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 6
Trapped Like a Rat
In the Farm of Mr. Fish…
Boomer, Brick, and Butch had just walked into their room with their father behind them. To their unpleasant surprise, they found out that Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup were at the same room, waiting for them like predators ready to pounce upon their prey.
The boys immediately went for the door, but their father stood in the way.
"And where do you think you're going?" asked a stern Dr. Edwards.
Desperate, the boys threw themselves at their father's feet.
"Please, let us go, please, please Dad," said a pleading Boomer, hugging and clutching his left leg. "Please let us go! I beg you! It's a matter of life and death! We have to get away from the girls right now!"
"Yeah, we promise to let our allowance be cut by three fourths, and wash your car everyday, and always clean the yard and the forest," said Brick, hugging his right leg. "Just let us get away from the girls."
"And please, if not, then tell the girls to get out of our room right away!" said Butch, looking at his father with pleading eyes.
"No!" said their father with finality. "I want to know what's really going on, and I need to have the girls here to really find out what's happening."
The girls burst in laughter upon seeing the boys whimpering before their father.
"Ha! The mighty Rowdyruff Boys indeed!" guffawed Buttercup.
"Oh boys, you're so cute trying to plead to your father, I never knew you could be so like us," said Bubbles with much sympathy but still laughing.
"Yup! And all that because of a dance," said Blossom.
"Girls, stop laughing! This is a serious matter!" bellowed Dr. Edwards. The three girls stopped laughing, though they tried mightily to contain it.
"Sons, I want the truth! Now! What is going on here?"
"Well Dad, we're really running and hiding from the girls," said Brick.
"Yeah, you see, in school, there was this dance, and the rules are that the girls have to invite the boys, and the boys who were asked can't refuse!" Butch explained.
"And you don't want to be asked?" asked Dr. Edwards.
"Yes! Please don't let those girls ask us, please?" Boomer pleaded. "They only want to punish us, to torture us!"
"For what?" asked a smiling Dr. Edwards, who was now trying to stifle his laughter.
The girls themselves were barely able to keep their laughter in tabs.
"For being boys!" said Brick. "Yeah, can you see the evil look on their faces," he said, pointing to the now laughing girls.
"Look, they're laughing evilly, contemplating how they'll make us suffer!" Boomer complained.
"Yeah, they'll make us sissies, and girlish like them," Butch added.
The boys were totally serious in making those statements.
"That's ridiculous!" said Blossom.
"So you're afraid of our cooties?" laughed Buttercup.
"Ah, so the 'force the boys to dance' Dance is what you're running away from!" said Dr. Edwards, chuckling.
"Yes Dad, that's what it we're running away from!" said Butch.
"Oh yes, I experienced the same thing when I was your age. You see, John Utonium and I hid in the forest of Townsville, but just the same, we were caught and forced to go to the dance. I think my mother actually helped those girls," Dr. Edwards rambled.
"So you'll actually help us?"
"No! If I had to endure that frightful dance, then my sons would too!" said Dr. Edwards to his dejected sons. "Okay girls, ask away!"
The girls then were no longer able to contain their laughter. Soon, they were rolling on the floor laughing at the boys' predicament. The boys were angry and embarrassed, but they don't want to do anything their father might disapprove of.
"Stop laughing, shut up!" Butch snapped, but that only made the girls laugh harder.
"Dad, make them stop!" Boomer whined.
But his father was laughing too hard to notice.
"Well, want to play a game of poker while they are still laughing? It might be a while," asked Brick, resigned to his fate. "Boomer, do you still have your deck?"
"Butch, do you have some chips we—"
But they were interrupted.
"Boys, in behalf of the Powerpuff Girls, will you take us girls to the dance?" asked Blossom.
"Yes," said Boomer sadly, "but only because the school says that we should."
"Do we have a choice?" asked Brick.
"No," replied Buttercup coldly.
"Well, you win. You know my answer, but you also know that I don't have any say in it right now," said Brick.
"This sucks! I don't like this! I refuse to go to the dance!" Butch said.
"Well, Butch, you can't refuse, and you have no say in the matter," Buttercup boasted. "Girls rule!"
"Ah, don't worry, boys, it isn't as bad as you think," said Bubbles. "It's really fun! You shouldn't have believed those rumors that compares it to Saturday Mornings without cartoons!"
Blossom then sounded more conciliatory at the dejected but still proud boys. "Look, we would have asked another boy—believe me, we didn't even think about you—but you were the only boys left, and we can't avoid the dance!"
"Why can't you?" asked Brick. "I mean, nobody is forcing you to go!"
"Well, it's a girl thing," said Blossom.
Bubbles giggled. "You wouldn't understand! We girls love dances!"
"Speak for yourself, Bubbles," Buttercup mumbled but nobody listened to her. "I don't like it too much either."
"Why don't you leave us alone and crawl back from whatever rock you came from," said Butch bitterly.
"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be in school?" asked Brick.
"Yeah! You girls are playing hooky! Hooky! Ha, ha, for someone who is supposed to be perfect in school, you missed it just to invite us!" Boomer added, pointing at them.
"Yeah! Run away! I hear the truant officer coming," taunted Butch. "You might get a spot in your oh so perfect record!"
"Wow! The Pot calling the Kettle names!" said an amused Blossom. "We're no more perfect in attendance than you are, considering, oh, you skipped three days of school!"
"Yeah, but we got an excuse from the Mayor!" said Brick.
"For doing something really great!" Butch added.
"Yeah, opening a pickle jar is really great," said Buttercup sarcastically.
"So that's why you got that permit," said Dr. Edwards. "You should have told the truth, boys."
"Sorry Dad," said Brick dejectedly.
"But they still played hooky!" accused Boomer.
"But what's good for the goose is good for the gander," said Blossom. "And ta-da! Our own permit!" she said as she took from her pocket a folded piece of paper.
Brick immediately took it and read it, and handed it to his father.
"As they say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" said Buttercup as she crowed. "And we got a vacation out of it too!"
"Well, since we are already here, and we're free till Saturday night, can we stay here?" asked Bubbles.
"Well, okay. I'll call the Professor and I'm sure he'll let you stay," said Dr. Edwards.
The grimace on the boys' face became even deeper. "But Dad! You can't—"
"No buts! If they want to stay, and the Professor gives permission, why not? Besides, you're allies, right?"
The boys only pouted.
"Ah boys, cheer-up," Bubbles chirped. "I'm sure we'll have lots of fun! And dances are really fun!"
"Yeah right," said Brick sarcastically.
"It's only fun for girls, not boys!" declared Butch.
"Oh that's silly," said Blossom. "Isn't it doctor?"
"Well, when I was your age, the 'Force the Boys Dance', as we called it back in those days when I was young, well, as I remember, it was terrible for me and the Professor! Heck, after that time, I never wanted to go to a dance with a girl, until, well, I was about thirteen. Be very afraid, boys! Be very afraid! Going to that dance is scary to a six year old boy, but if you survive intact, with your manhood, then consider yourself wiser for it!"
Bubbles frowned at Dr. Edwards. "Doctor, you're scaring them!"
Buttercup and Blossom giggled and laughed even more.
"Then why did you let them invite us if that is the case?" asked Butch.
"Simple really! I experienced it, and as the tradition of every little boy in Townsville, I believe you should to! And to punish you for lying to me," said Dr. Edwards. "I would have hidden you from the girls or be more lenient if you had told the truth."
The boys just bowed their heads.
Bubbles then spoke. "See, it's not so bad! I promise you you'll have fun!"
At that point, there was a loud thunder as the clouds in the autumn sky unleashed its torrent of rain. It was now night, and the thunderstorm caused the electricity to temporarily give out, causing the room to be filled with darkness, though there was still enough light to see each other's silhouette and distinguish one from the other. There was soon a succession of thunder and lightning, and there were loud bangs of the large raindrops hammering the roof and walls in the farmhouse.
"But be scared! I guarantee you won't like it! You will be scarred for life! It will be a horrible, horrible, night! You'll regret it! And you'll be worse off for it! Ha, ha, ha, ha! And if you go through it and emerge unscathed, then I salute you for your steeliness, and for being man enough to endure it," shouted Dr. Edwards in a frightening manner, waving his hands and fingers as if preaching, raising his voice, his facial expressions conveying a sense of doom and gloom yet with a slight humor in it. All his actions were in tandem with the lightning and thunder as lightning flashes showed his face occasionally.
The boys soon were shivering because of fright as they listened to their father describe the Dance like it was a page out of a horror story. The girls also shivered as they were frightened by the combination of the weather, the power shortage, and Dr. Edwards' tone and words.
"We're doomed, we're doomed!" said Boomer.
"The girls will eat us alive at the dance," panicked Brick.
"They're going to get us!" shouted Butch. "Get us, I tell you! They're after us! They're up to no good!"
"Gosh, that's really scary," said Bubbles. "I never knew it could be that horrible!"
"He's only kidding," said Blossom, frightened. "But by the way he said it, it sure is scary."
If only there was light, they can see that Dr. Edwards had a huge grin on his face. "Well, I'm going down to check on the generator, and to arrange an extra room for you girls. I'll call you at dinner time."
As soon as Dr. Edwards left the room, the kids can hear him laughing loud as he went downstairs.
The kids remained in their places, too frightened to move or to go out of the room. Soon, however, the generator was on, and there was light.
The boys then saw the girls, and panicked. "Girls!" they shouted, and immediately went down, now even more afraid of the dance and the girls.
The girls looked at each other, forgot about the thunderstorm and laughed hard.
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During most of the next day, the boys hid themselves from the girls. Bubbles had an annoying habit of trying to find them, but the boys simply were better at hiding than the Bubbles were at finding them. Dr. Edwards took the girls on a tour of his cousin's farm.
"Doctor, why did you scare the boys?" asked Bubbles.
"Well, they really need to be taught a lesson about not telling everything and telling fibs to their father and creator, you know," said Dr. Edwards. "Besides, it's good for a laugh! Those boys really need some deflation lately, don't you think?"
"Yeah, boy, those boys sure are dumb!" Buttercup said.
Instantly, the face in Dr. Edwards changed. "Buttercup, I would not take it kindly to insult my sons in such a manner right in front of me. They are highly intelligent and shrewd on almost all things, especially in fighting, tactics, battles, and practical knowledge. They're just naïve about girls, like most other six-year-old boys are, and have social skills of a caveman."
"Sorry, Doctor," said Buttercup when she realized she had hit a sore spot.
"He, he, don't worry, we'll take care of your boys at that dance," said Blossom. "And we promise to make it less of a nightmare for them than they imagine it to be. In fact, I'm betting that they'll have fun!"
"Well, good luck! You'll need it!" said the doctor.
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In the attic, about two in the afternoon…
"We're doomed! We're doomed!" moaned Boomer.
"If only we can miss out on it, but stupid school rules! Whoever made that rule that girls invite boys and the boys should be required to take the girl who asked him first deserves to go to the electric chair!" Butch ranted. "Now we're going to the horror of horrors, something, like Dad said, that is going to scar us forever. We can't let that happen to us! We're the Rowdyruff Boys for crying out loud!"
"Yeah, but all the ranting and raving won't change the fact that we lost, we got invited, and we can't refuse, and now we have no choice," said Brick. "What can we do?"
"Maybe there's a way we prevent ourselves from going to the dance?" suggested Butch. "Maybe we can make ourselves disgusting enough that they wouldn't even think of taking us?"
"No!" said Brick. "They're too determined that we take them to the dance for that to work."
"I know! How about we kidnap them in the afternoon, tie and gag them through the night, and release them only when the dance is over? After all, how can we go with them if they can't go, because they're tied-up?" said Boomer.
"Well, it would do wonders for our reputation in school, and it would destroy the alliance," said Brick.
"Who cares about the alliance!" said Butch. "But what can we do? Unless we get sick or injured, then we have to go through the hell that Dad went through when he was a kid."
"Too bad we're healthy and unscathed," said Brick. "Wait a minute! What if we suddenly became, let's say, sick or injured Saturday morning? Then suddenly recover the next day when the dance is over?"
Both his brothers smiled at their Brick's suggestion.
"Okay, you want to avoid the dance? Here's my plan," and Brick began whispering to his brothers.
Author Notes
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 Divagurl227, well, thanks for reading this chapter.
To PinkPuff514, yup! You're right about the boys and girls about the chase. As for Dr. Edwards being on whose side, I think this chapter makes it clear.
To The Ultramind, yup, it was sure smart of Brick to confuse them by making a confusing lecture. Too bad the girls were waiting for them in the farmhouse.
To Ud the Imp, well, I hope this one's better than the last one. I agree, the moment of truth had come and gone, but the boys still refuse to accept it.
To Lil Fang, ha, I think the boys heard your advice and heeded it!
To BrYtt BRatt, well, if you skipped it, then you missed his lines that really made no point, like, when PinkPUff514 mentioned that Brick said that what he said really proves that Mel Gibson and Dan Rather are really clones of Mojo Jojo. The only reason he made it was to confuse the girls long enough for them to be able get away. But you're right. The boys are the one who's desperate.
I wish you the best of luck on your school work. When I was in high school, things were also very very tough, specially when it's time for Statistics and Calculus and Physics and Chemistry! Ugghhh! Especially quadratic equations and such!
To Hairy Gregory, yup, it was great! Too bad they were still outsmarted by the girls. Well, he helped the girls, scared his sons, and laughed at it all!
And the war between HG and the Ultramind continues! Who will win?
Hm, I wonder what you'll change in the past?
To Tones, well, they can't escape from being invited, but the boys are still not giving up!
Yup! For the boys it certain doom to go into the dance.
To Moonjava, thanks.
To Libertygirl0115, yup, Brick was brilliant, though it couldn't stop their being doomed!
To Kim, well, the boys were already invited, but I think they still have some aces up their sleeves.
To Kezzar, well, as for the effects it might or might not have on their future relationship, just wait for the end. And remember, this event happened between chapter 21 and 22 of Allies and Rivals II, so it might give you a hint of where their relationship will be going.
To Dooly, yup, all it did was buy a little time. Well, I always thought you call it clovers. Oh well! Anyway, we'll see if the boys can get away with it.
To John, well, we'll see if they can still get out!