Chapter 9: Mystery Solved, Sort Of

Our heroes headed down to the strange hideout of Him. All the lights were out, and no life could be seen anywhere. "Isn't that weird?" Blossom said. "He's not home."

"He could be asleep," Bubbles suggested. "I mean, it's nearly midnight here, and I'm sleepy!"

"I don't think he does sleep. Remember when he turned Townsville all against us? Well, when did he do that?"

"Late at night!" Buttercup remembered.

"Yeah. Same as when the Beatalls first formed. That was late at night. But I don't know. Maybe he does sleep. Jack, you're gonna have to check it out."

"No!" Buttercup said. "As good as Jack is, he can't take on Him all by himself. We're going in with him to give him backup."

"Uh-uh!" Blossom shook her head. "We gotta stick with the plan, like all the other times."

"Blossom is right," Jack told Buttercup. "This demon can not be any eviler than Aku. If you are frightened, though, I will try to find the Professor myself this time."

"Oh no," Blossom answered. "We're going to be out here, waiting on you. Just signal us when you find out anything."

"And if you run into Him, scream really loud!" Bubbles told him.

"For the last time, I am not afraid."

"You should be," Buttercup muttered.

Jack shot her an offended look and went in. He kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, just in case. He found a back door that was cracked open. "Rather careless demon," he thought. The place looked modern but had large cliffs floating in midair and a very strong smell of sulfur, the usual creature comforts for a demon. Many rooms were littered with pink feather boas and exercise tapes. "I don't even want to know," Jack thought shaking his head. He never did see any signs of life, but suddenly he heard a scream.

"Who's there?" he demanded. The scream didn't answer but kept screaming. Then Jack realized it sounded the same each time. He followed it into a small room that only contained a desk, and three very strange-looking boxes. One of those boxes had an odd, white stick on it. That box was doing the screaming. Then it stopped in mid-scream, and the box right beside it clicked on.

"Hello," a very creepy, high-toned voice said from that box. "You've reached the residence of, (evil chuckle) well, you know. I can not come to the phone right now. Actually I won't be around for a while. I'm with an old (another evil chuckle) friend in Japan concocting my best scheme ever. If you really want to leave me a message, though, wait until the beep. I'll get in touch with you when the Powerpuff Girls are destroyed and my friend and I turn the world upside down! (Evil laugh) And that will probably be in about a week. Goodbye."

Jack understood now. These boxes were things he had often heard of in Aku's world but had rarely seen. That first box was a device called a phone. The girls used one in the lab. Its screaming was its ring. The other box was designated to take messages if the person wasn't home to answer the phone. The final box was just his personal computer. But who could be trying to contact this demon at so late in the night? Jack listened closely.

"Him? It is I, Mooooooooooojoooooooooooo Jojo! And I have escaped from my cell to my observatory to tell you very important things. I am aware that you are in Japan, but I refuse to pay the phone bill! First thing, your plan rocked! I did a lot of cool stuff in Townsville this afternoon while you were kidnapping the Professor."

"So, Him was behind it," Jack thought.

"However, the plan was not perfect. It had a flaw! A mistake, if you will. For how could you kidnap Professor Utonium if he was with the girls? Because he was fighting with the girls, and they were fighting with him. And he was crazy! He thought he was Japanese! But he was a good fighter. He nearly killed me for crying out loud! You should have seen it. The sword. The fighting. The arresting. The sword. The fighting. The arresting. The sw--"

The box cut him off there. After a minute, the phone screamed again, but only twice this time, and the creepy message started again. It gave Jack some time to think. Of course, Mojo was talking about him. And Him was with some evil being in Japan. Aku was a strong probability, but there were several other demons and monsters which resided there. Even if it were Aku, what would he want with the Professor?

Mojo came on again. "Good night, Him! Surely you could afford a little more space on your answering machine, for someone who's clear, concise, and to the point."

Jack rolled his eyes. The monkey had not learned anything.

"Anyway, the Professor was not at the lab. He was in downtown Townsville, and he thought he was a crazy samurai. Just wanted to let you know if you could not find the Professor. Good night. Oh, and give Aku my regards."

"Aku!" Jack yelled. In sudden rage, he sliced the answering machine in half.

He ran out and met the girls outside. "What's the word?" Blossom asked.

"I know where the Professor is."

"Good. Let's go."

"He is not here! Him is responsible for his kidnapping, but He brought the Professor to Aku."

"Oh no! Aku?" Bubbles cried.

"Yes. This is not good. They are in Japan. What would he want with the Professor anyway?"

"Hello? You look just like him!" Buttercup yelled.

"Well, that's one motive," Blossom nodded. "I bet it has something to do with us too. But how in the world are we going to get to Japan?"

The girls thought about it for a few seconds, but then they remembered. "The plane tickets!"

"Huh?" Jack asked.

"Jack, remember those tickets the Mayor gave you?" Blossom asked.

Jack pulled them out of his breast pocket. "Yes, but weren't they meant for--"

"There's no better time to use them. And airports are open 24 hours, right? If there's a fast flight leaving for Japan, let's go ahead and take it. I doubt they'll be much of a crowd."

"But, you do not necessarily need them."

"We don't, but you do!"

"And I'm not flying all the way to Japan!" Buttercup demanded. "Not this late at night, anyway."

"All right. We shall go." Jack stood up and took off the hat. "And this time, I have a plan."