Allies and Rivals II
Chapter 24
The Election
The City of Towsville, and it is the afternoon of December 3.
It was the afternoon of the election, and all six members of the Ruff-Puff Alliance gathered at the school gates after class was over. With them was three so-called "impartial" observers, whom they agreed would count the votes and proclaim the winner. They are Robyn Snider, Mike Believe and Mitch Mitchellson.
"Are you guys ready?" asked a confident Blossom.
"Ready to win!" Brick said.
"You wish! Okay, Brick typed the rules and agreements we made for the election. Here, I'm handing each of you a photocopy of it, so you also know the rules. Brick brought with him, at my request, a small video camera that will be operated by you Mitch, to record the proceedings."
"You're the boss," Mitch said as Brick gave him the video camera.
"Okay, let's go to the forest of Dr. Edwards so we can vote there in peace," Blossom said. "Butch, carry Mitch, Boomer, carry Mike, and Bubbles, carry Robyn. We're going to fly them there to save time."
Surprisingly, both boys didn't as much grumble obeying Blossom's orders because they thought it would be the last time they would have to follow her. Bubbles carried Robyn with absolutely no problem at all.
They arrived at the forest, and immediately went to a small patch of clearing in the middle of it. It was nearing winter, and the cold icy winds could clearly be felt. All of the kids are now wearing thick winter clothing, even if it was still fall, with jackets, scarves, gloves, earmuffs, and trousers.
The forest itself, except for a few tall cypress, pines and a few evergreens, looked dead as most broadleafs had already shed their leaves and preparing for the coming winter. Most animals had either had already hibernated, or have migrated south, or were shot dead by Dr. Edwards and his sons in one of his hunting parties. The forest floor was littered with dead leaves and rotting wood.
Underscoring it was the weather. The sky was completely overcast, and gray. The wind blew harder and harsher than before, and only a few hardy or foolish souls would dare venture from their homes without any jacket or coats, though some idiots have been caught running around in the bitter cold night in their underwear and were promptly committed to an insane asylum.
The weather underscores the atmosphere prevailing over the Ruff-Puff Alliance. By this time, the relationship among the six kids were dominated by the rivalry between the Alliance Leader and Leader of the Powerpuff Girls, Blossom Utonuim, and the Leader of the Rowdyruff Boys, William Bricker Edwards Jr. At times cordial, at times strained, those two had been competing with each other ever since the boys were resurrected by Dr. Edwards, starting when they were enemies, continuing when they were no longer at each other's throats, but intensifying when they were allies, even as Blossom won the initial contests among who was to be the leader.
Butch and Boomer, of course, unswervingly supported Brick, at least in front of others, though it didn't let Brick escape from his brothers' criticisms in private. Bubbles, and to a lesser extent Buttercup, supported their red-haired sister.
Now the rivalry had reached a turning point, similar to the one when Dr. Edwards chose Blossom as the first leader of the Ruff-Puff Alliance. It would either continue under Blossom or change course with Brick.
"Okay, Mike, roll it. Mike, Robyn, do as we agreed this morning," Blossom instructed.
"We'll do Blossom," Mike said. "Okay, Mitch, roll it!"
"And a one, and a two, and your on!" Mitch said as he put the video cam on a tripod.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen," Robyn said. "Today is December 3, and the important election for the leader of the Ruff-Puff Alliance will be held in a few minutes. The candidates are Blossom and Brick, while those who will vote are Buttercup, Bubbles, Boomer and Butch as well as Brick and Blossom themselves. Now, Mike here will read the rules of the election."
Mitch pans the camera towards Mike.
"Is it my turn yet?" Mike cluelessly asked.
"Cut," Brick suddenly said. "Mike, when Robyn says, 'Mike here will read the rules of the election', you go in and adlib an intro and read the photocopied rules Blossom gave you."
"Sorry, I forgot," Mike apologized.
"Nevermind. Mitch rewind the film and start where Robyn ended."
"You got it!" Mitch said as he did as told.
"Now do it right this time!" Blossom said. "Now, roll 'em!"
""Got you!" said Mitch, as he pressed the record button on the video camera.
"Okay. Here are the rules as agreed to previously by Brick and Butch," Mike said like a robot, reading the document. "First, the election about to be held will determine the leader of the Ruff-Puff Alliance. Second, each member would have one vote. Third, the one who had the most votes would be the new leader of the alliance. Fourth, in case of a tie vote, the current leader, in this case, Blossom, shall win the election."
"Now, here are the agreements made that the loser must do…" and Mike proceeded to read all the things that the loser must do. Pretty soon, most of them can't keep a straight face and burst out laughing their heads off the most ridiculous of the terms. Several times, they had to rewind and do again the reading of the rules because Mike, Mitch and Robyn just messed it up laughing and laughing and laughing. As well as Butch and Boomer who were delighted at a chance to humiliate Blossom, but Brick and Blossom and Buttercup and Bubbles didn't laugh as much they already knew of it.
Finally, Mike read the final rule. "And the winner reserves the right to cancel any one of the rules. Which means that the winner may not force the loser to do the punishments. Signed, William B. Edwards, and Blossom Utonium."
After reading the rules, Mike again laughed. "Whew! That was hilarious. Whoever loses will be sorry he agreed to it!"
"Now that the rule reading is over, it's time for the election! I, Robyn Snider will count the votes and proclaim who won. Now let's start. Okay, Boomer, vote."
"I vote for Brick," Boomer said.
"And Brick leads with one vote and Blossom second with zero votes," Robyn said in front of the camera. "Now let's go to Boomer's counterpart, Bubbles. Okay, Bubbles, cast you vote."
"Blossom," she simply said.
"And now their tied, each with one vote! The race is neck and neck, folks, and it is still unclear who will win! Will it be Brick, or will it be Blossom? Well, we'll now go to the votes of the leaders themselves. Okay Blossom, who are you going to vote for?"
"I vote for Brick," Blossom said, stunning everybody. "What?"
"Um, Blossom, in an upset, just voted for her rival! And Brick leads with two votes to Blossom's one. And now, let's hear Brick's vote."
"Blossom," he said. "Don't be surprised. We already knew that we would vote for ourselves, so Blossom and I agreed this morning to vote for each other just to spice things up. Besides, it doesn't change anything since we would cancel each other's vote."
"Well, from the mouth of Blossom's challenger himself, on why they voted for each other," Robyn said, a little bit surprised. "Well, it's tied, two for Brick, and two for Blossom. Now we'll ask for the votes of the last two contestants which will decide the winner. Who will win? Brick or Blossom? Let's ask for Butch Edwards's vote. Okay, Butch, who will you vote for?"
"Brick, who else?" he quipped.
"And that's one more vote for Brick. Brick now leads Blossom three to two," Robyn said, speaking like a sports anchor. "And now, we have the final vote that will decide the election. Should Buttercup vote for Blossom as expected, it would be a tie and Blossom would win according to the rules, but should Buttercup vote for Brick, Brick would win by two votes. Okay Buttercup, whom will you vote for."
"Hm, that's hard. Let me think about it," Buttercup said. "I think I'll vote for…wait a minute, scratch that. No, my vote goes to…Hm, I know. Both Brick and Blossom are too arrogant to be the leader, and both don't deserve it. I vote for myself. Yup! I vote for Buttercup. I deserve to be the leader. Besides, there isn't anything in the rules that says I have to vote for only the two of them!"
Robyn was totally surprised, and so were the rest of the kids. "Um, okay, Buttercup has Buttercup's vote and now that Buttercup has voted, the election is now over. So the final tally is, Brick has three votes, Blossom has two, and Buttercup has one. And since Brick has the most votes, then he wins this election and is now the new leader of the Ruff-Puff Alliance," Robyn proclaimed then held up Brick's arm and raised it in front of the video camera. Brick has a big smile on his face as he savored his triumph over Blossom.
"So Brick, how does it feel to unexpectedly win this election," Robyn asked, holding a fake microphone to his mouth.
"Well, just between the two of us, I didn't expect to lose," Brick replied. "I'm happy, and I'm proud."
Robyn went over to Blossom, who had a shocked expression on her face, and she was staring intently on Buttercup.
"So Blossom, how'd you feel about your defeat?" asked Robyn in a kinda mock interview.
Blossom was silent, deep in thought, her face showing the bitterness and disappointment of defeat. 'How did it happen? How could I have lost?'
"Um, Blossom?"
"Um, oh yeah, what is it you were asking again Robyn?" Blossom finally answered.
"How do you feel that you lost the election, Blossom?"
"Disappointed," the former leader of the Ruff-Puff Alliance answered. "I should've won, but I didn't. Brick won fair and square. Well, congratulations to him."
"And are you going to do those things that the loser must do as mentioned when Mike read the rules?"
"I might as well. I was the one who made it. Unless of course Bubbles was telling the truth when she told me yesterday Brick cancelled the most humiliating punishments, or if not, Brick has a change in heart," Blossom solemnly said.
"Thank you Blossom," Robyn said, then turned to the camera. "Folks, thus ends the second election for the leadership of the Ruff-Puff Alliance. An unexpected vote of Buttercup swung the election Brick's way. Now we have witnessed the joy of victory, the agony of defeat, the exhilaration of winning, the bitterness of losing. Well, this is Robyn Snider. Goodbye!"
And Mitch turned off the camcorder. "Gee that was fun playing reporter!" Robyn said.
She then saw Blossom and tried to comfort her. "Don't take it too hard Blossom. You only lost. And besides, I'm sure Brick won't insist on those humiliating terms."
"I can only hope," Blossom said, looking at the ground. "Bubbles, are you sure Brick said he'd cancel those conditions?"
"I'm pretty sure about it Blossom," Bubbles replied. "Gosh, I'm so sorry you lost Blossom. But as you said, Brick will make a fine leader."
"You don't have to be sorry for anything Bubbles. Thanks for voting for me!"
"Aw, don't mention it. We're sisters after all!" Bubbles said, hugging Blossom. "Don't feel too bad about it."
Brick meanwhile was being congratulated by both his brothers and the other boys.
"Man, well, congratulations," Mitch said. "I never expected you could beat Blossom, but hey, I'm glad you won."
"Same here," said Mike. "Though you shouldn't be too harsh on Blossom. I don't think making her do all those things is a good idea. Ridiculous and funny? Yes, but good? No."
"Aw Brick, we finally got rid of that girl!" Butch said.
"And the best part is, we won't have to take anymore orders from the red-haired terror girl!" Boomer exulted.
"I was wrong, you aren't Blossom's lapdog!" Butch said. "Even if you were!"
"I was never ever that ugly girl's lapdog, you idiot!" Brick replied. "But who cares? It's clear I'm not today or ever more as long as I'm leader of this godforsaken alliance!"
"Ha, serves her right!" Boomer added. "This calls for a celebration!"
"Yeah! Let's go home and celebrate!" Brick said.
"But what about her punishments?" Butch asked. "I mean she lost, didn't she?"
"Who cares? I won, and that's the only thing that matters! If she wants to do those punishments, let her, but I won't force her to do it. The only thing I'll demand is she always follow my orders!"
"But she should be…"
"Butch, drop it! That's an order!"
"Yes Brick," said a grumbling Butch. "I hope I'm wrong, but I think you're going soft on her."
"Whatever," Brick said.
"Hey, Brick, we had a deal, remember?" Buttercup suddenly said.
"Oh yeah," he said, and took ten dollars from his pocket and gave it to Buttercup. He then took the video camera from Mitch before zooming off with his brothers towards home.
"Well, this certainly is a day!" Boomer said as they arrived.
"Yup! Three months of planning has finally paid off!" Brick mentioned. "Have I said that I have planned for this day ever since Blossom was chosen leader?"
"Well, tell us about it!" Butch retorted.
"Okay. This rivalry, as you may know, started from the very beginning, ever since Dad recreated us. At first, we were enemies, and our rivalry consisted of us trying to destroy each other, or our reputations. Remember when they used the monster alliance to force us to admit we still worked for Mojo? I hated Blossom at first because of what happened last time, but when we thrashed them at our first encounter, my hatred of her disappeared as I got my revenge. Not even the monster alliance incident can bring back my hatred for her, since one, she never succeeded in her objective, and two, it in itself was a brilliant maneuver, the only thing she should have done differently is she should have made sure she can trust those monsters."
Both brothers nodded.
"After they found out we were not evil, a new problem arose for them. Because of our Comm. Watches and Dad's efficient system, we threatened to cast them into oblivion as they would always be upstaged by us in saving the day. So they need to ally with us in order to still be viable as superheroes. But Blossom is too proud to ask, and I wasn't too eager for an alliance. But in a brilliant move, she not only made the alliance possible but on her terms, with her as the leader, totally outmaneuvering me."
Brick continued. "Anyway, in retrospect, I am thankful that Dad chose her instead of me three months ago."
"What? I thought you wanted badly to be the leader at that time?" asked Butch.
"Yup, I wanted to. But I now know that had I been chosen by Dad, it would have been a disaster," Brick explained. "I learned a lot from my first defeat that I would not have learned if Dad chose me until it was too late."
"Why is that?" asked Boomer. It was very unusual for Brick to admit to such a thing.
"Because I don't know the Powerpuff Girls that good. I don't know that Blossom's such a good strategist and tactician, I don't know about Buttercup's frequent quarrels with Blossom, I don't know what makes Bubbles' tick, in fact, I don't know anything about them at all, and given what I know now, I would've rubbed them the wrong way all throughout, and the alliance would split," Brick said. "Look, Blossom has the same problem before. She barely knew us, but now, she knows me better and you two too. The reason that she didn't bungle up was because I gave her my full support by always following and enforcing her orders. She didn't know what makes us tick, and who we really are, and she tried putting her morality over us."
"Anyway, if I become leader, there is no reason for the girls to follow each and every one of my orders, since they had absolutely no reason to be loyal to me at all," Brick continued. "I doubt she would give me the same loyalty and obedience that I have showed her. At the same time, all three of us had no real reason to be loyal to the girls at all. But we all know what happened. I ordered you to obey her and be loyal, and as such, she became an effective leader. You all remember when you tried to show Dad those tapes which showed Blossom making the alliance, and you know how I took them away."
"You may not like this, but Blossom acquitted herself well soon after, when those mysteriously strong monsters, the kidnapping of Dad, their eventual rescue and the defeat of Ckracknow. Those events showed that she is indeed very good leader."
"But that doesn't meant I gave up my quest to become leader of the Ruff-Puff Alliance," Brick said. "But before that, I want to have the loyalty of the girls for me not just because I am leader, because if not, I would be at Blossom's mercy."
"What do you mean?" asked Butch. "How could you be at her mercy if you become leader."
"Simple. If I didn't tell you to follow Blossom before, would you have obeyed her?"
"Certainly not! Why would we follow that girl?" said Butch in contempt. "The only reason we accepted her is because you told us so!"
"Exactly!" Brick said. "And if the reverse is true, and I was the leader of the alliance, Blossom could tell her sisters to stop following me and there's nothing I could do about it. Now, my main goal is to make sure Bubbles and Buttercup would follow me even if Blossom opposed me, or failing at that, Blossom would be loyal to me even if she doesn't like what I said she should do. Now, first is Bubbles. Bubbles is perhaps both the easiest, and the hardest. Easiest because she readily trusts and likes anyone not a villain, and hardest because it's hard making her do things she might not like because of her conscience."
"Well, as you all know, I won Bubbles' friendship and trust during the monster alliance, when, for some reason, she thought we were not evil. My objective is to make Bubbles comfortable with us boys, and make her not mind if I'm the leader. You remember the deal we made whereby Bubbles would help us clean our house every afternoon in exchange for us being friends? Well, it worked perfectly! Not only did Boomer and I win Bubbles' trust totally, but it gained me some measure of future loyalty from her. As a result, she had, or she thinks she had, something to owe us for. Not only that, but you and Bubbles have become even more closer!"
"But how do you know?" asked Butch.
"Simple!" Brick said. "What she said to me yesterday when I asked for her vote, and failing at that, asking for her loyalty!"
"Ohh, I get it now!" Boomer said.
"Now, Blossom. Blossom is a bit more difficult, but once you get what makes her tick, it's not terribly hard. First, remember all those talk where I said, 'Of course, I'll always follow your orders, but when I become leader, you should follow me,' she would always reply, 'of course I'll follow you when you are leader, but that'll never happen because as long as I am leader.' She just assumed she won't lose her position to me so she readily agreed with me. Plus the fact that I encouraged her to demand total obedience from us to whoever is the leader when she was the leader. And also, remember the times when I told her flat out that I think her ideas are wrong and crazy and yet followed it and told her that I expect her to do the same when I am the leader and she told 'yeah yeah if you are leader but you'll never be'? It sounded like a broken record repeated time and time again but to me, it's important, as it established the principle in her mind that the leader of the Ruff-Puff Alliance will be obeyed. One could criticize, object, debate or even disagree, but in the end, you must obey! And she can't disobey any of my orders without her looking hypocritical."
"Also, she knew that the only reason you two are following her is because of me, and she knows she owes me one too! Not to mention the conditions she made where the loser in the election must absolutely follow the winner. Now, on to Buttercup."
Brick continued. "Buttercup, perhaps, is the most difficult, since she probably is the most stubborn, toughest, and free spirited one of all the girls. I know I could not rely on Blossom to keep her in line once I become the leader, so I had to do it myself. Fortunately, I also know that she is the most selfish of the girls and the most self-centered. If you use the right tools, she too could be manipulated to do what you want her to do," Brick said. "I've observed many times how Blossom controls Buttercup, and I've learned a lot of things."
"At the beginning, I had virtually no prospect of making Buttercup loyal to me, since I reckon she has a healthy dislike of me. And so it continued that way until we rescued Dad from Ckracknow. My first chance came when I rescued Buttercup from drowning, and I made it a point to always remind her of it, and because of that, even until now, she still thinks she owes me one. Second, I used the incident to make Buttercup follow my leadership in the fight against Two, and I proved to be bearable as a leader. Those two incidents effectively erased her dislike of me, though it is still a long way to go. My next step is to persuade Blossom to make Buttercup my partner in the pairings system after Dad's rescue."
"But the final piece fell into place when Blossom yelled at Buttercup for seemingly botching her orders, just before the day of the election. I decided to take advantage of her resentment at Blossom's bossiness, and it worked like a charm. Now, the case for Blossom's removal has been made, and my actions in the previous weeks made me a palatable and acceptable alternative to Blossom in the green-eyed-girl's eyes. But more importantly, I also garnered from her a pledge that she would follow me if I won. I don't know how effective that pledge was, but combined with the ten dollars, it's a start!" Brick explained. "And that, my dear brothers, was my plan to take over the Ruff-Puff Alliance. And I wouldn't have done it if Dad had chosen me leader instead of Blossom in the first place. I probably would have crashed sooner, and my head would be even bigger than Blossom. Now, let's go home and celebrate with Dad!"
Meantime…
Robyn, Mike, and Mitch had gone home, and so had the Powerpuff Girls. Bubbles kept comforting her sister, while Buttercup had a smug expression on her face. Blossom's expression is a mixture of disappointment, sadness, bitterness and anger. There was bound to be a confrontation between the two sisters when they arrived.
"Hey Blossom, where's my $20?"
"What? I lost because of you and you still had the audacity to demand the money?" Blossom indignantly asked.
"Well, you told me not to vote for Brick, not to vote for you! And I didn't vote for Brick, happy?"
Blossom realized then and there that she made the wrong wording that enabled Buttercup to have it both ways.
Blossom then took the money from her pocket and gave it to Buttercup.
"Buttercup, why the heck did you not vote for me? I thought we understood each other yesterday!" Blossom demanded.
"Well, our understanding is that you'll give me $20.00 in exchange for me not voting for Brick. You never said…"
"Don't go around the bush. What is the real reason you let me lose? I'm your sister, and you let me lose? Why? I demand you tell me the truth!"
"You want the truth Blossom?" Buttercup tersely replied. "I'll give you the truth! I voted against you because I wanted to teach you a lesson! You recently have become very arrogant! You never listen to us anymore! You never took responsibility for your actions! At least Brick did when he resigned. Yes, I admit, you were brilliant, you were smart, you are a good girl at heart, and you have the capacity to lead, but you were losing touch with your own sisters! You were too bossy! And you always push your weight around."
Blossom listened, then realized her mistakes. It hit her like a pile of bricks. Buttercup's words struck her hard, since it was the first verbal thrashing she received after a particularly harsh defeat at Brick's hands, and she admitted Buttercup was right. But what was worst, it was too late, since she already lost the election. If she had made a tearful apology the day before, then she would have still been leader. "Oh Buttercup, I'm sorry," she cried after a few minutes of silence and staring in the eyes. "I'm really sorry. I never should have blamed you for that incident! You were right. I never should have blamed you. Will you forgive me?"
Buttercup took pity on Blossom. "Blossom, I won't regret what I did because it was right, not only for Brick and myself, but for you too. You see Blossom, you needed a blow on your head for it to deflate, to pull you back to reality. You need to know that you don't know everything, that sometimes, others can be right too. We did it for your own good."
After that, Blossom just sobbed continuously in Buttercup's shoulder. It was painful for her to lose power, to feel rejected, to learn the truth about how her sister sees her. A few minutes later, Bubbles went down and cried with her sister, just so Blossom could have someone to cry with in her emotional state. Buttercup at that point lost all her resentment and anger at Blossom, just like the people of Towsville did when Blossom made another tearful apology. She had felt Blossom had already learned her lesson. "Blossom, have you learned your lesson?" she asked.
"Yes, I did," Blossom said. "Will you forgive me for the way I acted? I really acted like a jerk yesterday, didn't I?"
"Yes you did," Buttercup said. "But you're my sister. How could I not forgive you? I forgive you! No doubt about it!"
Blossom quickly dried her tears and quickly hugged both her sisters. "I'm lucky to have both of you as sisters."
"Oh Blossom, don't feel too bad about it!" Bubbles said. "Because if you do, then I'll also feel bad for you! Besides, Brick isn't that bad as you think he is!"
"I never said he was bad at all," Blossom said. "But now I'm going to have to eat my own words that I said to him."
"What kind of words?" asked Buttercup.
"Well, I said that he must always follow me, even if he doesn't like it, and he said that I must do the same if he was leader. Of course, I then thought that I would never lose my position, and I agreed. Now that he won, I realized that those words were not grandstanding or meaningless. Oh well, I made a promise to Brick repeatedly, and I have to keep it."
"Well, think of it as a learning experience," Bubbles said. "You always got your way Blossom, so now, you'll know how is it to obey somebody else other than the Professor."
'Brick, you might have won this round, but that doesn't mean I'm out for the count. Nor sir, I will find a way to wrestle back the leadership. In the meantime, as long as you are leader, you can count on my loyal support as I could count on yours,' Blossom thought. 'Our rivalry is not over, Brick!'
But it was not long before the first severe test of Brick's leadership would come, and all the work he had done to ensure the girls' loyalty would be put to the test.