A.N. Heya so it has been a few weeks since updating, I got a puppy. That's good. It immediately got Parvo. That's bad. We took it to a vet. That's good. They wanted more money we could afford. That's bad. She was under warranty and her vet bills are paid. Can we get to the story now? Sorry, but yeah I've been busy last few weeks with that, and not really wanting to write. I felt like I hit burnout. So while I figured some stuff out I took a break. Here we go.

Fun Times at the Zoo

Boomer wiped his face as we woke up; blinking the blurriness from his eyes he flopped out of bed. He lifted himself up and looked out the window. He saw cloudless blue skies and a few birds soaring through the sky. Yawning, he floated out his room and headed to the kitchen for breakfast. After Brick vanished after his graduation yesterday Langston treated them out once more. Nobody had seen Brick since, not even coming home in the late night. Not that Boomer worried, but he did have to wonder where he went as he turned off the lights last night.

Floating to the fridge he grabbed the milk gallon and retrieved some bread from the top. As he was pouring his cereal he heard the door open and close softly. He rounded the corner wall of the kitchen to see Brick yawning and floating in. "Morning Brick." Boomer called out before returning to the cereal he was pouring.

"Morning," He responded floating into the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. "How was lunch with Doc?"

"You would know if you decided to come along." He said as he shoved a spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

"Sorry, I just didn't feel like eating right then." Brick tried to laugh to cover up the growling in his gut. Brick hadn't eaten or even been home since his ceremony. He wandered aimlessly through the town, both by walking and flying through the skies. He actually wandered into the neighboring cities, and didn't return to Townsville until around 2 am. He realized his paper route was due in a few hours. So he chose to hangout by the press building to collect the delivery himself. He was the only paperboy the press had at this point, and they made it clear to Brick with him around they didn't need anyone else. So Brick's route would take a while for anyone who didn't have superpowers. He only just finished when he walked into the apartment that morning.

"Whatever, so where did you go?"

"Nowhere really, just sorta wandered." Brick said as he took a bite out of the sandwich he made.

"All night long?"

"I needed to think. Something I know your not used to Boomer." He said playfully pushing his blue brother.

"Hey it's summer I finally get a break from school, let me enjoy ignorance, and the freedom of not thinking." He said kicking Brick.

"Yeah yeah you earned it I guess." Brick yawned as they both fell back onto the couch.

"Hey any chance I could borrow some money today?"

"How would you borrow it? You don't have a job to pay me back." He chided.

"Fine can I have some money, please?" Boomer asked.

"Maybe, what do you need it for?" Brick asked between bites.

"I wanna check out the insect and bat display at the zoo today. It's only for this week and they leave Monday." He looked at Brick with pleading eyes, "Come on please?"

"Do I get anything out of this? Come on Boomer, equivalent exchange, what do I get out of it?" He looked over at Boomer.

"What do you want? You know I can't pay you back."

Brick wanted to take advantage of Boomer, but he couldn't think of anything to make him do. Finally Brick released a sigh and dug out his wallet. "Just consider it a late Birthday gift." He said pulling out a few bills and handed them to Boomer. After finishing his sandwich he stood up and stretched. "Just keep quiet about me being out all night, Imma go and hit the hay." He said walking out of the living room rounding the corner leading to the hallway where all their rooms were.

Boomer looked down, and saw three 20 dollar bills in his lap. Brick was either too tired to care, or was feeling generous. Boomer drank the milk in the bottom of his bowl and quickly pocketed the money. He rushed to the bathroom, and quickly brushed his hair and teeth. Looking at the clock he saw it was still early, around 8AM. He decided to kill some time seeing as the zoo wouldn't open for a another hour. Falling back onto the couch he decided to watch some TV he landed on a justice league cartoon movie. He didn't leave until a little after ten.

Deep within the suburbs of Townsville Bubble was grumbling half asleep. She had just woken up around 7:15 and needed her morning juice. She poured her glass and gingerly drank it. Shaking the drowsiness away she then grabbed a grapefruit from the fridge and began eating it for breakfast. Blossom floated down her hair, as usual showing no signs of bedhead.

"Morning Blossom." Bubbles chirped out.

"Morning Bubbles," She said then gave a small sisterly hug. "What are you doing today?"

"I was thinking of going over to the Zoo and get some giraffe paintings in." Bubbles responded with her usual giggle.

"Oh fun," Blossom said with disappointment masked by her smile. She was feeling a little lost without school or crime fighting. She was wondering how she could occupy her time. Blossom made herself some cereal, and her mind was wondering to what she could do.

"What about you?" Bubbles asked.

"I don't know I guess just get a head start on my schoolwork next year. I bet I could get more AP courses done."

"You're always such the hard worker." She said with a smile. Blossom simply smiled and nodded at her sister. They continued to eat and talk about summer plans. Eventually Bubbles collected her plate and cup washed them and went upstairs to get ready for her day.

Blossom stayed downstairs and was greeted to the Professor with a fresh cup of coffee in hand. With a small kiss on her forehead he wished her a good morning. He eventually sat down across from her, and spoke, "So I was thinking, what with the boys handling crime for a bit, and it's summer maybe we can finally take a vacation." Blossom perked up. "Sadly I am much too busy to plan a trip, but maybe I have a super smart daughter who could come up with a plan and budget for me." He said with a wink.

"I would love to, Where do you want to go?" She said with some excitement.

"I don't really care, as long as all of us are together. I look forward to your plans." He said sipping his coffee. Blossom smiled at him then went to clean her dishes. Once she finished she raced upstairs to start planning. The professor smiled at her excitement. After a little while Bubbles bounced downstairs and gave a hug to the professor. "Morning sweetie, whats got you in such high spirits this morning." The professor asked returning the hug with one arm.

"Nothing really, I'm just gonna head to the Zoo in a bit." She replied.

"Well have fun, sweetie." He said patting her head as he trekked back into his lab.

She looked at the clock, after getting ready she saw it was half past 8. She grabbed her art supplies from the living room, and shot off to the city zoo.

She arrived about 10 minutes before opening, and used the time to make sure she had all her art supplies. After triple checking she saw the open sign flip over, and she skipped to the teller. "Morning Bubbles, so what is it going to be today?" The cashier asked smiling down at Bubbles.

"Morning Lucy, I was thinking about Giraffes today, maybe some Otters." She replied as she pulled out her money.

"You know, next week we're getting the white tigers in. are you gonna get some sketches of them?"

Bubbles eyes grew with excitement. "Oh yes I am. Thanks for letting me know. Ta-ta." She said with a wave. Lucy waved back, then lost all expression and rested her chin on her hand over the counter. Boredom was setting in fast.

Bubbles sat herself in front of the Giraffe exhibit and began sketching out the forms. She sat there for an hour trying to get the spots just right, but stopped when she saw someone walk through her field of vision. Boomer was walking past the giraffe display chewing some gum. Without thinking she dove behind the bench she was sitting on, but started scolding herself internally.

"What are we doing? We're a Powerpuff, we're the toughest people on this planet. We shouldn't be hiding from the likes of him!" She yelled inside her head. Peeking out she saw him continue his walk. "Besides what if he is here to hurt some poor animal? I can't let that happen!" She was about to get out of her hiding spot when she remembered the last time they all jumped to conclusions about the boys. "No, do what Blossom would, asses the situation first then act accordingly. Besides I got my phone if I need back up." She then rose from behind the bench and started following him.

Boomer had just paid his admission and was walking to the visitors exhibits. He only stopped for a few minutes to look at the lion display, laughing as two lions fought over the same hunk of meat, then continued his march. When he was about halfway to the insect display he felt himself being followed. "Now what?" He growled inside his head. While he was the most sociable of his brothers he hated people following him. Some were teenage girls who wouldn't leave him alone, others were boys who wanted to pick a fight, something about getting a Rowdyruff bruise and living to tell the tale.

"I should have worn a hat or something." He sighed inside his head. His excited mood quickly died as he felt the presence dodge between hiding spots. With a huff he rounded the nearest corner and materialized his bat. He waited until he heard hurried footsteps approach the corner and shot out with his bat ready to strike. "What do you want?" He growled.

Bubbles thought she was being sneaky, restraining on using her powers and hiding behind anything she could while she was in pursuit. She watched him round the corner and as quietly as she could hurried to keep sight. When she got close he shot out, bat held over his head, a scowl on his face and malice in his voice demanded, "What do you want?" She fell back both from surprise and from a flash back from their last fight when the last thing she saw was him wailing on her with his bat.

Looking down at Bubbles he noticed the fear in her eyes as she fell back. The fear didn't just go away, even after she fell her breath was still rapid and her eyes were still wide. Normally he would feel proud putting some fear in her, but he just felt empty inside seeing her like this. With a scoff he dissipated his bat offered a hand to her, "What are you doing following me?" He said much softer now.

She looked between his hand and face, the features were much softer now, and his deep blue eyes were avoiding hers. She cautiously took his hand and he helped her up. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't up to anything." She squeaked out.

"At a zoo?" His features went sharp again. "What kind of sick freak do you take me for? I just came to see the insect and bat display." He yanked his hand away while she was halfway up making her fall again. "What's with you girls and always thinking we're up to something? First you stop our lunch and now this?" He turned on his heel and stormed off.

She got up herself and tried to catch up, "Boomer wait!" She called out. He wasn't stopping, she flew up to him and grabbed his shoulders turning him around. "Look you're right. I'm sorry." He eyed her suspiciously. "About the diner and about just now. I know I shouldn't judge anyone based on their past, but who they are now. I'm sorry." She looked at him with sorrow filling her eyes.

"Whatever." He scoffed and went back to walking. She was about to return to her drawing when she felt compelled to try and talk to Boomer. She flew back and gathered her art supplies into her carrier bag and headed to the insect display he said he was there for. It didn't take long to catch up to him, he hadn't even made it to the exhibit since he walked and she flew. Landing next to him he growled at her presence. "Now what?"

"I just wanted," She began but was interrupted by Boomer's sharp voice.

"Look, I already got one probation officer I don't need a second."

"I just wanted to hang out with you." She said quietly, but returned to a confident voice, "You're right, me and my sisters don't know enough about you three so we'll keep making assumptions until you let us in. So let me get to know the animal lover you seem to be."

He was a little embarrassed by his mean statement now, but just shook his head, turned around with his hands behind his head and walked inside the building housing the 'creatures of the night' display. She took his silence as dejection when he called out without turning to her, "You coming or not?" With a happy sigh she flew up next to him and both entered the building.

He walked to the left and entered the spider sanctuary. With a shudder, but determination to get on friendly terms she followed. The room was dimly lit, and every inch of the round room walls were covered with tanks filled with various spiders and arachnids. There was also a small island display about six tanks around in the middle. Boomer was already at the tarantula display to the right.

"Does it have to be so dark in here?" She tried to joke with him, but it went over his head.

"Most of these spiders are nocturnal, many living underground in burrows, so bright lights wouldn't let them sleep properly." He was admiring a cobalt blue tarantula.

Her eyes filled with amazement at the pretty blue fuzz covering the spider. "Wow she is so pretty." She said watching her skitter across the tank to the corner.

He had already moved onto the island where one of the staff was holding a brown tarantula. "That's so cool," Boomer said as he approached, "Any chance I could hold him?"

The greeter just smiled and held out his hands to Boomer, who in turn held out his for the spider to climb on. "Aren't you worried it'll bite you?" Bubbles asked nervously. Her imagination produced visions of it suddenly getting hostile and jumping on her face.

"Relax, no one has ever died from a tarantula bite. While some of their venom is more potent than others, like the cobalt spider over there, most have relatively harmless venom that would be akin to that of a bee sting." He said then spoke to the spider, "You're just a misunderstood sweetheart aren't ya?" He said smiling holding the spider level to his face. The spider actually seemed to nod at his statement.

"Wait you can talk to spiders?" Bubbles asked as she observed him.

"Spiders, rats, and a few other animals like snakes and jungle cats." He said handing the spider back to the trainer.

"I can talk to animals too." She said with a gleeful smile. "I mostly talk to squirrels though."

"Really? I met quite a few when we took over Fuzzy's shack but I couldn't get much of a conversation." Boomer had moved on to the scorpion display, admiring the way one had its children between it's claws.

"Maybe you were using the wrong dialect?" She teased.

"Yeah maybe." He said plainly.

"So why do you like spiders, and all the other creepy crawlies?"

"I relate to them." Was his simple response.

"Why?" She probed further.

"Most of them just want to be left alone, but with the media making them out to be bad guys some take pleasure in hurting, killing, and even torturing these beauties. They have a rough reputation, and so many believe it's alright to hurt them for it." As he spoke he had moved on to the Black Widow display. "Take this wondrous little beauty. She is known to be the most dangerous spider ever. Her venom? 15 times more deadly than a rattle snake."

"How do you know it's female?"

"The red markings, only females have them, and they are usually the more aggressive. The males of the species have a severely diluted venom that makes it much less threatening to us. Also their venom isn't as deadly as most people think. There are rarely cases of death when it comes to their bites. Oh the venom is painful, but you can live. In fact most anti-venom is more for the pain than life saving properties, but people take pride in hunting down her and her kin."

"I never knew any of that." She said admiring the sleek black legs, "But I still think I wouldn't want to meet her without glass between us."

"My point is, I relate to the unnecessary hate these creatures have. I have talked to roaches, spiders, and all manner of rodents, most just want to be left alone. I get that. I hated how many people would throw junk at us, even before we were locked up. It lasted for a few months after we were released, but now people come up to me for no real reason but to bug me." he said with hint of anger in his voice.

"I see, so that's why you were so angry when I was following you."

"Yeah, sorry about scaring you." He said rubbing the back of his head as they went out the door to the bat display.

"I wasn't scared just surprised." She defended. "I didn't expect you to see me coming from behind you. Much less be brandishing your bat."

He gave out an exaggerated, "Sure" as they went on towards the bats.

The rest of the day went on much like that with him talking to the creatures and her learning more facts about the animals, and how most were just creepy looking. The bats although she did admit were kinda cute. They spent the rest of the morning wandering the zoo, looking at the lions and other animals. At one point they were looking at the kangaroos, when boomer seemed to vanish. Looking around she couldn't find him until she heard him yell for her attention.

Somehow he managed to get inside the pouch of a kangaroo and had his head sticking out.

"Boomer! get out of there!" She harshly whispered.

"I asked she said it was OK." He reasoned to her. "Although I didn't expect it to be so gross in here." He said floating out, stains covering his clothing. As he floated out of the habitat and landed next to her she scolded him covering her nose.

"What did you expect? Their young live there for months, they don't exactly get out to go use the bathroom."

He gave a chuckle in return, "Yeah, but still worth it I've always wanted to do that."

"You're gonna have to burn those clothes when you take them off," She complained gagging on the scent. "You smell terrible."

"You just wanna see me undressed again." He laughed and floated off to the exit.

"Hey I resent that!" She called out following him.

"Oh right you also got into my pants that day as well didn't you." He called out. A mother saw the two teasing each other and looked at bubbles in disbelief.

"It isn't what you think, he is taking it out of context." She reassured the mother, her face growing red as he flew off.

Eventually she caught up to him after he exited the zoo and took to the skies. "Still following me Bubbles?"

"You know you're lucky they don't ban you if they see what you did."

"You think they would?"

"They banned me once, I let out all the animals which stampeded through the city. Thankfully a few months later they had a fire, and since I saved so many animals they took the ban back. Though it still took a lot of pleading and begging for it."

"Why not just threaten them to let you back?"

"Cause I can't do that. It's just not in my nature to hurt people who care about animals like they do." Boomer nodded in understanding and silence filled the air. Bubbles decided to take a chance and just ask him what she had been wondering for the last hour or so. "Listen I actually had fun today. Why don't we become friends and hang out sometime." She said with a smile.

He got a look on his face as he seemed to be thinking, "Hmm lets see, hang out with the woman who sent me to hell, got me locked up, and ruined a free meal not even a month ago? Decisions, decisions."

"Oh come on two of those we were just kids, you had fun too didn't you. Let's just forget and forgive." She pleaded.

"I don't think I could ever forget." He saw the sadness fill her eyes, "But I can do the forgiveness thing. How about you let me shower and change and we go out to lunch or something. I can treat you out since I beat you so badly last time we fought."

"That sounds nice, but are you asking me out on a date?"

"No," His face becoming red, "Just as friends, I don't have many besides my brothers, you know."

"Okay let's meet at the mall in an hour then." She gave a giggle and flew off.

Boomer, however remained still. He didn't quite understand why he decided to allow Bubbles in, but he figured he could use another friend. Even more so a friend who could also talk to animals. He flew off to change and get ready to hang out with Bubbles.

A.N. wow a long chapter huh, oh well. Once I got to the part where the blues were actually interacting the words kept coming. I'm sure none of you are mad about that. Next chapter won't be them hanging out though. I will be moving on to the greens.