Cast the Darkest Shadow
Deus Ex Procella
A red glow illuminated the corner of Professor Utonium's emergency ward; a clock blinking 2 a.m. The good doctor himself stood hunched over an operating table, where the once proud leader of Powerpuff Girls Z lay thrashing and writhing under the particle separator beam. Professor Utonium released a deep, shaky breath trying to hold the beam steady. Blight screamed, her voice was horrible and demonic with only hints of Momoko's voice hiding in the back. Kakiko stood on the other side of the table, holding Blight's hand and watching with a heartbroken expression at the suffering her oldest daughter was clearly going through.
"Kakiko, please for the last time leave the room! I'd rather you don't see what may happen…I have a bad feeling about all of this," Kakiko shook her head, never taking her eyes off Momoko's screaming face. She comfortingly smoothed her daughter's hair, softly cooing and telling Momoko that everything was going to be all right.
"I can't Professor, I have to be here for her. Especially if she's going through something worse than being this…thing's puppet!" Professor Utonium turned up the power of the particle separator beam to continue trying to pull the black light out of Momoko's body. Blight only screamed louder and arched her back, tugging at her restraints with all of her might. Kakiko noticed that the suit seemed to be thrashing far more violently than Momoko's body was. The suit holding onto Momoko was what was hurting her daughter.
"You've done this before Professor, why is it so hard now?" Professor Utonium chanced wiping his brow then quickly caught his beam again, turning the power up further and causing Blight and Momoko both far more mind shattering pain.
"I've never dealt with a situation like this before, Kakiko. The black lights, fragments of the demon Kare's power, bond in a very weak manner to their host. The beam simply separates that radiation from their body and reverts them to normal with no pain involved. The demon seeds, they don't infect people directly, they usually infect an inanimate object and use it to control a human host," The Professor licked his lips and resisted the urge to push the beam to its full power. Momoko had to be suffering extreme physical trauma, he didn't want to push her into a coma. "This time though, Momoko was directly infected by a demon seed. It bonded with her, enhanced her inferior feelings, her jealousy, her envious feelings, it basically bonded with and brought out her dark side." Professor Utonium gestured toward Blight, not noticing the stricken look on Kakiko's face.
"That dark side…Kakiko is what you see latched onto Momoko's body. We aren't trying to remove a foreign radiation or substance from her body…" Blight lurched upward when the beam became stronger, the suit quivering and beginning to slowly pull from Momoko's skin. Momoko's voice became hellishly audible now. The pain of having the suit wrenched from her body unlike anything most people would ever experience in several lifetimes. "What I'm doing…I'm removing part of Momoko, no different than reaching under her skin and ripping her skeleton from her body."
"Momoko…oh God baby…" Kakiko let go of Blight's hand when both of them began to writhe and thrash, the black suit beginning to tear free. As it ripped from Momoko's body it left behind cuts and bruises, bleeding profusely but quickly healing. Momoko screamed loudly and fell silent, slipping into unconsciousness. Her body went limp, but the figure on the table continued to thrash. When Blight's hands ripped free from Momoko's, she howled and her hands began to dissolve into dark particles, which promptly vanished into thin air. Bit by bit more of Blight tore away from Momoko, screaming and howling, crying and cursing as more and more of Blight began to dissolve and vanish. Kakiko held Momoko's hand tightly, gently massaging her daughter's now freed appendage and staring in wide-eyed awe.
"She seems to be resisting further separation…I'm going to have to use the beam's full power," Professor Utonium saw Kakiko nod in understanding and turned the beam up to its full power. Blight screeched and every bit of the suit that remained leapt from Momoko's body, only thin strips still attached to the unconscious teenager. Blight's scream grew louder and louder, shaking the entire facility as bit by bit the entire suit dissolved and vanished, and with a bright flash, everything went silent.
"It's gone…that monster is gone! My dau…Professor? Professor what's wrong with her? Momoko isn't moving!!" Professor Utonium was already moving frantically, gathering together medical supplies.
"She's slipping into a critical state, I was right. No person could handle that kind of physical trauma without some backlash. I only hope I can stabilize her before she slips into a coma," Kakiko watched in horror, uncaring that the clock by the wall was now beeping 4 a.m.
Kuriko yawned and looked up, frowning when she saw that her mother had fallen asleep yet again. It was around noon and Kuriko, Miyako, Kaoru, Ken, Peach and Kakiko were gathered in the Kitazawa family's living room to watch an important news broadcast that Miyako had informed them was supposed to cover their showdown with Blight.
Miyako's face had been badly bruised, her nose had been badly broken, and she now had a permanent scar beneath her right eye from one of the multiple blows to the face she'd taken from her own wand. She had several bandages; however, thankfully all three had enhanced healing capabilities thanks to the Chemical Z in their bodies which would assuredly have all three of Powerpuff Girls Z back to full capacity in another day or so.
Kuriko had taken the least amount of damage, but it had still been heavily traumatizing to her young body. The pain from Blight's last attack had sent her into shock by the time help had arrived. Thankfully they'd managed to get her to the hospital before any permanent harm had come about. Her arm was now in a cast and sling, while overall she was the best off of the three.
In the same respect, Kaoru had taken the greatest amount of damage. Having fought Blight the most directly and having had a building collapse on her, Kaoru could walk albeit with a strained limp. Both arms were heavily bandaged. Her back had been injured the most, and because of this her abdomen was almost completely wrapped in bandages.
Kakiko had fallen asleep watching TV with the four children. It had taken until nearly ten in the morning before Professor Utonium and Mrs. Akatsutsumi had left the emergency unit with Momoko safely stabilized. The doctor had promptly gone to bed, while Kakiko had tried to be energetic and enthusiastic for her younger daughter's sake. Kuriko smiled and continued to lay against her mother, thankful that Kakiko had finally slipped into a deep slumber. Kaoru yawned and winced in pain.
"So uh…when does this show start? Man…I need to take more pain pills and I'll be out like a light if I do," Miyako nodded, also wincing in pain and holding one of her bruised cheeks. Kaoru stretched and grinned at the others. "Hey so this Wednesday there's this charity concert. My brother's and I are gonna be performing a new song. Are you guys gonna come?" Everyone voiced a confirmation, or potential confirmation. Ken looked up from the book he'd been reading and turned the channel on the TV. All three of the tired heroines snapped to attention seeing the news broadcast that was beginning.
"Good afternoon everyone, I am Neji Outa. Welcome to channel 252Z News. As I'm sure all of you are aware, Tokyo City was dealt a heavy blow yesterday with the appearance of an old hero turned villain. Senior analysts Hiroshi Gatakuwa and Nishina Kyoteki join me. Everyone has been speculating about Blight's appearance, while one thing is certain. The evil villain calling herself Blight, was originally Hyper—and then Burning—Blossom of Powerpuff Girls Z. Mr. Gatakuwa, how do you explain this change of heart?"
"Mr. Outa, frankly I'm not surprised. The first Blossom—whom everyone has begun to refer to as Blossom I—was hardly a shining example of heroism. In fact in the days leading up to this transformation, she had clearly begun to assert herself as more important than Tokyo City, much more her own teammates."
"I want to disagree, Mr. Gatakuwa, but the facts are present. Blight herself stated that she was Blossom I and that she fully intended to kill Bubbles, Buttercup and Blossom II for purely selfish reasons. That isn't very heroic behavior,"
"This is true, Mrs. Kyoteki. It does seem that despite her seemingly minor participation in the fight, Blossom II had shown more integrity than Blossom I. Also, judging from the footage and eyewitness reports, we can only say that Blossom II is the one who managed to finally stop Blight, which is more than can be said for Blossom I's list of achievements."
Kuriko had accidentally woken Kakiko up in the process of watching the report, which seemed to be highly insulting of the eldest Akatsutsumi daughter. Everyone present was becoming increasingly irate with the newscasters. The more they spoke the darker they painted Momoko, despite having no idea what kind of nightmare she must have gone through after being possessed by the demon seeds.
"How can they say that?! Even if she made bad decisions recently, Momoko was being controlled by the demon seeds!" Kaoru yelled, attempting to rise in indignation, but only succeeded in straining her back and taking her own breath away.
"Those…jerks! They can't talk about my big sister that way!" Kuriko growled, finding it hard to even hear what they were saying knowing that it was putting-down Momoko. Kakiko was too tired to verbally protest and only shook her head in shock. Miyako held her hands to her face, both trying to ward off the pain from her medication wearing off and from amazement of the things being said.
Unbeknownst to everyone in the room, Momoko had recovered from her unconscious state and stumbled into the room to try to figure out what had happened recently, and how the others were doing. She froze in her steps and stared at the giant TV screen. Slowly her face fell from confusion to absolute misery listening to everything that was being said about her, when she wasn't even around to defend herself. Had she not been stricken so sorrowful by what the TV was saying, she may have been happy to see how violently her friends and family were disagreeing. But Momoko couldn't hear anything but the harsh words being thrown at her like javelins. With a paralyzing numb sweeping over her body Momoko stumbled out of the room and silently returned to the emergency unit where she had woken up.
"They all hate me…but I was…no…they're right I…I'm…it's all true…" Momoko closed the door behind her and curled up in the corner, pulling her knees to her chest and burying her face in her arms. Her entire body became wracked with sobs upon the horrifying realization that everything she'd tried to be was a lie. She had to finally realize that she had been a hero for all the wrong reasons, she hadn't been a hero for the sake of saving people…she'd been a hero for the selfish reason of impressing her sister. She wasn't a real hero, she was just a stupid girl who had somehow gotten a chance to show everyone just how foolish she really was.
Butch sat outside the research facility and stared in, seeing Ms. Momoko curled up in the corner, sobbing hysterically. His own eyes were watering, and he was mimicking Ms. Momoko's position, sitting on the tree branch and trying to keep his emotions in check. He had wanted to save Ms. Momoko, and in the process he'd managed to hurt her so bad. He hadn't hurt her, those jerks that were talking about her had hurt her. They didn't know anything! They had no idea what she'd gone through! She'd been taken over by the black light! Ms. Momoko hadn't had a chance to defend herself!
"Don't cry Ms. Momoko…please Ms. Momoko…please I want to help you…but I don't know how anymore…" He whispered, swallowing the lump in his throat and keeping himself from crying. Ms. Momoko was in such a bad place, and there was nothing he could do to help her. He wanted to fly in there and tell her everything would be okay, but would it? He couldn't promise that…and he didn't have any idea how to deal with a girl when she was crying. How could he tell her she was going to be okay if he was almost crying too? God things were so unfair…
It was only a few hours later, Professor Utonium and Kakiko were now fully awake and everyone had realized that Momoko had heard the news report. They had all gathered in the Kitazawa family living room, with the Akatsutsumi family seated on the sofa and everyone else scattered throughout the room. Professor Utonium stood at the front of the room in front of the blank TV screen. Everyone was trying to avoid staring at Momoko, who was slouching with her hands on her knees. Kuriko was at one side of her, holding her sister's arm reassuringly while Kakiko had a comforting arm around Momoko's shoulders.
"Momoko, about that report, it was," Momoko shook her head, and Professor Utonium stopped speaking. He nodded and sighed, seeing that Momoko wasn't in the mood to talk about it.
"I was thinking…" Momoko began, finally breaking the heavy silence that hung thick in the air. Everyone held their breath, hoping that Momoko's confidence—which they had seen was far more fragile than originally understood—hadn't been completely destroyed by the uncaring, harsh words of the newscasters. Momoko took a deep breath and side unevenly, "I think Kuriko should be Blossom from now on…even if there's a way for me to get my powers back, she's already used them better than I ever did," Kuriko frowned and opened her mouth to protest, however Momoko lowered her head and didn't appear willing to listen to any arguments.
"Momoko if this is about what those morons said, it's not true! You are a hero Momoko, you don't have to throw that away just because Kare used you…there was nothing you could do about it," Kaoru said, speaking a little slowly and trying to choose her words carefully to get the best effect. Momoko shook her head and stared at her feet.
"I want Kuriko to be Blossom…I only chose to be a hero so that people could notice me…I only wanted to be the leader because that would make me stand out, I just wanted…I only did it for all the wrong reasons," Kaoru wanted to argue further but didn't have the words to convince Momoko otherwise. Everyone sat in silence, but everyone had to accept the truth. Momoko wasn't going to be Blossom anymore.
The darkness shifted uneasily as he awoke once more. Sitting up, he licked his lips and grumbled, as a red light lit the darkness. The scene around him warped and shifted becoming a cityscape. He stepped out onto the roof of the building and watched as a great darkness passed through the air, blocking out the light for a brief moment. The massive dark light stopped before him, and he grinned wickedly.
All of my power is here again; I can finally be complete once more! But wait…there is something still here. I can use this black light for a greater purpose, if I take in my light now I won't be able to bring it back to its previous form. True…once I have my full power I could easily crush those wretched brats. But…this would be so much more amusing! Hehehe this is much too good to pass up!
The black light screamed as it was pulled into the darkness, ripped away from the living world and thrown into the abyss. Kare grinned and returned to the darkness himself. They may have saved that wretched girl from Blight, but no one would save them from what he had next!