TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED
Monochrome Spectrum
Sequel to Grey Matter - Silver Lining. Emma - the All-Spark Carrier - has been sent back to her own dimension, but there are those that will simply not let her go - not that she wants them to! What surprises does Emma's life hold, and how will the Transformers react to it? Also, their reunion will bring about a new quest to revive the All-Spark, and it is the only thing that can defeat the Vampire Lord, Fhantom...
Author's Notes:
zrexheartz - you'll find out! ^^
CHAPTER FOUR
Deal With The Devil
Prowl cringed every time one of the beautiful buildings was damaged or even destroyed by their fight with Starscream. He was glad he was in good shape, because this fight with Starscream was a brutal one. It had been awhile since Jazz and Prowl had battled anybot but, luckily, they always stayed up-to-date with their training, and Lockdown turned out to be a good sparring partner (well, that may have been due to the fact that neither Jazz nor Prowl was really too concerned about hurting the bounty-hunter).
Starscream, however, seemed to have some renewed strength, and neither of the cyber-ninjas could figure out why he seemed so angry but, then again, he was a Decepticon - it was kind of a given.
Still, Prowl couldn't help but feel a strong resentment towards the Decepticon, mainly for the reason that Starscream was a rival for Emma's affection, and not because he was their mortal enemy and had tried to offline them multiple times before. Jazz was different - Prowl wouldn't - couldn't - hate Jazz for feeling the same way as he did, but Starscream was no more a friend than what Lockdown was. Lockdown was...a business partner, somewhat...
And, speaking of Lockdown, where was that bounty-hunter, anyway?
"You Autobots are a continuous thorn in my side!" Starscream fired his lasers at the cyber-ninjas, and they both dodged. There was a fire in Starscream's brilliant red optics that neither of them liked. "I blame you for what happened!" Ah, so that was it. Starscream blamed them for...something...
"Care to elaborate on that one, Starscream?" Prowl ventured, and was rewarded with laser fire, which he dodged.
"You know very well what I mean!" Starscream shouted. "If it weren't for you, Emma would still be here!"
Prowl didn't know what to say to that.
But, Jazz had an idea. "We think we know a way to get her back." He told the Decepticon, landing on top of the pink roof of a palace-like building.
"Don't lie to me!" Starscream yelled.
"We're not lying." Prowl said carefully, aware of how volatile Starscream could be, even under the best of circumstances. They needed to be careful if they were going to get the information they needed from him. He held up his hands. "We found a device that looks like it was made by her people - by the Teraminians."
Starscream glared at him. "You Autobots are fools if you think I'll fall for that."
"We know you have knowledge on the Teraminian's technology." Prowl said. "You knew Emma back when she was Angel, so you must have known her as a Princess..."
Starscream fixed him with a steely glare. "Go on..." He clenched and unclenched his fist. What if the Autobot was telling the truth? Starscream had a feeling that these two might just want to get Emma back as much as he did...and, if that was the case, then he could use them...
Show him the device. Jazz commed Prowl.
Prowl nodded, and carefully produced the strange black device. As soon as Starscream laid optics on it, his reaction was immediate.
"Where did you get that?!" He just about shouted, his spark beating wildly as he hovered in mid-air, staring at the long-lost object that the cyber-ninja now held. It couldn't be! Starscream hadn't thought that there were any left in existence but, more to the point...it could be used to get Emma back or, technically, get to where she was...
By silent agreement, the cyber-ninjas decided to play it cool.
"First, you'll tell us just what it is, Starscream." Jazz stated.
Starscream growled softly. "Do not test my patience on this, Autobot..." He warned.
"Look, we all want the same thing, you dig?" Jazz shrugged. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way..."
Starscream realised that the white cyber-ninja had a point. They had the Warp Device, and he didn't...Starscream would play along, until he could get the device from them...
"It's a Warp Device." Starscream explained, recalling the information from long ago. "The Teraminians made them in order to warp, but there were limitations, much like there are limitations to your Space Bridges."
"Go on..." Prowl nodded. He held on carefully to the Warp Device, his key to reaching his loved one...
"Well, the devices required the use of an area that already had strong currents of Transwarp energy." Starscream told them. "Many Teraminians - and some Cybertronians - had the ability to create the energy by themselves, allowing them to warp within areas of one planet. They were also able to use the devices to warp to places where they had set up the energy that the devices harnessed."
"Like, across the galaxy?" Jazz guessed.
Starscream nodded.
"What about across dimensions?" Prowl asked quietly.
Starscream looked at him. "It's a possibility..." He said, guessing what the cyber-ninja was getting at. "Now, where did you get that device from? I haven't seen one since the...well, in millions of stellar cycles." Not since the fall of Teramina at the servos of Fhantom...
"A cyber-ninja acquaintance of ours acquired it by some means or other." Prowl replied.
Starscream rolled his optics. "Oh fine, don't tell me then!"
"It's all true, Starscream." Jazz said peaceably. "So, now that we know what we need, how are we gonna get it?"
"Who on Cybertron can warp?" Prowl thought about this, but couldn't think of anybot. "It doesn't seem like a very common gift..."
"It's not." Starscream agreed. "In fact, I only know of two who can do it."
Prowl and Jazz looked at him.
"Okay...who?" Jazz wanted to know.
"A Vampire named Hunter." Starscream said. "I suspect your...cyber-ninja acquaintance may know him..."
Prowl didn't doubt that.
"He's probably the one that bought Emma to this dimension in the first place..." Jazz realised. "That's the only possible sitch..."
Starscream nodded. "Hunter is unique, in that he happens to be able to cross dimensions without the use of a Warp Device."
Prowl was horrified. "Th-that means..."
"He could already be where Emma is, right now!" Jazz finished, sounding just as horrified as Prowl felt.
"Which is why we need to stop wasting time, and start tracking down the only other bot I know that can warp." Starscream said.
Prowl looked at him. "Who?"
"One of my clones, whom I named fittingly because of his ability, though I doubt he's ever used it to do anything but save his own metal." Starscream sighed. "Skywarp."
"That cowardly clone of your?" Prowl found it surprising that the black and blue Decepticon could do anything but wave a white flag about, but, he'd heard stranger. "Where is he?"
"I don't know, but I know who will." Starscream looked pained, and the cyber-ninjas soon found out why. Starscream commed the mysterious Decepticon. "Are you there? ... Don't you dare get smart with me, woman! If it weren't for me, you'd still be...don't you take that tone with me, it's not my fault we got defeated by that slagger Mega...what do you mean by that?! ... Look, just tell me where...no, not you, I need to...I don't care if you've cloaked your energy signa...don't you hang up on me, Slipstr..." Starscream's optics widened, and he cried: "She hung up on me, that glitch!"
Prowl sighed. They weren't going to get any help from Starscream, or Slipstream (she was apparently having a fight with him, and no longer on speaking terms).
Just then, however, Prowl got a com from Lockdown.
"That was Lockdown." Prowl told Jazz, after he and Lockdown had hung up mutually. "He says he's got some information on the whereabouts of Slipstream."
Jazz looked surprised. "How'd he get that info?"
Prowl cringed. "Miko - I could hear the death metal in the background."
Jazz nodded. "Let's go then."
They took off before Starscream could even comprehend what had happened, but he swiftly decided to follow them...
They found Lockdown and Miko waiting for them in a nearby park, called Muruyama. It was beautiful park that suited Prowl's liking, and Prowl and Jazz were happy to proceed through there in their holoforms. They both knew that Starscream was following them, but the two cyber-ninja decided to just wait and see what happened. They would be ready to fight the Decepticon, if they had to.
They found Lockdown and Miko in the spot where the former had said they would be. Passerby's glanced curiously at the punk black-and-pink-haired Japanese girl in the school uniform clutching a panda, and the pale, red-eyed scary-looking man sitting beside her.
Miko looked up as Jazz and Prowl approached her.
"Guys!" She exclaimed, jumping up and running to them, hugging first Prowl and then Jazz. She was bouncing up-and-down, her pigtails nearly hitting Jazz in the face. "Why are you here?! Did you know that Decepticon would be here?! Where have you guys been, anyway?! Lockdown says you're all working together, is that true and if so, how come you're working with a Decepticon?! Do the others know about that?!"
Prowl and Jazz exchanged an amused glance. Same old Miko. Prowl answered: "We're here hunting Starscream because, yes, we saw his energy signature appear on the radar. We've been...busy...and, yes, we have a temporary truce with Lockdown, because we're all working towards the same goal."
"Which is what?" Miko's eyes sparkled.
"We're gonna find a way to get to where Emma's groovin', ya dig?" Jazz smiled, and Miko gasped, before she, too, grinned.
"Have you figured out a way yet?!" Miko asked excitedly. "Like, can you get to her dimension?! Do you actually think she's still alive?!"
"We're working on it." Prowl explained.
"We can try." Jazz added.
"And, yes." They finished, in unison.
Miko nodded, understanding. "So, what do you need me to do?"
Jazz and Prowl looked at Lockdown.
The bounty-hunter straightened up slightly. "Heard this one talking to somebody."
"To Flora." Miko stated importantly. "She said she saw a Decepticon that looked like that other one, just the other night."
"It could be Slipstream or Skywarp." Prowl said thoughtfully.
"Or, it could be one of them other clones." Jazz added. "Still, it's all we've got to go on right now."
"That, and finding a place that already has the kind of Transwarp Energy we're looking for." Prowl added.
"Why don't you just ask Sari or Bulkhead?" Miko suggested, and everybot looked at her. She put her free hand on her hip (the hand that wasn't holding onto the panda), and looked around at them. "Those two know where Emma was the first time came to this dimension, since they were the ones that found her, right? So, why don't you just ask one of them?"
Jazz and Prowl looked at each other.
If we go to Bulkhead, and the Elite Guard find out we're working with Lockdown, they'll have us thrown in the stockade and possibly executed. Prowl commed to his fellow cyber-ninja.
But, if we hook up with Sari again, she'll get on our cases about not keeping in contact with her for the last six months, and she might not tell us. Jazz commed back.
They nodded to each other. "Bulkhead it is, then."
Miko squealed, and grabbed Prowl's hand. "Oh-please-oh-please-oh-please-oh-please-oh-PLEASE take me with you!" She begged, her eyes sparkling again. "Please?!"
Prowl and Jazz both blinked, and then instantly changed their minds and decided to go see Sari instead. At least they had better immunity when it came to her, and she'd be less likely to kill them (though, only just...).
Miko was disappointed at first, but then she realised that Sari would have killed her if she'd let Prowl and Jazz go to Cybertron, instead of making them go to Detroit.
"Okay, so one of us will go track down this Decepticon, and one of us will go back to Detroit and face the wrath of Sari?" Prowl suggested, and Jazz nodded in agreement.
"And just how do you plan on approaching one of my clones, when they've been trained to shoot you on sight?!" Starscream's holoform leapt out of the bushes, startling Miko. The cyber-ninjas just stared at the former Decepticon Second-In-Command.
Lockdown said: "Perhaps having him come along won't be such a bad idea."
"How do you figure that?" Prowl wanted to know, subconsciously moving Miko behind him, so that he was between her and Starscream. He crossed his arms, and waited.
"Well, I've got experience in hunting down other bots - I'm the best." Lockdown stated.
"You're also modest." Miko told him.
"You know, it's not a good idea to mouth off to somebody bigger than you." Jazz whispered to her.
"It's okay, I got you guys to back me up." Miko replied, and Jazz rolled his eyes.
Lockdown went on: "But, I can't fly and, chances are, whichever bot we're chasing will be."
"That's right." Starscream agreed with him. "I'm far more superior than my clones, so I'm sure I'll have no trouble catching up to whichever of my clones it is and...convincing them to help."
"Okay, I have just one question," Miko peeked out from behind Prowl. "Why?"
"Why what?" Starscream snapped.
"Why are you helping us?" Miko elaborated. "You're the bad guy, remember?"
"Technically, since your kind imprisoned Megatron, I'm no more a Decepticon than any of you." Starscream stated.
"Hmm, good point..." Prowl muttered. One thing still didn't make any sense, however. "But, why did you come here, of all places, and start attacking people?"
Starscream looked at him. "You don't know, do you?"
"Know what?" Prowl looked at him hard, trying to see if he was lying. There was a hint of loathing in the Decepticon's red eyes, but it wasn't aimed at Starscream.
"There's a Vampire in this city." Starscream told them, and everyone gasped. Starscream seemed pleased by their reactions. "Soundwave told me." He added.
"What?" Prowl blinked. "Soundwave's in Kyoto?"
"No," Starscream shook his head. "He and his human girlfriend are hunting a Vampire just south of Vancouver."
"Human girlfriend?" Jazz repeated.
"Isn't it too hot for a Vampire in Vancouver?" Miko wondered.
"You're thinking of Vanuatu." Prowl told her.
"Oh."
"So, there's still Vampires in this world." Lockdown, for some reason, didn't seem surprised.
"Did you know?" Prowl asked him.
"I had a hunch." Lockdown replied. "Now, don't look at me that way, kid, I told you - I've cut all of my ties with them. I'm no more one of them than what you are."
Prowl sighed. "Okay, so back to the original subject - Starscream, you came here to destroy the entire city, in hopes that the Vampire would get destroyed as well?"
Starscream nodded.
"Omae baka darou?!" Miko cried, and Starscream stiffened. She went on with: "You can't just destroy an entire city to get one Vampire, you-" She was cut off when Jazz clapped a hand over her mouth. "Mmh-fmm-hmm-grr..."
Prowl said: "So, we've got a Vampire outbreak to contend with as well...and, I don't feel right about leaving Miko here before this one's taken care of." He sighed. Always another distraction...
Miko stopped trying to bite Jazz, and he let her go. Miko said: "So, take me with you!"
"But, Miko, what about your parents?" Prowl asked her.
"Oh, they won't mind." Miko waved a careless hand. "Come on, I wanna go back to America - don't leave me out of this again!" She begged.
"No." Prowl said firmly. "Jazz, if you feel okay going with Lockdown and Starscream, then I'll take Miko back to Tokyo, and then deal with the Vampire."
"Prowl!" Miko complained.
Prowl ignored her. "Then, I'll fly back to Detroit, and find out from Sari where the..."
"She won't tell you!" Miko said stubbornly. She looked defiant. "I'll tell her not to tell you, unless you take me! And, I also won't tell you where Flora saw that flying Decepticon, either!"
Prowl and Jazz looked shocked.
Starscream looked impressed. "Hey, you'd make a pretty good Decepticon, if you weren't human."
"Uh, you are aware she hates you, right Starscream?" Lockdown pointed out.
"I am but half kidding." Starscream replied.
"Which means you're half serious." Lockdown retorted.
"And I'm fully serious!" Miko picked up her panda. "You guys are forgetting that Sari, Flora and I are Autobots, too!" She took out her pendant. "See? This symbol means I'm one of you guys!" Tears filled her eyes. "Prowl...Jazz...I miss Emma too...she liked manga and heavy metal music...please let me help you find her again!" She begged.
Prowl glanced at Jazz, and the white cyber-ninja placed his hand son Miko's shoulders. She sniffled, and looked up, tears dripping down her face.
"Miko, sweetspark, there's no doubt that you and the ladies are Autobots." Jazz said emphatically. "Nobot's forgotten that, just like none of us have forgotten about Emma. But, you can help us by giving us all the info, so that we can find her." He sent a suggestion to Prowl, which Prowl didn't like, but what choice did he have?
"If you can convince your parents, and if you tell us what we need to know before we leave today," Prowl told Miko, whose tears faltered. "Then I might consider taking you back to Detroit with me, okay?"
Miko looked at him for a moment, before her eyes dried suspiciously fast, and she grinned. "Hai!" She cheered, pumping a fist into the air. "Let me just write down Flora's address for you, okay?!" She quickly scrawled the address of Flora's boarding school in England, in her barely legible hand-writing. She gave the piece of paper to Jazz, who memorized it.
"Are you going to hold onto the Warp Device, Autobot?" Starscream casually asked Prowl.
Prowl glared at him. "Yes." He said, aware of the device in his pocket. The look in his blue eyes told Starscream that he still didn't trust him.
Starscream glared back at him, before transforming into his robot mode, and disappearing into the clouds, as Jazz and Lockdown did the same and returned to the Death's Head.
Miko and Prowl watched them go, before Miko turned to Prowl. "I missed you." She said simply.
Prowl smiled gently. "I know." He was thinking about Emma, though, and what their reunion would be like.
Miko suddenly gasped. "Oh no!" She clapped a hand over her mouth.
"What is it?!" Prowl exclaimed.
"My school group!" When Prowl looked at her questioningly, she explained: "I was supposed to be back at the meeting spot forty-five minutes ago!"
"How could you forget something like that?" Prowl groaned. "They'll all be there, waiting for you, and they might've even called the pol..."
"Oh no!" Miko cried again, and Prowl gave her a Look. "I'm sorry, but, I left Flora on hold when I called her in England, and I reversed the charges!" Prowl was horrified. "Her phone bill!" She dug her phone put of her bag, and then had to hold it away from her ear, as Flora began screaming out a string of sentences, most of them curse words.
Flora finally stopped yelling, and Miko took the chance to say: "Tell Jazz I said hi when you see him soon, bye Flora!" The hung up quickly, and then looked at Prowl. "One down, and...?"
Prowl nodded.
A group of Japanese school students stood nervously at the Sanjo Station. The boys wore white shirts and dark green trousers with black shoes. The girls wore white blouses with a dark green sailor collar and red string bow, a knee-length dark green pleated skirt and black shoes.
Most of them were worried about their missing classmate, with three exceptions that couldn't care less.
Rin and her friends stood a few feet away from the main group, and whispered loudly about what could have happened to Miko.
"~Hey!~" Miko's friend, Risa Yagami, glared over at the bullies. "~Miko is not at the red-light district - Kyoto doesn't even have one of those!~" She added, as an afterthought.
"~That's enough!~" The teacher, Minako Ikari, snapped, closing her mobile phone as she failed to reach Miko for the eight time. ~What do I do?! I've never lost a student before, and after that Decepticon attacked...why me?!~
"Gomen, Sensei." The students muttered, just as a motorcycle pulled up.
Miko knew she looked strange motorbike-riding in a skirt, but she didn't care. As soon as Prowl pulled up outside the station, and her classmates turned to her, Miko made sure to take her holoform-projected (and completely real) helmet off dramatically, and then let it vanish, as she dismounted, and walked smartly past Rin and her friends.
"Hi there, girls." Miko said in English, before she was glomped by her friend.
"~Miko-Chan, I was SO worried, where have you been?!~" Risa cried, before stopping and looking in awe, as Prowl's holoform disappeared. "~Is...is that a...?~" She couldn't finish her sentence.
"Minna," Miko said, grinning a grin that was more like a smirk, and mainly directed at her bullies. "~I'd like you to meet my close and personal friend, the Autobot ~cyber-ninja~, Prowl.~"
Prowl transformed into his robot-mode, making everybody gasp, but they relaxed when they saw his blue optics, and red Autobot symbol. He walked a few paces, and then assumed his holoform. Rin's eyes just about bugged out of her head.
Prowl walked straight up to Ikari-Sensei, bowed respectfully, and then began to explain the situation in as little detail as he could. Luckily, the students were all leaving as well; due to Starscream's attack, they were all heading back to Tokyo that very night.
Miko, meanwhile, was surrounded by students, and she was happy to tell them all she could.
Rin, meanwhile, glared daggers at her, which just made Miko's day! She was happy, as well, that things were finally looking up and, she suspected, they could get back to their adventuring with the Autobots! And, it seemed, Lockdown wasn't so bad, but Miko wasn't so sure about Starscream...she still hadn't found out why he wanted to help...
Meanwhile, something watched from the shadows of a building, and watched as Miko and Prowl walked out of the train station. Snarling slightly, the creature fixed its red-gaze on Prowl, before darting over to the train whose name it had just heard being mentioned by the teacher.
The passengers boarded the train, which presently moved out of the station...with a Vampire clinging to the bottom of the locomotive!
