"Hey, how ya turn this thing on?"

"You press the start button, of course."

"What start button? I don't see it, Lukas!"

"It's the button that has the incomplete circle with the line in the gap."

"What?"

"It's next to the red recording button."

"I still don't- wait, here it is!"

Mathias pressed the button that Lukas described to him and waited for the video camera to power up. When it did, he held the camera up pointed to his face and pressed the recording button, giving a big, boisterous grin as he said, "Yo, whaddup folks watching the idiot box at home! I'm Mathias, and this is the Scandinavian Giant Mythbusters!"

Mathias scowled as the sound of annoyed groans came from outside the frame. "Hey, shut up! I didn't hear you guys chiming in with suggestions for our group name!"

"That's because we agreed to wait to come up with a name after we finish our first project, dumbass!" Lukas stated. "Besides, what the hell made you think that was a good name to begin with?"

"Whatever!" Mathias rolled his eyes and sighed as he turned the camera in his hands. "Damn, so much editing to do and we barely even started recording," he mumbled. He closed his eyes, breathed to compose himself, and turned the camera back to his direction with his showy grin renewed.

"We're gonna be hunting for some awesome truth to these myths flying around Europe! And we have-" he pointed the camera to a young man at the steering wheel- "My baby bro, Berwald. Say hi, man!"

Without breaking his stare at the road, Berwald gave the camera the peace sign.

"Pfft, Berwald thinks he's cool," Mathias snickered. "But he's just the group's personal chauffer."

"Shut up, Mathias..."

Mathias turned around in his seat and pointed the camera at one of the smaller men riding in the back seats, whom was taking notes . "This one right here is Tino, the group's researcher who looks up the next myths and our personal chef because Berwald's cooking is crap."

"Don't push it, Mathias..."

"Calm down, bro, I kid, I kid! Hey, wave to the camera, Tino!"

Tino looked up when he heard his name called. When he saw the camera pointed at him, he gave a shy smile and a small wave. "Hello!"

"Aw, he's such a sweetheart," Mathias sighed. He directed the camera to the man next to him. "Unlike this big ol' douche right here, our tech support by day and stripper by night, Lukas."

"Shut it, Mathias."

"What's wrong? Isn't stripping like some sort of exercise in your country?"

"Not the way you make it sound... And I don't even strip!"

"It's a compliment, so take it, gosh!" Mathias turned the camera to the last passenger of their minivan. "And here we have the last and youngest group member of our awesome team, Lukas's little brother, Emil. Say hi, Emil!"

Emil sat close to window, watching the road and trees pass by in an attempt to deliberately ignore the rest of the men with him. The only acknowledgement he gave to Mathias was a quick glance from the corner of his eye before staring back out the window.

"Feh, don't expect much talking from this guy, since he's such a grouch like his older brother over there. Look at him, trying to ignore the world like he's some super cool emo. But it's okay; he's still cute enough to do that kind of stuff. Aw, lookit our wittle baby of the gwoup!"

Mathias moved further up on his seat until he was nearly bent over on the head rest. He reached towards Emil's face to playfully pinch his cheeks. When Emil saw his hand coming, he swatted it away and tried to scoot further back into his seat. Undetered, Mathias repeatedly tried to touch Emil's face, laughing as Emil swatted at each attempt. They ended up in a hand-slapping match before Emil snapped, "Mathias, knock it out, dammit! This isn't how you run a show!"

Mathias laughed hysterically before seeing the angry grimace on the teen's face. Groaning in annoyance, Mathias turned back around and plopped heavily into his seat. "Don't know why ya here anyway; you don't do shit besides take up space and do some equipment cleaning here and there when you're not feeling lazy."

"He's here," Lukas interjected defensively, "because I'm not about to leave my baby brother alone in a different country while I'm gone."

"Oh, yeah; still, we could've dumped him on Arthur like we did with Berwald and Tino's kids."

"Not an option. Besides," Lukas turned to Emil and patted his shoulder, "he's not useless at all! He does a lot for this group, so he's just as important as the rest of us."

"Don't do that, Lukas," Emil muttered as he shrugged off Lukas's hand. His glare intensified as he tried to focus on the road and trees out his window.

"Dammit, Mathias, you got him in a bad mood now!" Lukas said.

"I thought he was always like that, though?" Mathias replied.

Emil groaned and shook his head as Lukas and Mathias started going into a sort of argument about him. In a way, they were both wrong; Emil wasn't always in a bad mood, it just started since the beginning of this road trip that he absolutely protested going on with all of his might. It started when Lukas ignored his protests and passed it all off as a mere teenage moodiness and dragged him out against his will. He didn't understand why he was brought along; he didn't know a thing about the tools they used to record, he didn't know how to cook, and he mostly cleaned some stuff when he got enough energy to do so.

He wanted to go back; Emil really missed the comfortable bed, computer, and overall Mathias-free solitude at home.

"Anyways," Mathias continued, "that moody brat with the weirdest personality ever-"

"Fuck you."

"-is Lukas's kid brother Emil, and we are- dun dun dun dunnn!- The Nordic Mythbusters, ya'll!" Mathias smiled widely at the announcement of the group's name, but quickly glowered as the others- besides Emil- groaned and booed. "Hey, it's not like you guys chimed in so eagerly with suggestions!"

"That's because we decided to wait until we get our first assignment done to come together and think of a group name."

Mathias sighed and rolled his eyes. He then looked down at the camera. "Fuck, so much editing to do, and we haven't even gotten to our destination yet!" He leveled the camera's lens to his face, closed his eyes breathed to compose himself, and reopened his eyes with his boisterous smile renewed.

"So for you folks at home, we're going on our very first stop in Geneva Switzerland. According to our very reliable resource,this town has experienced something strange. Alien strange! A huge meteor hit them in some valley in between their mountains a couple of years ago, and apparently two people, a brother and sister, were hiking neary when it hit. The meteor kind of broke into bits and a piece landed inside the girl. The weird part is that it didn't kill her. In fact it didn't even leave a hole in her! It just absorbed right into her stomach!

"When the big brother took his little sister to the hospital, all hell broke loose. That meteor rock inside her? It was radioactive! All sorts of government workers from the doctors to the nuclear experts to the bomb squads had to step in and save this girl, but it didn't work. The thing exploded and blew up the entire first floor of the hospital, killing everyone. Or so they first thought..."

Mathias turned in his seat again and pointed the camera at Tino. "Yo, Tino, fill us in on the big mystery!"

Again, Tino looked up from his notebook and said, "From what we've learned, it is said that everyone within the hospital's first floor died except for the girl who had the meteor rock inside her. Ever since the initial explosion, there have been various other explosions. At first, they happened at very frequent- if irregular- times and spots, but the explosions started coming less and less. Still, those who survived them usually said that they saw the little girl with the meteor inside her at the site."

"Yep, yep!" Mathias chimed. He spun back into his seat. "And because of the general fear of this little girl- we'll call her Atomic Betty for now, since she's so nuclear and all- a lot of the people skipped out of town. Yep, just packed up whatever they can and left. I guess I don't blame them; I wouldn't want to be in a town where some freaky radioactive chick whose face I wouldn't even recognize might kill me in a moment's notice, either!"

"But I guess this time is the exception, because we're gonna find out for ourselves whether our real-life Atomic Betty really exists or not! Right, ya guys?!"

The rest of the men gave a few small noises, too busy with what they were doing or not feeling up to cheering at all.

"Wow you guys sure do know how to liven things up!" Mathias rolled his eyes and scoffed. He aimed the camera out the window to record some scenic shots of the trees and ponds. "Hey, Berwald, how much longer until we actually reach Geneva?"

"We should reach it in about an hour or two," Berwald replied. He quickly glanced at the GPS system to check. "Ah, damn, it's four hours."

Upon hearing that, Emil groaned inwardly. Damn, another four hours with these people. That's just freaking fantastic! Why did I even have to- Wait what the...? Emil craned his neck and stared upward through his window. He wasn't entirely sure, but what he was seeing looked like a misty light glowing from far behind the trees, the glow reaching above the tallest tree peak and fanning out in waves.

At the same time that Emil noticed this strange light, Mathias started to pull at the collar of his shirt. "Whoa, did it suddenly get warmer in here to you guys?"

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that, too," Tino said. He looked around at the others. "That's not normal, is it? Or is it the car?"

Emil continued to watch the misty light outside as the other passengers talked about the sudden temperature hike, gazing in hypnotic wonderment as it seemed to fan from side to side, regressing and growing in size; it seemed so rhythmic and at the same time sporadic. It was so alive. Emil watched it until it grew weaker and weaker, and then disappeared all together.

"What the hell? It's cold again!" Mathias observed. "What the hell was that?"

"Berwald, I think you might wanna make turn over there," Emil suggested.

"What? Why?" Berwald asked over his shoulder.

"I don't know, but I think we're heading the wrong way." Emil kept his eyes at the location where the light was, trying to think up a route to the area from where they were and from what he saw of the GPS. "After that turn, um... After that turn, keep straight at maybe nine kilometers and make another right and go straight."

"Ha, our little map right at work!" Mathias snickered. He then frowned and looked back at Emil. "But why are we heading over there? Tino didn't say that that's our destination." Mathias reached towards the GPS and tapped in the directions Emil gave. "There's nothing but trees and cottages over there, little guy."

"Well, what I just saw was neither a tree nor a cottage," Emil said. "Trust me, just head where I told you, it might be our big mystery."

Mathias shrugged and placed the GPS back in its spot. "Whatever you say, Emil. Let's go."

Berwald made a turn and drove around until he spotted an open path in the forest. Once on a clear path, they rode through the walls and walls of trees and bushes until they reached the end. They piled out of the van with a few small weapons if they encountered some dangerous animals, and flashlights in case they got lost and stayed out too long. They all looked to Emil for further instructions.

"So, Emil, where's this thing you wanted to show us?" Tino said.

Emil looked up in the sky and reformed the "map" in his head to pinpoint where they were and how close they were to the fan of glowing light's location.

"It's center point was by there..." Emil said to himself, and trailed off as he formulated the last bit of his directions. "...So it had to be a few kilometers... that way." He pointed and started to move into the trees. "Follow me."

The group followed Emil into the trees, and their trek to the spot Emil pointed out was a mostly quiet one, with Emil slowing down occasionally to look up into the sky and see how much longer they have to go.

Finally, one of them spoke up to break the nearly hour-long silence.

"Hey, Emil, I don't want to seem like I'm doubting you or anything," Lukas said, "but I'm not sure we should be heading out like this any further. What did you see that you wanted to show us, anyway?"

"We're only a little ways off, Lukas. And the thing I saw, it was..." Emil trailed of, trying to think of the best words to describe the ethereal thing that glowed. "...It was so- I'm not sure how to describe it. It was so supernatural and big. Really big. And it glowed this soft, pale green and blue and pink, and it spread out like some fan or something across the sky."

"Oh, my, that actually sounds beautiful!" Tino gasped.

"Where is it now?" Berwald asked him. "I don't see it."

Emil stopped and looked over his shoulder, and continued walking. "It's gone."

"What?!" Mathias shouted, scaring the birds above them into flying from the branches they rested on. "Are you fucking kidding me, Emil?! We walked for a goddamn hour and the damn thing isn't there, anymore?!"

"Mathias, just because we're outside doesn't mean you have to shout," Lukas grumbled.

"No! I'm pissed right now, okay?! Not only was he mopey all during the trip here, but he totally derailed us from our assignment for something that's probably not even real!"

"Isn't that the point of our new show, to check out the stories people say and see if it's real or not? But I am wondering, when were you going to tell us that it disappeared and we might be walking into nothing?"

"I was going to wait until we reached that spot because whoever or whatever caused it might still be there," Emil explained. "It might even be the Atomic Betty we're looking for."

"God, Emil! You still don't just send us all of for nothing!" Mathias continued to shout. "Ugh, fuck it, let's go guys, my feet hurt."

Mathias turned around sharply to leave but yelped and stumbled backwards, falling on his bottom and panting.

"Mathias!" Tino rushed to Mathias's side. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Mathias didn't reply; instead, he shook his head and silently stared out into the forest ahead and he slowly, weakly lifted his arm to point into the distance.

"What're you pointing at..." Tino followed Mathias's finger along with the rest of the group, and a collective sharp gasp sounded from everyone when they saw what frightened Mathias.

A short distance away, a shapeless figure stood there, still as a rock, a being whose face was featureless due to the glow eminating from its body. This creature's glow was just like the skyward light that Emil saw in the car ride

"Holy shit," Lukas murmured.

"Oh, my God," Tino whispered. "That's not... that couldn't be..."

"Atomic Betty," Mathias finished for him. They all grew quiet again, watching this being watch them, too awestruck by this sight to move or speak and too afraid to do anything rash to scare

"Hey!" Mathias shouted after her. He jumped to his feet and sped off after her. "Hey, wait!"

"Mathias, hold on!" Tino said as he followed him.

Lukas and Berwald looked back at Emil, impressed that his suggestion indeed yielded a remarkable find, and all three went off to catch up with Mathias and Tino and join in the pursuit.

Soon, they ended up chasing this girl through the forest, zigzagging through trees and jumping over shrubbery and rocks, not one concerned about diverging from the intial path they were hiking. The glowing figure was too far ahead of them, though; albeit she did have a heastart from earlier before the chase began, the way she created even more distance between them was too unrealistic and mind-boggling. It was as if she was moving faster than time itself.

"Hey! Hey! Atomic Betty! Wait!" Mathias continued to shout as he jumped over rocks and tree roots in his way. He then remembered the camera in his hand and held it up in her direction.

"Mathias, she's not going to respond to 'Atomic Betty'!" Emil yelled.

"She's not gonna tell us her name, either! What else are we gonna call her-?"

Before any of them were prepared, a flash of light had burst, its force so strong that it shook the trees around them and sent Tino and Mathias flying backwards into Lukas, Berwald, and Emil, jumbling the group into a heap. The forest grew quiet after that, a silence so still and void that the only thing one could hear was the beating of their own heart and the internal fear of what just happened that lingered in the air.

A couple of minutes later, Emil started to stir underneath the pile of men, causing everyone else to wake from the unconsciousness the blast sent them to.

"Welp, that hurt," Mathias groaned as he held his head.

"What was that?" Berwald wondered. "Was that an attack?"

"Whatever it was, it hurt like hell."

"Ugh, get off, get off, get off!" Emil moaned beneath them all.

They slowly and achingly stood up one by one and dusted the dirt and grass from their clothes, watching the empty path that the luminating being once stood. Mathias went to pick up the camera that flew from his hand and checked it over to see if it was damaged.

"Its gone," Tino said disappointedly. "What do we do now?"

"We head on over to Geneva like before!" Mathias replied cheerfully. He smiled at the group, particularly Emil, and continued, "If what we heard about Atomic Betty is true, then that little lightbulb oughta be heading there! And hey, Emil, good call you made!"

"Thanks... So, where's our van?"

The grin that was on Mathis's face slowly faded as it donned on them that they went off their path. As they all looked around awkwardly, Mathias shrugged and pointed at the direction that had ran in. "We'll just head on that way! Or something..."

With no other ideas on how to return to their car, everyone followed Mathias's direction and started walking.

Wow, so this update was a long time coming! Sorry about that, and for anyone who knows about the other fanfics I have to update.