"Now, girls, would you explain why you wanted me and my prototype dimension-jump-o-tron 2000?" asked Professor Utonium. The girls had just burst into their house and flown him to City Hall, and were now dragging him towards the floating piece of pickle.

"Professor, we need you to stretch open this hole in the dimensions, and quickly!" yelled Blossom. She gestured to the pickle that Bubbles and Buttercup were now desperately trying to protect from the mayor.

"Hm, well," said the Professor, scratching his chin, "If I fix the calibration of of the plasma-vibrator unit's—"

"Now, Professor!" the girls yelled.

"Okay, okay!" The Professor set down his dimension-jump-o-tron 2000 (which looked suspiciously similar to a food processor) and pressed the ON button. A whirling, multicolored cyclone of plasma emanated from the top of the machine, and the pickle popped out of the air, a glowing hot pink portal left in its place.

"You go get 'im, girls!" said the mayor, between bites of pickle. The Powerpuff Girls blasted into the portal.

They landed on a tiled floor, which reminded them of a chess board. Fire spurted up randomly. Jet-black spikes jutted from the ground. The sky was alternating between red and pink, and the girls thought they could see images in it, but every time they thought they could make something out, it disappeared.

Suddenly, they heard HIM laughing. "Oh, girls! So glad you could make it!" he called. "I'm over here..."

"Look!" yelled Bubbles. The girls turned behind them, and there was Ms. Bellum, bound and gagged. She hung by a flimsy rope over a pot of boiling water. HIM stood next to her, grinning and waving to the Powerpuff Girls.

"I'll get HIM!" Buttercup shot through the air, ready to bash HIM to kingdom come. Just before she touched him, he disappeared in a flash of pink light, re-appearing on the other side of the pot. Buttercup flew right into a wall of spikes, stopped just before she was stabbed.

Bubbles flew into the air, took a deep breath, and let out her Sonic Scream. HIM teleported behind her, and tried to spit his acid. Blossom flew up and evaporated the attack with her laser vision.

"Tell us what you want, HIM!" Blossom demanded.

HIM sneered. "I want to prove that I'm a scorpion, not a lobster!"

Blossom was ready to try attacking again, but then she thought better of it. "A scorpion, huh? Well then, you must glow under a black light! I'll go get one from the Professor!" She flew through the portal again, and came back a few seconds later with what looked like a flashlight.

HIM grabbed it from her. He turned the flashlight on himself. "Fine, I'll show y—" he switched on the light, and it hit him with a powerful plasma blast. He flew backwards into his own spikes, leaving him dazed, and his outfit ruined.

"Now girls! Mega Blast!" The Powerpuff Girls flew into a V-formation, held their hands out, and blasted HIM again with a giant, searing red ray. Bubbles and Buttercup grabbed HIM, and Blossom freed Ms. Bellum. The girls flew back into their normal dimension, where the police waited outside City Hall. HIM was chucked into the back of a police van.

The mayor and Professor Utonium ran down the steps to greet them. The mayor perked up at the sight of Ms. Bellum. "Thanks so much, Powerpuff Girls! Now, Ms. Bellum, time to clean my bunny slippers!"

Bellum sighed. "Yes, mayor." The two of them walked back into the building.

Buttercup and Bubbles turned to Blossom. "Blossom, how'd you do that trick with the flashlight?" asked Buttercup.

"Oh, it was simple, girls," she answered. "It wasn't a flashlight at all! It was a part from one of Mojo's blasters that the Professor disassembled."

"I guess that means even though HIM's the scorpion," said Bubbles, "he's the one who got stung!"

All of them laughed. So, once again, the day was saved, thanks to the Powerpuff Girls!

END