Chapter Three

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is Boris Wiltzer, your news anchor for the 11 O'clock news, interrupting your current programming with a breaking report, live from the south entrance of Townsville Park:

"Precisely five minutes before, a peaceful day in the local park was brought to a crushing halt when, out of nowhere, a giant ball of steel smashed into the ground just south of the lake. There have been no reports of injuries, but authorities are completely bewildered by this sudden occurrence. To quote one police officer: 'While I've seen some weird stuff in this town, this is absolutely ridiculous! I mean, come on! What kind of Looney launches an oversized pachinko pellet into the atmosphere? And on top of that, is there anyone who even makes oversized pachinko pellets?'

"Because of the uncertainty of the situation, the police have blocked off all entrances around the park perimeter, awaiting the arrival of the Powerpuff Girls so they can handle this as safely as possible. In the mean- Hold on! Something's happening to the ball…Don't just stand there, get this on the camera! Hmm…Yes, I think I see something…It appears to be collapsing into itself! It's going down…down…Ladies and Gentlemen, the steel ball has disappeared completely, but…there seems to be-

"SWEET MOTHER OF PEARL! 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a Rowdyruff in place of the metal ball! You heard me right, folks: A ROWDYRUFF! For the love of god, if you're not indoors, find shelter as fast as you possibly can! Townsville's in grave danger! Grave, grave DANGER! And if you do not know what a Rowdyruff is, believe me when I say that you are obviously not a Townsviller and that you have NO IDEA how monstrous a Rowdyruff can be!

"Powerpuff Girls, if you are seeing this, HELP US!!! BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!"

***

Pathie Zimbogous couldn't believe his rotten luck. He just couldn't. First, he nearly crashes into an artificial object in orbit. Then, he ends up crashing anyway, only into the gigantic planet instead of a teeny-tiny satellite. And if it wasn't insulting enough, it turns out that he crashed right into the middle of a full-blown metropolis, and that his presence has apparently scared the living daylights out of the population, which was blatantly obvious by the constant screaming, the rumble of thousands of stampeding feet, and the eventual silence of a seemingly-deserted ghost town.

"Oh well, at least this species isn't the warrior type. Then things would really turn sour." He muttered.

As he observed his surroundings, he couldn't help but admire the basic, functional designs of the skyscrapers surrounding the patch of earth he was standing on. It reminded him of the pictures in the history books back home: back when limited technology created the ever-constant duel between the ambitious architect and the nay-saying engineer. Many designs in that period of history were still considered impossible; but truly elegant architecture became a reality as scientists developed more versatile, synthetic alloys. 

Hmm, I wonder: What if the technology here is only decades behind the technology back home? That would mean...

The scout put the thought behind him, reminding himself of his mission, and brought his attention to his MPSD. "Computer, has the pod been completely de-molecularized?"

"The item in question is 100% processed and in storage."  It replied.

That's good, Pathie thought. Now I don't have to worry about the pod being raided.  He spoke another command: "Alright then, begin a scan of the area within a 10 mile radius for any traces of…um…that chemical-thingy we were supposed to look for."

"Request scan for chemical Estroxilium-46?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Like a glob of self-aware goop, the MPSD pulled away its black surface to reveal what looked like a circular, travel-size TFT computer screen. After a few bleeps and bloops, three white dots appeared in a jumbled cluster near the display's edge, along with a red dot in the dead center.

"There are three, highly concentrated masses of Estroxilium-46 point-five miles ahead."  The disc chimed.

The scout's face could barely hold in his excitement, as his face once again glowed with a smile. "Only a half mile? Great! And to think that this mission was doing terribly…At this rate, I should be off this rock in just a few hours!"

"It is recommended that you should conceal your presence before attempting to retrieve the objective." The disc warned.

"Conceal my presence? What for?" Pathie questioned. "These inhabitants were running like mice from a housecat! This cowardly species won't be doing anything, computer. They're just too frightened to."

He began to playfully stroll across the exposed soil, approaching his objective with complete and definite confidence in his success, humming a joyful tune to himself as the glow of the afternoon sun shimmered off his strands of silvery hair.

Things can't get any better than this! The scout thought.

***

A throbbing headache. Griminess. A drain of energy. Heavy eyes. The repulsive flavor of dirt. Aching bones. Messy hair. And the increasing pain of a bladder in need of evacuation. By themselves, these feelings are just mere annoyances to the average organic life form. But when you combine all of them at once, add in an emotionally fragile personality, and apply them to the body of a young, innocent girl, it creates a state of torment like few people have ever experienced.

As Bubbles slowly awoke from her coerced slumber, her mind was in a state of great confusion.

"Ugh...what…where…"

Her whole body felt like lead, making it nearly impossible to expose her pretty blue eyes to the sunlight, nevermind getting up from her sprawled position in the grass.

"Blossom? Buttercup?" She spoke weakly, her voice quivering from her uncomfortable status.

No answer.

"Where are you guys?"

Bubbles forced herself to open her eyes, the irritation swelling within as the brightness blinded her. At first, she could only make out the massive blue of the cloudless sky, its beauty doing little to console her. Then she started to see the familiar skyscrapers, their towering dominance piercing the air like javelins.

I'm…I'm in Townsville, Bubbles realized.

She dragged her arm across the ground, preparing to wipe the earth away from her face. As she did so, she inadvertently scooped up the soil that was already covering her body from her head to her toes. The girl felt the grimy, soft substance on her flesh, and quickly made another realization.

I'm in the middle of the park, Bubbles thought. But why am I here? Where are my sisters? What was I doing? And why do I hurt so much?

Then, it hit her like a sledgehammer to a watermelon: I was playing catch in the park today! I had caught one of Buttercup's fastballs but she threw it too hard so my glove caught on fire and I had to jump in the lake! And then I had a fight with her when she called me a crybaby, I know I'm not a crybaby! And then…

Her thoughts were brought to a halt when she suddenly picked up the soft sound of footsteps. They were soft, rhythmic footsteps, making a slight squish in the ground, slowly and slowly increasing in amplitude.

Someone's coming. Coming to me! But who? Is it Blossom? Buttercup? The Professor?

The blue Powerpuff shifted her weight from side to side, attempting to get a view of the incoming person, since she was still too weak to use her neck. A couple of jostles later, her momentum grew too strong, and the poor girl rolled right onto her stomach, her face implanted into the dirt. Spitting out the sudden invasion of topsoil in her mouth, she lifted her head upwards with all the strength see could muster…

…and froze as if she had looked into the eyes of Medusa herself.

Oh, NO! It's…It's…It's a ROWDYRUFF! She cried in her mind. So that's what that ball was! It was a sneak attack! He's gonna try to destroy us, like those other ruffs! What am I gonna do?! I can't fight him by myself! Oh no, oh no, oh no!!

Her mind in full panic, she tried desperately to locate her sisters, moving only her eyes out of fear of detection.

Come on, you guys! Where are you?!

After more than a minute of fruitless scanning, Bubbles' fright of the freakish Rowdyruff spiked like the static bolts of a Van De Graf generator. The girl was nothing more than a helpless prey, weak and sickly, watching in horror as the vicious, sadistic predator slowly came closer and closer, its evil grin and childish strut prominently displayed.

Her emotions suddenly became a mish-mash of intense angers: Anger at her sisters, for not being there to support her. Anger at the Rowdyruff, who was responsible for her pain. And anger at herself, for acting like a coward and a weakling.

I may be too weak to fight, Bubbles thought, but I still have one thing that can protect the city!

She narrowed her blue eyes to a squint, only able to see a fraction of her surroundings. She concentrated her fear, her anger, and her frustrations into them, developing a tremendous cache of energy within. Her vision concentrated upon her source of despair.

And then she fired.