In the constant turmoil of everyday life, there comes a time when one must confront the unthinkable. Just what the unthinkable is depends on the person. For a girl on the dating scene, it could be waking up to a pimple the size of a chick pea. For businessmen, it could be losing their fortunes to bankruptcy (as well as being caught trying to scavenge whatever scrap piles of moolah they can get their rotten hands on.) But these examples do not hold justice to the one "unthinkable" event that, although occurring everyday, is never conceivable by the average person: The permanent loss of family.
Blossom, the red-headed Powerpuff girl, has been struggling with this fact ever since she awoke from her cruel nightmare. She did not know if she had anyone left. The professor? A lifeless vegetable on a hospital bed. Buttercup? Charged into the midnight abyss and hasn't returned since. And Bubbles? No…she couldn't think about Bubbles. The mere thought of the atrocious Rowdyruff taking her life away would reduce Blossom to a sobbing, shivering mass of flesh.
Still dressed in her cotton nightgown, the girl had toured her house one last time, observing the remains of last night's incident. Gaping holes, blood stains, wood splinters…It would take a lifetime of labor to repair it all. Not that she was going to need the house in the near-future: She had other plans.
Blossom made her way back to the lab, quietly searching the area for a particular item she needed. Fortunately, most of the objects in that room seemed untouched (save for the simulator, of course), so it took little time for the redhead to find the needed material:
There, sitting inconspicuously upon the table, was a beaker of Antidote X.
Although the substance appeared similar to that of lemonade, Blossom knew that drinking it would yield a nasty surprise: It would nullify all the power of the chemical X in her body, reducing her to the state of an ordinary, harmless little girl.
An ordinary, harmless, mortal little girl.
Of course, she wasn't going to do that quite yet: Despite all that has been lost, there was still one last course of action to fulfill before traversing to the "other side" in peace.
It's a simple plan, thought Blossom, One: Find and confront the Rowdyruff. Two: Provoke him into attacking first. Three: Use the opportunity to inject this chemical into him. And four: Make him pay.
And as for the second phase…I'll have to write a note explaining myself. I know what they would say: "Why not start anew? Why not grow up with a new family?" They won't understand.
So enveloped was Blossom in her desired course of action that the calling of her name almost went unheard.
What? Someone's calling for me? She suddenly perked up. It could be Buttercup!
At once she zoomed out of the lab and into the open, hoping she'd be greeted by a familiar face with the emerald eyes and the brunette hair…
…and at once sank back down to depression again.
"Oh…Hi, Robin."
Robin, a young, long-haired, blue-eyed casual kindergartener, happened to be the Puffs' playmate from next door. A reasonable appearance in casual attire suggested she had been up for some time. The expression of her face asked the obvious question.
Blossom quickly spun her yarn, using the same thread spun in the hospital: "It's not as bad as it looks. Honest! The professor had a little accident with one of his inventions and my sisters and I took him to the hospital. He should be fine. That's why I look a bit scruffy today."
The neighbor did not respond: Instead, her blue eyes continued to gaze into Blossom's psyche.
Why isn't she saying anything? Blossom asked herself, as beads of sweat rolled down the side of her head. Do I look THAT terrible? Maybe she's on to me. No…how could she? There's no way she'd know. She'd be asleep. Unless…
What if she DID see? What if she told someone? It could be on the news already! The city could be in a panic right now!
But…She might have seen it, but not have told anyone. Yet. That means I'll have to be sure she stays quiet. But how? …No! What am I thinking? Not like that!
But she might not understand why it has to be kept secret. She might not understand how vulnerable I'd be. And then she'd leave me with no choice…No! I'm not going to throw away everything I've lived for! But what else can I do!?
The eyes darted back and forth and the veins appeared on the forehead as the immense stress began to devour Blossom's mind. The color slowly drained away from her body as what was once a proud, confident, unstoppable young superhero began to morph into an isolated, pathetic shell. Then, at that moment in time, everything froze when the following words of innocence flowed from Robin's lips:
"Why aren't you with your sisters?"
Blossom's heart, consumed in revenge and finality, experienced an epiphany of hope, and instantly melted away the brooding intentions, leaving behind the sharp, energetic thumps of unrivaled ecstasy.
"What!?"
"They came over a few hours ago. Why aren't you-"
Robin did not have the chance to finish that statement, for Blossom burst into the house next door, not caring that the front door was completely torn from its hinges. There was no stopping her: the ounce of hope usurped from her neighbor's innocent statement was like a steroid flowing through the veins. She flew through the living room, the kitchen, the dining room, up the stairs, into the bathrooms, everywhere, leaving behind a trail of pink energy and wanton destruction.
Until…
Blossom stopped, and saw the subliminal sight: Two scruffy children, in torn nightgowns, sleeping like the cherubs of the heavenly sky while holding one another in a sisterly embrace.
She collapsed upon her knees and finally let loose the tears of unbridled joy.
*******
"So much…information…my head hurts!"
"For cryin' out loud: it is NOT that complex."
"You try growing up on pure survival and see how much YOU understand!"
Pathie Zimbogous, having just made a potential ally, has been gritting his teeth for the past hour, along with the occasional pulling of the grayish hair rooted in his noggin. The said companion, Bullet, had no way of easily understanding the scout's predicament. In retrospect, it is to be expected: How often does one come across a forest creature with a highly advanced knowledge of science and politics, never mind of an extra-terrestrial world? It was as if a preschooler received a book of Algebra and had expectations to calculate the coordinates of a parabola!
"Ok, let's go over it again, for the fifth bleedin' time," Pathie spoke, his irritation barely hidden, "Where do I come from?"
"From a planet?"
"Yes, but which one?"
"Er…not this one?"
"Right! And what's happening on my planet now?"
"Um…your 'malooky' people are sick?"
Pathie slapped his snow-white forehead. "Bullet, the name is 'Malukian', not Malooky!"
"Well, excuse ME! I've only been speaking this mumbo-jumbo since I woke up! Go easy on me!"
"Oy vey…Ok, Bullet: Do you know HOW my people are sick?"
"Give me a moment…um…the sickness eats malukians' 'Estrox' away, leaving them as weak as a twig."
"Right…and do you know why Estrox is important?"
"It gives Malukians their special powers and resistance from disease?"
"Correct! Now we're getting somewhere. So you understand why I'm here, then?"
Bullet's furry expression morphed like an amoeba in every which way, until it rested into a look of embarrassment.
Pathie held his head in shame. "Ugh. Bullet, I'm here so that I can get some Estrox to cure my people at home before we all become a statistic in the history books!"
"Alright, already! I get it! I get it!" Bullet said repeatedly.
"Now, let's go over how you can speak my language," the albino scout stated.
The squirrel was a bit slow to reply. "Um…that floppy thingie, it put some weird dots in my ears and throat, right? And they do something called 'converting?'"
"Correct! See, I told you it wasn't that complex," Pathie said reassuringly.
"But Pathie, there's still some things that make no sense!"
"Oh? Such as?"
"Why do you want MY help? I'm just a forest creature. Surely you'd find someone more helpful than me!"
Pathie frowned. "Believe me, Bullet, for the first few minutes I've been on this rock-"
"You mean the rock over there?" Bullet questioned.
"I was referring to the planet, Bullet."
"The planet's one humongous rock?"
Pathie grumbled. "Please, let me finish. Yesterday, I was certain that I could accomplish my mission without assistance. But just minutes after I got off my mode of transportation, I soon came to realize that this could be the most hostile of planets in existence, not because of the indigenous life, but because of the presence of…survivors." The last word was spoken with a slight sense of anger.
"Survivors?" Bullet questioned with curiousity.
"So far, I've only seen one, but I'm sure there will be others. They're malukians like myself, except they decided to flee from home to escape the sickness. They're all insane, Bullet: driven mad by the lost of their civilization, and terrified of the thought of having to hide from ignorant savages for all time. I'm sure you've seen them hiding in your forest."
Bullet pondered over this fact. Had she seen other malukians lately? Oh, wait…yes, she has…
"You're telling me that Bubbles is actually a looney alien!?" The super squirrel exclaimed.
Pathie jumped from the sudden outburst. "Now, just hang on a minute! Who in blazes is 'Bubbles?'"
Poor bullet, once again overwhelmed with shock, promptly fainted before the albino scout with spirals in her eyes. Pathie, rolling his own eyes at the squirrel's sensitivity, proceeded to shake the forest creature out of her stupor.
"Snap out of it, Bullet! What's all this about? Who are you talking about'?"
Bullet, startled out of her coma, took in a few deep breaths before she muttered: "The Powerpuff girls."
The first thing that ran through Pathie's mind was how amazingly ridiculous that name sounded.
"The Powerpuff girls?" He spoke again, unable to believe someone would adapt such a silly name for themselves.
"Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup," Bullet continued, "They're guardians of the human habitat. They go to a child's school. They live with a man who wears white. And except for the skin and hair, they look just like YOU!"
The arms of Pathie Zimbogous fell down to his sides, the jaw hanging low as if immobilized by an aesthetic. The immense panic of the blonde girl, the streaks of light that attacked him, the native creature he incapacitated that wore cloths of bright white…
"They weren't insane, after all."
"Huh?"
"Bullet, those three girls aren't human children. They are adult malukians just like me. They have somehow formed themselves a façade, pretending to be young members of the indigenous species. The man in white is who provides them shelter. Their position as 'defenders,' as you put it, is probably what gains them acceptance from this planet's civilization in exchange for their unique appearance.
"When I crash-landed in the human city, the whole populace saw me as a threat. Had those girls not acted against me, their safety here would've been compromised. That means these girls have already given up on their home. We will get no support from them."
Bullet wasn't going to buy that. "C'mon, Pathie! I know these girls personally. They're really nice folks!"
"They've turned their back on their own race, Bullet. If I approach them, they would only use me to cement their cozy lifestyle, most likely by killing me."
Bullet did not know what to say.
"Bullet, you are the only one who can help me now. I know this because of the Estrox that flows through you. You're the only one who can tell me where you got it."
At this thought, Bullet cringed. "Um, Pathie? I don't mean to ruin your day, but…I got my powers from the Powerpuffs."
"What!?"
"Well, you see, I was hurt real bad one day, but then Bubbles had taken me into their house. When I woke up, I had superpowers!"
Pathie's muscles tensed greatly. "So, the only way to get the Estrox is by going into the Lion's den…that's just terrific! Just plain effin' TERRIFIC!"
Pathie punched a nearby tree in a fit of rage, violently blowing out a crude hole through the trunk. Bullet recoiled in fright.
"Pathie, go easy! It's not that bad! Can't you just fly in and out before anyone can react? Humans are slow, you know."
"Humans, Yes. Malukians, definitely not," the scout snapped, pulling out his stump from the mortal wound inflicted onto the tree. "Those damned survivors would hunt me down easily, especially since it's three against one. And I don't want you to get needlessly hurt," Pathie quickly added, before Bullet could point out that the numbers were three against two.
"The only option left for us would be stealth," He concluded.
"Don't you have that cloak thingy for that?" Bullet questioned.
"It's not perfect. It does its job only if I'm completely still. With the amount of ground we have to travel, someone's bound to raise the alarm."
"Then what can we do?"
Pathie stared solemnly into Bullet's eyes. "We will need a disguise…"