Bubbles soared high over Townsville, keeping an eye out for trouble during her after-school patrol of the city. Not that there was anything going on…it seemed like crime was at a virtual standstill for the past week. The few that were committed were minor, and something that the cops ended up handling easily. Still, Bubbles took this patrol seriously, as she knew it was only a matter of time before things went back to the way they once were.
She spotted something below that suddenly confirmed this. There was a gathering of cops around one side of the police station, examining the wall, which had a hole cut into the side of it. She quickly descended and landed to get a closer look.
One of the officers noticed her arrival, and said, “Ah, Bubbles…thank goodness you’re here. We had a break-in last night…”
Bubbles went up to the edge of the hole and peered inside, asking, “Who did it?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” the officer replied. “They came in through this wall and broke into the evidence storage area. We’re not sure who did it, but we have our suspicions.”
Bubbles examined the edge of the hole carefully. It appeared to have been cut with a laser, and a accurate one at that. She was a little surprised at herself…her investigation skills seemed to have gotten a lot stronger, now that she was handling everything herself. Who would have a laser like that? She thought. Well, I know someone, but they’re in prison…unless…
As Bubbles turned back towards the officer, he had already started to answer the question she was going to ask. “Last night,” he said, “there was also a prison break, so we figured the two events would probably be connected…”
Bubbles swallowed and guessed, “It was Mojo Jojo, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right,” the officer told her. “Plus, we believe it was something of Mojo’s that was stolen from storage. It came from his pile of confiscated items anyway.”
Bubbles looked back at the hole again and thought, What are you up to, Mojo? she thought…You break out of prison, then into police evidence to get something…but what? Another thought suddenly occurred to her…I’ll bet he stole the Chemical X from the professor this morning! It had to be! What are you planning, Mojo? What could you be trying to…
She took a small intake of breath. Before the other officers could stop her, she flew into the station, and into the evidence lockers, looking quickly over everything. She found the empty spot where whatever it was had been taken. She looked quickly over everything else of Mojo’s that was in the spot, and thought to herself, It’s gotta still be here…he didn’t take what I thought he took…
A quick search turned up nothing, though. The officer that was talking to her before came into the storage area behind her and said, “Bubbles? What is it?”
Bubbles said, “Did anyone move any of Mojo’s stuff from here? Anything at all?”
“No, why?” the officer answered.
Bubbles paled a little…she thought, You didn’t…Mojo, you idiot! You didn’t!! She said, “I’ve gotta go!” and flew past the officer and back outside as quickly as she could. The officer watched her go, confused.
Bubbles took off from the police station, gritting her teeth. Mojo doesn’t have any idea what he’s doing! If he’s did what I think he did…no wait, maybe he hasn’t yet! I can still stop him if I hurry! She hurried in the direction of Townsville Park, wasting no time…
* * *
Mojo’s hideout looked the same as it had since the week before…the huge gap was still blasted into the side, and she could still see everything in disarray through the hole as she approached. He would’ve fixed it up by now, Bubbles thought. I wonder why he hasn’t…I hope he’s not hiding out someplace else! I won’t be able to stop him if I can’t find him…
She landed at the edge of the gap and gazed around his hideout. It wasn’t hard to see that her suspicions were correct, because where everything had been completely in shambles before, there was now a collection of chemicals and equipment on one of the tables. She flew directly over to take a closer look.
Sitting beside a large bowl on the table was a flask of Chemical X. I was right, she thought. The presence of the bowl chilled her as well, as she knew its purpose. But even worse…on the other side of the table was the box from the police station, still labeled, but opened. Its contents were empty, save for three small, empty plastic bags.
She hovered back very slowly, gritting her teeth again, and said aloud, “How could you? Mojo, if I get my hands on you, I’ll…” She stopped, as she suddenly saw something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head to look, she saw what it was, and gave off a shriek, covering her mouth in alarm.
It was Mojo, up against the wall. At least, she thought it was…she almost couldn’t recognize him in the state he was in. Her breathing quickened, and she stumbled back away from the sight, stopping against the edge of the table and leaning against it, trying to catch her breath. Oh my god, she thought…He did it…he brought them back to life…he brought back the Rowdyruff Boys…no…
“Hello, Bubbles,” a voice came from behind her. She gasped and froze…she knew who it had to be, but she desperately hoped it wasn’t. Turning very slowly, she saw that she was right. She had never learned their names, since they had never said them during their fight before, but she could never forget what they looked like. The one that was wearing blue was hovering there, and the other two slowly hovered up next to his side, coming from the back room.
All she could do was stammer, “Y…you…”
“Surprised to see us?” the one in red said. “You killed us, after all. You and your sisters.” Bubbles’ head swam as he spoke. Their voices were so cold, but even worse, she saw their all-too-familiar expressions on their faces…a heartless gaze she had seen before, a gaze that she wished she could forget, but it was burned too deeply into her memory.
Worse still, she knew she wouldn’t be able to get away…not from three of them. She fell speechless, and it was the one in green that spoke up. “How do we kill her, Brick? She won’t be as easy as Mojo was…”
The red one, undoubtedly ‘Brick’, answered, “It’ll be easy with the three of us, Butch. It’ll just take a while longer, that’s all.” He glanced at the blue one and said, “Boomer, you seem quiet, what are you thinking of?”
“She’s like us, isn’t she?” Boomer said still not taking her eyes off Bubbles. “Let’s still kill her, but perhaps we can bring her back to life as well…then she’ll see what we did…”
Bubbles finally found her voice…it was shaky, but she still managed to say, “I already have. I’m never going to be like you…” This whole situation had rattled her too much, and she suddenly cursed quietly to herself at her error…Why did I tell them that? I might have been able to trick them like I did with Blossom and Buttercup…agh, stupid, stupid!
She started to back up, but in a flash, all three of them surrounded her. There was no escpape now. Butch said, “Sorry, Bubbles, this has to be done. I know we were evil before, but this is for the good of life…it has to die, or else the misery it spreads will continue…”
“Yes, all life must die,” Boomer added.
“Therefore, you must die,” Brick said.
They started to close in, and Bubbles knew that if she was going to make it out of this, she had to do it now. With a scream, she threw herself the only direction that wasn’t blocked off: down. Crashing through the floor, she broke her way underneath the observatory in an instant, leaving them behind above her.
She instantly was assailed by a strong wave of heat. In her haste, she had almost forgotten that the observatory sat atop a volcano. Thankfully, she remembered and managed to stop her descent just before plunging into the lava below her. She was hot down here, but at least she was away from the Rowdyruffs now. It wouldn’t last long, though…they would undoubtedly follow in the next instant, so she had to act fast.
Without wasting any further time, she flew to the volcano wall and punched it, hard. Part of it collapsed, opening up an escape route for her, and she flew out from the side quickly. Behind her, she heard three whooshing sounds and knew that the boys had flown down after her, but she didn’t turn around. Instead, she kept flying away, as far and as fast as possible, getting as much distance as she could between them before they discovered where she had gone to.
As soon as she was safely away, she ducked into an alley in the city and rested against the wall, catching her breath again. Please, god, no…don’t let them start trying to kill people, like Blossom and Buttercup did before…I could barely stop those two, how am I going to stop three?! She held the sides of her head…This can’t be happening…not again…please, not again…
A tiny voice deep inside her seemed to say, Of course it’s happening again…you can’t stop it, either. Life is doomed, just as you know it should be. Why fight it? You should be helping them…it’s the right thing to do…
No! she thought furiously. Why would I think that? Life is good! No one has the right to decide everyone’s fate like that! I have to find a way to stop them…I can’t rest until I do, or everyone will die…
She looked out from the alley momentarily just to be sure that the coast was clear. Staying low to the ground to avoid being seen, she carefully weaved her way through the city, heading back in the direction of home. She knew that if anyone could help her stop the Rowdyruff Boys, the Professor could…
* * *
The Rowdyruff Boys flew over the city, looking back and forth for Bubbles, but not spotting her. “She got away,” Butch said. “We should have killed her when we had the chance…”
“Don’t worry,” Brick said, coming to a stop. “She’ll be back…and what can she do against the three of us? She’s only one Powerpuff.”
Butch said, “Perhaps, but we should still be careful.” He looked at the slowly setting sun in the distance, “Besides, we have more important things to worry about right now. We have much to do, and it’ll be dark soon.”
“Yes, our task,” Brick agreed. His gaze dropped down towards the city below again, and he spotted something, pointing, “We start there.”
With a nod, Boomer said, “Perfect…” and the three of them flew down together, towards their target below.
* * *
Bubbles burst in through the front door of her house, slamming the door quickly behind her and bracing her back against it, panting. She hoped she had made it back fast enough for the Rowdyruffs not to spot her. The professor peeked out from the kitchen and said, “Oh, hello, Bubbles…” then hesitated as he saw her expression, “What’s the matter?”
Bubbles, still shaking a little, said, “P-professor…it…it happened again…”
“What happened, sweetie?” he said as he walked over to her, concerned.
“I-I know who took the Chemical X,” she explained. “It was Mojo…he escaped from prison, a-and he…he used it to bring…back…”
The professor caught on before she finished her statement. “Oh no…the Rowdyruff Boys?” Bubbles nodded, and the professor scratched his chin, “Well, maybe the same thing won’t happen to them…maybe they’ll turn out normal, somehow, since they’re different…”
Bubbles shook her head, “No…no, I already saw them…they’re the same, exactly the same…”
The professor was shocked, “Then we have to convince Mojo to stop th—…”
“We can’t,” Bubbles interrupted, tears stating to build in her eyes, “It’s too late…th-they already…Mojo’s gone…” She still couldn’t believe it, when she thought about it. He almost deserved it, Bubbles thought, but not like that…nobody deserves an end like that…
After a moment’s hesitation, the professor quickly turned and started towards the door to his lab. Bubbles followed close behind him as he spoke, “We haven’t much time. You can stop them, all three of them, if you hurry…”
“How?” Bubbles asked.
He headed down the steps of his lab and started going through his chemicals, “They probably don’t know that we’ve got ways to fight them. I’m going to give you some Antidote X to use against them.”
“I get it,” Bubbles said. “They don’t even know Antidote X exists…”
“That’s right,” he replied, starting to fill a small vial with Antidote X from a larger beaker. “Oh, also, you’ll probably need what’s in that locker on the wall over there,” he added, nodding his head in its direction.
Curiously, Bubbles flew over to the locker and opened it. She held her breath as she saw what was inside: three Duranium swords, the same ones that Blossom had crafted before…the same ones that had caused so much death…the same ones that had even caused her own death…
She picked one up and examined the blade. The blood on it had been washed off a long time ago, but she imagined she could still see it there, the blood of dozens of innocent people. In a way, she felt like that blood was still on her own hands, that she had never been able to wash them clean, for not having protected the people. She still wish she could have done more, saved more people…
You couldn’t save them, she told herself. You shouldn’t think things like that. There was nothing you could have done. It was going to happen anyway…they were going to die, and there was no reason to stop it…they had to die…
She pushed these thoughts out of her head. No, focus! You could have saved them…you’re in control! Just don’t make that mistake again. Stop the Rowdyruff Boys before they can kill anyone else. Do it for life. Life is good; always remember that…life is good…
She put the sword onto her back and flew over next to the professor. He held out the vial containing the Antidote X…she took it and tucked it away, then kissed the professor on the side of his cheek, “I’ll be back…”
“Hurry, sweetie,” he said as he watched her fly out of the lab, “and be careful.” As soon as she was away, he walked over to another locker and opened it, removing another weapon that he had saved, the one he had built. He armed it and started loading the tiny robotic Duranium spikes into it. He had been hesitant to use it before, but now, he had no hesitation about it. None of the Rowdyruffs must be allowed to survive; he knew that it was the only way to stop them for good…
* * *
Bubbles flew up from the house and back towards Townsville once again. She set her expression and thought, They probably aren’t at Mojo’s anymore. I just hope to god they haven’t decided to attack anyone yet…I hope I’m not too late…
At that moment, she thought she caught something off in the distance. The skies were already starting to become darker as the sun began to set, but something bright was coming from further in the town. Not a glow, but several flashes of red light. She didn’t know what it was, but she felt cold nonetheless…whatever it was, the boys were probably responsible for it…
She got closer, and her heart sank as she saw where it was coming from: a football stadium near the outskirts of town. Oh no, she thought, biting her lip as she realized what it probably was. Her suspicions were only confirmed as she got closer. She could tell by the number of cars parked outside that the stadium was packed with people, and the flashes of red were coming from right above it. Are those e-eyebeams? No, no no…not that many people, please!!
She reached the stadium, and suddenly breathed out a sigh of relief. There was a football game tonight, but the flashes of red light she saw wasn’t the boys with their eyebeams…they were part of some kind of laser light halftime show. She stopped by the outskirts of the stadium and just watched for a few moments, thankful that everyone was all right.
That was close, she thought. I’d better get back to looking for the boys, befo--…
The stadium suddenly shook with a tremendous rumbling sound, jolting Bubbles back to her senses. She watched in shock as the entire stadium suddenly ripped clear up from the ground, and that’s when she saw them, each at a different edge of the stadium, lifting the entire thing together in a colossal display of strength. So shocked was she, that she didn’t even move…she just hovered there and gaped…
With a heave, all three of the boys threw the stadium, people and all, to one side. The entire stadium half-turned over in midair, and Bubbles finally reacted, flying as fast as she could to where they were throwing it. She overtook it easily, but how could she stop something that big? She tried anyway, in desperation, catching one wall of the stadium and trying to stop it.
It did no good…she couldn’t stop its fall. It had completely overturned, and the people fell out into the air, but only for an instant before it smashed into the ground, face-down. A huge cloud of dust kicked up as the stadium was smashed into nothing more than a huge pile of rubble on the ground. The boys waited and watched as the dust slowly settled, just to be sure that no one made it out, even though it was pretty evident that no one could have.
All remained quiet for another minute, and then some of the rubble shifted. Bubbles burst out from underneath, flying up into the air. Her teeth were clenched in rage, and she shouted, “Rowdyruff Boys!!”
The boys noticed her approach, and Brick said, “There you are, Bubbles. We’ve been looking for you.”
“I should have figured something like this would draw you to us,” Butch said, folding his arms.
“Yes,” Boomer agreed, “so now, it’s time for you to die as well…”
Bubbles shouted, “No…no one else is dying here…except for you three!” With that, Bubbles pulled the sword from her back and held it out in front of her. At least I already know the Rowdyruff Boys are evil, she thought. Maybe it was hard to bring myself to kill Blossom or Buttercup, but I’m not having any second thoughts this time!
Boomer seemed unimpressed, “And just who are you going to hurt with that?” he asked, almost like a taunt.
In the next instant, he had his answer, however. Bubbles flew up to him in a blink of an eye and swung the sword towards his head. Boomer leaned back in surprised, and the sword grazed his neck instead. Still, it was deep enough to do the job. Boomer stumbled back in the air, clutching his throat, as blood poured out over his hands and down his shirt. The other Rowdyruffs looked at him in shock as he gasped, trying to breathe. He fell from the sky a second later, landing atop one of the cars in the parking lot below.
Bubbles took advantage of their distraction to take a swing at one of the others. Brick saw it coming, though, and dodged quickly, cringing at the near miss. He quickly decided to gain some distance, as did Butch, and both of them flew down to the parking lot below, landing on the ground. At least I got one of them, Bubbles thought. Now the other two…
Butch cast a glace to the roof of the car next to where he was standing, where Boomer was lying, clutching his throat and kicking his legs. However, Butch didn’t have time to do anything to help him, because Bubbles landed in front of him at took another swing. Diving under the blade, Butch rolled underneath the car to get away. Brick backpedaled a few steps to gain some more distance.
Bubbles started towards him, gripping her sword tightly and not taking her eyes off of him. Brick glanced from side to side, trying to find someplace to escape to, but there was nowhere he could run to before Bubbles could reach him. Still, his face didn’t show any kind of fear, just anger. He growled, “You don’t know what you’re doing. Why are you trying to protect life? Don’t you see that it has to end?”
She hesitated, then shook her head, saying, “All I see is that you’re nothing but evil…I can’t let you hurt anyone else…” She started to raise the sword up, but that’s when Butch suddenly appeared, darting out from around one of the cars behind her. He grabbed Bubbles from behind, holding tightly onto her sword arm to keep her from swinging back.
Yelping in alarm, Bubbles tried to struggle free, but she was held for the moment, and a moment was all that Brick needed. With a quick blast from his eyebeams, Bubbles’ sword was knocked from her hands, and it clattered to the ground nearby. Butch, still unsmiling and still holding her from behind, said, “Now you’re disarmed…do you still think you can stop us?”
“Y…yes!” Bubbles grunted, quickly slamming her foot down on top of Butch’s. He staggered back from the hit, and Bubbles spun around, pulling her vial of Antidote X and whisking its contents at him in one fluid motion. As it hit him, Butch cringed and looked at his arms in disbelief as he felt his power slipping away. Brick also froze momentarily, then backed up further.
Butch turned to try and flee, but Bubbles darted in front of him before he could, grabbing him by the shirt and lifting him up. Now, in his current weakened state, it would be child’s play for her to finish him off. Just a good punch, she thought, or a quick twist of his neck…that’s all.
“No, please!” Butch cried out. “Don’t kill me…”
“What?!” Bubbles shouted, her anger building. “You kill all those people…and then you expect me to show you any kind of mercy? Don’t you have any idea what you’ve done?!” She nearly shrieked the last words, and she brought her other fist back, shaking with rage.
“It…it wasn’t…my fault…” Butch pleaded, tears starting to build in his eyes. “Please…please don’t kill me…I’m begging you…”
It’s a trick, Bubbles’ first thought was. He’ll just wait until your back is turned, and then… She stared into his eyes, however, and he saw something there he hadn’t seen before. Fear…if there was one thing she noticed, it was that while they might have feared pain, they didn’t fear Death anymore…but he was genuinely afraid.
The change was so drastic, she almost still thought it was a trick, but something told her otherwise. Remembering his name, she said, “Butch?” He looked at her, still with a pleading look in his tear-filled eyes. Oh my god, she thought…he’s…he’s okay…I don’t know how, but he’s okay…
She didn’t have much time to consider this, however, as she suddenly realized that Brick had flown off. She looked around, trying to find him, and spotted him dashing between a row of cars…heading for her sword. In shock, she dropped Butch and started to fly that way, but it was too late; he reached the sword before she did. Scooping it up, he gripped it tightly and prepared for his attack.
A glow coming from the top of one of the cars nearby drew their attention…it was Boomer. He had finally fallen still, and his body gave off a bright light…and as the glow faded, his components were all that was left: snips, snails and a puppy dog tail. Brick looked quickly between Bubbles and the spot where Boomer was, and finally decided, heading for the car instead.
Bubbles watched as he scooped up Boomer’s components and then started to fly again. He stopped momentarily, looking down at Butch, who was still lying on the ground, but continued on into the sky, flying back off towards the city. Bubbles watched him leave, then looked over at Butch as well. He was still there, still looking back at Bubbles fearfully.
“It’s all right,” she said in a soft, reassuring voice, “I won’t hurt you…” Butch’s expression brightened as he realized that he was going to live after all. A relieved smile crossed his face, and Bubbles gasped. It wasn’t just fear that she had never seen in her sisters before, but they wouldn’t have smiled either…her intuition was right; somehow, he was all right…
She flew over to him and carefully lifted him up, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” she told him, and started flying back for home, holding him in her arms. I don’t know what happened, she thought, but maybe the professor can figure it out. If Butch really is all right, then maybe, just maybe, he’ll help me try to stop the other two…this could be the lucky break I was hoping for…
* * *
Brick flew back into Mojo’s hideout and dumped Boomer’s components back into the bowl that was sitting on the table. He set down the Duranium sword and quickly started to leaf through Mojo’s papers, saying to himself aloud, “The procedure…the procedure…it’s got to be around here somewhere…”
Not finding it amongst the papers on the table, he pulled a drawer from a file cabinet nearby and started thumbing through the papers. It mostly contained schematics for robots, or blueprints for weapons…not what he was looking for. Finally, he reached some formulas, and nodded in satisfaction as he found it: the procedure for making the Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys. He checked it, and saw that all he needed to do was mix the components together and add Chemical X…easy enough.
As he started to close the drawer, something caught his eye…one of the files were sticking out a little from when he was thumbing through it, and he pulled the file up to get a closer look at it. It was a blueprint for a device, and there was a note attached, which he quickly read:
I do not know what possessed me to invent such a device, as it would be a device of last resort, to only be used when there are no other options, and as there are always plenty of other options, I would thusly never use such a device. Besides, if it is incorrectly set, not calibrated correctly, the results would be disastrous, cataclysmic. Regardless, I shall keep the plans for it in case I should actually need it sometime.
Brick took a look at the blueprints and read the notes along the sides, describing the device’s function. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully…then pulled the file out from the cabinet, closing the drawer once again. He set it down on the table nearby and got to work, picking up the spoon from the table and giving Boomer’s ingredients a quick stir before adding a few drops of Chemical X from the beaker nearby.
He backed up as the mixture exploded, and as the light from the explosion settled down, he saw Boomer floating above the bowl. Almost immediately, Boomer grabbed his throat in pain and fell forward. He landed on the ground, and lifted himself to one knee, still clutching his throat with one hand.
“Welcome back, Boomer,” Brick said.
Boomer coughed once and said, “Thanks…” He straightened back up and dusted off his shirt. “So, now what?”
“Now, we have a change of plans,” Brick said, lifting up the file from the table and showing it to him. “We’re going to build something, instead…”
Boomer looked the blueprints over, then glanced up at Brick. “Mojo truly was a genius…this will be just what we need…”
TO BE
CONTINUED…