Chemical Confusion
"Stop right there, you jewel stealing jokes!" Blossom shouted with her sisters perched just behind her. The three crooks whirled around with the bags of money in their hands, staring at the trio like a deer staring at a semi. "You should know better than to try to steal in the city of Townsville! For whenever evil lurks and villains try to hide, the Powerpuff Girls will always turn the tide!" She proclaimed. The crooks expressions turned to ones of amusement rather than fear.
"I told you the catch phrase was a bad idea." Buttercup said with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Well let's hear yours then miss negativity!" Blossom shot back. The crooks exchanged a quick glance behind their backs and took off out of one of the emergency exits. Bubbles' eyes went wide and she grabbed her sisters arms to get their attention.
"The crooks are getting away!" Bubbles shouted. Immediately the three girls took off down the hall after them, streaking through the building like they knew exactly where they were going. They streaked out of the building in time to see the three crooks jumping into a car and taking off down the street. They took off after them in streaks of pink, blue, and green.
Buttercup streaked down to fly directly under the car, lifting it off the road and carrying it up into the sky. Blossom and Bubbles burst in through the two windows to get to the crooks, tearing into them like dogs on a pack of cats. Finally they opened the doors and floated out of the car, Bubbles hauling one while Blossom carried the other two. Buttercup still held the car, so couldn't handle one.
They flew to the police station and dropped the unconscious crooks on the front steps along with the car. When they were done they left again without bothering to stick around for the cops, they would know to be expecting the crooks by now. After all, it was a cycle that had been going on for several years now, ever since they were six. After five years, it was a set routine.
"Good job girls, another day another dangerous criminal off the street." Blossom said proudly, smiling at her sisters. Bubbles nodded back with a broad smile, but Buttercup had her arms crossed over her chest.
"So what else is new? We do that every day." Buttercup declared. "It's getting boring." She added. "Sometimes I hate having superpowers..." She grumbled.
"It's our sworn duty Buttercup, you know that." Blossom chided her sister as if she was her teacher. Buttercup rolled her eyes while Bubbles just flew on, trying to ignore them as she usually did. She looked around when she noticed her sisters flying a little higher than she was, and climbing.
"Hey, where you guys going?" She called up to them as they continued to pull up higher than her. They looked down at her in surprise, still continuing on their flight until one of them looked ahead.
"Bubbles pull up!" Blossom screamed. Bubbles looked ahead to see they weren't flying higher, she was falling lower, and heading straight for the side of one of Townsville's distinctively tall buildings. She screamed and stopped just before she hit it, but she was still falling at an increasing pace.
She fanned the air with her arms as if she were underwater and tried to fly back up, but she just kept going down no matter what she did. "Guys I can't flyieeeeeeeee!" She screamed when her hovering gave out completely, sending her plummeting toward the ground. She screamed her little heart out right up until a green and pink flash of light caught her just before she hit the ground.
"Bubbles! Are you okay!?" Blossom demanded worriedly. Bubbles laid in her arms and rubbed her head, still shaking somewhat from her fall. Even Buttercup gave her a worried look.
"Y... yeah I think so..." Bubbles said, looking down at the ground far below her. "I don't know what happened, I just... stopped flying." She told them.
"Let's get you home to the Professor and have him check you out, the last thing we need is for our powers to fail in the middle of flight or a fight." Blossom told the others. Neither of them argued, so they flew back to their home where the Professor was already in his basement laboratory. They wandered down into the basement on their legs instead of floating.
"Professor, something's wrong with Bubbles!" Blossom exclaimed urgently. The Professor instantly whirled and looked down at them with concern in his expression.
"What is it?" He asked.
"We were flying home after saving the day, and she just stopped flying." Buttercup explained. The Professor looked down at Bubbles, raising his eyebrows curiously.
"Yeah it's true, I almost hit a building, and then I almost hit the ground!" Bubbles exclaimed, more than a little bit panicked. The Professor kneeled down and put one hand on her forehead, then on her cheek.
"It doesn't feel like a sickness... I'm going to have to run some tests to be sure, if your powers fail at the wrong time this could be very serious." He told them, taking Bubbles' hand to lead her over to the table. Blossom and Buttercup started to follow him, but he turned back to shake his head at them. "Go upstairs girls, please."
"Oh alright..." Blossom and Buttercup grumbled in unison as they turned to float upstairs. Halfway up however Blossom suddenly slammed into the stairs and gave a startled gasp of pain. Buttercup floated down and took her arm, looking up at the Professor to make sure he hadn't seen. They didn't want to worry him any more than he already was.
"Come on." Buttercup helped Blossom finish the climb up the stairs and went into the living room to wait for the Professor to finish examining Bubbles. Whatever was happening, they could only hope he could reverse it.
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After several hours Blossom and Bubbles had fallen asleep, with the moon shining brightly outside. The hotline had rung several times, but they had been too nervous to answer. Luckily it didn't seem to be anything the police couldn't handle, because Townsville was still in one piece. Once or twice they had tested their powers, and oddly they worked off and on, fluctuating back and forth. So they waited silently for the Professor to emerge, which he finally did at midnight.
"Girls... we have to talk." The Professor gently put his hands on their shoulders to wake them up. They groaned and opened their, eyes looking up at him and sitting up on the couch.
"What's going on Professor..." Blossom rubbed her eyes and looked over at Bubbles sitting on the lone chair. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and looked very tired, but otherwise she looked okay.
"Well... I don't think you should be fighting crime for a little while." The Professor told her.
"What? Why not?" Buttercup asked.
"Well... at your age boys and girls start... changing on the inside and the outside. Now, this change affects almost every hormone and aspect of your body... and in your case it seems, the Chemical-X inside your bodies." He rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn, he was as tired as they were, but this was too important to put off. "As your bodies grow and change the Chemical-X is shifting to accommodate the changes... but it seems this is resulting in... power outages to put it simply."
"So... we can't fight crime? For how long?" Blossom asked worriedly.
"There's no telling Blossom, it could clear itself up in a few days, or it could last until after you've finished... um... your changes." The Professor replied with a gentle smile. He yawned again and took Blossom and Buttercups hands, helping them stand up from the couch. "Now come on girls, it's time for bed." They had grown taller than they had been before, so they could hold his hands without floating.
"Come on Bubbles, sweetie. Time for bed." He picked up Bubbles from the chair, keeping the towel wrapped around her as he carried her up the stairs. Blossom and Buttercup ran up in front of him to go in the room they still shared, though the time was rapidly approaching for them to get their own rooms. They laid down in their places while the Professor put Bubbles in her place, kissing her on the forehead gently.
"Goodnight girls, remember, if the hotline rings, let the Mayor handle it unless it's a dire emergency." He told them.
"Goodnight Professor, we will." The girls replied in unison as The Professor gave Buttercup and Blossom kisses as well. They settled down and pulled the blanket up to their chins, all but asleep before The Professor even made it to the door.
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The following morning the girls set about getting ready for the day, though not as normal. They tried to refrain from using their powers, but they couldn't resist just little bits and pieces of flight every now and again. They were too used to getting things done within moments to slow down easily. They finally stopped trying to fly when Blossom wound up slamming head first into the closet door on her way to get her dress. It was too unpredictable to keep using their powers, so they finally accepted the slower pace.
They climbed down the stairs carefully to keep from slipping after floating down for so long. The Professor spotted them and smiled, walking over to put his hands on two of their shoulders.
"Are you girls feeling good today?" He asked.
"Yeah, pretty good." Blossom replied.
"Um, Professor..." Bubbles said, rubbing her head. "You said something about changes in our bodies last night causing our powers to mess up... what kinds of changes?" The Professor stared down at her, practically sweating within moments and turned to look down at his watch.
"Uhm... well look at the time, you girls are going to be late for school if we don't get going soon. I'll fix you breakfast right now." He whirled and marched into the kitchen without giving them a chance to question him further. The girls exchanged a quick glance and shrugged before they followed him into the kitchen, heading over to the table.
They waited for the Professor to bring them breakfast and dug in hungrily, eating more than they were really accustomed to. When they were finished their creator looked down at them with a worried frown on his face.
"Now I know it's going to be hard these first few days not using your powers, but it's important right now while they're so unpredictable. So I'll drive you to school from now on so you don't have to walk or fly." He told them.
"Really Professor we can walk, it's okay." Blossom told him with a wry smile. "We can walk, everyone else does." She assured him. He still looked nervous, but nodded his head in response anyway.
"Alright girls, I know you can take care of yourselves..." He sighed in resignation and shook his head. "Growing too fast for my tastes... you're not my little girls for much longer."
"Aw stop Professor." Buttercup pleaded, sticking her tongue out. Bubbles giggled and Blossom just smiling, staring up at their creator.
"We may not be your little girls much longer... but we'll still be your big girls." Bubbles told him, floating up really quick to give him a tight hug. When she let go though she dropped to the ground like a stone, landing butt-first on the carpet. "Oooowwwww..." she rubbed her behind tenderly, frowning.
"Now what did I tell you Bubbles?" The Professor chided her gently, still smiling from the hug she gave him nonetheless. He helped her back up and patted her on the head, giving her a gentle push toward her sisters. "Now you girls have a good day now, and try not to use your powers." He reminded them one last time.
"We know Professor." The girls replied in unison, turning to leave the house and walk down the street, swinging their arms at their sides idly. Several other kids came out of their houses as well, watching the Powerpuff Girls walking along like normal little girls. Their faces were stunned, which only made the girls laugh.
"Maybe this won't be so bad, it seems like it may be an interesting experience for us." Blossom told her sisters. They both nodded in agreement, but they stopped when a boy wearing black robes and a white collar walked up to them.
"Have you given your eternal souls to Jesus Christ yet? You know, more than one million Americans each day find the light of our lord and savior. I found him and so I'm not going to Hell." He told them.
"What? Oh no thanks, we're happy the way we are, we like our lives." Blossom told him.
"You want to burn in the fires of Hell for Eternity? Only by pledging your love of God can you avoid such a horrible fate." The boy told them.
"So wait a minute..." Blossom mused. "Even though we save Townsville on a daily basis, fight the forces of evil, and protect and serve the innocent citizens, we're still going to Hell just because we don't get on our knees every night and ask for forgiveness for something we didn't actually do?" The boy just stared down at them for a few moments.
"Jesus loves you." He told them.
"Ah get out of here." Buttercup pushed him away from them and they continued down the street. Finally they reached their school and went inside to find their classes, with several other kids coming in behind them as well. The other students still gave them questioning glances occasionally, but not as many since they did occasionally walk short distances inside the school itself.
When they reached the classroom and took their seats it was only a few minutes before the bell was supposed to ring. "I hope the Mayor doesn't decide to call for a while, how could we tell him no?" Bubbles told her sisters softly. As luck would of course have it, the Hotline in the corner started to buzz in a few moments.
"Should we answer it?" Buttercup asked.
"We can't just ignore it... we'll explain the situation, I'm sure he'll understand." Blossom told them. She got up and jogged over to the phone to answer it. "Hello?"
"Blossom, some criminals are robbing the jewelry store! You have to stop them!" The Mayor's voice came back.
"Um... we can't... you see... um..." Blossom began.
"But Blossom, all the jewels are being taken and it's fishing day at the police station, you're the only ones who can help us." He pleaded. Blossom looked over at her sisters with a guilty frown when she spoke again.
"Well okay... we'll see what we can do." Blossom hung up the phone and sighed, watching her sisters' upset expressions. "He's depending on us girls, maybe our powers will hold out long enough to get this one job done." So they took off out the window and streaked through the sky in flashes of blue, green and pink. After a few minutes of flight Bubbles' streak faded and she started falling, but Blossom grabbed her arm and heaved her up onto her back.
"Hey yeah, we shouldn't all lose our flying powers at the same time, so whoever still has them can carry the others until they return." Bubbles suggested. Blossom and Buttercup exchanged a surprise glance, then looked up at Bubbles, though this was hard for Blossom since Bubbles was on her back.
"That's a good idea Bubbles." Blossom told her. "Maybe we CAN still fight crime through this... whoa." She started to fall then, so Buttercup grabbed both of her sisters and hauled them onto her back.
"Anyone see the criminals?" Buttercup asked. Blossom and Bubbles looked around from their perch on their sisters' back, finally spotting a black car speeding down the road just ahead of them.
"There they are! Down there!" Bubbles pointed down at the car, sticking her hand in front of Buttercup's face to show her.
"Alright let's... SWITCH!" Buttercup flailed her arms as she started to fall to the ground, but Bubbles wrapped her arms around her sisters and took flight in her stead, throwing the others on top of her.
"Alright, let's go get them!" Bubbles shouted, streaking down toward the car in a flash of blue light. They neared the top of the vehicle in no time, hovering fifty feet right above it.
"Okay Bubbles, let's go get it!" Blossom exclaimed. Bubbles started to turn down, but the blue trail of light stopped and she started to fall toward the ground.
"Quick, someone stop us!" She exclaimed. Blossom and Buttercup both held onto everyone else, but nothing happened as they plummeted to the ground.
"This, is going to hurt..." Buttercup muttered as they plunged down toward the car in a nosedive. They slammed into the hood and punched a hole right through it, burying themselves in the street while the car flipped through the air from the impact. It flipped several times before it slammed into the pavement upside down. The sound of crushed steel and breaking glass filled the air until it finally skidded to a stop.
Blossom stuck one hand out of the small crater and pulled herself up, resting her chin on the edge of the hole. "At least our invulnerability was still working..." She grumbled weakly, watching her sisters pull themselves up beside her. They nodded in agreement and they all climbed out of the hole, lying on the ground to rest for a moment. Police sirens showed up a few minutes later and several officers climbed out to run over to them.
"Are you okay Powerpuff Girls?" He asked worriedly.
"We'll be fine, just give us a few minutes..." Blossom told them, not moving.
"Well don't worry girls, we've already called the Professor to get him to come down here and check on you." The officer told them.
"You told the Professor!?" Blossom exclaimed, exchanging a worried glance with her sisters. They knew he wouldn't be happy they had tried to save the day despite his warnings about not using their powers. They would just have to try to explain...
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Blossom, bubbles, and Buttercup sat on the couch with the legs folded under them and their head hanging down to their chests as the Professor glared down at them. They had their arms pressed on top of their thighs, waiting for him to tell them how wrong they were. He had been silent the entire way home, a sure sign that they were in trouble.
"What did I tell you this morning?" The Professor asked.
"Don't use our powers except for extreme circumstances..." Blossom repeated.
"So what were you doing trying to fly after a group of normal everyday crooks?" The Professor demanded.
"The Mayor asked us to..." Blossom began.
"The Mayor doesn't know what's been happening to you lately." The Professor reminded her. "Do you know what could have happened if your powers of invulnerability had failed even one of you?" He asked. The girls lowered their heads again, giving each other sidelong glances. "I know you only wanted to help... but right now your powers can be as much a threat to you as any villain in Townsville."
"We're sorry Professor..." The girls said in unison, keeping their heads bowed in guilt. The Professor sighed and shook his head, walking over to them to sit beside them and put one arm around their shoulders.
"I'm sorry to sound tough, but I worry about you girls. And when I heard you tried to fight crime today well... I was scared something bad could have happened when you were vulnerable." He told them.
"It's okay Professor... we deserve it. We ignored what you said..." Blossom replied, looking up at him.
"Yeah, we should have known better than to think we could depend on luck to keep us flying." Buttercup added.
"From now on, we won't use our powers until you tell us we can." Bubbles promised. Blossom and Buttercup nodded in agreement and the Professor smiled down at them.
"That's my girls... now go ahead and get back to school before your teacher throws a fit." The Professor hugged the three of them and let them go so they could hop off the couch.
"Okay Professor." The girls gave him a final nod before they turned to leave the house again, their shoulders still sagging somewhat. They really hadn't thought everything through, if all their powers had all failed at the same time in mid-air... well they didn't want to think about that. From now on they would listen to the Professor, no more superpowers until it was safe. Not for their own sake, but they didn't want to worry the Professor again.
"There you are girls, glad you could finally join us again. Where have you been?" Their teacher, Mrs. Fauxman demanded with her hands on her hips.
"We had to try to save the day, where we always go." Blossom explained.
"Then why did it take so long? You didn't stop anywhere did you?" The teacher demanded.
"Of course not! We just... um..." Blossom turned to scan the class, all eyes were on her. "Well the truth is... we thought we could save the day without our powers, but we were wrong... so we had to walk back here, that's why it took so long." She admitted.
"Without your powers?" The teacher asked.
"Yeah, the Professor said something about changes in our bodies, and they're making the Chemical-X go haywire trying to keep up." Bubbles explained. Blossom wasn't sure if they were supposed to be advertising that stuff, but it was too late now either way. Some classmates nodded, knowing what they meant, while others looked completely blank.
"I see... well go ahead and take your seats girls, you're excused this time." The teacher told them. Blossom smiled and the girls took their seats near the front. Behind them they could hear someone scribbling furiously on a piece of paper. Blossom turned her head slightly to see Princess Morebucks writing something... probably something she wouldn't like later.
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It was too perfect. Princess could hardly believe her good fortune as she half-walked, half-ran down the hallways of the mansion her father had given her for her tenth birthday. She had the piece of paper clutched in one clenched fist, making sure she didn't stop it in her eagerness to get to the little laboratory she'd forced her father to build her. If a maniacal monkey could do stuff in one, surely Princess Morebucks could too.
She flung open the doors to her lab and ran over to a desk, slamming the paper down and folding it out to look down at her perfect plan. With the Powerpuff Girls practically powerless, it should be easy to get rid of them. Still after so many years of thwarted attempts, she would not settle for just defeating them or killing them. She had to humiliate them, show all of Townsville that Princess without a doubt was the TRUE Powerpuff Girl.
"Just you wait Sourfluff Punks, the Princess is about to take her throne!" She let out a maniacal laugh that echoed through the entire mansion through a system she'd had someone design for just that purpose. After all, Mojo was able to laugh at all of Townsville like this since his voice was so loud, so she should be able to too.
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Blossom waited in the hall outside the bathroom with her arms crossed over her chest. Once they would have gotten ready together, but since they were growing they'd decided to start doing some things one at a time. She sometimes regretted that decision though when she found herself waiting for Buttercup to get finished with bedtime preparations. One would think the tomboy of the trio wouldn't take that much time, but she was usually in the longest.
Blossom sighed when the door finally opened and Buttercup came out. Before the leader could go in though Buttercup grabbed her arm with a curious expression on her face. "Hey um... Blossom... do you have any hair in odd places?" She asked.
"What?" Blossom asked, clueless.
"Nevermind." Buttercup turned and went in the room they still shared. Blossom blinked, then shrugged and turned to go in the bathroom and get ready for bed. She walked up to the mirror and looked at herself. She was as pretty as ever, but there did seem to be something different about her. She turned to the side to take a closer look at herself.
"What on Earth...?" She grabbed her dress and pulled it off since she had to change into her nightgown anyway. She blinked and just stared at herself, not quite sure what was going on. "I wonder if Bubbles or Buttercup have noticed anything like this..." Curiously she looked down and pulled her tights out to look for something else. "Whoa, weird..."
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The next day the girls elected to get dressed one at a time in the bathroom instead of together in the bedroom as they normally did. None of them elected to talk about why they did this, they were all just glad that it was a unanimous decision. They went downstairs at the same time to find the Professor, but all they found was a note saying he had an emergency meeting to attend.
"I guess we can just go to school then..." Blossom said, not really enthusiastic about it, and neither were her sisters. They were all looking a little different even through the fabric of their dresses. There didn't seem to be any way to hide it either.
"Could we just... stay home?" Bubbles asked.
"Skip school? Are you crazy? The Professor would REALLY be mad at us then." Buttercup told her.
"We can go girls... hey there are other girls who have... um... more noticeable ones than we do. Besides, we're supposed to get these." Blossom pointed out.
"But not overnight." Buttercup pointed out. "There was nothing yesterday afternoon and now look at them, it's like they're almost full-grown. People are going to stare at us."
"Well I don't think that's anything to be ashamed of." Blossom whirled to stomp toward the door purposefully, looking back at her sisters. "And anyone who stares is just being jealous." She giggled and winked back at her sisters. Buttercup smirked and Bubbles giggled back, following behind her redheaded sister.
"I still think there's something wrong here..." Buttercup mumbled, though she did follow her sisters outside. They walked down the street, getting even more surprised stares from passersby than they had the day before thanks to their new developments. Several boys dropped their books, then scrambled to pick them back up and get moving again before they were late fro school.
"I think I kind of like all the attention." Bubbles giggled, adjusting her dress over her chest so that it fit more firmly. Blossom smiled over at her and nodded.
"See? There's nothing to be ashamed of or worried about." She told her sisters. She was stopped suddenly when the three girls slammed into something in front of them. They rubbed their heads and took a quick step back, staring at a metallic looking figure that vaguely resembled a human being. They blinked and stared at the figure as the metallic mouth opened.
"Haha Powerpuff Girls, without your powers, I will destroy you easily!" Princess' voice came from a speaker hidden behind the lips. It raised one arm in front of it with its fist clenched and took one step forward. "OW! Stupid thing's pinching me!" Princess exclaimed.
"Um... do you want us to... help you out Princess?" Blossom was barely able to contain the laughter that threatened to boil out of her. Bubbles and Buttercup were already tittering madly.
"Of course not! I will destroy you!" The thing raised its arm even higher over it head, but they all heard a soft snap from the things speaker. "OW! I think it broke my arm! It shouldn't bend that way!" The Powerpuff Girls exchanged a droll glance and stepped forward to grab Princess' suit. "Hey, unhand me you peasants!"
"Alright girls, one, two, three!" Blossom counted. They all tugged at once, tearing the suit in half in a shower of steel and sparks and letting Princess drop to the ground in her normal sweater and skirt combination.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing to my robot!?" Princess demanded, though she was nursing her arm painfully.
"Helping you, now what did you think you were doing? Did you actually build that thing yourself?" Blossom asked.
"Of course I did! If Mojo Jojo or Professor Utonium can build robots I can too!" Princess replied, pushing herself up to her feet. She straightened out her sweater and skirt so that she looked prim and proper again. "Fortunately, these were not built by me." She took out a remote control and hit a button. The puffs looked around for a few moments until a soft roar filled the air.
"Look!" Bubbles exclaimed, pointing up at the sky. There were dozens of miniature Princess dolls with jet packs flying through the air toward them. Each had a blade as big as the doll was tall sticking out of its head. They swarmed together and swooped down toward the Powerpuffs.
"Shoot 'em down!" Blossom shouted, firing a blast of heat vision at one of the dolls. The crimson beam streaked through the air... but faded a moment before it could make contact. The three girls exchanged a quick glance, then whirled to take off running toward the school. Buttercup tackled Princess with her shoulder to carry her with them.
"Hey, put me down you big bully!" Princess exclaimed, beating on the Powerpuff Girl's back. Even without her powers Buttercup still had more muscle than most kids her age, or any age for that matter. She gasped when she saw several of her own doll's blades right in her face since she was facing backwards slung over Buttercups shoulder.
"I don't think so, not until you call those things off!" Buttercup shouted back at her.
"No they're supposed to destroy you! I will never call them off!" Princess exclaimed.
"Fine then, let's see how proper the Princess is." Princess arched an eyebrow, but couldn't crane around to see anything. "Hey boys, here's a cheap thrill!" Buttercup hiked up Princess skirt, baring her to the world. She saw several boys grinning and giving them thumbs up when they passed by, still running from the swarming Princess dolls.
"Hey hey HEY! That is private stuff and isn't meant to be seen by peasants!" Princess beat on her back again more furiously than ever, but the Powerpuff Girl wouldn't let go.
"Then call your stupid dolls off, or next time they see more than your underwear." Buttercup negotiated. Princess growled and fumed, clenching her fists, but finally she grabbed the remote and pressed a button, sending the Princess dolls falling to the ground harmlessly.
The Powerpuff Girls stopped and Buttercup dropped her to the ground with a light thud. She grabbed the remote and threw it on the ground, stepping on it and crushing it into a hundred pieces. Princess was still blushing furiously as she jumped to her feet, glaring at Buttercup.
"How DARE you do something like that to me! I am Princess Morebucks not some common peasant girl!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah yeah, you should know better than to mess with the Powerpuff Girls by now." Blossom retorted.
"Ooohhhh I'll teach you! Malfoy!" Princess screamed at the top of her lungs. The girls just stared at her in confusion until a boy that looked around their age walked up beside her. "They're being mean to me so I want you to get rid of them!" She screamed.
"What is this? You're gonna sick one of your harem-boys on us?" Buttercup scoffed. A swift blow to the jaw from the boy, who whirled and back-fisted Bubbles across the face before she could react, countered her quip. Blossom leapt back before he could hit her as well, dropping into a fighting stance with her arms in front of her.
"Nobody hits my sisters!" Blossom lunged forward and threw a punch as hard as she could, but the boy dodged to the side and whirled, slamming the heel of his foot into Blossoms jaw. She collapsed to her back on the ground, coughing and clutching her neck. "Gagh... geeze..."
"Come on Bubbles, let's get him!" Buttercup exclaimed. Bubbles nodded and they both charged at the boy, bringing their fists back. Malfoy ducked under Buttercups blow and thrust his foot up into Bubbles stomach, knocking the wind out of her. He leapt off that foot and hooked the back of Buttercups neck with his heel, flipping her clean over onto her back.
"We can't try to use our powers... we have to fight like normal people!" Blossom exclaimed, still rubbing her neck. Malfoy whirled on her as she lunged again, but this time she simply stood right in front of him, waiting. Finally she jumped forward, but she jumped from the ground at the last second with the ball of her foot, sailing over the boys return punch. She kicked him across the face, sending him reeling.
Bubbles bent over backwards to avoid his staggered blow as he lumbered toward her, still off-balance from Blossoms kick. She jumped and put her hands on the ground, kicking the boy in the chest with both feet. He stumbled back and she leapt back to her feet, jumping forward to slam her foot into his chest and send him reeling back toward Buttercup.
Buttercup wrapped one arm around his throat from behind and dragged him back, flipping him head over heels to slam him into the grass face-down. He whirled on the grass and thrust one kick up at her, but she caught it and twisted his ankle painfully, slamming her foot into his stomach. He coughed in pain and let out a strangled scream of defeat. Still she kicked him between the legs, just for good measure.
"And stay down!" Buttercup commanded angrily.
"No no no! You can't keep winning without your powers!" Princess screamed in frustration. "You're powerless! You aren't the Powerpuff Girls! I'm the only Powerpuff Girl!" She exclaimed.
"In your dreams, Princess." Buttercup retorted. "Just because we don't have our powers doesn't mean we can't beat anything your wannabe-Powerpuff butt can throw at us."
"I AM a Powerpuff Girl! I am I am I am!" Princess screamed at the top of her lungs, throwing her arms around. She looked past them and got a huge smile on her face, then looked down at the girls. "Oh yes, I forgot, I had another plan." She laughed and turned to run from them.
The Powerpuff Girls exchanged a worried glance and turned around. A large metallic robot that looked almost exactly like Princess was staring down at them. She had certainly not planned on putting all her eggs in one basket this time.
"Any plans this time Buttercup?" Blossom whispered.
"You're the idea-girl, think of something." Buttercup whispered back.
"I say we... RUN!" Bubbles screamed. The three girls whirled and ran down the street with the hulking robot right behind them on their tail. The metallic legs tore craters into the ground while its arms tore buildings in half as it lumbered after them. It thrust one fist forward, which tore into the ground right between Blossom and Buttercup.
"We have to get this thing off our tail!" Blossom exclaimed.
"Good plan, now tell us how!" Buttercup yelled back. The three girls turned a street corner and ran down the road as fast as they could, but when Blossom took a quick peak back there was nothing there.
"What the..." Blossom muttered. The girls stopped and stared back at the street they'd come down. The silence was almost eerie, weighing down on their heads with more weight then any noise could have.
They could hear a metallic screech from somewhere nearby, but they couldn't identify the source. They whirled when they heard a loud rumbling sound. A building on the side of the street came tumbling down from the inside as the giant robotic form tore through the middle to lunged into their street. The rubble fell to the street, blocking it off completely.
"Run!" The Powerpuff Girls whirled to run, but the robot leaped in front of them, landing in a shower of debris from the street when its weight tore a crater in the ground. It lifted itself to its full height, the cold, metallic eyes glaring down at them. They looked around for anywhere to go, but they were trapped.
"Go!" The girls split up and ran for the sides as the robot lunged forward, one gigantic foot slamming down right where they had been. They ran past it and started down the street, but it whirled and brought its foot down again, looming over them and casting a dark shadow. Bubbles let out a surprised shriek as the metallic foot crashed down on top of her, jamming her down into the ground in a large crater.
"BUBBLES!" Blossom and Buttercup screamed in unison. They stared in horror as the dust around the robots foot settled down, with the robot turning toward them intently. They took a step forward when the foot lifted slightly, pushing the robot off-balance.
The foot rose even higher, with two tiny arms pushing it up from the crater. "Bubbles, you're okay!" Blossom exclaimed in relief as she watched her blond sister stand up, holding the robots foot over her head.
"Get... off... of... me!" She thrust her arms up as hard as she could, sending the robot tumbling to the ground in a shower of debris as it fell into the rubble of the building it had crashed through. Blossom and Buttercup streaked over to make sure she was okay, chattering excitedly. "I'm okay, I think all of my powers are back..."
"What? Everything's working okay again already?" Blossom floated up from the ground... without difficulty. She looked down at her sisters curiously, who also floated up to meet her without incident. "It must have been more temporary than the Professor thought."
"Yeah whatever, we'll ask him about it later, we've got a bone to pick right now." Buttercup turned to float toward the robot, which was pushing itself up to its feet. It looked at the three girls, floating right in front of it. It took one swing at them, but they streaked around its fist and flew up to the head, slamming into it head on.
They plunged through the things face and tore through to the other side, each holding a handful of electrical wires. They dropped the wires to the ground and turned around to watch the giant heap of metal collapse to the ground without any more struggle, sending up a cloud of dust and smoke where it landed. The girls turned to exchange a glance with a prideful smirk on their faces.
"Well, I guess that's that, whatever this curse was it's over." Blossom commented.
"Yeah. I'll tell you one thing, I won't take my powers for granted again." Buttercup replied. Bubbles smiled and nodded while Blossom started floating back toward the school.
"Come on girls, let's go take care of our oh-so-royal monarch before we go see what the Professor says about our sudden cure." Blossom called back to her sisters. They floated after her, following her back toward the school to once again throw Princess in prison.
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Later that night it was a normal night in the Utonium household, but there was still one question unanswered...
"What gave us our powers back so quickly?" Blossom asked.
"Well Blossom, as near as I can figure, I was somewhat wrong about the cause of it in the first place. I thought it was being impaired by your puberty, but instead it seems it was enhancing your puberty the way it enhances the rest of your physical states. It gives you control over your mind in ways we can't believe allowing for flight and heat-vision and X-ray vision, increases your physical capabilities beyond comprehension giving you your super speed, strength and hearing, and enhances different states of being and makes transitions easier and more dramatic, like your ability to walk through the dreams of others, it did a similar thing with your puberty but it took so much to enhance it that for a short time your OTHER powers shorted out." The Professor explained.
"... Okay..." Bubbles said blankly. The Professor sighed.
"It made your puberty go faster and fixed itself." He said simply.
"Oh, that explains why we're already all grown up!" Blossom looked down at her rather full dress. "I need to get some new clothes, my dresses are kind of tight."
Bubbles looked down at herself and blushes, pushing her tights out to look at something. "Um, Professor, am... am I supposed to leak red stuff?"
THE END
"Stop right there, you jewel stealing jokes!" Blossom shouted with her sisters perched just behind her. The three crooks whirled around with the bags of money in their hands, staring at the trio like a deer staring at a semi. "You should know better than to try to steal in the city of Townsville! For whenever evil lurks and villains try to hide, the Powerpuff Girls will always turn the tide!" She proclaimed. The crooks expressions turned to ones of amusement rather than fear.
"I told you the catch phrase was a bad idea." Buttercup said with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Well let's hear yours then miss negativity!" Blossom shot back. The crooks exchanged a quick glance behind their backs and took off out of one of the emergency exits. Bubbles' eyes went wide and she grabbed her sisters arms to get their attention.
"The crooks are getting away!" Bubbles shouted. Immediately the three girls took off down the hall after them, streaking through the building like they knew exactly where they were going. They streaked out of the building in time to see the three crooks jumping into a car and taking off down the street. They took off after them in streaks of pink, blue, and green.
Buttercup streaked down to fly directly under the car, lifting it off the road and carrying it up into the sky. Blossom and Bubbles burst in through the two windows to get to the crooks, tearing into them like dogs on a pack of cats. Finally they opened the doors and floated out of the car, Bubbles hauling one while Blossom carried the other two. Buttercup still held the car, so couldn't handle one.
They flew to the police station and dropped the unconscious crooks on the front steps along with the car. When they were done they left again without bothering to stick around for the cops, they would know to be expecting the crooks by now. After all, it was a cycle that had been going on for several years now, ever since they were six. After five years, it was a set routine.
"Good job girls, another day another dangerous criminal off the street." Blossom said proudly, smiling at her sisters. Bubbles nodded back with a broad smile, but Buttercup had her arms crossed over her chest.
"So what else is new? We do that every day." Buttercup declared. "It's getting boring." She added. "Sometimes I hate having superpowers..." She grumbled.
"It's our sworn duty Buttercup, you know that." Blossom chided her sister as if she was her teacher. Buttercup rolled her eyes while Bubbles just flew on, trying to ignore them as she usually did. She looked around when she noticed her sisters flying a little higher than she was, and climbing.
"Hey, where you guys going?" She called up to them as they continued to pull up higher than her. They looked down at her in surprise, still continuing on their flight until one of them looked ahead.
"Bubbles pull up!" Blossom screamed. Bubbles looked ahead to see they weren't flying higher, she was falling lower, and heading straight for the side of one of Townsville's distinctively tall buildings. She screamed and stopped just before she hit it, but she was still falling at an increasing pace.
She fanned the air with her arms as if she were underwater and tried to fly back up, but she just kept going down no matter what she did. "Guys I can't flyieeeeeeeee!" She screamed when her hovering gave out completely, sending her plummeting toward the ground. She screamed her little heart out right up until a green and pink flash of light caught her just before she hit the ground.
"Bubbles! Are you okay!?" Blossom demanded worriedly. Bubbles laid in her arms and rubbed her head, still shaking somewhat from her fall. Even Buttercup gave her a worried look.
"Y... yeah I think so..." Bubbles said, looking down at the ground far below her. "I don't know what happened, I just... stopped flying." She told them.
"Let's get you home to the Professor and have him check you out, the last thing we need is for our powers to fail in the middle of flight or a fight." Blossom told the others. Neither of them argued, so they flew back to their home where the Professor was already in his basement laboratory. They wandered down into the basement on their legs instead of floating.
"Professor, something's wrong with Bubbles!" Blossom exclaimed urgently. The Professor instantly whirled and looked down at them with concern in his expression.
"What is it?" He asked.
"We were flying home after saving the day, and she just stopped flying." Buttercup explained. The Professor looked down at Bubbles, raising his eyebrows curiously.
"Yeah it's true, I almost hit a building, and then I almost hit the ground!" Bubbles exclaimed, more than a little bit panicked. The Professor kneeled down and put one hand on her forehead, then on her cheek.
"It doesn't feel like a sickness... I'm going to have to run some tests to be sure, if your powers fail at the wrong time this could be very serious." He told them, taking Bubbles' hand to lead her over to the table. Blossom and Buttercup started to follow him, but he turned back to shake his head at them. "Go upstairs girls, please."
"Oh alright..." Blossom and Buttercup grumbled in unison as they turned to float upstairs. Halfway up however Blossom suddenly slammed into the stairs and gave a startled gasp of pain. Buttercup floated down and took her arm, looking up at the Professor to make sure he hadn't seen. They didn't want to worry him any more than he already was.
"Come on." Buttercup helped Blossom finish the climb up the stairs and went into the living room to wait for the Professor to finish examining Bubbles. Whatever was happening, they could only hope he could reverse it.
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After several hours Blossom and Bubbles had fallen asleep, with the moon shining brightly outside. The hotline had rung several times, but they had been too nervous to answer. Luckily it didn't seem to be anything the police couldn't handle, because Townsville was still in one piece. Once or twice they had tested their powers, and oddly they worked off and on, fluctuating back and forth. So they waited silently for the Professor to emerge, which he finally did at midnight.
"Girls... we have to talk." The Professor gently put his hands on their shoulders to wake them up. They groaned and opened their, eyes looking up at him and sitting up on the couch.
"What's going on Professor..." Blossom rubbed her eyes and looked over at Bubbles sitting on the lone chair. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and looked very tired, but otherwise she looked okay.
"Well... I don't think you should be fighting crime for a little while." The Professor told her.
"What? Why not?" Buttercup asked.
"Well... at your age boys and girls start... changing on the inside and the outside. Now, this change affects almost every hormone and aspect of your body... and in your case it seems, the Chemical-X inside your bodies." He rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn, he was as tired as they were, but this was too important to put off. "As your bodies grow and change the Chemical-X is shifting to accommodate the changes... but it seems this is resulting in... power outages to put it simply."
"So... we can't fight crime? For how long?" Blossom asked worriedly.
"There's no telling Blossom, it could clear itself up in a few days, or it could last until after you've finished... um... your changes." The Professor replied with a gentle smile. He yawned again and took Blossom and Buttercups hands, helping them stand up from the couch. "Now come on girls, it's time for bed." They had grown taller than they had been before, so they could hold his hands without floating.
"Come on Bubbles, sweetie. Time for bed." He picked up Bubbles from the chair, keeping the towel wrapped around her as he carried her up the stairs. Blossom and Buttercup ran up in front of him to go in the room they still shared, though the time was rapidly approaching for them to get their own rooms. They laid down in their places while the Professor put Bubbles in her place, kissing her on the forehead gently.
"Goodnight girls, remember, if the hotline rings, let the Mayor handle it unless it's a dire emergency." He told them.
"Goodnight Professor, we will." The girls replied in unison as The Professor gave Buttercup and Blossom kisses as well. They settled down and pulled the blanket up to their chins, all but asleep before The Professor even made it to the door.
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The following morning the girls set about getting ready for the day, though not as normal. They tried to refrain from using their powers, but they couldn't resist just little bits and pieces of flight every now and again. They were too used to getting things done within moments to slow down easily. They finally stopped trying to fly when Blossom wound up slamming head first into the closet door on her way to get her dress. It was too unpredictable to keep using their powers, so they finally accepted the slower pace.
They climbed down the stairs carefully to keep from slipping after floating down for so long. The Professor spotted them and smiled, walking over to put his hands on two of their shoulders.
"Are you girls feeling good today?" He asked.
"Yeah, pretty good." Blossom replied.
"Um, Professor..." Bubbles said, rubbing her head. "You said something about changes in our bodies last night causing our powers to mess up... what kinds of changes?" The Professor stared down at her, practically sweating within moments and turned to look down at his watch.
"Uhm... well look at the time, you girls are going to be late for school if we don't get going soon. I'll fix you breakfast right now." He whirled and marched into the kitchen without giving them a chance to question him further. The girls exchanged a quick glance and shrugged before they followed him into the kitchen, heading over to the table.
They waited for the Professor to bring them breakfast and dug in hungrily, eating more than they were really accustomed to. When they were finished their creator looked down at them with a worried frown on his face.
"Now I know it's going to be hard these first few days not using your powers, but it's important right now while they're so unpredictable. So I'll drive you to school from now on so you don't have to walk or fly." He told them.
"Really Professor we can walk, it's okay." Blossom told him with a wry smile. "We can walk, everyone else does." She assured him. He still looked nervous, but nodded his head in response anyway.
"Alright girls, I know you can take care of yourselves..." He sighed in resignation and shook his head. "Growing too fast for my tastes... you're not my little girls for much longer."
"Aw stop Professor." Buttercup pleaded, sticking her tongue out. Bubbles giggled and Blossom just smiling, staring up at their creator.
"We may not be your little girls much longer... but we'll still be your big girls." Bubbles told him, floating up really quick to give him a tight hug. When she let go though she dropped to the ground like a stone, landing butt-first on the carpet. "Oooowwwww..." she rubbed her behind tenderly, frowning.
"Now what did I tell you Bubbles?" The Professor chided her gently, still smiling from the hug she gave him nonetheless. He helped her back up and patted her on the head, giving her a gentle push toward her sisters. "Now you girls have a good day now, and try not to use your powers." He reminded them one last time.
"We know Professor." The girls replied in unison, turning to leave the house and walk down the street, swinging their arms at their sides idly. Several other kids came out of their houses as well, watching the Powerpuff Girls walking along like normal little girls. Their faces were stunned, which only made the girls laugh.
"Maybe this won't be so bad, it seems like it may be an interesting experience for us." Blossom told her sisters. They both nodded in agreement, but they stopped when a boy wearing black robes and a white collar walked up to them.
"Have you given your eternal souls to Jesus Christ yet? You know, more than one million Americans each day find the light of our lord and savior. I found him and so I'm not going to Hell." He told them.
"What? Oh no thanks, we're happy the way we are, we like our lives." Blossom told him.
"You want to burn in the fires of Hell for Eternity? Only by pledging your love of God can you avoid such a horrible fate." The boy told them.
"So wait a minute..." Blossom mused. "Even though we save Townsville on a daily basis, fight the forces of evil, and protect and serve the innocent citizens, we're still going to Hell just because we don't get on our knees every night and ask for forgiveness for something we didn't actually do?" The boy just stared down at them for a few moments.
"Jesus loves you." He told them.
"Ah get out of here." Buttercup pushed him away from them and they continued down the street. Finally they reached their school and went inside to find their classes, with several other kids coming in behind them as well. The other students still gave them questioning glances occasionally, but not as many since they did occasionally walk short distances inside the school itself.
When they reached the classroom and took their seats it was only a few minutes before the bell was supposed to ring. "I hope the Mayor doesn't decide to call for a while, how could we tell him no?" Bubbles told her sisters softly. As luck would of course have it, the Hotline in the corner started to buzz in a few moments.
"Should we answer it?" Buttercup asked.
"We can't just ignore it... we'll explain the situation, I'm sure he'll understand." Blossom told them. She got up and jogged over to the phone to answer it. "Hello?"
"Blossom, some criminals are robbing the jewelry store! You have to stop them!" The Mayor's voice came back.
"Um... we can't... you see... um..." Blossom began.
"But Blossom, all the jewels are being taken and it's fishing day at the police station, you're the only ones who can help us." He pleaded. Blossom looked over at her sisters with a guilty frown when she spoke again.
"Well okay... we'll see what we can do." Blossom hung up the phone and sighed, watching her sisters' upset expressions. "He's depending on us girls, maybe our powers will hold out long enough to get this one job done." So they took off out the window and streaked through the sky in flashes of blue, green and pink. After a few minutes of flight Bubbles' streak faded and she started falling, but Blossom grabbed her arm and heaved her up onto her back.
"Hey yeah, we shouldn't all lose our flying powers at the same time, so whoever still has them can carry the others until they return." Bubbles suggested. Blossom and Buttercup exchanged a surprise glance, then looked up at Bubbles, though this was hard for Blossom since Bubbles was on her back.
"That's a good idea Bubbles." Blossom told her. "Maybe we CAN still fight crime through this... whoa." She started to fall then, so Buttercup grabbed both of her sisters and hauled them onto her back.
"Anyone see the criminals?" Buttercup asked. Blossom and Bubbles looked around from their perch on their sisters' back, finally spotting a black car speeding down the road just ahead of them.
"There they are! Down there!" Bubbles pointed down at the car, sticking her hand in front of Buttercup's face to show her.
"Alright let's... SWITCH!" Buttercup flailed her arms as she started to fall to the ground, but Bubbles wrapped her arms around her sisters and took flight in her stead, throwing the others on top of her.
"Alright, let's go get them!" Bubbles shouted, streaking down toward the car in a flash of blue light. They neared the top of the vehicle in no time, hovering fifty feet right above it.
"Okay Bubbles, let's go get it!" Blossom exclaimed. Bubbles started to turn down, but the blue trail of light stopped and she started to fall toward the ground.
"Quick, someone stop us!" She exclaimed. Blossom and Buttercup both held onto everyone else, but nothing happened as they plummeted to the ground.
"This, is going to hurt..." Buttercup muttered as they plunged down toward the car in a nosedive. They slammed into the hood and punched a hole right through it, burying themselves in the street while the car flipped through the air from the impact. It flipped several times before it slammed into the pavement upside down. The sound of crushed steel and breaking glass filled the air until it finally skidded to a stop.
Blossom stuck one hand out of the small crater and pulled herself up, resting her chin on the edge of the hole. "At least our invulnerability was still working..." She grumbled weakly, watching her sisters pull themselves up beside her. They nodded in agreement and they all climbed out of the hole, lying on the ground to rest for a moment. Police sirens showed up a few minutes later and several officers climbed out to run over to them.
"Are you okay Powerpuff Girls?" He asked worriedly.
"We'll be fine, just give us a few minutes..." Blossom told them, not moving.
"Well don't worry girls, we've already called the Professor to get him to come down here and check on you." The officer told them.
"You told the Professor!?" Blossom exclaimed, exchanging a worried glance with her sisters. They knew he wouldn't be happy they had tried to save the day despite his warnings about not using their powers. They would just have to try to explain...
________________________________________________________________________________
Blossom, bubbles, and Buttercup sat on the couch with the legs folded under them and their head hanging down to their chests as the Professor glared down at them. They had their arms pressed on top of their thighs, waiting for him to tell them how wrong they were. He had been silent the entire way home, a sure sign that they were in trouble.
"What did I tell you this morning?" The Professor asked.
"Don't use our powers except for extreme circumstances..." Blossom repeated.
"So what were you doing trying to fly after a group of normal everyday crooks?" The Professor demanded.
"The Mayor asked us to..." Blossom began.
"The Mayor doesn't know what's been happening to you lately." The Professor reminded her. "Do you know what could have happened if your powers of invulnerability had failed even one of you?" He asked. The girls lowered their heads again, giving each other sidelong glances. "I know you only wanted to help... but right now your powers can be as much a threat to you as any villain in Townsville."
"We're sorry Professor..." The girls said in unison, keeping their heads bowed in guilt. The Professor sighed and shook his head, walking over to them to sit beside them and put one arm around their shoulders.
"I'm sorry to sound tough, but I worry about you girls. And when I heard you tried to fight crime today well... I was scared something bad could have happened when you were vulnerable." He told them.
"It's okay Professor... we deserve it. We ignored what you said..." Blossom replied, looking up at him.
"Yeah, we should have known better than to think we could depend on luck to keep us flying." Buttercup added.
"From now on, we won't use our powers until you tell us we can." Bubbles promised. Blossom and Buttercup nodded in agreement and the Professor smiled down at them.
"That's my girls... now go ahead and get back to school before your teacher throws a fit." The Professor hugged the three of them and let them go so they could hop off the couch.
"Okay Professor." The girls gave him a final nod before they turned to leave the house again, their shoulders still sagging somewhat. They really hadn't thought everything through, if all their powers had all failed at the same time in mid-air... well they didn't want to think about that. From now on they would listen to the Professor, no more superpowers until it was safe. Not for their own sake, but they didn't want to worry the Professor again.
"There you are girls, glad you could finally join us again. Where have you been?" Their teacher, Mrs. Fauxman demanded with her hands on her hips.
"We had to try to save the day, where we always go." Blossom explained.
"Then why did it take so long? You didn't stop anywhere did you?" The teacher demanded.
"Of course not! We just... um..." Blossom turned to scan the class, all eyes were on her. "Well the truth is... we thought we could save the day without our powers, but we were wrong... so we had to walk back here, that's why it took so long." She admitted.
"Without your powers?" The teacher asked.
"Yeah, the Professor said something about changes in our bodies, and they're making the Chemical-X go haywire trying to keep up." Bubbles explained. Blossom wasn't sure if they were supposed to be advertising that stuff, but it was too late now either way. Some classmates nodded, knowing what they meant, while others looked completely blank.
"I see... well go ahead and take your seats girls, you're excused this time." The teacher told them. Blossom smiled and the girls took their seats near the front. Behind them they could hear someone scribbling furiously on a piece of paper. Blossom turned her head slightly to see Princess Morebucks writing something... probably something she wouldn't like later.
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It was too perfect. Princess could hardly believe her good fortune as she half-walked, half-ran down the hallways of the mansion her father had given her for her tenth birthday. She had the piece of paper clutched in one clenched fist, making sure she didn't stop it in her eagerness to get to the little laboratory she'd forced her father to build her. If a maniacal monkey could do stuff in one, surely Princess Morebucks could too.
She flung open the doors to her lab and ran over to a desk, slamming the paper down and folding it out to look down at her perfect plan. With the Powerpuff Girls practically powerless, it should be easy to get rid of them. Still after so many years of thwarted attempts, she would not settle for just defeating them or killing them. She had to humiliate them, show all of Townsville that Princess without a doubt was the TRUE Powerpuff Girl.
"Just you wait Sourfluff Punks, the Princess is about to take her throne!" She let out a maniacal laugh that echoed through the entire mansion through a system she'd had someone design for just that purpose. After all, Mojo was able to laugh at all of Townsville like this since his voice was so loud, so she should be able to too.
________________________________________________________________________________
Blossom waited in the hall outside the bathroom with her arms crossed over her chest. Once they would have gotten ready together, but since they were growing they'd decided to start doing some things one at a time. She sometimes regretted that decision though when she found herself waiting for Buttercup to get finished with bedtime preparations. One would think the tomboy of the trio wouldn't take that much time, but she was usually in the longest.
Blossom sighed when the door finally opened and Buttercup came out. Before the leader could go in though Buttercup grabbed her arm with a curious expression on her face. "Hey um... Blossom... do you have any hair in odd places?" She asked.
"What?" Blossom asked, clueless.
"Nevermind." Buttercup turned and went in the room they still shared. Blossom blinked, then shrugged and turned to go in the bathroom and get ready for bed. She walked up to the mirror and looked at herself. She was as pretty as ever, but there did seem to be something different about her. She turned to the side to take a closer look at herself.
"What on Earth...?" She grabbed her dress and pulled it off since she had to change into her nightgown anyway. She blinked and just stared at herself, not quite sure what was going on. "I wonder if Bubbles or Buttercup have noticed anything like this..." Curiously she looked down and pulled her tights out to look for something else. "Whoa, weird..."
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The next day the girls elected to get dressed one at a time in the bathroom instead of together in the bedroom as they normally did. None of them elected to talk about why they did this, they were all just glad that it was a unanimous decision. They went downstairs at the same time to find the Professor, but all they found was a note saying he had an emergency meeting to attend.
"I guess we can just go to school then..." Blossom said, not really enthusiastic about it, and neither were her sisters. They were all looking a little different even through the fabric of their dresses. There didn't seem to be any way to hide it either.
"Could we just... stay home?" Bubbles asked.
"Skip school? Are you crazy? The Professor would REALLY be mad at us then." Buttercup told her.
"We can go girls... hey there are other girls who have... um... more noticeable ones than we do. Besides, we're supposed to get these." Blossom pointed out.
"But not overnight." Buttercup pointed out. "There was nothing yesterday afternoon and now look at them, it's like they're almost full-grown. People are going to stare at us."
"Well I don't think that's anything to be ashamed of." Blossom whirled to stomp toward the door purposefully, looking back at her sisters. "And anyone who stares is just being jealous." She giggled and winked back at her sisters. Buttercup smirked and Bubbles giggled back, following behind her redheaded sister.
"I still think there's something wrong here..." Buttercup mumbled, though she did follow her sisters outside. They walked down the street, getting even more surprised stares from passersby than they had the day before thanks to their new developments. Several boys dropped their books, then scrambled to pick them back up and get moving again before they were late fro school.
"I think I kind of like all the attention." Bubbles giggled, adjusting her dress over her chest so that it fit more firmly. Blossom smiled over at her and nodded.
"See? There's nothing to be ashamed of or worried about." She told her sisters. She was stopped suddenly when the three girls slammed into something in front of them. They rubbed their heads and took a quick step back, staring at a metallic looking figure that vaguely resembled a human being. They blinked and stared at the figure as the metallic mouth opened.
"Haha Powerpuff Girls, without your powers, I will destroy you easily!" Princess' voice came from a speaker hidden behind the lips. It raised one arm in front of it with its fist clenched and took one step forward. "OW! Stupid thing's pinching me!" Princess exclaimed.
"Um... do you want us to... help you out Princess?" Blossom was barely able to contain the laughter that threatened to boil out of her. Bubbles and Buttercup were already tittering madly.
"Of course not! I will destroy you!" The thing raised its arm even higher over it head, but they all heard a soft snap from the things speaker. "OW! I think it broke my arm! It shouldn't bend that way!" The Powerpuff Girls exchanged a droll glance and stepped forward to grab Princess' suit. "Hey, unhand me you peasants!"
"Alright girls, one, two, three!" Blossom counted. They all tugged at once, tearing the suit in half in a shower of steel and sparks and letting Princess drop to the ground in her normal sweater and skirt combination.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing to my robot!?" Princess demanded, though she was nursing her arm painfully.
"Helping you, now what did you think you were doing? Did you actually build that thing yourself?" Blossom asked.
"Of course I did! If Mojo Jojo or Professor Utonium can build robots I can too!" Princess replied, pushing herself up to her feet. She straightened out her sweater and skirt so that she looked prim and proper again. "Fortunately, these were not built by me." She took out a remote control and hit a button. The puffs looked around for a few moments until a soft roar filled the air.
"Look!" Bubbles exclaimed, pointing up at the sky. There were dozens of miniature Princess dolls with jet packs flying through the air toward them. Each had a blade as big as the doll was tall sticking out of its head. They swarmed together and swooped down toward the Powerpuffs.
"Shoot 'em down!" Blossom shouted, firing a blast of heat vision at one of the dolls. The crimson beam streaked through the air... but faded a moment before it could make contact. The three girls exchanged a quick glance, then whirled to take off running toward the school. Buttercup tackled Princess with her shoulder to carry her with them.
"Hey, put me down you big bully!" Princess exclaimed, beating on the Powerpuff Girl's back. Even without her powers Buttercup still had more muscle than most kids her age, or any age for that matter. She gasped when she saw several of her own doll's blades right in her face since she was facing backwards slung over Buttercups shoulder.
"I don't think so, not until you call those things off!" Buttercup shouted back at her.
"No they're supposed to destroy you! I will never call them off!" Princess exclaimed.
"Fine then, let's see how proper the Princess is." Princess arched an eyebrow, but couldn't crane around to see anything. "Hey boys, here's a cheap thrill!" Buttercup hiked up Princess skirt, baring her to the world. She saw several boys grinning and giving them thumbs up when they passed by, still running from the swarming Princess dolls.
"Hey hey HEY! That is private stuff and isn't meant to be seen by peasants!" Princess beat on her back again more furiously than ever, but the Powerpuff Girl wouldn't let go.
"Then call your stupid dolls off, or next time they see more than your underwear." Buttercup negotiated. Princess growled and fumed, clenching her fists, but finally she grabbed the remote and pressed a button, sending the Princess dolls falling to the ground harmlessly.
The Powerpuff Girls stopped and Buttercup dropped her to the ground with a light thud. She grabbed the remote and threw it on the ground, stepping on it and crushing it into a hundred pieces. Princess was still blushing furiously as she jumped to her feet, glaring at Buttercup.
"How DARE you do something like that to me! I am Princess Morebucks not some common peasant girl!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah yeah, you should know better than to mess with the Powerpuff Girls by now." Blossom retorted.
"Ooohhhh I'll teach you! Malfoy!" Princess screamed at the top of her lungs. The girls just stared at her in confusion until a boy that looked around their age walked up beside her. "They're being mean to me so I want you to get rid of them!" She screamed.
"What is this? You're gonna sick one of your harem-boys on us?" Buttercup scoffed. A swift blow to the jaw from the boy, who whirled and back-fisted Bubbles across the face before she could react, countered her quip. Blossom leapt back before he could hit her as well, dropping into a fighting stance with her arms in front of her.
"Nobody hits my sisters!" Blossom lunged forward and threw a punch as hard as she could, but the boy dodged to the side and whirled, slamming the heel of his foot into Blossoms jaw. She collapsed to her back on the ground, coughing and clutching her neck. "Gagh... geeze..."
"Come on Bubbles, let's get him!" Buttercup exclaimed. Bubbles nodded and they both charged at the boy, bringing their fists back. Malfoy ducked under Buttercups blow and thrust his foot up into Bubbles stomach, knocking the wind out of her. He leapt off that foot and hooked the back of Buttercups neck with his heel, flipping her clean over onto her back.
"We can't try to use our powers... we have to fight like normal people!" Blossom exclaimed, still rubbing her neck. Malfoy whirled on her as she lunged again, but this time she simply stood right in front of him, waiting. Finally she jumped forward, but she jumped from the ground at the last second with the ball of her foot, sailing over the boys return punch. She kicked him across the face, sending him reeling.
Bubbles bent over backwards to avoid his staggered blow as he lumbered toward her, still off-balance from Blossoms kick. She jumped and put her hands on the ground, kicking the boy in the chest with both feet. He stumbled back and she leapt back to her feet, jumping forward to slam her foot into his chest and send him reeling back toward Buttercup.
Buttercup wrapped one arm around his throat from behind and dragged him back, flipping him head over heels to slam him into the grass face-down. He whirled on the grass and thrust one kick up at her, but she caught it and twisted his ankle painfully, slamming her foot into his stomach. He coughed in pain and let out a strangled scream of defeat. Still she kicked him between the legs, just for good measure.
"And stay down!" Buttercup commanded angrily.
"No no no! You can't keep winning without your powers!" Princess screamed in frustration. "You're powerless! You aren't the Powerpuff Girls! I'm the only Powerpuff Girl!" She exclaimed.
"In your dreams, Princess." Buttercup retorted. "Just because we don't have our powers doesn't mean we can't beat anything your wannabe-Powerpuff butt can throw at us."
"I AM a Powerpuff Girl! I am I am I am!" Princess screamed at the top of her lungs, throwing her arms around. She looked past them and got a huge smile on her face, then looked down at the girls. "Oh yes, I forgot, I had another plan." She laughed and turned to run from them.
The Powerpuff Girls exchanged a worried glance and turned around. A large metallic robot that looked almost exactly like Princess was staring down at them. She had certainly not planned on putting all her eggs in one basket this time.
"Any plans this time Buttercup?" Blossom whispered.
"You're the idea-girl, think of something." Buttercup whispered back.
"I say we... RUN!" Bubbles screamed. The three girls whirled and ran down the street with the hulking robot right behind them on their tail. The metallic legs tore craters into the ground while its arms tore buildings in half as it lumbered after them. It thrust one fist forward, which tore into the ground right between Blossom and Buttercup.
"We have to get this thing off our tail!" Blossom exclaimed.
"Good plan, now tell us how!" Buttercup yelled back. The three girls turned a street corner and ran down the road as fast as they could, but when Blossom took a quick peak back there was nothing there.
"What the..." Blossom muttered. The girls stopped and stared back at the street they'd come down. The silence was almost eerie, weighing down on their heads with more weight then any noise could have.
They could hear a metallic screech from somewhere nearby, but they couldn't identify the source. They whirled when they heard a loud rumbling sound. A building on the side of the street came tumbling down from the inside as the giant robotic form tore through the middle to lunged into their street. The rubble fell to the street, blocking it off completely.
"Run!" The Powerpuff Girls whirled to run, but the robot leaped in front of them, landing in a shower of debris from the street when its weight tore a crater in the ground. It lifted itself to its full height, the cold, metallic eyes glaring down at them. They looked around for anywhere to go, but they were trapped.
"Go!" The girls split up and ran for the sides as the robot lunged forward, one gigantic foot slamming down right where they had been. They ran past it and started down the street, but it whirled and brought its foot down again, looming over them and casting a dark shadow. Bubbles let out a surprised shriek as the metallic foot crashed down on top of her, jamming her down into the ground in a large crater.
"BUBBLES!" Blossom and Buttercup screamed in unison. They stared in horror as the dust around the robots foot settled down, with the robot turning toward them intently. They took a step forward when the foot lifted slightly, pushing the robot off-balance.
The foot rose even higher, with two tiny arms pushing it up from the crater. "Bubbles, you're okay!" Blossom exclaimed in relief as she watched her blond sister stand up, holding the robots foot over her head.
"Get... off... of... me!" She thrust her arms up as hard as she could, sending the robot tumbling to the ground in a shower of debris as it fell into the rubble of the building it had crashed through. Blossom and Buttercup streaked over to make sure she was okay, chattering excitedly. "I'm okay, I think all of my powers are back..."
"What? Everything's working okay again already?" Blossom floated up from the ground... without difficulty. She looked down at her sisters curiously, who also floated up to meet her without incident. "It must have been more temporary than the Professor thought."
"Yeah whatever, we'll ask him about it later, we've got a bone to pick right now." Buttercup turned to float toward the robot, which was pushing itself up to its feet. It looked at the three girls, floating right in front of it. It took one swing at them, but they streaked around its fist and flew up to the head, slamming into it head on.
They plunged through the things face and tore through to the other side, each holding a handful of electrical wires. They dropped the wires to the ground and turned around to watch the giant heap of metal collapse to the ground without any more struggle, sending up a cloud of dust and smoke where it landed. The girls turned to exchange a glance with a prideful smirk on their faces.
"Well, I guess that's that, whatever this curse was it's over." Blossom commented.
"Yeah. I'll tell you one thing, I won't take my powers for granted again." Buttercup replied. Bubbles smiled and nodded while Blossom started floating back toward the school.
"Come on girls, let's go take care of our oh-so-royal monarch before we go see what the Professor says about our sudden cure." Blossom called back to her sisters. They floated after her, following her back toward the school to once again throw Princess in prison.
________________________________________________________________________________
Later that night it was a normal night in the Utonium household, but there was still one question unanswered...
"What gave us our powers back so quickly?" Blossom asked.
"Well Blossom, as near as I can figure, I was somewhat wrong about the cause of it in the first place. I thought it was being impaired by your puberty, but instead it seems it was enhancing your puberty the way it enhances the rest of your physical states. It gives you control over your mind in ways we can't believe allowing for flight and heat-vision and X-ray vision, increases your physical capabilities beyond comprehension giving you your super speed, strength and hearing, and enhances different states of being and makes transitions easier and more dramatic, like your ability to walk through the dreams of others, it did a similar thing with your puberty but it took so much to enhance it that for a short time your OTHER powers shorted out." The Professor explained.
"... Okay..." Bubbles said blankly. The Professor sighed.
"It made your puberty go faster and fixed itself." He said simply.
"Oh, that explains why we're already all grown up!" Blossom looked down at her rather full dress. "I need to get some new clothes, my dresses are kind of tight."
Bubbles looked down at herself and blushes, pushing her tights out to look at something. "Um, Professor, am... am I supposed to leak red stuff?"
THE END
