* * *

The professor heard the front doors burst open from where he was seated in the kitchen and smiled to himself. They're home, he thought. Time to continue training… He got up and looked out from the kitchen, calling out, "Hello, girls! Where did you run off to?"

All three of them flew over to him, grabbing hold of his arms in a tight hug. "Professor!" Blossom stammered, "W-we were fighting…and this guy…a-and he was…"

Buttercup interrupted, "Yeah, and he was all like with the forcefields and energy beams, and zap, he…"

"We lost," Bubbles cried out, "an' he beat us and we couldn't even fight back an' he had us trapped an' had the scary ray gun out an' was gonna…"

"Whoa, whoa!" the professor said. "Settle down, girls….Blossom, what happened?"

Blossom regained her composure and said, "Some new villain, named Dr. Neutron. He was attacking the city, but you know what? I think he was just doing that to get our attention so he could fight us…"

"Mm hmm," the professor nodded, thinking, Well, I'm impressed that Blossom figured that part of it out. She's always been good with reasoning, so I'd better watch my words around her so that she doesn't get suspicious. He continued, "But you lost, you say?"

Buttercup nodded, "Didn't even stand a chance. He swatted us like bugs."

"I'm not a bug…am I?" Bubbles asked softly.

"Of course not, sweetie," the professor answered. "But this Dr. Neutron fellow sounds dangerous…"

"Very," Blossom agreed. "This guy's far more dangerous than anyone we've fought in the past. What should we do, Professor?"

Uh oh, the professor said. I'd better not give them too much advice. The point of this whole thing is to get them to grow and develop. If I help them figure out a way to defeat Dr. Neutron, then they won't learn to better themselves. "Uh, well…" he said, coming up with an excuse, "…I really need to find out more about this guy before I can offer any advice…other than to keep at your training. I'm sure you can find a way to beat him."

"All right, we'll…we'll try…" Bubbles said.

The three of them returned to the kitchen table, not having finished their pizza from earlier. The professor walked back to his lab, thinking, So far, so good…now I'll give them a day or two to see what kind of progress they make, then I can test them again. I'm worried, though…I won't fool Blossom for long unless Dr. Neutron actually does something that appears to be evil…

* * *

"You want what?!" came the mayor's voice from the other end of the phone.

"One building," the professor repeated. "Any one building, like something that has been condemned and you were going to tear down anyway. Please?"

After a pause, the mayor said, "Oh, all right…if it'll really be the best for the girls, then I'll do it!" His voice became fainter for a moment as he called for Ms. Bellum, then louder as he spoke into the phone again, "When will you need that by?"

"Tomorrow," the professor told him. He grinned to himself. This is tough work keeping up the image of a supervillain, he thought, but every little bit counts. The bigger the sense of danger, the more they'll push themselves into improving…

* * *

The next day, the hotline buzzed, while the girls were watching TV. "Bubbles, could you get that?" Blossom asked, not budging from her position on the couch. "I don't want to miss this part…"

"Me neither," Buttercup said

Bubbles, who had already seen the Puppet Pals episode they were watching at least a dozen times, flew up from the couch and dashed over to the phone, picking it up and saying sweetly, "Powerpuff Hotline, can I help you?"

"Powerpuff Girls!" the mayor shouted from the phone in a worried voice. "That guy from yesterday's back! He's attacking Townsville again!"

Bubbles nearly dropped the receiver, her hands were shaking so much. She managed to say, "N-no problem, Mayor…w-we'll be right there!" She hung up the phone and called out in a high-pitched voice, "Dr. Neutron's back!"
Blossom and Buttercup glanced at each other, and Blossom said, "Okay, this is it…we can beat him this time, just take your time and make sure to follow every plan to the letter, okay?"

"Got it!" Buttercup replied firmly. The two of them flew up from the couch and joined Bubbles, heading out the door. They quickly soared out of the suburbs and into the city, looking for any sign of Dr. Neutron. A few small explosions from the northeast portion of Townsville alerted them, and they headed for it immediately.

Hovering above that section of the city, Dr. Neutron was sitting on some sort of device that resembled a motorcycle without the wheels. It was armed with weapons along the sides, and he was taking shots at the street below with a laser. His head swiveled around as he saw the girls approaching, and he said, "Ah, the minor annoyances return. I have no time for you PowerPests today. Shoo!"

"You're gonna pay for that!" Buttercup said, gritting her teeth. "No one calls us pests and gets away with it!"

With a slight incline of his head, Dr. Neutron said, "Nonsense. I shall 'get away with' whatever I please. I think I shall now get away with this as well…" Before the girls could move, the front of his hoverbike suddenly blasted a beam of brilliant green energy towards a building in the distance. The girls started to fly that way, but it was too fast, and in the next moment, it struck the building, reducing it to rubble in mere seconds.

Whoa, Blossom thought…Maybe I was wrong about this guy, he means business! We'd better find a way to stop him, before he levels all of Townsville! But how?

"Stop it!" Bubbles shouted. "Leave Townsville alone!"

Dr. Neutron laughed and hovered up a little higher on his bike. "Or what? You girls can't stop me! No one can stop me!"

"Girls! Attack pattern gamma-beta-twelve, NOW!" Blossom called out quickly. Bubbles and Buttercup fired their eyebeams simultaneously at the hoverbike, but Dr. Neutron had just enough space to dive down underneath the 'X' spot where the beams crossed. He was dodging right into Blossom, though, who had flown up to that point and prepared to slam a fist into him…

A robotic arm had sprouted out of the front of the hoverbike, however, reaching out and grabbing hold of Blossom before she could get close enough. Blossom tried to break free, but it held her tightly. How in the world…? she thought. He anticipated the plan! There's no way!

"Blossom! Hold on!" Bubbles exclaimed, diving down towards the back of the hoverbike, and a second later, Buttercup started flying in that direction as well. Dr. Neutron grinned beneath his mask and spun the bike around in midair…the arm holding Blossom swung like a club, striking Bubbles and batting her away. The bike continued it's rotation an the claw opened up in mid-swing, flinging Blossom from its clutches and slamming her right into the approaching Buttercup, knocking them both onto a rooftop.

As all three of them got up from where they respectively landed, they heard a sound and looked up…the bike had launched three small missiles, and each one was homing in on a separate girl. They took off, but the missiles stayed in close pursuit. They weaved back and forth, trying to shake the missiles off, but they couldn't.

"Everyone, together, now!" Blossom shouted. The three of them veered towards each other, their missiles in hot pursuit. As they approached each other, just before colliding, they pulled a sharp angle upwards, so that the missiles would be streaking towards each other. The three of them looked down as they gained altitude to watch the missiles when they collided…

However, they didn't collide…the missiles likewise made a sharp upward turn, a mere inch apart from each other. As the missiles streaked up towards them, the missiles actually latched together into each other, becoming one giant missile. The girls were too stunned by it's unexpected maneuverability, and the missile struck them dead on, exploding, the blast tossing all three of them in opposite directions.

They landed in the street below. Each of them picked themselves up from the tiny crater they left behind, and rubbed their heads. "Ughh," Buttercup muttered, "Now what?"

"Now…" Blossom said, thinking. "…now…" She honestly didn't know. That last plan of attack was their best shot, but Dr. Neutron shrugged it off like it was nothing. She was beginning to feel helpless, and by the looks in the other girls' eyes, they were feeling the same way too.

That moment of hesitation was all that Dr. Neutron needed…he flew overhead quickly on his hoverbike, dropping small, round devices out from a hatch on the rear. They landed on the street in a circle around each of the girls, and an energy field snapped up, surrounding them. They each leapt to their feet and tried to punch through the field or fire their eyebeams through it, but the field held strong.

"Trapped again," Dr. Neutron said. "I must depart now, but next time, I won't be so easy on you…"

"Wait!" Blossom shouted. "Why are you toying with us like this? Why aren't you finishing us off?"

Uh oh, think fast, he thought, then said, "Are you saying you'd prefer the alternative, Blossom?"

"NO, no," Blossom said quickly, shaking her head. "But it still doesn't make any sense…there's gotta be a reason, and I have to know!"

Ok, he thought…something ominous…let's see… Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Oh, you'll find out soon enough. I have plans for you…yes, indeed…" With that, he ignited the boosters on the hoverbike, and flew off into the distance, laughing the whole way out.

Uh oh…I don't like the sound of that, Buttercup thought, watching the whole scene from behind her own energy field. What does he mean? Oh man…maybe we should just get outta here while we've got the chance…but…we can't just let him take over Townsville! Man, if it weren't for all his little gizmos and stuff, I'd be beating the stuffing outta him right about now, and…

Another thought occurred to her, and she brightened, calling out, "Blossom, we've gotta find a way to make it so he can't use any of his devices and stuff…that'll put him outta commision!"

"Hey…" Bubbles said, thinking about that. "That's a good idea!"

"Buttercup, you're right!" Blossom said, smiling. "He is relying on technology, isn't he? That could very well be the best way to defeat this guy. Let's go see the professor…maybe he can make something to disable all his stuff or something."

Bubbles said, "All right!" She stopped and stared at the energy fields and said, "Um, how long do you think these batteries are gonna last?"

* * *

When the girls eventually got back home, they went straight to the professor to tell him their plans. "So you see," Blossom explained, "we need you to build something that can disable all his weapons and little devices. Maybe something that shuts down anything mechanical within a certain range?"

The professor scratched his chin as though pondering about how to build such a device. In reality, he was thinking, How do I get out of this one? If I don't give them help, they'll really start to get suspicious, but if I do give them help, it'll ruin the whole point of their training. "Well, again," the professor replied, "I need more information on the devices he uses. I can't build this unless I can make sure that his technology will be affected by it. I need to know what types of metals he's using, what kind of power, all that sort of information…"

Bubbles took out a small, round device and handed it to the professor, saying, "He used these on us. Will they help?"

Shoot, the professor thought. Time for plan B… He examined the device carefully and said, "It might, but I'm going to have to study it for a while. Building the actual device will take even longer. Do you have that much time?"

"How long's it gonna take?" Buttercup asked.

"I conservatively estimate around four or five days…" the professor told them.

"Well…" Blossom said, looking uneasy. "Okay…it's still our best shot. We'll have to use it as a backup plan, though. We've gotta come up with something to surprise Dr. Neutron in the meantime. The next thing we should be doing is trying to figure out where his hideout is. If we attack him at the source, we might be able to catch him device-less."

"I've got it!" Bubbles exclaimed. "C'mon, upstairs! I'll show you!" Bubbles flew off quickly, heading for the stairway, and the other two girls followed. The professor watched them leave, then nervously bit his lip. They're doing a lot better, he thought, but I wonder what they're planning? I'd better ask them the details before they try it, or else Dr. Neutron's identity will be at risk. This could be tougher than I thought…