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The Perfect Little Boy

Chapter 1

Stranger in Town

The city of Townsville! Located in the United States, Townsville is one of the best, most beautiful places you'd like to live in. Townsville's citizen are always happy and friendly between themselves and with newcomers. But this is not the most important element that makes Townsville so special. Even in this city there are problems with criminality and evil beings. But all of them are controlled and fought by three special, little superheroes, who have dedicated their life in protecting the metropolis: the Powerpuff Girls! Townsville is unique because the girls are unique. There is no one in the world that is like them...

There is?

Mr. Gray was a man like others, doing his daily routine in the city centre. He was walking in one of the many streets towards his favorite bar to have lunch. While he moved, he thought about various things, and his thoughts fell on the girls. Like any other good citizen of the city, he was grateful for their crime-fighting work. We are so lucky to have the Powerpuff Girls, he thought, I don't know how Townsville would look like by now without them. With not only the criminals but also the evil villains, not to mention the monsters. Mr. Gray trembled at the thought, but only for a moment: Even so, I feel safe. Everyone feels safe, with the girls protecting us.

Suddenly, a sound came to Mr. Gray's ears. He watched above him and saw a beam of light passing through the sky. Speaking of the devil… he thought, smiling. Probably one of the girls was doing a reconnaissance trip of sorts. Well, enough thinking for today, he thought while standing in front of the bar. He gave a last glance at the yellow beam that was going away.

Wait a second. Yellow?

Mr. Gray scratched his eyes and checked the flying object another time. There was no doubt: the beam of light in the sky was yellow, and he knew the girls' ones were green, pink and blue. Then, who was flying in the sky and leaving that streak?

Mr. Gray wasn't the only one to notice the yellow streak. People around him and far in the street stopped and raised their heads, surprised. It was impossible to see exactly who was flying, but they were able to identify at least a little, human shape at the top of the streak. All of them would have said it was a Powerpuff Girl, if it weren't for the wrong colour.

"Did one of the Powerpuff Girls change colour?" said one tall, black man. "I don't think so…" said an old woman, "In my opinion, it's that squirrel they're friends with." "Nah! It's too big for a little animal!" said a teenage boy. Mr. Gray listened to the various discussion going on around him. He was going to give his own opinion when he saw, among the crowd, a young man. He had become pale.

Mr. Gray reached him, worried: "Are you okay?" he asked. "Yes, no problem, thank you… but… I was thinking, the girls aren't the only ones able to fly leaving a streak of light behind them. What if… if it's a new Rowdyruff Boy?"

For some unknown reason, the words of the young man were heard by many other people other than Mr. Gray. Within some seconds, panic started to grow in the crowd. It was just a theory, but it was enough to terrorize the citizens. Even Mr. Gray felt frightened and couldn't help trying to get as far as he could from the yellow streak.

The new arrival in town continued to move in the city centre. The news about him, however, were faster, and by now every person that saw him panicked. Sometimes it happened that the beam of light stopped: surely, the stranger was wondering what was happening down in the streets. The thought of a new Rowdyruff Boy, however, was preventing anyone from noticing this.

It was a matter of minutes before the first reports of the presence of the stranger arrived at the police stations. Some police officers weren't sure about the reliability of the information, but the calls kept growing in number. At last, the gravity of the situation brought the police stations to inform directly the Town Hall.

"Mayor!" said Miss Bellum, slamming open the door to his office, "There are reports about an unidentified flying individual in the sky!"

"And then?" asked the Mayor, annoyed. He was about to eat a pickle taken by one of his personal jars: "Why can't I eat my beloved pickle without being bothered because of someone who's just flying around?"

Miss Bellum continued nonetheless: "Mayor, I was told that the flying person is rumored to be a new Rowdyruff Boy…"

The pickle fell from the Mayor's hands. Miss Bellum finished, "The police officers are waiting for an order, as they don't know what to do, and panic is spreading all over the city."

"The Police can't do much against one of these monsters, Miss Bellum," said the Mayor, this time with a surprisingly very serious expression, "I don't know whether the rumors are true or not, but there are only three persons in Townsville that will know what to do. We have to call them right now!"

"This stinks!" said Buttercup. She was alone in the living room, watching TV. "It's been four days without anything interesting! I'd give anything to have the chance to kick some butt right now!"

"Calm down, Buttercup," said Blossom's voice from their bedroom, "you should be happy that no accident has happened in Townsville these last few days!"

"Whatever…" muttered Buttercup, far from being convinced.

It was indeed a period without great crime events in Townsville. Bubbles was in the girls' bedroom along with Blossom, while Professor Utonium was working in the lab, alone.

Thus, the girls didn't expect the hotline to ring in that moment. Buttercup's eyes lightened up. "Yes! Finally some action!" She flew in their bedroom just in time to hear Blossom answering the phone: "Yes, Mayor?". Bubbles floated behind her sister, waiting to know about the new threat.

"You don't know what to do? But what exactly is happening? … A new Rowdyruff Boy? Are you sure? …Okay, mayor, were on it!" Blossom closed the hotline. Bubbles and Buttercup were eager to know what was going on.

"Ok, girls, there is a stranger who is flying around the city centre that is suspected to be a Rowdyruff Boy. The Mayor said it hasn't harmed anyone yet, but townspeople are panicking and if the rumors are true, Townsville can be in real trouble. We have to get to this guy, find out who he or she is and what its plans are!"

"A new Rowdyruff Boy? Who's the creator this time, Fuzzy Lumpkins?" Buttercup said, surprised. "Well, I don't care, let's go and give him a lesson!"

"Not again…" said Bubbles, surprised by the news as well. "Okay, I think we can handle it, knowing this stranger is alone. Blossom, we're ready!"

"Good… Let's role!" ordered Blossom. The three of them left the bedroom through the windows and flew towards the skyscrapers.

While they were flying, Blossom told her sisters more details: "The Mayor said that this guy leaves behind itself a streak of light similar to ours, except for the fact it is yellow."

"Yellow? That's weird…" said Bubbles. "I thought the same, Bubbles. We have to be careful, we don't know who exactly it is or what it is capable of. Understood?" Bubbles nodded and Buttercup replied, "All right, Bloss!"

In a minute, they reached the Town Hall. Blossom proceeded into one street, followed by her two sisters. They moved between the skyscrapers, carefully inspecting the surroundings. They soon encountered streets which were almost deserted. "No one is around... he's been here," said Bubbles matter-of-factly. "Yes, Bubbles. Let's follow this path!"

They continued to follow the deserted zones. Some people were still present, who were none or less all frightened. They sighed in relief when they saw the actual Powerpuff Girls flying above them.

The girls exited the buildings' barrier, finding themselves in Townsville's Park. The most visible element of the scenario here was obviously Mojo Jojo's observatory.

"Perhaps it was Mojo Jojo… He surely knows how to create a new ruff," said Bubbles. "Then I think we have to pay him a little visit! Agreed, Blossom?" said Buttercup, already preparing herself to leave for the observatory. But Blossom didn't answer her. "Blossom? Blossom? What are you…" she silenced herself.

On the other side of the park, not hidden by the observatory, there was a little black dot. The girls tried to use their powered eyesight to identify it, but as soon as they watched, the dot disappeared in a yellow light, and a yellow streak zoomed away into one of the streets outside the park.

The girls immediately flew forward and in some seconds reached the other side of the park and entered the same street the 'dot' had entered. "Ok, I only managed to have a quick glimpse of him, but I think he's a boy…" said Blossom while she was flying. "That's no good, he could really be a new Rowdyruff Boy!" commented Bubbles. "Then we'll have to stop him, Bubbles!" said Buttercup.

"I still don't understand. Why isn't he doing anything? I mean, it's like he was doing a tour or..." she stopped when she realized they were at an intersection, the yellow streak nowhere in sight. "Oh, great!" said Buttercup, "Now where are we going?"

"Powerpuff Girls!" shouted a voice from below. The girls watched the speaker, a woman with brown hair: "You have to turn left! He's gone that way!"

"Thanks, miss!" replied Blossom as they right away followed her advice.

The girls flew as fast as they could through the street, but after some seconds they encountered another intersection. This time, there was no one in sight able to help them. "Dang, we lost him!" said Buttercup angrily.

"We have to try some strategy to find him," said Blossom. "Bubbles, Buttercup, I want you to take opposite directions and then turn and fly in parallel. I will follow you from above in the sky in order to locate him while you distract him, wherever he is. Got it?" Bubbles and Buttercup nodded and immediately split up, going respectively right and left. Blossom instead flew upwards until she was at a sufficient height to observe the streets below. She watched the beams of light left by Bubbles and Buttercup until they turned and started to go forward. Blossom followed their direction and went forward, too. There was no sign of the stranger, but Blossom did not relax and continued to carefully control the streets below her.

Bubbles flew through her own path, watching her surroundings. She could hear Buttercup shouting, "Where're you? …Reveal yourself and fight me if you have the courage!" She wondered if Buttercup knew that she was in that way alerting the boy and thus making him escape.

She was going to reach another intersection when just in front of her the yellow streak of light appeared for an instant, passing through the crossroad. It happened in the blink of an eye, but it was enough for Bubbles: she reached the intersection and located the boy, then she started to pursue him. To advise her sisters, she shouted, "I found him! Girls, I need your help!"

Blossom and Buttercup immediately changed direction. Buttercup spent a minute to reach Bubbles and join her, but Blossom remained above them. She wanted to have a good overview on the entire situation, in case the suspected ruff managed to lose her sisters.

"You're starting to annoy me! Stop now or I'm not going to be kind when we'll get you!" shouted Buttercup angrily. The yellow streak did not lower its speed. "He's fast, Buttercup, maybe we should try something different…" said Bubbles. "Let me put my hands on him, and I'll show you what we should do different!" replied Buttercup. The boy made a sudden turn at an intersection. The girls made the same turn, but when they entered the new street the yellow streak had already disappeared.

"What the…" said Buttercup. The voice of Blossom came from above: "Bubbles, Buttercup, try to search the alleys! He can't have just vanished in a street like that!" The boy was enough smart to hide himself behind a tall building before disappearing, preventing Blossom from seeing where he had hidden in.

The green and the blue puff started to inspect the alleys. Buttercup entered one. "All right, if you surrender, I swear I won't hurt you…maybe," she said while she moved deeper into the alley, controlling possible hiding places.

Suddenly, the boy appeared from behind a rubbish bin and flew away. In the process, the rubbish bin was hit by him and thrown in the air... towards Buttercup. She was too bewildered to react, and the bin eventually fell on her.

With her super-hearing, Bubbles heard the noise coming from the alley where Buttercup had gone. She immediately flew out of her one to go to her sister's aid. The fact was that the boy was escaping and passed in front of the exit of the alley in the exact moment Bubbles left it. They collided head-first, with both of them saying, "OUCH!"

Bubbles scratched her head and tried to figure out what he had bumped into. Just in front of her, the boy was now correctly visible. He was definitely a 'puff' in shape, with the same big eyes the Rowdyruff Boys and the Powerpuff Girls had. He had short hair that had a color similar to Bubbles', only darker, while his clothes were similar to a heavier version of the Rowdyruff Boys' ones. Moreover, it seemed that they were a little ruined because of long use. Not surprisingly, both his eyes and his clothes were yellow in color.

The boy's eyes fell on Bubbles' ones, and he immediately flew away in alarm. He had to stop after a couple of seconds though, as Buttercup was waiting for him. She was half-covered with rubbish, but most of all, she was enraged. "Now, little boy, you have a big problem…" she hissed, ready to attack.

Visibly nervous, the boy watched over himself and eventually screamed in fright. Blossom was above him, blocking his last escaping route. "You have no chance to escape now! I suggest you to surrender, or we'll have to stop you anyway, with or without your permission," she said.

The boy wasn't going to give up yet. He backed towards the ground while the Powerpuff Girls got closer, then, in an extreme attempt to escape, he zoomed right into the building on the side of the street and crashed into it. There was a series of loud noises as well as screams from people inside as he made his way through the building. After some seconds, the noises stopped.

"Did he really do that?" asked Buttercup, wiping away some banana peels from her hair, "Oh man, this is going to make me insane…"

"We can't stop now. Girls, let's follow him!" said Blossom. Bubbles nodded, still feeling some ache in her head from the previous close encounter.

They went into the hole where the boy had burst into and passed through the various offices. There were people inside, surprised and frightened by the sudden event, that watched them while they moved through the destroyed walls.

In the end the girls left the building on the other side. The boy was nowhere in sight. "I'm beginning to get tired of this game..." said Buttercup.

"I think it's just finished, Buttercup!" said Bubbles, "Look! Below us!"

Blossom and Buttercup looked down. In a small pile of debris, the boy lay. It looked like he was knocked out.

The girls approached him cautiously, but as soon as they realized he was really out could, they relaxed. Among the debris, there was a metal box, with a big dent on it. "It looks like he's hit this safe with his head," Blossom said. "That must have been painful…" commented Bubbles. "Wow, this guy's a genius. Now, Blossom, what should we do with this ruff?" asked Buttercup.

"I dunno, Buttercup…" said Blossom. "He actually didn't do anything to harm townspeople…"

"Oh, here she goes…" replied Buttercup sarcastically. She crossed her arms before continuing, "Blossom, he caused all the mess in the city centre and he's just destroyed almost an entire floor of this skyscraper. He may not have hurt anyone, but you can't say he's innocent!"

"You have a point, Buttercup…" said Blossom, "but still, we have to discover exactly why he showed up in Townsville."

"Girls!" called Bubbles, "He's already recovering!" Blossom and Buttercup focused on the boy.

He slowly opened his eyes, and put a hand on his head, letting out an "Ow…"

Then, he remembered where he was, and realized that the girls were right in front of him now.

"Who are you?" asked Blossom. The boy, instead of answering, moved back, but Buttercup reacted quickly: "If you make another step, I'll tear your skin off, understood?" she threatened. The boy stopped, and nervously nodded.

"Now, little boy, can you please tell us who are you?" asked Blossom, repeating the question. There were some seconds of silence before the boy actually answered. He had an accent the girls had never heard before. "I am not an enemy. Please believe me, you scared me and I went away because of that. I…"

"Listen to me!" interrupted Buttercup, "The last guys we saw who looked like you have caused massive destruction in this city, have nearly killed us and are still present somewhere out there, planning who-knows-what kind of stupid action, so you're not in the position to have us saying 'oh, a new friend'…" She was by now only a meter away from him, the fists tightened in a threatening pose.

The girls weren't expecting the boy's next reaction. He let himself fall on the ground and hid his face in his arms. "Please… Don't hurt me… I did not want to…" he said through his arms. His eyes had become wet.

"Now, calm down," said Blossom, "we won't hurt you if you have no bad intentions, okay?" She motioned Buttercup to lighten her behavior, and the brunette reluctantly followed the order. The boy raised his head to face the girls, but he kept his mouth closed. Bubbles asked him, "You aren't American, are you?"

"Yes," he answered, "I come from Europe. City of Ultrapolis. I had few time to learn English, I'm sorry for that, but…"

"Don't worry, that's not a problem," said Blossom, "we can understand you well and in any case there is still Bubbles here. Right, Bubbles?"

Bubbles answered Blossom, but she did so in the boy's birth language. He was stunned as he sat up and started to talk with Bubbles in his own language.

"Bubbles, could you please stop chatting with him?" interrupted Buttercup, "Now, we want to know why you have come here!"

The boy clearly struggled to answer this question, "I… I think I am not able to tell you my story." He put his hand in one of his pockets and picked up a book. The book was dusty and a bit wrecked, but still readable. "Read this, from the twentieth May of this year. You find there how I was born."

"Why do you want us to read this? Can't you just tell us what do you want?" asked Blossom, inquisitively opening the book. It was written in the European language the boy spoke, so she was not able to read it. Still, the various paragraphs had dates as titles, and it overall looked like the book was a diary of some sort.

"I… I was born... thanks to you..." he said. There were traces of emotion in his face as he said this.

"What?" said Buttercup, incredulous, "What are you talking about? We didn't even know you until today!"

"Read the book. You need it or you will never believe me. Please!" he begged.

"All right, all right!" said Blossom, "We will read it, just... don't freak out." The boy nodded and sat down on the ground, waiting. "Now, this is written in his language. Bubbles, you can speak it, but can you read it as well?" she said while handing the book over to her blue-eyed sister.

Bubbles didn't answer. She instead straight opened the first page and happily read out for them, "Journal of the scientist Professor Bronislav Laurentium."