Hey guys, sorry for the general lack of updates this past year. A combination of [different blatant excuses] prevented me from working as hard on getting an actual update going. Really, it came down to a general lack of motivation, and I'm sorry for that. But thank you for sticking with us. Enjoy! =D


Chapter 3 – Part 1: Friends Not Forgotten

It was a fairly daunting task, but Buttercup managed to get everyone home after Blossom answered some basic questions from the reporters—about an hour later, which Blossom was sure Buttercup wasn't too happy about. When she got home, however, more reporters were waiting, crowding the porch, completely blocking the entrance. The Professor had gone ahead, and his station wagon was in the driveway, which was now also blocked by a throng of people.

"Aw man," Buttercup groaned. She let Blossom down and started pushing people gently—or as gently as she seemed to be able to muster—out of the way, calling out, "All right, people! Make a hole! Make a hole! No shoving! Let us through, would ya?" Blossom had to stifle a giggle. It was a like having a professional bodyguard from the paparazzi.

The journalists pushed back, though, and stepped past Buttercup to shout questions one after another at Blossom. Most of the questions overlapped, and Blossom saw Buttercup starting to get irritated. She looked like she didn't want to have to push people out of the way, but for whatever reason, they didn't seem particularly worried about her doing so; she was edging past people and they were trying to press their microphones in her face as much as they did for Blossom.

"Excuse me," Bubbles shouted, just loud enough for Blossom to hear over the cacophony, and everyone—herself included—turned to look at Bubbles.

Bubbles inhaled gently. "Could we ask you all to just… um… leave, please? We've had a long day and we could really use some rest. Please?"

Everyone fell silent.

And then the reporters started packing up their equipment, got in their cars and vans, and left.

Blossom scoffed inwardly, impressed at Bubbles' subtle psychic influence. Buttercup gaped as the last van disappeared down the road, and turned to Bubbles. "Wha—but—how… huh?"

Bubbles shrugged.

Play it up, Blossom thought to herself. "Still the same old Bubbles," she said proudly.

Buttercup shook her head in confusion. "I don't get it."

Inside, Buttercup threw herself down onto the sofa. "Oh man. Finally home," she sighed.

Blossom and Bubbles came inside and one of Bubbles' mechanical arm closed the door behind them.

"Welcome back," Professor greeted from the kitchen and glanced out the window. "How'd you get rid of the reporters?

Blossom motioned towards her sister. "Bubbles has a way with words."

Professor chuckled. "Good thing, too. You wouldn't believe how loud they can be."

"Oh... we know," Buttercup assured him. "What a day."

"It was pretty hectic, but at least everyone knows I'm—knows we're back," Blossom smiled.

"Too bad it caused all those accidents," Professor mused dryly.

"Good thing the Powerpuff Girls saved the day, then!" Buttercup grinned.

"Yeah, but I figure the people whose cars got totaled would have been fine with just having a... normal... afternoon," Blossom shrugged.

"You came back to life. That option got kicked to the curb!" Buttercup said as she put her feet up on the coffee table.

"It is good to be alive," Blossom mused. "Still... saving the day on top of that? A bit much." As she walked towards the kitchen, she stopped by the phone and idly checked the missed calls. Professor had set up a voicemail that translated spoken to text and displayed it in a short list with the caller's phone number and registered name. It wasn't perfect but it was better than just a blinking number. Professor seemed to have already gone through it, but she went through the calls anyway. One of the names on the ID jumped out at her. A friend she hadn't seen... well, since her old life. And now that the reporters were gone she would be...

Blossom looked up at the door. "I think we're expecting a visitor," she said out loud.

Bubbles turned to the door and her face lit up. Buttercup turned to Blossom and blurted, "Huh?"

The doorbell rang and Buttercup jumped in her seat. "Whoa—! What?! How?!"

Blossom just let her head fall, snickering to herself. Typical Buttercup reaction.

Buttercup just shook her head. "I don't know how you do that. Ugh… if it's more of those journalists, I swear…" Buttercup got up and pulled the door open. "You guys—"

"Buttercup!" Robin threw herself into the open doorway and pulled Buttercup into a tight hug. Buttercup embraced Robin out of surprise. Then Robin parted the hug and ran over to Blossom. "Blossom! I'm so happy you're alive! I missed you so much!"

"Aw, Robin." Blossom returned Robin's hug warmly. "I missed you too."

"It's been so long!"

"Four years, give or take."

"Haha, yeah."

After Blossom, it was Bubbles' turn. "Bubbles." Robin pulled Bubbles into what Blossom thought was a very... protective hug. "I'm so glad you're safe." Blossom saw Robin glance at the metal arms over Bubbles' shoulder but didn't make any indication that she was bothered by them.

Then Blossom turned back to the doorway. There was one other person on the doorstep: Mitch Mitchelson. But he was different, and Blossom almost didn't recognize him.

In kindergarten and throughout elementary school, Mitch had been a huge bully, but now he was in his early teens, and something was different; his posture, his stance, and the softer look on his face... he just looked... more mature. Not only that, but Mitch had gotten a little… well… handsome. He had grown out of his bucked teeth, and he stood a little more proudly. His freckles had dulled a little in appearance to better match his skin tone, and his eyes—his brown eyes were softer, more caring.

Puberty had obviously been very kind to him.

It must have been a pretty huge transformation to Buttercup as well, because she stood there gawking at him. Blossom quietly wondered why Buttercup was so surprised, since she would have been going to the same school with him and seen him grow... or was there some reason why she hadn't? She'd have to remember to ask about it later.

Blossom leaned over and whispered slyly, "Buttercup... you're gawking."

Buttercup blinked and snapped her mouth shut, quickly crossing her arms and looking away, all while turning beet red. Blossom smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Hey Butters," Mitch said with an amiable—if awkward—wave of the hand, putting his hand back in his coat pocket afterwards, half-smiling. His voice had smoothed out a little—it was less raspy like it had been as a kid, and Blossom was aware of a subtle, charming sweetness to it.

At that moment, Mitch might have been the only person in the world who could have gotten away with calling her sister Butters, and Buttercup seemed too embarrassed to dish out any sort of retort. "Uhh… hey, Mitch."

Still, Blossom wasn't sure why he was here. Robin had been their closest friend but... Mitch?

"So, Mitch," Blossom greeted him, a little suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

"Er... what... do you... uh?"

"Oh!" Robin exclaimed, "He's with me! With us!"

Blossom stared blankly. "Us?"

Bubbles held up her hand. "He's part of my—uh—or, our group."

...Your group? With Mitch in it? Blossom thought to Bubbles, skeptically. Bubbles suddenly gasped in realization. "Oh, that's right! You didn't know!"

"Know what?" Blossom looked back at Mitch, who was looking Blossom over curiously. He looked dumbstruck. "...What are you doing?"

"Holy crap, you are alive," he marveled at her. "I mean, I saw the news, but... wow! What the hell happened to you? You were freakin' dead! There was a funeral! Bones in the casket and everything!"

His entire demeanor was just... different. This was Mitch. The kid who tortured a hamster until it went insane and tried to kill him. But he was so different. Blossom suddenly felt a strong desire—maybe more of a curiosity?—to get to know the new him.

He had asked her a question, and she didn't really want to explain herself all over again just yet. She sighed with muted restraint. "It's a long story. Why don't you come in?"

Inside, he and Robin looked around the room. "Wow," Robin awed. "I'm impressed... this place looks really good. Did you all work on it?"

"Yep," Buttercup answered, sounding prideful. "After we got Blossom back, I figured it was time to spruce the place back up. So we all worked on it, and I—" Blossom was giving her a sly stare. Buttercup sunk and drooped her eyelids. "Oh, all right. Blossom made me buy the stuff and it was all her idea." Blossom giggled and gave her sister a pat on the back for her honesty.

Robin put her hands on her hips and fumed at Buttercup. "So why didn't you let me in to see Bubbles when I came by before? I was really worried about her!"

Buttercup stood defensively. "I would have! Really! But she was really, really sensitive about those—" she hesitated, and gestured towards her sister. "—those arms of hers. She didn't want to be seen by anyone."

"Yeah," Bubbles said, her head sagging. "I'm sorry... when Buttercup got us back home, we realized we needed to buy some things to take care of Blossom... but I couldn't go out. I was too... scared. I—I couldn't..."

Robin's expression softened as she regarded Bubbles' look of shame and pulled her into another comforting hug. She turned back to Buttercup. "All right, I get it now. It just… bothered me, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. Sorry again."

"It's okay."

Mitch took a careful step towards Blossom. "So, Blossom... your eye..."

She cocked her head. Instantly, she was sure that he must know... but how much did he know? Best to be neutral. "My eye?" she returned.

"You have a fake eye, right?"

"Very blunt," Blossom mused to herself aloud. He was still the same Mitch, but Blossom had the feeling that he wasn't asking about it to poke fun.

Robin gaped at him, then looked at Blossom. "A fake eye?"

Bubbles stared at him, surprised. She blurted, "How did you know?" Robin looked at her, astonished, and Bubbles covered her mouth shamefully.

He grinned. "Hah! So I'm right!"

Blossom, for perhaps the third or fourth time today, was very clearly impressed. "Well, then, yes, you're right," she finally admitted. "But how did you know?"

"At the press conference, when you used your heat rays, I noticed that there was only one beam coming from your eye, even though both eyes were open. Which means that one eye is fake," he added, pointing to her left eye.

Blossom smiled and nodded appreciatively. "Very observant. I didn't think anyone was really looking at me that closely." She relaxed a little and crossed her arms. "Yes, one of my eyes is fake. But it's not my left eye, it's my right."

Mitch paused, and then craned his head slightly towards her. "But the beam came out of your right eye."

She nodded. "Right again," she beamed.

He blinked. "So your right eye is the fake one?"

"Correct!" She wasn't sure if she was sounding smug, but she was having a little fun with this.

Mitch paused, piecing it together. "That would mean... it's mechanical, and designed to imitate your real, Powerpuff eye."

"Exactly," Blossom said with a nod.

He pursed his lips. "Can you show me?"

"Mitch!" Robin was by his side in an instant and slapped his shoulder with the back of her hand.

He flinched from her sudden smack, and shrugged. "Well, come on, I'm curious."

"She's probably really sensitive about it! How would you like it if you lost an eye and someone poked fun at it?"

"I'm not poking fun, I'm just curious!"

Blossom held out her hands to stop them. "It's all right, Robin. I'm not sensitive about it. I can show you both, if you want."

Robin stopped, and her expression told Blossom she really did want to see the eye.

Mitch wasn't so restrained. "Sure! If it's not too much trouble?"

"Not at all. Just... don't freak out, okay?"

"Freak out?" He shared a blank look with Robin, hesitated, then shrugged. "Okay. I won't freak out."

Blossom glanced at Robin. "I won't," Robin assured her.

"All right." Blossom tilted her head forward, grabbed the front of the lens with one hand and pulled her lower eyelid down with her other. Carefully, she slid her lens out of place and pulled it away, revealing the mechanical iris and glowing red core. She blinked and then looked up at them. The lens adjusted focus instantly.

Their eyes went wide. Robin gasped, covering her mouth with both her hands. "Oh my God," she breathed. Mitch made a tight fist and pressed his curled index finger against his upper lip, trying to stifle his reaction. He looked a little nauseous—Blossom thought he might be imagining having his eye torn out of its socket. She didn't need to explain what really happened. They were freaking out. Of course they were. Had she really doubted that they would? Blossom slipped the eye-patterned lens back in and rotated it into place. She looked back up at them and blinked. With the lens on, it looked almost identical to her real eye.

Mitch took his hand off his mouth and folded his hands. "Well. That is... wow. Um..."

"Really, it's all right. It's not as bad as it seems. Very Borg, isn't it," she joked.

He made a scoffing chuckle, "Maybe more Terminator or something. You be back." She chuckled, and he continued seriously. "It does look really bad, though. Sorry I pushed."

"It's fine, really. And it really isn't that bad."

He craned his head a little. "Does it hurt?"

"No, not at all. It almost feels like there's nothing there." She motioned towards it. "Go on, have a feel."

Hesitantly, Mitch reached out and, with Blossom's eye still open, he pressed against the surface of the right eye, feeling the smooth lens, then pulled his hand back. "Wow. It just feels like glass."

"Well, this lens is. Mojo made the eye for me as an apology for a... failed experiment. It's actually really well-made and really helpful. Especially now that, you know..." she made a little hop and shrugged uselessly.

"Right. Your powers. Gotcha."

"Mitch," Robin squeaked, tugging the back of his shirt. "We should go. They need their rest. She—"

Bubbles let out a long, sharp gasp, and stared at both her friends.

Everyone turned at once to Bubbles, whose eyes had gone wide, staring at Robin and Mitch. A lamp behind Bubbles flashed and the bulb popped almost-silently. Blossom glanced at the lamp and glared at Bubbles sternly.

Professor stuck his head out from the kitchen. "Did that light bulb just—Oh! Robin and Mitch! It's been a while! Thanks for stopping by, I'll make you guys some—"

Bubbles blurted, "YOU GUYS ARE DATING?!"

Five sets of eyebrows shot up around the room.

Blossom turned from Bubbles to Mitch to Robin and back rapidly. "Wait, wait, what? Hold on! What? You guys are what? But… Mitch—Robin...?!"

Buttercup jolted in place. "What?! You and him?!"

Blossom glanced at Buttercup. She looked more than just surprised... maybe a little sad?

Professor winced awkwardly and retreated slowly back into the kitchen.

Robin glared accusingly at Mitch.

"Wha—? Don't look at me! This is the first—I mean, come on! How could I have—"

Blossom had recovered. "All right, all right. That's enough. Let's just take a seat on the sofa and relax, all right? We have a lot of ground to cover here." As she walked towards the kitchen to help the Professor with the snacks, she muttered, "Four years worth…"


Thanks again for reading! I know this part was a little short, but while writing we got about 15-20 pages in and realized that all of the scenes in this part kind of run together and had to find a decent break otherwise this one part would be like 50K words. =P

The next part shouldn't take nearly as long to come out, so please stay tuned, and once again, thank you for reading! See you next update! =D

-RD