Author's Notes:
I've introduced the boys so this chapter is dedicated to the girls. I originally was going to skip right to then going to the island but I wanted this story to have foundation and backbone so I thought this chapter was appropriate.
UPDATE: {December 4th, 2008}
After reviewing the chapter (I had to reread what I had thus far before I updated the story.), I've changed a few things in this chapter.
You may want to reread it because it's actually quite a bit longer than it originally was.
Anywho, please enjoy and thank you all so much for reading thus far!!
Fear of the Unknown
Chapter One: And Girls Will Be…Well…Something.
"…And I can't believe he had the audacity to actually make such a ridiculous report about women in politics!" Blossom shouted furiously as she flew from one side of their shared room, to the other, placing a few articles of clothing in her large pink suitcase that sat on her bed.
Buttercup rolled her eyes as she placed a deflated volleyball into her bag while Bubbles sighed wearily, placing her favorite swimsuit in her own.
Blossom had been ranting about Brick and his stupid report ever since the end of school yesterday, when the pair had gotten into a major argument while giving a debate for their class.
And quite frankly, Buttercup had heard all she could stand about Brick for one lifetime, let alone an day.
"Blossom, why don't you just admit that you've got sexual tension and--"
"Oh no," Bubbles whined softly, closing her eyes fretfully at what she knew would come next. Sure enough, before the raven haired beauty could finish, a very angry red head was in her face, hands on her hips and pink eyes narrowed. "I do not have sexual tension, Buttercup!"
"Oh that's right," Buttercup announced as if she were in complete shock, even going so far as to place a hand on her cheek. "You can't have sexual tension! Little Miss Prim and Proper Blossom can't possibly have anything like that! Perish the thought!"
Bubbles giggled as Buttercup folded her arms over her chest, glaring at her sister smugly while the red head turned away. "So says the girl that can't possibly seem to comprehend the difference between fighting with a boy and flirting."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Buttercup frowned and Blossom gave her a small smile. "And here I thought it was obvious."
"If it were obvious, then maybe someone other than you would know what you were talking about!" Buttercup snapped and Bubbles quickly raised her hand, bouncing up and down on her bed. "Oh! Oh! I know! She's talking about Butch!"
Buttercup glared at her then back at Blossom, who now crossed her own arms and had a rather smug smile on her face that screamed 'I told you so!' before the raven haired girl growled.
"We do not flirt and I do not--you here me? Not--have a thing for that bastard!" Buttercup cried angrily, looking as though she might punch the girl square in the face but Blossom didn't appear phased as she simply shrugged in a melodramatic fashion. "I've just made a simple observation: you both seem to find anything to fight about and you always get in each other faces--""
"Like you want to kiss," Bubbles gushed and Blossom nodded. "Exactly. You both act exactly the same--"
"I do not go around picking on people and stealing things and--"
Both girls only arched their brow at her in disbelief and Buttercup exclaimed "I don't!"
"Remember that time you stole teeth," Bubbles teased.
"And your always picking on Bubbles. And the freshmen for that matter," Blossom announced matter of factly.
"Do not!"
"Buttercup, you and Mitch Michelson stuck Mary in her locker yesterday," Blossom sighed as if she was already sick of explaining herself. "Face it. You both act so much alike that it's a little, well, creepy."
"What about you, Little Miss 'Goody-Good Too High and Mighty'," Buttercup snapped. "You get into more arguments with Brick than I ever have with anybody else!"
"Have not!" Blossom cried defensively and Buttercup pointed at her. "You two are just alike but in different ways so your not really alike but…you are!"
There was a moment of silence and the blond and red head only stared at Buttercup in confusion.
"That doesn't even make sense," Blossom teased finally in a superior tone and Buttercup growled lowly, balling up her hands into fist at her sides.
"Girls! Girls, please!" Bubbles called fretfully, looking sad. "No more fighting okay? None of us like either of those mean, awful boys and we should stop joking about that!"
Both Buttercup and Blossom simply clicked their tongues and looked in the opposite direction of each other, stubbornly folding their arms over their chest.
"She started it." Buttercup muttered and Blossom immediately looked at her outraged. "I did no such thing! You were the one--"
"Who cares!" Bubbles exclaimed exasperated, flying quickly to their shared vanity dresser and taking a small stick of deodorant and tossing it to Blossom before tossing a small can of spray deodorant to Buttercup who also caught hers. "Let's talk about happy things! Like Princess actually doing a good thing for once and letting our entire Junior class spend the weekend on her private island!"
"What's so great about it," Blossom frowned, floating slowly to the ground and walking back over to her bed, the only one out of the three to be neatly made up, before tossing her deodorant in her suitcase. "She may only be doing this to get the much needed extra credit and flaunt her ridiculous money. "
"So?" Buttercup scuffed, tossing hers in her suitcase from where she standing and Blossom glared in her direction. "So? She shouldn't depend on extra credit to pass a class! She should pay attention and dedicate herself to her schoolwork! And flaunting money just for the sake of making those that don't have as much feel bad is never a good thing."
"High and mighty strikes again," Buttercup grumbled but whether Blossom heard her or not was irrelevant because she was choosing to ignore her. "I just don't like the idea of enjoying a private island when I know she's only doing it pass her class. Even you attempt to make passing grades and Bubbles--"
"Is a lost cause," Buttercup snorted and Bubbles glared at her while Blossom cut her a disapproving look. "--does the best she can! We have our finales coming up in two weeks and personally, I think I'd rather spend the time doing that then buying into Princess' little ploy and rotting my brain with stuff I could do anytime. Like swimming or sports. And boys."
"Like swimming and spor--did you really just say that!" Buttercup exclaimed, smirking in ridicule. "Nothing could be better than sports and swimming. Or fighting."
"For you maybe," Blossom muttered as she looked critically at a purple sun dress before frowning, neatly folded it up and put it back in her drawer, pulling out a pink one instead and with a smile, put it in her suitcase.
"But Blossome!" Bubbles cried. "Boys are always fun! They're nice and give you candy and flowers…and what about flirting?"
"What about it?" Blossom asked matter of factly and before Bubbles could answer, Buttercup held up her hand. "Don't bother. Getting that stick in the mud to understand anything other than boring stuff is a waist of your time…"
"I am NOT a stick in the mud!" Blossom snapped, glaring at her sisters. "There is nothing wrong with not wanting to go around, giggling madly and flirting with a bunch of macho meatheads!"
"Can't blame ya there," Buttercup agreed, frowning slightly. "Stupid as they can be. But no swimming? Or sports? Blossom, don't try to go and ruining this for me and Bubbles with your 'definition' of fun."
"I'm not trying to ruin--"
"We've earned this vacation," Bubbles added hopefully, cutting the red head off and Buttercup nodded. "What with stupid classes--"
"Educational classes that will better improve your overall intelligence and help guide you into a career choice when your older," Blossom corrected her with a clear of her throat and Buttercup glared before she continued. "--saving the town constantly--"
"And that's another reason we don't need to leave," Blossom cut in a 'you should already know this' type of fashion. "We need to stay in town to protect the city of Townsville and it's citizens. What if Mojo decides to try to once again, take over in our absence? Or if the obnoxious Gangrene Gang try picking on today's youth, rotting their impressionable minds with their…stupidity? Or if Fuzzy kidnaps Miss Bellum?"
"Mojo hasn't tried anything for months, it's the Gangrene Gang--I mean come on, nuff said--Fuzzy hasn't broken out of prison yet, and damn it, quite interrupting me when I'm on a roll before I get pissed off!" Buttercup snapped. "We haven't got to do anything fun like this in a while and as long as the trip is free and there will be sports: who cares? Who cares why Princess is doing it, who cares that we can't study or doing boring stuff?"
"I care," Blossom retorted stubbornly, crossing her arms. "And for all you know, this could very well be a trap being laid by Princess--or worse."
"Then we'll beat the crap out of her!" Buttercup snapped, though her eyes flared with excitement and Blossom rolled her eyes and continued. "Or she could be working together with someone, like those stupid Rowdyruff Boys--"
Buttercup threw her hands into the air as she gave a frustrated sigh, floating to her own bed and laid on it, while Bubbles looked between the two and stood up, focusing on Blossom.
"Blossom, I don't think Princess would try anything on this trip," the blond replied softly, taking over where her hot tempered sister left off. "Remember: she hasn't made herself a threat to us since our freshmen year."
Which was true. The girl had finally grown up--well okay, no she hadn't. Really, she just finally decided that since she'd grown up to be quite pretty, had a lot of money that could buy her way through school and good grades, and was still a spoiled brat--she was just better than the trio and no longer had a desire to be a Powerpuff girl.
It had made things better. Well, at least for Bubbles: She still rather despised Buttercup (the feeling was mutual) and Blossom still seemed to get under her skin since she could never seem to one up the red haired leader. But she'd actually managed to strike up a bit of a friendship with Bubbles. And since both girls were on the cheerleading squad (Bubbles captain to Princess' co) it seemed better for both parties if they just got along together.
Though Bubble's sister still watched the girl like a hawk…just in case she tried making sure Bubbles had an 'accident' and was 'no longer able to fulfill her duty as cheerlead ring captain'. It wasn't like it was a big secret that Princess was sore about not getting the lead position…
Blossom sighed. "Fine maybe…but…"
"And who cares if your boyfriend goes," Buttercup snapped and Blossom geared up to go into another tirade but the raven haired girl continued. "We've been kicking their butts for years so if they try anything, we just get to do it on an island this time."
"In bikinis!" Bubbles giggled and both girls stared at her for a moment with blank stares.
"I tell ya, something's wrong with her," Buttercup muttered and Blossom slowly nodded to agree before continuing. "Well…I still think that this is a stupid idea and that we could be doing more important things with our time," Blossom announced matter of factly and her sisters sighed. Then the red head seemed to think of something and snorted. "And since when do students who barely go to school get to enjoy all the perks? Those jerks barely come and they get invited? It's not fair to us that excel--" she paused to look at Bubbles then added "Or at least try!"
Bubbles blinked at her, clearly missing the blow but Buttercup gave her trademark snicker as she cut the girl a side look.
In reality, the girls personalities hadn't changed that much but it certainly didn't make them see eye to on to many things…which also hadn't changed:
Buttercup was still the tomboy of the group with a bit of an attitude though it had drastically improved over the years. She was practically a one women team at their high school and played ever sport there was, minus football--a matter that no person in their right mind ever brought up as the girl was still sour about the entire ordeal. (As was Blossom…) Though she couldn't say the same for her academic career: she wasn't a bad student, per say, but it was obvious she would rather be on the soccer field than sitting in Algebra II learning something she knew she'd never use again in life if she could help it.
The baby of the trio, Bubbles, hadn't changed much either. She was still kind and sweet to an almost annoying extent and was far more subject to talk her way out of arguments than be as combative as her two sisters (Buttercup with fist, Blossom with words) but that didn't mean she let anyone walk all over her: she'd learned at least a few things from her aggressive sister and Mitch Michelson had learned the hard way once what happens when you look up her skirt.
She still loved her artwork--she'd excelled at it over the years--but this had also led her into loving fashion designs and she often had moments of experimenting with different clothing and jewelry, Buttercup usually being her guinea pig. (Much to the girl's chagrin and Blossom's overall amusement.)
And then, there was Blossom.
The girl was often described as "Little Miss Perfect" or "Stick in the Mud" due to her still being the top of her class since kindergarten (She'd never so much as gotten a A- minus!) and her almost faulty overall sense of moral and justice. Nearly all of her classes now were advanced and the girl overachieved as much as Buttercup played sports: Debate team, science club, Spanish club--anything that wasn't remotely 'sports', she seemed to be apart of.
Well, except for one: Blossom really adored ice skating. Though Buttercup insisted it wasn't a 'sport' unless there was a black puck and stick to go along with it, Blossom loved the elegance and overall surreal peace that came with gliding over the ice. Plus it gave her an excuse to dress in cute, princess like outfits, which she admitted, was kinda fun. (She'd even gotten a tiara!)
Her shining achievement was when she'd won a skating championship the very first year Townsville sponsored one. Buttercup taught her how to do all sorts of tricks that she used when playing hockey and Bubbles did her part by making a beautiful pink skating outfit for her and pinning up her hair, crowning her with the tiara to add the finishing touch. She'd won with perfect scores, beating Princess no less, but then she did that a lot, and taking home a beautiful big golden trophy.
That was back when she was in fifth grade. And she'd won that trophy ever since, yet managed to stay modest about it, even though Princess tried some new, devious attempt to dethrone her, even if by 'resort-o-cheat' just to do it.
Blossom didn't mind. That made it more challenging and overall fun when she won. Though slightly annoying…
Of course, she was president of her Senior class student council, almost sure to win Valedictorian of their class once they became seniors, and was seemingly doomed to follower their father's footsteps in science in lab work: she'd already narrowed down her choices of colleges (and had been excepted to several) due to their exemplary science and mathematical departments.
It was only a matter of time before she 'became a mad scientist and took over the world'…or so Buttercup said anyway…
As far as their looks were concerned, it seemed only to magnify their personalities and further set the girls apart:
Buttercup's hair was still short, only slightly flipped at the ends but layered with long bangs that swayed to the left and nearly covered her emerald eyes.
She didn't 'believe' in skirts or dresses anymore but instead, developed an obsession for cargo waist hip-hugging baggy pants, tan being her favorite color, with two belts that hung loosely around the waist: one in the loops and another that just seemed to hang there and defy the laws of gravity, both black.
Her shirts changed on mood as she only had two favorites: a green, black, and white short sleeved mid drift jersey tee with her name over the number '2' on the front and 'Kickass' over the same number on the back. (Made by Bubbles no less.)
The second was a simple hunter green sleeveless turtle neck that zipped up all the way, revealing just enough of her stomach to show off her favorite silver studded belly ring that the professor pretended didn't exist and which she got after a month of him telling her not to without his permission.
It took a very long, drawn out and honestly, boring speech from Blossom about 'individuality' to get her out of that one. But that's besides the point:
She loved wearing her black bands, her favorite being another of Bubble's creations: it used be one of her favorite belts that had broken off during a fight with Ace, so Bubbles just cut it, replaced a few missing silver studs and added a zipper right down the middle of the entire creation (that could actually unzip and stash very little things), a smaller silver belt buckle being added as it's fastener.
She didn't wear make up (and if she could help it, she never would) and other than green, black, and white converse shoes, mid thigh combat boots were her life. The only earrings she wore were silver studs, two in each ear. (The professor refused to let her pierce her tongue in exchange for not grounding her for life for the belly ring fiasco…)
Bubbles' hair was still a golden blond and she never quite got out of taking it out of pigtails or sweeping her bangs out of her face, though she had a habit of also wearing it pinned up in side braided buns, which made Buttercup call her 'Chun Li' when she did it.
Turquoise blue was still her color, though she'd grown to love all shades of blue now, her favorite being a rather short pleaded skirt that faded from navy blue at the bottom to white at her waist, her top of choice being a spaghetti strapped camisole, that faded from light blue to white in the middle, navy blue ribbon and white frill lining the low plunging 'V' neck line as well as crossing over in the middle of the silk fabric, a lacy white floral print on the majority of the front that began at the middle and stopped at the bottom minus a small upward point: her first creation.
She loved silver bracelets, three being the maximum she would wear, on her right wrist as her left was dedicated to wearing only a silver wrist watch. It was a gift from the professor, with a blue fading to white in the middle face, the numbers being in Japanese characters and the arms meeting in the middle with a small kitty face that smiled brightly. Her earrings were simple silver hoops, the size changing depending on her mood.
She loved her blue lace up flat sandals, closed toe, though she did have a habit of slipping on flip-flops of the same color as well. She did like wearing makeup but not nearly as much as one would think she might since the professor insisted that she was a 'natural' beauty.
As for Blossom, she was partial to wearing a pleaded pink, white and black pleaded skirt (black being the dominate color) with a simple button up long sleeved white bell cuffed shirt, white knee high socks and black Mary-Janes, though sometimes she did like wearing a pink knitted vest over the shirt. She often wore a white lab coat over her outfit, buttoned closed, so most people never really saw the outfit short of her flying through the hallways to her next class or leaving the school. (She didn't eat lunch, she used that time to work on her extra credit scientific assignments of the day.)
At home however, she usually like a simple pink t-shirt and flared out comfort dark denim jeans, with stitched flowers on the outer most left pants leg and fuzzy pink house socks.
Her long red hair was kept in the same high ponytail, though she'd retired her old red bow (it was in a small box on her dresser) and replaced it with a new wider rather than taller one. She still wore the yellow and red heart clip to pin it up her hair and when she felt like being 'rebel', she sometimes pinned up only the top of her hair in a ponytail and left the rest down…though her bangs had yet to change over the years, minus they were longer on the sides, reaching her shoulders.
She wore no make-up as she saw no point to it and no jewelry save a smile silver watch with a simple pink face on it. She also wore small diamond studs in her ears but nothing more.
Bubbles called it tasteful. Buttercup called it boring. Blossom called it practical.
And then there was their free time activities: certainly Blossom was the queen of the school when it came to academics and on the battlefield she was second to none with her ingenious tactical plans and leadership skills. But when the girls were off the field of battle and out of the academic 'prison' as Buttercup called it, that's when Blossom really stood out to more than just her sisters:
Buttercup played video games, Bubbles loved to draw, and Blossom liked to play in the lab or catch up on her reading.
Buttercup liked her scary movies, Bubbles loved her romance 'chick' flicks, and Blossom was more partial to documentaries now, since whenever she watched anything else, usually criticized them to a point that it sucked out the fun for anyone watching around her. Like her reasoning for why Buttercup's zombie apocalypse was never going to happen while they were watching Shaun of the Dead.
Buttercup tried her best to ignore boys (and would never admit she liked one), Bubbles believed that one day she'd find her true love and wasn't afraid to gush at romance--and Blossom simply didn't seem to care one way or the other about them: a boy was a boy as far as she was concerned and when she really thought about it, it wasn't like she'd ever have time to date one with her busy schedule anyway. Saving the world, making plans to save the world, school and 'family time' could take a lot out of a girl. She had no clue how Bubbles managed but she figured the 'cutting the school grades' part out might have something to do with it…
Buttercup owned just about every video game system in existence though her passion was playing any sport that wasn't too girly: her personal favorite, soccer. Her teammates loved her, the other schools feared her, and she'd earned the respect and admiration of more than a few boys in the same categories as she was known to kick their ass during the annual Co-Ed sports tournament that happened during ever annual class trip--just what she was looking forward to over the weekend--even though there was one particular sport she always lost thanks to a certain green eyed bastard captain of their three year running state and national champion team--but again, not to be brought up.
Now Bubbles was the type that was doomed to be popular. She had become quite a beautiful girl, if Buttercup constantly upper-cutting males that got a little too 'fresh' with her was any indication. Her overall sweet demeanor and upbeat personality was more than enough to win over most of her peers. It was because of this and her seemingly endless amount of energy that had resulted in the blond getting on the cheerleading team but it was her positive nature that called for her to be the captain: "We have to empower the players to want to win," she'd said when asked why she wanted to be on the squad when trying out. "We have to let them know with our voices, our actions--our very hearts that no matter what happens on any playing court, we'll always be rooting for them: that they'll always have us on their side and their best interest in our hearts."
That little speech got her quite the standing ovation, though Buttercup swore that most of the boys would have rooted for her just to see her 'jump' again.
Her artistic talent was equal to none and her creativity in fashion had resulted in a heck of a lot more hits than misses, something that she did frequently when the girls had nothing better to do.
Blossom however, was pretty, well, bland. If she wasn't in the lab, she was in school. If she wasn't either of those places, she was saving the world. And if by some miracle she wasn't doing one of the three, then she was out at the ice skating rink, using the time for peace and quiet time to think.
That was about it
It wasn't that she just avoided social gatherings like the plaque, though Bubbles and Buttercup insisted she did. It was just that…well…she just could never find the time. There were other things to be done and she couldn't stand not to always be fresh on her toes…and besides. Even when she did go to such gatherings, like parties or dances, she was usually hugging the wall and talking up science with some lucky nerd that had been invited because they knew how to hook up a wicked stereo system together for the popular kid throwing it.
Even when the girls had their own parties, she was more of the hostess than actually enjoying the event, even if the professor tried (every year…) to take the responsibility from her so she could you know…enjoy herself.
She was practically a mini adult but it didn't seem to phase her…if anything, she was more honored by that fact.
All three girls still shared a bed room, though now they had their own beds and parts of said room:
Buttercup's side was messy and unkempt (she only cleaned it when the professor forced her to), Bubble's room was a little better, but was littered with stuffed animals, clothing, and her artwork…and Blossom's room was neat, well kept, and so clean that Buttercup often complied that it was blinding.
There was only three things all three girls seemed to be eye to eye on completely: fighting the forces of evil, loving their father, and their feeling of the Rowdyruff Boys.
Well--kinda.
"I really don't think it would be such a bad thing if they were allowed to come," Bubbles replied with a small smile and Blossom stared at her as if she had finally lost her mind while Buttercup looked thoroughly sickened. "For the love of--Bubbles you're still going about that? He was just joking when he said you had great hair that day!"
"But he smiled and everything!" Bubbles complained and Blossom shook her head. "Bubbles: no one thought you had good hair that day. Even you…"
"That was because Buttercup pushed me in the mud and I didn't have time to shower before people saw me!" Bubbles whined and Buttercup snickered at the memory. "He was the only person to say I still looked nice and it made me feel better!"
"He was being sarcastic!" Blossom and Buttercup exclaimed in union before Buttercup folded her arms over her chest. "Besides…he's a bastard."
"An irresponsible, reckless, womanizing, jerk that wouldn't know how to handle a real woman and the responsibilities of relationships at that," Blossom added and Buttercup blinked at her before muttering. "Yeah…that too. Look the point is: he's a Rowdyruff Punk Bubbles!"
"I know that! I-I never said I liked him! I just said I liked that he liked my hair!" the girl protested, blushing deeply and looking at her hands as she played with them nervously. "I only meant that since they are part of our class, that it would be wrong not to include them to go."
"Yeah right," Buttercup replied sarcastically and Blossom shook her head. "Look Bubbles, you have to remember that he's a criminal mastermind--" the red head paused before shaking it again. "Too much credit. He's a juvenile delinquent with no sense of respect for others, their property, and especially women. He may be the tamest of the his three monstrous brothers, but that doesn't make him a good catch either Bubbles."
"Not like we'd let you go out with him anyway," Buttercup snapped, punching her fist into her hand as if she was ready to fight and Bubbles sighed. " No really girls I don't--oh let's just stop talking about them before Blossom--"
"And now that you mention them, can you believe Brick actually had the nerve to say that 'It was a man's world for a reason.' ?!"
Her sisters sighed and threw up their hands in unison before they quickly picked up their suitcases, locking them shut and flew for the front door, the red head starting up a new rant before she finally noticed she'd been abandoned.
"--and he--hey! Wait, I wasn't done!" she cried as she locked her own suitcase and with cry of parting to the professor who was out in the garden and flew after them.
Author's Notes:
More to come shortly very shortly. Until then:
Happy Reading!
~Kamirine