A/N I am so sorry for the tardy update! Like I said before this was written a long time ago and the last chapter disappeared before I could type it out! It was very frustrating, which is why it took so long. So actually this chapter was re-written from memory but it is very similar to the original and yet it's quite different. Anyway, I tend to babble, so here we go with the final installment! Enjoy!
Everyone turned shocked to see Him standing before them.
Miss Keane clenched her fists, trying to hide the fact she was trembling. What did the 'evilest of evils' want with her, the lowly kindergarten teacher who was on the verge of losing her job? Miss Keane narrowed her eyes as something occurred to her, "You!" she pointed, "You were the one planting those nasty thoughts!"
Him gave a little bow, "Guilty as charged." he crept closer tauntingly, "And you should have listened to me. I could've made things work for you; I could've made you great, I could've given you the Teacher of the Year award and you wouldn't be in this mess. You have disobeyed me Miss Keane, and for that you WILL PAY!!!" he threatened menacingly. Miss Keane jumped slightly.
"Will you get on with it then?" Mojo Jojo sighed, "as you can see I am quite busy and I don't have time for this schoolteacher. She is getting in my way, she is hindering my plan to destroy the Powerpuff girls, so by all means, do what you want with her, just leave me alone."
"I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly?" Him asked, he laughed menacingly, "Foolish simian, you don't seem to understand, Miss Keane is mine, not to convenience you in your own quest to destroy the Powerpuff girls, but to help me achieve those means. So stand aside Mojo Jojo, you don't know who you're messing with."
Miss Keane gathered back her courage and frowned, appalled that she was the intended pawn in Him's scheme. She faced Him and said defiantly, "Apparently you don't know who you're messing with," she grinned. "No one messes with…The Teacher!" she rolled up her sleeves and stood in a fighting position, "My students are my life. How dare you try to use me to get to them!" she snorted, "Anyone who messes with them, have to deal with me!"
Him brushed her threat off, "Oh I am so scared!" he mocked.
"Let's see, now where have I heard that before?" she muttered, "Oh yes, Mojo Jojo. How dare you threaten my students!" she turned to the mutated monkey, and without warning tackled him to the ground and treated him like a punching bag, knocking him out. Him shrugged and was about to use that moment of distraction to make his move but Miss Keane snatched Mojo's laser and pointed it at Him. "Pop quiz hotshot. Ticked teacher has a powerful laser capable of destroying everything in its path aimed right at you, what do you do? What do you do?"
"Clever," Him mused, "Did you make that one up yourself, or did you rip it off from a lame Keanu Reeves movie?"
"Shut up!" Miss Keane hissed, "Answer my question!"
"Simple, I disappear," Him shrugged, doing just that. He vanished only to reappear behind her. Him put his claws on her shoulders gently and whispered forebodingly, "Now you will destroy the Powerpuff Girls, or meet my wrath!"
Miss Keane's eyes glazed over and she said in a monotone voice, "Destroy Powerpuff Girls." The girls gasped as Miss Keane aimed the laser at the girls and Him grinned with glee.
After a suitable amount of suspense, long enough to be suspenseful, but short enough to keep from being frustrating Miss Keane suddenly turned back to Him. "Never!" she charged at him and flipped him over her shoulders and body slammed him. "Why don't you do your own dirty work?" suddenly she laughed, "Oh wait a second, I see why! It's because you can't!" She put her hand to her mouth, getting red in the face from laughter. "What a loser! Thinks he's all that, and all powerful, but he can't even destroy the Powerpuff Girls on his own! He needs some poor little teacher to do it for him and he can't even get that right!" She rolled over laughing, and in a stream of girlish giggles, the girls joined in. "Oh my, that's just… sad!"
Him rose to his feet and started to attack, but stopped suddenly, his face ten timed redder than its natural hue from embarrassment. He folded his arms, "Hmph! This isn't over, I'll be back!" With that he vanished into a cloud of pink smoke with great repugnance.
"Ooh!" Buttercup blew a raspberry, "So scared!"
Miss Keane took a second to calm down, having been shaken up by the whole situation. She honestly didn't think she had it in her anymore to be tough, certainly not tough enough to defy not one only one but two foes. She grinned triumphantly as she successfully removed Blossom's vest. "There we go!" she said as she slipped it off.
"How did you do that?" Blossom asked.
"I told you," Miss Keane smiled as she went on to Bubbles and started to work on her vest. "I used to be in the army and I specialized in explosives. It's just a matter of picking the right wire and timing."
"How come you never told anyone? I'm sure that would get you some attention!" Bubbles suggested.
Miss Keane shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I didn't want to make working with bombs look cool when really, it isn't. I thought it to be rather boring actually. I mean sure, at first there's some fear and anticipation, but then it just becomes dull. The army was never really my thing anyway. I only joined because my dad was in the army." Her voice became distant, "No… teaching was my true calling… or so I thought." she sighed, reflecting on the notion she only had a week left. "I guess I really wasn't meant to teach."
"Aww, cheer up. I think you're a cool teacher," Bubbles said sweetly.
"Ok then," Buttercup asked, "How come you never told us you had a black belt! Those were some cool moves!"
"Oh I do have a black belt," Miss Keane nodded with an amused grin, "Although it is made of leather and I bought it at the mall… but they didn't know that." She slipped the vest off of Bubbles and began to work on Buttercup's. "Hey girls, can you do me a favor and put the vests on Mojo Jojo for me? I can just imagine the look on his face when he wakes up to find himself wearing bombs!"
"Great idea!" Blossom laughed, "But, if you're not really a black belt, how did you know those moves?"
"I'm actually a yellow belt," Miss Keane explained, "mind you I was a teenager when I did that. But really, I have studied your own moves girls, when you recreated past battles in class. Besides, with the adrenaline and all, it helped me discover the strength I didn't know I had. There!" she slipped off the last vest and put it on Mojo.
"So how do you reactivate it?" Buttercup asked wickedly, rubbing her hands together excited.
"I'm not going to," she gave the feisty puff a sly look, "we're just going to let Mojo Jojo think they're active. I wonder how long it will take before he notices…" they shared another laugh. "Well, shall we go?"
They arrived at the school just as the Dexter's Laboratory marathon was coming to a close.
"So," Mitch said excitedly as they returned, "The Powerpuff girls saved the day again huh?"
"Yeah!" everyone chorused, "Tell us about it!" Everyone focused on the three little superheroes and Miss Keane smiled sadly and stepped aside into the background. No point in trying to gain the students attention now.
"Actually…" Blossom started.
"…we didn't do anything…" Bubbles continued.
"…it was Miss Keane who saved the day!" Buttercup finished.
"Really?" the class gasped, "Cool!"
Suddenly all eyes were on Miss Keane as the kids started to beg for her to tell the story. Miss Keane smiled, touched. "All right, I'll tell you what happened, if you promise to pay attention to your schoolwork." The kids nodded excitedly and with that, Miss Keane, with help of the Powerpuff Girls related the story of their latest battle. The kids remained focused throughout the story, and to Miss Keane's surprised gave Miss Keane their full attention even after the story was over and the subject turned to science.
The next few days Miss Keane and her class came to a compromise. She would set a time during the day apart from recess and school for a reenactment of past Powerpuff battles (and of Miss Keane's own little adventure) if the class would pay attention to her teaching. It worked, and Miss Keane couldn't be happier. She (at the insistence of the class) decided not to quit and chose to let fate decide whether or not she'd remain at Pokey Oaks. But the date of Superintendent Bradly's visit was coming closer, and there wasn't enough time for results to show.
On the day of the visit Miss Keane was nervous. She didn't want anything to happen to mess things up since she was already in hot water with her boss.
When Superintendent Bradly arrived he looked like he was having a bad day which made Miss Keane worry. "Miss Keane!" he addressed her after sitting in on her class in the afternoon and after the kids were dismissed. The kids waited outside while the Powerpuffs acted as everyone's ears and listened at the door, anxious to find out what was to happen to their teacher. "I have been reviewing your reports and frankly I'm disappointed."
"D-disappointed sir?" Miss Keane gulped.
"Their grades are still well below average and for that I should fire you," he said sternly.
The class upon hearing this whispered amongst each other, "No!" they gasped, "We don't want her to go!"
"But sir, with all do respect a week isn't enough time and they're good kids! They try! Please give me more time! Please give me another chance if you just wait and see…" Miss Keane cried, Superintendent Bradly raised a finger and motioned her to stop.
"However," he said, "It has come to my attention that last week you went above and beyond your call of duty as a teacher and risked your very life to rescue three of your students. For that, you deserve more than a second chance, you deserve a medal!" suddenly Superintendent Bradly smiled, and Miss Keane sniffed and wiped a tear, wide eyed, "Miss Keane, I've watched you today and I noticed something I usually overlook, since I am too focused on numbers and results, and that is that the class adores you." he glanced out the window at all the little faces waiting in anticipation. "I don't know how, but in such a short time you have earned the class's utmost respect, and while I don't see it in their grades yet, I see it in their attitude. It is a hard, often overlooked, feat to accomplish, and I commend you for that. I think you just needed to find your groove so to speak. I believe that if given a second chance, you'll prove to be a great teacher."
"R-really?" she asked.
"So Miss Keane, I award you for your dedication with not only a second chance, but I intend to nominate you for Teacher of the Year," he said.
"Are you serious?" Miss Keane asked, "Does this mean…"
"You can keep your job," Superintendent Bradly smiled.
With that the entire class burst back in and all started to give her a hug. Miss Keane hugged them all back, crying from happiness. When it came to be the Powerpuff Girls' turn, Miss Keane gave them each a second hug and said, "Thank you girls, I couldn't have done it without your help."
"Aww," Blossom shrugged.
"It was nothing," Buttercup blushed.
Bubbles gave Miss Keane another squeeze, "You're cool Miss Keane. I knew you could do it!"
And so once again, the day is saved, thanks to the Powerpuff Girls…and Miss Keane, the coolest kindergarten teacher Townsville's ever seen!!
Fini
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the exciting (?) conclusion to "Miss Keane Strikes Back"
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I value each and every review(er) (except flames, but including constructive criticism) that comes my way! So if you haven't yet, please review!!!
On a final note, if you're in school I encourage you to let your favorite teachers know that you appreciate them (and even encourage the ones you may not like as much). Teaching is a very hard job. They do so much in and out of the classroom, and without teachers, where would the doctors, plumbers, lawyers, police officers, firefighters etc be? Sorry about the little rant. On with the thank yous!
Pilfered Sympathy: Like I said, I'm sorry I didn't update soon. Thanks for being a loyal reviewer for this and "End of an Era" I hope you were satisfied with this chapter even though it was different than I think you expected.
Hairy Gregory: I'm so glad you think this is going great! You have no idea how much I appreciate your compliments and musings. (I've noticed you read and review a lot of stuff- that's so cool!)
Ashe: Maybe this wasn't the epic battle you were hoping for, but I hope you liked it anyway. Thank you so much for the reviews!
Starship Gazer: Yep, the vests were admittedly a direct rip off from "Rush Hour". (Thanks for bringing that up because I couldn't remember why the situation was so familiar- I knew it was used in a movie but I couldn't think of which one, so credit goes to Rush Hour for that!) I have a few pop culture references in this story. (most obvious one is from "Speed" so I guess credit goes to that for one line anyway)
PinkPuff514: Oooh! I'm so glad you found this funny! My sense of humour has been described as weird, and I really don't think I'm very good at writing humour, so thank you for that wonderful compliment! And ya gotta love "Log"!!
Caeruleus Flamma: Thanks for reviewing (and for reviewing every chapter even though you didn't have to… I like it when people review every chapter ^_^) And thanks for the compliments! They made me smile! And I loved that you told me your favorite part! I like that part myself and I think that's exactly how Buttercup would act (and feel) in that situation!
PLUG ALERT!!!! Please R&R my other stories! That would make me so happy! Especially "End of an Era" cuz I want to see it catch on!