Speech Legend:

"Human Speech/Cybertronian Speech"

"Spirits Speech/Communications Line"

'Thoughts'

"Inhuman/Non-Cybertronian Creatures/Intense screams or yelling"

Prologue: The Crow and the Worm.

Every City has a will.

Every City has will that flows through it like the soul flows through the body. No matter how small or large, how many reside in it, or even how it is viewed by the world, each and every one has a will of its own.

Inside these cities are two kind of residents, the living humans and the spirits known as Yōkai. These two beings are connected on a level that is nearly impossible to notice. But one thing remains certain, if one of these two sides are threatened, the other is as well and if one of them is destroyed...the other shall follow them into oblivion.

When a city is threatened and its people, both spiritual and human are in danger this will is manifested. Born by one that cares for the well being of the city and the beings that reside within it, a powerful guardian is brought forth to protect and defend them all in the name of the will of the city.

Those who threaten this city shall be judged and dealt with by this guardian. For all that reside in the city are just like the city itself are under its protection.

All those who go against the city...beware the crow that hides in the darkness, for it will be your judge, jury, and executioner.

Jasper, Nevada. A relatively small town located in the United States of America.

Its a quite place to most who pass through it. There is no massive skyscrapers that drew businesses in or major tourist attractions to attract large numbers of people to the city. All in all, Jasper seemed like just one of those small cities that people had the displeasure of passing through while on the road. In retrospect...this place could possibly be one of the dullest places on the face of the earth.

Well, at least that what Arcee's partner Cliffjumper thought of the place.

It had been a few years since these Autonomous Robotic Organisms had come to the planet humanity had dubbed Earth. These machines known as Cybertronians had been originally from a far off planet called Cybertron.

For countless years this species of highly advanced beings lived in a time of peace, but that was until a great war was unleashed upon the planet. This mighty race had split into two waring factions and raged war on each other ever since. One side was the peaceful and heroic Autobots and the other was the destructive faction known as the Decepticons. The war between these two factions continued to fight against each other for hundreds of years...a war that eventually consumed their world to the very core.

Eventually the endless fighting rendered the once proud world to nothing but a lifeless husk, incapable of supporting life of any kind. So at the danger of their own demise on a planet that they could no longer thrive on, both factions fled their home world and searched for a new home for their race. It was unfortunate then that both of these factions came across Earth. A place that was rich with the lifeblood of the Cybertronians called Energon, the Earth found itself as a hot spot for both factions in this ongoing war.

Making contact with the human race, the Autobots worked in secret to protect this innocent race from the same destructive force that helped cause the downfall of Cybertron. Aliened with the United States government, the Autobots were given a base of their very own in order to organize their efforts against the Decepticon threat. This base was located just outside the small town of Jasper, where the Autobots had to frequently patrol in order to protect its citizens from any potential threats.

That was exactly what a certain female warrior from Cybertron was doing and in her opinion...

Yeah, Cliff was right...this place was boring.

It had been quite some time since the last Decepticon sighting and patrolling the streets of the city at night in vehicle mode could only do so much. Arcee knew that she couldn't make herself known to the humans, but with the others back at the base doing much more entertaining things and no humans on the street made for one boring night.

'Slag...why did I get stuck with this tonight?' Arcee thought to herself.

Pushing her boredom out of her thoughts for the moment, Arcee got back to the matter at hand. The sooner she got done with her sweep of the city then the sooner she could get back and take a nice long power-down for the rest of the night. Twisting her vehicle form around an upcoming corner in the road, Arcee prepared to make one last pass through the town before heading back. As long as nothing showed up then she was home fre-

"AAAAAHHH!"

Arcee's tires slammed to a halt the moment her audio receptors heard that scream. Using her scanners to track the source of the sound, Arcee sighed one last time before turning her vehicle form's tires and heading in the right direction.

'Why is it always on the last run through?'

Muttering a curse, Arcee quickly sped off the investigate. While her main duty was to look out for any Decepticon activity, Arcee couldn't just ignore someone in trouble. She might not hold the humans in as high a regard as the other Autobots but Arcee would still protect them with all her spark. Driving for what seemed to be a few seconds, Arcee soon came a cross what seemed to be the source of that shout. Making sure that she kept her hologram 'Sadie' active in case any humans were near by, the Autobot slowly inched herself toward the area.

Turns out that the scream had originated from a alleyway, a cold dank one that near the edge of town. Arcee hated going down places like this, to cramped in her opinion. Making her hologram look down the alleyway, Arcee's optics were disturbed by the sight she saw.

At the far end of the alleyway was two figures. The one closest to her was a fairly tall human and according to her optics this human was a male with very a attire that looked like in belonged in the 'biker' category of clothing. The male had his back to her so Arcee could not get a accurate description of his facial structure, but that did not stop her from seeing the other figure that laid at his feet.

This figure seemed to be the equivalent of female human or at least what was left of one. While an experienced solider of war that claimed far too many friends and allies Arcee was unnerved at the sight of the second human's condition.

She was quite used to the sight of Megatron's soldiers being torn apart from blaster fire and even her own arm blades but humans were too...unsettling. When a Cybertronian is killed, its mostly metallic parts that are torn away along with Energon leaking out of them, humans on the other hand had a much more organic physical structure which resulted in a much messier result if their end wasn't pleasant.

And pleasant would be the last thing Arcee would describe when she saw the remains of the female. The body was practically split in two at the mid section, all the internal organs spilling out onto the concrete ground. The rest of the human's body wasn't in that much better condition as there were numerous cuts and slash marks all over her body (her processor counted around 47 in total) along with what appeared to be multiple broken bones. And if that wasn't enough then the sheer among of Blood covering the alley sure was. There was tons of it and it covered not only the body but the ground, the walls that made up the alley, and even the complete front of the male as well.

In all, it was sickening.

Making sure that her hologram was still up and running, Arcee called out to the male human in a hope to understand what the slag had happened. While openly showing herself would reveal themselves to the world, Arcee couldn't just leave and call the police...not after seeing that.

"Hey! Are you okay...what happened?" 'Sadie' called out, gaining the attention of the blood soaked man.

The man turned his head slightly (not enough for Arcee to get a good look at his face though) and looked at the motorcycle and its driver, "Oh its nothing, just a little accident. Nothing to concern yourself over." The man's voice held a bit of sick glee in the words he said, leaving Arcee to not buy a damn bit of it.

"Accident? Do really think I'll believe some slag like that after seeing this? Why are you acting so casual if this is some kind of accident!?" Arcee shot back before mentally cursing at herself for letting that bit of Cybertronian slang get out.

The man merely shrugged his shoulders, "I'm so calm because that's what this was, an accident. Now...if I was you I would just drive that little bike of yours home and forget all of this..."

If Arcee had eyebrows at the moment then she would have raised them, "Or what?"

The man let out a very dark chuckle at Arcee's response, "Or...you'll never leave here Alive!"

As if the grotesque remains of a female women wasn't enough, Arcee was utterly appalled with what happened next. The human who had been so calm and even happy with the bloody corpse at his feet started to change. It started with his spine as large metal spike suddenly erupted from the human's bones, ripping holes in the man's jacket and skin. This seemed to be a pattern as even more spikes started to emerge from other portions of the man's body such as his shoulders, arms, and even knees. Once these spikes had emerged the man's body began the next phase in his disgusting transformation.

The man's flesh started to rip as if something pushed against it. The jacket he wore fell to pieces as massive pipes and metallic plates erupted from the man's frame, steel replacing the flesh that make up a normal human's body. The same type of occurrence started to happen to the rest of the man's body as well. His arms becoming a mess of blades, gears, and other pointy objects. The legs that supported him turned into massive columns of steel and wire. And even the man's head, which had been out of view changed into a monstrous visage with one massive red eye at its center (which reminded Arcee of a cretin Decepticon scientist).

When the metamorphosis was complete Arcee stared in shock and even a bit of horror at what stood before her. Gone was the man and in his place a a massive monstrous creature of metal and steel. It was nothing like anything Arcee had seen before, no machine was like this, no Cybertronian could change like this even with their T-Cog. Whatever this thing was, it was neither human or Cybertronian but whatever it was...it looked hungry.

"AH...that's better, I always felt like stuffy while wearing that." The monster chuckled as it stretched its limbs, "I was going to let you leave if you simply ignored what happened here...but you had to press the issue didn't you?"

The monster broke out in a sickening laughter, "Oh well! The night is young and I could always go for another snack, so..."

With a speed that clearly looked odd for a creature of this size, the monster leaped into the air and dove at the Autobot with its claws at the ready, "COME HERE! AND DIE!"

Quickly spreading into reverse, Arcee dodged the monster just in time as its claws sunk into the ground she had been previously occupying. Enraged at being denied, the metal monster went into a frenzy and began randomly swinging at the Autobot's vehicle form. Still driving in reverse in order to avoid getting sliced up, Arcee quickly realized that she might have to risk transforming. There was no way she could fend off whatever this thing was while in her alternate mode and running off back to base was not an option.

This thing was what had killed that women in the alleyway and if she let it go then it would likely kill again before the night was over. No self respecting Autobot could allow such monster to go free and she would end this thing right her and now if she had to.

"STOP RUNNING DAMN IT! I JUST WANT A TASTE!" The creature wailed. Its distorted and insane voice was starting to get on Arcee's nerves at this point.

Quickly twisting her vehicle mode into the forward direction, Arcee drove as if Unicron itself was chasing her down. Quite fitting since the monster chasing her was likely far uglier then Unicron actually was.

Speeding off, Arcee soon speed off in the direction of a much more deserted portion of the city. That is one positive thing about a city like this, with far less people living in the city then it was much easier to find someone where no one would witness something that they really shouldn't.

Angling her mirrors behind her, Arcee was slightly relieved to see that the monster was still chasing her was still there. Why was she only slightly relieved? Well that was due to the fact that this thing was MUCH faster then the Autobot originally thought. Heck, the monster even changed his appearance again once it started to give chase. No longer was the creature chasing her a giant behemoth of spikes and metal but now it was more like a sleek creature of destruction. With the body in the similar shape as one of earth's resident creatures known as a feline, this monster ran at a speed that Arcee had to be wary of.

Still, the speedy Autobot was able to keep a fairly safe distance between herself and the monster chasing her until she reached her intended target. It was the industrial portion of the city which was more or less deserted at this time of night, so the Autobot wouldn't have to worry about any humans seeing her or being caught in the crossfire.

Make of hell of a sharp turn, Arcee sped into a fairly large industrial parking lot. One that was perfect for a brawl.

With the beast still sharp on her aft, Arcee decided that she had spent enough of this encounter running. It was about time to show whatever this thing was what exactly it was dealing with.

"Stop Running you BIT-" The monster snarled.

As the monster chased the motorcycle into the desolate parking lot, it noticed something odd. First it was the fact that the vehicle that it had been chasing was suddenly missing its driver, its as if she had just disappeared or something. Then the vehicle stopped abruptly and while balancing on its front wheel accidentally caused the monster to smack head first into the motorcycle's back wheel.

But that wasn't the oddest thing happened in the creature's opinion, that came next.

The blue motorcycle literally transformed into a tall cybernetic (and female) robot, who wasted no time in swinging her leg around and delivering one hell of kick to the monster's head which sent it flying into a nearby building.

Now in her primary form for combat, Arcee was ready for round two with this mechanical monster. Deploying her preferable weapons for dealing with something up close and personal, Arcee got into fighting stance and prepared for arm mounted blades for whatever was coming at her.

"Come on you sicking pile of slag! If you find the inhabitants of this world as easy prey, then lets see how much of a challenge I am!"

Digging itself out of the wall, the creature looked in curiosity at the female mech that was daring it to attack. Growling at the humiliation that it had just received and the mocking nature of her statement, the abomination was more then willing to meet her demands. Grabbing the concert ground with one arm and the top of the wall that it had been previously kicked through with the other, the monster's body began twisting in a way that could be compared to one of those spinning top toys.

Despite remaining on guard, Arcee was actually curious with what the creature was doing...at least she was until the creature suddenly came shooting towards her like a drill and harpoon combo.

Using her extensive reaction time and reflexes, the battle hardened Autobot quickly dodged out of the way of the spinning creature. Regaining her footing in a matter of mil-seconds, Arcee was able to catch a quick glance as the creature once again slammed into another wall due to its sheer momentum. But unlike last time, the creature imminently burst through the wall and aimed its sights once again on its prey.

This pattern quickly began to repeat itself as the trained Autobot dodged the creature's attacks while it continued to rebound off multiple responding surfaces it crashed into.

Arcee however quickly grew tired of this and with a small sidestep found a opening in the creature's attack. While the creature was spinning though the air with velocity that was more then enough to shred the femme if it got a direct hit on her, this state also left it vulnerable to attack. So when the creature came back around for another pass, Arcee took a small side step instead of leaping out of the wat and brought one of her blades up to strike the spinning machine.

The sound of metal against metal soon filled the area as the Autobot's blade collided with the monster's frame. This however was only part of Arcee's idea. Being distracted by the blade that was currently cutting into its side, the creature didn't notice Arcee bring her foot upward until it felt another powerful kick smack it right in the head.

Being knocked to the side by the Autobot's kick, the monster snarled as it lifted itself from the ground once more. Arcee couldn't help but smirk at the creature's misfortune, which only fueled the creature's rage even further.

"Oh you think that's funny bitch!? Well...how about you laugh at THIS!?" The monster mocked.

Lifting its spiky arms into the air, the creature suddenly slammed and forced its limbs deep into the concert. Arcee didn't see a real point in this until she noticed something under the ground...something that was heading right in her direction. Quickly jumping backwards, Arcee barley got out of the way as the creature's arms suddenly burst though the exact same spot she had been previously standing.

Somehow the creature's limbs had extended to a great length and burrowed their way through the Earth like a pair of snakes with an intent to catch the Autobot by surprise. In fact, the limbs continued to extend towards her even as she made a dodged out of the way and made their own attempt to grab the femme at the waist.

Arcee wouldn't be caught so easily however. Quickly transforming back into her alt mode, Arcee sped forward and while dodging the massive limbs she also quickly shortened the distance between her foe and herself. As the Autobot got into striking distance, Arcee transformed once more and delivered a devastating drop kick to the creature's face. Knocking the monster off balance and causing it to fall to the ground in a thud, Arcee took the opportunity to land on the monster's chest and switch her hands to their blaster setting.

"Well, that was funny but..." Arcee then shoved her blasters in her foe's face, "...lets see you get a chuckle out of my joke."

Wasting no time, Arcee then proceeded to blast the unholy slag out of the creature.

Duel blasters at the ready, the trigger happy Cybertronian let loose more then a few dozen blasts directly into the monster's metallic mug. This went on for a good while...at least until the creature decided that enough was enough. Despite currently getting shot in the face more times then Ratchet had his tools broken by one of Arcee's teammates, the machine monstrosity suddenly sprouted another set of arms from its shoulders.

These new arms were thin, metallic, and were shaped a bit like a skeleton's if it wasn't for the fact that the fingers were massive claws instead of normal thin digits. Seeing how its original limbs were in disposed at the moment, the monster's new ones took action imminently by reaching up and grabbing the Autobot by the throat and lifting her in the air.

Despite being honestly shocked by the new appendages sprouting from the monster's shoulders, this didn't stop Arcee from continuously blasting the monster in the face with her guns. Unfortunately though, as the creature slowly got back up on its feet and returned its original limbs to their original state...Arcee came to the conclusion that her weapons weren't doing all that much.

This was unfortunately confirmed when a sudden pressure around the Autobot's throat caused her to stop shooting, revealing that her countless number of blaster fire did a little less then cause some dents to appear on the creature's metallic head. Nothing more, nothing less.

The creature chuckled a bit before opening its mouth, revealing not a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth...but instead a mouth that looked quite closer to a garbage disposal instead.

"Well that tickled...but I wonder, what will you blood taste like little Missy?!" Arcee cursed and prepared to fire her basters right down the monster's throat. The monster didn't mind however and just leaned in closer. Nothing was going to interrupt his meal, nothing at al-

"1...2...3...4..." A new voice echoed through the empty parking lot, gaining the attention of both combatants.

The monster instantly grew concerned the moment he heard those words. Those words, that chant was burned into the mind of every single member of his race. It was the mark of death, the mark of the crow...but how? Why here?! This was the exact reason why he had moved to this pathetic little town! There can't be one of them here!...could there?!

"...5...6...7...8...9..."

"No...no, no, no...not here, anywhere but here..." The monster muttered. The creature was so concerned with the mysterious words that it didn't even notice its grip loosening. Arcee quickly took advantage of this and slipped though the clutches of the creature that had been constricting her movement. After kicking the monster once again in the chest (which resulting in knocking the monster back a few feet), Arcee began to search for the source of this weird chant as well (While of course keeping her blasters on the monster in front of her).

Hey, just because she wasn't scared out of her processor doesn't mean that she wasn't wondering on where the words were coming from.

"...it is 10. Sway to and fro, sway. Release!"

Just as the last word was muttered, a extremely bright light filled the night sky. Their eyes/optics quickly racing to the source of this light, both parties instantly came to stare at a intense spectral that was located atop of one the nearby buildings. The light proved to be far too intense for Arcee's optics, so the Autobot wasn't able to get a clear shot of what exactly was going on atop of the building. But despite that, she was able to see a very disturbed reaction from the monster she had previously been engaging.

Whatever was going on, this creature didn't like it one bit.

"Go Karas!"

The light soon gave way to darkness, leaving both individuals to gaze at what had taken its place. Arcee was surprised to see another figure standing in the exact same location. Whoever it was, it had the basic appearance of a human in both size and structure. The major difference however was what this human(?) was wearing. Instead of the modern clothes that the population of Jasper normally wore, this figure was instead wearing a set of armor with a sword attached to its back.

Checking her database, Arcee came to the conclusion that the armor bore Japanese/Chinese influences while also containing a completely foreign energy signature which could be seen by the glowing blue lines that flowed through the armor.

But her analysis was rudely cut short when the monster she had previously been fighting screamed out at the figure, its voice now filled with fear along with its anger.

"You! You Bloody Crow! THE Hell are you doing here!? Do you want to die as well?" The monster readied its claws, "BRING IT THEN, I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE LIKES OF YOU!"

The figure said nothing. Instead, the armored solider reached behind its head and unsheathed its sword, revealing a shining blade with a bright blue glow to it. Swinging the blade in a flashy yet intimidating fashion, the figure suddenly dove off the building and somehow began to run down the building's side. With a speed that could have matched Arcee's alt mode at its highest speed, the human armor made its way down the building's side and came rushing towards the two mechanical titans.

"Karas, Attack." A synthetic voice came from the figure, but underneath that cold voice Arcee could almost make out the tone of normal human. It almost sounded like it was from a young boy...

Being provoked by such a action, the monster roared in fury and started to repeatedly slam its arms into the ground. Steam suddenly started to erupt from every open crack in the creature's armor as it did this, the speed of its attacks increasing all the while. With one final punch into the ground, the monster released a shock wave into the earth, creating a wave of spikes form the earth itself towards the armored figure known as Karas.

This obstruction didn't seem to bother the new arrival though. The armored being just kept running at the monster with the same amount of speed as when it started. But when Karas' path became blocked by a newly formed row of spikes, it did something that made Arcee's processor hurt. With a flick of its wrist, the figure somehow propelled its sword into the air with such a force that it caused the blade to spin in the air like a buzz saw.

The sword flew though the air with such a speed and force that when it collided with one of the spikes...it cleaved it in half.

The sword somehow sliced its way though more then a dozen of these spikes before its master reclaimed it just as it reached the source of the spikes themselves. The monster cringed as the agent of death descended on him. Roaring in defiance, the monster tried to swipe at the suit of armor with all four of its arms but that only resulted in his claws meeting air. The armored figure ducked, dodged, and twisted its body through the monster's attempts to harm it before finally coming to a halt just a few feet away from the beast.

"STAND STILL AND DI-" Lifting one of its massive limbs into the air, the metal demon tried to crush its foe with one strong strike. But it was painfully disappointed when a single swipe from Karas' sword left the monster with one less hand and a lot less blood.

"Damn it!" The monster cursed in pain as bright green fluid spilled from its limb. Ignoring the missing appendage for the moment, the metal demon brought its other large arm around for another strike. This however never came to be as instead of simply waiting like before, Karas brought its own fist upward instead.

The creature grunted in pain as a small fist impacted its metallic ribs. It could feel the metal crack and fold into itself, the power of the blow outmatching anything the monster or even the Autobot had produced in their previous battle. Blood even started to leak from the creature's mouth, the strength of the blow was so forceful that it even knocked the creature off its feet and launched it into the air.

Time seemed to slow down at that point for nearly everyone involved except for Karas. The monster couldn't help but stare in utter fear as it realized what was happening, the trademark skill of these guardians. The manipulation of time itself. A truly powerful skill that could easily mean the end for anyone that stood against these warriors. Sure, the monster's species could also use this skill but it was far too late for anything like that in this duel.

It was staring into the eyes of death and there was very little he could do about it.

With everyone else moving in slow motion (even Arcee could just barley tell what was happening), the armored warrior made more then a dozen slices with his sword across the monster's midsection and cleaved the beast in half at least a dozen times in a blink of a eye.

Time once again resumed its natural flow just in time for the monster (who now could no longer feel his legs) to receive one more solid punch to its head. This one was centered on the creature's eye, resulting in not only a temporary loss of sight for this creature but also getting propelled high into the night's sky via a armored fist.

The creature's lower section of its body collapsed onto the ground as the upper portion flew through the sky, leaving a trail of green blood in its wake. Arcee just stood there in awe at what had just transpired before her. The utter annihilation of the monster that nearly put her in the scrap yard a few minutes earlier was just as much shock to the femme as the impossible skills of this armored figure were.

Speaking of which, it was at this moment that the armored figure turned towards the Autobot and stared at her. Arcee briefly considered getting into a fighting stance in case the figure had any violent intentions for her as well but that was tossed in the garbage when this figure actually gave a small nod. While the being before didn't say anything vocally, Arcee had enough experience with her scout friend Bumblebee to know that the nod was one out of gratitude. But why?

Was it some kind of thanks for luring this creature out of the populated portion of the city? Was it thanks for trying to take care of that thing herself? Or was it simply for the fact that Arcee didn't let that monster go free after seeing it gruesomely kill someone?

All these questions were left unanswered however as the femme felt something wet and organic fall on her face. Glancing upward, Arcee noticed that the upper half of the monster was starting to fall back down to earth, its blood raining down on the ground beneath it.

Karas noticed this as well. Resting his sword on one of his shoulders, the warrior used his free hand to briefly touch the handle of his blade with just two fingers. This imminently had a surprising result as the sword suddenly expanded in length and size, becoming a much larger blade with blue electrical lines running though it. Arcee also noticed that the the helmet's eyes had changed as well, becoming a much deeper blue.

While he was looking towards the sky Arcee noticed yet another change occur with the figure known as Karas. The shadow at his feet, the same one that was created by the moon's illuminating glow had started to change in shift. No longer in the shape of a man (or humanoid for that matter), the shadow now looked like a extremely large bird...almost as if it was a-

"-You Bloody Crow!-"

Suddenly remembering the monster's words from earlier, Arcee looked back just in time to see the armored figure vanish into the night sky. Turning her gaze towards the sky above, Arcee witnessed one more thing that would have seemed impossible to her if it was at least an hour ago.

With the full moon positioned directly behind him, the armored warrior began his final assault on the creature in his sights. Swinging his sword a speed that was normally unheard of, Karas started to carve the creature up like a thanksgiving turkey. Slicing and dicing with blade in hand, the monster somehow found itself constricted by the shadows that were generated from every swing Kara's sword had made. A chilling sensation came running up from what was left of the creature's spine as it stared up into the sky, the dread overwhelming it.

Directly above the creature was Karas, and with one final swing...the armored warrior sliced the creature in half right down the middle.

"AGHH!" With one final scream the monster split in half down the middle, ending its existence. The remaining half of the beast briefly fell through the sky before vanishing in a massive explosion of light, one that eradicated all that remained of the once terrifying monster of metal.

Flying through the cloud of smoke and landing on the creature's disembodied legs (which turned to dust on impact), the warrior swung his weapon one more time and flicked the remaining blood off his sword. Sheathing the blade, Karas then turned his attention back towards the other being involved in this situation.

Arcee...well, she had been pretty shocked at she had seen transpire. Still, she couldn't deny that it was as Bulkhead would say...Slagging Awesome!

Not that she would ever admit that out loud...

Seeing as the monster she had been previously engaged was now nothing but a bunch dust in the wind, Arcee considered the idea of approaching and communicating with whatever was in front of her. He had helped her at a very fortunate moment and even defeated a creature that deserved far worse of a fate then what it got.

Unfortunately before Arcee got a chance to even approach the armored figure time seemed to slow down once again. At a level that Arcee wasn't even aware of, Karas leaped into the sky and vanished within the walls of the city. When time had finally returned to normal, Arcee was surprised to see no trace of the armored solider. Looking around for a few moments, Arcee sighed in annoyance once she realized that all that remained from that battle between two unknown creatures was the destruction caused to the environment.

With a processor-ache developing, Arcee decided she had witnessed enough excitement for one night. Making sure no one else was in the area, Arcee quickly reverted to her alt mode. With her hologram back in online, Arcee began a long drive back to base. But on the way back the Autobot heard a very annoyed yet worried voice been transmitted to her communications receiver.

"Arcee?! whats you status? Answering this slagging thing or I'll make sure you'll regret the next time you find yourself on my bench!" The aggravated medic of Team Prime shouted over the Autobot's private channel. Apparently he had been trying to contact Arcee for a good while now, it appears that he hadn't been able to get a good signal since her battle with that monster began.

Sighing at the medic's threat, Arcee switched on her end of the network and tried to sound as calm as she could. "Yes Ratchet? Whats up?"

"Whats wrong!? I've been trying to contact you for the last hour or so! Where have you been!?"

If Arcee had a head right now then she would be shaking it, "Ratchet, you would not believe the night I've had..."

-KARAS-

Deep in the residential portion of Jasper rested dozens of families. Nearly all of these people lived fairly normal lives with their loved ones, which meant that they were completely unaware of the destructive battle that had just went down on the other side of the city. No, as they slept the people of this small town dreamed of things that went totally unrelated to the chaos that had just transpired. Things such as their daily lives and what would happen in a few hours when they woke up to began their daily routines.

But nearly didn't mean all of them.

In one of the many houses that populated the city lived a young boy. Living with his caring mother was a teen by the name of Jack Darby. Living their daily lives with just each other, Jack and his mother lived a fairly normal life. Having a daily life that consisted of a high school education and a average job at a local burger joint, Jack really couldn't complain all that much about his life during the day.

His nights were a whole other issue however.

Despite the night starting out fairly peaceful Jack quickly found himself being awoken by a nasty dream. This type of thing had been a fairly normal occurrence for the young boy in the past few months. He had never spoken of it to his mother, it wasn't something that he had wanted to bother her with due to how late she normally worked. Besides, despite her medical skills Jack knew that this was something she couldn't help him with.

How could she help him with something that was a part of his new job?

Thinking back to the 'dream' he had, Jack let out a bit of a groan. Resting his head on his pillow once more, Jack gently closed his eyes and attempted to get back to sleep. But it wasn't that easy...especially when a small white cat joined him on his bed, laying its furry head onto his chest. Releasing a tiny groan as the tiny creature snuggled into his chest, Jack couldn't help but think about his ever changing job...

"Great, now there are giant robots along with the monsters." Sighing to himself, Jack laid his head back down onto his bed. "When I thought about getting a second job...I didn't think that it would be something this odd."

-KARAS-

Story Related Notes:

This is a experiment for the most part. If people like it then I will continue it, if not then it will likely remain a one shot. We shall see where it goes from there.

The main idea for this story came from the KARAS OVAs (of course) and the multiple Jack related stories I have seen on this site. Now not to bash and of them (They ARE good stories I assure you), but honestly most stories end up turning him into a transformer or something similar to it (there are of course exceptions and I am not trying to lesson these stories at all). I simply wanted to try something different with a source that hasn't been used before in this fanon (at least on this site to my knowledge) and here we are.

As you can likely tell, this story is starting off before the first episode of the series. So Cliffjumper is still online, the Decepticons are still fairly silent, and none of the kids have meet with ANY of team Prime yet.

Yes, that cat is Yurine. She will be explained later. Same goes to how Jack is a Karas at all, but it won't be the same as Otoha's from the OVAS (in a coma, that will not be the case here). This also applies to the Yōkai, they will have appearances in the later chapters as well as well as a overall explanation for them.

There will be more Mikuras (the monster in this chapter) in later chapters, as you will get a explanation of what they are and why there are here (They had a more plot related role in the OVAs, but what else would Karas fight in this story besides Decepticons and MECH? Still, there is a reason why there are here in a town like Jasper). I am also willing to take suggestions for these guys, as there is can be varied designs and powers for each and every one.

Pairings? I have no idea at the moment...what would you like to see?

Also, the reason why the Mikura didn't use the time manipulation on Arcee was because it wanted to enjoy seeing the fear on her face when it killed her...too bad that didn't happen for more then one reason (Arcee kicking its ass for a good portion of the fight, Arcee's personality in general, and Karas of course).

Non Story Related Notes:

Just one more thing (and this doesn't have anything to do with Transformers so if you don't care then feel free to ignore this)...does anyone else think that the concept of a KARAS has some similarities with Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach? I don't mean the armor, will of the city, or shinigami/Zanpakuto bits but I mean the elements of the KARAS and just who Ichigo is.

I mean Ichigo is a human who exits his body to activate a power inside him (in the form of his soul) that he uses to defend his home town from evil spirits that threaten both the living and dead. Sounds a bit similar to a KARAs right? Without the Armor, Will of the City, or the creatures a KARAS fight of course, but they do sound a lot alike. (Although I know neither of them copied the over since Bleach came out in 2001 (while the KARAS films were in 2005) and KARAS was based on other material [Look at the wiki for those, too much to explain here] but it is still interesting to say the least).