The Gothic Powerpuff Girl Note: Portions of this story are references to H. P. Lovecraft's weird fiction, such as the Necronomican

     The City of Townsville, on an uneventful weekend. Things are getting boring at the Powerpuff Girl's house. Professor Utonium has a meeting,  and there hasn't been a call from the Mayor for days. Uh-oh-something's brewing in the laboratory. What are those Girls up to?

      It had been a rather rough week for the Girls. But at home the Girls were starting to become bored. "Ya know what I think?" Blossom said finally.

    "No, what? Answered Buttercup.

    "I think we should try to make a new sister, like the time we did that experiment and ended up creating Bunny."

    "But it didn't go that well last time……" said Bubbles.

    "Oh, not to worry!" Blossom answered. "We'll get it right this time; if Bunny comes back, she'll be like us, and won't be handicapped. Let's give it another shot!"

     All three Girls zipped down to the Professor's lab in a flash. Bubbles opened the cabinet, and got the components. They poured in the sugar, the spice, and the everything nice. "Now all we need is—"Blossom began

    "Chemical X!" Bubbles finished brightly. She fetched the large beaker containing the florescent, greenish fluid, and gleefully

 poured.

     KA-BOOM!!!!!

   The explosion was terrific. It knocked the Girls flat on their backs.

   "Whoa!" said Blossom, dazedly, as she and her sisters rose up and gasped at who they saw floating in the air above them.

   It wasn't Bunny—at least not the Bunny they remembered from last time. Her enormous eyes and small dress were still both lavender, but other than that, she had changed a lot!  For one thing, her skin was looked almost bone white, as though she were bloodless. The short sleeves of her Powerpuff costume were done in black leather, and studded with zinc. Her hair was midnight black, and silver earrings gleaned from where her earlobes should be. There were also a couple of safety pins in her cheeks. "Hi, guys!" she greeted cheerily. "I'm Brunhilda, the Gothic Powerpuff Girl! Pleased to meetcha!"

    "Er…sorry, Brunhilda. We're glad to have you as our new sister and all. But I think we made a mistake somewhere."

   "Where did we go wrong?" Bubbles cried.

    "You mean….you don't want to be friends….you don't want me?" Brunhilda asked sadly.

   "Yeah, of course we do!" said Blossom. "it's just that…."

   "I'm too weird for you. Right? Well….I guess it must have been the zinc studs,  the rats' whiskers, and the dried bat's wing that were already in the kettle when you poured in the other stuff ."

        "Ohhhhh." Said Blossom.

        "Sorry about that, Brunhilda." Said Bubbles. "It just seems a little strange to us. At first."

      "I think you better get rid of those safety pins, though." Blossom cautioned. "I'm not sure the Porfessor will approve of them."

     "Well, I'm kinda the rebellious type." Said Brunhilda. "He'll just have to get used to me."

   "It might take a while," said Blossom "but I think he'll understand, you being our sister and all."

   "Hey, Brunhilda," said Buttercup "Wanna party?"

     "Sure!" said Brunhilda, floating down and joining them. "What should we do first?"

   The Girls stayed indoors and played video games the rest of the afternoon. When the Professor came home, he was kind of shocked upon seeing Brunhilda. "Now who might this be?" he asked "A new friend of yours?"

    ""Oh, this is our new sister Brunhilda!" Blossom explained.

    "Yeah, we brought her to life while you were out." Bubbles said.

     "Right!" said Buttercup. "She may look kinda weird at first, but you'll get to like her. She's awesome!"

    "Well, pleased to meet you, Brunhilda," said the Professor. "Glad to have you join our family!"

   The Professor was very accepting of his new daughter's way of dress, though he did caution her not to bring any weird boyfriends home. At Pokey Oaks next week the kids were all rather shocked by Brunhilda's appearance. "Those are….er….very…..interesting….earrings…Brunhilda." Ms. Keane had stammered.

   "Thank you, Ms. Keane," Brunhilda answered, nonplussed

    Then, about three days later, came the inevitable  call on the Powerpuff Hotline. It seemed a monster was again terrorizing Townsville. The Girls streaked to the rescue, only this time they had Brunhilda  with them.

     "Hah!" exclaimed Buttercup. "that bug creep won't stand a chance against four of us!"

   "You said it!" agreed Blossom.

    They rushed for the monster, a mammoth Cyclops-like humanoid, with pale blue skin. He had four arms, and two eyes, only these were placed each above the other. One eye was intense blue, the other, cherry-red. His head was bald, excepting a high, darker blue Mohawk -like strip. He was firing beans of ice from his blue eye, and rays of fire from his red one. The beams wem alternately freezing and melting buildings and cars, as he chortled evilly.

    The Girls were on him in an instant.

   Buttercup hammered into his gut with a series of well-placed jabs. Blossom socked him under the chin. Bubbles slammed her fist at his neck, but them ended up being frozen by the monster's ice-beam.

     "Don't mess with her!" Buttercup yelled, as she slammed a punch directly into the monster's eye.

    Bubbles broke free in a shower of ice-crystals, and all three of them began wailing on the monster.

     Then Brunhilda zoomed up before the monster. The beasted blinked at the strange new Powerpuff in confusion, as the other Girls fell back, wondering what Brunhilda was up to.

    "Hey! No fair! There's not supposed to be four of you!" growled the monster. "When I get back to monster Isle, I'm telling the guys you cheated!"

    "Oh, no need for that," Brunhilda said tartly. "I was just thinking, while my sisters were kicking your mutant behind and all, that you could use a new getup!"

   "Huh?! What you mean?"

    "Lemme show you!" In a dizzy whirl of lavender light, Brunhilda streaked around the confused monsters, whipping her fingerless limbs, and blasting with her purple lasers. When she had finished, she floated back, and said, "There, that's the new you! So what do ya think?"

   The monster now had his Mohawk dyed purple, and divided into slender, sharp spikes. His skin was now nearly bone white.

   "Oh!" Brunhilda cried. "I almost forgot! She zoomed for the needle-spire on a tower, broke it off, and zoomed toward the monster to jamm it through his earlobe.

    "OOOOOWWWWW!!!!" the monster shrieked.

    "There! Now go to Townsville lake and have a look at yerself!"

   The monster stomped over to the lake causing an entire crowd of beachcombers to scramble out, screaming in panic. Then the monster grinned broadly. He seemed much pleased. "Thanks!" he said "Wait till I show the guys!"

    "No problem!" said Brunhilda, as he stomped back into the ocean in the direction of Monster Isle.

    "Heeheehee!" giggled Bubbles "That was really funny Brunhilda!"

   "I don't know, Brunhilda!" cautioned Blossom. "I'm not so sure that was a good idea."

    "Hey, weird is relative, guys! Get used to it!" said Brunhilda.  

   But the next day, it tuned out Blossom was right. The monster was back smashing up Townsville, and this time he was very angry. The Girls streaked to fight him. The monster fumed when he saw Brunhilda.

   "YOU!!" he roared "You gave me that stupid hairdo, and ruined my life! The guys all laughed at me!!! I'm the biggest dork on Monster Isle!!! This time, I'll fry you to a crisp and then---"

   Brunhilda tried to apologize, but the monster was almost upon her, ready to fry her and freeze her at the same time. The only thing that saved her were the other Girls, who beat and beat the monster, until the y forced him back toward monster Isle.

   "Oh, I feel so terrible!" credi Brunhilda, as she wept and wept in the PPG's room. "I thought it would work out…"

    "Don't worry Brunhilda," Bubbles comforted her. "That monster's friends were just jerks!"

   "Yeah!" said Buttercup. "We'd have showed 'em a thing or two!"

    "But it's all my fault!" cried Brunhilda.

    "Well….at least you tried…."

    "Wahaha! That 's just the point! I tried so hard!"

   Just then the Porfessor looked in. "What's going on, Girls?"

    They told him all about how Brunhilda had given the monster a punk rock look, and how the monster's friends had all laughed at him.

    "Now Brunhilda," said the Professor. "Don't take it so hard. Things like this just happen. We all know you're doing your best to be a Powerpuff. You just need more time to adjust, that's all."

   Brunhilda looked up at him, and sniffed.

   " I would get rid of those earrings, though." The Profesor added.

     Brunhilda buried her face into the pillow and sobbed even harder. The Professor decided not to say anything more. Maybe the Girls needed to be alone for a while.

    Deep down below the City of Townsville, in a boil-like catacomb heated by the fires of the inner earth, we find the embodiment of ultimate evil….the one villain all Townsvillians live in mortal terror of … he who is only spoken of in hushed whispers….that unnamable terror who has existed in some form since the dawn of creation….HIM!

   While the Girls were consoling Brunhilda in their room, their every move was being monitored by this incarnation of evil. At the moment, Him was relaxing in his bathtub with his rubber duck friend, Mr. Quackers. "Let's check up on those nasty Powerpuff pests, shall me, Mr. Quackers?" He squeezed the duck twice. "I just knew you'd agree!"

   With a flick of one lobster claw, Him caused his crystal globe to appear floating in the air in front of him.

   Within it, the Powerpuffs and Brunhilda were visible. "Welllll" crooned the fiend in his prissy-sounding voice. "It looks as if the darling Powerpuffs have found themselves a new playmate. Isn't that simply charming! But wait!"Him hissed in abrupt rage, his voice shifting to demonic. "If there is a fourth Powerpuff, there will all the more trouble for me! But wait again!" Him's voice shifted back to prissy. "Hmmmmm. I think I see how I can turn this nasty little situation to my advantage!"

    About a week after that, Brunhilda received a strange package in the mail. It was addressed to her, and had the Utonium family address, but there was no address for the sender. She eagerly tore it opened, then gasped at what it revealed.

   It was a thick, leather-bound book, with silver hinges. On the cover, embossed in blood-red, stylized print was a single ominous title:

                                                NECRONOMICON

     Brunhilda looked through and discovered it contained thousands of different spells and incantations. "Awesome! A spellbook!" she cried. She called for her sisters, who joined her awed disbelief.

    "The Necronomicon?! What a load! Somebody out there sure has a sick since of humor!" said Buttercup.

    "What do you mean?"

     "I mean it's a fake! Someone's messn' with you! There ain't no Necronomicon!"

  

    "You mean…you've heard of it?"

    'Sort of. I heard some nerdy older kids talking about it down at Lenny Baxter's. It's supposed some kind of spellbook to raise the dead or something. But it's not a real book. Some 1930's pulp writer thought it up."

    "Well, I think it's awsome." Said Brunhilda "Just look at all the cool spells in here."

    "hah! Let's see them work!"

   "Well, Buttercup" said Brunhilda. "I may just have to prove it to you!"

   "I wouldn't!" Blossom said quickly. "We don't really know what that book is, or who sent it to you. The Professor says we shouldn't play around with things we don't understand. I think you should get rid of it, Brunhilda."

    "You do?" said Brunhilda sorrowfully.

   "Yes!"

   "Oh…..alright, Blossom. If you say so." She floated out, and tossed the book into the garbage can.

    But once night fell, and Girls were tucked into bed, she flew back out, and brought it back into the house. She kept it under their bed, and took it out to read whenever the other three Girls weren't around. There was so much in the book that intrigued her. Then one afternoon when school was over, she was reading it, when she heard a strange, prissy-sounding voice in her head, telling her to check out the spell on page 144. She gasp as she read it. It was a spell to open the doorway to an alternate universe ruled by monsters with names like Yug-Shotheth, Imholotep, and such like. Then the voice instructed her to take the book to the park and read the spell out loud four times. Brunhilda was off in no time.

    Later that evening, the Girls noticed Brunhilda was missing. They searched the house, calling her name.

   "Brunhilda! Brunhilda!"

   Finally, Buttercup said, "Drat! Well, we've looked everywhere. Let's quit, and go watch some TV.'

   "I bet she took that book of hers and went off to read it." Suggested Bubbles.

     "She couldn't," replied Blossom ."We threw that in the trash…..didn't we?"

    The Girls all looked at each other, as if all doubting this for the first time."

   "Ya know what?" said Buttercup. "Come to think of it, she has been sneaking off by herself, more and more lately."

   Then c'om!" cried Blossom. "We've got to find her! I told her that book was trouble! If she reads any of those spells, no telling what could happen!"

    "But….aren't those spells all fake?" suggested Bubbles.

    "Maybe they are, maybe they're not. " said Blossom. "I just have a bad feeling. Let's go!"

   Miles away, at Townsville's city park, Brunhilda was sitting crosslegged on a grassy hillside, the spellbook open to the page with incantation the mysterious voice had told her to read. The sun was sinking lower in the sky, covering Townsville's west towers with lurid, blood-red light. Suddenly, Brunhilda wasn't sure anymore she wanted to go through with this.

   She recalled Blossom's warning. There was something about this book that she just hadn't liked. But what could that mean. Still, part of her almost decided to shut the book and fly home.

     But then she heard the voice once more.

    "Go on. Read it. You didn't come all the way out here for nothing."

    Brunhilda still wasn't sure. But this time the voice somehow sounded so reassuring. Suddenly she felt like there was nothing in the world she needed to do more than simply read the incantation. Then of course, nothing would happen, and she could just forget this whole thing.

   She drew a deep breath and started reading "Narthelotep, wuga Yoth shuggoth unaitthe hotp Ctoothoot ug-shotth Ctthulhu Xothorthetec numaba soth teth-pethsmbotloth unetethall—"

     And on and on she chanted, until she reached the end.  She glanced up. Everything was normal. Just and everyday late evening in Townsville park in late Septemeber. A cool breeze was blowing bringing with it the tinge of early autumn. The lovely sunset had just past its climax, as darkness was slowly encroaching over the land

    Brunhilda sighed and shut the book.

    But as soon as she was preparing to zoom back to the Utonium household, the September breeze picked up into a terrific gust that practically knocked her off her feet. Brunhilha turned around to gaze up at the sky in wonderment.

   A gasp burst from her throat at what she saw.  For a moment she couldn't quite register that it was real.

   What looked like a great rent or tear was visible in the sky, as though someone had taken a gargantuan pair of scissors or a knife and sliced through the sky as though it were a painting on canvas.  That had to be impossible, of course. But the gust of wind seemed to be blowing out of the strange fissure in the sky. And then the wind turned cold—impossibly, burning cold, abnormally chilly for that time of year.

   Brunhilda rose into the air. But instead of streaking for home, she braced herself against the maelstrom surging through the rent in reality. A normal human would have been swept away, for the wind had reached a fever pitch, but her super-strength held out against the gale as she watched the crack in the sky lengthen and widen until it nearly spit the whole of the sky in twain. And a lurid, greenish luminenesience, that was not quite light was sweeping through as well, painting the sharp-angled landscape of Townsville  with its otherworldly glow.

    And then she heard a terrific roar, as a monster stepped through the rent in space, out of what ever infernal realm lay beyond, into Townsville's reality. The beast-if it could be called that—resembled a monstrous toad, with multiple eyes, and spines growing out of its back. Other shapes came forth, one formed like a monstrous fish, only with caterpillar like limbs. Other things came as well. Bat-winged things whose eyes were perched on the terminities of long pendulous stocks. Things that seemed to be all chomping, dripping jaws and teeth supported stool-like on four thick limbs, things whose head consisted

Of  masses of writhing flailing tendrils, whose eyes were slits of blood-crimson glowing in the dusk. Even the lesser among them were roughly the size the smaller buildings. The largest of them dwarfed the tallest skyscrapers.

   As the otherworldly horde shambled toward Twonsville, Brunhilda screamed long and loud, less for fear then from utter horror and dismay at what she had done.

    "And I owe it all to you, my dear sweet darling!" came the mysterious voice.

    It almost seemed outside her head this time.

    Brunhilda looked about her in the wildly rushing night. "Wh-who are you?" she asked fearfully. 

    "Why, don't you know?" crooned the prissy voice, mocking her. Then the voice deepened, becoming angry and infernal.

   "YOU….KNOW….ME….AS….HIM!!!!"

    Brunhilda almost screamed, covering her mouth, as the lobster-skinned devil-looking being materialized directly in frontof her. Him had the power to adjust his size, and right now he was fifty-feet tall, and staring directly at her, smiling in hellish glee.

     Brunhilda knew who it was a once, or course. Her sisters had told her stories of their heroic battles, of all the villains who terrorized Townsville. Fuzzy Lumpkins, the furry-pink hillbilly critter who went on occasional rampages, Mojo Jojo, the evil genius monkey with his world-conquering gadgets, Femme fatale, the militant Feminist turned professional criminal, the Gngrene Gang hoods, the Evil White Kitty, the Rowdyruff Boys, spoiled –rotten Princess, among others. But none terrified the citizens of Townsville more than this being of ultimate evil. And now she was facing him…alone.

    "You see, my dear, trusting Powerpuff brat, " chortled Him fondly. "You were such a willing instrument to my taking over Townsville. I suppose you would like to know just what you have done to cause the end of all humanity. You see, that darling little incantation you just recited unlocked the gateway to a realm of incarnate evil, inhabited by the Elder Beings. Those are the cute little things that you now see before you." Him waved one lobster claw had the hordes of unholy nightmares, running amok in Twonsville. "they could only be freed from their prison if some unwitting mortal, such as yourself, happened to recite that incantation. See how lovely it all is! And now that the Elder beings are free at last, nasty little humanity will at last meet its well- deserved extinction, and I will rule over this planet forever!" When he said this last, his voice switched to demonic once again.

     "Not so fast, Him!! Shouted three angry, pint-sized voices. Brunhilda looked to see Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup streaking toward them.

    "Powerpuff brats!" Him raged. "Well no matter," Him's voice reverted to prissy. "There's no use bothering with me, little girls. Not while your dear, beloved Townsville, and indeed, all the world, will soon come to an end!"

     The Powerpuffs rushed to Brunhilda's side. "Brunhilda!" cried Blossom. "What have you done…?"

    "I….don't know!" Brunhilda stammered. "I read that spell, like you told me not to, and…..there was this big tear, in the sky and those monsters came through!" She began weeping.

    "Don't worry," Brunhilda said Bubbles, trying to comfort her. "We'll take care of it."

   "Yeah, " said Buttercup. "We've licked monsters before—we'll lick these!"

    The toad-monster, was gleefully stepping on cars, and punching through buildings, while firing jets of hot pus from pores on his back. The tentacle-faced horror was flailing his squid-like members, toppling buildings right and left, then scooped up several screaming victims with them, preparing to toss the terrified Townsvillians into his maw like buttered popcorn.

    The Girls, including Brunhilda, zoomed for the attack, Him's dark laughter ringing in their ears. The toad-thing smiled slyly at them over his back, and started firing jets of the vile pus at the Girls. They dodged the streams of icky mucus easily, them dove toward the monster. The four of them socked him over on his side, demolishing four good-sized office buildings in the process. They zipped toward the Cthulhu-like squid-head, and tore through his tenecles with their laser-eyes, and seized the citizens about to be devoured, and set them a relatively safe distance away. They continued smashing and bashing the Lovecraftain nightmares, squishing the jelly out of eyes, severing the flailing tendrils, with their lasers,

 as strange, thick ichor spurted out, covering entire building with the vile goop.

    But the monsters kept on coming.

   The rent in space-time fabric was disgorging a horde that seemed endless.

   "There's too many!" wheezed Blossom. "We'll never beat them all!"

    "What's that?" said Him. "Why I do believe you Powerpuff brats have perceived the truth! You are doomed!"

     "Not so fast!" snarled Brunhilda suddenly. A crafty light had come into her lavender eyes.

     "Huh?!" cried the three other Girls, as she streaked in the direction of the spellbook, where she had left it lying on the hillside.

    Once she reached it, she leafed through it then began reciting a new incantation.

     "Haha!" chortled Him. "That, my darling, will avail you not at all! That spell is irreversible! Oh, there is a way to close off that doorway, but you won't find it in there! I know what it is, but I don't think I'll tell you! Heehee! What?! Wh-what is this?!"

    Him's prissy voice turned demonic once again, as gargantuan chains suddenly leapt out of the ground and giant manacles snapped thunderously shut around his lobster-clawed wrists, and high-heeled boots. Him writhed and raged titanically, but the chains held fast.

    "WHAT IS THE MEAING OF THIS!!!!!!" Him raged.

    "I wasn't trying to shut that portal!" shouted Brunhilda. "I just happened to know about this spell—the one that would bind you to my bidding!"

    "No! You could not have understood the archaic language!"

    "Oh, I understood enough, that I just realized it was talking about you." Brunhilda replied tartly. "There are spells to summon and control all manner of otherworldly entities in here—this one happens to work just for you! And now I can make you do anything I want!"

    "OH?! GO AHEAD AND TRY FOOLISH MORTAL!"

     "Okay! Here goes. I want you to tie your arms together, and do a tap dance."

    "NO! You Cannot—" But involuntarily, Him wove his two tendril-like arms together, and began tap dancing uncontrollably. "No! Stop! This cannot be happening!"

    "I'll set you free, soon enough," answered Brunhilda, "Just as soon as you get rid of those monsters and close that doorway—for good!"

    "WHAT?! NEVER!!!!!"

     "Okay." Sighed Brunhilda "I'm so terribly disappointed! I guess you'll be tap dancing forever!"

     "OHHHHHH!……….OKAY! OKAY! POWERPUFF BRAT! YOU HAVE DEFEATED ME!!!"

   Him thundered out the secret incantation. A mammoth whirlwind materialized out of nowhere, and sucked up all the Lovecraftian horrors, and drew them all back in threw the rift, which sealed itself shut, closing out the terrible, frigid wind.

 The evening was suddenly calm and tranquil once more, as though all that had transpired had never been.

   "Okay, Him." Said Brunhilda simply, as Him glowered at her in murderous rage. "A deal's a deal! Necero-um septo-seballha!"

   Him vanished in a billowing puff of blood-crimson smoke. Brunhilda floated down to grassy hills, her energy spent.

   The other three 'puffs zoomed to her side. "Brunhilda! Are you okay?!"

    "I'm……fine." She said. "I'm just so sorry for all the trouble I've caused."

    "Don't worry." Said Blossom "You couldn't have known it was Him who was behind it!"

    "That's not it," said Brunhilda. "I should have listened to you!"

     "Don't worry about it, Brunhilda," said Bubbles. "We've all made mistakes like that. You'll get over it!"

    In the weeks that followed things got back to normal. They tossed the Necronomicaon in the garbage—for good this time. But Brunhilda never seemed to feel quite at home. It was as if she didn't know how to fit in with the original 'puffs. Then one morning, the Girls woke up to find Brunhilda missing. They zoomed abaout the room calling her name. They almost feared Him had found another way to lure her off again. But then the Professor called them downstairs to the lab.

    "Er…..Girls…Brunhilda's got a surprise for you." He said. "I'm not sure I approve. But she made something with my experiments, and she wants to show you."

     "Okay, Professor, what is it?"

     Just then, Brunhilda flew around the corner to greet the Girls. She floated down in front of them.

     "Hi, guys." She said cheerily.

     "What's this surprise you have for us?" Bubbles asked.

      And then another form zipped around the corner, and floated down beside Brunhilda.

     The Girls gasped. For a second they thought it was another 'puff, a twin of Brunhilda herself. The hair was the same midnight black, the skin as bloodlessly pale. But they noticed that the hair was cropped shorter, and their was a purple mowhawk down his forehead. This was a boy. He was clad in a small lether jacket with sinc studs, and his cheeks were pierced. His huge, circular eyes, instead of the lavander hue of Brunhilda's, were a deep violet.

    "This is my new friend, Bane." Brunhilda said. "The gothic Rowdyruff Boy."

    "What's up Power chicks!" said Bane.

    "Er…..hi." said Blossom. "Pleased to meet you, Bane. But how did you create him?"

     Brunhilda shrugged. "oh, I just mixed up a batch of snips, snails and puppytails, along with that silver and batwings stuff you created me with."

     "Sounds simple enough," said Buttercup. "So what are you two gonna do now?"

     "We're gonna see the world! I don't really belong with you guys, so I thought I'd make myself a partner, and we'd run off together."

    "But where will you live?" asked Blossom.

    "Oh, we'll find ourselves a place, don't worry!" answered Brunhilda.

     "Are you like dating, or what?" asked Bubbles. "I mean….he's kinda like your brother!"

     "We're not sure yet!" Bane answered. "W've got to get to know each other first!"

    "Well, its' been nice!" said Brunhilda. "Be seein' you guys!" And with that Bane and Brunhilda tore off through the ceiling and vanished across the morning sky leaving twin trails of lavender and violet.

        So once again the day is saved by…..er…..Brunhilda and the original Powerpuff Girls!

     "

You just