Bubbles flew down to the primate sanctuary. All the workers knew her, as she visited often and sometimes volunteered. She wasn't there to work. She went directly to Jojo's special care section. The center built it specially for him, almost like a room in a nursing home, as he was no ordinary chimp.
Bubbles slowly opened the door. "Jojo."
The former evil mastermind sat in his chair, staring blankly at the television.
"It's me, Bubbles. I've come to see you again." She turned the television off. "Let's turn that noise off, okay?"
Jojo glowered and mumbled angrily.
Bubbles crouched beside him. "Let's remember, shall we? You like to remember, don't you? Remember . . . the Rowdyruff Boys?"
Jojo mumbled a little. He looked at Bubbles, his awareness coming back. "Boomer?"
"No, I'm Bubbles."
"Boomer . . . where's Brick?"
"He's gone. They're all gone. It's just Bubbles."
"I want to see Brick."
"I'll see what I can do. Remember Professor Utonium?"
Jojo sank back into a brooding state.
"Remember when you were happy together, before you were Mojo. You were just Jojo. You were his faithful lab assistant."
Jojo just mumbled and Bubbles made out only a few words. "Forgotten . . . cast me out . . . ."
"What was the Professor like before he forgot you? What was he like when he still knew you? Did he have an accent?"
Jojo stared into nothing. "Utonium's accent . . . . Utonium's accent . . . . What happened to his accent? What happened to his accent? Do you know what happened? Do you know where it went? Did I imagine it?!"
"I don't know where it went. What was his accent? What did it sound like?"
"What was his accent? What was his accent?" Jojo squeezed his eyes shut and held his head. "Did I imagine it? What was his accent? What was his accent?"
Bubbles touched his arm, concerned. She seemed to have found something deep that still bothered him. "I don't know, Jojo. It's all right, you don't have to remember."
Jojo looked at her. "But what was it? I don't remember . . . . I was so young. So young and so . . . happy. We were so happy together."
Bubbles was overjoyed to see him smile. He smiled so rarely.
"Bubbles."
Bubbles looked at him, shocked. He never called her Bubbles. Only Boomer.
"Yes, Jojo?"
"There is something I want you to see."
"Yes, what is it?"
He pointed at his closet. "In the closet."
Bubbles walked to the closet and opened it.
"There . . . in the corner."
"Is it in the box?"
"In the box! Yes . . . ."
Bubbles opened the box. A card lay on top.
She picked it up and showed Jojo. "Is this for me?"
He nodded bashfully.
Bubbles opened it, happy to see Jojo so happy and happy to be recognized by him. Bubbles, thank you for being so selfless and kind, taking the time to make sure I'm all right, when your sisters and my own boys won't even come visit. It means more to me than you can imagine. You are such a sucker. Bubbles looked at the last word, confused. She yelled when she felt a zap in her brain. Suddenly she couldn't move. She couldn't speak.
Jojo jumped up in his chair with a maniacal laugh. "You didn't really think my superior brain could really suffer any damage, did you?!" He laughed again. "Ohh! It feels so good to laugh! So good to gloat! Yes! My brain may suffer damage with all of your punching, pounding, pulverizing, but it grows! It heals! My superior, powerful, brilliant brain is unstoppable! I waited in this disgusting place for years, pretending to be an invalid, to gain your trust, and to come up with the most brilliant plan ever! I secretly stole the pieces to build this mind-control device, disguised as a thank-you card, and nobody suspected me! After sitting and thinking for many years . . . my brain is smarter and more powerful than ever. Now . . . I have Bubbles . . . brainwashed Bubbles . . . to take down the Powerpuff Girls once and for all! And you'll notice . . . there is no remote control . . . no off switch . . . . The mechanism inside the card makes the connection, but destroying the card will not break it! It is all in my brain! I control you, Bubbles. Your mind is mine."
Bubbles tried to scream, but she couldn't. The last thing she saw was the grinning face of Mojo Jojo as the world went black.
"Buttercup, c'mere," Blossom said.
"What?" Buttercup questioned.
"Just come here!" Blossom repeated impatiently.
Buttercup sighed and flew toward her. Professor Utonium knew his daughters, and something didn't seem right about Blossom. He couldn't place it, but he felt something was wrong. He went to the window to watch them outside. Blossom revealed something from behind her back, shoving it in Buttercup's face. A flash emitted from it and Buttercup recoiled with a shout. The Professor watched with concern, resisting the urge to rush out and try to help. Buttercup slowly straightened, her face blank. She turned to the left, right, flew in a loop, and punched at the air, almost as if obeying a string of commands.
"Man, Buttercup sure doesn't have much brains in here!" Buttercup said, "How do people live with such tiny brains? No matter! All that remains is Professor Utonium. I have made the mistake of underestimating him before."
Professor Utonium ran. He ran out the front door as he heard Blossom and Buttercup come in the back. He ran down the street. His girls had been taken over by some other mind. A big one. Mojo Jojo. He knew that ape couldn't really be out of action. Bubbles was probably the first to be taken. He should never have let her visit Jojo. His daughters were against him. Who could stop them? Mayor Bellum always had ideas. She was the first person the girls went to when they didn't know what to do. But as soon as they found out he wasn't home, the next place they'd look would be the Town Hall. But where else could he go?
The Professor ducked under a bush, hearing the Powerpuff Girls' signature flying sound. All three colors streaked across the sky toward the city of Townsville.
He ran to the forest outside the city. The girls could sweep the city in minutes. Townsville was no place to hide. He had to get to Mojo's volcano top observatory. But what would he do there? He was just the Professor.
But he wasn't just the Professor. He was something more. Something else was hidden inside him; something he'd locked away many years ago. Maybe it could help. Maybe he had some secret information. But how could he unlock his memories? The girls had tried everything. Maybe it was the Professor who hadn't tried. He didn't want to remember. He didn't want to remember Mojo being his lab assistant until the lives of his daughters depended on it. When he was watching Mojo and thinking about it after talking about it, he was able to remember. He had been talking about and thinking about his past. He just had to find something connected with it. But what?
The tree. Professor Utonium ran up the hill. He had destroyed every trace of his past except the tree. The tree was the last thing he could remember. What made the tree so important? Why was he able to remember it before seeing it again? He must have planted the tree because he was unable to see everything he once was die.
The Professor looked at the small tree growing out of the thick trunk. If he revived the person he once was, would Professor Utonium die?
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were worth it. He had to save them and he didn't know what else to do. Sacrificing himself was worth it to save the girls . . . and the world.
The tree was a landmark. The way to remember his past. X marks the spot. Like buried treasure. Professor Utonium scraped at the ground with his hands. He pulled up grass and hard soil until he more easily scraped out soft dirt underneath. Slowly a hole grew.
The Professor dug until his fingernail scraped something hard. He had almost expected to find nothing. He kept digging, thinking it was probably just a rock or a root. A chest was slowly uncovered. It was probably someone else's buried secrets. It stretched more and more. A long, rectangular case slowly appeared. The Professor yanked on it until it finally came loose. He put it reverently on the ground and wiped his hands on the grass to remove as much dirt as possible.
Here was the secret to his past. Everything he had forgotten. Everything he used to be. Inside the chest was the person he had been before creating the persona of Professor Utonium. He watched his hands move toward the latches. He slowly unlatched them, his hands shaking. His hands rested on the lid. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup needed him. They needed the real him. They had probably searched the whole city and its suburbs. They would be on their way to the woods. The Professor opened the case.
Inside lay a white robe, folded neatly, and a long, slightly curved sword in a black sheath with a diamond pattern on the hilt. The robe and the sword evoked a powerful sense of nostalgia, poking at something in the back of his mind, as if he should recognize them. But he couldn't. A small notebook, a pair of wooden sandals, and a black pin of some kind lay beside the robe. The Professor picked up the book and opened it. It appeared to be a journal. He couldn't help but notice the Eastern date method.
06/21/1987
One thousand years have passed . . . and yet . . . I do not age . . . . Time has lost its effect. Time is broken to me. All things grow old, wither, and fade away. People, temples, and even the fields I used to play in. My father . . . my mother . . . Ashi . . . even all my friends from the future are as dead . . . I can never see them again . . . . I cannot continue to watch as the people I love die, and the places once sacred are defiled more and more by the younger generations. Even the way of the Samurai is dead. I cannot stay.
I have become legend, but to the people around me I am an anomaly. Not so much the man who defeated Aku as the man who has lived for countless generations. The children are afraid of me. They dare each other to approach me on the street. Mine is the haunted house on the block. I am the man who does not die. Then 'are you even a man?' they ask. Maybe I am not. Maybe this was once my home, but no longer. I do not belong.
08/03/1988
I have arrived in America, a new land of freedom and prosperity. I am going to school to learn. I am captivated by the wonder and potential of twentieth century science! But I cannot forget. I cannot escape from everything I have lost. I put my mind to my studies, an attempt to distract myself from the insanity creeping from the corners of my mind. For many years I kept away the insanity. But I know it is catching up to me. Sometimes I wake up, not knowing where I am or what I was doing. My friend, Dick, has stayed by my side this whole time.
05/15/1992
I have finished my studies and constructed my own personal lab to continue tinkering with science. My energy is renewed. I have discovered the possibility of creating an amnesia potion. The formula evades me. But I will not give up. I work and work. Science consumes me, and I work on many other projects in addition to my goal of a forgetfulness draught. One of my favorites is the formula to create the perfect little girl.
10/28/1998
I seem to have acquired a little ape friend. He is charming, but his unpredictable destructive nature forces me to consider finding him a new home. I cannot let my little Jojo harm my special project.
11/17/1998
At last . . . the amnesia potion. I can forget all of my past, and all of my suffering. I will never see anything to accidentally remind me of home. I will see the labs and remember that I am a scientist. I will remember my knowledge from school, though it may take some work to remember everything. As I look around my new home in America, I should be able to remember my life here, though the memories may be muddled and vague. I have copied the childhood memories of my good friend, Dick, who never gave up on me. I cannot risk discovering that I have no childhood memories and go searching. I am finally going to forget everything I have lost. I have been an old man most of my life. I am finally going to be young again. I am finally going to be reborn.
The journal slipped out of the Professor's shaking hands and fell to the ground. He really was immortal. He was a hero, a legend out of time. He slowly reached for the sword, his hand shaking. He gripped it and his mind was flooded with memories. Childhood memories. Happy memories. Frightening memories. Many cultures. Endless training. A battle to end all battles. A portal in time.
He laid down the sword reverently and touched the robe, which he suddenly remembered was called a ghi. More memories. Endless travels. Rescuing cities, cultures, and individuals at every turn. Making friends. Seeking time portals.
He slipped into the ghi and tied it around his waist. He picked up the sword and slipped it under the waistband. Fifty years. Time has lost its effect. Hope is lost. He kicked off his shoes and slipped into the wooden geta. Trauma. Depression. Insanity. His first human blood. Attempted suicide. He picked up the small pin and remembered how to form his hair into a bun and use the pin to hold it in place. Ashi. Light. Life. Hope. The world comes together. A time portal home. The death of Aku. Happiness. He flung out the sword and it shimmered in the light of the sun. Sudden tragedy. Disgrace. Depression. Endless life.
He scraped the flat of the blade along the opening of the sheath until the tip caught the hole and he slipped it inside until the hilt hit with a click. He suddenly remembered waking up on the floor. He had pulled himself up to the desk. The first thing he'd seen was a bottle labeled 'utonium.' He looked around the lab and thought it must have belonged to a professor. Until he realized it was his lab. Then he saw the perfect girl formula.
Professor Utonium wasn't his name. What was his name?
"Gotta get back . . . Samurai . . . Jack." His American accent was gone.
Samurai Jack scanned the top of the forest from his vantage point on the hill. He spotted a pink streak, then a blue one. The green one was too hard to find against the green background of leaves. He leaned forward and ran down the hill into the trees, keeping his heightened senses open for any sign of the girls.
Samurai Jack stopped and flattened himself against a tree, hearing one of them approaching overhead. She flew by. He resumed running. He heard someone approaching again and hid. Soon the other two flew by. They were onto him. Their senses were even more heightened than his. They could probably hear him breathing. He continued moving as silently as a cat. But it was too late. All three colored streaks were gaining on him.
Samurai Jack stopped and spun to face them, throwing out his sword. He set his feet and jumped. He flew through the branches and leaf cover into the open air, straight toward the Powerpuff Girls.
"The Professor can fly?!" Buttercup exclaimed.
Blossom cocked her fist. Jack swung his sword with a yell and Blossom punched. The power punch and the magic sword made contact with a flash and a clang. They slipped off each other, unharmed. Jack fell back into the trees while the Powerpuff Girls curved back around. They dropped below the leaves and swerved between trees as he ran.
"No. Jump good!" Samurai Jack corrected.
He swung his sword side to side as he ran, cutting through trees with a single swipe. The trees fell behind him, slowing the Powerpuff Girls down slightly as they had to evade. Jack threw his sword, slicing down more trees as it spun, and dove aside. The Powerpuff Girls raced past him, following the trail of falling trees. Jack ran after them. They stopped as soon as they realized he wasn't there. Jack jumped and spun and kicked Buttercup in the head, knocking her down. The sword spun back like a boomerang. Jack caught it just in time to reflect a laser from Bubbles, shooting it toward Blossom, who jumped away.
Samurai Jack spun to deflect a punch from Buttercup with his sword. He dodged her rapid punches and kicks, then jumped into the sky to escape the closing circle of Powerpuffs. Blossom chased him, followed by Bubbles and Buttercup. The girls were much faster than Jack. Jack spun around to clash Blossom's punch and used her momentum to throw her off. He dove back into the trees. He landed on a branch and leapt from tree to tree, jumping off branches and tree trunks in a jagged pattern. Bubbles and Buttercup swerved through the thick forest branches, slowly catching up. Blossom appeared in front of him, flying toward him, and Jack leaped toward her. He caught a reflection of the sun on his sword and temporarily blinded Blossom. She dove to the ground and Jack cut down three more trees as he fell. He leaped aside during the crashing of the leaves and ran silently. Bubbles and Buttercup flew straight, having lost him in the crash. It wouldn't take long for them to find him again. But all he needed was a moment to get to the right tree.
Samurai Jack leaped straight into a tree and quickly climbed its branches. He climbed above the woods in the tallest tree in the forest. He crouched near the top, shrouded in leaves, and looked down at three colored streaks scanning the forest, looking for him below. Jack untied the strip of cloth around his waist, allowing the ghi to flow freely, and revealing his lab coat still underneath. He tied the lower corners of the ghi around his ankles, keeping an eye on the Powerpuff Girls. Jack faced the wind and felt it blow into his open ghi. He looked across the forest, into the city, and spotted his target; Townsville Volcano Mountain and the observatory, converted into a tourist attraction since Mojo Jojo's absence.
Samurai Jack waited for the right moment and jumped out of the tree, spreading his arms and legs. The ghi caught the air like a parachute, allowing Jack to glide above the forest. When he fell to the trees, he touched his foot down, folded his robe, pushed off into the sky, and spread his makeshift wings again. The Powerpuff Girls finally found him and zoomed after him. They were far away, but gained fast.
Blossom zoomed toward him. Samurai Jack folded his robe and dove aside as she shot past him. He spread his arms just above the trees and leaped into the sky again. He dodged Buttercup as she flew straight up toward him. He swerved the other way to avoid Bubbles, but she followed him. He swerved back and forth and dove, but couldn't shake her off. She was right on top of him. He flipped over to glide on his back and blocked a punch with the sword. The sword flashed as he blocked every punch and kick. He suddenly curled into a ball and fell backflips to escape. He spread his ghi just above the treetops, flying the opposite direction. The Powerpuff Girls were close behind. He closed his ghi, touched his feet down, spun around, and launched himself straight past the Powerpuff Girls.
They quickly curved back toward him. Samurai Jack flew over the city. The Powerpuff Girls approached and flew in a triangle, surrounding him. They slowly closed in. He tucked in his arms and dove as soon as they were too close for comfort, but they followed him. He dodged Blossom, then Buttercup, then Bubbles. He leaped into the sky and continually dodged Powerpuff Girls and laser beams. The novelty of his ability to dive, swerve, and spin away wore off and he struggled to keep away from their rapid attacks. Jack failed to notice Blossom in time and she kicked him out of the sky. He grit his teeth at the pain in his chest and spread his arms, catching the air again, but they were after him. Bubbles landed a punch, then Buttercup.
Samurai Jack fell out of the sky and crashed through a window. He smashed a desk and merchandise was thrown over the floor. Customers shouted in surprise and backed away. Jack sat up and rubbed his head. He looked up in surprise to see a familiar setting. Eastern dragons decorated everything in red and gold, paper lanterns dangled from the ceiling, silk robes hung on display. Jack smiled. He had landed in Little Tokyo Townsville. He ran out of the shop and down the street. Some citizens and tourists wore white robes similar to his.
He raced past a man eating lunch with chopsticks and stopped. He grabbed the straw hat off the man's head and bowed. "Sincerest apologies. I must alter my silhouette." He put the hat on, kept his head down, and walked casually.
Running would get him noticed. He heard the Powerpuff Girls smashing through shops behind him, searching for him. He felt sorry for the people wearing similar clothing to him who were caught by the Powerpuff Girls. They flew around, catching random people, until they realized it wasn't working and flew overhead to get a better view. One of them flew right over Jack's head.
After a few minutes, Samurai Jack risked raising his head to scan the sky. The Powerpuff Girls were way off track. He resumed running, nearer and nearer to Townsville Volcano Mountain. He stood at the base of the mountain and looked up. He could jump that high. The Powerpuff Girls were approaching. Jack took another great leap into the sky, straight toward one of the windows in the observatory. Three glowing streaks rapidly approached. Jack smashed through the window and landed, sword drawn.
The round, green face on a black background that stared at him in shock burned straight into his trauma.
Samurai Jack pounced on the enemy with all his rage. "AAKKUUUU!"
The Powerpuff Girls smashed through the ceiling. The sword thrust forward, the white and purple striped helmet offering no resistance. With a clang, Mojo Jojo had a sword embedded in his brain. The Powerpuff Girls stood in shock.
Mojo Jojo's grimace twisted into a grin and he laughed. "My brain, it grows, it heals! You cannot stop me!"
Samurai Jack pulled the sword out and stepped back, horrified, while Mojo Jojo laughed. Horrified that Mojo's brain was unstoppable and horrified that his anger had nearly taken another life.
Mojo Jojo lowered his clawed finger at Samurai Jack. "Destroy him!"
The Powerpuff Girls didn't move.
"I said, destroy him!" the manic ape screamed.
"Maybe your brain heals, but I think something just severed the connection," Bubbles said.
Mojo Jojo's eyes widened in horror. He turned and lunged for a ray gun under museum glass, but he was too slow. Jack watched the very familiar sight of poor Mojo Jojo being beaten up by three colorful girls, but this time they were women. He dragged the blade against the opening of the sheath then slipped it inside.
Blossom and Buttercup pulled Bubbles away from Mojo Jojo.
"I thought you were a good monkey! I really thought you were a good monkey!" she screamed, crying.
"Bubbles," Blossom said softly.
She and Buttercup looked up at the strange man in a white robe, his hair pinned up and a sword at his side. Bubbles wiped her face and looked up. He ran and hugged all three of them.
"Professor?" Blossom asked cautiously.
His Japanese accent was gone. "I may be immortal, a hero, a legend out of time, but I will always be your father."
The Powerpuff Girls hugged their father. The trauma was gone, the pain and anguish dissolved forever by the love of his perfect girls. Samurai Utonium smiled.