Howdy again! Here's the next chapter everyone! Glad it didn't take so long this time, otherwise y'all would've killed me lol.

So here ya go, hope you like it!

Chapter 11: Blood, Sweat and Tears

Heavy winds howled and moaned as they blew through the now shattered windows of the Utonium chateau and into the darkened living room. The rain had stopped long ago, but the rumbling gray clouds had yet to disappear from the cold night sky.

In the overcast shadows, Blossom's eyes appeared to be an ice cold gray, and her pupils a hollow black. She glared at the monstrosity before her, playing out in her head all the different ways she could destroy him.

They both stood stone still, staring each other down with icy glares, seemingly frozen in time as the cool wind continued to blow into the room.

Bubbles was laying against the wall, too weak to barely even move. She kept opening and closing her blurry red eyes as though she would pass out at any moment. She turned her head a little towards her 'oldest' sister, and managed to smile slightly, despite her excruciating pain. Even in the most hopeless situations, Blossom managed to always pull them through. If it wasn't for Blossom, none of them would have even dreamed of lasting this long. Countless battles against evil villains have been won under Blossom's leadership, and Bubbles truly owed her sister her life. She continued staring at her sister with a smile of contentment and pride until she passed out as the dizzy feelings overcame her.

Buttercup was on her hands and knees, breathing heavily and staring at the ground, watching it become blurry with the tears that were building up in her eyes. This villain had proven just what the girls had been afraid of: he contained a power so great that no hero could match it. Buttercup had always lived her life in competition, trying to be the best at everything. When the harsh reality suddenly came crashing in on her, she felt herself caving inside, and now the bravest of puffs was using all her willpower to keep from crying.

Fear. She had hardly ever known fear. She had always masked any emotions with anger, indifference or arrogance, so she had never truly known what it was like to be afraid. Fear of death, not only for herself but for her family, friends and the entire world. She looked up and saw her sister standing there, glaring at Quasi as though the fight had just now begun, a look a fierceness in her eyes that said they still had a chance of winning.

Blossom. The rivalry of leadership. She always envied Blossom, and wanted so badly to be the leader, and thus, the "favorite." But now, as she sat on her hands and knees weaker than ever before, she realized that they were equals all along. The three of them had fought side by side as equal members of a untied team, holding onto that same hope of destroying this evil and saving the world.

She wanted so much to keep believing in that hope. As she watched her sister stand up to this villain, she wanted so much to believe there was still a chance. Instead she felt herself deeply afraid, her mind so clouded with doubts that she could do nothing else except sit there, contemplating her final moments of life.

After what seemed like ages, Quasi finally started to walk towards Blossom. As he drew closer, Blossom threw up her hands in preparation to attack. Quasi stopped right in front of her, and lifted his right hand high in the air, about the deliver the final blow.

However, he stopped suddenly, and spoke to Blossom in that same echoing evil voice.

"I must thank you, Blossom, for the valiant effort. It was quite fun while it lasted, wouldn't you say?" Quasi smiled and laughed a little.

"But I'm afraid I'll have to end my fun, dear, this is taking much longer than I had expected."

And with that he brought his hand forcefully downwards towards Blossom with one simple slashing motion.

Splatters of blood dotted the floor, and Quasi jumped backwards in horrid surprise.

Blossom stood with her burned and bleeding right hand swung around to her left side, a frightening glare upon her face. She had swung her hand around at the last instant, throwing a stream of her own blood straight into Quasi's red eyes.

He grunted and growled in annoyance as the blood stung and burned. Blossom lunged at Quasi, blowing a fierce blast of ice breath right onto Quasi's bloody, stinging eyes. She then proceeded to throw several punches to his face as he howled and hollered, continuing to rub his eyes vigorously.

And finally, after punching and kicking harder than any puff had ever done, she tilted her head towards his torso, and shot a final blast of red hot eye beams point-blank, the rush of energy sending him flying across the room until he crashed into the opposite wall.

Blossom wiped the sweat from her brow, breathing heavily. She suddenly noticed a spot of red on her stockings, and looked down to discover the cut on her foot from and fell to her knees as her legs gave way, and all her energy having suddenly left her. She looked up hopefully at Quasi, watching intently to see if her attack had been successful.

Quasi didn't move for a long time, causing Blossom to feel a surge of joy as he remained motionless in the crater he had made in the wall. Suddenly he fell forward to the floor on his hands and knees, before slowly getting up to his feet again.

Blossom felt her heart sink in her chest as she saw him stand again, the smoking hole in Quasi's stomach quickly repairing itself. Quasi was now more angry than ever before, enraged at Blossom's inability to give up. The ice had already melted off his eyes, a mixture of blood and water now running down his face from his glaring red eyes.

Blossom's breathing had turned into short gasps as this furious villain advanced toward her for the final time. This was truly the end.. she had no more energy left to use, even in her Hardcore state. She looked down to the ground and squeezed her eyes shut, just waiting for the end to come.

A strange shriek was heard. It was a ghostly mixture between a yelp, a cry, and a scream. Blossom jerked her head upwards and stared wide-eyed at her potential killer. He was almost upon her when he had stopped suddenly, a look of pure shock and surprise on his face. He stumbled forward, grasping his right shoulder with a look of agony on his face.

He swivelled around to face what had attacked him, and both Blossom and Quasi gasped in astonishment.

There, standing in the doorway, was the bruised and beaten form of Professor Utonium himself. He had silently pulled a small container of a deep red, bubbling substance from his coat pocket, waited for just the right moment, and then he had thrown the chemical at Quasi's back, causing him to double over in pain.

Quasi screeched and hollered as he felt the pain take effect, and stumbled around the room in a clumsy daze. Professor Utonium ran over to his fallen girls, knelt next to them and checked to make sure they were okay.

But Quasi's ghostly voice then shook the Professor out of his thoughtful, worried state.

"You may have won this battle, but this is far from over. I'll be back, Utonium, and I'll give you the pleasure of watching your girls die, one by one. And then you'll join them soon after." Quasi choked out between groans and gasps of pain.

Quasi then staggered to the open doorway, took one last look at the Professor and the girls, and then vanished.

Thanks y'all for readin'!