"Code Blue"
By I am a good fighter
Powerpuff Girls created by Craig McCracken and all characters associated with the show are owned by Cartoon Network
The VIP room was a very nice place. Carpeting on the floor. Wallpaper and real paintings, not cheap prints. Fresh flowers. Huge bathroom. The room itself was very big, though some furniture had to be moved out to fit three beds. The huge-screen TV stayed, though, and Ms. Keane and Sara Bellum sat on the couch talking quietly at just after 7 P.M. as it ran again the amazing footage they had watched several times. It was as if the network had made an endless loop of the sequences, killing time until they had new information. The sound was turned down as they chatted. Bubbles was napping, back in bed in a fresh gown, an IV line running into her left arm. Tests had shown she was dehydrated and they were giving her fluids. Buttercup, and Blossom, whose head was bandaged and had long since been shrunk to her correct size, were both well into their deep sleep and a nurse would come in periodically to check on them. Their readings were steadily dropping, just as Bubbles' had. Professor Utonium was with the two doctors and Tim Johns, trying to make sense of everything in preparation for the press' questions. They would all be here in the room shortly, to witness for themselves what Keane had seen.
Bellum and Keane had spoken to the doctors, which added to what they already knew. What the girls heard apparently had an effect on things. Sara had noticed that Bubbles seemed to get worse after hearing that Mojo was attacking, and though Keane didn't know what LeBeau had told her, it was right after he came out that Bubbles' body had shut down. That's what the doctors were calling it, 'shutdown'. So they were careful to speak very softly.
"I wonder what he said to her." Keane said. "I still can't believe it. He seemed so nice. I really thought he was a doctor."
"So did I, Jen. The guy's in the wrong business. He'd make a good spy."
"Bubbles said he apologized to her, and right before he went in there, he asked me if I thought she would forgive him. Maybe he's not as bad as they're making him out to be."
"They're ones to talk, aren't they? I'm glad I wasn't watching it earlier. Do you know that they were actually calling it a 'deathwatch'?"
Keane gasped. "That's terrible! How could they do something like that? Stanley wouldn't do something like that!"
"No. Stanley can be a bit pompous at times, but he's one of us. He cares about Townsville. The national press cares about only one thing, and it's not people."
They sat up sharply as they heard the sound of a blood pressure cuff inflating. It was Buttercup's. When the new number flashed on the monitor, Keane gasped again. The final number from Bubbles' monitor had seared itself onto her memory and this one matched it.
"Isn't it too soon?"
They called for the nurse.
The professor had calmed their fears. "It's just like her. She's always in a hurry."
Everyone was gathered around her bedside. Bubbles, who they had woken up, held her sister's right hand, floating between the bed and Blossom's so she could hold Blossom's hand too. Professor Utonium sat in a chair, holding his daughter's other hand. The three doctors, their teacher and their friend Sara stood watching.
"Don't be scared, Buttercup." Bubbles told her. "I'm here."
At 7:22, Buttercup let out her final breath. Everyone watched nervously for no one had witnessed Bubbles' awakening. The whine from the monitor when it flatlined was annoying but they left it alone. After almost five minutes, it started beeping. The heart rhythms looked normal and the rate quickly climbed to acceptable levels, along with her breathing. There was nothing at all dramatic about it; it was like she was just turning herself on again. That in itself was dramatic. The Powerpuff Girls were indeed like no one else on earth.
She opened her eyes and turned her head to grin at her sister. "Me, scared? Who're you kiddin'?"
At 8:05, Blossom woke up. They were the most concerned about her, given the surgery and all, but other than complaining that her head was sore, she seemed as alert as her sisters. After allowing them a few minutes to be with each other, Blossom and Buttercup were whisked away to have another scan done as a precaution. Bubbles' had already shown what they suspected anyway. No sign of any abnormalities whatsoever. By 9:15 they were all back in the room, in their beds, eating sandwiches and watching TV with the friends who had stood by them. They were about to find out along with the rest of the world just what had happened to them.
Down in the jam-packed media room, Tim Johns sat at a long table at the front, where the podium had been. The hospital logo appeared on the wall behind him. To his left sat Dr. Waldman; to his right Dr. Vora. Professor Utonium was to the right of her. Each had a glass in front of them and a water pitcher sat on the table. Lying on the table to the professor's right was the gun. Reporters from every TV and radio outlet in town, plus CNC; were present. Their crews had spent the rest of the day setting up and wires ran all over the floor. The cameras were set up to the sides, while the seats were taken by the reporters. In addition, Townsville's several newspapers and dozens from other major cities were represented.
It started late, at 9:25. Johns introduced those at the table with him, then started off with a short statement. The girls watched intently.
"The girls are all awake and alert and resting comfortably. If nothing changes, Bubbles and Buttercup will be released in the morning. Blossom may get to go home tomorrow, too, but her crimefighting may be curtailed for a few days."
"Awwwww!!!" Blossom griped. "My head isn't THAT sore!"
"Now I'll turn you over to Dr. Waldman."
On the two screens on the wall behind them, four sets of CAT scans appeared, two on each. Waldman used a pointer, indicating from the left. "This scan was taken of Bubbles last night. You can see the growths here. At that time we took a biopsy, which later came back negative. The second scan was from this morning, just before I diagnosed her with inoperable brain cancer, which we know isn't true. This third scan was from early this afternoon, around the same time we first suspected that the other girls had the same condition. Finally, this one was taken around four-thirty today."
Even to a layman they were self-explanatory. Whatever was in those first three progressively-worse scans was gone now.
"Wow, the inside of my head looked like THAT? Yuck!" Bubbles made a face.
"Shhhh!" said Blossom.
Up went three more scans. On the left screen was Bubbles' first next to Blossom's first, on the right, Buttercup's first.
"Okay. Now on the left here, is Blossom's from early this afternoon, right after she first experienced headaches similar to Bubbles' from about two weeks ago. You can see the difference between it and Bubbles' from last evening. Over here, Buttercup's from this afternoon. As you can see, just a very tiny spot getting started here at the brain stem. So what happened between then and now? Why the sudden change? I'll let Professor Utonium explain."
"Yay, Professor!" they all cried and clapped. Sara and Ms. Keane smiled at each other and clapped too.
He looked a bit uncomfortable and drank a glass of water. "Ummm…well…first, I want to apologize to everyone for all the excitement and trouble. It seems the girls would have gotten over this if I had just done nothing and kept them at home. I'm sure they'd tell you the same thing."
"Huh? No way! We couldn't get a TV like that in our room!" Buttercup exclaimed. Blossom told her to be quiet.
"And I want to thank the doctors here and all of the staff for everything they've done for us. This was hard on everybody. Now, as for what happened…the girls, to put it simply, grew entire new brains."
"We did not!" they shouted in unison. "Did we?"
The reaction around the world was nearly the same: Total disbelief. In the media room it was very similar. Some reporters started to shout questions, a few others yelled, "You're crazy!" But Johns asked them all for silence and the professor went on.
"I know, it does sound far-fetched, but there's no other way to explain it. Something in their make-up, I call it their self-defense system, triggered these growths. Let's face it, folks, they are subjected to forces none of the rest of us could tolerate. Something in their DNA, perhaps a result of the Chemical X, is programmed to see that they are always functioning at peak levels. This might even happen again in the future."
Knowing they were watching, he quickly added, "Don't worry, Girls, if it does, we'll know how to handle it so you won't have to go through a day like this again. I suspect the timing of it was spaced out so that two of the girls would be healthy while the third was healing. Bubbles did have a day when she seemed almost back to normal, before things changed for the worse. But the other two girls didn't have that. It looks like the stress of the fight Buttercup was in and Blossom's surgery convinced their systems that they were in imminent danger and that accelerated the whole thing."
"I must concur with that." Vora spoke up. "For two reasons. First, I was prevented from operating on Blossom by an electric shock when I attempted to pierce the outer membrane. That is unheard of. Then, after we took steps to prevent that from happening again, in that short period of time the change I saw was so dramatic that I cannot reach any other conclusion."
"And all of this is consistent with everything else." Waldman interjected. "The symptoms of illness that Bubbles experienced were caused by the increased pressure inside the cranium."
"Hey, what about me? I was sick, too!" Buttercup complained.
"Yeah, wait'll you hear about that, Blossom!" Bubbles giggled.
"Heh, I guess it wasn't so bad." Buttercup grinned.
Waldman continued. "Their systems gradually shut down as the old parts of the brain were killed off and the tissue absorbed, and the new ones took over. What looked to us like death, which lasted about five minutes, apparently was the completed new brain checking out all the connections to the body's systems before turning everything back on."
"Whoa." Blossom said. "You know, I felt that shock thing, twice. It really hurt! But, I still had this feeling that everything was gonna be all right. I can't explain it any better than that."
"Yeah, that's what you said, Bubbles." Buttercup agreed. "Maybe I didn't have that feeling because you told me about it before I fell asleep, so I already knew. All I remember is people talking."
They returned their attention to the TV and listened. Everything was explained, including the role of the weapon. A brief demonstration was given by the professor, who grew the water pitcher, then shrunk it. Finally, the questions started, and as was typical, most of them had already been answered by the prior explanation and it was just that reporter wanting to be 'on record' for their respective station or paper. One very good question was asked, concerning something that hadn't been covered, and it was asked by Whitfield.
"Will there be any effect on the girls' memories?"
Keane and Bellum flinched at that; it hadn't occurred to them, seeing the girls acting quite normally after their unique experience. But the girls just looked at each other and shrugged."I don't have any trouble remembering stuff." Blossom said, and the other two agreed with her, but they all paid attention to Professor Utonium's reply.
"There shouldn't be. As part of the process, I believe all of their existing memories would be saved. Think of their brains as CD burners. They just copied everything over."
"Cool!" the girls squealed excitedly. The two adults looked at each other with small smiles, then shook their heads in amazement while watching the three little miracles. That's when they noticed Bubbles yawning. Keane stood up.
"Girls, I'd better be going now. The kids will be asking a LOT of questions tomorrow."
"Yeah. Thanks for staying with us, Ms. Keane." Blossom told her teacher. "I hope I can come to school on Monday."
"And thanks for singing to me!" Bubbles said happily.
They said good night and Keane bade Sara good night also. Her car had been delivered safely to the hospital lot by the police. Shortly after, the nurse came in and Sara told them good night with a promise to come see them the next day.
"How are you girls feeling?" the nurse asked. "You should probably be going to sleep soon."
"Sleep?" Buttercup said. "Who needs sleep? I just woke up!"
The nurse chuckled. "Okay. I'll just turn the lights down. I'll leave the TV on for now."
After she left, Blossom asked Bubbles to pass her the remote from the table. Reporters were still standing and asking questions. She boosted the sound level.
"Awwww!!" griped Buttercup.
"Shhhh. I want to hear some more! They didn't read our statement yet!"
"Hey yeah! I forgot about that!" Buttercup was suddenly eager to watch again. Together, they had composed a short note of thanks and Blossom had written it.
They watched. "Hey, it's that lady!" Bubbles said, pointing.
"Maria Santiago, KCMC. When will we be able to speak with the girls?"
"That will be up to them, but not until tomorrow sometime." the professor said. "Oh!" He reached for his pocket. "They gave me something to read to you, but not until we're through with all the questions."
"Professor!" they screamed. "No more questions!!"
A man stood. "Tony Pantera, Townsville Tribune. Is the hospital going to press charges against Matt LeBeau?" It was, of course, directed to Johns. Bubbles watched nervously.
"I'd like to say a few words about that. While we are certainly not happy with what went on here today, technically he broke no laws and was not trespassing on hospital property. He was asked to leave and he did, but was not told he couldn't return, so he did that, too. I suppose he felt he was just doing his job. We respect the right to freedom of the press and do not wish to infringe on it. We just wish some of you would show us and our patients the same respect."
His tone made it clear he was dressing them all down, not just LeBeau. "Any more questions?"
There were none. All the medical stuff had been covered and CNC's medical correspondents were chomping at the bit to start analyzing it.
"Professor?" Johns said. The professor stood, holding a sheet of paper. "Blossom wrote this." he smiled. "I'm just gonna read it. 'Me and my sisters want to thank all of the doctors and nurses for being so nice, and everyone in Townsville and wherever they may be watching for their kind wishes and prayers for us, and for all the flowers and toys. We also want to thank everybody who made donations for finding a cure for childhood cancer. Even though it turned out we really weren't sick. We know we're really lucky and that lots of other kids aren't so lucky, and maybe this will help some of them to get better. I hope we don't sound ungrateful, but we would like all of you to remember that there are kids who need your prayers and toys and donations all the time and not just when somebody famous gets sick. So thanks again everybody. Signed, Blossom'"
"Wow, Blossom." Buttercup deadpanned. "Only you could put a lecture in a thank-you note."
"Hey!" Blossom complained, a little hurt.
"But, she's right, Buttercup!" Bubbles said defensively.
"I know, I know! I was only kiddin'!" she smiled at her red-haired sibling. "I was thinkin' the same thing myself when I saw that pile of stuff outside. All those flowers. What a waste!"
"Yeah, Buttercup." Blossom replied. "But their hearts are in the right place. I just wish they'd think a little more."
"Hey guys?" Bubbles asked. "If it wasn't for that reporter, I would have just got better on my own and then the same thing would have happened to you later, Blossom, and then you too, Buttercup. We'd still have come out OK, but because he told everybody we had cancer when we don't, that's why all those people sent the money! So he did somethin' good, too!"
"Yeah, Bubbles, in a way, I guess he did. It just happened for the wrong reason." Blossom said. "But he was also responsible for all the damage Mojo caused."
"So what?" Buttercup shrugged. "Today, tomorrow, next week…same thing would have happened. He causes damage every time he takes a breath."
"True." Blossom giggled and turned off the set. The conference was over and now it was just some guy with M.D. after his name talking. "Hey Bubbles, what were you gonna tell me before?"
"Oh! Buttercup used a new power on him!" She and Buttercup started giggling.
"Really? What?"
"Powerpuking!" they said together, and they all laughed until tears ran out. Then Bubbles became serious for a moment.
"Hey, Buttercup? How did you know?"
"Know what, Bubbles?"
"That I was gonna be okay. You brought my clothes for me, remember?"
"Oh, that." Buttercup said. She told them what the professor had told her that morning, about fighting and not losing hope. "I didn't really think about it, Bubbles, I just grabbed 'em. And Octi." she added with a grin, and her sister smiled down at the toy next to her in bed. "And when I was down in the sewer I didn't have time to think about this, but I was wonderin' how come we can go a long time without needing a lot of air, like when we go into space or under water. The nurses kept sayin' about how it was impossible that you could go on like you were, Bubbles, but that's why."
Blossom was watching and listening intently; this was all news to her. "Wow, Buttercup, that really makes sense, 'specially after what the doctors and the professor said."
"Yeah, Blossom, but all that stuff was just in the back of my mind and it didn't make sense until now. I didn't really know anything, it was just a lucky guess. Remember what the professor said, that it was his fault?"
Blossom thought for a few seconds. "Yeah! It was just before they took me in!" She glanced at her blue-eyed sister, sadly. "It was awful, Bubbles. Professor was blaming himself for what happened to us."
Bubbles reacted with her typical horrified look, imagining the pain the professor must have felt; but Buttercup quickly calmed her. "It's OK, Bubbles, he was right! When I was layin' there waitin' for Mojo to finish me, I remembered what he said, and I just kinda knew! Like I said, it was a lucky guess, and lucky for me that you showed up when you did, sis. I didn't have much left."
"Yes, girls," Blossom told them, "we are lucky. All of us."
They spent the next few hours just quietly talking about what the day was like for each of them. Her sisters sympathized with her over her lost hair and thought it was great what she did, but when Blossom suggested they do the same as a gesture of solidarity, they reminded her that she'd not been sick like they had been.
"Believe me, Blossom, I'd rather be bald than go through that again!" Bubbles told her.
Even after the nurse came in, and later the professor, who kissed them all goodnight before telling them to go to sleep, they chatted, until finally they told each other good night. Blossom promised them that the next day she would do ALL the talking, telling them all the things she'd been putting off, that she thought she was never going to have the chance to tell.