The life of a junior in college...
Me: It's been an eternity since I've gotten to write my fic. I reeeeally should get done with the next chapter.
Assignments (x100): Nope.
Me: But-
Lab report (x100): Nope.
Me: Fine, I'll do it after-
Midterms (critical): Nope.
Essays (lethal): Nope.
Me: I-
Finals (fatal): Nope.
Life (x100000): Nope.
Universe (x10000000...): Nope.
Me: NGAAAAAHHHHHHH!
Internship: Heya, I'm here to greet you, too!
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A/N: Hello, everyone. I know the above excuse cannot become an entire exoneration for the long absence I've given you after saying it won't be for long. Please don't think that's what I'm getting at...
I really thought what I was up for was what I could handle. I should think twice before making promises next time. :/ And here I am, during finals, picking the most unproductive time of the year to want to finish this chapter.
Winter break is coming up afterwards, and that's when it's prime season to upload. But I'm scared to make any promises...
But for what it's worth, this is how the greens and blues chapter come to an end. Apologies for the wait..
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Two cautious silhouettes walked side by side in close range, feeling their way through the walls.
During their green siblings' preoccupied bloody warfare, Bubbles and Boomer managed to not only surpass the deeper side of their previous room, but also fully venture their way out to a long corridor. Wherever it led to, it again became an entirely new challenge.
The light tappings of their footsteps echoed one after the other. Neither of them dared to let out a breath too loud. Though if they did, they were definitely close enough to feel each other's presence. The dark made them unaware, but the trust they built was growing by the second. Not only from their coordinated steps or physical distance but mostly from their still tightly gripped hand in each other's.
It grew on the girl first out of the two. The blue girl was after all, the one who was more confident of this plan from the start. Her counterpart on the other hand, was a little reluctant.
"..Still could use some light in here..."
The blue boy mumbled when they got past the end of the long hallway. At that time Bubbles was already opening a door to a new room. Boomer offhandedly squeezed her hand in apprehension.
Bubbles stopped and took a moment to feel his beating pulse. She reciprocated the action whilst smiling. Then she considered his longing, thinking of a way to attend to his wish as well as give him some courage too.
"Boomer, remember that one time you made that bat out of electricity during our fights?" She asked softly.
"Yeah... but what does that have to do with anything?"
"You can make other things, right? Can you make something to light this room?"
"Wha- Right now?"
Bubbles nodded quietly in the dark. She had a feeling Boomer could still sense it.
Boomer numbly took in her message and minded the circumstances before he replied, "I think so, but..." he paused as his throat turned dry. "When I'm scared, I can't... do so well..." he confessed.
The boy's shaky hand backed away. Her hand was everything he had in this spooky place, but right now, what the Powerpuff thought of him mattered more.
At this point though, it was plain silly for the ruff to even think otherwise. Before he could get any wistful ideas, Bubbles gently caught on to his retracting hand.
"Come on, Boomer. You can do it." She faced herself toward him. "You just gotta believe in yourself."
Boomer blinked at the contact and traced her outlines until he reached her eyes. Everything was pitch black, except for her blue starlights vibrantly shining on to him.
The blue boy swallowed as his cheeks bloomed pink. He mentally hoped for the dark to cloak the color as he bashfully pulled away and gathered his hands in front of him. He took a deep breath and concentrated.
Sparks entangled at the tip of his hands—a light crackle—then intense light washed over his palm-made horizon before it materialized into a small yellow light bulb fitting the size of his palms. Their nearby surroundings came into fair view from the brightness.
Bubbles let out a gasp.
"You did it!" she cheered.
Boomer himself was amazed. He grinned sheepishly, wondering if anyone had ever been so glad for his achievements.
He was then met with another gasp.
Boomer followed his counterpart's stunned gaze to see what caught her interest. By the time he realized, he was overwhelmed by—
Toys... rows and mountains of toys...
For a while, the two blues seemed to have forgotten how to breathe. Of course out of all places, they had coincidentally stepped right into a room full of Townsville's... toy factory stock. Their enthusiasm started to bulge out from their barely contained lips.
"Oh my gosh-"
"This is the awesomest-EVER!"
The two wasted no time over to the shelves full of merchandise; toy guns, cars, blocks, dolls... every plaything they could have ever imagined shimmered before their eyes. If there was heaven, this just had to be it.
"Oooooh! Bunny-Bunny!" Bubbles cried in between her leaps. What she found on the shelf was her favorite super hero plushie from a comic strip.
Boomer paused as she rushed to hug the doll in her arms. He scoffed. Sheesh, what is it with girls and dolls?
He shook his head dismissively, but funnily enough, he too was stumped when he soon found something on the same aisle that caught his eye.
"Whoa, look!"
The boy called over to Bubbles, eagerly pointing towards a particular plush doll. It had an adorable rabbit-like appearance covered entirely in short yellow fur and black markings. The shape of its tail indicated that it harnessed the power of electricity.
"No way, you know Gokemon?!" Bubbles gaped at him.
"Well duh, who wouldn't?!" he bounced back.
The blue boy's excitement was no different from Bubbles'. He immediately diffused the light bulb in his hand and reassembled it to make it look exactly like the game character with electric powers. It glistened with a hint of yellow sparks.
Bubbles again, wildly applauded his craftmanship. She leant in to examine the object closer.
"You have a real special power, Boomer." She told him.
Boomer looked surprised. "I do...?"
"Of course you do. It's something I can't do. It's- really cool." With that, the blue girl inclined her head and flashed her sweet smile at the doubtful boy.
Boomer's heart skipped a beat.
...Did she just call him cool?!
Boomer's cheeks burned as he suddenly felt lightheaded. The flustered boy felt his legs buckle as he lost his balance and clumsily stumbled upon one of the shelves.
"Are you okay?!" Bubbles cried worriedly. But Boomer was perfectly fine, that was until one of the toys wobbled dangerously and fell off, striking him straight on the top of his head.
"Yow!" He jolted. He traced his eyes towards the object that hit him.
It was a gigantic nerf gun made out of plastic.
—!
After a moment of thinking, Boomer grinned evilly at the item. Only someone stupid wouldn't know what that meant.
Clearing the red hue on his face, Boomer did the one thing he was good at when he tried to cover up his embarrassment;
It was TIME TO RUMMMMMMMMMBLE—!
Swiftly, the Rowdyruff dropped his electric light on the tiles to roll over toward the weapon, swooping it up to a kneeling position. He held his target at gunpoint.
"Eat this, fiend!"
"Huh?!"
Straight away, rubber bullets blasted from his weapon, flying right towards the unprepared Powerpuff. Bubbles hastily arched her back backwards and dodged the barrage of bullets, but when she used the tip of her hand to swing herself back upwards, a leftover fire smacked right onto her lips. She frowned and plopped the rubber material off of her face.
"Aggh, Boomer!"
Her aggressor merely gave a satisfied chortle and reloaded his ammunition.
Not as lucky this time, Boomer missed Bubbles by a second who quickly took cover behind the next shelves before his row of nerf bullets fired away. She agilely darted, high jumped, and did cartwheels to avoid the darts slipping past the gap between the displays. Toys just behind her heels knocked over or became subject to its vacuum, until finally, the nimble acrobat slid her foot along the floor to a stop as she reached the edge of the aisle, hiding herself from his range of view.
"Oh, it's on." She declared.
She took a quick grab of two of the guns on the shelf for her take of offense. She loaded one in each hand and hurled herself out of her shelter, firing a slew of mini projectiles over to her opponent. The Rowdyruff ducked flat on the ground, bullets missing just over his head.
"Hey, not fair!" He objected, spotting her advantage in arsenal. But he smirked playfully as he jumped back up, obviously enjoying the added mix of fun.
Despite the slight remains of darkness, the two superbeings forgot about their initial fears and fully indulged in their new game. All the dark did now was amplify their fun. Several turns went about in their exhilarating battlefield, and after finishing their ongoing match, the two playmates ultimately sprawled out exhaustedly on the floor, gurgling with hysteric laughter.
"Oh man, hahahahha oh shucks, that was- that was absolutely BRUTAL!" Boomer wheezed between his cackles.
"I know!" Bubbles coughed and followed suit, "It was so much fun!"
Before long, their last bursts of mirth dissolved into calm quietness. They sat up from their post, marveling at the honorary aftermath littered entirely with ejected nerf bullets.
"We have to clean this up later you know," Bubbles brought up cheekily.
"Wha-really?!"
Boomer snapped his head towards her in genuine horror. His face had reluctance written all over it. The blue girl could only laugh lightheartedly at his innocence before she inched closer to him. "Nah, just this once, we could make it a secret," she relented.
It didn't take too long for her to notice that he had warped his self-sustaining electric light back into his hands.
"So," she placed herself beside him and nodded at his character lamp, "you know Gokemon, huh?"
"...Mhmm?" Boomer wondered where this was going.
"Have you watched any more shows on TV?"
Her question seemed to have hit the Rowdyruff right on the spot.
"Boy, have I!"
The blue boy excitedly listed the broadcasts he saw on TV. While he was stuck down at HIM's lair with his brothers, that was pretty much all they were restricted to for fun other than video games. He talked about animes, shows, movies; even the ones that his brothers thought were to mooshy to watch.
Bubbles appreciated him opening up and listened intently. Her eyes sparkled at an idea; "You wanna look around some more to see if we can find more toys of the shows you watched?
Boomer jumped up before responding. "Cool!"
The two moved on to poke around the stock room, remarking with small oohs and ahhs whenever they saw merchandise that they liked. They seemed to share some similar tastes.
After a while they both reached an entire row full of action figures.
"Cool! The Scavengers!" Boomer exclaimed in awe.
As he hiked up his light source to take a closer look at them, Bubbles wrinkled her brows at the obvious sense of discrepancy.
"You watch... superhero movies?"
...!
The air around the boy stilled to ice, realizing how he slipped up again like a dingus. He bit the end of his tongue and stole a careful glance at her. She was waiting.
He groaned and didn't even bother to conceal his frustrated gestures.
Panicking, the boy sucked his lost voice back with his breath. "W-what about it?! HIM always showed those stupid shows so we can laugh at it!"
"Oh..." The puff's voice deflated.
The boy's heart sunk from it. This was not what he wanted! Was it?
"Nonono I mean- I mean- ya know, uhh- that dusnt mean I do not mean that they're not not cool!"
"..."
Bubbles had to stare and get her head around what she just heard.
"So... does that mean you think they're cool?"
"...Uh...do I? I think so..?"
"You do?!"
Boomer flinched and fumbled his hands all over his night lamp from her overturned expectanct voice. The answer that he blundered out was certainly true, but he didn't know how to deal with the ray of hopes she was emitting.
"W-well, that doesn't mean I would ever want to be a superhero!" he shrugged defensively, "I-I mean, I saw you fight and it was cool and all—doh! I mean, just a little bit! But I would never want to be like you!"
There was a stretched silence.
Boomer slapped his forehead with his free hand as he realized he dug a deeper grave.
Bubbles watched him fidgeting about on his own and simpered. She smiled a gentle smile as she quirked a curious eyebrow.
"Why not?"
Oh no.
"Because..!" He stopped. A loose sweat dripped down his forehead and gathered at his chin. He steadied himself. "Because, I'm a bad guy! And bad guys... are supposed to be bad, right?!" He searched her for comfirmation.
"Well... why are you such a bad bad boy, Boomer?" Bubbles giggled, almost teasingly.
Boomer drew his eyes at her blankly, at a loss of words. "Umm..." he tried. "Because being bad is... cool!"
Bubbles played his logic in her head. She batted her eyelashes innocently and tested out her next question. "Didn't you just say seeing me fight was cool, too?"
It was plainly easy to watch her counterpart become undone from blushing. She giggled. Boys are adorable...
But that aside, it was now the Powerpuff's turn to be a little bashful. Her small lips inched up and projected her hopes to befriend him.
"Can't you be good sometimes, too?"
The ruff recovered from his previous state.
Be good?
He slowly went over the words he was trained to be disgusted at.
Do something nice, and like, help people?
He shook his head.
No way. That's what sissies do, right? He never in his life did anything goo-
Wait.
The boy dropped his lamp. It shattered into little sparks and was swallowed up by the dark.
The boy drew a breath. He did do something good, he reminded himself. Back at the fast food chain he definitely did save the fry cook dude, didn't he? He let himself shrug it off after that—or rather, he kind of forgot—but at that time he was so scared that he might be going bonkers!
"Boomer?"
Called boy shifted his eyes to the direction his counterpart would be. The Powerpuff... She was probably looking at him again with those puppy-dog eyes of worry. And that didn't really sit well with him.
Should he tell her?
He wanted to, actually.. It was a weird stunt he'd never pulled before, and he itched to tell somebody about it to lift the weight off of his chest.
He could hear the back of his head screaming at him to go for it. Why not. Who else could he tell? His brothers?
He shuddered at the thought.
...Nope, ain't that gonna happen.
Making up his mind, the blue boy regenerated his light bulb. His counterpart recoiled a little at the unwarned exposure of light.
"I gotta tell you something!" He forwarded. His expressions were decisive as he faced her.
Bubbles' features rised inquisitively. "What is it?"
"Back at the burger place, I- I did something funny!"
"Funny?" She repeated.
"Yeah, I... well, I actually did something good!"
"Oh?"
"I saved a guy from almost getting fried from flying potatoes!"
"...?"
Her facial expression said it all that she was completely lost. Boomer scratched his head and tried again.
"Ya know.. back at that burger shack? This dude was about to get dunked on with hot fries, so I yanked him outta the way and saved his butt."
"You did what?!" Bubbles exclaimed. "But... why?" She gazed at him in shock then shook her head. "I mean that's great.. awesome! But I thought you went in there to steal all their burgers and beat them up!"
"I wasn't gonna beat 'em up!" Boomer stated defiantly. He chewed the inside of his cheek and mumbled, "As long as they gave me what I wanted..."
He stared afar and rubbed his neck in thought.
"I dunno.. It happened all so fast. I know I'm a doofus, but I knew it was sure gonna hurt a lot. And before I knew it, I was throwin myself at him..."
"..."
The blue girl nodded comprehendingly. She decided not to ask anymore questions.
She was still unsure of the specifics, but none of that mattered. Why would there be any question needed in saving someone?
What now mattered to her was that he did something heroic. Though it was one small act, he proved to be somebody with a heart. And this made things clear; he might as a Rowdyruff done some bad things, but he wasn't somebody she had to take forever as an enemy.
Bubbles reached closer to Boomer.
"First of all, you're not a doofus."
The ruff couldn't help but perk up to look at her with a grin. Bubbles smiled.
"And see? You can be good at times." She gave him a light pat on the back. "It felt good, didn't it?"
Boomer laughed bashfully. "Yeah..." His chest fluttered. "...It did."
There was calm quietness for a while as Boomer relaxed in his spot. In front of his chest, his electric powers glowed brighter than ever.
"Hey," he initiated. "I have something else to tell you."
"What is it?"
The puff was curious as to what else he was willing to reveal.
The blue ruff's eagerness transpired through his powers.
"Remember what you told me? That I gotta stand up for myself in front of my brothers? Well I did." He said proudly.
"Really?!"
Bubbles' eyes of admiration filled Boomer's chest with haughtiness.
"Yeap, I showed him alright." He boasted, wind coming out of his nose. "I got Butch on his knees begging me to forgive him! Boy, he looked stupid!" The ruff pointed his nose up high in the air to laugh, clearly exaggerating. "I just can't wait until I show Brick, too!"
Hearing this, Bubbles on the other hand, took his words seriously. Though she was glad, she went through some trains of thought.
"That's great, Boomer... but..." The light in her eyes slightly faded. "They're your brothers. You should still try to get along with them, even if they're mean to you sometimes..."
The blue girl looked away with a self-deprecating smile, reminded how she herself failed to sort it out with Buttercup.
Boomer took her wry expression solely as concern for him, and quickly dropped his pride to clear things up. "No it's not what you think-! It's... Butch and I, we're cool now! And we like- even promised to look for Brick tomorrow! He kind of... disappeared you know."
Bubbles, already aware of the news about Brick disappearing, nodded quietly. "So... no more fighting?"
"Yeah-I mean no! No more fighting."
"That's good. I'm glad for you." She smiled calmly, hoping on one hand it could be the same for her too. She took a look at the shelves filled with toys. "Yeah, just, don't let them toy with you again. Because you're not one. You're not a toy."
You're not a toy...
"Right." Boomer replied. Something slightly ignited in his head to relate her words to a situation other than his brothers, but it faded.
With another quietness closing in, Bubbles rocked her feet on to her heels and back to the front.
"So, do you want to hear the time when I faced the boogie man?" She suggested. She did promise him more stories after all.
Boomer looked both shocked and excited at her conversation turner.
"You. fought. da boogie-man?!"
"You heard it right."
"I really gotta hear this!"
In a moments notice, the blues gathered an armload of toys off the shelves as they situated themselves for a spooky story. Boomer's power light in the meantime became an excellent subsitute for a glowing night light.
While they were at it, Bubbles listened to catch on to any kind of update from Buttercup, but her side of the battle seemed to have died down. The blue puff was not sure if she should be relieved or worried for her sister. She felt cowardly for not confronting her. Whatever had happened, she could handle herself... right?
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Facing off a hard battle in the air, Buttercup found the time to shake away the exhaustion that was now constantly creeping up on her. She was honestly growing tired of this pointless fight. She could just as well be facing Blossom and that red twat by now, but no, this stupid blockhead had to waltz his way in and ruin everything!
Speaking of which, the green puff just barely evaded another incoming punch from her attacker and head-butted him backwards. Her attacks were progressively becoming more and more defensive as she mostly dodged or shielded herself from his later attacks. Said attacker scowled and persistently bulldozed back in, finally jabbing her in the midsection. Right as she let out a choked breath, he mercilessly blasted her to the side of a building, forming a large rubble along with billows of smoke.
Inside the mushroom of dust, Buttercup groaned in pain and felt her body giving out. The green girl closed her eyes and wondered if things would end quietly if she just stayed still in this pile of debris.
She thought of Blossom. Regardless of her idiocy to go find brickhead, she still might have been tricked and put to danger. And Bubbles... was she safe?
The last thing that provoked her was the irksome taunting ringing over her ears.
"Is that all you got, Powerpuke?!"
Buttercup shot her eyes back open. The green clad girl extricated herself from the pile, revealing her garment in a sooty mess. Her opponent smirked dementedly, almost seeming to have been disappointed if she hadn't bounced back up.
Throughout the battle, Butch had come to abandon most of his anger from earlier and actually enjoy this form of battle. Adrenaline flowed through him as he experienced a new feeling of strength. So this is what it felt like, huh? To fight for somebody or whatever? Interesting…
He twitched excitedly and charged towards his opponent. Buttercup took off too, blowing off the soot stuck to her clothes. Two lines of greens rapidly closed in to meet their likewise nearing counterpart on the opposite si-
"CAN'T YOU TWO DO THIS IN THE MORNING?!"
Both superbeings pulled back before reaching any contact. They looked up nonplussed.
An angry citizen was shaking his fist in the story of an apartment above them. Soon enough, windows of various buildings lit up as others poked their heads out and screamed similar complaints to quiet down and let them sleep. Butch growled as he obviously didn't enjoy their intruding protests.
"Shut up you little-!"
Buttercup clapped his mouth shut with her hand and stopped him from spitting anything inappropriate.
"Sorry folks. We'll end it here." She waved to the unamused crowd apologetically.
Ignoring the muffled screams of her counterpart beating on her other hand, she yanked him down to a dark alley below. Once their feet touched the ground, Butch kicked himself loose and turned to face her.
"What gives?!"
"Quiet, you!" Buttercup hissed through her gritted teeth. "This idiocy stops here! We're gonna wake up the whole town!"
The unplacated boy was well enough to argue what that had to do with anything, when he stopped to grin slyly at his advantage.
"So you admit your defeat?" he dared.
Buttercup slapped her palm to her forehead. "Yeah sure, whatever, have it."
Butch flipped out in victory, pouncing up and down, but ceased as he saw her turn around and move forward. He frowned. "Where you going?"
"Where else? I'm getting to the bottom of this."
Butch chuckled, knowing exactly what she meant. "Oh no you don't."
The green boy slammed into her side pinning her against the street wall. He snickered psychotically. "Forgetting something? Let's see you try and go through me!"
His body convulsed due to overly high-strung nerves, waiting expectantly for her to counterattack; but Buttercup did nothing other than growl under her breath. The green ruff raised his brow at her lackluster response, and pulled back to search her face. He was taken aback at her lifelessness.
"Whoa dude," his deranged smile erased as he retreated. "You look like death."
Buttercup frowned. "Any other insults you want to share?"
"No, I mean really." Butch rolled his eyes, settling his previous mood. "What's with you? First you go all crazy savage mode and now this?" He cracked up in amusement. "Did I really knock you around that bad?"
"Don't get all smug." She snapped. "I'd strike you down in an instant if it weren't for that stupid monster earlier..." Her later phrase mitigated into mumbles.
Butch's eyes eased up as he in retrospect, brought himself to remember the gigantic creature he heard her battling during his lunch... even through dinner. The heck? Did she even get to have anything?
Her stomach bellowed in timely fashion. Buttercup huffed embarrassedly. "Didn't get to chow down anything either."
Butch leant back and folded his arms. "Hah, excuses."
Unlike the words he formulated, the spiked-head boy surveyed her fatigued state and began to assess the amount of punishment she went through.
Wow… she really got dished out didn't she? It almost came close to the intensive training sessions he had down at HIM's lair, though he was not too fond of the recollection. Hmm.. come to think of it, she went through all those hours of battling, and still managed to hold up a fight against him, right? The boy was secretly impressed.
Buttercup noticed him staring her down. "So what now? You gonna strike an enemy when she's down?"
Butch snorted. It wasn't fun anymore with her battered up like a ragged doll. "I've got other priorities," he said. He would claim his actual victory when this sissy was up for a real fight. He could take her anytime anyway. After what she put towards their battle earlier to excite him, what fun was it if he took her down easily now?
The tired girl grunted as she pushed herself away from the wall. She wobbled her way forward, moving along the alley.
It was now Butch's turn to stare at her aghast. She was still set on finding them? In that condition?
The way she was struggling in her steps was… pitiful, really.
"Look…"
Just as Butch extended his arm forward to tap her shoulder, footsteps echoed from the darkness ahead. The two greens stood by confusedly as they noticed several other green figures of different sizes approaching from the other side of the alley.
The Gangreen Gang.
Buttercup heaved a sigh at the addition of stressful factor.
One of the leaner ones with shaggy hair halted in his tracks and held up his shades. "Well, well, well, what's we have here? Two young couples rendez-vousing under the moonlight?" His pack of friends sniggered derisively behind. "You know little kids like you aren't supposed to be out this late."
Butch held out his tongue disgusted. "Dude, what?"
"Move along, Ace." Buttercup warned.
"Hey now, don't give me the cold shoulder." He looked over at Butch frowning behind her. "Is it because we're in front of your new boyfriend? How long has it been since we called it cuts even? Are all Powerpuffs this fickle?"
"S-s-s-seems s-s-so." Snake from the gang remarked. Big Billy, Arturo, and Gruber joined in the mockery by laughing or blowing raspberries.
Buttercup's face flared up in mortification. Why were they suddenly bringing that up?! In front of this stupid Rowdyruff, even! (A/N: Episode Buttercrush)
Butch from aside, briefly observed the green girl's—now red—reaction. Man, he sure was seeing a lot of her new sides in less than a day. And as amusing as the situation could be right now, the puff seemed to be in no state to defend herself, which was annoying since he was also being pulled into this stupid joke. He turned his eyes over to Ace and grimaced. Ugh.. Not that he wanted to know anything about the puff's yucky chick-drama, but if anything, this Powerpuff really had no taste in dudes.
"Hey sleazeball! You better stop or I'll-!"
Butch cut himself short when Buttercup in bloody rage, outdid him by knocking all five members of the gang to the ground. One by one she sabotaged them brutally until they all rolled around crying for mercy. She seethed heavily in intermittent gusts of breaths as she threw a few last kicks toward their beaten bodies. Then, leaving the moaning heap behind, the green girl huffed and resumed to exiting the scene.
The puff however, was unaware of a drawing dark behind her that stood up from recovery. Up against the alley wall away from her notice, a tall shadow of Ace was shown, a jagged brick in his hand, close to striking the girl on the back of her head.
"Look out, puff!"
The green girl abruptly turned to jump, startled to see her counterpart intercept and sock the hooligan in the kisser. The attempted assaulter shambled to the side, banging his head with the wall, and his body afterwards drooped limply onto the ground, knocked out unconscious.
The just saved damsel was far beyond discomforted from what just happened, "What'd ya do that for?! I could've done it myself!"
"Yeah, sure. Yer' welcome, toots." Butch twisted his face, but snickered in full awareness as he didn't expect gratitude coming from her, anyway.
His counterpart, in suppressed fury, marched in harsh strides in spite of her battle wounds. The stunned witness, at that, brought his dropped jaw back up and trotted close behind her.
"Dang puff, you still got it in ya?"
"You still gonna follow?" Buttercup eyed him irritably.
"Well, of course. Gotta make sure you don't mess with my brother," he said casually.
Buttercup stopped to glare at him. He just didn't know when to drop this little stunt. "And what's stopping me? I can still manage to make you join those goons over there."
"And I can still manage to wake up the whole neighborhood." Butch countered.
Darn it, Buttercup cursed inwardly. He was smarter than he looked at this game.
The two hot-headed opponents glowered at each other while Buttercup realistically thought through her condition and the racket she'll have to cause when she fights him. She broke the deadlock and grumbled as she relinquished her former plans. She'll have to stall for a breakthrough to ditch him.
"Fine. I'm going somewhere else."
"Where to?"
Buttercup narrowed her eyes at his persistance. She ran through her options before she answered, "Over to the dumpster where those punks live."
"Taking over their fortress, huh?" Hearing that, Butch eased up and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I'll come with. You know, so you don't get any stupid ideas." His mouth widened sideways to show a snarky grin.
Buttercup opened her mouth, but as she was too tired to argue, dismissed what she was going to say.
"Whatever."
Granted, it wasn't that much of a long walk to the dumpster, but the silence falling from her stalker behind made it the more tedious and uncomfortable.
After a few unbearable still silence, Buttercup craned her neck back to take a subtle peek at him, but once he held his gaze to meet hers, she quickly jerked back forward. So much for finding a breakthrough... What was with him, anyway? Seeing how he was no longer hellbent on attacking her proved that his motive for defending his brother was probably true. But why suddenly? Those barfbrains are incapable of compassion, aren't they? And what bugged her more was: did he just try to defend her back there?
No way. He couldn't have done that for a specific reason.
But matters aside, the thought of her having to play by his cards irked her. She, unfortunately, had no choice at this point. As hard as it was for her to admit, she would surely lose to him if they got back into battle.
...
Oh man, but it was just too silent..! It was her duty now to keep an eye on him right?
Just when Buttercup was battling in her head whether she had to check back to see what he was doing, out flew her counterpart's curious question taking care of that matter.
"Why you all berserk to get at them? Sure, you care, whatever, but you think you even stand a chance out there like that?" The green ruff pointed out her condition for what he thought was good measure, but which Buttercup reacted with none. Seeing no worth, she kept her pace and focus forward, strolling effortfully away. Butch groaned at her 'inability' even here to fight back at him. After some moments, he referred back to the smoke still in sight. "Are you even sure it's them over there?"
"I know what I see." Buttercup finally responded, annoyed, "Somehow my sister believes your good-to-nothing brother needs to have a reason for what crookery he did. And I don't believe that for one second. You punks got no reason for your ugly deeds. Not him, not any of you."
This time Butch fell silent for what he heard. And Buttercup honestly, wondered why, but didn't bother to look back to view his expression.
"Here we are." Butch remarked, caught up beside her without her noticing. Buttercup scowled as she side-stepped away. She looked ahead and acknowledged the Townsville Dump, with giant conglomerates of garbage and an incinerator visible in a distance. Amid the hills of junk was a green beat-up shack, the fort of the previous hoodlums she handled left unoccupied.
"Are we going in or what?"
"I decide what to do." Buttercup snapped at him pressing. "You're just tagging your boy butt along, remember?"
She made a clearly annoyed trek towards the green fortress and entered the space, slamming open the door without looking back. Butch more composedly followed her in, trudging lazily with hands shoved in his pants pockets.
Immediately, the first thing the green puff did was make a beeline towards an old run-down refrigerator covered in brown stains of god knows what. She delved through its cringeworthy contents and fortunately inside, she found a soggy hot dog entirely drooping from over-sprayed condiments. Flies buzzing about made it the less sanitary looking, but the green puff could care less from her hunger. She munched down the food in one piece.
Butch eyed a judging look to the puff sucking her hand clean, which Buttercup met with a glare. "What? You want one?"
Butch leant to one side and pulled one of his hands out of his pockets. "Yeah, toss me one."
Barely letting him finish, an equally disgusting hotdog flew up to his face, which he caught with one snap of his wrist. The sauce splattered all over his arm length.
"Watch it." He growled. But Buttercup wasn't even looking at him. The green puff had already moved onwards to chugging down an entire gooey carton of milk. After she was done, she licked her white-coated lips clean and let out a huge, belly-deep, satisfied belch.
The green Rowdyruff was more than just blown from the performance and dropped his hotdog. He'd never seen a girl who had the guts to do that before. He choked back a smirk and muttered, "Gross!" which was a compliment on his part.
Meanwhile, Buttercup haphazardly threw the milk carton she was done with and marched along to another corner.
Butch followed her steps and discovered her working on a beat-up television this time.
"You sure seem to know where everything is." He said, scanning the nearabouts. He smirked. "Is what green sleazeball said back there the truth? You guys were all kissy-kissy up in a tree?"
"Nothin you should be concerned with, bucko." She grumbled with stifled hatred.
Butch took some slow steps forward. "What's the deal, Powerpuff? This isn't exactly where goodie girls like you come and hang around." He waved around the whole background before continuing, "This isn't 'girly.' Most would puke their girl insides out at the thought of it."
Buttercup obviously incensed, glared at him nastily. "Well I'm not the typical gal you picture us to be." She pulled herself away from the unresponsive television set and bore into his eyes. "I can be stronger, faster, even smellier than you! And I ain't the one who need saving! I can handle myself!"
Her shouts were partially alluding to what happened back at the alley.
Butch stayed quiet for a moment, then whiffed the air with a snort.
"Psssht. Smellier? Never mind the rest, but that's just a downright pathetic lie!"
Buttercup creased her eyebrows. "You wanna bet?"
Butch slouched his shoulders into a careless shrug.
"I mean, the burp just now was impressive, I'll give you that. But beat our manly odor? Don't ya think that's a bit of a stretch?" The boy stretched out his arms and placed them behind his head, letting loose the stench from his armpits.
Ugggh.. Buttercup bit back a grimace.
"Ya see? Don't try to fool yourself, girlie." Butch crossed his arms and laughed in triumph.
The green puff rolled her eyes. This was getting childish. Why did she have to prove how gross she was to this idiot? But then again, this barfbag really knew how to get on her nerves.
"Fine, you can have your slimey ol' victory. But I'll have you know, I went for weeks without showering!"
"Weeks?" One of Butch's eyebrows seemed intrigued.
"Yeah? I reeked of filthy stench that the whole town had to give me a restraining order!" (A/N: Episode Down N' Dirty)
Butch narrowed his eyes in doubt. "You're bluffing."
"Believe what you want." Buttercup said with an easy smile, "I hate baths. I only take them because it prevents me from fighting monsters."
Something about her demeanor and what she pulled off in front of him moments ago told Butch that she wasn't just making this up. A competitive nature for dirtiness built up inside him.
"Oh yeah? Well I had to battle this SICK sewage monster once that left me growing molds for a whole month!"
Buttercup seemed unfazed, "Puleeze, ever had to lick yourself out of a glob of slime to set yourself free? I had that nasty taste on my tongue for god knows how long!"
"Hah! That's nothing! I hadta handle these goons who spat slop everywhere and..."
"Have you ever seen monster snot so big that..."
It didn't take long for the relay of slob battle to occur between the two.
"...ya think that's anything?!.."
"...you better listen to this!..."
"...Had to hold in a fart for so long that..."
"...I had to swallow the loogie I spat out..."
"...%$^&$#"
"... $%%^$#^&%*"
Incoherent listings of their proud lacking personal hygiene went on and on until the moon waned a little.
Buttercup yawned in between their battle.
"Hey, are you listening?!"
"Can it, I'm tired. Gonna lie down for a while." She dismissed her counterpart's new gross experience challenge with her hand and strolled over to a side of the room. Then, at a thought, she swiveled back to where the ruff would be.
At a respectable distance away from him, the puff laid out a firm ground rule: "Don't, move, an inch from there."
Ignoring his chance to speak, she blasted out of the shack and swooped back in with ornaments from the garbage pile hanging them across the entire walls and ceiling. Pots, pans, empty cans and bottles were instantly strung densely into a matrix between the two through worn out fish ropes and long cloths. Moving an inch closer to anywhere than where they were would cause a ruckus for sure. Buttercup gazed into Butch on the other side and smirked.
"Now you can't try to do anything fishy without me waking up."
"Hah. Same goes for you too, stupid."
Buttercup blinked and looked around the mess she created. He was right. She officially trapped both of them inside the dilapidated shack.
She cursed to herself but did not show it out in the open. Now she was stuck inside with the enemy.
The tired puff settled herself down to a wall and rested her back. Her eyelids were drooping as she watched her counterpart do the same on the opposite side.
She disheveled her hair. This had to do. It was the best she could manage for now. She had to gain back her energy, and at this current rate, there was no way she could supersede him to get to Blossom.
'I'll deal with it in the morning...'
But before she could let go and slowly indulge herself into sleep, she heard the ruff's voice intrude her.
"If you're still thinkin 'bout getting to your sister, then forget it."
Buttercup disintegrated her growls, knowing there was nothing she could do about it for now.
His voice continued, somewhat softly this time. "He probs won't hurt her anyway."
What?
Her world was unsteady and spinning from exhaustion. Was she imagining things now?
Albeit dubious ambience, more of his utterance entered her.
"...Brick said he was outright done with hunting you girls down." He breathed, looking down. There was a long pause. By now, he looked equally tired as the puff. "Of course we made fun of him for it and threw him out. He became too much of a softy to even find the urge to attack you anymore, so don't you get nunnuya girly head worried about it," he uncharacteristically whispered.
Buttercup's signature scowl steadily dissolved.
Somehow, drunk on tiredness, something about his normally untrustworthy rambles came off as genuine to her for the first time. The Powerpuff was hardly holding on to reality now, but her stiff muscles on the lookout for him relaxed from his assuring conjecture.
In the meantime, Butch grunted, shaking himself awake.
"He may have become a softball, but I'm NOT having you chase him down on your own, ya hear? He's my bro to beat sense into. 'Manly business' that you sissy girls don't understand." He glared straight over to the puff.
But she was already sound asleep.
Butch stared at her with an incredulous expression. Way to let down your guard, he scoffed. He too, relaxed and crouched his head down on his folded arms on top of his gathered knees. On the opposite side of him, he took notice of the scars of his counterpart slowly healing. The ruff in observation, subconsciously searched her calm sleep-induced face that was missing her usual frown. Heh, this was new. The faces she knew of the puff was always twisted into nasty scowls, but now it was different; she looked calm, comfortable, content... and kind of cu-?...
The green boy quickly rattled his head and made a face. None of those sickly words were allowed one foot in his dictionary!
He took a whiff of hot air. Man, what was up with him? I mean, look at him right now. He wasn't even throwing himself at the Powerpuff helpless under his attack! And he even came in terms with some of the points she made to him.
Guess I do care sometimes, huh?
He remembered himself saying.
The spike-haired ruff sighed disapprovingly and brooded over how Brick questioned why they had to fight these meddling girls in the first place. Then he touched back upon why he himself wasn't fighting his counterpart right now.
Soon, his face was set.
This was his decision, that's why. Not anyone else's.
He glanced upwards, and among the matrices of dangling obstacles, he skimmed the face of the resting Powerpuff one last time before he let himself close his eyes. He had to talk to Brick...
Then, he was out.
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There was a mild sprinkle of early morning sunshine transcending through the cracks of the green crumbling fortress. A dozing Powerpuff was precariously rocking back and forth from her sleep, almost coming in touch with a suspended string in front of her, a personal trap set up by her own hands.
On the other side of the imminent peril, was a Rowdyruff sleeping like a log, unaware of the tilting domino.
Indeed, it wasn't long until the puff reached the threshold to tumble forward and set off a loud clamor of alarms, subjugating the whole space into a jangling mess.
Both green superbeings instantly spurred up from their discontinued sleep and watched as the whole structure of the shack collasped down into rubbish with the once hanging garbage. As the two made their sleepy heads visible out of the pile, their eyes were magnified even more from what they usually were, obviously confounded.
With the walls of the shed gone, the two made notice of the rising sun. Their eyes absorbed the coming light.
Then it struck the Powerpuff first. "Blossom..." Her disengaged expression scrunched up in anger as she immediately catapulted out of the dump. "BLOSSOM!"
Butch, realizing the situation a second later, fervently followed right after her tracks. "Wait! Powerpuff!" He hollered in the lightening skyline. "Wait up dammit!"
ㅡ
Amidst a dangling wind, the last licking remnants of ember extinguished in the ashes of a campfire. In its place, a red-diluted sky dome gave way to a new source of splendor into the thick forest; a dazzling sunrise.
With the newlit rays tickling her face, a pink girl was stirred awake as she wiped off her slumberous visage. She endearingly turned to regard her red friend who lent her a cozy shoulder, and hung a smile below her warm eyes in gratefulness. But it was a matter of seconds that she realized she had to wake up her still dreaming counterpart before anyone would come on the lookout for them. Especially her, having to prepare for school.
Shaking both sides of his shoulders, the puff beckoned the unconscious boy to open his eyes. The ruff, mumbling incomprehensible slurs, peeled his eyes open and let them meet her own. They went wide, for a moment, blanking out on what happened, but in time returned to normal.
Blossom made room so he could gently push himself awake, letting time settle for his mind to grasp sense of reality. He ran his hands down his head to tidy his messy orange roots, then adjusted his cap on top, yawning with his other hand. Then he looked to the Powerpuff and greeted her with a raspy 'hey,' his smile spilling to the side.
The puff giggled and ushered with her head that she should get going, with the rising sun in the background.
All was well until, behind her retreating figure, an incredibly familiar silhouette approached and blocked the fall of sunlight.
Both reds were struck dumb at the foreboding presence.
"It's just as I thought..."
"Buttercup..." the pink girl mustered her name.
"DON'T."
The green puff chomped on her lip as she let down a warning dissent. Blossom was bewildered as to how to handle this situation, Brick the same.
"Let me step in a little here," declared another voice from behind.
"Butch?" Blossom remarked confusedly at the emerging Rowdyruff. She settled her unsure gaze back on her sister. "You were with him?"
Surprised, Buttercup did frantic doubletakes between him and her sister. Heats began to form on the green puff's cheeks. "It's not what you think!" She yelled out loud, completely embarrassed. "At least I didn't betray everyone else like you did!"
"Yeah yeah, we had quite a night."
Throwing off what the green puff had to say, Butch attended to Brick and called, "Brick, we hafta talk, in a manly way."
The two reds stared off to their own siblings invading the floundering gush of air, trying to make sense of what was going on.
This was a mess.
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A/N: It's been forever. I'm sorry. I will return with a juicy chapter... until then...