Not sure I'm really happy with this chapter but not sure what else I'd do to fix it other than remove it (which I thought about but it has some important parts in it that would have been a pain to try and get in otherwise). Hope you all enjoy it! Let me know if there's anything super confusing about it and I'll see what I can do to fix it.
Thanks for all the likes, comments, and follows! Love to see them!
"Hey! Careful with the doors!" Robin yelled as Floyd and Llyod ran, whooping, out of the van, one of the shoving the door open harshly. Their shirts were already flying off and falling pathetically to the ground as they, of course, ignored her and ran like the crazed idiots they were for the water. Robin turned to glare at Mike, a finger pointing after them. He sighed.
"I'll go deal with them."
Robin hmphed at that before turning to make sure nobody else attempted to break more car doors. Especially since the rest of the people who'd been in the van, her mother's van no less, were of the super variety.
"Man, it's an awesome day for the beach. This is gunna be awesome," Boomer said as he stepped out and then turned and held a hand out for Bubbles who quickly followed.
"I'm just happy to finally be out of the car. Fuck. I am NOT riding between the twins again," Brick complained as he, the last person who'd been in the van, stepped out.
"Well, we can't sit them next to each other and they always refuse to go in separate cars so somebody has to sit between them," Robin said with a roll of her eyes. The doors were all shut, normally, as she went to the back to pop the trunk.
"Well it ain't gunna fucking be me again."
Robin shrugged. If Brick couldn't handle it, they'd put Blossom between the twins. She still terrified them so they always behaved around her.
"Whatever you say Brick. Here, take the cooler and go find a spot. Boomer, the big umbrella plea-" Robin looked up to hand said umbrella to the blue only to find both him and Bubbles already gone. "Seriously?!"
"I got it. Carrying both won't be an issue," Brick said with a sigh. Robin huffed but shook her head.
"No, Princess should be here with the others soon. I'll just have Butch or Buttercup take it."
Bruck shrugged. "If you say so. Give me the small umbrella in that case. I'll go pick a spot and sit under it until we can get everything else over."
Well, Robin couldn't argue with that. Especially since if Brick couldn't get in the water yet, he'd need to stay out of the sun a little.
"Sounds good. Be over in a bit. If Mike gets back with the twins before the others arrive, I'll have them bring some stuff over too."
Brick nodded before grabbing the umbrella and flying up to go scope out the beach and get a good spot. They were early so it wouldn't be too much a challenge but there were also going to be a lot of them. Elmer and a few others had said they might come by later to join them but even without that they'd needed two full cars to get here.
Robin looked out at the water, squinting at the glare. Mike was trying but the twins were full of energy and were going crazy in the water already. There was going to be no handling them for the next 30 minutes at least. Oh well. When Butch and Buttercup got here they'd tire them out quickly enough.
Speaking of, a large jeep pulled into the spot next to Robin and within seconds Butch and Buttercup were out and standing next to her.
"Fuck yes! This is gunna be awesome!" Butch yelped before starting off for the water already. Robin glared but before she could do anything a hand landed on his shoulder.
"Hold up snail brain. We gotta get everything set up at the spot before we go enjoy the waves," Buttercup said with a thumb pointing towards the large umbrella and other things in the trunk of Robin's van.
As they were discussing that, Princess and Mitch also stepped out of the car. Mitch went straight for the trunk of the jeep while Princess looked out through her designer sunglasses at the ocean. She snorted loudly at the antics of the twins before heading to the trunk herself.
Butch whined as he waved in the direction of Mike and the twins. "They ain't helping. Why the hell do I have to?"
Buttercup glared at him. "Oh, they'll be helping alright. Get the cooler and go find where the spot is. I'll get the twins."
Thank the heavens for the puffs. Speaking off, Blossom climbed out next and squinted at the water. "It's very sunny today."
Robin rolled her eyes at that. "Yeah. And it's a good thing Ms. Introverted Bookworm."
Blossom frowned. "I didn't say it wasn't. It's just...it means a lot of sunscreen."
Robin chuckled at that. "Right. Go get your vitamin D. Brick went to pick a spot."
"The blues?"
Robin shrugged and Buttercup narrowed her eyes at that. "Oh hell no. We are so not getting the spot and setting up for them to just show up after that and take advantage." She kicked Butch in the ankle. "Start with this. I'll get the twins and then I'll find the blues."
Butch whined but did as told while Buttercup flew over to where the twins were still driving Mike insane.
"You'd think they'd know better by now," Blossom hummed out. Robin snorted.
"You'd think."
"Which way am I heading?" Princess cut in. Robin looked up and down but only saw a small towel bag in the girl's hand. Behind her Mitch was carrying about three more bags, already looking done with this whole thing.
Robin pointed. "Brick went off in that direction but I don't know that he for sure has something over there."
Princess looked at Blossom who sighed. The puff's eyes started to glow as she scanned the beach with her X-ray vision. A few moments later, and slightly more to the left, Blossom pointed out at the beach.
"Straight that way."
Princess nodded before taking off, Mitch dutifully following behind. Robin wonder if he was a masochist. After seeing how Princess tended to treat him, it was the only thing that made sense even if it didn't match with his history as a bully. Not that she really cared. Their business was there own and the less she knew about it all the happier she was.
"Hey, is there much more to take?" Mike asked as he jogged over. Robin looked at the water to see the twins cowering below a floating Buttercup. Well, trust a puff to get the job done.
"Just a few things from my car. Here, take the snacks. I'll head over in a second."
And they leave the supers to grab the rest of it. Well, them and the twins. Robin hopped Buttercup made them carry over the second cooler that was in the back of Princess' care. Fair was only fair after all.
Buttercup and Butch whooped as they zipped over, grabbed their boards, and then zipped for the waves. Princess couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. Typical greens. The second things were done to their level of preparedness off they were, no longer caring about the rest of the group. Blossom and Brick clearly felt the same way as her if the corresponding sigh and growl were anything to go off of.
"Well since they're off having fun, Boomie and I are getting back to our walk now, thanks," Bubbles sassed at them before grabbing her boyfriend's hand and all but stomping away. Princess raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.
She also didn't comment as the twins glanced at each other before kicking up sand just about everywhere in their hast to get to the water themselves.
"Wha- hey! Jerk wads! We just put these towels down!" Robin yelled after them, Mike already moving to clear the worst of the sand off the towels.
"Don't waste your breath. It's the twins after all," Princess drawled, Mitch chuckling in agreement. Honestly, the two of them were as bad as the greens just minus the powers.
"I'll go make sure they don't get into any serious trouble," Mitch said as he stood to follow. Princess didn't say anything but also couldn't help but watch him go. She could join him in the water but, well, this was her new favorite designer bikini and she was not about to ruin it on the first outing to the ocean. Even if she could just pay the designer to make another. That would just defeat the purpose of it being an original after all.
"We weren't done! Ugh, how annoying. This is the last time I agree to any trip with them!" Robin huffed. Princess scoffed at that. She'd said the same thing the last three trips. Even Mike didn't look like he believed her anymore.
"Right. Well we're mostly set up at least," Mike said. Robin glared at him and Princess rolled her eyes. Whatever. Mostly would have to do and at least Buttercup had had enough sense to set up her chair and umbrella before taking off.
"Right well I'm going to relax now," Princess said as she made her way to said chair, slipping the light purple sun dress off as she did so revealing said amazing, original bikini.
"Seriously? We aren't done setting up," Blossom said.
"I don't see you moving to finish up either."
There was no response to that and so Princess took her win with a quiet smirk as she lay on the chair.
"Well if that's all were doing I'm going for a swim," Brick said as he pulled his top off, leaving him in just his swim trunks.
"Fine. Fine! I'm getting in too then," Robin said, accepting the defeat and pulling off her shorts and shirt to reveal the white bikini she had on underneath. Mike chuckled as he also took off his shirt. Ugh, Princess just noticed that his swim shorts were white. They were matching. Gross.
"Sounds good," Mike said. And with that, only two remained. Princess raised an eyebrow at Blossom.
"Did you even wear a swimsuit?"
Blossom glared at her as a hand crept up to fiddle with the strings around her neck. "Of course I did. I just would rather finish my book before I think about going for a swim."
Princess rolled her eyes at that. "Whatever you need to tell yourself Blossom. Keep time and let me know when to flip like always?"
Blossom sighed as she sat down under the umbrella on one of the towels. "I suppose there's no reason not to."
There literally wasn't. And so once again, Princess had a not so annoying alarm clock to help her make sure her tan stayed nice and even.
Blossom stuck her finger in between the pages as she closed the book over for a bit to look out over the water. Buttercup and Butch were still surfing but she imagined one of them would get bored of it soon enough to move onto something she likely wouldn't approve of. As long as nobody broke any bones this time though, she'd let it slide. Bubbles and Boomer were actually not too far away letting the water run over their feet as they stood next to each other just chatting, hands swinging together in between the two of them. The twins were gone. She couldn't see them anywhere and that had Blossom squinting. They better not be causing trouble. Robin and Mike were swimming under waves and splashing each other with water, laughter clear even from where she was sitting. And Mitch and Brick...
Were unsurprisingly being hit on. Unsurprisingly because that seemed to always end up being what happened on these little trips. The one difference from last year though, was that both of them seemed to be not trying to flirt back. Blossom understood why Mitch was acting that way, Princess had huffed and turned over early when she'd seen it, but Brick was a bit odd. Usually he enjoyed the attention. Blossom was sure it was because of the ego boost he got from it. This year he seemed more annoyed than anything else though.
Well, whatever. Blossom finished scanning the beach only to frown as her eyes landed on one particular person.
"Oh you have to be kidding me," Blossom couldn't help but whine out.
"What? Are there clouds? Cause if there's clouds-"
"No. Worse."
"Worse?" Princess asked as she sat up a little. "What could be worse than clouds at the beach?"
"Easy. Howie."
Blossom pointed down the beach at said person who was hovering around a blanket awkwardly. He kept trying to not so subtly look over and already it had Blossom's head hurting.
"Well fuck."
Normally Blossom would have chastised Princess for the language but this time she let it go.
"How many people did you tell about this again?" Blossom asked. Howie hadn't moved closer but she knew it would only be a matter of time before he did.
There went her nice, relaxing beach day. Dang it.
"Just the usual crew. Definitely nobody who would have blabbed to Howie of all people. Shit. Doesn't he usually go to math camp or something during the breaks?"
"Usually, yes. I guess this year he decided not to."
"Well that's just fan-fucking-tastic."
Blossom glared at her. "Language." Once or twice, fine. It was starting to get a bit out of control though.
Princess nearly rolled her eyes before flopping back down. "Whatever you say oh fearless leader. Just remember that I'm the only one keeping him away right now. You know if you were alone he would have been over here already."
Blossom felt her nose scrunch at that. She did know. And she wasn't happy about it either.
"...maybe I should go join the others by the water."
Princess hummed at that. "You'd probably end up being splashed by a green so I'd suggest taking that nice outfit off first."
Blossom...didn't really feel like doing that actually. Maybe she'd stay where she was. If Howie got closer though, then she could change her mind and go do something else.
Seeming to sense, or maybe just knowing Blossom too well, that a swim was not in the pink puff's immediate future, Princess sighed.
"I'll try and keep an eye on him too. Maybe we can get Mitch back here even. If we had one of the guys at least it'll be pretty unlikely that Howie'll approach."
Blossom wasn't so sure. Howie had been oddly forward several times through the year and it was irritating to say the least. Mitch probably wouldn't deter him for much longer than Princess would. Which wouldn't be long.
Still, not like Blossom had a ton of options. Sighing, she reached for her bookmark and placed it in the book. So much for finishing it while enjoying a nice, sunny beach day.
Buttercup couldn't help but glare at Butch as he swam back up to her with a huge smile on his face. The asshole had stolen her wave and she was more than a little pissed about it. It'd been the best wave all day and she'd totally called dibs first.
"That was sick!" Butch laughed as he sat up on his board. "Man, best wave of the day easy!"
"I bet. Asshole."
Butch barred his teeth in a grin at her and she flipped him off in return. This was better. This felt normal. Buttercup could handle this.
"Come on. I'll let you have the next one."
Yeah, she didn't believe him. Next big wave she'd make sure was hers though. Even if it meant throwing off an energy beam or two that would definitely have Blossom yelling at her.
Speaking of, Buttercup squinted back at the shore. There was Bubbles at the water with Boomer. Blossom was...not under the umbrella? Where was...
Ah, getting a snack. She was standing in line at one of the food trucks while Princess held down the fort. But was that...
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Buttercup couldn't help but whine out.
"What? What happened? What's up?" Butch asked as he spun to look at the beach too.
"What the fuck is Howie doing here today?"
"Nooo! Don't do that," Bubbles laughed out as she danced away from Boomer who only laughed as he put his foot back down.
"Come on. I'm ready to go swimming already."
Bubbles pouted at him. "I put extra effort into my hair today though."
Boomer raised an eyebrow at that. "It's just your usual pigtails though?"
Bubbles let her jaw drop and she let out a loud gasp, her hands going up to clasp one another in front of her chest.
"How dare you. Boomer Jojo, you should know better than to doubt a girl when she says she put extra effort in!"
Boomer snorted at that. "Maybe when she actually did it but I know you didn't so its fine."
Bubbles put her hands on her hips as Boomer stuffed his into his pockets. A familiar pose for the two of them when facing off, even if they hadn't used it in years. At least, not in a serious way.
"And how exactly do you know? I know for a fact Butch knows more about hair than you do."
"Ha! Only cause you lecture him about it during art class. I don't need to know hair to know though."
"Oh? Then how do you know?"
Boomer smirked at her. "Easy. We were actually on time today!"
"Boomie!" Bubbles couldn't help but let out an unamused laugh as she kicked her leg up to try and splash him with water. He laughed before dancing away from the water. "Low blow."
"But so true."
"You know what, just for that I'm so not ready to go swimming anytime soon."
"Wait, come on Bubs! It's hot out!"
"Move it love bird."
Both Boomer and Bubbles startled as Buttercup stormed between the two, Butch following closely behind.
"How the hell did he even know?!"
"How the fuck should I know! I just want him gone! We came here to relax, not deal with him!"
"Wait, deal with who? What's going on?" Bubbles asked as she exchanged a glance with Boomer. Instantly they were following the two greens.
"Howie! That's fucking who!" Buttercup snapped.
"Wha-" Bubbles looked in the direction they were storming and couldn't help but glare. "Are you kidding me?"
"Nope," Butch chirped. "And it's pissing me off now."
"Whoa, hold up here. I'm not too happy either but storming over is probably not a good idea," Boomer yelped as he raced in a streak of blue to stand in front of them. Both greens pulled up short to glare up at him. Which clearly irked Buttercup who floated up until she was eye level with him.
"Move it blue boy."
"Okay, look, I don't like it either but it won't end well if you storm over like this."
"Oh yeah? Then what the hell do you suggest? Huh?!"
"I don't know! I'm not the plan guy so maybe finding him should be step one here!"
"What the hell woul-"
Buttercup was cut off as a screech came up from the water. The three supers not facing the water quickly spun around to do so.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Buttercup whined.
"Nooo, I like this outfit," Bubbles joined in.
"This is just shitty," Butch sighed. Boomer shot him a look.
"Watch the language. Looks like we were just placed on duty and you already angered the pink puff once this year."
"Fu-...fudge. Fudge!" Butch yelled.
"I. Am not. Doing this."
Boomer...really wasn't surprised to hear that. Even from Buttercup.
"Come on Buttercup. We...need to."
Buttercup turned to glared at Blossom before waving at the monster. "It's a legit octopus. At the beach. And were wearing swimsuits. Tentacles mean suckers and swimsuits aren't held on by stitches! One stay hit and bam! No more bikini top. Plus, there's already a crowd."
"Yeah. I think I'm with Buttercup on this one Blossy," Bubbles chimed in.
"Well someone has to handle the monster," Butch added. At once, all three puffs turned to look at him and Boomer groaned. Just had to open his mouth.
"I guess that's an option."
"That's right. We aren't the only heroes anymore."
A giggle. "I think it's perfect."
Boomer looked at Brick who was still scowling. He'd been scowling since they all met up. If Boomer had to take a guess...it was probably to do with Howie being here.
"Well boys? You wouldn't really make us fight this one, would you?" Bubbles asked with a smile that was just a touch too sweet.
Butch grimaced as he realized his mistake but Boomer felt no sympathy at all. He just had to go and open his mouth.
Sighing, Brick took to the sky.
"Come on. Let's just get this over with."
Not even an argument. Boomer would have been surprised but Brick had been being extra nice and willing to take things on since the whole ribbon incident. And Blossom was actually acknowledging him again these past few days so progress. On the flip side? She'd only recently started acknowledging him again. Which meant much more sucking up was needed to fix this.
Sharing a glance, Butch and Boomer joined Brick in the sky.
"My bros, I just wanna say, if I'd known this was how today was gunna go I'd have worn the wetsuit," Butch said. Brick and Boomer both snorted at him.
"Just don't let it grab you," Brick said.
"Dude. Way to state the fu-" A glare from the pink puff. "The fudging obvious."
There was a distinct huffing sound from below them that went ignored.
Brick didn't bother even replying to Butch. Instead he took off for the monster in a flash of red. Butch groaned loudly before following. Boomer looked down at the puffs before giving a salute and following his brothers. To be honest, he wasn't really looking forward to this one either. Suckers were a pain on bare skin. The idea of Bubbles going against this particular one though...
Yeah. Boomer was decided. He'd fight the thing no problem.
Blossom frowned. Butch was, for once, playing it overly safe. Boomer was fine. Brick was...
"...do we maybe need to help them out?" Bubbles asked with a giggle.
Buttercup snorted. "It's one monster. No way am I flying over there to help. They can figure it out themselves."
"Did our phones go off?" Blossom asked. Bubbles and Buttercup snapped to look in her direction. "Because I don't remember hearing an alarm go off."
"Oh please no no no..." Bubbles's voice trailed off into background noise as she zoomed to where their stuff was.
Buttercup turned to look at Blossom. "You don't think this is one of those ones do you? There isn't any glowy thing going on."
Blossom hummed in thought at that. "Probably not. Like you said, I haven't seen any odd glowing. I was mostly just curious. If it didn't go off we might need to go check the nearby sensors."
There was a blue flash as Bubbles appeared back at their sides. "There was no alarm! Is it one of those? Do we need to go help?"
"Not unless the boys need it. I don't think it's a special one. Unless you've seen glowing that Buttercup and I missed?"
Bubbles shook her head. "No. I haven't. So that means..."
She trailed off as she looked at the ruffs. Buttercup rolled her eyes at them. "Yeah. They're just being babies not wanting to touch the monster with tentacles in their swimsuits."
Blossom frowned at that. "I don't really get why though. It's just a monster."
She saw her sisters exchange a look before they sighed.
"If you don't know I say then you don't wanna know."
"It's not important Blossy. Don't stress about it."
Well, she wouldn't worry about it if it weren't for the fact that the ruffs were proving to be completely useless right now.
"I'm giving them another minute to get things together before I fly over to help."
"Okay, Blossy, normally I'd have no problems with this but I think for once I'm vetoing that plan. Trust me. We should very much not fight this monster. Even if you aren't in your swimsuit yet. Why aren't you in your swimsuit again?"
Blossom felt her cheeks warm slightly as she looked at her feet for a second. "I...hadn't finished my book yet."
"Uh-huh. Right. I totally believe it."
Buttercup snorted. "You even gunna bother bringing your swimsuit on the camping trip? Cause seems like a waste if you do but don't use it."
"I will! Use it I mean. I just...I don't know! There's a lot of people here and I don't feel comfortable."
"How can you of all people not feel comfortable? You're literally a confidence queen."
"At school maybe but I know the ins and outs there. And I'm wearing my uniform. This is...it's just different okay? And this swimsuit shows a lot of skin."
"That's the point."
"Alright! Let's not okay?" Bubbles cut in. "If Blossy doesn't want to swim she doesn't have to Buttercup."
"You weren't swimming either! What's the point in coming to the beach and not swimming!"
"I was enjoying a walk with Boomie!"
"I like reading on the beach. It's really relaxing you know."
"Ugh, whatever. They're still struggling, those idiots."
Bubbles sighed. "Yes. They're really overthinking this. Just getting it over with quickly would be best really."
"...that's it. I'm going to help."
Buttercup snorted at that while Bubbles zoomed in front of her. "No you are definitely not missy."
Blossom rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Bubbles. It'll be fine. Not the first octopus we've fought."
"Ugh, don't remind me! The one before this one tore off half my top last time remember? I had to avoid social media for a week after that just to avoid crushing my phone with all the annoying posts going around!"
Blossom huffed. "The press conference went fine."
"Like the press is going to mention about how I was nearly half naked in the middle of the city with the mayor sitting right there!"
"I still think I should go. This is taking them too long."
"I agree with your sisters in this particular instance Blossom," a voice from behind them said.
Blossom tensed before forcing herself to relax. Buttercup was glaring and even Bubbles wasn't able to have a smile on her face this time.
Turning, Blossom came face to face with Howie.
"Hi Howie. Didn't I say earlier I wasn't really in the mood to talk about the projects and how each went right now? We can talk about it when we plan the new inventions for when the new school year starts."
Howie huffed and adjusted his glasses. "I was not coming over to discuss that. I merely overheard the conversation and wanted to let you know that I agree with your sisters."
Blossom frowned at that. "Fine. Since you're all so against it, I'm going to go check the sensor instead. Make sure the boys get the job done please?"
Blossom floated up as she looked at her sister. Buttercup rolled her eyes before sending a last glare at Howie to then turn and watch the fight. Bubbles was making a face but finally nodded.
"Let us know if you need any help."
Blossom hummed at that before taking off. The relay was the first place to check as it was closest. In fact, it wasn't far at all. Just over at the pier actually. It wasn't the first time something had gone wrong with it because of that. She still remember the one time a group of kids snuck in and accidentally knocked something over. They'd known about it before a monster could come in though. That was one of the reasons the city had a small team put together just to check these devices. If something had just recently happened though it might not have been caught.
At least, that's what Blossom was hoping. Fixing the relay sensors was a lot easier than the monster ones out at sea. Either way though, she'd know soon enough.
"Oh so gross! Bro it touched me!" Butch whined as he zipped away again. He knew it was a dumb thing to do. He knew it. But he couldn't help but do it anyways. Brick was already snarling in his direction.
"Get over it Butch! The longer this keeps up the more its gunna end up doing that!"
Yeah. But the thing was slimy. Butch was not a fan of slimy things. Especially when they were something like an octopus. Blergh.
"Brick's got a point Butch. We coulda been done with this already. Can you seriously just get over it so we can get this gunk off already?" Boomer bit out.
Wow. Even Boomer was getting mad at him. Maybe he had been a little too squeamish. Slimy things though...
"Screw this," Brick mumbled. He didn't even check his surroundings before taking a deep breath in. Butch quickly moved between him and the beach and, gritting his teeth, put up a shield as big as he could. A second later and a wall of flames poured from the eldest Jojo brother's mouth, barreling toward the octopus.
Which, cause it could, simply ducked below the waves as the flames sailed harmless over it.
"For fuck's-!"
Ooo, if Blossom heard that Brick was so losing the progress he'd made this past week!
Rolling his eyes, Boomer zipped down to the water where the monster was as the air around him began to spark. He held his hand out and the second it made contact with the water electricity arced up and all over the place.
"Dude!" Butch yelled. He dropped the shield and zipped down to the water but caught a glance of the beach. Nobody was still in the water. It was safe.
The monster surfaced and screamed at them before turning and quickly running back towards the isle.
"Finally," Boomer sighed. Brick grunted at that.
"Woulda finished a lot sooner if it wasn't for a certain someone."
"It was slimy! You know I hate slimy!" Butch whined.
Both brothers rolled their eyes as Brick floated down to join Boomer just above the ocean.
"Whatever Butch. Ya big baby."
Boomer snickered at that as he let himself fall into the ocean.
"Not cool bro. I ain't no baby."
"Sure acted like one," Brick shot back before following Boomer into the water. They were both snickering at him now.
Glaring Butch flew over until he was above both of them, still decently high in the sky, and then let himself drop. He saw both his brothers' eyes go wide and smiled viciously at them as he threw a decently large shield around himself.
"Cannon ball!"
Both of them cursed loudly as they began to swim out of the way but they weren't able to get completely clear as Butch hit the water, a massive splash going out because of it. He dropped his shield once the water had calmed and cackled as the water rush towards him. Only to end up forgetting about the water and ending up with a mouthful of it.
"Blegh, oh fuck, was that- is that-"
Boomer and Brick shared a savage kind of smile.
"You got slime in your mouth, hah!"
"So much for avoiding it."
"Ugh, oh shit. Imma be sick. Why the fuck are you two in the water if it's- blegh, fuck- ugh."
Butch couldn't stop gagging. Oh gross. It was slimy and tasted like tar and fuck it was in his mouth and on his skin and everywhere and-
Blergh.
He couldn't help but barf. Boomer and Brick yelped as they shot up out of the water at that.
"Oh fuck. That's nasty."
"Dude! Not cool!"
"Guys, I think- ugh, shit. I think I might need-"
And he barfed again. Once he was done he floated up out of the water slightly. He was still slimy though. His mouth still tasted nasty, worse now even. But now he had his own barf all over him.
"Fuck man. Go find a clean spot in the water. That's disgusting!"
"I thi- bleh, ugh. Might got a few- urp. Shit."
Brick rolled his eyes. "Boomer, get him somewhere he can clean up. I'll go tell the beach that the waters still thick with the slime and that people should not be swimming in it right now. I'll bring back a drink for you to clean your mouth out with too Butch."
"Maaan. Do I gotta? And why can't they go swimming? I haven't even been yet!"
"Ugh. That stuffs- blegh."
Brick shot Boomer a look. "That's why. Who knows what the fuck is in that slime? I don't want people swimming in it only to end up sick or hurt or something. I'll see if one of the girls can call a clean-up crew while I'm there."
"Am I gunna be- blergh."
More barf. Oh this was nasty. His stomach had to be nearly empty at this point. Ugh, dry heaving. Nasty, nasty, nasty.
"Fine. Guess that's valid."
They'd ignored Butch. Assholes. Then again, he likely would be fine. Not like the X wouldn't be able to work overtime and fix anything that went wrong anyways.
"Great. Have fun cleaning him up," Brick snickered out before shooting off for shore.
"Seriously- hey! You're an aaaaa...shit. Think it's okay to cuss again or will yelling asshole at him get Bloss angry at me?"
"Urp. Ugh, wouldn't chance it."
"Fair. Come on. Let's find a clean spot in the ocean and get this shit off. Can't believe Brick flew back before cleaning up himself."
"Don't- urp. Don't say that. He might hear you. I want that- blegh, I want that drink dude. This shit's nasty!"
Boomer turned and raised an eyebrow. "The slime? Or the vomit?"
Butch glared before turning away to start looking for a clean spot in the ocean. Boomer just snickered at him. Assholes. Both his brothers were such assholes.
Brick swallowed the growl in his throat as he touched down on the beach near the two puffs. Blossom was nowhere to be seen. Instead, still managing to look down his nose at him even when he was still in the air, was none other than Howie.
"Where's Blossom?"
Bubbles turned from glaring at Howie to look at him. Buttercup kept glaring.
"She was worried about the sensors so she went to check them. She's probably still at the relay point. That's usually where the issue is anyways."
Brick frowned at that. "Alone?"
Howie opened his mouth but Buttercup jumped in and cut him off.
"Bubs and I aren't allowed in them. Same deal as helping the professor with his inventions."
Brick sighed at that, a puff of smoke escaping his lips causing him to frown. The dip in the water had helped him cool off but the fight had seriously heated his blood. He needed to get out of the sun before he really overheated.
"Fine. Where is it? I'll go help."
"I highly doubt that you would be capable of-"
"Shut up Howie. I beat your ass in physics this year. And I'm in shop. I know machinery."
Buttercup smirked as Howie's mouth snapped shut at that. Brick felt the corner of his lip twitch with the urge to smirk too. The glare Howie was giving him was pretty satisfying.
"It's over by the docks. You can see the antenna from here. See?"
Bubbles pointed at the small antenna in the distance, a green light slowly blinking at the top of it.
"Usually they light up bright red and let out an alarm when a monster is approaching from one of the sensors its attached to."
Brick floated back up. "But this time it didn't. Our phones didn't go off either. Alright, I'll go talk with Blossom and see what's up. In the meantime, keep people out if the water and call for cleanup. The thing was covered in a layer of mucus that smells and feels nasty as hell. Not sure it's safe for a non-super."
Buttercup raised an eyebrow. "I'd say that explains the smell but I always think you three stink."
"Ha ha. Very funny. Might wanna also have someone bring Butch something to clean his mouth out with. He swallowed some of it."
Buttercup frowned at that. "The hell did he do that for?"
Brick shrugged. "What can I say? He's an idiot."
He didn't stick around after that and instead took off for the relay in a flash of red. He spared one last glance back at Howie. The nerd was still hanging around. Fucking hell. What did he need to do to get him to back off already?!
Huffing, and letting out more smoke as he did so, Brick turned back to face his destination. Whatever. He'd sort it out later. In the meantime, time to figure out why the hell the alarms weren't sounded.
Blossom frowned. This made no sense. It was one thing for something to get knocked over or out of place, heck even broken, but this? This was...too careful. The piece that should have been right there was gone and nothing else looked touched. It made no sense.
Well, unless someone had stolen it. The question was, who would be dumb enough to do that and why? Without the relay center working the way it should this whole part of town was at risk of serious damage from even a simple attack. And that monster hadn't been a simple monster. It could have done a lot of damage. Easily. And it wasn't an uncommon type of monster to come out at this part of the city either.
So why would someone steal a piece from here?
"Hey, figure out what happened yet?"
Blossom didn't even bother turning to look at Brick, just sighing and shaking her head instead. "Somewhat. I'm not sure exactly why it happened is the problem."
"Why what happened?" Brick asked as he touched down next to her. She gestured at the empty spot in the wiring in front of her.
"Why the part that should be right there isn't, that's what."
"...I'm guessing someone stole it?"
Blossom rolled her eyes and gave him a look that had him just shrugging in response. "Obviously. It didn't just walk away on its own after all. The thing is, I can't understand why someone would want it."
"Well what'd it even do? Can't say I'm super familiar with how these things ate set up."
"It did two things, first it detects wavelengths like all the other machines around the city do. Secondly, it integrates that signal into the system here. It's supposed to mainly read the signals from the other towers and translate that into something we can pick apart."
Brick raised an eyebrow at that. "Why? Seems kinda redundant."
Blossom sighed again as she turned back to the empty spot. "This is relatively new technology and it hasn't been perfected yet. The towers pick up signals from everything within their range. We needed an intermediary to help translate those signals into a machine that could pick apart only the ones we care about and send out the alarms. Without it, we'd get alarms going off non-stop. That's why a fail-safe was put in if the relay went down to stop the relay completely and send a separate message back home to the professor. Someone seems to have disabled that though."
"That...sounds a lot like sabotage more than anything else. Would a villain be able to do that? I know Ace is still locked up, Mojo's retired, Him's too entertained by all of us to interfere right now, but there were plenty others. One of them?"
"Hmmm, I thought about it but it isn't likely. Sedusa found a rich guy to spoil her and took Kitty with her. The two are still living the high life in Citiesville from what I've heard. Other than her, I'm not sure there's any villains I can think of that would be smart enough to do this. Maybe Lennie but he's got a tracker on his ankle and a full-time guard to keep him at least three blocks away from us at all times. If he tried to get close he would have been arrested and seeing as how the next time that happens he's going to lockdown, he's in no rush for that."
"Someone new then?"
"...I hope not. Anyways, I'll call the police and the professor and let them know. They can look into it for now. Come on. Let's get back. I'm guessing there's a mess at the beach to clean up too."
Brick made a face at that. "Yeah. Understatement. I'm just hoping it isn't something that can make people sick. Butch got a mouthful of monster goo there."
Blossom cringed at that. "Ew. I can't imagine he was pleased."
Brick snorted. "He wasn't. Hey, question. Why have you never thrown Ace in Lockdown?"
Blossom shrugged. "His crimes of choice are more of the typical variation. We decided it was better to stick with the demon we knew rather than leave a hole for a new one to move in. I'm sure Ace is somewhat aware of it too. It's part of why he usually stays somewhat in line."
Brick snorted at that. "Has nothing to do with the fact you terrify him. Nothing at all."
Blossom gave him a smile that sent him back to when he was 6 and floating across from her, trees and buildings burning and frost covered below them.
"Well, that might help a little. Anyways, come on. I want to be there when the cleanup crew arrives. You should also send Butch to the professor just to be safe too."
"Yeah. I can try. Doubt it'll happen."
Blossom sighed as she left the relay center and took to the sky. "You know, you three really need to get over whatever your issue with the professor is. He's pretty much just your doctor."
Brick snorted. "Yeah. Right. Tell that to the photos of doggy Butch and Boomer from earlier this year."
"...oh look! Clean up crew is already there. We better hurry back."
Brick snorted at that but he let it go which Blossom was thankful for. Honestly, normally he was just a doctor to them! It's just, sometimes he was maybe a little more scientist than doctor. It was fine. They probably wouldn't have another mishap.
Blossom seriously hoped she hadn't just jinxed herself.
Hope you all enjoyed! Like I said, let me know if there's anything super confusing about this one and I'll try to fix it (I have no beta and the edits I did today were done on little sleep so not sure they make sense). This was a chapter that I originally was super excited for and planned to have some small but key details in. As I got closer to the chapter, I realized I didn't really feel as excited about it but couldn't think of another way to properly include what I wanted in one chapter. That's why the lack of any outfit descriptions. It's lazy of me, sorry. It's my last lazy chapter though. We're halfway through summer now with this and things will start to really hit the fan so get ready for that.
EverestGhost13! Blues nearly got a date day at the beach and Buttercup got a taste of her old normal but, as you can see, I wasn't about to let it last. More to come for them all. Hope you enjoyed this and what I have planned!
Its just adi! Haha so glad you're enjoying the story! I've been having fun playing around a lot in this one with their characterizations. I'm happy to see you're enjoying the result of that. Hope you enjoy the chaos I have coming for them all too!
Trase! I'm doing good! A little tired but that's what happens when you go to a party and don't get home until 2AM. Hope you're doing good as well! I love that you love everything and that you appreciate that I haven't been able to add all that I wanted. I wish I had time to go back and give you all more but I'm trying to give you all as much as I can with what I have left of this story. Thank you for being so understanding of that. I'm also really glad you're enjoying the little details I've been able to get for you all that show a bit more of what the characters went through. I'm a firm believer in actions have consequences and I wanted to make sure to include that idea in my story, even in relation to their powers. The greens are admittedly the ones whose powers were the ones I struggled with for that aspect but you hit on the head with the excess energy. Butch definitely has more troubles with it and combined with having a less stable genetic makeup thanks to how careless Him was re-creating them, it manifests in the twitches. Buttercup has a similar problem but with her ability to overcontrol her X and her stable genetic makeup, she can diffuse it more steadily. A fight helps a lot but she doesn't need it unlike Butch. You're right that it's more mental with her. She has to constantly let her X diffuse around her in small ways to keep it from getting to be too much. It was what fed into her anger problems as a kid but with time and counseling she's at the point now where it's nearly unconscious. She's the only one capable of that and it balances out the fact that her unique ability is limited to herself. So glad you're enjoying the story so much. Hope you enjoy the upcoming last arc to it all.
Azzissax! So glad you enjoyed the story so much! And that you decided to start it despite it's length haha. Hope you're prepared though. I might be getting close to where I hope to end it but I've got at least another 10 chapters to come! Hope you stick with it to the end and thanks for reading!
See you all next month with another chapter of something. Until then, Ciao!