CHAPTER 5: BULLCRAP
"Pro-fess-or!"
A round of applause fills the dining room, Bunny smiling proudly. After almost a hundred tries, she'd pronounced it right!
"Great job Bunny!" Blossom smiles at her, the pink cast gone from her leg. Two days after the incident and many hours spent teaching Bunny the finer points of speech, she could almost speak in complete sentences.
Bunny hops on her seat, her silly smile on her face. It was almost a shame that the Professor hadn't been able to fix her tooth constantly sticking out of her mouth. But that was on the back burner.
More importantly was the small bracelet on Bunnys wrist. Needing only a few tweaks, the device monitored her Chemical X levels, vital signs, and brain activity. Each of the other three had similar ones, wirelessly connected to the purple one. The moment she begins destabilizing, the Professor and the girls would be notified and guided to her location.
As school was less than a month away from being out anyways, Bunny was spared the stress of being pushed into a class so soon after her revival. Unfortunately, this also meant long hours without the girls there, as they still had school. They missed enough with almost daily battles, and the few days that the Professor had gotten to spend with his girls were cut short by a conference. One that Bunny has the joy to attend with him.
"Remember girls, if there's an alert, you must inform your teacher of the emergency. Alright?"
A chorus of 'Yes Professors' fills his ears, causing him to smile.
"Twenty minutes until class starts girls, don't forget your lunches."
Three streaks of color later, his girls were off to another day at school.
-0-
"Boys, where is your youngest sibling whom we have neglected to name?"
Two pairs of shoulders shrug, blue and green focused on the TV screen as they battled to the death.
"Boys.."
"Er, I think Brick was teachin' him Brazil or something."
Mojo blinks. "Brazil? Why would he require- oh yes, you mean Braille."
"Yeah whatever. Aw cmon Boom you totally cheated!"
The super genius shakes his head with a smile, leaving the middle children to their bickering. His eldest and youngest must be in the bedroom still, going over the recently delivered books. They'd come sooner than he'd thought, perhaps there was something to this 'prime' Brick had suggested.
The sound of flipping pages and hushed whispers fill his ears as the multicolored door is pushed open.
"Brick, new son, what are you up to?"
The capped kid looks up, gesturing his father over. He points to the still sleepy purple child, muttering as his tiny hands go over the pages.
"He's learning quick, just like we did once we actually got educated. I think that embarrassing graffiti is still there… He's still oddly sleepy, and hasn't given any indication to his name."
Mojo nods thoughtfully, resting his hand on his youngest's head, just above the headband keeping hair out of useless eyes.
"Perhaps a guessing game would get us some results. It is getting quite tiresome to refer to him as 'new son'."
"You're not repeating yourself pops, just went to speech therapy?"
"Indeed. Nothing drastic happened while I was gone, correct?"
"Nope, most dramatic thing to happen was Boom beating Butch at his favorite game again."
Tilting his head to get the fuzzy hand to an annoying itch, he considers the sharp ones words. He didn't mind not having a name, really. But it was troubling the rest, so he has to pick. But none of the words the warm one had taught him felt right.
"BRIIIIIIIIICK!"
The soft one screeched, and he covers his sensitive ears.
"Boom! Voice, down!"
"But Briiiick! Butch says I'm cheating and I'm not!"
"Ha! I have proof!"
The rough one zooms by, a piece of paper rustling.
"... Butch? This is a confession signed in your handwriting. Try harder."
"What?! No! It's totally Booms!"
"You scratched out your name the first time you tried to sign."
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did-"
"SILENCE, QUIET, SILENCIO! Boys, we have a slightly more pressing matter than Butch being terrible at Mario Kart. We must help our youngest pick his name."
"Laaaaame. It's bulls- er, bull crap. There's no way in HIMS domain I'm helping with that."
The rough ones words rang a bell. Something he was supposed to have remembered.
"Why don't we call him.. Um… Rad! Cuz he was made with radioactive snails!"
Brick rolls his eyes, bonking Boomer on the head.
"That doesn't start with B Boom. Gotta have a B."
Something to remember… Perhaps a nap would clear things up.
-0-
"Now Bunny, no wandering, no touching, and ignore the rude stares alright?"
She nods her head, clinging to the Professor's hand. She was surrounded by adults, few giving her any mind as they walked towards the entrance.
"Utonium."
The Professor halts with a frown, Bunny stumbling beside him.
"Dogma. You aren't here to harass me again, are you? Nor the ones arranging this event I should hope."
The man sneers, his oily hair slicked back neatly. His clothing was pristine, not even a fingerprint on his shiny name tag.
"Oh no, just a word of warning Utonium. A reminder of sorts. We are not witch doctors, we are men of science. Keep your creature on a leash, or risk it getting into trouble. I hear this one transforms into a behemoth."
Eyes narrowed, The Professor gently picks up Bunny, holding her close.
"My daughter is not an 'it' Dogma. Nor is she a creature. What you heard is true, yes, but it's under control. She wouldn't hurt a fly."
Dogma sniffs, looking down at the shaking girl with disapproval.
"As I said Utonium. Keep it under control."
He sighs, gripping his daughter tighter, and walking around Dogma.
"Good day Dogma, I wish you well in your work. Also, I'll say it again. Regardless of my girls being entirely human, they are sentient beings. Respect that."
Bunny peers over her father's shoulder, wide eyes warily watching the angry man.
"Don't worry about him Bunny. He won't touch you…"
She raises a quizzical eyebrow at her father, the man's intentions had seemed much more pointed towards him after all. The purple puff didn't have long to dwell on it however, as they entered the first event.
-0-
Sleep was hard to come by, he found, when his siblings were arguing. The sharp one was having difficulty calming them, the warm ones voice rising at the rough and soft ones. It was far too loud for any sort of rest.
"We are not naming him Fart Face you imbecile!"
"But Brick, it's perfect!"
The rough one was insistent. But the words still didn't feel right.
"Okay okay, leggo of my ear! Yeesh old man…"
"I, Mojo Jojo, am not old, ancient, or decrepit! You, Butch Jojo, shall not speak to your father that way!"
What has the rough one said before? It began with a 'b'. He was fairly certain of that. The warm one said the name needed to start with that sound.
"Hey, what's he doing?"
The soft ones voice comes from above, startling him. The near silence of floating annoyed him.
"Diggin' his hands into the old table.. Weird."
B.
"Wait, Butch, don't stop him. "
U.
"Why not?! That's Pa's good table!"
L.
"He's writing!"
L.
Silence followed, as Bull puts his head in his hands and slips to sleep.
-0-
"Braille, that first one's a B, then a u…. Two L's. Bull."
Boomer floated upside down, confusion on his face. Butch followed, studying the dents, furrows, and piles of sawdust.
"... Boomer, Butch, why do you ignore your brothers tutoring? He's taught new son- Bull, how to read and write Braille."
"I still don't get it, where's the letters?"
Brick frowns a bit, picking up the sleeping child.
"I didn't teach him to write, he figured that on his own."
Boomer picks up the book, careful not to disturb the letters.
"Cool, look Butch! The alphabet in a language you get to feel!"
"I ain't gonna 'feel' nothin'! That's sissy talk, using 'feelings'. You sound like a Puff!"
"Do not!"
"Do to!"
"Do- do you feel that?"
-0-
"Continuing, the mutations taking place on Monster Isle, off the coast of Townsville Isle, are increasing in variety and effect. According to water samples, the contamination that began 40 years ago has spread over two miles from the shore, in a near perfect circle. Coinciding with this, the powers possessed by Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles have grown. Even with my daughters help, we have failed to get close enough to the epicenter to determine the cause. I thank you for your time, and thus end my report."
Utonium steps down from the stage, hurrying back to Bunny. He'd left her backstage, asleep in Buttercups blanket. During his hour long speech, a sinking feeling had filled him.
Approaching the small room he'd been given, the sounds of a whimpering child filled his ears. He needed to take this slow, as startling her could trigger her powers. Bunny hadn't begun destabilizing yet, so he still had time.
"Little pig…"
Or perhaps he didn't. His hand freezes right above the doorknob, the eerie voice filling his ears.
"Little pig…"
A visit from him was inevitable. But he'd never gone this far from Townsville before. Let alone follow him all the way to a conference.
"Let me come in…"
The knob was scalding, but he had no time to lose. A simple burn was nothing. The knob is twisted with a wince-
"By the hair of my chinny chin chin."
Locked. Of course it was locked. He holds his pointlessly burnt hand to his chest, his super suit was inside that room.
"Three little pigs, turned to four. Won't you open up that door?"
He couldn't protect Bunny from a monster like that without weapons, but he had to try. BANG. BANG. Slamming himself against the door.
"And show me the one who came before?"
"Utonium?! What in the world are you doing?!"
A small group rushed down the hall, Dogma's smug smile in the middle of it.
"No? You won't open up the door?"
Ignore them. Bunny was more important.
"Utonium, what did that door- is the knob glowing RED?!"
"And show me the one who came before?"
"The fire alarms aren't going off, we need to activate-"
"NO!"
Two voices. His own and another's. An older woman stands in front of him.
"Six turned to eight."
"This isn't a fire."
The woman was defending him. Prosthetic arms stretched across the hall.
"We don't need fire fighters for this."
"I think you'll find that it's too late."
"Dr. Sonders please, move aside. This clearly requires the authorities."
"I beg to differ. Utonium and I are the current authorities on this matter. Now hand me the key, I know you locked the poor dear in there."
"To keep me from opening that gate."
"Sonders, step aside!"
"Give me. The key. That man's daughter is in danger right now."
The door was beginning to splinter, a few more good hits should do it.
"Even if you refuse me boy, everything will be mine soon. You'll all bow."
Bang. Bang. His bracelet begins to beep, signaling the end of his leisure time.
"That thing can't be considered anyone's 'daughter'! It's an experiment, nothing more!"
"See you soon, at Monster Isle."
CRASH! The door falls in, pink smoke billowing out into the hall, blinding the inhabitants.
"BUNNY!"
-0-
Finally fixed the line break problem! Now it'll be slightly less trippy.
Except that last bit.
That's supposed to be trippy.