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The Powerpuff Girls was created by Craig McCracken and produced by Cartoon Network ©
The Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi is drawn by Vinzon Ngo a.k.a. “Bleedman” and hosted by Snafu Comics ©
> INHUMANITY
>> Chapter Four – A Hunter’s Salary
>>> Location Unknown
Inside a dark room, an elliptical table was present, along with three figures sitting in three separate chairs. All of them were enveloped in shadows, but the voice of one of them was that of the aforementioned Garai. The first to speak had a deep voice which seemed to echo through the room, carrying an air of royalty with it.
“Garai, is there anything you wish to discuss with us? I assume this is the reason why you are here.”
“You assumed correctly Glum, my subordinates have found the mission objective Dr. Brisbaine has currently given the Rowdyruff Boys.”
There was a hint of impatience in the response. “And?”
“I admit that by itself it doesn’t sound so interesting, but you might reconsider when I show you this.” Garai pulled out a disk. It looked the same as the one Keiko was carrying but it seemed bigger.
“Alright then, show us.”
Garai walked over to an overly large display on the wall facing the three. He slid the disk inside a slot under the display and the screen lit up. At the top corner of the screen, two set of blueprints could be seen outlining two humanoid shapes, while at the bottom corner, a decent amount of information regarding the blueprints was shown.
“Is this it Garai? I can understand your curiosity with matters like these, but I fail to see what’s so interesting about something that would be of no use to us.”
This time, there was a hint of frustration with Garai’s tone of voice. “Watch the rest of the tape, you’ll be... surprised, for a lack of better words.”
On the remaining space on the screen, the battle between the Rowdyruff Boys and a boy with unruly dark brown hair and piercing golden eyes was shown. This by itself was not very interesting, but the fact that this boy seemed to be beating the Rowdyruff by himself was definitely not expected. Garai let a smirk creep across his reptilian face.
“Interesting enough?”
“Well, you have definitely caught our attention Garai. What do you propose?”
“This boy has defeated three Global Defender agents with no prior training that we know of; it was obvious from his handling that he doesn’t have much experience dealing with energy, but the older one might be a different matter. I propose we test their fighting capabilities; we could send-”
“I’ll send Bell.”
All three figures turned to look at the person who was now standing in the doorway. He had a strong muscular build, with orange skin. He appeared to have no mouth but he did have three set of eyes; one set where they should be, one set in his chest, and one set in his torso. His hair consisted of a fiery mane that was truly made up of fire.
Garai and Glum looked at each other blankly as the third shadowed figure just stared at the imposing doctor with curiosity.
“Doctor X, sir, just what do you mean? Didn’t you make it our responsibility to look into all matters involving the male counterparts of the Powerpuff girls so you didn’t have to worry about them?” said Glum.
“Yes, and it still is your responsibility, but Susan’s death has led Bell into a state of depression and frustration which I cannot afford her to be in. She is obviously in no condition to deal with the Powerpuff girls or anything relating to them, so this may be the perfect chance to get her back into her fighting spirits.”
The third shadowed figure stood up to leave. “Where are you going Dagon?”
“I’ve heard what I needed to hear. Unless this new opponent is worth any of my time in the battlefield, don’t call me in for this matter again. Your perfect little girl has already been chosen for this task, so I see no need to continue this conversation.”
Doctor X stared at Dagon’s shaded figure intently but nodded. “Very well Dagon, you may leave. Glum, Garai, this meeting is over; I will prepare Bell and send her out at my convenience.”
“But Doctor X, sir, what about the girl Bell recently fought; Blossom? She‘ll recognize Bell, and this boy seems to be in the same class as her. How exactly will you draw him out?” asked Glum.
If Doctor X had a mouth, he would be smirking right now. “Don’t worry about that, I hired some outside help that should handle that problem. If his reputation is as good as it’s been made out to be, then this task should prove menial for him.”
“How do we know he will succeed?”
“Trust me; he’s not exactly something humans see on a regular basis. Unless that meddlesome phantom prey of his interferes, then he should be fine,” Doctor X then turned to the door. “In the meantime, continue monitoring the boys, if there’s a change in the situation, let me know immediately.”
“Sir!” Both Garai and Glum both bowed; one more grudgingly than the other as the Doctor left the room.
“Soon you will be back in your spirits Bell... it’s time to move on from Susan’s death.”
>>> Class 4-B – Megaville Elementary
‘Oh man, couldn’t I have stayed unconscious until the day ended? I’m still trying to keep myself from dozing off just listening to here…’
Sage continued fighting the urge to sleep, listening to the teacher ramble on and on about the U.S. Constitution, which continued to bore him. He wasn’t a big history buff, but there was only one aspect of the constitution that truly deserved his attention, and it was…
“The Bill of Rights! Today’s work has to do with what you know about the Bill of Rights, so if you were paying attention, you should be able to do this without any trouble. Just take out a piece of paper and write down what you know about the Bill of Rights of the top of your head. I’ll give you all twenty five minutes to complete your work, you may work in groups of you want to, but you each have to hand in your own individual work.”
With that, Miss Meryl began walking around the class looking at the students’ interaction. Sage saw as all the kids huddle into pairs or groups, only a small amount working by themselves. He sighed as he watched all the kids talking to each other… then he grimaced as he looked down at his clothes.
He was no longer wearing his clothing of choice; in fact, if it weren’t for the fact that the girls insisted nonstop, we would still be wearing them, but they were dirty and torn from the fighting. At the moment, he was wearing the only thing available for him to wear; something that he never wanted to have on in the first place; something he never thought he would find himself wearing anytime in his life.
“How’s the uniform treating you kid?”
Sage turned around to face Buttercup, who was pulling up a chair and sitting down next to his desk.
“Fine I guess, and stop calling me kid, we’re the same age. My name’s Sage.”
Buttercup’s tone dripped with sarcasm. “Well aren’t we touchy…”
“I just don’t like being called pet names…”
“What, you got some identity issues or something?”
Sage sighed. “Look, it’s just… oh never mind, I’m being stupid,” It was then that Sage noticed something odd. “Hey, why aren’t you with your sisters?”
Buttercup stared at Sage blankly for a second, but it only lasted that long. “Oh, well Blossom wanted to have Dexter work with us, so I left. Bubbles didn’t mind, but I still have a score to settle with four-eyes.”
“Alright, whatever. So what do you know about the Bill of Rights?”
Buttercup shrugged. “Just the basics, that it’s the ten amendments that protect our freedoms as citizens.”
“Yeah, that’s the general gist of it, although most people take those freedoms for granted. If it wasn’t for the Bill of Rights, we wouldn’t have any rights to stand on; of course people still keep proposing more amendments, but those first ten are written in stone.”
“Are you a history buff or something?”
Sage pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil, along with another piece of paper for Buttercup. “Not really, but I like the Bill of Rights,” He began writing down on his piece of paper, presumably on the assignment. “Sometimes it makes me wonder if a robot citizen is given the same rights as a human citizen or if they’re treated differently.”
“Can robots even be citizens?” Buttercup’s eyes widened at what she just said but it was too late to take it back, as she saw Sage flinch slightly and take a brief pause in his writing at the unintentional insult. Her expression softened and she reached toward Sage’s shoulder with one of her hands. “Listen, I didn’t mean that, it just slipped…”
“No… no you’re right… that’s the kind of stuff I wonder about. If I was arrested, do I have the right to be innocent until proven guilty? Do I have the right to speak freely?”
Buttercup hung her head, listening to Sage’s claims. She considered him a person and she was sure her sisters did as well, but was everything he said true? To anyone else, would he be considered a person, or an object? If he was arrested for something, did the police have any obligation to read him his right if he didn’t have any? Did they even have to bother holding a trial for something considered property? If he could talk like a human, walk like a human, act like a human, think like a human, then didn’t that necessarily make him human?
“Buttercup…” Sage continued, and Buttercup looked up, wondering how pairing for an assignment could take such a grim turn of events. “The Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights guards against searches, arrests, and seizures of property without a specific warrant or a ‘probable cause’ to believe a crime has been committed…”
He paused for a few seconds before letting the next part slip out in a whisper. “If I’m not protected by these rights, then doesn’t Brisbaine have the right to come claim his property? What right to I have to resist if that’s true…?”
It was then that Buttercup did something completely unexpected given the situation.
She punched him in the chest, causing his chair to fall over and his grim expression to turn into one of complete confusion… and some pain.
“Now that’s bullcrap.”
“Huh!”
“I can understand being depressed about something like that, but that’s no reason to act stupid! If you want to give yourself up, then just go ahead and leave now, because that kind of thinking is going to get you killed!”
As the scene transgressed, the students immediately broke into gossiping fits.
“Geez, she’s already picking on the new kid.”
“Maybe they were a couple before she moved and she still hasn’t gotten over it?”
“That’s so romantic!”
“Guys, she’s crushing on Sensei Jack, remember?”
“Oh, right.”
“Leave the romantic gossip to Tootie and Suzie, it doesn’t suit you.”
“Hey!”
“Maybe she thinks he’s a monster?”
“Oh please, Dib thinking the green-skinned kid is an alien gives us enough of that crap.”
“Yeah, just leave stuff involving the imagination to Mac, maybe it’ll make that annoying blue thing of his go away.”
“That doesn’t make any sense; what does that have to do with his imaginary friend?”
“Uh… shut up.”
“Guys, shut up, she’s looking this way.”
“So?”
“Hello? Powerpuff Girl? Super hearing?”
It was at that moment that the gossiping students took notice to the death glare they were receiving from a certain raven-haired girl who happened to be their (initial) topic of conversation. They immediately fell silent and returned to their work.
“Feh, bunch of idiots…”
“Forget them,” said Sage; standing up and picking up his chair as to sit down. “They can believe whatever they want, it’s not like I care.”
The next few minutes were spent in silence, continuing their work. Buttercup and Sage managed to finish the assignment with ten minutes to spare, mainly due to his knowledge and Buttercup’s insistence on helping her out.
Buttercup brought her legs up to the next she was currently sitting in and crossed her arms, a bored look on her face. “So… you ever tried out the Game Slave 2?”
Buttercup turned to look at Sage, but her breath caught in her throat. She was not looking at Sage, but out the window past him. Outside the window, there was a semi-transparent figure floating in mid air. She blinked a few times so make sure this wasn’t her imagination, but to no avail. The figure seemed to be smirking at her, the look of a hunter in his face.
His body had a very unnaturally muscular build, and he wore a sleeveless black t-shirt which was tucked into his black cargo pants. His pants were tucked into thick black boots and were held up by a metallic utility belt with an oddly shaped aquamarine S in the buckle. He wore metallic gloves with many attachments along with a metallic bandolier which had a metallic shoulder pad attached to it on his right shoulder. However, the two things that had Buttercup baffled were the fact that his skin was metallic as well, and that his hair was a fiery mane of neon green flames, along with his goatee.
His face had the shape of a skeleton, and the same neon green could be seen in his eyes as he smirked viciously at Buttercup.
“So you’re one of the Powerpuff girls I’ve heard so much about,” The figure then aimed his arm at the wall that separated him from the classroom and a large blaster emerged from his forearm, charging with a green glow inside the barrel. “This should prove to be a good hunt.”
“EVERYONE DUCK!”
It didn’t take a full second after Buttercup yelled that that the wall she was staring at was blown away by a green blast of unknown origins. Sage and Buttercup were both blown away to the opposite wall with equal expressions of surprise as Blossom, Bubbles and Dexter turned to look at the cause of the disturbance.
The floating figure hovered to the opening in the wall and set foot in the classroom, keeping his eyes on Sage, then turning to look at Buttercup, Blossom and Bubbles. His smirk never left his face.
Sage’s expression turned into one of rage as he prepared to stand up but someone grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down. He turned to find that it was…
“Buttercup?”
“Look, we take care of this. Just go hide with the rest of the students of something; we can take him.”
In a normal situation, he wouldn’t have hesitated to ignore her and fight, but given the fact that he didn’t want to surprise anymore students with his origins, he just agreed. “Fine, just don’t hesitate to kick his butt.”
“Oh, I won’t.”
Before Sage could do anything else, he felt a cold shiver on his shoulder and turned to see what it was. He didn’t see anything, but he felt something cold take hold inside him. His body convulsed a bit, and Buttercup felt it since she was still holding his shoulder. She turned to look at Sage and saw him pull away and start heading out.
“You alright there?”
His expression turned into a smile as he faced her. “Posolutely absitively, I’ll just head out and leave you to do the fighting.”
He turned to leave and ran out of the classroom and out of the school, turning to head through the woods. She could’ve sworn that she saw his eyes glowing a dull gray for a second, but she brushed it off.
Buttercup stood up and straightened herself out, she then flew straight at the opponent, not waiting for her sisters to jump in at help. No one treated her like a rag doll and got away with it! She prepared for her fist to meet his gut, but what she didn’t expect was for his body to turn see-through and her fist to fly right through him. She shook out of her stupor and stopped in mid air, turning to face her opponent as Blossom and Bubbles flew in front of him.
Buttercup was the first to speak, or rather, yell. “Hey! What’s your problem?”
Blossom was next. “Yeah! Who are you and why are you attacking the school?”
The figure’s smirk seemed to widen, then he spoke with a deep booming voice. “I’ve been hired by my employers to take care of you.”
“Yeah? Well tell your employers that they made a big mistake in messing with us!” yelled Buttercup.
“Obviously you don’t know who I am, children.”
Bubbles hovered closer to Blossom and whispered into her ear. “I don’t know why, but he gives me the creeps.”
“I know what you mean, just looking at him feels… cold.”
His smirk widened even more, if it was even possible. “I am Skulker, collector of all things rare and unique, and number one hunter in the Ghost Zone,” He then raised his arm and aimed his arm cannon at Blossom. “Now dance.”
>> To Be Continued…
A/N: Well, I tried to make Skulker’s appearance mysterious, but I think I failed to do that. All in all, the chapter was a filler, but the next chapter will mostly be one big fight scene. Oh yeah baby.
And before anyone even asks: Sage was overshadowed, I’ll leave you to guess who it was.
Last edited by PueRToRiCaN12187 on Sun Apr 02, 2006 8:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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I had no idea how to start on this chapter, but once I did it just kinda flowed. I mean, I knew I meant it to be a filler chapter, but it got even better than I was hoping.
THANK YOU!
