Allies and Rivals II
Chapter 7 - The Fourth Clash: The Loophole
The City of Townsville, and once again, in the forest on Dr. Edwards' property at the edge of the lake—his sons—the Rowdyruff Boys, and their once enemies and present rivals the Powerpuff Girls, met for the fourth time battle it out. Not because they thought the other side was evil, but because the leaders of each respective teams wants to be the leader of the alliance-in-the-making.
The girls charged headlong into the boys, each expecting a one on one fight with their counterparts. Blossom was in the middle, her sisters on either side of her.
Brick, however, had other plans. "Men, execute plan AB56," the ruff leader shouted.
The three boys then charged headlong into the girls, seemingly imitating the girls, but at the last moment, Brick slowed down, while his brothers accelerated. Bubbles and Buttercup increased their speed, both expecting to crash into their counterparts, but at the last minute, they—Boomer and Butch—swerved out of their paths. The girls were surprised, as a result of the speed they picked up, was unable to slow down and was soon far away from the battlefield.
Boomer and Butch, having swerved from their counterparts, then struck Blossom in the middle. Brick, then charged and struck Blossom in the stomach.
Blossom was surprised at the three-pronged attack on her, and was unable to defend herself. Brick quickly froze her, and Butch gave her a powerful kick, sending her down crashing into the forest—seemingly unconscious.
The boys weren't even given the chance to enjoy their triumph, for Bubbles quickly returned to the place of battle and used her sonic scream to throw them all off guard. Then Buttercup came from underneath them and kicked the distracted Butch. But before she could follow it up, Boomer grabbed Buttercup from behind while Brick kicked her in the head. Bubbles then laser-eyed Boomer, causing him to let go of Buttercup.
Bubbles gave another powerful sonic voice, and the boys and Buttercup was thrown father away. "Oops, sorry Buttercup," she apologized as she put her hands together. Soon a laser beam streamed forth from Bubbles' hands and struck Boomer in the back, causing him to fall to the lake.
"Boomer!" shouted Butch.
"Get your lazy butt up here and fight!" Brick shouted. "Butch, I'll handle Buttercup while you take care of Bubbles. Can you do that?"
"Of course, fearless leader," Butch said. "I'll eat her for breakfast!"
Butch then moved to confront Bubbles. But Bubbles, instead of fighting, repeated her earlier strategy against Butch—running away.
"Catch me if you can," she shouted, then flew away from him as fast as she could. Butch chased after her.
Bubbles dived to the trees below, and followed a zigzag course through it. Above, Butch traced her movements. He then went below to catch her, but just as he did, Bubbles flew up in the sky. Butch followed suit.
Meanwhile…
Brick laser-eyed Buttercup. She dodged it, and charged headlong into Brick. Brick stood in her way, then at the last moment, stepped aside, grabbing her hands and spinning her. He then threw her high in the sky. Brick followed her and struck her hard in the neck before she could halt her upward momentum. She then fell downward fast, but before she crashed to the ground, she came back to her senses. She landed gracefully, then used her legs to proper her upward and charge Brick again.
Brick smirked. 'Things are going ahead as planned,' he thought, and prepared a small laser beam in his hands. 'Come, come on close so I can hit you!'
But as soon as she was near Brick, he was suddenly struck by laser from behind. Distracted, Brick was easily hit by Buttercup's incoming powerful punch. Brick then spun in the air upward, before halting and seeing both Blossom and Buttercup smirking at him.
"You," Brick said, pointing at Blossom, "you're supposed to be unconscious." She was bruised in several places and she had scratches all over.
"Do you think something like that would knock me out for good?" Blossom said. "I'm insulted that you think of me as such a weakling. Buttercup, I'll take of Brick. You go and find Butch, and take care of him!"
"No way Blossom! I want to finish off that loser!" Buttercup replied, referring to Brick. "You go and take on Butch."
"Buttercup! Go and get Butch and leave Brick to me!" Blossom ordered. "That's an order!"
"Look, I get to take him since I got to him first! You were lying on the ground the whole time!" Buttercup complained.
"I don't have any time for…" but Blossom was interrupted when Brick used his breath to freeze her, then kicked her towards Buttercup. She crashed into her, and both fell to the ground.
Buttercup, though hurt, quickly recovered, and charged towards Brick. Brick waited until Buttercup was close enough, then put his hands together and emitted laser from it. It hit Buttercup square on and threw her towards the ground.
Blossom by that time was able to crack the ice she was encased in, and hurriedly flew to eye level of Brick as Buttercup fell for the second time.
"And you want to be the leader!" Brick said. "Pathetic! You can't even reliably command your sister in the middle of the battle. How can you expect to command my brothers if you become our leader?"
Blossom smirked. "I'm asking you, will you follow me if I am your leader?" she asked.
Brick was caught off-guard by that question. "Um…ah…if and only if, you become our leader, yes I will! I always demand obedience from my brothers 'cause I am a leader, and I would be a jerk if I don't follow if somebody else is leader. But I'll make sure that that won't happen!" he quickly added.
"Good. Then all I have to do is to use you to command your brothers. After all, when I'm the leader of this alliance, you'll remain leader of your brothers, with only me as higher. I'm sure you'll make sure that they would obey me as they did you," Blossom cockily replied. "And we're going to win this fight—mark my words! We never lost a fight yet!"
"Keep on spouting that hot air and you might believe what you're saying," Brick said. "When I'm leader, I won't need you to command your sisters the way you'll need me when commanding my brothers if you're the leader."
"Cocky, aren't we?" Blossom smirked.
"Hi Blossom!" Bubbles said as she suddenly appeared besides her red-haired sister.
Brick spotted Butch chasing Bubbles. "Butch, stop chasing her and stand beside me."
"But…" Butch began, but melted under the intense glare of his brother. Butch grumbled, but did as his leader asked immediately.
Soon, Boomer, who was dizzy the whole time since he was struck in the head, regained his senses and joined his brothers. Buttercup recovered and was about to attack the boys but Blossom restrained her. "Easy Buttercup."
Buttercup saw the three boys and decided it best to not defy the redheaded leader and went to join her sisters.
Soon, both sets of kids were floating in the air, staring at each other once more.
The girls attacked the boys. "Do Plan Alpha Gamma Theta, girls," they heard Blossom said.
Blossom attacked Butch, Buttercup attacked Boomer, and Bubbles attacked Brick, catching them off guard.
Butch was punched at the face and staggered back. She then grabbed the surprised Butch's hands and tossed him in the air. Butch halted in mid-air and looked angrily at Blossom.
"You're going down, girl!" Butch angrily said
"Tsk, tsk. That's no way to talk to your future leader, Butch," Blossom teased. 'That should push the right buttons,' she thought.
Butch attacked Blossom with a force and fury that rivalled Hitler's blitz. But he just attacked and attacked without much thinking, while Blossom kept her cool and blocked or dodged most of his punches, kicks, and then occasionally punching Butch hard. It's slow, but it further frustrates Butch, making him to attack more from instinct, while the occasional attacks from Blossom slowly took their toll. Overall, both are equal in speed and strength, but Blossom has an advantage in tactics, and thinks while fighting. She has by now mastered Butch's powerful, fast, but repetitive techniques, and she didn't take too long to develop the counters for it.
Buttercup's attack on Boomer was perhaps the most savage. She charged headlong into the blue ruff, punching his stomach before he could get his defenses up. She then quickly kicked him in the back of his neck, then laser-eyed him. She then spun him around and threw him towards the lake.
Boomer halted in mid-air. But he was immediately attacked by Buttercup, giving him no rest. Soon, Boomer became Buttercup's punching bag. Boomer is Buttercup's equal in strength and speed, but not in aggressiveness. Like Butch, she would instinctively pummel her opponents, but Boomer was more passive a fighter on his own, and he has none of Brick or Blossom's tactical brilliance to counter it. He could hold his own against Buttercup if she just gave him at least a ten second breathing space, but Buttercup had no intention of giving him one.
Brick and Bubbles were another matter. Bubbles started by slamming her head on his stomach, knocking the wind out him, but he quickly recovered and attacked Bubbles. Bubbles avoided Brick, then flew high up in the sky. Brick went after her, but just flew higher and higher. Then, when the eyes were in front of the sun, he was forced to close his eyes temporarily because of the brightness. He then felt Bubbles laser-eye him, kick him, then throw him higher in the air. He opened his eyes once the sun was at his back, and saw Bubbles. Bubbles at once retreated. She then used her sonic voice, and threw Brick further off guard. He retaliated with a laser-eye attack, but Bubbles just retreated further, and he completely missed. He chased after her. Bubbles just ran away. Brick then followed.
'Damn you Bubbles, can't you stay in one place?' Brick asked in his mind. 'As if this is some sort of trick! Trick? Wait a minute.'
He then looked back. What he saw horrified him. 'Oh Damn it! Hell that Blossom is one smart gal!' He saw Butch slowly being sapped by Blossom's attacks while his aggressiveness gained him nothing, while Boomer is being pummeled mercilessly by Buttercup. 'That Blossom is one hell of tactician! Butch got no chance against Blossom in a one on one fight just like Buttercup has no chance against me, while Boomer is at Buttercup's mercy, just like Butch could cream Bubbles as easily. And Bubbles is only a distraction so that they could take care of me three on one when both are out of the way!' Brick then accelerated his chase of Bubbles. The blue puff increased her speed in response.
'Perfect,' Brick said. He then sharply changed his trajectory and headed back to where his brothers were. Bubbles, didn't know until a few good seconds later. She turned and chased Brick. However, Brick has gained much distance.
He first reached Buttercup and Boomer. He immediately kicked Buttercup in the stomach, completely surprising her. "Hey, you should be chasing Bubbles!" she said as she attacked again with the same aggressiveness that she attacked Boomer. Brick, however, dodged some of the attacks, and laser-eyed her. "Your attacks are too predictable!" he said to Buttercup. "Boomer, take care of Bubbles," he ordered.
"Yes Brick," said Boomer without question, glad to be out of Buttercup's sights.
Buttercup renewed her ferocious assault. Brick, however, seem to know her moves beforehand and was able to dodge it, no matter how fast. Brick then grabbed one arm of Buttercup, spun her and threw her towards Butch and Blossom.
Bubbles saw Brick and Buttercup, and she saw that Buttercup is losing badly. 'Oh no, I have to help Buttercup. I'm suppose to be the one taking on Brick, not Buttercup,' she thought. 'I've got to help Buttercup!'
But Boomer blocked her. "You have to go through me first!"
"Not now!" Bubbles said. "I've got to help Buttercup."
"And I've got to help Brick," Boomer replied.
They soon fought. Bubbles laser-eyed Boomer, and hit him squarely. Bubbles, in her usual nature, didn't follow it up, giving Boomer time to recover. He then lunged at Bubbles. He lost too much energy because of the pummeling he received from Buttercup, however, he was too slow, and Bubbles was able to avoid it. He then kicked Bubbles in the head. It hurt her, but not as much as Boomer hoped it would. She just touched the lump, and said, "Ouch, that hurt."
"It's supposed to," Boomer replied. 'It should've sent her crashing down the ground. Damn it, I think that pummelling I received from that Buttercup weakened me more than I think!'
Bubbles counter-attacked, and in a series of punches and kicks, utterly pounded Boomer.
Buttercup crashed into Blossom's back, giving the opening Butch desperately craves for. He then laser-eyed Blossom and Buttercup.
Brick, seeing that Butch has seemingly taken care of his problem, then went to help Boomer. He froze Bubbles using his ice breathe, and kicked her to the ground.
He barely finished when he turned his head when he saw Butch being beaten to a pulp by both Buttercup and Blossom. 'This is not good. I can't leave Boomer alone with Bubbles. He was so weakened by Buttercup that Bubbles will cream him. Yet I have to help Butch! Well, time to use the secret weapon!' He then reached his pocket and found…it empty.
'Oh shit! It was in the pocket of my other clothes—the one that those girls hid. Oh damn it! What rotten luck! What if they found out about it? We're screwed if that happens! And Dad will kill me for sure if he finds out! Well, we'll have to beat them before they figure it out!'
"Butch, Brick, retreat to the edge of the lake!" he ordered. "NOW!"
Butch quickly extricated himself from his predicament and joined his brother. Bubbles decided to let Boomer join his brothers.
"Are you preparing to make your declaration of surrender?" Blossom taunted as she saw the three boys make a stand together at the edge of the lake.
"Well, now that you mentioned it, we did consider a surrender. All you have to do is go and say 'I surrender' to us, and we promise we won't be too harsh!" Boomer replied.
"Ha! You've got some nerve!" Buttercup replied. "You must be in some other planet! Mars maybe? Come to think of it, I think I saw a picture of you three from the Mars Rover?"
"Lame!" Butch replied.
"Men, let's do the Diamond Blue!" Brick said.
"The Diamond Blue," Boomer shouted. "Oh yeah!"
"We'll tear their dresses off them with that!" Butch said. When the girls and his brothers gave him dirty looks, he added, "figuratively of course!"
"Okay! Men, let's do the first of the Diamond Attacks, the Diamond Blue!"
Boomer jumped in front, while Butch behind. Brick stood in the middle. The girls just watched the three.
Then, at exactly the same second, they took off towards the girls. Then, suddenly, they accelerated, and a tail of red, blue and green could be seen behind them. Soon, however, the lights begun to seem to engulf them, and a few seconds later, the blue one snuffed out the red and green one. The tail then disappeared, and one could only see a large blue ball spinning fast towards the girls.
"Girls, duck!" Blossom ordered. The girls ducked, but it was too late. Buttercup used her arms to block the attack, but it just overwhelmed her. Soon, she was falling towards the ground. She was still awake, though her strength was diminished and was hurt all over.
The boys were separated when they hit Buttercup. "Okay, men, do the Diamond Five!"
The boys then stood back to back, and began flying in circles, still back to back. Soon, the light from their tails began engulfing them, and soon, the blue light dominated. Soon, it spun, and a powerful blue beam streamed forth from it towards the girls.
"Bubbles, come to me and let's block it together!" Blossom ordered.
Bubbles did as told. She went besides Blossom, and both waited for the beam. Soon, it reached them and they did all they could to block it with their arms. However, it was too much, and soon it engulfed them. Seconds later, Bubbles and Blossom could be seen falling towards the ground. They soon landed besides Buttercup. All three were still awake and able to fight, yet all were significantly weakened.
"We've lost our advantage in strength," Blossom wryly said. "We shouldn't have let them do those attacks."
She saw the three boys, with the sun behind their backs, staring down at them. She tried staring back, but the sun's glare was too much.
"I know!" she said. She then flew to where she hid the boys' clothes, and searched the pockets. "Ah, here it is," she said, clutching in her fingers Brick's shades. "What's this?" she said as she picked a small sized ball with a button on it. She could read the words 'sunball' and 'invented by William Edwards of Edtech Corp.' on it. "Wonder what this is? Probably one of those devices Dr. Edwards invented to help them in a fight."
She then pocketed the device in a pocket of her dress. She then searched the pockets of the other rowdyruffs, and took the sunglasses. She wore Brick's shades, and raced towards where her sisters are. "I don't think they would mind. I'll just return it to them after the fight. After all, we did agree that anything goes, and we can use anything!"
She arrived to see her sisters and the boys engaged in a staring contest.
"Where have you been red?" Buttercup said, nearly shouting.
"I told you she wouldn't abandon us!" Bubbles said to Buttercup.
"So you came back!" Brick shouted from above. "I was beginning to think…" he then froze in terror as he saw what's in Blossom's hand. 'Oh shit! She has those shades. That probably means she already has the sunball! If she ever finds out how to use it we're screwed!'
"Men, let's finish this! Do the Diamond Star! Our deadliest attack!"
Meanwhile…
"Use this girls," Blossom said, distributing the shades to her sisters.
"What's this for?" Buttercup asked.
"Simple. It's nearly noon, and the sun is very bright," Blossom said. "Wearing this would give us a small advantage and we won't have to close our eyes every time we face the sun."
"MEN, DO THE DIAMOND STAR!" she heard Brick command.
"Oh no, not one of those again. Girls, let's do the Furious Fiery Feline!"
"Okay!"
"Powerpuff Girls," Blossom shouted as the three of them raced up higher and higher into the atmosphere.
"Furious," Blossom started.
"Fiery!" Bubbles shouted.
"Feline!" Buttercup finished.
Pretty soon, they were past the boys and racing towards the upper atmosphere.
The boys saw them. Soon, at synchronized speed, they chased after the girls, with tails of blue, red and green clearly seen. Soon, tail lights merged as one color-blue-and the boys were covered with blue light. The boys themselves disappeared in the light, which assumed the figure of a blue comet.
When they were high enough in the air, the girls made a sharp u-turn. As they approached the boys, their bodies burst into flame and the two moved ever closer to each other, finally merging and transforming into a blazing comet with a cat's face. It was smaller and much less powerful than the original one however, because they were weak at this stage of the fight.
The Furious Fiery Feline and the Diamond Star collided, causing a huge explosion and the sky to be covered with white light for a second due to the clash of powerful energies. A second later, Dr. Edwards, who had recorded all on tape, saw six figures falling.
They soon landed besides the lake, all still conscious, still able to fight. Yet they were very weak. They were panting with exhaustion, as if the collision took almost everything out of them. Still, they stood up and stared at each other, willing to give it another go.
"This has got to end," Brick said. "Surrender!"
"Not a chance," Blossom said, as she put her hands on her pocket and pulled the sunball from her pocket. "Now, what could this do?"
"No, don't push the button and throw it at us!" Boomer shouted in panic. "It would give off a very bright light for five minutes which would cause us to close our eyes except if you were wearing special shades like the one you have on, oops!"
Brick stared very angrily at his brother. "You idiot!" he simply said in a low, angry voice.
"You gave the whole thing away!" Butch said, glaring at his brother.
"You mean like this," Blossom said, pushing the button and throwing it at the boys.
"We're screwed!" Brick said as it hit the ground. Soon, all three brothers were in fighting position—with eyes close.
"Okay girls, this is our chance. Go for Butch first. Knock him out!" Blossom ordered, and the three of them attacked the temporarily blind boys.
Blossom first delivered a strong kick towards Butch's stomach. He doubled over. Bubbles then laser-eyed him, while Buttercup delivered a well placed punch in the back of his head. Butch tried fighting back, but against three puffs with his eyes closed, he had no chance whatsoever. His brothers were confused as to what's going on, and even if they weren't, they wouldn't be able to do a thing because they can't see.
"Let's finish him," Blossom said. She and Buttercup put their hands together, and a powerful laser streamed forth from their hands, and hit Butch. He screamed, before collapsing to the ground, unconscious, the first to fall.
"Butch!" Boomer shouted when he heard his scream. He tried opening his eyes, but he closed it again as the blinding light was too much.
"He's out of the fight, probably unconscious," said Brick besides him.
"What can we do to win, Brick?" Boomer asked.
"We can't! We've already lost," Brick answered angrily.
Soon, the girls resumed their three on one assault—on Boomer. Blossom froze him in ice, then Bubbles use her laser eyes on him. Finally, Buttercup gave a good kick on the back of his head. He, being the weakest after an earlier pummelling by Buttercup, collapsed.
Brick was now all alone.
He waited, and waited for the three to descend on him with a fury that would make the four horsemen of apocalypse a pansy, but instead, it never came.
"You can open you eyes now," said Blossom.
He did, and the sunball isn't anymore giving any light. He saw his unconscious brothers lying on the ground, but more importantly, he saw the Powerpuff Girls standing on three sides guarding him.
He balled his fists, gritted his teeth and glared at the girls.
"Well, any last words before you join your brothers?" taunted Buttercup.
Brick then relaxed himself. He sighed, put up his hands. "I surrender. I give up. You win."
With that, the fourth clash was over, with the Powerpuff Girls having a clear-cut victory.
The girls were shocked to hear it, even if they were pleased. "Hey, aren't you going to make a last stand and all?" asked Bubbles.
"What's the point? I can't win against you three with my brothers out, and I'd only get myself beaten up more," Brick said in defeat. "Okay, you can have you alliance. I, William Bricker Edwards Jr., leader of the Rowdyruff Boys, do hereby accept you three as part of the Rowdyruff Boys. In fact, I'm eagerly awaiting the opportunity of you serving me!"
"Don't you mean you serving me as leader," Blossom said. "You can't wiggle out of it. You agreed to it and it's recorded on tape."
"Well, I guess we have to take a look at the tape to see what we really agreed to if we lost the fight," Brick said, then saw his father approach, this time wearing shades similar to what Blossom was wearing.
"Quick, where's the sunball, and give me those shades, or Dad'll kill me!" Brick said in panic.
The girls complied, amused to see the usually dignified and cool red ruff act like an idiot as he scoured the sunball among the pebbles besides the lake. He soon found it and pocketed it, and wiped his brow. "Whew, that was close!"
"Dad, can we—," Brick began, but was cut off by his father.
"First things first," his father said. "Girls, Brick, pick up Boomer and Butch so that they'll be more comfortable when they wake up in an hour or so."
"Okay," he and the girls said. A few minutes later, Butch and Boomer were in cots inside tents that the doctor had earlier set up, with bandages in their heads.
"Will they be alright?" asked Blossom.
"Yes. They have chemical X on them, after all, so they'd probably recover faster than before," Dr. Edwards. "So what were you asking again?"
By this time, Buttercup and Bubbles were taking off their clothes and putting on their bathing suits as they scrambled to swim in the lake.
"Um, doctor, did you bring the tape where we made our agreement last night? You see, Brick and his brothers lost, and we want know exactly what has been said," Blossom asked.
"Of course," said Dr. Edwards as he took a tape from his bag. He removed the tape from the camcorder, and placed another on it. He set the camcorder on VCR mode, and played it. Soon, they saw Brick and Blossom make the agreement.
"I, William Bricker Edwards Jr., on behalf of myself and my brothers, Boomer Edwards and Butch Edwards, accept the conditions. If however, the Powerpuff Girls win, then we would have a full fledged alliance whereby the Powerpuff Girls would be admitted to be part of the Rowdyruff Boys where Blossom could be considered as a leader by the parties concerned. Do you accept the conditions?"
"I accept," Blossom replied. "And one team wins if the other surrenders, gets knocked out, or fails to turn up on the designated time, which is at 10 a.m. in the morning, tomorrow, September 6, Saturday, on the east side of the lake in Dr. Edwards' land in the edge of the suburbs of Townsville. If none of those happens, then Dr. Edwards would select the winner."
"See, it's all there!" Blossom asserted after the three of them viewed the tape. "You lost, we won, and you agreed on making me leader of an alliance."
"No. It said you would be admitted as part of the Rowdyruff Boys, meaning you would join us as new members. Since I am the leader of the Rowdyruff Boys, it's only natural that I continue as leader. And furthermore, I said you could, not would, be considered, not made, a leader if you won. So, your theory that you'd be the next leader according to our agreement doesn't hold water."
"Hey, you and I made an agreement before stating that I should be the leader before making that agreement. That tape's just a formality," Blossom argued, barely able to contain her rage upon hearing Brick's twisting of words. "And as I remember, it says full fledge alliance, meaning we just don't join you. Which means that you can't be leader because of that!"
"Since this was a formal and recorded agreement, this is the one that counts, and you and I agreed to abide by it," Brick said. "Yes I agreed, but I changed my mind. If you're dumb enough to say yes even if when I said that, that means you're too dumb in the English language to be considered a leader!"
"Why you—you're just a sore loser!" Blossom shouted at Brick.
"Yes, we lost the fight, I admit it," Brick said, "but I didn't make any agreement in the tape saying that you would become leader. You only could be considered, which, however way you twist, does not mean your immediate coronation if you win, your Majesty!" he said in sarcasm. "Now, if I said you would be the leader or will be the leader, and you agreed to it, then you'll be the leader, no question, right now. And if you think that I meant that you will be the leader when I said it, then you're as gullible as a sailor on land when you said yes. Besides, turnabout is fair play. You tricked Butch and me into this fight, so why cry when I trick you into making such a vague statement?"
"Why you…"
"Don't worry, as your new leader," Brick hauntingly said, "I could consider you as a new leader, as I agreed—eventually!"
"DOCTOR EDWARDS!" Blossom shouted frustratingly.
The doctor, who was outside the tent putting the fish from his tugboat to the shore and preparing to cook it, heard it and went inside.
"Yes Blossom, Brick?" asked the doctor.
"Could you settle our problem?" asked the red-headed girl, and soon, both kids gave their arguments.
He then put the camcorder on the camera mode, and pressed record to record it.
"Promise to follow my decisions?" asked Dr. Edwards.
"Yes Dad," said Brick.
"Yes Doctor," said Blossom.
"Okay. First of all, Brick, it's superfluous to say that what you said in that agreement would make you the leader if you lost. It's simply not logical, it's wrong, and you know that Brick. You lost, and that fact disqualifies you from claiming that you should be the leader based on that agreement you made. Besides, it's not fair to reward you for losing. So I go with Blossom on this one," Dr. Edwards said.
"However Blossom," Dr. Edwards continued, "Brick is also right on whether or not you'll automatically be the leader. You should have listened carefully to the exact words Brick said, and simply not assume what it meant. So even if you won the fight, you said yes in an agreement that does not guarantee you being the leader. So you have an alliance, but as for the leader, the best thing I could say is, Blossom can be considered, as it was said in the agreement, and since there was nothing in it saying Brick can not be considered, he can also be considered. So you two should work out among yourselves on who is the leader."
"Dad, what if we can't decide among ourselves?" asked Brick.
"Well, in that case, if you can't decide by tomorrow night, you could ask me and I'll make the decision for you, if you want?"
"Sure Dad!" Brick said.
"Yes Doctor," Blossom said.
The doctor then left the tent and resumed hauling fish to the shore.
Brick and Blossom glared at each other and gritted their teeth.
Brick felt as if he just dodged a bullet, even if he was humiliated on losing the fight.
Blossom felt as if she was just cheated out of her right to be leader and her victory.
And so the alliance between the two sets of superheroes was finalized, yet who would be the leader remains in doubt.