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"Wow! This is amazing, Professor! Thank you so much for letting me come with you!" The auburn-haired seventh grader raced around the gymnasium with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a child in a candy store. Her father sped along behind her, panting and struggling to keep up. Unfortunately it was all he could do to match her superhuman stamina.
"Ha...ha...Blossom please slow down! I know you're excited but you're going to wear me out!" Blossom stopped and scratched her head, giggling sheepishly. The Professor gave her shoulder a loving squeeze and together the two strolled through the various stations set up throughout the gymnasium.
Just a week earlier, the Professor received a call to act as a judge in a national high school level science fair. Blossom had desperately wanted to go, and so the nerdier members of the Utonium family had turned the occasion into a five day vacation; it was a week filled with intellectually stimulating humor and mind-blowing scientific discovery. The fair had fallen on the second day of their trip, and Blossom couldn't contain her excitement as she stared in awe at the marvelous science projects that had been gathered.
"Wow! I can't believe Bubbles and Buttercup are missing this! These must be the smartest teenagers in the whole country, right Professor?" The Professor chuckled and leaned over one project, examining it closely.
"Well, at least in the field of science, I imagine. Still...I'm quite impressed with the projects we've seen so far. I certainly wasn't making anything this advanced at their ages!" The two laughed as Blossom dragged the Professor to yet another station. The pimply-faced young man proudly engaged the Professor, showing off his blueprints and detailing the specs of his invention. Blossom smiled pleasantly, tapping her lip as she looked around.
Truth be told, she was a little underwhelmed. It was exciting, there was no doubt about that. The vacation was essentially an excuse to nerd-out and relish in her vast intellect without Bubbles or Buttercup teasing her. Still, she'd been hoping for something a little more fantastic. The Professor had mentioned a name...she couldn't quite recall, but there was supposed to be an exceptional student, even for this crowd, present.
'I wonder who it could be...' Blossom mused. She glanced back at the Professor, waving and pointing off toward another station. Her father smiled and waved, returning to his conversation with the pimply-faced student and one of the other judges. Blossom strolled amongst the projects, her smile never faltering. Blossom paused, turning to watch a newcomer set up his station. He was a tall, lanky boy with neatly combed black hair. Blossom frowned, he was completely alone. At least the others seemed to have friends or at the very least family with them.
"Um, hey, do you need any help?" The lanky boy jumped, spinning around and hiding his invention. Blossom smiled in a friendly way, waving. The lanky boy frowned and returned to setting up his project.
"No, I think I can manage," Blossom nodded, but stayed where she stood and watched him continue to set up. She gasped, recognizing the invention. It was a cylindrical metal device with duranium tubing connecting two large battery packs to an output filter. As he pushed a small black button, it whirred to life and displayed an energy output on a small black screen in green characters.
"Oh wow! Is that an Ionic Compressor Core?" The lanky boy blinked and looked up, peeking over his thick glasses.
"Yes, yes it is...you've seen one before?" Blossom nodded, hurrying over and looking at the device. The Powerpuff girl couldn't believe her eyes...she was in complete awe.
"Yeah, my dad and I built one a few weeks ago but...but wow! Yours is so much smaller...what's the energy output?" The lanky boy adjusted his tie and laid out his schematics, adjusting a dial on the ionic compressor core.
"Give it a moment to reach optimal output..." The device beeped and two green lights blinked on on either side. Blossom stared at the readout, hand over her mouth in deep concentration. The boy frowned, making a few notes on the schematics. He flipped a switch and the two green lights switched to blue and the readout changed so quickly, Blossom gasped out loud.
"There you have it. The optimal energy output is approximately seventy terajoules," The black-haired boy said in a nonchalant tone. Blossom couldn't help laughing sheepishly as she made a move to look at his schematics. The boy seemed confused, but nonetheless turned them toward her.
"You've built an ionic compressor core?" Blossom nodded, flipping through the boy's notes. Her smile kept getting bigger. This had to be the boy the Professor had mentioned! He was even more brilliant than she'd imagined.
"Well, I helped my dad build one. But it wasn't nearly as efficient as yours, it only produced about thirty terajoules and it was so much bigger!" The boy crossed his arms, looking more confused by the second. He narrowed his eyes, fidgeting uncomfortably when the door opened and another student came in.
"...What exactly did you need an ionic compressor core for?" Blossom laughed and peered up through her long bangs.
"Would you believe a giant fighting robot?" The boy chuckled, —it was a weird laugh, three longer chuckles and five quicker ones—, and peered closer at her. Blossom smiled back nervously, looking back down at the schematics.
"Haven't I seen you before?" Blossom bit her lip. Was it worth the attention? She was actually enjoying not having her reputation following her everywhere she went. It was nice being invisible for once.
"Um...maybe, I've been on TV," She stated simply. It wasn't a lie...it was just vague enough to deter his interest. At least, that had been her intention. Instead he looked even more interested.
"That's right...you're-" The door opened and a crowd was quickly forming. The lanky boy visibly bristled; Blossom stood on her tip toes—, just resisting the urge to fly—, trying to see through the crowd.
"Please, please, let me get set up then you can take all the photographs you want," Blossom furrowed her brow and shrugged, turning back to the lanky boy. She was taken aback by his gloomy, dark expression.
"Um...I'll be back! My dad has to see your ionic compressor core. He's one of the judges, I know he'll love it!" Before the boy could respond, Blossom hurried through the crowd, trying to find the Professor. The crowd seemed to stick around the newcomer. Blossom gasped when a robot rose up from the crowd. It was humanoid in appearance...long, lanky arms with big bulky legs. There was a space in the center where someone could sit. There were clearly holes for their legs in the robot legs and hand controls for the arms. The whole robot was plated with silvery-blue duranium. The crowd erupted in a sea of applause.
"Thank you! Thank you! Let me present to you my latest, greatest invention! It is an improvement on a previous design, giving the rider physical abilities second to none! Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Silver Combatron Exo-Suit 9001!" The crowd erupted in another sea of applause. Blossom whistled, watching as the student, a shorter boy with messy red hair and glasses, climbed into the contraption and began to demonstrate its abilities.
"Wow! That's some invention, huh Blossom?" Blossom turned to the Professor with a smile. He grinned back and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "This young man was the one I told you about. I believe his name is Dexter...I hear he's one of the smartest young men in the world! I have to admit, that robot is impressive, isn't it?" Blossom nodded, tugging the Professor away from the crowd.
"You have to see this other project, Dad! It's incredible!" The Professor blinked, wondering just what could be more impressive than a fighting robot battle suit. The two approached the lanky boy, who was brooding alone at his table. The Professor smiled, offering a handshake to the young man.
"Hello there! I'm Professor Utonium, one of the judges today! And you are?" The boy stood up, giving the Professor a firm handshake. Blossom beamed when the boy glanced at her.
"Please, Professor...call me, Mandark," Blossom blinked —that wasn't what she had been expecting. The Professor smiled and turned to Mandark's invention.
"Oh wow! An ionic compressor core! Why, my daughter and I built one of these just the other week. Now let's see...oh my gosh! Seventy terajoules?! That's incredible! Is that correct?" Mandark blinked, but quickly grinned and held out his schematics, going over them with the Professor.
"Yes, it is. It was actually quite simple. By replacing the usual uranium core with a tritonium core, I was able to raise the output without increasing the potential radioactivity," The Professor whistled. Mandark glanced over his shoulder, staring at Blossom who was now floating off the ground trying to read the schematics. Blossom gasped and dropped back to the ground, blushing.
"Um...sorry, that was rude of me," Mandark laughed—, there it was that weird laugh, again— and shook his head.
"I knew I recognized you-" Panicking, Blossom slipped away, thankful for the Professor engaging Mandark in further discussion. With a sigh of relief, she opted to slip through the crowd and check out this new student's invention. Dexter...that was the boy genius the Professor had been told about? Well...his robot was definitely impressive...but it could be her usual interaction with robots that made Blossom less than enthusiastic.
"Yes and as you can see, the duranium plating makes it not only durable, but also very stylish!" Blossom forced her way to the front of the crowd and strolled up to the robot, examining it with a critical eye. For a high school student...it was impressive. It was actually up to par, maybe even better than, some of Mojo's best Robo Jojos. Blossom glanced around the station, smiling when she found the schematics. As she reached for them, a purple gloved hand cut her off. She jumped as the papers were snatched away.
"Um, hey! Can I see those?" Blossom asked, sidling up to Dexter. He was just about equal to her in height, it was almost humorous really. Dexter glanced at her, glaring through his sharp rimmed glasses.
"Hm? I'm sorry, but these aren't coloring papers, little girl, these are very important scientific documents!" Blossom narrowed her eyes, her mouth hanging open in shock. Blossom put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
"I am well aware of that! I just wanted to look at them, I know a thing or two about robots," Dexter raised an eyebrow, wearing an incredulous smirk.
"Uh huh...I'm sure you do. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to explain to the scientific officials the details of my robot. Could you please step away from it?" Blossom glanced up at the robot.
"Why? I just want to get a closer look," As she turned to get closer, Dexter yelped and jumped forward, grabbing her arm. Instinctively, she nearly threw him across the room. It was only be sheer force of will that Blossom managed to simply turn to him.
"Don't touch it! I haven't received my first place prize yet! I do not need some silly little girl scratching my robot!" Blossom tugged her wrist away from him. Dexter stumbled and glared at her, but Blossom conceded and walked away from the robot. Her arms crossed and with a frown deeply etched on her face, Blossom sighed and sat down, resting her chin in her hands. She glanced over at Mandark, who was now alone—; the Professor had gone to start judging the different submissions. She glanced back at the crowd near Dexter. Blossom glanced up, weighing her options.
She turned back to the robot and narrowed her eyes. They began to glow pink and the inner workings of the robot became visible to her. Blossom wasn't surprised to see an ionic compressor core powering it, it was standard for most large scale combat machines. She did notice, with a slight sense of disappointment, that it was more powerful than the one she and the Professor had built. She also noticed, with a sense of satisfaction, that it wasn't nearly as powerful as the one Mandark had built.
"And the winner is...Dexter, for his Silver Combatron Exo-Suit 9001!" An explosion of applause filled the gymnasium. Blossom frowned and dropped her chin in her hands. It was an impressive invention...that much was for sure. But, from a technical standpoint...a door slammed. Blossom jumped and looked around. Mandark was gone, his red second place ribbon on the floor with a dirty footprint on it. Blossom scurried over and picked up the ribbon. With a sigh, and one last look toward the door that had slammed, Blossom went to find the Professor.