Chapter 13

Get Well Soon!

This was already shaping up to be the worst night of the Professor's life.

He was driving back home in a car that didn't hold his kids. He was spending a night alone without any of his kids. This brought him back to the same melancholy and emptiness he felt way back when the Girls were only a thought in his head. When the crime in Townsville was worse and the Professor didn't have a family. No one to miss him while he was gone. No one who was happy to see him when he came back. No one he could spoil and shower with love. No one he could wake up early in the morning for school or take to the park on beautiful, sunny days.

How did things go so wrong from one simple little incident?

The man stopped at a gas station to fill up his car again, stepping out of the vehicle with his feet feeling like they were made out of cement for all that they were dragging. He felt like this night couldn't get any worse for him... until he happened to see five silhouettes in the dark that had him second-guessing rock bottom.

"Evenin' Professah." Ace Copular from the Gangreen Gang greeted coolly from the shadows, making the poor scientist nearly jump out of his skin.

"Gah!" He whipped around in shock and dropped his gas pump to the floor.

He looked around for help but there was none currently in sight.

"Niccce night for a walk, eh?" Snake drawled, looking so much scarier under the cloak of the night.

"I figured a guy like you would be trying to flee the country by now, señor."

"What do you ruffians want?" Professor demanded, forcing more bravery in his voice than he truly felt at the moment. "As you can see, I only stopped for gas. I don't have any money and the shoes I'm wearing aren't all that expensive either. So if you're looking for a victim tonight, why don't you rob someone more important?"

"Ay, it ain't even like that my guy." Ace Copular said, holding his hands out for hypothetical peace. "We just wanna have a friendly little chat with ya, that's all."

"A chat? Well I'm not exactly in the mood for that boys, so why don't we just-OOF!"

Before the scientist could finish his sentence, Big Billy stepped forward to knock the wind out of him. He didn't punch him anywhere, but he did pick him up bodily and slam him against one of the walls of the pump areas, lifting him up high enough to where his feet couldn't touch the ground.

"Right. So as I was saying," Ace continued nonchalantly, like he hadn't even been interrupted. "I heard one of yer little girls ended up in da hospital today."

"Bubbles?!" Professor squeaked, wondering how a punk like him could even know about that.

"Yeah, her. Sweet little girl she is. Probably didn't deserve whatever SICK thing you happened to do to her!" Ace snarled, now showing off his sharp fangs.

The Professor scowled at him and dipped his head down low. Even with him being literally backed against the wall, he knew what kind of man he was and what he did and did not do.

"What happened to my Bubbles was an accident and nothing more!"

"For your sake Professor, I sincerely hope that's true." Grubber cordially butted in. For once the boy was speaking while standing up straight and using actual words. His hands were held behind his back as he continued, saying, "Otherwise the consequences to you from us could find themselves getting rather... painful."

As if to demonstrate, Ace flicked out his switchblade, holding the sharp end against the Professor's pale cheek. The man turned away and clenched his eyes shut tightly, trying not to look at the weapon held so dangerously close to his own face.

"How many stitches did your little girl need down there again?" Lil Arturo politely asked. '

"Because that's about the number you're gonna need for yer face if any of these allegations end up bein' true!" Ace Copular spat.

Billy ended up blowing the Professor's hair back as he roared, "Then Billy will SMASH bad father!"

"You're hardly any better, Ace." Professor Utonium spat, feeling the need to call out the boy's hypocrisy more than defending his own person. "In case I happen to be mistaken, you boys seem to enjoy torturing kids too!"

"Yeah, out on the playground." Ace snorted, hardly finding those two things to be even remotely comparable. "But there's a whole lotta difference between that and fucking in the bedroom! I may fuck with kids but I don't fuck with 'em literally!"

"There are rules concerning children even out on the streets, dear Professor." Grubber kindly informed him. "And if you don't fancy having a millstone tied around your own neck while you're forcibly drowned in the depths of the sea, I would start thinking about that."

A verse from the Bible? The Professor would never think of Grubber as the type. But then again, the boy was already showing a strange duality to himself when it came to his true nature. One moment a savage and now waxing lyrical.

"You better watch your back, Professor!" Snake threatened even further. "We'll be looking outs for you in these here streetsss! Streetsss we happens to own by the way."

"Well I'm glad for your concern boys, but my family and I will be just fine. See unlike you, I actually have a family."

Yeah alright, maybe that wasn't the best thing for him to say. But for one of the first times in his life, the Professor felt truly pissed. He figured that any good father worth their salt likely would be if allegations of practiced pedophilia were over their head, and he didn't feel like taking something like that lying down anymore.

This predictably earned him a slam against the hood of his car. Shooting pain practically exploded out of his spine.

"Now's not the time to get smart with us, Professah! We know firsthand just how shitty so-called 'parents' like you can be! Why do you think we ran away from our own folks? So don't you dare even try to play the part of a smart-aleck with me!"

The Professor just wasn't in the mood for this crap. Even though in the back of his mind, he knew he could die tonight, the rage that he was feeling nearly blinded him to this danger. "Unhand me, Ace." He growled viciously, curling his fingers into shaking fists. "I've had a pretty bad day and I'm nearly on the verge of snapping..."

"Well, I'm real sorry about yer 'bad' day, Professah." The leader of the Gangreens sneered at him sarcastically. "But if yer not keen on it gettin' a whole lot worse, then I'd take a lotta stock in da things dat you've heard from us tonight."

"Excuse me!" A rather familiar and feminine voice called out from a short distance right in the middle of this climax. The person revealed themselves to be Ms. Bellum, assistant to the Mayor and currently, the Professor's savior.

She had been stopping for gas at this very same station and happened to catch a glimpse of what was happening to one of her childhood companions. "Would it be too much to ask what you think you're doing to the Professor right now?"

"Look lady, this ain't got nothin' to do with you!" Ace snapped at her. "This is business between us and the old man and if ya heard what we did in the news today, you'd practically be agreein' wit' us!"

"What I heard on the news today," Sarah Bellum stated firmly. "Was that one of the Girls was in the hospital and that the Professor said that it was an accident! I didn't hear anything about charges or the Professor being guilty without due process!"

Oh thank god for you, Sarah. You truly were sent by the angels.

"Now if I were you I'd set him down nicely before your already shady life gets a whole lot rougher for you. I may not be the strongest woman in the world physically but I do have several connections that you really don't wanna get to know about! I wouldn't test a city official like me, boys. Not if you know what's good for you!"

That seemed to properly scare them at least and they took the time to take heed of her words.

"Now set him down nicely and then we can all go home."

Big Billy finally let the man go, and to his credit, he did do it gently, but the scowl on his never left and neither did any of the rest of the Gang's.

"You were rescued by yer dame in shinin' armor this time. But next time old man, you won't be so lucky!"

"Yes, all bold words from you, Ace. Now good day." Professor said fearlessly, straightening out his lab coat.

The boys all stalked off into the night back to the dump where they all came from while Sarah Bellum raced to his side and started checking him all over for injuries.

"Professor," Sarah said lowly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," stated the Professor. "They only went about scaring me. They didn't rough me up... at least not yet."

"I'm surprised they would even care about this case. The Powerpuff Girls are some of their worst enemies."

"Well, they told me that there were rules out on the streets concerning children and they were pretty much ready to gut me before you showed up."

Miss Bellum shook her head but she did express slight fondness. "Well, while I don't condone their methods, I certainly appreciate their passion. They may be the city's biggest premiere gang of the decade, but at least they seem to carry around some values."

"Sarah, you can't possibly believe I would ever do a thing like that, could you?"

"I grew up with you, John." Sarah told him. "So I think I know your true nature. I don't think you would really be standing here in front of me right now uncastrated if I ever truly thought that you were the type of man who would ever hurt a child that way."

"Trust me, Sarah. My mother taught me a lot better than that, even in the 50s."

"Were you going home just now, Professor?"

"No. The police need to search part of my house for the night. Mostly to seize that beanbag that I told them was crucial in Bubbles's accident."

"Right." She laid a hand out on his shoulder. "Well, I think if we don't want any repeats of the incident that we've both just experienced tonight, you're probably better off staying with me. At least until this whole thing blows over. That way you would be under an official amount of government protection. No one would be able to touch you without facing some serious consequences."

"That would honestly be quite good, Sarah. I don't really fancy having to look over my shoulder every hour."

"Then come with me if you want to live, Professor."

"... you've always wanted to say that, haven't you?"

She gave him a faint smile from beneath her red curly hair. "Well, my name's 'Sarah' isn't it? I always wanted to reverse the roles a bit for a change."

The Girls woke up in the morning in no better mood than they had started with the night before. This was especially true for Buttercup, the surliest member of the group.

The nurse who had tucked them in before had been kind enough to give the Girls sleeping masks to wear over their faces to help with the bright, overhead fluorescent lights. But even though that did help with their slumber, it didn't help with their current reality.

Buttercup opened her eyes to find that this whole thing hadn't ended up being the product of some really horrible dream.

"Welp, we're still here." She declared out loud to the ceiling. "It still stinks and I still hate it here!"

"Well, there's no use complaining about it, Buttercup." Blossom said. "We're here for now and that's just the way it has to be."

She hated how she didn't have a comb or brush with her though. Bed heads were terrible and now she couldn't even correct it. Another thing that couldn't be corrected was any of their morning breath. Buttercup may not have cared about small things like that concerning their personal hygiene but Blossom sure did.

Blossom made a whining sound at this, touching her hair and smelling her own rancid breath with her hand. "Ho man. We should've asked the Professor to bring us our toothbrushes and hair brushes for the day!"

"We never would've had to ask him to bring us anything if we were just allowed to go home with him!"

"What's done is done, Buttercup! Maybe they'll finally come to their senses and let us go home today?"

"Today? Tomorrow? What does it even matter anymore? I hate having to wait around for somebody else to tell us when it's 'safe' for us to go home! I'm tempted to just bust on out of here myself!"

Blossom was quick to stop her, finding this a terrible potential idea. "If you do that, you'll only make things worse than what they already are, Buttercup! We have to follow the rules for now or else we'll end up making things even more complicated for the Professor!"

Again with the "Professor" card. Everything that they did was in service of the 'Professor', the very person they were trying to return to now.

"I know!" Buttercup growled in frustration, pulling at her own hair before finally calming down. "I know." She replied more softly, dropping her head down into her hands. "It's all just so... frustrating."

Blossom gave her a pat on the back, understanding her sentiments. "I know Buttercup. I wanna get out of here as fast as we can too. But you know we can't do that on our own without anyone else's consent."

"Whatever." The raven-haired girl shook her head. "I'm hungry! When's breakfast?"

"We can always go down to the cafeteria for that." Blossom offered. "Oh, and one more thing, Buttercup. Bubbles still doesn't know anything, okay? So let's make an effort for us to keep things that way."

"Definitely." Buttercup agreed. The one thing that they could definitely be on the same page for.

Unfortunately their 'healthy breakfast' that the Professor had so lavishly tried to paint a picture of for the girls before ended up mostly looking pretty unappetizing. The hashbrowns didn't even look like they were thawed out and the so-called pancakes could've passed for SPAM meat instead. Don't even get them started on the rubbery nature of the eggs.

"Eugh! I hate hospital food!"

"Maybe it tastes better than it looks?" Blossom offered, though even she was wincing at the presentation.

"I'd rather be at home having a cooked breakfast with the Professor!"

"I rather would too," Blossom admitted. "But this is how it-"

"Has to be! Yeah, I get it! Doesn't mean I have to like it!"

Perhaps Bubbles was in her own room having a better breakfast?

"Bubbles!"

"Hi, Girls!" Bubbles said, previously eating a sugary bowl of cereal. "I didn't know you stayed overnight in the hospital with me!"

"Oh uh, yeah! It was all a part of the sleepover yesterday, remember?" Blossom supplied, remembering how she was supposed to be keeping up a happy façade.

"Oh yeah, the sleepover! That was pretty fun by the way."

"Sure was!" Buttercup said, putting on a chipper act too. "I did a whole lot of sleeping through it so I guess I got most of it down pat!"

Bubbles giggled innocently. "Yeah, I did a whole lot of sleeping too. That ana-thees-sia the nurses gave me from before helped out a lot with that."

Speaking of anesthesia... "How are you feeling now, Bubbles?" Blossom asked sweetly. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Yeah, does it still hurt?" Buttercup questioned further.

"I feel a lot better now, Girls. I'm not quite as sore and it doesn't hurt as much to pee."

She sat up a little more and her sisters gave her a hug at her claimed good health.

Bubbles went on to say, "Now that I feel better, I sure hope I can go home today!"

Buttercup and Blossom gave each other a brief look. They at least didn't have to lie. "Yeah, we hope we can all go home today too."

"Oh, Girls!" A very sweet honey-blonde lady called to them in sing-song. She entered the room with a smile on her face.

"What is it, nurse Cathy?" Buttercup asked.

"Our little patient here has gotten lots of sweet gifts from people around the city wishing her well!"

"Really?" Bubbles squealed.

"Oh yes. It's almost too many presents and balloons to fit all in one room!"

Bubbles clapped her hands in glee at this splendid news, hardly able to contain herself. "Well, what are you waiting for?! Gimme the presents! Gimme the presents!"

The nurse showed off her bright, white teeth as she smiled at her and then she made haste meeting her demands. She exited the room, leaving the kids to talk amongst themselves about who could've possibly left such thoughtful gifts.

"Do you think they came from Ms. Bellum?" Buttercup asked. "Or maybe the Mayor?"

"I don't know! Could be!" Blossom brainstormed. She smiled with just as much eagerness as her blonde sister. "Let's see what it could be!"

"WHOA!" The kids all exclaimed when they saw the near truckload of toys, dolls, stuffed animals, puzzles, glitter, arts and crafts, and balloons coming in for Bubbles. It was nearly like the entirety of the contents of their own toy store back at home being dumped at their feet.

This wasn't just too much to fit into a hospital room. It was too much to fit back into their own room at home!

"Look at this, girls! A stuffed unicorn! An Easy Bake Oven! Play-Doh! A dreamhouse for Barbie and Ken!"

"You've gotta be kiddin'!" Buttercup gaped. "We didn't even get this much stuff for our birthdays!"

"I know, right?!" Blossom exclaimed. "People must really love you, Bubbles!"

"This is so awesome! But I'm not sure I can quite have all of them." Bubbles had a thought. "How about we give the rest of them to charity!"

Nurse Cathy smiled at the child's goodwill towards others. "That sounds like a wonderful idea, sweetheart. Why don't you pick out everything you want and then we'll give the rest to donations?"

"Okay, I was kiddin' before but now I definitely wanna get sick or hurt enough to have to stay in the hospital. This is insane!" Buttercup said to her sister Blossom.

"Yeah, what the heck is goin' on?" Blossom asked more quietly. "I get that people want to be nice, but this is almost like overkill..."

"Who cares? I call dibs on at least half of this stuff!"

"Go ahead!" Bubbles giggled. "There's plenty to go around!"

"Aw man, this is like a raid on Santa's workshop!"

"There's plenty of cards too!" The nurse shared. "Cards from many kind people who are all looking forward to seeing our cutest little patient get better!"

"Oh cool!" Bubbles said, picking up a stack and a handful of them now. Just like before with the toys, it was quite a lot. "Let's see, how about we start with this green one first? It looks spiffy!"

She tore open the first with the aid of her laser vision, since she didn't exactly have fingers to help her out. She opened the card and began to read out loud, at first with lighthearted bliss before that switched into a complete sense of bewilderment.

"Dear Bubbles, get well soon, signed by the..." Her eyes popped open. "The Gangreen Gang?!"

"HUH?!" Blossom and Buttercup exclaimed.

"Let me see that!" Buttercup barked, nearly snatching the card out of her sister's hands.

She began to read what it said out loud herself:

Dear Bubbles, please do feel better soon. We're all looking forward to your full recovery. Best wishes from your silly, misshapen green friend, Grubber J. Gribberish

Hope you feel betters! Not all snakes bite so this is coming from another slithery friend, Snake

Alíviate pronto! (That means 'Get better soon', chica!) Your short and scrappy young friend, Lil Arturo

Wee wish yew a mary chrismiss, sweet litle gurl! *Notes from Ace: That's 'We wish you a speedy recovery, you jolly green dingus!'* Yor big frend, Big Billy!

Anyway, where was we? Oh yeah! Stay strong, kid. We're all rootin' for ya. From just another cool guy, Ace

"Oh wow, that's pretty sweet!" Bubbles said, actually taken aback by the Gang's kind words and generosity.

Buttercup on the other hand leaned more towards the side of skepticism. "Hmph, I don't know. Sounds fishy to me. And just what the heck is this supposed to be?"

She pulled out a candy bar that had been taped inside the card. There was a receipt right next to it as proof that it had been purchased legally. When Buttercup held it up, Bubbles's eyes lit up.

"Hey, that's a Choco bar! I love Choco bars! Can I keep it, Buttercup? Huh, can I?"

"No way, Bubbles!" Buttercup refused. "This stuff could have poison laced in it or something!"

"But poison doesn't work on us!" Bubbles pouted. "Besides, it hasn't even been opened!"

Blossom took a look at the candy bar herself and even though it looked innocuous enough on the outside, there could be all kinds of sinister stuff going on on the inside. She agreed with Buttercup's doubtfulness and forbid Bubbles from eating it.

"Tell ya what Bubbles," Buttercup compromised. "How about I get you an even better candy bar from the vending machine downstairs?"

Bubbles would've rather had the Choco Bar but she appreciated this kindness from her sister and smiled at her.

"Why in the world would the Gangreen Gang send Bubbles a letter?" Blossom thought. "I mean, they don't even have a TV where they live so how in the world did they find out about her being in the hospital?"

"Maybe news travels fast." Buttercup shrugged. "Either way, I still don't like it. I think I might pay those little dorks a visit later on..."

That would have to be a little later though. For now, the girls had a renewed interest in those letters for best wishes and speedy recoveries. Blossom did the work of shifting through the cards now and she was surprised to find another card from a person that wasn't a regular Townsville citizen.

This one was from the Amoeba Boys and it read:

'Hm, what to say? Uh, we're really sorry about what happened to you, Bubbles. It wasn't right at all. We wanna be real criminals someday but we never want to be criminals like that. Anyway, I hope you feel better soon and I hope you still like those dolls we got you and your sisters for your birthday last year.

Take care and feel better,

From your best pals, the Amoeba Boys

'Yeah! From your best pals, the Amoeba Boys!' - Slim

'Yeah, what he said!' - Junior

"Wow, that one's really nice too!" Bubbles commented.

"That one makes sense at least." Blossom said mainly to her sister Buttercup. "The Amoeba Boys really aren't that bad in the end."

"But still, what the heck is with all this apologizing stuff?" Buttercup wondered. "Do they think that something actually happened to Bubbles besides an accident?"

"It really does seem like it. They said they wanted to be real criminals someday but not criminals 'like that'. What the heck could 'like that' mean?"

"Who knows? They're all idiots! Who the heck even knows what they're talking about half the time?"

"Still, it's all so strange..."

Buttercup picked up another card, this one with a gold stamp and with the envelope in a royal purple color. Attached to the card was a tray at the bottom full of mouth-watering confectionaries like Turkish delights, rich dark chocolates, truffles, macaroons, and fresh baked cookies from oatmeal, raisin, chocolate chip and so on. The display was quite amazing but Buttercup expressed her disapproval once she found out who this letter came from.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding! This one's from Princess?!"

'Dear Bubbles,

Look, I never liked you okay? You've always been a selfish, stuck-up, and spoiled little brat and you never let me be a Powerpuff Girl like you!'

Blossom scoffed at this and rolled her eyes, adopting a flat look. "Well if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, I don't know what is!"

There was more though: '... but even though I don't like you and I think you're awful, that doesn't mean I ever wanted something like this to happen to you.'

So there it was again. This implication that all the villains were thinking that something more... significant had happened to Bubbles. Something that had them expressing an uncharacteristic amount of sympathy for her.

'Daddies are supposed to cherish their daughters, not... you know.

So... I'm sorry.

Anyway, I had my own daddy buy you some Turkish delights from that time when I bribed the Mayor to give me the city to help make you feel better. There should be some macaroons in there too so I hope you enjoy them.

We're all wishing you a speedy recovery so make me a Powerpuff Girl already, you stingy brat!

From your long-time rival and friend, Princess Morbucks'

"What did she mean by 'daddies are supposed to cherish their daughters'?" Bubbles asked cluelessly. "Doesn't she know the Professor already cherishes me?"

Buttercup and Blossom were getting a very bad feeling about this. First the Amoeba Boys imply their father had done something wrong with that 'we never wanna be criminals like that' comment, and now Princess was implying that the Professor had done something wrong to Bubbles as a father figure too.

"We're not throwing away all those yummy baked goods, are we?" Bubbles asked longingly, clearly not wanting that to be the case.

"Well... I guess we can trust Princess a little more than the Gangreen Gang." Blossom conceded. "If there's one thing about Princess, the girl knows how to give a good gift." She did pride herself on her excess after all.

"Next." Buttercup groaned, truly not liking which way this was going. She picked up a card from Fuzzy Lumpkins next. Since it seemed innocent enough on the surface (no accusations like the last two), Buttercup allowed Bubbles to read this one.

"Here ya go, Bubbles. See how you feel about this one."

Bubbles opened it up and read it an appropriately hick accent.

"Dear sweet Bubbles,

This here's some fresh maple syrup. Put it on a stack of pancakes or whatever you like, honey.

Please feel better soon, from an old country boy, Fuzzy Lumpkins."

Bubbles picked up a leaf-shaped glass bottle of fresh maple syrup and admired its near flawless quality. "Oh wow, this looks really nice too! I've never seen Fuzzy go to this much trouble!"

"What the heck do we need a bottle of maple syrup for anyway?" Buttercup groused, crossing her arms. "We've got plenty of that stuff for our pancakes back at home!"

"Not fresh though!" Bubbles pointed out. "So can we-"

"Yeah sure, why not?" Buttercup conceded before Bubbles could even finish the question. "Can't see the harm in it, even if it is stupid."

"Ooh! This one's all red!" Bubbles said, picking up a scarlet envelope with a letter inside. There was a bit of pink vapor that came out of it that scared her and she started to tremble when she read who this one was from.

"Uh girls? It's from Him..."

The two remaining Powerpuff Girls adopted a cold sweat too and looked over this letter with the most wariness and caution.

"This guy better not be up to any funny business." Buttercup muttered.

'Bubbles my pet, the actions of your father surprise me.

Here's a piece of Devil's Food Cake for you; I hope you enjoy it.

Just remember to be careful when eating sweets, my dear. What's candy today turns into cavities tomorrow...'

"Okay, that one was just plain creepy!" Blossom said, shuddering as she said it. "What the heck was with all that use of 'pet' concerning Bubbles?"

It was a term that made all three of them feel all icky inside! Still though... that cake did admittedly look divine. Bubbles was even salivating over it now.

"Girls?" She asked imploringly, looking over at them with puppy dog eyes.

They couldn't help but cave to that puppy dog look. "Alright Bubbles, but we'll have to taste-test it first."

"Thanks, girls!"

Two more to go as far as Bubbles's unusual pen pals.

Blossom's jaw dropped down to the floor when she read who this one was from. "Uh, Buttercup? I think I'm gonna need you for this one."

Oh crap, Buttercup thought. If Blossom's asking for back up, this one's gotta be bad. Let me guess, is it from Roach Coach? That guy is just gross! Or maybe it's even from one of the Smiths! Wonder if Mary Ann brought us all another banana cream pie...

"What is it, Blossom?" Buttercup asked bracingly before taking a look for herself and doing a double-take. "Dude, what the heck?! The Rowdyruff Boys?!"

"The Rowdyruff Boys!?" Bubbles shrieked, nearly flying out of bed. "What the heck could they want?!"

"Oh, this better be good..." Buttercup muttered, feeling anger like no other.

If this was another one of their sick games she swore she would go out and destroy them herself!

Imagine her surprise when she read the first line (silently) of what seemed like an attempt at poetry from the dumbest Ruff of them all, Boomer Jojo.

'Uh, let's see...

Roses are red

Charcoal is black

Your dad's a dick

... Sorry about that!'

Since there was atrocious language in that so-called piece, Buttercup did not read these crude lines out loud and neither did Blossom. They just grimaced and made sour faces.

'Anyway, hurry up and get better soon Blondie, so we can all go back to kicking you and your sisters' butts!'

'Yeah, dummy!' A note from Butch added. 'Hurry up and feel better already! The lack of good action is killin' me over here!'

'Oh and by the way,' Brick added. 'If you ever want us to give a good beating to your dad, just say the word and we'll make sure to get him good while he's in prison!'

'Yeah! We'll spread the word to all the other inmates too!' Boomer wrote.

'And we might even find him a good 'boyfriend' to play with!' Butch finished, the girls imagining a little snicker he probably would've accompanied those written words with.

It was absolutely disgusting for both the Puffs to read and the disgust was so plain on their faces that even Bubbles found herself worried.

"So? What did they say?"

Buttercup adopted a sneer and then ripped the letter in half. "Nothin' Bubbles. It was just another one of their sick, twisted little jokes."

"But how bad could it be? What did they-"

"They wrote some stuff about the Professor, okay? Stuff that you'd really be better off not hearing. So please drop it, Bubbles. Please, okay?"

"Oh... Okay."

"Is that it?" Blossom moaned.

Unfortunately it wasn't.

"One more, then we're through." Buttercup said, holding up the last one. "And this one is from... Mojo Jojo, of course."

She would've been shocked, if not for everything else that had numbed her. Everyone else had gotten a turn, why not Mojo?

"I hope it's not overly wordy." Blossom said. "Otherwise, we're gonna be stuck here reading all night!"

"Okay, here goes." Buttercup huffed, then she began reading.

"Dear Powerpuff Bubbles, this is your father (?) Mojo Jojo speaking-"

"Father?!" Bubbles blurted out.

"Who the heck does this freak think he is!"

"Well if he's our so-called 'father', then he's a grim one." Blossom complained. "He hasn't even paid us any child support yet!"

Buttercup shook her head at this and then kept on going.

"-I have just been made aware of an unspeakable evil committed onto you. Such atrocities cannot be allowed to go unpunished! So I shall be eliminating your previous father and taking over his role as your own own. Fear not, Dear Bubbles, for I have no further desires in destroying you. The same goes for your sisters as I will be claiming them into my possession as well."

"Yeah right! You and what army, chimp?!" Buttercup challenged feistily.

"He can't just 'claim' us like that!" Blossom argued. "He's totally unfit and he's been trying to kill us ever since we were first born!"

"What does he mean about 'eliminating' the Professor?" Bubbles asked in a panic.

"He doesn't mean nothin' because we're not about to let that happen!" Buttercup yelled in rebuttal of this.

"Girls, I don't like this..." Bubbles shifted lower under her covers. "Why does everybody seem to be so mad at the Professor? He didn't do anything wrong!"

Since the girls didn't want their sister to get all worked up in her bedridden state, they worked to calm her down.

"Everything will be fine, Bubbles. Just relax, okay?" Blossom said.

"Yeah, we'll take care of it. Nothin' to worry about, sis." Buttercup promised.

"Okay, you guys. I just don't want my daddy to get hurt!"

"Oh, someone's gonna get hurt alright." Buttercup said. "And it's not gonna be the Professor!"