Other Fan Fiction ❯ Atomic Galaxy ❯ Chapter 12
[ 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: 7 | Words: 8.3K | Visits: 229 | Status: Completed
Miscellaneous: Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Sci-fi | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.3K | Visits: 229 | Status: Completed
Atomic Galaxy: Solar System XII
Planet 95: High School
It was the classic high school alternate universe story that started with the introduction of certain students and faculty. First we see a robot with just about every cleaning utensil in its system, everything except a broom. Who ever designed this robot must have forgotten to equip one of the things used the most. So the robot, unable to provide a broom from his systems, headed for the cleaning closet to find one. Upon opening the door, two blue skinned students came to view, however they were too focused on each other to notice the robot. "That is an inappropriate course of action," the cleaning robot stated in monotone. "Please exit the area and refrain from such actions on the school grounds."
The two students realized that they had been discovered and stopped kissing. "I should turn you into a," the boy started.
The girl quickly stepped out of the closet. "No, it's my turn!" She froze the cleaning robot. Her name was Iciclea, a beautiful teenage ice queen.
Her boyfriend Solovem, heir to the throne of Mortavio stepped out of the closet as well knocking, down a few cleaning appliances as he did. "Isn't this the same robot I turned into fire breathing dragon last time?" He poked it curiously.
"The effect must have worn off." It didn't sound like too much to Iciclea. Her ice would eventually melt, she was used to it.
"But it wasn't supposed to!" Solovem was frustrated with his magic. His father had told him that he was still too young and becoming a powerful black magic wizard took hundreds of years.
xoxox xox xoxox
In gym class, Betty and Maximus were locked in a light saber duel, they were using fake light sabers, but dueling as if they were real. "As I have been saying for the past twenty minutes, you may stop now, you both passed." The gym teacher, Spindly Tam Kanushu repeated. Yet the two students did not pay attention and continued dueling. Their classmates watched with interest and worry at the same time. They hoped that Sensei Kanushu didn't expect them to do that well to pass the test too.
One of the students had snuck out of the gym; he was a Martian by the name of Sparky, with a big nose and a bigger appetite. He always snuck out to eat a snack as often as he could. He ran to the cafeteria were Bernadette, another student who worked part time at the cafeteria was. "I want a snack of... something!"
"Aren't you supposed to be in class right now?" Bernadette inquired.
"But I'm hungry!" Sparky complained. "Everything is so yummy I can't decide what to eat first."
xoxox xox xoxox
The bell rang signaling that it was time for lunch, no wonder Sparky was so hungry. Some time passed before Betty joined him at their usual table, along with their friends Rodger and Paloma. "How did the duel end Chief?" It was a nickname Sparky had for her, because she had always been like a leader to him. By now everyone except Sparky and Betty had finished eating. In Betty's case the reason was because she had just arrived and in Sparky's case because he ate a lot.
"I won, but it took me a while longer now. I'll practice and win faster next time," Betty was determined.
"I wish I could have seen it, but I was busy working on my hair," Rodger commented.
"Aren't you in history class at that time?" Paloma asked.
"Yes and I sit in the very back and brush my hair until it's over," Rodger replied.
"Have you noticed something today?" Betty's change of subject was welcomed by everyone except Rodger, who wanted to keep talking about his hair.
"That the food is even yummier?" Sparky took another bite of this burger.
"No, that the villains aren't at their usual table. Only Maximus and Minimus are there. Where are the others? Usually, when they don't spend the entire lunch hour trying to create a food fight, it's because they're up to something worse," Betty pointed out.
"You're probably right, we should investigate," Paloma agreed.
"But I'm not done eating yet!" Sparky complained. "I can't investigate on empty stomachs."
"Stay here Sparky, you too Rodger. Paloma and I will go investigate," Betty decided.
xoxox xox xoxox
Betty and Paloma ventured into the villain's territory and pushing Minimus, aside they sat down left and right from Maximus. "If you wish to speak with me, you must first make an appointment with my sidekick," Maximus kept his eyes on the wall on the opposite side of the room.
"Beware the flood," Paloma's eyes turned orange.
"What flood?" The mention of water in enough proportions to be called a flood, was certainly enough to get Maximus' attention.
Everyone knew that when Paloma's eyes turned orange a vision was coming to her. "I'm not sure, the vision isn't clear. I can only see it clearly if it takes place someone where I have been before. I see the halls wet but the source of the water is unknown to me."
"You're making that up," Maximus hoped she was.
"I'm not making it up. I'm not sure what will happen, but something will happen, something with water." Paloma grinned watching his frightened expression. "Lots and lots of water, icy cold water, so much of it we could all drown."
"Stop!" Maximus yelled and all heads inside the cafeteria were turned in his direction. He pretended like nothing was going on and soon enough everyone carried on with their own food and conversations.
"So Maximus, where is everyone today?" Betty got to the point.
"Everyone? I imagine they must be scattered all over the universe, where do you think, Betty?" Maximus answered sarcastically.
"You know what I mean. Where are the other villains," Betty insisted.
"It's Super Villains," Maximus corrected. Not only had she won the duel at gym, but she sat down at his table uninvited and said the name of their gang wrong. This was going too far.
"They're planning something aren't they?" Betty continued.
"Ouch! Who did that?" Maximus suddenly yelled. Betty and Paloma looked confused. "Someone stepped on my tail." Minimus was nearby but he wouldn't dare so that left Betty or Paloma. "Who did it?"
"I didn't do it," Betty replied.
"Me either, could it be her?" Paloma theorized.
The three looked under the table to find a blue alien girl with purple eyes, a twilek to be specific. "Whatever is happening, it must go on the school paper. The people need to know!"
"You may be evil Exa, but you are not a part of the Super Villains, get out of here!" Maximus yelled.
"I can't leave now, I have a great story! Maximus IQ, completely clueless about his fellow Super Villains' plans!" Exa crawled out from under the table and made a pose. "Now I, the great Exa Jerada, shall interview you!"
"Minimus get that paparazzi wannabe out of here!" Maximus complained.
"I'm afraid you have to leave now," Minimus tried to make her go away but Exa ignored him completely, which didn't really surprise the sidekick at all, everyone ignored him most of the time.
"Do you know what they're up to, Exa?" Betty asked.
"Of course, I know everything that's going on in this school. I knew Rodger's hair was a wig before it fell off that time. No one believed me when I wrote it in the paper, but after I was proven right, they learned to believe in my words!" Exa laughed like a maniac.
"Maybe a little too much," Paloma was right, just because Exa had been right that one time, didn't mean everything she wrote in the school paper was true. In fact, she had only been guessing about the wig, it was just a coincidence that it turned out to be true.
"You're just saying that because you don't know and I do!" Exa ran away and Betty and Paloma followed her.
Seeing their friends leave the cafeteria, Sparky and Rodger followed. Sparky was carrying several bags of to eat as he ran. Rodger stepped outside but as soon as he realized how windy it was, in fear of losing his precious hair, he retreated back into the cafeteria. As they approached one of the school buildings Destructa in her stone form stood in their way. "No trespassing past this point without a ticket!"
"There was a show going on? I didn't know," Sparky was puzzled.
"It was improvised, could you run back to the cafeteria and tell everyone? Tickets will cost five standard universal dollars. If you inform them for me, I'll give you my muffin tomorrow," Destructa offered.
"You have a deal!" Sparky ran back to the cafeteria to tell everyone about the show before Betty could stop him.
"Let's see what's really going on." Paloma's eyes turned orange as she tried to see what was happening that Destructa tried to hide. "I see someone I've never seen before, a new student."
"You're picking on the new student again?" Betty knew they always did.
"You may have figured it out, but no tickets means no entry!" Destruct insisted.
"Fine I'll buy one," Betty agreed and Paloma did the same. Soon Sparky returned from the cafeteria with a lot of students to see the show that Betty planned to stop.
"Alright everyone, this way." Destructa led them to an empty classroom as soon as she collected the money and handed out the improvised tickets.
The classroom was surrounded by a strange dark energy created by Solovem. "Those who have paid to see the show may enter."
Maximus made his way to the front of the line. "Out of my way, I'm getting a front row seat." He presented his ticket and Minimus followed, presenting his ticket as well.
"Betty, Paloma, Sparky, you three may not enter," Solovem glaring at them.
"I paid and I'm going in," Betty threw the ticket into his hand, but the force field didn't open for her.
"This isn't fair, we got the tickets, we played your game, so let us in!" Paloma insisted.
"Yeah, let us in, I want to watch the show!" Sparky added.
Paloma's eyes suddenly turned orange again. "Beware the flood!"
"That's the second time today. Are you planning to flood the school?" Betty looked at Solovem suspiciously.
"Not really, but the idea isn't bad," Solovem admitted.
"Solo, it's okay you can let them in," Iciclea spoke from inside the classroom.
"That's right we figured something out," Roxanne stretched enough to wrap herself around Betty, Sparky and Paloma to hold them in place. Soon everyone was inside. Penelope Lang kept complaining about where she was seated, but Maximus who had the best view front row center, refused to switch seats with her.
In a corner of the classroom were Optica and Iciclea, standing in front of something, as if hiding it. "Welcome everyone to our show!" Nuclea announced. "We call this show Static!" Everyone except those who were being held in place by Roxanne clapped and cheered.
Iciclea and Optica stepped aside revealing a boy trapped in a block of ice. Iciclea made a thin layer of ice appear on the floor and pushed the block to the center of the classroom, making it slip on the ice. Optica used her fire power to melt the ice, freeing the boy. Betty, Sparky and Paloma tried to break free from Roxanne, but they couldn't. Fortunately the human boy wasn't hurt.
"This isn't right," a blond human boy in the audience spoke.
Roxanne stretched even more to pull him into her grip as well. "Does anyone else have any complaints?" The audience was quiet. "I thought so." However, Roxanne was still a teenager developing her elastic abilities and could only stretch so far.
Betty noticed she was having trouble holding them. "Dylan, help us break free," she whispered. He nodded and started trying to get away with Betty, Sparky and Paloma, until they finally were able to escape.
It was too late, for the new student. Nuclea zapped him, the water left from the melted ice made the electricity stronger as her electric energy made it evaporate. The boy's brown hair stood up straight in spikes as he shivered and shook from the shock of electricity.
"Stop!" Betty stepped in. "You can't hurt!"
"What's the point, I doubt anyone would miss him," Nuclea countered.
"Is something wrong?" A voice came from the door. Standing there was a purple fish woman.
The students shook their heads at the same time. "Nothing," Nuclea replied.
Pontifadora was one of their nicest teachers as long as they stayed on her good side. She had her mischievous side, which made her highly tolerant to the students misbehaving as long as they didn't cross the line. If they pretended like nothing happened and ended it, then she would pretend she believed nothing happened and let it pass. "I thought so, but why are you in the classroom? It's still ten minutes until the end of the lunch hour." 'I can let them torture that new little weakling, but death would not look good in the school record,' she thought.
The show was over. Since no one wanted to get suspended or make a deadly hunter angry, most of the students hurried out of the classroom, leaving the new boy behind.
"Are you alright?" Betty asked.
The boy nodded, "I think so. I guess maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea, but my parents kept insisting and they worked so hard to get the school to accept my transfer."
"It's okay, don't let one bad day ruin your impression of this school. The villains are mean, but it's not this way everyday," Betty encouraged.
"Yeah, tomorrow will be a good day!" Sparky cheered. "Destructa promised to give me her muffin."
"Let' just hope she actually keeps her promise, villains are known to lie," Paloma reminded.
"Are you saying she might not give me the muffin?" Sparky grimaced.
Paloma's eyes turned orange as she tried to look into his possible future. "If you don't remind her everything will go smoothly, but if you do ,she'll turn to stone then throw you across the cafeteria. My suggestion is not to ask."
"That's not fair!" Sparky pouted.
Paloma shook her head, "next time don't listen to any of the villains."
"What's your name?" Betty asked the new boy.
"Noah," the new boy replied.
xoxox xox xoxox
Pontifadora entered the classroom. "Alright everyone, there's something important that I need to do," she walked towards a supply closet with a large lock. She opened it and took out a spear. Everyone knew she kept extra hunting gear there instead of school supplies. "I will not be here this afternoon so Mr. B-1 will be teaching you how to make robots for the next few days until I return from my hunting trip, I mean from my professional business trip." She closed the closet, locking it again, then headed towards the door. "One more thing, do not try to take Mr. B-1 apart." A few 'aw's were heard from disappointed students who wanted to do just that, but they knew better than to go against Pontifadora.
B-1 entered the classroom. He began explaining the principals of robotics and soon the students were divided into work groups to build a robot. "There will be three people in each group. The first group shall be composed of Roger, Dodger and-"
Before B-1 could finish, Rodger complained. "I don't want to be in the same team as my brother!"
"You're just jealous because my hair is real!" Dodger mocked.
"Enough! I will decide who is on each team. It's great to work with new people, right?" B-1 asked.
"No!" Everyone in the classroom replied at once. One of the things students hate the most is being stuck in a work group without their friends, or even worse, with their enemies.
B-1 decided to ignore their answer and continued. "As I was saying, the members of the first group are Rodger, Dodger and Paloma."
"What!" Paloma didn't predict that. "You can't pair me up with Mr. Hair and Mr. Wig! They'll drive me insane with their hair obsession!"
"Just give them a change," B-1 wasn't going to change his mind. "The next group will be composed of Penelope, Penelobee and Dylan."
The human Penelope and the half bee, known as Penelobee, glared at each other. "He's mine!" They both growled at the same time. Dylan looked terrified. He wondered if he would be able to come out of this alive. He remembered the last time Penelope and Penelobee got into a fight over him. Each of them pulled one of his arms and he was starting to think they would come off if Betty hasn't saved him.
"What about us?" Sarah and Megan asked at the same time. They were used to being in the same group as Penelope all the time.
"I will assign your groups soon," B-1 replied. "The third group will be composed of Sarah, Nuclea and Destructa."
"But I want to be in the same group as Optica and Roxanne!" Destructa complained.
"This is your chance to make new friends," B-1 insisted. "The next group will be composed of Roxanne, Iciclea and Duncan."
"I want to be with Solovem!" It was one of the few classes Iciclea had with her boyfriend and she wasn't even in the same workgroup as him.
"I want to be in Iciclea's group too!" Solovem added.
"I'll side with Iciclea on this one and trade Duncan for Solovem," Roxanne agreed.
"Sorry, no switching groups," B-1 remained firm.
"But Duncan is so stupid!" Roxanne complained.
"Who are you calling stupid?" Duncan asked.
"He's so stupid he can't even tell I'm calling him stupid!" Roxanne glared at him and everyone laughed.
"Calm down everyone! Duncan sit down, Roxanne, stop choking him, also return to your seat as well" B-1 urged. "Alright, next group, Solovem, Optica and Noah."
Optica and Solovem looked at Noah with evil grins. Even if he didn't get to be with Iciclea, at least Solovem would have a little fun with the new student. "Mr. B-1 can I please switch groups, please?" Noah begged.
"I'm sorry, but as I said before, no one can switch groups," B-1 reminded. "Next group, Chameleon, Exa and Spike."
"I'm hungry," Spike was a Martian like Sparky, but he had purple hair.
"Did you eat lunch?" B-1 asked.
"Yes, but I'm still hungry," Spike replied.
"Me too!" Sparky agreed.
"I'm sorry, it will have to wait. If you finish early I'll let you leave so you can have a little snack before your next class," B-1 promised and Spike and Sparky looked happy enough with that.
"Alright Chameleon listen up I'm the boss of this group," Exa declared. "You will, turn into something small and spy for me so I can get a good story for the school paper!"
"You're not the boss of me!" Chameleon snapped.
"One word, blackmail." The twilek grinned evilly, knowing she had the upper hand. Chameleon's frightened expression was worth a thousand words.
"Next group, Kentarii, Virginia and Enormo," B-1 announced. Kentarii was a fox alien and Virginia was a human. They smiled at each other. Clearly they had no complaints about working together. They completely ignored Enormo, who was not too happy about that. "I'm glad that there are no complaints." Enormo was trying to get B-1's attention but he didn't see him. "Where is Enormo anyway? Was he absent today? Well, you'll have to work by yourselves for now and he will join you next time. Someone should call him and tell him about what we discussed in class today."
Enormo gave up and sat quietly, "no one ever listens to me."
"The next group will be composed of Anvi, Kendo and Guineo," B-1 announced.
Anvi was a human; she had black hair, dark brown-black eyes and pale skin. She liked technology so she would probably do well in this project. Kendo was a lynx with gray and white fur and blue eyes. Guineo was also a human, he had blonde hair, green eyes and an obsession for experimenting. It was too bad he couldn't be in the same group as Ichigo, but at least he had a new study subject. "Do you mind if I run some tests on the feline?"
Kendo didn't like the sound of that. "I'm not a guinea pig!"
"Leave him alone and concentrate on the project. As much as I like robots I don't like group activities. If you don't keep up, I'll finish it by myself and you'll get a big fat zero, that goes for you too Kendo," Anvi was usually quiet, but group projects put her in a bad mood.
"But I can't get a zero, I'll never be a famous scientist if I do," Guineo complained.
"Then do what I say!" Anvi commanded.
Kendo and Guineo nodded a little frigthened, "yes, ma'am!"
"For our next group we have Ichigo, Dingleberry and Karly" B-1 said.
"Good luck with that, Karly!" Sparky called.
Karly was a Martian girl, Sparky's cousin. She had a big nose, blue hair and glasses. "I'll be fine, it's just too bad I didn't get paired up with a hot guy," Karly sighed.
"Two specimens to study!" Ichigo looked at Karly behind a magnifying glass.
"If you try anything I'll shove that magnifying glass somewhere painful!" Karly growled and Ichigo immediately backed away. Dingleberry didn't say anything; he just looked at Iciclea like a sad puppy that misses its master.
"Next up we have Megan, Minimus and Bernadette," B-1 decided.
"Minimus, I didn't hear you complain," Maximus glared at his sidekick.
"No complaints here, I get to work with Bernadette," Minimus smiling, then his head spun around, "and not with you."
"I have a complaint!" Bernadette raised her hand.
"If it's about switching groups then I'm sorry but no," B-1 guessed it was.
"What do you mean you have no complaints Minimus? You're supposed to be my sidekick!" Maximus hit Minimus on the head.
"Too bad we couldn't be in the same group your evilness," Minimus' normal face spoke, "not really," his other face added.
"For our final group, we have Betty, Sparky and Maximus," B-1 announced.
"What? How dare you leave me for last and to put me in the same group as those two? This is unforgivable!" Maximus yelled.
"For the millionth time, no one can switch groups!" B-1 insisted. "Well that's all thirty-three of you. You may start working on building your robot. First we will put together the body of the robot, then we will work on something very important, the artificial intelligence unit, but that will be done tomorrow. We will be working with a model, making small modifications. Everyone, go sit with your group."
"A model? I hate pre-made AI's I'm making my own," Anvi decided.
"But isn't that a little complicated?" Kendo asked.
"Not at all, if you program a basic series of variables properly and base the more complex variables on them, taking into consideration certain basic rules of programming, you can easily organize and construct a good artificial intelligence unit with different reactions to events, accordingly to the stored data, giving the robot a very realistic feel. From there you can move on to more complex formulas. Some important things to take into consideration are-" Anvi continued her high tech speech.
Kendo listened, having no clue of what she was saying and Guineo felt as if his head would explode. His specialty was genetics, he didn't really know a lot about robotics, which was Anvi's specialty. Kendo appeared to get by okay just smiling and nodding as if he understood.
The construction of the robots started and with it came many arguments for all the groups, especially for Betty, Sparky and Maximus. Betty and Maximus kept arguing over the robot's design and Sparky just wanted to get it over with so he would have more time for his snack.
xoxox xox xoxox
The next day, long after the morning bell rang, Maximus was trying to look evil. "Shouldn't we be in the classroom by now, your evilness?"
"Be quiet Minimus, I'm practicing looking evil," Maximus ignored the bell.
"What for?" Minimus asked.
"How could you ask that? Isn't it obvious? For my wanted poster, evil super villains are like movie stars. Does this look evil?" Maximus made a face.
Minimus held back a laugh. "That just looks ridiculous," his angry face replied before his head spun around. "You look very evil, your evilness, that's why you're the evilness," Minimus normal face tried to save the situation.
Maximus hit his sidekick, making his two faced head spin for his earlier comment. "I'm going to stay here for a little while and practice looking evil," Maximus continued looking at the mirror.
"Okay, see you later, your evilness," Minimus rushed out of the boy's bathroom, unable to contain his laughter. He ran down the hall and towards the classroom.
Looking at the mirror, Maximus saw that face from before really did look kind of funny. Maybe he was trying too hard, or maybe he was having a bad evilness day. "Why don't I look evil today?" Maximus said yelling at no one in particular, since there was no one else there, while looking up at the ceiling. As easily distracted as any other lynx, Maximus quickly forgot about looking evil and stared at the ceiling with something new to think about. "I never noticed that there before."
There was a little door in the ceiling. He knew it must have been there since before he came to that school, but it was the kind of thing that was easily missed. His natural curiosity kicked in full force and determined to find out what was out there, he jumped on a sink opened the little door, then climbed in.
xoxox xox xoxox
It had only been a few seconds after Maximus left when Chameleon arrived. It looked like the bathroom was empty. Good, no witnesses. Exa had him working all the time with the threat of blackmail with baby pictures. How did she get them anyway? Either way, it all came down to one thing, Chameleon was not having enough time to try to steal the position of Maximus' sidekick away from Minimus. This would certainly make a difference.
Chameleon stuffed some paper into the sinks then opened them. The water quickly filled the sinks then fell on the floor. Once his work was done, Chameleon left to inform Maximus about the evil thing he had done. Surely, he would be impressed and make him his new sidekick.
xoxox xox xoxox
Maximus had decided that he wasn't so curious after all. It was just a creepy dark tunnel, nothing interesting. It wasn't like he was afraid, oh no, he was only terrified. He made his way back to the little door from where he came, but what was his surprise when he got there and found that the bathroom was flooded three feet already. It looked like the sinks were plugged and the water continued running, filling the bathroom.
Obviously this didn't happen by itself. Someone must have done it. "This can't be! I'm going to die! No, I can't drown in a school bathroom, that's a totally pathetic death!" There was no way he was going to jump down into the water, so instead he crawled deeper into the tunnels above. It was dark and creepy, but at least it was dry.
Maximus continued following the tunnel, not knowing where exactly he was going. Then he heard voices. "I thought you were in a business trip," that voice sounded like the principal, Degill.
"I know, but I missed you Gilly, so I took a small break from hunt-I mean, from the professional things I was doing in my professional business trip, so I could come to visit you," the other voice sounded like Pontifadora.
With his curiosity returning, Maximus followed the voices until he came to another little door. However, he didn't notice the loose door until it opened under his weight and he fell on a desk. He might have landed on his feet like a true lynx, but that didn't save him from ending up on the floor after he fell backwards from pure shock.
"Maximus IQ! What are you doing in my office? Wait, I know the answer to that one, you must have gotten into trouble again. Instead tell me why did you come from the ceiling?" Degill's usual golden color was decorated by red now. He had locked the door thinking that would be enough to keep the students out so he could be alone with Pontifadora.
Pontifadora had the same red color on her face as well. "Now Gilly, I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this," she spoke in a tone so calm it was beginning to scare Maximus. She picked up a pen from Degill's desk as Maximus backed away against a wall. "You were looking for your classroom and came here by accident didn't you?" She threw the pen and it was embedded into the wall, missing Maximus by a hair.
The scared lynx nodded, "yes."
"Pop quiz, what's the most painful way to kill a lynx? Oh, wait I don't think we've gotten to that chapter in class yet, have we? Let me ask you something else. Will you tell anyone what you saw?" Pontifadora asked.
"No!" Maximus quickly answered.
"That is the correct answer, I give you an A. Run along now, I'm sure there's somewhere you need to be," Pontifadora shooed him away.
Maximus rushed out of the office. "Ew cooties, I'll have nightmares until I graduate." The bell rang, signaling the time to switch classes and the students flooded the halls. Maximus was quick to find his sidekick and without giving Minimus the chance to say anything, he hit him on the head. "How dare you abandon me in that death trap? I could have drowned or been murdered!" By the time Minimus' head stopped spinning, Maximus had noticed someone. "What are you doing Exa?"
The girl was holding a small recording device near him. "Just getting the latest news, continue as if I wasn't here."
"But you are there and you're recording me," Maximus worried. What if Pontifadora heard that recording and thought he didn't keep the secret about what he saw in the office? "Give me that!" Maximus took the small recorder.
"No!" Exa pulled it, neither of them willing to let go.
"Don't just stand there Minimus, do something!" Maximus yelled.
Minimus tried to take the recorder, but knocked it out of their hands, sending it sliding across the polished floors of the halls. A raccoon boy opened his locker as the recorder slid by, hitting it and sending it further away. Maximus and Exa raced for it. As they approached, it looked like Exa was going to dive in a desperate attempt to recover her recorder. Maximus saw this and grabbed Minimus by the tail, swung him like a hockey stick and hit the recorder with his head.
The recorder was sent flying straight towards the gym teacher, Spindly Tam Kanushu, who ducked just in time. Standing right behind him was the science teacher, Dr. Cerebral. The recorder bounced off his helmet towards Maximus. Maximus hit it again using Minimus as a hockey stick, the hockey coach was watching the scene with his mouth slightly open, as the recorder headed towards him and he swallowed the recorder.
The coach coughed a little before the recorder went down his throat. Looking a bit worried, he touched his stomach signaling that it was too late. Exa made a run for it, leaving Maximus to take the blame. "You!" The couch walked towards Maximus. He used to be a principal in a middle school on Earth, but when he heard about the offer for a job as a hockey couch for an intergalactic high school he couldn't resist, working with hockey was what he really wanted to do for the rest of his life.
"I didn't do anything, it was Minimus!" Maximus accursed.
"Ow," Minimus's normal face complained. His head painfully spun around showing his angry face, "if you keep blaming me for everything you do, you'll never have an evil villain reputation, I will."
"Shut up, this is an exception!" Maximus kicked the sidekick away.
"There is no need to explain, I saw everything! I saw you running down the hall, I saw how you used your little friend as a hockey stick and I saw you when you hit that little machine sending it straight into my mouth. That little machine is now in my stomach because of you." His voice changed from serious to happy. "You were great!"
Maximus blinked, "I was?"
"Yes! That was excellent! You must join the hockey team!"
Maximus was about to say no, but he thought about it a little more. Betty was in the hockey team, so were Iciclea, Solovem, Dingleberry, Roxanne, Duncan, Sparky, Paloma and Dylan and some others, but that was not the point. The point was that Betty was there. He could get back at her for stealing his victory at the gym class test duel by stealing her spotlight at the hockey games. "Count me in."
"Wonderful! Don't forget to come to practice."
xoxox xox xoxox
It was time for hockey practice. "What are you doing here?" Betty feared the worse. Judging by the hockey uniform, it was pretty obvious why he was there, but she had to hear it just to make sure it was real and not only a nightmare.
"I'm in the hockey team now," Maximus confirmed.
No, it couldn't be. It was bad enough that she had to deal with Iciclea manipulating the ice, Solovem turning players into pugs to score extra and Duncan randomly hitting the pug without even aiming, but this was too much. "It's not as easy as it looks," Betty warned.
"I'm a very skilled super villain, I can handle it. In fact, I can play better than you. I'll make a lot of... um... baskets" Maximus tried to argue and failed miserably.
"This is hockey, we don't make baskets here, that's basket ball," Betty became more frustrated.
"I knew that, I meant to say I'll make a lot of home runs," Maximus nodded to himself.
"No, that's base ball," Betty sighed aggravated.
"Touch down?" Maximus guessed.
"That's foot ball, in hockey we make goals," Betty explained.
"What would you know? I'm such a great hockey player I'll make all of those things, baskets, home runs, touch downs and lots of goals." Maximus stepped into the ice and slipped. "Stupid ice skates not working right!"
"The skates don't give you instant balance, you need to learn to use them," Betty pointed out. "How did you get in the team anyway?"
"The couch saw my superior talent and practically begged me to join." Maximus attempted to get up, but he fell over and over again. "You sabotaged the ice didn't you?"
"I didn't do anything, you just don't know how to skate," Betty retorted.
"How dare you doubt my superior skill? It's all your fault!" Maximus crawled away from the ice once again into the safe solid floor and took off his ice skates.
"How's practice going?" In the background the coach saw Iciclea and Solovem happily skating together while Dingleberry followed them around like a lost puppy, they were not exactly practicing hockey, but at least they were on the ice. Roxanne was at the goal stretched enough to cover it completely. Sparky, Dylan and Paloma were skating, passing a pug to each other and Duncan was trying to hit it, but the other three made sure he didn't get to it.
"She sabotaged the ice!" Maximus pointed at Betty.
"I did not!" Betty defended.
"Now Maximus, if the ice had been sabotaged I would have noticed. Let me see your skates." The coach examined the ice skates but found nothing wrong with them. "Everything looks fine to me. You just need to get used to the ice, that's all."
"I'm not going back in there," Maximus pouted and for a moment Betty felt relived. She had enough to deal with on her team, but that feeling was short lived.
"Maybe I can arrange something, it's not everyday someone makes me swallow a little machine like you did. You caught me completely off guard and not many can do that. We could try playing a few games off the ice until you get used to it. We could play outside," the coach thought about it.
"That would be field hockey and the field is covered with snow so we can't do that." Was Betty the only one not getting sports mixed up today?
"Snow hockey!" The coach cheered happily.
"It's three feet of snow out there, I'm not going," Maximus pouted. Such was the weather of the mysterious planet where their school was located. It could be sunny one day and snowing the next.
"Alright then, I just got a great idea," the coach threw out his next plan. "Hall hockey! You did well in the hall, so you'll be more comfortable there." It was decided the hockey game would take place in the hall.
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Rodger was heading towards the bathroom to look at his precious hair in the mirror. He couldn't get a clear view of it in his little mirror, but soon he could stare at it in all its glory in a bigger mirror.
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At hockey practice, the coach was giving the students the news about the location of their next game. "Beware the flood," Paloma warned with glowing orange eyes.
"Flood? No there will be no flood in our game. We'll just have it in the hall, everything else will be almost the same. Except for the he limited movement space, the long corridor and the lockers on the sides. This will be very exiting. I might even go down in history as the creator of a new version of hockey, hall hockey!" The coach cheered.
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Rodger was about to open the door to the boys bathroom when he noticed water on the floor, slipping under the door. He had heard about Paloma's flood prediction. Exa had spread the word and most people avoided water just to be safe, which meant that most people stayed away from water fountains, the pool and the bathrooms. Rodger shrugged, it was probably nothing, then he opened the door.
A massive flood came out with incredible pressure, throwing Rodger across the hall and his wig even further away. It was the flood Paloma had predicted. The water invaded the halls as students screamed and ran in a panic, trying to get away from the massive river that threatened to drown them. The water had gotten inside the little tunnels in the ceiling, providing a place for more water to accumulate. Degill had already sealed the little door in the ceiling of his office after Maximus dropped in, so all the water came out by the door in the bathroom.
By the time the hockey team arrived at the hall the flood had passed, but there was water everywhere. The victims of the flood told their classmates who were fortunate enough not to witness it about how they survived the river of doom. Rodger was drying his wig while plotting his revenge for whoever did this. "When I catch the one who locked all that water in the bathroom, he's gonna pay!"
"I forgot about the water, I guess someone finally opened the door," Maximus recalled.
"You mean you did it?" Rodger glared.
"I didn't do it, but I saw the water from the ceiling," Maximus explained and Rodger looked confused. "There's a little door at the ceiling."
"I'm usually too busy looking at my wonderful hair to notice such things. So you saw the water, escaped by the ceiling and didn't tell anyone?" Rodger inquired.
"Yes, that's all that happened," Maximus skipped the part about falling in Degill's office.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Rodger yelled.
"I'm an evil super villain, I don't warn people!" Maximus yelled back. He knocked the half wet wig off Rodger's head with his hockey stick.
"My hair!" Rodger dived to recover his wig.
"That's it! I knew you would do better in the hall!" The coach cheered.
Betty shook her head. "What a disaster." Hockey without ice just wasn't hockey to her. Iciclea was also quite upset since she liked ice so much.
"There you are! I've been trying to find you for a while," Chameleon finally found Maximus. "What do you think of the evil thing I did? I was the one who plugged the sinks and made the flood!" Without a word, Maximus got his hockey stick ready. The wet students quickly caught on and gathered at the opposite side of the hall. Maximus hit Chameleon as hard as he could and sent him flying into the angry mob.
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The day of the next hall hockey game came and for that purpose the halls were cleared. The audience watched from the safety of their lockers closing the door to shield them selves when the action came too close. With so little space, the game was thrown into chaos.
It got worse when a golden colored robot rushed in shooting lasers at everyone. "No! You were not supposed to do that until I said so!" The robot ignored Maximus.
"Our project!" Betty chased after the robot, trying to turn it off, but the robot was too quick and there were too many people in the way. Luckily, the robot ran out of energy and stopped.
"Since the challenging team will have to be taken to the hospital because of laser injuries, the victory goes to us!" The coach cheered. The first ever game of hall hockey had ended with a very unusual victory.
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The days passed and it was time to present the robot project to the class. "This robot isn't evil enough!" Maximus complained. The robot was a golden color with glowing blue eyes and 'X-5' written on it. "What's the X-5 for?"
"He's an ex-villain who had to be rebuilt five times," Sparky explained.
"Why did you let him name the robot?" Maximus asked.
"Be cause he really wanted to," Betty answered. There was a pause. "Aren't you going to complain because you want to name it?"
"Actually, no, that goody-goody piece of metal isn't evil enough to be named by me," Maximus replied.
Everything turned out well in their robotics project after all. Most of the time, X-5 could be found following Betty around school, just like Y-3 followed Anvi. She too had a story about the name Y-3. Why three? As in 'Why must robotics class teams be made of three people?' She had always preferred to work alone, but at least the robot turned out alright.
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Friends, rivals, new students, floods, strange versions of hockey, group projects and untold secrets, it's all part of the high school drama.
End of Solar System XII
Disclaimer, I don't own Atomic Betty. Exa Jerada, Spike, Kentarii, Anvi, Kendo, Guineo, Ichigo, Karly, Y-3 and Virginia are original characters. Special thanks to Barry, who named Virginia aka Ginnie.
Planet 95: High School
It was the classic high school alternate universe story that started with the introduction of certain students and faculty. First we see a robot with just about every cleaning utensil in its system, everything except a broom. Who ever designed this robot must have forgotten to equip one of the things used the most. So the robot, unable to provide a broom from his systems, headed for the cleaning closet to find one. Upon opening the door, two blue skinned students came to view, however they were too focused on each other to notice the robot. "That is an inappropriate course of action," the cleaning robot stated in monotone. "Please exit the area and refrain from such actions on the school grounds."
The two students realized that they had been discovered and stopped kissing. "I should turn you into a," the boy started.
The girl quickly stepped out of the closet. "No, it's my turn!" She froze the cleaning robot. Her name was Iciclea, a beautiful teenage ice queen.
Her boyfriend Solovem, heir to the throne of Mortavio stepped out of the closet as well knocking, down a few cleaning appliances as he did. "Isn't this the same robot I turned into fire breathing dragon last time?" He poked it curiously.
"The effect must have worn off." It didn't sound like too much to Iciclea. Her ice would eventually melt, she was used to it.
"But it wasn't supposed to!" Solovem was frustrated with his magic. His father had told him that he was still too young and becoming a powerful black magic wizard took hundreds of years.
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In gym class, Betty and Maximus were locked in a light saber duel, they were using fake light sabers, but dueling as if they were real. "As I have been saying for the past twenty minutes, you may stop now, you both passed." The gym teacher, Spindly Tam Kanushu repeated. Yet the two students did not pay attention and continued dueling. Their classmates watched with interest and worry at the same time. They hoped that Sensei Kanushu didn't expect them to do that well to pass the test too.
One of the students had snuck out of the gym; he was a Martian by the name of Sparky, with a big nose and a bigger appetite. He always snuck out to eat a snack as often as he could. He ran to the cafeteria were Bernadette, another student who worked part time at the cafeteria was. "I want a snack of... something!"
"Aren't you supposed to be in class right now?" Bernadette inquired.
"But I'm hungry!" Sparky complained. "Everything is so yummy I can't decide what to eat first."
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The bell rang signaling that it was time for lunch, no wonder Sparky was so hungry. Some time passed before Betty joined him at their usual table, along with their friends Rodger and Paloma. "How did the duel end Chief?" It was a nickname Sparky had for her, because she had always been like a leader to him. By now everyone except Sparky and Betty had finished eating. In Betty's case the reason was because she had just arrived and in Sparky's case because he ate a lot.
"I won, but it took me a while longer now. I'll practice and win faster next time," Betty was determined.
"I wish I could have seen it, but I was busy working on my hair," Rodger commented.
"Aren't you in history class at that time?" Paloma asked.
"Yes and I sit in the very back and brush my hair until it's over," Rodger replied.
"Have you noticed something today?" Betty's change of subject was welcomed by everyone except Rodger, who wanted to keep talking about his hair.
"That the food is even yummier?" Sparky took another bite of this burger.
"No, that the villains aren't at their usual table. Only Maximus and Minimus are there. Where are the others? Usually, when they don't spend the entire lunch hour trying to create a food fight, it's because they're up to something worse," Betty pointed out.
"You're probably right, we should investigate," Paloma agreed.
"But I'm not done eating yet!" Sparky complained. "I can't investigate on empty stomachs."
"Stay here Sparky, you too Rodger. Paloma and I will go investigate," Betty decided.
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Betty and Paloma ventured into the villain's territory and pushing Minimus, aside they sat down left and right from Maximus. "If you wish to speak with me, you must first make an appointment with my sidekick," Maximus kept his eyes on the wall on the opposite side of the room.
"Beware the flood," Paloma's eyes turned orange.
"What flood?" The mention of water in enough proportions to be called a flood, was certainly enough to get Maximus' attention.
Everyone knew that when Paloma's eyes turned orange a vision was coming to her. "I'm not sure, the vision isn't clear. I can only see it clearly if it takes place someone where I have been before. I see the halls wet but the source of the water is unknown to me."
"You're making that up," Maximus hoped she was.
"I'm not making it up. I'm not sure what will happen, but something will happen, something with water." Paloma grinned watching his frightened expression. "Lots and lots of water, icy cold water, so much of it we could all drown."
"Stop!" Maximus yelled and all heads inside the cafeteria were turned in his direction. He pretended like nothing was going on and soon enough everyone carried on with their own food and conversations.
"So Maximus, where is everyone today?" Betty got to the point.
"Everyone? I imagine they must be scattered all over the universe, where do you think, Betty?" Maximus answered sarcastically.
"You know what I mean. Where are the other villains," Betty insisted.
"It's Super Villains," Maximus corrected. Not only had she won the duel at gym, but she sat down at his table uninvited and said the name of their gang wrong. This was going too far.
"They're planning something aren't they?" Betty continued.
"Ouch! Who did that?" Maximus suddenly yelled. Betty and Paloma looked confused. "Someone stepped on my tail." Minimus was nearby but he wouldn't dare so that left Betty or Paloma. "Who did it?"
"I didn't do it," Betty replied.
"Me either, could it be her?" Paloma theorized.
The three looked under the table to find a blue alien girl with purple eyes, a twilek to be specific. "Whatever is happening, it must go on the school paper. The people need to know!"
"You may be evil Exa, but you are not a part of the Super Villains, get out of here!" Maximus yelled.
"I can't leave now, I have a great story! Maximus IQ, completely clueless about his fellow Super Villains' plans!" Exa crawled out from under the table and made a pose. "Now I, the great Exa Jerada, shall interview you!"
"Minimus get that paparazzi wannabe out of here!" Maximus complained.
"I'm afraid you have to leave now," Minimus tried to make her go away but Exa ignored him completely, which didn't really surprise the sidekick at all, everyone ignored him most of the time.
"Do you know what they're up to, Exa?" Betty asked.
"Of course, I know everything that's going on in this school. I knew Rodger's hair was a wig before it fell off that time. No one believed me when I wrote it in the paper, but after I was proven right, they learned to believe in my words!" Exa laughed like a maniac.
"Maybe a little too much," Paloma was right, just because Exa had been right that one time, didn't mean everything she wrote in the school paper was true. In fact, she had only been guessing about the wig, it was just a coincidence that it turned out to be true.
"You're just saying that because you don't know and I do!" Exa ran away and Betty and Paloma followed her.
Seeing their friends leave the cafeteria, Sparky and Rodger followed. Sparky was carrying several bags of to eat as he ran. Rodger stepped outside but as soon as he realized how windy it was, in fear of losing his precious hair, he retreated back into the cafeteria. As they approached one of the school buildings Destructa in her stone form stood in their way. "No trespassing past this point without a ticket!"
"There was a show going on? I didn't know," Sparky was puzzled.
"It was improvised, could you run back to the cafeteria and tell everyone? Tickets will cost five standard universal dollars. If you inform them for me, I'll give you my muffin tomorrow," Destructa offered.
"You have a deal!" Sparky ran back to the cafeteria to tell everyone about the show before Betty could stop him.
"Let's see what's really going on." Paloma's eyes turned orange as she tried to see what was happening that Destructa tried to hide. "I see someone I've never seen before, a new student."
"You're picking on the new student again?" Betty knew they always did.
"You may have figured it out, but no tickets means no entry!" Destruct insisted.
"Fine I'll buy one," Betty agreed and Paloma did the same. Soon Sparky returned from the cafeteria with a lot of students to see the show that Betty planned to stop.
"Alright everyone, this way." Destructa led them to an empty classroom as soon as she collected the money and handed out the improvised tickets.
The classroom was surrounded by a strange dark energy created by Solovem. "Those who have paid to see the show may enter."
Maximus made his way to the front of the line. "Out of my way, I'm getting a front row seat." He presented his ticket and Minimus followed, presenting his ticket as well.
"Betty, Paloma, Sparky, you three may not enter," Solovem glaring at them.
"I paid and I'm going in," Betty threw the ticket into his hand, but the force field didn't open for her.
"This isn't fair, we got the tickets, we played your game, so let us in!" Paloma insisted.
"Yeah, let us in, I want to watch the show!" Sparky added.
Paloma's eyes suddenly turned orange again. "Beware the flood!"
"That's the second time today. Are you planning to flood the school?" Betty looked at Solovem suspiciously.
"Not really, but the idea isn't bad," Solovem admitted.
"Solo, it's okay you can let them in," Iciclea spoke from inside the classroom.
"That's right we figured something out," Roxanne stretched enough to wrap herself around Betty, Sparky and Paloma to hold them in place. Soon everyone was inside. Penelope Lang kept complaining about where she was seated, but Maximus who had the best view front row center, refused to switch seats with her.
In a corner of the classroom were Optica and Iciclea, standing in front of something, as if hiding it. "Welcome everyone to our show!" Nuclea announced. "We call this show Static!" Everyone except those who were being held in place by Roxanne clapped and cheered.
Iciclea and Optica stepped aside revealing a boy trapped in a block of ice. Iciclea made a thin layer of ice appear on the floor and pushed the block to the center of the classroom, making it slip on the ice. Optica used her fire power to melt the ice, freeing the boy. Betty, Sparky and Paloma tried to break free from Roxanne, but they couldn't. Fortunately the human boy wasn't hurt.
"This isn't right," a blond human boy in the audience spoke.
Roxanne stretched even more to pull him into her grip as well. "Does anyone else have any complaints?" The audience was quiet. "I thought so." However, Roxanne was still a teenager developing her elastic abilities and could only stretch so far.
Betty noticed she was having trouble holding them. "Dylan, help us break free," she whispered. He nodded and started trying to get away with Betty, Sparky and Paloma, until they finally were able to escape.
It was too late, for the new student. Nuclea zapped him, the water left from the melted ice made the electricity stronger as her electric energy made it evaporate. The boy's brown hair stood up straight in spikes as he shivered and shook from the shock of electricity.
"Stop!" Betty stepped in. "You can't hurt!"
"What's the point, I doubt anyone would miss him," Nuclea countered.
"Is something wrong?" A voice came from the door. Standing there was a purple fish woman.
The students shook their heads at the same time. "Nothing," Nuclea replied.
Pontifadora was one of their nicest teachers as long as they stayed on her good side. She had her mischievous side, which made her highly tolerant to the students misbehaving as long as they didn't cross the line. If they pretended like nothing happened and ended it, then she would pretend she believed nothing happened and let it pass. "I thought so, but why are you in the classroom? It's still ten minutes until the end of the lunch hour." 'I can let them torture that new little weakling, but death would not look good in the school record,' she thought.
The show was over. Since no one wanted to get suspended or make a deadly hunter angry, most of the students hurried out of the classroom, leaving the new boy behind.
"Are you alright?" Betty asked.
The boy nodded, "I think so. I guess maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea, but my parents kept insisting and they worked so hard to get the school to accept my transfer."
"It's okay, don't let one bad day ruin your impression of this school. The villains are mean, but it's not this way everyday," Betty encouraged.
"Yeah, tomorrow will be a good day!" Sparky cheered. "Destructa promised to give me her muffin."
"Let' just hope she actually keeps her promise, villains are known to lie," Paloma reminded.
"Are you saying she might not give me the muffin?" Sparky grimaced.
Paloma's eyes turned orange as she tried to look into his possible future. "If you don't remind her everything will go smoothly, but if you do ,she'll turn to stone then throw you across the cafeteria. My suggestion is not to ask."
"That's not fair!" Sparky pouted.
Paloma shook her head, "next time don't listen to any of the villains."
"What's your name?" Betty asked the new boy.
"Noah," the new boy replied.
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Pontifadora entered the classroom. "Alright everyone, there's something important that I need to do," she walked towards a supply closet with a large lock. She opened it and took out a spear. Everyone knew she kept extra hunting gear there instead of school supplies. "I will not be here this afternoon so Mr. B-1 will be teaching you how to make robots for the next few days until I return from my hunting trip, I mean from my professional business trip." She closed the closet, locking it again, then headed towards the door. "One more thing, do not try to take Mr. B-1 apart." A few 'aw's were heard from disappointed students who wanted to do just that, but they knew better than to go against Pontifadora.
B-1 entered the classroom. He began explaining the principals of robotics and soon the students were divided into work groups to build a robot. "There will be three people in each group. The first group shall be composed of Roger, Dodger and-"
Before B-1 could finish, Rodger complained. "I don't want to be in the same team as my brother!"
"You're just jealous because my hair is real!" Dodger mocked.
"Enough! I will decide who is on each team. It's great to work with new people, right?" B-1 asked.
"No!" Everyone in the classroom replied at once. One of the things students hate the most is being stuck in a work group without their friends, or even worse, with their enemies.
B-1 decided to ignore their answer and continued. "As I was saying, the members of the first group are Rodger, Dodger and Paloma."
"What!" Paloma didn't predict that. "You can't pair me up with Mr. Hair and Mr. Wig! They'll drive me insane with their hair obsession!"
"Just give them a change," B-1 wasn't going to change his mind. "The next group will be composed of Penelope, Penelobee and Dylan."
The human Penelope and the half bee, known as Penelobee, glared at each other. "He's mine!" They both growled at the same time. Dylan looked terrified. He wondered if he would be able to come out of this alive. He remembered the last time Penelope and Penelobee got into a fight over him. Each of them pulled one of his arms and he was starting to think they would come off if Betty hasn't saved him.
"What about us?" Sarah and Megan asked at the same time. They were used to being in the same group as Penelope all the time.
"I will assign your groups soon," B-1 replied. "The third group will be composed of Sarah, Nuclea and Destructa."
"But I want to be in the same group as Optica and Roxanne!" Destructa complained.
"This is your chance to make new friends," B-1 insisted. "The next group will be composed of Roxanne, Iciclea and Duncan."
"I want to be with Solovem!" It was one of the few classes Iciclea had with her boyfriend and she wasn't even in the same workgroup as him.
"I want to be in Iciclea's group too!" Solovem added.
"I'll side with Iciclea on this one and trade Duncan for Solovem," Roxanne agreed.
"Sorry, no switching groups," B-1 remained firm.
"But Duncan is so stupid!" Roxanne complained.
"Who are you calling stupid?" Duncan asked.
"He's so stupid he can't even tell I'm calling him stupid!" Roxanne glared at him and everyone laughed.
"Calm down everyone! Duncan sit down, Roxanne, stop choking him, also return to your seat as well" B-1 urged. "Alright, next group, Solovem, Optica and Noah."
Optica and Solovem looked at Noah with evil grins. Even if he didn't get to be with Iciclea, at least Solovem would have a little fun with the new student. "Mr. B-1 can I please switch groups, please?" Noah begged.
"I'm sorry, but as I said before, no one can switch groups," B-1 reminded. "Next group, Chameleon, Exa and Spike."
"I'm hungry," Spike was a Martian like Sparky, but he had purple hair.
"Did you eat lunch?" B-1 asked.
"Yes, but I'm still hungry," Spike replied.
"Me too!" Sparky agreed.
"I'm sorry, it will have to wait. If you finish early I'll let you leave so you can have a little snack before your next class," B-1 promised and Spike and Sparky looked happy enough with that.
"Alright Chameleon listen up I'm the boss of this group," Exa declared. "You will, turn into something small and spy for me so I can get a good story for the school paper!"
"You're not the boss of me!" Chameleon snapped.
"One word, blackmail." The twilek grinned evilly, knowing she had the upper hand. Chameleon's frightened expression was worth a thousand words.
"Next group, Kentarii, Virginia and Enormo," B-1 announced. Kentarii was a fox alien and Virginia was a human. They smiled at each other. Clearly they had no complaints about working together. They completely ignored Enormo, who was not too happy about that. "I'm glad that there are no complaints." Enormo was trying to get B-1's attention but he didn't see him. "Where is Enormo anyway? Was he absent today? Well, you'll have to work by yourselves for now and he will join you next time. Someone should call him and tell him about what we discussed in class today."
Enormo gave up and sat quietly, "no one ever listens to me."
"The next group will be composed of Anvi, Kendo and Guineo," B-1 announced.
Anvi was a human; she had black hair, dark brown-black eyes and pale skin. She liked technology so she would probably do well in this project. Kendo was a lynx with gray and white fur and blue eyes. Guineo was also a human, he had blonde hair, green eyes and an obsession for experimenting. It was too bad he couldn't be in the same group as Ichigo, but at least he had a new study subject. "Do you mind if I run some tests on the feline?"
Kendo didn't like the sound of that. "I'm not a guinea pig!"
"Leave him alone and concentrate on the project. As much as I like robots I don't like group activities. If you don't keep up, I'll finish it by myself and you'll get a big fat zero, that goes for you too Kendo," Anvi was usually quiet, but group projects put her in a bad mood.
"But I can't get a zero, I'll never be a famous scientist if I do," Guineo complained.
"Then do what I say!" Anvi commanded.
Kendo and Guineo nodded a little frigthened, "yes, ma'am!"
"For our next group we have Ichigo, Dingleberry and Karly" B-1 said.
"Good luck with that, Karly!" Sparky called.
Karly was a Martian girl, Sparky's cousin. She had a big nose, blue hair and glasses. "I'll be fine, it's just too bad I didn't get paired up with a hot guy," Karly sighed.
"Two specimens to study!" Ichigo looked at Karly behind a magnifying glass.
"If you try anything I'll shove that magnifying glass somewhere painful!" Karly growled and Ichigo immediately backed away. Dingleberry didn't say anything; he just looked at Iciclea like a sad puppy that misses its master.
"Next up we have Megan, Minimus and Bernadette," B-1 decided.
"Minimus, I didn't hear you complain," Maximus glared at his sidekick.
"No complaints here, I get to work with Bernadette," Minimus smiling, then his head spun around, "and not with you."
"I have a complaint!" Bernadette raised her hand.
"If it's about switching groups then I'm sorry but no," B-1 guessed it was.
"What do you mean you have no complaints Minimus? You're supposed to be my sidekick!" Maximus hit Minimus on the head.
"Too bad we couldn't be in the same group your evilness," Minimus' normal face spoke, "not really," his other face added.
"For our final group, we have Betty, Sparky and Maximus," B-1 announced.
"What? How dare you leave me for last and to put me in the same group as those two? This is unforgivable!" Maximus yelled.
"For the millionth time, no one can switch groups!" B-1 insisted. "Well that's all thirty-three of you. You may start working on building your robot. First we will put together the body of the robot, then we will work on something very important, the artificial intelligence unit, but that will be done tomorrow. We will be working with a model, making small modifications. Everyone, go sit with your group."
"A model? I hate pre-made AI's I'm making my own," Anvi decided.
"But isn't that a little complicated?" Kendo asked.
"Not at all, if you program a basic series of variables properly and base the more complex variables on them, taking into consideration certain basic rules of programming, you can easily organize and construct a good artificial intelligence unit with different reactions to events, accordingly to the stored data, giving the robot a very realistic feel. From there you can move on to more complex formulas. Some important things to take into consideration are-" Anvi continued her high tech speech.
Kendo listened, having no clue of what she was saying and Guineo felt as if his head would explode. His specialty was genetics, he didn't really know a lot about robotics, which was Anvi's specialty. Kendo appeared to get by okay just smiling and nodding as if he understood.
The construction of the robots started and with it came many arguments for all the groups, especially for Betty, Sparky and Maximus. Betty and Maximus kept arguing over the robot's design and Sparky just wanted to get it over with so he would have more time for his snack.
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The next day, long after the morning bell rang, Maximus was trying to look evil. "Shouldn't we be in the classroom by now, your evilness?"
"Be quiet Minimus, I'm practicing looking evil," Maximus ignored the bell.
"What for?" Minimus asked.
"How could you ask that? Isn't it obvious? For my wanted poster, evil super villains are like movie stars. Does this look evil?" Maximus made a face.
Minimus held back a laugh. "That just looks ridiculous," his angry face replied before his head spun around. "You look very evil, your evilness, that's why you're the evilness," Minimus normal face tried to save the situation.
Maximus hit his sidekick, making his two faced head spin for his earlier comment. "I'm going to stay here for a little while and practice looking evil," Maximus continued looking at the mirror.
"Okay, see you later, your evilness," Minimus rushed out of the boy's bathroom, unable to contain his laughter. He ran down the hall and towards the classroom.
Looking at the mirror, Maximus saw that face from before really did look kind of funny. Maybe he was trying too hard, or maybe he was having a bad evilness day. "Why don't I look evil today?" Maximus said yelling at no one in particular, since there was no one else there, while looking up at the ceiling. As easily distracted as any other lynx, Maximus quickly forgot about looking evil and stared at the ceiling with something new to think about. "I never noticed that there before."
There was a little door in the ceiling. He knew it must have been there since before he came to that school, but it was the kind of thing that was easily missed. His natural curiosity kicked in full force and determined to find out what was out there, he jumped on a sink opened the little door, then climbed in.
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It had only been a few seconds after Maximus left when Chameleon arrived. It looked like the bathroom was empty. Good, no witnesses. Exa had him working all the time with the threat of blackmail with baby pictures. How did she get them anyway? Either way, it all came down to one thing, Chameleon was not having enough time to try to steal the position of Maximus' sidekick away from Minimus. This would certainly make a difference.
Chameleon stuffed some paper into the sinks then opened them. The water quickly filled the sinks then fell on the floor. Once his work was done, Chameleon left to inform Maximus about the evil thing he had done. Surely, he would be impressed and make him his new sidekick.
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Maximus had decided that he wasn't so curious after all. It was just a creepy dark tunnel, nothing interesting. It wasn't like he was afraid, oh no, he was only terrified. He made his way back to the little door from where he came, but what was his surprise when he got there and found that the bathroom was flooded three feet already. It looked like the sinks were plugged and the water continued running, filling the bathroom.
Obviously this didn't happen by itself. Someone must have done it. "This can't be! I'm going to die! No, I can't drown in a school bathroom, that's a totally pathetic death!" There was no way he was going to jump down into the water, so instead he crawled deeper into the tunnels above. It was dark and creepy, but at least it was dry.
Maximus continued following the tunnel, not knowing where exactly he was going. Then he heard voices. "I thought you were in a business trip," that voice sounded like the principal, Degill.
"I know, but I missed you Gilly, so I took a small break from hunt-I mean, from the professional things I was doing in my professional business trip, so I could come to visit you," the other voice sounded like Pontifadora.
With his curiosity returning, Maximus followed the voices until he came to another little door. However, he didn't notice the loose door until it opened under his weight and he fell on a desk. He might have landed on his feet like a true lynx, but that didn't save him from ending up on the floor after he fell backwards from pure shock.
"Maximus IQ! What are you doing in my office? Wait, I know the answer to that one, you must have gotten into trouble again. Instead tell me why did you come from the ceiling?" Degill's usual golden color was decorated by red now. He had locked the door thinking that would be enough to keep the students out so he could be alone with Pontifadora.
Pontifadora had the same red color on her face as well. "Now Gilly, I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this," she spoke in a tone so calm it was beginning to scare Maximus. She picked up a pen from Degill's desk as Maximus backed away against a wall. "You were looking for your classroom and came here by accident didn't you?" She threw the pen and it was embedded into the wall, missing Maximus by a hair.
The scared lynx nodded, "yes."
"Pop quiz, what's the most painful way to kill a lynx? Oh, wait I don't think we've gotten to that chapter in class yet, have we? Let me ask you something else. Will you tell anyone what you saw?" Pontifadora asked.
"No!" Maximus quickly answered.
"That is the correct answer, I give you an A. Run along now, I'm sure there's somewhere you need to be," Pontifadora shooed him away.
Maximus rushed out of the office. "Ew cooties, I'll have nightmares until I graduate." The bell rang, signaling the time to switch classes and the students flooded the halls. Maximus was quick to find his sidekick and without giving Minimus the chance to say anything, he hit him on the head. "How dare you abandon me in that death trap? I could have drowned or been murdered!" By the time Minimus' head stopped spinning, Maximus had noticed someone. "What are you doing Exa?"
The girl was holding a small recording device near him. "Just getting the latest news, continue as if I wasn't here."
"But you are there and you're recording me," Maximus worried. What if Pontifadora heard that recording and thought he didn't keep the secret about what he saw in the office? "Give me that!" Maximus took the small recorder.
"No!" Exa pulled it, neither of them willing to let go.
"Don't just stand there Minimus, do something!" Maximus yelled.
Minimus tried to take the recorder, but knocked it out of their hands, sending it sliding across the polished floors of the halls. A raccoon boy opened his locker as the recorder slid by, hitting it and sending it further away. Maximus and Exa raced for it. As they approached, it looked like Exa was going to dive in a desperate attempt to recover her recorder. Maximus saw this and grabbed Minimus by the tail, swung him like a hockey stick and hit the recorder with his head.
The recorder was sent flying straight towards the gym teacher, Spindly Tam Kanushu, who ducked just in time. Standing right behind him was the science teacher, Dr. Cerebral. The recorder bounced off his helmet towards Maximus. Maximus hit it again using Minimus as a hockey stick, the hockey coach was watching the scene with his mouth slightly open, as the recorder headed towards him and he swallowed the recorder.
The coach coughed a little before the recorder went down his throat. Looking a bit worried, he touched his stomach signaling that it was too late. Exa made a run for it, leaving Maximus to take the blame. "You!" The couch walked towards Maximus. He used to be a principal in a middle school on Earth, but when he heard about the offer for a job as a hockey couch for an intergalactic high school he couldn't resist, working with hockey was what he really wanted to do for the rest of his life.
"I didn't do anything, it was Minimus!" Maximus accursed.
"Ow," Minimus's normal face complained. His head painfully spun around showing his angry face, "if you keep blaming me for everything you do, you'll never have an evil villain reputation, I will."
"Shut up, this is an exception!" Maximus kicked the sidekick away.
"There is no need to explain, I saw everything! I saw you running down the hall, I saw how you used your little friend as a hockey stick and I saw you when you hit that little machine sending it straight into my mouth. That little machine is now in my stomach because of you." His voice changed from serious to happy. "You were great!"
Maximus blinked, "I was?"
"Yes! That was excellent! You must join the hockey team!"
Maximus was about to say no, but he thought about it a little more. Betty was in the hockey team, so were Iciclea, Solovem, Dingleberry, Roxanne, Duncan, Sparky, Paloma and Dylan and some others, but that was not the point. The point was that Betty was there. He could get back at her for stealing his victory at the gym class test duel by stealing her spotlight at the hockey games. "Count me in."
"Wonderful! Don't forget to come to practice."
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It was time for hockey practice. "What are you doing here?" Betty feared the worse. Judging by the hockey uniform, it was pretty obvious why he was there, but she had to hear it just to make sure it was real and not only a nightmare.
"I'm in the hockey team now," Maximus confirmed.
No, it couldn't be. It was bad enough that she had to deal with Iciclea manipulating the ice, Solovem turning players into pugs to score extra and Duncan randomly hitting the pug without even aiming, but this was too much. "It's not as easy as it looks," Betty warned.
"I'm a very skilled super villain, I can handle it. In fact, I can play better than you. I'll make a lot of... um... baskets" Maximus tried to argue and failed miserably.
"This is hockey, we don't make baskets here, that's basket ball," Betty became more frustrated.
"I knew that, I meant to say I'll make a lot of home runs," Maximus nodded to himself.
"No, that's base ball," Betty sighed aggravated.
"Touch down?" Maximus guessed.
"That's foot ball, in hockey we make goals," Betty explained.
"What would you know? I'm such a great hockey player I'll make all of those things, baskets, home runs, touch downs and lots of goals." Maximus stepped into the ice and slipped. "Stupid ice skates not working right!"
"The skates don't give you instant balance, you need to learn to use them," Betty pointed out. "How did you get in the team anyway?"
"The couch saw my superior talent and practically begged me to join." Maximus attempted to get up, but he fell over and over again. "You sabotaged the ice didn't you?"
"I didn't do anything, you just don't know how to skate," Betty retorted.
"How dare you doubt my superior skill? It's all your fault!" Maximus crawled away from the ice once again into the safe solid floor and took off his ice skates.
"How's practice going?" In the background the coach saw Iciclea and Solovem happily skating together while Dingleberry followed them around like a lost puppy, they were not exactly practicing hockey, but at least they were on the ice. Roxanne was at the goal stretched enough to cover it completely. Sparky, Dylan and Paloma were skating, passing a pug to each other and Duncan was trying to hit it, but the other three made sure he didn't get to it.
"She sabotaged the ice!" Maximus pointed at Betty.
"I did not!" Betty defended.
"Now Maximus, if the ice had been sabotaged I would have noticed. Let me see your skates." The coach examined the ice skates but found nothing wrong with them. "Everything looks fine to me. You just need to get used to the ice, that's all."
"I'm not going back in there," Maximus pouted and for a moment Betty felt relived. She had enough to deal with on her team, but that feeling was short lived.
"Maybe I can arrange something, it's not everyday someone makes me swallow a little machine like you did. You caught me completely off guard and not many can do that. We could try playing a few games off the ice until you get used to it. We could play outside," the coach thought about it.
"That would be field hockey and the field is covered with snow so we can't do that." Was Betty the only one not getting sports mixed up today?
"Snow hockey!" The coach cheered happily.
"It's three feet of snow out there, I'm not going," Maximus pouted. Such was the weather of the mysterious planet where their school was located. It could be sunny one day and snowing the next.
"Alright then, I just got a great idea," the coach threw out his next plan. "Hall hockey! You did well in the hall, so you'll be more comfortable there." It was decided the hockey game would take place in the hall.
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Rodger was heading towards the bathroom to look at his precious hair in the mirror. He couldn't get a clear view of it in his little mirror, but soon he could stare at it in all its glory in a bigger mirror.
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At hockey practice, the coach was giving the students the news about the location of their next game. "Beware the flood," Paloma warned with glowing orange eyes.
"Flood? No there will be no flood in our game. We'll just have it in the hall, everything else will be almost the same. Except for the he limited movement space, the long corridor and the lockers on the sides. This will be very exiting. I might even go down in history as the creator of a new version of hockey, hall hockey!" The coach cheered.
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Rodger was about to open the door to the boys bathroom when he noticed water on the floor, slipping under the door. He had heard about Paloma's flood prediction. Exa had spread the word and most people avoided water just to be safe, which meant that most people stayed away from water fountains, the pool and the bathrooms. Rodger shrugged, it was probably nothing, then he opened the door.
A massive flood came out with incredible pressure, throwing Rodger across the hall and his wig even further away. It was the flood Paloma had predicted. The water invaded the halls as students screamed and ran in a panic, trying to get away from the massive river that threatened to drown them. The water had gotten inside the little tunnels in the ceiling, providing a place for more water to accumulate. Degill had already sealed the little door in the ceiling of his office after Maximus dropped in, so all the water came out by the door in the bathroom.
By the time the hockey team arrived at the hall the flood had passed, but there was water everywhere. The victims of the flood told their classmates who were fortunate enough not to witness it about how they survived the river of doom. Rodger was drying his wig while plotting his revenge for whoever did this. "When I catch the one who locked all that water in the bathroom, he's gonna pay!"
"I forgot about the water, I guess someone finally opened the door," Maximus recalled.
"You mean you did it?" Rodger glared.
"I didn't do it, but I saw the water from the ceiling," Maximus explained and Rodger looked confused. "There's a little door at the ceiling."
"I'm usually too busy looking at my wonderful hair to notice such things. So you saw the water, escaped by the ceiling and didn't tell anyone?" Rodger inquired.
"Yes, that's all that happened," Maximus skipped the part about falling in Degill's office.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Rodger yelled.
"I'm an evil super villain, I don't warn people!" Maximus yelled back. He knocked the half wet wig off Rodger's head with his hockey stick.
"My hair!" Rodger dived to recover his wig.
"That's it! I knew you would do better in the hall!" The coach cheered.
Betty shook her head. "What a disaster." Hockey without ice just wasn't hockey to her. Iciclea was also quite upset since she liked ice so much.
"There you are! I've been trying to find you for a while," Chameleon finally found Maximus. "What do you think of the evil thing I did? I was the one who plugged the sinks and made the flood!" Without a word, Maximus got his hockey stick ready. The wet students quickly caught on and gathered at the opposite side of the hall. Maximus hit Chameleon as hard as he could and sent him flying into the angry mob.
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The day of the next hall hockey game came and for that purpose the halls were cleared. The audience watched from the safety of their lockers closing the door to shield them selves when the action came too close. With so little space, the game was thrown into chaos.
It got worse when a golden colored robot rushed in shooting lasers at everyone. "No! You were not supposed to do that until I said so!" The robot ignored Maximus.
"Our project!" Betty chased after the robot, trying to turn it off, but the robot was too quick and there were too many people in the way. Luckily, the robot ran out of energy and stopped.
"Since the challenging team will have to be taken to the hospital because of laser injuries, the victory goes to us!" The coach cheered. The first ever game of hall hockey had ended with a very unusual victory.
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The days passed and it was time to present the robot project to the class. "This robot isn't evil enough!" Maximus complained. The robot was a golden color with glowing blue eyes and 'X-5' written on it. "What's the X-5 for?"
"He's an ex-villain who had to be rebuilt five times," Sparky explained.
"Why did you let him name the robot?" Maximus asked.
"Be cause he really wanted to," Betty answered. There was a pause. "Aren't you going to complain because you want to name it?"
"Actually, no, that goody-goody piece of metal isn't evil enough to be named by me," Maximus replied.
Everything turned out well in their robotics project after all. Most of the time, X-5 could be found following Betty around school, just like Y-3 followed Anvi. She too had a story about the name Y-3. Why three? As in 'Why must robotics class teams be made of three people?' She had always preferred to work alone, but at least the robot turned out alright.
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Friends, rivals, new students, floods, strange versions of hockey, group projects and untold secrets, it's all part of the high school drama.
End of Solar System XII
Disclaimer, I don't own Atomic Betty. Exa Jerada, Spike, Kentarii, Anvi, Kendo, Guineo, Ichigo, Karly, Y-3 and Virginia are original characters. Special thanks to Barry, who named Virginia aka Ginnie.