AN: Sorry for the wait (again)! I swear I'm trying but I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Buttercup's POV
I woke up happier than I had been in a while. I couldn't exactly tell why, but things just finally seemed to be getting a little bit better. I rolled over and my content mindset dissolved at the sight of the empty right side of the bed.
I allowed a sad sigh and I got up to check my Challenge for the day. Without fail, the red paper was sitting harmlessly on my dresser. Now that I thought about it, it was kinda silly that I dreaded seeing a note.
'Well Buttercup. Since you're oh so resourceful, it seems like you passed my last challenge with more ease than expected. This one might be a little harder though because I'm manipulating the situation in a way. Don't expect this to be easy. Today is your beach day, don't take no for an answer. Your challenge is to swim at least 100 yards out from the shore of your closest beach. Have fun and I hope you're a good swimmer.'
I took in a deep breath and decided I might as well try to have some fun with this. He was most likely going to make sure I ran into a shark and all I would have to do is kick it in the nose or something. That was a thing, right?
Being the last one up, everyone was already downstairs before me.
"Goodmorning sunshine!" Kit called to me from the kitchen and Bradley nodded to me as if he wanted to say the same. I got normal good mornings from everyone else and I felt like it was probably a good time to bring up today's plans.
"Hey guys, how about we go to the beach today? I haven't been all summer." Everyone's tired looked dissipated immediately at my suggestion and they all jumped on the idea.
"Yeah let's go tho the beach!" Bubbles and Blossom squealed in unison and the rest of the gang nodded in more subtle agreement.
"Alright sweet. Let's get dressed and then we can head out. Then afterwards I can start looking for a new car." I turned to get ready without even waiting for a response since I knew everyone was going to agree already.
James's POV
I couldn't help but to stare at the gorgeous girl who walked back up the steps. I hadn't really gotten a chance to get a real good look at her, but damn…
I shook myself out of my trance as she disappeared from sight. I shook my head and looked to Bradley, who was the only one who hadn't gone to change yet.
"I'm gonna grab my swimsuit from my apartment and I'll be right back. Don't leave without me!" I smirked cheekily and moved to walk out of the house.
"We won't James. Just hurry up cause we aren't gonna wait forever." I chuckled lightly at his lighthearted threat and made my way to my new apartment.
Bradley's POV
I shook my head lightly in amusement as he walked out the door. I had almost forgotten how funny the guy could be. There was a problem, however. It wasn't hard to see his infatuation with Buttercup and she really can't handle a love triangle at the moment.
With a deep breath, I cleared my mind of the accumulating war and walked to the guest room with Kitty.
"Hey babe." I casually strolled in and she squealed in surprise since she was in the middle of changing.
"Bradley I wasn't finished changing! You scared me!" I chuckled and moved closer to kiss her despite her half dressed condition.
"It's not like I haven't seen everything already, we've been together for years." She blushed in what I considered the most adorable way ever and pushed me away half heartedly.
"Bradley stop! I'm trying to get ready." I faked a pout, but backed off and turned around. Considering the way we met, I never pushed her to do anything.
"Okay babe, I gotta get ready myself anyways." I didn't look back to see her reaction and grabbed my swim trunks from the drawer they were in.
"Baby, Don't be mad at me." I turned around with my hands over my eyes.
"Kitty, I'm not mad at you. I respect your privacy, you know that." She pulled my hands from my eyes and kissed me passionately.
"I love you Bradley." I opened my eyes to see she was finished dressing. She had on a lilac halter top that brought out her chest well and black bottoms that made me fall in love all over again. She never really thought so, but she looked great in a bikini. She was usually hesitant to show off her perfect figure considering her past, but I was always overjoyed to see her coming out of her shell.
"I love you too Kitty. You look gorgeous." She flushed adorably and I couldn't just not kiss her. My girlfriend smiled to me and gently touched my chest.
"Finish getting ready, I'll be in the kitchen." I nodded and watched her leave the room in admiration.
Butttercup's POV
I stared blankly at my reflection. I had almost forgotten all the scars I had gained over the last two weeks. They weren't that noticeable, but I would always see them. I could tell anyone exactly where each one came from. The most noticeable were the scars I had across my neck and chest from the lion. My high ponytail put them all on display.
I shook my head and turned my attention to a more positive train of thought. I looked good- no- great in my bikini. I planned on surfing, so I wore a blue green tropical top that looked like a strapless bikini with white fishnet on the top so it looked more like a sport's bra. I had matching bottoms that showed a lot of cheek and had a bow on the back. With a deep breath, I put on a pair of shorts and flip flops before walking to the kitchen.
It wasn't too surprising that everyone had finished before me.
"Where's James?" I was surprised to see that he wasn't in the kitchen with everyone else.
"He should be here soon. He had to go back to his apartment to change." As if on cue, a knock sounded on the door.
"I'll get it." I walked to the door and opened it, smiling at the returning guest. "Hey James. You ready to go?" He nodded and motioned towards his black and red swim trunks.
"I'm always ready! You look great by the way!" laughed and pulled him inside by his hand.
"Thanks you too!" I noticed a faint blush on his cheeks, but I chose not to embarrass him. "Hey guys everyone's here!" The group looked up and smiled that we could finally leave.
"Finally! We can go!" Bubbles stepped forward revealing her blue and white polka dot strapless bikini. The blonde all but skipped to the car and Blossom followed in her solid pink halter bikini.
"Bubbles we need to figure out the car situation!" She stopped and looked around.
"Half in Butch's car and half in Bradley's car! They can pick who rides with them like picking teams in gym." The oldest sister shrugged and looked to the two men.
"Bradley pick first since your name comes first in the alphabet." The man in question looked to his girlfriend with a smile.
"You got shotgun Kitty." A huge smile plastered itself on her face and she walked over to stand with her boyfriend. Everyone turned to Butch and I wasn't really surprised when he picked me to ride with him first.
"You get to ride with me cupcake." I wish it didn't, but the nickname made my stomach flutter and a small smile made its way to my face.
"James." I couldn't really tell why, but I couldn't help but to feel a little disappointed that he wouldn't be in the same car as me. Butch must've noticed my pout because he leaned over to me and gently touched my bare shoulder.
"Hey, what's wrong B?" I flinched and looked up to him.
"Um, nothing's wrong, I just spaced out." He looked reluctant to accept my answer, but he looked back up to pick our other passenger.
"Blossom." Blossom walked over to stand with us and Bubbles stood with Bradley's group.
"Alright, so where can I put my surfboard?" Butch smiled to me.
"Since we split cars I can fit it in the back of my car." I nodded and ran out to the garage dragging my ex by his hand.
"Okay, since I don't have my powers, you get to carry it!" He shook his head and laughed.
"Anything for you Buttercup." I felt my cheeks heat up at the sound of my name. It sounded so natural coming from him. He picked up my board and carefully loaded it into his trunk after pushing the back seats down.
Everyone piled into their respective car and we began our drive to the beach. Almost immediately after pulling off, I rolled down the windows and cranked the radio.
Butch turned to me and we both started loudly singing along to the music, Blossom watching with a raised brow.
"There's something wrong with you two." Blossom chuckled despite her efforts not to. At that, we all started laughing loudly, unable to sing anymore.
It wasn't long before we pulled up to the beach and parked. We all piled out of the two cars and Butch grabbed my surfboard.
"Alright let's go!" We all started walking towards the beach and Butch used his free hand to hold me back a little by my arm.
"So what's today's challenge?" I allowed myself to hang a little farther back from the group.
"I have to swim 100 yards from shore, hopefully nothing too bad happens. Worst comes to worst I get eaten by a shark." He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer. I let him. I couldn't bring myself to remind him we weren't dating.
"I won't let that happen. Just be careful." I raised a brow, but melted slightly at his concerned look. "Please. Just be careful." I took a deep breath and nodded.
"Okay, I'll be careful." He smiled and kissed my temple in the way I loved so much. I tried to hide a smile, but I couldn't. We both walked faster to catch up with the rest of the group.
The second my feet hit the sand, a huge grin split my face. The music was blasting, there were so many volleyball games, the waves were huge and the water was clear.
Without any hesitation I ran to a clear spot to put all of our beach stuff. We all laid out our towels and I immediately ran to a volleyball game.
"Do you guys need an extra player?" I could tell they did since they were looking around, but it would be rude to just join in. They all looked relieved and quickly accepted me into their game.
My group walked over to watch since I guess they didn't know what else to do besides lay out in the sun.
The other team started with the ball and served it. The ball went to the guy beside me and he set it. I took that as a cue and jumped up to spike it. Did I mention that I was the captain of the volleyball team in high school?
The two guys on the other team dropped their jaws in shock. They must've thought I was a rookie. My teammate let me serve the ball first and I hit it hard With my left hand, landing it right inside the boundaries.
They tossed the ball back to our side and I decided to take it a little easy. I gave them a manageable serve that they volleyed back to us. I set the ball to my partner, who hit it back to me, but a little behind me.
To their surprise, I turned and hit it back over the net backwards. They managed to get it back to our side and it barely made it over the net so I had to dive for it. The ball popped up to my partner and he hit it back to the other side. This time, it managed to fall in between the two.
While I tried not to show off too much, my team still managed to win without the other team getting a single point. My friends and sisters cheered for me and my face heated up.
"You guys didn't have to stay here!" I walked off the court after waving goodbye to the three guys.
"Well you looked so good and we couldn't help ourselves." Butch slid his arm around my waist, and once again, I couldn't bring myself to deny him that. My eyes drifted to James and I frowned at the grumpy look on his face.
I quickly looked away and broke out of Butch's grasp to face him.
"I wanna surf now, can you bring my board to the shore?" I smiled innocently to him and he nodded absentmindedly, walking with me towards the water. He handed me my board, but didn't let go when I took hold of it.
"Buttercup, please be careful." I smiled at his genuine concern and pulled him into a hug.
"I'll be fine Butch." After pulling away, I walked into the clear water with my board until it was deep enough to lay on it and paddle out. I kept swimming until I got to the 50 yard mark. I sat on my board and looked for any waves. In the distance I could see a big one building up and started to paddle towards it.
A smirk came on my face and I rode the wave. I looked over to see Butch watching and I decided to put on a little show. I let myself fall back so I was riding the barrel so that he couldn't see me. I stayed there for a while and then came out from the curl so I was back in view. I almost laughed at the horrified look on his face. With a smirk, I performed an aerial, jumping above the crest only to land back on the wave perfectly before surfing back into flat water. I heard a loud applause from Butch and James who had joined Butch. He must've been watching from farther back. I smiled at the praise and rode the next wave back to shore.
"Wow! Buttercup that was awesome!" James complimented me with a huge smile. I could see Butch scowling from the corner of my eye, but chose to ignore it.
"Thanks James!" He nodded and continued to look at me in awe. I felt my cheeks heat up under his stare and I swear I heard Butch growl.
"Well I'm gonna head back out. Maybe I'll go farther this time." There was no maybe about it, I had to go 100 yards. He smiled at me in adoration.
"Alright, break a leg… actually, please don't." I giggled at his attempt to wish me luck and turned my back on the two of them. Once again, I walked my board out to where it got deep and paddles out until I got to the 100 yard mark. I looked a little farther out and gasped at the sight of a little boy floating farther out to sea.
Without even thinking, I paddled further out until I made it to the boy. As I got closer, he was crying for his mom, but was too far out for her to possibly hear.
"Hey, buddy. Need help getting back to shore?" He looked up to me in fear and nodded his head, tear stains covering his cheeks. I smiled and slid off my board so he could sit on it. I took off my ankle band and strapped it around his. "Okay, just start paddling forward and I'll kick from the back. Do you think you can do that?" He turned towards me and nodded, but his eyes widened.
"What happened to your neck? Are you hurt?" I cringed at the thought, but quickly covered it up with a smile as I started to push him back.
"I fought a lion! I got this from where he scratched me." The kid gasped at me in amazement.
"You fought a lion?" I smiled again to him and nodded.
"Yup! And I won! I'm Buttercup by the way, what's your name bud?" He smiled huge.
"I'm Branden. You're awesome!" I couldn't hide the small blush and the smile. It had been a while since someone outside of my group had spoken positively of me.
"Thanks Branden! I just need you to start paddling okay?" He nodded and turned around, moving his hands through the water. We got back to the 100 yard marker. "See bud? Everything's okay." He started to paddle faster now that he could see the shore. I continued to kick forward, but I felt a sharp pain in my leg and was pulled underwater. I allowed half of a scream before I came face to face with a great white.
It had a strong grip on my right leg and I used my left leg and I punched it as hard as I could in the eye. It let go for a second and I had a chance to resurface for air.
"Branden keep pa-" My sentence was cut off when the shark pulled me back down by my other leg. I screamed in pain despite being underwater and felt another bite on my left arm. I looked over to see a slightly smaller shark of the same species. I kicked the one on my leg in the eye and punched the one on my arm in the nose. I resurfaced and called out for help in a loud shriek. I was glad to see Branden had made it back to shallow waters, but was dragged back down again, this time by my shoulder. I could feel the sharp teeth tearing into all my joints and I couldn't hold in the agonized scream. I once again punched the shark in the nose, but before I could get back to the top, the other shark grabbed onto my left leg again. I couldn't see anything at this point since the water was stained red and I was beginning to lose consciousness.
Suddenly I saw a green light and Someone I recognized as Butch dived into the water, shooting his eye beams at the offending creatures. His plan succeeded in scaring the predators off and he flew me above water where I started coughing up all the water I swallowed.
"Buttercup! Don't worry I'm getting you back to shore!" All my senses started to come back, but I could see all my limbs bleeding pretty badly. Bubbles had brought her towel closer to shore so that Butch could lay me down on it.
As soon as he let go of me, I sat up and was face to face with a furious lady. I looked at her in confusion and apparently that earned me a hard slap to the face. Her manicured nails left small scratches and I heard Branden scream at her to stop.
"You little whore! You put my son in danger! I know all about you! You're a sorry excuse for a superhero and this city would've been better off if he just let those sharks eat you!" My eyes widened and I felt a stab to my chest. I was helping him…
"I didn't-" I tried to explain myself, but the woman squeezed one of my shark bites hard, digging her nails into it. I screamed from the pain and agonized tears fell from my eyes.
"Stop! I didn't do anything wrong!" I screeched in desperation and tried to pry her hand off of me.
"Mommy stop! She helped me!" The woman froze and released my now heavily bleeding arm and stared at my condition in horror. She turned to her son for clarification.
"What? What do you mean she helped you?" Butch ran back over to me with a first aid kit.
"I drifted past the 100 yard marker and she swam out and put me on her surfboard to help get me back here." The woman didn't respond, but I wasn't paying any attention to her. I looked to Butch and flinched away when he pulled out the alcohol.
"No! I don't need that! I was just in saltwater!" He gently touched my cheek and made me look in his eyes.
"Buttercup, it's gonna hurt a lot more if you let it get infected. You can hold my hand as hard as you need to, but I need to do this." I clenched my jaw and gripped at his hand, burying my face into his shoulder.
As soon as the cleaning agent hit my arm, I felt the burning sensation and screamed as it felt like I was getting bitten all over again. By the time he got to my shoulder I was full out sobbing from how much it hurt. He stopped for a moment and stroked my hair.
"Hey it's okay, James is wrapping them right now, half of it's over." He pressed a comforting kiss to my temple and continued to run his hands through my soaked ponytail.
"Hey I finished with the bandages on her arms. Is she good to take care of her legs?" I could hear James's concerned voice and buried my face further into Butch's shoulder, shaking my head no.
"Hey, Hey B. It's okay. We have to do it okay. After this it's over okay. Can you do that?" I took a shaky breath and nodded. "She's good." I squeezed Butch's hand tightly and screamed a scream that transformed into pained sobs. My legs hurt even more than my arms and shoulder.
"Shhh. Hey it's almost over." He kissed my temple again as he doused my left leg in alcohol. That one earned a gut wrenching shriek as that was the worst one. He immediately pulled me closer into him and let me cry into him as James finisher bandaging everything.
"What's going on over here?" I heard Bradley shout over the large crowd and everyone stepped aside to let our group through.
"Oh my god! Buttercup!" Kitty shrieked and ran over, kneeling beside me along with my sisters.
"Buttercup, what happened?" Bubbles whimpered with tears in her eyes.
"We need to get you home. Butch, I'll grab her surfboard and you can bring her back to the car." I heard Blossom taking charge. Butch gently lifted me and as we walked back to the car I could hear Bradley drilling James for answers on what happened.
It wasn't long until I felt myself being laid across his back seats carefully.
"Blossom, sit back here with her and make sure she doesn't fall off or anything. Make sure she's feeling okay." She didn't say anything, but I assumed she nodded because the next thing I saw was her kneeling on the floor beside me. My older sister wiped the tears from my face and brushed away the wet hair that was sticking to my cheeks.
"Hey sis. You really have a knack for getting yourself hurt, don't you?" I met her caring eyes and allowed a weak smile.
"Maybe I do." My voice was raspy from all the screaming I had done earlier. My small smile quickly changed to a frown, however, as I remembered what Branden's mother had said to me. "Blossom? Am I a whore?" It came out weaker than I wanted it to and I could see her eyes widen from the corner of my eyes.
"Buttercup? Did someone call you that?" I took a shaky breath before responding.
"That's not important. Can you just answer the question?" She grabbed my jaw lightly and moved it so I was looking her in the eyes.
"No. You aren't a whore Buttercup. Don't let anyone tell you that you are one." I nodded with a sad smile.
"Okay, Thanks Bloss." She nodded and carried me inside when we got back to the house, leaving Butch to put away my surfboard.
"Look, I'm really too scared to give you chemical X again after yesterday, so get some rest. Tell me how you feel tomorrow morning and if you don't feel any better, we can bring you back to the hospital." I nodded in understanding and closed my eyes to go to sleep.
Professor's POV
I looked at the screen in horror as the water was dyed a deep red and my daughter couldn't get away.
"If I could control everything, I wouldn't have had the kid out there at all. Now she looks like a hero for getting mauled. I must say though, I do like the kid's mother. Not only did she neglect her kid, but she also blamed your daughter for him being so far out." HIM skipped to the part where the woman slapped Buttercup and squeezed hard at one of her shark bites. What really got me though was what the woman called her right after she finished saving her son.
Were the people of Townsville really so quick to turn against someone who had saved them so many times? I sighed in relief, however, at the fact that my little girl was alive and had completed her challenge.
AN: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter :))