What is Buttercup's Plan?
by Tonifranz
(A Sequel to "The Date")
This is a sequel to "The Date." It seems that a lot of the readers were disappointed that Buttercup wasn't able to carry out her plan because Brick was able to outwit her. Well, I decided to make a story where she was able to carry out her plan.
Short Summary: Buttercup decided to "punish" Brick and Blossom for supposedly interfering with their siblings lives by making them take a little of their own medicine. She was able to have Bubbles help her, but what of the boys?
Long Summary: This tale happens directly after The Date, where Blossom attempts again to arrange something for Boomer and Bubbles, with Brick, but Brick would not bite. It would be the last straw for Buttercup, who decided to implement her plan to teach the redheads a lesson! Would Buttercup this time succeed in getting the best out of the two brilliant redheads? What of Boomer and Butch? And will she escape revenge?
Disclaimer: I don't own the Powerpuff Girls or their characters. The Powerpuff Girls are owned by Craig McCracken and Cartoon Network. I only own my own characters, the most prominent of which is Dr Edwards.
Chapter 4
Delays, Delays, and More Delays
The City of Townsville…
"We have hit the jackpot!" Buttercup whispered loudly and happily to Bubbles.
"So, do we carry him back home and tie him up there, or do we tie him up here and carry him home afterwards?" asked Bubbles, who looked at a sleeping Brick.
"I think we better tie him up here. He might wake when we carry him back, and I don't like to imagine how he'll react if he's free!" Buttercup explained.
"Okay! So what do you want me to do with him?" asked Bubbles.
"Just try to turn him over on his stomach without waking him and try pulling his arms behind him. I'll do the ropework," Buttercup instructed.
Bubbles gave Buttercup the OK sign before carefully turning Brick. Brick grunted and groaned and yawned, but he didn't wake. Once he was on his stomach, he involuntarily adjusted his sleeping position to a more comfortable one. Bubbles carefully pulled his hands behind him, and she did it so delicately that Brick didn't stir at all.
Buttercup then proceeded to get some length of rope from Bubbles' backpack, and tied them up tightly. She soon followed by strapping on an anti-gravity belt on him, a special kind of goggles, and stuffed a white rag into his mouth and a piece of hankerchief tied over his mouth to hold it in place. She then tied his ankles together. And through all that, he didn't as much give an indication of waking up.
"Boy, he's really out of it," Bubbles commented.
"Good thing. It would be very hard to take him down awake," Buttercup said she slung him over her shoulder. "Let's go home!"
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Meanwhile…
Blossom was sitting at the sofa, looking at the morning cartoons, but not really watching. She was thinking of how to escape. She tried wiggling out of the ropes, but Buttercup had tied them too well. 'And only Dr. Edwards has the device that can cut these ropes,' Blossom thought. 'Now I am here alone. The Professor's at work, Buttercup and Bubbles are now trying to catch Brick, and the boys are in their home. What to do? I think I'll give Buttercup a run for her money. I won't just lie here to find out whatever she had planned for me, but how? I know! I'll hide somewhere in the house. Buttercup will think I escaped from the ropes and gone somewhere out, and will go on a wild goose-chase!'
She started by hopping off the couch to her feet, then started hopping towards the stairs. It was awkward to say the least, but Blossom had done this before, and reached the bottom of the stairs without tripping or falling. She then hopped up the stairs. She looked around, and went to their room, hopping all the way.
'Darn! It's closed! Now how am going to open it?' Blossom thought. She leaned against the door, and to her surprise, it opened. 'Well I'll be! It wasn't closed at all.'
Just then, she heard her sisters arrive.
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"Hey Blossom, we got Brick!" she heard Buttercup shout. "Now what is it you're saying about us not catching him?"
"Yeah Blossom! Blossom?" Bubbles asked in bewilderment. "Where's Blossom?"
'Great!' Blossom thought upstairs. They have just found out I'm missing!' Thinking quickly, she quickly lay on the floor, and rolled herself under the bed. 'Hope they don't look for me here!'
"Where's Blossom?" asked Bubbles again as both she and Buttercup looked at the empty couch. "Do you think she could have escaped?"
"Well duh!" Buttercup said as she lay the still sleeping Brick on the couch. "She's out of our clutches! But she won't be for long."
"Blossom, where are you?" shouted Bubbles.
"She couldn't have gone far," Buttercup remarked. "I mean she is tied-up and all and she can't move much."
"Maybe she got some kind of knife or scissors or something and cut off the ropes? Oh wait. She can't do that because those ropes are stronger than duranium! Silly me!" Bubbles suggested. "Maybe someone arrived and untied Blossom? Like Robyn?"
"Nah, nobody but me can undo those knots! Even you can't do it!"
"Really? I don't think so! Anybody could undo it!" Bubbles asserted. "Maybe your knots suck and she was able to free herself?"
"Hey, I resent that! Okay, since you challenged my abilities, I dare you to untie Brick right now!"
"We'll see," Bubbles said as she began untying Brick's feet. But it was harder than before because Buttercup's knots were too complicated. After a few minutes of trying, she gave up.
"I give up," Bubbles said. "I think we better search the house for her."
"Way ahead of you Bubbles," Buttercup said. "I'll search the basement and this floor, you search upstairs."
Bubbles just nodded as both sisters went to find their missing sister.
After a few minutes, they still haven't found her. That's because they looked everywhere, but Bubbles simply forgot to look under the bed of their room because she thinks Blossom was too smart to hide under such an obvious place, or was she just careless?
Anyway, ten minutes later, they went back to the living room in front of the sofa to discuss matters. "So what do we do now? What if someone, like Mojo, bust into our house and took Blossom away? After all, she can't do anything about it, because, you know, we tied her up and left her all alone?"
Buttercup got worried by Bubbles' words but tried to show a brave face. "Don't be paranoid. Mojo doesn't want a death wish, now does he? Besides, what can he do to Blossom? Tickle her to death? We're practically invincible after our last great adventure!"
She then had an idea.
"Now maybe you're right. Come on, maybe she did escape those ropes and knots and went out. Now where could she have possibly gone? Where else than the boys' house? So let's go out there and find Blossom!" she shouted very loudly that her words and voice rang throughout the house.
"Did you have to shout it out?" asked Bubbles.
"Well, sorry about that," Buttercup apologized, before wheezing off. Bubbles followed her.
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Blossom had been giggling and laughing all the while under the bed. She felt Bubbles enter their room but she didn't find her. She heard Buttercup shout out that they would be looking for her outside. 'Ha, my plan worked. Now they'll be on a wild goose-chase! Now I wonder if they really got Brick.' She tried shouting, but the sound was so faint she barely even heard her own voice. 'Ugh! This wretched gag! I think I should go down and see for myself, but what if they return? Nah, they'll be all over town looking for me, worried sick that something happened to me. Serves them right for tying me up and gagging me!' So her curiosity overcame her caution, and she rolled out from under bed, and with difficulty, stood up. She then began hopping out the door and into the corridor. She carefully navigated the stairs, careful so she wouldn't go tumbling down, then hopped to the couch.
And she saw Brick, still asleep, trussed up like she was. 'So that's how they got him. He was asleep! Either that or they chloroformed him or something. But what were his brothers doing? Why the heck did they just let him be taken? Hm, maybe they're into this to, like Buttercup and Bubbles? Oh well, time to wake him up. Maybe we can find a way to get out of this predicament together. She tried shouting at his ear, but her gag made it impossible. She then let herself fall to Brick, but it didn't wake him either. 'Wow! He's really out cold!'
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Meanwhile…
Buttercup and Bubbles were halfway to Dr. Edwards' house when Buttercup halted.
"What's the hold up?" asked Bubbles.
"If my suspicions are correct, we'll find Blossom in the living room with Brick," Buttercup said.
"Huh? But I thought—"
"It was just a ruse. Blossom had some good hiding place. How she got there even while tied-up I had no idea, but I don't want to look at every nook and cranny of the house for it. So I decided to lure Blossom out. That's the reason I shouted, so she can hear me loud and clear and think that we're looking outside. After that, she'll let her guard down and try to look for Brick," Buttercup explained.
"Are you sure Buttercup?" asked Bubbles.
"No. For all we know, she is on some godforsaken place at the clutches of some vile villain! But let's go check anyway. If we don't find her back, then we'll really worry!" Buttercup said before she zoomed back towards home.
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A few minutes later.
"Ha, thought you could get away from us, Blossom?" Buttercup triumphantly said as both she and Bubbles suddenly arrived to the consternation of the pink puff. She took Blossom and placed her on the couch, put Brick in a sitting position, and tied them back to back.
"Now all we have to do to implement my plan is to wake Brick! Let the fun begin!" she said as she began the process of waking the ruff leader up.
"HEY BRICK, WAKE UP!" she shouted at Brick's ear.
Brick's eyes suddenly popped open and glared angrily at Buttercup, but his eyelids dropped a few seconds later and again, fell asleep.
But it had irritated Blossom, since her ears were only a few inches from Brick's.
"Well, that didn't work too well," Bubbles commented. "Let me try something else."
Bubbles went to the refrigerator, got some ice cubes from the freezer. She then dropped it insider Brick's shirt. Brick immediately woke up, screamed under a gag, but after the ice melted and the cold subsided, he closed his eyes and again fell asleep.
"This will permanently wake him up!" Buttercup said, holding a needle and pricked him in the shoulder. It woke him up, but as soon as he woke up, sleepiness and weariness would set in and he would fall back asleep.
Blossom was both amused and irritated by it. Amused because she kept wondering how in the world could Brick go back to sleep again and again after all of it, and irritated because she was tied up with him and all his sudden movements moved her too.
Finally, Bubbles went and removed his gag. "Um, Brick, wake up!" she then shook him up until he woke, but with half-open eyes. "Are you really asleep or are you just pretending."
"Are you people blind? I stayed up all night and only slept at five in the morning and I woke at six thirty and again slept at eight-thirty this morning. Couldn't a guy get some rest for a couple of hours? Let me get some sleep and I promise I'll play with whatever game you're playing right now," Brick ranted before yawning and closing his eyes and sleeping.
"I think we better let him sleep," Bubbles suggested, feeling slightly guilty. "We don't like to get too far with this 'kidnapping' you know."
Buttercup only nodded. The TV was still on, so they switched the channel to cartoon network for Blossom to watch, while Bubbles and Buttercup went to their room to play with their toys while waiting for Brick to wake up. They left Brick tied up with Blossom, but didn't bother to gag him back.
And it was only nine in the morning.
Blossom was very uncomfortable. Brick was snoozing at her back, and alternately slumping forward, pulling her back, or slouching and leaning on her, pushing her back. A couple of times, he nearly caused both of them to fall off the sofa on the carpeted floor. He even snored. Blossom was irritated but there was nothing she could do. She tried sleeping, but she had a good night's rest the night before, so she wasn't tired or sleepy at all. 'Oh Buttercup and Bubbles are gonna pay when I get free!'
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Three hours later, at twelve noon…
Boomer and Butch had been swimming all morning, but they were hungry, and it was time for lunch.
"Well, we better wake Brick. I'm sure he can spare the sleep for lunch," Boomer said as both waded out of the lake. By now, the cold water had warmed up a bit, but both are proud to have swam for hours at a freezing lake.
They immediately dried themselves with the towels they brought and immediately put on their trousers and thick sweatshirts, because even if the sun was shining at noon, the wind was bitter cold. They went to the autumn forest, full of trees with red and yellow broadleaves, ready to fall at a moment's notice, the ground full of seeds ready to hibernate for the winter and of leaves that had already dropped. Several trees had shed most of its leaves, with the exception of several tall evergreens standing tall like skyscrapers among small office buildings. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon, not too hot, and not too cold, though the temperature definitely was leaning cold.
Then and there, there were large craters, most of it now covered with grass or fallen leaves, testaments to the training exercises they conducted, not to mention two vicious fights with the girls, one when they were still enemies, and one more when they no longer were. There were many dead trees, uprooted during the fights. They were witnesses to the fact, that though they had reconciled to each other's existence and are now allies, they would not hesitate to take the opportunity to bash and smash each other silly for things both petty and great. They still tried to gain advantage over each other, and they would not hesitate to use some tactics like forcing a date on an unwilling sibling for completely selfish reasons, or of outright kidnappings for purposes of teaching a lesson. And even the boy-girl lines were not clearly drawn, as sometimes Brick and Blossom would team up, or Blossom and Buttercup would be on opposite sides, as the incident of this story showed. But after it all, they were usually no hard feelings as both sides understood that they could dish out what they have received, and even those on the receiving end admitted all of this was fun.
It was a large forest, and both brothers were proud of the fact that a large chunk of it, plus the lake, was owned by their father, and they knew that one day, all of it would be theirs too. It was their family playground, and they had lots of fun in it ever since Dr. Edwards recreated them months ago by accident. But now, their job was to find and to look for their brother, Brick.
It was a large forest, and any human scouting party would take days to scour the entire length and breath of the property of Dr. Edwards. But Butch and Boomer were no ordinary six-year-old kids. They, like Brick and the Powerpuff Girls, had superpowers, were superfast and super strong, and were more mature than most twelve- year-old kids, and were more intelligent, in book smarts at least, than the average high school student, though some of them could be quite naïve. Yet that hasn't robbed them of a childish passion for playing, and they frequently acted their age when they're having fun. And they had the prejudices of their age, like the boys being revolted by 'gross' stuff like kissing and dating and romance, and the girls, well, are not that grossed out by such matters—in fact, with the exception of Buttercup, like such topics and frequently tried their hand in matchmaking (the most famous of which was Ima Goodlady and the Professor, and the Professor and Miss Keane, none of which worked out too well).
Utilizing their super powers, they quickly finished the search in less than fifteen minutes, not finding the object of their search, William Bricker Edwards Jr.
"Maybe he woke up a while ago and went home to eat?" suggested Boomer.
"Yeah!" Butch agreed. "That totally makes sense. Let's go home."
Boomer nodded as both of them flew fast home.
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Meanwhile…
Brick yawned and tried to stretch, but found that he couldn't. He was still groggy, but he had his sleep, and was ready for another day. He quickly found that his hands were stuck behind his back, and soon realized that he was in the home of the Powerpuff Girls. He never had been to their home yet, but he recognized the family pictures hanging on the walls. He tried struggling, but he soon found out it was futile. Finally, he felt Blossom's body press against his arms and back, then realized that not only was he tied up, but he was tied up with Blossom. He immediately was filled with disgust, or was it?
"What happened?" he finally asked.
"Mmmppphhhhh!" Blossom replied.
"Great, you're gagged," Brick replied, then shouted, "Oh well, Bubbles, Buttercup, I'm hungry, when are we going to eat?"
'What? After waking up tied-up and finding you've been kidnapped, the first thing you ask is for food?' Blossom thought.
Buttercup and Bubbles hastily went down when they heard Brick shout. "Okay, so my dream that I was kidnapped while sleeping in the forest by you two wasn't a dream. Now I'm hungry. Aren't you going to untie us and let us eat, or if you don't want to remove us from this ropes, at least feed us? You wouldn't want us to starve, now would you?" As if on cue, Brick's stomach growled loudly.
"Hey, wait a minute, you're not the boss here! We'll teach you a lesson first!" Buttercup declared.
"Um Buttercup, hate to disagree with you, but I think we better have lunch. It's time for lunch anyway!" Bubbles suggested.
"But I want to implement my plan on them!"
"Oh Buttercup, you've been wanting to implement your plan for a week now! A few more hours wouldn't hurt, you know. Besides, we don't want our hostages hungry when we do whatever it is you're planning to do with them?" Bubbles replied.
"No. They will be punished now!" Buttercup asserted.
"Yes, but I insist they have lunch first. If you don't agree, I'll switch sides!" Bubbles threatened.
"You wouldn't dare!" Buttercup said.
"Only if you insist on punishing them before lunch!"
'What the heck! It won't make any difference if they were punished now or later. At least it isn't worth Bubbles switching sides over!' So Buttercup gave in. "Okay, let's eat have lunch first. I'm also famished.'
Buttercup then went to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Bubbles then removed Blossom's gag then followed her sister to the kitchen.
"I don't believe it! How were they able to capture you?"
"Well, I was asleep in the forest alone. I never thought they had the audacity to actually kidnap me in my own backyard, but I guess they did, and here I am!"
"Ha! I thought you were gassed or something they way you slept!"
"That's the last time I'm going to read those World War II books you lent me all night and sleep in five in the morning," Brick said. "Now if you keep still, maybe we can loosen these ropes around us and escape?"
"You obviously haven't been tied-up by Buttercup before," Blossom said. "Don't even try. You'd only tire yourself out. Believe me, I've been trying to get out of this since early morning, and I haven't even made the ropes loose at all."
"I guess you're right," Brick said.
Blossom and Brick engaged in small talk, frequently trying to insult and tease each other like they always do while Buttercup and Bubbles prepared their lunch. It took them an hour to make a suitable lunch. They put Blossom and Brick in separate chairs, where Bubbles fed Brick while Buttercup fed Blossom.
It was one thirty in the afternoon when they finished their lunch. Blossom was less than satisfied with their cooking, and promptly criticized them for their supposedly poor culinary skills. Brick whined about having eaten too little for lunch, even though he was fed more than twice what Buttercup, Bubbles and Blossom ate combined. This only managed to further aggravate Buttercup and caused Bubbles to giggle at the two.
After lunch, they put Blossom and Brick back into the living room sofa where they tied them back to back again, and reggaged them. Then they started cleaning the kitchen, which because of the huge mess they made while cooking and eating, took more than one and a half hour. As for Brick and Blossom, they tried to escape, but all their attempts failed and did nothing more than tire them out.
It was three o'clock when they finally done all their chores. "Whew! At least that's done. We still have three hours to do my plan!"
"Okay, but what's your plan?" asked Bubbles. "You still haven't told me what it is."
"Well, okay, here is my plan," and for the next several minutes, she whispered the plans to Bubbles, whose eyes widened and she just nodded.
"That's brilliant, Buttercup, simple but brilliant!" she said. "That'll teach those two a lesson. But do they really need to be taught a lesson? I mean they did force me and Boomer into a date, but Boomer and I enjoyed it, so—"
"Bubbles, if we let them get away with this, then they'll think they can run our lives any way they want to! It's the principle of the matter, Bubbles!"
"Um, okay," Bubbles said, still unsure, but thinking it would be fun.
"Not let's get on with my plan!" Buttercup said.
"Oh boy, this would be fun!" Bubbles said. "I just hope Blossom and Brick won't be too mad at us after this!"
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Meanwhile…
"Hey Dad, has Brick come home yet?" asked Boomer to Dr. Edwards. Dr. Edwards, who had possibly the worst cooking skills of all of Townsville, had as usual ordered pizza from town, this time ordering forty boxes, as he knew his sons had bottomless pits as stomachs.
"Well, I thought he was with you," his father commented.
"Well, we thought to. He went to the forest alone to do something, but he never came back, and he was missing since then," Butch explained. "We thought he had gone home earlier, but I guess not."
"He's probably at the Utonium's house," Dr. Edwards said. "He'll be back by six."
Boomer looked at his father. "How'd you know?"
"Well, Buttercup and Bubbles went by this morning, right after you went for that swim. I said hi and asked what they were doing. They said they were going to kidnap Brick, I said have fun and bring him home by six, and thought nothing more of it. I guess they were actually serious. Oh well, I know they're just playing and won't do anything bad to Brick, so there's nothing to worry about."
Butch and Boomer just looked at each other, and laughed at their brother's predicament.
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After lunch, at about one in the afternoon…
"So, are we going to make any rescue attempt on Brick?" asked Boomer.
"Nah. Not now. Probably in two hours, about three o'clock."
"But why not now?"
"It wouldn't make any difference if we save him now or in two hours," Butch said, who was not really in a hurry. "Besides, I still need to plan what we'll do. Besides, we still have much time so I suggest we take our time."
"Well, okay then, but three o'clock, we'll go," Boomer said, looking for assurance.
"Don't fret about it!" Butch said as both started to play the playstation and temporarily forgetting about their brother for at least the next two hours.
Author Notes
This fic, along with The Date, happens between Chapter 21 (The Triumph of the Ruff Puff Alliance), and Chapter 22 (Brick's Challenge) of this story, Allies and Rivals II: Commander and the Leader. The kids already had rescued Prof Utonium and Dr Edwards from Ckracknow's first island. Ckracknow himself escaped, got some financing from Mr Morebucks, and unknown to the kids, was creating the five clones that will attack Citiesville. Blossom's still the undisputed leader of the Ruff Puff Alliance, but Brick was plotting to grab it from the pink puff leader.
To Libertygirl0115, well, Brick didn't think Buttercup and Bubbles would actually go after him in the forest. And well, he didn't escape. As for Boomer and Butch, we'll see.
To Hairy Gregory, thanks. Well, Blossom is a headstrong girl who wouldn't easily be bossed or forced to do anything, and Brick's the same. As for tickling, we'll just see, won't we?
As for the Prof, well, all I can say is his at work, while Dr. Edwards, who is after all the head of his own company, took a day off. And I think Dr. Edwards really thinks that what the girls did is just some sort of things kids do.
To DL23400, yup, they caught both of them.
To Ud the Imp, yup, Buttercup had a lot of luck lately. Sorry for keeping you in the dark of what Buttercup's plan really is, but I promise you, you'll find out in the next chapter.
To Bubblebean022, I agree, she isn't a better leader than either Blossom or Brick.
To Kats02980416, well, now you see it. As for the plan, well, you just have to wait for the next chapter.
To BrYtt BRatt, yup! Buttercup's been lucky. Now we'll see if her luck would hold in the next chapter.
Well, as for pure luck, it's not really the case. I mean she took the risk, didn't she? Besides, Buttercup did a great job flushing Blossom out of her hiding place this chapter.
We'll see how good she really is in the next chapter.
To D.H. Tiger, well, you'll see in the next chapters. That is, if, Brick's brothers won't ruin it for Buttercup again.
To Grochek, and thanks for reviewing. Yup, all they have to do is bring him to the house and they succeeded without alerting his brothers and waking Brick up. Well, they have actually no reason to help Buttercup and Bubbles, and plenty of reasons to help Brick.
To Dooly, Well, capturing them is only a step to enable Buttercup to execute her plan, but it's not actually her plan.
To !, thanks.