I don't own anything familar.
Chapter 3: Private School and a Rowdyruff
Bubbles squealed excitedly as she stood at the gated entrance of Paladin Academy. The elegant ironwork was twisted into the school insignia of a rearing horse with an armored knight on its back. The knight was holding a lance which was pointed toward the lower left corner and had pierced through a wrought-iron rose in full bloom. Still full of adrenaline from the rush of foreignness that permeated the whole city of New Krox, Bubbles pulled out a map, one that had been looked at so often, it could be torn at the creases with the slightest pressure.
A bit nervously, Bubbles smoothed the skirt of her uniform over her thighs and adjusted the blue blazer. She had never worn a uniform before besides her customary childhood dress of blue and black stripes, white knee socks, and black Mary Janes. "Lets see . . . Administration, room 540 . . . Next to the fountain of Ferlon Myers--first mayor of New Krox."
The blonde girl scanned the wide, sweeping lawns of her new school, "Ah, ha! It's that-a-way!"
A bell rang somewhere on the school grounds--not the annoying noise caused by the electronic ones, but one caused by the ringing of one made of true metal. Bubbles wondered how large the bell must be to cause such a rich sound and how many bell-ringers it took to ring it. She was distracted, however, by the approach of several other girls wearing the same uniform as hers.
One of them, a whip-thin girl with the longest brown hair Bubbles had ever seen waved to her. "Hi, you must be new here!"
Bubbles nodded, feeling that the amber-eyed girl had good intentions, "Yeah, today's going to be my first here."
The other girl shook her mop of thick red hair out of her face, "Hi. I'm Kira and that's Breanna. This is our first year too, but we both have sibs that have been here before, so we're not totally lost."
Breanna smiled widely, showing slightly crooked, white teeth, "Don't listen to Mophead. She's been here for two years already!"
Kira winced and jabbed an elbow into Breanna's side, "Don't call me Mophead. What's your name?"
"Whoops," Bubbles blushed at her forgetfulness. "I'm Bubbles, nice to meetcha!"
Breanna, who had ignored Kira's elbow, continued to grin, "Well, Bubbles, Kira--don't look now, but the cutest guy on campus is here."
Kira spun around so quickly, her curly red hair briefly formed a halo around her head before settling back down, "Ohhhh, it's Him!"
Bubbles felt all the blood drain out of her face at the last word Kira had said, but then returned to her normal pallor when she remembered that Him was down in Heck, training a successor. He was out of her hair for the time being--so who was important enough to deserve such an emphasis on the mere mention of his presence? Kira was staring off in the distance, almost drooling and Breanna was watching her with mild amusement. Bubbles followed Kira's intense stare.
"Boomer!"
The blonde boy turned, revealing the more matured face of the Boomer she had known thirteen years ago. Surprise was written all over his face, "Who?"
"What are you doing here? Where's your psycho brothers? You'd better not mmphh!" Bubbles shot a glare at Kira, who had her hand clamped firmly over her mouth.
The redhead grinned sheepishly at the handsome boy, "Sorry about that Brian. I don't know what got into Bubbles."
The blue-eyed boy grinned and shook his head, which made Kira's knees go weak with adoration, "It's okay, Kira. Bubbles you say? Bubbles Utonium?"
Bubbles took advantage of Kira's moment of weakness and lightly bit her hand. With a startled exclamation, Kira let go of the littlest Powerpuff. Bubbles glared at her former adversary, "Brian! Don't make me puke. I still recognize you after all these years and I know you're Boomer!" Her high, vehement voice went into unknown octaves as she got more and more frustrated.
Brian guiltily laughed, "Uh, yeah. But that was only my childhood nickname."
Bubbles stared at him, aghast. "You . . . changed your . . . name?"
Brian-formerly-known-as-Boomer looked like he really didn't want to talk about it, but Bubbles persisted, "How did you get back! We defeated you already! And how come you aged as well, huh? Don't tell me some mad scientist or weirdo remade you!"
Breanna and Kira were flabbergasted by Bubbles reaction. Boomer smiled at them, "It was nice seeing you two again, now if you'll be so kind as to excuse me . . ." Grabbing the protesting Bubbles by the arm, he walked away with her in tow.
When they were out of the two girls' sight, Boomer turned around, "Okay, Bu--" He barely dodged the eyebeams in time. "Whoa! Bubbles, calm down! I'm not--"
"Yeah, you're not what! Don't give me that excuse! I'm sick and tired of fighting all you bad guys!" The blond girl's eyes glowed as dangerous red as she prepared another blast.
Moving quickly as he could, Boomer caught Bubbles in a vise-like hug from behind.
The Powerpuff was indignant, "Let me go!"
"Won't. Not until you promise to stop attacking me." The young man was adamant and after several minutes of unsuccessful argument, Bubbles reluctantly promised.
"All right, all right! Now let go of me!"
Boomer released her and then backed up a few paces, still wary of the petite girl. Bubbles placed her hands on her hips, indignant, "Explain to me right now WHAT you are doing HERE with a completely different name!" Her voice soared several octaves, causing the Rowdyruff to temporarily go deaf.
"Look Bubbles, we changed when we came back. Me and my brothers don't want anything else but live a normal life."
"Brick and Butch are here too!"
Boomer raised his hands complacently, "Yes, they are. But Brick changed his name to be less conspicuous. Butch's name was pretty well used already and he would never have changed it anyway--"
"Look Boomer, Brian, Whatever," Bubbles cut him off. "I don't care whether you guys changed your names or not--how did you get back?"
"Well, we didn't really die from something as weak as a kiss, even at that age and circumstances." He smiled when Bubbles blushed. "We were only teleported overseas to here."
Curiosity overcame her reservations and Bubbles asked, "How did three five-year-olds survive in such a large city?"
"We were lucky. A policeman found us and took us to the nearest orphanage and after a year or so, the Silva family adopted us."
"All three of you!"
"Yes." Boomer nodded.
"Well, you guys were lucky." She hesitated. "So . . . So you won't be our enemies anymore?"
"No, we don't. I spent fifteen years living with a real family. Do you think I haven't changed from that? I'm not willing to give them up for anything!"
Boomer's passionate, if short, speech had moved Bubbles tender heart to forgiveness. Smiling brightly, her usual cheer back in place, she grabbed the startled boy's hand and shook it energetically, "That's great! Now that that's all over with, how long have you been attending this school? How are your brothers? Are there any monsters here?"
Boomer looked a bit taken aback by Bubbles sudden change of attitude, but took it in stride and started to answer her rain of questions, one by one. It was, he felt, going to be a long day.
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