Disclaimer: see chapter 1.
"What the...? Where am I?" was the first thought running through Brick's head as he opened his eyes. Slowly, it all began to come back to him - the asteroid, fighting Sutekh, getting knocked across space and ending up on this alien world, finding evidence that Sutekh had been here too...all of it.
Standing up and slowly stretching, Brick caught sight of an unusual reflection in a nearby glass panel, and went to inspect it more closely.
"Her...her face...so that was real too", he thought, touching his...Blossom's...face to prove the truth of the situation to himself.
"Ungh..."
Brick spun around and saw Buttercup, curled up in a foetal position on the quite warm, polished metal floor, roll to face the opposite wall and give out another groan.
"Please Blossom...another five minutes, I promise that's all..." Buttercup muttered, still mostly asleep. Brick straightened his bow - How does she manage all this hair? It must take up hours every single day! he thought - and dress, then knelt beside Buttercup and shook her gently.
"No BC, it's time to get up now," he said, rocking her shoulder. Buttercup just groaned again and rolled back to face him. Her eyes flew open, and Brick winced at how red and bloodshot they looked, and then she spoke quite clearly four small words that shocked Brick, even more than his current predicament.
"I love you, Brick."
"What!"
That snapped Buttercup out of her daze. Sitting up so fast that her stiff back creaked slightly, Buttercup did a momentary triple take. "Huh?" she said, "what's wrong? What is it?"
A light dawned metaphorically over Brick's head, and he smirked.
"What is it, Bloss?" Buttercup asked, irritated now at being so rudely awoken. "We're on an alien planet with no idea how to get home, why are you waking me up while it's still dark?"
Brick took pause for thought, and then realised that she was right; it was indeed still the middle of the night outside.
"They probably have a longer day-night cycle here", he said to avert the scowl heading his way. Then, smirking, "and you were calling Brick's name in your sleep" he said, barely managing to say "Brick's" instead of "my".
"O my God; I didn't, did I?" Brick nodded as he floated back over to the window and glanced out at the slightly lighter sky. Buttercup muttered something obscene under her breath before joining him at the window. "Looks like morning's coming then."
Brick just stared at the dim white light now spilling over the deserted cityscape, making it look more eerie than before. "Yeah. Must be a binary star system, yesterday the sun was yellow."
"Whatever" Buttercup said, shrugging, and turned to head out of the building that they had used as an impromptu hotel. "Wanna go look for a bathroom?"
Blossom had similarly woken up and gone through the shock of memory about the previous day. Sitting up, she examined the Rowdyruff Boys' room with a critical and clinical eye, and made a face at the sight that greeted her.
"How anyone can live like this is beyond me" she muttered to herself. "I mean, this lot's gotta breeding a load of germs for one thing."
"Ah, quit your complaining," Butch said, having been woken up by Blossom's - or, as he saw her, Brick's - fidgeting around and talking. "You've never been too worried about it before; what's the diff now?"
"Well..." Blossom said, stalling for time as she tried to explain the change in behaviour. "What if I wanted to bring Robyn up here? Dya think she'd be impressed with this lot?" she said, swinging her arms out to encompass the chaotic state the attic was currently in. Almost every square inch of flooring was covered with at least one article of clothing; some half-eaten snacks lay around, turning mouldy, and crumbs littered the place; lastly, something was heard scuttling around in one corner.
"Ow!"
"Sorry Boomer", Blossom said, trying to look apologetic and still maintain Brick's pretty manly image.
"'Sokay, man".
"You've got a point," Butch said. "Princess would probably dump me if I ever showed her the state of this room. And what about you and Bubs, Boomer?"
Boomer stopped midway through tugging a relatively clean blue sweater over his head, and mumbled through the material, "I'm lucky, dude. Have you seen the girls' room? Bubbles' corner is almost as messy as this place."
"True" said Blossom, trying to find something to wear that didn't smell enough to make her sick. After locating such clothes and spraying herself liberally with No-Name deodorant, she continued, "but that lot is all toys. This place is growing its' own mould."
"Okay", and "You're the boss, boss", greeted Blossom's ears, and they performed a super-speed spring clean. The floor was polished, the dirty clothes gathered into a basket, and all the leftover food was removed.
"I'd say this room was almost habitable again", Blossom said eventually, smirking at her "brothers". "Who wants breakfast?" Boomer and Butch didn't answer, instead just heading straight for the kitchen. "I'll take that as a 'yes', then", she said, smiling to herself.
Blossom was the last of the three to arrive in the kitchen, to find Boomer and Butch both pulling stuff out of the fridge. Having been present at their last attempt at cooking, roughly a week earlier, she quickly shooed them away from the stove and began cooking all on her own.
While Blossom was still cooking a large breakfast - bacon and eggs for five - Robyn and Bubbles entered the room in the middle of a conversation.
"Thanks Bobbi", Bubbles said, using her nickname for her best friend. "I'm glad you were there - the room just felt so empty without Blossom or Buttercup last night."
"I understand, Bubbles. But don't worry, they'll be back - the Powerpuff Girls are unbeatable, right?" Robyn smiled, and Bubbles smiled and nodded weakly in return. Blossom watched this short exchange, wishing more than anything else at that moment that she could go over to Bubbles and comfort her, but she didn't feel like revealing that she was in fact Blossom and not Brick. While it might life Bubbles' spirits, it would have a similar and opposite effect on the boys. What to do...?
Bubbles and Robyn hugged briefly before separating and heading over to their respective beaus. Bubbles moved over to Boomer and kissed him, then took a seat next to him and waited for Brick to finish cooking.
"Hey Bricky", Robyn said, walking up behind Blossom and giving her a cuddle. Everyone else assembled gave a small half-concealed snigger at the pet name. Blossom jumped at the unexpected contact, which did not go unnoticed by Robyn. "What's wrong, Brick?" she asked, moving back to get a proper look at Blossom.
"Nothing much, Robyn," Blossom said. As she couldn't go through with saying that she was really Blossom trapped in Brick's body - I'd feel humiliated - she had to pretend to be Brick, and that included appropriate behaviour with his girlfriend. Leaning over, Blossom gave Robyn a kiss on the tip of her nose, absolutely refusing point blank to kiss a girl on the lips - especially as said girl thought she was someone else. Robyn's vaguely worried expression receded.
"Good. Want some help with the cooking?"
"Sure."
In no time at all, bacon and eggs times five was served up and eaten in a similarly short order. No one really knew quite what to say; everything just seemed too quiet without Buttercup stuffing her face loudly and Blossom complaining about her table manners. The breakfast was short and nearly silent.
"Well, that was a great breakfast Brick, kudos", said Boomer.
"Yep", Butch said, patting his stomach, "my compliments to the person who ate that". He burped, and Bubbles looked at him in mild disgust. "What - some countries consider belching a compliment."
"Yeah Butch, but we're not in any of those countries", said Robyn, shaking her head. "How long 'til we gotta be at school, Brick?" she asked, hugging Blossom.
"Wha...oh, right", said Blossom. Should I tell them? If I do, they'll know I'm not lost; but that would mean that Boomer and Butch would lose a brother instead. What to do...? She glanced at her watch. "Half an hour. We flying or taking the bus?"
"We're flying", said Bubbles, indicating herself and Boomer. They headed off to round up all their books and equipment.
"I dunno about you lot, but I'm taking the limo with Princess. She's picking me up right around now", said Butch, grabbing his bag from the couch and strolling out of the door to Princess' black limousine. "Hey babe - how was your night?" he asked, getting in.
"Well..." she began, closing the door, and the last thing the other four heard was, "I had an interesting dream - let me show you what it was about..." and then the door was closed and the car took off down the road. Seconds later, Bubbles and Boomer followed it in two streaks of blue light, one light and the other dark.
Turning to Blossom, Robyn smiled coyly at her and said, "we have the house to ourselves now Bricky...wanna have a little fun?"
Fun! What's Robyn's idea of fun with "Bricky"? Blossom thought, mortified at the idea of what might yet happen if she couldn't put a stop to it in time. Blossom glanced around nervously.
"Shouldn't we be getting to school?" she asked, going to the couch to get their bags. Robyn followed her and then sat down on the couch next to her.
"Not quite yet", she said, and hands began wandering. Blossom gulped as she felt Robyn's hands stroking lightly up and down her thighs through Brick's pair of jeans that she was wearing, trying to get her excited. Despite the fact that Blossom was petrified regarding what was happening, she could feel Brick's body responding to Robyn's teasing touches.
I can't do this! she thought, desperately. I can't really cheat on Brick with my best friend...can I? Then again, if I'm not gonna tell them I'm Blossom, then I have to be convincing as Brick; ugh, I hate my life so much right now, I wish I...
Blossom was so lost in her thoughts that she had never even noticed Robyn's lips pressing against her own. Blossom's eyes went wide in shock for a brief moment, before she began to relax into the kiss, determined to keep it as close to platonic as she could manage without arousing suspicion. Just as Robyn brought her tongue into action as well, the school bus pulled up outside the house. Blossom almost sighed in relief when the horn sounded, and she practically pulled Robyn out of the house and onto the school bus, thankful for the interruption at that moment.
"Come on Bloss - what're you waiting for? We both need to bathe, ya know!" Buttercup said as they stood at the waters' edge. After leaving the floating city behind for the moment, they had headed down to a giant lake on the planet's surface in order to carry out their daily ablutions. Brick was just standing there though, stunned by Buttercup's brazenness as she stripped bare and cannon-balled into the clear fresh water. Buttercup swam back over to the edge of the lake and looked up at her sister.
"Well, ya just gonna stand there all day? Come on in; the water's warm", she said encouragingly. Brick was still thinking over the image of Buttercup taking off her clothes, and felt himself growing warm too. Snapping out of his daze, he quickly pulled off the dress and underwear that Blossom had been wearing. Finally, he removed her bow, letting Blossom's long hair float free right down to his feet.
"Wow", said Buttercup, "since we all stopped bathing together, I forgot just how long your hair really was now."
"Well, at least I don't have to wear that damn dress for a while - it's too effin' breezy", Brick muttered to himself, and then literally flew into the lake.
While Buttercup splashed around and quickly washed herself, Brick took half an hour to wash all of Blossom's auburn tresses - If we don't switch back bodies soon, I'm gonna give her a haircut! Then, turning to face Buttercup, and hiding a blush at seeing her body, he got a devilish idea.
Moments later, Buttercup noticed the water around her becoming much warmer than before, so that it began to bubble. She looked over to see Blossom grinning sneakily and using her eyebeams to boil the water around Buttercup. As the bubbles burst against Buttercup's skin, the sensation began to tickle faintly, and she was soon engulfed in a column of steam, still laughing her head off.
"Ha-ha!" Brick laughed, then blew the steam away to find that Buttercup had vanished into thin air. "BC - where are ya?" he called out, as Buttercup swam up from below him, grabbing his ankle and pulling down on it to throw him off balance, and then gave him a brief playful tickle on the sole of his foot. Brick felt it at the exact same moment that he almost doubled over with laughter, and leapt out of the water back onto dry land, Buttercup still holding onto his leg and sniggering at his reaction.
"Okay, okay, turnabout's fair play", he agreed, and they got dressed quickly as they were quite cold now they were out of the water.
"I won't cheat on Robyn - I just won't", Brick kept muttering to himself, blushing profusely every time he so much as glanced at Buttercup while the two dressed.
Sutekh sat in his throne room, meditating, when he sensed two people coming in his direction. Opening his eyes, he saw a couple enter the room. Upon seeing him, the man bowed while the woman curtsied. Both appeared to be in awe of his presence, but he could not sense any fear in them.
"Why are you here?" Sutekh asked the couple. The man took a step forward and spoke, haltingly.
"Lord...m-my name is..."
"Not important to me", Sutekh said, standing up and smoothing out his suit jacket. Walking over to the couple in long strides, he towered over the man and stared deeply into his eyes. "Again, why are you here?"
The woman, still looking at the floor, said, "W-we sensed great power, and we want to be a part of it, of your great plan...master."
Sutekh smiled at the woman's answer; his smile held no warmth at all. He appeared back on his throne, and both blinked in surprise.
"You wish to be my followers?" he asked, finding such an idea pleasing.
"Yes...yes, we do, master", said the man, bowing again.
"Fine." Sutekh created a glass of water and took a sip from it. "Go, find more who wish to worship me. But be discreet - there will be those who would want to oppose me. I do not wish to draw unwanted attention"
"At once, lord", said the woman. The couple headed for the grand doors, but stopped short as Sutekh's voice spoke to them in their heads.
"But first...prove your allegiance - kill for me..." Both nodded and continued out of the massive hall, as Sutekh's plan unfolded in their minds.
Having returned to the sky city, Buttercup and Brick floated aimlessly about, searching for something - anything - that could help them. Gradually, the depressing reality hit home, that there was nothing anyone or anything could do; they were well and truly stranded, and they didn't even know where.
An idea popped into Buttercup's head "Maybe if we could find some star charts...?"
"It wouldn't be any good, Buttercup," Brick said, looking through the window of a building to discover it was a restaurant. "We can't speak the language - and even if we could, all the constellations would have different names. We could never be sure."
"Well what do you suggest then, smart-ass?" Buttercup asked, growing increasingly frustrated. She tried to rip out one of the metal streetlight posts, but found that they were far too heavy and inflexible to move. After a few seconds, she gave up and wiped her brow, floating back next to Brick.
"So? What're you looking for - a computer info terminal?"
Brick rubbed his chin thoughtfully before replying. "Actually, that's not such a bad idea Buttercup." Floating off, he left Buttercup behind open-mouthed.
"B-b-b-b-b-but, you said we can't read their language."
"True. But maybe their computers can understand ours. They certainly look more advanced than humans, don't they?" Buttercup simply nodded at the idea.
Eventually, after searching through the buildings for hours, talking to each other about random subjects, singing, and playing games to keep themselves from feeling too lonely, they came across the biggest of all the structures, a skyscraper of truly gargantuan proportions; made of the same material as all of the others, the edifice stretched so high up that the top was barely visible using their super-vision. Above the main entry door was what looked to the pair much like an official seal of office.
Upon entering the building's foyer, the two Powerpuffs found it deserted, just like everywhere else. Brick quickly located a computer terminal at the reception desk, and headed straight for it, Buttercup following behind, intrigued to see if this plan would be successful.
"So...how dya turn it on?" Buttercup asked Brick. The computer gave a single unexpected beep. "I didn't do anything!"
"Don't worry," Brick said, placing his hand on Buttercup's to calm her, "I think it's just booting up. Though why, I don't know."
The screen, which up until now had been black, began to take on a dark reddish hue before accelerating up through the spectrum and finally fading from a deep purple back into black. Accompanying it, a low rumbling sound began to grow in both pitch and intensity until it was loud enough to make them wince. A series of symbols, all totally alien to the two children, then slowly faded into view on the screen in clear text, and began cycling through various shapes and alphabets.
"What on earth is it doing now?" asked Buttercup, confused. Brick shrugged his shoulders.
"I...I think it's trying to communicate with us."
Sure enough, it was. At last, words appeared on the screen that the children recognised. Not exactly sentences, but close enough.
QUERY NATURE.
While Brick searched fruitlessly for a keyboard or some other sort of device, Buttercup asked, "What does it mean?"
"It's asking what we are", Brick said, still looking for a microphone or something similar. Buttercup shouted out, not sure if the computer could hear, but desperate enough to try it anyway.
"We're human. What are you?" The screen was cleared and new words appeared on it.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM; INTEGRATED INTO HABITAT. Brick looked up to see the answer when Buttercup nudged him in the back. After pondering it's meaning, Buttercup was forced to ask, "What's it saying, Bloss?"
"Hmm...I'm not sure, but I think it's saying that it's a single computer that's connected to everywhere in the city, like a sort of living Internet. Computer, where is everyone?"
AMPLIFY QUERY.
"OK, so I didn't make myself clear enough. Where have the inhabitants of this city gone?"
NON-FACTUAL. INHABITANTS STORED FOR SELF-PRESERVATION.
"What the...?" Buttercup just stared blankly at the response, and shuddered.
RIIIING!
Bubbles, Boomer, Robyn and Blossom were having lunch in the school cafeteria; Butch had opted to eat lunch with Princess in a more secluded part of the school grounds, where they could have a little privacy.
Well, at least Robyn won't try anything on "Brick" while Bubbles and Boomer are present, Blossom thought to herself, before glancing to her left to see the pair in question making eyes at each other across the lunch table. When she looked back at Robyn, she saw that the girl had a worried expression on her face again.
"Are ya sure you're OK, Bricky?" Robyn said, reaching across the table to place her hand on Blossom's forehead. Blossom nodded as she swallowed a bite of sandwich.
"Yeah Bobbi", she said, as Brick always called his girlfriend by that instead of her full name. "I'm just not quite...feeling myself today, that's all. No biggie."
Bubbles finally persuaded Boomer to leave the lunchroom with her, and Blossom grew more afraid of Robyn creating a scene in such a public place. Then she relaxed, remembering the strict rules that the faculty imposed upon inter-student fraternisation on school grounds. A girl sat down next to Robyn and began quietly eating her lunch, and at the same time totally absorbed in reading a thick SF novel. She barely paid any heed to her neighbours.
"Sooooo Bricky, wanna help me clean out my locker?" Robyn asked, grinning slyly.
Blossom nearly jumped out of her seat at the contact of a bare foot with her lower leg. Why do city-destroying supervillains never show up when ya need them to? she thought, as the foot inched higher. Blossom saw the look of scarcely concealed lust in Robyn's eyes - Geez, these two have obviously gone waaay further than I would'a imagined. Brick, where are you?
"Hey Brick dude, lunch finished two minutes ago", Blossom heard a voice saying faintly, as though very far away. Blossom just continued staring at Robyn for some moments more, before Butch appeared in her field of view.
"Yo, snap out of it man", he said, and Blossom felt him give her a wet willy. The discomfort of having his wet finger in her ear brought her crashing back down to reality with a thud.
"Ewww!"
"Finally", Bubbles said, "we're late for Gym class now." Robyn was gone.
"Where's Robyn?" Blossom found herself asking.
"Duh, where else?" asked Boomer. "She left several minutes ago to get changed for Gym. You day-dreaming or summat?"
"Guess I must be", Blossom said, shaking her head to help clear her thoughts. Seeing the others disappearing into the distance, she quickly followed, grabbing her gym kit from her locker en route and launched herself head-first into the girls' changing rooms.
"AAAAAAAAAA!"
Lots of scrambling to hide, lots more screaming, and several shoes being thrown at Blossom later, she backed out of the girls' changing rooms repeatedly mumbling abject apologies, and headed into the boys' instead. Just look at their faces - whatever you do, don't look down she thought.
Blossom needn't have been concerned about seeing anything inappropriate - no normal person likes being exposed in public, and none were completely naked at any time. Changing as fast as possible from her - Brick's - day clothes into his gym kit, Blossom realised that she now quite desperately needed the toilet.
"You coming?" someone asked her, as she looked around for the toilet.
"No thanks," she said, "I just need to...take a leak." Wincing at her own turn of phrase, she headed over to the urinal and undid her fly.
"It's just skin..." she muttered, looking fixedly at the wall in front of her and concentrating intently on the writing scrawled all over it.
If you think you have problems, you should see the Principal.
I have the biggest dick in the world another one proclaimed, to which someone else had edited the word "have" into "am". A hastily scribbled rendition of a penis with a smiley face on it was next to the end of the sentence.
For a good time, call Blossom Utonium on 555-5555
Blossom saw that one and immediately balked at the crudity of the statement. Wishing to be out of this place as soon as possible, she reached into her shorts...
Less than a minute later, Blossom emerged from the changing room into the gym, looking to be in a state of mild shock. After finishing up, she had hastily scrubbed her hands almost raw, to be sure she had removed all germs. Luckily - or not - Sutekh chose that moment in which to show up.
All the other boys and girls in the class threw themselves back against the nearest wall in amazement at his inexplicable arrival; he simply manifested himself in the middle of the gym, hovering about three feet above the ground in exactly the same way bricks don't. Bubbles, Boomer, Blossom and Butch (Princess was in Math class) floated up from the ground to face off against Sutekh, while Robyn watched intently from the sidelines. Everyone else cowered in abject terror.
"Go Bricky! Whoop his ass", Robyn shouted, completely oblivious of just how powerful Sutekh had previously demonstrated himself to be. This fact was made clear seconds later, as a swing from Butch utterly failed to hit Sutekh, who merely floated to the side. Likewise, he dodged further attacks, before growing bored. Robyn stared at the sight of her friends being so easily outclassed, having seen them in action (both in person and on the news) many times in the past.
"You four are quite pathetic", he said, effortlessly blocking a kick from Boomer and simultaneously blasting Blossom into the wall with a wave of energy. As all four converged on his position, he teleported out, re-appearing above the school's football pitch. "I had hoped that you might have...improved, at least a little, since yesterday. Clearly, however, that is not the case." The four flew after him as Sutekh flew quickly off into the distance, vanishing over the horizon in seconds.
"O...O-Okay class", said the teacher, shaken by the brief display, "class is over. Everyone go and change, and then you can have a free until the next lesson." Normally a cause for cheers, the class was equally awe-struck, and filed out slowly.
Some minutes later, Robyn was the last one in the girls' locker room, and was just packing up her gym clothes when she heard a sound coming from somewhere nearby. Everyone else had already gone, mostly out onto the school fields to goof off until the next lesson started.
Shaking slightly, Robyn said "Who's there? I'm armed, ya know." Picking up a stray baseball bat, she stood and waited for any sounds.
CLANG!
Robyn jumped nearly out of her skin at the sound, but upon inspection, it turned out to be a loose air vent panel that had fallen off.
"I wonder what..."
Pulling a bench underneath the vent, Robyn stood on tiptoes to see into the vent. Before her eyes could adjust to the dark though, a locker swung open behind her, and something heavy smashed against the back of her head, causing everything to go black.
"So let me get this straight, Bloss; this thing's saying that everyone who used to be here scanned themselves into this computer to escape Sutekh?"
"That seems to be about the size of it", Brick said, as he re-read the computer's explanation several more times to be sure. "Sutekh doesn't understand computers, so that's probably why they're safe in there. Computer, do you have any data on Sutekh?"
AFFIRMATIVE.
"What do you know about him?"
BEING: DESIGNATION "SUTEKH" the computer began. Buttercup, and more so Brick, had learnt to understand it's very cold, clinical language, at least to an extent. PHYSICAL PARAMATERS:...
"Skip the physical parameters", Buttercup said, irritated by the thoroughness of the machine. "What else can you tell us about him?"
ORIGIN: UNKNOWN.
"That's helpful", Buttercup said, sarcastically. The computer hadn't finished yet.
FIRST MONITORED: NEGATIVE FIVE POINT TWO SIX NINE YEARS, RELATIVE. BEING SUTEKH POSSESSES GREAT POWER.
"Yeah, tell us something we don't know", said Brick. He and Buttercup smirked.
AMPLIFY QUERY.
"Nevermind", said Brick, "please continue."
BEING SUTEKH POSSESSES GREAT ABILITY: HANDLE WITH EXTREME CAUTION. ABILITIES INCLUDE: FLIGHT; MANIPULATION OF MATTER, ENERGY, SPACE; TELEPATHY; MIND-CONTROL; OTHER.
"Why does he have such powers though?" asked Brick. After several moments, the computer gave a beep before printing its' answer.
AMPLIFY QUERY.
Brick sighed; this was going to be another long day. "Query origin of abilities?" The computer sat silently for several minutes, during which Buttercup thought it had shut down, or maybe even broken down. "No, it's still on", Brick said, "I think it's just thinking." Finally, the computer came to a decision.
POSSIBLE EXPLANATION; QUANTUM METAPHYSICS. BEEP
"What do you mean?" asked Buttercup.
LIFE PERCEIVES COSMOS; COSMOS IS.
"Right...do you understand that?" Buttercup asked Brick, who shook his head. "So what now? You think maybe this computer knows the way home?"
"It's worth a shot, BC", Brick said, forgetting for a moment that he had never heard Blossom call her sister by that shortened version of her name. Buttercup looked at Brick in a cross between mild shock and amusement. "What?"
"I've been telling you to call me BC for years, Bloss; now you start saying it?"
"Well, I had to pay attention sometime, right?" Brick asked, smirking up at Buttercup, and gave a playful punch to her arm. Turning back to the computer, he asked it, "Computer, can you help us find our planet?"
INSUFFICIENT DATA.
"Blast. Computer, do you contain data on other worlds?"
AFFIRMATIVE.
"Good, now we're getting somewhere maybe. Display data by planet." And so began the search through the computer's databanks to find references to Earth. Only a short while later, by a stroke of luck, they happened across a seemingly innocuous entry in the database.
"Planet ref #6882. Atmosphere; 78 Nitrogen, 21 Oxygen, 1 other. Primary inhabitants known as "humans"." Some attached images showed scenes of the Pyramids and Stonehenge, but all showed works in progress rather than the finished structures. Clearly, these shots were from millennia ago, and the people of this planet had visited Earth at that time.
"Computer, can you find this planet?"
AFFIRMATIVE.
"What good does that do, Bloss?" Buttercup asked. Brick shushed her and continued his line of questions.
"How far?"
7,800 YEARS AT LIGHTSPEED. Brick just blinked repeatedly at the words on the screen, while Buttercup began laughing hysterically in the background.
"Were the civilisation that created you capable of space travel?"
AFFIRMATIVE.
"Big deal", Buttercup said, still giggling away behind Brick. She hiccupped. "Any of their spacecraft still working?"
AFFIRMATIVE.
"And now the clincher", Brick said. "How long would the journey take?"
"Forget it Bloss" Buttercup said, having stopped laughing. "We're never getting back." The computer computed silently for several seconds more. The answer that it spat out caused both teens to stare slack-jawed.
AT MAXIMUM CRUISE VELOCITY - 4 MINUTES 6 SECONDS. POWER UP TIME - 10 MINUTES.
It was then that the two of them noticed a rumbling sound growing louder all around them. It sounded as though the entire floating city was gradually shaking itself to pieces, but everything remained entirely intact. Brick clutched Buttercup in a tight embrace.
"W-w-w-w-what's happening?" Brick shouted over the growing roar.
"I think we just asked it to take us home", Buttercup shouted back over the sound of the city's engines powering up. Both looked on, astounded, as outside the skyscraper a massive energy dome fizzled into being over the entire city, stretching right over the tops of even the tallest of the buildings.
"Wha? But that's impossible!" Buttercup said, having to shout to be heard over the roar coming from beneath the hovering city. Brick just shrugged in response and held Buttercup tightly as the engines continued to build power.
Once again, the Powerpuffs and Rowdyruffs assembled were trying to fight Sutekh; once again, they were unable to even land a single strike on him, as he would either dodge or deflect every attack that headed his way.
"What're we gonna do, Brick?" Boomer asked, as he floated next to his brothers, panting for breath. Blossom tapped her nose and winked, then flew towards Sutekh at full speed, expecting him to dodge her as he had all the other times. He sidestepped in the air in the blink of an eye, but Blossom brought herself to a controlled stop and turned to face him. Sutekh looked at her with a mildly quizzical expression, and arched his eyebrow.
"Brute strength doesn't seem to count for anything, does it, Sutekh?" Blossom asked him, and he nodded.
"You understand, at least in part. No matter, you will never be powerful enough to become a threat, Brick; you or your friends."
"You think so?" Blossom asked, and blew ice breath at Sutekh. The man was caught completely unawares, and was rapidly encased in a one-foot deep block of ice. Blossom turned to see Boomer and Butch staring at her, while Bubbles' eyes began to water.
"B...B-b-b-b-b-blos-s-s-s-som?" Bubbles asked.
"Yes, it's me Bubbles."
"Why...why didn't you say something earlier?" asked Boomer, quicker to recover his grip on the situation than Butch.
"I didn't know what to say", Blossom said, honestly. "If I'd told ya I was Blossom in Brick's body, would you've believed me?" Everyone agreed on that point, and Bubbles flew into Blossom's arms to give her a big hug.
"I...I missed you so much, Blossom!"
"I know Bubbles, I know", Blossom said, patting her sister on the back.
"Hang on", said Butch, "if you're here, where's Brick?"
"Think about it, man", said Boomer, "he must be in Blossom's...body, which means he's on the other side of the galaxy. Oh no!"
"Don't worry Boomie, we'll get Brick and Buttercup back somehow", said Bubbles, "won't we Blossom?"
"Sure we will."
"I hate to break up this tearful reunion", said Sutekh. "Well, actually I don't. Could we get back to this 'fight' now please?" And he launched at the sisters so fast that they didn't even see a motion blur, and an instant later Bubbles was unconscious on the ground, a large bruise forming across her entire right temple.
"Bubbles!"
"Don't worry Boomer, we'll get him yet", Butch said, and fired several quick eyebeam volleys, all of which struck Sutekh head-on and failed to do any damage. "Or not..." he added, a moment before he was shoved roughly through a nearby brick wall. Boomer and Blossom waited for Butch to come flying back through on the offensive, and were shocked when he finally reappeared with a cut lip, his left eye already swelling, and a slight limp, before collapsing to the ground, groaning.
Blossom and Boomer looked over to see Sutekh grinning at them, showing his perfect white and evenly spaced teeth, and gulped.
"Ready for round two to begin?" Sutekh asked, and hovered in front of them again.
Blossom suddenly realised something, and her eyes went wide with the implications of it. Turning to Boomer, she asked, "Why is he bothering?"
"What, Brick...Blossom?"
"Why bother? We're no threat, he said so himself? So why fight us?"
"I dunno", Boomer said, and then thought hard. "He's distracting us."
"Good, but what from?" The answer came to both of them at the same instant.
"Robyn!"
"Ack! Why are you doing this to me?" Robyn asked her captors. They had moved into a darkened room adjoining the girls' locker room, so she couldn't see the faces of her attackers. From their voices, she had been able only to ascertain that one was a man and the other a woman; at a guess, middle-aged.
"It is the master's will", the woman told her.
"Honey, don't tell her anything; we're meant to be killing her!" the man said, and Robyn felt a firm masculine arm grip her own arm tightly, making her wince.
"What? Who are you?"
"That doesn't matter to you. Nothing will matter soon, anymore. The master is going to take over the world and create paradise for his followers."
Oh great, religious fanatics; it was only a matter of time in Townsville, thought Robyn. "Who is this master? Maybe I want to be one of his followers", she said, trying to stall for time. Alas, the couple had other plans.
"Sorry kiddo", the man said, "the master gave strict instructions that you be killed." She heard a gun being cocked somewhere nearby, and started to sweat in fear despite the cold of the darkened room. Robyn swallowed thickly - I love you, my Bricky, she thought.
BANG!
LAUNCH IN 3...
2...
1...
LAUNCH!
Brick and Buttercup, to whom Brick was still clinging fiercely, felt an unexpected and quite uncomfortable sensation of tumbling head over heels, without actually moving. The craft - the city, moved so fast that this had the odd effect of making them feel as though the backs of their bodies had actually passed through their fronts for a few moments, before they reached maximum velocity and the immense acceleration vanished. Everything was perfectly calm, like it is just after the end of a really heavy storm. Brick held Buttercup's hand and led her outside into the city's streets, to look up into the sky.
Between the tops of the various skyscrapers, they could see the stars; at the great speed with which they were now moving, the light from all the stars was so blurred that their were streaks of light covering the sky, making it look as though space itself were glowing. Buttercup looked up in awe.
"It's... beautiful", she said in a hushed whisper. Brick looked at her, staring up at space, and whispered even more quietly, "Yes, it is."
Where did that come from?
"Give it up, whoever you are! You're not hurting our friend", Blossom stated, as she dropped the squashed bullet to the ground, and pulled Robyn gently away from her captors. Robyn immediately jumped into Blossom's arms, and gave her a big, passionate thank-you kiss.
"Oh Bricky! I knew you'd save me!" she said, almost squealing in her happiness. Boomer flipped the light-switch, and they took their first look at who was behind this. Blossom was the only one who recognised the man and woman.
"Mister and Mrs. Smith? What did you think you were doing?"
"You know these people, Bricky?" Robyn asked, holding Blossom tightly. Blossom thought about what she had just said - Brick didn't know these criminals, she had to cover herself somehow. She couldn't think of anything though; luckily, she didn't have to.
"You failed me, Smiths", Sutekh's emotionless voice said, seemingly projecting from all around the group. "If the Powerpuffs and Rowdyruffs don't kill you, I should." Mr and Mrs Smith went white with terror at those words. "But I won't; this time. You have another chance to kill the girl."
"Like hell you do!" Blossom said, and moved to place herself between Robyn and the crooks. Instead of even trying to fight the girls, which had never succeeded when the Powerpuffs were young and certainly wouldn't work now, Mr and Mrs Smith ran for the nearest exit, heading out towards the game field, hoping for their master's protection.
"Wusses", Boomer observed. He flew after the fleeing felons, as did Blossom, after lifting Robyn up into her arms.
Everyone was soon once more gathered on the games field - Boomer and Blossom, carrying Robyn; Sutekh, with the Smiths standing trembling behind him; and Butch and Bubbles unconscious, lying nearby, Butch amongst a pile of rubble that used to be a wall of a nearby classroom.
"This is getting pathetic - and highly repetitive", Sutekh stated matter-of-factly. "What do you intend to do, with two of your comrades missing and two more unconscious?" Blossom placed Robyn gently on the ground, and then glared at Sutekh, a new fire burning deep within her red eyes.
"This", she simply said, and floated towards Sutekh slowly, the murderous look on her face never wavering. Through gritted teeth, she continued, "You can hurt us all you like, but never...touch...my...girlfriend!"
At this point, Mr Smith remembered something he'd obtained in advance of this plan, and whipped out a small vile of murky green liquid marked "X". Pulling the stopper out of it, he lobbed it up at Blossom. The girl never even saw it coming, let alone had enough time to dodge, and it's contents splashed right across her face, choking her in the slimy fluid as it filled her mouth and nose with its' putridness. At once, the Powerpuff Girls leader fell to the ground, writhing in agony for several long moments before lying, gasping painfully for breath.
"Lame", Sutekh said, and began to float away.
"N-n-n-n-n-n-not...laaaaaaaaaame...", Blossom croaked out from where she still lay, and all eyes that weren't already staring at her prone form were quickly fixed on her.
A tiny smirk appeared on Sutekh's face, the first display of actual emotion he had experienced in his dealings with the 'ruffs and 'puffs. "What did you say?"
"I...said...not l...lame..."
Staggering to her feet and swaying on weakened legs, she stood and defiantly stared at Sutekh, who floated to the ground to stare at her, eye to eye. Half-heartedly, he swung his fist at her, expecting her to go back down without a fight, as did everyone else present and conscious.
He, and everyone else present and conscious, was wrong - Blossom bent back at the waist and nimbly avoided the blow. Gasps of surprise were heard all around, and Sutekh struck out again. Once more, Blossom dodged, faster this time, as this punch actually had power behind it.
"What the...?" Sutekh asked, mildly confused. "That was Antidote X - you don't have any powers left. How...?"
"I figured it out, Sutekh", Blossom said, dodging several more punches that were thrown in quick succession. "The root of your powers isn't Chemical X like ours, it's something else entirely. I know what it is." Sutekh raised his leg sharply between Blossom's legs, but she was too quick for him; moving so fast that the others saw only a blur, she did a back flip followed by a spin kick. Sutekh dodged the kick, but was forced to deflect several more punches and kicks that followed rapidly behind it as Blossom continued her new assault.
"Very good of you, I applaud you", Sutekh said, with something approaching condescension entering his voice. Another uppercut from the red puff was blocked, followed by a spin kick that Sutekh stopped by grabbing Blossom's ankle and holding on tight. This didn't deter Blossom in the slightest, as she used his grip to support her against, and brought her other leg up to kick him in the face. Sutekh dodged by flinging his upper body to one side, and at the same time throw Blossom in the opposite direction.
Blossom stopped her backward motion in mid-air and flew at Sutekh to begin a new barrage. Punches, kicks, and eyebeams flew so fast from her now that she was becoming a constant blur, a patch of red mist spread several feet above the ground, surrounding another patch of blackish mist that represented Sutekh fighting back, just as hard and just as fast. Whenever she paused momentarily to switch tactics, Sutekh would take the offence, and similarly Blossom would go on the attack when Sutekh shifted his stance. Every attack that each tried was either, deflected or dodged, and yet neither party was becoming exhausted in the slightest. The pace of the battle kept increasing, and finally the spectators were unable to see anything happening at all; the attacks were flying so thick and fast that both Blossom and Sutekh were now invisible to the naked human, or Xian, eye.
"How dya think he's doing, Boomer?" Robyn asked, worried about her "boyfriend".
"Well, he seems to be holding his own...I can't really tell", Boomer said, more than a little anxious about this himself.
At long last, several minutes later, something happened that all present could actually see - Sutekh went flying backwards and smashed through a line of oak trees roughly half a mile long, lining the perimeter of the school grounds, before coming to a halt in a massive cloud of debris and a blazing trail of destruction etched into the ground he had passed along.
"Now...I'm annoyed", Sutekh said, giving a low growl. Floating up from the crater that he had gouged, he stretched his arms out to the sides before swinging them forwards and hurling a massive wave of brilliant blue energy directly at "Brick". Blossom didn't move, didn't even flinch as the wave front crashed into her, swirling all around and blasting the science labs behind her into a heap of incandescent wreckage. Flying closer to the site of destruction, Sutekh waited for the dust cloud to settle so that he could confirm that he was triumphant.
"Is that the best you got, Sutekh?"
"No it isn't, not by a long shot. I will admit that I am mildly impressed by your progress, though. Until next time", he said, taking a small bow and then blinking out of existence, along with the Smith couple.
"O...kay", said Boomer, "I was expecting him to put up more of a fight than that." Robyn agreed.
"I'm just happy that you're alright, Bricky", she said, running over to Blossom and embracing her tightly. Boomer went to check on Bubbles and Butch, who were both coming around, and gingerly examined their wounds.
"I promise I'll never leave you, Robyn", Blossom whispered. Robyn pulled back a little to gaze deeply into her "boyfriend's" eye.
"Good, 'cos there's no way I'm letting you go either", she replied, smiling, and blushed slightly at realising that their friends were viewing this scene.
Blossom understood Robyn's sudden shyness, and whispered as coyly as she could, "Who cares if they're watching?" before leaning forward to give Robyn a kiss on the lips, thinking this is what Brick would do now. Just a few seconds.
Both girls gasped at the first contact of their lips, and the look of love in Robyn's eyes actually made Blossom go weak at the knees momentarily. As they kissed, they pressed closer to each other, and Blossom gasped again, followed by the faintest of moans as Robyn brought her tongue into play, licking "Brick's" lips ever so teasingly, and when Blossom didn't pull back, she deepened the kiss further, placing her arms around Blossom's neck as Blossom steadied herself in turn by placing her hands on Robyn's waist, rubbing small, soothing circles on Robyn's sides, causing Robyn in turn to moan into the kiss.
While Blossom, as Brick, and Robyn were distracted by their moments of deep affection, a rumbling began in the ground, and everything began to vibrate so intensely that it felt as if a volcano was about to erupt under the teen's very feet. The sky darkened suddenly, and Boomer, Butch and Bubbles looked up to see that they were in the shadow of a truly vast object, of which all they could see was smooth under-surface at the moment. They all three gasped in awe at the sheer magnitude of this object which had inexplicably appeared above them.
Finally drawing back from their kiss - and oblivious to the darkness that had descended over the entire city, Robyn and Blossom continued to stare only at each other; everything else was irrelevant. Both girls continued to hold onto each other as they stumble, their senses still reeling.
"Wow", said Blossom, in a breathy voice, "that was...intense."
Robyn nodded. "Yeah", she said, stuttering, and licked her lips, "we've never kissed like that before." She fanned herself as a flush crept into her cheeks. "I felt the earth move."
"No", Butch said, interjecting and bring the moment to an end, "that would be the giant spaceship that just appeared in low orbit above us." Blossom and Robyn looked up to find that this was indeed the case, and adopted a similar expression to the one that Boomer and Bubbles still sported on their own faces. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to two small green dots coming in their direction; one pink, the other green.
"I think..." Bubbles started, but the rest of that sentence was unnecessary as the two dots rapidly grew to become the forms of "Blossom" and Buttercup. "They're back! Yippee! They're back, Boom-Boom!" she squealed, bouncing up and down while hugging Boomer tightly. Brick and Buttercup soon arrived and landed, and looked at the scene of destruction on the school grounds, before noticing the bruised and battered state of the their siblings. Finally, Brick noticed the Blossom and Robyn, and how they were standing so close together, holding hands.
"Hey, Blossom!" Brick shouted. "Get my hands of my girlfriend, now!" Buttercup and Robyn did a double take at how ridiculous that sounded and what it could mean, while Boomer, Bubbles and Butch just moved back out of the way, not wanting to get in the way of the nearly inevitable argument that was brewing.
"Bricky, what's going on?" Robyn asked Blossom, chewing her lower lip nervously. Then, thinking back over the events of the day...
"Oh god - Blossom?" Robyn said, half-hoping she was right and half-hoping she was wrong. Which half was stronger was anyone's guess however.
Blossom simply nodded in response.
Robyn brought her hand to her mouth and touched her lips softly, thinking again on that kiss. We've never kissed like that before... She turned to face Brick in Blossom's body, her mouth quivering and her eyes filling with tears. Looking back and forth between the two, the emotions very soon became much too much for her to handle, and, not knowing how to react to the mess she found herself now in, she ran for home, followed swiftly by Bubbles.
Buttercup just continued to stare.
"Robyn, wait!"
"No...Bubbles, I...want...to be...alone!"
"You can't run forever, you know. And I can fly faster anyhow."
"Okay", said Robyn, and stopped running. Panting for breath, she sat down on a convenient bench. "I just..."
"I understand Robyn - well, as much as I possibly can, at least", Bubbles said, sitting next to Robyn and letting Robyn cry into the shoulder of her sweater. "You weren't to know."
"But...b-b-b-b-b-but I should've, don't you see?" said Robyn, becoming a little agitated again. "I should of known - Brick...he never kissed me liked that."
"How do you mean?", Bubbles asked, curious what Robyn would say. Robyn sat up and looked at her best friend.
"He loves me, but - when we kissed - it was only ever 'cos he wanted to go further; never just 'cos he wanted to kiss me."
Bubbles thought deeply for a moment. "But all boys are that way, aren't they?"
"Maybe, maybe not; doesn't make it right though, does it?" Robyn asked, and Bubbles couldn't deny that. "And that's what was different - when Blossom kissed me just then, I could feel love, nothing else. And now...now, I'm so confused..." she said, tearing up again.
"Shhhhhhhh", Bubbles said, and stroked Robyn's hair as she hummed a tune softly to help soothe her.
It's a good thing Him's already dead, or I'd give him Hell to payBubbles thought.
"I was just pretending to be you", Blossom offered in her defence.
Brick scoffed at that remark. "Yeah, it really looked that way too. I could see the way you looked at her when realised what had happened."
Sutekh's voice floated ominously over the crowd, saying the word "undo", and Blossom and Brick both blinked and found them selves back in their own bodies once more, but still standing where they had been. To the others, Blossom seemed to answer her own remark, before they realised the mess had been, at least physically, unravelled.
"I've heard Robyn talking about having nightmares that you're eyeing other girls behind her back." Brick baulked at that. "Spending the night with Buttercup, pretending to be me...don't try to tell me you weren't ogling her."
"That...that, that, that...that's just not..."
"Oh. My. God." Buttercup said and flew over to give Brick a huge slap. "You WERE staring at me when we were bathing! I thought I just imagined that!"
"This is better than Oprah", Butch observed. "Anyone wanna make a popcorn run?" Boomer rolled his eyes in despair, and tackled Butch to the ground. This was the scene to which Robyn and Bubbles returned.
"Umm...guys?" Everyone turned to face her expectantly; even Butch and Boomer stopped their tussle on the tarmac. "I've come to a decision."
"Yes?" Brick asked, hopefully. Robyn walked over to him and gave him a small peck on the lips, and Blossom looked...inscrutable. "I'm sorry Brick", Robyn said in a hushed tone, and strode over to Blossom, wrapping her arms around the other girl and giving her a brilliant smile. "I'm yours, if you'll have me Blossom."
"Of course I will", Blossom said, and gave a big smile in return. Slipping free of Robyn's grip, the Powerpuff Leader took off into the sky, with a great shout of "Woohoo!", and drew a massive stylised heart with an arrow through it in the air using her pink jet stream. Everybody laughed politely at this rather overt display of affection.
As they all began to walk home, and relayed their separate adventures of the last day to each other, Brick turned to Buttercup and asked her, "I'm not going to the dance with anyone now, would ya like to..."
Buttercup cut him off by placing her palm fully over his mouth, and said. "You're a twisted perv with no redeeming qualities." Then she removed her hand.
"So is that a yes?" he asked hopefully, earning him a punch on the shoulder.
"It's not a solid 'no', but that's all I'll commit myself to - for now", she said smirking and walking on to chat with Robyn, Blossom and Bubbles.
Things had changed; they would probably continue to change, especially as Sutekh was still at large. But, for right now, they had the closest thing they could to a single, perfect, moment. There aren't many of them in a person's life.
And if Sutekh got his way, there wouldn't be any again, ever.
"Master, we have more followers for you", said Mr Smith, bowing low in front of Sutekh's throne.
"Bring them in then", Sutekh ordered. He was slightly annoyed that the day's plan had gone so badly, but also satisfied that he now had an opponent worthy of his abilities in Blossom. Mr and Mrs. Smith ushered in the couple - younger than themselves, wearing matching suits.
"Great and powerful Lord Sutekh, may I introduce..." Sutekh waved him into silence.
"It doesn't matter, 1", he said, having decided to designate Mr Smith as 1 and Mrs Smith as 2. "They will be 3" he said, indicating the man in his mid-thirties, "and 4", he indicated the woman briefly. Then he turned aside, to consider his next plan.
"Nice to have you on our side, Mr and Mrs Snyder", Mrs Smith whispered to the new recruits. "You said something about a daughter - will we get to meet her?"
"No, regrettably", Mr Snyder said, with a look of cold calculation on his face, "she suffered an unfortunate fatal accident."
"Oh, when?" asked Mr Smith, overhearing.
"Sssssoon..." Mr Snyder hissed.
To be continued...
Holy crap, that was longer than intended, wasn't it:) Kinda got away from me in writing, but I feel that it all needed to be in the one chapter, I hope you agree. I also seriously hope that I threw you a few curve balls in terms of the plot, but I don't know how good I am at plot twists.
You'd never guess that I feel uncomfortable writing romantic scenes, would you:) I'm drawing entirely from fantasy (including what I've seen on TV), so if it didn't seem completely believable, that's why. Just thought I'd warn you.
Author responses and thanks:
Ivygreen: I just noticed that I didn't actually have Princess appear in this chapter - then again, she's not a central character, so that shouldn't matter too much.You get to see more of Brick and Blossom in each other's bodies, though I decided not to dwell too heavily on that subject (though if I had, it'd have been quite funny, yet also gross...), though I did deal with some relation problems it caused. Umm, yep, it's true indeed (and hence also really deep). Hope you like. :)
Dooly: Yeah, I dunno where that body switch idea came from (I think it was the film "Freaky Friday" actually).
Yeah, Sutekh is bloody powerful, but all is not lost. Training, yes, but not in the usual way (more mental than physical, I'd imagine).
Kezzer: I understand where you're coming from - this is a mammoth story to read when you're starting after 12 chapters have already been posted. :D
I always try to think "How would so-and-so react in this situation?" rather than just have the character doing what would help the plot best; makes them seem more real to me, that way, rather than just literary puppets (god, I sound pretentious don't I:P), helps keep the characters separate in my mind, etc. Does have a tendency to cause chapters to overrun though, as the plot is being driven by the characters rather than the other way around...
If you're gonna make a bad guy, make him almost ridiculously powerful - that's my motto in fanfiction. :D