"Tell me again—why do we have to wear the Ghosts' uniforms?"
"It's a diversion," Mili replied as she finished applying concealer on Blue Boom's freckles. "Even if we only switch clothes, Him will read fighting patterns. And we still don't know why he wants you, Ruffs. But he's probably not giving a dime about the Ghosts or the Powerpuffs."
"I have another question," Bossy asked, tugging at the fabric. "Why are there hidden knives in the uniform?"
The Ghosts shrugged.
"Bite me. They've always been there," Thornton said.
"But considering what we've learnt about Joseph, these were probably his weapons of choice," Blue Boom added.
"Cool."
A pause.
"And you know how to use them? In real combat?" Punk Brick asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Sure." Red Uto replied, still not used to the fact that everything was normal to him and his brothers actually wasn't.
"Cool."
Another pause.
"And… what other weapons? Guns?"
"Yeah. Assault weapons."
"Cool."
Mili leaned toward Bossy, Bluee, and Green and murmured,
"Don't let'em go back to a life of crime."
The girls nodded. In complete agreement.
Bummer opened a small sachet and pulled out some laced bracelets.
"Here. Thought you Puffs and Ghosts might need these. Protection against Him's magic. At least a bit," she said, handing out the amulets. "If they break, it means you just dodged a curse. Once they snap, they're useless, so don't get cocky."
Professor Utonium walked closer, offering some last advice about the Mirror.
"If everything goes as planned, you'll have one minute to find your own world and cross before the portal collapses." He then placed his hands on Bossy's and Red Uto's shoulders. This caught the boy by surprise; "Girls, Ghosts... if that energy surge doesn't drain Him's mana, you must leave the second the others are through."
"Right, Professor", answered the three girls.
Red Uto nodded, unsure if the response met the man's expectations of him as his son..
"But, how will you escape Him?" asked Hoodie, hiding he was concerned.
"We've already talked to Mayor Bellum. She's setting up an escape route", explained Bossy.
"Bet we won't even need it," Green added, cracking her knuckles with her usual bravado. "Him's not ready for what's coming."
Parra wanted to say something, but since he had never been in the case of having someone loved in the battlefield, he wasn't sure which words would sound confident yet proud. He just forced a smile to hide his worry. Blue Boom noticed his foster parent's concerned, and nodded back at him. Knowing someone actually cared about his safety was still new. The blond just didn't know how to reassure him either. Instead, he walked next to his black-hair brother, who shot him a sharp look. Blue Boom wasn't sure if that was jealousy again, or maybe anger, or upsetting. Emotions were another confusing thing for the Ghosts.
Thornton wasn't the only pair of eyes stuck on the two Ghosts and these world Puffs. The other Rowdy Ruffs and Power Puffs had similar looks on their faces, which were broken when Punk Brick sighed, brushed his hair and fixed his cap while muttering.
"Well, it's showtime. Let's get those portals opened up", he said, his voice fueling on the rage from being deprived of their own families this long.
Skye followed his lead with a dangerous vibe around her, and added.
"C'mon. I mean to give Him a piece of my mind about all the problems he made us go through".
As planned, Him was waiting atop the Townsville TV Tower antenna.
"Boys! You made it after all! All of you", he said in a soft voice. "I was deathly worry since my minions had got their orders wrong. But it's OK now. Do you want to give them a proper punishment? We can go down there right now…"
"Bullshit", one of the Bricks muttered, "Of course they got the right order. Every time."
Him stared at the red-head. Something in his smile became darker as he set his eyes on the kids in front of him.
"Oh, my, I almost forgot I'm not treating with the 'multiverse' versions of the boys… Am I right?" he turned his head over his neck almos ninety degrees.
He fired a laser blast at them.
"Damn it, did Him just see through our disguise?", Buttercup grumbled, pulling away from the attack, annoyed about the fact that Him discover the farce so fast.
"I thought his goal was to capture the boys, not kill them", Bubbles complained , freezing Him's fire.
"Doesn't matter" said Blossom, dodging more attacks "We can't fight in the middle of the city. We'll risk everyone around".
At her signal, everyone flew out of the city, with Him hot on their heels.
Of course, that was just what the teens had planned. They flew to the sea and then turned up, to the mountain. For a moment, Him fell for the feint and flew straight, but then teleported himself in front of the teens, trying to snatch Bloom into the lower dimension after having taken the Puff by surprise. The boy reacted fast, bending backward and turning with a kick that pulled back Him.
"Guess Him still wants to catch the boys" murmured Buttercop, as she created a heat blast that charred the treeline, creating a smoke wall to hide.
"Yeah, and apparently, he can't yet tell who's a Ruff and who's a Puff", observed Cheer Bubbles as she returned back an energy blast back to the demon.
In the forest, Mojo and the Ruffs were waiting at the top of the trees, the trap set to restrain and feed on Him's mana. From time to time, any of them would glance at the hidden cables.
"You sure the other point is connected?"
"What's the backup plan if this one fails?"
"Don't you think the Puffs are taking longer than expected?"
The Ghosts didn't speak. They kept their eyes on the sky, calming looking for anything out of order.Thornton took a quick look at the cables: the net to catch Him in his usual human-like size, but also the secondary grid in case he turned into his humongous demonic form. A flash of a memory surfaced. Mr. Thornton's lessons on electrical grounding and his relentless habit of double-checking every connection, even if they were just for a cell phone charger. Finding that he could remember something so silly at such a moment brightened his mood more than he cared to admit. It even pushed away the feeling of something crawling over his back. A centiped? Probably. He forced himself into focusing at the present time, scanning the horizon for the slightest streak of neon.
Red Uto rotated his shoulder backward. It wasn't stiffness by helding his position. It was the movement of pulling away someone whispering behind him.
Since the portals opened, the Ghosts had been having this feeling of being watched. Not by the girls or the Ruffs, who would stare at them with annoyance or strangement. Not by an enemy like Him, either. It was more like someone trying to make an approach, then retreat every time they get the boys' attention. And whoever –or whatever– they were, they were getting closer by the seconds. This lack of professionalism was the real nuance for the leader of the Ghosts. Even for a psychological war, this had already gone on far too long. And now, trying to mix in someone else's mission, it was definitely impolite.
On the ground, Blue Boom was scanning the area and beyond: with his boots off and a hand on the bark of the nearest pine, he could feel the vibration and stress through the living woods. He could also sense something else, something he just couldn't understand or grasp as a person or a vehicle. It was more ethereal, somehow like Him, yet with a more pressing energy. It was a force that pushed at the edges of his consciousness, something greater than Him. Blue Boom couldn't place it, but it made the hairs on his neck stand up.
"Twenty seconds. Northeast." It wasn't an ad, it was an order to prepare for battle as he put his boots back and stapled the metallic buckle on.
Twenty seconds exactly the first steaks of pink, blue and green appeared from the northeast side. They flew in irregular patterns, avoiding the dark spots that appeared in front of them as they went to the meeting point. Then, they dived in the green pool, and the streak passed down the Ruffs, to their next position.
Not long after, Him appeared in the clear, walking slowly.
"Come on, boys! I know you're tired of hiding and waiting, especially with all these goody-goody girls around. Let's talk about taking Townsville down to complete chaos, one universe at the time."
He stopped one step before the trap.
"Shit" murmured Flannel. Of course the demon felt something was out of order. Time to push him into the precise spot.
"Yeah, sure. You may start explaining why you sent your imps to attack us". The Ruffs floated into the clear, facing Him.
"An unfortunate misunderstanding. My imps reacted to a protective spell there. Probably a family blessing on the girl you were with."
The boys recalled Aisha had her praying gear with her, and the place smelled like incense. It sounded plausible, except for the fact that she was just a regular teen undergoing a faith crisis. Her prayer held no power in front of a high rank demon as Him. But they let this lie hang in the air. They needed anything to force Him inside the trap.
"What about the boys here? Was that a confusion too?"
The demon's eyes ran back for a second.
"Oh, I'm afraid they weren't interested in my offer. Their goals are just too different." The Ruffs gave Him a sharp look. "You don't need to worry about them. The tides have changed and I have no use for them anymore".
This time it was the Ruffs who flickered an eyebrow, eyes narrowing as a sense of unease crept through them. No one stepped any closer.
Unease crept through the Ruffs. The Ghosts began to feel an unsettling sensation, as though someone were breathing down their necks.
A gentle breeze blew up.
And then the talismans imploded on the Ghosts' wrists.
Before the breeze had passed through the clear, Him had linged at Red Uto, who jumped off and dived through the branches. This didn't make the demon angry. He just grabbed and pulled out the tree and threw it against Thornton and others, thus forcing Red Uto left his hide out or get crushed by it.
Through the boys' swearing, one thing became clear: Him hadn't just sensed the trap—he had been waiting to distinguish the Ghosts and the Puffs from the Ruffs. And now, he was marking them.
"I knew he wasn't meaning it", sighed Hoodie, not disappointed, just tired.
"Of course. But still, there's something odd on Him's fight, don't you think?" Punk Butch observed.
Him's attacks were fueled by a frantic, underlying rage. It wasn't just about destruction anymore; it was about ego, a show set not for the Ghosts or the Ruffs, but for someone else that only he could see. He summoned bolts of pink and dark lightning that reduced ancient pines to fine ash in seconds, all while cloaking himself in a thick, supernatural fog that emitted a piercing, high-pitched screech.
"I know he's always been a flamboyant prick, but this is too much," Green snapped, diving into the fray and narrowly dodging a beam of light that scorched the air beside her.
"Keep going with the plan, everyone" Bluee cheered as she and the rest of the Nerd Club monitored the readings on the engine. They were barely mid-powered, not enough yet.
"Skye, didn't you say you'd make him pay or something like that?" Chatter Butch called out, parrying a minor blast.
"Sure did," she barked.
With a blur of motion, Skye closed the gap between herself and Him, her body moving like lightning. She landed a devastating overhand right squarely on Him's jaw, the force of it snapping his head back. Without missing a beat, she followed up with a thunderous body shot that sent him reeling, forcing him back with a surprised gasp from the demon. She finished the combo with an uppercut that, while not technically perfect, was fueled by enough raw spite to make every Green in the clearing swell with pride.
"Get out now!" the Ghosts shouted at her in unison, but it came too late. Him turned, grabbing her wrist before she could land another strike. His yellow eyes narrowed in a cold, annoyed glance, his ego bruised by the girl's defiance.
"I can get rid of some of you, girls, already," Him hissed, his voice dripping with malice. Without hesitation, he shook her like a ragdoll, the force of it slamming her towards the sharp claws waiting to pierce her.
A rain of burning pine trunks suddenly got in his way. Red Uto had set them ablaze, sending the sap exploding in a thick, dense smoke curtain that blinded Him as he staggered back. The demon was determined to finish the job, he sliced the air with a deadly swipe, but Thornton kicked him mid-motion, his leg protected by a shimmering force shield. He followed up with a brutal elbow to the demon's joint, forcing Him to release Skye.
Blue Boom caught her mid-air, his body doubling as a mat, firm and quick, and with a clap, he cracked the air and propelled them both toward the woods. The explosion deafened Him for a moment as he shot them away to safety.
Thornton, not wasting a second, attached a high-tension cable to Him's foot, coating it with the sap from the trees. A surge of electricity coursed through the demon, and for a brief moment, he froze, his monstrous body shaking with the shock. The dark hair boy watched all this from the woods, already next to his blond brother and the girl.
As he checked on Skye's wrist, a sudden cold sensation—like a breath against his ear—made him spin around. But no one was there. His eyes quickly scanned the area. He noticed Blue Boom had a similar reaction. The boy brushed past his shoulder, his face contorted in confusion and subtle alarm—an expression Thornton rarely saw on him.
"I think something slimy was on my back," Blue Boom muttered, but the unease didn't fade. The air around them felt… wrong.
A thunderous war cry pierced the tense silence, snapping their attention back to the battlefield. A dark cloud of smoke enveloped Him as he transformed into his monstrous, giant form. The ground trembled beneath the force of his change.
"This is my fight! I am the most powerful evil being in this world and I won't let anyone take that from me!"
With this said, he swept the forest, turning old trees into splinters and sending everyone to the air, hit by the debris.
"Who is he talking to?" Buzzercup asked, though nobody could answer.
"Forget about that" Punk Brick interrupted her, pointing at the flying cables, "He's tearing off the electrical circuit!"
"What!" was Bluee and Chatter Butch complaining, and the girl continued, "We're so close to reaching the maximum power! We need to place the net again!"
Everyone put aside the diversion and stormed at him in an apparently chaos. Mili's training was useful only for a short time. Now in his real body, Him didn't need to restrain himself any longer, and swept away everyone, regaining as much of his calm as he could.
"I gave you the chance to serve me, boys!" he thundered and his voice echoed over the blast of wind, "I can still forgive you! You only need to step away of the battle so I can destroy these annoying PowerPuff Girls and this world's Ruffs! Nothing else!"
Cheer Green crashed against Blast, Box's head hit a rock and everyone was being tored in the tornado, trying to get to the ground.
"Can't you cast another of those 'dos is mac'n'ice' from before, boys?" said Candy Bubbles as she stiffen her body flat against a rock.
"A 'Deus is machina'?, we didn't invoque the Puffs' portals, if that's what you mean," Chatter Brick answered her.
"Besides, one miracle like that is strange but believable. Two would be like a poorly prepared destiny" added Punk Boomer.
"Well, we better do something or we're dead", Buttercop shrieked.
A blue shot hit Him near the eye. While it barely hurt him, it forced him to look up—right into the force field where the Ghosts stood in cold annoyance, ready to finish the battle.
"Hey, big mouth! If all you want it's to fight us, bring it on".