Guardians of Sledge Rock

Buttercup snuggled farther into her blanket in one of the leather chairs. It was probably sun up, but she felt lazy. The night previous the ghosts Ms Bellum and Mayor had provided blankets and escorted the group to a cleaner part of the room with leather couches and a fireplace. The room had been frigid cold and Buttercup was almost certain that she was going die of hypothermia. Luckily, there was wood on hand, and Brick had started a fire easily.

Buttercup yawned loudly. She didn't bother trying to cover up how tired she was. After Brick, Boomer, and Butch had fallen asleep, Bubbles had convinced Buttercup and Blossom to try to decode a puzzle from the 'Era of the Splitzers' book. Bubbles had explained that she felt like there was a secret about Rita and Diotin. How she didn't want the boys to interfere with their game. After a good 2 minutes, Bubbles had won over Blossom and another 34 minutes for Buttercup to reluctantly agree.

Apparently, after a bit of sleuthing through several books, Rita was a Splitzer that was extremely intelligent and good with logic and had blonde hair and neon green eyes, similar to Buttercup's in description. She was skilled in Water and Ice, but what was strange was that she was made a captain in the armies because of her skills in Hand to Hand Combat and she was supposed to be a good peace maker because of her Gift of Language. It was weird how Rita seemed to have a little piece of each of the girls.

And Diotin seemed to connect with the guys as well. He was not only a major in Fire and Lightning, but Earth also. But he was also Healer. Apparently Splitzers had more than one gift back when Zion first created them.

Buttercup rolled over in her sleep. She heard footsteps approaching but paid little heed. Probably just Bubbles and Blossom , coming to explain their newest break through on said subject. Or Brick to tell her that the day is crappy and is going to send Boomer and Bubbles to put her in a happy mood. "Buttercup, get your ass up. You've been asleep long enough," Butch announced loudly, striding into the room. No such luck.

Buttercup moaned. "Shut the hell up Butch. Can't you see that I am busy?" She positioned herself so that she was on her stomach with her arms folded crisscross beneath her white down feather goose pillow. She could sleep all day!

Butch just shook his head with an amused roll to the eye. Moving closer, he got a firm grip on the blanket that Buttercup was sleeping on and pulled it up, making Buttercup slip off of the chair onto the cold and unforgiving stone floor. It was cold and the fire was ash and smoke adding an extra bit of chill. Buttercup growled, fumbling to get up with her sleep numb legs. She glared at Butch. "What the hell, dip shit! I was sleeping."

Butch rolled his eyes. "Breakfast is ready. The ghosts apparently have some bacon, eggs, and oatmeal from the underworld or from beyond the grave or whatever. Brick tried it. Its not poisonous." He smirked. "Or at least not some of it." He slunk out of the room.

Buttercup stood up, swaying mildly. She steadied herself, then reluctantly wandered through the doorway. She was greeted with the aroma of sizzeling bacon and eggs. She never really did like eggs, but she felt like her stomach was digesting itself for the sake of avoiding premature death, she would eat the stupid eggs. Buttercup stumbled over to where Bubbles and Blossom and Butch were sitting at a table. She yawned as she sat, then glanced back at Brick and Boomer who were consulting with Ms Bellum and Mayor as well as somehow cooking their meal. "Apparently Brick and Boomer are on cooking duty."

Bubbles and Blossom were studying a book. Blossom stopped looking at the chicken scratch on the papyrus book. "Yep." Her eyes widened when she saw Buttercup's hair. "Holy cow, Buttercup. What is wrong with your hair?"

Buttercup grinned. "I like your hair too, Bloss."

Bubbles looked up from her book and gasped. "Buttercup, she's right. It seriously looks like a bird made a nest in your hair."

Buttercup crossed her arms. "Aren't you guys just peachy this morning."

Butch grinned. "Oh come on guys. Her hair isn't that bad." The three girls fixed their gazes on Butch who stared back blankly. "What?"

Slowly, but at the same time, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup looked away. "Oh nothing." Bubbles murmured loud enough for him to hear. Butch shrugged it off. Bubbles looked up in time to see Boomer set a plate of oatmeal in front of her along with fresh fruit. She smiled up at him. "Thanks Boomi."

"And I kept it away from the bacon and eggs so it won't be contaminated." He took a seat across from her with his own bowl of mush and fruit with a strip of bacon.

Brick glided over holding a plate of pancakes with a fresh syrupy drizzle and blueberries piled on top. A strip of bacon on the side. He placed the plate on the table in front of Blossom. Blossom beamed up at him. "How the heck did you know that this is my favorite breakfast in the world?!"

Brick grinned, taking the seat to the left Blossom. "Lucky guess." He leaned in closer so her was whispering. "Or…maybe Bubbles told me." He leaned away, shooting a wink at her. Blossom blushed, and avoided eye contact by digging into her pancakes.

Buttercup looked over at Butch and shrugged. "Where my food, dumb ass?"

Butch exhaled in exasperation. He seemed to do that a lot when he was around Buttercup. What was her deal? Why did she always start a fight with him? "Its probably over there." He got up and walked over the table where Boomer and Brick had made the food. He picked up one of the two plates and walked back to the table where the others were. He sat down next to Buttercup and she shot him a death glare. "What?" he asked innocently.

Buttercup rolled her eyes. "Where's my food?"

Butch jammed some bacon into his mouth. "I don't need to get you your food. Get you lazy ass up and get it yourself." He said, with partially chewed bacon bits in his mouth.

Buttercup stomped one foot on the ground, and rose from her seat. Using the back of her hand, she slapped Butch on the back of the head. "Ass hole," she muttered as she walked away. She grabbed the remaining plate that had a little bit of everything on it. She would have smiled at how thoughtful Brick and Boomer are, about them knowing that she always likes to have a bit of everything. But she couldn't even force herself to smile. Butch probably wouldn't know that. He was just a jerk who didn't care about her. Why didn't he care about her though? He seemed to care for her when she felt like extra baggage and she felt useless. Didn't he care that she had kissed him? That she was slowly opening up to him? That she did care about him? Why is life so unfair? She scooped up the plate and stomped over to a vacant table, then began to swirl around the oatmeal with her spoon. Suddenly she wasn't feeling all that hungry.

Bubbles and Blossom shared a look. Then they glanced at Buttercup. And in almost the exact timing, glared daggers at Butch. Butch shrugged, implying that he was clueless, once again. "Butch, why couldn't you have brought her food?" Bubbles demanded with folded arms.

"Yeah. And what you said wasn't even remotely nice." Blossom agreed.

"And now we'll probably have some crappy weather to Sledge Rock, thanks to you." Boomer added.

Butch rolled his eyes. "Im sure she will be fine."

"I wouldn't be too sure." Blossom rose from her seat in the wooden chair, glancing over at Bubbles. "Come on, Bubbles." Bubbles nodded with her nose up as she and Blossom grabbed their food and sauntered toward Buttercup who greeted them with a half smile.

Boomer leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Thanks a lot, Butch."

Butch assumed an expression of confusion and slight anger. "What!? What did I do?"

Brick stabbed his eggs. "You got the chicks all riled. Now they're all going to be mad at us. Except maybe Bubbles with Boomer. With her quick forgiveness, Boomer lucked out." Boomer grinned.

Butch's jaw clenched. "Why would Bubbles and Blossom be mad at you guys?"

Brick slapped his face. "And you call yourself the ladies man?" Brick shook his head. "When a girl gets pissed at someone, more so a guy, all of her friends rally with her and just ignore him and usually his friends."

Butch waved off the comment. It seemed ridiculous. "Don't worry about it guys. She'll spring back any minute. She's a tomboy anyway, and wont take much mind to it." He glanced over at the table on the far side of the room. Blossom and Bubbles doing their best to make Buttercup crack a smile to no avail. She sat there like someone had died. "I hope," he whispered.

Thunder clapped an hour later as they set off on the dirt trail toward Sledge Rock. Ms Bellum and the Mayor had sent them off with plenty of provisions that would last them at least 4 days. When Blossom and Brick had protested against it, that they had already been so helpful and that they would die if they took anything, Ms Bellum explained that food didn't count as far as the warning. Eventually, they agreed and took the offer.

According to Brick, they should be able to make it to Sledge Rock in about 3 hours. He always seemed confident in his photographic memory, whenever Blossom questioned if he knew where the heck he was going.

Lightning zapped through the sky as buckets of rain continued to wash over the 6 Splitzer teens. Boomer and Brick had made a point to Butch about majorly pissing off Buttercup since the day was supposed to be sunny and warm, but quickly turned into a thunderstorm. Because of Buttercup's attitude switching from annoyed to extremely pissed in a matter of minutes, the day promised to be a lousy one.

Blossom felt sticky in the warm rain. She had changed into the checkered dress that Bree had given her, and the wet material was sticking to her shriveling skin. Blossom hugged onto Butch's waist, deeply annoyed. If it wasn't for him ticking off Buttercup, she would be hanging out with Brick. "Thanks a lot, Butch. You just had to anger BC," she yelled at him so he could hear her through the downpour.

Butch shook his head vigorously so the water sprayed from his hair like a dog. "Clam it, Pinky. Brick and Boomer already shot me down. Chill out." Butch sighed, feeling guilty. It was his fault that she felt so awful. He could tell that she was extremely mad, based off of the heavy down pour. He is really pushing his luck with that black haired beauty.

Buttercup folded her arms across her stomach while she leaned her head on Brick's back to keep her balance. Why did Butch need to such a jerk to her? This is one of those rare times when she wished she could disappear. Which were extremely rare. Buttercup always faced her challenges head on. But this? This….this is different.

A sudden jolt brought Buttercup out of her thoughts. "We're here!" she heard Brick yell over the loud gale. Buttercup took a deep breath, trying to take control of her emotions. It's not fair to her other friends to climb a mountain in a thunderstorm just because her emotions reflect the weather. Sometimes the Gift of Weather can be a real hassle. This was one of those times. Buttercup huffed. Why couldn't it rain on Butch only?

The rain stopped from a heavy downpour to a lighter drizzle and the wind stopped blowing hard. Buttercup jumped down from the saddle, the hem of her green dress getting all muddy. Bubbles came up behind her and patted her back. "Great job, Buttercup! You did a great job harnessing your Weather and emotions." Buttercup grinned.

Brick gazed up toward mountain. Now the question was, how do they get up there? The map that he had seen told of how the oracle resided in a cave on the peak of Sledge Rock Mountain. Check. They're at the base. He was pretty sure he could faintly make out the cave opening at the top. Now how are they gonna scale that cliff? Boomer couldn't levitate them that high. "Alright guys. We better start climbing."

"Climbing?! You have got to be kidding me," Butch began protesting.

"Shut it, Butch." Brick growled back. The group started climbing the rocks up the mountain. After climbing vertically up the side using handholds in the rock for about 10 feet, they came to a faint rocky trail that seemed to wrap around the mountain like a swirl. Climbing was brutal, and they had to top several times for a snack or to rest. After almost 8 hours of extreme climbing, Boomer and Brick had to carry Blossom and Bubbles the rest of the way up piggy back style. And even that was at good hour. It continued to rain softly.

Boomer grunted as he staggered another step forward. Buttercup still wasn't talking to Butch, and pressed on through the pain in her legs. Of course the one with super strength doesn't have to carry his girlfriend because she is mad. Oh wait. Soon to be girlfriend. Boomer felt Bubbles slipping off his back, so he jumped lightly, boosting her back up. He took another strained step forward.

Brick's breathing became more ragged as he continued up the steep slope. He could see the top of the peak, where the landing with the entrance to the cave was located. His muscles locked a bit, but he kept walking just a few more steps farther. This was a lousy and long 8 hour climb and he was really wishing he had just pushed Boomer's limits to save time-and his energy.

Butch glanced back at Buttercup. She was leaning frontward, her hands covering her stomach. It looked like she might puke. Mud was on the dress hem and her black hair was wilder than this morning. Shuffling over a gravel hole, she tripped falling frontward. Butch lunged forward, catching her before she smashed her face on the hard rock. Buttercup yanked her arm out of his grasp with a sneer. As she stomped away, Butch snatched up her wrist and pulled her so she was facing him. She growled. "What the heck is your problem?"

The rain started pouring harder again. "You."

Butch inhaled sharply. "I realize this, and I am sorry. I didn't mean to piss you off this morning. Well, I did, but not like this."

Buttercup blinked a few times, the rain slowing down a bit. "What? What are you saying?" Was he saying that he cared about her? She felt embarrassed on the inside for being giddy with excitement.

Butch rolled his eyes. "I'm saying sorry, Butternubs. Geez." And there went her thoughts on the matter. "But you seriously look exhausted. Do you want a lift of not?" He indicated to his brothers carrying the other two piggy back.

Buttercup stopped and thought about it for a second before nodding. She hopped onto his back, twisting her legs around his waist to support herself. She actually felt relieved. She was tired of walking. And upslope. She really hated it.

When Buttercup and Butch made it to the top of the hill, the others were resting by the edge of the cliff and the rain had ceased all together and the sun was peeking out of the clouds. Buttercup realized that her emotions were balancing out and the actual day's weather pattern was starting to take its course.

Brick grinned when he saw the two approach them together. "What took you two lovebirds so long?" Buttercup sneered and took a seat between Bubbles and Blossom. A small boulder the size of a grown man's fist flew toward Brick's head, but Brick used his telepathic powers to stop the rock from hitting him. "Butch, that's no way to treat your older brother. Show some respect." Brick grined.

Butch rolled his eyes. "Are we going in or what?" He pointed to the dark cave entrance.

Bubbles linked an arm with Buttercup. "Are we even sure that this is the correct cave to see the oracle?" she asked a bit timidly.

Boomer nodded. Squinting down at a rock close to the cave was a rock with engravings. "This rock says 'Oracle Awaits. Guardians.'"

Blossom tossed up her hands. "That's just great. Just peachy. More guardians. What the heck is wrong with this world? Or continent?" She buried her face in her hands. Brick scotched closer, and pulled her into an awkward hug that was basically Blossom just leaning against him.

Buttercup stood up and stomped over to the cave opening. "Let's get this over with."

Butch snatched her wrist to stop her. "Don't be rash Buttercup." Boomer warned.

Buttercup pulled her arm back. "I'm fine. But you're right, Boomer. If you got so much back bone, why don't you take the lead?"

Boomer gulped. "Um, sure." He strode up to e cave.

"Oh, Boomer, don't listen to her." Bubbles insisted, standing up.

Buttercup huffed with crossed arms and a spiteful expression. "Figures."

Brick stood up and strode over to Boomer and Butch. Brick craned hi neck toward the girls. "Stay here unless we call." They three guys strode forward into the cave disappearing into the darkness. After a minute of silence, Buttercup got restless.

"Something is off. Come on." Buttercup muttered walking through the entrance.

"But Brick said to stay put." Blossom reminded her.

Buttercup snatched up Bubbles and Blossom's wrists. "Let's go!" Buttercup stomped into the cave and stopped, surprised to find the cave illuminated. Even more so surprised to see the guys, with three strange girls.

One girl had dark pink eyes, and long orange hair held in a ponytail using a messy black and red ribbon. Her dress was hot pink and black checkered pattern. Her feet were bare. Her eyes held a menacing undertone. Blossom glared daggers at her. Brick was talking with her and she was visibly flirting.

The second girl was a blonde with long pigtails on either side of her head. Her cerulean eyes were hard and cold. Her feet were bare and she had on a black knee length skirt with a cerulean blue long sleeved top. She was flirting with Boomer, and Bubbles stomped over to break them up as well.

The last girl looked like a punk, with her spike hair, dark green eyes and black gown with green trim. A spiky bracelet on her left wrist. Buttercup, scoffed. She stomped over to where that girl was flirting with Butch. Buttercup used her middle and forefinger to push her off balance. "What are you doing with my man, bitch?"

The girl scoffed and pushed Buttercup back. "Who says that he's your man?"

"I do, sista."

The girl shook her head. "I think that he belongs to me, Brute."

Buttercup laughed. "Brute? That's your name? Your parents must have hated you!"

Brute seethed, and shared a side glance with her two sisters. Apparently Brat and Berserk had run into the same problem with the other two girls. Brute saw Berserk nod, signaling it was time. Brute grinned evily, and to a step backwards. In 2 seconds flat, she had almost grown to almost 6 times her original size and became a shimmering metallic green. Her nose stretched out to become a snout, and a tail formed. Replacing her feet and hands were strong, thick legs with feet the size of a small kiddy pool with claws 4 inches long. She snarled down, while her sisters cackled. They had transformed as well, only into shades of metallic hot pink and cerulean blue. "Still not scared?" Berserk shot down, her voice booming in the cave.

Bubbles quavered a bit. Buttercup stood her ground. Blossom was somewhere in between. "No!" Buttercup called up to them. "You guys think we are scared of a couple of over sized lizards?"

"Lizards?" Brat snapped.

"And you guys look awfully wrinkly. Like you havn't been moisturized in years!" Bubbles added in disgust.

Blossom glanced at Brick. His eyes weren't normal. Instead of red, they were glazed over with a grayish color. Finally, it was clear to her. The dragons were hyptnotizing them! Blossom hid a grin. Now she was glad that her and Bubbles had spent the previous day pouring through old books at the Forgotten Lore. Apparently if you compliment a dragon enough times, they will let their guard down. Then you can ask for a favor. If they agree, then your home free. If not, you can ask them for a riddle or test, and set the stakes from there. Blossom took a deep breath, then smiled up at the pink dragon. "Don't listen to them, Berserk. I think that you look pretty. They color on you looks gorgeous as a human and as a dragon." Berserk cackled but seemed to be blushing.

"What are you doing?" Buttercup hissed, but Bubbles understood perfectly.

"She's right! I'm sorry for what I said. I am just so jealous of how beautiful you guys are."

Brat flashed her enormous eye lashes. "Do you really think so?"

"Of course!" Bubbles assured her.

Buttercup face palmed. No she understood. She was present when the book was being studied. She so did not want to do this, but if it would save her friends, then she would just have to suck up her pride and compliment the little biotch. Buttercup plastered a fake smile on her lips. "I am also sorry…Brute. Your complexion in just…venomously…toxic. Your looks kill."

Brute grinned, as she rolled her giant head. "I know it."

Buttercup hid a smirk. That giant lizard actually bought that! She didn't even notice the sarcasm. Heh, stupid is probably stupider than the blonde sister.

Berserk powered down back to her human form, which was much more presentable and less intimidating. Brat followed set example. Brute stayed in her other form with disdain on her lips. "So what do you want?" Berserk demanded, with folded arms.

"Yeah! What do you want?" Brat echoed. Berserk rolled her eyes at her sister's stupidity.

Blossom smiled nicely. "We were really hoping you would take the spell of our friends and let us by to see the oracle."

Brute stomped a giant foot. "What makes you think that they are under a spell?"

"I don't know," Blossom started humbly with a shrug. She pointed at Brick's eyes and said, "Just that their eyes are grey no and seem to be drooling over you."

"Especially when we know that they were drooling over us. Boomer and Bubbles are irrespirable." Buttercup mumbled.

Brat giggled darkly. "What if they just fell head over heels the moment they met us? That they think we are so much better?"

Bubbles placed a hand on her hip in a provoked stance like she would pounce at any second. "First of all, they have grey eyes."

Brat bit her lower lip, then tossed her hands up. "Okay you got us. We did hyptnotize them to love us."

"Brat!" Berserk and Brute scolded.

Berserk refaced Blossom. It was almost as if they looked into a mirror-minus a few casualties. "What do you propose? I can tell you did your homework, which sickens me. I should have eaten you, Miss Smartz the second I saw you."

Blossom continued to smile, ignoring the threat, even though she desperately wanted to bash in her face. "We just want you to give us a test so we can have our friends back and we can see the oracle." Blossom explained calmly.

Brute grinned. "We should make them fight a thousand zitcoes."

"No," Brat argued. "I can sense that the green one is Gifted with Combat. We should make them translate the Scrolls of Yore."

Berserk thwacked Brat on the shoulder. "Brat you moron, the blue one is Gifted with Language." She stopped and thought for a second. "We should make them figure out how to break the curse on the boys in under 15 minutes." She grinned to herself in triumph.

Brute grinned and powered down. Brat giggled evilly again. "And that's why you're the leader, Berserk. But what if we win?" She addressed the second part to Bubbles.

"We get to keep the boys." Berserk said.

"Deal," Buttercup responded.

"Your 15 minutes begin now," announced Brat.

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup huddled together for a minute. "What do we do? How do we brake a spell?" Bubbles panicked.

"Relax, Bubs, I have an idea." Buttercup walked over to Butch and slapped him across the face. She turned around and shrugged to the others when it didn't work. "I thought that would work."

Bubbles put a hand on her forehead. "Really?"

Buttercup grinned sheepishly. "Nope. I just really felt like slapping him for being a jerk."

Blossom nodded. "I can understand that."

"6 more minutes ladies," Berserk warned. She sounded to giddy, to confident to Buttercup liking, when suddenly, it hit her.

"Oh my gosh! I know what to do!" She huddled to Blossom and Bubbles. "Just do what I do. Exactly." She so did not want to do this. Buttercup walked up to Butch and wrapped her arms around his neck, his black locks falling on her wrists. His eyes seemed distant with the cloud of grey shading them. She felt pink, with others watching, but this was how to save him. Leaning closer, she pulled him into a kiss. So this is what it was like kissing Butch. She closed her eyes and let it become natural. Slowly, color returned to his eyes as they turned back to their forestry green.

"NO!" she heard Brute bellow. But Butch was coming back from his hypnotized state and was kissing Buttercup back! That's when she le go and pushed away. She saw bubbles and Boomer hugging, and Blossom and Brick were holding hands grinning with pink cheeks. Buttercup crossed her arms, as Butch pulled her closer to him.

"That was amazing, Butterbabe." Buttercup punched his arm and kicked a rock. Butch chuckled softly. "Hardcore and independent. Excellent."

Blossom walked up to Berserk. "All right, we won, so we get an audience with the oracle."

Brat was sobbing in the farthest corner of the cave and Brute was punching a wall. Berserk stood tall with a look from hell, and eyes cold as ice. She pointed at an exit on the far side of the wall, that was not there before. "The oracle awaits you."

Blossom and Brick held their noses high as they sauntered out to the exit. On the other hand, Boomer was cradling Bubbles, hands entwined, rubbing noses. Buttercup slumped out after them, feeling a bit embarrassed. Hustling, Butch caught up with her. "Hey Buttercup." Buttercup gave a sideways glance. Butch slipped his hand into hers and Buttercup grinned. And that's when they came eye to eye with The Oracle of Sledge Rock.

so what did you think? good, bad? please tell me your opinion! good news! i do get internet! yay! so if you havn't already, read my other stories You Belong With Me, Hold My Hand, In The Woods and if you feel up to it, my PPGZ one, A New Chapter. and if you still are up to it, check out my sisters story. Look in my favorite authors or favorite stories, but read it and comment! it would mean alot to me :)

ciao~ P.F.G