Chapter 12

“What do you mean you had to compensate by leaving the school!?” My dad exclaimed.

We already explained what happened at school.

But I guess they’re just processing.

It took nearly 6 hours to get them all to calm down.

“Buttercup what do you girls plan to do now?” The Professor asks.

“I was planning on doing home school.” I answered.

“What?!” Blossom exclaims shocked.

“Let me guess you thought we would just be lazing around.” I say as I feel my eye twitch.

She looked away guiltily .

“Seriously Blossom?” Bubbles sighs.

“What!? We work so hard we should be able to rest and goof off for a bit.” Blossom pouts.

“Unlike before when we had our secret identities we can’t afford to do something as reckless as that now.” I scold.

“Wait Buttercup.. are you implying that if you still had your secret identity you would have actually considered just dropping out of school?” Ken asks.

“Well I mean I wouldn’t be against it. But I probably still consider home schooling.” I admit.

“Wait why not consider it now?” Blossom asks.

“Because now unlike before everyone is going to be watching us! Think about all those shows you watch! How many of those actors support going through school and not doing drugs?! They do it to boost their image! But also because they don’t have privacy! Imagine the scandal that would happen from any of them saying school sucks. Or that it’s for weenies. How many kids would stop doing school then?” I point out.

“Oh.. when you put it that way then it makes sense why now we have to keep up going to school.” Blossom realizes.

“Hold on Buttercup. Our grades weren’t the best. Unlike heroes in most shows they can get good grades and fight crime all at the same time. So how is that going to affect our image and how the kids behave?” Bubbles asks.

“Well if anyone digs back that far they need a hobby for sure. But also back then we didn’t have powers and we weren’t heroes. We were just kids. So it can actually be used as motivation if we play our cards right.” I answer.

“How so?” She asks.

“Well we can point out that before our accidents where we got our powers we were just normal girls. We had our own interests and everything. Which can show everyone that anyone can be a hero. You don’t need to be really strong or really smart.” I explain.

“Ooh that’s good!” The Professor says.

“That was such a cool line! I would totally die if it was in one of my comics!” Blossom adds.

“Ken do you think you can teach us?” I ask.

“Why me?” Ken asks.

“Because didn’t you say you had all of those degrees and stuff?” I ask.

“Yeah but the Professor has more experience than me wouldn’t he be a better teacher than me?” He asks.

“But in all honesty he’s kinda too much of an old dog to teach a new trick.” I sigh.

“Hey!?” The Professor exclaims.

“Let’s face it what you think is cool or whatever isn’t especially for today’s kids. So it’s best that Ken learn the new and changing social norms by trying to teach the three of us so that he can at least to some level keep his mind open to subtle social cues in relief situations and not an in theory thing.” I explain.

“Ok that’s understandable.” He admits.

“So are you saying this is a joint learning experience?” Ken asks.

“More or less.” I agree.

“Then I’ll accept! I’m always willing to learn new things!” He states.

“Such a nerd…” I groan softly.

We all burst into laughter.

“Careful Buttercup wouldn’t want that taken out of context and ruining your image.” Ken warns jokingly.

“I know, I know. Don’t lecture me.” I say holding my hands up in a placating gesture.

“Then we know what to do now everyone!” The Professor announces.

“But first it’s kinda late so we’ll start first thing in the morning!” I say quickly so that we don’t end up pulling an all nighter on accident.

And yes before you ask you can do that on accident.

It’s just we’ll get caught up in what we were slash are doing and the time would just fly away.

Well this kinda started our next strategy. 

By that I mean that for the next two months the girls and I would do some homeschool assignments and then train.

After my training in hiding I realized I might have went overboard because now I’m like really strong.

Stronger than normal.

Like scary strong.

So scary that the Professor and Ken made special weights that get heavier that should be possible.

Just so that I don’t completely over power the girls.

Yeah it’s that bad.

But good thing is because of me being that strong it kinda forced the girls to improve rapidly.

So I think the pros out ways the scary con.

However the girls end up drenched in sweat after out 20 minutes sessions.

Which I find pretty disappointing.

At least I did until I realized that that’s actually pretty good.

Which quickly resulted in me being pretty impressed.

Mind you this training isn’t even using our powers.

The training w/ our powers wasn’t much different.

However our power training was most disappointing.

And my stance on that didn’t change even doing adjustments.

That’s because I’m comparing all of us against the punks.

When I say their control over their powers were on another level I meant it.

We are no where near strong enough to even think that if we fight the punk that it would be a close fight.

It would be a massacre. 

W/ the punks coming out on top.

I’m being serious there’s no way we could win against them.

I know the punks said I could beat all three of them but I seriously doubt that being true.

I think they only said that to justify the 3 overpowered girls versus one girl they keep sneak attacking.

So now I think that if we were to fight them w/ no powers on either side then I honestly think we could give them a run for their money!

Which would definitely pissed the punks off if they heard that.

But it’s true.

The girls have shocked me in being able to keep up w/ me as long as they have during those 20 minutes sessions.

I can admit to being proud of them.

But when it comes to our powers…

Yikes.

But you know thinking about this got me to realize something.

“Ok everyone! Team Meeting! Right now! It’s important!” I announce suddenly stopping our lesson.

“What do you mean Buttercup?” Blossom asks.

“Calling for a meeting won’t get you out of the test Buttercup.” Ken sighs.

“I’m being serious. I just realized something and it relates to the punks.” I give a brief explanation.

“Oh… YOU HEARD HER!” Bubbles say firmly.

“Ok Buttercup we’re all here.” The Professor says after everyone arrived 15 minutes after I announced the need for a meeting.

“Good. So I think the Punks are watching us.” I state simply.

“WHAT!?” Everyone exclaims.

“So by now they have to had already checked Townsville again to see if I’m here. And given how I’m currently the only thing on the news right now they should have already known I’ve been here for a while.” I start to explain.

“So what you’re saying is they’re watching and waiting to attack?” The Professor asks.

“I believe so.” I say.

“Why?” Ken asks.

“Well they could be confused on how I managed to get here. After all they did destroy the computer in their lab immediately after taking me. Not to mention how I wasn’t even allowed near where they were holding their prisoners. Let alone be able to talk to them to make the new device and portal program thingy.” I start to think out loud.

“Really?” The Mayor asks.

“Not just that. But also they could be thinking of a way to make sure I can’t get away again. Like making a few examples.” I add.

“Don’t say that.” Ken pales.

“Sorry but I have to bring it up. After all we need to be prepared for anything.” I state.

“But that thought is terrifying.” He complains.

“Indeed it is. But when I think about it they’re more likely to hurt anyone and everyone before they feel like they need to hurt me. No matter how mad they get.” I inform.

“Isn’t that a bold assumption from Miss Green Powerpuff Girl?” A feminine voice says startling all of us.

“Gah!?” We all collectively exclaimed.

I turned and found the female reporter that caught my return story.

Aka.

The story I told them that included the punks raping me.

“How did you get in?” I ask.

“The Mayor gave me a special pass that’s exclusive to me. So in short a pass to the lab that can’t be taken away unless I personally do something untrustworthy.” She explains.

“What?!” I roar snapping a glare at the Mayor.

“Wait! I did that to make sure she’d agreed to not post that story when you just got back!” The Mayor says defensively.

“And you didn’t think to tell any of us this!?” I question.

“I… Forgot……” He says lamely.

“Ms. Bellum put a tighter leash on him to stop him from doing this again.” I sigh.

“Noted.” She agrees.

“Hey I’m not a dog!” He protests.

“Hush.” I say sharply.

He sat down and shut up.

I turned to face the reporter again.

“I’m guessing you want a story?” I ask.

“Yes.” She confirms.

“Fine but you have to make sure to do something when you post the story.” I say.

“Which is?” She asks.

“Put in a warning telling everyone not to trust any one that looks like the Powerpuff girls. Unless they have a family member, The Mayor, Ms. Bellum, Ken, the Professor, or Poochi w/ them.” I state.

“Why is that?” She asks.

“The punks don’t like their version of these guys. So the likelihood of them working them even for a minute is unlikely. And if they do somehow manage to swallow their pride to so expect them to be severely beaten or bruised. Thus it’d be easy to spot an imposter.” I explain.

“I see.” She says.

“Deal?” I ask.

“Deal.” She agrees.

“Ok. Now what was your question again?” I ask.

“I asked if what you said wasn’t a bit of a bold if not a conceded assumption.” She asks again.

“Oh. Honestly it feels like it is to me too. But when I look at their behavior from the outside it’s actually not.” I explain.

“Can you go into more detail?” She asks.

“Sure. But just tell me what exactly you want me to elaborate on because I can go into a lot of details.” I agree.

“Just what got you to believe that they would only resort to hurting you as the absolute last resort.” She says.

“Well I’m not exactly good at keeping a close eye on my mouth. For example, they contacted us some time before they took me again. I remembered that they didn’t like being compared to the girls. But I did so.” I start.

“Who do you mean exactly when you say they?” She asks.

“Berserk and Brat. The Punks that look like Blossom and Bubbles.” I explain.

“I see. Why do they not like it?” She asks

“Well the best way for this to make sense is to fully explain why the punks are like they.” I sigh.

“Is it really that deep?” She questions.

“It’s not necessarily deep. More so it’s going to be confusing and you’ll end up w/ more questions than answers w/ out that back ground.” I inform.

“I see. Well this has been quite the interesting talk.” She says.

I thought she was going to leave w/ that sentence.

However she just jotted down something on her note pad but stayed put.

“Alright keep going.” She says.

“You’re persistent…” I state.

“What do you expect? I’m a reporter.” She says.

I sighed.

“Well I’m not going to explain why they are how they are w/ out you making a deliberate point to set up a proper press conference.” I explain.

“Ok fair enough.” She acknowledges.

“So more or less to sum it up it’s just that they’re such polar opposites that it causes them to get offended when compared to them.” I simplify.

“Oh, how interesting.” She hums.

“Happy now?” I ask.

“Very.” She says.

“Good.” I sigh.

“Also when are you free?” She asks me.

“Huh?” I ask confused.

“When. Are. You. Free?” She asks again slowly.

“Uh.. This weekend..?” I say hesitantly.

“I’ll pick you up from her at seven.” She says putting her notepad away.

“Huh?” I ask again.

“I’m taking you to dinner this weekend. Saturday good for you?” She states casually.

“What do you mean? Why are you suddenly taking me to dinner? And Saturday is fine.” I state kinda on auto pilot.

“It’s not sudden. It’s how I’m going to avoid a press conference while getting an exclusive scoop.” She says.

“Sneaky.” I say.

“Yes indeed.” She admits.

“Looks like I’m not getting out of this. Don’t pick anywhere fancy.” I say.

“Don’t worry you can wear gym clothes if you want to.” She says.

“Meet you on the battlefield then.” I say jokingly.

The underline meaning not passing by her.

She smirked.

“Indeed. Make sure to strap up your boots.” She says then leaves.

I looked back at everyone and saw multiple shocked faces.

“What..?” I ask.

“EEEE!” 

The girls squealed.

They were so loud I had to flinch and covered my ears.

Ow…

What set these girlies off now?

“Buttercup just got a date!” Bubbles exclaimed.

“Date?” I ask.

“Buttercup don’t tell us you’re so dense you don’t realize that reporter has the hots for you.” Blossom says sounding disappointed.

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

“How can she be so smart and tactful then turn around and be so dense?” Bubbles tsks.

“She’s a reporter! She’ll try to seduce subtly or violently or whatever else it takes to get the hottest story!” I informed.

“Oh Buttercup. You have much to learn about these matters.” Blossom says patting my back.

“Indeed.” Bubbles agree.

Just a FYI.

The reporter was quite young. 

Close to our age actually.

I think she may be an intern or something.

And I guess she was cute.

But she’s a reporter not a peer.

She’s going to try a bleed me dry.

People from the press are just ink vampires.

They’ll bleed you dry then put that blood into ink.

“Don’t worry kiddo if you’re dense than so am I because I thought the same as you.” My dad says.

He patted my back as he glanced at the girls.

“Oh god it’s hereditary.” Bubbles gasps.

“How tragic.” Blossom sighs.

“Oh come on tell us what we’re missing.” My dad encourages.

“A lot apparently.” Bubbles says.

“Enough beating around the bush it’s annoying as hell.” I say.

“Buttercup.” My mom warns.

“Sorry.” I apologize.

“Think about it if she only cared about the hottest story then why didn’t she try and get close to you when you came back?” Blossom asks.

“Because I was currently escaping you girls and I was definitely going to prevent her from keeping anything proving that story aka destroying her notes and the recording.” I explain.

“She couldn’t have known that.” Bubbles argues.

“Yes she could have. Especially when my dad and I would do that to reporters who were eavesdropping on the locker room to get hot stories from the wrestlers in secret.” I state.

“Oh… I didn’t know you did that.” Blossom says.

“Of course we did. Otherwise a reporter could hear that a wrestler is having marital problems and make up hearing him say something like his wife is… mom I need to say it to prove my point. But the reporter can make up hearing the wrestler call his wife a bitch and then publish it. And in a situation like that there’s no true way of proving defamation. That is unless you also have a recording of that incident or something. Which can result in a divorce and other things happening. Don’t forget you two you may fantasize about a life in the spotlight dealing w/ the press. But I actually do deal w/ real life reporters. And I think my approach is better.” I lay out for them.

“Ok when you put it like that…” Blossom relents.

“But come on Buttercup you can’t just assume that all reporters are like that.” Bubbles argues.

“Why can’t I?” I ask.

“Because it’s wrong.” She says firmly.

“No offense but didn’t I say that the boys were going to hurt you eventually and then I turned out to be right. Call me paranoid or untrusting but when you compare things it’s better to be a bit paranoid over getting screwed.” I state.

“Touché…” She says.

“Well she definitely put them in their place…” Dave says.

“You’ll get used to this.” The Professor says.

“Does she do this type of thing a lot?” My dad asks.

“Yes actually. After defeating Him, Buttercup has made it a point to not be caught and thrown for a loop like he did.” Ken explains.

“What do you mean?” My mom asks.

“Well remember when Panda face was to fight him? Him used his powers to force the guy to be more aggressive and cheat. All because Him somehow managed to figure out the girl’s identities.” Ken elaborates.

“What?!” My family exclaimed.

“Wait if he went after her family did he also go after ours?” Blossom’s dad asks.

“Yes.” Ken confirms.

“What?! When was this?!” Blossom’s mom asks.

“I don’t mean to interrupt but is this really the most important topic right now?” I ask.

I wished I had just kept my mouth shut because at that the girls said that even if it’s not a real date it’s best to treat it like to get the reporter to reveal some information to me.

Which was their way of finding an excuse to try and dress me up.

And I immediately ran away.

Pretty soon Saturday came all too fast.

“Hello Ms. Powerpuff.” The reporter greets me.

“Hello Ms. Reporter. Or should I say Ms. Intern?” I ask.

She tensed.

“Ahh so it is Ms. Intern.” I say.

“You didn’t know for sure?” She asks.

“Nope. I went out on a limb.” I admit.

“I see you also didn’t bother to dress up. A stained hoodie and sweatpants w/ holes and patches all over.” She points out.

“Why would I? It’s not a date.” I state.

“But this seems too much.” She says.

“I’m being petty.” I answer.

“Oh?” She asks.

“Indeed. My friends thought this was still going to be a date. Despite what you said.” I explain.

“That’s adorable!” She laughs.

“Is it?” I ask.

“It is. It’s not often such innocent girls are exposed to us reporters.” She says.

“I know.” I state.

“I guess you would being the daughter of the Masked Wonder after all.” She says.

“So where are we going?” I ask.

“Come on. I have a car. Let’s go on a drive first.” She says.

“Fine by me.” I agree.

“Oh? You’re agreeing to get in a stranger’s car?” She asks feigning surprise.

“I’m the green Powerpuff girl. Who’s going to try something in their right mind against me?” I ask.

“Fair enough.” She says.

She led me to a van.

Nothing too big.

But it also wasn’t small.

I went around to the passenger seat as she got in the driver’s.

“So just a drive around town?” I ask.

“Yep.” She nods.

“I’m surprised you didn’t want to walk.” I state.

“Why’s that?” She asks.

“It’s slower. You could also threaten to yell out that I’m Buttercup if I don’t answer your questions.” I explain.

“Oh that’s a pretty good idea!” She laughs.

“Don’t even think about using it on the girls.” I warn.

“Down tiger.” She says.

“So are you sure you don’t have a planned route?” I ask.

“You’re pretty paranoid aren’t you?” She asks in return.

“You answer my question first then I’ll answer yours.” I state.

“Yes I’m sure I don’t have a planned route. I’m just driving.” She says.

“Alright.” I nod.

“Your turn.” She says.

“I might be a bit paranoid. But if you’ve been through what we have you would be too.” I state.

“Then how come those two are so innocent that they still think this was going to be a date?” She asks.

“Because before being heroes we were normal girls. However they didn’t have to deal w/ reporters in their regular lives. So they adapted differently than I did I guess.” I say shrugging my shoulders.

“I see.” She says.

“You won’t get much out of me you know.” I state.

“Indeed.” She confirms.

“Then why invite me and not one of the girls?” I ask.

“You’re cute.” She says.

I did a double take.

“What..?” I ask thinking I misheard.

“You’re cute. You’re very much my type.” She says again.

“Oh…” I say blushing.

“Did I surprise you?” She asks.

“Yes.” I admit.

“You’re reaction is adorable.” She teases w/ a smirk.

“Knock it off. I can tell you’re just trying to get me to blush.” I say.

“And?” She challenges.

“And it’s annoying.” I state.

She snickered.

“Too bad. It’s just too fun to stop.” She says.

“Ugh.” I say as I roll my eyes.

“Feisty I see.” She says.

“You really like seeing me as a feline.” I say.

“Not my fault it seems like your spirit animal seems to be a cat.” She says.

I rolled my eyes again.

“Careful you might make yourself dizzy doing that too often.” She teases.

“Maybe if I’m dizzy you’ll look better.” I take a jab at her.

She laughed.

“Ouch. Such sharp words. Are they retractable instead of your claws?” She says turning my jab around on me somehow.

“Respect for that turn around.” I say.

“Thanks.” She says.

“Don’t get too comfy. I doubt you can get another compliment out of me.” I say.

“Hard to please I see.” She says.

“Bet that’s something you deal w/ a lot.” I say.

“What do you mean by that?” She asks.

“You just seem like that type of person who has a hard time pleasing others.” I say w/ no hesitation.

She suddenly pulled over and stopped almost causing a reck to look at me completely offended.

“Do I look like you? You practically ooze inexperience.” She says trying turn this on me again.

“So far I haven’t gotten any complaints about not pleasing someone. Even when I wasn’t even trying.” I say.

She went to go say something then she realized I just made a joke about my assault.

Which caused her to sit there w/ her mouth opened in shock.

“You waiting for a fly to snack on?” I ask snapping her out of her shock.

“You’re quite the interesting girl.” She says driving again.

“I took you by surprise pretty badly huh?” I say.

I could practically feel myself smirk despite my attempts to not to do so.

“That you did.” She admits.

“How often has that happened to you?” I ask.

“Not very often. My family is a family of reporters. So literally this is basically what I’ve been doing since I was in diapers.” She explains.

“Impressive.” I admit.

“That means a lot coming from you.” She says.

“Good to know.” I state.

We just sat in silence as we drove around for a half an hour.

Our stomachs growled at the same time and that’s when she decided we should finally get something to eat.

I was shocked when we ended up at an apartment complex.

“Where is this?” I ask.

“My home.” She says.

“Woah now this is a bit fast.” I tease.

She just rolled her eyes this time and led me inside.

“Soo how did the date go!?” Bubbles ask as she and Blossom swarm me.

“It wasn’t a date.” I sigh.

“Sorry kiddo I kinda have to agree w/ them now. You were gone for like 6 hours.” My dad says walking in.

I groan. 

Don’t worry about it.

“DATE?!” Three voices roar.

We all snap our heads towards the noise and there were the punks.

Before we could even respond Brute had and I was flung through the portal.

“If any of you come to our turf again you’re dead!” Berserk announces as all three punks zip through the portal.

…

What the fuck just happened?