Thank you all for the likes and subscribes! I loved seeing them all come in. Love that people are enjoying the story (even if I feel like it's a mess. My bad!).
So before I started this story I had a ton of random ideas that I thought would be fun and they all kinda merged together into a giant high school fic that is essentially a giant playground for me. In other words, this story was born to tie random things I wanted to write together. This chapter and the next are tied to one of those ideas and I had a ton of fun writing it. This also might explain why there are like a (at least I feel like there are) hundred things going on all at once...Anyways, hope you all enjoy!
"So, how ya feelin' this morning Bloss?" Buttercup asked from where she stood, leaning against the door frame to the eldest puff's room. Blossom groaned and tried to burry herself further into her pillows.
"Fine. I'm just permanently removing all of last night's events from my mind."
Buttercup snickered. "Yeah, X is great for making us not have that happen Bloss. No hangovers, no black outs, no forgotten memories."
"Yeah well if I say I've forgotten what happened last night who's to say any differently hmm?"
"Fine fine, I'll leave you to it then. Personally, I'm going to make sure to never forget a single moment of last night. Seems I have two bouncing sisters after all."
Blossom groaned. "Go away Buttercup. Please."
"Hey Bubbles-"
"Sorry Boomer! I really need to swing by the art room to pick up a few things before my next class! I'll talk to you later!"
Boomer frowned as he watched his counterpart jog away from him. Again. For the third time that day. He felt more than heard his oldest brother step up next to him.
"What was that about?" Brick asked him. Boomer groaned before swinging around to walk to his next class.
"Hell if I know. She's been like that since the party. Anytime I try to talk to her she goes zooming off."
"Told you to leave Mark alone."
"I was drunk! I didn't intentionally hurt him either. Well, okay I mostly didn't intentionally hurt him. I don't think that's the problem anyways so whatever!"
"Well something's up so unless you screwed up with something else I'd say Bubs clearly doesn't see it that way," Brick said with a half amused snort.
"Okay Brick. Thanks for laughing at my pain bro. Totally helps with my problem."
Brick shrugged. "I'm just happy that for once this year, it isn't me having problems with a puff."
Boomer glared at him. "Okay mister 'gunna pretend Blossom actually doesn't remember anything'. Give it a week. I'm sure you'll find your way back into the dog house."
Brick scowled at that and glared at his brother. "Screw you Boom. Screw. You."
"Alright Bubs. Time to spill. The hell is going on between you and blue boy?" Buttercup said as she entered her younger sister's room, Blossom right behind her. Bubbles startled at her desk and spun to face then, avoiding direct eye contact.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said as she turned back to her desk. Maybe if she started to work on her homework again Blossom would get Buttercup to leave.
"Bubbles. You were talking to him almost as if things were back to normal for weeks before the party and now you avoid him like the plague. I expected some distance after the Mark thing but this is completely different. What happened?" Blossom asked. Well, there went that idea.
"Seriously. The whole 'nothing's wrong' thing was fine last week but now? Spill. Or do I just have to go beat him up?" Buttercup asked as she went over and sat on Bubbles's desk. Bubbles sighed and glared at her sister.
"I'm trying to do my homework here."
"No, you're avoiding us. You finished the last of your homework an hour ago," Blossom said as she sat on Bubbles's bed. She'd had to move some of the stuffed animals out of the way first.
Bubbles threw her hands up in the air. "How do you even know that? Ugh, you two are impossible to live with. No privacy!"
"You got that right. Now spill," Buttercup said. Bubbles sighed.
"It's nothing. Really. I probably just overreacted but it kind of hit home and made me think that maybe I wasn't as okay with things as I thought I was."
"Details Bubs. Details," Blossom said. Bubbles turned and pouted at her.
"Do I have to?" She whined. Both her sisters nodded causing her to sigh again. "Fine. It was after I got back from dropping Mark off at the hospital. I went back to the room where the fight had happened to see how bad things were and then decided to go find Boomie. Which I did. He had Ali in his lap."
"That dick. Here I was thinking he'd finally made a smart move breaking up with her and then he just, what, let's her suck face? While making moves on you at the same time?" Buttercup growled. Bubbles quickly turned to her.
"No! Or, well, I don't think so. I just saw her in his lap and I couldn't even see his face. I don't think they were kissing and like I said, I think I overreacted by assuming and walking away. Boomie hasn't been acting any different than from before the party and Ali hasn't been hanging off of him so I'm pretty sure nothing happened."
"But it was a shock wasn't it? You thought that after dating Mark you'd maybe have an easier time getting over the fact that he's had so many girlfriends but seeing her like that made you realize you weren't. Plus, you were just cheated on and while Boomer isn't the type to do that you couldn't help but mentally jump there. You still, unconsciously maybe, expect him to just say yes to the next girl who comes along like he always has and just leave you on the sideline again. You're not even sure if he cares for you that way. Is that it?" Blossom asked.
Bubbles nodded her head slowly. "Pretty much. I mean is that weird? We were so close back before 9th grade but then he started dating and, well, it hurt to watch that so things got all weird. I could have sworn that before that that maybe when we were older he'd ask me out but he didn't. I've always been interested in him at least and I thought maybe he was interested in me too but then I wasn't sure. Then Mark asked me out and Buttercup said to try it and I thought, maybe I should. Maybe Boomie isn't the one for me, or maybe he never was into me. Maybe I've just been romanticizing everything like usual. But Mark didn't feel right and I was still so unhappy and then I was cheated on and then seeing Boomie with Ali still hurt, especially at the party. I'm still not over that I guess."
"So the distance from him? What's up with it?" Buttercup asked. Bubbles shrugged.
"I thought I could do with some space. Try and think things through and come to terms with things. I do like Boomie. A lot. And I think that's pretty obvious but I'm just not sure how he really feels about me. I mean, I thought he liked me but then he started dating all these other girls and would he do that if I was the one he liked?"
"Well, he is the dumb and dumbest. Maybe you shouldn't think so hard about it. He's a guy. Probably didn't think past the first pretty girl asking him out," Buttercup said.
"He's really not that dumb you know and he isn't like that. Boomie wouldn't lead someone on so there had to be at least some interest. I don't know and I thought that maybe until I do I should just, keep away. Not let things go too far too fast," Bubbles said with a sigh.
As soon as she finished a pulse of blue light rippled out from below them and passed them quickly. They blinked before hearing a small banging coming from downstairs. They shared a look.
"The lab." They all said at once before zooming out of the room and down into the basement. There was smoke coming from one of the far walls that was slowly spreading through the room.
"Professor! Are you okay?!" Blossom asked, panicked, as she scanned the room for him. They heard a cough as he stood up from behind a blast shield.
"I'm fine girls. Sorry about that. I was trying out my new machine but clearly trying too early. Looks like it was a failure," he said with a sigh. The girls looked at the smoking machine. It was a mess of metal and wires and now, fried circuits. It didn't seem like there was an immediate danger so they relaxed
"Is this the same one you've been working on for the past month?" Bubbles asked as she walked over to it. Blossom made her way to the professor.
"Unfortunately. It looks like not only was this a failure but I've probably set myself back," he sighed out as he scratched his head. Blossom pulled up short as she stared at his hand.
"Umm, professor? What exactly was this machine supposed to do?" She asked. He turned to look at her, brow furrowed at her expression.
"Well, I was wanting to keep it a surprise. I thought I'd mentioned that. Is everything..." he trailed off as he realized what she was looking at. His hand was growing fur. "Oh dear."
"Uhh, Bloss? Might wanna take a look at your hand," Buttercup said staring at the two. Blossom quickly did that only to see red fur growing. She turned to the professor.
"What is that machine supposed to do?" She asked sounding slightly panicked.
"Um, oh dear, well you see it was supposed to give a person the ability to speak to an animal. You could choose from the selection and then, zap! You speak moose. I think I may have been a bit off in my calculations though."
The fur was spreading as both the professor and Blossom began to shrink as well. Their facial features were starting to change as well.
"So are we turning into animals?!" Blossom asked frantic.
"Hmm, yes it would appear so. I'm interested in why only you and me though." His words were becoming hard to understand as his mouth began to elongate out and turn black. "Hmm, interesting."
"Now's not the time to be interested!" Blossom screeched.
"Oh I wouldn't worry. I'm sure that once the transformation is complete everything will be fine. I'll just have to find a way to reverse it. Hmmm, maybe..."
Bubbles and Buttercup could only watch and their bodies continued to change. Before long they had a red cat and an emperor penguin standing before them, a pile of clothes at their feet.
"Oh dear," Bubbles mumbled, partially still in shock.
"Oh my god, this is amazing," Buttercup said as she cracked up laughing. Blossom spun and growled at her.
"No it's not."
"Yeah, it is. Man, Rob is gunna love this!"
"So help me Buttercup if you tell anyone-!"
"Hmmm, how fascinating. We can still talk and seem to have retained all higher thought processes. I wonder why just us two changed. And why different animals? Was it because I didn't have a specific one selected? Absolutely fascinating."
"And so cute! Oh my gosh Blossom," Bubbles said as she swept her sister up into her arms, "you're so soft!" She hugged her sister close to her face. Blossom was still glaring at Buttercup.
"Seriously! Oh and imagine what the guys will say," Buttercup continued.
She yelped as an eye beam hit her in the stomach.
"Buttercup I promise you that if you tell them I will personally find a way to make you regret it!"
"Marvelous! You can still use your powers? Which ones? Just the energy controlling ones or all of them?" The professor said as he waddled over. Bubbles squealed at the sight.
"You're both just sooo cuuute!" She said laughing. Blossom just sighed as the professor continued to mumble to himself.
A beeping noise started to sound not far from Buttercup. Still laughing, she went over to the computer it was coming from.
"Looks like the mayor wants to talk professor. I'm answering it."
The professor quickly waddled over to where Buttercup was. Bubbles started aimlessly floating as she continued to coo over Blossom's fur and how cute she was.
"Professor! Please tell-why is there a penguin in your lab?" The mayor asked as the computer brought up the video call.
"Well it seems that I made a mistake or two. Not quite sure what they were yet but I will. I hope. Being stuck like this would be awfully inconvenient," he replied. The mayor glared at him and huffed.
"Another machine John? You really need to stop messing with things you shouldn't and you better be able to turn it back. I do not want to be stuck with this!"
The mayor stepped away from the camera to show what was going on behind her. A golden retriever was sitting watching as a large black mastiff ran in circles chasing its tail. Brick stood further back in the room rubbing his temples. The golden retriever turned to face the camera.
"Hey prof. Hope you can do something about this," it said. Buttercup squinted at the screen.
"Is that-?"
"Boomer and Butch? Yes. Please tell me you can fix this professor," the mayor said as she stepped back in front of the camera.
"Fascinating! I wonder why only two of the boys changed whereas only one of the girls did. I suppose the dogs make sense though, what with the puppy dog tails and all. Though then you would expect that Brick would have changed. Is it because he has the most puppy dog tail in him? But the girls have no animal in their make-up so then why would any of the girls change?"
"Woah woah woah. Hold up prof," Butch said as he rushed over and popped up at the bottom of the screen. He was panting slightly. "One of the puffs changed? Which one?"
"Buttercup if you say one word-!" Blossom growled. Bubbles giggled as she continued to pet her sister.
"Bossy changed? Sweet! Into what?"
"Butch this is not the time! Professor, can you fix this?" The mayor said as she pushed Butch out of the way slightly. The professor took a moment to think.
"Quite possibly. I think I understand why the machine changed us into animals. My concern is that I didn't hook up a long range transmitter to this and yet, if the boys changed, it seems that the wave transmitted half way across town."
"You hooked up the wrong thing then professor. That's the wires for the antenna," Blossom said as she looked at the machine. Bubbles had floated over to it.
"Oops. Well! That's one problem fixed! The second one is that I currently don't have hands."
Everyone looked as he flapped his flippers a bit. Buttercup snickered.
"So leader girl's stuck-"
"Don't even think about it!" Blossom screeched, sounding a bit shrill. Buttercup just continued to snicker.
"I can see how that would be a problem. Are Bubbles and Buttercup able to help?" The mayor asked.
The professor shook his head. "Buttercup's destroyed too many machines and banned from helping me. I'm not about to change that either, even for this. Bubbles maybe but she'd need to be told exactly what to do as she isn't familiar with any of the machinery at all. Normally Blossom's the one to help but we seem to be in the same boat this time. With only one pair of hands it's going to take a while."
The mayor's shoulders slumped as she thought it over. While she was doing that a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She moved slightly to let Brick in the view of the camera.
"Can I help? I'm not too thrilled about these two numskulls being stuck like this for longer than necessary," he said. Both Boomer and Butch cracked up at that.
"Dude! You'd have to walk us," Boomer said.
"Nah man, he'd have this clean up after us," Butch said. They redoubled their laughs at that while Brick turned and shot a laser at them.
"Brick! Not in the house," the mayor chided.
"I am not cleaning up after those two!"
"He might be able to help professor. He's in shop at school so he'll know more than me. We can maybe even see if Mike or Mitch are able to help out too," Bubbles said.
"Do they have to?" Blossom whined out.
"You wanna be stuck like that?" Buttercup asked with a smirk on her face. Blossom glared.
"Fine. I'll just be in my-oh my gosh I can't fly!" Blossom said as she jumped out of Bubbles arms and dropped like a rock. Bubbles scrambled but managed to catch her. The professor and Buttercup both spun around in shock at her exclamation and gave the camera a clear shot of her. She saw Brick cock an eyebrow.
"A cat huh? Would have thought you would have changed into a fox," he chuckled. Butch started to try and force his way onto the camera again. Blossom ignored them as she clawed her way back into Bubbles's arms.
"Do. Not. Drop. Me," she panted out once she was there. Bubbles giggled.
"Of course."
"Only some of your powers work? I wonder why. What makes flight different from your eye beams? Do you still have your invincibility if you don't have your flight? Fascinating," the professor said.
"Alright, I think we're past the fascinating part here. Seriously though, how long are you all going to be stuck?" Buttercup asked. The professor shrugged, an action that looked very odd on a penguin.
"Depends. Assuming that Brick can help as well as Bubbles and maybe another set of hands or two then a week?"
All three girls spun to face the professor.
"A week?! Professor that's too long!" Bubbles squeaked out.
"Seriously! What about if a monster attacks!" Buttercup added.
"It's not a matter of if but when! Since we started fighting monsters there hasn't been a single week without at least two attacks! And we're in a flux phase still! I can't fight like this!" Blossom finished.
"I'll do everything I can but I can't see this being fixed in less than a week. I haven't had a chance to even look at the machine closely but I can see from here that there's been serious damage. It'll take at least a few days to fix it and then I'll need a few more to figure out how to reverse it. Until then Bubbles and Buttercup, you two are going to have to find a way to handle the monsters. We can set up a station in the living room for Blossom to watch and direct but this estimation is unfortunately the best case scenario."
"Alright. I understand. See if you can get as many hands as possible professor. I'll set up a press conference and inform the city. We'll set up precautions in case a monster does show up to minimize damage. The detector hasn't had any issues lately so we should at least have a warning. Brick can spend the week at your place-" he tried to protest as the mayor said this but she ignored him, "-so that this way you have as much help as possible. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help with this."
"I'll be sure to do that Mayor Bellum. We'll see you soon Brick," the professor said.
Brick groaned into his hands as the mayor ended the call. The professor turned to face the girls, all of whom were glaring at him.
"Right! Time to clean up the guest room a bit."
He opened the back door of the car, one of Bellum's not-so-high-end ones, with a sigh and watched as his brothers tumbled out laughing. He was not a fan of this. Not a fan at all. He pulled out the bag he'd packed and threw it over his shoulder before barely remembering not to slam the car door shut. He sighed again after closing it gently and turned to walk up to the door, throwing a side kick at Butch who was rolling on the grass as he passed. Butch snapped at the leg but badly missed and groaned.
"Man. Being a dog is great but it ain't easy. My depth perception's still all whack," he said as he got up to follow his brothers to the door.
With a sigh Brick rang the doorbell. There was a whoosh sound as Bubbles opened the door, Blossom hanging from her arm.
"Great! You're here. Oh my gosh you two are soooo cute!" Bubbles squealed. "Here." Bubbles shoved Blossom at Brick and let go forcing him to grab her, despite both of their protests.
Bubbles crouched down to eye level with the other two.
"You know, this takes the name ruffs to a whole new level but I am so not complaining!" She said as she reached out to give both scratched behind the ear.
"Oh wow that feels nice," Butch groaned out as both boys' tail started to wag. Buttercup came up behind Bubbles and raised an eyebrow.
"Wow Bubbles. Knew you were good with animals but if you knew all it took was a scratch behind the ears to deal with that beast then why didn't you tell me? Coulda saved me a lot of trouble over the years."
Bubbles giggled. "Well, puppy dog tails and all that. I think it might be a bit odd if you started scratching Butch's ear all of a sudden."
Brick was awkwardly standing there with Blossom stiff in his arms. They looked at each, weird looks on their faces.
"Yeah I'm just going to put you down now," Brick said as he set her down on the ground.
"Thank y-"
"Nope! Pick her back up right now! She's too soft and pretty to be walking on the ground! Plus, you need a guide around the lab and she's small enough to sit on your shoulder so it's perfect," Bubbles said as she stood, hands on her hips, and frowned at them both.
"Uh, been in the lab before so I think I'll be fine," he replied.
Both Buttercup and Bubbles shook their heads as Blossom's ears drooped.
"You three have been in the med section and simulator parts of the lab. You haven't been in the professor's playroom part. Trust us, you need a guide. Mike should be here soon too. The two of you can stick together while leader girl directs you," Buttercup said. Brick and Blossom awkwardly looked at each other.
"No Mitch?" Butch asked. Buttercup smirked.
"Nah, he got hit by it too. Turned into a teeny tiny monkey. Not much help unfortunately. Most of the professor's colleagues also were affected so just it's just gunna be you three."
"So pick her up and let's go," Bubbles said as she turned and bounced back into the house. Both Boomer and Butch turned to watch with large wolfish grins on their face. Blossom glared at them both.
"You know, from where I stand right now you two look like I should be far far away from you both. You look like you're...drooling," Blossom said, disgust clear on her face. Brick sighed but picked her up.
"Let's just get this over with," he muttered.
"Overnight, well, week bag?" Buttercup asked gesturing to the bag on Brick's shoulder. He sighed.
"Yeah. I can set it in the guest room before we get started."
"Right. And the dogs?"
Both Buttercup and Brick looked at them as they sat there.
"Dude. We can't fly so you're kind stuck with us," Butch said with another wolfish grin.
"And they're cute! They stay!" Bubbles yelled from inside the house. "I've put a few more water bowls on the ground for them."
"A few more?" Brick asked as he looked down at Blossom, eyebrow raised. She huffed and wouldn't look him in the eyes.
"What else were we supposed to do?"
Brick shook his head. "Let's just get this over with. You two try not to drool over everything."
"Hey! Golden retrievers don't drool. Much. Typically. Oh just go help the professor," Boomer mumbled as he got up and walked into the house, Butch on his heels.
"Mike stop!"
Mike froze what he was doing at Blossom's tone. She felt Brick turn his head and try to look past her red fur. She sighed as she looked around where Mike stood.
"You've walked into a pretty tight spot. Umm, let's see. Take a step back slowly for me please."
"Okay, what do you mean tight spot Bloss?" Mike asked as he did what she said. She sighed.
"The machine's you're surrounded by are sensitive. Not in the blow up kind of a way thankfully but you're still going to want to be careful unless you want to have purple skin for a week. Now, turn to your right. Do you see that big red key? Step two steps towards it."
As Mike did that Brick turned back to what he was working on.
"Great, now turn and face me. Yup. Just walk straight."
"So do I even want to know what dangers I was surrounded by? You weren't serious about the purple skin thing were you?"
"Hmmm, I mean, they aren't the most dangerous machines down here but probably not. Let's just leave it at that."
"Why does he even keep all this stuff?"
Brick couldn't help but agree. He'd never even known about this part of the lab but he wasn't surprised now that he'd seen it. It was a giant hoarder's mess. This part of the lab was underneath the parts with the simulator and med section and massive as well. The lighting was great in some parts but other parts, like where they were, had spotty lighting at best. It was the professor's playground for sure. Machine upon machine upon machine.
"He never knows what he might need. Like now. That machine you have there Mike was made to read moods and Brick is working on something that was supposed to change hair color. They both have parts in them that the professor needs to fix things. It's helping speed things up for sure," Blossom answered.
"This thing what we need?" Brick asked as he finally finished unscrewing the last panel. Blossom looked down and hummed.
"Drat. I see rust. I told him to empty those tanks in the dehumidifiers. Maybe it'll be okay though."
Brick pulled the part out and turned it over in his hands. "Looks like it's just a few places on the outside of it. Don't think it'll matter."
"Either way, we don't have much choice. Bubs! Pick up!" Blossom yelled causing Brick to pull away slightly. She glanced at him apologetically.
"Coming!"
"Mike, there's a small green cylinder in that piece. We need that," Blossom directed as they waited for Bubbles to fly over to them.
"Whew! This is crazy! Once we're done with this I'm so organizing down here," Bubbles said as she reached them.
"I'll help," Blossom said with a giggle. Brick turned to hand Bubbles the part. She didn't take it though, instead watching as Mike whipped across his forehead with a cloth. Blossom caught the action to and realized that he wasn't the only one sweating. Brick's hair, up in a bun again, was sticking to him. He'd left his hat upstairs just to be safe. She blinked in surprise at the amount of sweat she saw on his face.
"Alright. I call break time. We've all been at it for hours now. It's time for dinner anyways. Let's go," Bubbles said as she went over to lift Mike. He took a step back.
"Look, Bubs, can I not just walk back over? Being carried back is..." he trailed off, a slight uncomfortable look on his face. Blossom shook her head.
"It would take too long. Even the professor has a hard time navigating down here and he was the one who built this all. Sorry Mike."
"Right," he said with a sigh as he resigned himself to being carried. Bubbles turned to Brick who hadn't moved.
"You coming?' She asked. Brick sighed and looked at the piece Mike had been standing at.
"Just let me finish this one piece and I'll head back over."
"Are you sure?" Bubbles asked looking worried. He waved her off.
"Won't take long Bubs."
Bubbles sighed and turned to look at Blossom.
"Did you want to head back with me now then?"
Blossom glanced at Brick before shaking her head.
"I'm fine. I'd rather make sure that Brick doesn't accidentally set something off."
"I won't," he growled out. She glared and dug her claws into his shoulder slightly.
"I'm not calling you clumsy or careless Brick. The things in here are just sensitive," she hissed at him. Bubbles giggled awkwardly at the two.
"Alrighty then. See you two in a bit," she said as she lifted Mike up in her arms and flew off.
Blossom sighed as Brick started to work on the machine. Now that she'd noticed just how hot it was down here she could feel just how much heat Brick was giving off. She sighed and let her body temperature drop causing him to shiver slightly. He shot a glance at her.
"Thanks," he said gruffly as he continued to peel the machine apart. She sighed through her nose.
"You know you getting this one piece right now isn't really going to do much to speed things along right?"
"I don't like leaving things half done and it'll only take a few minutes."
"In other words just being stubborn. Like usual."
"That a jab at something Pinkie?" He snarled lightly. She sighed.
"No, it's not."
He didn't respond as she stared off at the mess. They really did need to organize it. The professor said there was a system but his system was just him remembering where things were. It was a disaster waiting to happen. She startled as Brick cursed and quickly pulled away from the machine. Being slightly caught off guard she scrambled as she began to fall off his shoulder only for him to quickly reach up and grabbed her by the scruff to steady her.
She stared wide eyed, heart racing slightly at the machine.
"What did you do?" She asked, her voice slightly breathy from the shock of nearly dropping.
"Nothing! I just pulled the panel off!"
"Well clearly you did something!"
She scrambled slightly as a flash of lights came from the machine startling them both. Blossom squeaked as her claws slipped off Brick's shoulder, ripping through his shirt slightly. He quickly moved to catch her and the machine lit up slightly.
"Brick, I think we should-"
She was cut off as the machine groaned and then, with another flashy light display, spat out a cloud of smoke that quickly covered them.
Brick was careful not to let Blossom go as he tried to wave the smoke away, both coughing.
"What the hell happened?" Brick asked.
"Assuming you really didn't accidentally ruin something, I think you might have jump-started it. The professor was messing with energy sources and not everything in here is powered by electricity. Some, like this one I guess, are powered by heat. You run hot normally and you've been down here for hours sweating and heating up. I think you acted as a power source."
"I thought you said the thing read moods!"
"It does! The lights represented them but it's down here for a reason Brick. It was a failed experiment because it didn't do what it was supposed to."
The smoke had cleared slightly and the two looked at each other. They were both covered in patches of brightly colored dust.
"What did it do Pinkie?"
She groaned and flicked her tail trying, without success, to get the dust off.
"It paints people with their emotions. This dust? We're stuck with it for at least 24 hours and it'll change color depending on our moods."
As she spoke, the powder on Brick's face turned a mix of greens, yellows, and oranges. And red. Lots of red.
"I'm sorry, what?"
She winced at the tone in his voice, the color of the powder on her turning a light green.
"Well at least the part is just right there?"
"Hell no! I'm not touching that thing again! We're going," he said as he abruptly took off to leave. Blossom squeaked as she dug her claws in. Brick adjusted her slightly so she was steadier in his arms.
"Okay okay! Just, slow down please! Can't fly remember?" She said, the color turning slightly black now. He glanced down at her and slowed down.
"I'm not gunna drop you," he said, scowl on his face. She looked up at him, eyes wide.
"I really just didn't like that feeling of falling. Especially since I don't know which powers I still have and which I don't. I don't know if a fall would hurt me or not right now or if I'd heal quickly if I did get hurt. Please Brick, just, slowly."
Her ears were back against her and the powder was pure black now, fur standing on end. Brick watched for a second before slowing down more.
"Right. Slow."
She glanced down and began to relax with the drop in speed. She looked back at Brick to see him watching her oddly.
"Sorry. I know you wouldn't just drop me but it was weird and I really didn't like the feeling of dropping. At all. It was a different from dropping because of X depletion."
"Right. You didn't like it."
She looked away from him at the tone in his voice and he pulled up in the air. She looked down at the machines below them with a huff.
"Should have known something like this would happen. Look at all of these," she mumbled. Brick watched her a moment longer before also looking down.
"Yeah, really glad this is my first time down here. Can't lie, not a fan."
Blossom looked at him to see the colors turn a combination of blues. Her own color was slowly lightening up to the same shade.
"We avoid it too."
He looked at her sigh a sigh and watched the shift in colors.
"24 hours? That long?"
"If it makes you feel better, I'm pretty sure we lost the codes so no one's actually going to know what the colors mean."
Well, other than them. She figured they'd both pick up on the meaning of the colors easily enough.
Which was a problem!
She quickly looked away and saw the colors start to change to a yellowish color. How the hell was she supposed to do this?! She'd been sitting on his shoulder for hours! Heck, he was currently holding her in his arms!
She saw a shift in the colors out of the corner of her eye and panicked causing it to shift back. Dangerous line of thought!
This was a nightmare.
"Okay so maybe spaghetti was a bad idea Buttercup," Bubbles said as she watched the two ruffs. Butch seemed to be having no troubles with gobbling it down but that didn't really surprise her. He ate like an animal even when he wasn't one. Boomer however, was struggling.
She had to admit it was kinda cute. Okay, not kinda but she was trying to not think like that! He was trying to slurp it up but it kept slipping through his teeth and at this point his maw was covered in sauce.
Buttercup shrugged and stretched out from where she sat on the table setting her feet onto of Butch and using him as a foot stool. He took a second to glare at her before turning back to his food.
"Just glad I finally got to get a taste of the famous Butterbutt cuisine. Not really all that amazing," Butch said as he finished off his bowl. She snorted at that.
"Dude. It was a canned spaghetti. If I'd actually made dinner? You'd be in heaven," Buttercup said. Butch turned and licked his lips with a growl.
"Damn. One day Butters, one day."
"Not any day soon."
He huffed and took a few steps away from the bowl before flopping down on the floor. Buttercup made sure her feet stayed where they were. He didn't seem to really care much at this point.
"So you mean I'm over here, making a mess that even a toddler would laugh at, and I'm not even eating good food? That's it. I'm done," Boomer said with a huff as he turned away from the food and tried to lick the sauce of his lips.
"I mean, I like this brand so I wouldn't say it's bad. Just not homemade is all," Bubbles said with a giggle. He wasn't really getting very much of it off.
He glanced at her before looking away again quickly. She stopped giggling at that. She knew she hadn't been subtle with keeping her distance but she'd been hoping he hadn't noticed. She really did know better though. It was then that Brick walked through the door with Blossom in his arms. Butch and Buttercup immediately began laughing.
"What happened to you two?" Boomer asked, his head tilting. Bubbles couldn't help but think it was adorably.
"The mood machine was heat powered. Brick set it off," Blossom said. The color of the powered on her fur was shifting between orange and green. Brick's was turning red as he glared at his brothers. They could hear Mike snickering at the sight from where he lay in the living room. He had an ice pack and was trying to cool off a bit more before he went back home for the night.
Bubbles and Buttercup winced. "Didn't we find that the stuff takes like a week to go away?" Buttercup asked. Both Blossom and Brick turned to her with panicked looks.
"I thought it was a day!" Blossom screeched, clearly panicked.
"Umm, somewhere between the two I think actually? We can ask the professor when he wakes up from his nap," Bubbles said with a wince. Blossom looked like she was about ready to start hyperventilating. The powered on Brick had shifted to a more orange than red color.
"Was the code with it?" Buttercup asked, slightly entertained. Blossom shook her head.
"No, it wasn't and I'm not about to go looking for it either. Can we just, not talk about it please? Let's just eat?" Blossom asked, strain clear in her voice. Buttercup and Bubbles exchanged looks before shrugging.
"Sure. I guess. Here, let me go get you some," Buttercup said as she stood. Butch grunted as she put her full weight on him with a smirk before stepping off. He growled lightly but didn't move.
Brick raised an eyebrow.
"You know, I always knew you just let girls walk all over you but I didn't think you'd actually let them walk on you," he said as he walked over to the dining table. He set Blossom down on it before taking a seat. Butch just grunted and rolled onto his side.
"Too much effort," Butch sighed out. Boomer glared at him.
"How are you so comfortable like this?" Boomer asked.
"Cause he's an animal on a normal day. This isn't much of a change," Buttercup said as she brought two bowls of spaghetti to the table. Blossom glared, the color on her fur turning slightly red.
"I suppose this explains the mess on Boomer's face. How am I supposed to eat this?" She huffed as she glared at the bowl. Buttercup smirked.
"In a way that entertains me greatly."
"Speaking of my face, someone mind giving me a hand? I can't get this stuff off," Boomer said, still trying to lick the sauce off.
"Bubbles can help with that," Buttercup said with a smirk at her sister.
Bubbles was very careful not to let the smile fall and turned to Boomer. She saw him wince slightly.
"Right. We can use the bathtub. You can just stick your nose under the water," she said.
"Right," he replied hesitantly. He got up and started to make his way to the bathroom, ears and tail slightly droopy. Bubbles turned and glared at her sister who just shrugged in response. With a small sigh she took off after Boomer.
"Do I want to know?" Brick asked as he started to eat.
"Nope. And don't worry about it. Now, how am I going to eat this?" Blossom said as she continued to glare at the bowl, tail twitching in agitation behind her.
"Alright, here's the guest room. Try not to shed over everything," Buttercup said as she opened the door. The three ruffs shuffled in. Brick went over to the bed where his bag was with a sigh.
"Is it alright if I take a shower? I'm covered in sweat," Brick asked. Buttercup shrugged.
"Sure. In fact, I strongly would encourage you to. Make yourself at home for the next week. Maybe if you're lucky the prof will be wrong and that stuff will wash off tonight and not take half a week," she said with a snicker. Brick sighed as the color turned from blue to red.
"Right. Maybe." He rubbed a hand across his face as Boomer and Butch jumped onto the bed. He glared at them both.
"If you need anything don't bother asking just help yourself. Hopefully it'll be a quiet night," Buttercup said as she left the room.
Brick just sighed again and stared blankly at his bag.
"You good bro?" Butch asked. He looked at his two brothers and sighed again.
"Dealing. Not a fan of the situation is all. Even more so now," Brick said as he looked at a patch of color on his arm. It was an orange-ish yellow color now, hints of red at the edges. Boomer and Butch both looked at it too.
"Yeah, kinda sucks that you got hit by that stuff," Boomer said. Butch scoffed.
"Yeah, woulda been great though if sugar cube had been hit though right?"
"Any updates on that?" Brick asked as he opened his bag and started pulling things out. Boomer sighed.
"I dunno. I really thought that things were going great. I mean, we were having actual conversations again for the first time since like the beginning of high school. Then the Halloween party happened and poof! No more talking and I don't know why. I'm starting to wonder if it was because I hurt Mark."
"Nah, sugar cube would have been upset with Butters and me too if that were the case and she hasn't acted any different to me," Butch said. Brick sighed and ran his hand through his hair before grabbing his hat from the bed side table again. He didn't put it on and just turned it over in his hands.
"Something else happened then? She was off when we were leaving too. She said she was tired but she seemed a little upset. I just thought it was because of the Mark situation too but if she's still off…" Brick said trailing off. Boomer groaned.
"Last I saw her was when she was flying off with Mark. Other than that I can't think of anything I did wrong."
He let out a low whine at this as he let his head drop onto the bed, ears drooping. Butch nudged him with a paw.
"Sure it'll all be fine bro. She hasn't seemed angry or anything. Maybe she just thought she wasn't as over Mark as she thought she was. I kinda found it odd how quickly she bounced back from that anyways."
"Either way, we've got slightly larger problems than that right now. Let's just focus on getting you two back to normal," Brick said as he grabbed his stuff for the shower. "Now, seeing as how I've spent the last half a day sweating working on that, I'm going to go take a shower. Don't wreck anything while I'm gone."
Once he'd left Boomer and Butch turned to one another. "What does he think we're gunna do? Rip a pillow apart or something?" Butch said.
Boomer snorted. "Right. That's totally the trick to getting back on Bubbles's good side."
"So what are you gunna do about that?" Buttercup said as she gestured to the spots of color on Blossom's fur.
Blossom sighed. "Do you mean the fact that I'm a cat or the mood changing powder stuck to my fur? One problem is being worked on. The other one I just have to wait out."
"Right. What's your plan for the waiting one? I mean, it literally broadcasts your mood. To everyone. And you're going to be spending the next week on cap boy's shoulder. The one person you don't want your mood broadcasted to," Buttercup replied.
"I'm aware. I'm just-I just won't think too hard about it. I'll be very careful to not think about it. Shouldn't be too hard. I barely had any thoughts earlier past making sure Mike and Brick didn't set off a random machine so I just have to do that. Again. For at least a few more days."
Bubbles giggled. "So you mean to tell me you didn't once admire the literal muscles you were sitting on? Let's be real Bloss, all the ruffs have bodies other guys and girls dream of. You're getting an up close front row seat to that right now. It didn't even cross your mind once?"
For the first time, Blossom was glad she was a cat if only so her sister wouldn't see her blush. Sadly, it didn't matter. The color on her fur changed to a purplish color.
"Well, I guess we know what that color means," Buttercup said with a smirk. Blossom glared.
"Whatever. I'm going to bed," she said as she walked over and buried herself in her pile of pillows. Both Buttercup and Bubbles giggled.
Blossom snarled out a yawn as she peaked her head out from her pillows. She blearily glanced at her bedside table where her clock was. They'd gotten a call yesterday that school was canceled, for obvious reasons, and so she'd turned off her alarm. Out of habit though, her body was awake at its normal time. She couldn't help but huff at that.
Normally she loved being an early bird but right now? Not so much. She'd had Buttercup and Bubbles cancel all her activities for the week while they canceled their own so she literally had nothing to do. For once. Her nose wrinkled at that. She wasn't a fan.
Knowing that there was no point in staying in bed she crawled out from under her pillows before hoping off her bed. She'd had Bubbles leave her door open so that she could get out in the morning. She really had to use the restroom though and the bathroom door was shut.
The professor thankfully had a small training toilet that turned excrement into a nice little compact packet about the size of a fingernail. The professor had very quickly modified two of them so that Blossom and the two ruffs-turned-dogs could use them and no one would have to worry. It made the clean-up easier.
She giggled lightly as she remembered the look on Brick's face when it was confirmed that he wouldn't actually have to clean-up after his brothers. She still had a problem though. With the bathroom door closed there wasn't any way for her to use the device. She huffed and thought about waking up one of her sisters but didn't want to deal with that hassle. Both would be crabby to say the least.
She sighed before deciding she'd just have to try the downstairs bathroom. She turned and trotted along until she reached the top of the stairs. Right. Stairs. This might be a problem.
She had gotten the hang of having four legs relatively quickly but she was still adjusting to the difference in depth perception and the amount of coordination to get down the stairs with four limbs was not something she was looking forward to. She sat with a huff as she glared at them. How was she going to do this?
While she was contemplating she heard a door open and stretched slightly to peak around the floor to the hallway below. She couldn't help the strangled sounding meow that broke out and quickly pulled back. Oh dear, someone help. Help. The patches of color on her fur were very rapidly turning a pink and purple color. Help!
"The hell?" She heard Brick mumble below her. His voice was gruff and it was clear that he was still half asleep. She mentally groaned, closing her eyes, as she heard him shuffle towards the stairs. "Pinkie?"
She braced and mentally prepared herself before slowly opening her eyes again. Brick was standing at the bottom of the staircase wearing what she was assuming were his PJs. A pair of loose fitting red sweats. Only a pair of loose fitting red sweats.
They hung low around his hips and she was very quick to pull her gaze up from there only to have it land on his chest. She shouldn't be surprised that he was so…toned. Her and her sisters were created to be the perfect little girls and as their counterparts the ruffs were, logically, supposed to be the perfect little boys. Of course, everyone grows up and the perfect little girls had become beautiful young women. So of course, with that logic, the ruffs would grow into very attractive young men.
She knew they worked out and she didn't doubt that all ruffs were toned, six-packs weren't far fetched. Butch had even boasted about an eight-pack at the end of last year but it's not like she'd ever seen to confirm, for any of them. She'd never seen this much skin on any ruff! Let alone this one! She felt a flush through her body, all the way down to the tip of her tail.
"Pinkie?" he asked again and he eyes, thankfully, shot up to his face. He slept with his hair in a bun at the top of his head. It was adorably messy. He was squinting and even brought a hand up to rub his eye sleepily.
"Hi, yes. Good morning. I was-I'm just-" Blossom attempted to speak but clearly her brain was not on her side right now. She gave out a nervous laugh and Brick gave her a weird look. Groaning she stood quickly in an attempt to get away.
…Except she stood too quickly and she wasn't entirely used to four legs yet. She had automatically tried to stand to two but that back fired quickly. She felt her center of gravity fall back and in an attempt to right herself swung her tail and arms frantically to shift her center of gravity back forward but over compensates. Instead of falling backwards she begins to fall forwards. To the stairs. She lets out a choked, gargle of a sound as she shuts her eyes, bracing for the pain of falling down the stairs.
She hears a curse and a whoosh and next thing she knows she's not hitting the hard floor of the stairs but something warm instead. She squeezes her eyes shut for just a second longer before cautiously opening them. She sees an arm. A familiar arm. The rush of heat is intense enough that for a second she wouldn't be surprised if she was blushing enough that it showed through her fur. She didn't even want to think about the color patches right now.
"Fuck Pinkie. What the hell are you trying to do? It's too early for this shit," Brick grumbles as he adjusts her in his arms so she's cradled in them the way one would usually hold a cat. She lets out a nervous laugh.
"I really wasn't planning on that. You try going from two to four legs and see how you do."
"What were you planning then? Cause from where I was standing you seemed to kind of just spaz out there."
She glared at him before remembering where she was and barely managed not to gulp loudly as she saw his bare chest literally right in front of her. She spun back around and knew that the patches on her fur would be a mangle of colors that would, hopefully, be too much for Brick to really pick any one singular one out.
"The upstairs bathroom door was closed. I wanted to check the downstairs one but-but the stairs were trickier than I thought they'd be and I- well, you saw."
Brick snorted and floated up to the top of the stairs. "I've never seen you flounder before Pinkie. Fur is clearly not your thing."
"Yes, thank you Brick. I got that much already. Feel free to set me down whenever you like and I'll just continue on with my way."
"Fine fine. I can open the upstairs door for you. 'Fraid I'm going to need the downstairs bathroom for a bit."
"That sounds great," Blossom managed to squeeze out as Brick finally set her down. She was hyper aware of the way his arms flexed to make sure she was set on the floor gently. She would not whimper. She wouldn't!
"There, all yours."
Blossom didn't waste a second before dashing into the bathroom and whacking the door shut with her hind leg. She waited a second, listening. She heard a snort before Brick shuffled off and back down the stairs. She let out a sigh of relief.
Well. That was a thing. Groaning she gave herself a minute to take a few deep breaths to calm down, letting a little bit of her own ice breath out as she did so. Thank goodness she could still do that. Now. She just had to not think about the thing that just happened all day long and she'd be fine.
Right. She could do this.
"So, what color do you think that one means?" Butch asked as he watched both Brick and Blossom get their lunches, Mike following them. Brick glared at his brother while Blossom straight out ignored him.
"Fuck off Butch," Brick said as he swiped at his forehead. He was really starting to get annoyed with his brother.
"But c'mon bro, aren't you curious? The leader and commander is literally wearing her emotions on her sleeve right now. We will never, ne-ver, have another chance like this one."
Blossom finally turned and looked down at him from where she was on the table. The colors, which had been so varied that she had looked similar to a rainbow, were a solid green now.
"You, Butch Jojo, are a horrible person," she said as she glared down at him. He snickered.
"Why thank you."
Boomer let out a whiny sounding sigh from where he lay at the entrance to the dining room. "Seriously dude. You're actually gunna get yourself killed by a puff one day."
Butch shrugged. "Eh, doubt it'll be today so it's all good."
"You're funeral," Boomer mumbled.
Meanwhile, Blossom had turned away and chosen to ignore them all. Bubbles watched her for a moment longer before speaking up.
"I'll be helping you two this afternoon instead of Bloss. The professor wants to go over some mechanics of the machine with her to see if she can see something he might be missing."
Mike and Brick looked up at her from their lunches.
"I mean, sure. Doesn't matter much to me," Mike said before going back to his food. Brick shrugged and did the same.
Blossom shot her sister a thankful look, the color on her fur settling on a blue color. Bubbles smiled back. Her sister deserved a break.
"I hate this lab so much," Mike said with a groan as he sat down. Bubbles giggled.
"We aren't too much of a fan of this area either. Lesson has been learned though. The professor needs to clean up down here."
"Please."
Brick nodded in agreement while wiping at his forehead. "Some AC would be nice too."
"Hmm, unfortunately that one is out. The temperature is maintained carefully so that nothing accidentally gets set off. Cooling it down would be a bad idea. At least, that's what the professor says. Buttercup and I think he just doesn't like to work in the cold. Maybe we can see about some fans though. I think the lack of air movement is the real issue down here," Bubbles said. Brick huffed at that.
"Whatever. Fine. What's next?"
"That one on top of the weird yellow lamp."
"What does it do?" Brick wasn't going near anything again unless he knew what it did and how it was powered.
"Shows you your dreams? Well, it was supposed to. I think the professor said it ended up showing you what's been on your mind a lot lately instead. He threw it down here mostly because I think he was embarrassed by what he saw. He couldn't look Ms. Keane in the eye for a week afterwards. It's electric so you're good."
"You know what, I don't even want to know," Mike mumbled as he stood up. He asked Bubbles for his next thing too while Brick floated over to the device.
He sighed as he picked it up and turned it over. It was a small music box like thing, a charger hanging off of the back of it. He couldn't see anything that was obviously a panel so he flipped open the lid. Music began to play and he felt his heart drop at the same time he felt Bubbles spin around to look at him.
"Brick no-"
He didn't hear anything else as the room went black. He growled lightly as he stayed exactly where he was. Once they were done fixing this stupid machine he was personally going to make sure this part of the lab was properly organized. This was getting ridiculous.
He sighed as he looked around. He wasn't really sure what to expect. He didn't think anything had been on his mind more than usual lately. He accepted that yes, he was in denial, but he was also seriously hoping he wouldn't see what he was thinking he would.
He heard a giggle behind him and turned slowly, not quite remembering where things in the lab were near him when everything had gone black. Floating there, looking just like she had on Halloween, was Blossom. Brick blinked while she giggled again.
"Hi Brick."
"Nope. Not real. I'm not thinking this. No."
The Halloween Blossom pouted. "That's rude. I'm not the one who chose to be here after all. That was all you."
Her voice was soft and he could pick up the slight slur in her words, just like the way Blossom had been talking before Howie had shown up that night.
"Yeah, I'm going to pretend this just isn't happening right now. Sorry."
"Aw, but I was hoping that we could talk some. We never did finish that conversation did we? You never got a chance to say anything back before Howie showed up."
Seeing as how he didn't really know what he would have said he wasn't actually too upset about that. Even though she didn't act like she remembered Brick knew Blossom remembered everything that had happened that night. She hadn't brought it up and he wasn't about to go over all of this with a fake his subconscious was summoning for him. Even if it did mean he did actually want her to bring it up.
"I think it's better this way. Now, how do I make this stop?"
She started to float towards him and seriously he wished he knew where things were right now.
"Aw, but Brick why would you want it to stop. Don't you like the way I look? I noticed you kept glaring at everyone every time I moved a certain way. I couldn't help but keep doing it once I noticed too," she said with a giggle. Brick glared.
"Yeah, that's BS. I know for a fact that isn't true."
"But it is. I liked that you were paying such close attention and being so protective too. It was really-"
The image disappeared and the lab came back. Brick blinked a few times before looking down at Bubbles. Her face was bright pink and her hands were slapped over the top of the box, closing it.
"Let's not have a repeat of that please. Headphones are a must for this one," she said. Brick nodded.
"Yeah and I ain't gunna be the one to do it. This one's all yours Mike."
They looked over to see Mike splayed out across the floor, his head in his arms.
"No thanks," he said without looking up.
"You three okay?" Blossom asked as she trotted out from behind a pile of stuff. Brick couldn't help but jump at her voice.
"Yeah, just another machine working when it shouldn't," Bubbles said as she took the machine away from Brick. Blossom's ears twitched slightly at that before she turned to look at Brick.
"At least it wasn't long lasting or staining?" She said hesitantly.
Brick spun away from her and didn't respond. He could see the colors on his arm start shifting colors and panicked.
"I need water," he said before flying off quickly. He groaned into his hands once he was far enough away and then pulled away to look at the colors. Pink and purple. Right. Because of course one of the colors would be pink. It seemed like he was never able to get away from the color.
He wasn't sure he really wanted to either, even if he felt like he needed to.
Alright! Now that I have the buffer of chapters I wanted and have everything I aimed to have completed for my next fic by this point done I'm ready to post again! Expect a chapter about every two weeks until you hear anything else.
Thanks for the reviews as well!
Artemis Raven Courtney - Sorry there wasn't much green action! Same with this chapter too! I promise they have their moments coming up, there just isn't much I can do with them I feel at the current point in the story and the reds and blues have a lot going on so I've been focusing on them a bit. Green moments are to come soon though. Promise! As for Mark...well...I have plans...you shall all see...
MisfitQueen - I'm glad you're enjoying the story! I love the interactions the most. I really do. It's my favorite part of this whole thing although there are definitely areas I haven't been happy with in my writing but that's okay! I'm working on it and having fun as I do so and that's all that matters right? Even more so if you all are also enjoying it! That's the highlight of this whole thing if I'm being honest, all you guys enjoying this story too. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. More fun to come soon!
As for my new fic...don't expect it anytime soon. This fic is my priority and I want to make sure I don't take away too much time from it. Also, unlike this fic, which is my playground fic, the next one is a lot more set and it isn't something I'll update willy nilly. My next fic I won't be updating unless I'm like 98% happy with a chapter (100% is impossible. I acknowledge this reluctantly). As a side note, I did also start writing for the Voltron fanfic! That one I might post soon since my first story is kind of like a bunch of post-cannon, connected one shots. I don't think I'll be posting it on Fanfiction. My Voltron fanfics might be an archive of our own only thing. Sorry to the Fanfiction only people. We shall see though.
Reviews and kudos are loved and always appreciated! See you all in two weeks. Ciao!