Chapter 13

"Gotta find Utonium. Gotta find Utonium!" Red said aloud pacing back and forth. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had seated themselves on the couch and watched Red Robins put on a little "worry show" for them. Blossom bit her lower lip.

"Are you all right, Red?" She asked calmly and Red practically leapt out of her shoes at the sound of her voice. Red shook visibly and sat down suddenly on the love seat.

"NO!" She cried out suddenly sounding like a lost little child. She buried her face into her hands, two thick strands of her crimson bangs falling in front. The girls looked worriedly at one another and Buttercup slid off the couch slowly. She walked over to her mother and climbed up into her lap.

"There, there, Mommy. It's okay. I'm here now." Buttercup tried to comfort her mother. She patted her mother's leg with her mitt and looked up toward her with one big green eye and one big black eye. Bubbles and Blossom climbed up next to her also; they gave her a hug and smiled at her warmly.

"It is all right, Red, you have us." Blossom smiled cuddled up against her lovingly.

"Don't you worry! We'll find your You-tone-ey-um guy." Bubbles assured. Red looked that them and almost cried again.

She knew it all now. She knew who they really were and she knew that she'd probably never see her baby girl again. Red watched those big green eyes look at her with such concern. Now was not the time for self-pity, what was important was getting her child to…to her real parent. Red choked back a sob and knew it was best for her baby.

"That's right…Utonium." Ms. Robins forced a small smile, brushing a hand through Bubbles's blonde hair affectionately. These girls grow on you real fast. Red thought to herself. "Blossom, could you please get me the phone book and the phone?" Blossom nodded and retrieved the items with a little worry.

"Red…" Blossom began placing the phone book on the seat cushion next to Red and then struggling up onto the couch. "What…um…who I should say, is Utonium? And…precisely what is our business with him?"

"Girls…um…do you remember anything…I don't know, odd. Anything about you girls…flying or…doing things like, like Superman?" Red stumbled feeling sort of stupid. Buttercup's head rested against her mother's chest, feeling it rise and fall slowly.

"Of course I do, Mommy." Buttercup spoke feeling her mother's heartbeat quicken. "I have dreams all the time where I'm flyin' around and beatin' up stuff. I tell 'em to you all the time." She shifted a little.

"That's weird." Bubbles stated. "I have dreams like that too! I'm flyin' and there are all these pretty clouds and I have this dream where I save this kitty out of a tree. And the kitty licked my face and was happy." Bubbles smiled thoughtfully. Blossom looked off.

"That is peculiar. I have similar dreams in which I, too, am flying around and carrying out carefully described plans. I have had this dream recently where I'm attacking a large dragon with scales as hard as diamonds…"

"And it's big and red and purple and it snaps at you with big, sharp teeth and has a long tongue?" Bubbles asked excitedly, clearly remembering her "dream" or, at least, her role in it.

"…and then when you finally think you've destroyed it, it pours boiling oil all over you and you burn from the inside out as it eats away at your insides…" Buttercup finished off recalling her part in this particular battle.

"Uh…well…that last part didn't happen for me…" Bubbles looked off for a second.

"YES!" Red cried, making the girls jump. "Yes that's exactly it! You girls were, or are, a group…a team of crime fighters." Blossom gave Red a flat look, Bubbles seemed thoroughly interested, Buttercup just let her head rest on her mother's chest again.

"There, there Mommy…I know you've been stressed but…"

"No!" Red put a tired hand to her forehead, rushing her hand back to get rid of the hair in her eyes. "All right. Let me tell it like this." Red coughed and the children looked expectantly at her. "A long time ago there was a man named Professor Utonium." Red paused as she watched a spark of recognition flash in their eyes. "He was a scientist and lived way on the outskirts of Townsville, in a little suburb called Pokey Oaks." Another pause. "He worked a long time trying to create the 'perfect little girl'. He used the ingredients from an old rhyme: sugar," She looked at Bubbles. "spice," She turned her gaze to Buttercup, "and everything nice." Red finally looked toward Blossom. "But, he accidentally added one extra ingredient."

"Chemical X!" All three girls shouted at the same time. There was a long pause as it swept over them. Their whole bodies were incased in warmth and they're pupils faded out leaving only the iris color covering over the eye. Red noticed this new creepy look and began to panic. They all began speaking at once in a rather odd manner. Finishing each other's sentences.

"We were home and reading a book…" Blossom began reliving a certain day.

"…when the hotline rang and we fought a monster…" Buttercup continued.

"…and I found a pebble that came from the monster…" Bubbles said suddenly.

"And then we all made wishes!" The three girls yelled at the same time. Their eyes returned the pupils and the girls looked at each other, as if seeing their sisters for the first time in that life.

"Blossom…?"

"Bubbles….?"

"Buttercup…?"

The girls each said the others names and then sporadically embraced in a tight hug, babbling things to one another excitedly. Their words were overlapping one another till Red could barely tell who was speaking.

"It was awful, he was this big….and then she said 'no you can not possibly'…and I thought 'what a weird dream' but I didn't know that…saying 'that's just cause you're a freak'…horrible feeling everyone's so mean…missed flying…the Professor…" The chattering continued and Red sat of on the other side of the love seat, watching them sadly. They were, after all, in the wrong place…but how did they get there. It didn't matter…finding Professor Utonium was what was important.

* * * *

It was a while after the PPG had been speaking so excitedly, they had calmed down and were sitting on the couch facing one another and telling stories of their life's past. Red had already looked in the phone book about a million times, but it seemed as though Utonium didn't exist. She brought over a plate of warm cookies for the girls to share.

She looked at them like she always had in that previous life, universe, whatever those memories were. It was as if she was a world away and they were separated from her like a movie star, like a plate glass window between her and them. Red knew that now they would leave and it would be like that again. Her "child" flying of and fighting things and getting hurt and the worried thought that she might even be killed. Red put her hand over her mouth closed her eyes and looked down. The right thing to do often seems so very hard.

"…and then he…he…he punched me!" Bubbles wailed and clung onto Blossom and Buttercup. "He was so mean an'…an' I hit the counter and it hurt…and it hurt…" She whimpered softly. Blossom hugged her back.

"It's okay Bubbles. You're all right now. That mean man didn't know what he was doing." Blossom comforted.

"That jerk! No one hurts a PowerPuff! You mess with one, you mess with us all!" Buttercup declared leaping to her feet. "He wants to beat up little girls, lets see him beat up me!" She challenged nobody angrily.

"Now Buttercup, we can not just go around beating everyone up like a Neandertha-" Blossom cut herself off…she was doing that whole Lukan thing again. She shuddered and thought how much she'd like to go back to that school and beat the tar out of Herbert and everyone that laughed at her. And how much she'd love to avenge her new-found sister. "On second thought…" Blossom began.

"But Blossom, how did we get here? And why are you all rich? And why does Buttercup live with Red? And how do I know how to tap dance?" Bubbles questioned still hugging onto her carrot-topped sibling.

Blossom pondered a moment and then spoke.

"You guys remember when I told you that story about the magic pebble, and I told you it granted wishes right?"

"Yeah, so?" Buttercup grumbled.

"Well, after that, Bubbles found that little pebble or ball or whatever. Remember? And we all pretended that it was THE magic pebble. So I wished I was surrounded by beautiful things and I was rich and stuff."

"That's right!" Bubbles piped up. "An' I wished that everyone would love me an' I'd be a star. An'…an' I guess here, people do."

"Uh-huh, and I AM surrounded by beautiful expensive things." Blossom commended, they looked at Buttercup.

"But Buttercup," Bubbles started, "you didn't make a wish. How come you're here and living with Red?" She questioned. Buttercup sat down on the couch and fidgeted nervously.

"I…uh…I…um…I don't…know." She looked away trying to hide her flushing cheeks.

"Well, I think there's something more to it." Blossom stated. "Bubbles, I know you made a wish after your first wish." Bubbles blushed.

"Yeah…I wished for…a mommy." Bubbles nodded.

"Well, you have a mommy NOW right?" The redhead asked and Bubbles nodded again. "Well…I…um…I ALSO wished I had a mother. When you two weren't in the room and…well I also have a mother now." Blossom gave a weak smile. Bubbles eyes widened.

"You TOO?!" Bubbles inquired bouncing on the couch cushion. "WOW!! But…but why is your mommy so mean?" Bubbles asked.

"I don't know." Blossom answered looking down sadly. Buttercup shifted again.

"Uh…um…I…uh…kinda also…wished for…uh…the same thing you guys…uh…wished for…too." Buttercup stammered looking off. Her blonde-haired sister gave her a cockeyed look.

"YOU wanted a mommy TOO?!" Bubbles looked confused. Buttercup was still looking away.

"Well," Blossom tried to take the unwanted attention off of Buttercup, "that explains why she's with Red. But why is it that when we wished for mothers…ours came out different?" Blossom tried to place it as politely as possible.

"I think this will ALL be solved when we get a hold of Professor Utonium." Red cried exasperated after flipping furiously through a few pages of the phone book.

"Well, here, let me look." Bubbles offered. Red sighed and shrugged.

"All right…but I've tried one million times alread-"

"Found it!" Bubbles interrupted. Ms. Robins looked surprisingly at to where Bubbles's mitt was pointing. Right between "Utility" and "Utz" sat the name "Utonium, P." Red stared, her jaw ajar. She must've been over that page one billion times staring between those two names. Bubbles smiled proudly and Red shrugged. Although it seemed to have just appeared there at that moment.

* * * *

He opened his eyes slowly, his head pounding rhythmically. He pressed his hand against the soft carpet pushing himself from the ground and scanning the room with his weak eyes. He gasped at what he found.

Professor Utonium looked around his house. His normal house that he had bought in the suburbs of Pokey Oaks. But…but it seemed different. All the furniture was arranged the way it had been back when he was a bachelor living in a large and lonely house. His old, worn-in, easy chair sat on the edge of the room facing a blank television. The Professor stared at a picture on his wall where he vaguely remembered a picture of someone but if there had been it was replaced with a picture of abstract art (which was a type of artistry he'd always been fond of). He even saw an old miniature statue of Michelangelo's David. The Professor seemed to recall that he had gotten rid of that.

He looked around at all the things that remained from his years when he had first moved to Pokey Oaks. The Professor found everything "as it should've been" to him. But, he slightly remembered something else. His eyes landed on papers that littered the top of his glass end table. All of his scientific research on the combinations to create bio-creations. He found his kitchen a mess; dirty dishes piled up in the sink with the top plate slightly slipping off the stack. It was only sticking on by the crusty remittance of last night…or last weeks dinner.

Everything around him was a picture of his past…or his present. He wasn't really quite sure. Images of different surroundings floated around in his mind. The couch used to be there, that picture was supposed to be different, that statue he should have thrown away. But why? Why, why, why, why, why?! Why did his mind tell him that this whole setting, this whole place was wrong. There never seemed to be anything else. But something itched in his mind that he was put there for a reason. Professor Utonium was becoming VERY confused.

He shook his head at it and then raced up the steps in bounds. He reached the top of the stairs with a thunk beneath his black shoes. He flung open the door to the first room on the left (the "girl's" room) to find his old disheveled library staring at him. Bookshelves lined the walls menacingly; the only light was the shades of the setting sun through the three circular window. It cast pools of redish gold on the floor. The Professor lets out a deep sigh listening to the quiet of the sunset.

Professor Utonium sat on the floor suddenly, trying to take it all in, when the phone rang. A steady ring that echoed off of the stairwell. The Professor cocked an eyebrow and walked to the incessant ring. It took him a good couple of minutes to locate the phone beneath a pile of research on micro-organisms. He lifted up the receiver and put it to his ear shakily.

"H…Hello?" He questioned. Who on earth could have been calling him?

"Hello? Is this Mr. Utonium?" A sweet voice asked almost coyly from the other end. The Professor raised his eyebrow again.

"Yes, this is Professor Utonium. How can I help you?" He asked sitting down in the chair next to the phone. He had to get back up and throw a few books off of the squeaky seat but then he resumed sitting. The sweet voice coughed once and then spoke.

"Um…yes. My name is Banka Robins and I-" She was cut off by the voices of three children.

"Banka?!" Three voices cried in unison from the other side of the line.

"You're real first name is Bank-a?"

"Yes, now girls please be quiet." The voice returned to speak to the Professor. "Anyway, my name is Banka Robins and I think that…well gee, how do I put this…I think I have something that belongs to you." She stuttered almost helplessly. The Professor took in a deep breath.

He had heard those voices once before. But where? His mind was a blur and his head began to resume pounding. Why was it becoming so hard to think?

"Y…yes?" The Professor managed out. He could hardly think. "Listen…what…whatever it is could you bring it over in the morning? I really can't talk right now" As if on cue, his headache intensify till he practically felt his skull would shatter. There was a deep breath and then:

"Yes…" She trailed off. "Anyway…I'll bring them over at 8:00. Okay?" Red questioned. She so badly didn't want to part from them just yet, and it was growing so late anyway.

"…all right." Professor Utonium finally got out, rubbing his throbbing temples slowly. Did she say them? Ugh…it's going to have to wait. He sighed.

"I'll bring them over at eight. And please, don't worry. They're in good hands." Red encouraged.

"Uh-huh." Professor Utonium hung up the phone, rather rudely, without a goodbye. He needed to lie down with a couple of aspirin and figure out what was wrong with everything. Whatever that woman had to bring over could wait till tomorrow