The Dance
by Tonifranz
This fic happens after What is Buttercup's Plan. But reading that fic and my other fics is not necessary for understanding or enjoying this fic. There are references to my other fics, notably Allies and Rivals and Allies and Rivals II. However, the only thing that needs to be understood in this was that a certain Dr William Edwards was the one who recreated the Rowdyruff Boys, not Him, after they were first destroyed by the girls by being kissed, and under his guidance, they were not evil anymore. And they were in alliance with the girls, called the Ruff Puff Alliance, with Blossom as leader.
Short Summary: Pokey Oakes elementary has an annual school dance for its first graders. Sounds good. The catch is, the girls are the one who invite the boys, and the boys, according to school rules, can't refuse the girl who first asked them.
Long Summary: This is a story about a Sadie Hawkins Dance, where the girls ask the boys, and the boy has to take the first girl to ask him to the dance, or else! The boys conjure ways to get out from being asked, and going to the dance, while the girls, as a result of a combination of events, were left with only the Rowdyruffs to ask. Will the Rowdyruff Boys escape from the terrors of the dance? Or will the Powerpuff Girls manage to get the boys to the Dance? And what does Princess Morebucks have to do with all of this?
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 3
The Road Trip
On a road hundreds of miles from Townsville, on Wednesday morning during autumn, a car containing three boys with superpowers and their father was passing through. It was seven in the morning.
The boys just woke up.
"Where are we?" asked Boomer, after making a big yawn. He looked at the window, and saw miles and miles of flat plain with thin vegetation.
"Well, we're not in Townsville," Brick, who was in the front seat besides Dr. Edwards, said.
"Where are we then?" asked Butch.
"We're in the open country, in the flat prairies," said Dr. Edwards said. "We're in the Great American Plain!"
"Oh," Boomer said. "Dad, I'm hungry. When, and where, are we going to eat?"
"Oh there's a diner only a few miles from here. We can eat there when we arrive in about an hour or so ago," said Dr. Edwards.
They continued on smoothly until the car suddenly came to a halt.
"Huh? What's going on?" asked Boomer.
"Traffic," said Dr. Edwards.
When the boys looked, indeed, there was a long line of vehicles in front of them, moving at a snail's pace. "What the hell? How the fck do you get such heavy traffic in an isolated country road?" the doctor ranted.
"Dad, want us to fly over there and see what's really going on?" asked Brick.
"No. Don't use your powers," said Dr. Edwards. "Or if you do use it, make sure nobody notices."
"Ha? Why?" asked Butch.
"Simple. None of these people know any of you, and they might not have the same reaction seeing you as the people of Townsville," explained Dr. Edwards. "Besides, I don't want them to know that one of the richest men in Townsville is driving here. They might get some ideas, and you know what might happen."
"Oh I see," said Boomer.
"Okay, we're in the country, so don't tell anybody who you are. If somebody asks you the name of your father, it's Bill Edwards, and if anybody asks your names, Brick, you'll be Billy, Boomer, you'd be Jimmy, while Butch would by Willie," said Dr. Edwards.
"But Dad, I thought you hated that name?" asked Brick.
"I do. I hate it! But since Bill is the most common nickname for William, then I won't be strictly lying if I'm caught using it. Besides, since everyone we know in both Citiesville and Townsville knows me as William, and you as Brick, Boomer and Butch, then nobody would think of Dr. William K. Edwards when they'll hear of Bill Edwards," said Dr. Edwards. "And we all know your full names. Those other names are just nicknames of your real names. Don't worry! I'd still call you Brick, Boomer and Butch while we're alone."
"Wow! That is so cool, Dad!" said Brick. "Now Dad, can we go and look what's the hold-up?"
"Okay. But remember, right now, you're just ordinary kids, not superpowered ones. So if you use your powers, make sure no one notices," instructed Dr. Edwards.
"We'll do," said Boomer.
The three boys went out of a car, and started walking forward. Suddenly, when they were sure no one was looking, they ran very fast—so fast that the people around did not see them pass by.
They finally arrived at the cause of the congested traffic. There was a twenty-vehicle pileup, caused by an intoxicated truck driver. The boys immediately stopped and saw some people arguing.
"Hey mister, what happened?" asked Boomer to a bystander.
"Aw, aren't you a cute little boy," said the man, patting Boomer on the head. "Well, that driver over there, the big one in the red blazer shouting at the other men? He's the one who's responsible for the pile-up. He was drunk while he was driving, and he hit all those cars right there."
"What kind of a driver are you? Your license should be flushed in a toilet!" shouted one of the angry drivers.
"Shut up!" the truck driver retorted. "You should have swerved, you blind asshole!"
"Fck you, you bastard!" shouted another driver. "You were driving drunk!"
"Yeah! Screw you, you overweighed doofus!" shouted another one.
"It's your fault," shouted another one.
"So this is the reason for the hold-up," said Brick. "It can't be good, since it will make it easier for the girls to find us."
"Don't worry," Boomer said, "I'll take care of it!"
Then, in full view of the man whom they just talked to, but to no one else, Boomer made an energy ball the size of his fist, and threw it on the pile-up. A few seconds and a powerful explosion later, the pile-up was gone.
All the attention went to the explosion. "What happened?" one of them, bewildered, asked.
"How the hell would I know?" asked one driver.
"Maybe the gasoline caught fire," suggested the stunned truck driver.
"No, it's that blond kid! It's him," pointed the man, whom the Rowdyruff Boys just talked with, to Boomer.
Suddenly, Boomer cried like the little boy he was, and pointed at the man. "That man is mean!" he cried. "He's saying bad things about me!"
"What? Are you crazy? Why the hell are you doing? Why are you blaming the little boy?" another bystander asked.
"It's his fault!" the man insisted, pointing to Boomer.
"Stop it, Mister! You lie! My brother wouldn't do such things! Look, you're not nice! He made my brother cry!" Brick said with a look of hurt in his eyes and an innocent look on his face.
"That kid! He made an energy ball and threw it into the pile," said the man.
Some onlookers put circled their fingers on their heads, thinking that the man was crazy.
"Wah! He's blaming me again!" Boomer said, making an expression of a little boy unfairly accused, jumping up and down, fake tears coming from his eyes, and pointing an accusing finger at the man who just accused him.
"That man is mean! He threw a match into some gas leading from the pile-up! And then it blew up, then tried blaming Boomer, um, I mean, Jimmy, my brother!" Butch accused.
"They're liars!" the man said. "They made a laser ball from their hands, like in the cartoons, and threw it to the pile-up!"
The crowd looked at the six-year-old boys, looking hurt, sad, innocent, while the man looked desperate. Plus, the boys were much more believable than the man who seemed to be spewing tales about laser balls.
"Sure there are laser balls, just like Martians rule the earth, Elvis Presley is alive, the Soviet Union still exists, and you're sane!" one driver exclaimed.
"Looks like some asylum is missing its patient," said another.
"Why you? How dare you hurt those little boys' feelings!" said one woman, and hit him with her purse.
"Yeah! You should be ashamed," another man said and punched him in the stomach. Soon, the others joined and beat the living hell out of the man.
"Go get the bad little man!" Boomer said childishly.
The explosion cleared the road, and traffic again was smooth. A minute later, Dr. Edwards' car arrived at the scene and stopped.
"What's going on here, sons?" asked the doctor.
"Those three boys are yours? Oh you see that man? He said that your boys have superpowers. Between you and me, I think he's lost his marbles," said a bystander. "Frankly, I think he's been watching too many cartoons! Children doing laser blasts! Ha! That's rich! What's next? Them stopping bullets with their hands? Or them being able to fly?" He then laughed.
Dr. Edwards feigned laughter. "Ridiculous! Well, we better be going! We're in a hurry!"
"Wait! I just want to know your names, you know, so if the sheriff got wind of this, we can tell who the boys are?"
"Well, if you want to know, the name is Bill Edwards, and my boys here are Billy, Jimmy, and Willie! Good day!"
At that, Dr. Edwards drove off. Then the kids dropped their little kids act. "Ha, that was so funny! And so good! Boy, Boomer, you could be an actor!"
"So what did happen?" asked their father.
The boys then told their father, and after hearing it, the forty-year-old man was laughing. "That was so smooth," said their father. "That man should have kept his mouth shut!" His tone then became sterner. "Next time, do a better job of hiding your powers."
"Yes Dad," said the boys as they drove on.
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One hour later, they arrived at a local diner in the edge of a small town, Burndale.
The diner is a medium-sized establishment, two storeys high, with a decent-sized number of customers. Dr. Edwards parked his car nearby, and he and his sons stepped out. However, a sign outside caught their attention. It read:
ATTENTION. This restaurant is making an offer. Any group of persons up to ten will be offered unlimited food. If they were able to eat all the food offered by the restaurant without rising from the table, then the food will be free. However, if the said group failed to eat all the food, then they would have to pay the restaurant for all the food they ate.
"Interesting," Dr. Edwards said. "Um, excuse me, but what's this all about?" he asked a customer just leaving.
"Don't fall for it, sir! I tell you, do not! Nobody can eat all the food they can serve, even if ten fat gluttons were the one to take up the challenge! It's a trick, sir, I tell you!" said the customer. "I just come here for a regular meal. But whatever you do, don't take up the offer
"Well, do you boys think you can eat all they can offer?" asked Dr. Edwards when the customer left.
"Well, yeah! I'm hungry, so that restaurant better be prepared!" Boomer said.
"I'm with Boomer. I can eat whatever food they bring out," Brick said.
"Yeah! Our stomachs are bottomless pits!" Butch added.
"Very well," Dr. Edwards said. They then entered the restaurant. "Hello," he asked the waiter, "I wanted to take up the offer of the advertisement on the sign outside, you know, where you eat all the food you can offer."
At that, all the people at the restaurant looked at them, whispering among themselves.
"Are you absolutely sure, sir?" asked the waiter.
"Never have I been surer in my forty years," said Dr. Edwards.
"Of course. I'll just call the owner to inform him of another taker of the offer," said the waiter.
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A minute later…
The Proprietor of the restaurant, a big tall man with red hair, came down from his office to meet with the four.
"Hi. I'm James Marvin, proprietor of this restaurant," he said shaking the doctor's hand. "I'm glad you're taking my offer."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Marvin," said the doctor.
"And your name is?"
"Bill Edwards," said Dr. Edwards. "And this is my sons, Billy, Jimmy, and Willie."
"Mr. Edwards, Scott here told me you wanted to take our offer. I just want to warn you that nobody, and no group of people, had ever eaten all that this restaurant had to offer, and those who tried and failed had to pay large bills amounting to thousands of dollars to pay for it all," said Mr. Marvin.
"So I've been told. But we can and we will," said Dr. Edwards. "And believe me, no matter how much we ate, if we fail, I can easily pay for it."
"Talk is all very well, Mr. Edwards. I want you to sign a form stating that you'd agree to pay if you and your boys fail?" the proprietor said. He then produced a document. "Please sign here."
"With pleasure," Dr. Edwards said, then signed using William instead of Bill, on the blank space.
'Sucker,' thought the proprietor. At once, he ordered a very large table to be filled with food and drinks. The food consists of an entire roasted pig, five beef steaks as large as a small table and three inches thick, a very large bowl of salad, innumerable desserts, and others.
Dr. Edwards and the boys then dug-in to the food. The doctor only took a modest amount of food, but the boys absolutely pigged-out. They ate so quickly and so fast that after fifteen minutes, the table was empty.
"Quick, get more food on that table," said the proprietor. "I'm not going to lose this one yet!"
"Yes sir, Mr. Marvin," said the waiters, and they began filling up the table again. But they soon found out that the boys could eat as much food as they can bring it to the table.
Two hours later, the food on the restaurant was starting to run out, as the boys gave no sign of letting up.
'How could those kids eat so much?' thought the proprietor as he stared with eyes wide open. "Hank, slaughter all those cattle at the back and cook them as fast as you can!"
"All of them sir?" drawled the young man. "But there are twenty of them there! Don't you think it would be too much?"
"No! At the rate those kids are doing, I'm going to lose my business!" said Mr. Marvin.
So the restaurant slaughtered the cattle and roasted it, but to the astonishment of the proprietor, the kids ate them all with no trouble at all. In desperation, he ordered all the chickens and livestock to be slaughtered and prepared, but the kids also ate it. He then got two elephants from the local zoo, but the kids ate it.
"I give up," said the Proprietor with a distraught face. "You ate all the food we could give."
"Well, I feel sorry for you. Could I have the document I just signed a while ago," said the Doctor.
Mr. Marvin gave it and the Dr. Edwards tore it to little pieces. "Oh here's a dollar for all your troubles. Ta ta!"
After that, he and the kids left the building.
Mr. Marvin looked at the dollar, and then cried. "I'm bankrupt!" he shouted as all his assets just vanished on the boys' stomachs.
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The boys and their father drove the rest of the afternoon, thoroughly enjoying it. At one stop, their father made Brick play poker with some men in a saloon, betting five thousand dollars, while Brick used his x-ray vision to see the hand of his opponents and win every game, bagging them twenty thousand in all. Then there was a brawl as several gamblers accused the family of cheating in which their father received a black eye before the kids knocked all them out while making it look to bystanders as if Dr. Edwards had done all of it by himself.
At another stop, they spotted a group of fanatical cult worshipers worshipping a statue of a small boar. While Dr. Edwards took an afternoon nap on his car, Butch went underground and emerged with a costume of a boar just below the statue, flying high to the amazed cultists, showed his powers by making a huge energy ball and exploding it, then announced that he was their god, and as such, ordered the worshippers to strip to their underwear and act like and sound like boars. The worshippers, who were amazed that their god made an appearance, soon were running and acting like pigs in their underwear. He soon used his sunball to escape cleanly. He and his brothers soon were laughing hard when Butch joined them and removed the boar skins from him.
Also, Dr. Edwards took off the main highway when he drove through a shortcut that quickly became more of a morass than a road. Several times, they were stuck in the mud, and the boys had to lift the car, and at one point, they accidentally drove off a cliff, and the boys needed to use their powers to prevent it from crashing. At one instance, the boys again had to use their powers to make a road, uprooting hundreds of trees in the process. A couple of times, the car had to be extracted from quicksand. Three times, the car had to drive through wheat fields and cornfields since the road ended several times, and the good doctor took note of their addresses so he can send them checks to pay for the damages. When they arrived in the next highway, the once shiny car was now a mess. The metal plate has now bumps on it. It was covered with mud and branches of trees were stuck in the bumper. Several parts of the windows had cracks—fortunately, none in the windshield. Yet amazingly, the tires were still good, while the car itself was running at top speed.
"I told you this shortcut will go somewhere," said Dr. Edwards. "It would slash several hours of driving time. As for the car, I could easily fix this up so she can look like it was still brand new, or if not, what's a couple of bucks for a new car?"
"That was fun!" said Boomer. "Even more fun than Butch pretending to be a god to that stupid cult!"
"Yeah! I never knew you could so much fun Dad! But where are we going?" asked Brick.
"To my cousin's farm, only a couple of hours left of driving. We should reach her by one in the morning if we continue our pace," said Dr. Edwards as he drove slowly away from the sunset.
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Meanwhile, it was noon in Townsville…
"Well, let's ask the Principal. Maybe he suspended the boys and required them to do some community project for the prank they did?" Blossom suggested as they met just above the Edwards home, since they didn't find anyone home.
"What? Nobody, not even the Principal, had figured out that the Rowdyruff Boys were responsible for that prank," said Buttercup.
"We don't know that," said Blossom. "Come on Bubbles, Buttercup, I won't lose that bet with Princess yet."
They went to school where they went to the Principal's office…
"Hello Girls," greeted Principal Albertson.
"Hi sir. Do you know where the boys are, since they're absent and all," asked Bubbles.
"Oh the boys? They're absent? Oh that's too bad. No I don't know where they are," said the Principal.
"Ha! They're going to be punished now for missing class!" said Buttercup in delight.
"No they're not going to be punished for it because they're legally excused," the Principal said.
"Huh? Why's that?" asked Blossom.
"Because the Mayor apparently gave them documents excusing them from school till Friday," said the Principal.
"Oh, is that so? Thanks anyway," said Blossom.
"You're welcome," said the Principal.
"Well thanks!" said Blossom as the three girls went to the Mayor's office.
"Hi Mayor," said Bubbles as they burst into the office. "Hi Ms. Bellum. Um, we want to know if the boys really had an excuse to be absent today until Friday?"
"Yes they have. The Mayor here signed it himself," said Ms. Bellum.
"Why?" asked Buttercup. "Didn't you know they just did it to get away from the Dance?"
"But they're so nice. And since they opened my pickle jar, and they asked so nice, how could I refuse?"
"What? You gave them an excuse for three days of school just for opening a pickle jar?" Buttercup shouted.
"But the pickle jar is too tight! And the pickle's so delicious!" said the Mayor, opening another jar pickles. "Um girls, could you open this jar of pickles for me."
"Um Mayor, you can't just give school excuses for opening a pickle jar," said Blossom. "Right Ms. Bellum?"
"I'm afraid he can, girls," said Ms. Bellum. "It's in the town charter."
"Ugh! I can't believe this! They're getting away from us!" Buttercup winced.
"Hey! Two can play this game," said Blossom. "Okay Mayor, we will open your pickle jar if you excuse us the rest of this day plus tomorrow and Friday."
"Girls, I don't think—" Ms. Bellum began.
"But Ms. Bellum, Mayor, it's only fair that you excuse us since you excused the boys," said Bubbles.
"Really! Oh goodie goodie!" the Mayor shouted in glee, as he began jumping and clapping his hand like a child. "I'm going to eat a pickle! I'm going to eat a pickle! I'm going to eat a pickle! I'm going to eat a pickle! Okay, I'll excuse you, if you open the pickle jar!"
Ms. Bellum just slapped her hand to her head dejectedly as she watched the Mayor's embarrassing display.
Buttercup promptly opened the pickle jar.
"Thanks," said the Mayor as he picked and ate the top pickle. He then absentmindedly signed a couple of papers excusing them from school for the rest of the week before resuming his pickle eating.
"Thanks," said Blossom as they flew out.
"Now what?" said Buttercup. "Where are we going to look for them?"
"Well, they're not home, and they're not at school," said Blossom. "Let's search the entire town! Let's split up and meet at our house at three if we still can't find them.
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Later at three…
"Find anything?" asked Bubbles. "I sure didn't!"
"Nope! There isn't any sign of them. Where the heck could they have been?" asked Buttercup. "I mean, they aren't home. They're absent from school! And we searched every place they could have been in Townsville—the park, the toy store, the dump, computer shop, the prison, the police station, and every friggin' place they could be—and still no boys!"
"Maybe they're at their father's, and doing some chores for their Dad?" suggested Blossom. "Let's ask Dr. Edwards."
"Well, there isn't any other place to look for, so okay, let's go!" said Buttercup, and they flew to Edtech Corp Inc.
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"Nope, Dr. Edwards isn't at work today. He took the next five days off," said Mr. Clark when the girls arrived at his office.
"What? Why?" asked Blossom.
"You know him. Several times he just disappears. He usually says he's taking a vacation, but nobody knows where he takes it, not even me. This isn't the first time he's done this, thought, but don't worry. He'll be back after six days, at Monday. He told me so by phone last night," said Mr. Clark.
"So you have any idea where he might go?" asked Buttercup. "I mean you have been with Dr. Edwards for the last couple of years, so you must some idea where he might be going."
"Well, he probably would drive across the country instead of taking a plane," said Mr. Clark. "Knowing him, he's probably headed for one of his relatives in the country, though I don't know who, since he's got at least got a dozen in the countryside."
"And he's got his boys?" asked Bubles.
"Yup! Dr. Edwards called me last night and told me he and his boys are going to wherever they are going, I think a farm, but I'm not so sure. Better ask someone else," said Mr. Clark. "Sorry girls, I can't tell you more."
"That's all right, sir, what you said is more than what we need," said Blossom as she and her sisters left the building with wide grins on their faces.
"Oh those boys are going to pay for trying to get away from us," Blossom said.
Author Thanks
This fic, along with The Date, and What is Buttercup's Plan? 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 Ud the Imp,ha, ha, hope you don't maim Aquilo Frost too much.
Well, from my experience, generally, little 6 year old boys don't like going to dances. Yup! For once, Princess plans worked!
Well, about the unoriginality, I'll accept it, but well, just read till the end! I guarantee you that the ending will be anything but conventional.
To Tones,yeah! Funny on how they made very elaborate plans to avoid something they even have no idea of.
To Hairy Gregory,yeah, but you are still a minority. I myself hated going to dances and such while I was a little boy. I'd rather watch TV, or explore the mountains and get dirty, than dress up and dance.
Well, at this rate, they won't need any tracking equipment, but having it sure wouldn't hurt.
Well, who knew that Princess can make plans that can work?
To Lynx Sarnage, that is a funny idea, LOL.
To BrYtt BRatt, yup, they were that desperate, and that smart.
Yup, if it weren't for Princess, the girls would not even bother to look for the boys.
Well, the hunt for the RRB's is afoot!
To PinkPuff514, yup, the boys made sure that they can't be asked by any girl in their school and in Townsville.
Yeah, she is such a little brat!
Well, right now, the boys are ahead, but we'll see if the girls can catch up.
To Divagurl277, thanks.
To Akum, it's okay.
To Liberygirl0115, thanks. Yup! The girls are really determined to beat Princess.
To Kim,well, we'll see if the girls can find the boys, or if the boys will let the girls ask them if they do! Well, good luck on your bio!
To Dooly,no, this isn't a typical romance story. In fact, it isn't even romance! It just looks that way, but it's not! And they pretty much did those detective work.
To John,well, read more to find out!