M.I.A.
5:30 am
Taz sat up and grogily looked around. She wasn't in her room. It took her a minute to realize where she was. She looked next to her, and there he was. Up. Her best friend in the whole world. She must have fallen
asleep while watching The Karate Kid, the good one with Jackie Chan. They always did this before a mission. Taz was going back to Bug World, to retrive the spores that allowed Bug to become a human. They would be used to benefit the schience office on the ship, and Bug could get the body of the human that was the son of his body on bug world. It looked almost exactly like his old one. This human was frozen, and brain dead too, after a rare disease caused him to become, well, brain dead. "Oh." Up had woken up and was yawning, "Morning Taz." She smiled and got up to go leave, so she could prepare for the mission. She walked to her room and shut the door. Up got up and went over to the coffee pot and started to make coffee. He turned it on and waited, then heard a scream from next door, Taz's room. He also heard a lot of cussing in Spanish. "Taz!" He thought. He ran next door and typed in the passcode, then ran inside. Taz sat on the floor, screaming incoherently, clutching her thumb. " That hijo de puta toaster burned me!", she shouted. Up couldn't help but laugh. She punched him hard in the stomach. He left- knowing full well staying meant more punching.
When they met up at the Pod that was to take Taz, and a few Ensigns, to Bug World, they hugged breifley. " Goodbye Up", she said into his shoulder. " Bye Taz.", he whispered into her hair. It tickled his nose, and it smelled like her shampoo. He liked it. As she was boarding the ship, she realized that Bug wasn't there." Hey, where the hell is Bug?", she asked the nearest Ensign. " He is supposed to be accompanying us on this mission." " Sorry Taz, but Bug got human disease, and we didn't want him to infecting the bug population," said the Ensign. " Okay, but we will all die now.", she said jokingly.
Once they reached the Bug Planet,they unloaded their zappers and the rest of their equiptment. Then they headed to Pincer's old hole, by following the old trail of human bones. "Thank dead god he's dead", Taz thought to herself. " Sigueme." Taz said, as they entered the pit. Then they saw it, the glowing blue spore. Taz had just grabbed a few, whe she screamed " Ah, what the hell!" She looked down, and there was a little scorpion, no bigger than he tiny hand, had stung her. " That cucaracha Pincer had little baby bugs!" She looked down and there were million of them, making their way twords the squad of rangers. " Run. I will mislead these damn bugs.", Taz shouted. She ran further and further into the cave/hole. She noticed the scorpions were getting bigger and bigger, untill she reached ones almost as big as their Papa, Pincer. She was firing everywhere whth her zapper. One that was as big as a puppy, stung her in the leg. She continued to fight, venom coursing through her veins. " Ah, you hijo de putas, get off ME NOW!" She turned to zap them, but one big one caught her off guard and stung her in the stomach. " Oh ow!", she screamed. She managed to kill it and continued running. She got stung many more times in the legs and arms, but she kept fighting. Finally, they were all dead. She ran out of the cave, to somewhere out of what she belived to be the hive Bug talked about. Just as she was starting to loose consciousness, she saw something pink and fuzzy. Then she tripped and fell, hitting her head hard on a rock. She couldn't stop thinking she had seen it before. She heard some clicking and other weird bug noises, She realized that she way laying next to the skeleton of that cabron Hunior. She was so disgusted and weary that she blacked out.
Roach had seen everything. He had gone to Pincers lair to find something that reminds him of Bug, like his egg planting apron. He heard something familiar, but he couldn't put his claw on it. " What was it that Bug called it.", he thought to himself. Hermana, hemamba, hermoingo-oingo boingo, hermononueclosis? " No all of those are wrong." he thought to him self. " I got it" he said, "Zapper fire!" He went up the cave paths, and got thee just in time to see a small black haired hu-man fall. He had seen her before. She was a friend of Bugs, the one with the temper. He cautiously moved forward, and saw she was hurt. She had the spores that Bug had used to become hu-man. He decided it was crazy, but he was gonna give it a shot. He carefully slipped one onto her head, minding the gash in her left temple, that was oozing blood. Then he slipped one on past his antenne. " Um hello? Are you ok?", was all he said at first. The tiny hu-man started to stir, causing Roach to jump back." Where the hell am I?" she asked. She fluttered her eyed open, and saw a little pink bug, sitting on a rock a few feet away. She knew him from somewhere. " Oh yeah, jou are one of Bugs friends right." " Um yeah. Who are you?", Roach replied. She sat up shakily,and then fell back down. She looked down and she was covered in blood. Just before she blacked out from another wave of pain, she managed to say " My name is Lieutenant Taz". The she was gone again.
Up waited anxiously to hear from Taz. He had a video chat set up so they could talk. He heard a knock on door and went over. When he opened it he saw a very flustered Tootsie Megagirl." Whats wrong Tootsie, are you ok?", he asked. Tootsie just said, " Commander Up, you've got to come see this!" Tootsie grabbed his hand and ran down the hall. He was strong for someone who IQ was only half a point above Februarys. They reached the end of the hall, at Krayonders room . " Tootsie whats wrong?", he shouted for the third time now. They walked in, and Krayonder, Specs, February and Megagirl were all standing there." People I demand to know whats going on this instant!", he yelled."Well", said February, " Krayonder stole a lette to the Ambassador!", she screamed, pointing her finger at him." Did not!" Krayonder screamed back." I was asked to deliver this letter to the Ambassador, and I could see a little bit of the letter. I saw a name I recognized, so I opened it." Up looked astounded." Ensign Krayonder you had no bussiness opening that which wasn't yours!" he shouted." But Commander, the name on the letter. It was Taz's." Up looked at him and he knew something was up. Krayonder looked so upset." Give me that letter, and that's an order." Up said forcefully. Krayonder responded, "Dude, that's a way bad idea!" " Give it to me now Ensign or you will loose your job!" he replied. "Okay, but sit down first." Up reluctantly agreed. Krayonder read aloud " To the Ambassador. Earlier today we recived reports from the pod that was sent to Bug World. They have left the planet and are returning." " Taz is coming home!"Up said excitedly. "Let me finish." Said Krayonder. " We got the spores, but we were attacked. Lieutenant Taz fought the bugs off, but recived fatal, venomous wounds, and staggered off. We had to return to the pod withou her, due to fatal wounds. One dead. He had sufferd far less wounds than the Lieutenant. She is belived dead. The pod will be docking-." That was as far as he got before Up had completley lost it." No deadgoddamit, she cant be dead, she just cant! Why did they leave her!" Up started to get up, probably to go break into the Ambassadors office and give him a piece of his mind, but Krayonder stopped him." GET OUT OF MY WAY!" screamed Up." No, we cant have you running around the ship hurting nobody", said Tootsie." Im real sorry sir." Up still continued to scream, so they had to pin him to the bed. It took Krayonder sitting on his chest and Tootsie holding his arms down to get him to stop trying to kill someone, possibly Krayonder. Suddenly, he broke down in tears. Through his sobs, they heard him say, " Are they even sending a rescue mission?" "Yes but you humans will not be permitted to go. If we are to encounter her mangled body, there is a 75% chance you would go insane. I will be going on this mission. With all accounts of injuries and a sample of the venom, she has a 12% chance of survival.", Megagirl said in her monotone, emotionless voice. This just made Up cry harder. Tootsie and Krayonder let him up, and February sat next to him and patted his shoulder saying that everything will be ok. Taz is strong. Im sure shes alive.
Taz woke up somewhere familiar. A Starship. "Oh" she thought, " I am home, back on de es Starship". But she looked around some more and that was not the case. She was still on Bug world, in Bugs crashed Starship. She saw the little pink bug again and thought, "Oh he must have saved me"." Um, hello" she said. It looked down and said," Oh good youre awake. Im Roach, Bugs friend. You're Lieutenant Taz, from what you told me yesterday."She had been out for more than a day." I brought you here, because I thought it would feel like home. I know it felt like home to Bug."He looked solemly at the there was silence. Taz broke it. " Hey, thank jou for saving me back there." She looked down and saw her hand, leg, stomach, and arms were almst completley wrapped in some kind of bandage." What the hell!", she said." Oh" said Roach, "You were bleeding, so I wrapped you in the most absorbant material I could find, spider silk." " Thanks", said Taz. She tried to get up, but a wrenching pain in her stomach stopped her. She realized she hadnt eaten since the day before yesterday. " Theres probably no food on this estupido ship is there?""Um I don't know let me check", said Roach. He searched the ship and came upon a pouch full of something. It smelled ok, so he took it to her."Beans", she said. She inspected it, declared it edible, and ate the whole pouch in less than a minute. It made her feel a tiny bit better." Well now I guess ill just wait here to die", she said. She looked at the marks under the silk. These would definitley become infected, and without medicine, the venom would spread and she would die. She sighed and thought about all the things shewas gonna miss. The Karate Kid, the good one with Jackie Chan, Being a Starship ranger, the smell of Ups shampoo. Up. Just thinking about him made tears well up in her eyes, but she blinked them back.. Roach looked at her and said, " Its okay to cry. I do it when I miss Bug. We were BFFL' he's up there somewhere in space", he said pointing up. Even though she belived him, she wasn't going to cry. She was the toughest son of a bitch ranger there had ever been. She went back to thinking about things she will miss. She would miss Bug, Specs and even that candy-ass Krayonder, and the schience idiot February, but she sure as hell wasn't going to miss Megagirl. She thought of Tootsie, and that stupid smile of his, and Up's blue eyes. She loved his blue eyes more than anything. That's exactly what she thought about as she fell peacefully asleep.
Krayonder and Tootsie decided to stay the night with Up. The rescue mission was in the morning, and they couldn't have him sneaking off to join them. It would be heavily guarded, but if he had the chance, he would find a way to get on. Krayonder suggested they see a movie, like the Karate Kid. It just made Up cry harder. It reminded him too much of her. girl who was his best friend, who fought alongside him, and had a not-so-secret-anymore crush on. He couldn't stand to think she was dead. She couldn't be. She was a fighter, she would make it. She had survived those damn bugs once, she could do it again. It was getting late, so they went to bed, except Tootsie, who was on watch, so Up didn't get out. Halfway through Krayonders shift, he looked sleepily at the clock. It read 5:45. There was no way Up would make it to the pod in less than 15 minutes. So Krayonder curled up on the couch next to Tootsie, and fell asleep. At Krayonders first snore, Up jumped out of bed and ran out the door and down the hall. He hadnt slept at all. He wore his uniform to bed, so he was prepared. He had a zapper hidden in his was gonna get to Taz. Once he reached the pod, it was shutting the door. He ran twords it, almost getting stopped by the guards. The took out his zapper and shot them both in the ankle, as to not inflict much pain. He jumped, just reaching the closing door. He hung for about 10 seconds, before he dropped. He fell about 20ft, and landed on the ground. The last few things he saw, through his dizzy, unfocused eyes were the ship taking off, and a hand with a needle moving in on his arm. They had had to sedate him, to keep him from hurting himself and others more than he already had. He was lifted up and taken back to his room. Then they locked it from the outside, and planned to keep it that way untill nessesary. They removed the weapons from the room, and left Ensigns Krayonder and Tootsie Megagirl, who volunteered to stay with Up in the locked room.
When Up came to, he was lying in his own bed, with a sharp pain in his arm. He looked and saw the bruise where the needle had punctured his arm. He looked and saw Tootsie and Krayonder eating dinner. He had been asleep for over 13 hours. He suddenly remembered all that had happened, and he started crying. Tootsie came over and said it would all be okay, and that he would be cryin to if it were megagirl stranded on some strange alien planet, all alone. Up just continued to cry. Krayonder came over and gave him some coffee. Everything reminded him of her. This was her mug for when she came over. The coffee was black. That was how Taz drank hers. He just sat there crying. He heard Krayonder whisper something like "softie". He stood up, spilling the coffee screaming, "You wanna die Krayonder!" He took the kid in surprise with a headlock from the back. The he looked down and saw all the scars on his back from the countless times Taz had stabbed him. He let go of Krayonder, who came up gasping for air. Up just went back to his bed, and lied facedown, emotionless, doing absolutley nothing. Krayonder was right. He had gone soft. He could smell her on the sheets. It still smelled like his favorite person in the world. He was vaguley aware that Tootsie was patting his back. He could still hear Krayonder coughing in the smiled. Taz would have loved that.
The next time Taz woke up, Roach was not there.. It was getting worse. The venom was spreading, and fast. She would be dead within a day, and she didn't doubt that. She heard something mechanical sounding, and just figured it was the old creaking ship. It got closer and closer. She saw a shiny white figure, and know she must be hallucinating. It was the one person she wasn't going to miss. Megagirl."Get that estupido light out of my eyes you piece of shit." , she said. That damned robot was in her hallucination. Not wanting to see anymore, she shut her eyes and went to sleep.
Megagirl are the rest of the rescue team had arrive just ten minutes beforehand, Roach had hear the strange noises and went out. He saw the Starship Rangers and immidiatley flew over to the."Help, help over here!", he shouted. Then he remembered that they couldn't understand him. He tried to remember what Bug had taught him in hu-man language. He mustered up all his strength and said the one word he remembered."Hi". The rangers and the robot stopped and stared."Remember" said Lieutenant Richter,"This is one of the non-hostile has a name,because from Ranger Bugs description,this is Roach. The small bug then held out a spore he had taken off the girl. The Rangers immidiatley recognized it. It would allow the bug to communicate with them. Then Ensign Walker came over and very slowly and cautiously, and put the spore on his head. At that moment exactly, the bug started screaming,"Oh, thank are Starship Rangers right?"The Ensign nodded in complete awe."Come with me, and hurry. I think shes going to die." He knew what he meant by she. He had seen the Lieutenant, and knew what was wrong and where she was." Follow me team. He has seen the Lieutenant. Megagirl strode in front, makinf it to the crashed Starship first." Human life form, detected. It is the Lieutenant.",said Megagirl to the rest of the team. She scanned over her body, and yes, the Lieutenant was in fact, dying. She shined the light in her eyes."Get that estupido light out of my eyes you piece of shit."she said. Yes this was most definitley the Lieutenant."She has a 6% chance of survival." Then the rest of the team came in just in time to see their ferasome, firey Lieutenant, slump over,unconscious. Lieutenant Richter picked up the unconscious girl, got out his radio, and told them to ready the ship, and get a medic. Lieutenant Taz was alive.
As soon as the news that Taz was alive reached Februarys ears, she screeched in delight, waking Bug, who was lying next to her in bed. He had just been discharged the previous day. "Ohmideadgod February, sweetie, please shut the hell up."He was pretty annoyed. Not untill this morning had he been informed that Taz, one of the Rangers he most looked up too, was probably dead."But Bug, Taz is pod will be here this afternoon. We have to go tell Up!",she yelled."Come on!" They ran down the hall to Up's room. February knocked on the door really hard."Tootsie, Krayonder open up,NOW!" Not wanting to make the blonde schience idiot upset, Krayonder reluctantly got out of bed." Feb, its 2 in the morning, what the hell do you want." She whispered it in his ear, and he dropped the coffee he had been holding. "Really! Oh deadgod Commander Up WAKE UP.""No" said Tootsie," He's sleepin'"."But Tootsie,"he said, then running over and whispering the news in his ear."Well yippie! Commander Up get up now.", Tootsie screamed excitley. He was excited that Taz was coming back, but also because he missed Megagirl. He sure was lonley without her. He knew how Up felt. Up got up and looked around. February was standing in the door, grinning ear to ear, with Bug, who looked both excited and sleepy at the same time. Kryonder was standing next to Tootsie, both with the stupidest smiles you've ever seen in your life. Up just about cracked up." Whats going on?" he asked. February came over,sat next to him, and said the four words he thought he'd never hear again. " Taz is coming home!"
They all stood in anticipation at the Pod docking station. The pod was due back any minute. They said she would be bad, but saveable. Just the Tootsie looked up and said,"Look!" The pod was coming down, real fast now. Once it docked, Up couldn't tell wether he was excited or scared. Excited because she was coming back, but scared at what he might see. They didn't give full detail of he injuries, just that it was bad. The doors opened, and Up looked inside. He immidiatley had to step out of the way, as a gurney was being pushed past. He couldn't see, but he knew it was her. He rushed into the sick bay and saw the most horrific thing in his life. Taz was all green, with ghastly cuts on her head, arms, legs, hand and stomach. She was definitley lucky to still be alive. She wouldn't have lasted another day on that planet. She was being lifted out of the she was beginning to regain conciouscness,"Up" was the only she said. He rushed over and grabbed her tiny little hand in his." Los escorpiones maldito me pico, Up." was all she got out before slipping under." I know Taz, I know."
When Taz came to, she felt really sore, and weak. The first thing she saw were Up's beautiful blue eyes, looking back at her."Look she's waking up." he began to sit up, but he pushed her back down ever so gentley."Oh no you don't. Doctors got to stay in bed for a while." She looked absoloutley disgusted." No, I don't want to stay here". Then the doctor walked in, checking her charts and asking her how she felt." Wonderful, I feel great. Can I go now?" Up looked at her sternly, with a playful gleam in his eye." Taz, no sarcasm around the doctor.""Fine,"she said, looking the doctor left , he permitted her friends to come in. She got a stupid smile from Tootsie, the one that she was gonna miss, where his face got all scrunched up. She laughed. Krayonder made a stupid remark, and she threatned to stab him. "Good to have ya back Taz," he said when he left." Tazzie, I cant belive your okay. We seriously need to give you a make over. No offense, but your face is really messed up". " Thanks February,"she said. Once they had all left, she and Up were alone once more."Oh Taz, I really missed you," he said finally."I miss jou too Up."
The following week, Taz was relaesed from the sick bay, but ordered to stay in bed for another week or so. Every day Up would come in, and they would sit and laugh, like old times. They watched the Karate Kid, and when Taz was let out of what she called " bed arrest", she and Up would fight like old times. They would eat lunch together, and Taz would stab Krayonder, and Up would laugh. Everything became normal once more, except for one thing. Now every time Taz saw Megagirl, she didn't always want to kill her, she just looked away and just kept walking. She had grown to appreciate that hunk of metal. She did try to thank her once, but Megagirl just went on and on about how it wasn't a correct statement, but Taz didn't listen. She was just glad she didn't have to worry about that damn robot showing up in her dreams anymore, trying to kill her. Everything was at peace in the world of these Starship Rangers. For now.