SAMURAI POWERPUFFS

CHAPTER ELEVEN – Clues

"Okay, guys, here we go…" Blossom said nervously as they descended through the gaping hole in Townsville Hall's dome. They lit amid the rubble of the mayor's office and saw the door to the great hall wide open.

"I don't see anybody, even with my x-rays." Bubbles whispered loudly. They carefully floated about the large office, fearful to touch anything. Buttercup spotted something shiny and pointed it out. They zipped toward the door.

"It's a gun!" Blossom exclaimed. "And it's clean! Like somebody just put it there!"

Buttercup felt her skin crawling. "This is giving me the creeps."

"Look! Bullets!" Bubbles cried, pointing at the spent casings on the floor.

"They're shells, Bubbles." Blossom corrected her, bending down to pick up the revolver. She sniffed it and made a face. "This was just fired!"

"Somebody was here, Blossom. Lookit the footprints!" Buttercup called out suddenly, pointing at the sandal prints left by the samurai. "And the marks in the dust here look like someone was trying to get out of the way of those shots!"

"And from the size of them, it's a man." Blossom noted.

"Who could it be?" Bubbles wondered. "And where's the footprints of the shooter?"

"This is a real mystery, girls. But it's not gonna help us with what we're really here for. Let's give the rest of the place a quick check and head out to the school."

* * * * * * *

HIM rubbed his pointed beard, grinning in anticipation. "Any time now! After they scream their accursed little heads off when their dear professor and that bimbo at City Hall run them off, they'll surely go running to see their beloved teacher!"

Barely a minute later, he heard them coming and whisked a claw, making himself invisible. He watched them land and noted happily that the thunder and lightning would be timed almost perfectly.

* * * * * * *

Jack had found the telescope's lens filthy with years of caked grime, and it pivoted with difficulty. But it worked. After cleaning the lens, he swiveled it about, not knowing where to look. He noted the two spots he'd already visited today. Then, he saw them. Leaving the last place he'd been, where he'd almost been shot. Incredible it was, watching them fly through the sky, and he felt a chill go up his back. To be the objects of such reverence, by a former enemy, no less. They must be very special indeed.

He watched with a growing sense of something not being right as they came down by the school. They had visited the same three spots he had, but in exact reverse order. It troubled him, gave him the feeling that they would not meet. But there was little he could do. He could not fly. There was no way he could climb down and run to their location unless they stayed there for a good hour at least. That was unlikely, so he watched, and hoped that they would find a reason to come back this way. If they did, he would not hide this time.

NEXT: Deal With the Devil