I do not own The Powerpuff Girls - everything rightfully belongs to Craig McCracken and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing.

A Long Silence

Somewei

She hated this place.

It was gloomy and cold and it did not fit her cheerful, vibrant personality. Yet, she kept going. She had to - for her sisters. They were all she had left. The people she had once trusted betrayed her when they believed that she and her sisters did mean to do away with Townsville. When she heard her father mutter those forsaken words, she didn't know what to do with herself. He doubted her.

"I don't know who to believe…"

She curled her legs up towards her chest as she kept her eyes on the sapphire planet before her. Everyday, for the past eleven years, those words had rung through her ears, haunting her every thought. Her sisters, Blossom and Buttercup, had grown somewhat adjusted to their so-called home. It was nothing like their home on Earth, but it was a place they could stay; a place far away from the menacing eyes of those who hated them. Standing up, she turned back to go inside their stone home, and she found Buttercup sitting at the window, staring out at the various rocks floating by.

Buttercup hadn't exactly become the most silent person, but every now and then she would become quiet and shrink into herself. Not that she could blame her once vibrant sister. They all had become like that over time. Shrinking into themselves, zoning out, and not actively interacting with each other. They were existing, really. Not living. Bubbles sighed and fingered the food on the makeshift table. After living there for two months, the girls decided to explore the area around them. It was difficult at first to fly far distances without the fear of loosing their rock, but eventually they became used to it.

The three girls managed to find an uninhabited planet, just outside the system, that was full of earthly supplies - vegetables, cotton and whatnot that could supply with them with all their necessities. The girls, as well, learned to do different chores to make life on "Rocky" better. (That's what they named their meteor – "Rocky" – courtesy of Bubbles.) Buttercup learned to hunt for food, Blossom learned to pick cotton and Bubbles learned to sew and weave the cotton to make it into blankets and clothes. It was hard, at first, to learn, but somehow each of the girls managed to complete their chores within a decent hour.

Night and day was also a matter of question. They never knew when day or night occurred. They figured it was night on Earth when the girls became tired and when they woke up, it was day. It was the only thing that could help them with time. They also lost track of the date. With no calendars and no reason to need to know the date, what was the point of learning or keeping track?

"Bubbles."

Bubbles jumped at the soft voice that broke the silence, and glanced over to her redheaded sister, whom was sitting in the corner of their house. Blossom had grown considerably pretty. With nothing to keep her hair tamed at its long length, she cut her hair to her shoulders and tied it back with the pink cloth of her old dress. Underneath the empty look in her eyes, Bubbles knew that her sister's assertiveness and strength was still there. Quite honestly, her two sisters were just shells of what they used to be. Perhaps she was the same. Perhaps she was a shell of what she once was. She didn't know.

"Yes, Blossom?" replied Bubbles.

"Were you sitting outside again?"

Bubbles nodded, and Blossom just turned back to examining her fingers. Realizing that the conversation was over and she was being dismissed, she sank down to the floor and examined both of her sisters. It would almost be painful, this silence, if she wasn't numb to it. Bubbles often wondered what the three of them would've been like had they stayed on Earth. Would they be louder? More vibrant? More everything? Or would they be as silent, sullen, discolored as they were now. It was too much to think about and too depressing to dwell on. These thoughts led to dangerous waters and staring at her forlorn sisters reminded her of those thoughts. Standing up, she retreated outside again. Taking in a sharp breath, she wondered what Earth was like.

After their primate adversaries took over the Earth, it had become quiet. She could no longer hear the screams and shouts of the human inhabitants, and figured they had all gone on with their regular lives. Blossom often objected and said that something happened to the humans, that Mojo was in control. Buttercup, morbidly, thought that they all died. Bubbles hated the thought and optimistically hoped that it wasn't true.

As she stared out at the planet, she didn't notice that Buttercup and Blossom joined her outside. Both of them settled down next to her. After a moment of silence, Buttercup said, "What's wrong?"

"Do you…" She paused briefly, her face scrunching up in thought. "…do you think we could return to Earth and see what happened?"

Blossom pursed her lips as soon as the question flew out of the blonde's mouth. "No."

"But-" started Bubbles.

"No, Bubbles," Blossom continued firmly. "We've talked about this. And again, I'm saying no."

The blonde opened her mouth to begin her defense, but the redhead abruptly stood up. Glaring down at Bubbles, she sharply said, "Do you not understand how dangerous it is for us? If not the humans, then Mojo and his army will tear us to shreds! It's safer to remain here!"

"Yes," Bubbles murmured, looking down. "But nobody remembers us!"

It was not strange that they were having this conversation. Honestly, ever since they had started living on Rocky, Bubbles had repeatedly asked to return to Earth, but the final answer was always the same - no. For the same reason too: it was too dangerous for the three of them to venture there. The worst part was, Bubbles couldn't exactly argue against her sister. She had a valid point, but it didn't mean she agreed with her. This long, dark silence was not fit for Bubbles. She needed life, color, and people. This life that she was leading now was just suffocating.

"Does it matter?" suddenly snapped Buttercup, her face darkening with her anger. "We have no reason to go see those people! The ones who didn't believe us! We're fine here!"

"Well," the blonde murmured. "We did help Mojo Jojo create his lab. Why should they believe us?"

Blossom clenched her jaw. "That's all the reason more why we shouldn't go back. No one would trust us because we helped give Mojo his kingdom." Bubbles opened her mouth to protest, but the redheaded girl cut her off. "My word is final. We are not going back."

With that said, Blossom whirled around to go back into their house. Buttercup scoffed at her before following in her wake. Left alone to her thoughts, Bubbles glumly buried her face in her arms and held back tears. She was so tired of this life. Raising her head slightly, just enough for her eyes to catch sight of her favorite sapphire pearl, she honestly hoped the people of Earth were leading good, happy lives.

Despite Bubbles' hopes, the people of Earth were not leading good lives and they most certainly were not happy. They all were being tormented and led unfortunate lives. Ever since Mojo came into power he turned it into some sort of "planet of the apes". The humans all at some point saw Planet of the Apes and wondered if they would receive their own savior from the primates that now imprisoned them.

But, for now, they were slaves to the Monkey king and their Regional lords. No matter what race they were, they were slaves to the primate that reigned over their country, which were now kingdoms. Ojo Tango ruled the Oceania; Rocko Socko was now the ruler over Southeast Asia; Baboon Kaboom was the king of the upper half of Africa; the Gogo Po-Trol was the leaders of the southern half of Africa; Hota Wata ruled over North and South Korea and Taiwan; And Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching was king over China and Japan and was also the sometimes partner to Hota Wata.

The Doot Da Doot Da Doo Doos, the look-alike primates from the Wizard of Oz, all took over Europe and terrorized their European slaves with their wads of spit. Unfortunately Mojo and the other primates didn't like Hacha Chaca and managed to let him entertain the people down in South America under the watchful eye of Ojo Tango. Blah-Blah-Blah-Blah was put under the eye of Killa Drilla and Bonzo Bango in Iceland and Greenland. Rolo Ovo, Cruncha Muncha, Wacko Smacko and Pappy Wappy all ruled over the Middle East.

But the supreme ruler over the primates was Mojo, who resided in North America. North America became home and Townsville his capital for his empire. After eventually outsmarting the destructive primates, Mojo had been declared ultimate, supreme ruler and claimed North America for himself. It was hard at first to get his empire into order, but he managed to do so.

Then, once he created and put order to his empire, he had to manage the human revolts that occurred every now and then. However, despite the revolts that took place, Mojo set up a hierarchy for the humans. Whilst most of them were slaves that worked out in plantations or factories, there were other humans that worked inside the palaces around the world. Very few humans (usually the rich or doctors) had the privilege of staying out of imprisonment, but it was simply because of their money and skills.

However, despite the order, the villains of America gave him slight problems. While Mojo managed to defeat most or allowed them to keep their freedom and money (such as the annoying family known as the Morbucks'), Him gave him the most trouble. None of the lords or Mojo could defeat the flamboyant villain and eventually Mojo had decided to create his own version of the girls - or at least boy versions of the girls.

Thus, Mojo Jojo created the Rowdyruff Boys.

The Rowdyruff Boys had become his most trustworthy warriors in his kingdom. They would run his errands and sometimes menace the other regional lords when they started entertaining ideas of revolting and overthrowing Mojo. But each boy had his own personality, which became a strength for the team.

Brick was the more solemn one in the group. Intelligent and quick on his feet, he was the ideal leader of the boys. Like most boys, he loved to crack a joke and pull a prank on whomever he could – or at least he had when he was little. However, when it came to a fight, he was the most serious one. He was also the master of a computer as if it was he who invented the machine. He could load viruses, break codes and whatnot. He was pure genius, as some people liked to believe, and the humans feared him the most. Clever he was and because of this, he could outdo everyone and foil everyone's plans. Fierce, though, was his temper and many had to watch their step to ensure that they wouldn't ignite it.

Boomer was the more "sensitive" of the boys, but not the most "wussy", as Butch liked to call it. He could be devious when he was joking around with his brothers and sometimes he was so good at joking and pranking, people didn't believe it was he who set the prank up. Get him mad, though, and he could rival Brick's hotheaded temper. He became so fierce that many had learned never to mess with his bad side. Alongside his deviousness, he was the fastest one and the most observant. And while Brick was in charge of the computers and strategy, Boomer was in charge of security.

Butch was the ultimate joker and flirt within the three boys. He was also one who loved a good fight. Whenever Brick needed someone to pull off a crazy stunt, it was Butch who accomplished the task. Specializing in guns and other artillery, Mojo's weapons were always up-to-date and the best. The human slaves always treaded on eggshells around the young green 'ruff because of his strength and the fact he didn't hesitate to use it. He loved girls and was often found with at least three girls on his arm when he was hanging around.

Mojo would sometimes be infuriated because of the way the boys would joke around and prank him, but he calmly took their joking because they were his "sons". Also because they could beat him to an inch of his life if he enraged them in any way (though the thought, it appeared, never crossed their minds, regardless). Besides the fact that he feared his boys at times, there was still one figure out there that he feared the most. The one figure that could take apart the boys and help the humans, and that one figure was named Professor John Utonium.

John Utonium, after slipping into a stage of depression, was hauled off to a Japanese imprisonment (a country that was a personal favorite of Mojo's) before he disappeared off the face of the Earth. It seemed as if he didn't exist. He left all his co-workers, neighbors and friends behind, including Sara Bellum, Sandra Keane and Mayor J. Mayor. However, Mojo was not fooled easily and knew that the Professor was devising a plan to rid Earth of its foes.

He also feared the fact that this one man, alone, could call the three girls that could be his undoing – Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. Although the girls had disappeared for eleven years and had not been seen since Mojo unleashed his plot to take over the world, he knew that if the girls realized their true potential, he could be in serious trouble. These girls always had the strength to defeat him, but never truly realized how to harness that power that dwelled in them and he was thankful that he hadn't attacked the Professor those many years ago.

Mojo knew that if he had attacked the Professor that fateful day, the girls would come running if they had sensed their father was being threatened in any way, which was why he let the Professor be - because he had the threat of the girls always looming over him as a shadow. But Mojo let that issue slide and for eleven years he ruled his empire without a care in the world.

In fact, his 'palace' was Townsville Hall, transformed. The white marble and title had been changed to fit what his lab would look like and what he wanted as a home and morphed many of the conference rooms into bedrooms or lounges. He kicked out all of the current employees of Townsville Hall and replaced them with chimpanzee guards he later created. He still kept his lab on top of the volcano, which was where he created the boys, because he sometimes needed a place to devise more plans. Townsville also had been reconstructed. It looked like what would be a city from the future because of the new gadgets and means of traveling, with sleek silver buildings and highways that stretched on for miles.

However, despite the new structure of Townsville, it still was strewn about with ruins from what used to be the grand city. And alongside those ruins were poorly made graves. A shadow was cast over the town and the sun hardly brought itself out of hiding anymore.

"Mojo," interrupted a cool voice.

The Monkey King, who had been staring out the window from what was previously the Mayor's office and was now his personal office, turned and found Brick leaning on the door frame with a frown on his face. Mojo duplicated Brick's frown. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?"

Brick rolled his eyes. Oh yes, busy staring out the window. He didn't voice that though. "Mojo, Boomer just told me that he may have possibly found a meteor with life on it. It's only three specs, which may be your female nemeses that you've been dreading for the past eleven years."

Mojo, startled at first, then smiled. "Good…good."

"They're not going to come here," Brick continued on smoothly, evidently bored with the topic. The ape glanced at the red 'ruff, obviously not happy with his statement. "We sent up a probe and checked out how they go on with life. Apparently, there's some small planet or moon that allows them to collect all their necessities and bring it back to their makeshift home. Plus, the leader told her blonde sister that they weren't going to come back."

"What do you mean?" snapped the Monkey King.

The red 'ruff sighed heavily. "Meaning, they're staying there. Why do you want them to come if you've been dreading their return?"

"To eliminate them, my son, because if I, Mojo Jojo, have enemies that could destroy me, then that puts me in a tight spot, doesn't it?" explained the ape. Again, Brick rolled his eyes. This monkey could be really be paranoid sometimes. He had no idea why he was paranoid about these girls. They looked like they couldn't even defeat a fly if they had to. One was over-emotional, the other looked like she wouldn't follow the orders of anyone and the last one was too concerned about surviving to even glance at anything remotely related to fighting.

"Whatever, Mojo, whatever," mumbled Brick as he began walking out of the room. For a brief moment, Brick stopped and called out before moving on, "Oh, Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching is having troubles with more revolts."

Mojo shrugged and strolled to his desk. He would eliminate those girls when the time came. Yes, he feared them and yes, he hoped they wouldn't realize their potential, but sometimes you have to do things you didn't want to in order to accomplish something else. That was for another time. First he had to deal with the revolts in China and Japan.

Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching glared down at his human opponents, his cymbals ready in his hands. His guards were ready for anything. Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching muttered some curses underneath his breath as the humans broke through the first barrier that the chimpanzees had set up. Frowning, he began walking down towards the front. His guards were not doing the job they were supposed to do.

Idiots…they can't do anything right, Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching thought bitterly as he pushed his way through. Mojo better send the Rowdyruff Boys soon.

The humans let out a great battle cry as they continued to push through. Growling, Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching collided his cymbals together and unleashed a big sonic boom. The human rebels covered their ears and were pushed back. Several of the stronger ones managed to get up and started attacking again.

The 'Chaotic Calamity' rolled his eyes. Didn't these humans know when to give up? He had been having so many revolts lately that he had lost count. When Mojo first took over, none of the humans even considered having revolts. Their spirits had been broken. But then they regained what spirit they had left and began revolts. Several revolts had occurred in South America and in Europe, but the most apparent were in China, Japan, and America.

Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching unleashed another sonic boom, but the smarter humans hid behind something to avoid the attack by Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching. As soon as the sonic boom was finished, they started running out again and attacking. They knocked down a majority of the guards and Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching was just about to unleash another attack when another sonic boom appeared out of nowhere, but with a greater magnitude. Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching glanced up at the air and found Brick, Boomer, and Butch floating above. While they were smirking, the humans began to scream in fear and began running away.

"About time you showed up," huffed Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching as he put his cymbals down. The Rowdyruff Boys merely rolled their eyes and floated down to the ground. All Brick had to do was glare before the primate started talking once more. "These humans are giving me problems again. They just don't know when to quit. You let your father know about this! He better do something quick! I'm getting tired of having to put these humans back in place!"

"Don't worry, he knows," muttered Brick.

Butch frowned as he watched the humans peer out and some of the braver ones start up again. "Trust me. We don't like coming out and fighting these humans."

"Yeah," Boomer muttered to himself, his arms going over his chest. "You'd rather be out fooling around with girls than here. Pansy man."

"Wanna say that again, blondie?" threatened the green ruff as he glared at his brother. The blue 'ruff didn't manage to say anything to counter because Brick immediately cut them off by instructing them on what they should do to the Asian slaves. Once the red 'ruff was finished speaking, Butch glared at the blonde again and said lowly, "You're lucky Brick stopped me."

Boomer rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, fireball, whatever."

The blonde ruff immediately floated down to the front ranks of Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching's troops and smirked deviously. A couple of humans backed down from the boy, knowing that he was powerful and some retreated. He opened his arms wide, liking welcoming them into a hug and many stood rigid. He chuckled before he clapped his hands together and unleashed a sonic boom.

The tremors of the boom shook the Earth and the humans collapsed into some of the crevices that were created. Others began to retreat. Some, however, remained, got up and continued on, despite the fact that were brutally out-powered.

Butch rolled his eyes before he floated down next to his brother. Smirking, he glanced at his brother and said, "Let me show you how a real ruff does things around here."

Boomer frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. Butch then turned to the oncoming humans and dug his fingers into the earth. He laughed out loud before he tugged the earth up. In a rolling carpet effect, the rioting humans tumbled to the ground. Again, some retreated and others stayed. The slaves were now down to about a dozen people. Those dozen people gritted their teeth before they continued on.

From the air, Brick sighed heavily. "You've got to be kidding me."

Flying above them, he took a deep breath and blew, fire streaming out. He quickly manipulated the flames to create a circle about the dozen humans. All twelve people bunched up together in fear of the flames and Brick floated back to Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching. In the most nonchalant voice ever, the red ruff said, "Put the flames out and apprehend them."

"Do as he says!" the Cymbal Monkey commanded his guards. The troops saluted before they ran off to put out the flames. When the Rowdyruff Boys didn't leave, Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching rose an eyebrow, "What else do you want?"

"Mojo wants something from you," Brick explained as his brothers floated next to him respectively. When the Cymbal Monkey didn't move, the red ruff rolled his eyes again. "He says you know what exactly he wants."

Realization flashed in the monkey's eyes and he nodded. "Follow me."

The Rowdyruff Boys followed him into his castle to retrieve what they came for to give to Mojo when they got home.

"Did you get it?" Mojo questioned, his eyes narrowing considerably. Brick (for the umpteenth time that day) rolled his eyes and walked up to the Monkey King's desk while Boomer and Butch lazily threw themselves into seats. The leader of the Rowdyruff Boys gave their 'father' the object. Mojo picked it up, laughed evilly and then sighed. "Good, good. Boys, put the plan into action."

Bubbles lay out on the ground and examined the stars. Despite the many years she had been living with these stars as her ceiling, she was still fascinated at the endless amount of them. She loved to come out whenever she had no chores and try to count the many stars. Of course, she knew that it was pointless because she would sometimes recount ones she already counted, but it was something to do.

As she let herself get taken over by the silence, she closed her eyes and let her muscles relax. They had been tense for some reason. She thought she vaguely could hear people screaming earlier that day and it made her panic. She told her sisters about it, but both Buttercup and Blossom just brushed it off saying that it was her imagination.

While Bubbles was slowly slipping into her sleep, she heard a faint scream. She bolted upright once she heard it. She knew that scream. She had heard it before. She jumped to her feet and stared out at Earth. It couldn't be, could it? She heard it again.

The Professor…

Gasping, Bubbles ran into the stone house where she found Blossom writing different words in the sand (she did this to practice her alphabet) and Buttercup, as usual, staring out the window. They jumped when she came in and shouted, "The Professor! The Professor! He's in trouble!"