Hi,
Back with another chapter.
Always appreciate hearing your thoughts on the story, especially negative ones—
Hey I need to learn, don't I? :)
...
Part I - Inside Mojo's Lab
...
How long was he asleep? Boomer's eyes twitched open and, immediately, a sharp pain shot for his head. He couldn't make out exactly where he was, but at least it smelled better than that dirty, old hut that his brothers decided to take over. The room was clearing up and various images began popping up right in front of Boomer; giant laser-guns? blueprints hanging on walls? A little ship in a bottle? Either he was captured by a dangerous criminal-mastermind, hell-bent on taking over the world, or—Oh wait, it's mojo's place...
"What the..."He tried stretching his arm to rub his aching head, but he couldn't; in fact, he couldn't move his body at all. Boomer tried stretching, flailing his arms but nothing worked.
"Hi..."
Why did that voice sound familiar? Boomer regained his focus and realized what was stopping him from moving; his body was practically glued to a rock-hard surface in the middle of the room. Five metallic cuffs were locked around his arms, legs and neck. He couldn't even move himself enough to see who was calling him.
"Who the heck are you?" Boomer tried tilting his head to the side, but failed miserably. "And where are you?"
"Here." Boomer Jojo stepped in with a sheepish smile on his face.
"W-What happened?" Boomer felt as though something was drilling through his skull.
"I sorta' won the fight..." Boomer Jojo said.
Images of the fight flashed before Boomer's eyes. He clearly remembered falling for the oldest trick in the book, before he could—Bubbles!
Boomer desperately tried squeezing himself out of the metal cuffs, but they were too tight. "Listen, you've got to let me out of here,
"Please!"
Boomer Jojo's gaze immediately dropped to the floor. "Sorry I can't..." he said, "Mojo's the only one who knows how to work this thing.
"He said it's some 'special enhanced metal-thing', so you can't break it either."
Boomer let out a deep breath of air. He glanced over the laboratory and something quickly caught his attention. Weapons and weird gadgets scattered all over the floor—some were big enough to have their own room, while others could fit inside a mouse-hole.
"What's all this stuff?"
"Oh..." Boomer Jojo rolled his eyes. "Mojo told me to use any of that stuff if you tried to escape or something."
"But you don't need any of that stuff to stop me..."
"Yeah well... Mojo's a monkey" His counterpart shrugged.
Both of them laughed. Or in Boomer's case, a mixture of laughing and moaning from his grueling headache, from which he still hadn't recovered after their fight. A few seconds later, Boomer Jojo snapped his fingers like he remembered something important.
"Hey I almost forgot!" He dug in his pockets, looking for something. However before he could pull that something out, the door to the lab spread apart and Brick Jojo marched inside along with his black-haired brother—he had a deadly serious look on his face too.
"Boomer status report!" he barked.
Boomer Jojo groaned to himself before speaking. "The hostage is terrified by your mere presence, my lordship!" he said in a tone of fake-admiration. "In fact, he's probably cursing the day he was born as we speak!"
Boomer had to stop himself from laughing.
"Good." Brick Jojo said with a satisfied look on his face; clearly not noticing the sarcasm in his brother's voice.
Butch Jojo locked his eyes firmly on Boomer. They would occasionally slide higher or lower, but were always fixed on him. As he walked up to him he muttered: "Don't try anything..." with his eyes narrowing into a glare—not that Boomer could do anything while cuffed to a wall like that.
"Now as for you," Brick Jojo said, turning his gaze toward Boomer. "Your brothers attacked the Powerpuff girls today."
Boomer's eyes widened.
"Are they okay?" he blurted out, and for some strange reason, his counterpart snickered at him. Did I say something funny?
Brick Jojo eyed his suspiciously. "Well if you must know," he said, "we stopped your brothers before they could cause some serious damage to the girls."
Brick Jojo's glare dropped to the floor. "Unfortunately, they escaped before we could do anything else."
Boomer felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off his paralyzed shoulders; though he still couldn't exactly keep himself from being tense. He hoped Bubbles was alright.
"I would't be too happy if I were you," Brick Jojo said, crossing his arms.
"Yeah!" Butch's mouth twisted into a vicious grin. "You weren't as lucky as they were."
"Now listen to me 'Boomer'..." Brick Jojo made his way towards Boomer; his steps thumped at a steady and determined pace.
"I'll make you a deal."
"You tell us where your father is..." He inched closer; his face was nearly touching Boomer's and his eyes were no less intimidating. "And we will consider letting you go unharmed.
Seeing Butch Jojo crack his knuckles and smirking at him, made Boomer wish he knew where his father lived. But whenever Him wanted something from him and his brothers, he would use his fancy, red smoke to make them appear in his dark and fiery lair. A question kept pounding in his head: why did they want to know? Though Butch's twisted grin was making it pretty clear.
"You do know what this means though, right?" Brick's eyes narrowed.
Boomer squeezed his eyes shut, preparing himself for, probably, the worst minutes of his life. But seconds later, he realized that what he really needed were his hands free, since Brick's yell made Boomer wish he could cover his ears.
"MOJO GET OVER HERE!"
His voice echoed through the entire lab and right after that, complete silence fell on the lab. Then a door swung open and a blinding white steam rushed out of it. Boomer couldn't tell why, but as soon as the steam cleared up everybody in the room began laughing hysterically.
"Hey Mojo where do you keep the camera?" Brick Jojo said, biting down on his hat, not letting his laughter escape. "I'll only need one shot!" though eventually falling on the floor with tears spraying out of his eyes.
"Yeah and I'll frame it!" Butch wasn't even trying to hold himself; his face turned a dark shade of red.
"Ha, ha very funny..." Mojo muttered.
Boomer tried tilting his head to the side, but the cold cuff clenched tightly around his neck. Even his counterpart was pounding his fists on the floor. Boomer, however didn't need to move, since the second Mojo came into view, he swelled up like a balloon.
"What do you want?" Mojo glared at the red-headed boy.
Mojo couldn't look dumber even if he tried. He was wrapped from top-to-bottom in a pink bath-robe with little yellow flowers drawn all over it. His enormous brain was covered with a plain-looking towel and large bits of shaving cream dangled off his hairy chin.
"S-Sorry Mojo" Brick Jojo wiped off his last tear. "We need your help w—
"Excuse me Brick but may I just say..." Mojo cut him off.
Everybody in the room knew what was going to happen next. Brick Jojo let out a deep breath of air and braced himself for one of Mojo's many tedious speeches. Butch, meanwhile, dug inside his pockets and fished out a pair of tiny earplugs; he stuck them inside his ears and smiled coolly
"HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT MOJO-JOJO DURING HIS MOST INTIMATE AND SACRED MOMENT!"
Mojo's spit sprayed in all directions.
"WHICH, MIGHT I ADD, REQUIRES UTTER AND COMPLETE CONCENTRATION ON MY PART!"
"I only hope he's talking about shaving..." Brick Jojo muttered to himself through a scowl.
AND FOR THE MORE...!
It went on forever; Mojo's face turned purple and more bloated with every word he spat out. Brick Jojo covered his mouth with his hands, so Mojo wouldn't notice that he was trying hard not to laugh at the clueless monkey. Butch kept nodding his head, pretending to listen with his eyes still closed and his smile more casual than usual. Boomer Jojo struggled to keep his eyes open, trying not to fall asleep.
IN CONCLUSION, THAT IS TO SAY, I AM AT THE PEAK OF SHORT AND CONCISE RANT...
Short?!
I AM EXTREMELY DISPLEASED WITH YOUR, SO FAR, FUTILE ATTEMPTS TO DESTROY THOSE ACCURSED POWERPUFF GIRLS!
Once Mojo's mouth stopped moving, Butch Jojo finally removed the earplugs out of his ears and smirked, "Hey dad, I didn't quite catch that; could you repeat w—" Brick elbowed him in the gut before he could finish. "Don't even think about it," Brick Jojo muttered to his brother.
"Anyway Mojo we need that 'secret' weapon you were talking about." Brick Jojo said.
"One moment please..." Mojo said, before strolling away to get something, whistling to himself as he went along; it only took three words before he actually went this time too—or was it four...
Mojo's whistling and footsteps were getting harder to hear with each passing second. Boomer heard a bunch of books being shuffled and tossed aside before Mojo yelled out a very enthusiastic: "Aha!" and a loud thud came from the other side of the lab. Everybody in the room—except Boomer—stared with gaping eyes where Mojo went—Butch Jojo seemed especially thrilled.
"Whoa Mojo! You've got an underground lair inside this place?!"
Wha...Where?!
"Yes boys," Mojo marched back to where everyone stood; A very satisfied grin appeared on his face, and his hands were kept firmly behind his back. "This is where I keep my most valued possessions and inventions!"
"Does that include the giant stuffed monkey you go to bed with?" Boomer Jojo asked, innocently.
"WHAT HOW DID YOU—" Mojo's face turned red. "I don't know what you're talking about..."
What could Mojo have in there that he didn't have here? Boomer fixed his eyes on the giant bomb that took up almost the entire space in the room; it looked worn out and covered in spider-webs. The rests of the stuff lying around were either brand new or rusty and covered in spider webs.
"Regardless, that is where I keep the device that would render this boy helpless!" Mojo pointed at Boomer, his gloved finger poking through the cuffed boy's cheek. "Thus allowing you boys to proceed with your plan of annihilating Him's boys!
"AND THE POWERPUFF GIRLS EVENTUALLY!" he barked, nearly propelling himself several feet into the air.
Boomer gulped.
"Yeah, Yeah whatever..." Butch sneered, "But why can't we just use this?" Butch Jojo snatched a small, fairly new-looking ray-gun off the floor. It had a long vessel sticking out of it with black gooey stuff inside; there was a giant 'X' printed on the handle, and the black liquid kept bubbling inside.
"Because stupid," Brick Jojo said, "He's not made of chemical X like us. Him made them in his mind, remember?"
"Oh yeah!" Butch Jojo tossed the ray-gun aside; his blond brother had to side-step so that it doesn't hit him in the face.
"As I was saying," Mojo continued. "I will retrieve the device for you, so you may continue with your pla—
"Don't mind if I do!" Butch Jojo didn't let Mojo finish and launched himself inside the underground lair. Everybody in the room had a dumbfounded look on their face, and Brick Jojo let out a deep breath of air.
"I better come with you Mojo," Brick Jojo said with a tired look on his face. "Butch can get a little too trigger-happy sometimes."
"Thanks..." Mojo muttered, his face had gone pale.
Brick Jojo turned to his brother. "Boomer keep your eyes on him." his eyes trailed off toward the cuffed Rowdyruff.
"Yes Brick..." Boomer Jojo said, with a scowl on his face.
Mojo led the leader of the Rowdyruff boys into the lair. Judging by Butch's hysterical laughter echoing inside and the black smoke that came rushing out of the lair, the place wasn't going to last for too long. Mojo kept cursing to himself as they marched away. "Stupid, good for nothing, slimy..."
When the coast was clear, Boomer Jojo let his shoulders sink. "Boomer status report!" He said with mocking tone., "keep your eyes on him, Boomer!" He stuck his tongue out in disgust.
Boomer watched him, confused.
"You don't like your brothers?" he asked, wondering if his brothers mistreated him as well.
Boomer Jojo quickly turned around; he must have forgotten that Boomer was bound up right next to him. "What—no, it's not that..."
"It's just...
"After we found out about you guys, my brothers took it as a serious insult to their name..." His eyes dropped to the floor. "Now they've gone berserk and want you dead..."
Boomer went pale. It took him this much to finally realize in what kind of trouble he was in; the air around him suddenly became thick and hard to swallow, and he felt like his heart would burst out of his chest at any moment. Would he ever see his brothers again? What about Bubbles? What if she gets hurt? So many thoughts went through his mind that he barely noticed his counterpart's hand on his shoulder.
"Hey," Boomer Jojo smiled warmly at him. "I know what's on your mind, right now."
"I doubt it..." Boomer said coldly.
"Trust me," Boomer Jojo gave him a reassuring wink."Now come on, we need to get you out of here!"
Boomer Jojo staggered towards the pile of gadgets scattered across the room. His head swayed from left to right as he tried to decide which tool of destruction he should be using first—everything either looked too old or not powerful enough. He turned back to his counterpart. "Now what?"
"I don't know," Boomer said, "Try anything, I guess..."
Boomer Jojo dug inside the piles of junk on the floor. "Let's try cutting the cuffs off!" He was holding a pair of shears nearly twice his size. He cheerfully snapped the monstrous shears right in front of Boomer's face.
Boomer gulped. "I don't think so..."
He tossed the gigantic shears back into the pile and plunged into another one. However before he could return with another deadly weapon that would, no doubt, kill Boomer before actually saving him, a voice came from inside the underground lair.
"Okay Butch, here's the stupid device. Now leave!" Mojo's voice came booming from inside the lair.
"But I'm not done yet..."
"YES YOU ARE!" Brick and Mojo's voices came out simultaneously.
The two Boomers shared a worried look between each other. Boomer Jojo's eyes dashed back-and-forth, and he quickly jumped back into another pile. Within seconds he emerged with a pathetic laser-gun in his hand, but he had a confidant smile on his face. "Found it!" he called out.
"Are you sure this'll work?" Boomer's heart jumped.
His counterpart's smile began to fade away. "Nope...
"...but I have a feeling!"
Boomer's heart sank back to his feet again. He stared at his counterpart with a stunned expression on his face. If there was ever a time, when Boomer wanted to choke his counterpart to death, it was right now.
Great...
"Don't worry, I won't miss the cuffs," Boomer Jojo said, pointing the gun. "Promise..."
Boomer held his breath as his counterpart aimed Mojo's device at him. He squinted one of his eyes and aimed the gun, which wobbled in his hand, at one of the metallic cuffs—or at least he thought he was aiming there. For some reason Boomer's life began flashing right before his eyes. Oh well, it was fun...
"Ready?"
"No..." Boomer said, his voice shaking.
There was a loud bang and the laser-gun fired. Boomer couldn't feel his cuffs breaking and opened his eyes. They immediately widened as a green beam of light kept bouncing from wall-to-wall until eventually the was a loud boom. Boomer Jojo tilted his head where the explosion went off, and his face broke off into a nervous smile; his face began sweating a little.
"What happened?" Boomer asked. "Where'd it go?"
"Uhh, I don't think you want to know..." Boomer Jojo said through his teeth.
"Ahh... okay..."
"I hope Mojo won't mind that I blew up his bathroom..."
Boomer watched as a small stream of water began leaking onto the white marble floor, barely missing his feet. He raised his eyebrow at his embarrassed counterpart, but quickly abandoned the subject. "What now?"
"I don't— "
"Come on Butch let's go already," Brick Jojo's tired voice came out of the lair. "You can play with Mojo's toys later."
"Fine..."
Boomer and his counterpart began sweating. The Rowdyruffs' footsteps were getting louder, and, without thinking, Boomer Jojo launched himself into another pile, trying out everything he could lay his hands on. He even flung a sharp and deadly combat knife at Boomer, barely missing his face.
"It's no use!" Boomer Jojo panicked. "There's too much junk here!"
The footsteps kept getting louder and louder. Boomer let out a breath of despair, thinking how horrible this day turned out; his brothers turned insane and want Bubbles and her sisters dead, his captors wanted him dead, and he could no longer feel his arms and legs.
Boomer stared at the puddles of water that were now surrounding the lab. Something caught his attention, as he looked at the reflection in one of them. "Ahh, Boomer?" he said.
"No, this one's too rusty..." Boomer Jojo tossed away an old rocket-launcher. "What??"
"Does your TV have only one channel or something?"
"No," Boomer Jojo threw away more useless junk. "We got tons," He said, satisfied. "Mojo has his own satellite...
"Why?"
"Then why does your TV remote has only one button on it..."
His counterpart froze in place. He looked at the small table between the television and the couch, and slapped his forehead so hard that he nearly knocked himself out cold. A shiny, new remote was lying perfectly still on the table, which had only one big red button on it.
Boomer Jojo shook his head. "Mojo you're an idiot..."'
He yanked the remote off the table and pushed the red button. The cuffs clicked and spread apart, so Boomer could finally get out; he stretched himself; shaking his arms and legs. "Yippee! I can move again!"
His counterpart kept staring wide-eyed at the remote control. "Unbelievable..."
After having enough time to appreciate his newly found freedom, Boomer walked up to his counter part and gently tugged on his shoulder.
"Ahh, Boomer?"
"Yeah?" he snapped out of his thoughts, and threw the remote into one of the piles, turning his attention to Boomer.
"Thanks for helping me." Boomer said,
"No problem," his counterpart smiled. "I'm sorry about my brothers being... ya know..."
"Hey before I forget!" Boomer Jojo dug in his pockets. "This is your—
Before he could take something out of his pocket, Brick Jojo's voice came. "Boomer, you okay in there?" His feet were already showing outside the entrance of the underground lair.
Boomer Jojo pulled his hands out of his pockets. "Never mind that now! GO GO GO!"
Boomer's eyes dashed from side-to-side, not knowing what to do. However as Mojo's boys came into view, he immediately made his way towards the door that led outside the volcano observatory. He shut the door behind him, and leaned against it, letting out a breath of relief. What did he want to give me?
...
Part II - The Power of Regret
...
Boomer stepped outside Mojo's laboratory, and the sun greeted him, sinking fast into the sea. Was he too late? He spent all this time being tied up and interrogated by Mojo's boys—enough time for his brothers to attack the girls again. Bubbles could be already injured by now, or even worse... No, no she's okay...
He raised into the air, looking at the city below him. "I just hope her sisters are in a better mood than last time."
Boomer kept passing buildings at a snail pace. A little voice in his head screamed at him: "You're so stupid! Why did you let them capture you!" and he had trouble ignoring it. What if something already did happen?
Maybe she's...
He made his way towards the city park, landing somewhere in middle of it all. Kids his age were tossing frisbees at each other, and the grown-ups were talking and holding each others hands, sitting on blankets they've spread on the grass. Boomer's eyes desperately swayed from one side to another—but no Bubbles...
He let out a heavy breath of air. "Come on Boomer, she's okay..."
He soared into the sky and flew to the girls house, even slower than before. Boomer was entering the outskirts of Townsville, nearing the house of the Utoniums. Oddly, non of the lights in the house were on yet—then again it's not that late yet...
He landed on the ground in front of the house. "Well... here goes."
Boomer walked up to the door. "All you have to do is knock." His hand inched closer and closer to the door, to the point that he could feel it with his fingers. He breathed deeply, and his heart hammered in his chest.
Come on Boomer...
Boomer felt as though his hand was still cuffed to the wall at Mojo's laboratory. What if he's too late? He needed to make sure that she's alright, but he couldn't. He pulled his hand away from the door; it was shaking uncontrollably.
"I need to get out of here..." he said, his voice trembling.
Boomer squeezed his eyes shut and darted away. He didn't need to see where he was going; he'd been there so many times by now. The roaring and honking of the speeding cars were beginning to fade away, and were instead replaced by the sounds of animals calling and birds chirping; the trees were swaying along with the wind.
"Stupid..."
Boomer stepped on the dry leaves and gazed at the forest around him.
He made himself comfortable on a batch of dry leaves and cold ground; his eyelids were dropping. Maybe everything will go back to normal after he wakes up? His brothers would go back to being just plain jerks instead of ruthless psychopaths; Bubbles would panic after he'd tell her what happened to him today, but would return to her usual cheerful self in an instant.
He yawned a final time, before drifting off.
Before he could fall asleep, however, Boomer caught a glimpse of a shadow darting pass him. It was coming from the sky. He rose to his feet, having the sudden urge to see who it was. He soared into the air.
"Hello?"
Boomer squinted his eyes. There was something in front of him, and he began to pick up on what that something was. His heart did a double somersault in his chest, and an enormous grin appeared on his face.
"Bubbles!"
Bubbles turned around, but to his surprise, she didn't spring forward to greet him; in fact, she didn't look like she was happy to see him at all. Boomer made the first step and hastily approached her.
"Bubbles, you're okay!" He extended his arms to hug her, but she backed away. Bubbles was glaring at him.
"Ahh—are you okay?" he asked, almost too surprised.
"No!" Bubbles said with a furious voice that didn't quite fit her. "Why did you attack my sisters today?!" she had a scowl on her face. Her eyes pierced through Boomer like daggers.
"No wait!" Boomer inched closer, but Bubbles kept moving away. "I can explain..."
Bubbles couldn't keep her tough act for too long. Her scowl was softening up and her mouth began wobbling. Her bright blue eyes were filling up with tears; Bubbles squeezed them shut, letting some of the tears escape. "Boomer... why?"
"I-I know that Blossom wasn't being nice to you yesterday, but we just wanted to help you..." Bubbles covered her eyes with hands, trying to stop the tears from running down her face.
"I wanted to help you..."
Boomer couldn't bear to look anymore. Who was he kidding? He couldn't explain why his brothers were acting the way they were; he had no idea. Even seeing Bubbles standing next to him, unharmed didn't make him feel any better. Her crying made his heart pop like a balloon after a needle went through it. He was just one step away from losing Bubbles and her trust in him.
"Bubbles, please don't..." He inched closer.
He definitely wasn't thinking about what he did next. Boomer found a way through her hands, and carefully locked his lips onto hers, wrapping his cold arms around her. A flaming warmth spread throughout his entire body, and Bubbles' sobs were fading away. It wasn't like anything he ever felt before; her skin was so soft and warm that he felt like he was melting just from her touch. After what seemed like an eternity, Boomer pulled away. Bubbles wasn't crying anymore.
"B-Boomer..." Bubbles said, frozen, with her mouth open wide.
Then, this happened...
"I—I—I... um..."
Boomer finally realized what he did; his face mirrored Bubbles'. He felt a burning sensation in his cheeks and his palms began sweating profusely. Any word that sounded good in his head came out as jumbled nonsense out of his mouth.
"I'm—I'm—I'm..." He felt his heart ticking. Time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl, and Bubbles gawking at him wasn't helping much either. Boomer finally swallowed the thick brick of air that was suffocating him and managed to find some words.
"S-S-Sorry gotta go!"
Boomer launched into the air, not daring to turn around. He passed through a bundle of trees, but didn't really know where he was heading. Though the sounds of cars roaring and people chattering were beginning to return. Soon enough, he landed on a sidewalk in the middle of the city. His legs barely holding him. He needed to find a wall to lean against, so he doesn't collapse from the shock and lack of air.
"What just happened?!" he said, desperately gasping for air.
After spending some time trying, without success, to realize what made him do what he did Boomer pushed himself off the wall. He stumbled on his feet, walking nowhere in particular. His mind was so busy that he didn't notice the people he bumped into, the lamp posts that he knocked his head on, or the car that steered out of control and into a tree because of him.
Did I just?—no—no—no, it was nothing! Everything's fine, Boomer!
The only time Boomer stopped in his track was when a sudden thought hit him: Where was he gonna sleep? He couldn't go back to the hut, his brothers probably won't be too happy to see him.
This day couldn't possibly get any worse...
His body kept shivering from the cold and his teeth kept clicking, so he shoved his hands inside his pockets. His eyes immediately widened. No! Where is it?! He dug deeper in his pockets and pulled them out. Nothing! He searched everywhere. He must have dropped it while fighting his counterpart today. Boomer's gaze fell to the floor, and his shoulders sank.
Guess it can get worse...
A/N: Hmm... Well I'm not really satisfied with this chapter, but I needed it to keep the story moving. :-/
Next one's moving along pretty smoothly though...so... yay?