Cast the Darkest Shadow
Deus Ex Procella
The sunlight shone in through Momoko's window, falling upon the motionless lump in the middle of the bed. The lump stirred and slid to the forward. A resounding thump was heard, followed by a small moan of pain. Lying on the floor, Momoko untangled herself wearily from her blankets and sat up, her hair streaked with sweat and covering her face. Momoko brushed it aside and hissed when her whole body protested her standing up. Giving into fatigue, Momoko crawled across her floor and upon reaching the bedroom door, grabbed the knob and used it to pull to her feet.
"Oh…AAH!" She screamed softly her knees buckling under the weight of her body. With another thump, Momoko collapsed on the floor and resigned to just lay there until the immense pain coursing through her subsided. Seconds crept by so slowly the sound of Momoko's own heart beating caused her head to throb. Figuring that a hot bath might be the necessary remedy to be capable of walking again, Momoko pulled her door open and with another soft scream pulled to her feet and practically rolled along the wall making her way to the bathroom.
When she finally reached the sanctuary of the washing facility, Momoko tried the knob and nearly cried when she found that someone had already occupied the bathroom. Knowing that her parents were more than likely already up and about, she banged on the door as hard as her weary physical state would allow.
"Kuriko hurry up! Come on I don't have all day!" Her voice startled her at first. Surprisingly despite how physically she was devoid of energy, her voice actually seemed stronger than it had the previous day. A few more painful seconds passed before the lock clicked and Kuriko waltzed out of the bathroom, staring at her older sister in concern.
"Are you okay Momoko? You look like you're hurt," Momoko nodded and stumbled past Kuriko, practically falling into the bathroom, only barely managing to catch the sink to keep from falling.
"I'm fine, just really tired. Go downstairs already," Kuriko nodded, casting another worried look at Momoko before hurrying downstairs for breakfast. Momoko shoved the door shut and locked it, taking only a few moments before collapsing in the tub her pajamas strewn carelessly across the bathroom with steaming water pouring in around her. Momoko moaned and sat up to turn the water off lest the tub overflow, before collapsing against its back and closing her eyes. She was right, the hot water was working wonders for her aching muscles. It wasn't just her muscles that were aching though…it felt like everything that made up who and what she was, was writhing in pain. Her skeleton, every nerve ending, her muscles, her hair, her skin, everything hurt just simply because it was there.
"Geez…I must have really slept wrong…" There it was again, the only thing about her that didn't seem to be throbbing in pain. Her voice was shockingly powerful, it was a little tired but overall it was the only fully functioning part of her at the moment. Of course the physical pain wasn't the worst of it all. Well, it had been until the hot water had cleared her mind enough to remember the previous day. Momoko slid deeper into the hot water, staring up at the ceiling, her eyebrows knit in confusion. Some hero she was…she'd been completely knocked out by that monster yesterday and left Bubbles and Buttercup to beat it by themselves. Then to make it worse she hadn't been invited to the party that apparently everyone in the entire Jr. High was invited to! And just to top off a perfect day, her sister thought she was a failure as a super heroine!
Momoko slid under the water, her body protesting being curled up after she had stretched out for so long. Time just drifted over her as she struggled to maintain some kind of emotional stability, unless of course she wanted to start bawling like a baby in the bathtub before school. God she couldn't help it, but regardless she felt like an absolute loser for crying herself to sleep last night. Time drifted on, without a care in the world completely ignoring Momoko lying in the bathtub crying all alone. Unfortunately like everything in the world, she couldn't stay hidden there forever, and a harsh knocking on the door snapped her out of her descent into abysmal self-loathing.
"Momoko! Momoko you're late for school!" Momoko shot up, covering her mouth and screaming when her body bit back violently against this rushed movement. Her mother knocked on the door again, hearing Momoko's scream and becoming considered. "Momoko? Are you okay sweetie?" Momoko bit her lip as she hurried out of the tub, drying herself with the speed of a ancient machine covered in rust. Quickly fixing her hair and brushing her teeth without once glancing at the mirror, Momoko ran into the door and fell against it, whining painfully as she unlocked it and promptly tackled her mother while exiting the bathroom.
"Momoko! What's wrong sweetie? Did you get hurt?" Kakiko asked worriedly. Momoko slumped against her mother, feeling like she was Kuriko's age again and all of the emotional crap she was dealing with just slid away. Sighing contentedly, Momoko shook her head, cringing from the sharp sting in her neck, and hugged her mom.
"No, no I'm okay Mom. Just, fell asleep I think…I didn't sleep very good last night," Kakiko returned Momoko's embrace and smoothed out her daughter's hurriedly fixed ponytail.
"It's alright Momoko, just go get dressed and hurry to school. Are you sure you're okay? I need to head off to work," Momoko nodded and smiled gratefully when Kakiko kissed her head and hurried off down the stairs. Momoko's legs buckled almost immediately as she fell against the wall. Her eyes clenched painfully and with every step she felt like nails were being driven into the soles of her feet. Once she'd finally managed to get to her room, she dressed as quickly as she possibly could, snatching up her backpack—which was filled with homework she'd completely forgotten to do—and rushed down the stairs. Today was already looking like it was going to be worse than yesterday…she could hardly wait to get to school—providing she could make it that far….
Momoko half ran, half stumbled down the street, panting and moaning as she tried to make it to school before it was out. True it was still morning, but with how torn and tired she felt, she could foresee it taking her several hours to get across town. Finally the pain became too unbearable and Momoko collapsed on the sidewalk having just passed by the Tokyo City Bank. Thinking back, she cursed herself for not asking her mom to simply drive her to school. Then again, Kakiko was already late for work, driving Momoko to school would have only made her even more late.
"Geez, someone help me out here…I can't even walk anymore…"As if on cue, an explosion rocked the corner. Momoko looked up and saw that the front window of the bank had been blown out. Pushing herself up, hissing the whole way, Momoko craned her neck and looked in. Her eyes widened when she saw a giant yellow monster holding up the bank. What a monster could use money for, she wasn't entirely sure but duty overruled her curiosity. Managing to stumble to her feet, Momoko's eyes darted left and right, trying to find some kind of cover so that she could transform. The police were approaching fast, but other than them no one else was present. Throwing caution to the wind, Momoko threw her hand into the air.
A flash of fire appeared around her ring finger, and starting Momoko lowered her hand and stared at the dark red ring she wore. It gave off a great warmth, but bore little resemblance to her power ring. Taking out her compact, she saw that it was flashing continuously, as if she was receiving a distress call from Peach.
"Stranger things have happened…" She mumbled to herself. Opening her compact she ran her ring across it, shocking herself when a different phrase than usual sprang from her lips.
"Burning Blossom!" A sea of fire spewed forth from Momoko's compact and engulfed her. At first she was afraid, but soon she sighed in content when the fire embraced her and all of her pain seemed to melt away. Her clothes were instantly replaced by a black article of clothing that looked like a wetsuit, which covered every bit of skin from her neck down. Her fingers, toes, everything was wrapped in this black garment. Feeling adventurous, Momoko waved her arms, and saw that fire followed her hands wherever they went. Momoko clenched her fist and two ruby red fingerless gloves appeared on her hands. Not fully understanding where this new transformation had come from, Momoko waved her arms across her chest, causing a dark red varsity jacket to materialize. Unlike the standard Powerpuff Girls Z jackets, this one had a silver P, rather than a gold one and the stiff collar came up just enough under her chin to be comfortable. Momoko spun around the fire swirled around her like a whirlwind, causing a red pleated skirt with orange trim to adorn her waist. Momoko grinned as a pair of red, high topped shoes appeared on her feet. With her newly found energy, Burning Blossom struck a pose as her transformation had at last completed, thrusting her fist into the air triumphantly.
"Wow! I feel incredible! I've never felt this powerful before! I don't even hurt anymore!" Blossom looked over her new form with the amazement of a child at Christmas. The police finally arrived and began staking out the bank, readying themselves for anything that may come their way. Blossom held her hand out, trying to summon her yo-yo, but it did no good.
"What? I don't have my yo-yo in this form? Maybe I have a new weapon…" Attempting to summon every weapon Blossom could think of, she was put off to find that this form apparently had no weapon. "Then how am I supposed to attack?" She angrily questioned, snapping her fingers in frustration. A small flare leapt from the tips of her fingers upon snapping, causing Blossom to jump and stare at her hand. Guessing at what he new method of attack may be, Blossom grinned in satisfaction as a ball of fire sparked to life in her hand. "Wow! This is so cool! I can throw fireballs now!"
The front of the bank completely explodes and the monster walks out, holding two bags of money in its hands. Seeing the police, it grins and takes a deep breath, blowing a sheet of ice that covers the street and drives the police to seek shelter lest they become copsicles. Blossom looks up and holds out her hands, causing a sheathe of fire to surround her and protect her from the ice. She grins and steps forward getting the attention of the monster.
The monster in question, is roughly twice Blossom's size, with pale, pale white skin and very long blue spikes coming from its head and drooping down over its face and down to its hips. Its arms are sickly and weak looking as are its legs, which end in dangerous looking three-toed talons. Its face is like a humans, although his mouth is huge and his eyes sunken in. The monster sees Blossom and laughs weakly, its voice hollow.
"A little girl…should I be afraid?" Blossom grins and strikes a rather cliché pose, pointing at the monster and narrowing her eyes.
"You better be afraid monster! I'm the Magical and Fiery Heroine, Burning Blossom! And I'm gonna take you out!" The monster chuckled and took a deep breath, blowing a wave of ice at Blossom. Blossom was unfazed as she clenched her fists, causing fire to rise up around her body and melt the ice. The monster was slightly alarmed by this and dropped the sacks of money, glaring at her.
"Burning eh? I'll just have to deep freeze you, little girl." The monster stumbled towards Blossom, who held her ground bravely. The police and patrons of the bank looked on in horror, and secretly hoped that Bubbles and Buttercup would show up before the monster did any more damage. With a swift swing of his arm, the monster chucked a wave of icicles in Blossom's direction. The heroine was more than ready for this and jumped up, stomping down on two of the icicles and sending them into the ground, while projecting herself further into the air. She spun around in midair and thrust her hands out, firing multiple fireballs out that destroyed the icicles, keeping them from harming anyone.
Blossom landed and drew her fists back charging at the monster and throwing a punch at its head, her fist encased in fire with flames trailing behind her fist. The monster dodged, surprising her with its speed and lashed out, slapping Blossom in the stomach and hurtling her through the air. Blossom spun around and began flying, pink flames shooting from her shoes rather than beams of light, courtesy of her new form. Blossom drew her hand back and created a fireball in her palm.
"Cookie-Cutter Fireball!" With a fierce throw, Blossom chucked the fireball at the monster. It held its hands out, creating a shield of ice in the air that shattered upon contact with the fireball. Blossom stared in shock as the shards from the shield suddenly launched at her. Acting on instinct and an insane speed boost, Blossom dodged the initial shards and drew back both hands, focusing her firepower into them.
"Hot Fudge Firestorm!" Blossom's arms flew like pistons as she relentlessly fired off tiny fireballs into the shower of ice shards. Feeling winded from her previous attack, Blossom dropped back down to the ground and faced off with the monster.
"So why are…why are you stealing money huh? What does a monster need with money?" The monster grinned and raised a hand, causing a rift of frigid air to appear above him. The rift was about two feet in diameter, and seemed to be rapidly filling with shards of ice.
"No need, just want. Now die little girl!" The monster flung its hand downward, causing the rift to freeze into a massive, three foot icicle that shot out at Blossom like it had been fired from a gun. Blossom's hands burst into flames as she reached up and caught the icicle, slowing it to a halt as it melted in her grasp. The monster took a step back and growled, his growl becoming a grimace of horror as Blossom leapt into the air and drew her hand back, her hand engulfed in opaque flames that moved up and gathered in her palm.
"Sugarbomb Flare!" The monster screamed as Blossom chucked the fireball in its direction. The fireball began sparkling with a bright white light as it headed for the creature. Then the creature noticed something peculiar. At the roots of the white light was a black light it was all too familiar with. The monster looked up at Blossom who looked up to see if the fireball was going to hit. She too was surrounded with a white light that was thinly black the closest it got to her body. The monster's eyes widened as it finally dawned on it.
"Lord Ka…" The fireball slammed into the monster who screamed in intense pain as bit by bit its entire body began to melt, until finally the monster was completely gone. Blossom's fist shot into the air, while she danced around triumphantly.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! I beat it! I beat the monster all by myself! Let's see them take this one away from me!" At that statement she looked up as Bubbles and Buttercup landed nearby, staring in shock at the sight before them.
"Woah! I didn't think we were running that late…" Buttercup mumbled as she looked around and saw the new and improved Blossom dancing victoriously. Bubbles and Buttercup were stunned to say the least seeing Blossom's new uniform.
"Blossom?" Bubbles asked hesitantly. Blossom stopped and grinned at them, rushing up to the two and grabbing their hands.
"Did you guys see me? Please tell me you saw me! I was so cool! I completely destroyed that monster!" Buttercup and Bubbles traded a glance then stared at Blossom closely.
"Uh…maybe we should get to school and you can explain this to us…
"So you were late for school and you got a new transformation?" Kaoru questioned, a little skeptical about how Momoko just out of nowhere acquired a new form. Momoko grinned and nodded.
"Yeah! It was amazing! I didn't have my yo-yo anymore, but I could throw fireballs! I felt more powerful than I ever was as Hyper Blossom, Burning Blossom is so much cooler!" She grinned and closed her eyes, imagining how everyone would love Burning Blossom, after all she had single handedly stopped a monster that was freezing the whole police force! Miyako put her finger to her chin thoughtfully, then smiled and opened her mouth to offer a suggestion. At that moment someone ran past Momoko, ramming into her shoulder. When Momoko didn't give, the person hit the ground hard and Momoko stumbled forward almost losing her balance.
"Woah! Who was that?" Momoko turned and saw Kuriko sitting on the ground rubbing her bottom. Kuriko stood up and continued rubbing her bottom , wincing in pain.
"Ow sis! That really hurt!" Momoko scratched her head, a bead of sweat running down the side of it.
"You should watch where you're going Kuriko," Kuriko pouted, but nodded and hurried towards home. Momoko watched her go, then turned to Miyako and Kaoru. "What? Did I do something wrong?" She questioned, noticing the look on Miyako's face.
"No, Momoko, I just thought you should have apologized for knocking her down. She is smaller than you," Momoko shrugged and fell back into step with Miyako and Kaoru. Miyako remembered what she had been about to say and clapped her hands together.
"Momoko! You should have Professor Utonium look over you, he might find a way that Kaoru and I can get new transformations!" Momoko stopped, a look of worry on her face. Kaoru and Miyako missed this, thankfully, as they realized Momoko had stopped. Momoko replaced the worried look with one of pondering then snapped her fingers, a good excuse coming to mind.
"Ah, I can't today Miyako! I just remembered, I have to baby-sit Kuriko! I better head on home, I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Momoko charged by Kaoru and Miyako, seeming a little too eager, even considering how close the two were—which Miyako and Kaoru had both reasoned from their times accidentally spent as Momoko when the girls had switched bodies thanks to Fuzzy Lumpkins. Miyako looked at Kaoru for some kind of explanation, but Kaoru shrugged and without a second thought the two began to head for Professor Utonium's Lab.
Kuriko sat on the couch alone, a little put off by the little collision at school. Still, a new episode of her favorite anime was on and she wasn't about to let something so small get her down! Kuriko didn't even hear as the door opened and closed and Momoko slipped into the living room, grinning and sneaking up on Kuriko. Kuriko screamed as Momoko dived onto the couch, then burst into furious giggles as Momoko began tickling her. After only a few moments of this, Momoko stopped and pulled Kuriko back up.
"Momoko? What are you doin' home, sis, I thought you were going to the lab today?" Momoko shook her head and smiled as she hugged Kuriko and turned to watch TV with her.
"Nah! I decided not to go in today. Sorry about knocking you down at school Kuriko," Kuriko beamed, her previous upset feeling vanishing now that her sister was home. She hugged Momoko and turned to the TV with a huge grin.
"It's okay sis! I'll make sure I knock you down next time!" The two laughed and chattered happily while watching the show that was on, along with the next show, and the next one. Then when the anime was interrupted by a news report on Blossom's saving the bank, Momoko snatched the remote and turned the TV up. She looked down at Kuriko and grinned broadly.
"Hey look Kuriko! Blossom got a new form, she looks so cool right? And her power is awesome!" Momoko's smile wavered when Kuriko nodded, but didn't look very impressed.
"Yeah, I like this form better, but her attack names are kinda boring. I like Buttercup's better!" Kuriko leaned forward and shrugged, pointing at Blossom's hair. "And I like Bubbles' hair better, I wish they had shown up in time to fight too!" Kuriko didn't notice the look passing over Momoko's face. Carefully Momoko reached up and touched her hair, wondering what was wrong with it.
Still, she was still new at being Burning Blossom. Maybe she could get her hair cut…and she could come up with better attack names. She could even make Burning Blossom's personality cooler than Hyper Blossom's! That was the answer! She got the Burning Blossom form so she could have another chance to be a real hero! No matter what it took, she was going to show Kuriko how Blossom could be!