New Xanocite: Part 2

[blossomgb]

'There is another way to prove it', Steve told Dr Saw.
Blossom looked at him and thought.
'What's that', Dr Saw asked, curious and very interested.
'I look to be a Powerpuff, do I not', Steve said. 'But I was born human.'
Dr Saw looked at him again. 'What brought about this change?'
I had a stroke and a kindey transplant on earth, about 10 years ago. I was left with only one arm working and having to walk with a stick', he imformed Dr Saw.
'Go on. Oh, by the way, you wanted to see my work. I think you're part of it now. Come on all of you.'. They followed Dr Saw into his laboratory, leaving Bubbles and Timo alone.
Blossom took up the tale.
'After a while, he started to experiment with Chemical X.', Blossom told Dr Saw. 'On it's own, it works for a very short time.'. Pirate ships came to her mind. 'But we found that by mixing Chemical X with certain other ingredients, his disability was cured and he developed Powerpuff powers.'
Steve produced a bottle of pills from his coat pocket. 'Down to one every four months, but I always have them just in case.'
Dr Saw looked really excited. 'Can I have some of those?'
'Yes. But I don't think they'll do you much good.', Blossom said.
'Something else caused the powers here, induced by Chemical X, to stay with the people here. If the bombs used were nuclear, then I bet it was the radiation.', Steve guessed.
'It's possible, but we need to do tests. Maybe on an Ult. maybe not. What about the Pries though?'
'Have you done a brain scan on one', Steve asked.
'Yes. Inconclusive', Dr Saw states.
'The radiation must have got to the brain in some way', Blossom states.
'Or the brain stem', Steve adds. 'Get one and do a full brain scan, every angle.', Steve instructs him. Dr Saw does not know why, but he goes along with this. 'I'll read through your notes, you know, a fresh pair of eyes.'
Dr Saw points him to a filing cabinet. 'Be my guest. Can I have a sample of your blood by the way.'
Steve went white. Angel commented on this first. 'You're not scared of a needle are you?'
Buttercup laughed. 'Most men are'.
'I'll hold your hand', Blossom told him in between laughs herself.

Cheers,

Blossomgb

[rcblazer]

Steve goes over the doctor's notes shortly after (albeit somewhat hesitantly) allowing Dr. Saw to collect a sample of his blood for research purposes. The notes show the anatomies of both the udds and the pries and the differences between them. Unlike udds, pries appear to be more skeletal, with sharpened teeth and razor sharp talons instead of fingers. Their eyes are a cloudy white, while udds have yellow eyes, and the pries appear to have more flexible joints in their arms and legs.

Bubbles enters the Butcher Shop with Timo. "We're ready to go whenever you guys are." She says with a smile.

"All right then. I'll stay and compare the blood samples with the Chemical X you gave me." Dr. Saw replies. "I'll let you know what I've discovered should you decide to visit again. If you can, try to bring me back any additional samples. I'd preferably want a sample from an ult, but not so much as to have you risking life and limb for one. If you see a gol, I suggest you just run; they're way too big and scary to take on."

Looking at the map, Steve can see that the Museum district and Udd City are not too far from one another. Despite one of the tunnels getting caved in, there are plenty of other passageways available should everyone decide to take the underground passages.

Blossom takes notice of this and turns to Dr. Saw. "Would it be possible to reach the Museum from the surface without running the risk of irradiation?"

"I believe so. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to go back underground after what happened last time you were down there. Just stay out of the rivers and lakes to avoid Radiation X, and don't fly too high or too fast. Wouldn't want to attract attention from the wrong kinds of mutants, you know?"

Dr. Saw looks at the device on Steve's arm and punches in a sequence with the numerical keys below the screen, bringing up a computerized map of the surface. "The pumps are located here at Technology Tower. As I mentioned before, there is a system of pipes that collects the water from the ocean and carries it to the rest of the planet.

Inside the Technology Tower is a control room and a machine that can be used to apply additional agents to the water. Professor Utonium may likely still be there, so long as the ults or something else haven't gotten him first, though I doubt it what with that Enforcer protecting him."

"We can still take the tunnels there if we want, but we'll still have to watch out for pries." Buttercup says, looking at both available maps. "The surface would be a little quicker, but we would have to contend with the possibility of being out in the open when we get there, right in view of any ults that would likely shoot at us. Zombies, or insane gun toting giants; so which poison are we picking?"

[rulerofice]

"The tunnels are pretty dark and pries seem to be able to sense and hear us quite easily in the darkness, so I would suggest going via the surface route although... I bet whatever danger we face there will be just as dangerous if not even worse." Timo said. "At least we'd be able to see the danger and either avoid it or evade. I don't think the ults are used to seeing very fast moving targets like us. Besides... we could travel inside my ice shield though I don't know how well it can protect us against that kind of firepower we all saw at the tunnels."

"I think both routes sound pretty scary." Bubbles said while trying to support Timo. "I'd rather not take either of them."

[blossomgb]

Steve looked at the map and thought. Blossom and Angel were not now holding him up, which they had to do after the sample was taken. The fact that he fainted was still causing merriment, however. and Angel still giggled.
'There's another thing we have to worry about. The other people after us. More likely to spot us up top.', He looked at Timo and Bubbles. 'We could have got out of the tunnels in one piece before if we hadn't stopped to help those...ults, is it. Pries I think we can handle, we just keep quiet.'. Actually, although he didn't voice it, he knew that there was one person who would be happier up top than down below. 'It's not far either way though, so it's as broad as it is long.'
'What about weapons', Blossom asked.
Steve took out the small ray gun and put it on the bench. 'Lasers are more powerful when they are modulated.' He took the small laser apart on the bench and looked around for bits. 'Is that knackered', he asked Dr Saw.
'Yes. Do you want it for bits?' came the reply, as Dr Saw brought it over. Steve took the back off and took some parts out of the back.
'Wish you'ld never asked', Buttercup stated. Angel gave her a look as Steve reassembled the gun with a few bits from the defunct machine.
'A modulated laser puts it's output in varying bursts of even higher energy', Steve was saying. 'The oscillator reverses the polarity of the neutron flow...'
'Tell us later', Blossom grinned.
'Sorry. Right, well I say the tunnels. What about everyone else', Steve asked.

Cheers,

Blossomgb

[rcblazer]

Buttercup thinks about it for a moment. "Since we got ranged weapons, any pries we encounter we can avoid them or shoot 'em. Now we know if we see or hear any ults to stay out of their way. Maybe with the back tunnel caved in, we can get there without having to worry about running into anything... least not 'till we actually get there."

"Do we really have to go back down into the tunnel?" Bubbles asks, hugging Timo tightly. "What if one of us gets hurt again?"

"We won't, because we're going to be more careful this time." Blossom says. "We'll get through to the Museum as quickly as we can, and we'll out of there in no time."

Bubbles nods hesitantly. "Well okay, but let's try to get there as soon as possible."

Blossom leads everyone over to the tunnel entrance and opens the door. Looking at the map, Blossom flies down the tunnel. The others follow her, spotting a few udds patrolling around with pistols and knives, but no ults and only a couple of pries, who snarl at them as they fly past, but do not chase them or attack.

"Here we are everyone." Blossom says as she opens the door to the area known as the Museum district. Steve's wristband begins to buzz, warning of Radiation X as Blossom steps into a tunnel pipe made of reinforced glass, surrounded by the mangled bodies of ults.

Radiation X Levels - 16%

Blossom Condition: Fine - Irradiated 20%

"What happened here?" Blossom asks, feeling slightly lightheaded as she steps toward one of the dead ults in the tunnel. "These are ults all right."

"What do you think killed them?" Bubbles asks, suddenly very frightened at the idea that there might be a worse mutant than ults wandering about somewhere nearby.

"This one's ribs look like they were kicked in." Blossom says as she examines the bodies. "This one's skull was crushed, and this one... someone blasted right through its chest with a laser."

"That's impossible. Not even this laser gun is that strong!" Buttercup replies.

Blossom spots a severed arm and a foot belonging to another ult that has been blasted to pieces! "Patriarch. He did this to them!"

"Dad did it? Are you sure?" Buttercup questions, still having a hard time believing it herself.

"He doesn't look any older after ten years, but he's become even stronger than the last time we saw him! He's still the oldest living Powerpuff, and still the strongest it seems. I just hope those fears the mutants talked about regarding the Galactic Federation don't pertain to him too, or else we're in a lot of trouble."

"So Patriarch is strong enough to beat down an entire horde of ults by himself and we couldn't beat two, so what?" Buttercup says with a grin. "If we did have to fight him, it would still be six on one right? We could take him!"

"Maybe we could, but at what cost?" Blossom asks. "Some of these ults were struck down in one hit; imagine what he could do to us!"

"Don't forget he has an entire alien force backing him up, and he still has the Professor." Bubbles chimes in.

Blossom holds her head in her hand. "Ugh, I suddenly don't feel so good."

"Get back here Blossom; it's the ults!" Bubbles shouts. "Their blood is radioactive too! That's why the wrist thing is warning us!"

Blossom flies back to the others. She feels a bit queasy, but otherwise seems OK. "I think we're going to need another Ice Shield to protect us from the radiation before we go in. Let's just hope Patriarch got rid of all the ults."

"Not all of them! Heads up!" Buttercup shouts, aiming her rifle.

Buttercup attacks Ult Ambusher
Attack: Laser Rifle
Defense: Duck

Buttercup fires into the underwater glass tunnel, hitting an ult carrying a large war hammer in the chest! The ult screams in pain, clutching the mark on its chest before turning and raising its hammer. "That hurt! Now I smash you!" It shouts as it runs toward the heroes, raising its hammer to strike!

Ult Ambusher Condition: Battered - Irradiated 3%

[blossomgb]

'Time to try the new gun', Steve comments, holding it up and aiming at the Ult. When he fires, the beam is stronger and it can be seen varying in strength. The Ult does not like this one bit and backs away. Steve follows and aims the gun at the Ult's head. The Ult screams and falls to the floor. unmoving. Steve lets the gun down goes back to the group.
'Is it dead', Blossom asks.
'Not sure. We'll look in a minute', Steve replies. 'Are you alright?'
Steve feels Blossom's forehead and throat glands, which were warm.
''I felt dizzy, but I'm alright now I think', Blossom says. 'Radiation I think'
Steve looked up at the ult, which had not stirred, then looked at the others as he reached into his pockets.
'One each everyone, Blossom you take two, as well as two of these', he replied, taking the pills out of his pockets. Everyone took Anti-Radiation medicine and Blossom also took two of Steve's Chemical X tablets. Buttercup went over to the Ult, weapon poised. but she found out that it was dead.
'Phew', she replied. 'Now that it works, can you do this one', she asked.
Steve looked at the other gun. 'Yes, when we find a laboratory', he says. 'Are you sure Patriach did this by the way', he asked, pointing back down the corridor. Those Gol's sound as though they could do this, and we don't know where Mojo is. Besides, what else could it be?'
Timo looked at him as he said this. Angel was making sure her mum was OK and could stand.
'Don't make assumptions', Timo said.
'I'm not. But whoever it is may have Professor Utonium. That's what worries me', Steve comments.

Cheers,

Blossomgb

[rulerofice]

"In that case, we'd better get moving." Timo said as he looked at the radiation meter. "I'll create the ice shield so gather up."

After everyone did so, Timo created an ice staff and the made an all round ice shield. Right after creating the shield, however, everyone notices the ice shield looks funny. Instead of the usual smooth outer line, it is now making small zigzag patterns and strange, humming-like sound could be heard.

Blossom is the first ask. "What's wrong with your shield, Timo?"

"I'm not sure." Timo said. "I noticed the same thing happening before when we exited the ship."

"Can the shield protect us?" Blossom asked.

"It should." Timo said. "I don't feel anything bad about it. But I do feel like the shield is being attacked from all directions, but kinda weakly. That's why I think it's the radiation that's doing this."

"Can we safely move on then?" Bubbles asked.

Timo thought about it and after feeling the ice shield around, he answered: "Yes."

[rcblazer]

With the ice shield protecting everyone from the radioactive blood of the ults, the heroes go through the hallways and tunnels made of glass and pipes, arriving at a sign that reads "Technology Tower" with an arrow pointing up.

"Looks like we're going the right way." Blossom confirms as she leads the way. All through the passageway are the slain bodies of more ults, each of them showing signs that they were either struck down by a punch or a kick, or vaporized by a laser or other kind of energy based attack. The buzzing of the wristband warns of Radiation X levels going up and down, but the ice shield does hold, keeping them safe.

Finally, they reach Technology Tower, which is a segment of pipes that stretch higher than even the heroes can see! At the foot of the tower is the control panel and next to it a machine that Steve recognizes as an Auxiliary Filtration Input control panel, designed for injecting additional materials into the water.

"Professor?" The girls shout, hoping to hear a response, but nobody replies. "Patriarch?" Blossom calls out herself. Again, no one answers her.

"You don't think they were taken away by those ults, do you?" Bubbles worriedly asks.

"Kinda doubt that myself." Buttercup says, looking back at all the dead ults they left behind. "Some kind of tornado of butt whippin' came through here and took 'em all out, and I am pretty sure that tornado was our old man, the super soldier. Must've taken the Professor somewhere else after this, but where?"

A blip appears on the mechanical wristband. Steve can see that the blip is indicating the Auxiliary Filtration Input panel. On top of it is a disc similar to the one used at the prison for surveillance purposes.

"Maybe the Professor left a clue as to where he is now." Blossom theorizes, picking up the recording disc. "We just need some way to see what's on this."

Blossom looks at Steve, then at the mechanical wristband. "Wait, I got an idea!" She says, examining the wristband more closely. Some kind of faded symbol has been etched into the side of the device. The symbol looks like a 'B' with flames burning on the left side as though the flat side of the letter had a rocket thruster.

Buttercup takes a look at it herself and nods. "I've seen that logo before; that's the symbol on Patriarch's space pod! He told me once that was the mark of the Blizza Empire, which he used to work for back when he was a kid and before he took 'em down."

"That means that this device is old alien technology." Blossom confirms. She sees something that appears to be a slot for which to enter the disc and tries to slide it in. It works! The device accepts the disc and begins to play its recordings.

"Greetings, my name is Frumapirz." A raspy, slobbery voice begins to say. "I am a scientist with the Blizza regime. My expedition to planet FL-49 is a failure. Lord Blizza demanded that I use the knowledge of the terrans who build the weapons they plan to use against each other here to design a weapon capable of destroying entire planets. Unfortunately, my experiment has confirmed that although all terran life on this planet has been destroyed, some kind of new people have mysteriously taken their place!

These new people resemble terran children, but their heads and eyes are much larger and rounder. They are stronger too, and capable of flight, much like the soldiers in the emperor's army. Something in the air however... it seems to be slowly weakening and killing them off.

I saw something else the other day. Some kind of monstrous humanoid, dripping with radioactive waste. It snarled and attacked one of those flying children, tearing it limb from limb! From my vantage point, I watched it eat. It was not a pretty sight, and I am grateful that it did not see me. After it ate, I watched it shamble away.

Two more of those things came back, and I am too scared to move. I saw them bring more meat from those flying children in and eat. I couldn't bear to watch this time. Then, something strange began to happen to them... they began to change form! Their teeth and claws smoothed out like the arms of the creatures they were hunting and consuming. They stood upright, looked about for a moment with their new eyes, then left again. Did I just witness an evolution?"

The next recording is some heavy coughing from the alien, followed by a weak message.

"I have... *cough* ...been exposed to... *cough* the radiation on this planet. *cough* *cough* I... will not last... much... *cough* longer. Blizza... *cough* my emperor... is not coming back... *cough* for me. That *cough* that much... is clear. Only... one... chance..."

Bubbles looks like she is about to throw up after what she heard on the recording. "The udds became what they are after they-!?"

The recording interrupts Bubbles as a more familiar voice begins to speak.

"My name is Professor Utonium. I am a human scientist from the planet Earth. With the aid of Patriarch, an Enforcer working with the Galactic Federation and the oldest living 'Xanocite' as he calls himself, I have reached the control room of Technology Tower. As an educated guess, I used the Auxiliary Filtration Input to add Antidote X to the water being pumped by the machine, but there was no change in the climate. It looks like we will need something much stronger.

Just as Seymour in Udd City warned me, this place was crawling with large, weapon toting mutants called ults. I never would have gotten this far if not for Patriarch, who showed a level of strength and power I've not seen anywhere before, not even among the girls!"

Professor chuckles a bit. "Girls. I can't believe I still call them that. They aren't little girls anymore. They're grown up now, into beautiful young women. Blossom is a married mother, Bubbles just got married, so it's only a matter of time before she has children of her own. I'm so proud of them and I miss them terribly, but I have to let go and allow them to live their own lives now.

I have to face the truth; I'm getting older and I won't be around forever. If there is a chance my scientific expertise in the field of chemistry can somehow save this planet, this FL-49 as the Federation calls it, then I have to try. It may possibly be the last great thing I do before I am forced to retire from the field of science. I believe this Dr. Frumapirz may still be alive according to Patriarch's scanner, and we will be using that to find his location and speak to him regarding a way to purify the Radiation X. I will leave this recording here in the event that other scientists from the Federation come here looking to help.

Though saving a planet would be a great leap in the field of chemical science, it would still pale in comparison to my greatest accomplishment, which has been and always will be my perfect little girls. Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, I know that no matter how far apart we are, we will always have the kind of special connection a father has to their beloved children. I will always look back on raising you into the fine young women you are today with fond memories, warm wishes, and a very special place in my heart. Patriarch is most grateful for your upbringing; saying that even he as your Powerpuff father could not have done better. I probably will not return to Earth, and if I don't, I hope whoever finds this recording will let you know that I love you, always."

As soon as the recording finishes, a dotted line appears, drawing a path on the wristband that goes from Technology Tower to the southwest. An area marked "Frumapirz" is highlighted on the wristband's map.

[rulerofice]

Timo suddenly felt angry at the Professor. "'Probably will not return to Earth?' I can't believe he said that after he did promise you girls that he would come back. Did he really expect us to stay on Earth for the rest of our lives without knowing what happened to him?"

"Timo, that's enough!" Blossom said as she then looked at Bubbles, who was about to cry.

Timo noticed this and hugged Bubbles. "I'm sorry, Bubbles. I know he really loves you three and I know he'd do anything to see you again. Seeing this whole planet must have baffled him so much that he's considered that possibility." Timo then looked at Steve. "So... we're going to where the device shows?"

[blossomgb]

Steve was busy comforting Blossom and Angel. Blossom hid her tears while Angel was a mixture of upset and angry. He made sure that the disc from the Professor was safely stored away and looked at the panel. He then pressed a few buttons.
'Yes, we'll go, but first, let me shut this down.'
The unit was closed and Steve then shut the pipe taps down. Then he looked at them all.
'Yes, we'll go. But we'll have a look around first. Don't go straight in.'
Angel spoke up. 'We're not like Blackheart', she remarked.
'Exactly. Or the professor for that matter. Especially when you consider that saving this planet cannot be done from here. Speeded up but without something else, we might as well not be in here.'
The group looked at him.
'What do you mean', Buttercup asked.
'The clue is in Timo's shield', Steve replied.
'Go on', Blossom told him. She knew that Steve, as an engineer, had a different approach to science than Professor Utonium. Maybe Patriach had sensed it too which is why he tried to get him to go along, she wondered.
'Well, we can fill the seas up and kill the radioactivity there, but what about the atmosphere? I bet even Angel can fill in the rest!'
Angel took up the facts, while her proud parents looked on.
'Timo's shield is constantly under attack from the radioactivity', Angel stated. 'So it's the Air that we should be attacking, not the water. Indeed, attacking the water alone won't really help. We need to put whatever chemicals in the clouds and then make it rain.'
The group were silent for a minute. 'Which means we need a spaceship', Buttercup adds.
'So we can put it in the clouds', Blossom added. 'Then make it rain.'
'So we need to go to Patriach so he can find, or summon a spaceship. If we used Blossom's identification, then Mojo will be onto us', Steve supposed.
There's one other thing that needed to be answered. 'Above or Below ground', Buttercup asked.

Cheers,

Blossomgb

[rcblazer]

"According to the map, we caved in the only tunnel that would have taken us to where this Frumapirz guy supposedly is, so it looks like we're going topside." Buttercup says after looking over the map.

"Okay, but everyone stay on full alert. There could be more ults outside." Blossom says. "Hopefully, the Radiation X on the surface isn't too much for Timo's shield to protect us from."

As they leave through the door, seeing the desolate ruins of a large city around them, they take off into the air, flying low to avoid attracting unwanted attention. A thought occurs to Blossom. "Professor must have some means of protecting himself from the Radiation X, right? How else could he be fine when this alien Frumapirz was suffering from its effects?"

"Maybe he came prepared." Bubbles replies. "Maybe Patriarch provided him with a protective suit or some kind of alien technology that is keeping the Radiation X from hurting him."

"Hmm, you have a point there Bubbles." Blossom shakes her head. "I'm just really worried about him is all. This place is more dangerous than we first thought, and based on the recording, it will be much more difficult to fix this planet up to what Patriarch is expecting of it."

"That's just it though; we still aren't sure what Patriarch's plans for this planet really are." Buttercup says. "He says he wants to clean up this dump and make it a suitable home for people like him. Does he mean aliens from the Federation... or us?"

"What do you mean?" Blossom asks, her curiosity piqued.

"Patriarch sees himself as our 'biological' father of sorts." Buttercup says, making the quotation gesture with her hands. "He's said before how he had wanted us to come live with him in the Feddie Colonies, leaving Earth, Townsville, and everybody there behind. What if this is part of that plan? What if after he and the Professor got rid of the Radiation X, and possibly the mutants too, that after sprucing this place up to look nice and fancy, that they would come back to Earth with the intention of bringing us here to make it our new home?"

Everybody stops upon hearing this. Blossom and Bubbles look as though they are trying not to believe it themselves.

"I hate to admit this, but you're absolutely right Buttercup." Blossom replies. "We don't know a whole lot about our 'father' from Xanocite, but we do know he wants to create a new society specific to our kind. It sounds like something he would do, and worse, he's dragged the Professor into this to help him, probably without even telling him why he really wants to do this!"

"I don't want to stay on this planet any longer than necessary, let alone live here!" Bubbles remarks. "I think we should just find the Professor and get out of here! If Patriarch tries to stop us, then... then..."

Bubbles begins to sob, looking confused and scared. "Mojo and Imposter are still here somewhere too, right? Do you think they know what Patriarch's real plans are?"

"Well, if they didn't before and if we're right about Patriarch, then they do now!" Buttercup says. "Although if that is the case, then those two are the least of our worries right now!"

"Buttercup's right. We need to find Dr. Frumapirz. Hopefully we'll find Patriarch and the Professor too!"

"Anyone else notice we haven't seen any mutants yet?" Buttercup comments, pointing around at the barren ruins. "I don't like the looks of this."

A tremendous roar is heard, echoing all around the heroes.

"I don't like the sound of that!" Bubbles says, looking around in a panic.

"Hide, quick!" Blossom orders, pointing to an outcropping of rubble. Loud, booming footsteps can now be heard. The girls lead Angel, Steve, and Timo under the outcropping and watch as a towering mutant with red-orange skin dressed in armor made of car parts and street rubble emerges! The giant monster is carrying a huge piece of rebar in its hands, with a large piece of steel bent into the shape of a hammer head at the end!

"That must be a gol." Buttercup whispers, not daring to draw its attention. The monster roars, slamming its hammer down with tremendous force! The shockwave it creates knocks down what's left of a few wrecked buildings, sending confused udds and pries running off in random directions.

Gol attacks Fleeing Pri
Attack: Rebar Hammer
Defense: None

Bubbles looks away, not willing to watch as the gol slams its hammer down on top of one of the pries, smashing it into a messy pulp!

Fleeing Pri Condition: Destroyed - Irradiated 2%

Gol attacks Fleeing Udds
Attack: Stomp
Defense: None

The gol gives chase to the udds running away from it by leaping a hundred feet into the air! With a monstrous roar, the gol lands feet first right on top of the smaller mutants, stomping them flat in a way that seems like a mean kid crushing ants under its sneakers! (In this case, the sneakers being two cars the gol is wearing as shoes)

Fleeing Udds Condition: Destroyed - Irradiated 30%

As the Radiation X levels spike upward, the gol appears to start getting bigger! Mercifully, it starts to stomp away, but not before grabbing and eating one of the fallen pries whole as it leaves!

Gol Condition: Perfect! - Irradiated 35%

[rulerofice]

Timo watched in horror as the gol killed a whole bunch of ults in one strike and then eating one. The shockwave had almost dissolved the Ice Shield and had pushed Timo backwards a bit.

When the gol began to leave, Timo looked at Bubbles, who was shaking. "That's the most barbaric scene I've ever witnessed." Timo held Bubbles' hands. "It's okay, Bubbles. He's gone now."

Timo then looked at the group. "A gol, huh? Seems something we have to avoid at all cost. One strike from that mutant and we're practically history."

Suddenly the Ice Shield's zigzag pattern grew bigger and the humming sound got a bit louder. Timo noticed this quickly and tried to stabilize the shield.

"The radiation's grown a lot!" Timo said as he struggled to keep the radiation at bay. "Amazing. The radiation that gol caused reached here so fast."

Timo created another Ice Staff and after a few seconds, Timo managed to stabilize the ice shield. The zigzag pattern lowered a bit, but the humming sound stayed. Timo was sweating as he breathed deeply.

[blossomgb]

'I think we'd better get moving. The last thing we want to do is come across that', Blossom commented. 'Even you, Buttercup, would probably get hurt badly by that!'.
Buttercup looked at her Sister. Angel and Steve looked on, Steve ready to calm things down if Buttercup decided to cut up rough against it. There was a moment when it looked as though she would, but as if she calculated it in her mind, the moment passed.
'We'll see', Buttercup told Blossom, hoping that they wouldn't.
'Carry on toward our target, but look and listen', Blossom commented.
'And we don't go straight in', Angel remarked. The group nodded.
Steve spoke up on the issue of the planet and the plans for it.
'How long ago was he awarded this planet and who by. How long has Mojo been free and is it him that thought this up.'
Blossom nodded.
'Why did that robot appear at the same time. Imposter is Mojo's sidekick after all.'
Steve agreed. 'We try to repair the planet. Then we find out about the rest', he suggested. 'If the Federation is under Mojo's control, then we have to fight him. There must be some underground movement to help us'.


Cheers,

Blossomgb

[rcblazer]

Interestingly enough, the gol's rampage through the wastes actually did the heroes a small favor in clearing a path for them to their destination. Many slain mutants, many of which were ults and pries, are scattered along the gol's path of destruction, and with Timo's ice shield to protect them from the Radiation X, the heroes find the place they are headed.

Buttercup looks at the dilapidated building before them. "What the heck is this, an auto garage? What, the Professor lookin' to buy a car from this Frumapirz or something?"

"Let's go in and see for ourselves." Blossom replies, opening the door and leading everyone inside. Looking around, they don't see anyone or anything of interest.

"Well, this wasn't a very productive trip." Bubbles says, shaking her head and leaning against the wall. Her arm slips and she flips a broken light switch by mistake, which to everyone's surprise, opens a secret passage in the floor!

"Good work Bubbles, you found it!" Blossom compliments her, going down into the secret passage first.

"Oh... uh, thanks." Bubbles says, blushing and rubbing her head in embarrassment before following the others down into the secret bunker.

"Professor? Are you down here?" Buttercup calls out, but gets no response.

"Patriarch? If you're here, we want to have a word with you." Blossom shouts. When there is no answer, she throws open a metal door at the end of a hallway, revealing a high tech science laboratory that seems to go off in every direction! Computer terminals are stationed on the walls near a series of sliding doors, and a series of robots similar to the Protecto unit back at Udd City are patrolling about, maintaining the facility.

The real attraction of this place however, is the huge room in the center that the heroes are overlooking. A series of metallic chambers similar in shape to Patriarch's space pod all appeared to be arranged in a circle and wired to a supercomputer in the center of the room!

One of the Protecto units approached Blossom. "Greetings. Welcome to Frumapirz Paradise Simulation. Please enter one of the unoccupied F.P.S. chambers and be seated. The doctor will see you once you have done so."

"Why can't he just come here and talk to us normally?" Buttercup asks the robot, but it doesn't answer her. Instead it returns to its task of maintaining the computer systems that appear to operate the facility.

Bubbles tries to look into one the many F.P.S. chambers giving off a red 'occupied' light, but cannot tell who is inside. Thinking for a moment, the Powerpuff Girls try to look through the chambers with her X-Ray vision, but are unable to see through whatever alien metal the doctor constructed the F.P.S. chambers from.

"How are we supposed to figure out which one of these things the Professor or Patriarch are in?" Buttercup asks, trying in vain to pry open or blast open one of the occupied chambers. "Whatever this place is, it was built to withstand anything we could do to it from the outside."

"What do you suppose these computer are for?" Blossom asks, looking over the computers, but the only information on them seem to be about the robots maintaining the facility and a gauge of the Radiation X levels within the chamber itself, which currently read 0%. Only one computer has different information, but it only appears to be gauging the vitals of Dr. Frumapirz himself, explaining that his body is currently inside one of the F.P.S. chambers, withered and damaged, but kept alive via life support.

Bubbles finally steps over to one of the F.P.S. chambers with the green 'vacant' light glowing above it, and it opens automatically for her! She is about to climb in and sit on the chair inside, when Buttercup pulls her away. "What do you think you're doing Bubbles? We don't even know what this thing does!"

"I think this thing is the only way we're gonna find the Professor and Patriarch." Bubbles tells her.

"Bubbles is right." Blossom says, motioning for Buttercup to let go of Bubbles' arm. "This machine must be serving as both a VR simulation and life support system for Dr. Frumapirz. It must be the only way he can see visitors."

"So you think Patriarch and the Professor are somewhere in this VR sim?" Buttercup asks.

"Exactly, and if we want to find them or a solution to FL-49's problems, we are going to have to go in ourselves." Blossom states, looking at each of the F.P.S. chambers. "There should be one for everybody. Let's all go in, find the doctor, talk to him, get the Professor and Patriarch if they're still here, and get out of here, all as quickly as we can!"

Blossom flies over to one of the vacant F.P.S. chambers and climbs in. The chamber closes as she sits in the chair, followed by Bubbles' chamber closing.

"Well I ain't leaving them in there by themselves." Buttercup remarks, finding one for herself and getting in. As the chamber closes, she looks at Steve, Timo, and Angel. "You guys going in too or what?" She asks as the chamber seals shut on her.

[rulerofice]

"No need to ask me." Timo said. "If Bubbles goes, I'll go." Timo looked at one of the vacant chambers and climbed inside it. "At least we'll be safe here since the material seems to be hard enough to withstand us." He then sat down and the chamber closed on him.