The crowd at Townsville Hall was in a festive mood, and their excitement was increasing as rapidly as their numbers. They filled the area around the steps of the building, where a stage had been erected. On either side of the stage, two huge video screens had been set up so the crowd could see Bubbles via the camera. Two more screens were placed some distance away from the stage to accomodate the massive numbers that were expected. The rear of the stage was covered so no one could see what was going on back there, and it led directly into the building. Surrounding the stage, both on it and at ground level, were security people, off-duty police officers; all wearing the special eyewear.
At that moment, the Girls were inside the mayor's office with Mayor and Sara, and were almost ready to come out. The crowd wouldn't know if Bubbles was onstage or backstage until the camera crew was given the green light from Channel Five's producer, who was overseeing that portion of the show. By previous agreement, they would provide the video and audio feed to a crew from Cable News Corp., who had rushed to Townsville as soon as the news hit. CNC would broadcast the event worldwide as it happened.
It had taken awhile, but between the three of them and Sara, they had finally gotten Mayor with the program. He had stopped referring to Bubbles' body as 'the toy', and it had finally sunk in that Bubbles had not been a ghost yet when she beat him at games. He apologized for calling her a cheater after Buttercup suggested that his pickle jar might mysteriously disappear one night and never be seen again.
"Are we ready to roll, Girls?" Sara prompted them. It was a few minutes after six and she didn't need a restless crowd, given the situation.
"Did you get the karaoke machine?" Blossom asked.
"It's out there."
"Oh goody!" Bubbles couldn't wait. She bobbed up and down.
Buttercup was already starting to jive to the music she was hearing in her head. "Let's do it!"
The Girls floated, Blossom carrying Bubbles' body, out of the office and out toward the entrance. Mayor and Sara followed. The security guards became alert as a voice in their radio headsets told them their charges were on the way out. Moments later, the five were on the stage and got a huge cheer when they passed through the curtain, leaving 'the toy' backstage for the time being. The crowd had no idea Bubbles was floating there looking around and thought she was just waiting backstage for her moment. The CNC crew went about their business onstage practically unnoticed, and the producer watched for a cue from Sara to begin rolling the video. They weren't going to turn the camera on until Mayor had made an announcement and Bubbles had been formally introduced. There was an unexpected delay. Bubbles saw something she didn't like.
The Gangreen Gang had seen this huge gathering as the perfect opportunity to do a little pick-pocketing. If you knew what you were doing, the poor sap never even knew he'd been cleaned out. The Gang's leader, Ace, figured all the attention would be on the stage and they'd never be noticed. They had been as amazed as everyone else when they found out about Bubbles and weren't too keen on the idea of going up against her, but they weren't expecting any trouble tonight. Just a few bumps here and jostles there, and it was splitsville for them. Back to the dump to count the loot.
Little Arturo was the best. He stood unnoticed at hip-pocket level, and while distracting anyone watching by combing his hair with 'Maria', which looked exactly like a switchblade, his other hand expertly separated wallets from their owners' pockets. Snake slithered his narrow body back and forth through tight spots and managed to reach into a few ladies' purses on the way. Ace and Big Billy worked as a team. Billy would bump his huge body into someone, knocking them right into Ace's arms. Billy would mumble a clumsy apology to the victim and that person would apologize to Ace, who had just picked them clean. Grubber was basically useless but was good to have around. People wanted to get away from him and someone who was moving and jittery was less likely to feel their valuables saying 'bye-bye'.
Bubbles had seen Big Billy first, and then Ace, and was instantly on guard. She floated away from the stage to get a closer look.
"Bubbles! Get back here!" Blossom hissed through her teeth.
Bubbles floated back. "The Gangreen Gang's out there, Blossom, an' I think they might be doin' somethin' bad! I wanna go see!
"They are? Let's git 'em!" Buttercup said, putting on her fighting face.
"No, wait!" Blossom said, seeing some of the security team looking up at them.
Sara stepped forward. "Something wrong, Girls?"
"Maybe, Ms. Bellum. Bubbles, go out there and look but keep quiet! If you see something, come back here! Don't do nothin' on your own!"
"Bubbles, we don't want to panic the crowd. Somebody could get hurt." Sara warned. Bubbles nodded and floated out above the crowd. She went to where she had seen Big Billy. There he was, and there was Ace. She moved in closely and saw Ace's hand come away with a wallet. She dashed back to the stage, waving her arms excitedly. The guards knew something was up and tensed.
"Girls! They're pocking people's pickets! I mean, they're peeking pickles-, oh, they're STEALING!"
Blossom turned and told Sara, "It's the Gangreen Gang!"
The head of security, who was on the stage, said something into his headset and some of his crew started moving.
"Let's go, Blossom!" Buttercup urged.
"No, let security handle it."
Buttercup thought to herself, The heck with this! I want to see some action!
Microphones had been clipped to everyone's collar except Bubbles', naturally. When it was time for her to come forward, they had a cordless mike to hand her. Buttercup checked hers.
"This thing on?"
A wave of feedback rolled through the sound system, but it was quickly squelched by the guy manning the sound board.
"Buttercup..." Blossom warned.
Buttercup saw that the crowd was getting as restless as she was and ignored her sister. "Hey Townsville!"
A cheer went up. She waved it down. "Yeah, yeah. Hey everybody, we're not ready to turn on the cameras yet, but how'd you like to see Bubbles in action?"
Bubbles looked back toward the stage, shocked. An even bigger cheer went up. She didn't know what to do, now. She looked back to see if she could still spot any of the Gang. She couldn't. She looked back to the stage for guidance.
"See, Blossom, they're cool with it. Right?" Buttercup grinned out at the people.
They roared back their approval. Blossom wasn't too happy with her headstrong sister, but turned her mike on.
"Nail 'em, Bubbles!"An even bigger roar went up, though nobody knew who she was going to nail, except one person.
"Uh, oh, Billy! Time to amscray!" Ace told his partner. He looked around for his mates. "Let's find the guys and get outta here!"
Bubbles soared over the crowd, looking. Townsville wasn't afraid of her! The thought made her so happy, she sang out, "Hellooooooo, Townsville! I hope nobody's ascared of me, 'cause I'm not gonna hurt anybody...'cept the GANGREEN GANG!!!"
She saw dozens of hands pointing suddenly, and in seconds she knew where all five of them were.
On stage, the producer spat into his headset, "Cut the connection to the screens and start rolling, NOW! I WANT THIS!"
All over the world, people were about to see something amazing. The crowd would see the same thing, minus Bubbles. Now, she zeroed in on Ace. "Take out the head!" Blossom always told her.
"Hmmmm," she thought. "If I beat him up, he might drop some of the money and then somebody else might get it who's not s'posed to. I guess I'll just catch 'em."
They knew it was coming, but they screamed anyway when she grabbed them one by one and lifted them into the sky. Those in the crowd who were standing right next to each gang member got a jolt when they saw him jump suddenly, but relaxed and cheered along with everyone else.
Her sisters were enjoying themselves. "Go, Bubbles!" they shouted. It was going to be a great party.
