FINAL WISHES

By Gary Curtis

Powerpuff Girls created by Craig McCracken and all related characters owned by Cartoon Network

FOUR

Bubbles fainted dead away. The other two stared at each other, their faces pale.

"M-m-murder?" Buttercup finally sputtered.

Blossom spoke as if she were alone there in the room. "But-but who? Who would want to do that to him?"

Buttercup jumped out of the chair. "Mojo! Or Him! Or...or...or somebody else!" she finished, frustrated at coming up blank.

Blossom knelt to help Bubbles sit up. "No, Buttercup, they only like to destroy people, not murder them."

"Oh, yeah."

"Murder?!" Bubbles passed out again.

"All right, girls, hold hands. We're going to get through this calmly, no matter how bad it is."

Blossom was seated in front of the monitor once more, her right hand resting on the mouse. Her sisters stood behind her, their eyes transfixed on the screen. She held Bubbles left hand in hers. Buttercup took Bubbles' right hand and laid her right on Blossom's right shoulder.

Blossom began to scroll onward and they started to read. "The only way we can help him is by staying calm."

"Yeah." Buttercup agreed. "We gotta keep remembering that nothin' happened yet. And it ain't gonna, either!"

Bubbles could only tremble nervously and wanted to squeeze her eyes shut. "But I hafta be strong just like my sisters so we don't let anything bad happen to him!"

The words began to move.

'But before I give you that identity, I must insist that, as the most important of the duties that I am entrusting you with, that you see to it she is protected, both financially and in the legal sense. She is to be treated equally regarding the provisions of the trust, regardless of anything she might do. And she is to get the best legal representation money will buy, no matter what crimes she is accused of and no matter what the public sentiment against her may be. In spite of anything she may have done, none of it will be her fault. That responsibility also lies on my shoulders.'

The girls looked to one another questioningly, all with the same thought. "She? Is he talking about ME"?

'And that is where my story begins, in the middle. She's getting stronger. I don't know where this will all end up, but I am fearful. Each time, she will continue to get even stronger, until no power on earth will be able to stop her. The one thing I do know is that her sisters will do everything in their power to do just that, and I pray that they make her see before it is too late.'

The hand-holding came to an immediate end. Blossom turned on Buttercup. "It's you!"

"Me! Why me? It's not me, it's Bubbles! She's the weakest." Buttercup glared at her sister and pointed. "And she's gonna go 'hardcore' on everybody again!"

Bubbles forgot about being afraid. "I am not! If anybody's gonna go off the deep end, it's you, Blossom!"

To her horror, Blossom found both of them glaring at her. "Yeah!" Buttercup growled. "Who lost it 'cause of a stupid lousy haircut, huh?"

"And we can't forget about those golf clubs, can we?" Bubbles added snidely.

"Shut up, four eyes!" To Buttercup, Blossom said, "I don't need a stupid blankie to get the job done."

"I'm over that and you know it!"

Blossom turned to Bubbles and said coldly, "If they find the professor's body with all his teeth missing, then we'll know for sure."

"Oooooooh, after we're done reading this, Blossom, I'm gonna pound you for that!"

Glaring at one another, they turned back to the screen.

'I created a monster, and it's a horrible irony that it happened the way it did. For, you see, I created her for the very thing that has corrupted her so. Money.'

Blossom said, "See? I told you."

Buttercup let out a gasp and her mouth began to wiggle. "Waaahhhhh!!!!"

She was gone from there in an instant and her sisters could hear the bedroom door slamming shut. Bubbles stood there in shock, staring at Blossom.

"Uh oh, Bubbles. I think I went too far."