Author's Notes: Hello everyone and welcome to a new PPG story! I've had a real burst of inspiration to write Powerpuff Girls stories, and this new story is the latest manifestation of that. With this fic I'm hoping to explore what young adulthood would look like for the Powerpuff Girls, as well as explore some what-ifs for Townsville's rogue's gallery. I know the girls have been aged up in a lot of other fics, but hopefully I can add an interesting spin to it. I hope you guys like this story, and if you want to leave a review I would love to read it :)
Note: In August of 2022 I updated this first chapter of the story. I don't plan to rewrite the whole thing since I like the concept, but I wasn't happy with how this first chapter originally turned out. So, I've done my best to correct some pacing issues. Thank you for reading :)
Chapter 1
Damage
The city of Townsville. A bustling city with happy citizens, blue skies, a lovely coastline, and one of the great wonders of the world: The Powerpuff Girls.
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup flew around town on multiple missions given to them by the mayor. Blossom was stopping Mojo Jojo from stealing a valuable robot from the Townsville Academy of Science. Buttercup was thwarting a kaiju monster in the heart of downtown. Bubbles was flying along the coast trying to save a bus full of people that had been hijacked by the Gangreen Gang. Overall, a typical yet somewhat chaotic day for the girls.
This particular week was one of the most hectic in recent memory. There was a prison break the day before, and it seemed like every major criminal came out in full force. The girls had already stopped Sedusa from stealing valuable gemstones from the Townsville Museum, stopped Princess from blowing up the elementary school, told the Amoeba Boys they weren't going to waste their time stopping their evil scheme to walk on the grass, and stopped Fuzzy Lumpkins from kidnapping Ms. Haystack Festival.
Bubbles had probably done the least to help in these efforts, hard as she tried. As soon as she would even get to a crime scene one of her sisters had already saved the day somewhere else.
As she flew to the edge of town she checked her Nosebook profile on her phone. Of course, the first thing she saw was Buttercup standing over a dead monster and smiling for the camera. Bubbles sighed, put the phone in sleep mode, and shoved it back in her pocket so she could concentrate on where she was flying. Fortunately, she'd already found the runaway bus.
With everything to prove, Bubbles chased down the bus and was determined to rescue those poor innocent civilians from the treacherous Gangreen Gang. She didn't know why they even wanted to steal a bus, but she figured they were probably joyriding like the idiots they were.
They were already outside the Townsville city limits, turning curve after curve as they drove around a cliff that was being beaten by the ocean water surrounding it. Bubbles felt exhilaration as the wind caressed her skin and blew her pigtails straight back. She lived for this part, the chase, the point when she could just enjoy flying and feel good about saving people. Buttercup loved the fighting and Blossom loved the planning, but Bubbles just enjoyed the ride before the storm.
Bubbles was much faster than a bus, so she caught up to the stolen vehicle quickly. Her plan was simple, just pick up the bus and fly it to jail so the gang could be arrested. That plan was quickly derailed however when the back emergency doors opened, and she saw Snake, Grubber, and Big Billy holding civilians in their grasp.
Before Bubbles could even process what was happening Snake pushed his victim out of the moving bus, and Bubbles just barely caught the man in time before his body met the asphalt!
"Oh goodness, t-thank you for saving me!" The man stammered gratefully.
"You're welcome," Bubbles said quickly before placing him on the side of the road and flying away.
Bubbles had to be fast, because Grubber had just launched a little girl out of the bus! Bubbles quickly grabbed her and took her to safety, but when she got closer to the bus Big Billy threw out not one, but two citizens!
Bubbles caught both people before any harm was done, and then took off after the bus again. It would be easier if her sisters were there to help, but then Bubbles brushed that thought away. She didn't need her sisters. She could handle five hoodlums in one vehicle for Pete's sake!
The sky was clear, yet the wind felt like a storm was on the horizon. Bubbles felt herself panic when she saw the gang grab hold of more people to use as a distraction for her. She knew they were going to throw them out, yet she couldn't really do anything but let it happen and hope she could catch them. After all, if she stopped pursuing the gang then those people would be left at their mercy.
She sped up, hoping to get inside the bus before the gang tried to take another life. She wasn't quite quick enough though, and Snake pushed an old lady out of the bus.
Bubbles caught the old woman, but then she saw Grubber throw a service dog out of the bus! Bubbles flew to catch the dog without even dropping the old woman, and once she had both of them she placed them on the road as gently as she could. The dog licked her face and the woman thanked her, but she didn't have time to say anything in return. She had to stop that bus!
Bubbles went after the bus again even as it drove further up the cliff. She used her super vision to determine how many passengers were left, and to her relief the gang was in there by themselves. Yes! They had played every trump card and now Bubbles had them.
To stop them from going any further Bubbles used her heat vision to pop all four tires. Ace scrambled to correct the bus, not knowing why it was slowing down. Bubbles crossed her arms and smiled triumphantly at finally being able to stop a crime by herself for the first time in months. The social media pics would be awesome.
Her victory soon turned to shock however as she saw the bus wasn't stopping. Ace wasn't used to driving something that big, and adding driving on the rims to the mix just made the situation ten times worse. The rest of the gang jostled back and forth in the swerving bus as they struggled to hold onto something, and Bubbles bit her lip as she waited for them to stop.
Ace tried to make a turn at a sharp curve despite the bus being practically out of control. It was clear from the look on his face that he feared Bubbles and going back to prison more than the steep cliff he was driving on. He overcompensated however, and the bus fell into the ocean 50 feet below.
Bubbles didn't waste any time. She took a breath, and then she dove into the water to try to save the green hijackers.
Bubbles had trouble seeing where the bus landed in the water. She was a fairly decent swimmer, but she was much slower in water than she was in the air. She looked around the darkened ocean, but she couldn't find the downed vehicle.
She swam around for what felt like forever but was actually more like 45 seconds before she found the sinking bus. She swam as fast as she could to retrieve it, and then she dragged the whole thing back up to shore.
When Bubbles came up out of the water she breathed in and out deeply, and then she went to the wrecked pile of scrap metal to get the Gangreen Gang. The sky was turning grey on the horizon, indicating the storm was fast approaching. It made the mood feel more somber as Bubbles walked up to the soaked vehicle. When she looked inside the bus she realized to her horror that the back door had never been closed. The sudden water pressure had sucked the gang out into the ocean, and they were still down there.
Bubbles flew back into the water as quickly as she could to save them. She had to find those guys before they drowned! The water seemed even darker and murkier than it had before, and Bubbles could feel her heart beating in her chest and her lungs begging for air. She swam frantically in search of anyone alive, and it felt as if the cold water had turned from an ocean to a black pit of nothing.
Bubbles looked around in vain for the delinquents. When she turned around one last time in the water suddenly there was the face of a barracuda mere inches away from her!
...
"AHHH!" Bubbles screamed as she sprung up in her bed.
A dream. It had all been a nightmare, except not really. The barracuda part and the storm was just a nightmare to be fair, but Bubbles remembered how the rest of that incident happened. She had been 10 years old then, and that crash was the mission that haunted her memories.
"Bubbles?" The professor's worried voice came from the other side of her closed bedroom door, "Are you alright, sweetheart?"
"Yes, Professor," Bubbles assured him, "I just had the bus dream is all."
"Do you want me to make you some hot cocoa?" The professor asked in concern.
"No thank you, I'll be fine," Bubbles replied, "Thank you though."
The professor left, though she could tell he was leaving slowly just in case she changed her mind. She breathed in and out a few more times to calm her nerves. At least she had been asleep this time. There were times when the flashbacks would come when she was wide awake.
Bubbles Utonium was 20 years old now, and she hadn't fought crime since she was a preteen girl. Her sisters at first had tried to convince her to keep crime fighting with them, and she even saved the day a few more times after that fateful incident, but she just couldn't keep the images away…
…The image of the people in danger, of the sinking bus, and of the news on TV days later when the first bodies washed up on the shore. The Gangreen Gang had died after that failed bus hijacking. She wasn't fast enough, wasn't observant enough under the water, didn't plan out the rescue properly. It was her fault…five people died before they reached her current age, and it was all because of her.
Since that day crime had continued on as it always did. Mojo Jojo still plotted evil schemes from his observatory home, though due to age he implemented more battle robots rather than fight the girls himself.
Him would show his ugly red face every now and then, but he mostly kept a low profile. No one really knew why, and frankly everyone was afraid to ask.
The Rowdyruff Boys would sometimes show up and cause trouble. Well, mostly Brick and Boomer, since Butch no longer lived in Townsville. Yes, a lot of the old baddies had mostly stayed the same.
There were changes however. Fuzzy Lumpkins had gone straight and got a job as a lumberjack, of all things. There were several new crime families including the Smiths (run by the Powerpuff Girls' old neighbors) and the Saga Cartel. There were now ten Amoeba Boys, but they all had the same personality and were all still lousy criminals that were nicer than some regular citizens. Sedusa had married Major Man and moved to Splitsville, though many thought it was only because she was getting too old and wrinkled to use her best criminal assets.
Time kept pace with for those within Bubbles' age group as well, including her own sisters. The strangest shift was Princess Morebucks, who had been named CEO of her father's company after his premature death of a heart attack. That wasn't weird in itself, but now she had so much responsibility running the company that she had no time to plan villainy or annoy the Powerpuff Girls. It was as if she had never been evil at all, and now she was just another boring citizen.
While Princess was the oddest to Bubbles, she wasn't the one that affected her the most. No, that would be her sisters.
Blossom still lived in the Utonium home, but she was gone most of the day attending university in Citysburg to become a neurobiologist. Blossom still fought crime in Townsville, and in fact was the only one still doing so on a regular basis. Blossom had gone from saving the world before bedtime to fighting crime after dark.
Buttercup would help fight crime sometimes, but lately she had been busy. She and Butch became an item a couple years prior and now lived on Monster Island. Together they formed a cage match wrestling duo and frequently fought monsters that challenged them. It was a strange job, but Bubbles wasn't surprised those two violent adrenaline junkies enjoyed it.
As for Bubbles herself, well, life had been a struggle for her to say the least.
She looked at her day planner to see what the next week held in store for her. In a few days she would go to talk to Dr. Needo again. It seemed like he was the only one keeping her somewhat sane. Talking with someone other than her family helped Bubbles to get through each week, but her mind was still her worst enemy. Nine years was a long time, yet Bubbles still often felt trapped in her guilt-ridden past.
Bubbles barely managed to get through school since she had poor sleep habits and got bad grades. Once she was finally out of school for good she tried to find some part time work to save up for an apartment, but she could never keep it together long enough to hold steady employment.
So, there she was, at age 20, still living at home with no plan for her future. At age 12 Dr. Needo diagnosed her with PTSD, and while Bubbles didn't want to blame the condition for everything that went wrong in her life, she had to admit it didn't help matters. Aside from flashbacks she also had anxiety and intense mood swings. She didn't like to sleep, and she couldn't stand the sight of blue and white colored busses. That was the color of the bus they drove.
The best thing in Bubbles' life was her family and her strong social connections. She had friends, and she even stayed in touch with kids from her old schools. Robin had been her best friend since she was 5 years old, and she had known Mitch Michelson even longer. People still loved Bubbles, but there were times when she felt she couldn't love herself.
One thing that helped Bubbles to calm herself after a bad flashback was knitting. For some reason the repetitive task helped to steady her nerves. She loved to make amigurumi plushies, and her bedroom was decorated with the little cuties from floor to ceiling. She liked making octopus amigurumi the best because then Octi, her very first plush, would have lots of friends.
So, with this in mind, Bubbles reached for her pastel blue yarn to begin her new plush project, a baby whale. She also wanted to make the stomach pink so it would have baby shower colors. When Bubbles looked for the pink yarn however she couldn't find any.
"Aw, man," Bubbles said to herself, "I guess I'll have to start on my whale later. I need pink thread."
With this thought in mind, Bubbles grabbed her purse and shouted to the professor that she was flying to the store.
"Just be careful, Bubbles!" The professor shouted up the stairs.
Bubbles told him she loved him and took off through the open window; a streak of blue light trailing her as she zipped through the air.
Even now, even with everything that happened to her, Bubbles still loved the feeling of flying and being free. It was one thing she still had control over in her life, and the harshness of the wind made her forget whatever problems she faced in her day to day life.
Bubbles went to Sprawl-Mart to buy her yarn. She knew the specialty craft store would probably have better quality, but she didn't like to pay those high prices when she was spending the professor's money. That was something that always put a damper on these shopping trips. Even though she should be able to support herself she still relied on the professor, and she hated feeling like a burden on him.
After finding a decent yarn at a good price and also picking up a candy bar in the checkout lane, Bubbles was on her way. She had only been gone 30 minutes, but to someone who could travel at lightning speeds it felt like a long time to spend in a store by herself. When she was with friends she could spend all day shopping, but by herself it just felt kinda pointless. Oh well, at least it was a nice day for flying.
When Bubbles flew home she noticed a pink streak of light was landing parallel to her in the front yard, and she smiled at seeing Blossom show up for lunch.
"Hi, Blossom!" Bubbles greeted her excitedly, "I bought a Twix at the store. You want half?"
"Nah, I'm trying to watch what I eat," Blossom replied, "I don't have long since my next class is in 20 minutes, but I wanted to show the professor this diagram I drew of the brain. I'm trying to figure out if I mixed up the thalamus with the hypothalamus. I've been pretty spaced out lately cramming for the next exam. I feel like 50 percent of my diet is just coffee."
"I hear that," Bubbles nodded sympathetically, "You probably got it right though. You're smart, and you've worked really hard for this."
"Thanks," Blossom replied gratefully, "I'd better get a second opinion though."
The girls walked into the house together, but instead of the usual tranquil scene they were used to, they walked into a nightmare.
The house had been trashed! Piles of debris garnished broken furniture and mud-stained carpet. Bubbles had only been gone for a half hour. How could this have happened so quickly? Worse yet, where was the professor?
"Bubbles, check the basement. I'm going upstairs," Blossom ordered, being in her element taking charge of a crime scene.
Bubbles immediately flew downstairs to see if she could find the professor. Along the way she noted that the couch was missing, the TV had been smashed in, and several family photos on the wall had been yanked off and the frames smashed in. Whoever broke into their home had some angry energy going on, and that terrified Bubbles for the professor's sake.
When Bubbles flew downstairs she saw that the lab had been untouched and the professor was scribbling notes on the paper on his clipboard. Whew! Good. The professor was none the wiser and hadn't been hurt.
"Professor?" Bubbles called out worriedly, "Someone broke into our house while I was gone! Everything upstairs had been destroyed!"
"What?" Professor asked uncomprehendingly, "That makes no sense. Why, surely I would've heard something..."
The professor followed Bubbles upstairs, and was just as shocked as she had been to see the decimation of their home and possessions. The coffee table was little more than splinters, potted plants and dirt littered the carpet as pots had been broken, and the curtains were ripped off their rods.
Blossom came out of the kitchen and met up with the others.
"I checked upstairs, and nothing's been disturbed," Blossom informed them, "My guess is whoever came in wanted to do this quickly so they stuck to the main floor. I also checked the kitchen. The sink is smashed and leaking water, the cabinet doors were ripped off their hinges, and the fridge is missing! Missing! How long were you gone Bubbles? They had time to take the fridge and the couch!"
"I was only gone 30 minutes!" Bubbles shouted defensively.
"Let's just check for more clues," Blossom ordered, "We have to figure out who did this. Next time they could hurt the professor, or us."
Bubbles and the professor followed Blossom around the house. None of them wanted to be alone in case whatever super strong criminal did this decided to come back. They found nothing in the living room or bathroom indicating who did this. The attack was brutish and swift, and possibly done by more than one person.
When the trio made it into the kitchen everything seemed the same as before, but then Bubbles felt something drip from the ceiling onto her face, and when she wiped at it to see what it was her hand came away stained with sparkly gold paint. She looked up, and saw in gold and black spray paint the words…
YOU'RE NEXT
LOVE MR. BIG
"Blossom, look at that!" Bubbles pointed to the graffiti.
"Hm...That's some decent penmanship," Blossom observed.
"Is that important right now?" Bubbles asked with her hand on her hip.
"Yes, Bubbles. Handwriting can tell you a lot about a perpetrator," Blossom explained.
"Oh," Bubbles replied sheepishly, "So, um, what does it mean?"
"Mr. Big? Isn't that the guy from Sex & The City?" Professor asked in confusion.
"Not in this case," Blossom said, barely containing her laughter at the idea of the professor watching Sex & The City, "Mr. Big is the mysterious leader of the Saga Cartel. I've been helping the police track his goons down for months. We find the lower level members of the crime ring all the time, but we can never seem to catch the man behind the operation. Mr. Big is into your standard drug running and weapons dealing. He's barely a blip in Townsville compared to super villains like Mojo Jojo or Him."
"Well if he's just a drug lord then why is he attacking our house?" Bubbles asked in annoyance, "We're the Powerpuff Girls! I mean, you're still a superhero and everything! If he sent his goons here to harass us then they'd get their butts kicked. It's stupid to even try to defeat us. Well, to defeat you and Buttercup anyway."
"It's pretty obvious he's sending a message," Blossom reasoned, "It's not just that he attacked our house, but that he was able to attack our house. We're gonna have to be on the lookout for mobsters for a while. I'll go back to class today, but tomorrow I'm skipping out so that I can help you search for Mr. Big. In fact, we should probably call Buttercup too.
"Buttercup? But she'll just bring Butch!" Bubbles protested.
"It's alright if Butch comes over," Professor told her, "I admit he's not my favorite person in the world, but if he makes Buttercup happy then I'll do my best to get along with him."
"Besides, it's not like he can trash our house," Blossom added wryly, "Someone already did that."
Bubbles started feeling anxious again. Her home, her fortress of solitude, had been breached by criminals. The professor was lucky to be alive and unharmed. Blossom was expecting her to help with the investigation and Buttercup was probably going to come over and bring her loser boyfriend Butch. Bubbles felt like everything was spinning out of control, and she needed to knit something or she was going to go crazy!
Without saying a word, Bubbles flew up to her room and took out her crochet needles. She was just about to get started with her new pink thread when she noticed something wrong about the shelf above her bed. It took another second for it to dawn on Bubbles what was off about it…
"Oh no..." Bubbles whispered tearfully, but then in a louder voice screamed, "SOMEONE TOOK MY OCTI!"