"I'm going to miss. I'm going to slip. I'm not going to get it in that net. I refuse to even try!" Bubbles whimpered as she landed with a whump in the grass. Buttercup rolled her eyes and walked over to her big sister. Bubbles was squatting, her light blue eyes glaring up at her defiantly. Buttercup snorted and lifted her sister to her feet with one quick motion. Bubbles squealed as she was forced to stand.
"It's not my fault you're practically failing in physical education," Buttercup told her. "And my own sister too! How embarrassing!" She flashed her green eyes at her. "You said you wanted help passing the soccer course. Well here I am. Now shoot." After another glare at Bubbles, she took to the air.
She could hear Bubbles groaning. Buttercup smirked and looked down at her sister. It isn't as if Bubbles can't do it, she thought to herself. It's because she won't try. Bubbles had all the necessary skills; good hand eye coordination, great stamina, and power. She just didn't seem very willing to shoot a spherical object into a mesh of string. Buttercup already knew they wouldn't get anywhere with soccer, but Bubbles was captain of the cheerleaders. Surely she could bribe some marks out of that.
Bubbles pulled her leg back, about to kick - Buttercup looked down eagerly, anticipating some sort of progress - when Bubbles slipped on her other foot and fell back down on the grass. Buttercup sighed and landed back on the ground. She picked up the soccer ball and spun it on her index finger.
"You'll do fine," Buttercup muttered.
"Really?" Bubbles asked. Her look was one of skepticism. "I didn't get a single goal."
Buttercup shrugged. "I'm sure you can pass. A high mark is kind of unlikely though. The coach knows your extracurriculars. Perhaps he'll count them in. You're strong, but not very willing to play. Just try your best tomorrow, and you'll come off with a decent enough mark."
Bubbles gaped at her younger sibling. "I'm not willing? What do you mean?"
Buttercup shrugged again. "I don't know, you just don't seem very enthusiastic."
Bubbles began to redden. Her blue eyes turned to ice. "I am too! Just because I don't like sports as much as you do doesn't mean I don't care!" With one blow, she knocked the soccer ball out of Buttercup's hands. She gave it a furious kick with her toe. The ball landed square in the middle of the net.
Buttercup smiled. "There you go," she grinned. "But your toe must hurt."
Bubbles looked at Buttercup. "I did it," she whispered. Suddenly she began to squeal and laugh and giggle and jump up and down. "I did it, I did it, I really really did it!" She was so happy, Buttercup couldn't help but to laugh along.
Suddenly, a clap rang through the Powerpuffs' backyard. It had been quiet, but certain. Buttercup looked up immediately, the laughter gone from her system.
"Shh," she whispered in a deadly tone to her sister.
Bubbles stopped too. She looked around, confused. "What is it?" she asked.
"Shh," Buttercup whispered again.
She slowly turned on her heels, a full 180 degrees. Another clap. Buttercup's eyes flashed up. Her eyes rested on a pair of young teen boys sitting on the grass of their backyard, looking to be around the same age as themselves. They both wore dark coloured hoodies, but they were of different colours; one was blue, while the other was green. The one in the green had his hood over his face, while the one in blue kept his hood down, showing off his rich blonde mane, almost identical to Bubbles' golden pigtails, but his hair looked . . . dirtier. More mussed, scruffy, and shorter. It was he who had been clapping.
Buttercup walked over to them, followed closely at her heels by Bubbles, whose eyes had dyed down and were now again the colour of innocent sky blue. Buttercup confronted the blue boy, head held high and firm.
"And what, exactly, do you think you're doing on our property?" she asked him.
The boy looked up at her innocently, and for a moment, he looked just like Bubbles. "You're his," he said lightly, jabbing his thumb towards the boy in the green. She saw the green boy's lip curl into a dangerous smile.
"I'm not anybody's, and really, I don't care what you're taking about," Buttercup said. "Just get off our property." Something about these boys made Buttercup's blood run cold.
A laugh erupted in the air, and in a moment she saw that it had escaped from the green boy's lips. The boy in green walked over and took Buttercup by her arm, fast as lightning.
"Hey!" she yelled. He tightened his grip. She saw the other boy go and take Bubbles the same way, and clamp his large hand over her mouth. Buttercup cursed. He'd cut off Bubbles' sonic scream. Buttercup tried biting her way out of his grasp, but the boy clicked his tongue, "tsk tsk tsk."
A moment later there was a hand covering her mouth too. She ferociously kicked back, hoping to hurt him in his soft spot, but he wasn't there. Dumbfounded, she looked at Bubbles. Her captor was floating behind her. Floating. Buttercup began to tremble as realization dawned on her. These guys could float. They knew Bubble's powers. They had them in a death grip. Fury filled her bright green eyes. The Rowdyruff Boys.