Aspirations

transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Act One

(Opening shot: the city skyline during the day.)

Narrator: The city of Townsville… (Fade to nighttime.) …at night!

(Cut to a deserted side street, which looks to be in a not-so-nice part of town. Background noise: yowling cats, speeding cars, police sirens.)

Narrator: Even this lovely, peaceful city turns cold and spooky at night.

(Dissolve to a primary road. The lampposts lining the sidewalks throw forlorn pools of light onto the silent pavement.)

Narrator: Lonely. Haunting. (Dissolve to an alley entrance; steam rises from a grate.) With only shadow and silence for company.

(Dissolve to another street over which a railroad track runs. Safety barricades have been set up here, flashing a meaningless Morse code into the night.)

Narrator: A perfect place for the criminal element to fester and grow unchecked. (From-the-ground view of some rooftops; sirens echo.) Spreading terror and despair to all.

(On the next line, pan quickly to another area. The girls fly out from among the buildings.)

Narrator: But not with the Powerpuff Girls on patrol! (Cut to them in flight.) Oh, yeah!

Buttercup: Oh, brother, yet another uneventful night.

Blossom: You should be thankful.

Bubbles: Yeah, would you rather have a giant monster smashing the city?

Buttercup: At least we’d get some excitement. Night after night with nothing. I’m bored out of my mind.

Bubbles: (as Blossom nods agreement) Be careful what you wish for.

Buttercup: Oh, I’m wishing.

Blossom: (pointing downward) Hey, look!

(Overhead view of an intersection; the girls stop to survey the area. Near a warehouse, standing in the glare from two lights mounted near its roof, are five variegated silhouettes; in close-up, they are revealed as the Gangrene Gang. Ace is flipping a coin.)

Bubbles: (from o.c.) The Gangrene Gang? (Back to the girls; she addresses Buttercup.) You wished for them?

Buttercup: No!

Bubbles: I thought you were over them. (She gets a dirty look.)

Buttercup: Why you gotta bring up old stuff? (Blossom is a bit disgusted.) Who cares? Let’s trash ’em!

[Note: A reference to Buttercup’s brief infatuation with Ace in “Buttercrush.”]

(She moves in, but her sisters do not follow. Blossom’s next words bring her back to post.)

Blossom: Hold up, girls. They’re not even a criminal element, just a nuisance.

Buttercup: Yeah, they’re probably just down there making fart noises or something. (Back to the Gang.)

Blossom: (from o.c.) Or scrounging for quarters to play outdated video games in mini-marts— (Back to her.) —’cause they’re too lazy to get a job. Total losers.

(There is an o.c. crash, followed by an alarm that brings her to attention.)

Blossom: You hear that? (Her sisters snap to.) Come on, girls. We’ve got real trouble to tend to!

(They take off. Ace, still flipping his coin, watches them soar away. Close-up of it as it lands in his palm; he clenches his fist tightly around the money. Extreme close-up of his face.)

Ace: It’s on!

(The light begins to flicker a bit more than usual, and the camera pulls back to show the entire Gang again. Ace has gone back to flipping his coin. More flickering follows; for a moment the light is entirely extinguished, blacking out the screen. When it comes back on, the Gang is nowhere to be found.)

(Cut to the exterior of Townsville Hall, seen from a distance, then dissolve to a closer view. Footsteps make themselves heard as the Gang members cross the lawn, one by one, heading toward the side of the building. Ace stops at a corner where two walls meet and indicates that this is the spot for action. Big Billy, close at his heels, stops here and turns to face Little Arturo, who is next. Billy crouches down and holds out his hands to give the midget a boost; Arturo steps on the palms and is promptly slung up toward the dome. He grips the surface high up near the peak and pulls out a small device which he uses to cut a circular hatch in the masonry. A suction cup is slapped onto the piece, and Arturo yanks it free and dives through the hole. As he drops in, he pulls the piece back into place, but flipped over to put the interior surface outside.)

(Ace looks up at the dome and turns his attention to his wrist. Close-up: he is wearing a stopwatch, and he presses a button to start it from zero. Pull back; he eyes the watch for a few seconds and gives a hand signal after just the right amount of time has elapsed. He then advances o.c., followed by Snake, Grubber, and Billy in response to his command.)

(Behind Billy, the scene wipes to inside an air duct in the building’s ventilation system. Thumps from around a corner indicate the progress of someone in them, and Arturo soon crawls into view and toward the camera. He disappears around another corner; cut to the upper part of a door marked “Security Access” and tilt down to the hallway in which it is located. Not a soul in sight. Ace runs into view and crouches by one side of this door, while Billy takes up a position on the other side and Snake peeks over his shoulder. Billy reaches toward the knob; close-up of it as he attaches a magnetic device next to it. It sports a red light. Now Snake holds up a control button intended to activate this thing; cut to a slow pan across Ace, who checks his stopwatch and lifts one finger as a command to prepare for action.)

(Inside the ductwork again. Arturo’s movement is heard before it is seen, and he crawls to a grate and looks down through it. Light from the room below shines into the duct. From here, cut to a wall of television monitors, each of which shows a different bit of Townsville Hall and the city. We have arrived at the security office, on the other side of the door where the rest of the Gang is gathered. The clicking of computer keys is heard from o.c., and the camera pulls back and pans slightly to show an unshaven, apathetic-looking guard working at a terminal. Inside the duct again; now the camera is set just behind Arturo’s shoulder, and it pulls back slowly as he watches the guard through the grate.)

(Close-up of the Picasso-esque runt. He holds up a small red capsule in one hand; zoom in on it to show that it is labeled “Nap Time” and has a flashing red light. Pull back. He lets it drop through the grate, and in a cut to the guard’s desk we see it fall into a mug of coffee. Oblivious to what has just happened, the man picks it up and takes a sip—and a few moments later, his eyes pop in surprise and he collapses into a deep sleep. Arturo’s knockout shot has done its job.)

(Back to Ace by the door. His finger is still upraised, but he soon drops it. Snake responds to the wordless order by pressing his button. On the device Billy attached to the door, the red light goes green, accompanied by the click of the lock being released—this was an electronic lockpick. Cut to inside the security office, zoomed in on the wall of monitors. Ace is seen running down the hall in one of them, and as the camera pulls back and pans, he, Snake, and Grubber dash into the room. Billy yanks the unconscious guard out of the chair as he passes, and Grubber—bringing up the rear—jumps into the seat. He presses the STOP and EJECT buttons on a control panel and turns to the monitors. All change to static as a videotape is ejected from a slot beneath each one. The video surveillance system has just been neutralized.)

(Cut to the upper portion of a closed door marked “MAYOR” and tilt down. Set in the wall by the frame is a pad for obtaining handprint identification. Billy reaches into view and slaps the guard’s palm on this; there is a bit of beeping, followed by a computer voice that sounds very much like Ms. Bellum.)

Computer: Officer Stec verified.

(Cut to inside this door. The lock clicks, and Ace bursts in while Snake and Billy hang back. He charges across the room; cut to a display case marked “Candy Cane Collection” and zoom in. The camera is initially at a slight angle here, but it rights itself during the shot. Varied examples of the aforementioned type of confectionery are arrayed on the shelves. Prominent among them is a long, blue-and-yellow striped cane that is shaped like a shepherd’s crook.)

Narrator: Not the Mayor’s candy cane collection!

(The case’s doors are opened, and the large cane is seized. In the security office, Grubber jumps down from Stec’s chair and runs out with the videotapes in hand. Ace is next, then Billy, who plops the man back in his seat. At the city dump, all five Gang members head for an entrance gate in the surrounding fence. A path leads back among the piles of garbage to a tunnel delved into one of them. Close-up of this entrance: it looks like the start of a mine shaft and has a sign marked “Keep Out” planted next to it. The Gang runs into the darkness within.)

(Cut to inside this area and pull back very slowly. Even though the location is physically different from the shack the hoodlums have used as a hideout in the past, the interior is much the same: broken-down couch, old tables, lamps, and so forth. The Gang assembles before a figure seated in a chair, of which nothing can be seen but a white shoulder, a red-gloved arm, a knee in a long red boot, and a bit of black-stockinged, red-fishnetted thigh. However, these are enough to tip the viewer off that Sedusa is here. Ace lifts the cane in triumph and speaks to her.)

Ace: Success! (All five kneel reverently.)

Sedusa:  Mmm—I see. (She stands up.) My boys have done well. (Cut to them.)

Ace: Thanks to your training, my Queen.

Sedusa: (from o.c., chuckling, taking cane) Indeed. The mystic scepter of Cleopatra. With this I shall rule!

(On the end of this, she taps the head of the cane—or scepter—into her palm and the Gang stands up. They voice assorted encouragements for a moment before the camera cuts to a close-up of her thigh; she slaps the scepter against it.)

Sedusa: (from o.c.) Quiet! (Silence; shift to frame the contrite Gang and Sedusa’s arm and leg.)

Ace: Ooh, ooh! We beg your forgiveness.

Arturo: Excuse us.

Snake: S-S-S-Sorry.

Billy: (laughing) Do it again! (Disgusted groan from Sedusa.)

Sedusa: Now— (Cut to her, seen from waist to knees.) —with the first part of my plan complete— (Tilt up slowly to her chin.) —it will soon be time to exact my revenge on the Powerpuff Girls—for doing this to me! Me!

(On the word “this,” cut to her head. The insanely overgrown hair she once used as an offensive weapon has been chopped off, leaving only bits of stubble clinging to her bald scalp.)

Narrator: Sedusa?!?

(A flash of white, which gives way to the sodden villainess near the end of “Something’s a Ms.” She has climbed out of the swimming pool, learned that her hair is powerless due to the water, and realized that she is about to get it in the shorts. She is in Ms. Bellum’s red suit.)

Sedusa: B-B-B…

(Her perspective of each girl and Ms. Bellum, shifting from one to the next. The three whose faces can be seen glare at her with unbridled fury; the fourth, recall, wears Sedusa’s clothing in which she was disguised.)

Sedusa: (with mounting fear) Blossom?…Buttercup?…Bubbles?…Bellum?

(Ms. Bellum pulls out a pair of scissors, and Sedusa cowers at the sight.)

Sedusa: (pleading) No! Not that! (kneeling) Please! Anything but that!

(Close-up of the scissors snapping in Ms. Bellum’s hand, then cut to the side of her swimming pool perpendicular to the windows. Silhouettes of the five are seen inside. As Sedusa cries out, pan across the pool away from the windows, putting the group out of view.)

Sedusa: No! No! Please! No, stop! No, don’t! Don’t!…NOOOOOO!!

(Flash back to her in the present—her hair never did grow back, and she is good and angry.)

Narrator: Okay. That explains everything.

Ace: Oh, but…you look hot!

Billy: (laughing a bit) Yeah, hot!

Arturo: Oh, you fine, girl!

Snake: It doesn’t really show.

Sedusa: (very smooth, alluring tone) Oh, my lovely boy band is so sweet.

Snake, Arturo, Billy: Awww… (Grubber blows a raspberry with them.)

Ace: (over previous line) You are too kind, Your Queenieness.

Sedusa: But now you all must rest, for tomorrow is a big night. I will be one step closer to destroying the Powerpuff Girls—

(Cut to just next to her chair, putting only part of her side in view as before. The Gang stares dumbfounded.)

Sedusa: —and you boys will be one step closer to your reward.

(Her words have their intended effect; the Gang literally melts at her feet, becoming a large puddle of green sludge from which various distinctive facial features protrude. Fade to black.)

(Fade in to the exterior of Townsville Hall the next day. Inside, the Mayor is at his desk, with Ms. Bellum standing ready next to him.)

Mayor: So, girls, what happened? Who stole my candy cane?

Ms. Bellum: (sighing disgustedly) It’s a rare Egyptian scepter.

Mayor: But…what?

Ms. Bellum: It’s a scepter. You’re the one who thinks it’s a candy cane.

Mayor: It tastes so sweet. (Cut to Bubbles, in front of the desk.)

Bubbles: We’ve been all over and there’s no clues. Nothing. A perfect heist! (Pan to Blossom.)

Blossom: I can’t figure it out. Who would want that scepter, and why?

(Cut to Buttercup and Stec, at the desk’s corner. He still has his coffee mug.)

Buttercup: I’m telling you, it was an inside job— (pointing at Stec) —and he did it!

Stec: (offended) What? Why would I steal it, little girl? (Pull back to frame everyone; Blossom floats before Ms. Bellum’s face.)

Blossom: (to Stec) Why don’t you take us through it one more time? (He sighs wearily.)

Stec: I was at my station, as always—working!

Buttercup: Hey, whatever, pal. (Disgusted groan from him.)

Stec: I took a sip of my coffee…

(He does so and immediately falls asleep again. The “Nap Time” capsule Arturo dropped in is still working, and/or the man never bothered to get himself a refill.)

Mayor: Wow! That’s crazy!

Buttercup: I still say he’s faking it.

Mayor: But what does it mean?

Blossom: It means that whoever did this is totally on the ball.

Bubbles: And they’ll strike again, tonight!

Buttercup: And that’s when we’ll catch ’em.

Blossom: Don’t worry, Mayor. We’ll get your scepter back. (to her sisters, as all take off) Come on!

(They head straight up and are heard crashing out through the ceiling. The bewildered head of government just sits there.)

Mayor: Whoo, yeah! Go get ’em, girls! (sighing placidly, picking up Stec’s mug) Time for a nap.

(He drinks deeply and tumbles out of his chair, and the sound of his snoring drifts up from behind the desk. Wipe to the girls in flight through the city; it is now nighttime.)

Blossom: Okay, girls. Keep those eyes peeled. You know they’re out here somewhere.

Bubbles: (pointing downward) Hey! Look at that!

(Overhead view of the entrance to an alley. The Gang—properly solidified—is heading in, past the Dumpsters and trash cans that line the sidewalk. Pan away a bit before cutting back to the sky. The girls have stopped to look.)

Buttercup: Feh. Probably looking for more home décor ideas in the Dumpsters. (All laugh.)

Blossom: Come on, girls. We have bigger fish to fry.

(They take off. Cut to ground level, the camera pointing up toward the sky as they streak away. The Gang approaches, slowly and deliberately. Cut to a jewelry store, seen from across the street; Ace plants his foot near the camera. The girls, meanwhile, have resumed their aerial beat-walking; they look all around themselves, but see nothing.)

(In a sewer tunnel, we see the Gang—they have climbed down a manhole, and Snake is cutting into the roof of the tunnel. Billy is lifting him up, and in close-up Snake’s tool is revealed as a chainsaw. After he finishes slicing a circular piece, he is lowered and Billy carefully pulls that section loose. It is a cylinder of steel, the height indicating just how thick the tunnel walls are here. Arturo, standing in a trickle of ooze, chuckles wickedly before the big oaf picks him up and shoves him through the hole. Cut to above the tunnel, the camera pointing down at it; Arturo is climbing up a wall toward us. Side view: he stops, brings out the cutting tool he used on the dome of Townsville Hall the previous night, and cuts a circular hatch in this wall.)

(Cut to the jewelry store’s front entrance and zoom in. There is a quick dissolve to the interior as the zoom continues. A small niche is set into the back wall, and a prominent piece of gold jewelry can be seen under a pin spotlight within it. Another quick dissolve shows this item in close-up: a large golden medallion with a red stone set in its center, and whose rim is fashioned as a snake with a head at each end. A thin chain is attached. The thing sits on a stand that is wired to an alarm system. Behind it, a circular section of the wall slides away to reveal Arturo on the other side; he yanks the medallion off the stand and puts the cut piece back in place.)

(Dissolve to a close-up of the medallion, now hanging around Sedusa’s neck. She fingers it. The scene has shifted back to the Gang’s hideout in the dump.)

Sedusa: (from o.c.) Isn’t it lovely?

(The jewel at its center gleams. Pull back to show her lounging sideways in her chair. She holds up the great golden disk in one hand and has the scepter in the other.)

Sedusa: Especially on me. (She laughs.) Don’t you think? (The Gang fawns over her.)

Ace: Yeah, oh, you look good!

Snake: Oh, yes-s-s-s.

Arturo: So good!

Billy: Yup, yup, yup. (Back to Sedusa.)

Sedusa: You boys have done so well.

Ace, Snake, Arturo, Billy: (from o.c.) Awww… (Grubber blows a raspberry with them.)

Sedusa: And now, with Cleopatra’s mystic amulet and scepter in my possession, there is but one item left to retrieve. But this time, make sure the Powerpuff Girls not only see you, but follow you back here.

(The Gang has returned to last night’s supplicating position.)

Ace: But—but, my Queen! We-we’re so good at stealin’ for you now. Why get busted?

Sedusa: (baby talk) Oh, little sweethearts, don’t worry. (normal tone) With the last item in hand—

(Extreme close-up side view of Ace’s face. She reaches into view and flicks his nose with a finger.)

Sedusa: (from o.c.) —I’ll be ready to exact my vengeance!

(Ace can manage nothing but a woozy, happy moan in response. Back to Sedusa, leaning forward in her chair.)

Sedusa: And with the Powerpuff Girls out of the way— (Cut to the eagerly listening Gang; she continues o.c.) —you boys will be one step closer to your reward.

(They murmur softly and excitedly; this continues from o.c. as the camera cuts back to the chrome-domed villainess, whose mouth twists into a cruel and lopsided smile. Fade to black.)

Act Two

(Opening shot: the exterior of the jewelry store. It is now the next day. Inside, three policemen have strung up crime-scene tape around the alcove that held the medallion, or amulet, and have begun their investigation: taking pictures, writing up a report, and so on. Radio chatter is heard in the background. Tilt down from them until the camera points at the floor; the girls have arrived and are looking on from the area of the front entrance.)

Blossom: This is crazy! Another perfect job. No clues left behind, nothing!

Bubbles: Except another Egyptian artifact stolen.

Buttercup: Chances are, they try for another artifact tonight.

Blossom: (suddenly inspired) That’s it! And I know just the place.

(Dissolve to the exterior of the museum and tilt down slowly toward ground level It is now nighttime. The girls keep their voices down over the next seven lines.)

Bubbles: (from o.c.) The museum? (Cut to a nearby rooftop; the girls look down from here.)

Blossom: Yeah.

Buttercup: Oh, I get it. Where else can you find a bunch of old Egyptian stuff waiting to be stolen?

Blossom: Bingo!

Bubbles: Hey! I got a visual! (pointing over roof edge; her sisters look) Bogeys, eight o’clock.

Buttercup: (a bit annoyed) You know, “look over there” works just fine.

Bubbles: You have your way, I have mine.

(Long overhead view of a deserted intersection. The Gang makes its way through it.)

Blossom: (from o.c.) What the—? The Gangrene Gang?!

(Close-up of the five newly minted master thieves as Ace raises a hand to halt them. All but Arturo have coils of rope slung across their shoulders.)

Blossom: (from o.c.) What are they doing here?

Buttercup: (from o.c.) That’s the third night in a row!

Bubbles: (from o.c.) What’s with the rope? (Ace points straight ahead.)

Girls: (from o.c.) Huh?

(The Gang advances o.c. Back to the girls at the edge of the roof.)

Bubbles: What are they doing?

(Cut to the museum entrance, a long shot at ground level. The Gang runs into view toward it, twirling the ropes; close-up of Ace as he stops and lets his fly. Snake does likewise, then Billy. Each rope has a suction cup attached to the free end. Back to the rooftop; the girls cannot believe their eyes.)

Buttercup: No way!

Blossom: You’ve got to be kidding me!

(Inside the museum’s large glass-domed chamber. The three suction cups fly into view and attach to the exterior surface. Cut to outside; the three Gang members are quickly and effortlessly climbing the wall. Arturo has hitched a ride on Billy’s shoulder. Back to the girls.)

Buttercup: It was them? The whole time?

Blossom: Let’s wait and make sure.

(Inside the chamber. The climbers, now joined by Grubber, pull themselves onto the exterior ledge. One by one, four of the dome’s panels swing open to admit them. Ace jumps through his; cut to two security guards at a card table among the artwork. One of them eyes his half-asleep partner and takes no notice as Ace, Billy, and Snake swing across during the next two lines.)

Guard 1: Who would win in a fight, Mega Man or Mondo Dude?

Guard 2: Oh—Mega Man, totally.

(Ace reaches a perch at the opposite side of the dome. Snake and Grubber land next to him, and all three hold up their hands to cushion Billy’s touchdown; the fat jerk has Arturo balanced on one palm. Next they heave the pair up and Billy shoves Arturo toward the ceiling; cut to a point on the floor above as he breaks through the tiles. He looks around a bit, and the camera cuts to the thing that has drawn his attention: a pedestal on which a golden headpiece is displayed. Labeled “Cleopatra’s Tiara,” it is set with a large red jewel that is meant to rest in the center of the wearer’s forehead; above this is a snake’s head.)

(Arturo reaches into view and whisks the tiara away. Back to him, standing by the pedestal and the new hole in the floor and looking very self-satisfied. He jumps back the way he came, and the camera pulls back to reveal that the pedestal stands in a large glass display case. Three guards have been deployed around it; they stand with weapons drawn, but are asleep on their feet. Not one of them has even blinked at Arturo’s brazen act of grand larceny.)

(Back to the ledge in the chamber below. Billy catches the falling Arturo, and Ace takes the tiara from the half-pint and cocks an eyebrow at it. He zips away; back to the girls, who are still watching from their rooftop vantage point.)

Bubbles: Here they come!

(Cut to outside the dome and pan to follow the Gang as they somersault out and across the night. Ground level: three-point landing, followed by a fast break. Close-up of the tiara in Ace’s hand.)

Bubbles: (from o.c.) An Egyptian tiara! (Back to the girls.)

Buttercup: (really fed up) There you go! We blew it! It was them all along. We’re idiots.

Bubbles: Let’s get ’em!

Blossom: Not yet. Something’s amiss here, and we’re gonna find out what!

(They take off. Fade to black.)

(Fade in to the dump. The girls rise into view near the camera, with their backs to us. Cut to the hideout entrance; they float cautiously toward it and stop to look around a bit. Sedusa’s laughter begins to reverberate inside.)

Blossom: Shh! That laugh!

(It continues and grows in volume as the camera cuts to inside the hideout, a close-up of the tiara in Ace’s upraised hands. She takes it from him; cut to her, holding the scepter in her other hand and still wearing the amulet.)

Sedusa: Now I will rule all!

(She puts on the tiara; pull back a bit as all three artifacts glow white. More laughter, the Gang looks on admiringly, and Sedusa’s hair grows back in one swift instant. However, it is not the mass of unruly tresses she sported in the past; this almost looks like a group of thick, writhing cables. Some of them curl toward Ace.)

Ace: It’s…beautiful.

(The end of one hank of hair stops near the camera and forms itself into a snake’s head with glowing red eyes. It screams at Ace, who instantly goes from sycophantic to stunned.)

Ace: Who-o-o-a… (laughing) That is awesome!

(Some of the heads approach Snake; he smiles down at what Sedusa has been able to pull off. She has continued laughing throughout all of this, and now she begins to grow out of all human measure. The girls are still watching from the hideout entrance.)

Girls: Holy cow!

(A flash of white, and now she has broken through the masses of refuse surrounding the headquarters. Her height continues to increase as fire and smoke billow out around her. When she finally stops growing, she stands as tall as most of the skyline’s buildings. Her exposed skin now glows slightly. The girls, meanwhile, have been thrown back a distance by her emergence from the dump.)

Buttercup: Sedusa! That explains everything!

Blossom: And she’s got snakes for hair!

Bubbles: Asps! Very dangerous.

(The o.c. Gang is heard clamoring excitedly, and they run across the screen in front of the girls. Cut to a long shot of the mammoth madwoman. As they prostrate themselves at a distance, she fires beams from the scepter and the snakes do likewise; the city is laid waste.)

Buttercup: Huh. Typical guys, see some curves, turn into gibbering idiots!

(Her sisters give her a funny look—she seems to have forgotten “Buttercrush”—and she lashes out at them after a few silent seconds.)

Buttercup: Not like I care!

(The kneeling Gang calls up to Sedusa.)

Ace, Snake, Arturo, Billy: Queen, Queen! Reward us, reward us! (Grubber blows raspberries with them.)

Sedusa: (smiling benignly) Oh, my sweet boys. (furiously) You pathetic fools! You served your purpose, now scram! (This stuns them.)

Ace: But…Mommy loves us! She loves us! (Her snakes fire more beams.)

Sedusa: Ha! You’re nothing to me! I used you like the losers you are. I never loved you. I got what I wanted, now I’m gone, baby— (pointing at Gang) —and so are you!

(One mighty sweep of a high-heeled boot sends all five flying. Cut to a nearby mud puddle and pan along its length as they splash into it, one by one.)

Blossom: Come on! Let’s take her down!

(The girls take off. Yelling at the top of their lungs, they charge toward the foe that has the world’s biggest size advantage over them. Cut to their perspective, closing in; she has her back to them, but soon turns around.)

Sedusa: Ahhh, there you are.

(She points the scepter at the camera and lets loose a blast. Back to the girls; they take a direct hit and are stopped in their tracks. Now Sedusa pulls the artifact over her shoulder.)

Sedusa: Batter up!

(The swing that follows this line sends the girls crashing into the side of a building. When the dust clears, three fresh holes are revealed in the stonework. The girls emerge from behind the structure and rejoin the battle, firing hand lasers at Sedusa from all angles. However, the beams have no effect; she shoots a few of her own from the scepter and laughs as they stop shooting.)

Sedusa: Your powers are nothing compared to mine!

(A snake spits a beam. Blossom counters with hand lasers, but the snake’s shot nails her. Sedusa turns her attention in another direction and lets one go from the scepter. Bubbles is charging in, guns blazing; however, she too takes a hit. Now Buttercup moves in.)

Buttercup: I’m still gonna take you down!

(Cut to the adversary on the end of this line. She glares down angrily and aims a left jab at the camera; an instant before it connects, back to Buttercup. The blow sends her careening toward the ground.)

Sedusa: I’m gonna tear you girls apart!

(She lifts one foot. Cut to Bubbles, moaning weakly from the point where she crashed down. The toe of the gargantuan red boot lands squarely on her. Blossom has landed amid the fetid waste and is struggling to her feet, moaning with pain. The head of the scepter swings into view, and she comes back to startled consciousness just in time to get clocked over the head. Sedusa pounds her a few more times for good measure.)

(Meanwhile, Buttercup begins to pull herself out of the hole she made in a building after taking that huge punch. Like Blossom, she too suddenly snaps back to full awareness.)

Buttercup: Huh?

(Sedusa holds up the amulet, and a blast issues from it to white out the screen. Back to Buttercup, who sits there as the entire top half of the building disappears in a colossal explosion.)

Sedusa: Destroy! Destroy everything, my pretties!

(Snakes lash out in all directions and initiate a full-scale, widespread assault on the entire urban center. Sedusa brings the scepter into play and unleashes a mighty blast that hides the skyline from view altogether. Pull back; she fires off another one just like the first, and the snakes continue their campaign of destruction all over Townsville. Fade to black.)

(Fade in to Sedusa, still wreaking havoc on the area as smoke and fire pour up all around her. The girls move in for a new attack; cut to them in flight.)

Buttercup: She’s totally beating us!

Bubbles: Yeah, she’s bad!

Blossom: MEGA-BLAST!!

(She gains some altitude, and her sisters fall in to either side. They then execute the Mega-Blast as in “Live & Let Dynamo”—also known as the Starburst in “Town and Out”—as they let off another battle cry. The broad beam of energy rockets toward Sedusa and connects squarely with the amulet, which simply absorbs it; the girls are completely bewildered by this.)

Blossom: What the—?

(The overgrown woman points out to one side with the scepter; pan a bit to put only the head in view. All the snakes extend in that direction and proceed to spit beams at once. Caught in the fusillade, the girls tumble to earth and bounce along the ground. Dense smoke fills the screen for several seconds; Blossom gets to her feet as it begins to clear, then looks up toward the o.c. Sedusa.)

Blossom: Is there no way to stop this chick?

Ace: (from “o.c.”) There’s one.

(These words catch her by surprise. Now the smoke has cleared to show the Gang huddled behind her; she steps out of the way and o.c., turning to face them. For what is probably the first time in their warped little lives, they are genuinely scared and afraid. All but Grubber are present here. Zoom in slowly.)

Ace: The tiara. It is the key. (Billy starts to cry.) The one item that allows all the magic to work. Without it, the other items are useless, including the tiara itself. It’s all about the tiara.

Billy: It’s always about the tiara! (More sobbing.)

(Cut to Blossom. She is still trying to integrate this scene with what she knows of the Gang—and she is failing miserably.)

Blossom: (hesitantly) Thanks, guys. (She prepares to take off.)

Ace: (from o.c.) Blossom? (She stops; cut to him.) Bring her down for us!

(She gives him a wicked smile and takes off. Sedusa and her snakes continue ravaging every bit of Townsville within reach as the girls charge in.)

Blossom: Distract her, girls!

(The others peel off to either side and zip past one enormous shoulder, firing hand lasers that impact harmlessly against the face.)

Sedusa: Ha! More flies. This time I finish you!

(The snakes swarm after the pair on the end of this line. Cut to an empty patch of sky; a moment later, the two girls fly into view and away from the camera, and the reptilian horde gives chase. Bubbles and Buttercup are going flat out, but their pursuers are steadily closing the gap. All the mouths open at once to strike; back to Sedusa, whose attention is focused entirely on the o.c. pair. Blossom swoops down and yanks the tiara from her head.)

Sedusa: (surprised) Wha—?

(In an instant, she stops glowing and finds herself bald again, the snakes disappearing in a puff of smoke. Bubbles and Buttercup are left with nothing but wisps of vapor floating after them.)

Sedusa: N…n…no! N…NOOOOOOOOO!!

(As she screams, she begins to deflate like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon that has just been punctured. The scepter and amulet go flying, and arms and legs flop bonelessly everywhere during the collapse. When all is said and done, she ends up at her original dimensions, standing precariously on a plank that bridges the puddle in which the Gang splashed down earlier. While trying to keep her balance, she yelps a bit before finding her power of speech—a beseeching tone now.)

Sedusa: Boys? Boys, help me.

(Cut to just behind her. The entire Gang stands at the far edge of the puddle; the girls float down behind them. Blossom still has the tiara, Bubbles the amulet, Buttercup the scepter.)

Sedusa: Mommy loves you. This time, we rule together.

(Cut to a distrusting Ace and Snake. The former is actually crying a bit.)

Sedusa: (from o.c.) No lie. I mean it, really! (Close-up of the girls.)

Blossom: (mockingly) Gee. Bet you wish you still had these, dontcha, COW!!

(Back to Sedusa. She glares up toward them, then smiles placatingly and looks to the Gang.)

Sedusa: I’ll make all your dreams come true! Come on. What do you say? (Extreme close-up of Ace.)

Ace: Fool me once—shame on you. (angrily) But fool me twice?

(Sedusa’s eyes pop as she realizes that her former lackeys are about to turn on her.)

Ace: No thanks!

(He kicks the end of the plank, dumping her into the puddle. Now he turns to the girls and starts flipping a coin, just as he did at the beginning of the episode.)

Ace: She’s all yours, girls. (walking o.c.) Come on, guys. Let’s hit some video games at the mini-mart.

(The others follow. Sedusa yells in frustration and beats at the puddle with her arms for a while; back to the girls, who look down in her direction. During the next line, they fly up o.c. and the camera cuts back to her and zooms in slowly.)

Sedusa: I will return! I’ll have my vengeance, you’ll see! I will return again! I’ll be back! (She glares at the camera.)

 Narrator: Oh, no, you won’t, sister!

(Around her, the background dissolves to a set of bare gray walls. A prison cell door is slammed shut in front of her face.)

Narrator: ’Cause you’re in jail! (Pull back a bit.) Ha-ha! (Tilt down on the next line; the girls and the Mayor are in the corridor.)

Bubbles: All’s well that ends well…

Buttercup: …Sedusa’s in jail…

Blossom: …and all the artifacts are back in place.

Mayor: (pulling out scepter) And I got my candy cane back! (He licks it.)

Narrator: Yes indeed. And so once again the day is saved—

(The background for the end shot comes up, and the girls appear in their usual pose.)

Narrator: —thanks to the Powerpuff Girls!

(Their images shrink into the top left corner, and the Gang appears front and center.)

Narrator: And the Gangrene Gang!

(The music shifts briefly into their “theme” before ending on its usual note.)

T H E  E N D