Here's the next chapter everyone! Hope you enjoy!

As always, thanks for the kudos, reviews, and follows! They keep me going.

"It's creepy," Buttercup said as she watched the blues tell the story to another person. "I mean, I tell the same story, word for word, and I just get kinda upset. They tell it and it's all righteous fury and shit."

Brick shrugged. "It's the blues. They get people better than the rest of us."

"Doesn't make it less creepy."

"Never said it did. How is she?"

"Annoyed that we brought the professor into it to make her stay home. Think she was reading her angry book."

Brick cocked an eyebrow at that. "I'm sorry, what now?"

Buttercup shrugged. "She likes to read War and Peace when she's angry. I don't question it. Best to just let her read it out."

"Sometimes I seriously worry about you sister."

"Hah! Just the one? I worry about them both."

Brick turned back to watch the blues finish up their story again. Boomer wrapped an arm around Bubbles's shoulder as if to comfort her. Brick was pretty sure it was just Boomer working the situation as well as wanting to hug Bubbles. "Fair enough, I guess. Suppose I should probably start worrying about that one too. If something happened to her, I'm sure Boom would level the city to fix it."

"You say that like you didn't already worry about her. Still, better make sure nothing happens to either of my sisters then cause if something seriously bad happened to leader girl? Don't think Bubs and I would hesitate if that's what it would take to fix things."

"Let's just all stay nice and safe then." Buttercup gave him a look and he rolled his eyes. "As safe as heroes can be. Anyways, you good for later?"

Buttercup snorted. "Who the hell do you think I am? Of course I'm good for later."

"Good. Take Boom with you this time. I need Butch to stay in the city if you're leaving it."

"Good call. I'll let him know. Later. Seems kinda busy right now."

They watched as another kid walked up to the blues and the story was once again repeated in a completely different way.

"Yeah, leave them to it. I think we need them working on this more right now."

"Hell yeah. You know though that we still have to keep an eye out for them though right? We can condemn them to a life of never living this down but we have to stop the kids who'll take it too far. Also, gotta make sure none of those idiots get too upset."

Brick's eyes narrowed as she glared through the walls at the kids who were currently working overtime to fix the school's dance. "Not gunna be a high priority item for me."

Buttercup rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I get it. This hero stuff though? Can't let our personal feelings get in the way. That'll just screw us over. Leader girl always says it's an all in kinda thing. If you're a hero then you have to be willing to save them all, even the ones you don't think are worth saving. Being a hero isn't about serving justice. It's about protecting people. We have the cops for justice."

"That sounds like a slippery slope to me. I mean, hell, I sure wouldn't save Him if I had the chance to. I'm more than happy to watch Him rot in hell for the rest of eternity."

"So enjoying Tuesday tea huh? Well tough shit. If Him's life was on the line and we had the chance to save it? We gotta save it. It's a more slippery slope otherwise. Leader girl always says it's cause it ain't up to us to draw the line. If we say no to helping save a certain type of person who's to say a similar group is okay to save? A petty theft of an apple cause someone's hungry is still theft. Same crime as a bank robbery but different scale. Who are we to judge which is right and which is wrong though? What if both were just hungry? What makes one crime righter than another? That ain't up to us. We have laws and a judicial system to decide that."

"I suppose that make sense. Still wouldn't save Him though."

"Fine. You don't have to. I just expect you to help bail us out of trouble if we do go do something like try to save Him. Gotta be a whole new serious if Him's life is one the line."

"Suppose I can manage that. Anyways, let me know if you run into any issues tonight."

"Will do cap head. You gunna bake leader girl a new batch of cookies?"

"I'm going to be studying. Test week next week."

Buttercup shook her head. "Whatever. Bubs should be home if you want to knock on the front door. I expect that leader girl will be too into War and Peace to notice someone tapping on her window."

She started to walk off at that but could feel the glare Brick shot at her. "I said-"

"Don't forget your appointment with the professor this Sunday. Later cap head."

He clicked his tongue at her before storming off in the opposite direction. Buttercup shot a final look over at the blues. Really was creepy as hell.

"Yo, slime brain. You're on guard duty tonight. I'm taking baby boy blue with me."

"What? Like hell that's-"

"Orders from hot head himself. Take it up with him if you ain't a fan."

Butch glared at Buttercup as she sat down at the table. "That's complete bullshit. I so want in on tonight!"

"Well actually Butch, if Buttercup's heading out of town we need you to stay. If a monster shows up you'll be the best suited to helping maneuver it," Bubbles said before sticking the fork full of salad into her mouth. He glared at her as she slowly chewed and gave him a look back. He tsked before slouching down, arms crossed.

"I never get to do anything fun."

Buttercup rolled her eyes before scanning the cafeteria. She saw Merrick across the room eyeing their table and frowned. He met her eyes and she quickly turned away.

That's right. She had a plan of her own to get started on. Even if she didn't want to. Really, really didn't want to.

"What's the baby pouting about now?" Princess asked as she and Robin sat down. Bubbles shrugged.

"Who knows? I try not to understand how his mind works. I like the idea of not mentally scaring myself."

"You know, I'd try and argue with that, but I really can't," Butch said as he pouted at the table. "Makes me mad too."

"Oh please Butch. You say you get mad at everything but let's be real, you're the biggest softy of the ruffs," Princess said as she pulled out her very expensive looking lunch. Robin nodded.

"Seriously, you couldn't hurt a fly if it hadn't wronged you first."

"Uh-uh! I so could! I'm the Baron of Berserk here! I could do all sorts of bad shit if I wanted to."

"Personally, I think my Boomie is the biggest softy but Butch would be a close second."

Buttercup rolled her eyes at her sister before sharing a look with Princess.

"Right. To you I'm sure he is hun. There are a few other people who live in this world though and I can tell you that your softie isn't all that soft. Not as bad as Brick though. Why is it that your oldest brother is the most antisocial person I know?"

Butch shrugged before sitting up to reach across the table and try to steal some of Princess's food. She quickly made a move to stab him with her fork, but he zipped his hand out of the way. He'd learned first-hand that Princess had her forks made with some seriously expensive and tough materials. Which meant it actual could hurt if she caught him with it.

"I dunno. I mean, Boom and I tried to raise him right. I swear we did. Somewhere along the way though..." Butch sighed dramatically as he stared off into the distance for a second before suddenly jumping up. "I'm gunna go get food. I'm hungry."

And with that he took off for the lunch line. Robin shook her head. "I'm pretty sure he's half the reason Brick is the way he is. I can only imagine what it would have been like being the older brother to someone like him."

Bubbles shrugged. "He likes to seem more erratic than he is. Butch is pretty simple actually. Likely it was probably Boomie that was more trouble."

Princess raised an eyebrow. "So you admit that he can be a problem."

"I think that Boomie is very good at talking and that maybe he sometimes as a kid could have possibly used that in ways he shouldn't have. It's fine though! He's still a sweetie pie."

Robin shook her head. "I'm sure he will be if it makes you happy. Dear lord help any poor soul who tries to hurt you now though. He's been like an overprotective guard dog since you two started dating."

"He's not that bad...right?" Bubbles turned to Buttercup who had only been half listening as she pushed food around her plate. It took her a few seconds and Bubbles clearing her throat before she realized they were expecting a response.

"What? Sorry, missed that."

Bubbles frowned. "Boomie. Has he been too protective lately?"

Buttercup slowly pierced her chicken with her fork before all but throwing it into her mouth and starting to chew on it aggressively.

"Aa uoo wah oo ean," she said around her mouthful. Bubbles glared and Buttercup couldn't help but wince. She hadn't thought it would work but it had been worth a short. She finished her mouthful before talking again. "So maybe leader girl was a little annoyed in that last fight with blue boy. I mean, you could have taken that hit no sweat and he knows that too but he still broke position to take it for you. Yeah, not a big deal on a small fry monster but what about a big one? And we've had some weird ass monsters lately."

Bubbles frowned at that. "It was a special outfit that I hadn't wanted to ruin. We'd been on a date. It was a date outfit!"

"Bubs, you've worn nicer and taken worse hits while doing so. I suggest you maybe tell blue boy to tone it down before Bloss does. We both know she won't be as nice about it."

Bubbles pouted at that. "Well maybe I think it's okay."

Buttercup gave her a look. They both knew it didn't matter what she thought. Bubbles huffed and crossed her arms before looking away. Butch was just arriving back at the table as she did so.

"What happened here? Someone kick a puppy or something?" He asked as he sat down. Buttercup snorted at that.

"No and it'll stay that way assuming Bubs here does the smart thing."

"Oh be quiet! I'll do it! I'm just not happy."

"Do what? What I miss?" Butch asked.

Princess scoffed. "Butchie boy, you miss everything. In this particular instance, you missed a warning about the baby ruff. If Boomer doesn't watch it Blossom might be on his case."

Butch frowned at that. "What'd he do?"

"Tried to play hero for a hero. Don't worry about it knuckle head. Blue boy will be just fine," Buttercup said.

Butch shrugged before picking up his first burger to shovel into his mouth. "If you say so."

"Can you not shove that whole into your mouth? Just once I'd like to keep my appetite through lunch," Princess asked as she gave Butch a look. Butch gave her a blank look as he slowly opened his mouth and proceeded to shove the entire burger into it. With a frown Princess pushed her food, for once not a salad, away. "You people are why I can't have nice things."

This sucked. She so didn't want to do this. But what other way was there? Butch wouldn't tell her anything and Bubs was now locked up tight on details too. Blossom didn't seem to know or, for once, care much and Brick was just Brick. She had no clue what he did or didn't know but she knew he'd never tell her. And if Brick was locked up tight, then Boomer would be too. So here she was. Stuck.

Thankfully, Tuesdays were the day that Butch was doing errands for the basketball coach instead so he wouldn't be here to see this. Small blessing but Buttercup decided she'd take what she could get.

Trying to keep the grimace off her face, Buttercup made her way across the weights room to where Merrick was setting up some weights. He didn't seem to notice her approach which left her having to take the first step.

"Hey."

He looked up at her and cocked an eyebrow. She couldn't help but stuff her hands in her pockets. Merrick had pretty much backed off and she hadn't said anything, so she knew this was weird. Hell, it was unnatural, especially for her.

"Hey. What's up?" Merrick asked as he turned back to his weights. "Thought you'd rather I didn't talk to you."

Well, at least she'd gotten that across well. She still didn't want to talk to him but somehow, she needed answers. More than that, she wanted proof. For justice.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Things were a bit rough. Had a few things going on."

"I see. Got them sorted out then?"

"Yeah. All good now. Felt bad for how things left off though and had wanted to, you know, say what I said."

Merrick raised his eyebrow at that again. "The apology? Well, accepted, I guess. Long as it wasn't me."

Merrick had straightened up again and was giving her a look. Now, she was no blue, but even she could tell he called doubt. Buttercup shrugged.

"Nah, it was me. I tend to get mean when I'm in a spot and Butch was pretty wound-up last semester. Left me on edge waiting for the snap."

Merrick gave a slow nod to that. "Huh. Yeah, I guess he doesn't seem too 'wound' now. Less likely to rip my head off at least. Still on edge though. Any clue as to what I did to piss him off?"

Oh, she had so many things she wanted to say and ask with that one. That wouldn't help though. He'd shut down if she did that.

"Beats me. Butch kinda works on his own, special wavelength. None of us really get how his mind works."

"And yet you still trusted him to not be a villain?"

She'd seen that one coming. Merrick had done a good job of asking it nonchalantly though, so it still threw her. She rolled with it though and let herself wince.

"Yeah, okay. I played that up a bit more than I actually trusted it but turned out okay, I guess. He's playing for the hero side now at least. Pretty sure as long as we keep giving him monsters to wallop were good."

She owed Butch an apology. Not that he'd ever know why if she had her way but still. It would be owed. Maybe she'd finally let him try her cooking. That'd make her feel better even if he'd just end up confused.

"Yeah. Guess so. Anyways, I wanted to say that I saw you at that first game. Missed getting to say hi and haven't seen you at one since."

"Yeah, had to book it out of there for a monster fight. Duty calls and all that shit."

"And you haven't gone back to see another game? Come on, I'm sure we didn't suck that bad."

Merrick leaned back against the wall slightly and gave her a smirk. He was trying to reel her into something. Normally Buttercup would call him on the bullshit and tell him to just say it but today she couldn't. Slow and steady was the way for this race.

"Yeah. Been busy with track."

"Right. Meets and shit? When's your next one?"

"Saturday morning. Should be done by noon."

There it was. Buttercup had been watching for it, so she caught when a flash went through Merrick's eyes. She might not be a blue, but she was sure that if she kept paying attention, she'd be able to get a real good read on a slime ball like Merrick. Hell, she'd been dealing with slime balls most of her life by now. Her usual slime ball might be a more preferable one but she'd have to get over it.

"Next game is late Saturday. You should come."

Buttercup shrugged. "Maybe I will. Been a while since I just sat back and watched a game."

"Great. I'll see you there then."

"Maybe you will. Anyways, gunna get back to it before the teacher yells at me. Later."

"Yeah, later."

He had a smile on his face and she knew she'd passed the first hurdle. Now she just had to pass the much bigger second one at the game on Saturday and hope this whole thing wouldn't piss Butch off.

Hell, Buttercup knew Butch hated the guy but all she was doing was what he had told her to do. She just doubted that this was what he had in mind though. Oh well. He could get over it. She'd have Blossom come with her to the game all the same though. No one could run interference better than her sister after all, intentionally or not, and Buttercup had no doubts that she'd need it.

"All right blue boy. If you're done with teatime let's get a move on."

Boomer groaned as he floated up to where Buttercup was. Butch and Brick didn't even stick around to say hi, immediately taking off in a flash of green and red for their home. She'd maybe feel offended if she didn't know what they'd all just been doing.

"I so hate this dumb deal. You just had to go and open your big mouth though," Boomer whined. Buttercup raised an eyebrow.

"Let's be real blue boy, if Him wanted teatime with you three then teatime was gunna happen with or without me. Would have just taken Him a bit longer to come up with a trap for you three."

"I knooow. God, why can't I have a normal creator like you three. Why've we got Him and Mojo? Not fair man."

"Bad luck, I guess. Now come on, we have things we need to get done and I need to be back before midnight. If I'm not, then leader girl'll be out hunting me down and that's the last thing we want."

"At least I don't have that to worry about."

Buttercup snorted. "Blue boy, don't think for one second that I won't drag you into the hot water with me. Now come on."

Buttercup didn't wait any longer before taking off for their destination. Even though she was going pretty much full speed it didn't take Boomer long to catch up. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Faster than usual there. I'm guessing the extra hours are helping then."

Boomer laughed a little as he scratched at his neck. "I guess? I've been putting in a few extra hours these weeks. Had Bloss set me a schedule and all too."

"Look at you being an overachiever and all that shit. The other two putting in any extra hours too?"

Boomer shrugged. "Eh, I guess a bit? Hard to tell what Brick's up to. He never likes having people see him put in effort. Likes when it all comes off as natural. Butch has been hitting the weights and working on picking up some boxing and taekwondo moves. He even asked Bellum if she could hire him teachers for both. They come around a couple times a week. He knows the basics pretty well already but that's not too surprising. He might look all muscle but you and I both know he can move when he needs to."

Buttercup snorted at that. "Seriously. Used to give me a lot of headaches to have to deal with. Can't say it doesn't still. The bastard has started twitching a little every now and then again."

Boomer's head whipped around to Buttercup's direction. "What?! I haven't seen it!"

Buttercup waved him off. "It isn't often. Like, once a week and only in certain situations. Don't worry too much. I'm keeping an eye on it. Any time I see it I'm making sure leader girl has him blow some steam off on the next monster that comes around. It helps a lot I think."

Boomer looked unsure. "If you say so. You should make sure Brick knows though."

Buttercup raised an eyebrow at him. "You're joking right? You seriously think he doesn't already know?"

Boomer made a face. "Fair. Still, tell me if it gets worse. I can maybe spare with him or something."

"If that's what you want then sure. Anyways, come on. We got a deadline."

Buttercup didn't wait for him before kicking her speed up a notch. She could hear Boomer sigh behind her before he followed. She knew what Butch's problem was and she was working on it. She doubted she'd have to worry too much and she really doubted that she'd have to give Boomer this heads up he was asking for.

Blossom could feel all the gazes on her and it, for once, made her feel almost itchy. She wasn't enjoying it. This year had just been horrible so far with all the drama and she wasn't sure how she kept ending up at the center of it.

Her eyes met those of another kid who quickly turned and all but ran the other direction. Blossom frowned at the sight. She assumed that was one of the kids that had vandalized the dance. The way the other kids glared as he went by definitely supported her theory. Seeing the way that one of the kids was being treated made Blossom a little concerned. She wished, for not the first time, that she hadn't lost it quite so bad when she first saw the damage. She should have at least made sure to text her sisters not to let anything happen and that she'd handle it when she got back. As for the ruffs… well, she rarely expected them to be well behaved, but they would have at least listened if she'd done that.

Oh well, what was done, was done. All Blossom could do now was damage control. She had about half the names of those responsible and had put them on the student council's watch list. All members of the student government would keep an eye out for them now, whether it was to stop them from making trouble or from getting into trouble with someone else, it wouldn't matter. If there was even a hint of them being involved in something the school wouldn't approve of the student government members would step in.

It wasn't a perfect solution, but it would do for now. Time would hopefully solve the rest. The story that Boomer and Bubbles had told, while true, wouldn't help with the later though. They had made sure to make an impact and Blossom could tell they'd succeeded.

Blossom couldn't help but sigh at that.

"Stop stressing about it. Me and my bros would have found a way to make it happen anyways. You just wouldn't have noticed the other way. Not right away at least."

Blossom turned and gave Brick a look. "That does not make it okay. Honestly, you should have at least reeled the blues in a little bit. You know they tend to get carried away a bit."

Brick shrugged. "Didn't really feel like they were getting carried away actually."

Blossom huffed at that before turning to make her way down the hall for her next class. Brick was quick to follow.

"Come on Blossom, the students deserve to know who made a mess of the dance decorations."

"Well from what I've been hearing it's almost as if the damage never happened to start with. It's amazing how fast the damage has all been repaired."

She saw Brick wince out of the corner of her eye. "I am making them help and Princess may have bought a few too many things in her excitement before so there were extras. Plus, the base was already there. It's not like I was doing everything from the beginning."

Blossom raised an eyebrow at him. "You think I'm upset about that? I don't really care at this point about the dance. Everyone knows that you took over so credit will go where credit is due. No, I'm upset about the fact that those students might end up bullied. Especially since the damage was quickly undone."

Brick made a face when she mentioned the credit going where it was due before scowling down the hall. A few students jumped to get out of the way at the look.

"They'll live. I'm sure that everyone knows that the Powerpuff Girls don't approve of bullies, especially if the bullying is being done for the puffs."

"And you really think that'll be enough? This is high school. We have first-hand experience of how out of control rumors can get. Or did you forget that apparently you went after Mark because you were jealous of him."

"I won't ever understand that one. Seriously. Like, everyone could clearly tell that Boomer was into her and there's no way I'd step in on Boom that way."

"Well, ignoring the fact that you completely ignored that Bubbles had as much say in who she dates, I'm well aware. As is most of the school I suspect. Still, lies spread faster than the truth and a juice story is entertaining. I'm worried about those students and nothing you can say will change that."

Brick groaned at that. "You're impossible. You know that right? Just leave them be. What goes around comes around right?"

"I will step in if I see bullying. It doesn't matter who's involved. I will stop it."

Brick sighed at that. "I'd expect nothing less Blossom. I seriously wouldn't."

A ding went off and Blossom frowned as she pulled out her phone and opened it. "Good. Now, if you don't mind, it seems Principal Keane needs to speak with me. Make a copy of any notes I miss."

Brick shrugged. "Sure. Have fun."

Blossom snorted at that. She doubted she would. Principal Keane never called her randomly like this for good news.

"Seriously? Buttercup! There's no way it wasn't a super! Their fountain was moved to the roof of the school!"

Buttercup winced back slightly at Blossom's tone. Her sister was very not pleased.

"Look, it really wasn't me! Promise!"

Which wasn't a lie. Boomer had been the one to move the fountain while she took care of the waterworks that resulted from pulling the thing out of the ground.

"Well, it sure wasn't Butch! He was here to fight the monster! You weren't! And somehow I seriously doubt that Berserk or one of her sisters pranked their own school!"

Seeing as how Butch had been the one in charge of the dirt on the field prank on Townsville High, Buttercup didn't find it that unlikely.

"Well, I don't know what to say cause it wasn't me!"

Time to split. She took off for her room in a flash of green that had Blossom shrieking behind her. She'd have to lay low for a bit. Now that Blossom was a bit more rested and Brick had taken over the dance planning, she had more energy and time to focus on what everyone else was doing. While Buttercup was glad about that, she could do without her riding on their backs all the time again.

This sucked. More than usual. Buttercup couldn't help the scowl on her face as she looked down at the game. Butch was playing like shit and they were losing. Why the hell were they losing? What the fuck was Butch doing?!

"Is it normally like this?" Bubbles asked. Buttercup scowled some more.

"No, it isn't. Usually, our little show off takes charge and we win by a landslide. This is just weird."

On the flip side of that coin, Merrick was playing really well. He kept looking over and smiling at her. Buttercup was only happy that Bubbles hadn't noticed. The blue puff was only half paying attention. She had a date after the game with Boomer and was busy texting said blue ruff. Buttercup was amazed they hadn't run out of stuff to talk about yet.

"He does seem a bit annoyed. His head definitely isn't in it."

Buttercup agreed. Not that she was happy about that. From what she could see, Butch kept glaring at Merrick and he just kept playing worse and worse. At this rate it wouldn't be long until the coach benched him. And Butch was never benched. Ever.

"Yeah. Come on! Let's get back in it!" Buttercup yelled at the court. She glared at Butch as she did that. When he glared back, she cocked her head back and looked down her nose at him. She could play better and if he wasn't gunna step it up then he might as well step off.

Of course, Butch could never back down from a challenge from her. With a dark smirk, Butch turned away and started to get back into the game.

"Ooo! Look! He's doing better!"

Although she wasn't a huge fan of the sport, Bubbles was good at reading the flow of games like this thanks to all her cheerleading years. Buttercup had to admit that it was one of the benefits of bringing Bubbles instead of Blossom. Not that Blossom would have come. The eldest puff was still mighty pissed off with Buttercup.

"It's because of you right? Look at you, lighting his fire and getting him pumped. No wonder you two are getting on so well lately."

Buttercup frowned at that. Aaand there was the downside. Bubbles was going to notice every little interaction between the two of them and Buttercup knew her sister. She had a habit of exaggerating things. The last thing Buttercup wanted was for her sister to get the wrong idea.

Buttercup saw Merrick send her another smile that Butch thankfully ignored this time. Well, there was one more thing that Buttercup didn't want Bubbles to pick up on. Hopefully, they could get through the game without Bubbles noticing the attention Merrick was giving her. She wasn't worried about Merrick approaching them after the game, the guy only approached her when she was alone, but still. Bubbles was too attentive to these things.

Buttercup glance at the clock. They were nearly there. Just another 30 minutes or so of this shit. Then she could go home and sleep. Assuming Blossom didn't catch her first.

"Would you just lay off?!"

"No! It's my job as your leader-!"

"What about being my sister! Back. Off!"

"Come on you two. Maybe this isn't the best place or time to be having an argument?"

"Its fine!" Buttercup and Blossom snapped at Bubbles at the same time. Said blue puff simply sighed in response.

"Alrighty but when dad yells at you both I am so saying I told you so."

"Gah! Both of you! Leave me alone!" Buttercup yelled as she shoved her hands over her ears and stormed down the rest of the stairs into the lab.

"Well clearly I can't do that, now can I?!" Blossom yelled back as she stormed down after her. Bubbles sighed again before floating down and looking around.

On the other side of the lab, in the med bay section, the ruffs were tensely grouped together not far from where the professor was messing around with another machine. His latest one that had finally made it to the final round of testing. Bubbles wasn't sure what it was, but she was very much hoping it wasn't like his last one that got to this stage. Kitty Blossom had been cute, but she liked her sister the way she was.

Another screech from Blossom rang through the lab.

Well. She usually liked her sister the way she was.

The boys looked over at the noise and Bubbles couldn't help the giant grin that she gave Boomer. Her boyfriend returned the smile but stayed where he was. She understood. He'd been deathly pale when the ruffs had shown up and Bubbles once again reminded herself to ask her father what exactly he'd said/done to her boyfriend that day not long ago. Needless to say, whatever it was, Boomer was keeping his distance and being extra polite. Butch was snickering about it while Brick just shook his head.

"Girls. Keep it down," the professor halfheartedly said as he fixed up his last trial run of the day. He was going to be doing physicals on the ruffs once he was done with this run. He'd asked Blossom to take a look at the data really quick as well and Buttercup was trying to suck up a little bit to try and get Blossom off her back, so she'd offered to help clean things up afterwards. The sucking up bit wasn't working very well though.

"You just don't seem to ever get it! When you go do something like that someone has to pay, and it usually ends up being me!" Blossom said, completely ignoring the professor.

Bubbles wasn't surprised. Blossom was really not happy. Though, again, Bubbles was not surprised. After the dance fiasco, which Bubbles was sure Blossom was still very upset about, Blossom was definitely off balance. Then came the news from the mayor just that morning about the prank on Citiesville. It was obviously done by a super so, of course, Buttercup was suspect. Which had turned into a huge fight that was still going on.

"I know! That's why I'm saying it wasn't me! You always blame me! News flash pink stuff, I'm not always the guilty party!"

"Don't you start with those nicknames! You know I hate them!"

"Well tough shit!"

Bubbles winced. Blossom was clearly frazzled. Throwing out a cuss word like that when she was in such a state was a bad idea.

Blossom huffed as she glared at Buttercup, the temperature in the room dropping as she did so. Bubbles noticed that a wave of heat came from where the ruffs were as Brick quietly sighed and tried to compensate. Bubbles looked to the professor, hoping he would step in, but found that he was completely absorbed in the trial run. Everything was set up and it looked like he was about to start. Which also meant he was about to stop. All Bubbles needed to do was calm things for a few more seconds and then they'd be fine.

"Buttercup, maybe you shouldn't-"

"Do. Not. Curse!" Blossom shrieked, her voice going slightly supersonic as the professor moved to hit the button on his machine. Bubbles reacted on instinct as she saw the sound wave from Blossom's voice hit the machine as the beam fired. She was too slow though and she watched as the beam hit the wall behind the test subject instead of the cute little mousy. It bounced off and Bubbles moved instead to knock the professor to the ground.

The beam went over their heads and Bubbles heard her sisters yelp before the beam bounced against another wall.

"Fuck!"

Bubbles groaned. Could they not right now? Didn't they just hear Blossom yelling?!

There was no more sound of the beam bouncing around so Bubbles cautiously raised her head. She looked around and saw her sisters ducked behind some of the blast walls that the professor had installed in the lab. Swinging her head around she looked to the ruffs. They all had weird faces on. Butch and Brick were looking down at themselves while Boomer kept looking between the two. He quickly met Bubbles's gaze and she felt her stomach drop at the look.

"Girls! How many times do I have to tell you?! No sonic level voices in the lab!" The professor yelled at Blossom and Buttercup as Bubbles helped him to stand.

"Um, daddy? As much as I really do think I need to let you tell them off, could you first just answer one teeny tiny question? What did that machine do?" Bubbles asked, still not looking away from the ruffs.

"Bubbles you know that I...why? And why are you looking at the boys?"

"Whoops. Um, our bad guys. Professor, maybe it'd be best to answer Bubbles now," Buttercup said as she stepped out from behind the wall. Blossom followed looking very apologetic.

"Yeah prof. Please tell us what the hell we just got hit with," Butch said as he gestured to himself and Brick. The professor paled at that.

"Oh. Oh dear. Yes. Maybe I should. Well, you see it was supposed to be a device to be used in therapy. The aim of it was to lower inhibitions or reservations much like alcohol would but without the side effects. You'd find it easier to talk about things that are difficult but still have full cognition and reasoning abilities. I...haven't tested it on a living subject yet. That was supposed to be...well I supposed I did still test it like I'd planned. Congratulations on being the first test subjects boys!"

"What do you mean it makes...talking easier?" Brick asked, an ominous tone in his voice. Boomer gulped behind him.

"Well, it sounds worse than it is. Pretty much you're just going to be having a hard time not being so honest."

"Oh, so you mean I'll want to say things like how I think Brick's hat-"

Boomer moved almost as fast as Bubbles could and slapped a hand over Butch's mouth. Butch had gone slightly pale as Brick slowly turned to give his brother a look.

Buttercup snorted. "Well. Couldn't have hit a worse couple of people."

"You got something to say about my hat Butch?"

Butch frantically shook his head while Boomer sighed. "Come on bro. Butch probably wasn't gunna say anything bad."

"Then why don't you take your hand off his mouth and we can find out?"

"Alright, alright. Let's all just calm down now," the professor said trying to diffuse the situation. "Clearly Butch was hit. Brick? Boomer? Were either of you hit as well?"

"Not me prof. Brick though..." Boomer trailed off as Brick pulled his glare away from Butch. He seemed to freeze as everything started to sink in and he saw the professor and all three puffs looking at him.

"Yeah, I think I need to go home now," Brick said before starting to storm to the staircase.

"Wait! Brick!" The professor cried out at him. He was ignored.

"Brick stop! We don't know the side effects or even how the machine is affecting you both! You can't leave right now," Blossom said.

Brick stopped, entire body tense. The puffs could hear him grinding his teeth.

"Prof. I'm not feeling like speaking everything on my mind-" "Ugh! Gross Butch! Don't lick my hand!" "-but seems like I'm not entirely able to move my body how I'd like to right now."

"That's cause you're a puff's-ouch! Boomer you shouldn't hit your older brother. You know, I've always felt that you two don't respect me enough."

"Fascinating," all three puffs rolled their eyes at the professor. "It would appear that the effects are a bit too strong for Butch. You should still be able to choose what you want to say but it seems that the beam has completely destroyed your filter. As concerning as that is, it's Brick I'm more interested in actually. If I'm understanding correctly, it seems that it isn't your mind but your body maybe that's being affected? Interesting."

"Professor, I don't think any of the ruffs want to be hearing that word right now," Blossom said. "I'm sure they'd much rather hear how you neutralize the effects."

"Yeah, that'd be good. Preferably before Butch says something that'll get him killed," Boomer chimed in.

"You know, I always kinda wondered what would do me in. To be honest I pictured it to be more along the lines of Blossom going dominatrix-"

Boomer slapped his hand over Butch's mouth again as the room's temperature did a weird rise-dip-rise thing with the temperature as the two reds reacted. Buttercup burst out laughing.

"Oh my god. He might actually end up getting killed," Bubbles mumbled as she looked between the two reds. Blossom had gone pale while Brick had whipped around to glare at Butch. A second later an eye blast from Brick shit towards his brother who quickly put up a shield to block it.

"Brick! Don't shoot a laser off in here! You might set something else off!" Blossom scolded.

Bricks face twisted as the eye beam died instantly. "Okay. Alright. I need to go now."

He didn't move. Bubbles shared a look with Boomer.

"Um, Brick?" Boomer asked. Said red head groaned before burying his face in his hands.

"I want to go I want to go I want to go." He still didn't move. "Fuck! Fine!"

In a blast of red, Brick shot into the training simulator and locked the door.

Blossom gave the door a weird look. "I'm not seeing how that's better."

"The only one allowed to talk through that mic right now is the prof. No one else. We clear? Now, why the hell can't I do what I want to do?" Brick's voice said as it came through the intercom. The professor rushed over to the controls and turned on the mic.

"It seems to be a very complicated effect. I'm not sure how exactly the beam is affecting you this way, but I'd say that chances are your subconscious is what's truly in control here, although I suspect the effects to be much weaker than what Butch is experiencing. Any conscious thought you have is being suppressed by the unconscious if the two aren't in sync. As such, it seems that unconsciously you didn't actually want to leave here and so you couldn't. I suppose that your mind unconsciously wanted answers more than it wanted to get away from here."

Bubbles decided to let the professor believe that. She'd definitely made note of how Brick hadn't stopped until Blossom asked him to though. Still, she was a bit worried. All said and done Brick was a boy. Things could definitely get awkward if they couldn't sort this out.

"Yeah. Sure. Just...lock the goddamned simulator door. Please."

Buttercup snorted out a laugh while Blossom's brow furrowed. Well, she supposed she wasn't the only one who'd thought that way. Boomer sighed heavily through his nose before slowly taking his hand away from Butch's mouth. Again.

"That's a solid enough plan for now. Next one is duct tape I think cause clearly we ain't gunna be getting the golden silence with this one," Boomer said as he gestured at Butch who actually looked a bit upset.

"Rude man. Still, if bro can't control his body does that mean his-"

Boomer slapped his hand over Butch's mouth again and Butch actually looked thankful for that.

"I kinda actually wanted him to finish that one. Then we could throw him in with Brick and see what happens," Buttercup said. Boomer slowly removed his hand again.

"I'd rather tell you that I've always thought that out of all the puffs that..." the words trailed off as Butch disappeared upstairs in a flash of green then returned again with duct tape over his mouth. He had a slightly panicked look on his face that sent off bells in Bubbles's mind.

"Yeah. Let's stick with duct tape," Buttercup said.

"No wait! Now I want him to finish!" Bubbles said. Butch definitely looked panicked now and sent an SOS look to Boomer.

"Alright! So as much of a knucklehead as he is, I don't actually want my brother dead. So maybe let's get this fixed up and leave the duct tape on," Boomer said as he shot a look in Bubbles's direction. She'd taken a step towards Butch, hands slightly raised. At Boomer's look she hid her hands behind her back and sent him a big smile.

"Hmmm, I guess."

Blossom sighed as the two blues had a bit of a stare off while Butch slightly moved behind his younger brother. "Alright. I'm assuming this should just wear off on its own right?"

Blossom moved to the glass looking down into the simulator room. Brick was sitting in the middle, back to the glass, head between his knees. She was still giving him a weird look.

The professor, who was now looking at Butch suspiciously, pulled his eyes away to look down into the room as well. "Yes. It should. In the trial runs I found that the effects wore off after maybe an hour or two."

"Well! That's not long at all. All we need-"

Blossom was cut off as six cellphones all went off at the same time. The five supers in the room shared looks as they all paled. With a gulp, Blossom pulled her phone out of her pocket and answered it.

"Blossom speaking. What's the emergency?"

"Blossom! I know that the boys are probably in the middle of being checked right now but we have monsters attacking the city! They've managed to make their way into the town again!"

Blossom's eyes scrunched closed for a second before opening again. "Give me details."

"There's three of them. The first we were notified of is some sort of lizard. It seems to be leaving chunks of ice along its path, but we don't know how. The next is an ape like creature. From what we've been informed, it croaks much like a frog at supersonic levels and has been causing a large amount of damage. Finally, is a butterfly of some sort. The dust from its wings has been sending out blasts of electricity occasionally. We aren't yet sure if it's the dust itself doing this or if the dust is reacting with something to get this effect."

Blossom put her hand across her forehead as she paced through what Mayor Bellum said. "Okay. Alright. Three monsters. We split into team of two. That's fine. We can do this." Buttercup and Butch raised an eyebrow at her. She glared back. "Well head out soon."

"Hurry. They're already in the middle of town but they aren't together yet. We're worried that there might be...unexpected interactions if the three join up."

"Got it." Blossom hung up the phone and went over to the intercom. She slapped it hard enough that had it not been reinforced it would have broken. "Brick. We have three monsters in the town attacking. We need to move out."

A string of cuss words rang out over the intercom as Brick got up to leave the room. Blossom opened the door for him and he walked out, still cussing, glaring at everyone.

"Three monsters. An ice lizard. Brick heads that team. A supersonic ape. Buttercup, you take charge on that one. Finally, an electric Butterfly. I'll lead there. Once your threat is neutralized, split to help the other two teams. I'll take Boomer with me. Bubbles, you go with Brick. Butch goes with Buttercup. Any questions?"

Butch raised his hand. Blossom gave him a look and he gestured to the tape. With a sigh, Boomer tore it off.

"Ye-fucking-ouch!"

"Normally I'd say language but even more than usual I think it would be a waste of breath. What is it Butch?"

"How long do I have to wear that? Cause fighting with that on us gunna be a nightmare."

"Depends Butchie boy," Buttercup said as she gave him a look. "How likely are you to say something stupid?"

Butch opened his mouth only to disappear in a flash of green and reappear again with more duct tape over his mouth.

"Smart move Butchie boy. Smart move. Now let's go take these monsters out before you can't control yourself anymore and you rip that thing off yourself."

Butch made a whimpering sound at that and Bubbles gave him a look of half pity, half curiosity. Hopefully, these monsters wouldn't be too hard to handle.

So the reds have definitely been having a year. If it wasn't already obvious, I am a big reds fan so maybe that's why I've been putting them through so much. They've got a bit more to go before things might start getting easier too haha. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed!

Recognition time!

RainbowColoredHumanBeing! I'm doing good. Did well on my test too thankfully! So that's a stress off for now. Yeah, I've really been putting Blossom through the ringer. Brick's starting to have to step up though so it should start getting easier for her (if I feel like being nice haha). Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Guest! I did good, thanks! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

I've got some green moments coming up so if you're a greens fan hope you enjoy it! I'll be back in another two weeks with another chapter. Until then, ciao!