A/N: Sorry for the late update guys. I have been outrageously ill and incapable of sleep for the past week or so. This is the last chapter that I had prepared, so the rest are going to be written when I'm well enough... And when my new gunnar glasses come in. I get outrageous LCD sickness when I stare at screens for too long, which is GREAT considering I'm a programmer. It's just about the greatest thing ever. T.T

Anyway, wish me luck in my jourey to get control of my ability to sleep. I'm literally an insomniac by the way, I'm not just hashing words. When it kicks in, it sticks around and I can't... Sleep. My ability to write goes to sh*t (if it isn't there already), and... Yeah. By the way, none of these chapters are edited as of yet and I'm too terrified to check right now. They're probably crap.

GO READ MY STORY BEN FEMM! It has almost nothing to do with the series I'm planning and is a hilarious (long) one shot. At least, -I- think it's funny.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. NOTHING. Cartoon Network and Square Enix own pretty much everything I reference.

Chapter 7

Sanae Hanekoma was furious. It hadn't been a meeting at all; it'd been a luncheon. When he realized exactly what the woman had duped him into leaving poor Dexter to come do, he had publicly and viciously talked down to her in front of their peers. He had expressed extreme disbelief that this woman could honestly start a feud with a child, and be so intent on letting him experience pain. He had also snapped that if anyone mentioned that bullying was an essential core of learning, he would report them all to the higher ups in an attempt to get them all fired for advertising the essence of pain, torture, and cruelty to very young and impressionable children. No one had said a thing, and it was clear that Dexter had no friends among the teachers. Furious with their inability to see a child behind that intellect, Hanekoma had rushed back to his classroom but it was too late. Dexter was gone, and he could not see any of the most violent children on the playground… Which meant for sure that they were either chasing Dexter, or that they had caught him, and Hanekoma was furiously hoping that that was not the case. If it was, he would see that they were all suspended, if not expelled.

Hanekoma paced back and forth in the classroom, staring at the floor, furious at the teachers, the children, himself- especially himself. How could he have not tried harder? He had given in so easily, and now Dexter was alone.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and Sanae sat at his desk, carefully folding his hands. It wouldn't do any good to appear nervous.

As the class filed in, there was a very noticeable absence. The seats usually filled by Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were of course empty, but now so was Dexter's, and the four empty seats shone like a beacon of distress. Sanae felt his fury turn to panic, and he looked over as the kids who were among the more violent as they approached. His alarm doubled as he quickly zoomed in on specks of blood on the leader's shirt, as he walked in all bravado and swagger.

Hanekoma waited until the bell rang. He waited still, staring at Dexter's empty desk, letting the kids begin to fidget as nothing happened. Five minutes passed, and one of the kids slowly raised their hand.

"Mr. H," they said in a deceptively innocent voice, "aren't we going to start class?"

"Not until I have someone explain something to me," he said, and his voice was very plainly disappointed and filled with reigned-in fury. Most of the students stiffened, but the pudgy boy- who Sanae remembered was named Michel, a boy who had once been thin but through over attention from his parents had gained far too much weight- was still leaning back in his seat smugly.

"No one wants to come forward?" Sanae said, standing slowly and deliberately.

"We don't know the question," one of the kids ventured to say.

"Oh clearly," Sanae said, disappointment coloring his voice. "Would anyone like to tell me where Dexter is?"

Silence. Mitch's face split into a wider grin.

"No one?" Sanae said, feigning shock. "That's funny. Because I see his backpack right there, at his desk. So he clearly hasn't left school."

"Maybe he realized he's out of his league with us geniuses," Mitch sneered, and a few of the students snickered.

"I want you all to sit for a moment," Sanae said quietly, and the dead serious anger in his voice kept any of the kids from responding. "I want you to think. Remember the first day of school this year, where I said we were a family?"

"Every family has its black sheep," Mitch said, but his grin faded as Sanae's eyes zeroed in on him. Sanae continued to stare unblinkingly at Mitch.

"Sheep is sheep," Sanae said darkly. "Black, white, red, or pink, they are still a sheep, and when you sheer off that wool one sheep looks exactly the same as the rest. So why don't you all tell me why you don't like Dexter?"

"He's mean," a girl suddenly piped up. "He's pretends he's so much smarter than everyone."

"Does he now," Sanae said, nodding slowly and darkly. "So he's told you he's smarter than you?"

Silence.

"Has he actually said that he's better than any of you?"

Again. Silence.

"That's what I thought," Mr. Hanekoma said quietly.

"He's always answering the questions without giving us a chance," a student said angrily. "No one's that smart!"

"So you don't like him because he's different?" Sanae snapped, and the class fell silent. "You're picking on that boy because he sounds different, looks different, is different than all of you?"

"He sounds like he thinks he's smarter than you, teach," Mitch snarled. Sanae zeroed in on him and began to walk down the aisle, slowly and very purposefully until the boy couldn't look him in the face.

"And what if he is?" Sanae said slowly.

"You don't care?" A student said, gaping.

"No," Sanae said, for once not sounding dark and furious. "I wouldn't care how smart Dexter is, because I've given him the chance to prove that he's a good kid, a good friend, and a very intelligent boy. The Powerpuff Girls saw it in him, and yet the rest of you think you all know better than them. Is that it?"

No one answered.

"So let me ask you again," Hanekoma said, gritting his teeth and staring hard and angry at the boy in front of him, who no longer looked smug and leery. "Where. Is. Dexter?"

Dexter was lying in the bushes beside the sandbox. It was a very well-secluded area, as the bushes were tall and plenty, leaving an empty space around a tree in the center, and as such no one had seen him after the bullies had dragged him into the bushes. Dexter felt tears slide down his face. They had all been right in their name calling and their anger and beating. He was a freak, his parents didn't love him, and nobody ever would. The powerpuffs probably did just pity him, as did the Professor. How could he think that the man could ever care for him?

Everything hurt. He tried to move and he coughed, flecks of blood speckling the dirt and grass. Dirt; he hated dirt. It was in his wounds, the soft skin that had broken easily after just a few kicks or punches. His lab was ruined and ripped, and his glasses- those were broken. He fortunately had quite a few pairs back at the lab, but he couldn't see anything and there was no way he was getting home.

"Hey."

Dexter didn't move. No one cared about him; when the bullies had pulled him into the bushes, none of the other kids had even pretended to notice him or his plight.

"Hey, wake up."

"I'm… not asleep," Dexter rasped bitterly, and resulting pain made him gasp and start coughing. How could a bunch of six year olds cause so much pain?

"Oh… You look like you're in pain," the voice said, and Dexter identified it as a girl's.

"Yes… It hurts," Dexter whimpered. He felt a soft hand on his skin, and he turned to see the blurry outline of what looked like a small blonde girl, although she was still taller than him.

"I'm so sorry," she said, and her voice was so sad, so filled with pain that it almost sounded like she'd been beat up.

"I deserved it," Dexter gasped, squeezing his eyes shut as tears fell. "I'm a… freak."

"You are not," the girl said fiercely.

"Then what am I?" Dexter sobbed, his Russian accent almost making the words indecipherable.

"You're a genius, and you have friends," the girl said, her voice soft. "Don't push them away."

"I don't deserve them…"

"Nonsense. Don't talk like that. One day, they're going to need you more than you need them." She sounded so sure of herself that Dexter paused, breathing shallowly.

"How do you know?" He rasped, trying so hard to ignore the million points of excruciating pain.

"Just… a feeling," she said, and he could hear a smile in her voice. "I'm going to go get Mr. Hanekoma, Dexter," she said, and her soft hand left his forehead. He almost panicked, unsure why he felt better with her there. "Shhhh," she said, and he couldn't see her anymore. "I know you won't listen, but… Don't push them away, Dexter."

"Wait," Dexter rasped. "Who are you?"

"A… Friend. In the far future," the girl said, but her voice was far away. A moment later, Dexter felt the air grow thick in silence, and he knew he was alone. He closed his eyes and cried silently.

No one was talking. The kids all refused to tell Hanekoma where Dexter was, and Sanae was losing patience.

"If no one speaks up, everyone in this class gets suspended."

"You have no proof!" one of the kids gasped, as the whole class let forth a gasp of horror.

"Oh, I have plenty enough from your silence," Hanekoma said coldly, but before he could continue a girl from second grade poked through the door. She had startlingly violet eyes, and she looked directly at Hanekoma.

"Sir, please come with me," the girl said quietly.

"I'm kind of-"

"Dexter is in a lot of pain," the girl added, and Mitch suddenly hissed from his seat.

"Who's side are you on?" He shouted.

"Not your's, you bumbling buffoon," the girl sniffed. "I can't believe you're all stupid enough to stand with that idiot. He's just going to spend his life working at some B-rated fastfood restaurant for the rest of his life." She shook her head at the gaping children. "I had more hope for this school."

"You know where Dexter is?" Sanae said, walking forward quickly.

"Yes. Mitch and his idiot baboons pulled him into the bushes at the corner near the sand area."

"You're dead!" Mitch shouted.

"Oh I would LOVE to see you try," the girl said, with so much acidity in her voice that Mitch couldn't even bring himself to respond. He just stared at her as she turned back toward Hanekoma. "Coming?"

"Yes," Sanae said without any hesitation. "If anyone leaves this class," he added in a dark undertone to the class, "I will see to it that you receive a full month's detention after three weeks of suspension."

No one moved an inch.

Sanae ran out with the girl, not even wondering for a second at how sure she seemed of herself.

"He isn't going to trust you," she was saying quietly. "He isn't going to go near anyone. He's going to push everyone away."

"What can we do?" Sanae said, feeling horribly guilty.

"Only the Professor and the Powerpuff Girls can get through to him," she said, still calmly and quietly.

"Dexter!"

Dexter gasped, ripped away from his uneasy darkness. The pain had proven to be too much, and he had passed out. He turned toward Hanekoma's voice, but his own bruised and blackened face was bitter.

"Was that… meeting imp…important?" he rasped.

"No. I should've lost my job. I should've just stayed with you. I'm an idiot Dexter, I'm an adult and I don't have nearly as much foresight as you. I'm sorry Dexter- I'm going to pick you up and call an ambulance. Do you know if anything is broken?"

"My dig…nity. And maybe my… Ribs. Lower left two. Can't really tell." Dexter was fading again, and Hanekoma gingerly reached under the small boy and lifted, horrified at the dried blood. He turned to tell the girl who'd come with him to call the ambulance, but she was gone. Not a moment later, the sound of a siren wailing around the corner sounded, and Hanekoma blinked.

There was no time. He hurriedly ran to the front entrance of the school, running through the front office. He was in luck; the principal, that ogerish woman of a secretary, and half of the people at the luncheon were present.

"Was it worth it?" Sanae snarled as he hurled past. "Was THIS was you call character building?" He let her take in the sight of Dexter's mangled body, and Sanae was dementedly pleased that she looked horrified, as well as the rest of the office's inhabitants. Sanae ran past without a second glance.

He rushed toward the ambulance, fearing the physical and mental state of Dexter and knowing full well that this was the last and only straw. He was quitting Pokey Elementary, and damned if he wasn't taking Dexter with him.