The PowerPuff Girls...although only in kindergarten, these three girls possess powers and abilities far surpassing that of many other superheroes, even ones that are much older than they are. With this kind of power comes great responsibility, and not only just to use it in a capable manner. There is also the temptation to flaunt that power like a new toy, to prove oneself superior to others. This is just as important to control as the actual use of the power itself, as it may have unexpected consequences to others. The girls will learn this lesson all too well...

* * *

Professor Utonium had just finished up the last parts of his equation on the chalkboard in his laboratory, and he stepped back to admire his handiwork. "I think this is it," he said, thoughtfully. "Now all we have to do is test the theory..."

The PowerPuff Girls were floating behind him, watching. Buttercup sighed, and said, "Finally. You know, I liked it a lot better when you just punched in any old numbers and went with it. This new stuff takes too long."

"Yes, but this is how we learn, Buttercup," the professor replied, picking up the Hyper Conduit Manifestation Device from the table. "If my calculations are correct, these new settings should take us to a dimension where everything is almost exactly the same as it is in our world. The variance between the two should be less than .01 percent."

"What fun will that be?" Buttercup asked. "We can just stay here for that..."

The professor shook his head, "It's the principle of the whole thing. If I'm right about this, then it should be cakewalk to precisely predict what any given dimension will contain, just by its coordinates. That's when the real triumph begins. We'd be able to find dimensions that had cure for any disease, or solved world hunger, or anything..."

Blossom said, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's try it out!" Bubbles nodded anxiously in agreement.

"That's the spirit!" the professor said. He carefully tuned the HCMD to the coordinates he had calculated on the board, and said, "Looks good...all right, here we go!" He punched the button, and the vortex opened up as always.

He waved them through, "After you, girls..." The PowerPuffs flew through the vortex, and the professor gave the chalkboard one final glance, to double-check his work, before following them. It sealed up behind them as always, leaving the laboratory quiet once again.

* * *

They emerged from the vortex right into the Professor's lab. For a moment, they almost thought that they hadn't even left, because almost everything was in the exact same place. "Wow, I think you did it, Professor!" Blossom remarked. "Nothing's changed!"

"Whee." Buttercup replied sarcastically.

"This is definitely a good sign that...wait a minute..." the professor said. He glanced over at the chalkboard where he had been writing his calculations back in their home dimension, and said, "This isn't what I was working on!"

Bubbles scratched her head, looking at the board, "It isn't? It looks the same to me..."

"No, no..." he said. "This looks like the rudimentary equations for making the HCMD work in the first place. Which means I haven't invented it here yet, and that also means..." He pulled the HCMD out and checked some readings, "Diffirential index of .8 percent. Well, I was close...I guess it's back to the drawing board, though..."

They suddenly heard voices from upstairs. They spoke softly, "Professor...I think I hear something down in your lab!"

"What? Girls, stay where you are, I'll check it out..."

"Be careful!"

The sound of footsteps came over to the door, and it opened. Professor Utonium was at the door, and upon seeing the professor and the girls in his lab, his eyes flew open in shock, and he said, "What in the name of Newton..."

"Easy, Professor," the professor said, calmly. "I can explain in four letters: H-C-M-D."

After a few moments, alt-Professor smiled and said, "So, I actually got it to work, did I? That's great!" Blossom smiled to herself; it never ceased to amaze her how these alternate-dimension Professor Utoniums caught on so quickly. He continued, "You don't suppose you could tell me how y---...I mean, how I did it, do you?"

"We'll have time for that later," the professor said. "May we come upstairs?"

"Of course! My home is your home," alt-Professor said. "Literally." Both of the professors laughed over the joke. The girls just rolled their eyes; they'd heard him tell that joke in several other alternate dimensions already. The worlds might have been different, but his sense of humor sure seemed to remain the same.

Alt-Professor glanced down, "Are you sure it was a good idea to bring the girls with you? Cross-dimensional travel can be mighty dangerous, I'd imagine..."

"Why dangerous?" the professor asked, starting to climb the stairs. "It's not like they can't take care of themselves, you know."

"What are you talking about?" alt-Professor scolded, "I would never take anyone that young on such a hazardous trip..." He broke off, as the girls flew up behind the professor, following him up the steps. He stared at them in shock.

Uh oh, the professor said. What did we do now? The professor thought about this for a moment, but then a voice came from behind the Professor, out from the kitchen. It sounded like Blossom. "Is...is everything okay, Professor?"

"Everything's fine, pumpkin," alt-Professor responded, still not taking his eyes off the hovering PowerPuffs. He slowly rose a hand to point at them, and said, "They...they can fly?"

"Of course we can," Blossom answered. "Why wouldn't w--...oh..." She trailed off, as she suddenly realized the same thing that the professor was probably thinking.

He probably was because a moment later, he said to alt-professor, "Utonium, let me ask you a simple question...are Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup superheroes in your world?" Alt-Professor wordlessly shook his head. "Well, uhh...you see...they kind of are in our world..."

A voice came from behind alt-professor once again...this time, it was Bubbles, who walked over to the doorway, carrying Octi in one of her arms. "What's going on, Professor?" she asked. Then she gasped, as she saw everyone. She stared in shock, Octi falling out of her hands, "W...w....wha...."

"Now, Bubbles," alt-Professor said, "go back to the kitchen with your sisters. I'll explain everything." She nodded, and backed slowly out from the doorway. He looked over at the visitors and said, "Well, come on, we'd better not keep them waiting...I think I need an explanation as much as they do..."

* * *

They sat around the kitchen table, all eight of them. The professor had quickly explained to the alternate-dimension girls what was going on. "...and so," the professor finished, "we decided to take another dimensional trip, and this is where we ended up."

"Wow," alt-Buttercup said, breathlessly. "That's amazing..."

"Um, Professor? I mean, the other Professor?" Bubbles said. "I saw them floating in the air...how can they do that?"

The professor answered, "Well, you see, girls...in our world, you three are super-powered crime fighters. Isn't that right?" He looked over at Blossom.

Blossom nodded, "That's right! We're the PowerPuff Girls, and we have all kinds of different powers. We can fly, for example..."

"No way!" alt-Blossom said, amazed. "Can we see?"

Blossom glanced at the professor, who nodded, giving his okay. All three of the girls flew up and out of their seats, and hovered above the table. The faces of the three alt-girls immediately lit up, their eyes glued on them in absolute astonishment.

Bubbles giggled, and said, "And we don't just fly...we're also super strong!" Bubbles flew down underneath the table, and lifted it up into the air, with no difficulty at all.

The alt-girls screamed with joy, and clapped their hands. Alt-Bubbles said, "That's so cool! I can't believe it!"

"Yeah," Buttercup said, "and we have eyebeams and stuff, too, watch..."

She powered up her eyebeams, ready to fire them, but the professor said, "I don't think it's such a good idea to go shooting them inside the house like this. You can show them later."

"All right," she said, and she landed back in her seat.

Alt-Buttercup was still impressed, and asked, "How did you get your powers, anyway?"

"I can answer that," the professor replied. "It can when I was mixing up the recipe for the perfect little girls..."

"Ah yes," alt-Professor said, thoughtfully. "Sugar, spice, and everything nice. Mix well, and let sit for twenty-four hours..."

"Well, it didn't exactly turn out like that," the professor admitted. "You see, while I was mixing it, I had, er, sort of an mishap ...the handle of my mixing spoon accidentally smashed into a beaker sitting nearby, containing Chemical X, and it poured into the mix..."

Alt-Professor rubbed his chin, and said, "That's what did it, eh? Well, at least now I know what Chemical X does. It's been sitting on the shelf down in my lab for ages."

"Ahh, so it was never added to your mix, then?" The professor rubbed his own chin, similarly to alt-Professor, and said, "That would certainly explain the lack of powers in your girls."

Blossom was confused at something, though. "Hey wait...if we don't protect Townsville, then who is? I mean, Townsville is invaded, or attacked, or something, almost every day..."

"That's right," Buttercup said, "so how come the city isn't a pile of ash by now? Even one attack from a giant monster probably would have destroyed it."

All three of the alt-girls ducked down behind the edge of the table at the mention of giant monsters. "What are you talking about?" alt-Professor said. "This city couldn't be quieter. We don't get any 'giant monsters' around here..."

"No?" Bubbles asked. "What about the bad guys? Doesn't Mojo Jojo live here?"

Alt-Blossom scratched her head, "Mojo...Jojo? You mean, Jojo?" At the sound of that name, there was a sound in the other room, and suddenly, a small ape came into the room, happily approaching the table to answer whoever called him.

"Jojo?" the professor exclaimed. "It is Jojo! Now I think I understand what happened..." Jojo climbed up onto the table, and all six of the girls watched him, particularly the PowerPuffs. "You see, in our world, Jojo here is actually one of the girls' greatest arch-enemies, Mojo Jojo."

Alt-Buttercup said, "Really? But he's just a sweet little monkey..."

"Well," the professor added, "he's also an evil genius mastermind in our world. But then again, he received his heightened intelligence from the same accident that gave my girls their powers...so I guess it makes sense that he would remain as just Jojo in this dimension."

Alt-Bubbles laughed, and tickled Jojo under the chin, "Hear that, Jojo? You're a mean old bad guy! That's just too funny!" Jojo clapped his hands in appreciation.

Blossom looked up, "But there are still a lot of others, too...Princess, for example..."

Alt-Blossom said, "Oh, Princess Morebucks? She's in our class at school...she's kind of a royal pain in the neck, if you know what I mean..."

"Oh, I do," Blossom nodded. "Of course, it was her wanting to be a PowerPuff girl that really made her become truly evil in the first place. You know, I'm guessing we won't find Him hanging around here, either. He probably doesn't have any interest in the city, since we're not here...and no Amoeba Boys, since they just wanted to impress us by becoming criminals..." Her face fell, a little, "Wow, I guess I didn't realize how many of these villains we really created."

"That still doesn't explain the monsters!" Buttercup pointed out.

"Yes it does, Buttercup," Blossom answered. "Remember? They all came from that one place, Monster Island, just to do battle with us. Let's face it: maybe we aren't superheroes here, but they don't need superheroes anyway."

Alt-Blossom leaned forward across the table, "Hey, can you tell us all about all those villains and monsters you were talking about? I wanna hear how we saved the day!"

"Sure!" Bubbles replied. They began to tell the stories of their various battles and conflicts. The alt-girls thoroughly enjoyed listening to them, about all the great adventures their alter-egos had gone on. They could still hardly believe it, even after all that they had heard. It took hours for them to tell it all...

* * *

Night was beginning to fall across Townsville. Alt-Professor was down in his lab, with the professor, completing some of the projects he was working on. In the meantime, all the girls were still gathered around, talking to each other and catching up on each other's lives. Occasionally, the PowerPuffs had another story to tell, and the alt-girls were always eager to listen to it.

"This...Him...sounds like a scary guy," alt-Buttercup said. "Didja ever feel like running away from him?"

"Heck, no!" Buttercup replied. "I'm not afraid of Him! Why, if he were here right now, I'd flatten him with one punch!" She shadowboxed in the air, "Bam! Pow! End of story."

Alt-Bubbles gazed out of the window, and said, "I wish I could've seen you saving the day...I can just imagine it..." She turned away from the window, and said, "A huge creature rises up out of the woods, stomping towards the town..." Outside the window behind her, as she spoke, a huge monster slowly rose over the treetops, and it looked like it was heading in their direction.

Alt-Blossom and alt-Buttercup pointed at the window, and stammered, "B--B--Bubbles..." Alt-Bubbles turned around, and when she saw the monster stomping towards the house, she screamed, backing away from the window in fear. The monster let loose a loud roar that seemed to shake the house, even from as far away as it was.

The PowerPuffs, in the meantime, leapt into the air, hovering, and Blossom shouted, "C'mon, girls! Let's roll!" They shot out of the house in a flash of light, flying out to battle the monster, while the alt-girls ran up to the window, pressing their faces on the glass and looking out at them.

They circled in the air high above the monster, and all three opened fire with their eyebeams. The monster was pushed back a few steps, and it swatted at them with a large, clawed hand. The girls nimbly dodged it, dashed in for its head, opening up with a flurry of punches, which knocked the monster around and caused it to totter, almost losing its balance.

Blossom took a deep breath and blew a cloud of cold air at the monster, encasing it in ice. All three girls flew down towards its feet, and shot back up, as one, to uppercut it in the chin. The monster was knocked into the air, and disappeared over the horizon, miles away.

The alt-girls, watching all this, were overjoyed. They started cheering, as the PowerPuffs returned to the house. Alt-Blossom said, "That was so cool! It was...and you...wow!"

Alt-Buttercup agreed, "Yeah! And then you....Bam! Pow! Just like you said!"

"It was awesome!" added alt-Bubbles. "Oh, I wish I could do that!"

"Me too!" said alt-Blossom.

Alt-Buttercup nodded, "Yeah! Maybe we can get the professor to give us powers, too!"

"Hmm," Blossom said, thinking about it for a moment. "Maybe he can...I mean, if we have powers, maybe the professor can do something with Chemical X to give them to you, too..."

"PROFESSOR!" alt-Bubbles shouted at the top of her lungs.

Both of the professors emerged from the lab when they heard the shout, and alt-Professor said, "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Professor!" she said, running over to him. "Can you give us powers like the PowerPuff Girls?"

Alt-Professor was taken aback, "What? I..I don't know...Professor, do you know if it's possible?"

"I'm afraid I don't," the professor responded. "I'm not even entirely certain how the whole interaction with the Chemical X works, anyway. It's such a delicate matter..."

"I agree," alt-Professor said. "According to my own tests, Chemical X's radioactivity is outside of the safe range for normal humans, and it can be highly toxic. I realize that the girls aren't exactly 'normal humans', but still, it's too risky."

"But, Professor..." alt-Buttercup began.

"No buts," alt-professor said sternly. "Listen, we'll work on the problem in the morning if that makes you feel better. As for right now, it's late. Off to bed with you three." The alt-girls lowered their heads sadly, and walked upstairs.

"Well, I suppose we should be heading back home as well," the professor sighed. He took out the HCMD and tuned it back to their home dimension.

"Nonsense, you can stay the night if you'd like," alt-Professor said. "That way, we can get back to work early. I'd better have a talk with the girls tomorrow, too. I think all this superhero business might be going to their heads..."

* * *

Much later, in the middle of the night, all was quiet across the house. The PowerPuffs were asleep on the couch in the living room, and the professor was nearby, sleeping in an easy chair. As they slept, three shapes cautiously made their way down the stairs, and crossed the room quietly, going into the kitchen. They carefully pushed open the door to the lab, and walked down the steps, closing the door behind them. One of them reached out and turned on one of the small lamps so that they could see.

Alt-Blossom stepped into the light, followed closely by alt-Bubbles and alt-Buttercup. She said, "It's got to be around here somewhere, where does he keep it?"

"Shhh!" alt-Buttercup whispered, "Do you want to get us into trouble? Now be quiet, and let's look..."

They walked from table to table. Though they weren't tall enough to see the entire table, they could still make out the beakers and test tubes sitting on them. Alt-Blossom said, "How are we even gonna know it when we see it?"

"A big 'X'," replied alt-Buttercup, "just look for something that has a big 'X' on it."

Alt-Bubbles looked uneasy, "I dunno about this...if the professor finds us here..."

"Don't worry so much! He has no idea," alt-Buttercup said. "Besides, you wanna be a superhero, don't you?" alt-Bubbles nodded, "Well, then, keep looking!"

They kept looking, until they finally spotted it, a large beaker sitting up on one of the tables. It was labeled simply with an 'X', and filled with a dark black liquid. Sitting next to it were several test tubes, filled with the same liquid, and also marked with 'X's. "That's it...Chemical X!" exclaimed alt-Buttercup.

"Hmm," alt-Blossom said, thinking about it, "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Of course! It worked for the other girls, didn't it?" alt-Buttercup said.

"Well, yeah, but..." alt-Blossom shook her head, "I don't think we should be doing this. The professor said that it could be dangerous..."

"Aw, come on!" alt-Buttercup chided, "What are you afraid of?"

"I just think we should listen to the professor, that's all."

"But we're talking superpowers here!" Alt-Buttercup waved her arms in the air, "We'll be able to fly! Fire beams from our eyes! We'll be strong!"

Alt-Blossom nodded, "I know, but..."

"That's okay...if you're too chicken, I'll be the first one to try it."

"Hey, I didn't say I was..."

"...chicken?" alt-Buttercup interrupted. "Sure you are."

"Am not."

"Are to."

"Am not!"

"Are to!"

They were interrupted by a *ding* of glass against metal. They looked over...alt-Bubbles had climbed up on a box next to the table, and had pulled one of the test tubes from the rang. She had that test tube up to her lips, and was drinking from it.

"Bubbles!" Alt-Blossom said, in surprise.

Alt-Bubbles finished drinking the Chemical X, and coughed a few times, "Yuck! It tastes awful..." Still clutching the test tube, she climbed down from the table. The other two girls helped her down.

"So, do you feel anything yet?" alt-Buttercup asked.

"Not really...I just..." Alt-Bubbles tried to catch her breath. "I'm feeling...a little dizzy..."

"Are you okay?" alt-Blossom asked, concerned.

Alt-Bubbles' eyes half-closed, and she swayed unsteadily for a moment. The test tube fell out of her hand, and broke against the floor. She held her head, and said, "I...I d--....don't fe--....su..."

Her eyes rolled back, and she suddenly toppled over. Dark circles seemed to form around the edges of her eyes, and a little bit of drool came from her mouth. The girls gasped, and shouted, "B--Bubbles? Bubbles?"

In a weak voice, almost a whisper, alt-Bubbles muttered incoherently, "...t...gh...s..."

"PROFESSOR!" alt-Blossom yelled as loud as she could, horrified.

In almost no time, alt-Professor appeared at the door. He looked into the basement, "Girls? What are you doing in my lab..." He trailed off, as he saw alt-Bubbles lying on the floor. He spotted the broken Chemical X test tube next to her, and realized what had happened. "Oh no..."

The girls ran over to him, crying...they both began talking at once, "Professor! We just...we came down here and...and then she drank..."

The professor made his way past them, and ran over to alt-Bubbles scooping her up, "Bubbles? Can you hear me?" he said desperately. She didn't give any reaction. He quickly started checking her vitals.

The professor and the PowerPuffs appeared at the door, peering in. When he saw alt-Professor holding alt-Bubbles, and the other girls crying, the professor asked, "What's going on? What happened?"

"Bubbles drank one of the vials of Chemical X..." alt-professor replied, quickly. He finished checking her vitals, and said, "She's not breathing! And...and her pulse is getting weaker! We've got to do something! Professor, is there any way to counteract the effects of Chemical X?"

"Yes," the professor said, "Antidote X, if we had any, but it takes time to make..."

At that moment, alt-Bubbles' pulse disappeared entirely. "She's going into cardiac arrest! We need to get her to the hospital, quickly!"

The professor nodded, turning to the PowerPuffs, "Girls, fly her down there right aw--"

They broke off, as suddenly, they noticed something strange. Alt-Bubbles' skin was glowing very faintly. The glow got steadily brighter and brighter. "Wha...what on Earth...?" alt-Professor said, dumbfounded.

She continued to glow brighter, until the room was filled with a brilliant, blinding white light. Everyone shut their eyes against it. After a few moments, it slowly faded back out again. Everyone blinked a few times to get their vision back...but were unprepared for what they saw.

Alt-Bubbles was missing, no longer in alt-Professor's hands, who was still sitting on the ground. Instead, he opened his hands slowly, revealing what he was holding: a handful of sugar, spice, and everything nice. A tear rolled down the side of his face, and he whispered quietly, "No...Bubbles, no..." Everyone fell silent, except for the other alt-girls, whose cries now echoed through the stillness of the lab....

* * *

There was a cold breeze the following morning. The professor and the PowerPuffs were gathered out in front of the house. Alt-Professor was with them, but the two alt-girls were inside, still crying almost non-stop from the night. Blossom's head was hung as she said, "I'm sorry...this was all our fault..."

"Yeah," Buttercup added, sadly, "If we hadn't shown up, this never would have happened..."

"You couldn't have known," alt-Professor replied. "I didn't even know the girls would take it like this. They were just so taken by the idea of becoming superheroes...but I blame myself, too. I'm going to keep the lab locked from now on. Leaving it unlocked was a disaster waiting to happen."

"It's too late for your Bubbles, though," Bubbles said, still quite broken up about it herself. "I wish...I wish I could stay here with you...to make it up to you..."

"That's all right, Bubbles," alt-Professor said. "Your place is back in your world. If you're going to do anything, I hope you learn from this, that great responsibility comes with your powers, not only to use them in the service of good, but the repercussions it has on others."

Blossom promised, "We will." Alt-professor nodded, and walked back into the house, waving one last time. Blossom tried to force a smile as she waved back, but her heart really wasn't in it.

The professor readied the HCMD, and prepared to open up the vortex back to their world. He said, "We'd better return, now..."

"Professor," Blossom said, "I feel awful about this whole thing...after we get back, I never want to go on one of these trips again..."

"Are you sure?" he said, concerned.

Blossom nodded, and Buttercup spoke up, "Me either...I don't wanna risk the same thing happening...I couldn't go through watching it again..."

"Me either..." Bubbles agreed.

"If that's how you really feel, it's your decision," the professor said. "I'll let you three think it over some more when we get back..." He hit the button on the HCMD, opening the vortex. As the four of them prepared to step through, all of them gave a final glance back at the house, then disappeared through. It sealed up behind them, leaving the stillness of the morning's cold air once again...