Why These Dreams?
The city of Townsville was peacefully still. There was no crime; all of the evil-doers behind bars thanks to the Powerpuff girls, who, at the moment, were patrolling the city. “everything looks good, “ Blossom called to her sisters, “let’s head home.” They began to head for home when they heard a huge roar. Out of Townsville Bay rose a gigantic monster, all scales and spikes. They turned to face the beast. “Alright!,” Buttercup cried, “finally some action!” They flew towards the monster who noticed them and, with one swipe of its claw, sent them crashing down.
All three of them awoke with a small scream at the same time. They had shared dreams before, but none as realistic as that one. They looked at one another, clarifying without words that they had had the same nightmare. Bubbles turned to look out their bedroom door but stopped and reached behind her to feel the back of her head. She cringed when she touched a sore spot then slowly turned to Blossom, “Blossom, dreams don’t actually hurt you, do they?” Blossom and Buttercup looked worriedly at each other, then at her. “They’re not supposed to,” Blossom replied, “why?” “Well, I’m still sore from when that monster slammed us into the ground.” Buttercup flexed her arm and added, “me too. Not much, but its sore.” “This doesn’t make any sense,” Blossom said, “its virtually impossible to get hurt in a dream.” “Maybe it’s the chemical X?” Bubbles offered. “I don’t know…” Blossom said, then stopped as she looked out the window. Over in the city, it looked like trouble. The seemed to be a lot of smoke, and she could almost make out tall flames from a fire. “we’ll worry about our dreams later, Townsville needs our help!” They jumped out of bed, switched their pj’s for their outfits and flew towards the city.
Townsville was in trouble. Mojo was in another robot, decimating the city. “Girls” Blossom commanded, “plan-” but she was cut off as Mojo swept a large, blinding white light over a large area that included the girls, who screamed in agonizing pain…
…and woke up in a cold sweat. Bubbles looked herself over for any damage, then noticed something, “hey Blossom, didn’t we fall asleep in our nightgowns?” Blossom nodded at her, then looked at herself as well. They were in their usual outfits. “Does this mean we’re still dreaming?” Buttercup asked. “It would seem so,” Blossom answered, “but this is not a normal nightmare. Be on your guard girls; be prepared for anything…” a giant explosion cut her off. Looking outside they could see the city skyline. For a moment nothing happened, then the entire city collapsed into a giant heap of rubble. Before the girls could even get out of bed, Townsville was destroyed. They could only sit there in shock, the unbelievable before their very eyes: they had not been able to save Townsville.
The next thing the Powerpuff Girls knew, they were flying down a run-down street. Townsville was nowhere to be seen, yet the area seemed familiar. They touched down in an alleyway and decided to figure out what was going on. “I don’t understand,” Blossom said, “this counteracts everything I’ve ever read about dreams, chemical X or not. We should’ve woken up by now, and we definitely should not be getting hurt. Until we get to the bottom of this, I think we should just lay low. Our powers don’t seem to have much effect here, so it would pointless to pick a fight. Understand?” Her sisters nodded and she continued, “good. Now the only villain we know who has the power to control thoughts and dreams is…” “Him.” Bubbles and Buttercup said in unison. Blossom nodded, “exactly. But until we know where he is and how to deal with him, we can’t risk anything!” “So besides laying low, what’s the plan?” Buttercup asked? “I don’t know yet,” Blossom admitted, “just let me think…” Suddenly a voice called overhead “there they are!” Sounds of an angry mob quickly approached and the girls, sensing danger, took off…
…They were on three separate tables all lined up in a row in a cold, semi-lit room. Each of their arms and legs were tied to a corner of each table, making it almost impossible to move. Above them, a huge axe slowly swung back and forth, descending with each swing. Another dream Blossom thought as she yelled to her sisters “Bubbles, Buttercup, are you okay?” She heard Bubble’s voice on her right “Blossom, is this still a dream?” As well as Buttercup’s “yeah, I’ll be fine, but only for a COUPLE MORE MINUTES! Think of something, Red!” “I’m trying!” Blossom cried back to her and added, “yes Bubbles, this is sill a dream, I hope. But remember that we can get hurt in these dreams, so we’ve gotta find a way out of this place!” “Leave that to me!” Buttercup said, and tried her eyebeams. When nothing happened, she said, “Blossom, I’m powerless! Can either of you use your eyebeams?” Blossom and Bubbles both tried, but to no avail. Buttercup thought for a moment, then reached her head over and began to gnaw at the knots that held one of her arms in place. Blossom and Bubbles each tried to do the same, but couldn’t reach. Above them the axe got closer and closer. Buttercup freed one of her arms and got to work gnawing on the other arm’s rope. When the axe was low enough that the girls could feel the wind as it sliced through the air Buttercup had freed both her hands and immediately sat up and began to untie her feet. She had to lay down again as the axe took another swing, grazing their outfits. Another swing and they would be in pain. Buttercup managed to get herself free and ran over to Blossom’s table. She had untied both her legs when the axe came round again. Blossom threw her legs up and did a weird semi-hand stand, but lost her balance and fell back onto the table just in time to get a small cut from the weapon. Neither she nor Bubbles had cried out; it was only a minor scratch, but next time they wouldn’t be so lucky.
Buttercup had undone both of Blossom’s arms and now was working on untying Bubbles’ arms while Blossom worked on her feet. A sudden rumbling came from the room and the entire place began to shake. The axe came closer and closer as Buttercup and Blossom tried to free their sister. Suddenly the floor beneath Bubbles’ table sunk down, making the axe miss Bubbles’ by only an inch. Each sister had undone only one of her arms and legs when the axe came around a second time. A huge tremor shook the entire room, throwing both Blossom and Buttercup a few feet away. It also snapped whatever was holding the axe up, which came crashing down towards Bubbles. Luckily, due to the momentum of the swing, the axe only cut her side and slammed into the floor next to her bed. Suddenly the entire floor gave way beneath her and Bubbles fell into a gaping hole, the axe following. Both Blossom and Buttercup ran over to the side of the pit and looked down into a fiery pit of lava. Bubbles was nowhere to be found.
The girls woke up in their beds with a gasp. Blossom and Buttercup looked at each other. “do you think we’re awake yet?” Buttercup asked. “There’s only one way to find out,” Blossom said, and lifted the covers. They were both in their nightgowns. Blossom ran her hand across where the axe had cut her.
She felt the cut.
“Buttercup,” she whispered, “is Bubbles here?” She knew the answer before Buttercup even said “no.” “Buttercup,” she said, “this-this is not a dream. These things don’t happen in dreams. We could see ourselves getting hurt, or loosing someone, but-but for it to actually happen. I know we agreed that Him could be behind this, but, think about it Buttercup. All someone would need was a virtual-reality helmet. Right now our real bodies could be in Mojo’s lair as he prepares to get rid of us. But what strikes me as really odd is that I’ve studied virtual-reality before, and it doesn’t make you think you’re in a dream. Also, you can’t get hurt. Not to mention that our dreams are progressing in somewhat of an order, kind of like a story.’ “Yeah, the Day the Powerpuff Girls were defeated, or the Day Evil Won, or something along those lines. Can you think of any way out of this? I can’t punch a dream and wake myself up.” Blossom though for a moment then spoke up, “here’s a plan. We need to stay in one dream, otherwise we’ll never get anywhere. What we need to do is to stay focused. Don’t get distracted over anything or we might get teleported into deep space or something…understand?” Buttercup nodded as she continued, “just concentrate of things you see. Simple thing, like a lamp, or a railing. Hopefully if we don’t let our minds wander we’ll stay in this dream long enough for my plan to take effect. First things first, we need to get down into the Professor’s lab and get some chemical X. If we can get our powers back, this should get simpler! Once we’re super powered again, I’ll tell you step two of my plan.
