Bubbles sat on the roof of the school, scanning the arriving students. It was a great vantage point for seeing everyone heading to the entrance, especially when you were looking for someone with the second brightest blonde hair in the city.

After a few seconds, she finally spotted her target and, with a kick, launched herself down.

"Hey Boomie," she said with a bright smile as she landed in front of him. And it was only a little fake.

"B-bubbles," Boomer said as he took a step back. "What are- Uh... hey?"

Bubbles took a step forward. "I haven't been seeing you around much. You didn't even show up for the environmental club."

Boomer shrugged. "Well, I've been busy."

"Busy with what?"

"Eh..." he said noncommittally before trying to step around her, but she stepped in his way.

"That's not an answer," she pressed.

"I noticed," he pressed back before trying to step around her away, only to get blocked again.

"So I was thinking we could go to the park," she said conversationally. "Feeding the ducks always seems to perk you up."

"Not interested." In a blur, Boomer was behind her.

Bubbles stared at the space he had just been standing. Then she felt her temper flare up and turned around. "Hey!" She called.

Boomer didn't stop.

Bubbles grit her teeth. Her counterpart was the only one who never reacted to her anger. And it made her feel silly.

She didn't follow, instead watching as he trudged into the school. Then she looked around and saw that several students had stopped to stare at her.

"What?"

With that, they all rushed to be in the safety of Townsville High School.

Later, at lunch, she sat with her sisters as always. The boys did not. Well, the superpowered ones.

"Boomer didn't want to feed the ducks," she said solemnly.

Everyone at the table stared at her.

"What?" Mitch and Robin asked.

"That's terrible," Blossom said.

"I knew something was up," Buttercup said.

"No, seriously, what?" Robin asked again. She was ignored.

"Maybe he's scared I'll explode his face if I don't like it," Bubbles said conversationally.

"Look," Buttercup said. "I don't know what happened. I just... I don't know."

"You burned half his face off," Bubbles said. "And now his brothers are acting like we're ticking time bombs."

"It has to be more than that," Blossom said. "Butch would never let something as minor as grievous bodily injury stop him from putting Buttercup's face through a wall. In fact, it'd probably motivate him."

"Being friends with you girls is great," Mitch said. "You say the most out of pocket things without hesitation."

"Well it's true," Buttercup said. "I mean the last time I accidentally injured him, that didn't stop him from laughing it off."

"Wait..." Robin said. "Has he accidentally injured you?"

Buttercup huffed in response.

"The lack of injuries is a sore subject," Bubbles explained.

"Yeah," Buttercup said. "Because they're still pulling their punches."

"Well if that thing at the party was meant to get them to stop, I hope you're happy."

"I already said I don't know. You don't have to rub it in."

Bubbles knew that there was no point in blaming Buttercup... but she was going through Boomer withdrawals and wanted to vent.

"Look, you were never really clear on the why you exploded him. Were you angry he was letting you win?"

"No," Buttercup said. "He wasn't even paying attention to the match."

"He wasn't paying attention, but that wasn't why you were mad? Usually you hate when he isn't paying attention to you."

"I mean..." Buttercup mumbled. "He was."

"Wait..." Robin interjected. "He was paying attention to you instead of the match, and you blew him up for it."

Buttercup growled before standing up and marching away.

"That wasn't a no," Mitch observed.

/

Bubbles had anger issues. That much was clear from a young age. When she was pissed, everyone ducked for cover.

Except Boomer.

Theoretically, as her counterpart, he should also have anger issues, but they never seemed to manifest. What he did have was the ability to disregard her rage and even talk her down.

So when he was the source of her anger, she had to resort to her old methods of venting.

With a quick snap and button press, the soldier she was controlling ducked and fired, putting a hole in the demon's head. She adjusted her joystick, sending the soldier down the corridor, switching to a new weapon to unleash a barrage of bullets into the charging monsters.

Bubbles made her character walk backwards as she smiled in victory as she switched to the shotgun. She felt much better now.

Then she noticed that there was another player logged on. B00m Matster.

"Boomer?" She asked. Then she smirked and charged for his location. He would feel her fury.

/

Boomer looked at her the next day with a raised eyebrow.

She looked away from him with a hhmph and all the dignity of a girl who had spent last night repeatedly hunting him down and shooting him in the head.

/

Sorry for the short chapter. And the long hiatus. I haven't been able to do any writing recently. Before the next big plot point, I want to see do some character work.

I did some editing on the last chapters to better match some new ideas I have.

Thanks for reading. Please leave a review and follow me on twitter at WriterImmigrant.