Author's Note: If the italics don't work this time, a lot of this chapter will be very confusing. Sorry. Just remember: PATHIE DOESN'T SPEAK ENGLISH!

Oy…if anyone knows how to keep the formatting when uploading an html file that was converted from a MSWord document, please tell me. It is driving me insane.

CHAPTER 23

In the realm of the subconscious, Blossom and Buttercup ran.

Why why wont you stay

They ran towards a flickering flame, surrounded by voices.

There you are are you all right

No no theyre dead my sisters are dead

They could see the silhouette of the Reaper blowing steadily on the flame.

It's all your fault why did you come here I hate you I hate you

Please calm down if you let me I can help them

How can help them they're dead

He was trying to extinguish the pitiful fire, so close it was to its demise.

I just checked them their hearts have stopped but only recently its not too late Ill revive them with shock plates

No no why do you hurt them even more leave them alone

Listen to me if you dont let me help you then theyll stay dead I wont let that come to pass as long as I am here

Blossom and Buttercup ran to stop the Reaper. They could not fly.

Cover their wounds before they lose too much blood ill charge up the plates

I dont have anything

Use your dress

But theres so much id have to use all of it and id be in my undies

My device can make new clothes now hurry

What about your clothes

Theyre soaked in blood and sweat we need dry cloth and this device wouldnt make enough in time

Dont look

I promise

The wind of Death increased to gusts. The flame held on, clinging to distant hope.

Okay the plates are charged are they bandaged

Yes but I had to use my undies too

You what holy crap here take this particle it will make new clothes but it will take some time it grows on you like a plant

Dont look

Im not really ok time for action 3…2…1…clear

The flame burst into an enormous tower of fire. Blossom and Buttercup stopped and watched as the Reaper was incinerated, his dark yet flaming form now spiraling into the abyss.

Clear

The tower transformed into a magnificent beam of light.

Is it working

I think so I'm starting to get a pulse from both maybe just one more…clear

The beam of light exploded, enveloping Blossom and Buttercup in luminescence. It morphed into a kaleidoscope of colors until it settled for blue with a dot of white.

They were alive.

**********

//ACTIVE THREAT =4

//EXERCISE STEALTH

**********

Whew…that was close.

Pathie Zimbogous, kneeling down between the two Malukian women lying unconscious on the battered pavement of the city street, removed the two makeshift shock plates from their chests. The items merged back into his MPSD like a child's clay. The scout wiped sweat from his brow, the heat of the afternoon sun rolling upon him, as he rose to his feet.

"Are they going to be ok now? Are they? Are they?" Bubbles asked frantically, her anxiety pushing her to get right into Pathie's face.

The scout blushed intensely. Because Bubbles had sacrificed all her clothes –save for the dainty black shoes she wore- in order to cease the small rivers of blood flowing from the flesh of her sisters, she was naked except for the black thong bikini the fabric particle had produced thus far. Eventually, her new, skin-tight clothing would cover everything from neck to foot. In the meantime, however, Pathie would be treated to a healthy dosage of naked flesh. It certainly didn't help his resolve to think less perversely.

"Um…well, I got a heartbeat back into them and you did a good job of bandaging them, so they should be ok now. They just need time to heal," The scout said, as he fought a futile battle to avoid staring through the skimpy fabric.

"You mean…they're alive?!" Bubbles asked ecstatically.

"Er…yes."

"Yay!"

Bubbles reacted to the good news with a very cutesy squeal of glee. Her explosion of Joy was so great that she couldn't help but wrap her arms around Pathie in a humongous hug. This sudden embrace felt more like a glomping than a hug to the scout, but he knew better than to act on a possible misconception. All he could do was pray that the blonde wouldn't notice the growing banana in his pocket and return the hug as social etiquette dictated.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Pathie!" The blonde girl said.

"You don't have to thank me," Pathie said nervously, crossing his legs, "I suppose we should take them to the house now?"

"Oh yeah!" Bubbles said, now releasing the hug as she pushed herself away, a slight color of pink in her cheeks.

Well, I guess she REALLY trusts me now, Pathie thought, who breathed a sigh of relief as he uncrossed his legs, I haven't been hugged like that since…ever. And she's awfully comfortable in that- dammit! Focus, Pathie, Focus! Great…that's not going away for awhile…

Bubbles, her blonde hair shining in the sun, kneeled down next to the brunette. She lifted her battered sister carefully over her shoulder, holding in spots where the damage was minimal.

"Can you carry Blossom for me please?" Bubbles asked Pathie.

"You mean the redhead?" Pathie asked in return.

"Yeah."

"Ok. I can do that."

Pathie walked over to Blossom, noting the chipped hair-clip and the torn hair bow that barely kept together the girl's hair. He kneeled down and picked her up by the legs and waist, holding her unconscious body with the gentlest of care.

Sigh…if only I could carry HER like this…

"Um…are you ok? Pathie? Pathie?"

"Huh?"

"You were daydreaming."

"Oh. Sorry about that. Well, I guess we should get going before- AAAACK!"

While Pathie was holding Blossom in his arms, neither he or the blonde had noticed that the redhead had regained consciousness. When her eyes slowly opened to reveal her mortal enemy holding her like a trophy, the leader's gut instinct screamed "attack!" Not one to disappoint, Blossom fulfilled this instinct by rocketing her hands to the base of Pathie's neck and squeezing as though the albino's head was a gigantic pimple that had to be obliterated in the name of good hygiene. This action knocked Pathie off his feet, sending his back crashing into the ground. It didn't help the situation much, for Blossom gained and took the golden opportunity to knee his stomach like a jackhammer and bang his head repeatedly against the pavement.

"What…have…you…done…with…Bubbles…you…fiend!" She growled, underlining her words with each headbang as Pathie cried out in protest- at least, as much as he could, considering that he was being choked to death.

Bubbles, at first, stood petrified, for the sudden reanimation of the half-dead redhead was like watching a zombie tunnel out of its grave. The cutesy blonde soon regained her senses, however. Forgetting that she held her other, equally battered sister on her shoulder, Bubbles dropped all excess weight to the asphalt and cried, "Blossom! STO-O-O-P!"

Blossom, not loosening her death-grip or breaking eye contact with Pathie, proclaimed: "Bubbles? You're ok! I'd hug you, but right now I got my hands full. I got the rowdyruff right where we want him!"

"Help!" Pathie cried weakly, growing faint from the lack of oxygen.

"No Blossom! Don't hurt him!" Bubbles squealed, rushing over to the redhead to pry her off the albino.

"What?! Are you crazy? This guy nearly killed us!" Blossom rebutted, glaring at Pathie with eyes of impending doom.

Bubbles began to pull at Blossom's long, damaged, reddish hair, inflicting serious pain. "If it wasn't for him you'd be dead, you big, fat, dumb, DOO-DOO BRAIN!"

"Ow! Ahhh! Stop it, Bubbles!" Blossom yelled, who released her grip on Pathie as she was dragged away from the scout. Pathie struggled back to his feet, but kept his distance as he breathed deeply into his lungs.

"Bubbles, what are you- GAH!"

Blossom, knocking Bubbles' hands out of her hair and rising to her feet, had turned around to give Bubbles a piece of her mind. However, her heart skipped a beat and her jaw dropped like a coyote with an anvil parachute when she saw the blonde dressed like a Playboy centerfold.

"Bubbles, what happened to you!? Why are you wearing THAT!?" Blossom cried.

"What's wrong with you two? Why are you speaking gibberish?" Pathie asked.

"And what the heck did he just say? It sounds like gibberish!" Blossom exclaimed, "Oh, shoot! HE'S LOOSE!"

"I got him!" A fourth voice proclaimed.

Just then, the scout yelped once again in pain. As if the sudden confusion and chaos wasn't enough, Buttercup the ferocious tomboy had emerged from her coma as well. Déjà vu occurred, with a slight twist. Instead of a simple chokehold, the brunette slammed the scout face-down in the pavement and sat on his back while grabbing hold of his legs and pulling them over her shoulders, effectively pinning the scout while bending his back like a pipe cleaner. The resulting pain could only be endured by the most skillful of yoga enthusiasts. Pathie wasn't one of them.

"Ya think you could take us out after that robot cleaned our clocks? Huh? Do ya? DO YA!? Ya thought wrong, buster! Now you're gonna get it!" Buttercup said angrily as Pathie's back began to pop.

For crying out loud! AAGH! Pathie thought.

"Buttercup! You're ok, t-! Robot?! I almost forgot! Bubbles, what happened with the robot?! Did you take it out? How did you do it?" Blossom said frenetically.

"Someone get this crazy woman off me!" Pathie yelled in-between moans of pain.

"Shut up, freak!" Buttercup yelled back, though she had no idea what Pathie just said.

Bubbles, who gasped at the sight of Buttercup's brutality, knocked Blossom to the side and ran up to the brunette, screaming "Stop! Stop! STO-O-O-OP!" The redhead, caught off-guard by the push, fell painfully on her bottom upon the pavement. She stared wide-eyed at the hysterical blonde, thoughts of madness seeping in.

Buttercup turned her head, not releasing her hold, to look at Bubbles. The resulting expression matched Blossom's earlier shock, right down to the length of the dropped jaw.

"Bubbles, what the heck are you wearing?! Did this freak steal your clothes or something?! The professor'll kill you if he saw you wearing THAT!"

Bubbles wailed in dismay. "Please, Buttercup, let go of him! Don't hurt him! Please!"

"You're crazy, Bubbles! He'll wallop us the first chance he gets!" Buttercup rebutted.

Blossom floated over to her sisters, saying "Buttercup's right. We have no reason to let him go. He already made it clear he wants to hurt us!"

"Bubbles! She's breaking my back!" Pathie cried.

"Bubbles, what's wrong with you? Why are you just standing there?" Blossom asked.

"Bubbles?"

"Bubbles!"

"BUBBLES!"

The blonde, overwhelmed by the questions, the prejudice, the pain, the suffering, the confusion, the emotions, and just about everything else, let out a long, ear-ringing scream of frustration, her nerves on the brink of snapping in twain. The sheer magnitude of the cry not only cracked every window in sight but also stole the voices of her sisters away. It died out into a wail of sadness as the poor, pigtailed girl began to sob. Her fabric grew slightly during this scene of sadness, transforming gradually from a bikini to a sports bra and spandex shorts.

"Why can't anyone listen to me!?" Bubbles cried, "The robot's gone because I beat it up! My clothes are gone because I had to stop your bleeding! And I don't want you hurting Pathie because WITHOUT HIM YOU'D BE DEAD!"

Bubbles collapsed to her knees, crying away as she buried her face in her lap. "I barely know what he's saying. I don't even know how I understand him. But I know now that he's not a bad guy. He can't be.

Ever since we started to talk, all he's done is help me. I also saw how sad he is. I saw him cry. I saw him offer himself to me. He wanted me to PUNISH him! He even wanted to die!

I'm not sure what he's here for…but I think he feels he owes me something…and now, with what he's done, I feel like I owe him something too. So please…don't hurt him anymore."

Blossom and Buttercup felt a heavy weight upon their hearts. The brunette no longer pulled on Pathie's legs, letting them drop to the ground.

"Bubbles…we had no idea…" Blossom said, trying to console her sister, "Buttercup…get off the Rowdyruff's back, will ya?"

Not having a rebuttal for once, Buttercup quietly floated off Pathie's back. The scout, memories of the pain still strong, carefully got to his feet. After a long, meaningful glance at Blossom and Buttercup, Pathie shuffled over to the sad girl on the ground and extended a hand.

"Please don't cry anymore, Bubbles. It pains me to see you cry."

**********

//THREAT(S) IN RANGE

set STH = 0

//ATTACK NOW!