Author's Notes: I know it's been a while, but I'm finally posting the next chapter of "Smelling Flowers". I would like to thank Burninglilly for reminding of this fic. This chapter is a little different, since it shows the progression of time in a succinct way. Not every chapter will be like this moving forward, but there may be a few more. Anyway, thank you to everyone who is reading. I'm glad I can get back to this story :)

Day 3

Well, Dr. Langston and Dr. Phillips denied my written request for my friends to stay with me, but I have decided to not get angry at them. I have instead decided to move on and find joy in my life. Of course by joy I mean pulling juvenile pranks on my benefactors. Pfft!

Today I replaced Dr. Langston's pencils with drinking straws, and then glued the pencils onto Dr. Phillip's chair with the pointy ends facing up. I'm not sure if she sat on them, but judging from the angered screams I'd like to imagine so. I also glued my door shut so they couldn't check on me. I grabbed some snacks from the cafeteria first so I wouldn't get hungry. It took them over an hour to get the door open, and I pretended to be asleep so they couldn't yell at me. Oh, it was such fun!

As for my medical progress, I'm sure it's too soon to tell. I still doubt anything will come of this, but at least I'll have more fun here than I would in jail or on a park bench. Crap, I really wish the gang could live here too.

Grubber J. Gribberish

Day 4

Not much to write today. Probably shouldn't write every day and waste the paper, but I'm bored.

No side effects are being felt at the moment. I take one of the pills every morning and in the afternoon the doctors examine me and talk to me about my progress. Dr. Phillips still talks to me like I'm a toddler, but I suppose I can learn to get used to it. The cafeteria serves a good breakfast. Sausage and pancakes. My normal breakfast is a bag of chips and a soda, so this is probably more healthy...maybe.

Day 5

The vending machine ran out of soda. I've been in a bad mood all day. Why does Dr. Phillips act like I can't hear her when she talks about me!? I'm sitting. Right. There! My mouth feels so dry and I just want a soda! Why do they only serve coffee and water in the cafeteria? Oh god...is this a side effect? Maybe the pills are making my mouth dry, or making me moody. I don't know. I just know I need something to drink now!

Maybe I should try to talk normally around Dr. Phillips. It hurts my spine to stand that straight, but unfortunately that's what it takes to get my tongue all the way in my mouth. I just need her to know that I can understand her, that I'm not dumb, and that I really need something to drink.

Grubber J. Gribberish

Day 6

I couldn't do it. I tried to stand up straight yesterday and I couldn't do it. It always hurts, but yesterday it was impossible. My spine is locked up. I'm worried I might be getting worse instead of better. What if the medicine is expediting my condition rather than curing it? What did I let them do to me?

Aside from the fear of rapidly aging and dying, I've also been eating more today. A lot more. I ate five bags of chips, two breakfast plates, two bologna sandwiches from the cafeteria, drank two cups of water even though I hate water, and ate a block of cheese slices. The entire block! I feel like I'm turning into Big Billy!

Speaking of which, the gang hasn't come by to visit me in days. They aren't allowed to stay, but they are allowed to come over as long as they don't give me anything to eat or drink that isn't pre-approved. I don't know why that's a rule. Maybe the doctors are afraid the gang will sneak me beer or something. I don't know. What I do know is that I miss them, and I'm eating everything that isn't locked away.

I'm beginning to dislike this place. Oh don't get me wrong, I like my room, but everything else is just tedium. I hate the pills, I hate the doctors, I hate the side effects of the medicine, and I hate Dr. Phillip's stinky perfume. Seriously, I lived in garbage for five years and bathed zero times in that duration, and she still smells worse. I wish I could go outside and distract myself from this existential nightmare. Oh well, at least the research will benefit others with this condition, and the money will benefit my friends.

Grubber J. Gribberish

Day 7

For once I actually have something to report besides my own malaise. This afternoon I went in to see Dr. Langston for my physical, and I discovered why my back has been in such terrible pain.

When I was X-Rayed Dr. Langston asked if I would like to see the results along with him, and I enthusiastically nodded yes. Dr. Langston isn't as annoying as Dr. Phillips, though to be fair he also isn't as nice to look at. Just as an aside, his head is mostly bald but he has poofy grey hair on the sides of his head. It makes him look like a retired clown.

The moment of the X-Ray will probably live in my memory forever. It was the first time since this fiasco started that I truly began to feel something other than boredom and hunger. I suppose the appropriate word for this feeling would be...cautious optimism. Not exactly hope, but close to it.

"Now Mr. Gribberish, let's take a look at that pretty picture of your spine," Dr. Langston had said, his mannerisms friendly enough as he walked over with the results, "Do you see these two vertebrae near the base of your neck? Well, these were fused together when you came in, but now they have separated. Judging from your posture, I would say the rest of your fused vertebrae are likewise attempting to defuse themselves from each other. This is very promising. The drug is likely working as a sort of bone resetter for you, and if this result can be replicated we'll know how to deal with your treatment moving forward."

I must admit I was rather stunned. The pain I was experiencing was actually...results? I was actually getting better? I found it difficult to believe, but the evidence was right there. If these people are charlatans, then they are very good at their deception. That X-Ray was more than I ever hoped for.

For the second time since coming to this laboratory I was placed in front of a height chart and my picture was taken. One week of progress, and I was already a quarter of an inch taller! Perhaps there is hope for me yet. Perhaps someday...there might be hope for the rest of my gang. Wouldn't that be something? We wouldn't recognize each other if we stopped being green, and yet, longer healthier lives might just be worth it.

Grubber J. Gribberish

Day 10

I know I haven't written in my journal for a few days, but honestly all I want to do anymore is sleep and eat. I have never felt so old or lazy, and thus I haven't managed to do very much.

For the past few days I have managed to occupy my time by learning how to use the computer in my room. As it turns out this thing has games on it. Not great games mind you. Mostly solitaire and hearts, but at least there's something for me to do besides stare at the ceiling all day.

The reason I am writing today however is not because I have discovered the riveting diversion of virtual playing cards. No, today I am writing because for the first time in a week and a half I had a visitor!

I have missed my gang so much, and I wondered if they missed me as well. I doubted they would drop by. That's just not how things are run in our hood. If one of us goes missing or is presumed dead we don't go looking for them. It likely means danger, and the law of the street is self preservation. If I die then their solemn duty is to go on without me, and I must in turn return that favor should I have a means to escape that they lack. It's how we keep ourselves alive.

So imagine my surprise when around noon Dr. Phillips came into my room (without my permission, again) to tell me the good news.

"Hello, Grubber," Dr. Phillips greeted me in a syrupy tone that even now grates on my nerves, "You have a visitor, honey. Do you feel well enough to come out and see him?"

"Pfft pbt," I would translate that, but I might get in trouble.

Outwardly I was just casually following Dr. Phillips to see my visitor, but inside I was excited to the point of bursting. It had been so long since I had seen the gang! Then the wording she used finally hit me. 'Him'. As in singular, one, not four. Only one member of the gang cared enough to show up. Oh god, I hope it wasn't Billy. He might break something and we'd get a fine that would mitigate everything I've earned by being locked up in this sterile dungeon.

As it turned out my visitor was Lil Arturo. He was sitting in a padded chair too large for his diminutive frame and kicking against a chair leg with the heels of his boots. He looked just as bored as I've felt lately.

"Alright Grubber, you have twenty minutes," Dr. Phillips informed me, her toothy smile looking so fake I wondered if she kept her teeth in a jar at night, "If either of you need anything just press the call buzzer on the wall. Have fun!"

When she left the room I raised a middle finger I knew she couldn't see. It just felt good to do, even if I couldn't offend her with it. Arturo chuckled and then gestured to the chair across from his. It felt nice to see someone normal for a change. I'm getting rather sick of doctors.

"So Grubber, how you holding up, ese?" Arturo asked.

"Pfft pfft pbt prfft," I replied without holding back.

"Ooh, that bad, eh? Hey, at least when this is over you can jack the computer and sell it," Arturo pointed out, "Speaking of money, when you gettin' paid?"

"Pfft," I replied.

"That long? Man, this woulda gone faster if we just kept stealing from toddlers," Arturo lamented.

"Pfft?" I asked.

"Oh, everybody's doing okay," Arturo shrugged noncommittally, "Ace got a job."

Okay, now that one threw me.

"Pfft?!" I parroted incredulously.

"Yeah dude, a real job," Arturo replied, seeming a little embarrassed, "The Powerpuffs are everywhere, so mugging people's getting a lot harder. Ace is working at the Jester Burger as a fry cook. As soon as he makes cashier he's gonna steal the money from the register and run, but that could take weeks. We just tryin' to get enough for a new shack."

"Pfft pbt?" I inquired.

"Oh, well right now we're sleeping under the Townsville bridge," Arturo replied.

I couldn't help but cringe a little when he said that. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the fetid stench of bridge hobo as much as the next person, but next week it's supposed to be days of nothing but thunderstorms. The gang was definitely going to get wet, and would also most likely get sick. This isn't fair! I have a nice dry place to sleep and they don't? I hate this lab, and after this experiment is over I might just burn it all to the ground. I just hope no one reads this before I have a chance to enact my cruel vengeance. Then I would get arrested. At the time I thought this however, that stray bit of reasoning made me realize something...

"Pfft pft?" I asked Arturo.

"We considered it," Arturo once again shrugged, "Getting arrested would mean sleeping indoors, but last time our cell mate was Fuzzy Lumpkins. He claimed every cot. Every. Cot. That guy is seriously loco."

I laughed of course, remember the pink furry hillbilly all too well. Townsville had some strange criminals, but their odd gimmicks didn't make them any less dangerous. I mean sure, Mojo Jojo is known for his intellect, but people tend to forget that he's also a chimpanzee; an animal known for being able to rip a man's face and family jewels right off his body. No way would I mess with that kind of raw angry energy.

"So anyway Grubber, what's the story with that hot chica that came in a minute ago?" Arturo asked suggestively.

Dr. Phillips? Oh, that poor naive soul. He actually thought Dr. Phillips was attractive! She has all the personality of Blarney the Sea Serpent and smells like a burning rose bush. Yeah, real classy!

"Pfft pft pbt pfft!" I laughed, unable to help myself.

"Seriously? You didn't even try to put the moves on her?" Arturo asked in disbelief, "Dude, she's muy caliente, and you're alone with her for the next three months! I mean sure you ain't exactly a prince, but you got frog appeal."

I scowled, and Arturo laughed even harder. I then threw a pillow at his head, which he ducked, and then he leapt off the chair and grabbed the cushion; which was promptly thrown in my direction.

Before either of us realized what we were doing we were knee deep in a pillow fight, and we were pounding each other with chair cushions all the while breaking every breakable object in the room. That was the most fun I've had since coming here, but of course the good times couldn't last.

I still remember when Dr. Phillips came in to tell me our time was up, and the look of shock she had on her face when she saw the mess we had made. She looked like a bass that had been brought onto dry land, with those bugged-out eyes and mouth opening and closing for air. I desperately wish I could afford a phone, so that I could have taken a picture of her aghast expression.

"Wha...what...what happened here?" Dr. Phillips asked; dumbfounded.

"Uh...gotta go!" Arturo quickly said before running out the door in a cloud of dust.

That left me alone with the sugar plum fairy. I just stared up at her, my bulging eyes only slightly more pronounced than her own. I felt so small as I looked up at her tall bombshell frame blocking the doorway. How the heck did Arturo mange to get out the door with her blocking it?

"Grubber...go to your room please," Dr. Phillips said in a shuddered breath; her voice quiet and polite despite the circumstances, "We'll talk about this later."

I complied, wanting to stop by the vending machine for a snack anyway. When I got to my room I pulled out a book to pass the time waiting for her to barge in. I selected Moby Dick, and was halfway through chapter three when Dr. Phillips finally showed up.

She gave me a standard yet civil talk about respecting other people's property, showing proper decorum, blah blah blah. Who does she think I am? I'm Gangreen, baby! 'Respect' and 'decorum' don't fit in our vocabulary. No one's ever respected us, so why should we be respectful? Everything we get is eventually taken from us, so why not take stuff in return? If we don't take, then we don't get. Simple as that.

I would have expressed this to Dr. Phillips, but it didn't seem to be worth my time. So I nodded, smiled, and occasionally cursed her out in raspberry without her knowledge while she smiled at me like a simpering fool. She thinks she can break me, but nothing will break me. I will endure the clinical trial, get my paycheck, and rejoin my gang in our newly built dream shack.

Grubber J. Gribberish