Other Fan Fiction ❯ Atomic Galaxy ❯ Chapter 15
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: MikariStar 
Miscellaneous: Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Sci-fi | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 6 | Words: 8.2K | Visits: 275 | Status: Completed
Miscellaneous: Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Sci-fi | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 6 | Words: 8.2K | Visits: 275 | Status: Completed
Atomic Galaxy: Solar System XV
Planet 99: Space Cats
"Betty!" Betty's mother called in that particular tone of voice that hinted the topic of conversation would be Sir Purrsefus.
"What is it mom?" Betty was already anticipating what her mother would ask. She thought she would ask her to do something for her so called little brother but she was pleasantly surprised to find out this time she didn't have to get involved.
"I'm going to take Purrsey to a new and exclusive luxury cat spa that recently opened. It's a three hour drive so I'll be gone for a while. Take care of the house for me!" Her mother was ready to leave with Purrsey in her arms. Betty heard of that spa from Penelope who was taking to her friends loudly enough for everyone else to hear, telling them about how her cats went to the spa on the day it opened. "There's food in kitchen in case I don't get back in time for lunch, bye Betty. Say good bye to your little brother!"
"Bye mom, bye Purrsey," Betty spoke her last goodbye to the cat with a hint of sarcasm present enough to satisfy her, yet hidden enough so that her mother didn't catch it. "Great, another Saturday all alone, not that mom did much except talk about Purrsey and attempt to experiment on my hair." Betty sat on the couch and thought about her options. She didn't even want to think about what her mother left for lunch. It had to be either cat food or barely edible old leftovers.
She could try to locate one of her Earth friends so they could go somewhere together, but they all had their plans. It was the consequences of constantly leaving them waiting. They started to assume she wasn't coming and stopped inviting her. She sighed and turned on the TV, changing the channels a few times before giving up and turning it back off again.
She lay on the couch staring at the ceiling for a moment. "I could go up there," she smiled at the thought. Sparky and X-5 were always willing to spend some time with her and she had fun. As if on cue, her bracelet chimed. "Atomic Betty reporting for duty!"
"Atomic Betty, I need to send you on a special mission," Admiral Degill informed. "This is an emergency. Maximus IQ recently stole a very powerful satellite laser weapon capable of destroying planets from a very large distance. That makes it extremely hard to know what planet will be attacked and gives us very little time to stop him or get the population to a safe place if he uses it. The weapon must be recovered and dismantled immediately."
As Admiral Degill explained, rain began to fall outside and two cats entered Betty's house by an open window. There was a male cat that was orange with black stripes and green eyes. The color of his fur had earned him the name 'Tiger'. Tiger was one of Purrsey's friends and the leader of a band of alley cats called the Lunar Felines. The Lunar Felines were very respected among the cats, both alley cats and house cats. He was chasing after a golden yellow female cat with blue eyes named Goldia. 'Goldia wait, you know I'm telling the truth!'
Goldia was a house cat that sometimes ran off to go on a few adventures with the Lunar Felines. That was one of the few alley cat gangs Purrsey associated with, but only because of their power and respect in the feline world. His only real friend from the gang was Tiger. Goldia ignored him and continued walking across the living room. 'Let's see what Purrsey has to say about it.'
'Purrsey's not here, that's why I had to give Princess his message," Tiger tried to explain. Purrsey was supposed to meet Princess, one of Penelope's cats whom he was dating that day. But his mother, who was actually Betty's mother, told him only an hour ago that they were going to the spa. So Purrsey asked his friend Tiger to give Princess a message explaining why he couldn't go visit her that day. Tiger gave Princess the message with all the nice things Purrsey said about her, but when Goldia overheard she thought Tiger was the one saying those things to Princess.
"I'm on my way!" Atomic Betty was beamed her up. The cats walked by at that precise moment and were beamed up with her. In her haste to recover the dangerous weapon Maximus stole, Betty didn't notice the two cats. "Set a course for Maximus' lair we have to recover that weapon!"
"What's the plan, chief?" Sparky piloted the Starcruiser full speed, while occasionally sneezing.
"We'll have to sneak in and take the weapon before he uses it," Betty did not sound as if she was looking forward to doing it.
"You don't mean we have to sneak in by the trash bin, do we?" Sparky had a look of fear in his face.
Atomic Betty nodded, "I'm afraid so."
"But it stinks in there," Sparky complained and sneezed.
"Too bad you can't simply disable your sense of smell," X-5 voiced.
"Very funny Mr. I can turn off my nose, then again you don't even have a nose!" Sparky pointed to the empty space on X-5's face where a nose would be located.
"My robotic sense of smell is very accurate and the sensors do not require a nasal structure," X-5 countered.
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They arrived at Maximus' lair and snuck in. Everything was going according to plan. "What is this place?" Goldia asked before remembering she wasn't talking to Tiger.
"I don't know, but it has a lot of trash," Tiger had followed Betty, Sparky and X-5 into the trash bin along with Goldia. "We came here in that strange transportation machine. Do you think this is that strange dimension Purrsey said he visited?"
Goldia didn't answer, she simply made her way out of the trash bin ignoring Tiger. "Achu!" Sparky sneezed loudly. "All this trash is giving me allergies!"
"You sneezed on the ship also, maybe you have contracted a space virus," X-5 theorized.
"No, I'm sure it's the smell of evil trash," Sparky insisted.
"I don't like this either, but it's the only way in unnoticed. We can't risk letting Maximus know we're here, he might try to use the weapon right now," Betty cautioned. They made it out of the trash and started searching the lair, staying hidden from the guards.
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The cats had also made it out of the trash unnoticed and Goldia was still ignoring Tiger. Deep down she knew he was telling the truth about delivering Purrsey's message, but she was unhappy with his alley cat ways. It was as if she was looking for any excuse to find out how much he really appreciated her. Goldia continued walking until she was standing right in front of Maximus. She stopped and stared in disbelief. That must be the big cat Purrsey told them about, so it was true after all.
Being a house cat Goldia was used to being around people so she was more trusting of strangers than an alley cat would be. Tiger didn't have very nice experiences with humans due to his stealing of food. Maximus wasn't a human but he walked and dressed like them even if he looked like a cat, so that was suspicious. "Hi," Goldia meowed.
Maximus looked down at the creature that meowed. It was a yellow pet specimen. "Hello, how did you get in here?" He picked up Goldia and petted her.
"Goldia, get away from him!" Tiger hissed from behind some furniture.
Maximus looked around, almost sensing the presence of someone else in the room, but before he could go check, Minimus came in. "Your evilness, are you going to try out your new weapon now?"
"Not right now," Maximus cuddled his new pet. "Look what I found!"
"Another one?" Minimus was disappointed. "Great, another one of those things to clean after," his angry face complained.
Goldia stuck her tongue out in Tiger's direction, then hugged Maximus and licked his face. "Shut up Minimus look how friendly she is. I'll give her a tour of the lair."
"Your evilness, what about the weapon?" Minimus asked once more.
"Not now!" Maximus yelled hitting Minimus on the head. "We can blow up the planets later they're not going anywhere. I want to play with my new pet and she needs a name."
"How about Cheese, they're both yellow," Minimus suggested.
"Cheese is not a name worthy of a pet worthy of me! Her name is Maxima." At that very moment Tiger jumped on Maximus. Goldia tried to stop him but Tiger was very fast. "Minimus, get it off!" Minimus backed away slowly, but Maximus managed to grab him by the tail and tried to hit Tiger with the sidekick, but missed and ended up banging Minimus against the wall several times. Maximus let out a loud half-hiss half-meow and Tiger retreated. Another meow came out and Maximus quickly dropped Minimus and covered his mouth. "I did not say that," he repeated over and over.
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Goldia used the distraction to go find Tiger and yell at him. "That's it? All those alley cat fights and that reputation for being unbeatable and you ran away?"
"He sounded like he was going to fight for real and he's so much bigger than me and... and... Alright Goldia, I lost, you can stay with him if you like him. I want you to know that I was telling the truth about Purrsey's message. I want you to be happy Goldia... I love you, good bye," before Goldia could say anything Tiger ran off.
Goldia knew it was useless to go after him, being Tiger the fastest cat in that area and possibly in their entire dimension. "Tiger, you do care..."
"There you are," Maximus found Goldia. "I wonder why that other one attacked me like that?" He asked no one in particular as he petted the yellow cat.
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Atomic Betty, Sparky and X-5 were still searching for the stolen weapon. As they walked, Sparky tripped on Minimus. "Look chief, it's a Minimus shaped carpet."
"That's the real Minimus," Betty corrected.
Sparky curiously poked him. "I don't think you should do that," X-5 warned.
"Ow," Minimus was half conscious, with his eyes closed. At least they knew he was alive.
"I told you so," X-5 voiced.
"Know it all," Sparky pouted.
"Let's go before he wakes up completely," Betty urged and they resumed their search.
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It didn't take too long for Maximus to locate Tiger, who had gotten lost in the confusing alien structure of the lair. "Stay here I'll go see if I can make peace with him," Maximus placed Goldia on the floor. "Hello specimen soon to be called Maxitwo," Maximus approached Tiger.
Goldia watched, wondering what will happen next. A robot came by and saw her. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" The robot's mechanical voice screamed. The robot tried to hit Goldia with a hammer, but she jumped out of the way and it chased her. Tiger ran pass Maximus and tried to save her.
The robot cornered them but Tiger still tried to protect Goldia. The hammer was about to come down on them and there was noting they could do. "Goodbye Goldia," Tiger tried to cover her from the impact. Both cats closed their eyes but the hammer never came down.
Maximus had deactivated the robot and pushed it away just in time. "Are you two alright? Come here."
"He saved us," Tiger realized. "I guess you'll stay with him..."
"Don't be silly, Tiger. I believe you and besides, he only wanted to keep me as a pet. He's more like the humans than us," Goldia explained. "Let's go say good bye to him before we head back."
Both cats ran to Maximus and he hugged them. "That's better, I knew they had to like me. They'll both be my pets." However, Maximus couldn't get his wish because as soon as he was distracted both cats ran back to the Starcruiser and waited for it to transport them to their dimension.
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Atomic Betty, Sparky and X-5 recovered the stolen weapon and took it apart according to plan. Everything went smoothly save for a few sneezes by Sparky that he blamed on the scent of evil garbage on his uniform.
The cats jumped in the teleporter as Atomic Betty was beamed back to Earth. The cats jumped out the same open window now that the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.
Betty wondered what Maximus could possibly be doing that was more important to him than testing his new weapon; they didn't see him while they were at the lair. There was that time Sparky tripped over the unconscious Minimus, but obviously the sidekick wasn't able to do anything.
Somehow Betty felt like she was missing half the story thinking of those events. She decided it was okay as long as the mission was completed successfully and went to the kitchen to see what her mother left her for lunch. After throwing away the inedible disaster, she ordered a pizza.
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Maximus never figured out what happened to his new pets, but he concluded that they left in whatever way they came. "Minimus, Did you find the weapon?"
"No your evilness, I can't find it," Minimus replied. "Maybe if you were more organized things wouldn't get lost!" His angry face added still in disbelief the rather large weapon of mass destruction had been misplaced.
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Planet 100: A Cup of Sugar
The police officer made his way past the yellow lines that surrounded the front yard of the house. This murder was exactly like the other murders that happened on the same date of each month for the past three years. He had spoken to the neighbors and just like the neighbors of the past victims, they testified that earlier that night they had seen a little girl knock on the door. They didn't know why the little girl was there, but they said she left quickly without taking anything from the house. Some people said the girl was a spirit and because she was denied what she asked for, she came back for revenge. The officer didn't believe such a fictional tale, he only believed in facts.
Stepping into the house, he looked at the bodies on the floor for a brief moment. He couldn't look at them for too long before feeling the need to look away. A young couple was on the floor, their heads at the other side of the living room, as if they had been ripped off with amazing strength. The expression on their faces was of pure terror. The bodies presented no wounds from the shoulders down, but they were covered in sugar and there was a large pool of blood around them.
No matter how many murder cases he investigated, such scenes would always impress him. Even if he didn't believe in ghosts, he wondered if there was a connection between the little girl and the murder cases. He had learned in his investigation that something like this happened every month, but it took a long time to establish similarities because the murders happened all over the universe and didn't follow a pattern in terms of the victims. There had been victims of many races and ages, rich and poor.
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The next month, far away, Maximus IQ was watching TV in a large living room at his lair. Minimus PU had fallen asleep on the other side of the large couch, but since Maximus didn't need anything at the moment, he didn't wake his sidekick. His channel surfing was interrupted by the sound of the door bell and Maximus wondered who could it be at this hour of the night. Normally, he would send Minimus to get the door, but something unusual was going on. Some people say that many years ago felines had the ability to look into the spirit world. Many say that less evolved felines can still do it. Maximus never believed he had such a power, if there was a spirit world to begin with, but he couldn't deny that there was something going on. He was so curious, he went to answer the door himself.
Upon opening the door, he found a little girl. "Hello Mr. Super Villain. Could I please have a cup of sugar?"
Maximus remained silent for a moment. There was something very strange about that little girl. He was trying to figure out what it was, but couldn't. It was as if she was there, but at the same time wasn't. It was a sensation that was very hard to explain.
"Please?"
He didn't know what was it about that little girl he was sensing, but something told him he better give her that cup of sugar. "Yes…"
"Thank you Mr. Super Villain. I guess not all villains would commit a murder over such a simple request." The little girl smiled. "May you be safe of lost spirits who are looking for revenge." Then she vanished without waiting for the sugar.
Maximus never told anyone about the strange event, but knew the remnant of a forgotten instinct had saved him.
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Planet 101: Guardian of the Spirit World
Betty's mother was all alone with her cat Sir Purrsefus in her house that night. Her husband was on a business trip and would not return for two more days. Her daughter was at a sleepover and wouldn't be back until the next morning. The blond woman sat in her room with only the light of her flashlight. Her cat was scarred and wouldn't let her sleep. "It's alright Purrsey," she whispered as she petted him gently. "You're safe here, mommy's with you." Her words didn't calm the feline. There was something out there, Purrsey knew there was something, but he didn't understand it.
A loud crash of thunder that sounded like it landed right in the backyard made her suddenly hug the cat. She took a deep breath and waited for her heart beats to slow back to normal. A violent storm was taking place outside and she knew the electricity couldn't be repaired in that weather. The wind created strange noises in the darkness of the night. "I'll be right back Purrsey," she would feel better if she checked to make sure all the doors and windows were closed.
Leaving the cat that was like a child to her in her room, she ventured into the rest of the house with only her flashlight. She tried to check everything quickly so she could return to Purrsey. She was going to check a window that faced the backyard when another loud crash of lightning was heard, followed by Purrsey's terrified meows. Assuming that window was closed, she rushed back to her room. She didn't see the creature that jumped inside the house by the open window.
"Purrsey sweetie it's okay, mommy's here." She searched for the cat but couldn't find him. "Purrsey honey, where are you?" She threw the blankets and pillows all over the floor desperately searching for her baby. "Purrsey, this isn't funny!" She looked under the bed and in the closet, but he wasn't there. Maybe he ran past her and she didn't see him.
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A creature about the same size as Purrsey stood a few feet away from the window it used to enter the house. Purrsey hissed angrily, warning it to turn back.
The creature was covered in blood stained black fur and had glowing red eyes. It shows its long sharp fangs and claws, warning Purrsey to retreat.
"Be gone evil one!" Purrsey hissed. Only another cat would be able to understand him.
"Get out of my way guardian. The human's blood will be my meal this night!"
Cats were once long ago the guardians of the spirit world. Some say that even today when a spirit escapes, cats can sense it and drive it away. If it is a good spirit that has gotten lost, cats can lead it to where it belongs. In times of the past felines had the power to exterminate evil spirits and ghosts, that is why the supernatural still fear them, that one was a traitor. That cat had sided with the undead and betrayed his kind. "You won't go near her!"
A desperate battle began between the two felines. Purrsey was injured but he wouldn't give up, even if there was little he could do against this creature. No matter how much he scratched the undead cat didn't appear to be affected by it.
Hearing the cats fighting, Betty's mother followed the sounds armed with a baseball bat she borrowed from her daughter's room. If some alley cat was picking a fight with her Purrsey, he was in for it now. "Purrsey, come here! I'll handle this!" She tried to hit the creature with the bat, while also holding the flashlight.
The creature moved too fast. With lightning falling near by, light entered by the window and for a brief moment, the woman saw the creature's appearance clearly. "It's a zombie vampire cat!"
The creature leapt, aiming to bite the human's neck. Purrsey jumped at him from the side, biting and scratching until the creature's spine was broken. Even with its spine broken in half and sticking out its back, the creature didn't give up. "You will pay for this guardian of the spirit world!"
"Only if you catch me first, that is if you dare!" This is exactly what he wanted, to anger the creature and lead it away from his human mother. The creature chased Purrsey as he jumped out the window and disappeared into the darkness.
"Purrsey, come back!" It was so dark outside and the wind and rain were so strong. "Purrsey!" She went out to the backyard to see if Purrsey was still there. "Purrsey!" The batteries of her flashlight died out, leaving her in darkness.
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"No, stop, don't hurt her! Ah!" Paloma screamed as she woke up from her realistic nightmare.
"Paloma?" Betty, who was sleeping over woke up also. "What's wrong?"
"I had a nightmare, but it's not too late, you're awake, it won't sneak up on you now." Paloma had predicted many things that came true.
Betty suspected that there was more to her than a normal human girl. Maybe she wasn't from Earth. "What is it? What's going to happen?"
"Someone betrayed the guardians of the spirit world. They are our protectors of ancient times. But one of them joined the evil spirits. That one should have been sealed away." It was dark but Betty thought she saw Paloma's eyes turn orange for a moment. "They're coming!" Paloma opened the window for Purrsey, then she quickly closed it again, even if she knew it would be useless.
An undead cat scratched at the closed window before his black fur became a ghostly white and he passed to the other side without breaking the window. Purrsey hissed angrily. He was leading that thing to Betty in hopes that she knew what to do. She once took him to that place where that super evolved cat lived. If she knew him, then maybe she knew how to help.
Betty couldn't waste any time. She had to attack with her bracelet's laser. It had no effect, so she tried throwing stars but the creature simply shook them off. "What is that thing?"
"It is a powerful undead creature, a traitor of the guardians of the spirit world, but he should have been sealed away!" To Paloma, this didn't make sense. If only the vision had come to her earlier she would have time to think about it. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, when she opened them again they were bright orange with a black line in the middle. She tried to concentrate even with the fight going on. "The lightning, it was the lightning. I know what to do. Betty hold him off, I'll be back soon!" Paloma jumped out the window.
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Paloma ran as fast as she could to Betty's house. She thought she saw Betty's mother at the other side of the street, but looked away and tried to hurry. She didn't have time for questions now. She jumped the fence to Betty's backyard and searched for the area where the lightning crashed. She found a hole on the ground and in it there was a magic medallion, broken in half. It must have been buried there for a long time and the lightning was powerful enough to break it, but Purrsey could fix it. He probably didn't know how it worked, but maybe he could help. She ran back to her house, she had a bad feeling about this.
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Betty had tried everything by the time Paloma came. The only thing left to do was avoid being attacked and hope Paloma had a solution. Finally, the creature was able to tackle Betty to the floor. He was about to bite her when Purrsey pushed it against a wall away from Betty. They didn't get along but he wasn't going to let that thing kill her.
"Purrsey!" Paloma returned and set the two pieces of the medallion on the floor. The symbol of a cat's paw could be seen broken in half.
Paloma picked up Purrsey and kicked the creature away. The creature fell on its feet and jumped at them, but Betty punched it in mid air.
"Here you go Purrsey, just concentrate and your ancient powers should return to you just long enough to make that thing go away," Paloma placed Purrsey's paw on the symbol of the medallion. The medallion began to glow and the two pieces were magically repaired. The creature was trapped once again and by the magic of the spirit world, Purrsey was completely healed. "It's over… Maybe you should hang on to this for safe keeping," she handed the medallion to Betty.
The red haired girl looked at it. She would have to make sure the Galactic Guardians kept it in a safe place so that creature wouldn't escape again. "I'll make sure it doesn't break again."
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Planet 102: Your Lucky Color is Red
It's time to decide what color the students will wear during graduation. Such a small detail could keep the Earth safe or get it blown up.
"Blue," Betty declared her color of choice. She had been asked by Noah which color she preferred and that was her choice. A choice that she thought at the time would not change. The high school students were about to graduate and for the events they would wear the classic graduation robes. Those days, only colleges used the classic black and schools almost always used other colors. If the winning color was going to be blue or red, it was yet to be decided.
Noah nodded his agreement. "Yes, I think that's the best choice."
"Right, blue should win." Betty had her own reasons to say that. In a way their costumes looked similar to Maximus IQ's clothes and red would make them too much alike. Little did Betty know that by stating her opinion aloud she had doomed the color blue to lose.
"Red!" Penelope shouted as she awaked by. She had heard Betty say blue. "Red will be the color that wins."
Sarah and Megan looked at each other slightly confused. "Didn't you say you wanted blue to win before?"
"I did not say such a thing!" Penelope insisted.
Betty immediately realized what was going on. Penelope was always trying to do the opposite of what she wanted. But this time she wouldn't get her way. The color would be decided by everyone's votes not just hers.
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By the next day, word on the hall was that red would win. The possibilities had shifted overnight. It was Penelope's doing, she was using her popularity to get her way. "Did you hear what everyone is saying? They said red would win. Just yesterday it looked like blue was going to win." Noah arrived at their usual lunch table.
Paloma was there too. "I have a feeling this turn of events may be a good thing."
"You think so?" Noah asked.
"Yes... Oh, never mind maybe it's nothing. Wouldn't it be great if Penelope lost?" Paloma continued.
"I hope she loses. Why did it have to be red? They might as well throw in a pair of cat ears while they're at it," Betty grumbled.
Paloma, who understood the joke, laughed, but Noah looked confused. Paloma obviously found it funny, but he could not find the humorous relation between cats and the color red. He couldn't exactly call it a Betty thing if Paloma also understood. Maybe it was just a girl thing. "I've heard Penelope was going to vote blue, and all her fans along with her, but she changed her mind because she heard you wanted to vote blue too," Paloma revealed.
"Yeah, it's true, that's pretty much how it happened," Betty got an idea. "Maybe I can use this against her." A plan was put in motion. Betty made sure to let everyone know how much she loved the idea of the red graduation robes because they matched her hair. This reached Penelope's ears and so another drastic change was made in the color possibilities. The next day the students would vote after school and the results would be counted and reveled the following day's afternoon.
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Even if the votes were secret, everyone knew what everyone voted for. The answer was just a question away and sometimes people said it without even being asked. Their graduation clothes color was the main topic of discussion everywhere on voting day. Satisfied that it looked like blue would win, Betty, Noah and Paloma walked home laughing, joking and discussing their plans after they finished high school. Little did they know that the Earth was doomed.
First they arrived at Noah's house. Then Betty and Paloma continued walking on their way to their respective houses. Everything was fine until Paloma stopped. Holding her head with her eyes tightly closed. "Paloma!" Betty wondered what could possibly be wrong. Paloma was perfectly fine just a second ago. "We're already in front of my house, come rest inside."
Paloma nodded trying to get the images out of her head. Once inside she sat down on the couch. "That vision..."
"Rest a little, then you can tell me about it. I'll go get you some water." Betty soon returned with a cool glass of water, which Paloma drank.
Taking a deep breath, Paloma reveled her vision to Betty. "I couldn't see it clearly, but I know it's bad. I sense death and destruction upon the Earth. There was a red dot in a blue background. Then there was a voice yelling something about an enemy. After that, came an explosion, then total silence. The Earth had been destroyed, it blew up and we all died."
Betty knew the situation was serious. Paloma's ability to predict the future had improved greatly over the years. Her predictions still needed to be interpreted. "How can we stop this from happening?"
"I'm not sure yet, but I will figure it out." Paloma had to find out what to do. She wouldn't accept that the planet that had become her home was doomed to be destroyed.
Purrsey curiously approached. For some reason he always liked Paloma. He jumped into her lap and meowed. She was worried and so was Betty. Except Purrsey never cared much for his sister, but Paloma was another story. She was different from any human had had ever met, it was a good kind of different.
Paloma petted him. Animals always liked her. It was as if they could sense she was different, but that gave them trust instead of distrust. "Its okay Purrsey, we'll be safe." She concentrated trying to find the answer to their problem or at least a clue. When she closed her eyes she saw the colors in the beginning of her vision. There was a dot of red in a lot of blue. It was as if those colors would decide the fate of the Earth. She had learned that the smallest details were enough to affect the lives of millions of people. If she could only find out how those colors were tied to reality. What did they represent? She suddenly opened her orange eyes as the answer came to her. Her eyes changed back to human looking brown eyes. "The graduation colors... Blue will win."
For a minute Betty wondered how this was related to the possibility of Earth being destroyed. There was the part of Paloma's vision where she saw those colors, but could her school's graduation clothes somehow decide the future of the Earth? "I don't quite understand."
"Me either but many times my visions only tell me what I need to do and not why I need to do it. I think it will all become clear in the end. We need to make red win somehow. If that is what this vision is telling me to do, then I'll know it when we do it." Paloma explained.
This plan would probably include breaking into the school, finding the votes and changing them so that when they were counted the next morning, red would be announced as the wining color that afternoon, but doing all of that was certainly a much better choice than letting the Earth blow up.
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Betty and Paloma met that night at mid night in front of the school. With a little help from the Starcruiser breaking in without breaking anything was no problem. After being beamed inside, searching for the votes was another story. After checking several offices they finally found them half an hour later. Paloma had tried to use her abilities to find the votes, but instead got the same vision over and over again. She concluded it was happening because the vision was so powerful. To stop an entire planet from being destroyed was a very important thing after all.
Once they had the votes, there came the task of changing them to make sure red won, without it looking suspicious, and putting everything back how it was. With that done, the girls later left the school unnoticed. What was a little lost sleep compared to an entire planet? Besides, it wouldn't be the first time they stay up late saving a planet.
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The next day came and to everyone's surprise the winning color was revealed to be red. "I feel a lot better now," Paloma announced after hearing the news.
"Then the Earth is out of danger?" Betty asked.
"Yes, I'm sure of it now," Paloma answered.
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Time passed and graduation day came. As Noah, Betty and Paloma enjoyed the events, on Earth's atmosphere, Maximus's ship approached Canada.
"Putting a tracking devise on the Starcruiser has been my best plan yet," Maximus looked at the radar. "I'm such a genius!"
"If you're such a genius why didn't you do this years ago?" Minimus's angry face asked. Maximus hit him on the head, making the sidekick's head spin around, stopping on his normal face. "You're a genius your evilness!"
"Yes, I know I am. People should worship my greatness." Little did he know, that he was about to get his wish, or so he would think.
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The graduation events had nearly ended and everyone had received their medals and awards. All except for one student who was in the honor roll and had perfect attendance. Oddly enough he didn't show up for the graduation events and no one knew why. Rumors had their own theories. Some said he was sick, some said he was dead, some said he was kidnapped by aliens and some said he was an alien who had to return to his home planet, but no one knew the truth.
Maximus had decided to take a look around the planet before destroying it. The tracking devise placed on the Starcruiser indicated that the ship had had come to a point near by, stopped briefly then headed back into space returning to the Galactic Guardian headquarters. Maximus assumed that Sparky and X-5 were taking Atomic Betty to her secret home planet before returning to the headquarters.
"It's an invader!" Someone yelled.
Maximus looked in the direction of the voice and saw Duncan. He looked familiar, but it had been such a long time since the day Betty's bracelet was stolen, that Maximus didn't remember where he had seen him before.
"You're not welcome here!" Duncan yelled. "You're the enemy!"
Maximus noticed that everyone there was wearing red, except for the one called an enemy. Their clothes were somehow similar to his, except they all had funny looking hats.
"Did you hear that?" Paloma headed towards the commotion with Betty and Noah. The graduation events were over, but the graduates would stay for a little longer, then return that night for the prom.
The guy wearing the blue graduation robe must be from their rival high school. No wonder Duncan was making such a big deal out of it. Their football teams hated each other. The one in blue, clearly outnumbered, fled the scene.
Betty realized something. "If blue had won for our school then his school would have probably picked red."
"A little red in the middle of a lot of blue," Paloma nodded. But surely that boy couldn't be the one to cause the chain reaction to bring Earth to its destruction. Maybe there was more to it than that.
"I thought the girl with the rabbit ears on her hat was the most original, but that guy takes the cake," Noah pointed.
Betty and Paloma looked to where he was pointing and found none other than Maximus IQ. Sometimes students added little details to their hats like the girl with the rabbit ears. Sometimes they modified the graduation robes like that guy who panted a shark in the back. It would seem that people thought Maximus was only in disguise.
"A red dot," Betty started to say.
"In a sea of blue," Paloma finished.
Had their color been blue, then Maximus would surely stand out. Everyone would probably still assume he was just an original student in disguise, but if their color was blue and red belonged to the rival school, then he wouldn't blend in. Duncan would most likely notice and go looking for trouble because, due to their team's rivalry, he had come to have a strong dislike for anyone from that school. He would anger Maximus, who would end up retreating to his space ship and blowing up the planet in revenge.
A teacher who was carrying the medal and award that belonged to the student that had been absent spotted Maximus. "There you are. We thought you weren't coming." He was in disguise, which was not like him, but maybe since this was his graduation day, he wanted to be original. Everyone else was present so the one in the cat disguise had to be their missing student.
"I was expected?" Maximus was confused. How could those pre-contact ignorant creatures know he was coming? It was odd enough that Betty chose a pre-contact planet as her home, but that a civilization that could hardly be called civilized knew about his existence was also a big surprise.
"Well of course. Here, these are yours and don't forget the hat, didn't you bring it? Good thing I brought some extra hats," the teacher voiced.
Maximus then received a medal with the word 'honor' written on it and an award for perfect attendance. That student was the only student with perfect attendance in the entire school. The word 'perfect' was written on the award. Names were rare or none existent in awards those days. It was a lot easier for the school to order a certain amount of medals for the honor students that were all the same than to have each one inscribed with their names.
After the teacher left, a square rock slowly approached. "Your evilness!" The rock called.
"Minimus?" Maximus looked at the odd rock, which didn't look anything like any real rocks on that planet.
"The tracking devise was destroyed. Its signal was coming from the Galactic Guardians headquarters but now it's gone. They must have discovered it and destroyed it. I just thought I'd let you know. Besides, I was getting bored of waiting for you to come back so I came here to tell you," Minimus rambled.
"Suddenly it all makes perfect sense. Let's return to the ship," Maximus decied and they snuck away, back to the ship.
xoxox xox xoxox
Once out of his square rock disguise on the ship, Minimus took a good look at the silly hat Maximus was wearing. "Nice hat!"
"Shut up Minimus! This is an important cultural item in that planet!" Maximus hit him on the head. He took off the hat and looked at it. It really was strange. It was a red square with little gold decorations that hung to the side.
"Are you going to blow up that planet now your evilness?" Minimus inquired.
"No, it was all a trick. The Galactic Guardians knew about the tracking devise all along. Instead of revealing the location of Atomic Betty's home planet, they led me to the planet of my worshipers. Did you see it? They are obviously my fans. Maybe I'm some kind of legendary superior being in their planet. They all looked so happy that I had finally visited their planet and look what they gave me." Maximus showed off the medal and award. "They think I'm honorable and perfect!"
"They're all crazy," Minimus's angry face muttered. He quickly switched faces and changed the subject. "Then that's not Atomic Betty's secret home planet?"
"No, I'm sure Atomic Betty couldn't stand to live in a planet where everyone admires my greatness so much. This planet will not be destroyed," Maximus concluded.
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On Earth, "I believe Maximus thinks people in this planet worship him, so I doubt the Earth is in any danger," Paloma realized.
As if on cue, Betty's bracelet chimed and she answered it. "Atomic Betty reporting for duty!" Paloma being a Galactic Guardian herself, already knew about Betty's little secret so there was no need to hide.
"Atomic Betty I have bad news. We discovered a tracking devise on the Starcruiser that might have revealed the location of your home planet to the enemy. Since his usual symbol was on it, we have concluded that the tracking devise belongs to Maximus IQ. It was destroyed, but he might already know the location of your secret home planet." Admiral Degill paused. "Why are you dressed like that?"
"It's all part of the plan," Betty replied. "Don't worry about Maximus discovering my secret. Paloma and I already took care of that."
"Excellent! We can always count on you to be a step ahead of everything Atomic Betty. Atomic Paloma, you have become a great Galactic Guardian as well," Admiral Degill didn't know how they did it, but if the Earth was safe, then everything was fine.
They saluted and ended the communication just in time. "There you are," Noah found them. Betty had been disappearing for years and some time ago, Paloma started disappearing with her. "We're all still going to the prom tonight together, right?"
"Of course," Betty replied. "We deserve a little party, right?"
"Right!" Paloma agreed, they had saved the Earth after all. Even if no one on the planet knew about what they did, knowing that the Earth was safe was enough for them. There they were, laughing together as if they knew something he didn't know. Betty and Paloma, those two girls would always be a mystery to Noah.
End of Planet 102
End of Solar System XV
Disclaimer, I don't own Atomic Betty. The title Planet 102 is based on one of Cait Sith's fortunes "your lucky color is blue" in Final Fantasy VII. Minimus's square rock disguise is a reference to Konohamaru from Naruto. The episode where Betty's bracelet is stolen is "Bracelet Yourself".
Planet 99: Space Cats
"Betty!" Betty's mother called in that particular tone of voice that hinted the topic of conversation would be Sir Purrsefus.
"What is it mom?" Betty was already anticipating what her mother would ask. She thought she would ask her to do something for her so called little brother but she was pleasantly surprised to find out this time she didn't have to get involved.
"I'm going to take Purrsey to a new and exclusive luxury cat spa that recently opened. It's a three hour drive so I'll be gone for a while. Take care of the house for me!" Her mother was ready to leave with Purrsey in her arms. Betty heard of that spa from Penelope who was taking to her friends loudly enough for everyone else to hear, telling them about how her cats went to the spa on the day it opened. "There's food in kitchen in case I don't get back in time for lunch, bye Betty. Say good bye to your little brother!"
"Bye mom, bye Purrsey," Betty spoke her last goodbye to the cat with a hint of sarcasm present enough to satisfy her, yet hidden enough so that her mother didn't catch it. "Great, another Saturday all alone, not that mom did much except talk about Purrsey and attempt to experiment on my hair." Betty sat on the couch and thought about her options. She didn't even want to think about what her mother left for lunch. It had to be either cat food or barely edible old leftovers.
She could try to locate one of her Earth friends so they could go somewhere together, but they all had their plans. It was the consequences of constantly leaving them waiting. They started to assume she wasn't coming and stopped inviting her. She sighed and turned on the TV, changing the channels a few times before giving up and turning it back off again.
She lay on the couch staring at the ceiling for a moment. "I could go up there," she smiled at the thought. Sparky and X-5 were always willing to spend some time with her and she had fun. As if on cue, her bracelet chimed. "Atomic Betty reporting for duty!"
"Atomic Betty, I need to send you on a special mission," Admiral Degill informed. "This is an emergency. Maximus IQ recently stole a very powerful satellite laser weapon capable of destroying planets from a very large distance. That makes it extremely hard to know what planet will be attacked and gives us very little time to stop him or get the population to a safe place if he uses it. The weapon must be recovered and dismantled immediately."
As Admiral Degill explained, rain began to fall outside and two cats entered Betty's house by an open window. There was a male cat that was orange with black stripes and green eyes. The color of his fur had earned him the name 'Tiger'. Tiger was one of Purrsey's friends and the leader of a band of alley cats called the Lunar Felines. The Lunar Felines were very respected among the cats, both alley cats and house cats. He was chasing after a golden yellow female cat with blue eyes named Goldia. 'Goldia wait, you know I'm telling the truth!'
Goldia was a house cat that sometimes ran off to go on a few adventures with the Lunar Felines. That was one of the few alley cat gangs Purrsey associated with, but only because of their power and respect in the feline world. His only real friend from the gang was Tiger. Goldia ignored him and continued walking across the living room. 'Let's see what Purrsey has to say about it.'
'Purrsey's not here, that's why I had to give Princess his message," Tiger tried to explain. Purrsey was supposed to meet Princess, one of Penelope's cats whom he was dating that day. But his mother, who was actually Betty's mother, told him only an hour ago that they were going to the spa. So Purrsey asked his friend Tiger to give Princess a message explaining why he couldn't go visit her that day. Tiger gave Princess the message with all the nice things Purrsey said about her, but when Goldia overheard she thought Tiger was the one saying those things to Princess.
"I'm on my way!" Atomic Betty was beamed her up. The cats walked by at that precise moment and were beamed up with her. In her haste to recover the dangerous weapon Maximus stole, Betty didn't notice the two cats. "Set a course for Maximus' lair we have to recover that weapon!"
"What's the plan, chief?" Sparky piloted the Starcruiser full speed, while occasionally sneezing.
"We'll have to sneak in and take the weapon before he uses it," Betty did not sound as if she was looking forward to doing it.
"You don't mean we have to sneak in by the trash bin, do we?" Sparky had a look of fear in his face.
Atomic Betty nodded, "I'm afraid so."
"But it stinks in there," Sparky complained and sneezed.
"Too bad you can't simply disable your sense of smell," X-5 voiced.
"Very funny Mr. I can turn off my nose, then again you don't even have a nose!" Sparky pointed to the empty space on X-5's face where a nose would be located.
"My robotic sense of smell is very accurate and the sensors do not require a nasal structure," X-5 countered.
xoxox xox xoxox
They arrived at Maximus' lair and snuck in. Everything was going according to plan. "What is this place?" Goldia asked before remembering she wasn't talking to Tiger.
"I don't know, but it has a lot of trash," Tiger had followed Betty, Sparky and X-5 into the trash bin along with Goldia. "We came here in that strange transportation machine. Do you think this is that strange dimension Purrsey said he visited?"
Goldia didn't answer, she simply made her way out of the trash bin ignoring Tiger. "Achu!" Sparky sneezed loudly. "All this trash is giving me allergies!"
"You sneezed on the ship also, maybe you have contracted a space virus," X-5 theorized.
"No, I'm sure it's the smell of evil trash," Sparky insisted.
"I don't like this either, but it's the only way in unnoticed. We can't risk letting Maximus know we're here, he might try to use the weapon right now," Betty cautioned. They made it out of the trash and started searching the lair, staying hidden from the guards.
xoxox xox xoxox
The cats had also made it out of the trash unnoticed and Goldia was still ignoring Tiger. Deep down she knew he was telling the truth about delivering Purrsey's message, but she was unhappy with his alley cat ways. It was as if she was looking for any excuse to find out how much he really appreciated her. Goldia continued walking until she was standing right in front of Maximus. She stopped and stared in disbelief. That must be the big cat Purrsey told them about, so it was true after all.
Being a house cat Goldia was used to being around people so she was more trusting of strangers than an alley cat would be. Tiger didn't have very nice experiences with humans due to his stealing of food. Maximus wasn't a human but he walked and dressed like them even if he looked like a cat, so that was suspicious. "Hi," Goldia meowed.
Maximus looked down at the creature that meowed. It was a yellow pet specimen. "Hello, how did you get in here?" He picked up Goldia and petted her.
"Goldia, get away from him!" Tiger hissed from behind some furniture.
Maximus looked around, almost sensing the presence of someone else in the room, but before he could go check, Minimus came in. "Your evilness, are you going to try out your new weapon now?"
"Not right now," Maximus cuddled his new pet. "Look what I found!"
"Another one?" Minimus was disappointed. "Great, another one of those things to clean after," his angry face complained.
Goldia stuck her tongue out in Tiger's direction, then hugged Maximus and licked his face. "Shut up Minimus look how friendly she is. I'll give her a tour of the lair."
"Your evilness, what about the weapon?" Minimus asked once more.
"Not now!" Maximus yelled hitting Minimus on the head. "We can blow up the planets later they're not going anywhere. I want to play with my new pet and she needs a name."
"How about Cheese, they're both yellow," Minimus suggested.
"Cheese is not a name worthy of a pet worthy of me! Her name is Maxima." At that very moment Tiger jumped on Maximus. Goldia tried to stop him but Tiger was very fast. "Minimus, get it off!" Minimus backed away slowly, but Maximus managed to grab him by the tail and tried to hit Tiger with the sidekick, but missed and ended up banging Minimus against the wall several times. Maximus let out a loud half-hiss half-meow and Tiger retreated. Another meow came out and Maximus quickly dropped Minimus and covered his mouth. "I did not say that," he repeated over and over.
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Goldia used the distraction to go find Tiger and yell at him. "That's it? All those alley cat fights and that reputation for being unbeatable and you ran away?"
"He sounded like he was going to fight for real and he's so much bigger than me and... and... Alright Goldia, I lost, you can stay with him if you like him. I want you to know that I was telling the truth about Purrsey's message. I want you to be happy Goldia... I love you, good bye," before Goldia could say anything Tiger ran off.
Goldia knew it was useless to go after him, being Tiger the fastest cat in that area and possibly in their entire dimension. "Tiger, you do care..."
"There you are," Maximus found Goldia. "I wonder why that other one attacked me like that?" He asked no one in particular as he petted the yellow cat.
xoxox xox xoxox
Atomic Betty, Sparky and X-5 were still searching for the stolen weapon. As they walked, Sparky tripped on Minimus. "Look chief, it's a Minimus shaped carpet."
"That's the real Minimus," Betty corrected.
Sparky curiously poked him. "I don't think you should do that," X-5 warned.
"Ow," Minimus was half conscious, with his eyes closed. At least they knew he was alive.
"I told you so," X-5 voiced.
"Know it all," Sparky pouted.
"Let's go before he wakes up completely," Betty urged and they resumed their search.
xoxox xox xoxox
It didn't take too long for Maximus to locate Tiger, who had gotten lost in the confusing alien structure of the lair. "Stay here I'll go see if I can make peace with him," Maximus placed Goldia on the floor. "Hello specimen soon to be called Maxitwo," Maximus approached Tiger.
Goldia watched, wondering what will happen next. A robot came by and saw her. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" The robot's mechanical voice screamed. The robot tried to hit Goldia with a hammer, but she jumped out of the way and it chased her. Tiger ran pass Maximus and tried to save her.
The robot cornered them but Tiger still tried to protect Goldia. The hammer was about to come down on them and there was noting they could do. "Goodbye Goldia," Tiger tried to cover her from the impact. Both cats closed their eyes but the hammer never came down.
Maximus had deactivated the robot and pushed it away just in time. "Are you two alright? Come here."
"He saved us," Tiger realized. "I guess you'll stay with him..."
"Don't be silly, Tiger. I believe you and besides, he only wanted to keep me as a pet. He's more like the humans than us," Goldia explained. "Let's go say good bye to him before we head back."
Both cats ran to Maximus and he hugged them. "That's better, I knew they had to like me. They'll both be my pets." However, Maximus couldn't get his wish because as soon as he was distracted both cats ran back to the Starcruiser and waited for it to transport them to their dimension.
xoxox xox xoxox
Atomic Betty, Sparky and X-5 recovered the stolen weapon and took it apart according to plan. Everything went smoothly save for a few sneezes by Sparky that he blamed on the scent of evil garbage on his uniform.
The cats jumped in the teleporter as Atomic Betty was beamed back to Earth. The cats jumped out the same open window now that the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.
Betty wondered what Maximus could possibly be doing that was more important to him than testing his new weapon; they didn't see him while they were at the lair. There was that time Sparky tripped over the unconscious Minimus, but obviously the sidekick wasn't able to do anything.
Somehow Betty felt like she was missing half the story thinking of those events. She decided it was okay as long as the mission was completed successfully and went to the kitchen to see what her mother left her for lunch. After throwing away the inedible disaster, she ordered a pizza.
xoxox xox xoxox
Maximus never figured out what happened to his new pets, but he concluded that they left in whatever way they came. "Minimus, Did you find the weapon?"
"No your evilness, I can't find it," Minimus replied. "Maybe if you were more organized things wouldn't get lost!" His angry face added still in disbelief the rather large weapon of mass destruction had been misplaced.
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Planet 100: A Cup of Sugar
The police officer made his way past the yellow lines that surrounded the front yard of the house. This murder was exactly like the other murders that happened on the same date of each month for the past three years. He had spoken to the neighbors and just like the neighbors of the past victims, they testified that earlier that night they had seen a little girl knock on the door. They didn't know why the little girl was there, but they said she left quickly without taking anything from the house. Some people said the girl was a spirit and because she was denied what she asked for, she came back for revenge. The officer didn't believe such a fictional tale, he only believed in facts.
Stepping into the house, he looked at the bodies on the floor for a brief moment. He couldn't look at them for too long before feeling the need to look away. A young couple was on the floor, their heads at the other side of the living room, as if they had been ripped off with amazing strength. The expression on their faces was of pure terror. The bodies presented no wounds from the shoulders down, but they were covered in sugar and there was a large pool of blood around them.
No matter how many murder cases he investigated, such scenes would always impress him. Even if he didn't believe in ghosts, he wondered if there was a connection between the little girl and the murder cases. He had learned in his investigation that something like this happened every month, but it took a long time to establish similarities because the murders happened all over the universe and didn't follow a pattern in terms of the victims. There had been victims of many races and ages, rich and poor.
xoxox xox xoxox
The next month, far away, Maximus IQ was watching TV in a large living room at his lair. Minimus PU had fallen asleep on the other side of the large couch, but since Maximus didn't need anything at the moment, he didn't wake his sidekick. His channel surfing was interrupted by the sound of the door bell and Maximus wondered who could it be at this hour of the night. Normally, he would send Minimus to get the door, but something unusual was going on. Some people say that many years ago felines had the ability to look into the spirit world. Many say that less evolved felines can still do it. Maximus never believed he had such a power, if there was a spirit world to begin with, but he couldn't deny that there was something going on. He was so curious, he went to answer the door himself.
Upon opening the door, he found a little girl. "Hello Mr. Super Villain. Could I please have a cup of sugar?"
Maximus remained silent for a moment. There was something very strange about that little girl. He was trying to figure out what it was, but couldn't. It was as if she was there, but at the same time wasn't. It was a sensation that was very hard to explain.
"Please?"
He didn't know what was it about that little girl he was sensing, but something told him he better give her that cup of sugar. "Yes…"
"Thank you Mr. Super Villain. I guess not all villains would commit a murder over such a simple request." The little girl smiled. "May you be safe of lost spirits who are looking for revenge." Then she vanished without waiting for the sugar.
Maximus never told anyone about the strange event, but knew the remnant of a forgotten instinct had saved him.
xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox
Planet 101: Guardian of the Spirit World
Betty's mother was all alone with her cat Sir Purrsefus in her house that night. Her husband was on a business trip and would not return for two more days. Her daughter was at a sleepover and wouldn't be back until the next morning. The blond woman sat in her room with only the light of her flashlight. Her cat was scarred and wouldn't let her sleep. "It's alright Purrsey," she whispered as she petted him gently. "You're safe here, mommy's with you." Her words didn't calm the feline. There was something out there, Purrsey knew there was something, but he didn't understand it.
A loud crash of thunder that sounded like it landed right in the backyard made her suddenly hug the cat. She took a deep breath and waited for her heart beats to slow back to normal. A violent storm was taking place outside and she knew the electricity couldn't be repaired in that weather. The wind created strange noises in the darkness of the night. "I'll be right back Purrsey," she would feel better if she checked to make sure all the doors and windows were closed.
Leaving the cat that was like a child to her in her room, she ventured into the rest of the house with only her flashlight. She tried to check everything quickly so she could return to Purrsey. She was going to check a window that faced the backyard when another loud crash of lightning was heard, followed by Purrsey's terrified meows. Assuming that window was closed, she rushed back to her room. She didn't see the creature that jumped inside the house by the open window.
"Purrsey sweetie it's okay, mommy's here." She searched for the cat but couldn't find him. "Purrsey honey, where are you?" She threw the blankets and pillows all over the floor desperately searching for her baby. "Purrsey, this isn't funny!" She looked under the bed and in the closet, but he wasn't there. Maybe he ran past her and she didn't see him.
xoxox xox xoxox
A creature about the same size as Purrsey stood a few feet away from the window it used to enter the house. Purrsey hissed angrily, warning it to turn back.
The creature was covered in blood stained black fur and had glowing red eyes. It shows its long sharp fangs and claws, warning Purrsey to retreat.
"Be gone evil one!" Purrsey hissed. Only another cat would be able to understand him.
"Get out of my way guardian. The human's blood will be my meal this night!"
Cats were once long ago the guardians of the spirit world. Some say that even today when a spirit escapes, cats can sense it and drive it away. If it is a good spirit that has gotten lost, cats can lead it to where it belongs. In times of the past felines had the power to exterminate evil spirits and ghosts, that is why the supernatural still fear them, that one was a traitor. That cat had sided with the undead and betrayed his kind. "You won't go near her!"
A desperate battle began between the two felines. Purrsey was injured but he wouldn't give up, even if there was little he could do against this creature. No matter how much he scratched the undead cat didn't appear to be affected by it.
Hearing the cats fighting, Betty's mother followed the sounds armed with a baseball bat she borrowed from her daughter's room. If some alley cat was picking a fight with her Purrsey, he was in for it now. "Purrsey, come here! I'll handle this!" She tried to hit the creature with the bat, while also holding the flashlight.
The creature moved too fast. With lightning falling near by, light entered by the window and for a brief moment, the woman saw the creature's appearance clearly. "It's a zombie vampire cat!"
The creature leapt, aiming to bite the human's neck. Purrsey jumped at him from the side, biting and scratching until the creature's spine was broken. Even with its spine broken in half and sticking out its back, the creature didn't give up. "You will pay for this guardian of the spirit world!"
"Only if you catch me first, that is if you dare!" This is exactly what he wanted, to anger the creature and lead it away from his human mother. The creature chased Purrsey as he jumped out the window and disappeared into the darkness.
"Purrsey, come back!" It was so dark outside and the wind and rain were so strong. "Purrsey!" She went out to the backyard to see if Purrsey was still there. "Purrsey!" The batteries of her flashlight died out, leaving her in darkness.
xoxox xox xoxox
"No, stop, don't hurt her! Ah!" Paloma screamed as she woke up from her realistic nightmare.
"Paloma?" Betty, who was sleeping over woke up also. "What's wrong?"
"I had a nightmare, but it's not too late, you're awake, it won't sneak up on you now." Paloma had predicted many things that came true.
Betty suspected that there was more to her than a normal human girl. Maybe she wasn't from Earth. "What is it? What's going to happen?"
"Someone betrayed the guardians of the spirit world. They are our protectors of ancient times. But one of them joined the evil spirits. That one should have been sealed away." It was dark but Betty thought she saw Paloma's eyes turn orange for a moment. "They're coming!" Paloma opened the window for Purrsey, then she quickly closed it again, even if she knew it would be useless.
An undead cat scratched at the closed window before his black fur became a ghostly white and he passed to the other side without breaking the window. Purrsey hissed angrily. He was leading that thing to Betty in hopes that she knew what to do. She once took him to that place where that super evolved cat lived. If she knew him, then maybe she knew how to help.
Betty couldn't waste any time. She had to attack with her bracelet's laser. It had no effect, so she tried throwing stars but the creature simply shook them off. "What is that thing?"
"It is a powerful undead creature, a traitor of the guardians of the spirit world, but he should have been sealed away!" To Paloma, this didn't make sense. If only the vision had come to her earlier she would have time to think about it. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, when she opened them again they were bright orange with a black line in the middle. She tried to concentrate even with the fight going on. "The lightning, it was the lightning. I know what to do. Betty hold him off, I'll be back soon!" Paloma jumped out the window.
xoxox xox xoxox
Paloma ran as fast as she could to Betty's house. She thought she saw Betty's mother at the other side of the street, but looked away and tried to hurry. She didn't have time for questions now. She jumped the fence to Betty's backyard and searched for the area where the lightning crashed. She found a hole on the ground and in it there was a magic medallion, broken in half. It must have been buried there for a long time and the lightning was powerful enough to break it, but Purrsey could fix it. He probably didn't know how it worked, but maybe he could help. She ran back to her house, she had a bad feeling about this.
xoxox xox xoxox
Betty had tried everything by the time Paloma came. The only thing left to do was avoid being attacked and hope Paloma had a solution. Finally, the creature was able to tackle Betty to the floor. He was about to bite her when Purrsey pushed it against a wall away from Betty. They didn't get along but he wasn't going to let that thing kill her.
"Purrsey!" Paloma returned and set the two pieces of the medallion on the floor. The symbol of a cat's paw could be seen broken in half.
Paloma picked up Purrsey and kicked the creature away. The creature fell on its feet and jumped at them, but Betty punched it in mid air.
"Here you go Purrsey, just concentrate and your ancient powers should return to you just long enough to make that thing go away," Paloma placed Purrsey's paw on the symbol of the medallion. The medallion began to glow and the two pieces were magically repaired. The creature was trapped once again and by the magic of the spirit world, Purrsey was completely healed. "It's over… Maybe you should hang on to this for safe keeping," she handed the medallion to Betty.
The red haired girl looked at it. She would have to make sure the Galactic Guardians kept it in a safe place so that creature wouldn't escape again. "I'll make sure it doesn't break again."
xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox
Planet 102: Your Lucky Color is Red
It's time to decide what color the students will wear during graduation. Such a small detail could keep the Earth safe or get it blown up.
"Blue," Betty declared her color of choice. She had been asked by Noah which color she preferred and that was her choice. A choice that she thought at the time would not change. The high school students were about to graduate and for the events they would wear the classic graduation robes. Those days, only colleges used the classic black and schools almost always used other colors. If the winning color was going to be blue or red, it was yet to be decided.
Noah nodded his agreement. "Yes, I think that's the best choice."
"Right, blue should win." Betty had her own reasons to say that. In a way their costumes looked similar to Maximus IQ's clothes and red would make them too much alike. Little did Betty know that by stating her opinion aloud she had doomed the color blue to lose.
"Red!" Penelope shouted as she awaked by. She had heard Betty say blue. "Red will be the color that wins."
Sarah and Megan looked at each other slightly confused. "Didn't you say you wanted blue to win before?"
"I did not say such a thing!" Penelope insisted.
Betty immediately realized what was going on. Penelope was always trying to do the opposite of what she wanted. But this time she wouldn't get her way. The color would be decided by everyone's votes not just hers.
xoxox xox xoxox
By the next day, word on the hall was that red would win. The possibilities had shifted overnight. It was Penelope's doing, she was using her popularity to get her way. "Did you hear what everyone is saying? They said red would win. Just yesterday it looked like blue was going to win." Noah arrived at their usual lunch table.
Paloma was there too. "I have a feeling this turn of events may be a good thing."
"You think so?" Noah asked.
"Yes... Oh, never mind maybe it's nothing. Wouldn't it be great if Penelope lost?" Paloma continued.
"I hope she loses. Why did it have to be red? They might as well throw in a pair of cat ears while they're at it," Betty grumbled.
Paloma, who understood the joke, laughed, but Noah looked confused. Paloma obviously found it funny, but he could not find the humorous relation between cats and the color red. He couldn't exactly call it a Betty thing if Paloma also understood. Maybe it was just a girl thing. "I've heard Penelope was going to vote blue, and all her fans along with her, but she changed her mind because she heard you wanted to vote blue too," Paloma revealed.
"Yeah, it's true, that's pretty much how it happened," Betty got an idea. "Maybe I can use this against her." A plan was put in motion. Betty made sure to let everyone know how much she loved the idea of the red graduation robes because they matched her hair. This reached Penelope's ears and so another drastic change was made in the color possibilities. The next day the students would vote after school and the results would be counted and reveled the following day's afternoon.
xoxox xox xoxox
Even if the votes were secret, everyone knew what everyone voted for. The answer was just a question away and sometimes people said it without even being asked. Their graduation clothes color was the main topic of discussion everywhere on voting day. Satisfied that it looked like blue would win, Betty, Noah and Paloma walked home laughing, joking and discussing their plans after they finished high school. Little did they know that the Earth was doomed.
First they arrived at Noah's house. Then Betty and Paloma continued walking on their way to their respective houses. Everything was fine until Paloma stopped. Holding her head with her eyes tightly closed. "Paloma!" Betty wondered what could possibly be wrong. Paloma was perfectly fine just a second ago. "We're already in front of my house, come rest inside."
Paloma nodded trying to get the images out of her head. Once inside she sat down on the couch. "That vision..."
"Rest a little, then you can tell me about it. I'll go get you some water." Betty soon returned with a cool glass of water, which Paloma drank.
Taking a deep breath, Paloma reveled her vision to Betty. "I couldn't see it clearly, but I know it's bad. I sense death and destruction upon the Earth. There was a red dot in a blue background. Then there was a voice yelling something about an enemy. After that, came an explosion, then total silence. The Earth had been destroyed, it blew up and we all died."
Betty knew the situation was serious. Paloma's ability to predict the future had improved greatly over the years. Her predictions still needed to be interpreted. "How can we stop this from happening?"
"I'm not sure yet, but I will figure it out." Paloma had to find out what to do. She wouldn't accept that the planet that had become her home was doomed to be destroyed.
Purrsey curiously approached. For some reason he always liked Paloma. He jumped into her lap and meowed. She was worried and so was Betty. Except Purrsey never cared much for his sister, but Paloma was another story. She was different from any human had had ever met, it was a good kind of different.
Paloma petted him. Animals always liked her. It was as if they could sense she was different, but that gave them trust instead of distrust. "Its okay Purrsey, we'll be safe." She concentrated trying to find the answer to their problem or at least a clue. When she closed her eyes she saw the colors in the beginning of her vision. There was a dot of red in a lot of blue. It was as if those colors would decide the fate of the Earth. She had learned that the smallest details were enough to affect the lives of millions of people. If she could only find out how those colors were tied to reality. What did they represent? She suddenly opened her orange eyes as the answer came to her. Her eyes changed back to human looking brown eyes. "The graduation colors... Blue will win."
For a minute Betty wondered how this was related to the possibility of Earth being destroyed. There was the part of Paloma's vision where she saw those colors, but could her school's graduation clothes somehow decide the future of the Earth? "I don't quite understand."
"Me either but many times my visions only tell me what I need to do and not why I need to do it. I think it will all become clear in the end. We need to make red win somehow. If that is what this vision is telling me to do, then I'll know it when we do it." Paloma explained.
This plan would probably include breaking into the school, finding the votes and changing them so that when they were counted the next morning, red would be announced as the wining color that afternoon, but doing all of that was certainly a much better choice than letting the Earth blow up.
xoxox xox xoxox
Betty and Paloma met that night at mid night in front of the school. With a little help from the Starcruiser breaking in without breaking anything was no problem. After being beamed inside, searching for the votes was another story. After checking several offices they finally found them half an hour later. Paloma had tried to use her abilities to find the votes, but instead got the same vision over and over again. She concluded it was happening because the vision was so powerful. To stop an entire planet from being destroyed was a very important thing after all.
Once they had the votes, there came the task of changing them to make sure red won, without it looking suspicious, and putting everything back how it was. With that done, the girls later left the school unnoticed. What was a little lost sleep compared to an entire planet? Besides, it wouldn't be the first time they stay up late saving a planet.
xoxox xox xoxox
The next day came and to everyone's surprise the winning color was revealed to be red. "I feel a lot better now," Paloma announced after hearing the news.
"Then the Earth is out of danger?" Betty asked.
"Yes, I'm sure of it now," Paloma answered.
xoxox xox xoxox
Time passed and graduation day came. As Noah, Betty and Paloma enjoyed the events, on Earth's atmosphere, Maximus's ship approached Canada.
"Putting a tracking devise on the Starcruiser has been my best plan yet," Maximus looked at the radar. "I'm such a genius!"
"If you're such a genius why didn't you do this years ago?" Minimus's angry face asked. Maximus hit him on the head, making the sidekick's head spin around, stopping on his normal face. "You're a genius your evilness!"
"Yes, I know I am. People should worship my greatness." Little did he know, that he was about to get his wish, or so he would think.
xoxox xox xoxox
The graduation events had nearly ended and everyone had received their medals and awards. All except for one student who was in the honor roll and had perfect attendance. Oddly enough he didn't show up for the graduation events and no one knew why. Rumors had their own theories. Some said he was sick, some said he was dead, some said he was kidnapped by aliens and some said he was an alien who had to return to his home planet, but no one knew the truth.
Maximus had decided to take a look around the planet before destroying it. The tracking devise placed on the Starcruiser indicated that the ship had had come to a point near by, stopped briefly then headed back into space returning to the Galactic Guardian headquarters. Maximus assumed that Sparky and X-5 were taking Atomic Betty to her secret home planet before returning to the headquarters.
"It's an invader!" Someone yelled.
Maximus looked in the direction of the voice and saw Duncan. He looked familiar, but it had been such a long time since the day Betty's bracelet was stolen, that Maximus didn't remember where he had seen him before.
"You're not welcome here!" Duncan yelled. "You're the enemy!"
Maximus noticed that everyone there was wearing red, except for the one called an enemy. Their clothes were somehow similar to his, except they all had funny looking hats.
"Did you hear that?" Paloma headed towards the commotion with Betty and Noah. The graduation events were over, but the graduates would stay for a little longer, then return that night for the prom.
The guy wearing the blue graduation robe must be from their rival high school. No wonder Duncan was making such a big deal out of it. Their football teams hated each other. The one in blue, clearly outnumbered, fled the scene.
Betty realized something. "If blue had won for our school then his school would have probably picked red."
"A little red in the middle of a lot of blue," Paloma nodded. But surely that boy couldn't be the one to cause the chain reaction to bring Earth to its destruction. Maybe there was more to it than that.
"I thought the girl with the rabbit ears on her hat was the most original, but that guy takes the cake," Noah pointed.
Betty and Paloma looked to where he was pointing and found none other than Maximus IQ. Sometimes students added little details to their hats like the girl with the rabbit ears. Sometimes they modified the graduation robes like that guy who panted a shark in the back. It would seem that people thought Maximus was only in disguise.
"A red dot," Betty started to say.
"In a sea of blue," Paloma finished.
Had their color been blue, then Maximus would surely stand out. Everyone would probably still assume he was just an original student in disguise, but if their color was blue and red belonged to the rival school, then he wouldn't blend in. Duncan would most likely notice and go looking for trouble because, due to their team's rivalry, he had come to have a strong dislike for anyone from that school. He would anger Maximus, who would end up retreating to his space ship and blowing up the planet in revenge.
A teacher who was carrying the medal and award that belonged to the student that had been absent spotted Maximus. "There you are. We thought you weren't coming." He was in disguise, which was not like him, but maybe since this was his graduation day, he wanted to be original. Everyone else was present so the one in the cat disguise had to be their missing student.
"I was expected?" Maximus was confused. How could those pre-contact ignorant creatures know he was coming? It was odd enough that Betty chose a pre-contact planet as her home, but that a civilization that could hardly be called civilized knew about his existence was also a big surprise.
"Well of course. Here, these are yours and don't forget the hat, didn't you bring it? Good thing I brought some extra hats," the teacher voiced.
Maximus then received a medal with the word 'honor' written on it and an award for perfect attendance. That student was the only student with perfect attendance in the entire school. The word 'perfect' was written on the award. Names were rare or none existent in awards those days. It was a lot easier for the school to order a certain amount of medals for the honor students that were all the same than to have each one inscribed with their names.
After the teacher left, a square rock slowly approached. "Your evilness!" The rock called.
"Minimus?" Maximus looked at the odd rock, which didn't look anything like any real rocks on that planet.
"The tracking devise was destroyed. Its signal was coming from the Galactic Guardians headquarters but now it's gone. They must have discovered it and destroyed it. I just thought I'd let you know. Besides, I was getting bored of waiting for you to come back so I came here to tell you," Minimus rambled.
"Suddenly it all makes perfect sense. Let's return to the ship," Maximus decied and they snuck away, back to the ship.
xoxox xox xoxox
Once out of his square rock disguise on the ship, Minimus took a good look at the silly hat Maximus was wearing. "Nice hat!"
"Shut up Minimus! This is an important cultural item in that planet!" Maximus hit him on the head. He took off the hat and looked at it. It really was strange. It was a red square with little gold decorations that hung to the side.
"Are you going to blow up that planet now your evilness?" Minimus inquired.
"No, it was all a trick. The Galactic Guardians knew about the tracking devise all along. Instead of revealing the location of Atomic Betty's home planet, they led me to the planet of my worshipers. Did you see it? They are obviously my fans. Maybe I'm some kind of legendary superior being in their planet. They all looked so happy that I had finally visited their planet and look what they gave me." Maximus showed off the medal and award. "They think I'm honorable and perfect!"
"They're all crazy," Minimus's angry face muttered. He quickly switched faces and changed the subject. "Then that's not Atomic Betty's secret home planet?"
"No, I'm sure Atomic Betty couldn't stand to live in a planet where everyone admires my greatness so much. This planet will not be destroyed," Maximus concluded.
xoxox xox xoxox
On Earth, "I believe Maximus thinks people in this planet worship him, so I doubt the Earth is in any danger," Paloma realized.
As if on cue, Betty's bracelet chimed and she answered it. "Atomic Betty reporting for duty!" Paloma being a Galactic Guardian herself, already knew about Betty's little secret so there was no need to hide.
"Atomic Betty I have bad news. We discovered a tracking devise on the Starcruiser that might have revealed the location of your home planet to the enemy. Since his usual symbol was on it, we have concluded that the tracking devise belongs to Maximus IQ. It was destroyed, but he might already know the location of your secret home planet." Admiral Degill paused. "Why are you dressed like that?"
"It's all part of the plan," Betty replied. "Don't worry about Maximus discovering my secret. Paloma and I already took care of that."
"Excellent! We can always count on you to be a step ahead of everything Atomic Betty. Atomic Paloma, you have become a great Galactic Guardian as well," Admiral Degill didn't know how they did it, but if the Earth was safe, then everything was fine.
They saluted and ended the communication just in time. "There you are," Noah found them. Betty had been disappearing for years and some time ago, Paloma started disappearing with her. "We're all still going to the prom tonight together, right?"
"Of course," Betty replied. "We deserve a little party, right?"
"Right!" Paloma agreed, they had saved the Earth after all. Even if no one on the planet knew about what they did, knowing that the Earth was safe was enough for them. There they were, laughing together as if they knew something he didn't know. Betty and Paloma, those two girls would always be a mystery to Noah.
End of Planet 102
End of Solar System XV
Disclaimer, I don't own Atomic Betty. The title Planet 102 is based on one of Cait Sith's fortunes "your lucky color is blue" in Final Fantasy VII. Minimus's square rock disguise is a reference to Konohamaru from Naruto. The episode where Betty's bracelet is stolen is "Bracelet Yourself".