Bubbles woke up shuddering in disgust at the terrible things she knew she was about to have to do.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she walked downstairs to find Blossom and Buttercup with their eyes glued to a cartoon they had found.
Bubbles sighed as she gently tapped Blossom on the shoulder.
Blossom continued to stare fixatedly at the screen. It was clear whatever they were watching was good.
But Bubbles could not wait this time. What she had to do had to be done now.
She tapped Blossom harder so that Blossom could not help but notice.
"Yes Bubbles?" she asked apolagetically turning to face her blonde sister "What's wrong?".
Bubbles resisted the urge to ask what the lovely cartoon on telivision was. Now wasn't the time for distractions.
"We need to talk Blossom" said Bubbles sadly, her pleading voice hardly louder than a whisper despite her best efforts.
"It's important. Very important" she added, taking the words out of her sister's mouth. She knew her sister would want to put the topic aside for later, but by then, Bubbles might have forgotten what to say.
It had to be now, that they talked.
"Ugh, Bubbles can't you see we're trying to take some time off with a movie" growled Buttercup, the commotion having disturbed her attention on the set. "Bubbles says its important." replied Blossom "We should probably listen to what she has to say."
"Can it really not wait?".
Bubbles shook her head. "No. It can't."
"Fine then!" pouted Buttercup as she very reluctantly took her eyes off the action movie she had spent the last half an hour glued to, and even more reluctantly tapped the pause button on the remote. "But be quick. I want to see what happens next." She frowned as she followed her sisters upstairs to their bedroom where Bubbles had asked them to talk in private, so that Professor could not see or hear them. "Not that Bubbles says anything important ever anyway." she mumbled to herself annoyed, as she took a space on the bed they shared and sat down.
Bubbles sat facing her two sisters on one side of the bed while they sat side by side on the other.
She glanced briefly to check they were making eye contact with her before she began. She knew deep in her heart that this conversation could not end well, but she managed to speak without stuttering.
She couldn't show weakness in front of her two sisters if they were to take her seriously thiis time,
especially not Buttercup who was bound to want to get her own word in.
"Blossom"
"Yes Bubbles?" "Do you think Mr Mayor is a nice man?"
Of all the questions Blossom could have expected, this was not one she could have thought to ever have to answer. The shocking fact that it came from the gentle natured and innocent sister only made the words pierce even deeper.
"Why do you ask Bubbles?" Blossom replied nervously "Did he do something to upset you?"
Bubbles shook her head.
"Then why do you want to know?" demanded Buttercup impatiently. This had gone on long enough and she was more than eager to end this pointless conversation here and now so she could go back downstairs to continue the movie.
"Why won't you just answer?" asked Bubbles, a quiet anger brewing in her otherwise calm and collected voice.
"Do you think Mr Mayor is a nice man?"
"He's the mayor of the town Bubbles, of course he's a nice man." assured Blossom, shocked that her own sister seemed all of a sudden to have changed her attitude towards the man they had been taking orders from since as far back as they remembered. It was part of everything they stood for, and Bubbles was questioning it all.
"That's not what you said before." sighed Bubbles, before Blossom could think of anything more to say.
She had sensed the advantage and she was not about to let Blossom regain the upper hand.
For once, Bubbles would be the one doing the talking and Blossom would just have to keep quiet and listen until she had finished. Blossom would expect the same for her when she had orders to give, but now was not her time to give orders.
"That doesn't sound like what you used to say about Mr Mayor at all." declared Bubbles, pointing accusingly at Blossom as if she was a judge in a courtroom delivering a sentence.
"What did you say about Mr Mayor before?"
Blossom felt as if a knife had been put to her neck. The room seemed to drop several degrees in temperature as her sister's frown became fiercer with every word.
This didn't sound like the Bubbles she knew and loved at all.
These were the words of some crazed lunatic trying to turn others against a harmless altruist who they themselves alone harboured a grudge against.
Surely Bubbles knew the meaning of being a powerpuff girl?
"Are you alright Bubbles?" asked Blossom worriedly "Did something bad happen to you. It's alright Bubbles,
tell us about it and we can try and make it better..."
"Don't change the subject" barked the blonde girl, cutting Blossom off mid sentence. "You wouldn't like it if I ignored you when you wanted me to listen to something important you wanted to say so stop ignoring me."
Bubbles glared angrily at Blossom and then Buttercup, who had so far listened in complete silence.
"You never listen to anything I have to say. Do you think that's fair. Do you think that's nice?"
"It's not as if you ever say anything important anyway" whispered Buttercup under her breath but clearly not quietly enough.
"You keep saying how Blossom doesn't listen to you Buttercup. That you always think you'd be a better leader than her because you actually know how to lead. But what about me? What about when neither of you want to listen to me because you think you know better?
Do you think it makes me feel good? Do you think that I like being treated like that by my two sisters who I'm supposed to be able to trust and talk to about my problems?
Do you really think I'm not worth listening to? That I'm always wrong?"
She briefly felt a tinge of satisfaction at seeing the emotion she had finally managed to instill in her sisters as they hung their head down and avoided eye contact to let what they had heard sink in.
She was tired of being treated as the "baby", especially when she was just as old as they were and had done at least as much for the family and town as they had.
"I'm sorry if we've made you feel that way Bubbles" Blossom eventually managed to say,
visibly damaged by Bubbles's confession.
"Yeah, what she said" grunted Buttercup scowling. While it was obvious Blossom felt some regret over what Bubbles had just told her, it was difficult to read whether Buttercup was in fact somewhat regretful, or simply annoyed at the delay to her movie.
"So what did you say about Mr Mayor before, when he didn't do anything to help us when we asked him to?" asked Bubbles, calm once more but still restless. She needed to know whether her sisters wanted to support her cause.
"Well I did say he wasn't the best mayor..." confessed Blossom "But I was just a bit angry that day"
"No Blossom. You were right about him when you said he only cared about himself. He does only care about himself because he never does anything for the town. All he does is send us to do his work for him."
"And what would he be able to do anyway?" inquired Buttercup, taking a brief glimpse at the door before quickly averting her gaze back to her anguised sister.
"Better police people might be a good start?" suggested Bubbles.
"But that's why he has us" protested Blossom. "We are his police teams Bubbles. We protect his city from danger because we work for him."
"We don't work for him Blossom because he doesn't pay us anything. And we can't be there to help all the time.
Not to mention he also does other bad things like, um, spending too much money on himself"
"But we can't just turn on him. That would go against everything we stand for." replied Blossom angrily.
"So stop thinking like that Bubbles. I know its hard work protecting the city but its what we have to do.
So please Bubbles. Just calm down. I'm sure you're overreacting."
She nodded apolagetically and left. "We'll be downstairs if you need us Bubbles. Feel free to join us too if you want."
"Thanks for wasting our time." whispered Buttercup as she left after Blossom.
Bubbles knew from the moment this talk began that her sisters would not help her.
For a moment she felt tempted to believe that Blossom was right and to forget this stupid idea, but the dead children lining the asphalt as the monster rampaged across the city leaving a pool of blood brought her back to her senses.
She knew that she was on her own, but she would do what she had to.
She would not let more innocent lives be lost because no one dared to lift a finger to change what need to be changed, simply to keep things the way they were used to.
She silently glided from the bedroom, downstairs and glanced towards the lounge to check she was not being watched before dashing for the kitchen.
She knew she had to be quick for if her sisters caught her, her plan would be over before it started.
Knowing this, she nabbed a duffel bag from under a table before tearing upon the fridge and cupboard systematically.
She emerged from the house silently, a few cans of jerky and fruit in her sack as well as a bottle of water.
These would suffice, and being weighed down and unable to outrun or in her case, out-fly her siblings or anyone else who was bound to come after her for that matter wasn't a risk the young heroine was prepared to take.
She glanced back once more to check no one had noticed her yet before soaring away, using the clouds that had gathered in the sky as cover as she flew for the nearby woods.
Apologies that this chapter took so long to get out. Recently I've had a real writers block and lots of important exams have been getting in the way too.
Thanks for all the feedback I've been getting. It feels good to see my efforts being appreciated. I'm new to writing and I honestly appreciate any feedback and help you guys could give me.
Please, please comment. I really do want to hear your thoughts on how you feel this story has been going, and how you fell things will play out. How do you feel Bubbles should react to her sister's indifference to how mr mayor has been abusing the city and its suffering people? I would now like to hear your opinions and how you feel this tale has been unfolding.
I am Zman 123 and I will see you in the next chapter coming soon.