Here is the next chapter! This chapter and the last one were originally supposed to be one giant chapter but I split it into two simply because of how long it got. I might do an extra chapter for some of the other things that happened during this week (because no doubt it was an eventful week for the puffs and ruffs) but I doubt I'll have time for that anytime soon. In case anyone was curious though, Robin did visit and yes, she found Blossom just as cute as Bubbles had (she was kinda bummed that Mike hadn't turned into something fluffy too).

Thanks as always for the likes, comments and support! I'm in a bit of a bad head space right now (for no real reason that I can think of sadly) and almost didn't post this but the support everyone has given this story has been so amazing for me that I had to post it. Enjoy!

"No wait! Bubbles don't-" Blossom stopped with a wince as she watched the third monster to appear that week swatted Bubbles across the sea and towards the city.

"Yikes. She okay?" Boomer asked.

Boomer, Butch, and she were sitting around the TV as it showed the fight that was going on. A small monster had approached the city and Buttercup and Bubbles had flown off to handle it. Blossom had on their back-up communicator head piece and was directing them but it wasn't going well. There was a delay which was causing things to not go as smoothly, the same way it had the previous fights. Her sisters had taken more blows and all three of them were exhausted. She sighed.

"This would be so much easier if at least you weren't a dog Butch. I'd just have you put up a shield to protect the city and then have Buttercup go crazy."

"Ha! I'd rather just go crazy myself. Why don't you have her just go crazy?" Butch asked. She shook her head.

"I can't. It's too close to the city. The force of the impacts would cause large waves to hit the city. The mayor has been working to set something up to block those but it isn't ready. She'd just end up damaging the city at this point."

"That sucks," Boomer said. Blossom couldn't help but agree. She watched as her sisters flew around the monster landing hits here and there. It wasn't a tricky monster thankfully and her sisters shouldn't have too many difficulties but, on top of the communicator delay, all three of them were used to fighting together. This just felt weird. While she was thinking that a hand reached out and pulled the ear piece off her. She spun to see Brick watching the fight.

"Bubbles, send out a scream. Buttercup, it has a scar on its left side, probably an old wound. It doesn't look like it healed properly. Aim there," he said into the piece.

She could just about make out the complaints from Buttercup but they were cut off by a scream from Bubbles. Blossom turned back to the TV to see that Buttercup was doing as Brick had said. She easily tore through the monster's skin and it let out a screech in pain. How did she miss that?

She startled as she felt Brick lean over the back of the sofa again and hold the ear piece out for her. She saw a faded patch of color start to turn yellow and purple and looked away, panicked. Which worked as the color started turning orange instead.

"Should be done soon right? The professor is looking for something and I need my guide again."

She was not going to think about. She wasn't! She swallowed slightly before turning to look at him.

"The monster will probably turn back soon after that hit. I'll be down in a moment or two."

"Might as well just stay here then bro," Butch said as he scratched, bored looking, at an ear. Brick shook his head.

"Nah, I'll head back down. The professor has Mike working on something else. I'll lend him a hand."

Blossom glared at him. He was covered in sweat.

"Take a break Brick. You're nearly steaming. Grab a cold drink from the fridge."

He waved her off. "I'm fine. Not that bad."

Boomer was giving him a look now too. "She's not lying bro. No, sorry. She is wrong. You're not nearly steaming, you are steaming. Get a drink or I'll drag you in there."

Brick scoffed at that. "Right. I'd like to see you try."

Boomer gave him a wolfish grin before launching at his brother. Blossom rolled her eyes and turned back to the screen. The monster had turned back and her sisters were floating there watching. They had to make sure it didn't change its mind. She sighed as Butch yipped and decided to join in on the dog pile happening behind her. He was lucky Buttercup wasn't here to hear that. She'd never let him live it down. And thank goodness the professor had super proofed the house years ago. The ruffs were a lot more physically aggressive in their affection for one another than the girls were. It was a small surprise they hadn't broken anything yet.

It had been just under half a week already and so far they'd collected most of the parts they'd needed. To say things had been awkward would be an understatement. Bubbles was avoiding Boomer. Boomer was pouty. Butch needed walked or else he would literally run like mad around the house. Buttercup was fed up dealing with the ruff dogs while we were working on this. Brick was taking hour long ice showers apparently to cool down every night. She was trying very hard not to think about said ruff. Especially when he was sleeping just below her room. Or taking showers in their guest bathroom. She especially was trying not to think about how ruffled his hair was first thing in the morning before he even had a chance to blink the sleepiness from his eyes.

She groaned as she caught the sight of a color patch and quickly tried thinking of something else. This was getting annoying but at least they were almost gone now. Finally she watched as her sisters turned around and started on their way back home. With a huff she jumped onto the back of the sofa and stared down at the three ruffs currently rolling around on the floor. They were all laughing as Brick had Boomer in a headlock with Butch sitting on top of them both. She cleared her throat.

"Right, they're on their way back so why don't you three stop rolling around. Brick please go get a drink and then you can head down alright?" She asked. The three ruffs looked up at her and she had to admit it made an interesting picture.

Brick chuckled a hit before letting Boomer go. The color patches on his face were, for once, free of all red. They were a mix of pink and blue. Happy and relaxed colors, with that little bit of affection for his brothers mixed in. It was weird seeing pink on him. She scrunched her nose up at that.

"Fine. I'll grab a drink and be right down," he said with a grin. Something else that she wasn't used to seeing on his face, especially when he was looking at her. He'd been getting more and more relaxed around the house the past few days. It gave her yet another thing she tried not to think too much about.

"Great. I'll head down now and talk to the professor a bit. Hopefully I can get an idea of what and where this part is," she said as she hopped off the sofa.

"Sure you don't need a hand there Bossy? Those short little legs of yours able to make it down the stairs?" Butch asked with a wolfish grin. She glared at him. One time. She tripped on the stairs one time like this!

With a huff she ignored him and made her way to the lab, head held high. She made sure to be pretty careful walking down the steps, just to be safe. The professor was standing over his desk looking at his notes. Mike was over by the machine tightening something. She made her way over to the professor and hopped onto the desk. Thankfully it was a short one.

"Blossom. You're here, wonderful. I need a piece from that one machine I made two years ago. I think it's over on the north side? It's the one that was supposed to make omelets."

She sighed. She knew which machine he was talking about. Instead of doing what it was supposed to it ended up just flinging ingredients around the place. It was not one of his finer inventions. Thankfully he'd abandoned it pretty quickly. She glanced at Mike and saw he was too far away to really hear what they were talking about. She turned back to the professor and cleared her throat to get his attention.

"Dad, don't you think that maybe it's about time we ask for a little bit more help?" She asked softly. He turned to her with a frown.

"I think we have all the help we can get. There isn't anyone else we can ask."

"Weeell, that's not quite true. There is one person and I know for a fact that he wouldn't have been affected by the ray."

He continued to frown at her for a moment before realizing who she was talking about. He shot a look at the stairs before turning back to her.

"I don't know if we can. The city-"

"I know that but he's the only one who can think on your level. The machine is nearly done but you're still working on how to turn it back. We might not have a choice."

"Maybe. I'd need to talk-" he cut himself off as Blossom turned to the stairs. She'd heard the door open. The professor swallowed. "If I still don't have an answer in two days we can talk about it more then."

Blossom nodded. "Deal."

She turned and watched as Brick walked down the stairs. He walked over to her, no longer steaming.

"Ready?" He asked. She sighed but nodded. Right. No thinking thoughts. Easy.

Bubbles groaned as she rolled out her shoulder. It was her turn to wash dishes but that hit from the monster had badly bruised her shoulder down to the bone. She'd be fine by the time tomorrow rolled around but in the meantime, it just hurt. Moving wasn't helping but chores needed being done. Normally Blossom was the one who did dishes but with her current condition that obviously wasn't going to happen.

"I'd offer a hand but I'm a little short on those right now."

She jumped and spun around to see Boomer sitting just outside the kitchen. He took a look at her face and then glanced behind him. Buttercup had dragged Butch out again having gotten fed up with his running around the house. Sighing, he walked over to her.

"Look, Bubs, we both know you've been avoiding me and I have to ask, did I do something? At the party? If it was that shock to Mark then I'm sorry."

Bubbles watched him for a second before sighing. She turned he water off and dried her hands.

"No. It wasn't the thing with Mark. You didn't even do anything. At least, I'm pretty sure you didn't," she mumbled. He cocked his head at that.

"Then what's up? I mean, we were talking like normal again and now- now you pretty much run every time you see me. Look, if I did something please just tell me."

She glanced down at him. He was giving her a puppy dog look and boy was he doing a good job at it. She supposed it was bound to happen when he turned into an actual dog.

"It's not you?"

"Okay that wasn't convincing at all."

She winced and tugged on a pigtail. She really didn't want to have this conversation. She wasn't sure it was even a conversation to have. She just needed to figure out things.

"If it wasn't the thing with Mark then what was it? Please just tell me Bubs," he pleaded.

She sighed. She wasn't being fair. She also really did need to ask what happened with Ali. Seeing him around the house every day had been awkward and she spent more often than not wondering if something happened. If something did happen then wasn't she thinking things over unnecessarily? If he said no to her with where they currently were then didn't that mean he wasn't interested in dating around again?

"Okay. It's not exactly why I've been avoiding you but it is a thing." He raised an eyebrow as she paused to take a breath. "On Halloween, after the thing with Mark, I went back to that room. I also went looking for you. I kinda found you but..." she trailed off.

He blinked at her a few times before his brow furrowed slightly. "You saw Ali?"

"Part of it? I saw her sitting on your lap and, well, I didn't stick around."

Boomer looked at her for a moment. "That's it? Cause that's about all that happened. Well, alright. She did try to kiss me but I said no. I thought..." he trailed off. She bit her lip.

"Well, that was just part of it. See, I was talking to my sisters a while ago and they brought up something that although I didn't really think too much of it at the time has kinda been stuck in my head now."

It was a very abrupt change in topics and she really hoped he would just go with it.

"Okay? So it wasn't the Ali thing?"

Well, it kinda was but she wasn't going to say that when she still had things to sort through. She'd gotten the confirmation she needed but now she needed time to sort herself out. Better to switch gears so he didn't notice that though.

"It's just, they mentioned that the Mayor had recently asked you three to help out again but Brick said no and we never know why he says no. Like I said I didn't really care but apparently Buttercup and Blossom do. It puts them on edge I guess? They feel like they can't completely trust you three."

His brow furrowed, which looked weird on a dog. "They don't trust us?"

Bubbles panicked slightly at his tone. "No! That's not it! They do otherwise, trust me, you'd know. No, it's more like they can't completely relax around you three I guess? We were assigned to watch over you three after all so we had to keep track of what you were doing. We still do to some degree."

"Really? You still keep tabs on us?"

She nodded. "We do. It's why Blossom stresses that you three have to tell us when you won't be in class for the day or why we follow you when you ditch half way through the day."

"Huh. I didn't realize."

She shrugged. "I mean, it was pretty bad a few years ago with Butch but now it doesn't really matter too much. None of you really ever skip. Still, the fact that you don't give an answer and kind of just leave it up in the air means that they don't know what you're going to do so they can't relax because they need to know what you're about to do and it really frustrates them and I guess I never had to worry about it but-"

"Bubs. Breathe."

She did so, not realizing she'd gotten stuck on a rant. She sent him a sheepish look. "Sorry. I don't want you to think we don't trust you because we do we just-it's part of our job to know what you three are up to. And it's kinda hard when you won't tell us."

Boomer sighed before looking towards the lab in thought for a bit. He turned back to Bubbles.

"Look, I can't really tell you why cause Brick hasn't actually really said why to us either. I mean, I'm pretty sure I know what his reason is but I don't actual know, you know? I think it's kind of a, he wants to say yes but feels he can't situation."

"I mean, Blossom would love some help despite what she might say so if that's why he's worried…" she trailed off as Boomer shook his head.

"No, that's not it. Look, I really can't say more than I already have and I'm pretty sure Brick would kill me if he found out that I said what I did. More because it puts him in a situation but still. I can say this though, you never have to worry about us going back to crime. None of us are interested in that."

She smiled at him. "Well, that works for me. I'm not sure it works for the other two but then again, they have to deal with your brothers so I can't really blame them."

Boomer snorted at that. "Fair enough. I'd probably be the same way. Even if one is all just hot air and the other just needs someone to remove his head from his ass."

Bubbles giggled at that and then turned as she heard the front door open.

"Hey! Someone get some towels! The idiot decided to jump in the pond at the park," Buttercup yelled as she walked into the house. They could hear Butch cracking up laughing as he ran around the yard. Both of them sighed.

"Grabbing some now Buttercup," Bubbles yelled back.

"I have it! Oh and it's such a simple solution too! With this, I should have the city back to normal by the end of the day," the professor said as he excitedly flapped his flippers.

"Seriously?" Bubbles asked as she zoomed over. She looked down at the equations and deflated a little. "I'm never going to understand any of this."

Blossom giggled as she walked over and jumped on the table. "That's okay. As long as the professor can make sense of it, we just need to do what he says."

"Even better than that Blossom! We don't have to do much of anything. The machine just has to be reset with these values and powered up. It'll probably take a few hours to recalibrate but after that it'll be as simple as pushing a button."

Brick walked over now from where he had been sitting on the other side of the lab. He'd been messing around with a few of the machines with the professor's permission for the past day or so now. "Guess I should get started then," he said as he looked over Buttercup's shoulder. She had been doing all of the professor's writing for him.

"Guess so. Here." Buttercup handed him everything and he quickly walked back to the machine, the professor following him. "Guess you'll have a pair of hands again soon leader girl. Looking forward to it?"

"Obviously. This has been way too long of a week," Blossom replied. Buttercup snorted at that.

"Seriously though. I'm sad the face paint's already gone though. It was fun knowing your actual mood for once."

"Please. Don't remind me. The past half a week has been a nightmare. Now I can scold you both even when I'm not actual mad again. Hopefully we can all just move on and forget all of this ever happened."

"Yeah, good luck with that. Can't lie though, I'm gunna miss this slightly. You make a hell of a cute cat Bloss."

"Oh Buttercup! That's not nice! Bloss has been uncomfortable with it and for a good reason," Bubbles said with a slight glare. Buttercup shrugged.

"Just saying. She isn't nearly as threatening like this. We've both been able to get with so much and it was even better with the face paint."

"Yes. It was hard to scold you two when the powder was a nice calm blue color and not the red I needed it to be. And coming up to not even your knee has been less than ideal, even if I can't exactly tower over you when I am yelling at you normally anyways," Blossom said glaring her fur.

Bubbles giggled. "And yet Brick had almost the opposite problem. Even when he seemed happy or relaxed there was a small bit of red somewhere. Butch and Boomer even had a hard time approaching him sometimes because of it."

"I'm sure Brick was more than happy to have it gone as well," Blossom said.

"Probably. There was one color we didn't seen a lot of on him though," Buttercup said. Blossom sighed softly and turned away.

"I'm already aware of that Buttercup. I'll be upstairs if you need me for anything."

Blossom jumped off the table and quickly left the lab. Bubbles glared at Buttercup.

"Really? You had to say that?" Bubbles hissed out, low enough that Brick wouldn't have heard her even if he had been paying attention. Buttercup glared.

"It was just something I'd seen. I wasn't trying to upset her."

"How else did you think she'd react to that?!"

"I dunno! Not that!"

"That's because you didn't think!"

"Girls!" The professor yelled. They both swung to face him, glaring. He glared back. They'd gotten louder with each sentence. "No arguing in the lab. You know some of these machines are sensitive to sound waves and I don't need you two setting something off by yelling. Out! Now."

They both huffed but got up and left the lab. The professor sighed and shook his head, a flipper go up to rub it. He turned back to the machine and watched as Brick finished entering the new data into the machine. The ruff had become good at tuning out when the puffs were arguing and hadn't paid any attention to it this time either.

"I'm sorry about that," the professor apologized. Brick shrugged.

"After having lived here for almost a week, I'm used to it. I was more just surprised at how often they do argue. They never seem to disagree on much at school."

"Yes well, the media didn't help with that. Any time there's a disagreement between the three they twist it to reflect poorly on Blossom. When the girls realized that, Bubbles and Buttercup agreed to not to let people see it. They try to only argue at home. Blossom was upset with it for a while when they first made their decision. She didn't like the idea of her sisters keeping things from her but once she realized they were just saving the arguments for behind closed doors she got over it."

"Makes sense. There. That should be the last of it."

"Wonderful! Now we just turn it on and wait."

"Only a few hours tops right?"

"Exactly. Hopefully not even that. I'll stay here and keep an eye on the machine. Once it's fully powered I'll flip the switch, one of the few things I'm still capable of doing thankfully, and everyone should go back to normal. Feel free to head on upstairs Brick. I can take care of things from here."

Brick nodded and did just that. He sighed in relief once he reached the main floor of the house. The lower lab was really stifling. Realizing there wasn't much to do but wait now, he decided to take a nap. The past week had taken a lot out of all of them. A few hours later he woke up to loud voices outside the guest room. Now awake and curious he was quick to get up to see what was going on.

He took a look around and saw the girls gathered around a phone on the kitchen table. Blossom was still a cat so he figured the machine wasn't done yet. He made his way over.

"How much damage has happened so far?" Blossom asked whoever was on the other end.

"Too much. This one made its way further into the city than the last one and it's more destructive too," the mayor's voice came from the phone.

"And there's no way to contain it. The professor said it'll be another few hours before we can all go back to normal." Blossom looked at her sisters who looked worried.

"Bloss, fighting a monster out at sea without you wasn't a huge problem for the most part but in the city? And just the two of us? Usually there's six of us for the city fights. How are just two of us supposed to minimize damage and take care of the monster? And without you?!" Bubbles said in a panicked rush.

"I don't know. We'll have to make it work, at least for a little while. If we can keep it in one place for a little while and evacuate the surrounding areas then we can see about leading it out of the city."

"Evacuating without one of us to help? That could take ages! How are we supposed to hold it for that long?" Buttercup asked as she stated to pace.

"I don't know! But we can't do nothing. Look, I'll go with. You can set me on top of a nearby building and that way at least I can give more immediately orders and as soon as I change back I can help."

"You can't fly! There's no way in hell we're going to bring you anywhere near the fight like that!" Buttercup yelled. Blossom growled at her.

"We don't have many options! Or time! There is a monster currently tearing up the city and we need to deal with it!"

"Well obviously I'll go and can direct them," Brick said. All three puffs spun to look at him. "They're right Pinkie. No way you can go near the fight like that. If the building goes down you would too and we're not sure just how much of a beating you guys can take like that. Too risky. On the other hand, having the transmission delay with the distance affecting things would seriously mess things up. There needs to be someone there to give orders. Assuming you two are fine with me, I'll do it."

"Why? Not like this is your job and without your brothers you would have to adjust all of your usual methods to better suit us. Why would you offer to take lead with that in mind, huh?" Buttercup growled at him. He glared.

"This is my city too and it isn't like there's anything left for me to do here. You think I want some monster trashing the city up? Pinkie obviously can't do much right now so I don't have much choice but to step up and help now do I? Plus, it isn't the first time I've helped out. It'll just be the first time you two are taking my orders and not hers."

"We'll do it. Not like we have much choice," Bubbles said. Buttercup grumbled a bit but also nodded in agreement.

He looked at Blossom as he said this and she flashed back to their fight at the beginning of the year. He still wasn't giving a straight answer but she was happy he at least did listen to what she yelled at him and was stepping up somewhat. Out of necessity? Yes but either way, she'd take what she could get.

"Thank you Brick. Mayor, did you hear that?"

"I did. I'll send the three of you the monster's most current location and all the information we have on it. Please hurry."

"Well this isn't weird at all," Buttercup said as they flew towards the monster. Bubbles sighed.

"Do we really need to comment on it Buttercup? It's not like we have much of a choice."

"Exactly." Blossom's voice said, coming through the ear pieces the three were wearing. "Now, the mayor said that the monster's path into the city has been erratic. It hasn't been a clear line of destruction but more of a zig zag. They think it might be attracted to something and that's why. There's a team in the office going over city maps to see what that could be."

"Do they know anything else?" Brick asked.

Blossom sighed. "No, they don't sadly. Again, the professor is looking into the early detection system but there haven't been any alerts. As far as we can see from here, everything is normal. It should have picked up on the monster."

"Why didn't it then? Are some of them giving off different frequencies? Or small enough levels that they can slip in between the towers?"

"It's hard to say. I should have had one of you take a recorder with you. Too late now."

"And hopefully there won't be a next time. The prof is just gunna have to deal with maybe not knowing."

Buttercup snorted. "He hates not knowing things. Gunna be a nightmare living with him for the next week."

"Hopefully it is just a week. I'd hate him to be stuck on this until his next big machine. Also, I say he takes a break from making any new machines. Has that new golf course opened up?" Bubbles asked.

Blossom sighed. "No, sadly."

Bubbles and Buttercup both groaned at that.

"We're here," Brick interrupted.

The monster, if it had been place stand straight, was larger than the last one that made into the city but not by much. This one looked like a giant slug with two giant eyes on long eye stalks that seemed to shrink and grow. It lifted its head at their approach and they saw that the entire belly of the thing was lined with teeth. Bubbles winced.

"That's really creepy," she said.

Buttercup rolled her eyes. "Plan cap boy?"

Brick watched it for a moment as it watched them. He could hear it softly hissing at them before it lowered its head again and started inching across the ground. He took a look at the path of damage and huffed. It looked like the monster ate as it moved. The sides of buildings and the streets were all chewed up. He was worried about what he saw on a few buildings. They looked melted. He wondered if it had an acid ability. Suppose he had to find out.

"Bubbles, get its attention and try to slow it down. Buttercup, find out if it has a weak point. Pinkie, how does Bellum want us to get this thing out of the city? Cause it's going to cause a lot of damage no matter what way we go out," Brick said. Bubbles and Buttercup quickly took off to do as told though Buttercup didn't hesitate to shoot a glare at him first.

"What do you mean? The mayor said anyway should be fine but south. The power plant is down that way and she doesn't want a large outage."

"Ugh! Brick! This thing is covered in slime!" Bubbles yelled up at him as she kicked at an eye. It just retracted it out of the way and continued with what it was doing.

"It's got teeth all along its belly. Looks like it uses them to walk."

He flew down and launched a beam along its back. It hissed slowly but other than that there was no sign it was doing any damage. Again.

"Brick! It isn't stopping!" Buttercup yelled as she flew past launching beams along the monster's side. The same thing happened. He growled.

"I can see that! Bubbles! You need to get its attention! Make it stop!"

"Fine! Cover up!"

Buttercup and Brick were quick to cover their ears as Bubbles let off a scream. The monster reared back before falling back down to squirm in pain giving them a clear view of its stomach. Like he'd thought, the entire stomach was a giant mouth.

"That's annoying," Buttercup said as she floated next to him.

"No kidding."

He shot down at the monster and launched a blast of energy at the mouth. It screeched and was quick to close it. Well, at least that did something. Before he could think to do anything else though it began to glow as it looked to be chewing something. Getting a bad feeling he pulled back quickly.

"Get back!" He roared just in time. Bubbles and Buttercup pulled up with him as the monster opened its mouth again and spat. The giant ball of something fell way short of where the supers flew and landed on the side of a high rise building. Even without their X enhanced hearing they would have been able to hear the hiss as the blob began to eat away at the building.

"You know, any other time and I'd find that cool. I mean, acid spit? Seriously how sweet is that?" Buttercup said staring at the blob.

"What?!" Blossom's voice shrieked over the ear piece causing all three of them to wince.

"Owie Bloss. It's fine. None of us were hit," Bubbles said.

"You just said acid spit! In no way is that fine!"

The monster rolled back onto its stomach and continued on its way, eating as it went. Buttercup threw her hands up.

"It's like it doesn't even care that we're here!" She complained. Brick sighed.

"It didn't like the blast to its mouth but other than that, pretty much. Let me see how it feels about some heat."

Brick dropped back down to the monster while letting the flames build. He let loose as he flew over the monster's back and watched as it squirmed. It didn't shriek though. Wanting to look more into the monster's reaction Brick readied for another fly over, taking another deep breath. As he approached the monster reared back and opened its mouth wide. Not questioning it, Brick left loose and watched as the monster. Ate. It. Startled he jumped away. The monster seemed to grin at him for a moment before glowing again.

"Get back!" He roared again. This time the monster laid back down as it continued to glow. He watched as the glow grew and the monster started to secrete more mucus.

"So gross," Bubbles said as she and Buttercup joined him.

"What's it even-"

The mucus, which had begun to pool out below the monster, finally hit water from a broken fire hydrant. It started to spark, slowly gaining in intensity until a large series of explosions went off.

"Shit. Cap head, don't do that again," Buttercup said.

"Wasn't planning on it," he grit out.

"What? What happened?" Blossom asked.

"Brick used his flame but the monster ate it. Then it started getting really slimy and when the slime hit some water it, well, there were a lot of explosions," Bubbles said.

"What?"

"It glowed as well after I used my flame on it," Brick added. There was a short pause before Blossom replied, the monster going back to eating the street.

"Like the other one only this time it can absorb and use your flame."

"Yeah, like last time."

"What's it doing now?"

"Gone back to eating the city. It's headed north at least."

"Wait. North? Wait wait wait," Blossom said as they heard scrambling. "Boomer! Grab me the map book from the kitchen!"

"Pinkie what's wrong with north? You just said not south," Brick said as he scanned the north side of the city with his X-ray vision.

"That was before I found out it likes flames! South has the power plant yes but north has a coal factory! It's small and doesn't get much use in recent years but it's still operational!"

"Shit."

"Exactly! Brick, you can't let it get to that factory!"

"Shit. Alright, let's see if we can maybe somehow pick it up."

Brick flee down at it with Buttercup and Bubbles following.

"Oh this is so gross!" Bubbles cried.

"This is a mess," Boomer said from where he sat in front of the TV. Blossom was sitting of the sofa behind him, Butch next to him. On the TV they watched as Buttercup was squished into the ground as the monster rolled over her.

"Shit! That burns!" They heard Buttercup yell through the ear piece. Butch tensed.

"How much longer?" He growled out. Blossom swallowed.

"The professor said anytime in the next few minutes."

"And how far are they from the plant?" Boomer asked. Bubbles and Brick were trying to bait the monster to roll off of Buttercup.

"Closer than they were, not far enough for my comfort and sadly getting closer," Blossom said.

"Not helping Bloss!" Bubbles voice said through the ear piece. Blossom winced.

"Sorry. Butch, Boomer, maybe one of you should-"

"Finally!" The professor's voice yelled from the stairs down to the lab. Blossom was immediately over at the stairs.

"Professor-!"

"I'm turning it on now!"

"Oh thank goodness. I'm so done with the fur," Blossom sighed out. A blue wave went through the room, passing through them just like the initial change. "Wait." She said a moment later after thinking back to the initial change. "Shoot. Oh this is not good."

"What's-not that way Bubbles! What's not good leader girl?" Buttercup asked. A glance at the TV showed she was free from under the monster now. Her skin was red in places.

"Oh! Um, nothing you need to worry about! Butch! Boomer! I suggest you get into the guest room!" Blossom yelled as she ran for the stairs.

"Why?" Butch asked, not looking away from the TV. Blossom huffed.

"Clothing! We aren't wearing any!" She yelled out as she darted up the stairs.

"Fuck!" Brick's voice said through the speaker. Buttercup snickered.

"What? Did something happen?" Blossom asked as she burst through her door, closing it behind her. Buttercup snorted one more time.

"Cap head slipped."

"He slipped?" Blossom said as she looked down at her paw. The fur was already starting to recede.

"It's nothing. I just-the thing is slimy," Brick growled. Blossom watched as her fingers started to elongate, the pink of her skin starting to show through. Bubbles giggled.

"Okay? Anyways, we should be able to get over there soon. I'm nearly already all the way back to normal," Blossom said.

"Thank fuck. I don't know how much longer the three of us alone can keep this thing back," Buttercup said. Blossom sighed.

"Language," she said. Finally she was standing back on two feet in her own skin and, like she thought, completely nude. Not wasting any time she rushed over to her closet and pulled out some clothes. "I'm back to normal now. We should be there soon."

"Well hurry-shit Buttercup! That's a gas tank!" Brick yelled.

"What?! I thought it was water!" Buttercup yelled back. Blossom sighed as she finished getting dressed. The faint sound of an explosion came through the ear piece. Shaking her head, Blossom hurried out of her room.

"Boomer! Butch! Please tell me you two are back to normal!"

"Well, yeah but do you have a belt? Brick's pants are a bit too loose on me?" Boomer asked as he left the guest room in wearing a pair of Brick's jeans, plenty of ankle showing, and one of his t-shirts. Butch followed wearing another pair of jeans, this time bunching at the ankles slightly, and a red flannel shirt left unbuttoned. Blossom blinked a moment or two at them. It seemed Butch did have an eight pack.

"At least they aren't too tight. Brick'll be pissed if I end up ripping these things and I could barely get into them. Fighting in them is gunna be hell."

"Right. Well. I think the professor has one. Just a sec," Blossom said. She zoomed into the professor's room and grabbed a belt before zooming back. "Here."

"Great. Ready," Boomer said. Without another word Blossom zoomed out the front door in a flash of pink, a deep green and dark blue quickly following her.

"Blossom? Would you mind throwing some clothes down?" The professor yelled from the lab. "Blossom?"

"Bubbles! Left!" Brick yelled. Bubbles swerved as Brick launched a pole at the monster. It sunk slightly into the monster's skin causing it to screech and roll around in the street. Bubbles pulled back panting.

"Any sign of them yet?" She asked. Brick shook his head.

"No but we can't keep waiting. Bubbles, fly ahead and try to clear away anything that might cause flames again. Just a few streets."

She groaned. "I don't have much more of this in me."

Brick nodded, frowning as the monster continued to roll around. "Hopefully you won't have to. Get to it Bubs."

She huffed and disappeared in a flash of blue. Brick took a second to scan the building tops but there was still no sign of Blossom and his brothers. Blossom had let them know they were on their way but not long after that he'd been thrown into a power line and the resulting electric blast had short circuited his communicator. With a growl he turned back to the monster.

It had stopped screeching and had managed to work the pole out of its side. There was a small bit of blood but not much. He hadn't pierced it as far as he'd thought.

"You know, for a slug this thing has seriously tough skin. It's as good at taking a hit as Butch is. What the hell are we supposed to do?" Buttercup asked as she floated over to him.

"I have no fucking clue. You fight more of these than I do. Any suggestions at this point? Cause usually I just fry my way through these things."

"Nope. Not a clue but it's moving again."

"Fuck. How long are they gunna take?" Brick said with a growl.

He sped down to the monster shooting of energy beams. The monster huffed at him before moving down the street. He growled at that. Buttercup swept past throwing energy blasts of her own. Again, the monster just continued on its path. Buttercup yelled in frustration.

"This is pointless! Our hits pretty much bounce off, it makes explosions by eating fire, and the mucus on the thing makes it impossible to pick up. Hell, the stuff even burns! How the hell do we handle this?"

"Maybe it needs cooling down instead." Blossom said as she, Butch and Boomer finally arrived. She didn't pause and, while taking a deep breath, zoomed towards the monster. The monster's eye turned to watch her but otherwise continued without caring. When she got close enough Blossom let out a gust of frozen air. The monster groaned and curled up into itself, causing the end result to be a giant ball of ice.

"Huh. Well that was-" Buttercup started to say. She was cut off by the sound of a loud crack.

Blossom's eyes widened and she shot back to the others.

"Butch! Shield!" She yelled. Her tone had him acting before he realized what he was doing. A second later the cracking sound intensified and not even a second late shards of ice went flying everywhere.

Butch cursed as they hit against his shield. Bubbles shrieked as she took cover not far away and all the other supers moved so that they were more behind the shield. Once the barrage of ice was over they all looked down at the monster, Bubbles zooming back to them. It had gone back to eating the street as if nothing was wrong.

"So no ice and no fire. Great," Boomer said. "What now?"

Blossom turned to Brick and he sighed as he adjusted his cap.

"Can't lift it either. It's got something in its slime that burns through even our skin. Doesn't seem to work on non-organic matter but that doesn't help much when its stomach is a giant mouth. Even if we tried to use a platform or something to lift it it would just eat through it." Brick said.

"Has it avoided any particular material? Or shown any aversion to anything?" Blossom asked. Brick shook his head. "Great. Well, in the meantime, Butch can try to slow it down with his shield while we try to figure this out."

"Whaaaaat? But that's no fuuuun," Butch whined. Buttercup was quick to whack him over the head with a glare. He glared back.

"It's more than the rest of us can do. Make the blasted shield. I'll help with pushing it back," Buttercup said. She didn't wait for him as she flew over to the monster's head. Butch whined and Brick shot him a look. With a sigh, Butch followed Buttercup. He made a shield large enough to cover the span of the street. The monster grunted as it ran into it.

It took a few moments to prod along it with its eyes before growling and rearing back. With a roar it pummeled its body against the shield. Blossom tensed as they all watched the shield be pushed back slightly. They heard a curse or two from the greens and then watched as the shield was pushed back into place.

"This thing packs a punch leader girl! Won't be able to hold this for long!" Buttercup yelled to them. The monster reared back again but this time the shield didn't move.

"Could we maybe use Butch's shield to carry the monster?" Bubbles asked. Brick shook his head.

"With how far into the city we are and assuming the thing would struggle and how large it is, Butch's shield wouldn't hold up long enough to get it out."

"Can we squash it with the shield then?" Blossom asked. Brick thought about it for a second before shaking his head again.

"With how fast it can eat through things we'd probably just harmlessly push it through the ground. If the thing then managed to burrow its way to the factory we'd have no way to stop it. Too dangerous."

Blossom sighed and looked through the trail of destruction. There had to be something they could do. Bubbles and Boomer made a few more suggestions but they were all just half of an idea. More just thoughts than anything else. Brick shot them all down. Blossom continued to observe the destruction before finally noticing something.

"All the electric poles are left alone," she said out loud. Brick's head snapped in her direction. He quickly zoomed over to her and looked at the destruction.

"You're right. Why? Does it not like it?" Brick thought out loud.

"Hmmm, maybe. Boomer, why don't we test it out? Butch, Buttercup, be ready!" Blossom yelled at the greens.

Boomer grinned and didn't waste a second. He let his electricity spark up and down his arms before generating a spear of pure blue electricity.

"Heads up!" He yelled before throwing the spear right at the monster's back.

The monster's eye turned and saw the spear coming at Boomer's warning. It shrieked and tried to pull out of the way only for the spear to pierce its side instead. It screamed in pain and writhed on the ground in obvious pain. Butch let his shield drop and watched the monster carefully. The electricity sparked across the monster's entire body as it continued to scream before it started to glow.

"Nope! Not again!" Bubbles said before zooming to hide behind a building. Everyone else was quick to follow and not a second later the monster exploded. They stayed where they were for another moment or two before all coming back out to float above the mess.

"Just like the other one," Brick said. Blossom nodded.

"Maybe it's a new type of monster? Could explain why they keep getting past the early detection system. It's weird though. Why are they resistant to some of our X based abilities and then blow up at some sort of elemental weakness?"

"Don't think there's much point in overthinking it. Still, I'm gunna wrap some of this flesh up and take it back to the professor. He might be able to pick up a trace of the new waves even if it is dead flesh," Buttercup said. "I don't wanna have to deal with another one of these if we can avoid it."

"That's a good idea but be careful. Hopefully there won't be any more like this one," Blossom said. Buttercup nodded and went to get some of the flesh before zooming for home with it wrapped in a torn corner of her shirt. "I'm going to stay and see if I can help with the clean up a bit. The flesh is likely still capable of hurting people and it if can burn through our skin I don't even want to think about what it can do to a regular human's skin."

"Well that's nice and all but imma head home. These aren't my threads, being a dog was annoying as hell and I haven't had a shower all week so…peace," Butch said before zooming off.

"You're washing those clothes before you return them!" Brick yelled after him with a pointed look at Boomer as well. The youngest ruff just shrugged.

"Sure. Butch had a point though and now I just feel gross. I'm going to head back too," Boomer said with a look of disgust on his face. He was quick to follow after Butch. Bubbles sighed.

"I think I'll head back too. Several draining fights in a week plus all the animal drama and the lab stuff has me exhausted. I need a nap, if that's okay with you Bloss," she said. Blossom smiled at her sister.

"That's fine. Let the professor know I'll be back later."

Bubbles nodded before taking off in a flash of light blue. Blossom turned to Brick who was watching as the city's clean-up crews finally arrived on scene.

"What are you thinking?" Blossom asked him. He turned to her, brow furrowed.

"Nothing much. Just wondering why all of a sudden monsters might change like this. There aren't really many changes on the island so what would prompt a change?"

Blossom shrugged. "Anything. Maybe we were the change. There's a lot we don't know about monster physiology and it doesn't help that they all seem so different. Maybe there wasn't even a change and these are monsters who just never decided to bother us before."

"Right. Like you believe that. You're just as worried about this as I am."

Blossom bit her lip. He was right, she was worried but she doubted she was as worried as he was. Chances are she was more worried. She looked down at the clean-up crews.

"I'm worried about what this means for the Powerpuff Girls going forward but it isn't something you should be worried about Brick. We'll be more prepared for next time. We shouldn't need your help again."

Brick looked away from her and swallowed. "That's not what I was worried about. I don't want the city torn apart either you know."

Blossom sighed. "I know but it isn't your job to worry about this so don't. My sisters and I can handle the next one. We always do."

He glared down at the wreckage in the city and she sighed. She flew over and blocked his view, meeting his eyes.

"Go home and rest Brick. Don't worry about things, okay? Protecting the city is my job."

"Never said it wasn't but Pinkie, that thing could withstand three X powered individuals. You and your sisters-"

"Can handle it. We have to. We're the city's only real defense against them. Unless that changes don't worry about it."

Brick rolled his eyes. "The mayor is our surrogate parent. Kinda hard to not worry when she comes home haggard after an attack makes it to the city."

"Well unless things change it isn't your place to worry. Are things going to be changing anytime soon?"

The stared off for a few seconds before Brick looked away. Blossom sighed.

"I just don't get it Brick. I don't. You say things and do things like this and then when push comes to shove you always do this. You pull away and don't say anything. Why? I can tell that you want to help but...I just don't understand Brick."

He looked at her again and couldn't help but swallow thickly. He knew she would understand if he explained but it wasn't any of her business. This problem wasn't hers and he wasn't going to make it. He shook his head and stayed silent. Her shoulders drooped in response and Brick was quick to shove his hands in his pockets and look away. He didn't like when she looked so tired like this.

"Fine. Stay quiet. Just know that it's getting more and more difficult for me to keep trying to understand. Something has to give Brick. We deserve an actual answer."

She didn't wait for him to respond before zooming down to the clean-up crew to help them. He stayed there for a few minutes watching while his teeth ground against one another. He could tell her. He really could. But then it wouldn't be his problem anymore, it would be hers and she had enough on her plate as it was.

Blossom was going around freezing the flesh before picking it up. The frozen flesh didn't seem to burn and because it wasn't about to start moving like the monster had there was no threat of it doing damage like previously. She wasn't looking at him but he knew she was keeping part of her attention trained on him, waiting. He growled lowly before taking off in a flash of red. He sighed as he rubbed a hand across his face. The fight had taken a fair bit out of him and after the past week he was tired.

He caught sight of his hand, where a splotch of color had been, and growled. He remembered the music box and the pink and purple color his skin had turned. He made a face at the memory and shook his head as if that could get rid of it. He wasn't allowed to feel that way. Not towards her. Not right now. Chances were, not ever.

DeviantSunshine! I'm happy to hear that this is one of your favorite stories! Yes, the blues. I didn't think it would be reasonable for them to just jump into something after Bubbles was cheated on and Boomer has been dating other girls (moral of that is never ask a green for relationship advice haha). I wanted them to properly think things over before anything else, even if both are so good at reading emotions that they're already pretty sure about how the other one feels. And yeah, I feel like growing up having to watch the ruffs, the puffs would become friends with them although there is still some color related tension (cough cough greens cough cough). Sorry there weren't more mood powder stories! Like I said above, I might do an extra chapter just...not for a bit. Sorry!

I have a half chapter that I threw together that goes between this and the next full chapter that I'll be posting here instead of my extra story. Not sure if I'll post it next week (depends on if I can shake off the bad mood) or in two weeks. My next semester also officially starts on Monday so my time will be disappearing (might also be the reason for my mood but I don't think so cause I love my masters program). I should be able to still post something every two weeks but if I miss a week that will be why. Anyways, see you all soon! Ciao!