Chapter 5: Cold Crime Ruff
The next day, the girls and the professor decide to take Bubbles to the mall to do some shopping. Of course, the professor advice for bubbles to be in a wheelchair, until she can do better with her feet. As the walks around the mall, Bubbles looks around to see how much it changed for the past eight years.
The four are inside a clothing store to pick up some nice clothes for Bubbles. Of course, Blossom makes her that Buttercup get some clothes that Bubbles actually likes or at least something that fits her personality. Bubbles has try many clothes, but some of them are either too big, small, too bright, too dark, and too strange.
Finally, they find the perfect outfit for Bubbles. Bubbles is wearing a blue shirt with black stripes on it, dark blue tights goes up to the knees, white socks, and black and white shoes. Her hair is still on her regular pigtails, but has a harclip of a white rabbit face on it.
Bubbles cheeks blushes as she asks, "What do you think?"
"I think you look nice," Blossom says.
"You look great honey," The professor comments with a smile.
"Works for me," Buttercup replies.
"Thanks," Bubbles says.
Then the professor asks, "So girls, what you want to do now?"
"How about we got to the arcade and play some games?" Buttercup suggests.
Just then, Bubbles stomach begins to growl.
Blossom giggles, "And I think we should get something to eat."
"Yeah," Bubbles shyly replies.
Sometime later, the girls and the professor reach the arcade. Buttercup is already playing video games there. Blossom and the professor are having their lunch with Bubbles. However, Bubbles is slowly eating her french fries. Her mind if is going off somewhere else.
When she hears someone calls out, "Professor! Blossom!"
The professor and the two girls look to see who is calling them. The professor and Blossom recognize her to be Zoey King, but… she looks different. Her hair is about shoulder length, and her hair style has changed, wearing sunglasses, and a black jacket.
"Hi Zoey, how have you been?" The professor asks.
"Doing fine. I just thought I go to the mall to do some shopping, and getting a new haircut.
"Yeah. It looks nice. I almost didn't recognize you," Blossom says.
Ms. King smiles, and says, "That's what my friends been telling me."
Ms. King turns to see Bubbles slowly eating her friends, and looking a bit tired.
"I'll bet this is Bubbles, your other daughter," Ms. King says with a calm smile.
"Yes she is. She's my little Bubbles. Although, she's not so little anymore," The professor says.
Bubbles looks up, and shyly says, "Hello."
"Hello Bubbles, it's nice to meet you," Ms. King says.
Bubbles shows a small smile, and nods her head in reply. For some reason, she has a strange feel she has seen this woman before.
Just then, Buttercup comes over to the table. Form the look of her face, she can tell something strange is happening right now.
Buttercup reaches the table, and says, "Hey Blossom, something odd is going on."
"What is it?" Blossom asks.
"I don't know. There's someone in one of the 3d box games and they're not coming out. Many people are not sure what to do. You're a better detective than I am so help me out," Buttercup says.
"Alright," Blossom says.
Ms. King says, "I'll go too."
"Who are you?" Buttercup asks, looking at the woman.
Ms. King giggles, "It's me, Zoey King."
"Zoey? You look… different. Like the new hairstyle," Buttercup comments.
"Thanks," Zoey says.
At the 3d box arcade, a group of people surrounds the area. The arcade game is called "The Dead Walks," that is black, white, and gray, and have the walking dead all over it. Luckily, it's not a big group of people, but adults, teens, including children are wondering about the person inside. Blossom, Buttercup, and Ms. King arrive at the arcade game.
Blossom calls out, "Alright everyone, let us through. Let us take a look."
The three reach the front of the game to see the person is inside. Zoey looks at the person and recognize who the person is.
"Coner? Coner, what are you doing there?" Ms. King questions.
But Ms. Chang is not answering.
Ms. King calmly says, "Come on Coner, people are starting."
Ms. King gets a closer look, and notices something is very wrong.
Ms. King questions in shock, "Con-Coner?"
Blossom comes over, and sternly says, "Whatever you do, don't touch him."
Ms. King listens to Blossom and stands back a little away from the arcade system. Blossom and Buttercup look inside the game to check out Mr Chang. But when they look at the face, they can tell he has a shocked look on his face.
Buttercup questions, "What happen to him?"
"I don't know," Blossom answers.
Buttercup touches the body, hoping to shake him. But then, Mr. Chang has fallen to the ground, and still hasn't move a bit. Everyone begins to scream in fright thinking the worst. Ms. King screams as well, and turn their head away. Those who are with children take them away from the frightening scene. Even Blossom and Buttercup are shocked by this.
Buttercup asks, "Blossom… is he… is he dead?"
Blossom goes to the body, and puts her hand on the body's neck. Blossom turns Buttercup and slowly shake her head in reply. Buttercup becomes more stunned to see the answer. Mr. Coner Chang… is dead.
Sometime later, the police has arrive at the scene. They have restricted the area, and many people are acted to stay away from the crime scene until the investigation is done. Crime photographers are taking pictures of the dead body and some officers put caution tapes surrounding the area. A few officers are interviewing the people who have seen the body. The officer, Carmon is talking with Ms. King and the girls.
"So you three were the ones who have found the body?" Carmon asks.
"Yeah. Buttercup noticed the body and came over so I can help check it out," Blossom explains.
"Ms. King recognized the body, and he didn't say anything when she called out to him. When we looked inside, we noticed the stunned look on his face. That's when he realized he's dead," Buttercup adds.
"I see," Carmon says, taking notes in her notebook.
Blossom asks, "Do the police know when the police will be done?"
"They should be done soon. In the meantime, we need to to remain here for questioning. I'm sorry that you had to deal with this when your sister is around," Carmon says.
"Yeah. I don't like it at all," Buttercup says.
"I don't want Bubbles to get involve in this," Blossom replies.
"Yeah. We should have Bubbles here to see this after waking up," Buttercup says.
The professor runs over to the girls in a panic, "Girls! Girls! Help!"
"What is it professor?!" Blossom asks in surprise.
"It's Bubbles! I left to fill up my drink! But when I got back, she wasn't sitting on the wheelchair anymore!" The professor screams in fear.
Buttercup exclaims, "She's gone!"
At a different part of the mall, Bubbles is walking around looking at the store. There are some stores she's familiar with, and there are a lot that are new to her. Bubbles sadly sighs to see how much the place has changed since she's been a coma. Just then, she ends up bumping into someone, and falls to the ground.
Bubbles looks up, and says, "I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean too…"
Bubbles looks up as the person turns his head. The person is around Bubbles age. He has the same color blond hair, but his eyes are a darker blue color. He is wearing a blue long sleeve shirt with orange lace on the collar, the end of the sleeves, and the bottom of the shirt, black pants, and white shows with blue stripes on it.
"That boy… he looks like… but it couldn't be…" Bubbles says in her thoughts in shock.
Bubbles takes a closer look at the boy, and can see the resemblance of one of the young powered villains from childhood. She remembers the young five year boy has the same blonde hair, and dark blue eyes, but he is wearing a dark blue longsleeve shirt witha black stirp on it, black pants, and black and white shoes.
Realizing who he is, Bubbles questions says to herself, "Boomer!"
Bubbles cheeks begin to turn red to see how much Boomer has changed over the years, but still wonders if it's even him or not.
The boy asks, "Bubbles… that you!"
Bubbles quickly gets up, and stammers, "Oh, um, yes, I'm… I'm Bubbles alright! It's nice to meet… I mean see you… I mean… You name wouldn't happen to be Boomer, is it?"
The boy chuckles, and says, "I'm Boomer alright. So the news reports are true, you have woke up from an eight year coma."
"Um, well, yeah," Bubbles answers, looking a bit nervous and her cheeks still blushing.
"So what brings you here?" Boomer asks.
Bubbles giggles, "Nothing much, just um, being with the professor and my sisters. But, I decided to walk around for a little."
"Sounds cool," Boomer says.
Then Bubbles asks, "So, what are you doing?"
"Just hanging out at the mall with my brothers," Boomer answers.
"Okay. Where are they?" Bubbles questions.
"We're right here," Another boy's voice answers.
The two look ahead to see two more boys. The first one has short orange hair in a down ponytail, and red color eyes. He is wearing a white shirt under a red hooded jacket, a cap turns back, black pants, and white shoes with red stripes on it.
The other one has spiky black hair, and dark green eyes that is seen through black sunglasses. He is wearing a green long sleeve with light green lining on the end of the sleeves, and collar, black, pants, and white shoes.
Bubbles gasp in surprise to see the other two boys, and yet she recognize who they are. The red on is Brick, and the green one is Butch.
"Um, hi guys," Bubbles nervously says, and nervously giggles a bit.
"Well, well, it's nice to see you after all these years," Brick says in remarks.
"Yeah," Bubbles answers, looking skeptic.
"So where are your sisters at?" Butch asks.
"They… they're probably back at the arcade," Bubbles nervously answers.
The boys look at Bubbles with grins on their faces.
"So it's just you and yourself around right now," Brick remarks.
Boomer comes over, "Now guys, let's try not to put too much on her. Plus, think on what will happen if her sisters find us with her."
"Zip it Boomer," Brick sternly says to Boomer's face.
"He's right you know. Those girls are always ruining our fun for years, even when Bubbles wasn't around," Butch says with an annoyed look.
Brick comes up to Bubbles, and says, "Well, Since Bubbles is here, maybe we could have a little fun."
"Fun?" Bubbles questions.
"Yeah. Like we had in the good old days," Butch remarks.
Suddenly, the boys begin to circle in front of her, and Bubbles wonders why. Bubbles comes to realize what Butch is talking about. They most likely want to have a fight with her. Bubbles' body is still weak that she is unable to fight. The professor is able to help Bubbles get her powers back, she is still having trouble using them, especially if it gives her body a little pain.
Before Bubbles could say anything, a loud voice shouts, "Hey, leave our sister alone!"
Bubbles and the RowdyRuff Boys turn to see Blossom and Buttercup who are holding stern glares on their faces.
Brick smirks, and says, "Look who decides to show up. The other two PowerPuffs."
"I don't want to hear it Brick! What are you doing with Bubbles?!" Blossom scolds.
"Well, she wondered over here and bumped into Boomer. And we decided to play a little game with her," Butch says.
"Hey! Don't you dare gang up on Bubbles! I'm going to punch your face if you do!" Buttercup angrily shouts.
Blossom runs to Bubbles, "We're not going to let you do anything violent to her! She's been through enough!"
Brick rolls his eyes, "You girls manage to kill the fun out of it yet again. Come on guys, let's get going."
Then Brick begins to walk away.
"Sounds good," Butch says, and walks with Brick.
Boom turns to Bubbles, and says, "See you and your sisters around."
Bubbles cheeks turn red and turns her head away. Boomer smiles and walkway with his brothers. Blossom and Buttercup continue to firmly glare at the boys until they are out of their sight. They turn to Bubbles to see her looking a bit tired, and her cheeks are a little pink.
Blossom asks, "Bubbles are you okay? They didn't try to hurt you."
"I think they might, but either way… I'm alright," Bubbles answers.
"Damn it Bubbles! Why did you ran off like that! We were worried sick about you when you ran off like that! The professor is up to his neck looking for you!" Buttercup shouts in anger.
"Calm down Buttercup," Blossom firmly replies.
Buttercup crosses her arms and mutters.
Blossom turns to Bubbles and asks, "But Buttercup is right. Why you wander off like that? The professor, Buttercup, and I were worried when you disappeared?"
"I'm sorry… I… I just wanted to walk around…" Bubbles answers.
She sadly sighs, and says, "Things have… really changed here, hasn't it."
"I know you're still trying to get used to being in Townsville after eight years, but not everything has changed," Blossom says.
"Yeah. Blossom is still the same egghead and I'm still the super cool awesome self," Buttercup says with pride.
"I am not an egghead," Blossom scolds.
"Egghead," Buttercup whispers to Bubbles.
Bubbles giggles in reply. Glad to see that even thought how golder she has become, Buttercup sit still Buttercup.
"Come on, let's head back to the arcade before the professor has a panic attack," Blossom says.
"Right," Bubbles replies, showing a small smile.
Then the three sisters make their way back to the arcade to see the professor. Unknown to the girls, somebody is watching them from the distance. Especially, the person have their eye on Bubbles. The person is hiding behind on the pillars in the mall spying on Bubbles. The person then leaves the area to continue what plan the person has in mind.