The Demons of Townsville
Chapter 1
The City of Townsville... A peaceful, ordinary city, and although it is the home to many criminals and supervillains, the people live fairly peaceful lives thanks to the presence of the Powerpuff Girls. Their creator and father figure, Professor Utonium, returned to his normal suburban home to discover—
"I'VE BEEN ROBBED." Professor Utonium dug desperately through his drawers, cabinets, and closets, searching in vain for his missing invention, only to come to the conclusion that it was gone. Knowing what he had to do, he called the police. When school ended at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten, the Powerpuff Girls flew home, surprised to see a police car parked outside their home. Worried, they flew into the house to find the Professor talking frantically to a police officer who was copying everything he said onto a note pad.
"So could you describe the item that was stolen," said the officer.
"It was a silver colored cylinder about 6 inches high and 1 inch in diameter, and it had a radioactive symbol on it. I had left it right on my work bench in my lab, but when I came home it was gone."
"Was there anything inside of it?"
"Just a small sample of radioactive particles vaporized down to the atomic level and sealed into a vacuum."
"Uh, could you repeat that...in English?"
The girls flew over to the Professor, looking worried.
"What happened?" asked Blossom.
"Oh girls, thank goodness you're here," said Professor Utonium. "I was trying to invent a stable container of radioactive energy that was travel sized, but the prototype I was working on was stolen from my lab."
Without saying a word, Blossom zipped passed the Professor, and headed down into the lab. She flew over to the workbench, hovering over it. With her microscopic vision, she scanned the bench, looking intently for any signs of unknown fingerprints and other clues. To her surprise, however, rather than finding fingerprints, she saw what appeared to be tiny claw marks on the bench. Blossom stared at the marks, imagining a small, clawed creature climbing up the bench and stealing the cylinder. As she examined the floors, she saw faint four-toed prints leading to the table. The toes were long and prehensile like a raccoon. Concluding that the perpetrator must have gotten dirt on his feet, she followed the paw prints through the home, going up the stairs and toward a nearby window that had been left open. To her surprise, sitting on the windowsill, she saw a black cat with golden eyes staring at her. The cat wore a pink collar with a silver nametag. He stared at Blossom, letting out a soft meow as she approached.
"Shoo shoo!" said Blossom. The cat leaped off the windowsill, running off into the yard. She stuck her head out the window, and saw larger boot prints in the dirt outside the window.
There was an accomplice, thought Blossom. There were at least two people involved in this robbery, but who? More importantly, why?
#
Not far away from the suburban areas of Townsville, a little creature stood in the shadows behind a building, clutching the Professor's invention in his claws. The creature stood only a foot tall. He was skinny with lanky legs and arms, ending with clawed hands and prehensile feet. He had a hairless body with dark orange skin. His head was bat-like with large ears and large eyes. His tiny nose twitched as he affectionately sniffed the cylinder.
"Maxwell, will you stop playing with that thing," said a tall figure, hiding in the shadows.
The tiny creature called Maxwell stared up at him with pleading eyes. "I'm sorry, Master."
"Are you sure you can do this?"
"Of course," said Maxwell. "It's just the right shape and size for me. I just need a feel for the material inside. There's plenty of radiation, I can taste it."
"Then hurry up. I need your power, Maxwell."
"Of course, Master." Maxwell put both hands onto each side of the cylinder. He concentrated into the cylinder, psychically manipulating the atoms within. The radioactive materials inside suddenly became orderly, dividing the colder atoms from the warmer ones. Maxwell grinned as he felt the cylinder grow warm in his hands. He climbed up his master's coat and latched onto the back. He psychically channeled the energy into the coat, causing it to glow with power.
"Yes..." said the dark figure. "Yes... The power..."
#
Everyone gathered at the window, Blossom explaining what she had found.
"It does look like a small creature stole your invention," said Buttercup, eyeing the footprints, "but what could have done this?"
"Maybe it was a rat," said Bubbles.
"And why would a rat want the Professor's invention?" asked Buttercup.
"Um..." Bubbles hesitated, "because it's shiny..."
Buttercup facepalmed and let out an annoyed groan.
"Whatever could have done it," said the police officer, "it certainly sounds like it's out of my league. I'll go down town and file a report, but if it is some strange creature or supervillain, there's little I can do."
"I understand, officer," said Blossom. "We'll handle this from here."
"Good luck, girls." With a causal wave, the officer left the home.
"So, what're we gonna do?" asked Buttercup.
"I don't know," said Blossom. "We have no leads, no suspects...I think the best thing we can hope for is that the perpetrator will strike again."
As if on cue, the hotline buzzed. Blossom flew into the bedroom and picked up the phone. "Yes, Mayor, what is it?"
"Powerpuff Girls, help me!" shouted the Mayor over the phone. "The power is going out in my office and I can't watch TV."
"Really, Mayor?" said Blossom, annoyed. "How many times do I have to tell you that you should only call when..." She paused when she noticed the lights in the house were flickering. "Hold on, Mayor. We're on it." Blossom hung up the phone. "Girls!"
Bubbles and Buttercup flew into the bedroom.
"Blossom, what's wrong?" asked Bubbles.
"We need to go the Townsville Power Plant," said Blossom.
"What for?" asked Buttercup.
"I have a hunch our perp is there," said Blossom. "Let's go!"
The Powerpuff Girls flew out the window, souring high into the air and toward the power plant. They descended down to the plant, and as they got closer, they could see a large hole blasted into the side of the concrete walls of the building. They could hear the sounds of sirens blaring as well as see crowds of workers evacuating the building. The girls flew down to the crowd below, hovering over the people.
"Hey, could someone tell us what happened?" shouted Blossom.
One of his workers cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, "Someone broke into the power plant."
Concerned, the girls flew into the building through the hole, looking around for someone there.
"All right, whoever is in here, you better surrender and we'll go easy on you," shouted Blossom.
Rather than see a harden criminal or one of their usual supervillains, they were surprised to see a small creature walking on all fours monkey-like toward the girls. It was Maxwell, clutching the cylinder in his tail.
"I'm afraid it is you who should be begging for mercy," he said.
"What the heck are you?" said Buttercup. "Are you some sort of underfed rodent?"
He growled angrily. "You'll pay dearly for that comment. I am the Demon of Maxwell, and you will respect us."
"Us?" said Bubbles.
The girls turned around when they heard someone walk toward them. As the figure came into the light, they gasped as they saw his appearance. He was dressed in gray and black striped pants held up with a belt emblazed with a skull-shaped belt buckle. On top, he wore a white coat that ended at his knees and was open in the front to reveal a black shirt. What caught the girls by surprise was his face. He looked like a skeleton with snow white, hairless skin stretched over it. His ears and nose were shrunken down and his teeth were exposed in a skeletal grin, further giving his face the appearance of a skull. His eye sockets were sunken in, exposing two red glowing orbs that passed for eyes.
"Who...what are you?" stammered Bubbles.
"You may call me the Demon of Laplace," said the figure. "I am here to bring order and unity to Townsville."
Blossom looked back and forth at the two, thinking to herself, The Demon of Maxwell? The Demon of Laplace? What are these guys?
"I don't care who you are," shouted Buttercup. "We'll still kick your butts."
"You're more than welcome to try, but you'll surely fail," said Laplace, casually. "I intend on remaking Townsville with my power. I will make it into my own personal utopia."
"Yes, yes," said Maxwell, bouncing on his toes with excitement. "Master will make Townsville peaceful."
"And you three are simply annoying insects," Laplace raised his boney hand and curled it into a fist, "who'll get squashed if you get in my way."
"I'm not an insect," said Bubbles, defensively. "I hate bugs."
Blossom glared at Laplace, thinking about what he said. "You said that you plan on remaking Townsville into a utopia, but at what cost?"
"The only cost is you'll be trapped as lifeless figures in the background," said Laplace. "No major loss."
"Why you..." Buttercup charged toward Laplace and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. She flew across the room and rammed him against the wall with a loud crack. The concrete wall broke outward under the force of Buttercup's strength. When she let him go, Laplace slumped down onto the floor, his body fell limp as he lay unconscious.
Buttercup confidently dusted her hands. "Well that jerk was a push over."
"Not quite!"
Surprised, Buttercup turned around and saw Laplace back the way he was, unharmed and turning his head around, grinning his skeletal grin. Buttercup looked back at the wall, and to her surprise, not only was Laplace gone, but the wall was back to normal as if nothing had happened to it.
"But I..." stammered Buttercup.
The other girls looked on with shock.
"What just happened?" asked Bubbles.
Experimentally, Blossom fired her eye beams at Laplace. As expected, the eyebeams hit Laplace in the chest, knocking him over and onto the ground, leaving clear burn marks visible on his chest. Instantaneously, Laplace was back on his feet, unharmed, as if nothing had happened.
"What's going on here?" exclaimed Bubbles.
Buttercup watched Laplace from behind, not sure what to expect. That was when she noticed the pattern on the back of Laplace's coat. His coat had five round pips arranged in a circle on his back. Three of the pips were glowing green while the remaining two were black. Maxwell climbed up Laplace's coat and touched each of the black pips, turning them green.
"I wish I could stay, but a fight here would be a waste of time," said Laplace. "I'll continue this later today. Good bye, for now!"
Instantaneously, Laplace and Maxwell disappeared and the power plant was back to normal: the broken wall was fixed and the burglar alarms stopped ringing. The Powerpuff Girls hovered there in the middle of the room, dumbfounded from what they just saw.