Okay, to the best of my knowledge, no one has died in motor sport this week, but congratulations to Kimi Raikkoen, who somehow won the formula one world championship today.

28. Bursting the Bubble

Things had got pretty bad in the force field. The minor problem was that they were now loosing the battle quite badly. The heap of battered and crippled superheroes was now quite large (Wolverine had been in and out of it three times already) but this wasn't a disaster. As long as the force field remained intact, Sonic knew that they only had to wait for Blossom to reverse the porthole to win the war.

The major problem was that they were down to two Saiyans, and they were being targeted by the vast majority of the demons. Fortunately, Goku (who Sonic thought they'd lost for a while on account of him going missing) and Vegeta both relished this role, but they couldn't last for ever. That applied to everyone though.

"Come on Blossom," Sonic hissed angrily as he ducked under a swinging clawed hand. The wound in his hand was really hurting now, and his legs were finally showing their age. After jumping over another attack from one of the devilish monsters, they buckled on landing, dumping his unceremoniously on his bottom. While fairly amusing to watch, especially for those Sonic had mocked, this error only didn't cost him his life thanks to rapid intervention from Cyborg.

"Come on Sonic, this is no time for a rest," he quipped surprisingly cheerfully, before resuming the fight, leaving Sonic to reflect on the shame of being saved by a half robot.

"I'm getting too old for this," he groaned, before back flipping on to his feet again via the face of an oncoming demon.

It was as he landed again, that the atmosphere seemed to change. The air inside the force field, which was warm and humid die to the sweat from the battle, suddenly became cold, and clear. The change was so sudden that even the mindless demon's stopped to see what was going on.

"What?" Trigon roared, "What's going on?" He glanced around, suddenly nervous. It was his right hand demon how ever, who clicked first.

"Oh no," Him muttered, with a mixture of panic and anger in his voice. "She wouldn't, she couldn't!"

But his denial was worthless, because a strong, swirling white wind suddenly picked up. It had no spectacular affect on the heroes, but the demons were a different matter. It ripped at them with a viscous ferocity, and yanked the thrashing creature from their feet. Within moments, there was a spiral of screeching creatures being dragged into hell like water down a plug hole.

"No!" Trigon bellowed, as his army was swept away, but it was a typical villain's meaningless cry. Sonic flopped to the ground in relief, to watch from a more comfortable position.

"Knew she could do it," he said, as the cheers of the victors rang out over the seen. "Shame I won't get to thank her really." He closed his eyes for a moment, just to allow him to catch his breath.

It might have been better if he hadn't.


MJ lowered her hands. The portal could look after its self now. Up in the grey Hell sky, she could see the monsters falling back in. They had a good few miles to fall yet though, so they weren't the most immediate concern. She turned to her mum. "Okay, now what?" she asked.

Blossom looked thoughtful. "Well first things first I suggest we get out of here before Trigon arrives. I don't think he'd be pleased to see us." A strong down draft was beginning to develop, that created a dust bowl at there feet. MJ briefly tried to jump up through it, but didn't get very far before being cannoned back down to earth.

"I guess that's why we can't escape," she said sadly. "So we're going to be stuck here for a while."

"Maybe," Blossom said emotionlessly. Personally she thought the word "forever" more appropriate, but she didn't feel the need to say that. "Unless we make another deal with Him or someone, but I think we've learn our lesson with that, haven't we." MJ nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm sorry for getting us stuck down here," she said sadly. "I should have been able to keep a hold of myself."

Blossom sighed, and looked at her daughter. There was no point mincing words this time. "Yes," she said sadly, "you're right. You needed to look after your self." She sat down next to her daughter. "You see, sometimes not even those who love you most will be able to help you. You saw that today MJ; I love you with all my heart, but I still let you down. I'm only human, and everyone else you meet in your life will also only be human. We make mistakes and we will let you down. But that doesn't mean we don't love you, and it doesn't mean people will never be able to help you. What it means is that on the occasions when there is no one but yourself, and your at the bottom of the dark pit that is life, you need something to hang on to, something no one can take away."

"Like what mum?" asked MJ.

"Oh, there are many things. Faith, religion, ambition, love, memories, sport or an entertaining television show. Something that gives you hope, that shows that life is worth living, even if it does suck."

MJ thought for a moment. "How do you manage?" she asked. Blossom looked distant for a moment.

"I was lucky," she murmured. "I could always rely on your father to have something to moan about. Listening to his "problems" really took my mind of mine." She paused. "Guess I'll have to dig out a Terry Pratchett book now."

"Do they have those in Hell?" MJ asked.

"Humm, I guess not."

They were just about to plod off in the direction of what looked like the exit of the forbidden demon zone, when Superman landed behind them. "Why aren't you trying to get out?" he asked, pointing upwards at the portal.

"We can't," Blossom explained, "the wind is too strong." She paused. "What happened to Cell?"

Superman said nothing, but gestured to the android, whose legs and arms were now tied together. "You just wait!" he shouted in a show of futile aggression. "I'll escape eventually!"

"Sure you will," Superman chuckled, before turning back to the puffs. "He's going to be busy for awhile so let's get you out of here!"

"Umm, how?" asked Blossom, but Superman wasn't listening. He'd reached into his pocket, and withdrew some letters.

"When you get back, can you give these to my friends? They just say that I'm fine and ask some of them to stop bothering you."

"Your still pretty keen on this escape idea aren't you," Blossom replied, but she took them. "I'll take them, but I don't know if they'll believe me if I say there from you."

"They'll believe this," Superman said authoritively, ripping his cape from his back. He handed the flowing cloth to MJ, who took it as if she'd been given a precious relic. "Tie it on," the man of steel encouraged.

"I'm still not clear on how we're getting out of here," Blossom said as MJ attached the cape, which was a good metre too long. Superman smiled.

"Easily enough. You grab my right hand, and MJ the left." With a small shrug from Blossom, the two of them did so. Superman nodded. "Okay, see you later," he said, and before either of them could respond, he hurled them skywards.

For a moment Blossom thought this was immensely foolish. The wind built up rapidly, but to her surprise, she or MJ didn't slow down as much as she thought they would. "We might just make it…" she thought, "maybe you can beat the porthole if your strong enough."

Then she thought again. "What if that works both ways?"


Sonic looked up when the cheering stopped. Trigon had taken a step back, but he was now digging his feet in, and refusing to budge any further.

"No!" the demon king bellowed. "It won't end like this!"

Leaping to his feet, Sonic instantly regretted his loss of attention, since everyone but Raven had taken it as the cue to relax. "For fuck's sake blast him now and knock him back in!" he roared.

Boomer and Butch where the first to follow this instruction other then the alert Raven. The Green and Blue energy beams combined, and charged towards Trigon's body, while Raven's black wave surged straight to the heart of the matter; the demon's head.

Trigon met his daughter's beam with a mighty eye blast of his own, the two of them meeting with a grating crash, filling the sky with a strange black light. The great Demon then stuck out a hand to reply to Boomer and Butch's efforts, the two brothers realising too late that they had now committed themselves. Sonic watched in horror as the three heroes efforts where easily suppressed by Trigon, who no longer seemed bothered by the situation. The only good news was that neither Raven's nor the ruffs beams were being engulfed, so the battle was fairly even, although it appeared that this situation could be temporary.

"If I'm going back to Hell then I'm taking you with me!" Trigon roared. "I'll destroy you all!"

Sonic made two quick judgments. Firstly, Trigon was able to fulfil his threat, and secondly there was nothing he personally could do about it. For all their uses, supersonic hedgehogs aren't a great deal of help against giant demonic monsters with blasting powers. This annoyed him, so he decided to take his rage out on appropriate targets.

"What are you imbeciles doing!" he bellowed at those not involved, "Get him!"

Cyclops, Jean Grey and the Green Lantern combined a blast of their own (aware that their solitary blasts would have limited effect,) but Trigon used his other arm to counter that. Goku and Vegeta made a move too, but Sonic spotted it.

"Not you two, we need you to hold this force field up!"

Trigon laughed manically. "Your precious barrier will help you no more!" he roared, before opening his mouth and firing another blast, this time directly at the planets surface.

"That is not a cue to intervene!" Sonic bellowed at the Saiyans. This just left Bubbles and Buttercup, who dived in the way of the large blast.

Sonic stood back, in a mixture of fear and hopelessness, among the few other remaining "blastless" heroes. There was nothing left he could do.


"Hey, how come we got lumped with the largest one!" Buttercup groaned. Energy duels weren't her preferred form of fighting, but she didn't have a choice right now.

"We'll manage," Bubbles replied, "besides, the one Raven's dealing with is actually slightly larger."

Buttercup glanced across at her sister. Bubbles fighting talk however didn't seem to match her condition. Her voice was weak and her skin pale, but her eyes seemed to be burning blue. Buttercup looked forwards again at the blast they were generating. It was mostly blue. "Trying to make me look weak aren't you?" she growled. "Don't try too hard or you'll kill yourself!"

"I'm not…" Bubbles paused. Buttercup looked across at her sister again, worriedly. She noticed that her skin wasn't pale as first thought. It was turning Blue. Her hair was also losing it's colour, and seemingly longer. Buttercups suddenly clicked.

"Your… not giving your all… Your trying to suppress it aren't you?"

Bubbles shuddered. "It was your knowledge of our condition that kept you away from me all those years, wasn't it?"

Buttercup tried to ignore it, but she could feel Bubbles probing her mind. To avoid it, she relented. "Yes, alright!" she roared, unleashing her anger into the blast. "I was scared… I wanted to forget."

"Buttercup, promise me that if you survive today, you'll learn to suppress it…" she breathed heavily as her skin glowed more, and her voice became more strained. "The original change didn't effect you for as long, so maybe you can fight it…"

"Bubbles, don't speak like that."

"I have no choice, if this doesn't end soon I'll have to use my full power again," she sighed, "and then I have no idea what will happen."


"Dam this stupid force field your "genius" son came up with," Vegeta cursed. "I can still feel it draining my power. If it wasn't for that I'd have been able to finish off this joker long ago!"

"Sure you would," replied Goku calmly, "but you do know that he'd then have turned everyone else on the plant to stone."

"Can he do that?"

"I believe so; you should talk to your Granddaughter's mother more often."

"Humph," Vegeta grunted. "She's just a bad influence."

Goku said nothing. He was studying Bubbles intently. "Her power levels rising far too rapidly." He muttered.

"Stop jabbering Kakarott!" Vegeta growled. "Are we going to finish this or not!"

Goku laughed. "Sure, let's give this Demon one it the eye!"

Ignoring Sonic this time, the two of them charged upwards and stopped level with the struggling Raven. "Having fun?" asked Goku.

Raven couldn't even summon the strength to look at them. "He's… stronger…then…last…time," she stuttered.

"Ha, you've gone soft with age!" mocked Vegeta. He stuck out an arm. "Take this you oversized freak!"

"Kamehameha!" Goku bellowed, and the two Saiyans unleashed as much energy as they could, directing it straight at Trigon's eye beam. With Ravens help, the two of them were able to force Trigon's beam back towards him. But even for them, it wasn't easy. "Keep going Vegeta," Goku called. "You've got to give it everything you've got!"

"Save your motivational speeches for someone that needs it!" Vegeta screamed. "What do you think I'm doing!"


"Look! Bubbles! We're winning!" Buttercup cried. Bubbles looked upwards in surprise, to see Goku's, Vegeta's and Raven's efforts.

"Oh, thank goodness," she relaxed. The pressure on her hands was easing, as Trigon redirected his energy to defending himself from the Saiyans, so she dropped her power level. As the colour returned to her face, she reflected that perhaps she may be able to fight this after all.


Sonic looked up at the battle, hope growing in his heart. "Maybe, maybe they can do it…" he muttered. Then, above him he saw the force field flicker. "Oh bollocks, they're running out of energy!" He stared up at them in anger, watching their energy waves falter. There didn't seem anything else for it.

"DAM IT, I KNEW YOU'D BE THE DEATH OF ME YOU STUPID SAIYANS!!" he roared, as Goku and Vegeta, tired from there constant exertion, suddenly collapsed. In an instant, the force field disappeared, and the night's sky appeared once more. Their was a collective gasp from those not too busy energy duelling, as Trigon seemed to start laughing (well, as much as one can laugh with an open mouth and energy flying out of it.

Sonic feel to his knees. "Sod it," he muttered. However, he then heard two distinct sounds through the din. Firstly, the sound of a barely conscious Goku quietly chuckling to himself, and secondly, the sound of two people chanting "Kame…"

Brick and Edward still weren't looking at each other, or talking to each other, but even the most self-righteous of characters can pull together if the situation is dire enough. The two of them had the trademark red energy balls glowing in there hands, and expressions of steely concentration on their faces. They were even managing to just about keep in time. "…hame…"

"How the…" Sonic gasped. "Who planned this!"

"HA!" the father and son combination pushed their hands forward, firing two energy beams that quickly became one.

It was only now that Trigon noticed them, but for him it was already too late. Just like how the strongest boxer could be taken out by a cheeky hit to the back of the head, the fact that the blast was hopelessly weak (due to Brick's lack of practise and Edward's lack of experience,) it didn't matter. He had already used up all his possible means of defence, so this one was going to hit.

It struck him in the forehead, and Trigon reared up, waving his hands about wildly as he tried to maintain his balance. In the process, he broke the duels with his earlier attackers, and after the briefest hesitation, the eight of them fired one last effort, Raven leading the way. Nothing could stop them now, and with a burning crash, and a cry of "NOO!!" Trigon was finally lifted off his feet, and to the cheers of the victors, fell straight back down into Hell.

As Trigon disappeared from sight, to the amassment of all, two figures cannoned out from the porthole through his legs. Blossom and MJ spun through the air and landed with a thud among the heroes, the later on her feet and the former rather less gracefully on her back. This development was greeted by further cheers from the Puff contingent, as the porthole closed with a quiet pop.


While all this was going on, the exhausted Vegeta turned slowly to Goku. "Kakarott," he asked, "if all that was required was for someone to hit him in the head, why didn't we just do that?"

"Not sure," Goku replied quietly. "Probably because if we had then this story would be in the wrong section."


Blossom didn't waste time in getting back to her feet. She needed to from a physical barrier between her work colleagues and her daughter. The last time they'd seen MJ she'd been on the side of the Demons. Some of them had adoptive potentially aggressive positions.

"It's alright she called," putting a hand on her scared child. "She's back on the right side now." There were a couple of murmurs of descent over this suggestion, but they quickly faded as the group started to notice what MJ had round her neck.

"Where did you get that?" asked Wonder Women in shock, pointing at Superman's cape. MJ looked at it embarrassedly, before turning to her mum for help. Blossom just smiled.

"Oh this?" she said, taking the cloak gently from MJ. "Yes, Superman gave us this after helping us out. Nice man, isn't he?" The absolute silence that greeted this announcement was very satisfying. Blossom took a moment to enjoy it before picking Sonic out of the crowd. "I've got some letters from him too," she said, handing them to the Hedgehog, "I think though that you ort to take charge of dispersing them."

Sonic looked at them, and then at Blossom. "Got lucky then I see," he smiled. "Okay, lets get the wounded to the medical bay and then I'll hand these out."

This was taken as the cue to relax. The heroes that had been on guard from a possible attack from MJ now switched to more important matters, namely taping up their minor wounds and helping those with more major bangs to safety. A good number though lingered around Blossom though, only with eyes for where Superman's cape might end up.

This didn't really bother Blossom too much however, since Edward had managed to make his way through to her (on foot once more.) "Umm, dad's in the hospital, so I think I ort to go see him," he said.

Blossom looked up for a moment at Brick. He was standing a short distance behind his son, (although Edward had been referring to Eddy) wearing an extremely smug expression on his face. He was obviously very proud of his achievements today, but Blossom didn't know whether it was justified. "I should go with…" she began, but before she could get any further, there was a massive blue flash that bowled her off her feet, followed quickly by a yellow one.

The first blast had blown most of the heroes out of the way of the second. It could be traced back to Bubbles. She'd wedge her self in between the source of the yellow blast and everyone else, using her own energy to make sure no one else got hit. "No one else" being the operative phrase, since she now had a hole in her chest where her heart should have been.

From behind her, Him sneered, lowering his claw like hand. "Well, at least I got one of you stinking Puff!" he hissed as he began to fade in trademark style, "I finally killed one!"

As he finished vanishing, Bubbles flopped hopelessly forward to the ground, an event greeted but utter silence.