Blossom did not quite comprehend exactly why her blonde sister was so highly upset, but whatever it was the situation had to be grave.
"Can you explain to me what happened here?" Brick's question breaks her concentration away from her sister's facial expression.
She scopes out Bell's backyard and instead of rolling hills there were a range of mountains with deep canyons. The pool was split in four separate parts in order to hold six geysers of wate.
"An earthquake. Probably on the scale of eight to nine hit due to Buttercup's transformation." Butch run downs the facts after Blossom feels Bubbles embrace her neck.
"What do you mean Butch by Buttercup's transformation?" She needles since she did not follow where Butch was going with his story.
It was not until she used one of his hands as a guide in the direction she needed to look and saw what she saw.
Buttercup's black hair resembles a spiky hedgehog as it touches the middle of her spine. The outline of her bathing suit along with her skin was completely black. There were small glowing green cheetah spots along her arms, neck, thighs and on her face as her eyes was closed at the moment.
"What is that form?" Blossom asks as she was slow to stand to her feet because she lifts Bubbles up with her.
Bell abruptly changes the course of her path from Buttercup and rapidly sprints in their direction.
"Move it!" Butch orders as the four took flight while Bubbles still clung on to her sister.
However, Bell was quite persist. She then halts at the drop of a dime and leaps in the air toward them.
"This chick's delusional." Blossom screams once she locks eyes on the platinum blonde girl below her.
A lime green blur passes right in front of her face. She then heard the sound of something being slammed against a sturdy solid object.
Bell struggled to sit upright from the impact of being rammed in to the side of her home by Buttercup.
The said assailant punches her in the jaw with a right hook and follows up with a left hook. She aims a jab to her chin and connects with her target as it sends Bell up in the air.
Buttercup cuts her gaze in Bell's direction only to watch her recover from her assualt. She pops her neck as if Buttercup's punches were nothing but love taps.
Bell gears up for a downward descent, which catches Buttercup off-guard. She found herself being trapped in a familiar manuever.
"She's going to tombstone her." Butch concludes as he reads Bell's movement after she secures Buttercup with the proper hold.
Bell begins a downward spiral that increases the speed with each and every revolution.
Bubbles and Blossom shield their eyes away from the potential end result of the impact.
"Hey, she had put up a barrier around herself before the crash." Butch broadcasts to the the sisters, who return their focus on to the battle.
There was a large gaping hole in the ground but their sister remains relatively unharmed.
"Thank goodness," Bubbles utters after a sigh of relief escape both of Buttercup's sisters mouths.
Buttercup appeared to be rather unfazed by the potentially life ending manuever that Bell just executed.
She bends at her knees, brings both of her hands backwards, forms little green balls until it was the size of a basketball. She slings both of her arms forward and fires a stream of light green energy from her palms.
Buttercup's action catches the platinum blonde by surprise as the left part of her body disintegrates due to the intensity of the beam.
Bell's body plumments to the surface of the ground once Buttercup ceases the beams from the palms of her hands.
She rolls over on to her side, lifts herself up right and stumbles to her feet, which reveals a metallic exoskeleton underneath her skin along with visible scorch marks.
One of her eyes had rolled to the back of her head after her head collided against the ground.
Bell's skinned side touches the scorched metallic portion of her body as if she was astonished at the missing tissue and skin on her opposite arm. She wonders why her left eye sight was black before she readjusts it.
"Now that's just wrong." Bubbles shutters as a cold shiver travels down her spine.
Bell scans and registers each one of those faces who stares back at her.
"Subjects AFSS-B-01-4 and AFSS-B-01-1 has arrived. Beta Soldiers Collection complete." Bell speaks in a monotonic tone. She the rests her arms against the side of her body similar to a torpedo.
Buttercup's response was a squat and dash in Bell's direction with no signs of hesitation.
The floating spectators could only watch from a distance at who could be the possible victor of the aerial battle. The sound of thunder was heard followed by a splash noise.
"Term…deletes…term…failure…" Bell's voice stutters while her head twitches before her eyes close.
The quad inspected the damages done to her with majority of her arm exposed, broken and shattered.
"What do you think she's going to do about Bell?" Brick ponders outloud to the group.
Buttercup slowly descends over her opponent as she cautiously observes any possible reaction.
They held their breath out of anxiousness at what the raven hair girl was about to do to Bell's battered body.
Buttercup lifts one of her index finger until her touch connects with Bell's prosthetic body. Her body was soon engulfed in light green flames. The rest of her skin was now burned off.
Blossom feels her sister conceal her eyes away from the sight of such a torturous manner of fill.
"How could she do that Blossom? Buttercup isn't a killer! Why would she do something like this?" Bubbles screams her questions to Blossom as she buries her face in her sister's chest.
She pats her back in order to soothe the upset blonde as she wets her swimsuit.
"She isn't in her usual state of mind right now. She's being controlled by something." Blossom tries to reason with her.
She could not help but to feel bad for her sister since she was not use to such horrific sights.
Blossom casts her gaze over to Brick and Boomer for some kind of moral support but they were in awe at Buttercup's present state.
She watches until Bell was nothing more than just ashes that sinks to the bottom of the pool.
Butch gradually advances forward step by step with one foot in front of the other. He steps closer to Buttercup.
He cautiously draws near her similar to how she did Bell. They prayed that no petty squabble would erupt between the two and harm someone else in the process.
"What does Butch think he's doing, Brick? He's going to get himself killed." Boomer's expresses worry for his older brother's safety.
"I believe Butch has an idea what to do. Let's give him some time." Brick suggests to his brother. They observed Butch, who now stood at the edge of the pool.
"Buttercup…" He addresses her by her name.
She swivels her head in his direction. Her eyes radiate a lime green hue that pierces his own forest green ones. A river of tears stream down her face as if she did something against her own free will.
The others view the pair simultaneously mimic each other actions as they sweep their arms wide open in the gesture of a hug.
Buttercup slowly closes the distance between her and Butch. The spectators quietly hope that nothing threatens Buttercup to erupt on another rampage where she could possibly hurt innocent bystanders.
"It's going to be alright." Butch asserts once she was a couple of inches away from him.
She promptly grounds herself on the poolside's surface and tightly wraps her arms around his waist.
Butch rests his chin on the crown of her head and rubs her back in a soothing manner.
"I…didn't…mean to kill her." Buttercup sniffles out against his chest when she includes, "Am I killer now?"
As she confesses her remose to Butch, her black skin recedes from her feet to her eyesight and finishes with her eyes that returns to normal.
He then felt her entire weight pressed against his chest and realized that she collapsed from exhaustion after he whispers, "You can rest now Butter."
Butch loops his left arm underneath her legs while his right arm supports her back and cradles her in his arms.
He sails across the disfigured pool until he was in Blossom, Bubbles and his brothers' field of vision.
"It's been one hell of a night. I think it's time we should go home." Butch declares to the group. Their eyes fell on the victim of the unknown transformation and saw that she was unharmed in the process.
"Agreed. Bubbles, let's go home. I'll drive." Blossom agrees with Butch while she faces her sister, Bubbles.
Her sniffles end when she focuses her attention on to her sister who lies peacefully within Butch's arms.
"Most likely she won't remember what happened tonight. So for the safety of Buttercup, we will not tell her about what happened." Butch advised the group. He received his confirmation by the silent nods.
'What was that form that you were in, Buttercup? Did it drive you crazy that you couldn't control your instincts?'
'Maybe that's what that form acted off of...the instinct to protect what you love and care for. Maybe that's why you had some self-control when you saw me and my brothers as well as your sisters.'
'You didn't randomly attack anyone just the one you felt threated by. I hope that you can make it through this…' Butch wishes while he lays a still Buttercup in the passenger seat of her beloved car.
"Drive safe, Blossom." Brick instructs Blossom before she thanks him for his concern.
She cranks up the engine, shifts the car in reverse, rolls backwards, shifts to drive and pulls off.
"Let's go too, maybe a good night's rest would do us some good." Butch suggests as him and his brothers' head to the only car in the parking lot.
4444
Serena watches the clear white liquid ripples across the surface of her crystal wine glass vibrates.
'An earthquake...' She predicts while she observes the liquid's unusual action. The orange head quickly returns her focus to the menu in front of her.
"Are you enjoying the drink?" A masculine voice probes.
Serena peered up from the tri-fold menu and remembered that she had agreed to go on a little outing with her brothers' principal.
"Yes. It's actually quite refreshing." She confirms and sips from the glass to prove a point.
"...but I would have never took you for a seafood type of guy." Serena alleges once she returns the glass on the table cloth and her sights on the menu.
She chooses her meal, flips the menu's cover close, rests the object against the table and scopes out the venue.
It was a fairly large restaurant that was meticulously decorated with booths and tables that were lined with white linen cloth. Three white candles placed in a silver candleholder with darker colored napkins that contain three pieces of silverware: a spoon, salad fork and butter knife on the left side of the plate.
The chairs and booths were a cherry wood color with black covers as it follows with the décor of the place. There was a rather large diamond chandler that radiates rainbow color prisms from a top of the roof that creates a dazzling light show.
Alma watches Serena take in the layout of the restaurant and comments, "It seems as if you like the view. I had a feeling you would like this place."
"So far you and your feelings have been right. Did your feelings tell you to become a high school principal?" Serena questions once she concentrates on her date.
He cracks a smirk on his face when he replies, "You can say something like that but that's not the complete reason why though."
"Let me guess..." She interjects as she raises her right hand to stop him before he explains why.
"Your family wanted you to be a lawyer or a doctor but you felt like doing something that interested you and that was education." Serena rendered her opinion about how he had entered the field of education.
A chuckle escapes his lip before he voices, "You have an overactive imagination for a woman your age, you know."
"The first part of what you said was correct. Besides, who hasn't heard that their parents want them to become a doctor or a lawyer?"
"My parent didn't really care about my personal choice since I have a large family that are doctors and lawyers themselves." Alma corrects her story in a friendly way.
"What made you join the military? Your family members must have joined different branches and you wanted to follow in their footsteps?" He renders his opinion on why she enlists in the military.
"Okay, I deserve that one." Serena admits as she laughs along with him.
"...but my dad and I are the only ones, who are involved in the military. My mom's a peace worker so she travels majority of her time." She corrects him before their waiter takes their order.
"So did you travel with your mom after she had you?" Alma wonders. He hands over their menus to the waiter, who kindly accepts them from him.
"No, she waited till I went off to college before she resumed her peace keeper work. She felt that her family should come first since she sacrificed for so many others at any time. It was her sole act of selfishness throughout her entire life." She discloses while her middle finger rings around the rim of the glass.
Serena then grabs the stem of the glass, swishes the wine around, and claims, "I can't blame her whenever I would have to switch schools. I couldn't imagine what it was like to be married but still raise a child all on her own.'
She brings the rim of the glass to her lips, sips the liquid and positions it on the coaster.
"What about you Alma? You have a large family, how is it like?" Serena wonders about his childhood while she places her forearms on the table.
"My older brothers' were already grown, successful, and increased my family's reputation. My mother constantly traveled on business trips while my father remained at home." He admits with no venom in his tone.
"As long as you made yourself happy who am I to judge your upbringing and how you turned out." She calmly asserts with a shrug of her shoulders.
Her calm response left him in awe. Most women he told about his childhood instantly felt pity and consoled him with "I'm sorry to hear that." and "I would never do that to my child."
"That was fast," Serena diverts his focus from his thoughts about his past dates with other women.
Alma realizes that their respective dishes were position in front of them right before he zones out.
"This looks amazing! I wonder how the lobster is going to taste." She asks herself.
The orange head woman scoops up her knife and slices the tail down the middle, which reveals its tender meat.
'She's definitely different from the other women. Maybe I can finally open myself up to her and see where it takes me?' Alma thinks before he sees her hand wave in front of his face.
"Are you going to eat or not? That shrimp on your plate looks as if it is begging me to eat it?" Serena revels as she points at his plate with her fork.
He could not help but to laugh at her question.
4444
Author's Note:
07.16.16 Major editing revision