DYING TO LIVE



A PpG 'alternate reality' fan fiction

By I am a good fighter


DISCLAIMER: Powerpuff Girls created by Craig McCracken and all characters associated with the show are owned by Cartoon Network


Story idea adapted from the novel 'Replay' (c) 1986 by Ken Grimwood


This story is rated PG-13




TWENTY

I needed something to do. But Buttercup was watching my every move, and to suddenly engage in a burst of activity to take my mind off of it would have raised her suspicions even more. So I forced myself to sit with her and Bubbles; watching cartoons until it was time to go grocery shopping. I did a great acting job, because Buttercup quit paying attention to me and barely noticed when I left the room to get Professor at a little before eleven.

"What's it going to be today, Girls?" he said to us in the car on the way to Malph's.

"Why don't we let Buttercup decide what she wants to do?" I suggested.

"What? Why her?" Bubbles complained. Professor seemed curious, too; he looked up in the rear view mirror at me with his eyebrows raised.

Buttercup was staring at me. I looked back at her and said "I think we should, that's all. We've had two really hard days and I know how much you love the action, sis, but you had me worried this morning. I think the stress is gettin' to ya'."

It worked. "Oh yeah? That'll be the day! Professor? Can I really do what I want?"

"Of course, dear."

"Great! Soon as we get home, I'll show ya' who's stressed out! Professor, I want you to throw the meanest, toughest monsters at us you can think up. We'll go one at a time, an' the other two'll sit blindfolded so they can't see what the one of us is doing!"

She meant in the Danger Room, of course. It was a great idea. "Hey, cool!" I said. "Like 'Win Ben Stein's Money' with monsters!"

"Exactly!" Bubbles said, grinning. "I'll whip the skirts offa both of ya'!"

I was sorry we'd never get to play, but now Buttercup's thoughts were completely off of me.

"Heeya!" She kicked out her right foot, and poked it through the duct tape over the last hole she made in the back of the passenger seat. "Ooops!"

"Now, Girls, let's not have any of that in the store, okay?"






Filling up the shopping cart with stuff I would never use was weird, so I tried not to think about it; and I didn't pay any attention to the time, either. It would be here soon enough.

We put everything away and Buttercup and Bubbles grabbed a fast lunch. They were so looking forward to our 'game' that they didn't notice my lack of appetite. I won the round-robin coin flip and got to go first. I held on to the slimmest shred of hope that my good luck meant I might learn something from this exercise that would save me; forgetting all about the death of my friend. As soon as I realized my mistake, I was struck by the horrible thought that I might die right there in the Danger Room, due to some accident. I suddenly WANTED to know what time it was, and prayed for the hotline to ring, anything to get me out of there and spare Professor the pain of living with something that he would think was his fault. I slashed away blindly, not seeing what I was hitting, not caring, not hearing a sound.

Without warning I was on my back, pinned to the ground, and I thought, "Oh, no, it happened in here!" I looked up to see my sisters, holding me down, shouting.

"We gotta go, Blossom, there's a monster for real!" Bubbles was saying.

We took off, calling goodbye to Professor while he called after us to be careful. I let Buttercup lead us toward downtown.

"Dang, girl, what got into you? From the time we got our blindfolds off 'til we stopped you, you wasted three monsters! Professor said you took out ten altogether and he had the danger level to thirteen already!"

I had to stay nonchalant. "Oh, just showing off. You know me, Buttercup!"

"Well, I hope you saved some for this palooka!"

A sense of deja vu came over me and I knew what I was going to see before I saw it. It was the porcupine-thing again. I didn't even bother wondering how or why, just gave the orders like before to watch out for the quills. I knew it would be a ricochet, so I positioned myself with some buildings at my back. I'd be able to see and avoid any quills that might come in to bounce off those walls. After Bubbles broke the monster's eardrums and I froze it, we started to pound on it where it lay on the crushed store. That's when I noticed something was wrong- Buttercup was missing! I whirled, and there she was, watching me. She hadn't forgotten at all, she wasn't letting me out of her sight. She was watching my back, just like she promised me, but who was watching hers? That's when I saw them.

"Buttercup! Nooooo!"

Bubbles saw them, too. A split second and thirty feet behind me; we took off trying to reach Buttercup before the quills did. She turned, saw them, and froze; but I was able to shove her aside just in time. The timing was perfect for if Bubbles had been just a few feet behind me instead of thirty, she'd have gotten it from a dozen razor sharp quills. Instead, they zipped by harmlessly in front of her. Buttercup turned and grabbed hold of me and Bubbles latched onto me as well. I expected one of our congratulatory celebrations in mid-air and couldn't understand the looks on their faces.

Because of the adrenaline shooting through me, I hadn't even felt it. But now that strange, familiar sensation was back, and so was the stain spreading on the front of my dress. What a fool I was to think I'd really beaten this thing! But, for the first time ever in my life, I managed to say something before I died. Though everything was going dark, I reached out to touch my sisters' faces, and said "I'm sorry."