|| Change Of Heart || AU ||

- • Prologue • -

Prologue || Changing Hearts

(Updated: June 22nd 2023)

Third-Person Perspective..
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'Ah, Another day in the city of Townsville.. But Oh, What's this? It appears the Mayor is signing off on a new law. But what law is it?'
"As the Mayor of Townsville, I declare this new law! What does it say again?.. Oh! As the Mayor of Townsville, I declare that all evil doers under the age of 13 will be given human rights, and the chance to change! Failure to comply or change, rights will be revoked, and they will be treated as normal villains. Succeeding to comply and change completely, their label as 'Villain' will be removed, and will become a true citizen of townsville!" The Mayor spoke into the microphone, as the crowd around Townsville Hall gasp, and whispering between various people ensued. The Powerpuff Girls let out by far the loudest gasp.
"What?! Mayor, you can't do that!" Blossom yelped, flying up to the Mayor.
"Why not?" The Mayor asked, having always been a dunce.
"What if something really bad happens because of this?! What if it's exploited?!" Blossom exclaimed, but the mayor didn't seem phased.
"Oh well!" He said, walking off the stage and back into townsville hall, muttering something about pickles. The girls looked at each other, distressed. What exactly did this mean? Would they not be allowed to beat up the Rowdyruff boys, or Princess Morbucks?
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Around 2 months later, an few anonymous people reported a case of child neglect and abuse to CPS, about the Rowdyruff Boys. Cautiously, CPS reached out to the Powerpuff girls, in order to properly investigate HIMs Dimension and Mojo's Lair..
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5:00pm, September 25th.
There was a knock at the Utonium residence, who could it be? Professor Utonium answered the door.
"Ah, who is it?" He asked, opening the door with a smile. His smile dropped almost immediately once he saw that it was CPS.
"Hello. Are you Professor Utonium?" Asked an agent, with another one standing beside him. Both wore black suits and sunglasses
"Y-yes, I am Professor Utonium." The Professor said, doing his best to remain calm, while terrible scenarios ran through his head.
"Good. We are Child Protective Services, otherwise known as CPS. Are the Powerpuff Girls at home?" One of the officers asked, looking at the Professor with a bland facial expression.
"Yes, o-of course.. Girls!" The Professor called, anxious. The 3 little girls in pink, blue and green come flying downstairs.
"Yes Professor?" They asked, inspecting the agents at the front door.
"Who are those people, Professor?" Bubbles asked innocently, looking curious at the 2 agents.
"We are agents from Child Protective Services. Don't worry, we are only here to enquire the help of the Powerpuff Girls with a new case. None of you are in trouble." One of the agents reassured, voice still bare and blunt, but with a kind undertone.
"Oh, well we can certainly do that! Although, we've never been needed by CPS before.. Usually the police or the Mayor ask for our help. What seems to be the issue?" Blossom said, standing up straight and heroically.
"Well, Earlier today we received a call from an anonymous person, claiming that the 'Rowdyruff Boys' are currently in an unsafe home situation. Since they are villains, we need your help with this affair. We cannot access their home currently, since it is located in a different dimension." The other agent blunted, remaining professional and emotionless. The girls gasped audibly, and looked at each other.
"Uh.. How do you know this wasn't a false report? I- I'm sure the 'Rowdyruff boys' aren't actually in a bad situation.. Right?" Blossom asked, uneasy.
"That is why we have to investigate, Blossom. Will you girls assist us?" The agent asked, face still and indifferent.
"Yes, uh.. Agent?" Blossom asked, feeling a sudden rush of guilt. "Agent Maywood." Said the agent to the right, the only noticeable features were her strawberry blonde hair and fair skin with freckles.
"Agent Beauen." Said the agent on the left, his only noticeable features being his brown skin and short dark hair.
"Okay, Agent Maywood, Agen Beauen, we'll help you." Blossom confirmed, all 3 of the puffs looking uneasy.
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The Powerpuff girls entered HIM's Dimension, with both of the agents. Agent Beauen started writing things down on his clipboard, seemingly writing things down about HIMs Dimension, red and confusing. The place was basically a labyrinth.
"Do you know where HIM and the 'Rowdyruff Boys' are?" Agent Beauen asked, as Agent Maywood looked around cautiously.
"They should be just down the hall, take a left, before taking 2 rights, but then take a left at the square hall, before taking another right–" Bubbles spoke, before Blossom put a hand over her mouth.
"Let's just lead the way, this place is too confusing otherwise." Blossom corrected, beginning to walk down the hall. Bubbles, Buttercup, Agent Maywoods and Agent Beauen following behind her. Agent Beauen continued to jot things down on his clipboard, as they made their way through the red labyrinth. It looked like a cave, a red one. You could see obvious marks of fights that had happened within the dimension.
After 15 minutes of walking, they arrived at the open area of HIMs dimension. Filled with floating islands, of random and strange scenes. While looking around, the powerpuff girls spotted a floating room with a door.
"I think that's it!" Buttercup shouted, pointing at the room. They all began to walk over to the room, as they got closer, they could hear distant, unintelligible talking. Once they approached the door, the talking got clearer, and you could hear multiple, small voices talking.
"Thank you girls for your compliance, please give us some privacy now. These situations are better handled by agents alone. Please find HIM." Agent Maywood said, turning to face the power puff girls.
"Uhm, are you sure? The Rowdyruff boys are pretty difficult and rude to work with–"
"I am an agent, Blossom. I have been an agent for 15 years. I have worked in over 10,000 cases. I have almost died several times in my job. There is nothing I am not ready, trained, or able to take care of. Now, go and find their caretaker." Agent Maywood said strictly, glaring at Blossom through her sunglasses. The powerpuff girls complied, and left to find HIM.
..
Agent Maywood went ahead, and knocked on the door. The talking stopped instantly. There were a few moments of silence, before a small boy, with red eyes, and fiery ginger hair, with a red baseball cap. He wore a red shirt with a black stripe in the middle, with black pants and sneakers. He had some scars, and bruises. Ones that couldn't have been from falling over. Agent Maywood crouched down to his height.
"Hello. I am Agent Maywood, you must be Brick Jojo." She said, her voice softening a tiny bit, having lost its former harshness.
"Yea, that's me. Why are you here?" Brick growled, frowning at her. Glaring daggers, which didn't affect her.
"We're here to take you and your brothers. Are your brothers here?" Agent Maywood said, as Agent Beauen jotted a few more things down. Brick's eyes suddenly widened, and Boomer, a boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, the same outfit as Brick, except blue, with similar injuries, and Butch, a boy with black hair, green eyes, and once again the same outfit but in green, were quickly at Brick's side. They shared the same face of horror as Brick.
"Whaddya mean by that?!" Shouted Brick.
"What are you talking about?!" Cried Boomer
"You can't do that!" Shrieked Butch.
"Calm down, boys. I see Boomer and Butch are also here, it's alright. You need to listen to us, please." Agent Maywood said, looking at each of them, as Agent Beauen continued jotting things down. The boys looked at each other with confusion, before whispering a few things to each other. After a bit, they seemed to come to a conclusion. "Fine. What do you want?" Brick asked, both of his brothers crossing their arms, and standing besides each other, somewhat defensively.
"We just need to talk about your guardians, and your current home life and situation." She said, looking at the three boys.
"Uhm.. Do you mean Mojo Jojo, or HIM?" Boomer asked, seeming a little less defensive.
"Both. Tell me, where did these marks come from?" She asked, gesturing to the scratches and bruises that you could see because of their rolled up sleeves. They pulled their sleeves down uncomfortably, after realising how visible they were.
"We fight the powerpuff girls, where else would they come from?" Brick bluffed, rubbing his eyes.
"You're bluffing. Because they don't look like scratches or bruises that could've been caused by kids your age. It looks like a claw could've done it." Agent Maywood frowned sternly, grabbing Brick's arm with a gentleness that didn't show in her voice or face.
"So what? Yeah, maybe HIMs snipped us a few times, not like it matters." Brick said, looking away with snatching his arm back. Agent Beauen instantly started writing this down on his clipboard.
"That matters quite a bit, Brick. How many times has he 'snipped' you? Do you know why he does it?" Agent Maywood asked, inspecting the wounds.
"He does it whenever we don't win a fight with those dumb Powderpuffs!" Butch exclaimed, coming out from behind Brick with a scowl.
"I see. Come with us, and let's continue this.. Conversation." Agent Maywood explained, standing up and dusting herself off.
"Huh? But– Ugh, fine." Brick rolls his eyes yet complies, and starts to follow Agent Maywood and Agent Beauen, Boomer and Butch follow besides him. Agent Maywood stood to their left, and Agent Beauen stood to their right, escorting them out of HIMs Dimension.
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They now stood in the CPS, where the Agents and higher-ups discussed where the boys would go. The boys sat in a smaller room, which had some toys to distract them, but it didn't work. Brick paced around, wondering what was going to happen. Boomer and Butch sat on the floor, more curious than worried.
"Brick, why do you keep walking around?" Boomer asked, cuddling Octa close to his chest.
"Don't any of you find this weird?! What if something bad happens, huh? What if we get separated? What if we never see each other again? What if—" Butch slapped a hand over Brick's mouth.
"None of that's gonna happen! We won't let it happen, right?" Butch said confidently, fighting back the worry and fear that was clouding his mind from Brick's words.
"Yeah, we won't let anything bad happen to us!" Boomer perked up, now standing up while pumping his fist.
"Y..Yeah! You guys are right, I was worried about nothing!" Brick brushed off, pumping his fist with Boomer.
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Brick was right to worry.
"W-What do you mean we're getting put into separate foster cares?!" Boomer cried, looking at his brothers with fear. He was on the verge of tears at the news.
"Yeah! Y–You can't do that to us! It's– It's not fair!" Brick screamed, fury and despair bubbling up.
"You can't just tear us apart from each other! That- That has to be illegal or something!" Butch shouted, fighting back tears as well.
"I'm so sorry, but there is nothing else we can do. This is the only way this is going to work. I'm afraid these are the only terms that are going to work, be good and abide by the law." Mr. Wotts said, crossing his arms over his desk.
"Do we look like people who 'abide by the law'?!" Brick screeched, scowling.
"Powerpuff girls, please escort them out." Mr. Wrots said, feeling a tiny bit guilty, but knowing there was nothing else he could do. The Powerpuff girls came in, and grabbed their respective Rowdyruff Boy. They squirmed and squiggled, shouted and cried.
"NO! You can't do this to us!" Butch screamed, wriggling around violently in an attempt to escape Buttercup's iron grasp. Boomer was practically screaming while bawling his eyes out, kicking and crying.
"Let us go!!" Brick yelled, trying everything to try and get out of Blossom's grip.
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It was all to no avail..
All of the boys were separated into different Foster systems.

Boomer was in Pokey Oaks Foster Homes And Care System..
Butch was in Citiesville Foster System, 3 hours away from Boomer and Brick...
And Brick? Brick was all the way in Stonesville, near the border of Stonesville and Snowsville, in Edgar's Foster Care For Little Boys. A Boys-only Foster care.
This would all be fine if they could just run away and find eachother again, but..
Unfortunately, Professor Utonium, the bane of their existence, came up with a new invention.
It was this forcefield, one that'd electrocute you if you tried to leave it. Not strong enough to hurt anyone, but strong enough to make you lose consciousness.
What was to happen now?

Would they ever get to see each other again?
Just how long would they be without each other?...
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End Of Prologue || Changing Hearts.