Same As It Never Was

Chapter 8

Bring Them Together

"BLOSSOM, GET DOWN!" Bubbles shouted, quickly grabbing her sister by the shirt into cover.

*RATA-TAT-TAT-ATA-TAT-TAT-ATA-TAT!*

Gunfire immediately erupted in the warehouse, with the robots focusing their fire on Ace, Bubbles and Blossom behind the crate. The robots had miniature mounted chain guns on there arms that rotated at ludicrous speeds, spitting out rounds upon rounds of ammunition per second.

"DIDYA REALLY HAVE TO YELL THERE?" Ace shouted to Blossom, impolitely.

"GOOD JOB STIRRING THE HORNET'S NEST BLOSSOM!" Bubbles yelled. "THIS IS WHY WE DON'T BRING NEWBIES ON STEALTH MISSIONS!"

"WELL IF YOU TWO WOULD'VE JUST SHUT UP FOR A SECOND, I WOULDN'T HAVE TO RAISE MY VOICE TO GET YOUR ATTENTION!" Blossom retaliated. "Even in the future, I have to deal with this crud."

Bubbles exchanged some gunfire with the robots using her desert eagle pistol, and quickly ducked back down into cover. "There's too many of these assholes!" She shouted over the noise.

"Just hold em off, alright!" Ace shouted back, as he popped out of cover for a shot with his shotgun.

"You guys do know I can fly, right?" Blossom reminded them, sarcastically. "I could probably fly the nuclear bomb into orbit and destroy the thing where nobody can get hurt."

"Not a bad idea." Bubbles said. "Only problem is the force field around the city would prevent you from doing so."

"Yeah, that's one of the main issues." Ace began to explain. "Listen, I'm going to make it out back with Bubbles and the weapons stash, while you make a distraction for our getaway. Think you can do that?"

"Sure... but what about Buttercup?" Blossom asked.

"What about the friggin' nuke?" Bubbles demanded, whilst taking some pot-shots at the robots. "Can't you disarm it?"

"We don't have time for her, I'm sorry." Ace answered. "And come on Bubbles, what do you take me for? I've never defused a bomb before, let alone a nuke! There's nothing we can do about that. For now, we need to get back to the car, and we can make our escape!" Ace told them.

"You know what... screw it. Just give me a weapon and I'll do all the dirty work." Bubbles said, harshly.

"We don't have time for your crazy revenge nonsense either. WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Ace shouted at the two of them, while he made a break for the back exit.

"Ah, screw off. I'm going to enjoy this." She leapt into the fray of battle, brandishing two pistols in her hands, while Blossom watched in horror. "COME AND GET ME YA SONS OF BITCHES!"

"Bubbles! Wait!" Blossom stretched an arm out for her.

Bubbles ran straight forward and began shooting two semi-automatic pistols simultaneously at the group of robots, while dodging their oncoming fire at the same time. Two robots stumbled back from the shots hitting them in the torso, which slightly weakened them, but they quickly recovered, continuing to shoot at Bubbles. She dove over a box of crates, and landed in a somersault behind cover next to a tall warehouse rack. At this point she threw away the two smoking pistols, as they were out of ammunition. Bubbles then took a hand grenade out of her coat pocket.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" She pulled the pin off, and chucked it across the room towards the robots' position. The same two robots stood there shooting at her blindly, right up until the explosive reached their feet.

*KABOOM!*

Chunks of scrap metal pieces flew all over within the warehouse.

"Hey! Be careful with those in here!" Blossom called out, covering her head from raining debris.

"Oops. My bad." Bubbles chuckled.

Bubbles reached for the katana on her back, slowly grabbing the edge of the handle.

*KASHING!*

She quickly drew the blade from the holster on her back, gripping it tightly with both hands out in front of her, as bullets kept pounding the opposite side of her cover. "Time to slice and dice." She emitted a wide grin; the katana gleamed with her reflection.

Bubbles dashed out of cover once again into the oncoming fire from the robots. Holding the katana above her head, she jumped straight upwards, high into the air while bullets hazed past her, and landed on a robot right beneath her.

*SLASH!*

The blade instantly cut through the robot's metal frame like tissue paper, severing it in two separate halves. Exposed circuitry and wires caused sparks of electricity to fly out.

"Woah!" Blossom said aloud looking out from her cover position, completely astonished.

A robot to Bubbles' left side turned and focused fire towards her. Bubbles started wildly cartwheeling towards its direction. She leapt right over the sentient machine with an acrobatic front flip, and stabbed it in the abdominal from behind.

"OBJECTIVE: NEUTRALIZE TARGET." A group of more robots facing her opposite direction began advancing towards her.

"Bubbles, look out!" Blossom warned.

With some quick thinking, Bubbles hacked off the incapacitated robot's chain gun arm while the gun barrels were still spinning.

"EAT LEAD, ASSHOLES!" She shouted, aiming the weapon at the robots.

*RATA-TAT-TAT-ATA-TAT-TAT-ATA-TAT!*

Shell casings poured out through the back of the gun plated arm at a rapid rate, and the robots were easily decimated within seconds. Bubbles finally dispatched the final robot, decapitating the head clean off of its body with her trusty sword. Sparks began showering out everywhere within the vicinity from the once living machine, before it fell to the ground in an instant. Blossom's face was full of shock and excitement at the same time. She was ecstatic to witness the incredible feats and maneuvers her sister had just pulled off, all without using super powers.

"Bubbles, that was AMAZING!" Blossom cheered.

"Ah, that was no sweat." Bubbles grinned at her.

"Pathetic." A voice from behind spoke out.

Buttercup glared down at Bubbles, saying absolutely nothing, with a sinister stare. Bubbles turned and looked back up at Buttercup who was simply floating in place with her arms crossed. She had the urge to taunt her, to make her angry, to challenge her.

"What? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!" Bubbles shouted towards her.

Buttercup kept quiet, but she slowly began to hold out her right arm. Within seconds, the shiny metallic robotic limb morphed into a miniature armored chain gun.

"Insolent little parasite." She snarled, and raised her arm towards Bubbles.

Bubbles stood still with her sword held out, narrowing her eyes at Buttercup. Tensions were high between the two, and were just about to escalate, right until Blossom stepped in.

"Buttercup! Stop! What are you doing?" Blossom floated up close to get a good look at her sister, now completely changed. "Oh no. Buttercup, what happened to you? Why are you helping Mojo?" She asked.

Buttercup kept silent, but simply shot Blossom a strange, confused look.

"Don't bother Blossom, she's not going to listen to you." Bubbles said, standing her ground.

"Buttercup, don't you recognize me at all? It's me, Blossom." She said as sincerely as possible.

Buttercup pondered for a moment, staring Blossom in the eyes. After a brief moment, she spoke.

"Why, of course I remember." Buttercup said, ever so gleefully. Blossom's expression instantly lit up.

"You are the one Mojo wants me to capture." She said in a serious tone, morphing her right arm once again into a deadly laser cannon. Blossom's expression then changed to a sour one.

"Told yah." Bubbles gloated.

"BUTTERCUP, WAIT!" Blossom waved her arms.

Buttercup's laser burned bright blue, right as she fired her canon towards Blossom. Blossom easily dodged the attack and the subsequent follow-ups.

"Do not worry, it is only set to stun." Buttercup gave a devious smile.

"Buttercup, PLEASE, STOP!" Blossom pleaded. "I don't want to fight you."

Ace's voice started to broadcast over Bubbles' wrist communicator. "Where the hell are you two? The damn robots are about to surround me! We need to get-" The communicator's feed then faded to static.

"Aww shit, we should probably jet. Yo Blossom, hitch me a ride outta here." Bubbles called out.

Blossom ducked over one more blast nearly missing her bow, and blowing a hole in the wall behind her.

"Gladly!" She quickly flew down and swooped up Bubbles by her hand, flying out of the warehouse through the same hole.

Buttercup grimaced her teeth in anger. She quickly patched into Mojo's HQ through her own wrist communicator.

"COMMAND, GET MORE DESTRUCTO-BOTS OUT HERE NOW TO TRANSPORT THE DEVICE! I AM HUNTING DOWN THE BOUNTY TARGET AND THEIR ACCOMPLICES AS WE SPEAK." With that done, she sped off out of the warehouse after them.

Blossom and Bubbles were flying over head downtown Townsville, beneath the crumbling and deteriorating buildings and over the dirt and asphalt. They needed to get back to the apartment complex as quick as possible.

"I seriously can't believe this. Buttercup... why?" Blossom said aloud to Bubbles, with a little disappointment in her voice.

"You seriously are surprised that she wasn't going to just hug you in open arms?" Bubbles sarcastically chimed in. "She doesn't even know who we are anymore, Blossom. It's like we were never family to her."

"But Bubbles, there has to be something we can do to maybe convince her otherwise. I still doubt that Mojo could have easily brainwashed her just like that after I had gone... missing."

Bubbles sighed. "Listen, I don't blame you for trying to talk to her. I'm just as pissed off and disappointed as you are. After that one time I tried, I never wanted to bother doing it again."

The two were silent for a bit, until Bubbles broke the ice to give directions.

"Make a left around this bend." Bubbles said.

The pair turned the corner around a tall decaying building, only to meet up to the devil they spoke of, right in front of their eyes.

"Going somewhere?" Buttercup harshly questioned.

"Yeah, we're going to kick your ass!" Bubbles blurted out.

"Bubbles, shut it!" Blossom hushed her.

Buttercup brought out her laser cannon once again with the beam fully charged and ready to fire. "You are wanted alive for capture red one, but the blond one's head will be my own personal trophy after I am finished with the both of you."

"I AIN'T YOUR DAMN TROPHY!" Bubbles started to get angry. "WHY I OUGHTA..."

"Well, um, its been nice chatting with yah Buttercup, but, uh, we got to get going, so uh, later!" Blossom immediately took off in the opposite direction.

"HEY, WAIT!" Bubbles shouted through the air while they sped off in the distance.

Buttercup growled fiercely, agitated once again. "FACE ME, YOU COWARDS!" She was right on their trail this time however, and the high-speed pursuit in the skies had begun.

"Oh crud, oh crud, oh crud." Blossom muttered out loud.

"Crud? What are you? Five?" Bubbles joked.

"Yes, I technically am still! I'm also not a potty mouth, unlike someone!" Blossom retaliated.

*ZAP!*

"YOWZA!" Blossom yelped, as she ducked under Buttercup's laser blast. Buttercup's cannon fired multiple blue colored plasma blasts, targeting Blossom's flight path, with Blossom swerving left and right to avoid each shot. Blossom took a peak behind her to get an eye on Buttercup's distance.

"She's gaining fast! We should probably-"

"Blossom, watch out!" Bubbles called to her attention. They had barely avoided colliding with a billboard sign displaying Mojo's face with the words 'OBEY' printed in capital letters at the bottom.

"Woah, that was close!" Blossom said.

*CRASH!*

Meanwhile Buttercup blasted right through the sign. "Apologies, Master, but..." Buttercup's computer retina targeting system had a lock on Blossom. "It will be worth it in the end."

"Just hang in there Bubbles, I think we're almost home fr- AHHHHHHH!" Buttercup's energy blast struck Blossom straight in the back, seizing up her body mid flight and causing her to lose grip of Bubbles.

"Blossom! Blossom! OH SHIT! MAYDAY, MAYDAY, WE'RE GOING DOWN!" Bubbles landed in a somersault on a nearby rooftop, while Blossom had crash landed nearby on the streets below. Bubbles immediately got up and ran to the rooftop edge, spotting Blossom lying in a massive crater hole.

"Blossom are you okay?" She called out to her. Blossom didn't move a muscle.

"Damn, she's out cold." Bubbles said to herself. "Now how the hell am I going to..."

While Bubbles was assessing the situation at hand, she heard the sound of a laser beam charging up in the distance behind her. As Bubbles turned her head around ever so slightly, she noticed Buttercup's laser cannon was glowing once again, but this time, the color was a bright red.

"I calculate the effects of that blast should keep her down for enough time for me to deal with you, parasite." Buttercup motioned her arm.

"Aww shit." Bubbles muttered.

Bubbles took off with lightning speed across the rooftop, with Buttercup trailing her behind in the air. The laser cannon on Buttercup's arm was fully charged and ready to fire. The adjacent rooftop led to a narrow alleyway between two buildings. Bubbles quickly leapt onto the side of one of the buildings, running horizontally across the brick wall.

Buttercup fired a shot from her arm cannon, barely missing Bubbles by a hair. Buttercup then fired multiple shots at her. Bubbles kept wall running and simultaneously dodging each shot. She then jumped over to the opposite wall's building and kept her momentum up in one continuous motion. At the end of the alleyway wall, she jumped down to a small rooftop terrace below, landing into a series of back flips, still avoiding the deadly laser beams from Buttercup. She stopped near the edge of the rooftop once more, and pulled out her sword. Three laser shots at Bubbles by that point were instantly deflected by her outstanding defense technique.

This made Buttercup furious, and she had enough. Retracting her arm cannon, the arm now morphed into a blade of her own. Buttercup thrusted her blade downwards at Bubbles with insane speed. Bubbles knew the attack was coming however, and timed it perfectly. At the very last second, she back flipped off the rooftop terrace right as Buttercup's blade made contact with the edge. Landing on a bigger wide-open building roof below, Bubbles looked up at Buttercup, who was struggling to get herself free. The blade was now stuck in the edge, with Buttercup trying with all her might to get it out.

"The hunter now becomes the prey." Bubbles said aloud.

She took the MP5 sub-machine gun stashed inside her coat, and loaded a grenade shell into the barrel of the attached launcher. Buttercup, still struggling, took notice of Bubbles aiming the gun in her direction. She started tugging harder in desperation to escape.

"Say hello… to this little guy."

*BANG!*

Buttercup could only let out a small gasp before the grenade shell soared through the air, hitting the building with a direct impact.

*KABOOM!*

Clouds of dust and ash instantly kicked up into the air from the explosion, along with debris from the crumbling bricks. Bubbles looked sharply through it all, but couldn't see a sign of Buttercup. After a few brief seconds however… a figure quickly emerged, masked behind the ash clouds. Once the smoke cleared, she was visibly bruised, but definitely not beaten.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" Buttercup spoke down to her.

"Hmph." Bubbles had a small smirk come across her face. "For a second there… yeah, I kind of did."

"Be prepared…" Buttercup retracted the blade from her robotic arm once again. "For the inevitable."

"Are you gonna bark all day little doggy?" Bubbles held out her sword with one hand, the point facing Buttercup. "Or are you gonna bite?"

Buttercup then flew straight after Bubbles.

"Blossom… Blossom, honey wake up."

"Huh… ugh… who… said that?"

Blossom awoke from her unconscious state, rubbing her head, and dusting her shirt off.

"Oh man, not again. I hope I'm still in the same timeline." She said to herself somewhat jokingly, as she woozily got up.

"Your sisters need you, Blossom…" the voice echoed. "Bring them together, once and for all."

"That voice… it sounded like…"

"Bring them together, once and for all."

Blossom gasped, immediately realizing. "Pr-Professor?"

"Bring them together once and for all. Once and for all." The echoing voice began to fade.

"Professor… wait! Don't… *sniff* don't go…" A single tear dripped from her right eye.

"YAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

All of a sudden, Blossom heard a loud battle cry pierce through the air.

"Bubbles!"

Buttercup's blade had pinned Bubbles against the ground in a deadlock. Bubbles grit her teeth, pushing Buttercup back with all her strength, as the two crossed swords. Bubbles then lifted her legs up and propelled Buttercup backwards to get some breathing room. Getting back to her feet, she made a break for a brick wall just ahead. While Buttercup regained herself, she shot at Bubbles with her chain gun arm. Bubbles ran straight vertically up the side of the wall, kicking off at the peak of her climb. She flipped off the wall and grabbed the two mini Uzi sub-machine guns out of her coat, shooting off rounds towards Buttercup as she dove through the air.

*DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU!*

Buttercup retracted her blade yet again, and flew after Bubbles. The two engaged in mid-air combat, with Bubbles spraying entire clips of ammo, and Buttercup slashing the bullets out of the air with precise dexterity and timing. Buttercup gained distance on Bubbles at this point, and was about to strike. Bubbles' attacks were failing to hit their target, so she had to compensate for the aggression from Buttercup, with her hand on the katana's handle…

*CLANG!*

The blades clashed violently in the air, which made Bubbles drop her guns. The force from the attack was too strong for Bubbles to hold back, causing her to fall hard onto the rooftop, losing her sword in the process. She rolled to the edge of the rooftop, almost falling off, before she quickly gripped the ledge with her hand.

"SHIT!" Bubbles shouted.

Buttercup caught up with her in no time, descending down from the air to Bubbles, as she dangled off the ledge.

In that moment, dark clouds had formed in the air above. Thunder roared and lightning cracked the sky, as Buttercup faced Bubbles.

"You should have obeyed my orders." Buttercup told her. "Resistance to the Master is futile."

"I'd never join you…" Bubbles protested. "Your Master is an asshole. He ruined my life. He ruined yours too, BUT YOU'RE JUST TOO BLIND AND IGNORANT TO SEE IT!"

"SILENCE YOUR IMPUDENCE AT ONCE!" Buttercup's tone raised. She slowly raised her metal foot, towering above Bubbles.

"Any last words before I put an end to your miserable life?" For once, Buttercup's voice instilled her with fear.

Bubbles looked up at her from the ledge, and then lowered her head sorrowfully.

"I'm… sorry Professor… I'm sorry Ace… I'm sorry Blossom… my friends… my family… I failed you all."

Just as Buttercup was about to stomp her foot down…

"BUTTERCUP, STOP THIS, NOW!" Blossom zapped Buttercup with her eye beams from behind.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Buttercup yelled in pain.

Bubbles peaked over the edge to witness Blossom holding Buttercup back with her powers.

"BLOSSOM! HELL YES!" She cheered.

Bubbles gradually began lifting herself back up to the roof. "Bout damn time you showed up."

"YOU! HOW DID YOU REVIVE SO QUICKLY?!" Buttercup demanded to know.

"I don't even know exactly how, but Buttercup, this is for your own good!" Blossom exclaimed.

She took in a breath of air and exhaled her ice breath towards Buttercup.

"Two can play at this game." Buttercup's arm morphed into a flamethrower, expelling flame from its chamber, fighting back the ice flurries.

"Are you kidding me! She's got a damn flamethrower in that thing?" Bubbles said, becoming fed up.

Blossom's ice breath was losing the battle between the flames, overwhelming her to retreat back.

"Uh, need some help here, Bubbles!" She called out.

"On it!" Bubbles sprinted towards Buttercup, getting ready to attack. Buttercup anticipated her action however, and turned the flamethrower towards her.

"SHIT! Blossom, disable her mech arm!" Bubbles said, jumping back from the flames.

Blossom charged an electricity bolt with her hands, aimed, and shot it in the direction of Buttercup's arm. Buttercup quickly turned to face Blossom, seeing the bolt approaching her, she had minimal time to react, but managed to change her arm into a missile launcher at the last second, firing a high-speed rocket towards Blossom.

Each of their attacks hit one another within seconds; the electric bolt struck directly inside the cannon's barrel, frying Buttercup's circuitry, and Blossom being hit by the missile, causing her to fall out of the sky.

"My weapon's system!" Buttercup clutched her titanium plated arm cannon, morphing back to its normal form as sparks started to fizz out and it began to short circuit.

"BLOSSOM!" Bubbles screamed out. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" Bubbles tackled Buttercup to the ground. She began laying punches left and right.

"WHAT… IS… THE… MATTER… WITH… YOU!" Bubbles' spitefulness grew with every strike.

"RELEASE ME, VILE DEGENERATE!" Buttercup knocked Bubbles off her with her normal hand, sending her flying back.

"No matter, I will deal with you pests the old-fashioned way." Buttercup flexed her mechanical arm, readying it for battle.

Blossom hastily regained herself and sped over to Buttercup. Punching her in the face and kneeing her in the abdominal. Buttercup fired back with multiple punches and kicks, while Blossom tried to block each and every one. For the most part, she was successful, but the mechanical arm shots were wearing her down. Finally, Buttercup reveled back and got an open hit on Blossom, hitting her in the stomach, then punching her from behind in the back, straight into to a nearby building window.

Bubbles returned full force, with a furry of bicycle kicks rapidly hitting Buttercup in the chest. Finishing with a back flip kick to her chin. Buttercup stumbled back, but regained her stance, fiercely swinging two punches at Bubbles with her metal hand. Both missed their mark, allowing Bubbles to counter her with two jabs to the cheeks and a reverse roundhouse kick to finish off the combo. Bubbles spared no time, immediately going for a high jump kick, but came up short as Buttercup caught her leg mid-air, throwing her into a brick wall with intense power. The hit was enough to dizzy Bubbles into submission. Not able to recover fast enough, Buttercup picked Bubbles up by the shirt with her organic hand, while also making a fist with her mechanical one. Bubbles knew she wouldn't be able to survive a powerful enough hit from that without her powers. She swiftly went for a headbutt, making Buttercup stagger for a brief second, dropping Bubbles from her clutches. Blossom returned to the fight from above, eyeing Bubbles on the ground and a stunned Buttercup down from below. She then came up with a coordinated plan.

"Bubbles, acrobattack alley-oop, quick!" She called out.

"Gotcha!" Bubbles understood, lining herself up. Bubbles cartwheeled two full rotations, until her kick connected with Buttercup, launching her airborne.

Blossom then held back her fist ready for Buttercup to approach…

"Sorry about this, sis…" Blossom said, reluctantly.

*POW!*

Buttercup flew across the rooftop, gliding across the ground until she stopped dead center in front of a building roof wall.

"DAMN, NICE ONE!" Bubbles commended. "I haven't done that move in years. Still got it though."

Blossom didn't smile however, as she joined her on the roof.

Rain started to pour down hard. Buttercup coughed and wheezed, as she laid slumped up against the brick wall. She tried her best to lift her mechanical arm, but was to no avail. Blossom stood in place, while Bubbles salvaged her weapons and equipment off the rooftop ground. As soon as Bubbles finished, she began to sternly walk over to Buttercup.

"Bubbles... wait." Blossom said, holding her knees.

There they were once again. Two loving sisters, now mortal enemies face to face. Their gazes met one another just like before, but all was silent. The only thing around them that was audible were the little droplets of rain hitting the ground, while thunder and lightning streaked in the sky for a few moments.

"So... you finally have bested me." Buttercup spoke up.

Bubbles grimaced her teeth in a deep rage upon hearing this. "IS THIS WHAT YOU THINK THIS IS ALL ABOUT?! ME KICKING YOUR ASS? WELL I FRANKLY NEVER GAVE A SHIT!"

"Because you are weak. You have remorse, sadness, compassion, and other emotions to drag you down!"

Bubbles' anger exceeded like nothing else before. She grabbed her desert eagle out from the holster inside her coat, and pointed it directly towards Buttercup's forehead.

"You betrayed us..."

"Go ahead. Finish me off. Your efforts will still be in vain. The army will avenge my falling."

"Bubbles stop!" Blossom called out. "What are you thinking? Are all your problems solved by waving a gun around in people's faces?"

"This doesn't concern you Blossom. Bubbles looked back to her for a brief second, then back at Buttercup. "This is personal."

"She's your sister! Not one of those wreck less machines." Blossom pleaded to her. "Even though she's not in the right state of mind, we need to take a chance. I was thinking to bring her back to Ace, and see if he can do anything to fix her. Please Bubbles... please..."

The gun wobbled and jittered in all manner of directions as Bubbles' hand shook in hesitation. Her eyes narrowed with a passion for hatred and anger as she glanced at Buttercup's robotic half, but they slowly turned to a sad and concerned look as she glanced at Buttercup's organic half. Then after a moment, she backed down, holstering her gun, as Buttercup slipped into unconsciousness.

"Go... get her out of her." Bubbles said to Blossom. "I'll meet you back at the apartment."

"Are you sure, you'll be okay?" Blossom asked as she picked up Buttercup, holding her in her arms.

Not facing Blossom, staring off into the distance from the edge of the rooftop, Bubbles replied to her. "I'll be fine. Go on... see if he can pull off a miracle."

"Okay." Blossom responded. As she began to float away from the building, she turned back to look at Bubbles. "Be careful Bubbles, that vengeful anger can really mess with you."

Bubbles didn't look back or respond. She simply did a little nod, acknowledging Blossom. Blossom took Buttercup and flew off into the sky, while Bubbles stood there silent, the rain pelting down heavily on her.

END OF CHAPTER 8

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Well...

It's been a long while...

How have you been?

Me, well, life, just gets hectic you know. Shit happens. I hate that I took such a damn long time to finish writing this chapter, but now... I am just happy that I have completed it.

I also just realized, I started writing this thing over 2 years ago... Holy shit.

A lot has changed since then. Me as an individual, my writing obviously, how I express myself in these notes. (I don't even have a consistent format. These are mostly done in the spur of the moment when I finish a chapter).

But I will definitely say a lot was for the better. I've met some amazing new people and friends, grew an entire community on a social media site, got fan art even featured based on my story (On my Deviantart, I'll link it on my profile), and yeah, pretty much just keep on going.

A lot of this chapter is primarily action based. Writing certain action scenes and sequences was not easy, let me tell you that, but I am hoping it turned out well in the end. Visualizing it in my mind was definitely fun for sure. Big influences were from some of these movie series: The Matrix, Robocop, Kickass, Kill Bill, and Terminator.

The end is nigh for the story, and this is just the beginning (of the end, haha). Anyways... let's get right into the recap.

SOME CLARIFICATION:

- Right away at the beginning, the shit hits the fan with an intense shootout between the the robots and Blossom, Bubbles, and Ace. A sense of urgency was needed to establish the carnage that was about to unfold. The little old nuclear bomb just sitting there in the back, while waves of evil robots are just shooting rounds upon rounds of ammunition in your direction. Good times...

- Making Bubbles into the biggest badass I possibly could was an absolute treat. Killing robots with absolute perfect skill and bravery, all without using super powers. She's a savage one...

- The mean green death machine finally makes her appearance to them for the first time. Buttercup's big reveal to them was something I had been hugely anticipating. She and Bubbles had a vendetta for years, and now it was ready to be settled for good this time.

- Blossom is anxious at first to fight her sister. She wants to find the good back in her. She knows it's still there. Bubbles sadly had given up hope at this point.

- Chased around the city, hunted by your sister, and getting hit in the back with a electric shock attack. Just one of those days, huh Blossom?

- Not to mention leaving your super powerless sister to fend her self from the the other one determined on killing her.

- I had envisioned the whole fight scene against these two a while back. The pair are equally just as badass in their own separate ways, so the contrast was great to work with.

- I sometimes like to indulge in the spiritual side of things every once in a while during the story. Mostly like the dream sequence Blossom had in chapter two, and now having Professor speak to her from beyond the grave.

- The last remaining fight scene was difficult at first on how to approach it. I wanted to make it fair and balanced somewhat for each of them, having some hits taken, but also recovering fast enough to continue the action. In that way when you read the section, it pans out more smoothly.

- Bubbles gets crazily mad, pulling out a gun on her own sister. She couldn't see the Buttercup she loved anymore, all she saw was a soulless machine. Thanks to Blossom however, she helped remind her.

- The overall ending with Bubbles in the rain was to provide a little catharsis on how she was feeling.

TRIVIA/REFERENCES

Man, I reference a shit ton of action film pop culture. Probably too much...

- Gladiator quote by Bubbles when she calls out Buttercup with the line "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?"

- "Say hello... to this little guy." This was a play on "Say hello to my little friend" from Scarface.

- Buttercup emerging out of the grenade blast with her and Bubbles re-enacting the famous lines said by Oren and the Bride from Kill Bill Volume 1.

- "Are you gonna bark all day little doggy? Or are you gonna bite?" A line from Reservoir Dogs.

- Blossom hearing the Professor, guiding her with his voice was kind of like the moment from Lion King, where Mufasa talks to Simba.

- The fight scenes with Bubbles and Buttercup in the air where heavily inspired by sequences in The Matrix.

PLAYLIST

I thought I should start adding in this section to my notes, since I have sort of an official soundtrack in my head when I work on certain scenes.

- "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett when Bubbles first faces the robots on her own in the warehouse. Probably the perfect song to accompany her single-handedly murdering robots with style.

- "Paint it Black" by The Rolling Stones when Buttercup pursues Bubbles across the rooftops, leading into the fight between the two.

- "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel, when Bubbles stands by herself in the rain at the end. A good closing song for the chapter in my opinion.

That's all for now, in two more chapters, I plan to wrap up the story. Man, that's just crazy to think about... but I'll be glad to give a proper conclusion.

Take care, everyone.

- GoldMatt 007, Matthew