Other Fan Fiction ❯ Elixir of Life ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Betty must save a spy and finish the mission. Maximus travels to the end of the universe and finds some dangerous aliens.

Elixir of Life: Part I

Maximus IQ stood in front of the entrance to the Poison Grapple cafe. Many aliens of different species came in and out of the cafe. Most of them looked armed and dangerous and they all had deadly glares. He stood there as they walked by as if he was invisible. If they knew who he was, they obviously didn't care. "Should we really go inside your evilness?" Minimus felt uncomfortable with the atmosphere.

"Of course we're going inside. This is what we came for," Maximus tried to sound confident and failed miserably. He took a deep breath and started walking. The automatic metal doors opened to the sides to let him in. The Poison Grapple cafe was made of old parts of ships and space stations. It looked like the materials had been recycled from Crushta. Or rather than recycled, they were simply melted together. Some of the metal was not of the best quality and began to turn an odd brown color. Not being used to metal that actually rusts Maximus didn't know why this happened. Overall the appearance of the small building added to the dreaded atmosphere of the dark planet. Clearly, paint was not in the list of priorities of the owner, who ever that may be.

Inside the Poison Grapple, the atmosphere became more sinister. No one was throwing anyone against a wall, there was no fighting and no rain of lasers, but it looked as if a fight could begin any second with the slightest hint of provocation. "I don't like it here," Minimus complained in a quiet whisper.
"Sh! Don't say anything," Maximus didn't like it either. He walked around making his way to the bar, trying not to stare at the stranger alien species. It didn't look like those odd aliens appreciated his curiosity, so the lynx ended up staring at his feet most of the time. His ego wouldn't allow such behavior normally, but this place gave him a bad feeling. Still, Maximus was not going to leave until he did what he came here to do.

"Maximus IQ? Didn't think you'd come to a place like this" The alien in charge of the bar recognized him.

Maximus wasn't sure with what intentions those words were spoken. He didn't know if he was welcomed or not. In fact, he didn't even know if the spider like alien standing behind the bar was a man or a woman. "Why not?" Maximus' curious nature took the best of him again.

"This isn't a place for sheltered spoiled villains like you. See them?" The spider alien motioned to no one in particular, referring to the cafe in general. "Those are the true villains, not like those in your precious Villains Council. There are even rules and codes to follow and you call yourselves villains?"

"That's enough," another voice was heard, "I'll handle this." The spider alien immediately moved to the other end of the bar. A scorpion like alien looked at Maximus. "Our business runs on information, no purchase necessary. If you have a question or an answer this is the place. That's why our customers come, to ask or to answer. If the question or answer doesn't come right away, they wait and order some food and drinks. Want anything?"

The menacing looking scorpion appeared to have a permanent glare on his glowing red eyes. Unable to get any words out, Maximus simply nodded slowly and barely noticeably at first, then quickly and with energy as if his life depended on it when the scorpion appeared to sense his doubt. All the while Minimus silently stood next to Maximus shaking like a jelly. Both his faces had their eyes wide open in case of an attack. That was one of those times when he was glad to know he had an extra pair of eyes to watch his back.

"Here you go." The scorpion placed a pink frosting covered cupcake and a glass of light purple liquid on the bar in front of Maximus which, was a normal snack anywhere in the universe, but on that planet it was food for slaves or pets who couldn't digest what the locals ate. "Standard currency only," Maximus quickly paid, not realizing he had paid a little too much and stared at the food and drink, wondering if the grapple juice was in fact poisoned and quietly remembering how much he hated pink. "It's not poisoned if that's what you're wondering. Go ahead and eat it."

"I would but my sidekick is hungrier than me." Upon hearing Maximus say this, Minimus knew what was coming. Before the sidekick could escape, Maximus got up from his seat, picked up Minimus and made him sit down in front of the food. "You were telling me just before we arrived how hungry you were. I wouldn't want my sidekick to starve; eat, now," Maximus emphasized the last word impatiently.

Minimus looked from the food to Maximus, to the alien scorpion and back to the food. He gulped knowing one way or another he wouldn't escape without eating the pink frosting cupcake and drinking the grapple juice. Minimus picked up the cup cake and took a bite; surprisingly it tasted sweet, like it wasn't poisoned. He took a sip from the juice and did not find anything in the taste that indicated it was poisoned. He quickly finished the snack concluding it wasn't so bad after all. "That was good."

"I told you it wasn't poisoned," the scorpion laughed. "It's not what I normally serve but I doubt any of you can digest a real meal." Maximus thought about saying something but decided it was better for his heath not to comment on that statement. The scorpion muttered something about 'fragile creatures' that Maximus didn't completely catch then went back to business. "So why did you come here?"

"I'm here to hire someone that can destroy Atomic Betty" No sooner had Maximus said Atomic Betty's name the room erupted in laughter confirming his suspicious that everyone was listening to the conversation. "She can't be that invincible!" Maximus complained interpreting the laughter the wrong way.

"That's not the funny thing. The funny thing is that you haven't been able to destroy her. In this corner of the universe things are different." It was a very long trip there. Some called that place the end of the universe. Beyond that small planet was a large group of black holes. Powerful electric storms formed around the black holes constantly. Many had traveled endlessly trying to find a way around them, but they mysteriously arrived in that small planet again even if they had been initially traveling away from it. Some theories said that the large amount of energy in that place bended the space continuum causing that unusual effect. Going through the black holes was out of the question. Those who had tried, convinced their high tech ships could make it, didn't come back alive.

"Then it can be done?" Maximus asked. If Atomic Betty could be destroyed then his trip to that place would be worth it.

"Yes, but I doubt anyone will be interested," the scorpion informed. "Like I said, things are different here, your world is meaningless to us. Here is where the real battles are. Your kind is weak and we do not wish to associate with such pathetic creatures." It was obvious now that he wasn't welcome there. Maximus caught the meaning of the scorpion's words this time. His kind wasn't only the lynx, when that alien spoke of his kind, he meant everyone from outside that area, including the Galactic Guardians.

Without another word, Maximus turned to leave. A few aliens got up and blocked his path. It all became clear now; they didn't stop him before because they wanted to listen to the conversation, to hear what he had to say for their amusement. An alien that had the basic shape of a human but had four arms and no skin approached. The alien was made basically of reddish muscles with a few bones visible between them. "Not so fast, your kind may be pretty much useless for everything, except pets and slaves. You'd sell pretty well around here, but I'm in need of some skin, I like that fur coat of yours." Horrified, Maximus backed away. "There's no way out, and that smaller creature you've brought along will be put to good use too. I think I'll use him as fire wood when it gets cold. There's no sense in wasting good firewood so I'll burn him piece by piece."

xoxox xox xoxox

On Earth it was another normal day for Betty, or as normal as a day can be for a girl who's secretly a Galactic Guardian. As she got home from school she found a note from her mother saying she was going to stay at the mall until it closed that night because there was a sale on pet items. There was also a small pet contest, which of course Purrsey had to enter. Great, more cat toys to take up space in the house. Betty would have to be extra careful not to leave her comic books where her mother could find them and throw them away to make room for Purrsey's toys.

The Galactic Guaridan had finished reading the note when her bracelet beeped and she was called on another mission. "Atomic Betty reporting for duty!" She saluted the image of Admiral Degill in the hologram.

"Atomic Betty, an agent from a spy organization has been captured before finishing her mission. You must come to Headquarters for more information and some recordings," Admiral Degill informed.

"I'm on my way!" Atomic Betty saluted and was beamed up to the Starcruiser.

"Isn't this exiting chief? We get to be spies in this mission!" Sparky was quite pleased as he piloted the Starcruiser to the Galactic Guardians Headquarters.

"It will be interesting," Atomic Betty agreed. "Did the admiral say what the recordings are about?"

"Admiral Degill said he would give us the full details when we arrive," X-5 replied.

The trip passed quickly but for Sparky it was an eternity. "Let's go let's go!" He cheered as they landed.

The environment in the Galactic Guardians Headquarters was the same as usual. As they walked to Admiral Degill's office they saw a few familiar faces including Atomic Rodger and several other Galactic Guardians they knew. Betty knocked on the door. "Admiral Degill?"

"Come in," answered the admiral's voice from inside the office. Atomic Betty, Sparky and X-5 entered closing the door after they did. "Sit down and listen carefully." Atomic Betty and her team sat down at three chairs in front of Degill's desk. "This mission is unlike any other. Everything must be kept in complete secrecy." The three nodded indicating their understanding of the situation. "This computer is one of the most high tech portable super computers in the universe. It contains a recording of agent zero two five taken by her partner agent seven eight nine. I'll call them Zero and Seven. Unfortunately some of the recordings from the mission were lost. They both work for a spy agency that resolves internal conflicts in planets all over the universe to prevent war. In a galaxy called Larutna, a pair of twin brothers are fighting over the throne. The royal family has many magical items even if they cannot perform magic without them. Most of the items have small effects that don't pose a real danger to a trained spy or Galactic Guardian. However, there are two scepters that are to be used by the king and queen only. The two princes each has a scepter and have been fighting each other for months. Both scepters are evenly matched so they always ended up with a draw. Onebu agreed to give up the throne to his brother Olam even if he is the oldest by two and a half minutes. However, Olam refused and said he wanted to defeat Onebu to win the kingdom. The people of the Larutna galaxy saw the evil in Olam and made it clear they wanted Onebu as their next king. They had always been rivals, but after their parents passed away no one could stop them from a direct battle." Admiral Degill paused to let the team take in all the information. This was only the introduction to their next mission.

The goldfish admiral continued. "The Larutna galaxy is rich in natural resources. Almost any kind of flora can grow there, even if it's not native of that galaxy. It is composed by a solar star, a small planet called Florare, a larger planet called Popunatu and a medium size planet called Frutitas. The rest of the galaxy is made out of small planets with few or no people living in them and a few smaller stars that provide light to those furthest away from the main solar star. Planet Frutitas produces fruits of all kinds that are exported. Larutna galaxy's economy depends on Frutitas' products the most and also exportations from Florare. Another important thing is that the people, who mostly live of Popunatu, depend on the products from Frutitas and usually can't digest anything that's not fruit." Once again Degill paused. The introduction was over, now that they knew about the environment it was time for the main mission.

"Three days ago Zero was sent on a mission to stop Olam from destroying planet Frutitas as punishment for the people choosing his brother as their king. Olam retreated into one of the smaller planets before he could plant the bomb to destroy the planet. Zero chased him to arrest him and I have a video of a portion of her mission to show you. The agency was very strict with this recording but they must have known it was necessary for the investigations if they gave it to us. It is a little suspicious that they didn't send their own agents to investigate as they would usually do in these cases, but they had assisted the Galactic Guardians before and we must assist them." Admiral Degill showed them a devise consisting of a thin metallic band that fits around the head. There was a small circle on top of the band. "Zero had one of these. Most of the time the agents use a system where one is on the field and another stays on the ship, in this case Seven stayed on the ship. The ships have powerful radars that can send almost impossible to detect signals to determine the structure of buildings and the presence of life forms. The latest technology is used to make sure the transmission is safe while the agent on the ship acts as a guide to the one on the field." Degill pressed a few keys on the small laptop computer and a video appeared. "You will see everything for Zero's perspective by a camera like this one," he pointed to the small circle on the headband.

The video started playing, it looked like they had to play detectives before they played spies. "He hasn't gone too far you can catch him", a male voice was heard. They assumed it was seven eight nine speaking.

"Ok, just tell me which way to go," a female voice answered, this was zero two five.

The video continued in silence except for the natural sounds of the planet. This part of the mission happened when Olam escaped and Zero chased him to one of the smaller planets. This one was clearly far from the main solar star due to the darkness. A little light coming from a small star in the distance was just enough to make them able to identify the surroundings. The planet was covered in a dense forest the grass looked about four feet tall. The plants, from what they could see in the little light, came in many colors. As Zero went deeper into the forest it became too dark to distinguish anything. Then suddenly everything was clear as day. "A small modification to make the video easier to watch," Admiral Degill referred to the artificially added light.

The images sometimes showed a hand with a black glove and long black sleeve pushing branches away. "I don't like crawling round in a jungle like this, I tend to prefer high tech places," Zero commented.

"I like space stations too, but a few trees here and there are nice," Seven replied. "Keep going you almost have him. There is a building up ahead. It's made of wood from the Ghost Tree Forest according to the scanners."

Zero approached a house about three floors tall at a clearing. The Ghost Tree Forest was a place where a particular kind of tree grew. The wood was fragile in appearance but it was actually quite strong in reality. However, it was rarely ever used for anything. If too much of it was used a strange alien race would come. The species was attracted to that kind of wood. Very few studies had been made so little was known about this strange alien race that looked like ghosts. They were in fact alive and fed off energy. The semi transparent glowing white creatures could drain away a person's very life. But they weren't dangerous if handled properly. Their energy was somehow connected to emotions, certain emotions made people immune to them while others could render them defenseless against the alien race called 'ghosts' by some. Fear could not be present if one was to survive, or so said the theories.

Sparky, who was sitting between Betty and X-5, held both their hands as he watched. Zero entered the building ignoring the ghost like creatures flying around her. They did her no harm since she didn't show fear. "How do you do it? Those things scare me even if I'm only watching them on a monitor." Seven shivered.

"Contrary to what most believe, you can be afraid and come out of it alive. They scare me too, but I look right at them and keep walking so they stay away, it's all about facing them and staying strong," Zero explained. The journey inside the strange wooden building continued. The ghost like aliens rapidly flew around Zero angry to be ignored, but there was nothing they could do unless she stopped facing her fears exposing her energy to them. Instead the initial fear was disappearing as she slowly became accustomed to the ghostly atmosphere.

Seven's directions were heard many times as he told her where to turn and what doors and stairs to take. "Now turn left and you'll find him. He's just standing there and I'm not getting any unusual signals, but that would be too easy so watch out."

"Got it, I'll keep my guard up," Zero cautiously approached, then the screen went black.

After the video ended, Admiral Degill continued his explanation. "The camera was destroyed during the battle, but as you can see that part is missing and so is the rest of the mission before this. It was supposedly lost, but they might have decided not to give us that portion of the recording."

"With all that technology it's hard to think they lost the rest of the recording," Atomic Betty agreed.

"Yes, but those investigations will have to wait. Right now you must head to the palace in Popunatu, Larutna and speak to prince Onebu. Make sure the prince and kingdom are safe until Olam can be arrested," Admiral Degill instructed.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at the place known as the end of the universe, Minimus woke up. The sidekick was in an uncomfortably small cage along with Maximus who was still unconscious. "Your evilness, wake up!" Minimus tried to shake him awake and noticed the large bump on his head, but Maximus didn't wake up. "You're still alive right? Wake up!" Minimus was scared and being scared and alone was worse.

"Keep it down," a human man spoke. "Your friend will wake up eventually I've seen people stay unconscious for longer and survive." His blonde hair varied from waist length to shoulder length as if it was cut with a knife and he didn't get to finish. He had dirty dark blue pants, a ragged white shirt and no shoes. The many scars that were visible hinted that he had been in numerous battles. He noticed Minimus cowering behind the unconscious Maximus. "Don't worry I'm not your enemy, I'm just like you, a prisoner." The man reached out of his cage and turned on a light switch.

Minimus stared at his surroundings. Many cages with different aliens were placed one on top of the other in the relatively small room. "Turn that off Ail!" A voice suddenly protested.

"Alright already I wasn't going to leave it on," the human man, named Ail, reached for the light switch and turned it off. "The owner of the place says our kind doesn't deserve the light. I came here to study the black holes, I used to be a space science student back then and this would make a great project. Then I got captured and have been kept around as a pet ever since. I've lived with many groups of aliens around this planet and none of them are one bit nice. My continuous yet ineffective attempts to escape landed me here. As you heard II am called Ail. What's your name and story?"

"I'm Minimus and this is Maximus. We came here looking to hire a strong warrior but got captured instead," Minimus left out the part about destroying Atomic Betty on purpose, in case Ail had a liking for Galactic Guardians or a dislike for super villains and their sidekicks. Minimus felt they were in enough trouble already and didn't need another enemy.

"Minimus and Maximus, those names sound familiar," Ail tried to remember where he heard those names before. "Wait isn't Maximus IQ that crazy kitten who wanted to take over the universe and Minimus PU was his sidekick?"

"Depends on if you like super villains or not," Minimus once again tried to hide behind the unconscious Maximus.

"So you're super villains now? I remember everyone saying it was just a phase because Maximus was almost a teenager and that he would grow out of it and stop trying to take over the universe. I guess he made a career out of it after all and you're still his sidekick. I've been without communication with the rest of the universe for too long." Ail spoke with a mixture of regret and sadness.

"So what's the escape plan?" Minimus asked.

A few laughs were heard not happy or amused, but sarcastic. "Poor ignorant creatures," the same voice that told Ail to turn off the lights before was heard again.

"That would be Xofi, the optimistic one," Ail spoke with almost as much sarcasm as the fox alien girl.

"I'm not being pessimistic, I'm being realistic," Xofi voiced in a serious tone.

"I won't lie, escaping is very hard, nearly impossible, but I'm not giving up hope. One way or another I want to get out of here one day and I know I will." Ail remained firm.

"Oh, yes you'll fly away," Xofi spoke in that sarcastic tone that annoyed Ail so much. He hasn't been in that room for too long but long enough to be severely annoyed by the fox girl. He awaited her sarcastic remark knowing it would inevitably come. "You'll fly away in the smoke when your body burns!"

"You're creepy, you know that right?" Ail received no response. Xofi thought she was better than everyone in that room even if she was a prisoner too. "Don't give up hope Minimus, as long as there's life there is a way to solve things."

An unpleasant noise of metal against metal was heard as the slide door was pushed aside and an alien entered the room. He turned on the lights and Minimus saw it was that same skinless alien from before. "This is my merchandise, take your prize and leave," he growled bitterly.

A gray scorpion with metallic skin, three tails and four arms entered the room and looked around. Everyone knew what he was there for except Minimus and of course Maximus who was still out cold. The alien known as Rickoon had won the planet's weekly tournament and was there to claim his price, an item owned by each of those who lost in the tournament. He could only choose one piece of merchandise from each one. Rickoon looked at each of the beings in the cages. There was a variety in size, colors, species and shapes. He finally made a choice. "This one," the large scorpion picked up the cage containing Maximus and Minimus.

"Which one?" The skinless alien was annoyed and wanted this to end as quickly as possible.

"You owe me from last time, remember? I can take both," Rickoon countered.

The reddish alien glared, he lost a good skin and a strange creature. "Fine, take your price and leave." He wouldn't be getting that fur coat after all.

After the two evil aliens were gone and the lights were turned off again, Ail continued to stare in direction to the closed metal door that was pushed back into place. "They're doomed," he heard Xofi's annoying voice.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Larutna galaxy, in planet Popunatu's royal palace, "I really wish there was another way," Onebu spoke sadly. "I do not wish to fight my brother. At first I wanted to fight for my right to the throne, but then I realized it would cause an unjustified war so I gave him the throne, but he didn't take it. He wants to defeat me in battle then take the kingdom. He was prevented from destroying planet Frutitas, but if he takes the throne he will find a way to make the people's lives miserable as revenge for being on my side." The prince, who looked identical to his brother had light purple hair and green eyes. He looked very similar to a human except for the wings with cyan feathers.

"Don't worry prince Onebu, we will make sure everyone is safe," Atomic Betty assured.

"Yeah, we'll arrest Olam before he hurts anyone, your highness," Sparky agreed.

Onebu had an angry look in his eyes for just a small moment before he forced an apologetic expression. "Forgive me; is that how I am perceived?"

Sparky was confused until X-5 whispered an explanation. "Sparky, in the Larutna galaxy, 'your highness' is a strictly sarcastic term. In other words you just called him a fat head."

"Oops," Sparky was trying to be polite and behave properly around royalty, but he messed it up. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. It's just that your highness means something else where I come from, it's nothing bad."

"That is alright, I understand," Onebu forced himself to smile.

"If it's alright, we would like to start our investigation and see if we can find any clues as to where Olam is. With your permission, prince Onebu," Atomic Betty emphasized the name.

It looked as if Onebu had a hard time keeping that fake smile on his face, but none the less his expression didn't change. "Of course, you have authorization to go anywhere in my kingdom."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile in a galaxy far, far away... "What do you mean you lost the auction? I told you to pay any price!" The Empress, who had returned to her kingdom even if they didn't want her there, yelled as she threw a base at the leader of the royal council. The elder ducked just in time and the base shattered on the wall behind him. "The Elixir of Life must be mine, find the one who dared to outbid me and recover it!"

xoxox xox xoxox

As soon as they were out of the throne room and far enough so the prince couldn't hear them, Atomic Betty asked. "Did you notice anything suspicious about him?"

"Not really," Sparky replied. "Was I supposed to notice anything?"

"His smile appeared force, but maybe that is because Sparky insulted him," X-5 pointed out.

"I didn't know your highness was a bad thing!" Sparky defended. "It was a mistake anyone could have made and said I didn't mean it in a bad way."

"I think that wasn't Onebu," Atomic Betty instantly got Sparky's and X-5's full attention. "There's the obvious forced smile and he looked uncomfortable when I called him Onebu. They're identical twins and that might have been Olam for all we know."

"But if that's Olam then where's Onebu?" Sparky brought up a good question.

"I don't know and it's not a sure thing that it was Olam back there, but we can't let him know we suspect. Let's talk to people and search for clues until we have a more solid theory, then we'll know if we need to search for Olam or if Onebu is the one missing," Betty concluded.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the area called the end of the universe, Maximus slowly woke up; it took him a long time to regain consciousness since he wasn't used to being hit on the head like Minimus was. He was in an unfamiliar room made of metal melted together as were most of the buildings on that strange planet. It was kind of small and cluttered with space ship parts, tools and the like. Maximus got up from the bed he was left in and walked to the door.

Maximus cautiously looked outside and saw a larger room, big enough for a space ship; in fact, his own space ship was there. The ship looked like someone or something tried to tare it apart but he noticed that some parts of it looked as if they were recently repaired or replaced and only needed a little paint.

"Your evilness!" Minimus suddenly yelled.

"Ah!" Maximus almost jumped at the unexpected sound. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" He hit Minimus on the head repeatedly.

A laugh was heard. "That was priceless," a raccoon-like alien known as a tanuki, came out from under the ship.

"Who are you and what did you do to my ship?" Maximus demanded to know.

"I'm Rickoon and I'm repairing your ship. The aliens around here messed it up, but I recovered it on time so it's possible to fix it. Oh, yeah and I also saved your life." The tanuki walked over to a large closet and opened it.

Maximus had another scare when he saw a grey scorpion with metallic skin, three tails and four arms inside the closet, but it didn't move, plus Minimus and Rickoon didn't look worried about it. "What is that ugly thing?"

"It's my alien disguise," Rickoon explained. It was big enough for one person to fit inside it. "One day I'll reveal myself as the real Rickoon and show those evil aliens that our kind isn't as weak as they think. Until then, I participate in their tournaments and earn enough money to work on my ship. I came here to figure out a way to get pass the black holes. Of course I'm not actually going to go myself. I always pilot the ships by remote control and I won't go until I'm sure beyond a doubt that I can make it to the other side alive."

"You should have seen that place your evilness," Minimus voiced. "There were aliens of all kinds in cages and there was that scary alien from the Poison Grapple and, and-"

"Alright I get the message!" Maximus interrupted, he was already going to have nightmares for months. "So why did you get us out of there?"

"Usually when I 'rescue' someone I knock them out and send them away on an escape pod. By the time they wake up they are already considerably far from here and have no intentions to return. That way no one will find out my secret. I need to make sure not to blow my cover so I can continue working towards my goal, to get to the other side of those back holes. If anyone tries to foolishly show their gratitude by convincing me to leave, it could be very troublesome. But you are Maximus IQ, the super villain. You invented the Over Loader right?" Rickoon said.

"Yes, I remember that. But then they dared to give the first price to Iciclea," Maximus hit Minimus, hitting his sidekick on the head was his way to get rid of stress.

"The shield generators always end up over loading and I was wondering if, since you invented the Over Loader, you could make an antidote," Rickoon explained.

"I suppose that could be possible, but what's at the other side of those black holes?" Maximus curiously asked.

"I don't know, no one has ever been there, but I think it's something good. Maybe it's a valuable treasure, or some sort of powerful magical item, or a super advanced civilization with lots of useful technology, or something equally as cool," Rickoon explained.

Maximus thought about it for a moment. "Alright I'll see if I can come up with an Anti-Over Loader, but when you make a ship that can survive the black holes, I want to know what's on the other side." If there was some sort of ultimate power of over there, Maximus had to have it. Besides, one thing the tanuki and the lynx had in common was their curiosity.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile in planet Popunatu of the Larutna galaxy, "you may not pass," the guards blocked the entrance.

"Prince Onebu said that we had his authorization to visit all of the kingdom and investigate," Atomic Betty tried to explain.

"This is the dungeon, there's nothing to investigate here," the guards insisted and that only made it look more suspicious.

"Fine, we'll go investigate somewhere else," Betty left, followed by Sparky and X-5.

"What are we going to do chief?" Sparky asked once they were far enough so the guards didn't hear them.

"They're hiding something," Betty suspected. "It could be that the real Onebu is in that dungeon, we need to find another way in."

As they walked out of the dungeon, which was located under the palace, they found the one who claimed to be Onebu, whom they suspected was Olam. "You've been investigating for so long. Why don't you join me for dinner now?"

"That sounds great!" Sparky's mouth watered at the thought of enough food to fill his four stomachs, at least temporarily.

"Yes, it does sounds great but I'm afraid we can't," Betty didn't want to risk poison.

"We need to continue our mission," X-5 added. Sparky looked disappointed, he was about to say something, but X-5 pulled him away.

"We will report our progress to you, prince Onebu," Betty also walked away, along with Sparky and X-5.

"Why can't we eat?" Sparky sounded as if he was a second away from throwing a temper tantrum.

"The food could be poisoned," Betty explained after they were away from the suspicious prince.

"Good reason," Sparky admitted. "But I'm so hungry; I think I'll go investigate on planet Frutitas."

"Sparky we need to stay together," Betty emphasized. "Let's see if we can find another way into the dungeon. I heard this palace has many secret passages."

xoxox xox xoxox

On planet Coolosia, two rabbit aliens, a man and a woman, hid in the shadows. "Did they follow you?" Seven eight nine asked.

"No, the brat's army was after me but I lost them," zero two five replied. "Here is the elixir of life." She handed him a beautifully crafted bottle containing a shiny liquid substance.

Seven smiled, "Let's go inside." The two aliens went inside a house and locked the door. Zero felt satisfied seeing Seven holding the bottle with the elixir of life. He opened the bottle and prepared to drink it but before he did, he paused and looked at the female rabbit. "Tell me what is the thing you want most; something that you want more than anything? What is the wish in your heart?"

The female white rabbit alien, an usagi, was a little surprised by the question. "I want you to live."

"I know," he looked at the bottle of elixir then at her. "This elixir of life can cure anything" The gray usagi looked into her eyes. "But there is something else you want. For you and your best friend, who is more than a friend, to be together?"

She had liked him for a long time and was willing to break the rules to find the elixir that would free him of the curse that was going to kill him otherwise, "yes."

"Then the two of you shall be together," the gray usagi drank the elixir of life.

"Why the two of you and not us?" The girl whispered, he was the one she cared for. She suddenly had a bad feeling, as if disaster would happen and she couldn't do anything to stop it at that point.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Atomic Betty or Shrek. As you might have noticed the Poison Grapple is based on the Poison Apple from Shrek 2, only more evil. The spy theme came from a dream I had. Grapple is a combination of grape and apple but also a real word which means "to engage in a struggle or close encounter" and "to try to overcome or deal." The name puns are; Larutna: nature, Onebu: bueno (good in Spanish), Olam: malo (bad in Spanish), Florare: rare flora, Popunatu: population nature, Frutitas: little fruits in Spanish (frutas is fruits).