I'd just like to say, thank you everyone who has been reading "Can I Be You?" As many of you know by now I have decided to rewrite the story to fit the character's personalities better and to fix up some of my old writing patterns. If you're new to the story, I hope you enjoy reading it ^^

And if you've read my original copy you have nothing to worry about as far as rereading the new version. The main plot line is still the same, only the attitudes and speakers have changed. That's right, now you get to hear from everyone instead of just Brick X3 Because as much as I like Brick, after 20+ chapters I am tired of writing from his perspective. And chapters have been combined so that one new chapter may be about 4 old chapters.

Summary: The Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys are meant to be around 16 years old, give or take a year or two. The ingredients for the boys in this story are a mixture of the Powerpuff Girls Anime version and some of my own personal ideas while the original ingredients are referenced in the story.

Also, if you'd like to see how I picture them looking for this story you can find some pictures here: http:/jksketchy .deviantart .com/gallery/ but you may have to look around for them.

~ Can I Be You? ~

I am the only being whose doom
No tongue would ask no eye would mourn
I never caused a thought of gloom
A smile of joy since I was born

Emily Bronte, I Am the Only Being (1836)

"I cannot express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of my creation, if I were entirely contained here? …If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it... Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."

Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, Ch. 9

Bubbles burst on the surface of a sinister mixture, fumes rising from their cores and out of the pot, tinting the air with a sickly light green smoke and toxic smell. The cauldron boiled as the ingredients were added one by one. First came a single hair clip, pink with a cherry heart in the center and a few strands of red hair still attached to the pin. Next was a bright sky blue ponytail holder with some blonde curls caught around the rubber elastic. Then a dark lock of hair was thrown into the concoction. A single bead of crimson blood, and the stage was set.

The last ingredient, three drops of Chemical X, was added to the solution, and three new beings sparked to life.

A thick cloud of smog gushed from the pot, flooding the floor and blocking the lights from above with the gases that stained the air and made both vision impossible and breathing difficult. Coughs and rasping sounds came from within the haze.

Inside the clouds of toxic gas was a boy. He wore a burgundy sweatshirt with a solitary black line that ran horizontally across the center. His pants and shoes were a striking black as well, all except for the white of his shoe laces. On his head was a baseball cap that matched his shirt, which wore it backwards and a few locks of hair stuck out the hole above his forehead. A long, red ponytail protruded out below the rim of his hat behind his head.

The boy was kneeling, one foot planted firmly on the ground and his elbow propped up atop his knee. He coughed into the clenched fist which he held to his mouth. The fog stung his eyes and burned his throat. He cupped his hand around his mouth, attempting to make breathing less of a hassle, as he squinted ahead into the fog with crimson eyes.

He raised a hand to his forehead and groaned. He felt dizzy, perhaps from the fumes surrounding him. He wobbled a little as he struggled to stand, finding his balance to be far from accurate.

He looked up from the dense smoke to see a short primate standing in front of him. A white helmet with purple stripes and a metal band sat atop his head. There was an indigo cape tied around his neck and a cobalt vest that covered him from his shoulders to knees. He wore white boots, gloves, and a matching belt that stuck out from the rest of his attire. As he examined the monkey more closely, he noticed the creature lacked black fur on his face; instead his skin was light green, as were his pointy ears. He grinned at the boy with a full set of jagged teeth. The boy grimaced and stepped forward cautiously towards the creature and out of the smoke. He still held his forehead as he glared down at the monkey.

"Ah, my child," the monkey sighed happily as he placed a hand on the boy's arm.

The boy frown stretched as he looked down at the monkey's glove. "Hands off!" he grumbled as he swatted the paw away. "Who do you think you are anyway?"

But he primate merely smiled again with a chuckle and motioning back into the fog, "Ah, yes. Well perhaps you shoud go meet your brothers?"

"Brothers?" he turned to his right to see a dark figure making its way out of the smoke. Once the smog started to clear he could see that it was another boy, much like himself. They wore similar outfits; identical except for this boy wore a navy blue sweater instead of a scarlet one. He wore no hat, and his hair was blonde and much shorter, yet still longer than average. His bangs stuck out at the side and brushed against his ears. The new boy was bent over, coughing violently into both his hands. After a moment, the boy dressed in blue looked up at him with weary, bright cerulean eyes. Then his gaze settled in front of them on the well-dressed primate.

He coughed into his palm a few more times. "A monkey?" he managed to choke out.

"Why, yes, my children," the monkey smiled at them.

"Hey, we ain't no babies," the blond retorted before starting another coughing fit.

There was another gasping sound coming from the fog and this time both boys turned to look. Another boy staggered out of the gas with his arm around his face, coughing into his elbow as he stepped closer. Again, his outfit matched the other boys' except for the color, which was a dark emerald. His black, spiky hair stuck out in multiple directions, but stayed clear of his eyes. He glared ahead at the primate with eyes greener than jades.

"And I ain't related to no talkin' monkey," he coughed. All three boys turned to glare at the monkey standing proudly in front of them.

He chuckled, "Well, children..."

"And we aint 'children'!" the green boy yelled. The redhead exchanged a glance with him and he fell silent. The boy in red nodded to the monkey. "You were saying 'Pops'?"

The monkey cleared his throat, "Yes, well, you see, the Powerpuff Girls are so very annoying. They foil my plans every single time. So I thought, 'how can I beat them?" at this point the monkey started to pace, "And so I thought, and I thought, and I thought, and thought, and thought, and thought, and thought, and-"

"Would you just get to the point already!" the brunette yelled again.

"Yeah," the red one agreed, "And what's with all this junk about the 'Powderpuff Girls'?"

The monkey continued to pace up and down the room as the boys watched him babble. "Yes, they are my arch enemies. I, Mojo Jojo, come up with the most ingenious plans to take over the world and they ruin them every time! I needed a way to get them rid of them! And so, after much thought and consideration, I decided to fight fire with fire. So I, Mojo Jojo, decided to make my own tougher, stronger version of the Powerpuff Girls!" He threw his arms up in the air with too much enthusiasm and pointed at the boys. "You."

The blonde boy dressed in blue stepped over to the one in green and whispered in his ear, "I think there's something wrong with this monkey."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no kidding idiot," he groaned back.

Then the redhead turned back to the monkey in front of them. "Okay Pops, so how exactly did you 'make' us?"

"Well, first I tried throwing some snips of hair, dead snails, and a puppy dog's tail in a rotting toilet in the Townsville jail, but it all just blew up in my face. So then, I retried the experiment, but this time I used Powerpuff DNA, along with a drop of Him's blood, and the extra dose of Chemical X and judging from the results, I'd say it worked out much better."

The boys made no attempt to hide their revulsion, the blond boy almost gagging while the brunette seemed to have a hard time getting his eye to stop twitching. The red boy just stared at the monkey with his mouth half open and his tongue sticking out, "What would make you think you could make people out of that?" It was the dumbest thing he had ever heard of, worse than dumb. It didn't even sound reasonable.

The monkey just shrugged, "I don't know. Professor Utonium made little girls out of sugar, spice and everything nice, so I figured, 'why not?'."

The red boy smacked his forehead with his palm, "You have got to be the dumbest talking monkey I have ever met!"

The blue one looked over at him. "Well, he's the only talking monkey I've ever met…"

The green boy ignored them and continued talking to the deranged manic of a monkey. "So you made us just so we could go beat up some girls for ya?" All three boys turned to look at the monkey again.

"Right, exactly right," the monkey smiled evilly.

The boy in red raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest, "Sorry Pops, but the Rowdyruff Boys aren't about to go beat up a bunch of girls just 'cause some talking monkey told us to."

"The what?" the monkey asked, confused.

The red boy placed his palm on his head and adjusted his cap, "We're the Rowdyruff Boys."

The blue boy stepped forward. "Boomer."

"Brick," the red boy's eyes glinted.

The green boy punched the palm of his hand with his fist, "Butch."

"Well, why not?" he whined. "I made you! I'm your father! You should be listening to me!"

"What makes you think we would?" the boy dressed in red, Brick, challenged. He grabbed Mojo by his cape ties and held him up above the ground. Mojo didn't seem surprised.

"Well, I don't know, maybe because of…" Mojo reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote control, "THIS!"

The remote had four buttons on it: three lined up in a row: red, blue, and green, then a single, larger black button beneath the three. It had a small antenna on top, jet black to match the box itself.

Brick chuckled, "Yeah, what's that gonna do Pops?"

Mojo smirked and pressed the red button.

"AAAHHHHHHH!"

Immediately Brick released his grip on Mojo's cape and fell to his knees, his eyes shut tight. Pain. Lot's of it. It was like he was being electrocuted, sparks jumping through his veins and clustering in his heart as his limbs trembled. He dug his fingers into the floor, squeezing the tiles until they smashed. He could hear his brothers' , but they sounds miles away.

"Hey! Lay off ya freak!"

He forced his eyes open to see Butch charging at Mojo, ready to ram him into the wall with his emerald streak trailing behind him. Even though it would only take Butch a split second to reach Mojo, he didn't quite make it. Brick heard his brother cry as he fell to the floor, just a few feet short of his mark. Brick squinted up to see Mojo standing above them, holding down both their buttons.

"Guys!" Boomer yelled. He raced up to them just as Butch had and met the same fate, screeching to a halt on the floor. Brick glanced over to see Boomer's cobalt streak fade and his brother lying right beside him, sparks flying from his body. Mojo now held all three buttons, and all three boys were on their knees, bowing to him.

"Now then," Mojo began proudly. Brick glared up at him from his place on the floor. "You shall do as I say, will you not?"

Brick glanced from Boomer to Butch, his brothers, writhing in agony. They looked up at him, waiting for his answer. Brick gritted his teeth, the pain was unbearable and he would do anything to make it stop. Even concede defeat to a freak show like Mojo.

"ALRIGHT!" he yelled, and Mojo released the buttons. All three Rowdyruff Boys fell limply to the ground, motionless, recovering from the device. Brick felt the cold flooring against his cheek and it stung. He lifted his head at the sound of a chuckle. Mojo was grinning evilly above him.

"Now, my boys, you have a few Powerpuffs to find."

Boomer continued to streak through the sky with his hair occasionally blowing back into his eyes. How long had he been up there? A few hours at least. He was getting tired of flying around the city all by himself while his brothers ran through the streets instead.

Maybe they would join him, "Hey, guys!"

Boomer landed on the roof of a building near where his brothers had stopped. Brick and Butch look up at him. "Why don't you fly with me? It's pretty easy to see all over the city from up here."

Brick shrugged. "Eh, I'd rather run instead. I don't like flying very much." he replied, leaving a red streak behind him as he darted down anther street.

Butch chuckled, "Yeah, and it makes ya look girly floating around up there."

Boomer scowled down at Butch; he was always picking on him. Then he noticed Brick come back around the corner and decided to float down to join them.

Brick shook his head. "Still no sign of them," he reported.

Butch's eyebrows knitted together, "How are we even supposed to know what they look like?" he complained.

Boomer landed down next to Butch, "Mojo said we'd know when we saw them."

"It doesn't make any sense though," Brick added. "I mean, not that anything he does makes any sense, but what exactly did he mean by you'll know when you find them?"

Boomer just shrugged and Butch's eyes tightened a little. He folded his arms together, "Who does that freak think he is anyway, bossing us around like this."

"He thinks he's the chimp with the shock collars," Brick answered harshly.

Butch met Brick's gaze, his eyes still hard. "Well, what are we gonna do about it?" Boomer was staring at Brick too, looking for an answer to their problem. He'd rather not be forced to run errands for Mojo.

Brick glanced and Boomer, then back to Butch in confusion. "Why are you asking me?"

"You're the leader, aren't you?" Boomer asked. Butch didn't respond, he just continued to glare.

Brick seemed a little surprised by what Boomer said. But Brick was the leader wasn't he? At least Boomer didn't wanna be in charge, and he defiantly didn't want Butch to be either with the way he mocked him all the time.

Brick didn't answer at first, looking a little lost in thought, before his expression brightened and turned into a conniving smirk. "We'll take care of it later."

That obviously wasn't going to be good enough for Butch. "When later?" he urged.

Brick smiled. "Tonight. We'll just get the jump on him and take it. How hard can it be to steal from a monkey? Besides, we have super powers, in case you hadn't noticed."

Butch smirked and nodded, seeming satisfied with the idea. Boomer grinned; maybe getting the upper hand on Mojo wouldn't be so hard.

Brick was happy too, "For now we should work on finding these Powerpuff Girls. Mojo will know something's up if we come back without completing his orders."

"Yeah…" Boomer looked down at his feet; he wasn't too thrilled about that part.

Brick caught the worry in his voice, as did Butch who raised an eyebrow at his concern, "What's with you?"

"It's just strange," he muttered, trying to defend himself. "I mean, we don't even know these girls and Mojo wants us to... I mean, how much trouble could these girls be, anyway?" They were just girls weren't they? Why would Mojo want a couple of little girls out of the way so badly?

Brick seemed to actually consider what Boomer had said, but Butch just shrugged nonchalantly. He unfolded his arms only to refold them together again behind his head. "The monkey's got some sorta reason for having us do this, and besides, they're just girls. Taking them down won't be that hard." He grinned in arrogance.

Boomer looked up at Butch from under his bangs, and Butch's smug smile faded, "Well yeah, I know. But what I meant was..." Boomer turned to Brick before finishing, "...do you really think we should..." he trailed off, not really wanting to finish the sentence. He could be such a wimp sometimes…

"Kill them?" Boomer shivered slightly when Butch finished for him. Always blunt.

Boomer looked back to Brick, hoping he would have a reasonable answer. He just wasn't the killing type… He could fight and all, not like Butch though. Butch could take on the entire A.W.S.M. single handedly. Boomer wasn't quite that ruthless.

"For now let's just find them," Brick decided at last, "We can't do anything about it if we can't find them. And if we do find them maybe we can get them to tell us why Mojo wants them out of the picture so bad."

Boomer's concern eased a little and he nodded as the three Rowdyruff brothers split up to search the streets in three separate flashes of light. They raced through lights, glanced in windows, and swerved around skyscrapers one by one. Boomer took to the skies again after a couple blocks; the wind in his face helped him calm down a little. After anther hours or two the sun started to set. It was getting late, and Boomer guessed that Mojo wasn't the patient type.

He glanced down to the streets to see that Brick was a little ways in front of him, but had stopped running. Boomer flew towards him with Butch coming up on his right. He landed beside him, "This isn't working."

"Yeah," Butch agreed. "We've searched the whole city, three times over and still haven't found anything."

Brick didn't say anything, he just looked at the ground. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey!"

But the voice that reached the Rowdyruff Boys did not belong to him.

Boomer's eyes widened and he looked up. Hovering about twenty feet in the sky in front of them were three girls, each one with a bright streak behind them that was a much lighter than his and his brothers': bright pink, baby blue, and lime green. The girls were each wearing clothing that matched their streaks as well, and each of their dresses had a thick black line around the center, just like the Rowdyruff sweaters.

On the far left, a girl wearing a sky blue dress stared innocently down at the boys with bright, sapphire eyes. Her golden blonde hair was tied back into short pigtails at either side of her head. Next to her was a redhead dressed in pink. Her long hair flowed down behind her and a big, red bow sat atop her head. She glared down at them with rosy pink eyes. The girl wearing green floated next to her and had striking black hair that was cut short and stuck up at the ends. She glowered down at them harshly with bright, light green eyes.

These girls, whoever they were, they were exactly like him and his brothers.

The three Rowdyruffs just stared dumbstruck, wide eyed and speechless.

The girls floated down and landed a few feet in front of the boys. The pink girl in the center spoke again, her arms folded across her chest, "Who are you?"

Boomer just continued to stare at the blonde girl in blue, confused and surprised and… and…

Furious?

Boomer's eyes instantly started burning. He lifted his hand to cover his face, but then his muscles went tense and he found himself filling with an overwhelming anger.

What was going on?

For a single, long, painful second, the Rowdyruff Boys stared at the girls who had just landed in front of them.

Just

One

Second.

Brick shuddered. His eyes were first; a searing pain that made him instinctively want to close his eyes but he found he could not look away. He felt his heart hammering in his chest, his pulse vibrating through his arms and echoing in his ears. Staring at this girl, this little red-headed, pink wearing whoever she was, it was killing him from the inside out.

Brick's head was swimming, filling with rage, with bloodlust. Who was this… this girl. What was she doing here? How dare she be here. How dare she be… be anywhere. How dare she be… alive.

It had only been one second, hadn't it. Just one.

And then that second ended, along with Brick's self control.

He shot towards the girl instantly in a brilliant streak of red light and rammed into her, slamming her into the ground. Dust and dirt filled the air, blinding him, and once it cleared she was nowhere to be found.

Not that it was a problem for him. He turned back sprang into the fog, knowing she'd be there, and bounded into her yet again. This time, she dodged out of the way and Brick flew a few yards past before circling around and coming back again but this time instead of just merely bounding into her he tried to punch her in the head. When Brick threw his fist at her, she did the last thing he would've expected. She didn't cry, she didn't fall, and she didn't run away. She didn't even get hit. She just brought her arm up and knocked it into his, causing him to miss his mark.

She blocked him. She blocked him perfectly.

How dare she… make a fool of him.

Brick swung at the girl again and again, but every time she matched his move without fault. They continued for some time, Brick constantly throwing punches at the pink girl and always missing. He could vaguely hear the sound of a voice as her lips moved, but he was too far gone, too engulfed in his hatred, to make out what she was saying. His thoughts were still wrapped around, 'how dare she this' and 'how dare she that'. Everything felt so unreal, like he was numb, like he was dreaming, like he wasn't really there, and his body was moving of its own accord as he watched from the sidelines. He knew exactly what he was doing, but he wasn't able to think through anything clearly enough. He wasn't really thinking at all.

He was just fighting.

He continued to swing at the girl mindlessly, who at this point was beginning to appear overwhelmed by his attack. Then he attempted something he hadn't yet. He swung his foot around and struck her leg, causing her to fall back, but not quite down. Before she had a chance to recover from the kick, Brick tried slamming her into the ground one more time. And he succeeded.

Once again a cloud of dirt filled the air around them and Brick rose from his place on the ground. He glanced down and grinned wickedly at the girl as she lied in a mound of dirt, unconscious. Her eyes were closed and her mouth slightly open, hair sticking out from her ruby bow.

He smiled wider. She wouldn't be able to block him now. He knelt down next to her, raised his arm, and swung down harder than any punch he'd thrown yet.

And stopped in mid swing.

Butch stared wide eyed at the girls whose throat was clamped firmly in his fist. Just firmly enough to keep her in a standing position now that she was knocked out, not the death grip he'd been using before and certainly not the crushing blow he wanted to use now.

He gritted his teeth. He's wanted to snap her neck. To claw it out. To end it. Now.

But he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, his muscles weren't responding to him anymore. This was as tight as he could squeeze, and she was still breathing as though he wasn't still latched to her neck.

He was going mad. He was shacking, trembling. He needed to kill her. That was all he needed to do, nothing else mattered then other than ending her pathetic life.

But he couldn't. As much as his body burned, as much as his head was bounding, as much as he wanted it all to be over, he was physically incapable of doing anymore damage to her. No matter how hard he tried.

"ARGH! You stupid, idiot, son of a… ARGH!"

Butch let the brunette girl fall to the ground and he instead punched a hole straight through the brick wall he'd been holding her up against. It didn't help much, only a very little. He felt the pain of his knuckles against the stone ever so slightly, and it was beginning to bring him out of his trance.

"Boomer!"

Butch spun around to face Brick as he called to Boomer who was lying in a mound of dirt next to the blonde in blue. What he crying? What a wus.

Boomer looked up at the sound of his name and stood up to join them. "I...I don't know what happened," he muttered.

"So you guys felt it too, didn't you?" Brick asked, shifting his gaze to Butch. "You wanted to kill them."

"Yeah. It was seriously messed up. I wasn't thinking at all," Butch replied angrily. If he was gonna fight someone to the death, he would at least like to be aware of it.

Boomer nodded in agreement. He was holding his arm and his eyes still watered. Wimp.

"Oh, quit being such a baby Boomer," Butch griped. "We did what Mojo wanted, didn't we?"

"No," Brick interrupted sternly, "I know the one I was fighting is still alive."

Boomer nodded. "Yeah, she's not dead either…"

Brick glanced back at Butch, "Don't you still feel it?"

"Of course I do!" he snapped, his eyes flaring up again. "It hurts like hell!"

It may have faded, but that rage, that power, it was still there. And he could still feel the presence of that accursed girl that way slumped against the remains of the brick wall a few yards back.

"Butch," he called. Butch raised his head when Brick beckoned to him. Brick gestured with his head to the blonde lying on the other side of him. "You wanna try and finish off Boomer's girl."

Butch glanced over to the girl Brick had referred to, then to Brick again with a grin, "Sure, if Boomer doesn't mind." Maybe taking care of the blondie would be good enough. Though he doubted it.

Butch and Brick turned to Boomer. He shook his head. "It's fine..." Butch smirked.

"Alright then," Butch flew back a ways, maybe 100 feet or so. He needed to get a running start if he wanted to do this right, if he wanted to have fun with this. He took another step back before crouching into a runner's starting position, one leg up and his fingertips brushing the ground on either side.

"Are you ready yet?" Butch looked up to see Brick eyeing his with mock disinterest, his arms folded across his chest.

"Don't rush me!" he yelled back, but Brick just rolled his eyes.

He eyed his mark for a moment, a smirk gracing his face, and took off in a flash of green light. He was accelerating much faster than he probably should, but he was hoping to drive at her and form a new grand canyon where the street used to be.

But then he hit something, a blond, blue something, and he fell back and landed rather harshly on his backside.

The air was once again filled with dirt, making sight close to impossible. Butch bent his neck, cracking it once on his left and then a second time on his right. That wasn't the blue, blonde thing he had been trying to hit.

"Idiot! What's wrong with you!" Butch yelled.

Brick stumbled through the dust, eventually making his way over to Butch who was lying on his back, propped up on his elbows and facing the direction he had been running in. Brick looked where Butch had been glaring to see Boomer standing in front of the blue girl, arms crossed, forming a shield over his face. His cerulean eyes blazed with anger, then faded and changed to a look of confusion. He blinked with misunderstanding a few times and turned around to see the blonde girl lying behind him.

"Boomer!" Brick yelled and Boomer's head shot towards him. "What was that for!"

Boomer rubbed his arm shyly, "I...I don't know. I didn't mean to...I...i-it just happened..." He glanced back again at the girl he'd just protected before his eyes fell to the ground in front of him.

Butch gave Brick a strange look before turning back to the redhead. Butch just groaned and shook his head, possibly hoping any thoughts of the brunette girl would fall out his ears or something. It was still driving him crazy.

Then Brick started walking away, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Butch rose from his seat on the ground. "So whaddo we tell Mojo?" Boomer looked over to Brick like a lost puppy waiting for his master to tell him to sit. Butch rolled his eyes.

A smile began to form on Brick's face, though Butch had no idea why, "That depends..."

Butch raised an eyebrow, "On what?"

Brick stopped walking for a moment, turning around to face Butch again, "On what he tells us. I don't know about you guys, but I've got a few questions for that talking monkey. He's the one who sent us after those girls. He knew we'd attack them the way we did, and I want to know too."

Butch's eyes narrowed in agreement. "That freaky monkey's got a lotta explaining to do!"

Boomer nodded curtly in agreement, "Yeah, that monkey's got a lotta explaining to do!"

Brick rolled his eyes, "Boomer, don't repeat what Butch says. You'll sound like an idiot."

"Yeah," Butch agreed instantly, then thought over Brick's word again for a minute and realized another implication to what he'd said. "Hey!"

Brick rushed off in a blaze of crimson light, followed by Butch and Boomer. They darted through the city once again, swerving around buildings and dodging citizens as they ran, becoming more aware of their surroundings and less aware of the girls all the while. The world began to feel less and less surreal as their ability to reason returned and their control resurfaced.

Barely a second later they were standing at Mojo's door atop the volcano. Butch didn't bother to knock; he just balled his hand up into a fist and shrouded it in a jade light before he threw a punch at the entrance. On contact, the door burst from its hinges and fell to the ground with a thunk, now bearing a rather large dent in the center.

Brick stepped into the doorway. "MOJO!"

Mojo walked into the foyer after hearing the noise, "What the-?" He stared at the door on the floor, and then glared coldly at his visitors. He walked towards them as he spoke, waving his index finger in the air. "How dare you bust down my door! This is my house! As to say, this is my property, meaning that it is not yours to break. I had that door specially imported from Hong-Kong. It's 100% titanium steel and finished with a silver coating. That is my—"

"Shut up!" Butch yelled.

Surprisingly, Mojo did as he was told and looked up in shock. Brick glowered down at him, grabbing Mojo by his vest collar and pulling him up so they were at eye level.

"Talk!"

Mojo glared back at him, "That makes no sense! First you tell me to 'shut up', now you tell me to talk. That is not possible as talking creates noise, which goes against your original request of shutting up, and thus-"

"Not about that, ya stupid monkey!" Brick shook Mojo with exasperation before flinging him to the ground. "Who are the Powerpuff Girls?"

Mojo sat up and continued to glare at Brick. "You mean you didn't find them?"

"No, we found them," Butch protested.

Brick's glare tightened, "Who are they? Why do they look like us?"

Mojo stood and brushed himself off before shrugging as he turned to leave, ignoring Brick's question. "Well, if you did indeed find them, then your verb tense is incorrect. And it doesn't matter who they were. They have been mutilated, hence forth eliminated, as in dead."

"But they're not dead!" Butch groaned.

Mojo stopped in his tracks and peered back at the boys over his shoulder, "What do you mean, 'they're not dead'?"

Brick folded his arms together, "How many things could 'they're not dead' possibly mean? And here I thought you were the captain of the literal brigade."

"But if you met with them, then they should no longer be living!" Mojo insisted.

Boomer pushed his way around Brick. "So you knew that would happen!" he accused.

Mojo raised an eyebrow. "What would happen?"

"You knew we would attack them instantly," Brick insisted.

Mojo nodded, rubbing his chin with a smile. "I had hoped you would, but it was merely a theory. But then how could they still alive if my theory was correct?"

Butch's fists tightened. "Cause we couldn't finish them off..."

"They defeated you?"

Butch's eyes flared, "No!"

Mojo eyed Brick and Boomer suspiciously. "Then what happened?"

All three brothers exchanged a look of concern. Boomer's wide eyes were filled with worry while Butch's hard gaze expressed defeat. Brick wasn't completely sure what their opinions on the matter were, but he did know one thing: don't trust talking monkeys. More specifically, not to trust this talking monkey.

Brick turned back to Mojo, "First, you've got a few things to tell us."

Mojo glared defiantly at the boys. "What?"

"Everything you know about the Powerpuff Girls," he specified.

Mojo groaned, "All right fine, if you need to know come with me."

Mojo turned back to the door he had come through with the Rowdyruff Boys following behind him. As they passed through the doorway, the boys turned to a gigantic supercomputer. Dozens of screens of many different sizes connected together above a panel of buttons, knobs, switches and levers to make up the central mainframe. Mojo walked up to the processor and fiddled with the gadgets until the pictures on every screen formed together to create three images: the three girls the Rowdyruff boys had attacked earlier.

Mojo turned his back to the monitors and faced the boys, "These girls, which you should know by now, and the Powerpuff Girls. I'm hoping this is who you tried to kill, otherwise I am sorry to say you are the biggest screw ups I've have ever invented."

At this, Butch stepped forward with his arm pulled back, ready to leave a rather large dent in Mojo's helmet, but Brick his arm out and gave him a glare. Butch seemed to calm down slightly, still obviously mad at Mojo regardless.

"Yes, that would be them," Brick confirmed.

"Then I shall continue," Mojo stepped up to the first screen and tapped the foot of the girl in the blue dress, "This is Bubbles. She is the most gentle of the three. However, if you push her too hard, she can become aggressive. She is the only Powerpuff Girl who can speak Spanish, along with talking to animals. Boomer," Mojo paused briefly to turn to the blue Rowdyruff boy, "you were produced from her ponytail holder."

Butch laughed before being called out by Mojo. "Butch!" His amusement vanished and he gave the monkey his full attention. Mojo walked over to the other end of the line of screens to point at the girl in green. "This is Buttercup. She is the strongest of the three. She has no unique powers like Bubbles that I know of; nevertheless, she can be overly brutal and aggressive. Butch, you were made from a lock of her hair."

Butch rubbed his head in thought as he stared at the screen. Brick turned to see Boomer doing the same but with a more innocent expression then Butch's glowering.

"Brick."

Brick looked forward to see Mojo standing below the last girl; the pink girl he had attacked.

"This is Blossom," Mojo informed. "She is the leader of the Powerpuff Girls. She enjoys learning to a great extent, which makes her the most intelligent of the girls. She is clever, and quick-witted, and constantly foils my plains. Brick, you were created from one of her hair clips."

Brick scanned over the screen, finding that he had subconsciously reached back and grabbed his ponytail. He was created from this girl's DNA? The one he'd just been trying so hard to kill? She fit the description Mojo had given him, clever, intelligent, leader… She'd been the first to step up and say something to him. She had also been a pretty good fighter up until the end. Not great, just good. Not that it really mattered either. Mojo would most likely send them out to fight the Powerpuffs again, and they'd all probably wind up dead.

"So, any more questions?" Mojo asked in annoyance.

Brick broke from his reverie and looked down at Mojo. "Why did we attack them instantly?"

Mojo sighed. "It would most likely be because you were given a dose of Him's blood before you were created."

Butch raised an eyebrow, "Who's him?"

Mojo turned back to the controls and brought up a picture of a red creature wearing a winter coat with pink fur around the collar, and a black belt clipped around his waist. He possessed claws instead of hands and pointed ears similar to an elf. He had boots that reached up to where his coat ended, and a small, curly beard forming at the tip of his pointed chin. His hair was cut short and makeup covered his face. In short, he looked like the king of crossdressers.

"Who's that?" Butch asked, disgusted.

Mojo gestured to the computer screen. "That's Him."

"But who's him?" Brick asked.

"Him's him!" Mojo insisted.

Boomer raised an eyebrow, "Who's 'Himhim'?"

Mojo gritted his teeth, "Enough! This, this monster right here, this is Him. Not to say he is the person I am speaking of, but that his name is Him, which is what he is known by. Him: capital H-I-M!"

"Wait, so we were created from Powerpuff hair and...'Him's' blood?" Brick clarified.

"Yes," Mojo sighed.

Each Rowdyruff made a face of disgust. Boomer's nose wrinkled and Butch stuck out his tongue. "Why would you try to make us out of blood and hair?" Butch asked sarcastically.

"Well, I tried my blood originally, being that I am the most evil being ever to exist, but instead I ended up creating monkeys, so I turned to the next evilest creature I could think of," he answered. Brick rolled his eyes, not bothering to re-ask Butch's question that had not received an actual answer.

Boomer's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "But that still doesn't explain why we instantly attacked the Powerpuff Girls."

Mojo rubbed his chin, "Well, Him's blood can be considered unstable, meaning that the side effects of using it are uncertain. However, I'd hypothesized a particular reaction…"

"Him's blood can cause abnormal reactions in monsters and people. Him once attempted to defeat the Powerpuff Girls by turning their loved ones against them, which was caused by a combination of mind control and the implantation of DNA. You see, if he had merely taken over their minds, then he would have needed to control each of their movements on his own, which he was unwilling to do, and so he placed minute amounts of DNA within them, causing them to act evilly towards the Powerpuff Girls without Him needing to control each and every action, which wore off after the Powerpuffs defeated him."

"Therefore, I theorized that you would instinctively attack the girls. When you encountered them, Him's blood must have taken over and caused you to attack them without thinking."

Boomer still wasn't satisfied with Mojo's answer, "But why did-"

Brick stopped Boomer from asking his question by nudging him in the side with his elbow. He didn't want to see Boomer get shocked again for protecting Bubbles, even if he didn't know why.

Mojo glared suspiciously at Brick and Boomer, "Why did what?" he insisted.

"Why couldn't we finish them off?" Butch finished. Brick was relieved to hear Butch ask a different question, one that wouldn't result in Boomer's punishment."

But then he worried in might result in a punishment for them all. "What do you mean by 'you couldn't finish them off'?" Mojo questioned.

Brick decided to take over. "He means, once the Powerpuff Girls were defenseless, no matter how many attacks we threw, we were incapable of hitting them."

"Yeah," Boomer agreed, "every punch we threw stopped short."

Mojo rubbed his chin and paced up and down the room in deep thought. Great, not this again, Brick thought to himself. Eventually Mojo began to mumble something to himself, mostly incoherent jumbles of "DNA" and "added more…" After a few more moments of pacing and muttering, Mojo addressed the trio again. "Now then, you boys should be getting off to bed."

"...bed?" Butch questioned.

"Yes, follow me," Mojo walked past the boys and through another doorway on the other side of the corridor. They followed behind him into the next room, which was relatively smaller than the last. In front of them were three containment chambers. They turned to see Mojo standing next to a control panel beside the door.

"What are those for?" Boomer asked.

"These are where you will be sleeping," Mojo answered.

Brick glanced at the capsules, and then raised an eyebrow at Mojo. "You've got to be kidding," he insisted.

"What?" Mojo asked, confused.

"You don't expect us to sleep in there! We're not zoo animals!" Butch practically yelled.

"Watch your language, young man!" Mojo scolded lightly, waving a finger at Butch as all three Rowdyruffs looked at each other with uncertainty.

Mojo smiled. "Now," The boys turned back to him.

"It's time for bed!" he pressed one of the buttons on the control pad and all three boys were zapped by lasers that appeared out of the wall behind them, knocking them into the chambers. Glass lids slid shut in front of them and Brick turned back to Mojo. "What's the big idea!"

Mojo walked proudly to stand before the red boy's prison. "I once used those lasers to hold the Powerpuff Girls hostage, but they escaped due to that stupid Professor Utonium," he muttered in a reminiscent tone.

Brick glared at Mojo fiercely until his eyes began to glow and lasers shot out at the glass wall separating them.

"And I used a material similar to this when everyone in Townsville switched bodies too, but I have made some adjustments since then. Ah, good times… Now, the cells are blocked off by glass walls that have been embedded with Duranium, causing your powers to become useless." Mojo added.

Brick pretended not to hear him; he just continued to futilely blast the lid of the chamber. He could hear his brothers' crashing against the walls of their cages.

Brick ceased blasting for a moment to see Mojo leaving the room. He heard Butch yell next to him "Hey! Get back here!", but Mojo continued until he was out of sight without so much as a glance back at them.

For hours the boys tried futilely to get out of their prisons: punches, kicks, lasers, blasts, sonic sounds, power spheres, everything in their arsenal of power, but their attacks made no difference. The glass refused to break.

Brick slumped against the back wall of his cell, defeated. He looked to his left and used his x-ray vision to see into Boomer's cell. He was curled up in the corner, holding his knees. Tears fell slowly down his cheeks.

"Hey, Boomer..." Brick murmured. Boomer looked up towards his brother with curious eyes. "How you doing?" he asked.

Boomer just nodded and placed his head on his knees. Brick felt his cage shake as Butch rammed the door again.

"Would ya give it a rest, Butch?" Brick asked with half interest.

Butch didn't answer; he just gritted his teeth before pounding into the lid again, then sliding to the cold, metal floor without a word.

Brick turned back to Boomer, "Why ya crying, Boomer?"

"Boomer's crying again?" Butch asked sarcastically, "Great, so what else is new?"

"Shut up Butch," Brick ordered before turning back to Boomer, "Well?"

Boomer shrugged and turned his head away from Brick, "I...I'm afraid. I don't wanna lose control again." Boomer looked back at Brick, "I mean, are we sure we're even doing the right thing? Why would Mojo want us to kill the Powerpuff Girls?"

Butch smirked without humor, "'Cause big, bad Blossom outsmarts him all the time."

Boomer sighed, "But those girls we fought today...they were just like us. We were even created from them."

"Yeah, so what" Butch muttered, "We're still gonna wanna kill them if he sends us out. What should we do about that?" he turned to Brick.

Brick shrugged, "What can we do? You're right Butch, for once. We'll probably just go crazy again if we see the Powerpuff Girls, and if we don't do whatever Mojo wants then he'll zap us..."

"But I thought we were gonna steal his shock remote," Boomer added.

Butch glared at him. "Well, we can't exactly do that from inside cages now can we?"

Brick sighed. "Just go to sleep guys. We'll figure something out tomorrow."

Boomer lied down on the bottom of his cell and fell asleep relatively quickly despite the freezing floor. Butch just leaned against the side of his prison and shut his eyes tightly. Brick did the same. Before slipping away into dream land, he thought back to his fight with Blossom. She'd fought better than he'd expected, but then again he hadn't originally expected to be fighting super powered girls. Did she know anything about them? About Mojo's plan? About how they were created? She'd seemed surprised enough to see them, probably even more surprised to be attacked by them, but paying attention to her expression wasn't exactly something Brick had been focusing on at the time.

Brick's gaze was set absentmindedly in front of him, his eyelids half open. He imagined Blossom's picture that Mojo had displayed on the monitors earlier. Who was she? If they shared DNA, did that mean they acted the same too? She fought as well as he did, she'd matched his moves without fault until Brick had let himself fall deeper into Him's control.

He sighed and shook his head. He wanted to be able to go ask the Powerpuff Girls about everything. They might even have an answer for some of the Rowdyruff Boy's problems. Then an idea sparked in his head. Mojo had cussed about Blossom foiling his plans over and over again, so maybe the Powerpuff Girls would be able to help him and his brothers escape from Mojo too.

Brick nodded to himself before drifting off into unconsciousness. Tomorrow, the Rowdyruff Boys were going to have another encounter with the Powerpuff Girls.

Thanks for reading ^^