LAST DAY SURPRISES
PART 3: SURPRISES AND WONDERS
BY
Sgamer82
Sandra Keane stood at the podium set to the left end of the stage and watched as all the children took their seats. She saw everyone in a state of combined excitement and anxiety. Princess seemed depressed due to Sandy's punishment. Bubbles appeared to be worried about something, most likely Blossom's odd smile. Which Sandy thought seemed to have something to do with Buttercup who was, as usual, wiggling in her seat, though she had an agitated look on her face. Sandy would have placed more concern in it all but it was time for the graduation to start and Sandy had a job to do.
Blossom watched Buttercup squirmed and fidgeted in her seat. Blossom knew this would happen. Blossom was well aware that when Buttercup became overly nervous she became incredibly thirsty. From the moment she had gotten dressed at home Blossom counted at least three glasses of water and five trips to the water fountain since arriving. Now all that water was coming back to haunt Buttercup. Her revenge was assured. The only thing Blossom had had to do was keep Buttercup away from any bathrooms until the ceremony began. Blossom let a smile show on her face as her revenge was complete.
"I can't believe you'd do this to Buttercup!" Bubbles whispered angrily to her red-headed sister. Buttercup heard Bubbles statement and looked at Blossom, seeing her smirk confirm Bubbles statement.
"How could you?!" whispered Buttercup.
"I didn't do anything." Blossom said in the same whisper as her sisters. "Buttercup brought it all on herself by drinking all that water"
"Please don't say water!" Buttercup pleaded.
"Okay." said Blossom, "I won't say water. But, how about words with water in them? Like, for example, oh I don't know, water?"
Buttercup groaned and renewed her squirming. Bubbles just looked at her Blossom, her expression saying how angry she was with all of this.
"Buttercup deserves it!" Blossom said in her defense.
Meanwhile, in the audience, Professor Utonium was sitting in the audience with his video camera taping the whole ceremony. While Utonium was a bit farther back than he would have liked, it did give him a great chance to test the new zoom lens on the camera. It was the only way for him to get any kind of good view. He noticed Buttercup was fidgeting and squirming like nothing she'd ever done before. Utonium simply let out a sigh.
"That girl just can not sit still for anything." he said to nobody in particular. Though a couple of parents next to him couldn't help but giggle a little.
"I'm not too surprised." said a woman next to Utonium, the mother of a child in the class, "I'm amazed any of those kids are sitting still. I know I could never stay still for anything when I was five."
The parents laughed quietly to themselves. Their amusement was interrupted, however, but a sudden noise. It sounded like some kind of stomping. It eventually became so loud Sandy stopped everything she was doing and looked angrily at the approaching source.
A shadowy figure seemed to be approaching the school, though it got so large as it approached it became obvious that it was some kind of monster. As the creature came closer some insane laughing could be heard along with the clamorous stomps. Professor Utonium instantly recognized the source of the laughing.
"Mojo Jojo!"
The Powerpuff Girls sprung from their seats ready to fight, Blossom and Bubbles focused their attention on the nearing Mojobot, though Buttercup was glancing in other directions. All the other people were getting up and getting ready to run. But everything stopped when Sandy spoke up.
"Nobody move an inch." shouted Sandy. She stepped off of the stage and approached the huge, humanoid Mojobot, which had stopped at the gates of the school. She stepped less than a meter away from the machine.
"Okay," Sandy began, looking like she was just about to lose her last ounce patience, "Listen here you self-centered, big-mouthed, egotistical, pathetic excuse for a bag of fleas! I planned long and hard to make sure this graduation went off without a hitch and I am not about to let you screw it up! If you want to attack this school so badly then wait another couple hours for this ceremony to end! Otherwise, just go home and stay there! But don't interrupt this event again unless you want me to climb up there personally and give a beating that would make what the Girls give you look like a peck on the cheek!"
There was a stunned silence, everyone was captivated at Sandy's little outburst and curious, yet terrified, of what Mojo's response would be. The silence dragged on for another five minutes as everyone awaited the first move. Then the Mojobot turned around and walked away from the school, shocking everybody. All the people just stood open-mouthed as Sandy calmly walked back to the stage and took her place at the podium.
"Will everyone please sit back down."
There was a communal thump as everybody sat down in their seats as if they couldn't get there fast enough.
"Thank you." replied Sandy, "Let's continue."
As impressed as Buttercup was with how Ms. Keane scared off Mojo, she was angry because she thought she'd gotten her chance to get away for a minute. Now she was stuck until the ceremony ended.
This is gonna be the longest couple hours of my life! Buttercup knew she was gonna suffer, and she knew Blossom was going to enjoy every minute of it.
As Ms. Keane began reading off the students' names, Bubbles just buried her head in her hands. She knew all along this was going to be bad. She knew it was too late to do anything, but she tried one more time to make Blossom to see reason about what she was doing to Buttercup. She knew Buttercup was sorry for it, but if Blossom didn't regret her actions, she would just provoke Buttercup into a third prank and cause a whole new mess.
"Blossom, you gotta tell Buttercup you're sorry for doing this. She's already regrettin' what she did to you. If you don't feel bad about this she's just gonna pull another prank, then you'll pull one to get back, then she'll pull one, then you'll pull one..."
"Get to the point." Blossom whispered, losing patience with Bubbles.
"It's just gonna be this thing that keeps happenin' over an' over an' over until someone stops it."
"You mean a cycle, and as far as I'm concerned, me an' Buttercup aren't even until she feels as humiliated as I was."
Bubbles was really starting to get angry now. Her sister's callous attitude downright shocked Bubbles. There was nothing Bubbles could do, but she promised herself that the instant this was over she was telling Ms. Keane and the Professor exactly what's happened. Bubbles knew Ms. Keane never intended for something of this degree to happen.
Buttercup was not enjoying herself. She was so busy trying to avoid embarrassing herself that she wasn't even paying attention to Bubbles sticking up for her. She sat in her seat all but writhing in agony. Buttercup regretted never being able to sit still now. If it wasn't for that, then someone would have thought something was wrong. She could hardly stand it, she kept wondering why Ms. Keane couldn't read off the names any faster. So far, she was just coming up to Mitch.
"Mitchell Mitchellson." said Ms. Keane, Mitch walked up and received his diploma with a scowl from being called Mitchell, "Princess Morebucks." Princess noisily dragged her feet along the stage as she solemnly walked up to get her diploma.
By Buttercup's count, Ms. Keane still had about 12 more kids before she got to her. And even then there was still Vindo after her.
I'm not gonna make it... Buttercup moaned to herself. She didn't think she had a chance of holding out until the end. But she wasn't about to let Blossom have the satisfaction of seeing Buttercup embarrass herself and Ms. Keane.
"Harry Pitt. Elmer Sglue."
Okay...just a couple more, then Blossom, then Bubbles, then me, then Vindo. You can do this, Buttercup. At least, she hoped she could.
"Blossom Utonium"
Yes! Almost there! Buttercup celebrated silently as Blossom picked up her diploma.
"Bubbles Utonium." Bubbles got hers.
"Buttercup Utonium."
Buttercup got up and quickly moved to the podium, grabbed her diploma, went back to her seat just as quickly and crossed her legs. Sandy just stared for a few seconds, wondering about Buttercup's rapid walk. But she just shrugged and went on to give the last diploma to Vindo Wiper, who walked up and readily took it from Ms. Keane's hand. Sandy made some final closing statements and said five fateful words.
"This ceremony is now over."
No sooner had the words left Sandy's mouth when the Mojobot appeared and crushed the playground's jungle gym.
"Ha ha ha ha!" laughed the chimpanzee from the Mojobot, "You should not have said that the ceremony was over, Teacher Keane! For you have now caused your own doom. It was caused when you told me to return after the graduation for the Pokey Oaks children. I waited just a short distance from the school listening on my very sensitive speakers for you to conclude the commencement. Now that the ceremony commencing the graduation of the Pokey Oaks children has officially concluded, I can now attack with my new Super Extreme Ultra Chou-Robo Mojo Jojo Mark Ocho! So now, with the ceremony concluded, I will attack, and you will scream, and I will destroy you all, and you will be destroyed, as will the Powerpuff Girls with you. When I am victorious, the world will be MINE! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Girls," Ms. Keane said to the Powerpuffs, "I know I don't usually let you fight on school grounds, but this time I'll make an exception and let you do whatever you like." Blossom and Bubbles looked at Ms. Keane for a moment, stunned at her words, then went out and attacked the Mojobot. Buttercup zipped off in another direction completely. Sandy just thought that the Girls had some kind of plan.
Blossom and Bubbles zipped toward the Mojobot. Bubbles was about halfway there when she suddenly realized Buttercup wasn't with them.
"Where did Buttercup go?" asked Bubbles, though she realized the answer before the question was out of her mouth.
"I guess Buttercup just couldn't handle the pressure!" Answered Blossom, who began chuckling at her own joke.
The two Powerpuff Girls continued towards the Mojobot without their brunette sister. Bubbles and Blossom got their first good look at Mojo's newest destroyer. It was a thirty feet tall and seemed to be humanoid in shape with an all-violet armor hull. It had a large 'M' on its chest with a face reminiscent of a Transformer. As the Girls flew toward the machine, the robot's 'M' glowed and shot out a laser that sent the two girls plummeting to the ground. Blossom and Bubbles quickly recovered from the blast and shot up toward the robot for another attack. This time, both of the Powerpuffs received a hard punch by the hands of the robot. Blossom was quite surprised that such long arms moved so quickly. Once again, the girls hit the ground.
"Boy, we could probably use Buttercup right about now." Blossom said while getting up. But she instantly regretted saying it.
"Then you never shoulda played that mean trick on 'er!" Bubbles chided. Blossom hung her head for a second but just as quickly shot back into the sky to renew the battle with the Mojobot, followed by Bubbles. This time, Bubbles distracted Mojo while Blossom tried to attack the robot's back. Blossom didn't even get within ten feet before a dozen small guns appeared from within hatches on the robot and shot lasers at Blossom. Blossom was shot down, her gown beginning to catch fire as she fell to the ground. She hit the ground with a scattering of dust, which also caused the small flame on her gown to extinguish as well. Bubbles tried to go to Blossom but the Mojobot fired its 'M' laser again, shooting Bubbles into the stage, where a lot of the bystanders had gathered to give the Girls some room to fight.
This time around, the Girls didn't recover so quickly. Mojo's laughing could be heard for miles around. He believed he had won, since two Powerpuffs were down and the others were nowhere in sight. Mojo Jojo was so caught up in his celebration that he didn't even notice Buttercup rushing at him from the school building. Bubbles and the people watching on the stage saw a bright green streak of light plunge right through the midsection of the Mojobot. Mojo suddenly lost his main weapon as Buttercup's attack disable the 'M' laser on the front and half of the guns on the back.
Bubbles and Blossom realized that Buttercup had just given them an opening. They zipped into the air and started to tear at the Mojobot, Buttercup joined them after she managed to stop her momentum and head back to the fight. The three Powerpuff Girls thrashed and pounded machine until it was a thirty foot high mound of dents and holes. The girls finished the robot off with a kick to the back which knocked the robot forward toward the stage. Buttercup landed one hard punch to the dome, cracking it and knocking the robot backward. It was balancing one foot and ready to fall, Mojo tried to keep it from going down by waving the robots arms in circles. The girls just sat back above the stage and waited for the inevitable. The robot waved its arms several times before finally toppling over onto it's back.
The Powerpuff Girls floated in the sky, looking at the robot making sure nothing was left to be done. The Powerpuffs were about to join them when Buttercup spoke up.
"Blossom! What you did to me was just plain nasty!"
"ME?!" Blossom asked, almost sounding outraged, "What about you? You played a trick that made me act like a fool in front of the entire school for no reason at all!"
"And you did your trick just to get back at me! I at least felt bad about it later, you don't seem to mind at all that you nearly humiliated me too!"
"And why should I? You provoked the whole thing!"
"Nobody forced you to try and get even!"
"It's all your fault!" yelled Blossom.
"No, it's your fault!" retorted Buttercup.
"Your fault!"
"Your fault!"
"Your fault!"
"Your fault!"
"Will you two stop fighting! It was both of your faults!" Bubbles suddenly screamed. Both Blossom and Buttercup stopped their arguing to look at her. Bubbles was clearly furious, she even had a small vein popping out of her forehead and her newly-redone pigtails almost looked like devil horns.
"Buttercup!" she began, "You did start this whole thing. When you saw Blossom was in the right place for one of your pranks, you could have just left it alone. But noooooooooooooooo! If you hadn't pulled that stupid joke Blossom never woulda gotten mad at you and you coulda just sat back and enjoyed the graduation like everyone else!"
"You tell 'er Bubbles!" Blossom said, seeing Buttercup's regretful expression.
"What about you, Blossom!?" Bubbles continued, "Buttercup was right, you didn't have to get back at her. You couldn't take a little bruise to your ego so you had to do anything and everything you could think of to fix it up by hurting Buttercup even worse. And you don't even feel sorry at all. The stupid robot mighta beaten us if Buttercup hadn't been there! If your stupid idea had done what it was supposed to do, Buttercup prob'ly never woulda helped us 'cause she'd've run someplace where nobody would see her. If you hadn't pulled that stupid prank, Buttercup woulda been with us right from the start and we woulda beaten Mojo with no problem! You should be ashamed of yourself!"
"Wha wha wha..." Blossom stammered, shocked at her sister's sudden outbursts, "What about Buttercup?" she finally got out.
"She's already ashamed of herself." Bubbles said, she gestured to a very upset-looking Buttercup. "I'm gonna go down to the ground now. You two don't come down until you've made up or I'll...I'll...I'll...I'll tell Dad!"
Blossom snapped her head up that threat, the last thing Blossom wanted was to have the Professor angry at her. She hated when that happened. Bubbles didn't wait for a response, she descended to the stage below. Blossom and Buttercup just floated their for a few awkward seconds. Neither one knowing what to say.
"Y'know..." Buttercup started in a desperate attempt to break the silence, "...if this were one of those After-School Special things, this would be where some corny moral would slap ya right in the face."
Blossom giggled a little. "Yeah." She then lowered her eyes, "Listen...Bubbles was right. I only did this stuff because you hurt my image. Now that I think about it it was mean, cruel, and I'm real sorry."
"No, you were right," Buttercup told her, "I deserved it. I didn't have any real reason for that prank, I just saw a chance for one and took it. I didn't even think about what would happen because of it. I'm sorry. I'd understand if you don't wanna forgive me though."
"I'll forgive you if you forgive me." Blossom said.
"Deal." said Buttercup. The sisters gave each other a hug and descended down to join Bubbles.
"So is everybody okay?" Bubbles was asking Utonium when her sisters came down to the stage. The police had long since arrived and had taken Mojo from his robot and carted him off in a police van. The crowd had, for the most part, gone home. So Ms. Keane and the Utoniums were pretty much all alone on the stage.
"Yeah, Bubbles. Everyone's okay." Ms. Keane told her, "There's a lot of damage to the playground equipment. But we're in no hurry since nobody'll be at school to use it for a while."
"Okay, that's good." said Bubbles, right before letting out a giant yawn, "Can we go home. I'm tired an' I wanna go to bed."
"Same here." said Blossom, letting out a yawn of her own. Buttercup yawned herself and looked as if she'd fall asleep on her feet. The events of what had been, to the Girls, a very long day were beginning to catch up with them. They were ready to fall asleep, and their usual bedtime wasn't for another half-hour.
The Professor walked over and picked up Blossom and Bubbles in his arms while Sandy took Buttercup. Utonium and Sandy put the Girls, who had at that moment fallen asleep, in the backseat of the Professor's station wagon. Sandy and Utonium talked for a few minutes before Utonium headed home. Sandy got to work cleaning up the schoolground a little before she went home to her own apartment.
Blossom woke up the next morning feeling more refreshed than she'd had for a long time. After taking a look at the beside clock she saw it was 10:30 a.m. Blossom experienced a brief moment of panic before realizing that school was over and she didn't have to worry about getting up early. She got out of bed and saw her sisters weren't in bed. She went through her usual morning routine and went down to the kitchen were she saw Bubbles and Buttercup gulping down a late breakfast of waffles and scrambled eggs. Blossom sat down to a place the Professor had obviously set for her and started her own breakfast.
"Finally up, eh sweetheart?" asked the Professor from the waffle maker, "Between graduating and fighting Mojo Jojo the three of you were pretty exhausted. I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to let you sleep in. Your sisters only got here about twenty minutes ago."
"Oh yeah?" Blossom asked, a little surprised. The Girls almost never slept in like this.
"Yep." said Buttercup, pausing briefly before going back to her breakfast.
"It was sure nice of you, Daddy." said Bubbles.
"By the way, Girls." the Professor continued, starting to sound a little nervous, "Would you object to having the Mayor baby-sit you tonight."
"No, of course not." Blossom replied, "Why? Do you have another 'Meeting of the Minds'?"
"Not exactly." the Professor answered, even more nervous, "I have a date."
Blossom couldn't believe her ears. She'd hoped she wouldn't have to worry about Professor dating again after that horrible incident with Sedusa. Buttercup was the exact opposite, excited to the point of ecstatic. Bubbles looked a little surprised, but not worried.
"Not another date..." Blossom complained.
"This won't be like that time with Ima, Blossom." Utonium told her, "I'm sure you'll love her."
"Who are ya goin' out with?" Bubbles asked.
"Well, I'm..." now he began to sweat nervously, "I'm going to be going out on a date with Ms. Keane..."
"Ms. Keane?" Blossom asked, shocked.
"Ms. Keane." said Bubbles, as if this confirmed something she already knew.
"Ms. Keane!" Buttercup yelled, looking happier than Blossom had seen her for a while.
"Yes." the Professor replied, "Ms. Keane, I'm going on a date with her later tonight."
Blossom knew, from that moment, that life would become very different for The Powerpuff Girls.