Allies and Rivals II
To all readers, Merry Christmas (this chapter was posted on December 24, 2012)
Chapter 40
A Tragic Day Before Christmas
The town of Citiesville…
And the final stages of the final battle were being fought high in the air of that unfortunate town. Alpha, with an iron grip, held Brick and Blossom in his hands, laughing hysterically as the energy of both Brick and Blossom got transferred to the already powerful clone.
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!" Alpha cackled. "Can you feel it? Brick, Blossom, can you feel your own power leave you? Hahahaha!"
"You're lying!" Blossom shouted in desperation. "There is no such power."
"You can't absorb our powers. No, not now, not ever!" shouted Brick, though he didn't believe his own words, as he literally felt his power flow out of his body and into his already ridiculously powerful opponent.
"In denial I see, but the look in your faces and the tone of your voices tells me you think otherwise. You know you are losing, or rather, you know that you already have lost, but you can't verbally admit it, even if it's clear that all hope for you is gone! Now you will pay for your mistakes, your arrogance, and my brilliance. Hahahahahahahahaha!"
Brick and Blossom tried to pry away from Alpha's tight grip in order to stem the flow of energy from their bodies, but it was to no avail.
Finally, after a minute, both Blossom and Brick felt limp, and weak, though still alive and conscious, and were now hanging in the air by their arms. Their ability to fly was gone, and so was their ability to do laser attacks.
With a laugh, Alpha let go of the two, and both fell from high in the ground. They weren't hurt at all from the impact. They stood up, brushed off the dirt from their clothes, rubbed their sore wrists, and looked up into a laughing Alpha as the others went towards them.
"Ha, ha, ha! I'm not only the Alpha, but also the Omega! I may have a beginning, but I have no end! And the power that's surging through my very being, the power that no mortal on this pathetic planet can even come close to, is proof to that!" he shouted with arrogance as he flew higher and higher into the air.
"Well, nice knowing you. And I'm certainly proud that both of you are my brothers," Boomer said to Brick and Butch.
"Well, we certainly had an exciting six months," Brick said, ignoring Alpha. "I'm going to miss you, but I hope that I'll see you again when we die. And hope to see Dad too."
"Well, it's been a while," Butch said. "Though sometimes, you guys do things that sicken me, it was a swell time. I'm with Boomer. I'm proud that you two are my brothers, and I'm proud that you Brick, are the leader."
The three brothers shook hands and hugged each other. They waited for the end to come.
"Though I think when we die, we won't see Dad," Brick said. "Dad is a much better man than we are, and we don't deserve to be at his side in the afterlife."
"Yeah! Well, at least we get the honor of being recreated by our father, Dr. Edwards," Butch said.
"Yeah, he's great, isn't he?" Boomer added.
"Is it really over?" asked Bubbles.
Blossom, who again was teary eyed as she watched and listened to Alpha, knew the bitter answer. "Yes it is," Blossom finally admitted. "I wish I could say there is still hope, but I'd be lying. And I've said enough lies in my life. I'm so sorry. I'm really really sorry. And I'm also sorry that I've acted arrogant over the past few months. It's just that, I love power too much, and it's gone to my head."
"Don't worry Blossom," Buttercup said. "Whatever your faults are, they are far outweighed by what is good in you. You're an excellent leader, and you're a caring sister, and you love us all. That is all that matters. I'm extremely lucky to have you both as sisters, you know. Besides, I have my own faults too. I am hot-headed, impetuous, sometimes unthinking, impulsive, and violent, which are far, far worst defects than you being bossy."
"Oh Blossom, Buttercup, even though we lost, I'd like to say, that I have no regrets fighting them, and fighting for Citiesville, Townsville, and for what we believe in. Oh I'm going to miss you. I don't want to die, I don't want to," Bubbles cried.
"I don't want to die too, Bubbles," Blossom said, hugging her blond sister. "But, what can we do? He's too powerful, and we're too weak. Unless he chooses not to kill us, we're doomed."
"Oh this sucks! Why does this have to happen? Why? I mean, we're the good guys! We haven't lost before. Not once! Not ever!" Buttercup hysterically said, then burst in tears and hugged her two sisters. "I know. It's over. I just wish it ain't so!"
The three boys just looked at Alpha in anger and hatred.
"Boys?" they suddenly heard. They turned, and the saw the girls.
They said nothing.
"I'd just like to say, 'nice knowing you,' now that we're doomed and all. It's a pleasure being your friends, and working with you," Bubbles said.
"We're not your friends," Butch growled, while Boomer's scowl softened, though he said nothing.
"And I'm very sorry for acting so arrogant and bossy," Blossom said.
Brick looked her in the eye in cold manner, and without saying a thing, turned back and looked at Alpha. The bitter look on his face and his heavy breathing was all Blossom needed to know to figure out Brick's answer.
Boomer and Butch then turned their backs on the girls, and, like Brick, focused on Alpha high up.
"Well, if that's how—" Buttercup shouted, but was stopped when she saw Alpha in the air. The other two girls then focused their attention on the powerful teenager, who was cackling loudly very high in the air.
"And now, to end it all. Bye bye, Citiesville. Bye bye Powerpuff Girls! Bye bye, Rowdyruff Boys!" Alpha laughed, while starting to concentrate a huge amount of energy in his hands. Suddenly, he felt a tinge of ache in his body causing him to pause for a while. Then it disappeared, and he dismissed it. Suddenly, it came back in full force, and it engulfed his whole body, and he screamed as pain gripped his body. Then, bolts of lightning could be seen circling him. Then, to Alpha's horror, light began coming out of his body.
Then there was silence, and relief clearly was shown in Alpha's face, but it all disappeared in the next second or so.
"What is going on—" were his last words.
A large terrific explosion occurred, covering the entire land with white bright lights that forced the ruffs and puffs to close their eyes, and a withering boom that nearly deafened the kids.
They could feel the rush of powerful winds blow against them, as they struggled just to stay on their feet.
After a minute, it ended.
Brick opened his eyes, and saw his brothers and the girls open theirs. "We're still alive? I don't know how, but I don't feel dead at all."
"It can't be. We're supposed to be dead. That explosion was supposed to kill us all," Butch wondered.
"Well, I know I'm not dead," Boomer said. "We've been dead before, when the girls kissed us, and I don't feel now what we felt then. We're alive."
"I agree. We're alive," Brick said with relief. "I don't understand it, but we are."
"We're alive. I'm glad we weren't killed by the explosion," Blossom said. "Look around. We're still in Citiesville, although the city is much damaged."
"Yeah, and Mr. Ckracknow's skyscraper is gone," said Bubbles. "Look."
Indeed. Where once, a majestic, tall building soared high in the air, there was now only empty space and air, and the remains were in a rubble heap.
Indeed, Citiesville was a sorry sight to behold. All of its' tall skyscrapers were gone, though a lot of buildings, particularly those lower than fifteen stories, still stood proud. During the explosion, about one hundred thousand people died, most of them in the buildings that collapsed and the grounds around them.
"Where's Alpha?" asked Bubbles, asking the question in everyone's mind. "He seemed to have—disappeared."
Alpha was gone. He was not in the sky anymore. Scanning the area, they couldn't find him at all.
"Maybe he went somewhere else?" suggested Butch.
"Could be," Brick said. Brick jumped to take a better look, and to his surprise, he remained in the air. "What the—I can fly again!"
"Does this mean that we regained the power that was drained from us?" Boomer asked, trying to make sense of it all. He tried flying, and succeeded.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Butch said. He then tried to use laser from his eyes to destroy a pile of concrete, and moments later, the rubble was a gone after a powerful laser from Butch's eyes streamed forth.
"That means Alpha is dead!" Blossom said. "How else would you explain getting back our powers? He can't just give it back to us."
"Maybe he self-destructed during that explosion?" Boomer suggested. "I mean, what else could happen? He certainly can't be killed, so the only thing that could have possibly happened is he self-destructed. I mean, that alone would fit all the facts, you know."
"But why? Why the hell did he self-destruct, if indeed that's what happened?" asked Butch.
"I don't know. I just don't know," Brick replied.
"I don't get it either," Boomer said.
"Girls! Are you alright?" the Professor, who came running towards them, shouted.
"Professor!" shouted the girls, as they rushed towards him. They all hugged each other tightly.
"What happened?" asked the Professor. "There was a powerful explosion, and Alpha was gone."
"Well, he self-destructed," Blossom explained. "Why? What happened? Why did he self-destruct?"
"I don't know. I don't know," the Professor said. "Perhaps the data we filched from Ckracknow's second base might shed some light on what really happened."
"Well, at least we won!" Buttercup said.
"We won! We won! We totally rock!" Bubbles shouted, jumping.
"Yeah! Victorious again!" Blossom shouted, joining her sisters' revelries.
However, the Professor had a look of disapproval on his face at her daughter's celebration. "Stop this right now. We have no right to celebrate!"
"But Professor, why not?" asked Buttercup. "We finally won."
"Look," the Professor said, pointing to the city.
The girls looked where the Professor was pointing, and immediately felt ashamed. The scene was a piece of concrete rubble, and hovering over it were three boys.
Boomer was openly sobbing, his crying so hard that it was heard in the entire vicinity. His face was covered with tears as he bawled and bawled.
"Dad!" the six year old ruff shouted.
Brick just stood there, looking at the rubble that buried his father, silent, though his emotions were clearly shown in his face, as wet as a sponge as his eyes dropped tears like a faucet drops water. He just stood in silent contemplation as he stared at the rubble where his father was buried. "Dad," he merely said, but avoiding saying anything fearing that it might cause him to bawl like his brother.
Butch wasn't sobbing, nor were his eyes shedding tears, but his face was bitter, sad, and anguished, twisted in such a way that it's obvious that he was putting up a mighty struggle to hold back his tears.
"I'm very sorry," Bubbles said, again sobbing. "I forgot about Dr. Edwards, and the boys."
"Yeah. It was inconsiderate of us," said Buttercup in a bitter tone. "Who knew victory could be so bitter? This is one victory, where, I think, the cost is too much to bear, especially for the boys."
"We can only hope the boys will pull through this," said Blossom sadly. "Dr. Edwards was very close to them."
"Let's just hope that they didn't notice your earlier celebrations, or they might never forgive you," the Professor said.
The girls felt very sorry for the boys. Bubbles went to Boomer, patted her shoulder. "Boomer, it's alright. I'm sure he's in a better place—"
"How can it be alright? We just lost our father for crying out loud," Boomer shouted at Bubbles. "What will happen to us? What? What?"
Bubbles said nothing as she cried, and tried to embrace Boomer. Surprisingly, Boomer did nothing to resist, and hugged her back, as he bitterly cried at her shoulder. Bubbles just cried along and patted him at his back.
Blossom and Buttercup went near the other two boys.
However, before the two puffs could do anything, Brick, then Butch went to the mass of rubble, and began digging, removing rock after rock, trying to recover their father's body. Blossom and Buttercup silently joined the effort, though all kids, and the Professor, had a dreadful feeling about it as they anticipated the worst.
Finally, they got the shock of their life.
They finally uncovered what they assumed was the body of Dr. Edwards. It was a dreadful sight that greeted them. They could clearly see his clothes—his gray suit, coat, hat and red tie, and his shirt. However, it was drenched in blood, as the body. Furthermore, the size of the clothes perfectly matched that worn by Dr. Edwards. The head, though, was utterly crushed by the falling concrete, and whatever face that was on the head was unrecognizable, as it was now a mass of blood, brains, and broken skull fragments. The brown hair, though, and the hat, was the same as their father's, and that was all they needed to identify the body.
It was so shocking and so gruesome, seeing a crushed body, that Bubbles, Boomer, and even Buttercup fainted. Brick and Butch looked at it for a second, then after confirming it, immediately looked away as their faces grew bitterer, and their faces more twisted, as Butch's effort to hold back his tears were finally overcome by his emotions, though he was just silent.
Blossom suddenly sobbed hysterically, she crying like Boomer earlier did.
"Blossom, take the boys and your sisters home. And pack our things, especially the Christmas tree and presents under the tree. Stay in our house and wait for me. I'll take care of Dr. Edwards's body," the Professor said, though his body was shaking.
Blossom soon controlled herself enough for her to pick up both her unconscious sisters. Surprisingly, both Butch and Brick did not protest the Professor's instructions, and they picked up Boomer, and though shocked, followed Blossom, not saying a word.
Blossom herself was still sobbing, and wasn't aware of her surroundings till she found herself on the door of their house.
It was an eerie feeling. She hadn't been in their house since Ckrackow and the five teen-agers attacked Citiesville, and the Professor and the girls were forced to move to Dr. Edwards' house to have better protection from rioters.
Blossom looked back, and saw that Butch and Brick were behind her with bitter expressions on their faces. Still crying, she gently laid Buttercup before getting the key from her pocket, and opened the door.
She opened the door, and for the first time in many days, stepped into her house. She directed the boys to put Boomer on the bed in their room, while she herself plopped her sisters besides Boomer.
She dried her tears, and finally was able to speak coherently. She was still the leader. Brick technically was overall leader, but he was too shaken emotionally for him to properly function.
"Brick, I need to go to your house to get our stuff," Blossom said. "I need to borrow your keys." Her tone was sad, contrite, and slow.
Brick and Butch looked Blossom but said nothing, their eyes as cold as the winter night of Cychaela's death. Their faces were a mixture of bitterness, shock, disbelief, resignation, and anger.
Finally, Brick spoke. "I won't give you the keys, girl."
"But I need it to—"
"I know. I'll go with you, girl, 'cause I know you'll steal something if you go alone." Brick's tone was serious, angry, and suspicious, not the usual sarcastic, witty, mocking, and generally warm tone of his usual teasing. It was reminiscent of his days when he still wanted to kill the Powerpuff Girls, when he clearly hated the girls, than to his present persona as an incessant power hungry rival of Blossom for leadership.
Blossom was taken aback by the bitterness of his tone. "Okay, you can come along with me," said she.
Blossom floated outside, followed by Brick. They didn't say anything to each other. Blossom felt she might unintentionally say something inappropriate. Brick simply did not desire to talk, as his mind was on other things.
Butch watched the two redheads leave. Immediately, he went to find an empty room, and finding it, went inside, locked it, made sure nobody can see or hear him, and cried his heart out.
Blossom and Brick arrived at Dr. Edwards' home. Brick took a key from his pocket, opened the door, and entered. Blossom followed Brick to the house. Seeing all the pictures on the walls, and all the items in the house suddenly brought a flood of memories and she again lost it, and cried.
Brick also got emotional, with tears dripping from his eyes as all the memories surfaced, but he quickly dried his eyes, and instead, focused his sights on Blossom to keep him from seeing things that might choke him up.
"Quick bawling and get whatever things you need. The sooner you leave this house, the better. Quit crying like a little girl and do whatever you have to do!" said Brick a little too harshly.
"Oh shut up! For your information, I am a little girl, and if I want to cry if somebody close to me dies, that's my business, not yours!" Blossom shouted back. "And look at yourself before saying such things. You also cried! At least I'm honest about my emotions, not like you, who always keeps denying!"
Brick just shrugged it off. "Whatever. Just get your things and leave."
Blossom soon was angrier with Brick than sad. "You are such a big jerk, you know that?" she shouted, this time not in jest, before huffing away and collecting their things. Brick followed her, making sure that she didn't steal anything.
She took all her things, and that of her sisters, plus their Christmas tree and presents. She could carry it all easy, but had a hard time balancing it in her hands as they were too many.
"A little help here?" Blossom asked, looking at Brick.
"Go help yourself!" Brick replied. "You're strong enough to do it."
"Oh nevermind. I knew I can never depend on you."
"Oh I thought you're always depending on me?"
"You're impossible."
Blossom then carried all those things by herself (which, combined, is five times the size of her), while Brick locked the door of the house, carrying nothing himself. Blossom flew slowly, fearing she might drop something, while Brick zoomed out, leaving Blossom in the dust.
Brick entered Blossom's house, when he suddenly was gripped in a tight hug. A sobbing Boomer was gripping Brick tightly.
"Oh it's horrible. It's horrible. I just woke up, wondered why I'm here, then remembered all that happened. Oh it's terrible. I can't get it out of my head—you know, Dad's head so crushed you can't recognize his face, all the blood on his suit, hat, it's horrible. Why did Dad have to die in such a horrible way? Why? It's so unfair, you know Brick."
Brick patted his brother, himself fighting off the urge to cry like his brother. "Boomer, you're right. It's horrible." He was silent for a few minutes. Boomer simply cried into his brother's shoulder, until he finally stopped.
"Where's Butch?" he finally asked.
Before Brick could answer, Blossom finally arrived with all the things she carried. "Thanks a lot," she sarcastically said.
Brick ignored her as he pondered where his black haired brother was. "I don't know," he finally answered. "We better look around."
It didn't take much time for them to locate Butch. He was in an isolated room near the basement door, sleeping on a bed. The wet pillow indicated that he cried himself to sleep. He had a bitter expression on his face, even asleep.
It was three o'clock in the afternoon, December 24.
The six kids were in the living room, waiting for the Professor to arrive. The boys had cried themselves dry, and they were playing cards among themselves. They were silent, sullen, without the usual banter that one associate with their usual poker games.
Bubbles until now was still crying, while Buttercup and Blossom's eyes were dry, though they were sullen. Buttercup was sitting on the couch, thinking, while Blossom was reading a book.
The atmosphere was grim, and sad. On all their minds were the events earlier that day and what had happened to Dr. Edwards. And whatever they tried to do, they could not keep their minds off the recent tragedy. They could not get off their mind the horrible image of a crushed body lying on the rubble.
Then, the Professor arrived.
To the kid's extreme surprise, he had a grin on his face, had happy eyes, had a bright expression, conveying optimism.
"Well? Do you have good news?" asked Blossom.
"Huh? Why'd you think I have good news?" asked a surprised Professor.
"Well, there's that look on your face," Buttercup said. "Come on, Professor. Something's up!"
"Um, the look my face? Um well, there's no good news," the Professor said, his face changing into a very grim expression, his grin becoming a grimace, his mood becoming dark.
"What happened?" asked Brick, fearing the worst.
"Oh, what I saw…It's too bad, too horr—Oh sorry, I was just overwhelmed by it all, it's so dreadful, you know, that the shock. Oh I'm very sorry," the Professor rambled, though his expression told the kids that their worst fears were realized.
"It's alright Professor," Blossom said.
The Professor then went to his lab.
Later that night, about seven…
"Where are you going," asked Bubbles as she saw the boys preparing to leave.
"We're going home," Brick replied.
"Why don't you stay here with us, so we can spend Christmas together? I mean, with your father gone, wouldn't it be a lonely Christmas for you? I'm sad too, but maybe we could liven up if we're all together?" the blue puff invited.
"Sorry. We're going home and that's it. We can't leave it for too long," Brick replied.
"So what are you planning to do?" asked Blossom.
"If you want to know," Boomer began, "after Christmas, we're going to Mr. Franks and Mr. Clark in the city."
"Who's Mr. Franks?" asked Buttercup.
"He's Dr. Edwards' lawyer, and the one who kept his will," Blossom said. "Look, I know it's hard for you, but couldn't you just stay here tonight and tomorrow? I know how you feel."
"No you do not know how we really feel!" Brick suddenly shouted at the two girls. "Do you really think you know what's bugging us? Yes, we're sad, we're angry, we're bitter, and I know you are, but there's more. First, he's not your father, and so you can never ever know how we really felt or feel when our Dad was killed. Second, you do not know the frustration, the disappointment of not having been able to have our revenge! Yes, Alpha was killed, but not by our hands! How can our desire be satisfied, our hatred quashed, our conscience be free, if we can't even have our revenge? The only thing that could satisfy us if we ripped Alpha limb from limb, tore out his heart while still alive, eat it, and drenched ourselves in his blood. That is the only recourse we have, but because he self-destructed, that has been denied to us as well! It's really burning us, you know! It really is!"
"Besides, I can't stay in the house, where one of the occupants is partly, if indirectly, responsible for Dad's death!"
"What the heck are you talking about?" Bubbles retorted. "Nobody here is responsible!"
"Well, if Blossom hadn't got herself kidnapped three frickin' times, then maybe we won't have to rescue you three times, and then maybe, we'd be able to hide out in Townsville and train, but no, you have to be a big sore thumb that needed to rescued! Guess what? It was Dad who came up with the plan, and since there are no other choices, he has to go in and be the one to personally rescue you while we distracted Alpha! Oh I wish we could have just left you in Ckracknow's clutches! If we'd done that, Dad would still be alive, you'd still be tied up and gagged but reasonably safe, and I won't have to give this rant!"
"That's low, Brick! That's completely uncalled for! What gall! What nerve!" Blossom shouted back. "Do you really think that I wanted to be kidnapped three times in three days and be tied up and gagged for sixty hours of those 72 hours? Do you really think that I hate Dr. Edwards enough to actually get myself kidnapped three times so he could have been killed on the third rescue attempt? That's ridiculous!"
"You're not thinking rationally," Blossom continued. "You've become unhinged. You've lost your ability to think clearly. You're, dare I say, crazy! Maybe you're not crazy. Maybe all this time, this is all an act. You're still evil! And you're trying to hide the fact all this time! In fact, it made all made sense! I was right when I asserted you were evil, and it's all an act to fool Dr. Edwards into giving you his inheritance! So when he did, you acted incompetently enough so he could be killed! Brilliant!"
"Or if," Blossom continued, goading her counterpart, "you had no evil intentions at all, then you yourself are one responsible for your father's death! Yup, it's your fault your father was killed. Hook. Line. And sinker. Since you are the leader of this alliance, it's ultimately your responsibility. It's your fault you don't have a father, since you shown yourself an incompetent leader! Yes, you're the most incompetent leader I've ever seen! Yes, it's your own fault you and your brothers don't have a father now! And since you are so incompetent, you do not deserve to be leader of this alliance! I demand you step down this instant and let me be the leader!"
"Never! I was elected leader of this Alliance fair and square! If you want to be leader, then we should have another election using the same rules you made while you were leader!" Brick retorted. "And your words about me being to blame are beneath contempt. It is beneath my dignity to reply to such absurd accusations! Especially that, next to Ckracknow, you, Blossom, are the most responsible for my father's death!"
"If you refuse to step down, or change the rules of the election, then this alliance is over! And you're more responsible for Dr. Edwards' death!"
"Well, if that is what you want, so be it! This alliance is over! I am so sick of being teamed up with a loser like you! I am so sick of you, Blossom, I can't take it anymore!" Brick shouted. "In fact, I'm getting out of this hell hole!"
"Fine! Leave! And leave! I'll kick you out of his house if you don't!"
"I will! And I better not see you snooping around my house either!"
"Guys, wait!" Bubbles started, but was stopped by Blossom and ignored by the boys, who left in a huff.
"Don't bother, Bubbles," the pink puff said.
"But, but we can't just let them go, we have too much at stake!" Bubbles protested.
"Look, I have decided to end this alliance, and Brick agreed to it, and that's all there is to it!" Blossom said. "It's his fault. He started it."
"You blew it, Blossom," Buttercup said. "You and Brick have too much pride. And you two didn't make sense at all? I mean destroying the alliance? I may never have liked the idea before, but I know now that working with them, however distasteful it is, is useful, as the fight against Ckracknow shows! And breaking up, for what? Because of something very ridiculous! I mean, really! Blaming each other for the death of Dr. Edwards! That is so ridiculous and so lame! That is the worst excuse to end such a useful alliance!"
"It's his fault!" Blossom said. "He blamed me first! What do you want me to do? Say, 'Hey, you're right! I am responsible for your father's death!' And besides, I'm leader of the Powerpuff Girls, and that's my decision, because I know what's best for us! Besides, I'm sick and tired of taking orders from him!" Blossom ranted before angrily huffing off to her room.
Meanwhile…
It was already dark out in the night, and very cold. Snow was falling heavily as the Rowdyruff Boys painfully and slowly flew back home.
Brick was angry and bitter, grumbling. His two brothers were shocked and surprised.
"I think both of them are ridiculous," Boomer said to Butch. "I mean, I may not like Blossom, but I sure know that she isn't responsible for Dad's death. It's so ridiculous."
"Yeah," Butch concurred. "I hate Blossom, but you're right. It's bullsh!t. On the plus side, at least it ended this awful alliance and snapped Brick's senses. Now he knows that making an alliance with those good-for-nothing girls is a bad idea. Besides, Blossom had no right accusing Brick of being responsible!"
"Brick," Boomer began. "I know it's wrong for Blossom to blame you, but don't you think you two acted a little too rashly in ending the alliance."
"Look, she broke the straw of the camel's back when she accused me of being responsible for Dad's death. And she wanted to be leader of the alliance, and when she can't, what does she do? She breaks the alliance! So I gave her what she wants. So good riddance to bad rubbish!"
"But you threw away your leadership over the girls. I mean—" Boomer argued.
"Shut up!" Brick suddenly shouted. "I am leader of the Rowdyruff Boys, and you, two, have sworn never to question my orders when I became the leader again, don't you remember? So don't say anything more about this. My decision stands, and nothing you can say will ever make me change my mind. The Alliance is dead!"