A/N: Just thought I'd mention that this whole story takes place sometime after episode 154, so all the senshi have their SuperS powers.

Disclaimer: Powerpuff girls not mine. (No this isn't a crossover. …You'll see)

Chapter Three: Sticky Situation

Sweeter than candy on a stick

Huckleberry, cherry, or lime.

If you had a choice, he'd be your pick,

But Lollipop is mine.

—The Chordettes

"Oh no!" Minako moaned. "Not another one!"

"What kind of ridiculous outfit is that, anyway?" said the pink creature in a Minnie-Mouse-on-helium voice.

Minako felt this was rather much from an entity that seemed to be made out of a partially deflated pink blimp.

"You're one to talk! Let them go!" She shook her fist in the air for emphasis. The Love Goddess was about to rain down a world of sparkly-pink-hearted pain.

"Why should I?" said the pink thing, and popped. Minako was suddenly covered in ropes of sticky pink…well, she hoped it was bubble-gum, anyway.

"Oh gross!" she tried to wipe her face off, but her hands were equally soiled. "Where'd it go?" The pink thing was nowhere in sight.

"Um, Mina?" Usagi called. "Get us out of here?" She and Ume were tied back to back, suspended on a wooden seat over a tank of water. Ume's dream mirror floated in front of her chest.

"Sure thing," Minako said. She ducked behind a conveniently placed telephone booth and transformed. Then, she raced over to rescue Usagi and Ume, wondering a) how the lemure had managed to set up what appeared to be a giant dunk tank in the middle of the street and b) why no one else in Tokyo seemed to have noticed. However, just as she was deciding that perhaps there was something in the water, the lemure-thing popped into existence again.

"Hold on there," it said, "There's only room for two in that thing."

"Let my friends go!" Sailor Venus shouted.

"Okay," it said, wobbling.

"What?" said Venus. She blinked. "Really?"

"No," it said, "I'm just messing with you. You didn't really think that I would though, did you?"

"Well, I guess not," Venus admitted. "I mean, I don't even know why I said that. It just seemed to be worth a shot."

"No, that's cool. It's practically protocol," said the lemure.

"Quit fraternizing with the enemy!" Tiger's-eye shouted, materializing from behind the dunk tank.

"Oh, there you are. You were back there for so long. I was beginning to worry," said the lemure, rolling its bulging purple eyes.

"You're supposed to be attacking her." He cracked his whip impatiently.

"Oh, yeah, right. Well, I can't fit anybody else in that tank. There's a set capacity, you know. Fire Marshall's orders." And with that, it popped again.

"Ew, ew, ew!" squealed Venus. The pink substance squished between her fingers, warm and disturbingly wet. "What is that thing, some kind of giant pimple? This had better be gum!"

"Of course," said Tiger's-eye, far too sweetly, in Sailor Venus's opinion, "It's pre-chewed."

"That is just disgusting!" Venus pawed ineffectually at her skirt. The stuff only seemed to get stickier the more she tried to remove it.

"You're telling me," said the lemure, popping back into existence. "See how you like bursting into a wad of gooey junk every few seconds."

"You're not supposed to be sympathizing with her!"

The lemure stared at him blankly. "What?"

"Just get rid of them!" Tiger's-eye pointed at the dunk tank, exasperated. He sensed that today was one of those days he should've just stayed behind the bar and forced the others to do all the work

"Can do, boss," said the lemure. It bounced onto the ground, ricocheted off a streetlight, and hurled itself towards a small red target just to the left of the dunk tank. Hitting the target with a bang, the lemure once more exploded into oozy pink muck while the wooden seat supporting Usagi and Ume gave out. The two girls struggled in the water.

"Arg!" Venus tried to free herself from the dense mass, but found that the bottoms of her shoes kept sticking to the ground. "Try and keep your mouth closed, Usagi! I'm coming!"

And she was coming, though the going was slow. Tiger's-eye stood off on the sidelines, doubled over with laughter.

Sailor Venus trudged a few more arduous steps, struggling against the pink 'gum', and then stopped in her tracks. "What am I doing?" She slapped her palm to her forehead. "I have magic powers! Duh. Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" She yelled. Beams of light cut through the sticky gunk and sent Tiger's-eye, who for once had no lemure to stand in the way, sprawling.

He clambered to his feet, shaking like a bowling pin just before a strike. His hair stood on end and a distinct smoky scent lingered around his nostrils. Tentatively, he prodded a scorched lock; it crumbled at his touch.

"What did you—how could you—my hair!" He sputtered. His face reddened. Venus choked back a chortle. She was torn. On one hand, the Love Goddess understood that hair damage was serious business. On the other hand, the Love Goddess also understood that her own hair damage, caused by lemure-induced pre-chewed 'bubblegum', was far more serious simply due to the fact that it was her own. Therefore, Sailor Venus broke down and started cackling like a witch who'd just met two fat, juicy children called Hansel and Gretel.

(You could not accuse the Love Goddess of having no sense of humor.)

The lemure chose that moment to return. Its tiny arms flailed as it bounced off the pavement. "Okay, boss, what did I miss?" It squinted, looking Tiger's-eye over. "Hey, did you get a new haircut?"

Tiger's-eye started to raise his whip and then stopped. "Oh, screw it," he said. "I'm leaving." And he did exactly that.

"Boss? Wait! I like it! Really! I mean, all those charred spots match your tights! Come back!" The lemure followed him through the portal, apologizing.

"Well, that was easy," Sailor Venus said. She grinned off into the distance, hands on her hips. "Once again, the day is saved, thanks to… the Love Goddess!"

"Venus!" Usagi yelled, gasping for air. "Quit pretending to be a Powerpuff girl and SAVE US!"

Sailor Venus pouted as she fished Usagi and Ume out of the dunk tank. Was it a crime to fantasize about being Blossom once in a while? They had things in common. For example, leadership skills and a really fashionable red hair bow….

Tiger's-eye needed a drink. More so than usual. But he couldn't face going into the bar just yet, for fear of what Hawk's-eye and Fisheye would say. Instead, he sat with his head in his hands in some dark, forsaken, alcohol-less place somewhere inside the Dead Moon Circus, sulking.

"It's not so bad, boss," the lemure was saying. "Those bald spots will grow back in no time at all!"

"Why couldn't you just have been blasted by the pumpkins like the other lemures? Then my hair wouldn't be…wouldn't be…." he held back a sniffle, clenching his fist.

"You don't have to be so mean!" The lemure's huge purple eyes watered. "I'm just trying to cheer you up!" It burst into tears and a wad of pink sludge. Again.

Tiger's-eye sighed. Great, now he had a hysterical lemure to deal with and he was covered in ABC gum. It was slightly salty ABC gum, too, from the tears. He blew a clump of hopelessly charred, bubble-gum streaked mess out of his face. The gum dripped down his forehead and its saccharine scent mingled unpleasantly with the smell of burnt hair.

"Okay, okay," said the lemure, coming back. "I'm in control of my emotions now," it brushed away its tears. "I know you're only speaking from grief."

"I don't know what I'm going to do. How can I go back to the others looking like this?" Tiger's-eye said, ignoring the lemure completely.

"I think you'll have to shave it off."

As soon as the lemure's words pierced his thick cloud of self-pity, Tiger's-eye gave it a horrified look.

This was unforgivable.

Sailor Venus would pay.