Caught in the Crossfire
By Kevin Larry Ivy
I don't own the Powerpuff girls or any related characters. I do own Leviathan, Sezu, Kisu, Delu, Glyja, Beelzebub, and the six dark puffs.
A/N: Sorry about the horribly long wait, I've just been having a lazy spell. I hope I can get this story finished sometime in the near future.

Bomb and the bird demon are still flying through the air above the ruined city. Bomb has given up thrashing, unable to do anything but completely submit to the unbearable red feathers tickling her defenseless upper body. Tears are streaming down her hot, red cheeks as her hysterical laughter gets to the point where it is just painful silent laughter. Her sides are aching; heck her whole body is sore from being unable to stop laughing. The bird demon giggles evilly, still enjoying every second of her captive's suffering. Bomb jerks back, her muscles twitching for some reason. The air near the two suddenly explodes violently, making the bird demon scream and fly away. She growls and begins tickling Bomb more, figuring Bomb was trying to get away. Unbeknownst to the bird demon, Bomb is completely losing control of her powers, and that explosion had been a mild spasm from her hysterical state.

Hours seem to fly by as Bomb slowly continues to laugh herself insane, possibly even to death from being unable to catch her breath. She suddenly jerks again, another explosion rocking the ground. The bird growls again; the explosions keep getting closer, so again she assumes it was Bomb's conscious attempt to get free. Once more she picks up the pace of her tickling, pushing Bomb further away from recovery. Bomb arches her back and screams as a massive explosion goes off between the two. The bird demon screams in pain as she is sent flying far away from Bomb. Bomb falls face first on the ground, still giggling, though now moaning in pain. She pushes herself up, weakly stumbling to her feet. Slowly she recovers, her powers once more coming back to her control.

The bird demon sits up and screams again. Her wings have been torn to bloody ribbons from the explosion. The pain shooting through her body is unlike anything she'd felt before. Her eyes watering she climbs to her feet, screaming in pain again and falling to her knees. Apparently one of her legs is broken as well. Bomb turns around and looks at the bird demon, an impish grin finding its way to her face. She gets down into a take-off position, an explosion going off at her feet sending her flying forward. She pulls her feet up and moments before she is about to hit the bird demon, another explosion goes off beneath her feet. This one sends her flying back, while also sending the bird demon flying.

Bomb pulls her legs up to her chest, giggling excitedly as another explosion goes off sending her upward at an angle. She bounces around like this for a few minutes, resembling a pinball. Then she thrusts her legs out, another explosion sending her back toward the bird demon. The bird demon is just now attempting to stand again. She looks up in time to be clotheslined by Bomb. Bomb puts her feet out to skid to a halt and twists her body around. Another explosion goes off at her feet, sending her back at the bird demon, nailing her hard in the back of the head with her fist. She spins and thrusts her hands out; creating an explosion that sends the bird demon flying. Bomb skids to a halt and giggles to herself.

"This is fun, I should've tried this a long time ago!" She salutes and an explosion goes off beneath her, sending her into the air laughing. She again begins to bounce herself around in the air by means of the explosions she creates in the air, which are completely harmless to her. While she is doing this, the bird demon manages to recover, growling at how childish Bomb is acting. She tries to stumble away, but in that instant she is tackled by Bomb. Bomb sits on her bare stomach grinning at the bird demon, who moans in pain from her torn up wings being pushed into the dirt. Bomb pokes her in the side, grinning as that spot suddenly explodes. The bird demon arches her back and screams in pain. Bomb giggles semi-sadistically and begins poking the demon all over her upper body (not really picky about where she pokes on the bird demon's bare chest). She stops and grins at the bird demon.

"So you wanna guess which spots are gonna go boom?" The bird demon begins crying, trying to crawl out from under Bomb. Bomb grins and leans closer. "Boom!" A spot on the demon's body suddenly explodes, making her scream again. "Boom! Boom! Boom!" Three spots explode on the demon's body, making her scream and cry more. Bomb grins evilly and takes a deep breath. The demon screams and tries to claw away. Bomb suddenly leans in real close to the demon, her hands on the demon's shoulders. "Boom…" she whispers in the demon's ear. There is an earth-shattering scream as Bomb is hurled into the air laughing by the resulting explosion. Bomb lands on her butt on the ground, still laughing. She gets up and wanders off, whistling while she walks away from the crater left by the bird demon's explosion.

The Dark Plains

Blossom has long since lost her voice under the hellish tickle torture Succubus and the plant are inflicting on her. Her poor feet are a bright shade of pink from the millions of bristly vines covering them with tickly wrath. Succubus is giggling and grinning the whole time she continues to tickle Blossom's quivering tummy. The other vines don't go unnoticed as they also continue their torture. Blossom is crying hysterically, unable to do anything but squeak once in a while. She can't even feel all of her godlike power flowing in her anymore. The tickling had totally drained her of all her energy.

"Awww…is the poor baby too weak to fight back? Well that's too bad because I'm having the time of my life!" Succubus giggles and floats down, blowing a raspberry on Blossom's belly button. Blossom jerks and falls back into her limp laughing. Succubus slowly blows raspberry's up Blossom's stomach, then on her ribs, then her neck, then stops with her face inches from Blossom's, still tickling her belly with her hands. Something about Blossom's tear stained, red face is turning Succubus on like nobodies business. Succubus half-closes her eyes as she dances around the thought of taking Blossom right there on the ground while still helpless and tickled by her plant. An explosion sounds through the plains, shocking Succubus out of her thoughts. She sits up and stops tickling Blossom, who is still being tortured by the plant. Succubus growls at the thought of her excitement being interrupted. She looks back down at Blossom, growling seductively at her incredibly attractive captive. The fact that Blossom is only ten years old doesn't mean a thing to a sex-demon like Succubus.

Another explosion, this one echoed by the screams of the pit lords and other demonic creatures. Succubus snarls angrily and looks in the direction of the explosions for the person stupid enough to interrupt her fun. To her surprise a girl a little shorter than Blossom with red hair, faded black in a few places, is walking toward her. Her yellow eyes brim with impish glee as she skips along through the plains, blowing up anything she passes with near-sadistic glee. Succubus recognizes her as one of the other girls that had come to destroy Leviathan. She laughs a little at the thought.

"No one can beat Leviathan! He's invincible!" she says softly to herself as she resumes tickling Blossom, quickly becoming taken by her primal urges once more. Before this can continue for long, however, another explosion goes off in Succubus's face, sending her flying backward through the air. She stops and looks up just in time to see a fist smash into her nose. Bomb giggles and pulls her fist back, grinning at Succubus. Succubus growls and thorn-covered vines shoot from the ground around Bomb. Unlike Blossom, who was trapped by the vines grabbing her, these more dangerous vines explode seconds after touching Bomb. Succubus gulps and soon finds herself being flung into the air by an explosion created beneath her. Bomb appears above her and begins playing ping-pong with Succubus in mid-air.

Succubus slams into the ground, bleeding horribly from all of the explosions. She weakly pushes herself up, gulping back tears of pain while she does so. Bomb appears in front of her and shakes her head mockingly.

"Wow, you need some fiber or something, cause you break way too easily," A few tears leak down Succubus's face. Bomb shrugs and pokes her in the forehead, knocking her backward. The second she lands on her back she explodes, which bring another childish giggle from Bomb. She turns around and finds herself laughing again as she watches Blossom suffer at the roots of the tickling plant. She walks up, grinning, and sits down at Blossom's feet, watching the plant do its work. She laughs and pokes the plant, which explodes seconds later. Blossom slumps back on the ground, gasping for air and giggling. She pushes herself up on her elbows and giggles a little while wiping her eyes.

"Th-Thanks B-Bomb," Bomb giggles and leans forward with her elbows on her legs.

"Hey no problem, we're workin' together right?" Blossom nods and sighs, falling on her back in exhaustion. Bomb grins and grabs Blossom's ankle, making her shriek in surprise. That shriek quickly turns into loud laughs and giggles as Bomb begins lightly tickling Blossom's foot. Blossom pounds her hands on the ground laughing and trying to pull her foot away from Bomb, without really trying. Bomb stops after only a few minutes, grinning and giggling. "That's for when you tickled Battly a few days ago," Blossom laughs and sits up.

"Alright fine, we're even," She giggles and yawns. Bomb gets up and tosses Blossom her socks, then goes to retrieve her shoes, which had been flung a little further. Blossom slips her socks on, then ducks when one of her shoes comes flying in almost hitting her in the head. Bomb sweatdrops and giggles nervously as she walks up and hands Blossom her other shoe. Blossom laughs and stands up. She brushes off her clothes and stretches. "So do you know where the others are?" Bomb shakes her head.

"I was kinda just wandering around when I found you. I have no clue where anyone else is…I'm worried about Battle, she gets really scared when she's out alone," Blossom nods and the two set off in some random direction, hoping it will lead them to the others.

For seemingly hours they walk around the dank, desolate plains. They mostly walk in silence, feeling a little uncomfortable around each other, even after the way they'd played around when Bomb saved Blossom. Their wandering had led them back to the city Bomb had appeared in, but still no sign of the others. Aside from the random demon encounter (which lasted about a fraction of a second due to both of them being incredibly powerful) their trip had been very uneventful. Blossom sighs and looks up at the sky. Bomb glances at her, then looks back onto their path.

"You know…it's not like the answer is gonna be up there in neon lights," Blossom laughs a little and turns to Bomb.

"Yeah…but I'm getting worried, this is taking way too long," Bomb nods. Suddenly the ground gives out beneath Blossom, who vanishes into the hole she'd fallen into. Bomb peaks into the hole, getting down on her hands and knees to look in.

"Blossom? Are you okay?" Blossom's voice shouts back from deep within the hole.

"Just peachy! But I think we should check down here, we might find something!" Bomb nods, though Blossom can't see this, and jumps down the hole. Blossom screams as Bomb lands on her and knocks them both to the ground. Bomb laughs sheepishly and climbs off Blossom, helping her up as well. They are now in a dark cave filled with puddles of water. They pick a direction through a very complicated means and head down that way.

"Geez Bomb, you're pretty good at Rock-Paper-Scissors," Comments Blossom. Bomb laughs and puts her hands behinds her head.

"Well…yeah, yeah I am." As they are walking, Bomb suddenly shrieks when she steps in a puddle. She curses the water and kicks it, getting Blossom wet in the process. They wander back down the path, now a little wet, and come across a large room with water against the right and left walls.

"Huh…this is suspicious." Says Blossom. Bomb nods and looks around. Blossom notices a shoe nearby, and sweatdrops when she realizes it is Bubbles'. She looks up, laughing when she sees the sight above them.

Bubbles is red in the face and crying hysterically as the octopus demon continues to tickle her insane. Bubbles, like Blossom and Bomb, has lost her voice from the relentless tickling and is unable to move in the least from fatigue. A searing pink beam suddenly shoots from below, vaporizing the octopus. Bubbles shrieks as she falls out of the sky. She lands in someone's arms and screams in surprise. She looks up and sees Blossom's friendly pink eyes looking back at her.

"Blossom!" Bubbles throws her arms around Blossom's neck and hugs her. She climbs out of Blossom's arms, then promptly squeals and jumps back in her arms when her feet touch the cold ground. Blossom laughs and hands Bubbles her shoes. Once they are on, Bubbles steadies herself on the ground and smiles at Blossom. Bomb is examining the wall on that blocks their path. She puts her ear against it, hissing from the cold at first. She knocks on it a few times, then smiles and punches it. The second her fist hits it, the wall crumbles revealing a dark path.

"Hey! This is the way we should go…I think…" Blossom and Bubbles join her in staring into the black abyss awaiting them.

"…So how'd you two get free?" asks Bubbles as the three wander through what appears to be a very old tomb. They had been following a path through the cave and somehow ended up here, with no clue what to expect. Judging by the scorch marks and dents along the walls, something had been through here recently, hopefully Buttercup or Battle.

"My powers kinda went floopy so I got away from this stupid bird thing that was tickling me. After I blew her up I found Blossom and blew up the demon tickling her, then we were walking around and somehow accidentally found that cave you were in," says Bomb. Blossom nods, and so does Bubbles. They continue walking around, still totally lost in the maze of the tomb.

The three turn the corner, running from the hostile legion of the undead following them.

"WHY did you make that corpse explode Bomb!" shouts Blossom. Bomb grins and shrugs. They turn around the corner and press against the wall as some of the zombies and skeletons run by. Bubbles gulps and peeks around the corner, only to have a rusty sword come crashing down on her neck. She doesn't flinch, just blasts the skeleton with her eyebeams.

"Okay it's clear now," they move around the corner, only to find an army of skeletons waiting for them. The three gulp and fire their eyebeams at them, before taking off down the hall. Soon they have billions upon billions of undead soldiers chasing them. Bomb suddenly swerves down a corridor, leaning out and pulling Blossom and Bubbles in too. They run down the hall, to a large door marked with a skull and cross-bones. They push the door open and run in, helping it close behind them once they are all in. They slump against the wall and breath a sigh of relief.

Buttercup is still laughing hard and loud as the demon continues to tickle her relentlessly. Blossom, Bubbles, and Bomb sweatdrop at the sight. Bubbles fires her eyebeams at the demon, knocking it away from Buttercup and into the opposite wall, where it is vaporized. Buttercup falls forward and continues laughing for a little while longer. She sits up and wipes her eyes.

"About time you losers showed up, I was getting bored," The four laugh and gather in the middle, trying to find someway to continue.

"So…where do we go now?" asks Bubbles. Buttercup shrugs, but the question is quickly answered as a portal of some sort appears in the center of the room.

"…That SO needed the Zelda secret tune to play when it appeared." Says Buttercup. All four of the girls make the little sound that plays in a Zelda game when a secret appears. They laugh and walk through the portal, expecting to find Battle on the other end.

They appear in a big place of nothing…well nothing but this creepy mist. They can hear shrill laughing and screaming coming from a long ways away. Bomb instantly takes off, leaving the others in her dust. The puffs shrug and walk off in the direction Bomb went, figuring things will be under control by the time they get there.

By the time Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup arrive, the ground it covered in craters from Bomb's explosions and Bomb is kneeling on the ground holding Battle, who is probably cutting her air off by hugging her so much. Bomb hugs Battle tightly. After the greetings and finding Battle's flip-flops, the five gather together again to decide what they should do. The question is again answered for them as they are pulled into the ground, and into the next level of Hell.

The five girls appear in a massive corridor made of black stone. The walls are lined with torches, which light the dank and dark path. They look around, quickly figuring they are in the Black Palace.

"So this is it? It's dark…" says Bubbles. Buttercup rolls her eyes, and then quickly catches her breath. She grabs Bubbles and Blossom, pulling them up into the darkness above them. Bomb and Battle see this and quickly join them, pressed against the cold stone ceiling. Just a few moments later Blitz walks beneath them. She slumps against the wall, holding her head.

"Why can't I tell her? This is so unfair…I j-j-just want her to know how I feel." She wipes her eyes, growling violently at herself for even thinking about crying. She sighs and puts her head on her knees. "But I know she'll hate me…I think she has a crush on that weirdo working for Father…what is up with that mask?" She catches her breath and stands up. She lets out a shaky sigh and shakes her head. "I'd better go…I was supposed to see Father soon…" She walks off, quickly straightening her posture and looking as confident and powerful as always.

Once Blitz is gone the girls float down from the ceiling, checking to make sure she's gone.

"Why did we hide? We could've taken her. We have all these new powers and there's five of us!" Says Bubbles. Buttercup shrugs and scratches her head.

"I guess I just freaked out when I heard someone coming. I don't think we want this whole place on high alert." Says Buttercup. Bubbles nods and looks off in the direction Blitz went.

"She said she was going to see Leviathan…should we go that way?" asks Battle. Bomb nods in agreement that was who they came to take out anyway. Blossom shakes her head and begins carefully walking in the direction Blitz had come from. The other four quickly take off after her.

"Why are we going this way Blossom? Aren't we supposed to go beat Leviathan?" asks Bomb. Blossom nods, but continues in the direction she's going.

"Yeah…but we can't go right away. If we show up while Blitz and potentially Beelzebub, Blood, and Blaze are there, there's no way we can hope to win. We need to take them each out one by one, then deal with Leviathan when he's alone." The others blink and nod. The thought of fighting Leviathan AND Blitz, Blood, Blaze, and Beelzebub was not a pleasant thought…even though Bomb and Battle aren't entirely sure who Beelzebub is.

The girls wander through the halls, making sure to avoid causing any kind of disturbance, by hiding from any demons they encounter along the way. After what feels like ages, they finally find a door along the wall. Bubbles glances at it as they pass it, then stops and goes back to it. She notices it is slightly open, and can hear someone inside.

"…I want my daddy…I just want to go home…"

Bubbles whispers to the others and catches their attention. They gather together and slowly open the door, not knowing what to expect. What greets them is perhaps the very last thing they expected to see.

Belial jerks up when the door opens and fearfully glances in that direction. She begins feeling sick when she see who is standing at the door. She gulps and weakly tries to lean away from them, even though they're still crowded at the door staring at her. Her heart is beating hard, her stomach twisting and churning. She feels her eyes water and quickly begins trying to hold back her tears. Buttercup is the first to get over the shock and walks up to Belial.

"So this is what happened to the all-powerful Belial." Belial whimpers and tries to pull away from Buttercup. She can feel her powers, but they are only a far too small buzz in the back of her mind. It's so far and distant, there's no way she'll recover them fast enough to get free. The other girls walk up and survey the sight before them. Battle is practically hiding behind Bomb, both of them worried this might just be a psychic projection and the real Belial is just waiting to strike at them.

"…Are we going to let her go?" asks Bomb in a very small whisper. Belial's heart jumps for a second, but her brief moment of hope is shattered when Buttercup snorts.

"Heck no, after what she did to us? We don't need her anyway, we're all already more powerful than she is," Belial gulps and continues to remain silent, because begging hadn't gotten her anywhere yet and she seriously doubts it will work with her sisters and the Powerpuff Girls.

"So what should we do?" asks Bubbles. Blossom is still staring at Belial, noting everything about her current appearance. She grins a little and leans closer to her. Belial squeaks and tries to jerk away from her.

"…How's everyone on the idea of payback?" Belial begins shaking, hoping for some kind of divine intervention that would make them just leave her alone. Battle comes out from behind Bomb, glancing at Blossom.

"Payb-back?" They all look back at Belial. Buttercup grins and hops up on her thighs. She immediately grabs Belial's sides and begins tickling her. Belial jerks and bucks, laughing and screaming as the tears break free and begin flowing again. Bomb nervously walks up to Belial and shakily lifts her hands. She stands behind Belial and gathers her courage before she starts tickling her ribs. Belial screams and laughs harder, bucking like a mechanical bull ride. Bubbles skips off to Belial's feet, with Blossom close behind her. Battle just stands there shaking, unable to really process the though of tickling Belial back.

She looks at Bomb and Buttercup, then at Blossom and Bubbles who are just watching at the moment. Battle gulps and walks up. She shakily begins tickling Belial's underarms, which makes her squeal and scream. Battle continues nervously, until finally realizing this time it isn't going to come back on her. She giggles and finally gets comfortable while tickling Belial.

Blossom and Bubbles each pick a foot and begin going to work. The second Blossom and Bubbles' fingernails go work on Belial's feet, she freaks and begins screaming and laughing harder, if that's actually possible. Buttercup begins tickling Belial's stomach, poking and prodding while tickling her bellybutton. Bomb tickles up and down Belial's ribs, mockingly counting each rib. Bomb just giggles and continues tickling Belial's underarms gleefully. Blossom pulls Belial's toes back with one hand and tickles all over her stretched out sole with the other. While she is doing this Bubbles is tickling the toes on her other foot with one hand and tickling her sole with the other.

Belial laughs and screams, crying hysterically and praying for them to make this quick. Unfortunately for Belial, it doesn't end any time soon. Buttercup keeps tickling Belial's sides and belly, blowing a raspberry on her belly for fun. Battle has decided to try something new, so she is now tickling around Belial's neck and ears, which is making her jerk her head around more while she continues crying and laughing. Bomb, to compensate for this, has begun tickling Belial's underarms as well as her ribs. She tickles up her ribs and in her armpits, then back down again. Bubbles and Blossom are still having a blast tickling Belial's feet. Blossom is tickling softly and slowly, while Bubbles tickles her fast and hard, the combination making Belial's torture worse.

After a few hours, Blossom suddenly realizes how sidetracked they are. She motions at Bubbles and the two stop. The others notice them heading for the door, so reluctantly they all stop and join them. As they are walking out the door, Battle turns to Belial and glares at her before leaving and shutting the door. Belial sits there calming down for a few minutes, before breaking down and crying.

Blaze's Room

Blaze sits up and stares at the wall. She'd fallen asleep again, without even realizing it. She rubs her eyes and swings her legs over the side of the bed. For a few moments she just sits there. Then some…sinking feeling hits her. She glances at the black marble she'd kept from Leviathan. She picks it up and quickly begins getting dressed.

"Something…S-Something's about to happen…I have to go now, I have to talk to her…" Blaze finishes getting dressed and slips into her flip-flops before opening her door and taking off to see Belial, the black marble clenched tightly in her hand.