The Rival

A/N: Been a while hasn't it. Fret not. I haven't forgotten this story. Hopefully I'll be able to get in two or three more updates. Something for you to read over the holidays. I'm grateful to those who waited patiently. Enjoy!


Butch blinked as his sight returned to him. "Guys?" Nothing. Wait....something wasn't right. "What the hell am I doing in my room?" Him and his brothers had just been fighting that man. How did he end up back home? And why was it so fucking dark? The only reason he could even tell where he was the from the light of the full moon that flooded through his window, illuminating the whole room. His supersensitive hearing picked up the sound of movement. "Hey!" He turned towards the sound.

Again nothing.

No....there!

The opposite side of the room behind his dresser. The scuttering sound of tiny legs clicking against the wood of the dresser.

Narrowing his eyes, allowing his Chemical X blood to enhance his sight he finally found the cause of the ruckus.

Sitting on the top of his dresser, hidden away from the moonlight by staying behind an electric fan was a member of the Blattodea family. A cockroach. Butch grimaced slightly then turned away......to find himself staring into an army of said roach's brethren. Butch's jaw dropped and he backed away, eyes wide with terror. "S-Shit!" The room lit up with a crimson glow as Butch fired his eyebeams. The lasers sank into the mass of roaches without so much as harming a single insect. Disbelieving, Butch sent blast after blast with equal results. He was forced to back away as the horde of insects pushed forward; the laser beams sinking into their obsidian mass, like a pebble being thrown into a boiling tarpit. A tentacle of roaches burst from the horde, cutting through the air at an alarming rate. Butch dove to the side as the tentacle collided with the dresser, obliterating it. The room was showered with wooden splinters as Butch slammed his fists together, creating a shockwave that devastated the room and managed to knock the roach-blob into a nearby wall. The floor groaned in protest as it crumbled from the assault. Butch escaped by flying through the roof as the horde of villain roaches plummeted, emitting a collective ear-piercing shriek as they fell.

Butch let out the breath he wasn't even aware he'd been holding. Ever since him and his brothers had that battle with Roach Coat, Butch had developed a fear of insects....especially roaches. The green ruff barely had enough time to compose himself before his hearing picked up a buzzing sound. He turned and moved just in time avoid being decapitated. Hovering before him was eight foot tall praying mantis that had had the George Romero makeover. It had two crimson basketballs for eyes with a black exoskeleton covered with red specks. Its scythe-esque pinchers glimmered in the moonlight as it made a death-dive towards it's prey. Butch flew to the side wincing as the insect's razor-sharp pincher cut through his shirt and into his flesh, leaving a foot long scar on his stomach.

"SKRRREEEEEEEEK!!!!" The mantis grating shriek sent shivers down Butch's spine.

::KA-THRAASSSH!!!::

Butch's problem multiplied as the house below him exploded as the storm of roaches emerged. So occupied by the sound, Butch was unprepared for the flying headbutt via the mantis as it slammed into his back, sending him plummeting towards the hissing insects. The blow had been a crushing one, leaving the green ruff feeling as though every bone in his body had been shattered. He was getting closer to the swarm of roaches that had shifted into the shape of a gaped open maw. *Shit...shit...shit..shit..shit....SHIT!!!!* His mind screamed as he tumbled into midair.

Right into the awaiting horde of roaches.

Then there was darkness...followed by the hissing of millions of tiny little insects as they closed in.

Then the screaming started.


******

*This isn't real....this isn't real....this isn't real....*

Brick found himself trapped in a room shaped perfectly like a cube. It was as if he'd been dropped into a cement box, and to his horror the room that had originally been fourteen feet on all sides was shrinking...closing in.

"NO!" Brick fired eye-beams....spat fire....nothing worked. The room had become half it's original size and was shrinking by the second. Soon the very walls were touching him and he was forced to curl up into a ball.

And then it stopped.

Quick and panicked breaths escaped Brick's lips. His eyes trembled with barely restrained terror as he felt feebly on the walls around him for any means of escape.

*Not real...not real....not real...not real...NOT REAL!!*

He couldn't breath! Where was his oxygen!? He was going to run out of air!!

******

Boomer opened his eyes to find his vision a little blurry. He took a breath.....and instantly water invaded his nose. Boomer hacked and choked, realizing the reason he couldn't see straight; he was underwater. How he'd gotten there was anyone's guess. Hadn't he been in the middle of a battle? No matter, he'd just swim outta....wait....

It was then that Boomer realized that he didn't know which way was up. Everything looked the same. Confusion gave way to panic as an alarmed Boomer swam desperately in search for land.

Nothing.

Just an endless blue abyss that stretched out in all directions.

Boomer's face was turning red and his lungs felt like they were on fire. Hadn't he just went this way? No, he was going up when he should be going down! Wait....that can't be right! Boomer's face was close to matching his surroundings in color.

This was bad.

Even superheroes had to breath......

******

Fear watched impassively as the three boys before him writhed on the street, suffering from the power of Fear's glowing eye. The attack he had long ago dubbed, 'Deepest Fear' did just that. Tapping into a man's cerebral cortex he could make his victim experience a steroid version of their worst nightmares. "Such power in such young bodies," he muttered. "It's truly a shame to have to kill ones with such potential." It wouldn't be long; the boys would eventually succumb to their deepest fear. All mortals did.

This time Fear was ready, hearing Buttercup long before she attacked. He sidestepped her diving attack, firing his potent eye-beam. Buttercup spun expertly in the air, dodging blast after blast before slamming her fists together with enough force to throw Fear back from the shockwave.

"Whatever you've done undo it!" The black-haired puff snapped.

"Well, a legendary Powerpuff Girl." Fear crouched into a fighting stance. "You want to save your friends. You'll have to defeat me." He smirked. "But I'll warn you. It's been a millennia since a mortal defeated me! HYAH!!!" He lunged with a knife-edged chop that Buttercup ducked. She countered with a sweep kick, taking Fear's legs out from under him, but as he fell he arched back, pressing his hands to the pavement and using the momentum to perform a backflip that nailed Buttercup right under her chin.

Buttercup was sent bouncing along the street before crashing against a car. She glanced up just in time to see Fear flying in with a jump kick. With a sly grin Buttercup launched her laser beams....full force.

With no time to avoid, Fear slammed into the blast, flying back across the street and through the front window of a bakery.

Buttercup edged her way to the Rowdyruffs. "I could use a hand her guys! Wake the fuck up already!"

The ground underneath Buttercup exploded, sending her flying skywards where Fear was waiting. With a primal battle cry he brought both fists down in a clubbing attack on Buttercup's back. Crying out in pain, Buttercup was sent back down to Earth like a high-powered Powerpuff missile, leaving a ten foot wide circle of spiderweb cracks in the street.

"Muuugggfh...." Before Buttercup could regain coherent thought, Fear dropped in....literally, driving his knee into her midsection. ".....HUUUUNNNGGHHH!!!"

Fear didn't stop there. Grabbing hold of her ankles, Fear flung her over his shoulder and into the grill of an eighteen-wheeler. This time there was no getting back up. "You leave me sorely disappointed," Fear muttered, raising his fist for the kill.

"HEY!!!"

With an arched eyebrow, Fear spun to face the new voice.

That would prove to be a grave error on his part.

A gold plated fist smashed in to his face, sending him reeling right into an irritated Buttercup. "Disappoint this!" She brought her fist down onto the pavement, unleashing wave of emerald energy that tore through the street towards its intended target.

The awesome power of Chemical X sent the god of fear flying skywards.

The newcomer soared upwards in a gold streak, slamming a high-heeled boot into Fear's sternum.

The jet rockets in the sole of said boot were activated, blasting Fear with unmerciful heat that sent him rocketing even further upwards. The gold warrior unleashed a volley of homing missiles. "HAVE A NICE TRIP!!!"

::BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!::

Out of the massive plume of flames flailed a smoldering Fear that tumbled through the sky.....over the city..... vanishing over the horizon.

"SEE YA NEXT FALL" The gold fighter shouted before she flew back down, landing gently on the street. "Now that was fun!"

Buttercup recognized that voice. She managed to lift her head, taking in the familiar gold body armor so tightly fitted onto the body of the richest girl in Townsville. "Y-You....gotta be....k-kidding me...." She locked eyes with a smirking Princess Morebucks before slipping into unconsciousness.