"Buttercup!" Blossom struggled against her flaming restraints, trying in vain to get to her unconscious friend. Buttercup lay slumped in Riley's arms, with Bubbles standing closely beside them. Raiden stood on the other side of them, inching closer to her. Riley sat on an obnoxious stone throne, his left leg crossed over his right, and his head leaning on the palm of his left hand. A demon unlike any she'd ever seen sat smirking at his feet.
Riley stood, grinning as he swept his arms wide on either side of him.
"I've finally done it! All obstacles are out of our way, and you will finally be mine. Everything will be as it should have been before." Blossom frowned, only now realizing that Mojo may have twisted them, but they no intention of being anything else.
"You were never going to change, were you?" He knelt in front of her, holding her chin gently in his grasp.
"Why would I change? The only thing that was missing was you. Everything else was perfect. The era may have changed, but the principals are still the same. As long as you're strong, you can do what you want. And this time you gave us a world without magic! You practically handed it to us on a silver platter." He moved back, making room for Raiden to kneel in front of her. He stood in front of Him, holding his hands palm up as he shrugged.
"So really, the one to blame is you-" He was cut of with a gurgled cough. He looked confused, even as his mouth began steadily running with his own blood. He looked down slowly, unable to comprehend the clawed hand protruding from his stomach.
"Wh...what..." Reed and Raiden's shouts fell on deaf ears as their brother choked on his own blood. He fell to his knees, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he collapsed to the ground. Riley rushed to his side, while Raiden raised his palms, his powers rushing to the surface. But Him was having none of that. He'd pulled his claw out of Riley, using the same bloodied paw to wrap around Raiden's throat and fling him aside. Bubbles moved to his side, the wound from his head causing blood to smear between her fingers.
Buttercup, still unconscious, was forgotten as Brick, now free from the mind control with the caster's death, released the flaming shackles from Blossom's wrists. He stood protectively in front of her, while Butch went to Buttercup and Boomer went to Bubbles and Raiden. Reed was busy being toyed with by Him, who let him use his powers in a futile attempt at resistance.
"Bubbles...come here." Bubbles leaned closer, turning her ear to his mouth so she could hear whatever it was he was about to say.
"I'm sorry...all I wanted...all we wanted...was you and your sisters...but not like this. It got so o-out of control..." Tears ran down her flushed cheeks as he used the last of his strength to cup her cheeks, returning her mind to how it should have been. Bubbles grimaced as her mind worked to rearrange itself as both her past and present memories collided, and the fabricated ones disappeared. When it was finished, Raiden's hands fell to his side. Bubbles closed his eyes, even now unable to bring herself to feel anything for him but pity.
Boomer grabbed her arm as Him grew bored of playing with the final brother. Reed was sliced in half without warning, his upper body falling with a grotesque splat at the feet of his lower half. Him turned to the remaining super powered teens, grinning wide.
"Now that that's out of the way. We can truly get started." Butch raised his hands, causing massive stone pillars to rise and bend to his will. They encircled him, trapping his arms at his side. Him grinned wider, his body morphing to that of a snake's as he slipped through his prison. He shifted back, flaring his aura. The teens gasped, dropping to their knees in a perverse rendition of a bow. Him walked to the boys, walking in circles around each one.
"Yes...very nice." He turned to the girls, repeating the same motion.
"Not bad...but needs a bit of work." His arms multiplied, reaching out to the six teens. Brick, having an idea of what the demon wanted to do, concentrated hard as he focused his energy under the girls. He was nowhere near Blossom's level, but even he could pull off a simple transport spell. Blossom, recognizing the magic activating under her, swung her head to the side, her eyes desperate.
"Brick, wait-!" The girls disappeared, having been sucked into the floor. Butch and Boomer sighed in relief, until the demon switched his grasp to their throats, strangling them until they passed out.
"So the boy still had a trick up his sleeve. Oh well. I'll just use them as bait instead of sacrifices." He pulled the boys close to him, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. The destruction left in his wake was only a prelude to the end to come.
The girls dropped to the ground outside of what once was Townsville. Now, it was nothing but smoldering buildings and blinding ash. Bubbles came to first, shaking the others.
"Blossom. Buttercup." Buttercup groaned, and Blossom sighed. She felt utterly responsible, and utterly defeated.
"A demon...they summoned a demon...and the worst one at that." Buttercup slapped a hand over her stomach, fighting to keep the contents from coming back up. Bubbles rubbed soothing circles into her back, thankful she handled warp gates better than her friend.
"What're we supposed to do? I don't remember ever dealing with high level demons. And that demon could subdue us with his aura alone. How are we supposed to compete with that?"
"We have our Goddess power right? So we should be able to bust in there and beat him if we take him by surprise."
"No, more than likely he'll be using the boys as bait. I can't believe this. How did things spiral so far out of control? I just wanted us to be happy...I didn't mean for any of this..." Bubbles and Buttercup sobered, scooting closer to their friend.
"Blossom...no one is blaming you. This is no one's fault. It's just the worst case scenario."
"Yeah! It's not like you can be in charge of everything, no matter how much you want to be." Blossom smiled ruefully at that, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this was definitely her fault. Everything started from her reincarnation spell.
"So? What's the plan?"
"I don't have one. And since this time isn't magical, we're on our own." If all else fails...I can always use that. She stood, brushing herself off and heading back the way they'd come.
"So we're winging it then?"
