The city of Townsville! Recently voted best place to live if you want to slash your life expectancy by one half. A city so overrun with ne'er-do-wells, it makes Gotham City look like Candy Land. Luckily, the city's first, last, and only line of defense is always prepared to handle any situation.

And in the Utonium household, in a bedroom fit for the most precious of little girls, was where the city's defenders were currently at. Three pint-sized powerhouses were unwinding for the weekend. Blossom was sitting on the tri-colored bed, reading a book about the Pythagorean theorem. Bubbles was lying on the floor, drawing a landscape in a sketchbook with colored pencils. Buttercup was hovering in the center of the bedroom, continually lifting a 2-ton weight over her head with one arm. The three of them were lost in their joyous activities, until a certain buzzing sound repeated in the room.

"The Hotline!" Blossom exclaimed. Without a moment's hesitation, she flew off toward the Powerpuff Hotline in a streak of pink light. She picked up the receiver, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed. "What is it, Mayor?"

The Mayor said on the other end, "Oh, it's terrible! I'm being held hostage by Mojo Jojo!"

"Mojo Jojo?"

"Indeed! He's got a-what was it called again?-He's got a Series 4 De-Atomizer pointed at me right now! Says he wants you and the other girls to come here and negotiate, whatever that means."

"We're on it, Mayor! You can count on us!" Blossom hung up the phone. "Girls! The Mayor's in trouble! Mojo Jojo's holding him hostage!"

Bubbles said, "Oh no, not Mojo!"

Buttercup said, "Then there's no time to lose!"

The three of them set aside their belongings and flew off, exiting out of the three bedroom windows made especially for them for such an event.

The downtown portion of Townsville lay before them, bustling with activity. People on the ground pointed up at the colorful trio. A woman shouted, "Go get 'em, girls!"

Not long after, the girls arrived in Townsville Hall, which they had come to know like the back of their hand-like appendages. They flew into the Mayor's office.

As expected, the Mayor of Townsville was here, bound to his chair with rope. Not far from him was a certain sinister simian.

"Not so fast, Mojo…Jojo?" The girls said in unison, their exclamation turning into a question mid-sentence.

Indeed, the Mojo standing before them looked different. Taller, lankier, broader shoulders, more chiseled. His cape was longer and wider to accommodate. One thing was still the same; that devious grin of connivance.

"Ha ha!" Mojo said, "The Powerpuff Girls from before now feel smaller, itsy bitsier, teeny tinier! That means compared to me, you now have less strength, less power, less fortitude, ergo, weaker! I will take great satisfaction in finally achieving my goals of world domination, the destruction of the Powerpuff Girls, a lifetime supply of banana cream pie, a…"

As the new(?) Mojo rambled, Bubbles whispered to her sisters, "What's he talking about?"

Buttercup answered, "Who cares? I'm gonna pummel his hairy face!"

Blossom said, "Buttercup, wait!"

Buttercup, ignoring the words of her sister, flew toward Mojo, arm upraised, a streak of green light behind her. Mojo raised his gun and fired, sending a red laser blast flying through the air. Buttercup dodged to the left. The laser burned a hole in the office.

The Mayor said, "Oh, that's definitely coming out of the taxpayers' pockets. Why did this have to be an election year?"

Mojo said, "Stupid girl! I am here to negotiate, discuss terms, perform diplomacy, make a bargain to release the Mayor in an exchange that heavily favors Mojo Jojo. The fighting was only as a last resort!"

Buttercup said, "Negotiate this!"

The dark-haired Puff flew toward Mojo again, this time with both arms upraised. Mojo brought up his ray gun, not to shoot, but to block the incoming projectile. Buttercup made impact with the gun, which pushed her back against the wall with considerable force, but not before the weapon shattered into a million tiny pieces.

Now the maniacal monkey was unarmed! Bigger body or not, this would be a piece of cake! "Nice work, Buttercup!" Bubbles said. "Now finish him good!"

Blossom said, "Wait! This feels…"

Buttercup flew toward Mojo's enlarged brain at high speed, her left leg extended for a flying kick. Soon, Mojo would have the stuffing knocked out of him, and they could all go back to enjoying the weekend.

Only instead of hitting Mojo's brain yet again, Mojo grabbed Buttercup's foot with an imperceptibly fast hand! Before she could make sense of what just happened, the world spun around her in a dizzying fashion! Mojo was winding her up, then launched her toward the nearest wall, causing a large crack to form on impact.

Blossom said, "I was gonna say this feels like a trap."

Buttercup coughed, shook off some rubble, and said, "You're welcome for the pulverized gun."

Blossom and Bubbles flew toward the ceiling, putting distance between them and Mojo. Bubbles exclaimed, "Bad monkey!"

They fired heat vision toward their adversary, but the new Mojo jumped high into the air, too fast for our girls to keep up! He reached Blossom and Bubbles and formed his hands into fists. He began punching, but these were no ordinary punches; Mojo was punching left and right with supernatural speed and force, performing hundreds of strikes in the span of mere seconds! "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Mojo bellowed as he knocked Blossom and Bubbles silly, finally ending by knocking them against the same wall Buttercup hit, all before Mojo hit the ground feet first. All three girls were on the other side of the office, the wall behind them collapsed. The people in the adjacent hallway panicked, running for cover.

Blossom slowly stood up, the bruising on her body evident from the pain she felt all over. "Holy cowbells! Mojo's become…"

"Hardcore!" Bubbles finished.

Mojo bared his fangs, his eyes wide in delight. "Ha ha! Just as I predicted, foresaw, planned ahead for, anticipated! I have become so powerful, I don't even need gadgets, vehicles, deception, bribery or coercion to beat you! You're so weak, you can't even survive a barrage of my all-new, patented, trademarked, copyrighted, singularly unique…"

"Girls!" said a familiar voice in the now-visible hallway due to the recent destruction.

"Ms. Bellum!"

"Are we glad to see a familiar face!" Bubbles said.

Blossom said, "Mojo's gotten crazy strong! We can't land a single hit on him! What'll we do?"

Ms Bellum was about to speak, then waited for another chunk of the hallway to fall down and crash. Once that happened, she said, "You see, girls, a battle is like a dance. You can't win by being the strongest or the flashiest. It's all about timing. Focus on striking him at the right moment, and everything will follow."

Blossom said, "But how can we time our attacks? It felt like he was punching us hundreds of times in a row!"

Ms. Bellum said, "Nothing happens instantaneously. Even light needs time to travel." Another piece of the building collapsed near her. "I'd love to stay, but I need to escort people to safety." She left, a piece of building falling where she was standing a few seconds ago.

Blossom's mind went into overdrive. She calculated everything from Mojo's enhanced strength, the current layout of the Mayor's office, accommodating for the personalities of Bubbles and Buttercup, and finally reaching an effective solution for the problem standing beforehand. She said to the other girls, "Follow my lead."

Bubbles asked, "Um, how?"

Blossom smiled, "Trust me."

Bubbles looked at Buttercup. Buttercup made an I don't know gesture with her arms.

The three girls approached Mojo, with Blossom in the lead. The primate said, "Have you come for another beating from Mojo Jojo? If so, I will provide with gusto, with relish, with delight, and absolute joy at seeing you crushed in spirit and body by my newfound strength!"

Blossom said, "Actually, I wanted to negotiate like you wanted; return the Mayor, go back to your lair, and we promise not to pound you into last week."

"Those terms are unacceptable, non-negotiable, not pleasing, does not pass go, does collect two hundred dollars!"

"Have it your way." Blossom was close enough to freeze Mojo with her ice breath. She exhaled arctic breath, the space in front of her turning into a blue-white frost. Mojo, realizing he couldn't counter a wide attack like ice breath, jumped into the air, avoiding the breath, but heading directly toward a Bubbles waiting for him above, who landed a hit to his head before he could react.

Mojo crashed on the floor, denting it. He quickly rose to his feet to find Buttercup flying next to him, sticking her tongue out. He tried to hit her, but she kept hovering just outside of his range, tongue still out. He performed his rapid-fire punches, "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" but still couldn't keep up with her, even as their increasing velocity rendered her a green blur.

Since his focus was on a taunting Buttercup, Blossom was able to kick Mojo in the head unnoticed. This launched him to an awaiting Bubbles, who responded with her own kick in sky, sending him flying toward a corner now occupied by Buttercup. The girls had formed a triangular pattern in the office, bouncing Mojo around like a poor, battered pinball, until he was knocked away toward the center of the office. Before Mojo could land on the ground, the girls said in perfect rhythm,

"Here!"

"We!"

"GOOOOOOO!"

The three flew toward Mojo with outstretched arms. In the blink of an eye, the three struck his brain simultaneously with the strength of three titanic bulldozers!

But the resulting impact caused the world to distort around them! What was once the Mayor's office had turned into a black-and-white swirling vortex of energy! Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup were pulled away from where Townsville Hall once stood! All three screamed as they were sucked away into who knows where!

The world went dark. Whatever was pulling the Puffs was gone. Bubbles slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was groggy, her head heavy. "Where are we?" She asked, her voice sounding rather hoarse.

Blossom and Buttercup came to. The three of them stood up. They appeared to be in a house, their house, the living room to be exact, but something about it was off. The walls of the living room were usually a heavenly yellow sheen. Here, the walls were a dulled gray, filled with cracks and water stains.

It was at that moment Bubbles felt like she was flying a few feet into the air, even though her feet were on the ground. "Are we back home?" Bubbles asked, but her voice didn't sound like her voice. So shocked, she covered her mouth, only to realize her hand looked different.

Blossom gasped. She looked at her hand, which looked like Bubbles' new hand. "What is this?" She asked in an unusually mature voice. "I have fingers?"

Bubbles felt her face. Her eyes, they didn't take up so much of her face anymore. She also felt a lump above her mouth. "Do I have a…do we have noses now?"

Buttercup noticed that the three of them were still wearing their trademarks dresses and hairstyles, but their bare legs had no leggings of any kind, and their Mary Jane shoes had been replaced with black kitten heels. Even more bizarre was the three of them looked less like kindergartners, and more like Ms. Bellum! Buttercup faced her sisters, her now-small eyes widened as much as possible, her new fingers splayed. "I'm freaking out, man!"

"You are freaking out, man," said a mysterious stranger.

The girls gasped.

Who was the mysterious stranger? Why did the girls appear older? What happened to the vibrant colors of their original dimension? When did Mojo Jojo learn martial arts techniques? Will our heroines find a way back home, or be forced to adapt to a new reality? All this and more, next time on the Powerpuff Girls!