My racecar zipped down the racetrack in a blur of green, its engines roaring and its wheels squealing, sending up clouds of gray smoke. It was ahead of the other cars; their engines revved furiously as they struggled to pass my green car, but it was too fast. It kept just ahead of them, holding them back like a sheepdog guiding the herd. I laughed triumphantly, clutching the controls in my sweaty hands.

"I'm gonna win!!" I yelled over the roar of the engines. My brothers fought their controls wildly, their red faces shining and their teeth gritted, struggling to overtake me. I just cackled in delight, smirking evilly as I watched the finish line getting closer by the second. 1000 yards… 900 yards…800 yards… So close… I was zooming toward the finish line faster than Brick confronted with shampoo…Nothing could get in my way. Not now…

Then one of the racecars behind me, an electric yellow one, let out a deafening roar; its engine revved more furiously than any engine I'd ever heard. Its earsplitting roars jerked me out of my state of triumph, and I whirled around frantically in my seat, sweat dripping down my shirt, my face frozen with a terrified expression. The yellow car zipped forward in a burst of energy, passing the black and scarlet cars that belonged to my brothers, weaving around the others like a golden bullet. Then it caught up to me, passing me, Buttercup laughing maliciously. All that escaped my mouth was a groan, a groan that was drowned out by Buttercup's cackles as her yellow car blasted over the finish line, less than a second before mine.

GAME OVER … GAME OVER… GAME OVER…

I flung my controller down at the carpet with a crash, screaming in rage as those big bold words flashed across the screen. Brick and Boomer, who were sitting next to me on the couch, sniggered as I yanked out some of my jet black hair in fury. Buttercup smirked happily; she had beaten me again…

"Are you giving up yet?" Buttercup asked me, twirling her controller in her hands. "That's your 8th loss in a row. Face it Butchie, I'm the champion of the virtual racetrack."

Blossom and Bubbles, who were curled up on the floor with Buttercup, giggled.

"She's telling the truth." Blossom said, smiling sympathetically at me. "She really is the queen of that video game; no one has ever beaten her before."

I didn't answer; I growled at Buttercup, my innards twisting with rage. She grinned smugly at me, still twirling her game controller with ease. If it would've been anyone else who was sitting there like a princess, acting snobby at me after her 8th triumph, I would've pounded then into dust so small that it couldn't even be seen with a microscope. But this was Buttercup, the one person that I felt connected to; in a really weird way, but that was that. So I plopped down on the couch with a steel melting scowl plastered on my face, my eyes narrowed and my limbs crossed tightly. Buttercup dropped her controller and plopped down next to me, all the haughtiness gone from her face.

"Don't feel too bad…" she said, patting my shoulder. "I've beaten the pants off everyone who ever dared to challenge me, and you were actually the closest to winning."

I grunted and narrowed my eyes even more, hunching myself down into the couch cushions.

"I'm telling the truth, you know."

I looked at her, my scowl fading slightly when I saw her smiling at me in a non-evil way, her light green eyes shimmering brightly.

"Let's crack open the Coke and call you a worthy opponent!" Buttercup exclaimed, wrenching open the cooler and pulling out a bottle of my favorite drink, opening it with a pop. I felt the drool pooling in my mouth, and I snatched the can out of Buttercup's hands and chugged it down, the bubbly Coke tickling my throat and delighting my taste buds. Buttercup was pretty used to this, so she popped open another can for herself without another thought.

"To Butch, my only worthy opponent!" she exclaimed, holding her can up high, and then slurping away, playfully poking me between my shoulder blades as she did. Brick and Boomer drank from their own cans as well; Boomer spilling it all over his shirt as he did. Bubbles and Blossom sipped from teacups that Bubbles and brought along; they were filled with pink lemonade.

After our little informal toast, a sharp buzzing sound interrupted us; the Hotline. Blossom abandoned her lemonade at once and zipped into our bedroom in a flash of pink. The rest of us followed; I took my Coke along, gulping it down happily and enjoying the sweet bubbly feeling on my tongue. Blossom snatched up the red receiver of the Hotline.

"Yes, Mayor?"

I was barely listening to the Mayor's garbled response; when I'm gulping down sugar, it almost puts me in a trance.

"Car robbery downtown!" Blossom's sharp words snapped me into the present as I drained the last few drops out of the can. "Intersection of 1st and Main Streets! Black SUV! Move out!"

We zoomed out of the windows like firework sparklers; I dropped my empty Coke can before I took off. We soared over the city until we reached downtown; the smell wafting from the Bravo Burgers restaurant below us made me drool like always, but I resisted the urge to zoom down there and grab a snack. Boomer flew in navy blue spirals of light, practicing his air gymnastics as we zoomed toward the intersection of 1st Street and Main Street, Brick glowering at him. As soon as we reached the intersection, we saw the huge black SUV; there was a guy inside, a rotten thief, who was revving up the mighty engine in delight.

"Nice horsepower!" I listened to the roaring engine with a grin. Blossom shot me a nasty look.

"Get a grip, Butch!" she snapped. "Get the robber, guys! Just don't bust up that car!"

Just then, there was a mighty roar and the SUV was speeding away in a cloud of smoke, leaving us all shocked, but only for a second. We bolted after the car in a flash of red, pink, sky blue, navy blue, light green, and of course, emerald green. Buttercup charged up her eye beams, aiming to fry the heck out of that robber, but Blossom slapped her in the back.

"Don't!" Blossom yelled. "Don't ruin the car! We can't destroy an innocent citizen's means of transportation; just think of how expensive it is!"

Buttercup let out a groan and zipped toward the speeding SUV with me following her; the SUV was rocketing down the wrong lane on busy Main Street. Cars were honking frantically and swerving wildly to get out of the way like scared animals. Buttercup and I zoomed into the window of the SUV; we were face to face with the thief, who was burly and grimy, not to mention not too thrilled to see us. But the shocked expression slipped off his dirty mug faster than spilled Coke; he pulled out a pistol and jabbed it into Buttercup's face, his fingers shaking on the trigger. Buttercup laughed.

"Go ahead and try it!" she jeered, her eyes flashing fiercely. "I dare ya!"

The punk decided not to go for this, so he whirled and turned his pistol on me; the shot rang out like whiplash, smoke billowing from the end of the gun. I felt a little tap on my chest, and suddenly the bullet was streaking away from me in the opposite direction, shattering the windshield with a smash. The robber dropped the smoking gun and shielded his face with his arms as the shards of glass pelted us; the SUV swerved off course, streaking toward the gas station on the left. Buttercup and I barely had time to open our mouths in terror; the SUV was suddenly lifted off the ground like a magic carpet taking flight.

"Got it!" Bubbles' triumphant voice rang out from underneath the car. As soon as the SUV hit the ground with a gentle thump, Brick came streaking through the window in a flash of red, punching the burglar so hard that he sailed out of the other window and crashed onto the asphalt. Buttercup and I followed, surrounding the knocked out thief with the others.

"Ha HAAA!" Buttercup guffawed, pointing at the robber. "We're bullet-proof you LOSER!"

"Buttercup, he's knocked out." Blossom stated, her arms crossed.

"Who cares?" Buttercup replied, doubled over with laughter.

"He can't even hear you!"

Buttercup didn't answer. She guffawed and slapped hands with me, her eyes streaming with delighted tears. I chuckled politely, running my hand through my spiked black hair as Boomer bent over the unconscious robber, trying to ask him if he wanted a Band-Aid. Blossom sighed and turned to Brick.

"Could you take the thief to Townsville jail please?" Blossom asked. "We'll meet you at the house later."

Brick seized the burglar by the collar and took off with him, streaking through the sky like a jet plane.

"Ok, guys…" Blossom sighed. "Let's go home."

I took off eagerly, anxious to drop by Bravo Burgers on the way back, ignoring Blossom's muttering something about a windshield. But we were barely a foot off the ground when a familiar sound rang through the air; the blaring wailing of the Townsville Bank alarm. I groaned; a little longer to put off a double patty bacon burger dripping with barbecue sauce with a heap of greasy fries and a liter of Coke on the side.

"Never mind," Blossom said. "Let's see who's holding up the bank this time."

We rocketed off towards the bank, grumbling as we burst through the roof. A gang of masked burglars was there, threatening the bank tellers with rifles as they filled their bags with mountains of cold hard cash. All seven of them turned in surprise when they heard us crashing through the ceiling to land next to them, glowering violently in their faces. They immediately turned their guns at us and hammered away with shots. Bubbles and Boomer just smiled as the bullets ricocheted off of them; I made a point of doing my annoying dancing and singing routine, swinging my hips and grinning maliciously at the dumbstruck villains. Buttercup stuck out her tongue at them in delight. Blossom screeched in fury; the bullets had completely shot her bow off, only tiny little red threads remained. She shot herself at the nearest robbers and slammed them onto the ground in a ferocious flash of pink. I chuckled and followed her lead, frying another burglar with my eye beams. Bubbles took on two thieves and Boomer attacked one, kicking their guns out of their hands and knocking them off their feet. Buttercup turned to the last one with an evil smirk on her face; I couldn't blame the guy for taking a step back. I happily punched the robber I was attacking with all my might; he screamed as I landed one of my best ones on his gut with a thump. One more of my spectacular hits to the head knocked him out cold; his gun slipped out of his grimy paws and he slumped to the floor like one of Bubbles' stuffed animals. Blossom took out two more of them by hurling them into the ceiling with a screech and a crash. Bubbles squealed in delight as she knocked two more burglars unconscious by hopping on their heads like a mad bunny.

"That was EASY!" I shouted, throwing my hands up into the air. "You stupid robbers can rob a bank just as well as Boomer can spell the word 'the'!" (He spells it: 't-h-u-h')

Just then, there was a giant THOOM that knocked me off of my feet and shook the whole bank. I covered my head with my hands as rubble rained down from the ceiling and smoke billowed through the air. Blossom and Bubbles shrieked in terror, and Buttercup looked like she had just discovered that her favorite cartoon had been canceled to make room for Barney in the TV schedule. When the smoke cleared, I heard the shocked gasps of the girls; I sat up and uncovered my head to see what they were peeing their pants about. But when I saw what they were seeing, my mouth dropped open in bewilderment; it was Boomer, lying on the ground in a heap, unconscious and burned all over. The two conscious robbers were gone. Bubbles let out a shriek that nearly ruptured my eardrums and zipped over to Boomer's side faster than if she had been magnetically attracted.

"BOOMER!" she screeched in a voice that would've only been audible to bats if it was any higher pitched. She then seized Boomer's shoulders and lifted him up, shaking him violently as his head lolled limply to one side, as floppy and lifeless as a water balloon. Blossom looked around frantically for the two robbers that were not knocked out yet; they had vanished.

"The burglars threw a hand grenade and split!" Blossom screamed. "After them!"

She, Buttercup, and I zoomed out of the window after the thieves, leaving Bubbles sobbing over Boomer's limp form, and the five knocked out robbers, in the bank. Blossom squinted determinedly as she scanned the street for the bad guys.

"They couldn't have gotten far…" she said. "Keep your eyes peeled, guys."

I gazed down at the street, searching for any trace of the robbers, but I couldn't see anything. Buttercup soared next to me, her eyes darting as she looked around for the two miscreants, muttering angrily in a long stream of swear words and complaints.

"Damn those assholes… stupid hand grenade… when a get a hold of their damn asses… I'll pound the shit out of them… rotten bastards…"

I chuckled under my breath, imagining Blossom's reaction if she heard a word of Buttercup's furious ramblings, but she was too busy looking for the robbers even to notice. I was picturing Blossom's head popping off and exploding like a firecracker when…

"I see them!" Blossom's voice shouted triumphantly, pointing at two dark figures dashing down a nearby alley. All three of us zipped down toward the fleeing bad guys; I watched the fury building up in Buttercup's expression like a teapot building up with steam. As soon as we landed in the alley, the two robbers whirled around in surprise; they definitely weren't expecting us. I smirked at their shocked faces and did some of my famous knuckle cracking; they cringed as they heard the bone crunching sounds coming from my hands. But suddenly their shocked expressions turned into evil ones, and before I could think, I was on the ground, my torso wrapped in a thick metal cord, one of the thieves holding onto the other end of it, grinning and flashing his yellow teeth. Buttercup struck blindingly fast after that; she charged at them in a flash of green, punching them so hard that they went sailing backwards and smashing into a dumpster with a crash. To everyone's surprise, they recovered fairly quickly and hopped to their feet, pulling out small laser guns and firing away. Buttercup and Blossom leapt out of range as fast as possible, the jagged yellow bolts barely missing them.

I growled angrily and tried to pull myself out of the cord that wrapped around my upper body like a fat metal snake. My eyes popped in horror; it didn't budge the least bit. I screamed in fury and rolled on the ground, writhing and struggling against the cord with all my might, but it didn't give; it just cut painfully into my flesh. Panic flooded my brain as I fought to get loose; the buzzing of laser beams sounded in my face as they barely missed me. Why couldn't my superpowers break me out? I hollered as someone grabbed my shoulder and forced me upright; my eyes popped open in shock. But it was only Buttercup, who was kneeling at my side and staring at me in confusion.

"I can't get out of this damn thing!" I howled in her face. "I can't break it!"

Buttercup immediately grabbed the cord and pulled, but she had no more luck then me; the cord just bit into my skin harder as she yanked on it. She tried everything, even her eye beams, but nothing could get it off.

"Shit!" Buttercup hissed. "How in the hell did those punks get a hold of something that we can't break through?!"

Before I could answer, Buttercup seized me and flung herself out of the range of a laser beam that one of the robbers and had shot at us, cursing under her breath.

"Just fly with the stupid thing on, then!" Buttercup yelled at me. "We hafta help Blossom finish off these stupid jerks!"

She rocketed toward one of the robbers, who had his back turned towards her at the moment, and she rammed him with a spectacular head butt that sent him crashing to the ground, his gun flying off through the air. Blossom delivered one more punch to the jerk's head, and he collapsed onto the ground, knocked out at last. His companion yelled in rage, swung around, and shot a jagged ray at Buttercup and Blossom, who were hit before they could blink. As they screamed in pain, I took off and rocketed at the last robber, my eyes narrowed viciously; this guy would pay for cursing me with the stupid cord and zapping the girls with his dumb gun. Ignoring the discomfort of fighting with my arms tied up, I kicked the robber in the legs, sending him plummeting onto the ground; I melted his gun with a blast from my eye beams. Before he could stand up, I kicked him in head, and he slumped to the floor; I smirked as a wave of triumph shot through my body. I turned to the girls, who were lying dazed on the ground, and prodded them with my feet until they got up shakily.

"Good job, Butch." Blossom said breathlessly, smiling weakly at me. Buttercup grabbed me around the shoulders and rubbed her fist ferociously on my head, giving me some painful noogies; I knew she must have been pleased. Blossom grabbed the two unconscious villains and we shot off to make a deposit at the Townsville Jail.

A while later…

The stupid cord was finally off; Professor had to use his most powerful atomic ray, but I was finally freed. ("The robbers said they bought it at Mojo's yard sale!" Blossom had exclaimed.) Boomer had turned out to be fine; after Buttercup revived him by dumping ice water on his head, all of his burns healed within a few hours, thanks to our Chemical X healing powers. I was allowed to leave the lab, where I was anxious to get away from Bubbles, who wouldn't stop fawning over me and Boomer. (especially Boomer) I flew out of the lab as fast as I could, ignoring Bubbles and the giggles of Blossom and Brick, who were down there too.

"Don't go, Butchie!" Bubbles squeaked. "Don't leave me!"

Brick's face turned red as he guffawed wildly, and Blossom was struggling to keep a straight face. I growled like an animal, feeling the color rushing into my cheeks, and then in a flash of green, Buttercup was floating in front of me, glowering at the four others.

"Shut up, Bubbles." she spat. "Only I get to call him 'Butchie'. It's a torture device reserved only for his counterpart. You torture your own counterpart; Butchie's my victim."

Before Bubbles could argue, Buttercup stuck out her tongue, blowing a loud raspberry, grabbed my arm, and pulled me away from the doorway of the lab. We zipped into the living room and plopped onto the couch in front of the TV, Buttercup smirking triumphantly.

"Wow," I said. "Thanks, dudette."

She grinned at me, her light green eyes flashing deviously.

"Don't mention it, Butchie." She replied slyly. "I'm an expert at tormenting Bubbles. I've been doing it ever since we were born; I've had a lot of experience."

I smiled at her.

"Don't call me 'Butchie'."

"Too bad, Butchie. The only reason I saved you from Bubbles' wrath was so me and only me could still torment you with that."

I crossed my arms and gave her a pout.

"No mercy!" she shouted. "BUTCHIE!"

I made my move; I pounced on her like a tiger, knocking her off the couch and onto the carpeted ground with a thud. I sat on top off her and laughed at her, shooting her my famous toothy grin.

Buttercup gave me a scheming smile.

"You my friend," she hissed through gritted teeth. "just made a big mistake…"

She leapt out from under me so fast that I spun around in midair, and before I could think, I was flat on my stomach on the ground, with Buttercup holding me around the neck and giving me some more serious noogies, laughing in triumph as she did. I strained to pull loose, but I couldn't budge; Buttercup snickered and squeezed me tighter.

"Stop, stop!" I wheezed playfully, my eyes starting to water. "Turn loose! I surrender; I'm waving the white flag! You don't want to strangle me, do you?"

Buttercup chuckled and let me up, her eyes shining brightly.

"I always win wrestling matches." She gloated, a big smile on her face. "Ha, ha, Butchie; you lost to a girl."

"You don't count." I said. "You're an ass-kicking girl."

She grinned.

"And don't you forget it, Buster."

We zoomed up into our bedroom and plopped on the bed next to each other, giggling happily. Through my giggles, I caught Buttercup's eye, and she smiled; I'd never seen her smile like that before, it really looked like a genuine smile. I felt the corners of my mouth lift; I was grinning too. I looked into Buttercup's face; she was my friend, my best friend… the only real friend I'd ever really had…

Then, in the corner of my mind, I felt a strange tingling, like there was static electricity buzzing in my skull. I ignored it; maybe I had slammed my head on the ground a little bit too hard.

"C'mon," Buttercup said, her eyes twinkling like gems. She caught my hand and dragged me toward the closet, grinning ear to ear.

"What're you doing, missy?" I asked, playfully pulling myself out of her grasp. "Going to pull your new fiendish instrument of torture out of the closet for a test run?"

"Oh, shut up!" Buttercup shouted jokingly. "I want to show you something."

I made a fake scared face and backed away.

"I said it's not a torture device!"

She grabbed the handles of the closet and flung the doors open. Then she started to rummage through a pile of junk on the floor of the closet, chucking stuff through the room as she rejected them. I crossed my arms and watched her, ducking as a pair of lacy blue underwear came flying at my head.

"Ah ha!" Buttercup had found whatever it was she had been looking for.

"Your guillotine sharpened up good enough to use on my thick skull?" I asked sarcastically.

"Shut your pie hole and come over here, punk!" Buttercup ordered jokingly. I snickered and walked over to the closet; as soon as I got to the closet doorway, Buttercup shoved something in my face: it was a blanket. It was a green tattered blanket that was crying for a trip to the washing machine.

"What is that thing?" I said, pushing it away from my face. "An ancient dusting rag?"

"It's my blankie," Buttercup said, blushing furiously and rubbing the filthy thing lovingly against her cheek. "I thought it gave me strength to fight; I don't believe that now; I thing that's dumb… But, I'm still attached to it…

She gave me an embarrassed, crooked smile and stroked the blanket gently, as if it was a priceless artifact; it looked so ancient that you could probably sell it to a museum as some Roman toga, anyway.

"Why're you showing that thing to me?" I asked disbelievingly; it still sounded like a joke to me.

"I was supposed to get rid of it!" Buttercup replied, clutching the blanket to her chest. "But I kept it! It's my secret!"

"If it's a secret, why'd you show it to me?"

"You're my friend. You're supposed to trust friends with secrets."

"I'm your friend?!"

"My best friend."

I stared at Buttercup in surprise, my mouth hanging open; she chuckled at me, still clutching her precious blanket like a lump of gold. I looked into her glistening eyes; I never noticed how much they shone when she was smiling. Then…

A swooping sensation swept into my mind, like the feeling you get in your gut when you go down a giant hill on a roller coaster; but I felt it inside my head. My hands flew up to my head in shock; my eyes widened at the same time. Suddenly, a wave of white hot pain swept through my head, my mouth dropped open and I heard a high pitched, almost unearthly shriek. It took me a moment before I realized that the shriek had come out of my mouth. The pain scorched me; it felt like my brains were full of wasps, stinging me to death. Nothing was there except for the pain; I dropped to my knees with a thud and shrieked, writhing and squirming and jerking… I caught a glimpse of Buttercup's horrified face in the corner of my watering eyes. Through all the agony, I sensed another weird force in the back of my head; it felt like someone was shoving a block of lead into my skull that was trying to push my brains out of the way, or my brain was being squished in a car crushing machine like a tin can. It was pushing, forcing its way into my head; I screamed and twisted on the ground as my brain was squeezed harder and harder and harder…

The spiky haired boy was lying on the carpet. His eyes popped open and shone with a malicious glow. In front of him, he could see a black haired girl, who was gaping at him in horror, her lime green eyes as wide as moons in her pale face. How good that face would look if it was crushed, smashed into the ground, bleeding and broken like a crumpled paper airplane… The boy's face broke into a wide, toothy grin as he pictured the girl's face on ground, distorted, conked out, and spurting blood… Something inside him needed it… wanted it…thirsted for it. It had to be done. In one strong, fluid movement, he pounced at the girl like a tiger, snarling, his face glowing with depraved delight. She just stared up at him for a second, like a frightened animal, but at the last moment, she dove out of the way, and the malicious little boy crashed to the ground. He leapt to his feet in a flash, growling like a mad dog, scowling at the girl, his eyes filled with revulsion. He leapt at her again…

Something broke, the pressure on my head was suddenly gone; all that was left was a dull, warm throbbing in my temple. I groaned and tried to get up; as I lifted my head, I realized that I wasn't by the closet anymore; I was clear across the room. I heard a heavy panting and I turned my head; Buttercup was backed against the wall, her eyes looked huge in her chalk white face as she stared at me, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Something was wrong…

"What…?" I stuttered softly, looking at Buttercup in bewilderment. "How… why…? What just happened…?!"

Buttercup remained silent and still as a statue, her terrified gaze still locked on me. I tried shakily to get to my feet; once I was upright and took a small step forward, Buttercup was gone in a flash of green. I stood stock still as I watched the flying tips of her shoes as she vanished from the room.