Chapter 5 Building the Lair
"WHAT?!" all four girls shouted in shock and in confusion as the camera shows a long shot of the volcano in the middle of the park.
(There was no observatory on its peak. At this distance, neither the girls nor Jojo is visible. Then the scene cuts to a close-up of the crater where all five of them are standing at its edge. Jojo has his bag on again and is holding a piece of equipment shaped like a large, thick, stubby pencil. Even though the weather is now calm, his scarf continues to billow under its power.
"Jump in. Take this device I've built into the volcano; we need to harness the energy of the Earth's core for power!" Jojo explained calmly yet excitedly with a little smile as he gestured towards the crater which was full of lava only a foot or two from the biome.
(He had a tough-looking, cylindrical device under his arm, and his brain was once again concealed by the paper bag. The girls looked from the lava to Jojo's tightened fist.)
"What are you talking about?" Blossom asked calmly yet curiously in confusion with a lost look on her face as she stared at Jojo.
"The plan," Jojo answered calmly yet confidently in excitement with a wide, hopeful smile and with a hand out while the buildings in the background were like little specks.
"What plan?" Buttercup questioned calmly in confusion while looking lost too as she stared at Jojo.
"Our plan," Jojo answered calmly again and confidently as ever while smiling widely in hope.
"To do what?" Bubbles added calmly in confusion while also having a lost look on her face as she stared at Jojo.
"To make the town better, of course," Jojo answered calmly yet confidently in excitement while showing with high swagger.
"WHAT?!" all four girls shouted in shock and in confusion again while looking flabbergasted just as bubble on the lava popped.
"You know. Using my ideas and your powers, we will build the 'Help the Town and Make It a Better Place Machine'. That way, everyone will see that our special abilities are good; then everyone will love us! Remember?! It was your idea!" Jojo reminded calmly yet brightly in excitement as he laid out a blueprint in front of the girls that showed the observatory with detailed views of a cluster of globes and a cylindrical enclosure while he pointed at them at the end of his statement.
(Buttercup at the front blinked in confusion as the lava continued to bubble.)
"Well...Umm...When you put it like that, yes, it does appear that it is our idea, but...Umm...I'm afraid that I don't know how to go about this," Bell commented calmly yet awkwardly in confusion with a hesitant look on her face as she crossed her arms while staring sadly at the blueprints before at Jojo.
"Uh…Yeah...Like Bell had said. But...use our powers?" Blossom added calmly yet awkwardly in confusion while also having a hesitant look on her face as she threw out her arms and as she stared at Jojo.
"Yes!" Jojo exclaimed excitedly in encouragement with a wide smile and with fists pumped into the air.
"No way," Buttercup declined calmly in hesitancy while shaking her head and having her eyes closed as she dismissed the notion immediately.
"Come on," Jojo encouraged slightly with a sympathetic look on his face while having a hand out.
"Nuh-uh. We're never going to use our powers again," Bubbles declined sadly in shame as she and her sisters look dejected.
"I second that notion, Bubbles. Honestly, Jojo, just what good are our powers anyway if they only cause trouble for everyone? I say that using our powers again will be a very bad idea. We won't do it. Never again," Bell agreed calmly yet sadly in shame with a little frown and with downcast eyes while having her hands up as she stared at Jojo.
(All the girls couldn't get the destruction of the city out of their minds. They didn't want to risk destroying the city again. It's already in bad shape as it is, but using their powers again for something sinister, then it'll make things even worse.)
"Oh, girls. Don't be sad," Jojo consoled calmly yet gently with a sympathetic frown on his face as he left his cylindrical device on the rocky terrain behind him and crawled over to them before encouraging them while having a calculating, sly grin on his face, "Your powers are great! You just gotta believe in yourself".
(As kept having that calculating, sly grin on his face—the sort they would and should never trust- they looked to each other before looking toward the crater. Their images are reflected from the surface of the boiling lava within; from here, the camera tilts up to point across the crater and into the night. After a long moment, a four-colored light streak flashed down from above and splashed into the volcano. Jojo grins broadly at the sight.)
(Inside the volcano, the girls plunged through the lava, holding their breath while hauling the equipment. They go deeper and deeper as the glow from the subterranean heat finally turns pure white and fills the screen. The girls fade into view and let go of their payload while pointing down; it remains in place. The pointed end opens, and a small platform shoots up from the blunt end. Tethered to the body by a cable, it emerges from the core and zooms toward the surface while the girls followed after it.)
(Back to the crater, the girls and the platform emerged, throwing goblets of lava everywhere.)
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Jojo exclaimed triumphantly with a huge, victorious smile on his face as he jumped up and down with an excited fist.
"We did good?" Blossom asked calmly in curiosity with a hopeful smile as lava dripped off of her skin.
(Neither the girls nor their clothes affected even remotely after emerging out of the volcano.)
"You did very good. Very good, indeed," Jojo praised calmly yet coyly in secret deviousness with a drawl and with a slightly mischievous look on his face as his fists were clenched together
(The girls hovered in front of him while he praised them.)
"Now what do we do?" Buttercup asked enthusiastically like a starved shark.
"Why yes. What else should we do? I must say that I've changed my mind after doing that. That didn't seem so bad after all. Maybe it was all just in our heads," Bell added calmly yet gently in curiosity and in relief with a hopeful smile and with a nod as she had her arms crossed.
(Jojo grinned excitedly at this as he saw that he had definitely encouraged and convinced Bell and her sisters to use their powers again.)
He returned to the blueprint and pointed at the side of the sketched, dome-like structure while the girls watched over his shoulder as he explained, "First, we construct the superstructure".
(The scene then cuts to a frozen wasteland, and it pans across it as the girls fly into view. They land on a patch of snow and ice beneath which the outline of a large meteorite is dimly visible before they started firing their eye lasers at this. The screen fills with steam from the vaporizing snow; when it clears, the camera has shifted into the hole they have made, which is considerable. They step to the edge and look in for a moment before Buttercup slides down, the camera following. She disappears behind the meteorite, which begins to shake, then lifts away from the snow under her efforts. Blossom, Bubbles and Bell almost laughed at this.)
(Back to Jojo on the crater's tip; now a support rod protrudes into view from the platform and is anchored to the interior wall with the girls holding the meteorite above the platform. Other rods anchor it to the crater wall. Blossom and Buttercup are in midair, firing their eye lasers toward the space debris as Bell and Bubble hold it. A stream of liquid metal pours down from it to fill an I-beam mold being held in place by Jojo, who is giving more directions.)
(Now, we see a framework of such beams under construction.)
(Buttercup flexed one of the many iron bars into place while Bubbles sealed it down with her eyebeams over on the structure's other side. Blossom bended another iron bar into an arc to connect with one already in place while Bell zaps the joint.)
(The camera then pulls back to a long shot of the volcano, which now has the lower portion of what will become the observatory in place.)
(We then see the girl's streak shot throughout the deepest depths of the ocean, weaving around underwater rock formations, sunken ships, and other sunken treasure until they finally reached a giant submarine on the ocean floor, slowed up, and stopped as they reached its tail end. The light was shining from a large crack on its middle-starboarded side.)
(The girls as one lifted the submarine by its tail fin as the underwater vehicle rose from the rocky floor. The lights inside flicked and vanished just as a large school of angler fish, each with a small light on the end of a stalk extending from the head emerges and swims away in a hurry.)
(The scene then cuts to the night sky; the girls are holding the submarine above the partially completed dome support frame. Jojo gives instructions from its base. We then cut to a close-up of Bubbles, now standing on the floor with a beam slung over her shoulder, and the camera pulls back to show the sub now held up by her sisters as their boss looks on. She swung the beam, broke the hull like a piñata, and thus, it released a shower of components. Bell, Blossom, and Buttercup flew back and forth and caught as many falling pieces as they can. Jojo looks over three of them while Bubbles watches on happily.)
(He plugs two cords together and is rewarded with the glow of vacuum tubes; as the walls and floor in the now-completed dome start to glow green as it flashed up. The main power is functioning, much to the delight of all five. Jojo is at a partially built control panel in the center of the floor with cables running toward the walls. The scene then cuts to show a long shot of the volcano; now, the observatory exterior has taken on its current form, complete with the telescope.)
(We then see the girls shot out through a vast to a cold desert at night before stopping over a bay of large sand. They whirled themselves around the dune rapidly. While gathering it up in their tornado, the moon glowed close to their point on Earth's surface.)
(Back at the observatory's interior, where the sand they picked up during this run lies in drifts near the wall. Jojo directs the girls' work as they melt the material with their eye lasers; the screen dissolves to them in midair, blowing into the molten glass. Each ends up with a large globe that has a thin tube attached.)
(Jojo wrenches on a piece of machinery. While he says this next line, we cut to the girls as they attach the globes to a large, central hub and as they heat-seal the joints.)
"Look! Can't you see that our plan is working?!" Jojo exclaimed excitedly with awestruck admiration as he used a wrench to tighten a bolt on a gigantic, glass sphere atop the structure's middle station.
(Blossom fitted one of the glass spheres onto the end of a glass rod sticking out of the large glass spheres while Buttercup used her eyebeams to meld another glass rod into place.)
"Well, Jojo, I have to say that I'm rather impressed. I'm not sure exactly how this plan will work, but it does feel rather good to make this much progress," Bell commented while she helped her sisters into sticking a glass sphere into a glass rod.
"Exactly! Our work is proceeding as planned! At last, our lives will be better! At last, we will be accepted!" Jojo agreed excitedly in hope while he and the girls kept working.
(Bubbles carried two glass spheres around to the other side ready to fit them while a wire is leading inside a larger one. Jojo directed the girls into placing down multiple glass cylinders with dome tops onto holding cups around the perimeter of the structure. He then looks at his blueprints with admiration, lowering them down to show the interior of the completed observatory. The tanks run around the chamber's entire perimeter; electrodes fitted to their tops; and floor cables radiated out from the center to the walls. The assembly of globes, also matching the blueprints' details, is suspended within a huge globe that hangs above the completed control panel. A cable or tube runs from the underside of this to the top of each tank.)
"At last, our greatest work is comple—!" Jojo exclaimed triumphantly before he abruptly stopped mid-sentence as he noticed that something was missing from the completed project.
(The structure matching his blueprint down to note with windows around the perimeter and even bigger glass spheres enclosed the small ones extending from the inner one. A wire from it led to the entire glass cylinder around the edge in a circle. The control station below had all the necessary buttons and levers too. Except for one small thing.)
"Oops..." Jojo muttered slowly yet awkwardly with a sheepish look on his face as he stared at the blueprints.
"What's wrong?" Blossom asked calmly in confusion as she and her sisters floated above him curiously.
"Well...There is one, last, teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy thing that we still need," Jojo replied calmly in a sweet voice while looking up at them with a somewhat sly grin.
(The girls stared back at him; confusion written on their faces as to what else was required for the plan. Meanwhile, in the lab of the Utonium house, a container of Chemical X rested on the white desk surface as the three girls smiled to see it still there. Bell, however, frowned anxiously as she starting to feel doubtful about the idea.)
"Umm...Girls? I don't know about you, but I'm starting to have second doubts about this plan. Before, I was gong-how about Jojo's plan, but now that we're stealing from the Professor, our own dad no less, I'm starting to get this bad feeling again. It's like I'm sensing some...chaotic air while doing this...Like...some bad things is going to befall us the moment we take this bottle of Chemical X to Jojo. I don't know why that is, but I can feel it," Bell commented calmly yet anxiously in concern with an apprehensive look on her face while having a hand up as she watched her sisters remove the Chemical X bottle from its place.
"Oh, relax, Bell. You worry too much. Everything will be fine," Buttercup reassured calmly yet casually in amusement with a sly smile and with a wave as she glanced at Bell.
"Yeah. Jojo told us that he needs it to power up his lab. What's the worst thing that could happen besides a blackout?" Bubbles added calmly yet innocently in amusement with a little smile and with a shrug as she watched Blossom take the bottle out.
"Exactly, and besides, it's not 'stealing'. We're just going to 'borrow' the Chemical X bottle for a while until Jojo's plan is finished. I'm sure that the Professor won't mind if we 'borrow' his stuff for a while. He trusts us. Not only that, but we would also be doing a good deed by helping Jojo; and we will show everyone that we can use our powers for good. It's a win-win for the both of us," Blossom added calmly yet gently in a reassuring tone while holding the bottle of Chemical X in her hands.
"Well...if you say that it's going to be alright, then I'll trust you, Blossom. However, I can't shake this awful feeling that something terrible is going to happen in the near future. Don't ask me why. It's just something that my gut is telling me," Bell replied calmly yet gently in understanding and in concern with a worried look on her face while crossing her arms as she stared curiously at her sisters.
"Well, I say that your gut is wrong because you're such a worrywart. You're even worse than Blossom when it comes to that," Buttercup teased calmly yet playfully in amusement with a smug smile and with another handwave as she dismissed her sister's worries.
"Hey! I take offense to that, madam!" Bell exclaimed back in annoyance with an irked look on her face while she kept her arms crossed as she glared a bit at Buttercup.
"I take offense to that as well, Buttercup, and for your information, a girl's keen intuition is nothing to scoff at, especially when you're the leader of the team. Keep that in mind if you ever want to lead the team someday," Blossom added calmly in annoyance with a little frown and with lowered eyelids as she stared at Buttercup.
"Ugh. Fine. Whatever. Let's just head back to Jojo already," Buttercup replied calmly yet tiredly in annoyance with a little frown and with furrowed eyebrows while crossing her arms as she rolled her eyes a little.
"Right. Come on, girls! Let's go!" Blossom ordered calmly yet brightly in confidence with a solemn frown and with a nod as she exited out of the lab.
(Bubbles and Buttercup followed suit while Bell briefly stayed behind as she still felt uneasy about all of this.)
"(Sigh)...Alright..." Bell muttered calmly yet tiredly in defeat with a sigh and with a head shake while shrugging a bit before zooming off to catch up to her sisters.
(Their bright trails zoomed out the front door and through the bright morning sky. They reached Jojo's observatory within a second which now stood alone and complete atop the volcano.)
(Inside, they floated up in front of Jojo, and Blossom shows him the flask, freshly purloined from the lab. He smiles and points up; the camera follows as the girls fly to the top of the huge, outer globe and set the flask in a socket up there.)
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Jojo cheered in triumph, leaping up and down on the spot as his rags shook as he did so.
"We did good?" Blossom asked calmly in curiosity with a hopeful look on her face as she and her sisters whipped their heads around from the top of the machine.
"You did very good. Very good, indeed," Jojo repeated calmly in the exact same, slightly devious manner as before while also having that same mischievous expression on his face as before.
(The girls floated down in front of him while he praised them again as the blue sky shone across the city's buildings through the oval window around the structure.)
"Now, what do we do?" Buttercup asked curiously yet even more enthusiastically while looking rather excited for the next task.
"Well...Because you've done so good, I've got a special surprise," Jojo replied calmly yet coyly in amusement while smiling gently as he slowly folded his arms behind his back and briefly closed his eyes before opening them and pointed at the girls.
(The girls gasped silently in surprise after seeing Jojo point at them. They looked at each other in curiosity and in eagerness as they wondered what he is planning for them.)
(Of course, they didn't have to wait that long to figure out his surprise.)
"Yay!" all four girls cheered in happiness as they run toward the entrance of Townsville Zoo.
(Buttercup's black, flipped hair wiggled about as she followed her sisters into the place. Trailing behind the them was Jojo, dressed the same as ever; only this time, he had a special, black camera held behind his back. His ragged scarf blew behind him as he entered the zoo too.)
"Ohhhh…!" the girls awed in amazement and in curiosity as they peered into the elephant pen.
HOOOOOONK!
(The elephant blew its signature trunk noise. By this point, Jojo had caught up with the girls though he paid no attention or bothering to look at the elephants.)
"Ahhhh…!" the girls awed in amazement and in curiosity as they watched one seal leap out of the water while another balanced an inflated, red and while beach ball on it.
(However, Jojo passed the girls and continued walking while disregarding the seals.)
"Ooooh…!" the girls awed in amazement and in curiosity as their point of attention this time were at a small pride of lions, lying around in their pens.
(By now, Jojo had outpaced the girls by a few feet.)
(The girls flew through the air as they searched for another animal pen before squealing happily when they saw a sign with a zebra on it, pointing due west. They shot forward towards that direction while Jojo slowly yet steadily walked behind them until he eventually reached them and took them under his arms.)
"Say...Jojo? Are you sure that you're having fun? Because it seems to me that you're avoiding all these animals and not taking at least one good look at them. Why did you take us here at the zoo if you're not going to do that?" Bell asked calmly yet curiously in confusion with a quizzical look on her face as she stared at Jojo while she and Buttercup are under his left arm while Blossom and Bubbles are under his right.
(They also have quizzical looks on their faces as they waited for Jojo to answer.)
"Oh, don't get me wrong, Bell. I do love the zoo and its fascinating array of animals, but there is just one section of it that I feel...most attuned with so to speak. In other words...my kind of people..." Jojo answered calmly yet coyly in amusement with a sincere smile plastered on his face as he looked at Bell and the rest of the girls while he entered a section of the zoo titled "THE PRIMATE PLAZA".
(Bell and her sisters merely shrugged in confusion as they still felt a bit puzzled at Jojo's action, but they simply pushed it past them as they decided to let him take the lead for a while.)
(In one of the larger caged pens in Primate Plaza, many small chimpanzees hung from a tree branch by their feet, arms, and tails respectively. Many people were milling around in the area while some were more interested than others. Jojo and the girls were right in front of the larger pen.)
(While the girls gazed at the chimpanzees in happiness, Jojo had a more mixed expression on his face. The girls turned to look at him suddenly, and they saw that he continued to have slightly squinted eyes as he stared at his fellow simians. His mouth was in a slight frown until he realized that the girls were watching him. Turning slightly, he smiled brightly as he held up the camera that he had brought with him.)
(Jojo stepped backward foot by foot while the smiling girls were standing right in front of the chimpanzees, who were shaking up and down in the camera's frame. Having retreated to a distance long enough for a wide shot, he readied the camera, but then he lowered it and wordlessly gestured the girls to the side. While they still smiled at him, they complied, moving into what they thought was the center of the frame but was actually the edge. Jojo gives a thumbs-up as a way to trick them before he readied the camera again and pressed the button.)
(A flash of white light emanated rapidly. When it froze, the chimpanzee in the frame's center was clutching his butt while squealing after seeing that bright flash before falling below the girls' line of vision.)
(Immediately after this, the girls jumped into the camera's trajectory, adopting silly poses. The camera shifted to face an olive baboon yelling at a second baboon. After one flash of white light from the camera, the baboon stopping yelling as he leaped away while his fellow baboon looked after him. Jojo then turned away from the girls again, zooming in on a proboscis monkey perched on a tree branch with several humans watching him. After taking one picture, he tumbled out of the branch with a grunt.)
(In a hot spring, one Japanese macaque, white-haired monkey was grooming his partner, picking off and eating fleas, but once Jojo took a picture of the grooming macaque towering over his fellow monkey, he leered and yelled as his equal lowered himself into the water.)
(A podgy orangutan ate an apple in silence... until the snapping of Jojo's camera made him snap his eyes open and spit out his most recent bite. Afterwards, a gibbon was photographed next. The white flash of the camera interrupted his slow tree swinging in favor of him clutching his butt before falling to the ground.)
(This process continued on and on as every single monkey, primate, and simian in the zoo were being subjected to a flash of white light from Jojo's camera. They all squealed, flinched, recoiled or otherwise reacted as they showed obvious discomfort for some reason wherever they were. As long as they were primates, it happened to them, and Jojo did this with every last one right up to a small of red tarsiers settled against a tree side.)
(Bell then starting to feel even more uneasy about Jojo's true intentions. True, he had been very nice to theme, but she kept wondering why he is taking pictures of all the monkeys, primates and simians and why he doesn't want the girls in the pictures. She wished that she could voice her complaints and inquiries to Jojo, but since she hates conflict and hates speaking out her mind when it could disrupt the peaceful atmosphere at the moment, she decided to keep quiet as she preferred to keep harmony rather stir a commotion. Besides, she finds it rude to confront Jojo about this when clearly he is giving her and her sisters a fun time. Why get suspicious of him now of all times?)
(She eventually shook her head and focused at the moment in hand. She could only hope that her suspicions were wrong, and that Jojo was just having fun in his own way. With those hopeful thoughts in her mind, she then joined the girls as they all stared at the evolution of man sign.)
"'Worthless'," Buttercup read the ape sign.
"'Lame'," Blossom read next.
"'Stupid'," Bubbles read next in amusement.
"'Okay'," Bell read next with a silent sigh.
"'Better'," Blossom read next a bit brightly in amusement.
"'Almost'," Bubbles read next rather cheerfully in amusement.
"'Awesome'!" All four girls finished brightly in unison before they giggled obliviously as Jojo stood beside them.
(He glared at the display board in discomfort with his arms folded and his eyelids narrowed. Suddenly, his eyes widened in surprise. Perched atop a large rock in an air-open pen was a massive mountain gorilla, gazing off in no particular direction. He didn't notice JoJo smile in the same sinister way as before while he raised the camera to his eye level. JoJo then placed his finger onto the button and pressed it.)
(Concealed by the flash of white light, something flew from the camera at rapid speed, hitting the gorilla's fur dead-on. He blinked in slow surprise, lowered his eyes to his fur, and scratched it in vague curiosity. Yet mere inches away from his finger lay a blinking, red device, embedding in his fur, obviously a result of JoJo's camera. Whatever it was, it looks too sinister, and only one monkey could ever know about the them all.)
(JoJo lowered the camera while his sinister smile is still on his face. The purple scarf billowed behind him as he started his pace back toward the primate exit.)
"Come girls. Our work is fin-Oh, I mean, time to go!" He muttered sinisterly before changing to a sweeter tone mid-sentence as he walked towards the exit while the girls stared at the meerkat pen before turning their away heads away from it.
"Aww! But Jojo!" the girls whined sadly yet simultaneously in disappointment as they looked at Jojo before following him through the primate plaza gate and out into the zoo.
"We haven't seen the gazelles!" Blossom exclaimed sadly in desperation with a disappointed look on her face as she ran past a discarded baby rattle on the ground.
"Or the crocodiles!" Buttercup added sadly in disappointment as she ran after Blossom and Jojo.
"Or the hippos! Or even those cute, little penguins!" Bell added sadly in disappointment as she ran to catch up with her two sisters and Jojo.
"Or the unicorns! Please! Just one unico-Oof!" Bubbles added sadly yet pleadingly in disappointment as she ran only a bit behind her siblings and approached the baby rattle before grunting as she tripped over it.
(After picking it up and looking around, she saw a woman walking away in the other direction while dragging a disgruntled boy and while carrying a wailing boy on her shoulder.)
"Excuse me, ma'am, I think that you dropped this," Bubbles addressed politely yet sweetly in sympathy with a little smile as she jogged up to the woman and reached the family while holding the rattle.
(The boy glared from behind his mother's leg. The lady looked at her angrily, quickly snatched the rattle away from her, and walked away in a huff.)
The lady complained in a snarky tone while walking away, "I thought that the zoo kept all the animals in cages!".
(After leaving Bubbles in spite, Blossom and Bell came over to comfort her while Buttercup yelled at the lady walking away in rudeness.)
"Yeah, well, you're welcome, lady!" Buttercup yelled back just as snarky while gesturing her arms as she spoke.
(As a five-year-old girl, she wasn't capable of higher forms of talking back quite yet, but her tone said it all.)
"It's okay, Bubbles. You did the right thing. She was just being rude is all," Bell consoled gently in understanding with a sympathetic frown on her face as she held Bubbles' left shoulder.
"Don't listen, Bubbles," Blossom consoled gently in understanding while also having a sympathetic frown on her face as she patted Bubbles' back softly.
(Bubbles only gazed at the ground with her pigtails drooping.)
"That's right, Bubbles. Do not listen," Jojo agreed calmly yet gently in sympathy as Blossom, Bell, and Bubbles looked up while Buttercup turned around after hearing him speaking as his shadow fell over them.
"All of you deafen yourselves to their heartless words," He added calmly with a sympathetic look on his face as he walked up to them, gestured to his chest for emphasis, and rolled his eyes as he said that last part before continuing gently with a little smile and with a finger up, "They do not know that it is their saviors they are speaking to".
(He peered down at them as they looked back up. Blossom, Bell, and Bubbles looked curious while Buttercup still looked angry.)
Jojo, however, looked quite happy while he encouraged gently yet brightly with his hand up before stretching both arms out for emphasis, "They are unaware that your actions will have helped change their world forever!"
All the girls, including Buttercup, smiled a little in hope after hearing those encouraging words before he picks them up and embraces them as he finished gently in contentment, "Because we have helped the town and made it a better place".
"Do you think they'll be surprised?" Blossom asked curiously in hope with a cheerful look on her face as her position was the closest to JoJo's.
"Oh, yeah," Jojo answered calmly yet slowly in amusement with a sincere smile while letting his eyes wonder elsewhere for a moment.
"Do you think they'll still be mad at us for playing tag?" Buttercup asked curiously in a fast voice with a hopeful look on her face.
"No, they'll have forgotten all about that," Jojo answered confidently with a slight swagger in his voice since he seems a little less sure than when he answered Blossom's question.
"Do you believe that they will finally understand us?" Bell asked curiously in hope with a cheerful look on her face.
"O-Oh, well, of course, they will. They gotta understand you at some point, right?" Jojo answered calmly yet a bit hesitantly with a slightly sheepish smile since he was even more unsure with Bell's question than with Blossom's or Buttercup's.
(However, Bubbles' question made him completely unsure.)
"Will they love us?" Bubbles asked curiously yet innocently in hope with a sweet look on her face which made Jojo frown suddenly.
(For about two seconds, Jojo stared out into the camera and not at the girls. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, but there was no doubt that he was thinking quickly as he tried to come up with a quick answer.)
"Yes," Jojo answered finally in a gentle tone while smiling warmly and while closing his eyes.
"Really?" the girls asked simultaneously in surprise and in curiosity with hopeful smiles and with raised eyebrows as they stared at Jojo.
"Would I lie to you?" Jojo asked calmly yet sweetly in amusement with a little smile as he looked at the girls directly.
(Jojo stood there with the girls in his arms as all of them were smiling and had their eyes closed while they hugged him back. He eventually placed the girls down after their hug. All of them knew that great things were going to happen tomorrow.)
(But before they had left the zoo, Bell soon spoke up while holding her legs together and raising her hand in a polite way.)
"Umm, excuse me, Mr. Jojo, but I need to use the restroom. I need to go really bad. I'm very sorry to bother you," Bell requested politely with a little frown and with upward eyebrows while waving her hand around.
Jojo sighed silently and slightly rolled his eyes while he replied calmly yet gently in understand, "Ah, alright. But make it quick. We'll be right here waiting while you go".
"Oh, thank you very much, kind sir. I'll go as fast as I could!" Bell replied calmly yet brightly in relief while nodding to Jojo a bit before zooming off to the restroom.
(After doing her business in the restroom, she quickly walked back to where she left Jojo and her sisters. She was deep in her thoughts about Jojo and his true intentions. Even though Jojo had been nice to them, there is some suspicious activity that she noticed. Like when Jojo was taking pictures of the primates and him asking for some Chemical X.)
'How did he know about that?' Bell thought curiously in confusion while she walked back.
(She was terribly confused about all of this and didn't know whether it's spelling disaster for her sisters and for everyone or just something nice instead. It's hard to tell, but she didn't like it one bit.)
Suddenly, she bumped into someone and fell to the floor before sitting up and rubbing the back of her head while apologizing politely, "Oh, excuse me. Sorry for bumping into you".
A familiar voice asked curiously in confusion, "Bell? Is that you?".
(Bell became a little scared and looked up to see her kindergarten teacher, Ms. Keane, who is staring down at her with a surprised look on her face.)
Bell quickly got up while replying nervously with a sheepish look on her face, "Um, uh, hi, Ms. Keane. What are you doing here at the zoo today? Hahaha?".
"It's okay, Bell. You don't need to be scared," Ms. Keane reassured calmly yet gently with a little smile and with a hand up.
"But what about what happened two days ago and how everyone thinks of us? Don't you hate us too?" Bell asked calmly yet curiously in confusion with an anxious look on her face.
"Well, I'll admit that it was rather shocking to discover that you and your sisters have strange super powers, and it took a while for me to process it. But eventually, I got over it. I finally understand now that you and your sisters are very different, and that little destructive game was just an accident," Ms. Keane replied calmly yet a bit casually with a little smile and with a shrug as she stared at Bell.
"Oh...Well...Whew...That's great that you finally understand us. However, I don't think that everyone else thinks so. I could've sworn that I heard a teenager on the Tv who hates us for killing his family. I mean. We didn't know where the people lived, and that they were there at the time. So..." Bell replied calmly in concern while briefly having a relieved look on her face before looking guilty.
"Oh, I'm sure that everyone will see it that way in good time. Especially for how sweet, good, and fun you and your sisters are," Ms. Keane reassured calmly yet gently with a hopeful smile and with a wave before pointing at Bell.
"Well, I hope so. Thank you very much for understanding us, Ms. Keane. Oh, and by the way, we are currently helping a new friend out," Bell replied calmly yet brightly with a little smile and with a nod as she stood back up to her feet.
"Aww, well, that's nice to hear," Ms. Keane replied calmly yet gently with a kind smile and with upward eyebrows.
(Bell smiled proudly at that before looking worried as looked down to the ground with her arms behind her back and moved her left foot from side to side. )
Ms. Keane noticed this and asked curiously with a concerned look on her face, "Bell, is there something bothering you?".
"Well, it's just...you see...our new friend said that he will help us make a difference and show everyone that our powers can be used for good, but...um...I'm starting to think that there is something Jojo hadn't told us or is keeping something secret from us. I wish I could say something to my sisters about it, but since he had been so nice to us, it's making it very hard for me to say my worries out loud. Personally, I don't think that my sisters will believe me if I say that Jojo is being suspicious. Just...what should I do, Ms. Keane? Should I stay quiet or not?" Bell explained her worries while looking concerned and confused while gesturing with her hands before crossing her arms as she stared up at her teacher.
(Taking in what Bell had said, Ms. Keane figured that this friend has been very nice to them and is trying to help, but it is clear Bell doubts him a little.)
Ms. Keane sighed a little before answering calmly in wisdom with a solemn look on her face, "(Sigh)...Listen, Bell, not everyone is good in this town".
"Really?" Bell asked calmly in surprise with a bewildered look on her face.
"Yes, and I'm guessing that the Professor never got a chance to tell you that little secret," Ms. Keane replied calmly yet gently in sympathy with a solemn look on her face while she knelt down and placed a hand on top of Bell's left shoulder.
(Bell shook her head "no" to answer.)
Ms. Keane then explained calmly in somberness, "To tell you the truth, Bell, Townsville's has all kinds of troubles, and some are doing really bad things to people in the city".
"Just like what we did," Bell replied calmly yet sadly in guilt while looking down in shame.
"Well, yes, but you and your sisters never meant to do it. The ones we have trouble with just wanted to cause trouble and do bad things for themselves, but as your friend, sometimes it's good to give someone the benefit of the doubt. However, it is also a good idea to trust your intuition no matter what anyone tells you, so it's a good idea to be careful around a few people especially those who are up to no good. Like I said, not everyone is nice. So, you and your sisters need to beware of those who only pretend to be nice and mean you harm. Do you understand?" Ms. Keane advised calmly yet wisely with a sympathetic look on her face.
(Bell nodded her head "yes" in understanding and smiled a little to her teacher.)
"That's good, and it's a good idea to talk to your sisters and the Professor about it. Understand?" Ms. Keane added calmly in wisdom with a gentle smile and with a nod as she stood back up.
"I understand. Thank you so much for talking to me about it, Ms. Keane. Now, I think that I feel confident about telling my sisters these worries that I have," Bell replied calmly yet brightly in relief with a little smile as she walked past Ms. Keane and waved her arm at her.
"You're very welcome, Bell. Goodbye, and good luck," Ms. Keane encouraged calmly with a gentle smile as she waved back.
(Bell eventually walked back to her sisters and Jojo before leaving the zoo entirely. It is very obvious to everyone besides the girls that Jojo was doing certain things for a different reason.)
(The sun shone dimly on the horizon; the limited glow only partly visible from the gigantic machine atop the volcano.)
(Inside the observatory, Jojo was making some very fast adjustments with the various buttons and levers in the control station. His paper bag that covered his brain wriggled with the various activities he performed while the girls in front of him hovering over him, watching with anticipation.)
(Bubbles had her hands covering her eyes, fearing that something was going to go wrong. Blossom had her hand over her mouth, watching silently, uttering not a sound. Buttercup had shielded her ears, fearing that the machine was going to fail. Bell had her arms behind her back for luck that the machine would pass the test. All four them grew more nervous and anxious as they watched Jojo's routinely check-up. They just felt that something was going to go wrong.)
(Jojo suddenly stopped his work just at the same moment that light beeped. The girls let out silent gasps.)
(Jojo stepped out from the control station, opening his arms one more time. The girls all smiled, soaring into his arms simultaneously as they were happy that his machine worked. Illuminated by the machines' light, they looked as happy as they could. The bond that they had established in the last few days was as strong as ever.)
(Bubbles subtly planted a slight kiss on his cheek, making Jojo open his eyes with realization. After l he released the girls, he waved "goodbye" as they soared away from him toward the observatory exit.)
(The girls soared away from the observatory just as the sun was setting. Inside, Jojo was just happy as his smile remained. But soon enough, his eyes suddenly curved, making it resemble more of a grin.)
(His finger touched a button on the panel. The glass cylinders around the perimeter begin to fill with water. Near Jojo's feet, the trench overcoat, the purple scarf, and the ragged shirt landed softly on the floor as the water filled upwards in the larger cylinders.)
(Last to go was the paper bag. One of Jojo's feet stomped on the lot as he passed by it.)
(The sun finally set fully, plunging the observatory into semi-darkness. All that could be made out was a pair of pink eyes accompanied by that familiar, evil grin.)
(The night sky shone darkly over Townsville's suburbs. The Utonium chateau stood alone as only the main living room light was on. All was quiet until the girls' signature light streak passed through the air and headed straight through the front red door without damaging it. Inside, they floated around happily while smiling ecstatically except for Bell. She was feeling unsure about the whole thing and is thinking about what Ms. Keane had explained to her.)
"I'm so excited!" Blossom exclaimed brightly with glee, whizzing through the air diagonally.
"Yeah, we'll show 'em!" Buttercup exclaimed brightly with confidence as she flew with her sisters.
"Umm...Say...Uhh...Girls?" Bell asked calmly yet awkwardly in concern with a sheepish look on her face as she looked at Blossom and Buttercup.
"Huh? What's up, Bell?" Buttercup asked calmly yet curiously in confusion with a little smile as she and Blossom looked at Bell.
"Well...Uhh...I don't know how to say this...Umm...I'd...like to discuss some things with you as well with the Professor. I...I think that it's important," Bell replied calmly yet awkwardly in politeness with a little frown and with her hands out as she stared at Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles.
(Blossom and Buttercup raised their eyebrows in surprise of that formal response. They know that Bell is the politest one of the group, but she can be a little informal with them since she trusts them or is comfortable with them. They don't know what's going on in their sister's mind, but they do know that she's uncomfortable with something; and that usually means it's very important. They soon nodded to each other and smiled gently at Bell in understanding.)
"Okay, Bell, we understand. We can have this talk with the Professor around," Blossom replied calmly yet gently in understanding with a little smile and with a nod.
"Speaking of which, where is the Professor?" Buttercup asked calmly in confusion with a little frown and with raised eyebrows while putting her hands onto her hips as she stared at Blossom.
"Yeah, where's-?" Bubbles asked calmly as well in confusion with a worried look on her face.
(The red door was then kicked open by one of the two cops, both of them having the Professor in their grasp. They soon violently tossed the Professor into the air before slamming the door behind them. He hit the ground with a thud with his hair still askew.)
"Professor!" all girls cried out in unison with worried looks on their faces as they floated down to his level.
(Buttercup used her eyebeams to melt the cuffs off while the Professor explained in relief and in guilt with a concerned look on his face.)
"Oh, girls, thank goodness you're okay! I'm so sorry! I'm a terrible, terrible parent!" the Professor apologized in sadness while Bell took the handcuffs off after they've been melted fully as his arm fell by his side.
(The girls all looked at each other in concern after hearing that.)
"You must hate me for not picking you up from school. But it's not my fault! It's this town. They've gone crazy! It's like they've never seen kids playing before!" He continued slowly yet a bit irritably in shame and in frustration as moved his eyes sideways until they widened before lowering them again.
He looked up at the girls and sighed a little as he continued tiredly yet a bit worriedly in concern, "I knew that your powers would take some time getting used to, but jail?! Lawsuits?! Angry mobs?!".
(Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup all had gaped mouths as they were shocked hearing what the Professor had gone through while they were gone.)
"What's next?!" the Professor exclaimed frantically in concern with a worried look on his face as he gestured with a fragile hand.
"Don't worry, Professor! Things are going to get better! We promise!" Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup reassured brightly yet simultaneously in hope with sympathetic looks on their faces.
"Mm...I hope so," Bell muttered quietly yet weakly in concern with a worried look on her face while looking away from her sisters and the Professor as she had a hand under her chin.
(She, however, felt very doubtful about all of this, and what will happen tomorrow.)
"So...Bell...Is there something that you'd like to discuss with us?" Blossom asked curiously with a confused look on her face.
"Ah! Uh, umm, n-never mind! Forget what I said! I was just...Umm...confused...is all..." Bell replied awkwardly in surprise and in worry with an alarmed yet sheepish look on her face as she quickly looked back at Blossom before crossing her arms and looking away again.
(Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup stared at Bell with gaped mouths on their faces before slowly looking at each other in confusion. Like a cartoon, a question mark appeared above their heads since they were so puzzled with Bell's reaction just there.)
(But while the girls were confused, there was someone who wasn't. That would be a certain primate.)
(The dome-like observatory stood atop the volcano. No one even noticed it strangely. What's even stranger was what's happening inside.)
(In the machine center, Jojo sat with a finger raised above the controls. He was currently wearing nothing. His skin was illuminating red against the glowing technology. All around the observatory, all the larger tanks were filled with green, illuminated water. The machine seemed just as sinister as Jojo.)
(Jojo's finger hit one of the buttons marked red.)
(Also, what's flashing red quickly was the device in the mountain gorilla's fur back at the zoo. He stood asleep in the same position as before unaware of it before he suddenly vanished right out of thin air.)
(The orangutan sat asleep on solid ground. In his pen, a device blinked out of his fur too before he also blinked out of sight. Simultaneously, the Japanese macaque lay in his spring ripple, crossed the water as he vanished too. The olive baboon lay peacefully against a tree trunk until he also disappeared with a blinking sound and a frame's worth of red spark. The proboscises monkey stood asleep in his tree perch until the blinking device attached to him whisked him away.)
(From a few yards away, all of the small chimpanzees vanished with a sound and flashes from their pen, leaving it much emptier than before.)
(Two of the chimpanzees teleported directly into the two tanks in Jojo's centrical line of vision to such precision that suction cups were attached to the wires placed at the tanks' top. Stuck to their heads in perfection, all pairs of monkeys teleported into the tanks around Jojo. The unit had at least one primate in it.)
(Jojo sat very still at the front, a closed grin across his face. His finger was near a rod switch; he basked in the light of the surrounding sleeping monkeys before he flicked it up.)
(The effect was instantaneous as all the wires turned green. The light around the stretched wall lit up instantly, accompanied by a draining sound at the giant glass sphere's top. All but a bit of the Chemical X was absorbed from its beaker and into the machine.)
(The smaller glass spheres inside spun around rapidly. The glass balls on rods pushing out to their full length. The Chemical X was divided brisky into these balls as they extended outwards. Jojo had one fist clutched at the control, snapping a lever forward suddenly with his other hand.)
(The balls' rotation stopped instantly at this action. The Chemical X inside all of the balls sloshed around briefly until it settled. This sound distantly echoed throughout all the glass spheres.)
(Jojo's last action was to tune one dial 60 degrees. Such that, it activated the machine fully with a flash of neon green light; the whole place was glowing dark green. Controlled electricity sparked and conducted around and inside the glass balls making the air almost sizzle as Jojo watched the machine go. With his sinister smirk, simultaneously, the chemical was absorbed into the middle of theses balls, sparkling with flashing voltage until it vanished.)
(The chemical flowed down the tubes, leading to the monkeys' cyaniding resting cases as it seeped into them. The instant it flowed in; they all awoke to vibrate as the chemical seeped into their skins with electricity crackling all around them.)
(The whole place flashed with neon lights over and over. The proboscises monkey's pupils were stretched wide as he trembled like his fellows. A hairy ape and a skinny mandril were doing the same as their mouths opened widely in shock. The mountain gorilla was squashed in his case; his hands twitching with the electricity as was the olive baboon while one of the gibbons was shaking hard.)
(Suddenly, one monkey's clenched eyelids shot open. His pupils opened widely and dilated to a smaller size. Electricity sizzled around his trembled hands as well as his comparatively calm feet. His whole body shook while the cups continued to keep him awake. One monkey's butt and tail were even alive with the experimental electricity.)
(The skin around one of the small chimpanzee's head suddenly stretched open as something extended out of it. Slowly but surely as Jojo's operation proceeded, the monkey's brain extended out of his skull. The pink, thinking tissue towered above his small structure, rising to a level that was in the same ratio as Jojo's brain. This happened for all the simians. The place was suddenly shielded from view by one hissing flash of white light that rendered one briefly blind.)
(The neon lights continued to flash as Jojo laughed one, long, loud, shrill, victorious, cold laugh. His laughing did not reach the ears of the monkeys who sat quietly in their cases, no longer screeching. A line of five monkeys, consisting of a gibbon, the podgy orangutan, a bonobo, the mountain gorilla, and the baboon, rested still in the liquid in their tanks; all of the Chemical X absorbed into their body systems. The technology that the girls had helped Jojo build kept their newly extended brains in cheek in more ways than one.)
(While Jojo's laughs kept piercing the air, the flashing light from inside the observatory flashed through the large, oval windows lined around its perimeter. From the outside, they flashed continuously as long as the observatory was visible. It stood still atop the park volcano, not moving as it continued to flash green through the windows. Jojo's laughs kept piercing the air only when it reached the outskirts was the view to the observatory blocked by other buildings in the night. Although Jojo's laughs almost seem to be audible even this far, but no one was awake to hear. It thought to be forewarned for big things happening tomorrow.)
(In the girls' bedroom, the laugh seemed to radiate too, although it didn't disturb any of them. Buttercup wore a natural expression while she slept; Blossom slept while having a slight smile on her face; Bubbles slept while having the biggest smile on her face as she had Octi safe in her hands; and Bell slept while having a little frown on her face since she still has Ms. Keane's advice in her mind. She tried to tell her sisters and the Professor tonight about her suspicions, but ended up not telling them. However, she still has those thoughts in her worried mind.)
(None of them moved in their sleep or arose from it in any way too. Peacefully to do so, they did not know about what had just happened across at the observatory to which they had contributed nor that it had been done with the "Help- the-Town-and-Make It-A-Better-Place" machine. They were unaware that their actions had just changed Jojo's world forever in a way they had not expected because he hadn't told them about that little detail. But as they slept on it thinking/hoping that good things would happen for everyone tomorrow.)
(The darkness of the night finally consumed both the light and Jojo's laugh.)
(Big things are sure going to happen tomorrow, and all of them are anxious to see it.)