A/N: Well, hello again! It's been a long ride since Emerald Mirage first was written, and now you, dear reader, have the pleasure (I hope) of reading its sequel (I'd rather say companion story, however, since this takes place five months after the close of EM, I have to say sequel), Sapphire Visions. It's been a long ride since I first started its predecessor and hopefully, you'll come to enjoy this installment just as much as you liked the firststory.
As I've said before, this story takes place five months after Emerald Mirage, the first PPG fanfiction I ever wrote. It is not necessary to have read that piece in order to understand Sapphire Visions, but it does help somewhat.
In any case, it's been a fun journey, and I hope that you enjoy the continuation!
-Saberpilot (Whitney)
P.S.- I do not own the Powerpuff Girls or their likenesses. They are all properties of Cartoon Network.
I swear to God almighty, if I hear Professor Chronos go on ONE more time about how interesting Nieztche is, I'm going to start referring to him as 'Demon Lord Chronos', Bubbles Utonium thought to herself in the middle of class.
The rest of her classmates in her Philosophy class seemed to be soaking up all of his preachings with the same level of indifference, leading the blonde teen to believe her analysis had not been incorrect.
She tapped her pencil on the desk in boredom, wondering what her sisters were up to. With a mental tendril, she sent a query off to Blossom, only to get a 'Busy' in response. Stupid girl must be in AP Chemistry... Bubbles only hoped she wasn't being a know-it-all again and showing off.
Biting her lip, she hesitantly sent out a second tendril to Buttercup, her other sister- or as she liked to be called now, Jade Raven.
Her wayward sister had run away almost eleven years ago and had just recently returned last year. Bubbles herself would not have known her identity if not for the mental dive she'd done into the girl's mind last year.
Her sister, she was certain, was in denial of Jade's true identity. She'd tried many times to convince Blossom of whom Jade really was, but to no avail. The redhead seemed stubbornly obsessed with thinking that Jade was really who she claimed to be- an orphan who had been found on the doorstep of a monestary, and had come to their Institution for a high school education. Bubbles's only explanation for her sister's strange behavior was that she still blamed herself for Buttercup's disappearance and had dismissed Jade right off since she was not as, and she quoted, 'violent' as Buttercup had been.
That, of all things, made Bubbles laugh, because she'd figured out Jade's other little secret- she was also an undercover viligante named Saint Raven who fought crime during the night time hours in Townsville. Not that anyone who was anyone hadn't figured that out right from the bat... but it was still amusing that Blossom had thought of Jade as 'not violent' after she'd found out.
Judy, Jade's roommate, seemed to know everything, but Bubbles had to admit that you learned a lot when you lived with someone- it didn't seem impossible for her to have known before even she. She and Judy had become good friends; ironic, because years ago, she and Judy, also known as Judy Morbucks, had been deadliest of enemies. Now, she just seemed like another student here, no past trace of the Princess present in her smiling form.
The Professor... Bubbles hadn't been certain about her father, although she had a hunch that he knew who Jade really was. She'd been studying up on her psychology lately, and there was one theory that she held onto- that any parent who saw their child after being separated would still know them.
Since he and Diane hadn't said anything, though, that left her and Judy being the only ones who for certain knew Jade's true identity.
And at the moment, that seemed like a very, very good thing. She couldn't have imagined what people would have done if they'd found out Buttercup Utonium was back- they'd have either expected her to just slip back into her old life or ranted at her for not being there when the Powerpuffs had needed her.
And that was something she was certain would have driven Buttercup- Jade- even further away from them already.
It was just then that a mental tendril answered Bubbles' own telepathic projection, and the two connected mid-way to form a line of communication between the two siblings.
Thank God... Chronos is such a Neizche fan... I don't know how I'm going to survive the rest of the semester with him...
Be thankful you're not in my shoes, her dark haired sibling retorted mentally. I think Professor Lodoss wants to make us all feel stupid by only NOW showing us the shortcut to finding derivatives. I swear, I feel like I want to kick her in the shin. She sent along an accompanying picture of a chibified Jade kicking her teacher in the shins, and Bubbles had to fight to not laugh aloud in class.
I think it'd be better if you did this... she sent back, this time,modifying the picture slightly so that the Professor had her mouth shut with duct tape, the little chibi Jade holding the roll. She felt Jade's mental chuckle and smiled.
In any case, what are you doing after classes today? Bubbles asked her sister. I was thinking we could maybe take the night off and watch a movie or something.
A movie? she felt a pause in her sister's mind and what felt like a ton of thoughts running through the teen's head. Holiest Heaven, it's been ages... I think the last one we sat and watched was that one about the guy that eats people's brains...
That was Silence of the Lambs', Bubbles smiled. And I still can't believe that movie freaked even Miss Science out.
Wonders will never cease, Jade answered, then stopped sending for a moment. Bubbles felt a surge of uncomfortableness as her sister was called on to answer a question, then felt her return a few seconds later.
I might be up for a movie. Come over to my place and we'll see if Judy wants to as well. Heaven knows SHE could use a break. I want to kill her father some days- why'd he have to go and die like that? She's not even out of school, damn it!
Bubbles bit her lip in remembrance. Mr. Morbucks had died about a month ago, almostfour monthsafter the scholarship ceremony in which Fuzzy Lumpkins had appeared. She fingered the edge of her scar nervously.
The early death of Judy's father had left his entire empire in her hands... a feat that was more work than it had seemed. Apparently he'd been planning to leave his business in Judy's hands after she had graduated, but the heart disease he'd kept secret from anyone had taken his life in early February, leaving Judy with more than she could handle.
Luckily, she'd found an ally in the convicted Ace Green, who had just been released from perole the week her father had died. She had taken him under her wing- or the vise versa, in fact, and was letting him run all the monetary aspects of her company while she was at school. Her butler took care of scheduling her meeting times that she ABSOLUTELY had to attend, and the rest of Green's underlings were also being utilized for their different areas of expertise.
In fact, Bubbles had to admit she was impressed with the former Gang Green Gang's response to their new situation- all of them had admitted guilt to their relationship to Mojo Jojo, and because of their assistance in taking him down, had been given less than a year in jail and had their business sold out to the stockholders as punishment.
Since then, they'd been quite helpful to Judy, and it was almost uncanny how much more friendly and open Ace seemed now. Bubbles couldn't help but think that since he had confessed, his guilt was that much lessened, resulting in the Ace Green of today. Which was a good thing.
Especially where Judy seemed concerned... if what she heard from Jade was true, the young man had been courting the heiress as though she were the most beautiful princess in the world.
Bubbles smiled. Wonders never did seem to cease.
Well, I'll stop over at your place later then, she told her sister, noticing that Professor Chronos had started to notice the idle look in her eyes, and fearing his rebuttle. I'll talk to you later.
With that, she severed the temporary connection, snapping back to reality. The teacher glanced at her, obviously about to call her out on her disattention, but smiled instead when he saw her bright and focused blue eyes on him instead.
Nodding, he walked back up to the board and started to write something about an assignment involving Neizche, Aristotle, and a paper due Monday. Bubbles let her head fall onto her desk, upset with her lot in life.
It was going to be one long, long day...
"Ughh..." Bubbles laid herself out on her bed, her twin buns hitting the pillow before the back of her neck did. "I don't think I can take any more of Neizche, Aristotle, Thespus, or anyone else with a cumbersome name," she complained, Blossom walking in just as she finished her small rant.
"What's wrong with Thespus?" She asked her twin, throwing her schoolbag on her bed and floating over towards her computer, lying on air as she typed away to check her e-mail. She turned her red-haired head towards Bubbles'. "Well?"
"Like I said, anyone with a cumbersome name is on my current hit list," she whined.
Blossom snickered and returned to looking at her computer screen, a new addition thanks to the Professor's latest grant. "Too bad they're all dead."
Bubbles threw her twin a scathing glare. "It's a good thing for you I'm too tired to throw a pillow at your head. Else you'd be next on my list."
"I'm so scared."
"You'd better be. I know where you sleep."
"Idiot."
"Brainiac."
"Dumb Blonde."
"Ditzy Redhead."
The girls continued this exchange for a few minutes, until Bubbles raised a hand weakly in defeat.
"I give, I give! I shall never be as good an insulter as you!"
"Why thank- oh, that was dirty," Blossom said, only taking a moment to realize what kind of 'compliment' Bubbles had decided to give to her. She then laughed, and a bit of color came into her cheeks.
"So," the redhead asked her sister, finishing checking her e-mail and turning in mid-air to face her sister, "what's on the agenda for tonight, sister mine? That is, if we don't get called out again to help the Mayor find his monocle," she groaned, remembering the older man's folly.
"Well," Bubbles said, turning onto her side and blinking up at her sister, "I was thinking we could go out and rent a movie or something." She smiled. "It'd give you, me, Jade, and especially Judy a bit of well-deserved relaxation here."
Blossom stretched her arms and yawned. "I really need to get this lab report done for Chemistry-"
"Fine, fine," Bubbles said, sticking out her tongue but grinning. "I see how it is. Too good to hang out with us, are you?" She pushed herself off the bed, then opened up her bookbag to remove a few choice books and pieces of paper. "Then I guess we'll just have to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind without a certain scientist there to yell about the discrepancies... I know Jade hasn't seen it, and that's the movie I'd planned on..."
That hit Blossom fair and square, and she knew it. The floating superheroine groaned, then stuck her own tongue out at Bubbles. "You play dirty, you know that?"
"At least I say 'hi' instead of 'busy' whenever I check on my sister," Bubbles complained. "You left me alone in that room with no one to talk to, having to listen to Chronos go on about Niezche FOREVER..."
"Okay, okay, you made your point," Blossom sighed, smiling as she did so. "I'll go, I'll go." She floated over to her schoolbag and picked out a book as well as a folder. She looked over at Bubbles. "Whose place this time?"
"Oh, Judy's. That way, she can't get out of relaxing, even if she yowls about it."
"I still don't understand why these numbers aren't crunching," Bubbles overheard as she walked into the unlocked room. She glanced over to where Jade was sitting on her bed, mocking Judy while on the phone by opening and shutting her fingers in thumb in copied conversation.
She glanced to the other side of the room and groaned inwardly. Judy was on the phone, in the middle of burying herself amid a pile of papers, pen and calculator in both her hands. Blossom sighed upon seeing the auburn-haired girl, glancing at Bubbles pointedly.
"Trust me, we'll get her to relax."
"When the sky falls."
"You better watch out then, Chicken Little," Bubbles retorted. Shifting her weight as she walked, she strided over to where Jade was sitting, and leaned her head on the girl's shoulder.
"Bad classes?" Jade asked aloud. She also mentally assured her sister with a 'Don't worry, we'll get her off the phone soon.'
"Horrible. And then SOMEONE couldn't give me a second of their time to talk to me during her Chemistry class-"
Blossom raised a red eyebrow, which then twiched. The girl was not apparently happy with her role as the 'bad guy', and so she sat next to Judy, absentmindedly twirling a pen as the auburn-haired teen continued to yell into the phone.
"-checked the backorder files? What about the files that Daddy had on the market shares?"
Blossom pantomimed a 'Judy', cupping her hands about her face so that the girl would pay attention to what she was mouthing. Judy glanced over, then sighed, as apparently another problem rose on the telephone line. "Well, tell them to ship them overseas if they have to, I don't give a damn! We need those files-"
Bubbles and Jade gave each other a look, then nodded to each other as similar thoughts coincided with the other girl's. With a subtle mental push towards Blossom from Bubbles, the two girls stood up and walked behind Judy, Bubbles getting the auburn's attention while Jade stole the phone out of her hands.
"Hello. Ace?" she started, as Judy suddenly realized what the distraction had been for. "Hey, this is Judy's roommate, Jade." She nodded, a wicked grin on her face. Bubbles began to giggle as Blossom kept Judy from taking the phone back.
"Yeah, I know. She IS working hard, isn't she? Yeah, we need to have a little chat about that. You see, Ace," Jade started, "I'm one of Judy's best friends, as well as her roommate. And as a friend, I have sometimes take drastic measures whenever she's up to something that's not good for her."
Judy's eyes bore into Jade's as the girl continued to chat on the phone.
"Yeah. Uh-huh. Hey, but here's the real kicker, okay, Mr. Green? Not only is Judy good friends with me, but she also happens to be good friends with Bubbles and Blossom Utonium. Maybe you've heard of them... you know, the Powerpuff Girls?"
The silence that followed Jade's comment told the entirety of the room exactly what Ace thought of the comment. After another pause, Jade's voice became sugary sweet. "So it won't be a problem to take her off of her work load for at least a night, will it?" She nodded and winked at Judy. She grinned widely at Judy's angered expression, then replied to Ace once more. "Well thanks, hon! And I'll see you around!" she added, hanging up the phone after a moment.
"I should kill you-" Judy started, pointing her finger at her roommate, only to burst out laughing as the dark-haired teen mocked her, placing her hands on her hips.
"I must take care of my entire company by noon or else I don't get any bon-bons!" Jade twittered, resulting in a pillow being thrown at her by Judy. The redhead cackled with laughter. Bubbles and Blossom glanced at each other with twin grins, and reached for nearby pillows themselves, deciding it was time for a pillow fight.
"I'm going to get you-" Jade growled at her roommate, but was pre-emptively stopped by a pillow in her face from Bubbles. With a mischievious smile, she grabbed some nearby 'ammo' and threw the pillows at the blonde, while Blossom and Judy decked it out with their own weapons of destruction.
The four continued until they laid out on Judy and Jade's beds, breathless. Judy panted for a moment before squealing and throwing a pillow at the smiling Jade, who made a 'hmmph' in response, too out of breath to do anything.
"Well? Is this your idea of getting me to relax?" Judy asked, pushing herself up and staring at the girls.
"It was the general idea, yes," Bubbles winked. When one saw her in the dim light of the dormitory suites, it was hard to tell that she still bore the scars left by the Chemical X burns almost a year or so ago from the fight with Mojo. Blossom turned her head towards Judy.
"So? Are you ready to relax, Miss Morbucks? Or do we have to tie you down until you do?"
"I give!" Judy said, holding up her hands in mock defeat. "I give! I'll relax, okay?" She glanced over at Jade, raising an eyebrow. "Although I think I may have to de-scare Ace- I'm afraid you might have scared him away from me permanently with that warning of yours!"
"I still can't believe you didn't tell him," Bubbles commented off-handedly to Jade. "About your dual identity, I mean." She glanced at the dark-haired teen and raised an eyebrow. Or Blossom about who you really are.
Jade raised an eyebrow, just as serious in her answer. "It wouldn't have done him any good, and an ace up the sleeve is always better than none- and pardon the pun, if you will," she said aloud, while sending a disgruntled mental message to Bubbles. I tried to tell her- but she didn't listen. And I would have thought that she was smart enough to figure it out.
Well she isn'- Bubbles started, only to see her sister glancing at her with an odd expression. She laughed it off and pulled out the movie she'd been holding in her hand and all but threw it to Jade, who caught it with her hand as she still laid on the bed.
"We," Bubbles ordered Jade, "Are going to watch a movie tonight. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. You need to relax, and now. You may have a company to maintain, but you're still only sixteen years old- you need time for a normal life too!"
"Even Bill Gates takes a holiday every once in a while," Blossom added with a snort.
"Okay," Judy smiled. She looked over at Jade. "What's the agenda for tonight?"
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Jade winked. "Perfect fodder to get your mind off of stupid paperwork- there's nothing like it in the movie- unless you count the small amount of governmental red tape-"
"Now hold on-" Blossom argued with a rather grim face. "The government would be much more able to cover up any tracks that they created in there-"
The four friends continued to talk as the movie was placed in, leaving Judy to wonder at what she'd been so stressed out about earlier. As the night wore on, each of them found themselves more relaxed than they'd been earlier, and much more at ease. When the late hours of night finally rolled around, the two Powerpuffs left yawning, their minds completely deviated from the 'horrible' classes they'd have to attend in the morning.
Judy grinned as she fell asleep on her bed, glancing over at Jade as she did. The dark-haired teen was passed out, her breathing shallow in depth. She closed her own eyes, praying that dreams would come quickly... dreams of a set of green eyes behind dark shades, as well as thick black hair... Green eyes and hair that belonged to a young man named Ace Green...
Ace groaned as he went over the papers once more. The numbers STILL weren't adding up for some reason, and he'd be damned if he could figure out why. Sighing, he glanced at the clock nearby.
It was almost three in the morning.
"Damn," he said very clearly, wiping his forehead with his free hand. "Damn it all to-" he paused, then groaned. "This isn't going to help... There's still about forty pages I need to balance..."
He stood up from his computer and stretched. As of late, he'd been taking his work home with him.
All in the name of clearing his name... or so he'd been trying to tell himself. Billy had been telling him that his head had been elsewhere lately; he'd mentioned something about clouds and heartsickness, but Ace had dismissed it as rubbish because of the redhead's limited intelligence.
He removed his shirt, then laid out on his bed, staring out the window as he did so. What did one do whenever a pair of eyes haunted their sleep, no matter how much one tried to push them away with the insistence that the other was still underage and still too young for one so old and... experienced in worldliness as himself?
Not that he was any kind of 'ladies' man', but he'd had a girlfriend or two... neither had meant much to him- the first having been with him when he'd been fourteen and Judy a lowly six... the second at age seventeen. He shuddered. He wanted... to forget about Cindy.
She'd been twenty if she'd been a day, and she had known all the tricks to get him to fall for her. He had been truly, madly, desparately in love, and so had she- at least, he'd believed her to be. Then, the day of truth had come- he'd walked into his apartment and found her on the phone with a friend... while listening, he'd found out that she had been using him- USING him- to get all the gifts that he'd bought for her- nevermind that the 'trinklets' that she called them had been weeks and months of work- dishonest work, yes, but work nonetheless. Diamonds, Jewels, Everything... All for naught.
Ace closed his eyes. He was twenty-four and on parole, something he'd never thought he'd be at this point in his life. Sighing, he rolled over onto his side, his mind confused with the thoughts that spun within it.
"Yes... yes, that's right," a wilting voice said as it watched both Ace and Judy's dreams. "Dream of each other- dream of a love that you wish you had..." The lips that belonged to the voice curled upward into a devilish grin. He raised an eyebrow, then clicked the viewing glass off with his right hand.
Taking a step back, the evil force smiled as he sat down in his chair, comfortably lounging as he considered his options carefully.
"I have left them alone for a time being... the Powerpuff Girls... maybe it's time to see how well they've grown up, now that little Buttercup has returned." His eyes turned to slits, and he laughed. "And playing with their friend will serve nicely as a first test to their strength."
He snapped his fingers, and a potion of sorts appeared in front of him. After he nodded at the concoction, the viewing glass came to life. The potion slipped -through- the looking glass somehow, leaving its master to smile and bite his lip as it disappeared. Suddenly an idea came to him, and he cackled with glee at his idea.
"I'll send a dummy to watch... to get a personal view at what's happening!" He chuckled. With a nod to his nearby cauldron, some ingredients flew into the air- if one bothered to look, they were similar to another concoction created years ago that had already been defeated numerous times by the Powerpuffs. However, this time, no chemical X was added to the mixture. When the air cleared, the villian nodded towards his pet, and time seemed to fast forward, causing the young boy to age to about fifteen or sixteen.
"Hmm... you'll need some skills and- a family," the creator nodded to himself. After a moment, the boy opened his eyes, his expression empty and devoid of spark. The man nodded to himself, glancing at his handiwork up and down.
"Yes. Yes, that looks about right... But now for a name... a name, a name..." He walked back and forth, then smiled when the choice became clear.
He shivered as he whispered the name to himself, then laughed. "Yes- that's an appropriate name for your job," he smiled, then nodded. After a moment, the boy became clothed, and disappeared, leaving his master behind to watch what his newly instilled puppet would do.
With a cackle, He walked back into the depths of his lair. The next couple of weeks would indeed be interesting... and the finale- beautiful. A multimillionaire company in his hands and the Powerpuffs destroyed... it was all he could have wished for.
And all he would have.
lets out a long breath WHEW! THAT was a long time in coming. Hope that cleared -some- things up from the last story- although I know more questions have been raised! Never fear, the answers will be clear come the next few chapters- And that's a promise!
As always, please R&R! hugs