It All Started With A..

"Actually, while this world is very different from our own, it's been rather fun thus far. And the people here are really nice." Paula responded.

As Blossom entered the room, Ness waved in greeting once again. Paula offered a kind "Hello." to her. The kids following Blossom were very young. Each of them groaned in unison upon seeing her friends. They crowded around her and lightly tugged at her skirt and hands.

"Awwww! You're leaving already???"

"Stay an' pway wit us!"

"I wanna make my hair like yours!"

"Nooo, don't go!"

"Stay, stay, STAY!"

Paula giggled at the bombardment of affection thrust upon Blossom. She was quite popular there among the children.

Blossom giggled a bit, then crouched down. "Aw, come on. I'm not going all that soon, okay? I just want to introduce you guys to my new friends." She gently ushered some of the children forward. "You already know my sister Buttercup and Jenny of course. But these two are new. The girl is Paula, and the new guy is Ness. Be nice and introduce yourselves, okay?"

Most of the children were too bashful to step forward. Only two girls out of the group stepped forward. The first girl had platinum blonde hair and reddish eyes. Her age could seemingly be placed around 8 years old. "Um~... H...Hi... My name is Hazel." Her voice was smaller than her self, and she scrunched her skirt with her hands timidly.


Paula leaned forward and greeted her with a warm smile. "Hello, Hazel! My name is Paula. It's nice to meet you." Hazel shied away from her slightly, but offered a small smile in return.

The other girl to step forward approached Ness. "Hi! I'm Iliana!" She appeared much younger than the last girl; her speech was juvenile and her stature put her age at around 5. Ness didn't really know how to react. She was adorable. He knelt down to her and removed his bag. After rummaging through its contents for a moment, he revealed a small yo-yo and handed it to the girl. Her eyes immediately lit up as she gasped. She ran back to her friends to show off her prize. Paula gave Ness an odd look, to which he shrugged in response. Although he could fight with yo-yo's, to a child it was just a toy...

Buttercup grinned, she liked children. It was one of the few 'soft' things she'd openly admit to liking without causing embarassment. But over time she had started to come with the mentality if you were scared of what people thought because of what you liked, then it was another form of being cowardly. And Buttercup hated cowards.

Blossom crouched down by Hazel, gently patting her on the back. "You're doing a good job Hazel. Don't even feel pressured, just go at your own pace, okay?"

Buttercup glanced at Ness once he was done. "Huh. Didn't know you were into yo-yo's, not that there's anything wrong with it."

Jenny shrugged. "Hey, if you ask me its not a big deal. Some people even have a bottle cap collection. Pretty normal and healthy, unlike.." She shuddered slightly as if remembering something. "Ugh..Sheldon."

"I don't even want to hear that creeps name." Blossom said with uncharacteristic venom. There was definitely a story about it, but it wasn't going to be told in front of the kids.

Hazel smiled at Blossom's encouragement. She was much more accustomed to her close proximity than any given stranger's. Hazel nodded to Blossom happily.

Ness scratched under his hat and gave Buttercup a hand sign that signaled 'sort of'. Paula caught the gesture and elaborated. "He actually uses yo-yo's to fight. Although, I catch him playing with them sometimes." She said with a smile. Ness put his hands up and behind his head sheepishly. He did still play with yo-yo's now and then...

Paula was about to ask about this 'Sheldon' person when Blossom's response shut out the notion. Whoever he was, he was not well-liked. Outside, a few children's playful screaming and laughter could be heard as they engaged in a large-scale game of tag. Bubbles slowed herself significantly to give the children a fighting chance.

Buttercup grinned. "Nothing wrong with that. You like what you like. Gimme a second." She decided to go over there where Iilana had ran off too with her friends crouching down. "Whatcha guys doing?"

Jenny glanced at Paula seeing her look. "We'll explain later, just not in front of the kids."

Blossom just nodded to that, smiling down at Hazel. "Hm..you know, we have to go out together sometime when I have some down time. I want to show a few things. Iiana too."

When Buttercup came over, she'd see Iliana and her friends passing around the yo-yo, attempting properly play with it. While some of them grasped the idea generally, they couldn't put the method to practice. "We can't play iiiit~!" Iliana whined. Their height wasn't actually a problem, the yo-yo Ness had given her was on a short string.

Hazel seemed a little apprehensive about going outside. She used to be notoriously shy, but had been coming out of her shell thanks to her friends and Blossom's coercion. "Is... Is it okay? We'll be with you... right?" She probably could manage going outside if Blossom was with them.

Ness glanced through the window again. The kids had moved on to freeze tag, apparently, since most of the kids stood frozen on the lot. Their poses suggested they had been running before being caught. Bubbles was slightly suspended in midair. He couldn't help but smile at that.

Buttercup chuckled at Iliana's display(she wouldn't giggle, she'd never giggle)Then she crouched down a bit to inspect the yo-yo. "Huh. We'll, I see what the problem is kiddo. Here, gimme a sec.." She gently took the Yo-Yo for a moment examining it before experimenting with it. With a few more practice flicks she got a decent rythm going. Then she handed it back to the little girl.

"Okay, I want you to give it a try like I was doing, k?" Buttercup said, working closer with Iliana and the others until they got it right.

Blossom's smile grew warmer. "Of course! I couldn't leave you without me."

Jenny nodded. "Yep. And you'll get to know our new friends more." She turned to Masako; Nina was busying herself with other children. "Is it okay if we take them out today?"

Masako shook her head. "No problem at all. I know how close you all are." She smiled at Ness and Paula. "What do you think of this world so far? I'm curious."

Jenny went to where Buttercup was at. "Hey. We'll be going out a bit later with Hazel and I was thinking Iliana to." She smiled at the blue haired girl. "You wanna go with us today?"

Iliana and her friends quickly got the hang of the yo-yo after being given a demonstration. The small group filled with impressed gasps and excited giggles at the new toy. "Hahahaha~!!" Iliana laughed joyously as she twirled the small stringed-spinner. To children, any toy was a fun toy in the right light.

Paula answered Masako perkily. "I think it's really nice here! Our friends back home would really like this world, too." She believed they were okay. Jeff was smart enough to keep trouble at bay, and Poo was strong enough to deal with whatever trouble got past Jeff's watchful eyes. Paula looked to Ness and telepathically 'listened' to his answer before voicing it. "Ness likes it here, too. Save for the 'creep-o doppelganger we ran into. He can't believe there are so many races coexisting here."

The small blue-haired girl jumped in excitement. "Yeah!" She thought going outside with Blossom's friends could be fun.

Buttercup grinned to that, happy Iliana was coming along. She walked back with the others, Jenny by their side. "All right! We're going to have real fun. Hey Jen? Could you go get Bubbles and let her know we'll be heading out?"

Jenny nodded. "Will do. I'll be right back." She then left outside.

Blossom shook her head to that. "No kidding." She glanced to her side smiling at. "We're going to have lots of fun, okay?"

Masaka knew Nestor more then she'd like to admit. "I see. We'll, I'm glad you're enjoying your time here. I'm assuming you can talk with, what's the word I'm looking for, telepathy?" She was guessing since Ness didn't seem to say anything verbally.

* *

"Hey, Bubbles!"

Jenny came outside, getting her attention during her lull time. "We were going to hang out with Hazel and Iliana for the rest of the day. Do you want to come with us or stay here?"

Ness shook his head to Masaka while Paula answered successively. "I'm the one doing it, yes. Ness can move objects with his telekinesis, but I'm the only one of our friends who has solid telepathy." Poo had both telekinesis and telepathy, but his wasn't as strong as either Ness' or Paula's. "I'm sorry if he seems rude; he doesn't intend to be. He's just... never said much."

Bubbles happily trotted over to Jenny after playing with the children. "Yeah~, I'll come! We've gotta show our new friends around the city. Plus Hazel, like, never wants to go outside!" She turned and waved to the children with both hands. "Bye bye, guys! I'll come back and play real soon~!"

Masako shook her head with a small smile. "It's fine. A young man of a few words..there's nothing wrong with that. Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying your stay here." She smiled gently at Hazel. "And I'm glad you're deciding to venture outside. You'll have fun, I know it."

Buttercup came back with Iiana. "All right, so we kosher to get up and going?"

Blossom nodded. "Yep. Come on, let's get going." She gently took the young half vampire by the hand as they exited out with the others. Jenny was close behind.

"What are we gonna do?" Buttercup asked idly. She didn't particularly care.

"Hm. Not sure, I guess we can just go for a walk. Something will come to us, I'm sure." Blossom smiled down at Hazel. "And if you ever get nervous or scared about something just let me or anyone else know, okay?"

Hazel's eyes darted around cautiously as the group left the orphanage. Her steps were slow and tentative, and her grip on Blossom's hand was as tight as she could muster. She was definitely scared, but Hazel trusted Blossom. "O-okay..." Was her response to Blossom's reassurance.

Iliana energetically padded the pavement with each step. The young child's enthusiasm was in high contrast to Hazel's. Paula walked alongside Ness, who had given in to the urge to play with his combat yo-yo. The small red 'toy' whizzed about quickly and deftly as he spun it with his right hand. Bubbles giggled at his display. "Well, we could still go to the mall? There's lo~ts of stuff to do there for everyone!"

"Maybe we could return to that park later, too? If it's safer now, that is." She didn't want to risk running into that guy again. Hazel and Iliana didn't need to be exposed to that.

Blossom let Hazel take a hold of her hand, gently encouraging her along. She really wanted the little girl to be less scary about the outside world. Blossom always thought there had to be a reason why Hazel was like she was. It could have just been shyness, but she couldn't help but think there was something to her past that made Hazel more withdrawn around busy places. If there was, she didn't know nor did she pry about it.

"Yeah, that would be a cool idea." Jenny agreed. "We could go to the mall, then we could see about the park. Best of both worlds!"

Buttercup shrugged, hands in pockets. "Good enough for me." She grinned at Iiana. "Someone's having a good time huh? Tell you what of another way to burn off that energy. If you really want to, I could teach ya about martial arts. It's not just about fighting though, there's other good stuff in there. Like how to conduct yourself, that jazz. I didn't get it until a bit later. I was a hot head."

"You mean you aren't now?" Jenny chimed in, smiling good naturedly. Buttercup shrugged to that.

"Okay. Maybe I am a little now still, but give me a break I was young. I was worse then." Buttercup then continued. "Anyway, if you need to think about it, go ahead okay Iiana?"

Iliana took to hopping over each crack in the pavement as she listened to Buttercup. She wasn't one to sit still, as the other kids knew already. "Masako says don't fight." She recited in between bounds. Iliana was still a bit too young to understand what Buttercup was offering. She'd picked up on 'teach' and 'fighting' as major points. The child suddenly stopped and turned to Buttercup, her eyes grew wide. "Oooooh! I wanna fly!!" Fighting was supposed to be bad, but being taught how to fly was unimaginably alluring in her mind.

Buttercup cracked a small grin. "I'm not sure about the flying part, but hey who knows? There's people that can fly when it wasn't natural to them. But yeah, Masako is right fighting just to fight is bad. But as long as you're just using it to defend yourself and others, its okay."

Before too long, they reached the mall. It wasn't as busy as it was normally but on instinct Blossom kept Hazel closer to her. She was very protective of her, and she did promise to look after her.

"I'm not sure where we should go first here. But I'm open for ideas." Jenny offered.

Hazel's small hand trembled slightly as the group entered the mall. This was far more people than she was used to seeing, but she fought to keep her calm. Iliana giggled excitedly whilst fighting the urge to run off completely. Ness was simply looking around, taking in the scenery and checking out the food court from afar. He was always hungry. Paula did the same, only eyeing clothing stores rather than places with food.

"There's LOTS of stuff to do! We could go see a movie first? Or there's toy stores and an arcade! Clothing stores and kiosks and game shops! AAh~ there's almost too MUCH to do!" Bubbles floated around animatedly, pointing in the direction of each attraction she listed attempting to form some sort of itinerary.

Buttercup was keeping a eye on Iilana, though she doubted she was just hoping to hop off but you never knew sometimes. Even if she did, Buttercup or any of the others could catch her five seconds flat. Bubbles was bouncing off the walls like normal, which was okay in Buttercup's book. If she wasn't doing that then something was wrong.

"I know! There is too much to do!" And of course, Bubble's excited chatter had hyped Jenny up a bit.

Blossom hovered close to Hazel like a over protective Kerlodian mother. That was to say if anyone was dumb enough to even breath funny in Hazel's direction they would be more then in a world of hurt. Hazel being twitchy or scared seemed to trigger Blossom a bit in this mode at least on a subconscious level. She wanted her to have fun, but she didn't want her to be frightened.

A idea came to her..

"I think me and Hazel are going to head up there." Blossom indicated to what looked like a library. "Plenty to read, plenty to do. Besides, its more me and Hazel's scene, you know? Come on Hazel." She gently dragged her along to where the library was. It was small quite, and out the way. Plus, she could talk to her when she relaxed a bit. Maybe she could finally ask about why she seemed so scared of crowds and the outside world. It seemed there was something more. Blossom didn't like to pry, but maybe a gentle nudge might have been needed.

"Hm..how about game shops? It's by the food and Ness looks hungry. So two birds with one stone?" Buttercup said with a small shrug.

"I'm game." Jenny chirped.

"Ugh, what a lame pun."

"Don't hate the player!" Bubbles chimed in, not one to leave a pun unaccompanied by another. "Wee~! To the games!" She started for the shops in a merry skip.

"Heehehehehe!" Iliana followed after her as quickly as her little legs would carry her, giggling wildly from excitement. Hazel's mood immediately elevated upon entering the library. It was much quieter there, and there were far less people around than before. She didn't let go of Blossom's hand just yet, however, as she didn't want to stray too far from her.

Paula was content with following the others to the game section for now. She could look at clothes afterward. "Okay, that sounds like fun!" She spotted Ness, who tilted his head in the direction of the food court. "Hah, of course you are. You'll meet us there, right?" Ness nodded in response before moseying off to get a decent burger.

Buttercup twitched a bit at that. "Ugh..forget it." She instead decided to focus on Iliana who was running along. "Hey, wait up kiddo." Though she hated to admit it, she was getting the stupid warm and fuzzy feeling from seeing her so happy as she was.

* *

Blossom waited until they got further in, spying a table in a corner. It was in a small room but there was no door to it as it was just space. There was a stack of children's books, some coloring crayons and the like. It was obvious a small kid's place.

She crouched down in front of Hazel, smiling at her. "I figured you'd like this area a bit more. A lot more quite, huh? Anyway just wanted to ask, why are you so scared of the outside world? You don't have to answer if you don't want to, okay?" She kept her voice gentle the whole time.

Bubbles immediately gravitated toward the DDR machine, eager to get her dance on. Paula seemed drawn toward a motorcycle racing simulator. Iliana was far more interested in a simple ski-ball game, though she could barely reach the rack, let alone send the balls down the lane with enough power.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hazel released Blossom's hand for the first time since they'd left the orphanage, making her way over to the paper and crayons. After she sat down, she listened to Blossom faithfully. "I like it. It's quiet..." Normally she'd be hiding behind a book or exhibiting skittish behavior. This was a much more favorable atmosphere for her. A frown crossed her face when Blossom asked about her fears, however. "...Because Mama and Papa went away... I don't like loud places..."

Buttercup grinned, then gently picked Iilana up so she could reach the game more then what she had been doing. "There we go. Now give it a try."

* *

Blossom seemed to accept that answer and sat down making herself comfortable. "You know, I don't much care for loud places either. It's a lot better when its just a small group of people you trust and care about anyway. So let's just relax together."

Iliana took hold of another ball after being lifted by Buttercup and threw it down the lane with an enthusiastic "Yaa~!" Her aim was still quite off but at least she was getting points this way. Bubbles was zipping about the dancing game wildly on the arcade's opposite end. Not only was she landing perfect steps, but she was actually dancing to the music as opposed to simply stepping on the corresponding arrows. She'd also began to sing along with the songs.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Okay!" Hazel seemed to brush aside whatever had caused her speech a bit of gloom just a moment ago and continued drawing. Her picture was coming along nicely. That is, she drew confidently and colored without pause. The image itself was nothing spectacular, but it was certainly high quality for someone of the young girl's age. Hazel hummed to herself as she formed shapes and persons on the page.

Buttercup didn't realize she was grinning, but seeing Iliana so happy had a strong effect on making her mood much better then it had been previously, not that she had been in a bad mood to begin with earlier. "Good job. You're a natural at this aren't ya kiddo?"

* *

 The eldest Powerpuff girl couldn't help but smile warmly at Hazel, crouching down as she began to draw a bit of herself. It was of her own house, along with the background. Blossom had a affinity for art and drawing, but she had never done much with it besides some stuff more strictly to herself and friends. "You're pretty good for your age Hazel. How long have you been drawing?"

"Yuh-huh!" Iliana enthusiastically agreed before hurling the last ball down the lane. To her utter surprise and joy, it rocketed up the machine to sink into the hole in the high corner. Her point total increased by 100. "Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah-hahahaha!!" The small girl kicked her feet and laughed in triumph.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hazel continued to draw without looking up as she answered. "I don't know. Lots? I do it at home so I can show everyone after." The orphanage was her home now. Masako did her best to make the children feel at ease, after all. She peeked at Blossom's drawing. "Um, you're good too. Do you draw for your Papa?"