Chapter 5: Wars

When the Ruffs entered the school cafeteria at lunch time it turned into a gossip club. They could hear fragments of their conversations.

'Did you hear? He picked a fight with Buttercup. With Buttercup!'

'I heard he beat her up big time'

'It's a shame nobody could record it'

'Wait, doesn't that there are more people like the Powerpuffs?!'

'Wicked!'

Brick's head immediately turned to Butch who shrugged with a grin. Brick shook his head and walked over to a full table. The students sitting there got up instantly and scattered, letting Brick and them have a table all to themselves.

"You're such a badass." Boomer said to Butch and went to sit with Brick.

Butch, however, smirked in return. "I'll leave you ladies to yourselves."

Brick looked at him expressionlessly. "And where are you going?"

"To sit with my friends," Butch told them simply.

"Friends?" Brick asked him as if he had made a joke.

"I take your advice very seriously, big brother."

Brick scoffed in return. "Get lost."

Butch mimicked Brick's get lost comment in a squeaky voice and walked away. He was sure that Brick was burning holes at the back of his head at the moment.

He spotted Mitch and Mike sitting with Jason and Craig from a distance and walked over to them.

"Hey yo! Make a little room for me will ya!"

"Uh . . . yea sure," Jason said awkwardly and moved aside for Butch to sit.

Everyone exchanged nervous glances which didn't go unnoticed by Butch but he decided to ignore it.

His eyes went to their trays. "How do you guys eat this?" he asked wrinkling his face.

"We got used to it. You'll too." Craig said to him.

"Never." Butch declared.

"Yo BC!" Mitch suddenly called out, alarming Butch.

Everyone's head turned to Buttercup, including Butch. As soon as Buttercup saw Butch, her eyes narrowed.

Butch was sure that she wasn't going to come and sit with them. It was his way of annoying her, sitting with her friends, and he knew it worked, every time.

Buttercup decided to surprise him instead. She walked towards them briskly, not taking her eyes off of him.

She reached the table and slammed the tray, surprising everyone, except for Butch who was actually finding this development interesting.

He looked at her with a straight face as she leaned in close to his face.

"I hate you, Butch Jojo." she whispered, her voice dangerously low.

"Thanks for the friendly reminder," he replied as a smirk slowly crept on his charming face.

"Not really 'friendly', I'm afraid." She said and sat in front of him beside Mitch who looked horrified along with the others.

Both the greens had the same thing on their minds.

It is on.

And so it was, officially on.

"Blossom I still don't think that this is a good idea," Bubbles tried to reason with her older sister, which was proving hard as expected.

"Bubbles, it took a long time for me to convince Buttercup. God knows what I had to tempt her with!" Blossom exclaimed then took a deep breath. "Now you don't start with me too."

"Bu-But Blossom!" Bubbles cried but Blossom went ahead, ignoring her, Robin following closely behind.

Blossom slammed her books on a cafeteria table startling the ones who were already sitting there.

"What's your deal Pinkie?" Brick growled.

Blossom ignored him and sat in front of him, with Boomer. Bubbles and Robin stood by them, looking utterly horrified.

Blossom looked at her. "Well, what are you standing there for?"

Bubbles gulped hard and sat right in front of Blossom . . . with Brick.

Boomer looked at them, confused, then shrugged after a moment and continued to stuff his face.

Brick, who was looking more than slightly pissed, continued to glare at Blossom.

"Uh so I'm gonna go sit somewhere else . . ." Robin said awkwardly who was still somewhat freaked out.

Bubbles gave her a pleading look to which Robin almost gave in.

"Yeah you should . . . it's not really safe for you to sit here . . . you can go sit with Buttercup!" Blossom suggested, still disregarding others presence.

"That's even worse!" she exclaimed.

"Don't be ridiculous. It'll be fine . . . Buttercup's there!"

"My point exactly," she muttered and walked away with a pale face.

Then there was silence.

"Are you looking for a fight?" Brick spit out breaking the silence.

"Quite the opposite actually," Blossom said coolly, not looking up from her book. "I'm here to prevent it."

"You read books during lunch time? What a nerd." Boomer commented with a mouth full.

"Shut the fuck up, Boomer." Brick growled.

"You should watch your language Brick." Blossom pressed, looking up at him.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Brick said through clenched teeth.

Blossom smiled a professional smile. "No I'm not . . . and language please."

"BC, I'm open!"

Buttercup passed the ball to one of her team-mates and took her position. She watched the ball get passed around as she ran around towards the basket and readied herself.

One of her team-mates came dribbling through the opponents and as soon as he noticed Buttercup close to the basket he swiftly dodged the opponent's attempts to get the ball and passed it to BC.

Buttercup caught the ball easily and dribbled.

Then she ran, dodged, jumped and basket!

The whole gymnasium burst into cheers. Everyone came to watch when Buttercup was playing. She wasn't allowed to use her powers of course but that didn't mean it would stop her from winning.

The coach whistled and called them in. "Alright that marks the end of the game and . . . good going Buttercup." he nodded at her and she nodded back.

Buttercup may not have been allowed to use her powers in the games, which made a lot of sense, but she felt like she was holding back. She wanted an all out match.

Grabbing the ball from the floor, she bounced it a few times and threw it towards a team-mate. The ball was caught, but not by her team-mate.

"That was quite a match," he said. "For weaklings like you."

"Give it back, Jojo!" she growled.

"Why don't you come and get it?" Butch challenged. "Actually, that sounds like a great idea! How 'bout it? You n me. Basketball match. I'm pretty sure you're dying for a, uhm, real challenge." He cocked an eyebrow.

"What's the catch?" Buttercup asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Butch smirked. "If you win, I'll stay down and not bother you."

"And what if you win?" she asked. "Not that you ever will."

Butch gave an arrogant laugh. "If I win, sunshine," he said taking slow steps towards her. "You'll do anything I say."

Buttercup squinted. "Fat chance. I'll whoop your ass."

"We'll see whose ass gets whooped," he said and dribbled away.

When the word got out that Buttercup and Butch were having a match, the whole school came to the gymnasium. The gymnasium wasn't big of course so almost all of them had to stand outside but they stood there anyway.

The two greens stood in the middle of the basketball court.

"Alright you two," the coach said. "It's a one on one, first one to do five baskets wins . . . and nothing violent."

Butch smirked at Buttercup who stared back calmly. The coach held the ball between them.

"Don't go crying when you lose, sunshine." He taunted.

"You'll be the one to go crying to you monkey mother." She replied smugly. She could easily notice his jaw line tighten.

And the ball was thrown. The green pair jumped quickly at the same time but Butch got the ball. He dribbled and looked at Buttercup as she tried to sneak the ball away from him.

He expertly dodged taking the ball away. This went on for a while till Butch took off towards his end of the court.

Not losing her composure, Buttercup went after him and took the ball away quickly running towards her basket. She ran swiftly with Butch tailing closely behind her.

When she was close enough to the basket all she had to do was throw the ball in the net, which she did.

First basket belonged to Buttercup.

Butch quickly grabbed the ball and went in the other direction. After a few close calls, he made the basket.

1-1

The same pattern but this time it was Buttercup's win. The next one was Butch's.

Buttercup had the ball in her hand, she dribbled as she observed Butch's movements and he did the same. She inhaled and exhaled ran towards her side of the court and made the basket.

Even though it was freezing outside both the greens were sweating. Butch took the ball in his hand and proceeded to his side.

"Oh no you don't," Buttercup muttered and grabbed the ball from him ran towards her basket and made it.

4-2. she had it in the bag.

She looked at Butch to see his disappointed and sulky face but only found a serious one – no, a determined one.

It came as a surprise to Buttercup; determination was one thing that she hadn't ever imagined to see in Butch. Stubbornness - yes, determination – never.

As she dribbled and wondered how he could have such a face while fighting; Butch took the ball away from her and made the basket.

"Shit," Buttercup muttered. However, Butch heard it and smirked.

'You can do this!'

'Go Buttercup!' came the cheers.

An expression of seriousness took over her. She swiftly came onto him but he dodged her every attack but he managed to make the basket. Buttercup was getting pissed off by the moment. There was no way she could let him win. Her pride was on the line.

Silence took over the court. The only sound was of the ball bouncing. One snake like movement and the ball was in Buttercup's possession. She ran towards her basket and when she was close she jumped to make it but Butch jumped higher than her and slapped the ball away from her.

It took her by surprise; Butch reacted quickly and ran to his side, a fabulous jump and dunk finished it off.

The crowd went nuts, which pissed off Buttercup more than it should. Butch pumped a fist in the air as everyone came up to him and patted him on the back, a victorious smirk playing on his lips.

He passed through the crowd towards Buttercup, who was ducking down with her head low and her hands on the back of her neck.

"What, you're crying now? First you lose now you cry, oh how the mighty Powerbutt has fallen," he sighed happily.

Buttercup looked up at him, her eyes were dry though; there's no way Buttercup would cry, you know. "Go fuck yourself."

Butch laughed. "Sure Butterbutt," he said. "Don't forget our little promise."

"I ain't promised you shit, fucker!" she shot up.

"Sure you did. Look I even recorded it." He showed her his phone and played a recording of Butch and Buttercup betting.

She looked at him with her eyes wide. "Okay I knew you were crazy Jojo but, damn." She said. "And I never said yes."

"You may not have directly said yes but in a way you did agree," Butch smirked.

Buttercup clicked her tongue and went off the court without another word.

"Say hi to your sister for me!" he called out.

"Fuck you, asshole!"

Bubbles took her books from her locker and closed it. Holding them tightly to her chest she walked off.

She sighed dreamily as she thought about Mack and about the romantic date they were going to have and all the mushy stuff they would do (Buttercup gags in the background).

She would go see him after class. That seemed nice; to see his face and hold his hand and –

"Hey!" her train of romantic thoughts was interrupted rudely by a familiar voice. She knew who it belonged to . . . Boomer.

Bubbles halted as he stood in front of her with a cheeky grin on his adorable face . . . wait NO! It was NOT adorable. He's a Rowdyruff for Pete's sake!

After realizing that she'd been staring for too long she tore her eyes away from him and walked on, leaving the blonde Ruff behind.

"Hellooooo . . ." Boomer called while floating beside her like he was swimming. "Earth to Bubbles . . .?" he said as he waved a hand in front of her.

"We're not supposed to be talking," she muttered, not looking at him.

"Who said that?" he frowned.

Bubbles didn't answer so he carried on. "ummm . . . can you stop because I'm kinda trying to have a conversation here."

Bubbles stopped suddenly as Boomer floated ahead. When he realized she'd stopped he went back to her and stood in front of her.

"So uh . . ." Boomer started but Bubbles interrupted him.

"You have been bothering me a lot lately . . . you always show up on my dates and you just basically ruin them." Bubbles said.

Oh that . . ." Boomer rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well the first few times were purely coincidental, I swear but the other ones were on purpose." Boomer confessed and Bubbles just stared at him; too shocked to say anything. "I was actually thinking of how to approach you exactly but well you were always with your boyfriend and he's not really a pleasant dude so I couldn't talk to you."

"What . . .?" Bubbles blinked a few times, not believing what she was just hearing or seeing.

"Let me put it simply for you," Boomer continued. "I find you kind of hot – OW!"

Bubbles, who was now standing empty handed stared at him with wide eyes.

"Damn these books . . . why are they so goddamn heavy?!" he said bending down to massage his foot. After he was done he stood up quickly and handed her the books. She was still in the same stance as she was before.

"Hellooooo . . ." he sang as he waved a hand in front of her."Bubbles?" he asked, "Buuuubblessss?" he shook her from he shoulders.

However, she remained the same. He raised an eyebrow and after a second she said, "I have to go . . ." with the same expression and hurried off.

Boomer frowned and just shrugged before skipping away aimlessly.

"Randy!" Blossom waved as she caught sight of his friend.

"Bloss!" he called back and jogged towards her. "Long time no see, partner."

"I know, right?" she replied. "Even though we go to the same school it doesn't really feel like it."

"That's because you took the APs." Randy stated.

"You were the one who encouraged me."

"I know, and now I'm regretting it." He said as he chuckled lightly.

"How are you doing?" Blossom said before things got a little awkward.

"Good . . . where're you off to?" he asked.

"Oh, library . . . I've got loads of homework and I have a test tomorrow which I have to prepare for today." She explained.

"Oh, okay then," he said and looked around, "so, as much as I'd love to hang around and chat . . . I've gotta go."

"Okay sure." She nodded and smiled. "See you later."

He smiled back and lightly punched her arm. "See you tiger."

She waved at him as he disappeared and quickly made her way to the library afterwards.

When she entered, it was almost empty. There were four or five students at most. She looked for the book she wanted and when she found it she walked over to an empty table.

Just as she was about to sit she saw something that peaked her interest, in the far corner table of the library.

It was Brick.

She considered for a while and then went up to him. He was carefully reading a book which was not relatable to any kind of school work. It was a novel.

"Well this is surprising," she said quietly.

Brick looked up and when he saw her, he screwed up his face. "Oh great," he said and looked down again while pinching the bridge of his nose. "What do you want?"

Blossom raised her eyebrows and then shook her head lightly. "What would I want from you?"

He looked up again only to see her smiling face. It wasn't a friendly smile, oh no. It was that smile, the smile meant for a Ruff; a smile that had mock written all over it.

"Well, as much as I'd looove to sit here and have a nice and friendly conversation with you, I've got to go." She said. "I take my school very seriously, unlike a certain someone."

She turned on her heels to walk away.

"Nerd," she heard him mutter.

She only smirked in return. Call me whatever you want Brick Jojo. But this is my city and my school. I'll do anything to protect it from vain bastards like you.

R&R :)

Oh and read my one-shot Visit To A Haunted House, if you haven't. It may entertain you.