The Powerpuff Girls In: Unparalleled!

by Known Unknown

When Him senses the destruction of an alternate version of himself somewhere in the multiverse, his insidious attempts to meddle in the situation imperil two worlds, maybe even more. The Powerpuff Girls go on the case, but even they are overwhelmed when they face... themselves! Despite the categories, this will expand into a full-scale multi-dimensional Cartoon Network crossover.

2. Z - Princess' Birthday Bash-Up!

Disclaimer: I don't own PPG or DPPGZ. You already know this.

After some deliberation, I decided to go with the Japanese names for the Powerpuff Girls Z cast, with a couple exceptions. It's going to make everything so much easier down the line.

Just like Wolfbatman, in the narration and prose our heroes will be referred to by their secret identities - Momoko, Miyako and Kaoru instead of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup - except for scenes from the point of view of people who don't know their secret (like most of the big fight here) or general scenes where their superhero identities are more important.

---

Chapter 2: Princess' Birthday Bash-Up!

Tokyo City! An idyllic seaside metropolis full of fun and adventure! Wouldn't you know that this world is still pretty similar to the one I'm used to – and why not? This city has Powerpuff Girls too! What are the odds?

On the other hand, this world does have its differences: I tell you, sometimes it's like looking into a funhouse mirror!

For example, one thing this universe doesn't have is a Narrator… which means there's no need for me to be here. Much as I'd like to stick around, I guess I'll be seeing you folks later!

When a city is big and bustling enough, its rare to find a nighttime calm - where the people are at ease as they drift to and fro to from work or into the nightlife. Usually city streets are loud with activity and clogged with tension, and the citizens even more so. But Tokyo City was not like most cities. Here, the people were relaxed bunch for the most part – content to stop and smell the roses without an argument to be heard.

But tonight the evening's tranquility was going to be interrupted by a sound familiar by now to everyone who lived around these parts. One many knew always preceded trouble: the high-pitched shriek of an agitated pussycat.

Nobody knew whose cat it was or why it would cry in the middle of the night, but they did know one thing: whenever that cat started yowling, it meant a big headache for anyone in the area. Sure enough, before long the previously content pedestrians were ducking and covering out of the way as a girl with wild hair, a manic grin and a crazed look in her eye swooped through the streets, laughing all the way.

It was the familiar face of the Monster Princess Morbucks – the alter ego of young socialite Himeko Shirogane, unbeknownst to most of the populace (including the girl herself).

To most she was merely one of the few strange creatures left after the defeat of the demonic Him - and an unpredictable pest besides. She was loud, she was obnoxious, and it seemed that every time she showed up she was up to some new trick to force the people of Tokyo City to idolize her. When she got going she could cause havoc with the smallest of ego trips, and if the huge bag she was lugging around tonight - filled to the brim with fliers - was any indication, this trip would be no different.

Giggling maniacally, she zigzagged back and forth knocking poor little old ladies out of the way and scattering papers in every direction. She only stopped upon finding the biggest street in downtown, Tokyo City's own Broadway, where she knew she would find the most people.

"Everyone look at me!" She shouted gleefully, floating in midair. She carried herself with the air of a celebrity, but was seemingly oblivious to the fact that nobody around actually wanted to give her any attention.

"Can't you see how wonderful I am? I bet you can't wait for my big party!" She said, as she threw another handful of fliers onto the streets below - an informative move too, as nobody actually knew what she was talking about. On every paper, whatever was originally there had been hastily blotted out and replaced with the words "PRINCESS' CITY-WIDE BASH!" scrawled in huge, colorful letters.

The reaction was less than enthusiastic, especially when some idiot took the bait and replied "what party?" The crowd heroically pelted him with garbage to shut him up, but it was already too late.

"Ho ho ho!" She laughed as haughty as can be. "Didn't you know? Soon I'll make this whole city shine with my own private soiree, and you're all invited to bask in my beauty!"

A collective gulp echoed through the crowd: what could that mean? Was this just the prelude to even more mayhem? The very thought was enough to make anyone nervous.

However, the Princess seemed to take their silence the exact wrong way. "Ah ah ah!" She pointed her finger as if giving a serious lecture, but her insane smile ruined the effect. "But not yet! I still have more invitations to spread before the big day! There's so much more to do!"

With a slam and a giggle she rocketed off, plastering the papers on every surface she could get her hands on. Walls were lined with them! Windows could barely be seen through! Even passing cars got shiny new bumper stickers with the Monster Princess' face on them ("Collector's items for sure!" she shouted as she passed).

In the face of their unwilling urban remodel, the city shouted "we need help!" And up in the sky, a trio of heroines was already zooming on their way to take care of the problem – the Powerpuff Girls Z!

These girls were different perhaps than the Powerpuffs of the other universe, but were no less valiant for it. Hyper Blossom: with a keen mind and killer yoyo skills to match! Rolling Bubbles: whose namesakes could capture even the sharpest villains! And Powered Buttercup: with her mighty hammer to send bad guys over the horizon!

These were the great guardians of Tokyo City, and they were… bone tired.

"Why does she always go nuts at night?" Buttercup groaned. She had only just gone to bed before the alarm sounded, and was practically struggling to fly straight. "Can't she let us sleep for once? Just once?"

Blossom nodded in agreement, which left Bubbles as the only neutral one. "That's not fair." She said sensibly. "You know that Himeko doesn't choose to turn evil. Whenever that cat yowls, she changes no matter what!"

"I know," Buttercup yawned, letting herself calm down a bit. "But why does it always seem to happen right when I have to get some sleep? It's unfair!"

"Then let's just get this over with!" Blossom said. "The sooner we get her back to the lab, the sooner we can finally get to sleep!"

"Oh yeah!"

"Sounds good to me!"

"Now if only we could find her," she continued. Unless she had a surprise up her sleeve the Monster Princess was typically not that hard to deal with, but she had a tendency to spread out. "She's been pinballing all over the city spreading those papers! It might take us half the night just to-"

"Hey, isn't that her over there?" Bubbles pointed over to the next block, and lo and behold there was Princess zooming through the intersection and nearly causing a pileup. Several drivers got out of their cars and shook their fists at the hyperactive monster as she flew by, only to be hit in the face with fliers for their trouble.

Blossom groaned and pinched her nose. "… never mind. Let's just take her down."

"No worries," Buttercup said, smiling for the first time that night. "I've got an idea!"

One block over, Princess was hard at work spreading the news of her big party to the masses. She made sure everybody got a poster – especially the crowds that shouted and ranted for her attention. In her insane mind, all that anger would soon disappear once she showed the whole city how much she stood out. And she was making good time at that: she was nearly out of fliers by now. At this rate she would need to grab another bag of fliers from her source by midnight!

"Ho ho ho!" She swooped through the air, hugging herself with delight. "Step one is almost done! Soon I'll be the belle of the ball for the whole city to see!"

"More like the butt of the joke!"

The Princess looked back at the insult to find Blossom and Bubbles tailing her. Bubbles waved sheepishly, but Blossom was smirking instead – no doubt she was the one who dared slander her. She growled in fury.

"What? Powerpuffs Z! Those meddlers, they're probably here to ruin my-"

Her train of thought abruptly stopped as she, looking at Blossom and Bubbles instead of where she was going, flew headfirst into a golf-swing from Buttercup's hammer.

The hit knocked her silly, and she could recover Blossom quickly swooped in and tied her up head-to-toe in yoyo strings, quickly ending her nighttime mischief.

"S-so fast? No fair…" She slurred in a daze, before losing consciousness in Blossom's grip.

Ironically, in response to her defeat the crowds gave all the cheering and applause she wanted in the first place, but she was too knocked out to hear it. In fact, she slept like a baby the whole trip back to Utonium Labs, dazedly mumbling in her sleep about dreams of endless fame and humiliated Powerpuffs.

The girls themselves were content to let her be. It gave them some peace, if not necessarily quiet, for on the trip back - which made whole experience much easier, not to mention faster.

In but a few easy minutes later the Powerpuffs were back at the lab, gingerly stuffing the Princess into the Professor's White Z Ray Irradiator - the only thing that could cure a monster, so far. Yawning and groaning, they watched with boredom as the machine bathed their out of control nemesis in healing energy that changed her back into her far less insane (but still quite ill-tempered) human alter ego.

It was starting to get irritatingly routine, especially given that they didn't have many other monsters and mutations to deal with these days. Even in curing her now, the GIrls already knew they would soon have to stop the Princess and save Himeko from herself again, since neither the girls nor their stalwart mentor Professor Utonium had any idea why these transformations still persisted.

They had come to understand so much about the Black Z Rays that exploded into the city months ago, turning so many innocents and evil people alike into monsters, but there were still a few that they couldn't yet permanently cure – and the Princess was most irritating among them.

No matter what strategy they tried to use, they couldn't stop Himeko from being affected when she heard her trigger – that is, her cat Sapphire's yowl. Their previous tries had only made things worse – sometimes in pretty titanic ways. Sapphire didn't appear to contain any dark energy herself, and even trying to irridate the cat with light energy had no effect. Like several other of the girls' persistent enemies, the power seemed to be in the trigger itself - which the Professor always insisted should have been impossible.

So for know, damage control was the only option. Even if it was boring.

A loud ding told them that the machine had done its job and Himeko was back to normal – she would probably have a killer headache when she woke up, but she was otherwise no worse for the wear. Too tired to make any further ado, girls quickly flew her back to her mansion and unceremoniously dumped her on the balcony outside her room – in the morning, she would just assume she had been sleepwalking.

Once that was done, the girls yawned vague goodbyes to one another and zoomed home to bed. Staunch protectors though they may be, even the Powerpuff Girls Z need their beauty rest after all.

---

The next morning found our heroines up bright and early - agonizingly so for their tired minds – and ready to start another day of class. The challenges of juggling a normal life with the responsibilities of a superhero could be tough, but none moreso than having to go through school after pulling an all nighter chasing some villain across town.

It was homeroom, and while most of their classmates were in this room the teacher herself had thankfully not walked in yet. At least they could have a few minutes to force some some wakefulness into themselves before Ms. Keane busted them for sleeping in class again. They were starting to get a reputation for being lazy – though as the Professor always said, an incorrect but bad reputation can sometimes be better than an accurate but worse one. The girls didn't know what would happen if people figured out their secret identities, and they were afraid to find out.

Maybe everyone would love and thank them. Maybe men in suits would show up to take them away. Either way, it was clear that their normal lives would be history - and that's the last thing any of them wanted.

They were just lucky that despite a few hiccups so far no one they knew had guessed that their superheroic savoirs Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup were really their friends and classmates Momoko Akatsutsumi, Miyako Goutokuji and Kaoru Matsubara. Even if they did look almost exactly the same, and always seemed to be hanging around the school.

The girls chose not to question it.

As everyone waited for the teacher, the girls huddled their desks together to psych themselves up. Or at least, keep each other from passing out. Which was easier said than done.

"Can't I just sleep through first period?" Kaoru groaned. Her head was planted to her desk, muffling her voice.

"Math test, remember?" Momoko said, chewing on a piece of chocolate as she leafed through her homework. A good sugar rush was just what she needed. "Just sleep during lunch."

"But then what would we eat?" Miyako murmured. If Kaoru was barely holding on, then she was almost totally asleep. Her head was cradled in her arms and her eyes were closed. If they didn't know any better, someone would think she was talking in her sleep rather than actually following the conversation.

Momoko snapped her fingers in Miyako's face, waking her up with a start.

"Aww, I only wanted a couple more minutes…"

Momoko sighed. "I know… but we should probably focus. School and all..." she drawled tiredly.

"Whatever," Kaoru said. She lifted her head, but her eyes were still half-closed. Miyako, meanwhile, somehow shot from passed out to perky within a few seconds.

"No, no. It's fine. I think today is gonna be great!" She said with all her usual cheerfulness. Momoko and even Kaoru smiled at her optimistic energy. "That is, as long as nothing happens to bring us-"

"I've arrived, everyone!"

"- down… oh boy…"

Miyako winced and trailed off, watching Momoko groan as Himeko Shirogane entered the classroom, sweeping through the door in a way that drew as much attention to herself as possible. She was wearing an even bigger, flashier dress than usual – so it was probably a special occasion (with their arrogant classmate, that could be either good or bad, or both).

As usual for the day after a Monster Princess rampage she also had bags under her eyes, and it looked like they guessed right about the headache. But somehow her natural haughtiness always seemed to overcome the exhaustion. Miyako only saw it as interesting and Kaoru could find it mildly irritating to infuriating (depending on the day and her mood), but Himeko's constant self-important attitude seemed to rub Momoko the wrong way the most. Even if they had their occasional friendly moments that neither liked to talk about, the two girls' odd rivalry was well known among their friends. If there was anyone who could bring the redhead down on a bad day it was the spoiled, self-important brat.

So Momoko gritted her teeth as, with her usual poise and grace, Himeko glided to the front of the classroom and cleared her throat. A low sigh shot through half the class, while the other half went rapt with attention. By now everyone was used to her interruptions, and they all knew it was better to pay attention now than to bruise her ego and have the conceited girl pester them all day.

"Good morning, plebians!" She declared, with a very proper and affected air. Momoko rolled her eyes, which made Miyako giggle. "It is my pleasure to announce that my sister, Miko, is coming to town for her birthday party! Even better, since my parents are finally letting me plan the whole thing this year that comes with a guarantee that she'll be celebrated in style! I've got big plans for a party that'll stand out more than any you've ever seen, no expense spared! And even better for you, there are invitations for as many people as we could squeeze onto the list. So be grateful!" She smirked, shouting the last part.

The room exploded in cheers. It didn't matter who did or didn't think she was annoying, Himeko's family was the richest in town so everybody was happy to hear this. Being invited to her house for a party was like being handed a thousand dollars. It couldn't not be a good thing.

Momoko, on the other hand, stuffed her face into her homework and tried her best not to pay attention. She had no interest in watching Himeko make her usual rounds passing out invitations, posturing haughtily, or to hear her smug bragging about how grand this party of hers was going to be. She was fairly sure it wouldn't concern her anyway.

So when she heard a throat clear expectantly, she was surprised to look up and see Himeko standing there awkwardly holding out an invite.

"… we're invited?" Kaoru said. She was already holding a ticket, and was staring at it like it might vanish at any second. Momoko looked over to Miyako and saw that she was the same way too.

Momoko's eyes narrowed. "I don't buy it. What's your angle?"

"How dare you!" Himeko turned a deep shade of red, both from embarrassment and her trademark explosive anger. "If you must know, I happen to be making an effort to… um… be nicer to people who are nice to me." She calmed down slightly, looking almost sheepish as she rubbed the back of her head. "Or however my parents put it. And you guys… well, it's not like you guys are total riff raff, so I thought I'd give you a break. But if you'd rather I take the invitation back…"

At this, Miyako and Kaoru grabbed Momoko's shoulders and yanked her aside. "Don't you dare say anything to mess this up!" Kaoru hissed. "Don't you remember how awesome that mansion is?"

"It has three stadium sized pools!"

"Chocolate fountains! Professional baseball players!"

"And golden gift baskets that might have real gold inside!"

Momoko opened her mouth to argue, but the other two were having none of it. "We'll be there!" They shouted in Himeko's direction, before either friend or her rival could say another word. "Thank you!"

"Whatever," Himeko scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Just don't embarrass me." She turned away, but if the girls had been able to see her face they might have spotted a small, relieved smile as she walked away.

Once Himeko was out of earshot, Kaoru and Miyako started squealing in unison (a very rare thing for Kaoru) "I can't believe we're going to a Shirogane party!" They said in unison. The third part of their trio just grunted and slammed her head into her desk.

"I can't believe you guys are making me do this."

"Oh hush up. It's the party of a lifetime – we can't miss this for the world!"

"If you say so." Momoko said. She was staring – or glaring - closely at Himeko as she talked with her friends across the room, as if trying to figure out a riddle. Himeko's phone rang, and Momoko averted her eyes back to the other girls as Himeko scanned the room for the teacher. "It does make me wonder, though…"

The others stared at her in confusion. It took her a second to realize they wanted her to continue.

"Well, I just mean that it might explain-"

"WHAT?!"

The room was suddenly filled by another sound familiar to everyone by now: the sweet tones of Himeko going off on a rant. She immediately had everyone's attention, though her anger wasn't directed at any of them for once. Instead, she was glaring daggers at her phone – or whoever was on the other end, anyway.

Kaoru and Miyako joined the others' in eavesdropping, their conversation totally forgotten. Meanwhile, Momoko just shrugged with disinterest and stuffed another chocolate piece in her mouth.

"What do you mean it's all gone! Those things were handmade redwood, how could you lose them?!" Himeko was shouting, wringing the phone so hard it creaked. Clearly, her conversation had gone poorly. "They were taken by a what? Then what are we supposed to use on such short notice?" The person on the other end must have said something Himeko didn't like, because she turned a deep shade of purple and started shouting louder. "ORDINARY PAPER?! You'd better think of something better and FAST, or you're so fired that I'll… I'll… UGH!"

Without giving the other person an opportunity to respond, she turned off the phone and threw her head onto her desk with a groan.

Nervously, her friend Fumika stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Is there a problem, Himeko?"

Himeko abruptly jumped to her feet, accidentally knocking Fumika away. Her eyes shone with such intense fury that everyone took a step back, just in case.

"Problem? Of course there's a problem! Look at this!" She picked up a newspaper and furiously pointed to the front page, which read MONSTER VANDALIZES DOWNTOWN: POWERPUFFS SAVE DAY. Under the headline was a picture of the Powerpuff Girls Z defeating the Monster Princess. "That stupid monster used my stuff for her stupid display! She stole all the fliers for the party! Now how are people supposed to know when and where the greatest event of the year is taking place?" She clenched her fists, tearing the newspaper in two. "Oooh, I hope the Powerpuff Girls Z ripped that freak a new one!"

Momoko suddenly choked on her chocolate, forcing Kaoru and Miyako to give her the Heimlich. Luckily, Himeko didn't seem to notice.

"I thought you hated the Powerpuff Girls," Himeko's other friend Hanayo said warily.

Himeko shot her a glare, but it was true – Himeko couldn't stand not being the center of attention, and hated how often the Powerpuff Girls Z were the first thing on everybody's minds instead of herself. On a typical day it'd be the Powerpuff Girls she was ranting and raving about. Her supporting them, even out of spite, was a very odd turn.

"I'd hate them a lot less if they'd do their jobs for once!" She said haughtily. "I recognize that monster!" The girls flinched again, but the rest of Princess' gripe quickly shot their worries down. "They must've fought her like fifty times by now! They've been around for months, so how come they haven't locked all these monsters up already!"

"I bet you wouldn't like it so much if we did start doing that…" Momoko muttered under her breath, or however much of it she had left after her choking fit. Himeko continued to rant, having not heard her.

"I tell you one thing, if any monster gets in the way of this party again, they're going to face my wrath."

Kaoru snorted. "That ought to be some trick," Kaoru joked, a little too loudly. She caught Himeko frowning at her, but nothing came of it – maybe because as soon as she said it she was loudly shushed by Miyako.

"Don't be so loud!" She said. "She doesn't know the monster she wants to get rid of is actually herself!"

"True. How's that for irony?" Kaoru laughed.

Miyako looked disapproving, but Momoko just rubbed her chin as a sudden thought struck her. "Maybe, but it does explain a lot."

The other two just looked at her.

"It's what I was going to say before! Isn't it obvious?" She asked. They shook their heads. Fighting the urge to sigh, Momoko just shrugged and dove into the exposition: "Himeko usually sets Sapphire off when she's frustrated, right? And when Himeko changes, the Monster Princess acts out her immature want for attention. Most times it's because she's insecure about living up to the attention her sister gets from her parents." The others nodded, following along. "Well, this party is for her sister and Himeko is throwing it. She's probably frustrated all the time. She might really want it to go well, but she's still jealous deep down and since she can't get her emotions in order the Princess is acting on that."

The others were silent for a moment as they absorbed it all.

"You mean… she's sabotaging her own party, but has no idea she's the one doing it?"

"Bingo."

Now it was Kaoru turn to bang her head against her desk. Suddenly this situation seemed a lot less funny. "… oh, this is going to be a fun week."

"I dunno." Miyako said hopefully, "maybe she'll start venting her frustration in a productive way this time!"

Both Momoko and Kaoru stared at her. "You're fooling yourself." Kaoru said bluntly.

Miyako deflated. "I know…"

---

Kaoru's sarcasm proved itself to be spot on by lunch, when Himeko slipped away from school to yell at her staff and personally deal with the "stolen fliers" situation. Apparently she did something to bug her cat before she even got home, because within minutes the Monster Princess was flying over the city and the Powerpuff Girls Z were racing to stop her before they were all caught skipping and got detention.

This time she had a bag full of fireworks – and not just any regular old fireworks, either. These were the biggest, flashiest pyrotechnics the girls had ever seen, and the Princess was firing them in every direction from some kind of cannon. Rocket whizzed through the air and exploded with a shower of color not once, not twice, but a half dozen times each - the whole sky was lit up!

It was so impressive the girls had to stop mid-flight just to admire it.

"Whoa… I know she's blowing half the city into confetti, but that is seriously cool!" Momoko gushed, back in costume as Blossom. "You think they'll have those at the party?"

"You mean the party you didn't want to go to?" Kaoru quipped, smirking as she hefted her hammer. Momoko glared at her.

"If she fires them all now, she won't have any left to show off!" Miyako cried, trying to put the two back on track.

Kaoru shrugged. "Well, that as good a reason to stop her as any." She said, hefting her hammer.

"Let's go, girls!"

Meanwhile…

High above the skyscrapers, the Monster Princess loaded her patent-pending Princess' Power Fireworks Supercannon™ with another handful of flares. One or two more than strictly necessary, perhaps, but all the better to really show the folks down below how amazing she was!

She hefted the cannon to add another volley to her lightshow - this time she was sure she could avoid hitting any of the buildings below… probably. She was about to give it her best try when… whoosh! A trio of blurs in red, blue and green swooped in front and surprised her at just the wrong moment, making her aim go wild as she tumbled hand over food.

She looked up, furious, and saw the blurs become her hated rivals. "Not again…" she growled. Sometimes it felt like she couldn't go two steps without the Powerpuffs Z showing up.

"Stop this, Princess!" came the familiar shout. This time it was Miyako doing the talking, though of course the Princess only knew her as Bubbles. "I know you'd hate to ruin all the work you've done on the real party," she pleaded.

This only made the Princess even angrier. "My party is the real party!" she snarled. "This should've all been for me in the first place, so I'm gonna make things right! And you're not going to stop me!" She shouted. "Who cares about my stupid sister anyway?"

"You do!" Bubbles shouted, though with surprising softness given the situation. "You've just can't remember right now. But- eeep!"

The heartfelt plea was interrupted as a firecracker zoomed straight into the trio and knocked Bubbles for a loop. Shouting her name angrily, the other two Powerpuffs leapt into action - but for once the Princess was faster. Reaching into her bag, she stuffed as many flares as she could into the cannon and aimed at all three of them for one massively explosive shot.

"Everyone for miles will know how amazing I am once I blow you all into ashes!" She shouted. She laughed maniacally as she pulled the trigger. The Powerpuffs all froze and dove out of the way before...

… nothing happened.

Everybody stared. The Princess blushed a bit, feeling a little awkward. "Um…" She pulled the trigger again. And once more, for good measure. And then she shook and throttled it like it was a stress toy. Still nothing.

Although... she couldn't help but notice that the cannon was starting to vibrate. And hum. And glow with a delightfully menacing color of red…

"It's gonna blow!" Blossom shouted. The Princess shrieked and dropped it, making herself scarce. The cannon plummeted towards the street, but before it could fall too low and endanger the lives of even more people Bubbles dashed under it and captured it with her bubble wand. Picking up on the idea, Buttercup flew beside her and knocked it high into the sky with a baseball-style hammer swing.

The cannon disappeared with a twinkle in the clouds, before the whole sky was lit up with the lights and whistles of the largest explosion yet. Colors danced back and forth, pictures pinwheeled through the sky in unorganized blotches – there was even a complicated series of firecrackers in the shape of a marching band that twisted back and forth with a melodic whistle.

It was by far the most extraordinary piece of pyrotechnics anyone who happened to be looking up right then had ever seen. It was just too bad it was wasted on a completely random fight like this one.

And speaking of which, with that out of the way - though still incredibly distracting - the Powerpuffs could go back to focusing on finding the Princess. Luckily she wasn't hard to track down – they soon spotted her huddled on one of the nearby buildings. She was cowering with her hands over her head, unaware that the cannon was exploding harmlessly overhead and not sending them all to kingdom come.

It took her a moment to realize what happened and look up, and a second more to notice that she was surrounded. She slowly turned pale.

"Uh… oops?" She said with a sheepish grin. Saying nothing, Buttercup bopped her on the head and knocked her out again.

Blossom quickly grabbed her with her yoyos and flew higher, letting her hang in midair below them. "So…" she said, watching the fireworks that were still going on strong above them. "Back to the lab… I guess?"

"… yeah." Kaoru said dully. It was hard to tear their eyes away from the display (Miyako was practically mesmerized, and the others weren't far behind), but… "We don't want to be late for class… right?"

With that bit of truth encouraging a chorus of disappointed sighs, the three heroines shrugged and zoomed off with the Princess trailing behind them – leaving the fireworks still booming and crackling with the power of a dozen-dozen flares in the distance…

---

They all did manage to get back before the end of lunch, Himeko having found herself "dozing" out on the yard. Unfortunately the explosions in the sky continued to go off for at least an hour after the Powerpuff Girls Z's battle with the Princess, so she woke up with plenty of time to see everyone oohing and aahing as dozens of her extremely expensive pyrotechnics literally went up in smoke.

The meltdown that followed was legendary, though the girls wisely avoided getting in the middle of it this time.

It was a spur of good fortune that Himeko managed to cool down slightly by the time school let out (or at least, she got to stewing to herself instead of blowing up every five minutes), and in what could only have been some kind of miracle there were no more Princess flareups that day. But despite the easy patch, the whole situation had the girls seriously on edge. This was far worse than usual: with Himeko effectively putting herself in a bad mood, every single thing her alter ego did just made it more likely that she would accidentally set off her trigger again. It was a self-defeating situation, no matter how they sliced it.

So, in order to avoid having a trio of frustrated panic attacks the trio of heroines decided to spend the next day hanging around Utonium Labs – in part to ask for advice, in part just to relax.

It was a nice, leisurely day, and in times like that the Professor and his young son Ken were often inside working on the latest breakthroughs in modern technology and superheroic gadgets. With amazing inventions like super-gigantic crime fighting robots, new sources of strange and mystical radiation, super-tiny crime fighting robots or the Turbo-Charged Coffee Machine he just cooked up last week, anything that came out of Utonium Labs was as sure to be top of the line as it was to be strange and unbelievable.

Granted, on this particular day they were only trying to supercharge one of Ken's old video game systems, but to the girls that sort of thing was even more interesting – at least this time they could have a lot of fun trying out the results instead of just watching the inventions be tested without their input (the Professor still won't let them have any of that Turbo-Charged Coffee. Heavy quarantine, he says). Playing a super-advanced video game was a dream come true.

Of the three, Kaoru was the only one who didn't seem to care at all about trying it out - and that was only because she was having more fun watching the explosions as the Professor made a mistake (or succeeded - they weren't yet sure if some parts weren't supposed to explode). Momoko was glaring impatiently at the blank television, as though her angry stare could make the video games come on faster. Miyako, on the other hand, had been looking out the window watching squirrels for the last hour.

"Well, that ought to do it!" The Professor finally said, climbing out from under console – which was now four times bigger than when they started work. His hair was frayed and covered in soot, but it wasn't anything a good dusting couldn't fix.

The Professor was always a bit odd in the girls' experience - though in a good way, of course. His lab was secluded and he was a private man, so on first glance one might think he was a recluse. But behind his guarded image to outsiders was an excitable man of science and supportive friend who always lent advice when any of the girls got into a bind.

They couldn't ask for a better mentor. But on the other and, as he was an excitable man of science he seemed to delight in making mistakes – at least, those he could fix with more science. Or maybe that was just his natural good cheer. It was difficult to tell with him.

His son Ken was much like him, but in miniature. This made him very much unlike most kids his age, being very composed and studious – though he did still have his immature moments, being quite bossy and stubborn.

This time Ken had tried to add a little more to the machine than was strictly necessary, which turned out to be a rather huge mistake. "So, what did we learn Ken?" The Professor asked sternly, as though giving a lecture.

Ken, who was even more frayed and sooty than his father, coughed up some dust. "Uh… the world is not ready for holographic graphics cards?"

Utonium smiled serenely. "Precisely."

Kaoru laughed, then groaned. Now they would actually have the play the thing – she preferred sports over video games, even supercharged ones, and besides she wasn't looking forward to getting electrocuted or something by an experimental game system. "Good job, you didn't blow us all up. So do we play the games now or what?" she growled, though good-naturedly.

Or at least it started good-natured, before Momoko shoved her out of the way. "Yeah, I want to try it out!"

Utonium smiled softly. "We can start right away, if you want." He pressed a button on a remote and both console and television turned on at once. A fast-paced fighting game flickered onto the screen.

"Awesome!" Momoko cheered. "I call-"

"Dibs!" Said Ken.

"Dibs!" Said Miyako, who was still watching squirrels.

Momoko gasped, ignoring Kaoru - who burst into laughter beside her. "No fair, you weren't even paying attention!"

"Was so!"

"Do you even like video games?"

"Maybe…"

The two started bickering, and the Professor laughed to himself. "If I must say, you girls seem a mite more tightly wound than usual," he said.

Denied her chance to play, Momoko crossed her arms and threw herself back into her seat to watch Miyako and Ken fight against each other. "Hrm," she grunted, as Miyako picked her favorite character. "It's nothing…"

She saw the Professor raise an eyebrow, and groaned again. One occasional downside to hanging around Utonium Labs was in how difficult the Professor was to fool. He could always get them to talk about their problems eventually. Momoko decided to avoid this by clamming up, and she slumped down further while pouting at the tv screen.

Deciding to be helpful rather than surly, Kaoru answered for her. "It's all this craziness with Himeko and the Princess," she said. "It's driving us nuts."

"Oh?"

"Yeah!" Momoko shouted. All of a sudden she was sitting up straight again, as if she hadn't been dedicated to avoiding the conversation a second before. "She's making us run all around the city trying to save her own precious party. From herself! It's infuriating!"

"I can imagine," the Professor mused. He glanced over to his desk with a frown. Kaoru and Momoko watched - a little confused - as he walked across the room and studied something before replying. "In that case, I may have some bad news for you."

The groan Momoko let out this time went on for so long that it made the other two stop and stare for a second (taking advantage of the moment, Ken easily K.O.'d Miyako's character while she was distracted), and caused the Professor to take a step back.

"Don't tell me…" she said.

"I'm afraid your friend has only made things worse for herself."

"She's not our friend," Momoko protested – in vain, as everybody just rolled their eyes. "And what do you mean?" she sighed, grumbling under her breath.

"It looks like the fireworks were the last straw. She's offered up a cash reward for anyone who can capture the Monster Princess."

He handed the girls a newspaper. Momoko and Kaoru snatched it at the same time, pushing each other as they both tried to read. Himeko's bounty was front and center on the first page, accompanied by a photo of her holding a ridiculously large check with an even more ridiculously large number on it.

Kaoru glanced over the story and whistled. "Whoa. That's a lot of zeroes. I'm almost tempted to cash that in." She almost grinned, before catching the look everyone else was giving her. "What? I'm just joking!"

Miyako gave her friend a disappointed stare (during which Ken once again snuck in a super move), while Momoko just slumped back down. "Her and her stupid ego. Remind me why we're not just gonna let her get exposed, again?"

"Because it's the right thing to do?" Miyako said sagely. "And because a lot worse can happen to her beyond just being exposed as a monster."

Kaoru nodded. "Yeah! She could get locked up!"

"Don't remind me." Momoko huffed.

"So what are you guys going to do?" Ken asked, realizing too late that this had finally made Miyako pay attention to him again. She glanced at the screen, and did a double take when she realized what was going on.

"Just stay the course I guess," Kaoru said, as Ken ducked a barrage of pillows. "And make sure she doesn't set herself up for anything worse."

Ken didn't answer, as Miyako had moved on to chasing him around the room – forgetting the game entirely, and causing everyone to forget the tense situation as well. Kaoru jumped up and started cheering her on, while the Professor simply stood back and looked on with a chuckle.

Even Momoko couldn't hang onto her frustration at the sight of Ken leaping head over heels trying to get away, though she still sighed to herself. "For her own sake," she groaned for the last time. "I hope Himeko is staying out of trouble or once in her life…"

---

Meanwhile, At The Shirogane Estate

Eighty six maids. Fourteen cooks. Ten drivers and seven butlers. All lined up in neat rows.

A triple width red carpet, with streamers and lights on either side. Planes and blimps overhead, trailing messages in the sky in lights, ribbons and good old-fashioned cloud cover.

Not to mention a fully sized orchestra playing the classics of Beethoven, Chopin and Cab Calloway, plus an array of cheerleaders hired from the top teams in the region.

To most people, this would be the start of a ludicrously extravagant event. But to the Shirogane family, it was a normal welcoming committee – a bit small, even. And why not? The family's golden child was finally coming home. Miko Shirogane always came into town in style – the family made extra sure of that.

Not that she didn't add a little flair of her own to the mix either.

A sonic boom overhead signaled her arrival, as a luxurious pink jet rocket onto the horizon with a twinkle in the sky. It passed over one, and was gone. Then it appeared again, criss crossing in the air above, before an equally pink parachute adorned with a shiny star opened up below it. The crowd of servants (and two overjoyed parents) gasped appropriately as it slowly drifted to the ground like a graceful, floating flower.

Miko touched down with utmost grace, the parachute landing perfectly behind her - to be picked up seconds later by speedy maids. At once, her parents were there - covering her in massive hugs and kisses.

"Miko, my darling daughter!" Her father gushed, looking like he was about to cry.

"Did you not want to land your plane, dear?" Her mother asked. "We had the hangar all ready for your jet!"

"I asked an ace pilot from school to take it from here." She waved at the plane as it zoomed away. An extremely sharp eyed person might've caught the pilot giving a thumbs up before it disappeared over the horizon for the last time. "The university needs it for some air speed research, and I was happy to provide."

"That's my girl. So generous to those less fortunate!" Mr. Shirogane said, patting her shoulder.

Miko smiled at the compliment. She turned to thank her father, but paused as she scanned the assembled crowd.

Her smile turned into a confused frown. Amid the dozens of servants, parades and tokens of affection, she couldn't help but notice that there was one incredibly important thing missing.

"Where's my darling sister?" she asked, a little put out. "Why isn't Himeko here to see me too?"

Her father sighed dramatically. "I'm afraid she's still inside. She has been quite stressed lately."

"What? Why?"

"It's this party she's planning for you." Her mother explained, with an air of reserved high-class worry. "We've told her there's no shame is asking for our help if she's having trouble, but you know your sister. Headstrong to a fault, sometimes."

"Yes, I suppose." Miko said mutely. "But then, she is a Shirogane…"

Miko didn't have much interest in the welcoming committee after that. She talked a bit for her parents and accepted a light lunch from the servants, but after a few minutes she found an excuse to dip inside. Once away from the reception, she made her way through her family's gigantic mansion – past a dozen kitchens, a half-dozen game rooms, and the Olympic size swimming pool – to find her way to her sister's room.

When she finally arrived (for it took twenty minutes at least to traverse the entire Shirogane mansion), she found Himeko sitting on the floor next to her bed, staring morosely at a newspaper and fiddling idly with a doll. It was very unlike her - Miko only sat on the floor when she was very depressed - and quite unfitting for a girl her age in Miko's opinion. It was clearly time to meddle.

Miko had to clear her throat before Himeko noticed her. When she did she jumped to her feet in excitement, though her smile was still noticeably strained.

"Miko! You're home!" She squeaked, looking shocked and quite disappointed with herself. "I'm sorry I missed you arriving, I just lost track of-"

"It's nothing, sister." Miko cut her off, not wanting her to feel sad about such things. "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah…" Himeko sighed. She sank back to the floor and suddenly went very quiet, turning back to her paper without another word. This again struck Miko as very strange for her - usually her sister couldn't wait to tell her about all of the accomplishments, no matter how minor, that she'd missed while she was away. Miko expected she would at least brag about the party.

This was more serious than she thought. Miko sat down next to her sister and put an arm around her shoulder, hoping to ease into things. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to the doll in Himeko's arms. It was very well made – it was custom made to look like Miko, and wore real jewels and silk.

Himeko glanced at it, as if she had forgotten it was there. "Oh. Just an idea I had for a birthday gift. I decided on something better." She said harshly. She tossed it into the corner and didn't spare it another glance.

Miko winced. Clearly easing in wasn't going to help. "What's the matter, little sister?"

Himeko huffed and turned away again without saying a word. Miko tried not to sigh.

"Come on, you can tell me. Maybe I can help."

"But you shouldn't have to help!" She suddenly shouted, before realizing her outburst and quickly going back to being subdued.

"Come on, we're sisters. If we have problems, we solve it together." Miko gave what she hoped was an encouraging smile, but Himeko's mood didn't change at all. "Is… is it about the party you wanted to throw for me?"

Himeko scowled. "No! Yes! I mean…. aargh!" She threw her hands up in frustration, and suddenly she was ranting. Which, Miko supposed, was at least more normal. "I wouldn't have a problem if it weren't for that stupid monster! Look at this!" She thrust the newspaper under Miko's nose. On it was a picture of some kind of flying girl in a gaudy dress. She almost looked… familiar… but then, Miko instantly knew of her as one of Tokyo City's many monster residents.

"That insane freak has been ruining the party bit by bit! I don't know why, and I can't seem to stop her! Everything I planned for you is going up in smoke and nothing's working!" Himeko turned away again with a tragic pout. She looked down at the floor, a sad look in her eye. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be sorry." Miko said softly. "This town's monster problem has been getting tough, hasn't it?"

Himeko looked up at her, confused. "You know about it?"

"I've been studying up on the subject in between my concerto practice and second thesis," Miko said, waving flippantly. "In fact, after hearing about your problems with this one, I had some of my assistants start cooking up something that might help."

Himeko smiled slightly. Her sister was always two steps ahead of everyone else. Now, if only that didn't always include her…

"What kind of something?"

"Why tell you when I can show you?" Miko abruptly stood up and strode to the door, gesturing for a surprised Himeko to follow. "Come on!" She said, giggling.

Her grin slowly getting a little wider, Himeko hopped to her feet and ran after her.

Another twenty minutes later found the two sisters hiking through a network of secret passages under the Shirogane Estate – much to the confusion of Himeko, who had no idea any such passages existed.

When she asked where it had all come from, Miko responded with a rare mischievous smirk. "I had them installed a few months ago. I needed some way to get to our summer laboratory, didn't I?"

"Summer laboratory?" Himeko gaped at her. Just like every other time Miko came to visit, she found herself marveling at how much her sister could accomplish right under her nose without even trying. "How many of these secret labs do we have?"

"That's a secret."

"Walked into that one…"

Soon, the passageways opened to a large underground scientific facility. Walls of lights flashed in sequence as scientists bustled here and there, studying data from an array of computers and calibrating machinery. And in the center…

"Whoa!" Himeko shouted. "Is that a laser?"

She couldn't think of anything else it could be – it looked like a giant battery with a laser pointer strapped to it. It was connected to an enormous power source which glowed ominously, even though the machine apparently wasn't turned on.

"Not just any laser!" Miko laughed. She gestured to it with all the drama and flair of a movie mad scientist. "If lasers were works of art, this would be the masterpiece! We call it the Shirogane Sharpshooter!"

"Ooh! What does it do?"

"What do you think it does, little sister?" Miko winked. Himeko rolled her eyes, though more fondly than usual. "It's designed to tap into the same strange energy that this town's monsters are powered by and cause it to flare up self-destructively!" Miko continued. "Yes, if more people had ideas like this, the Powerpuff Girls wouldn't need to be around blundering things up - one shot from the Sharpshooter, and that no-good meddling monster will be ashes and dust!"

"You mean, you're going to destroy it?" Himeko gasped. She wanted to grin, but instead her whole body was shuddering. This is exactly what she wanted, wasn't it? Why did it give her such a chill?

Miko quickly realized something was bothering her, and put on the smile she reserved only for her sister. "I'm sure it won't come to that. We can send that thing running without having to resort to extreme measures. But if we do have to use it, that monster better watch out! We're Shiroganes, aren't we? Nobody messes with us."

Himeko pumped her fist and leapt into the air. "Yeah!"

"Now, as for this party…" Miko started, concerned, but Himeko cut her off. In a flash she was back to her old energetic and bossy self, emboldened by her sister's support.

"Hey! You better not get involved!" She said, putting her hands on her hips. "This is supposed to be a surprise. You'll find out when you find out, no earlier!"

"Okay, okay!" Miko laughed, but Himeko had already turned and flounced dramatically out of the room. Miko shook her head, smiling.

"I'd better make sure she doesn't get lost on the way back home," she chuckled. Just before leaving she left she turned to her head scientist, and suddenly a dark look flashed across her face. "Make sure it's ready, just in case. No monster hurts on my sister on my watch."

"Yes, ma'am!" The scientist saluted, sweating. He quickly went back to his calibrations, while Miko left to catch up with her sister. It wasn't wise to antagonize one's very rich boss, but Miko was generally good to work with. As long as she was sure that as usual everything would go exactly as she planned, none of the scientists would have a problem.

With that in mind, soon the lab was back to its normal hustle and bustle.

But the whole time, nobody in the room noticed the other presence among them, watching their every move…

"Oh yes my dear, I'll make very sure that the laser is ready…" A silvery voice echoed, though no one could hear it. "I will ensure it's ready my dear... How wonderful.

It was nothing that anyone could detect, not if they weren't ready for it. A flicker on the computers' monitors. A grinning red face suddenly appearing and then disappearing without a trace – probably a trick of the light or their overworked eyes, the technicians would assume.

Like a virus, it went unnoticed as it delved deeper into their systems, corrupting every bit of code and every piece of technology with its own insidious whims.

"It seems I chose the perfect time to reach into this dimension!" Said Him – the Him from the other universe. His voice, somehow both loud and silent, echoed throughout the interface. Thanks to powers abstract and strange, it was as if he were stretched out and relaxing on a couch within Miko Shirogane's computer network - when he was instead corrupting its very core. "What a marvelous coincidence - I choose these rich fools' to drop in on because of how much power they wield, and instead I enter such a interesting situation. To think, building a superweapon to unknowingly take out one's own beloved sibling… I can't imagine the guilt! Yes, I think I want to see how this turns out. And perhaps I can nudge the situation just a little bit..."

"Though on second thought, it looks like I have no choice but to interfere…" he mused, regarding his surroundings with distaste. "It's such a shame that this universe's Utonium has so much experience dealing with my alternate. He might conceivably have enough information to detect me before I'm ready to give him and his charming girls their… presents." He laid back on his metaphorical couch. Despite the complaints in his voice, it was clear he was taking his setbacks in stride. "But this is just as cozy, and something tells me that in time it will make an excellent back door..."

"As for now, let's see if I can't make our dear 'Princess'' party that much more… INTERESTING!" The last part came out as a terrifying snarl as Him exerted his influence over the whole network, twisting and warping the carefully calibrated codes into a menagerie of muddled ones and zeroes right under the oblivious scientists' noses…

Oh, no! With that demon in the system the Shirogane Sharpshooter will go out of control for sure! Poor Princess… er… Himeko… and boy does that feel weird to say! She's going to get blown to bits by her own sister, and neither of them even know it!

That Him! Even when keeping himself out of it, or so he says… he does nothing but cause trouble.

"Alas, it's my forte!" Said Him, with a fiendish grin.

Ain't that the truth! I don't even want to know what he's planning to do inside the Sharpshooter's computers, but I'm sure it's something nasty. I may not know these versions of the girls, but I hope they can figure this out just as well as mine could!

I bet you're asking why I'm narrating again, when I said this universe doesn't need me! Well, since Him – well, the Him I'm talking about – is from my universe, I can narrate what he's doing no problem. How's that for a loophole?

Now, if only the scene weren't about to change…

---

The Day of the Big Party

Much to the Powerpuff Girls' delight, the next few days passed without much incident. True, they did have to stop the Princess at school before she could escape into the city once, but that was because someone had accidentally run over Sapphire's tail with their bike – and it took less than a minute to take deal with. Barely a blip on anyone's danger scale.

With her sister home and the party planning going on without further hitches Himeko was actually happier than usual, which thankfully meant the city was safe from the Princess' sprees for the time being and the Girls could relax with ease.

It also meant that when the party finally came, they were all rested up and ready to have fun!

It was an even bigger set-up than they had imagined – Himeko had rented out the top five floors of an enormous skyscraper convention hall just for the event and spared no expense to make sure it was the most extravagant, most amazing party anyone in town had ever seen before. There were platinum-selling music stars giving performances on every floor, all-star athletes hob-knobbing with celebrities and giving autographs to anyone who asked, massive amusement park rides that looped and spun out the building and into the sky and a whole floor dedicated to nothing but showing off yet-to-be-released movies and video games.

There was even a clown dressed in rainbows, who stood on a huge platform all day letting guests fling water balloons at him (he might have been the most popular thing there).

But the rooftop area was the most important part of all: a huge outside plaza, where rows of tables showcased both savory hors d'ouvres and the best selection of sweets and confections Sakurako Kintoki's restaurant could provide. At the center was an enormous stage, next to which was an even more enormous statue of Miko that could be seen for for miles around.

It soon became clear that the students of Ms. Keane's class were very lucky to be there. Not only was the event super-exclusive, but even the high class guests were wowed out of their minds. Everyone was having a great time.

Everyone except Momoko, that is. While Kaoru and Miyako went off on their own to explore the convention hall's many wonders – raving as their favorite pop band put on a show two floors down, cheering as they took a ride on the military jetpack Himeko rented for the day and laughing together as they tried out the wall of carnival games purchased from various local amusement parks - Momoko sat in the same chair on the far corner of the roof, arms crossed and refusing to do a single thing.

At least, not while anyone was watching her - though she would later deny ever moving from that spot at all. After two hours or so, Kaoru and Miyako walked up to her with armfuls of party favors and faces full of disappointment.

"Sheesh, you're still here?" Kaoru said. "Would you lighten up? Crack a smile or something! Don't think I didn't see you in the back row while we were at the concert downstairs."

"You had fun at the last party she threw…" Miyako said, though much more quietly - conscious as she was of people overhearing. "At least before the monsters showed up… you could at least look like you're having fun."

"Yeah! Try the water slide! It goes for stories!"

"I don't feel like it." Miyako grunted. And true to her word, she didn't budge an inch.

Kaoru groaned in exasperation. "Oh, for… at least try some of the snacks."

At this, Momoko couldn't resist a small smile no matter how much she tried. It was no secret that she adored sweets – in fact, she was outright obsessed – and the selection was not only irresistible, it was all from her favorite shop. She had already caved in and wandered over to the confections table once or twice, though she wouldn't admit it.

Her friends had caught her, and she knew it. With a fake sigh, she "let" the others lead her to the table with the largest amount of sweets… and groaned: Himeko was there was well. She seemed to be inspecting the table, making sure the cloth.

All afternoon, both Shirogane sisters could be spotted drifting here and there around the party. Miko, of course, was wandering around the festivities trying to have fun on her special day, and was mobbed with dozens of adorers wherever she went. Some were looking for autographs, others for advice or awestruck question. Some just wanted the opportunity to say she smiled at them once. She was as much of an attraction as the rest of the party, but seemed to be having a lot of fun regardless – or maybe because of all the fawning.

Himeko, on the other hand, had been on patrol since the guests arrived. Unlike her sister she was alone - except for Sapphire - and didn't seem to be having much fun at all. Planning the party had clearly started to stress her out. While she wasn't as visible as her sister was, she had been popping up in random places to scrutinize random minor details and harp on anything that was out of place – no matter how meaningless.

Thanks to her perfectionism, she hadn't had the time to enjoy any of the party herself. She and Miko hadn't even been seen in the same place all day, and every time Himeko so much as glimpsed her and her crowd of fans she would suspiciously disappear off to another part of the building to snap at some unfortunate employees.

All three of the girls were sympathetic, even if Momoko expressed it by ignoring her and focusing on the mochi instead. The others waved at her, catching her attention.

"Hey, Himeko!" Miyako said, a little too loud in her excitement. "Thanks again for invite! You really know how to throw a celebration!"

But Himeko seemed too distracted even to pay attention to a compliment. "Yeah, sure." She snapped, before catching sight of Momoko from the corner of her eye and glaring. "Just don't stuff your face with all the sweets before my sister can get at them!" She slapped the mochi right out of Momoko's hand just as she was about to eat, and stormed away grumbling about "gluttonous plebians."

Momoko glowered at her retreating form, until she disappeared into the crowd. After a few seconds, she finally stopped seething enough to speak. "I'm going to get her. One day, I'm going to get her!"

"Now, now. She may be getting your goat, but she did invite us."

"Yeah, to her sister's birthday party," was Momoko's ranting reply. She started raising her voice a little, ignoring the others as they tried to shush her. "What, are we just going to forget that time her jerk of a sister humiliated us on national television?"

"What do you mean? She showed up the Powerpuff Girls Z, remember?" Kaoru hissed as innocently as she could. She glanced around at the people nearby to make sure no one was listening. "We had nothing to do with it. So quiet down, will ya? You're just trying to find any reason not to have fun."

"Come on, Momoko. Just admit that this party isn't that bad. You're even having fun, I'm sure you are." Miyako said slyly. "You'll feel a lot better when you admit it!"

Momoko sniffed, as stubborn as ever. "It's all fun and games until Himeko finally blows a jealous gasket and accidentally sets off that cat."

"Are you kidding? She hasn't had an episode in age!" Kaoru laughed. "Plus, she's too busy dealing with the party to worry about Sapphire."

"I mean," Miyako added, though with little more uncertainty than Kaoru. "She has been avoiding her sister a little and she's a bit worked up, but…" She trailed off, but still seemed unsure.

"But that doesn't mean she's about to lose it. In her mind, running this thing is how she's getting attention."

Kaoru and Miyako nodded together. It was true, Himeko's crabby mood was obvious. But since she was only stressed because of the party, it seemed safe to guess that she would cool down after the main event was over - and neither of the two would hear a single word of disaster.

Momoko remained unconvinced. "You'll see." She said smugly. With a smirk, she swiped another piece of mochi before Himeko could come back.

Naturally, Himeko somehow found another way. Before Momoko could eat, the shrill and sudden sound of her rival's voice echoed over the loudspeaker and through the building, surprising her into dropping her precious sweet onto the ground.

"EVERYBODY! IT'S TIME FOR THE MAIN EVENT OF OUR AMAZING BIRTHDAY BASH! IF YOU PLEASE, COME TO THE ROOF FOR THE BIG SHOW! IF YOU DON'T PLEASE, COME ANYWAY!"

Momoko glared at the floor, simmering over her dropped and wasted mochi. "Gonna get her, I swear!"

"Aw, shut it!" Kaoru nudged her. "They're gonna sing Happy Birthday, or whatever it is rich people do."

"And then we're gonna get cake!" Miyako grinned.

Momoko's frown twitched upwards. Losing mochi was terrible to be sure, but the thought of trading it for sweet cake and delicious frosting wasn't so bad... "Hmph… fine…"

The girls were already on the roof, so they didn't have far to go for a good spot to watch – and luckily too, as people started pouring in almost right away. Soon, the whole area was so packed with guests that they felt almost like sardines.

---

Meanwhile, as the guests piled in the entire Shirogane clan stood on the gigantic stage, looking very pleased and very wealthy. Miko was there, beaming with pride for having such an extravagant event in her honor. Mr. and Mrs. Shirogane were there, also beaming for having a daughter who deserved such an extravagant event in her honor.

And in front of them was Himeko, who stood at center stage grinning from ear to ear. Her crabby mood was gone. In fact, she was all smiles. It may have been Miko's party, but this was her time to shine!

She cleared her throat to get the crowd's attention. "Attention everybody! Over here! Hey!" She shouted increasingly loudly, but she couldn't seem to get anyone to pay attention. To her irritation, she noticed that most people were either staring at Miko or trying to scarf down a few last minute snacks instead of listening to her.

With an annoyed pout, she pulled a megaphone from nowhere in particular. "HEY, LISTEN UP!"

The whole crowd went quiet.

Shelving her irritation completely, Himeko continued as if nothing had happened. With the same self-important tone she used when first giving out those invitations to Ms. Keane's class, she began introducing the main event. "This was such a wonderful party, wasn't it?" She smirked as self-importantly as possible. "Is everyone having fun?"

There was a wave of clapping (and one exasperated groan from a certain redhead) that made her puff her chest out in pride. She had planned all of this, all by herself. Now her parents and sister would have to see how much she could accomplish.

"And with all the honor it undoubtedly is to be at a celebration this magnificent, we can't ignore the very reason we're here! All this fun and splendor is here because of one person, and one amazing person only…" she paused, thinking for a second before revising her tone – and just in time too. She had almost gotten carried away and introduced herself. That wouldn't have gone over well… "… that is, it's all here in honor of one amazing person."

She snapped her fingers, and a hatch opened in the floor. Slowly rising from the depths, an enormous cake twice as tall as any person and four times as wide ascended into view. It was twenty flavors – one per enormous layer – with velvety frosting of six more flavors made from the purest of sweetmilks. Over a hundred hand-picked cherries were dotted around it. On the inside was a sugary filling that included over with over a half-dozen different kinds of fruit. And to top it off, the whole thing was made without any nuts – just in case someone was allergic.

Several jaws hit the floor, not the least of which was the one belonging to that certain redhead who groaned earlier.

Himeko sighed dramatically. "It was the best I could find in the whole region." She said, her expression insufferably smug. "In the end, a cake as grand as this is still barely good enough for anyone in our family." Her smirk turned into a genuine smile, for just a moment. "Let alone someone who stands out as much as my sister, Mi-"

Sensing she was about to be introduced, Miko stepped forward and waved to the people. This turned out to be a mistake.

The crowd went nuts. Everybody jumped forward trying to get closer to the birthday girl, or snap a picture of the birthday girl, say hello to the birthday girls – or in some cases, trying to get a piece of the cake before they were actually allowed. The stage erupted with "Happy Birthday!"s and "You rock"s and the occasional "I love you" – even Miko had the decency to wear an embarrassed blush at that last one.

Unfortunately, this sudden tide was not a good thing for Himeko - who was was taken by surprise by the outbursts and lost her balance. With an "oops!" she and Sapphire fell into the crowd, and all of a sudden they were being pulled in all directions as everyone around them tried to move a little closer to the famous Miko Shirogane.

"Hey! Wait! Quit it!" She shouted as she was pushed through the sea of people, getting farther and farther away from the stage. For a second she saw what might've been Miko searching for her, but then she was cut off by the crowd and shoved back even further. "I'm not…"

But before she could finish, she was finally spit behind the flock of people. She was well away from the cake. Worse, she was well away from the stage - she couldn't even see it. She had somehow ended up inside the building, behind everybody. The last push knocked her off balance, and she fell on her behind.

"… I'm not finished." She squeaked weakly.

Everyone around her was looking at the stage, and nobody so much as looked in her direction. Sapphire mewled sympathetically, and Himeko pulled the cat into a close hug as she tried to push back through the crowd. Unfortunately, the roof was just too thick with people. She couldn't get through no matter how much she kicked and shoved. It was like trying to break down a wall.

Then, to her dismay, she heard her father speaking into the megaphone.

Her family must have realized that she was nowhere to be found and gone on with the show without her! "Erm… well, as my daughter was saying: Happy Birthday Miko!" Her father announced. The crowd erupted in cheers, and Himeko's heart fell. That was supposed to be her moment!

"Typical." She groused. Forced to accept that she wasn't getting back on that stage any time soon, she resigned herself to listening - not even watching! - to the birthday wishes she was supposed to be giving.

Though perhaps "resigned" was being generous. She paced back and forth, getting steadily more annoyed. "I know it's her birthday and all, but still… why not just a little recognition for all my hard work? Nobody would ever throw a party like this for me! I'd only get, like, two floors tops, a handful of popstars and maybe one ride." Her hug started to get a little tight, causing Sapphire to squirm uncomfortably.

"'Miko's the greatest! She deserves the best!'" She whined, mocking her parents – or perhaps herself. Her emotions were conflicted. She knew she was being unfair – she was the one who wanted to throw this party for Miko in the first place – but she didn't want to care. She should've just been happy for her sister, she knew she was just being selfish, but still... "Whatever. But just once, I want someone to give me the same attention everyone gives my sister!" She said through grit teeth. Her hug had now turned into something more like a headlock.

"The least they could do is see me up there with her!" She was practically shouting now. "Is that so much to ask?"

Her hold on Sapphire finally became too tight. Her arm slipped, and Sapphire fell out of her arms. Realizing what she'd done, Himeko quickly tried to grab her cat out of midair - but in doing so she accidentally swung too wide and yanked Sapphire's tail on the way down…

---

The loud yell of an injured cat filled the air, causing everyone at the party froze mid-cheer. People stopped tasting hors d'ouvres or ogling the cake (and/or the birthday girl) and looked around, trying to find the source of the strange and sudden noise - most thinking that perhaps someone had trod on a stray cat down by the street.

"Sapphire?" Miko said to herself, confused. She knew that yowl, having been around that poor unlucky thing for years. She craned her neck, but she couldn't see her sister or her beloved cat anywhere.

She didn't see our heroines, either. Much unlike everyone else, they were too busy groaning and smacking their heads in exasperation to try to find the yelping feline.

"Whyyyy?" Kaoru groaned.

"We were just about to get cake!"

Despite the situation, Momoko couldn't help but gloat. "Told you!" She said. But her bragging fell on deaf ears – for a second later the Monster Princess burst out the building with a rush of leftover fireworks and fanfare, laughing haughtily and pretending to divebomb shrieking partygoers.

All the doors in the building suddenly slammed shut, except for those that led to the roof - where everyone could see her make her grand appearance. And with nowhere else to go the guests could only stare in shock, gasping and murmuring amongst themselves (these days citizens were used to the occasional monster attack, but that didn't mean actually seeing one wasn't a very freaky experience).

Luckily, with everyone so focused on the Princess nobody happened to notice three of their number slip under the confections table for a quick power-up sequence…

It was about to be pandaemonium. But with the party clearly facing ruined, one person was not staring fearfully: Miko herself. She stood silently next to the cake, looking up at their monster party crasher with a very determined, very irritated look.

"Ha ha! Look at me, everyone!" Princess shouted, cackling madly. "No one can keep me down! I told you all that my party would be the greatest this town had ever seen! I just need to change the focus a bit…" She flew over to the statue of Miko and, pulling a diamond-plated chisel and hammer out of nowhere, went to town on its face.

People covered their faces as dust and rubble flew everywhere. When she was done, she pulled back to present her work - to the gasps of the crowd. In place of Miko's smiling face, the statue now showed the Princess' manically grinning features. "Ha! Much better! Who cares about that prissy dim-bulb anyway?"

"I might, actually."

The crowd gasped again. No one but the Powerpuff Girls Z would call a monster out to their face, and yet there Miko was trying her luck! Everyone around took a step back, looking nervously between them as if there would be an explosion at any minute.

"You shut up!" Princess shouted, an immature whine edging into her voice.

But Miko was on a roll. She pointed dramatically at the Princess, who was sporting a very ugly scowl. "I've been waiting for you, monster!" She declared. She pressed a button on her dress, and suddenly the roof spurred into action.

The floor suddenly opened up around her. Out of several trapdoors not unlike the one the cake came out of, a slew of mechanical arms rose out and set up a quick changing screen around Miko. Behind the shade, the crowd could just barely see the arms go to work – swapping out Miko's birthday gown for a familiar super-charged change of attire.

("Oh sure," Momoko grumbled from under the table – where she couldn't actually see it. "She gets to do her transformation sequence in public. Sort of.")

A few seconds later the arms grabbed the screen and disappeared back into the floor, revealing Miko in the same white-and-lavender Powerpuff-style supersuit she had used the last time she was in town – complete with the solid gold tiara and money-powered super-utility belt. There were even some improvements: the tiara now had a visor that covered the top half of her face, and the utility belt was bulkier and glowed with electric energy.

"When the heck did you install that?" Princess complained.

Her question went unanswered. With her newfound tech, Miko floated into the air. "You can't embarrass the Shirogane family and get away with it!" Miko shouted. "Now, in the name of my sister, you face the wrath of the vivacious Shirogane-Z!"

The crowd whooped and cheered. Princess scowled furiously, and the dark aura surrounding her flared in response. "No! NO! Stealing my thunder again… you're always getting the attention that's rightfully mine!"

"Ha! Whatever you are, you don't deserve to stand out! You're just a poser!"

"A poser!? You… you…" The Princess gripped her fists tightly. "I won't let you outdo me! I won't!"

She lunged forward, and all of a sudden she was holding a rocket launcher – pulled seemingly from nowhere. She fired haphazardly in Miko's general direction, causing missiles to spiral in every direction. Most bounced safely off of buildings, but exploding violently in open air (down on the street the Mayor, who had run late to the party, was suddenly buried in fruit as a wayward shot demolished a nearby cart).

Those few missiles that didn't miss or go flying elsewhere zoomed ominously towards Shirogane-Z, to the audible alarm of the crowd. But instead of panicking Miko simply held up her hand. Her belt started to glow, and at once every missile that came close slowed to a harmless stop – caught in her personal force field.

"That's new, monster." She smirked. "No matter what tricks you throw at me, you can't win. Mine are the best superpowers money can buy!"

"Nuh uh!" Princess whined. "Mine are!"

"We'll see about that," Miko said, glaring once again. A full-on fight suited her fine. She had a fair amount of arsenal that she would love to test out.

"Actually, I don't think that's such a good idea."

Miko scowled as another voice joined them. Since they were several feet in midair, the only three people it could be were ones Miko really didn't want to deal with right now.

She had been expecting the Powerpuff Girls Z to show up eventually, but not quite so soon. She looked around just to be sure, and there they were. She recognized the blond one in blue as the one who spoke – Bubbles, if she remembered correctly – but the others weren't far behind. Blossom floated next to Bubbles, yoyos in hand, while Buttercup…

… Miko jumped in rare surprise. While she and the Princess were distracted, Buttercup had taken advantage of the moment to grab her enemy from behind. Miko was almost impressed as she watched the monster squirm in the Powerpuff's grip - those three were ready for something like this. Too ready...

Miko thought perhaps they were watching the party, waiting for that monster to show up. Miko didn't like the idea of being bait, but she had more important things to worry about at the moment.

"Get out of my way, Powerpuffs Z!" She shouted at them. She tried to shoo them off, though she doubted they would get the message. Either way, she wasn't going to let them take the collar and stop her from putting the fear of Shirogane into all the monsters in Tokyo City. "I'll be the one to take care of this pest!"

"Pest!?" Princess shrieked, a cross between angry and - for some reason Miko didn't understand - slightly hurt. "Glad to hear what you really think of me!" She started struggling even harder, but Buttercup managed to hold her in place.

"You don't understand!" Buttercup grunted (Princess had managed to slap her in the face).

"Trust us, this is not a fight you want to have," Blossom added.

"Hmph. Just because you can't take care of these pests adequately…" she said, making sure to direct the word to the Princess as nastily as possible. "… doesn't mean the rest of us are as incompetent."

The Girls would have retorted, by Princess had finally had enough. "I'll show you!" She shouted, and she swiped at Buttercup with a darkly glowing hand. With Buttercup reeling, she was finally free - and she didn't hesitate to aim her bazooka again... though this time in the entirely wrong direction.

In particular, she shot a golden orb straight up into the air - far away from anyone. "Ha!" Blossom shouted. "Missed!"

Then the orb exploded, and Blossom quickly changed her tune. From the explosion fell dozens of tiny dolls – all of which looked just like the Princess, except made of solid gold. They dropped like rain - some falling onto the bulding, others falling around Miko and the Girls, who eyed them warily.

Miko easily dodged a doll that came a little too close, but closely studied it as it passed by. "Those look kind of like the doll Himeko wanted to give me." She thought. "Monsters are stealing ideas now, too? Have they no… shame… what?"

Miko paused as she realized she was tilting. She must have taken on some extra weight! She looked down, and saw that she hadn't quite dodged that doll after all. It was hanging onto her leg. And looking at her with big, maniacal eyes.

Those things were alive!

"Ha, yourself!" Princess grinned maliciously. "Try these! My solid gold party favors!"

Now it really was pandemonium. Within moments, the heroines could barely avoid getting mobbed by legions of mini-Princesses falling all around them: Blossom had a half dozen trying to pull her to the ground, Buttercup was wrestling one away from her hammer, and poor Bubbles had to try and get one out of her hair before it tore her locks out by the roots. Miko twisted and flew back and forth, trying to dodge the ones still falling while also getting an opportunity to blast away the one climbing up her leg.

Meanwhile, the real Princess merely floated there and watched the chaos, giggling wildly.

On the upside, the minis that landed in the party weren't actively causing mayhem (instead they seemed to be gesturing dramatically at the Princess, trying to get people to cheer her on), but the crowd was panicking anyway. If there were any place for them to run, it might've turned into full-blown hysteria.

Miko had to flip and turn at every angle she could think of before she finally got a shot to blast away her mini-Princess hanger-on, at least without taking off her own foot as well. In the end she had to take a chance - but then, her archery instructor always said she was a crack-shot. The mini went flying off, suspended in midair - luckily, it seemed unable to fly under its own power.

She didn't get much time to enjoy being passenger-less, however, for a second later she was tackled out of the air by the real deal – who had taken a leaf out of Buttercup's book and used the distraction as an opening.

The Powerpuffs were still fighting off the minis as Miko and Princess flew past them, twisting in midair as they struggled against one another.

"Agh, get off!"

"You!" The Princess shouted. She had Miko by the front of her dress, but to Miko's surprise only shouted in her face instead of attacking. "It's always you! You get it all! And what do I get? Nothing! But not today! Today's my day! Everybody's gonna know my name!"

"They already do, Princess!" Blossom's sudden interruption caused both fighters to jump, and suddenly the heroine's yoyos were wrapped around Princess' waist. Blossom was still practically covered in mini-Princesses, but that didn't seem enough to stop her: in one jerk she yanked Princess off of Miko and spun her around in a circle.

"And to be honest, they're getting a little tired of hearing it."

Blossom spun Princess around again. And then again, and once, twice, a dozen more times for good measure - each time getting faster and faster until they resembled some kind of bizarre midair top.

"Stop the ride, I'm getting dizzy!" Princess moaned, but Blossom just sped up more. And at the same time their boss was losing focus, the mini-Princesses were losing their grip on their Powerpuff prize: one by one, the super-fast spinning caused them to pop off off into the air - where they also floated unable to move.

Finally, Blossom slowed down and hurled Princess away. She was now totally free of any mini-Princesses, and ready to keep on fighting. Miko flew to her side and thanked her for the save, to which Blossom gave a begrudging "you're welcome."

As for the Princess, it took her a little while to make the world stop spinning. "Oooh… that's no fun…" she groaned. When she finally got her head on straight, she looked up to find two irritated superheroines staring her down. Bubbles was still trying to extricate the mini-Princess from her hair and Buttercup had nearly gotten her hammer back, but Blossom and Shirogane-Z were more than enough to knock her dizzy again.

"Y-you think you've won?" She stammered. "No way! That's not the only trick I've got!" With a malicious chuckle, the Princess lifted her arms up to the sky. Suddenly, every mini-Princess unable to move - including the ones that Blossom and Himeko had taken care of - began to float towards their master. They melded together, converging in the Princess' hands into a giant ball of liquid gold.

"Gilding Burst!" She shouted, and the molten gold shot from her hands like water from a fire hose. Miko floated out of the way before it made contact, but Blossom shrieked as the sludge hit her dead on and enveloped her. It thankfully wasn't hot, and it didn't cover her face - she could still breathe - but she could barely move.

"Aw, not again!" Blossom shouted.

Miko facepalmed, her annoyance growing as she heard the Princess laugh at them. "How do you like my golden age, huh?" She mockingly, doing a little dance in midair.

"That pun was terrible." Miko sighed (she had to get the last word in somewhere).

"Says you!" Princess was already forming another Gilding Burst in her hands - and this time she had decided to get up close and personal. She dove after Miko, trying to tag her in what must have looked like a very strange dogfight to the guests below. Molten gold was flying everywhere – more than a few people down on the ground abruptly found their hair died blonde as errant gobs fell upon them from above.

What few mini-Princesses were left were dancing wildly and gesturing with punches and cheers, clearly rooting for their boss to win. Since the minis they were dealing with had become part of Princess' ammo Bubbles and Buttercup were now free, but Princess and Shirogane-Z were moving so rapidly that they couldn't find a good moment to jump in.

"Argh! Why won't you stand still?" Princess shouted angrily.

"You'll never hit me. I'm too smart for you!" Miko grinned, sticking out her tongue in a mockingly cutesy way. She was toying with the monster now, having a little fun in riling it up. They were right above the party now, and everyone could see her making a fool of her opponent. They were laughing and cheering her on, hurling taunts and dismissals at the monster she was fighting. Which, in the Princess' insane eyes, was the absolute worst thing a person could possibly do.

"Shut! Up!" Princess shrieked. She raised her hands again, this time summoning almost twice as many mini-Princesses as usual to create a golden attack far huger than normal. Instead of firing it as before, she angrily lifted the whole thing and threw it light a dodged this one as easily as she had the others, but only realized the mistake they had both made after it was far behind her.

With no one to hit, the gold would fall straight onto the party!

And fall it did. It plummeted straight down onto the center stage and landed right on top of the cake with a cross between a splat and a thud. The whole cake splattered into pieces, covering the nearby "lucky" guests with crumbs and frosting. Whatever pieces were left unsquished then mixed with the molten metal, rendering them totally inedible.

The sight of so much sweet ruined was too much for Blossom, who gasped dramatically and faltered in midair (the other two Powerpuffs had to do some quick diving to stop her from falling). Even Princess winced.

"Oops." She muttered.

Miko also gasped, but was far more reserved about it. "How could you? Himeko designed that cake!"

At the sound of that name, the Princess sheepishness evaporated. She gritted her teeth in conflicted anger. "Pssh. It's not like anybody cares!"

"You'd be wrong again." Miko growled. She was no longer smirking, nor doing any mockingly cute gestures. Her glare could've melted gold all by itself. "I warned you against messing with my family, but I guess some monsters need to learn the hard way."

She raised her hand, the same as she did at the start of the fight. Her belt glowed, and to the Princess' surprise she suddenly found that she could no longer budge. She was frozen as if restrained, for the force field surrounding her now prevented her from moving.

"Hey! Lemme go!"

"I'm done playing around." Miko said coldly. "You dare to interrupt my birthday and ruin the party my sister worked so hard to throw? Begone, monster!"

"What are you doing?" Blossom shouted. She was almost free of the gold now that Bubbles and Buttercup were helping, but all three of them stopped to stare in mid-excavation.

"Ending this insanity." Miko said in a low voice. "I wasn't meaning to use this, but you give me no choice!" She lifted her hand spoke into a speaker on her glove. "Shirogane Sharpshooter: Fire!"

---

Meanwhile, In The Underground Lab

While all of this was happening, Miko's crack team of scientists had been watching the fight from the lab - waiting for their moment to assist (and certainly not making a few bets, if Miko were to ask). At their boss' command, a siren of alerts turned on across every computer screen, and immediately the lab exploded into a rush of activity as they got to work ensuring everything was ready.

"Miss Shirogane just gave an okay to activate the anti-monster contingency!" The head scientist shouted as he checked cannon's energy level - more than enough for the job it had to do.

"You mean the laser?" Said the closest assistant. The head paused to stare at him.

"Yes, the laser! Get ready to fire!"

Each scientist pressed a button on their console, and the main cannon activated with an audible hum. The lab began to rumble slightly, as the weight of the laser's considerable power coursed through its walls.

Unbeknownst to Miko's workers, deep within the Sharpshooter's computer systems Him was also watching the fight. He was reclining on a metaphysical chair (he knew from experience how hard it was to get actually physical objects into cyberspace), eating metaphysical popcorn and having a grand old time.

Of course, with him now in complete control of the systems it was he who had the final say on whether or not the Sharpshooter fired – but he had no problem letting things go on as they were.

"Oh yes, don't mind me!" He chuckled in his sickeningly sweet tone. "Far be it from me to make things less interesting…"

A high pitched whine join the hum, as the Sharpshooter started drawing from it's special monster-destroying battery…

---

Back to the party…

For a moment, everything seemed quiet. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup breathed an uneasy sigh of relief - perhaps nothing had happened after all.

Then, with a sound like a lightning bolt, an enormous laser blast coursed through the air from the horizon. It pulsed and flickered with an unknown energy: the party guests oohed and aahed at the light show, but anyone watching could tell just from the look of it that it was dangerous. The girls especially: maybe it was the Light Z-Rays that gave them their power reacting negatively just from being nearby, but something about that laser gave them a bad vibe.

And it was getting close awfully fast…

Miko grinned vindictively. She couldn't wait to see Himeko's smiling face when she saw Shirogane-Z wipe this monster off the face of the Earth, just like she promised…

But behind her, Blossom gasped. "That laser, it's headed right for…" The Powerpuff only had a little bit of gold goop left on her, but it would have to wait. "Buttercup, go!"

"On it!" Came the reply, and with a whir of green she was off.

She made it just in time. The Princess couldn't even move enough to cower in fear, but a second before the energy would have struck her Buttercup was there. With a mighty swing, she struck the shot with all the vigor of a batter hitting a home run.

The impact caused a terrific crackle and a powerful shockwave. Buttercup shrieked as the energy discharged through her, and then the blast exploded with enough force to send the toughest Powerpuff reeling into the distance. She crashed onto the roof of the party – right into the spattered cake to be exact.

"Buttercup!" The other two shouted.

With a groan, Buttercup staggered to her feet. "Oh man, that sure doesn't tickle!" She moaned. Her hair was sticking up even more than usual, and her costume was frayed and on fire in places – at least, the parts of if that weren't covered in cake. But still, true to her reputation she looked like she was about to shake it off.

At least before she fell with a splat back into the cake.

While she wasn't injured, Buttercup was totally winded. She would have to sit out the fight for a few minutes. She definitely wouldn't be able to block that laser a second time. And given that Princess was still unable to move…

Her expression hardening, Blossom tore the last of the gold off of herself and flew into Miko - Bubbles right behind her. They grabbed her by the arms and yanked her back, trying to restrain her.

"Are you crazy?" Blossom shouted.

"You… you're protecting that thing?" Miko breathed. She was confused at first – she didn't even stop them from holding her - but now an uncommon anger was talking over. "Here I thought Himeko was just ranting about you being fakers. What, do you keep those freaks around so you can look good stopping them? Not a bad plan, actually…"

"That could have killed her!" Bubbles cried, ignoring the accusation.

"What did you think, that I was going to catch it and then let it run loose like you idiots? It's just a monster. You should be happy that I'm getting rid of it!"

"Listen to me, she's not just a-" Blossom started, but Miko wasn't in the mood to hear any more stories.

"No. I don't know if you and that thing are friends, or what, but it attacked my family and hurt my sister. It's going down, whether you're in the way or not!"

Miko expected her to react violently, but instead Blossom merely shared an anxious look with Bubbles. Whatever she was communicating silently, Bubbles understood – for she nodded sadly in return.

"We're going to have to tell her…" Bubbles sighed.

"Tell me what? You can't-"

"Shut up, Shirogane!" Blossom shouted, right in her ear. Miko winced, both at the shrill sound and the rude tone. Her flinching gave Blossom enough time to continue. "We can't let you destroy that monster."

Miko's anger boiled. Again, they were trying to stop her. "Why. Not?!" She hissed into Blossom's face. She clenched her fists, ready to knock her aside if she had to…

"Because it's your sister, you idiot!" Blossom whispered furiously.

To Miko, it felt as if she had shouted. She froze, relaxing her fists. She didn't even feel it when the Powerpuffs let her go.

"W-what kind of lie is that?"

"Most of the monsters are regular people who don't know they transform!" Bubbles said, softly pleading for Miko to listen. "That's why we capture them without hurting them! Himeko is one of those people!"

"What, you didn't see the resemblance?" Blossom quipped, a little too sarcastically. Bubbles nudged her. "Ow!"

"That's… no. That's crazy!" Miko insisted. The Powerpuffs glanced away, awkwardly. "Himeko is right up there with everyone else, see?" She tore away from the heroines and flew up high, where she could get a good look at all the people on the roof.

She was confident she would find exactly what she wanted. All she had to do was look: she could see her parents, her parents' high-class friends, the other students of Princess' class, she could even see Buttercup lying stunned into… but, she realized, there was no trace of her sister.

She frowned. Maybe infrared? She tapped her tiara and looked again. No sign of her. She twitched in irritation. Maybe Himeko was just a few floors down, to far to see. She would just have to do a deeper scan for a physical match, that's all.

But there was no match anywhere in the building. Only in the air, where the monster was still restrained.

Miko stared at it, her heart caught in her throat. It couldn't be. Himeko couldn't be the Princess. Himeko hated that monster.

Sure, it dressed similar to Himeko. And it kind of looked like Himeko, minus the red afro and swirling eyes. And the dolls, which looked just like the one Himeko had in her room. And all the things it said…

"…always stealing the attention that's rightfully mine…"

"Glad to hear what you really think of me!"

"It's always you! You get it all! And what do I get? Nothing!"

The monster it… she knew Miko. It really was Himeko. They were telling the truth!

"But that's…"

For once, the mighty Miko Shirogane was speechless. She couldn't process this. Her sister had been the one to attack the party? To attack her? She had been fighting Himeko? She had almost…

"Oh no!" Miko cried, realizing what she had nearly done. She jammed the button on her glove-radio and practically screamed into it.

"Deactivate the Shirogane Sharpshooter! NOW!"

---

Back At The Lab

Once again, the lab erupted into a flurry. "Miss Shirogane says turn it all off!" The head scientist yelled to the others, who were almost as tired of running around as he was. "Do it at once!"

"But why?" Said his assistant, the only one not doing anything. "We would've nearly got it if that Powerpuff Girl hadn't gotten in the way!"

"Who cares why? Because she said to! So shut down the laser!"

"You mean the anti-monster contin-" The assistant said, as cheekily as possible.

"Yes, the anti-monster contingency, sheesh!"

Each scientist shot to their console to do their part powering down the weapon's energy source… but there was a problem. The energy flow wasn't stopping. In fact, it seemed to be intensifying.

"What the heck is going on?" The scientist yelled at his colleagues. Given that the laser was starting to glow ominously, he wasn't in the mood to be nice. "Why aren't you shutting it down?"

Their reply didn't help his disposition. "We don't understand, sir! It's not responding! No matter what we do, it won't stop. In fact…"

"What?"

"… it looks like its about to fire!"

The lab began to rumble, even more violently before. Everyone in the lab gulped at the same time. "Oh dear…"

Ignoring all commands to stand down, the Sharpshooter continued to draw more energy for another shot at the exact opposite. Once more the team had failed to realize that there was another presence watching the battle - one who had other plans, and was much less inclined to stop the violence than he was to let it continue…

"Hmm… no." Him said, a monstrous grin upon his face. "Like I said, I couldn't bear to make this fight less interesting. I think this thing has one more shot in it, don't you?"

Oh, no! He couldn't! He wouldn't! Oh Him, why do you have to be so heartless and cruel?

"It's either that or go back to making flapjacks."

True…

---

Back at the Party:

"Hello?" Miko shouted into her wrist. "Did anyone hear me?" There was no response. "Hello?!"

She shook her glove, slammed her other hand into it, everything she could think of, but all the got was a hurt wrist. Somehow the line, specially designed to work in any situation, had gone dead.

The panic she felt must have shown on her face, or maybe her frantic fiddling with her equipment was obvious cause for alarm, for Bubbles and Blossom were immediately in front of her asking what was going on. And for once, her charming face was failing to reassure.

Miko didn't answer them. She couldn't. She didn't have time. The radio may be down, but her visor was still giving her perfect data. The laser's energy was still building. She had to get the communicator working, or else…

The sound, like lightning, answered for her.

"NOOOO!" Miko yelled. The communicator was forgotten. It didn't matter, now that the Shirogane Sharpshooter had fired another shot. There was no way to stop the discharge now.

"Oh, no!" Bubbles cried. "Blossom, we have to… have to…" She trailed off, opting to go for action rather than try to talk through a plan. She formed an extra-strong bubble, one she hoped could block the blast, and looked resolutely at her friend.

Blossom nodded. "I know, Bubbles," she replied. She brandished every yoyo she had – not the best weapon for stopping a laser, but it was the best she could think of. Neither she nor Bubbles take a hit as well as Buttercup, but it was better than nothing.

Luckily neither of them would have to.

They were all set to take the bullet, but before they could move Shirogane-Z was already there. For the second time that night, the Princess was saved by a last minute sacrifice dive.

Miko took a hit straight on from the energy, which enveloped her with the same crackling electricity it had Buttercup. She bit back a painful yell; she didn't have any Black or Light Z-Energy for the laser to react to, but it still hurt - and her force fields could only take so much of the blast. Buttercup was right – it really didn't tickle.

Especially once everything went boom.

The next thing she knew she was pulling herself out from the side of the skyscraper. The Powerpuffs Z - now joined by Buttercup (who was still dazed, sooty and covered in cake) - were staring at her with concern, and directly above her the party goers – her parents included - were craning their necks trying to see what had happened.

"Ugggh…" she groaned, ignoring the pebbles bouncing out of her hair. She was uninjured, thankfully, but she would definitely have to look into designing less powerful weapons next time. At least the impact was soft…

"Wait, soft?" she thought. Why would that happen? She glanced behind her and winced. She had made a deep Shirogane-Z-shaped crater in the side of the building when she crashed, and in the center of that hole was the Princess. The blast had evidently knocked Miko right into her, freeing her from the force field before sending the both of them straight into the skyscraper.

On the upside, getting squashed had finally knocked her out. On the downside, without Miko's weight to keep her pinned to the wall the Princess flopped out of the hole and started to fall – though luckily someone was right there to catch her.

"I'm sorry about that…" Miko said softly, as tucked the monster – her sister? – into her hands. It still seemed impossible that this afro-headed psycho in her arms could be her dear sibling, and yet… "…I'm sorry about all of this… Himeko."

Saying her name, acknowledging it, was hard. Especially given that she still had no idea what was going on.

The Powerpuffs didn't help much as they eased up behind her, as if afraid of how she would react. "Come on," Bubbles said. She was sighing in relief, but trying not to sound like she was, which would've sounded amusing to Miko at any other time. "We have to take her to the Professor." She gestured into the distance, into the suburbs.

"And I need a shower." Buttercup grumbled. All three of them began to drift in that direction, expecting Miko to follow. "You so owe me for dry cleaning." She joked.

Miko didn't move. "What's going on?"

"We'll explain back at the lab, but first we need to get her back to normal before she wakes up!" Blossom insisted. She was gesturing more urgently than Bubbles, who had already started to leave. "So let's get going!"

Miko stared at her monster of a sister again and sighed in resignation. She had to admit that she didn't have any other idea what to do. It seemed that the last any of the party-goers would see of Shirogane-Z that night would be her begrudgingly following the Powerpuff Girls Z into the distance, carrying the defeated monster in her arms.

An odd exit like that would cause a few rumors, she knew, but compared to this rumors would be easy.

---

Inside his vantage point within the Shirogane's private server, Him sighed dramatically. "Oh, sisterly love. WHAT A CROCK…" The battle hadn't ended at all the way he'd hoped, but then he supposed that's how it always seemed to happen in these kinds of situations. "I should have known that Powerpuff Girls in any dimension would find a pain-free way to resolve any problem. I at least hoped that someone would die. Seeing that vain girl blow up her sister would've been the highpoint of my night. But then, without that red-headed facsimile of my Princess, I wouldn't have this perfect opportunity to put my plan into action."

"So many tradeoffs, so little time…"

---

At Utonium Labs:

After they arrived, the nervous Powerpuffs (minus Buttercup for the first few minutes, as she really did leave to take a shower), an awkward Professor and a reluctant Ken spent the next half hour explaining the whole situation: what the Black Z-Rays were, their connection to their version of Him, and what it meant that they were affecting Himeko and several other people in the was a credit to their experience that they calmly handled Miko's near interrogation over every other event that involved the Princess over the past few months, at least as much as the could.

But they couldn't answer questions they couldn't know, like how Himeko was affected in the first place or why she was still changing, and Miko had many such questions. Since she was the kind of person who was used to being in total control at all times, the lack of complete answers made her hard to fully convince. She didn't completely accept the truth until the Professor finally got the White Z-Ray Irradiator up and running and purified the Princess' body, turning her back into what was undeniably her sister – still unconscious, but no worse for the wear.

After that, Miko took to a lot of anxious staring.

"But… this doesn't make sense," she murmured, remembering everything the Princess had done in the last hour. "Why would she attack me? She's my sister!"

The Powerpuffs shuffled awkwardly. None of them wanted to be the one to talk about this with Miko - it was, after all, a bit personal. Not even Kaoru, who had since returned, wanted to be so blunt. Luckily, the Professor noticed their reluctance and answered for them.

"Black Z Rays have a way of twisting people," he explained, as though giving a lecture. "The monsters that result don't react to problems in ways they usually would."

"What do you mean react? What problems?"

Encouraged by the Professor's frank response, Miyako spoke up as well. "Well… the truth is, Himeko might be a teensy bit… jealous of you."

"'Teensy' meaning 'extremely,' in this case," Kaoru said under her breath.

"As a monster," Miyako continued, "she becomes single-mindedly obsessed with outdoing you." At Miko's widened eyes, Miyako quickly tried to elaborate. "She doesn't really hate you, we swear! It's just the Black Z ways just exaggerate those negative emotions and make them worse."

"She's… jealous?" Miko said softly. For a long time she said nothing, and just stared at her sister's unconscious form. Finally she spoke in a voice much sharper than before, though she didn't look away from Himeko. "And what are you doing to fix this?"

"We can clear her of dark energy whenever she transforms," the Professor said awkwardly. "But far as we know the condition itself might be permanent…"

Miko's eyes bulged out of her head. No one present would have thought someone so graceful could look so vicious. "Unacceptable! You claim to be the experts, and yet I'm supposed to believe you don't know anything?"

"I'm not saying that, Ms. Shirogane," the Professor raised his hands placatingly. "It's only that-"

"That you can treat her symptoms, but you let her go back to being a monster whenever you want!"

"It's the other way around," Bubbles added timidly. "She's not a monster all the time…"

"Just whenever her cat yells, I remember. Which it does all the time. Which means she's a monster all the time. And it's all your fault she's like this!" She was clenching her fist again. For a moment, it looked like she might start firing laser blasts again.

"Listen." Kaoru spoke up loudly, trying to put the conversation back under control. "This energy, it's like nothing the world has ever seen. Trust us, we know! It can't always be 'fixed.' But you can live with it if you'd just-"

"Then the world yet to see the full might of the Shirogane family, when wielded by me! You did this to her, so you can pay for it. I'll get scientists down here. Investigators. Lawyers! By the time I'm through you'll be lucky to-"

"STOP!" Everyone froze, even Miko. Surprisingly it was Blossom who spoke up this time, after being uncharacteristically silent ever since they arrived at the lab. "If you don't listen to us about anything else, listen to this. Himeko doesn't know what's been happening to her, but she will if you react like this! And she can't find out she's a monster. If she ever does, it'd break her. Especially if anyone else found out! Especially if that person was you."

"You said 'especially' twice." Buttercup whispered, nudging her jokingly.

The elbow she got back was much less humorous. "Shut up!" Momoko whispered. "This is no time for jokes!"

Miko's slowly calmed down, anger being replaced by worry and sadness – though as she looked at Blossom her eyes narrowed in slight suspicion. "You sound like you know her…"

"N-no!" Momoko backed up, wildly waving her arms in denial. "No, of course not! It's just that we've saved her so many times, and it's easy to guess from the few times we've met, is all. Outside of fighting, that is…"

"Well…" Miko sighed. "However you know, you're right. Himeko would not take this well. She already tries so hard to stand out, and thanks to you people… fine."

Everyone stared at her for a moment.

"Fine?" Kaoru ventured.

"Fine. I'll keep your secrets. But from now on, fixing her is my operation. I demand access to your computers so as to connect all your research on this Black Z Energy to my own network. That's the only way I'll keep quiet. Is that clear?"

"How do we know you won't-" Blossom started, but Miko cut her off.

"I don't care at all about any of your other silly little secrets," she said stiffly. "All I care about is my sister. I'll be taking your info on this 'Monster Princess' only."

The Girls and the Professor looked at each other, silently conferring. Finally, the Professor nodded solemly.

"Very well. You may connect to our database."

Miko nodded curtly and walked over to the computer. For the next few minutes, the other watched as she sifted through every file they had about their previous encounters with the Princess. She barely said a word, only humming idly to herself and grimacing when she found the occasional file of a particularly odd encounter. No one there was much interested in interrupting her – the sooner she was done, the sooner this would be over, after all.

Finally, once she had all the information she wanted collected together Miko removed a wire from her tiara and plugged it directly into the computer - connecting her personal system with the Professor's.

For a brief moment, the Powerpuff Girls each felt a shiver through their spine… like a faint sound, the high pitched cackle of evil triumph, too quiet to clearly hear and without a source…

And then a moment later it was gone. The sound of a throat clearing jolted them back to reality. It seemed that they had zoned out for a little while, for Miko had finished with the computer and was now walking back over to them – an unreadable expression on her face

"I'm taking my sister back now," she said stiffly. Without even waiting for an answer, she picked up Himeko and flew through the open window.

Naturally, Buttercup gave her an answer anyway. "Whatever!" She called after her, with just the right amount of sarcastic cheerfulness. "Good luck thinking of a good story!"

They could just barely see Miko's mouth curl into a sneer, and then she was gone.

Everyone waited a few minutes, just to be sure that she wasn't coming back… and then the Girls breathed a collective sigh of tired relief. Keeping up the superhero act wasn't always fun, especially in tense situations, and with Miko gone they could finally ease up and be themselves a little more.

"Okay, so that wasn't so fun," Kaoru groaned.

Momoko crossed her arms and pouted – she didn't care how immature she looked, she was exhausted. "I told you, didn't I? "

Miyako nudged her again ("would you stop doing that?" she replied). "I just hope Himeko's sister isn't going to be trouble. She seemed so angry!"

The Professor added his two cents, with his usual cheerful sagacity. "She was just concerned," he put a reassuring hand on Miyako's shoulder, sharing a smile with her. "I'm sure if this adventure has taught her anything, it's the dangers of jumping to aggression."

"Yeah, probably." Momoko agreed. "Besides, with her helping to figure out a cure, maybe our job will be that much easier!"

They all considered this for a moment.

"Naaaah!"

"We should get going," Koaru said, after few minutes of rest. She was still aching from taking a laser head on, but that was no reason to falter. "We don't want to get back to the party much later than she does. She's way too sharp. If she notices three girls suddenly showing up, after the Powerpuff Girls Z just so happened to appear at the right time when Princess attacked..."

"Ugh! You're right!" Momoko said, slapping her head with her palm.

"Oh, don't be so crabby." Miyako smirked knowingly. "Knowing Himeko, she probably bought a replacement cake. You know you can't resist that."

Momoko had to curse herself for having such an obvious weakness. The thought of sweets once again swept her stubbornness away, like a tide made of delicious sweetmilk frosting. And, she supposed, the party wasn't that bad…

"Ok, fine…" She grumbled, making a show out of it – not that anyone else was fooled. She could see them all smirking at each other, and they knew it. "Let's go, already. See you later Professor!"

And with that the Girls took the skies as well, leaving the Professor and Ken behind with waves and promises to be back soon. Then they flew off towards the party, ready to enjoy what little festivities there were left (if the Shirogane's hadn't shut the whole thing down already, that is) and happy, at least, that they had gotten through that adventure without anyone getting hurt...

It looks like once again the day is saved, thanks to the Powerpuff Girls Z, but there's something far more evil going on just below the surface...

Little did they know that the moment Miko plugged into the Professor's computer, they were playing right into Him's horrible hands. To them it looked like a simple transfer of information. If only they knew how much they were really exchanging! Him is really taking that "virus" comparison to heart – now he's in the system, and with the Shirogane's of no further use he's setting his sights on greener pastures…

"Ah, Utonium Labs!" Said Him. "So similar, and yet so different. It took much less time than I thought to get here… though I'm afraid I'm still quite exhausted from my little vacation. Soon it will be time to return home…"

While dimensional travelling was well within Him's powerset, it was not something he could do lightly. Even his vague interference during the party was wiping him out. In order to do more, he would need a more direct connection. Though that was, in essence, why he was there in the first place.

An altered line of code here. An added trigger there. He almost had to laugh. It was comical how little he had to do to set up his plan now that he was actually inside the Utonium Labs computer, after everything he had to sit through to get there in the first place.

"Well, at least it was a good show. The chance to see a fight like that is always worth the price of admission. Enjoy your victory for now, girls. You'll be facing something FAR MORE TERRIFYING soon…"

And so, once again the day is saved… but for how long can it last? I'm afraid I can't say… this isn't my universe after all.

Thank goodness for epilogues!

---

The Next Morning

It was a bright morning, full of cheer and happy faces – or at least it would be, if it weren't for such paltry things as work and school. But amid the usual morning complaints, everything was buzzing about the amazing bash the Shirogane's threw the night before – and the titanic three-way fight between the Powerpuff Girls-Z, Shirogane-Z and the Monster Princess. It was an event that nobody would be forgetting any time soon.

And as for the Shirogane's themselves, even the rich and powerful had to commute. Himeko's signature stretch limo was making its usual trip to Pokey Oaks Middle School, and may or may not have nearly run over a few classmates on the way there (new driver, just as bad as the old one, what can you do?).

For Himeko, the ride was bittersweet: on the one hand, Miko had decided to accompany her sister to school. On the other hand, she had also announced that she was leaving early. Right after she dropped Himeko off, in fact.

"Do you have to leave already?" Himeko sat next to her sister in the backseat, having a private conversation (that is, ordering the maid chaperones not to pay attention). "It seems like the time passed so quickly."

"It's always like that, but we'll see each other soon," Miko smiled. "I promise."

This lightened Himeko's mood, if only a little. "I just wish I hadn't worked myself so hard putting that stupid party together."

As far as Himeko knew she had fainted from exhaustion during the party, during which Miko had found her and brought her back to her bedroom before returning to rejoin the others. She was outright furious with herself for missing the biggest moment of the night, especially when she heard the buzz about the Monster Princess showing up and her sister defeating her.

She had ranted and raved all morning, and tried to drill Miko about it. She wanted all the details: how her amazing big sister beat the stuffing out of that irritating monster, what happened when the Powerpuff Girls Z showed up, whether the fight had taken too much attention away from the party... but Miko kept avoiding the subject. Uncharacteristically at that – Himeko knew that Miko liked to show off as much as she did.

But at this point, Himeko would settle for just one answer. "Was it… at least nice?" Himeko tried not to let the words come out as insecure as she felt, but siblings always tended to notice those things. "Did you have a good time, even with that stupid monster showing up?"

Miko's face was suddenly very drawn. When her smile returned, it seemed far more forced somehow – though Himeko had no idea why. It had happened several times already, whenever Himeko brought up the party or the monster fight, but Miko wasn't being forthright about what bothered her.

"It was…" Miko paused. "…unforgettable." She sounded so genuine that Himeko's doubts faded away. "Thank you so much, Himeko."

Himeko grinned, her bravado back with full force. "Well of course it was! I put it together, didn't I? I told you I'd do it all myself." She laughed haughtily.

Miko chuckled to herself. "That you did."

The limo slowed to a stop as Himeko's school came into view, and her face fell. It was time to go. But the Shirogane's had always been fond of taking of the band-aid quickly. No long goodbyes for them. Himeko opened the door, aiming to give her sister a quick but fond farewell before the atmosphere got too sad for either of their liking, but Miko stopped her before she could leave.

"Himeko…" she said slowly, as if trying to work through the words. "You know you're easily just as good as I am, right?"

Himeko stared blankly at her. "Um…"

Miko's look turned sheepish. She wasn't used to feeling so awkward when talking to people. "I guess I don't say enough that I'm proud of you. We all are. You're a Shirogane. We're the best of the best. No one can outdo us, not for long. Right?"

Though she still looked confused, Himeko visibly brightened. "O-of course. Thanks, sis."

They hugged one last time, and Himeko hopped out of the car – a lot happier than she might have been otherwise. Miko watched fondly from the window as she met up with her usual duo of best friends and marched up to the doors, fielding questions and compliments from all the students she passed.

Just before she entered the building, Miko saw her bump into a trio of other girls - and smiled when instead of yelling at them her sister gave and received a begrudging thumbs up. She chuckled to herself - and then did a double take: those three girls! One with blond hair, one with red and one with black, all looking suspiciously familiar, all just happening to be at Himeko's school…

"Miko's classmates look an awful lot like…" Her eyes widened, then narrowed to near slits. "That's a powerful coincidence… but I might just be overthinking things. Either way, I said I'd let the Powerpuff Girls Z keep their secrets, and I'll stick to my word for now…"

As Himeko disappeared inside the school, Miko opened her laptop and turned to her to-do list. A picture of the Monster Princess appeared at the top of the screen, along with a short list:

· One: Return to university

· Two: Fire idiot scientist(s) who couldn't turn off a simple power source.

· Three: Have Sharpshooter dismantled, preferably by smarter scientists.

· Four: Begin study of "monster" condition. Find cure…

She frowned. She had a lot of work to do. But first, she had to make an important phone call to some incompetent employees…

---

Author's Note: And so, Miko drives to the airport and out of the plot. Between this and Amazing Chan Adventures, I think I have a issue with giving a lot of attention to characters I don't plan on using again.

In any case, over a year after the first chapter I finally got around to finishing the second part of Unparalleled! Sorry about the wait...

Like the previous chapter, this is a mostly stand alone story set in the Z Universe before things start to cross over. Unlike the first chapter, though, which was more of a prologue, this was designed to be a standalone story - which explains the length. I decided to use Z's version of Princess Morbucks - or the Monster Princess - for it, since she lends herself well for that sort of thing.

For all you original series fans, don't worry - I've got big plans for OG Princess too in the future.

As pointed out in this and the previous chapter, most of of the supervillains in PPGZ are actually normal people transformed into twisted monsters based on personal problems. Their version of Morbucks is one of those: in her normal form, she's similar to yet distinct from the original Princess personality-wise - far less nasty and antagonistic, though still self-centered and obnoxious. She's also given a reason for being the way she is (she acts out because she's jealous of her sister), and she and the girls eventually become sort-of-kind-of friends. Her and the Z version of Blossom are semi-friendly rivals, which I tried to put in there as well. When she transforms, she becomes an insane version of herself who's single-mindedly obsessed with being the center of attention and being more popular than anyone else.

Her sister Miko was mentioned occasionally, but only appeared in prerson in one episode - where she essentially used the original Princess' schtick of making a supersuit and parading around as a knockoff Powerpuff Girl. The basic difference being that she actually succeeded in humiliating the girls with no consequences. I remember being surprised that despite this they never had her sister meet her monster form (Himeko/Princess doesn't transform in that episode), despite her sister more or less being the reason she transforms in the first place. I was also surprised that nobody explored it here, and so that led to this, as well as the fun idea of Himeko being pit against herself since she doesn't actually remember what she does while a monster.

I'll admit, at times I got pretty caught up in writing those two - if I didn't already have too much to do, I might've extended this into a series on its own.

The Monster Princess's actual powers are vague, which makes her a bit of a wild card. There are some episodes where she doesn't seem to have any powers beyond flight and weird weapons, and there are others where she definitely does. Eventually I decided on her being a kind of low-level reality warper like a lot of the other monsters in Z - she can "buy" whatever she wants, even things that defy the laws of physics. In some cases, she can instantly create/pull them from hammerspace to use. Whether they always work, on the other hand, is another story. And since she's immature and nuttier than peanut brittle, her schemes can get a little weird.

Next, we have the start of the main arc. I promise it'll take less than a year this time.

Last note: for fans unfamiliar with the Z-universe who caught the reference, Sakurako Kintoki is a confectioner/baker who runs Momoko and Himeko's favorite sweet shop, and who also happens to be the Z-Universe's version of Sedusa. I might use one or both of the Sedusas somewhere down the line, but for now it's just a nod.