AUTHOR'S NOTE: At last, the final chapter. It was about time I gave this fiction closure.

This ending may or may not be everyone's cup of tea. Whether or not that is, please let me know about it. This story deserves a good ending, after all. If I must improve upon it, I shall.

CHAPTER 26

"Hello, fair Townsvillers. This is Channel 6 News at Eleven, and I am your host, Boris Wiltzer.

"Townsville got by on the skin of its teeth today in one of the closest calls the city has ever endured. A killer robot of unknown origin flew into town this afternoon, laying waste to whatever it touched with frightening efficiency. And if that wasn't bad enough for the town, the albino Rowdyruff, assumed to have been subdued, returned once again to terrorize the citizens of Townsville, as well as the Powerpuff Girls themselves. As the pre-recorded footage shows, our local heroes endured quite a struggle, even with the support their woodland companion, Bullet, provided.

"In the end, however, the Powerpuff Girls were able to save the day. Supposedly in thanks to Professor Utonium's technical know-how, they made use of a massive, highly concentrated laser beam charged with the unique energy of an Electro-Magnetic Pulse, or EMP. One direct blast at the killer robot melted its protective shielding, overloaded its circuits, and ruptured its power core, causing the abomination of science to explode, thereby ceasing its function.

"The albino Rowdyruff, inexplicably combating the robot in a beserker rage when the laser beam was unleashed, had no time to escape the blast radius.

"His body is now being kept under Professor Utonium's custody. According to the scientist, it is uncertain whether the Rowdyruff is comatose or altogether dead, for reasons the professor declined to discuss. Either way, the body will be destroyed by tomorrow morning, ensuring that the Rowdyruff, whoever he is, will never bring harm to the town again.

"In other news…"

It was raining. The dark, black sky of night weeped wherever its tears could go. The droplets fell and tapped curiously on windows, seeking shelter but given none. All of this was filtered out from the deep depths of the professor's basement laboratory, replaced by the hum of fluorescent lights.

"Sigh…"

It had taken forever for the house to be repaired, for every room to be cleaned, for any scant reminder of the Rowdyruff's-

"No, no. I have to stop calling him that. It's not fair for him to be categorized with those monsters, at least for Bubbles' sake."

Professor Utonium stood next to a small, airtight chamber, located in a remote corner of the lab. Inside that chamber was the body of Pathie- at least, that's what Bubbles called it- lifeless, visible only by a circular window on the head of the chamber. Looking through the plexiglass, the professor was thankful that the eyes of it were closed. The last time he saw them, they were so bloodshot they looked demonic. Still, the expression on its face was anything but peaceful.

"It looks…so sad."

The professor still had trouble grasping everything. It was all so simple when it was black and white- Pathie, the bad guy, the Powerpuffs, good guys. It was still that way when he was shaken from his sleep on the roadside, waking to see Blossom and Buttercup wrapped in blood-soaked bandages. But after that, the lines of good and bad were irreversibly twisted, transformed into a sea of grays.

Of course, the professor knew that the robot's programming had flaws, and at once felt absolutely horrible when he learned that the wounds the brunette and the redhead bore were dealt by his machination. But it was shocking to hear that Pathie was the one responsible for resuscitating them. Even more shocking was learning that it was sheltering Bubbles from the wrath of that same mechanical monstrosity. It was the same person that threatened the blonde with a needle, wasn't it? The same person that tranquilized the professor and kidnapped the sweet little girl? The same person that destroyed the professor's holographic training room in a frightening, bestial rage? All this time it seemed nothing more than a heartless, sadistic destroyer…why the sudden turnaround?

The professor had no time to speculate on all this, however. The robot had to be dealt with, or else the town's demise would be certain. But all the professor could do was fish out the EMP emitter from his pocket, a device he meant to install inside the robot as a failsafe, direct the two girls on how to activate it, and hope for the best.

But how the hell did they convert that little circuitboard into a laser beam?!

And why, when Blossom and Buttercup flew him to their semi-demolished house, did they find Bubbles, dressed in a black bodysuit, weeping over the ravaged body of the very person that had threatened her life for all of yesterday?! He can still remember Bubbles' tear-stricken words, as she was grasping the albino for a faint shimmer of life:

"I…I didn't mean to…I was aiming for the robot! I DIDN'T WANT TO HURT HIM! Professor, he's not dead, is he? Can you wake him up? He's just knocked out, right? PLEASE, TELL ME HE'S NOT DEAD! I DON'T WANNA BE A MURDERER!"

The professor tried to ask his little girls…but based on the answers he got, he doubted that he'll ever figure it all out. All he could understand was that there was no understanding. Pathie's motives were too complicated to decipher, except for that overall, he did not intend harm.

But it was too late now to settle these misunderstandings. All he could do for now was preserve the body, ensuring Bubbles that he would try to find a way to revive Pathie, while at the same time ensuring the local media that the albino was dead as a doornail. He hated these lies, but what could he do? Their house would've been burned to the ground by a raging mob, convinced that the Utoniums intended to reap doom upon them all, if they knew that Bubbles desired life for her mortal enemy (as far as they could tell.) But could Bubbles cope with the facts? If she, somehow, was able to create that laser beam, then she was the one responsible for Pathie's demise. Grown men have killed themselves in the face of such guilt…would Bubbles give up on life, as well? And yet, even now the body was still burning with the energy of Chemical X, even though all other vital functions had ceased. Was he not truly dead, then? Or was the energy merely part of the remains?

"Sigh…I only hope that Bubbles will be able to carry on. I can't stand to have her so…traumatized. Just one last thing to do…"

Reaching into his pocket, the professor produced a peculiar item. It was flat, circular, and soft to the touch. Bubbles made the request that this…thing…whatever it was, would be left with the body, out of respect, so that'd it be just the way he remembered it when he comes around (sigh...) Apparently, it belonged to the albino in some fashion or another. To the professor, it seemed nothing more than a common toy…but why deny his little girl such a simple request?

He placed the item on top of the small window of the chamber, covering the sad countenance of the albino. "I'm going to have to cover this part of the lab…seeing this chamber every day is going to creep me out. But for now…I need some sleep." The professor muttered to himself.

The professor turned away from the small chamber. Weighed down by the events of that day, he trudged upwards from the laboratory, away from the humming lights and sterilized linoleum, to enter the meager comfort of his humble suburban home, covered by darkness and the ambience of twilight rain. He worked his way, step by step, to the second floor, seeking the entrance of his bedroom in the night. However, when he reached the head of the stairway, he saw the silhouette of a pig-tailed girl in a nightgown sitting against the wall of the corridor. Upon seeing the professor, the silhouette at once spoke up, revealing a voice of tender, youthful femininity.

"…Professor?"

"Bubbles? It's awfully late, dear. You should go to bed with your sisters and Robin," the professor said, speaking in his soothing, fatherly tone. He saw that Bubbles sat dressed in her blue nightgown, with her legs against her chest, arms wrapped around the shins. Her expression was as sad as the corpse in the chamber, stained by tears.

"I can't sleep."

"Oh…well, you really should try. A young girl like you needs her sleep."

"I don't want to," Bubbles replied, burying her head in her knees, "I'll just have nightmares."

The professor sighed. He lowered himself to Bubbles' level, sitting down in the dark hallway, offering paternal comfort with the beckoning of his hand. The little girl accepted, and shifted to lie upon the professor, listening to the breathing of his chest and the soft beating of his heart as his arms wrapped around her.

"Bubbles…I know that this isn't easy for you. You feel responsible for what happened, even though it was an accident," The professor consoled, stroking Bubbles' golden hair, "I don't think I'll ever fully understand him, but I know now that he didn't mean to hurt us."

"He was so sad, professor…no one loved him," Bubbles lamented.

"Life can be like that, Bubbles. Some days we prosper, other days we suffer. Pathie, I guess, was one who suffered most."

"You'll find a way to bring him back, right professor?" Bubbles asked, pleading to the professor through her eyes.

The professor hesitated. "I'll try my best, dear."

"Professor? Can I go to bed with you?"

"Yes, Bubbles, you can."

The professor rose to his feet. Carrying the young blonde in his arms, he made his way to his bedroom, where he would provide his daughter comfort however he can, to ward off the demons haunting her dreams.

It had been waiting all day for this moment to come. For the longest time, it had been playing dead, as it was exchanged from one indigenous life-form's hands to another's. It had to, after the near-liability that occurred when it converted that primitive EMP emitter into a more useful weapon, only to have the robot explode when the scout was at point-blank range from it. There was a plus side to the major botch, though. The Malukian was mostly dead, kept alive only by the overdose of Estrox-46 still burning in his veins, but had he not been caught in that blast radius, ceasing all his bodily functions, the dramatic overcharge of energy would've killed him completely . With the inhabitants of the area now dormant, the MPSD could finally revive him without an audience. Maybe now that he's gone through his beserker rage, the scout could actually get back to the task at hand…they've wasted too much time as is.

Rotate, rotate, rotate…cut, cut, cut…well, getting the glass off was easy enough. But this hole's barely large enough to fit through…the chamber itself would have to be cut in half the long way in order for Pathie to get out, yet performing that cut right now would eviscerate the guy in the process. That wouldn't be good for his planet now, would it? The MPSD figured that it'd be better off reviving Pathie first, and set off to do so.

The disc-like device clamped itself upon the left forearm of the scout. At once it detected the volatile estrox-46 flowing through his body, now the only barrier between life and death. The MPSD would have to act quickly. Once the estrox-46 is siphoned out of his system, there would be little time to jumpstart the Malukian.

At once the MPSD began sucking the substance out of Pathie, much like a rubber barnacle. Seventy percent…forty percent…ten…it's gone! Now, for the revival!

The MPSD flopped itself over upon the chest of the Malukian. Expanding itself to cover his entire chest, the MPSD began to wind up with the charge of old-fashioned electricity. The winding sound grew in pitch and volume until the maximum charge was reach. And then…

ZAP! Pathie snapped back to life via the wonderful sensation of a full-body electrocution.

At once the MPSD leapt upon Pathie's mouth, cutting off his air so that he could not scream like a sissy and disturb the sleep of half of the suburb. This, of course, made the newly revived scout panic greatly, especially with the sudden sensation of claustrophobia that inexplicably drove him to tear a hole out of his once-airtight chamber with his bare hands. He stumbled out of that chamber and plopped most uncomfortably upon the hard, cold floor of the lab, where he struggled to pry his insane tool off his mouth, all the while making several muffled cries of protest.

"Scout Zimbogous, sir, it is wise for you to act more quietly," The MPSD chimed calmly.

"MMMMH!?" Pathie inquired, pulling harder as he kneeled to the ground on both knees.

"Everyone thinks you are dead. The artificial Malukian had the indigenous lifeform in the white coat preserve your body for future revival. Now all of them are currently in slumber. It is imperative that we take this opportunity to exit inconspicuously, or we may find leaving this planet to be very difficult. We are already lucky that your tearing of that chamber cannot be heard due to their slumber, so it is best not to take any more unnecessary risks."

Pathie stopped struggling, taken aback by what he just learned. Sensing the calm, the MPSD removed itself from Pathie's mouth, allowing him to breathe easy again. It reattached itself upon his forearm, always serving its duty to the scout.

"They think…I'm dead? What happened out there, computer? What knocked me out? It's all…so blurry to me," Pathie asked, as he sat down Indian-style to gather his bearings.

"While you were fighting with your overdose against the machine, I had escorted the blonde away from danger. We saw that you were losing the battle, and she was quite distressed about it. You had put me on quite a handicap, scout Zimbogous. Because she had no experience with my usage, I couldn't trust her with the use of particle-tech melee weaponry, for she might as well have harmed herself. She tried laser vision, but it had no effect, and when she tried to help unarmed you literally fought her away. That overdose nearly drove you mad."

"I do remember that part," Pathie said grimly, sighing, "But what was that white light I saw?"

"That, scout Zimbogous, was a high-power laser beam infused with an EMP charge, created by a one-shot weapon formed from merging the MPSD's particle tech with the primitive circuit board of an EMP emitter. The other two artificial Malukians had brought it to the battle in a desperate bid for victory, but the particle-tech's adapting properties radically increased our chances of success. However, since I am not programmed for autonomous combat, I had the blonde take control of the weapon and directed her to fire it. Aiming was easy for her, since the weapon relied on her own laser vision to work; but to put it simply, the makeshift gun worked a little TOO well. We expected the robot to short-circuit and become lifeless metal…we didn't expect the robot to explode. You received the full blunt of the explosion. Were it not for the overdose, you would've died instantly."

Pathie buried his face in his hands. "Oh god…Bubbles must think she killed me…that's the worst guilt a youth could have." He looked to his device. "Then again, wouldn't she be happy that I'm dead?"

"That would be a negative," The MPSD chimed, "I told you earlier she wanted you preserved so you could be revived in the future. None of them understood the capabilities the MPSD possesses…but if they did, they would've cut me open to study me. I had to play dead in order to dilute their interest in the device, or else they would never have left me alone so I could bring you back.

"We're wasting time here, Pathie. We have what we came for. Our homeworld awaits us. We no longer have any obstacles to prevent us from completing the mission, so it is imperative that we leave as soon as possible. Let's go."

Pathie slowly rose to his feet. He started to walk, but then he stopped himself. "No, computer…I can't leave this planet just yet."

"What? Why not? This isn't about the blonde, is it?"

"It's not like that, computer…not anymore. It's horribly unfair to me, knowing now that she is, in fact, a child…I honestly thought I could've had a chance with her…but, if anything, she's shown me that I have issues that I had never confronted, until I met her. It's something I should thank her for, at least. Also…I just wish we could actually understand each other, just for once. She's as enigmatic to me as I am to her. And I'm just supposed to leave it dangling by disappearing from her life without so much as a goodbye or a thank-you? She would HATE me for it. I care too much for her welfare to let that happen."

"You and Bubbles come from drastically different worlds. Your mingling with her proves they wouldn't be compatible in a matter of a few days. She doesn't even understand why you are here…you're an unexpected wildcard in her life. You are better off just letting her go.

Pathie grumbled. "I figured you'd say that, computer. Still, I have to tie loose ends somehow…I'd feel guilty for life if I don't."

The MPSD was losing patience. "Try to be reasonable, Pathie. In order for her to understand you, and you her, you'd have to study each other's homeworld for years upon years. We are talking literally hundreds of different languages, cultures, philosophies, technologies, et cetera. You don't have the time to learn and teach all this! Our homeworld is on the brink of extinction!"

For a slight moment, Pathie's face bore the look of despair…until it twisted upwards into a sly grin. "Who said anything about staying? I know something that can learn everything about a planet in a matter of hours, and it just happens to be resting upon my forearm."

"What?! Pathie, it is not our right! You're not an ambassador!"

"Of course not. I'm a scout. My main mission, as the formal doctrine states, is to gather information on new worlds. And since the Malukian knowledge of this planet is scant, I think the World Library would appreciate the new data…once I'm done with it, of course. And besides, it's not like we wouldn't give something of equal value in return…"

The sun shone brilliantly through the windows of the Utonium house, drying the earth with the luminescence. The light reached into the eyes of the inhabitants, disturbing their slumber. Blossom was the first to embrace the waking world, lifting herself groggily out of her bed.

As she gathered her bearings, she looked around her bedroom. Buttercup, grumbling for more sleep, laid on the far side of the bed, burying her head beneath her pillow. Robin slept peacefully on the floor, wrapped in the comfort of a sleeping bag. But Bubbles…

She's not here, Blossom thought, seeing the bare spot in the center of the bed, Did she ever sleep at all?

Taking off the blankets on her side, Blossom quietly floated down the hallway to the bathroom. Peering into the bathroom's sink, she twisted the knob of the faucet, allowing cool water to flow freely. She splashed it against her face, rubbing the crud from her eyes. Her vision focused, and she saw the countenance of a lovely little girl in the mirror, marred by the marks of battle. Only her long, redhead hair survived the events of yesterday.

It's going to be awhile before these scars go away. Heh, Buttercup would probably show hers with pride. Bubbles was so lucky not to get pulverized…and yet, I know she's worse off.

Blossom, intending to get some breakfast, headed back into the hallway to make her way to the stairs. Before she got there, though, she spotted her blonde sister already walking down those steps.

"Bubbles!" Blossom exclaimed softly, rushing to her sister's side, "Bubbles…where were you last night? Did you stay up all this time?"

Bubbles halted her steps, turning to look at Blossom. "I went to bed with the professor, when he came back up. I'm sorry, Blossom…but I couldn't sleep without having a nightmare."

…Bubbles looks devastated, Blossom thought. I wouldn't blame her, but still…he had only been alive for two days…what happened between those two?

"So, um…want to have a pop-tart?" Blossom asked. She began stepping down the stairs to go to the kitchen. "I'll toast some for you. You want a S'mores or a Strawberry?"

"I'm not hungry," Bubbles said.

Blossom halted. "You're not?"

"I'm just going to the basement…Pathie needs company."

"What?"

Bubbles did not bother to reply. She merely floated silently to the door of the laboratory, and entered, leaving Blossom greatly disturbed.

It's worse than I thought. Much worse. But still, we have to let her deal with it.

Blossom, in need of distraction, set off to prepare the morning's breakfast. She grabbed a box of Pop-Tarts, unwrapped every pastry inside, and warmed them one-by-one in an old-fashioned toaster. After a few toastings, she took a bite of a strawberry pop-tart, indulging the sweet filling as best as she could, despite the concern for her blonde sister that continued to dangle in her mind. Footsteps reached her ears from the direction of the stairs, and she turned to see the rest of the occupants walking groggily down the steps. Buttercup took lead, followed closely by Robin, while the professor dragged behind.

"Good Morning," Blossom said, her words less than enthusiastic.

The three of them yawned as they stumbled into the kitchen, taking seats at the dining table. "Morning, Blossom," The professor said tiredly, "Do you know where Bubbles has gone? When I woke, she wasn't by my side."

"She went to the lab, to keep Pathie company." Blossom answered.

Buttercup, Robin, and the Professor all bore sudden looks of dismay. "Oh, man," Buttercup said, "That's just…creepy."

"Now, now, Buttercup, Bubbles has gone through a lot in the past two days," The professor rebutted, "She's not going to be her happy self for awhile. And by the looks of things, the chances of reviving Pathie are slim, at best. I don't understand why she cares so deeply for him, but we must help her cope however we can. That means you should try to be as nice as possible."

"But what if she doesn't get over it?" Robin asked, barely eeping out her words.

Everyone fell silent, their minds shifting to thoughts they would rather not think about. Finally, the professor spoke up. "She'll find a way. I know she will."

Blossom was quick to change subjects. "I warmed some pop-tarts for everyone. You guys want S'mores or Strawberry?"

"I'll have a S'mores," Professor Utonium answered.

"Ditto," Buttercup added.

"Strawberry, please," Robin thirded.

Blossom passed out the pastries and took a seat with her family and friend. The four of them, eager for breakfast, chewed upon their pastries peacefully, despite the thing that was on everyone's minds. But before they were even half-way finished, the silence of the house was impaled by a piercing scream.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

Everyone shot up from the table. "That was Bubbles!" Professor exclaimed.

Rushing from the kitchen, the two superheroines, the professor, and the playmate stampeded into the entrance of the laboratory. They barely made it down the basement stairs without tumbling down the long stairway. Then, they instantly rushed to where Pathie's body was kept…and immediately froze in utter shock. The small chamber, twisted into scrap metal. The body, nowhere in sight. And Bubbles, shocked by all of it, had fallen upon her knees, her eyes close to bursting. Upon seeing the others rush in, the blonde at once hurried to Professor Utonium, crying, "Professor! Professor! PATHIE'S GONE!"

"Gone?!" Professor exclaimed.

"GONE!"

"What? I thought that guy was dead!" Buttercup said.

"I guess he wasn't," Blossom said, picking up a piece of metal that used to be part of the chamber, "By the looks of things, that chamber was torn from the inside."

"So he was alive ALL THIS TIME?!" Bubbles cried furiously, "Ooooh….I'm gonna KILL HIM! KILL HIM!"

The professor looked more closely at the scene. "It appears that the disc is gone, too…but what's this thing on the floor?" He picked up a small, metal sphere, decorated by peculiar engravings, from the surface of the floor. He held it out to the others so that they could all see…but Bubbles was too busy boiling her blood at the present moment, thus she did not even glace at it. Everyone else gathered around it, captured by its odd appearance.

"That's one funky marble," Buttercup commented.

"It looks pretty," Robin complimented.

"But where did it come from?" Blossom inquired.

"The albino must've left it behind. I've certainly never owned such an item," The professor answered, "But what could it possibly be? It can't REALLY be a mere marble, can it?"

"It doesn't look like anything else," Buttercup remarked.

"You mean just like how that disc looked like a chew toy?" Blossom said, speaking rhetorically.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" The professor asked, "Are you girls hiding something from me?"

"Sorry, professor, Bubbles made us promise not to tell you," Blossom answered quickly, "Bubbles, can you come over here and tell us what this thing is?"

Bubbles, pacing around the room, thinking up several ways to torture the albino, replied angrily, "How am I supposed to know? I'm just a KID!"

"Hey, you've been with him longer than us! Could you at least take a look at the darn thing?" Blossom snapped.

"Fine, fine, FINE! Where's this thing you guys are yapping about?!" Bubbles yelled, throwing her arms in the air.

Buttercup, fed up with all the sudden sass that the blonde was throwing upon them, grabbed the engraved marble from the professor's hand and threw it at the blonde. "It's right here, you jerk!"

Bubbles gasped. With lightning reflexes, she caught the rapidly approaching marble, barely preventing her face from receiving a nasty bruise on the forehead.

"Buttercup!" The professor scolded, "You know better than to-!"

The professor had no chance to finish that sentence, for the moment that the marble touched Bubbles' hand, it immediately hovered out of the blonde's grasp and suddenly glowed in a bright shade of green. The sudden transformation freaked everyone out.

"Jeez, Buttercup, what the heck did you do?!" Blossom exclaimed.

"I don't know, I just threw it! Honest!" Buttercup blurted in panic.

"If that thing's a bomb, you are SO dead!" Blossom yelled at her brunette sister.

"A bomb?! Oh, crud, HIT THE DECK!" The professor cried.

Everyone in the laboratory scattered for cover, scared shitless by the marble. Everyone, that is, except for Bubbles. When she touched that metal marble, At once her mind was filled with a pre-recorded message…one that was produced by none other than the scout himself:

"Hello, Bubbles. If you've come across this message, then you'd have noticed that I am no longer here. This message will only play for you, and it will only play once. After that, the sphere will destroy itself, so it's absolutely important that you listen to me carefully.

"I know the past two days were…confusing for you. They were confusing for me, too. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to stay with you to try to understand everything. But I hate leaving things dangling like that, so I've come up with a special arrangement.

"When this message is done, you must go to the forest as soon as possible. Search for a tree with a massive trunk, with a small area for camping right next to it. Hidden in the notches of the roots of that tree is another sphere, like this one, only much larger in size. In it contains everything you could possibly ever know of myself and my homeworld. Protect this sphere and study its contents, for I may not be the last malukian to visit your home.

"I am sorry, Bubbles, for all the pain that I have caused. I wish you from this point on a happy life.

"P.S. :I plan on leaving the planet late in the morning. If you get this message early, you might have a chance to see me again before I go. Just follow the same directions as before: A massive tree in the forest with a camping area next to it. End of message."

With the message completed, the tiny marble killed off its neon glow, and dropped to the ground. Bubbles stared at the remains of that sphere, as the others slowly crept out of their makeshift bomb shelters in various parts of the laboratory.

"I guess it wasn't a bomb after all," The professor said.

"Bubbles? Why didn't you move? If that was a bomb, you'd be dead!" Blossom exclaimed.

No reply.

"Bubbles? Buuuuubles….earth to bubbles!"

No reply.

"Great…she's zoned out," Buttercup remarked, sighing.

"I'M NOT ZONED OUT!" Bubbles ejaculated, "I'M GOING TO SEE PATHIE AND BEAT HIM UP! THAT JERK'S GONNA PAY!"

Having made her decision, Bubbles immediately shot straight up through the house, tearing a hole the size of Utah, flying away at intense speeds towards the direction of the forest. At once, the professor gasped.

"AGH! WE JUST REPAIRED THIS HOUSE!" He cried, the blatant destruction of his property inducing tears.

"Bubbles! Wait! Where are you going?" Blossom yelled at her blonde sister.

"Wait up, Bubbles!" Buttercup cried.

At once, the redhead and brunette superheroines followed Bubbles' lead. Each of them made a brand-new gap in the Utonium household, perfectly forming the hollowed-out points of an equilateral triangle. The professor, having seen his fortune go down the drain, collapsed to his knees and sobbed pitifully to himself.

Robin approached the scientist cautiously. "Do they do that often?" The little girl asked curiously.

"YES! AND IT'S DRIVING ME TO THE POOR HOUSE! WAAAAAAH!" The professor sobbed.

The forest, its thirst quenched by the rain of the previous night, now basked happily in the morning sun. The dew gleamed in the brightness and the air smelled sweet with pine, churned by the light blowing of wind. The trees rustled softly, emulating the calm of the ocean waves, soothing all the creatures that call the sylvan landscape "home."

Bullet the squirrel was no exception. To her, it fit the morning event perfectly.

When Pathie had died before her eyes, the female squirrel was devastated. All of her efforts, as well as Pathie's, were destroyed in mere seconds. She could not stand to stay in the city anymore, nor with Bubbles, both scarred by the destruction only "civilized" creatures could commit, and ran away to her homeland to mourn in the solitude of her tree. So one could imagine the squirrel's shock when the scout poked her awake in the middle of the night, prompting her to assault his face like an alien parasite, mistaking him for the walking dead. Several painful bites to the face later, she realized her error, and embraced the scout happily, before sheepishly apologizing for repeatedly violating his mug.

After Pathie shrugged it off, Bullet was enlisted to help repair his spacecraft, which looked like a giant ball bearing on the outside, yet was filled to the brim with highly advanced technology on the inside. Of course, most of Pathie's technical jargon made as much sense to her as the human practice of "Russian Roulette", but it was fun to help out the scout again, organizing all the weird-looking parts inside the ship, sheltered from the rain, watching as Pathie melded them to perfection, as if by magic. It took the entirety of the night, though, to finish repairing Pathie's spherical spacecraft. By the time dawn approached, the two of them lost their battle against exhaustion, and dozed off. They would've slept through the entire day, had the MPSD on Pathie's arm not awakened them by means of an ear-rattling siren. Deep down they were thankful for the wakeup call, though that could not be gathered from the string of curses Pathie unleashed.

Now, with the rain cleared, and morning upon them, it was time for Pathie to go. They stood before his spacecraft, the giant metal ball resting in the middle of the clearing where Bullet had first laid eyes on the scout, admiring its mathematical perfection.

"Well…I know that you can't understand me right now, but you already know that my time to leave has come," Pathie said to the squirrel.

"Cheep," Bullet lamented sadly.

Pathie knelt down to Bullet's level, consoling him with a small back rub. "Everything will be fine now, thanks to your help. With any luck, I'll be able to visit you again sometime. But for now, I need to go home and help save my fellow Malukians from the disease."

Pathie rose back to his feet. "But before I do that, there's something I must test…Computer, you were able to gather this planet's information…now we must leave behind our own data. Generate a data sphere containing everything related to our homeworld. Be sure to set up the language choice so that it is exclusively translated for the languages you've recorded for this planet."

The MPSD beeped twice. "Understood. Generating Data Sphere. Hold out your arms for reception."

Pathie did as he was told, holding his arms forward. The particles seeped out of the device, swirling like a snake down his left forearm, gathering into a rotating ball above his hands. The mass grew to the diameter of 3 and a half inches, before it solidified into a perfect, shiny metal sphere, topped with a simple green button. Pathie grabbed it from the air, smirking to himself.

"I hope this doesn't overwhelm her," Pathie said to himself, before turning to Bullet. ["This thing contains all you ever need to know of me. Hopefully Bubbles will be willing to share this with you.."

"Cheep?" Bullet asked, mystified.

"Sigh…Nevermind. I have to hide this thing in the roots of this tree somewhere. Now, where would be a good- OH, BLOODY HELL!"

Just as he was about to turn to the tree, his eye caught the sight of a rapidly approaching object, trailed by a familiar blue streak. In microseconds, he saw in the penetrating gaze that the person rocketing through the air was PISSED. This was confirmed when that person cried out "You big, fat, stupid DOO-DOO BRAIN!" Upon landing on the ground, that infuriated little girl unleashed the mighty power of an attack only females can do best: A devastating bitch-slap. Needless to say, Pathie spiraled in the air, yelling helplessly as a welt the size of Texas instantly popped up in his right cheek, before he crashed upside-down against the side of the massive tree's trunk. He soon crumpled down to the roots, moaning in excruciating pain. But he shot back up again, now feeling horribly violated. Bullet, scared to death of Bubbles, opted to take cover in a bush, watching the drama unfold.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!?!" Pathie shouted, "GOD, THAT HURTS!"

"Oh, as IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW, you JERK!" Bubbles cried at the top of her lungs, her arms tensed in preparation for further bitch-slapping. "I THOUGHT I KILLED YOU! I held you in my arms! You were dead as a rock! And now, I find out YOU WERE PLAYING POSSUM?!?!?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW ANGRY I AM?!?!?"

"What? Bubbles, I wasn't playing-!"

"SHUT UP!" Bubbles yield, dashing to land another bitch-slap.

"FUDGE!" Pathie cursed, ducking just in the nick of time.

"HOLD STILL, YOU JERK! I'M GONNA POUND YA!" Bubbles cried.

Her arms of death engaged into overdrive, rocketing bitch-slap after bitch-slap into Pathie's albino face. The scout dodged constantly, but every time it was one hell of a close call.

"BUBBLES! For the love of god, stop this! I really was dead! But the MPSD revived me!" Pathie cried.

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT! That thing stopped working after I fired that beam!" Bubbles snapped, now engaging in punches.

"It was only playing dead so that no one would cut it open! I was only trying to make a quick exit! I had to. Ever since I got here I've only caused pain! I came here to save lives, not destroy the- AAAGH!"

A slip in Pathie's defenses allowed a punch to connect with his eye. He staggered and fell to the ground, overwhelmed in excruciating pain. Bubbles, overwhelmed with anger, jumped upon him, pinning him with her knees. She grabbed the scout by his collar, pulling upward. She pulled one arm back, shaking with tension, ready to deal a powerful blow…but that blow was never dealt. The magnitude of what she was doing hit her like a point-blank shot to the face. She saw the wounds she had inflicted, the face saturated with a guilt no living creature should ever have to experience.

Tears rolled down her face, dripping upon her soiled nightgown. No words could come from her mouth. None. The little girl rolled off the scout and stumbled to the roots of the tree, crumbling to the ground like all purpose in her life had perished.

Pathie struggled to his feet. The pain was overwhelming.

"Bubbles…I…" Pathie tried to say, but he was struck speechless as well.

"It's…not fair," Bubbles whimpered, "Why is this happening? Why did you ever come here? Why? I don't know who you are…yet…so much happened…I can't make sense of it all! Do you hate me? Do you love me? Which one is it!? Which one!?"

Pathie let out a deep, depressing sigh. He staggered to Bubbles' side, sitting down beside her. "Bubbles…for awhile, I wasn't sure myself."

Bubbles sniffed. "What do you mean?"

"Bubbles…I did love you. I loved you in a way that is indescribable. But…it was the wrong kind of love. You are pretty, lovable, and like an angel to me…but then I realized that you're still a growing seed.

"You are a child. Your time with the world has been short. There are many things which you are simply not yet ready for. I failed to realize that your very innocence was what attracted me to you…because an innocent child lacks strength against a bitter, desperate man. This, Bubbles, nearly destroyed me, and in effect would've destroyed my people for abandoning them when they need me most.

"But in the end, you saved me. For a long time I had let my confidence wither, rejecting my race for a solitary life, distracting myself from my misery with life-threatening work…until I was in complete denial that I had any problems at all. Meeting you served as a reality check. Now I understand that I have…issues. And part of solving a problem is admitting you have one. For that, I still love you…but now, for the right reasons, and in a good way…like family.

"But I admit, it is unfair. I have to leave you now to save my race. That means we'll never get the chance to really understand each other the way we want to. But I'm not going to give up on that…I'm not sure, but deep down I know we may see each other again."

Bullet, seeing that the situation had calmed down, emerged from his hiding place. She saw that Pathie's metal sphere was dropped when Bubbles had attacked him, and decided to fetch it for him as an act of kindness. Pathie smiled as Bullet pushed the sphere over to him, and picked it up with his hands.

"Here," Pathie said to Bubbles, placing the sphere in her hands, "You better take this."

"Is this…?" Bubbles began to ask.

"Yes. Everything about my world is in that little metal ball. It's translated for earth languages, so your sisters can learn about it too. I have a little ball of my own, containing everything about your world. I plan to study it so that if I ever come back here, we'll never misunderstand each other again. Who knows…perhaps I could speak your sisters' English someday. I have a good reason to study foreign languages now. Heh."

Pathie rose to his feet once more. Bubbles did the same, observing the ball curiously, yet also letting slip a tiny little smirk of her own.

"Cheep Cheep?" Bullet asked Bubbles.

"Cheep," Bubbles said assuringly.

Pathie looked once more at his vessel. He saw part of the large sphere dissapate autonomously, revealing the cockpit inside, beckoning him to enter. He sighed.

"The time has come," Pathie spoke sadly, "I can no longer delay them. My home-world needs me now." He turned to the blonde and the squirrel, both looking on sadly. "Bullet…Bubbles…I thank you both. I wish both of you a happy life…goodbye."

Pathie turned back to the vessel. Rising a few feet from the ground, the scout levitated slowly towards the entrance of the vessel. Bubbles and Bullet looked on as he floated down into the chair of the cockpit. He removed the MPSD from his arm and placed it inside the cockpit. The technology whirred to life.

"Goodbye, Pathie," Bubbles said solemnly.

"Cheep Cheep!" Bullet wailed sadly.

Pathie sadly waved to them one last time, as the entrance to the cockpit disappeared in the reemergence of the shiny metal surface. The ball began to rise, rise, rise to the air, slow but steady. The young girl and the squirrel watched as it ascended to the morning sky, before it finally blasted away into the depths of space, a trail of white its last visible memory.

Bubbles looked back down to the sphere in her hands. The touch of the metal was cold.

"Bubbles! What WAS that thing?"

"Was that the albino?"

"Hey…what's that in your hand?"

Bubbles looked up, and saw the presence of her sisters, both struck with a million questions to ask. She smiled.

"He's gone now," She said with calm, "To go back home."

"Home?" Blossom asked.

"Yes…and I want to go home too."

Bubbles took off without uttering another word.

"Hey, wait!" Buttercup called, "What about that shiny thing in your hand? Geez…she's making us fly everywhere. I just don't get her today!"

"Give her some time," Blossom said, "Eventually, we'll understand. Now come on. We should go home too."

"Oh, alright. I just hope she doesn't run off again…"

The redhead and the brunette flew away, to reunite with their family at home.

Bullet, now understanding that it was finally over, smiled. She scurried off back to her tree. Today will be a holiday for the forest guardian, in the honor of the scout.

At least, until someone else needs her help.