The Return of Abracadver

by Gen-Xer

A PPGRRB locked room mystery

The Return of Abra-Cadaver

The City of Townsville….a center of entertainment with some of the finest theatres anywhere! Like the Downtown cinema for instance…..

Inside the theater, the movie was just about to start. The Powerpuff Girls were crowded into the front row of seats, squirming excitedly. They had each gotten their treats, and were all busily munching heavily buttered popcorn.

"Oh, Man!" Buttercup said excitedly. "I've been waiting forever for this! 'Bloodsucking zombies from Hill House! I can't wait for it to start!"

"Oooh!" wailed Bubbles." I'm so scared! Is it over yet?"

"Duh!" said Buttercup "the show hasn't even started yet!"

"Calm down you guys!" said Blossom.

"Well look at her! The movie hasn't even started yet, and already she's chickened!"

'Bubbles?" asked Blossom "Do you want to go home while we see the show?"

Bubbles looked at both her sisters. She saw that Buttercup already had smug smirk on her face. "Yeah, Bubbles, are you going to run home and hide under the bed."

"Stop it!" said Bubbles. "I am staying! I'm not scared!"

"Okay!" said Buttercup. "If you turn chicken again, we'll just tell you when all the scary scenes are, sos you can cover your eyes! Deal?"

"I can take it" said Bubbles. "I'll just show you I won't get scared."

"Hah!" said Buttercup. "How much ya wanna bet?"

"Yeah, how much says you won't start crying first time the zombies show up!"

This was a male voice, and it was followed up by a bag of popcorn smacking into the back of Bubbles' head! There was a vile sniggering of evil laughter.

"Ow!" cried Bubbles. "Who did that?" The three 'puffs floated out of their seats and turned around.

Three rows back sat the Rowdyruff Boys, all laughing fiendishly at them.

"Why you three jerks!" said Buttercup. "I oughta—"

"Hey! You're the one called her a chicken!" exclaimed Brick.

"Yeah!" said Boomer.

"That's different!" said Buttercup "She's our sister! You guys don't talk to her, or we'll make you sorry!"

"Oh yeah?" said Brick "Gonna make us?"

"You asked for it!" Buttercup snarled. She started to float up toward Brick. The other theatre patrons were looking at them in fear, some preparing to bolt from the exit.

"Hold it, Buttercup!" said Blossom. "The show's about to start! We can finish this later."

"Ohhhh alright!" Buttercup said. She floated back into her seat.

Butch had started to float toward her, but Brick grabbed his arm. "Cool it, bro!" he said. "You heard her, time and place! We do want to see the show, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Said Butch, slightly miffed "right."

The lights dimmed, and everyone settled into their seats. The screen crackled to life. There were a few coke commercial, then some trailers for coming attractions. At last, "Bloodsucking Zombies from Hill House started". The opening credits were Blood Red on a black background.

Then came the opening scene. There was a desolate-looking house perched on a hill. Dry, grayish grass covered the lawn. The house was tall and dilapitdated. It was nearly sundown, and an eerie blood-red light shown in the windows.

"Ooooh! Cool!"

The Girls recognized the voice as Boomer's. Buttercup was about to turn around and tell him to shut up, when they heard the sound of Brick slapping him.

A young couple had now emerged on screen. They stood gazing at the house.

"Well, there it is Betty! Hilll House, Right where the famous massacre took place thirty years ago. Sure you want to spend the night!"

"Sure, Derek!" "I've got to know if the old legends are true, and this might be our only change. You know what today is, and what happens at midnight?"

"Yeah!" Derek shuddered.

They entered the house. The camera panned to the side of the house, where they could now see a desolate graveyard in the fading twilight. Then a clawed, desiccated arm shot out from under the nearest tombstone, gnarly and clawlike. The audience screamed. Bubbles covered her eyes.

Two hours later the show had let out. The crowd spilled out into the street. The 'puffs floated out, blinking in the sunlight, and landed on the pavement.

"Man!" said Buttercup "that was awesome! I can't wait for the DVD!"

"Yeah!" said Blossom. "I gotta admit, Buttercup, that was one way-cool movie! Really creepy though. It'll probably give me nightmares for a week!"

"What about you Bubbles?"

Bubbles was still shaking. She had kept her eyes covered for most of the scariest parts, but Buttercup had coaxed her into seeing some of it, and she had sort of gotten over her scarediness.

'Welllll"" Bubbles tmebled. "it was a really weird movie, and really exciting…."

"Hah! Are you still scared?"

"No! I told I'd sit through the whole movie and that's just what I did! So there!"

"Haha! She shook all through the movie! In fact, all three of you wussies did!"

It was Brick who had spoken. They turned as the Rowdyruff Boys floated out of the theater and landed next to them. "We did not!" scowled Buttercup. "We're braver than you jerks anyday!"

"Yeah?" Brick said slyly "You Girls wanna prove it?"

"You're on!"

"Hmmmm" said Brick. "Ya know, I gotta agree with you. That was one way-awesome movie. But ya know what would be really super-cool?"

"What?"

"If we could go on a haunted mansion expedition sometime!"

"You mean all six of us?"

"Sure!" Brick said. "Why not? Unless you guys are chicken!" His brothers both made clucking noises.

"Shut up Jerks!" said Buttercup. "Sure we'd go anytime! Only too bad there's no haunted mansions in Townsville!"

"We know where one is!" said Brick.

"Yeah!" said Boomer. "It's kinda on the edge of town, before you get to Farmsville."

"Hey, that's right!" said Blossom. "I'd forgotten!"

"Huh?" asked Buttercup "There're pulling our legs!"
"No they're not!" Blossom told her. "There really is an old mansion up there. But it's not really a haunted house. It's more like a place where show people used to hang out—actors and actresses. And stage Magicians like Al Lusions."

"How do you know all this, Miss Smarts?" asked Butch.

"I read a lot on the Internet. I found all about the history of that place you guys are talking about for a class project last year. It's one of the oldest buildings in Townsville. Called the Markwell Place. I read that Al Lusion used to keep all his magic stuff in there. You know, his trick boxes for sawing people in half, his magic silks, and all that neat weirdo stuff for his acts. They tore down the theatre where he used to do his shows before you guys showed up, but they kept the Markwell place as kind of a memorial."

""Holy Toledo!" exclaimed Buttercup. "You know what? I bet he's got tons of cool stuff still in there."

"That's right, he does." said Blossom. "There's even an old wax museum in there, with all sorts of creepy statues!"

"Awesome!" said Buttercup.

"Cool!" exclaimed Brick. "So. Are we all in it, or what?"

"You bet!" said Buttercup "I can't wait to start exploring that neato place!"

"I dunno." said Blossom. "We'll have to ask the Professor first. He might think it's dangerous."

"Who cares!" said Buttercup. "Let's just sneak out! Want these guys to think we're chicken!"

Blossom seemed to worry a bit over this, but she did not like how the Boys were starting to smirk at them. "Okay! That's what we'll do!"

"Cool!" said Brick. "When ya wanna meet there?"

"Hmmmmm. Would Saturday be good?"

How 'bout Saturday evening." said Brick "Right about sundown."

"Yeah." Boomer smirked sneeringly. "Right when the bats come out!"

Brick slapped him. "Be there!" he told Blossom. He and his brothers floated off in the direction of Mojo's volcano.

The rest of that week, the Girls talked of nothing else in their spare time except how they would meet with the Boys and explore the old Markwell place. Bubbles kept up a cheerful front as best she could, but was really very worried. What if the evil magician Abracadavar came after them again? And the thought of all those creepy wax things, and magician stuff buried in the secret chambers of the old mansion set her nerves on edge.

Sometimes the Professor overheard the Girls' whispering, and opened their door to ask what they were up to. "oh nothing, professor!" they would all say cheerfully, and get back to talking about their upcoming adventure once he had gone.

Finally, Saturday came. The Girls snuck out of their room and headed across Townsville under the fading sunlight toward the Markwell Manor. The sun was setting across the distant hulls in a welter of purple, pink and gold.

And there is was, on the edge of town, perched on a hill, not unlike the one they'd seen the movie. Markwell Manor. The crooked series of the great gothic structure rose stark and black against the vividness of the setting sun.

Bubbles did not care for the look of it. But maybe it wouldn't be a scary as it looked from a distance.

The 'puffs landed in the wee-choked lawn in front of the place. Unfortunately, the Manor looked were creepier from close up. In fact the two most prominent windows, formed of arched glass, resembled nothing so closely as a pair of eyes glaring down at them out of a monstrous face. The crimson light from the dying sun reflected redly off the panes of the tarnished windows. The effect was chilling To Bubbles the whole effect of the mansion reminded her of the demented, snarling visage of the zombie magician himself, as though his evil spirit had possessed it and had lured them here as a trap. Or was it only her imagination?

A cold, October wind blew briefly across the alwn, tossing up some dry leaves.

"Where are the Boys?" Blossom asked.

"I dunno." Said Buttercup, her arms crossed in disgust. "Maybe the dorks were too wimpy to show up in the first place, and just figured we'd—"

"YEEEEAAAAAAH!"

Three streaks of light, red, green and blue shot from the house and tore into them.

The Girls were sent sprawling across the lawn. They looked up to see that each one of the Boys had barreled into her.

The RRB floated up, then hi-fived and laughed. "Man that was great!" howled Brick. "You wussy girls should have seen the looks on your faces!"

"Knock it off, dorks!" yelled Buttercup. "We saw you guys coming all along!"
"Oh you did? Then I'd be better prepared next time! Hahahaha!"

Butch and Boomer were still hugging themselves and laughing.

"Stop it you guys!" Blossom told Buttercup and Brick. "We're here to explore the Marwell Place, right?"

"Right!" agreed Brick. The glared at Boomer and Butch. "Knock it off you guys! Time for the fun to start!"

The 'puffs and 'ruffs floated up the steps and to the massive door of the building. "Maybe it's locked up?" Bubbles wondered, a little too hopefully.

"I don't think so." Answered Blossom. "Everyone's forgotten about this place. They don't even bother to keep it locked. See?" She gave the door a push. It swung massively in, its unoiled hinges squeaking loudly.

"Let's do it!" Brick said. "Ladies first! Haha!"
They floated into the gloom. The door swung shut behind them.

"

Landing on a lushly carpeted floor, they gazed around themselves in awe. Oooooooooh!" they all murmured.

They had expected the place to be in a state of moldy decay with icky cobwebs strung everywhere. Instead, everything seemed to be in relatively new condition. If the place was not abandoned after all, or someone was keeping it up.

Huge, crystalline chandeliers sparkled high above them, suspended from the ceiling. A thick carpet of blood red covered the floor. There was some expensive furniture, and a grand piano in one corner. It looked like a cross between a fancy hotel, a theater lobby, and Morbucks Manor.

"Wicked!" Boomer said "So where are all the wax zombies at?"

"They're probably in the basement somewhere, dorko!" answered Brick.

"I think I know where to." said Blossom. "According to wax museum is somewhere in the east wing. I think that would be this way."

They followed Blossom, and they all floated through the main lobby, and down and new corridor. They saw what used to be dining rooms, and small theaters, as well as what looked like drawing rooms on all sides of them. Them they entered another corridor, and then another.

Finally Blossom stopped.

"So where's the wax sculptures?" demanded Buttercup.

"I'm sure they're around here someplace." Blossom answered. She scratched her head and looked around. "I think we're lost!"

"Oh no! Miss Smartypants is lost! You're supposed to know this place like the back of your hand!"

"When did I say that?" Blossom said angerly. "I told you all I did was read some stuff online!"

"Oh great!"

"Hold it, you guys!" Brick said suddenly. "Where the heck did Butch go?"

They looked around everywhere. Butch was gone.

"He's fooling us!" said Brick "He's gotta be! Butch! Where are you, bro! Answer me!"

"Yeah! Stop fooling around!" cried Boomer.

But there was no reply, and their voices faded into distant echoes.

"What did the jerk do, wander off like one of those dumb characters in the movie?" Buttercup asked.

"Hey, watch it Sis!" said Brick. "He's our brother."

"Hold it!" cried Blossom. "We can't fight! Not now! Maybe something really happened to Butch, and it's after all of us."

"Yeah, what if it's out to get us all!" cried Bubbles who was now trembling. She had wondered how she had ever allowed her dumb sisters to talk her into something like this.

"Pshah!" snorted Brick. "C'mon! Don't be such babies! Butch is probably the toughest one here! Nothing scares him! What could possibly have grabbed him?

But somehow that didn't make them feel any better. Brick suddenly looked a bit worried himself. "Butch! C'mon out! Quit messn' with us!"

"I'm afraid he can't hear you, Brick." Said Blossom.

"What're we gonna do?" Boomer asked.

""We search for Butch." said Blossom.

"Should we split up?" Buttercup asked.

"No." Blossom asked. "If something is out there, it's better if we all stick together."

The five kids began to retrace their steps, going back the way they had come. Only now they were deep within Markwell Manor, and all the corridors began to look the same. The place was like a maze, and it seemed they had only become more lost then they were before. They began calling Butch's name, but there was no answer.

"Butch, Butch, where are you dude?" called Boomer, his lone voice echoing down the corridors.

"Hey!" Blossom exclaimed suddenly. "Check this out!" They floated over to the room and peered in.

"Whoa!" cried Buttercup "Getta load of all that!"

They floated into the room, staring around in awe. It was a huge chamber, stuffed wall-to-wall with all sorts of magic paraphernalia. There were caskets and magic boxes, and iron maidens, like the one that had killed Al Lusion. There were stacks of cards, bundles of silks, and wands and tophats of all sizes. There were saws and mirrors and masks and weird-looking statues that might have been some of the wax sculptures. There were colorful costumes of all sorts. There was a wall that was covered with knives and swords of all types. In one corner gleamed a device that looked like a genuine guillotine.

"Wicked!" Boomer exclaimed, eyeing this excitedly. "I wonder if that thing really works!"

"Not now, jerk!" said Brick. "We're still looking for our brother!"

Blossom gave a sharp shriek of panic.

"What?" Bricked asked her, annoyed.

"Buttercup's gone!"

They all gasped, looking around in a panic. Buttercup was no where. They all kept expecting her to pop out from behind something to yell fooled ya!, or something like that. But nothing happened. This time they were so shocked that no one could even speak.

"Blossom!" wailed Bubbles in a trembling, hopeless voice. "Everyone! I….I"

"What is it Bubbles?" Blossom demanded. "Tell us!"

Bubbles was facing one of the tables holding up two cards in front of her.. Her horrified gaze was fixed on the cards.

"Bubbles….?"

They all flew over and gazed down at the card. They almost screamed at what they saw.

They were playing cards. Each held the image of Buttercup and Butch, respectively. There were twin images of each of them, both pointing up and down in the style of a King Queen or Jack.

They stared at the cards in horror.

"Where did these things come from?" Brick asked. "How would he have cards with their pictures on them?"

"These cards weren't on the table before!" Bubbles stammered. "Not when we came in They weren't I swear it!"

"This is too weird." Blossom said, "You….you don't suppose….."

it seemed too crazy to believe, but they were each thinking the same thing—that somehow the real Butch and Buttercup had become trapped in the cards—like their souls were imprisoned there.

"Hey," said Brick in a laid-back voice," don't worry! I know what you guys are thinking, but that's just stupid!"

"Then how come cards weren't here before?" Bubbles asked.

"Bubbles is right." said Blossom. "We already know Abra-Cadaver can do things like this. Remember, Bubbles? Those two kids who were turned into human-sized cards! These cards are normal size but—"

"It's him!" wailed Bubbles. "he trapped them in these pictures we'll never see them again!"

Brick seized the card with Butch on it. "Butch! Is that really you, Bro? Answer me, dude!"

But the pictures on the cards were nothing but flat drawings in green and black ink, with no life in them.

"Everyone, be calm!" commanded Blossom. "He's toying, trying to scare us, so we'll panic! But we've got to find a way to defeat him!"

"How can we?" Boomer asked. "We can't even see him!"

"Yeah!" said Brick "Just who is this Abraca-whatever-his-name-is anyway?"

"His name used to be Al Lusion, the stage magician who owned all this stuff. But at one of his shows, a little girl exposed his tricks. Everyone in his audience laughed at him, and he accidentally fell into one his own iron maidens! And that was the end of him. They buried under the old theatre. But when they tore the place down, Al-Lusion came back as a zombie, and called himself Abra-Cadaver. Abra -Cadaver? Get it? An Evil Zombie Magician. Only now he could do real magic, and he was going to have his revenge on the citizens of Townsville. He thought he had trapped us, but I tricked him into falling into his iron maiden—again."

"You tricked him?" Brick asked "How?"

"A great magician never gives away her secrets." said Blossom importantly.

"Ever see him again?" Boomer asked.

"Yes, once. The time he stole all our Kiddie Kola and tried to take over Townsville with a zombie army. But we put him out of commission again, and he hasn't bothered us since. Until now."

"He took everyone's Kiddie Kola?" Boomer asked. "Man, he's gotta be one bad dude! What's he look like?"

"Major gross and creepy." Said Blossom. ""He's got these red eyes, and rotted teeth and everything."

"Well just let me get ahold of him, and he's gonna look even worse!" exclaimed Brick "Hey!" he yelled, into the vastness of Markwell Manor. "Zombie-face! Come out and fight us! Let's see how tough you really are!"

"Shouting won't help." said Blossom. "We've got to find his weakness. C'mon!"

"They followed her out of the room and down the hall. They found a room with two huge bolted doors near the center of maze, with the words ARCHIVE ROOM inscribed above.

"I think we might find something in here?"

"What is it?" asked Bubbles.

"It's the place were the magicians keep all the secrets of their trade. That's why nobody's supposed to go in. But we have to!"

See aimed her eyebeams at the bolt and blasted it loose. The doors opened.

They flew into the room. Its shelves were filled leather-bound books. There were fill cabinets stuffed with documents. In the center of the room on a table was a snake-skull encased in a glass ball. On one side of the room was a stuffed raven, its glass eyes gleaming redly. It almost looked alive, and caused Bubbles to jump at first.

"Let's start looking!" said Blossom. They zipped around the room, their huge yes probing for anything remotely related to Al-Lusion's past. Blossom riffled through the file cabinet. She found a large file on the man's magic career. She placed on the table and began going through it, the others peering over her shoulder. There didn't appear to be much os any use. But then they found a section written by someone who claimed to be a member of the Townsville Vaudiville club.

"That's funny." Said Blossom. "They're a bunch of actors, not magicians." But as she read further, she discovered that the Vaudeville Club was only a front for a group that engaged in sinister activities. It seemed that the club had sponsored all of Al Lusion's shows. They were secretly a cult who practiced real magic, and they were using Al Lusion, who was only a pompous fake, as a cover. But it seemed they had cast a spell that would enable the magician to rise form the grave after his death.

"Whoa!" said Boomer. "So that's how that undead creep came back to life."

"He came back undead, dork!" said Brick.

"Quiet, you two!" Blossom said. "There's more. It says they created a magic amulet, where Al Lusion's soul was imprisoned. "The Amulet has great power. It is molded into the lid of the coffin we of the Magic Arts Circle, aka the Townsville Vaudeville Club, have special fashioned for corpse of our departed master. It shall give him the power to rise form the grave if ever opened, and give him all the powers invested in it."

Then her eye caught something else, something sticking out of the folder.

What's this?"

She held up a small black notebook. She opened it. It looked like a woman's diary. It was written in a hand different from whoever it was who had written the papers on Al Lusion.

"What would this be doing here?" Bubbles asked.

"I have no idea." Said Blossom. But she started to read. The words didn't appear to have anything to do with Al Lusion or the Vaudeville club.

March 4

Today is a Monday. My little Bluebell is now starting her first day at Pokey Oaks. I hope the children will treat her right! She is so different from he other kids. My husband has been dead for a year now. I was never able to have any children! Bluebell is my only girl. And the reason I have her is that I wanted a child so badly, that I mixed up a batch of sugar spice and everything nice, wildly hoping I could create my own little girl! But guess what! As soon as I added water and stirred, there she was, by own little Bluebell!

Blossom turned the page.

March 12

I had to take my Bluebell to the clinic again! She was running a high fever. School has worked out nicely, and she had made friends. But she still is sick so much. It seems she's going to absent half the time! Maybe her condition has to do with how she was made! But I cannot tell anyone. They would only laugh at me, if I told them I made Bluebell out of seasoning. Everyone asks me who her father is. I've tried to tell them Bluebell is an orphan girl I've taken in, but I can tell they don't believe me. What I said is true, in a way. Bluebell has no one else in the world to care for her besides me! She is a delightful little girl, just like what I made her from. But her illnesses are growing worse by the day! I fear I may lose her before long!

April 5

Today is going be wonderful! I have the day off form work, and I'm going to take my little Bluebell to a special magic show at Townsville theatre. She'll sit up front with her friends form school. They said they'd all be there. She'd so excited! Everyone is talking about Al Lusion. They say he's the best. This is just the thing to keep her mind off her troubles at the clinic.

April 6

Terrible news! Everyone in town hates my little Bluebell. They say she killed Al Lusion. Bluebell is still crying her eyes out as I write this. She said it wasn't her fault, that she just wanted her teddy bear back, but the man slipped and fell into a coffin lined with spikes! Reporters have been at the house all day, asking about Bluebell, if she should be sent to jail. I've slammed the door in the faces three times already, but they won't leave. I fear this will have an effect on Bluebell's health, and that she may not be with me much longer.

Blossom flipped the pages, but they were blank! The diary of the little girl's mother was unfinished. But on the last page of the diary, there was a picture of Bluebell herself, attached by a paperclip. Blossom held it up.

They all stared at it and gasped.

The girl in the photo resembled at powerpuff. In fact, she looked very like Blossom herself.

"So that's why he thought I was her!" she gasped.

"But what happened to her?" Bubbles.

Blossom flipped the pages again. "It doesn't say… I guess she had all these health problems, and she must have died before she grew up."

"My gosh!" said Bubbles. "She was a 'puff all along!"

"No she wasn't." said Blossom. "See, you can see her nose. You can't on a real 'puff."

"But this lady made her form the same stuff the professor made us! That's what you read!"

Blossom shook her head. "Not quite. She left out one very important ingredient, remember? That's why she couldn't fly or shot lasers or have special abilities like us. All she added was water to the mix. But without Chemical X, she was just an ordinary girl. And I've a hunch that's why she had all those health problems and stuff. She needed Chemical X just to stay alive!"

"Whoa!" exclaimed Boomer, peering at the photo of the girl's face. "She sure looks like a 'puff! Just think, if we didn't have chemical X, we couldn't do any of that neat stuff, and we'd probably die before we grew up!"

"That's so sad!" said Bubbles, as she took the photo and stared at it. "Poor Bluebell! Her poor Mom didn't know what the professor does. Boomer's right, what if Mojo hadn't pushed the professor right before we were born! Maybe we'd end up like her!"

Blossom had fallen silent.

"Blossom….?"

Bubbles and Boomer each peered over their shoulders.

Blossom and Brick had vanished.

"Wha?" asked Boomer

"No!" cried Bubbles. "It's Abra-Cadaver! He's got them!"

"We've gotta find them! C'mon!"

"It's too late!" Bubbles wailed. "We'll never see them again!" But then she remembered hearing what the professor always told her in times of crisis. She had to conquer her fears.

"They've got to be around here someplace!" Boomer.

"Right!" Bubbles said, new determination her voice. "Let's go!"

They flew off, and began checking in the darkened, eerily silent rooms. They zipped back in the room with all the magic stuff. They were dreadfully afraid of finding matching cards with pictures of Brick and Blossom on them. They didn't, and this gave Bubbles a small measure of hope. But the fact remained that they were still missing. Soon they began to wonder: would they ever see their friends again? And it did seem like they were all friends now, stuck as they were in this terrible predicament, even though the Rowdyruff Boys were technically still evil. No—more than friends. Bubbles and Boomer now felt as though they were practically brother and sister, which was true in a way, as Mojo had a part in creating each of them. The temporary crushes they had on each other were forgotten; it was as thought they were family and they felt closer than ever.

They turned a corridor into a long, shadowed hall. A monstrous shadow, arms outstretched, loomed suddenly over them. Bubbles looked up—and screamed.

Boomer nearly did as well, but then he said. "Take it easy, sis! It's only one of those cool wax statues Blossom told us about!"

"Are…are..you sure?" she squeaked. Bubbles, still trembling, saw that he was right. It had certainly given her a scare though!

The statue was of one other than Al Lusion. He towered over them in his black hat and suit, arms out raised as though to zap them with a magic spell. His black eyes glittered evilly in the gloom, his grin malicious.

"Yeah!" sighed Boomer. "Had me going for a minute there too! Thought it was that Adraca-dude, come to get us! But look!" he tapped the statue. "See? No problem at all! He's nothing but wax!"

They gazed down the hall. It was lined with more wax dummies. They had arrived in the Marwell Wax museum. They floated down the long, spooky hall, their eyes shifting to each side. The eyes of the statues seemed to follow them as they went. Bubbles found herself imagining one of the ghastly sculptures suddenly lurching to horrid animation. But it never happened. Then she had another brief fleeting idea, one she did not car for! What if they encountered Blossom and Brick here-turned into wax dummies! But all the ones they saw were of adults. They were dressed in the clothes of another era 40s and 30s, and most of them looked like dead show-people. Bubbles kept on glancing at Boomer to make sure he was still there; if he were to vanish like the others, she would be on her own.

At the end of the hall they found another door. They pushed it and a swung in—a little too easily for Bubbles taste. Both of them gasped. They found this new room to be filled with magic devices—trick mirrors, sliding boxes with steel blades, chains of magic hoops, coffins lined with nails. There was a wax dummy of a magician performing levitation on a wax dummy of a curvaceous woman. And there was display of a box being sawed in half with another wax dummy inside. Unlike the other room, this one was set up like a museum—a museum of magic. They floated into the room, looking around unnervingly at the strange exhibits.

"I don't think they're here." Boomer said finally. "We better look some place else."

Bubbles gave a shriek. "Boomer! Look! Look there! Oooh!"

She covered her eyes and moaned.

Boomer stared straight ahead, not quite believing what he saw, not wanting to believe it.

In the center of the room was a display, bathed in eerie red light. It was a huge block of blue, translucent ice. And suspended in a hollowed out portion in the center of the ice block they saw—Blossom! Her eyes were closed, and her skin had started to turn bluish, like she was starting to suffer the deadly effects of hypothermia.

"Whoa, dude!" Boomer said.

"She's trapped!" shrieked Bubbles.

"We have super-strength! Remember? Let's bust her out!"

In a flash they shut for the ice-block, intent on hammering away at it until Blossom was free.

But they smacked into an invisible barrier, and fell smack on the floor.

"What gives!" said Boomer, then he gasped at what he saw behind them. They got to their feet, shakily, eyes wide with fresh horror.

A brand-new display had appeared behind them, facing the trapped Blossom. This was a gigantic hour-glass slowly filling with scarlet sand. And trapped within the hourglass, his eyes closed in a trance like Blossom, was Brick.

"Brick!" Boomer screamed. "Snap out of it, dude!" He began punching the glass, but it seemed impervious to his super-strength.

"We've got find a way to wake them up!" cried Bubbles. Then she shrieked again as another hideous shadow with long and crooked arms lurched over them.

They looked up. A monstrous wax sculpture loomed over them. Its eyes gleamed with an evil red-light like twin blood rubies.

Bubbles blinked. Had the sculpture been there before, or hadn't it? But was frozen, unmoving, and that meant it was a sculpture. Right?

But there was no mistaking who this one was. It was Abra-Cadaver. The same tattered cloths, the same claw-like fingers, the same corroded teeth, and bluish, decaying skin.

Bubbles pointed up at the frozen, leering figure. "Boomer…that, that's—"

"Abra-Cadaver!"

Bubbles and Boomer clutched each other, screaming. The undead thing lurched toward them, his shadow engulfing them as they screamed and cried, his unholy red eyes blazing.

"Thaaat's riiight!" groaned the zombie. "it iiiis I, Aaabra-Cadaaaver! The Zombie-Magician, come back for my revenge! I've taken care of yooooour brothers and sisters, one by one! Aaaand once I finish you two NOTHING will stand in the waaay of my vengeance!"

But the zombie's words had shocked them into action.

"Don't count on it, tomb-breath!" yelled Boomer.

"Yeah, get ready to have your zombie-butt whipped!" said Bubbles. They shot toward the evil magician.

But Abra-Cadaver shot a bolt of eldritch energy at them. Bubbles and Boomer screamed again, as the magic energy shocked their systems. They fell to the floor, dazed.

"Ah-haaaaah!" chortled the zombie in his graveyard voice. 'Yooooour powers are nothing against my black magic! Your sister once defeated my by a trick! By simple stage magic! But I haaaaave put heeer put of coooomissison. It will not haaaapen again! You are mine! Muhahahhaha!"

"Wanna bet?" Boomer said, screaming in rage. "Say your prayers, ! He shot at the magician again. .

But the zombie magician fired another mystic bolt. It tore into Boomer, causing him to wail in agony. Then he flopped lifelessly to the floor.

"Aaaaahaaah!" chortled the undead fiend. He leered down at Bubbles. "See what's done to your friend!"

Bubbles screamed in horror. Boomer was now merely a lifeless beanbag doll of himself. Bubbles seized up, staring as though heartbroken. Tears ran down her face as she stared at Boomer's lifeless stitched-on visage. .

"I guess they do make RRB plushies after aaaall!" laughed the zombie. Hahaha!"

She glared hatefully at the zombie, gathering herself to make a final lunge at him. All at once she had never hated anyone as much as she did the magician, for what he had done to her brothers and sisters.

"That's right, little bloooond braaaat! Aaaattack me!"

That woke her up. She had to fight this monster, and if she attacked like Boomer had, she's either end up like herself. If she were to save the others, she had to find some other way. But how? She could not trick him the way Blossom had; her sister had probably been reading some books on magic and had known how to stop him. Bubbles realized she didn't know a thing about magic. But for right now, she had to get away from him. Snatching up the Boomer plusie, she shot up through the ceiling, crashing through the floors of the Markwell building, until at last she felt the night air rushing past her.

She streaked out across Townsville. By now, night had fallen. Where could she go? Sadly, she looked down at "Boomer"snug in her arms. He might be cuddly as a doll, and for a brief moment she thought she liked him better now than back when they had been fighting each other. If Boomer did not ever become good, maybe she would prefer him this way.

Bubbles shook her head to clear it. No, she couldn't think that way. They had all gotten themselves until this mess, and she was now the only one who could get them out. All of the others were counting on her. "Don't worry, Boomer", she told the doll, even though Boomer was way past worrying. "I'll save you and your brothers—somehow!"

Then she remembered what Blossom had found out about the magician's past—about Bluebell, the little girl who ruined his career. She had been a 'puff. Well, a half-'puff anyway. What if she could find her, bring her back to life? There still aren't much they could do to defeat the evil zombie magician, but at least she would be on her own. And the magician wasn't counting on another 'puff.

She streaked for the professor's house. She whooshed in their bedroom window, and downstairs to the lab, snatching up a vial a Chemical X, she then tore off in the direction of Townsville Cemetery.

It took some searching, but at last Bubbles found it: A small grave for a child. Bubbles gasped.

Though small, the headstone was elaborately engraved with an elaborate mosaic of flowers and angels. It read:

Here lies my precious Bluebell

The Townsfolk never understood her

But she had at last found Peace

As they had feared, Bluebell must have died of complications that were due to her lack of Chemical X. Bubbles seared through the ground with her lasers. What the grave revealed was not a small coffin, but a small jar. Bubbles floated down and picked it up.

Inside were the ingredients with which Bluebell had been created; sugar spice and everything nice. Even her Mom had not known what her daughter really was.

Once she had died, poor little Bluebell had reverted to her basic components.

Bubbles set the jar on the ground, and placed the Boomer plushie beside it. She uncapped the lid, and then poured in the Chemical X. There was a blinding explosion.

Bubbles blinked. Bluebell stood before her, newly revived.

Her enormous puff-eyes were light lavender. Her hair was of the same shade and style as in her picture. Only now she lacked any visible nose or fingers. Her dress was now lavender with a black stripe across the middle. Her Mary Janes were the same as Bubbles' and her sisters.

Bubbles and Bluebell looked at ach other. "Hi, Bluebell." Bubbles said.

"Who…who are you?" Bluebell asked.

"My name is Bubbles." Bubbles said. "I'm your sister…sort of. I brought you back to life with Chemical X."

"What happened?" said Bluebell confusedly. "I remember walking to school, the day after Al Lusion died. And then those kids started yelling at me, saying that I killed him. But I didn't mean to! He took my teddy, and he wouldn't give it back. I found it in all that magic stuff in his suit. But everyone blamed me when he died."

"Don't feel too bad about that, Bluebell. If he took my teddy, I 'd have been mad at him too!"

"Yeah," said Bluebell. "But I didn't mean for it to happen! But everyone in town blamed me! Well, not everyone. But a lot of people hated me! When those kids starting saying I'd killed him—I-I must have fainted."

Bubbles said, "You must have blown up into what you were made of. That's why you were always getting sick. If you had Chemical X like me and my sisters do, that wouldn't have happened."

"Chemical X? I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'll tell you…."

Bubbles explained all about her sisters and Chemical X, and how Bluebell was really a 'puff, and how Al Lusion had come back as an evil zombie, and was out for revenge, and had already captured her sisters and the Rowdyruff Boys. Bubbles zipped through the air, and did some somersaults for her new friend.

"Wow!" cried Bluebell amazed. "That's fantastic! I wish I could do those things!"

"You can!" said Bubbles. "Just give it a try."

Bluebell rose of the ground. She gasped with amazement. Then she did some somersaults in the air, like Bubbles. She squealed with delight. "This is fun!"

'Yeah, it sure is!" agreed Bubbles. "But there's an evil zombie magician on the loose! We've got to stop him!"

"No!" cried Bluebell.

"What? But you have to! My friends are in trouble!"

Bluebell looked away. "No! Al Lusion died because of me! That's what caused all this trouble."

"But it wasn't your fault!" cried Bubbles. "You said so yourself."

"I know." The lavender 'puff sobbed. "But I'm not going anywhere near that magician again!"

Bubbles couldn't believe this. "What! You mean I flew out here and brought you back for nothing!"

"I don't want any new friends." said Bluebell. "I want to go home to my Mommy!"

Bubbles was about to retort, but then realized how deeply Bluebell and her Mommy must miss each other. Was her Mommy even still living? But she didn't have a chance to respond, for a familiar shadow of ghastly shape loomed over them.

Bubbles gasped. Bluebell screamed.

Abra-Cadaver loomed over them. Behind him, they saw the night sky had turned an unnatural, sickly crimson, the same shade as the dead magician's eyes.

"Whaaat have we here! Another puuuuuf? I thought I had taken all of you!"

Bubbles thought quickly. How could they defeat him? All their powers had not stopped him, and even with Bluebell back, what could they do? But she remembered what Blossom had said. Abra-Cadaver got his powers form a mystic amulet. Where was the amulet? "In the lid of his coffin"! That was it!

"Run, Bluebell!" Bubbles cried. They raced of in twin streaks of blue and lavender. The magician fired bolts of magic energy at them, as they hove and swirled. They swerved around the trunk of an old graveyard tree, its crooked limbs ghastly against the bloody sky. An eldritch bolt zapped it, transforming it into a tree from whose every limb bore a hangman's noose. Bluebell shrieked.

"Blast!" growled Abra-cadaver at the gallows-tree. "But you won't escape me for long!"

"There it is!" cried Bubbles, sliding to a halt in the air. She pointed to the grave of Abra-cadaver himself, the coffin lying open. Form here, they could see the gem set into the coffin's led, gleaming the same dull red as the transformed heavens. They streaked for it, and Bubbles pried it loose. Anther magic bolt struck the coffin, exploding it. The two girls raced off, now circling around the graveyard.

They reached the point where they had started. The Boomer plushie lay on the ground where Bubbles had placed it.

"Let's see if this thing really works!" Bubbles cried. She aimed the jewel at the plushie and concentrated on what she wanted to happen.

A bolt of crimson light shot from the stone. It zapped the doll, and in a flash Boomer stood there, back to his regular self.

"Whoa, dude!"

The girls hove down and landed in front of him. Bubbles almost kissed him, but she remembered that he might explode, so she gave him a hug instead.

"Hey, watch it! None of your girly-hugs!"

"Sorry 'bout that Boomer." said Bubbles. "I'm just glad you're back."

"Yeah, me too! Hey what happened? And who's this?"

"This is Bluebell my new friend. Do you recognize her?"

Boomer's eyes widened a bit. "You mean?"

"Yeah." Said Bubbles. She briefed him about how the magician had turned him into a plushie, and how she had revived Bluebell with Chemical –X.

"I'm finished toying with you!" raged the magician.

They gazed up to see Abra-Cadaver looming over them again. "Now youuuuu diiie!" he growled.

Bubbles looked at Bluebell, but the new Powerpuff only stared in shock at the evil necromancer, looking about to burst into tears. She seemed not at all like Bubbles' sisters, always willing to charge into battle; she seemed like a normal little girl after all. But then Bubbles remembered she had the amulet; she could save them.

She focused the jewel on the leering zombie, and focused her thoughts….

A magic bolt blasted the amulet form her.

"Nooo!" Bubbles cried.

The kids seized each other, as the magician loomed over them. Abracadaver removed his crooked hat. He reached in, and pulled forth a mangy, undead white rabbit, one eye missing, and its fur matted with grave-dirt.

"Eeeew!" Bluebell said.

The small, zombified animal hopped toward them. The rancid odor of the grave came off it. Bubbles felt she was about to be sick. She loved all small and cuddly things, but this foul perversion was more than she could stand.

Way more. Another undead rabbit bounced out of the hat, this one with stitching in its fur, like it had come apart at the seams, and had been sloppily stitched back together. More of the moth eaten rabbits poured forth, all in various degrees and conditions of decay, until there was a veritable army of them, all rushing in an undulating wave toward the three kids.

"Whoa! Attack of the Killer Bunnies!" aid Boomer. "Gag-a-ramma!"

The rabbits flew at them, claws extanded, corroded incisors gaping.

Bubbles and Boomer launched themselves to the attack. Fur flew as they smashed into the attacking lagomorphs, knocking the zombie-rabbits aside with lethal efficiency. At last the entire horde of them incapacitated. Bubbles and Boomer readied themselves for more. "Bring it on!" Boomer said.

"Glaaaaaaaaadly" chortled the magician. "I have other tricks up my sleeve!" This time the zombie magician waved his hands. And a pack of deadly playing cards materialized out of thin air. They sliced toward Bubbles and Boomer. The two kids shrieked as the cards sliced into them. They were not ordinary cards; their edges were as sharp as a blade.

The kids were stunned for an instant. But then they turned their lasers on the flying death cards. They exploded them one after another, until the entire deck was destroyed.

But the magician merely laughed. "I haaaven't eeeven started with you two!"
He fired a bolt at Bubbles. An instant later, she found herself trapped within a solid glass coffin set in a deep grave. She hammered he fists against the shield-like lid, but it was beyond her strength. And above, she could see and army of zombies, shoveling grave-dirt in over her.

Abra-Cadaver, smirking horribly, fired this time at Boomer, and a trick box sprung up around him. Boomer found himself trapped in the box. At the magician's whim a saber appeared and sliced through eh box, nearly skewering him.

"Yeeeooow!" Boomer shrieked.

Another one slide through the box, further constricting the space inside. Then another, forcing Boomer back into the corner. Then another sword sliced through over his head, neatly parting his blond hair. "Get me out!" he screamed.

A tide of panic swept over Bubbles. The blackened dirt was pouring over the sides, as the chitterling fiends continued to shovel it in.

Then she remembered. The jewel!

And Bluebell was still free.

"Bluebell!" Bubbles screamed. "listen to me! Get the jewel!"

"The jewel?" Bluebell shrieked, her voice full of confusion. "Where?"

"Find it!" screamed Bubbles. "Find it, and destroy it! Hurry! Or we'll all die!

Bluebell didn't know at first what to do. She had never had super-powers, didn't know how to use them. But she had seen Bubbles use the jewel to revive her friend, had seen the magician blast it away. Where had it gone?

She began casting her eyes around for it.

"Help us!" she heard Bubbles shriek.

There! A few feet away, under the gallows-tree. Something red flashed in the ruddy light. Bluebell streaked toward.

Abra-Cadaver aimed his fingers at Bluebell. "You won't escape me!"

Bluebell found the jewel. She scooped it up, then looked the magician, who was preparing another blast at her. And in that instant, Bluebell realized what she must do.

She tossed the jewel high into the air. Up it flew, somersaulting over and over.

Bluebell trained her eyes on it. And concentrated. She felt the power of X-derived energy flaring up in her system, concentrating into her vision. It was incredible power, power she never dreamed she could possess.

Twin lasers of violet shot out of Bluebell's eyes. They struck the blood-colored jewel simultaneously. The jewel exploded in an explosion of crimson shards.

Instantly, Bubbles and Boomer were free. The crimson sky wavered, then slowly reverted back to the normal velvety blackness of Townsville at night, scattered with gadzillions of stars.

"What!" screamed the magician. "Whaaat have youuuu done!"

"I've beaten you!" Bluebell shot back, defiance in her voice. "I've beaten just like when you took my teddy bear, and wouldn't give him back!"

"You!" raged the magician. "You're the one I want!" He reached his scraggly claws for her.

Bubbles and Boomer smashed into him. They socked him in his midsection. The magician rose, trying to fire off more magic bolts. But he managed only a few sparks. Bubbles and Boomer looked at one another, giggling. Then they grew wicked smiles on their faces. They slammed into the evil zombie again. Boomer wrenched off one of the undead magician's arms. Using it as a club, he slammed it into Abra-Cadaver, crashing him to the ground. They laid into him again, pounding and pulverizing. Bubbles smashed into the zombie's head, making it explode like an overripe pumpkin. Gooey zombie brains spurted out juicily. Boomer skewered the zombie through the collapsed chest with the severed limb. "This is for me and my bros!" he screamed.

But the zombie was past hearing. As Bubbles and Boomer floated up, they saw the dismembered parts of Abra-Cadaver twitch and lay still. With the jewel destroyed, unlife had fled the magician once again.

At last it was over.

Bubbles and Boomer looked at each other, then at Bluebell.

"You did it, Bluebell." Bubbles told her. "You saved us!"

"Yeah….I really did!" said Bluebell. "I can't believe it! All that stuff about superpowers. It's true…"

"And now you can join our team, and live with us at the professor's house!"

"The professor…?"

"He's our Daddy. Wait to you meet him. He'll love to meet you, Bluebell."

"But…what about my Mommy!" said Bluebell.

"I don't know!" said Bubbles. "We'll try to find her…if we can."

Just then they noticed four streaks of light, two red and tow green flashing toward the, Seconds later, Butch Buttercup, Blosoom, and Brick landed in front of them.

"Whoa!" said Blossom. "Where were you guys! And who's this? It looks like…."

"Wait till I tell you." said Bubbles.

Days later, things had returned to normal. Professor Utonium found out that Bluebell's mom had apparently left town long ago, and where she had gone, and whether she was still living, no one knew. For the time being, he agreed to allow Bluebell to stay with the Girls at his house.

Meanwhile, things were pretty normal for the Rowdyruff Boys as well…except for one little thing.

"I think you guys had better start being nicer to me." He said one morning, the RRB's pad in Mojo's volcano.

"Oh yeah?" asked Brick. "Why is that, barf-bag?"

Butch snickered, same as always, like he thought Brick was the cleverest person in the world.

""Cuz now I got this." Boomer held up something for his brothers to see. Brick peered at it. It looked like a small shard of bright red glass.

"So? What is it?"

"Duh! Part of that jewel-thing the magician used on us! I kept a shard of it, and if you guys don't start treating me better, stop calling me "stupid", and stop bossing me around, and calling me "stupid", I'll use it on you!"

"Ha!" laughed Brick. "It's busted, you moron!"

"Yeah, what are you gonna do, turn us into toads or something!" laughed Butch.

"Naaaaaw! I was thinking more like.." he focused the shard at Butch. There was a flash of light.

Butch had taken on the form of a small pink, furry rabbit with a twitchy nose. "Haha! Boomer laughed. "You look adorable Butch! I oughta invite Bubbles over now! She'd really get a load of you!"

"Huh?" asked Butch in his low voice. "What gives? What are you guys staring at!"

Then he looked down and himself. "AAAAARGH!"

Brick was pointing at the transformed Butch and laughing.

Boomer slyly pointed the jewel at him. "Oh, and what was that you just called me, bro? Moron? Are you sure I'm the moron, Brick?" There was another flash of light. Then Butch started laughing at Brick.

"Huh!" asked Brick, startled. Then he saw that his hair was in girly-looking braids, and there were flowers stuck in it. He glowered at Boomer, pulling back a fist, "Why youuuuu…"

"uh-uh-uuh" said Boomer, aiming the jewel at him.

Brick stopped. "Hey, at least change us back, bro! C'mon, be a pal, don't leave us like this!"

"Sure!" laughed Boomer. "Just as soon as you promise to do all my chores for today!"

"No way!" they yelled.

"Way." said Boomer, holding up the jewel.

"Alright! Alright! We'll do it!"

Boomer changed them both back, and made sure they got right to work. "Haha!" Boomer laughed to himself, as he looked at the jewel. "Things are going to get pretty interesting around here!"

And so once again, the day is saved, thanks to….. Bluebell!