Hi everyone! Been a while hasn't it? I'm sorry about that . It's been a little hectic and crazy for me since my vacation in July and I haven't been able to get to my writing as much as I wanted. I'm hoping things calm down but I'm also finding that either way I'll not be able to keep up with the same pace I was doing back during COVID. I'll try to post something once a month again, it might not be this but a chapter of something at least, but we'll have to see how it goes. In the meantime, here's this and I promise another chapter of The Number 3 before the end of the year as well. Enjoy!

Thank you everyone so much for all the kudos, follows, and comments! It really does make me so happy to see them and it's probably what kept me coming back to write even just tiny bits of this story despite all the crazy in my life right now.


"I don't fucking care! Get the damned things off!"

"We tried! Short of chopping your hands off-"

"Okay, no need to get drastic."

"-they ain't coming off!"

"Fuck that shit!"

"Oh my goodness, language please!"

"I'll watch my language when I'm not chained to this idiot!"

"Speaking of this idiot, I have to pee."

Boomer nearly burst out in laughter as Buttercup turned, so slowly too, to look at Butch.

"Not. Fucking. Happening."

"What does that mean?! I need to pee!"

"Like hell am I following you into the bathroom! Shit, my hand is even attached to your dominate one!"

"Okay, that's really not the problem here!"

"It's the only problem here!"

Boomer shook his head. Trust their lobster mom to go and chain the worst two people together. Not that he was complaining. He was pretty sure Buttercup was literally five seconds away from blasting Butch to smithereens and seeing as how Butch had been the main babysitter lately, Boomer was kind of looking forward to it. Which, speaking of his babysitting…

Brick was clearly more focused on Butch right then who was clearly trying to not freak out, so neither of them were watching him. The puffs didn't know he needed watched, though only Bubbles was occasionally glancing his way, and Bellum wasn't here. If he was going to take that trip to Citiesville to talk to a certain blonde, now was the time to do it. Easing his way back towards the stairs, nobody seemed to notice as Buttercup sent an eye blast right at Butch's face. It landed too, and Boomer very much would have loved to stick around and watch, but this would be the best chance he'd get.

Not wasting a second, Boomer slipped silently through the door, letting it silently close behind him. With the door closed, Boomer could finally move faster and so, in less than a second, he was out of the house and flying high. Once he reached a safe enough level, he didn't hesitate before kicking off, below sonic boom level, for his destination.


Slowing to a stop over the city, Boomer realized he might have messed up a little. He'd taken off without his phone and now was stuck floating above a city that hated supers, not knowing exactly where he was supposed to go. Cursing, Boomer really hoped nobody looked up anytime soon.

Turning on his X-ray vision, Boomer began to fly over the city scanning it. Sooner or later he was bound to see something that might help, even if he wasn't sure what that might be. It wasn't like X-infused bones showed up differently than normal bones. Still, hopefully maybe Berserk or Blane would be as sensitive to it as his reds and come out to see what was going on. Which maybe was not the best thing but it'd work. He wasn't sure which one he'd rather end up facing though.

Not that it happened. As he was scanning the city, Boomer saw the exact thing he needed to know he'd found a super. Although, what he saw had him raising an eyebrow. All the same, he wasted no time in dropping down into the city, his X-ray vision turning off, as he followed a streak of green that looked all too similar. If it weren't for the fact his brother was chained to someone else, he almost would have thought he was being followed. Since he knew better though, Boomer could only assume he'd lucked out and found Brute zooming through the city. And who better to follow than a punk when it was a punk he was looking for?

Following above but not far behind her, Boomer couldn't help but wonder what she was doing. Last they'd checked, powers were still off limits inside Citiesville city limits. Then again, the punks weren't known to stick to the rules. This was a rule he thought they actually stuck to though, since there were much more serious consequences. Thankfully, at the speed they were going, he didn't imagine he'd be stuck wondering for long.

And he was right. Not more than two minutes later and Brute was touching down just outside one of the nicer parks in Citiesville, a familiar face walking up to meet her. Floating not far away, Boomer couldn't help but cock his head. Brawdy didn't seem like the-

Boomer's thought came to an abrupt stop as Brute grabbed Brawdy by the shirt collar and pulled him down to, for all intents and purposes from what he could see, all but eat Brawy's face off. Near gagging, Boomer decided it was definitely time to make his presence known. Dropping down not far away from the two, he loudly cleared his throat.

And was ignored. He tried again, louder, only to again be ignored. Not enjoying the show at all, Brute's hand was drifting lower as Brawdy's began to drift under her shirt, Boomer decided to give them just a little shock. Literally.

At the zap he sent through them, the two quickly flinched away and two pairs of glowing green eyes focused on Boomer. He gave them a little wiggly fingered wave.

"Hello. Thought maybe you'd like to know you're not alone. And remind you that this is a public place. And that I'd love to leave you both alone if you just do me one tiny favor."

"What the hell are you doing in Citiesville ruff?" Brawdy asked as he pulled away from Brute slightly. He looked like he was about to swagger over but stopped and rolled his neck out instead, all the while trying to look down his nose at Boomer. It might have been more effective if Brawdy wasn't the same height as Buttercup, and therefore shorter than him still, but he was so Boomer didn't really care.

"Looking for someone not you so just point me in the right direction, and I'll be happily on my way."

Brute, thankfully, caught on faster. "Brat's probably at the school. Some club or something."

"Perfect-"

"The hell you looking for Brat for?"

Seeing as how Boomer had gotten his answer, he wasn't in the mood to give Brawdy his. Instead, he gave them a two fingered salute ending with a one fingered one before quickly taking to the skies and for the school before either of the Citiesville greens could decide to try and sock him one. Thankfully the school wasn't far from this part of town either so in no time at all, Boomer was floating above the familiar buildings. Looking down at it, Boomer couldn't be more thankful that he was a resident of Townsville and not Citiesville. The thing looked more like a prison to him than a school.

Activating his X-ray vision, Boomer quickly started scanning the school. It didn't take him long to locate the blonde he was looking for. She was practicing on one of the fields and if Boomer didn't know better, he'd almost think it was cheer practice. Confused, because Brat hated anything cheerful with a burning passion, Boomer floated over and down.

He landed on the side of the field and watched. Definitely cheer practice. Boomer couldn't help but wonder how long that'd been going on. Was she always in cheer and just missing the Townsville games or was she a new join? She was good at it either way, maybe even as good as Bubbles. Not that he'd ever dare say that. He liked breathing. And having his girlfriend not hate his guts. Still, he had to respect that they were practicing which meant not interrupting. Plus, Brat was more likely to listen if he was respectful and didn't just go blazing in.

So Boomer walked over to the stands and plopped down there, nose immediately getting buried in the new phone game he just bought himself. He let the sounds of the practice going on in front of him fade away and very quickly started to lose track of time. That was until he saw a message pop up on his phone for an incoming call. Noting the name, Boomer couldn't help but frown. His brothers had finally noticed his absence. Took them longer than he'd thought it would though. Ignoring the call, he knew it wouldn't be long until they starting trying to track him down. They'd never guess where he was though so at least there was that.

"Um, excuse me?" Boomer startled slightly and looked up to see one of the cheer girls standing right next to him, her phone in hand. "I was wondering, are you one of those supers in the town over?"

"Uh…yeah. Guess I am. Can I help you?" Boomer asked as he glanced across the field to where they'd all been practicing. Brat was standing there, arms crossed and hip cocked, as she glared at him.

The girl sat down next to him with a squeal, startling Boomer further and bringing his attention back to her. "Oh. Em. Gee! This is sooo cool! I was just begging Brat to invite you or one of your brothers, two brothers right? To invite you to come here and we could put on a cheer or something-" her hands went around his arm and she leaned in closer and Boomer started to lean away. "-cause what you all do is so awesome and cool and everything!"

"Yeah. Right. Real cool. You ever ask her to bring the puffs around here?"

"Who?" Boomer raised an eyebrow and she had a clear ah-ha moment before giggling and leaning in further too close, too close! "Them! I don't care about them. I can prove I'm a tough woman without them fighting crime to make a statement."

"You are so far off the mark-"

"But you and your brothers are so cool! Oh! I know! Let me grab the rest of the girls and we can all give you your own private cheer-"

Boomer launched away from the girl, yanking his arm away from her, and ended up floating above the stands just slightly. "Okay! I think I'm good. No thanks! Got a girlfriend, one of those girls you think is fighting crime just to make a statement, and I am more than happy thanks. She's even a cheerleader so if I was ever crazy enough to want a private cheer show I'm all set. Don't need you all. And so I'm going to go talk to Brat, the whole reason I'm here, then I'm going to bail and pretend this never happened."

Something he seriously hoped this girl would do as well. Last thing he needed was for her to go fangirl like this again next time there was a game and for Bubbles to see it. He knew the puffs could be possessive of what they thought was theirs and the poor girl might end up deaf before any of them realized what was happening.

Not paying attention to the pout on the girl's face, Boomer didn't waste another second before zooming over to Brat and landing in front of her. She was less impressed by him and simply raised an eyebrow. Typical Brat. Thank god.

"Why are you in town blue boy?" Brat asked.

"Defaulting to the name calling the greens do? Ouch. I thought we were better than that," Boomer couldn't help but taunt. Brat wasn't going to just fall for it though and simply raised her eyebrow in response. Boomer shrugged. Worth a shot. "Came to talk to you about something."

"Oh? And what could you possibly want to talk to me about?"

"See? That's part of my problem. I don't know exactly what it is I'm talking to you about."

"That sounds like a you problem. Come back when you figure you out."

Boomer zipped around Brat to stop her from strutting off. "Ah-ah-ah. I don't know exactly but I know enough. Stop whatever game you're playing with Bubs Brat."

Brat scoffed. "Of course. She would send you to play knight in white."

"First, I ain't wearing white. Second, Bubs hasn't said a word about this."

Brat's smile slowly slid across her face until it was so wide her teeth were barred at him. She cackled a moment later, her head falling back slightly as she did so. "Oh, this is so great! God! I didn't realize she was that fucking-"

"I'm warning you Brat. Knock it off. Last thing we need is for one of us to lose our temper."

Brat's laugh froze in her throat at that. She looked down her nose at him before slowly righting her face. "Are you threatening me Boomer?"

"I'll leave that up to you to decide. Either way, you've been warned. Keep this up and we'll all regret it."

Brat eyed him before scoffing and pushing past him. "Whatever you say Mr. Knight. Not my problem she doesn't trust you though."

Boomer spun at that but Brat took off with enough force that a blast of dust kicked up, the last few girls on the field squealing and yelling at it. Boomer couldn't help but click his tongue loudly. He could follow her, maybe even catch up with her, but if she took off like that there was no way she'd answer him. All following her would do is give her the satisfaction of knowing she got under his skin.

At that moment, Boomer's phone also went off again. Pulling it out, he saw a text from Brick and couldn't help but frown. Even without opening it he knew he was in deep shit. Sighing, and with one last glare in the direction that Brat took off in, Boomer took to the skies much more gently. When he was high enough above the city though, he didn't hold back, blasting off for Citiesville, a sonic boom going off as he did so. He was sure someone would get hell for it, it was a clear use of powers, but seeing as how this wasn't his city, he was pretty sure he didn't care. Wasn't going to be him taking the fall for it.


Since the first time he'd overheard whispers about it in the hallway, Butch had had thoughts about girls and chains.

"If that lobster isn't there, I swear to fucking god… Mojo better find Him fast."

He'd even had a dream or two that resulted in an awkward moment where he hoped his brothers were either still fast asleep or the sound proofing on their rooms was really as good as they thought it was. Super hearing got awkward in times like those.

"And that lobster better fucking take these things off or I will show Him a whole new world of pain."

His buddies, who he was not going to name, had even passed him some…material on the stuff.

"Just because I don't think Lockdown can hold Him doesn't mean I can't make him regret his decisions!"

After this though…Butch was pretty sure this had ruined all of that. Though, typically, the guy isn't chained to the girl. Which was really the whole problem here. That and the fact he still really needed to pee.

"Butch? Are you listening to me?"

"No."

The resulting energy blast to the side of Butch's face was much needed and helped shake him out of his thoughts. That didn't mean it didn't hurt though.

"Son of a bitch! Did ya have to blast me?! Fuck!"

"Well you weren't listening! Hell! You said as much! I'd like to think you'd be as interested as I am in making this lobster regret things!"

"Maybe if I wasn't stuck still needing to pee I might be able to focus on that."

"There is no fucking way in hell that's happening while we're still like this!" Buttercup said, sounding more shrill than he was used to for her, as she rattled their wrists. As if he needed the reminder.

"Then so sorry Bitterbitch if my thoughts drift away from all your raging! My most urgent needs aren't stuck in the realm of your righteous fury!"

Another energy beam, though this one Butch was able to duck. She roared at him as they came to a sudden stop in the air, her eyes glowing green as she glared at him.

"Don't call me that! God fucking damn it! You know I hate nicknames but that one is the worst of the fucking lot! I put up with it because I know you did it just to get a rise out of me for all those years and then it just became a fucking thing but not that one!"

Butch blinked a little at her, stunned at the outburst. She'd never lashed at him like that before.

"Okay, got it. That one's scratched from the list. Pinky promise."

He watched as she panted heavily and Butch all of a sudden remembered what it was like back when they were kids fighting against one another. All pent up anger and rage at everything with no way to handle it except to throw it at one another. Not a good flashback to have when he was chained up to Buttercup. He remembered how many broken bones and worse those fights resulted in. Bones healed faster and smoother than torn ligaments after all, and he tore and broke a lot of things in his body in those fights.

Slowly, the panting took on a measured pattern that he recognized from the very few times he'd caught her meditating. Butch watched as the glowing green faded from Buttercup's eyes until it was just her usual eyes, still narrowed, focused on him.

"You good? Cause fighting with this is gunna get hella ugly. Especially since I really do still need to pee."

Buttercup's glare turned to a look of exasperation as she sighed and shook her head at him. "Come on. Let's get to the Observatory and get this thing off."

Butch wasn't sure it would be that easy but when she started again towards the Observatory, he didn't hesitate to follow. When she was like this, it was best to just let Buttercup do what she thought was the best course of action and then talk to her when it failed. Thankfully the rest of the trip was in silence and Butch honestly just did his best not to think about his soon to burst bladder.

Touching down with a bit more force than she usually did, Buttercup didn't wait to see if Butch landed in front of the door next to her before charging through. Keeping a forward floating movement, it took Butch until he nearly was through the door after her before he actually touched down.

"Mojo! Get your furry ass out here! We need to speak to Him now!" Buttercup yelled. Butch winced away from how loud her voice was, his hand going up to rub at his ear exaggeratedly. Buttercup caught the movement and glared at him but didn't comment. "Mojo! Where are you?!"

"What is all this incessant noise that is occurring within my, Mojo Jojo's, home? What could you, Buttercup the Powerpuff Girl, want with I that is so urgent it required all this unnecessary noise?" Mojo rambled as he made his way down the far staircase.

Buttercup wasted no time before starting her march over to him, her wrist lifting as she dragged Butch along with her.

"This. This is what's so urgent. Get Him here right this instant. I want these off. Now!"

Mojo blinked at the fuzzy handcuffs, Butch really wished that Him had chosen something less than his usual style, before bursting out in a wheezing and knee slapping laugh.

Yeah. That was about the reaction Butch had been expecting.

"Stop. Laughing."

Butch glanced at Buttercup and saw not just the glowing green eyes but also a bright red spreading across her cheeks. Which had him realizing just how embarrassing this situation was going to be if they didn't get this fixed before the end of the day. No way in hell would their friends ever let them live this down. Ever.

"Alright chimp," Butch starting, jumping in before Buttercup decided to start a fight with the handicapped retired villain. "We need to talk to Him. Clearly the lobster was way too bored and your tea time wasn't enough so we're now chained. Neither of us are enjoying it very much and we'd really like these off."

Mojo slowly settled a little, only the occasional giggle making it through, and turned to look at Butch. "This might end up being more difficult than originally you believed it would be as Him mentioned at his last tea session, which you my son, Butch Jojo, should remember that he would be absent from our realm for the next few weeks due to issues in his domain."

Butch blinked slowly at that. He didn't remember. Not too surprising since he never really listened but seeing as how Brick hadn't said anything that meant that none of them actually listened at these tea time talks. Great. They were probably going to get yelled at when that got noticed.

"There has to be something," Butch said, his voice coming out slightly straggled. If he didn't find something soon, his bladder really would burst and Buttercup would likely kill someone. And seeing as how he was now the closest target he really didn't want to be around for that.

"You are in luck in that Him seems to have left a note for you to read," Mojo said as he pointed to a far wall. Both greens looking over at it, they saw an envelope with a red mist around tapped to the wall, their names clearly written in a very flowy handwriting on it.

Buttercup didn't waste any time in zooming over to it, Butch barely reacting fast enough to not have his arm ripped off. The second she was close enough to, she ripped the envelope off the wall and was tearing the letter inside out. Her eyes began zooming back and forth as her face got darker and darker, her eyes glowing brighter and brighter in comparison. More than a little worried, Butch made his way around to read over her shoulder, gaining a glare as he jostled her arm slightly.

My lovely greens-

I'm soooo very sure you would just LOVE to speak with me, but I'm afraid I can't. Some of us do unfortunately have things to do. That said, the reality show you lovely supers have been putting on for me these past few months is growing increasingly frustrating. I'm honestly most ashamed of the complete LACK of interesting interactions between you two. At least Boomer has the skill to get the girl and Brick is failing brilliantly at not being trouble, but my darling middle seems to be at a total loss by producing no drama for me at all since the gnatt incident. An incident that was mostly instigated by NOT my middle child. So I decided to help! The cuffs will disappear when some very honest and much needed words are shared between the two of you. Don't worry, I won't demand TOO much. Buttercup just needs to admit what she did and Butch needs to be honest about why he got in so, so, SO much trouble with that one gnat last year. Until then, enjoy the gift!

Love-

Him

XOXOXOXOXO…

The XOs continued for most of the remaining portion of the letter but Butch couldn't bring himself to follow them down. He was stuck, probably similarly to Buttercup, reading and re-reading the last three sentences. With a gulp, he looked up at Mojo who was grinning widely, clearly not as unknowing about what was going on as he gave the original impression of. Fuck.

Butch was totally fucked because there was no way he was going to admit anything to anyone, especially not Buttercup. Clearly his counterpart felt the same way as she started to shred the letter, a growl building in her throat and a green glow spreading across her body. For once, he didn't feel the jolt in his X to rise against the unspoken promise of violence that came with her surge of X.

They were so fucked. And he still really, really needed to pee. Shit.


Blossom, for the first time she could ever remember, slowly closed her door all the way over before locking it, the screaming between the two greens becoming muted through all the soundproofing. Her father was near pulling his hair out at the situation and Blossom wished she could help. Any time she tried though, Buttercup ended up just snapping at her and Blossom hadn't been able to stop herself from snapping back. Bubbles had eventually stepped in and suggested that they leave it to her and the professor to sort out. Not that it was getting sorted out very well in Buttercup's opinion.

The day had been a heck of a roller coaster and Blossom was very much looking forward to just curling up in bed and calling it there. Unfortunately, she still had some of reports to read through. There's been no clues left behind at the broken relay tower, the monster detection adjustments were hitting a snag, there was also no further information on these new type of monsters, Fuzzy going missing, and Ace had finally broken out of jail. The cooking lesson was also lingering in her mind, even if she was telling it not to.

Honestly, Blossom wasn't really worried about Ace, they'd all known it was just a matter of time, but it felt like bad timing. The last thing they needed right now was for there to be the usual spike in gang related incidents that occurred whenever Ace broke out. She'd been thinking about paying him a visit to…talk to him about that. Before she did that though, she had a higher priority trip on her mind. She'd wanted to do it that day but then everything went sideways and she'd lost the chance to. While Blossom was against skipping class, she had the easiest time catching back up from it.

Well, that was all assuming the greens didn't destroy something while still chained together. Buttercup had refused dinner because they'd already had one bathroom fiasco and she was going to do everything she could apparently to avoid another one. Blossom thought her sister was being ridiculous but at the same time, couldn't help but understand. It couldn't have been a fun position to be in, stuck with hand through the cracked open door while Butch peed.

Blossom might have had more sympathy if they hadn't apparently found the clue to get the things off at Mojo's place. The fact that they were still chained was a testament to how stubborn the two could be. If they really wanted to stretch this out, then that was on them.

Which meant Blossom would spend half the day at school to make sure nothing really went bad and then she'd take off for the island. She was hesitant to leave the city, especially since the ruffs apparently weren't as ready to watch things as they'd hoped, but her sisters would still be here. They could handle anything that came up easy enough.

Huffing, Blossom crawled onto her bed and stuffed a pillow over her head, trying to further muffle the noise from downstairs. It wasn't going too well. Tomorrow was already shaping up to be a long, long day.


Warm. Buttercup couldn't help but snuggle in deeper. So cozy. Normally the house always had that tinge of cold to it, something that naturally happened when Blossom was asleep, but today her bed was so much warmer than usual. It was heavenly.

A sigh. Buttercup froze. That sigh hadn't been her. Why was someone sighing right above her head when she was in bed? Slowly opening her eyes, Buttercup found that all she could see was a wrinkled Townsville High shirt. She never wore those. They were all buried at the bottom of her closet. Then the shirt moved, and it all came rushing back.

Pulling back sharply, Buttercup looked up to see Butch's face right there. Then she slowly became aware of his arms around her, and hers around him, their chained ones wrapped around each other. Fuck. Fuckity fucking fuck.

Buttercup didn't even let her self-think, her face already very obviously heating to a red that would be beyond obvious, as she launched herself out of the bed in a very forceful green flash. Butch was yanked alongside her and she didn't even try to stop his momentum as he face planted right on the floor off the futon in the living room. He swore loudly at the rude awakening and Buttercup turned away from him. That had not been a good way to start the day.

And Buttercup was determined to continue to think that way despite the butterflies in her stomach and the continuing burning red of her face.


"And you really need to do this today?" Brick asked, eyebrow raise. Blossom nodded without looking up at him.

"Yes. I've already put it off a few times."

"And there's absolutely no way you could just put it off another day or two? I mean, really?"

"Really."

"…This isn't you just avoiding the cooking lesson today is it?"

Blossom finally looked up at him at that, if only to glare at him. "No. It isn't."

Brick couldn't help the skeptical look he gave her, though he knew much better than to say anything. He was sure that if Buttercup hadn't been so preoccupied with her own situation that she would have called Blossom out on what was clearly just a bunch of BS. Buttercup had the familial advantage though and could get away with that. Brick would end up with frost burn and he'd had enough of that over the summer as it was.

"Okay, fine. You don't want back-up either though?"

Blossom shook her head as the glare fell away. "No need. Bubbles has a test and Boomer is still on lock down here in the city and their speed is really all that might have helped to speed things up."

All of which Brick couldn't argue with. He still felt weird letting her go on her own though.

"Another pair of eyes wouldn't hurt though. Could split the island."

Blossom seemed to freeze for about half a second, something most people probably wouldn't notice but Brick did. It was the kind of thing he couldn't help but notice and for years had pinned it on being her biggest rival, even if he knew that wasn't the only reason. After the brief moment passed though, she turned from him to face the direction of the island with a frown.

"No. I'll be fine." There was another brief pause and Brick opened his mouth only to snap it shut as she continued. "Plus, someone needs to stay here to make sure the greens don't kill one another."

He couldn't help but frown at that. What Blossom said made sense but Brick still felt like something was off. The logical reason hadn't been the first thing she said, which made Brick wonder.

"That's…true?" He couldn't help but ask.

Blossom simply nodded. "I should be back before the end of the day. If something happens though, ping me through the emergency system and I'll hurry back. I doubt any monsters are going to head this way though if I'm on the island. They tend to stay near the island when one of us over there."

"Right." Brick paused as he tried to think of the best way to phrase this but ultimately realized blunt was best. "Are you sure you're good? Something seems…off?"

Blossom spun to face him, her eyes going wide for half a heartbeat before narrowing in a glare. "I'd imagine that if I seem off it's only because Him meddling with things puts us in a bind if we do get attacked and I'm worried about what's going on with the isle."

Brick gave a half shrug. "I can't see that Him would let the handcuffs get in the way of a serious fight. If something goes wrong, we'd have valid reason to go after Him per the deal that we have set up."

"You'll have to forgive me for not having that same optimism seeing as how Him would love to see us all fail and quite possibly dead sooner rather than later."

"I'm sure once the lobster gets properly entertained by the whole thing the cuffs will disappear. Shouldn't take long for that." If only because Brick couldn't imagine the greens staying sane if this continued.

Blossom snorted at that. "All the same, I'd rather they come off sooner rather than later. Remember, ping me if something happens."

Brick gave a nod and would have replied but Blossom took off for the skies a second later and anything be would have said would just get lost in the wind. Scratching absentmindedly at his forehead, Brick couldn't help but feel like he'd just missed something. For the life of him though, he couldn't figure out what. He would have pondered on it a bit longer but a few seconds after Blossom had taken off he heard a familiar whine. Closing his eyes and bracing himself, Brick turned to see the greens standing there, Butch sticking his lower lip out in a pout that Brick knew from experience spelled a coming headache. Mentally preparing, Brick made his way over, silently filing away the off feeling he'd had to come back to later.


Buttercup was about ready to give in. She literally didn't care anymore. Him could win this round. She'd confess. It was fine. The problem was she wasn't the only one who needed to fess up to get these things off and Butch didn't seem nearly as desperate as she did to put an end to this.

"Why is it bad when we do it but fine when she does it?" Butch whined.

Brick sighed through his noise as he poked at his food. "Because she doesn't do it."

"But she did."

"Just leave it Butch."

"But I don't geeet it."

Buttercup didn't get how they ended up at the wrong lunch time. They'd been bouncing between their two classes to try and make sure they didn't miss anything too crazy but since both of them had the other lunch, there was literally no reason why they were sitting where they were. It gave her a chance to see just what was going on with another problem though.

Mitch was staring at his phone, pale, while Princess wasn't looking at any of them. While Buttercup couldn't do anything about the Princess side of things, she'd leave that to her sisters if it was needed, she was going to have to deal with the Mitch side of things. She couldn't even begin to imagine what happened and Mitch seemed fine every time she saw them. Mike kept glancing between the two and Buttercup could only internally groan. Of all the people to go to for help, Mike was the worst option.

Buttercup really didn't want to deal with this.

"Brooo, I wanna ditch too."

"That's a little more difficult for you right now so tough."

"Broooo."

"Stop being annoying Butch."

"I don't wannnna."

Buttercup felt her eyebrow twitch. She'd been ignoring Butch as much as possible since they woke up, not that he knew why though it seemed to be putting him a foul mood. The rough start to the morning, with Buttercup refusing to explain, hadn't been a good way to start. It had put Butch in a pissy mood which led them to now, with Butch deciding to take out his annoying energy on everyone around them.

Second-hand annoyance. Butch really was a pro at getting under her skin.

Thankfully, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Brick wasted no time in getting the hell away from them but Mitch dragged his feet, probably to make sure Princess left first. Which gave her the chance she needed to deal with this all. Better to strike sooner with Mitch. He tended to do dumb things when left alone for too long.

"Yo, dipshit. What the fuck is going on?" Buttercup asked, her tone light, as she fell into step next to Mitch. She felt Butch tug on the chain but ignored him.

"I dunno what you're talking about," Mitch mumbled. He started to shuffle a little faster and she didn't know why. It wasn't like he could outrun her.

"Cut the shit. You know exactly what I'm talking about. What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Don't make me pull it out of you."

"Yeah, don't make-urg!" Buttercup cut Butch off with a rather brutal stomp onto the top of his foot. He glared at her and she glared back. Him opening his mouth would definitely stop her from getting answers.

"I think you have other problems to deal with right now," Mitch said. Buttercup spun back to him and saw a pointed look at the cuffs, which had Buttercup's teeth grinding.

"It's being dealt with. Your problem isn't. What happened?"

Mitch shrugged. "It's being dealt with, same as your problem."

"Mitch-"

"Gotta get to class."

Buttercup nearly stomped her foot as she watched Mitch turn down a hallway for his class, no longer shuffling and successfully slipping through the crowd of people down that hall.

"I'll get it out of you sooner or later!" She yelled after him, a couple heads turning to look at her but Mitch just waved without turning.

"That was a flop." Buttercup's eye started to twitch. She spun to face Butch who was frowning down at his foot. "I also think you broke something."

"Tough."

Butch pouted at that but Buttercup couldn't bring herself to care. Without another thought she was off and stomping down the hallway to her next class. At least that would give her some peace of mind.


Blossom ducked under the swinging arm of the large monster. It was slow and still half asleep so she really wasn't too concerned. Normally when they visited the island the monsters would leave them alone. It was only the odd one here or there that really tried to challenge them on the isle these days. Why they thought it was okay to try and destroy the city she'd never understand but since not every monster tried to destroy the town, the girls couldn't justify trying to wipe the whole island out. Plus, destroying something simply because of its potential to do harm was wrong. By that kind of logic, her and her sisters should have been destroyed long ago but they'd proved over and over that the good they chose to do outweighed the harm they could do.

The monster began to turn and chase her but about half way through clearly couldn't be bothered anymore and instead curled back up in a ball and fell back asleep. Shaking her head, Blossom turned to continue on. So far her sweep of the island hadn't shown anything, but she still had the mountains to scope out. They would take the longest and would be the most difficult. Most of the monsters had caves in and around them that meant she was likely to have more than just the one grumpy sleepy head taking a swipe at her.

Steeling herself, Blossom zipped in a flash of pink to the top of the highest mountain. It was easiest to start high and work her way down she'd found. Activating her X-ray vision, she began her sweep. As she'd expected, even before she'd finished a third of the sweep, she'd been swiped at another three times. All of them had been half attempts though and she sailed past them all without getting so much as a single scratch. The one thing she thought that was odd though was that despite how often she'd been swiped at, most of the caves were empty.

Stopping at the entrance to one of the caves she knew had been inhabited the last time she was on the island, Blossom scanned the area. There was no sign of a monster. Dropping down, she took a look at the tracks and trails but none were recent. The cave, for all intents and purposes, had been abandoned and it had been that way for a while.

Confused, and maybe even a little worried, Blossom rose back up and continued her sweep. They'd had a higher number of monster fights lately true, but not enough for half of the island's caves to be this abandoned. It made no sense and she honestly didn't have the time to properly look into it that day. Stopping at the mouth of the next abandoned gave, she pumped some extra X into her eyes and scanned through as much of the rock she could to see if she could see something.

Nothing. The odd monster here and there but again, not near the amount she was expecting. Something was going on. Adding in that she'd seen no signs of anything having been mutated by chemical X and Blossom was already mentally re-arranging schedules for the weekend so they could do a proper investigation of the island.

About ready to call it there, Blossom was deactivating her X-ray vision when something caught her eye. Cocking her head, she turned back to focus on it but with all the trees, rocks, and space between her and it she wasn't sure what it was. Zooming up and over to the nearest cave she could find, she focused on the item again as she navigated to it.

When she got to it finally, Blossom could only find herself to be even more confused. She slowly landed as she glanced around. She was at the back of a rather deep cave, one she knew the stronger monsters on the island fought over, only it was also clearly abandoned. The only thing in it was the item that was now at her feet. Frowning, Blossom reached down to pick it up, turning it over several times in her hands to try and understand better what she was looking at.

It didn't help. After all, Blossom couldn't think of a single reason why a broken mirror would be at the back of the scariest cave on the island that belonged completely to monsters.


Buttercup felt a tug on her wrist and barely managed to keep her cool. That said, she still didn't hesitate to turn and glare at Butch. Again. The annoying guy only shrugged slightly, his hand still tapping on the table. With a glance around the room, she saw that she was clearly the only one annoyed by this.

"Can you knock that off?" Buttercup hissed out in a whisper only he could hear.

Butch blinked a few times before he replied. "You're really annoyed by this right now?"

Buttercup wrinkled her nose at his tapping hand, something that she had to admit normally wouldn't get on her nerves but Butch was good at making exceptions to things. "Yes. So stop."

Butch didn't stop right away, tapping a few more times before finally stilling his hand. Buttercup continue glaring for a bit until she was sure he'd stopped for real before turning back to her notebook. She was only able to half pay attention to what she was writing for a bit until she finally felt confident that he'd stopped. Then she was finally able to lose herself in the assignment again.

Or, well, she did until she felt someone looming over her shoulder. A glance told her it was the last person she wanted reading what she was writing. It was also the most expected one at that moment. All the same, she covered the page with her arm and glared at Butch.

"What? Can't you find something better to do?"

Butch shrugged. "Like what? Homework? That shits for when I'm at home."

"If you did it here then you wouldn't have to though. Has to be better than sitting around bored."

"I dunno. Homework's still pretty boring."

"Something's better than nothing."

"Reading your story is something. It's pretty good."

Buttercup felt heat rise up into her cheeks and tried to will it away, likely with little success. "It's not for reading."

Butch raised an eyebrow. "You're writing a story for it not to be read?"

"Other than the teacher? Yeah."

"That's dumb."

"Yeah, well, your face is dumb. Do your homework or something."

"But now I'm invested. I wanna know what happens."

"Tough shit."

Buttercup turned back to her work at that and, arm still in place to block his vision, got started on it again. After a while she started to ignore Butch's presence again as she got focused on her work. Ideas were flowing out and she was enjoying finally being able to put them on paper until she heard a sound from her side.

With a twitching eye, Buttercup glance over at Butch only to have to suppress a growl. He was tapping again but a glance at her eyes told her that he was also reading her work. She really hated X-ray vision sometimes.

"I told you to stop that!" She hissed out at him. Butch simply raised an eyebrow, telling her to make him.

Glancing around the room, Buttercup saw that the teacher was looking the other way and the students were all focused on what they were doing. Perfect. Turning back to Butch she pointed a finger at him and didn't hesitate to let off a mini energy beam that hit him in the arm. He hissed at it and jerked his arm, which was also the one attached to hers making her arm jerk away from the paper. She frowned and yanked it back.

"That wasn't petty at all," Butch hissed at her. Buttercup simply shrugged.

"Told you to stop tapping and to stop reading."

"It's good though! And I only started tapping cause I was getting anxious with where it was going!"

Buttercup growled at that, her face feeling flushed again, only to have the bell go off. She glanced up at it, both annoyed and relieved all at the same time. Butch, having not taken anything out, was quick to stand with his bag over his shoulder. Buttercup glared up at him.

"You are really good. Totally see why you're so into it. Does that journal of yours have more stuff like that in it?"

Butch was pointing at her bag where Buttercup had her personal journal which did, in fact, have more stuff like that in it. It was her planning journal, where all her ideas went, and the though of him being interested in it gave her chills. She did not want Butch eyeing a journal filled of her ideas. Knowing him he'd do something stupid to get a hold of it and then something stupid with it and then the whole fucking school would know all of her ideas. Which was not allowed to happen!

Buttercup was quick to shove her class notebook in her bag before throwing it over her shoulder. More time chained to Butch was going to be bad. He'd learn and see more and more, and she wasn't sure she could handle it. Her nerves were already fried from this morning alone!

Which meant fixing this. Buttercup yanked her wrist to get Butch's attention, it'd wandered down the hallway after she didn't know fucking what. He turned back to her with a raised eyebrow at her glare.

"Enough. You and me are fixing this. Now."

Butch paled slightly at that but seemed to let her yank him down the hall. Hopefully that would mean she'd get him to fess up his side of this whole shindig easy enough. And if it didn't then she'd just force him. She was done with this!


Bubbles couldn't help but skip through the halls as she hummed to herself. The weekend had been a bit more of a chaotic disaster than she'd been hoping for, Blossom and Brick had made no progress thanks to that, but there was a wonderful bright side. The greens had unexpectedly been stuck together and she could not wait for the spark to finally light. Finally Buttercup would be forced to acknowledge how she felt and there was no way Butch could ever possibly say no and so there'd be yet another super couple. Then they could all go on double dates!

She couldn't wait!

Especially since it had been so hard just getting a date with her boyfriend lately. The thought had Bubbles frowning, her skip slowing to a walk. Brat had oddly also quieted down. Bubbles knew her mirror version. Brat wasn't one to just let things go. She was more likely to show up and start forcing whatever she was trying to annoy you with literally into your face. Which meant something was off. Bubbles just couldn't figure out what and that was a dangerous place to be with Brat. The only way to stay a step ahead was to expect the right unexpected.

Speaking of unexpected, Bubbles straight up stopped in the middle of the hallway as she cocked her head at the sight at the end of the hallway. Abigale was standing there talking to Ali with Howie standing not far away, seeming to be listening in while trying to seem like he wasn't. There were so many things off about the picture that Bubbles wasn't sure where her mind should start trying to make sense of it. Focusing her hearing, Bubbles tried to make the noise of the hallway fall away as she listened into the conversation.

"I just don't get why you're so set on this. If it doesn't-" Ali started.

"It'll be fine…that's all you need to do," Abigale responded. Bubbles felt her nose crinkle. She'd missed half of it because of the other kids in the hallway.

"I don't know that I…get seriously upset! I know what that looks…no part of it."

"I can handle it. We have…works. It'll be fine. Plus, it's too late…"

"I don't…I'll tell them."

"…Remember, you were half the reason that…know that part too."

Bubbles was slowly trying to make her way closer, thankfully they didn't seem to be paying much attention to their surroundings. She felt her phone go off in her pocket though and decided it wouldn't hurt to look like she wasn't trying to snoop. Pulling it out, she flipped it open.

"…win. I won't tell."

"Smart move."

Bubbles clicked her tongue. It sounded like they were done talking. She wished she'd noticed them earlier-

Bubbles felt all thought stop as she looked down at her phone. She blinked once, twice, three times but the image didn't change. It was so unbelievable of an image though that Bubbles felt her brain stalling as she looked at it. Even as she floated up into the air, the students around her looking at her confused, she still couldn't tear her eyes away.

"Bubbles? What's up?" Robin asked. They had the same next class. Bubbles slowly looked up at her, blinking away tears. Robin's eyes went wide as she saw that, and she quickly started to make her way to Bubbles. It wasn't enough though.

Without responding, Bubbles took off down the hallway, going just under the speed that she knew would damage things, and blasting for the nearest doorway. Once she was outside though, she didn't hold back and kicked it up to a much more dangerous speed. She had a certain bone to pick with someone and it couldn't wait. At. All.


It's getting crazy! Got some fun stuff coming up in the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it!

Trase! I'm happy to hear you enjoy my story enough to actually leave comments! And yes, pushy mom in Him form was a nice twist I thought to throw in there haha. Everything with the greens and the blues is going to be coming to a big moment soon, but I also haven't forgotten the reds so be prepared for it all haha. Blossom, as you can see, is now playing avoid the awkward but I'll only let that fly for so long. I feel like I can't not write protector Butch. His special power just feeds into that image too much. I'm happy to hear you think I've done such a good job with building this story too! I feel like I've gotten a better grasp on story pacing and character growing through writing this story and it's really been such a great learning experience for me. And for your small comment that you added, I feel like baby siblings live to annoy their eldest ones (I'm an eldest and boy does my baby brother love to annoy me). I also like plans (like Brick) and my youngest brother seems to never have one but everything works out better than it does for me (like Boomer). Write what you know, right? Haha. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter as well as what I have to come!

Guest! So glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one!

Artemis Raven Courtney! I had so much fun with this idea from Him. Granted, I'd love to pull it out more and write out that chaos but if I did that, Butch might actually end up dead. And poor Blossom. She's still reeling from that cooking lesson haha. More fun to come and I hope you enjoy it all!

Like I said, before the end of the year I'll post it. Until then, ciao!