I'm back! With a chapter in the middle of my break! In other words, I need to go on break again after this. Got a little burnt out and so I haven't really done much writing this month. Overtime at work combined with finals was not. Fun. Anyways, here's another chapter! Enjoy!

Also! ALSO! I forgot to mention this on the last chapter and felt super duper bad about it. Shout out to knight_of_mockery (AO3) for this awesomely amazing thing: /conju_of_crows/status/1325511974692790278?s=20

So sorry knight_of_mockery! I meant to post my thanks last time but I really wasn't with it. Thank you again so so much for the awesome piece of fanart!

As always, thanks for the likes, follows, and comments! I love all of them!

Blossom didn't even flinch as Abigale slammed her locker door shut on her. She was lucky to have superhuman reflexes though. The girl had given her no warning and without them, Blossom had doubt that her hand would have gotten caught in the process. She turned to see Abigale glaring at her.

"You so totally need to get over yourself," Abigale grit out. Blossom raised an eyebrow, too tired to really deal with this properly.

"Alright. Noted. Can I open my locker now? I still need to grab a book for class," Blossom said with a gesture to Abigale's hand, which was still firmly planted on her locker door.

"Do you even understand what I'm talking about?"

Blossom sighed. "I'm sure you're referring to what happened the first day back? I promise that the rumors are-"

"I don't care about the rumors because the truth is that you threw yourself at someone who isn't yours."

Blossom grimaced but was really too tired to snap back. The rumors were still flying around and showed no sign of stopping. This would no doubt only make it worse. She could feel the eyes of everyone in the hallway already on them and a few people were starting to even whisper.

"I wasn't in the right state of mind at the time. I was only looking for something warm. My power-"

"Bullshit! You saw a chance to one-up me and took the chance. Well I'm here to tell you that you don't mean anything to him. You hear me? You are nothing."

Blossom didn't really know how to handle Abigale at this point. She had tried to avoid her, with less success than Brick has, she had tried to be nice to her, only to be screeched at, and she had even lost her temper slightly and yelled at her, only to apparently be ignored!

"Alright Abigale. I'm nothing. Can you please let me get my book now? I'd rather not have to force your hand off of my locker."

Abigale's teeth audibly ground together. "You bitch-"

"Hey, what's going on here?" Brick asked as he turned the corner of the hallway. He made his was closer to the two girls quickly. Abigale was quick to remove her hand and Blossom sighed before rolling her eyes and going to finally grab the last book she needed.

"Brick! I heard about this new…"

Blossom couldn't be bothered paying attention after that point. She closed her locker and turned only to see Brick eyeing her. He tilted his head just slightly in question and she shook hers back. It wasn't a big deal and Brick doing something would just make the rumors worse.

Blossom took a quick look around the hallway and internally groaned. They'd be worse regardless anyways it seemed.

Brick grimaced in response, not completely understanding what had happened but quickly getting caught up to speed with all the whispering going on in the hallway. He sent Blossom one last questioning look that she still shook off. He sighed lightly but let it go.

Abigale ignored Blossom as much as Blossom ignored her as she walked around the girl and Brick to head for her second period class. She hoped that at least that would be the most exciting thing to happen for the day. Maybe that way she could even rest a little later.

"I encourage anyone who knows anything about what happened last night to come forward. You won't be held accountable but we are working to find who is responsible. I want to make sure to remind you all that performing pranks is highly frowned upon and anyone who takes action against the other schools for this will be punished accordingly," Ms. Keane's voice rang through the speakers. Blossom could hear it all the way outside where she floated above the field. So much for a quiet day.

Honestly? She was so done with this year. Even with the ruffs now helping out with crime they needed guidance still, a fact that all three were starting to rebel against, which meant time needed to be invested into training them. Luckily all three were managing the training and patrol schedule just fine but it was still exhausting to organize and track.

And then this.

Tons upon tons of dirt had been dumped onto the football field. The baseball field had some too but not nearly as much. Probably due to the fact that the football team had won the tournament this year, but the baseball team hadn't. They'd lost to Farmsville. Who she suspected was responsible for this prank. Or at least, who was supposed to appear responsible.

Usually Citiesville dealt the first blow and everything after that was just retaliation. It didn't make her job any easier though. Nope. Now she had to deal with cleaning this up and rethinking the security plan.

With a sigh she rubbed at her forehead. She could already feel the headache forming and it wasn't even 8 AM yet. She wasn't sure she knew how to get through the day. Especially since the city wanted to know who was responsible and expected her to help find out. Like, how was she supposed to know?! This is what they had the police for!

Buuuut she hadn't been able to say no so here she was, trying to find the needle in the haystack. Whoever had dropped the dirt off had done a very good job at covering up their tracks. No signs of the trucks that would have been needed to drop this all off. No way to track where the dirt came from. Not even a footprint that she could she. Nothing.

Ms. Keane would understand. Everyone else? They'd just harp, and she knew that Mr. Jones would enjoy every second he could of being able to tell her she'd messed up. It was going to be another headache just waiting to happen. Assuming she even got a chance to recover from her current one first.

Maybe Bubbles knew something. She'd been on patrol duty last night which also meant she had been the one on duty at the school. If not her then maybe Boomer? No, wait. Boomer was with her tonight so Butch had been with Bubbles. No? Brick had? Ugh her head hurt, and she was so tired. For the first time in her life, Blossom just wanted to cry from the amount she had to do.

"Yo. How's it going?" Buttercup asked as she floated up to her sister. Blossom took a quick second to close her eyes and compose herself.

"Fine. I wasn't able to find anything, but Ms. Keane said she'd have a word with the other principles. She's pretty sure Farmsville was behind it so she said she'd call them first. Doesn't matter though, the city won't be happy."

"Why would the city care?"

Blossom sighed heavily. "The Trivillathon is supposed to not only showcase the upcoming talent of each city but also serve as a showoff contest for which city is most on top of things. This here proves we aren't and unless another school gets pranked soon, we're pretty much the laughingstock school right now."

"...I didn't know that."

Blossom shrugged. "Most people don't. It isn't advertised after all. That's why I've been so on top of making sure we aren't the first school to be pranked since we started here. Of course, the council won't see that we were barely pranked the past two years. They'll just see that this year we failed first. I'm not looking forward to speaking with them. Mr. Jones in particular is going to enjoy this."

Buttercup was quiet for a bit before she spoke up again. "Anything I can do to help?"

Blossom waved her off. "No, not really. I just have to face the music really. Ugh I don't have the time for this either! Anyways, if you find out who did this give them a pat on the back from me for a job well done. Not a single hint as to who it was, and I looked. I mean really, really looked too."

"Why would I know who did it?"

Blossom huffed before giving her sister a look. Buttercup looked away, not able to meet her sister's very tired looking eyes.

"I don't know Buttercup. Why would you?" Buttercup stayed quiet. Blossom sighed. "Anyways, if you see Brick can you ask him to grab me a copy of things today? I need to head over to council hall and report to them what I found. Or more, what I didn't find. I probably won't be back today so can you take my stuff home too?"

"...yeah, will do. Hey Bloss?"

She hummed while glaring down at the dirt. How much was it going to cost to get that moved? She hoped the city wasn't going to ask her to do it seeing as how she had nothing for them.

"Are you sure I can't do anything to help? It's just- you look really tired Bloss. Maybe you should take a break."

She probably should. Her head was seriously killing her, but time and crime waited for no one. Blossom turned and gave her sister a soft smile.

"I'm fine but thank you Buttercup. Just make sure my stuff gets home in one piece and I'll be all set."

"Kay. If you say so."

Blossom chuckled at the sight of Buttercup pouting. She quickly zoomed over and gave her a quick hug before flying off. She loved her sisters and knew they were worried, but she was fine. She could handle this. This was nothing she hadn't done before after all right?

She refused to let her shoulders droop.

Boomer couldn't help but squint at them in disbelief. "I'm sorry. You're asking me to what now?"

The kid in front of him clapped his hands together and was about to get on his knees only for Boomer to stop him with a click of his tongue. "Please Boomer! I know you have your own piece that you're working on for the show but Jimmy's hand won't be healed enough for him to learn the piece in time at this point! And you're the best person I know with anything music. I'm sure you can pick the piano up easy!"

Boomer made a face before rubbing a hand across it. He didn't need to pick it up. Bellum had paid for a tutor after that first year to teach him how to play all sorts of instruments. Piano had been his first one. Hell, she'd even given him a gorgeous one last year for his birthday.

"I mean, that isn't really the issue. Classical isn't really my thing and like you said, I'm working on my own stuff. Plus, I didn't do so hot in math last semester so Brick's really riding me this semester for class work."

The kid's eyes teared up and Boomer had a flashback to when the seniors were begging Blossom for help. This was karma. No other way to see it. He'd told Blossom she was making a mistake so life decided he needed to walk a mile in her shoes. He knew why she said yes now too. The tears were hard to say no to.

He sighed. "Fine. But tell Jimmy he has to make a try at it too! If he can make it for the competition then he's the one doing it, not me!"

The kid threw himself at Boomer only to be sidestepped in a flash of blue. Boomer sighed at the sobbing thank you's. Yup. Karma. It was such a bitch.

"Okay. What's with the mopey face? It's weird and I feel like I should be watching my back," Butch said eyeing Buttercup as he sat down. She glared at him.

"I'm not you so chill snail brain. I'm just...it's nothing."

Bubbles hummed at that before pulling out her lunch.

"Feeling guilty that Bloss has clean up duty? We knew it was going to happen."

"Well yeah but still! Why can't they have Brick do it or something? He's a red too!"

"Because they don't trust him Buttercup. Not yet at least and until they do, Bloss is their go to."

Buttercup pouted before burying her face in her arms. "I just don't like it. She has enough to do as it is."

"No kidding. The lazy ass seniors just had to make it worse too. Asking her to plan the TCB too was BS and a low blow," Butch said as he pulled his lunch out. Bubbles was surprised he had one today until she saw what it was. He'd picked up three burgers from the joint just down the street at some point. She hopped it hadn't been during class time.

"That was kinda rude of them. Rob and Princess said they were helping out as much as they could, but we all know what Bloss can be like. She doesn't want them to take on too much."

"And ignores the fact that she has too much on her plate instead. We all see it now. It's just a matter of time before something falls and crashes."

Buttercup lifted her head to glare at Butch. "Don't say that. Leader girl doesn't let things just slip dingus. She'll break herself in half before she lets that happen."

"That she will. I saw what happened to the field. Nicely done to whoever did that," Princess said as she and Robin sat down at the table. "Now, what's this about Blossom doing too much? Because she is and she won't listen to us."

Bubbles sighed lightly. "Welcome to the club. Now you see a tiny little bit of what it's like to live with her."

"You mean she's like this at home? Like often?" Robin asked, sounding slightly horrified.

"At home, out in the city, with the charity events and organizations, you name it. Leader girl has always tried to do more. Bubs and I have been waiting for her to hit her limit for years now, but she just keeps going. It would be impressive if we weren't so worried."

"Ugh. Trust Ms. Everything Nice to be that person. She really needs a chill pill or something. Has the professor ever looked into that? Cause it'd be a hit," Princess said with a sniff.

"Nope. No chill pills. He did try to invent a smart pill but that was...well we don't like to remember all the professor's past inventions. Let's leave it at that," Bubbles said, her eyes glazed over slightly. Buttercup had the same look on her face before she shook it off.

"Anyways, short of locking her in Lockdown, there really isn't anything we can do to stop her. She's determined to keep going until she can't."

Bubbles and Buttercup shared a look at that. They weren't sure they were ready for the day that happened and at this rate, it would happen. How were they supposed to handle Blossom, their leader, the leader and commander, hitting her wall?

"Well it's a good thing that us ruffs are here to help then ain't it? If Bossy needs a break? I'm sure Brick wouldn't mind stepping in. Don't think we need to worry though. He knows what all she has going on. He said he'd do something about the dance and I'm sure he's working on other things to help her out too," Butch said.

Buttercup gave him a look. "You say that like it's just whatever. No, like it's nothing new. You three only joined us recently you know. There's still a lot you need to learn before we can rely on you."

Butch paused mid-bite and looked away from the girls at the table. "Right. Right. Totally. We're new to the helping out thing."

Bubbles wasn't going to buy it though.

"Butch. Talk. Does Brick always do this?"

She was glaring and Butch wondered if maybe he could make a quick escape. She might be the quickest but maybe if he ran to his next class?

Nah, she'd catch him first easy. Damn.

"I mean he sort of kind of maybe just likes to research and the things he finds might occasionally find their way in front of Blossom. Which can sometimes be helpful."

"So, you mean to say that Brick has been secretly helping Bloss out? Oh my gosh for how long?! Oh, that's so sweet."

Whoops. Sorry big bro.

"I dunno. Don't really pay much attention. Only really noticed for the first time early this school year."

Ha-ha! There were his smooth lying skills. What an awful time for them to ditch him. Least they were back now, and he could attempt to salvage the situation.

...hopefully enough that Brick wouldn't skin him alive later.

Bubbles pouted. "Only this year. Boo! I was hoping for more. I already noticed that he paid more attention to her this year."

Saved!

Robin chuckled at that. "Are you sure you aren't just imagining things Bubs? Cause I'm pretty sure he's always treated Bloss like an annoying babysitter or something."

Bubbles huffed at that while Princess snickered.

"You can't force everyone to pair up you know Bubs. You have to let these things happen at their own pace," the red head said. Bubbles brighter up slightly at that.

"So you've seen it too then! I'm not just seeing things!"

Princess shrugged. "I've seen that they treat each other differently from other people but I see that between all of you and it's not really romantic in nature. It more of a clashing nature kind of thing maybe? Not in a bad way, not anymore, but like water and earth. One can stop the other while on the flip side one can erode the other. That doesn't mean that something amazing can't come from it just that you shouldn't let your hopes up. Especially with the reds."

Seriously. There was nothing more stubborn than a red.

Bubbles was pouting. "Maybe. I'm not giving up though. I'm convinced he likes Bloss."

"What about Bossy though? Kinda a two-way street ya know?" Butch said around a mouth full of food. All the girls gave him a look. He gave them one back. "What? What'd I say?"

"Just eat your food snail brain. None of us have energy for you right now."

"Rude Butterbutt. Rude. Everyone had energy for me. I'm amazing!"

"Sure Butch," Bubbles said placatingly. "Sure they do."

Brick was halfway seriously convinced that they actually hated him. He didn't really have any other explanation for it. They must just hate him. Why else would they make him bring Blossom's bag to their house? They lived there too. They could have just taken it home with them too!

But noooo. They had to have him come and drop it off. They'd even used the half-baked reason of, he can explain the lectures to Blossom while he was there. She didn't need him to explain anything though. The notes he'd copied for her would be more than enough!

He sighed as he rang the doorbell. At least they'd promised that the professor would be busy. The man had been talking about another physical and all the ruffs were trying to make sure to avoid the puff home for a bit. Usually not a problem. Usually.

Oh well. This gave him a chance to finally talk to Blossom. She wasn't going to plan this dance. She wasn't! It was literally more than she could handle. The puff hated these things anyways. It'd be fine. He was sure he could convince.

The trick would be to not start another fight in the process.

Finally, the door opened and there stood the eldest puff. He almost actually winced at the sight of her. She looked exhausted. Not that it was a surprise. They'd been called out a couple times the past week in the middle of the night for either a monster or some gang fight that the cops wanted help with. Even with Ace still in jail, the fighting was still getting out of hand and he wasn't sure how they could get a handle on it. The puffs didn't seem worried though, so he guessed it wasn't too bad yet. He didn't want to find out at what point they would worry though.

"Brick? What are you doing here?" Blossom's voice was groggy, and Brick frowned at that. She was still in her uniform and it wasn't wrinkled so she hadn't been napping. She was just literally so tired she sounded half asleep. He was starting to think that maybe he should find another way to get back at the punks. Anything to avoid putting more on her plate.

"Buttercup and Bubbles asked me to bring you your stuff. I have copies of all the notes from today as well as the assignments," he replied as he held out her bag. She frowned at it.

"I'm sorry they made you fly over here for that. Why didn't they just bring it back?"

He shrugged. "They said that you might have questions and that I could answer them."

"What? Questions? About wh-? About the school stuff? I never have questions though! Ugh, those two, I swear."

"That's what I said but they insisted."

She rolled her eyes before stepping back. "I'm sure I'll be fine. Still, thank you. Did you maybe want a cup of tea before you headed back? As a thank you."

He shrugged again. It would give him the chance he needed to talk to her. "Sure, if you don't mind."

"I wouldn't have offered if I did. Is Earl Grey okay with you?"

He nodded as he stepped into the house. Blossom smiled at him before leading him to the kitchen.

"So how was it today? Anything I might need to talk to the teachers today about?"

"Eh. Missed a pop quiz in math but that's about it. Pretty normal day overall."

Blossom hummed as she put the kettle on and got mugs out.

"I'll see about finding a time to make that up. Maybe during lunch tomorrow."

"Not after school?"

She shook her head. "No, I have too much to do. The city is thankfully going to take care of the dirt pile, but they want me to be there just in case. They seem to think that a clue might magically appear during the cleanup."

Brick scoffed at that. Like they'd be that careless. "I don't think they should hold their breath."

"I agree. The problem is they won't hear it. Oh well. It'll give me time to think over some of the other things I have on my plate. I'm actually a bit stuck on one."

"Let me guess, the dance?"

The kettle went off and Blossom poured the tea before walking over to hand him his cup. He thanked her as he took it.

"Well, that's definitely one of them. No, I'm actually a bit stuck on the patrol schedule."

Damn. Of course she was. That was the real reason behind her inviting him in for tea, he was sure of it.

"What about it?" He'd try and steer the conversation back to the dance later.

"Well now that you've been helping for a few weeks and that you've seen my method and the girls' methods I was thinking it was time to start splitting up. I think having one person on call while another patrols would be best. It'll give us all more flexibility while also adding to our safety. Most crimes we can handle but if there's a shooting or robbery then whoever's on call can also tag in to help out."

"Sounds like a good idea. We can rotate who does which. Were you thinking of pairing up by colors or some other way?"

"See, I thought by colors at first but then I realized that would put Butch and Buttercup together. She might be a lot better than she used to be and Butch might not very antsy right now but I think that we should avoid having them paired too much for now. Just in case."

"Butch really doesn't want to screw this up so it might actually be good for him to be with Buttercup. She might be the best one to keep him in line actually."

"You think so?"

"Maybe. Could also go the other way. Hard to ever say with Butch."

Blossom made a face at that before taking a sip from her tea.

"Maybe ease into it? I don't know. The blues aren't a problem, but it might be best if at first you paired with Buttercup and I paired with Butch."

Brick hesitated. With how tired Blossom was would that be a good idea? Butch would be well behaved, Brick would make sure of that, but he knew his brother. Even if Butch was behaving, he could be pretty draining. He didn't mean to be, he just...had a loud presence.

"Maybe I should pair with Butch. I'm more used to keeping him in line after all."

She frowned at him. "You think I can't handle Butch?" Her tone was annoyed and just shy of angry.

"I didn't say that. I just think that maybe, if your goal is to ease him into it, that I'd be the better choice to do it. He's used to taking orders from me. With Buttercup he follows his whims, and we know how unpredictable those can be. With you, well, you're a red but you aren't his red. He isn't used to taking orders from you and it might rub him the wrong way."

She thought it over a bit, taking another sip from her tea. He did the same as he waited. "Fair point. Maybe we can switch up the training sessions so that instead of simulations for you and your brothers were mixing the teams up. Honestly, it's something I should have added to the plan right off the bat."

"Not necessarily. It's been nice to ease into things without you three looking over our shoulders."

"We don't do that." He raised an eyebrow and she grimaced. "Mostly. Okay fine. Starting now though we should start joint training sessions. It'll help get out siblings used to listening to not just one red."

"Agreed. And now that that's dealt with, I had something I wanted to talk to you about."

"No. I am not looking for help with the dance Brick. I have it handled."

He sputtered slightly at that, shocked he'd apparently been so easy to read. "I didn't even say anything! Why-"

"You mentioned it earlier. The fact that you even accept the invitation for tea was clue enough that you wanted something too. I'm just fine thank you and can handle the dance on my own."

"What if I wanted to help though? Maybe I just want to see what it's like to plan one of these things!"

She gave him a look. "You, Brick Rowdyruff Jojo, want to be responsible for planning a school event? An event that normally your brother would have to drag you to?"

Okay, even he admitted it was a far stretch. But it was possible right?

Well. No, not really.

"I'm just saying."

"Fine. Brick, what did you want to ask me?"

This was not going well. Not at all.

He swallowed heavily before speaking. "I was wondering if you'd like some help with planning the TCB. It seems like a lot and-"

"I can handle it just fine. I don't need help."

Well, he was screwed. She was mad at him. Again.

He threw his hands up in defeat. "Fine. You don't need help. Can I help anyways?"

"I'd rather you didn't."

"Why?"

"Because you didn't tell me the real reason you wanted to help."

Nope. Now he was screwed. Check and mate and she knew it to. He was cornered. If he said he thought she had too much on her plate it would be like saying he didn't think she could handle things. As someone who hated when people underestimated what he could do or when people looked down on him, he couldn't bring himself to do something like that to Blossom, one of the few people he truly respected. Even if he did like to push her buttons.

"Never mind. Forget I asked."

"Sure. Anyways, once you're done with your tea just put the cup in the sink. I have homework to catch up on so I'll see you tomorrow."

She stood and left the room, her cup of tea in hand. Brick grumbled before chugging the last of his tea. That went about as well as he'd expected it would. Time for plan B. AKA what he always did.

The class jumped as a loud beeping noise filled the room. A few students glared as Blossom pulled out her phone mumbling apologies as she moved for the window. Brick was up and following her out which felt weird for everyone involved still.

"Mayor, what's the emergency?" Blossom said as she flew out the window. Brick closed it once they were out and turned to watch as their siblings made their way to them. The good thing about the loud alarm was that during school hours, all the supers in the building could hear the alarm.

"Another one? What do you know about it?"

Brick frowned before floating closer to hear what the mayor was saying.

"...throughout the city. People have been falling into what looks like a deep sleep after being attack. Most of the north part of the city is covered at this point in them and pulling them off people doesn't do anything it seems. We aren't sure how they're replicating or reproducing but I can say that there are more now than there were at the beginning of the attack."

"Where was the first point that they were found?"

"The northern park area near the business sector. We think they came in through the harbor area near there but it's hard to track the route of the monster when anyone we send into the areas is attacked. We aren't sure how they're tracking people either."

"Okay, well start there," Blossom said before hanging up and taking off.

"What are we dealing with?" Buttercup asked as she fell into her position by Blossom, Bubbles mirroring her. The ruffs flew just slightly below and even with them.

"It isn't a big one. There are apparently hundreds, if not thousands, of small flower squid things that are scattered throughout the city. When they attack, they go for the face and if they managed to latch on then the people have been falling into some sort of sleep like state."

Buttercup grimaced. "So, what the hell do we do?"

"Figure out more information," Brick said from below. Buttercup made a face but didn't say anything.

"Exactly," Blossom said with a scolding look at Buttercup. "First we need to figure out how it sees people. The Mayor said that they don't seem to have eyes, but they are targeting people."

"Well, that sounds fun," Boomer said dryly. They all made faces at the implications of what was said.

"Stay in pairs and watch each other's backs. We'll pair off by color," Blossom added. They all nodded as they finally reached the park. Slowly, all six super teens descended while pairing up like told.

"Do you see any?" Bubbles asked when they were a few feet from the ground. Boomer shook his head.

"I don't see-"

"Move!" Blossom yelled as she shoved Brick out of the way of a leaping blur.

She quickly turned to follow and zapped it with an eye beam while Brick recovered and quickly moved to cover her back. They all took turns looking at the charred remains of the monster. It looked kind of like a cross between a sunflower and a squid with the center containing a giant toothless mouth.

"Well at least they aren't eating faces," Buttercup said as she noted the lack of teeth. Bubbles shivered at the thought.

"Oh, don't even go there! That really would be a nightmare monster!"

"Easy enough to kill at least," Brick said with a thankful nod at Blossom. She was frowning at it.

"They went for you first Brick so maybe they track heat?"

"Nope!" Boomer yelped as he zapped another one that was headed for Bubbles. She winced when it let off a high-pitched squeal before dropping dead to the ground. "Where the heck are these things popping out from?"

"Good question. Not like there's a ton of hiding places here. Anyone see any holes or something?" Buttercup asked. They all shook their heads.

"Well, not heat and doesn't look like movement either. Bubbles was floating still," Brick said. Blossom bit her lip.

"There has to be something."

A blast of dark green hit another one as Butch dropped the rest of the way to the ground. "Whatever it is, it's annoying and boring. I wanna wail on something man."

Buttercup dropped down next to him. "I was honestly expecting a lot more than this. You made it seem like there was an army of these things leader girl."

"The mayor made it seem like there were. She said no one has been able to get far into the affected areas since they all end up attacked."

"Maybe they aren't in the central areas. If they look to latch onto people that are awake, they could be moving into the areas where people are still awake," Brick suggested.

Blossom looked around using her X-ray vision. It did look like everyone was already out with one of the monsters attached to them. She could see a few more of the monsters but not a lot. They were all moving towards them though which meant that however they were tracking people was effective across distances. It made Brick's suggestion plausible.

She nodded. "It's reasonable. Let's move to the edge of the attacked zone. Hopefully, we can find out more there."

"Sooo...back the way we came?" Butch asked. Blossom sighed lightly through her nose at his tone.

"Yes Butch. Back the way we came. We can see them with our X-ray vision so activate that as we fly back and look for movement."

Blossom didn't wait for them to say anything else before taking off. Her sisters followed with no lag, but the boys took a half a second longer to process her movement. They were getting better. Soon they would be up to the same speed as the girls. Which didn't surprise Blossom. They were counterparts. Anything the puffs could handle the ruffs, in theory, could also handle.

Looking around, Blossom was able to see the odd monster here and there but nothing extreme. It took longer than she expected to hit the point where there was a concentration of movement. Once they hit it though, it was like an explosion of action.

"Oh my god. That's disgusting. It's like a pit of worms," Buttercup said in disgust. Bubbles was making a face to. The ruffs shrug.

"Eh, worms are cool," Butch said. Blossom rolled her eyes. Trust the ruffs to not be weirded out by the sight. They did make Bubbles each a roach once, so she wasn't really surprised. Thank goodness they'd outgrown that habit though.

"Let's get to the front of it. I want to see if we can redirect them away from the town's people," Blossom said. She felt her sisters glancing at her, but they stayed quiet. The same could not be said for the ruffs.

"Uh, Bloss? Hate to tell you this but if we try that we'll get over run," Boomer said. Blossom couldn't help but frown. She wasn't used to being questioned. She felt Buttercup's glare at Boomer more than saw it too. She could see the blond boy just shrug at her. "Just sayin'."

"I know. We won't be able to handle that many, but we do need to figure out how to do so. While we could drop down now and start poking to find what works we want to do it efficiently. If we can find what they're weak against while also helping give the citizens time to get away it'll make it a two birds, one stone situation. I don't expect us to handle them all until we know what works. The few we saw in the park went down with energy blasts, so I want to see how effective that is as well as how my ice and Brick's fire do against them."

Boomer winced and nodded. "Got it. You've got solid reasons. Understood. My bad."

She couldn't expect the ruffs to understand her way right off the bat she supposed. Even though they'd fought a few monsters after they'd taken the hero gig this was the first one that was different. It wasn't a matter of just hitting something hard. No. It was more akin to the kind of fights they would have with Him or the other supervillains of the past. The boys weren't used to fights like this. It was a different type of fight altogether.

Also, they should probably hold a press conference soon to announce the change. Now that the boys were about up to speed and they were ready to split the patrols it would be important to do so. Maybe she'd talk to the mayor about it after this fight.

"Will you be okay to use your ice?" Brick asked. He wasn't looking at her so she couldn't get a real read on the reason behind his asking. His tone seemed concerned, but she couldn't tell about what.

"I'll be fine. I don't have much of a choice either way. Plus, if anything does happen to me, you can take over easy enough."

Her sisters were giving her looks and she could see that the comment had startled both Butch and Boomer too. She didn't know why. She wasn't the only red on the team. It made sense that if something happened to her that he would take over for her. They thought similarly too. Granted, he had a more aggressive approach, but the overall gist was similar enough that her sisters would have too hard of a time following him.

They really needed to start running drills where her sisters let Brick lead instead of her though. Blossom didn't like the unpreparedness of the idea.

"Got it," was Brick's only response. He'd probably come to the same conclusion.

"Alright, everyone get ready. We're here," Blossom said as she slowed to a stop in the air. She took a second to survey before formulating a plan.

"Bubbles, sweep the surrounding streets for people and help them get out. Take Butch with you. Butch, you keep her safe. I know you can't move as quick but with your shield you can do the most to protect her from them. If that doesn't work, both of you pull back and await further instruction. Boomer, give them some zaps and let me know how effective that is. Buttercup, you're on damage control. See what they're doing to the buildings and if we need to be worried. Try not to use force against them though. Aim for using energy attacks before they get too close."

Her sisters took off as soon as she was done talking. Boomer and Butch glanced to Brick but he didn't move. A second later they took off to do as Blossom said. Brick floated next to her.

"We need to have you run drills with my idiots. They need to get used to taking someone else's orders," he said. She laughed slightly at that.

"I was thinking the same with you and my sisters. Anyways, I say we split up and see what works best against them. We can meet up in a couple minutes and re-evaluate."

"Agreed."

They split and went for different groups of movement at that. Blossom could feel the chill still in the air and the sight of snow on the ground did worry her. She usually tried not to use her ice breath too much in winter but there was no other real option. She needed to know if it would work. And thankfully, Brick was there in case she did go into an ice coma. It was more of a relief than she was expecting it to be.

She scanned quickly to see if any people were nearby and frowned. A large number had been attacked and now lay motionless on the ground. She'd have to be careful not to hit them. It was bad enough they were lying in the snow. They couldn't let this fight drag on for too long. There had to be something to take out these things quickly.

Finally, she was able to find a group where there weren't any people. She took a deep breath and blew, quickly freezing the large group of the monsters. Once she was done, she floated away slightly and waited. A blast went off behind her and she supposed Brick had finally found a group as well.

A shiver went through her. There didn't-

A loud crack sounded and Blossom frowned. A moment later the ice shattered and the monsters squirmed their way out. They seemed to converge around the ground right below her.

So, they didn't freeze. They also didn't track heat signatures, hers at this point would be near nonexistent. Movement was also out and so was sound. She didn't understand what they were using to track her. Groaning, she sent several blasts into the mass and took out most of them before flying back. Brick was already there.

"Well?" He asked. She shook her head.

"No good. They broke out. They also aren't tracking by sound or heat."

Brick frowned as a shiver went through her and flew closer, letting his body temperature rise. She nearly moaned at how nice the heat felt. Nearly. She saved herself that slight humiliation just barely.

"They don't like heat but it won't do us much good. There are too many people on the streets and my flames tend to get a little out of hand the more I use them."

The buildup of heat she guessed. It made sense. The more she used her ice breath, the lower her body temperature dropped and the harder it became for her to control her ice breath. It was another reason why she tried not to use it in winter. She was already a lot colder to start with.

"So, energy blasts are all we really have. That won't work though. There are way too many."

"Bloss!" Bubbles yelled and she and Butch quickly approached. Blossom and Brick turned to face them, Blossom blinking slightly in surprise.

"Bubbles. That was-"

"They completely ignored the shield. Went right around it. Almost like they could feel it or something."

Blossom frowned at that. That made no sense. If they could sense energy then why didn't they dodge the energy blasts? And why go after normal people?

"So, they can sense your shield but not the blasts. That's something?" Brick said, turning to Blossom she shook her head slightly.

"The professor proved a while ago that our energy-based moves are unique in every way to X individuals. While there is a small difference in energy signatures between us all, it's almost a negligible difference. Normal humans can't generate anything similar to it. If these things are able to track normal humans then their system won't be based on our energy moves. Unless Butch's shield is largely different but I doubt that."

"Nah, feels like a concentrated wave of steady energy exactly like what I use for my blasts. Only way it might be different is if my whole energy is," Butch said.

"Not likely. Drat."

"What do you want us to do? Should we still try to help people?"

Blossom grimaced. That would be dangerous and chancy. Plus, if Bubbles got attacked while doing it they would have no way to know. At that moment Boomer and Buttercup also joined back.

"So, they're ignoring the buildings almost completely. Some broken doors and windows but other than that, no damage."

"Yeah and they don't care about electricity at all. Just kinda passed around them without doing anything."

Well, the mayor would be happy about the lack of damage but only if they could stop this before someone died of hypothermia. Hopefully people were wearing proper winter clothes if they were outside. With Boomer's news though, they were really at square one. There had to be something...

Brick questioned both of them more thoroughly while Bubbles and Butch added in a few thoughts of their own. Blossom floated down a little to think.

If they could just figure out how they knew where people were. That would give them something to work with! Blossom groaned as she flew around a bit, watching the group of monsters that had gathered below them. Some followed her while others stayed where they were. It was even proportional. Somehow, they knew were the others were grouped and that there were more there than where she was. The question was how?

She was thinking about this when she heard a sound. Cocking her head, she turned to see a lady stumble out onto the street. She froze as did Blossom as the group of monsters seemed to turn and face her. The woman stumbled and even from where Blossom was, she could see that her pupils were extremely dilated. Considering the woman had stumbled out the back door of a bar, Blossom assumed she had been passed out drunk. Until now.

She saw the movement and didn't hesitate. She launched herself forward, ignoring the yells from above her to stop. She dove in between the woman and the monsters and fired a blast but there were too many and she knew it. She knew it was a suicide jump, but she couldn't help it. She wouldn't watch as a citizen was attacked.

She braced as they converged on her only to be pushed out of the way at the last second by a blue blast. Blossom felt her heart stop. Bubbles smiled at her before the monsters swarmed her. She reached for her sister with a cry only to be yanked up forcefully. She barely registered the woman shriek behind her.

"Bubbles! Let me go! I have to-"

"Enough leader girl! They've got her! We need to pull back," Buttercup said through grit teeth as she yanked her sister higher. Blossom let out a chocked sound but let herself be dragged away.

A moment later Brick flew down and blasted the area with flames. She yelped and struggled against Buttercup again, but Brick had been careful. He hit most of the monsters and the remaining few that had kept Bubbles from the flames scattered. The second they were gone a flash of crackling blue zoomed by and swept her sister up. Boomer aimed immediately for a clear roof of a tall building nearby. Blossom and Buttercup both zoomed for him, Blossom scanning the building as she went. It was mostly clear so they'd have some time.

Boomer cradled Bubbles as he sat down on the roof and Buttercup and Blossom were immediately at her side.

"Darn it Bubbles! Why would you do that?!"

"You know why. Dammit Bloss! Do you always have to be such a hero?!"

"Language!"

"Oh, don't you dare. I swear, if you want language, I'll-"

"Enough," Brick's voice cut through their bickering and they turned to glare. He grimaced, Blossom knew she had beams built in her eyes and didn't doubt that Buttercup was the same, but he didn't back down. "She knew that we needed more brain power than we did speed right now. Her special ability is no good in this situation either. She can't scream with all these people passed out on the ground or they'll also get hurt. She took the hit because we could afford her to, and it's done now so we need to move on. We don't know what they're using to target people and we don't have a solid method to handle them. We don't know if or how they're replicating either. There are too many unknowns and we can't waste time arguing so get it together!"

Blossom blinked as she let the eye beams dissipate. He had a point and she could tell Buttercup reluctantly agreed. Butch finally landed on the roof with the woman still shrieking in his arms. He gave her a look before dropping her roughly on the roof.

"Oops," was all he said as she yelped in pain at the impact. Blossom glared at him but let it go.

"Alright. We can't stay here," Blossom said through grit teeth as she looked at Bubbles. The monster was covering her face and Blossom decided she wasn't going to let it continue whatever it was doing.

With a quick movement Blossom yanked the monster up and Buttercup, having sensed her intentions, quickly severed the monster's petal-legs with a precise energy blast, Boomer quickly shifted to avoid the beam clipping him. Once it was free from Bubbles, Blossom threw the monster into the air and a dark blue blast vaporized it. Boomer continued glaring at where the monster had been. Electricity was sparking up and down his neck and she could tell he was close to losing it. He was being careful to avoid it traveling down his arms to Bubbles though. She shot Brick a quick look and he shook his head. She frowned but relented. Brick knew better when his brothers would snap. If her thought it was fine, then she would let it be.

"We can't leave Bubs either," Buttercup said. Blossom wasn't going to argue there. Especially when she was still asleep. They needed to get her looked at and soon.

...maybe sooner would be better. Blossom felt her brow furrow as she looked at her baby sister. Maybe if they had someone look after her, they could figure more out. The question was who though? The professor would be a good bet but that was on the other side of town and would take time.

She felt her shoulders slump at her next thought. The observatory was nearby. Mojo knew as much as the professor did about X individuals, maybe even more since he was one himself. She sighed as she looked up at the ruffs. Brick raised an eyebrow at her.

"We should get her looked at. It might give us more clues. We should see if we can grab one of the dead monsters too to have that looked at as well. The problem is that the house is too far away. It would take too much time to get the professor to look at her."

Boomer and Butch exchanged confused looks but she could tell Brick understood.

"Hell. No. I'm not going to that damned ape-"

"No. Cursing."

"The press ain't going to hear me up here and you just suggested-"

"The best possible option. Do you have any other plans?"

Brick ground his teeth together as he glared at Blossom. That was what she thought.

"I don't like it either, but we don't have a choice. Butch, drop the woman off at a safe zone and meet us at the observatory."

Boomer moved forward quickly with Bubbles and before anyone else could, took off with Buttercup moving quickly right behind him. Butch made a face but picked up the woman and went off for the nearest safe zone. Brick was still glaring.

"I don't like it."

"I know Brick but we don't exactly have a lot of options. I'm trusting you to watch him carefully. Buttercup, Boomer, and I are going to be a little...distracted. I need you to keep a cool head here. Please."

He groaned as he rubbed a hand across his face before returning to glaring at her.

"Fine! I don't disagree and I can't think of anything else either. If I see one suspicious movement though..."

She nodded. "Don't hesitate. The last thing we need is for him to take advantage of the situation."

"Yeah, that would be the real cherry on top. Come on. Let's catch up to those two. Last thing we need is for them to lose their tempers with the monkey before he has a chance to do anything."

And with that, Brick took off for the observatory, Blossom quickly following. She really hoped this wouldn't backfire.

Bam! Cliff hanger. My bad. That actually wasn't on purpose. I didn't realize that this chapter did that until I did my last check just now...Sorry bout that. Especially since I probably won't be able to post another chapter until late January/early February. Whoops. Don't hate me!

Artemis Raven Courtney! I'm so glad you like Princess's power move! I felt like I was neglecting my side couples and was like, how can I fix this? I know! If I feel like their being neglected I'm sure Princess is at 'I'm so done with this' level! So let's throw her at Mitch. Hope you enjoyed this chapter too!

Minatotheshitkage! That's fair. It didn't even occur to me either. Maybe I'll do that on another story. I could definitely have a lot of fun writing that.

Marsnoesunplaneta! Yeah, that's what I was kinda figuring. And yes! I didn't want the ruffs to be too much in the fboy or player troop cause Mayor Bellum would definitely whoop their behinds if she heard that they were treating women any way but the right way. And I'm sorry about the slow green build! T.T Promise you that I'm getting there. Things will start moving with those two soon.

I'll be back as soon as I can. Until next time. Ciao!