The city of Townsville, a city inhabited by many happy, healthy people. But while there are the citizens who are in good health, there are others who have some health problems, including allergies.
It was Friday afternoon in the city of Townsville. At Pokey Oaks Kindergarten, Ms. Keane's class was getting ready to have lunch. The Powerpuff Girls were scattered around the classroom, each one of them sitting with different groups of children. At one table, Bubbles was sitting with her close friend and next-door neighbor, Robin Schneider.
"What do you have for lunch, Robin?" Bubbles asked.
"A peanut butter sandwich with grape jelly," Robin answered. "How about you?"
"I also got a sandwich, only it has cream cheese and jelly," Bubbles said.
"Oooh, that sounds tasty! Wanna trade?"
"Sure! I also love peanut butter and jelly."
The girls chatted away while they ate their lunches. As they did, shortly after eating all of her sandwich, Bubbles started to absent-mindedly scratch her arm when she instinctively felt an itch there. What she didn't notice was that she kept scratching at it, and the itch became more persistent. She still didn't see what was happening to her, until…
"Bubbles! Look at your arm!" Robin cried all of a sudden, pointing at Bubbles' arm.
When Bubbles finally did, she gasped. Her arm had become very red and formed a large rash due to her continuous scratching in the same area.
"Ms. Keane! Ms. Keane!" Bubbles cried. She flew over to where her teacher was sitting at her desk. "My arm is all itchy and has a rash!"
"Oh, my!" Ms. Keane exclaimed upon seeing Bubbles' arm. Buttercup and Blossom flew over to their sister and teacher, and gasped when they saw Bubbles' rash.
"Girls, I'm going to have to call the Professor so he can take Bubbles to the doctor and figure out why Bubbles was scratching her arm so much," Ms. Keane informed Blossom and Buttercup. She pulled her cell phone out from her desk and dialed the girls' home number.
Over an hour later, at the pediatrician Dr. Jennings' office, Bubbles had been given a special shot to stop her itching and some cream was put on her arm to help soothe her rash. Professor Utonium and both of her sisters were at the doctor's with her.
"You feeling better now, Bubbles?" the Professor asked.
"Much better, Professor," Bubbles answered. "Thank you."
"But what was wrong with her, Professor?" Blossom asked.
"Yeah, how did she get that horrible rash?" Buttercup piped up.
Dr. Jennings looked through some of his paperwork. "Well, based on the data from the blood test I gave Bubbles, I'd say that her itch and rash was triggered by an allergy. Now Bubbles, did you eat anything right before you started scratching your arm?"
"Yes. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was a trade from my friend, Robin," Bubbles replied.
"Well, that must have been it. Your blood has tested positive for an allergy to peanuts, so consuming the peanut butter did the trick of causing the rash."
"Oh, dear!" the Professor exclaimed upon hearing the news of Bubbles' allergy.
"Don't worry, Professor. It won't happen again as long as I don't eat peanuts or peanut butter," Bubbles said confidently.
"I'm afraid this isn't as simple a deal as it may sound, Bubbles. Peanut allergies can be a very serious matter. It's one of those allergies that causes anaphylaxis."
Buttercup frowned in confusion. "Who's An-na Phil Ax-is?" she enunciated.
"Yeah. Is she someone we know from school?" Bubbles asked.
The Professor chuckled. "No, Bubbles. Anaphylaxis isn't a person."
"Anaphylaxis is a term for a reaction that people who are allergic to peanuts or shellfish can develop if they eat the foods to which they are allergic," Blossom described knowingly.
Dr. Jennings' face lit up in impression. "That's right. Very good, Blossom." Blossom smiled proudly, then the doctor continued, "You see, Bubbles, when a person who is allergic to peanuts or shellfish consumes those kinds of food, they develop symptoms that are part of the anaphylactic reaction. You only managed to get a rash, which is one of the symptoms, but sometimes more than that can happen. If you ate peanuts again, you could have difficulty with swallowing, or even breathing."
All three girls gasped sharply. "Yes," Dr. Jennings added, "and we certainly don't want that to happen to you."
"No, sir," Bubbles said timidly.
"So in the meantime, I would like you to read these." Dr. Jennings opened a drawer and pulled out some pamphlets about peanut allergies and handed them to Bubbles. "And it's important for you to keep medicine on hand in case you inadvertently ate peanut traces. You can do that by using this."
Upon saying "this," Dr. Jennings revealed to Bubbles a medical device that looked like a large pen. "It's called an epinephrine, or EpiPen, auto-injector. If you start to feel itchy in your throat or on your body, you shoot this on your arm or leg." He showed Bubbles where the needle tip of the device was so she'd know which end was the injector part. "Then you hold it in place for about ten seconds so that the medicine is delivered into your system. After you do that, then you'll be okay again."
"Okay, Doctor," Bubbles said uncertainly.
Dr. Jennings smiled and put a hand on Bubbles' shoulder. "The more you learn about your allergy, Bubbles, the more you'll be able to cope with it."
After the girls and the Professor had returned to their home, the family gathered into the kitchen. The Professor wanted to explain Bubbles' allergy to her, and her sisters needed to hear about it as well.
"From now on, you're going to have to be extra careful about what you eat, Bubbles," the Professor started. "Having this kind of allergy doesn't just mean cutting out peanuts or peanut butter for good to avoid anaphylaxis. Peanuts and peanut products are in all kinds of foods, so it's important for you to check food labels to see whether or not they contain peanuts. In fact, we should do that when we go shopping for groceries tomorrow. We need to pick out certain foods and make sure they are safe for you to eat or not, and I should show you how it works with reading labels and knowing what to look for."
"Yes, it's especially important to know what is in certain foods or not," Blossom spoke up.
"Yes, thank you, Blossom," the Professor said. Then he directed his attention back to Bubbles. "You see, if there are foods that contain peanut oil or any trace of peanuts, you can't eat them at all. So I'm afraid Chinese food is out of the question from now on, because so much of it is cooked with peanut oil. And whenever we all get ice cream or go out to eat, we'll first have to check with the workers in order to see if their food contains peanuts and if they can guarantee no traces of it."
Bubbles hung her head. It was clear to Professor that she was sad to have to give up peanut butter, something she loved to eat, for good, as well as Chinese food, since she liked her share of that, too.
He smiled at Bubbles. "I know you're disappointed, sweetie, but it's much better to be safe than sorry. You don't want to risk having trouble breathing if you eat the wrong foods, do you?"
Bubbles shook her head. "No, Professor."
"In fact," the Professor continued, "we have to tell Ms. Keane about your allergy so she can make sure that the other kids and their parents know. Then you're going to have make sure to not sit with other kids at lunch if they have food that contains peanuts."
"You mean I can't sit with my friends anymore?!" Bubbles cried, her eyes beginning to moisten.
The Professor gently picked Bubbles up and held her in his arms. "I didn't say that, honey. Please don't panic. But see, that's why the other children need to know about your allergy, so that your friends, especially your closest ones, will know not to bring any peanuts and you can still sit with them."
"Is that all there is to it, Professor?" Buttercup asked. "It doesn't sound that hard."
"Oh, it can be much harder than you might realize, Buttercup," the Professor said. "For some people who have peanut allergies, the situations can be so severe that even just inhaling or touching peanut butter or dust can trigger anaphylaxis."
Hearing these words caused a terrible thought to come to Bubbles' mind. "Is this allergy going to kill me, Professor?!" she exclaimed, almost at a shout.
The Professor held Bubbles close to him in order to comfort her. "No, Bubbles, now please calm down. Look, I know this change has happened to you so quickly and suddenly that it seems a little frightening. But try not to worry about it. Just read Dr. Jennings' notes and food labels to see whether or not they contain peanuts. And don't forget; if you start to feel sick, just inject yourself with the epinephrine medicine. As long as you remember to do all of these things, you'll be just fine."
"Don't worry, Bubbles," Blossom said in an assuring manner. "We'll also help you in making sure your allergy doesn't get in the way of your life."
"That's right, Bubbles," the Professor added. "You don't have to feel like you're all alone in this. The three of us will be there to help you whenever you need it." He glanced at Buttercup, who was looking a little bored. With a slight frown, he said, "Right, Buttercup?"
Buttercup sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. But will that change anything for me and Blossom?"
"Yes, I wondering that, too, Professor," Blossom spoke up.
The Professor thought for a moment. "Well, for Bubbles' sake, when all three of you are together, in or outside the house, I don't want the two of you to eat peanut butter or any kind of food with peanuts. That wouldn't be fair to your sister. And if you do ever make a peanut butter sandwich or eat anything with peanuts in the house when Bubbles isn't around, make sure to wash your lips and your hands thoroughly. It's extremely important for you to do that in order to avoid spreading peanut traces on anything Bubbles could touch later. If you don't do that, it could lead to very big trouble for her. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Professor," Blossom and Buttercup said together.
Unbeknownst to the girls and the Professor, someone was spying on them from outside and listening to their entire conversations. That someone happened to be none other than Mojo Jojo!
Since they had come home, Mojo had sneaked up to the house and managed to hear everything the family had discussed about Bubbles and her new allergy. This only managed to excite him, of course, because he now realized that one of the girls had a weakness that he could use against them if and when they tried to fight him. He cackled to himself. "Now that I have found a weakness in Bubbles, I must figure out how to use it against her. The tricky part, however, is figuring out how to destroy Blossom and Buttercup since this weakness does not pertain to them."
Mojo brought one of his hands to his chin and scratched it, as if he were thinking hard. "Hmmm," he said thoughtfully.
Then his face suddenly lit up, as if a light bulb had formed over his head, which meant that an idea had struck him. "That's it!" Mojo laughed wickedly again, feeling pleased with himself. "Yes, I think this all could come together nicely. Now to go home and start putting my plan into action!"
The next morning, the girls and Professor went to the grocery store to buy food and especially pick out ones that would be okay for Bubbles to eat. If there was a food that got the attention of any one of the girls, they brought the item to the Professor first to see if they could get them or not. Professor also showed them how to identify peanuts or peanut-related products from the labels on boxes or cans of food.
At one point, Bubbles picked up a bag containing almonds and cashews. She flew over to the Professor. "Would it be okay for me to have cashews and almonds, Professor? I'm not allergic to those nuts."
The Professor shook his head. "No, I don't think you should, Bubbles," he answered. "You may not be allergic to these nuts, but more often than not, different types of nuts are processed in the same kinds of factories. These nuts could have been handled in a factory along with peanuts, so there's no guarantee that they don't contain traces of peanuts and thus would be safe for you to eat." He glanced at the ingredients label on the bag. "Here," he said, pointing. "See? It says here 'may contain peanut allergens'."
Bubbles hung her head and looked down in disappointment. "All right, Professor," she said sadly.
The Professor smiled and gently patted her head. "I know this is difficult for you to cope with, honey. But I promise that we will find foods for you to eat as well as like."
Forty-five minutes later, the family was finally finished shopping for groceries. However, the Professor decided to then go to a nearby health food store, since it was there that they were more likely to find more peanut-free foods than what they found at the store.
Soon after they came home and started putting away the groceries, the Powerpuff Hotline rang. Blossom raced to answer it. "Yes, Mayor?"
"Powerpuff Girls! Mojo Jojo is robbing the bank!" the Mayor cried.
"We're on our way!" Blossom cried. "Powerpuff Girls, move out!" And then all three girls immediately took off for the city.
At one of the local banks within the city of Townsville, Mojo Jojo was holding up one of the bank tellers using a blaster ray gun. "Put the money in the bag, and make it snappy!" Mojo said rudely.
Just then, the Powerpuff Girls burst in on the scene. "All right, Mojo, how do you explain your attempt to get away with robbing the bank this time?" Blossom asked in an exasperated tone.
But Mojo just grinned slyly. He was feeling very nonchalant about the whole situation. "Oh no, it's the Powerpuff Girls!" he said sarcastically. "You caught me, so I guess the jig is up and I'm off to jail! But before you take me, why don't you try some of this?!
When Mojo said "this," he immediately revealed a blaster ray from behind his back and aimed it right at the girls.
"Mojo, don't you know that your blaster rays can't stop us?" Buttercup asked, rolling her eyes as if she were bored.
"Oh, but this is no mere blaster ray, Buttercup," Mojo said. "This is my PEANUT BUTTER BLASTER RAY!"
Upon screaming the last few words, Mojo fired the blaster, which released huge, sticky globs of peanut butter. The first couple of shots that were fired missed the girls, but one eventually managed to hit Bubbles right in the face! Like a Murphy's Law situation, once the peanut butter glob got stuck to Bubbles, her allergy was immediately triggered. Her skin started to itch like crazy, so she responded by scratching, and that formed a rash. But then the worst came when Bubbles' face turned blue. While that happened, Bubbles made slurred sounds, as if she was trying to speak.
Buttercup and Blossom saw what was happening to their sister and they both gasped. "She can't breathe, Blossom!" Buttercup exclaimed.
"We've got to get her home and inject her with the medicine immediately!" Blossom declared. She quickly turned back to Mojo. "We'll deal with you later, Mojo!"
The two girls grabbed their sister and made an immediate dash for their home. After they took off, Mojo watched them until their streaks in the sky were gone. Then he grinned wickedly. "Ha! It worked! As long as I have this peanut butter ray with me, I can use it to hit Bubbles. Then the girls will never be able to finish a fight with me or stop my crimes since they'd have to turn their attention to their sister. And with them out of the way, I will rule the world!" He finished his monologue by letting out his trademark evil laugh, which echoed throughout the city.
Half an hour later, in the home of the Powerpuff Girls, Bubbles had finally been cleaned of the peanut butter and injected with her epinephrine. Bathed, medicated, and redressed, she was finally back to her normal state. But she felt very upset about what happened.
"Are you all right, Bubbles?" the Professor asked with concern.
"No! I feel horrible that we couldn't stop Mojo just because of me and my allergy! It's all my fault!" Bubbles cried, sniffling a little.
"No, Bubbles, it wasn't your fault," Buttercup said. "Don't be so hard on yourself."
"But if you hadn't brought me home, we would have been able to stop Mojo," Bubbles protested.
"We'll get him next time," Blossom said. "But we know when to choose between each other and stopping evil."
"Bubbles, your sisters did the right thing by bringing you home," the Professor said. "You three can still stop the villains in their tracks because of that. Yes, Townsville relies on you to protect Townsville from crime, but your lives and safety are still very important in such matter, especially to me."
"But what if Mojo tries using his peanut butter ray next time?" Bubbles asked.
"Then you should just come straight back to get cleaned up and medicated. And I promise you, I'll figure out a way to protect you from the peanut traces if Mojo tries this stunt again."
Unfortunately for the Powerpuff Girls, the next couple of times they tried to apprehend Mojo after he robbed a couple more banks, jewelry stores, and the museum, he always had his peanut butter blaster ray with him. At each of his robberies, Mojo always used his ray to fire globs of peanut butter, with the deliberate intention of targeting Bubbles. And unfortunately, at one hit or another, he always succeeding in hitting Bubbles, which triggered her allergy, ultimately forcing her and her sisters to retreat so she could be saved.
On one of the days after they had been unable to capture Mojo yet again, the girls were at home and in the lab with the Professor. While they were all concerned with Bubbles' well-being following these attacks, they were also growing more concerned that Mojo had gained the upper hand against them.
"What are we gonna do about this, Professor?" Buttercup asked.
"With the last few fights, we had to turn around just because of my allergy," Bubbles said sadly. "How are we gonna stop him if I can't even get near him, so long as he has his peanut butter ray?" Bubbles asked.
"Have you thought of anything at all that can keep Bubbles safe in another battle with Mojo?" Blossom asked the Professor.
"Well, girls, I have come up with an idea that sounds very crazy, but it might just work all the same," the Professor answered. He led them over to a large round container with a lid. "I think this should do the trick to help Bubbles." He pulled the lid off of the container, revealing that it contained a huge amount of grape jelly.
"Jelly?" Buttercup asked, dumbfounded. "How is that going to help?"
"I've been thinking, girls: if Bubbles covers herself with the jelly, it should keep her immune to the allergic effects of the peanut butter from Mojo's ray," the Professor explained. "I mean, it's much like how they put together in a sandwich, jelly seems to be the only foil to peanut butter, and vice versa."
"Well, then it sounds like it might just work!" Blossom stated.
Bubbles giggled and dove right into the jelly. She continued to giggle as she rolled around in it, trying to get every inch of her body covered. Noticing the fun Bubbles was having, and not wanting her sister to feel left out in being the only one covered, Blossom dived into the jelly as well, giggling as she did.
Buttercup, on the other hand, just scowled as she hovered over the container. She thought the idea of Bubbles being covered in jelly for protection was weird, and she thought it was weirder for her sisters to be so giggly about rolling around in it. But she didn't have more time to think so before Blossom and Bubbles grabbed her arms and pulled her in with them.
A few minutes later, all three girls finally emerged from the container of jelly, revealing them to be coated from head to toe. Even their faces, except for their eyes, were covered with jelly. "Well, girls," Blossom began, "let's go get Mojo and see if this jelly idea actually works!"
The girls flew out of their house and zipped through town, heading towards Mojo's observatory. "All right, Mojo, we got you this time!" Blossom cried when they crashed through the roof.
Mojo was standing out in the open in the room, right in front of the girls. He did not look the least bit concerned. "Oh no, the Powerpuff Girls are here to capture me at my house!" Then he caught a good glimpse of them, all covered in jelly, and that only made him laugh. "Ha ha ha! Just what do you think you girls can do to me if you are covered in jelly? Except perhaps make me sticky if you touch me!" Mojo just laughed at them again.
"More than you think, Mojo!" Bubbles cried. "You still got your peanut butter ray?"
Mojo let out an evil laugh. "I'm going to make you sorry you ever asked for this, Bubbles!" He pulled his ray from behind his back and took aim. Bubbles didn't move a muscle, briefly surprising Mojo, but he didn't show it when he finally pulled the trigger and released a glob of peanut butter.
Once Bubbles was hit, everyone was waiting for the expected anaphylaxis reaction to take place and the symptoms to occur to Bubbles. But after waiting for what seemed like a longer amount of time for the symptoms to show up like before, nothing happened to Bubbles. The jelly had worked!
"It works! The jelly works!" Buttercup cried excitedly.
"The Professor was right!" Blossom cried happily.
"I'm okay!" Bubbles exclaimed.
"Impossible!" Mojo shouted in a panicky voice. He began to sweat rapidly because he realized he was about to be defeated.
"Oh yeah!" all three girls shouted.
"And you know what this means, Mojo!" Blossom said victoriously.
And with that said, like all the times they won a battle with Mojo, the girls finally gave Mojo his usual, severe pounding and beating. When they were finally finished, all of the items that Mojo had stolen were returned, and then he was carried off to Townsville Jail.
Back at home, the girls, but especially Bubbles, were telling the Professor that they had finally caught Mojo and that the idea to use the jelly had worked.
"This jelly coating was a great idea to protect me! Thank you, Professor," Bubbles said, giving the Professor a big, sticky kiss.
The Professor chuckled upon feeling the jelly touching his face from Bubbles' kiss. "You're quite welcome, Bubbles. And now that you three have cleaned up Mojo's crimes, you have to get cleaned up yourself. Time for a bath, girls!"
"Yay! A bath!" Bubbles cried happily.
"Bath time!" Blossom shouted joyfully.
"A bath," Buttercup said crossly, scowling.
And so once again, the day is saved, thanks to the Powerpuff Girls…and the Professor for his idea of using the jelly!
And so with this story, I used another clever idea for one of the girls (Bubbles) to develop an allergy to peanuts. Since this kind of allergy is often more serious than others, it would make perfect sense to say that Bubbles goes nuts over the whole situation! XD