Chapter 3: Just Like Old Days

"Ugh!" The Green Puff exclaimed as she gave another punch to a punching bag. She had been at it for the last hour. Whenever she started feeling a little tired, she imagined Butch's face and that got her working again.

"I," she grunted as she gave another punch to the meat. "Fucking,"–punch –"Hate," –punch – "That asshole!"

She gave a final grand punch to the bag and sat down with a huff.

"You okay?" Mitch asked from behind who was trying to lift a barbell; he sat up on the bench.

"I fucking hate you too," Buttercup glared at Mitch and he shut his mouth.

Buttercup and Mitch were working out in a gym as they had been for a few years now. Buttercup was obviously and dangerously pissed off at Butch because he showed up during their bowling session and Buttercup was not pleased. She was pissed at Butch but truly, she was pissed off at Mitch; he had been the one to text him the place of their meeting and when she asked about when they got each other's cell phone numbers they told her that they got it when he started school.

"You know that it's been a week since that happened," Mitch said cautiously.

Buttercup, who was drinking water, stopped and slowly turned around to face her now-in-danger best friend.

"Mitch," she said with a hint of absolute rage in her voice.

"…yeah?" he said with a gulp.

"Shut up," Buttercup said and turned back around. Mitch nodded and realized that it was stupid because she couldn't see him; which led to the conclusion that she didn't want an answer.

"I'm going to strangle that fucking little piece of shit!" Buttercup stood quickly and started punching the poor bag again.

And Mitch just minded his own business.

"Look, if you don't want to come then don't," Mack said sternly. "But don't stop me from going too."

"I'm not stopping you," Bubbles defended. "I'm just saying that I don't like those friends of yours! And I don't like it when you hang out with them!"

"Well, that's too bad, Bubbles," he said coldly. "They're my friends and I'm not going to stop hanging out with them just because you don't want me to." With that he walked away.

Bubbles sighed and turned around in the opposite direction. She came to a halt as she saw a certain blue clad boy standing in front of her.

The said boy's shocked expression confirmed it that he didn't expect to be seen.

"Are you stalking me?" she said.

Boomer snapped out of it. "Wha- uh, no . . . of course not!" He laughed nervously. "It's just a coincidence."

"Is that so?" Bubbles raised her eyebrows and nodded; especially extending the 'so', "'cause if you are then I won't hesitate to do something I'm not supposed to."

"I'm not stalking you," he repeated; sternly this time.

"Alright then . . . if you're not stalking me," Bubbles said as she turned on her heels.

"See you at school," she said over her shoulder.

The whole day had been pretty much of useless wandering for the red Ruff. The weekends were the most boring for him. Why do people need holidays anyway? He thought aimlessly. He saw no point in having two days free of school. He saw it as just a waste of time; not to mention frustrating, because he had to spend the days with his stupid brothers.

So when finally he couldn't take anymore of his godforsaken Green brother he went out for some . . . fresh air. He shoved his hand in his front pockets as he turned around the corner. He spotted a sports shop and decided to pay a visit. At least something was there to relieve about his boredom, even if it was for a while.

He wandered around the shop and came to a stop when he saw a pair of sneakers. He looked down at his feet and looked up. He really needed new shoes. He had told his brothers to look for work and they haven't done a really spectacular job finding one. Useless idiots, he thought.

"May I help you, sir?" a worker asked him.

Brick on the other hand remained silent and eyed the worker. The worker looked at him and flinched. Brick opened his mouth to say 'Have you seriously forgotten the people who almost destroyed your favourite Girls?' but then he realized that it will be pretty stupid if he asked such a question.

"No thanks," he said instead. He wouldn't exactly say that he liked that people don't remember him but he'd admit that it was convenient; at least people don't scream and run at the sight of him and his brothers. Not that he wouldn't like that. Those days made him feel like he was invincible; but he guessed that the quiet was good too.

When he realized that he was looking dumb, eyeing the items when he didn't even have any means to buy them; he went out of the store. He started walking down the pavement again when his attention caught a familiar face, more like a picture of a familiar face.

Her, Brick growled as he glared at the billboard. It was an advertisement for a new range of beauty products.

"How pathetic," he muttered. Just the sight of her infuriates me, he roared inside his head. Just who do they think they are? Stupid little pathetic excuse of- if he didn't have any sense, in other words if he was Butch, he probably would've eliminated the Powerpuffs at their first encounter. He hated them but he was going to leave this up to his brothers; just like always.

He smirked at the thought. Those idiots were so dense and so easy to manipulate; so much that he could kill a million people and get away with it by having them blame it on themselves. And even then, they would come running back to him. He had them twisted around his fingers; only Butch was a little piece of work but Brick knew exactly what could waver the rebellious Ruff.

His smirk widened as he walked casually down the pavement of the ever-so-busy city.

"Yo where the hell did you go, man?" Butch asked his Blue brother as he entered through the creaking door.

"Just wandering about," Boomer replied. "What're you up to?"

"What do you think?" Butch answered. "The loner boy left me alone without so much as a single goodbye . . . not that I'm asking for it; that would be gross." He muttered the last part. "Did you find a job or something?"

"No, not really . . . you should start to find one too or Brick's not gonna be happy."

Butch scoffed. "Where is he, anyway?" he said. "And if it's about the job, what're you here for?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, my dumb brother," Butch swung a hand around Boomer's shoulders. "That you'll be the one working and we'll be the ones spending."

Boomer shoved Butch's hand away. "Brick said that both of us are gonna work," Boomer said. "You can't not listen to him."

"Yeah? And why not?" Butch growled. "It's not like he's our fucking mom."

He sat on the couch and threw his legs on its arm. "We don't have to listen to everything he says . . . we're not his toys that he can play anytime with."

Boomer considered him for a moment and sighed. "No arguing with you, I guess."

"Damn right, there isn't," Butch said. "Now go make me something to eat."

"No," Boomer said. Just then he heard the door open and glanced at it as he ignored Butch's burning glare.

When Brick entered the house Butch tore his eyes away from Boomer. "Hey! Where were you?"

"None of your goddamn business,"

"That's fair,"

"I assume that you didn't find any work?" Brick inquired.

"How are you so good at guessing, big brother?!" was Butch's response. Brick glared at his brother but as always it had little to no effect on him.

"I looked around for a job but none of the ones that are close have vacancies," Boomer said hesitantly.

"Then I suggest you . . . expand your search circles," Brick replied, his voice indifferent. "And find a job before you starve to death."

With that said Brick went to his room and locked the door. He took his jacket off and threw it aside on the bed.

Moonlight peered through the small window behind his bed. Within the light of the moon he saw a shadow. He narrowed his eyes and drew near to the window; and scrunched up when he recognized the maker of the shadow.

"About damn time," Brick said.

"You might want to watch your tongue boy," the figured shot back at Brick as it handed him a briefcase.

"Nah thanks," he said as he eyed the briefcase. "I don't do something I'm not paid for."

Even though it was dark and the only source of light was the moon; Brick could still see a scowl appear on the figure's face. Brick smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"You know what to do," The figure said and disappeared into the woods.

"Go get'em!" someone shouted from the back as Buttercup shoved a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

The match between Townsville Tigers and Clipsville Lions had been going well so far; the Tigers were winning by a good margin. Mitch was doing well on his part and her other friends were good too. The Lions had been a pain in the butt at first but the Tigers had managed to turn it over.

Buttercup was watching intently as Blossom spoke from beside her. "Remind me why I'm here again?"

"Because I brought you here," Buttercup stated. "Now shut up and lemme watch the game."

Blossom heaved a frustrated sigh and looked around. The Rowdyruffs were sitting in the back. Blossom wondered why they would come to a football game. Brick wasn't with them; not that she expected him to be here but it would have been good if she could keep an eye on him even at times like these; just for satisfaction's sake.

She noticed Bubbles was sitting with her beloved boyfriend. Then she thought about what Buttercup said about her 'That stupid idiot sticks to that guy like the gum on shoe'. But then again she was Buttercup she didn't like anything that wasn't related to sports. Blossom wondered if she was okay with Bubbles clinging so much to guys. She was sure that Professor wouldn't be. Now that she thought about it, Mack had yet to meet the Professor; she had a feeling that it wouldn't go well.

She turned her head back to the football field. Their school was winning.

Clipsville's team wasn't exactly the best of the best out there. Well, neither was the Townsville's team but they were still better.

"Go Mitch go!" Buttercup shouted from beside her. "I'll kick your ass if you don't get this one!"

"You really like Mitch, don't you?" said Blossom

Buttercup choked on the coke she was taking a sip from.

"Damn! It went into my nose!" Buttercup groaned.

Blossom waited for Buttercup to arrange herself; after a second Buttercup looked at Blossom.

"What?"

"I asked you a question,"

"Didn't I already answer you?"

"If choking on the coke is an answer; then yeah, I guess you have."

Buttercup gave Blossom a sour look. "That was because you asked me such a question, and yeah of course I like him. He's my best friend." Was what she said and then she went back to watching the game.

"I'm not talking about that kind of like," Blossom raised her eyebrows and Buttercup stopped eating popcorn. "Soooooo?"

"I DON'T LIKE HIM LIKE THAT!" Buttercup shouted, unnecessarily louder. The people surrounding them started staring at Buttercup and her face flushed.

Blossom only smirked at Buttercup which, needless to say, pissed her off more. Buttercup decided to ignore all of them and concentrated on the game instead.

"I still don't get it," Boomer said as he whooshed past the buildings.

"You'll never get it, you're stupid," Butch replied.

"You're not exactly the person who should call other people stupid,"

"I can call you stupid, there's a difference." Butch said. "What is it that you don't get?"

Boomer sighed. "Why would Brick tell us to go watch a stupid football match?"

"Who knows?" was Butch's reply.

"And it's not really like you to listen to Brick so easily,"

"I was bored and we can't really have real fun in this blasted city, what the hell d'you think I'm supposed to do?"

"Just saying,"

"Why the hell do I have to spend my time with you, anyway? I thought coming here was enough punishment for me," Butch muttered and increased his speed, leaving Boomer behind.

"Hey! It's not like I want to spend any time with you," Boomer called after him, but Butch had already managed to create a good distance between them. Boomer slowed down and flew slowly towards his home; if you could call that piece of trash a home, but at least they had a place to stay.

Boomer decided to take a break so he flew over to an incomplete building structure nearby and sat on a steel beam. He allowed his legs to hang on either sides of it and he took a deep breath and let it out all at once.

He could see almost the whole city from there. If he didn't hate Townsville, then it probably would've been Boomer's favourite. But then again, why did he hate this city? Oh right, because of those stupid girls who've made their life a living hell.

His luck didn't really work here. But then again when did it? Two times he had managed to encounter the person he wanted to avoid the most.

His eyes wandered from left to right and they stopped at a familiar sight. Without thinking he jumped to his feet and flew around the back of the building as fast as he could. He huffed as he pressed himself to the wall. He could hear someone muttering.

"Geez you didn't have to drag me out of there," the voice said. "I wanted to spend more time with Mack."

"Oh stop it Bubbles," the other voice said. "Professor has already called me about 20 times now."

"But what about Buttercup? Why didn't you bring . . ." the voice faded away and Boomer let out a breath he didn't now he was holding.

'Why? Just why did this always happen to him?' was the question Boomer asked himself. Yet once more, his luck had decided to leave him. It always left when he needed it most; wait . . . is this what they call déjà vu? Meh, who cares whatever it was, his luck was probably bored with him and went far away from him just like his brothers. Wait, when did he become such a pessimist? But then again, he had always been one. He really was discovering many things about himself in this moment of panic.

But why would I panic? Those Powerbutts were nothing to panic about, but it still was better to avoid them; they were as unpredictable as a grapefruit's squirt. Wait, that was a weird example but anyway, they were unpredictable and that's that.

He came out of his hiding place and sat where he had before he dashed away; whistling his favourite tune as he stared at the tall buildings.

"Things have been really quiet for a while lately," Blossom said.

"I know right?! Man I'm missing the action," Buttercup said as she threw a few punches in the air.

"I can give you some action if you want, sunshine,"

Buttercup turned around and made a disgruntled face. "No thanks, Butch," she said his name as though it was some kind of a curse. "Kicking your ass isn't much fun. I can beat you up in 5-"

"Days?" he offered giving his usual cocky smirk. "if at all."

"Seconds." She corrected, "and I can beat you, just like I did before," Buttercup stated. "And if you don't shut your trap I'd be obliged to do that right now."

"You've gotten quite cocky," he mocked.

"Well, we are counterparts," Buttercup smirked. "And that's sayin' something."

Blossom cleared her throat, which caught the attention of the two greens. "You should get to class Buttercup."

"Yeah listen to sister hottie Butterbutt,"

"Excuse me?" Blossom asked.

"Excuse me?" Buttercup threatened and Butch laughed.

"See you around sunshine," Buttercup heard Butch saying as he walked away.

"We are in the same class dumbass!" she called after him.

"Uh . . . what are you doing?" Boomer asked as he stopped drawing the still life in front of him.

"Huh? Oh . . . I'm just looking at your sketch," Bubbles said slowly; her eyes darted from his sketch to the real thing. The corners of her lips twitched downwards. "It's good."

"Uh . . . thanks, I guess?" he said.

Bubbles nodded. "Never thought that someone like you could draw like that,"

"Someone like me?" Boomer asked, confused.

"Yeah I mean . . . you know like you're supposed to be evil and all," Bubbles said. "I don't know."

"Evil people can't draw? That's new to me," he said.

"Wel- you know!" she said and Boomer smiled a little.

"You know, compared to your brothers," she said after a moment. "You're not too bad . . . if you ignore the 'stalking' part though."

"Like I said . . . I wasn't stalking you," he defended. "It was a coincidence."

"Sure," Bubbles said playfully. "Whatever you say."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"No . . . I believe you," she said.

"What's with the pause?" he asked.

Bubbles gave a giggle and went back to her place.

"Alright girls, let's take it from the top," Bubbles said while taking her own position.

". . .5, 6, 7, 8 . . ." she continued and did the steps and her fellow cheerleaders followed suit.

When she was done she turned around and eyed the girls.

"Carmen," Bubbles called, "your leg isn't going high enough, please work on that . . . we need to be perfect by the next tournament."

Bubbles continued doing the steps for the others to follow when she heard someone call her.

"Hey Bubbles!" Bubbles turned around to see her sister running towards her.

"Buttercup . . . what is it?" she asked.

"Nothing really . . . Bloss had something to do with the Student Council and I was free so I came to you." Buttercup explained.

"Okay," Bubbles nodded. "I'll be done in a few minutes so you can sit down over there . . . or there . . . or wherever you want to."

Buttercup nodded and sat down on the ground nearby. She sat still for a few moments and then she started fidgeting. Sitting around and doing nothing or waiting was not her thing.

She looked over at Bubbles. Seeing Bubbles like that made it hard to believe that she's the same girl who sleeps with her favourite stuffed toy, octi. Or the girl who goes crazy over anything that had to do with accessories.

Right now she looked like a leader. Like Blossom, she thought.

There was no doubt about that; Blossom and Bubbles were great leaders, she was too, not that she liked to brag about it. Then she remembered when she dragged Butch to class; that was a moment worth bragging about. Her chest puffed up with pride.

While Buttercup was lost in her own pleading thoughts, chatter came from the place she entered from previously. She looked over at there and saw a few guys appearing; laughing obnoxiously loud.

She noticed that the laughter was familiar. It was her friends, she realized.

Her face beamed and she got up from the ground, dashed towards them.

"Hey BC," Mitch said.

"Hey," Buttercup replied happily. One moment she was smiling and the next, a scowl graced her features.

"What is he doing here?" she demanded while point at Butch.

"Hanging out with us," Jason said, shrugging. "Just like always."

"You know we get along pretty well," Mitch said while giving Butch a light punch on his arm. "He's kinda like you."

Butch, who was smirking the whole time, didn't seem uncomfortable with the contact. In fact, he was looking much friendlier than usual, which was enough to make Buttercup gag.

It made Buttercup burn on the inside. Just what is his deal? Buttercup thought.

"Yeah seriously," Mike spoke up, "it's like he's your carbon copy or something . . . heck, you two even look alike . . . are you sure you guys are not twins separated at birth or anything?"

"I look nothing like this shitface." Buttercup crossed her arms.

Butch gave a mocking laugh. "Now you're just insulting yourself, sunshine."

"Call me sunshine," Buttercup clenched her fist as she slowly said, "one more time."

"Sunsh-" Butch started but was violently interrupted by Buttercup's fist.

Butch stumbled backwards but gained his balance. Slowly, he turned his head towards Buttercup's direction; his eyes glowing perilously bright. He licked the corner of his lip and scowled as he tasted the blood in his mouth; his expression darkened.

"No one," Butch spit out, "makes me bleed."

"Well, there's always a first time,"

"Oh, you're on," he moved towards her. Two of them glared each other down.

"Whoa . . . guys stop," Mitch tried to calm them down but was roughly shoved aside by Butch.

Buttercup's head snapped towards Mitch just as Butch's fingers closed around her neck. Butch brought back his fist and drove it through her stomach. She clutched her stomach as she fell to the ground.

She gradually straightened herself and drew a long breath.

"You asshole!" she screamed and pounced on him. Both of them went crashing down; with Buttercup on top of Butch.

She started punching him, first left then right and continued. The guys tried to stop her after she beat his face bloody.

"Buttercup that's enough!" Mitch shouted. "You're gonna kill him."

Buttercup paused for a second and Butch took this opportunity and punched her right in the same place.

With Buttercup off him, he stood up and smirked at her.

"Had enough, sunshine?"

Buttercup yanked her arms away and stood up herself.

"You wanna fight dickhead? Alright . . . let's fight for real."

"And I thought we were really fighting up till now,"

"That was just a warm-up," Buttercup said and took her stance.

Butch gave his trademark smirk again. That was exactly what he wanted; what he was looking for, what he was hoping for. An opportunity to vent out years of built up frustrations.

"Just like old days, huh?" he mused.

Instead of answering, Buttercup leaped at him and gave a series of super fast punches; which were not possible for a normal human to dodge; but she was fighting Butch and he blocked every single one of her punches.

The guys were all watching in awe; not because they were fighting like maniacs but because Butch was blocking her every punch. For them, something like this was a thing they never thought they would see because it was impossible for anyone to even argue with Buttercup.

"H-how?" Mike muttered.

Buttercup gave a punch with as much force as she could put in, but it was gracefully blocked by Butch. She took a step back and flew into the air, huffing.

"Dude, it's over," Mitch said. "You can't really get her up there."

Butch growled and placed his left foot back.

Buttercup readied herself as the guys watched in confusion.

Then in a fraction of a second, Butch disappeared from the ground, like he performed some sort of magic trick.

"Where'd he go?" Craig asked.

"Up there!" Jason yelled as he pointed a finger towards where Buttercup previously was; only she wasn't alone.

"Fucking impossible,"

"We should go call someone . . . a teacher or headmistress, whoever . . . we need to stop this," Mitch told the guys and then dashed inside; before going inside he stole a glance at the green pair and then disappeared.

Up in the skies, Butch and Buttercup were having a showdown of eternity.

Buttercup tried to land a punch on Butch's left side but he blocked it by producing a shield; without wasting a moment she swung her leg to his right side which landed painfully on his rib-cage.

Butch went flying into the air and smashed into a building, creating a giant hole in it. He grunted on the impact.

Buttercup breathed heavily and tried to look inside the building. Smoke and dust spread through the air where Butch was smashed.

From the cloud of smoke, Buttercup spotted a pair of glowing forest green eyes with a piercing glare. Hurriedly, Buttercup fell into defence.

In a second, Buttercup lost sight of those cold eyes. She looked on the sides but didn't see anything.

Then suddenly she felt a sudden breeze. Butch was right behind her; he intertwined his fingers together into a giant fist and without giving Buttercup so much as a chance to react, brought it down with all his force.

The impact knocked the air out of her lungs and she whooshed through the air towards the ground.

When she was about 10 feet away from the ground, Butch caught up with her and shot his fist right into her guts.

Buttercup hit the ground even harder which caused the earth below to shatter. Lying unmoving on the ground she tried to open her eyes slowly. Her insides were throbbing. The sun that was shining right in her eyes a moment ago disappeared behind a figure.

She groaned and tried to move but Butch kicked her hard on her side. Then he stood above her with his legs on either sides of her. He leaned down and grabbed a hold of her throat.

"I hope that teaches you a lesson bitch," Butch said and punched her face. "Never mess with me . . . you might have been able to defeat me in the past but never with fists . . . you never could beat me with fists and it's no different now. . . I have always been more stronger than you, like it or not." He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "I hope it gets through your thick skull."

Buttercup parted her lips and let out a breath. Butch looked at her in amusement and leaned close, "What?" he said. "Too fucked up to speak, sunshine?"

"Fuck . . . you." Buttercup managed to breathe out.

Butch smirked. "You never know when to give up, do you?" he said as he lifted his hand to give her a back-hand-slap.

"Buttercup!"

Butch stopped and turned his head to the side to spot the remaining two Powerpuffs running towards them.

"Look sunshine," he turned Buttercup's head to the side. "The saviours are here for the damsel in distress,"

"Hey you! Get off of her!" Blossom yelled and pushed Butch off of Buttercup. "Buttercup? Are you okay? Talk to me, come on."

Buttercup groaned and Blossom heaved a sigh of relief. Bubbles came to her side and checked her injuries.

Blossom got up and turned to Butch. "You!" she roared, "what is wrong with you?" she gave him a push.

"Whoa woman . . . you don't wanna do that."

"Hey what's happe- oh shit, BUTCH!" Boomer rushed towards Butch and then eyed Buttercup. "Whoa . . . is she okay?"

"Why do you care?!" Blossom snapped.

"I don't," he stated. "I just wanted to make sure that Butch didn't kill her . . . that'd be pretty bad."

Butch gave a laugh and Blossom stared at Boomer in astonishment.

"Just you wait," Blossom threatened. "You're not going to get away with this."

"Sure babe," Butch said nonchalantly.

Blossom clenched her jaw and glared at him.

When Blossom and Bubbles took Buttercup away Boomer stood there with Butch.

He blew air through his mouth. "Brick's not gonna be happy about this."

"Relax," Butch said. "He won't find out about this."

"He will though,"

"Haah . . . that was a good exercise." Butch said, ignoring Boomer completely.

Boomer sighed and followed his troublemaking brother.

A/N: Whew . . . that went well.

Reviews really make my day *sigh*