Disclaimer: I do not own Atomic Betty nor its characters, Atomic Cartoons does. I only own this storyline in this fanfic and my own characters.

Chapter 4: Should Have Run Sooner

Now that the problem was over with it, Betty now fully realized what kind of situation she has gotten herself into.

Sure, she has an impulse to help those in need and sure, her parents and grandmother were happy that they knew they have such a good kid but she will admit that it has gotten her into trouble at times. Like the time when she helped Megan get her kite down when it was stuck in a tree. The end result wasn't pretty. She end up being yelled at by her mother for doing something so dangerous and she had to wear a cast on her arm for two weeks but at least Megan got her kite back. At least something good came out of it.

Betty has a feeling nothing good was going to come out with this situation.

She may have helped this Galactic Guardian lady for good reasons but now, due to her impulse to help those in need, she kinda stupidly exposed herself.

The Galactic Guardian lady has seen her. The woman now knew there was someone listening and watching the whole fight; someone who wasn't even supposed to be there.

And that someone was Betty Barrett.

'Crud, Crud, Crud…' She thought repeating as she stared into the eyes of the woman.

It was the first time she fully observed the Galactic Guardian Lady's appearance. The color of the woman's eyes were dark emerald like the black forest around them and woman's long curly hair look black but she could swear she saw a tint of dark red.

The woman wore a frustrated yet thoughtful look but it didn't seem she was angry with her. After all, the woman wasn't yelling at her or saying she was in her way but she knew she wasn't supposed to be here.

Heck, if she didn't see those so called 'falling stars', she properly wouldn't even be here. She properly wouldn't even know there was actual space fight in her Granny's backyard.

She would have slept right through all this action.

She didn't know what to do. Should she say something? The silence that surrounded them was becoming too much to bear on the little girl's shoulders.

However, just when she was about to break the ice, something beep.

Betty glanced at the source of the beeping. It was the woman's bracelet.

"Oh great…" She heard the woman hissed. The woman turns away from the little girl. Though the woman's back was turn, she could see the woman pressed a button on her bracelet. She nearly let out a gasp as a mini-hologram of some female cat alien show up in front of the lady.

A hologram, an actual hologram!

It was certainly felt like she was in a sci-fi movie right now. Sadly, her excitement was crushed when she heard what the cat alien said to the woman.

"I swear if you don't do something about that girl, I will."

"Are you even hearing me that she's just a little girl! Do you know that stuff has side-effects? I'm not going to used that on a little kid. I might…no, I'm going to be ruining this little girl's life if I used that stuff!"

"You know the planet you're on is an untouched planet and she's one of its inhabitants."

Oh no, this doesn't sound good. By the way the conversation is going; she knew the end-result wasn't going to be very good for her. Whatever this stuff is, she didn't want know.

She slowly began to back away.

She had to run. If she runs now, perhaps, she can get away before the lady does whatever she's going to do to her but the lady from outer space, for pete's sake. She might have super high-tech boots or something to catch up to her and she highly doubt her little interior two-wheeled bike can beat that!

Should she stay or should she run? Either option only show the end result of her being corner.

She heard the woman sighed. "Fine, I'll take care of the problem…." With that said, the hologram was gone and the woman then turns her attention back to the little girl before her. Betty stopped backing away.

She tightened her fists and look at the woman. If it's comes down to it…if she's either runs away or not, in the end, she's not going show any fear at all to this woman. If it's one thing she knew from facing Penelope everyday is that people like Penelope loved to see fear in their target's eyes. It's gives them power to do whatever they wanted on their targets and it always upset her when Penelope picks on those she deems as 'lowly peasants'. What's upset her the most of all is that people wanted to be friends with someone like that and even worse be liked her. She remembered her and Megan were good friends at one point until Megan decided it was better to be friends with Penelope and be safe from harm's way than be part of the victims who would suffered by Penelope's words and abuse. Betty made a promise to herself that she wasn't going to give people like Penelope that kind of power over her. In fact, she was going to help those who being abuse by those types of people.

Even right now, even in this moment when something bad is going to happen to her, she isn't going to show she's afraid.

The woman chuckled. Betty frowned. She put on one foot back. If the moment really called for her to run, she'll run. "What's so funny?" She demanded. She liked how her voice sounded so strong and brave. It was what she wanted; to show she wasn't afraid of her.

The woman then rubbed her chin. "Yup. You definitely have spunk, Shorty. I liked that…." She trailed off.

As the woman was lost in her own thoughts, Betty slowly and quietly took another step back. She didn't know what the woman was thinking but she knew she had to be ready. In case she decides to runs….

"Yeah, I'm going to take care of the problem but I'm doing it my way."

Before, Betty could blink or turn around to sprint for a run; she felt something hard hit her in the back of her neck.

'I should have run away sooner' she thought as she fell unconscious.

TBC….

Author's Note: OMG, this story is alive! Yeah…funny story of how I didn't update sooner. Well, first, I had to rewrite the chapter as what I first wrote down totally sucks in a really bad way. Then, my attention at the time becomes focused on Black Rock Shooter (2012 anime). So when I finally had time to write the chapter, I didn't know what to write for a few days until inspiration came to me and I wrote the chapter like a storm. However, when I was almost done, the file got corrupted and I forgot what I write. So I was back on square one which was writer's block. Not only that, I became busy with my courses and it's obvious what I choose was more important to do. (And it was worth it since I got all straight A's!)

So, now school's over and I have summer all to myself to write or draw what I want. I was still suffering writer's block with this story until yesterday night at around 11: 30 PM, the writer's block just broke into many little pieces and I was able to write and finish this chapter until 1:30 AM in the morning as well as improved what I was going to put into the next arc of this story.

And what going to happen in the next arc?

You'll just have to wait for next chapter or wait for me to give hints in my profile. It you want to check out a few pictures I drew about this story, go to my profile and click the link.

Also thank you for those you are enjoying this story. I really appreciated your feedback and anyone who's has either favorite or alerted this story.

Thank you so much.

So, until then…