In these silences, something may rise

Part 6

Revelations

The city of Townsville, where now Brimstone tells his brothers his plan to destroy the Power Puff Girls.

'We will eat away at their souls until they have no choice but to attack us.' Brimstone said. 'Everyday we shall kill someone they love, someone they hold close and cherish more then their own lives. Everyday they will wake to find another of their cherished ones are dead, and we are responsible each and every time. I don't think we will have to wait long before they come chasing after us swearing revenge, and then they can join the ones we killed.'

'I don't know boss, Blossom might be able to keep her cool if she has even half your guts. She must know by now going in headfirst is a good way to get killed.' Blaze said, been very careful not to offend his brother and leader.

'Yes Blossom may do so, and Bubbles might just cry under the bed… but Buttercup has such a thick skull and stubbornness that I think she may even come after us alone. And that will be at least one less Power Puff Girl to deal with Blaze.' Brimstone said.

'So who do we kill first then Brimstone?' Blaster asked.

'Well I think we start at the top and make our way down from there.' Brimstone sat down in the chair next to the desk and started to spin slowly round on it. 'Professor John Utonium is the closest to family those girls have, their own father really. When they find his corpse I think they will be at least a little rattled.' A sly smile crossed Brimstones face as he stopped spinning the chair around.

'But Professor Utonium is protected by those girls, the second he is in trouble they will come running.' Blaster said.

'Oh I know that, do you think I am stupid Blaster?' Blaster hung his head down and very quietly said no. 'Glad to hear that Blaster. Now as for interfering, we just need someone to play distraction while I deal with the Professor. Blaze that will be your job.' Brimstone pointed at Blaze who looked around confused.

'Me?' He asked. 'What am I going to do?'

'Blaze you will start attacking the town, those idiots will come running after you and you shall keep them all there until I am done with Professor Utonium.' Brimstone said.

'But if I go up against all six of them I will get creamed!' Blaze shouted, visions of the beating he would get running through his mind.

'Blaze are you a Rowdy Ruff Boy or a Power Puff Girl?!' Brimstone yelled back, jumping out his seat and giving no time for Blaze to give an answer. Brimstone had planned out what he was going to say perfectly, knowing it would get Blaze to do just what he wanted without thinking it suicide. 'I thought you were the same guy I trained with for two years, I thought you were the brother who spent every waking moment preparing to fight the Power Puff Girls, now you tell me you cant handle them for a few lousy minutes? Blaze you boasted that you alone were as strong as the entire team of Power Puff Girls, was that a lie, did you lie to me Blaze?'

'No way Brimstone I would never lie to you.' Blaze said, the old fire burning in his eyes. 'I could beat those fake Ruff's and stupid Puff's no sweat, you might not need to kill the old Prof cause I will kill them all myself. I could beat them all with one hand behind my back.'

'Then think what you will do with both arms.' Brimstone said as he placed both hands on Blaze's shoulders. Personally he did not think Blaze would do anything else but get the crap kicked out of him, but that suited him. Brimstone remembered how Blaze had suggested he had fallen for a trick, that he a god had made a mistake, and now the time for punishment had arrived.

The school day was over and the Power Puff Girls and Rowdy Ruff Boys had returned home for the weekend. It had been a week of ups and downs, especially for the Ruff's, which had ended on a high. The boys had finally been accepted by the town after they helped to save it; they had made friends and where starting to truly enjoy themselves.

Brick was inside the Utonium home devising strategies on a flip chart in the boys' room. He had decided to work on these after the battle with Him; Blossom had shown that her team had planned attacks, while he had been forced to think on the spot. Now he had a chance to make up a few plans of his own, so he and his brothers could keep up with the girls. He was so lost in thought that he never heard Blossom knock and let herself in.

'Hi Brick.' She said closing the bedroom door behind her.

'Huh?' Brick stopped looking at the diagrams he had drawn and to the door where he saw Blossom standing. 'Oh hey there Blossom, what's up?'

'I was looking for Bubbles and Buttercup, have you seen them anywhere?' Blossom asked.

'Yeah Buttercup said something about showing Butch who was Fluffy around this place… and Bubbles was drawing a picture in the backyard.' Brick said turning his attention back to his latest attack idea.

'Oh, well I guess I better leave them alone then…' Blossom was about to leave when she noticed Brick was looking at something that looked suspiciously like her own diagrams. 'What are you doing by the way?'

'Thinking up new strategies, I have not done it in a while now… well apart for a few for fun… but now I need them. You saw how bad it was, we have no team work, no plans of attack and that could lead to disaster for us.'

'Maybe I can help?' Blossom suggested.

'I don't think so, I know my brothers strengths and weakness far better then you do.' Brick said.

'Ok then I will just go to my room and read comic books then.' Bricks attention snapped away from the illustrations as panic and guilt shot through his body. Right now, under his bed, there was a large collection of comic books with "property of Blossom Utonium" labels across every front page. Brick had borrowed these without asking and knew if Blossom went looking for them now he would be in trouble.

'You know on second thought two heads are better then one.' Brick said quickly. 'And you're much more experienced at this then I am.' Blossom shrugged unable to understand why Brick had changed his mind.

'Ok then lets see what you have so far.' Blossom said as Brick let out a sigh of relief; he would have to get those comics back in her room as soon as they were done here.

'Well right now I have a few basics… attacking groups, singles, strong monsters and fast monsters. I also have a few special moves we can perform.' He pointed to the flip chart where the first page showed his ultimate attack.

'This looks like a single attack move, "Dark Dragon Drive", what is that?' Blossom asked as she studied the drawings Brick had made.

'It's like your "Ferocious Fiery Feline" attack, but instead of using friction to build a fire we combine our energy trails and create an attack.' Brick said pointing to the numbered pictures.

'But if you combined the energy tails when you fly at the right frequency you would cause the energy to spike exponentially. You could cause an explosion with more power then a hundred nuclear war heads.' Blossom said as she counted up Brick's own calculations on the attacks power.

'Yes it could, and nothing could survive that. That's why it is only a last resort attack; if I don't have to I would rather not kill someone.' Brick said as he flipped the page over to show his next attack plan.

'Wow this is good, a double bluff flank strike. This would fool even me.' Blossom said as she read through Brick's rough notes next to the pictures.

'Thanks, I did work hard on that one.' Brick said feeling his ego swell.

'But you should have Boomer attack from the right, after all Butch is left handed.' Blossom said taking a pen and changing the diagram.

'How did I miss that?' Brick said as he saw the obvious mistake he had made. 'Your better at this then I thought.' Blossom gave him a little smile as she started to point out improvement he could make to the rest of his strategies.

Butch threw the basket ball and watched as it easily fell through the net, the fact he was down the road about half a mile from the basket made no difference to him. He flew quickly back to the house and picked the ball up ready to go back and try throwing from further back. He had no more then started to turn around when he heard a familiar voice.

'There you are Butch; my fists want to talk to your face.' Butch swung round on his heels to see Buttercup was walking down the drive towards him.

'Nice to see you to Buttercup.' Butch said as he put the basketball underneath his arm.

'I promised you a butt kicking and I always deliver on my promises.' Buttercup said. 'So if you have any last words now is the time.'

'Yeah I have some.' Butch said with a smile. 'Think fast.' He threw the basket ball at Buttercup as fast as he could, and watched as Buttercup caught it easily with one hand.

'You will have to do better then that.' Buttercup said.

'Oh I can do much better then that, the question is if you can keep up.' Butch said walking to be just in front of the hoop. 'What do you say Buttercup, think you can give me a half decent game?' Butch waited to see if this worked; either a fight was coming or a basket ball game.

'Keep up with you; I think the question is if you can keep up with me.' Buttercup started to dribble the basketball, all the thoughts of fighting Butch lost but the want to beat him growing.

'Let's see what you got then.' And so the game started, Buttercup jumping up past Butch and slamming the ball into the net.

'First point is mine.' She said making a line in the air with her finger.

'Yeah well it's the first to twenty who wins, and I have only just begun to play.' Butch said catching the ball and starting his attack on the net. The game went on for over an hour, with the score staying pretty even through out. Both Butch and Buttercup were worn out as the game was coming to a close, with both of them on nineteen points each and Buttercup's turn to shoot. Butch waited for her throw and jumped just in time to touch the ball and send it off its perfect course. Instead of going strait into the net it started to roll round the rim and lean to the wrong side, it was going to fall off and become his ball.

'To bad, looks like this game is all mine.' Butch boasted, but Buttercup was not done just yet. Buttercup took a deep breath in and blew out as hard as she could, sending an almost gale force blast of air at the net. The ball was hit and blown strait into the net, making the final score Butch nineteen and Buttercup twenty.

'You were saying.' Buttercup said with a smug expression on her face.

'Ah shoot.' Butch said as the ball bounced past his feet. 'Well you won this one, and you did not play to bad… for a girl anyway.'

'Well this girl just beat you.' Buttercup said, enjoying every second of her victory.

'Yeah well if we were playing soccer I would have kicked your butt.' Butch said.

'That sounds like a challenge Butch, and if you happen to think you can match me… well I will be waiting at the park.' Buttercup said just before she flew off to the park, her energy apparently restored by the triumph.

'If I did not know any better I would swear she was a boy.' Butch said with an odd mix of respect and annoyance. He kicked the basket ball away and then chased after Buttercup, there was no way he was ending the day losing to a girl.

Bubbles put the finishing touch on the drawing and stood back to admire it, she had been working on it in almost all her free time and she felt it the best drawing she had ever done. For a crayon drawing done by an eight year old it was very good, it was a picture of Boomer sitting in a field of flowers of every possible color. Boomer looked out across the field, the sun glinting in his eyes making them appear to be streaked with gold as well as sapphire. As Bubbles looked at the picture she noticed he looked like he was waiting for someone, who she did not know but he was definitely waiting.

With the drawing done Bubbles now had only to give it to Boomer, but she had no clue where he was. Unlike him she did not have the ability to sense where people were, that was his own unique power. She floated up to the house windows and tried to look into the bedrooms, the girls was empty and the boys only had Brick and Blossom in laughing about something. Bubbles tried looking all round the house but could find no trace of Boomer. She was going to try flying around the city to see if she got lucky when Professor Utonium came out of his laboratory.

'Professor so you know where Boomer is?' Bubbles asked, keeping the drawing hidden because she wanted Boomer to be the first to see it.

'Why yes I do, he told me he was going to the outskirts of town, somewhere just west of the main road.' Professor Utonium said as he went to the front door. 'Bubbles I have to go to the store, I forgot to buy enough food for dinner tonight, and if you need me I will be home in about half an hour. Ok sweetie?' Bubbles nodded and with that the Professor left.

In the outskirts of Townsville, just west of the main road, there is a beautiful woodland and that was where Boomer was. He had come here before, often in secret when he missed Townsville while they were forced to live in Citiesville. Boomer was lying on his back, his hands behind his head, looking up at the clouds as they went by. He loved to come here and relax. It was quiet and he seemed to be the only person who ever came to this part of the wood. (The reason for that was if you could not fly you had to cross Lumpkin territory, even after they had been forced to leave people were wary of the woods.)

'Who's there?' Boomer jumped to his feet as he sensed that he was no longer alone, he could not tell who was there but someone was very close to him now. 'Come out and show yourself.'

'Boomie it's only me.' Bubbles said as she walked out of the trees and into the clearing Boomer was standing in. A soon as Boomer saw her he put down his guard and smiled.

'You gave me a scare Bubbles; I thought the Brick or Butch had found me.' Boomer said sitting down crossed legged on the soft grass. 'If they found me out here I would never hear the end of it you know.'

'Why?' Bubbles asked him.

'The same reason Buttercup teases you I guess, and because Boys are not supposed to spend their time watching the clouds go by.' Boomer answered. 'Promise me you wont tell them about me been here Bubbles.'

'Of course I won't tell them Boomie.' Bubbles said sincerely.

'Thanks, but you did promise not to call me Boomie any more. My name is Boomer after all.' Boomer said feeling embarrassment begin to rise up from his stomach.

'I called you Boomie all day and you never complained.' Bubbles said smiling sweetly at Boomer. She was right, the whole day she had not once called him Boomer but always Boomie and he had not even noticed it. Boomer had been too stunned by the change of attitudes the school had made to notice anything.

'Well could you at least call me Boomer when other people are around?' Boomer asked, knowing he could not argue anymore then that.

'Ok Boomie.' Bubbles said as she sat down next to him. 'Oh I almost forgot, I finished that picture for you.' Bubbles handed the drawing to Boomer who took it very carefully, he did not want to scrunch it up anymore then it all ready had been.

'Wow.' This was all he could say when he looked at the picture; he had never seen anything as good as this before. The picture took away all powers of speech he had, all he could do was look at it and admire it.

'What do you think?' Bubbles asked with more then a little apprehension in her voice.

'It's… um… well I like it a lot because it looks… I don't know the word.' Boomer said, he tried to find the right word for the picture but could not think of anything.

'Pretty?' Bubbles suggested to him.

'Well it is but that's not a word boys use to describe things… its cool.' Boomer felt Bubbles had the right word and the word cool was completely wrong, but the Rowdy Ruff in him would not allow him to say so.

'Thanks Boomie.' Bubbles said before lying back herself to look up at the clouds. 'Hey that one looks like a car.' Bubbles pointed up at a cloud that went past that if you looked hard enough did look like a car.

'Yeah, but that one looks like a hand.' Boomer said lying next to Bubbles pointing out the cloud he saw. They lay like this, watching the clouds, for ten minutes but they might have done it until the light had gone and they could no longer see the clouds. What stopped them doing this was the sound of the Hotline phone ringing.

'Power Puff Girls Hotline, Blossom speaking.' Blossom had rushed to the phone as soon as it started to ring with Brick flying behind her.

'Oh hello Blossom, how are you?' The Mayor asked on the other end of the line.

'Um fine thanks Mayor.' Blossom said. Then there were two lines of green light as Buttercup and Butch arrived after their super hearing picked up the hotline ringing.

'Oh that's good to hear, and how are your sisters?' The Mayor sounded as crazy as he usually was, Blossom tried to remember why he was ever voted in, surely someone competent had to run against him someday.

'They're fine as well Mayor. Is that the only reason you called?' Blossom was starting to feel a little impatient; the mayor could try anyone's patience sometimes.

'Well I was going to ask how those Rocky Tuff Boys where.' The Mayor said, as he did Bubbles and Boomer arrived through the bedroom window.

'Its Rowdy Ruff Boys Mayor and they are fine.' Blossom said. 'Mayor if there is not an emergency you should not call us on this line.'

'An emergency you say, well what a coincidence.' The Mayor said happily enough. 'The evil Rowdy Ruff Boys are attacking the city. I really should call the Power Puff Girls and get them to help.'

'We are on it Mayor.' Blossom hung the phone up before she could hear any more of the Mayors banter. 'The evil Rowdy Ruff Boys are attacking the city, we have to go and stop them. Boomer can you tell where they are?' Blossom asked Boomer who shook his head.

'The other me is masking them too well, I can't even tell if they are on the same planet as us.' Boomer said. 'I am doing the same for all of us, the evil Rowdy's can not tell where any of us are as well as some other important people. Miss Keane, the Mayor, Professor Utonium and such.'

'I don't think we need any sixth sense mumbo-jumbo to find them.' Buttercup said looking out the window at the main city. There was a plume of black smoke rising from the town, and Buttercup would bet a cookie that was where the evil Rowdy's were.

'You can run faster then that.' Blaze said as he watched the pedestrians flee from him and his assault on the city. 'You have ten seconds left before I start shooting. One, seven, three, umm… quazzle.'

'Quazzle is not even a number moron.' Brick said as he and his brothers arrived at the seen of Blaze's attack.

'Well if it isn't the fakes.' Blaze said. 'Where are your Girlfriends?' Blaze asked causing Butch and Brick to go on a rant about how there was no way on earth that the Power Puff Girls were their Girlfriends. Boomer just blushed and stayed quiet.

'Well I guess killing you three will have to do for now.' Butch said as he started ho charge up an energy wave attack.

'Not so fast evil Butch.' This was from Blossom, she and the Power Puff Girls had circled around to surround Blaze.

'Butch?' Blaze said with fake ignorance. 'Don't know anyone called Butch, my name is Blaze.'

'So where are the evil versions of Brick and Boomer then?' Buttercup asked Blaze.

'You must mean Brimstone and Blaster; well they are around here somewhere.' Blaze said with a shrug. 'But we decided that only I had to fight you losers so you won't have to worry about them.'

Both Blossom and Brick could see right through this plan, Brimstone in his arrogance and not thought of this as well as a few other details. If the Professor had been at home they would have been back there faster then a bullet but he was out for a good twenty minutes still. This was the perfect chance to remove an evil Rowdy Ruff from the equation, cutting their power by a third.

'Everyone attack Blaze.' Brick and Blossom said this at the exact same time and instantly both teams attacked Blaze. The girls attacked from the rear while the boys attacked head on, Blaze was caught in the middle with no where to go. The first to reach him was Bubbles who tried to punch him in the head; Blaze put up one hand and blocked the punch with ease. The second attack was from Butch who tried to kick his doppelganger in the chest but was also blocked with Blaze's other hand.

'I knew I was the best.' Blaze said as he pushed Bubbles and Butch away from him and put a defense up for Blossoms attack. The pink Puff fired her eye beams which Butch ducked under then had to flip over to avoid Buttercup's flying kick. That was the last moment where it looked like Blaze might actually win the fight after all. Brick made contact with Blaze, his knee been driven deep into his soft gut and leaving Blaze doubled over in a coughing fit.

Down on the ground Butch had landed after Blaze had pushed him away, he could see Blossom's laser beams miss and thought they might need to pull out the stops, when he saw Brick was about to make a hit. As soon as Brick's knee went into Blaze, Butch felt a fire burn in his own belly, all the air rushed out of his lungs as he doubled over.

'Wha…what… who?' Butch tried to say as he went to his knees, something was very wrong here and he could not even warn the others about it.

'Did you search everywhere, I mean it everywhere!' Brimstone held Blaster by his neck pinned to the wall. 'You can't have looked everywhere; he is always here at this time, always!'

'Brimstone I'm choking.' Blaster managed to squeak causing Brimstone to tighten his grip.

'He must have been tipped off, did you betray me Blaster… or was it Blaze?' Brimstone started to hit Blaster against the wall; he did not know why it just seemed the thing to do. 'There are traitors everywhere Blaster, those who do not see I am a God. I keep killing them but more rise to take their place, have you become one of them? Et-tu Blaster? No you would not do such a thing; never, you're too weak minded.' Brimstone let go of is brother who fell down gasping for air, clutching his red throat in pain.

'Brimstone no one betrayed you, its just dumb luck.' Blaster managed to say after a while. He now had glimpsed at how mad his brother had become, but he too was mad in his own way and let it go.

'Luck, there is no such thing as luck just the god in the machine. Deus Ex Machina. Someone has moved against me I just know it.' Brimstone smashed a hand into the wall of the Power Puff Girls home. 'The Professor is not here, and Blaze will not keep the others busy much longer. We must leave here now.' Brimstone left the house without another word; Blaster followed him but kept his distance. Brimstone was dangerous most of the time, but right then he was a bomb waiting for some fool to trip him.

'Girls attack pattern Commodore Atari Sega thirty three!' Blossom ordered and with that the Power Puff's started a ping pong attack, hitting Blaze back from one girl to another. Blaze could not stop the attacks as the girls hit him away only to be in the waiting hands of another Power Puff. What no one noticed was down Bellow Butch was been hit with the exact same attacks, every hit on Blaze seemed to affect Butch at the same instant.

'Come on girls, you can't have all the fun.' Brick said. 'Boomer sonic boom him to the next millennium,'

'Right.' Boomer turned to the flying Blaze and tracked the course he was taking, when he was sure Boomer took in a deep breath. He held the air in his lungs for a moment and then shouted out with a sonic boom as big as he was. The ball of sonic air flew strait and true hitting Blaze in the back like a huge fist. Bellow them all Butch fell forward as he felt some huge force hit him in the back.

'Now let's see how you take the heat.' Brick said as he took in a deep breath of his own, but when he let it go it was not sound that came out. A spiral of fire shot out of his mouth and devoured Blaze whole, causing Butch to suddenly develop burns all over his body. The pain was too much and now he had the air to do so Butch screamed out in pain.

'Butch!' Boomer shouted as he flew down to see what was wrong with his brother.

'What?' Brick looked down to see Butch lying on the ground looking badly hurt. 'Oh no, Girls take care of Blaze there is something wrong with Butch.' Brick went floated down to the earth next to Boomer while the Power Puff Girls continued to attack Blaze.

'Butch what happened to you?' Boomer asked and was shocked when Butch leapt up and flipped over backwards while a large cut appeared on his face. 'What on earth?' Boomer jumped back while Butch rolled to one side as a rib made a wet snapping noise in his chest.

'Brick something is very wrong here, it's like Butch is been attacked but there's no one there.' Boomer said when Brick landed next to him.

'Been attacked?' Brick watched as Butch's arm swung round the wrong way and started to bend backwards as if someone held him in an arm lock. 'Whoa.' Brick went over and tried to find what was going on but he could see nothing, but he could not stop Butch's arm from bending. It was then Boomer saw that Buttercup held Blaze in the exact same hold. He stood still once again and his eyes seemed to glaze over as he started to zone. He watched as Blaze was knocked about by the Power Puff Girls and at the same time Butch seemed to be receiving the same punishments. That's when it clicked, he came crashing out of the zone and flew up to the battle again. This time he put his body in-between Blossom and Blaze.

'You have to stop hurting him.' Boomer said as he held his arms out protecting Blaze with his own body.

'I knew it, they are traitors!' Buttercup said but in her heart she did not believe it, if she did she would hesitate to attack Boomer as well as Blaze.

'No Buttercup I am not a traitor.' Boomer pointed down to where Butch was lying. 'Every time you hit Blaze then Butch suffers the same injuries he does. I don't know how but Butch is linked to Blaze, if you hurt him any more you might kill Butch.'

'That's not possible, is it?' Bubbles asked Blossom who did not know any better then she did.

'I don't know Bubbles, I really have no idea.' Blossom said in response, and it was in this time Blaze had fallen to the ground and managed in a brief moment of consciousness to escape. He had crawled to a manhole and with the last of his strength tare it open and fall into it to escape.

'I don't care if it's possible or not, it's killing Butch one way or the other.' Boomer said.

'Oh great Blaze got away.' Buttercup said when she realized Blaze was no where to be seen.

'We can't worry about him now, Butch needs help.' Boomer said.

'Your right Boomer, our main concern is Butch's health.' Blossom said. 'You and Brick go and find the Professor and get him back home as quickly as you can. We will take Butch back home and start the medical machines up.' Blossom knew that the she and her sisters could start to help Butch as soon as they got home while the boys did not know anything about the labs medical facility.

'Ok Blossom you got it.' Boomer flew back down to Brick, they talked very briefly then both of them flew off in the direction of the supermarket the Professor had gone to.

'Right Bubbles you and I are going to fly ahead to start the machines, Buttercup you carry Butch back and be careful he's taken a heck of a beating.' Buttercup opened her mouth to protest but both of her sisters had flown off before she even managed to draw in the breath to speak. All she could do was grumble under her breath as she floated down and picked Butch up, slinging him over her shoulder the same way he had done when she had been hurt all that time ago.

'Come on Mr. Personality lets get going.' Buttercup said before flying in the direction of home.

'I can walk on my own thank you.' Butch said with a slurred voice, at some point his jaw had been hurt badly and his lips were so swollen he could not talk properly.

'So you're awake then?' Buttercup said as she reached for the door handle. 'Enjoy your nap?'

'Just put me down!' Butch said. Buttercup put him down on the ground and stood back to see what he would do. Butch sat on the doorstep looking a total wreck, his right leg had been broken some how, his face was bruised and swollen, he had blood covering almost all of his face and had at least a doze fractures and small breaks.

'Well you said you can walk, let's see it.' Buttercup crossed her arms and just stood there as Butch tried with all the strength he had to stand up. His right leg was limp by his side so the left had to take all his weight, both arms quivered as the muscles could not take the strain of lifting him off the ground. Butch just bit on his lip and gave one tremendous push to force himself up and to a standing position.

'Ah ha, I stood up.' Butch said triumphantly as he wavered back and forth as his balance was gradually been lost. Butch held up for a good few seconds but he had no way of moving and eventually his weakness overcame him and he started to fall. Buttercup waited until his head was only an inch away from the ground before she grabbed him, slinging his arm over her shoulder.

'Well done you have equalled the accomplishments of a two year old.' Buttercup said as she adjusted Butch's weight so nothing went onto his broken right leg.

'When I get better I am going to kick your butt!' Butch said as Buttercup lead him into the house.

'Promises, promises.' It was when Buttercup said this that Butch realized where he had experienced this before, how he had been in Buttercup's place not that long ago. He felt like an idiot and decided the wisest thing was to shut up before he made himself look like more of an idiot then he had done already.

Professor Utonium had arrived only a minute after the Power Puff Girls had started to treat Butch's wounds. He was been dragged by Brick and Boomer so fast when they did stop he was sick. But after he had regained his composure the Professor had started work on Butch immediately, it was obvious Butch's condition was still critical even though he was awake.

'Girls you did a good job but now I have to take over.' Professor Utonium said as he led the girls out of the medical area of the laboratory and closed the door. This left the Puff's and remaining Ruff's with nothing to do but wait for news on Butch. Brick sat down and kept his eyes on the clock, watching the time and trying to think of nothing else. Boomer started to pace up and down the room as he worried about Butch, he stopped when Bubbles grabbed his hand and made him sit down and wait with her.

'Butch should he fine, he was acting like a jerk only a few minutes ago.' Buttercup said to no one in particular, she just hated the silence in the room.

'He was hurt worse then any of us has been before, I could feel him dieing.' Boomer said and found his voice lost at the thought of his brother dieing.

'What about now?' Bubbles asked. 'Can you still feel him dieing?'

'He is hovering, sometimes I feel he is strong and other times it's almost like his not there.' Boomer managed to say, squeezing his grip on Bubbles hand even tighter.

'Don't worry Boomer, Butch is a Rowdy and it takes a lot more then you would think to kill a Rowdy.' Brick said.

'I know the Professor won't give up on him, and we do have the best medical facilities in the whole of Townsville,' Blossom said but it did little to ease their minds. All they could do was wait until the Professor came out to tell them the results of his work.

It was over two hours before Professor Utonium came out of the lab to give the news to the children.

'I managed to stabilize Butch, though I did lose him a few times there.' Professor Utonium said. 'He should be back to his old self by lunch time tomorrow morning.' There was a huge wave of relief as he gave the news to the Ruff's and Puff's. Boomer let up his grip on Bubbles who had hardly noticed how hard he was holding her hand; Boomer had not realized he had been doing it at all. Brick punched the air and yelled out while Buttercup and Blossom simply relaxed.

'Now can someone explain to me how Butch ended up in this situation in the first place?' The professor asked.

'Well Professor it started when we got a call telling us that the evil Rowdy Ruff Boys were attacking the city.' Blossom started. She told the Professor the whole story of them fighting Blaze and the effects that had on Butch.

'So every time something happened to Butch the exact same happened to err… Blazer?' The Professor asked again, trying to be sure on all the facts.

'He's calling himself Blaze, while their Brick is called Brimstone and the evil Boomer is called Blaster now.' Blossom said patiently as the Professor she went over the details once again. 'And yes, if we hurt Blaze then Butch was hurt in the exact same way at the same time.'

'Oh dear this could be very bad if I am right.' The Professor said to himself and then to the boys. 'I need you to come down to the laboratory with me; I need to run some tests to be sure of what's happening.'

'Ok Brick you can come out now.' Professor Utonium said to Brick who stood behind a large screen. The red Rowdy came out from behind it and joined Boomer who had finished been tested on and now waited for the results. The Power Puff Girls were waiting outside the laboratory and the Professor told Boomer to fetch them, they would need to know the results as well. When the Power Puff's had joined them in the lab Professor Utonium picked up the long piece of paper which had the results from his tests.

'It's just what I feared.' The Professor said as he looked over the results.

'What is it Professor?' Blossom asked after a long moment of silence.

'The reason Butch was been killed at the same time Blaze was.' Professor Utonium sat at his desk and put the results down. 'You remember how the original Rowdy Ruff Boys split in two, thus making out boys here and the evil ones?'

'Yes Professor.' Bubbles said. 'But what has that got to do with what happened to Butch?'

'Well I thought the split was a complete one, making two new and separate entities.' The Professor continued. 'It seems that I was wrong about that, very wrong indeed. You see there is still a deep connection between to two sets of boys. The Rowdy Ruffs are still in essence one life force now inhabiting two bodies. Their life energies are connected to each other, and if one of them starts to be affected then the other half is also affected. In other words whatever happens to one Rowdy Ruff Boy happens to his copy, if one hurts his toe the other hurts their toe, if one becomes sick the other becomes sick and if one Ruff dies so does the other Ruff.' Professor Utonium finished speaking.

'That means if we try to kill the evil Rowdy Ruff's…' Blossom started.

'Then our good Rowdy Ruff's will also be killed.' Professor Utonium said.

'But if that's true we are useless in a fight, we would only be hurting ourselves.' Brick said as he saw the horrible truth before him.

'Yes, and if Brimstone learns of this he could become more dangerous then ever before.' Professor Utonium said. 'We must pray he never finds out the truth.'

'This failure must be redeemed!' Brimstone was still mad about the fact his plan had failed. 'We can not be seen as weak, we are gods after all! We must act quickly with a new plan. Maybe we could try infiltration, we look just like those goodie-goodie Ruff's and if we can get close to them we could...' Brimstone rant was cut short when a phone began to ring on the desk in the sky box.

'Since when did we get a phone?' Blaster asked as he looked at the black phone sitting on the table, he noticed there was a wire but it was not plugged to anything. But he was too stupid to know it had to be plugged in to ring.

'We don't have one.' Brimstone said as he picked the hand piece off the cradle and put the phone to his ear. 'Who is this?' Brimstone asked in an annoyed voice, but when the response came he went as white as a sheet. The Red Rowdy Ruff found his legs trembling and began to sweat with fear.

'Brimstone what's wrong?' Blaster asked alarmed at the sight of the great Brimstone acting so scared. Brimstone just held up a hand and in a weak voice told him to be quiet before putting his full attention on the phone.

'Hello sir…' Brimstone swallowed hard as he leaned on the desk feeling weak as fear stole away his power. 'We have been… yes of course you know what we have been doing sir forgive me please… yes I know my plan was stupid, very stupid.' Brimstone was now crying, his tears flowing freely from his eyes as the coldness around his heart grew to take his whole chest. 'We are failing and that can not do… I understand your worries but I can handle this… No there is no need for you to come!' Brimstone fell to the ground as he shook in terror, his panic growing as he talked to the voice on the end of the line. 'I just need a little more time to kill them… yes I want the power… I want to be a God sir… your commands are mine to follow, just tell me what to do…. Yes I will wait for Blaze, thank you sir.' Brimstone slammed the phone down and collapsed into the chair.

'Was it who I think?' Blaster asked as Brimstone slowly started to go back to his normal self, the fear draining out of him and his color coming back.

'Who else could it be?' Brimstone said in a voice which still quivered with dread.

'Maybe someone was pretending to be him.' Blaster suggested. 'They plant a phone while we are gone and then…'

'What phone?' Brimstone interrupted Blaster who saw the desk was now as empty as when they had left it earlier. The large black phone was no where to be seen; only a small square where there was no dust showed it had ever been there. 'And even if someone tried to be him no one could sound like that… no one could make me feel that fear but him.' Brimstone was now sounding like his old self once more.

'So what did he say?' Blaster asked.

'He was disappointed at my plans, he said they were nothing more then weak minded fools ideas… that he expected someone like MoJo JoJo to try them and not me.' If anyone else had suggested this to Brimstone they would have died, but Brimstone feared the person who told him this more then anything… it was possibly the only thing he feared.

'He called to tell us we were doing a bad job… he isn't going to come here himself is he.' Blaster said horrified, he too feared the one Brimstone had been talking to and would rather die then face his wrath.

'No he said it's not his time yet, but he did give me an order.' Brimstone said. 'He told me to wait for Blaze and listen to his story, and then I will know what to do.' And so Brimstone and Blaster waited in silence, neither saying a word as they watched the door. It was over three hours before the door opened and a near dead Blaze fell into the skybox.

'Looks like the Power Puff's did a number on you.' Blaster said as Butch slowly crawled into the room.

'Shut up Blaster.' Blaze said as he used his arms to drag himself over to the old couch they had against the wall. Neither of his brothers moved a muscle to help him, to do so would show weakness of their resolve and physical weakness of Blaze. When Blaze did reach the couch and managed to pull himself onto it Brimstone started to question him.

'How did you escape?' Was the first question Brimstone asked.

'I was doing well against them but they must have cheated somehow and started to hit me a little.' Blaze said. 'But when they were distracted I managed to escape into the sewers, I washed up in the dump and made it back here after that.' Blaze said.

'What distracted them?' Brimstone asked.

'That other me, Butch, he was badly hurt and so they went to check on him.' Blaze answered.

'Did you hurt him?' Was the third question Brimstone asked.

'Well I gave him a few good licks, but nothing near enough to make him as bad as he was.' Blaze said.

'What did happen to Butch then?' Brimstone asked, he knew this was what he had been told to wait for, the answer to their problem.

'Well it was weird, no one was hurting him but he was been beat up all the same boss.' Blaze said. 'It was strange alright; it looked like every time I was damaged then that sissy version of me was hurt as well.' At this Brimstone's eyes lit up as the thoughts went through his mind, he was almost sure he now knew what he had been told to learn. But he could not move on with it without been sure, he had to know. Brimstone undid his belt and whipped it off holding it out to Blaster.

'What do you want me to do with your belt?' Blaster asked as he took the black leather belt from Brimstone.

'Put it in your mouth and bite down on it as hard as you can, you are to make no noise until I tell you to do so.' Brimstone said. Blaster did as he was told looking only half as worried as he felt. As soon as he was biting down on the belt Brimstone grabbed his arm and twisted it until Blaster fell head first onto the desk.

'You will not make a sound.' Brimstone said as a fact and nothing more. With his brother firmly in place and biting down on the belt so as not to scream, Brimstone charged up his eye beams. Instead of a wide beam he fired to very thin beams that merged into on point over Blaster's arm. The concentrated laser beam burned into Blaster's skin causing pure agony to rush through the young boys' nervous system. Blaster bit down even harder as he tried to obey his leaders order, and it was then a loud scream could be heard. The scream was the same as Blaster but was coming from far away and Blaster was not making a sound. As soon as Brimstone heard this he let go of Blaster who feel to the floor clutching his hurt arm against his chest.

'So that's the weakness.' Brimstone said smiling like a madman.