Bubbles had much to think about the following day, as the events of yesterday night came back all too clearly to her as she wearily picked herself up from the comfortable armchair she had somehow fallen asleep on when she returned home after an interesting confrontation with Princess.
She had learned so little, yet at the same time so much from a short and awkward talk between them.
She had expected something quite out of the ordinary when she flew out that night to investigate the crying noise which roused her attention somehow.
But Princess was the last person she could have thought would need her help that badly, and yet be so afraid to seek for it.
But then again she had never given Princess the best first impression when they first met, and so in her mind Princess had every right to be this unwilling to even communicate with her.
Just as she had feared, Princess had been very cryptic about what it was that she really wanted. Bubbles would have thought that making Princess another Powerpuff girl would have been the solution that would finally put an end to this pointless rivalry which had already lasted a great deal too long.
It was the events of yesterday when as difficult to notice as it was, Bubbles could tell by the intonation in Princess's words even as she spoke them one by one that becoming a Powerpuff girl was not what would make her happy.
It had never been what she truly wanted to begin with, and anyone with more common sense and compassion than Blossom, Buttercup and herself at the time would have realized that.
As Bubbles had slowly learned over the years she spent reflecting on the many struggles she and her sisters had been through to see this day, what people meant and what people said was more often than not two very different things altogether.
This was true whether you were a reputable and well spoken-off heroine like Buttercup her sister, or a misunderstood and mistreated bully such as in the case of Princess.
It seemed complicated at first, but boiled down to the simple saying "It's not who you are on the outside that really matters".
How long it would be before Buttercup and Blossom realized this wise and beautiful moral, she didn't know. But perhaps the day they did, they would finally begin to see what Bubbles saw. And that was that the more different two enemies might have seemed to each other, the more similarities in personality and desires they would turn out to share.
And as difficult a fact as it was for even the most optimistic of peacemakers to accept, Bubbles had realized long ago mostly from watching as enemies banded together from time to time to give her sisters an even harder challenge than fighting them singly that a common goal was the most important foundation for any kind of partnership including friendship.
Bubbles disliked learning lessons from such a shady place, but she had to agree that the most dangerous adversaries that she had dealt with revolved around those such as the Rowdyruff boys who had managed to some degree to form a team of sorts rather than stupidly trying to take on her and her sisters alone.
A worthy opponent was still a worthy opponent, even if they were an enemy. And any self respecting hero, gave credit where credit was due.
And if villains who intended harm upon innocents had gotten so far by forming even rudimentary and uneasy truces with one another, what was stopping the people of the city doing the same to better shield each other from those dangers.
And how was any city meant to tackle threats from outside effectively, when the very citizens were wasting time fighting each other making themselves easy prey for any outside threat crafty and sadistic enough to take advantage of their stupidity.
It was this reason, concluded Bubbles, which sparked her goal of wanting to strip the mayor of all his power since he was clearly not helping matters by abusing his position and putting the relationships that the city folk did have with one another further in jeopardy.
Her first goal were she to succeed she once again reminded herself, was not to begin organizing a better defense against external dangers that were as always prevalent though this would still be one of her first priorities afterwards.
It also wasn't about establishing better relationships starting with the surrounding towns and cities that mayor had turned his back on, since that was also important if Bubbles was going to put a permanent stop to the conflict she had seen for far too long.
No, those were both bad places to start. Since what good was any attempt to achieve anything when the people in the city never listened to each other, and would often even work against each other.
The war still happening between the monsters and the city, wasn't the one that required the most attention.
The most worrying conflict was none other than the silly and pointless one between the very people themselves, who were prepared to endanger each other's lives despite the blatant danger that they were all mutually involved in together.
That had to stop now at any cost.
Loud yelling had been the cue that roused Bubbles from the realm of sleep this sunrise, as a loud clamor of shouts and yells came from outside.
So many shouts and growls came at the same time, so Bubbles hadn't the faintest idea of what was being said.
Blossom and Buttercup had clearly heard too, since they were already anxiously peeking out from the upstairs window when Bubbles found them this morning after a brief search around the house.
"What is happening?" asked Bubbles, trying to sound clueless despite already having a very good idea of what awaited. She had been waiting many long, restless nights for this after all. She had never expected this to come so soon though.
Blossom's only reply was to turn around briefly, gesturing for Bubbles to stand at another window to look at the commotion outside which Bubbles quickly complied with.
It was difficult to say whether her emotion in the next few seconds could best be summed up as proud, or incredibly shameful and regretful.
One of a few police teams that the mayor did have at his disposal were waving batons and guns yelling for a gigantic crowd that had gathered on the road, to stop immediately before force was taken.
This however only seemed to enrage the crowd more and more as they responded in kind, some angrily waving makeshift and improvised arms they had hastily gathered not limited to baseball bats and golf clubs.
"We won't listen to the mayor anymore." Bubbles managed to make out amidst the shouts and insults.
"Terrible isn't it?" asked Blossom, her eyes still glued to another window.
Bubbles couldn't bring herself to reply. Instead she resolutely turned away from the window and quietly crept downstairs to get a coffee.
She had to think, and she couldn't do that on a still half asleep mind that was still drowsy from last night's outing.
She swore she heard the sound of breaking glass, as she crept into the kitchen after seeing the professor was nowhere to be found.
This was the most important step in her plan, and she couldn't afford even the slightest hiccup.
Several options began to present themselves to her as she finished mixing hot water with the coffee granules she had placed in a mug, and sipped the bitter yet refreshing hot beverage.
And all of them were pretty risky and bad. Not one of them seemed the better or wiser.
She could sit and do nothing, pretending that this entire fiasco was none of her business so that at least if the riots outside were unsuccessful, none of the blame would be focused on her.
The only problem with that, was that for her to have come so far and then to just back down like this would undermine everything she stood for in this mission she had undertaken upon herself. Not to mention that her sisters were bound to get the truth out of her soon, since she was not very good at hiding things and hated having to lie. And that would definitely be far, far worse than if they found out here and now on the spot. Since at least then she could at least claim she had been somewhat upfront about her intentions and that might illicit a small degree of sympathy for her plight, however small.
Many other options had come into her mind at first, but she quickly pushed one after another one away as she sipped the black and bitter liquid.
They were in reality just convoluted and needlessly elaborate versions of the only two real paths she could take at these crossroads where turning back simply wasn't an option.
Buttercup could have put her feelings into words far better than herself in this tense moment as the caffeine already began to work it's energizing effects on the now rapidly perking up Bubbles as she ceased her yawns and sat up straighter.
It came down to two very obvious choices where only a cowardly custard would choose wrongly.
Take a chance and risk everything, or play it safe and lose out at once.
Bubbles took one last glance at the adorable picture of her sisters and her smiling together next to their dad the professor.
Her eyes narrowed as she clenched her teeth, dispelling the last of her fears as she focused the willpower she had been building for years and years now to step in and do something more than just watch as her efforts to save life after life always ended in futility when another monster or criminal fell upon the city right after one had been dealt with.
Draining the last of her morning drink in one gulp and taking a brief moment to relish in the tingling sensation of wellness as even more caffeine raced through her knackered system. She took one last look upstairs, knowing that her already shocked sisters would soon be even more amazed by what was about to happen.
And resisting the urge to return upstairs out of fear that they would catch on and try to stop her, she unlocked the back door and bravely marched outside, soaring higher and higher almost instantly as she threw the door shut behind her.
Picking up height, she flew higher and higher until she now had a very clear view of the two crowds that had gathered out the front street.
Nodding to herself, she descend slightly still keeping a good height between herself and the ground.
In the time she had spent trying to formulate a plan, the crowd of people had charged forward despite the fact that many of the policemen were for once armed with what appeared to be well crafted rifles.
They were rapidly closing the distance between them and the police team, and she swore she heard a shot ring out and a cry of pain as she swooped down at the ground.
The remaining police were quickly following that example and aiming their weapons but Bubbles was determined not to let that happen.
She knew she had less than an instant to react.
"It's me." Bubbles had shouted, causing many officers to avert their glance towards where she was still hovering, many of them beginning to smile when they saw their favored heroine before them thinking she would no doubt assist them with this odd struggle they had found themselves in.
They could not have been more wrong.
In the next second, a gigantic beam of extremely hot laser blasts had been loosed at the place where the uniformed men with guns had taken up position. It billowed rapidly at the ground, exploding when it met the earth causing a thick sheet of smog to be thrown up.
The rebellious crowd who the blast had left surprisingly untouched did not wait to see what would happen next as they continued charging into the smog yelling frantically.
Dull thuds and the sounds of a struggle could be heard as the smoke began to clear, revealing a carnage filled tussle where many of the uniformed officers lay twitching on the ground and those who could still stand were battling for their very lives as rebellious citizens clashed with them and attempted to maul at them in any way they could. Some swung at the uniformed officers with bats and clubs and some even with just their fists, while others gripped the officer nearest to them in a headlock.
The diversion had provided the few seconds the crowd needed to gain the upper hand despite their relatively poor weapons and now the policemen's rifles were of no use despite being of greater reach than any of the melee based arms carried by the rebels.
Bile coated Bubbles's tongue as she realized that she had indeed flouted the law by seriously wounding if not outright killing several enforcers.
But then she steadied herself as she acknowledged what would have become of the rebelling citizens had she not intervened. It was a choice between two wrongs, and in choices such as these the only thing you could really do was to kill the lesser amount.
But Bubbles had no time to stay and ponder, this revolution needed her help if it were to really succeed.
She did take the time to give an answering salute, when a middle aged man dressed in a shabby hooded jumper looked up at her with a grateful smile to wave a thank you. It was all he had time to muster, before he had to dive back into the fray taking another officer by the neck.
She quickly increased speed as she zipped away, using the rundown buildings to cover her path as best she could so that her next attack would be more of a surprise.
She stopped when she came to yet another violent clash between citizen and authorities, this one taking place in what appeared to be a shady alley.
The citizens were clearly not doing well, despite this group of police seeming to be armed only with batons and riot shields.
Hardening herself to what she knew would later haunt her dreams for the rest of her inevitably long life as a super powered heroine, she flew to the top of what appeared to be an apartment of sorts and taking one look at the decaying stonework of the triangular roof, gave the structure a heavy punch followed by a series of even stronger kicks.
It was a move Buttercup had taught her some time ago when she was showing off her superior fighting techniques and once again bragging about how much better at combat she was compared to either Blossom or Bubbles.
She had called this move, the rain of pain.
As Bubbles had hoped, several heavy stones had crashed down into the crowds below. She had aimed her blows carefully so that they would only cause the stones to fall onto the policemen on the far side of the alley.
The point of this strike being not only to cause some serious damage, but to confuse and disorientate since having debris that was hard enough to shatter skulls falling in a constant rain was bound to really weaken their resolve. It was much less risky than a laser beam which was both difficult to aim and hard to control.
With their allies in the back rows now cowering as they struggled to shield themselves against the heavy rain of rubble, the front row fell an easy prey to the furious group of protesters as they easily pushed forward. Among them were angry children who seemed just as frantic about the whole ordeal as their much older and stronger guardians.
One such child, a young black boy who seemed at most to be maybe ten or eleven who had the luxury of relative safety in the back row of protesters saw the sweating and huffing Bubbles and managed to give a smile and wave as well as mouthing what sounded like "thank you.".
Bubbles nodded, before zipping away to find yet more places that needed her presence.
Not realizing that by now, her sisters were frantically speeding through street after street trying to find her after seeing the extremely violent actions she had began undertaking in the front street of their house.
Neither sister said a word to each other, as they silently sped through block after block to try and locate the sibling who they only now realized had gone rogue.
They didn't know that they were already too late. They hadn't suspected anything like this.
Thinking quickly, Bubbles altered her flight route in a direction she knew would take her close to city hall as she accelerated to as great a speed as she could muster. She slowed down only to take an aimed shot with her laser eyes when she saw a group of police locked in a incredibly one sided fight with poorly equipped citizens. The very citizens they were supposed to protect and guard with their lives.
Several unprepared men fell to Bubbles's deadly aim, as she quickly sped away before they could retaliate or register what just happened.
With her support, she could by now see that gradually the enforcers who had finally decided to show their face after neglecting their jobs for far too long were gradually dwindling in number and more and more citizens were no longer busy fighting as they ran through the street, also headed mostly for city hall eager to have the best view for what they all hoped would be the grand finale this showdown really deserved.
Many wore bliss and euphoria, as they were pleasantly surprised to see that it was not just some random and unimportant guy who no one cared about leading the campaign, but one of the very heroines they had trusted their lives to.
The fact that out of all three, this was the one who they were most comfortable around and the one who had won the happiest citizen contest several years in a row made them all the more joyous. They would have not have been as surprised if it turned out to be the quick tempered and pessimistic Buttercup who had led the smear campaign, and was now actively taking on the mayor's remaining loyal forces.
But this was none other than little Bubbles, the cute and relatively nonviolent one. They could tell just from the way she regarded them as she flew past block after block delivering judgement from above that she was not out for revenge nor personal gain.
For her to be resorting to any form of violence without her sisters must have meant she had a very good reason for doing so.
A large crowd was already standing by city hall almost in eager anticipation as Bubbles closed the remaining distance, easily dispersing the remaining few guards trying to seal off the streets with a few laser blasts.
She didn't even have to hit them directly, a warning shot did the trick well enough when these slightly more logical officers realized that their closest and most powerful ally had been turned against them.
They hadn't the power to contain even a few petty and unskilled thieves without her intervention, let alone a large scale organized rebellion. Not that they really even wanted to hurt her after all she had done for the city. Though their loyalties still lay with Mr Mayor, they did secretly hope that a brighter future beckoned when he was inevitably stripped of his power.
It was while all this was going on that the remaining two Powerpuffs were still wildly swerving from street to street, as they called the name of their beloved sister to no avail. They only saw group after group of what were supposed to be the city's guards and enforcement teams, fighting what was now a losing battle against the people who had finally grown tired of their complacency. Large smoking craters left in the middle of some of the streets told a grisly tale that their sister had most certainly been where those were.
They wanted to stop and ask someone if they just happened to see Bubbles passing through, but everyone was locked in one struggle or another as the mayor's remaining loyalists tried in vain to subdue the revolution.
But neither girl was any wiser that it was already much too late as their sister soared over crowds of cheering people and made for the window on the top floor of what was by now a very old and quaint center of government.
She knew Mr Mayor would be sitting there waiting for her like he always was, and his assistant too.
He should have known that one day this conversation was coming.
Thank you so much once more for reading. I do apologize that I made some silly typing errors on I think it was chapter 8. I have gone back and fixed those. I understand the build up might have been less than what you expected, but I also realized that to make the wait drag on and on forever would just ruin the point and possibly delay the climax for so long it might never come out.
I do apologize if any character acted out of character. I'm not very good at that yet and I would appreciate some help with that. And as usual please understand that these take a long time to think up and type, and that sometimes error's are inevitable when you're trying to get something out in so little time. I would really appreciate any thoughts you have on this work, I do read every one of your comments and I treasure them like gold.
So once again, I would now like to hear your thoughts. What do you think happens now that the fight against Mr Mayor is now in full swing?
What changes will have to be made so that Townsville becomes the safe and happy haven it deserves to be for the innocent people that live there?
And what obstacles stand between our kind and altruistic young hero and her vision of a better place for everyone?
I would love to hear what you think and I will see you in the next chapter which may take some time. Bye bye.