Boomer had arrived to the storage facility in a short time. The place was empty. He couldn't see any sign of any robots. He saw the damage though, the destroyed road, the building missing part of it from where Blossom had been smashed into it and a good few of the storage facilities that were torn open. He approached the first one, trying to be careful but observant for clues. He couldn't see anything, reaching up and grabbing a string that was dangling in the air and pulling, hearing the light flick on. This was a cheap storage unit. The closest thing there was to lights were cheap ones dangling from their wires.
"Wow. I thought my room was messy," Boomer said, seeing all the junk filling the storage unit. Not much was touched for a good while. He decided to move onto the next one. When he turned the lights on, he could tell the robots had searched more thoroughly through this one. It was a mess, boxes were ripped open and coating the floor. Any furniture that had been stored away in here had been crushed into nothing. There was one thing that drew his attention.
"Aw. Hey there, little guy," the blonde ruff happily greeted what he saw on top of a safe. There was a small grey kitten. It didn't look more than a few months old. The safe it rested upon had been broke open. The door of it that was meant to protect it from everyone without the key had been ripped off and lying nearby. Boomer picked the cat up off the safe. It seemed content for being a wild animal.
"Did you see what the robots stole?" he joked, petting the kitten. It enjoyed being stroked by him. Boomer had a weak spot for animals. His brothers didn't mind some pets, though if they were annoying, they rarely tolerated them. The kitten let out a meow. At times like this, he wished he spoke cat.
"Go on little guy. I have to keep searching," Boomer hummed, resting the kitten down, letting it run off so he could continue searching. The blonde ruff could see some remaining contents to the safe. There was some jewelry he brushed aside, and under them were were some papers concealed within a small folder, but when he opened them to view them, they all turned out to be some letters to a war soldier.
"I feel bad for the owner of this unit," Boomer had to admit. Whoever owned this unit from what he could gather was just a regular soldier who had served their time in the military. No one deserved to have their positions robbed like this. So far his search was turning up nothing. The only thing he found that was useful in the storage unit was the odd pattern on the side and the dismantled door of the safe. He couldn't imagine his brother dueling one of these machines. He just hoped that everyone else was safe while hunting. He suddenly heard something crumple over, noticing a small stack of boxes knocked over.
"Hey!" Boomer shouted, seeing what had done it. However the cat didn't do it. He saw one of the smaller robots Butch and Blossom had fought. Its tiny green bulb body and four legs looked disturbing to the blue ruff. It attempted to escape, but he managed to dive at it, flopping onto his stomach as he caught it.
"Got'cha!" he smirked, feeling proud. He had his hand wrapped around all four legs of it, making sure it wouldn't try anything sneaky. It didn't seem threatening, but he assumed this was a good thing anyway. A robot was a robot, even if it wasn't worth examining. Maybe it had something else they could use it for. Boomer left to return back to the Utonium household.
Brick and Blossom had arrived to the part of town they had decided to search. Night had set in, and the streetlights below them as they flew were the main illumination. The rowdyruff leader was wondering how they could look for the robot in this dark state, but he assumed that hearing townsfolk screaming in terror would be a good sign.
"So, Bloss. You ever think our fights'll have a winner?" Brick decided to start up conversation with the only topic he had on mind. The powerpuff leader looked to him, unsure how to respond to that. The question itself seemed really dumb, but one that had been pondered by both families entirely.
"If someone did win the fights, what would happen?" Blossom answered his question with another, trying to mess with him mentally. It seemed to annoy her counterpart, who hated when she acted smarter with him. It was one of the many things she used to tease him with during conversations before fights. It felt weird for him to not be attempting to hit her right now.
"Well, long story short, when me and my brothers win, we're gonna have a big party to celebrate!" Brick answered, nothing unexpected, seeing his counterpart roll her eyes.
"And then what?" she requested him to continue.
"Then a big crime spree to take over Townsville," he glared, seeing that playful smirk on her that annoyed him immensely.
"And after that?" Blossom hummed. Suddenly she crashed into him mid-flight, just after he stopped. That actually seemed to stump him. He pondered on that.
"…I guess… there'd be nothing left to do," Brick admitted. Maybe he needed to have a family meeting sometime to discuss what their priorities were after they beat the puffs. Blossom felt the atmosphere become awkward. He wasn't happy to realize the truth of the matter. If she had to pick between how she wanted him to act, she preferred the snarky and arrogant Brick. Thinking that alone made her shudder.
"When me and my sisters beat you, we're going to just toss you and your brothers in a cell," Blossom continued the conversation while they scanned the area. They seemed to be flying above a park. It looked nice from where they were. The grass seemed to almost sparkle with drips of water on it from a light drizzle that had passed by earlier.
"Yet you know we'll just break right back out in less than a day," Brick stated. Blossom sighed, nodding. When they both thought of it, whichever family did win, these stalemates were not going to get much done before their counterparts are recovered and ready to brawl once more.
"It'd still give Townsville a day with one less thing to worry about. You and your brothers won't ever win since none of you have unique abilities," the orange haired girl explained the way they were talking so casually about their fights. She didn't know how to feel about it. Brick gained a grin.
"The truth is… I do have a special ability. Just… it's not that good to use. In fact, it kind of sucks," the red rowdyruff claimed. Blossom initially wanted to call him out presuming it to be a lie just for him to show off, but she knew he wasn't the type to insult one of his own powers. He would brag about it all day how amazing it was if he had one at all. Just after though, the two both stopped when they heard the sounds of screaming.
"That's our signal," Blossom said. They quickly flew to where they heard it from. They weren't that far from where the screaming had come from. They arrived in less than a minute, in another part of the very park they were above, both of them landing on the ground to see a few people running away, not caring about the rowdyruff they passed by. It seemed to be mostly couples that had been out here. This part of the park looked more romantic with a fountain in the center and fields of flowers being planted in various sections.
"I think I'm gonna puke," Brick gagged from seeing this place, whose beauty seemed to repel him. They quickly saw the robot. Surely enough, it wasn't the same one Blossom and Butch had fought before. This robot was blue in colour with gold painted joints attached. Its limbs had two pincer like hands, and it was slimmer in build. Its legs were the only slightly bulky thing on it, and the head of the robot had three red lights.
"What is that thing supposed to be? A tin can on steroids?" Brick laughed. The robot seemed to be focused on digging up a couple yards away from the middle area of the park. It had already torn up a big tree from the ground. The red ruff knew to be careful, thinking it was time to start the fight.
"Brick, we need a plan. Maybe if I use my-" Blossom couldn't continue, seeing him pick up a wooden bench from nearby and chuck it at the machine, directly hitting it. They heard it crash and break upon impact, pieces of wood flying everywhere. The robot turned around, its red eyes glowing focusing on them.
"Sorry, Bloss. I got bored," Brick apologized, noticing the blazing rage in her eyes that he had seen a hundred times before, and will probably see another hundred times in the next month or so. They both knew they only had to break a piece off the mechanical menace, and not destroy it. The sooner they got a part of it, the better. The robot stomped toward them, appearing more aggressive than the last one. Its legs looked like the most armored part about it. Brick fired a ray of heat vision at it, hitting the enemy in the chest. His attack did nothing but heat up the material it was made of.
"That's an immune robot, alright. Now let's gouge out its face!" Brick laughed. Blossom wished she had been able to make a plan for this. The robot swung its pincer hands overhead toward them. The super powered children quickly separated, seeing it smash into the ground. It had dug its pincers in and ripped out the earth, turning around and throwing the slab at Brick, sending him flying back first into a tree. He groaned, sliding down it.
Blossom exhaled a freezing ice breath from above, beginning to freeze the area around the robot. She saw it crouch briefly before it jumped at her. It horrified her to see one of its three bright red eyes so close to her. The robot was so much more reactive compared to the last one. It grabbed her with one of its pincer hands before landing back on the ground, cracking the area beneath it, as it slammed her into the dirt.
"Let… me… go!" Blossom coughed. It was crushing her down to the ground, probably in an attempt to break her bones to dust. She was trying to break out of its grip, but she couldn't. She felt weaker, like something was suppressing her strength. Before the mechanical menace could try to harm her. Brick had darted from behind with a red streak of light behind him, slamming shoulder first into the robot, making it let go of his counterpart while sending it stumbling backwards down a hill.
"Are you alright?" Brick asked while rushing to Blossom's side, helping her get off the ground. She coughed, feeling a lot better already, but seeing a few new scratches on her arms.
"Be careful. This robots a lot smarter and more agile than the last one," she claimed. Brick looked concerned, knowing that the robot wasn't anywhere near done with them and they had no idea how they were going to break a piece off of it.
"We need a combo attack. Okay, here's what we'll do," Blossom started, trying to explain as quickly as she could. Maybe their powers and strengths combined would be more effective than alone. They saw the robot climbing back up the hill that it had been knocked over, boiling in anger. They watched as its metal armor began shrinking and its claws seemed to change to a smaller size. It looked thinner now. The robot charged at them, its feet stomping the ground.
"Now!" Brick grinned, jumping up. His arms were covered in red shields from his energy projection. The robot attempted to punch at him, but they collided fists. Both of them retracted from the strong collisions. They kept punching and punching, their attacks just bouncing off one another. Blossom meanwhile was doing her best to freeze the ground beneath them, turning it into an ice rink. Brick was just buying time. After their flurry of punches ended, the robot grabbed him by the leg.
"Oh dang… whoa!" Brick got slung over head, pressing him onto the icy ground. He moaned in pain, feeling like his entire body had been rattled from that. The robot didn't get the opportunity to do anything else before Blossom quickly came by, sliding on the ice, grabbing Brick by his arm and pulling him free from its grip.
"Here we go!" Blossom laughed. The robot was in the middle of the ice rink now, and the two kids were sliding around the ice. It was having trouble focusing on which target to lock on. Brick felt embarrassed to be ice skating. The machine attempted to swing at the pink powerpuff, but she ducked underneath its attack. It couldn't run along the ice without the risk of slipping, either. The robot began to switch back to its more bulky form.
"Now!" Brick grabbed Blossom's hands before spinning around, throwing her with brute strength at the robot. She crashed into it, delivering her strongest kick to its arm, driving its pincer like hand into the machines lower body. Immediately after she bounced off, Brick punched the pincer as well, sending it deeper. They had made the robot stab itself with its own weapon. The metal menace had to put some effort into ripping its own pincer out. They saw three small shards of metal fall out from its wound.
Blossom fired a ray of heat vision into the opening, blasting the machines insides. It was surprisingly effective, as the robot turned around and quickly began to flee like it had suddenly become afraid of them.
"Get back here!" Brick shouted wanting to kill it while they had the chance, but Blossom stopped him.
"Brick! We got what we wanted. We don't want to chase it down. It might not be alone," the orange haired girl declared that it was too dangerous to chase down. She knew these robots had the ability to summon other robots to their aid, and she didn't want to go chasing it down and wandering into a trap. The red ruff looked angry, letting out a huff of irritation. He walked over and grabbed the fallen pieces of shrapnel, pocketing them.
"Please don't be mad. You have to understand, we can't go past our limit," Blossom requested for her counterpart to calm down. They had put all their effort into just making the robot injure itself. He growled, turning around before poking her chest.
"What kind of leader does that?! Chickens out and admits their limits? You think you'll ever get anywhere like that? What kind of idiot doesn't push their limits and get better!?" Brick insulted her. He hated that mindset more than anything, the type that was afraid to risk themselves to get stronger. The puffs trained hard, but they never seemed to risk it in battles with the ruffs, always holding back to try and save some energy, finding some perfect balance between physical attacks and energy use. She was stunned by his sudden outburst, having to take a moment to process it.
"I'm trying to protect you! I want to keep everyone safe! I don't want to go back to my house and tell your brothers that you got killed, just because we ran into a trap, even after we already got a part of the robot," Blossom retorted. She never wanted to do that, unsure if she could live with herself if she had to deliver bad news to either family about the death of one of them. That robot could have done a lot worse if they hadn't done what they did together. Brick was about to respond, but he bit his tongue. She was visibly upset.
"I'm scared, Brick. We aren't fighting just for ourselves. We're fighting for our brothers and sisters and our dads," Blossom sniffled, burying her face in her hands. Imagining any of her family getting hurt badly was a weak point for her. Just thinking on it hurt her a lot. She was afraid of the robots, they were able to fight them with ease. The argument had not helped calm her nerves, not at all. Brick sighed, knowing for sure he had started this. He had to cheer her up. Blossom suddenly felt his arms wrap around her. She raised her head slightly, seeing him. She never saw him with that apologetic expression on his face.
"I'm sorry. I'm just not used to working with people I don't like. I don't know how this is going to work. If the robots don't kill us, we might kill each other," Brick apologized, wiping her cheek, seeing some of the tears pouring from those cherry pink eyes.
"You're right about me being afraid of my limits… holding back won't get anything done, but we still have to be smart about this…" Blossom admitted her cowardice, but at the same time she was enjoying his embrace. She didn't know why. And she had no intentions of confessing it.
"I'll make sure to watch out for your sisters if you keep watching out for my brothers," Brick offered. Seeing his grin made her feel silly for the lightness of the moment.
"I will," she nodded, agreeing to make sure to take care of his brothers as long as he took care of her sisters.
"Thanks babe," Brick laughed. Blossom glared at him, breaking their embrace.
"Don't call me babe!" she growled, a red blush forming on her cheeks.
"Why not, babe? It suits ya," he snickered. She was glad he was trying to cheer her up, but she wasn't going to tolerate names like that.
"Let's go give the professor the part we got from the robot," Blossom said, the two flying off, leaving pink and red streaks of light behind them. With the metal shards of the robot acquired, hopefully the professor could examine them and find a way for them to beat the robots.