The harbor burned beneath azure fire.
Military sirens screamed throughout the city while emergency broadcasts flooded every screen in Townsville.
The dragon-snake tore through the shoreline like a living natural disaster.
Warships drifted half-destroyed in the bay.
Jets circled overhead.
Missiles lit up the sky.
And above it all—
Three tiny figures fought a monster large enough to drown the harbor.
Ben watched the chaos unfold through his phone as he drove through the city streets.
Blue fire illuminated the inside of the car.
On the screen, Buttercup slammed through one of the creature's heads while Blossom extinguished entire sections of burning harbor with her ice breath.
Every camera angle shook violently as terrified reporters filmed from the edge of their news vans.
Ben smiled faintly.
"Him's definitely enjoying this one."
The thought lingered in his head as he drove past abandoned streets.
Police cars rushed toward the harbor.
Helicopters thundered overhead.
Nobody noticed the lone car heading in the opposite direction.
Toward the suburbs.
Toward the Powerpuff Girls' home.
Toward Professor Utonium.
Ben rested one arm against the window.
The girls were occupied.
The military was occupied.
The city was occupied.
Which meant there was only one person left capable of causing problems.
The Professor.
Ben's eyes narrowed slightly.
Not because the man was strong.
Not because he was dangerous in a fight.
But because he was smart.
Too smart.
If anyone could eventually piece together what was happening—
it would be him.
And unlike the girls, Professor Utonium wasn't blinded by emotion.
He analyzed.
Observed.
Connected patterns.
It would be far too easy for him to unravel everything Ben was trying to hide.
That made him dangerous.
Ben slowed the car as the familiar house came into view.
The lights inside were still on.
Good.
He parked quietly across the street before stepping out.
The neighborhood was eerily silent.
Everyone was either evacuating or watching the chaos downtown.
Ben adjusted his hoodie before walking toward the front door.
For a moment, he considered simply breaking in.
Then dismissed the thought.
That would make things messy.
Instead—
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Footsteps approached from inside.
The locks clicked.
The door opened.
Professor Utonium stood there in his lab coat, exhaustion visible across his face.
"Ben?"
His expression changed immediately.
Concern.
Relief.
Confusion.
"Thank goodness you're alright," the Professor said quickly. "The girls said you were affected by some strange energy and disappeared. Are you okay now?"
The Professor still looked tense.
But after glancing Ben up and down and confirming he wasn't glowing with strange energy or wearing the lamp pendant anymore, he visibly relaxed.
"Quickly, come inside," he urged, stepping aside. "If you aren't feeling well, I can help you long enough to clear your name."
Ben looked up at him quietly.
And for just a second—
he almost felt bad.
The Professor genuinely cared.
That was the annoying part.
He wasn't pretending.
"Can I really come in?" Ben asked softly.
"Of course."
The Professor motioned him inside.
"My door is always open. Treat this place like your own home."
Ben walked inside.
The house felt warm.
Safe.
Almost painfully normal compared to the chaos outside.
The television in the living room showed live footage of the harbor battle.
Buttercup screamed as she punched the dragon-snake through a shipping crane.
Professor Utonium quickly muted the TV.
"The girls are trying to contain it while I track your recent movements," he explained while leading Ben toward the lab entrance. "I think I may have finally narrowed down what happened to you."
Ben followed behind him silently.
"From what Buttercup told me, I traced everything back to that lamp necklace she gave you," the Professor continued. "It appears to be connected to some kind of paranormal entity that latches onto its host."
"Ben…"
The Professor hesitated.
"You've changed," he admitted gently. "But I don't think it's your fault."
That answer made Ben smile faintly.
Honest.
Straightforward.
Just like always.
The Professor stepped into the lab.
Multiple monitors displayed surveillance footage, energy scans, and chemical readings.
Ben recognized several paused frames.
The high school.
A trinket shop.
Security footage showed the exact moment Buttercup bought the lamp necklace for the original Ben before he transmigrated into this world.
Professor Utonium had been busy.
"You see, I wasn't the only one who suspected something had taken control of you," the Professor explained. "The girls believed it too. They knew there was no chance you'd suddenly go berserk without some outside influence."
He pulled out a chair for Ben.
"Please, sit down. I know seeing my lab for the first time might feel overwhelming, but this is probably the safest place for us to talk."
Ben sat slowly, pretending to look nervous while his mind carefully scanned the room for traps or hidden countermeasures.
"Like I was saying," the Professor continued while typing rapidly across the keyboard, "the girls suspected some kind of external corruption."
New footage appeared across the monitors.
Images from inside the trinket store.
"Buttercup told me your transformation only started after she gave you the necklace."
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A blurry image suddenly appeared on the screen.
Tommy.
Or rather, Morbucks' fake replacement footage of him.
Professor Utonium frowned.
"Tommy?" he muttered. "Who's this?"
The screen displayed a generic teenage boy standing beneath the purple energy silhouette from the school incident.
The Professor had been so focused on tracing the necklace that he completely missed Morbucks' earlier tampering.
"What is this… some kind of cover-up?"
He hummed thoughtfully.
"Maybe I'm not the only adult trying to protect you while we figure this out." He adjusted his glasses. "Still, this footage is distracting. Luckily, I already archived the original news recordings onto my hard drives."
Ben's fingers tightened slightly.
Of course he had backups.
The fake footage vanished.
Dozens of raw clips replaced it instantly.
Ben's distorted transformation played from multiple angles.
I really do need to get rid of this man before he becomes a serious problem.
But first—
he needed answers.
He needed to know what the Professor had discovered about the lamp.
And more importantly—
how it had reached this world.
"Up until now," the Professor continued, "you haven't displayed any similar energy outbursts. So we started asking ourselves what changed that day."
Each monitor zoomed in on the necklace around Ben's neck.
"The moment Buttercup mentioned it, I went all in investigating where she bought it."
The Professor pulled up footage from the trinket store's backroom security camera.
"There's something very strange about it," he said excitedly. "The owner claims he never stocked the necklace."
The footage played.
The display cabinet sat empty.
Then—
A glowing magic circle suddenly appeared inside the glass case.
The security feed violently distorted.
Static filled the screen.
The camera glitched continuously for nearly an hour.
Before the image stabilized again—
the lamp necklace was there.
Ben's eyes narrowed slightly.
The Professor pointed at the footage.
"I think the necklace may actually be a genuine genie artifact. Or more specifically…" His expression darkened. "A djinn prison."
He typed rapidly, bringing up old mythology files and ancient texts.
"Djinn are often described as chaotic spiritual entities," he explained. "Parasitic beings capable of influencing emotions, corrupting hosts, and manifesting disasters around them."
Images of ancient depictions appeared across the monitors.
Smoke-like spirits.
Living shadows.
Creatures emerging from lamps.
The Professor turned toward Ben.
"I think one of them took control of you during an emotional moment and used your body to partially free itself from the lamp."
Ben stayed silent.
The Professor continued.
"In folklore, djinn are said to spread chaos and misfortune wherever they go." He gestured toward the footage of the dragon-snake attacking the harbor. "That may explain why monsters have suddenly started appearing throughout the city after your transformation."
His eyes softened slightly.
"Ben… I genuinely think something ancient and dangerous attached itself to you."
He stepped closer.
"But that means there's still a chance we can save you."
"You truly are a nuisance to deal with intellectually," Ben admitted internally. "If you can figure this much out this early, it wouldn't take long for you to realize I'm not Ben at all."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"And eventually, you'd figure out I'm just an imposter wearing his skin—whether you believed I was a genie or not."
Ben stared at him quietly.
"You know what's funny?"
The Professor frowned slightly.
"What?"
"You're probably the best adult in this entire city."
The Professor blinked.
Ben slowly walked through the lab.
"The Mayor's useless. The military only reacts after disasters happen. Most of the city's law enforcement is either corrupt or incompetent." He glanced around at the monitors and inventions scattered throughout the room. "But you actually care about people."
"Ben…"
"You taught the girls to help others," Ben said with a faint smile. "To be kind to people weaker than them."
The Professor studied him carefully.
Then his expression slowly hardened.
A silver glow began forming in Ben's palm.
"But I think I'm already beyond saving."
Silence filled the lab.
Outside, distant explosions echoed from the harbor.
Ben glanced toward the muted television.
Blossom was dragging a burning ship away from civilians.
The Professor's eyes widened slightly.
And that single moment of distraction was enough.
SHLICK.
A silver tendril shot from Ben's hand.
The Professor barely had time to react before it pierced straight through his chest.
Blood splattered across the floor.
The older man stumbled backward in shock.
His glasses cracked as he slammed into the edge of a desk.
"You see… I think…"
Ben caught him before he collapsed completely.
"Something inside me finally stopped pretending to be human."
"B-Ben…?!"
The Professor gasped weakly as blood spilled from his mouth.
His trembling hands grabbed onto Ben's shirt.
There wasn't anger in his eyes.
Only confusion.
For some reason—
that bothered Ben more than it should have.
"You really should've evacuated," Ben said softly.
The Professor tried to speak.
But another wet cough interrupted him.
His knees gave out.
Ben carefully lowered him onto the floor.
The Professor stared blankly upward.
His breathing became shallow.
Weak.
Then slower.
And slower.
Until finally—
it stopped.
The lab fell completely silent.
Ben stood over the body for several long seconds.