Allies and Rivals II

Chapter 31

Outnumbered and Overwhelmed

The City of Townsville, but the main action was not in the city, but in a plain 40 miles west of Townsville, where there seemed to be a standoff between Butch and Beta on a cold winter night. It was supposed to be a one on one fight between the two warriors.

It was seven in the evening.

"Yes, to your death, Beta!" Brick's voice suddenly shouted.

Beta then looked around and found himself facing not only Butch, as he had agreed six days ago, on December 12, but his two brothers and the Powerpuff Girls, all wearing thick winter clothes.

"Hey, you promised that this would be a one-on-one, you twit! I thought this was supposed to settle who really is stronger! I lived up to my bargain. Nobody else knows I'm here to fight you alone. Now, I demand all except Butch to leave, 'cause this is a private matter between us two!"

"Beta, you are a fool to trust me and go out here alone," Butch replied. "No, this is not only a matter between me and you, it is a matter between you five and the Ruff-Puff Alliance."

"Then you're a liar! You told me you would come here alone and fight one on one! I came here alone, and you didn't! And I thought heroes have word of honor! Guess you're no heroes after all!" Beta replied.

"Tsk, tsk. The fact is, you were outsmarted and you can't admit it!" Brick answered. "The only reason you went here alone is not because of honor and such nonsense. You're alone because you know that in a one-on-one fight, you'd win. And because you think that Butch is a goody-two-shoes, he would actually go here alone. Honor before reason, as they say. You attempted to draw Butch into a fight that he cannot win."

"Well, I've got news for you, Mister. Me and my brothers were villains, and we know how villains think. We know how to use that knowledge to our advantage," Brick continued. "You do not fight at the place, time and manner chosen by the enemy, but you must draw the enemy to fight on your own terms, with us much advantage to your own side as possible before the actual fight. If that would mean lying, cheating, and stealing, then so be it. It's called strategy."

"I'll tell you Brick's plan," Blossom continued. "We were thinking on ways to defeat you, since we knew we cannot win in an all-out fight. Now, we observed that you were excellent team players. You know how to put your advantages and strengths to bear in a team fight. We decided that to win, we must isolate each one of you so that your penchant for teamwork would be negated. But we also knew that even isolated, you are formidable foes, so the best solution is for all of us to simultaneously fight only one of you so your advantages would be reduced or even eliminated."

"Now, putting you in such a disadvantaged position was our next problem. Fortunately, we knew how villains think," Brick continued. "We had another advantage. You think that as heroes, we would actually play by the book, and it's unfathomable to you that we could be as dirty and as sneaky and as cunning as you villains. And it is helped by the fact that you think that Blossom, who has an undeserved reputation for fairness in fighting, was thought by you saps as the leader of the alliance, when in actuality I am the leader!"

"When Buttercup and Bubbles attempted a rescue of the people in Citiesville, I saw an opportunity in their mistake. I told Butch to challenge one of you to a one-on-one fight, and to make sure that the one that he challenged went here alone. And sure enough, he made that challenge to you, and you fell for our trap. You actually thought that he would really go here alone. Instead, it is you who's alone. So he didn't really lie, he just carried out my orders to lie to you."

"Hey, that's brilliant, Brick!" Buttercup complimented as she listened to Brick explaining his plan. "I guess you really are smart. Though why didn't you tell us? You just told us to follow you and we find out only now what we are actually doing?"

"Yeah Brick! That was awesome!" Bubbles added. "But why didn't you tell us?"

"But I did tell Blossom my plans while you were recovering from the punishment! As for you, I decided that it would be a surprise that we actually trapped one of them, and reveal to you that it's all my doing!" Brick said.

Beta gritted his teeth as he listened to Brick's narrative on how he outsmarted him. And so he got himself into a fight with all six members of the Ruff-Puff Alliance-alone. He, however, just smirked.

"So we're wrong about you being goody-two-shoes. But it won't make any difference," Beta said, regaining his confidence. "I am one of the most powerful men in this planet, and I can beat all of you at once even if my eyes are blindfolded and had one hand tied behind me! There's no way you can ever beat me! Hahahahahahahahaha! But I will admit, you are an expert on strategy. You'd make a fine general."

"I know," Brick dryly replied. "Blossom, Butch, Buttercup, Bubbles, Boomer, attack him using plan ABX. That would negate his superior strength. And whatever you do, avoid his lasers. It's his most powerful attack."

The six then descended on Beta and attacked him simultaneously. Their speed caught Beta by surprise, as he didn't expect them to be that fast. Soon, he was fighting in close quarters with four of his enemies.

It was a fast-paced fight. Beta used his left arm and left leg to engage in hand to hand combat with Butch, while he used his right hand and right leg to fend off Bubbles, while he had to use both, at the same time, to simultaneously fight Buttercup, who was in the middle, in front of him. To add to it, Boomer was behind him, smashing it with his fists and feet into his undefended back with Beta unable to do anything about it because his arms and legs were engaged at the front. Blossom and Brick, finding no space to engage, backed out and watched the fight.

To compensate was the fact that Beta was about three times as strong and as fast as each individual ruff and puff at their current level. In a brilliant move, he pushed Bubbles off with a fast and powerful punch to the cheek, but he could not take advantage of it since Blossom immediately took Bubbles' place in the fight. Bubbles, bruised, floated besides Brick and watched the fight.

Pretty soon, Beta was able to flip and kick Buttercup off, but was unable to follow through because Brick went to the middle and took Buttercups place, totally negating his efforts. Bubbles and Buttercup rested as they watched for opportunities to get back to the fight. Beta again had to contend with four Ruffs and Puffs.

It wasn't an easy fight for Beta. The kids training to level 29 made Beta only three times stronger than the six, and because he was fighting six, he was at a disadvantage. And he was weakest at hand-to-hand fighting, strongest at firing lasers. His lasers were the most devastating ones. But he needed space between him and his intended victims to use it, and the kids crowded him and did not provide him with the opportunity to use his most powerful weapons. Then there was the fact that unlike before, each punch and kick of each kid, though not fatal, did hurt a bit as a result of their increased strength. And his back was taking a pounding, where he could not block anything at all. The back of his head took numerous unanswered blows too and it was his endurance and power that allowed him to avoid a broken back this early in the fight and to avoid getting knocked out. Although he can hurt them far more than they can hurt him, he was unable to concentrate on one target. His superior speed and strength and speed, however, enabled him to fend off the attackers, and a stalemate ensued.

Occasionally, he was able to hurt one of them bad enough that they were thrown out, but one of those floating above would just take his or her place, while the one hurt would rest and watch the fight and rejoin the action when another one was kicked out. If one of them grew too tired to fight effectively, he or she simply backed out and rested while another took his or her place. By the time it's his or her turn to replace another in the fight, he or she had rested sufficiently to regain his or her strength.

Ultimately, the fight dragged on. Due to the pace of the fight, Beta gradually grew tired. The pressure of the kids meant that he could not even rest as he kept on fighting. So bit by bit, Beta, unable to rest or replenish his strength, gradually weakened. The kids were always well rested and full of energy, even though they too were struck by powerful blows. Beta was like a bear fighting of a pack of wolves. The bear was much stronger than each individual wolf, but the bear by itself could not fight all the wolves at once.

After thirty minutes, Beta was dead tired. He was covered with sweat, exhausted, and breathing heavily. He was in pain. Yes, the punches of the kids only hurt like a bee sting, but because they were so many of them, and they didn't let up, it accumulated. Not to mention his exposed back. He was hurting badly. Yet the kids gave him no quarter. The kids were bruised, wounded at several sides, but as they were able to rest, not tired at all

By this time, half of Beta's power was gone as a result of the pressure, and he was slowing down, despite his efforts. 'Damn it, if I don't do something, I'll lose all my energy,' he thought. He was getting weaker and weaker as each minute passed, his blows were getting more pathetic by the second, while the kids' blows on him felt stronger and stronger.

At the forty-five minute mark, he was ready to give-out. He vision was starting to blacken as the pain in his body and head became numb, and he was unable to lift his arms any longer. The kids were as badly bruised, but were not tired at all.

"You kids! You should have fought me one at a time! That's only fair!" Beta shouted, before Buttercup gave him one final kick in the head, finally knocking him out cold. He then collapsed headfirst to the snow covered ground.

The kids were breathing hard. They weren't tired and exhausted, but they were still bloodied and weakened. Still, they won for the very first time over one of Ckracknow's teens.

"Yahoo!" Buttercup shouted. "We won! We won! Yes!"

"Not yet," Brick said. "Butch, finish him off."

Butch nodded as he floated above the unconscious Beta. He gathered energy in his hands, and released it at Beta. Beta's unconscious body was tougher than expected. So Butch simply turned him around so he was lying on his back. He then forced open Beta's mouth, and released a powerful laser beam into it. It tore a hole through Beta's head, killing him instantly. Soon, the snow around his body was covered red with blood.

"Now we truly won," the ruff leader said.

Bubbles and Blossom winced at the display of violence, but did not protest. They remembered the carnage at Citiesville, and they were in a vengeful mood.

"Well, one down, four to go!" Boomer shouted.

"Well, let's go home!" Buttercup proposed.

"Not yet! We have one more quarry to catch," Blossom said.

"But we're weak," Bubbles protested.

"Yes we are, but if we do my plan, we could easily defeat him or her," Blossom said.

"What, we have another one?" Buttercup asked.

"Yup! We have one more," Brick seconded.

"So what's your plan?" asked Bubbles.

"Come on here, all of you, and I'll tell you," Blossom said. They gathered around her as she told them her plan.

At about eight that night, the sky became completely overcast, and the cold wind became even stronger. Snow began to fall. Near complete darkness surrounded the plain, as the moon was unable to brighten the land below the clouds. Arriving at this scene was a teen-age girl, about 5'6", with blond hair and blue eyes, wearing thick red pants and a thick red coat with a hood. Cychaela was about 16, slightly weaker than Beta in body strength, average in laser attacks, but extremely fast. In terms of the ruffs and puffs, she was more powerful in every aspect, just like Beta was, but was so much faster that she could take six puffs and ruffs better than Beta could. Cychaela, in theory, would be much more trouble than Beta for the six using the same tactics.

'Master Ckracknow will be so proud of me when he finds out I single-handedly killed Butch,' Cychaela thought as she navigated the plain. By now, the snowfall is getting heavier and heavier. 'Wouldn't Alpha, Beta, Delta and Epsilon be surprised when they found out that I sneaked out without them knowing and killed one of the enemy? Ha, I can't wait see the look on their faces when I show them Butch's dead body! Now where is Butch? Damn weather!'

She navigated the plain until she saw something that absolutely shocked her. "Beta!" she shouted, as she saw the dead body of her friend on the snow, with four figures hovering over it. They were Blossom, Brick, Butch and Buttercup. She was shocked. "Beta, you're dead!" Tears nearly streamed from her eyes.

"Ah, so our prey has arrived," Blossom dryly said.

"And so she did! And it's Cychaela!" Buttercup said.

"Ah yes! She fell for my trap!" Brick shouted.

"My trap, Brick, remember? It was my plan!" Blossom corrected him.

"So? I was the one who approved of it. If I've said no, your plan will get as far as a snail could travel in five seconds," Brick replied. "I'm you're leader, remember?"

"It's still my plan!" Blossom asserted.

"Fine. I don't want to argue with you before a fight. Let's just say it's our plan, okay?" Brick said.

"What have you done with him?" Cychaela shouted at the four. "You…you…killed him!" She was floating a few yards away from them.

"No, he committed suicide. Of course we killed him!" Brick snapped at Cychaela.

"How can…how can…how can this happen! Beta is invincible! Nobody, especially you puny kids, can even scratch him! We're invincible!" Cychaela replied, but apparently without conviction. Beta's dead body was evidence enough that they were not.

"Well, Beta is invincible! He's so invincible that's it's particularly humiliating that puny children like us could kill an invincible man like Beta!" Buttercup sneered. "And now, it's your turn."

"Yup, like Beta here, you fell for our trap!" Brick shouted. "And for your mistake, you'll pay with your life!"

"I fell for no trap!" Cychaela asserted. "I came here on my own accord, not by your design! I came here without Beta, Delta, Epsilon, Alpha and Master Ckracknow knowing. I came here because of information from one of our spies that Butch would be here alone at this time. So even if you might think that you have me because I'm all alone and you outnumbered me, it was an accident, it was luck, not 'cause of some master plan of yours."

"Ah the sound of ignorance," Brick mocked. "Well, since you're so stubborn, let me pierce your bubble by first narrating how Beta here met his end."

And Brick told Cychaela how he trapped Beta, but did not bother telling her his tactics once they've got him where they wanted him.

"Yeah, well, you may have fooled Beta, but you didn't fool me!"

"Yeah, well, let me tell you something, missy," Blossom shouted back. "The spy that told you that Butch meditates here all alone is Harry Shippe right? Your spy, our secretary, right? Well, I've got some news for you, Cychaela, I actually told Mr. Shippe to tell you that information so you'd actually go here alone! That's right, it was bait, and you bit it! You fell for it like a fly in a spider-web. And Mr. Shippe betrayed Ckracknow by giving us vital information and giving your boss lies!"

"What's more, Cychaela, what's more, is that all of what you have done, you have done to ensure the success of our trap. Oh I could list several options you could've made, let's say, you came here earlier while Beta was still alive, if you told Ckracknow what Mr. Shippe told you, then had any of that happened, we would skedaddle like rabbits back to Townsville as we couldn't fight you six to two. We can only fight you six to one and win! And let me tell you something else. My plan's actually a gamble! And I rolled the dice, and you did too, and guess who came out on top?" Blossom taunted. "You wanted glory only for yourself, and so you will pay the price."

"You may as well think that you've trapped me, but you're wrong! I am the fastest girl on this planet. Beta is weak, I am strong!"

Suddenly, she heard a click and felt metal shackles around her left ankle. She looked down on her, and she saw that Bubbles and Boomer shackled her left ankle. A huge chain connected the shackle to the ground, whose end was buried in snow. Boomer and Bubbles had sneaked up on her from behind a rock while Blossom and Brick were busy taunting Cychaela. Cychaela was so caught up with what Blossom was saying that she didn't notice the silent and stealthy Boomer and Bubbles come up from behind her with the chain until it was too late. Afterwards, both Boomer and Bubbles scooted away towards Brick and Blossom and Butch and Buttercup.

"Now you're literally trapped!" Butch taunted and laughed.

Cychaela then tried destroying or breaking the chain; to her surprise, it held. She tried pulling it from the ground, but it didn't budge.

"Don't waste your time, Cychaela," Brick said. "That metal on the chain and shackle is harder than Duranium. Yup, Dad made it from the metallic monster hide that we defeated a couple of months ago! The one whose secrets your master so desperately wants!"

Cychaela ignored him as she tried breaking it up. She tried physically breaking it, tried using laser attacks, tried pulling it from the ground, but it failed.

"Now that you're chained to the ground, that speed of yours will be next to useless," Blossom proclaimed. "Brick, shall I order the attack on her?"

"No, you're not the leader," Brick replied. "I shall order it! Boys, girls, attack her using the same plan!"

All six rushed her. However, to the surprise of the ruffs and puffs, she was able to fend them off all at the same time. She was so much faster than each of them—and the chain long enough for freedom of action within it's perimeter. She was still much stronger than each individually, and her super speed negated the numerical advantage of the ruffs and puffs.

Again the six simultaneously attacked, yet Cychaela was able to throw them off and give them a good beating at the same time. Cychaela herself was barely hurt.

Again six times the ruffs and puffs attacked her concurrently, but she was so fast that she was able to fight them as if one on one. In fact, she was so fast that her movements seemed a blur to the attackers.

It was nine thirty, by this time, in the dead of night.

After one hour, the situation was pretty much stalemated. Cychaela has been able to beat off pretty much all attacks, and was able to inflict powerful blows on all the members of the Alliance. She herself had no scratch, but she was sweating, tired of her efforts.

Her opponents were even more tired. The ruffs and puffs were weakened considerably by the punches and laser attacks of Cychaela, delivered so fast that it seemed as if she were six people, not one person. They were panting, and profusely sweating in spite of the weather.

Despite Cychaela's advantages, there was one thing going for the Ruff-Puff Alliance. Whatever she tried, she could not break off the chains from her ankles. She simply was not strong enough to do it. As a result, she was unable to finish off the kids because they would just move out of the range permitted by the chain. She was like a vicious dog with a leash. Go close enough and she will rip you apart, but otherwise she's harmless.

To make matters worst, the snowfall turned into a fierce blizzard, and temperature further dropped. The snowfall became heavy, and the snow in the ground piled up.

Because of the heavy beating that they received, plus the fact that they were hit by numerous laser fire, the ruffs and puffs thick clothes were torn, and cold was seeping in every minute. Time was running out.

"Damn it's cold," Brick said, as the six were resting just beyond Cychaela's reach. He was wearing a thick red coat, thick double trousers, a hat, and a very thick scarf was wrapped around his neck. "Boomer, how cold is it?"

Boomer then took his pocket digital thermometer from his jacket. "It's -2 ºF." He was wearing exactly the same thing that his brother Brick was wearing, except that the coat was blue.

"Negative two? Fahrenheit? Gosh that's cold!" Blossom commented as she shivered within her thick knee-length covered jacket that covered her dress. She was wearing extra leggings over her white stockings. She was wearing a bonnet and had a thick scarf wrapped around her neck.

"What's negative two Fahrenheit?" asked Bubbles who was also shivering in the cold. She wore the same thing Blossom wore except it was blue instead of pink.

"Well, you know when water freezes, it's thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit. It's negative two degrees now. It's that cold."

"This sucks. How are we gonna defeat her?" Buttercup asked. "She's too fast for us! What now, leader girl, what's your plan now? If we don't get out of here soon, we'll freeze to death! "

"That's it! Brick, guys, girls, come here. I have a plan!" Blossom proclaimed. The tired and cold kids, with nothing better to do, huddled as Blossom told them of her plan. After she told them, everybody looked at Brick, who had to approve any plan of action the alliance made. He nodded.

Blossom, Brick, Butch and Boomer, their energy running out but still able to make one last fast powerful move, assaulted Cychaela. It was now or never. They were wearing shades.

Cychaela was floating mid-air as she cautiously watched the six talk among themselves. She anticipated the next attack, and fended off the renewed attacks with ease. At that moment, Bubbles and Buttercup came from behind. Cychaela was expecting them, but what she didn't expect was when Bubbles suddenly used the sunball, and the dark landscape was illuminated with the white blinding light. Cychaela was prepared, however, and quickly took the shades in the pocket of her jacket.

However, Cychaela paid dearly for the split second distraction of getting her shades. For at that moment, Buttercup, Bubbles and Brick grabbed hold of her thick coat, while Boomer, Butch and Blossom grabbed her thick pants, and ripped it off her. They then incinerated it and retreated to a point where the teen-age girl couldn't reach them.

Cychaela, with her winter clothes gone, found herself wearing nothing more than a sleeveless tank top with a bare belly, and jean shorts that went barely halfway to her knees. The only winter clothing remaining was her shoes. And she was still wearing the shades, since the sunball was still in effect. And the winter got colder than it already was.

The kids' clothes were also wrecked, but at least they still wore it. Brick now decided to remedy the situation.

"Dad," he called in his watch.

"Yes son?" Dr. Edwards answered.

"Dad, could you prepare hot chocolate for us? And prepare coats and jackets for each of us. Ours was already wrecked, and it's freezing out here."

"Will do son!"

"Thanks Dad," Brick said. "Boomer, Bubbles, you go home now, drink hot chocolate to replenish lost heat and get new jackets and coats. And return here afterwards! Failure to do so would result in severe punishment! And give me your thermometer in the meantime!"

"Yes Brick," Boomer and Bubbles gladly said before giving him the thermometer and flying home at top speed.

"Why only them?" asked Buttercup.

"Because we're cold and shivering. Our coats and jackets are torn. I sent them home so they can replenish their heat and change their coats. When they come back, you and Butch will do the same, and when you come back here as well, Blossom and I would do the same. At every one hour interval, we will repeat this until Cychaela dies from the cold."

"But why not go home now? She's not going anywhere!" Blossom reasoned.

"No. We will watch her until she dies of cold. I want to make sure she's dead. What if she just weakens and collapses and not actually dies? If that happens, I want to finish her when she's too weak to resist!"

"Is that your final decision?" asked Blossom.

"Yes. And Blossom, that was a good plan, even for an ugly girl like you! To take away her winter apparel to freeze her to death! It's like stuffing her alive in a refrigerator."

"Hey, I'm not ugly you prick! I'm the most beautiful little girl in the world in case you haven't noticed!" Blossom shouted at Brick. "And thanks for the compliments."

Brick chuckled, and the rest of the kids followed too. Despite all, victory was in sight, and they were in a good mood. After a few more minutes of joking and kidding around, they turned to watch Cychaela.

It was a cold hell for Cychaela, and it became more so when the temperature further dropped to -6ºF and the snowfall increased and the cold wind got even colder and blew harder. Soon, she was shivering. Finally, she decided to use her enormous energy to heat herself.

However she knew that that using her energy for heat was wasteful, and if she didn't get anything warm, like a thick jacket, or coat, or drank a hot coffee or dip in warm water soon, her energy would ran out fast and she would freeze to death. So she then concentrated on trying to break free of the chain.

But like before, she failed.

'Damn it's freezing! I need to get out of here. Cychaela, you're so stupid. First, for being careless enough by letting those brats chain me, and for letting them rip my thick clothes off!'

Meanwhile…

Boomer and Bubbles arrived home and were greeted by Dr. Edwards and Professor Utonium. Boomer drank ten cups of hot chocolate, while Bubbles drank only one. Their fathers then treated their wounds. They then discarded their torn coats and wore new fresh ones. After which, they flew back to where their siblings were. All in all, from the moment they flew back till the moment they returned, a total of twenty minutes elapsed. As soon as the blue team returned, Butch and Buttercup flew home and were treated the same. After twenty minutes, they came back with fresh clothes. Brick and Blossom, who during all this time had been shivering and feeling very very cold, then went home, drank hot drinks, changed clothes, stayed by the fireplace for a while swapping stories, teases and insults to each other, and went back to the group after one hour, after which Bubbles and Boomer went home for twenty minutes. And so, for almost the rest of the night, the kids spent twenty minutes at home getting warm while spending forty minutes watching Cychaela in the fierce blizzard.

Cychaela was still shivering, though her power and energy was keeping her warm. But she clearly knew that the blizzard and sub zero temperature was taxing her power to heat herself to the breaking point. She was still infinitely more powerful and faster than each individual ruff and puff, but she can't beat the weather. She turned around, and saw, standing just beyond the range allowed by her chain, were four of the six ruffs and puffs. They were talking among themselves when they were not staring at her, giggling, as if they mocked her in her plight. Her contempt for them turned into anger, and her anger into hatred. She looked upon her conquerors, no, those aren't her conquerors, rather her jailors. If indeed she died of the cold, she would admit that she was conquered and defeated only by the weather, not by those six who can't play fair.

Yes, she underestimated them, as did Ckracknow. No, not their power, strength and speed. Though it clearly improved enough to defeat Beta, it was still pathetic by her standards. She underestimated their sneakiness and their willingness to break the rules of fair play. As if Machiavelli himself taught the leaders of the Alliance the principles of the ends justifying the means. They had outfoxed Beta and herself, placed them in positions of severe disadvantage, and nullified their superiority. Their cunning, slyness and shrewdness would put the sneakiest villains to shame. They have proven themselves no fools in fighting, and clearly didn't trouble themselves with such things as chivalry and honor when fighting an enemy. And they had her trapped for her thinking that they, because they are fighting for the good, would not stoop to such low tactics. Oh how she would love to wipe of the smirks off their faces. But the only way to fight them with the chain was to use her laser from her hands. But that, she dared not do, for it will further exhaust her energy, and plunge her faster to death.

"Hey brats, are you cowards? If you want to prove how great you are, come on here and fight! Come on! Scared? You piece of shit! Come on here, you bastards? What, need permission from you Mama?" Cychaela shouted. She then shouted more insults to try to goad the Ruffs and Puffs to attack her.

They, though they felt insulted, knew better. To fight her would be suicide since she still outclassed them, even if they all attacked at the same time. They knew that if they just stayed where they were, Cychaela would eventually run out of energy to heat herself and she would freeze to death.

They simply ignored her insults and threats and talked among themselves.

And so the situation continued like this throughout the next few hours.

It was two in the morning, December 19. The blizzard worsened and the temperature, in the dead of night, dropped to -20ºF, the coldest temperature ever recorded in the area. The children, even with their thicker clothing, were shivering. To add to their misery, they were now very sleepy, and looking for a place to lie down. Only their will managed to force them to stand guard, even as they switch from hot chocolate to hot coffee at home. They told stories among each other to keep themselves awake.

But bad as their situation was, Cychaela's situation was worst. Her energy was now dangerously low, and her blond hair was now covered with ice. Her feet and fingers were now covered in frostbite, as was her nose. During this time, she was very weak, and was beginning to suffer from hypothermia.

She tried calling for help, calling to surrender, but because her mouth went numb and she could not even whisper. By this time, she lost all her pride, and only wanted to live. Tears began falling from her eyes, which immediately froze. 'Oh the irony,' she thought, 'to be defeated—not in glorious battle—as Master Ckracknow proclaimed, but in a situation no better than being stuffed in a freezer. What shame, what humiliation, when, after I die, Beta would ask me, how I died, whether or not it had been glorious, I would not be able to honestly answer it without a tinge of shame. While he could be content that he died honorably and gloriously, I, Cychaela, fastest of the team, died from bad weather. I wish that Alpha or Epsilon would come to my rescue, but because of my foolishness, they don't even know my plight. For all they know, I am at a department store in Citiesville sleeping among the clothes I had claimed. I should've told Master Ckracknow what Harry told me. Now I pay for my mistakes. How I wish they would just kill me now while I'm still alive, so I can die with honor, and without shame.'

Two hours later, at four in the morning…

Finally, the cold was too much for the teen girl. 'You win. Oh I wish I could talk to you, Brick, leader of the Ruff-Puff Alliance, so you can hear me surrender and salute you as a great leader. As for me, it seems that I am being punished for killing all those innocent people. But I have no regrets! I enjoyed killing all those civilians! And I did it all in my solemn duty to Master Ckracknow and my colleagues. Master, even though I died frozen in the plains of Townsville, know that I die doing my duty, and I only apologize for doing it poorly and failing. Alpha, Delta, Epsilon, you who are still alive, beware and be smart. I don't want you to fall to any more of Brick's traps. Avenge Beta and me and do your duty to the Master by crushing them to bits. Beta, I am looking forward to seeing you. Alpha, Delta, Epsilon, and above all, Master Ckracknow, good bye!'

At that thought, she breathed her last, and she fell, dead as a rock, towards the snow covered ground.

"I think she just died," Buttercup mentioned as she pointed to the fallen Cychaela.

"It's about time. I can't wait to get back home!" Blossom mentioned as she shivered.

"Butch, go see if she really is dead," Brick ordered.

Butch nodded and went to where Cychaela was. 'She was dead alright,' Butch observed. He then formed a laser ball in his hand, and threw it to the body, blowing it to bits. Satisfied that she now was truly dead, he returned to where his brothers were.

At that moment, Boomer and Bubbles returned to the field after their twenty minute stay in the house.

The kids were by now shivering, and they too were forced to use their Chemical X energy to heat themselves up. Unlike Cychaela, however, they wore thick coats, jackets, scarves, bonnets, hats and other apparel that helped them conserve heat.

"She's dead," Butch simply said.

"It's over," Brick said to Bubbles and Boomer. Then turning towards the rest, he said, "let's go home." And they flew as fast as they could towards the warmth of their home.

The kids at this time, even though they were tired, in misery, even while the cold blistering wind whipped their faces, were in a triumphal, even ecstatic mood. The intoxication of victory, of triumph over an adversary much stronger than they were, through ingenious strategy and tactics, was enough to overcome their miserable condition. For the first time ever, they were able to defeat one, nay two, members of the Five, in such a total manner. Now that Beta and Cychaela had been eliminated, only Alpha, Delta, Epsilon, and ultimately, Ckracknow, remained.

When the kids arrived, they were immediately ordered into the tub of very warm water by their fathers so they could warm up as fast as possible. After a relaxing bath, they were given hot milk to drink. They then changed into their pajamas and nightgowns and went to bed with thick blankets in rooms with nice heating.