"Please follow me to the lab, I think a proper explanation is in order," the professor said as he proceeded to walk towards the lab. He then stopped as he noticed that none of the three girls have intention to follow him. The girls had uncertain, untrusting, and worried looks on their faces, he understands why, of course.

"Uhm, professor?" Miyako asked raising her hand as if she was a student in a classroom.

"Yes?" the professor asked as he turned towards the blonde.

"I-it's kind of getting late, my poor old grandmother must be worried by now," Miyako stuttered as she gestured to the setting sun, finding an excuse to leave. She didn't necessarily feel uneasy or suspicious of the scientist or his little clone, but they did just take them to a place unknown to them without their consent. The other two girls just nervously agreed as they bobbed their heads going along with the excuse.

"Alright then," the professor sighed as he understood their unease. "But I'm going to need things from which we can analyze how the chemical Z affected you three. Blood samples would be best, but with the current circumstances, I don't think we will be able to obtain those from you three."

The three girls exchanged looks; Kaoru shrugging, Miyako giving a worried look, and Momoko pursing her lips as she rubbed her chin.

"Aha!" Momoko exclaimed as she pointed her finger up which startled the two girls beside her. "How about these belts? I didn't have a belt before the light ray thing, and I'm assuming they didn't have theirs either meaning that these belts are purely the result of the lights, so I think these should suffice," Momoko said as she pointed down at her belt.

"Yeah, I think the belts would do fine," the professor smiled, glad that he at least has something to begin examining with. Momoko, Miyako, and Kaoru then began to unbuckle their belts, and as they did, they each began to glow with the colors pink, blue, and green, respectively. Once the lights faded, they were each back in what they had on before the whole getting hit by the Z ray which were their school uniforms.

"Thank God I don't have to go home wearing that," Kaoru said as she shivered at the thought of having to be seen wearing the outfit, dreading the idea of her brothers teasing her.

"I wanted to keep the outfit...," Miyako sadly said as she looked down at her uniform. The three of them then handed their belts over to the professor who then took a closer look at the belts.

"Alright then, thank you, girls. Though it seems that you're back in your normal clothes, the Chemical Z is still in your systems," the professor informed, "I was hoping that we could keep in touch to discuss about the Chemical Z further. How does Friday sound?"

"Sure, professor!" Miyako cheerily said with a smile.

"Yay! We're going to see each other again, Miyako! I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship," Momoko squealed as she hugged Miyako who then giggled.

"Agreed, isn't that right, Kaoru?" the blonde said as she looked at her tall acquaintance. Momoko groaned as she saw the expression on Kaoru's face.

"Ugh," Kaoru groaned, her face scrunched as the other two girls looked at her in confusion. She was reminded the sports fest that was supposed to be on Friday, but then it was postponed because of the volcanic threat, and she was less than pleased because that, but the others didn't know about that and so they were confused. The squealing and giggling of the other two girls may have also contributed to her irk. "Yeah, sure, why not," she said unenthusiastically, "I have nothing better to do anyway."

The other two girls tried to suppress their excitement but they were obviously very giddy while Kaoru only side eyed the two. When did those two become best friends? None of them even knew of each other before today? Kaoru felt like cringing, but she suppressed it trying to at least be a little nice. She still wasn't so excited about seeing the two girly girls so soon though.

The professor and Ken dropped the three girls off at the nearest bus stop before they begin with their workload once they enter the lab. Ken turned on the lights to the "living room" per se where they kept the girls in their seperate glass cages earlier and dreaded to see that the cages were all shattered into pieces, glass shards and metal were scattered all around the lab. Guess the girls had to break the cages to be able to save him from his own recklessness.

"I'd better start examining the information we can get from these belts if we want to give them information by Friday," the professor said as he entered the room stretching. He looked out the window and saw that it was already dark outside. "Guess I'm not getting any sleep tonight," he thought as he placed the belts on a table and proceeded to take a close look at the belts.

"Uh, professor?" Ken called from behind.

"Not now, Ken," the professor dismissed as he discovered that the circular belt buckle was removable.

"But... Where did the monkey go?" Ken said with a rather nervous voice. The professor was confused, not knowing what the kid was talking about until he turned around, cold sweat running down his back. The fourth glass cage where they kept the mutated monkey was, just like the other three, broken and empty.

"Thank you for the delicious dinner, grandma," Miyako said as she stood up from the floor after she finished her dinner, pushing herself up from the tatami.

"Can you turn on the television, dear? It's important to listen in on the news especially after what happened today," the old woman asked before her granddaughter walked out of the dining area as she continued to eat her portions.

"Sure thing, grandma," Miyako smiled sweetly before heading out to the large living room next to the dining room. Miyako knelt down and slid open the cover of a vintage looking wooden box which revealed the screen of a small old fashioned television. Her grandmother often joked about how the television was as old as her, but Miyako always was raised to be thankful and so she never really saw anything wrong with still using an old television as long as it works just fine. Plus, she liked the vintage aesthetic of it complimenting their traditional Japanese styled house. She turned a knob turning on the television to the news and sat down on a cushion placed on the floor to sit on. She sat down with her knees folded, her legs rested right underneath her upright body. Some weird commercials were showing on the television which she often found entertaining, but this time, she was too preoccupied with the strange things that occurred to her that day.

"Please don't let anyone know about anything regarding you and the light rays."

The professor's words echoed in her head. She sat there quietly for a good ten minutes before she was snapped out of her daze as she felt her feet begin to cramp. Her grandmother always sat in that traditional sitting position, and yet she never really seemed to have trouble with it. Miyako sighed as she stretched her legs outwards.

"New Townsville's Mount Akunomo acted up today causing earthquakes and ashfalls to occur all over the city at around 12:30 pm. It was reported that the volcano failed to erupt, and that it no longer poses a threat," the female reporter spoke, the subject catching Miyako's attention, and so began to listen. Miyako's grandmother then entered the room fixing her silver hair and straightening her yukata before sitting down next to Miyako.

"Subsequently, there have been multiple sightings of what people referred to as "light rays" shooting across New Townsville's skies," the male reporter then continued. Miyako's eyes widened as nervousness took over her, her eyes momentarily shooting to her grandmother who was silently listening.

"O-oh my, look at the time! I really must go to bed now, goodnight, grandma!" Miyako stuttered as she quickly stood up from the floor. She gave her grandmother a quick bow before swiftly running up to her bedroom.

"Goodnight, Miyako dear," her unsuspecting grandmother replied with a smile and turned back to watching the television.

"The volcanologists down at Mount Akunomo have yet to issue a statement regarding the phenoma, though they have assured I that the possibility of an eruption no longer poses a threat."

"Give me the remote!" screamed a voice from a house in an otherwise quiet neighborhood.

"Listening to the news is important!" another voiced yelled out.

"But the news is boring!" Momoko replied putting emphasis on the word "boring". This scene happens in the Akatsutsumi household almost every night after dinner. Momoko always had to bicker with her sister for the remote when she wanted to watch something. Tonight she was going to watch a replay of a Johnny Cosmo episode she missed because of school, but it just so happens that it was during the program in a different channel which, for some reason she could never understand, her younger sister Kuriko always was eager to watch. Momoko thought her sister was weird for watching the news over cartoons like most kids her age would.

"I'd rather watch the news than having to watch childish Johnny Cosmo reruns!" Kuriko said as she pulled on her elder sister's long hair.

"Ow! My hair! Why you-" before the angry elder sister could retaliate, the two felt an ominous presence standing right beside them.

"M-mom...," the sisters stuttered as they slowly turned their heads to look at the tall woman, a terrifying atmosphere surrounding her.

"Aren't you tired of doing this every night?" Mrs. Akatsutsumi spoke between her teeth as she tried to push down her boiling anger.

"She started it!" the sisters simultaneously said as they pointed at each other in classic sibling fashion. The two then stiffened up as their mother took a deep sharp breath, nerves on her temples rising.

"Go to your rooms!" the angry woman demanded as she placed one hand on her waist, and pointed upstairs with the other.

"Yes, mom," the girls sighed as they proceeded up to their rooms.

"Stupid Johnny Cosmo," Kuriko said as she stuck out her tongue out at her sister before shutting the door to her room. Momoko sighed and rolled her eyes at her sister's childishness before proceeding to walk further down the hall to her own room. Watching Johnny Cosmo wasn't really all she wanted to do by changing the television channel, but it was a great cover. Momoko actually just wanted to steer clear of the Mount Akunomo eruption topic because the professor asked them to try not to talk about it to anyone for the time being, and she didn't trust herself enough for that and so when the news came up, she felt like she needed to change the channel quickly.

Momoko entered her bedroom. Most of the room was a hue of pink, different colors only introduced by all of the anime and superhero posters plastered all around the room. She closed the door behind her and walked towards her bookshelf where she kept all her books from her school textbooks to her mangas and figurines.

"Hmm," she hummed contemplating on which series she feels like reading tonight. She looked around and one title stood out to her at the moment. "Magic Science Girls" it read on the spine. It was a really old manga series, one of the first she got, actually. It was obviously one for younger children to read, but she just felt drawn to read it at the moment. They say that the series was based on the myth of the Great Women of Edo to try and get kids interested in the myths but it never really did well. The illustrations were mediocre and the writing was one she could only describe as terrible for lack of a nicer way to put it, yet for some reason she was still drawn to it. She opened the comic and skimmed through a few pages before slamming it shut.

"The writing though, ugh," Momoko cringed to herself as she returned to manga to the bottom shelf. The terrible writing was what irked her the most, she was part of the journalism club at her school after all and so she knew a thing or two about writing a compelling story. She stood back up and sighed.

Already changed in her pyjamas, all that was left was to let down her knee-length ginger hair from her high ponytail and turn off the lights. Momoko hopped in her bed and fell into deep thought, reminiscing everything that happened that day. She remembered everything that happened from after getting hit by the light so clearly, her abilities, the professor and Ken. She then wondered what could happen on Friday.

"This is going to make one heck of a story," Momoko said to herself as she thought about writing and reporting about this predicament in the school paper. The images of her two newfound friends then flashed in her mind. With the strong and hot headed Kaoru, the sweet and kind Miyako, and her as the leader and middleman, it was almost as if they where meant to be a team from the start. "We're going to make a perfect trio!" Momoko squealed excitedly, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear. Tired from an eventful and very strange day, Momoko began to doze off into slumber, not even bothering to check on her phone which made a popping sound meaning that she had received a message right as she fell asleep.

"Change of plans, we need the three of you girls back at the lab tomorrow morning, 7 am. Classes are suspended so you girls should be able to come. This is an emergency."

Kaoru read the message on her phone as she sat up from her bed. It was around 6 in the morning and Kaoru had just woken up in order to prepare for school, but she won't have to since apparently, school is suspended for the day probably to clean up all the ashfall. Kaoru groaned as she got up and decided to prepare early. It was annoying to her that she still had to go out on a day when school's suspended. If only the circumstances weren't as weird as it had been since yesterday, she would have just decided to stay home and sleep in. Though she was a tiny bit annoyed about having to see the two "girly girls" as she thought about them, admittedly she was the slightest bit curious as to what she and the other two girls had gotten themselves into. It's not everyday that she gets told that she has an experimental chemical running through her body after all.

She sighed and tousled her already messy short hair. She approached her closet and pulled out some dark brown cargo shorts, a loose camouflage long sleeve shirt for the day. She proceeded to the bathroom and took a quick bath. After finishing she put on the clothes she got out and took a look at herself in the mirror. Her short hair was still messy and wet but that's alright since her hair dries quickly because of how short it is. She never really was one to care much about how she looks, looking at the mirror was just a force of habit she picked up practicing karate forms just to see what she could improve on that. She turned to her clock to check on the time.

"6:15 huh? Guess I better head out early," Kaoru said to herself as she shoved her phone and some money into her pocket and grabbed a green hat. She ran downstairs where she saw her older brother looking his bag. She noticed that he was in his school uniform and she wondered why.

"Hey, Dai, class is suspended, stupid," Kaoru snickered stepping down from the final step of the stairs. Dai looked up, his face going from relaxed to annoyed at the sight of his sister.

"Maybe for babies like you. Senior high students and up don't have the luxury of staying home after a volcano erupted," Dai said in an unamused manner as he returned to organizing his things.

"Sucks to be you then," Kaoru chimed earning a groan from her brother. "Didn't realize people are supposed to be immune to catastrophe after junior high," Kaoru joked as the two snickered.

"Kaoru? Is that you sweetie?" the soft voice of a woman called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, mom, I'm just gonna go out for today, is that cool?" Kaoru replied facing towards the kitchen doorway.

"Alright, can you buy soy sauce on the way home then?" their mom said as she emerged from the kitchen with two ham and egg sandwiches in hand. She handed the sandwiches over to the two teens for breakfast then wiped her hands on the beige apron she wore over her clothes.

"Sure thing," Kaoru nodded and grinned as she took one sandwich from her mother.

"Thanks, sweetie. Take care, you teo!" the green haired woman said as she waved at her kids goodbye.

"Ready to head out?" Dai asked as he fixed his bag over his shoulder. Kaoru nodded in reply and grabbed her skateboard before following her brother out of the apartment. The two walked for a while in silence before Dai decided to talk. "So, what are you planning to do today?" Dai asked with a suspicious tone curious as to why his sister decided to get out on a day that she really didn't have to.

"Nothing, maybe just skate around a bit in the park until I fall over and break my back," Kaoru joked with a sly smile. They were passing the park and Kaoru noticed a dark haired guy sitting on a bench in the park. Kaoru did notice that he was always there almost everytime she passes by the park, but she never really got the creepy vibe from him for some reason. What she could see of his face just always seemed so calm, granted he did have half his face covered and was at quite at distance at that. Dai noticed that Kaoru was staring off to somewhere and traced what she was looking at, and there he saw a loner guy on a bench with a side fringe and a tiny ponytail. Dai suspiciously looked down at Kaoru who was obviously intrigued by the boy.

"You're not going out just to see that emo boy, are you?" Dai said as he looked at his sister with disapproval.

"The hell are you talking about?!" Kaoru exclaimed in embarrassment after being caught looking at a boy. Though she was only looking purely out of intrigue, her brother saw it otherwise.

"Look, Kaoru, I know you're at that age, but you're not getting a boyfriend on my watch," Dai said sternly as he turned his head back up to look at the bus stop sign ahead.

"Oh my God, Dai! Stop being a dad, it's not what it looks like," Kaoru growled and prepared to punch her older brother.

"Oh look, my bus is here," Dai said in a sing song manner as he effortlessly dodged his sister's wrath in the form of a balled fist when a bus conveniently arrived just in time. "Farewell, not so dear sister! Stay away from flirty e-boys and e-girls!" he waved as he hopped on the bus which swiftly drove away.

"Stupid Dai," Kaoru mumbled under her breath with an annoyed look on her face. She looked at the time and it was 6:25, the next bus should arrive in five minutes so she sat on the bench near the bus stop to wait. It was not long after a bus arrived and she got in and took a look around. The bus wasn't as crowded as it usually is so she quickly spotted a seat at the very back by the window. Her eyes lit up as she headed towards the seat, almost running from excitement since the seats at the back were always filled. It was understandable to her though since it was the best seat in the bus. She placed her skateboard in front of her and stared off out of the window. It was going to be quite a long bus ride, the lab was at the more rural part at the edge of the city after all and she lived in the middle of the urban side. Ten minutes into the bus ride, Kaoru spotted a familiar blonde standing by the bus stop ahead.

Miyako had been waiting at the bus stop for quite a while now, but she didn't really mind as she was much too excited to see her new friends. She was innocently humming a tune as she played with the lace trim of her baby blue dress. She was lost in her thoughts when she heard the high pitched noise of the bus as it braked in front of her. Miyako stepped in as she continued humming her tune and skipped down the middle of the bus to find a seat. As she looked around, she noticed someone sitting at the end of the bus who she easily recognized despite the person covering their face with a hat. The bus slowly started moving.

"Kaoru!" she excitedly exclaimed. Miyako decided to skip on over to her green eyed friend in hopes of sitting with her, but instead, she found herself face down on the bus floor after the bus came to a sudden halt causing her to loose her balance and ultimately face plant into the dirty bus floor. Kaoru snickered and was about to get up and help when Miyako was starting to pick herself up, but both stopped mid way when they heard another familiar voice coming from outside. Miyako stood up from the floor and looked out of the window as she dusted herself off. Her face lit up when she saw her new red headed friend running to catch the bus.

"Wait!" Momoko exclaimed as she reached her arm out towards the waiting bus. Momoko jumped into the bus when she caught up with it just as it started slowly moving. "Ahh," she let out a breath as she panted from having to run to get to the bus. "I should have checked my phone before I went to bed," Momoko thought as she made a mental note to do so the next time she receives a message before bed. "Thank you for waiting for me!" she cheerily said to the bus driver as if she had not just ran halfway through the neighborhood to catch a bus. She turned to her side to take a look at where she could sit and saw her two new friends who happened to be in the same bus. Kaoru sat at the very back of the while Miyako was standing in the middle of the bus as she waved at the newly arrived Momoko. "Hey you guys!" Momoko called out as she approached the two.

"Good morning, Momoko," Miyako happily greeted back.

"You two sure do know how to make an entrance," Kaoru remarked with a small chuckle. Momoko pouted and crossed her arms to let the green eyed girl that she was not amused. Momoko sat down on the seat right in front of Kaoru and scooted over a little to let Miyako sit next to her as the bus started moving again.

"What a happy coincidence that we all have hopped on the same bus together," Miyako said as she turned to look at her friends.

"I know right? I am so excited for today!" Momoko said as she pulled out a bag of jelly beans to share. "Want some?" she offered after turning around to face Kaoru who was sitting behind them.

"Yeah, sure," Kaoru said as she reached into the bag and took around three jelly beans. The rest of the bus ride mostly went like that with Momoko and Miyako chatting and Kaoru just tuning them out until Momoko would offer snacks every once in a while. It was quite a long bus ride, an estimated 25 minutes before they reach the final bus stop coming up to the forest where the professor would meet them and take them to the lab.

"Good morning, girls! I am really glad you all are able to come today on such short notice," the professor greeted as the three girls got off the bus. As expected, he had been waiting for the girls at the bus stop. The van was parked by the forest, and near the van was Ken playing with his now sentient toy dog.

"I wouldn't have come if I had known those two would be that chatty," Kaoru groaned as she looked over to the other two girls.

"Well those two got close pretty quick," Momoko said as she looked over to where the dark haired boy and his sentient toy dog were playing.

"Kind of like the three of us, huh?" Miyako giggled as she locked arms with the two other girls with her standing in the middle. Kaoru was startled and immediately pulled away. That kind of girly friendship was not her thing.

"Can we just get this over with so we can all move on with our lives already?" Kaoru asked getting impatient.

"Of course, let's head to the lab, then," the professor calmly said and everyone got into the van. It didn't take long before they arrived at the lab, it wasn't too far from the bus stop when you go by car after all. Everyone then got off and went into the lab. Ken led the way for the girls and they entered the area where the three girls were kept in glass cages in yesterday. He motioned for the girls to come over and sit on the yellow and red colored couch in the center of the large, naturally lit room.

"Wow, this place actually feels quite quaint when you're not caged in a glass box," Momoko said as she walked around the area. She was looking at all the machinery and computers that were in the room, but as she walked around, she noticed a large vat hidden under a table. She crouched down and looked at the vat labeled with a big red Z. She noticed a chrome liquid had spilled from it. Not knowing what it was, she curiously began to move her hand forward to touch it but was quickly pulled away before she could do so.

"Don't touch that!" Ken exclaimed as he pulled the curious teen by her arm. "Don't go around touching unknown stuff. Seriously, what are you, a child?" Ken scolded as he let go of the girl who only looked at him with annoyance.

"Hey! Be respectful when you tell me something, I'm older than you!" Momoko yelled back after she straightened herself to look down at the younger boy. Ken only deadpanned and turned away walking back towards the couch. Momoko grunted and proceeded to the couch where Miyako and Kaoru were already sitting. She plopped down in between the two with a look of annoyance. Miyako giggled at her friend while Kaoru only had a look of impatience and boredom. The professor walked into the room and cleared his throat as he stood in front.

"Good morning, girls. I suppose you three are very confused as to what is happening with the very strange predicament we are all in right now," the professor began. "You are all here because you are only three of a yet uncertain number of people affected by the Z rays. These Z rays, as we'll call them, are light rays that have emerged from Mount Akunomo after it had erupted yesterday around noon. As of now, we still don't know for sure as to what these light rays are, what they're made of, and what they can do. All we know is that some Z rays were white, and some were black."

"Yeah, the one that hit me was a white one," Momoko said as she looked up to remember. "And yeah! I also saw a black one fall in the forest where we found Mojo, so maybe that one hit him."

The professor and Ken gave each other a look and nodded. "Just as we suspected," the professor spoke, "The different Z rays cause a different reaction depending on whether it was a black or white ray. Both, however, do seem to cause mutations in the make up, no matter whether the one affected is sentient or not, as we have seen this happen to our very own Poochie as well."

"So? Can't you just cure us or something? I'm getting tired of all your bullcrap, I could be doing something else right now, you know," Kaoru said as she glared at the professor. The two other girls stiffened up at how rude their friend sounded. Momoko gave Kaoru a scolding look while Miyako nervously looked back and forth between Kaoru and the professor, anxious for the response. For a moment, the professor looked intimidated, he was not used to getting that kind of response, but he collected himself immediately and cleared his throat.

"The thing is...," Ken began with a sheepish look on his face, "Mojo was gone when we returned here last night, it seems that he had managed to escape."

"What?!" the three girls exclaimed simultaneously.

"Which is why we need you girls. Because of the black Z rays, creatures like Mojo JoJo may emerge from anywhere at any time, and you three are the only ones we can turn to for help," the professor said with a sincere look on his face. Ken then pulled in a trolley and stopped in front of the girls, aligned on it was their corresponding belts.

"We're going to be superheroes?" Miyako asked with curiosity.

"I-I guess you could say that," the professor said as he sweatdropped and scratched the back of his neck. "If you girls accept, at least."

"I knew it! We are going to be superheroes!" Momoko squealed and excitedly pulled the two girls on each side into a tight hug. Miyako squealed with her while Kaoru only groaned and thought, "I can't believe this is happening, why me?"