The city of Townsville... and it's time for bed.
"Good night, girls!" said the Professor, turning off the light and
closing the door. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup fell asleep quickly,
hand in hand.
They found themselves drifting into an enormous room filled with four long tables, which were filled with people dressed in black robes and hats. A fifth, smaller table had a handful of adults seated at it. The three girls were standing near a stool with a very old, very worn, pointed hat sitting on it.
"Blossom!" called a voice.
The voice belonged to a tall, dark-haired woman in an emerald-green robe. She wore square glasses and was holding a roll of parchment. Blossom took a step towards her. "Yes?"
"Well, what are you waiting for?" said the woman. "Sit down and put the hat on."
Nervously, Blossom did so. She was surprised to hear a small voice.
"So, your color is red," it said.
"Or pink," said Blossom.
"Whatever," said the hat. "Anyway, you're a brave leader, so . . . GRYFFINDOR!"
Applause came from the table on the far left. Blossom wandered down and took a seat at it.
Bubbles was called next. When she put the hat on, it announced, "RAVENCLAW!" Bubbles sat at the table second from the left. Finally, Buttercup was assigned to still another group, "SLYTHERIN!"
That being done, dinner suddenly appeared on the plates on the tables. Everyone started to eat, but soon, the Powerpuff Girls decided they needed to talk, to figure out what was going on. They all got up and headed for the back of the room, but on the way there, Blossom was stopped by a boy with red hair like hers, who looked about twelve years old.
"Ginny!" he exclaimed when he saw her. "Welcome to Gryffindor!"
"What?" said Blossom.
"Well - the Sorting!" answered the boy. "Our entire family's been Sorted to Gryffindor, you know -" Then he stopped to take a look at her. "Where's your uniform?"
"Um -"
"I mean, that's a cute outfit, but if someone catches you out of uniform, you could be in serious trouble!"
"But I'm not -"
"Well, there's not much you can do about it now . . . see you tomorrow, Ginny."
He went back to his seat. Blossom shrugged. What was that about? She continued on her way and convened with her sisters at the back of the room.
"Are we dreaming?" asked Bubbles.
"Yes," said Blossom, "we must be . . . which means we can travel . . ."
"Where?"
"To wherever the wind may take us!"
They went on their way, paying little attention to where they were going. They ended up in front of a metal door. Bubbles and Buttercup picked up the cylindrical silver sword hilts at their feet.
"What about me?" said Blossom.
Suddenly, the door opened. Behind it, there stood a boy dressed in red and black. As dramatic music played, he looked up at the girls with a challenging, hate-filled, red-eyed stare.
"Brick!" exclaimed Bubbles. "But you're dead!"
"Shut up and fight, you girly Pansypuffs," Brick replied. He held up his own sword hilt and turned it on - one blade at a time.
Bubbles and Buttercup turned theirs on together. All the colors of the blades matched the outfit colors of their owners. The music picked up as the battle began.
The door opened onto a huge, cavernous room filled with a network of high walkways that crisscrossed empty air, and several columns filled with something that looked like lightning. It was here that the battle took place. The action was a blur of the green and blue of good, and the red of evil. It was only partially amazing how well Bubbles and Buttercup could use their . . . light-sword thingies.
Blossom darted around through the air, following the fight wherever it went. It moved around a lot. She wanted to jump in and help, but they all had light-swords and she had only her powers - she'd get skewered! Then again -
"You'd best stay out of it," said a voice.
Blossom looked around. There, standing on one of the walkways, was an old man in a brown robe.
She flew up to him. "What? Why?"
"You're on the Light Side, right?"
"If that's the good guys' side, yes."
"Then you can just sit back and watch. This is a reenactment of a battle I once had. I was the one with the blue lightsaber. Red is always the lightsaber color of the Dark Side."
"So I don't get to help . . ."
"Don't worry. If this battle ends the way it did when I was in it . . . your sisters will fare well."
"Okay. Thank you."
Buttercup, Bubbles, and Brick were now making their way towards a hallway. At the other end of the hallway was a small, round room.
The Girls began to chase Brick down the hall, but suddenly, they found their way blocked by a series of bizarre energy shields that spanned the hallway. Brick ended up in the round hallway, Buttercup one shield outside it, and Bubbles and Blossom still in the main room. Everyone sat, catching their breath, recovering, waiting.
At last the shields opened. Buttercup and Brick resumed fighting. Bubbles and Blossom hurried forward, but stopped abruptly when the last shield closed in their faces! What now? Could Buttercup hold her own against Brick?
Yes, but not for long. Bubbles and Blossom watched and screamed in anguish and terror as Buttercup was run through with a red lightsaber blade. She gasped and collapsed on the floor. Brick began pacing in front of the shield, sneering at Bubbles and Blossom. Soon, Bubbles found herself sneering back.
When the shield reopened, Bubbles took over the fight, while Blossom attended to Buttercup.
"Are you all right?" she asked, in grave concern.
"Yeah," breathed Buttercup, "I will be in a minute. It's only a dream, right?"
"Mmmmm-hmmmm."
They looked over at the two people still in the fight. In its course, Bubbles managed to cut Brick's lightsaber in two, leaving him with only one blade. A minute later, she was knocked into the deep, wide hole in the middle of the floor. Why was it there, anyway? Panicked, she grabbed hold of something protruding from the wall of the hole. Brick looked down at her and kicked her lightsaber (which was still up on the floor) into the hole. Bubbles watched it fall away. Now what?
Concentrating hard, she brought her superpowers to bear and flew out of the hole, swooping down to grab Buttercup's lightsaber before landing, ready to fight again.
Almost before Buttercup could react to her lightsaber being so rudely taken away, Bubbles had given Brick an aggressive horizontal slash. He looked stunned, then fell limply into the hole.
"We did it!" enthused Blossom.
"Buttercup..." said Blossom.
Buttercup was getting shakily to her feet. "I feel better now."
Just then, the energy shields in the hall opened again, and the man Blossom had talked to entered.
"You've won, I see," he said.
"Yeah," said Buttercup.
"Congratulations. You fought well. Now, there appears to be another task for you . . ."
A windowlike hole was opening in one wall. On the other side was a green hill with a building perched on top, and a gated dirt road leading up to it.
"Go," said the old man, "and may the Force be with you."
"Thanks," said Blossom, and the three girls went through the window.
The gate mysteriously opened as they approached it. They hovered up the road to the front door, which bore a sign:
"Pokémon? What's that?" wondered Blossom.
A moment later, the door was opened by a gray-haired man in a lab coat, who could only be Professor Oak.
"Good morning, girls!" said this other Professor cheerily. "Come on in. I have your Pokémon ready for you."
"For us?" said Bubbles.
"Of course, for you!" said Professor Oak. "As usual, there are three Pokémon available: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Their elements are Grass, Fire, and Water respectively. Ah, here we are."
They had arrived in a lab-type room. In the center of the room was a round platform that held three red-and-white balls. The Powerpuff Girls and Professor Oak gathered around it.
"And now," said Professor Oak, "it's time for the big choice."
The Girls examined the balls. Each one had a symbol just above the button. One was a red-orange flame; another, a blue water droplet; the third, a green leaf.
They reached out and took the balls with their colors. Why not? They'd wake up soon enough.
"Very good," said Professor Oak. "Run along now."
The Girls went outside. "Are these Pokémon?" wondered Buttercup. She tossed her ball casually up in the air. To her surprise, it opened, releasing a blue-green reptilian creature with a bulb on its back. The thing nuzzled up to her affectionately.
She looked at it with mild apprehension for a moment, then gave in and hugged back. "Hi there."
Blossom and Bubbles tossed up their Pokéballs. Bubbles immediately struck up a conversation with her Squirtle, and Blossom was very impressed with the fiery spirit of her Charmander.
Suddenly, something moved in the bushes. When the Girls turned and looked, out came three more Pokémon, about the same size as the ones they had. Of these three, one came up and said hello to each Pokémon, and then to its trainer. Blossom and Charmander were greeted by a dark-blue thing with red spots on its back. Buttercup and Bulbasaur met a pale-green thing with a large leaf growing from its head. And Bubbles and Squirtle greeted a little alligator.
After talking to the little alligator for a moment, Bubbles introduced the newcomers: "Everyone, this is Totodile. Blossom, that's Cyndaquil, and Buttercup, that's Chikorita. They want us to follow them now."
The Girls followed their Pokémon into the forest. The path got darker and darker . . . then the sun began to shine, bright but calm . . . by then, they weren't in the forest anymore. They were in their bed, awake.
Bubbles yawned. "Well, that was nice."
"That was weird," said Buttercup.
"That was neat!" said Blossom.
They got out of bed and started getting ready for school.
And so, the day begins for . . . The Powerpuff Girls!
Disclaimer: The Powerpuff Girls belong to Craig McCracken and Cartoon
Network. All things Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling and a couple
of publishing companies (and I apologize for making Ron look like a complete
idiot back there :-D). All things Star Wars belong to Lucasfilm Ltd.
All things Pokémon belong to Nintendo, Creatures, GameFreak, et
al. No copyright infringement is intended; I write because it's fun.
:-)