A/N: Fun fact: This chapter would have been out two weeks ago had my Gmail not been compromised and lost forever. Please enjoy this next installment.
And I'm very much aware that I'm going to piss off a good amount of you fans with these upcoming chapters. Your complaints will be noted, but the story will follow a particular outline.
Channeling The Saiyan Spirit
Chapter Two: Something's boiling
It wasn't uncommon for Frieza to summon Prince Vegeta on a whim.
But when it happened, it usually wasn't for any sort of good news.
Frieza's throne room was quiet, ventilated with the freshest smelling scent, and filled with twilight and if not for the assortment of stars, Vegeta would have never seen the small frost demon.
But here at that particular time, it was an odd occurrence like the evil bastard had not planned for him to hear the message on the coms.
How did Raditz get mixed up in this mess?
Tsk… he slightly felt jealous, rebelling against Frieza was a vivid dream of his—one of which he'd execute whenever the chance arose.
Sound and clear, he heard something that shook his entire being to the core—though it wasn't because of any of those pathetic emotions—it was a more wrath-felt emotion.
So Raditz found his daddy, huh…and thus that meant Kakarot's pitiful ass father as well. That didn't seem really all that possible…
He was considered dead with the rest of the saiyans.
Frieza floated there in his hovering throne, not even so much as turning away from the windshield that gave a grand view of the cosmos, never turning to face Vegeta.
What was with crazy bastards and silently staring out of windows like inebriated puppies?
"Ooh, he sounded awfully angry…that Bardock." Frieza laughed, holding a small glass of purple liquid in a fine-dining glass "But Atlas, a delusional maniac, is just a delusional maniac."
But Vegeta didn't take it as a joke, nor did he share the same sentiments, the prince flipped his cape and silently stood, lost in thought, and worked to control the anger swelling within.
Bardock…
It was a saiyan name…one he'd heard from his father many times before. A low-class saiyan who didn't know his place.
Someone who dared try to rival royalty.
Just like Kakarot.
"Surely, you don't believe such a nonsensical conspiracy theory."
"Hm."
Perhaps he did…
"Planet Vegeta was struck by a giant asteroid in what we'd all come to know as the most embarrassing disaster in the entirety of the Frieza empire. You don't even have to ask any of my scholars or historians—you were alive when it happened." Frieza swished the glass in his hand, taking a sip off-screen. Then the tyrant turned and Vegeta fell to one Knee.
"Of course, how foolish of Raditz to be convinced so easily by some random scoundrel who claimed to be his father."
He wanted no more than to reach over and take any grin he could imagine off his gave "Ho-ho, yes, quite. Foolish indeed, hmmm. You know Vegeta, my dear prince, I'm actually happy you're the one who stayed back to keep me company. I have an offer that I know someone with your blood couldn't possibly pass up."
"Really, now? I'd be very interested in this offer." He stayed on his knee, remaining as formal and still as possible while attempting not to vomit up his lunch.
"Aren't you gonna ask about it? 'What is this crazy offer that lord Frieza is so graciously bestowing on me?' Hm?…"
He hated that high-pitched voice.
He hated the arrogance surrounding Frieza.
Bastard didn't know what was coming to him next.
Good. It was better that way.
"What is it?"
The chair churned with a mechanical noise, allowing Frieza to do an entire aboutface, so that his small stubby face could be inclined with his—there was a constant smile, something that made his heart pound with absolute rage.
"It has come to my attention that my power is in decline! I mean, in the last six months my power level had dropped by an entire 20,000 thousand, a significant figure really…it is horribly embarrassing, actually Prince Vegeta. Which is exactly why I will be taking you with me on my next training regiment. Beautiful, yes?"
Frieza wanted to take Vegeta to train with him?
What?
He'd never heard of Frieza training with anyone, but himself.
Perhaps Raditz had said something about it, but the prince had passed over the warning from his subordinate.
Frieza had a plan, something devious—something underneath that mask—it was all a game to him and there was always more to the game than just the surface level.
"I'm interested…"
"Of course you are! You would love a chance at more power, wouldn't you? You'll be my training partner…it'll be quite the endearing experience."
No, Vegeta didn't like how Frieza said it…nor did he like the gleam in his eyes, but against his better judgment "This is an honor, I'll finally get to show myself against the mighty lord Frieza."
"Oh yes, yes. I'm looking forward to this, just as much as you." Frieza's tail hit the floor and a tremor shook the ship, Vegeta remained like a statue only tilting his head as he stared his supposed master directly in the eye.
He looked forward to getting his hits in on the bastard, that was for sure!
There had solemnly ever been a period in Brick's life where he actually thought he and his boys couldn't win a battle.
A thousand feet above ground and Brick finally understood why a normal person would be terrified of being in that exact position.
Really put things into perspective.
Life or death…that was.
In short, maybe he and his boys shouldn't have gotten involved.
Why did they get involved?
Shit.
The hum of the helicopters irked and he was just as aggravated as a honey badger with his head stuck in a bee's nest.
It was lunchtime and his stomach was rumbling.
And the freaking alien that had been toying with the Powerpuff, yes the same superheroes that the Ruffs typically draw with while in battle, had his head blown off like a sledgehammer to a pumpkin.
Brick did not like this one bit.
The Ruffs looked at them.
And they looked at Ruffs.
And the Ruffs looked at them.
"Um, Brick…yo, Brick? What do we do?" Boomer whispered looking at Butch for reassurance but, at some point, Butch had decided it was a good idea to approach the two aliens with the ape tails.
Brick shook himself back to Earth "We're supposed to run—Hey, Butch, what the hell are you doing?! While holding Buttercup and Major Asshat? Really?"
But no, in green sweatpants and a tank top, ignored him looking the part of the ignorant tough talker.
"You two think you can just come in here causing shit on my goddamn planet! I'll put these two down and we can get busy! Tell me, what the hell are you doing on my planet?!"
"Huh?" Wind was emanating from one of them "Who the hell do you think you're talking to, Earth grub?" The tall one with the long spiky hair addressed Butch with a dismissing frown, towering over him by only about an inch. "Do you want to die? Because I was brought here to kill you all after all… it would be a pleasure."
The long-haired invader pointed his hand directly in Butch's face, a glowing yellow sphere manifested, letting out a squeal that sounded like a laser being shot through a cave of glass.
"Eyes on the birdie…" it said.
Brick moved his eye beams ready as he threw Blossom to Boomer and fearlessly charged forward, Butch would be done for—Brick knew an overwhelming opponent when one fell out of space.
But he couldn't let his brother die alone!
And his attempts weren't to fight, no he knew better!
SNATCH!
The rockstar-haired alien's wrist was caught by the red-bandana space invader who had killed the ugly purple freak, this guy then took his index and poked Butch shooting him into Brick, forcing the air out of his breath when they collided.
Major Glory and Buttercup came out of Butch's hand, descending like falling ragdolls.
Boomer was gone in a flash of blue!
Brick Recovered, pushing Butch from his personal space fist ready as he watched the scene before him.
"You don't work for Frieza. So, there's no reason to continue his work."
This guy in the red bandanna was not playing games, every muscle in the rockstar-looking dude's body flexed and bulged with veins, shaking against the grip but the other guy remained planted and unmoving.
"The Earthling doesn't know his place, father, and what of it if I killed one or three of them? Nobody cares about this backwater planet!" his eyes flashed to Brick, who pulled himself together enough once the pain subsided.
"No. This is war on Frieza, not Earth!" His grip tightened when he said it, and the ball in Raditz's hand blinked out of existence.
Brick winced, but Butch held his chest wincing like he'd taken a full-on roundhouse kick from Buttercup.
Which reminded him….
The puffs and Major Glory ended up rearranged across Boomer's arm and shoulder.
"So, what now, we just fly away and find a nice mountain to train on until Zarbon or Dodoria show up?"
"You know, that doesn't sound half bad."
"Tsk…there's something wrong with you father, I knew it the moment I saw you."
"Oh, shut up, we're leaving!"
"Wh-where the hell—are you guys going?" Butch was up again and battle-ready apparently "I didn't get throw you down!"
Oh geez.
"Look, this one must certainly want to die because he's up trash talking again! And I should have mercy on it?"
"Butch, stop being a fucking idiot!" Brick scolded, grabbing his shoulder and pulling back towards Boomer and away from the aliens.
But Butch didn't like that and flinging his arm away and shoving Brick "Don't touch me! When did you get so soft? When did you guys get so soft?! We're the fucking RowdyRuff boys! Where does it look like we're being fucking rough?!"
The red-eyed leader shoved back with a bit more force which of course lead to Butch doing the same…
Thankfully he could count on Boomer to be on his side, who yelled and shook "Guys stop! Butch don't challenge the scary-looking dudes! You gotta know when we're cooked! The Puffs couldn't handle the first big fish, right? And we usually draw with the puffs…So what makes you think we can beat the bigger fish that ate the original big fish?! It's freaking simple!"
"You're being a wuss. A Bunch of weak wusses! Nobody comes to our city! Our place of business and causes mayhem! Old Brick would never let this rock!"
The last shove, Brick curled his hands around his collar, Butch grabbed his wrist in an attempt to break but the rage Brick felt and its enhanced strength made the toughest Ruff's eyes dilate.
The wind hit them extremely heavily at that moment, more and more sirens and spotlights flashed across them and his eyes.
Bop!
Butch knocked his head into Brick, which sent him down and had him disoriented for a second before blinking away the stars in his and in a blast of Red coming right back up and slamming a fist so hard into his little brother's jaw, he went up towards the heavens, but Butch was resilient if anything—he was back in a snap, wiped his lip and then the two ran at one another and exchanged at least a thousand blows, as everything in their path moved as the entire sky became their battlefield, red and green bouncing off one another sending tremors through the atmosphere with each hit.
Everything and everyone moved out of their way until, after what felt like an eternity, they caught each other's hands, neither brother being able to break through the other's strength.
"S-top!" Brick yelled looking Butch in the eyes "STOP!"
They let go of each other, the auburn-haired teen glaring into his younger brother's angry forest green heat lamps.
"When do we ever run from a fight, Brick!?"
"When our opponents can one-shot!"
Whoosh!
The wind pelted them as the warrior roared, his face in a heated scowl "Earthlings! Listen up! We didn't come here for your planet, we came here for the ones who did!"
"Okay, cool guy, who are the ones who did? No reason to speak in code." Brick couldn't help but ask
but his answer…"Hm. I'm not here to answer all of those questions. What do I look like?"
Nice…
With a squint of his nose, red eyes narrowed "What was that?!"
"The fact of the matter is, your planet is under siege, and at this very moment, you guys don't stand a single chance at survival!"
That made his heart lose rhythm.
"We'll take on anyone that gets in our way. You included!", Butch confirmed.
"Get stronger first—no, I won't kill you. You're weak! -You hear me? Weak! You can't pick a fight with the likes of me at your strength." the invader with the red bandanna jammed his jump into his "I have no use for the weak and as long as you're in that state, you'll always be useless.
A vein burst in Brick's forehead, but he knew he couldn't chance a fight.
"I'll show you weak, you tailed fucking bastards!"
"Butch!" Boomer and Brick yelled, Brick flashing to Butch and dragging him by his shirt.
"Let's go!" Brick pulled him towards a slow retreating Boomer holding the injured heroines and hero, finally getting enough leverage to pull the green-eyed meathead and finally continue their journey to Mojo's with a swarm of helicopters following close behind.
When it was only him and Raditz, Raditz glared down at his father.
"I don't know who you are—but the stories of Bardock said he was ruthless. Psst." Raditz spat "This isn't any bit ruthless! I bet you don't even want to kill those aircraft buzzing around us!"
The hover of the primitive aircraft was starting to get on his nerves.
"No. That won't help."
"You told insignificant worms who'll never amount to anything to 'get stronger' knowing damn well for them—that's impossible!"
"Impossible?" The saiyan father gripped his fist, holding back the urge to dish out a punch to his son's face "How did you get as strong as you did, Raditz? I don't remember you being all too much more special as a child!"
His son who needed a major haircut scowled "I did a tour on Yardrat. Kakarat and I, actually—the moron refused to kill anyone—some mumbo jumbo about it being their home. He was weird like that and this situation is reminding me too much of him. Strong and fierce warrior—we would have taken the planet faster if all our men didn't die. Eventually, Frieza just opted to toss in the Ginyu force."
"Strong and fierce…good."
Like his father.
"Yes, but I'm afraid he has been indoctrinated entirely."
What?
"He's weird, is what you mean."
"He doesn't act in a manner presentable of a saiyan warrior. He's seriously let thousands live simply because they're 'innocent' " he did quotations with his fingers. "Sort of what you're doing here father. I bet you won't even let me kill these nosy pests buzzing around us."
Kakarot lets people live.
For some reason he grinned.
Maybe it had something to do with Gine—
Then he remembered what Raditz told him
The stupid primitive aircrafts…
But…Why kill them?
"I want to make an alliance. Us" Bardock jammed a thumb into himself and jammed his index into Raditz "and Earth! And if Earth proves to have some decent fighters, we'll be able to train enough to aid me in finally killing Frieza!"
"You had me at, kill Frieza. But your method's a little—let's just say this approach isn't in my handbook."
"Living on this rock for a while doesn't sound pleasant, but I'm full-on ready and prepared to destroy every ounce of that race-killing bastard."
"Then what are we waiting for? I get to see what all the fuss was about the great Bardock who rivaled king Vegeta." Somewhere in his son's words were a second meaning….he understood that much, but where and what was a different question.
"All that and much more. I'm a lot stronger than I was—back then."
Because he still wasn't quite sure how much time had passed for Raditz.
A chuckle from Raditz "And if you weren't…I'd be disappointed. Maybe you're what I need to get the edge over Nappa."
"…the prince's 'entourage'?"
"He's strong."
"Tsk. To you."
"Which will be rectified soon enough, mark my words."
"Then enough talk, here! I'll let you pick our training spot."
The hum of one of the aircrafts almost made Bardock break his own rule it was, yeah it was that annoying, but instead he saw the first genuine smile from his son.
"That forest over there." Raditz index went out to a large expanse of green Earthly growth that breached past the limits of the city. "Perfect for us to get a small glimpse of the increase in our destructive power."
"Okay, perfect—a few miles out too, to lose these chumps." Bardock then charged up before blasting straight past the aircraft leaving them with turbulence as he left them in the wind.
Now, who would have guessed this situation?
Bubbles could barely move, her strength was zapped and every damn injury and wound on her body scream from the constant throbbing.
She almost didn't know she was unconscious or sleeping.
Everything had been dreamless, not even darkness, just nothing…then the current moment.
For a second prior, nothing mattered.
For a moment prior, there had been no pain or explosion or death or aliens!
But fantasy proved to be more believable than reality.
People had died today, and they had been helpless to stop it.
—Powerless
And…There was someone on top of her—
Weirdly enough, the smell of strawberries gave away that it was Blossom before she even opened her eyes.
Everything was odd, yet familiar. Walls reinforced with metal with weird circle windows that let in just a gleam of light.
Across from her, on a rather luxurious couch, she might add, laid Major Glory and Bubbles got to witness Butch literally tossing her upon him like some random newspaper.
Her body chilled down to the bone.
It was Mojo's lair…
Great.
"Could it be? Could this be?" Her eyes went up, far off towards the entrance, she caught a clean glimpse of the Ruffs flashing around the room, while Brick walked directly up to Mojo, who in that very hour had the proudest daddy face "Have my—amazing, fierce and obedient sons done what I have been able to do, since the inception of those insidious—Powerpuffs! Oh, and Major Glory."
Insidious was definitely ironic…Why use that word of all words?
"No. It's not what you think. Pops listen, I know you've heard about what's going on downtown and at Townsville high." Brick had the sternest expression she'd ever seen him cast.
In response to Brick, Mojo looked at him for a few ticks, Butch and Boomer then landed next to Brick and he also looked at them for a second "Oh—yes! –Of course. Psst! Of course, I know what's going on in Townsville, I am Mojo-Jojo!"
At least he was still a funny Monkey, Bubbles thought.
"Dude, he doesn't know…" Boomer slapped himself.
"Get a grip pops." Butch headed towards the kitchen, he probably had a really large appetite, but strangely the boy suddenly paused in his steps.
"You seriously weren't aware of the turmoil on Townsville?"
"Turmoil in Townsville? Without me? How?"
"Aliens." Brick said.
And Mojo looked heated, like that time the Ruffs threw a house party in his lair.
"How!? How could there be aliens and I don't know about it?!"
Sort of weird Mojo, sort of weird.
Her counterpart laughed "You haven't been paying attention, pops! I had to carry like six people."
—Powerless
"Yeah, we almost died and what were you doing? Huh? Huh? Not—that we needed your help."
"We could have died, is what Butch really wanted to say. Not sure if you care all that much though. Anyways, look at the screen, then I'm going to find some of your healing serum." Brick suddenly pressed a button on Mojo's belt and a giant flat-screen popped up.
Butch murmured something about being a coward.
Immediately, a live feed of some news outlet showed a reporter standing in the middle of some random street, black smoke and destruction as firetrucks soared past her.
"What might you need healing serum for?"
"We're going to heal the puffs and Major Asshat." Brick confirmed.
What?
Why would Brick want to heal them? They were the Powerpuff girls and their worst enemy!
"Excuse me?!"
"Pops—"
"We will not heal any superheroes. Inside. This. House! The answer is, indefinitely, absolutely and without fail no!"
That's when Butch moved, swiping at what seemed to be the air, as a blue surge of electricity shot out morphing around the form of a human, Butch held the figure up by the throat ascending to the 13-foot tall ceiling as the electricity vanished, Bubbles recognized the glasses and terribly shaped bowl cut anywhere…
It was Susan!
"Oh, my shit—dude, it's Mandork! Man you have some balls breaking into this home!" Butch told Susan.
Oh no.
He gasped attempting to pry Butch's unmoving fingers "I—I—"
"See I didn't ask you anything—anyone, who breaks into our crib dies." The green ruff affirmed.
"Oh just throw him out…" Mojo said, before turning back to Brick "I will not supply you with any sort serum to bring these heroes any solace—"
"No, Earth's in trouble, and…to be honest, they need to be alive to defend it." Brick said.
"What the hell's gotten into you—"
"If there's no Earth, then there's no Townsville, dad!" Boomer decided to interject.
"Yes I'm well aware—"
"Then you know what we have to do if we don't want to go against more of whatever caused that!" Everyone's eyes followed Brick's finger to the screen.
"What happened…" Mojo's face seemed eternally glued to the screen.
Butch flew back to the ground, gently thew Susan across the room and then father and sons watch the screen, this orange-haired lady reporter
who strongly resembled Ms. Bellum, but they really couldn't see her face because of the camera…
Anyways!
The reporter was interviewing this girl—wait—
No way…
Bubbles listened intently, completely forgetting her injuries and the fact that she was in the enemy's home, her eyes went like large pizzas.
Red news banners scrolled:
[Breaking News: High school full of students left Decimated; Aliens? Earth is under Attack!]
Rather dramatic…
"No, no, no. I couldn't go on about how I did all that—I'd take up too much of your time." Curly hair–and a clear replica of the Powerpuff uniform was all she needed to know who was talking.
"Oh, no, please! I insist, go on!"
"Well if you insist, yeah! I save downtown Townsville, it was like an hour ago when the aliens landed, two big real muscly looking ones—they were all bad and invader looking. Anyway, once I saw what was going on I adorned my superhero outfit and totally sent them running with my display of superior firepower!"
What?
That just sounded stupid.
"Dang, how'd Princess manage to chase two of them off?" Butch commented.
"Does that make five aliens in total then?" Boomer began counting his fingers.
No! How couldn't they tell that that was a BS story?
"Well, it's Princess, so I'm sure she found a way to twist the story." At least Brick seemed to have a head on his shoulders. "But I want to put our focus back to Susan. Boomer, bring him here" Brick said and all eyes went to the glasses-wearing teenage silently coughing and crawling towards the exit.
But Boomer quickly scooped him up by his ankle, the boy panicking mid aid as he dangled head first, right in front of Brick.
"Susan, I don't think you understand what the hell is going on! Just because there's a damn worldwide crisis doesn't mean you break into our freaking home."
"I'm sorry, Brick! Forreal, I truly am! I—I just wanted to ask Butch something!"
"Ask me what!"
"Our deal—we never got to beat Buttercup, so I'd like to propose a new deal." Susan choked.
"Shouldn't you be mourning or something?" Butch laughed.
Boomer gently dropped Susan on his head "Oof—I. Am. Mourning, it was a pretty sad outcome. Don't know who's missing—but please."
These kids were terrible!
"Ah…no way, Mandork, I don't want what you have to offer."
"What? You don't even know what my product is, don't go before making any rash decisions."
"What is it?", Butch rolled his eyes
"One of the aliens' space pods. I was able to acquire it and am offering it to you."
Acquire it? How long had they been unconscious?
"Alien space pod?…" Mojo was practically salivating at the thought.
"Look for yourselves!" Susan gestured to the window and they all ran over, leaving Bubbles completely out of sight range.
"No, deal.", Brick said simply, after returning from the window.
"No deal?" Mojo looked back and forth.
"Brick, you're passing up an extremely good offer. And as long as Butch holds up his end of the deal, we're good. This can be reverse-engineered or used to replicate similar technology!"
"Yes, take the offer, Brick!" Mojo begged—actually salivating this time as he stared out the window.
"Listen, Manfork, the deal was if we beat Buttercup in a dodgeball game—this we're not taking!"
"Dude! You said you'd do it for me!"
What the hell were they even talking about?!
Then Brick inquired "This isn't about Deedee is it?"
Silence.
Butch fell on the floor laughing.
"She's a college sophomore, she won't be into you. The world's ending, it might be better to worry about something else, really bro stop prioritizing this girl who barely notices you." Brick said.
"Take the offer!" Mojo repeated.
The green-eyed Ruff had to be exaggerating the way he was laughing—but then he looked directly at her and Bubbles totally forgot she wasn't invincible.
"Bubbles is awake. Should I change that?" Butch asked.
All eyes went to the couch and her heart wanted to explode.
"Oh…hello…" she replied sweetly, though at any moment she was still prepared to pounce, injuries or not.
"Right…distractions…" Brick slapped himself "…Mojo, we need some of your healing serum. If not Bubbles because she's in the best condition, the rest of the heroes!"
He was being serious!
"We are villains! And as villains—as such we will not be aiding any Powerpuff in any way shape or form! Because that is absolutely, positively—"
"I'm no villain." Brick interrupted.
"Hey, neither am I!" Boomer added.
"I just do what I want." Butch shrugged.
"But, do you really want the Puffs and America's favorite—dude in tights, to be defeated by some beings from space and beyond?"
See, something clicked in the green monkey's head, he touched his chin "Ye-es, right. You did say something about them being defeated by aliens from beyond. But how could none of my sensors pick up aircrafts entering our solar system?"
"My sensors didn't pick anything up either." Susan felt the need to add.
"Well, I don't know the specifics, pops, but you can go ahead and ask Bubbles all about how she got her ass handed—no offense blondie." Brick said.
Wow, that really didn't make what he said any better.
"Oh, I'd rather not." She said, realizing it hurt to move her jaw.
"Right. She's injured Mojo, it's hard for her to talk and thus she doesn't want to explain." Butch said as a matter of fact.
Despite being completely wrong.
Sure, it hurt to talk, but she didn't exactly feel comfortable reliving and explaining the day's earlier events.
"They're superhuman, you guys should know better than anyone how fast they should heal."
"Pops!" Brick shouted.
Mojo calmly held up his hands, inhaled, and slowly said "Accept Mandark's deal and I'll heal the heroes."
That made Brick roll his eyes as Susan did a literal Mario jump.
"You're an actual villain, why not just take the ship from him?"
"Don't be so rude and disrespectful, Brick!"
"Right, Brick, how could you be so mean? After I lent you my last mechanical pencil in Calc?"
…
"I don't—I don't remember that…"
"Brick, must I accept it on your behalf, my son?" Mojo's impatience was all the same.
In a fit of annoyance Boomer boomer frantically waved his hands"Guys! Guys! There are more aliens on their freaking way and we really need to heal the Puffs and the idiot over there—Throw in some calls, hire the strongest badasses we can find, and together prepare for the next invasion!"
"Together?" Butch looked at Boomer like he'd spoken another language.
"Hurry up, pops! And Butch, go on, do your thing."
Butch walked over to Susan, who expectingly fixed his glasses on the bridge of his nose, Butch handed him a piece of paper with a quick dap of the hands and smile.
"Now, Manduck, if you could please leave. You know…shoo" Butch motioned towards the door with a hand.
Susan looked at the floor in dejection "…for the last time, it's Mandark—the names you're using are not even—they're not even all that clever."
"I think you misunderstood, get the fuck out already."
Mandark didn't move, though.
When Mojo finally agreed, retrieved whatever green liquid, and began injecting them into her sisters, Bubbles was a bit uneasy, the back of her mind reminding her of their villainy.
"Calm down, it'll help." Boomer reassured hovering directly over the couch with his arms crossed, as she finally was next to be injected with the green stuff.
She didn't feel the needle, but the surge that shot through her body, every weakness, and every weight anchoring her was suddenly gone.
Bubbles was up immediately on her feet as she gripped her fist and looked all about the room.
And despite feeling as if she were at 110 percent, she still felt weak.
Weak in the sense that she felt as if she couldn't exactly do anything to protect Townsville let alone Earth.
She couldn't even protect any of her fellow friends.
Pink eyes came open with terror embedded within—Blossom took in her surroundings and immediately assessed the situation.
Battered and beaten….
Their clothing was torn and filthy, hair matted—unsightly of a Powerpuff.
"Now…calm down, Bloss—" Brick began but was immediately speared by a flash of green, Buttercup taking him into the ground and pinning him there was fire burned across her face, she was so red.
"Where the hell are we?! Where's that alien scum?!" Was the brunette's roar.
Boomer and Butch both came to their brother's rescue began delivering Buttercup a relentless beating, their fists hitting her in the face, stomach—everywhere they could inflict pain.
And Bubbles seeing no reason to let her sister fight alone shot an eye beam, which Butch matched with his own, the air sizzled with the sound high pitch ZZZ of lasers, leaving Boomer to just smirk at them, before Blossom took advantage of his distraction slugged him with the heaviest haymaker she could muster
"I said CALM DOWN!" Brick got back to his feet, eyes hot with laser vision "But if you want to get busy, we can get busy! BOYS—"
"I think we're all forgetting the underlying problem of the greater threat! That aliens just defeated the Puffs one of Earth's strongest superhero teams and now we know there are more and you guys are more concerned with slapping the snot out of each other!" Susan shouted, assessing the situation and bringing everyone's attention to him.
Bubbles ceased her attacks and begrudgingly so did the rest of the Ruffs and Puffs.
"We were just fighting back at School, how the hell did we get in Mojo's lair, start explaining or I start swinging—and I won't stop! Not for anybody, especially a villain like you, Mandark!" Buttercup started pointing at the Ruffs and Puffs making sure they knew when she was addressing them.
"They kidnapped us." Blossom declared.
Brick looked appalled. "Don't flatter yourself, beating you while you're down is no accomplishment for the boys and I."
"Yeah, thank us for healing you. We saved you, Blossom, you're supposed to be the brains too" Butch said.
"Saved us? Oh yeah! I don't believe that for a second. Blossom, Bubbles, you hear these clowns? What shit they're spe—"
"Buttercup, no!" Bubbles interrupted, "They did save us, they kept us from the aliens—at least long enough for the other guys to take care of them."
The auburn-haired Puff looked puzzled "Other guys?"
"Bubbles what! You're not saying that these bozos" Zoom in on Butch picking his ear, Boomer trying to look tough, and Brick staring at everyone with calculating eyes. "were actually able to save us! I know that's not what you're telling me!"
"Watch who you're calling a bozo." Butch threatened.
"And who's gonna make me—"
"No for once, Buttercup, Blossom—I think we should listen."
The pink-eyed leader was quiet at this, but Buttercup had a different reaction.
"Don't freaking joke like that Bubbles!"
But Bubbles was tired of not being heard "I'm not! I'm not joking in the slightest, you saw what happened!"
"Yeah, I saw…especially when I got turned into a human bomb and thrown at our school" Buttercup's voice was reaching different fluctuations.
"Then you know! Better than anyone how strong and overwhelmingly skilled that purple freak was! You know! And now there are more of them coming!"
"Bubbles may have a point.", Came Blossom's commentary.
"So, we shouldn't fight villains because aliens?"
Blossom shook her head from side to side "No, we shouldn't fight because fighting between ourselves has become useless, especially if more powerful foes are on their way. From what I'm hearing…"
"And... villain is a stretch, we just do what we want." Brick reassured, granting a laugh track from him and his boys.
"You're villains. Like your mother and father—", Mojo interjected.
"We already talked about this..." Brick suddenly directed his glare to Mojo.
"Being anything else would be a disgrace."
That granted a roll of the eyes from the Ruffs. But it was Major Glory who brought everyone back to the main issue.
"Earth's under siege…and we're woefully underprepared. By…red and white stripes." Major Glory was staring at the ground, almost as if he were reliving the entire experience of getting their asses handed by one foe.
The cape wearing Ruff cleared his throat "I agree, not the words I would use, but you guys are completely underprepared to an onslaught of
more of those."
"That alien outclassed us all in every single way—everything we threw at them—we need to figure out a way to take them pound for pound. Girls looks like we're going to have to tell the professor to bring back those simulations." Blossom said.
Oh, Bubbles had horrible childhood memories of that simulation—though thankfully she contributed it to being one of the sole reasons she was prepared for the task of daily hero work in Townsville.
Now, they needed it—it seemed like the only thing they knew to do to prepare.
"And it would have easily done the same to us, despite us being stronger and tougher than you three in every way shape, or form." Brick couldn't help but add in the last part and Blossom looked like she wanted to pounce.
Buttercup would have attacked, but Major Glory flew over placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Meaning! We need to prepare for the inevitable—even those other aliens who supposedly disposed of the purple bum! We need to have a contingency for everyone and everything! And first, the Powerpuff girls need to get stronger and reassess the very likely odds that we're the Earth's last hope!"
"Tssk, I don't know how much training can make up for that power difference." Butch shrugged, then went off into the confines of what Bubbles assumed was the kitchen.
"Not much." Brick looked Blossom in the eyes when he said this then Bubbles "You're nowhere near strong enough, trust me, I saw what I saw, and it was ugly for you guys and Star-spangled-Banner over there." He finished looking at Buttercup "Sure, you're Earth's last hope, but I put your odds at well...slim to none."
"Yeah, you guys are totally gonna die, and it's gonna be brutal!"
"I mean, we certainly want to keep you guys alive so that we can kill you—and don't get us wrong we thought about helping you guys out—and it just doesn't feel right to do anything past this." he gestured outwards almost as if she and her sisters had a choice in being there.
"Yeah, we did talk about this…" Butch said.
"Yeah, we all totally discussed this at some point prior to this entire conversation—definitely had time for that." Boomer chided.
Bubbles couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic, actually…
"We're not looking to help the puffs past this point." Brick's eyes went back and forth, daring anyone, even his brothers or Mojo to question his position and honestly, nobody took up his dare.
With a hmph noise filled to the brim with superiority, Blossom said "Didn't expect your help anyway. As for dying, I have faith in my sisters—we'll figure a way! We always do. Come on, let's leave these depressing idiots!" With the click of her sneakers Blossom turned, signaling for the heroes to take their exit, with Butch gesturing towards the door, especially giving Susan the stink eye.
Mojo seemed like he didn't even want to talk to them, looking away with arms crossed like they'd done something terribly atrocious to him.
"Come with us, Susan, we can drop you home." Bubbles offered.
"Thank you, but no thank you. I am an agent of evil and don't need to be dropped off. I'll take my ship—and Mojo, you better hide that space pod before some government agency gets to it."
This could never happen again.
She needed to get stronger.
So they exited, them and Major Glory. Leaving the boys and Mojo to stare at them as they flew off of the volcano lair.
A stream of lights and helicopters began following them, as the afternoon began to take full bloom.
There was still smoke in the air, but for the most part, there seemed to be enough emergency crew.
Blossom was final when she said, "There is no reason to talk to anyone—no questions can be answered until we know what's going on ourselves!" And that was the consensus, Buttercup nodded and Bubbles hugged herself "We'll go back to the school and help in any way we can, then contact the Professor and tell him we're alright!" Blossom finished through the wind.
The four heroes all agreed and that became their next destination.
Where Bubbles would finally face the terrible reality.
Where she decided that she'd never feel so weak ever again.
In the green growth of the forest—there was a small clearing where Bardock sat, meditating as he reached out and felt the world around him.
The birds chirped.
The weird…small insects made weird noises and the sky was slowly clearing of any smoke.
Bardock was going over every event of the day in his head as he practiced and enhanced his senses.
He could feel the energy.
A technique he'd learned and was sure he would eventually be able to use on non-plant life in due time.
Though at the moment, he could feel every leaf and blade of grass in a six-mile radius and he'd only been meditating for a few hours, so mastery was indeed close within his grasp.
He would have had Raditz doing the same had Raditz not gone off looking for some sort of meat they could consume.
Maybe Raditz would have benefited more from it.
CLICK-CLACK!
The saiyan sniffled a little before opening his eyes and turning his head behind him, only to find himself staring down the barrel of a primitive gun.
Pink…
Pink fur was the first thing he saw, on top of a round, rough, hidious face with a weirdly round nose.
Really this Earthling was a fuzzy beast if anything and Bardock couldn't help but wonder just what he wanted to do with that weapon.
"Oh, see I've got your attention! I bet you read those signs I have planted all through the area!"
With a quick swish of his eyes, he looked at the signs, then back to the creature "No, what of them?"
"It clearly reads: No Trespassing and that this here is property of Fuzzy Lumpkins!" He pointed.
"I see. What's the issue?"
"You're trespassing! And I'm Fuzzy Lumpkins!" The weapon pressed against Bardock's cheek and the saiyan had to force himself not to bite the beast arm off. "And I suggest you hightail right there up down back to Townsville and get the hell off my property!"
"Listen Earthling. Get that thing off my face or it's going right down your throat—and don't think I'm not being literal."
"This is my home and I have the right—"
Swish!
Bardock stood, flexing as he did so causing Fuzzy to fly backwards and hit a nearby tree, causing it to collapse.
The saiyan turned and looked at the downed beast, who pulled his weapon back aimed and the muzzle burst into yellow.
CRACK!
BANG!
POW!
With his right hand, Bardock caught every single bullet with ease, before staring at Fuzzy, crushing the bullets into dust, and then letting the wind steal it away.
"We can try that again."
"You—that—you're superhuman!" Fuzzy cried.
"Oh, I'm more than that."
"Wh–what do you want?"
"Don't ever point or shoot that thing at me ever again. This is the last time I'm telling you this or else" he produced a ki blast "I'll use this to kill you where you lay."
It disappeared when he finished, but the message was sent.
Fuzzy let out a low growl but understood nonetheless
Then Bardock said "I'm not quite familiar with the property rights of this planet. And I understand that this might be yours, but right now you have to share, or I'm leveling it anyway."
"Leveling it? The land? My property?!"
"Yes. Understood, then?"
Fuzzy shook himself and stood, but the look Bardock gave him showed Bardock that the beast understood, and just as Raditz landed the pink fuzzy ball strolled away mumbling something about being back.
His son landed with some huge animal with large paws and claws as big as his head—meat was meat.
"Who the hell is—"
"That's Fuzzy, he's letting us stay in the area awhile."
"Let us? Psst…Father, I do what I want, I don't let other creatures tell me what to do."
"Whatever." Bardock was measuring pride here "This is the perfect area to train—perfect for preparing for the next invasion."
"All I see is forest."
"Yes, meaning we'll only be harming the vegetation. When we fight…how about it? Start cooking up grub then we have a little spar?"
"Oh, you're offering to spar with me? I would've never even dreamed of this happening."
"Yay or nay?"
"Sure, I'll chop you down a few notches!"
That made the saiyan smirk "Let's get to it. And I'll tell you about the story of how I became a Super Saiyan."
Of course, Raditz didn't believe him and so—they began their spar and Bardock explained everything.
—From the edge of the solar system of the Sol system. Within an enormous space shuttle.
Troops were mobilizing and preparing.
"I get to go to Earth!"
"No, I'm afraid it's going to be me!"
"That's ridiculous, you don't have to dirty your hands!"
"But I certainly want to!"
"No, I'm more than capable of handling two rogue saiyans and stronger than normal planetary defenses. Frieza-sama will be pleased, I'll be back in his good graces after my failure on planet Banna! Please Zarbon, you have to help me."
The commander in Frieza's army looked down at his pink pupil and sighed "Don't fail Frieza-sama again."
"I won't. We'll be killing them as soon as possible."
"Begin preparations for the next invasion. Put in position out sharpshooters in case the planet is in need of bombardment. And please inform us if you're in need of bombardment!"
Dodoria shook his head from side to side then grinned like the devil "Won't be necessary. I'll crush them all myself if I have to. Just tell me when."
Zarbon held up duo fingers "When Earth's moon makes two full rotations."
And so, the invasion of Earth was set to 2 month's time.