CHAPTER EIGHT
Sailing on seas of eternity, with nothing to cause worry,
Among lands of peace does the joyful dreamer soar,
Until reality rears its head, and leaves the blissful fantasies dead,
Now awake, the dreamer's joys become no more...
*****
Up in the bedroom of the three sisters, Blossom and Buttercup were fortunate enough to fantasize about their greatest ambitions as they were exploring their personal worlds. The knowledgeable redhead stood surrounded by millions of cheering admirers in an elegant concert hall. She was accepting the greatest award that the red Powerpuff knew about: A prize from the Nobel committee for working towards the goal for world peace. The boastful brunette was having dreams of glory as well, but in a different fashion. She levitated in the blowing air with pride at a humongous martial-arts arena, proudly accepting a gold medal that adorned the green Powerpuff with the title "The Greatest Warrior on The Face of The Planet." She had just as many witnesses to her treasured event, if not more, as Blossom's private fantasy.
Both of the young optimists began their speeches…
"People of the world, It is with greatest pleasure that I accept this Nobel Prize from the council; But this never would have been possible had it not been for the great cooperation and support from all the relatives of my immediate family…"
"How're you all doing, peeps? I've worked my butt off from the day I was created to show you, the people, what makes a REAL warrior tick! Hoo-wah! But I'd never been able to do that had it not been for my greatest fans- my family!..."
"Stand up for us and the audience!" The two said in unison.
Looking to the area where they assumed their family sat, they both expected the glowing presence of their father and their sisters. Both expected that Bubbles would be slightly embarrassed. Both expected that the other would wear a look of disdain. Neither of them doubted that the professor would be drenched in tears upon witnessing such a milestone in his daughter's life. But instead of what the two dreamers had anticipated would take place, they both received an image that immediately caused them to have a serious, but momentary case of hyperventilation:
Bubbles and the professor were arguing. Loudly. In absolute gibberish. In front of the whole, entire audience!
Then, things got worse. A few members of the crowd started to giggle. The giggling grew into subtle chuckling. And to the dismay of both Powerpuffs, it gathered energy until the people unanimously decided to howl in a booming cackle at the most embarrassing family incident in the knowledge of the universe.
Utterly humiliated to the point where they felt as small as microbes, the two immediately pinched themselves to escape the horrifying nightmare of their shameless circle of relatives…
*****
The two sisters, now uncomfortably arisen from their slumber, found themselves in the silent, shadowed reserves of their bedroom. The bright-colored blankets were in shambles, twisted around into impossible knots. This left their legs vulnerable to the gentle blowing of the winds through the window cracks, since the traditional design of their nightgowns was not much for protection from the elements of nature. The feeling instigated a slow migration of goosebumps throughout their soft skins, and they responded by involuntarily shivering their bodies.
Sensing the now-dynamic presence of each other, the two young girls turned to see themselves encompassed in the weak glow of moonlight. The moment of surprise was evident by the contortions of their faces.
"You had a bad dream, too?" asked Blossom, breaking the awkward silence that had followed.
Buttercup was hesitant to reply, until a look of doubtfulness from her sister forced her into admittance: "Yeah, yeah- I did. What's it to ya?"
"It was really weird," Blossom said, turning away from her sister to look down at the front of the bed, "I was accepting this prize at a big convention, and it seemed like everything was going to be great; but when I called on you guys to come up to the stage, the professor and Bubbles were fighting with each other, while you weren't there at all. Then everyone started laughing…it was so…so humiliating."
"Are you trying to pull my leg, leader girl?" Buttercup interrupted.
Blossom sharply turned back to her sister. "Buttercup, I'm serious! Why would I make up some baloney like that?"
"Hey, don't get your pajamas in a bind," The brunette spurted out, attempting to avoid a conflict for once, "It's just…well, you see…er…um…"
"You had the same dream too?"
Buttercup nodded. "Yeah, it was freaky. I never had a dream like that. It felt…it felt so real. Oh, and you weren't there either, so I guess that makes us even."
The redhead let slip a soft chuckle. "You know, I'd thought that it would be Bubbles who would be having the nightmares tonight, but it seems that-"
Her face drooped down in disappointment. "Oh…I think I spoke too soon."
"Hey, she nearly got picked off by that butt-ugly Rowdyruff. Whadya' expect?" Commented Buttercup, as the two realized the spot in the center of their bed was devoid of their blonde sibling.
A moment of silence had followed before Blossom spoke up again: "You know, I'm not really in the mood to go to bed again. Why don't we join Bubbles, wherever she is?"
Buttercup placed her "hand" against her head, near the supposed position of one of her internal ears. "Hmmph. Whatever she's doing, she's being really quiet about it. I can't hear a thing!"
The sudden occurrence of a deafening explosion worked quickly to falsify that statement, as well as to rumble Blossom and Buttercup violently out of the bed. Upon slamming against the carpet floor, the two had immediately experienced a horrible insight that spiked their adrenaline to the maximum.
"The Rowdyruff is loose!" Their voices spoke as one.
Fueled by a powerful sense of imminent danger, the two young superheroes immediately plowed straight down through the floor, the shards of wood and the rags of pink fabric shooting towards the lower level like pieces of mutilating flak metal. In the few milliseconds that they could think, their minds were racing with dreadful, disturbing images: The Rowdyruff, smiling like a sadistic child, surrounded by the lifeless remains of their sister and their "father", waiting with eager anticipation to annihilate the rest of the household. He could be the talkative type, boasting how ridiculously easy it was to strangle their sister to her demise, watching her stare helplessly at her murderer with saturated, leaking eyes. Or maybe he blew up Blossom and Buttercup's loved ones, leaving not a single trace of their family, save for perhaps a random appendage to toss in their face like a discarded toy.
Upon reaching the main floor, however, they were greeted by nothing more except for the emptiness of their living room. At first, it seemed that there was no true menace, since most of the items were seemingly untouched. But two certain details showed a dramatically different situation: blood drops, tiny but in ample supply, littered around the carpet floor like graffiti, trailing their way towards a gaping hole that used to be the front door of their abode. The chill of the invading, suburban air did much to augment the threatening ambience.
"Ok, where is that rotten freak of nature!?" Buttercup said angrily. "He's gonna wish he was never born once I-!"
"Buttercup, look!" Blossom interrupted. She pointed towards the kitchen, where the weak light of the refrigerator shined over the collapsed form of a man in laboratory attire.
The two cried out their creator's name and hurriedly made their way to his side. They tried whatever means necessary to snap the professor back to life. After desperately yelling into his ear, Buttercup attempted to slap him awake. The professor received two red blemishes on his cheeks; but he made not the slightest movement to qualm the Puffs' fears. Blossom then attempted to get a supply of water to dump upon his head; but the closed valves ruthlessly tore down her plan.
"No, this can't be happening!" Buttercup cried, her voice intermingled with her bawling. "There must be some way we can bring the professor back! He can't leave us…not now, not now!"
Blossom, sitting down next to the professor, made no attempt to reply. She was concentrating all of her brainpower into this problem to top all problems, shoving away her emotions in a desperate attempt to come up with a solution. Buttercup, however, was infuriated when Blossom had supposedly ignored her words of plight.
"Aren't you listening to me?!" the brunette shouted, her face now inches away from her sister's, the emerald eyes sparking with raging fire.
"Please, Buttercup! Let me think!" Blossom pleaded, taken aback by the sudden anger of her sister.
"Think? There's no time to think! Bubbles is missing, The professor could be dying before us, and all you're doing is sitting on your bum! We need to do something now!"
"Ok, ok! Just stop yelling!" cried Blossom, coerced out of her stupor from the sudden pressure of the situation. "The only thing we can do now is to take the professor to the hospital. If he recovers-"
"He will come back! Don't you dare say anything else!" Buttercup roared.
"When he recovers," Blossom continued, trying her best to keep her composure stable, "He'll be able to tell us about what happened down here. And if we can't find Bubbles anywhere in the house, then the professor might know where she is."
"That's it!? That's all we can do!? We should be going out there and tracking down that pasty scumbag so we can put an end to this once and for all!"
"And where do you suppose we should look? Huh? Do you have the slightest clue where the Rowdyruff and our sister could be? We can't go out there searching aimlessly!"
Buttercup shoved her "hand" towards the long archipelago of crimson stains. "See that, Blossom? That's not cranberry juice! And I don't need to be a know-it-all to know whose blood that is!"
Blossom was unable to hold back her emotions any further. Streams of despair profusely rolled down her cheeks as she bellowed out her decisive words to her sister.
"You don't know that for a fact! As far as we know, it could belong to anybody! The only ones who can say for certain what happened here would be the forensic experts and the professor. Things are just going to be worse if we spend all night arguing. Now are you going to help me take him to the hospital or not?!"
The gleaming eyes, the shine of tears on flesh, and the choking of her sister's voice caused Buttercup's fury to diminish like a cube of sugar in a boiling cauldron. Up to this point, Blossom had seemed unnaturally cool, as if she was indifferent to the welfare of her fellow family members. But the brunette had finally realized that her sister was only trying to do her duty as the leader of a superhero team. It put her mind in a state of guilt, wondering why she ever doubted Blossom's intents.
But those feelings weren't enough to cool her concerns for her blonde sister.
"Ok, I'll help you take the professor," Buttercup responded, her voice weak, "But I'm going to go look for Bubbles as soon as he's at the hospital. Don't get in my way." The last sentence hinted an inkling of hostility.
Blossom sniffled. "I won't, Buttercup. Thank you."
The two young superheroes picked up the limp Professor by his shoulders and flew out of the newly made hole. Their glowing trails of pink and green gradually dissolved in the sea of stars above.
*****
Scout's Mission Log- Second Entry, Day One:
Urgh…as you can probably tell by the weariness and loss of enthusiasm in my voice, my mission has run into a few…snags. No, scratch that…the whole mission so far, to be quite frank, has been one gigantic, bleedin' screw-up! I don't even know where to start; All I need is a visit from the diabolical mastermind of hell itself to make me go stark-raving mad. Well, I hope you have a great deal of time on your hands, whoever happens to listen to this someday; this update is going to be a doozy.
It was only a few minutes after my previous entry that I was assailed by what I assumed to be one of the native populations. Since I was out in the open, I had to incapacitate it; else I would've had a hole blown through me. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that the attacker was actually one of my bleedin' own! Never have I been so shocked upon seeing my own kind, especially one so beau-er…Ahem! Well, I suppose I should describe her…let's see…blue eyes, blonde hair styled into pigtails…average weight, judging by her slender figure…appears to be in her late twenties…around my age…has warm, cream-colored skin that is impossibly gentle to the touch…tantalizing, dainty legs that*Cough-Cough-Gag-Hack-Gag* Blast it! Just once I'd like to keep my composure in the presence of a girl! Wait, did I just say that out loud? Crud. Now I've potentially exposed my personal, blasted flaw to an entire council of military personnel. I hope you're amused. Well, I might as well move on, instead of whining like a ninny…
I was uncertain, at first, for the reasons why the girl had attacked me…or even how she had managed to get to this rock in the first place… but her hysteria and the massive amounts of Estrox detected suggested she had a near-fatal overdose of the chemical in an attempt to wipe out the disease from her body, crippling her and reducing her mind to delirium and paranoia. It was truly a saddening sight, seeing her reduced to a blabbering wreck. Since I had no way of reasoning with her, I had no choice but to put her under. But before I could do so, the indigenous life launched a surprise attack on the two of us, leaving me out cold and taking the two of us into custody.
Don't worry, it gets even better. Upon awaking, I found myself to be in one of their security cells, or at least that's what I thought the room was until it revealed itself to be a virtual torture chamber. I was subjected to a mass offensive of simulated, gigantic behemoths, an experience that has nearly left me shell-shocked from being so close to tasting death. Fortunately, I was able to escape from the cell before I was overwhelmed.
While I was navigating my way out of the facility, I was lucky enough to stumble upon the survivor once again, and just in time as well, for the life was being choked out of her fragile body by one of the hostile natives itself! God, it is hard to believe that such…such malevolent creatures exist in our universe! I had immediately implemented the tranquilizer needle to quickly and quietly stop its murderous intents, but by the point the monster had fallen into a coma, the girl had already fainted as well. I hastily came to her side, strongly hoping that she had not fallen dead, but I was relieved when I was able to hear the faint beating of her heart. When I examined the girl for injuries, it was to my horror that her mouth was wired shut by a grotesque slime, forced into her mouth in order to hinder her capability to breathe. No wonder she had fainted; with the main channel blocked, our visibly non-existent noses barely provide enough oxygen to keep us stable.
But I knew I had no time to fix this, especially when I had wounds of my own in urgent need of attention. Carrying the unconscious girl in my arms, I at once made myself an exit route with the use of my natural abilities and flew away to safety as fast as my Estrox-fueled body could take me.
This brings us up to the present moment. I'm not sure whether the girl has recovered from the overdose or not, but I'd rather not deal with more headaches. The goop in her mouth appears to merely keep her unconscious, so I plan to let her rest for the night while the two of us take refuge in the planet's remote forestation. Just in case, however, I have activated the disc's restraints so that she can't go on a rampage. I don't blame her, though. I bet she's been through a lot the past few days. So have I.
Once morning rolls in, I plan to remove the substance so that she can speak to me. Hopefully, the side-effects of the overdose will have worn off by then, that way she can share with me the location of the Estrox needed for the success of the mission. Then I'll be able to take her away from this living nightmare, although chances are her life will never be the same. Sigh…Well, it didn't work well for me last time, but I'll say it anyway: Wish me (and the girl) luck. End recording.