Fallen Feathers

Betty stretched her arms over her head, letting out the loudest yawn possible as she eased into the couch. With her parents out of town for an entire weekend, she was looking forward to having the house to herself. Granted, Megan’s mom hadn’t made it fun when she explained in no uncertain terms to her mother why she refused to let Betty stay over again.

She’d tried to explain to her mother that Penelope had lied and that she had been the one showing the other girls sci-fi horror flicks, but her mother wouldn’t have it.

It had led to two whole days of peace, and Betty couldn’t wait to get started. She shut her eyes, the birds’ flitting off to their nests for the evening growing dimmer and dimmer, the world growing wonderfully fuzzy as she slipped into the warm embrace of sleep. It was going to be a perfect weekend.

Betty awoke to her bracelet beeping like an unattended smoke alarm. Night had fallen, and the flickering blue and red lights cast ghostly shadows upon her skin. She scrambled to answer it, her brain still groggy.

“Atomic Betty reporting for—”

“Atomic Betty!” The Admiral’s scaly face peered at her from its rippling hologram. His eyes, the size of saucers, stared at her from the fish’s tiny head. The panic in his voice was unlike him. “The people of Shang-Ri-La-Lee-Da are in deep peril. An alleged unknown force is destroying their home!”

In a flash of blue and white, the image changed to the great city of the Avian folk being utterly decimated. Bolts of lightning the size of tree trunks barrelled down on the screaming populace as they flitted out of the way like frightened seagulls. Betty clamped her hand over her mouth when one of them took a direct hit to the back, toppling from the sky and landing in a heap of twisted limbs on the clouds’ surface.

Statues and buildings alike toppled over as thunder roared, leaving nothing but a smouldering pile of wreckage.

“Do we have any idea what’s causing it?” Betty’s grogginess had completely gone.

A column crumbled beneath a bolt of forked lightning.

“Nothing as of yet. The warrior princess Allura placed a distress call the moment the siege began.”

Betty was glad Allura had learned her lesson about asking for help. During their last meeting, she had insisted on doing everything herself. That had almost ended in a similar fate for her kingdom. Her reaching out only proved the gravity of the situation.

“Alright, beam me up!”

In a flash of light, Betty was aboard her ship, or rather, she was aboard a ship. Instead of the yellow she was used to, the walls and machinery were a deep purple.

“What is going on here?” She made her way to the cockpit, scanning every inch of the uncanny surroundings. “What is this?”

“Hello, Captain.” X-5 occupied his usual spot in the navigator’s seat. He turned to face her. “We are on board the Blackbird. A cavalry vessel. Since it is the same model as our own ship, I had hoped you would be comfortable.”

“Heh, same model.” The figure in the pilot’s seat scoffed. “I’ll have you know this here ship is top of the line. Unlike that red rust bucket you three go clunking around in.”

“Sparky?” The speaker’s voice didn’t sound like her pilot. When the seat spun around, it revealed a Martian girl dressed in white and black. Her face was nearly identical to Sparky’s, save for the liberally applied dark eyeliner and blue Chapstick. “Trix?”

“Were you expecting someone else?”

“Your brother, maybe?”

“Oh, you ain’t not gonna believe this.” Trix’s expression darkened. “That idiot is on Shang-Ra-La-De-Da!”

“What!” The word left Betty’s lips much louder than she had intended. “What’s he doing there!”

“Sparky went to visit the princess.” X-5 had already pulled up the map. “Hence our need to employ alternate modes of transportation.”

“He took the ship to a planet that was being ripped apart!” Betty knew Sparky was reckless, but trying to take on such a dangerous mission solo wasn’t something she’d ever expected from him. Even if he had been completely smitten with Allura.

“They only scheduled him for a leisurely visit. The Princess herself summoned him, and he left without a second thought. A day later, the Avian kingdom began to collapse.” X-5 charted the quickest course to their destination. The sooner they got there, the better. Sparky was a resourceful kid, but he didn’t often think before he acted.

The flight only took a few minutes, but felt like several eternities. By the time they touched down on the solid clouds that made up the surface of Shang-Ra-La-De-Da, Betty was ready to bolt. She remained as calm as she could when they disembarked. The smouldering wreckage that greeted them was a far cry from the majestic structure the palace had once been.

“This place is a dump,” Trix sneered, kicking at the loose rubble under her glossy black boots. “You call this a palace?”

“Trix!” Betty hissed. “Show some respect.”

“To who? Ain’t no one here!”

As if on command, the great doors eased open, and Princess Allura flitted out. Clutching her hand was a young woman with flaming red hair. Her catlike eyes scanned over the trio one at a time, unblinking.

“Princess!”

Betty and X-5 gave polite bows, but Trix didn’t bother to meet their eyes, still taking in the surrounding destruction. It was obvious how much Trix was enjoying the chaos. She had never liked Allura or her kingdom. She said Sparky acted completely out of it after their last trip.

He had been completely infatuated with the princess, paying even less attention to missions than he had before. Betty had scolded him more than a few times, but it had gone in one ear and out the other.

“Atomic Betty! It is so good to see you! I’m so sorry for dragging you all the way out here.” Allura and her companion offered a polite bow to the group. “I apologise for the circumstances.”

“Not at all, Princess. What’s happening?”

“I have no idea.” Allura’s panic made Betty’s heart drop.

“Is Sparky here?’ Trix peered beyond the doorway, as if expecting him to be right behind the two. “He ran off here yesterday morning, and Mom and I haven’t heard from him since.”

“You know Sparky?” Allura looked the girl up and down. It wouldn’t take long to clock the resemblance.

“We’re twins.”

“I see. Well, your brother is here. Or rather, he was. He disappeared before–”

A bolt of lightning struck the archway above the door. Marble crashed to the ground. Allura pulled her companion to safety.

“We must get to the shelter below the palace. Come quickly!”

The surroundings swam as Betty and her crew followed the Princess and her companion down endless flights of stairs until they reached the safety of the underground room.

The place was less a room than a glorified hole lined with gold bricks, but at least there were no pillars or archways to topple onto them.

“I cannot believe this. Today of all days.” Allura sighed, running her slender hand along the wall.

“What’s happening today?” Betty needed something else to focus on besides her pilot being out in the mother of all storms. What if he got trapped under a column or a statue, or—no, she couldn’t think about that! Not now, not ever.

“Today was supposed to be our engagement celebration.”

“Engagement!?” Betty’s eyes bugged out more than the Admiral’s had. Surely they weren’t planning to get married. Sparky was close to her age, give or take a few months, but she didn’t know Allura’s age. She, he couldn’t be much older, right? Given that she and Sparky were together.

“Yes. I’d like you three to meet my fiancée. Duchess Tigora of Felinia.”

X-5, who had been silent up to that point, gave a small whirr of surprise. Betty was certain she had made a similar sound.

The sound of thunder disappeared into the distance as Betty’s mind struggled to make sense of what she’d heard.

“I beg your pardon?”

(Like all my stories, edited by ElleDStein!)