SAMURAI POWERPUFFS

CHAPTER THIRTEEN – Cloudburst

Jack expected as much, but was surprised it ended so swiftly. They were no match for Aku. The two girls that escaped had gone in opposite directions, then had circled and met, hiding themselves in another approaching storm cloud. Jack had seen the first storm break, but this second one had appeared out of nowhere.

He read the lips of the red-haired girl, and they bespoke of the matching look on her face, utter defeat. So much for allies.

* * * * * * *

"Okay, what next, Buttercup?"

"Just keep watching. This storm is moving closer. When it gets to them, we'll jump out. HIM won't be expecting it and Blossom'll be able to get loose."

"But, won't the same thing just happen again?"

"Nah. He was right, we did underestimate him. We thought we could just kick his butt but he's better. If we surprise him, we'll have the advantage this time. It still might take us longer than we think, but we'll beat him."

"Yeah. I wonder what Blossom is doing?"

"I hope she's talking him into a false sense of security. With that stupid big ego of his, it'll work, too."

Bubbles giggled. "Yeah! Then, we can go get that stuff we need so the professor can fix the time machine!"

"Yeah, Bubbles. And when we get back to our time, we get to smash his face all over again…"

* * * * * * *

"Nothing matters anymore? Why Blossom, I'm surprised to hear you say that!"

"Does it?" She looked up, her eyes lifeless. "Everyone and everything that meant something to me is gone."

"Even your sisters?"

"Well, no, but they feel the same way. There's nothing left for us."

She could fly out of his grasp right now. But she had no idea where her sisters were. She would have to play the game a while longer, but it was going pretty good.

"It doesn't have to be that way, Blossom." the oily voice cooed.

"What do you mean?"

"Watch."

He waved his other claw and from the desolation, flowers sprung out of the ground and long-dead trees suddenly sprouted new, green leaves. Their ruined school was instantly restored and the playground was full of laughing children. With her super-vision, she could see that none of them were anyone she knew.

"I don't know any of those kids."

He waved his claw and it all disappeared. "Merely a demonstration, you foolish girl. I'm just showing you the power I have. I can give you back everything I took away from you!"

She had no doubt that he could. But none of it would matter a thing to her. There was only one way to restore what they'd lost and that was for it to not have happened. And she knew that HIM expected a price to be paid for what he was offering.

"Oh. But you want something from us, right?"

He stroked his chin, smiling. She hadn't said no. "I've got her!"

"Weeeell, not right away…you girls can go on living in your Townsville, just like before, and I won't even bother you like I used to!"

"Liar!"

"Then what's the catch?"

"Ahh! I do have her now!"

"Very simple. Your souls belong to me. For eternity."

"So you can torture us, right?"

"Now, would I do a thing like that?" He laughed a long, low laugh, his voice slipping back into the menacing rumble. "Of course I would!" Then his voice reversed again. "But seriously, all I'd expect from you is to provide a little 'muscle' from time to time when I need it, to enforce my rules in other places."

"Okay! We'll do it!"

"Just like that?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, if we say no, you'll just let us live forever in all of this."

"Smart girl. You really do have no choice."

"I know. Let's find my sisters. Don't worry, once I explain it they'll go along!" "NOT!"

"Like they have any say in the matter!" the demon thought.

He looked up at the sky. "Hmm, another storm."

"Perfect weather for purchasing souls!"

* * * * * * *

"Some allies." Jack backed away from the telescope momentarily, feeling mightily let down.

So much for them being the Three Virtues. Aku had defeated them without having to resort to his usual armies of monstrous beasts or mechanical drones. He had done it with the simplest means possible: A promise. One that would not be kept. They were indeed children, and easily fooled. Temptation was one of Aku's oldest tricks, used on the weak of will, and though these children might be physically strong, they were immature. That will had not yet developed in them. Mojo and his followers would be devastated to see this.

It was fitting that another storm was brewing. Now he would have to battle not only Aku and whatever other creatures he could muster, but these three tiny powerful beings as well. He went back to the telescope.

* * * * * * *

"I'd better be right about this. Don't let me down, guys!"

"Why don't you just make it go away?" Blossom questioned, pointing to the storm front right overhead. She squirmed in his claw, grasping one of the points tightly.

"What!" HIM cried mockingly, sensing her discomfort. "My new enforcer is afraid of a little rain? I'm not afraid of a little rain!"

"Well, then, how about a little pain!"

She erupted outward, holding onto the tip of his claw and twisting his arm behind his back.

"Aagghhh!! Why you little…!"

He never finished his angry oath, because green and blue streaks blazed out of the black clouds and exploded in his face. They knocked him back and with his arm twisted behind him, he wasn't able to react quickly enough. His eye-lasers missed Buttercup and Bubbles badly but theirs didn't, slicing into his eyes. He screamed and swung blindly at them, getting lucky and knocking Buttercup to the ground. But Bubbles got around behind him and with Blossom practically twisting his right arm into a pretzel, she drove into his back with her feet like a jackhammer, sending him to his knees. Buttercup pounded away on his face.

With all the strength he could command, he threw them off, flinging them violently aside and they crashed to the ground. But when they recovered, they saw that the effort had cost him his new, powerful body. He was on his knees, looking like his former self. They moved in to finish him off, growling fiercely, showing their teeth.

"Buy our souls?" Blossom shrieked. "You better start worrying about yours!"

He snapped to his feet, snarling at them in his evil voice. "You accursed little cretins! I offer you immortality and this is how you repay me? Fine!"

He swung his claw and in shock, they saw a rip form in the sky above them.

"Then live out the rest of your miserable little lives in this paradise!"

He disappeared into his familiar red cloud and the rip sucked him into it.

"NOOOOOO!!!" they screamed, flying at it. But it started closing up on them. Buttercup dove into it headfirst and it closed on her.

"Buttercup!" her sisters shouted, grabbing her legs and pulling as the vortex tried to take her along for the ride to wherever HIM was trying to escape. She finally popped free with a loud thunderclap. She threw one fist in a rage, punching the air.

"Hear me now and believe me earlier! I'll be back!"

They floated there, out of breath and shaking with anger. All of their rage at what he'd done had exploded out of them, but he'd gotten away one more time. But they knew they would get another shot at him, if they did what they were there for. It was time to get to it.

Blossom prepared to take off. "Come on, guys. To Mojo's."

Bubbles took her position alongside, but noticed Buttercup still hovering there, staring at where the rip had closed. Her face was a mask of anger. Bubbles floated up to her and gently tugged at her arm. Her sister was breathing heavily and tears of frustration streamed down her face. Bubbles tugged again, whispering softly.

"C'mon, Buttercup. We'll git 'im. C'mon."

* * * * * * *

Stunned, Jack fell back from the telescope.

"They…they have beaten Aku! They have forced it to flee!"

He now believed that his final fight with Aku would not take place this day, as he had thought. But he knew that he had found his ally. It was now clear which of them was what virtue. The green-eyed one, throwing herself into the gaping maw after the demon, she was Strength. The blue-eyed girl, gently going to her sister's side, she was Mercy. And the one with pink eyes, the one who had taken Aku's own game of temptation and turned it against it…she was Wisdom. Aku had called her Blossom, as if they had met many times before and knew each other well. So, he was not alone in having battled the demon repeatedly. He felt ashamed at having doubted them and was very glad for not having been there. For he would have confronted the girl Blossom, and he would have lost face.

They had not only the power of might but the power of will, which came from belief in yourself and what you stood for. He knew that, even though they might be easily identifiable by the virtue they represented, that all three of them shared those qualities. He had underestimated them and he knew, that when he finally met them, he would be wise to remember that they were more than just children. Even if they behaved like children.

* * * * * * *

The samurai was not the only one watching the girls' defeat of HIM, for the time being, anyway. For as the storm cloud passed overhead and Jack crouched under the piece of plywood to stay dry, an evil presence looked out from it. It had become the clouds.

Aku.

"So. There are other creatures with vast power capable of defeating my forces. And they were flung into the future as well and are trying to return to the past, just as the samurai tries. I was not aware of that particular dark spirit, although I have spawned so many it is impossible to keep track of all of them. It is enough to know that they do my work for me. But it failed to defeat its quarry and they will live to fight another day."

The demon pondered what it had learned from the two creatures who had waited, unknowingly, right in its presence.

"I must find this time machine they speak of and destroy it! The samurai must not be able to use it to return to the time of his father! I have promised to finish him at a time of my choosing, and while I was not thinking of it today, today it may be. The presence of those children may make it interesting, indeed, but they will ultimately share the fate of the great warrior! Hahahahahahahaha!

NEXT: Allies