Business as Usual

Friday came with little fanfare. Bubbles and Buttercup hadn't made it to Mike's yet. A trio of creatures from Monster Isle had pretty well ruined one day. Another was tied up by a rapid-fire series of high-profile robberies committed by ordinary, though brainwashed citizens. Those, it turns out, served only to obscure a different theft by a visiting villain, Mental the Malicious.

Then, much to their surprise, a young Mojo stepped onto the scene again, causing just enough damage to show everyone he was back in the game. Best they could figure, the artifact hunt prompted by the aged Mojo last summer had been, at least in part, a ruse. Mojo had found a way to restore his youth, and they weren't sure what would come of that. Chemical X had helped Mojo age gracefully, but the girls had already written him off as destined to fade into the background long before they did.

But Friday, of course, was the day the sisters had agreed to do some near-space training.

The durable, leather-like suits weren't strictly necessary. The girls could get by even with small amounts of oxygen at extremely high altitudes and could hold their breath in the vacuum of space for several minutes even at a high rate of activity. Even the extremes of heat and cold were bearable. Still, even with their abilities they hadn't made it this far by being reckless.

Blossom stretched and twisted to better settle into the form-fitting bubblegum pink suit. Her sisters likewise tried to get comforatble.

"Bubbles, could you help me with my hair?" Blossom asked. After Bubbles put her hair up, Blossom put on her helmet. Bubbles undid her ponytails to let her hair down before doing likewise.

Before her helmet closed on her, Blossom heard a quiet, slightly surprised "Hmm" escape from Buttercup's lips.

"What's up? Suit still fit?" Blossom asked over the helmet radio.

"No, I just never see Bubbles with her hair down. It looks nice."

Bubbles giggled inside her suit, then switched her radio on, "I think the less effort someone puts into their appearance the better Buttercup thinks they look."

Blossom smiled, "That would explain her grooming habits." She was glad her sisters were spending more time together, not to mention actually getting along. Blossom had started to worry a little about Buttercup after the Mitch incident. Just so long as her sister vented her frustrations somewhere other than on Mitch's person, she was satisfied.

"All right, girls, enough of that. Now I think two hours should be enough for us to get a feel for it again. Dad enhanced the oxygen recyclers, by the way, so we could probably get eight hours if we needed. Don't forget to change them out when we get back. And if anything goes wrong with the suits, let the others know. If your radio goes out--"

"Girls?" Professor asked, knocking on the door. "Are you decent?"

Bubbles pulled her helmet off. "Come in, dad!"

Professor Utonium poked his head around the door. "Blossom, I was just on the phone with your astronomy teacher. It sounds like it wasn't originally on course for Earth, but it seems to have shifted direction."

Blossom replied, her voice muffled through the helmet. "Strange, but somehow I'm not surprised. I guess we'll find out what's going on Wednesday. Is there anything you--"

"Already working on a long distance Spethocologram, sweetie."

"Thanks, dad. We should be back by six."

"All right. I'll try to have supper ready. Does spaghetti and garlic bread sound good, girls?"

They nodded their assent. Bubbles put her helmet back in place.

Blossom let loose her battle cry, "Let's go, girls!"

Two hours of maneuvering and drills later, the girls were finally just starting to work up a sweat. Back home, they took their turns in the shower and gathered around the dinner table. Typically Blossom sat beside her dad, with Buttercup and Bubbles, respectively, sitting across from them. Bubbles was last to join them.

As she filled her plate, Professor commented, "Bubbles, no pigtails tonight?"

Bubbles smiled and nodded at Buttercup. "She thinks I look good with my hair down."

Buttercup blushed and said, "Shut up," before shoveling a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth.

Blossom couldn't resist a little tease, "Buttercup, if I didn't know better I'd think you were sweet on your sister."

Buttercup choked a little on her food and looked wide-eyed at Blossom. "Wh--" She coughed. "What?"

Blossom laughed. The reaction had been priceless. "I'm just kidding, Buttercup. Lighten up a little."

Professor attempted to console her. "Don't let Blossom bother you, honey. It makes me very happy to see you girls getting along so well again."

Bubbles laughed a little now. She set her plate down but didn't sit. First she wrapped her arms around Buttercup from behind, kissing her sister on the cheek and then snuggling up cheek-to-cheek. "Don't be so mean, Blossom. After a jerk like Mitch I bet even I must look pretty good."

Bubbles let her sister go and took her seat. Buttercup continued to blush as they ate in silence for several minutes. Blossom did feel a little bad, but Buttercup made it so easy sometimes. As she sought something to talk about to change the mood a little, she remembered. "Oh, so did you finish the Spethocologram?"

"The computer's analyzing the results. No immediate red flags."

"That's good," Blossom replied. "Maybe we'll get off easy, yet."

"Ha!" Buttercup spouted. "Since when have we ever gotten off easy in anything?"

"There's always hope," Bubbles said. "Things have got to go our way sometimes, right?"

"Personally, I'm more worried about Mojo," Professor said. "I'm not sure how he restored his youth. We don't even know if it's permanent or if it will drive him to worse crimes to try to keep it up."

Blossom couldn't help but note her dad's pepper-like graying hair. "We'll just have to wait and see where that leads," she said. "I admit, though, it bothers me, too. I don't think that's something he could pull off with his own inventions, which means he slipped something by us on this one. Who knows what else he's managed?"

"Screw Mojo," Buttercup said, rising with her empty plate. "So he'll be around longer than we expected." She rinsed her plate off in the sink. "Big deal. I'm more worried about my history quiz tomorrow. I'm headed upstairs."

Blossom smirked, "To read the chapters you should have started Monday, no doubt."

"Whatever," Buttercup said, smirking back. "It's probably the most normal thing about me." Her smirk vanished. "Maybe the only thing normal about me."

Before Blossom could ponder her meaning, her sister was gone. She didn't worry much, though. Besides, Bubbles was in a better position to help Buttercup work through whatever might be bothering her.