Chapter 4
"Presenting, the starlet of the show, diva extraordinaire, proud heir to the Morebucks Financial Empire, Princess Morebucks!" This speech was heard from a loudspeaker being held by Alfred beside a limousine on the street. The butler proceeded to open the rear door of the limousine, and a red carpet fell out and unrolled itself up to the podium.
Scattered applause came from the audience as Princess, dressed in a shimmering gold evening gown with a long train and high-heeled shoes, walked clumsily up to the stage.
Ms. Keane waited until Princess was in place, then produced a conductor's wand and turned to her students. "Ok class, for the first number-"
Princess held up her hand. "Wait a minute, Ms. Keane, I'm not quite ready yet. Alfred! Cue cards!"
Alfred calmly donned on a pair of earmuffs, then walked up to his mistress, cards in hand. Princess adjusted the microphone attached to the podium.
"This is gonna be bad, isn't it?" Blossom whispered to Julie Bean, who was standing beside her.
"Well, maybe she'll make us sound better by comparison," Julie answered hopefully.
"Ok class," Ms. Keane resumed, "We'll start with Mary had a Little Lamb. From the beginning, one, two-"
The class begin to jangle, bang, and clang on their instruments, managing to create a sound that was a close approximation of the nursery rhyme.
The music, however, was almost entirely drowned out by Princess' voice, which sounded pretty much like any other tone-deaf 5 year old's, blaring into the microphone.
The parents in the audience groaned and sank down in their seats. Some looked up into the clear sky in hopes of seeing clouds that might end the concert early.
Bubbles covered her ears with her sandpaper blocks. "Its times like this that I wish I didn't have supersonic hearing!" she whispered to Buttercup, who was doggedly playing along beside her. "You know, I don't think the audience can even here us!"
Buttercup abruptly stopped playing. "I'll fix that. Here, take my flute. You can play the last chorus."
"Really?" Bubbles exclaimed in delight.
"Sure. Knock yourself out"
Bubbles grabbed the instrument, took a deep breath, and blew with all her might.
The piercing shriek that resulted produced echoing feedback from Princess's microphone for about half a minute, and shattered numerous panes of glass in the classroom behind her.
When the sound had finally finished, the rest of the band had stopped playing. The audience stared in quiet astonishment, their hair blown back from the shock waves.
"At least now I'm so deaf I won't be able to hear the rest of the concert!" said one grateful father.
"That's my girl!" The Professor smiled at Bubbles and gave her the thumbs up signal.
"Buttercup, may I remind you we all have our assigned instruments for this concert," Ms. Keane scolded her, looking ruefully at the piles of glass surrounding her classroom "At least it wasn't the roof again," she thought to herself.
Buttercup took back her instrument, and the class continued their rendition of "Mary". Princess took a deep breath and, assuming an operatic pose, began singing again. She stopped almost as soon as she had started. "Hey, my microphone isn't working! That stupid bubble-brain blew it out!"
"Princess, just keep singing!" Ms. Keane spoke under her breath. "Don't let it ruin the concert."
Princess looked at her teacher, then collapsed onto the ground, kicking, screaming and crying. "Those stupid Powerpuff girls ruined my début performance! They did this on purpose, they hate me, and now nobody's listening to meeeeeee! Daddy! Do something!"
All eyes turned to the figure in the business suit leaning out of the limousine. Daddy Morebucks raised and lowered his shoulder in a shrug.
The rest of the band, unsure what to do in such circumstances, continued to play the nursery rhyme. Buttercup played her flute especially loud, hoping to drown out some of Princess's screechings.
"Oh, man! I thought things couldn't get any worse than last year!" said one man, shifting uncomfortably.
"Could you stop doing that, please," said the woman beside him. "You keep rubbing against my leg."
"Oh sorry! I thought you were doing it." He looked down at his leg. Suddenly his eyes widened and he began to stutter. "Ssu-su -suu-snn"
"Oh for heaven's sake, what are you going on about?" The woman looked down as well, then jumped in terror onto the bench screaming, "Snake!"
Suddenly all of the parents in the audience were out of their seats, running from the playground or standing terrorized in fear as literally hundreds of snakes from Pokey Oaks forest writhed through the benches towards the stage. Most of them were smallish garter snakes, but a good number were of the larger, more menacing looking variety as well.
"Ah, it's an invasion! The snakes are taking over Townsville!" yelled out one terrorized young mother.
Princess, whose tantrum had finally abated enough for her to notice the recent turn of events, screamed and ran in panic from her podium. Tripping on her high heels, she rolled down the steps and was soon hopelessly entangled in the train of her dress. "Ah! Save me daddy, save me!"
As the snakes approached, Mr. Morebucks hastily withdrew into his limousine and closed the door.
"Girls, help!" the Professor called out. He was crouched in front of a bench with his hands over his head. A sea of serpents was writhing past him.
"Finally, some action!" Buttercup threw down her flute and raced forward to do battle.
"Buttercup! Don't hurt them! Snakes are good!" Bubbles shrieked in alarm, hands to her mouth.
"Well, what am I supposed to do? Do you think they'll just go home if I ask them nicely?" Buttercup asked sarcastically.
"Actually, it looks as if that's what they're doing," commented Blossom, pointing.
As Blossom had said, the snakes that were heading towards the stage had turned tail and were now gliding rapidly back to the forest.
"Weird," stated Buttercup. "Oh well, I guess we don't have to finish the concert now!" She looked out at the frightened, crying children, fallen Princess, and overturned benches left by fleeing audience members.
Blossom looked thoughtful for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "That's it! Buttercup, play your flute again!"
"What? No way! Why would I-" Buttercup's eyes widened slightly in understanding, and she picked up her instrument.
"Fwee-fwuu-fwee!" As she began a simple tune, the snakes once again turned around and headed back towards the playground.
Buttercup flew over to one side of the benches, still tootling, and the snakes slithered over in her direction, much to the relief of the parents who remained. She began slowly walking around the bench area. The snakes began moving into a long procession behind her, weaving their heads to the music and hissing softly.
As she reached the first of the benches, she turned to walk in front of it, then turned again so that she was circling around the back of the stage, and continued on until she a "figure eight" around the observers. The audience and band members looked on, spellbound. The parents who had fled slowly returned, shame-facedly, and joined the astonished crowd.
Princess, who had fallen close to the edge of the stage, was still thrashing about in an effort to get untangled from the extensive material of her dress. The train of serpents was passing directly before her eyes. The redheaded girl froze as a specimen with particularly large fangs turned to look at whatever was struggling frantically on the stage. She opened her mouth to scream.
"I wouldn't do that, Morebucks. Snakes don't like loud noises," Blossom, who was standing nearby, commented. Princess turned pale, but gave up struggling and remained silent, wide-eyed in terror.
Buttercup ended her parade by piping all of the snakes back into the forest. Once the final few had glided back into the brush, she turned and curtsied politely to the audience.
"Wooh-hooh, Buttercup!" Yelled out Mitch.
"Yay!" the rest of the parents and band members cheered for the green Powerpuff and gave her a standing ovation, which was not hard as most of them were already standing anyhow.
Princess, who had finally managed to free herself from her dress, ran back to the limousine, followed by Alfred, sobbing. "Daddy, Daddy it was so horrible! I'm gonna need months of therapy and a new dress and shoes and a snake wacker and." her whining was cut off as the limo door closed, and the car sped away from the kindergarten building.
The three Powerpuff Girls flew over to the Professor, and Bubbles began to babble excitedly. "Professor did you see Buttercup? She made the snakes come out of the forest an everyone was scared, but then she made the snakes go in a line, an."
"Don't worry, Bubbles, I saw everything," the Professor chuckled. "Well, except for the part when I had my eyes closed as I was screaming in terror." He turned to Buttercup. "So, young lady, what do you think of your special power now?"
"Well, snake charming is pretty cool, I guess. I still don't see how it's gonna be any use."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," said the Professor, ruffling his daughter's hair. "Knowing how our lives go, there'll likely be a giant sea serpent or a horde of intelligent space snakes invading Townville soon, and your special talent will save the day."
"Yeah, and the Professor was right," said Blossom, as she looked at the smiling faces of the families walking away from the debris of the concert site. "Your power does make people happy!"
And so the school concert is saved! And destroyed! Thanks to Buttercup!
"Presenting, the starlet of the show, diva extraordinaire, proud heir to the Morebucks Financial Empire, Princess Morebucks!" This speech was heard from a loudspeaker being held by Alfred beside a limousine on the street. The butler proceeded to open the rear door of the limousine, and a red carpet fell out and unrolled itself up to the podium.
Scattered applause came from the audience as Princess, dressed in a shimmering gold evening gown with a long train and high-heeled shoes, walked clumsily up to the stage.
Ms. Keane waited until Princess was in place, then produced a conductor's wand and turned to her students. "Ok class, for the first number-"
Princess held up her hand. "Wait a minute, Ms. Keane, I'm not quite ready yet. Alfred! Cue cards!"
Alfred calmly donned on a pair of earmuffs, then walked up to his mistress, cards in hand. Princess adjusted the microphone attached to the podium.
"This is gonna be bad, isn't it?" Blossom whispered to Julie Bean, who was standing beside her.
"Well, maybe she'll make us sound better by comparison," Julie answered hopefully.
"Ok class," Ms. Keane resumed, "We'll start with Mary had a Little Lamb. From the beginning, one, two-"
The class begin to jangle, bang, and clang on their instruments, managing to create a sound that was a close approximation of the nursery rhyme.
The music, however, was almost entirely drowned out by Princess' voice, which sounded pretty much like any other tone-deaf 5 year old's, blaring into the microphone.
The parents in the audience groaned and sank down in their seats. Some looked up into the clear sky in hopes of seeing clouds that might end the concert early.
Bubbles covered her ears with her sandpaper blocks. "Its times like this that I wish I didn't have supersonic hearing!" she whispered to Buttercup, who was doggedly playing along beside her. "You know, I don't think the audience can even here us!"
Buttercup abruptly stopped playing. "I'll fix that. Here, take my flute. You can play the last chorus."
"Really?" Bubbles exclaimed in delight.
"Sure. Knock yourself out"
Bubbles grabbed the instrument, took a deep breath, and blew with all her might.
The piercing shriek that resulted produced echoing feedback from Princess's microphone for about half a minute, and shattered numerous panes of glass in the classroom behind her.
When the sound had finally finished, the rest of the band had stopped playing. The audience stared in quiet astonishment, their hair blown back from the shock waves.
"At least now I'm so deaf I won't be able to hear the rest of the concert!" said one grateful father.
"That's my girl!" The Professor smiled at Bubbles and gave her the thumbs up signal.
"Buttercup, may I remind you we all have our assigned instruments for this concert," Ms. Keane scolded her, looking ruefully at the piles of glass surrounding her classroom "At least it wasn't the roof again," she thought to herself.
Buttercup took back her instrument, and the class continued their rendition of "Mary". Princess took a deep breath and, assuming an operatic pose, began singing again. She stopped almost as soon as she had started. "Hey, my microphone isn't working! That stupid bubble-brain blew it out!"
"Princess, just keep singing!" Ms. Keane spoke under her breath. "Don't let it ruin the concert."
Princess looked at her teacher, then collapsed onto the ground, kicking, screaming and crying. "Those stupid Powerpuff girls ruined my début performance! They did this on purpose, they hate me, and now nobody's listening to meeeeeee! Daddy! Do something!"
All eyes turned to the figure in the business suit leaning out of the limousine. Daddy Morebucks raised and lowered his shoulder in a shrug.
The rest of the band, unsure what to do in such circumstances, continued to play the nursery rhyme. Buttercup played her flute especially loud, hoping to drown out some of Princess's screechings.
"Oh, man! I thought things couldn't get any worse than last year!" said one man, shifting uncomfortably.
"Could you stop doing that, please," said the woman beside him. "You keep rubbing against my leg."
"Oh sorry! I thought you were doing it." He looked down at his leg. Suddenly his eyes widened and he began to stutter. "Ssu-su -suu-snn"
"Oh for heaven's sake, what are you going on about?" The woman looked down as well, then jumped in terror onto the bench screaming, "Snake!"
Suddenly all of the parents in the audience were out of their seats, running from the playground or standing terrorized in fear as literally hundreds of snakes from Pokey Oaks forest writhed through the benches towards the stage. Most of them were smallish garter snakes, but a good number were of the larger, more menacing looking variety as well.
"Ah, it's an invasion! The snakes are taking over Townsville!" yelled out one terrorized young mother.
Princess, whose tantrum had finally abated enough for her to notice the recent turn of events, screamed and ran in panic from her podium. Tripping on her high heels, she rolled down the steps and was soon hopelessly entangled in the train of her dress. "Ah! Save me daddy, save me!"
As the snakes approached, Mr. Morebucks hastily withdrew into his limousine and closed the door.
"Girls, help!" the Professor called out. He was crouched in front of a bench with his hands over his head. A sea of serpents was writhing past him.
"Finally, some action!" Buttercup threw down her flute and raced forward to do battle.
"Buttercup! Don't hurt them! Snakes are good!" Bubbles shrieked in alarm, hands to her mouth.
"Well, what am I supposed to do? Do you think they'll just go home if I ask them nicely?" Buttercup asked sarcastically.
"Actually, it looks as if that's what they're doing," commented Blossom, pointing.
As Blossom had said, the snakes that were heading towards the stage had turned tail and were now gliding rapidly back to the forest.
"Weird," stated Buttercup. "Oh well, I guess we don't have to finish the concert now!" She looked out at the frightened, crying children, fallen Princess, and overturned benches left by fleeing audience members.
Blossom looked thoughtful for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "That's it! Buttercup, play your flute again!"
"What? No way! Why would I-" Buttercup's eyes widened slightly in understanding, and she picked up her instrument.
"Fwee-fwuu-fwee!" As she began a simple tune, the snakes once again turned around and headed back towards the playground.
Buttercup flew over to one side of the benches, still tootling, and the snakes slithered over in her direction, much to the relief of the parents who remained. She began slowly walking around the bench area. The snakes began moving into a long procession behind her, weaving their heads to the music and hissing softly.
As she reached the first of the benches, she turned to walk in front of it, then turned again so that she was circling around the back of the stage, and continued on until she a "figure eight" around the observers. The audience and band members looked on, spellbound. The parents who had fled slowly returned, shame-facedly, and joined the astonished crowd.
Princess, who had fallen close to the edge of the stage, was still thrashing about in an effort to get untangled from the extensive material of her dress. The train of serpents was passing directly before her eyes. The redheaded girl froze as a specimen with particularly large fangs turned to look at whatever was struggling frantically on the stage. She opened her mouth to scream.
"I wouldn't do that, Morebucks. Snakes don't like loud noises," Blossom, who was standing nearby, commented. Princess turned pale, but gave up struggling and remained silent, wide-eyed in terror.
Buttercup ended her parade by piping all of the snakes back into the forest. Once the final few had glided back into the brush, she turned and curtsied politely to the audience.
"Wooh-hooh, Buttercup!" Yelled out Mitch.
"Yay!" the rest of the parents and band members cheered for the green Powerpuff and gave her a standing ovation, which was not hard as most of them were already standing anyhow.
Princess, who had finally managed to free herself from her dress, ran back to the limousine, followed by Alfred, sobbing. "Daddy, Daddy it was so horrible! I'm gonna need months of therapy and a new dress and shoes and a snake wacker and." her whining was cut off as the limo door closed, and the car sped away from the kindergarten building.
The three Powerpuff Girls flew over to the Professor, and Bubbles began to babble excitedly. "Professor did you see Buttercup? She made the snakes come out of the forest an everyone was scared, but then she made the snakes go in a line, an."
"Don't worry, Bubbles, I saw everything," the Professor chuckled. "Well, except for the part when I had my eyes closed as I was screaming in terror." He turned to Buttercup. "So, young lady, what do you think of your special power now?"
"Well, snake charming is pretty cool, I guess. I still don't see how it's gonna be any use."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," said the Professor, ruffling his daughter's hair. "Knowing how our lives go, there'll likely be a giant sea serpent or a horde of intelligent space snakes invading Townville soon, and your special talent will save the day."
"Yeah, and the Professor was right," said Blossom, as she looked at the smiling faces of the families walking away from the debris of the concert site. "Your power does make people happy!"
And so the school concert is saved! And destroyed! Thanks to Buttercup!