Morbucks was not in the least bit happy, discovering her 'victim's absence from her cage. Her shrieking vocals rattled the lair walls and within an instant, the blaring alarm filled the place and security marched through the corridors, hoping to find her.

The clever Robin had climbed as high as she could go. Still taking pride in her hero persona of "Gatto-di-strada", she waltzed along the piping, in the shadows, looking down at the miserable brat who was now alone in the control room.

Deja vu set in fairly quickly, as the powerpuff could feel the breeze of night snake in her hair and chill her skin, setting her eyes on the ghostly image of her former teacher: her master.

"Grasshopper, you must still your mind. You must focus" he said, his voice a firm, warm reassurance.

"I'm trying master, but I'm trapped! I haven't a clue where Robin could be or who's taken her!" Buttercup explained exasperatedly.

The overwhelming presence of the monk somehow put her at ease. Like, she felt she was back at the temple with him again, surrounded by stretches of darkness and bobbing, infinite tongues of flame. A familiar scent, like sandalwood incense, invaded her brain and her tensed fists relaxed.

"There is a saying by Sun Tzu: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. You know who has taken Robin, Grasshopper. You know how to find her"

"I do?"

"Calm, Grasshopper. Calm..."

The tomboy sighed and sat herself on a rock. Crossing her legs, she started to enter a meditative state. Master had taught her the technique of focusing on the ladder: envisaging herself climbing down, making progress with each exhale and pausing on the frame with every inhale. Nature had pardoned her and provided the babe with silence. Focusing...

The traps were there to... what else? Capture her. But, amidst that, the efforts of the foe had failed. Or had it? Maybe the kidnapper was purposely trying to dismantle her mental stability. Make her panic. Maybe that was the real goal. Any villain in Townsville would know she couldn't fall for any of these traps, unless she were properly exhausted and tricked into it. They were expecting her and her mindset. She was determined. A demand for urgency. She was short tempered, aggressive and liked to punch first, ask questions later.

Who would have such resentment towards Robin and her? What had Robin done to...?...

"Princess?" muttered Buttercup, her eyes still closed.

A pulsation was sent through her. A throbbing in her ears. She detected a faint sound, underground. It was like an alarm.

Exiting her transcendental meditation, she looked to her teacher. "What's the deal with her anyway? What does she want from us? Is she never happy?"

"She never will be" answered the monk simply. "Morbucks is a person who forever will chase numbers that lead out into infinity. Such an unrecognized and unobtainable goal will not reap any fortunes for her in the future. She is a lost soul".

"Hmph. Well, I don't care about her. I just want Robin to be safe"

"Hi-yah!"

Robin rose her foot up sharply, kicking the gingerling across the face. She had been found. Princess, amused by the efforts, had flown up to watch over the brave maiden. She fought back however, not holding any punches and the chocolate haired kid flew back with the force, almost wiped off the thick platform of one of the pipes. She screamed, hanging on for dear life, as the freckle faced bully taunted her.

"Ha ha ha! You think you get out that easily? My daddy helped invest in this lair so one day, I can be just like him and have control over the inferior specimens in society. It's the way of the world, dork! I don't think you'll ever understand at this rate"

Robin glared over at her, a black-eye forming "I know one day, you'll be crying out for help and all the powerpuffs and everyone else will do is happily sit by and watch you get what you deserve"

An assertive beep sounded from the monitors and Princess sighed. "Rain check, pipsqueak"

With that, she plucked the girl from the pipes and flew back down to lock her back up in the cage. She dismissed the previous alarm set for her guards and went to the monitors to see... nothing. Her jaw dropped and apparently, her highly priced guns, lasers and traps were malfunctioning, destroying themselves or triggering one another.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" she roared, pulling her pigtails.

Numerous traps had gone off, or were triggered to influence another. It had all turned into a board game of Mouse Trap, only the mouse was nowhere to be seen. The forest floor ruffled it's leaves and snaps, clicks and clangs shot from all around. It was all a confusing mesh of noises in the dark. Animals ran for safety from Princess's failed system and the guns and lasers exploded, burned out and even melted. It was all chaos and then, silence. Near to a pit seen earlier, a ripple in the air could be seen and image blurred, faded into focus. Buttercup had turned herself invisible and triggered the traps with rocks and her eye beams. Looking down the pit, she let out a slow breath of air and allowed herself to fall into the blackness. The noises, the pulsations she had felt were confirmed and they pounded in her head even firmer. If she was right, this trap would lead her right to the core of the lair. Maybe in a containment of some sort. She didn't know.

Robin bounced for joy, watching Morbucks lose her mind over the monitors.

"Oh my gosh! I didn't think she'd actually go down there! That was a goof! A goof!" cried Princess, dashing around in panic. "Everyone position yourselves at the entrances and exits. The pit leads to a disposal area located in the lair. Second floor! Second floor!"

Astonishingly enough, the green hued puff was escorted to Princess with no signs of struggle whatsoever. It was as if she had surrendered. Her head was bowed and the tall men nudged and pushed her towards Morbucks. Robin watched in horror, her stomach sinking.

The brat blinked at the spectacle "Nuh-uh. I don't buy this for a second. What is this?" prattled Morbucks, walking over to her.

"I wanna negotiate"

"Negotiate my ass! Are you Blossom? Blossom, you loser, is that you dressed up as gorilla of a sister?"

"I'm Buttercup" sighed the tomboy.

"I don't get it. Why did you just let my guards capture you?"

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yeah! But, I didn't actually expect them to do it!" she exclaimed, making the guards exchange worried looks. "This is a trick, right?"

"No, Princess moneybags, I wanna make a peaceful route out of this. For Robin". The sincere dedication in her tone made the sweet, captured kid blush in her cage.

"Well, interesting how you should say that. Your precious Robin was actually making a pretty good job on escaping. She says she doesn't need you and that you're probably better off without her"

Morbucks frowned, seeing how her attempts to get to Buttercup didn't leave so much as a glare or a twitching eye. Just pure silence. The brat wasn't sure what to make of it. "I SAID-"

"I heard what you said. If she did say that, then good for her, seeing she can handle things on her own, but I'd still like to leave an impression on you regardless"

"That sounds like a threat" smiled Princess.

"Maybe it is"

"Well, I dunno. Let's ask Rob-" the brat began, only to find the cage was, once again, empty. "Oh, that's right. She escaped from there last time. WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO PUT THE LOSER IN A GIANT HAMSTER CAGE?!"

"Yours" responded a guard quietly.

"SHUT IT! You guys beat the stuffing out of this twerp, while I find her girlfriend and-" she growled, until she was interrupted by a pair of sneakers to her face.

Robin had taken the Gatto-di-strada approach and swung in on the confrontation on a rope. The more Buttercup saw this cute super hero persona of Robin's, the more she liked it. A girl literally after her own heart: first liking dodge ball, then learning to talk smack to the face of the worst kid in their class and now she was stealing her job and kicking the butt of the bad guys. The tomboy blushed, giving a goofy smile, her heart pumping wildly. Having wanted to take the peaceful route for Robin's sake, she shrugged.

Her day dreaming came to a halt and both she and Robin took matters into their own hands. Grinning deviously, the two took on the approaching guards, summoned by the brat who was still recovering from the kick. The young villainess watched in surprise as the two appeared to take out her security without a problem at all. Buttercup even held a guard still for Robin to take a go at treating his face like a speed bag at a gym.

"Ugh, you people are useless!" yelled the spoiled tyke. "You're all fired!"

In that instance, when every one of the guards had fallen flat on the floor, Robin was snatched away from the powerpuff and Princess Morbucks took off out of the building, out of the lair and high above the lake. A strange blinking occurred, in the space she occupied, and Princess couldn't comprehend what had just happened, especially when Robin was no longer in her grasp.

"W-WHAT! What the hell?"

Far below, she heard a collision, and watched vast amounts of earth caving in on what was her lair, essentially burying it underground and a streak of green shot away and far off into the distance. Morbucks blubbered stupidly, unable to understand what had just happened.

"What the flying frack-a-doodle is going on?!" screamed the bewildered brat.

Mystify, mislead and surprise the enemy - Sun Tzu

Mrs Snyder opened the door to her daughter's room and saw that she was tucked in and fast asleep, her back to her. Smiling, the woman closed the door softly and walked to her own room, shutting off the lights.

Ginger meowed happily, seeing her owner had been safely returned home, despite sporting a black eye. The girl sat up, cuddling the friendly feline and Buttercup emerged from her hiding spot under the bed. "Thanks for saving me, Buttercup" the young girl whispered.

"No problem" the tomboy replied, watching the pussycat fuss over her found human.

Robin blinked, fumbling with words in her head "What happened just now?"

"Huh?"

"Everything just kinda... fast forward. I feel like I missed something. First, Princess had grabbed me and led me out of the lair... and then I'm just... in your arms and you're taking me home"

The little rebel appeared nervous "W-well, uh... I guess I'm just that fast I guess?"

The girl raised a brow, not believing her for a second and Buttercup sighed. "I kinda... did something I'm not supposed to"

"Not supposed to?"

The cat walked over to the powerpuff and rested in her lap.

"It happened shortly before I was escorted into moneybags's lair..."

NOTE: When reading this flash back, I recommend you do listening to this: watch?v=-5qhNRmMilI on Youtube.

The tomboy was dumbfounded. It was all down to a motion hadn't considered before. The monk smiled at the process, hovering beside his confused student, as she gazed around at the world that had apparently frozen before her.

"Grasshopper, this is the power that you were yearning to discover"

"Wha-What? What is this?" said the student in a hushed voice, admiring the fallen leaf suspended and still in the air in front of her.

"The mind encompasses the space of the universe, traversing realms as numerous as all the grains of sand. Your sisters and other earthly beings are slaves to the motions of the clock, whereas you are not" he explained.

"I can... stop time?"

"You can journey into the past and future and bring time to halt at your command, however this can only effect you. Only you can understand and conquer your own mind in a way that effects what's around you"

"Oh? Then... how can you?..." she wondered, turning to look at him. He seemed to glow even more brighter, his outline like rippling smoke.

"I am no longer of this world, Grasshopper. I have passed on into a realm where only you and dedicated students of the practice can find me"

Tears built in the darling's eyes. "What? Master,...no... but..."

The old man reached to stroke her cheek "Do not mourn for me, Grasshopper. I will always be your guide in moments you need me most. One day, I hope you yourself shall pass your teachings on to another"

A phrase occurred to the powerpuff and with a sad smile, wiping away a tear, she said "Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in"

The monk smiled and embraced the girl in a ghostly hug, before he slowly faded, leaving Buttercup alone in the forest.

Ginger purred, as the tomboy sadly pet her. Robin pouted and crawled over to hug her friend, who was still feeling a lump in her throat from knowing the departure of her dear teacher. The Snyder babe stroked the powerpuff's hair, nuzzling and they sat in the dark together.

The kitty crawled from the embrace and went to ball up at the foot of the bed.

"When you said you shouldn't have done that though... why?" pondered the innocent girl.

"I shouldn't mess with the nature of how things are. Master said to only use the ability as a last resort and if I especially need to. Even though you and I were beating those security guard's butts, I wanted to take a peaceful route because I didn't want you to get hurt"

Smiling, the girl pecked the powerpuff's cheek with her lips, leaving the both of them blushing.

"One more thing. I know you said you didn't wanna mess with how things are, could you be able to see what happens to everyone in the future? Like us?"

"I suppose I could, but life wouldn't be much of an adventure if you knew what was going to happen" perked Buttercup.

Giggling, Robin nodded. "I guess not"

The two laughed quietly together.

"Plus" Robin added, her tone a bit more mischievous "I wouldn't be able to get away with doing something like this"

Puzzled at first, Buttercup was then shocked to find Robin's lips on hers, setting both their faces ablaze. Despite her face being beet red, Robin giggled sweetly, seeing her hero stumble back nervously, then off the bed. Clumsy Buttercup was adorable. But, she was right: Life wouldn't be much fun if you knew all along how it was gonna go.

THE END

(I had a couple of ideas for how this should end and one of them was way too dark, so I tried to go for something more light-hearted. I'm sorry I had to add the death of the teacher, but I think it may make Buttercup's learning of her special power all the more interesting, as it inspired by buddhist teachings. Hope you guys enjoyed this and will do another silly short Buttercup/Robin story soon. Bye for now!)