It was a sunny afternoon in Townsville. And as noisy as always at the Utoniums'.
"Boomer, come back here, you little…!
"Auch, hey, what was that for? You've got the wrong blue!"
"Hey, cut that out!"
"Aww, that was my leg!"
"Hey! That's it!"
As the RowdyRuffs fought each other, the Ghost, the Chills and Loud Brick just watched from a safe place.
"I swear I'm gonna change those two first chance I get!"
And with an exasperated sight, Loud Brick walked in to get his brothers out of the mess.
"I have a headache" were both blonds conclusion.
"I'm outta here." Blue Boom turned to the door. His brothers followed him in silence.
"We're going with you, too", said Flannel as his brothers walked behind.
They went to a little forest behind the houses. As the boys in blue took a nap. Red Uto y Thornton climbed up to a tree, where they could watch anyone coming, and yet quiet enough for them to relax. Box, or Butch, and Flannel, Brick, both from the Chill Ruffs, found a can and started playing kicking it to each other.
"Geez, I didn't know we could be that rowdy." And Box understood it was strange for him to complain about that.
"Why? The nickname didn't give you an idea?" mocked his brother. Then, he complained. "Damn, we're just as lost as the first day, in a Universe that looks a lot like us, but it's so different. I mean, Mojo's dead ant our other selves are far more serious than rowdy." complained Flannel.
"Yeah. But Professor Utonium says he has talked to everyone of his acquantainces at University, but no one has heard about dimensional portals, not even theoretically."
They kicked the can a bit more, thinking.
"Universities might not have that kind of research, it doesn't sound very useful" Flannel step on the can and kept going his train of thinking. "But the Army could use it."
Both Ghost stopped ignoring him.
"You're not suggesting we infiltrate the military, are you?" Red Uto inquired.
Box liked the idea.
"Why not? With our super speed, it'd only take us a couple of minutes to get in and out."
"Yeah, with a strike of red, green and yellow behind us. Let alone we'll still have to break the codes on their computers. It'll take us months to scheme a real infiltration."
Both Chill Ruffs noticed the slight note of anger in Uto's voice. With the days, they had been letting out slight traces of emotions here and there. Box was decided to use that to pick on them and see how far he could push around.
"Cool down, soldier boy! We don't need that much planning and that shi…"
Before he could ended the word, Flannel kicked him with the can.
"Hey, why was that?" the green looked confused and angry at his brother, who was floating between the trees, looking at the horizon.
"No need to infiltrate the army. I can think of a mad scientist who could have done it. And he liked playing with soldiers, too."
Everyone followed that Brick's sight. The volcano was in his vision line. "If someone was studying multiverses and portals, Mojo would have been interested in it. Let's take a look, maybe there is something we can rescue from that mess" Flannel decided.
The two Ghosts looked at each other.
"Come on, guys!" said Box, "You're not afraid, right?"
"It's early, we need to be careful or will be noticed", explained Thornton.
Flannel booped the green's head.
"Argh! You guys are so serious! And, let's be honest: you don't go to The Pit for fun, I'm sure you've secured every entrance and even every crevice until the volcano."
None of the Ghost denied it.
At same time, at the girls's place, war among the boys was still on. Bubbles, who had been silent since The Pit, looked for a retreatment place on the rooftop, with the city sprawling in front of her.
With a loud, joyful yell, Chatter Butch appeared on the roof, too.
"Hey, Bluee, still down about what those kids said?" he asked.
"Yeah. Well, a bit. When you're a super hero you must think on future dangers." Even if she tried to put a smile on, she couldn't avoid it to be a sad one. "Right now, I'm worried because Him had been inactive, and then, boom, he's at it again! And, I don't get how you all fit in his scheme! Why did he need you around?"
Butch lied next to her as he thought his answer.
"Mmmm, I guess he wanted to cause chaos? For what I've seen, the Ghost Ruffs aren't troublemakers, right?"
"Well, no. I mean, not in the city, no. They take seriously this thing of going unnoticed."
"By the way, if they don't make any commotion, how do you even know about'em?"
"They don't go around the city destroying things, but we have fought them many times when they try to steal any super secret weapons."
"So, they're more like Mojo's army?"
"Yup."
"Mm, no wonder they behave that way," Butch said, thinking on how the Ghost would always use the military logic.
"If you ask me, since you guys appeared, they seem a bit more humans. Stressed, but human."
"Yeah, sure" sighed Butch. It was strange for him being used as a model rol "Probably, if we haven't landed at the same spot they were, we'd have started a wreckage. And there is also Mojo. Mojo's rules, then the Ghosts' cold glares. We were headed for an all-out Ruff war, but they kept putting the brakes on it."
Bubbles cracked her knuckles.
"Right. But if Him wanted you to cause troubles -because, seriously, we wouldn't have been able to strop a Ruffs' war-, why did he opened the portals where they were?"
"Maybe he didn't expect'em to be there? Or thought they'd get into the fight too? One thing I'm almost sure is that not even Him would have wanted to be in a middle of our fight."
"Why do you think so?"
"Riiiight, the Ghost hadn't met Him until that day, had they? But, in every other world, he's our father too. And he wouldn't get in our way if our fight'd brought confusion."
Both teens looked at the void, thinking.
"It can't be that simple," Bubbles argued, gesturing with her hands. "Him can alter reality, and he can open portals—we know this. But those portals have always stayed within our world, moving between the infernal dimension and this 'level' of reality. How and why did he decide to start moving to other worlds? Why now?"
Chatter Butch weighted the possible reasons.
"Well, to start with, it's already strange he did it. His magic can't, shouldn't work on another level but his own universe." Bubbles looked confused. So, Butch went on "Think of our universe as a cube. It has its own physic and rules. Inside this cube, Him can break all the laws of physics with his magic as long as they're the rules of this cube-universe. But he cannot step outside of it. That's why every universe has its own Him, who has the same power but doesn't know the others."
"You think he tried to break the cube?"
"He must have, though it would have taken an immense amount of energy. Magic, or mana, is not unlimited."
"Oh," Bubbles shook her head, her mind clicking into gear. "Come to think, Him hasn't been active for at least one year, can he been saving energy to open this portal? Think about how all you guys got here. You were all fighting in your different dimensions. Then, BAM! A portal opens, and you're all sucked in, cross-dimensionally. That's not a simple spell, is it?"
Chatter Butch's eyes widened. "You think... Him used all his power to pull eighteen versions of the RowdyRuff Boys across the multiverse? If so, that'd explain why he hasn't attack us again, he needs to recharge."
A loud sigh from the doorway. Punk Brick arrived to the place. He looked utterly exhausted from the constant fighting inside.
"Good. Finally, a conversation that doesn't involve yelling. What's recharging?"
"Him, his magic. We're just teorizing about how Him's magic works. You know, magic and theoretical physics."
"Cool, get me in."
Chatter Butch summarize their options. Brick listened carefully.
"There's only a problem. You see, Him can bend and even break rules as long as they exist in his own universe. Creating different portals, even if they were just to take a peek, is forbidden to Him."
"Uh?" Bubbles interrupted Punk Brick, unintentionally. "I though Him was over the rules."
"No, he has a lot more 'freedom' to act, but there are certains rules that apply to him, in order to avoid some cosmic catastrophe. One of those is that he can't cross dimensions. Although, if he found some human who had do it, who had opened even a small crack among universes, he would't be forbidden to 'accidentaly' opened it and, 'casually', get other beings cross in."
Chatter Butch added.
"Human. Or monkey, right?"
The three looked to were the volcano stood, it's silhouette cut dark against the mauve sky.
Meanwhile, the six RowdyRuffs flew out of the forest, heading toward the volcano. No need for a specific order, as long as they didn't leave traces of their fligh.
As they got closer, the atmosphere changed. Flying between heavy, ash-laden clouds, the Ghost Ruffs slowly began to trail behind the more relaxed pace of the Chills. The towering silhouette of the volcano, now jagged and half-destroyed, loomed large.
Hoodie noticed the subtle shift. His eyes, usually half-closed, were sharp now. He nudged Flannel.
"Brick, look at them," Hoodie murmured whit his usual quiet voice. He was getting nervous as the Ghosts were slowling. "They're not moving like they're escaping noise. They're moving like prey."
Flannel frowned. "Scared of a dead monkey's lab? Pathetic." Hoodie's face went pale for a second, but Flannel comfort him with a subtle gesture. He turned to the Ghosts. "Hey, if you guys are going to drag your feet, why don't you just wait here? We'll do the hunting."
Before the Ghosts could object or retreat, Flannel and the two other Chills descended swiftly into the massive, shattered structure of the caldera.
The sight of the interior was startling. The explosion hadn't just blown the top off; it had ripped the entire complex open. Steel girders twisted like ribbon candy, and rock walls were blasted apart. They were standing in a field of debris, unable to tell which twisted corridor led to the main lab. They found a clear path and followed it, careful not to move too fast and have the remaining structure falling on them. Not because they wouldn't be able to get out of it, but because their pride had already started a silent competition against the Ghosts: they wanted to prove to them they could be as professional as their other selves.
"This doesn't seem to be the center of the explosion. Darn, I'm surprise there's still something you can call 'lab' in here."
They stopped at a wall, looking through the pillars and steel beams, unable to tell if that was supposed to be a room, a corridor or maybe nothing.
"Great. Where the heck is the 'meticulously organized' part of this?" Box complained, rubbing his black hair.
Suddenly, a cold breath whispered instructions into their ears. "Follow the scorch marks. Southwest corridor. Now move."
The three Chills jumped, startled. They spun around to find Red Uto, Thornton, and Blue Boom standing right behind them. Red Uto couldn't quite contain himself. A faint, almost imperceptible smirk touched his lips before he immediately wiped it clean. Thornton let out a quick, low chuckle that sounded like a cough. They had enjoyed the scare.
"Not funny, guys! I though you were out there, wiping your…"
"Why would we be scare? It's not the first time we infiltrated a destroyed lab." Red Uto's voice was calm, but his feature showed bristles at the possibility that they were scared to enter. "We were clearing the perimeter. We needed to ensure we weren't observed by any of the assassins' surveillance.You really don't know how to do this, do you?" this time, it was the Ghosts who scolded the Chills.
The sextet continued to descend, the Ghosts now navigating the maze of destruction with an eerie familiarity. At their right, what once was a corridor split the path. Blue Boom, who had been following his brothers' lead, stopped abruptly.
"Boomer! Don't lag behind," Red Uto commanded, annoyed.
With a barely audible, "Yes, in a minute", Blue Boom ignored him and turned down the secondary, narrower path.
Flannel put a hand on Red Uto's shoulder, cutting him off.
"Shut up, Uto. Let him go. Maybe he has remembered something."
They followed Blue Boom until they reached what would have been the core of the complex—a vast space now cracked open to the volcano's crater, which was slowly starting to fill with glowing, molten lava again.
Blue Boom stopped, his face impassive but his eyes distant. The silence was broken only by the hiss of the lava.
Box Butch whistled in surprise.
"So, this should have been the point of origin."
His brother gave him a rap on the head, demanding silence. He observed the Ghost Ruffs carefully, in case they let out a sign or a word about what happened that night. But it was useless. The red and dark head inspected the surrounding with a glance of interest on the destruction, not the implication of the place they were.
As for Blue Boom, he was so used to abstract himself to analyze everything, he didn't pay attention to the others. Right now, it was only him and that night. The night they had get permission to be normal people for a while. Normal teens. Maybe it was all part of Mojo's plan. He was like that: let the boys room around the mall or the park, so they could mingle without raising suspicion. Here, in Bombay, or in France, every place and every moment was a good one to train.
That nigh, that specific night, they decided to go to the movies. An action one. Midnight function. And they hated it. How to make war a spectacle for those who had lived in it? Butch and Brick left annoyed, discussing all the mistakes, the unnecessary sounds and the even more futile love story background. Boomer wasn't sure, but apparently this last one was the reason his brothers started arguing. When they arrived to the lab, the argument had come to the hands, with each brother pushing away the other. They were noisy and gave Boomer a headache. He had never got used to this downside of his super powers. In order to be the perfect intel for missions, he had developed extra sensitivity to changes in the surroundings: temperature, humidity, lights, flashes, aromas, sounds, silences… they world was crushed with all these. Many times had he wished he could turn them off. But it was impossible. As always, he went straight to his room, hoping to find some panacea for it. He let the light out and sat on his bed. The crushing sound of a folder made him reach for the bedside lamp. Mojo's mail. Boomer opened it. Teasing his temples, he scanned the pages. The words "below expected", "improvements", "modifying", "treatment" stood out. His blood boiled. Before he knew it, he was at the main reactor, where Mojo was adapting the engine to supply another of his "mirror", the only machine the monkey had never talk to the boys.
"You just see us as your toys!" he shouted at Mojo, "We're not! As if we, I don't have my own feelings and ideas!"
Mojo glanced from the reactor to the black screen next to him. His voice, usually cold and distant, showed a spark of scientific passion. "You don't understand it now. I can see all the possibilities! All of your possibles mistakes. I'm getting you all ready for that. I know everything, I know what's coming! You three are my greatest creation! But you still have… areas of opportunity." His voice had lower to his usual mechanical tone.
Boomer took a step closer to the reactor, his voice shaking with anger that drowned out the noise in his head. "Areas of opportunity? What? You mean defects? Do you think me, Brick and Butch are nothing but puppets you can remove parts out and replace them?!"
Mojo finally straightened up from the complex machinery that was extracting raw energy from the volcano core, ready to argue with his creation.
Boomer gave a contemptuos glance at "The Mirror". Nothing stunning about it, except for the incredible high need of energy it needed to work out. As far as the blond could tell, it was just a screen. Yet, the monkey could spend hours looking at something on it, mumbling and noodling at it. And then, he would come over with some new trainings, new learnings and abilities for the boys. And more headaches for him.
As he was about to complaint, a red shadow detached itself from the ceiling. A figure, red and clawed, that he now recognized as Him, appeared fleetingly. He only needed a second to capitalize on the distraction and sliced the reactor pipe with a claw. The explosion came almost immediatly.
Blue Boom blinked, his memory became fog. Mojo jumping over him, curling. The pain of the shards getting on his flesh. Heat. Something humid. And nothing else. He mumbled to himself, humming syllables as he tried to give them some order.
Red Uto and Thornton, detecting a break in the routine and the strange tension, instinctively moved to question him. "Boomer, what did you just say? Was that information?" Thornton demanded, slipping into military mode.
Blue Boom nodded. "Probably nothing, I'm not sure."
His dark haired brother wanted to say something else, but Flannel immediately stepped between the Ghosts and Blue Boom. "Don't press him. Whatever it was, it's his business." Box and Hoodie nodded in grim agreement, recognizing the signs of an unwanted memory.
The Ghost Ruffs backed off, respecting the unexpected perimeter set by the Chills. Blue Boom simply turned and walked back toward the main path, now knowing exactly where to go.
"Have it your way. Let's go the The Library. There's where Mojo kept all his research and projects." Red Uto moved with pounding steps.
As expected, the place was almost intact, likely due to its reinforced core construction. The rumble had knocked down the plaster in the ceiling, as long as papers and furniture. Traces of a small fire were there. A short cut, probably. Still, the computer terminal was safe and sound, hiding under mechanisms and prototypes.
Blue Boom and Red Uto immediately went to work, attempting to bypass the security and retrieve the information, and Thornton leaned against a wall, guarding because of habit, not necessity. Box sat next to him, and tried to pass the time by talking to the other Butch.
"So, what do you remember about that night? Anything useful?" Box asked.
Thornton shrugged, leaning against the desk. "Before the explosion?" His face showed he was trying to remember "I went up to the kitchen to make a sandwich. That's it. Seems like a silly thing to remember."
"Yeah, but, I mean, it's like something useful or important that Mojo had told you before, you know, that…?"
"His death?" Thornton completed the question, a bit annoyed for the going around the bushes.
"Wow, you just said it as if it were an every day thing" Hoodie commented, a bit nervous to.
As only answer, the three Ghosts shrugged.
"You know it isn't an every day thing, do yo?" Flannel get into the chat.
Again, the three Ghost looked at them, unable to understand the Chills assumption they should be sad.
"I mean, he was your father, after all," continued the blond, pulling the cords of his hood.
"Creator" was the only word Red Uto let out of his mouth.
"It's the same" Flannel turned to face him, but the boys shook their heads.
"He only needed us to do the jobs he couldn't, like take down the PowerPuff Girls, or his enemies, or steal something, nothing like…" Blue Boomer realized he was unsure what would a father do at all.
Flannel, Box and Hoodie exchange looks with each other, surprised.
Flannel spoke up.
"We asked the Professor about Mojo's death. He seemed genuinely sad. You guys, though—you don't feel anything, do you?"
Red Uto, not looking away from the screen, confirmed it flatly:
"He was a creator, not a father. His death is a fact."
Blue Boom, still working on the password, said distractedly
"He covered me during the explosion. That's the only thing that's weird. It doesn't change my opinion of the ape, but it's weird."
Red Uto abruptly grew quiet, his efforts to crack the code slowing. Thornton avoided eye contact, staring intensely at his boots.
Flannel noticed the immediate shift in their demeanor. He threw his hands up in exasperation.
"See? This is what I mean! You guys are denying what happened! You're refusing to face something unpleasant." He immediately caught himself, lowering his voice: "We understand that fear, facing something awful."
All five Ruffs snapped to attention. Red Uto and Blue Boom immediately buried their focus back in the screen, eyes darting over the code. Thornton looked away, his jaw clenched. The Chills were instantly angry, realizing the implication that their trauma wasn't unique.
Hoodie, however, looked at the chaotic scene of the destroyed lab outside the window. A chilling thought dawned on him, and he spoke quietly, looking at Red Uto.
"Uto. If the instruction was for the three of you to report to Mojo whenever you came back from a mission or trip… then the person who caused the explosion was expecting all three of you to be here at the center that night."
The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the hum of the computer as Red Uto finally cracked the code.
Bubbles, Chatter Butch and Punk Brick descended from the rooftop. Both boys would have love addressing to the volcano right away, but Bubbles insisted to talk with Blossom first.
"Common, Blue! She's not your mama! You don't need her permission!" had been Chatter's efforts to convince her.
"Silly boy! Of course she's not. But it's always nice to let her know. Besides, if worse comes to worse, and we were attacked by Him's Imps, she will come in our aide."
Punk Brick said something different and far from nice. Both, the real problem was, both boys couldn't tell her no. After having such an interesting talk, it felt just wrong to ignore her.
"Speaking of the devil. Why hasn't he face you directly? You said, at Aisha's, you were attacked by low-level Imps, right? And, at The Pit too. It doesn't sound like him at all."
"Maybe the explosion swipe away his lipstick?" mocked the punk.
Chatter Butch placed a hand on the railing, concentrating.
"Imps are minor demons, without much intelligence. They mostly follow Him's emotions. If he spent all his energy pulling you across, he was probably furious and exhausted at the same time. The Imps' confused attack was probably a mix of his orders and the chaos he felt."
Bubbles and Chatter Butch simultaneously turned an accusing look on him, remembering his quick order to destroy the Imps.
Punk Brick threw up his hands and mimicked the flat, cold voice of Red Uto. "Hey, I saw a threat, I eliminated it. No fuss, no mess."
"In any case, if Him is beeing in the need of using them, it means he hasn't recovered yet, either from summoning us, or facing our other selves," Chatter concluded his reasoning.
"Well, I'm sure glad we only deal with one Him. I mean, can you imagine if, instead of Mojo, Him had crossed here?"
"Impossible," Punk Brick expressed his nuance by cracking his knuckles. "Across the multiverse, there's an ultimate rule, even for demons like Him: He cannot break the explicit rule of not traversing portals himself, because that would risk the Universal Law of Identity."
"You mean, the one that says if two Hims met, it would be catastrophic?. And the Superior Beings wouldn't allow that kind of instability."
"So, the Imps?" Bubbles asked.
"They're just low-level minions, probably all he can muster right now," added Brick, the Punk.
As they entered the living room, the Ghosts and Chills Ruffs did too. Blossom put down the snacks she was taking to the pool.
"Hey, guys! I found the perfect way to keep everyone calm: a pool party! At least, it has worked for the last 20 minutes. Why the faces?"
She pointed at the different sets of feature: while her sister, Chatter Butch and Punk Brick were proud and full of energy, and the Chills, well, chill; the Ghosts looked pale and with dark circles starting to show under their eyes.
"Blossom! I think we had a lead about who brought the boys! It could have been Him, using Mojo's technology." Bubbles outburst.
"Yeah, we know. We just came from the volcano," said Flannel, annoyed because the blonde had stole the show.
"That great, guys! Wait, what? Where did you just say you were?" The older PPG changed from a proud and happy face to a worried and nagging.
"The volcano" said the Ghost, heading to Brick's room.
"What? Why? Are you all right? Whose stupid idea was this?" Blossom shrieked harder than any other of the last days. And she had shrieked almost twenty times each day since the Ruffs appeared.
"Relax, carrot. You'll get wrinkles," was Flannel answer.
"To hell with wrinkles! That place is dangerous! You could have got buried if it fell! Or, or, the Imps could have attacked you! Or worse, you could, could…"
Flannel had had enought. He was about to give her a piece of his mind, when he saw a shadow running up the exterior wall, leaving a bright trace, as thread.
"Imps!" Bubbles got to alert.
"Yeah, Bubbles, we know. We are seeing them" was Buttercup's sarcastic answer from the outside. "Now, drag your asses here! But tell Parra and Professor to stay in! This is about to get ugly."