I'm back! And whew buddy am I about to have nothing but time! Thank you to all my lovely readers and my awesome reviewers! School was kicking my butt five ways to Sunday, but I can finally get back to my passion! I might not be able to update again until next weekend, but after that it'll be fast updates until this ends. But I hope you enjoy this chapter, and be safe during this holiday season! And obviously I don't own the Powerpuff Girls or their affiliated characters. I'm not sure how many times I have to say that lol.
The girls arrived back at the center of town. Buttercup stood skeptically at the spot they'd been captured, trying to figure out how to tap into her so called 'instincts.' Blossom tried to coach her by telling her to concentrate, but that wasn't really helping. Bubbles stood off to the side, focusing on the magic swirling around them. She figured if she could get a grasp on what it felt like, she could give Buttercup a better image in her head to picture and follow.
Buttercup huffed, throwing her hands in the air after an hour of lackluster results.
"This is hopeless." Blossom dragged a hand down her face, just as frustrated. Her friend had been a natural in their last life, so she wasn't sure what the problem was this time either.
"You just did it before. Can you not sense or see anything at all?" Bubbles tilted her head in thought, holding her chin.
"I think last time you said it was like a string that faded the further away it went from you?" Buttercup frowned harder. She didn't see any strings, or anything else that seemed helpful. All she saw was a destroyed town, and overgrown vines wriggling at their feet.
Wait a minute... She crouched lower to the ground, inspecting the vines. At first glance, they seemed to only cover the places they'd been kneeling, as if she'd activated her powers in distress. But when she looked closer, the vines seemed to disappear into the ground, and covered where everyone had been kneeling, not just her. Is this it?
"Do you have something?" Bubbles and Blossom had snapped to attention when Buttercup crouched. They recognized that look on her face. Buttercup, ignoring them for now, tested the ground. Nothing happened until she placed her hand above the space Brick had been. Her hand glowed, and she could see the residual portal Him had used to leave. Buttercup nodded to Bubbles's earlier question, standing back up.
"This has to be it. I don't see anything else." Blossom nodded and stepped forward, quietly chanting as she replaced Buttercup on the ground. Portals were her specialty after all.
A pulsing black portal opened before the girls. Their bodies tensed automatically, as if an invisible force warned them against going through it. Bubbles was the first to shake off the feeling, purposefully stepping forward.
"Let's go." Blossom followed suit, with Buttercup reluctantly following up the rear.
That seemed too easy to find.
Him could hardly contain himself. Time moved differently in his space. Breaking the boys had been easy enough by forcing them to relive their trauma over and over. Surprisingly, Boomer had been the hardest to break. Him almost pitied the young man. He had such a pure heart. It's almost funny how much they were obsessed with those girls. Oh well. All the better for me.
The boys had been released, able to freely wander through his domain. He had a feeling their guests would be arriving soon enough.
Bubbles stuck close to Blossom as they wandered through the demon's domain. Buttercup was behind them, trying to conjure vines at will. Neither of the two upfront said it, but they were all at a distinct disadvantage. Bubbles could wield the lava bubbling under their feet, but she had only done it once, and it had taken all of her concentration to do so. Her best bet was to manipulate the blood in the boys' bodies, but that made her feel like a monster. If only I could manipulate Him, we wouldn't have to worry.
Blossom turned to look back at Buttercup, who was beginning to sweat from her efforts to learn her powers.
"Enough. Stop wasting what power you have. You're at a disadvantage here since most of this isn't earth." Buttercup pouted.
"Why am I the only one useless here? Your magic is spatial, but you can also wield fire. Bubbles can apparently mess with blood, not just water, but I'm still restricted to actual earth? How is that fair?!"
"I mean, you probably have some variation of your power too. You just don't know what it is yet. I didn't know I could manipulate blood either until now." Buttercup huffed, appeased for now.
The girls stopped in front of a large stone wall. It pulsed much in the way the portal had. Under their feet lay a single rocky path, which disappeared into the wall. On either side of where the path and wall collided, lava ran like waterfalls. There didn't seem to be an obvious door, so Bubbles experimentally pushed on it, checking for a hidden switch.
"Huh. I guess it's a dead end." Bubbles turned away, and Buttercup scowled.
"I knew it had been too easy. The trail was too obvious." Blossom shrugged, gathering fire around her.
"The only way out is through. I doubt that portal is still there. If it was too obvious, then we're meant to take this way." As if to prove her point, their surroundings started to rumble and shake. The lava underneath them churned and bubbled as it began to rise. Blossom gathered more power into her hands, copying the move Brick had used to destroy the town.
The wall crumbled around the path Blossom had created. A gaping hole invited them to move further into this hellscape. Blossom gingerly stepped over the rubble, with Bubbles and Buttercup following. Unbeknownst to them, Him watched their progress further into the labyrinth with a glowing crystal ball.
Like mice in a cage.
"Ugh. We've been walking for years at this point. Shouldn't we have run across something at this point?" Blossom pushed down the scream that demanded to be let out. Buttercup was exaggerating, but they had been walking for awhile, and so far nothing had happened. Their surroundings had progressively gotten darker and more sinister. But other than that...
Bubbles stomped her foot, crossing her arms as she stood rooted in place.
"How come we never wait for people to come to us? This is ridiculous. Honestly at this point we might as well go home. We'll never find them at this ra-" The floor had slowly crumbled underneath her, bottoming out and leaving her suspended for a moment before plummeting to the lava below.
"Bubbles!" Blossom moved to go after her friend, but Buttercup pulled her back, knocking the two off balance. They fell off the side of the suspended walkway, screaming as they were engulfed inside another portal.
Bubbles groaned as she struggled to take in her new surroundings. It was darker here than anywhere they'd been yet. All these 'blessings' and none of the Goddesses gave us night vision? She tested her limbs, thankful that she only had a few scrapes and bruises.
She walked slowly forward, her arms outstretched so she wouldn't bump into anything. Her eyes were gradually getting adjusted to the oppressive darkness, enough to where it seemed she was in an empty space. Other than the vague outlines of what she assumed to be walls, nothing lay in front of her. This is so creepy. They just had to summon a freakin' demon. Bubbles huffed, wishing Blossom was here. At least then she could have some light.
Her skin suddenly tingled, as the hairs on the back of her neck began to rise in warning. Bubbles stopped moving, shifting low to the ground and sweeping her narrowed eyes over the seemingly empty space. She didn't see anything, but she couldn't shake the feeling someone was watching her.
"Who's there? Boomer? Butch?" A presence materialized behind her. She could feel the person's breathing drift across her exposed neck. A hand came up, gently grasping her arms. Bubbles forgot to breath and the overwhelming aura that was suddenly released. It practically forced her into submission. She activated her own, but it wasn't nearly powerful enough to be called equal to his.
"Brick...what are you doing?" He clutched her arms tighter, his hands progressively warming. She struggled to break free of his grasp, her breaths coming in short gasps as her flesh began to sizzle.
"You shouldn't have come."
