Title: For Lost Years
Author: SeBriar
Summary: The boys are back after having disappeared for years. They must be up to something, but what? And who's leading these random attacks on the town? It's not the boys, so who?
Pairing: RrB/PpG
Rating: T, because they're teens.
Genre: Romance/Drama/Family
Details: Ruffs and Puffs are 16, and for the sake of the story as they grew older they developed fingers, toes, noses, etc.
Disclaimer: I most definitely don't own the Powerpuff girls. I simply own the plot and the OC's in this story.
Chapter One: Spinning, Blasting, and Overwhelming

Lets all blow a kiss to my awesome Beta, Elizabeth Burke! Without her this would be riddled with capitalization errors! She came up with the title too!

''An unjust peace is better than a just war.'' -Marcus Tullius Cicero

Bubbles let her blue bag slide down her shoulder and drop to the ground, watching her opponent warily. ''What do you want, Boomer?'' She asked, ''It's been a long time since we last saw you guys.''

He smiled widely, playfully, shifting his feet apart in a ready stance. ''We're under new management,'' was all he said before bringing his hands together in a sharp 'CLAP!' and shattering the windows of the buildings surrounding them, making Bubbles stumble back a few steps. Before she could fully regain her bearings he was in her face. He grabbed her hands and turned his body to make both of them start to spin.

He spun them around and around, faster and faster until both their feet were off the ground.

''Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles~!'' He chanted before releasing her. Boomer watched her fly through the air, raising a hand above his eyes to see her shrinking form better and block out the bright glint of the sun. ''It's going, going, gone!'' He cheered when she slammed into the side of a building.

He took off and she shot off after him, trying to blast him with her eye-beams.

Boomer swiveled and dodged, laughing. He turned around so he was flying backwards to face her. ''C'mon, you can do better than that, right? I mean, you haven't even hit me yet!''

Bubbles puffed her cheeks indignantly. ''Fine! Take THIS!'' She screamed, the force of which breaking many more windows and sending Boomer spiraling face first into the pavement below.

He spit out pieces of concrete, and shook the residue from his now disheveled hair. ''Now you're getting into it!''

Buttercup scowled as she tossed her pack some ways behind her. ''So I see you boys are showing your faces again. Why? Finally decided to stop running away with your tails between your legs?'' She sneered.

Butch shrugged off the taunt. ''Who's running? I'm here to fight, Babe.'' He tackled her to the ground, sending them rolling in a heap. Buttercup kicked him off and jumped to her feet, prepared to punch him into the ground, only to be shoved roughly into a parked red minivan across the street and denting the vehicle beyond repair. She threw the car away from her, grinding her teeth together angrily.

Butch slammed his fist into the street, leading it to crack in a sharp line headed straight for Buttercup. She gasped as the ground exploded under her feet and she fell into the large newly made crater.

''Fucking Bastard!'' She growled, floating slowly out of the crater and glaring at him, her eyes glowing a fierce green. ''I'll punch your fucking face in!''

Butch floated up and backwards, opening his arms invitingly. ''Ha! Ha! Ride me, Bitch!''

Buttercup let out a loud, outraged cry. Using her body like a battering ram she slammed into him. He let out an ''Oof!'' Then he grabbed one of her shoulders to force her away from him before kneeing her in the stomach and sending her back a few feet.

''I thought you were supposed to be the 'Toughest Fighter?' What a joke!'' She spat some blood from her mouth, and Butch stalled at the sight of it. ''Aw, shit,'' he muttered quietly to himself. ''I hit her too hard...''

Beyond pissed off now, Buttercup clenched her fists and allowed them to glow green with her energy. She sent a fist-beam his way, and he shot upwards to avoid it, sticking his tongue out tauntingly.

Buttercup breathed heavily, her temper now spiraling out of her control. ''GrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!'' She screamed, cracking him in the jaw with such ferocity he was sent crashing through several buildings (estimation: 17) before finally crashing through the window of an office building, landing in a poor woman's cubicle, and effectively destroying her work space. Not to mention knocking her off her chair and sending them both sprawled into a heap on the carpeted flooring.

''R-Row-Rowdy-R-Rowdyruff...'' She fainted, and Butch sheepishly untangled their limbs before standing up.

''Er, my bad,'' he mumbled, looking around at the shocked faces of the other workers who'd come running to see what was going on. He glanced back down at the unconscious woman before looking back at them, scratching the back of his head abashedly. ''Yeah, uh...somebody should probably help her, don't you think?'' They nodded dazedly. ''Alright. Well, bye.'' He took off out of the broken window, rubbing at his suddenly irritated eye. Stupid contact lens camera. It was so distracting.

''BASTARD! Where the hell are you?'' He heard.

Smirking, he shouted, ''Hey, Babe! Up for more?''

His answer was a bicycle tire to the face.

Blossom frowned, setting her backpack down on the sidewalk softly before floating up to meet her stoic counterpart. He hovered a few feet infront of her, arms crossed and dark red eyes boring into her bright pink ones.

''What's going on?'' She got right to the point. ''It's been eleven years since we've seen you. Why the sudden urge for confrontation?'' From appearances alone she could tell he'd changed from the stupid (borderline mentally disabled) boy he'd been as a child. He looked cold and analytical; completely 'no nonsense.' And with the skills to back it up now, she was sure. His long hair was held in a neat low ponytail and he still wore the red cap he'd had since they'd met. Not that she could talk; she still wore her bow after all.

Brick narrowed his eyes in scrutiny, rolling them at the big floppy bow atop her head and continuing to take in the changes her body had gone through since they were only kids, before focusing back on her face in a bored manner. ''Believe me, there are so many more productive things I could be doing with my time than wasting it with you.''

''Why are you here then?'' She asked, preparing herself for the inevitable fight; if the loud crashes she was hearing throughout the city was any indication to their less than peaceful intentions.

He didn't answer, but his eyes seemed to glow a darker red as they stared at her intently. She almost didn't recognize it for what it was and had to throw her body to the left to avoid the blast of Heat Vision sent in her direction. Instead it hit a diaper-related billboard some distance behind her, melting it.

Her frown deepened. If these fights dragged on there was going to be alot of property damage done to the city...

''You should keep your focus on your opponent.'' She tuned, and swallowed thickly to see the red Ruff directly infront of her. ''I could have killed you just now.''

She found it hard to believe that any single attack he could've used would take her down so easily, but she did turn her full attention to their fight. Expenses for the city's repair could wait. She knew it would take more than girlie kisses or stabs at his masculinity to defeat him this time. She could tell by his completely uninterested demeanor.

''Fine,'' she snapped, moving back to get out of his immediate vicinity and firing a ray of Heat Vision and following it up with a pink Eye-Beam. He batted them away with his arm like they were flies, barely blinking at the normally lethal attacks.

''A word of advice,'' he drawled, closing one eye and firing his own red beam out the other, which she just managed to dodge, though not without getting the ends of her hair seared. She scowled crossly. ''Don't try to use anything heat wise against me.''

She clenched her fists in preparation for his next attack (he seemed disinclined to fight hand to hand combat, so she expected another blast of some sort) but blinked in confusion when she saw his eyes cross and become unfocused. Then he blinked twice, focusing on her again.

''Lucky you. No more eye related attacks then.'' That through her off; she didn't understand why he would suddenly not want to or not be able to use said attacks.

She had to hurry and throw her arms infront of her to block the Fist-Beam he suddenly sent her way. Then he stretched one arm out and pointed directly at her, a narrow red beam shooting out of his index finger. Surprisingly, this one was more painful, and she guessed it was because it was more concentrated. She had to wonder how he did that, as she'd never been able to shoot beams out of individual fingers.

Then, Brick seemed to forgo beams altogether, ambushing her with a flurry of punches and kicks that were almost impossible to keep up with. She blocked a kick aimed to her head. Undaunted, Brick did a cartwheel like motion in the air, ending upside down in front of her as he dug his fist into her abdomen, sending her crashing to the street.

She glanced around her, surprised there were no cars coming as she pulled herself out of the gravel. With all six of them fighting like this someone was bound to get hurt.

As if reading her mind, she heard Brick say from above her, ''No need for the heroics to distract you today. I've ordered my brothers to take special precautions not to harm your precious townspeople.'' As he talked, he motioned disinterestedly to the town itself. And while there were several damaged buildings and the streets were suspiciously empty, she'd yet to see or hear anyone calling for help.

Her eyebrows shot up with surprise, then lowered skeptically. ''Why would you do that?''

He stared at her blankly, seemingly contemplating whether she was worth answering or not. He apparently decided she wasn't (which annoyed her to no end since he'd yet to answer any of her questions) because he came at her again, his face empty of any kind of emotion as he attacked her. It hurt just to block the hits, and the ones that landed smarted painfully.

Beginning to get overwhelmed, she took a deep breath, letting it out in a burst of ice. His arms were busy and he said he couldn't use his Heat Vision (for whatever reason) and a counter Ice-Breath wouldn't be able to stop-

Brick inhaled, letting out a small sigh, melting the Ice-Breath and evaporating it into steam.

Blossom blinked owlishly, one arm blocking a punch and the other raised before her face for protection. In her mind she reanalyzed their fight, realizing she had yet to land a hit on the stoic boy infront of her. She herself was already scratched up, bruised, and singed.

Leaning back in her chair, she allowed her eyes to flicker between the three images on the split screen of the large monitor. She took notes silently on the way the girls on the screen moved.

Hayate (Hi-yah-tay) paced beneath her seat. The obsidian colored lion cub let his eyes continually wander to he screen, staring at it with something akin to impatience. Then he threw a glare in her direction, never pausing in his steps.

''Those are the girls, Haya.'' Hayate paused to give her a flat stare, and she had to wonder how much time she'd spent with this animal that she could interpret it's looks. ''You can't see the boys because the cameras are in their eyes. They'll be back soon...in fact I think they can come back now; I've got enough to go on, I think. That, and their scratching those girls up too much. I told Butch to watch it...''

Hayate mewed and nodded sharply, apparently pleased. She rolled her eyes, leaning forward to press the yellow button on the long panel infront of her. ''Boys?''

On the screen, she saw Brick's camera image go black for a moment, indicating he'd blinked in surprise. Boomer's jerked suddenly, and Butch's was fast approaching the ground before knocking into a fire hydrant, making her and Hayate wince.

''You can come back now; I have all the information I need to begin construction.'' Hayate jumped onto her lap, mewing at the screen.

''Hey, it's Hayate! Hi Hayate, did you miss me?'' Boomer's voice filled the room, and Hayate mewed happily, which was a far cry from his usual grumpy self.

''You and that cat...'' Butch muttered. Hayate growled.

''Hayate is not a cat, he's a LION.''

''Cat family.''

''We'll be back in five minutes or less,'' Brick interrupted, tired of hearing the same argument on a daily basis.

''Alright. See you then,'' she replied.

''Who the hell besides us actually has a lion for a pet anyway?'' Was the last thing she heard before cutting off the connection. She looked down to the cub in her lap, who stared back up at her expectantly.

''Okay, Haya, it's time to get to work.'' Hayate climbed up to her shoulder as she stood, walking deeper into the large laboratory. ''The suits aren't going to build themselves after all.''

Boomer back flipped into the air, avoiding the fist Bubbles slammed into the ground where he'd been previously standing. She flew up to meet him and prepare for his next attack, when he suddenly grabbed her hands and brought his face uncomfortably close to her own. She flushed at his proximity. He smiled and she blinked, wondering if she was going to be thrown again.

''Sorry, Bubbles, gotta report to base, I'll be seeing you though!'' He let go of her hands and took off, a dark blue streak in the sky. She let her arms drop to her sides when it disappeared and slowly floated back to where she'd left her bag

'What just happened...?'

They absentmindedly greeted the professor as they came in, heading straight up the stairs to their room. Bubbles dropped her bag on the floor and fell unceremoniously on her bed with a soft sigh. She felt buttercup do the same beside her, too lazy to go across the room to her own.

Blossom blew her tousled bangs out her face and threw her backpack onto her bed in the middle of the room and stood infront of them.

''The hell was that?'' Buttercup started, sitting up. ''Why would they just leave like that?''

''I don't know...'' Blossom muttered, ''Brick just started mumbling to himself and took off.''

Bubbles sat up too, sitting back and folding her legs comfortably on the bed. ''Boomer said something about having to 'report to base.'''

Blossom crossed her arms and sat down next to them, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully out one of their circular windows. ''For whatever reason, Brick told me he'd ordered his brothers not to hurt anyone. Did they hurt anyone?''

Buttercup blinked in surprise; Bubbles tilted her head in contemplation. ''Come to think of it, nobody was on the streets where we were. Our fight was all over the downtown area, but I hardly saw anyone unless I crashed through the wall of a building.''

''There wasn't anyone where I was either, and we fought all over the city.'' Buttercup said, scowling suspiciously.

''We know they didn't do anything with the people because we still saw them, they just weren't outside.'' Bubbles added.

''Yeah, but why? The people of Townsville are so used to chaos that they hardly have the sense to stay inside anymore. Why the sudden change?'' Buttercup asked, annoyed with all the odd things going on.

Blossom kept silent for a moment and let her sisters toss theories back and forth. Suddenly standing up to pace back and forth made the other two cut their conversation off, looking at her questioningly.

''I'm trying to figure out their motives for attacking us. In the past I would assume it was for revenge, but they basically dropped off the face of the earth for so many years...And if they wanted revenge they wouldn't have fled when they weren't at any discernible disadvantage.'' She paused, staring off before she resumed her pacing. ''They came for something and they got it; the question is what.''

''BLOSSOM! Phone for you!'' Their father called from downstairs.

''Coming!'' She replied, glancing at her sisters before making her way downstairs. The professor handed her the phone before leaving and walking up their stairs. ''Hello? Blossom Utonium speaking.''

''Yes, hello. My name is Jennifer Carlfer, and I'm calling on behalf of my employer Dr. Catherine Magnesium. She would like to offer you and your sisters a tour of her establishment, Magnesium Industries. Ms. Magnesium has designed many military training gadgets and weapons inspired by your superpowers, and she would greatly appreciate your opinion on her work.''

Blossom hesitated, before deciding it couldn't do any harm. ''Sure; we'd be happy to.''

''How about two days from now? Is this Saturday alright?''

''It's fine. May I have an address?''

There was a pause on the other line. ''Don't worry. Somebody will be over to escort you and your sisters there. Thank you for your time.''

The line went dead and Blossom hung up the phone with a frown. ''I've never heard of Magnesium Industries...''

''We're back!'' Boomer announced, jogging into the room without a care in the world and heading straight for the large monitor, where Hayate slept in the chair.

Brick walked in next, rolling his eyes at his brother and walking to the adjoining room of the lab. Butch followed him in, rubbing his nose and scowling. ''She broke my nose.''

A woman with long blonde hair held back with a black headband and wearing a lab coat with black gloves stood in the middle of the empty, white-tiled room. She held a remote control in her hands and was just about to engage the system when the boys walked in.

Butch ran up to her, completely invading her personal space and pointing desperately at his nose. ''She broke my nose! Fix it please?'' He whined.

She smiled indulgently, taking his jaw in her hand to pull his face down slightly and touching his nose lightly with the other, earning a hiss and a muttered cuss. She let go of his face and smiled wider. ''Your nose is already healing. Give it half an hour and you should be fine.'' Butch stomped out the room angrily, nursing his damaged nose.

Brick came up to her next, taking the Lens Camera out of his eye and handing it to her. ''It's not fully heat resistant.''

''I told you I hadn't tested it yet, and that you should keep Heat Vision to a minimum, didn't I?'' She reprimanded. Her answer was a blank stare, so she just sighed and pocketed the lens.

Brick glanced around the room disinterestedly before looking back at her. ''So what are you doing? You hardly ever come in here.''

She smiled brightly and gestured to the remote in her hand, ''I'm doing a test run. We'll be needing this room in the near future, I'm sure.''

Brick's eyes widened minutely. ''It's operational?''

She nodded. ''It should be.'' He seemed to be struggling to restrain himself from asking, so she put him out of his misery. ''Would you like to be my first test subject?'' The stoic mask fell slightly and his eyebrows shot up before he breathed a quick ''Yes.'' It reminded her of when he was a child and wasn't nearly as reserved as he was now.

''I haven't built the suits yet, so I'll start you on an easy level.'' She turned the dial on the remote to '4' and pressed the green button. ''Mind you, I'm expecting you to keep me out of harms way, since all I have on from my gear are the gloves.

Brick smirked and stood protectively infront of her as the room faded and took up the image of Townsville Harbor, where something started to emerge from the water.

Boomer smiled as he pushed the black fingerless glove with a green stripe around the wrist against Hayate's nose. ''C'mon, Hayate. We've been practicing this for weeks; don't you want to impress Mom?'' The cub glowered at him. ''One more time then! Track, Hayate.''

The cub took a deep whiff of the glove before bounding off across the room to Butch, who stood over a desk, pushing objects around and murmuring to himself.

Butch yelped when the animal jumped up and sunk it's sharp teeth into his arm, then proceeded to push off from the floor and fly around shaking his arm, trying to get it off. ''What the hell, Boomer?'' He shouted, flying right up to his brother and holding out the his arm with the lion cub still attached.

Boomer sheepishly dislodged their pet from his livid brother's limb. ''I said track, not attack. He always gets them mixed up...''

''Stop trying to teach the damn cat to be a dog,'' Butch seethed, rubbing his arm with a scowl.

Boomer and Hayate scowled back. ''He's not a cat! He's a lion!''

''Whatever.''

Both of them turned to the elevator when it suddenly opened, revealing a young woman with short frown hair wearing a baby blue blouse and black pencil skirt.

''Hey Boys, where's Cathy?'' She asked them as she stepped into the room.

''Mom's in the Training Room with Brick.'' Boomer answered, looking over at the room. From where he stood he could see the windows along the wall flashing with red light. ''It looks like they're doing something, so make sure you knock first.''

She nodded, walking across the lab and knocking on the door.

''YES?'' She heard Cathy shout from the other side, followed by explosions and angry roars.

''It's Jen!''

''OH! OKAY, JUST A MOMENT!'' Seconds later the sounds died down and the door opened. Cathy walked out with an accomplished smile while tying her hair back into a low ponytail. Brick came out behind her, his clothes were ripped and he was covered in scratches but he kept his face blank. He nodded at her as they followed Cathy to her desk.

She picked up her clipboard, scribbling furiously and smiling widely. ''This went better than I thought! Just wait until I get the suit armor ready! Would you like to test it out for me again tomorrow, Brick?'' She asked, grinning at the disheveled redhead.

He nodded, ''Why not.''

She placed the clipboard back down before turning back to him. ''Now lets fix you up.'' She touched her gloved index finger to his forehead, and he closed his eyes as the cool wash of healing spread through him, closing up his cuts faster than his super healing would've.

He opened his eyes again as he felt her remove her hand. ''Thank you,'' he said quietly.

She nodded.

''HEY! I SAW THAT! HOW COME HE GETS TO BE HEALED AND NOT ME?'' Butch yelled from the other side of the room.

''Brick had full body injuries, Sweetie. Yours was just your nose,'' she called back.

''I had a broken BONE!'' He protested.

''Isn't it healed now?''

He faltered. ''Well. Yeah, but-''

''So your fine.''

Boomer chuckled as Butch huffed and stomped over to the elevator, leaving the lab.

''That's amazing,'' Jen said, astonished, and both Brick and Cathy turned to her.

Cathy raised an eyebrow. ''You've seen me do this before, Jen.''

''I have, but only one injury at a time; not multiple ones!'' Brick blinked, as if just realizing she'd healed all of his injuries at the same time.

Cathy pulled off one of her gloves, and Brick frowned, staring at the burn mark on the back of her hand. She clenched and unclenched her fist, wincing a bit. ''The Chemical X in my system is still unstable, but I've designed these gloves to help me control it more precisely.'' She said, pretending not to notice Brick's frown deepening.

Jen suddenly snapped her fingers, remembering why she came down there. ''I called the girls for you; they'll be by Saturday afternoon.'' Brick's eyes widened before narrowing angrily.

''They're coming here?'' He hissed, turning to Cathy. ''You're inviting them to our house?''

She ignored his tone as she always did and answered calmly, ''They're not going into our apartment suites, Honey. They're touring the building and then I'm bringing them down to the lab. I would appreciate it if you would accompany us.'' The way she said it sounded like much more than a simple request.

''They'll know that we work here.'' He said, glaring at her.

She lifted his hat off his head, making him blink, and flicked him in the forehead. ''You don't work here, Brick. You live here.''

He crossed his arms to avoid rubbing his head because that flick had actually stung. ''Fine. I'll help you show the girls around.'' He conceded, mostly because he just wasn't ready to get in an argument with her.

She smiled and handed him back his hat, and he left the room with an angry scowl.

''So...am I your favorite now?'' Boomer asked on the other side of the room, Hayate dozing in his arms.

''Go upstairs, Boomer.''

Hope it was good. I'd love some feedback; this is the first multi-chapter story I've ever attempted to write. And tell me if you think Cathy and Jen are too Mary-Sue. I haven't really delved into anyone's personality yet, but if you can pick it up already let me know and I'll try to fix it.