Megan and the Power Puff Girls are best friends now. And she is going to have to hang out with them a lot more often now, especially since her father has gotten a new girlfriend and he won't be able to spend a lot of time with her for a while. Megan meets the Amoeba Boys, a not-so-threatening trio of villains, and also, Princess Morbucks, who is, like the Power Puff Girls, in need of a baby sitter.
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Author's note: I DO NOT OWN THE POWER PUFF GIRLS! CRAIG MCCRACKEN AND WARNER BROTHERS DO!
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Bad-Bad Guys/Talking Things Over
Chapter 6
Two days later I woke up in my bed, got dressed, and headed downstairs. "Hey, Dad," I said in an upbeat tone of voice.
Richard almost dropped his coffee. I could tell I startled him. "Oh, hey," he said, turning around. He smiled. "Wow, you look so…so…"
"Energetic?" I guessed.
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "What are you smiling about?"
"I'm gonna head to the city," I explained.
He frowned. "The city?" he repeated.
"The Utonium's are gonna come with me," I assured him.
He relaxed. "Good," he said. "As long as they're with you, you're fine. Those Power Puff Girls are great kids."
"Yes, they are," I agreed. "Um, Dad, I'm sorry I haven't been able to spend so much time with you lately."
"No, no, that's fine," he said. "I have plans today anyway, so it's good you're gonna get some fresh air."
My eyes widened. "Plans?"
Richard…plans…Richard…plans.
I didn't think he could ever make plans.
"What kinda plans?" I wanted to know.
"I don't know. Just plans," he replied with a shrug. "Actually, Ima's gonna take me to lunch."
"Ima? Who's Ima?" I asked.
"Ima Goodlady from my work place," he reminded me. "Ring a bell?"
"Oh, right, right," I said nodding. "Forgot."
"She's a really nice woman," Richard said quietly to himself.
"Wait a minute," I said. "Is it a date?"
Richard looked around the room for a moment. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, Megan. It's gonna be a date. Ima's single and I'm single. How can it hurt? Your mom's got that Daniel guy. Now it's my turn to get someone again."
"Wow," I chuckled. "I just didn't think you'd bounce back so fast."
"No, I think I've waited," he disagreed.
We just stood there for a moment with awkward silence. Then he finally said, "Well, you should go to the city with the girls now. In an hour or so I'm gonna head to lunch with Ima. But you go. Go."
I was surprised he was so anxious to get me out of the house. But I left. I shouldn't worry about it. Richard was the type of guy who stuck straws in his nose to look like a walrus. The date wouldn't go well. Ima would dump him and then it would just be me and him again. Right?
I walked over to the Utonium's house where Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were waiting right outside for me. They had bright smiles on their faces and were waving excitedly at me.
"Megan!" Bubbles squealed, giving me a big hug. I returned the hug and pat her on the head.
"Hey, Bubbles," I said kindly.
"Wassup!" Buttercup said.
"Nothing much," I replied.
"So you want to go to the city, right?" Blossom asked me.
"Yes I do," I said.
"Cool," Blossom said. "We were thinking of going to Bonsai Gardens Park."
"What's that?" I asked.
"It's a park," Buttercup said.
I laughed. "Well, yeah, I figured that."
"So, let's go," Blossom said. "There's a bus stop over there."
"Wait," I said. "I actually thought we could fly again."
I was still kinda wobbly to walk anywhere with my broken leg and all. I was so surprised Richard hadn't even noticed it in the past few days, even though I was wearing a big white cast with Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup's signatures written all over it in bright colors. I guess he was too preoccupied in trying to impress Miss Ima Goodlady.
"You sure?" Blossom asked me.
"Yeah, I'm sure," I replied.
"Okay," she said. She and her sisters lifted me into the air and flew me over to the city. I looked down at the houses and buildings below me. We passed MoJo's tower. Blossom began speaking to Buttercup in a low tone of voice.
"What are they saying?" I asked Bubbles.
"Oh, they're just talking about MoJo," Bubbles replied. "They're saying he hasn't attacked Townsville ever since he knocked down the power plant building. They think he's planning something big and extreme and that sorta thing."
"I see," I said nodding.
I still didn't know who MoJo was, but he was probably very bad, whoever he was.
Then we got to a very Asian-styled part of Townsville with tons of Japanese restaurants, stores, arts and crafts places, etc.
And then there was the big sign that said Bonsai Gardens Park on it.
"Here we are," Blossom announced.
"Bonsai Gardens Park," Buttercup said.
"The busiest place in Tokyo Townsville!" Bubbles explained.
"Sounds good," I said. I studied the park. There were a bunch of families there. They were swimming, eating, and taking pictures.
Then we landed on the grass. It felt good to be on solid ground, even though my leg still hurt!
"This is nice," I said.
"Yeah, we come here a lot," Bubbles said.
"Most of the time we come with the Professor," Buttercup explained. "He has picnics with us."
"Yep!" Bubbles squealed. "I have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Mmm, they're so good! They're my favorite! I can just taste them!"
"Sounds great," I said.
"I'm just glad there's no crime going on," Blossom sighed of relief.
"Uh oh!" Bubbles gasped, hiding behind her sister and pointing over at a Keep off the Grass sign. Standing there were three human-sized germ-creatures wearing hats! I was startled at the sight of them. The first one was tall yet still a little stout, the second one was very tiny, and the third one was extremely long and skinny.
"What's wrong, Bubbles?" Blossom wanted to know.
"It's the Amoeba Boys!" Bubbles warned.
"Really?" Blossom asked. She and Buttercup glanced at the germs and started laughing. "No worries, Bubbles," Blossom chuckled.
"Yeah," Buttercup cackled. "The Amoeba Boys are no trouble at all. They're the worst bad guys I've ever met."
"The Amoeba Boys?" I repeated in curiosity.
"Yeah," Buttercup said. "They think they're villains, but they're really just stupid."
"I see," I said nodding. It was kinda stupid. Three life-sized germs.
"Eh, Power Puff Girls!" the stout one called in a Brooklyn accent. "Yoo hoo! Why don't ya come o'er here and see what horrible crime we're committin' at the moment!"
"Yes! Very evil!" the tiny one agreed.
"I hope they're being sarcastic," Buttercup groaned.
"Nice try, Amoeba Boys!" Blossom called. "Standing on a Keep off the Grass sign just isn't gonna do. You have to do better than that to get into jail."
The Amoeba Boys looked crushed.
I stood a few feet away from the girls so the germs wouldn't notice me. But it was too late.
"Eh, Power Puff Girls," the stout one said again. He had a big smirk on his dumb face. "Who's your little friend, huh?"
"This is Megan," Bubbles replied.
"What? Why are you telling him?" I wanted to know.
"He's not gonna do anything," Bubbles pointed out.
"Who says I won't, huh?" the germ asked.
"Great, just great," I groaned.
"Say, pleased to meet ya, Megan," the germ continued. "My name's Bossman, by the way. And this, here's Junior, and that, there's Slim."
"Hi," I muttered.
"Don't be scared, Megan. They're harmless," Blossom assured me.
"And now, Megan," Bossman said, holding a little flashlight in the air. "I'm gonna blind ya with this little light thingy!"
He shone the flashlight in my eyes.
"Oh, so scared," I said sarcastically.
"Ya better be," Bossman snapped.
"Yeah, ya better be!" Junior agreed.
"Uh, boss, what are we doing here again?" Slim asked.
Bubbles and Buttercup started laughing. Blossom rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You guys are just annoying," she told the Amoeba Boys. "We know you're never up to any real danger, so could you please not bother us anymore?"
"Hey, who says we're not dangerous?" Bossman wanted to know. "We can be very dangerous! As a matter of fact, we're the most dangerous villains in Townsville!"
"Oh, really?" Buttercup laughed. "Then how come you've never done much destruction to this city before?"
"We wanted to go easy on ya," Bossman explained. "Since you're just little girls and all. We thought maybe we'd cut ya some slack."
"Yeah, cut ya some slack!" Junior agreed.
"What they said," Slim said.
"Excuses, excuses," Blossom sighed, shaking her head. "You guys are trying as hard as you possibly can. You're just very bad at being bad guys."
"That's a lie!" Bossman snapped.
"Prove it!" Buttercup demanded. "Prove it to us that you're really villains. Think of something really evil you've never thought of before. Tell us."
"Um…" the germs said, thinking for a while.
"Don't hurt yourselves," Blossom told them.
"We're not!" Bossman snapped.
"Fine, fine," Blossom said.
She, Bubbles, and Buttercup giggled amongst themselves. I just stood there with them, staring at the Amoeba Boys, waiting for them to give up.
"We got it!" Bossman exclaimed. "If we took over the world we would take away playgrounds so children wouldn't be able to have recess anymore!"
"Sorry," Blossom said. "That just isn't bad enough."
"Yeah, you guys are hopeless," Buttercup said.
"You're a bunch of zeroes!" Bubbles added.
"Zeroes, huh?" Bossman said frowning. "And you think you're so tough, first graders?"
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup nodded.
I thought Bossman was gonna say something really tough to try to get back at them, but instead he just said, "Yes, we know you're tough. That's why we gotta watch what we says around youse."
"You're so pathetic!"
I didn't want those words to slip out of my mouth, but they did.
"Pathetic, huh?" Bossman said. He smirked again. He and the two other germs didn't seem as threatened when I spoke as they did when the Power Puff Girls spoke. "Who you callin' pathetic, cripple? At least we're a deadly disease! You don't have any powers. You just got a broken leg."
I glanced down at my leg and then glared at the germs. They were all laughing at me.
"Don't get angry, Megan," Blossom told me.
"It's not even worth it," Buttercup agreed.
I clenched my fists. I didn't want to get angry. These were just air headed germs. What was there to get angry about? I was just sick of being teased about being weak and powerless. Of course it wasn't so insulting coming from the Amoeba Boys, but what if it came from somebody else? Like Ace?
I was jealous of the Power Puff Girls. They were so much more confident and powerful than I was. They wouldn't let anybody mess around with them. Especially not someone like Ace.
"Well, we're gonna see you later," Blossom told the Amoeba Boys.
"Yeah, go steal an apple or something," Buttercup said to them.
"We're leaving!" Bubbles announced.
"Fine," Bossman said. "But we will see you again. That's a promise. Good bye, Megan."
I ignored him.
I followed the girls over to the end of the park.
"Let's get an ice cream!" Bubbles suggested. There was an ice cream cart where a bunch of little kids were jumping up and down, excitedly awaiting to receive a cone of their own.
"I'll pay," Blossom said, getting a few dollars out of her pocket. "Buttercup, what flavor?"
"Chocolate!"
"Bubbles, what flavor?"
"Chocolate!"
"Megan, what flavor?"
"Uh, chocolate."
"Great! I'll have a chocolate too! Four chocolates coming your way!"
We were almost next in line when a small girl about their age with red hair in two pigtails, freckles, a crown, and a yellow dress marched up to the girls and shouted, "Why, if it isn't the Power Puff Girls! Tell me, what brings you here to Bonsai Gardens Park for an ice cream on this fine day?"
"None of your business, Princess!" Buttercup snapped.
"Yeah, just leave us alone," Bubbles agreed.
"I'll only leave you alone if you make me a Power Puff Girl!" Princess screamed.
Wow, what a temper tantrum.
Then she noticed me. "Who's she? Are you letting her be a Power Puff Girl?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Princess," Blossom scoffed. "She's our baby sitter."
"Baby sitter?" Princess repeated.
"Yes," Blossom said. "And our best friend."
"Yeah, so now you can go wherever you were going and pretend you didn't see us here," Buttercup told Princess. "That way we can pretend we didn't see you here either."
"I'm in need of a baby sitter," Princess said.
"Oh no," Buttercup groaned.
"My daddy's always out of the house at work and my maids never play dollies with me," Princess explained in a sad, innocent voice. "I've always wanted a baby sitter; especially one who's older and smarter who I can look up to like a role model."
"Sorry, you aren't gonna find her here!" Buttercup snapped.
"That's right. You're not!" Bubbles agreed.
Princess ignored them and smiled at me. "Here you go," she said to me. She handed me a hundred dollar bill. My eyes widened.
"Oh my gosh, thanks," I said in disbelief.
"There's more where that came from," Princess pointed out.
A big limousine pulled up on the street. The driver honked the horn.
"That's my ride," Princess said, about to walk away. She looked at me one last time. "So you're gonna baby sit me, right?"
I liked the money but I didn't want the Power Puff Girls to get mad at me, so I used the stock answer, "I'll think about it."
She grinned and got into the limo.
She disappeared.
Blossom got the ice creams and then we sat over at a picnic table to eat them at.
"Who was that?" I asked.
"Princess Morbucks," Bubbles explained. "She's the rottenest girl in Townsville!"
"You aren't gonna baby sit for her, right?" Buttercup asked.
I shook my head. "Of course not. I'm not gonna baby sit anyone who isn't your friend." I lowered my voice, "As long as you don't know about it."
They didn't hear that second part, so they looked satisfied. Bubbles gave me another big hug. I returned the hug. I felt bad. I didn't want to betray them but I did like the money Princess had to offer. And the Lord knew Richard needed it. But I didn't want to lose the Power Puff Girl's friendship.
I would talk it over with Richard.
The next night I sat at dinner with Richard.
"Hey, Dad," I said, finally deciding to tell him about my leg. "Did you notice anything different about me lately?"
"You being happier," Richard replied.
"No, not that," I said. "My leg. It's broken."
"Oh no! I'm sorry, honey. What happened?" he gasped, looking down and seeing the cast.
"I just fell down the stairs," I lied. "The girls tried to catch me but it was too late. I hit the ground before they got to me."
"I'm so sorry," Richard apologized. "I didn't even notice. You should have told me. Well, the girls are nice to have signed your cast."
"Yep," I agreed. "Maybe you can sign it later."
"Sure," he said nodding. "Definitely."
There was another moment of awkward silence.
He decided to speak again, "Um, so I haven't asked you this in a while. How's your time here going? What have you been up to?"
"Nothing much," I replied. "Just baby sitting the girls, hanging out with the girls, spending time with the girls."
He nodded.
"Um, Dad," I said. "There's something else."
"What is it?" Richard asked.
"I got an offer to baby sit Princess Morbucks," I began. His eyes widened and he jumped up in his seat.
"Morbucks?" he repeated.
"Yes," I said.
"Yippee!" he exclaimed, standing up. "Megan, do you know what this means? Morbucks is the richest family in the City of Townsville!"
"Yeah, I figured that," I said. I took that hundred dollar bill out of my pocket and held it up in the air. I had been holding it in my pocket for a little while until the time was right to show it to him. Fortunately, Richard seemed to like it a lot.
"Oh my God!" Richard shouted, grabbing the dollar bill and kissing it. "Thank you, Jesus! Megan, if you baby sit Princess you're gonna get a lot more of these babies! Soon we'll be so rich I won't have to go down to the office anymore; except to see Ima."
"Dad, there's just one problem," I said. He looked at me. I told him, "The Power Puff Girls don't like Princess at all. They don't want me to baby sit for the Morbucks family."
"You can still baby sit for the Utonium's too," he pointed out.
"Well, I know that," I said. "But they just don't want me going anywhere near her. They hate her. They'll never forgive me."
"You don't have to worry about that, Megan," Richard said. "Tell them you need to do it for the money. If they're really your friends they'll understand. They'd probably be fine with it. Next time you see them just let them know that they're always gonna be your favorites, so they don't have to worry about sharing you with Princess."
"Okay, I'll tell them," I said.
Honestly, I wasn't ready to tell them yet.
"Could you excuse me just a minute?" Richard asked, still clinging on to that hundred dollar bill with all his might. "I'm gonna give Morbucks a call."
He sang a victory-song and dialed Morbuck's number on the phone.
"Hello?" he said. "Is this Mr. Morbucks? ... Hello! … Oh, who am I? I'm Richard Brody... No, I don't work with you… I know you don't know who I am, but I need to talk to you… Don't hang up! Please! Let me explain! … Thank you. Okay, it seems to me your daughter made an offer to my daughter for her to baby sit-"
"Daddy! Give me that!"
I could hear Princess's loud voice over the phone. I could hear her as she spoke to my dad.
"Yes! Yes! A thousand billion gazillion times yes!"
"Well, that sounds good to me," Richard chuckled.
Then Princess hung up.
"Well, Megan," Richard said, setting the phone down on the table. "Looks like you got a job."
"Guess so," I sighed.
"And it's worth lots and lots of Morbucks!" Richard laughed.
"Dad, that wasn't funny," I said.
"Sorry," he apologized.
"That's okay," I assured him.
After that there was another long moment of awkward silence."Dad, by the way, how did it go with Ima?" I asked curiously.
His eyes lit up when I mentioned her name.
"Ima?" he repeated.
"Your date," I said.
"Oh yes, my date with Ima," he remembered. He looked excited. "She liked it. She liked the date a lot. She said she's gonna be seeing a lot more of me."
That was what I was afraid of.
"That's great, Dad," I told him.
"Thank you," he said. He looked proud of himself so I tried to feel happy.
But how could someone like him attract someone like her? He snored during football games and she probably dined with celebrities.
"I'm happy for you, Dad," I said faintly.
Just then I remembered how I felt when Anna found Daniel, and then I remembered how I felt when Anna left Richard. Now I was gonna feel the same way about Richard finding Ima. And it wasn't a great feeling. The only thing that would make it worse would be if Richard got married to Ima. Hopefully Richard wouldn't go that extreme.
"Let's see what happens," Richard said.
I didn't like to wish bad things but I wished that maybe Ima would break up with Richard during one of their next few dates. I had already lost a parent to another. I didn't want that to happen again.
"I think I might go upstairs," I said.
"That sounds good," he told me. "Get some rest."
"Dad," I said when I was at the top of the stairs.
"Yes?" he asked looking up at me.
"Are you going on any dates with Ima again soon?" I asked him.
"I don't know," he replied. "Maybe."
"Okay," I said. Then I disappeared into the upstairs hallway. I sat on my bed and started crying. I didn't want to deal with this.
I dialed the Utonium's number.
Not my mother's.
I wanted to speak with the girls.
"Yes?" the Professor's voice said.
"Hey, Professor, this is Megan," I said. "I need to speak with the girls, if that's okay. Are they still awake?"
"Yeah, they're awake," he replied. "I'll give the phone to one of them." I listened as he called the girls over.
"Hey, Megan."
It was Blossom.
"Hi, Blossom," I said, trying not to sob loudly. "I wanted to talk to you guys cause I'm in great need of friends, and you're the best friends I have. Actually, you're the only friends I have."
"Are you okay?" Blossom asked. "Are you in trouble?"
"Well, not really," I replied.
"Then what is it?"
"My dad has a girlfriend."
"Isn't that a good thing, though?"
"I don't know," I said honestly. "Cause my parents got divorced a few years ago and then my mom found another guy really quickly, and it hurt when they got married. I thought my mom would never spend any time with me, and I was halfway right.
"She's always busy and always spends time with Daniel. Sometimes she tries to spend time with me, but it's not enough. Sometimes she forgets about me. And the same's happening now."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Blossom sighed. "I know how you feel because that almost happened to the Professor. The girls and I felt the same exact way that you feel right now."
"What happened?" I asked curiously.
"It's a long story," Blossom said. "But I'll tell it to you. One day we were grocery shopping and the Professor met this really pretty lady. They started dating and we were okay with it at first, but then it got annoying, and she was really mean to the girls and I. But she pretended to be nice when the Professor was around. So he liked her a lot.
"Then one day when we were supposed to be out saving the day she grounded us, because growing girls were supposedly not supposed to save the world. But then we found out that the reason she was grounding us from saving the world was because she was really a super villain in disguise, and didn't want us to give her any trouble.
"Finally we caught her when she came home. The Professor came home and saw who she really was. He sent her off to jail and promised he'd never let a woman come between him and us ever again."
"Wow, that sounds complicated," I said.
"It was, but the ending was fine," Blossom pointed out.
"But my dad's girlfriend isn't a super villain," I sighed. "She really cares about him a lot."
"Hey, Megan."
It was Buttercup's voice now.
"Hi, Buttercup."
"Hi, Megan!"
Bubbles' voice.
"Hi, Bubbles."
"Yep, we're all here," Blossom said.
"It's a bummer about your dad," Buttercup said.
"I know," I agreed.
"But we're here for you," Blossom assured me.
"Thank you," I said.
"You can stay on the phone with us until you fall asleep," Bubbles said.
"Thank you," I said, feeling all emotional. "You are the best friends anyone could ever have."
I said each word with such passion. I could tell they knew I knew they were the best friends anyone could have. They really were. They were super friends. I felt bad about baby sitting for Princess Morbucks, but my family needed the money. Between the salaries her dad would pay my dad and with what Ima would lend Richard, I'd be rich. And the girls would just have to understand that it's for the greater good for my family, if they really were my friends, which I knew they were. But I couldn't tell them yet. Not yet.
"You're our best friend too," Bubbles said.
I wished she were here so I could've hugged her.
"Megan, maybe you'll like the new lady," Blossom pointed out. "I know change is hard, but maybe it'll be a good change."
"Yeah," Buttercup chuckled. "She can't be a crazy villain like the one who tried to steal the Professor."
"You'll just have to see," Bubbles said.
"Maybe," I sighed. "She is really nice to him at work and stuff. She sounds like a good person."
"That's good," Blossom said.
"But Daniel's a good person too," I pointed out. "And I didn't like it when he married my mother. I don't want change."
I prayed to God I wouldn't cry too loudly.
"You just have to give her a chance," Blossom said. "Have you ever actually met her?"
"Well, kinda, not really," I explained. "I went to my dad's work place and she walked by and said hi to him. I didn't meet her. I just saw her."
"Do you think your dad will invite her to dinner or something so you can meet her?"
"I hope not," I muttered.
"Don't worry, Megan," Buttercup said. "If you don't like her, I can just beat her up."
"That's not a good idea, Buttercup," I sighed.
"Well, I'm just saying, that's all."
"It's a nice offer, but I don't think Richard would appreciate that very much."
Soon I zoned out into La la land and I could no longer hear what they were telling me. I think they knew I fell asleep because I wouldn't have stopped talking otherwise.