Chapter 7
November 11, 11 am.
It was currently arts and crafts period at Pokey Oaks and the kids were making decorations themed around Fall and a few were already making Thanksgiving themed decorations as well. Ms. Keane did plan on dedicating an entire week to making Thanksgiving decorations the week before the holiday but she saw no reason to curb any of her students imaginations if they wanted to start early.
Bubbles and Robyn were two of the children who had started making Thanksgiving decorations early and were both currently drawing turkeys on paper and then cutting them out. Robyn was having a little trouble drawing the turkey's body so she asked Bubbles for help.
"Hey Bubbles, can you help me? I can't get the turkey's body to look quite right."
Bubbles looked over at Robyn's drawing and nodded. "Sure, I can help. Their bodies are a little tricky to draw."
Bubbles quickly made a couple small improvements to Robyn's drawing and it looked perfect.
"How do you make that look so easy?" Robyn asked.
Bubbles just shrugged and said, "I'm not sure. Maybe it's because I draw so much."
Robyn nodded deciding that that was as good an answer as any. After all practice makes perfect. Robyn then decides to ask Bubbles about the girls most recent fight with Mojo.
"Hey Bubbles, how'd that fight with Mojo go at the Townsville Mint the other day? I heard my parents say something about him doing something different than usual."
Bubbles turned toward Robyn and said, "Oh yeah, that. Well, normally, Mojo fights us head on in some way but that day, he didn't fight us at all. What he did was put all these walking laser guns all over the mint and once they starting firing at us, he just left the mint through some tunnel somewhere that we didn't find. The police found it a few hours later so we now know how he got out, but yeah, it was something new from him." After thinking about it for a moment, Bubbles then added, "If fact, hitting the Mint itself was new for him. He usually just robs the bank or a jewelry store."
"Hey, wait. If you guys didn't know how he got out, then how'd you catch him?" Robyn asked.
Bubbles giggled and said, "Well, according to Blossom, Mojo just had bad luck."
At Robyn's confused look, Bubbles explained. "You see, what happened was, after Mojo crawled out of a manhole and onto the street, a chunk of concrete fell from one of the buildings and hit a car that he was standing right next to, setting off the alarm. Now, I'm not sure which one we heard the most; the loud crash, the alarm, or Mojo screaming at the top of his lungs about why it had happened, but it's how we found him."
Robyn blinked. "So, something completely random is what did Mojo in?"
Bubbles nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."
Robyn replied. "Wow. Then yeah, that's bad luck on Mojo's part."
Both girls laughed at that and then went back to making their decorations.
1230 pm, recess.
Outside at recess, Buttercup was playing a game of horse with Mitch and he had asked the same question that Robyn asked Bubbles, but Mitch was hung up on how Mojo was caught.
"Wait, that's how you guys found him?" Mitch asked Buttercup incredulously. "Concrete fell onto the car?"
"Yeah Mitch, that's how we found Mojo." Replied Buttercup, slightly annoyed. "Sometimes, life will be very generous and just up and give you the answer on a silver platter. No thought required."
Mitch just shook his head. "Look Buttercup, obviously, I'm rooting for you and your sisters to win whenever you go off and keep the city safe, but still, you have to agree, that's a pretty lame way for Mojo to get caught."
Buttercup wanted to say something in defense of the way her and her sisters caught Mojo, but she had to agree with Mitch.
"Ok, yes it was pretty lame, but there are times when Mojo can make things very difficult for us. I mean, all those robot drones he had made it difficult for us to even get near the mint let alone get inside it. So every now and then, I do like it whenever it's easy for us to catch Mojo, or anyone for that matter, just for a break from the usually difficult cases we do so it doesn't get...old."
Mitch snickered. "Wait, you mean you don't like doing things the hard way all the time? Ms. I-like-to-prove-myself."
Buttercup growled and responded. "You like to do things the hard way a lot too, Mitch, since you're a boy and like to prove your the tough guy who can handle anything, but you've taken shortcuts before as well."
"Ah...Well, I...you see..." Mitch stuttered but gave up a moment later, saying, "Fine, touché."
Buttercup smiled smugly and said sweetly, "Thank you." Before saying normally, "Now come on, it's your turn. I want to beat you before the bell rings."
Mitch grinned. "HA, we'll see about that."
And Mitch did see about that two minutes later...he lost.
240 pm, classroom
Ms. Keane just finished a math lesson and everyone was handing in their work so they could have the last 20 minutes of class to just chat with their friends. Most of the kids had already begun talking even before the first few students had turned in their papers and by the time Blossom had floated up to Ms. Keane with her work along with Buttercup and Bubbles', everybody was talking.
"Here's our work Ms. Keane." Said Blossom.
"Thank you Blossom."
Ms. Keane looked over the girls' math assignment quickly before saying, "Splendid as always Blossom. Good job."
Blossom smiled proudly at that while Ms. Keane went on, "Bubbles is doing well too, but it seems like Buttercup is still struggling a bit."
Blossom nodded. "Yeah, but she has done pretty well for someone who has been teaching herself this whole time."
Ms. Keane blinked in surprise hearing this. "Wait, you mean you and Bubbles aren't helping her?"
"She won't let us Ms. Keane, you know how stubborn she is." Blossom explained.
Ms. Keane sighed. "Yes, you're right about that." She glanced over at Buttercup talking with Bubbles and Robin about something after saying this. "Well, if by some miracle you convince her to accept your help..."
"Oh yes, of course Ms. Keane." Blossom responded.
Ms. Keane smiled in approval before changing the subject. "I heard that the mayor has already commissioned funds to repair the Mint and the surrounding buildings around downtown after Mojo's attack."
Blossom nodded. "Yeah, I heard that too."
"Why do you think Mojo robbed the Mint instead of a bank like he usually does?"
Blossom shrugged. "Couldn't really say, but when we caught him, he did have several of those money printing plates with him. If I had to guess, I'd say he wanted to start a counterfeit operation."
"Oh my." Said Ms. Keane. "Well, it's a good thing you girls caught him then. With a little bit of luck to boot as well." She finished with a little bit of amusement.
Blossom blinked at this however and asked, "You're referring to the concrete that fell and hit the car, right?"
Ms. Keane nodded. "Yes, that's right."
Blossom rubbed her chin in thought before saying, "You know, I've been thinking about that and I'm not so sure it was just luck."
Ms. Keane raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, the building that the chunk fell from was within line of sight of the AA drones that fired at us but I don't think they ever fired in that particular direction." Blossom explained.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Also, every other building that was hit by the drones, and had chunks of concrete missing, had scorch marks on them where they were hit. The chunk that hit the car however, the building it fell from had no scorch mark on it. I know this because later that same day, after school and we went out on our afternoon patrol, this thought occurred to me so I flew over there to check it out to see if I was right and I was. At the time, I just thought it was a little strange but now I really want to know what caused that chunk of concrete to fall because the drones weren't the cause of it."
Now Ms. Keane rubbed her chin in thought. "Hm. This is an interesting conundrum you've got here Blossom, you're right. What do Bubbles and Buttercup think about it?"
Blossom shook her head, saying, "I haven't told them this yet. Until I get more, uhh, pardon the pun, concrete evidence supporting this hunch of mine, I don't want them trying to figure something out that may not even matter."
"Hmm, well, bad pun aside, I do understand your reasoning for doing that. But remember Blossom, two, or in your case, three heads are better that one. So if you continue having trouble figuring this out, consider bringing your sisters in on it. You never know, maybe they could look at it from a different perspective you wouldn't have thought of and it would help you figure it out."
Blossom smiled and nodded, "Alright Ms. Keane, I will and thanks for the advice."
Ms. Keane smiled back and said, "Anytime."
The bell then rang and the children left the room. Blossom waved to Ms. Keane and left as well to catch up with Bubbles and Buttercup, who were already waiting for her outside, to begin their afternoon patrols.
After the girls had been patrolling for a hour, they regrouped at the center of town, above the city's tallest building.
"Alright girls, everything looks fine for now but let's do one more sweep before heading home. I'll stay in the city, Bubbles you check the hills this time, and Buttercup, you check the coast." Said Blossom.
"Hey wait, I love going near the ocean. Why do I have to check the hills this time?" Bubbles asked.
"Because the last time you checked the coastline, you brought home a baby whale to keep as a pet." Buttercup replied.
Bubbles just gave Buttercup a flat stare, while Blossom said, "You know, believe it or not, I actually forgot about that. I thought we could just switch things up a bit, but now that Buttercup's reminded me of that, it's a good idea. So, yes Bubbles, you're searching the hills."
Bubbles sighed. "Fine, I'll search the hills."
With that settled, the girls split up to search their allotted areas.
As Bubbles began her patrol, she couldn't help but be a little grumpy.
"Because last time you checked the coastline, you brought home a baby whale." She mocked. "I haven't brought home a single animal since that fiasco, but no, they're never gonna let me live that down. Not to mention, the forest has a lot of animals too. If they really want to make sure I don't bring home any more animals, why not have me patrol the city where the chances of me finding an animal are slim to none."
Just then, Bubbles saw a dark blue streak of light down in the woods. She realized that it was Boomer almost immediately and she stopped to see what he was doing. She also made sure she was far enough away so that he wouldn't notice her. Bubbles could see that Boomer was flying rapidly around the woods but couldn't make out what he was doing from above the trees. After thinking it over, and after making sure Brick and Butch weren't in the immediate area, Bubbles decided to fly down into the tree tops to see what Boomer was doing. After she flew down, Bubbles could see that Boomer had vines wrapped around his shoulders and was currently cutting another vine from a tree with his laser eyes.
"Alright, that should be enough and I don't see anymore living vines around here. I wonder why Brick wants all these vines in the first place anyway." Boomer just shrugged his shoulders before taking off back towards his brothers.
Bubbles floated out of her hiding spot and said out loud, "Wow Boomer, you sure like to think out loud don't you." Then Bubbles giggled softly to herself. "Of course, I'm guilty of doing that too at times, but now I'm curious why Brick wants all those vines myself."
Bubbles then took off after Boomer but made sure he didn't see her.
Eventually, Bubbles followed Boomer to the edge of a cliff where she could see Brick and Butch sitting on the ground near a pile of vines but she couldn't tell what they were doing. Boomer floated up to them and said, "Here Brick, these are the last of the vines I could find that were still alive."
Brick looked up and said, "Ah, good Boomer, thanks. Just set 'em down here."
As Boomer set the vines down, Bubbles snuck back up into the tree tops so she could see what they were doing. After finding a perch where she could see them clearly but also keeping herself hidden, she could see Brick and Butch were tying the vines together into one long vine. Bubbles raised an eyebrow in confusion as to why the boys were doing this, but fortunately for her, Butch was just as confused because he asked the question that was on her mind.
"Brick, can you please tell us why we're doing this now?"
"Yeah, sure." Brick said as he tightened the final knot. "We're going bungee jumping."
"What?" Said Butch.
Bubbles blinked in surprise and said softly to herself, "Huh?"
Then Boomer asked, "What's bungee jumping?"
"Basically," Brick began, "you tie a rope, chord, or vine, or anything else that has a little springy-ness to it, to your ankles, then you jump off of a high place, you fall to the ground but before you hit the ground, the chord, or whatever you tied to your ankle, stretches and that springs you back up and then that repeats like 5 or 6 times."
"Oh." Was all Boomer said in response.
"Ok, why are we doing this exactly? In case you forgot Brick, we can fly." Said Butch a little irritated.
Brick held up his hand and said, "Easy Butch, we're going to make it more interesting than just jumping off a cliff. We're going to add target practice to it."
Butch raised an eyebrow and said, "What? How?"
"We're going to set up targets on the ground. One of us will then jump off and, while we're swinging, try to hit as many as possible. On the rebound back up, the other two will throw stones up and over the edge of the cliff and we'll try and hit those. Your score will be the combined total of the ones hit on the ground and the ones hit in the air. You follow me?" Brick finished.
Butch thought about it for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah, alright, that sounds like fun." Then he smirked. "Giving me another chance to beat you bro?"
Brick gave Butch a flat look. "Funny, really funny."
"How long are we going to do this for Brick?" Boomer asked.
Brick glanced at Boomer and said, "Ehh...either until we get bored or until the vine breaks I guess."
Boomer shrugged and said, "Alright, let's go for it."
Bubbles watched the boys play their game for about an hour with a bright smile; not only did they come up with an activity that didn't involve harassing Townsville or causing property damage, but it was a relatively normal activity that anyone could do...well, normal for anyone with superpowers anyway, and they were having fun doing it on top of everything else. In Bubbles' eyes, this was another good sign that maybe the boys could become good, or at the very least, they could all peacefully coexist.
After watching for a little while longer, Bubbles realized that she would have to meet up with her sisters soon or they would come looking for her, so she began to quietly sneak away but not before casting one last look back and smiling again at the boys having fun.
After meeting back up with Blossom and Buttercup, Bubbles could hardly wait to tell her sisters what she saw, they weren't going to believe her.
"Alright girls, anything to report?" Blossom asked.
"Nah. The coastline looks good." Replied Buttercup. "How about you Blossom?"
"Ehh...one or two litter bugs, but other than that, nothing." Said Blossom. "Bubbles, how about you?"
Bubbles giggled and said with a bright smile, "You two aren't going to believe this but-"
"Don't tell us you found another animal." Buttercup interrupted.
Bubbles stopped for a moment before getting an angry look and saying, "I haven't brought home a single animal since that whole baby whale fiasco Buttercup so can you please just drop that?"
Buttercup held up her hands and said, "Alright, alright, sheesh. It's just that, whenever we came back from patrol and you had the kind of smile you have on your face right now, it was because you found some kind of animal."
Blossom just shook her head before turning back to Bubbles. "Ok Bubbles, what were you saying?"
Bubbles took a deep breath to calm down then turned back to Blossom. "While I was patrolling out in the woods, I saw Boomer flying around."
This immediately got Buttercup and Blossom's attention.
"What? What was he doing?" Blossom asked.
"Wait, just Boomer? Where were Brick and Butch?" Buttercup asked.
"Calm down girls, they never saw me. As to what Boomer was doing, he was collecting vines and wrapping them around his shoulder. After he had enough, I followed him to a cliff where Brick and Butch were tying them together into one long strand. Brick then explained that they were combining target practice with bungee jumping; one would jump off and blast targets on the ground, then as they sprang back up, the other two would throw rocks out and those would get blasted too. After combining those two numbers, that would be your score."
"Hold on a second, did you actually watch them do this?" Asked Buttercup.
Bubbles nodded. "Yeah, for about a hour."
"What?" Said Blossom surprised. "You watched the boys play a game for a hour instead of patrolling the woods?"
Bubbles rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and said, "Uh, yeah, I guess I did do that, but, Blossom, think about what I just said. The boys, well actually, it was Brick's idea, so Brick came up with an activity for three of them to do that didn't involve harassing Townsville or fighting us or causing any sort of destruction whatsoever, that anyone, well, almost anyone, could come up with just for fun. I mean, do you see what I'm trying to say?"
Blossom stared at Bubbles for a moment before she let out a breath she was holding and said, "Yes Bubbles, I do understand what you're trying to say. In fact, I'm amazed." Blossom began smiling as she continued. "I never would've thought the boys could come up with something that...unique. That's a very good sign too. If they can come up something like that to keep themselves entertained without wanton destruction..."
Bubbles nodded happily. "I know, that's wonderful right?"
Blossom nodded back. "Mm-hm. It is."
"And you know, if you think about it, the game the boys came up with actually sounds like fun." Buttercup added.
Bubbles laughed. "Butch said the exact same thing after Brick explained what they were going to do."
Buttercup scoffed at that comment but did glance in the direction of the woods with a small smirk.
Blossom smiled. "I wish we could end every patrol with something amazing like this. But let's head home now. It's getting close to dinner and I'm hungry."
"I second that." Said Buttercup.
"Ditto." Said Bubbles.
The girls flew back home with big smiles on their faces and an even greater hope of the boys reforming from their evil past.
