AN: Finally, I can say it. The final chapter is out! It's been a long ride and I should have given an end to this story sooner than this, but alas, here we are. For the few who actually were interested in this little fanfiction, I'm sorry, and I hope that the complete work will be worth the wait. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 12

Epilogue

The Dawn After

Two Spec Ops soldiers tiptoed in the hallway, the weapons raised and ready. Their faces were hidden under balaclavas, but it was still clear that they were focused on their surroundings, ready to engage whatever could come at them from the darkness.

The forward agent raised a hand in a 'stop' gesture and the two of them stopped, waiting for a few seconds. The hallway fell into almost complete silence, save for the background noise of weak air currents flowing through the tunnel.

"Blackburn," the second operative whispered, "what is it?"

"Didn't they teach you back in the barracks how to shut up?"

"There's no one here, and you know it. Those mutants make a whole lot of noise when they're around, I can tell you that."

"We ain't looking for just the mutants by now, Dmitri!"

The second man scoffed. "From what I heard, he may as well be considered one of them."

Blackburn pretended to not have heard the retort. "Just stop fooling around and follow me quietly, will you? I stopped because I thought I heard something nearby."

"You're hearing things, trust me. Let's just finish this section and get this over with."

The two men resumed their stroll and in a few moments their flashlights disappeared behind a turn in the tunnel. Not long after, a shadow emerged from a sidewall of the hallway.

Doctor Porter scanned the surroundings, and in particular he checked there was no one coming from the direction the two special forces agents came from. When he was sure there weren't anymore of them, he resumed his path.

Porter had been lurking in the inferior tunnels of his network for two days. The special squads sent by the Mayor, who wasn't that keen on giving up the hunt for him, wanted nothing less but him arrested and brought to justice, and they weren't stopping anytime soon.

Unfortunately for them, the Doctor had other ideas.

His lair extended inside a large area under the terrain and he knew the Spec Ops policemen couldn't control all of it. He had already managed to isolate one of the farthest sections, enough to restart his work there, and he was by now in a scouting mission to retrieve whatever hadn't been already destroyed by the sweeping squads.

The Mayor had been clear with his directives, unfortunately, so everything that was deemed valuable to the Doctor had been taken away or destroyed on the spot. Not to mention all the Containment Farms and Reproduction Basins, the main source of his manpower, which were all still under sterilization process.

Months of work… all lost. And all thanks to one, single infra-human.

Porter gritted his teeth and opened and closed his hands, still out of their original metal enclosures, to calm himself down. Controlling his anger was difficult without the continuous support via injection from his old metal appendixes, and he was glad to have the boots still with him. Otherwise, he probably would have lost control way more often that he would've liked.

He could still start over. Beginning with starting a new biological laboratory to generate mutant adjutants to help him with the creation of new chambers like he already did in the past, and then simply continue with his studies. After that, he would be able to turn his attention back to the so called 'hero' of Ultrapolis.

He allowed himself a small smile. Two days earlier it was a failure, but tomorrow was another question, and he would try hard to make it a success at any cost.

After all, he had all the time he wanted.

Somewhere, deep within the forest that encircled the city of Ultrapolis, a little girl was crying.

A dark red trail of stains marked a path between the branches and through the undergrowth that led to a lone, old oak located in the centre of a small clearing. Under the shadow of it, there was the girl, who continued to weep copiously.

Her cries had more than one cause. She was born with one purpose, one she deemed so pathetic and easy she didn't even pay much attention to it… and she failed. Yet, she didn't care about not pleasing her creator, especially not after what he had tried to do to her.

She was hurt by the thought of weakness itself. Here she was, a vulnerable little girl with a wound in her chest alone in a forest. Not exactly what she had planned to become.

The injury hurt, indeed, but her healing abilities were there doing their work, and she knew she would survive if she kept herself out of reach for some time. But still… how could she tolerate this? She was helpless now. She was born to be the exact opposite, to be terror incarnate!

And now she was hiding in a forest, crying like a pitiful baby. 'Girly', just like the Rowdyruffs said.

In her sadness Decay couldn't help letting a weak lament come out of her mouth. She raised her hand, wanting to punch ground, or really do anything to distract herself from her emotions, but the sudden movement only ended up putting pressure on the wound. The pain returned all the stronger, making her flinch and forcing her to bite the bullet.

She couldn't scream in pain. Not when she knew that patrols of armed men were still exploring over the forest.

That was her state, now. What was even her purpose? What role did she have? What could she do, what did she want to do? Was… was it even worth it to keep going like this?

Her thoughts were running fast and it wouldn't have taken much longer before more and more extreme ideas crossed her mind. However, a distraction eventually came to push those thoughts away.

Something was moving behind the brambles nearby. Decay raised her strained eyes but didn't try to move or escape. She was too weak to fight back and too injured to attempt a fast runaway. I might as well let them come… maybe it's Donnie who changed his idea and came to end my life… maybe it's Porter who didn't forget about me and came to get back what belongs to him…

Instead of any of them, an animal came out of the hiding place. It was no normal animal however… it was one of the mutated creatures, born out of Porter's biological experiments.

Decay wasn't surprised that much by the sight. She knew about the Spec Ops intruders who had stormed Porter's hideout two days earlier, since she had to avoid encountering them since she made her escape, and she knew they shot at the mutants on sight.

It was no wonder some of the beasts had decided to flee… she had even heard shots in the distance the previous day in another area of the forest, when some of the renegade mutants had been found and killed by those sent to eliminate them.

What she didn't expect was the creature stopping a few meters away from her and sitting down, staring at her with its monstrous, pupil-less eyes.

The appearance of the mutant was truly menacing, but Decay didn't really mind it. She simply looked back at the creature, her sobs slowing down, and the two of them stayed that way for a few minutes.

Eventually, the porcupine got even closer, making some steps forward with its three pairs of paws until it was only a few centimetres away from the girl. It emanated a stench that wasn't easy to the senses, but Decay didn't even notice it. Her full attention was on the creature itself.

The porcupine made a low guttural sound, then it cautiously tried to touch Decay's left side with its mangled snout.

Eyes open in shock, Decay raised her hand and did the only thing she could think of in her partially dazed state, that is… trying to caress the mutant. The porcupine emitted more guttural noises and sat down by her side, letting her pass her hand over its body (the sides and the head at least, since its back was covered by a thick layer of spines)

It… it has accepted me?

Decay couldn't help but chuckle, even if it made her grit her teeth in pain. The thing resting just a few centimetres away, easily considerable a bizarre joke of nature, was the only living being that had tried to comfort her in the last two days. Its presence made her feel safe, even calm. Slowly, the flow of tears that went down her cheeks came to a stop.

She now could think a bit more clearly, and she pondered a bit more over her situation.

Maybe I shouldn't worry about my purpose. That is something I can find myself, with time… but, I still… just, how did I end up in this situation in the first place?

Then, it hit her.

Donnie.

Donnie was the cause of everything.

He was the one reason she had been brought to life in the first place.

He was the one opponent who managed to beat her badly and almost killed her in return to her own actions.

And finally, he was the one idiot who had saved her life.

She wasn't sure about what to think of him. Hatred? He had defeated her and almost ended her life, indeed. Contempt? Why, when he had saved her and somewhat brought her to this situation… maybe that was gratitude? Perhaps she felt confusion since he did something so unexpected… to face off Porter again just to give her another chance to live. Or maybe she was worrying too much about a dimwit like him doing something so stupid?

She had lots of questions, and to answer them she had only one way. To question the one person that was behind it all.

She remembered him telling her not to make him see her again, and she sighed. Sorry, Donnie, but I cannot do that.

The porcupine suddenly stood up and growled in the air, and Decay smiled in response. The first smile in two days, and the second true one in her short life.

She used the porcupine's shoulders to help herself stand up, trying to not exert the area of her wound, then she hovered in the air to avoid walking. The porcupine watched her and waited in silence for new orders, ready to follow its new master wherever she would decide to go.

Rather than instructing it, though, the girl couldn't help but tell it, "Dankon…" at first.

She didn't know if the beast could understand her, but it just came naturally to her.

Wait, did I just say 'thank you' to someone?

…oh.

One more thing she would never have imagined she would do right after she had been created. Although it was just one of many unexpected developments that occurred, lately.

She moved her rebel hair fringe out of her eyes and began to hover forward, the porcupine following her. Before deciding what to do, she let herself have a final thought.

Donnie… we will meet again, sooner or later. I swear it.

It was early in the morning in Ultrapolis, and the sun was just beginning its rise over the horizon. The city itself was already awakened, so it was no wonder to see that inside the main hospital of the metropolis everything was in full swing.

Inside one of the various buildings that constituted the hospital, a trio of children sat in a waiting room. Every one of them carried the marks of the injuries they had received two days before.

Bubbles had a new set of bandages covering her wound. The medics had at first been reluctant to believe the injury had been kept under control for almost an hour by simply freezing it over, but they had to reconsider after a demonstration by Blossom herself. Later, they found out that there was thankfully no sign of infection in it. After renewing the patches, they told her that she just needed to rest for a while to recover from the loss of blood. And true enough, Bubbles had yet to feel pain from the wound since a few hours

Donnie had been quite battered up as well. The most serious damage had been the one provided by the energy ball which had almost turned him to ashes, but still managed to leave a serious burn on his head. The yellow puff had to wait for the hospital before they could try to treat that injury properly, and at the moment the left side of his head was covered by protective gauze. The rest of his body had fortunately minor injuries that his super-healing powers were enough to deal with.

Buttercup's case was more complex than either of the previous two, since she did not have any serious physical injuries but had all of her muscles partially paralyzed. An exam on her blood showed the presence of unknown substances in her body, unrecognizable by any type of machine or chemical analysis.

An expert was needed and one expert in fact came to try and discover what was up with, that expert being Professor Utonium him. He'd taken the first flight he could to Ultrapolis when he was told what happened to his daughters and he wanted to participate personally on the procedures, to make sure they were at full health.

The Professor needed just a fast view on the results of the mentioned exam to understand that whatever Doctor Porter had stored in the canister, it had effects similar to Antidote X. Whatever it was, though, it was slowly being consumed and expelled by the Buttercup's metabolism, and the green puff was already able to stand on her own feet.

More specifically, Buttercup was walking around, trying to keep herself occupied and distracted from the problem at hand, one that dealt with her missing sister.

Blossom was the one of the four who had been the closest to something that put her life in danger. X-Rays scans had revealed a series of fractures that hit much of her backbone, and the doctor in charge of the exam unknowingly used words similar to the ones said by the one responsible for it, when he commented on what he saw. "Those fractures... would kill a normal human."

Professor Utonium had been more worried but less confused by the news. He explained to the doctor that the fractures had been mostly superficial except for a limited amount of them, which still weren't able to harm the spinal cord. That was probably thanks to her powers, which granted a level of resistance even to the normally extremely vulnerable nervous tissue. The fractures were still there, though, and constituted a threat they couldn't ignore. Blossom had been subjected to more specific exams with the supervision of her creator himself over the next two days, which had the target to evaluate if she needed to go under surgery or not.

The three kids were in fact waiting for the results. That was why Buttercup, Bubbles and Donnie almost jumped when they saw the door that brought to the exam quarters open to reveal Professor Utonium himself.

A great burden was lifted from them when they spotted the form of a certain pink-eyed girl follow him from behind.

"Blossom!" Buttercup and Bubbles called together as they rushed to their own sister. They made sure to embrace her with no intention of letting her go before turning to the Professor with interrogative gazes. Donnie kept his distance, though he also was looking at the Professor expectantly.

The Professor smiled before starting to speak. "She's good, girls. It's been a day since the last exam, but her bones have been reconstructing themselves at high speed. Your healing powers are almost terrifying to behold, especially if someone isn't used to treat patients with superpowers… I originally didn't even think that it would apply to your bone tissue. But it did, and by now Blossom is out of danger. She won't have to fight crime for some time, but she'll be back to it in no time if my calculations are correct."

"No fighting crime, you say? Maybe I'll get to be the leader for some time!" Buttercup said with a grin.

Blossom playfully gave a weak punch to her sister, "Hey! I can still make plans and give orders, you know!"

Bubbles giggled, and soon enough the three of them started to laugh together, happy to enjoy the company of each other.

Donnie smiled at the sight and he decided to take the chance to approach the Professor. "Professor Utonium…" he started, "I want to say, I'm sorry. I did not want to things to go this way, when the girls came here."

"Please Donnie, I don't want to hear more of this from you. We've already talked about it. You have no role in what happened and you shouldn't feel guilty about it."

"I know, I know! But still… this is just wrong. This isn't what I wanted!"

The Professor knelled down and stared at the little boy eye to eye. "Now, Donnie, you really shouldn't feel like this. Yet, if you really want to make amends… there is actually something you can do."

He couldn't help but smile when the boy's eye almost lighted up.

"…the girls are really tired, not only physically. It's been some time since they had to face such a demanding endeavour. They surely want to spend the next few days relaxing and trying to leave all of this behind them. So, I would suggest getting prepared to let them have the best holiday they can have in your city. I'm fairly sure that's exactly what they need now. Understood?"

Donnie stood to attention almost military-style before answering vehemently, "Yesssir!"

Then, he moved away in a hurry to join the girls and start what he should have done two days earlier. The Professor kept his smile as he got up and began to walk back to finish some matters he had left with the staff who helped with the girls' treatment in the hospital. He had already booked a local hotel to stay for him and the girls and he had already agreed with Blossom about what time they should return in the evening. He was protective, but he didn't want to feel too protective. They needed their space, more than everything right now.

No need to distract them more. They deserve to stay together for some time… I'm just glad they're all well.

Thus, the four kids left the building and began to walk towards the main exit of the hospital zone. As the girls chatted with each other, Donnie thought about their current situation and how, finally, they were serene.

He remembered how happy looking his aunt looked when she got the chance to see him the day before at the hospital. He expected her to be worried, but not this much, and the way her face brightened when she saw him almost made him cry. Even his uncle was present and had looked least lifted in spirit when he was told his nephew was out of threat.

In addition, now that the girls themselves were finally reunited without any impending danger, Donnie could see them finally acting like the three lovable little sisters he knew. As far as he knew, there was no villain left that could arrive to put a stop to this.

Mojo Jojo had already left Ultrapolis. After being arrested, he had been sent with a state jet to the United States, where he was to be kept in Townsville's prison. Away and secured, at least for some time.

More worrying were the local villains, but Donnie was sure they wouldn't show up for some time. Doctor Porter was still being looked for by squads of policemen and Spec Ops agents all over the city, the forests and inside his tunnel maze, and it would take him some time to prepare anything new, especially since the Mayor had promised to double over on the efforts to capture him.

Decay was another matter. Donnie guessed she would still be in bad shape and, therefore, harmless since their encounter, but the future was unclear. Would she listen to his words and disappear? Or would she return? Or maybe find another metropolis to torment? Realizing these thoughts wouldn't have taken him anywhere, he settled to momentarily archive the issue.

That was it. Nothing would come to bother him and the Powerpuff Girls now.

Wait… why do I feel like I forgot something?

"Girls!" the voice of Bubbles exclaimed, and the other three children followed her signal to the three silhouettes that were coming towards them. They recognized them immediately.

The Rowdyruff Boys slowly landed in front of the four of them. All of them were scowling and with their arms crossed, but they remained silent. Were they waiting for them to say something first?

"So? Are you giving us the silent treatment or…?" Buttercup finally asked, annoyed by their glares at best. "You want to scare us with your angry faces? Hmph, big deal…"

"You actually should be scared!" Boomer fired back. Butch groaned, not believing what his brother had just considered smart to say.

Brick limited himself to sigh and act like his sibling hadn't said anything. "Buttercup… we will not fight you. Not now, at least."

Buttercup was taken aback and didn't answer right away, and even Bubbles was surprised. "What… really? You don't want to fight us?" she asked, agape.

Donnie had told the girls about the surprising behaviour of the boys when the three girls were injured back in Porter's hideout, and even though Bubbles had even seen herself how Butch had helped in 'reviving' Buttercup, it was still hard for her and her sisters to believe what Donnie said concerning Boomer and the first aid kit.

But this…?

"Do not even think about it, blondie," Butch said, glaring at her, "we ain't here to make friends or anything weird like that. We just don't feel like doing fighting right now." He sounded serious enough, but he was also firm and controlled, much different from his usual easily excitable demeanour.

Blossom wasn't convinced by the boys' words. "If you aren't going to fight us, why are you three here then? What are you planning?" she inquired.

"We want to have a little chat with your dear friend there," Brick answered, before turning to the mentioned 'friend' himself.

The girls didn't really want to leave Donnie to deal with the ruffs alone, but the yellow puff walked forward anyway before they could protest. He wasn't letting them put a halt to their holiday a second time.

"So, you wanted to talk with me?" Donnie began, trying to sound serious.

"Yes, Sherlock. Now, cut the 'hero' play off and listen," Brick said. He scratched his hat and frowned before continuing. "We have watched your fight with girly back in that cavern or whatever that place was. I have to admit… ugh, it hurts me to say that. Why am I even saying this in the first place?"

"He wants to say you didn't do half-bad," Butch ended up interjecting, much to Brick's dismay, though he didn't protest and let him do the talking. "Me and Boomer think the same. I mean, you're still miles away from us but hey, you did some great moves, and the way you went with that ending attack, piercing her like a voodoo doll! That was so cool!"

"She deserved that!" Boomer added, "Not to mention how she almost beat us as well. That girl really was a big, mean-"

BONK!

"Ouch! What gives?" Boomer complained, but Brick ignored him.

"Do not listen to my brothers. What we want to say is just that, well… you don't have to worry about us. For now. We'll leave you and the puffs alone for a few days. And that's all."

The Powerpuff Girls at first couldn't believe what they were listening to. The ruffs taking the time to tell their enemy to know that they won't show up for some time? Had they been told this instead of witnessing it, they would have taken it for a badly thought-out joke for sure.

The successive event though literally blew their minds. Donnie tilted his head, then he answered, "You'll leave me alone? What, are you scared or somethin'?"

"Scared? Ha, good one!" Butch chortled, "How about you come here and say that again where my fists can express their opinion about it?"

Despite the threat, he actually didn't look like he was offended… rather, he looked amused.

"I say, bring it on!" Donnie replied, grinning, "I actually look forward to it, you know, I tried to spar sometimes with the girls but they obviously hold back…"

"HEY!" the girls uttered, but their cry went unheard.

"I know, right?" Boomer agreed, "Those Powerpuffs sometimes act like we're little kids or something… like we're younger of them!"

Brick brought a palm over his forehead, exasperated by his brother's continuous failing at being bright, but he nonetheless said, "Don't worry, Donnie. You'll hear from us, sooner or later!"

He turned away and said, "Let's go boys, we got better to do than to argue with Powerpuff Girl Number Four here!"

Donnie really couldn't help to throw a final tease in their direction by shouting 'Au Revoir!' to the three boys as they flew away. When he moved to join back with the girls, he was surprised to see a mixture of surprise and annoyance on their faces.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

The girls weren't sure how to react or what to tell him, then something clicked in their minds and they understood everything.

Donnie was confused to see them roll their eyes in unison, before saying together, "Boys… they're all the same."

"Boys? What do you mean? Hello, girls?" Donnie called, but the three of them momentarily ignored his questions and walked away, forcing him to follow them.

"Okay, okay, maybe I wasn't supposed to be that friendly with them but bear with me! They did help us in the end!"

"Whatever you say, Donnie," Blossom said while her blonde sister giggled at Donnie's attempts to explain himself. Buttercup on the other hand reacted differently since she suddenly launched herself at him, trapping him into a tight grip with her hands by the neck.

"So, you say we hold back when we spar together?" Buttercup asked menacingly… then, she suddenly started to rub her fist on Donnie's head, "Tell me, am I holding back now? Am I?!"

"Stop, stop, please! No, you aren't" Donnie implored, but he was laughing all around and he didn't even seriously try to free himself.

While Blossom played along by not doing anything and smiling at the scene, Bubbles was distracted and thoughtful. When she began speaking, Buttercup and Donnie suddenly stopped their fight.

"Guys, you know… all of this is feels a bit funny. You know, Donnie is a hero now in this city, like we are in Townsville. And Doctor Porter is somewhat his main nemesis, in a way, just like Mojo is ours!"

"Well, that's true… we both have the mad genius as a foe now. But you still have the demonic being, the irascible hillbilly and the spoiled brat with big money!" Donnie argued. "And I've defeated my first giant monster two weeks ago, while you have had to deal with them on a weekly basis for years!"

"Yeah, but still… it looks like it's all coming together to mirror our own situation, that's so weird!" Bubbles insisted. "Oh, and there are four ruffs now in the world!"

"Don't tell me, Bubs… I tell ya, by the end of the year, there will be fifteen of us in the world!"

Donnie, Blossom and Bubbles gave a glance to the green puff… then they burst out laughing.

"What? What are you three laughing about!?"

"C'mon Donnie, tell us something about Ultrapolis before Buttercup continues on with her creative takes!"

"Oh, look who's talking, leader girl! The one who loves to ramble about literally everything she gets the smallest interest in!"

Blossom chuckled but didn't answer. When Donnie and Bubbles giggled with her, even Buttercup had to let her protests die out and join their laughter. So, in the end, they left the hospital's area and began to march into the first street they found, all smiling and eager to visit every possible landmark the city had to offer.

And so, the day is finally saved! With some help from the Rowdyruff Boys, surprisingly. Obviously thanks to Donnie, who proved to everyone that he indeed is a true hero. And, once again, thanks to the Powerpuff Girls! Sheesh, I'm really beginning to lose count of everyone…

THE END