Chemical X-hancements

A Powerpuff Girls Fanfic by: Richard G. Eubanks (Part of the What Felt Like Forever After Series)

Chapter 1: Cruel Metal Adversary

The city of Townsville... is gonna need a BIG can of bug spray! A huge cicada-like monster was spewing acid on the streets and buildings of Townsville. Who's going to save us!? "We're on it!" Called out three voices. It was the Powerpuff Girls; Townsville's heroes! They dive-bombed towards the cicada monster, landing punch after punch, kick after kick, and beat down the monster using their amazing super powers. Thus leaving Townsville safe yet again! Thanks girls! After bowing to the citizens while they were perched on a stable building, they flew off back to their home; the Professor wanted to them to see a special something he was working on. Supposedly, it was something that would help the girls in battle in case they really needed the extra support. "What's that you're holding Professor?" Bubbles asked.

"I'm glad you asked. This is the very thing that I've made that will hopefully give you an upper hand in a tight spot." The Professor explained. "I call it the X-hancing ring. All you have to do is tap this little button here, and it'll tap into the Chemical X in your body; making your abilities even stronger!"

"Sounds interesting. But when are ever going to find ourselves in a spot similar to when we finally defeated HIM? Or when Mojo actually managed to kill us?" Blossom asked; still skeptical about the ring.

"Well. You could always try it out now in the training room; I finally managed to get the lizard monster's description and abilities correct." The Professor offered; also remembering how Buttercup told him several years ago to install a cyborg-chameleon battle simulation.

"I guess we could; it couldn't hurt to try right girls?" Blossom accepted the offer; but did her sisters?

"I'll try anything once." Buttercup said. "Unless it's onions... blech."

"I'll try it too Professor." Bubbles added.

"I know you're all saying yes to not hurt my feelings. But I believe you're also willing regardless." He then brought his daughters to the training room, and closed the door behind him. The girls entered the training room and put the rings onto their arms. The Professor was in front of the control panel; using a new option that allowed him to switch to specific monsters and amount of monsters for the girls to fight. He set the amount to one, and set the monster to the cyborg-chameleon. He set the danger level for level twelve this time; this was an extra addition along with the monster settings. "Now remember girls, to activate the rings' power you just tap the buttons!" The Professor reminded the girls. "Are you ready?" He asked.

"We're ready!" They yelled back.

"Alright. Beginning mission!" The Professor then pressed the startup button and the girls found themselves in the same spot they fought the monster in; at the Town Hall (except it wasn't raining this time). It didn't look any different than the one they fought.

"Ok so... how exactly did you beat this thing again?" Blossom asked; playing with her scarf.

"We went in that thing's chest region, and blew it's core to bits!" Buttercup explained enthusiastically.

"Well if that's what we need to do to defeat it. Let's fly to it girls!" Blossom ordered. Then all three girls flew directly towards their foe who lashed its tongue out at them. When it retracted its tongue, it then released the drones from a capsule on its backside. "Funny. I don't remember that being there before..." Blossom vaguely remembered there being no capsule on the backside of the lizard. But before she could comment on it again, they were already in the lizard's mouth by this point. They travelled down its throat making their way past some defensive spikes that were lined up around the inside.

"These definitely were not here before..." Buttercup commented. The entrance to the lizard's core was then revealed before them. Everything looked as it did four years prior, only the core's defense was amplified now that there were three girls instead of two. "Okay Professor; what'd you do with this thing? It didn't look THIS complex when we were fighting it!" Buttercup yelled out to the currently unseeable Professor.

"Well it seemed like you had it off easy that day. So I made some modifications to the monster itself; you know, made it harder to deal with." The Professor stated.

"You know... you never cease to amaze us sometimes. Uh oh, the drones are here." Buttercup pointed out that about seventy drones were charging at the girls, buzz saws at the ready. "Cover me girls, I'm gonna bring the boom." They listened, while Buttercup was charging up a bomb spike she looked at her ring and told herself "Maybe if I use it, I can make the bomb spike charge faster?" She tapped the button, and all of a sudden three small orbs appeared in her arms. "Woah okay. What is this?" She didn't have enough time to answer herself, so she threw the small bomb spikes towards the crowd of drones. Usually, one big bomb spike would destroy about 2/5's of the drones active. But those small ones were enough to take them ALL out! "I love this thing."

"How did you do that?" Bubbles asked.

"I used the ring like the Professor said. The bomb spike immediately appeared in my hands in the form of three smaller ones; when I launched off the three small bomb spikes, every drone just exploded!" Buttercup explained.

"I wanna try it!" Bubbles then tapped her button on the ring and fired her lasers, which were suddenly rainbow colored; they covered a much larger area and broke straight through the machinery. "THAT WAS SO AWESOME! Blossom you try it!" Bubbles got this close to forcing Blossom's arm onto the button. She tried pulling it back, but because Bubbles' ring also enhanced her strength, Blossom couldn't break free.

"Okay fine. That ring must've been why I couldn't break free of your grip." Blossom complained. She tried to blow out ice breath but couldn't for some reason. "What happened?" She was getting scared, until a drone flew at her by complete surprise. She prepared to use her ice breath; but instead of breath, it was a beam of ice. It froze the drone completely solid and it fell out of the sky. "Wow. The ice beam returned? I could get used to this." She said to herself. All three girls then charged at the vulnerable core, and shattered it with one punch each, as opposed to how many Bubbles and Buttercup had to use to break it in the first place (fifty-seven). "We did it!" Blossom yelled triumphantly. But it wasn't over yet; they still had to break out from inside the monster.

"Bloss; we're still inside the monster y'know." Buttercup reminded Blossom.

"I know. I'm just glad we managed to defeat the monster; and this time, I got to be a part of it." That just about shows how much she cared about winning. "But you're right. We should probably blast off now." Ending it on that note they flew towards the inner wall of the monster's body. Their rings had shut down just now, this may not seem like much but it's a big problem. The Professor forgot to mention that if the rings power down unexpectedly, the girls' powers will be severely weakened. It powers by double the amount, and weakens by double the amount of that; that means the girls are now four times weaker than they used to be! All three girls still managed to escape using the last of the rings' energy, and managed to get far from the explosion. "At least we got out of there alive. Why the heck did I feel so much weaker than usual just now?" Blossom asked suspiciously.

"Yeah... I felt that too. Did you Bubbles?" Buttercup asked.

"Mhm." Bubbles responded with a 'yes' headshake.

"I can answer to that girls. It's because the rings tap into your Chemical X remember? Well the rings have to use up that energy too, by using up the Chemical X in your bodies, you're left in a weakened state. Leaving your powers almost completely useless, if the rings shut down it means too much Chemical X had been used up, and it has to wait for when it replenishes to an amount greater than ninety." The Professor explained.

"I'm basically hearing that we'll die if we were to use too much of this thing's power..." Bubbles added.

"Why is it that so many things in this world that are meant to be helpful, end up killing instead?" Buttercup rhetorically asked.

"You won't need to worry however-" The Professor continued. "-because the rings stop using the Chemical X as you're just about to run out. By the way your powers may be limited to super strength and flight." The Professor explained afterwards.

"As long as we can come up with some escape plan when it happens. We'll be too weak to deal the enemy when it occurs. Unless that enemy is a small robot with a club in one hand." Blossom concluded.

The hotline began to ring upstairs. Blossom flew to it at a slower speed, although you could barely tell. She picked up and answered. "Hello Mayor?" She asked.

"Yes it's me. Sorry if I don't sound scared out of my mind currently, my vocal cords have been damaged from all the screaming." The Mayor told Blossom.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that. But you know the hotline is for emergencies only right Mayor?" Blossom asked.

"Yes I know. But THIS is an emergency; there's a robot out here trying to destroy the Town Hall. Can you get over here immediately?" The Mayor was scared but didn't sound it; as he had explained his vocal cords are damaged.

"Oh. Of course, we'll get to it." Blossom looked down at her ring and noticed a flashing light. "What does this mean Professor?" Blossom asked.

"Oh it means your Chemical X is fully replenished Blossom. You know, if you don't want to, you really don't have to take it on this battle; remember, it's only for dire situations; and I'd say a giant robot attack is rather normal." The Professor reassured her daughters.

"Ok." They all said. They placed the rings down next to the hotline and flew off. Out by Town Hall, they saw a huge, bulky robot with cannons going down the backside, making them look like a jetpack. The body had a huge 'S' in the center. Pieces of debris were flying as the robot drilled through Town Hall. Its face had a mask-like feature, and its other hand that wasn't a drill looked like a crane claw (not the bird). "Hm... well it's definitely not a Mojo robot. Given the fact Mojo left Townsville for Citiesville, so who could this have been made by?" Blossom was thinking it over, but couldn't think of anyone. Then it hit her; like a piece of debris. "It must be Silico. He's the only other villain smart enough to make something like this." She concluded.

"How could it be Silico?" Buttercup asked. "Silico's not the type of person to show himself to the public. He's more like a villain you see traces of, and never see the full body model of." She made a good point there.

"You're right. This is very uncharacteristic for Silico, let's just make sure it really is him though." Ending it on that note Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup flew towards the robot delivering a few punches to it. It went down pretty fast; then exploded. While there was still smoke, a pair of light blue angry eyes revealed themselves through the cloud. It then dashed at Bubbles and pinned her against a building.

Bubbles looked at her pinner directly in the face. "What the!?" She said to herself. Her attacker was a robotic version of her, but with no covering over her arms and legs; and the wrong pairs of shoes. There were patterns around the body that gave away that this was definitely a robotic clone. "Who are you!?" Bubbles asked; fixing her pigtails.

"My name is Bubbles,-" The robot started. "- and my master has given me specific orders to destroy you three." She stated.

"Your name can't be Bubbles! I'm the only Bubbles around here!" Bubbles retorted.

"That makes two of us... literally." She joked. "I guess you can refer to me as Silicon Bubbles. If you wish." Silicon Bubbles was pretty much Bubbles. Only more fearless, more fearsome, less kind, and won't hesitate to destroy a few things to get her way.

"Well Silicon Bubbles. You're not going to destroy anyone here; not even us." Blossom stated; getting cocky.

"We... shall... see." By combining her arms into a cannon, she shot six fast moving homing missiles towards the girls (two for each girl).

"Evasive maneuvers, now!" Blossom ordered. Then all three girls flew away from the missiles, attempting to shoot them out of the sky. The missiles themselves seem to have an AI controlling them however, because whenever the girls would fire their lasers, they move away fast. "Those missiles are very out-of-the-ordinary missiles." Blossom told herself.

"Surprised? You should be. My master has worked on all necessary enhancements to prevent your powers from working on anything I throw at you." S. Bubbles said with a grin; revealing painted-white metallic teeth.

Blossom was intensely thinking about a way to supposedly stop this, and thought that the X-hancing rings could be a big help here. It was a big risk but it could just work. She let the missiles get close to her so she could swat them away. It worked, the other girls doing the same. "Retreat girls! I have a plan!" Her sisters nodded and followed her.

"GET BACK HERE YOU COWARDS!" S. Bubbles yelled out, she then revealed a thruster from her back and flew after the girls, who were almost home.

The girls then quickly searched for the rings, found them, put them on, and then activated them. "It's a big risk, but I'm willing." Buttercup said. What she didn't realize is that she couldn't move now. "What the?" Suddenly, she and her sisters were pulled together in a huge flash of light. Inside the light, they looked like they were... fusing? S. Bubbles had just crashed through the ceiling, revealing two harmful cannons from her arms, she was in awe at what she just discovered. What was once three separate 'strong-on-their-own' girls, was one 'stronger-as-a-team' girl. She wore a blue scarf, blue hairbow, and two blue mini hairbows supporting two long and red pigtails. Her right robotic arm glowed with bright yellow energy, there was a topaz ring on her left arm. The eye color of this fusion was also topaz. Her dress was red; the fusion almost looked like a humanized version of... .MO?

"Woah... what happened. *Looks down at her arms* AHH WHAT HAPPENED TO US!?" The fusion asked.

"If I had to guess I'd say you three fused." S. Bubbles added. "This'll make things easier for me *laughs silently* because now I can destroy all three of you at once!" Her arms then became energy swords. She slashed at the fusion with them, but all they did was harmlessly break. "Uh..." A nervous look struck her face.

"Okay... us three, we gotta get used to this. Couldn't agree more. Wait who said that? I did. Who's I. Me. Me who?" It seems like she's conversing with herself.

"This is weird. I can't fight a newbie. I'm leaving; GOODBYE..." S. Bubbles then used her thruster and shot off through the hole she made in the ceiling.

"I told you I'm Buttercup! It's me, Blossom! Bubbles is I! What's happening here!? PROFESSOR; SOMETHING HAPPENED TO ME! Er... US!" She was practically having a breakdown by this point.

"I'm here; I'm here! What happ- WHOA! Who are you?" The Professor asked the fused girls.

"Uh... it's us?" She said, shrugging her shoulders.

*Cut to the lab several minutes later*

"So you're telling me you three activated the rings AT the same time; and suddenly you became one?"

"Yes. Yeah. Yep." She said three different times.

"Ok. I'm going to ask some questions. Just now I realized your eyes changed color depending on who's speaking; it changed back to topaz when you stopped. Now Blossom, I want you to tell me who you three were fighting." The Professor told her (them).

The fusion's eyes changed to pink. "It was a new villain, it was a robot version of Bubbles called Silicon Bubbles. We have a feeling Mojo or Silico may have made her." She said.

Buttercup had butted in, changing the fusion's eye color to green. "We know Mojo didn't make her Blossom."

"Right. So then it was Silico, Professor." The fusion (Blossom's part) said.

"Well, given the name of the enemy. I would assume that is the optimal connection." The Professor concluded. "Bubbles, does this new form make you feel different in any other way?"

The fusion's eyes turned light blue and spoke. "Actually it does. I feel like I'm not myself... and that's not a joke about our new form either, that's me being sincere."

"If it's not too much to ask for, I'd like to see your combat skills in the training room. Come with me." The Professor ordered. The fusion was stumbling while she walked.

"Okay stop real quick. Why? Because one of us needs to take over for now, not all three of us. I'll do it! Proceed then." Bubbles was in control of legs currently. She (they) walked with the Professor to the training room.

"Now go on in there and fight this training robot I built a while back. It won't do anything, and it's also indestructible." The Professor told the fusion. She (they) flew in and prepared themselves.

The fusion started by unleashing ice breath on the robot, freezing it solid. Then she flew upwards and charged a bomb spike for four seconds (apparently being fused shortens the time). She fired it off, and it swirled in the air towards the robot. It got knocked back into the wall, and then got up again. The fusion then unleashed a rainbow colored laser, followed by charged punch, the fusion flew around so fast, it was like she was teleporting. The Professor was jotting down notes as she did her thing. Then... the craziest thing happened; by this point the rings had run out of energy. As they ran out of energy, the fusion generated energy around her; a highlighted area showed up, and the area around her exploded. The fusion then undid itself, and all three girls were separate, and alive. "Hoo-boy! That felt... weird. I don't think I want to do that again... accidentally of course." Bubbles stated.

"All in all, I loved that! I felt like we were closer than ever!" Blossom enthusiastically stated.

"It did feel really cool to be together with you two. Literally." Bubbles joked; though she was being serious.

"Girls. From now on, our training session will be about trying to get used to sharing a body." Blossom stated.

"For once... I think I'm actually willing to be training. But can we sleep first?" Buttercup asked.

"It's still early Buttercup. *Yawns* Why am I tired? It's still early..." Blossom said drowsily.

Bubbles couldn't add her input because she fallen on the ground; sleeping soundly; snoring.

"I'll bring her up-" But Buttercup had already fallen asleep on the ground as well.

"Don't worry Blossom, I'll do it." The Professor reassured his daughter. His words never reached her ears, she fell asleep as well. "Oh that's too cute." He then took his sleeping daughters up to their room, where he tucked them in and kissed their foreheads. "Goodnight girls." Ironically, it actually was nighttime; the girls had just lost track of time.

*Cut to Silicon Bubbles conversing with Silico*

"So... they got away? I assume?" Silico said in his usually dark tone.

"Unfortunately... yes. But can you blame me? They've each used a special ring, and then they all became one. A fusion." S. Bubbles informed Silico.

"This is a massive ordeal for me, and you; with that power on their side, they'll wipe the floors with you. Figuratively and literally." Silico sounded worried; which he usually never is.

"What's our plan master?" S. Bubbles asked.

"Our plan. Is for me to think of one-" Silico told her. "-and when I do, I'll tell you what it is." He finished. Eventually he did think of one. "I've decided that you'll take Bubbles hostage, and take her place using your illusion system upgrade that I installed in you not too long ago." Silico told her.

"Right." To test it out, she accessed her illusion system, and was able to cover up the uncovered parts of her arms, face, and legs. She managed to turn the shoes she wore into the Mary Janes the girls wore, and her bows got bigger to match Bubbles' mini hairbow size. "Works *three second pause* like a charm... *low chuckle turns into a laugh*."

"Now head back to your charging system, it's nighttime and you need to sleep too." Silico ordered; she did as instructed. He took a chute down to his sleeping room and took a load off as well. Back up to where S. Bubbles was 'sleeping' she 'woke up', and then immediately flew out to the girls' home after revealing she was fake charging. Although her battery was on half percentage, she could hold for a while.

"I'm beginning this plan now. Sorry master... but you're not stopping me." S. Bubbles had then approached the bedroom window, then crawled into their room. "This will be all too easy..." She carefully floated over to where Bubbles was sleeping, and took her in her arms. Bringing her out to a hidden alleyway, then tying her up in metallic ropes. She then used her illusion system and transformed into Bubbles' design. "Sorry girl. But this spotlight is shining on me now, *low chuckle*. I'll pose as you for a while, and then steal away those rings... though how exactly do you activate those things? Doesn't matter I'll find out eventually." She then flew off back to the girls' bedroom, and 'fell asleep'; sneaking a charging cord into a nearby socket, to ensure she stays charged...

(End of Chapter)