Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls

Chapter 3: An Interplanetary Performer

Milky held the fragment in her hand, it was cold, reflective, and sharp around the edges like a broken tile, she was scanning the sky for a moment when another flying fragment shot over her head. It was heading closer towards the middle of the Solar System. Milky followed it to a planet covered over by pale yellow clouds. "Such a pretty planet." She thought, looking at it. She held her breath and dove through the clouds, they were really thick and hard to look through. Beneath the clouds was a rugged, orange surface with yellow splotches and lines all over it. "Where could that fragment be?" Milky asked herself as she landed on the surface. It was rather misty on this new planet's surface, and a very yellow mist at that. Milky continued to skate through the misty world, unsure of where she was going, while still clutching the fragment of planetoid. That's when she saw the silhouette of a building off in the distance, this caught Milky's attention. She started skating towards it, the building becoming more clear as she went closer. When she was up close to the building, she wasn't sure of what is what supposed to be. There was a large billboard above the entrance, with words spelling out: AN INTERPLANETARY PERFORMANCE! VENUS, GODDESS OF LOVE AND DANCE! Milky wondered who Venus was, and why she was a "Goddess of Love and Dance", and how there would be an interplanetary performance. She entered the building, confused.

It was noticeably darker inside, with only a few small lights on the ceiling. Milky looked around as she ventured further and further through an anteroom. She suddenly felt something soft brush up against her face. Milky put out her free hand, and felt something that felt like a curtain. "Wait, it is a curtain!" Milky thought. She pulled the curtain back a tiny bit and looked through. On the other side of the curtain was a large room full of dark pink, velvet seats arranged parallel to a pink carpet. At the very back of the room was a bare stage made of rosewood, draped by pink curtains. Milky heard a sharp whistle behind her, she let go of the curtain and turned around to a light flashing up at her. It turned out to be a flashlight, being held by a pink alien like the ones back at the dance club. "Ticket, please." The alien told Milky Way as he lowered the flashlight. "What's a ticket?" Milky asked. The alien looked at her, sternly. "Are you serious?" He asked. "You don't know what a ticket is?" Milky glanced around, confused. "No?" She replied, uncertainly. The alien sighed, annoyed. "I don't have all day for this, you can just go inside and I'll pretend that you have a ticket." He told Milky. "O-okay." She replied, entering the curtain. It was dark inside the theatre, but Milky continued going straight. Milky noticed that there were small beings inside the theatre, but couldn't make out what they were in the dark. She skated to the front row, and felt her way through until she found an empty seat. She sat down. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Milky realised that the little beings were actually pink aliens. A spotlight turned on, it was time for the performance to begin. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome...Venus, the Interplanetary Performer!" A voice said over an intercom. Coming onto the stage was another girl around the same age as Milky, maybe a little younger. She had pink curly hair with a pale pink streak, had lavender eyeshadow, wore a pale pink dress with hearts on the top and hem, and pink, ballet slipper-skates. The girl stopped in the middle of the stage, gently bowed with a smile, and started dancing.

Milky was mesmerised, she watched as the girl gracefully moved her hands and feet, now she realised why she was called an "Interplanetary Performer". The girl danced for four minutes, and ended her routine with a beautiful pose, causing the audience to loudly applause. Milky stood up and clapped loudly. The girl left the stage and the aliens started leaving the theatre. Milky wanted to meet the girl and ask her if she had seen the fragment from earlier. She wanted to follow her backstage, but decided against it. She left the theatre and went outside where she had to blink in the light. She looked down at her hands and realised that the fragment she held in her hand was gone. "Wait! Where did it go!?" She exclaimed. She rummaged through her skirt pockets, checked inside her roller skates, inside her sleeves, nothing. "Oh no, what am I going to do!?" Milky asked as she slumped to the ground. She curled up like a tired cat on the ground, tears flowing sideways down her face. Meanwhile, the girl who had been dancing onstage was leaving through the back door of the theatre, when she saw a lump in the mist, which was Milky in despair. "What is that?" She wondered. She skated through the mist towards Milky, whose shape got clearer and clearer. Before she got to Milky Way, she looked and saw Black Hole's fragment on the ground. "What's this?" She asked herself, picking it up and looking at it before going over to Milky Way. "Excuse me, are you okay?" The girl asked Milky. Milky sharply turned around to the girl, who was holding the fragment of Black Hole's planetoid. "Oh my stars, thank you!! I was looking for this!" Milky exclaimed, excitedly, causing the girl to awkwardly smile and laugh. Milky took the fragment from the girl's hand and looked at it, obsessively. "Is that fragment important to you or something?" The girl asked. "Oh, sorry, I'm scavenging this solar system looking for fragments of a planetoid and..." Milky was interrupted when the girl gasped. "Planetoid! You mean, Black Hole's planetoid!?" She asked, urgently. "Yes." Milky replied. "No, no, no! This can't happen! I'll gladly help you look for the fragments!" The girl told Milky, clasping Milky's hands. "Thanks, I'm Milky Way, by the way. But everyone just calls me Milky." Milky told the girl, shaking her clasped hands. "I-I'm Venus." Venus replied, much calmer.

The two started to venture through the yellow mist, and Milky Way always made sure she was in sight of Venus. "So, how has your scavenger hunt been going?" Venus asked Milky. "It's fine, so far, I might love exploring and meeting new people, but not if it's pretty much forced labour." Milky replied, causing Venus to giggle. "You're funny, Milky." Venus said. "Yeah, I met this girl at a dance club named Saturn, she helped me find the fragment by changing the music to clear the dance floor," Milky continued. "Then I followed another fragment here, and you know the rest." She concluded. "Cool, maybe I can help find the fragment with my dancing skills." Venus suggested. "That could work." Milky said, happily. "In fact, I'm not just skilled in ballet, I'm skilled in all kinds of dance." Venus added. "How many?" Milky asked, intrigued by this new information. "I'm skilled in..." Venus paused and stared into space. "Flamenco, for example!" Venus started to tap her feet, used one arm to hold her ballet dress, and swung her free arm around at the speed of a shooting star. "The Ceílí." Venus kept her upper body still as she frantically move her legs about. "And one last example, Tap!" Venus tapped her feet again, while skipping about. Milky watched the dances, amazed. "Of course, you need focus and discipline to master these moves." Venus remarked as she continued to tap dance. Suddenly, she felt something underneath her feet, something that felt like a broken clay pot. Venus moved back and looked at the ground. There was something planted inside the ground, something that looked like a fragment. "Wait! I think that's a fragment of Black Hole's planetoid!" Milky exclaimed.

She immediately squatted on the ground on started to tug upward, but the fragment wouldn't budge. "I can't get it out!" Milky grunted. Venus wasn't sure what to do. "What if..." She began. "What if I dance around the fragment to get it out of the ground." Venus suggested. "That could work." Milky Way replied. Venus replaced her ballet slipper skates with tap shoe skates and started to dance in a circle around the trapped fragment, aggressively. She danced so hard that she was becoming a blur, but it also seemed like she was sinking into the ground. "Uh oh! Venus, you're sinking!" Milky shouted over the sound of Venus's tap dancing. "Don't worry!" Venus replied. "I'm dancing so the ground can go lower, it's the only way to get the fragment free, I'm afraid!" Milky watched for another minute Venus bringing the ground beneath her downwards. Venus gradually began to slow down and eventually stopped, and by the time she did, she created a shallow ditch around the fragment. Venus climbed out of the ditch, pushing the fragment slightly upwards with one foot. Milky went over, grabbed the fragment, and in one go she pulled the fragment out of the ground, into the air, and it landed a few ways back. Milky went over to pick up the fragment, which was larger than the first one, but not too big. "Do you want anything to carry the fragments?" Venus asked. "Oh no, I don't need a bag, I can handle it." Milky replied. "Are you sure?" Venus asked as Milky started to leave. "Oh yes," Milky replied. "Bye, Venus!" Venus waved back. "Good luck with your scavenger hunt!" She managed to shout out before Milky pierced through the clouds and eventually went out of sight.

Author's Note: I know this chapter was a little more on the long side compared to the other two chapters, I think I'm just kinda biased towards Venus since she's my favourite character.