The Powerpuff Girls: Unite! Ch.1- Shadow Prancing
When the Powerpuff Girls were not fighting villains and criminals, they were doing things that other little girls love. They were watching movies, coloring, or playing games. Tonight, they were trying out a new game. It was called "Hats!" and Blossom was demonstrating to Bubbles, Buttercup, and their super-powered cousin, Jessie, how to play.
"You attach a card onto your hat…like this," said Blossom as she put her card on the hat, and then, put the hat on her head. "Then, I have to guess what picture is on my card by the clues you give me."
"Okay!" said Bubbles.
"When do we start?" asked Jessie.
"Right…now!" said Buttercup as she put the hat with the card on her head. The card was a picture of a soccer ball and Blossom, Bubbles, and Jessie were all shouting out clues about her card.
After narrowing it down to a "sport" and then a "ball," Buttercup was getting close. "Is it a soccer ball?" asked Buttercup.
"Yes!" shouted all three girls.
"Okay, Jessie," said Blossom. "Now, it's your turn."
Jessie took a card from the deck and placed it on her hat. The card had a picture of a cat on it. The girls didn't waste any time shouting clues at Jessie.
"Is it a cat?" she asked.
"Yes!" shouted all three girls in unison.
Suddenly, the Professor passed by their room.
"Girls, don't forget," he said. "It's almost time for be-" He stopped mid-sentence when he saw the picture of the cat on Jessie's card.
Aah!" he yelped. "A cat!" He quickly ran out of the doorway.
Jessie took the picture off her hat.
"What's wrong with the Professor?" she asked.
"Well, you see," began Blossom. "He had a bad experience with a cat before."
"Yeah, this white, fluffy kitty," said Bubbles.
"It took control over him and since then, he's been afraid of cats," finished Blossom.
"Oh," said Jessie. She looked at the cat on her card.
"Yeah, but he'll be alright," said Blossom. "He does this whenever he sees a cat."
"A few seconds later and he's fine," said Buttercup. She turned to Bubbles. "All right Bubbles, it's your turn."
The girls continued to play their game, but now Jessie was a little distracted. She couldn't stop thinking about the Professor and his phobia with cats.
The next evening, the Powerpuff Girls and Jessie were just about done with their crime fighting for the day. They gathered all of the criminals and gathered them in a pile.
"We better take these guys to jail now," said Bubbles.
"Yeah," agreed Buttercup. She looked at the criminals suspiciously. "Before they get any ideas about escaping.
"Okay, girls," said Blossom. "Let's go." She turned to Jessie. "Jessie, why don't you take a look around the area and see if everything's in order?"
"Yeah, okay," said Jessie. "You got it."
The girls flew off with the criminals and Jessie took a look around the city.
"Everything looks good," she said.
She was just about to leave when she heard a rustling near her. She quickly turned her attention to the bushes on her right. "Who's there?" The rustling got louder and she quickly generated a force field to ready herself for what or who might be in the bushes. Suddenly, a small orange-striped cat peered out of the bushes.
"Meow," said the cat.
"Oh, you're so cute!" said Jessie. She knelt down and started to pet him. She wondered if the cat belonged to anyone.
'If he is someone's pet, he's probably lost,' she thought. Jessie looked around. "This is near a busy street with lots of cars. He could be in danger!" she mumbled aloud. She stopped to think. She could take him with her and try to find the cat's owner. But then, she remembered the Professor and his fear of cats. She wondered what to do.
Suddenly, it started to rain.
"I can't just leave him out here," she said.
She picked up the cat and quickly launched herself back to the Utonium house.
Inside the house, the Powerpuff girls were looking for Jessie.
"Jessie?!" shouted Blossom. "Are you home yet?"
As they flew up the stairs, they saw her quickly closing the door to her room.
"Jessie!" yelled Blossom.
"Aah!" yelped Jessie. She turned around. "Girls!" She leaned against her bedroom door. "How are you guys? What have you been doing?" she asked with a strained smile.
The girls all looked at each other. It was obvious that Jessie was hiding something.
"Alright, Jessie," said Blossom sternly. "What do you have in there?"
"Where?" asked Jessie with an innocent look on her face.
The girls tried to open the door, but Jessie held the knob firmly. "What? In here?" asked Jessie. "Nothing. I don't have anything in here."
Suddenly, a rustling could be heard from behind the door.
"Stand back, Jessie," said Blossom. "We're gonna bust in."
"No wait!" said Jessie. She took a big breath. "We have to open the door gently."
Jessie slowly opened the door and the girls peeked into her room.
They stood there for a few seconds looking suspiciously around the room. At first, it didn't seem like there was anything there. Suddenly, the girls heard a meow. They all turned and there standing in front of them was the orange striped cat.
"Kitty!" shouted Bubbles. She flew over to it and started to play with it. Buttercup and Blossom flew over. Blossom pet the cat along with Bubbles, while Buttercup looked indifferent.
"He's so cute!" gushed Bubbles.
"He really is," agreed Blossom. She turned to Jessie. "Where did you get him?"
"I found him outside near the highway," said Jessie. "I didn't want to leave him out there all alone."
"Well, I'm glad you brought him home," said Bubbles as she reached down and scratched the cat behind his ears. The cat was purring and then he looked up and meowed at Bubbles as she hovered above him.
"I'm sorry, Bubbles," said Blossom. "Remember the Professor's fear of cats? We can't keep him."
"Oh, yeah," said Bubbles quietly. Bubbles and Blossom then sadly lowered their heads as they quietly hovered in Jessie's room. After a short while, Bubbles broke the silence. "What if we just keep him until we can find his owner or find him a home?"
"What for?" asked Buttercup. "He's just gonna get into everything. Besides, the Professor will never go for it."
"We can hide him," said Jessie. "The Professor will never know he's here."
Blossom looked at Bubbles and Jessie and then she looked at the orange cat.
Blossom sighed. "Okay. It would be fun to have him around the house."
"Yay!" exclaimed Bubbles and Jessie. Buttercup looked with indifference.
"Well, what should we call him?" asked Bubbles.
"He sure does follow you everywhere," said Buttercup amazed.
"I think we should call him Shadow, because he really is like Bubbles' shadow!" said Jessie. The girls laughed.
For the next few days, the Powerpuff Girls and Jessie watched over Shadow. Even Buttercup couldn't help but find Shadow cute, especially when Shadow licked his paws and pounced while he was playing. They played with him, fed him, and somehow managed to keep him hidden from the Professor.
"I don't think he suspects anything," said Blossom as she sat on Jessie's bed with Bubbles, Buttercup, Jessie, and Shadow. "We have to make sure the Professor doesn't find out about him."
"Don't worry, Blossom," said Bubbles. "We've been really careful."
"Yeah," agreed Jessie. She picked up Shadow and started to pet him. "Besides, he's so quiet. How would the Professor even find out him?"
Suddenly, Shadow started to purr really loudly. Blossom looked at Jessie, who in return chuckled nervously.
Meanwhile, later that evening, down in the lab, the Professor was working on one of his inventions. Just as he finished, he realized he had grease all over his hands! When he got to the bathroom and started to wash his hands, he noticed through the mirror's reflection that the toilet paper roll was completely empty. All of the paper was pulled off the roll and it was in a pile, shredded all over the floor.
"Now, how did that happen?" he asked. He looked at it for a few seconds. "Oh, the girls were probably playing 'Spy Fly Tornado' again." He gathered up the toilet paper and put up a new roll. Then, he left the bathroom and started to walk down the hallway. As he passed his desk in the hall, he noticed all of his papers were scattered on the floor.
"Huh?" he asked. "I know I put them in a pile in the corner." He looked a little perplexed, but then he sighed. "I guess the wind came in and blew the papers around."
He looked at the clock in the hallway and noticed it was almost five. "Oh my gosh, it's time for my favorite show, 'Invent Scraps!'" he said excitedly. The Professor made a snack and poured a soda and rushed to the couch to enjoy his show. He smiled and laughed as he watched their latest invention while he munched on a bowl of popcorn covered with his favorite topping: cheese!
The Professor scooped up handfuls of popcorn as he munched and munched. Suddenly, something tickled his ear. He started to rub it. Then, his ear itched again. He raised his shoulder and arm and rubbed his ear again. He grabbed for the soda and suddenly felt something brush across his face. Shadow had jumped on the back of the couch and tickled him with his tail! But just as the Professor jumped up, Shadow jumped off the couch.
"Aah!" cried the Professor as the soda and the popcorn went flying. He jumped up, flung around but didn't see anything. The girls rushed over to him.
"Something touched my face!" he shouted. "It felt like fur…or something…I think there is a cat in the house!"
"It's okay, Professor," said Jessie. "It was probably…just the wind."
"Yeah," said Blossom. "They said it was going to be really windy tonight!"
"But there have been strange things going on here tonight." he said. "Toilet paper all over the bathroom, newspapers all over the floor…"
"That was probably the wind," said Bubbles. "It sometimes has a…blowy…windy…thingy…going on."
The girls smiled innocently.
"You mean…there really is no cat in the house?" he asked.
"Uh-uh," the girls said in unison.
"Oh, what a relief," said the Professor. "What was I thinking?" He started to chuckle. "Oh, I better clean this mess up." He turned around. "How would it even get into this house without anyone noticing it?" He started to laugh as he walked into the kitchen to get some paper towels.
"All right, girls," said Blossom. "That was too close. We have to keep better track of where Shadow is at all times if we want to keep hiding him."
"Right," said Bubbles, Buttercup, and Jessie.
They went to find Shadow but suddenly he was gone! They frantically searched the room.
"Where did he go?" asked Jessie.
"He was here a minute ago!" whispered Buttercup.
"We shouldn't have left him alone," said Bubbles.
"Listen, girls!" said Blossom. "Our best approach is to split up. Search the whole house! And whatever you do, don't let the Professor see him!"
They all went in different directions trying to find Shadow.
After the Professor cleaned up the mess by the TV, he went back in the kitchen to make another snack. He wanted to take his mind off of his cat scare, and since the popcorn was ruined, he thought he would have some cheese and crackers.
"Here we go," he said as he put crackers on his plate. "Now, I just need some cheese."
The Professor finally finished making a nice platter of cheese and crackers and brought it back out where the TV was.
"Well, at least I can still see the second half of the show," he said excitedly. "Oh, I need milk," he said. He headed back to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. "Now what is the container of milk doing all the way in the back of the refrigerator?" Finally, after a few minutes, the Professor reorganized the shelf in the refrigerator, got the milk and put everything back.
"Finally!" said the Professor. He brought out a big glass of milk and went back to the TV to enjoy his show. He sat down to relax. "Now for some crackers with- Aah!" When he got there, he saw that the cheese was gone!
Suddenly, he heard a meow.
He gasped and slowly turned around. There was Shadow leaning over the back of the couch again with his face about five inches from the Professor.
"Aaah!" shrieked the Professor as he fell backwards and the glass of milk spilled all over.
The Powerpuff Girls and Jessie rushed in.
"Professor!" they shouted. "Are you o-" they stopped in their tracks. There was the Professor on the floor with milk and crackers everywhere!
Quickly, Blossom picked up Shadow. "Are you okay, Professor?" she asked.
"Okay?" he asked. "How can I be okay? There is a CAT in the house!"
"But, Professor," said Bubbles. "It's just Shadow…"
"Girls," said the Professor as he tried not to yell, "What is a cat doing in the house?"
At first the girls were silent, and then Jessie spoke up.
"I found him," she said. "He was alone by the highway. I couldn't just leave him out there."
"We've been taking care of him until we can find him a home," finished Blossom.
"Girls, you shouldn't have been hiding him in the house," he said.
"But, you wouldn't have let us keep him if we told you about him," said Buttercup.
"And there is a reason for that," said the Professor. He sat up. "Girls, did you forget what happened?"
"But, Professor," protested Blossom. "That was a ROGUE cat."
"Shadow is really nice," said Bubbles.
"And he's funny," said Jessie. "The way he follows us everywhere."
"I'm sorry, girls," said the Professor. "Cats are too unpredictable. We can't keep him."
The girls looked sad and disappointed.
"Okay," they said.
The Professor started to get up.
"All right," he said. He started to walk away, and then he turned around. "I know it's hard girls. But, someday, you'll understa-" He suddenly stopped in his tracks. Where did he hear that before? He thought really hard and he remembered an incident when he was a young boy.
"Dad, look!" said a young Professor. "I found a puppy!" He held up a small gray puppy. "Can we keep him?"
"I'm sorry, son," said the Professor's father. "But, we can't have a dog. Not after what happened when I was a kid."
"But, dad…" pleaded young Professor.
"I'm sorry," said the father. "But, dogs are too unpredictable."
"Oh," said young Professor, as he looked sad and disappointed.
"I know it's hard," said the Professor's father. "But, someday, you'll understand."
His father's words echoed in his head.
He realized that he was acting the same way his father acted towards him. He really wanted that puppy, but because his father wasn't willing to give dogs a second chance, he missed out on what could have been a really great companion for him as a boy. He didn't want the girls to experience the same thing.
"You know what, girls?" said the Professor. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad having a cat in the house for a little bit?"
The girls all started to look at each other.
"You mean you'll let us keep him?" asked Jessie.
The Professor paused for a second. "Shadow looks well cared for and I'm sure he has an owner that is looking for him. "We can keep Shadow until we can find his owner."
"Yay!" they cheered. They tackled the Professor to the floor and hugged him.
The next day, the Powerpuff Girls and Jessie were playing with Shadow in the living room. The Professor was sitting on the couch, watching them play.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
"I wonder who that is?" asked the Professor.
He opened the door and there on the front porch was a woman with long, straight auburn hair, a tie-dyed shirt, and a rainbow colored hair band that ran across her forehead.
"Hello," said the woman. "My name's Ella. I saw your flyers and I-" she stopped when she saw Shadow in the house.
"Miracle!"
The cat meowed and ran right toward her. She picked him up, made cooing sounds, and hugged him.
The girls and the Professor watched as Ella reunited with her cat.
"Oh, I can't thank you enough for finding him!" she said. "I missed him so much."
"Yeah," said Blossom sadly. "He was a fun cat."
"We're gonna miss you, Shadow," said Bubbles. She kissed him on the head.
"Yeah, you were all right," said Buttercup.
"I'll never forget our moments together," said Jessie. She pet Shadow and he started to purr.
"You know what?" said Ella. "I am soooo grateful to all of you for keeping Miracle safe. I don't live very far from here. How would you like to come over and visit Miracle sometime?"
The girls perked up. "You mean it?" asked Blossom.
"Yes! Whenever you want!" she said. Here is my address and phone number. And again, thank you girls so much for helping to bring Miracle back to me."
"Oh, thank you!" they shouted as they hugged them both goodbye. "Can we Professor?"
The Professor thought for a moment. "Of course you can, girls. And I know Miracle would like that too."
The Professor turned to go back into the house, while the Powerpuff Girls and Jessie stayed in the door way, waving goodbye to Shadow.
"And who knows?" he said, turning around. "Maybe I'll even come with you."