THE POWERPUFF GIRLS
PUFF IN ARMS
BY
Sgamer82
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
Chris Cook
He stood in the shadows before the strange creature with a mixture of dread and anticipation. He was worried of what it would say about his plan. The person in front of him, a red-skinned creature wearing a red coats with pink ruffles and long black boots. Its red face had sharp features and it had black hair and a goatee. He wore make-up on his face, with black lipstick. It gestured to a piece of paper he was holding with one of its two red, lobster claw-like hands. The monster was HIM, known by no other name, and he seemed interested in what he had to offer.
"So" HIM began, in a melodious, feminine voice, "you're telling me that this spell will give me the one thing I've always wanted. Tell me, what exactly do you think that is?"
He stepped out of the shadows and faced HIM. His own face was what many would consider ruggedly handsome. He wore white tights with a large blue M on the front. He also had blue gloves and boots and a yellow belt with a double M on a red buckle.
"A way to get rid of the Powerpuff Girls, same as I want." Major Man honestly answered.
"Aren't you a superhero?" HIM asked skeptically.
"I was," Major Man began, "until those brats ruined me. They disgraced me. I couldn't even get a job in The City and, believe me, they need good superheroes."
Major Man still hated the Powerpuff Girls for that. He was the best hero Townsville had had. It never occurred to him that he brought disgrace on himself faking his crimes and shoving the kids out of his way.
"Yes," HIM said, still skeptical, "what does the spell do?"
"It allows the caster to change any one historical event to whatever the caster desires." Major Man said.
"Hmm, interesting," said HIM, "why do you need me?"
"The spell requires the use of a rubber duck belonging someone who has had prolonged exposure to magic. Yours is the only one that fits that description." Major Man said. He didn't understand why such an odd requirement was in the spell, but it was necessary to get what he needed.
"Oh, I'm flattered. But," he took a breath and suddenly spoke in a louder, masculine voice, "You aren't touching Mr. Quackers." he said, referring to Mr. Quackers, his most prized possession.
"Oh, no, I wouldn't dream of it." Major Man said emphatically, holding his hands in a sad attempt to ward off an attack, "The spell just requires it to be there, we don't have to hurt the duck in any way."
"Alright, then." HIM said, once again in his female voice, "So, let me get this straight, I could use this spell to keep the Powerpuff Girls from ever being born?"
"Um..." Major Man started reluctantly, "well...no."
HIM just looked at him and said, in his male voice, "What?"
"There are certain..." he searched for the right word, "limitations."
"Such as?" HIM asked, in male voice.
"Well," said Major Man, "one, you can't use the spell to directly kill someone. You can use it to give you the means to kill, but you can't actually end a life or prevent a life from being created."
Major Man just realized he'd made a big mistake, he had yet to find a way around those limitations. He had hoped HIM would know a way to get past them and use the spell effectively. But, as Major Man realized looking into HIM's angry eyes, he might have severely underestimated HIM's patience.
"Anything else?" HIM asked, back in female voice, though it seems HIM was doing everything possible to hold back his anger.
"Yes." He said, remembering another restriction, "You also can't use the spell to remove some type of special physical characteristic. Like...superpowers. And the victims and casters of the spell retain all memory of the original history." HIM's eyes flashed anger and he spoke in his male voice again.
"You've severely limited my options he..." he suddenly stopped and got an evil look in his eyes "wait." he finished in female tones.
"You've got an idea?" Major Man asked hopefully.
"Yes," HIM said, "I know the perfect way to use this spell. It will take those bothersome kids out of our way."
"What about their powers?" Major Man asked, wondering how HIM would get past that loophole.
"Don't worry." HIM said, "Our dear Professor Utonium will take care of that for us. And the Girls won't be able to do anything about it."
Major Man didn't know what HIM was talking about and was confused when HIM began to laugh with evil delight. Although Major Man didn't know what exactly was going on he laughed too.
"Let's get started on this right away my friend." HIM told Major Man. They walked off deeper into HIM's lair toward a cauldron to begin the spell.
* * * * *
"OW!"
Blossom Utonium's eyes snapped open to look at what was wrong with her bed. She was rolling off of the bed to fly up to the bathroom and get dressed for school, but she was suddenly stopped by something in front of her that she bumped her head on with a dull thud.
Blossom looked around her, but she was still a bit tired so everything was hazy. But she saw what seemed to be bars right in front of her.
Huh? Blossom thought, Where'd these come from?
Blossom began to examine her surroundings. Her bedroom seemed to be very different from what she was used to. It was painted in very bright colors, whites, pinks, baby blues, and even some green. Her bed also seemed to have a footboard at the end of it.
That was never there before. Blossom thought to herself. She also noticed bars on the other side of the bed, next to Buttercup, who was still asleep and under the covers with their other sister, Bubbles, holding her purple octopus doll, Octi, in the center.
"What's going on here?" Blossom said aloud.
Blossom looked to her right and found a doll on the bed. It was a green dinosaur with plaid line around it. It appeared to be a doll of her favorite television character, Blarney the Singing Sea Serpent. Blossom had, at first, thought Blarney to be infantile and annoying. But after watching a couple of episodes, at Bubbles's insistence, she fell in love with the show. It even outranked Puppet Pals, which remained Bubbles and Buttercup's favorites. Though they were Blarney fans too. But she didn't know they were making Blarney plush dolls. Though she'd be way too embarrassed to ask for one even if she did, as mature as she always tried to be she feared the Professor would think she was being childish. She didn't think she'd ever live it down if she asked, she had always hoped Bubbles would ask for one and Blossom could borrow it.
Blossom finally looked down at herself.
What the heck?! She thought.
She looked down and saw herself wearing, instead of her usual pink nightie, fuzzy pink footie-pajamas. She also notices two things under the pajamas. One of them is some odd ankle bracelet that rattled when Blossom shook her leg. The other thing, she realized, was a diaper.
"BUBBLES! BUTTERCUP! WAKE UP!!!" Blossom yelled frantically.
Bubbles snapped up quickly, and Buttercup awoke as well, albeit a bit groggy. Blossom saw that they were dressed exactly like herself, except Bubbles was in her usual light blue and Buttercup in light green pajamas. Buttercup was trying to rub the sleep from her eyes as Bubbles looked at Blossom concerned.
"What's wrong Blossom?" Bubbles asked, then suddenly stopped and noticed the Blarney doll, "Oh, look, a Blarney the Singing Sea Serpent plush doll!" she said, thinking that's what Blossom was referring to, "I didn't know they made these. It's so cute where'd it come from?"
Buttercup however, was not in such a cheerful mood.
"Jeez, Blossom," Buttercup said angrily, "I know you have to do this every Monday, but..." then she started to look around a bit, and noticed the same things Blossom did.
"...whoa, Blossom, what happened?" She asked confused, "What's with the room? Why're we in a crib?" she said, asking all the same questions Blossom had only out loud. She looked beside herself and found her green security blanket.
"What's my blanket doing here?" She looked at herself, "What's with the PJs? What's this thing on my leg? Is this a diaper?" then she looked at Blossom, "And what happened to your hair?"
"My hair?" Blossom asked, suddenly worried. Buttercup and Bubbles long ago learned, the hard way, how important Blossom's hair was to her. She spotted a toy on the side of the crib that had a mirror in it. Blossom flew to it, or at least tried to. She couldn't seem to get herself off the ground.
"Hey, I can't fly." Blossom said, realizing the only solution. She tried to stand, but found that difficult without grabbing the crib rail for support. After finally getting on her feet, she let go of the rail and started walking to the toy. But she didn't even take a single step before falling flat on her face.
"Or walk." Blossom said, though the mattress muffled it. Left without options, she gets on her hands and knees and starts to crawl to the toy. She finally manages to get a look at herself. Her hair is much shorter than normal. There's still her usual hairbow, but it's a very tiny one to match the very tiny ponytail on the top of her head. She let out a loud scream at the sight of her reflection.
The door to the room suddenly opened, and a tall man with dark hair and an angular, almost square body wearing pajamas entered the bedroom. Buttercup and Bubbles just stared at Professor Utonium, the Girls' mentor, as he walked into the room and around the crib to the screaming Blossom. To Buttercup and Bubbles, the Professor seemed even bigger than usual. He picked up Blossom and held her in his arms, trying to comfort her. Blossom eventually quieted and told Utonium the problem.
"Professor, what's happening? We're dressed like babies and there's this thing on my leg..."
* * * * *
Professor William Utonium looked down at his beautiful baby daughter.
"pwowape weessik beeban thes mleg petpa cle meega bucules..." Blossom babbled. Utonium couldn't help but sometimes think that the infant girl was trying to tell her something.
"My, someone's excited this morning." Utonium said good-naturedly "You're really talkative too, sweetheart. It probably won't be long before you're talking to Daddy in real words, will it?"
Blossom just looked at Utonium with a confused expression on her face.
"fasa doun dasa tyo" she said, sounding almost like a question.
* * * * *
"Professor, don't you know what I'm saying?" Blossom asked, perplexed at what the Professor had just said to her.
He had just talked to her like she was a baby. She was beginning to worry, they weren't just dressed like babies. As far as Professor was concerned, they were babies. She quickly realized anything and everything she said was only heard as baby babble as far as he was concerned.
Utonium carried Blossom across the room and set her on a changing table while he looked in a nearby dresser for some clothes for Blossom to wear.
* * * * *
Bubbles watched the interaction between Professor and Blossom and was even more confused than Blossom.
"Hey," she said to Buttercup, "how come the Professor is treatin' Blossom like she's a baby?"
"Look around Bubble-Brain." said Buttercup, her frustration apparent, "We're dressed in sleepers, we're in a crib, and we're surrounded by stuffed animals and bright colors, WHY DO YOU THINK?"
"We've been made into babies?" Bubbles asked, stating the obvious.
"Me an' Blossom have, you already were." Buttercup said, venting her frustration on Bubbles.
"Hey!" Bubbles said, noticing the insult, she was about to attempt a comeback when Professor Utonium came back and placed Blossom back in the crib. Blossom was now wearing a pink romper with short length sleeves and legs and a picture of a butterfly on the front.
"Your turn honey." Utonium said, taking Bubbles in his arms and going to the dresser.
Blossom took her chance to examine the strange device on her leg. It was a red band with yellow lights and rattles on it. She shook her leg a little to confirm the rattles were, in fact, the band.
"You look cute, Leader-Girl." said Buttercup, unable to contain her giggling.
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Blossom said with a smirk on her face, "after all, soon you'll be dressed up too." Buttercup suddenly went pale at the thought of wearing baby clothes like Blossom's, "But seriously," Blossom said, smile dropping off her face, "something's very wrong here. The Professor didn't seem understand a single word I said."
At that moment, the door to the bedroom opened again. This time, they saw a woman step through. The woman had shoulder-length black hair, worn down at the moment, and sky blue eyes with white pupils. She was wearing a yellow nightgown not unlike the nightgowns the girls had worn to bed last night, only much longer, going down to her knees. The girls couldn't believe who they were seeing. It was their teacher from Pokey Oaks Kindergarten, Sandra Keane, and she looked as if she'd just gotten out of bed.
She walked over to the crib and smiled at Buttercup and Blossom. Then she yawned and looked at a baby monitor placed on a stand next to the crib.
"Wow, those girls talking up a storm. I had to turn down the volume on the monitor just to get some more sleep," Ms. Keane said, letting out another yawn, "lot of good that did."
Professor walked up to Ms. Keane while holding Bubbles, now dressed in a blue shorts and a matching T-shirt with a bunny on the shirt. He shifted Bubbles to hold her in one arm and looked at Ms. Keane.
"You knew what you were getting into when you said 'I do'." He said.
"Did he say 'I do'?" Bubbles asked, though the adults heard it as "disee id"
Blossom and Buttercup notice what seemed, to Professor and Ms. Keane, to be an offhand remark. Ms. Keane walked over to the crib and picks up Buttercup out of it.
"I know, I know." Ms. Keane said, "Tell you what. I'll take care of Buttercup. Why don't you take the other two into the kitchen and get breakfast started."
Professor uses his free arm to lift Blossom out of the crib.
"Sounds like a plan," He said, "Come on Girls."
* * * * *
Professor Utonium carried Bubbles and Blossom down the stairs into the living room. It looked basically the same as before. Though there were differences, some subtle, some clear. The furniture was different, it was obviously decorated by someone other than the Professor. And there were toys scattered all over the floor, this was nothing unusual with three kids in the house, but now all the toys seemed to be for babies.
The biggest change the girls notice, however, was a portrait. Before, it was a picture of the Girls on Professor Utonium's lap. Now, it was a picture with Utonium, Ms. Keane, and an old man the Girls didn't know. What the Girls really noticed however, was that Professor and the old man were in tuxedoes, and Ms. Keane was in a snow-white wedding dress. They are also holding the Girls, in tiny gowns in their respective colors. The old man's holding Bubbles, Utonium has Blossom, and Ms. Keane has Buttercup in her arms.
"Is that a wedding picture?" Bubbles asked Blossom.
"I think it is, but who's that holding you?" Blossom asked, meaning the old man.
"I don't know." Bubbles answered honestly.
Utonium carried Bubbles and Blossom into the kitchen. Where they noticed three high chairs, also in the Girls colors, set up. He set Blossom on the kitchen floor while he quickly buckled Bubbles into her blue chair then tied a blue bib around her neck. He then grabbed Blossom before she tried to crawl away. Blossom was too confused to crawl, but the Professor didn't know that. He buckled Blossom into the pink high chair, tied a pink bib around her neck, and went to a cupboard. He took out a box that the Girls recognized as a brand of pancake mix. He started up the stove and began making some pancakes.
"Mmmmm...I love pancakes!" Bubbles exclaimed.
"I don't think those are for us." Blossom said.
"Why not?" Bubbles asked.
"Uh...Bubbles..." Blossom said, unsure of what to say. She simply opens her mouth. She shows Bubbles the inside of her mouth, which contained a very small number of teeth. Bubbles moved her tongue around her mouth, and noticed she had the same amount of teeth as Blossom, making it impossible for her and her sisters to eat any solid food without difficulty.
"Oh, I see." Bubbles said.
As they talked Ms. Keane walked in, wearing the outfit the Girls almost always saw her in, an orange T-shirt, brown pants, red vest, and black shoes. She held Buttercup in her arms. Bubbles and Blossom noticed Ms. Keane had put Buttercup's hair into tiny pigtails not unlike Bubbles's tied with little green hairbows, and Buttercup had been dressed in a short-sleeved, frilly green dress with lacy ruffles at the sleeves, collar, and hem. It was exactly the sort of thing Buttercup would NEVER wear if she had a choice, which, given the current circumstances, she didn't have.
Buttercup said something the adults heard as "fu ga doba fi liddy es". But her sisters heard it as a series of words and phrases the Girls would've been severely punished for if they were ever heard coming from their mouths. Or, in this case, heard from their mouths AND understood.
Ms. Keane and Utonium shared a brief kiss on the lips and the Girls stared, shocked at the display of affection between the two of them. Ms. Keane proceeded to buckle Buttercup in the green high chair and tie a green bib around her neck. Blossom and Bubbles just looked at their angry-looking sister.
"Awwww..." Blossom said, unable to contain herself any longer, "wook at the cute wittle baby in the pwetty gween dwess." she said in very condescending baby talk.
"Shut up." Buttercup said angrily, "Just shut up. At least this can't get any worse."
The girls stopped talking when they realized Professor and Ms. Keane were talking to each other. They listened in, hoping to get an idea of just what was going on.
"Sandy, what time does your dad's flight comes in?" Professor asked.
As they talked, Professor continued making the pancakes and Ms. Keane searched through a cupboard and removed some small jars that the Girls couldn't see too well. She also fished through a drawer and took out some small spoons. She sat down at the table and opened one of the jars.
"He should be here sometime tomorrow morning." She replied, bringing the spoon into the jar, "He wants to get here as soon as he can so he can spend some time with his little granddaughters."
* * * * *
Buttercup remembered Ms. Keane telling her class about her dad once. A former boxer, Jack Keane, he had retired from the circuit about 10 years ago. He had apparently taught Ms. Keane a few things about boxing. Though Buttercup had yet to see an example of that.
Could that be the old guy in that wedding photo? she wondered, having seen the picture herself when Ms. Keane brought her in. Her speculation was interrupted, though, when she saw Ms. Keane bringing the spoon toward Buttercup. She suddenly recognized what was in the spoon and the jars, baby food. She suddenly started holding her head back, determined not to let any of the semi-solid food into her mouth.
* * * * *
Sandy Keane was a little puzzled by Buttercup's behavior. She had been very impatient getting dressed, Sandy thought that had meant she was hungry and wanted some breakfast. Now, she was acting as if the food in her spoon was the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen. Personally, Sandy couldn't argue with that. But none of the Girls had ever seemed to care about it, except for a minor mishap when they learned Blossom had an allergy to peaches.
"That works perfectly," Utonium said, bringing two plates of short stacks to the table, "I've got some work to do in the lab so the sooner he gets here the better."
"Still trying to figure out that strength thing?" Sandy asked, taking a break from trying to feed Buttercup to cut up the flapjacks.
"Yes." Was Utonium's simple answer.
"I still can't believe you accidentally added that Chemical X to your perfect-girl formula," Sandy said, still unsure of the story Bill had told her, "how'd that happen again, the monkey? What ever happened to him?" Utonium nodded, and Blossom and Bubbles were watching the adults listening intently to the conversation. Buttercup was still resisting the food.
Utonium nodded and took a bite from the pancakes.
"I don't know what happened to Jojo." He said solemnly.
Sandy nodded, then tried again to feed Buttercup, with the same response as before.
"Buttercup, Baby," Sandy said, using her special nickname for Buttercup, "why aren't you eating?" still holding out the spoon she turned to Utonium, "It's hard to believe that these three sweet girls have super strength."
"It's true," Said Utonium, "that's why I designed the Restrainers on their ankles. I'm hoping to figure out a way to remove the Chemical X in their bodies before some new power shows itself that the Restrainers won't be able to handle."
"New power?" Sandy asked between bites, "I don't recall you mentioning anything about new powers." A small glob of baby food suddenly flew into Sandy's face, "Buttercup!"
Buttercup sat in her high chair and simply laughed away at what she'd just done. Sandy, however, took advantage of the opportunity and quickly got another spoonful of food and shoved it into Buttercup's wide-open mouth before she could close it again. Buttercup's face became one of shock as she swallowed the food without thinking. Then her face suddenly scrunched up into one of distaste.
* * * * *
Bubbles and Blossom looked to Buttercup, who looked like she was about to retch.
"Buttercup. You okay?" Bubbles asked, concerned with Buttercup's expression.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Buttercup said after a second, recovering from both the shock and taste.
"What'd it taste like?" Blossom asked.
"Well...I've eaten worse..." she answered honestly, "but it'll do if you're hungry enough."
"We are." Bubbles and Blossom said together, and they meant it.
After the first bite, Buttercup decided to get it over with and let Sandy feed her the rest of the food. Blossom and Bubbles resumed watching the Professor and Ms. Keane, now their father and mother.
"Anyway," the Professor said, after watching Buttercup's little display, "if my calculations are correct, there's a strong possibility that the Girls will develop new powers as they grow, powers the Restrainers can't hinder."
"Well," said Sandy, still ladling food into Buttercup's mouth, "if you can't remove them, maybe we can teach them to use them responsibly."
"We might be able to do that." Utonium said, "Though I sometimes can't help but wonder what they would've done with their powers had that fluke occurred."
"Fluke?" Sandy asked, "Sorry, Bill, it's just that you simply haven't told me everything about your experiments. Besides, I know more about physics than I do genetics."
"That's okay." said Utonium, "I know I haven't talked much about the Girls' birth. But there was a million-to-one chance that the girls could have been born older than they were."
"Really?" Sandy asked, her curiosity piqued, "How much older?"
"Most likely," Utonium began, "they would have been born at about five years old."
"I'm kind of glad that didn't happen." said Sandy.
Bubbles and Blossom, who had been listening to the exchange, were shocked at both the Professor's revelation and Ms. Keane's admission that she was glad they weren't born the way the Girls knew.
"Why's that?" Utonium asked, taking a drink from his coffee cup.
"Well," Said Sandy, "if they were five, they would have to go to Pokey Oaks. And I couldn't very well date, let alone marry, the father of a student, now could I?"
Utonium couldn't suppress a chuckle. "Well, when you put it that way..." he said. Leaving the rest easy to interpret.
* * * * *
Blossom and Bubbles listened to the display in nothing more than shock. Buttercup was busy eating and the remarks have yet to even register to her. Bubbles, however, was close to tears and Blossom just stared, near catatonic, at the adults.
"We were supposed to be born this way?" Blossom asked, though nobody who could answer the question understood.
"I...I..." Bubbles stammered, "I can't believe it." She suddenly began crying. She was easily unbuckled and picked up from the high chair by Utonium, who started consoling her.
"Don't cry, Bubbles." he said reassuringly to Bubbles, though he was unsure of why she was crying, "It's all right."
Meanwhile, Sandy had finished feeding Buttercup and was wiping off the child's face with a towel when she heard Bubbles.
"What got into her?" she asked Utonium.
"I have no idea." Utonium replied, "She just started crying for no reason."
"Get used to it." said Buttercup, the adults heard "gyuu taat".
Blossom shot Buttercup what can only be described as a "Glare of Death".
"Sorry" Buttercup said, sounding like "swi" to Utonium and Sandy.
Sandy took a brief glance at her watch and sighed.
"Well, I gotta go." she said reluctantly, "School calls."
She got out of her chair and walked over gave Utonium and a now calmed down Bubbles a quick peck on the cheek.
"Bye, darling." said Utonium "I'll finish feeding the girls and check out that new Daycare Center we read about."
She then walked over to the high chairs.
"Good-bye, angels."
Sandy kissed Blossom and Buttercup on their foreheads and walked out of the door and off to Pokey Oaks Kindergarten.
* * * * *
The rest of the morning passed without incident. Professor Utonium fed Bubbles and Blossom and let them play on the floor while he made the preparations to take them to the daycare center. Utonium and Sandy really needed on because Sandy had to teach and, while Utonium worked at home, was more often than not too busy to watch three infant girls who had recently learned to crawl and were getting into everything he could. It was difficult to get the children into any daycare, despite the fact Sandy could pull some strings, none of them were able to get the babies into a daycare.
A month ago, Utonium and Sandy put the girls into the Babe in Arms Daycare Center near Sandy's school. One of the Daycare's nannies, against specific instructions, removed the childrens' Restrainers. Long story short, it ended in some massive property damage and nearly resulted in a lawsuit by the owners of the Center. After that incident, the "Three Tiny Tot Wrecking Balls", as they were so horribly dubbed in newspapers, were banned from nearly every daycare center in the entire Townsville district.
Utonium had had to take a lot of time from his work to take care of the girls. He was the only one who could. Sandy, even though she loved the girls as strongly as any mother, loved teaching far too much for Utonium to even consider asking her to leave. So, the girls had to be watched by either Utonium or a very well paid babysitter. They'd even dedicated an entire checking account simply for babysitters because the Babe in Arms Incident made them very reluctant to get close to the girls.
He phoned the new Daycare and confirmed the appointment for later that afternoon. He put the girls down for their nap as he got everything ready. Very few people could appreciate how much trouble it was for one person to get three infants ready to go anywhere. He had to double-check the car seats to make sure they were securely buckled in the station wagon they used for family trips. He had to make sure the diaper bags were packed with everything the girls might end up needing, clothes, food, bottles, et cetera.
Still, it would hopefully be worth all the trouble. This was the only Daycare in the city that Sandy could even convince to even interview the girls. Sandy had said that it was difficult, but it sounded almost as if the Daycare wanted the girls, specifically. They found that odd, but, in the end, their need for a Daycare Center outweighed their initial concern. They were that desperate.
After making sure everything was all set, Utonium went into the nursery to check on the girls. They had woken up so he had gotten them ready to go and put them in their car seats and drove off to take them to the Hillside Infant Manor daycare center.
* * * * *
Bubbles sat in the middle of three child seats in the backseat of Professor Utonium's station wagon. Something had been gnawing at her since they took their naps and she decided to bring it up with her sisters.
"Hey, Girls," she said, "are you startin' to remember stuff?"
"What do you mean, Bubbles?" Blossom asked.
"Well," Bubbles said, "it's this stuff that keeps gettin' in my head. It's like I'm 'memb'rin' stuff that never happened to me."
"I know what you mean," Buttercup said "the same thing's been happenin' to me. Like, you see that wedding picture of the Professor, Ms. Keane, and that old guy?"
Blossom and Bubbles nodded that they knew what she was talking about.
"Well," said Buttercup, not quite sure how to describe what she was thinking, "even though I never saw him before then, I keep thinkin' he's our grandpa. It's like someone kept tellin' me that's who he was."
"Yes, I've had similar experiences." Blossom said, "I think that our minds are beginning to adjust to this new history...world...whatever this is."
Blossom didn't want to tell her sisters everything she was feeling though. Blossom was very worried there was more to that fact that they were remembering this world, Blossom was worried they'd begin forgetting the old world. Blossom had recently started feeling gaps in her memory, gaps that were quickly filled by memories of their "new" life.
One such problem was when they went up against Princess Morebucks, but that memory was now very hazy. There was another memory forming in it's place of a nanny or babysitter or something taking off those Restrainer-things on their ankles. This was soon followed by Bubbles getting knocked down by another baby and throwing a temper tantrum that rocked the building they were in to it's foundations. Followed by Buttercup bouncing a ball through the roof and Blossom knocking over cribs single-handedly.
She wasn't sure if the others were experiencing the same problem, or, if they were, not noticing it. But she didn't feel now was the time to bring that up, not until they had more on a handle on this odd situation.
"I wonder who did this to us." Bubbles asked.
"There's only one person we know who would do something like this," said Buttercup, "HIM. Problem is, he's already done this to us before and he said he never does the same thing twice."
She was remembering an earlier incident in which HIM made the Girls dream about being born normal children with a birth defect.
"Well, this is different Buttercup." Said Blossom, stating her view, "The first time, he simply made us think we were normal kids. This time, I think he actually did something."
She had a point, it was probably hard enough making everyone in Townsville see the Girls as normal kids, it seemed just plain impossible for HIM to make everyone see them as infants. Still, there was no way of knowing yet if HIM was behind this.
"But what'd he do? And how'd he do it?" Bubbles asked.
"What I'm more worried about," said Blossom, "is who's protecting Townsville?"
That really had Blossom scared, and now Bubbles and Buttercup were thinking it too. A second later, Utonium spoke up from the front seat.
"Oh, look girls," he said, trying to get their attention, "it's the town hero, Major Man."
Utonium heard the Girls shout "majan", but they really said "Major Man!"
Sure enough, Major Man was flying through the skies. Red cape, white tights, everything.
"That phony is the defender of Townsville!?" Blossom said outraged.
"Well, guess that answers that question." Buttercup said.
They continued their journey to the new Daycare.
* * * * *
Professor Utonium looked at the large mansion. It seemed a bit grand for a Daycare Center, but Utonium just figured the owners were concerned with quality. He got out of the car and went to the back door to open it. Inside was a custom-made stroller designed for three children folded up for easy transport.
He pulled out the stroller and unfolded it to reveal three side-by-side seats. He took the girls out of their car seats and sat them in the stroller in the same order they were in the car, Blossom on the left, Bubbles in the middle, Buttercup on the right. He bucked them in and rolled the stroller into the Hillside Infant Manor Daycare Center.
Weird name. Thought Utonium as he wheeled the stroller into the door.
Wow, was all Utonium could think as he examined the lobby. It looked like an old mansion out of the movies, not a Daycare Center for infants. It was very extravagant, so much so that Utonium hoped this place wouldn't cost too much money. Though they'd pay whatever the place charged. He and Sandy had no choice they had to.
He found a petite woman at the front desk. She had a face that looked as if she was wearing flesh-colored makeup on her face. She looked at him with what seemed to be hunger, anticipation, or disgust, Utonium couldn't quite tell which. She was wearing a red, sleeveless coat with touches of pink at the collar and waist. As he slowly approached the desk, he saw the nameplate, which read Heidi Ingrid Montan.
"Can I help you?" asked Heidi, in a melodious, feminine voice.
"Yes," Utonium said, beginning to wonder about this woman, "I'm here for an interview about getting my daughters enrolled in your daycare. My wife, Sandy Utonium, called earlier about our appointment."
"Ah, yes," said Heidi, "the Utonium Triplets. This must be them. I have the papers all set, your wife took care of everything. The interviews are unnecessary. You just have to sign on the dotted line."
Utonium was beginning to feel odd about this place. Were he and Sandy so desperate to have the kids looked after he'd sign them over into the care of a strange, menacing-looking woman for even a few short hours? The simple answer to that was...yes.
* * * * *
The Girls sat in the stroller bored out of their mind as Professor signed the papers to let the three of them into the room.
Blossom looked around and saw the name plate on the desk.
"Hmmm...Heidi Montan..." said Blossom, reading the sign out loud.
"That's Heidi Ingrid Montan." Bubbles corrected.
"Yeah, yeah," said an irritated Buttercup, "and the initials are H.I.M. Big dea..." her eyes suddenly went wide with shock.
"H..." said Buttercup.
"I..." said Bubbles.
"M..." said Blossom.
"HIM!" said all three together when they realized what was in front of them. Not a woman who helped run a daycare, as the Professor thought, but one so evil his true name is never spoken. And Professor had just signed the Girls over to his 'Tender Loathing Care'.
* * * * *
"All right," Utonium said, giving 'Heidi' back the papers, "that should do it. I have to get going now."
"Of course, you're a busy man." said 'Heidi'.
"Good-bye, darlings." Utonium said while kneeling down and giving each Girl a kiss on the forehead, "Daddy's got to go for a while, but I'll be back to pick you up later today. Goodbye."
As Utonium left, the Girls did the only thing they could have possibly done in this situation. They cried. They let out loud wails stopping only to catch their breath.
* * * * *
"Cry like you've never cried before!" said Blossom between sobs, "We've got to make the Professor come take us back!"
* * * * *
Utonium looked anxiously at his crying daughters.
"It's just separation anxiety," said 'Heidi' they just need some time to get used to the place.
"Well," said Utonium, beginning to rethink his decision "all right."
Utonium began leaving. When 'Heidi' was sure that Utonium was out of the way 'she' removed the disguise covering the visage of HIM.
"Poor little children." HIM taunted in his female voice, though quietly to ensure that Utonium wouldn't hear no matter how far away he was, "Do you miss your Daddy? Well..." he hesitated a moment.
"Good!" he suddenly whispered in his male voice, "Because you're never seeing him again!"
The Girls began crying louder.
* * * * *
Utonium was walking out to his car, still wondering if he had made the correct decision. He was just about to leave the building when he heard something he had been waiting to hear from the days the kids were born.
"DA-DA!" shouted a tiny voice behind him.
Utonium turned to see who had said the words when he suddenly saw Heidi, now some red-skinned demon, attacking his girls.
"My babies!" he cried out.
Utonium didn't hesitate as he ran the distance to the front desk and pulled the stroller away from the red creature just before it could decapitate Bubbles with what seemed to be a lobster claw where its hand should have been.
He ran with the stroller for the door of the mansion, only to have it shut just before he got there. That option gone, he walked in front of the stroller and turned to confront the monster behind him.
"I don't know who, or what, you are," Utonium said, a determined tone in his voice, "but you are not hurting my girls."
"Oh, I don't want to hurt them," said the creature in an ehcoey, feminine voice, "I want to..." it than switched to a husky, male voice "kill them!"
Utonium couldn't believe what he had heard. This thing, whatever it was, wanted his children dead for absolutely no reason. Utonium had thought this Daycare all seemed too good to be true but he had gone along with it anyway. Now his Naďveté has put him in this position and might even cost his daughters their lives.
No! Utonium thought, I won't let that happen. Never! He put his arm behind his back, hopefully unnoticed by the creature and began removing the childproof latches on the girls' Restrainers. He had spent a lot of time practicing how to put them on the girls so removing them just as quickly was no problem for him. The girls just watched as Utonium removed the Restrainers and realized just what he was doing. Giving them a chance of escaping.
Come on, girls, Utonium thought, use whatever powers you have and get out of here!
The girls, however, had other plans.
* * * * *
"All right Girls," said Blossom as she broke off the straps keeping her in the stroller, "let's get HIM!"
They broke out of the stroller and flew HIM at full speed.
* * * * *
When did they learn to fly? Utonium thought in wonder, It must be a new power they developed, but how did they know how to use it? They must have some instinctual knowledge about how to use their powers. Amazing.
As Utonium thought, he figured that must have been a power the Restrainers, well...restrained. The last time they were without them was the Babe in Arms Daycare incident. That meant they learned the power sometime in the three months between then and now.
Utonium sat amazed as the demon, caught off-guard by the kids' sudden attack, was simply pummeled. The girls attacked in a way that would have made Utonium think, if he hadn't known better, that they had fought like that before.
By the time the girls stopped their attack, the creature was beaten, bloody, and bruised all-over. But even with all that punishment it acted as if unhurt.
"ali hir va wadi u" he heard Blossom say.
* * * * *
"All right HIM, reverse what you did to us!" said Blossom, after their punching-bag session on HIM.
"You're probably thinking..." HIM said quietly enough for the Girls to hear. He seemed unaware or simply didn't understand what Blossom had just said, "that this will all end when you expose my little fun." he then switched to his male voice, "but not this time!" returning to feminine, "This time, you'll stay how you are forever. And I'll just keep coming after you until I finally destroy you for good."
He then broke into laughter, starting with a low chuckle in his female voice and building up to all-out guffaws in his male voice. As he laughed he disappeared in a ball of fire.
When HIM was gone, he cautiously walked up to the Girls.
"All right now, girls." said Utonium, outstretching his arms, "Come to daddy."
Bubbles happily flew into his outstretched arms.
"Very good, sweetie." Utonium said.
He quickly slapped on the Restrainer before Bubbles could get away.
"He tricked her!" Buttercup said to Blossom.
"Well, it's not like he has much choice," said Blossom, "and neither do we for that matter."
Buttercup hated to admit it, but Blossom was right. Where else could super powered infants go to? Blossom flew to Utonium, allowing him to place the Restrainer back on her leg and put her in the stroller. Buttercup eventually followed suit. As he was putting her restrainer on she couldn't resist.
"Da-da" said Buttercup.
"Sooo..." said Utonium as he put Buttercup into the stroller, "it was you who said that. What a clever girl you are. You may have saved you and your sisters' lives."
Buttercup couldn't help smiling at the praise as he wheeled the stroller out of the mansion as quickly as he could and strapped the girls into the car.
* * * * *
Utonium was driving the Girls home after that ordeal in the Daycare Center. The Girls were back in their car seats in the same order as earlier, Blossom on the driver side, Buttercup on the passenger side, and Bubbles in the middle. Bubbles had fallen asleep on the ride home. Buttercup, bored out of her mind, just sat and stared into space. Blossom, however, was contemplating the day's events and, out of curiosity, decided to ask a question she had had in her head since the left the Daycare.
"What made you think of that 'Da-da' thing?" she asked Buttercup.
"I don't know." Buttercup answered, "I just figured it was the only way to get the Professor to come back for us was to do the one thing that would get his attention. An' that was hearin' one of us talk. Don't you remember this morning?"
Blossom did, and she remembered the Professor saying that "it wouldn't be long before she was talking to Daddy in real words".
"He did seem real excited at us learning how to talk. I gotta say, that was pretty resourceful." she said ungrudgingly.
"Yeah, for all the good it did." Buttercup said.
"I know what you mean, HIM said we'd stay like this forever." Blossom said gloomily, "We have to grow up all over again, we'll have to be fed, dressed, burped, diapered, and all that other baby stuff."
"Well, it'll only be for a few years," said Buttercup, "until we learn how to do stuff ourselves. Besides, I've always wondered what it would be like to grow up like a normal kid, you know what I'm saying?"
Blossom was a little confused at Buttercup's sudden defense of their new life, though she did have a point. Blossom always had been sort of envious of other kids, going through a full, normal lives while they were born at the age of five and knowing nothing before that. She was still surprised at Buttercup's quick change in attitude, but attributed it to resignation to her fate. Blossom had to admit, it seemed pretty hopeless.
"Yeah. Well, we don't have a choice anymore." Blossom said, nodding her head, "Not unless we can figure out what was done to us."
* * * * *
Utonium related to Sandy the events at the Hillside Infant Manor at home that night. If Sandy were anyone else, she would have laughed in his face at that story. But after becoming stepmother to three infants with superpowers, no fingers and yet an ability to hang on to objects, and witnessing all sorts of other strange events in Townsville itself, Sandra Keane-Utonium was a far more receptive to the unusual than your average Joe. Sandy looked at the babies, playing peacefully on the floor in front of them.
Why would anyone want to hurt such sweet children? she thought to herself.
"Do you know what that thing was?" she asked aloud, curious about the odd creature.
"No, all I saw was that it was about to kill the girls." Utonium said, and like any father, to him that was all that had mattered, "It's a good thing Buttercup talked when she did, or I never would have gone back."
They were both still surprised that she had talked in the first place. Since most multiple sets of children, like the girls, usually develop motor skills later than other kids.
"It's an even luckier thing you got those Restrainers off." said Sandy "From what you told me, the girls totaled him."
"Yes, I guess you're right." Utonium replied "We definitely need to teach the girls to use their powers right. The thing that scares me the most though, is that demon-thing seemed to know the girls.
"It seemed to enjoy torturing them the way it did, as if he had some kind of grudge."
"Just horrible!" said Sandy, "It's inconceivable that anybody would want to kill three babies who have not hurt anybody in their lives. Well," she restated, "never hurt anybody in their lives deliberately."
They settled down into the usual small talk, talking about Sandy's much less eventful day. Eventually taking a break to make the girls some bottles, which, for some odd reason, they were very reluctant to take. But eventually their hunger won out and they drank down the bottles. Though it almost seemed like they were doing it out of protest. Sandy just figured that the incident at the Hillside Manor just rattled them a bit and killed their appetite. The small talk dwindled and the adults sat back to watch the news while the kids played with their toys.
* * * * *
"Today, the city was saved yet again from a giant monster attack by our hero, Major Man!" said news anchor Stanley Whitfield, "He is, as I speak, receiving an award from the Mayor commending his bravery."
* * * * *
Sandy had never much liked Major Man, something seemed weird about him. Plus, when he came to speak to her class, he had actually tried to ask her out, knowing full well she was married.
Sandy had not told her husband of that, she knew Utonium was a bit of a fan of Major Man. He, at one point, even had a Major Man mask, but she made him throw it out after it scared the kids. They had cried for an hour straight after Utonium surprised them with it.
The scene on the television switched to Major Man being handed a plaque by the Mayor. Sandy wasn't paying much attention, but noticed the girls were now watching the TV pretty closely.
Oh, jeez, don't tell me they like that goofball too. Sandy thought with dismay.
* * * * *
"Oh, Major Man," said the Mayor, "you are so brave. How do you do it?"
"Oh, it's simple..." said Major Man, "just get a supernatural demon to cast a spell to take the real heroes out of the picture."
The crowd suddenly stared at him blankly.
"Kidding, kidding, I'm just lucky." replied Major Man quickly. The crowd laughed at what they thought was a clever joke.
* * * * *
"What a kidder." said Whitfield laughing, "He will be making public appearances tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. at the Townsville Convention Center. Good night, Townsville."
* * * * *
The Girls had seen the entire report and suddenly what happened to them became astonishingly clear.
"Did you hear that?" Blossom asked.
"Yeah," said Bubbles, "why didn't we make public appearances?"
"No, Bubbles!" Buttercup said impatiently, "Major Man got HIM to make us babies."
"I know. I was just kiddin'." said Bubbles.
"Hey," said Blossom, "Maybe he knows of a way to reverse it."
"Maybe, but how would we get to him? Crawl?" asked Buttercup.
"Maybe you could talk to th' Professor and get him to take us." Bubbles suggested.
"I don't think so Bubbles." said Buttercup, "For one thing, I can only say one thing grown-ups understand. And second, 'Da-da' doesn't have that many meanings." she sighed, "But, I'll try."
* * * * *
Sandy had been staring into space trying to think of a good art project in her class when she saw Buttercup turn from the television and look at them. She started to point at the TV.
"Maj-ma" she said, apparently having learned a new word, "Da-da, Maj-ma"
"Honey, I think Buttercup's trying to tell you something." Sandy said to Utonium. She suddenly smiled brightly.
"Maybe it's 'Ma-Ma'!" She said, wanting to hear one of the girls say that as much as Utonium had wanted to hear 'Da-da'.
Sandy especially wanted to hear it from Buttercup. Ever since Sandy had met Utonium and the girls, she had felt a special bond with Buttercup. She couldn't explain it, but there was something between them. Her father had joked that the way Sandy and Buttercup were when together, nobody would ever question that they were mother and daughter. Sandy had to admit that there was a resemblance between them, even though they weren't related by blood. Buttercup also seemed to enjoy playing a bit more roughly than Blossom and Bubbles, as Sandy's parents had said she had when she was a baby.
"I think she's trying to say 'Major Man'." Utonium said after listening to Buttercup. Buttercup suddenly got a big smile on her face.
"Maj-ma Maj-ma" she said much more loudly.
Sandy instantly lost the smile and dropped her head.
"I think you're right." she said.
Of all the things she could've said instead of 'Ma-Ma' why'd it have to be THAT?!?! Sandy thought, feeling disappointed. Why couldn't Buttercup have said something like 'Cookie', or her name, or even 'Bulldozer'!? Why Major Man!?!
"Hey," said Utonium, suddenly getting an idea, "maybe we should take them to the Convention Center tomorrow."
The girls suddenly started bouncing, especially Blossom and Bubbles. If Sandy didn't know better, she would've sworn that Buttercup was only saying 'Major Man' because the other two wanted her to.
"I don't think that's such a good idea." Sandy said, "They're very young. And besides, there's something about that Major Man I don't trust. He seems phony to me for some reason."
"All right, it'd probably be a big waste of time and money anyway." said Utonium "Chances are he wouldn't be around for five minutes before he leaves and everyone just gets Xeroxed autographed pictures."
Sandy couldn't help laughing a little at that remembering an incident from her own childhood where that exact thing had happened.
"You're probably right." she said.
"MAJ-MA MAJ-MA" said Buttercup much more loudly. Sandy picked up the baby girl and ran a hand through her hair.
"Sorry, Baby, but you can't go." she said, trying to sound sorry, though deep down glad her girls wouldn't be around him. She felt that their powers could be used for good, today's incident may have proved that. But she feared Major Man's influence on the girls could ruin that chance.
Buttercup looked down at the floor and pouted. Sandy couldn't bear to look at it because it broke her heart so much. She hated telling them 'no' sometimes, but she was determined on this issue.
"Maybe some other time." Sandy said, but was soon interrupted by the doorbell, "I'll get it."
She got up to answer the door, taking Buttercup with her.
* * * * *
"So much for that." Blossom said, after watching the whole display from the floor.
"On the plus side, at least she's smart enough to see Major Man for a fake." said Bubbles.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Blossom replied.
* * * * *
Sandy walked to the door holding a squirming Buttercup in her right arm. She just barely managed to get the door open without dropping Buttercup to the floor. And Sandy nearly dropped her again when she saw the person on the other side.
Standing on the other side was a man with sky blue eyes and gray hair. He was rather large and muscular with large arms and a slightly bulging stomach where he'd obviously packed on a few pounds over the years.
"Dad!" said Sandy, "You're early...and shaved?"
Indeed, where her father had let grow a rather large beard was now completely hairless. Sandy probably figured her mother, Angela, was behind it since she was the only person on Earth who could make Jack Keane do anything he didn't want to do. And he had really wanted to have that beard.
"Yeah, your mother made me get rid of the beard." Jack said, confirming Sandy's suspicion. He walked in and gave Sandy a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then kneeled over to Sandy's arms and kissed Buttercup on the forehead, eliciting a small giggle from the child. Sandy handed Buttercup to him and they walked into the living room together. Utonium stood from the couch when he saw Jack enter.
"Jack! What a surprise." Utonium said as he shook Jack's free hand.
"I caught an earlier flight so I could get here sooner." Jack said, sitting down and setting Buttercup in his lap. Sandy sat down after picking up Bubbles and setting the child in her lap. Utonium did the same for Blossom.
"You came at a good time." said Sandy, starting up the conversation, "Buttercup said her first words today."
"Did she?" asked Jack, tickling the baby in his lap under the chin. Buttercup let out a laugh that brought a smile to the adults' faces.
"She can say 'Da-da'" said Utonium, a hint of pride in his voice, "and 'Maj-ma' which I think is supposed to be Major Man."
"So, our little Baby's a fan of Major Man, is she?" asked Jack, tickling Buttercup some more, this time on the stomach. Making Buttercup laugh even more from both the giggling and the special attention she was receiving.
"Buttercup," Utonium said, trying to get the little girl's attention, when she looked at him Utonium continued, "can you say 'grandpa'?" he asked her, repeating the word slowly so Buttercup would be able to imitate it. Buttercup tried a few times, but couldn't get past the "gr" part of the word.
"Come on, Baby," Sandy gently urged, "'gran-pa'."
"Gwa...gwa..." Buttercup struggled, everyone watched the child expectantly. Even Blossom and Bubbles were mesmerized by the display, but for different reasons.
"Ampa" Buttercup said, getting it as close as she could. She looked at the adults, proud of herself.
"Very good, honey." said Utonium, looking at Buttercup proudly. That was only the first of several praises, lavished on her by the three grown-ups.
Blossom and Bubbles watched Buttercup struggle to speak. They both felt a mixture of surprise and relief. Relief because the more at least one of them was able to , the sooner they could tell the adults their problem. And surprise because Buttercup was sincerely struggling to speak and almost seemed to be enjoying all the attention she was being given because of her limited ability to speak.
"Wow, what's goin' on with Buttercup?" Bubbles asked, unable to contain herself anymore.
"Well, when's the last time Buttercup's ever had this much attention?" Blossom asked in reply. Bubbles thought about it for a minute and came up with a lot of examples of times Buttercup was center of attention.
"In a good way?" Blossom amended, when she realized where Bubbles's thoughts were heading.
"Never." Bubbles said quickly, knowing that all of the events she had thought were all instances where Buttercup was getting in trouble.
That explains things a bit. Bubbles thought. This was one of the few times that Bubbles knew of where Buttercup was being given a lot of praise and attention for being able to do something that, for the moment anyway, the other two couldn't.
"So, are you going to take the kids to see Major Man?" Jack asked, "I heard he's doing an appearance at the Convention Center." Buttercup saw a renewed chance for Blossom's plan.
"MAJ-MA" she screamed. Gaining nothing more than a giggle from Jack, who tousled her hair.
"No." Sandy said, "We decided that it would just be a waste of time and money, besides, I don't trust him."
"I don't blame you." Jack said, unlike Utonium he had heard about the incident when Major Man was at Pokey Oaks and would have hunted the guy down if Sandy had convinced her not to, "But still, the girls seem to like him."
Each girl briefly felt a small shudder at the thought of actually liking Major Man. Fortunately, it went unnoticed by the adults. Though Sandy turned up the heat a bit thinking they were simply cold. Still, Buttercup tried again to let them know they wanted to go to the appearance, for the moment she had to at least pretend to like the big jerk.
"Maj-Ma" she yelled.
"Oh, she's sweet. Just like you when you were little, Sandy." Jack said, tousling Buttercup's hair more, her hair was now frizzy and sticking out in every direction but Buttercup either didn't notice or didn't care, "I'm glad I got here early."
"We are too," Sandy said, though with a wry smirk on her face, "but ironically you're a little too late, it's the girls' bedtime. But you can help us get them ready."
Blossom was a little confused, their bedtime was 8:00pm, it was only 7 o'clock. The only time they'd had a 7 o'clock bedtime was for about a week when Ms. Keane, worried about the Girls, convinced Utonium to institute a curfew for them. But after about a week, Utonium had decided it was impractical and made a compromise with Ms. Keane for eight. She agreed with that and the Girls were okay with it too, though they did grumble a bit since their original bedtime had been 9 o'clock.
"They can't stay up a little longer to spend some time with their granddaddy?" Jack asked, the look in Sandy's eyes told him all he needed, Just like her mother he thought.
"Okay, okay. I'll help you get them ready." Jack said.
* * * * *
The adults took the girls upstairs and prepared them for bed. The adults gave the girls a bath. Followed by the babies being taken by the adults to their bedroom, now their nursery, and dressing them all in baby doll nightgowns of their respective colors of light blue, light green, and pink like the ones they had been expecting to wake up in the night before.
Each child was then handed what was, the adults believed, their most cherished possessions. Blossom was given the Blarney doll she had woken up with. Bubbles got Octi, and Buttercup got her green blankie. This was proceeded with the girls being placed in their crib for the night. Buttercup, however, stood up, using the crib rail for support, and watched the adults leave. But Sandy noticed her and laid Buttercup on her back and tucked her in for the night.
"So, how did you like being everyone's Little Baby for a day, Buttercup?" Blossom asked, unable to resist teasing her 'tough' sibling.
"What're ya talkin' bout?" Buttercup said, in her 'tough-girl' voice.
"They were tickling you and playin' with you an' saying what a 'good girl' you were." Bubbles said, smiling. The adults had played with Bubbles and Blossom too, but just about all of their attention had been focused on Buttercup, "And you were loving every second of it." she said.
"I was not!" replied Buttercup in what her sisters knew to be a futile attempt at denial.
"Oh, come on! It was obvious! Don't even try to deny it." said Blossom, "You usually don't get that kind of attention, so it's no big deal."
"I wasn't likin' it!" said Buttercup, almost shouting, "I hate being a baby, we have to eat baby food, drink from bottles, wear diapers..."
"...get the highest praise for the smallest accomplishment," said Blossom, who continued Buttercup's list, "get adults all but waiting on you hand and foot, have no responsibilities, get to grow up like a regular kid..."
"Okay, okay, maybe I like it a little." Buttercup finally admitted. Partly to get Blossom and Bubbles to be quiet. Though it was true, and that fact surprised even Buttercup.
"Well, at least you're adjusting." said Blossom, a resigned tone in her voice, "Which is probably a good thing since we can't get close enough to Major Man to find out about what happened to us."
"Yeah, Ms. Keane and the Professor won't take us." Bubbles said, in the same tone as Blossom, "'Sides, what would we do even if we did get to Major Man?"
"Yeah, he won't be able to understand what we said to him until we could talk for ourselves." Buttercup pointed out.
"And by then," Blossom began, "HIM will probably have done whatever it is he planned to do. He's bound to do something before we can talk and tell people what happened, even if nobody'd believe us. He's not one to take dumb risks."
"So, no matter what, we have to get back to normal." Bubbles said.
"Either that, or get Mommy and Daddy, to take off these restrainers and let us be superheroes again." Buttercup said.
"Yeah." Blossom said with a yawn, "Well, there's nothing we can do about it right now. Let's go to sleep."
"Okay." said Bubbles.
"G'night." said Buttercup.
It wasn't until just before sleep overtook Blossom that she realized Buttercup had called Ms. Keane and the Professor 'Mommy' and 'Daddy' without even thinking about it. Blossom would have mentioned it but she drifted off to dreamland before she could wake either of her sisters.
* * * * *
The next day went pretty much like the last one, but without the excitement of going to a Daycare center run by a demon of the Netherworld. They woke up and were bathed, dressed, and fed. Sandy left for Pokey Oaks just after breakfast leaving Jack, the Professor, and the Girls at home.
Utonium turned his father-in-law's early arrival to his advantage and went down into his basement laboratory to do some work. Jack played with his grandchildren for most of the day, taking breaks to attend to the needs of the Girls. For the Girls themselves, the day pretty much went as a day in the life of any 9-month-old triplets. Eating, napping, playing, et cetera.
That afternoon Utonium returned from his lab only to eat some lunch. They had a big meal and afterward Utonium go up from the table approached Jack, who was taking care of the dishes.
"Oh, I have to get back to the lab." he said, looking at his watch, "When Sandy gets home just tell her I'll be in there until dinner."
"Sure thing." said Jack.
"Thanks, Jack." said Utonium, grabbing a cup of coffee, he then gave each girl a kiss on the forehead, "Bye Angels, Daddy will see you later." he left the kitchen and went to the lab. Jack stopped doing the dishes and went to the Girls.
"Finally, thought he'd never leave." Jack said, giving the Girls a conspiratorial wink. The Girls just look at him, slightly confused.
"Now, I know you three want to go see Major Man." said Jack, "Well, I'm going to take you. After all, what good's a grandpa if he doesn't spoil his grandchildren a little?"
"Ampa!" said Buttercup, more out of surprise that Jack was going against Sandy and Utonium's instructions.
"Which reminds me..." Jack said jokingly, "Don't go telling your Mommy and Daddy about this, okay?"
He gave Buttercup a little poke in the ribs and the ticklish girl giggled.
"Now, let's get you set to go".
* * * * *
As Jack 'borrowed' Utonium's station wagon to take the Girls to the Convention Center, he thought about just how difficult it was to get those kids ready to go anywhere. Buttercup kept trying to get away from him when he was dressing her, as if she really didn't want to go after all. Making a discreet getaway was tough because he had to haul their stuff to the station wagon. He was honestly surprised at how big a diaper bag Bill and Sandy kept for the kids.
Oh well, they really did seem to want to come. I'm sure they'll enjoy themselves.
* * * * *
Blossom, in fact, was very happy for this turn of events.
"This is our chance! Thank goodness for grandparent stereotypes." she said excitedly.
"Yeah, soon we won't have to be babies anymore." Said Bubbles, who then suddenly realized what she'd just said, "Don't say it, Buttercup." she suddenly snapped, cutting off a potential "You're a baby" joke from Buttercup. Buttercup however, showed no response. She just sat in the passenger side car seat staring off into space.
"Buttercup? Buttercup? Wow what's up with her? She didn't even notice you cut off her joke." Blossom told Bubbles.
"Yeah." Bubbles said, she turned to Buttercup "Buttercup, is something wrong?"
"Huh? No...nothin's wrong." Buttercup answered, a little too quickly. Blossom and Bubbles just looked at her with obvious skepticism in their eyes. Buttercup sighed and looked at her sisters.
"Well, I've been thinkin' 'bout what Daddy said before. You know, that stuff 'bout how we were supposed to be born babies."
"Yeah, I've thought about it too, so what?" Blossom said.
"So what? So what!?" Buttercup said, almost sounding outraged, "This's how things are s'posed to be. We could grow up like normal kids, we could have a mom and a dad, and we could even have a grandpa who'd do anything for us. Why're we trying to throw all that away?"
"Buttercup, it's our responsibility to Townsville..." Blossom said, before getting interrupted by Buttercup.
"Our responsibility to Townsville. Our responsibility to Townsville." Buttercup said in an obvious, and insulting, impersonation of Blossom. She then continued in her normal voice.
"I'm sick of our responsibility to Townsville. Major Man's been doin' an okay job, an' he already wanted to be the hero, why not let him?"
"He's a fake and we all know it." Blossom pointed out, "Sooner or later he's going to screw up and Townsville, if not the world, will pay the price."
"Why does it have to be us who saves the world?" Buttercup asked rhetorically. Bubbles looked at Buttercup confused.
"I thought you liked saving Earth."
"I like the fighting, that's totally different. And I'd gladly give that up if I could grow up normal." Buttercup said, clearly meaning every word. Blossom and Bubbles looked at Buttercup half-shocked, half-amazed at Buttercup's admission. Blossom was the first to speak up.
"Wow, I didn't know you felt that way."
"Well, I do...what of it?" Buttercup said, clearly expecting something to be said at her expense.
Blossom was not planning to say anything like what Buttercup expected. But before she could say what she meant to Jack interrupted them with the announcement that they had arrived at the Convention Center.
* * * * *
Jack took the kids out of the backseat of the wagon. But first he got out the stroller kept in the very back of the car. There was a slight breeze in the air which made Jack wonder if the kids would be too cold. But he figured their overalls and white shirts would probably work well enough. What Jack simply didn't understand was why Utonium insisted on dressing the girls in certain colors. Blossom pink, Bubbles blue, Buttercup green. But it's wasn't his place to talk, he was just the grandpa.
Jack took the kids out of the car and buckled them in the stroller. He rolled the stroller down the length of the parking lot and into the Convention Center.
It wasn't long before Jack found where Major Man was signing autographs. He sat there on a raised platform flexing and basically just making himself look good, or at least trying to.
He saw Blossom and Bubbles begin to bounce in the stroller excitedly. But Buttercup seemed even more depressed than when they left. He just didn't get it. She had been so enthusiastic last night. Had she really been acting that way for her sisters?
Nah, Jack thought. They're only nine months old, they wouldn't know how to do that.
He pushed the stroller along.
* * * * *
Major Man signed the autographs for the people around him. As he signed them his eyes soon got a full view of Jack and the Girls. Major Man suddenly got a very scared look on his face and turned to the crowd.
"Oh, well, I have to go everyone, I hear a crime being committed. So long!" he hurriedly said to the disappointed crowd, "Autographed photos available in the lobby!" he said as he left.
It was nearly a minute before Blossom realized what had just happened.
"He saw us and ran! He definitely knows something!" Blossom said.
"Now we'll never get to him." Bubbles said in resigned tone of voice. She and Blossom looked imploringly at Buttercup, who quickly understood what they wanted. She sighed and looked up at Jack.
"MAJ-MA! MAJ-MA!" Buttercup yelled.
Blossom and Bubbles make themselves cry their hardest, trying to sound upset at Major Man's sudden departure.
"That jerk." said Jack, more upset at how he disappointed the kids rather than Major Man's leaving, "it almost seems like he left because of you. Well, don't worry kids, I'll get you to him."
Jack rolled the stroller through a door in the wall near the stage and entered into a corridor. He sees Major Man, with a worried look on his face, enter a dressing room with a star on it.
"Come on, girls." said Jack, who went to the dressing room door. He hesitated on knocking on the door and went in front of the stroller and kneeled in front of the babies. He rolled up the legs on the their overalls to reveal the Restrainers underneath. He fiddled with the latches on the Restrainers and removed them. He proceeded to unbuckle the stroller so the kids couldn't break the straps accidentally trying to get out.
"In case he tries to run on us again." Jack told the girls, though he wondered if they understood him. The girls responded by smiling floating out of the stroller. Jack was dumbfounded.
"Wow! There's no way to be prepared for seeing that." Jack said in awe. He had heard about their flying but, indeed, there was no way to prepare for actually seeing it before your own eyes.
The girls just giggled at their grandfather as he walked up to the door and knocked on it. The door opened and a very rattled Major Man peeked out. His eyes scanned over his visitors and, the second he saw the girls, let out a high pitched yell.
"That's it, he's up to something, girls..." Jack fumed. The babies broke down the door and Jack was able to just walk right in. Major Man was huddled in a corner looking around nervously unsure of what to do. Jack grabbed him by the collar and held the Major at eye level.
"Okay, Major, what the heck's up with you and my granddaughters?" he asked the whimpering 'superhero'.
"Well...uhhhhh..." Major Man stuttered, trying to make up a plausible excuse, "it's not every day you see babies flying."
"True," Jack said, "but there's something else. You ran off when you saw them on the stage, before they flew."
"Umm...well...umm...why should I tell you anything?" Major Man demanded, finally working up some courage.
Blossom flew to Major Man and gave him a quick punch of the jaw. After that every last shred of dignity Major Man left him and he began crying and wailing. Jack would have called him a crybaby but that would have been an insult to the girls.
"Okay, I'll tell you anything you want to know." Major Man whimpered. He then proceeded to tell Jack the entire story. From the events concerning the Powerpuff Girls' birth as five year olds to the spell that HIM cast to make them infants to that very moment.
"Let me see if I have this right." Jack said, his skepticism obvious, "These Girls are supposed to be five-year-olds, attending my daughter's Kindergarten, and saving Townsville the way you are now. But you got a demon known by no other name except 'HIM' to change history so that they were born infants which allowed you to become the superhero of town and allow this HIM guy to get the girls."
"ido thib leemaja" Jack heard Bubbles say. He didn't realize that Blossom heard "I don't think he believes Major Man."
"iwou eithif im" Blossom replied, with Bubbles and Buttercup hearing "I wouldn't either if I were him."
"OK, if all this is true, why didn't the girls try and say something earlier?" Jack asked, glancing at the girls floating in the corner of the room.
"Da-da...Maj-ma...Ampa" Buttercup replied solemnly.
"Oh. 'Nuff said." Jack automatically replied, then his eyes went wide and he looked at Buttercup, "Hey, wait a sec...you understood me, didn't you?"
Buttercup nodded.
"So, all this is true?"
All three Girls nod this time.
"Amazing." Jack said, though he felt that didn't begin to describe what he felt, "Well, what do we do about this?" he, once again, turned his attention to Major Man, "Is there a way to reverse it?"
"Possibly." Major Man said, too scared of the Girls to even try to lie, "But the spell is with HIM, the only way to get it is to go to his lair."
"Well, where is his lair?" Jack said.
"I can't tell you. There's no telling what he'll do to me if I told." Major Man whined.
Blossom floated to Jack and tugged gently on his shirt. Though Blossom's definition of 'gentle' wasn't the same as Jack's and he ended up getting pulled almost to the floor with Blossom's tug.
"Do you know where it is?" Jack said, getting up on his feet. Blossom nodded in reply.
"All right then, let's get to the car." Jack told the girls. Blossom smiled and shook her head.
"What, you have a better way to get there?" Jack asked, beginning to see what she was planning.
Blossom nodded and grabbed Jack by his left arm while Bubbles took his right arm and Buttercup hefted his underarms, or at least tried, her small body not having arms long enough to let her get a very solid grip. The girls took off at top speed, crashing through the roof, carrying a screaming Jack with them.
Major Man, left to his own devices, spent a few more minutes crying on the floor. He eventually got up the nerve to go to the phone and make a phone call.
* * * * *
Jack and the Girls entered HIM's lair by slowly opening the front door. They had been about to crash through his roof like they had when they left Major Man but Jack managed to stop them in time by pointing out that they didn't want to alert HIM to their presence too soon. The girls agreed and Jack jimmied open the door giving them access inside.
They looked around at an all-red living room. The entire place, walls, floor, and most of the furniture was either red or pink with the exception of a few green chairs. Jack stands awestruck for a few seconds before regaining his voice.
"And I thought seeing you fly was different."
The girls quietly giggle as the foursome splits up to search HIM's lair.
* * * * *
Bubbles was examining the rooms along the hall when she suddenly heard a loud, masculine voice.
"WHAT!? You idiot! How could you tell them!" it yelled.
Oh, no! Bubbles thought, HIM! They had worried that HIM would be home but had decided to risk it since now was the only time they would have a clear shot at getting the spell in their hands. Bubbles didn't bother hearing the rest of HIM's rant as she rushed to the living room where Jack and Blossom were searching.
* * * * *
Jack saw Bubbles flying frantically right at him.
"hmis phobe dro" Bubbles said, though Jack had no way of knowing that she was saying "HIM is on the phone in his bedroom!"
"Bubbles, sweetie, what's wrong?" Jack asked, worried, "Bubbles, you know I can't understand you. Is that demon thing, HIM?"
Bubbles nodded her head vigorously, a very scared look on her face.
"He's here?"
Bubbles continued nodding and pointed at the bedroom.
"Okay, let's try and stay away from there." Jack said, hoping they could find the spell without having to go there and before HIM realized he had unwelcome visitors.
As Jack looked around the living room with the girls, he saw Blossom looking at a safe hidden behind a picture of some naked red guy who resembled a devil that had let himself go. Blossom quietly ripped open the safe and carried a piece of paper inside of it over to Jack.
Jack examined the paper closely. Though it was hard to read, it was written in English, and was undoubtedly the magic spell they were looking for. When Jack told the kids this Blossom and Bubbles were, without a doubt, excited. Buttercup, however, seemed almost sad that they'd found it. But their celebration over their success didn't last very long.
"Pardon me..." said a feminine voice behind them, "but I believe that's mine."
"o wn m" Buttercup shouted, only Blossom and Bubbles heard "Oh, no! HIM!"
Indeed, HIM was standing at the entrance of the hallway, a very angry look on his face.
"Now, if you wouldn't mind." HIM said in his feminine voice, continuing in his masculine, "Giving me back what's mine!"
"And if we don't." Jack said, all but daring HIM to try something.
HIM swiped one of his lobster claws in front of him and suddenly Jack was thrown sideways into a wall, the spell falling out of his hands.
"Ampa!" Buttercup yelled. She attacked HIM head-on followed closely by Bubbles and Blossom.
"You won't catch me off-guard this time." said HIM, back in his feminine tones.
HIM twirled his claw and an orange energy barrier appeared around him and bounced the girls to the floor. He then used some telekinesis, an easy feat for someone like HIM, to hold the children to the ground. He dropped the barrier and walked slowly to the girls
"You know..." HIM said, in his feminine voice, "I'm almost glad Major Idiot told you about the spell. Now you will know I was the one fully responsible for your deaths."
"Not so fast, buddy!" someone beside HIM said right before punching him right in the jaw.
"Take that you Devil-wannabe!" said Jack Keane as he gave HIM a few more socks to the face and stomach. "Guess you didn't count on their grandpa being a Citysville District Heavyweight Boxing Champion!"
The attack broke HIM's concentration and his hold on the Girls broke, allowing them to get off the floor. HIM, recovering from Jack's assault, was about to attack the old boxer when the girls again charged the demon and started their own flurry of punches and kicks. They began beating on the creature with even more ferocity than they had back at the Hillside Infant Manor. All Jack could do was stay out of the kids' way while watching them with awe.
One day, Jack thought, I should try to teach them how to box. The mere thought of what that powers of theirs could do if they were taught to use them properly just left him speechless.
The girls finished their beat-down and floated to Jack, who picked up the spell and looked at the fallen monster. Jack clearly saw that if that thing were human, it never would have survived the assault. Jack wasn't even all that sure it survived even though it wasn't human.
But that wasn't Jack's concern now. He once again allowed the girls to carry him though the air back to the convention center so they could get the station wagon and go home.
* * * * *
Sandy and Utonium were nowhere near as happy as Jack and the kids were at gaining the spell. To Jack, they seemed so angry at him that he would be hearing a lot of colorful language if the kids weren't sitting quietly on the floor. They weren't angry just because he'd gone against their wishes and taken the girls to the convention center, in fact, Sandy was expecting him to do it since last night. They were angry at the fact he'd put their babies at such great risks, not believing they were much older, at least in mind if not body.
"Okay...let me see if I have this right..." Sandy said, mirroring Jack's own responses to Major Man's story, "...you took the girls to that demon-thing's lair, knowing full well it tried to kill them the day before. And all because of the fairy tales of that Major Glory wannabe!"
"And you come home prattling on about some magic history changing spell. What were you thinking?" Utonium said, more furious than Jack had ever seen him before.
"Hey, hey, hey," said Jack, holding his hands out in front of him, "I know it wasn't too bright, but those girls were fully capable of handling themselves. And if you don't believe me about the five-year-old thing, Sandy, test them. You're a Kindergarten teacher, you know what to look for.
"Aside from talking and motor skills, they have the minds of Kindergartners. I even think Blossom might be a little higher then that, she at least seems to be the leader."
Buttercup and Bubbles glowered at their smug, smiling sister.
"Okay, I will, Right now. And I'll let you know the results as soon as I'm finished." Sandy stated, picking up Bubbles and taking her to an office Utonium made for her. Jack and Utonium picked up the other girls and took them in there to let Sandy do her work.
* * * * *
Sandy took her time with the tests, being as thorough as possible. She performed every cognition, I.Q., aptitude, and mental ability test she ever learned on the girls and even some she took some time to just now find out about. She examined every girl alone and in a group.
Eventually, she finished all of the tests and brought the girls, exhausted from the work, into the living room and set them in their playpen next to the sofa. She waited a few minutes for them to fall asleep. When they did she left the room to go into the kitchen and tell Bill and her father what she had learned.
* * * * *
When Sandy had left the room, Blossom sat up and roused her sisters, who almost fell asleep from the testing. When she was sure they were completely awake she finally spoke up in a whisper.
"I guess our secret's out now."
"Why are you whispering?" Buttercup said, not realizing she was being just as quiet.
"Because of that." Blossom said, pointing to a baby monitor on the coffee table that had been turned on by Sandy before she'd left, "If someone hears us, a grown-up is gonna come in here and wait us out until we go to sleep."
"Oh." conceded Buttercup.
"Hey, I can hear them in the kitchen." Bubbles announced.
"Our hearing works? But I thought Daddy said the Restrainers kept us from using our powers." Buttercup said.
There it is again. Blossom thought, who noticed that Buttercup had just referred to the Professor as "Daddy" automatically without realizing she was doing it.
"Not exactly." said Blossom, pushing her thought aside, "The Professor said that the Restrainers might not be able to keep back all of our powers, hearing must be one the Restrainers can't get."
"Be quiet, they're talking about the spell." Bubbles said, ending the conversation.
* * * * *
Sandy, Utonium, and Jack were sitting at the kitchen table, Utonium and Jack eager for the results of Sandy's tests. Finally, Sandy cleared her throat and spoke.
"Well, dad was right. The tests prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup have the mental and emotional capabilities of an average five-year-old."
Jack smirked a little at being proven right, Utonium just stared at Sandy slack-jawed.
"Amazing, that's the only word I can come up with. Amazing." Utonium said, barely a whisper.
"Yep," Sandy nodded, "and if what dad said is true, then this spell was used to change history. From a world where the Girls are my students..." suddenly, her eyes started to tear up "...and we're not together...to this." she finishes gesturing to their surroundings.
"Where the Girls defend Townsville instead of just being our babies." Utonium said solemnly.
"Yeah, but what do we do now that we know this. How do we even know this spell will work if we tried it?" asked Sandy.
"Sandy," said Jack, "You have infant daughters with superpowers, they've fought against, and beaten, a supernatural demon, twice, and that same demon is the one who caused all this, and you're still wondering if one spell will work?"
"You're right. Only now it's not a matter of 'could we', so much as it is
'should we'."
Sandy and Jack looked at Utonium, perplexed. The girls, in the living room, listened attentively as well. Sandy was the first to break the silence.
"What do you mean? The kids had their lives just stolen from them, and you don't think we should do it?"
"It isn't that, Sandy. From what you said, the girls have been like this, in their memories, for with the past couple days, am I right?" when Sandy nodded Utonium finished, "That means they've heard us talking..."
"...Oh dear!" Sandy gasped, remembering yesterday morning when Bubbles had begun screaming for no clear reason, "That's why Bubbles was crying..."
"Right," Utonium confirmed, "we can either not use the spell and keep the girls as they are, which would let them lead full, normal, children's lives. But they'll still have that demon after them, and there's the matter of Major Man, who's working for that HIM character. He could try something.
"Or, we could use the spell and send them back to the world they know, which could be good for them. But they'll be facing those same dangers on a daily basis. This decision is important, and there are only three people who can make it..."
"...The kids themselves." Jack finished for him.
"You're right," Sandy said with a sigh, "I'll go get them."
* * * * *
She got up and walked into the living room, Jack and Bill behind her. She went to the playpen to discover that the girls were wide-awake. She bent over the rail and managed to grab all three of the small children in her arms. She carried them over to the couch and removed their Restrainers, figuring that she could trust the five-year-old infants not to destroy anything if with their powers. She stepped back from the sofa and stood between her father and husband.
"Girls..." Sandy started, still not used to the idea of thinking of the girls as children the age of her students, "...girls, we've been talking about what to do about that spell. And we've decided..."
Blossom interrupted Sandy's stammering by pointing to herself.
"You know? How?" Sandy asked, perplexed.
"Super-sensitive hearing." Utonium guessed.
Blossom nodded vigorously.
So, there are powers the Restrainers can't hold. Sandy thought.
"Then you know what we want you to do." Sandy said out loud, more statement than question. Blossom nodded again.
"Well then, I guess all we can do now is await your decision."
Minutes passed as the girls, mostly Blossom and Bubbles discussed their decision. Sandy, despite her statements in the kitchen, kind of hoped they'd choose not to go back. But she wasn't sure whether it was simply concern for the girls, she thought it would be best if they had full lives, or if was just her being shelfish because she didn't want to lose Utonium as her husband or the girls as her daughters. She could sense Utonium felt the same thing.
After they finished deliberating, Blossom and Bubbles floated off the couch and over to Utonium and looked to the spell, clearly indicating their decision to return to their world. But Buttercup remained where she was. Blossom and Bubbles looked at their sister both confused and concerned. Blossom floated to her sister to learn what was wrong.
"wawon buhkado uwa trowu" Blossom said, sounding like a question.
"es" was Buttercup's reply.
* * * * *
"What's wrong, Buttercup, don't you want to grow up again?" Blossom asked.
"Yes." was Buttercup's simple reply.
Blossom looked at Buttercup closely, she seemed about to break into tears, something she rarely did. Blossom didn't now what was up. Then, it suddenly hit her. Buttercup's calling Ms. Keane and the Professor 'Mommy' and 'Daddy', her recent depression when they were after Major Man and the spell, her hesitation at this moment, it all added up now.
"Now I get it. You want to grow up." Blossom said, more surprised than anything.
Buttercup, still holding back her tears, slowly nods.
"Isn't that what we'll be doing?" Bubbles asked, not quite understanding the situation.
"No, Bubbles, Buttercup wants to grow up..." Blossom thought hard for the right word or phrase, "...'the old fashioned way'."
"Like the way all the other kids do?" Bubbles said, realization dawning on her.
"Exactly, it's not that she doesn't want to be five again, it's just that she wants to have a full childhood. She wants to experience everything normal children do." Blossom said, trying to the best of her ability to explain what she understood of Buttercup's feelings, "The things we never really experienced because we were born five and already knew most of stuff that we should've learned through personal experience and being taught by parents."
"You mean like learning to ride a bike?" Bubbles suggested.
"Right, as well as walking, talking, having grandparents spoil you completely, going to Preschool...heck, maybe even potty training..."
"It's not just that..." Buttercup finally spoke up. Blossom and Bubbles looked at Buttercup, eager to learn what was causing her desire to remain.
"It's also that..." Buttercup said with a sniff, "...we have..." another sniff, "...a family here."
"We're a family at home, too. You, me, Blossom, the Professor..." Bubbles began pointing out before being interrupted by Buttercup.
"IT'S NOT THE SAME!" she shouted, finally letting her tears flow freely, "We don't have a 'Professor' here." Buttercup sobbed and looked at Professor Utonium, "We have a Daddy." she turned her head to Sandy, "We have a Mommy." she looked to Jack, "We have a Grandpa." she broke down completely at that moment. She now barely managed to speak between sobs, "I don't (sob) want (sob) to lose that!"
* * * * *
Sandy watched the display in front of her with nothing less than awe. Even if she hadn't known that they were older than their bodies suggested, she'd have known instantly something had Buttercup very upset. Anybody could tell that Buttercup wasn't giving a simple 'I'm hungry, feed me!' or 'I'm wet, change me!' cry. This was an all-out 'I'm upset and need comfort' cry.
She didn't understand a word of what was being said between the girls, but it was clear what was happening. Buttercup didn't want to go back. She seemed to prefer life as an infant over whatever it was her sisters wished to return to.
"Poor kid, what's wrong?" Jack asked, thinking out loud.
"The way she looked at us, I think she doesn't want to leave us." Sandy said. This was confirmed by a nod from Blossom, who overheard Sandy's comment.
"Poor little thing." said Sandy, unable to bear seeing Buttercup cry so. She walked over and picked up the weeping child, "There, there, Baby, don't cry." she spoke soothingly.
Soon, Buttercup's sobbing toned down to barely audible whimpers. The children and adults alike watched as Sandy whispered unheard reassurances into the child ear. Buttercup eventually pushed away from Sandy and gave a nod that almost went unnoticed by everyone had Sandy not spoken.
"Okay, Buttercup's in."
Buttercup once again hugged Sandy, burying her head in her mother's shoulder and started crying again. Sandy simply held her close in a tight hug.
Blossom, ready to get down to business, took the spell from Utonium's hand to see what was required for it. She read over it, though it was slightly fuzzy because her ability to read was beginning to slip due to the infant side of her mind. Despite that, she was able to make out the ingredients, though only by concentrating on that part alone. As she read, she noticed that all the ingredients were all pretty common and, if not in the house, were easy to get hold of. Then her eyes widened when she got to the last, and most important, ingredient.
She suddenly pulled at the Professor's lab coat frantically, forgetting her strength and pulling Utonium down to the floor in the process of pulling. Utonium got up and looked at Blossom, who looked embarrassed by her little faux pas.
"What is it, sweetie." Utonium asked, rubbing his side where he'd landed on the floor. Blossom points to a point on the paper. Utonium took it from her hands and examined the place she'd pointed to, "Oh no!" he exclaimed.
"What is it?" Sandy asked, holding a now silent Buttercup who had cried herself out and had her head buried against Sandy's shoulder.
"There's something we missed. Something we need for the spell that we don't have." Utonium said.
"What?" Jack asked.
"'To allow the creation of a new history," Utonium read, "the casters must have present the duck of rubber of one who has had lengthful exposure to the supernatural.' The only person we know who could possibly fit that qualification is HIM. And he certainly won't help us."
"Oh no." Jack said. While the girls were definitely very special, they weren't magical.
Utonium and Sandy could clearly see Blossom was upset. She wanted to return. Bubbles, seemed disappointed, as if she could live with either world. Buttercup showed no reaction. Upon closer inspection, Sandy noticed Buttercup had cried herself to sleep and hadn't heard the recent exchange.
"Wait a sec..." said Sandy, "there might be somebody."
"Who?" Utonium asked.
Sandy shifted Buttercup in her arms slightly so she could hold the child in her right arm as she picked up the receiver on the telephone and balanced it between her head and left shoulder. She then began dialing a number. After a few minutes of ringing, Sandy started talking stopping for a few seconds to let the person on the other end speak.
"Hello, this is Sandy Utonium, your son's teacher. (pause) Yes, yes, he's doing very well in class. This might sound strange, but does your son by any chance own a rubber duck? (pause) He does, that's great. (pause) Um, no, this has no bearing on his grade, I just need a rubber duck, could he bring it here? (pause) Thank you so much."
With that, Sandy hung up the phone and turned to everyone, who looked at her puzzled.
"Our duck should be here a little bit later." Sandy announced.
* * * * *
The wait lasted about an hour and a half. The Utoniums passed the time sitting on the couch just talking, watching television, Utonium reading a little. Blossom and Bubbles played while Utonium and Jack simply talked to each other. Sandy tended to Buttercup, who remained asleep the full hour and a half, by gently rocking her and singing lullabies when she appeared to begin waking up from a loud noise or abrupt movement on Sandy's part.
"So, Sandy, who's this kid you think can help us?" Jack asked quietly, trying to keep from waking the child in his daughter’s arms. Sandy replied in kind.
"He's a boy in my class, we had a little trouble concerning him that could be considered supernatural. But to be honest, it's a long shot."
"What's that?" Utonium asked.
"He had an imaginary friend that turned evil and ran amok. It's a good thing he conjured up another one to fight him, or my entire school would have been destroyed." Sandy said, drawing a shocked reaction from Jack.
"You had a kid in your class with an evil imaginary friend, and you still doubted that a magic spell would work?" Jack said, almost too loudly, for Buttercup began stirring. A few quiet words from Sandy sent back into her slumber. She then rolled her eyes over at Jack.
"OK, dad, I get your point. Now be quiet."
At that time there was a dim knock at the door. It would have gone unnoticed if not for the girls’ super-hearing. The gestured to the door upon hearing it and Utonium, still holding Blossom, got up to answer it.
On the other side of the door was a small, brown-haired boy the same age as the girls are supposed to be. His black eyes had a sad look and he wore red shorts with a black T-shirt that had a 0 on it. He also had a red backpack, which presumably held what they needed. Blossom jumped briefly when she saw the boy. Utonium figured he was someone she knew in her previous life.
"Hello, you must be Mike, please come in." Utonium said warmly.
Mike Believe walked in slowly and looked around the room anxiously.
"It's okay, Mike, come here." Sandy said, gesturing to the couch as she stood up and placed Buttercup in the playpen. Utonium sat back down on the couch next to Jack while Sandy saw to getting their duck.
* * * * *
Bubbles was not too excited about who Sandy's choice had been. She had become friends with Mike after that whole imaginary friend debacle. She became worried that Mike would say something about her being a baby. She said as much to Blossom.
"Oh no! Why'd it have to be Mikey? He'll see me as a baby!" she said, beginning to cry.
"Don't worry, Bubbles, he's never met you before on this world." Blossom pointed out, "He'll just think you're a regular baby."
Bubbles calmed down, her fears removed by Blossom's reassurance. They watch Sandy, who is still talking to Mike.
"Did you bring what we asked, honey?" she asked Mike in a gentle tone.
"Uh-huh." said Mike meekly. He took off his backpack and opened it. After some searching, he found what he was after and held it up for Sandy. It was an everyday, yellow rubber duck.
"I know this must be very weird to you," Sandy said reassuringly, "but we need this duck."
Mike gave the duck to Jack, who let Blossom hold it. Mike then turned to Sandy.
"It's okay, I don't need it." he said.
"Thank you so much dear, we owe you big for this." Sandy told him.
Mike's assumed an appearance of deep thought. Bubbles, watching everything, assumed he was trying to think of some sort of reward. She was proven right when she asked Sandy for a favor.
"Can I hold one of the babies?" he asked shyly.
"All right, I don't see why not." Utonium said, putting Bubbles in Mike's arms. The boy held Bubbles a bit awkwardly, clearly showing he'd never held an infant before. Bubbles might have tried to indicate she wanted him to let go, but she remained silent. She knew Mike was as only child and not around little kids much. So, for his sake, she tolerated his haphazard efforts, though just barley.
"What d'you need it for anyway?" Mike asked after getting a good grip on Bubbles.
"Well, we need it to...cast a...magic spell." Sandy said, trying her best not to sound insane.
"Magic? Cool!" Mike said, his shyness fading, "Can I help?"
"Well, you can play with the babies while we get ready." Sandy told him, "The spell says they need to be asleep before we can cast it. So you can play with them and wear them out. Just don't wake Buttercup, she's all ready asleep." She gestured to the sleeping infant in the playpen.
"Okay." Mike said.
Jack set Blossom on the floor and Utonium took the duck from her hands. They went down to the basement with Sandy close behind.
* * * * *
Mike played games with Blossom and Bubbles in the living room while the babies parents and grandpa worked on casting the spell.
The adults had gotten all of the ingredients ready for the spell while they waited for Mike. So everything was all ready set up in the basement when they went down.
There was also a large pot in the basement. Utonium said it was, in fact, the same pot from which the girls had been in when they were born. He found it oddly appropriate since they were, in a sense, creating the girls anew.
They placed the ingredients in the pot in the increments described by the spell. They continued this until the only object left to be placed in the pot, the rubber duck.
Before putting it in the pot, Utonium went upstairs to check on the kids. He saw Buttercup was still asleep in the playpen, exactly as Sandy had left her. Blossom and Bubbles were asleep on the floor. Mike was drawing in a coloring book he had brought with him.
Utonium back into the basement to let them know the girls were ready too. With a nod, Sandy reluctantly picked up the rubber duck and dropped it in.
* * * * *
"OW!"
Blossom Utonium's eyes snapped open but all she saw in front of her was an up-close view of a pink fuzzy carpet. It took a second before it occurred to her that, while she'd rolled off the bed, crib bars hadn't stopped her as they had the other day.
Blossom rolled on her back and sat up. She looked around, though she was tired and everything was still a bit hazy. She saw to her left the three-sectioned blanket that was usually on her bed. Well, the pink end of it anyway.
She stood up and blinked her eyes to clear her vision. She looked onto the bed to see the footboard was no longer present, though the headboard with the 'PpG' on it was still on the bed. Blossom also viewed the sleeping forms of her sisters. She saw Bubbles holding her Octi doll, Buttercup even had her blankie. The Blarney doll, however, was nowhere in sight. She was a bit disappointed about that. Blossom had liked having it around. She made a private resolution that moment to ask the Professor about getting her one regardless of whether or not he'd think she was being childish.
When she looked at herself, there were no footie-pajamas, no babyish nightie, or even the pink overalls she'd fallen asleep in while playing with Mike. She was wearing her own pink nightgown, same as always.
As she examined her room, she saw that all of the toys were in the bedroom were all toys that had been recommended for ages four and up. All the baby stuff had disappeared as if it was never there, which, in a sense, it hadn't. There were on baby toys, no baby monitors, and no baby furniture, even a baby doll was to be found.
"BUBBLES! BUTTERCUP! WAKE UP!" She yelled excitedly, causing the intended affect as Bubbles woke with a start.
"Blossom? Did it work?" Bubbles asked.
"Yep, we're back to normal." Blossom said.
"Yippee!! Buttercup, wake up! We're normal again." Bubbles said, shaking her sister's shoulder.
"Yay." Buttercup said sarcastically as she slowly got up.
"Hey, Buttercup, can I ask you a question?" Blossom asked, her sister replied by giving a brief nod of her head, "What did Ms. Keane say to you before that made you agree to the spell?"
Buttercup looked away, clearly intending to dodge the question, but the Professor yelled up to their room before she could answer.
"Girls! Breakfast!" He called up.
The Girls quickly dressed and flew downstairs. They saw the Professor in the kitchen making breakfast. They sat down at the table and eagerly awaited what they were going to have for breakfast, not caring if it was good or bad as long it was, at least, something solid.
"Morning, angels." Utonium said as he saw the Girls come downstairs, "I made your favorite."
With that he put down on the table three plates of three pancakes.
"Mmmm...I love pancakes. Thank you, Professor." Bubbles said cheerfully.
"You're very welcome sweetheart." Utonium said to Bubbles, "By the way, girls, I want to ask you something."
The Girls looked at Utonium to see what he wished to ask.
"Well, I've been wondering, would you object if I asked you to call me 'Dad', or 'Daddy'?"
The Girls were all a little surprised at the sudden request.
"No, not at all." Blossom replied, after taking a few seconds to recover from the surprise.
"All right, I'll call you 'daddy'." Bubbles said.
"Okay, sure...Daddy." Buttercup said, a bit shyly and even blushing a bit at the unfamiliar sensation of actually calling Utonium 'Daddy'. Utonium smiled at the Girls.
"All right then, finish your breakfast and head off to school. You don't want to be late."
"Okay." replied all three girls.
They quickly ate their food and gave Utonium a kiss on the cheek before leaving for school.
* * * * *
With their speed, it wasn't long until the Girls reached Pokey Oaks Kindergarten. They entered and saw it was exactly as it had been when they last left it five days ago, last Friday.
The three sisters went to their desks, passing Ms. Keane's desk along the way. Each Girl greeted their teacher then mother now once again teacher in turn.
"Good morning, Ms. Keane." said Blossom.
"Mornin', Ms. Keane." said Bubbles.
"Hi Momm..." Buttercup started to say before stopping herself, "Hi, Ms. Keane."
Ms. Keane smiled and greeted each girl. With that the girls returned to their desk, Buttercup looking a bit forlorn. When they got there, Blossom turned to Buttercup.
"You better watch it, Buttercup, you almost slipped up, big time." she told her sister.
"Whoops, sorry." Buttercup said, acting as if it was nothing.
As Blossom and Buttercup got into a discussion about keeping this whole thing a secret. Bubbles saw Mike come up to her and struck up a discussion.
"Mornin' Mikey." she said, in her usual cheerful mood.
"Hi Bubbles." Mike said, looking a little embarrassed, "I just wanted to say...you were cute."
"Huh?" Bubbles asked, genuinely confused.
"When you were a baby, you were cute." Mike said.
Bubbles was a bit surprised, Blossom had thought that since they were the only ones who seemed to remember the history changes, they should keep the whole thing a secret. But now it seemed as if someone did remember.
"How do you know about that?" She asked Mike.
"Well, anyone who helps make that spell remembers the other history." Mike explained, "So I remembered playing with you while your mom...Ms. Keane and your dad made that spell with the duck I brought."
"Wow, does that mean Ms. Keane remembers, too?" Bubbles asked.
"Guess so." Mike replied with a shrug.
Now Bubbles wasn't sure if Ms. Keane remembered or not. Bubbles looked at Ms. Keane to try and see if she would give some sign that she did know about the changed history. She noticed Ms. Keane was looking at Buttercup. Bubbles knew it was because of Buttercup's greeting. What she didn't know was if it was because it so unusual or if it was because she knew she had been her mommy and understood the slip-up.
Bubbles had no idea just how correct the latter idea was.
Sandra Keane looked at Buttercup from her desk. The girl seemed to be a little depressed, and she knew exactly the reason why.
Just a little longer, Buttercup. Sandy thought to herself.
* * * * *
Sandy held the weeping infant Buttercup in her arms as the poor child did nothing more than cry her eyes out. Buttercup had her head buried in Sandy's chest but Sandy moved the child to her shoulder so Buttercup could hear what Sandy was about to say.
"Baby, listen carefully," said Sandy in a voice just low enough so that only Buttercup could hear, "if I cast the spell I'll remember all this. Being your mom, being your daddy's wife, everything."
Sandy felt some movement on her shoulder. It was Buttercup opening her eyes in surprise.
"If you don't want to go back because you don't want to lose me or your grandpa, then you won't have to worry. If you go back, you'll only have to wait a few months for the school year to end, then you won't be Pokey Oaks students and I can date Daddy again. I'll remember all the reasons I love him and we can get married again. Would you want that, Baby? To be five again and have me as your mommy soon after?"
Sandy pulled Buttercup away from her shoulder so she could see Buttercup's response. Buttercup gave a brief nod. And pushed her face into Sandy's shoulder again. She begins to cry again, but this time, due to the hope of what she'll be able to have soon.
"Okay, Buttercup's in."
* * * * *
When they returned to the present and Sandy had woken up in her own apartment, she had been a bit surprised but the memories to tell her she was where she was supposed to be had calmed her. It was then that she realized that she, Utonium, her father, and even Mike, would end up forgetting the other world completely as their memories of this world came to them and new memories were formed.
Sandy was determined not to let that happen. Sandy was willing to bet that, having been the targets of the spell two times in a row, the Girls remembered both this world and the other clearly and would remember for a long time, if they ever forgot at all. And Sandy knew that Buttercup would be crushed if Sandy forgot her promise and she and her father never got together.
Before she left for school that morning, she had called Utonium on the phone and talked to him about the problem. He had had the same assumption and came to the same conclusion. They agreed to talk to each other once in a while and discuss things about the old world. Comparisons between the two, wonderful memories of that world they'd shared and might re-create. Hopefully, keeping their minds refreshed on the events of the other world would hopefully allow them to remember what they had too until they could once again be married.
Sandy had decided to let Mike forget that world, it wasn't necessary for him to remember it. Her father had been trickier subject. But he solved it for them by calling Sandy that same morning before she called Utonium and telling her he'd decided to simply let himself forget that world.
"No need to have memories that never really happened." he had said, "Just make sure you wind up with Bill. You'd be the perfect mom for those kids."
Sandy and Utonium were going to respect her father's wishes. Utonium, the Girls, and Sandy herself would be the only ones who would ever know that history had been changed. It would be an excruciating wait for the end of the school year, but it would be worth it in the end.
"Just a little longer." Sandy whispered, more to herself than anyone in particular, "Just a little longer."