Disclaimer: I don't own Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z and any of its characters used in this fanfic.
Inspiration: marinav92
A/N: Hi, everyone! I ended up overdoing it for this chapter (it became 8 pages somehow, like the previous chapter). I debated on whether or not I should've cut this chapter up, but I decided not to. Besides, I'm sure you guys love reading long chapters, anyway, so I don't think you guys mind it as much.
I don't want to say too much here because I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that things are slowly unfolding, so enjoy the chapter!
CHAPTER 7:
"Where did they go?" Buttercup growled under her breath as she hovered over the city.
Blossom finally caught up to Buttercup, and she narrowed her eyes at her. "Buttercup, you need to calm down."
Just then, Bubbles flew to the two. "Blossom is right. You must stay calm!"
Buttercup whirled around to face Blossom, and she glared at the redhead. Just as she was going to retort to Blossom, she heard commotion from below, and she looked down before she frowned.
Below the trio were Tokyo City's pedestrians, who started to shout and scream at the girls to notice them. It wasn't long before each of them tried to take out their phones and snap a picture of the girls floating in the sky. Before they knew it, the citizens of Tokyo City began to crowd below the girls, even though the girls were much above in the air.
"It looks like we're gathering an audience," Blossom muttered.
"And it's at such a bad time," Bubbles added.
"See, Buttercup?" Blossom snapped before she glared at Buttercup. "This is why I told you to calm down. We should've at least planned this out accordingly—"
"'Accordingly?!'" Buttercup yelled.
Blossom shushed her. "Not so loud! There could be reporters down there!"
And Blossom was right. As if on cue, in the distance, they saw various news vans heading to the scene.
"Shouldn't we at least try to track those guys down?!" Buttercup hissed softly.
"But, they could be anywhere," Bubbles replied with a frown.
Blossom sighed. "Bubbles is right. We can't track them down. Well, not as how we are right now, at least."
Buttercup let out an irritated sigh. Her fists were clenched tightly as she nodded in agreement, until her eyes suddenly lit up in realization.
Bubbles blinked. "What is it?"
"The guys," Buttercup replied. She blinked before she looked up to fully face them. "Remember? When we visited them this morning?"
Blossom's face paled. "You're not suggesting that they're there, are you?"
"Well, you got any other bright ideas?!"
"One thing strikes me as odd, however," Bubbles added.
Blossom and Buttercup looked at her immediately with puzzled looks.
"Just where exactly is Takeshi-san—"
"Butch," Buttercup corrected.
"No, Takeshi," Blossom corrected as she narrowed her eyes at Buttercup.
Buttercup glared at her.
Bubbles sighed. "Anyway, where could he be? He wasn't with his brothers…"
In the distance, the girls heard sirens from five blocks over, and based on what they could see, a small crowd was gathering in that area.
Buttercup frowned. "What the hell is going on over there?"
Blossom narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Let's check out the scene, girls."
Buttercup rolled her eyes when Blossom already flew over to the scene, and after Bubbles followed the redhead, Buttercup sighed in defeat before she let out a long string of curses and followed.
When Buttercup landed on the ground, Blossom and Bubbles were stoic. She narrowed her eyes. "Hey, just what the hell are you two—"
They immediately turned around and tried to block her view.
"Oh, nothing," Blossom said rather quickly.
Bubbles nodded.
Buttercup narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she noticed that her friends' faces were rather pale and distraught. When she tried to move to the left, her friends did the same. After Buttercup tried to float upward to look above them and her friends blocked her view for the third time, her irritation grew, and she immediately tried to push them aside.
"Wait, Buttercup, hold on!" Blossom exclaimed.
"Yes, yes, let's not be hasty!" Bubbles added.
Buttercup growled in irritation, and she finally pushed them aside in succession. At that moment, she understood why her friends looked so distraught and were hesitant. Her eyes grew wide as she stared at the scene in front of her.
There, on the ground, surrounded by paramedics, was her "boyfriend," Butch.
"Oh, Powerpuff Girls Z," one of the policemen said as he took notice of them slowly floating downward. "Did you take care of the forest fire already?"
"Yes," Blossom replied before she glanced hesitantly at Buttercup, who was still in shock at the scene before her.
The policeman smiled at them. "Thank you, girls. We really appreciate it."
"You don't need to thank us," Blossom replied, and her eyes shifted to Buttercup, whose fists clenched as the paramedics placed Butch on a stretcher.
"Are you girls patrolling the city now?"
Bubbles glanced hesitantly at Blossom, who nodded in response. Buttercup, on the other hand, continued to stare at the ambulance.
"So, what happened here?" Blossom asked.
The policeman sighed. "It seems like there was some scuffle in this back alley—"
"A 'scuffle?'" Buttercup interrupted before she narrowed her eyes at the policeman. "You call what happened as some 'scuffle?!'"
The policeman blinked in shock, suddenly taken aback by Buttercup's outburst.
"Buttercup, please, calm down," Bubbles whispered to Buttercup, who only growled in response.
"Please forgive her for that," Blossom immediately said, stepping in between the policeman and her teammates. "We were on our way to the Professor's, and Buttercup's a little antsy about getting there on time."
The policeman slowly nodded, but he narrowed his eyes in skepticism. "I see…"
"Can you tell us the details of what happened?"
The policeman frowned. "Well, like I said, it was just a scuffle. Right now, we can only account for what eyewitnesses have said." He paused. "Or, well, heard, actually."
"Heard?" Bubbles asked.
"Yes, well, according to eyewitnesses, everything happened rather quickly. One second, everything was fine. The next, they heard slams and saw a beam or two of light until that young man"—he nodded his head to Butch on the stretcher—"ended up in some crater on the ground over there." He gestured to the small crater.
"I see," Blossom replied. "Is that all?"
"Unfortunately, that's all we can piece together at the moment. There are some other concerning facts, such as the crater in that wall over there, but you girls needn't worry. We can handle this."
Before Blossom could reply, Buttercup said, "I'm going to check out the craters."
The policeman's eyes widened in surprise as Buttercup immediately flew towards the crater in the wall.
Blossom sighed. "These craters might be linked to the culprits who caused the forest fire, so we'll be checking them out."
"Yes, but girls, we can handle it—"
He was ignored as Blossom also flew over to where Buttercup was. Bubbles immediately followed, not wanting to be left behind.
"This crater is huge," Blossom muttered with her eyes wide. "What could've caused this?"
"Who else?" Buttercup spat as she glanced over at the ambulance, which started to drive away from the scene.
Bubbles frowned. "Buttercup, I know you're angry at Takeshi—"
"Butch."
"That doesn't matter," Bubbles stated as her frown grew. "The fact of the matter is that he's been gravely wounded. Can't you put aside your anger for just one second and remember that he's still your boyfriend?"
Buttercup growled at that last word Bubbles said, but she made no comment.
"We don't even know if he's Butch and caused this. For all we know, his adversary could've caused this."
"Or adversaries," Blossom corrected before she sighed. "Either way, I think we might be in some serious trouble, girls."
Takeo burst through the door of his so-called house without hesitation, and Takumi closed the door behind them as calmly as possible. As Takeo looked around the house frantically, Takumi began to hesitate as the anxiety in him grew. Before Takumi knew it, Takeo began to run around the first floor of the house, and in order to stop his red-haired brother from going any further, he ran to the staircase and blocked his brother's path to the next floor.
"Get out of my way," Takeo growled.
Takumi flinched inwardly as he watched his brother's eyes darken slowly with rage. He could sense the air thicken around his brother, and he could've sworn his brother's eyes flash completely red.
Takeo let out an animalistic growl, which made Takumi flinch immediately. "Boomer."
"He's not here," Takumi replied.
Takeo growled even louder.
"You and I both know that he's not here, okay?" Takumi retorted, slowly gaining the confidence to talk back to his brother, who was on the borderline of that state.
There was a long pause as Takeo continued to glare at Takumi.
"Your eyes are turning completely red now, you know," Takumi muttered.
Takeo's eyes widened, and Takeo groaned as he closed his eyes. There was a short moment of silence as Takeo took deep breaths to compose himself. When he finally looked at Takumi, his eyes were once again back to normal, and he narrowed his eyes. "We need to find him."
"How?" Takumi replied. "I know you told me all of this mumbo jumbo that he probably found Butch by now, but—"
"We'll find him by using our noses," Takeo retorted. "Simple as that."
And without waiting for a response, Takeo ran out of the house using his superhuman speed.
Takumi sighed as he felt the fear build up in him again. Eventually, he shook it off and ran in pursuit of his red-haired brother.
They hid in the shadows of buildings and alleyways before they finally made their way to the nearest rooftop. From there, the two ran from rooftop to rooftop, making sure that no one saw them as they followed the scent of their black-haired brother.
It wasn't long before the two realized that they were chasing after an ambulance, which continued to go through the streets.
"Brick, what now?" Takumi exclaimed. "It's not going to stop!"
Takeo raised his hand and pointed it in front of the ambulance. Within seconds, the road in front of the ambulance formed a large crater, which the ambulance fell into and began to break down. As chaos began to form around the scene with injured people and cars swerving to avoid the crater, Takeo and Takumi used their superhuman speed to go through the crowd, grab their brother from the ambulance, and run away from the scene.
Finally, they arrived at their real home.
With Takeshi on his back, Takumi ran downstairs to the living room immediately. Meanwhile, Takeo slammed the door shut before he stared at it in anger, almost daring for anything to go through the door at this moment.
"Brick!" Takumi yelled.
Takeo immediately dashed down the stairs. There, he finally took notice of his black-haired brother, who was beaten badly, on the couch, and his eyes narrowed at the amount of blood, bruises, and cuts on any visible place of his brother's body.
"What do we do?" Takumi asked as the look of distraught came over his face.
Takeo made no response as he continued to stare.
"Brick!"
Takeo narrowed his eyes, and before he could reply, he heard their black-haired brother cough. His eyes widened as Takumi sighed in relief, but when they heard their brother groan in pain, Takeo became stoic whereas Takumi became concerned.
"Oh, that's definitely going to leave a mark," their black-haired brother muttered as he gave them a weak grin.
"You feeling better?" Takeo asked.
"Oh, yeah, totally," he replied sarcastically.
"If you're well enough to say that, then you can explain what the hell happened to you."
"That guy happened. What else? He came to kick my ass… And that's not the worst part."
Takeo narrowed his eyes as Takumi became fearful.
"It's Kuro," Butch muttered before he groaned in pain. "He knows our aliases, so there's no point in using them anymore."
Takeo—no, Brick growled in irritation. His plan hadn't executed yet, and everything was already falling apart.
Takumi—no, Boomer glanced at Butch, who hissed in pain. "Dude, do you need painkillers?"
Almost immediately, a plan formed in Brick's head, and before Butch could reply, Brick said, "No, with those wounds, he definitely needs Chemical Z."
Boomer's eyes widened. "But, there's only one place that has it…"
Butch tried to get up, but he yelped in pain. "God damn it…"
Brick narrowed his eyes. "The sooner we go, the better. Come on, Boomer."
"Wait," Butch called out, and when his brothers looked at him, he let out a small sigh. "Kuro—no, hell, can we even still call him that when we know who he is?"
Brick scowled as Boomer gulped inaudibly.
There was a moment of silence.
Butch broke it by sighing again. "Look, he beat me up because he said this was some…warning to us."
Brick narrowed his eyes.
"That, and he said something about not messing with him on the next full moon." Butch scoffed. "Hell if I know what he's planning next…"
"Maybe more murders?" Boomer asked.
Brick shook his head. "No, this is that guy we're talking about here. He's most likely got something planned."
"Yeah, but…you don't think that he's planning on going after the girls, do you?" Boomer asked in a soft voice.
At this, Butch sat up immediately before he toppled to the floor in pain, but he managed to lift his head up to look at his brothers. "But, he doesn't—"
"No, he most likely does," Brick interrupted.
At that statement, Boomer's face blanched.
Brick narrowed his eyes. "And unfortunately, I think I have an idea on what his power might be."
"Then, tell us," Butch retorted as he slowly sat up. He then hissed in pain as he leaned against the couch.
"He most likely has the power to look into the future," Brick muttered.
Boomer's eyes widened. "What?!"
"Well, it might be a power similar to mine: just by touching a person, he can take a look into that person's possible future."
"So, you're saying that he's been toying with us this entire time," Butch growled as he narrowed his eyes.
Brick scowled. "Precisely. It also explains why I couldn't see much into his past when I touched him. He purposely chose a specific memory during that moment, so he could lead us to that trap he set in the forest."
"And because of that, you think that he knows the girls' identities?" Boomer asked as his eyebrows furrowed.
"Yeah. If he has looked into their futures before, then he would've most likely seen their transformations."
Before Brick could continue, Butch hissed in pain.
Brick narrowed his eyes. "We can continue this conversation later. Boomer, stay with Butch."
Boomer blinked in confusion. "But, I thought—"
"Butch can't defend for himself right now, and he needs someone to watch out for him," Brick interrupted before he sent Butch a small glare. "Otherwise, he might do something reckless again."
Butch snorted as he rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah? What about you? He might come after you, too. Have you ever thought about that, huh?"
"I'll be back here as soon as possible." Brick paused. "If anything happens to you two, then meet me underground. After all, there's a chance that he might know about this place as well."
Boomer hung his head after he nodded. Butch, on the other hand, tried to retort, but he hissed in pain when he tried to stand up.
Without another word, Brick left.
Momoko, Miyako, and Kaoru were at the Professor's laboratory. They decided that it was best to meet with the Professor and consult him on everything that had happened, ranging from the forest fire to the discovery of their boyfriends' possible true identities as the Rowdyruff Boys Z.
The Professor had made no comment as he tried to formulate the reasoning behind all of these events in private. Meanwhile, the girls were occupied in their own thoughts: Momoko was currently pacing around the room, Miyako was staring out the large windows of the laboratory, and Kaoru was currently restraining herself from lashing out at any physical object.
"I just don't understand…" Miyako muttered, but the other two girls had heard her.
Momoko stopped pacing around the room, and she looked at Miyako. "What do you mean?"
Miyako turned her head to look at Momoko with a look of concern. "Well, let's say that hypothetically, the boys are the Rowdyruffs—"
"They are, and there's no doubt about it," Kaoru interrupted angrily, but she didn't bother to look at her two friends.
Miyako sighed. "I meant hypothetically, Kaoru-san. If that is the case, then they shouldn't be our age."
Before Kaoru could retort, Momoko said, "She has a point, Kaoru. I've been thinking about this for a while now…" Suddenly, Momoko began to pace around the room again, and her two friends watched her.
"And?" Kaoru asked with a frown.
"It just raises too many questions," Momoko replied, and she frowned when she added, "If they are the Rowdyruffs, then how did they become older? Why are they back in Tokyo City after being gone for so long? And most importantly…" Momoko stopped her pacing as she brought her gaze to the floor and muttered, "Why us?"
Miyako looked at her in confusion. "Momoko-san?"
Momoko sighed and looked at her two friends before she asked quietly, "Why pursue us?" There was a long pause between the trio before Momoko asked once more in a louder voice, "Why pursue us when they most likely know that we're the Powerpuff Girls Z?"
"Maybe they don't know that we're them?" Miyako asked hopefully.
However, Kaoru scoffed and scowled. "Of course they know! It's the only reason why they'd be with us!" Kaoru grumbled a couple of curses before she sighed in aggravation. "Isn't it clear why the hell they pursued us?" Kaoru paused, waiting for an answer, but there was none, she narrowed her eyes and muttered, "They're obviously out to get us."
"I don't believe that."
"Miyako—"
"I refuse to believe that Takumi would hurt me," Miyako interrupted with a stern look on her face.
"You mean Boomer," Kaoru corrected as she glared at the blonde.
There was a moment of silence as Miyako frowned before she finally muttered, "It doesn't matter whether or not he's Boomer."
Kaoru narrowed her eyes at the blonde. "Miyako!"
"He's still my boyfriend, Kaoru-san."
"He's a Rowdyruff—"
"I love him."
Kaoru's eyes widened as she saw how serious Miyako's gaze was. As they continued to stare at each other, Kaoru realized that Miyako wasn't going to agree with her, so she groaned in aggravation and looked the opposite way.
Momoko cleared her throat to grab their attention. For once, it wasn't her arguing with Kaoru, but Miyako instead. It was surprising, to say the least, but she knew that they were all under shock and overwhelmed with emotions. "Speaking of boyfriends…" She sent Kaoru a questioning look. "You're not going to see Takeshi in the hospital?"
Kaoru stiffened before she snorted.
"Kaoru-san, he is your boyfriend," Miyako muttered.
Kaoru scoffed before she glared darkly at the table in front of her and clenched her fists. "So? He can stay in there, for all I care."
"Kaoru-san!"
"He's a God damn Rowdyruff, Miyako!"
"We don't know for sure if they are the Rowdyruffs, though," Momoko immediately retorted.
Kaoru glared at Momoko. "Don't pull that crap with me! I had my suspicions that Takeshi was Butch last year, but…" At this point, Kaoru let out an aggravated sigh and looked at the floor in anger. "I stupidly thought that he just couldn't be Butch."
Miyako's eyes softened. "Kaoru-san…"
Momoko wanted to tell Kaoru that the boys were innocent until proven guilty, especially since there was still the suspicion that their boyfriends could be murderers. However, she had been interrupted when the Professor rushed in with a frantic look on his face.
"Girls!" the Professor exclaimed. "Oh, thank goodness you're still here."
"What is it, Professor?" Momoko asked.
"I was just contacted by the mayor. Apparently, the ambulance that Takeshi was in—it's been involved in a terrible accident!"
"What?!" Kaoru exclaimed, her eyes wide as her two friends gasped.
"There's already help at the scene for those who are injured. The police are still investigating what exactly happened, but the cause behind the accident is currently unknown. Eyewitnesses have said it happened so suddenly, but…" The Professor's eyes grew solemn. "It seems that many of them have said that they saw a sudden beam of light—"
"I told you!" Kaoru yelled as she narrowed her eyes at her two friends. "They are the Rowdyruffs!"
Before Momoko could retort, the Professor had a grim look on his face and said, "That's not all. It seems that Takeshi—or Butch, if you'd rather call him that—has disappeared from the scene."
"His brothers must've done it," Kaoru grumbled.
"We don't know that!" Momoko yelled.
"Momoko, face the facts! There's no doubt about it now! They are the Rowdyruffs!"
Before the Professor could intervene, the alarm in the laboratory suddenly went off.
"What the hell?!" Kaoru yelled.
"Professor, what is going on?" Miyako exclaimed as the alarm continued to blare loudly throughout the entire building.
The Professor's eyes widened. "No, it can't be…"
"Professor?" Momoko asked, wincing at the loud alarm.
The Professor turned around without a word and ran down multiple hallways. He could hear the girls following behind him, each of them yelling at the Professor to explain why there was an alarm going off, but he paid them no heed.
It wasn't until they arrived in a familiar room that they abruptly stopped.
There, meters away from them, stood an open safe.
When the girls finally realized why the room and safe looked so familiar, their faces blanched.
Someone had stolen Chemical Z.
Brick entered his home without a word, and when he went to the living room, he saw Butch, who was still in the same position as before.
Butch looked up to see Brick holding onto a large container.
"I told you I'd be quick," Brick said before he placed the container in front of his brother.
Butch snorted before he hissed in pain when he tried to readjust his position.
Brick opened the container, which had a glowing liquid inside, and he glanced at Butch with a frown. "It might sting at first, you know."
Butch snorted again. "We lived through our transformations. I'm pretty sure I can handle this."
Brick raised an eyebrow. "Whatever. You can tend to your own wounds, right?"
Butch grunted before he began to rub Chemical Z onto his body. He hissed at first when it came into contact with his wounds, but it soon became a relieving sensation as his wounds slowly disappeared one by one.
"Where's Boomer?" Brick asked.
"We thought you'd be gone for a while longer, so he went to go find a first aid kit."
Brick narrowed his eyes. "He left the house?"
Butch rolled his eyes. "No, he's inside, genius."
Within seconds, Boomer arrived into the living room, and he let out a sigh of relief when he saw the Chemical Z in the living room before he approached his brothers. "Oh, thank God."
Butch snorted. "See?"
Boomer looked at him in confusion.
Before Boomer could ask, Brick said, "After Butch is done healing, we're getting out of here."
Butch narrowed his eyes. "To where?"
"Underground."
Butch groaned while Boomer cringed.
Brick narrowed his eyes. "I said earlier that he might know about this place."
"But, he can't look into any of our memories," Boomer replied with a frown.
"That doesn't matter. It's better to be safe than sorry."
"But—"
"Boomer, if he knows our identities, what makes you think he wouldn't know about this place?" Brick demanded as he narrowed his eyes. "Furthermore, if he has the power to see into someone's future through just a simple touch, that means that he must know about the girls' identities already. One of those futures might've even revealed this location, especially now that the girls know our identities."
Boomer flinched at the last portion of the sentence.
Brick noticed this and frowned. "The girls are more likely to link us back to this place, so unless the two of you have any better ideas, we're heading underground."
"I'd rather stay at Miyako-chan's place, though," Boomer muttered, but he knew that his brothers heard him. Whereas Butch said nothing, Brick glared at him.
"Boomer," Brick growled.
"I didn't say anything," Boomer muttered and paused before he added, "It's just… What if that guy goes after the girls to try to get to us?"
Brick narrowed his eyes.
Boomer looked at the floor in frustration.
Butch said nothing as a long silence ensued between his brothers. As he continued to tend to his wounds, he couldn't help but think about Kaoru. He did slip into unconsciousness after he was beaten, but he managed to finally gain consciousness when he felt someone place his body on a stretcher. It was then that he had seen Kaoru's shocked face.
That face didn't suit her at all.
"Boomer, what is our mission?" Brick asked.
Boomer stayed silent.
"Boomer, I'm going to ask you one more time, and I expect you to respond," Brick growled as he narrowed his eyes. "What is our mission?"
Boomer let out a soft sigh, still looking at the floor as he replied softly, "To destroy that guy and…the girls."
Butch frowned as Kaoru's shocked face flashed in his mind again, and he couldn't help but wonder if she was mad at him or hated him.
Brick noticed Butch's frown, and he raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you'd like to add?"
"No," Butch replied as he rolled his eyes.
Brick narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but said nothing.
There was a long moment of silence as Butch continued to treat his visible wounds. It wasn't until he leaned against the couch that he resisted the urge to hiss in pain. He had completely forgotten about the injuries on his back… Just great.
Butch let out a long sigh, breaking the silence. He glanced at his brothers, who were still silent, and then at Chemical Z. His eyes lingered on the liquid as he thought about his wounds and Kaoru.
Within an instant, he made up his mind.
Butch put the cap back onto the container, and he stood.
Brick finally glanced at Butch. "What about your back?"
"It'll heal on its own," Butch replied as he shrugged, not caring about the possible scars.
"All right, then. Let's move out."
After Boomer and Butch nodded, the trio left the house and headed underground.
As Butch carried the container of Chemical Z in his arms, he began to formulate a plan to sneak out of their hideout and visit Kaoru tonight, whether Brick liked it or not.