The Fast and the Monstrous (Fanon PPG episode)

The Fast and the Monstrous is an episode of The Powerpuff Girls from the original series' sixth season. The episode was written and storyboarded by Thurop van Orman, and directed by John McIntyre and Randy Myers.

Summary
When a super speedy monster proves too fast for all of their attacks, The Powerpuff Girls resort to deadly traps in order to capture it before it reaches Townsville.

Plot
The episode starts where Blossom was being warned by The Mayor on the hotline about a monster in the desert that is about to reach Townsville, also giving her the fact that it's really fast. Blossom and her sisters then fly to the desert, spot the monster destroying some cacti and attempt to attack it.

Blossom runs towards the monster and assumes a kicking position, but at the fraction of a second, the monster rapidly sidesteps and leaves her flying right into some cacti. Bubbles grabs the monster by the leg and is about to throw it, but gets pecked on the head by it, compelling her to let go. Buttercup then grabs a huge boulder and tries to crush the monster with it, but it tricks her into hurling it at Blossom instead. Getting out of the boulder, Blossom then tries to freeze the monster with her ice breath, and it works! NOT! The monster breaks free after a second, prompting Blossom to attempt to laser it, but she keeps missing the monster until she has written out "MISSED ME!" on the desert ground. Infuriated, Blossom chases the monster through the desert until it runs in circles around her so fast that it kicks up a lot of dust to create a fog. When the fog clears, the monster is nowhere to be seen! Blossom can't do anything except scratch her head in puzzlement... and the monster runs up behind her and roars, scaring Blossom and resulting in her falling off a cliff.

After the monster departs, Bubbles and Buttercup fly in (glaring at the escaped monster) and look down the cliff where their sister has fallen. Blossom emerges from her her-shaped crater and flies back up to her sisters, concluding that the monster is too fast for all of their attacks. Pacing around as her sisters watch, Blossom then stops with an idea in her mind, before doing an evil, scheming smile. The girls then fly back to Townsville and inform the Mayor that the monster is defeated. When the Mayor asks them how they defeated the monster, Blossom senses telling her humiliation to the Mayor and replies saying that it's a long story as she and her sisters fly back home.
 * 1) Hiding behind a rock, Blossom, holding a lasso, spots the monster running along the road. The moment it runs right near her hiding place, she swings the lasso and captures the monster. However, this does not stop the monster as it drags Blossom along until it makes a U-turn and causes her to be flung onto the road, where a great big truck appears from a tunnel and runs her over. Blossom gets up, dazed, before falling on her back.
 * 2) Blossom then goes on to her second plan: walking on top of a bridge on a really high cliff to drop an anvil on the unsuspecting monster. To ensure that the monster stops to get killed by her tactic, she has placed several juicy steaks on the road for the monster to eat. Looking over the cliff, she sees the monster running from a microscopic distance, and as planned, it stops at the steaks and begins to eat them piece-by-piece. Blossom then begins walking on the bridge, anvil in hands. Buttercup and Bubbles watch their sister, but they eventually see a really fragile plank on the bridge, and they try to warn her. However, Blossom, not hearing her sisters (well, they don't even speak for this episode, until the end), continues walking on the bridge and soon steps on the broken plank. A bird's-eye shot soon follows as Blossom, still holding the anvil, falls to the road below; a cloud of dust appears when she hits the ground. The monster is eventually startled by the nearby crash and runs away. Buttercup and Bubbles fly down and look down at the Blossom-shaped hole, somewhat worried. Blossom emerges from her hole and cannot help but think of a new scheme.
 * 3) Blossom then lights a bomb with her laser eyes and spots the monster running. Acting quick, she throws the hissing explosive at the beast, but the monster, somewhat having a mind, pushes it back to her with it's beak. Blossom, covering her ears, opens an eye to see if the tactic worked, and soon spots the bomb near her. BOOM! After the smoke clears, Blossom, covered in ash, paces around as her sisters watch, trying to come up with new plans to trap/kill the monster.
 * 4) Putting a cannon near the road, Blossom hears the monster's roars far away and gets ready by lighting the cannon with her laser eyes. However, the cannonball misses the monster and ricochets off a cliff wall and nearly hits Blossom, who ducks at the last second. The cannonball then falls off a cliff as Blossom watches, and with a sigh of relief, Blossom walks away smugly. Unbeknownst to her, the falling cannonball then gets caught by a saguaro cactus and is flung back up, landing on an unaware Blossom, hammering her into the ground.
 * 5) Blossom hides behind a cliff wall, holding a string that holds a rock in place. When the monster comes by roaring, Blossom yanks the string to make the rock fall, but the rock misaims and ends up crushing her instead,
 * 6) Blossom then sets up an Indiana Jones-esque booby trap that shoots bullets when the button on the ground is stepped on. However, as the girls hide behind a rock, the monster swiftly jumps over the button (played in slow-motion to allow the viewers to see that) without triggering the trap. Blossom then gets surprised, wondering why her trap didn't work, then the monster appeears behind her and scares her with it's roars, causing her to stumble and pratfall on the button. As the monster escapes, shooting sounds can be heard as Bubbles and Buttercup recoil with terror and cover their eyes. After the last bullet is shot, out comes Blossom, having been riddled with lots of holes. She reclines on a rock and tries to think of a new scheme to stop the monster and save Townsville.
 * 7) Giving another try at the cannon, Blossom tries to blast the monster with another cannonball. This time, however, Blossom fails to duck in time and gets hit by the cannonball, crashing into a cliff face. The cannonball then falls off of Blossom's torso, followed by her. She then gets crushed by a falling boulder out of nowhere which causes the cannonball to roll away upon impact.
 * 8) Blossom then sets up a spring-loaded block of pavement that stops just under an arched rock formation. When she pulls the lever, the pavement will spring up and crush the monster against the formation. She hears the running footsteps of the beast, quickly winds the crank to lower the pavement and yanks the lever, but it gets stuck, causing Blossom to vibrate starting from her hands and ending with her bow. Annoyed that the trap went wrong, Blossom flies to the pavement block and tries to pry it out. All the while, Bubbles and Buttercup discover the source of the problem: the lever is quite rusted. Buttercup then flies away and returns with an oiler, dropping some oil onto the lever. Bubbles then pulls the lever and it actually moves... which triggers the pavement block (with Blossom still on it) to spring up and crush her against the formation. Bubbles and Buttercup hear the sound of their sister being crushed and fly to the road. The pavement block moves back down, and a paper-thin Blossom drifts down at her sisters' feet. As the flattened Blossom glares at her sheepishly embarrassed sisters, Bubbles and Buttercup then roll up their pancaked sister like a blueprint and walk off.
 * 9) Using a colossal bottle of glue, Blossom squeezes out some glue on the road, hoping that the monster will get stuck upon contact, and the moment she hears it approaching, she ducks behind a rock where her sisters are. However, the monster moves so fast that it manages to make it across - and splash some of it onto Blossom. Blossom inspects herself covered in glue, and is unhappy about it. Bubbles then attempts to clean Blossom with a towel, but it gets stuck to Blossom, prompting her to pull it out, though when it does get pulled out, Bubbles recoils and hits Buttercup, causing both of them to roll for a bit before stopping. As Bubbles and Buttercup look at Blossom in her predicament, Blossom tries to walk off, but since she is still covered in sticky glue, she stumbles and falls onto the road, where she is run over by another truck.
 * 10) Blossom then sets up another cannon and puts three cannonballs  in it, hoping that one, or at least two or all three of them will hit the monster. As the monster zips by, Blossom then yanks the cannon's string, shooting the three cannonballs at the running monstrosity. The monster, however, takes a left turn as the cannonballs get caught by some cacti and are slingshotted back to their firer. The first one lands on Blossom's foot, leaving her jumping around while screaming in agony and clenching her foot. After she finishes jumping, she then looks worriedly at her bruised foot and then glares at her sisters, who are actually laughing at her failure. Karma strikes Buttercup, however, as she gets hammered into the ground by the second cannonball. Bubbles notices this and laughs at the buried Buttercup before karma strikes her too as she is pounded into the ground by the third ball.
 * 11) Blossom, with her bruised foot now in bandages, then uses a detour to mislead the monster into heavy traffic, where it will become roadkill. As she hears the screeching monster approaching, Blossom ducks behind a rock as the creature appears to follow the sign. Blossom waits for the incoming splat.... but there isn't. Curious and annoyed, Blossom walks to the path that the detour is leading to, and it is revealed that the monster has stayed on the safe side of the road! Angry, Blossom tries to attack the monster, but it kicks her onto the road, causing her to repeatedly get run over by trucks and cars. When the traffic is seemingly over, a huge blue truck then appears, and a battered Blossom flies from it to avoid getting run over. After a long chase between the truck and little girl, Blossom eventually loses the truck and sighs with relief.... only for the monster to show up behind her and screech. Startled, Blossom then falls off a cliff as a dust cloud signals her crash.
 * 12) Viewing the sprinting creature from a high mountain through binoculars, Blossom then prepares to push down a boulder which happens to be on the mountain top with her. The huge rock then rolls down the mountain and chases the monster through a bridge, several roads and then a dead end. As it seems like the monster is about to get squished since it has nowhere to go, it suddenly kicks the boulder with such force that it ends up flying back to where it came from, revealing that the monster is stronger than it looks. Meanwhile, Blossom, who had just witnessed the monster's incredible tactic from a far distance, suddenly looks up to see the boulder, which lands behind her and chases her down the mountain while her sisters watch with worry. Blossom eventually manages to escape the boulder and blows a raspberry at it.... but the dust below her clears and reveals her to be standing off a cliff! Realizing her predicament, Blossom breaks the fourth wall and holds up a "YIPE" sign before she falls to the ground again.
 * 13) Having had enough of her previous plans backfiring, Blossom concocts one last scheme that is really foolproof; distracting the monster! This time, Blossom allows her sisters to take part in the plan. Bubbles and Buttercup pretend to get lost and slowly die from thirst, which attracts the monster as it prowls towards them. As it is about to strike at the "weak" girls with it's sharp talons, Blossom suddenly lunges at the monster and actually captures it. Unfortunately, the startled monster panics at actually being caught and goes on a wild running frenzy with Blossom still gripping to it. During a long run, the monster harms itself and Blossom by accidentally running into a field of cacti, a pile of sharp tumbleweeds and crashes through several signs. Despite being battered along with her target, the monster keeps running until it almost runs into a truck filled with dishwashing liquid. The startled driver promptly makes a turn and crashes his truck on a rock, causing bottles of dishwashing liquid to fall out and spill on the road, which Blossom and the monster then uncontrollably slip on. Blossom then ends up falling off a cliff one last time, this time taking the monster with her; another cloud of dust indicates their landing. Shocked, Bubbles and Buttercup fly down to the bottom of the cliff and look down at a hole shaped like Blossom holding the monster by the leg. But to their relief, Blossom emerges from their crater, seemingly okay under the conditions of being bruised badly. Looking down at the monster, she and her sisters hear it's final growl before it (presumably) dies.

"So once again, the day is saved, thanks to the Powerpuff Girls!"

Characters

 * Blossom (vocal effects and speech by Cathy Cavadini)
 * Bubbles (vocal effects and speech by Tara Strong)
 * Buttercup (vocal effects and speech by E.G. Daily)
 * The Mayor (offscreen) (voiced by Tom Kenny)
 * Speedy Monster (vocal effects by Dee Bradley Baker)

Reception
The episode received mixed reviews from PPG fans. Most fans viewed the episode as funny, considering the Road Runner cartoons it is imitating, while others think it's mean-spirited due to the number of abuse Blossom gets throughout the episode.

Quotes

 * Blossom: (realizing she is about to tell the Mayor about injuring and humiliating herself trying to kill the monster) How did WE defeat it? Oh, it's a long story. Don't even bother asking. (flies back home with her sisters)

Tropes
The Fast and the Monstrous (Fanon PPG episode)/Tropes

Trivia

 * The episode is a parody of the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons from Looney Tunes, for the following reasons:
 * Most of the episode taking place in a desert.
 * Blossom (who fills in for Wile E. Coyote in this episode) trying to catch/trap the monster (filling in for Road Runner) while her sisters watch, but it backfires and results in her getting injured.
 * The monster behaving like and resembling a mutated version of the Road Runner.
 * Blossom often seen falling off of cliffs just like the Coyote, complete with the giant dust cloud when she lands.
 * A fade to black transition between scenes.
 * Blossom often breaking the fourth wall by looking at the viewer. She even holds up a sign reading "YIPE" in one scene.
 * And last but not least, just like Wile E. Coyote, the girls do not speak for a huge chunk of the episode save for some laughs, screams and other vocal effects. They do start talking at the end though, when they return to Townsville to inform the Mayor the good news.


 * Irony: Despite being able to fly since she is a superhero, Blossom somehow succumbs to gravity like Wile E. Coyote anyway, usually when she realizes she is about to fall from a cliff, but she also gets overtaken by gravity when the monster scares her off a cliff behind her back.
 * The giant bottle of glue Blossom uses in the 9th gag is a nod to the giant match from "Reeking Havoc" and the giant jar from "Insect Inside".