Chapter 2: New Sight
Blossom and Buttercup had arrived home. They didn't disturb Bubbles while she was sleeping, but rather, they waited until she awoke to start asking her questions.
"You guys are home," Bubbles said groggily as consciousness returned to her.
"Bubbles, we need to ask you something," Blossom told her.
"What is it?"
"Do you remember what you said to us before we left?"
"Oh…," was all Bubbles could muster.
"So you do remember."
Bubbles nodded.
"What did you mean by that?"
"Nothing…"
"Bubbles, it's okay. You can tell us anything."
"Blossom…"
"Yeah?"
"I want to talk to Buttercup alone."
"Huh?"
"There's something I want to tell her."
Blossom was stunned and confused by the request, but she decided to go along with it.
"Okay. I'll be outside the door if you need me."
Blossom left the room.
"What did you want to tell me," Buttercup asked, slightly worried.
"I have a power I never told you guys about."
"What," Buttercup said in surprise.
"There are things I can see; scary things."
"What kind of scary things."
"Blood and guts and stuff."
Buttercup was horrified.
"What do you mean you can see it," she asked her sister.
"I can see people covered in blood. Sometimes it's us, sometimes it's the villains we've fought, and other times it's monsters."
"Why do you see these things Bubbles?"
"I don't know, but I see them all the time."
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"I didn't want to scare you."
"Bubbles, you were scared of the dark for a while. I can't even imagine how scared you are right now."
Bubbles sighed.
"Why did you want to tell me alone?"
"I won't be able to fight while I'm sick. I want you to see the same things I do until I can get better."
"M-me?"
"I think it will help me. Will you do it?"
Buttercup was conflicted. She didn't want to see these things, but at the same time, the guilt over refusing to help her sister would be too much to bear. She lowered her head.
"Alright...I'll do it..."
"Thank you, Buttercup."
Buttercup went over to Bubbles and held her hand. A few moments later, a light blue glow began to surround both of their arms. At first, Buttercup didn't see anything, but after closing her eyes and opening them again, the sight that greeted her retinas made her stomach churn.
"This is…Horrible!…"
Buttercup felt like she had been engulfed by a world of death and despair. She wondered how Bubbles coped with these grotesque visions.
"Buttercup, are you okay," she heard a voice ask. She looked back at the bed and saw Bubbles. She looked completely normal.
"Have you been able to tell the difference between the bloody people and the real world the whole time?"
Bubbles nodded.
"I can't believe this is happening," Buttercup said, tears starting to stream from her eyes.
Bubbles wrapped her sister in a tight embrace. This helped Buttercup calm down a little.
"This is too much Bubbles! I can't take it!"
"It's okay Buttercup. When I'm not sick anymore, I'll take the power away."
Buttercup sobbed for a while. After the tears subsided, they let Blossom back into the room.
"Is everything alright? You guys took longer than I expected."
They both nodded. They had agreed not to tell Blossom about what had just transpired.
"That's good," Blossom said, feeling relieved.
Buttercup and Bubbles didn't say anything for a few minutes. Finally, Buttercup broke the silence.
"I'll be back in a little bit."
"Where are you going," Blossom asked.
"There's something I have to do."
After analyzing the serious expression on Buttercup's face, Blossom decided it would be best not to ask any more questions.
"What did you and Buttercup talk about," Blossom asked Bubbles.
"Just superhero stuff," the blue puff replied.
Meanwhile…
Buttercup had gone down to the training room. Now knowing what Bubbles had been seeing this whole time, she had ultimately decided that there was only one real solution, and that was to train; to push herself farther and overcome any potential threat to everyone's safety. She began by doing 100 push-ups, then 100 stomach crunches. She then decided to work on her speed and leg strength by doing box jumps. After basic muscle training, she set the simulator to level 1, and began the first mission.
"Here goes…"
The room changed. She was now in a brightly lit basement. After a few moments, a small spider appeared. Though it seemed harmless, the spider carried a poison within itself that could kill the strongest of men. However, it was no match for Buttercup. She swiftly burnt it to a crisp.
"I shouldn't underestimate the weaker opponents. With the right help, they could take me down before I even knew what hit me…"
Buttercup set the simulator to the next level. This was going to be a physical confrontation. No powers were to be used. She remembered what was coming this time.
"The robot," she said to herself.
A toy robot entered the room. She slowly walked up to it. It tried to grab her, but she dodged and knocked its head clean off. Its circuits were now completely exposed. Normally, Buttercup wouldn't have paid much attention to this, but this time, something was different. She ripped as many wires and pieces of metal out of its body as she possibly could.
"I need to be more observant of weak points. If I can break through an enemy's defenses, I can exploit their weaknesses and defeat them more quickly."
The next mission was a fight against a thug armed with a knife. This time, Buttercup used her small size to her advantage. She tripped the thug and disarmed him. The fight lasted no more than about ten seconds. Buttercup did two more missions for the day, the last one involving quick thinking and plan execution. She had stopped a large piece of construction equipment from falling on a pedestrian and crushing them. After that, she called it quits on simulation training for the day. She decided it was time for a shower.
Buttercup went into the bathroom and prepared to get in the tub, but something caught her eye. In fact, it was her eyes that caught her attention in the first place. They seemed less…Green…Than usual.
"Maybe this power Bubbles gave me is messing with my head more than I thought."
Buttercup took her shower and flew back to the room she shared with her sisters. This was going to be a difficult thing for her to deal with, but she had faith it would work out in the end.
