Change Of Command

Disclaimer: I do not own the Powerpuff girls or anything that relates to them. They are the property of Cartoon Network and Craig McCracken. However, I do own the plot of the this story.

A/N: Hi Everyone, James of Vale here. I've decided to take a little break from "To Boldly Go where no Puff has gone before", to bring you this nice and touching little story. So, without further delay, I bring you… Change of Command.

Chapter 1: The Accident.

It was a lovely day in Townsville. Townsville is now safer than ever, as not 3, but 6 superheroes patrol the city daily, stopping crime in their tracks. These heroes are none other than the Powerpuff Girls and their boyfriends, the Rowdyruffs. The six remarkable super powered children are incredible in each of their ways. But without guidance, their exploits in saving the day would have been a failure. Like a squad of soldiers, their leaders lead their groups into battle and always supervised them in what they do, to ensure that the best outcomes occur.

The loveliness of that afternoon was then shattered, when a screeching howl could be heard coming from the harbor. A huge monster was invading Townsville from the sea. It was a huge, scaly Godzilla-like monster. Spikes protruded from every part of the monster's tough hide. At the tip of each spike, green sizzling liquid oozed. As the monster walked onto the docks, the buildings began to take corrosive damage as the spikes grazed them. The monster itself had a giant tail that looked like a stegosaurus's. The monster let out a howl as it swung its tail, knocking several cars into the air and crashing into the other areas of the city.

Back at the Utonium residence, the Rowdyruffs were sleeping on the couch after a previous monster attack. The girls had a rough time taking out the monster and the boys had to do most of the dirty work for them. Blossom was lying down next to Brick, stroking his hair as she reminiscences how he saved her butt a dozen times in action. "Sometimes, I'm jealous of his ability as an leader. He's probably like a much stronger and agile version of myself…" She thought. It was true, Brick may be almost like her in their traits, but he exceeds her ability by a small 2 percent. That small percentage is just enough to make a difference on the field. Just then, the hotline rang and Blossom flew over to pick it up.

Brick was in the middle of a lovely dream, which was created when Blossom began stroking his hair a few moments ago. He was then awakened fitfully by the sound of the hotline and Blossom's zipping to the phone. He rubbed his eyes as Blossom put down the phone. "What is it this time?" Brick asked as he stretched his arms. "It's another monster, attacking the city from the harbor." Brick nodded as he proceeded to wake his brothers. Blossom yelled upstairs to her sisters, "C'mon, we've got another monster!" From upstairs, Buttercup's voice grumbled, "What? Again? Those foul beasts don't know when to give up do they? Alright Red, me and Bubbles will fly through the second floor windows, meet you outside the house!" As sounds of flight were heard upstairs. Blossom and Brick flew out the door with his brothers and joined Buttercup and Bubbles in mid-flight.

The monster was swinging its tail around, crushing skyscrapers here and there. It suddenly growled as 6 eyebeams started hitting it from different locations. Now as a unified 6, the children's combat plans were much more effective. But however, this monster was much more resilient than most they have ever fought. The monster swung its tail at the kids as they flew towards it, forcing them to split into 2 parts. The monster proceeded to strike again at the Rowdyruff boys as suddenly it felt the crushing pain as the girls' fists connected with its jaw. The monster then faced the girls and let out a blast of corrosive acid from its mouth at them. The girls dodged out of the way harmlessly and proceeded to counter attack. "Okay, girls, this is the plan… Alpha-beta-zeta…" Blossom was interrupted from telling her plans when Brick and his brothers rushed into them, to push them out of the way of the monster's tail whack. As the boys pushed their counterparts out of the way, they then zipped to get themselves out of range as well.

However, Brick was not fast enough as he felt the monster's tail clipped him in the legs. He fell with the tail and impacted on the ground with a thud, screaming in pain as the tail crushed his legs on impact. As the tail raised, Brick tried to fly out of the crater he had impacted. But he was too slow as he looked up to see the tail come crashing down on him again. Blossom saw what happened and covered her eyes and cringed. When she opened them, she was horrified to see him lying in the crater, unconscious. Blossom was about to fly to his side when she too was struck from the rear by the monster's tail. She uttered out a cry of pain as she felt something crack inside her body. She could feel herself falling as her vision began to go black.

Bubbles and Boomer had saw what happened to their siblings and flew over to check up on them. Butch and Buttercup saw the accident as well, but proceeded to finish off the monster before it did anymore damage. "For taking out my bro, take that!" Butch let out a yell as he did a solo ballistic barrage on the monster's head. He then gave the monster a medium powered uppercut to knock him in the air. Buttercup took the cue and charged full speed at the monster. Her feet connected with the monster's gut and her kick sent the monster flying over the horizon. The couple then joined Bubbles and Boomer to help provide help to their downed siblings.

Blossom was woken up by Bubbles' concerned voice. She was still lying in the crater she had made when she fell. Suddenly, the memory of the battle with the monster came back to her. She opened her eyes but was confused when she didn't see any light. "Bubbles…I think I'm all right…are my eyes open?" Bubbles was quivering and too scared for her sister's condition to reply. Buttercup spoke up for her. "Yes, Red. They are…can you see?" Buttercup proceeded to wave her hands in front of her sister's eyes and she gasped when she realized thather pupils weren't following. "Blossom…you can't see…can't you." Buttercup muttered as Blossom uttered, "Yes." Blossom's frowned in frustration when she realized what had happened. "That hit from behind must have hit something in the back of my head…knocking out my vision." Blossom thought. She then remembered what happened to Brick.

"Is Brick…is he okay?" Blossom tried to get up, but realized she could only move her neck. She expected severe injuries and pain to occur, but she didn't feel any pain elsewhere except the bruises on her face. "I…I can't move either, I'm not just blinded!" Blossom uttered out loud. She heard Buttercup reassuring her that they will take care of her, and could feel someone's hands behind her head. She felt her head being lifted and the feeling was awkward, as she could only feel her head. "I'm not beheaded am I?" Blossom stammered almost jokingly. "Don't be silly! I think you're just paralyzed…" Bubbles yelled at her blind sister.

Blossom was laid next to where Brick had fallen. Butch was feeling his pulse. "He's still breathing and his vitals are still optimal…but he's pretty messed up… Some serious bleeding on some parts of his body…looks like he almost got impaled like a Swiss cheese." Butch muttered worryingly. Blossom then spoke, "Do you think he'll be ok? I don't care how bad my injuries are…I just want to know if he'll be all right." Butch, being the only one with first aid experience, checked over Blossom's injuries. "You don't look so bad... at least your condition looks safe enough for us to carry you back to the professor without too much trouble." Butch then sighed. "But Brick…we have to be careful. Alright, let's rush you two back home for medical treatment. Bubbles, Buttercup, you take Blossom. Me and Boomer will carry Brick back." Blossom then felt her head being lifted again in the awkward way and felt the wind blowing against her face. Butch and Boomer followed the girls behind, using two tree branches and their shirts as a makeshift stretcher for Brick.

Blossom was feeling the air on her face as her sisters were flying her home. She struggled to stay awake from exhaustion, but succumbed. When she woke up again, she felt her head lying against a pillow. She tried opening her eyes, to let her family know that she was awake. "Butch? Buttercup? Professor?" She called for them. She then heard the professor let out a sigh of relief "Oh thank god, looks like you made it through the surgery. You're in somewhat bad shape…" The professor spoke as he ran his hands through her hair.

"You're not just blinded temporary, but you're paralyzed from the neck down. Thank goodness that you're a Powerpuff girl, or else your broken spine, well around the neck anyway, would not heal completely. If you were an ordinary human, a condition like that would have been fatal or it might leave you paralyzed forever!" Blossom let out a cry of shock and relief. "Are you sure it's temporary?" The professor stroked her hair, "Not to worry sweetie, your nerve cells around your neck had already begun to heal… I was quite amazed. I had to perform the surgery to properly align the broken vertebrae and split nerves. After that, healing should be like tending to a broken arm or leg. Besides that, your vision should return after a couple weeks…I'm not sure abouthow long beforeyouwouldregain your feeling…" Blossom then smiled a little bit as she let out a sigh of relief. "Alright…What about Brick? Is he ok?"

The professor took a deep breath and explained the details. He told her that Brick had been crushed bitterly. "Like in your case, his bones and cells are starting to heal, but his brain's condition is very critical. I'm afraid he's in a coma right now, being held on life support. I'm sorry sweetie, but so far, his chance of recovering looks bleak…" Blossom then started to cry as she could not believe what had happened. "If I hadn't stopped to give my sisters those plans… then Brick wouldn't need to push me out of the monster's way and get hit!" She thought as she sobbed lightly.

The professor told her that he will give her some time alone and left the medical bay of his lab. He went back upstairs to join the others. "Blossom is ok…Brick is the one I'm worried about…" He told the children. They all let out a sigh of relief for Blossom and showed looks of concern for Brick. "Well, all we can do for now, is pray and hope that Brick comes out of the Coma." Boomer muttered as he bowed his head. The others joined him in a quick prayer and went on to do the things they need to do, to arrange for the incapacity of their leaders.

Later that night, Buttercup and Butch had decided to take command of the group until their siblings recovered completely. Buttercup and Butch flew down to the medical bay and hovered to Blossom's side. Butch hovered over to Brick's bed, which was next to Blossom. As he whispered quietly into his brother's ears, he took Brick's cap off his head and put it on. "Please wake up, I don't want to be the acting commander forever!" He jokingly spoke into Brick's ear, hoping it would wake him up.

Blossom heard Butch whispering and then felt a hand touching her face. "Blossom…don't worry about Brick…he'll be fine. And don't worry about the team going down without leaders…if you don't mind…me and Butch will take over for you two, at least, until both of you are good as new…" She heard Buttercup say. Blossom's eyes started to water as she felt emotional about being disabled and hearing her sister offering to take up her position to lessen the burden of leadership. "Awww, thanks BC! Of course I don't mind! Just…promise me you won't send the team crashing down into failure ok? Since I'm the one who's still awake…you can seek advice from me if you need it…" Buttercup just smiled and pecked her sister on the forehead. Buttercup then proceeded to take Blossom's hair bow off her head. "I know…the passing of the hair bow…you told me this before." With that, Buttercup adjusted the hair bow on her head. It felt weird on her short, black hair. She saw Butch wearing his brother's cap. It was a bit over sized for him.

Blossom smiled as she imagined how funny her sister looked with her hair bow. She then heard Buttercup giggle. "What? What's so funny?" Blossom then giggled when Buttercup told her how Butch looked with Brick's cap. Butch then spoke up, "Okay, Blossom…thanks for trusting us… we'll come down almost everyday to seek your advice… we'll promise you that… now, please…get some rest." Blossom nodded and said, "I will, goodnight and good luck being the leaders!" Buttercup thanked her sister again and went upstairs, holding her boyfriend's hand. The two of them looked at each other and smiled. They knew it was the right thing to do. They went to bed, hoping that their first day as the leaders will be easy and hoping that their siblings would recover quickly.

A/N: Okay, people! Chapter 1 is finished. It's sad to know that Brick and Blossom are out of commission, but it's good to know that Butch and Buttercup will continue the legend. Stay tuned for the next chapter, as more exciting events are to come around. Chapter 2: "First Day" will be posted soon enough!