Other Fan Fiction ❯ Atomic Galaxy ❯ Chapter 17
[ 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: 5 | Words: 8.1K | Visits: 224 | Status: Completed
Miscellaneous: Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Sci-fi | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 5 | Words: 8.1K | Visits: 224 | Status: Completed
Atomic Galaxy: Solar System XVII
Planet 106: New Episode
Chef Bernadette slept peacefully, dreaming of a new recipe. One that she thought someone as bratty as Maximus didn't deserve to eat, but she would cook it for him anyway, if only to show off her skills as a chef. However, her peaceful sleep was interrupted by the sound of a loud alarm, or rather several alarms. "The lair is under attack!" Bernadette jumped to her feet. She ran out of her room, still wearing her pajamas decorated in little pictures of cupcakes and went to the kitchen to save her most precious kitchen appliances. There was no way she was going to abandon her golden kitchen utensils.
The first thing she grabbed from the kitchen was her lucky golden frying pan. If the invaders got in before she got out and escaped, this could be of a lot of help. She had studied many forms of cooking and many others things related to being a chef, even a special fighting style created by the legendary chef Ukyo, whose home planet still remains a secret even almost ten years after she was last seen. The doors of the large kitchen started to open and several knives, forks and spatulas where thrown at the intruder, meant to miss only by a little to give the stranger a little scare as a warning. The intruder stopped moving and Bernadette almost hit him with the frying pan, but stopped less than an inch away from her target. "Minimus it's you, I thought it was the invader."
"What invader?" Minimus looked as if he still hasn't recovered his natural color and it would probably take a while for it to come back. His voice was barely above a whisper as if he wanted to say something but couldn't get himself to speak up.
"Don't you hear the alarms? The lair is under attack!" Bernadette knew this wasn't the galactic guardians; a different sounding alarm went off if the security system detected their presence. Even so, Atomic Betty had managed to sneak into Maximus' lair many times.
"Actually, there is no attack. You see, his evilness has something very important to do this morning," Minimus started explaining. As the sidekick told the story, Bernadette felt like hitting Maximus with her frying pan for setting all those alarms just so he wouldn't miss a show on TV.
At the same time as the alarms sounded, Maximus had woken up. He jumped out of bed, happy that it was finally time to watch that new episode. "Fifteen minutes!" He ran to the bathroom and five minutes later he had already changed his clothes, brushed his teeth, taken a sonic shower, and was sitting in front of the TV. "Good, I'm ten minutes early, just in case." He turned on the TV but it didn't work. The TV was on, but the screen remained black. Feeling the panic starting to grow, he desperately searched for the source of the problem. Every cable and wire was where it was supposed to be. He tried a different TV, but it didn't work. Apparently the lair couldn't catch the signal from the TV station. There could be a number of reasons for that, a strong electric space storm being the most usual possibility, but he refused to believe it. Yesterday on TV they said there wouldn't be any space storms for a while, so what could be messing up the signal?
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Sparky stumbled down the stairs and sat in the living room, staring at the TV. "Mahmoola, can I have some popcorn, please?" He was not moving from his place in front of the black screen of the TV and not taking his eyes off it.
"Eat your breakfast first and then you can have popcorn," Zulia gave Sparky a gigantic bowl of cereal and a very tall tower of pancakes with a large bucket of juice, made from a fruit that grew on Mars.
"Okay Mahmoola," as it was to be expected Sparkly had no objections to that and happily started eating the extra food. "This is the longest black screen commercial I've ever seen."
"That's not a commercial sweetie, the signal is out today." When he heard his mother's voice, Sparky nearly chocked. He stopped eating and stared at the black screen in surprise, before bursting into tears. "Aw Sparky don't cry," Zulia tried to calm him. "You can watch TV later."
"But they might never air this episode again!" Sparky complained, even if he knew there was a possibility it might be rerun next week, but a week was a long time to wait. "I want to watch it! I've been looking forward to it all week!" He continued crying, sending a flood of tears all over the living room.
"Maybe you can watch it from the Starcruiser with X-5," Zulia suggested.
"That's right! I better hurry or I'll miss the theme song, see you later Mahmoola." Sparky picked up his food and ran out of the house, eating everything, including the dishes, on the way out.
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Sparky tried to call the Starcruiser but it didn't work. "Oh, no the communication system's out too!" Sparky activated his jet pack and took off. He continued flying until he arrived at the Galactic Guardians Headquarters. He couldn't find the Starcruiser so he ran all over headquarters looking for a TV that had a signal, but none of them did. "Admiral Degill, help! I'm having an emergency, I can't find a TV that's getting a signal! I would go to the TV station but, it's in the other side of the galaxy and I'll never make it on time!"
"Sparky calm down," Admiral Degill spoke. "We're having a real emergency right now. None of the communication or broadcast systems on most of the galaxy are working. We need to find out what's causing it, but I can't contact Atomic Betty or X-5."
"That's it! That's why I couldn't watch the show. When I find out who's making me miss my show they'll be sorry!" Sparky stormed out of the office. His first guess was that Maximus was behind this, after all he was supposed to be the most evil super villain in the galaxy and what could be more evil than this?
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As Sparky arrived near the lair, he saw Maximus' ship fly away and tried to chase after it, but his jet pack overheated. "No! I'm trapped floating in outer space in enemy territory and what's worse, I'm missing a new episode of my favorite show!"
Sparky only floated there for a few minutes, but to him it felt like an eternity because a lot can happen in a few minutes on TV. X-5 soon arrived and picked him up. "I got back from visiting my uncle B-1 and Admiral Degill informed me of the situation. I said there was a ninety nine point nice percent chance that you really did go after Maximus yourself and I was right."
"We can argue about that later, right now I'm missing the show!" Sparky complained.
"We need to find the captain," X-5 reminded. "Unfortunately it's impossible to contact her on her bracelet."
Sparky nodded. "Right, we need the chief. She'll teach Maximus not to mess with my favorite show!"
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Maximus' ship, he was very impatient. "Are we going at full speed?"
"Yes, your evilness" Minimus assured. They were going far faster than the speed of light and even with the ship's shields at maximum, they could still feel some of the pressure from the speed.
"Make sure you're on the lookout for the cause of this. If I find it here I won't have to go all the way to the other side of the galaxy after all," Maximus ordered.
"But your evilness, the radars aren't working," Minimus reminded.
"I know that! Go look out the window," Maximus rolled up his sleeves to reveal five high tech watches on each arm. He was wearing them as an extra precaution to make sure he didn't sleep in, forget or lose track of time, plus each watch had a 3D TV system so he could check to see if the show was on any time. Angry that he had already missed fifteen minutes of the show, Maximus pulled off one of the watches and stepped on it until it hardly looked like a watch at all.
"I don't think I can see anything outside going at this speed your supreme temper tantrumness," Minimus noticed that the watch closest to his hand on his left arm looked like a galactic guardian watch, which was obviously an imitation and not a real galactic guardian watch, Minimus decided it was best not to comment on it. Maximus was angry enough as it was and he didn't want to make it worse.
"Then go outside!" Maximus threw a helmet at Minimus. He tied a rope around the sidekick and kicked him out. Maximus almost fell out himself, but managed to stay inside the ship. The ship would have a few scratches where he held onto it with his claws to void falling.
Minimus was left to be pulled by the ship so fast it was as if he was in suspended animation, a very painful suspended animation that he still felt. He was awake, but he couldn't move and he didn't even know if he was breathing. At least Maximus gave him a space helmet.
xoxox xox xoxox
Back at the lair, chef Bernadette was left to plot her revenge. A chef needed to get a good night's sleep. Maybe she should leave the lair for a while, but then she would have to get up earlier to make it in time to cook breakfast. Maybe she should let Maximus starve or maybe the exact opposite would be the best revenge. She smiled evilly as she cooked. It was good that she decided not to hit him with her golden frying pan after all. There was another form of revenge that could become more interesting. "You just wait Maximus when you come back I'll have lots of sugary snacks for you. Oh, you'll be happy about it, you'll love the sugary treats and you'll have no idea you're falling into a trap. I'm sure you'll ask for more and I'll keep on cooking. Oh, yes I'll continue to feed you sugar until you weight a billion pounds and can't even reach for the remote control. How will you watch your beloved show then?" Bernadette's own version of the evil laugh echoed all over the lair.
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The Starcruiser floated near the atmosphere of Earth. "Alright I'm ready to go!" Sparky was in a hurry.
"No, that's not right. You look like a green lynx not a human," X-5 disapproved.
Sparky was trying to get his holographic disguise to work, but it kept turning him into the wrong species. "How about now?"
"Now you look like the robot version of yourself. It's hard to believe that version is even more annoying then the original," X-5 answered.
"I need to find the chief so we can stop Maximus and watch the show! I'm going with the next disguise no matter what it is. It's already been more than fifteen minutes and I'm in a big hurry!" Sparky pressed the symbol on his belt again and this time turned into a human.
"You got lucky," X-5 concluded.
"It's not luck it's skill, now beam me down before the show ends!" Sparky urged.
"Don't do anything stupid on Earth. I know it's hard for you, but try to avoid it," X-5 really didn't think it was a good idea to send Sparky out on a mission when all he could think about was that he was missing that show, but they had to find Betty. With the galactic guardian's ships and headquarters unable to communicate, the galaxy could be in great danger.
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At Betty's house on Earth, her mother tried to fix the TV while Betty was in school. "I wish someone was here to help me fix this." Her husband was already at work and she was missing her favorite show. "Purrsey honey, please hold this for mommy." She gave Purrsey a TV antennae and placed him on top of the TV. "A little to the left, now to the right, this isn't working C'mon Purrsey, let's go check the roof, cats are supposed to be good at climbing." Suddenly Purrsey actually missed Betty, if she was there she would be the one doing this.
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Sparky was beamed down to Earth in his new and improved human disguise. He walked around Betty's school without attracting too much attention. The bell hasn't rung yet, but Betty was usually at school early to finish the homework she had to put off due to her duties as a galactic guardian. "Chief, I mean Betty! Betty!" He ran and yelled her name, if he didn't find her quickly he would miss the entire show.
"Watch where you're going!" Penelope screamed into his face when he bumped into her. She got up and took a better look at who she bumped into then smiled. "Hello, you must be new here. I'm Penelope the prettiest girl in school and Canada and even the Earth. Why are you in such a hurry?" Penelope batted her eye lashes and winked, which scared Sparky out of his mind.
"Chief, save me!" He ran away as fast as he could. He didn't understand. Last time he was on Earth he could safely assume Penelope hated him and now this just because his disguise was different? He liked it better when she hated him.
"Sparky?" At the other side of the building, Betty heard the echo of his voice in a terrified cry for help.
"Sparky?" Noah repeated confused. "Are you even listening to what I'm saying?"
"I have to go, see you later," Betty ran more or less in the direction she thought Sparky's screams came from.
"Betty, I was looking for you to tell about," Paloma started.
"We can talk later. I'm in kind of a hurry right now, sorry!" Betty ran by.
"Sure see you later," Paloma watched Betty turn a corner and disappear into another hallway, she had a pretty good idea what was going on.
"Sparky!" Betty recognized him despite the human disguise.
"Chief!" Sparky ran to her and glomped her like a fan boy. "I'm so happy to see you chief, Penelope has gone crazy, don't let her get me!" He noticed the blue color forming in Betty's face and let her go so she could breath.
Betty took a deep breath then asked. "What's going on?" Sparky told the story so quickly that Betty couldn't understand what he was saying. She decided it was best to find a place where no one saw them and go to the Starcruiser.
Hiding wasn't the problem, letting X-5 know it was time to beam them up was. "I'll miss the entire episode!" Sparky cried. Then suddenly they were beamed up.
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"I calculated the estimated time that would take you to find the captain. Since the communication system doesn't work, I analyzed the possible hiding places to be beamed up from and as usual, I was correct," X-5 announced.
"No, you were late!" Sparky complained. "Every second that passes is a second of my favorite show that I'm missing! Let's go stop Maximus!"
"What exactly is going on?" Atomic Betty asked and before Sparky could give her a super fast explanation that she didn't understand, she clarified that the question was directed at X-5.
"None of the communication and broadcast systems in the galaxy are working at the moment. Sparky suspects its Maximus' doing, but that is yet to be confirmed," X-5 explained.
"I guess we'll find out, set a course for Maximus' lair," Atomic Betty decided.
"But he's not in the lair, I saw his ship leave!" Sparky informed.
"Worse yet, if he is behind this, he must be already attacking and the galactic guardians can't communicate. Let's head in the direction where you last saw him." Betty knew there was no point in trying to track the ship, since the radar systems were down too. Even her bracelet's control of the Starcruiser didn't work.
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Maximus' ship was moving so fast he flew into a black hole that threw him back at the lair. Without any fuel left, the ship floated around the lair. "No! Why did that black hole have to throw me here? I need to go watch he show at the TV station!" Maximus complained as another of his watches fell victim to his temper tantrums. He had broken most of them by now. It had already been twenty five minutes since the show was supposed to start, but he wasn't giving up.
The Starcruiser flew by soon after and they saw Maximus' ship. "He was at the lair. Just as I thought," X-5 was happy that his statistics were correct.
"He must have come back again. I know I saw him leave, but let's argue about it later, I'm still missing the show and it's a new episode!" Sparky emphasized.
At that very moment, a strange machine floated by. It looked like some kind of odd flying saucer with many satellites attached to it. The satellites absorbed all the communications and broadcasts, preventing them from reaching their destination. Maximus left his ship with a space helmet and a jetpack. "What are you doing?" He looked at the flying saucer.
From the flying saucer a door opened and Dr. Cerebral came out. "It's my turn to take over the galaxy today!"
"You mean it's your turn to try to take over the galaxy today, that is try and fail," Maximus corrected.
"I won't fail! With the galaxy's communication systems completely under my control I will become the ruler of the galaxy!" Dr. Cerebral made a cheap imitation of Maximus' evil laugh.
"I have my evil laugh copyrighted you know. But I guess I can't really sue you because that pitiful excuse for a giggle sounded nothing like the real evil laugh!" Maximus did his classic evil laugh to prove it. "This is for making me miss my favorite show!" Maximus drew his light saber and jumped into the center of the flying saucer. The light saber went in at the ship's weak spot and a few small explosions started. Maximus quickly got out of the way and flew back to his lair before the big explosion came.
"No! Maximus you're a cheater!" Dr. Cerebral's brain in the fishbowl, the only part left after the explosion yelled. The brain was beamed up to the Starcruiser to be arrested.
"Sparky what's wrong?" Atomic Betty was surprised that Maximus was the one who stopped Dr. Cerebral too, but Sparky stayed like a statue looking surprised.
"The show is already over!" Sparky cried.
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Chef Bernadette's sweet revenge backfired. The extra sugar made Maximus so hyper he didn't stand still for a second, he didn't sleep and he didn't shut up, plus he was a lot more annoying than usual.
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On Earth, Betty's mother was still trying to get the TV to work when Dr. Cerebral's flying saucer was destroyed. "Hold it right there Purrsey, don't move!" On the roof, Purrsey really missed Betty.
End of planet 106
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Planet 107: Star Crossed Lovers
It didn't look like Maximus would be able to steal any of the treasure after all. It was heavily guarded by at least a dozen galactic guardian teams including Atomic Betty. He returned to his ship to plan a strategy. There was no way he going to let such an opportunity pass him by. It wasn't all about the treasure but what it represented. It was a peace offering between two kingdoms and if anything at all was missing, then it would not be accepted.
As he headed back to his ship, Maximus thought he stepped on something. The small planet in between the two that were at war was covered in a dense forest. He looked to the ground and in the bright light of the three medium sized moons he saw something shiny. "Minimus what's that on the ground?"
Minimus, who always followed Maximus in all his missions of evil, dug a little and pulled out the shiny object. He cleaned it a up a bit before handing it to Maximus. "It looks like a ring your evilness."
After Minimus gave him the ring, they continued walking back to the ship while Maximus examined it. "It looks like it might be valuable." The ring was designed for a woman, possibly an engagement ring and the jewel appeared to shine in different colors depending on the light. Once inside in the brighter light of the ship, Maximus noticed an inscription. "Alpha," he read the name. He didn't know why, but the name sounded familiar. "Minimus did you do some research on the cause of this war?"
"Yes, your evilness, a long time ago, two star crossed lovers one from each of the planets that are at war now, ran away together. I couldn't find a clear story and there are many versions of this legend, but apparently they all agree on a few things. A young woman died and her family blamed it on the family of her lover. I believe she was a princess by the name of Alka, Alria or Alpha, that last one is the one used most often in the legends."
"This ring must be a part of the treasure. How careless that they lost it and now I have it. Without this, the peace offering will be incomplete and the war will continue!" Maximus laughed evilly. It looked as if this was a lot easier then he planned. "Let's go back to the lair. By tomorrow this war will be all over the news and I'll be enjoying the show." It was late when they returned to the lair. Maximus placed the ring on a shelf in his room and went to sleep.
xoxox xox xoxox
Just as Maximus expected, when the next day came and the peace offering was found to be incomplete, the war continued worse then ever. Maximus sat in his bed watching the early morning news. After doing something this evil, he could take a break and be a little lazy for the next few days. They said Atomic Betty would be searching for the missing ring. She would never find it. She wasn't even aware that he was on that planet, let alone that he took it. After the news changed the subject, he turned off the TV and decided to go back to sleep until lunch time.
He rolled on his side so he was facing a wall with the shelf where he had left the ring. Then he noticed something out of place. The ring was there alright, but there was something else next to it. He got up, walked over to the shelf and looked at the new item. It looked like a very old piece of plastic more or less in the shape of a body with a burnt piece of cloth wrapped around it. It was some sort of old burnt doll, but what was that doing there?
Maximus didn't put it there and no one had been inside his room, unless Minimus snuck in at night while he was sleeping and put that ugly thing there to play a weird joke on him. "Minimus!"
Minimus came running. "You called your evilness?"
"Could you tell me what that is doing there?" Maximus pointed at the shelf where the doll used to be, without looking in that direction. He was still looking at Minimus when the sidekick looked confused. "Well?"
"It's the ring you found yesterday," Minimus finally answered. How could Maximus forget about it so soon? Yesterday he gave a speech about how the missing ring will cause a war and now he didn't even remember it. That made no sense, even for him.
"Not that. I'm talking about that ugly, hey where did it go?" Maximus picked up the ring and stared at the empty space on the shelf. The doll that was there before was no where to be found. "You're playing a joke on me," he glared daggers at Minimus.
"No and I don't understand what you're talking about your evilness," Minimus was thinking that Maximus had finally lost it. Maximus simply hit him on the head and kicked him out.
Once Minimus was gone, Maximus locked the door. He placed the ring on a small table beside his bed and went back to sleep. Soon he started to have a strange dream almost immediately after falling asleep. "Don't let them forget. I waited for this moment too long. Help me tell them the truth, only then I can go with him. Guide them to the truth."
He was in a dark garden with many flowers and a fountain at the end of the path. It was night time and there were two large moons in the sky and a small one, less then half the size of the other two. Standing in front of the fountain was a ghostly woman wearing an elegant dress and a tiara. The light red of her dress became transparent at the bottom of the skirt and she appeared to have no feet. She just floated a few feet from the ground. "They tried to forget, they tried to erase it. Only the blood of the one and only witness of our union can help me now. Give the ring to one from that blood line and things will slowly be solved.
Maximus woke up out of breath at the edge of his bed. A little more and he would fall off, which was very unusual considering how big it was. Usually he had enough space to move around in his sleep without coming close to the edge. His pillows where tossed around the bed and some on the floor. His plushie had somehow landed all the way on his desk and in front of it was another pillow on the floor.
The blanket was in a knot around him. He looked to the table where he placed the ring, but it wasn't there. Wait, he felt something in the palm of his hand. He was holding that strange ring. A cold chill ran down his spine. He couldn't get that dream out of his head. He shook his head and tried to convince himself it was only a dream. He placed the ring inside a drawer and picked up his plushie hugging it.
"It was just a dream and nothing more." He told himself. He placed the plushie on a chair and went off to change out of his pajamas. He didn't feel like sleeping in anymore and he would get Minimus to pick up this mess later.
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At the Galactic Guardians Head Quarters, Admiral Degill paced around his office. "That ring was the most important part of the treasure. From what I've learned so far, princess Alpha was wearing it when she was found, but her mother threw it into a lake and refused to bury her daughter's dead body with that ring. Just before the princess's funeral, they saw her wearing that ring and didn't know how she got it. Her father held on to it while she was buried and ordered it to be destroyed later since they blamed the man who gave it to her for her death. This was such a tragic event it was forced into forgetfulness and it turned into a legend a lot faster then it normally happens with such stories. Now the war continues, even if only two generations later they didn't know why they fought. They want that ring back, maybe as proof of the past or to erase it completely." Degill had tried to talk to the current rulers of both kingdoms but it was no use. Without the peace offering being complete, there would be no peace.
Betty, Sparky and X-5 looked at each other, as if trying to find an answer in the other. They didn't know what could have happened to the ring. The treasures were kept safe by the galactic guardians and they haven't seen anyone who wasn't either a galactic guardian or a royal guard in the area. "We'll start an investigation and find out what happened to that ring." Betty was determined.
"I'll leave the investigation to you, Atomic Betty. We're all counting on you," Admiral Degill dismissed them. They saluted and left.
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Their first step in this investigation was to find out who was transporting the ring to the small planet in between the two kingdoms. They examined the profile they were given by the royal guards and the guard assigned for this task appeared to be trustworthy, but they wouldn't know unless they interviewed him. He looked nervous and worried, which made him look suspicious during the interview. "Tell us the truth," Atomic Betty insisted. "If you are as you say innocent then you have nothing to fear."
"I saw her," The guard was full of fear. "I saw the ghost of princess Alpha. She said that the past couldn't be forgotten without the truth being revealed and told me that she would rather have the ring be lost than destroyed or locked way and forgotten along with the injustice of the past. I was terrified of the ghost, it's nothing like fighting dragons and thieves. I dropped the ring on the ground and closed the small chest where it was, then the ghost disappeared. I brought the empty chest into the room where all the treasure of the peace offering would be kept. The ring must be on the ground somewhere, but the ghost might be guarding it."
"That sounds scary," Sparky shivered.
"It sounds illogical," X-5 reasoned. "I don't believe him. What about you captain?"
"If this story was true, then someone must have found the ring already. The royal family sent enough guards to cover the entire planet. If you dropped it there it should have been found, unless someone stole it, but who and why?" Betty didn't quite believe the man's story, but she had to admit if he was lying, he was a great actor. "I'll leave this as it is for now and save judgment for later. Let's ask the guards who are in the search."
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No one knew anything about the ring. They claimed that they haven't found anything at all. The one transporting the ring was the primary suspect, but it didn't make any sense when compared to his loyal background. If he did see something, ghost or not, that made him drop the ring, then that made the entire search team, which was quite numerous, suspects too. She didn't like the sound of this possibility, but it could have been someone in the galactic guardians. Then again, a thief could have created the ghost illusion with a hologram and stolen the ring, but no one was seen there and sadly there were many thieves in that galaxy.
Another point was that this conflict had been on the news a lot lately and it could be seen by the super villains as an opportunity to gain a more evil reputation. If that was the case, then it should make it easier, since professional super villains tend to announce their crimes. Then again, whoever stole it might be keeping it a secret to affect the kingdoms by keeping them at war. The trail was unclear and there were too many suspects. If only there was a way to eliminate the possibilities and come up with the culprit or find a new lead. This was one of those missions where they would have to play detectives.
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It had been three days since the investigation started and no real clues were found. There were too many suspects, too many possibilities. Meanwhile, Maximus was getting impatient. Even if it wasn't too long ago that the war was restarted, he wanted to announce that he caused it and get the credit. "Minimus, go find that ring from the basement."
"Do I have to your evilness? I think it's cursed." In the last few days, strange things had happened in the lair, involving the ghost of a young woman and an old doll.
Everything always happened near the ring, so Maximus had moved it to the basement, but he would need to have it as proof that he was responsible for stealing it. "Go get it now!"
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Minimus knew that one way or another, he would end up getting that ring from the basement. He had no choice so he went to get it. "Hello, ghost lady?" He entered the basement area of the lair. "I don't mean to bother you, but the boss told me to give him the ring so he can announce that he stole it. He's the one who sent me so if you're going to curse anyone, it's his evilness' fault not mine." Everything appeared to be quiet. Maybe the ghost was sleeping, if ghosts even sleep.
Suddenly from behind a pile of old boxes, a little girl jumped out. "Hi!"
"Ah! Your evilness!" Minimus started running, but stopped at the door. It was just a little girl, not a ghost. He cautiously walked back to where she was. "How did you get in here?"
"Things are not what they appear to be. They need to understand," the little girl disappeared.
Now he was sure she really was a ghost, the ghost lady must have disguised herself. "Your evilness!" This time Minimus didn't stop until he was out of the basement. He closed the door and continued running.
"Minimus what is taking so long? You had better not lost that ring," Maximus had no intentions of going into the basement by himself, but Minimus was taking too long. Did he forget where he put the ring?
The sidekick came running and bumped into Maximus. "I saw, I saw... ow!"
Maximus hit him on the head. "Watch where you're going! What is it that you saw?"
"I saw a little girl and then she disappeared. She looked like the ghost lady from yesterday, only younger." Minimus stammered. "Do we have to keep that ring here your evilness?"
"No, I'll announce that I stole it today then hide it somewhere. Too many strange things have been happening around here." Maximus decided. "Go back in there and get it, I need to have it at my evil press conference as proof."
"But your evilness, I don't want to!" Minimus complained.
"Go!" Maximus opened the door and kicked Minimus into the basement. He closed the door, "don't come out without it."
"Your evilness, don't leave me trapped in here with the ghost!" Minimus tried to open the door, but it was no use. The only way out was to get that ring. He kept an eye out for the ghost and carefully walked to the place where he had left the ring. There was no sign of the ghost. He picked it up with the end of two fingers, not wanting to touch it too much. "I have it your evilness, open the door."
Maximus opened the door but he didn't take the ring Minimus was trying to give him. "You're my sidekick, it's your job to carry things for me."
"But I don't want to carry it!" Minimus switched to his angry face and complained. "I always have to do the hard stuff. What if the ghost kills me? Who's going to be your sidekick then?"
"Shut up and let's go, I don't want to be late."
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That is how Atomic Betty, Sparky and X-5 recovered the missing ring. The fact that Maximus had announced his crime on universal TV made it a lot easier to find. But it wasn't over yet, for the ghost appeared once again to tell the story of her past. When Betty held the ring, she instantly fell unconscious and Sparky and X-5 had to take her back to the Starcruiser. No one was sure what happened. She appeared to be in a semi-normal condition. She was just sleeping and didn't wake up.
"Where am I?" Sparky and X-5 were not there. She was at a palace it looked familiar yet different at the same time. She tried to talk to people, but soon realized they couldn't see or hear her, as if she wasn't even there. She didn't know how she got there or where she was, but maybe if she listened to what was happening around her, she could figure it out.
"Do you think it's a good idea to come here?" A young man asked.
"Of course, it's a costume party, no one will recognize us." Another man, just a little younger then the first replied.
"You always have a way of getting us into trouble cousin," the first man spoke.
"Lighten up Centauri, we'll be fine as long as we're not recognized." His cousin was no longer listening. Centauri stood at the top of the stairs, looking down beyond the dance floor. He smiled and she smiled back, Alpha. It was as if they were the only people in the entire palace, planet and universe at that moment. Centauri's cousin looked towards the lady that had him in a trance. "No, not her, she's the daughter of our family's enemies. Our kingdoms have never gotten along, but if we all mind our own business, then life will proceed in relative peace. If she recognizes you and alerts the guards, we're in trouble."
"I cannot call such an angel my enemy," Centauri voiced.
Everything appeared to move faster. The world was in fast forward. Betty saw the rest of the events of the ball unfold in seconds. They danced, looking into each other eyes beyond the masks they wore as if in a trance.
Then the scene changed. Betty didn't know why, but she knew that months had passed between the night of the ball and the time where she was now. She was in a forest near a lake. There was a woman hiding in a tree and another woman running towards the lake, Alpha. The woman in the tree threw a dagger at Alpha. The dagger had the symbol of Centauri's family in the handle. It reached its unsuspecting target and Alpha fell with blood spilling from her chest.
The dagger reached her heart and killed her. Centauri was coming to meet with her there, but he arrived too late. The killer had already escaped. He found his love dead with a dagger marked with his family symbol in her heart. Just as he held her in his arms and tried to remove the dagger, the guards found him and accused him of her death.
What they didn't know was that Alpha had seen the killer a second before she died. That woman hiding in the tree was her sister. Alpha was the oldest of three sisters and it was the second oldest that had killed her for the throne. She considered Alpha to be a traitor unworthy of becoming queen.
With the symbol of Centauri's family in the dagger, she knew he would be blamed. They would probably wait for him to come meet her and accuse him of her death. Alpha promised for her love that until his name was cleared, she would not rest. Her spirit held on to her engagement ring, a symbol of their love, so tightly, that when it left her body, that is where it stayed.
Alpha's fiancée, her parents and her youngest sister cried for her and blamed Centauri. They sentenced him to a cruel death and then the war began. Alpha's spirit haunted the one who killed her until her sister tried to draw her spirit out of the ring into a doll that was hers when she was little. This was to weaken her spirit by changing the item in which it resides. It had to be something familiar to her, that's why she chose Alpha's old doll. She thought the spell had been successful and burned the doll to destroy Alpha's wondering soul. But her love for Centauri was too strong and her spirit stayed in the engagement ring.
As time passed, they thought the princess had gone insane with sadness caused by the death of her older sister. She constantly spoke of the spirit of Alpha tormenting her morning, noon and night, but she never told the truth about her sister's death. She became obsessed with unsuccessful spells until she left the planet forever.
She wanted to escape Alpha's spirit. She would not be queen, but she would never reveal the truth. The third and youngest princess, who knew nothing of the true story of her sisters, assumed the throne after that, but she never let anyone call her queen, she would always be the princess and always think of her sister Alpha as the only rightful queen.
Betty was now at a garden at night. There was a fountain at the end of the path. She walked towards it and saw someone hiding behind it in the darkness. She was a galactic guardian in a purple uniform. She looked familiar. "Granny?" Betty was surprised. Could this be her grandmother's past self?
A guard could be seen at the other side of the path. "Someone's coming," the galactic guardian spoke.
"Centauri, you need to leave," Alpha and Centaury were hiding near by.
"I know, but first I have something to give you," he placed the ring on Alpha's finger. "Alpha, will you marry me?"
"Your grandmother was the only one who knew of our engagement, she helped us see each other and protected out secret." Betty turned around to face the ghost of Alpha. "You are her direct descendant so I know I can trust you. As I promised on that day, I will not rest until the truth is revealed. I do not want Centauri to be thought of as the one who killed me."
"How can I help?" Betty asked.
"My sister kept a journal where she wrote all her secrets. She left in such haste she didn't take it along and it's still hidden in her room. No one has been allowed in there since she left," the ghost of Alpha revealed.
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Betty woke up in the Starcruiser. Sparky was hugging her and crying because she wouldn't wake up, while X-5 repeated, sounding like he was in denial, that this was completely illogical because her vital signs were fine, so she had to wake up. "Sparky, X-5!"
"Chief, you're alive!" Sparky cheered.
"It is wonderful that you finally woke up captain," X-5 added.
"Don't worry, I'm alright and I know what happened years ago. It's about time the truth was revealed and with some help from the Galactic Council, the doors to the truth will finally be opened." Atomic Betty was right, because it took that much to allow her to go into that sealed room. The journal revealing what truly happened years ago was found and with that and the ring, peace finally returned to that galaxy.
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As Atomic Betty, Sparky and X-5 headed out of the palace to the Starcruiser, she looked to the sky and thought she saw two figures dancing in the air, flying higher and higher until they became shooting stars in the distance.
"Twas nothing that could come between the star crossed lovers' dance, as when Alpha and Centauri fell into each other's trance."
End of Planet 107
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End of Solar System XVII
Disclaimer, I don't own Atomic Betty or Ranma 1/2. 107, Special thanks to Barry I. Grauman.
Planet 106: New Episode
Chef Bernadette slept peacefully, dreaming of a new recipe. One that she thought someone as bratty as Maximus didn't deserve to eat, but she would cook it for him anyway, if only to show off her skills as a chef. However, her peaceful sleep was interrupted by the sound of a loud alarm, or rather several alarms. "The lair is under attack!" Bernadette jumped to her feet. She ran out of her room, still wearing her pajamas decorated in little pictures of cupcakes and went to the kitchen to save her most precious kitchen appliances. There was no way she was going to abandon her golden kitchen utensils.
The first thing she grabbed from the kitchen was her lucky golden frying pan. If the invaders got in before she got out and escaped, this could be of a lot of help. She had studied many forms of cooking and many others things related to being a chef, even a special fighting style created by the legendary chef Ukyo, whose home planet still remains a secret even almost ten years after she was last seen. The doors of the large kitchen started to open and several knives, forks and spatulas where thrown at the intruder, meant to miss only by a little to give the stranger a little scare as a warning. The intruder stopped moving and Bernadette almost hit him with the frying pan, but stopped less than an inch away from her target. "Minimus it's you, I thought it was the invader."
"What invader?" Minimus looked as if he still hasn't recovered his natural color and it would probably take a while for it to come back. His voice was barely above a whisper as if he wanted to say something but couldn't get himself to speak up.
"Don't you hear the alarms? The lair is under attack!" Bernadette knew this wasn't the galactic guardians; a different sounding alarm went off if the security system detected their presence. Even so, Atomic Betty had managed to sneak into Maximus' lair many times.
"Actually, there is no attack. You see, his evilness has something very important to do this morning," Minimus started explaining. As the sidekick told the story, Bernadette felt like hitting Maximus with her frying pan for setting all those alarms just so he wouldn't miss a show on TV.
At the same time as the alarms sounded, Maximus had woken up. He jumped out of bed, happy that it was finally time to watch that new episode. "Fifteen minutes!" He ran to the bathroom and five minutes later he had already changed his clothes, brushed his teeth, taken a sonic shower, and was sitting in front of the TV. "Good, I'm ten minutes early, just in case." He turned on the TV but it didn't work. The TV was on, but the screen remained black. Feeling the panic starting to grow, he desperately searched for the source of the problem. Every cable and wire was where it was supposed to be. He tried a different TV, but it didn't work. Apparently the lair couldn't catch the signal from the TV station. There could be a number of reasons for that, a strong electric space storm being the most usual possibility, but he refused to believe it. Yesterday on TV they said there wouldn't be any space storms for a while, so what could be messing up the signal?
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Sparky stumbled down the stairs and sat in the living room, staring at the TV. "Mahmoola, can I have some popcorn, please?" He was not moving from his place in front of the black screen of the TV and not taking his eyes off it.
"Eat your breakfast first and then you can have popcorn," Zulia gave Sparky a gigantic bowl of cereal and a very tall tower of pancakes with a large bucket of juice, made from a fruit that grew on Mars.
"Okay Mahmoola," as it was to be expected Sparkly had no objections to that and happily started eating the extra food. "This is the longest black screen commercial I've ever seen."
"That's not a commercial sweetie, the signal is out today." When he heard his mother's voice, Sparky nearly chocked. He stopped eating and stared at the black screen in surprise, before bursting into tears. "Aw Sparky don't cry," Zulia tried to calm him. "You can watch TV later."
"But they might never air this episode again!" Sparky complained, even if he knew there was a possibility it might be rerun next week, but a week was a long time to wait. "I want to watch it! I've been looking forward to it all week!" He continued crying, sending a flood of tears all over the living room.
"Maybe you can watch it from the Starcruiser with X-5," Zulia suggested.
"That's right! I better hurry or I'll miss the theme song, see you later Mahmoola." Sparky picked up his food and ran out of the house, eating everything, including the dishes, on the way out.
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Sparky tried to call the Starcruiser but it didn't work. "Oh, no the communication system's out too!" Sparky activated his jet pack and took off. He continued flying until he arrived at the Galactic Guardians Headquarters. He couldn't find the Starcruiser so he ran all over headquarters looking for a TV that had a signal, but none of them did. "Admiral Degill, help! I'm having an emergency, I can't find a TV that's getting a signal! I would go to the TV station but, it's in the other side of the galaxy and I'll never make it on time!"
"Sparky calm down," Admiral Degill spoke. "We're having a real emergency right now. None of the communication or broadcast systems on most of the galaxy are working. We need to find out what's causing it, but I can't contact Atomic Betty or X-5."
"That's it! That's why I couldn't watch the show. When I find out who's making me miss my show they'll be sorry!" Sparky stormed out of the office. His first guess was that Maximus was behind this, after all he was supposed to be the most evil super villain in the galaxy and what could be more evil than this?
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As Sparky arrived near the lair, he saw Maximus' ship fly away and tried to chase after it, but his jet pack overheated. "No! I'm trapped floating in outer space in enemy territory and what's worse, I'm missing a new episode of my favorite show!"
Sparky only floated there for a few minutes, but to him it felt like an eternity because a lot can happen in a few minutes on TV. X-5 soon arrived and picked him up. "I got back from visiting my uncle B-1 and Admiral Degill informed me of the situation. I said there was a ninety nine point nice percent chance that you really did go after Maximus yourself and I was right."
"We can argue about that later, right now I'm missing the show!" Sparky complained.
"We need to find the captain," X-5 reminded. "Unfortunately it's impossible to contact her on her bracelet."
Sparky nodded. "Right, we need the chief. She'll teach Maximus not to mess with my favorite show!"
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Maximus' ship, he was very impatient. "Are we going at full speed?"
"Yes, your evilness" Minimus assured. They were going far faster than the speed of light and even with the ship's shields at maximum, they could still feel some of the pressure from the speed.
"Make sure you're on the lookout for the cause of this. If I find it here I won't have to go all the way to the other side of the galaxy after all," Maximus ordered.
"But your evilness, the radars aren't working," Minimus reminded.
"I know that! Go look out the window," Maximus rolled up his sleeves to reveal five high tech watches on each arm. He was wearing them as an extra precaution to make sure he didn't sleep in, forget or lose track of time, plus each watch had a 3D TV system so he could check to see if the show was on any time. Angry that he had already missed fifteen minutes of the show, Maximus pulled off one of the watches and stepped on it until it hardly looked like a watch at all.
"I don't think I can see anything outside going at this speed your supreme temper tantrumness," Minimus noticed that the watch closest to his hand on his left arm looked like a galactic guardian watch, which was obviously an imitation and not a real galactic guardian watch, Minimus decided it was best not to comment on it. Maximus was angry enough as it was and he didn't want to make it worse.
"Then go outside!" Maximus threw a helmet at Minimus. He tied a rope around the sidekick and kicked him out. Maximus almost fell out himself, but managed to stay inside the ship. The ship would have a few scratches where he held onto it with his claws to void falling.
Minimus was left to be pulled by the ship so fast it was as if he was in suspended animation, a very painful suspended animation that he still felt. He was awake, but he couldn't move and he didn't even know if he was breathing. At least Maximus gave him a space helmet.
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Back at the lair, chef Bernadette was left to plot her revenge. A chef needed to get a good night's sleep. Maybe she should leave the lair for a while, but then she would have to get up earlier to make it in time to cook breakfast. Maybe she should let Maximus starve or maybe the exact opposite would be the best revenge. She smiled evilly as she cooked. It was good that she decided not to hit him with her golden frying pan after all. There was another form of revenge that could become more interesting. "You just wait Maximus when you come back I'll have lots of sugary snacks for you. Oh, you'll be happy about it, you'll love the sugary treats and you'll have no idea you're falling into a trap. I'm sure you'll ask for more and I'll keep on cooking. Oh, yes I'll continue to feed you sugar until you weight a billion pounds and can't even reach for the remote control. How will you watch your beloved show then?" Bernadette's own version of the evil laugh echoed all over the lair.
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The Starcruiser floated near the atmosphere of Earth. "Alright I'm ready to go!" Sparky was in a hurry.
"No, that's not right. You look like a green lynx not a human," X-5 disapproved.
Sparky was trying to get his holographic disguise to work, but it kept turning him into the wrong species. "How about now?"
"Now you look like the robot version of yourself. It's hard to believe that version is even more annoying then the original," X-5 answered.
"I need to find the chief so we can stop Maximus and watch the show! I'm going with the next disguise no matter what it is. It's already been more than fifteen minutes and I'm in a big hurry!" Sparky pressed the symbol on his belt again and this time turned into a human.
"You got lucky," X-5 concluded.
"It's not luck it's skill, now beam me down before the show ends!" Sparky urged.
"Don't do anything stupid on Earth. I know it's hard for you, but try to avoid it," X-5 really didn't think it was a good idea to send Sparky out on a mission when all he could think about was that he was missing that show, but they had to find Betty. With the galactic guardian's ships and headquarters unable to communicate, the galaxy could be in great danger.
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At Betty's house on Earth, her mother tried to fix the TV while Betty was in school. "I wish someone was here to help me fix this." Her husband was already at work and she was missing her favorite show. "Purrsey honey, please hold this for mommy." She gave Purrsey a TV antennae and placed him on top of the TV. "A little to the left, now to the right, this isn't working C'mon Purrsey, let's go check the roof, cats are supposed to be good at climbing." Suddenly Purrsey actually missed Betty, if she was there she would be the one doing this.
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Sparky was beamed down to Earth in his new and improved human disguise. He walked around Betty's school without attracting too much attention. The bell hasn't rung yet, but Betty was usually at school early to finish the homework she had to put off due to her duties as a galactic guardian. "Chief, I mean Betty! Betty!" He ran and yelled her name, if he didn't find her quickly he would miss the entire show.
"Watch where you're going!" Penelope screamed into his face when he bumped into her. She got up and took a better look at who she bumped into then smiled. "Hello, you must be new here. I'm Penelope the prettiest girl in school and Canada and even the Earth. Why are you in such a hurry?" Penelope batted her eye lashes and winked, which scared Sparky out of his mind.
"Chief, save me!" He ran away as fast as he could. He didn't understand. Last time he was on Earth he could safely assume Penelope hated him and now this just because his disguise was different? He liked it better when she hated him.
"Sparky?" At the other side of the building, Betty heard the echo of his voice in a terrified cry for help.
"Sparky?" Noah repeated confused. "Are you even listening to what I'm saying?"
"I have to go, see you later," Betty ran more or less in the direction she thought Sparky's screams came from.
"Betty, I was looking for you to tell about," Paloma started.
"We can talk later. I'm in kind of a hurry right now, sorry!" Betty ran by.
"Sure see you later," Paloma watched Betty turn a corner and disappear into another hallway, she had a pretty good idea what was going on.
"Sparky!" Betty recognized him despite the human disguise.
"Chief!" Sparky ran to her and glomped her like a fan boy. "I'm so happy to see you chief, Penelope has gone crazy, don't let her get me!" He noticed the blue color forming in Betty's face and let her go so she could breath.
Betty took a deep breath then asked. "What's going on?" Sparky told the story so quickly that Betty couldn't understand what he was saying. She decided it was best to find a place where no one saw them and go to the Starcruiser.
Hiding wasn't the problem, letting X-5 know it was time to beam them up was. "I'll miss the entire episode!" Sparky cried. Then suddenly they were beamed up.
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"I calculated the estimated time that would take you to find the captain. Since the communication system doesn't work, I analyzed the possible hiding places to be beamed up from and as usual, I was correct," X-5 announced.
"No, you were late!" Sparky complained. "Every second that passes is a second of my favorite show that I'm missing! Let's go stop Maximus!"
"What exactly is going on?" Atomic Betty asked and before Sparky could give her a super fast explanation that she didn't understand, she clarified that the question was directed at X-5.
"None of the communication and broadcast systems in the galaxy are working at the moment. Sparky suspects its Maximus' doing, but that is yet to be confirmed," X-5 explained.
"I guess we'll find out, set a course for Maximus' lair," Atomic Betty decided.
"But he's not in the lair, I saw his ship leave!" Sparky informed.
"Worse yet, if he is behind this, he must be already attacking and the galactic guardians can't communicate. Let's head in the direction where you last saw him." Betty knew there was no point in trying to track the ship, since the radar systems were down too. Even her bracelet's control of the Starcruiser didn't work.
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Maximus' ship was moving so fast he flew into a black hole that threw him back at the lair. Without any fuel left, the ship floated around the lair. "No! Why did that black hole have to throw me here? I need to go watch he show at the TV station!" Maximus complained as another of his watches fell victim to his temper tantrums. He had broken most of them by now. It had already been twenty five minutes since the show was supposed to start, but he wasn't giving up.
The Starcruiser flew by soon after and they saw Maximus' ship. "He was at the lair. Just as I thought," X-5 was happy that his statistics were correct.
"He must have come back again. I know I saw him leave, but let's argue about it later, I'm still missing the show and it's a new episode!" Sparky emphasized.
At that very moment, a strange machine floated by. It looked like some kind of odd flying saucer with many satellites attached to it. The satellites absorbed all the communications and broadcasts, preventing them from reaching their destination. Maximus left his ship with a space helmet and a jetpack. "What are you doing?" He looked at the flying saucer.
From the flying saucer a door opened and Dr. Cerebral came out. "It's my turn to take over the galaxy today!"
"You mean it's your turn to try to take over the galaxy today, that is try and fail," Maximus corrected.
"I won't fail! With the galaxy's communication systems completely under my control I will become the ruler of the galaxy!" Dr. Cerebral made a cheap imitation of Maximus' evil laugh.
"I have my evil laugh copyrighted you know. But I guess I can't really sue you because that pitiful excuse for a giggle sounded nothing like the real evil laugh!" Maximus did his classic evil laugh to prove it. "This is for making me miss my favorite show!" Maximus drew his light saber and jumped into the center of the flying saucer. The light saber went in at the ship's weak spot and a few small explosions started. Maximus quickly got out of the way and flew back to his lair before the big explosion came.
"No! Maximus you're a cheater!" Dr. Cerebral's brain in the fishbowl, the only part left after the explosion yelled. The brain was beamed up to the Starcruiser to be arrested.
"Sparky what's wrong?" Atomic Betty was surprised that Maximus was the one who stopped Dr. Cerebral too, but Sparky stayed like a statue looking surprised.
"The show is already over!" Sparky cried.
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Chef Bernadette's sweet revenge backfired. The extra sugar made Maximus so hyper he didn't stand still for a second, he didn't sleep and he didn't shut up, plus he was a lot more annoying than usual.
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On Earth, Betty's mother was still trying to get the TV to work when Dr. Cerebral's flying saucer was destroyed. "Hold it right there Purrsey, don't move!" On the roof, Purrsey really missed Betty.
End of planet 106
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Planet 107: Star Crossed Lovers
It didn't look like Maximus would be able to steal any of the treasure after all. It was heavily guarded by at least a dozen galactic guardian teams including Atomic Betty. He returned to his ship to plan a strategy. There was no way he going to let such an opportunity pass him by. It wasn't all about the treasure but what it represented. It was a peace offering between two kingdoms and if anything at all was missing, then it would not be accepted.
As he headed back to his ship, Maximus thought he stepped on something. The small planet in between the two that were at war was covered in a dense forest. He looked to the ground and in the bright light of the three medium sized moons he saw something shiny. "Minimus what's that on the ground?"
Minimus, who always followed Maximus in all his missions of evil, dug a little and pulled out the shiny object. He cleaned it a up a bit before handing it to Maximus. "It looks like a ring your evilness."
After Minimus gave him the ring, they continued walking back to the ship while Maximus examined it. "It looks like it might be valuable." The ring was designed for a woman, possibly an engagement ring and the jewel appeared to shine in different colors depending on the light. Once inside in the brighter light of the ship, Maximus noticed an inscription. "Alpha," he read the name. He didn't know why, but the name sounded familiar. "Minimus did you do some research on the cause of this war?"
"Yes, your evilness, a long time ago, two star crossed lovers one from each of the planets that are at war now, ran away together. I couldn't find a clear story and there are many versions of this legend, but apparently they all agree on a few things. A young woman died and her family blamed it on the family of her lover. I believe she was a princess by the name of Alka, Alria or Alpha, that last one is the one used most often in the legends."
"This ring must be a part of the treasure. How careless that they lost it and now I have it. Without this, the peace offering will be incomplete and the war will continue!" Maximus laughed evilly. It looked as if this was a lot easier then he planned. "Let's go back to the lair. By tomorrow this war will be all over the news and I'll be enjoying the show." It was late when they returned to the lair. Maximus placed the ring on a shelf in his room and went to sleep.
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Just as Maximus expected, when the next day came and the peace offering was found to be incomplete, the war continued worse then ever. Maximus sat in his bed watching the early morning news. After doing something this evil, he could take a break and be a little lazy for the next few days. They said Atomic Betty would be searching for the missing ring. She would never find it. She wasn't even aware that he was on that planet, let alone that he took it. After the news changed the subject, he turned off the TV and decided to go back to sleep until lunch time.
He rolled on his side so he was facing a wall with the shelf where he had left the ring. Then he noticed something out of place. The ring was there alright, but there was something else next to it. He got up, walked over to the shelf and looked at the new item. It looked like a very old piece of plastic more or less in the shape of a body with a burnt piece of cloth wrapped around it. It was some sort of old burnt doll, but what was that doing there?
Maximus didn't put it there and no one had been inside his room, unless Minimus snuck in at night while he was sleeping and put that ugly thing there to play a weird joke on him. "Minimus!"
Minimus came running. "You called your evilness?"
"Could you tell me what that is doing there?" Maximus pointed at the shelf where the doll used to be, without looking in that direction. He was still looking at Minimus when the sidekick looked confused. "Well?"
"It's the ring you found yesterday," Minimus finally answered. How could Maximus forget about it so soon? Yesterday he gave a speech about how the missing ring will cause a war and now he didn't even remember it. That made no sense, even for him.
"Not that. I'm talking about that ugly, hey where did it go?" Maximus picked up the ring and stared at the empty space on the shelf. The doll that was there before was no where to be found. "You're playing a joke on me," he glared daggers at Minimus.
"No and I don't understand what you're talking about your evilness," Minimus was thinking that Maximus had finally lost it. Maximus simply hit him on the head and kicked him out.
Once Minimus was gone, Maximus locked the door. He placed the ring on a small table beside his bed and went back to sleep. Soon he started to have a strange dream almost immediately after falling asleep. "Don't let them forget. I waited for this moment too long. Help me tell them the truth, only then I can go with him. Guide them to the truth."
He was in a dark garden with many flowers and a fountain at the end of the path. It was night time and there were two large moons in the sky and a small one, less then half the size of the other two. Standing in front of the fountain was a ghostly woman wearing an elegant dress and a tiara. The light red of her dress became transparent at the bottom of the skirt and she appeared to have no feet. She just floated a few feet from the ground. "They tried to forget, they tried to erase it. Only the blood of the one and only witness of our union can help me now. Give the ring to one from that blood line and things will slowly be solved.
Maximus woke up out of breath at the edge of his bed. A little more and he would fall off, which was very unusual considering how big it was. Usually he had enough space to move around in his sleep without coming close to the edge. His pillows where tossed around the bed and some on the floor. His plushie had somehow landed all the way on his desk and in front of it was another pillow on the floor.
The blanket was in a knot around him. He looked to the table where he placed the ring, but it wasn't there. Wait, he felt something in the palm of his hand. He was holding that strange ring. A cold chill ran down his spine. He couldn't get that dream out of his head. He shook his head and tried to convince himself it was only a dream. He placed the ring inside a drawer and picked up his plushie hugging it.
"It was just a dream and nothing more." He told himself. He placed the plushie on a chair and went off to change out of his pajamas. He didn't feel like sleeping in anymore and he would get Minimus to pick up this mess later.
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At the Galactic Guardians Head Quarters, Admiral Degill paced around his office. "That ring was the most important part of the treasure. From what I've learned so far, princess Alpha was wearing it when she was found, but her mother threw it into a lake and refused to bury her daughter's dead body with that ring. Just before the princess's funeral, they saw her wearing that ring and didn't know how she got it. Her father held on to it while she was buried and ordered it to be destroyed later since they blamed the man who gave it to her for her death. This was such a tragic event it was forced into forgetfulness and it turned into a legend a lot faster then it normally happens with such stories. Now the war continues, even if only two generations later they didn't know why they fought. They want that ring back, maybe as proof of the past or to erase it completely." Degill had tried to talk to the current rulers of both kingdoms but it was no use. Without the peace offering being complete, there would be no peace.
Betty, Sparky and X-5 looked at each other, as if trying to find an answer in the other. They didn't know what could have happened to the ring. The treasures were kept safe by the galactic guardians and they haven't seen anyone who wasn't either a galactic guardian or a royal guard in the area. "We'll start an investigation and find out what happened to that ring." Betty was determined.
"I'll leave the investigation to you, Atomic Betty. We're all counting on you," Admiral Degill dismissed them. They saluted and left.
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Their first step in this investigation was to find out who was transporting the ring to the small planet in between the two kingdoms. They examined the profile they were given by the royal guards and the guard assigned for this task appeared to be trustworthy, but they wouldn't know unless they interviewed him. He looked nervous and worried, which made him look suspicious during the interview. "Tell us the truth," Atomic Betty insisted. "If you are as you say innocent then you have nothing to fear."
"I saw her," The guard was full of fear. "I saw the ghost of princess Alpha. She said that the past couldn't be forgotten without the truth being revealed and told me that she would rather have the ring be lost than destroyed or locked way and forgotten along with the injustice of the past. I was terrified of the ghost, it's nothing like fighting dragons and thieves. I dropped the ring on the ground and closed the small chest where it was, then the ghost disappeared. I brought the empty chest into the room where all the treasure of the peace offering would be kept. The ring must be on the ground somewhere, but the ghost might be guarding it."
"That sounds scary," Sparky shivered.
"It sounds illogical," X-5 reasoned. "I don't believe him. What about you captain?"
"If this story was true, then someone must have found the ring already. The royal family sent enough guards to cover the entire planet. If you dropped it there it should have been found, unless someone stole it, but who and why?" Betty didn't quite believe the man's story, but she had to admit if he was lying, he was a great actor. "I'll leave this as it is for now and save judgment for later. Let's ask the guards who are in the search."
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No one knew anything about the ring. They claimed that they haven't found anything at all. The one transporting the ring was the primary suspect, but it didn't make any sense when compared to his loyal background. If he did see something, ghost or not, that made him drop the ring, then that made the entire search team, which was quite numerous, suspects too. She didn't like the sound of this possibility, but it could have been someone in the galactic guardians. Then again, a thief could have created the ghost illusion with a hologram and stolen the ring, but no one was seen there and sadly there were many thieves in that galaxy.
Another point was that this conflict had been on the news a lot lately and it could be seen by the super villains as an opportunity to gain a more evil reputation. If that was the case, then it should make it easier, since professional super villains tend to announce their crimes. Then again, whoever stole it might be keeping it a secret to affect the kingdoms by keeping them at war. The trail was unclear and there were too many suspects. If only there was a way to eliminate the possibilities and come up with the culprit or find a new lead. This was one of those missions where they would have to play detectives.
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It had been three days since the investigation started and no real clues were found. There were too many suspects, too many possibilities. Meanwhile, Maximus was getting impatient. Even if it wasn't too long ago that the war was restarted, he wanted to announce that he caused it and get the credit. "Minimus, go find that ring from the basement."
"Do I have to your evilness? I think it's cursed." In the last few days, strange things had happened in the lair, involving the ghost of a young woman and an old doll.
Everything always happened near the ring, so Maximus had moved it to the basement, but he would need to have it as proof that he was responsible for stealing it. "Go get it now!"
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Minimus knew that one way or another, he would end up getting that ring from the basement. He had no choice so he went to get it. "Hello, ghost lady?" He entered the basement area of the lair. "I don't mean to bother you, but the boss told me to give him the ring so he can announce that he stole it. He's the one who sent me so if you're going to curse anyone, it's his evilness' fault not mine." Everything appeared to be quiet. Maybe the ghost was sleeping, if ghosts even sleep.
Suddenly from behind a pile of old boxes, a little girl jumped out. "Hi!"
"Ah! Your evilness!" Minimus started running, but stopped at the door. It was just a little girl, not a ghost. He cautiously walked back to where she was. "How did you get in here?"
"Things are not what they appear to be. They need to understand," the little girl disappeared.
Now he was sure she really was a ghost, the ghost lady must have disguised herself. "Your evilness!" This time Minimus didn't stop until he was out of the basement. He closed the door and continued running.
"Minimus what is taking so long? You had better not lost that ring," Maximus had no intentions of going into the basement by himself, but Minimus was taking too long. Did he forget where he put the ring?
The sidekick came running and bumped into Maximus. "I saw, I saw... ow!"
Maximus hit him on the head. "Watch where you're going! What is it that you saw?"
"I saw a little girl and then she disappeared. She looked like the ghost lady from yesterday, only younger." Minimus stammered. "Do we have to keep that ring here your evilness?"
"No, I'll announce that I stole it today then hide it somewhere. Too many strange things have been happening around here." Maximus decided. "Go back in there and get it, I need to have it at my evil press conference as proof."
"But your evilness, I don't want to!" Minimus complained.
"Go!" Maximus opened the door and kicked Minimus into the basement. He closed the door, "don't come out without it."
"Your evilness, don't leave me trapped in here with the ghost!" Minimus tried to open the door, but it was no use. The only way out was to get that ring. He kept an eye out for the ghost and carefully walked to the place where he had left the ring. There was no sign of the ghost. He picked it up with the end of two fingers, not wanting to touch it too much. "I have it your evilness, open the door."
Maximus opened the door but he didn't take the ring Minimus was trying to give him. "You're my sidekick, it's your job to carry things for me."
"But I don't want to carry it!" Minimus switched to his angry face and complained. "I always have to do the hard stuff. What if the ghost kills me? Who's going to be your sidekick then?"
"Shut up and let's go, I don't want to be late."
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That is how Atomic Betty, Sparky and X-5 recovered the missing ring. The fact that Maximus had announced his crime on universal TV made it a lot easier to find. But it wasn't over yet, for the ghost appeared once again to tell the story of her past. When Betty held the ring, she instantly fell unconscious and Sparky and X-5 had to take her back to the Starcruiser. No one was sure what happened. She appeared to be in a semi-normal condition. She was just sleeping and didn't wake up.
"Where am I?" Sparky and X-5 were not there. She was at a palace it looked familiar yet different at the same time. She tried to talk to people, but soon realized they couldn't see or hear her, as if she wasn't even there. She didn't know how she got there or where she was, but maybe if she listened to what was happening around her, she could figure it out.
"Do you think it's a good idea to come here?" A young man asked.
"Of course, it's a costume party, no one will recognize us." Another man, just a little younger then the first replied.
"You always have a way of getting us into trouble cousin," the first man spoke.
"Lighten up Centauri, we'll be fine as long as we're not recognized." His cousin was no longer listening. Centauri stood at the top of the stairs, looking down beyond the dance floor. He smiled and she smiled back, Alpha. It was as if they were the only people in the entire palace, planet and universe at that moment. Centauri's cousin looked towards the lady that had him in a trance. "No, not her, she's the daughter of our family's enemies. Our kingdoms have never gotten along, but if we all mind our own business, then life will proceed in relative peace. If she recognizes you and alerts the guards, we're in trouble."
"I cannot call such an angel my enemy," Centauri voiced.
Everything appeared to move faster. The world was in fast forward. Betty saw the rest of the events of the ball unfold in seconds. They danced, looking into each other eyes beyond the masks they wore as if in a trance.
Then the scene changed. Betty didn't know why, but she knew that months had passed between the night of the ball and the time where she was now. She was in a forest near a lake. There was a woman hiding in a tree and another woman running towards the lake, Alpha. The woman in the tree threw a dagger at Alpha. The dagger had the symbol of Centauri's family in the handle. It reached its unsuspecting target and Alpha fell with blood spilling from her chest.
The dagger reached her heart and killed her. Centauri was coming to meet with her there, but he arrived too late. The killer had already escaped. He found his love dead with a dagger marked with his family symbol in her heart. Just as he held her in his arms and tried to remove the dagger, the guards found him and accused him of her death.
What they didn't know was that Alpha had seen the killer a second before she died. That woman hiding in the tree was her sister. Alpha was the oldest of three sisters and it was the second oldest that had killed her for the throne. She considered Alpha to be a traitor unworthy of becoming queen.
With the symbol of Centauri's family in the dagger, she knew he would be blamed. They would probably wait for him to come meet her and accuse him of her death. Alpha promised for her love that until his name was cleared, she would not rest. Her spirit held on to her engagement ring, a symbol of their love, so tightly, that when it left her body, that is where it stayed.
Alpha's fiancée, her parents and her youngest sister cried for her and blamed Centauri. They sentenced him to a cruel death and then the war began. Alpha's spirit haunted the one who killed her until her sister tried to draw her spirit out of the ring into a doll that was hers when she was little. This was to weaken her spirit by changing the item in which it resides. It had to be something familiar to her, that's why she chose Alpha's old doll. She thought the spell had been successful and burned the doll to destroy Alpha's wondering soul. But her love for Centauri was too strong and her spirit stayed in the engagement ring.
As time passed, they thought the princess had gone insane with sadness caused by the death of her older sister. She constantly spoke of the spirit of Alpha tormenting her morning, noon and night, but she never told the truth about her sister's death. She became obsessed with unsuccessful spells until she left the planet forever.
She wanted to escape Alpha's spirit. She would not be queen, but she would never reveal the truth. The third and youngest princess, who knew nothing of the true story of her sisters, assumed the throne after that, but she never let anyone call her queen, she would always be the princess and always think of her sister Alpha as the only rightful queen.
Betty was now at a garden at night. There was a fountain at the end of the path. She walked towards it and saw someone hiding behind it in the darkness. She was a galactic guardian in a purple uniform. She looked familiar. "Granny?" Betty was surprised. Could this be her grandmother's past self?
A guard could be seen at the other side of the path. "Someone's coming," the galactic guardian spoke.
"Centauri, you need to leave," Alpha and Centaury were hiding near by.
"I know, but first I have something to give you," he placed the ring on Alpha's finger. "Alpha, will you marry me?"
"Your grandmother was the only one who knew of our engagement, she helped us see each other and protected out secret." Betty turned around to face the ghost of Alpha. "You are her direct descendant so I know I can trust you. As I promised on that day, I will not rest until the truth is revealed. I do not want Centauri to be thought of as the one who killed me."
"How can I help?" Betty asked.
"My sister kept a journal where she wrote all her secrets. She left in such haste she didn't take it along and it's still hidden in her room. No one has been allowed in there since she left," the ghost of Alpha revealed.
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Betty woke up in the Starcruiser. Sparky was hugging her and crying because she wouldn't wake up, while X-5 repeated, sounding like he was in denial, that this was completely illogical because her vital signs were fine, so she had to wake up. "Sparky, X-5!"
"Chief, you're alive!" Sparky cheered.
"It is wonderful that you finally woke up captain," X-5 added.
"Don't worry, I'm alright and I know what happened years ago. It's about time the truth was revealed and with some help from the Galactic Council, the doors to the truth will finally be opened." Atomic Betty was right, because it took that much to allow her to go into that sealed room. The journal revealing what truly happened years ago was found and with that and the ring, peace finally returned to that galaxy.
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As Atomic Betty, Sparky and X-5 headed out of the palace to the Starcruiser, she looked to the sky and thought she saw two figures dancing in the air, flying higher and higher until they became shooting stars in the distance.
"Twas nothing that could come between the star crossed lovers' dance, as when Alpha and Centauri fell into each other's trance."
End of Planet 107
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End of Solar System XVII
Disclaimer, I don't own Atomic Betty or Ranma 1/2. 107, Special thanks to Barry I. Grauman.