"Deadline"

Chapter 2:

All three girls (with the boys after them) flew around this way and that. Each pair took twists and turns, gaining more and more speed the whole time.

When the girls thought they were going fast enough, they suddenly stopped, turned around, and gave a swift powerful punch in the incoming boys' stomachs. The force of the boys going in the opposite direction of the punch combined with their high speed made the strike do a lot of damage.

With the air knocked out of them, the boys collapsed on the ground gasping for breath, their faces scrunched up in pain. (KTAO must have stood for "knock the air out.")

"How do you like our KTAO attack, guys?" Blossom bragged. "It's a special attack we made up just for you!"

The boys didn't answer. They were too busy trying to breathe.

"Okay, now! Let's finish them!" exclaimed Buttercup.

The girls charged downward, hurtling themselves at the boys like meteors. But before they could give the fatal blow, the ground below the boys suddenly seemed to become liquid. They quickly sank down into the pavement.

"What the--?"

The Powerpuff girls had no time to stop themselves; they ended up smashing a deep crater in the now hard asphalt.

"Where did they go?" asked Bubbles.

"I don't know, but they'll be back." Blossom replied.

"Yeah, and we'll be ready for them," Buttercup finished.

The girls picked up their schoolbags and headed for home.

…………………………………

In the dimension of darkness, a reddish cloud formed and spat the Rowdyruff boys out. They had recovered from the girls' attack and looked around.

"Where are we?" said Butch.

Just then they were greeted by the cruelest, most wicked villain ever known: Him.

"Hello, boys. Did you have fun playing with the girls?"

"Huh? Who are you?" Boomer asked.

"Wait! Now I remember!" Butch exclaimed. "You're the one who brought us back to life!"

"What do you want?" said Brick.

"I want to help you defeat those brats," answered Him.

Brick shook his head and waved his hands. "Ohhh, no! I remember the last time you 'helped' us with that 'cootie shot' thing! It did make us stronger, but it had a little catch!"

"Besides, we don't need you to beat those girls!" Butch added.

"Yeah! We can do it ourselves!" Boomer finished.

Him nodded. "Oh, I know you can. You're just not trying hard enough."

"Not trying hard enough?" Boomer repeated.

"Right," Him replied. "That's where I come in."

The boys had a confused expression on their faces.

"You want to help us try harder?" Brick asked suspiciously. "How?"

"You'll see," Him smirked. He twirled his claw in circles, streaming a thin black smoke.

Brick was alarmed for a moment. "Hey, hold it! We didn't even agree to this yet!"

But before the boys could react, they felt a cold and sharp sensation rush through their bodies. They felt as if some sort of force was pulling at them from the inside out. The whole time, Him snickered wickedly.

……………………………

At the Utonium household, the Powerpuff girls were busy doing their math homework. Blossom was having a breeze, Bubbles was counting on her "fingers", and Buttercup was grumbling about how stupid it was to carry digits. Bubbles looked up at her sisters with a slightly uneasy look on her face.

"Um, girls? I've been thinking…"

"About what, Bubbles?" asked Blossom.

Bubbles' eyes wandered uneasily around the room. "Well, I was thinking about the Rowdyruff boys. I know I may sound crazy for saying this, but…do you think they really are evil?"

"Duh!" Buttercup interjected. "Of course they're evil!"

Ignoring Buttercup's rudeness for the moment, Blossom added, "They steal, hurt people, and cause a whole lot of trouble. They're like a super-powered Gangreen Gang."

"Yeah," Bubbles said. "But the Gangreen Gang planned to take over Townsville twice; once when Buttercup liked Ace and again when they gained superpowers from radioactive snacks. The Rowdyruff Boys never tried once to rule the city or totally destroy it."

"Hmm. Now that you mention it, the boys also don't cooperate with other villains," Blossom supposed. "They rejected Princess when she offered to help them and tied up Fuzzy in his own house."

Buttercup stood up from her chair, an incredulous look on her face. "Are you guys saying the Rowdyruff Boys aren't bad!"

"I'm just saying Bubbles may have a point," Blossom explained. "The boys don't really have totally evil intentions. Everything they do is just for fun."

"So what you're saying is that the guys aren't really evil, just… delinquents?" said Buttercup.

Bubbles and Blossom nodded. Buttercup thought for a moment. She wasn't in the mood to argue, so she sat back down.

"Maybe you're right. Just maybe."

The Powerpuff girls had never thought of that before. Over a long time, they always saw the Rowdyruff boys as enemies who must be stopped. All they ever did was fight, fight, and fight some more. But now they were starting to have some second thoughts…

……………………………

Meanwhile…

The Rowdyruff boys stared up at the sneering demon. Their faces had a look of terror and disbelief combined.

"No…way…" Brick said.

"This can't be happening," Butch added.

"You have five hours," Him cackled maliciously as he disappeared in a pink cloud and the domain faded into dark mist. The boys found themselves back in the streets of Townsville where they last had their fight with the Powerpuff Girls.

"Now what'll we do…?" Boomer asked, his voice cracking in fear.

Brick gulped. "The only thing we can do, Boomer. Five hours may sound like a lot of time, but something tells me it really isn't."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Butch exclaimed. His forceful tone lit a spark of determination in his brothers.

"Right. Let's go!" Brick commanded.

The boys took off and flew past a clock on top of a store that read 7:00. They zoomed off to Pokey Oaks suburbs where the Powerpuff girls resided, now more determined than ever to vanquish their female rivals.

(To be continued…)

A/N: I know the conversation between the PPGs may conflict some things in "Custody Battle," but 1.) The Powerpuffs weren't even in that episode; and 2.) I wrote this chapter before the episode aired.