"Another one? What's this one, eighty? Or have you gone back to the nice age of mid-forties?" Buttercup teased Princess, the red-head had been discussing her newest boy-toy with her volleyball team.

Princess sneered."I'll have you know, he's only twenty-eight." It hung heavy in the air that Princess was only seventeen. Then again, this was a murderer. Buttercup desperately stared at her, slowly cracking a grin and laughing low.

"This is the fourth killer you've dated, I think it's a problem you should work out," Buttercup started, but Princess slammed her textbooks down. " Like it even matters that he killed someone-completely by accident fyi- I love him. Something you're completely unfamiliar with!" Princess huffed and marched to her seat. Tapping her shoes against the floor, Buttercup groaned and swung around. She was met with huge blue eyes.

"Did ya see that Bubbles? Maybe you were onto something with your ramblings last night." Bubbles immediately lost her cheer, pushing her face into a pout. "They are not ramblings! It's just all suspicious that she suddenly started dating all these crazy guys...and Blossom said we should start being more observant."

Buttercup scoffed. "She meant that for me dummy. You couldn't 'observe' a Frisbee about to smash your face."

"You're a big liar! She did not mean it that way!"

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Okay class, are you all ready for another exciting day of science! I'm sure not..."The teacher muttered to herself while Bubbles put up her text book to hide her crying and Buttercup thanked god it was silent.

XxX

Blossom remembered a time when she loved the library with everything in her heart and soul. She figured deep down inside, her passion was still there. It was just buried under the dozens of books her professors were making her reread so she wouldn't 'discourage the other students.' Honestly, the librarian even pitied her. Her sisters were home from school hours ago; and here she was, seven at night and being forced to walk home. These books did not balance well with flying.

Blossom looked past her pile and instantly perked up; there was her house and she could start to smell whiffs of Bubbles' meatloaf. Thank goodness she was sticking to good traditional food. As much as Blossom loved her sister's cooking; her experiences with foreign food were not the greatest.

"Hey Blossom! Dinner is on the table. You sure are late today, those college classes got you so busy," Bubbles chirped from the couch, and Blossom smiled at the familiar scents of food and familiar sounds of her sister. "Yah, Sometimes I wish I never skipped-" Blossom stopped short after scanning her sister. Without the books blocking her vision, she could clearly see Bubbles decked out in yellow pajamas dotted with sponges in suits. The same sponge was on the television.

Blossom blinked slowly and after retrieving her food from the kitchen, she sat beside her childish sister. Blossom took notice of how Bubbles nervously looked at her, but she kept her mouth shut and was content to just watch her sister's cartoons. After the show was over, Blossom grabbed the remote and flicked the television off.

"What's going on Bubbles?" Blossom talked in a low tone. Bubbles looked to the other side of the room. "You'll just think I'm silly. I think I'm silly," Bubbles whispered, rubbing her hands together. "You know that's not true," Blossom cooed and rubbed her sister's arms. "You promise?" Blossom nodded, and smiled when Bubbles turned back toward her.

"Buttercup said that the talk you had with us last night was meant for her, and that you think I'm too stupid to actually help out," Bubbles sniffled, old tears springing back to life.

"You need to stop listening to her Bubbles. You know she's just fooling with you," Blossom started to go on, but Bubbles carried on, "I know. That's not it." Blossom looked at her curiously.

"I sort of, might of, asked Princess to be my lab partner. She has to come over for the next few days." Blossom groaned and released her sister. "Bubbles!" She grinned, tears magically gone, and continued on," I was just so mad at Buttercup! She was making fun of Princess too, so I just wanted to talk to her about it!"

Blossom gave a nasty look to Bubbles playfully, but all was forgiven and they floated up to their bedroom.

XxX

"We should just, like, have the smart version of you do the project for us. Then I can do something about your poor make-up skills," Princess rambled, flexing her perfect self-manicured nails for Bubbles to see. Bubbles frowned at her but closed their science books anyway.

"How come you don't have a boyfriend? Granted, the smart one is also the pretty one, but you're sorta cute." Bubbles cocked an eyebrow at the random question. "You're free to talk about your...boyfriend Princess, I don't mind." Princess squealed and rambled once more.

Bubbles hummed very softly, she needed to work on her patience anyways. Princess's high voice rang in her head and she tried to pay attention. Really, she did. But everyone got annoyed with Princess, so she didn't feel to bad when she blurted out, "Why do you even like him? He's a killer and he's old. But mostly a killer."

Princess smirked at her. "I have total control over him. He's in prison, life. I'm the only thing he has to look forward to, and I can cheat on him easily. He won't be able to even see other women though, it's perfect." Bubbles looked at her, shocked. Princess had obviously been thinking about this for a long time.

XxX

She should have just knocked. The Professor needed that book and Buttercup had nothing that resembled patience, but she had heard them talking and... she just couldn't resist. Blossom was a bit ashamed of herself, she didn't usually give into temptation, but she has been curious and suspicious about Princess and her boyfriends.

There was a mental disorder that related to this, it was on the tip of Blossom's tongue. It started with an H. She breathed out heavily, covering her mouth so Bubbles' wouldn't hear, and slowly knocked on the door. She could hear the hitch of Princess's breath and a conformation from Bubbles, so she entered. Bubbles smiled awkwardly at her and Princess stared at her clothes jealousy. Blossom fumbled around the room to look for her books, but the tense atmosphere lingered.

Thankfully, Buttercup saved the day.

"For god's sake Blossom, you insisted on moving the hot-line down here, you should damn well answer it!God... Mojo's attacking the city."

After pushing Princess out of the house, the girls flew off. It was a robot Mojo had used before, slightly tweaked, so the girls went into a familiar attack pattern. Of course, It came to Blossom.

Hybristophilia. That's what Princess has.

XxX

Blossom stared at the ceiling. Buttercup's snores and Bubbles' sleep chatter usually comforted her, but tonight she felt anxious and itchy. She turned to the wall, thinking over the day and her stress. Nothing had happened unusually, except for Princess. She was a strange girl, and fighting Mojo directly after was vexing.

Blossom had to admit Mojo was probably the cause of her problems. He had been repeating a lot of the same stunts recently, and that was much odder than Princess. Or maybe it wasn't. Blossom didn't know who Princess was, and she only gathered things from fighting Mojo. Either way, She knew enough about the chimp to know he was upset about something.

Maybe he was planning something horrendous and simply didn't have time to come up with new schemes everyday. Blossom furrowed her brows, that would be horrible, but it was something Mojo would do. Should she try to put a stop to it? What if he was just getting old? Blossom let her thoughts run wild until she drifted to sleep.

XxX

"She's sick. Go home," Buttercup droned at Princess, miserably upset from being pried from her movie, but she was holding her temper very well. Princess nearly spat on Buttercup, but instead pushed her out of the way. Buttercup sighed. "Fine. Don't listen to me, and no one can say I didn't try to stop you. Blossom!"

Blossom sighed from the couch. She was trying to spend time with her rough sister, and she was trying to enjoy a boxing film. So why was Princess interrupting her? Blossom took a few deep breaths, her temper was out of control.

"Princess, Bubbles is very sick due to a bad reaction from a injection the Professor gave her. It's best if you let her rest. Your project isn't due until next week anyway," Blossom replied to Princess's glare. The spoiled girl looked at her, a whine evident in her face.

"Daddy is taking me on a very special trip next week. It's my Birthday and I'm going to be pampered that whole week, and a stupid project is not going to stop me! You'll just have to help me. You're smarter than pigtails anyway!" Blossom rubbed her forehead and looked to Buttercup. She got the message.

"Me and Bubbles will just watch this in the Professor's room then," Buttercup grumbled and floated up the stairs.

Princess and Blossom walked over to the kitchen table, a prominent silence between them. Blossom groaned as she looked over the project. "What have you two been doing for the past two weeks? Your research isn't even finished yet!" Princess shrugged, pulling out a laptop from her schoolbag. Blossom got down to work while Princess took out a notebook and began writing.

Blossom let her eyes roam over to Princess a few times. She doubted that anything in that notebook was related to the project, and her curiosity was eating away at her. But she was Blossom, she next to never gave into her urges. She did notice how flustered Princess became, and how she practically erased every word. Blossom itched at herself nervously, looking at Princess until she looked up as well.

"Do you need any help?"

Princess bit her lip, nodding slowly. Blossom was intrigued by her sudden shy behavior. "My Daddy always pays off the guards so I can see Thomas. I'm writing him a letter because Daddy says we might be gone for more than a week...I don't want to leave him there." Blossom was shocked by this gentle gesture. This was Princess, was it possible that she actually liked this man? The two girls exchanged looks.

"What do you want to say to him?"

XxX

Blossom almost felt like crying. She scrunched up her face in discomfort and looked to the Professor's computer. There was absolutely nothing new. It was all the same information over and over again, what was she to do? Hybristophilia was rare and wasn't studied. Was no one interested like her? It made her feel a little queasy. Princess and herself had finished the project and the letter, but there was no crime today. Blossom had entirely to much time on her hands. She should be focusing on the twenty book reports her College Professors had assigned. She had the extra work they had given her, the work 'to prove her advanced brain.'

The large chair she was sitting in gave her enough room to pull her legs against her chest. Despite the heavy feeling around her eyes, she closed the web page and went over to the personal documents. The large screen displayed file names for every repeat criminal in Townsville. Blossom opened The file on Princess, and started to write blurbs about the spoiled girl. She was putting to much focus on mental disorders and less on weapons, but what else should she do?

Blossom clicked through the file names, silently screaming at herself for not updating them in so long. Just because she was pushed forward in school and into more stress, does not mean she should slack off from being a hero. She came to Mojo's file and she stopped. He had not attacked today; Mojo had tried reusing previous robots everyday for the past month. She hadn't updated his file for over six.

His file was surprisingly short. Sedusa, The Gang Greene Gang, The Rowdyruff boys, and most other villains had summaries of their more successful plans, but Mojo was left out. There were a few blurbs about the after affects of his plans, but the details where lost. Blossom wondered about this, quickly finding flaws in her own performance. She'd never analyzed Mojo; he attacked to often to get good grips on his situation. Blossom figured a little extra effort wouldn't kill her. She tried to write more about her chimp rival, but exhaustion overcame her. She fell asleep in the spacious chair, computer light reflecting against her skin.

XxX

"Hey, how are you supposed to be a leader when you can't even get to bed?"

Blossom felt her eyes open, Buttercup looked down on her. "Mojo's attacking the city, speak of the devil." The brunette grinned, gesturing to the screen. Blossom yawned, getting out of the chair and prepared to shut the computer off. Bubbles poked her head down the stairs, coming in from the Kitchen.

"I know I can't go fight, but maybe I can keep doing what you're doing?" Bubbles smiled kindly, large circles under her eyes. Blossom snapped to her.

"You don't know what to put in."

Bubbles frowned, staring at her sister. Blossom scolded herself; that sounded too harsh. The blond smiled again, glancing to Buttercup. The pink and green duo made their way outside and to the battle field.

XxX

Blossom licked her lips, surveying the robot. She'd seen this thing before, resembling a large metallic Tiger. Her and Buttercup flew around the thing, looking for weaknesses. Blossom realized that this robot was exactly the same as the first time they had fought it. The girls looked at each other; this was not very Mojo-like at two of them made their way to the robot's weak point; back of the hind 'legs.'

"Buttercup, I know we've just been obliterating these robot repeats, but leave this one in tact." Buttercup had a puss on her face, but nodded anyway. They launched a mindless attack pattern, Blossom covering for herself and Bubbles. Mojo, as usual for the past month or so, was not in the robot. He never bothered sending out more than one at a time, despite the fact he was just locked up away in his volcano.

Buttercup initiated the attack, but both of them let out shocked gasps as the robot fell immediately. Mojo's robots were always top notch, they did not fall after a single power blast!Blossom's senses kicked on, and she surveyed the robot; waiting for it to spring to life. She waited. Eventually, the two of them went to the brain of the robot, so Blossom could work her magic.

Surprisingly, all the wires had been fried. Buttercup's blast couldn't have done that. It had taking quick thinking on Blossom's part to defeat the robot the first time, but now it was insufferable and weak? Blossom checked the robot again; but it was actually dead. She sighed, and started to disassemble the robot.

As the police took most of the robot, Blossom grabbed a small portion of stray metal. Buttercup didn't question her, but Blossom could see the restraint it took for her not to. They made their way home, Blossom flying quickly and breathing heavily. Buttercup flew below her sister, her head aching in worry. She certainly wouldn't ask what's wrong, but if Blossom had a breakdown, Buttercup was going to damn well catch her!

The smell of soup assaulted their sense as they reached the house. Buttercup happily flopped on the couch to relax with the Professor, while Blossom(almost bitterly) went down into the laboratory. Soup and family meant nothing to her: she was on a mission. Bubbles bit her lip, she had been waiting for Blossom. She wanted to talk over dinner, but her hello went unanswered.

Blossom didn't actually hear her sister. She put her metal near many of the Professor's tools, moving around the lab to look for something. A box came into her line of vision, and smiling happily, she took to placing it's contents into a straight line next to her scrap metal. A large chunk, remnants of a robot from years ago, glistened pretty next to the piece from that day.

She licked her lips, memories flooding to the surface. But she wasn't here to reminisce, and the metals certainly weren't getting any younger. Blossom got down to the heavy task of dissecting, observing, and comparing the metals.

XxX

Growling and glaring, Buttercup faced off with her sister.

"This isn't healthy Bubbles! She is going to be so pissed for missing her courses. And you know she's going to blame me for 'not taking initiative.' I don't mind fighting crime by ourselves, but this is crazy."

Bubbles fidgeted around, looking at The Professor desperately. He looked away. "It would be nice to have my lab back..." Buttercup nodded triumphantly, glaring at bubbles once more before marching off to the lab. Bubbles silently followed her, The Professor in tow.

They found her nibbling on crackers, scratching notes onto paper. She was deceptively thinner than when she started this 'project' two weeks prior. Her hair was tossed into a extremely messy up do, which allowed the dim lighting to shine off her oily face. She seemed to be pleased with herself.

Professor Utonium had to admit; he was quite proud of her. It was one of her first scientific tangents, and she looked much better than he ever had after two weeks of work. His other daughters disagreed.

"You can't just live down here," Buttercup snarled, getting too close to her sister's face. Blossom snapped to attention, cracker falling from her hands. What was this? Blossom felt the guilt prod at her; obviously something had happened. She'd only been down here for maybe three days, they wouldn't disturb her for nothing. The metal examination was going along far better then she expected, at least everyone was here for her to reveal her findings.

"Ignoring your overreaction," Blossom tutted, looking at Buttercup."I've found some very exciting things about thi-"

"Overreaction? Do you have any idea what Me and Bubbles have been going through?!" Blossom felt the grammar correction on her lips, but gave her sister a curious look instead.

Bubbles lightly touched Buttercup's shoulder, a sign that Blossom recognized. "Blossom, you know we appreciate what you're doing down here. And we know that you're probably working on some big helpful thing that Buttercup and I can't understand, but this is too much. It's been two weeks, and we've been fighting crime all by our selves. And you're not there to eat all my food- and I made it for you- and I've had to return the movies you said you would watch with us, an- and I needed help on my sci-science homework, and you did that project and I-I.." Bubbles trailed off in a stream of tears.

Blossom looked at the dazed, and whispered quietly, " Two weeks...this is an intervention? Two weeks..." her family-minus Bubbles- stared at her. They stared at her as she walked up the stairs with uneasy step.

She felt like running away, but that was ridiculous. She marched to the shower, turning the water to liquid ice cold. Her finger nails scrapped at her skin and hair, and she started a mental barrage against herself. What was she doing? She chose a personal interest over her education, her city, and her family. This was so conceited, it wasn't worth the turmoil she must've put her family through. Her poor city, being attacked while she was frolicking around with science.

The bad thoughts followed her from the shower and into her room. Thankfully her sisters weren't there-not that she noticed- and blossom collapsed near her pile of schoolbooks. She pulled one of them over, flipping it open to study. Study for the lengthy reports she was about to write, though it wouldn't be enough. She'd have to arrange extra work to win her college professors back over.

Now that she was seated, Blossom could easily feel hunger biting at her, exhaustion growing deeper, and she probably also needed a nice bubble bath. But she was Blossom Utonium. She could save the city, Ace all of her classes, and be the best person she could be. No, better than that. She had to be better than her best, because she was a leader and never, ever gave into temptation.

XxX

That door caused temptation to ooze out of Blossom, all over the table and curl back around her ankles. Honestly, putting the doors to the lab by the kitchen was a horrendous idea. She was just trying to eat the best pasta Bubbles had ever made, and she could hear them screaming. The notes on those Metals were calling for her, waiting to be finished.

She was so close to figuring it out!

XxX

Villains are becoming just plain uncreative. Blossom really wished one of them would do a better job, she was so unamused. All three of them never were needed, and sometimes the bad guys just gave up. It was shameful.

But so was she.

That damn door was still there, but now it only lingered at the back of her thoughts. Blossom was too consumed with everything else to think about it; everything just seemed like such a slap in the face. Missed a few points on that exam? Failure. Unable to come up with new strategies? Loser. The girls just not understanding the need for new strategies? What a bad sister she was!The door was propped open a little and she thought about those poor, unfinished notes? Lower than a lost cause.

Maybe if she kept trying, she'd be something fantastic. Sure she's a good person now, but with a little more effort, think of what she'll be in a few years! It'll all be worth it.

XxX

"Honey, I think these are yours; I don't want to mess them up." Blossom stared at the notebook Of course they where hers, she'd thought about them every day. She thanked the Professor, grabbing the small notebook greedily.

Every pro and con went through her mind, but she deserved this. She did everything she was told, and the Professor had given them to her, so it wasn't like she was giving in to temptation. Right. Blossom flipped it open and read through each page slowly, her brain processing everything rather fast. She got to the last page, and looked at the blank spaces around that last formula...no, it was an ingredient list.

What Blossom couldn't understand so long ago, suddenly clicked. The newer metal was so different from the other. She couldn't recognize this metal, and with good reason. Mojo had made it from scratch, not like the older metal. Looking over the home-made 'recipe' she recognized certain elements. It was similar to Antidote X...he was trying to make a Powerpuff-proof metal.

Blossom felt her jaw drop. This piece of metal was unsuccessful, but her fights with Mojo's robots had been getting harder and harder. She was complaining about school, and family, and villains, all while Mojo created a new metal and still had time to terrorize the town. That was stress, and she should be able to handle anything.

XxX

"If he can do it, I can do it,"Blossom muttered, putting on goggles. She charged a light blast, firing it off at a table.

The metal on the table was obliterated, much to Blossom's frustration. Mojo's was able to work and fight, it was much better than this! She grumbled and scratched off a list in her notebook. She was going to make this power-proof metal before anyone, she just had to work harder. It didn't matter how long it took, or what she avoided. She was smarter, she was amazing.

Blossom started to write more ideas, far too busy to deal with crime that day. This time she knew that this was beyond necessary, but her sisters could give her a few more days. She'd figure it out.

XxX

Bubbles was so worried and scared. Buttercup was fed up with all of this, but she knew better. She knew that something was wrong, and maybe she could fix it. Blossom was being more reasonable this time; she came up for dinner and her courses. But what was troubling was that she gave up on fighting crime, and Bubbles knew how serious this was. She was going to do this on her own, Blossom needed intimate contact.

"Bloss?" Bubbles used her softest voice, moving down the stairs. She held tea in her hands, if only as a peace offering. Blossom looked at her cheerfully, a little over-happy. Bubbles bent over her sister's shoulder.

"What'cha working on?"

"Just thinking of more possibilities, what are you doing down here?" Bubbles bit her lip, looking over the complicated, time-consuming ideas. These could take months, maybe years, to finish. She wanted her sister back.

"These all look nice, but don't you think you should take a little break?"Bubbles looked at her cautiously. Blossom smiled wide. "I could go for a nice tea break. Should I come upstairs?" Bubbles looked away from her. "Longer than that. Maybe like, a month long break. Or a forever one." The two of them stared at each other.

"Bubbles..." Blossom looked at her seriously. "We both know that's not going to happen."

"You need it," Bubbles cried. "You're going to regret spending so much time on this, I know you Blossom."

"You just don't understand," Blossom looked at her desperately."I need to do this, I'm going to succeed! Then I'll be able to be the best leader I can be."

"There's no one better than you Blossom." Blossom put on a disbelieving face, struggling madly as Bubbles tried to hug her. She pushed Bubbles away, running up the stairs.

"I just need to try harder! Bubbles, you'll see how me become the best!"

XxX

He knew those eyes as being so confident, arrogant really. But know she looked at him almost pleadingly. Her arms were stuffed with notebooks and textbooks, and other little things he couldn't recognize. Her breathing was hitched; she looked like she had been stumbling around.

"I just..need you to show me how I can do it all."

And then he grinned, opening his door so she could enter.

After all, Mojo was a man of opportunity.

A/N: Um, hey guys. Just letting you know that I apoligize if this randomly switches tenses. I've been having a problem with that lately and I cant find a good beta-reader.