Disclaimer: I don't own the Powerpuff Girls.

"Deadline"

Chapter 6:

…………………………

It was a dark autumn night in the city of Townsville. The Powerpuff Girls stared in pure shock at the Rowdyruff Boys. They couldn't believe what they just heard. Was there something wrong with their ears? Did Brick really say what they thought he did?

Buttercup was the first able to speak. "Wait a second!" she sputtered. "You attack us and chase after us all night, and now you're telling us to just finish you off! You're not making any sense at all!"

"You want to know why then, huh?" said Brick.

"Of course we do!" Bubbles replied.

Brick took a breath and started to explain. "Well then…it all started this afternoon after our earlier fight. When we supposedly disappeared, we actually met Him."

…………………………

"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!"

The boys felt a cold and sharp sensation rush through their bodies. A few seconds of the pain seemed like an eternity. The boys were getting lightheaded. When the feeling finally stopped, they felt…different…

"What just happened…?" said Brick.

"I just put a simple spell on you," Him chuckled.

"What kind?"

"I now have control of your essences. At midnight tonight, they will belong to me and be added to my power. I will be invincible with the power of your souls!"

"WHAT!" the boys all exclaimed.

Him smirked. "That is, unless…"

"Unless what?" Brick interjected.

"Remember what I said?" Him said, twirling his claw again. "I wanted to help motivate you to defeat the Powerpuff girls. That's why I put this spell on you in the first place."

"So you mean that we just have to hurry and crush the girls before midnight?" asked Brick.

"That's right. You're pretty sharp."

Boomer looked up hopefully. "But uh, you also gave us a little power boost too, right?"

Him shook his head. "Oh, no I didn't. You said yourself that you can beat them on your own. You talk pretty big, so I'd like to see you back it up."

The boys' faces turned pale as they looked up at the sneering demon.

"No…way…" Brick said.

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

"You have five hours," Him cackled.

…………………………

"We thought that if we did what he said, he'd let us off the hook," Butch said.

"But while we were searching the city, I had time to recall," Brick explained. "He never said anything about what would happen if we DID do the job on time. As sneaky as he is, he'd probably use that as a loophole. He might take our souls anyway, he could make us his slaves, who knows?"

Bubbles blinked back tears and Blossom's face softened.

"You're asking to die when Him has a hold of your soul? Now that's just plain pointless! I seriously doubt THAT would help at all," Blossom almost shouted. "Besides, you shouldn't think that we'd ever kill you. No matter what you do, we wouldn't do that to you.

The boys all looked confused, especially Butch. "Why not? We're your enemies! We fight you regularly! In fact, we tried to kill you just a few hours ago! And now you're getting all soft on us! Now YOU'RE the ones not making any sense!"

None of the girls answered. They just stared with melancholy. Buttercup tried to keep a scowl, but deep in her eyes, there was clearly sadness.

The silence was broken by a soft and ominous rumbling. At first, the girls thought it was thunder, but then an eerie swirl of pink fog appeared. And out floated the felonious fiend known to all as Him. His presence seemed to make the stars dim their light.

"It's Him!" the girls gasped.

Him bowed like an actor on stage. "In the flesh. Well boys, what's the matter? Don't tell me you've given up already. There's still time…"

"Go to Heck!" Butch suddenly yelled.

Him lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "What was that?"

"Forget it!" Boomer added. "We ain't taking orders from you anymore!"

Him sighed nonchalantly. "Well…that is just too bad."

The boys' eyes widened in terror as Him twirled his claw and trailed the same black smoke as before. He closed his eyes in concentration, and the black smoke formed into a strange disc shape. Suddenly, he opened his glowing eyes wide! Then bright sparks of yellow lightning surrounded the boys and pierced in and out of their flesh.

The boys screamed with agony as the sparks continued to circle their bodies. Three wisps of what looked like white smoke pulled out of their mouths and they became silent. The white wisps floated into the black disc, and it began to change. The black disc was now a round mirror. The lightning around the boys stopped and they limply dropped down from the sky. It all happened so quickly that the girls were too shocked to react.

Buttercup and Bubbles dove straight down after them. Before Blossom could join her sisters, she was stopped when she heard Him sniggering at the disaster. His menacing laughter made Blossom's blood boil.

"Using the boys as pawns to do your dirty work, and now taking their essences…" she growled. "You spineless bast-!"

Before she could finish, Him swirled around in his pink cloud cackling, the mirror right behind him. Blossom clenched her teeth in anger and shot a blast from her arms at the cloud. The mist disappeared, and all that was left was a hole in the sky, the doorway to Him's dimension. Blossom kept her beams steady against either side of the gap to keep it open.

Meanwhile, Bubbles and Buttercup slowly got closer and closer to reaching the boys. When they were only about 15 feet above the ground, Bubbles caught Butch in her arms, and Buttercup caught Brick and Boomer with each arm and hoisted them onto her shoulders. They stopped themselves just in time to avoid hitting the hard road.

Bubbles and Buttercup quickly carried the boys into their house through the round windows and gently set them down on top of their bed. Just out of wondering, Bubbles opened one of Brick's eyes. It was glazed and lifeless, and sent a chill down her spine. Just then, she heard her sister calling from far back up in the sky.

"Bubbles! Buttercup! Get over here!"

Immediately, the two girls soared up to see Blossom using her hand beams to hold a large hole in the air open. On the other side was a dark, horrid place that was known only as Him's domain. As Blossom struggled to hold it, the gap was slowly getting smaller and smaller.

Blossom didn't even have to tell Bubbles and Buttercup what to do, because they already knew. Without hesitation, they flew through the opening and into the realm of evil. Blossom got ready, and let go of the void. At the same time, she darted in, just barely making it. The hole disappeared completely and all was quiet over Townsville.

30 minutes to midnight and counting…

To be continued…