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Disclaimer: I don't own the Powerpuff Girls.

"Deadline"

Chapter 9:

The Powerpuff Girls shook in fury at Him. They could feel this murderous rage building up inside them, suppressing their pain and fatigue. And at the same time, they felt stronger than they ever had felt in their lives.

The girls were a mess from their earlier fight against Him's minions. Blossom and Bubbles had black and blue stripes down their arms and their socks were torn. Buttercup looked worse, with all of her skin severely burned and her once deep raven hair singed a charcoal grayish-black. But they still stood tall and unafraid, as they had just begun their battle.

Him wasn't afraid either, for he knew something that could still give him a chance to destroy the girls.

"Him!" Blossom roared. "Now you're gonna pay!"

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup shot up at once and charged toward Him in an organized formation. They then began punching and kicking at him with enough power to split Duranium! Unfortunately, Him was swiftly dodging the blows. He moved as if he were made of rubber, twisting this way and that. His nonchalant expression frustrated the girls and their anger kept building up! And feeling the girls' fury only pleased him. Him felt himself becoming stronger and even more confident. He continued to avoid the three girls, taunting them without words, but with a simple smile.

Him was a demon whose power came from the negative emotions of others. He had used the Powerpuff Girls' negative feelings against them several times before. And each time, he became powerful enough to overpower the girls themselves.

Right now, the emotion he was using was the girls' anger. As the girls were being powered by their strong feelings, so was Him. However, he knew that the girls' anger wouldn't last much longer. By fighting so furiously, they were already letting off steam. Their anger would soon dissipate as the girls calm down, and Him would start to weaken. Then he wouldn't have enough strength left to destroy them. So he decided to switch them over to a different, longer lasting type of anguish…

The girls stopped their assault to catch their breath, but still kept their eyes on Him. Just then, Him began to grow larger. He was now standing well over 40 feet tall!

Blossom simply smirked. 'Bad move, Him. Growing bigger just makes it harder for you to avoid us,' she thought.

Blossom gave the signal and the girls all attacked Him from different directions. But to their shock, instead of hitting him, they just flew right through him!

Him cackled. "Foolish girls! You should know that you're on MY turf! My own conjuring created this place. So here I wouldn't need many of the things necessary to live. For example, a physical body!"

The girl's eyes widened and they felt their hearts stop for an instant. They knew that since Him didn't have a body, it would be useless to attack him.

The girls' anger evaporated instantly. In its place was the feeling of hopelessness. The air around them seemed to drop in temperature, and the pain and weariness that was suppressed had returned.

Him quickly felt himself becoming even more powerful! He grew even taller, his eyes glowed a fiery red and his body thickened. He looked fearsome, to put it mildly!

The girls stared up in horror. But then Blossom noticed that this scene looked familiar! She remembered the time when Him gave her and her sisters nightmares about the things they feared the most. The girls were helpless at first, but when they overcame their fear, Him was rendered harmless.

"Don't give in, girls! Him is just using our feelings against us!" Blossom exclaimed.

"But we can't fight him!" Buttercup retorted.

"Not physically, we can't! But remember all those times we defeated Him? It wasn't through our strength or our powers, but through our minds that we beat him! So we still can fight!"

Realizing their sister was right, Bubbles and Buttercup's faces brightened in understand. With newfound confidence in the girls, Him felt himself slowly shrinking. He was shocked at this sudden change. After a moment of wondering what was going on, Him noticed the expressions on the girls' faces. He saw that their hopelessness was no more. Their faces showed optimism, the belief that everything will work out right in the end. Even if it was blind, it was still hope.

This new positive feeling was leeching away at Him, and it showed. His limbs thinned, his eyes stopped glowing and he started becoming smaller and smaller. The girls saw this and felt even more confident!

In no time, Him was back to his original size. He decided to use a last resort attack before he weakened any more. The girls' souls were too pure and righteous for Him to handle if he stole their essences.

'I never thought I'd have to resort to this,' he thought.

Him closed his eyes and whispered a chant very quietly. Blossom noticed this and wondered what he was doing. But then, Him opened his eyes, now glowing an eerie bright yellow!

Blossom immediately collapsed, shaking as if she was having a seizure and sparks of pink energy flashing around her!

"BLOSSOM!" Bubbles and Buttercup screamed.

Buttercup turned to Him, whose eyes were no longer glowing. She pointed to him and fiercely shouted, "What did you do to her?"

"Just another little hex I learned in Spelling," Him explained, the grin of a madman spread across his face. "Right now as I speak, your sister Blossom is being destroyed from the inside. In only a matter of minutes, her soul will be no more." He closed his eyes. "And now, it's YOUR turn!"

Bubbles panicked and covered her eyes. Him flashed his eyes open and Buttercup collapsed, shaking and sparking like Blossom. Bubbles, however, wasn't affected! She uncovered her eyes and noticed that Buttercup was on the ground jolting, but she was all right!

Then it hit her! As long as she didn't look at Him's eyes, she would be fine! But she didn't know how much time she had to stop Him and save her sisters.

Bubbles snapped out of her thinking when she saw Him directly in front of her, closing his eyes to perform the spell again. She turned and zoomed away as fast as she could. Him appeared out of thin air in front of her again. She shut her eyes and turned sharply in another direction. She tried to think of how to stop Him.

Bubbles thought hard. 'Hmm…Him can destroy souls with that spell, but he needs his victims to look him in the eyes in order for it to work. He said he doesn't have a body, so he's probably made of pure essence. So maybe if I can turn his own attack against him…'

Then Bubbled remembered the mirror that originally held the Rowdyruff Boys' souls! She looked around, spotted it and made a dash for it.

But through the corner of her eye, she saw a yellow light and felt a surge of pain zing through her body. She had been partly caught by Him's soul-destroying hex! Her body hurt all over, but she could still move.

Bubbles reached the mirror and picked up the two pieces it had earlier broken into. She turned to see Him's face only about a foot in front of hers. With her hands weak and shaking, she managed to place and hold the two halves together.

Him opened his eyes to finish off the blonde Powerpuff once and for all. But instead of a blue-eyed girl, he saw a long red face! He then felt himself being penetrated by intense raw energy.

Him let out a scream that could wake the dead as lightning sliced through him! He shattered and crumbled into red dust, which disappeared into wisps of gray smoke before it could land on the ground.

Bubbles felt the pain from Him's spell disappear. She felt the mirror fall apart in her hands and watched as it also became dust and faded away.

"I…I did it!" she gasped.

She flew over to where her sisters were and was overjoyed to see them getting up.

"Blossom! Buttercup! You're okay!"

Buttercup moaned and opened her eyes. "Bubbles? What happened?"

"Him's dead now!" Bubbles answered.

Blossom's eyes widened in disbelief. "What? Oh my gosh! You beat him all by yourself!"

Bubbles smiled and shook her head. "No. Not ALL by myself."

"But how?" asked Blossom.

"I used that mirror to reflect Him's spell back at him. I guess your bodies protected your souls from the spell at least for a while."

"Yeah. And since Him didn't have a physical body, he was a goner right away! It all makes sense!"

Just then, the domain around the girls began to fade away. In just a few moments, the girls found themselves back in their dimension, right in front of their house.

"We're back!" the girls exclaimed.

Remembering the Rowdyruff Boys, the girls zipped into their room through the windows. The boys were lying motionless on the girls' bed. Their skin was pale and their chests weren't moving, showing that they weren't breathing.

The girls looked at the clock they had on their wall, which read 11:56. They couldn't believe their dumb luck. They had destroyed Him four minutes before they had to, yet by breaking the mirror they had still failed to save the boys.

Blossom hesitantly reached forward and picked up Brick's clammy hand, feeling his wrist. There was no sign of a pulse.

Tears welled p in the girls' eyes. Bubbles broke down sobbing in her hands. Blossom then joined her and began to cry too. Buttercup, however, refused to let a single tear escape. Her shoulders and lower lip quivered, but she didn't make a sound.

Blossom wiped her eyes and swallowed to loosen her tight throat.

"We have t tell the Professor," she said.

Her sisters nodded and the three walked slowly out of their bedroom to head for Professor Utonium's laboratory. But little did they know that once they closed the door, the clock struck twelve. The Rowdyruff Boys' still bodies began to sparkle as is a light was shining on them. And from their chests came a faint sound…

Bu-Bump…

(To be continued…)

A/N: Almost done! Just two more chapters to go! I just have to revise the next chapter and finish writing the last one. Happy New Year!