and we're strong, too." She swooped under the couch where her family sat and lifted it easily from the carpet.
"Buttercu―" Blossom sighed.
Jack nodded. "Impressive," he said, though he sounded hesitant. "I do seek warriors of unimaginable power. Recently, Aku annihilated two entire armies in less than ten seconds. He did it with nary a thought." Just for an instant, his eyes were burning coals.
"Well now, that sounds like quite the rip-roaring monster!" said the Professor. "But the girls have handled every monster that has ever attacked the city. I bet he'll be no trouble at all for them."
Jack's face remained straight. He wanted to believe, that was plain, but…
"He won't be." Buttercup half-threw, half placed the couch back where it had been. It groaned something fierce, but at least none of the legs broke. This time. "Let's go. Right now! We can get this over with before school tom―"
"Buttercup." Blossom levitated up to her sister and looked her in the eye. "It's pointless. We can't go. You know that." She turned to the samurai. "We're sorry, Jack," she said earnestly. "It's just…Townsville gets a lot of trouble, and we can't leave it unprotected. Especially if we have to go into another dimension…" She looked fervently at different points on the ground. "…there's no telling what would happen while we're gone.
"All right now, I've had enough of this." The Professor stood, turned, and regarded the girls. He adopted his Stern Voice. "This has been going on for too long. Every time I want to take you girls somewhere, you make such a fuss. What is going to happen if you're gone for a few days every year? No more than one monster ever attacks in that amount of time, not anymore. What is the worst that could happen?"
"I must hear this," the samurai said. "I must hear your reasons. Please. My world is at stake. Perhaps I can help with your struggle."
"No. You can't."
The Professor stood dumbfounded at their clear pain. He had seen them overwhelmed, grieving before. When Buttercup lost her favorite green blanket. When Bubbles needed glasses and endured harassment. When Blossom stole those golf clubs for him. This was different. This gave him chills.
Bubbles actually started, in her smallest, highest voice. "One day, we…we were racing home from school…."
"Suddenly there was this tunnel." Buttercup hugged her knees to her chest and looked somewhere in the general direction of the kitchen. "It had all these colors, like a stained glass window."
"And when we got out of it, we were back in town," Blossom whispered, "but it was fifty years later."
"Everyone's skin was spotty, and falling off…"
"Their eyes had red all around them."
"Him. He had taken over while we were gone. And they all said it was…"
Bubbles trailed off. The girls, with an effort, looked at each other. They each knew what those last two words were. The Professor, mind-boggled, did not.
"…our….F-F-FAULT."
The dam broke. The Powerpuff Girls cried like they hadn't in almost ten years, maybe ever. They held each other, releasing all the tension, all the responsibility they'd kept locked inside since that horrible day.
The lines of Jack's face softened. Despite the noise they were making, the dog remained disinterested. But the Professor's heart twisted at their sobs. For several seconds, he couldn't speak. The only thing that moved him to say something was the fact that he could end their pain. "That couldn't have happened," he said.
"How do you know!?" Buttercup burst out, tears flying from her large, green eyes. "How do you know it couldn't happen? We're always saving the day! We're the only reason Townsville doesn't burn! Of course it could happen!"
"No, sweetheart. I mean that couldn't have happened because...well, I happen to know you three aren't fast enough to travel through time."
He had never seen anyone shocked out of sorrow more quickly. Six confused, tortured―there was no other way of putting it―eyes looked at him with growing hope: that their burden might not be necessary. No one should have to carry that, least of all my girls! the Professor thought.
"But we did. We're not lying! We remember. There was Ms. Keane waving―"
"―the mayor's sash―"
"―all the townspeople, all of them―"
"―and you, Professor, you were in the lab and―"
"If I may interject." Jack, still so placid. He waited for them to get their breath under control. "This experience sounds precisely the kind of trick Aku would concoct. Perhaps this creature did the same."
"I think he's right, girls," the Professor said. "What better way to torment you than to place this incredible burden on you? If He really planned to do this, don't you think he could just do it? Do you really think you would be able to stop Him?"
The Professor's lack of faith was not comforting, but the girls were too dumbstruck to dwell on it.
"He did…" Blossom sniffled. "He did release that gas that made everyone hate us. Maybe He just wants us to think everyone hates us."
"He didn't make the mayor say what he said," muttered Buttercup. "Or change how the people are acting now."
The Professor sighed through his nose. "And that means this is a vulnerable time for you," he said. "You have to be careful of whatever tricks He pulls."
He drew them from the air and set them back on the couch. "I don't think you understand the nature of your ongoing battle against Him. You don't weaken him with your punches. Those don't matter to Him, not really. But every time you're hopeful, or even better, give hope to someone else in despair, He recoils, grows less powerful."
"I don't understand," Bubbles said.
"With Him," he said gently, pointing to Bubbles' chest, "the battle is in here."
Ten minutes later, Jack settled into a chair at the kitchen table, the spot where Blossom sat for dinner. The Professor strode along the counter, across the yellow tiles.
"Can I get you something to drink?" the Professor asked. "Anything to eat? You had a long journey, you must need something."
"Water will do to drink," Jack said. He perked up. "Or tea, if you have it."
"We never buy tea," said the Professor, taking out a glass. "I should, though, I really should."
As the Professor ran the tap, Jack reached out to the small potted plant and lightly caressed one of the leaves. "This plant also needs drink," he said.
"Oh, really? Thanks…must have slipped my mind today and yesterday. I'll get the sprinkler."
But when the Professor handed him the glass, Jack poured a third of it into the soil before bringing it to his mouth and taking a sip.
The Professor started to say something, then simply sat down in his normal chair. "I think a good night's sleep will do them good," he said. "Good thing it's Saturday night. We'll check on them in the morning." He had seen them to their room just now after they had gotten ready for bed, and they'd fallen asleep almost instantly. No doubt exhausted from what the day had brought.
Jack placed the glass on the table, still cupping it in both hands. "Hold," he said suddenly. "If you knew the speed required for them to time travel, then you must be versed in the subject."
The Professor leaned back in his chair. "I've fiddled with it in my time," he said.
Jack, by contrast, leaned forward. "Did you ever succeed in going to the past?" he asked urgently.
The Professor chewed his lip, hesitating. "Not exactly," he said. "I brought a time machine into the girls' class one day. Their arch-nemesis, Mojo Jojo, went through it, and then they did. They saved me from a pretty tough scrape there!"
"Do you still have it?"
But before the Professor could think of an answer, Jack backed off abruptly. His eyes cast around, all intensity gone. "I'm sorry, I…forget myself."
"Think nothing of it," the Professor said brightly.
"No, I mean…I am accustomed to pursuing time machines as soon as I hear of them." His shoulders drooped. "I forget that my circumstances have changed. If I went back in time, I would be destroyed instantly."
The Professor sighed. "I wish there was something I could do to take the sadness from your eyes," he said.
Jack nodded, but otherwise didn't respond directly. There wasn't any proper response. "You have sadness in your eyes, as well," he said instead. "You have since this conversation began. Behind the hospitality and concern."
The Professor smiled pleasantly for a few seconds while looking Jack in the eye. "Well, I'm always down when my girls are," he answered.
Jack took another sip without diverting his gaze. "Of course."
After a time, they finally looked away from one another and sat in silence. That was, until the Professor sat up with a start. "If you went back in time."
"Pardon?"
"If you went back in time, to when you left, you'd be destroyed." The Professor stood. "But what if the girls went back―"
"And do you think they can vanquish Aku, even at a time he is weaker?" Jack asked. "As the one man who has seen both them and him, I am…doubtful."
The Professor ran a hand through his hair. "If Aku is anything like Him, from our world…maybe not. But that's not what I'm proposing. If you had your sword, could you take the monster?"
"More than that. I would insist upon it. It is my responsibility."
"Then what about going back to the moment in time it was broken and change the course of history?" the Professor said, getting more excited by the second.
"I have thought of simply adjusting my time destination to that moment," Jack said gravely. "However―"
"You can't be in a time you already exist." The Professor waved a hand impatiently. "Yes yes, I've already worked that out. But…." His eyes flashed with a long-forgotten cleverness. "You haven't put the two proposals together."
Jack furrowed his brow.
"You were present at the moment of your sword's breaking," the Professor said gently. "We weren't."
And then Jack understood.
Sunday was a wonderful and needed morning for sleeping in. Blossom once was a strong proponent of the saying: "early to bed and early to wake makes a lady smart, pretty, and great." But the years had worn her down, and now she usually relished the opportunity for a little extra dozing.
This Sunday, that's not what she did. She opened her eyes while the sunlight was still golden, instead of daisy yellow. She didn't feel an ounce of tiredness. Easing out from under the covers, she crept by her sisters to the window and gazed at the trees outside. The sun, still low, shone past the city proper, casting its near side in darkness. She breathed the open air. Waking up today felt like waking up for the first time in years.
Bubbles and Buttercup scooted out of bed soon after and joined Blossom in the half-light. For a minute, they just stood there together. Talking didn't feel right yet.
"What do you wanna do today?" Bubbles finally asked.
How could one of the smallest questions ever mean so much? What did they want to do? More like what couldn't they do? There were so many choices available to them, what would they pick?
That was the thing with an enormous weight lifting. You didn't know what to do with the movement that was suddenly possible.
"You know what?" Buttercup said. "I wanna help Jack."
"Yeah," said Blossom, still looking out at the brightening day. "That sounds good."
Bubbles opened the bedroom door and would have tripped if she'd walked out. As it was, she looked down from the air in surprise. "Look! Octo stayed outside our room."
The stray dog was indeed lying there, eyes looking impassively up at them, still not alarmed at the slightest over their powers. Even animals usually found it strange and reacted accordingly. This dog didn't let out a single bark.
"Octo?" said Buttercup, face twisting in confusion. "That's what you're naming him?"
"Oh wait," Blossom said. "After Octi? Your old stuffed animal?"
"Yeah, 'cause he's purple…" said Bubbles defensively. "And I don't have Octi anymore, so…"
All three floated into the bathroom, the newly named Octo waiting outside that door as well. By the time they were cleaned and dressed, they went into the hall to find the Professor, unshaven and in his underwear, exit his room and yawn widely.
"Professor!" Blossom said scoldingly. "We have a guest, remember?"
"Oh…oh yes, of course…" he trailed off, yawning again.
"Where'd he sleep, anyway?" asked Buttercup.
"The…the old office." The Professor gestured vaguely in the direction without looking and stepped into the bathroom himself.
"But―" said Bubbles. Her sisters saw what she meant. The door was ajar.
"He must be up already," said Blossom. "C'mon, let's go make breakfast."
Down in the kitchen, they moved in their usual coordinated fashion: Blossom threw Bubbles a pan, which she gave to Buttercup to oil. Blossom added the pancake mix, which cooked until it was ready for Buttercup to flip into Bubbles' waiting plate. The Professor came downstairs once they had completed two stacks of twenty pancakes each. His hands still carried a few smudges of black from the hair dye he used every week to stave off gray hair.
"Girls," he said, hands on his hips, trying to look stern but coming off as amused instead. "Haven't you heard of a balanced breakfast?"
"It's okay, Professor," said Bubbles brightly, her blue eyes centered between the two plates she was holding. "I'm balancing them just fine."
"Wait," said Blossom. "Do we even know if Jack likes pancakes?"
"Everyone likes pancakes," said Bubbles sagely.
"Where is he, anyway?" Buttercup asked again.
"He's, er, busy," the Professor said, pointing a thumb behind him. "I saw him from the bathroom window, and―"
"What?" Stemming the pancake flow and turning off the stove, the girls rocketed to the front window. There, in their front lawn, Jack was swinging his sword, the one he didn't really like. He moved through a form effortlessly, catching the tips of grass blades every so often.
"Well, the lawn did need mowing," the Professor admitted.
"He's in his robe," said Blossom. "Wasn't that torn?"
"I guess he mended it himself," the Professor said. "I did take out the needle and thread for today. But he must not have gotten a wink of sleep. He should eat." He stepped outside the door and waved Jack inside. When Jack caught sight of this, he obliged.
If Jack found the pancake stacks strange, he gave no sign. He merely picked up his fork and took a bite. He paused, then eyed the pancakes very strangely.
"I'm sorry―don't you like them?" Blossom asked. Jack continued looking―then dove into his food, taking much larger bites.
"I guess that answers that," said the Professor cheerfully. Soon, all forty pancakes had gone. Everyone groaned around the table, holding their bellies.
"I should wash myself," Jack said, holding up his hands, "after that…what was it called?"
"Syrup," said Buttercup, who had practically drowned the pancakes in it.
"Um, hey, Jack?" said Blossom. She exchanged looks with her sisters, who nodded. "We can help you. We want to help you. We don't need to stay here."
He didn't beam or anything, but he did smile, and his face relaxed. "Thank you," he said, bowing his head.
"That's good," said the Professor, suddenly businesslike, "because we have a plan." He succinctly told them of what he and Jack talked about last night.
"Well, that's a piece of cake," said Buttercup. "We already have a time machine. You used it in our class, remember, Professor?"
The Professor drummed his fingers for a moment. "Yes," he allowed, "but that one won't work across dimensions. I will need to build one that can. But there's a problem." He hung his head, crestfallen. "I can't do it. Not on my own, and not with what I have in the lab."
"You did not mention this," Jack said, somewhat sharp.
"I'm not particularly excited about who and what I need." He looked at each of the girls in turn before going on. "I need…Mojo Jojo."
"Mojo Jojo!" the Powerpuffs said in unison.
The Professor nodded. "I've been in his lab. As Power Prof, remember?" The girls did remember his embarrassing stint as a superhero, despite how hard they'd tried to forget it. "I saw what he has in there, and I know what it does. I just can't duplicate it."
"But, Professor," Bubbles piped up. "He's locked up in prison. For good, this time! The mayor showed us his new cell and everything."
"Hmmm," the Professor said, rubbing his chin and thinking. "Well, I don't want you going and breaking him out, not with the town like it is now. I'll just have to keep going back to consult him."
"While your father is working on the machine," Jack said, "I will describe to you in exact detail how I lost my sword, so you will know what to expect whe―"
The house shook. Tinkles of glass emerged once again from the basement, followed by the distinct, otherworldly warbling from before. Everyone shot each other looks.
"Someone else is coming through?" Blossom said.
Jack's eyes sharpened. Quick as lightning, he grabbed his sword, though no one else in the room had seen where he'd put it. He rushed to the lab door, the girls close behind. The Professor and Octo trailed in the back. Jack threw open the door, and they all cascaded down the stairs, much like they all, sans Jack, had done before.
But this time, instead of merely the warped air, they found something much worse. Something had already come through. A long, enormous angular shape, black as sightlessness, hovered in midair, its base lost in the folds of bent space. It was crooking, moving up and down with the ominous creaks of a dying tree in winter.
"Is…is that a finger?" said Buttercup.
"Aku!" Jack exclaimed. He raised the sword in his hand, but only halfway, as though he only just remembered it was not the one he knew. He looked petrified.
"Hullo?" came a gravelly voice. "Hulloooooooo?" The tip of the finger collided with a complicated-looking setup of chemicals, sending them crashing, splashing, and flying. "I hear someone."
"He is trying to come through," said Jack in a panic. "That cannot happen."
"Is that you, samurai?" Aku asked. "I know you're hiding somewhere in there."
"Come on, girls!" said Blossom. They flew at the intruding presence and battered it with punches and kicks. They even threw in some laser vision.
"Oh! Oh, ouchy boo boo! My poor widdle finger! Waaaaahaha!"
"We didn't do anything at all," gasped Bubbles.
Her sisters knew she was right. Granted, none of them would have seen damage on the pure black regardless, but they knew perfectly well when they were ineffective.
"Powerful, though. Yes. Hrrmmm." The finger tapped the floor of the lab, sending cracks snaking across the clean surface. "Best not to…underestimate." And, to everyone's immense relief, the branch-like nightmare began to withdraw. "Look for me soon, happy and unconquered world." The finger slipped out of sight, and gradually, the air became still once more.
After a tense moment of silence, Jack turned on the rest of them. "It is good to know that you would have helped me out of the goodness of your hearts," he said. "But I imagine now that your generosity makes no difference. You must go now for this world's sake."
"Uh, no," Buttercup said. "We can't leave now!"
"Yes you can, girls, and you have to." The three turned to the Professor to see that he was wearing one of those rare expressions on his face that meant he couldn't be moved. The slight lines on his forehead and cheeks tightened. "You already saw. He just laughed at your attacks. You won't beat him if he comes here. At the very least, you can't count on it. We have to get the sword."
The girls glanced at each other, crestfallen. They knew he was right.
"Now, there's not much need to worry," the Professor continued, his voice softer. "We just need to move quickly on the time machine. Once it's done and we get you over there, that's it. You'll have the sword right away, because you can travel back in time right to the point when you left.
"So!" he said, clapping his hands and plastering a smile on his face, but unable to hide the worried slant of his eyebrows, "who's up for a little road trip to the jailhouse? I'll get the car ready." He took the stairs back up two at a time, the others close behind.
"That's really what you've been fighting, Jack?" Bubbles asked in a tiny voice. "He's so scary."
Jack tucked his sheathed sword into his belt and walked on, not meeting any of their eyes. "Yes," he responded. "He is."