Author's Note: Getting close to home plate….It should be noted that I began to write this story before the premiere of "The Boys Are Back In Town." So, for those who may scrutinize some of the plot because of those new eps, keep in mind that this is set after the first appearance of the Rowdyruffs but not after the second appearance in the newer eps.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled chapter. :)

CHAPTER 21

Oh, dear god…so much…pink…

Pathie Zimbogous was on the brink of tossing the full extent of his rations. The blonde girl – whose name, he found out, was of the stoned-hippie variety – had dragged him all the way back to her "home," which now had a gaping hole through its core the size of Texas. That wasn't what induced his stomach trouble, however; this task was executed by the survivors' bedroom, a spacious quarter saturated in a feminine palette that would cause most grown men to run in unspeakable horror.

Why couldn't THIS room sustain damage? Why?! WHY?! the scout had thought nearly hysterically. Outside his mind, however, his body attempted to stay cool under the threats to his masculinity.

As he fought this internal battle, his eyes focused on the girl, Bubbles, as she was digging out numerous toys that were packed in a nearby closet. Every doll, plush, and miniature piece of furniture the blonde laid her hands on launched over her shoulder and crash-landed into an increasing pile of cotton and plastic.

Hmm…I must've gained a some trust, seeing that she did not bother to tie me to a chair, Pathie thought, But what could she possibly have in mind for me?

The next few moments proved to be a convenient answer. In a sudden burst of energy, Bubbles grabbed hold of Pathie and plopped him into a miniature chair. She grabbed a dozen or so dolls, placed those dolls onto miniature bleachers to the scout's left, and set up a podium (with a purple octopus plush on top) to Pathie's right. The rest of the dolls and plush were placed on the floor in front of the scout, as though they were a tiny crowd gathered for an important event.

Pathie watched the girl intently as she approached the back of the podium. Opening a small compartment, a peculiar hammer materialized into her right hand. She gripped one of the octopus' tentacles with that same hand. Then, she suddenly bellowed a proclamation, her voice suddenly raspy to impersonate a senior:

"The court is now in session!"

The hammer slammed into the podium, emitting an ironic squeak.

This…is different, Pathie thought.

**********


"Ugh…I think I died…all I see is blue…"

Billy the cameraman laid face-up on the pavement, his mind phasing in and out of consciousness.

"It would be nice to have something to squeeze…ah…"

His hands floated aimlessly around, making a futile attempt to sate his squeezing fetish.

"There is nothing to squeeze…maybe I'm in hell…"

"I'm going to send you to hell in five seconds if you don't snap out of it!"

If the sudden exclamation of Boris' voice did not snap the cameraman out of his stupor, the slapping of his cheek, accompanied by the violent shaking of his shoulders, certainly accomplished this feat. He yelped in shock, grabbing the hands that stirred his uncomfortable wake-up call.

"Boris, stop! I'm up, I'm up!" Billy wailed.

The fellow reporter ceased his actions. "It's about damn time! We barely survive a car crash, got our butts rescued from being squashed like a pancake, and now, when one of the most intense battles since Stalingrad is unfolding before us, NOW you decide to lay back on the job!"

Boris heaved a scarred news camera into Billy's arms. "Get that tape rolling before we miss our chance!"

The immediacy of the situation overloaded Billy's brain. "What? We were almost squashed? Where are the others? What battle?!" he sputtered, as he rushed to set up the camera while rising to stand with Boris.

Boris' answers shot out like bullets from a machinegun. "Yes, we were almost squashed, the girl and the prof and the squirrel are lying unconscious behind me, and the battle is RIGHT BEHIND YOU, you idiot!"

Billy unwittingly turned around to confirm this. Upon seeing the tentacle machination, which was whipping frantically at pink and green streaks of energy, tearing everything in sight in the process, the cameraman underwent a sudden surge of incontinence.

"Holy SHIT!" Billy cried, as both of his lower orifices soiled his tightie-whities.

**********

"I have already explained myself, Bubbles!"

"I'm not Bubbles, I'm Hippy the Rainbow Hippo, her la…la…those guys who point fingers at people and stuff! I'm cro…cro…cross-eggzamening! Now answer the question!"

"Groan…"

**********

"Buttercup, fall back! We have to draw it away from the city!"

Blossom's tomboyish sister, while normally rebellious of command, chose to follow orders this time around. The two superheroines flew backwards over the path of the avenue, firing intense, powerful beams of Chemical X from their eyes at the metal monstrosity as they did so. Though the machine's absorption of the energy rendered the attack useless, the true purpose of the beams was to act as bait. Tantalized by new sources of Chemical X, the robot immediately gave chase to the girls.

Their strategy working thus far, the girls broke off the path of the avenue and flew at high speed towards the direction of the expansive ocean. The machination easily matched that speed and stayed close to the girls like a moth to a light bulb, its tentacles just out of reach of them.

"Did you just hear someone curse? What a potty mouth!" Blossom yelled over the howling turbulence of the sisters' velocity.

"Forget that! What about the robot?! It's on us like flies on crap!" Buttercup yelled back.

"We have to destroy the robot's core. That's where the power source and the AI are most likely stored," Blossom shouted, "But it won't be easy! Since our eye beams won't work we have to use melee combat!"

"Oh, yeah, we'll get right to the core just as soon as we tear off the zillion tentacles that grow back like a Chia pet!" Buttercup yelled sarcastically.

Blossom, Buttercup, and the tentacle monstrosity were now miles away from the coastline, the deep blue of the sea stretching panoramically to the horizon.

"And I suppose you have a better idea?" Blossom rebutted.

"You betcha! Watch this!"

In mid-flight, the brunette turned her body like a globe, rotating until she was flying completely backwards, her velocity still matching her sister's. She held out one arm, pointing directly to the core of the robot pursuing them.

"Why pummel it when I can go straight through it like a bullet? This'll take it down in one blow!"

"Buttercup, wait!" Blossom tried to say, but it was too late. Defying laws of physics, the tomboy's velocity instantly about-faced. She screamed through the air for but a moment, expecting to land a decisive blow to the machine. However, instead of being a bullet to glass, Buttercup became the fly on the windshield. She pancaked against the metallic surface of the robot, the outline of her body engraved into it. Only the saving grace of her body's supernatural resilience prevented a gruesome end.

The robot halted in mid-air, its senses detecting a golden opportunity. It tentacles lunged into itself, intending to tear at the brunette for her Chemical X.

Blossom screamed her sister's name as she dove into the mass of tentacles, prying her sister out of harm's way before the clanging of metal rang in the air.

**********

"So," Hippy questioned, "You say you're from a distant planet?"

"Yes, Hippy," Pathie answered from the chair. He had long given up trying to talk directly to the puppeteer. "And as far as I know, Bubbles and her companions should be from the very same place. But you tell me that she was born HERE, on this remote rock."

"Uh…yeah," Hippy replied.

"How is that even possible? All the reports back home indicate that I should be the first of my kind to see this planet. I personally think she and her companions are actually refugees who slipped past the system, trying to hide from the horrific truth. But why are we talking about this? I thought I was on trial for hurting the girl."

"Well…um…" The hippo searched desperately for a good answer. "It's all really confusing to her!" she blurted out.

"I think we're going around the real problem, Hippy," Pathie said in an ominous tone, "What are you looking for, Hippy? Do you want to know everything that I've done wrong with my life, Hippy? Is that it? You want to hear all of the sins I have committed?"

The hippo suddenly dropped out of sight when the puppeteer asked, "What's a sin?"

The scout ground his teeth intensely before exclaiming to Bubbles: "What is the point of this trial?! You already know what happened. I've tried countless times to apologize to you. I offered full cooperation with whatever punishment you would concoct. I've even tried to go along with your lies! What more do you want?!"

Bubbles stared at Pathie, her feminine face riddled with bewilderment. The rainbow hippo fell down from her hands to the floor. Her emotion began to build up inside of her, glazing her eyes like a puppy's and slightly wobbling her lip.

Oh, no…Pathie thought, she's going to-!

A wail and a flood of guilt paralyzed his mind, as Bubbles fell to her knees and proceeded to cry her heart out.

"WAAAAH!" Bubbles sobbed, as she cried to the ceiling with each wail and then buried her face in her hands with each whimper, "Why are you so MEAN! I just wanted to be FAIR! WAAAAH!"

Bloody hell, Pathie cursed in his mind, I've done it again!

Pathie immediately pushed himself out of the chair he was sitting in. He promptly kneeled down in front of the crying girl, trying to find a way to console her.

"Please, Bubbles, don't cry," Pathie said in as soothing a voice as possible, "It pains me to see you cry."

Bubbles seemed to ignore his words, for she continued to sob in defiance of him. The action latched a heavy weight onto Pathie's heart.

"I understand what trials are for," the scout said, attempting to use reason, "But I am already guilty. I should be punished."

"But…But…" Bubbles choked, looking at Pathie with teary, blue eyes.

"But what?"

"You're…so nice…"

"You said I was mean a few minutes ago."

"You're that too…It's so hard to understand!"

Bubbles buried her face once more, as her words perplexed the scout to no end.

"I…I can't seem to decide anymore," Pathie uttered, "There are times, I admit, when I want to spit in the faces of girls. But other times…other times…"

The scout fell silent, unable to find the words that deciphered his elusive emotions. The absence of sound that followed tore at their souls. Bubbles' sobs quieted down as she looked up again into the scout's gray eyes.

"Bubbles…I want to ask a favor of you," Pathie finally spoke, his tone uneasy.

"A…favor?" Bubbles' voice was equally uneasy.

"Before you carry out your punishment, before I go back to my home and cure the pandemic and never get the chance to see you again…I want to embrace you."

"…Embrace me?"

"I want to hold you in my arms. I want to smell the scent of your golden hair. I want to feel the warmth of your breath and the softness of your flesh. If I can enjoy your beauty just once, I will not die a miserable malukian."

An epiphany charged into Bubbles' mind. It scattered her thoughts like a scrambled word puzzle, unable to make sense of it all. The albino who had inflicted so much pain had just confessed feelings of love. But only adults express such emotion. Pathie did not look like an adult. He is supposed to be a boy, and boys are supposed to HATE girls. They are supposed to be gross and they are supposed to be afraid of catching cooties. Surely, he was trying to pull a prank! But his face was solemn. There was no trace of a hidden, childish snicker.

He wanted her.

"Please?" Pathie asked desperately.

Once the confusion was out of her mind, Bubbles rose to her feet, looked at the scout square in the eyes, and stated what she managed to deduct from it all:

"You're crazy! Why'd you want to do that? You'd go boom!"

"What!?" Pathie exclaimed, rising to his feet as well, "What do you mean, I'd 'go boom?' We're talking about physical embracing, not pyrotechnics!"

"But Rowdyruffs go boom when girls kiss them!" Bubbles pointed out, using her arms to emphasize the explosion.

"Again with the bleedin Rowdyruffs!" Pathie exclaimed, whose annoyance of the "R" word rose up to his gray eyeballs, "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: WE ARE MALUKIANS. Not powerpuffs, not rowdyruffs, or any kind of "uff" in existence, MAL, U, KI, ANS! There is NO POSSIBLE WAY that I would explode by the mere touch of your lips, otherwise our race would already have a serious population shortage BEFORE the pandemic was ever a blip on the radar!"

Bubbles cocked her head. "Huh?"

The scout slapped his forehead. Jeez, he thought, I never met someone so clueless! If I never saw her face-to-face I'd think she was a child!

"Look, I know you're still trying to recover from the pain you've experienced, but the insanity has got to stop!" Pathie pleaded, "You still have so much you could do to live a good life in spite of these troubles, but it'll never happen if you don't face facts!"

Bubbles slightly backed away nervously. "B-b-but I'm not running away from anything!"

"Yes, you are, and I'll prove it!"

The scout stretched his arms out to the sides, as though he was being crucified. "I've hurt you, haven't I? I've caused you pain, haven't I? I've made you cry like a pathetic animal, bound you like a pathetic animal, tried to sedate you like a pathetic animal, and even nearly used you like a pathetic animal! I am the abomination to our species; I am the living avatar of the disease! To take my life would be justifiable on any conceivable moral scale! Why not carry out my execution with your kiss of death?!"

Bubbles' legs began to shake as the stress began to overwhelm her. "I…I don't know!"

"Do it, Bubbles. Set yourself-." Pathie suddenly cut himself off. A tense moment of silence filled the air, as his ears began to receive a disturbing sound…

'W-w-what are you doing?" Bubbles stammered, seeing the disturbed look on the scout's face, "What are you-?"

Suddenly, Bubbles picked up that sound. It was faint, weak, as though from a huge distance, but she recognized it all too well…It was the sound of pain and agony, mixed with cries for help. Cries for HER.

"BLOSSOM! BUTTERCUP! NO!"

Fueled by the most terrible of fears, Bubbles crashed through the bedroom windows of her broken home, flying off into the distance has her heart pounded madly, struggling to keep up with the adrenaline that surged through her.

"Bubbles, wait!" Pathie tried to say, but by the times the words came out the girl was already out of sight.

"Goddammit! I was so close! I was actually getting somewhere!" The scout cursed, as he furiously punched a hole in the pink wall.

"Hmph. By the looks of it, you were going nowhere."

"You again," Pathie spoke, though there was no one in the room but himself, "Haven't you tortured me enough?"

"You know you have problems when the truth is worse than fiction."

"I can't make anything out of it. She's an enigma to me."

"Most likely she feels the same way about you."

"There's nothing I can do! She's sealed off everything in an impenetrable shell. I can't get through to her."

"Perhaps not, but you haven't tried everything. You've been using just words so far. What about actions?"

"My actions have already done plenty. No thanks."

"Ah, but what about what is going on right now? You recognized the voices. You knew she would be distressed by the sound. And you probably also know what's awaiting her. Why should you give up on her and let her suffer the way her companions are suffering now?"

"What are you saying?"

"Instead of begging for punishment, you should try HELPING her."

Silence.

"Yes…I could help her…protect her…be her guardian," Pathie said, "If she feels safe around me…she'd be willing to stay by my side…"

"It's settled then. You better get going."

"Yes, I'd better."

Following Bubbles' lead, the scout flew out of the house and into the awaiting sky, listening to the cries of the desperate voices.

I shall make it up to you, Bubbles. I shall protect you with my life.