Disclaimer: I do not own the Powerpuff Girls in any way, shape or manner as the rights belong to Craig McCracken.

Chapter 3: Embarking in the Waters of the Unknown

At around noontime with the sun at its peak, the three SUV's drove down the highway. Time began to slow until it was at the brink of torture, so the three sisters had their own ways of passing the hours. Blossom began reading a copy of "The Kite Runner" that the Professor bought for her, Buttercup was lightly snoring while punk music blasted in her headphones, and Bubbles was looking out of the window, counting down the seconds until she saw the city she's missed so dearly.

-Blossom-

I tried to ignore Bubbles as she nervously shifted in her seat, because I knew exactly what she was going to say, since she's said the same thing... in the same way... for the twenty-second time.

"…Hey, um… are we there y–"

"–No, Bubbles." We all said at the same time. I looked at Buttercup with bitter envy. I'd trade this book in a heartbeat to have those soundproof headphones right now.

"So… when are we going to be there?"

"Bubbles… sweetie…" I said kindly with a forced smile. "We'll get there when we get there. 'kay?"

"And that would be now!" Gladys cheerfully said as she snapped her magazine shut. "We're just about to turn into the exit."

"Finally," Bubbles and I groaned. I nudged Buttercup softly to wake her up, but she responded with a jab straight to my stomach. "Ow! How can you be still upset over an argument that was six hours ago?"

Gladys turned in her seat to face us. "Alright girls, since you're going into Townsville with new lives, now would be the only time you have to create it. Most people still take the initials of their original names to keep some traces of their identity."

"You already took every shred of that away." Buttercup scoffed with her eyes closed.

"Buttercup!" I scolded, but Gladys went on like she never heard her. "So we came up with the name Underhill as your surname, but your first names are up to you three–"

"Oooh, ooh! I wanna be first!" Bubbles squeaked as she raised her hand eagerly. I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop myself from smiling. What would I do without her?

"No problem, what's your first name going to be?" Gladys responded taking out a notepad.

"Brooklynn! I've always really liked that name!"

"Blossom?"

I picked the first B-name that came out of my head. "I guess I could live with Brianne," I casually said with a shrug until I heard Buttercup's snort and glared in her direction.

"And Buttercup, yours will be–"

"–Haven't decided yet." Buttercup said flatly.

"Fair enough." Gladys replied indifferently. "Girls, take a look at your new home."

We glued to our eyes window to see the city we've known for years, but we got something totally different.

-Bubbles-

I mean yeah, we all knew that Townsville was a big city, but it was never that big.

The city looked like it grew ten times the size that we left it. As we went through the main entrance of Townsville, it seemed like every skyscraper vanished in the clouds, making them look a little intimidating. Even the buildings that weren't as high stuck out. The banks, restaurants, museums were all unique in an odd way. I couldn't bear to tear myself away from the window. "Everything's so big."

"Careful, you might catch flies," Buttercup sneered. For a second, I shot her a look before turning back to the window. She could ruin Blossom's mood all she wanted, but she wasn't going to ruin mine's.

"Actually, it's thanks to you guys that all of this was possible." Gladys replied.

I started to look down, feeling a little hurt knowing that I'm the reason that I can't even recognize my childhood, ironically enough. "How's that?," I mumbled.

"Remember when you were always saving the city from criminals and monsters?"

We all nodded our heads slowly, encouraging her to continue.

"Well, you might not have known it then, but because of that Townsville started to get some serious income from you guys. You made this place one of the safest cities in the country, attracting a huge amount of immigration, not to mention the tourists that showed up to see you three in action."

I felt my skin redden into a light rose across my cheekbones. I never thought that our names would be known nationally, much less globally.

"Ms. Bellum decided to store it all in safe keeping for when there was a time when they really needed it, and that came pretty soon."

We all lit up at the sound of Sara Bellum's voice. "Ms. Bellum?!"

"You've seen her?"

"What does she look like now?"

"Where is she?"

"Is she married?"

"Does she have any kids?"

"Is she still a secretary?"

Gladys hesitated before she answered our questions. "No, we've never met. Her whereabouts are unknown as of now, and…" she avoided our gaze. "She left her job soon after the Mayor retired."

A long silence followed. I looked to the front of the car to see Mr. Morgan with a lifeless expression on his face. He didn't even blink at the sound of his old secretary's name.

Blossom was the first to speak. "What happened when we left?"

Gladys, happy to change the subject, jumped right back into a higher voice and moved on. "When you 'died', of course these things were going to go into decline, so Mr. Morgan put the stored revenue they saved for years to good use and expanded to bring back popularity."

And to get past the bad press associated with the city. It was never said, but in a way, we were all probably thinking the same thing.

"Sure enough, we were able to combine with Citysville across from us and even went so far as to create two more cities to expand."

"How's that possible though? I mean Townsville's bordered by the ocean, and then there's the island Citysville, so where else would there be to expand without completely depleting the forest reserves around the city?" Blossom asked.

To answer her, Gladys took out a map of the city, and to our surprise, there were two more cities, but it wasn't on land, but on water. There were large concrete pillars that supported the areas so that they didn't fall into the ocean and on the coastline of Townsville, you could still see the bridge that connected Townsville to Citysville, but instead of it being just one road going two ways like before, it split apart into a 4-way intersection to connect to the two new isolated regions. There were even two other roads on the sides of the two towns which directly connected them to both Citysville and Townsville.

"Whoa" was all I could say. The whole thing was incredible. Who ever came up with this must've been a genius.

"Who was the dumbass in charge of this?" Buttercup demanded. When she saw our reactions she started to justify herself. "What? Who knows what could happen to these things? Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Hurricanes…!

"Someone's been watching too many movies…" Blossom snickered.

I tried to reassure her. "There's probably plenty of things for that if it happened. I think you were going a little overboard."

"Whatever." She scowled and sat back in her seat with a pout, obviously done with the conversation.

Gladys moved on. "Officials in National Security decided to place you guys in a high rise flat in Townsville's Crescent Central, otherwise known as the mainland city of the four districts. We figured it would be easier for you guys to attend school in an area that isn't as crowded as the other three districts."

"School?" I said through numb lips. I haven't went to a public school since I was five, and that was in a room with eighteen students (excluding us), not thousands of them. I started getting nervous thinking about them staring at the clothes that I've had since I was little.

They always stared.

We could see the looks on everybody's faces as they watched us enter the courtroom. The same people who though of us as celebrities were no glaring at us with silent blame.

How could three heroes turn into monsters overnight?

-Buttercup-

I tried to keep myself from smirking at my sisters' reactions . I mean I could understand Bubble's reaction (she's such a baby), but Blossom? Of course I shrugged it off. Making a big deal out of this would only make it worse on everybody else anyway.

Georgia tried to calm my sisters down, but she's only gonna make it worse. "I mean, of course you couldn't be expected to be homeschooled the entire time. In order to blend in with society, you'd have to learn to adapt in this fast paced environment, you can't do that stuck in an apartment all day!"

"S-she's right, Bubbles. We c-c-can do t-this, right?" Blossom stuttered and tried to place her hand on Bubbles' shoulder reassuringly, but Bubbles was already in her own little world, probably losing it by now.

So obviously, none of this crap was helping, and I didn't feel like sitting with leg cramps next to these two babies when we were already parked behind the apartment where we were staying.

"Well, as nice as this is… Bye!" and before anyone could react, I rushed out of the car with my Duffel bag. Taking a few steps outside of the car, I took in a deep breath of fresh air. Freedom at Last…

"Wait, Buttercup!" Bubbles, who seemed to make a quick recovery, started running towards me with her giant Tote bag hanging from her flimsy shoulder.

"You left too soon for me to tell you the good news!" she beamed. I narrowed my eyes at her incredulously. What part in any of this is good?

"Gladys said after we drop off our bags we can all go to the mall to buy clothes for school!" she squealed as she gave me a giant bear hug, oblivious to the scowl on my face. She knows I hate the mall.

"I think I'll pass up that offer." I said as I turned on my heels towards the apartment's back entrance. For a bunch of old greedy geezers, they really went out of their way to make us feel at home. The flat was huge. According to the directory Gloria gave each of us, we got a place three levels below the penthouse...

"Come on, Buttercup! You have to come!" Bubbles whined. I groaned loudly at her, hoping she'd get the point. It's noon, I'm hot as hell, I'm tired, I wanna go to bed, I smell like shit, my bag weighs a fucking ton, and my legs feel like pretzels! I am NOT in the mood to go out and have a damn shopping spree!

"Bubbles, as fun as that sounds, I've been sitting in a cooped up car for close to seven hours, so all I want to do is sit, watch TV, and relax."

"Oh… well, okay." Bubbles said sadly with her head hanging down to the floor. "I mean.. if that's how you feel... then me and Blossom can just go. Would you mind taking me and Blossom's things upstairs then?" I nodded as she gave me her Tote bag and slowly dragged her feet towards the car for Blossom's things. Typical, I thought as I rolled my eyes.

"D… Do you know what our room number is?" she sniffed. "No," I responded flatly with my head turned. Her little Guilt Trip was not going to work this time!

"Buttercup…" she croaked as I could feel my eye twitch. Even with my eyes closed I could see the tears ready to fall. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it.

"Just bring your crap over here already so that we can go to this dumb place already!" As Bubbles let out another round of squeals and leaps, I inwardly cursed at myself for agreeing to hours of nonstop shopping.

Oh Joy…

By the time the three reached the mall (the Professor took it upon himself to unpack the girls' bags), it came as no surprise to Gladys that the girls were awestruck by the shopping center; after all, she reacted the same way herself.

The architect who built the expansion of Townsville, its two cities, and the high school they were going to attend also built the mall that stood right before them. From an aerial view it looked like a large circle broken up into four equal pieces with some space between all four of them. These four pieces were basically the shopping centers that made up the mall. In between each of those centers were steps that led down to the center of the mall; mostly known as the outdoor food court. With the trees, gardens, and fountains that decorated the place, it was definitely a sight to see.

"Oh…my…GOD!" Bubbles gasped. "This place is gorgeous! I don't even know where to go first!"

"How about the food court?" Blossom suggested holding her stomach. She didn't even get the time to eat breakfast, and she could hear her stomach starting to protest.

"That sounds like a good idea. I know a Chinese restaurant here that makes some amazing egg rolls." Gladys said. She glanced over at the two chattering excitedly and a smile lit up her face. She didn't know why, but seeing how happy the girls were after all the things they've been through made her heart warm. The way they acted seemed so familiar to her.

"Buttercup should be thankful I asked her to come, I'm sure there are a few stores here that would suit her style." Bubbles said loftily as she twirled her pigtails in the line.

"You make it sound like she had a choice!" Blossom scoffed. "Where is she by the way?"

"Oh, she told me to let you guys know that she was going to head for the library in one of the centers. Now, would you guys like shrimp fried rice or pork…" Gladys stopped as she turned to see the two girls staring back at her with dubious looks. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Buttercup at–"

"–the Library?" Bubbles finished.

"Well, I never took her for the type either, but she was headed straight into the entrance last time I saw her. She said she'd meet us at Casual Apparel, which I suppose is the first place we're going to be heading to."

"We needed clothes for school anyway. When are we going for our first day?" Blossom asked.

"Tomorrow. So the best time to do some quick shopping would be today."

Bubbles and Blossom exchanged horrified looks. "Forget the food! We need to get new clothes now!" And with that, she grabbed Blossom and ran to the nearest stores despite her fading protests.

"H-Hey! Bubb-Brooke, stop! STOP! WHAT ABOUT MY FOOD!"

Poor Blossom. Gladys started to chuckle to herself, finding that she might actually have the 'maternal affection' the Professor once claimed.

I might as well grab something for Blossom and the others, knowing how hungry they'll be after this. But as she was waiting in line, she kept thinking about the horrifying images she saw at Western Pines, and the grave threat that came with it.

I decided to cut this chapter into two separate pieces because it was getting a little long. But no worries! I'll definitely have the next one up a lot sooner than this one. So, I hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review!