I figured it was about time I said a big thank you to all the lovely people who've been reading and reviewing. Thank you guys! Makes a girl get the warm fuzzies I tell you.

Anyway, I just have a quick note about this chapter. I have my own version of how Chemical X works in the girls' systems, especially in regards to healing them up after battles and whatnot. If you want to know my version of that, you're better reading my story 'Just a Different Sort of Perfect.' It's got pretty much a full explanation.

Right, enough of me rambling on; back to the story!

9

Sounds like… something's burning… I can't see anything, I…It's loud. It's too loud. It's too loud I can't…!

"No!" The Professor, who'd been asleep in the chair next to her bed, woke with a start as Blossom bolted out of bed and tried to run for the door, only to find her legs wobbling precariously and collapsing under her.

"Blossom? It's alright. Your sisters are both safe. You're home now." Blossom remained on the floor, gazing vacantly around the room.

"I… What happened?" The Professor helped her up and gently coaxed her back into her bed.

"I'm not entirely sure. Bubbles was in hysterics when she called me; said something about the Boys attacking you. By the time I got there, they were gone and you and Buttercup were still passed out." He reached for a glass of water that was sitting on the bedside table.

"Here. Drink it slowly. You had a bit of a fever when we brought you home last night, but it seems to have cleared up now. How do you feel?" Blossom shook her head.

"I'm fine, but Buttercup, she-"

"Buttercup will be alright. She's downstairs in the lab's regeneration room. With the amount of healing she needed to do, it wasn't safe to put her in her bedroom. She would probably have broken the bed." Blossom finally allowed herself to sink back against the pillows.

"I'm going to go and tell Bubbles you've woken up. She's been worried sick." He laid a comforting hand on Blossom's shoulder and left the room, leaving her to gingerly sip the water. For some reason, her throat felt sore. As she mused on this, Bubbles suddenly burst into the room, looking dangerously on the verge of tears.

"Blossom! Oh I was so worried about you. After Brick showed up, you just collapsed and started screaming. I didn't know what to do so I just stood there. I'm so sorry!" Blossom tried to tell her it was alright, but she was in full-on hysterical sobbing mode by this point, and so she settled for patting her sister gently on the shoulder until she calmed down a little.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine Bubbles, really. But I need you to tell me exactly what happened; my memory's a little hazy in places." Bubbles nodded and wiped her eyes.

"After you passed out, Boomer showed up and Brick started yelling at him too and he hit him, then he just dragged them both off and I called the Professor." She shuddered slightly.

"I've never seen Brick that angry before Blossom. It… it was really scary." Blossom had to agree.

"I'm just glad Buttercup was unconscious before he appeared. I don't want to know what might have happened if she'd felt that." Bubbles nodded.

"I hope she wakes up soon."

xxx

"Professor? I'm going to school." The Professor, who was in the middle of checking on Buttercup, turned around, startled.

"Blossom, I don't think that's a good idea given what happened. Besides, it's already lunchtime; don't you think you're better off just staying home today?" He looked at her pleadingly, but she already had her coat on and her schoolbag ready to go.

"I can't miss school Professor; I've already missed enough this morning to be going on with. Besides, I feel perfectly fine, and Bubbles is coming too." She gave him a sunny smile and headed back upstairs out of the lab rooms. However, after seeing her sister still out cold, she had to admit that she felt a lot less cheerful than that smile might have let on.

"Bubbles, come on. We'd better get going if we want to get there before lunch ends." Her sister emerged from the kitchen, half a sandwich hanging from her mouth as she buttoned her coat.

"I still think you shouldn't be going," she said, after removing the food. Blossom rolled her eyes.

"And I think you shouldn't talk with your mouth full. Can we go now?" Sighing, Bubbles complied.

On the way to the school, it started to rain, and so they cut through the shopping centre on the way to avoid it as long as possible. As they walked through the crowds, Blossom found that it was now easier to tune out the myriad thoughts that had, until then, been streaming in without much constraint. She tried it out a little as she walked, focusing on certain people here or there. To her delight, it seemed to be working, and the new sense of control put her at ease.

When they reached the school gates, Bubbles walked her sister to her locker and then said she had to head off to cheerleading practice. Telling her sister to be careful, she headed off in the direction of the PE department, leaving Blossom to head off to the staff room to try and talk to the teachers whose lessons she'd missed that morning. On the way, she tried to pick up on Brick's thoughts, worried about running into him unexpectedly. Thankfully, she heard nothing and had just started to relax until she rounded the corner towards the staff room and saw him standing next to the door, with Princess talking away excitedly to him. Blossom froze momentarily, her legs wanting to just turn around and walk right back the way they'd just come, despite her brain making a weak argument towards how stupid that was. In the few seconds this took, Brick turned his head slightly, fixing one red eye on her. She stiffened, and then drew herself up to her full height before walking towards the door of the staff room. That eye followed her, and as she knocked, he turned and walked towards her, Princess trotting along behind. Keeping her gaze fixed firmly on the wooden panelling in front of her, Blossom tried to tune into his thoughts, but to her surprise, all she got was a burst of some kind of static that gave her a sharp pain in her head.

"So Brick, how about it?" Princess was asking, but Blossom suddenly felt sick, unable to concentrate. She recognised the noise she was hearing as the same one she'd heard this morning before she woke up and there seemed to be no doubt that it was coming from Brick. Clutching her head in one hand, she gave a low groan as the pain pulsated in her skull. Brick, thankfully, had already passed by at this point, but Blossom suddenly found a very worried Miss Fisher fussing over her. Forcing a smile onto her face, Blossom somehow managed to tune out the static-y noise and got herself back on track, asking about the work she'd missed in maths.

xxx

After receiving a phone call from the Professor at the end of the last lesson of the day to tell her that Buttercup was now awake and seemed to be alright, Blossom had decided to take some time to practice her violin in the music rooms before going home. She spent an hour playing some simple pieces just to try and clear her head. Ever since the run-in with Brick that afternoon, she'd felt a little queasy and had tired herself out a little trying desperately to make sure she kept that static-like feedback blocked from her mind.

Sighing, she made her way to her locker to pick up the books she needed for her homework that night. She could hear noises still coming from the PE department, but that was hardly unusual. Other than that, the halls were silent and she was thankful for it. However, just as she packed the last of her things into her bag, a wave of static rushed into her mind, making her yelp as she desperately tried to block it out. Swinging around, she found Brick leaning on the wall opposite her locker.

"Are you alright?" he asked, although there was only a little tinge of concern in his voice. She tugged her bag higher onto her shoulder.

"Just a headache. Nothing that can't be cured by you not being around." He straightened up.

"I meant after last night." Blossom felt her temper rising, even at such a simple question, but she fought it back down.

"Disappointed I'm not worse off?" she snapped. He made a frustrated growling noise in his throat.

"I told you, I had nothing to do with it. Geez, why would I even come see how you are if it was me? And I stopped Butch, remember?"

"Oh please, Brick. Are you really trying to tell me Butch came up with a plan like that on his own? Or Boomer? As if I'd ever believe that." He stared at her with an angry glow in his eyes before turning and stalking away towards the exit. Blossom leant back against her locker, her legs suddenly feeling a little shaky.

Something in the way he had reacted to her disbelief seemed too genuine. Maybe he hadn't been involved. She tried to sift through her memories of the night before. Brick had stopped Butch…

She shook her head. Obviously this had been his plan all along. He got his brothers to attack her and her sisters and then turned up just in time to stop them, making himself look like the hero of the piece. Was there any level he wouldn't sink to for this ridiculous game? Although something about that theory didn't seem to ring true, she couldn't bring herself to let it go. She had to hold on to something that proved he hadn't changed.

If he had, she didn't know where that left her.

xxx

When she got home, she found Bubbles holding her sister down on the sofa while trying to talk some sense into her. Naturally, she was being less than successful.

"Bubbles, will you let me go before I make you? I am gonna go find that bastard and I am gonna-"

"I'm home," Blossom said smoothly, throwing her bag down next to one of the armchairs and sitting herself down. "Good to see you're feeling better." Buttercup paused in her tantrum, looking slightly confused at her sister's calm tone.

"Uh, yeah."

"I wanted to talk to you about last night." Buttercup finally shrugged Bubbles off and flopped back, running her hand through her hair in agitation.

"I dunno what happened. I mean, I was all out of whack anyway cos I was feeling all that messed up stuff, but then he changed." Blossom tipped her head to one side, giving her sister a questioning look.

"I don't know. It was like… Well, he's crazy anyway, but it was like he really lost it, you know? I've never seen him like that before. Bastard beat me into the ground before I could land a single hit on him." She stood up and stretched.

"Next time I see him, he's gonna pay for that." Blossom ignored that last statement, instead deep in thought.

"I wonder… it must have been your powers malfunctioning. I think you said something about that before you… passed out." Buttercup grimaced, but agreed.

Then Bubbles stood up, frowning and rubbing her temple.

"Bubbles? What's wrong?"

"I just have a bit of a headache, that's all. I think I better go lie down for a little while."

"Well I'm starved, so I'm gonna go sort dinner," Buttercup said, asking her sister if she wanted to be called down when it was ready.

"Oh, no thanks. I really don't feel all that hungry. I mean, I had a big lunch and I don't feel great. I'll grab something later, maybe. I think I just need some sleep." She gave a weak little smile and headed for the stairs. Blossom watched her go.

"I wonder… Do you think it could be her new power manifest?"

"Beats me. You cool with ordering pizza? We got nothing much besides bread and bananas. No one went shopping this week I guess." Blossom made a vague mumble of consent, still looking over at the stairs.

On top of the attack, the strange static bursts and her other sister now possibly gaining an out of control power, this week was shaping up to be just as bad as the last.