"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal."
— Camus
An ongoing The Powerpuff Girls fanfic by sbj
published at FanFiction.Net in the beginning of 2009.
The girls have grown up and attend Townsville Highschool as normal teenagers (or at least as normal you can be with a load of badass superpowers and superhero publicity). Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup each have their own cliques and groups of friends and, aside from the various monsters they fight from time to time, have been living a relatively calm and normal teenage lifestyle.
That is, until three very familiar faces shows up again. After several years of absence, the Rowdyruff Boys are back for mysterious reasons and enter Townsville High. Due to the boys being the boys, Principal Keane asks the girls to look after them for a while to make sure they don't have a hidden agenda for coming back to Townsville. The Rowdyruffs claim to have no such plans in mind, but the girls don't buy it; especially not Blossom, who's convinced that the boys have something especially evil planned ahead.
It can be found here. And here. Oh, and here if you're looking for post-2019 chapters.
Do not let the simple and somewhat familiar concept fool you. It was created specifically to prove that a well-written PPG/RRB Highschool Fic could be done. It also has really long chapters, averaging 26k words a chapter; so prepare for a long read.
This fanfiction provides examples of:
- All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Or ex-cheerleaders, in Bubbles' case.
- Almost Kiss: Boomer and Bubbles after the Townsville High End-of-Year Rock Band Concert before one of the bands cut in on their moment.
- Aloof Big Brother: Provided that Brick is the oldest.
- Technically, he's not the older brother, as all three of the Rowdyruff Boys were born at the same time (the same applies to the girls as well), but his "seniority" over Butch and Boomer and his being more mature than both of them make him this in spirit.
- Always Lawful Good: Blossom, sometimes to the point where she's good just on principle. Odds are, this is going to show up heavily when it comes out that Bubbles and Buttercup know that the Boys are still evil, and they didn't tell her.
- Arc Words: Occasionally appears as different phrases in each chapter, especially during Chapter 4.Blossom: The least he could have done was look at me."I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless."
- Beach Episode: Chapter 6, unusual for a beach episode in that it actually advances the plot.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn
- Berserk Button: The author does not appreciate people asking when the next update will be.
- Brick does not appreciate it when things don't go according to plan. If he nearly killed Butch because of a fight in the second chapter, imagine what'll happen when he finds out that his brothers told Bubbles and Buttercup what they've been up to.
- Big Fancy House: Morbuck's estate.
- Birds of a Feather: Considering it's a romance fic, all the couples are pretty much this.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Brick's view of the world. This often brings him at loggerheads with Blossom, whose view is more absolute. Buttercup also shares this view to a slight degree, which allows her to maintain her friendship to Butch, and to a lesser degree, the rest of the boys, despite knowing they work for Evil, Inc.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Two pairs, opposite genders.
- Blood Knight: Buttercup and Butch. Moreso Butch.
- Boarding School: Princess gets sent away to one. Taken her reaction, it might as well be a Boarding School of Horrors.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Princess Morbucks.
- Brought Down to Normal: Butch for two weeks. Brick gives him back his powers eventually.
- Brown Note: Mrs. Morbucks has one in chapter four. "That hard edge wasn't discernible by ear. It was the unsettling feeling that burrowed into his bones at the sound of her deceptively languorous voice, that underlying threat that gripped at him, made itself known via a sense that had nothing to do with perceiving sound."
- Calling Shotgun: Boomer, who calls shotgun when he sees Brick's new coil.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Butch and Boomer tend to get chatty when faced in a dangerous situation, Brick not so much. Exemplified in Chapter 5, when all of them openly talk amongst themselves in front of a bunch of armed men taking students hostage in the gymnasium, including the girls, while taunting them.
- Combat Sadomasochist: Butch likes both inflicting and receiving pain in a fight.
- Cool Big Sis: Penny, who works at JS, Inc. and is close enough to the Rowdyruff Boys to be their confidante.
- Cool Car: The Nikola Motors Coil. A sleek, red sports car that can go 0 to 80 in five seconds, has state-of-the-art automotive engineering, a motor that gets 14,000 rpm and more; with only 100 of the first model being made. It's this incentive that convinces Brick to participate in Mrs. Morbucks' ballroom recital.
- While gushing, Buttercup and the Professor mention that the car is worth more than their house, you know, the house with an expansive underground laboratory.
- It eventually gets destroyed under the foot of a monster, Brick was...displeased. Thankfully, the whole recital thing got Brick brownie points with his boss, so he got a series 2 version as a gift.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Darius, who manages to be more corrupt than the Evil, Inc. he apparently took over. It was his suggestion (not Smith's, the boys' superior) to give the boys a "vacation" in Townsville, which kicks off the story.
- The Coup: It's heavily implied that Brick's 5-year plan involves staging a coup to take over JS, Inc. Reinforced by the fact that Mrs. Morbucks is counting on him to forge a business partnership with PRM. It seems inevitable at this point, seeing as how Darius is the new John Smith.
- Cute Bruiser: The girls of course, though, Boomer may count too.
- Damsel in Distress: Robin has been taken hostage several times, to the point where she's just really annoyed and complains about it, even during a gunfight.Robin: "This is, what, like the fifth time in my entire life? I need to move the hell out of Townsville!"
- Deflector Shields: One that protects the entirety of Townsville from the full brunt of monster attacks, built by Professor Utonium. On occasion however, a particularly strong monster would be able to bypass it.
- Derailing Love Interests: Bubbles and Will, for multiple reasons, such as him forgetting their anniversary, him not going and supporting her during her musical audition, and him constantly bailing on her to hang out with his football friends. she breaks up with him in chapter 4.
- Destructo-Nookie: Both Blossom and Bubbles assume this when they see Brick attempt to buy a mattress after breaking his bed, Brick isn't amused by the assumption.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Boomer to anyone who slights him or Bubbles.
- Double-Meaning Title: Usually the case with the chapter titles, as most are song lyrics that actually end up being relevant.
- Chapter 9 is titled "Monday Broke My Heart".
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Blossom, usually with her dance group. Brick towards his brothers when they get out of line.
- Dumb Muscle: Bubbles' boyfriend, Will, may have been this, considering he had no qualms against trying to pick a fight with Boomer, whom he obviously had no chance against.
- It's worth noting that he also yells at Bubbles for defending him against a football thrown at super speed and on fire. Something that would've easily killed him.
- Either/Or Title: All of the chapters are titled like this.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Mojo Jojo finds cursing very disrespectful.
- Energy Weapons: Boomer has them, the same ones he had from "The Boys Are Back In Town".
- Erotic Eating: Buttercup's known talent was tying cherry stems into knots; which she proves when Butch dared her to tie the cherry stems into knots from the five pound bag of cherries that Butch had on him.
- Everyone Can See It: Kim realizes that Bubbles and Boomer keeps staring at each other during their karaoke appointment with friends. She calls Bubbles out on it later.
- Subverted, since at this point, Bubbles is most emphatically not reciprocating Boomer's affections, which had just manifested that night upon seeing and hearing her sing.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Boomer; he was number one on the hot guys/doable guys list.
- Evil, Inc.: JS, Inc., known for their banking. The boys are employed under their Special Cases unit, which deals in weaponry, espionage, assassinations and more.
- Eye Scream: Buttercup blinds Butch in one eye during their fight using her eyebeams. He recovers.
- Fiery Redhead: Blossom, moreso here than in the original series.
- Fog of Doom: A product of Him, which is attracted to (and attacks) ones with conflicted hearts.
- Friendly Enemy: Butch and Buttercup's friendship to a degree. Buttercup and Bubbles are the only ones who know, and not merely suspect, that the boys are still villains, working for an Evil, Inc., since Butch and Boomer, respectively, told them. Buttercup is able to rationalize their disparate alignments when Butch comments that the people they kill are more evil than they are.
- Not the case as of later chapters, since Butch is falling in love with her, and Buttercup is affectionate towards him only when they're alone.
- Fun with Acronyms: Mrs. Morbucks is more than likely the head executive of PRM, considering her connections, wealth, and influence. It's also no coincidence, seeing as how her full name is Penelope Rousseau-Morbucks.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Princess is still clearly jealous of (and angry at) the Powerpuffs.
- Butch toward Mitch. It's painfully obvious to him that Mitch and Buttercup are still in love, and it only gets worse when he finds out that the two of them more than likely had sex.
- Butch towards Brick. Besides the fact that his brother is the one spending time with Blossom, he's also tired of Brick getting things that he wants, without having to work for it. Even worse when Buttercup kisses Brick on a dare at the end of Chapter 9.
- Groin Attack: Blossom delivers a brutal one to Butch in chapter 3.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Buttercup and Butch, though Butch more often spends some time triggering Buttercup's temper.
- Halloween Episode: One of a sort happens fittingly enough on chapter 13. Notable highlights include Brick getting captured by a group of succubi, Boomer getting brainwashed by a serial kidnapper and her super natural accomplice and Butch
getting attacked by a random assortment of demonic ghost children that trapped him and another guy in a parking garage and all this happens on Halloween in story - Healing Factor: Near-fatal injuries given to the girls or the boys generally heal much faster than for a regular human thanks to the Chemical X. This is also what allows Butch's eye to heal from being blinded by Buttercup's eye beams in a matter of days.
- Hero Insurance: The destruction of city property is offset by higher taxes since they couldn't possibly charge the girls for their years of service defending the city against giant, horrible monsters. Now PERSONAL punishment, however...
- High School AU: and a damn good one.
- Holding Out for a Hero: the citizens of Townsville barely reacts to any monsters that comes and attempts to destroy the city. They usually just wait for the girls to come and save the day and they usually continue on with their lives as if nothing was going on.
- Human Shield: Brick tries to use Bubbles as a shield to keep him from getting attacked by the black fog.
- I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Brick's feeling when he and his brothers are forced to go to high school on vacation.
- It's Not You, It's Me: Blossom's breakup with Kris; which was explained to Brick in chapter 5.
- Lethal Chef: Blossom. The other girls insist that she is not allowed within 15 feet of anyone who is cooking. It proves necessary.
- Letting Her Hair Down: Blossom when Brick takes her dancing in Chapter Nine
- Life of the Party: Boomer, given his fun-loving personality and his bizarre focus on singing Avril Lavigne songs.
- Macho Masochism: More evident in Brick than his brothers believe it or not. Even when he gets deathly ill in Chapter 8, he still tries to go to school and insist he's not sick. Later when he faints in front of everyone, he insists it was a manly faint.
- Meaningful Echo: In the first chapter, Blossom tells her sisters they were better than humans, and thus should be more responsible. In Chapter 3, Brick tells Blossom the exact same thing, in regards on how he could punish his brother any way he wanted.
- Mr. Fanservice: Brick, to a ridiculous degree. None of the girls at the beach (save Blossom) even try to hide their attraction to him once his shirt comes off. Hilarious version of every male's pants-busting crush on Blossom, as it's Buttercup who lusts after him with the most intensity.
- Given that Buttercup and Brick are respectively the counterparts of Butch and Blossom, the former lusting over the latter in particular...
- Mugging the Monster: The criminals who took over the school gymnasium while taking hostages. Yeah, pointing a gun at Brick and threatening him is not the most solid of plans.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Brick delivers one to Butch after the latter, ignoring Brick's orders to not pick a fight with the Powerpuffs or cause any havoc in town, deliberately provokes Buttercup into attacking him. The brutality of Brick's beatdown, and his subsequently removal of Butch's powers (temporarily) to prevent Butch's Healing Factor from fixing his injuries (though there were other considerations involved in Butch having his powers removed) horrifies Blossom. Brick justifies his actions by pointing out that Butch is a borderline psychopath, and violence is the only way to keep him in line at times.
- Non-Idle Rich: Mrs. Morbucks, who constantly travels the world while dealing with renowned corporations, the traveling stops though when she comes back to Townsville to put Princess into a boarding school and clear the Morbucks' reputation.
- Obligatory Swearing: It's not shocking for them to curse casually (especially Butch), given that they are teenagers, though Blossom has a stern stance against vulgar language. When they get right pissed off however, the expletives get MUCH more pronounced.
- Odd Friendship: Brick and Bubbles thanks to sharing an art class, to the point that her and her classmates aren't as intimidated by him, it also means she has the most patience when it comes to Brick's problems with his interactions with Blossom.
- Official Couple: Boomer and Bubbles.
- Omniglot: Bubbles, who speaks no less than 4 different languages: English, Spanish, French, and Japanese. She's even been called "Little Miss Rosetta Stone" by her friends.
- Mrs. Morbucks even moreso with the addition of Chinese.
- One of the Boys: Buttercup was this, but after her and Mitch's break-up she slowly drifts apart from them and Butch seemingly takes her place, much to her chagrin.
- However, she seems to be this again after she and Butch get on more friendly terms with each other.
- Painted-On Pants: Bubbles' outfit at Princess' party. Brick was happy to lampshade it.
- Parlor Games: A game of Truth or Dare takes place at Robin's party.
- Person of Mass Destruction: In their fight in Chapter 2, Buttercup and Butch damaged fifteen city blocks, a large public parking structure, all the windows of an office building, a water main, as well as a big part of the school.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Brick's eyes are red to begin with, but become even more so when he's angry, probably prepared to fire lasers.
- Relationship Upgrade: Boomer and Bubbles as of chapter 7, when she kisses him.
- Rejection Affection: Boomer is rejected by Bubbles multiple times, but continues to pursue a relationship with her despite the fact that she was dating Will.
- Right Man in the Wrong Place: Brick, who had just finished his finals early, decided to go see what the commotion was in the gym. He stumbles into a hostage situation and steps up and helps his brothers and the girls take down 27 bad guys.
- Running Gag: Butch drooling over Blossom's shapely legs, Boomer singing Avril Lavigne songs, Blossom admonishing foul language.
- School Idol: All three girls, at least from the guys' point of view. They regard them as "The Untouchables" because they're out of everyone's league in their own ways.
- Seasonal Baggage: More Than Human has chapters that has taken place during Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.
- Serenade Your Lover: Boomer does this to Bubbles with Rihanna's "Umbrella" in front of the school's main entrance.
- Boomer serenades Bubbles once again with Avril Lavigne's "Hot" during Townsville High End-of-Year Rock Band Concert with the band, The Galaxy Girls.
- Boomer once again serenades Bubbles with "Such Great Heights" at their school's open mike night.
- Shipper on Deck: Butch playfully ships Utonium/Bellum mainly through their interactions and his own twisted humor.
- Bubbles has her fun trying to get Blossom and Brick together. She also tries to steer him back on the right direction after he prevented the relationship from forming himself.
- Shirtless Scene: Brick at the beach; when Boomer and Butch accidentally tears his shirt off and Buttercup purposely incinerates it.
- Boomer notes that he was shirtless as well; but the girls were more focused on a shirtless Brick.
- Shoot the Hostage: During the hostage situation in the gym during AP testing, one of the bad guys aims his gun at Kris and threatens to blow his head off.
- Shout-Out: The bigwig Brick is so keen to impress in chapter 3 is named after one of the writers and storyboarders for the source material.
- The title of the fic itself is a reference to a Theodore Sturgeon novel of the same name. Incidentally, one of his famous quotes is also the headliner for the author's livejournal page.
- Sick Episode: In Chapter 8, the Rowdyruffs all contract the Amoeba Boy virus, which left them bedridden for a day. Brick took much longer to recover because he tried to ignore it.
- Slipping a Mickey: Butch does this to Mrs. Andrews multiple times by slipping sleeping pills into her drink during detention.
- Brick does this to the Townsville Prison guard by slipping a pill into his drink.
- Spear Counterpart: The Rowdyruff Boys, of course.
- Supreme Chef: Buttercup, who was forced to cook a three course dinner five days a week after her fight with Butch that resulted in heaping amounts of collateral damage. Nevertheless, she's extremely good at cooking.
- Contrasting with Blossom, whose cookies once left the Professor curled in a fetal position after consumption.
- Team Mom: Blossom.
- Teen Genius: Evidentally Brick, as he gets removed from his regular classes and placed into AP classes.
- That Didn't Happen: Brick suggests to Blossom that they should pretend their kiss never happened and to go back "to the way things were before Saturday"
- Buttercup tells this to Butch regarding crying in relief over his near-death experience.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Bubbles gives one to Boomer in order to drive away the fog possessing her.
- The Smart Guy: Blossom and Brick, obviously.
- The Stoic: Brick, until something doesn't go how he wants it to.
- Title Drop: Buttercup does it while talking to Butch."I get it. All that shit you said yesterday, about fighting, and the pain, and spilling blood, the rush, the god-like superiority over everything when you're winning and the push to be... to be something more than human when you're beat to shit and your body's feeling weaker than one..." She wet her lips, pressed them together, and took a deep breath before nodding. "Yeah. I get that."'
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Buttercup and Bubbles.
- Tyke Bomb: Brick, Butch, and Boomer respectively as they were created and trained from childhood to kill.
- Unrequited Love: Butch is slowly but surely falling in love with Buttercup; given her reactions in chapters 6 and 9, she's on the fence about the possibility, bordering on horrified that he's interested in her. It doesn't help that she kissed Brick at the end of chapter 9 on a dare, either.
- Villain by Default: Blossom's view on the boys, even when they haven't done anything worth noting. This opinion sort of changes after the hostage incident though, which leaves her incredibly conflicted.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 2. Buttercup and Butch, out of all people, are the first of either group to actually become good friends. However, this isn't to say that the insults stop for a second.
- We Used to Be Friends: Buttercup used to be close friends with Mike, Floyd, Lloyd, Harry, and Mitch before her breakup with Mitch. thanks to Butch, she is on good terms with most of them again.
- What the Hell, Anti-Villain?: Blossom and Buttercup react violently when Brick forced Bubbles into taking an attack from the black fog. They calm down a little when he attempted to justify his reasoning. Boomer's reaction to it was more discreet.
- Will They or Won't They?: Brick and Blossom.
- Win Your Freedom: The reason the Rowdyruffs were no longer under Him was because Brick won their freedom by answering HIM's riddle, one so complex and involved that it had actually taken him weeks to get through it.
