Chapter 2

Hours after the monster's attack, the three girls found themselves bored once again. The Professor was still locked away in his prison of a laboratory without even noticing the girl's absence nor their return. He didn't even surface to assist with their wounds, not that he knew they had any. They didn't bother to tell him; they were worried that they might ruin his experiment.

Bubbles had left the battle with no wounds what so ever and had headed straight for her coloring table to draw some pretty pictures to help cheer her up. The sun was setting and Bubbles sighed sadly looking at the plethora of drawings she'd created in the time she'd been home. Who would appreciate them? All the hard work and effort to choose the right colors and shapes…who would look at it with the same admiration and understanding? Her sisters wouldn't appreciate it fully. The Professor would like it but not fully understand the hard work. After all, he wouldn't have enough time to pay attention to it with her sisters always arguing and needing attention too. She had once said, "Three puffs just aren't enough." Well, one parent didn't seem like enough either. Bubbles wanted someone to take care of her while she was sick, to kiss her goodnight and tell her that she loved her, to read her a bedtime story, to take Bubbles and sit her in her lap and to just enjoy Puppet Pals with her. But the Professor could do ALL those things and did. It was just the fact that sometimes that couldn't happen. It was between his work, her sisters, paying the bills, cleaning the house…Bubbles didn't like to stay sad though. She wasn't neglected or anything. Yeah, she had a good life. It's just sometimes her mind strayed to the thought of a mother.

Bubbles sighed again scribbling over her beautiful picture with a sea green crayon. She accidentally bumped one of her golden rod crayons to the floor. Bubbles bent to pick it up when a light glowing caught her attention. Her shoe was glowing a bright color that radiated from inside. This puzzled Bubbles for a second when she remembered the tiny orb that she had picked up. She'd had no other place to put it so she put it in her Mary Janes. Bubbles smiled brightly; the shimmering sphere was so pretty and beautiful. It made her forget her sadness.

The PowerPuff picked up the pebble pleasantly. It seemed to hum softly in her mitt. She closed her hand around it and it shown like she was covering over a flashlight. Bubbles giggled happily lifting the orb up and playing with it. What a strange stone it was indeed.

Elsewhere in the Utonium household, Blossom was slowly nursing her bandaged hand. The rough scale had left her with quite a mark across her mitt plus the burning hot ooze didn't really help. It didn't hurt anymore, the pain long since subsided, but she held it anyway, staring out the window in the living room.

She sighed dejectedly. She couldn't hide that she was still upset over a lot of things. Like how she'd acted on the battlefield. What kind of a leader gets entertained by "shiny objects" and stops in the middle of the fight to just stare? Blossom wasn't there for her sisters when they needed her. She felt personally responsible for Buttercup's injuries. If she had paid attention to the situation and done what she was supposed to in the first place…well that battle was over. Buttercup was all right, but a little annoyed, Bubbles was fine, the monster was gone. Blossom tried not to fret on the details, but decided just to pay more attention next time.

Blossom stared out the window, putting her bandaged mitt to her downtrodden face. In the distance the sun was lowering behind the Levittown of Pokey Oaks. The sky glittered in golds and pinks that raced across the sky encircling one another in a spectacular light show that few cared to watch. The reflection of sky was seen in the young girl's eyes. It was seldom that Blossom got a chance to appreciate it too. She just wished someone were there to share that with her.

Her mind suddenly skipped to the thought of a mother sitting beside her, watching the sun set on the hills, describing to her all of what the world had to offer. Blossom scolded herself for thinking such things. Her eyes broke away from Heaven's display as she sat down. What was with her today? Just because it was Mother's Day she had to suddenly do nothing but feel sorry for herself? She never cared much about a mother before. Well, that wasn't entirely true. The thought had crossed her mind several times, but she'd never thought about it this much.

Blossom shook her head suddenly, and gave a soft laugh at herself. What would Bubbles and Buttercup say of their leader, seeing her like this? They'd just laugh at her. Besides, what good was a mother anyway? The Professor could do anything that a mother could do, if not more. He was a great parent and understood their duties to Townsville. Of course! A mother wouldn't understand their necessity to the city. A mother would just fawn all over them saying "Oh my poor babies! It's too rough! They're too young!" On and on and on. Not the Professor. He understood their needs and the city's needs. A mother? Hah! She wouldn't understand anyway.

As the pink puff continued her mother bashing trying not to feel bad for herself, Buttercup was sitting in the bathroom quietly readjusting some of her bandages. She growled lowly to herself. Her whole body stung with the remembrance of the boiling oil that had washed over her. How was she to know the stupid dragon's blood would be so hot? Buttercup couldn't help but shudder at the memory of the thick black ooze washing over her, scalding ever part of her body. Her scream had seemed hopelessly lost in that sea of midnight that flowed into her open mouth. She put a hand to her mouth remembering the disgusting taste of the blood; it had trickled down the back of her throat scorching everything it touched. That had to have been the most disgusting thing she'd encountered since Roach Coach.

Buttercup dipped a green wash cloth underneath the cool water of the faucet. The water spread over and through the green cloth and she watched it, feeling tired. She removed it from the cold water and placed it on her face, as if trying to wash out the memories. Another of her bandages slowly slid off her hand and she growled at it from behind the towel.

The green puff had refused to let Blossom do her bandages. Blossom, who was a little better trained in the medical profession, insisted but Buttercup declined harshly. She knew Blossom would've done a better job but…who did Blossom think she was? Her mother? Heh, she had no mother and her sister was not going to be any kind of replacement. Buttercup sighed, trying to fix her poor bandaging job as she sat on the toilet seat.

A mother. Buttercup had considered having a mother before. She hadn't really thought about it in depth…no that was a lie. She thought about it a lot. A whole lot. Today was no different. The Professor was a good parent…no a great parent. Buttercup just wanted someone to…to take care of her when she felt down. Who could teach her things. Not like academic things but more about how to do things different. So why couldn't the Professor do that?

It was different; he didn't have the time. There were too many girls and not enough Professor. Buttercup mostly thought about it because she had more time to think about it. Bubbles was so intent on being happy in her own little world and the simple shiny things that distracted her (like pebbles) and Blossom was so concerned with her leadership and being a good role model, that they didn't have time to consider it as much as she did. The possibility had only been a little dull ring in her mind at certain times. It wasn't like she obsessed over it. Just thought about it a little more. Sometimes she'd think about it at night and it'd seep into her dreams. She had this one dream she couldn't get out of her head when she slept. It was a stupid dream really and Buttercup thought sometimes that she hated it…or at least thinking like that.

It would be late at night in her dream, Buttercup would wake up terrified for some reason, her dream would never say. She would wake up in the dream and begin to scream and cry, despite any dignity she may have had in reality. The Professor would run in all worried and head to her. Buttercup would raise her arms, wanting to be held. Suddenly, Bubbles would start to wail and scream hysterically as if watching a murder before her innocent little eyes. The Professor, concerned for the more distressed child would re-route his attention to the bawling blue-eyed girl. Buttercup would lower her arms, sniffling softly, and watch the Professor comfort her sister. She would watch, craving the attention and solace. Out of nowhere, a dark figure would appear. But, it wasn't ominous, and almost seemed friendly. It would walk over to the bed and pick up the sullen Buttercup. It was another person, another parent, a mother. She never had any real description to her; she had a face like any normal person. Buttercup just couldn't really distinguish the features though. The mother figure would hush her and say, "It's okay, I'm here now." And the dream Buttercup would feel just so comforted. Then the Professor would put the satiated Bubbles under the covers. Then, the Professor and the dream mother would carry Buttercup off to their room and they'd tuck her into the middle of the bed between the two of them. And all three would fall asleep. And Buttercup, in reality, would wake up.

She couldn't help dream that dream sometimes. She hated it and liked it. Buttercup always felt so comfortable in that woman's arms. She growled lowly. No, that dream was stupid and unrealistic. First off she'd NEVER wake up screaming and crying and second off, they were never getting a mother and she shouldn't care anyway. Stupid dream…

"Hey you guys!" Blossom cried from downstairs. Buttercup snapped herself from her thoughts the green washcloth sliding off her forehead and into her hands. "Come down here!" Buttercup sighed, fixed her lame bandaging, and flew downstairs in a green streak.

Bubbles had been interested in rolling the pebble down one arm to the other and then back. When Blossom called, it dropped to the table. Bubbles flew out of the room quickly, blowing her papers in a hurricane around the girls' bedroom.

"What is it Blossom?" Bubbles inquired.

"Well, since the Professor's in the lab and most likely won't be out for dinner, I thought that the three of us could make dinner together for him!" Blossom exclaimed. Bubbles and Buttercup looked at each other in silence and then smiled and nodded back. Maybe some food could lull the beast from his hard work.

It didn't take more than an hour for the girls to successfully ruin dinner. Bubbles stared down at the pile of blackish goo that was supposed to be pudding. Buttercup and Blossom were arguing…again.

"What's that?!" Blossom queried angrily pointing at what seemed to be a tiny prune in a pan.

"It was the roast." Buttercup answered looking down at the charred piece of meat in the pan.

"How did you screw that up? It's a roast! You leave it in the oven…THAT'S IT!"

"Yeah, for THREE HOURS! I can't wait three whole hours! I'm hungry now!" Buttercup returned. "I thought eye lasers would help…" Blossom slapped her hand to her face.

"It's a wonder it didn't EXPLODE!" She muttered something to herself.

"Oh like you didn't screw up with the mashed potatoes!" Buttercup pointed to the white mass of cold food with huge hunks of potatoes still uncut and globs of butter in solid form sticking to the top. "What it that supposed to be?!"

"Mashed potatoes!"

"Nice mashing job there, Blossom." Buttercup said sardonically looking at a hunk of potato fall to the kitchen floor.

"Well at least I didn't make a Prune Roast!"

"Please stop fighting." Bubbles looked down sadly. "Oh…I didn't do so good on the puddin'." She held up the globby, bumpy pudding as proof.

"Bubbles," Buttercup began, "how do you ruin instant-made pudding?"

"Hmmm…I don't know." Bubbles answered rhetorically.

"You just add MILK!" Blossom added loudly. She sighed, dinner was ruined and the Professor didn't even come upstairs when the smoke detectors went off. The three would just have to forage for something else that night. And most likely Bubbles and Buttercup would suggest…

"Ice cream!" Bubbles cheered throwing the goo upward. The pudding stuck to the ceiling with a sickening spluck. Bubbles looked up to see the whole bowl of pudding sticking to the ceiling. "Hee hee." Blossom sighed again.

* * * *

The girls had settled on TV dinners instead. They all thought they were revolting, but ate them anyway. The Professor didn't even come up to tuck them in. They all felt sad and neglected. As Blossom slipped her pink nightgown on over her head, Bubbles rediscovered her little plaything.

"Hey look!" Bubbles squealed joyously. The two other girls looked up from their changing. They watched, with some amusement as Bubbles rolled a shiny, glowing orb down one arm and to the other in her attempt to cheer them up after a ruined supper. "Look at what I can do!"

"Yeah, look what I can do." Buttercup stated sarcastically rolling her big green eyes.

"That's nice Bubbles." Blossom commented with a trying smile. "Say, where'd you get that."

"I found it." Bubbles replied balancing it on the tip of her mitt. Suddenly, an idea hit her. "HEY!"

"What?" Blossom inquired as Bubbles put the orb in front of her eyes.

"This is just like the pebble from the story book!" Bubbles exclaimed holding her treasure to the light.

"Wha? What pebble?" Buttercup asked completely forgetting about the earlier story. Bubbles cupped her hands over it and watched it glow.

"The one from the story that grants wishes. It's always shiny, even in darkness or something. It's shinin' right now." Bubbles was fascinated at her hand glowing like she'd put it up to the sun. Buttercup rolled her eyes again.

"Well, it might be fun to pretend it's the same pebble." Blossom smiled sitting on the ground. "Go ahead Bubbles, make a wish." Bubbles clasped both hands around it and closed her eyes.

"I wish everybody loved me. Like I'd be a star or something. Yeah! That's nice. And there'd be lots of people who liked me and loved me and maybe even my drawings." Bubbles smiled at her wish, it was kind of selfish but she'd always wondered what it would be like to live like the people on TV. Besides it didn't count cause she'd thought it up in two seconds. She slowly brought the pebble to her lips and whispered softly so no one would hear her and feel upset. "I also wish I had a mommy." Bubbles brought it away from her mouth clutching the pebble tighter as if that would insure her wish to come true. She handed the glowing pebble to Blossom. "Here, now you make a wish!"

"Me? Well, okay." Blossom took the pebble and admired it pleasantly. It had a warm glow to it and almost a hum. Like it was a soft lullaby. It was an odd pebble. "I wish…" Blossom thought for a moment. She had heard Bubbles's plea and had wanted that too. But, she didn't want to sound juvenile so she quickly thought of something else. "I wish I were surrounded by beautiful things and intelligent people! People who would understand culture and art and understand me on an intellectual level." She shot Buttercup and Bubbles a look. "Also someone who can do my hair some justice!" Blossom held her orange locks that were still recovering from a butchering by her sisters.

"We said we were sorry!" Bubbles yelled. Suddenly they heard a loud clanking sound. All three heads shot toward the door. Bubbles giggled, "Sounds like the puddin' fell." Blossom set the pebble away from her; she wanted to wish for a mother too, but didn't want to seem insecure. She knew everyone would hear her anyway. She held out the pebble toward Bubbles.

"That's it, I guess." Blossom held the orb toward Bubbles. Bubbles laughed and shook her head.

"Don't give it to me, give it to Buttercup." Bubbles pointed toward Buttercup. She was leaning against the wall watching her sisters wish on an inanimate rock. Buttercup gave a menacing glare. Blossom shrugged and held the pebble out to Buttercup.

"Make a wish Buttercup." Blossom stated. Buttercup looked at the shimmering rock. Its color seemed to have intensified in the past few minutes. It glittered in an odd maternal beauty in her sister's mitt. Buttercup sneered at it and exploded.

"What the heck for?! I ain't wishing on a dumb ol' pebble! This is the lamest thing since the stupid story book!" She yelled to the ceiling. Blossom clutched the pebble in her mitt angrily.

"You can at LEAST pretend Buttercup!" Blossom glared fed up with her headstrong and impatient sibling.

"Aw forget it!" Buttercup floated out of the room in a huff.

"What crawled into her dress and died?" Bubbles asked. She sighed, silently scolding herself. She shouldn't have said that. "I'll talk to her." Bubbles offered and flew after her hotheaded sister. Blossom watched Bubbles leave calmly. She huffed about her other sister. What a pain in the butt. She suddenly noticed the pebble glowing luminously in her hand. She smiled and whispered to it, closing her eyes tightly.

"I wish I had a mother too." The wish was almost like a prayer. She clutched the pebble so tight her mitt turned almost pure white. She released it slowly hoping she hadn't crushed it. It was amazingly in tact. The sphere glowed brighter like a mini sun. She raised a non-existent eyebrow. What a strange rock.

* * * *

They had calmed down the brash brunette and were now comfortably tucked into bed. The pebble burned brightly on the tiny coloring table in the girls' bedroom serving as an adequate night-light for Bubbles. They didn't even open the door for the hall light. The Professor still was in the lab. The girls felt worried but decided to give him one more day…just one more day.

The moon hung high in Townsville sky. The darkness blanketing everything obscuring images and twisting shapes into illusions. The moonlight shined brightly on the three sleeping girls, tucked into a soft dream-filled slumber. Bubbles clutched her Octi tightly as Blossom mumbled softly in her sleep. Buttercup turned slightly and then again more harshly. She bolted up in bed whispering something into the dim light of the pale moon.

"Momma!" She whispered softly calling after that dream woman. This time in her dream, the mother never came. This time she cried and no one came, except a horrible mist that crept into her throat and wrapped around her body. It burned and scorched her and ripped at her limbs. The pain seemed so intense as it forced itself down her throat scalding her from the inside out and covering her in an oozing blackness. It suffocated her with a soft laugh like the wind in a dark world. Like death.

Buttercup wrapped her arms around her knees. That whole experience must have gotten to her. She could still feel the blood. She could still taste it. Buttercup knew that the Professor wouldn't come when she called, he may even be upset. Blossom and Bubbles would only think she was a baby.

She climbed out of bed and floated to the bathroom. Buttercup flicked on the light and gulped down a drink of cool water. That was all she needed. A quick glass of water, a reminder that she was still tough, and it was back to dreamland, and that mist that awaited her return to torture her again. Buttercup began to choke as she drank down the water, a tear accidentally slipping from her eyes. She dropped the cup and wiped the tear away so fast, it was as if it never happened. Buttercup stared herself down in the mirror. Was she a Puff or a chicken? Or was she still a five-year-old girl? Buttercup decided on "Puff", and headed back to her room.

When she returned an irritating brightness glowed from the drawing table. Buttercup at first questioned it but then remembered it was Bubbles's stupid pebble. Buttercup glowered at it and began to climb into bed when she looked back at it again. She remembered Bubbles's soft wish for a mother. The wish Bubbles thought no one had heard. Buttercup walked over to the table and picked up the sphere. It shimmered and glittered playfully. Dumb rock. Buttercup growled It can't make anybody's wishes come true. But she fingered (well as best she could) it in her mitt. It was pretty. And it gleamed with a silent purring. Buttercup shrugged.

She wondered at first what to wish for. Something that wasn't stupid and little like a new punching bag or something. It had to be something big. She could wish for money. Lots and lots of money. But…that had kind of gotten her in trouble. Maybe something else like a car! Wait…she couldn't drive, nor did she want to. Maybe…no. How about…no. Well then there's…wait, that's just stupid! Buttercup harrumphed softly as she realized there was nothing she really wanted…except…

She clutched the pebble tightly in her hands and licked her lips.

"I wish I had a mother." Buttercup clutched it hard whispering softly, "I really REALLY wish I had a mother." But she left it at that. She didn't want to wake her sisters as she gripped it tightly. But when the pebble was able to breathe again she got annoyed. "Hey! You're supposed to be dust!" Buttercup struggled with the pebble to crush it. "You dare to challenge me? Die!"

"What are you doing Buttercup?" Bubbles asked sleepily. Buttercup quit trying to destroy her meager opponent and quickly placed it on the table.

"Nothing." She zipped quickly back into bed. Buttercup tucked herself back into bed pulling the covers up to her chin. She wondered to herself if her wish really would come true. But she didn't think so.

If only the girls had read further on in the fairy tale book, they may not have been so hasty with their wishes. As the old proverb goes: "Be careful what you wish for…"