For a long time, Blossom had attempted to ignore the knocking.
It had started out as a teasing reminder, of their insidious encounter. Then, after the years, the noise became more pestering and persistent. She kept quiet, not knowing at all how or IF she should answer. This consistent sound however was not emitted from a single door, or if you would dare to even consider it that, but from a reflection. EVERY reflection. No longer was it limited to the adorable dresser mirror which had been made into a vortex to an alternate universe. Now it seemed as if Berserk had followed her beyond that: hellbent on escaping from the dull dystopia produced by Oppressor Plutonium. However, the evil doppelganger now found herself trapped in a state of being, wedged between one world and the other, caught within the reflection of her alternate universal rival, Blossom.
Berserk followed the hero everywhere, as vast a frame as the glass construction of a skyscraper, to the miserable murky puddles in the damp and dark. It was a sick form of limbo and the evil counterpart thought for years and years how to escape the state and that's when the tapping, the knocking, became more determined.
Blossom, on the other hand, was perusing a form of limbo too, more leaning towards the clutches of a kind of living hell. Every moment of every day, she was on edge. She'd easily become distracted, costing her her health and quality in her duties to serve and protect the citizens of Townsville. Her esteem plummeted, feeling she was becoming a nuisance on her dear sisters. Were they dealing with the same anxiety she was? Were they seeing of their previous counterparts in every conceivable reflection known on earth? Were they being subdued to this daily torment? No. They were free from any kind of morbid afflictions. That made it worse. She couldn't confide in anybody that she was being watched and she was just waiting for the moment where the delinquent double would strike when she least suspected it.
Finally, the bookworm arose from under the bed covers, levitating up and letting the sheets fall without a single tug to disturb her siblings. In the blackness, she drifted silently out the room and down the stairs. It was a point of surrender and she despised herself for it. She was the leader, the smart one, the appointed powerpuff girl who made the decisions and was a renowned problem solver, but this... this was just torture. What did this lingering double of her want? Why had she stayed so long? Tonight she'd find out.
She flew into the basement, the professor's lab; minor confirming bleeps from the machinery and soft whirs were a minor ease for her. As light as a feather, she rested herself upon the cold tiled floor. A tall mirror the professor kept at the side for experiments involving lazers stood draped in a grubby cloth. Taking a deep breath, the redhead snatched a hold of the cotton cover and yanked the material off to reveal Berserk, standing in front of her at the ready. This was a long awaited confrontation and so far nothing was happening that appeared to be of any remote threat. Blossom's tensed stance began to loosen, weaken, as the seconds ticked by, but she never averted her wide cherry pink eyes away from the intense blood red pair. This was certainly an uneventful stand off.
The anxiety pumped leader was expecting so much more than this and she began to feel years of suppressed dread just evaporate. It was if an invisible hand was loosening it's tight grip around the girl and she could literally feel the beads of sweat, containing all her fear, rain from her skin and onto the slick clean floor. At first she was relieved... then confused... then enraged.
The reflection cocked an amused smirk, as she watched the 'cool headed' leader submit to her own frustration; yelling, punching and kicking furiously at thin air, obviously trying to withstand some composure, as she hadn't wanted to harm any of the professor's equipment. It was certainly an ideal place for her to let out some steam otherwise. Utonium had recently made the lab sound proof, so as not to disturb the girls with their studies for their on coming exams. Whilst the rest of the family lay at sleep peacefully, none-the-wiser to the bookworm's worries, the gal let out years of pent up intensity, wanting so badly to slam her fists into the ground or to throw a colossal boulder into the seemingly endless reaches of the sea... but she couldn't.
Worn out from her outburst, she fell to her knees before the mirror, panting, her sweat resulting in her nightie clinging close to her heated skin.
What was to be expecting now then, if anything?...
"So... are you gonna continue to be a mountainous, stubborn bitch and keep ignoring me or are we gonna make some god-damn progress tonight?"
It sounded like Blossom... it should've been her... but it wasn't.
The weary gal with tangerine hair glanced up, through strands of hair, thickened and warm, pressed to her forehead. Berserk had no way of getting closer to the dumb nerd, splayed on the lab floor, but if she could, she'd be wringing the ginger's dumb throat.
"You're gonna listen to me now, right?"
END OF PART ONE
