Author's Notes: Well, what better way to start the month than by ending a fanfic I've been working on for a year and a half? It feels so weird to actually type the words "The End" and know I'm not coming back to this one. I feel like I put a lot of myself and my writing style into this story, which I know is weird for a fic like this one. I can only hope I'm giving this piece the proper sendoff and that any future Powerpuff Girls fics are as rewarding as this one. Thank you all for reading to the end, and I hope you like this final chapter of "Friendship Is a Many-Splendored Thing" :)

Chapter 21

Shades

Mojo Jojo finished fixing his inventions in full view of his prisoners. The Powerpuffs and Rowdyruffs didn't know what to do or how to escape, and Butch and Buttercup were pretty sore from ramming their bodies full force into the energy bars several times already. The Taser Blades seemed eager for Mojo to give the go signal so they could fly out and terrorize Townsville.

"At last!" Mojo Jojo suddenly exclaimed, "My greatest work is completed! My ingenious plan is finally coming to fruition, and now with this incredible ingenious plan in motion I am finally ready to take over the world and watch as its denizens bow to me, their king! Mwahahahahaha!"

"Great, so we can go wreck the city now?" Razor asked expectantly.

"In a moment. Now it is time for me to activate the final sequence of your transformation," Mojo declared with an evil grin.

"What final sequence?" Razor asked, and the other Taser Blades looked at Mojo nervously.

"This one."

Mojo then flipped a switch that released a thin odorless gas into the room. The prisoners covered their mouths in case it was deadly to them, but they didn't feel any effects of the gaseous chemicals. The same could not be said for the Taser Blades, who began to convulse as their bodies warped and shifted all around them. Mojo laughed loudly as he watched his minions writhing in agony; knowing exactly what was happening to them.

"W-What did you do to us? AHHHH!" Razor asked; his voice distorting even as he spoke.

Mojo did not answer them. He merely watched with undisguised glee as his peons changed from chemical X infused humans to mindless mutated monsters. Once the transformation was complete, the Taser Blades were nothing more than hulking drooling beasts awaiting the command of their master.

"What did you do to them?!" Blossom asked angrily.

"Do you like my new henchmen, Powerpuff Girls?" Mojo asked smugly, "I knew the Taser Blades would betray me once they had everything they ever wanted. I learn from my mistakes. When I tried this plan the first time with monkey henchmen they all turned on me and believed their plans were better than my plans even though they were my plans and therefore their plans were my plans. Well I'm not about to be caught with my pants down because of my plans' plans ever again! Intelligent lackeys believe themselves to be better than their master, which is me, so I knew brainless brutish goons was the answer. They are programmed to follow my every command, and the process cannot ever be reversed. They are mine, and soon the rest of Townsville will be mine as well! Mwahahahahaha!"

The children gasped, knowing full well what that long-winded explanation boiled down to. Mojo Jojo was going to use this formula on everyone in Townsville, turning them all into mindless zombie slaves. If they didn't do something, everything was going to be lost. Even as the girls tried to think of a way out, something happened that made the situation seem even more hopeless.

"Mojo?" Boomer called out in a contrite tone of voice, "I wanna be on your side again."

"What?!" The girls called out in unison.

"Are you crazy?" Butch asked critically, "He's just gonna turn us into monsters like those guys! Why would you try to work with him again?"

"I just want my dad back," Boomer told them, "Mojo, I don't care if you're in charge. I just wanna be a part of it. Just take me back, and we can go back to the way we were before. You'll be a great world ruler, I know it. I'm tired of all this sissy stuff and all these rules. I just wanna go back to the good times. Don't you?"

"No!" Bubbles cried out, "Boomer, you can't do this! The professor loves you! We love you! You're our brother!"

"No I'm not!" Boomer snapped at Bubbles, "I'm Mojo's son! Just leave me alone!"

"Well, well, finally you see reason," Mojo smiled at Boomer as he walked over to the cage, "I must admit, it would be nice to have a cooperative subject that still knew what was going on. A planet of nothing but braindead stooges would be rather boring. Alright then, I'll give you one more chance. What about you, Butch? Would you also like to renounce the Powerpuff Girls and their way of life?"

"Look Pops, I don't care about Townsville or being a superhero!" Butch shouted furiously, "But you left us to die! You kicked us out when it was too inconvenient to take care of us! Because of you Brick is gone! I would rather die right here than ever do anything for you again! I hate you, and I hate Boomer for being a traitor!"

Mojo ignored Butch's tirade and ordered two of his mindless minions to stand on either side of him as bodyguards. He then unlocked the cage and allowed Boomer to walk out. Buttercup tried to make a run for it too, but one of the monsters just pushed her back inside and forced her to land roughly on her back.

"Thanks, Pop," Boomer replied gratefully, but then as his smile turned into a smirk he said, "You're the best."

Mojo was so pleased to see his son turn evil again, but that self-satisfaction gave way to surprise as Boomer took off as fast as his little legs would carry him toward the supply closet! He was going for the chemical X!

"Ed! Razor! Seize that boy!" Mojo ordered angrily as he pointed to Boomer, "I want that Powerpuff sympathizer!"

"Wait? He didn't betray us?" Butch asked in confusion.

"Go Boomer, go!" The girls urgently shouted, knowing this could be their chance to save Townsville.

Boomer was almost to the supply closet. His nubby arm barely brushed against the door handle before he was yanked away by a huge blue monster with sharp jagged teeth! Boomer struggled in the monster's grip, but without chemical X he was just a normal little boy ready to be slaughtered. The monster walked over to Mojo Jojo and showed him Boomer, and Mojo's face darkened at the sight of his former son.

"So, you thought you could fool me, did you?" Mojo asked in quiet rage, "Such betrayal, and after I agreed to give you another chance. If you had only waited, I would have given you more chemical X once the city was mine. But you threw all that away for these useless children," Mojo said as he gestured to the prisoners, "Now I have no choice. Any last words before you you meet your end, Boomer?"

"Yeah!" Boomer shouted defiantly, "The professor's a better dad than you'll ever be!"

Mojo was stunned and angered by such a declaration, but his shock quickly gave way to rage as he balled his fists and gritted his sharp teeth. He growled loudly and then screamed, "Razor! Kill that worthless little punk!"

"Nooo!" The other kids shouted as they threw themselves against the energy bars, which unfortunately would not break.

Boomer clenched his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to see the gory details. The monster opened his massive maw, ready to eat poor Boomer, but was stopped when it was suddenly hit in the face by an opened can of rotten tuna!

"What the?" Mojo asked in confusion, and then turned to see the source of the disturbance.

Quick as a rat running from a cat, Grubber leapt over to the monster and smeared the tuna right in its massive eyes. The monster howled in pain and dropped Boomer, who landed on top of Mojo. Boomer quickly ran over to the controls and released the others from their cage, and Grubber landed on the ground next to Boomer.

"Grubber! You actually came!" Blossom exclaimed happily.

"Pfft!" Grubber replied nonchalantly.

"Grr! Taser Blades! Kill those interlopers!" Mojo Jojo roared.

The kids and Grubber split up into different directions, each one trying to get to the supply closet for the chemical X. Grubber didn't actually know where the chemical X was, so he just did his best to distract whichever monster wanted to chase him. He knew this was a suicide mission, but to be fair this was probably the most important thing he would ever do in his life, so it still seemed worth it.

Blossom and Butch managed to get to the closet, but then were yanked away by an orange monster with spikes on his body. Butch spit in its face, and the monster roared and rubbed his eyes. Blossom used this opportunity to try to open the door, but it was locked and she no longer had her super strength to open it with. She searched for a key, but before she could find one a fuzzy purple monster threw her against the wall!

"Everyone, search for a key!" Bubbles shrieked when she saw what happened.

Bubbles and Boomer stuck close together and searched for something to use to open the door, but then Boomer was tackled by an irate Mojo Jojo!

"You foolish worthless ingrate!" Mojo shouted in Boomer's face as he held the boy down, "You tried to ruin my plans, but my plans continue as initially planned! I will enjoy this..."

Mojo then pulled a small laser pistol out of his boot and aimed it at Boomer's head at point blank range. Bubbles immediately threw herself at Mojo and got him off Boomer, but then an angry Mojo just turned the gun on Bubbles, who was struggling to get up off the ground.

"No, Mojo wait!" Boomer shouted as he pulled on the monkey's cape, "Don't shoot Bubbles! I'm the one you want!"

Mojo would hear none of it though, and aimed for Bubbles. He fired, but he missed when Grubber threw a metal trash can at the chimp's brain-protecting helmet hard enough to knock Mojo down.

Boomer helped Bubbles up and they hid behind a console; still scanning the room for a key. Grubber meanwhile was hopping from one spot in the room to the other, running on pure adrenaline to keep himself going. He had figured out that for some reason the Powerpuff Girls wanted that closet door open. He didn't know why, but he wanted to help. He went over to the door, but then was tackled from behind by one of the monsters!

Grubber struggled to free himself, but then another monster grabbed his legs while the first one ran its long sharp claws down his back! Grubber's scream sounded more like an emergency siren than any sound a human would make, and he clawed at the tile floor in a desperate effort to free himself; all to no avail. The monster raised its hand to strike the killing blow to Grubber, but then something of equal size rammed into it and knocked it into a large computer screen!

Grubber turned around to see what had happened, and he saw Big Billy standing over him protectively while the other three Gangreen Gang members looked around in frantic confusion at the melee taking place.

"You okay, Grubber?" Billy asked in concern.

"Pfft," Grubber replied, and then pointed to the closet as he said, "Pfft pft! Pfftbt!"

"The door? Why?" Ace asked.

Grubber just shrugged.

"Eh, whatever," Ace waved away the question, "A'ight, listen up. Arturo, you open the door. We'll provide the distraction."

"You got it, Ace," Arturo nodded; all business.

The Gangreen Gang split up to distract the Taser Blade monsters, which wouldn't be easy since their main targets were the Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys. Ace and Billy fought off several monsters with relative ease, but Snake saw Grubber was bleeding pretty badly from his back wounds and led him behind a computer to get him out of the way.

"Pfft pft?" Grubber asked why they changed their minds and decided to help him.

"Well..." Snake rubbed the back of head in embarrassment as he recalled the conversation that had transpired.

"You can't jussst ssit here and watch TV when Grubber could die tonight!" Snake shouted after watching Ace do nothing for a couple minutes, "He'sss our friend! Are you sssaying you would leave usss behind to die asss well?"

"You gonna do somethin' stupid like help out our psychotic superpowered enemies?" Ace asked sardonically.

"Boss?" Billy addressed him in a small pleading voice, "We gotta save Grubber. Billy don't want Grubber to die. Grubber is a good friend."

"Yeah, he's good alright," Ace replied bitterly, "Too good. Good people die young. Dat's just what happens. We ain't good though. We're the Gangreen Gang, and we're gonna rule Townsville for a lotta years to come."

Ace then adjusted his shades and went back to watching TV. Snake couldn't take this anymore. He knew it might earn him a severe beating, but he had to do something to make Ace see reason.

Without warning, Snake suddenly snatched Ace's sunglasses right off his head, and Ace swiftly stood up and glared at him hatefully. Arturo and Billy gasped, sure that this time Snake was dead meat.

"We go sssave Grubber, or I'll ssmash them under my foot," Snake threatened, "I mean it!"

Ace started to grab for the shades, but then stopped himself. It was a standoff for a few seconds as Ace and Snake stared at each other with malice and distrust. Finally though, Ace said something even Snake couldn't have seen coming.

"Fine. Break 'em. I don't care," Ace sighed, and everyone was taken aback, "They're just shades. I'll get more."

"You might be able to replaccce your shadesss, but we can't replaccce Grubber," Snake replied insistently, "He never asssks usss for anything. Now he needsss usss. Accce, We're a gang, and more than that we're friendsss. If you're not going to help usss, then at leassst let usss go."

Ace looked up at Snake from his position sitting on the floor watching TV, and then he looked at the shades Snake was holding. Snake didn't know what Ace was thinking, but Ace's eyes grew very distant and cloudy as he looked at his sunglasses. He then sighed heavily again, and said, "Fine. Let's go get Grubber back."

Billy and Arturo cheered and Billy lifted Ace in a tight bear hug. Ace managed to wriggle free of the large man's grasp and then dusted himself off to maintain some level of dignity. Snake put the shades back on Ace's face, and the leader of the gang casually walked out the door with his cronies in tow, ready to take on Mojo Jojo and anything else that dared threaten one of their own.

"...Ssso, yeah...I held hisss glassssess for ranssssom," Snake chuckled nervously, "If he killsss me, you can have my hat."

"Pfft!" Grubber laughed despite them still being in danger.

The pair dared to poke their heads out from behind the console, and they saw that the super kids were getting tired of running and Ace and Billy were still fighting. Arturo, being one of the smallest ones in the room, managed to sneak over to the door. The door was still locked, so he used an ice pick he kept in his pocket to try to pick the lock.

Meanwhile, Boomer found a vial of some chemical substance that Mojo forgot to lock up in the supply closet. He hoped against all hope it would be chemical X, but instead it turned out to be antidote X. Boomer grumbled under his breath, but decided he could still use this. Maybe he could use it to turn the Taser Blades back to normal and even the odds against Mojo Jojo.

Boomer ran toward a Taser Blade that had cornered Butch, and Butch was still trying to fight it off with a broom handle even though that clearly wasn't going to stop it from eating him. When Butch saw Boomer heading toward them however, he grew worried for his brother's safety.

"Stay back, Boomer!" Butch ordered curtly, "I got this!"

Boomer didn't listen however, and poured the antidote X on the monster. He had hoped it would turn the monster human again, but instead something terrible happened. The monster screamed at the top of its lungs, and then melted into nothing but a puddle of black goo!

"No!" Boomer exclaimed, "...What have I done?"

"You killed it!" Butch cheered gleefully, "Good work, bro!"

Boomer wasn't celebrating however. He fell to his knees and looked at the black puddle, so reminiscent of the illness that took their brother. That was what happened to Brick. He turned into a puddle of chemical X. That was also what almost happened to Boomer and Butch, and Boomer had accidentally subjected someone else to that same painful death. He teared up a little, and then he felt a fingerless hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Boomer," Bubbles said softly, "You didn't mean to."

"Incoming!" Butch suddenly screeched, ruining the somber moment.

The blue duo readied themselves for a fight, but instead what they saw before them was Big Billy.

"Uh, you Powerpuffs need some help?" Billy asked.

"Yes," Bubbles replied quickly, "Can you knock out the rest of the monsters for us?"

"Yeah, Billy help!" Billy shouted gamely as he balled his fists and squared his shoulders.

Billy ran off to fight more monsters, which was much easier for him than the other Gangreens in the group.

"Who the heck is that guy?" Butch asked Bubbles and Boomer.

"Right now? A friend," Was Bubbles' simple reply.

Meanwhile Arturo was still picking the lock and Ace noted that Billy was able to take care of most of the monsters. Ace looked around to see what he should be doing, and saw that the girl with the pink eyes was climbing a laser cannon in an effort to get away from one of the monsters, but the monster was quicker than her and would soon catch up.

Running toward the monster on the cannon, Ace pulled out a hunting knife and jumped up on the beast's back; ramming his knife into it with full force! He allowed his body to slide down, and he forced the blade to trail down with him; slicing the monster down its spinal column. The monster fell to the ground dead, and the pink eyed girl hopped down from the laser cannon.

"Thanks Ace," She said quickly as she looked around for more trouble.

"Anytime, uh..." Ace fumbled for a moment, and then finally gave up and asked, "What's yer name again?"

"Blossom," The titular Puff replied.

"Ah, so yer the one that's causin' all the trouble," Ace nodded in understanding, "Too bad. I was kinda hopin' to save an older damsel in distress."

Blossom just rolled her eyes and took off in the direction of her siblings. There would be safety in numbers. Ace snorted nonchalantly and then looked around to see what was going on. Fighting all of these monsters was getting them nowhere. They needed to get to the source of the monsters and stop that instead.

The green monkey seemed to be the one in charge, strange as that sounded. Ace figured if he could find the monkey and kill it then the monsters would go away. It wasn't a brilliant plan, but it was all he had.

As it turned out, Ace wouldn't have to look far for Mojo Jojo. He heard the sound of Snake screaming and knew that something had gone wrong. He ran in the direction of the scream, and saw Snake and Grubber cowering behind a console with Mojo aiming a laser gun at them.

"Foolish interlopers," Mojo tsk'ed at the cornered gangsters, "I could turn you into my minions like your rivals the Taser Blades, but you have annoyed me with your tomfoolery, so I am going to have to destroy you now. Any last words, hooligans?"

"Uh...don't kill us?" Snake joked feebly.

"Pfftpbt pfft!" Grubber added, which made Snake laugh at the crude insult Mojo couldn't understand.

Mojo sniffed in derision and pulled the trigger on his weapon. It didn't hit Snake however, but rather hit just to the right of Snake's head! Snake almost fainted when he saw how close it had come, and then wondered why it missed. The answer was obvious when he and Grubber saw Ace rolling around on the floor with Mojo trying to wrestle the gun out of the monkey's hands.

"Give me my weapon, you insolent green menace!" Mojo growled at Ace.

Ace only responded by snapping his fangs at Mojo, who backed away for a moment to avoid getting bitten.

Just as Ace was wrestling with Mojo Jojo and Billy was mowing down monsters like a one man army, Arturo suddenly exclaimed, "I got the closet door open! What do we need in here?"

"Yes! Way to go, Arturo!" Blossom cheered for the tiny gangster, "We need the chemical X! Hurry!"

Arturo couldn't reach the chemical X, which was on the top shelf, so Snake dared to run across the battlefield and grab it for them. Snake then threw the bottle of black liquid to the kids, and Blossom caught it and started drinking.

"Noooo!" Mojo Jojo bellowed, and then spitefully pulled the trigger on his weapon.

The laser blast hit Ace square in the chest, and he fell backward in a smoking heap! The Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys drank the chemical X and got their powers back instantaneously.

With their newfound strength, the girls made quick work of the rest of the monsters and the boys beat up Mojo Jojo, not just for this scheme but for everything he had ever put them through. When the Rowdyruffs were through, Mojo Jojo was little more than a heap of pain and spittle on the floor. The girls then went over to Mojo and asked him the only question left to ask.

"Alright Mojo, how do we turn the Taser Blades back to normal?" Blossom interrogated.

"Back?" Mojo coughed, his face one of contempt despite his precarious position, "There is no way...to turn them back! The process...is irreversible. They are mine...for as long as they live."

That was not the answer the girls wanted to hear. They could try to keep the monsters under sedation until the professor found a cure, but they would need a lot of help from the city to do that. They could put the monsters out of their misery, but that seemed wrong somehow. Even if these were bad guys, they were still people with families and lives. Blossom couldn't see them as less than human even though she wanted to. Getting to know Grubber had changed her views on the criminal element in Townsville, and she knew she wanted to help these young men become human again in any way she could.

The Gangreen Gang meanwhile went over to check on Ace. With his sunglasses still on his face it almost looked like he was fine, but then they looked down at his body. Unlike the last gunshot which had caused massive blood loss and head trauma, this blast left a cauterized hole the size of a baseball in his chest right where his heart used to be. There was no last minute goodbye or miracle this time. Ace was dead, and it had happened in an instant.

"No..." Snake whispered shakily.

"Dios mio..." Arturo added softly.

"Boss? I think the Powerpuff Girls saved the day," Billy told Ace, not yet aware of the severity of the situation, "Can we go now, Ace? Billy tired."

Billy then poked Ace's body, and Snake turned away, unable to look anymore. Grubber pulled on Billy's shirt to get his attention, and Billy turned to him.

"Pfft...Pfft pbt pft pfft," Grubber explained carefully.

"Dead?" Billy asked in a wounded tone of voice, "But...he was alive a minute ago."

Grubber just rubbed Billy's arm and looked at him pityingly. He knew it would take Billy a while to accept this. To be fair, it would take Grubber a long time to accept this too. Ace had been one of his best friends since they were kids. To just lose him like this felt so...empty.

"Grubber, are you and your friends alright?" Blossom asked once she was able to get away from Mojo and the monsters.

Grubber's warped disfigured face was often hard to read, but even Blossom could see the misery in his expression. Something was definitely wrong.

"Ace es muerto," Arturo told her as he hung his head.

"Huh?" Blossom asked, not understanding the Spanish Arturo used.

"He said: Ace is dead," Bubbles translated.

"What?" Blossom gasped, "No way! Are you sure?"

Grubber backed away so that Blossom could see what they saw, and she felt sick by the sight of it. It had been a clean hit, and Ace likely didn't even have time to suffer, but there was no coming back from that one. Blossom turned to give consolation to Grubber and his friends, but she could see they were already walking out of the observatory; not even bothering to take Ace's remains with them.

It had been eight days since the battle in Mojo's lair. Mojo had of course been arrested and sent to a maximum security prison. That wasn't new, and he would probably break out eventually. When he did, the Puffs and Ruffs would be ready. Boomer and Butch especially seemed eager to kick Mojo's butt again next time they met in battle.

The Taser Blades that survived the carnage were locked away in a research facility and wouldn't be released until a cure had been found for them. It would take time, maybe years to fix them, and Blossom could only hope that once they returned to normal they would have a greater appreciation for life.

The media had been all over the story of the foiled world domination plan of course. It had been a great way to introduce the Rowdyruff Boys as reformed villains and future superheroes. The boys also seemed enthusiastic about their new role as protectors of Townsville. Their fervor was for different reasons of course. Boomer like being popular, and Butch liked beating people up. They kind of reminded Blossom of her sisters in that way.

The kids had decided they should change their superhero group name to The Utoniums since it was gender neutral. Already there were reporters who wanted to know all about them, and already Butch was arguing with Blossom on a regular basis about who got to answer the hotline.

Then there was the Gangreen Gang. Blossom made sure people knew the good deed they did for Townsville and how Ace had sacrificed his life to save the city. While the Rowdyruffs had been in the spotlight as new heroes however, the Gangreen Gang seemed to have slunk back off into the shadows once again. She hadn't really seen any of them since that day, and worse yet, Grubber hadn't contacted her once online. She tried to send messages to him, but he never replied. It made Blossom sad knowing her friend was suffering from such a big loss and she wasn't there to help him.

Blossom knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate on her homework with this weight on her mind. She had to find Grubber, but where would he go?

That was when Blossom realized that she knew exactly where Grubber would go to be alone, and she flew out the window to see if her hunch was correct.

Blossom flew to the city dump and looked around at the trash piles and old cars until she saw a familiar green shape. Grubber was sitting on a pile of rotten barnwood staring at a pile of freshly dumped garbage with his head in his hands. He was alone, so Blossom decided to touch down. Grubber didn't even notice she was there, so absorbed was he in whatever thoughts were running through his mind.

"Grubber?" Blossom called out softly to him.

The green man was startled by Blossom's arrival and flinched as he turned toward her. Blossom simpered, knowing she was disturbing him but not willing to let him suffer alone. She sat down carefully beside him on the rotten wood pile, and she was grateful for her bulletproof skin at this moment, otherwise she might've gotten a splinter or something.

"Hey, Grubber," Blossom started again, "How are you holding up?"

Grubber's lips quivered as snot came down his nose. His eyes couldn't cry, but his nose could. Before Blossom could process anything more, Grubber swiftly grabbed onto her and held her as tightly as a drowning man holds a lifesaver. His body was racked with silent sobs, and Blossom managed to regain her composure enough to pat his back. She felt bandages under his shirt, indicating he was still healing from the claw injury.

After a few minutes of Grubber hugging onto Blossom, he finally let her go and didn't even look at her. Blossom didn't know what to say in a moment like this. She was saved from having to figure it out however when Grubber took out his smartphone and started texting her.

Grubber: How did you find me?

Blossom: I remember you used to live here. I figured you'd want to go someplace that reminded you of happier times.

Grubber: You know me too well, dear Blossom.

Blossom: I'm so sorry for your loss. I know Ace was your friend for a long time.

Grubber: Indeed. He's not the first person I've lost. Heck, he's not even the first person I lost to a gunshot wound! Still, actually seeing it up close was shattering. Billy still sometimes asks where Ace is and when he's going to get better. He doesn't understand that Ace is never coming back.

Blossom: I have to ask, and I hope this isn't too personal but...why didn't you guys go back for Ace's body?

Grubber: We can't afford to bury him. If he isn't claimed then the city will deal with him. It isn't what we wanted, but it's all we can do.

Blossom: Oh...I'm so sorry. So...what are you guys going to do now?

Grubber: Funny you should ask. Arturo actually had a great idea. Since we finally have some positive street cred from saving the day Arturo thinks we should use the momentum to start a donation pool online. If we earn enough money, we can start a crisis shelter for runaway teens.

Blossom: Wow! Of all the things I expected you to say, that was definitely not it!

Grubber: Well, we got to talking about it and we felt like if we'd had a place to go when we were kids then maybe we wouldn't have ended up homeless criminals. We want to give more at-risk children a chance to have a real future with a real chance at security. Honestly...I don't want another kid to end up like Ace if it can be helped. I loved my friend, but I will be the first to admit that he was broken and hardened by life. A bad home life can take a normal kid full of promise and hollow them out until there's nothing left. I wish we could have given him a funeral though. I wrote a poem for him that I wanted to read as a eulogy, but I guess I can't now.

Blossom: Um, you can't talk. How were you going to read a eulogy?

Grubber: Oh, you'd be surprised ;)

Blossom: Well...I'm here. I know this isn't a funeral exactly, but maybe you would feel better if you could express your feelings in an open setting. If you want to read Ace's eulogy, I'll listen.

Grubber: Really? But you didn't even like Ace.

Blossom: Maybe not, but I like you, and as your friend I want to support you :)

Grubber put his phone away in his pocket and smiled at Blossom, who smiled back. She was already on the verge of tears seeing Grubber trying to smile and make her feel better, and knowing everything that happened to bring them to this point. He walked away from the wood pile and stood on top of a plastic crate in front of Blossom. What he did next surprised her.

Grubber cleared his throat, put Ace's old pair of sunglasses on over his bulging eyes, and began to speak...in a perfect impression of Ace's voice.

Shades

By Grubber J. Gribberish

I see the world

Through my shades

But the world don't penetrate to see me

I get to hide

Behind my shades

All the feelings that crash around inside of me

Black reflections

Of the sun

Perverted like my twisted soul

I could be smilin'

I could be sneerin'

I could be leerin'

Through my shades

I look real cool

In my shades

Like I already know everythin'

My hesitation

My worried expression

You'll never see it

Through my shades

I look at you

I see a friend

I don't pretend

I remove my shades

World weary eyes

Look back into yours

Five of a kind

No need for masks

No need for bravado

No need to hide

Behind my shades

The End