The day had finally come for HIM to return to earth. The Powerpuff girls waited anxiously in the lounge at the Lab for the indication that it was time to move into position. Link felt some pain after the strenuous workout he put his body through the day before at the soccer field, especially while he was still healing from the wounds that Blossom had inflicted on him, however he was healing so rapidly that the Professor assumed that another couple days would see the full recovery.
The alarm sounded and the girls flew out and looked into the sky to see very clearly the white and black Z-rays almost touching down on earth. This was it the moment they had been dreading a confrontation with HIM. Mojo had made some ray shield belt generators for the girls that could block several consecutive attacks before it needed to be recharged.
The Z-rays drew closer and soon Link joined them outside the Lab, "Link you'd better go back inside we don't want you to get hurt!" Blossom said
"I was about to say the same thing I don't want to see you get hurt." Link retorted as the Z-rays started to enter the atmosphere.
"Link we'll be…" But she was cut off short as the Z-rays hit the ground right in front of them causing a tidal wave of dirt and sand to go out in a circular manner. The girls let the dust settle and there before them stood HIM. HIM stood there for a moment then his eyes went up to the back of his head and he fell forward.
He was out cold and not from the cold of space. The girls could see cuts and bruises all over HIM's body as though he had been tortured.
"What's going on?" Bubbles asked
"It could be a trick." Buttercup responded but HIM was not moving at all.
Link slowly approached the villain and lifted his arm and felt at the base of his claws for a pulse. He could detect a small pulse but then Link saw a flash of light,
"Nooo! Please stop!" Came the sinister voice of HIM. Link found himself in a glowing red room and could see HIM tied to a stone table with strange markings around the sides. A large man in a fish-like mask was walking slowly around the table with a sharp knife. He would stop every once and a while to plunge the knife deep into some part of HIM which caused HIM to scream out in pain. "Please, just kill me. Have some form of mercy!" HIM cried
"Mercy is unbecoming a servant of the Great Gannondorf." The man said digging the dagger into another fleshy location. HIM shed black tears. There were more of those shadowy golems that surrounded the table and every once in a while they'd take long shadowy whips and strike HIM across the chest.
"Please! Why are you doing this?" HIM cried great globs of black tears.
"Oh the explanation is quite simple really," The man in the mask said turning to HIM before walking out the rooms door, "Why not?" he finished and walked out to where the door closed behind him.
HIM donned a look of sheer terror as the shadowy creatures closed in.
Link was pulled out of his vision by Buttercup who was busy shaking him loose from HIM.
"Link what happened?" She asked and Link explained what he saw to the girls who stood back with expressions of shock on their faces.
"It would seem to be that HIM is not the most evil being in the universe." Link concluded
They grabbed HIM and walked back into the Professors lab. After explaining what had happened the Professor put his head down, "I was worried about this." He said and turned to a monitor behind him. "Look at what our satellite station has picked up."
There was a large black cloud moving through the solar system at a decent rate. "This cloud has passed directly over all of the planets from Pluto to just before mars and each one can no longer be seen even by our telescopes." The girls stood back in shock, "Astronomers all around the world are calling it the Doomsday Nebula and it is headed straight for earth."
"How long until it gets here?" Bubbles asked
"Less than twenty four hours!" The Professor said
A feeling of great depression overshadowed the normally cheery room.
"I need to see Gran-gran!" Bubbles said running away with tears in her eyes
Blossom started to cry and ran out as well.
"It looks like Mojo will not have time to become the greatest assistant in the world." Mojo said inclining his head and shedding a tear. He went over to the Professor and handed him his white Lab coat and walked out the door.
"Does this mean my brothers,… My family will…" Buttercup started and then ran out the door of the Lab.
"Professor why don't we do something about this?" Link asked
"There isn't anything we can do." The Professor said leaning against his computers. This thing has swallowed planets that were thousands of times bigger than earth and even with all of the power we have here there is nothing that will take out the entire thing before it reaches earth.
"But Professor…" Link started
"DON'T YOU GET IT!?" the Professor yelled, "It's over HIM came out of that cloud and look at him holding onto life by a thread. You think we have more power than HIM. I need to get out on TV tonight to announce the world's imminent demise. I need to tell hundreds of millions of families that come tomorrow they will never see their loved ones again." The Professor stated starting to cry
"Professor."Poochie said sympathetically, "Dad." Ken said consolingly and went up and hugged his father, "I'm sorry you need to do that Dad." Ken said holding his father close.
"Well I'm not." Link said and both Ken and Poochie looked at Link surprised, "You deserve to tell all those people that they will die tomorrow because you are too scared to fight your 'destiny' or whatever you want to believe. You deserve to look into the billions of people that you gave up on just because the task was hard or you 'believed' it was impossible so why even try. No I don't feel sorry for you and I refuse to stand here while cowards tell the world that their fate is sealed. Nothing can decide your destiny only you." Link said as he walked out the door.
Poochie, Ken and the Professor just looked at each other.
Bubbles reached home and ran in where her Gran-gran was in the kitchen cooking. She went up and hugged her Gran-gran and started to cry.
"What's the matter my dear?" Gran-gran asked worriedly and Bubbles informed her of the impending doom. Gran-gran sat down and thought for a bit. "I see." She said finally, "And what are we going to do about it?" she asked
"Gran-gran there's nothing they can do…" Bubbles started but was stopped mid-sentence by her grandmothers feeble hand.
"I did not ask what 'they' could do." She said smiling
"But what am I supposed to do?" Bubbles asked
"Bubbles… what means the most to you in this life?"
Bubbles looked confused for a second and thought about it, "Well my friends I guess." She stated finally
"So you mean to tell me that you are unwilling to fight to change your destiny and save your friends because someone told you it was impossible?" Gran-gran said wisely
"But I…" Bubbles started but was interrupted by Gran-gran who had turned back to her cooking.
"You know Bubbles there are few things more powerful in the universe than the bond of friendship. You need to be willing not just to die for them but also to live for them as well sacrificing your desires to help those you hold close to your heart. Nothing is written in stone all it takes is one decision and you can change everything."
Bubbles thought about this for a while then hugged her Gran-gran and ran out the door.
"Go save the world my little Powerpuff." She said to herself as Bubbles rounded the corner and ran to find the others.
Meanwhile, Blossom ran into her house and onto her bed crying. Her mother and sister looked in the room wondering what was going on. She explained to them what was happening with tear-filled eyes. Her mother and sister put their hands to their mouths in shock.
"You know I've messed up a lot before and now I won't even have a chance to truly apologize for all the wrongs I've caused." And Blossom started to cry once more.
Blossom's mother looked saddened and hugged Blossom close.
"So what?!" Blossom's little sister said looking forward
"What do you mean?" Blossom asked.
"So your just gonna sit there feeling sorry because you caused some trouble. What if Galactic Man felt bad every time he made a mistake, how would the world ever be safe?" Her sister said
"But I…" Blossom started but was stopped with her sister's hand placed right in front of her face.
"Shut it! You can make all the excuses you want but in the end I'm sure your friends forgave you and now you're going to just let them all die because you don't think their forgiveness is good enough?"
"It's not that I…" Blossom tried to say but was stopped again by her little sister
"Blossom you have two choices you can make here one you can continue to whine and be bitter about all the things you could've done right, or you can accept that you've done some things wrong and accept your friend's forgiveness for those things. In the end are you going to let everyone you care about die without putting up a fight just because you feel guilty, it seems to me that you need to forgive yourself and move on and become better, like Galactic man." Her sister said encouraging Blossom.
Blossom was taken aback she never realized that she was holding on to her past mistakes which were keeping her anchored in the past. She needed to let go of that anchor and move on learning from what couldn't be changed and trying to better what could. She needed to forgive herself.
"When did you get so smart?" Blossom asked her sister giving her a hug and rubbing her head. She then ran out the door and went to find her friends.
"Go on big yoyo loving sis. I'm sure the Powerpuff girls can find a way to save the day again."
At Buttercups house she walked in the door and looked into the living-room to see her brothers, father, and mother all sitting on the couch. She walked in with her head down and tears in her eyes which made everyone in the room stop what they were doing and look, it was rare to see Buttercup crying.
She explained to them the situation and how in less than twenty-four hours the world would be engulfed by this nebula. Everyone gathered around Buttercup and patted her on the shoulder.
"Then if that's the case what are you doing here?" Her mother asked
"What do you mean?" Buttercup asked through teary eyes
"Isn't there a special someone that you love whom you should be spending this time with?" her mother asked and Buttercup could see her brothers and father smile
"MOM!" Buttercup said in disbelief
"Please do you think that's new news?" Her older brother said. "Yeah, even in my grade everyone's talking about Buttercup and Link." Her younger brother chimed in.
"WHA!?" Buttercup said nearly falling over
"There is no secret in love it is something that shows through even the most obscure places. It allows friends to stay together and people to live in harmony but then there's that special love…" Buttercups mother stated looking at her father, "The kind that no matter how deep you hide it, it will come out and chase away the doubts and fears."
"Yeah and we think it's cool that you chose someone as cool as Link, that kid rocks." Her older brother added.
"Remember with love there is no obstacle that is insurmountable, you have each other and that is all you'll need to defeat whatever evil comes your way." Her father added
"Yeah and you need to fight otherwise how are the Powerpuff Girls Z going to replace you?" Her younger brother asked
"How did you know that I…!" Buttercup managed to stutter out
"Please we're family you didn't think that we wouldn't notice our sister out there fighting crime? Oh and nice skirt by the way." Her older brother said not expecting the fist he received square on the nose from Buttercup.
"I hate that stupid skirt!" She said angrily looking down.
"Remember dear," her mother started again, "even if there is nothing that can be done as long as you spend what time you can with those that you love you'll never regret a thing."
Buttercup's eyes swelled in tears as she hugged her family and ran out the door in search of Link and the others.
"Knock em dead sis." Her brother's said in unison
Link was walking slowly down the sidewalk. Depression had reached him not even knowing who he was or why he was suffering from amnesia. Now the world, the only one he knew, was in peril and he knew deep down inside that he didn't have the ability to fight the oncoming storm by himself. He walked into the park in downtown New Townsville where he leaned over the fountain and looked at himself in the turbulent waters.
"What's the matter feeling sorry for yourself?" He heard from behind and turned around to see Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup there together.
"I thought you were going to see your families?" He said confused
"We did and it's a good thing too otherwise we would have never gotten the strength to face what's coming. We realize that we have everything we need to save the day…," Blossom stated
"Friendship." Bubbles said smiling
"Forgiveness." Blossom added
"And love!" Buttercup finished
"We may not always seem strong but there isn't anything we can't do together." Blossom said
"And Mojo agrees!" Came the voice of the green simian behind the girls. "A necessary component of victory is hope. Mojo remembers the many times he was defeated at the hand of the Powerpuff Girls, but no matter how many times I was beaten down I always hoped that I would do better and rule the world someday. This hope made Mojo Jojo what he is today!" And all three of them came in and gave a huge group hug.
"Let's promise to stick together no matter what happens." Bubbles said enthusiastically
Buttercup turned to Link, "As long as I'm with you I won't have any regrets and we'll take on this Nebula together!" this of course made Bubbles and Blossom giggle but this time Buttercup didn't care
"Let's move forward and take this thing down." Blossom finished
That night on the news Professor Utonium got up in front of the world and explained their dire situation, "But…" he added near the end, "I promise you that I will personally do everything in my power to ensure that we have many years to come as a happy, healthy and productive people!" and then the power to the city was cut out.
Thanks for reading this exceptionally long chapter I hope that you all enjoyed it, Ultima S. Next, Zant Time to Leave!