A/N: I changed the title by the way.
"Okay girls, let's take one last scan around town and we can go home to revise for the test tomorrow," I instructed.
"Study?!" Buttercup choked, stopping mid-air with her hands on her hips. "Look here, Missy, there is no way I am studying when my GTA is lying in wait for me!"
It was on the tip of my tongue to remind her that in reality, we bash the people that engage in whatever acts she indulges in in the game. Grabbing her by the collar of her polo tee, I pulled her along and zoomed off. I heard Bubbles giggle as she followed us.
My name is Blossom, the leader of the Powerpuff Girls. You might have not heard of us before but in our little town of Townsville, we are the most famous people around. Being born from our father's experiment, we were gifted by amazing powers ever since we were born. Aside from the weird fingerless hands and toeless feet that had long faded away, we now look like any ordinary person, only that we can seriously kick some butt. Naturally, we are also the ones responsible for keeping Townsville as a safe and peaceful haven for its citizens.
The three of us were almost done with the scan when some voices caught my ear. I stopped. A look on my sisters' face said the same thing. Someone was up to no good.
"Dude! Bash that car man!"
"No. I have a better idea. I'm going to ram it into those people over there and… Fuck! Man! I killed the dog!"
"Bash the car?" Buttercup repeated.
"Ram it into people?" I shrieked, feeling my anger bubble up inside me.
"Killed the dog?!" Bubbles screamed.
"Girls, we're going down," I instructed. We flew down and realized that we were in the part of town we rarely stepped into. It was the more dingy area, where the lesser income earners lived. We weren't discriminating but we had no business there usually. Crime rarely happened here. No one wanted to rob these people after all. We followed the sound of these voices and arrived at an apartment.
Okay what? I thought these people were talking about ramming a car into people. How were they doing it in a apartment room? I didn't see a car nearby as well, so they couldn't have ran into their apartment after mesisng with it. What was going on?
I peeked in and through the dirty window, I managed to make out three teenage boys, two sitting and one standing behind them. They appeared to be watching television… Wait, no…
"They're playing GTA!" Buttercup exclaimed. "No way. Cool!" She pressed her palms against the glass and stared even more at them. From the way her eyes glowed, I could tell she was using her X-ray vision.
"Well, then, looks like there's nothing here to see. Let's go back girls," I said. I saw Bubbles sigh, her eyes looking somewhat disturbed. Thinking about it, Bubbles had been rather quiet lately. I wonder if she got rejected by some guy or something, knowing as how she was always hopping from one crush to another and recklessly letting her feelings known.
But as off that moment, Buttercup was being a bigger problem. Her eyes were squinting as she pressed herself closer to the glass, showing no signs of intention to leave. Grabbing her by the collar again, I dragged her all the way home, where I somehow got her to stay away from her video game and sit down to study for Algebra test the next day. Sometime while we were studying, Bubbles got up and announced that she wanted to get herself some snacks from a nearby supermarket. I let her go, ignoring Buttercup's envious glares. Bubbles may not get straight As like I did but she was well-disciplined, getting Bs normally and occasionally Cs. It was Buttercup and her big fat Fs that worried me more.
It was a good thing that I made Buttercup study. When school ended the next day, she came out with the biggest grin on her face ever since she scored the winning goal for Poaky Panthers, our high school's soccer team, during last year's championships. She shoved the paper in my face. She got a B. Finally. After so many tests, she finally lived up to being Blossom's littlest sister. Patting her head proudly, I smirked at her knowingly. It was a silent communication and I could tell Buttercup's annoyance at the realization that I was going to force her into studying for every single test. When Bubbles came out of her class, the atmosphere changed drastically. The blonde was almost on the verge of tears as she held her test paper in two hands. I peeked over and saw that she had failed and she did not just fail, she had gotten an ugly F.
"Did the teacher switch your paper with Buttercup's?" I couldn't help but wonder aloud. Bubbles shook her head. I took it from her and looked through it. It was indeed hers. I could tell from her ultra neat handwriting. Buttercup, however, had hideous handwriting that was barely legible.
"It's okay, Bubs. There's always the next test," Buttercup said calmly. Bubbles nodded. She took the paper from my hands and slid it into her bag.
"Yeah and maybe you might want to try and study with us instead of alone. If you prefer the library, we could all study there together and help one another out, right Buttercup?" I asked, remembering Bubble's recent habit of studying alone in the library. Buttercup nodded.
"Guys, I want to go to the mall for a while to calm myself down… You don't mind, right?" she said.
"We'll come with you," I offered.
I saw something flash in her eyes. It looked a lot like panic and fear. She turned around really quickly, hiding her expression from Buttercup and me.
"I want some time alone to myself…" she whispered, which I caught loud and clear because of my enhanced hearing. Even before I could say anything, she shot out of school. I was about to follow her when Buttercup caught my arm.
"Leave her be, Bloss," she said. "Let's do our daily rounds without her today."
I nodded and the two of us started flying, in silence mostly. As I looked around town, I realized how boring it seemed lately with the decreased crime rates. Unlike back when we were kids, there were not frequent explosions around or monsters stomping in. Other villains rarely showed up as well. Mojo was getting old and I guess he was smart enough to tell himself that he had reached retirement already. I heard that Fuzzy had found some other female pink gorilla thing like himself and they had ended up as mates (I doubt the got married) and moved to some far away forest to live with more of their kind. Sedusa was old too and her beauty was long gone so she rarely left her house. The Gang Green Gang just broke up. There were some tales about Ace feeling that he was 'too good' for them and left them. Without their leader, the bond just withered away and they split. The Amoeba boys died. Germs like them weren't supposed to last long anyway. Princess grew up to be a slut and was too busy screwing the school's football team to get into crime. The Rowdyruffs just left. God knows to where but good riddance. As for HIM, we didn't even know what happened to him.
"Why do we even bother, BC? There is obviously no crime!" I complained.
Buttercup remained silent but she slowed down in her flying as we arrived at the location where we had stopped by the previous day. She held her hand to her lips and flew to the same apartment. I watched in confusion as she peeked in.
"It's empty. Let's go," she said. She pulled up the window and surprisingly, it was unlocked.
"Why are we breaking in?" I questioned.
"I am highly suspicious of the people who live here," Buttercup said. "See, yesterday when I was using my X-ray vision, I saw that they're a redhead, black-haired and a blonde, just like us."
I got the implications and I raised my eyebrow. "The Rowdyruffs? Seriously, you think they're those losers?" I scoffed as she flew into the house. I stayed outside, my arms crossed.
"Yupp!" Buttercup said, her voice extremely victorious. She flew out, holding a photo frame. "Explain this!"
I frowned and took the wooden frame from her as I stared at the picture. It had three young boys in it, around the age of ten. The background was unfamiliar. I had never seen such a beautiful landscape before. I looked back at the boys. One blonde. One redhead. One raven. Blue. Red. Green. Boomer. Brick. Butch.
It was them!
"BC, what is going on?" I asked.
"Oh simple. The boys are back in town… Again…" she said as she took the frame. I flew in as well. Buttercup placed it beside the tv. I looked around the room. There was a couch, a table with four chairs around it, a television with a game console attached to it, a stack of games and three doors. Buttercup opened the first door. It led to a blue room. The one beside it was red and the other was green. So they followed their colour schemes as much as we did.
"We should find them," I said, knowing that they may be up to no good. Buttercup nodded. I pulled out my phone and dialled Bubbles' number.
"Hello?" Her voice sounded back to its usual cheerfulness and I found myself smiling a little as Buttercup and I flew out of the apartment.
"Bubs, the boys are back. We need to find them… Can you come and meet us?" I asked. We needed Bubbles along. A three-on-two battle against any other villain might be okay but not on the boys. They would beat us black and blue.
There was a long silence on Bubbles' part. "Erm… The boys?" she asked dumbly.
"The boys. Rowdyruff? Brick, Butch, Boomer, remember?" I said on the phone.
"Oh. Them. They're back?" she questioned.
"Yeah. They live in the apartment where we went to yesterday." I explained to Bubbles what Buttercup and I had discovered as we flew over town and from a distance, I made out two figures, one clad in green and one in red, on the rooftop. I stopped, as did Buttercup. She noticed as well and was staring in the same direction.
"Where's Boomer?" she snapped.
"Boomer?" I heard Bubbles repeat in the phone, most probably after hearing Buttercup.
"We see Brick and Butch. Boomer isn't there," I said.
"I'm on my way. Wait for me!" Bubbles said hurriedly and she hung up.
"She said to wait," I told Buttercup as I slipped the phone into my bag.
"Are you kidding? This is our chance! The moment Bubbles come, we can surprise the but for now, we can start thrashing them!" Buttercup snickered. "Butch is so going down!"
Buttercup zoomed off towards the two boys and I started after her. "Butch, you motherfucker, take this!" she yelled. I stopped and watch as the green Rowdyruff turned in surprise and Buttercup's fist collided with his face. He was thrown towards the wall behind him. I expected the wall to crumble but it didn't. I joined Buttercup's side, just as confused as she was.
"Huh? I fully thought that was my strongest punch," she commented, looking at her fist. Butch cowered on the floor where he had fallen, coughing and spluttering out blood. Wait. Blood?
Brick was staring at us hatefully, glancing at his brother occasionally. "Butch, can you stand?" he asked, still looking at the two of us.
"Erm.. No…" his brother croaked. He looked over and ran towards him. "Come on, get up!"
"Bloss, why isn't he attacking?" Buttercup asked, whispering. I was sure Brick could still hear us though but I guess he chose to ignore it as he attempted to help his hurt brother.
"I don't know… BC, I didn't know you got strong enough to hit the strongest Rowdyruff off his feet," I commented, still bemused at Butch's condition.
"No, they're messing with us," Buttercup hissed. She flew over, grabbed Butch by the collar and snatched him easily out of Brick's hands. Brick looked dismayed as Buttercup pulled his brother into mid-air, floating above the city, holding him threateningly.
"Aren't you gonna fight as well, Brick?" I asked coolly. "Or are you too scared to get beaten by a girl?" There was no better way than to aggravate the Rowdyruff leader than to shoot down his masculine ego.
Brick looked at me as if he only just realized that I was there. He pointed at Buttercup. "Tell her to put him down!" he said, sounding almost pleading yet at the same time authoritatively. His somewhat pleading tone aside, the fact that he had completely taken me aback. Since when did Brick not care about challenges I threw to him?
Butch was not even making attempts to free himself from Buttercup. All he did was stare downwards at the street that was metres below us. Buttercup raised an eyebrow at Brick's comment and turned to me in question. I shrugged. It was up to her what she wanted to do. Butch was her counterpart.
"Okay, I'll put him down," Buttercup said. She immediately released her hold on his collar. Butch's eyes widened as he started falling. Brick's horrified yell pierced the silence between the four of us as he ran over the edge and looked down.
"NO! BUTCH!" he yelled, holding his hand out.
He wasn't flying. Why was Butch falling? What was going on?
Buttercup's brows were furrowed as she watched Butch. "Fly, idiot! Fly!" she shrieked. "Fly up and fight me, you wuss!"
There was a streak of blue and Butch disappeared from below us. I looked around and I finally caught Bubbles in sight, holding onto the back of Butch, collar. She flew over and dropped him beside Brick. Now safely on the ground, Butch let out a cry and jumped at Brick, punching him in the face.
"I told you it was a bad idea, asshead! Why the fuck would you agree to coming back here? Do you have a death wish?!" he cursed, punching Brick repeatedly in the face.
I heard Brick cuss under his breath and he gave Butch one hard punch in the face, pushing him off himself. He took his cap that had fallen a distance away from his and put it back on his head. "How was I supposed to know they want us dead?" he muttered. "I thought they'd attack only when we were up to no good."
But you're the Rowdyruff Boys. Since when are you not up to no good, Brick?
"ENOUGH!" Buttercup yelled, interrupting the two of them. "What the fuck is going on? Why didn't he fly back? Why aren't you guys bleeding like hell from each other's punches? Why aren't you attacking us?!" Buttercup's voice was demanding and enraged, making her seem capable of killing both of them there and then.
Just then, the door behind the two of them opened and a certain familiar blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy stood there. He looked at his brothers and sighed in relief. "Thank god you guys are alive!"
"Why the fuck did you take the stairs up this fifty story building? Why didn't you fly up?! God, did growing up make you guys dumber?!" Buttercup yelled, her voice showing more and more signs of agitations. "Forget it. Blossom, Bubbles, let's end this!"
As Buttercup and I mentally powered ourselves up for the fight, we were interrupted by no one other than our own sister. She flew in front of us and held her hands out to her side, protectively in front of the boys.
"This isn't a fair fight," Bubbles said.
"What are you talking about? Finally there's a fair opponent!" Buttercup sneered. "They're the Rowdyruffs, Bubbles! The Rowdyruff Boys!"
Bubbles swallowed, frowning strangely. I recognized the fear on her face but at the same time, I saw her defiance as well. I raised my eyebrow at her. What was my goodie goodie sister up to?
"I know! They've been for a month already!" she said.
"What?!" Buttercup and I exclaimed. Simultaneously, Brick and Butch snapped their heads up, surprised as well.
"How the fuck do you know that? Only the three of us know that we're back in town!" Brick gasped and there was an instant realization in his eyes, as if the answer came to him just as he spoke. He immediately turned to Boomer with narrowed eyes. The blue Rowdyruff shrugged.
"Hey, hey, Boomer, you told her, didn't you?" Brick snapped. "Thanks to you, Butch almost got killed!"
Boomer crossed his arms. "No, thanks to me, he got saved. It was because I told Bubbles that we have no powers that he got saved."
Wait, did I hear what I thought I heard? I looked at Bubbles and she nodded her head.
What in the world? The Rowdyruffs are back but with no power?!
Alright. That's all for today! Thanks to everyone who has spent time reading it. R&R please :)