Chapter 12:

"ACE!" the Boys the the Gang exclaimed. And there he was, wearing his regular jacket. You couldn't even tell he spent time in college at all. The Rowdyruff Boys and the Gang rushed to Ace and gave him hugs and high-fives while the sisters stood around awkwardly.

"I don't want to be here anymore!" Buttercup whispered to Blossom who reminded her,

"We have to stay, to be polite!"

"I hope he doesn't yell at us..." Bubbles added. The sisters tried to make eye contact with Ace, who scolded the RRBs in a playful voice,

"You guys scared me to death when I heard about you!" Blossom cleared her throat and the others stared at her.

"So... Ace. Um, aren't you supposed to be at the university?" she asked uncertainly.

"I don't have any classes today," the young adult replied, "I wanted to see my friends. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" The heroines couldn't see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but they knew he was staring at them, no doubt remembering their arguement the other day. The sisters shook their heads and hovered to the change machine. While Blossom inserted the money Bubbles and Buttercup were glancing at the boys, Butch was introducing Black to Ace. "I heard a lot about you," Ace greeted. Black's face grew redder,

"Ah! Well..." Ace patted Black on the back, and Snake took out a plastic bag filled with quarters.

"Those quarters are yours, right?" Ace asked.

"Yesss..." Snake and the others looked confused. The Rowdyruff Boys and the Gangreen Gang walked closer to the consoles.

"I don't know how to play video games," Black admitted.

"We'll teach you," Brick offered, "It's like a movie, but you're doing the action!"

"I haven't watched a movie yet..." Black sighed. The sisters began to play against each other while observing the boys and teens out of the corners of their eyes. Brick, Boomer, and Butch were trying to teach Black how to play some games, and every time Black made a mistake Brick would grow more and more frustrated,

"No, no, NO! Don't push the button yet! Move the other way! You lost AGAIN!" Boomer and Butch, however, didn't seem to care and Black, with his bright face, was enjoying himself. Eventually Ace helped Black out, and he was a decidedly better teacher than Brick. A few hours later, long after the girls ran out of quarters and exchanged their tickets for prizes, they decided to eat lunch. Since it was getting crowded at the arcade Ace suggested they should eat at the park.

"We didn't tell the Professor we'd be going anywhere else," Buttercup protested. Blossom nudged her and Bubbles with her elbow and pointed at a window. They gasped quietly when they saw the Professor's car outside.

"Could you wait a minute?" Blossom asked hurriedly, "We gotta take care of something." Without waiting for an answer the triplets flew out of the arcade. They hovered over to their father's car and stopped in front of it. Utonium got out of the car with a sly smile on his face.

"Oh, hello girls! Are you having fun?" he asked innocently. The Girls were made at him at first, but when he asked the question they all let out a sigh.

"I guess..." Buttercup admitted, "But it feels really akward!"

"Yes, so Ace came after all..." the Professor noted, then offered, "If you're really not having fun, I could take you home." There was some silence, then Blossom answered,

"We are having fun! We were just gonna go to the park to eat our lunch, if that's OK with you." Utonium nodded,

"That's fine," he said, "you can come home when you're hungry for dinner." As he got back in the car, Utonium added slyly, "Don't worry, I won't follow you again," and drove away. Just then they noticed the Rowdyruff Boys and the Gangreen Gang walking out of the arcade.

"Was that your old man?" Ace asked.

"He followed you here!" Boomer snickered.

"You shut up!" Bubbles shouted, then blushed after she said so.

"Um... you guys can come to the park, right?" Black asked hurriedly. The sisters nodded and they began walking down the streets (or flying). After walking a few blocks they strolled into the city park. The Boys and the Gang bought hot dogs from a stand and they all sat at a few picnic tables. The sisters didn't speak to the others, every once in a while Black would bring them up in a conversation and the Girls would change the subject. When they were all finished eating, Billy complained,

"I want ice cream!" Snake brought out the plastic bag.

"We're all out of money," he said.

"I want ice cream too!" Lil' Arturo whined. Grubber blew rasberries and nodded. Snake, Lil' Arturo, Billy, and Grubber looked longingly at the ice cream stand. The four of them stood up and began walking to it, before the Powerpuff Girls could go after them and scold them, someone beat them to it.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Ace screamed at them. The rest of the Gang turned around and everyone else looked at them in shock. "Were you guys gonna STEAL the ice cream?" Ace asked, his voice low and threatening. The other members of the Gang began to quiver.

"Ace, what'sss happened to you?" Snake asked back.

"What do you mean?"

"You're usually OK with it," Snake said quietly, "I mean, you're alwaysss the one who sssaysss we should do it." Ace let out a long sigh,

"Listen guys... I gotta tell you stuff you're not gonna like."

"So you're leaving?" Boomer asked.

"Yeah," Ace replied, "but it was fun, we'll see you guys later." The rest of the Gang looked like they wanted to say something back to Ace, but they were too astounded to even make a sound besides a few grunts. Ace waved goodbye to the children as he led the Gang out of the park.