Brick and Butch retired to their bedroom after watching Mojo's plan fail. Their creator had gone to bed early and forgotten to make dinner, so Boomer went to the kitchen and put in a frozen pizza for the Boys. Brick sat at his desk and opened up his laptop. Butch took a rubber ball and tossed it against the wall, bored out of his mind.
"You know, Brick, there's still a couple hours of daylight left. We can still attack the…"
"In the middle of a game, here!" Brick cut his brother off. Butch noticed that Brick was playing that dumb chess game online again. The green brother was going to say something, but then Boomer came in with their pizza. Butch was more hungry than confrontational at the moment, so he left Brick alone for the time being. Each brother grabbed a slice.
"What, just cheese? No pepperoni or sausage?" Butch complained to Boomer.
"Wasn't hungry for it today."
"C'mon, I'm a growing boy. I need meat."
"Then you make the pizza next time." Boomer quit arguing and sat down in front of the TV. He popped in the latest Tale of Hilda game and started playing. Butch relented and ate the pizza anyway. At least it was better than that disgusting fish and shrimp dish Mojo always made.
Once the boys finished their meal, they continued hanging around in their room. After about half an hour of nothing happening, Butch was fed up and decided to interrogate the Boys' leader.
"I can't take this anymore! Why aren't we fighting the Powerpuff Girls? Isn't that what we were born to do?"
Brick clenched his teeth at Butch's sudden outburst. "Don't you ever get tired of kowtowing to that stupid monkey?"
"This isn't about Mojo. You said fighting the Girls was our purpose. Besides, it's fun."
"Is it even that fun?" Boomer butted in. "We never win anyway."
"Well maybe if someone didn't…" Brick began chiding Boomer.
"Don't give me that!" Butch interjected. "Boomer's screwed up before, but we never stopped fighting the Girls because of it."
"Alright, enough!" Brick shouted over his brothers. "How 'bout we put it to a vote? All in favor of attacking the Powerpuff Girls tonight?" Butch raised his hand. "All opposed?" Brick and Boomer both raised their hands. "Looks like you've been outvoted, Butch. Democracy wins again!" Brick and Boomer returned to their games.
Even Butch could see he wasn't getting anywhere with this. He decided to drop the issue and go back to his rubber ball for now. But sooner or later Brick would have to give him a straight answer.
The Powerpuff Girls finished opening their presents as the crowd dispersed and went home. They'd gotten a nice haul this year. Even X-raying the suspicious presents showed some of them to be genuine, though there was the usual bad stuff. Poisoned meat from Fuzzy Lumpkins, time-release Antidote X packets from Princess Morbucks, hate-mail from the Gangreen Gang, and whatever that weird thing Sedusa sent them was, all of which the Professor incinerated behind the forcefield.
"Nice try, losers!" Buttercup boasted observing the ashes of the villains' presents.
"Yeah, good riddance!" Bubbles agreed. "Let's go home."
"Right…" Blossom said.
As the Girls flew back to their house, Blossom still couldn't shake her suspicions about Bubbles' bracelet. The bracelet itself looked harmless, but it did come from one of their enemies. Then again, the Rowdyruff Boys hadn't really done anything for the past six months or so. Maybe they had changed? No, certainly not. Brick had long since declared that destroying the Powerpuff Girls was the Boys' sole purpose in life. Someone as proud and bullheaded as him wasn't likely to ever change his mind. If the events of today had taught Blossom anything, it was better safe than sorry. She'd have to take a closer look at that bracelet.
While Brick and Boomer slept, Butch was lying awake thinking about his brothers' sudden disinterest in fighting the Powerpuff Girls. All of this started six months ago after their most recent confrontation. It began like any other Powerpuff-Rowdyruff showdown, except that two minutes into the fight, Boomer suddenly retreated. Why was that? Did he get scared? Did he suddenly develop a conscience?
As strange as Boomer's behavior was, it was Brick's reasoning that was most concerning. He kept blaming Boomer's retreat for his unwillingness to attack, but it's not like Boomer hadn't failed them before. There had to be more to it than that. Brick was hiding something. No doubt about it.
What did Brick say about kowtowing to Mojo? Butch wondered. As if he cared about any of that. Heroes and villains, right and wrong, good and evil, none of that mattered to him. He was happy as long as he got to fight, and it just so happened that his favorite opponents by far were the Powerpuff Girls, especially Buttercup. Man, that girl knows how to fight. Butch thought. Strong, aggressive, and always a worthy challenge. Not to mention she's so… wait, I'm getting off-track. What did Brick say about kowtowing to Mojo?
"Better get to sleep." Butch whispered to himself. Tomorrow he'd be sure to confront Brick about that kowtowing thing. Maybe that would give Butch the answers he needed.
Six in the morning. Perfect! Blossom thought after waking up and glancing at the clock. Rather than set the alarm and risk waking up her sisters, Blossom drank seven glasses of water the night before. After a mad dash to the bathroom, she snuck back to the Girls' bedroom and grabbed Bubbles' bracelet off the nightstand.
Sorry, Bubbles, but I have to figure out what those boys are up to. Blossom thought as she took the bracelet to her father's room. Ever the early bird, Professor Utonium was already up and ready for some lab work.
"Hey, Professor."
"Oh, Blossom, what is it?"
"Bubbles got this bracelet as a present yesterday. I think it's kind of suspicious. Can we take it to the lab and analyze it?"
Mojo Jojo and the Rowdyruff Boys sat down to a breakfast of eggs and toast. Brick and Butch scowled at each other as they ate. Boomer kept his head down and stayed out of the conflict.
"So boys, what destructive and villainous activities are on your itinerary today?" Mojo asked his sons.
"Yeah, Brick. What destructive and villainous activities are on our itinerary?" Butch demanded sarcastically.
"I'm working on that." Brick lied, hoping to get Mojo and Butch off his back. He wolfed down the last of his breakfast. "Can I be excused?"
"Very well." Mojo granted Brick permission to leave. Brick went back to his room. Butch and Boomer followed as soon as they'd finished eating.
"Hmm. Perhaps this warrants an investigation." Mojo pondered. Butch wasn't the only one suspicious of Brick's behavior. Mojo had also noticed his evasiveness and unwillingness to fight. This time Mojo would get to the bottom of it. He took a small bugging device and quietly stuck it to his sons' bedroom door. Then he retreated to the lab to listen in.
Professor Utonium approached Blossom with a printout of the tests he'd run on Bubbles' bracelet. "Well, I've thoroughly examined it every way I can, and…"
"What'd you find?"
"Nothing. The rock is ordinary turquoise and the band is sterling silver. There's no bugging devices or explosives or any electronics of any kind in it. I even checked it for curses and evil spirits." The Professor explained as he gestured to his dowsing stick and incense burner. "Looks like it's perfectly safe."
"I see…"
"By the way, who did Bubbles get this from?"
"Umm… Ms. Bellum." Blossom lied. The Professor responded with a quizzical look. She quickly thought up an excuse. "Well, one of 'Ms. Keane's' gifts turned out to be a trap. I guess I got a little paranoid." As uncomfortable as she felt lying to her father, she thought it best he didn't worry about who the bracelet was from.
"Well, now you can put those fears to rest!" The Professor handed her the bracelet. "Go give this back to your sister." Then the Professor went back to his own work.
Blossom took the bracelet and the printouts from the Professor's analysis. Rather than feeling relieved, for some reason she was even more on edge than before. Why would Boomer give Bubbles a perfectly normal bracelet? What did it mean? Was it a phony peace offering? Did he steal it to try and frame her? Maybe the Professor missed something and it really was a trap. Blossom continued racking her brain as she exited the lab.
Buttercup sat in the living room playing Soul and Sword VIII online with Robin. Their fighters, Sigarda and Yoshitaka, duked it out on screen. After an intense battle, Robin had just barely won the match.
"Your luck ran out… when you decided to challenge me!" Yoshitaka gloated as he sheathed his katana. The screen read 'Yoshitaka Wins!'.
"Owned you, Buttercup!" Robin bragged over the voice chat.
"Grr! One more round!" Buttercup demanded.
As the two girls fought and trash-talked each other using language too raunchy for a K+ fanfic, Bubbles flew into the living room, desperately ransacking it in search of her missing bracelet. "Buttercup, did you…?"
"For the last time, I haven't seen your…" A loud sword clang sounded from the TV. "...bracelet."
"What's this about a…" Another clang rang out. "...bracelet?" Robin asked Buttercup.
"Oh, it's just Bubbles." Buttercup and Robin got back to their game as Bubbles continued searching. Several minutes later, Bubbles noticed Blossom leaving the Professor's lab holding the bracelet and some papers.
"I just don't get it…" Blossom mumbled to herself.
"So you stole my bracelet!" Bubbles accused her sister. "Give it back!"
Blossom turned to Bubbles and sighed. "I didn't steal it. I just took it to the lab for analysis."
"Oh, and what did your analysis say?"
"Apparently there's nothing unusual about it."
"Okay, then give it back!"
"Bubbles, doesn't it strike you as odd that Boomer gave this to you? Didn't you ever think he might be up to something?"
"Well, he isn't! You just said the bracelet is fine."
"Yeah, and that's what's so suspicious."
"How is it suspicious that there's nothing wrong with it?!" Bubbles was getting sick of Blossom's paranoia and tried to turn the tables on her. "Why don't you examine your chess set? Maybe Sedusa put a bomb in one of the horses."
"Knights, Bubbles! They're called knights! And I know we can trust Ms. Bellum!"
"Maybe it was Sedusa disguised as Ms. Bellum."
"Bubbles, you idiot!" Blossom finally lost her patience. "Try to take this seriously for once! You should know better than to trust Boomer! Haven't you forgotten he's a Rowdyruff Boy? A villain? The fact is that he's our enemy and we can't let our guard down just because he gave you this cheap trinket for a birthday present!"
Bubbles burst into tears at Blossom's outburst and flew to their room crying. Blossom immediately felt guilty about it and floated onto the couch next to Buttercup, hanging her head in shame.
"All that over a dumb bracelet?" Buttercup said to her sister. "You're taking this way too seriously."
"Maybe you're right. I'll go talk to her." Blossom floated upstairs to their bedroom. Soon after, the Professor emerged from the lab.
"I heard Bubbles crying. What happened?" the Professor asked Buttercup.
"Oh, Blossom yelled at her about that bracelet she got from Boomer. Honestly, I think she's too…"
"Wait, did you say it was from Boomer? As in the Rowdyruff Boy?"
Buttercup could sense something in the Professor's tone. "Uh, Robin, I think I have to go." she said into her mic.