CHAPTER 1: SECOND CHANCE
Townsville! A bustling city, filled to the brim with cheery souls. All protected by three little girls, just over their seventh birthday. Cheerful, bright girls, always up and about, ready to save the day at a moment's notice. And there they are now! In their room, playing with their precious little toys. Just look at Buttercup go!
"ICAN'TFINDITICAN'TFINDIT!"
"B-Buttercup! Calm down, it can't have gone far. Just take a deep breath, come on, breath with me."
Bubbles frowns, watching her sisters fly above her, Blossom zooming about to minimize the damage done by their green loving sibling.
"Blossoms right Buttercup! It can't be far, besides, it's not like anyone would steal it… would they?"
The green blur pauses, revealing a pj'd Buttercup, her bedhead worse than usual. She hovers in the air, as still as a stone.
"..."
Blossom flies up, gently placing a hand on Buttercups shoulder.
"Deep breaths, we'll find it. She'll have her place, maybe it just fell behind the bookcase."
"Y-Yeah.. maybe.. maybe it's just behind the bookcase.."
"Me and Octi will look! C'mon Octi, let's find it!"
With a gentle push, the heavy bookcase falls over on it's side, revealing nothing but Buttercups missing baseball cards. Staring for a moment, Bubbles squeezes Octi tighter. Tears well up in her eyes, her lip trembling.
Blossom quickly goes and hugs the shaking blue puff, gently stroking her hair.
"Shhh.. shh… it's.. it'll be okay…"
"LIKE HECK LEADER GIRL!" An angry Buttercup glares at her pink eyed sister, she herself barely holding back tears.
"WE'VE FAILED HER AGAIN!"
Blossom frowns and gently floats up, eye level with her sister.
"We have not failed her again, we will find it. I swear on my position as leader of the Powerpuffs."
-0-
"It's really not here.." Blossom stares into space, her sisters freaking out around her.
"Where could it be…"
A gentle knock sounds at their bedroom door, before it creaks open, a concerned Professor peering in.
"Girls..? I know I wasn't here to wake you up, but that's no reason to be so upset-"
As soon as he said that, a green streak grabs his shirt and lifts him up.
"NO REASON?! IT'S GONE PROFESSOR IT'S GONE!"
"Buttercup, what are you..?"
Blossom quickly flies up, covering Buttercups mouth. "N-Nothing Professor. What time is it?"
The Professor peers at his watch.
"Ten o'clock, far too late for me to be preparing breakfast. How about a late brunch? I may have a surprise for you girls."
Bubbles peers out from under the bed.
"Is it a good surprise..?"
He gives a gentle smile.
"I believe you girls will be well pleased with it. Now come on, it's something I worked on all day and night yesterday, up until this morning."
Buttercup, already free of her sister's attempt at quieting her, stomps.
"I don't care about some dumb surprise! It's gone and we can't find it!"
The smile still in place, he crouches down to her level, not nearly as low as when they were first created.
"How about we talk about this over brunch hm? Maybe I could help you find whatever it is you're looking for. And after that, we can fix the new hole you've created in your floor."
She looks down and blushes. "Uh.. sorry Professor… I didn't mean it this time.."
Blossom sighs, flying after the now retreating Professor. Bubbles carefully crawls out from under the bed, floating over to Buttercup.
"Don't worry Buttercup, I'll help you fix it." She skips off, not as bouncy as she usually was, hopping down the stairs to the kitchen.
"...I don't care about the dumb floor, I just wanna find her.."
-0-
Brunch was silent, despite multiple attempts by the Professor to begin conversation. This was unusual for a Saturday, since his girls were normally so full of energy and life. He could only hope his surprise would grab their attention and break them out of this, whatever this was. The same thing had happened the previous year, on the same date.
The anniversary of the Purple Cloth. That's what he decided to call it. After that first day, he never pressed about the events that transpired while he was gone.
As for whatever the girls had lost, he could only hope it wasn't a snake again. That was a messy trip to the hospital… Poor Bubbles had thought he was dying, she shattered every glass window in town with her wails.
Speaking of which, she wasn't eating. In fact, none of his girls were.
"Girls, please eat. The faster you eat, the sooner I can show you the surprise."
This catches their attention, but not for long as they stare at their plates and sigh. He frowns.
"Three spoonfuls each, then we can go down to the lab."
Blossom looks at her sisters, then back at the food.
"He's right, we need to eat something, just the three spoonfuls, okay Buttercup?"
Buttercup grumbles and nods, slowly eating her spoonfuls, while Bubbles was already done and anxiously waiting. She needed something to distract her from the tragedy that the day represented, and a surprise the Professor made for them was certainly going to help.
Buttercup couldn't believe how calm her sisters were. They'd lost their last piece of her, and all they could focus on was some dumb surprise the Professor had for them. It was probably just a lame gadget again, like the stupid robot cat he got them after the villain cat incident. That was nearly as big of a disaster as the actual cat was…
Bah! Thinking about that was a stupid idea too. Dumb cat, actually fooled her with its cuteness. Hmph. One more spoonful, then she'd get to see the Professor's latest disappointment. Then they could get back to what the day really meant.
"There you go Buttercup. Now, I believe you all will be pleased with this. "
The Professor stands up and walks to the basement door, reinforced with countless security measures, most of them specifically so Mojo and his boys couldn't get in. There were far too many dangerous items in there, things that could hurt the girls if in the wrong hands.
Several vats full of the components for Antidote X, needed for administering medicine to the girls. He hated to see them as weak as they were when doped up on it, but it was needed for him to be able to give them shots and vaccinations, and occasionally rebreak a broken bone that healed wrong. Those were the times he dreaded the most, seeing his darlings in pain.
That's why he prepared a surprise on this day, the day of the purple cloth. He had certainly noticed the girl's grief, it was hard not to. The regret and despair in their eyes, only the most hardened of souls could ignore that.
"Hurry it up Professor, I got a thing to search for."
The ever present smile on his face widened.
"I think you'll have a bit of extra help finding it after today. Come along girls, the surprise is in the infirmary."
Bubbles bounces a bit.
"Is it another squirrel Professor? Like Bullet?"
"No Bubbles. It's more of a… Rabbit."
The girls exchanged confused glances, as the side door to the medical room opened.
-0-
Blossom stares at the small figure on the bed, mouth agape. It really couldn't be, but who else…?
"P-Professor-"
He gently shushed her.
"Now, I know how much you wanted to hide this from me. It took ages to get the security tapes, since mine were destroyed, and the Mayor was held under a 'vow' of secrecy."
Buttercup frowned and floated up, hovering over the sleeping child.
"Whaddaya mean? Who's this?"
"I'm not surprised you don't recognize her. It took quite some time to stabilize her, and even I am surprised at her resulting appearance."
Bubbles hops onto the bed, tears in her eyes.
"I-is it really..?"
"Two years ago on this day, you girls were exhausted. Not thinking entirely clearly I'm sure, and certainly not ready to deal with the Mayors pickles. In your exasperation you decided to create a fourth, to lighten the load."
As Buttercups eyes widen, Blossom whips her head around to gaze at the Professor.
"How… How did you find out about all that?!"
With a gentle chuckle he responds.
"You did a great job covering your tracks Blossom, in an attempt to hide your mistake in her creation. However, there was one slip up you didn't count on, one variable outside your control. And that was the Mayors guilt. It didn't take long for me to get it out of him, especially after I had the security footage from in town. I'm slightly disappointed in you girls for not telling me yourselves, but I can understand your hesitation. You snuck into my lab after all-"
He was interrupted by a sobbing blue ball leaping up to hug him.
"Imsorryimsorry!"
"Shh, it's alright. It's alright, I forgive you."
Buttercup lowers herself down onto the bed.
"Does she remember us…?"
"I don't know, I was waiting for you girls to see her before I woke her up. The stabilization process was.. Not the most pleasant."
Blossom pauses in stroking the girls hair.
"Then let's get her upstairs and into bed. It will be better for her to be in that environment than down here, she is stable, right?"
He nods, his smile wide and proud.
"Multiple tests have shown me that she's stable enough to be moved. She should wake up soon after she's off the oxygen and anesthesia."
-0-
Fifteen minutes later, the slightly larger family circles around their newest member, anxiously awaiting her awakening. Slowly, but surely, purple eyes blink open, taking in the world around them. Bubbles leans in close, worry etched into her features.
"Bunny? Are you awake? Are you okay? Can we get you anything-"
Blossom puts a hand on Bubbles shoulder, gently pulling her back.
"Calm down, we shouldn't rush her. Think of it like… Waking up Buttercup after a hard battle. She's still on the painkillers, and probably doesn't know who we are or where she is.."
Buttercup huffs, folding her arms.
"S'not my fault the Professor mixed a bit of Antidote X in. Stupid meds, making me act stupid-"
The timid girl sits up, opening her mouth just a tad, and squeaking out one word.
"Sis….ters?"
They all pause, the Professor hanging back to allow the reunion between the girls and their creation. In that moment, Bubbles squeals and hugs Bunny, flying up close to the ceiling.
"You're okay you're okay! Now we can have tea parties and coloring time and cartoon time and-"
"Bubbles, put her down, you're scaring her!"
Bubbles flushes and sets her down, apologizing to the shaking child.
"Okay Bunny, do you remember us? Buttercup c'mon, she needs to see you too."
Buttercup slowly comes up from her crouched position, allowing Bunny to study her. The purple eyed puff frowns, forehead furrowed in concentration.
"Sis-ters…"
She looks at Blossom first, taking in the perfect pink bow that remained unchanged since the day of her 'birth'.
"Bl…. Bloss… Blossom…"
The girl in question gives an encouraging nod, satisfying Bunny. She turns to look at Buttercup, nervously standing at the foot of the bed, green meeting purple.
"Butter… Buttercup?"
She gets a small smile and a bashful nod, finally turning to the one who had startled her.
"Bub… Bubbles."
She says it with conviction, clapping when she gets the confirming nod. A collective sigh of relief fills the room, followed by an awkward silence.
One broken by none other than the Professor, kneeling down by the bed.
"It's very nice to meet you Bunny. I'm the Professor, creator and father of the Powerpuff girls."
Bunny shrinks back a bit, leaning towards Bubbles. She was… Uncertain about this strange man, whom her sisters seemed comfortable with. Despite that, her curious nature got the best of her as she sounded out the new word with her tiny tongue.
"Fa- fahder. Fahder!"
Bubbles cheers and gently hugs her, keeping Blossoms words in mind.
"That's right Bunny, he's our father! He brought you back and stabilized you so you're not gonna explode!"
Bunny looks at her, a bit confused, and slowly hugs her back.