Hey everyone!
Squee! I still have the adrenaline of starting a new story, so obviously it's the only thing I can think about, which makes me want to update!
Wham!
With a jolt, Blossom woke, her vision filled with a soft haze of pink light. Moaning quietly, she tugged her rose colored blanket off of her head to just in time to see a lime blaze whiz around the doorway.
"Ugh! She has no consideration!" Blossom fumed, rubbing her eyes with one hand and throwing the blankets off of her legs with the other, swinging her bare toes to brush the wooden floor. There was no sleeping after a wake-up call like that, and besides – for once, Buttercup had the right idea. Saturday was a day without a school schedule to encumber her, she couldn't afford to sleep it away.
She glided through the girls' shared bedroom into the bathroom across the hall, to analyze herself in the mirror. Her long, lustrous copper hair was in a disheveled mess, her pink eyes still squinting in the bright intrusiveness of the morning sunlight, and her satiny pajamas were rumpled from last night's sleep.
She blinked once at her reflection, until the chill of the tile seeping through the bottoms of her feet arrived at her brain and jolted her into action. After quickly showering and changing into jeans and a white t-shirt, Blossom followed Buttercup down stairs to find Bubbles starting on a plate of pancakes.
"There's still some batter if you want some," her blonde sister chirped with her usual cheer.
"Thanks, Bubs."
Blossom passed the wooden table on her way to the stove, at ease and familiar with her surroundings. White morning light flooded from the window, and the shrill tweeting accompanying it was from the same family of birds who had nested in the front lawn since their childhood. And she didn't even have to look out said window to identify the grinding wheels on cement to know that Buttercup was skateboarding.
The green puff had taken up the sport several years ago, when Townsville had boosted up their police force from a bunch of doughnut-eating buffoons to a veritable army of cops, specifically trained to take on the monsters who routinely plagued the city ofTownsville.
Instead of relying on three kindergarten girls who still tried to lead lives of their own, Ms. Bellum – erm, the Mayor – decided that it would be best for everyone if they simply upgraded the official crime fighting forces of the city. So, after much consideration and hesitation, the girls resigned and carried on with mostly normal lives.
Obviously, after being acclimated to such an adventurous and active life, the girls needed hobbies. Blossom dedicated herself to her studies, Bubbles now volunteered for various causes, and Buttercup took up skating. All though the beginning of 'retirement' had been difficult, the three had adjusted.
Blossom snapped out of her reverie, her mind refocused by the one unfamiliar noise in the chorus of sounds regularly heard on an early Saturday morning.
The muffled sounds of a car braking in front of the Utonium residence hit Blossom's super sensitive ears. Now, this noise would not be to out of place, if Buttercup had continued boarding, with perhaps a greeting for the driver.
But instead, her wheels abruptly stopped their grating and her voice sounded challenging. To a stranger, Buttercup might not sound any different in this conversation than in any other, but Blossom could discern the underlying insecurity and instantly knew something was up.
Dropping the spoon in the sticky pancake batter, disregarding the cakes already on the pan, Blossom hurried through the front doors to see a black car turning the corner our of the neighborhood. Buttercup stood on the driveway in black board shorts, her board under her arm and a large envelope in her hand.
Buttercup looked up from the papers in her hand to her sister in the doorway and began walking towards her.
"Some big dudes in douche suits had this for us. Has a bunch of seals 'n stuff all over it. They said it was very urgent for us to get back to them as soon as possible."
Buttercup dropped her skateboard on the front steps and recklessly tore open the top of the envelope, but before the two girls could examine the contents, a voice interrupted them from behind.
"What's up?" Bubbles asked.
"We're about to find out," replied Buttercup as she pulled a few papers, "Here it goes,
"Blossom Utonium, Buttercup Utonium, Bubbles Utonium: Greetings from the White House,"
Buttercup paused, eyebrows flying up her forehead.
"We are aware of your retirement nine years ago from crime fighting, but it seems we are in need of your abilities,"
Here, Buttercup stopped again.
"'Abilities?' That's what they're calling our super powers?"
"Just keep reading!" squeaked Bubbles, her eyes wide with excitement.
Blossom elbowed Buttercup in the side as a prompt to continue.
"Ok, for fuck's sake, keep your panties on: If you accept our call to duty, please contact your mayor who will have the number to reach the escorts who delivered this letter. Further information will be given upon your arrival."
Buttercup lowered the letter.
"That's it."
"I wonder what they need us for," Bubbles wondered quietly, anxiety tinting her words.
"I bet it's dangerous," said Buttercup with a predatory grin, "Oh man, it would be great to have an adventure again, save the day."
Blossom's eyebrows furrowed, still focused on the paper in Buttercup's hand, but, feeling the heavy pressure of eyes on her, she looked up to see her sisters' expectant stares on her.
A sense of déjà vu washed over her as she realized they were waiting for her final decision.
Looks like some things never do change.
For a moment, Blossom paused, weighing their options. They were well settled and had average school and social lives which would be disturbed and would never return to normal if they accepted this mission. Also, the girls hadn't 'saved the day' since they were six and must be out of practice.
On the other hand, Buttercup was right; it would be undeniably great to kick some butt again. Besides, if the government was willing to come root the puffs up from their home, then it must be urgent. What if they really needed help?
Finally, Blossom made her decision.
"Well girls, you up for a visit to the Mayor?"
After leaving a hasty note for the professor to explain away the absence of his three fifteen year old daughters at eight in the morning, the girls took off flying across the skyline of Townsville in their traditional, triangular rainbow.
With the ease and grace that only comes with practice, the puff's touched down in front of the City Hall, and marched confidently up the many steps to the front door, where Buttercup hesitated, for just a split second, before swiftly shrugging off all caution, and throwing open the massive doors with her usual vigor that made her more docile sisters flinch.
Truth be told, and all vigor aside, Buttercup was admittedly a tad reserved about returning to their familiar haunts. After retiring at an early age from the heroine business, the girls could count the number of times they had only spoken to the Mayor and Ms. Bellum on one hand. And in plus, Buttercup had been the most adamant and, well, vocal about continuing in their positions as Townsville's guardians, and as such, had departed with a less-than-favorable parting impression.
After all - six-year-old Buttercup had argued - they had been taking great care of the city since forever, why did they have to stop and let a force of puny humans steal her fun? In the end, Ms. Bellum and the Professor had won, and although the change had been hard, Buttercup had learned how to move on, or at least fake it.
So, even now, with the promise of fresh adventure dangling before her, she was admittedly hesitant to return and face these bitter ghosts.
As the three moved through the massive doorway and into the large reception room, they were greeted by the hauntingly familiar sight of the gorgeous Ms. Bellum leaning on a desk at the opposite end of the otherwise empty room, her face shielded in the shadow of her hair and the dimness of the cold, stone room.
A moment of silence filled large, cavernous space.
"Hello girls," said Ms. Bellum in a quiet voice that echoed off the thick walls.
"Hello," said Blossom stiffly, her voice also ringing a few extra times, adding to the tenseness.
"It's been so long. You three have really grown up."
To Buttercup's malicious glee, Blossom didn't honor the observation with a response, instead narrowing her eyes as she surveyed the older redhead from distance between them.
Buttercup clenched her teeth, the suspense killing her. On the opposite side of Blossom, Buttercup could see Bubble's fingers fidget nervously behind her back. Gently, Ms. Bellum placed her own elegant hand on the large desk she was leaning against.
The massive room was so silent that even normal human ears could hear a pin drop.
Finally, Buttercup exploded.
"So are we going to get down to business, or what?"
Buttercup could have sworn she saw the tiniest twitch of a smile pass over her leader's lips, but as soon as the smirk had passed across Blossom's mouth, it had disappeared again.
"Let's," agreed Ms. Bellum coolly, and sashaying around the desk, she opened a drawer, removed a slip of paper and pushed a phone to the edge of the surface closer to the girls.
"Here's your number."
Blossom nodded curtly and stalked across the room, Buttercup and Bubbles flanking her sides, their steps sounding unnaturally loud against the marble floor.
All of the women in the room avoided eye contact as Blossom picked up the phone and firmly punched the numbers, her finger hovering over each digit for a split second before pushing down, receiving a chorus of cheery bleeps that sounded almost humorously out of place in the tense room.
As Blossom pressed the eleventh digit in the number and held the phone up to her ear, a barely audible intake of breath could be heard, which only served to heighten the suspense crackling in the air. The dial tone filled the quiet, Buttercup bit her lip, her brain going into overload as she realized this moment might restart their career or leave it where it was, in the dust.
The dial tone bleeped out. Blossom's grip on the phone tightened. Bubbles squeezed her hands together. Buttercup clenched her toes inside of her shoes. Despite herself, Ms. Bellum leaned in a discreet attempt to listen in.
"Hello," said Blossom, as cool and collected as ever, "This is Blossom Utonium. We were told to call this number with our decision."
For the briefest of moments, Blossom paused, locking eyes with her sisters, and even acknowledging Ms. Bellum's presence with a short-lived glance.
"We accept."
A muffled male voice responded, words indistinguishable and curt. Blossom smirked in response and said,
"I understand. Goodbye."
Calmly, she put the phone back down on its charger, magenta eyes flickered up to her anxious sisters' faces.
"They pick us up tomorrow, at noon."
With a joyful squeal, Bubbles floated into the air, clapping in excitement, utterly shattering the tense mood and enmity from before.
"Then we've got to hurry! Come on, girls, let's go! Bye, Ms. Bellum!"
Their elated sister grabbed them by their wrists and dragged them through the air without a chance to reclaim any of their dignity. Buttercup scowled as she acutely caught a low chuckle from Ms. Bellum before the doors slammed behind them, but as soon as they did, and before her sisters could even begin to protest, Bubbles stopped, eyes growing round and uncertain. Slowly she let them go, and turned back around to face them.
"What if the Professor won't let us? He wanted us to try to have normal lives…"
Buttercup blinked in realization, her original joy deflating as if Bubbles's innocent thought had been a pin. But her spirits could never be crushed for long. After all, she was the tough one.
"I'm sure he wouldn't stop us from doing something we want. We tried for nine years, and you know as well as I that it was never going to work. None of us could forgot what we are capable of, what we were meant to do. I mean, we were created with kitchen ingredients and our own fucking 'do not attempt at home' disclaimer. How's that for normal?"
Bubble's contagious smile returned
"You're right, BC, I'm sure we can talk him into it! Hurry, we have a ton of stuff to do before tomorrow!"
This time letting them fly on their own, Bubbles took off again, Blossom and Buttercup following behind as they raced back home to pack, notify their school, say goodbye to friends, but, first and foremost - break the news to the Professor.
As soon as they girls arrived at the front lawn, they burst back into their house, bubbling over with the news .
"Professor!" trilled Bubbles.
Said man stuck his head out of the kitchen.
"In here."
With the swift speed that came with the benefits of being created with Chemical X, the girls shot over to their father figure, Blossom eagerly opening her mouth to speak on the girls behalf, but before she could, the Professor silenced her with his own voice.
"Care to inform me exactly who up and left the stove on with pancakes, or, as I should now say, charcoal!"
Blossom's mouth immediately shut close, realization washing over her features.
"…oops," she said in a small voice.
The Professor's face slacked from angry to shocked.
"Really? Blossom? That's uncharacteristic…"
"I know, I know! But I was so caught up in what was happening, and - "
Buttercup decided this was an excellent moment to intervene on Leader Girl's behalf.
"What she means, Prof, is we need to talk."
The Professor broke his previous record by switching to suspicious before they could blink.
"Alright, what's going on?"
Anxiety clearly teeming in her large blue eyes, Bubbles grabbed the Professor's hand and pulled him back to the kitchen table.
"Exactly what Buttercup said, Professor. We need to talk."
He listened patiently to the story of their crazy morning, his brown eyes never faltering from Blossom's face as she explained what happened. When she was done, he sighed, interlacing his fingers in front of him on the surface of his kitchen table.
"Honestly, I had expected something like this would happen. I'm just surprised it didn't happen sooner."
His face lost some resignation for a more serious and intent look.
"And you agreed?"
"Yes," said Buttercup firmly, crossing her fingers behind her back for luck, hoping the Professor would see how much they all wanted to do this. How much the world needed them…
With one last sigh, the Professor wordlessly nodded.
"Alright!" she cheered, springing from her chair and pumping her fist into the air.
Bubbles also jumped up and threw her arms around their father a hug, beaming. Blossom also smiled, the last to rise, but instead of joining the celebration, she, as usual, crashed it.
"Ok, ok, that's enough, everyone. We've got work to do, girls."
Without argument, Bubbles rushed upstairs giggling, leading her baby blue trail from the kitchen to the girls' room. Buttercup's triumphant grin faded slightly, throwing a slight scowl to her older sister.
"Party pooper," she growled, before victory dancing her way upstairs, chanting under her breath.
"We're going to kick some ass again, uh huh, oh yeah, we're going to beat up some bad guys, uh huh, yeah, that's right!"
She'd been waiting for this since she'd been replaced, set aside like an embarrassing set of childhood comforters by this thankless city. After all they had done for them, the countless times they had saved their asses when no one else could, only to be proclaimed unorthodox and morally questionable.
She smirked. But that was the past. Townsville and Ms. Bellum could suck it, Buttercup was back, and bigger than ever.
11:55.
…and 42 seconds.
Bubbles glanced up from her wrist watch, not wanting to watch the seconds tick by, but still having trouble resisting the urge to check the time every other moment. The three girls were seated on the steps of the Town Hall, backpacks besides them, waiting for noon to hurry up and get here all ready. Or, perhaps more specifically, their mysterious government escorts to hurry up and get here.
11:56.
Trying to stop looking at her wrist, Bubbles rested her hands on the steps, tilting her head up towards the sky, admiring the beautiful color of sky. Not a single cloud drifted across the vastness of flawlessly light blue. The sun was bright and warm, but not too hot. Her favorite kind of weather.
11:57.
This time, Bubbles looked to her right, where her sisters were seated. Buttercup was glancing back and forth at the street in front of them, a wild light in her eyes. Blossom, on the other hand, was perfectly still, staring straight ahead of her where the sidewalk melted into the street.
11:58.
Bubbles sighed, and looked back at the sky again. Just as she had begun to resign herself the sounds of downtown Townsville from her conciseness, Buttercup exclaimed loudly, jumping to her feet.
"Finally! It's here!"
Bubbles bounced up and grabbed her faded blue backpack, her eyes widening in appreciatively by the sight of the enormous black limo in front of them.
"Wow," she breathed, before falling into step next to and slightly behind Blossom.
As they approached the car, the passenger door opened and a sturdily built man in a black suit, and sporting tinted shades with and an ear piece stepped out – your typical body guard, straight from the B-grade spy movie of your choice.
"Hello. Blossom Utonium, Buttercup Utonium, and Bubbles Utonium." he addressed them in the deep, monotone voice also expected from aHollywoodactor.
"Good afternoon," replied Blossom warily.
"I'm Agent Frocks," he said, briefly flashing a golden badge in proof of his identity.
Bubbles watched with barely contained amusement as he opened their door and gestured them to the backseat, all with a detached, robotic air.
"We will be taking you to Townsville airport, where a private jet is waiting to fly you to headquarters. There, you will be given your mission details."
"Just what exactly is our mission?" asked Blossom, eyes narrowed dangerously, displeased with the mystery.
"I repeat, you will be given mission details at headquarters," drawled Frocks placidly.
Blossom's eyes narrowed further and a small frown appeared. Not good signs for Frocks's well being. He was quickly migrating to Blossom's bad side, and no one wants to be on Blossom's bad side.
Bad place to be.
"And this mysterious and omniscient headquarters is – where?"
"The capitol."
Blossom bit the inside of her lip. Although her frustration was painfully obvious to Bubbles, who had always been a people person, Agent Frocks seemed to be unable, or unwilling to notice how pissed Blossom. Either that, or he simply didn't care, which was just as plausible.
As the brief conversation died inside the limo, Bubbles turned her attention to out side the window, just in time to see a sign which read:
Townsville City Airport
Eagerly, Bubbles nudged Blossom and pointed to the sign, her eyes full of excitement.
"Don't worry, we'll learn about our mission soon enough!" she whispered to the irritated pink puff, "Just a few more hours!"
EDIT, 5/2012: No, I have not mysteriously lost three chapters. Due to length, I've been combing a lot of the first little ones from two years ago.
Also, I'd like to thank Loverofeverything for helping me create a totally awesome villain! Thanks a bunch!
P.S. Reviews are awesome...