Flash and Blossom venture outside onto Pokey Oaks courtyard, Bell and her group of Barbies wait for them.
"Hey you guys!"
"Yo Bell, what's up?" Flash poses to her once they stop at the bottom of the steps with Blossom by his side.
"We were planning to do something this weekend at the club that had opened up a week ago. I wanted to see if you were willing to go?" She inquires to them when she checks her cell phone.
Flash glances over to his left and speaks, "That sounds like a plan to me. When are you planning to go?"
"Well...it seems as if everyone else is busy on Friday night so we should do this Saturday night. Besides, I need to buy a new outfit for the party anyway." Bell suggests to them before she slides her phone in its holder.
"Sure we will be there." He declares for the couple.
"Good! I already knew that the new hottest couple on campus would be there." She calmly states before she spins around and struts away with her Barbies.
'I can't believe I just sat through that…' Brick stews to himself.
He was slightly surprised at the fact that his presence went unnoticed. He was only a couple of feet away.
Brick cuts his gaze over to Flash, who then peeks up at him. He boastfully hooks his arm around Blossom's shoulders in a display that she was his.
'So childish…I wish Butch would hurry up with whatever he's doing.' Brick mentally regards.
The subject of his thoughts was in the school's parking lot with his current fixation.
"Ah come on Butter, you still didn't answer my question?" Butch whines to Buttercup.
"Butch, are you upset that I choose not to answer your question? You really need to grow up." She retorts while she fishes for her keys in her jean pockets.
"It's obvious isn't it?" He counters as they stand by their respective cars.
Buttercup eventually withdraws her keys, discovers them and confirms, "Alright then…fine I do. So can you leave me alone now?"
Brick rolls his eyes at the two as he treks over to the couple and jaws, "Hey! Can you two stop bickering like an old married couple for once. I'm trying to get home some time soon."
"We aren't a married couple, idiot!" They simultaneously roar, which catch Brick by surprise.
'If they say so?' He concludes. He shakes his head at the pair's synchronization action with each other.
"Hey, where's Boomer?" Brick inquires since he did not find his blonde brother with Butch and Buttercup.
It was then that he realizes that someone else was missing too, 'Oh never mind, I know who he's with…'
4444
"The answer to your question is that...Tia had offered herself to the project." General Malone admits to Serena with a placid expression on his face before he continues, "I repeatedly warned her about the consequences of this momentous life altering decision. Yet, she insisted on completing the procedure."
"So since she was so persisted with her decision, you proceeded with the operation no questions asked." Serena finishes his statement.
He hangs his head low after he listens to her conclusion, "Unfortunately so."
Serena needed time to absorb and dissect the material for a couple of minutes to herself. She then voices, "Sir, I'm honored that you would tell me your personal story. But I must request that I return home so I can take care of my other responsibilities."
General Malone nods his head in agreement before he confirms, "Request granted. I also need to do a few more checkups on my own."
Serena salutes him until she receives the same gesture before she about faces in order to depart from the room.
'So Bell is Tia B. Gardenia from Pokey Oaks High.' She connects the dots to Bell's civilian identity.
The orange head reached for her cell phone, noticed that that she missed a couple of calls, and received some text messages.
While she scrolls through her missed calls, she spots Alma's name and ponders, 'I wonder what he wants?'
Serena clicks back to the home screen and checks the time, 'School should be over with by now.'
4444
The traveling trio were poise in the student parking lot when they detect Flash and Blossom enter their vicinity.
Brick easily senses her zombified aura that surround her while the blonde whispers something to her.
Buttercup sneers at the blonde boy, who accompanies her sister and asks, "Blossom, are you ready to go?"
Before she could maneuver over to the passenger seat, Boomer and Bubbles stroll up to their brother and sister's respective cars.
"Hey," Flash clutches Blossom's wrist, which prevents her movement. He peeks her cheek and says, "I'll call you tonight."
"I think I just threw up in my mouth." Buttercup mumbles to herself as she fakes a hurl motion.
She then rounds her Camaro in order to make her way to the driver's side of her car.
"Me two!" "Me three!" "Me fourth!" "Me fifth!"
"I bid you three adieu until we meet again tomorrow." Butch humors before everyone piles inside of his/her vehicles and left Flash there in the lot.
"Blossom, please tell your lap dog he can leave now?" Buttercup suggests to her, who looks as if she was about to fall asleep on her feet at any moment.
Bubbles leans over to check and see if her sister is awake, "Blossom, are you alright?"
She presses the back of her palm against Blossom's forehead, cheek to cheek and then her neck area.
"She feels hotter than usual Buttercup." Bubbles discloses with a concern expression on her face.
"Blossom? Blossom?" The blonde asks while she shakes her sister's shoulders for a response from her but there was none.
Buttercup witnesses what occurs before she gasses the car in order to arrive at their location faster.
"Bubbles, do you have any clue on why she's acting like this?" She asks her blonde sister.
'Actually...it's because of you.' Bubbles mentally utters but she could not bring herself to tell Buttercup about it. Instead she replies with, "I mean it could've been something when she was in the locker room."
"The Professor would know what to do after he examines her." Buttercup asserts as she flies through the light before it flashes red.
4444
Butch observes Boomer hums to himself in the passenger seat while Brick lies out on the backseat.
"Oh... the seating arrangement has changed, care to explain why?" Butch inquires to his two brothers.
Boomer halts his noise, faces his brother and explains, "Brick wanted to get in the car as soon as possible. I didn't move fast enough for him so he hopped in the backseat."
Butch peers up in his rearview mirror and catches a glimpse of Brick stretch out on the seat.
"Hey are you going to start crying on me?" He revels as he counts down to himself '3…2…1…'
He quickly sits forward and asks, "I have no reason to cry!"
"Are you sure? I mean, if I see the girl that I like with someone else, who only wants her for her body and not her personality, I would knock someone's head off! Or that could just be me?" The raven head divulges his opinion on the situation.
"So you don't think I'm feeling that way right now?! If I could get away with murder, I would do it." Brick declares with seriousness in his tone.
Boomer senses no angry hostility between his two brothers and opts to sustain a neutral position in case there is a turn for the worse.
Before Butch counters his statement with his own response, his cell phone starts to vibrate.
"Hey Boomer, can you hand me my phone? It's jammed between your seat and the shift." Hee instructs his younger brother.
The blonde shoves his hand down the side of the seat and retrieves the cellular device for Butch.
"Here you go…" He says while he hands his brother the phone after he veers off on the side.
'An unknown number?' Butch thinks to himself when he opts to answer the call.
"It has been a long time Butch or should I say 9-5-1." The voice from the receiver addresses him.
"Butch, are you alright?" Boomer questions after he views the expression on his brother's face.
4444
Serena searches her skirt pocket, plucks her personal key for the apartment door and unlocks it.
"I'm home!" She announces incase the boys beat her home.
After a couple of seconds pass, she assumes that the boys were not at home and probably were on their way home from school.
Serena decides to relax since it avoids her for the past three days, especially after she listens to the creation of Bell.
'All that research I did on her before I was assigned to that base…' She ponders while she crashes on the couch as fatigue inches closer and closer.
'But why does the Three Bandits name stick out to me?' Serena considers since she recalls their name from somewhere.
'Did the Three Bandits plot to murder Tia? Was it because they were aware of her pending operation?' She mulls over since it makes no sense.
Serena leans her head in her hands and meditates, 'Butch claims that Buttercup told him that this Prince's character mission was to eliminate anyone who obtains the position as Pokey Oaks High Top. However, General states that it was the military, who administered the poison that was in her cup.'
'So that means the connective links is...Prince! He supposedly killed Tia in hope that Buttercup would defect from the Top position due to mourning the lost of her mentor. Then that would have made his job so much easier in the sense that he would be able to keep Buttercup at his side. On the contrary, it didn't go as he planned so he was forced to alter his plans.'
'There's a possibility that he could have used that as a cover plot or to deliver a secret message that only he and Buttercup would understand.'
Serena peers over at the door when she hears the doorknob jingles before it opens to reveal Butch, Brick and Boomer.
4444
"Professor!" "Professor, where are you?" Bubbles shrieks after she barges in their home while Buttercup carries her sister in her clutches.
The white door simply labeled "Lab" flew open as smoke clouds emit from it's rectangular shape and unveiled the Professor in goggles.
"What is it Bubbles?" He inquires after he overhears his daughter shouts his name.
"There's something wrong with Blossom! She's running a high fever! We brought her to you to see if it was something else worse?" Bubbles babbles on.
He rests both of his hands on her shoulders and verbalizes, "Bubbles, you're going to have to breath. I can't understand you when you are speaking fast."
Buttercup positions her sister on their red living room couch while Bubbles explains to their father what was wrong with Blossom.
He pads over to her and touches her forehead with his hands. He then dashes back in to his laboratory, locates a thermometer and sticks it in Blossom's mouth.
"While it measures her temperature, I heard you all started Sports Fest today. What was the event?" Professor asks as he hope to lighten the mood.
Bubbles stares at her sister for some kind of movement while Buttercup elects herself to answer the question.
"It was exciting! We had a couple of new students who didn't know what was going on, but we had the swimming portion today."
"That sounds like fun. Bubbles, did you enjoy yourself too?" Professor poses to his blonde daughter.
She opts to physically answer the question with a nod of her head instead of a verbal response.
'Always the one to put others before yourself.' He appraises.
Her behavior was a normal response for Bubbles to be reserved whenever one of her sisters' is ill or suffer a injury.
"You know that this week is gong to be a very busy week for us." Buttercup remains her father.
"I do remember that the tournament is right around the corner from now." He confirms since he remembers that these two weeks are important to them.
"I think it's almost time, Professor." Bubbles declares with her focus on Blossom.
The Professor leans over, extracts the thermostat from her mouth, and lifts it to his line of vision.
He squints his eyes to read the small print and render his diagnoses , "Yeah. She's at 115º F. She definitely has to stay home tomorrow."
'What are we going to do without Blossom?' 'I hope she gets well or she will become worse by the end of this week.'
4444
"Butch," Boomer calls to his brother, "Who were you talking to when you pulled over?"
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Author's Note:
07.26.16 Major editing revision