Caught in the Crossfire
By Kevin Larry Ivy
I don't own the Powerpuff girls or any related characters. I do own Leviathan, Glyja, Beelzebub, Sezu, Kisu, Delu, the Four Swords of the Heavens, and the six dark puffs.
Blaze sits in a bathtub filled with scalding hot bubbly water. She lifts some of the bubbles then blows them off her hands. She lies back and sighs in content, listening to the soft music playing in her room, just through the bathroom door. She looks at her hand and deep in her blue-white eyes a tiny ember appears. She watches as a small flame appears in her hand. She watches it dance, smiling gently. This is her gift…something she could actually do that her sisters couldn't. Her sisters are stronger than her…prettier than her (in her eyes anyway)…smarter than her…they are perfect and she is just a freak. But they can't do this. She makes the flame take the shape of two figures dancing. They can't do this; they can't control and make fire like she can. While she makes it dance, she unconsciously begins singing along to the song playing in her room.
"There's a little black spot on the sun today…" she murmurs to herself, making the flame change shape again, this time becoming Belial. Blaze chokes back a sob and watches the little flame walk up her arm and stop on her shoulder. She sits up and pulls her knees up to her chest. The Flame-Belial sits on her shoulder and leans toward her, kissing her on the cheek. Blaze begins crying; losing her concentration and making the flame disappear. While she's crying the temperature in the room begins heating up. It's reaches a temperature most people couldn't survive, but to Blaze it goes entirely unnoticed.
"It's not fair. I always try to be a good girl and do what Daddy tells me…why does this always happen to me? Why does Belial have to be our enemy? Maybe it's because I'm a freak…this is my punishment…" Someone banging on the door suddenly snaps her out of her thoughts.
" Hey Freak! Get dressed, Father has another job for you!" Blaze listens to Blood walk away and just sits there for a few moments. She drains the water, and begins quickly drying herself off, then dressing even quicker. If anything, she knows she doesn't want Blood or Blitz to have to come back and remind her that Father wants to see her. She quickly slips on her shoes, taking off out of her room at a fast walk. She can't imagine why Father would possibly want her to do, especially after she blew her last trip to earth by being captured by Belial. She gets a dreamy look in her eyes remembering the incident again. Hopefully Father wants her to go to Earth then she can run into Belial again!
She enters the throne room, which is situated in the very center of the lowest part of Hell, and walks nervously toward the throne itself. Leviathan is seated on it, laughing to himself while looking into an orb of some sort he holds in his claw. Blaze looks at the orb, trying to figure out what's so special about it. Looking into it, she can see a scene of some sort. To her, it looked like a giant monster fighting the Powerpuff Girls, only they looked a little different…nothing she could place her finger on but there was a difference. Leviathan's eyes begin burning darker red; the three girls in the orb begin glowing – the one who looks like Blossom glowing pink, the one who looks like Buttercup glowing green, and the one who looks like Bubbles glowing blue – and the giant monster begins screaming…some unearthly cry of rage and hatred, nothing else can be heard in it. Then…Blaze watches as shards of glass smash against the floor. Leviathan opens his claw and let's the rest of the glass fall out. He begins laughing once more as the shards of glass suddenly burst into black flames. Blaze stares at these flames, entranced by them. Then they fade away, waking her to the world around her. She looks back at Leviathan and gulps. Leviathan doesn't even look at her; he just leans back in his throne and begins forming another orb in his claw.
"I'm giving you another chance Blaze. I want you to go to Townsville and kill those Powerpuff Girls. If you fail, I can assure you, you'll know the true meaning of Hell." Blaze trembles and nods quickly, before vanishing in a flash of fire. When she's gone, two blue lights appear in the darkness to Leviathan's right. In the dark, a jester's mask and a silhouette can be seen.
"You don't really think she can kill the goddesses do you?" It asks Leviathan. The lord of Hell laughs, his voice raising several octaves and becoming snake-like.
"You must be joking. I don't plan on Blaze succeeding at all. However…you know how I love to add fuel to a fire." The Jester laughs, the eyehole's burning brighter blue.
"Yes, you do have a tendency to do just that. I suppose we can watch the little weakling go from ashes to inferno in mere moments." Leviathan grins and looks into the new orb, which is showing him Blaze.
"That was my plan."
Townsville
Blaze appears in Townsville, still trembling from her meeting with her father. She breathes heavily as she walks down the sidewalk. Not just the fear of her punishment if she fails, but the thought of what she has to do to succeed. Unlike her sisters, hell unlike the entire army of Hell she had never killed a person in her entire life. She vaguely recalled someone making her mad when she was younger and getting in a fight with her…but she'd been beaten within an inch of her life, and if it hadn't been for who she was she would've been killed. Blood and Blitz had 'of course' not done anything to help her. After that she'd pretty much just stayed on the sidelines in the war, only doing meaningless errands and reconnaissance missions. Up until they started in Townsville she'd been able to stay away from her father's bad side.
But now…he'd never asked her to do something like this, probably because she is so weak compared to her sisters, both physically and morally. She is a demon so that means she is supposed to be an uncontrollable killer and soldier of the burning Hells. But when she'd had the chance to fight someone so much weaker than she is she instead just tickled her. Blood had of course done her job and beat the living hell out of Buttercup. If they had had more time, Blood would have killed her.
Blaze sighs and continues down the sidewalk. She knows where the girls' house was, so she figured she'd just go there and start a fight or something. She looks up at the sky and sees three streaks of light go by. She gulps and turns around, noticing that the blue streak had stopped. Even without her super vision, Blaze knows that Bubbles is floating there…glaring at her. The other two fly back to their sister's side, and talk amongst one another. Now the other two look at Blaze, then back at Bubbles. Blaze gulps again, feeling the terror rising in her gut. The puffs land and stand across from Blaze. Blaze tries to keep herself from shaking, knowing that would just make things worse. Blaze continues just standing there, almost shaking, while the puffs ready themselves.
"She's just standing there…maybe it's a trap or something?" asks Buttercup. Bubbles doesn't take her eyes off Blaze, keeping her own kind of fear in check. Blossom watches Blaze's body language and can see that the Darkpuff is just barely trembling.
"Then why is she so afraid of us? I mean, our enemies have done some stupid things before. Maybe they sent her and JUST her to fight us?" Buttercup shrugs and scratches the back of her head.
"So let's just kick her butt and get her in a containment field or something," A sly smile slowly works its way onto Blossom's face. She nudges Bubbles in the side, making her jump.
"Hey Bubbles…how 'bout we get this Darkpuff back for tickling you?" Bubbles stares at Blossom for a few moments. One could almost see the gears in her head turning. Her eyes widen slightly, as a large smile works its way to her face.
"Really? You think it'll work?" Blossom grins and nods.
"I know it'll work, and think about it. This time we don't have to be on the receiving end." Buttercup grins as well; she and Bubbles nod and turn back to Blaze, still grinning. Blaze unconsciously takes a step back, feeling both fear and strangely excitement building up in her. Her eyes widen when she recognizes that excitement. She only felt that when…
"Oh no…please don't…I have to win this time…please not that…" she whispers to herself, her eyes beginning to water and spill over. Without any warning the puffs fly at her, making her practically scream in fear. Buttercup is the first one to hit her. She instantly grabs Blaze's waist and begins squeezing and goosing it. Blaze screams and begins laughing as she falls backward due to Buttercup's force. Blossom lands near Blaze's head and pulls her arms above her. She adjusts herself so that she's now sitting on Blaze's arms with perfect access to her poor sensitive armpits. Blossom begins slowly scribbling and scratching the ticklish skin, making Blaze laugh harder. Blaze bucks and tries to kick, but Buttercup is now sitting on her thighs, tickling her stomach and ribs fast and hard, completely opposite to the way Blossom is tickling her armpits. Bubbles sits down in front of Blaze's wiggling feet. She drags one finger up and down, along the soles of Blaze's flip-flops, making her scream and laugh harder. Bubbles tosses both of Blaze's flip-flops off and begins scribbling her fingers over her feet. Blaze screams and laughs, cries and bucks, but all of it is to no avail. She can't overpower all three of them together, and the fact that she's being tickled in three places at once makes her concentration practically moo.
"Giddy, Giddy, Giddy, Tickle, Tickle, Tickle little Blaze," says Bubbles in a mocking singsong voice. Blaze stops struggling and just lies there laughing and crying. Her face is now bright red and streaked with tears. Buttercup is now spider walking her fingers across Blaze's belly slowly and gently. Blossom continues to tickle her armpits slowly and gently as well. Bubbles has quickly discovered that Blaze's toes get an even better reaction than the soles of her feet do, and is focusing on them. While she lies there laughing and crying at the three puffs' total mercy, Blaze's mind begins wandering.
"If you fail, I can assure you, you'll know the true meaning of Hell" Blaze tries to block out the memories…but they begin coming fast and uncontrollably, like a dam that is breaking.
"I can't believe Father is making me work with your pathetic ass. Why couldn't Blitz come with me? At least she's not a pansy ass wimp like you, Blaze" Blaze cries harder, now the memories fueling her tears more than the tickling is.
"Oh sick! What's up with these pictures Blaze? Ewww I always knew you were a freak, but…ewww! Blood! You aren't going to believe what Blaze was looking at!" Blaze's cheeks burn red with embarrassment. That little incident was the beginning of the hell her sisters put her through.
"EEK! Don't tickle me you little queer! I'm not some sick freak like you!" Something inside Blaze begins leaking out. She opens her eyes for just a second…revealing that her pupils and irises are gone. Now only solid white remains.
"Give me Fuel! Give me Fire! Give me that which I DESIRE!" Her eyes open wide…and deep in them a tiny flame can be seen. An explosion of burning white-hot fire erupts around her, sending the puffs flying. They sit up, dizzy and a little off-balance from that sudden explosion. They look at the spot where Blaze once was and see a colossal tower of blue-white fire, shooting into the heavens.
"Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-" says Bubbles, who is trembling.
"What h-h-happened!" asks Buttercup, also trembling. Blossom just shakes her head, not wanting to risk stuttering out something incoherent like Bubbles. The flames explode outward, revealing Blaze, who has undergone a transformation of sorts. Her eyes now have blue-white flames burning deep within them, but clearly visible to the puffs. Her body has the same fire arcing around her. Blaze's eyes are narrowed dangerously, her teeth gnashing together as she growls…violently and demonically. She throws her head back and screams in anger and hatred. Her body becomes engulfed by the flames once more, but this time they stay around her, creating a barrier of blue-white flames. Blaze looks back at them; her eyes are now no longer eyes. They are now two balls of blue-white fire. She lands on the ground, which explodes into flames when her bare feet touch it.
"Oh God…" says Bubbles
"Oh shit…" says Buttercup at the same time as Bubbles. Blossom opens her mouth to tell them to scatter, but at that very moment, Blaze's fist crashes into her stomach, driving all of the wind from her lungs. Blossom floats there in midair, not moving as she holds her stomach. She gasps air back into her lungs, but quickly loses it when Blaze backhands her and sends her flying. Blossom slams into a nearby building, aching from the attacks and the third degree burns that accompany them. Blaze throws a kick at Buttercup, who ducks and watches a trail of fire follow Blaze's leg. She tries to throw her own attack at the Darkpuff, but Blaze catches her fist and begins crushing it. Buttercup breathes heavily and gasps in pain from the bones cracking and the burns. Blaze tosses her into Bubbles, and the two crash into Blossom. They all stand up, but at that moment Blaze slams her fists into Bubbles and Blossom's stomachs, while her knee hits Buttercup in the chin. She vanishes in a flash of fire, hitting the girls from behind with a burst of blue-white flame that extends from the aura surrounding her. The girls are sent flying apart, as Blaze vanishes again. Buttercup scrambles to her feet, and is quickly assaulted by a fierce flurry attack from Blaze. She tries to stand, swaying back and forth weakly, but Blaze quickly ends her attempt at fighting back by punching her in the face, knocking her out and sending her flying. Blaze vanishes in another flash of fire.
Bubbles coughs and tries to catch her breath while trying to stand up. Blaze appears in front of her and kicks her in the stomach, knocking her up to her level. She then elbows her in the back, knees her in the gut, grabs her hair, and punches her in the face, knocking her out. She then throws her at Buttercup, who is still flying through the air, and vanishes.
Blossom stands up and looks around for Blaze. She turns around in a complete circle, then shrieks when Blaze suddenly appears in front of her. Without wasting time, Blaze punches Blossom in the stomach, jabs her in the throat, punches her across the face a few times, then brings her hands down on the back of Blossom's neck, knocking her out. She throws her toward her sisters, so the three will collide soon. She vanishes and appears in the sky. She growls and puts her hands in front of her as a huge amount of fire builds up in her hands. She then fires a colossal beam at them, which creates a devastating explosion.
When the light fades away, Townsville has a large crater in the middle of the road, with much of the surrounding neighborhood destroyed or ruined. Blaze's fiery aura fades away and her eyes return to normal. She looks around her, then down at the crater, gasping when she sees what had happened. Well…how it happened she isn't sure, but she's not complaining. Blaze grabs her flip-flops, which have remained miraculously unharmed in the little firestorm that had just taken place. In a flash of fire, Blaze vanishes…leaving the Townsville citizens to wander amongst the destruction and wander what happened to their heroes.