Other Fan Fiction ❯ Atomic Galaxy ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A collection of varied Atomic Betty one-shots.

Atomic Galaxy: Solar System I

Planet 01: Extinction

He yawned and stepped out of the glass container... Wait, glass container? Was he so tired that he couldn't even manage to walk to his room? He rubbed is eyes and focused on the scenery around him, metal, shiny, silver metal and heavy space artillery of all kinds. Of course, the weapons hanger, that's where he stumbled into that glass thing and fell asleep out of extreme exhaustion. He was working too hard.

"Minimus!" There was no reply and Maximus decided to venture into silvery surroundings. "Minimus!" His voice echoed and still there was no reply. He kept walking, observing the glass containers. There were people inside, Admiral Degill? He didn't remember capturing Degill and freezing him like that... Atomic Betty? He would keep her as trophy, forever frozen to remind him of his victory, but he didn't remember doing so. Something was out of place... Maximus paused and tried to organize his thoughts. Oh yes, he took over the galaxy, he remembered that much. What else? Battles, victories, winning, too easy to be true, but it happened. Then what?

"Excuse me!" He jumped and turned to face the girl who looked identical to Atomic Betty. He didn't hear her approaching though he should have if his senses weren’t so numb.

"Atomic Betty?!" He looked at the glass container; she was still inside, unless that was a clone. Who was to say that the one standing before him wasn't a clone too? That's right, Atomic Betty was dead, no wait, she was on his side. She was off battling a neighboring galaxy so he could expand his territory, his best warrior, that's right, she worked for him now. But her death was so clear, with his light saber... no, her home planet was blown up... no, it was that rare weapon, what was it called? Odd, he couldn't remember how Betty died, though he knew she did and at the same time he knew she didn't. "Who are you?" First things first.

"Number Five Zero Seven One, we've met before." The girl was most definitely not Atomic Betty. She had the same hair, the same eyes, but she spoke in monotone and said things Betty wouldn't say. "Soti, you know me as Soti. It is related to your civilization. Five, zero, seven and one, next to each other spell Soti. You told me that once when you were rambling incoherently about lost cultures. It makes no sense but your kind seeks happiness so it would make sense for you to return home, precious specimen." A clone, she was definitely a clone.

Then he remembered, Betty never died, at least not that he knew of, and she never joined him. It was all a dream, he was dreaming while in suspended animation. Many years had passed and those who escaped being captured by the invaders must have already died of old age. They destroyed her planet, his army, everything. Then the hero Atomic Betty was seen as a monster because of her connection to the Black Hole aliens, she lacked their powers but carried their blood. He was captured, frozen, sent into a dream world. She was cloned and the clones modified to follow orders. The original might still exist somewhere. When ever he woke up, when even he escaped, he would search for her, because though they were enemies, those aliens were worse.

"Please go to sleep lynx, I do not wish to use force, return to your pleasant dream." The Betty clone whom Maximus named Soti spoke in a monotone that would easily surpass that of any robot.

"Her will..." It was true, the original's will was slipping into the clones, she was mutating in captivity, gaining a connection with her others, Soti was proof of that. Soti never locked the glass container where Maximus was kept, she gave him an antidote in that occasion when he suffered of radioactive poisoning and here she was giving him a warning. He hated waking up confused, forgetting reality, not knowing which reality was true, because it all felt real. Not that they were allies, they were simply survivors. "Tell her that next time I'll find her." Because they could team up given the circumstances, make an exception for mutual survival, revenge maybe, then pick up where they left off in their eternal rivalry.

Soti nodded and for a moment he saw a shine in her eyes, as if for a split second Betty's mind connected to her clone and saw that Maximus was still alive and relatively unharmed.

"One last thing Betty, wake me only when I can actually get out of here and do something. I'm not going to die here so you don't have to check on me to see if I'll wake up. Such a good dream I was having..." It was useless; Betty was no longer there, reflected in Soti's eyes. "Tell her that..." Maximus had tried to escape at the wrong time before, a mistake he wouldn't repeat. He returned to his dream in the unlocked glass prison. One day, he and Betty would defeat those aliens, they would return things to they way they were supposed to be. They would eventually stop being allies and be rivals, picking up where they left off. One day...

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Planet 02: Sometimes

Sometimes you want to follow the moment, set your heart be free and let your body move on its own. Sometimes a writer doesn't think of where the story is going but simply lets it flow. Sometimes, like right now, except this isn't a fictional world being traced by my hands. We are not characters guided by someone else, someone who may or may not know where we're going. We're people, real living people.

I am Atomic Betty in many places sometimes, and sometimes simply Betty on Earth. Sometimes I think about my decisions, when I think such thoughts are necessary. Sometimes I let myself go and my subconscious takes over, then I act on my own, on instinct with reactions faster than what most would expect from a human, though I'm not fully an earthling either. Sometimes I lose myself in the mist of a battle in outer space surrounded by deadly lasers and an even deadlier opponent. Something that happens but not right now, that already happened today.

Sometimes I look into the stars and wonder what secrets this universe holds. Sometimes I analyze such thoughts and wonder how can I know the secrets of the universe if I am yet to fully understand the secrets of those around me? Sometimes I think that maybe I don't even understand myself. Sometimes people say it's a part of growing up and maybe it is. I'm not a little girl anymore, nor am I a teenager. I'm a grown up woman just entering adulthood. Life turns complicated yet simple at the same time. Overwhelming emotions that deep down I know are truly mine. I explore new horizons and claim them as my adventures, my precious memories, mine.

Sometimes I look back at the past and think, what will that Betty say if she saw me now? The little Betty would be surprised to say the least. I wonder if that younger me would be happy to see what she turned into or if she expected something different of herself. Sometimes you can't understand certain things until you live them.

Sometimes things happen that make you happy. Those times are the times I hold dear. Like right now. The battle is over and then comes peace. It's always like this. No one knows how wonderfully predictable my life really is while staying unpredictable. It is a true irony that I don't know in what galaxy I'll be tomorrow, but I know it will all end up like this. At the end of the day I'll be watching the stars.

Sometimes I gaze upon the stars, so beautiful and free. I hear my name being called and then someone joins me. It's such a peaceful moment. Even if my heart longs for the excitement of my life as a Galactic Guardian every day, sometimes at night it wants calm peace.

Sometimes just being close is enough. Sometimes the simplest moment is recorded as a precious memory. Sometimes a lot can be said without words. Just that look in someone's eyes when that someone looks at me. It's as if telling me what words can't say. I know, I understand.

Sometimes certain things must be done. Sometimes they are left in the past and sometimes they are always remembered. Sometimes, some forget while others keep the events fresh in their minds for better or worse.

Sometimes there are moments when we can almost see another's soul. That is when all defenses are dropped and I am who I am and nothing more. Crystal clear, more than possible, some may think.

Time passes, slower and faster sometimes than others. Memories are formed. Sometimes they are remembered long after names are forgotten. Legends are sometimes, and sometimes they are true.

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Planet 03: A Moment of Freedom

"Minimus! Where are my cookies?" Maximus screamed impatiently as he tapped his foot waiting for the sidekick to show up.

Minimus poked his head into the room unsure if he should step inside and deliver the terrible news. "We don't have any cookies left your evilness."

"Is that all?" Maximus sounded surprisingly calm. Of course Minimus knew him better than that. He knew that the evil overlord would blow like a volcano any second. "Tell Bernadette to make some fast!"

Minimus gulped. Why, oh why did he get stuck with delivering the worse news? "No one has gone grocery shopping for a while and we ran out of ingredients."

That's all it took to send Maximus into a rage. He stomped his feet, yelled and screamed. He threw things, kicked Minimus and made a lot of noise in a massive temper tantrum.

Minimus crawled out of the room looking like he got into a fight with a dozen werepanthers. He made it to the kitchen with a lot of difficulty.

"Minimus there you are!" Bernadette spotted him after almost tripping over him. "Stop crawling around like that, it's ridiculous and unnecessary." She was obviously not in the best of moods since she had been lacking ingredients and had to make due with what she had. How dare they put limitations on her creative culinary genius? "I want you to go to the galactic supermarket," Bernadette handed Minimus a rolled up list.

Minimus slowly stood up. He was used to being kicked around and recovered quickly. He opened the list and the paper appeared to roll out endlessly around the large kitchen. "Are you sure you need all of this?"

“Of course, now off you go!" Bernadette literally kicked him out of the kitchen.

So it was decided, Minimus, sidekick of Maximus and resident punching bag of the evil lair was off to find cookies and ingredients. Bernadette might not want him to bring store bought cookies which she considered far inferior to her specially made cookies, but until she was done baking, something was needed to keep Maximus from throwing another temper tantrum.

Though he had a lot of work to do, the second Minimus stepped into a spaceship and left the lair he was happy. He liked it when he was sent out on errands by himself. This was his little moment of peace, quiet and freedom. But then if it lasted too long he would start to miss everyone at the lair, he was simply too accustomed to that life to let it go. Maybe being able to return was his true freedom after all.

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Planet 04: Delayed Information

Ah the joys of delayed information. You'd think that with the privilege of traveling in a space ship at the speed of light, instant communication should be no problem. Sometimes it wasn't, sometimes it was. Sometimes the one that was supposed to send the message forgot or procrastinated or it was simply somehow lost in the many twists and turns of intergalactic communications, perhaps chocked by spam in a near by satellite the vital message met its demise.

If he knew he would have acted right away, if he knew, which he didn't. Admiral Degill then faced an important decision, to send the message to the Galactic Council, keep to himself, or simply delay and distort the information. Unexpected difficulties were met, the message couldn't get there on time, things happened; that worked.

He would not say that their star guardian lost her bracelet and it ended up in the hands of her mother who was zapped into space convinced that she was dreaming and certain that the villain was the projection of her feline son in her subconscious, and thus nearly choked him with pet treats and sent him on a desperate retreat. That was too random, accidental, full of luck, yet it worked out.

Information would be delayed, distorted, transformed and interpreted. It would become what it needed to be, no more no less. What was one white lie to stop what could become an intergalactic panic wrapped in the ribbons of a ruined security reputation?

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Planet 05: Pink is Evil

After completing a successful mission Betty arrived home one evening. She strolled happily into her room after being out all day at college and then in space. The lights were off, which didn't take her by surprise. The surprise came when she turned the lights on, and a very nasty surprise it was.

"Oh. My. God." She dropped her books on the floor; they simply slipped out of her hands when her arms went limp. Then she screamed at the top of her lungs producing more sound waves then Infantor's cries and Maximus's evil laugh could produce put together. "Mother!"

Betty's mother happily skipped into the room. "Do you like it?" She asked enthusiastically. Betty could have strangled her for that.

The room was pink, very pink, ridiculously pink. Flowers were scattered about and the flowery wallpaper was the girliest and ugliest thing Betty saw in her life. She wanted to crash the Starcruiser into the room and tare the horrid flowery pink walls apart.

"You love it so much you're speechless! I'm so happy!" Her mother chirped. Then she skipped away off to baby Purrsey.

Betty twitched a little. It wasn't that she was speechless it was that the comments floating in her head begging to be spoken were nothing that should come out of a Galactic Guardian's mouth. She hurried out of the disgustingly pink room and locked herself in the bathroom where she took an icy cold shower to wash away the shock.

After her shower was done, Betty returned to the horrid room and tried to sleep until she concluded she could not sleep in the middle of such an overload of pink. "I don't care if college is within driving distance, first thing tomorrow I'm signing up for a dorm room."

Betty suddenly remembered her Galactic Guardian uniform and hated it because it was pink. "I don't have time for pink," the words slipped out before she could fully analyze them and she suddenly felt like there was a thick layer of irony in the air. She would have to ask X-5 to reprogram her bracelet first thing tomorrow too. Then finally when there wasn't a single hint of pink left in her uniform, she would feel as if something somewhere finally made sense.

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Planet 06: The Name of Things

"Minimus, bright me that thing!" Maximus' voice echoed all over the lair.

"Yes, your evilness," though he had in a split second unwillingly indirectly promised he would deliver the 'thing', truth be told, Minimus had no idea what the 'thing' was. He spotted the TV's remote control and decided that guess was as good as any. "Here you go, your evilness."

Maximus used the received item to hit Minimus over the head causing the batteries of the device to pop out from the impact as Minimus' head spun around. "Not this, that!"

How did Maximus expect Minimus to know what 'that' was? He wasn't even pointing at 'that' while he said it, so it really wasn't an improvement from 'thing'.

Minimus once again attempted to interpret the incomplete code language Maximus was speaking in. He picked up a video disk much smaller than those used on Earth, that one was only about an inch long from side to side. "Here it is," Minimus announced, hoping that he had brought the correct item that time.

Since the tiny disk was too small to effectively hit Minimus with, Maximus instead settled for kicking him. "Why can't you bring me what I want?" Bring it here!"

So now the mystery item was 'it'. The clues so far were 'thing', 'that' and 'it'. Minimus drew a blank. "Um... your evilness I'm not sure what you mean by 'thing', 'that' and 'it'. Could you tell me the specific name if the item you're talking about?" Minimus braced himself for an impact that didn't come.

Maximus paused in total silence then glared at Minimus. "It's all your fault, you took so long I forgot!" Then Minimus' head was sent spinning again.

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Planet 07: Of Nagging Parents and Their Endless Complaints

It was like their unofficial job and sons and daughters everywhere wondered if they got some sort of mysterious reward for being annoying. Some theorized that there was in fact a secret organization composed of only parents that wanted to bring ruin to their kids. But that sounded like one of those strange pre-contact planet shows that he told himself he would never watch but did anyway.

Nag, nag, nag, complain, complain, complain.

To him it was nothing but background noise, very annoying background noise. He wanted to yell at the top of his lungs "shut up!" And hit the other lynx on the head like he did Minimus, but that he knew would surely backfire. Because if Maximus dared to tell his nagging annoying, complaining and insufferable father to shut up, it would have an opposite effect as it did in all parents. Then he would find himself listening to his father's version of an unauthorized biography focusing on the early years of the son's life and things that he was certain he didn't remember ever taking place.

Nag, nag, nag, complain, complain, complain, ramble, rant, it had no end.

Two words floated in the mind of the super villain as his father rambled endlessly. Those words were 'head' and 'desk'. The two would meet repentantly if not for the fact that his desk was actually a high tech control panel capable of analyzing and summarizing any documents placed on it. The surface could be used as scanner, monitor, keyboard, drawing tablet and even a touch pad for videogames. Either way, hitting it with his head would do no good for the sensitive surface of the desk, nor would it do any good in relieving the headache he felt coming on.

"Are you listening to me, Maxi?"

Maximus paused. His brain felt numb from all the mindless chatter that had been forced into it, even if he tried his best to block it out. He found himself successful in that he had no idea what his father had said but the persistent background noise was enough to make his head go boom. This was not good for an evil genius or anyone else. "Are you done?"

His father looked displeased with the fact that Maximus had been obviously ignoring him. Well, his ranting was unimportant any way, at least for Maximus and anyone else with more than half a brain. Why did parents have to get so annoying? Oh, the lucky rare few who had parents that didn't annoy them or at least not often. How he, and so many others, longed to be one of those lucky few, but alas he was not.

While his father continued to endlessly rant about insignificant things that might as well have stopped existing long before the son came into existence, Maximus sent a distress a call. It was fake in some way, but very real if you looked at it from his point of view. That little traitor Minimus abandoned him to go hide somewhere so he wouldn't have to put up with his father's speech. Minimus would pay for his betrayal. For now what else could he do if not call someone, anyone, to come to his rescue?

He had called none other than Atomic Betty. With the pretense of a Galactic Guardian at an evil lair a battle would ensure. Maybe the old lynx would exhaust himself if his, as he said, 'lazy son' decided not to lend a hand fighting against the young redhead who was so full of energy, her hungry green friend and the golden colored robot.

Meanwhile on Earth, Betty was suffering a similar fate as her mother endlessly ranted. Worse yet, her father had done nothing but agree with her since he came home from his business trip. Betty had missed him but she certainly wouldn't have been looking forward to his return had she known that her parents would gang up on her like that. 'Someone blow up the planet please,' she thought bitterly. A terrible fate, giving Maximus the victory he for so long had wanted, to destroy her home planet, even that was better than the endless ranting she was being subjected to at the moment.

If they didn't shut up she would hit them with a paralyzing beam and have absolutely no guilt what so ever in her conscience about it, because this time they deserved to be knocked out for a few hours, or days, or whatever time it took for them to learn to give her some more breathing space. What was she waiting for? Enough was enough. She aimed her bracelet and "beep, beep, beep!" Thank goodness for evil! Duty called so now she had an even better excuse to introduce her parents to her newly acquired paralyzing beam and without wasting time she did.

"Sweet silence!" True that the bracelet was beeping like there's no tomorrow but at least the parental nagging was gone. Leaving her unconscious parents like statues, the red haired teenager answered the welcomed call of distresses not to find herself looking at a hologram of Admiral Degill, but rather a text message.

"Atomic Betty, I have something or other that you need to rescue or recover, etc. Get over here, now!" Soon after she was done reading the first message another text message came. "If you don't hurry I'll find and blow up your home planet, this is Maximus BTW." As she was about to call the Starcruiser a third message came. "Okay, the truth is my father won't STFU and I can't find a way to throw him out. He won't go away, do something!"

At that moment she felt bad for him. Poor evil villain having to put up with a nagging, complaining, ranting father. Determined to obliterate such a terrible injustice from the universe, Atomic Betty called the Starcruiser and her crew.

"Chief I'm so happy to see you! Mamoolah decided to really nag and complain at me today. It was so annoying that I almost lost my appetite." True that Sparky hasn't completely lost his appetite as that would surely signify the end of the world, but he had almost lost his appetite and that was certainly something to be surprised about.

"Though it is rare for me to say, I fully comprehend how you feel," X-5 agreed. "The main computer from the factory where I was made kept insisting that I run numerous unnecessary scans even if I already have and I am perfectly functional."

"Mamoolah was like that too. As if the universe would blow up just because want to do things my way and not hers," Sparky was visibly upset but seemed that his appetite was starting to return full force as his stomach grumbled and he reached over to a compartment next to the pilot's seat where he kept his emergency snacks.

"What is this? Nag at your kids until they're insane day? C'mon we have to save Maximus," Betty said.

"Save Maximus?" Sparky asked confused. "Isn't he the bad guy? And how come your bracelet keeps beeping?"

"It's Maximus sending me text messages. I guess he can't send a video or voice message without his father noticing." Betty turned the bracelet off. "His father is doing to him what our parents, and factory, did to us. I can't help it but to feel sorry for him." Her two companions nodded. No one deserved to be constantly nagged at, not even an evil villain.

At his lair, Maximus was beginning to panic. It seemed that Betty's bracelet was offline or out of range and he didn't have anything to make his father shut up on hand. Where's a flashy yet useful freeze ray when you need one?

Crash! "The Galactic Guardians are here!" Atomic Betty announced heroically.

Without a second to spare, Maximus bolted out of the room towards the location where the noises of battle were coming from. "What are you doing? Don't fight Betty, delay my father so I can escape." The evil minions looked at each other in confusion but obeyed none the less. "Don't get any ideas; I'm not giving up evil or anything I just want to do it my way."

"Don't worry we've all been in your shoes lately," Betty replied in a metaphorical sense.

But Sparky wasn't very good with metaphors. "We have? I don't remember that."

"I don't wear shoes but I do believe the captain was using a metaphor," X-5 pointed out.

"Never mind let's get out of here," Maximus insisted.

"Right, everybody in the Starcruiser," Betty called. The four boarded the ship and took off flying full speed.

"That'll teach Minimus to hide while father is complaining to me. Now he'll have to put up with it alone because since I'm gone, father will complain to him," Maximus laughed evilly at the cruel fate of his unfortunate sidekick.

"That's mean," Sparky said.

"He deserves it!" Maximus argued.

"What shall we do now? Technically I'm not sure if this qualifies as a mission anymore," X-5 indicated.

"Forget the technicalities, let's get some pizza!" Sparky cheered.

The other three shrugged and simultaneously agreed, "fine by me."

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Planet 08: Evil

Power, riches, fame, everything; it would all be his. Entire galaxies would be under his command. He had it all planned out, his masterpiece, the take over that would allow him to rule the universe. With this plan, Maximus IQ would become the supreme emperor of everything. All he needed was there; brilliantly illustrated in notebook paper in the shape of a little Maximus doodle surrounded by disproportioned circles representing the planets he would conquer. He would be the supreme emperor of it all, but first he needed to protect his genius brain from being fried by the evils of math and find a way to stop being the supreme emperor of sore tails.

He walked right out of the classroom like it was nobody's business, and it wasn't, super villains to be, did not belong in high school; in a pricey evil academy perhaps, but not in a common high school on Splatty. The torture method, however, was pure genius. Complicated math problems with monotonous explanations that completely lacked sense and logic, combined with rock hard seats, a sure way to torture both the body and mind.

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Planet 09: Bubblegum (Light NoahxPaloma)

After Betty ran out of the 'Madame Paloma' tent, Noah stayed for his psychic reading. Paloma moved her hands around her crystal ball which was actually a ball full of bubblegum but accidentally knocked it over. She tried to catch it but it was too late. The plastic ball fell, opening on impact and empting its contents on the ground. Dozens of brightly colored gumballs rolled all over the ground, decorating it in all the colors of the rainbow. Paloma stayed silent for a few seconds looking at the unexpected mess. "That wasn't supposed to happen," she jumped off her chair and began to pick up the gumballs.

"It happens to the best psychics," Noah helped pick up the gumballs and place them back in the transparent ball.

"Thanks for helping me pick them up." Paloma emptied her hands on the plastic ball that contained the bubblegum before. Then they secured the container in place to make sure it wouldn't fall and open again. "We missed one," Paloma noticed a red gumball sitting all by itself on the ground. She went to pick it up and at the same time Noah tried to do the same thing. Their hands touched leaving the gumball in his hand and hers around his. They looked into each other's eyes for a small moment before she smiled and let go of his hand, "keep it."

"Are you sure?" Noah asked. She had a lot of bubblegum in all the colors of the rainbow, yet he felt as if he had to say something to fill the silence and that was the only thing that came into his mind.

"Yes it's for you," Paloma replied. "Now let me finish your prediction..."

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Planet 10: Nose (BettyxSparky)

She wasn't sure where X-5 had gone but she knew he had purposely left her alone with Sparky. It took them long enough to tell each other how they felt, but so far there has been nothing beyond a shy kiss on the cheek. They watched as the two suns slowly disappeared in the horizon and two of the three moons started to become visible in the sky. The sky was changing from a light purple to a deep purple now. They smiled at each other as if trying to guess what the other was thinking while they sat in a park bench enjoying each other's company.

That classic moment in which a couple in love looks into each other's eyes came and they slowly moved closer. However their eyes instantly opened when their noses touched. They both laughed a little at the odd moment. Betty gently pulled his hands as if indicating for him to stand up.

Sparky thought the moment had been ruined by his big nose and they were leaving the park. But Betty moved her head to the side while still sitting then kissed him on the lips from a different angle. Maybe his big nose didn't ruin the moment after all.

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Planet 11: Last Minute (MaximusxBetty)

"This is your fault Galactic Guardian," Maximus was trying to sound angry but sounded more scared than anything else.

Atomic Betty shook her head and helplessly tried to break free of the chains around them, but it proved useless. There was a glowing purple shield was encasing them in a bubble which provided oxygen, but its true purpose was to hold them in place keeping them from floating into space for the oversized missile to hit its targets, Atomic Betty and Maximus IQ.

It was the newest trend among the newbie super villains of the universe. They thought that if they could defeat the greatest Galactic Guardian and the greatest Super Villain both at the same time, then the universe would automatically be theirs. Most of the danger had been neutralized and the newbie super villain or as Maximus called him the 'n00b wannabe villain' was arrested. Now the only thing that had to be done was free Betty and Maximus before the missile that was fired right before the newbie gave up, hit them.

Seeing his doom rapidly coming at him, Maximus thought that if he was to leave this universe he might as well do it without secrets. As the missile approached full speed, thinking that he only had a few more seconds to live, he said the most dramatic and unexpected thing he could think of. "I love you Atomic Betty! I've loved you in secret for so long and I had to tell you before we die."

While Betty tried to take in this surprising piece of information, out of nowhere, the Starcruiser followed by Maximus's ship appeared. The ships extended two mechanical arms that grabbed the missile stopping it in place. Once the missile was completely stopped and the Starcruiser could carry it, Maximus's ship let it go, then Sparky emerged from the Starcruiser to free his captain.

Betty looked at Maximus as he took the space helmet Minimus brought him and put it on. "Maximus..."

"You heard nothing," Maximus interrupted.

"But you said," Betty tried to obtain an explanation.

"It was your imagination!" Maximus yelled.

"Whatever you say..." Atomic Betty headed back to her ship followed by a confused Sparky.

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Planet 12: Security Glitch

The marsian shifted uncomfortably in what was going to be his bed for the night. The couch was annoyingly small, it was long enough to fit him but it didn't have enough space to the sides. Sparky stared at the ceiling, he couldn't wait until morning. Someone, he didn't know who, had accidentally triggered the Galactic Guardians Head Quarters security system leaving him and his captain trapped inside that room.

Atomic Betty was currently staring at the ceiling on a couch next to him. At least they didn't get trapped in an area with nothing to rest on. Still they shouldn't have been trapped at all. This glitched security system had to be fixed. The last time Betty spoke to Admiral Degill a few hours ago, he said that it would be repaired immediately to stop something like this from happening again.

The security system would disable itself in a few more hours and until then they could only wait. Sparky wished he brought a snack, all that waiting made him hungry and he couldn't sleep with four empty stomachs. Even so, he tried to fall asleep reasoning that if he stayed awake the hunger would be worse. After staying still for what felt like an eternity with his eyes closed, Sparky finally fell asleep. He was in for a cold hard awakening not too long after, when he rolled over and fell on the cold hard floor. "Ow!"

"Sparky are you okay?" Betty hasn't been able to sleep at all so far.

"I'm okay, starving but otherwise alright," Sparky replied. "I don't think I can sleep here, I'll fall off."

Betty held a deck of earthlight cards, "I did say I would teach you to play Earth's poker one day, how about now?"

"Sure!" Maybe this wasn't so bad after all, Sparky thought.

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Planet 13: Apples (DylanxPaloma)

It was something so simple, only an apple. Well it was simple to him, but she had just tried it for the first time and to her it was a little piece of heaven to be savored.

"You really like it don't you?" He asked with a smile.

"I love it; I've never tried anything this delicious in my life." She paused maybe it was a little too much to say. It was just an apple and they were common on Earth.

"Really? You must have had apples before," Dylan was surprised.

Paloma could say there were no apples were she came from, but that would be weird. Even the places on Earth that didn't grow apples imported them. "I guess I never got around to trying them," it was a sad truth that she had missed out for so long. Between getting used to Earth and fitting in, which was actually easier than she thought once she got the hang of it, she didn't have time to try too many different things. Ironically she had tried a few rare dishes courtesy of Betty's mother when she went over to her house. But apples were just apples and no one made a big deal out of them, so they seemed to pass by unseen in her to do list.

"Apples are my favorite fruit," Dylan took another bite of his crunchy red apple.

Paloma smiled, the skies were clear, the weather was nice, the atmosphere was peaceful and there she was, away from the big city taking a walk, when she ran into Dylan, who happened to have some apples to snack on while he hiked. She bit her apple and savored its sweet taste. "It's my favorite now too."

He watched her sink her face into the apple, it was a bit amusing the way she ate them with constant small bites instead of taking a normal sized bite and stopping to chew.

"Is something wrong?" Paloma paused her eating, speaking against the apple. She lowered the fruit a few inches from her face, lips still damp with the natural juice.

Dylan looked amused at her curious stare. "There's... on your face..." The apple juice wasn't too noticeable but it could faintly be seen against the light of the sun if he looked closely.

"What is it?" She leaned a bit closer as if to give him a better view of whatever was on her face.

"Juice on your lips," ’sweet tempting lips,’ he mentally added.

She licked the juice off completely innocently. "Is it gone?"

Simply irresistible, he leaned forward slowly and she didn't move back, so he assumed she was okay with this. Then he kissed her taking her a bit by surprise. "Sorry I..." He looked away wondering if she would be upset that he kissed her with little warning.

But she wasn't upset, instead she smiles. "You really like apples."

xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox

Planet 14: Bee (DylanxPaloma)

The yellow and black stripped bug had been stalking him the entire time and it just wouldn't leave him alone. So far the annoying bee had made no attempts to sting him, or at least if it did, he reacted fast enough to stop it. However, the bug kept trying to use him for a ride sitting on his head or shoulder, the last drop was attempting to ride on his nose. "Go away!" Focused on the bee he didn't notice the girl standing right behind him.

"Here I thought we were friends," Paloma was amused by the boy's predicament and knew he was talking to the bee and not her.

"Sorry Paloma, this annoying bee has been stalking me all day," Dylan waved the irritating bee away. It was too fast to be smashed, which is something he normally wouldn't do, since he happened to like animals and that included bees, plus honey was good. But still, maybe this one bee deserved to be smashed.

"Aw, she likes you, how sweet!" Paloma truly was amused by this, though she wondered why the bee was following Dylan around.

"Just wait till a bee gets a crush on you and it won't be sweet to be followed by a swarm," Dylan joked.

"Wait, a swarm? I thought it was just one bee stalking you." Silence grew as Paloma caught the compliment Dylan didn't even notice he had given; then they both laughed. "Come here bee," Paloma extended her hand and to Dylan's surprise the small insect answered to her call by landing on her finger. She then made a buzzing sound which Dylan assumed was all part of the joke.

"What's the bee saying?" He jokingly asked.

"She says that she's lost and decided to find someone to follow in hopes of being led back home. She chose you because you looked familiar to her," Paloma said.

Dylan played along without realizing that it was all in fact true. "It must be one of the bees that live in the tree in my backyard."

"Then you should take her back home," Paloma advised.

"Only if you come along since you get along so well with her," Dylan decided that any excuse was good to have the girl he liked come over.

Paloma saluted like she did when receiving a call from the Galactic Guardians, which she had later joined. "Don't worry, I'll be your bodyguard and protect you from this harmless little bee!"

"Very funny."

After arriving at Dylan’s house, Paloma handed him the bee. He was taken by surprise when she had requested his hand then gently placed the bee on it. It didn't sting him and for that he was thankful. He liked animals and all, but Paloma truly had a way with them.

"Go on, put her back home," Paloma suggested.

Dylan lifted the bee towards to hive on the tree and it flew around it and went inside. “Sometimes I wonder how you get along with animals so well."

"It's a secret" Paloma replied with a mysterious, sweet smile.

xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox

Planet 15: Unusual Occurrence (AU)

The red haired teenager shifted uncomfortably in her bed. She had been trying to go to sleep for some time now, but her attempts to visit slumber land had proved useless. Maybe she just wasn't tired tonight or maybe the night felt wasted on sleep.

Her parents were away and this time she was not forced to stay at Penelope, Sarah or Megan's house for the weekend. She was old enough to be trusted to stay in the house alone. Any other teenager might have thought of throwing a party in her parent's absence, but Betty's parents trusted her to behave well.

She was left with the task of caring for her younger brother, a cat named Sir Purrsefus, who had been her only company that Saturday. Ever the space case, Betty didn't have many friends. She spent her days dreaming about life in outer space and things that could only fit in a science fiction movie, not in her dull boring world where aliens supposedly didn't exist.

She longed to fall sleep if only to have that dream once again. When she was small, she was convinced that her grandmother had taken her to visit a space station. She remembered very little about it due to her young age, but she had seen a fish, a little gold fish slightly smaller than Purrsey. He was dressed in a formal blue uniform, possibly high ranked in their organization. Her grandmother wore futuristic looking purple clothes, another uniform apparently.

There was an accident that time. An attack was launched upon the station. In seconds it was all chaos. Betty and her grandmother were safe, but Betty was never taken back to that place. She found out the hard way that saying such things was not a good idea. Her classmates made fun of her and her parents thought she needed psychological help. Although she never stopped believing aliens existed, Betty decided to keep quiet about her experience. Her grandmother would tell her that sometimes it was best to believe in silence.

Maybe it was that attack that changed the plans. Betty vaguely remembered her grandmother telling her about how she would become a hero in outer space one day. She didn't speak of that anymore. It seemed that whatever plans were made, had been cancelled, by who? Betty didn't know. Maybe it was done for her safety, but she wished it hasn't been that way. She dreamed of a world beyond the stars, regardless of how dangerous it may be.

Betty got up and walked around the dark house. She turned on the kitchen light and got a glass of milk in hopes of falling asleep. She has always believed that her dreams were memories reflected from her subconscious and that remembering held the key to many adventures.

As she headed back to her room she heard a noise from outside. "Purrsey?" Could he have snuck out again? Betty turned off the lights as her instinct warned her that she did not want to be seen. She quietly walked to the living room where she saw an open window. The soft moonlight outlined the figure of a cat going inside the house.

For a second Betty thought she was alarmed over nothing, yet she couldn't shake the feeling off. A second figure entered the house by the window. That one was much taller than Purrsey, obviously human, or was it? Her first thought was that it must be a thief.

She grabbed a hideous base her mother dared to call elegant and snuck up on the thief when he was distracted picking up Purrsey. With one hard hit to the head, the base shattered and the supposed thief was knocked unconscious.

Purrsey jumped out of his arms as the intruder fell on the floor, the cat landing on his feet. The earthling feline hissed angrily at Betty as if the stranger was his friend. Betty turned on the lights and wasn't too surprised to find that the one unconscious man on the floor was a cat-like humanoid. It was most likely a disguise after all.

She closed the window and dragged the cat person to the couch. He was definitely out cold and she wanted to see his real identity. She was surprised to find that there was no hidden zipper after all. That mask didn't feel like a mask. He was real feline alien, but how was that possible?

Maximus started to wake up when he felt someone poking at him, pulling on his ears and invading his personal space. He opened his eyes and focused his gaze on a red haired creature, apparently a human female, who pinning him firmly to the couch.

"Who are you?" The red haired girl asked.

That's when Maximus regretted running off. He had helped his father take over the galaxy years ago. He was only a young teenager back then and thought it would be fun. He never imagined how dull ruling the galaxy would be. He hardly had any time for fun always being plagued by his royal duties. Even more so since his father retired earlier than expected in need of a long vacation away from all that work. That left him with the title of Supreme Emperor and all the responsibilities that came with it. Maximus had only ruled for a few months and was already feeling the stress of his position. He needed a vacation.

Maximus had visited that pre-contact planet out of curiosity. He wondered if he could find a comfortable resort where no one knew who he was. Though he had grown up wanting attention, he was finally overloaded with it and it came to a point where he needed a break. For just a few days he needed to be anonymous, then he could enjoy all the attention when he went back. He never thought he would end up in this situation.

"I'm the ruler of this galaxy," Maximus truthfully replied.

Betty looked at him as if he was insane, but with hint of hope that he wasn't lying. It would be nice if she got to meet an alien, even more so if he was royalty. "Are you... real?" She poked at him some more.

"Stop that, of course I'm real. Are you trying to keep me prisoner for ransom? You'll be in big trouble!" He hissed.

"No that's not it," Betty released her hold on him. "But you know, people shouldn't enter other people's houses without permission."

"He wanted me to come," Maximus pointed at Purrsey, who was watching the scene with great interest.

Betty was unsure if this was a good moment to explain Purrsey's status as a pet, or if she should just leave things as they were. "I see, well then it's okay, but you really should knock on the door first. Then again, most people would panic if they saw a real alien."

"Panic? So this is 'that' kind of planet. I thought it was the kind that would worship aliens. I better go; I don't feel like dealing with a planet wide panic right now, that's so troublesome." Maximus knew this from experience, but Betty thought nothing about reading deeper into his statement.

"Wait, I want to come! I want to go into space. You can bring me back later, right?" Betty requested.

Maximus gave it some thought. "You can come," he decided.

"Meow!" Purrsey protested.

"You too," Maximus picked him up.

"Great!" Betty didn't know what she was getting herself into, but once she realized what was gong on things would get complicated. Maybe the lynx would end up regretting ever meeting the heroic girl with crimson hair...

End of Solar System I

Disclaimer, I do not own Atomic Betty. Planet 04 was requested by Barry. About Planet 05, in the theme song there's a line that says "don't have time for pink" yet ironically Betty's uniform is pink. Thanks to Barry for the idea for Planet 10. Planets 13 and 14 were requested by Neilhd. Planet 15 is an alternate universe.