The Light That Blinds

Deus Ex Procella

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Momoko opened the door just a crack and peeked in. She could definitely hear someone playing the piano inside. Looking back out at the street one last time she stepped in, closing the door softly behind. The outside hadn't indicated anything special about the building, but inside a very thin carpet covered the floor, two rows of pews lining either side of the small room just in front of an altar. There was nothing on the altar save for a piano and a small table on which a coverless book was laid. At the piano was the man she had been hoping to see.

"E-Excuse me, um…am I bothering you?" The man looked up as he continued playing, smiling warmly at her and shaking his head. The light caught his glasses, giving him an almost mystical look. Momoko blushed and cautiously walked forward, taking a seat in the front row of pews just across from the man. His eyes closed and a tiny smile on his lips, he played as though there wasn't a care in the world. He played so well that Momoko almost believed him. All she could do was sit in rapt awe, watching his fingers glide effortlessly across the ivory keys. The room seemed to have an almost cathedral-esque effect, resonating the sound of the piano far beyond what the tiny building should be able. Finally his song came to and end, his fingers still resting tenderly on the keys as he turned to Momoko with a smile.

"I've been waiting for you," Momoko frowned and lowered her head.

"I'm sorry if I'm late sir…" The man smiled brightly and came over to sit next to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You're not, when you'd come I knew. You've come seeking freedom; can you tell me what from?" Momoko glanced at him then returned her eyes to the floor, her hands fidgeting and her feet bouncing nervously.

"My friends…they're fighting a monster I made, but I don't think they can beat it," The man leaned forward on his knees, able now to see Momoko's face, her cheeks red and her eyes misted. She was trembling.

"You wish that from this monster you'd be free, why have you chosen to bring this to me?" Momoko shook her head, keeping it bowed low shamefully.

"I don't know…I remember talking to you yesterday…and you told me to come to you at some time…I couldn't remember when," He smiled and her frown deepened, "I don't know why this is happening to me…I don't know how this could happen. I've always tried to be good…I always tried to be someone Kuriko could look up to,"

"In your sister you've placed all of your life…and somehow this brought you all of this strife?" Momoko nodded and clasped her hands together, twiddling her thumbs anxiously.

"I used to pray all the time…I didn't really know if it was doing any good since we didn't really go to church or anything but I wanted to try…I always prayed that I could be a hero, her hero," Momoko leaned her head onto her hands, feeling herself begin to cry again. "And this is what happens…I let myself become a monster, and now I've set that monster free and it's going to kill my little sister and all of my friends!" The man slipped his arm around her shoulders, gently lifting her chin to look at him.

"You prayed for a chance to show your love to her, and in return you were made into a monster," Momoko nodded and looked down again.

"It's not fair, I prayed to be a hero and instead God let me become…that thing! I tried to kill my sister and my best friends!" The man placed his hand over hers and spoke in a softer tone.

"Perhaps this is just in his eyes, you needed this chance to realize," Momoko looked up, her eyes narrowed and her mouth parted slightly. The man smiled and gently closed her mouth. "If we pray for courage to fight, do we suddenly discover the might? If you pray for love, does it simply fall down from above?" Momoko started to respond but closed her mouth, thinking hard on the question. The man smiled and continued, "God doesn't simply give us our dreams, but gives us a chance to make them it seems. We're cast into the fire with a chance to learn, that the courage was inside us waiting to burn," Momoko's eyes widened and she looked down again.

"I can't fight her…I lost my powers, I can't do it!" The man looked at the altar and soon Momoko's eyes followed his. He spoke just above a whisper and she could feel her heart shuddering.

"You've already faced the demon Blight, now you need only to finish the fight," Momoko continued to stare at the dark altar and a memory began to come to her. She recalled drowning, falling in darkness. No it wasn't darkness she was drowning in, it was Blight. She had been fighting Blight as Blossom. Somehow she managed to tear free, but when Blight vanished, so had Blossom.

"I don't know when but…I was Blossom when I fought her…I can't become Blossom any more…I lost the white light, now I can't fight her," A little smile spread across the man's lips as he met eyes with Momoko.

"When taken over by Blight, she drove out all of your white light. Yet still when you met in the within your heart, you became Blossom and managed to drive out the dark," Momoko shook her head and bit her bottom lip as a few stray tears fell down her cheeks.

"I've already lost everything because of her…I can't do it," This time the man laughed and Momoko turned on him in shock. He brought his face closer to hers, their foreheads touching as he spoke.

"There cannot be a rising unless first we fall. Now you claim that you've lost it all?" Momoko nodded and he chuckled again, "When Gods makes us fall and takes away, he returns more than he took at the end of the day. You've fallen so far and seen the face of your fear. Now it's your turn to fly, my dear," Momoko shook her head again.

"I…I can't…" This time the man spoke with such fire in his voice, such passion in his eyes that Momoko felt her heart stop.

"No one else can win this fight, it's upon you alone to conquer Blight. This is your chance, no one else can drive out the dark. That hero has always laid deep inside your heart," He turned Momoko with unparalleled gentleness the burning look in his eyes igniting something inside her, "Will you take a chance and fight? Will you show the world…your blinding light?" Momoko looked down and saw that he was holding out one of her sour gum balls. She took it and popped it into her mouth. The sensation felt as though it cleansed her yet again, but now she felt something else, something warm spreading through her. It started in the pit of her stomach and worked its way to the tips of her toes and the ends of her hair. She nodded and stood up, looking toward the door.

"I…thank you!" She threw her arms around the man's neck and then quickly ran out. The door slammed and the church was empty.

XXXXXXXXXX

Momoko's legs were pumping faster than they'd ever gone before. Her breaths came in short gasps as she barreled down the sidewalk, pushing everything she had into making it to the scene of the fight. It was a good several miles, she bit her lip and shook her head. No thinking of how far it was wasn't going to make it any easier. No she had to stay focused, she had to stay resolved. Her sister was counting on her. Her friends were counting on her. The Rowdyruff Boys were counting on her. If she didn't make it, they were all going to die.

Momoko whirled around a corner, nearly toppling over. She was sweating profusely, fatigue rearing its ugly head all too early. She'd never been as athletic as Kaoru, but God she knew how to run when she needed to! She wasn't about to give up now, not when for the first time in her life she had a chance to be a real hero. She had a chance to atone for everything. A chance to finally be absolved.

Absolution, the official forgiveness of ones sins. Semi-useless information she'd picked up from countless manga and anime. Right now it was all she could focus on, it was where she had focused the entire core of her being. She allowed herself to give in to the darkness, she let herself become evil, and despite it all…they had stuck by her. Her friends, her family, they hadn't given up on her. Even Butch, especially Butch had stuck beside her no matter how terrible she had treated him. Now his brothers who barely knew her were risking their lives for her.

Momoko nearly crashed as she came to another turn, wiping the sweat out of her eyes as quickly as she could before hurrying on. She was almost there, she could hear the battle just over the horizon. Absolution, something she believed she could never have, never find. Something that no matter what had happened, those who loved her had been willing to give her without condition. Now it was finally time to earn that love, the love that she didn't deserve. The love that she had taken for granted. Momoko doubled over as she came to the end of the sidewalk and looked up, her eyes widening in horror.

Blight had been merciless. Her friends had all fallen, few if any still capable of standing. Buttercup was kneeling beside Bubbles, holding her close and keeping her safe. It looked as it the blue puff was having trouble breathing, but at the same time one of Buttercup's arms was hanging uselessly. Brick was lying off to the side in the wreckage of what was once a red station wagon. He kept trying to get up, but for all his efforts he couldn't move. Boomer and Shirogane Z were off to the other side, the elder cradling the younger, who had taken a nasty blow to the head and was bleeding terribly. Shirogane Z's suit no longer glowed, its power exhausted. She was almost as in bad a shape as Boomer her face stained with blood. And at the center of it all were Blossom and Butch, the only two still fighting. Blossom was standing, but Butch was in front of her, holding her back and holding his boomerang defensively. He couldn't stand up straight and he was barely able to lift his weapon from the ground, even in its now small form.

And the cause of all this destruction stood like a pristine statue, without a bead of sweat nor a hair out of place. She grinned viciously, her eyes bloodthirsty as she advanced on the last two standing. Her hands began to glow and with a simple gesture, she blasted Butch away, leaving Blossom standing alone and defenseless.

"Kuriko!" Momoko took off without a second thought as Blight brought both hands up and began to gather a sphere of black and green energy around them.

"Sayonara little sister!" Blight swung her hands down and hurled the death orb at Blossom, who stumbled backward in horror. Everyone's eyes widened and Blossom's legs buckled as Momoko dove into the path of the attack and was hit and consumed by it.

"Momoko!"

"Ms. Momoko!"

"Sis!!" The energy sphere held in place, Momoko's scream pouring out from it. Blight watched in sick satisfaction, clenching an out held fist and causing Momoko's screams to grow louder. Inside, that warmth had spread throughout Momoko's body and an unbelievable feeling overwhelmed her. Momoko managed to smile through the pain.

"Momoko! No stop! Let her go!" Blossom tried to approach the sphere but was driven back by a surge of energy inside. Blight's eyes widened and everyone froze when they saw a light began to tear free from the black mass.

"No…no that's impossible!" Buttercup and Bubbles pushed themselves up as much as they could, their eyes wide. Shirogane Z's mouth fell open, while Butch felt his face get red and his insides churn in a way that wasn't completely unpleasant. The light began to tear the darkness apart as a voice that finally broke through Blight's invincible demeanor cried out.

"Hyper…Blossom!" Across the city, everyone watched the white light fade, revealing that Momoko Akatsutsumi was gone, now replaced by Hyper Blossom I. She met Blight's eyes and refused to look away. Behind her, Blossom II was trembling and staring at her sister with a look of awe.

"Mo…Momoko you're…" Blossom kept her eyes on Blight who looked as though she was descending into a state of pissed off the likes Tokyo City had never seen before.

"Kuriko…let me handle this," Blossom II was shocked, but nodded. Buttercup and Bubbles had forced themselves to their feet, ready to join Blossom against Blight. Blossom shook her head and finally looked away, smiling at the two.

"Please…I started this mess…I'm going to finish it, you can rest now," Bubbles and Buttercup looked back, overwhelmed by Momoko's sudden transformation and her sudden resolution. Both nodded and stood down, every eye turning to Blight who was livid.

"What are you doing here? This is my show, you should be off crying somewhere," Blossom glared, the corners of her lips twitching.

"I'm not going to let some fake keep ruining my life," Blight sneered, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"Haven't we had this discussion before? I am you, I'm the real Momoko. If anything…you're the fake. I'm more real than you ever were," Blossom shook her head, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm not falling for that anymore. I let you run wild, now I'm going to finally put a stop to it!" Blight glowered and brought her fists up.

"If you think just saying that is all it it'll take…you're sadly mistaken," Blossom brought her fists up, assuming a stance identical to Blight's.

"I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you stay gone for good," Blight slid one foot closer, grinning and revealing her fangs.

"I'll never be gone…I'll always be right here," She drew a cross over her heart and sneered, "Cross your heart and hope you die," Blossom slid a foot forward, tensing up. Blight narrowed her eyes and brought both fists back up. "Fine, be that way…I'll kill you first!" Blight shot forward and threw a punch at Blossom, who blocked it and retaliated with a hook right across Blight's face. Everyone in the city watched in amazement, seeing Blight stumble back holding her cheek, a bruise forming. She swallowed and began to breathe more heavily.

"You," Blossom wasted no more time, summoning her yo-yo and flinging it at Blight, who dodged with a look of shock on her face at how hard it had been.

"Just shut up and die!" Blossom met Blight and tackled her to the ground. She managed to get a punch in before Blight flung her off and blasted her in the side, sending Blossom spiraling through the air. She landed on her hands and knees and rose up with her yo-yo pulled back to cut off Blight's charge.

"Miracle Peppermint Shot!" The attack flew continuously, Blight dodging everything thrown at her, while slowly advancing on Blossom. Blossom cut the attack off and brought her yo-yo back in violently.

"Candy Cane Shoot!" This time the yo-yo collided with Blight and threw her away. The demon caught herself and blasted Blossom again, charging in and throwing a furious barrage of punches at her double. Blossom gave up her yo-yo and began to meet Blight's assault head on, dropping down and tripping her, jumping back to catch her breath.

"I am so going to mess you up!" Blight stood, looking as though their three minute struggle had taken a greater toll on her than the hour she had spent fighting the other seven. For her part, Blossom was worn out herself. Blight gathered black and green energy into her hands and fired it at Blossom, who's eyes widened. She crossed her arms over her face and simply took the hit, keeping it from hitting the others. She looked back at them, cringing in pain.

'I can't stay here…the others are going to get hurt and they can't do anything to fight back…gotta get her away from them,' Blossom nodded and grimaced when Blight leapt into the air and began flinging blasts at her left and right.

"Oh geez! Uh, M&M Flurry Shoot!" Flinging her yo-yo out as rapidly as she could, Blossom knocked the blasts out as they came at her, which only seemed to be further infuriating Blight. The dark puff stopped and glared as Blossom looked back at her friends and smiled. "Guys…just…just know I love you okay? Bye!" Blossom ran forward and took off into the air, taking Blight by surprise and driving them both higher into the sky above Tokyo City.

"Bye?! What does that mean?" Buttercup whispered, watching the swirling pink and violet streaks in the air, blasts of green and black being stopped by lashes from Blossom's yo-yo. Bubbles shook her head and bit her lip.

"She's not…she can…right?" Buttercup instinctively tightened the protective hold she had on Bubbles and nodded.

"She'll be fine…I hope…" Blossom II watched the fight intensely, not even noticing when Butch came up beside her, just as entranced as she was.

"She's…she's hurting her," Butch finally commented, snapping Blossom II out of her revere.

"Yeah…it's her dark side, maybe that's why we couldn't win," Butch nodded and then frowned, shaking his head.

"It doesn't make a bit of difference though…look at them…Blight's winning," Blossom II glared at Butch, but when she looked back at the fight, it was obvious that her sister just didn't have the firepower to keep up with Blight's relentless energy blasts. Butch noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and turned toward Shirogane Z and Boomer, the latter of which was starting to come to.

"Are you okay?" Butch asked Blossom II. She looked at him and nodded. Butch nodded back and went over to check on his brother. Blossom II looked down at her yo-yo and then back at the fight. Somehow…somehow Momoko was still missing something. Something that kept her from being able to beat Blight. But what? What was she missing? Momoko had…she'd become Blossom without the white light, somehow she had broken all the rules and transformed alone.

"Momoko..." Blossom dodged another one of Blight's blasts and slapped it out of the air, panting. Blight had already discovered Blossom's plan and was purposely firing down at the others to wear her down, but as it stood there was no way she could get around it. If she stopped to fight her dark half then her friends would get hurt. But if she didn't get a hit in, she was going to be too worn out to keep fighting.

"Hahaha! What's wrong hero? Can't keep up? You should just quit! I'm too powerful! You have no hope in the world of stopping me!" Blossom looked back at Blight who despite being a little fatigued wasn't nearly as spent as Blossom. She shook her head and narrowed her eyes.

"I'm just can't let you beat me again," Blight grinned and shrugged her entire body beginning to glow with her black aura.

"Whatever…I'm sick of this bullshit. I'm going to finish you off and this time I promise, you will die in me! You won't get away this time!" Blight's entire body melted into the black light, which flung itself at Blossom. Blossom screamed as she felt herself once again drowning in darkness, pouring into her ears, eyes, nose and mouth. She tried to fight it off, but no matter how she tried it continued trying to consume her.

"Oh God! Momoko!" Shirogane Z reached for her scepter, but remembered that her suit had completely worn out its power. Butch looked up and his mouth fell open in horror.

"NO! God no! No! Don't let that thing take her back!" He ran forward and grabbed his boomerang, using all of his strength to enlarge it to its full size. "Hypersonic Shockrang!" The blade of energy rammed the black light and was thrown away uselessly. Butch caught it again and, with tears in his eyes, flung it at the light again.

"Hypersonic Shockrang!"

"Swing Sonic III!"

"Bubble Champagne III!" The three attacks combined, and were blasted away from the black light without a care. Butch looked over at Bubbles and Buttercup, who were barely able to stand but still readying their weapons to fire again. As a unit they fired again and once more their attacks were ignored completely. Blossom II shook her head, sliding to the ground and trembling. Her sister was being taken away again, she was going to be taken over by Blight again. She looked down at her yo-yo, a single teardrop falling on it. Her white light was flared up.

"What…?" Blossom looked down at her arms, seeing the white light. Her eyes widened and suddenly the missing piece of the puzzle fell into place. Momoko was fighting her dark side…but she was still missing her light! The white light was still inside Kuriko!

"That's it! That's it! That's…that's what Daddy meant…" Blossom II gasped, remembering her father's words. She would give Momoko the strength to save herself. She stood up and closed her eyes. In the darkness of her mind she focused on the white light and nothing else. A stinging pain, like waking a limb up that had gone numb, began to course through her as she then focused on her yo-yo, picturing herself pouring the white light into it.

"Get out of me…get out of me…you have to go back to her! She's the one you belong to! Get out of ME!" There was a bright flash as the white light completely consumed the yo-yo. Kuriko looked down at herself, seeing that her uniform had faded. She was Kuriko again. Still she had the yo-yo in her hand, the last piece of the puzzle missing.

"Here! Go back to my sister! Save her!" Kuriko hurled the yo-yo at the black light with all of her strength. It seemed to fly on its own, becoming a solid white light. The yo-yo melted into the light and slammed into the side of the black. The three stopped their useless attacks and turned to Kuriko, who was panting and felt as though she had just pulled her own teeth out. Butch ran over to her and steadied her while watching the white light pierce through the black.

"What…what did you do?" Bubbles asked softly. Kuriko smiled as the light finally entered into the black death bag.

"I gave her back the missing piece of herself…" She said cryptically. At the heart of the black light, the white light collided with Blossom. It poured into her and flushed all of the darkness out. Again they heard a cry, but this one was so loud and so powerful that everyone in the city, who all sat watching a light appear in the heart of the darkness, could hear it clear as day, as though they were there on the scene.

"Hyper…BLOSSOM!" A ray of light pierced through the top of the black aura. A shockwave surged over the city, turning on every street lamp and electrical appliance even miles outside the city. Then the sack burst and the world was forced to turn away. All over the world, people turned their eyes to the sky and saw in the distance…a second sun, burning brighter than the first.

The people of Tokyo City were forced to turn their eyes away from the light that now left the city completely drowned in warmth and white. In the depth of the light, all of it pouring from a single source, Blight remerged, and stared in horror, her arm over her eyes, unable to look at her other.

"How?! How are you doing this?!" A voice, calm and powerful, audible throughout the city and perhaps further spoke, the invisible source of the blinding light shifting and grinning perhaps, no one would ever know.

"There was one good thing you did for me…" Blight pulled her arm back and stared into the light, barely able to make out her other. Her eyes bled and she could feel her skin beginning to burn.

"What?!" Her other's arm moved and an object appeared, some of the endless white concentrating in that object.

"You helped me come up with the coolest attack name ever. Sparkling Sugarbomb Shot!" With speed untold, she flung her weapon forward and a second light crashed into Blight, splitting her in two. Blight screamed as she was completely obliterated in the face of the light that blinded them all. In a flash, a time so short seconds couldn't catch breath of it, Blight was gone and destroyed, once and for all.

On the ground, the heroes all shielded their eyes not one of them able to look directly into the light. Slowly it began to fade, and shrink, until at last it had settled down into a simple blinding aura surrounding their friend and sister.

"B…Momoko…she's…" Buttercup started to say, but simply shook her head and stared as the light steadily lost it's brilliance. Blossom was still shining, her white aura still visible to anyone who dared to look on her. Now though, her uniform had changed harkening to the old but casting it away for something purer. Now she wore a long sleeved white jacket, with a hot pink lining inside and pink ribbons tied around her elbows. She opened her eyes and a beaming smile spread across her lips. Then in one fell swoop…Blossom fell backward and came crashing towards the ground.

"Woah! Ms. Blossom!" Butch dashed out as fast as his tired body would carry him and dove underneath her, just as Blossom swooped up and slowed herself so that she could fall on top of him. "Oof! Ouch! You big faker!" Blossom, lying on top of Butch, grinned while blushing and began to laugh. Butch smiled and began to speak when Blossom decided to shower him with kisses, which caused him to scream and begin trying to crawl away.

"Ah! Make her stop!" Blossom held him down and continued kissing him while the others, tired and worn down but still very much alive, joined in Blossom's jovial disposition and began laughing as well.

XXXXXXXXXX

"We're here with Powerpuff Girls Z, just moments after their…apocalyptic battle with the monster known as Blight. Now I know the world has to be curious…who are you girls?" Blossom, helping Bubbles and Buttercup stand grinned into the camera and tightened her hug on her friends.

"My name is Momoko Akatsutsumi, and I'm Hyper Blossom!" Bubbles and Buttercup turned to Blossom with matching smiles. Giggling Bubbles waved her free hand.

"My name is Miyako Gotokuji, and I am Rolling Bubbles!" Buttercup gave a thumbs up and grinned at the camera.

"My name's Kaoru Matsubara, and I'm Powered Buttercup!" Unable to help themselves they struck as cheesy a pose as they could worn down as they were. Blossom, both arms around her comrades to help them stand gave two V's for victory, Bubbles a thumbs up and Buttercup the devil's horns.

"And we're the Magical Fighting Science Legend. We are Powerpuff Girls Z!"