Part Two: Losing Power

Chapter 10: Now What?

The next day was a strange one for the Utonium family. They all slept in that morning which wasn't normal, since Blossom and the Professor were both morning people and could easily be counted on to wake Bubbles and Buttercup up in the morning. Once they were up, the Professor decided to call in sick so he could continue working on finding a cure. He said he was coming close to a temporary solution at least- anything to buy them time. But it was hard for the girls to act like everything was fine and convince everyone that nothing was amiss. A lot of people didn't notice anything and if they did, they didn't say anything, the challenge was the close friends- especially Robyn.

"Hey Bubbles," Robyn sat down next to her sunny friend during lunch despite the snooty glares from Megan, Sara and Jennifer who were sitting with her.

"Hi," Bubbles sighed. For the first time since she could remember she would rather be eating lunch alone than surrounded by her closest friends. At the same time though she longed for the company of Mike, so she could rest her head on his chest and fall asleep cuddling in his arms. She wearily scanned the room with her bright blue eyes, hoping to spot him. Bubbles sighed, she spotted Buttercup sitting alone at a table in the corner looking miserable, after a moment Buttercup downed her drink and stormed out of the caff, avoiding any gaze that may come her way. Even though she did nothing wrong, Bubbles felt guilty for the mere reason that she had secretly wished to be normal.

Bubbles friends resumed their conversation but Bubbles, who wasn't really part of the conversation that day looked down at her plate. Robyn looked at Bubbles intently, "Everything OK?" she asked. "You were late for class this morning, and you seem kinda down."

"Yeah, I'm just… I don't know, tired," Bubbles sighed.

"You look tired," Robyn nodded, "Did you guys fight again last night? Were you up late because of it?"

Bubbles shook her head, "Yeah but that's not why I'm tired."

"Anything I can do?" Robyn asked, knowing something was wrong other than lack of sleep. She didn't want to press the matter too much, but wanted to help.

With a sigh Bubbles shrugged.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Robyn asked gently.

Bubbles looked at Megan, Sara and Jennifer who were deep in conversation about the shallow subject of clothes. She turned to Robyn and shook her head. Bubbles didn't know what she wanted to do. She wanted to at least tell Robyn what was really wrong, or Mike, but she knew she couldn't. The Professor was dead serious about them keeping quiet as long as possible. She understood why, but Robyn was more than trustworthy. But then there was the danger of someone listening.

She spotted Mike coming into the cafeteria and rose to her feet. She swayed slightly but recovered quickly, "I gotta go." she said rushing towards him.

Robyn watched Bubbles rush up to Mike and give him a huge hug and kiss. Robyn sighed and looked at her present company. She rolled her eyes and left.

Bubbles buried her face in Mike's shoulder.

"Sweetie what's wrong?" Mike asked, kissing her forehead. Bubbles looked as though she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

"Nothing," she said, "I just missed you."

"But it's only been an hour since I saw you last," Mike said.

"Yeah but that was in class so that doesn't count," Bubbles smiled, looking him in the eye. She snuggled close to him again. "I love you Mike." she began to cry.

"Come on, let's go somewhere private, where we can talk, OK?" Mike suggested.

"I don't want to talk, just please hold me," Bubbles begged as they left the cafeteria, if they were to talk about it, she would either be forced to lie to him, or reveal her secret which was out of the question at the moment. Mike nodded giving her a tight, but gentle squeeze.

Meanwhile Blossom sat in the library working on her biology assignment. As she worked however she debated just giving up. She was the top of the class, so her grades wouldn't suffer. What was the point in working so hard when all her dreams were going to go down the drain? If they were going to die soon, why bother? She should spend this time enjoying herself. She looked at the pink envelope which contained the letter from Greg. She had avoided him all day even though she wanted to talk to him so badly. She should be with him, his letter should've made her happy, it confirmed what she had hoped. But considering her present situation, it only confused her even more.

She took it out and read it again. "There's no one else I'd rather spend my life with. I love you, with all my heart." she read that line in his letter over and over. After dating for four- almost five years, neither of them could ever imagine being with anyone else. She could see herself marrying him, having kids and growing old with him, and somehow that line made her only realize that it was not meant to be. Unless the Professor found a cure, which didn't look likely, she would die and that dream could never be realized. Perhaps that was why she avoided him. She toyed with the idea of breaking up with him, to ease the pain he would feel when the inevitable happened. But she wanted to be with him, and if she were to die, she'd want to spend her remaining time on Earth surrounded by family and friends, especially Greg.

There was another reason to avoid him. How could she keep that a secret from him? How could she not tell him she was slowly being drained of something so crucial to her survival?

But then Blossom's optimistic side was telling her that there's still a chance. She didn't know how long she and her sisters had, for all she knew it could be years. And the Professor was a genius, he wouldn't stop until he found a cure. There was still hope. Her optimistic side was just as strong as her pessimistic side and Blossom shook her head, confused. She didn't know what to do.

Buttercup stormed out of the cafeteria and outside into the warm May sun. She took a seat on one of the bleachers and looked up into the blue sky. She longed for an afternoon flight around the city, but trying that would only kill her faster. On the other hand, she considered the thought that she may as well go out in style, doing what she loved. She always envisioned herself dying in the midst of battle- perhaps from some fatal wound that she finally succumbed to moments after she defeated her foe. If she could choose how she died, that would be it. So what was the big deal if she went for a quick flight, maybe even hunted down the bastard who poisoned them. She would rather die than quit fighting crime and lose her powers for good. At least if she did that she would be the first one to go and not have to endure the loss of her sisters.

The thought of her sisters knocked her back to her senses. She couldn't do that to them. As much as they couldn't stand each other, they needed each other, especially now. They would be devastated if she went on an unnecessary suicide mission and what if the Professor did find a cure? Besides, she had no idea who the culprit was. If she knew she would hunt them down, regardless the consequences. She knew herself well enough to know that she wouldn't be able to restrain herself if the perpetrator was discovered. They had after all committed two mortal crimes. One being that they threatened, and successfully harmed her and her sisters, the second being that they threatened and may have succeeded in taking away her prized possession: her powers. "They better hope that they're never discovered, at least not as long as I'm still alive and kicking butt," Buttercup muttered, "I'll kick their ass. Powers or no powers." She rose to her feet and sat back down at the onslaught of another dizzy spell. "Damn it!" she cursed, putting her hand to her forehead. Frustrated she tried again and stormed off, not knowing where to go, longing for the solace of the clouds where she could give a good scream that no one would hear.

Meanwhile a shadowy figure followed her outside and lurked under the bleachers. He had been watching her and her sisters for the past few days, watching their health very slowly but surely deteriorate, waiting until the time was right. He chuckled at her idle threat which was so typical for Buttercup; he himself felt her wrath many times. This time however he felt confident that it would be different now that the tables had turned. "Is that so Buttercup?" he mused, "You'll kick my ass, when you can hardly stand up without feeling the effects of the antidote X that I gave you? I can guarantee in your state, you will lose. All of you. I will win. I will be victorious. Revenge will be sweet."

Thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Pilfered Sympathy: Signal in the sky-o, that's when you know that you have to fly-o! LOL!

Kathryn: Hey, I want to give you a special thanks. I really did appreciate the detailed CC. Like I said, I understand squat about chemistry… and biology for that matter. I hope it's not too contrived and you can bear with me. Thanks again!

Hairy Gregory: I didn't even take chemistry and I didn't really consider about the biology aspect, but I think they sorta fit together anyway in the last chapter even though I failed to blatantly mention biology. Anyway, I'm relieved that you find it plausible/possible/probable/some other word starting with "p" ^_^. There's enough RRB resurrection fics, we don't need to clutter the fic-waves with PPG resurrection fics! (at least not in this story)

PinkPuff514: Glad you noticed the water thing. I don't know why exactly I put that in, except maybe to complicate things. Thanks for the review!

Serena: Thanks! ^_^

Dooly: For me, stories where the girls are grown up are a hit and miss. Sometimes it's necessary (ie dark themes, romances etc don't always work when they're 5). For this, there's no way it would work if I didn't age them because one of the primary themes in this is dealing with the shift from youth to adulthood, and going into the next phase of life. Anyway, I'm glad you decided to read this and like it!

FireStarter10388: Thanks for the review! Not much else to say.

Powerpuffed: Thanks for the review! PPG rock!