Managed to do it! A whole half a chapter completely re-written and edited my usual two times! That...was a rush that I'm not about to repeat anytime soon. I wanted to get this chapter to you all though! The last chapter for the competition. Saying it now though, I need to go on a content break. Changing this last chapter threw the next few off (I had like a third of my buffer drafted) and so I still have a ton of large edits to do before I can actually get writing new stuff again. BUT! I need a break from this story to mull some things over. Why? Because this is the last chapter of what I mentally dub 'part 2'. Why does that matter? Cause this story only has three parts! Which means we're coming up on the end. It won't be fast, still have over 10 chapters planned but I want to take a biiit more time with them to at least try and wrap up everything I've thrown into this story (and I'm sure I won't. It's so long I've forgotten probably a lot of what I've put in it. A problem for another day. Maybe). Anyways! I hope you all enjoy!
Thank you all for the likes, comments, and follows! I really love seeing them!
Boomer watched Bubbles as she kept glancing back at everyone and couldn't help but sigh internally. Brick had told him, in the barest of details annoyingly, about the date Bubbles had put together for Blane and Blossom. He couldn't say he was surprised. Actually, he was more surprised she hadn't done more of that with both of her sisters. Well, maybe not with Buttercup actually. She was likely to throw a guy out a window if she didn't like him. A low one but still…
Regardless, Boomer really needed Bubbles to give his brothers some space for a bit. They weren't angry, well, not with her, but they weren't in good moods. Having the boundless energy and cheer that was Bubbles thrown at them would not make things better. Matchmaker Bubbles needed to take a short break while things calmed down a bit.
With that in mind, Boomer nudged Bubbles when she looked back again and shook his head. She pouted at him but turned back around and seemed to decide to stop looking back at their siblings. Thankfully.
Still, while Boomer knew what was up with his brothers, he was a little confused as to why Buttercup and Blossom were also in bad moods. Buttercup didn't often get the kind of angry that hung around and Blossom looked more than a little annoyed about something. Boomer just hoped that neither one ended up lashing out at anyone, especially not his brothers. Normally they were all pretty used to staying low around the puffs, old habits and all, but with their current moods Boomer was worried that they might lash out and do harm. That was the last thing any of them needed too.
Whatever. It was almost summer. Boomer just needed to get them all through this last day of the competition and then with finals next, they'd all be too busy to bug one another. Once finals were done they'd be able to get the break they needed. Assuming finals didn't drive them up a wall first. The ruffs didn't like being forced to do anything, kinda went against the DNA, and that made finals week hell. Him and his brothers always got way too tense and irritable during finals week. Blossom knew about that though so it should be fine. She usually ran interference for them to keep things calm. It'd be okay. They just had to get through one. More. Day.
"Well ain't this just cute," Butch drawled as the two blonds reached the front of the line. Banger ignored him in favor of checking his phone while Brat just rolled her eyes.
"Oh get real. Berserk's off doing god knows what while Brute still hasn't gotten out of bed so I'm stuck with this one," Brat sassed, hand going to rest on a cocked hip. Butch raised an eyebrow before looking at Banger who simply shrugged.
"Didn't have any other plans and all I've heard is good things about this place. Figured I'd give it a shot."
Butch couldn't help but snort at that. "Give it a shot eh? With you two? Good luck."
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean, hmm? You trying to imply something green?" Brat snapped. Banger went back to looking at his phone.
"Nah, not implying anything. Even big bro praised this place so seriously, two blues? Good luck."
"Well Brute said it was a joke."
"Brute's just jealous cause she knows we're gunna win."
"I seriously doubt that."
Banger made a small noise of disagreement that had Brat quickly smacking him in the stomach for. He grunted at the force but otherwise stayed silent.
"Cause Brute's such a good judge about these things," Butch said, ignoring the violent interaction.
"I'd say you might just be surprised. Now can we go in yet or not?"
"Nope. Gotta wait till one of the groups inside finishes or gives up. Shouldn't be too much longer."
"Ugh, it's been long enough already. Even on the third day the line here is still ridiculously long."
Butch shrugged. "Nothing I can do about that."
"You could have done a better job with planning things."
"I did very little of said planning you crazy blue girl. I mean, what else would you expect anyways?"
"I sure as hell wouldn't expect Buttercup to be doing any, that's for sure."
Butch felt a muscle in his hand twitch at that and slowly slipped the hand into his pocket to hide it. It didn't work. Brat's eyes lit up like she'd just struck gold, which in her world she had.
"You lot are good to go in. Hope you fail," Butch said as he raised the bar and gestured with his head for the two to go on in. Brat smirked while Banger just softly sighed at the whole thing. Once they'd turned the corner Jackie stopped trying to hide her glare and even put her hands on her hips as she did so.
Butch shrugged before going back to lean on the bar.
"We didn't get the okay and what happened to the script?" Jackie asked.
"I didn't want to accidentally put a new permanent hole in anything with Blossy on high alert so I figured it would be better to let them head in early. Also, screw the script. It's the last day. I can't be bothered anymore. I just want our damned trophy and then to go the fuck home."
Jackie huffed and crossed her arms but stopped glaring at him. "I guess that's fair. We do only have like an hour and a half left after all before we have to start packing things up. I think they've even started telling newcomers that they can't do this anymore."
"They have and thank god for that. I seriously can't wait for this to all be over."
"...is it because of Buttercup and-"
Jackie froze as Butch glared at her, a light glow in his eyes.
"Jack. Trying to stay cool here. Let's keep the talking to a min, yeah?"
Jackie nodded her head and thankfully stayed quiet. Butch slowly turned away to look out over the line. Just another few hours and then, winning and home.
Bubbles couldn't help yet another sigh as she glanced around. Most everyone had already come through and seen all the art so it was pretty sparse but that was normal. Everyone at the competition today would just really be looking to kill time until the announcement of the winner. Heck, most people wouldn't even bother showing up until the hour before. That didn't mean they could slack off though. She'd still had a few people coming up and asking about her art. The biggest question seemed to be if they would be up for sale.
Bubbles wasn't sure she wanted to sell these pieces. At the same time, she wasn't sure where to put them if she kept them. They weren't hugely huge but they were big enough and took up too much room to put anywhere in the house. Sticking them down in the lab would also be a shame since she'd worked so hard on them and no one but her family and the ruffs would ever see them there. Outside was no good either because she hadn't weather proofed them. Chances were, at this rate, they end up sold because at least that way they wouldn't just end up stashed in a corner.
Not that that was Bubbles's biggest concern right now though. No, her big concern was the weird tension between the ruffs and her sisters. She kept trying to think up ways to talk to Brick but every scenario in her head ended up playing out poorly. Adding in that Boomer clearly told her to leave it meant she should keep her distance for now but...She just felt so bad!
And don't even get her started on the greens. Bubbles was a big enough person to admit she'd goofed there by letting Buttercup carry out this plan with Merrick. She'd gotten swept away by the image of Butch dramatically confessing to Buttercup once Merrick was properly punished but maybe she should have thought it out a bit more. Butch wasn't one to dramatically do things. Spontaneously yes, not dramatically though. And right now, he was closer to a spontaneous combustion than he was to a spontaneous confession.
Bubbles puffed out her cheeks at that. She could admit the mistake, but Buttercup was a whole different story. How on earth was she going to convince her that the whole thing was a bad idea and to stop now while they were ahead? She wasn't, that's how. Greens and their single minded, won't stop for anything or anyone attitude making life difficult. It was giving her a migraine!
"Not bad, not bad at all. Think the dancer need to be a little less free and little more tired looking though to be accurate."
Bubbles startled and turned back from staring blankly around to see Berserk standing in front of her statues.
"Berserk. I honestly couldn't be more surprised. Did you just compliment my work?" Bubbles asked with a slightly too dramatic gasp.
Berserk rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I give credit where credit's due though and these are real good. You're talented."
Bubbles actually couldn't believe her ears. Berserk wasn't just being nice, she'd actually complimented her.
"Okay, what are you up to? If you ruin them-"
"Chill. I'm not up to anything. I've actually been behaving this whole time you know. Even told the sisters to lay off the trouble making."
"That so doesn't explain the sudden bought of...niceness. Isn't that like against your DNA or something?"
"Hardy har har. I can be nice just like your puppy boys can. I just don't often feel like being nice to you. Or your sisters."
"Well, you've made that obvious."
"Yeah, I know."
"So why the change this year? Why is the great Powerpunk leader behaving and handing out compliments?"
Berserk shrugged before turning slowly to look at Bubbles. "Maybe cause even I have limits. I just might not notice them until it's too late."
Bubbles raised an eyebrow. "What? Are you just now realizing that the prank was taking it too far? Really? Even the greens-"
"I get it! Geeze, no need to drive it home like that. Fuck. Yeah, I pushed it too far. No, I ain't apologizing to her. And no, I'm not deleting those photos. I've been behaving to try and make up for it but at the same time, how many people can say they truly one upped the great Leader and Commander herself? I'm keeping those photos as proof, but I promise I'm the only one who'll see them."
"Bloss deserves an apology."
"Yeah well, it ain't gunna happen. I'm sure your genius sister has already noticed that and I'm sure she also knows why I'm behaving."
"I'm sure she doesn't. Blossom isn't a mind reader and I overheard your conversation with her that first day. You were-"
"A little upset. Yeah. I think you know why too. That one pink stuff for sure knows. I was poking around for some info but she decided to make it difficult for me. And there was no way I was gunna just come out and ask."
Bubbles squinted at her. "I mean, I think I do know why but if I'm right it makes me even more confused. You should be more upset at me than anyone else."
Berserk shrugged before turning back to the artwork. "This shit's good and what's done is done. Can't even say I blame you for arranging it all. The two of them are disgustingly similar. Anybody else and it woulda been a match made in heaven. That's why I did what I did, cause I figured it was a done deal. When I realized I was wrong I felt like shit. Thought on it a lot this past year too. I think the fact that it happened but didn't work is actually pretty reassuring to me. But like I said, the past is the past. I can't change what I did even if I maybe regret taking it so far. At the same time, I'm me. I'm not about to go begging for forgiveness."
"...annoyingly, you wouldn't have to. Bloss seems to pretty much be over it already. It's the rest of us who aren't."
Berserk snorted. "Same way I've moved on but Brat had to go and corner you like she did. I didn't realize pink stuff'd never told the ruffs so I hope that didn't cause issues. I really did tell them to behave, my sisters."
Bubbles watched Berserk for a few more moments before shrugging. "It's fine I guess. Brick needed to know and I'm hoping it might help things work out for the best. I just feel like he deserves an apology."
Berserk turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "From who? You? Hell no. There isn't anything to apologize for and I'm sure Brick for brains knows it too. Leave him alone about it. If he's anything like I think he is then he'll end up thinking like I do in no time."
"And how well could you possibly know him? You've talked to him like, less than ten times.
Berserk shrugged. "I'd say I could hazard a pretty decent guess. Anyways, keep up with this shit. I was serious when I said you had talent."
Without waiting for another word or saying goodbye, Berserk turned and walked away. Bubbles watched her go, thinking about the conversation. It was weird to say the least. She had always associated the punks with trouble for no reason but now it seemed maybe that wasn't the case. Maybe they just brought out the worst in each other because none of them had taken the time to try and understand the other side. That was how it had been with the ruffs after all.
Bubbles thought on it some more before shrugging. Even if that was the case, she wasn't about to be the one to take that first step. The idea of getting along with Brat made her skin crawl so she was just going to hope for a quite finish to the competition so that she could go another long, long while before she has to see another punk or right again.
At this point, if he was being honest, he was completely and totally bored out of his mind. Yet here he was, stuck, all because he had to agree to being a good guy. Brick was, for the first time, beginning to question that decision. If this had been any other year he'd be flying back home just to avoid all of...this. With still more than half the morning to go, the area with the food stalls was a total mess of people who were already getting ready for the award and closing ceremony. Which meant a whole lot of people in an already crowded space.
"Fuck this."
Not able to stand it for another second, Brick shot up into the air above everyone. A few people gave him curious looks but he went mostly ignored. Exactly how he liked it. Now he just had to find a spot to chill in. The roof was out. No way in hell would he risk running into Berserk again.
Which left Brick little to no choice but to head for the play areas. With all the plays over, not even the students were still there. They were all off seeing the last few things they could before everything else shut down. Which meant it'd be quiet. And empty. And have next to no people, if any, in it. It sounded perfect.
Touching down right in front of the auditorium, Brick did a quick scan of the area. As quiet as he'd expected it would be. Now he just had to kill time until the ceremony and then split.
Wait. Blossom would be staying to clean up wouldn't she? No way in hell she wouldn't. And Bubbles would be staying too, which meant Boomer would be also. Butch would split. There was no stopping that. Buttercup was a good 50-50. But Blossom...
Fuck. He was gunna have to stay and help. Already Blossom had bags under her eyes again. And just after they'd gotten the dance out of the way. Next year, Brick was not letting her do all this planning alone again. He'd take the damned credit if he had to. Hate every second of it, but he'd do it.
Sighing, Brick pushed open the closest door. It squeaked a little and he frowned at it. Couldn't they oil these things? The doors at Townsville never squeaked but here? Every damned one! It was seriously starting to get on his nerves. If he heard one more squeaky door before he had to leave for this damned ceremony he was gunna-
Squeeeeeaaak.
Yup. That was it. He was frying the door.
Scowling, Brick let go of the door he was holding, gritting his teeth, yet another squeak, and stormed into the auditorium. He heard a whisper or two but it was too quiet to make out what was being said.
Which had Brick pausing. It wasn't possible that a normal human could make out a whisper that he couldn't if they were in the same room, even if it was a room as large as this one. Which meant it had to be supers. And since he knew where all his supers were...
Using his X-ray vision, Brick quickly found the culprits and groaned. First it had been the blue one, then the red one, and now here he was with the green one. Why the hell couldn't he seem to avoid the punks this year?
With a sigh, Brick floated up and over the seats until he reached the stage. He dropped his X-ray vision before landing softly and pulling back the curtains to reveal Brute and Brawdy huddled together over something.
"The hell are you two doing?" Brick asked, completely and thoroughly done with everything. Both greens jumped and spun to face him standing up.
"Jesus! Talk about heart attack man! We weren't doing anything," Brawdy said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.
Brute scoffed at Brick. "Seriously, make sure you wear your collar so you don't give people heart attacks you dumb mutt."
Brick's face went very carefully blank as he looked at the two greens, the temperature in the room rising ever so slightly.
"You both have two seconds to get out of my sight."
They didn't waste any time before zipping out of the room in flashes of green, the damned door squeaking loudly as they did so. Brick grit his teeth as he turned to glare at the door as it slowly, loudly, closed behind them.
That was it. He was melting the damned thing.
About to start towards the door, Brick stopped and groaned loudly as his phone went off in his pocket. Pulling it out and looking at it he couldn't help but rub a hand across his face. He looked down and re-read Princess's text.
Blossom says they need help with audio tech and Butch is busy. Cant get ahold of Boomer. She asked me to text you and she says sorry in advance.
Fucking fuckers. The shit worked fine during the damned opening ceremony so what could possibly be wrong with it now? And why the hell couldn't Blane or one of his brothers fix it? One of them had to know something about this sort of shit.
...then again, it was the rights.
Damn it. There went his quiet time.
Finally, a break. Buttercup was about two seconds away from bursting out of the school just to get away, roof over her head or not. Luckily, Merrick was on the team in charge of taking apart their event and she wasn't. She had been more than happy when one of the other kids had shown up to get him.
With no plans before the announcements and a good few hours left to go before the roll call, Buttercup had no plans beyond just lazing about. Blossom had roped Brick into helping with the technical issues that apparently Farmsville high couldn't sort out and he'd ended up after that bouncing from one job to another. At this point the ruff was essentially doing half of it on his own, easily cutting in before people brought things to Blossom to address. Princess and Robin had texted her earlier saying he was officially their unofficial student government member and they weren't letting him go again. She couldn't wait to see his face when they told him that.
Buttercup was sure he'd do it too, if only to lessen Blossom's load. Which would make Bubbles go haywire she was sure. Although, Bubbles had been pretty quiet this morning. Buttercup made a mental note to ask her tomorrow. Something had clearly upset the blue puff.
Still, with nothing to do right then, Buttercup just decided to wander about a little aimlessly. Most of the stalls were being taken down and put either away or aside to be sent back to their respective schools. Buttercup could maybe find something still up but that meant work and she didn't feel like doing any of that anymore. She'd done enough of that as it was.
Slowly just aimlessly wandering, Buttercup ended up face to face with two people she'd really rather not see. From the looks on their faces, they agreed.
"Ugh, why can't I seem to get away from you losers this year? I swear I keep running into one of you," Brat complained, loudly, as she glared.
"Can't believe I'm gunna say this but I agree. Why are you losers even still here? Don't you usually split by the second day?" Buttercup said back, eyebrow raised.
Brat continued glaring but didn't say anything. So Banger spoke up instead.
"Blane wanted them to stay to the end so he could keep a better eye on them. Me and Brawdy too."
Buttercup rolled her eyes. How annoying. "So why are you just wandering around here? Shouldn't you be doing something? Or staying where he can see you?"
"I mean, X-ray vision? We're still in range. He'll keep glancing our way every now and then I'm sure."
Buttercup couldn't help but scoff at that. How annoying. If he was going to force them to all be here he should at least keep them corralled or all together so she wouldn't keep running into them like this. Hell, if Blossom had had any solid proof that Buttercup was behind the prank on the Citiesville she would have been locked up back home and not allowed to come.
Actually...that didn't sound half bad. Too bad it was too late.
"Whatever. I'm heading this way so stay away and we'll be all good," Buttercup said as she pointed to the direction the two had come from. Banger shrugged, clearly not caring, but Brat frowned and looked in that direction.
"No. I'm going to be wandering around here. Go elsewhere."
Banger raised an eyebrow at her but stayed quiet. Buttercup frowned.
"You two just came from there and everything's being taken apart. Why the hell would you keep wandering around here for? The only stuff still open is behind me. They need to clear this area up to make room for when people start showing up for the ceremony."
Brat huffed and crossed her arms. "I want to be here so I'm staying. If you don't hate it that much, then you're welcome to stay too."
Buttercup gave her a look. "The hell are you gunna do?"
"Same to you. Why would you even want to be over this way for?"
"So I don't have to do anything obviously."
"Well I don't want to do anything either."
"Uh, I'd like to get some food," Banger quipped only to be ignored.
"Well find another spot to do nothing then."
"You do that. I was here first."
"Then you've had your turn. Move along."
"No. I'm not done here."
Buttercup raised an eyebrow at that. "Not done doing nothing here? Kinda contradictory."
"Fuck off green."
"Okay, no need to get so angry blue butt. How about this, I'll stick to the left, you stick to the right?"
"No."
Buttercup narrowed her eyes and Brat simply raised an eyebrow. Banger held up his hands in defeat before walking off, clearly not wanting to deal with the two of them.
"Okay, well I'm fucking going over there so at this point you'll just have to deal."
"Find somewhere else. I was here first."
"Fuck no. Deal."
"No."
"Why the fuck not?" Brat looked off for a second and immediately Buttercup went on alert. "Why not Brat?"
She recovered quickly though and simply huffed, not looking too interested. "Cause I fucking said so. What other reason do I need?"
Buttercup watched her for a second but the blue had closed up tightly and there was no way Buttercup would get anything from trying to read her. Her gut was saying something was off though. For some reason, Brat didn't want her heading this way.
"What the hell are you up to?"
Brat scoffed. "I'm not up to anything."
Buttercup kept watching but still nothing. Frowned she turned to look behind Brat.
"Fine. I'll just find out for myself."
Brat frowned for less than half a second but that was all Buttercup needed. Something was up and Brat was in on it. And whatever it was was happening near the ceremony section.
Not wasting another second Buttercup quickly moved past Brat, shouldering her roughly as she did so, while scanning around. Brat clicked her tongue loudly and Buttercup could feel her watching but she didn't try to stop her. Even if she had tried, Buttercup wouldn't have stopped. Her gut said look so look she would. And they'd better hope she didn't find anything because if she did she'd have to tell Blossom.
And that could end very, very badly.
Why would Princess do this to him? Why? He hadn't stolen any of her food in a while and he was always nice…ish to her. So why. Why ask him to stay and start packing when it meant he was going to have to deal with Dicky Ricky? And then run away to help with other things? Butch had no patience at the beginning of the day. At this point? He was way below the zero mark.
"Come on man, I've seen you lift more than that in weights. You ain't slacking are you?"
Butch grit his teeth at yet another jab. If he carried more than this he'd need to adjust the strength of his grip and would risk ruining something. So yeah, he was carrying less than he was physically able to, but that was because he was being responsible!
"Leave it Ricky. I'll do an extra trip or two if you really want me to, but leave it with the load amount."
Merrick rolled his eyes and Butch grit his teeth at it.
"I bet if a certain puff were here you'd be lifting more. Can't help but wanna seem like the good boy you're pretending to be in front of her but as soon as she's gone? Back to the slacking huh?"
Well, if Buttercup were there he probably wouldn't be. So he'd probably actually be slacking if she was there instead of actually helping out. Buttercup hadn't been here when Princess realized they were behind though so here Butch was, stuck being helpful. With dick face.
"I'm not slacking. Lay off man, I mean it."
The other students were eyeing him cautiously and a good number of them had backed up even. One even ran to go try and find someone. Or to just run away. They knew him well enough from previous years to know when he was about to snap. Merrick didn't.
"Come on Butch. Let's be real. You can't help but wanna try and look good for her but all you'll ever be at heart is a criminal and you know it. I'm sure BC knows it too."
Butch froze at that before slowly turning to face Merrick who wasn't even really looking at him.
"…what was that?"
Merrick turned to look at Butch at that and smiled at the reaction he was getting.
"I said, you're nothing but a criminal and Buttercup knows it."
No. He'd said BC knows it. Butch had literally heard from her that she hates nicknames. Hell, she only put up with them from him cause he could take her in a fight and she knew him to well to bother trying to stop him at this point. Other people though? He'd heard her ask people not to use them before. He'd not really thought anything of it at the time but now that he knew that was a different story. Was it maybe hypocritical? Yeah. But he found he didn't really care.
"Nah man, what did you say, word for word?"
Merrick frowned at that before thinking for a second. "You can't help but wanna look good but all you'll ever be is a criminal and BC knows it."
Yeah. He was done. Butch dropped the load carelessly and in a flash of green was in Merrick's face.
"She hates nicknames asshole."
Merrick didn't even get a chance to blink before Butch threw him over his shoulders like a sac of potatoes and took off in a flash of green.
Blossom was near ready to start pulling her hair out. Why was everything going wrong? Even with Brick helping out and Blane doing what he could to organize people as well it still didn't seem like enough. Three supers and things were still crazy!
"Blossom, they're apparently all out of extra bulbs. Do you want me to run out and get one?" Robin asked as she came up to where Blossom was on the stage. The Farmsville senior president groaned as he buried his hands in his face apologizing profusely. Blossom ignored him.
"Can you see if Boomer or Bubbles are free yet? I'm worried there isn't enough time for you to head out and get them and get back. Roll call is in..." Blossom looked at her watch and felt the blood drain from her face.
Now. Roll call was now. They had 15 minutes tops before they had to start organizing the students for the ceremonies. Looking around she could already see people starting to gather. There wasn't even enough time for one of the blues to go get a bulb. They'd have to improvise.
"Robin, tell Brick to switch the blown bulb with one of the ones on the side. We'll just have to hope it'll be fine. There's still plenty of sunlight so I doubt anyone will even notice."
Robin had glanced at the time too and quickly nodded, her face also a little pale. She took off to find Brick while Blossom turned to face the president. She opened her mouth to say something only to stop as the she heard frantic footsteps coming her way.
"Blossom!"
Blossom turned to see Jackie running full speed at her. "Jackie. What's wrong?"
"Butch! Butch took Merrick and disappeared-!"
Blossom felt her face pale more than it already had. Oh that was very not good. She turned to the Farmsville president. "I need to go." She turned back to Jackie. "Which direction did he take off in?"
"I don't know! Maybe towards the center of Farmsville?"
Butch! She was going to murder him!
"Let Brick know."
And with that, Blossom took off in a flash pink. She seriously hoped he didn't do anything too stupid before she could get there. Either way though, Butch was in for a very nasty lesson.
Brick couldn't believe his ears.
"One more time? I'm…I just…please tell me you didn't say what I think you just said."
Jackie gulped as she nervously played with the corner of her shirt. "Butch um…he took off with Merrick. I told Blossom and she's gone to deal with it but…"
Yup. He was killing his brother. It was official.
"So Blossom left? But the students need organized! It's on us to take care of that while the seniors get ready for the ceremony!" Robin cried out. Princess was massaging a temple.
"I should have stayed to watch them taking things apart. Or better yet, gotten Buttercup to help. Damn it."
"No, Butch straight up shouldn't have been such an idiot. Which way did they go? I'll go take over and get her to-"
"Brick!"
Brick groaned. Now what? He turned to see Buttercup flying over the gathering crowds to get to him quicker.
"Buttercup I really don't have-"
"Somethings going on with the punks and I can't figure it out! I think they're messing with something!"
Fucking fuckers. Brick was about ready to burn everything down at this point. Screw the competition. It was clear who the winner was anyways. Just give him the damned trophy and let them go home at this point!
"Damn it! I'll go track them down. In the meantime, help these two with organizing the students!" Brick flew up at that to take off for the doors of the auditorium. It was going to be a nightmare sniffing those punks out with all these other people here.
"What? Me help? What about Blossom?"
Brick didn't have time to explain. He'd leave that lovely job to Princess and Robin. He had trouble to sniff out apparently.
Butch was really enjoying this. Like, he didn't know why he hadn't just done this at the beginning of the semester. It might have been fun toying with the dick at first but when his head started getting too big Butch really should have just stomped it out.
"Butch man! Please! I didn't mean it! I'll back off!"
Butch snicked at that as he looked at the guy hanging from the mouth of a gargoyle by the back of his shirt, his hands up above his head to try and grip onto the thing as well. Kinda cool that Farmsville had these. Originally Butch was going to find a really tall, pointy building but this was actually better. He snapped a few more pictures of Merrick's panicked and tear-streaked face.
"I dunno man. Just don't feel like you're being honest enough."
"Come on dude! I said sorry like a thousand times! I'm really regretting messing with your painting! I swear I won't do it again!"
Well, as nice as that was, Butch wasn't really in a forgiving mood. Plus, not like Merrick could actually even give an apology he'd accept right now since it wasn't really Butch that needed to be apologized to. But whatever. Even if he didn't hate the guy, and hate Merrick he did, there was zero way he was gunna say any of that.
"Okay. I'll let you down." Merrick sobbed in response and Butch let him have his moment before continuing on. "Maybe in an hour." Merrick sobbed again, this time sounding a little heartbroken. "If I'm really feeling nice. The results should be coming in around then though. Hmm, I'll think on- shit. Fucking shit! I am such an-!"
Blossom was in his face and throwing a punch before he could finished that sentence. He barely dodged it, losing his balance where he was sitting on the edge of the building, and needed a second in the air to correct himself. In that second, Blossom had zipped over to Merrick and grabbed him from the gargoyle. The guy clung to her like the pathetic bug he was.
"Butch. You are a complete and utter moron."
Yup. Pretty much. Butch had totally forgotten that Blossom was on high alert. He wondered how much this was gunna hurt. Cause it was gunna hurt. And bad. Shit.
"Blossy! Hey, what you doing here?" Butch said, wincing as his voice wobbled. Shit, he was really not looking forward to this. At least he was used to fire burns. Ice burns were such a pain in the ass!
"You and I are going to be discussing this. For now, I suggest we get back to where we're supposed to be."
Butch grimaced. Granted, she was carrying Dicky Ricky but the fact that she wasn't laying the discipline on now was not good. It meant she couldn't dish out what she wanted to right now. Which meant this was gunna hurt more than he'd been thinking it might. Fuck.
"Blossy, I was just-"
"Back. To the school. Now."
Butch did not like that. Man, there went all his plans for the next week.
"Blossom, I swear! It was all him! He needs to be put down like the mutt-"
"Merrick, I heard you admit to ruining Butch's painting and I'm not blind. I suggest you stay quiet. Just because I feel like, at this point, you've been punished enough, doesn't mean my mind won't change."
Merrick gulped at that and Butch smiled. Yeah, he was gunna hurt, but at least Blossom called the guy out on his bullshit too. That almost made what he was gunna be going through worth it. Butch was so lost in that thought that he almost missed the way Blossom glared at him.
"Do I need to repeat myself Butch?"
"No ma'am!" Butch hastily said as he saluted and took off for Farmsville High at top speed. Better not anger the puff leader anymore than he already had.
These idiots were proving annoying to track down. He'd scanned with his X-ray, although if Buttercup hadn't been able to find them he wasn't holding his breath, sniffed around, and even asked people. The consensus? Nobody knew where the punks were. Any of them.
Damn it. Brick had laid off on keeping an eye on them because Blane was there and they hadn't really pulled anything big this year prank wise. The one failed attempt was really nothing in their books. Even Berserk had been chill. He should have known better though. There was no way any of the punks would ever pass up a chance to wreak some havoc. Especially at a join school event.
Damn it all.
Brick scanned the area again as he sniffed the air. There were so many people there though that it was proving hard to pick out any one smell or make out any one person. This area was a bust too though and so Brick took to the air above the crowd to move to another area to check. They had to be somewhere nearby if they were making trouble.
Though, Brick couldn't help but wonder why he of all people was the one dealing with this. He got that Blossom had taken off, though he kind of would have preferred she sent him to deal with Butch, but wasn't Blane free enough to do this? What was that lazy ass even doing?
Brick reached the next area and took a deep breath only to catch a hint of something that he couldn't help but cough slightly at. Ugh, Brat's perfume was as strong as it had been the first time he caught a whiff. He'd been having to nearly hold his breath anytime he was anywhere near the blue punk. It made this little task that much easier though.
Brick dropped to the ground and began to follow the trail on foot. It wasn't easy to weave between the people but it was easier to pick up the trail down here. It took him a few minutes to figure out the right direction but once he had, he was off. The sooner he dealt with this, the sooner he could get back to making sure the damned ceremony went the way it was supposed to.
It didn't take Brick long to reach a door that had him frowning. This…was not good. They better not be doing what he thought they were cause if that was the case…
Man, why did he have to be stuck with this job? He didn't want to have to deal with the punks. Dealing with the punks usually lead to dealing with the rights and while Brick always enjoyed a good chance at demolishing them, this wouldn't be like in football season. Nah, he'd have to be careful or the puffs would be on him for being too destructive too. And considering he had a nice three year long streak going of not destroying a building in anger, he'd like to keep it going.
That said, Brick couldn't just stand out here all day either. Sighing, he went to open the door. What he saw once it was open…well, he wasn't very surprised.
"You three really are complete idiots," Brick said at the three brightly colored eyes looking at him.
Brute and Brawdy were standing over the count sheets with a pen each while Brat was off to the side of the room. In a row of three chairs were the students who were supposed to be tallying up the counts and across their laps was Brat. She had that faint glow to her that told Brick everything he needed to know.
While Brat had the worst X consumption rate for her special ability among all the supers, she had easily the trickiest ability. By simply being in physical contact with someone she could manipulate their perception by using her X to shift around the electrical impulses in their brains. Essentially, she could make people hallucinate whatever she wanted to.
Crack. "Shit."
Brick turned to look at Brute who had accidentally broken the clipboard with the tally count on it. He raised an eyebrow.
"Somehow I think a broken clipboard is the literal least of your problems right now."
There was a second of silence and no movement before, in a burst of green, Brawdy was launching himself at Brick.
"Brawdy! Don't-!"
The speed he was going though was slower than even Butch and so Brick casually stepped aside before looking at Brute who had reached a hand out as if to stop Brawdy. Unsuccessfully. He cocked his head back a bit.
"So. Not the easy way then." Brick couldn't help the savage grin at that. "Sounds like fun."
With that, Brick launched forward at Brute. He heard Brat yelling something but ignored her for now. He'd get to her soon enough though. Brute brought her arms up to block whatever Brick would try to throw at her but she was laughable slow about it. He began to throw a punch towards her face but switched as she moved to block to sweep her legs out from underneath her. Although she was able to catch the movement, she wasn't able to move fast enough to dodge the sweep and so Brick was able to completely take her legs out from underneath her. As expected, she went fumbling backwards, her flight kicking in to keep her from going totally down. Brick took advantage of that and grabbed the front of her shirt. He swung around and all but bowling balled her out of the room. Brawdy, who had been making his way back into the room, had the wonderful luck of being knocked down like a bowling pin.
Strike.
Brick turned to Brat who had floated off the laps of the people she had been manipulating to start charge at him. She was faster that her sister, yeah, but only barely as fast as Buttercup was. While Brick wasn't sure about how the powers were distributed among the Citiesville supers, it was still pathetic to see from a blue. He brought his fist up to redirect the punch away and as Brat opened her mouth to scream in his face, launched his hand at her throat. He was careful not to grab too hard but he didn't hesitate once he had a solid grip. He spun around and threw her out of the room as well. Sadly, Brute and Brawdy hadn't recovered so he'd missed his second strike of the night. Oh well.
A groan sounded and Brick spun to look at the students. They were coming out of the daze and looked reasonable addled. The Townsville High kid looked at him after trying to shake it off.
"Wha-what happened?"
Brick frowned. Well, he was coherent enough to talk. They'd be able to finish the count and fix things somehow.
"Don't worry about it. I'm dealing with it. The counts been messed with though. Fix it and finish up, quickly. They're probably already done with roll call."
The kid blinked a few times before nodding. "Right. Count was done. We were going to give the results but…something…no, someone?"
"Doesn't matter. If the counts done, then do what you need to and get the results to the class presidents asap."
Brick didn't bother waiting to hear a reply this time. He zoomed out of the room in a flash of red and looked around. Brat was already up and launching herself at him again looking kind of like a feral cat to be honest. She even had her claws out.
Flying to the side a bit, Brick brought up his hands to swat the angry clawed hands away but flinched as one of Brat's hands caught his arm. He couldn't glance at it but even without waiting for her to pull her hands back, he could smell blood. Which could be bad. If he was bleeding and Boomer was nearby this could get much, much uglier. There was no way Boomer would be able to shrug off a punk or a right hurting a ruff. He needed to wrap this up quick now.
With that in mind, Brick decided not too worry as much anymore about getting hurt. He took a breath in after a quick scan of the surroundings and, ignoring the incoming punch, let out a raging breath of flames right into Brat's face. Her fist grazed his chin as a screech of pain sounded. He stumbled back a bit in the air but it hadn't been as bad as he'd been expecting it to be. His fire breath had thrown Brat off target and frazzled the strength right out of her.
"You bastard! That's my baby sister your frying!"
Shit. Brick launched straight up the air to avoid the charging bull that was Brute. He glanced at Brat and frowned. He'd controlled his flame pretty well. Other than a few nasty burns that would heal within the next few days and maybe a burnt hair or two, Brat looked just fine. It wasn't anything to get that upset about. Hell, he'd eye beamed Bubbles in the face less than a year ago and the puff still hadn't been this mad.
Brute didn't take long to readjust and so Brick had to stop worrying about Brat. Brute launched straight at him glowing a faint green. She quickly started to accelerate and Brick couldn't help but curse himself. He'd forgotten her ability. Damn it, he should have dealt with her in one blow.
Trying to dodge, Brick made to move out of the way but Brute's acceleration, especially in a straight line and open space like this, was too much to avoid. She didn't even have to correct her trajectory, only having to hold her fist slightly further away from her body. Brick braced for the punch to the gut.
A loud crack sounded as the punch grazed his lower ribs, breaking them immediately on contact from the speed and force. He wouldn't have been surprised if Brute's own fist had even broken but wasn't able to dwell on that as he went flying up, the air going right out of him as well. He kicked his X up a notch to try and keep from flying too far away and couldn't be more thankfully that most of Farmsville was separate buildings with open walkways between them. There was no way he would have been able to avoid putting a whole in a roof if that hadn't been the case.
Once Brick had stopped, and managed to catch his breath again, he made to look back at Brute only to have to quickly dodge backwards as a fist came flying up at his face. Glaring out of the bottom of his eyes, Brick decided he was going to be a lot less generous for Brawdy then he had been for Brat. He formed a glowing fist and had to dodge another incoming fist before he could let off the energy blast right at Brawdy's stomach. The green right groaned as he bowed at the force and Brick immediately grabbed the back of his neck while being sure to put plenty of pressure on the pressure points there. Brawdy hissed at the pain but wasn't able to do much more before Brick took a deep breath, trying not to wince at the pain in his ribs from it, and let a near full powered fire breath off at the green right, not even caring that his hand would get hit too. He quickly let go and enjoyed the sight of the quickly dropping green right.
"Brawdy!"
A flash of blue zoomed under Brick and he couldn't help but curse his luck as Banger stopped with his brother in his arms and glared at him. Damn it all. This was not going well.
"Banger. Your brother and some of the punks were-"
"You got no fucking right ruff!" Banger yelled as he set Brawdy down gently on the ground. He stayed crouched for a second as his X built and Brick couldn't help but sigh. He took down one of them only for another one to show up. At this rate-
Banger launched for Brick only to be knocked right out of the sky as a streak of dark blue showed up.
Well fuck.
Boomer was near snarling at in the direction Banger had gone flying and Brick wondered how much damage there would be now. So much for trying not to ruin something.
"You fuckers. Who the hell do you think you are?!" Boomer snarled out. Brick dropped down to his level and winced as he saw the whites of his brothers eyes were a little bloodshot.
"Boom. Deep breaths. It's fine."
"Like fucking hell it is! I smelt blood!"
Boomer didn't wait for a reply before shooting off in a flash of dark blue for Banger again.
"Boomer! Stop! Damn it!" Brick yelled only to be completely ignored.
Banger bared his teeth before rushing to meet Boomer as well. Great. Just great. Two angry blues. Could this get any worse?
A yell sounded from his left and Brick turned to see Brat and Brute flying at him again. He couldn't help but grit his teeth at that. Why couldn't Brat have stayed down?! He was still playing nice damn it but if they kept this up they'd be leaving him with no choice.
Brute sped up at her exponential pace but with the space between them, and the fact Brick knew Brute couldn't easily change direction when using this power, he zipped off to the side and avoided the charging green. Brat was quickly following after and Brick didn't hesitate to send an eyebeam straight at her. She quickly zipped downwards to avoid it and Brick followed after her when she did so.
Not giving her a change to fully recover from the dodge, Brick sent an energy filled elbow into her back and sent her hurtling down to the ground. There. A little harsher but it would at least keep her down for a little while longer this time. Hopefully.
Brick glance at Boomer and Banger and groaned. Banger was slowly gathering a collection of electrical burns and Boomer had a bruise or two forming but neither looked like they were about to stop. That said, he couldn't deal with them just yet.
Turning, Brick saw Brute charging at her normal speed at him this time. She adapted quickly it seemed, much to his current disgust. He didn't wait for her to change her mind as she got into the same range as she was in the previous time she'd hit him. He zoomed over to her in a flash of red, a weak energy blast being sent at her. She batted it away with a growl and brought up her fist as Brick got closer. He caught it before it made contact with his face and yanked her forward.
Brute let herself be pulled in as she titled her head back. Gritting his teeth, Brick brought up his other arm to block the headbutt, a little pop sound going off as something, likely his arm, at least cracked. Great. He'd worry about who's bone cracked later. Moving quickly, Brick slid the potentially cracked arm to the side, catching the side of Brute's head as he did so. Not giving her a second he yanked her head to the side, unbalancing her in the air. Taking advantage of that, Brick quickly gathered energy in his fist and drove it into her stomach as hard as he could. She bowed before flying backwards at the force.
Damn. Hopefully she didn't fly into anything…or anyone. Maybe he should fly after her? Shit, too late. She was too far now.
"What on earth is going on?"
Brick spun around to see Blossom floating not far away as she glanced around, looking honestly horrified.
"Blossom. Look, I swear there's a reason for this," Brick started. Blossom turned to look at him, the horrified look shifting into a glare.
"I'd like to think there is. I sent Butch to the field to make sure everything was okay by the way. I didn't have time to deal with the punishment now. I also don't have time to deal with a super brawl."
Brick winced. It was a good thing that Butch wasn't there. Brick cast a quick look around but didn't see either Boomer or Banger. He tried not to dwell on that for too long in favor of getting to his explanation.
"They were using Brat's power to mess with the ballots so they could change the results to a Citiesville win I'm guessing. Buttercup thought something was off but couldn't find them so she came and got me. I was able to sniff them out before they finished."
Brick was more relieved than he'd like to admit as he watched her glare shift into a frown. "I see. I'm sorry I wasn't here to address that. I'm assuming they attacked when you found them?"
Brick nodded. "Yeah, and it just kinda got out of control. Speaking of out of control, they did some damage to me and Boom smelt blood. I might need to go find him before he kills Banger for it."
Blossom winced. "Please tell me he didn't go hardcore." Brick made a noise in his throat that she groaned at. "Find him quick-"
Brick saw the incoming blue blast and tried to get between it and Blossom who wasn't moving but was too slow. The blast hit her square in the shoulder and sent her spiraling. Damn, he'd known she was still pretty tired but to not notice an incoming blast at all? It was worse than he'd thought! Still, there was no way she'd stay spiraling for long and so Brick turned to glare down at Brat.
"Oops," She said with a careless shrug. Brick saw red and gathered energy to start flying her way only to stop as a dark pink flash placed Berserk between the two.
"What. The fuck. Is going on?!"
Brick blinked at that as he watched Berserk glare at Brat who pouted back.
"Not much. Just…you know-"
"How the fuck would I know Brat? I specifically told you no trouble and yet here you are and I see fucking trouble."
"…I mean, it isn't that bad."
"You legit just blasted Blossom out of the sky! Yeah, she might be tired enough for you to get one shot in but what the fuck do you think is going to happen afterwards?!"
Brick stuffed his hands in his pockets. Yeah, he wanted to pulverize Brat himself and he really needed to go find Boomer but this? This was entertaining and confusing as hell. What the hell was even going on?
"It's Blossom though. I thought-"
"You thought fucking wrong! Damn it!" Berserk turned away from Brat at that and glared at Blossom as she flew to a stop not far away.
"Brick, didn't you have a brother to find?" Blossom said, not even glancing at him.
Brick hesitated for half a second. Blossom was pissed but she was also tired. Could she take potentially two punks? Then again, he really, really did need to find Boomer.
Well, if it got real bad she could yell for one of her sisters. They were probably close enough for that.
Decision made Brick nodded and, after one last glance, took off for where he could hear the faint sound of fighting hoping it was Boomer and Banger. Blossom would likely be fine but Banger definitely wouldn't be for much longer. He'd wrap things up quickly with his brother and get back here quick. And if things went sideways before he got back?
Well, Boomer was already in hardcore mode and Brick wasn't sure he'd want to stop his brother twice in one day. Hell, he'd likely end up joining in for old times sake at that point. So things better not go sideways.
Berserk was watching her carefully, neither of them even glancing at Brick as he took off. Blossom could see Brat still pouting not far from her sister and felt more than a little annoyed. There was no way Berserk was going to let her return the surprise she'd just received in kind. Adding in that the punks had been causing trouble and both of them were stuck.
Not that they needed to be. Now that Berserk was here, all she had to do was order her sisters down and then let Blossom make a simple phone call to their principal. Sadly, while the phone call would inevitably happen, Berserk was not likely to order her sisters down. In fact, if Blossom knew her as well she thought she did, Berserk was more likely to start a fight that neither of them seemed particularly interested in having.
It wouldn't matter though. Brick had been fighting with the punks and even if it had been for the right reasons, Berserk couldn't just let that slide. It would hurt her pride as a leader, and as an elder sister, too much.
"Well Berserk?" Blossom asked as she floated there. Berserk curled a lip at that.
"Always in such a rush Pink Stuff. Maybe you should really ask daddy dearest to invent you a chill pill. You need one. Clearly."
Blossom sighed at that. Nothing could ever just be easy.
Berserk didn't wait much longer before launching at Blossom, Brat thankfully staying where she was. Blossom decided it was only polite to meet her halfway and took off at full speed towards Berserk as well.
Berserk lifted a fist and Blossom frowned. That was too forward for her. Getting ready to block it all the same, Blossom glanced at her other hand and caught a glimpse of Berserk's foot instead. Although she had tried to hide it but there was a small vortex forming around it and Blossom managed to keep from grimacing. Already breaking out the special abilities. This was not going to end pretty.
Well. If that's how Berserk wanted to play it, Blossom would just have to be kind enough to return the favor. Even if she hated to use her ice this way.
Still moving to catch the dummy fist, Blossom dropped the temperature in her hand by manipulating her X. Berserk didn't even glance at the now wispy ice vapors coming off the frozen fist and so Blossom was able to catch the fist with her hand cold enough to burn. Berserk flinched with a light groan, the air around her foot blasting off in another direction in the process. Blossom frowned but could only hope it wouldn't hit someone. Thankfully, this area was pretty much empty except for them.
"Fuck!" Berserk exclaimed lightly as she looked at the hand. Blossom frowned at it too. Even though she didn't so much as 'feel' the cold, this was still exceptionally unpleasant. Her blood in the hand had stopped flowing and although they'd needed a second, her nerves were even too cold to really perceive anything anymore. Which meant that the knife-life pain she was feeling at this point was all phantom pain. The whole hand had even begun to turn a sickly white-yellow color from the total lack of blood flow. Letting it de-thaw, which would probably need Brick's help actually, was not going to be enjoyable. At least it wasn't her dominant hand.
"Now that's just nasty," Berserk couldn't resist saying with a look at Blossom who couldn't help but just sigh.
"Not my favorite thing to do but I saw that you decided not to play nice, so I thought it only fair to return the favor."
Berserk let her lip curl again. "Ugh, do you always have to be so goodie-goodie?"
Blossom raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure my freezing my hand to freeze yours isn't actually very goodie-goodie."
"It is when your reason for it was because I played dirty first."
Blossom rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say Berserk."
Berserk opened her mouth and Blossom expected another snarky comment. What she got instead was a full-blown sonic scream. Yelping, Blossom pulled her hand back and made to pull away but Berserk followed, her other hand pulling back for another punch. Blossom didn't have time to pull another trick like she had, and she really didn't want to mess with her writing hand so close to finals, but didn't feel it would be fair to just simply block the punch. So she let off a quick but weak eyebeam right into Berserk's face.
Berserk was the one yelping this time and pulled back quickly, her hands, one covered in frost burns, going up to her face. Blossom took this time to check her ears. They both pulled their hands away to look for blood. Blossom didn't see any thankfully but she was hearing an obnoxious ringing sound that she knew she would be stuck with for the next 24 hours at least. Looking at Berserk she was mildly relieved to see she hadn't caused any major damage either. Despite that, Berserk was clearly not happy after that.
"Alright Bossy boo. No more kid gloves."
Drats.
Berserk launched at Blossom, a gale quickly being drawn in around her. Blossom took a breath in, letting her own storm brew in her lungs. She was about to let it all out but stuttered at the look on Berserk's face. She wasn't looking at her? Who was she-
Blossom felt something collide with her back knocking the air right out of her. Unfortunately, her air had been a fully powered icy gale and the suddenness of it had caused her to lose control on it. Everything she had been building in her lungs quickly flew out and the world around her turned white as frost blasted out in every direction, most of it blasting right at Berserk. The sudden hit while she'd been building her ice breath had affected her whole body though and whoever had hit her back was going to suffer for it. She could hear a screech of pain as they both started to drop, Blossom's vision temporarily blacking out as the frost moved through her body.
Thankfully, it had been a short enough blast that her body didn't go into a full shut-down. Blossom pulled up and grabbed at the dropping body that had hit her from behind with a grunt. Looking down Blossom couldn't help but glare at a now frost covered Brute. Not just once but twice a punk had managed to catch her unaware. She was slipping from all the stress of the past semester. That was very not good.
Well, the semester was almost over at least. Blossom could worry about recovery once summer hit. In the meantime though, she had punks to deal with. Brute was looking down at the ground and Blossom looked to see what she was looking at only to sigh. Berserk had dropped like the frozen rock she currently was. This…might be a problem. A second later and Brat was next to the statue that was Berserk in a panic.
Blossom dropped down and Brute shook her off as soon as they hit the ground to stumble her way to her sister. Both non-frozen punks were approaching blind panic and Blossom couldn't help but sigh at that.
Which, thinking about it, had probably not been the wisest of moves. Both Brat and Brute turned to glare at her.
"You froze her! She can't breath! You killed her!" they were both yelling.
"Stop! She's fine! I promise. I've frozen Butch and Boomer once or twice and they're still okay right?"
Neither punks were listening anymore though and launched at her. Too tired to deal with this anymore, and more than a little annoyed now, Blossom didn't waste any time. Brat got an elbow to the face sending her down with a broken nose and Brute got a kick to the shin as she tried to zoom past with her ability causing the green to tumble along the ground painfully.
"Knock it off! She's fine! I promise! Look, her eyes are even following you two!"
Bother punks spun to see that Berserk's eyes were indeed following them. They were also starting to glow brighter as energy built up in them. A few seconds later and the same was happening all around Berserks' body. While Brick might be the only one of them with actual fire powers, all of them could generate heat with the energy beams and blasts. It would take her a minute to fully melt out but that wasn't anything dangerous for one of them. She would end up with some nasty full body burns that would take a bit to heal though.
Blossom couldn't help a small smile at that. She might said she had moved past the hair incident but all said and done she'd been somewhat hoping for the chance to return the favor. She hadn't meant to freeze Berserk solid but, well, she wasn't exactly going to feel bad about it either. This small revenge was satisfying enough that maybe she would actually be able to let the hair incident go.
Assuming Berserk didn't just charge at her once she thawed out. Right. Time to try and actually get this under control.
"Okay you three. Brick told me that two of you were manipulating the count by using your powers on non-powers. As you know, that is very not allowed. I will be calling to inform your principal about this. Normally I'd say this is grounds for a long suspension but as we're at the end of the semester and finals are next week for all of us, that likely isn't going to happen. Instead, I'll recommend forced community service for the summer. Twenty hours a week at least should be a good starting point although considering Citiesville's stance on powers I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be longer."
Berserk was nearly done thawing but it didn't look like she was going to charge. Thankfully. It was likely because the state she was in…and the fact that both of her sisters had caught Blossom off-guard. Something that Blossom was likely not going to live down anytime soon. Wonderful.
"In the meantime, I think it best if you all just take off for home. After I make the call I'll make sure to inform Blane. He can decide for his brothers if that is a fair enough punishment as well or if they deserve something else."
"…Banger didn't do anything. He had nothing to do with this," Brat said quietly. Brute huffed but didn't refute it. Blossom raised an eyebrow at that but decided not to comment.
"Fine. I'll make sure to let Blane know that it's just Brawdy that was involved in this. Any punishment that Banger deserves he's…likely got if I'm assuming correctly in who Boomer is…hopefully was fighting."
Brat winced and looked away. That was answer enough. Blossom rubbed at a temple as Berserk finished defrosting.
"Well? Is this acceptable? Or did you want to continue?" Blossom asked. She couldn't take all three of them so if they wanted to continue…
"Nah, we've caused our havoc for the day. We'll take off. Brat, Brute."
The two glared one last time at Blossom before taking off leaving just Berserk standing there. Blossom frowned at the visible burns. Maybe she had enjoyed the small revenge moment but now…
Blossom opened her mouth but Berserk held up a hand.
"Can it Pink Stuff. I'm not interested. Let's just say we're even, you make your call, and we leave it all at that."
Blossom watched Berserk for a moment before nodding. "Fine. Even. But if what happened before or this time happens again-"
"Like hell it will. I won't be making a repeat. I'll make sure those two learn their lesson too. Now if you don't mind, I'm leaving. I seriously hope that I don't have to see your face any time soon."
And with that Berserk blasted off after her sisters with maybe a touch too much force. Blossom frowned but would take it. She had other things that needed handled anyways. Such as a phone call she really kind of was secretly maybe going to enjoy.
Princess was eyeing her and she was trying to ignore it but she had a feeling she knew what was coming. Normally she wouldn't mind but all the others were still around and Blossom wasn't so sure she wanted them to hear… She should have just flown back instead of letting herself be talked into the bus. Bubbles would have thrown a fit but she'd almost rather that then what was sure to come.
"So," Princess started and Blossom winced. "Happy that you got what you wanted?"
Bubbles and Buttercup turned at that, the rest of their friends sitting around them not yet paying attention. Blossom hoped it would stay that way.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Blossom said as she turned to look out the window.
"Ha! Sure you don't. So, happy or not?"
Blossom pouted. Trust Princess to not leave it alone. Weren't they friends now? Why did she have to do this?
"Happy about what? What did Bloss want?" Bubbles asked as she leaned over the back of her seat to look at them both a bit easier.
"Ignore her Bubbles. Princess is just being Princess."
Buttercup had turned in the isle was looking around the side of her seat at the fully now. "What's she being Princess about?"
The ruffs were starting to look over now and Blossom swore that even Robin and Mike who were sitting behind them were even beginning to pay attention too.
"It's nothing."
"You didn't tell them."
Princess spoke at the same time as Blossom and they frowned at each other.
"Please don't."
"Oh, I'm so going to."
"I'd appreciate if you didn't."
"Why Blossom, are you saying that you actually don't want me to be honest? How so very un-puff of you."
"Okay, you're reminding me of times we've both moved way past."
"Hmmm, fair. Still going to tell them."
"You promised you wouldn't!"
"Ah-ah. Nope. I promised I wouldn't show them the notebook. I didn't say anything about not actually telling them."
"That's so not fair. The notebook wasn't even me!"
"Okay, stop!" Buttercup yelled. Blossom and Princess bother looked at her. "I need an explanation. What notebook weren't we supposed to see? What did leader girl here not want you telling us? I gotta know now."
Blossom really didn't like that smile on her sister's face.
"Yeah, same! Deets!" Butch added from where he sat next to Brick. Boomer was leaning in and Brick was leaning forward to look at them as well.
Blossom sent Butch a nasty glare and he snapped his mouth shut. He still had paying up to do and if he opened his mouth one more time to encourage this she was going to seriously-
"Well Princess? Gunna leave us hanging or tell us?" Brick asked, eyebrow raised. Blossom glared at him for it but went essentially ignored. Oh what she wouldn't give for her glare to work on him now of all times.
"Well, you see, after that prank last year? While you lot were all on edge and moody? You remember how Robbie was too busy calming you lot down with Mitch and Mike? Well, even though everyone knew I would so not help the situation, I was sent to keep Blossom here company. And of course, being the great friend that I am, I wanted to help the one way I knew how."
"Oh please just don't Princess."
Princess ignored her.
"And nobody knows revenge better than me. So, I got her planning and we wrote down the whole thing."
"At least be honest about it when you tell the story! That plan that you wrote down was all you! I was so embarrassed that you even wrote it down! And then it went missing and my sisters found it! Do you know how embarrassed I was when they thought it was me that came up with that?!"
"Wait, hold up. You mean it wasn't you?" Buttercup asked. Blossom huffed.
"Of course not. I hate pranks."
"But it was your handwriting!" Bubbles yelled. Princess laughed.
"Wow, our handwriting is so similar your own sisters can't tell it apart."
Blossom glared at her.
"But why the hell would that be in your desk for your sisters to find?" Brick asked looking slightly annoyed for some reason.
"It had my math notes in it. I hadn't had a chance to transcribe them over yet!" Blossom huffed out. Half of them all groaned at that and Blossom shot them all weird looks. "Why does it matter anyways? It's not like…wait a second. You all didn't-"
"But see the best part was that Blossy here had a revenge plan she didn't write down," Princess cut in with a smirk. That got everyone's attention and Blossom quickly lost her train of thought.
"Princess!"
"Oh come on Blossom. It wasn't like it was evil or anything. It was so you and you got what you wanted didn't you?"
Blossom groaned as she buried her face in her hands, ignoring the stiff twinge in her left one, to hide what she knew was a blush at this point. There was no getting out of it now. She was doomed.
"Well? What was it?" Bubbles excitedly asked. Blossom peaked through her fingers to see way too many smiles and grins. Robin and Mike were definitely listening in and she had no doubt that Mitch was listening in from where he sat behind her at this point as well.
"To straight up show her who the tougher super was. I'm just sad I missed the beat down. Seeing you freeze Berserk to the bone would have been so satisfying to watch."
And that was when the chaos she'd been expecting erupted.
"What?! You froze Berserk to the bone?!"
"A beat down? Really? You could have done that ages ago."
"Man, so what was all that work we did for?"
"Damn it, why'd I have to go and loose it over freaking Brick bleeding here and miss that?"
"Of course that's what you wanted. Of. Course."
Yup. Blossom was done. She shouldn't have told Princess anything, including how the fight with Berserk went. As the noise picked up and the questions really started in kind, Blossom decided on a big, fat nope. She threw the window open, unbuckled her seatbelt, ignored the exclamations and cackling from Princess and flew right out the window.
Did it solve the problem? No. They'd all flood her with questions when they got back. Was Bubbles going to come after her for ruining bonding time? Definitely. Did Blossom care? Not at this moment she didn't. And if she couldn't help but smile a little at the reminder she'd just had of her little revenge moment, well, not like anyone had followed after her to see it at least.
Bam! So originally Butch didn't loose it and Blossom had a fight with the punks in front of everyone and kicked butt...and then I realized that made NO sense. Butch doesn't have self-control like that and Blossom's too tired to take on three supers, even if they aren't skilled fighters like the puffs. So I re-wrote it.
Also, Brick only had hair lines fractures which they found out when they got back. He wasn't in too much pain when the adrenaline wore off though so he knew it wasn't serious which was why he also was on the bus.
Its just adi! I'm glad you're enjoying! Yes, it's getting real. Like I said, going into the final part and I plan to make it a ride! Hope you enjoy it.
Artemis Raven Courtney! Haha I never thought about that! And seeing as how, per canon, they should be fine in space they don't even have to have it on earth. Twilight style baseball taken to the next level! I love the speculation. Not gunna speak on it, but I love it! I will say, don't hold your breath on Brick. He had a light wake up call but he also has years of habits to break down. I don't plan to make it easy for him either, mwahaha.
Like I said, I barely have anything drafted and I need to take a bit more time with what I do have as we go into the final part. That means I will NOT have another chapter up in two weeks. I need some time and I'm still in the middle of my summer semester so I don't have a lot of that. I will have more up as soon as it's ready though! If anyone has anything they want me to do an extra on, lemme know! It would be a nice break while also writing for this story. I hope to have a few extras that I wrote previously up during this break to keep you all going. Until next time everyone. Ciao!