Allies and Rivals
By Tonifranz
Chapter 4 – Conflicting Loyalties
Dr. Edwards looked at the letter from Mojo Jojo. He looked at it and reread it several times, twisting and untwisting the letter in his hand, thinking very hard. At first, he thought it was a joke, a prank, but suddenly, he remembered that Butch said that the girls were absent, and he knew the girls well enough that they're not the type to play hooky. But the smoking gun was the picture of the unconscious Powerpuff Girls in the envelop that he had earlier missed.
'So it's true,' Dr. Edwards thought, as he went down in the couch to think what he would do. 'And Mojo's right. Those boys have still some loyalty to Mojo Jojo. I'm not sure if all that has happened in the past few weeks have shaken off that loyalty, I'm not sure. Some of the traits Mojo gave them is still evident, like their concept of right and wrong, but I've been somehow able to pry them from Mojo by their loyalty to me, but it's not yet complete.'
'Now, how to save the girls? Damn it, John Utonium, why do you have to go to that stupid conference? We might be able to think of something together, but you have to go to that f**king conference in New York City!' Dr. Edwards was very worried for the girls, because he was close to them, and the Professor entrusted the girls to him. 'John will kill me if something happens to them.'
'To hell with it! Loyal or not, those sons of mine will save those girls, whether they like it or not!' Dr. Edwards thought. 'Those boys would have to decide whom they are more loyal to—me or Mojo. And any equivalence from them, and they would get it! And Mojo, you're an idiot. You shouldn't have told me about it. You don't know yet me, Mojo. This time, you would know what would happened if you messed with Dr. William Edwards!'
Meanwhile…
Blossom stirred from hours on unconsciousness. 'What happened,' she thought, 'oh yes, we were about to apprehend Mojo Jojo.' She tried to stretch her arms, but then, she found out that it was stuck together at her back. 'What the…' she thought, 'my hands are tied behind my back! Silly Mojo. He should have known that I, as a Powerpuff, could have easily break such chains!' Blossom then tried breaking it, but to her unpleasant surprise, it held firm. 'So it's a little strong. Not to worry. All I have to do is use my superhuman strength!' So she did, and it only hurt her wrists. She then used her full strength to try to break it, but it was futile. Soon, she was reduced to wriggling her wrist in an effort to slip her arms, but the cuffs were too well made for that too happened.
'Must be Duranium,' Blossom concluded, 'the only metal that could hold us, even at our strength. Guess I'm stuck here. Hm, I wonder if I could blast that Duranium with my laser eyes. It certainly is worth a try!'
She then tried to laser-eye the duranium cuffs on her legs, but then, she noticed that the beams went just as far as the shades she was wearing. And then, she noticed she was wearing shades. 'Jeez Louise, Mojo sure thought of everything. I wonder where my sisters are?' She then looked at her side and saw Bubbles and Buttercup, both stirring.
Bubbles was the first one to wake. She yawned, with her mouth wide open, then she tried stretching. She gave the same reaction Blossom did.
"Don't try breaking it, Bubbles," Blossom advised. "I've already tried doing so, and it won't work. It's Duranium, and nothing we do on our part can get it off. It's best if you don't do anything, 'cause it will just hurt your wrists."
"Hey, that Mojo left that window up there open! We can still fly away!"
"You're right Bubbles," Blossom said. She then tried flying, but all her efforts were for naught, as if she just lost the ability to fly. "I can't fly!" Blossom complained.
"Neither can I!" Bubbles added after making a futile effort of her own. "We're stuck here! Well, we'll just have to wait for the Rowdyruff Boys to save us!"
"If they even know we're here," Buttercup, who also awoke and had been listening the whole time. "We aren't even sure those boys would bother even if they knew!"
"Don't worry!" reassured Blossom. "I'm sure everything will be alright!"
"How can you say that?" Buttercup retorted. "We're tied up and can't get out of these duranium bonds. We can't fly, and we can't use our laser eyes, we're stuck!"
"You're right, but look at the bright side," Blossom said, trying to reassure her sisters. "Mojo can't do anything to us that we'll harm us. We're too powerful! The only exception is this cuffs."
"And I'm sure the boys will come and save us!" Bubbles asserted.
"Don't bet on it!" Mojo suddenly said. He just entered the room where they were kept and heard what Bubbles said. "Those boys won't come and save you, because those boys have such great respect and loyalty to me, that they won't come and save you from my clutches! Muahahahahaha!"
"You're wrong!" Bubbles retorted, "I know they're not evil anymore!"
"That may be, but that said, you seem to forget that they still made the promise to me not to attack me unless I attack them or Dr. Edwards, and since I am attacking neither, they don't have a reason to rescue you!"
"They have, because they care," Bubbles said.
That caused Mojo Jojo to fall down to the floor laughing! Finally, after a minute or so of laughing, he stood up. "After what you three did to them last week, attacking them because they were evil, do you think they would really help you on this one? They may not be evil, but they're not a bunch of goody-two shoes either! They won't save you, because they have no reason to."
"That's not true!" Bubbles said. "They forgave us!"
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Bubbles," Mojo said, "but it is! They won't come here, and you are doomed. Finally I Mojo Jojo, we'll be finally able to win and to get revenge."
He then picked up the girls and placed them on the floor, just in front of a giant laser gun. "Now, to test the limits of your endurance."
"Oh no!" Bubbles cried. "It's the same laser that they used to torture me when I snapped!"
"Yes, and I'll have it at level 18, which is one and a half times stronger than hardcore! I doubt that even at your current level of strength and power, you could withstand level 18!"
Mojo then set the dial at and directly hit the Powerpuff Girls. "Now scream, scream and cry like the little girls that you are! Scream in pain so I may derive pleasure on seeing and hearing you in torment!"
But he heard no screams.
"Is that all you can do, Mojo?" Blossom suddenly taunted. "After all that hype, I would have expected something more painful than this poor-excuse of a torture device."
"Yeah, Mojo," Buttercup added, "I've seen tweezers that can cause more pain than this."
"Yeah, it's like your giving us a suntan!" Bubbles said.
"If you want us to scream, maybe you could get Michael Jackson to come here!" Blossom added. 'What Mojo doesn't know is that we've beaten Hardcore x 6, or about level 72 to be exact.'
Mojo was flabbergasted. 'How could that be. Last time, Bubbles nearly snapped at 12. How strong are those girls.'
"Don't be boastful. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Now take this!" He then increased the level of the laser to 24.
Blossom just yawned.
"Come on Mojo, we're bored here, just sitting around here, tied up!" Buttercup teased. "Give us something that would at least tickle us!"
"What! How could that be! I increased the level to 24, or twice that of hardcore! How could you say that! How could you not be hurt!" Mojo was ready to pull his hair out. 'Dang it, and I thought 24 would kill them.' He was one frustrated monkey.
"Grrr. Enough playing games. Let's see if you take the laser at maximum, at hardcore x3, or level 36. He then put the dial at 36, and the amount of laser increase.
"Wow! It sure did tickle us!" Bubbles taunted.
"Yup! Any more and I'd have my tan," Buttercup added.
"This feels like being in a disco spotlight," Blossom commented.
Mojo was wide-mouthed. He couldn't just believe this. He then increased the power surge, trying to make it stronger to at least hurt the Powerpuff Girls. 'I know I shouldn't put it at 40, because it might overload, but what the heck.'
He pushed the dial at 40, but it had no effect. The Powerpuff Girls just taunted him more. Soon, there appeared on the controls a warning. 'POWER OVERDRIVE: PUSH LEVEL BACK TO 36'. But Mojo was so frustrated, grinding his teeth in anguish, that he didn't even bother to look at the warning and pushed the dial to 42.
'OVERDRIVE! POWER OVERDRIVE! SHUT DOWN DEVICE NOW!' soon appeared, but Mojo seemed not to notice. Soon, smoke began appearing on the machine, and in a few seconds, it exploded. The explosion was so powerful that it destroyed part of the roof of Mojo's observatory. Soon, Mojo, covered in black soot, his entire body aching, but not quite dead, fell to the floor.
"Curses!" he said, as he picked himself up.
"Wow, I didn't know that your torture device tortures those who use it, not on those whom it's supposed to be used on!" Blossom teased.
"Yeah Mojo," Buttercup said. "Face it! We're invincible! So let us go and we promise we won't beat you up before throwing you to jail!"
The entire room was damaged. The girls, as usual, don't have a single scratch on their bodies.
Mojo picked himself up, picked the girls, and placed them in a couch in an adjacent room. He went to another room and soon cleaned himself, bandaging any wounds he had. 'Oh, my aching body!' Soon, he heard the laughter of the girls in the next room.
"Shut up!" he shouted.
But the laughter only increased. Mojo was by this time extremely aggravated. He had the girls right where he wanted them—in his hideout, helpless and without a chance to escape, but he was unable dispose of them, or to even inflict physical pain. He was like a man who was given a chest full of treasure, but try as he might, he could not open it or destroy the padlock. He had the girls right where he wanted them, but he couldn't do anything to hurt them. In fact, he hurt himself in the process.
"Damn those Powerpuff girls! Even as helpless captives they managed to hurt me! Just how powerful are they!"
Meanwhile…
"Boys!" Dr. Edwards shouted from the living room, in a very serious tone. "Brick, Boomer, Butch, come down here!"
Ten seconds later, his boys went down, standing up and lined up like recruits readying for inspection.
"Yes Dad! What is it? A monster, a criminal, a villain?" asked Boomer. "We'll take care of it."
"Do you want us to do some chores?" asked Brick in a less enthusiastic tone.
"Or are we going somewhere?" asked Butch.
"Well, all of those partly," said Dr. Edwards in a very serious tone. "You see, Mojo Jojo…"
"But Dad, let the Powerpuff Girls take care of them!" Boomer said.
"Yeah, we told Mojo we won't bother him unless he touches you or your property. Is he destroying your property?"
"No, I don't have any properties at stake here. Now, the Powerpuff Girls can't do anything, because they are the victims. Mojo seemed to have kidnapped them and held them captive. Here, read the letter."
The boys, except Butch, seemed positively shocked.
"But Dad, he must be lying. I mean those girls are nearly as strong as us, how could Mojo have kidnapped them?" Brick reasoned, remembering the last two fights they had.
"I don't know, but I know this, they have the girls and here's proof," Dr. Edwards said, showing the boys a picture of the tied-up unconscious Powerpuff Girls.
"Well I'll be!" Butch explained. "Those sissies sure got their just desserts."
Dr. Edwards, and even Boomer and Brick were shocked at Butch's callous words.
"Butch, I want you to take it back!" Dr. Edwards said, breathing heavily. "I don't care how you feel about them, but say another of those things in front of me and you'll get a worst punishment than you deserve." He was very angry at Butch's reaction.
Butch suddenly realized what he said and backed down. "Sorry Dad. I didn't mean what I said."
"Now, I want you to go to Mojo's lab and save those girls!" Dr. Edwards ordered.
His boys didn't move.
"Is my order not clear?" Dr. Edwards. "I told you to go at Mojo's volcano top observatory at the middle of Townville Park and rescue those girls! ARE YOU BOYS DEAF!"
"No Dad, we aren't," Boomer meekly replied.
"Then do it," Dr. Edwards thundered. "If not for those girls, then do it for me, your father!"
"We can't!" Butch said, completely terrified of his father. "No matter how much we want follow what you say, we just can't!"
"And why not?" asked the infuriated doctor.
"Because…because…" but Boomer stumbled.
"Because we have still some loyalty for Mojo," Brick continued for his tongue-tied brother, his voice so low that Dr. Edwards and his brothers could barely hear it. He then raised his voice a little. "We told Mojo we won't harm if he doesn't harm you or your properties, and since he made his move without doing neither, our hands our tied."
"You forget, boys, that the girls hands are also tied—literally," Dr. Edwards said. "But since you obviously don't care about them, then do it because I ordered it!"
"But Dad, we just can't," Brick said. "I admit, we've changed a lot since you recreated us, but some things still remain with us, and, one of those things Dad, is a tiny bit of loyalty for Mojo."
His father understood, but was also disgusted by it. 'I can't believe that after all that, they would rather choose Mojo over the girls? Well, I'll break that loyalty, even if I have to lose the boys in the process.'
"And how about your loyalty to me?" Dr. Edwards sternly asked. "What if, for example, Mojo gave you an order that contradicts what I told you?"
"Dad, we love you, and our loyalty is always to you and you first. We would never ever follow any order from Mojo, just as we would always do what you want us to do, no matter what. The only exception is hurting Mojo. Unless he hurts you or your property, we can't do anything that would hurt him, even if you order us to," Brick said, his words filled with emotion, and his soul was torn apart by conflicting loyalties.
"WHY YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE WHELPS!" Dr. Edwards shouted, barely able to contain his anger. "I thought I had raised you well enough, and now this happens! How could you be so stupid, idiotic and blind as to still have some loyalty to that moron of a monkey? If anything, those girls more than that Mojo deserve that tiny loyalty you have, and you prefer an evil monkey who repeatedly tried to destroy this poor excuse of a town? It's not enough to say that I'm very disappointed with you brats, but also ashamed of how you acted tonight. Let me remind you boys, that you cannot both serve good and evil, and just tonight, despite what you might think, you unwittingly just served evil. Because of that I am disgusted and sick to my stomach! Your actions are totally unworthy of you, and you should rethink your actions again. Let me know if you changed your mind about this. Goodnight!"
The three boys drifted towards their room, their feelings extremely hurt by their father's extremely harsh words.
Boomer among the three brothers felt the most terrible. He was very grateful to Bubbles because of the way she didn't beat him up during the past week, unlike her sisters, and felt that he must repay her somehow. Blossom, he disliked with a passion because of the Monster Alliance, and he was indifferent to Buttercup. Yet his past loyalty to Mojo was strong, and didn't want to attack their original creator. To Boomer, however badly Mojo treated them before, he was still they're original creator, however much it disgusts him to think about it. Because the only thing that expresses this loyalty is not beating him up unless he harms his father, he felt really terrible.
On one hand, he wants to save Bubbles and Buttercup, on the other hand, he doesn't want to hurt Mojo. Plus the fact that in conflicts with his loyalty to Dr. Edwards makes it even worst.
Brick also felt terrible, though for different reasons. He too, was very grateful to Bubbles because of what happened earlier, and like Boomer, wishes to repay it. He was the only who doesn't dislike Blossom, and he is indifferent to Buttercup. But personal considerations aside, he felt it that it was beneficial for his and his brothers' selfish self-interests to save the girls. He would be perfectly willing to leave the girls to Mojo if it were contrary to his self-interest.
Yet, he also had that loyalty to Mojo that refuses to go away, and which prevents him from outright going and saving the girls. Plus, he very much wants to do everything Dr. Edwards says to show his love and loyalty. Only loyalty to Mojo prevents him from following his Dad's orders to save the girls.
Butch, on the other hand, dislikes each of the girls. He dislikes Blossom with a passion bordering on hatred also because of the Monster Alliance, has only contempt for Bubbles (he was the only one who didn't talk to her during the previous fight), and had only a grudging tolerance for Buttercup, though he does not like her. He couldn't care less what would happen to the girls. Yet he would be perfectly willing to save the girls if ordered by his father or even Brick. Yet like his brothers, he also has loyalty to Mojo for the same reasons, and he felt terrible because he knew he can only follow one of them, and not the other. He intensely disliked Mojo, yet the fact that he was their original 'father' causes him to not hurt him. Like his brothers, loyalty was one of his most prized characteristics, and it tore him apart to choose between the two.
Meanwhile…
"Enough playing games!" Mojo said as he prepared to destroy the Powerpuff Girls. He then took from his arsenal a wide range of weapons, from rockets to guns to howitzers to laser guns to even flintlocks and bow and arrows. The only thing missing is a kitchen sink. "Now all I have to do is find what would kill those girls."
He first grabbed a rocket launcher from the pile. "This should take care of you! This is my most powerful rocket launcher that I have constructed yet! This will reduce you to ashes!" He then launched for rockets at the girls, hitting them one after another. "That should take care of you, hahaha!"
"Oh really?" Buttercup's voice suddenly said. Soon, the smoke lifted, and the girls were still sitting tightly, without a scratch in them.
"How could that be? That was the most powerful rocket that I've ever created. And I've made it especially for you! And you didn't even have a scratch!" Mojo said. "I know, I'll use duranium bullets, but wait a minute, I've used the last of my duranium on those cuffs, and it'll be a month before I could get a new batch! Curses!"
"Give it up Mojo," Bubbles taunted.
"Yeah, Duranium is the only thing that could hurt us, and you obviously run out of it!" Blossom said. "So why don't you just give up and let us go?"
"No I won't," Mojo asserted. "I've still got a wide array of weapons, and one of them has got to work against you!"
So he used all his weapons one by one.
First he used another laser gun.
Then a giant cannon with titanium cannon balls.
Then a howitzer.
Then another laser gun.
Then a high powered shot gun.
Then a machine gun.
Then a bazooka.
Then a flamethrower
Needless to say, all did not work. Not a single scratch on the girls. And he just got taunted more. And the fact that some of those weapons exploded due to overloading while he was using it didn't help either.
He was soon desperate, and it showed.
He used a catapult.
A rusty sword.
A bow and arrow.
A cross bow.
A flintlock musket.
A baseball bat.
A pellet gun.
A heel of a shoe.
A wooden mallet.
A firecracker.
A boomerang.
An old ladies' purse.
A wooden plank.
A plastic chair.
A wooden plank with a nail stretching out.
None worked, yet it nearly killed the girls, not because of the weapons themselves, but because the girls are laughing so hard, rolling hard on the floor, that one might think Mojo was trying to laugh the girls to death. Even if that happened, Mojo might not savor it since he might die from embarrassment first. He was like Coyote whose devices doesn't work on the Roadrunner.
"Oh Mojo, stop, stop, my stomach is hurting!" Buttercup shouted.
"Yeah, don't do more. We might die of laughter," Blossom said
"Yeah! You'd be great on comedy!" said Bubbles between bouts of laughter.
"Hey Mojo, wanna try using Bubbles stuffed bunny. I'm sure it might destroy us!" Buttercup shouted, still laughing.
"You forgot the kitchen sink!" Blossom added.
'That is so lame,' thought Buttercup.
"And those pillows, you forgot those. Maybe they can hurt us," Bubbles shouted, laughing harder.
"How about water guns!" Blossom added.
Mojo Jojo was red from embarrassment once he realized he made a fool of himself by his desperation to get rid of the Powerpuff Girls. 'I must kill them, or Princess won't deliver those bars of gold she promised me. But what could I do? Those girls, even if I hate to admit it, are helpless yet practically invincible. I must think, I must find a way to destroy them, but how. What if I…' Mojo thought, but was interrupted.
"Hey Mojo, if you don't want to let us go, could you do us a favor?" Blossom asked.
"Will you shut up!" Mojo retorted. "How could I think of a way to destroy you if you are so noisy?"
"Aw Mojo, just this once!" Bubbles said.
"Okay, but just this once. What is it?" Mojo said.
"Well, there's something stuck in my eye," Bubbles asked. "Can you get rid of it?"
"Yeah, and while you're at it, there's also something stuck in my eyes," Blossom said.
"Me too!"
"Okay, okay, I'll remove it, whatever it is," Mojo said. He removed each of the shades he put on the girls. "Hey, there isn't anything on your eyes." He then saw the girls grinning evilly at him. "Oh no."
In a flash, the three girls gave him a powerful laser-eye attack., causing him to drop the shades. He was about to pick it up again, but the girls zapped it with another laser.
"Damn it!" Mojo shouted before he again was targeted by laser. Soon, he was covered with soot, smoking, and his entire body was aching. He then run to another room before the girls could take another aim at him with their laser eyes.
"Oh Mojo, come out come out wherever you are?" he head Blossom said.
"This is humiliating! Being stalked in your very own house by your own 'helpless' captives! And being tricked into removing the shades that prevents them from using their laser eyes! How stupid and gullible could I get? I must find another of those shades and put them in their eyes? But how? I already used the last of Princess sleeping gas. But first, I've got to find another set of eyewear. I can't go into that room with their eyes free. It's too risky."
Soon, Mojo was scrounging around his room looking for anything that might restrain those naughty laser eyes. Soon, he found what he was looking for. "Ah ha! With this thing, those laser eyes would be totally ineffective!" he said, looking at a pair of goggles with an elastic strap.
"Now the problem is how do I get it to wear them. I'll just have to risk it." He then put the three pairs of goggles in a secure pocket, and entered the room where the Powerpuff Girls are, pushing before him a wheeled sofa as a shield. The girls quickly zapped the chair, but he managed to jump behind another sofa, which a minute later was burnt to a crisp. He then jumped behind the TV, then behind the drawers, then behind a table, each time getting nearer and nearer to the girls, but in the process, most of his furniture was destroyed. He soon reached the girls, and after a struggle, was able to strap the goggles in the girls' eyes again.
"Ha! Now you are again helpless!" Mojo boasted.
"Not quite," said Blossom.
"What do you mean 'not quite,'. You're bound hand and foot. You can't fly. And you can't use your laser eyes! You can't anymore hurt me!"
"That's what you think," Bubbles retorted.
"And how can you hurt me?" asked Mojo in a mocking tone.
"Well, I could do this," Blossom said, then blew at Mojo.
Soon, Mojo was covered in a block of ice. "It's called, Ice Breathe!'"
"And I can do this!" Bubbles said, then opened her mouth, and screamed. Soon, the ice around Mojo was cracked and the frozen Mojo, along with the remaining furniture in the room, plus the roof, was thrown out because of the shockwave of it. As soon as it was over, Bubbles said, "and that, is the sonic voice!"
Mojo landed in the middle of Townsville Park. He was still frozen, and he was shivering. He can hear the girls laughing at his volcano top observatory. "C-c-c-c-curs-s-s-ses, y-y-y-yooouuu Po-po-po-po-powep-p-p-p-uff G-g-g-g-g-irls! I-I-I-I-I-I'll g-g-g-g-get y-y-y-y-y-you for th-th-this!" he said while shivering and doing a pathetic attempt to shake his fist at his observatory. 'This is humiliating!' Mojo thought. 'Being thrown out of your own house by someone who is supposed to be helpless.'
After about thirty minutes, he reached the top of his volcano top observatory, still shivering. He went to the shower, and put the dial on the hottest temperature, and had a nice, hot, bath.
Thirty minutes later…
Mojo was finally done. He went to his room, and changed to a fresh suit of clothes. He then went and took some handkerchiefs and socks from his locker. After that, he grabbed a roll of duct tape. 'This should take care of those girls,' he evilly thought.
He then went to find the girls. They weren't in the original room, which by now was empty of anything but soot. 'Where are the girls?' His question was answered when he went to his other undamaged living room, where he saw the girls seated in the sofa watching TV, with the remote on the floor and with Blossom's feet gently hitting the buttons to change the channel or something.
Mojo was amazed. "How could you come from that room and go here and watch TV even thought you've supposed to be unable to move because you're still bound hand and foot?"
"Oh silly Mojo, we got bored waiting for you to come back up, so when we saw the door open, we decided to hop to it. And voila, we saw the couch, the TV and the remote, and we decided to watch. Now could you get some popcorn and feed us!" Blossom said.
"What! I wouldn't do such a thing!" Mojo said.
"Oh please, do you want to be frozen again?" Blossom arrogantly said.
"Not if I can't help it!" Mojo said. Then, quick as a flash, he stuffed a large wad of handkerchief in Blossom's mouth and covered it with duct tape. Bubbles was about to use her sonic voice but as soon as she opened her mouth wide open, Mojo put a roll of clean socks in her mouth and duct taped it.
"Now, you're truly helpless!" Mojo said, laughing. "You can't use your ice breathe, Blossom, or your sonic voice, Bubbles, gagged!"
Blossom and Bubbles tried to say something, but it just came out as mmmppphhhhssss behind their new gags.
"Yeah, but you still couldn't harm us!" Buttercup boasted.
"Physically, yes, but with my new plan, you will die," Mojo said.
The girls looked at him skeptically.
"You still don't believe me," Mojo said. "Well, I plan not to feed you until you die of hunger! That's right, I plan to starve you, Muhahahahaha!"
Blossom and Bubbles just rolled their eyes. 'By that time that happens, someone would notice we were gone and would rescue us,' Bubbles thought.
"That is so lame!" Buttercup said.
"Oh really," Mojo said. "Well, you can't do anything about it! Now, it's time for your gag, Buttercup!"
"Hey, I don't have any powers from my mouth, like my sisters. So you don't have to gag me like my loud mouth sisters over there."
Bubbles and Blossom just glared at their sister.
"You're right, I don't have to," Mojo said, "but I like to!" Mojo then stuffed a smelly old used sock in Buttercup's mouth and duct taped it. He then took the girls, and placed them in another room, and he himself watched TV. "What a day, but at least I have won!"
Meanwhile…
"I feel really bad for those girls," said Boomer. "And I felt bad for Dad too. He was counting on us, and we let him down."
"Yeah, you're right," Brick said. "He did all those nice things for us, and all he asked in return is that we be loyal to him and we make him proud of us, but what did we do? We made him doubt our loyalty! We made him ashamed of us!"
"This is the pits," Boomer remarked. "And we can't even show our gratitude to Bubbles! Remember Brick?"
"Yup, she was the only one who didn't beat us up that night!" Brick replied. "And what is so maddening is that it would've been in our own self-interest to save them because one, we can make Dad even more proud of us, two, they'll owe us one and we'll have a bargaining advantage with the girls, and that meant that I'll have one more reason why I should be the leader, three, it would be good for our reputations, four, we would be better off with those girls around than them having been gone. And all of that gone because Mojo happens to be the culprit. Now don't get me wrong, I don't like the girls one bit, but…"
"Yes, we know. Personal and emotional considerations aside, it would be in our self-interests…" Boomer began.
"…if we would try and save them," Butch finished. "Yeah, we know that. You've been saying that line for a million years. Well, I don't give a damn about interests. You're the one who figures it out. I don't like the girls one bit and I don't care what happens to them, but I don't like defying Dad. I can live with saving them as long as Dad says so. But I agree Brick, it's maddening. You want to prove to Dad how loyal you are, yet, a tiny loyalty to Mojo prevents us from doing so. What a bummer!"
"Dad, where are you going?" asked Brick as he saw Dr. Edwards pass by the open door of their room. Dr. Edwards was fully dressed in his usual clothes. Brown pants, coat, and vest, with a fedora hat. He is carrying a sawed off shot gun and has a .45 pistol in his pocket.
"Where else? To Mojo's volcano top laboratory, to rescue the girls," said the doctor.
"But Dad, you'll get killed!" said Brick.
"Well, I'll have to take that risk, since certain sons of mine who could have easily done the job without a sweat refused to," Dr. Edwards sharply said.
"Dad, let us go with you. We'll protect you from Mojo," offered Butch.
"Yeah, you can save the girls while we make sure Mojo won't touch a hair of you. That way, you can save the girls, while we can protect you. I'm sure Mojo won't lay a hand on you once he sees us behind you," Boomer said.
"That' s a great idea!" said Brick. "That way, we technically won't attack Mojo."
"Sorry, I'll go alone," Dr. Edwards coldly said. "I'll go, and God-willing, , I'll return safe in two or three hours. I can't depend on you if you still have some loyalty to Mojo Jojo. What if you suddenly turn on us—me and the girls—because of your remaining loyalty to Mojo Jojo? I'll take the risk of being killed over the risk of being betrayed. Sorry, you can't have it both ways. You should either choose to be loyal to Mojo, or me, but not both."
With that, he went out the house and into the car and drove towards Mojo Jojo's volcano top observatory.
He was very angry towards the boys, yet was also guilty about the words he used. "I'm very sorry, but it's necessary to say those words. I need to break the loyalty of those boys from Mojo, and if hurting their feelings is what it takes, then that's what I'm going to do, and that is what I've done. I'm very sorry, boys, but I have no regrets about what I've said if it breaks Mojo's psychological hold on them."
Meanwhile…
"Damn it, we've got to go and help Dad!" Boomer said to his brothers. "He'll get himself killed."
"I've got to hand it to Dad, he's got guts going over Mojo's place alone," Brick added.
"But he said that we shouldn't go after him," Butch argued. "I don't want Dad to be mad at us again! I don't want Dad to say those words again to us!"
"But we can't just leave Dad alone out there!" Boomer said. "Who knows what Mojo would do to Dad. We have a responsibility to protect Dad, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything bad happens to Dad!"
"I agree. But Dad said not to go after him," Butch argued. "What if he gets angrier with us?"
"Can't you see, Butch?" Brick said. "Dad's testing our loyalty. If we don't go and help him out, we'll confirm his suspicions about us being too loyal to Mojo to actually help him in time of need. I don't care about those girls, but I care about what Dad thinks of us. If he gets angry, then I'll take the blame because I, after all, am the leader. So Butch, Boomer, you are going to follow me in following Dad," he added, with a very curt but unmistakably clear tone, "whether you like it, or not!"
"Alright, I'm going along with this, but it's your fault if Dad gets mad with us!" Butch retorted. "All right, fearless leader, what would you want us to do?"
"Thanks Brick," said Boomer.
"No problem, Boomer," Brick replied. "Now let's go and find Dad."
Meanwhile…
Dr. Edwards stepped out of his car just below the volcano top observatory.
'Well, I guess I know how Eliot Ness felt before he took on Al Capone,' Dr. Edwards thought. 'Now, I'll just have to wait for my backup. And here they are, and none too soon. I just hope all of this squabbling didn't make it too late! Or Professor Utonium would kill me—literally!'
As expected, the boys soon arrived.
"Dad, I know you told us not to go after you, but please don't be mad at us. We just want you to not get hurt."
"Of course not," Dr. Edwards said. "I knew you would come to your senses. Still, I'm terribly disappointed that I have to do this, but I just want you to know I never doubted that you will come here. Now, let's go. We still have some girls to save."
So the quartet went up the volcano top observatory, Brick giving Butch an 'I told you so' look.
Dr. Edwards knocked on the door.
"I'm coming," they heard Mojo speak.
"Just who are you and what do you want?" Mojo said rudely.
He hasn't yet met Dr. Edwards.
"My name is Dr. Edwards, and I came here to rescue the Powerpuff Girls."
"Dr. Edwards?" said Mojo. "You rescue the Powerpuff Girls? You, who has no super powers, no weapons?"
"I've got a gun," Dr. Edwards said, showing his sawed off shot gun and his .45 pistol.
"A gun, that's a good one," Mojo Jojo said, and started laughing.
"And, I've got my three sons. Have you met them?" Dr. Edwards said.
"What's up, Pops," Brick said, sporting his famous smirk. "Do anything to Dad and we'll make you pay-big time!"
"Now, where are those girls?" Dr. Edwards asked.
Mojo was caught in a bind. He is caught between Dr. Edwards getting back the girls and the Rowdyruff Boys watching his every move and waiting to pounce the minute he makes one false move against their father.
"There," Mojo said, pointing to a padlocked door.
"Give me the key?" asked Dr. Edwards.
"I don't have them," Mojo grumbled as his plans to starve the girls to death crumbled in the dust. 'I shouldn't have written that letter!'
"Butch, would you?" Dr. Edwards asked.
"No problem," Butch said as he easily destroyed the padlock.
Dr. Edwards opened the door, and saw the girls all trussed up-watching TV.
"Girls," he shouted. "Are you all right?"
The girls turned and saw him and his three sons.
"Mmmpphhh!" they yelled at their gags.
"Oh, let me remove that," Dr. Edwards said. He carefully removed the duct tape from their mouths.
Buttercup spat the dirty sock from her mouth. "What took you so long! That sock nearly made me puke!"
Blossom and Bubbles also spit the handkerchief and the sock respectively from their mouths.
"Thank you Doctor, and thanks boys," Bubbles said.
"Yeah, we thought you'd never arrive, but thanks anyway. By the way, what took you so long?" asked Blossom.
"Well, Mojo wrote a letter telling us that he got you, and unfortunately, it got a little late in coming," Dr. Edwards said. "Girls, I'm very sorry if we were late."
"That's alright. Mojo didn't give us much trouble. Thanks Dr. Edwards, and thanks Brick, Boomer and Butch."
"Don't thank us, it was Dad's idea," Brick coldly said, though he was pleased.
"Yeah, don't thank us," Boomer said, but in a sadder tone. But inside, he was delighted.
"Yeah, you would have rot—" Butch began, but stopped as his father, Brick and Boomer glared at him.
"Now, turn over and let me remove those cuffs," said Edwards. "Where's the keys to these?"
"Ha, ha, I've destroyed it long ago!" Mojo said. "Those cuffs are unremovable, and you cannot remove it from them! And another reason is that it is unremovable is that it is unbreakable, being made from the hardest metal on the planet, Duranium! And don't remove that belt on their waist that I have placed because oops, I meant just leave them on, it looks good on them."
"Duranium, oh I don't think so," said Dr. Edwards. "I have something in my lab which could cut it. And you mean this belt? Let's see what happens." He removed the belts.
"Now, do you feel anything different?" asked the Doctor.
"Well, I don't think so," said Buttercup.
"Hey I can fly again!" Bubbles said, as she floated in the air.
"So these are the things that kept us from flying," Blossom said. "Whew. For a minute there, I thought that there was something in that sleeping gas that disabled our flying ability."
Bubbles then floated to Dr. Edwards eye level, and pecked him in the cheek. She then and did the same to Boomer and Brick, though Butch refused to let her do so to him. Boomer blushed, and it showed, Brick didn't show any emotion. Blossom also pecked Dr. Edwards on the cheek, though she refused to do the same to the boys, just saying a warm, "Thank you."
"Brick, take this," Dr. Edwards said, handing over the belts to his son. "Now, let's go home to my lab so I can cut those duranium cuffs."
Mojo looked at the entire scene in disgust. 'This isn't fair! Why can't I win! I mean I have those girls under my clutches, yet they still managed to get away from me. Why can't I win. I know, it's that Dr. Edwards fault. Without him, those boys would still be at my command! Without him, those girls should be mine. He must pay!'
Then, in an act of supreme irrationality and desperation, he grabbed a laser gun and aimed it at the back of Dr. Edwards.
"Dad, look out!" Boomer shouted, and he run and tried to stop Mojo. He was able to block the laser beam, and Dr. Edwards and Boomer was relatively unharmed.
For the boys, it was the last straw! Mojo did something unforgivable. Creator or not, he is going to pay—he attacked their father and they're mad as hell.
The attack snapped something inside the boys as they all looked at Mojo in pure hatred.
"YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SLIME!" Brick shouted as he began the most fearsome pounding he ever gave anybody. "After how you treated us, we still gave you some ounce of loyalty, and this is how you repay us?"
"You just signed your death warrant, Mojo!" Boomer shouted as he kicked, punched and laser-eyed Mojo. "I mean, we tried not our best not to attack you, and you tried to kill our Dad! As of today I am ashamed that you are my original creator."
"You Scum, you murderer, you monkey you! You just did us a favor and shown how undeserving you are of our loyalty!" Butch shouted as he spat on his original creator.
"Yes. You did us a favor," Brick said. "Because of this, we saw how blind we really are in following you. Hear this Mojo, form this day on forward, you won't get an ounce of loyalty from us. Any time you make some mistake, we'll go after you and we won't hesitate to beat you up! And if Dad tells us to beat you up for no apparent reason, we would gladly do it! That is, if you escape alive. Tell me, Pops, tell me why you deserve to live another minute!" Brick then squeezed Mojo's neck.
"What? I can't hear you!"
"Brick, don't kill him!" Bubbles suddenly said.
"Why shouldn't he?" Boomer asked. "He tried to kill Dad!"
"Because you'll be just as worst as him if you do," Blossom answered.
"I'll take that risk," Brick replied. "This piece of shit does not deserve to see another day!"
"Dr. Edwards, do something, or they'll kill Mojo!" Blossom said, in near panic, not knowing what to do.
"Boys—stop that! That's enough!" Dr. Edwards said.
"But Dad, he tried to kill you!" said Boomer.
"Yes he did, and you've punished him enough! Do you want to be like him? Well stop it, because it's not worthy of you!"
The boys stopped dead in their tracks. Those last words really get to them. They were still breathing heavily, looking at Mojo, but then they looked at their father, but quickly avoided looking at him. They were too ashamed to.
The boys looked at the floor. Soon, tears began falling from their eyes.
The girls were shocked. It was the very first time they ever saw the proud boys in tears, and most probably the last.
"We're sorry Dad," Brick said while sobbing. "We're very sorry. We should have been the one here, risking our necks, and you should have been safe at home. We nearly lost you Dad, because of our blindness! We should have made sure you're always safe, yet we allowed you to risk yourself because of our blind loyalty to Mojo. We should've known better."
Dr. Edwards soon went to where the boys are, and Brick soon cried and cried like the six-year-old boy he was on his father's shoulders.
"Yeah Dad," Butch said, crying even more intensely on his father shoulder. "We felt terrible. It shouldn't have been a choice. We should've did what you told us in the first place! You shouldn't be here at all risking your life! Because we could have perfectly done so."
"Yeah Dad, it was our fault you nearly got killed. It was so close. What if I hadn't been able to block it?" Boomer said between sobs. "We nearly failed to do our most basic of duties—to protect you. You should've been home, Dad, waiting for us to return with the girls, safe and sound, and not here! We did a very terrible thing, Dad. We risked you because of a loyalty to someone who doesn't deserve it."
"And Dad, we deserve each and every one of those harsh words you gave us," Brick said. "We were hurt by it when you told it to us, but we realized just how willing you are to risk your neck out here, and how cowardly we had acted, and how you were nearly killed. We're sorry you had to say those words to us, and we're very sorry. We just want you to be proud of us, to say with pride to other people that we are your sons!"
"Now, now, boys," Dr. Edwards soothingly said. "That's over. The important thing is that you've learned your lesson. Now, I don't want you to repeat this ever again. Even though I'm not proud of what you've done, I'm still proud of you, because you were man enough to admit it."
The girls just watched the emotional scene. Bubbles wanted to go and comfort the boys, but Blossom said no.
"They just have to work out these among themselves," she said. But all three, even Buttercup, was touched by the scene. Buttercup's opinion of the boys improved.
After about fifteen minutes later, the boys wiped their tears. Brick saw the girls. "You won't say this thing happened to another soul, got it?" Brick said.
"I understand. It'll be our secret, right girls?" Blossom replied.
"Good. Now I won't have to force you to keep it a secret," said Brick arrogantly.
"Now boys, let's go home. Girls, come on. We still have got to remove those cuffs on your hands and feet!" Dr. Edwards said. 'At least I've succeeded. Those boys have cast away their loyalty to Mojo. Now it would be easier to teach them to reject the values installed in them by Mojo when they were still evil, and they could now become nice, young boys.'
"Oh yeah," Bubbles said. "I completely forgot we were still tied up with duranium cuffs!"
"Yeah, and we still have to spend the weekend with those boys. So Red, is your plan to force them into an alliance still game?" Buttercup asked.
"Yup! As soon as we get out of these cuffs, our plan shall commence and before the weekend is over, those boys will be our allies with me as leader," Blossom cockily asserted.
So Dr. Edwards and the six kids went home.