"How's the book coming?"
Blossom yawned. "Slowly. There's a lot of fieldwork involved. I spent most of last night at Fuzzy's cousin's house quizzing him on Lumpkin lore."
"I was wondering why you were so sluggish today. You're usually much more alert." Ms. Bellum set the stack of papers she was carrying on Blossom's desk. She had aged well over the past twenty years- there was grey in her hair and yet she still turned heads faster that any one else in the city. "So what did he tell you?"
"Well, their creation myth is... interesting to say the least." Blossom began shuffling through the papers. "What happened to E. 626?"
"The experimentation bill? He's revising it."
"Again?"
"Again."
Blossom shook her head. "Right. So Frizzy- Fuzzy's cousin- was telling me about this old deity that supposedly lived in the volcano."
"Really?"
"Yeah. 'The Black God.'"
"Huh." Ms. Bellum leaned casually against the desk, crossing her legs as she did so. "You know, when I was a girl, there were some pretty wild rumours about that volcano. There was supposed to be a cave up there somewhere."
Blossom looked up. "Oh?"
Bellum nodded. "Mm-hm. I remember this one story..."
Ted Bares was a good kid. Not very smart, but good nonetheless. A kind soul. Even as a kid, he was known to be among the nicest students in Townsville- he would have made an excellent target for bullies had it not been for Domina Trix. Domina wasn't one for classes- she'd rather be outside experiencing life rather than learning about it, and she was known for starting a few fights outside of class, and finishing quite a few more. She was one of Ted's closest friends.
But as tough as Domina was and as kind as Ted was, they didn't seem quite complete until Amy Gadala joined them. Amy was a tranfer student from Citiesville, and quite the bookworm. As such, she became the target of bullying. Ted, of course, reached out to her, and with him came Domina. But despite Domina's protection, the bullying persisted- it seemed Amy wasn't quite as vocal about her suffering as Ted was, and chose to bear her pain in silence.
She did have one hobby though- exploring the volcano in Townsville's park. Every day she'd go up to it. Ted and Domina never went with her, however. But one day, during class, Amy went up to them. "You have to come with me to the volcano tonight! You won't believe what I found!"
The two hesitated. They didn't want to go. The volcano had always been a bit frightening to them.
"But you have to see! Just this once- I'll never ask again."
So of course the two relented. And that day, after class, they went with Amy to the volcano.
Amy returned later that and Domina weren't with her. They were never seen again. But then, neither were the bullies.
Blossom stared at her, mulling the story over. "So Amy found the cave?"
Ms. Bellum chuckled. "It's just an urban legend." She straightened up. "But if you're that curious, you can always go to the volcano and check it out yourself."
The two grinned at each other. Ms. Bellum shrugged and tapped her papers on the desk. "All right, enough chitchat, I've got to get these to the Mayor."
"Let me know if he's finished E. 626."
"I will."
"I know, Professor, I know, and I'm really sorry, but-"
"No no, I understand." Utonium's voice was filled with barely concealed dissapointment. "I know you're busy, what with the mayor and the monsters and the book..."
"I'll make it up to you." Blossom promised.
"I know you will sweetie. I'll talk to you later." There was a bit of rustling on the other side of the phone.
"Wait, Professor-"
"Yes?" His voice was so hopeful it made Blossom's stomach churn. She already felt guilty enough, cutting out on a family dinner, she hated having to dissapoint him twice. But...
"WWhat do you know about the volcano?"
"The volcano?" Blossom twisted a piece of tissue in her hand. He just sounded so crestfallen.
"Yeah, um, Ms. Bellum was telling me about an urban legend regarding the volcano, and I was wondering what studies had been performed on it?"
"You know, now that I think of it, I don't think there have been any studies."
"None at all?"
"Nope."
"But it's right in the middle of Townsville! Surely someone must have done some research! I mean, what if it erupted or something?"
"Well, there's a very surly monkey living on top of it." The Professor pointed out. "And besides, I don't think it's ever erupted."
"Never?"
"I could be wrong. Check the newspaper records."
"I will. Thank you Professor."
"You're welcome."
"I'll call you later okay? Maybe we can do lunch."
"Sure thing."
They said their farewells and hung up. Blossom still felt the stone of guilt in her stomach. But if she wanted time to explore the volcano, then she needed to get ahead in her work. That's just the way it was. Sighing, she shuffled her papers and glanced around the empty office. The mayor had left hours ago, and Ms. Bellum not long after. The Pink Puff clicked her pen open. Better get back to work.
Despite her plans, Blossom's next day off was not dedicated to the exploration of the increasingly mysterious volcano. It was dedicated to the raging ten-story goldfish that was terrorizing the city.
"To the left, Buttercup! Left!"
"I know which way's left, Blossom!"
"Then stop aiming to the right!"
"Will you two DO something?" Bubbles strained backwards as she pulled on the fish's dorsal fins, keeping the thrashing monster relatively in one space. Buttercup was searing the fish's side to little avail, as Blossom tried to freeze the monster's fins to the road.
The fish roared and threw itself down on top of Blossom. Bubbles lost her grip and went careening into a nearby building.
"Hey!" Buttercup shot down and began smashing the her fists into the monster, who in turn started flopping up and down like... well, like a fish out of water.
A shaky Bubbles glided over to her sister. "Where's Blossom?"
"Under this thing! Help me get it up!"
The two girls flew up and grabbed the fins, Buttercup taking the fins while Bubble took hold of the dorsal. "On three!" Buttercup shouted. "One-"
"Two!"
"Three!" the two Puffs heaved upward. Buttercup shot off and nearly into a building as the fins tore from the fish, which roared again and began flopping with even more ferocity.
Buttercup recovered quickly. "Now what do we do?"
Bubbles glanced around. "Okay. Lets get to the side and push." Buttercup nodded, an the two shot back to the fish's side.
The fish was a lot heavier than it looked, and hard to grip due to it's thrashing. Straining, the two girls managed to lift it just above Blossom, who crawled slowly out from under it. "Thanks."
The Blue and Green Puffs dropped the fish heavily back to the ground, where it cratered the asphalt. "Now what?"
Blossom snapped her nose- broken by the fish- back into place. "All right. Manouver #336. We can't do anything while it's flailing like that. We have to stun it."
The Powerpuff Girls circled into the sky. Spreading out, Blossom glanced at her sisters to make sure they were in position. She raised her arms in the air. "Ready? On my mark. Set. GooooOOOOOOOO!"
She ended her word with a powerful screech, which her sisters immediately joined in. The air seemed to bend around the force of their screams, and the fish monster's flailing began to slow until it finally lay still, thoroughly concussed.
It took a bit of manouvering, but the girls finally managed to lift their vanquished foe into the air and started to carry him out of the city.
It was on their way back from dropping it in the ocean that Buttercup started talking. "So where do you wanna go?"
"What do you mean?" Blossom asked, puzzled.
Buttercup rolled on her back and pointed at her watch, not even losing momentum as she did so. "Lunch! I don't know about you, but I'm in the mood for sushi."
"Maybe Chinese?" Bubbles suggested.
"Same thing."
"What do you want, Blossom?"
"Sorry girls, but I won't be able to make it." The Pink Puff made a point of not looking at her sisters.
"Come on, Blossom. You just spent your entire morning saving Townsville. I'm sure the Mayor can afford you a lunch break." Buttercup rolled her eyes.
"It's not that, it's just, I had plans, and-"
"Is something wrong, Blossom?" Bubbles flew over to be at an even level with her sister. "You've been distant lately."
"I've just been busy."
"Too busy for lunch with us?" Bubbles sounded hurt.
"Too busy for dinner with the Professor?" Buttercup flew up under the pink sister and crossed her arms.
"I explained that-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Buttercup straightened herself up and started flying normally.
"At least go home and lie down." Bubbles pleaded. "That fish hit you pretty hard."
"I'm fine." Blossom pulled up short. "I've gotta go. You two have fun."
Green and Blue watched Pink fly off. Bubbles shrugged. Buttercup crossed her arms.
Gliding through her apartment window, Blossom set herself down in the livingroom- and promptly wobbled. She steadied herself against the wall. Bubbles's request came back to her, and she shook it aside. If she took today off, she'd have to wait a whole week before she had the time to try again. She was far too curious for that, so after a glass of water and a quick once-over to ensure that any injuries she'd sustained in the fight were minor, she grabbed her bag and was back out the window.
The Pink Puff made no attempt at subtlety or camouflage as she flew to the volcano- Mojo Jojo had been incarcerated only a week before, and the observatory lay empty. Said observatory sealed the mouth of the volcano quite effectively- have helped build it, she didn't even bother looking for an enterence that way. She circled the mountain slowly, seeking another path to molten core.
She had taken the Professor's advice and scanned through the archived newspapers for mention of studies or eruptions regarding the volcano. They only went back so far, about fifty or so years before the preserved papers became erratic. Gaps of two months, ten months, two weeks, a year, and one that spanned a decade made the research all but pointless. In fact, the only information she was able to sift out of them was that of omission: There was no mention of eruption, no mention of studies. There was only one article in all the years journalism regarding the volcano, and that was the building of Mojo's observatory. Trust Townsville to pay little to no attention to lava-filled mountain in their midst.
She was finally rewarded for her search about half-way up the volcano. Had she been going her regular speed she would have missed it, but there behind some bushes was what appeared to be a small cave. Blossom set herself down in front of it, then immediately lifted herself backinto the air. She was still a bit shaky, and decided that, for now at least, it would be best if she stayed airborne.
The cave wasn't much taller than she was, and surprisingly dark. She peered into the shadows, trying to gauge how deep it went. Sighing, she pulled a flashlight out of her bag and began to float into the cave.
Almost immediately her ears started ringing. It was irritating at first, but she chalked it up to the eerie silence that settled in almost as soon as she entered. She ran the light over the ceiling and walls. No bats, so the cave wasn't inhabited. There weren't even any mushrooms or lichen growing, only repetitive stone as far as the flashlight reached.
A few paces in the cave's path split. There didn't seem to be anything particularly differant about either path- both were the same height, same width, and just as devoid of life as the enterance. Both also bent out of sight. Blossom mentally flipped a coin and veered left.
Just beyond the turn the path began to veer up. To Blossom's surprise, the incline seemed to be carved into stairs. She alighted and knelt down to inspect it. The steps- if that's what they were- were worn heavily down the middle, as though they'd once seen a great deal of use. She turned and began to inspect the walls. They seemed plain enough, but...
She squinted. They seemed to be rather simplistic images, akin to cave paintings. She resisted the urge to touch them, and instead took a step back and began fishing around her bag for her camera.
After snapping a few pictures for later referance, Blossom took to the air. While she could now stand and keep herself balanced, she didn't quite trust herself to walk any great distance, let alone climb a rapidly steepening set of stairs.
While she could have been to the end of the path and back in less than a heartbeat, Blossom chose to move through the tunnel slowly, observing the images as they came. There weren't many, nowhere near as many as she shoped for, but the ones that were there were large, some taller than the PowerPuff herself. She stopped frequently to take pictures, and so by the time she reached the end, she had been in the volcano's walls for nearly two hours.
It looked like a cave-in. While the tunnel walls were relatively smooth and clearly hand-carved, the path's end was little more than an irregular pile of rocks. Blossom sighed and rubbed her forehead. So much for that adventure- she didn't have the strength to clear the rocks away today.
Her return to the mouth of the cave was much faster. I'll have to come back when I'm not so tired. She thought to herself, although she immediately felt bitterly dissapointed- that could be anywhere from days to weeks from now, with the way the Mayor ran things. She supposed she could put in for vacation time- but she usually saved that for Christmas or an exceptionally detailed assault by one of Townsville's local rogues. Blossom was mulling over just calling in sick when she reached the cave's opening, and she immediately shielded her eyes from the sunlight.
She immediately did a double-take.
"What are you doing here?"
"Eh heh heh, hi Mojo."
