*Disclaimer: I do not own characters from Hasbro, GameFreak, Nintendo, LucasArts, etc. I own only this plotline/OC's.*
Also, if you are squeamish, well, you've been warned… because of this chapter, I will most likely have to change the rating on my fic from "T" to "M"
Chapter 10
"Death"
The desolate salt flats of Utah were a pristine spot to land space shuttles…and host the duel of the century. Neco versus Sapphire: Who would come out alive? Would either of them survive? Will we be able to stop them? Optimus' questions would be soon answered. His tires were roaring like raging lions beneath his carriage. The dehydrated soil parted in a giant dust clouds before his racing semi-truck form. Optimus was trying to save his newest soldier…but deep down, he knew he would be powerless to stop the inevitable battle in the first place. He knew what it meant to give it your all in a battle, especially when your defeat could mean the destruction of the planet you call, home.
A flash of white lightning zipped past Optimus' hull. He locked on the source that fired at him, and realized it was one of Neco's cephalopod bounty hunters. They were swarming around the designated battle arena (the area was already riddled with craters, and gouged with troughs).
"Autobots! Transform, and take 'em down!" Optimus ignited a series of exhaust ports underneath his cabin. He propelled his vehicular disguise up into the air at full throttle. He disengaged from his trailer, and as it vanished into subspace. He transformed into his bipedal mode and skidded through the dusty ground below him. He pulled out his laser rifle from the subspace compartment on his back and fired it at the bounty hunter who fired at him. He scored a direct hit on the hunter in the chest. His rifle's blast almost ripped the hunter into two. He fell to the ground—dead. Ironhide appeared next to his commander, like the faithful wingman he was, and blasted two enemies with his liquid nitrogen cannon. He missed one, but managed to freeze the other's hands to his rifle. Mirage finished off the incapacitated hunter with a well placed shot to its head, completely incinerating the alien's slimy, green squid head.
Cliffjumper had already pinned one hunter on the ground as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were busy sparring with three other hunters to protect their shorter comrade. He was too engrossed by tearing the hunter to pieces—literally. Sunstreaker punched one hunter away, and thought his problems were over. But as the hunter fell, another one stood behind him, aiming his rifle at his chest. Sunstreaker lunged at the armed hunter, but he received a blast through his right shoulder. He stumbled back and cradled his shoulder. His internal systems alerted him that the blast had severed all the motor cables attached to his arm, rendering it useless. Slag it!
The hunter unsheathed a toothy grin, "Time to shut down, robot." He fired but his partner's torso flew into the path of the blast. As the hunter who fired stared in horror at his fallen brother, Sideswipe tossed something with a little more "punch" at him: A boulder. The heavy object struck the hunter in the shoulder, and caused him to drop his weapon. Sunstreaker dove for the rifle. He grabbed the black rifle, and somersaulted out of his lunge to shoot the hunter. The hunter pulled out two sidearm pistols and shot wildly at the twins. Two shots struck Sideswipe in the chest, but did nothing more than scratch his paint. Sunstreaker was not so lucky. Two shots hit his exposed neck cables and ruptured one of the tubes that carried energon throughout his body. The pinkish substance bled all over his chest. He turned off his pain receptors and fired again at the armed hunter. He finally killed the hunter when one shot partially took off the top of his head. Sunstreaker dropped the rifle and pressed his only good hand around his neck to minimize the bleeding. He coughed up energon as he fell to his knees. His brother was already at his side when he fell. He pressed his hand on top of his brother's to help stem the bleeding. The thick, illuminating substance bubbled between their fingers. Sideswipe felt a very human chill crawl up his spine. With his free hand, he opened up a com-link on his arm to Ratchet.
"Ratchet! I need you! Sunstreaker's hit!" Sideswipe urgently yelled at the medic.
"I see you! Hold on!" Ratchet kicked away the hunter he was trading blows with. He transformed into his terrain mode, and sped towards the twins. Laser fire ripped through the air around him, and explosions coming from the two humanoids, overpowered his audios. As he approached the twins, Ratchet drifted and transformed on the fly, and skidded to a halt in front of Sunstreaker.
"Whoa, Ratchet, I didn't know you could move like that." Sideswipe commented in awe.
"You'd be surprised what years experience can do to a 'bot." Ratchet replied as he began an emergency patch job on Sunstreaker's neck. "Cover me, Sideswipe."
Meanwhile, halfway across the two mile long battle ground, Gears found himself in a scrap load of trouble. His bright, red-and-blue colored pickup mode stuck out like a sore thumb on the off-white terrain around him, "Slag this color scheme of mine! It's going to the deactivation of me!" He barked in frustration as three hunters were pursuing him via jet packs. They were peppering his back to hell; to the point where one more shot could potentially tear it off.
"Gears! Stay your course! The cavalry's comin'!" Jazz announced over a com-link while he and Prowl were racing, side-by-side towards the mini-bot, "When I give the signal, drift like you've never drifted in your life!"
"Are you kidding me? If I do, I might break myself in two!" Gears screamed back at the saboteur.
"Trust me!" Jazz and Prowl continued their course, pouring on the speed even more. Their engines were screaming as they raced towards Gears. They were on the path to collide head-on with their smaller comrade. Then, at the last possible millisecond, Jazz and Prowl started to transform, "NOW!"
Gears threw his parking break up, and drifted to his right—extending his rear out as a platform for the two SIC's to jump off of. Jazz performed a one-handed handspring off of his rear, while Prowl stepped on Gears' roof and lunged towards the hunters. Both Jazz and Prowl had their rifles in their hands, and fired at the three hunters. They tried to stop their pursuit, but were too late. All three dropped like flies. Jazz and Prowl tumbled on the craggy ground until they finally halted. Gears' tried to recover from the drift, but his top-heavy form flipped over onto its right side, and skidded to a halt. He shakily transformed and stumbled around to regain his balance.
"Thanks for saving my aft guys, but next time, don't jump on it!" The mini-bot huffed at his superiors.
"Does everything you do have to so, extravagant, Jazz?" Prowl commented to his black-and-white friend as he double checked to see if the three hunters they slew were not playing, "possum"(as the humans call it).
"Of course! If you can't do it with style, then don't bother doin' it. You know me Prowl," Jazz took aim with his rifle at a hunter that was about fifty-yards away. The hunter was about to shoot Bumblebee in the back of his head. Jazz fired first, "I'm a stylin' mech."
The Autobots continued to fight valiantly against the alien hunters. Soon, the handful of hunters who remained suddenly retreated. Their rocket packs screamed as they quickly vanished into the rays of the afternoon sun. Optimus gave the command for the Autobots to re-group, but be wary of their surroundings. A scream diverted their attention—permanently—from Optimus' order. A pillar of white energy, thirty-feet wide and thirty-feet tall, was barreling through the earth towards the Autobots. They were powerless to stop the blast from obliterating their physical beings. Some accepted their fates, while others watched as their lives flash before their optics. The light was coming for them.
Before the light could swallow the Autobots, a tiny shadow blinked in front of the pack of mechs. The shadow held an obscured sword in both hands. She raised the blade of darkness over her head and brought it down with all of her might upon the white energy. The darkness cut the light into two, casting a harmless curtain over the Autobots. The white light danced and swirled effortlessly about the bewildered mechs. The sun's rays shone through the curtain of light, fabricating a rippling rainbow of light that tenderly wove through the mechs. The artificial aurora was like the mythical siren: Beautiful on the outside, but deadly on the inside. Although, the energy blast was diverted, the destructive power contained within was illustrated as the wild, cracking whips of energy lacerated the arid soil ruthlessly, as a flock of vultures strip the flesh off of an animal's carcass. The sporadic energy whips flogged themselves into ribbons of smoke, disintegrated into glittering particles of light when their power depleted. The figure strained to keep her sword from being knocked out of her grip for the duration of the attack. The Autobots could only witness a tool, oppose a great power.
The shadow being managed to hold off the flare of power until it finally faded into nothingness. She allowed her sword fall triumphantly to her left side. Now, the group of grateful mechs could see the obscured sword the figure held, was a pale-silver lightsaber. They shadow was not a shadow after all. The obscured figure was their extraordinary humanoid comrade. They all knew it was Sapphire who saved them, but the Sapphire they once knew, was gone. She was tainted by an evil locked away inside of all living souls. The darkness distorted their friend into a brutal fighter, with a savage heart, and an insane psyche. She peeked at her allies over her shoulder. Her comrades saw an animal. Her irises were scarlet, and her pupils were dilated into slits like those of a serpent. She held a scornful look upon her face and snarled at the mechs. All of her teeth had transformed into serrated daggers. This—fiend was unlike anything they had ever encountered.
"Usen'ye utreekove… Leave this place!" Sapphire hissed at the mechs. She quickly diverted her attention back to her brother, only to be painfully greeted with his right hook. She spun backwards towards her vode: Her comrades. She felt her jawbone pop out of place as she skidded to a halt into Mirage's arms. She moved her jaw until it popped back into place with a loud CRACK.
"Ouch." Sapphire growled at Neco. He held his position and gloated at his fuming sister.
"What's the matter, sister? Getting soft?" His taunt carried a disgusting meaning. Sapphire pushed Mirage away and pulled out a dull black Beretta M9 out of nowhere, and fired four shots in less than half a second. Neco was hit three times out of the four shots. The first shot grazed his left cheek and left a nasty trail of seared flesh in its wake; the second missed, but whizzed past his head; the third went sailing through his left bicep; and finally the fourth went through his left shoulder, just above his collar bone. He dropped onto his back with a muffled thud, and a cloud of dust. His sister leapt up and over where he laid—thirty-feet away—and fired three more shots below at him. This time, he was ready and rolled out of the way before any more 9mm rounds penetrated his flesh. He rolled onto his feet and sprung up to meet his sister face-to-face. His body morphed before he made contact. His skull elongated into a wolf-like snout. His muscles bulged and ripped through his clothes like the Incredible Hulk when he "gets angry". Thick, coarse, jet black hair sprouted from every orifice on his body. More of black, matted fur fell wildly around his neck, and his head. His ears moved to the very top of his head and stuck straight up in the air like two arrowheads on a pair of sticks. Beady, yellow eyes flamed to life as they were tangled in his forest of jet black fur. Silver teeth way too big for his jaws sliced their way through his gums. Finally, equally colored claws, pierced their way out of the knobs of flesh, called his hands and feet. The remnants of his pants, and shirt, dangled like dead seaweed from his furry body.
Sapphire barely had time to react. She raised her arms to shield herself from the seven-inch long teeth, inside the jaws of steel, from crushing her skull. A costly close call, this would be. Neco slammed into her and sunk his silver daggers into her left forearm. She dropped her pistol and screamed in pain. The two plummeted to the arid ground, but he never released her arm. She took the brunt of the fall and the wind was knocked clean out of her. While she tried to regain her breath, Neco tossed his sister over his shoulder as far as he could—he stripped off the flesh in her left forearm. Sapphire staggered a cry as she flew through the air. She skipped across the ground and tumbled to a stop. Her arm was throbbing with unbearable amounts of pain, to the brink of bringing tears to her eyes. She had to see for herself how bad her arm was.
Boy, did she regret that.
Her arm shivered with pain as she brought it up to her sight. What were left on her arm were a few strands of muscle tissue, and her bones. Most of the fabric had been torn off as well, but what remained was soaking wet and dyed red. Sapphire reacted by tearing off the bottom of her shirt and used her "sixth sense" to tie the cloth around her bicep to stem the bleeding. With her good hand, she snapped her fingers together to create a tiny flame from her index finger. She used the fire to cauterize what veins and arteries that needed to be closed. The fight was long from over, and if she passed out from loss of blood, she could kiss her life goodbye. Sapphire could only grit her teeth and glare menacingly at her demented brother as she completed this agonizing process. She could see satisfaction in his beady, yellow eyes from where she was standing. She glanced once more at her trembling arm. Her face contorted into a snarl. So, this is how you want to play? She funneled her rage at her brother and released a roar of frustration. Neco howled in anticipation of his next kill. His eerie howl sounded like dying walrus, and a dying wolf mashed together into one sound. It made the hairs on Sapphire's neck stand up.
Neco galloped in a clumsy gate towards Sapphire. She dropped onto her four limbs, and morphed into a beast whose bark is said to make volcanoes erupt. Her injury disappeared in this form, but the pain still remained. Her entire body grew layer upon layers of long, silky, brown fur. Her hands and feet transformed into three-toed, grey paws. Just above each paw were black, metal cuffs. Her face flattened, and a three pronged, yellow crest grew where her snout should have been, to the top of her forehead. A pair of three pronged, crimson red facial armor appeared beneath the yellow crest, and the end closest to her mouth extended to the bottom of her jaw. As if there were no such thing as enough facial armor, a silver mouth guard appeared. The final piece of armor looked like an angular "C". It too, extended all the way down to the bottom of her jaw. A jagged, silver breastplate stuck out just a smidgen beneath her furry chest. On her back, there were dull, gray, spikes that cradled what can only be described as a living "cloud". The cloud wriggled from the back of this beast's head, and past its hindquarters. She released a fearsome roar that boomed for miles and miles upon end, like shockwaves radiating from an earthquake. No wonder why this beast is said to make volcanoes erupt. Neco's charge was halted from the deafening roar. He skidded awkwardly to a halt and howled with pain as his supersensitive eardrums burst.
Sapphire launched her attack. She charged the pained werewolf creature. Her new form was incredibly agile for its bulkiness. In a blink of an eye, she was already on top of her brother. She slammed into her brother and sunk her canine teeth into his right shoulder. He yelped and raked his claws across her face to retaliate, but to no avail. The many facial guards on her face proved their worth as his attacks scratched harmlessly across. Neco thought if his claws could not do the job, then he would have to try his jaws. Sapphire released her grip and savagely headbutted his gaping mouth before he could find out. Her armor helped her once again. She chipped, shattered, and plain flat out, knocked most of his front teeth out. This made him desperate and furious. He thrashed his arms and legs wildly around and slashed his sister's shoulders to hell. Her underside was safe thanks to her breastplate. Sapphire wanted to save her shoulders, so she broke off on her attack and leapt off of her flailing brother. He performed a kip up to meet his sister's sight. Blood dripped endlessly out of his mouth and over his fragmented, silver teeth. His beady, yellow eyes engraved murder into his sister's.
"Oh yeah, he's angry." Sapphire thought to herself. She braced for his next attack. Neco roared and launched a high speed beam of lavender energy from his badly damaged mouth at Sapphire. She reacted by sending forth, a trail of fire from her mouth. The two attacks met and exploded into a stomach churning, cloud of charcoal colored smoke. Sapphire's vision began to blur from the acidity of the smoke, but she quickly realized that smoke should not be able to impair her vision because of her beast's "volcanic" origin. The world around her started spinning and she desperately tried to catch herself from tipping over like a drunkard. The infamous "tunnel vision" crept over her sight. Her muscles in her legs started to spasm, and her back legs gave out. She had no choice but to fall to the ground.
"Poison…"
"Poison my dear sister," Neco snarled in a bass voice, "is an effective weapon in combat." He morphed back into humanoid form. His pants were torn a little bit, but his jacket and undershirt suffered the most damage. He stalked closer to his shivering sister. "It can bring down the strongest of foes within seconds. I'm afraid you are going to die, Sapphire." He held out his right hand, and a red aura started to gather and form the shape of a weapon. The light shot out four-feet and materialized into a vivid, red colored sword. Multiple one-foot long spikes also materialized, and lined the side of the sword. An elaborate, frosty, silver trimmed handle materialized as well. It had four metal guards that arched over the handle. The handle itself had a black grip, and at the very bottom was a seven inch long silver spike. Once the sword fully materialized, he gripped the handle and brought the tip of the sword up to Sapphire's face. He smirked. "However, this poison is only meant to disable you. If I am to become the true ruler of Cresita, I must kill you myself." A warning flag went up in her mind.
"Cresita..?" She wheezed out between her labored gasps for air, "What's that?" She needed more time.
"You fool! You still haven't remembered your past yet?" Neco furiously shouted at his sister. He swung his sword across her face, leaving a terrible gash in her face plating starting from the top right edge and ending just below her left eye. Sapphire did not move; she felt nothing.
"Cresita is your home world!" Neco roared into her face. Sapphire continued to stare blankly at her brother. She could not believe it. The truth had been right under her nose this entire time. He slashed her face again, creating an "x" on the center her face. This time the one of the sword's spikes became momentarily stuck in her armor. Her head was snapped to the right. "If I want to rule Cresita, I have to kill you first! Then all that power will be mine!" He started to laugh uncontrollably, "I'll have enough power to rule this entire universe!" He threw his head back and laughed hysterically to the heavens. Sapphire's eyes narrowed. She bought herself enough time to locate the poison inside of her. She purged the poison using her psychic powers. Her senses returned to normal, and she was no longer "disabled". She moved quickly. She charged up a large purple fire ball and launched it point blank at Neco's chest. The purple fire dissolved his sword immediately, and set Neco ablaze. Only, he did not move. He did not scream. He did not even seem to notice he was on fire. Instead, he rose up twenty feet above the ground. His eyes glowed green and he smiled devilishly at his sister.
"Thank you so much for the added power, sister. You see, any sort of fire that hits me, is converted into energy." He curled into a ball of fire. "The more energy it has," The fire vanished, and suddenly, he uncurled. A massive shockwave of green energy rippled throughout the air for miles on end. Sapphire was blown from her feet, and flew through the air. She tumbled to a halt. The blast even hit all the Autobots. They were sent toppling head over heel into the desert. Neco laughed once more. He remained in the sky and addressed the clouds, "Decepticons! I think it is about time you join in on this fun! Attack the Autobots and bring me the girls!" Megatron came storming out of the clouds with a furious look on his face. He held the two crying girls by the cuffs of their shirts.
"We will do no such thing! But you can take these insects!" He threw the hapless girls at Neco. The girls screamed as they were free falling in the sky, but the crazed Cresitian caught them with his telepathic powers. The Decepticon leader lingered on, and the rest of his army came down from the clouds as well to back him up. They all held the same expression as their leader. Neco scoffed at their futile attempt to disobey his command.
"Then you've chosen a painful alternative!" He reached out with his hands and his mind and grasped all the Decepticons by their throats. He then, shot a wave of electricity through their bodies. All their optics flashed white and red from an overload of energy. Their bodies flailed as all of their inner workings overloaded all at once. The Decepticons' were slowly being destroyed, from the inside out. Sapphire was disturbed that Neco enjoyed seeing them in so much pain. The crying and wailing forced Sapphire to act. "Enemies" or not, something had to have been done. He's stealing all of our fun…
"It's a shame, Decepticons," Neco's eyes burned wildly with a green aura, "I was going to use you as my soldiers, but now it looks like I'm going to—hmmpf!" Neco's head and neck were suddenly wrapped in a thick, strong, green vine. Sapphire had morphed her right arm into the large vine. She tightened her grip to the point of crushing his neck and his skull. Going by that incentive, Neco released all the Decepticons and the two children. The Decepticons all fell to the ground with a collective THUD. Sapphire quickly caught the crying humans with her mind before they splattered all over the salt flats. She then proceeded to spin him once in the air and violently, slammed him face first into the ground. She released her grip and returned her arm back to normal. She used her telekinetic powers to bring the girls back into her protective arms. Once the girls were back in her grasp, she quickly flew towards the Autobots (they had recovered from the pulse attack, and were sprinting towards Sapphire on foot). She did not make it to the Autobots in time. Another blast of white energy zoomed over her head. On the fly, she tossed the girls as gently as she could to the ground. Simultaneously, she transformed into a twenty-five-foot tall, bipedal, white furred beast. It had a sickle shaped black horn jutting out on the right side of her head. An equally colored scythe-like tail appeared as well. On each paw, there were three massive razor-sharp claws. Two blood-red irises with white pupils flared to life. The only difference about this beast compared to the one before, was this: Two, coal black, seven-foot long blades extended from each elbow. She swung around to meet another energy blast she sensed. She reacted by brining both blades down on it, and cutting it into half—but it exploded in a dazzling display of golden flames on contact. The explosion sent her crashing into the Autobots.
Neco peered down at the girls who were sprawled out on the ground. He gazed upon them as a raptor eyes its prey from high above. He smiled. He could not let the chance run away from him. He extended both palms out in front of him and began charging up for another attack. Optimus failed to notice the humans, but he did detect a massive energy source above him. He knew none of his soldiers could survive an attack from Neco.
"Autobots! Fan out, quickly!" All of his soldiers had already moved out of Neco's sights before Optimus issued the command. Everyone moved except for Mirage. He happened to notice the two girls. The girls saw him and he beckoned them to run to him. The frightened humans scrambled to their feet and they started to run as fast as their legs would allow. The girls were still twenty yards away from the white-and-blue mech. Neco took his sweet time creating another ball of white energy. He was waiting for someone to notice. Sapphire pushed herself off the ground when she heard the whirring of her brother's attack being powered up. She quickly whipped around to see who was in his sights. Her heart sank. She was at least twenty-five yards behind Mirage. She could only save either the mech or the girls. The ball of energy was fully charged. She had to act now. Time moved in slow motion.
Sapphire, still in her beast form, sprinted as fast as she possibly could towards the girls. Neco launched the ball of swirling, white energy at the three beings. Optimus was screaming at Mirage to get out of there. Mirage had pulled out his photon rifle as a sign to Neco he would not be destroyed without a fight. The massive sphere of energy tore through the ground as it barreled its way towards its targets. The girls held their hands together as they ran desperately towards Mirage. He looked down into their frightened eyes. His spark had jumped up to the back of his throat. He could not bring himself to look at the teary-eyed children. He could not save them. He could not save himself at this point. He gazed into the ball of white light that was approaching him at breakneck speeds. The girls screamed at Mirage. He wanted to look, but a powerful force had struck him. Two long, muscular, white arms pressed against his chest and back. He saw his world topple to the right and out of the way of the attack. He was tackled so hard, his optics went offline for a few seconds. All he heard were the desperate screams of the girls—then they stopped. He knew why. Everyone did.
Mirage's optics flicked back online. He saw he was lying on his side and Sapphire was on top of him. She was staring at him with no emotion whatsoever on her face. The lack of emotion mortified him. He at least expected her to be furious at him for trying to be, "Mr. Hero" and save the girls himself. Why did she save him? He started to wonder if she thought more of Mirage than the two humans. Was he more valuable to her than them? How could she have let two innocents die? Why me? He was a seven million year old soldier. They were children. He saw nothing. Nothing was bad. Terror rose up on his face plates. He could not handle her hollow gaze any longer. Then, a strange sensation crept inside of him. An echoed voice whispered to him, "Mirage… I'm so sorry. I wasn't fast enough." The voice sounded as if it was about to cry. The voice belonged to Sapphire. The blank stare remained on her face.
"You okay?" Sapphire flatly asked the spy. Mirage was perplexed by the opposite reactions she had given him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He responded in a trembling voice. He recalled how terrified he was the first time he met her, but now, this terror inside of him was something—primal.
"Get up, and leave." Her statement was not a command, it was a threat. She rose above him and the sun was to her back. All he could see was her imposing silhouette that suggesting he move now, rather than later. He scrambled to his feet and ran towards a relieved Optimus Prime. Sapphire turned her attention to her brother. He cackled at her. She clicked her claws together in frustration. The rage was building inside of her. He threw his head back and roared with laughter. "You're going to regret killing those two." She waited for him to make the first move. Once he did, the gloves would come off.
"Ha, ha, ha! Their screams make me smile. Oh, the high of killing beings close to you. They almost sound like the ones made by that weakling Verburyc warrior clan on Uur'a." Sapphire's blood froze. That was where she grew up—the place where all of her friends and family had been slaughtered. "Oh, did I touch a nerve, sister?" Sapphire's blank expression morphed into one that wanted blood.
"You…you were the one that killed everyone," Sapphire struggled to keep her voice under control. Her demon wanted to break out. Please let's have some fun, my dear! It's been far too long… "You have caused me to wander this universe for over forty-two million years. I have searched across this galaxy for the culprit so I could bring him to justice!" Sapphire drew a deep breath and roared, "And this entire time, everything has lead back to YOU!" He deserves it! You know it! I know it! We have discussed this many times before! He just gave us the best reason in the universe to have the fun! Do not waste this opportunity! "You…" Her voice dropped. She gave up trying to fight the darkness; it had a valid point. She transformed into a seventy-two-foot long, serpentine, green dragon. It had a yellow double helix tattoo down its entire spine. The head of this dragon had two elongated horns above its yellow irises, and two below its fearsome jaws. The wings were nothing more than two short rectangular appendages behind its two, lanky, green arms. The three claws on each hand were clenched tightly together into white knuckled fists. The fearsome dragon called, Rayquaza, had set all of its rage upon the tiny Cresitian male.
"YOU WILL DIE TODAY, BROTHER!" She roared like a crazed animal and lunged with great speed towards her brother. She tried to snap her jaws on his body, but he zipped up into the sky to evade her attack. Sapphire only snapped her jaws on a clump of dirt. She spat out the dirt and fired an orange beam of concentrated energy from her gaping jaws at her brother. He dived down to avoid the blast, but his sister anticipated his move, and fired again. This time the blast barely missed him, but the heat radiating from the energy seared his skin. Neco was taken by surprise when the monster disappeared and then suddenly reappeared inches away from his face. She plucked him out of the air and before he could escape, she fired a beam of ice at him, encasing him in a block of ice. She then pitched him down at the salt flats—one thousand feet below. Sapphire charged up a large blue sphere of sparking energy from her mouth and fired it moments later. He crashed into the ground with enough force to leave a thirty foot wide crater in the arid soil. The blast that followed, doubled the size of the crater. Blue lightning bolts flashed wildly out of the crater until they depleted all of their energy. A large dust cloud had formed and obscured the crater. Everything went silent. Sapphire waited impatiently and roared again. She had finally, lost control.
A black blur shot out of the smoke cloud and slammed into her gut. Sapphire's breath was taken away, and plummeted to the ground. Neco had copied the dragon's form but changed the colors to match his liking. The dragon was now black, with red irises, and red tattoos. Neco screeched and dived after his sister. She recovered from her fall and flipped backwards to avoid being tackled again. She shot back up into the sky to gain some altitude. Her brother followed closely behind and fired the same orange beam of energy at her. She dodged by circling over the blast and fired another ball of electrified energy. Neco dived down, but used his tail to bat the energy back at Sapphire. She cried out as she was struck in the face. She was temporarily paralyzed by the electricity coursing through her body. Her brother seized his chance and dug his claws into her throat. She yelped and wheezed as she struggled to break free from her brother's grip. Neco only dug in farther into her flesh and electric blue blood oozed in between his claws and fingers.
Sapphire wrapped her snake like body around Neco's and she used her weight to drag both of them out of the sky. Neco realized what his sister was doing and ripped his claws out of her throat. He tried to break free by slithering his way out, but she denied him this chance. She clamped her vice-like jaws on his right arm and dug her diamond-piercing claws into his sides to prevent his escape. Neco began to panic, and thrashed his body in vain to shake off his sister. He slashed at her head with his free arm, and left terrible gashes across her snout. The ground zoomed closer and closer with each passing second. Neco was running out of options and ideas. Sapphire remained latched onto her brother, refusing to let go even as their speed maxed out at 200 miles an hour. The two still had thousands of feet to fall, but at the speed they were traveling at, their free-fall would not last long. The wary mechs below them scattered into multiple directions to avoid becoming collateral damage. Neco cried out as the two gigantic dragons crashed head-on into the salt flats. Their impact created a massive crater roughly three-hundred feet wide and roughly two-hundred-and-fifty-feet deep. Smoke and debris were so thick; no one could see the massive crater, let alone their contents. Both the Autobots and Decepticon forces re-grouped and gathered outside the massive debris cloud hanging over the crater. Their sensors were being disrupted by all the debris and dirt in the air, so they grudgingly waited for the interference to settle.
Tensions rose to the breaking point in the ranks of both factions. They wanted to know if their greatest hope had fallen, or their greatest threat had perished. Someone had to be the victor. They could not fathom the idea of a stalemate with the powers these two possessed. Someone would die, eventually. Rumble was the first to snap. He sprinted away from his "father", Soundwave, towards the hidden crater.
"Rumble: Return to previous position immediately." Soundwave warbled at his most rebellious creation.
"I want to see who won!" Rumble shouted over his shoulder as he was swallowed by the opaque cloud of dust and dirt. Frenzy wanted to go after his glitch-head brother, but Soundwave held him back. Everyone fell silent, and waited for Rumble to report his findings. He scurried over chunks of rock-hard soil until; he reached the crest of the crater that contained the two dragons. The dust was thicker on the inside and it clung all over Rumble in little clumps. He had to continuously wipe off the sediments on his visor to prevent any permanent damage from occurring. He peered down the pitch black hole, trying to see if he could make out an outlining of one of the two aliens. He got down on his hands and knees to try to get a better view, since his sensors were still being scrambled by all the sediment in the air. The piece of hardened dirt he was crawling on started to crack.
"Uh, oh…" The dirt clump crumbled beneath him and he screamed as he tumbled out of control down to the bottom of the pit. He only saw the darkness spinning all around him, until his back slammed into something solid. He groaned as he tried to figure out why his feet were dangling in his face, and what exactly it was he ran into. He got his answer when the solid wall behind him twitched and began to move. The energon pumping inside of him ran cold. He knew now what it was he ran into, and he prayed it was the female. He quickly flipped himself over and quickly backed up to where he thought the edge of the pit was. Only, he did not back into dirt, he backed up into a cold, serpentine, body. This one was not moving. Rumble quickly spun around to see which one he backed into. He leaned in and whipped away some more dust from his visor. He froze. The body was green. "Slag it!" Rumble whispered very loudly to himself. He started to shake the massive body to wake it, "Come on! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" He did not want to be alone in a pit with low visibility with a giant, killer dragon. He dared to glance over his shoulder and saw the shadows move. The sifting of dirt beneath a snake-like body scared the wits out of the mini-cassette tape. Rumble did not bother to keep the desperation down any longer, "Wake up dragon goddess! Help me!" More sifting of sand, this time it was louder. Rumble started to climb onto the dragon so he could at least try to scale his way out of the pit. He clawed at the dirt desperately trying to find a grip, but he was only covering himself in more sediment. A low, beastly, growl made him cease all movement. He slowly turned around, and looked into the blackness. He stared into iridescent, blood red eyes, staring into his soul. Rumble screamed like a terrified, six-year-old girl. The other mechs awaiting his return were startled by his outburst.
"Rumble!" Frenzy screamed and reached out to the black cloud. Soundwave still held him back. A faint scraping noise came within the cloud. A tiny, square object flew through the cloud and bounced towards Frenzy and Soundwave. The object rolled to a stop in front of the aforementioned mechs. Frenzy carefully rolled the block over with his foot. He dropped to his knees and stared at the block. It was Rumble's head. His brother's head. He stared at his brother's frightened expression. Soundwave knelt down next to Frenzy and picked up Rumble's head. He too, stared at his frightened face.
"Danger: Unavoidable," was all Soundwave warbled. Neco shot straight up and out of the massive debris cloud. He held his bloodied head high and released a victory roar that chilled mechanical bodies to their sparks. They knew they did not stand a chance if Sapphire could not. Neco's head was missing patches of skin and some were so deep, the bones on his cheeks, jaws, and snout showed. He was missing strands of flesh all over his body as well, but those were his only wounds he received that were visible. He more than likely suffered a few broken bones here and there, but no one was concerned about his well-being. The Cybertronians were too busy worrying if they were going to live to see the next sunrise. Some Decepticons (Starscream) were fleeing like the cowards they are, but no one was frowning down upon their reaction. Many wanted to do the same, but they knew if they did, no one would dare to confront him.
Neco eyed the Cybertronians as a tiger eyes its next meal. He descended onto the arid ground below him. The remaining Decepticons and Autobots drew their weapons and began to fire at the black dragon. The blaster fire bounced harmlessly off of him as he slithered closer and closer towards the mechs. He hissed wickedly at his prey and selected his first two victims: The Autobot and Decepticon commanders. He snatched his two targets as they were firing furiously at his face and neck trying to find a weak spot on his armored body. He scoffed at their pathetic attempts and raised them both over his jaws full of serrated teeth. He dropped both commanders into his gaping jaws. He was going to savor their flavor—only two dozen left to taste. But before Neco's prey fell into his throat; his body was suddenly yanked away just in the nick of time. The two mechs could hear the clacking of teeth behind their backs.
Neco flailed in surprise as he was no longer in control of his body's functions. He started to bash his head against the ground repeatedly, and claw his body like a dog digging for his buried bone. Then, his body rose over the lingering cloud of dust, and slammed back down into the rock-hard ground—twice. Electric blue blood shimmered vividly on his black skin as he was once more, picked up by the invisible force from his abdomen. His body snapped high into the sky, through the puffy clouds above. The cloud of dust split into two, and finally revealed the enormous crater. Hovering above the crater was none other than Sapphire. She held the lifeless body of Rumble under her right arm while her left hand was extended out in front of her bowed head. Her scarlet colored hair draped in front of her face, partially obscuring her eyes. They were faintly burning in a pale blue light. She looked defeated. Her shirt was shredded and matted with wet, mahogany blotches. Some spots had already crusted over. A black undershirt was revealed and it too, had been ripped away, revealing portions her stomach and left side. The skin had been torn off, but dull, silver metal plating was where muscle and tissue were supposed to be.
The metal replacements were also on portions of her right side and stomach as well. Her intact arm had pieces of cloth dangling from her elbow, and wrist. Silver plates of metal were shimmering in the gaps on her arm. Her palm was missing all of her faux skin, and it too, was made of metal. Finally, on her face, more patches of the mysterious metal plating were showing on her left cheek, forehead, and chin. The right side of her head had smears of blood streaming down, and dripping onto the ground below. She also had the cuts that formed the "x" across her face, the holes in her throat, and the rest of her injuries she sustained in her beast forms. She raised her head and held a stoic expression while casting her eerie gaze off into the horizon. She shakily lowered her arm, but her eyes were still emitting the pale blue light. Soundwave approached the ridge of the crater with Frenzy following closely by his side. The cassette deck was cradling Rumble's head. She slowly, moved her gaze away from the horizon, and to the pair of Decepticons. The three never spoke a word. Sapphire tossed Rumble's body at Soundwave. The former caught it and without warning, turned on his heel and walked away from the female hovering over the massive pit. Frenzy scrambled to catch up with his creator, but paused, and looked back at Sapphire with a confused expression. She looked up into the sky above her head.
"Your brother will live." Sapphire never moved her lips.
Frenzy allowed a smile pass over his facial plates before he ran off to Soundwave. Sapphire ignored Frenzy's reaction to her comment. She locked her vision on Neco's form as he quickly raced into view. The light in her eyes slowly turned red, and the intensity of the light grew the closer her brother's form came. Her face changed too, into a scowl, then, into a snarl. Sapphire raised her arms, and flattened out each palm to the sky. Her brother had morphed back into his humanoid form and he was diving head first at his sister. An orb of red light flashed around her briefly before it disappeared from sight. Neco crashed into the invisible barrier. The orb re-materialized and began to spark wildly all over its surface.
Sapphire's left arm flopped uselessly at her side, but her right remained steady. Neco continued to ram his face into the sparking, red, barrier. His sister continued to hold her ground. The sparking energy from the barrier started to attack its assailant. Neco was slowly being forced away from the barrier. He tried to keep a neutral expression, but the barrier was proving to be too much for him to handle. Sapphire uttered a battle cry and pushed up with her only hand. The barrier encasing her shattered into thousands of shards. All of the energy it stored from Neco's attack was released back at him. He was sent toppling through the air. He fell unglamorously onto his back fifty-yards away from his sister. She lowered herself to the edge of the crater and began to stalk towards her moaning brother. As she dragged her weary body towards her target, she reached around to her left hip and grasped something invisible. She pulled up on the invisible object. The curtain of invisibility was lifted, revealing the chrome colored hilt with a black grip. Six, off-white spikes encircled each end of the chrome colored handle. A small, red button and an even smaller silver button were on the grip of this chrome hilt. Sapphire rotated the silver button with her thumb until it clicked. Then, she pressed the red button and a blade of silver light shot out four-feet towards the ground. The blade hummed quietly in her hand. She flipped her lightsaber around in her hand as she drew closer to her brother. He saw her weapon, and struggled to stand up again. He held out both of his hands and two more, four-foot long, spiked, red blades materialized into thin air. Neco smirked and chuckled at his sister's enraged expression.
"You haven't changed, sister. Still the ruthless fighter I once knew." He crossed the tips of his blades in front of his face, and golden sparks flew from contact. He spun both blades around his body and froze with both blades aiming at his sister, "Your move."
"You're still a psychopathic murderer," Sapphire mentally spoke. She smiled wickedly, and twisted the red button counterclockwise until it clicked. Another blade of light snapped out of the other end of her lightsaber. "You haven't changed one bit yourself." She spun her dual-sided lightsaber in between her fingers as she continued to walk forward. Neco growled and began to trot towards his sister.
"It's a shame you lost an arm," Neco pumped his legs faster and faster, "I thought this final duel would be more of a challenge!" He charged his sister who made no effort to dodge his attack. He thrust both of his swords at her chest. Sapphire stopped her advance and swiped her blade across the two blades of red steel. Vhoosh. The red steel blades were sliced off just below their handles. Neco was stunned to see he was only thrusting forward harmless, singed handles. He could not stop his momentum and his sister took advantage of his rash move. She slashed his left arm off just below his elbow. Then, pivoted on her heel and struck his jaw with a spin kick. He lost his grip on his useless handles, and stumbled backwards. He fell to his knees and grasped his elbow as if his life depended on it. Lucky for him, a lightsaber's blade will on contact, cauterize any opening for blood (in this case) to come spewing out.
"You bitch! You cut off my arm!" Neco roared at his sister with uncontrollable rage. She just smiled impishly.
"We're even now." Sapphire lunged forward and plunged her blade into Neco's chest, just below his heart. He gasped and stifled his breathing. His sister's face was only inches from his, "You were a fool challenging me, brother. I don't leave those who deserve to die, alive." She twisted her blade and yanked it out from his chest. He fell backwards onto the ground, gasping for breath. She called upon a mystical power she mastered from the same planet where she learned to wield her sacred weapon of light, to pick up her defeated brother. She forced him to gaze weakly into her demonic, red eyes.
"You've taken away everything from me!" Sapphire mentally shouted, her face replicated her emotions, "My family!" She slashed off the rest of his right arm, "My friends!" His left arm was next, "My memories!" She sliced off both of his legs with one sweep of her lightsaber. Neco screamed every time she dismembered a limb. Now, he was just a torso with a head. She whipped her arm around once more to decapitate him, but she stopped inches away from his neck. She was breathing heavily from exhaustion, and loss of blood. Her sight was beginning to blur but she ignored the suppressing feeling that was slowly, overtaking her body. She was not finished with her brother. Yes! Make him suffer! It feels good to be alive again!
"You've killed billions of innocent beings from all corners of this universe!" She flicked her index and middle finger out, and his dismembered body went sailing through the air. Sapphire disappeared into thin air, and re-appeared behind her brother's flying body. She leapt ten feet into the air and simultaneously tossed her dual-sided weapon into the sky. She flipped into the air, and brought both of her feet down just as her brother's body passed below her. He was struck in the chest and knocked back into the ground. Sapphire landed over his body and leered at him. She raised her metallic arm into the sky and her lightsaber landed neatly in her palm. Everything fell silent once more, and all that could be heard was a faint humming noise. Seconds passed and neither being moved. She continued to glare at Neco's defeated form. He twitched and wriggled sluggishly. Sapphire clicked the red button on her weapon and both blades retracted back into its hilt. She tossed her weapon to her side and it rolled to a stop on the dry, crusted, ground. A large shadow encased the area; it was a passing cloud. She averted her gaze to the cloud.
"Let us finish this in the rain." She held up her index finger and a tiny blue ball formed at the tip. The ball blasted up into the cloud. The white, fluffy cloud instantly changed into a dark, grey color. The grey cloud expanded quickly, and engulfed the sky as a hungry whale sucks up a massive school of krill. A rumble of thunder was the catalyst to the artificial thunderstorm. Rain poured relentlessly on every being in the area. The rain started to wash off all the blood on Sapphire's face. The rain streamed down her metallic arm. The rain soaked her being down to the bone. She gazed up into the massive rain cloud. Bolts of lightning were lighting up the darkened sky like fireworks at night. A smile of pure delight implanted itself on her face. She started to chuckle, and it grew into a full-fledged laugh of ecstasy. Freedom at last! Oh, how long has it been, my dear? Sapphire laughed harder; she laughed like a psychopath. Her brother managed to lift his head to see what it was his sister was laughing uncontrollably at.
"Do you know how long it has been since I've felt free?" Sapphire started, as she still gazed up into the weeping sky, "Eons!" She snapped her head back at Neco's body. Her pupils were narrowed into tiny slits. She twitched with every move she made, "But you!" She pointed an accusing finger at her brother's torso. Her crazy smile instantly, wiped off her face. "You have been living too freely for too long." Her eyes lit on fire with the red aura once more. Her hand fell to her side as Neco's body was violently dragged in front of her.
"Sister…you know you still need me!" Neco begged between his coughs, "I can show you where our world is!" Sapphire glare pierced his soul. He was staring into an empty shell. "Please, sister—cough—I am your blood-brother!" He desperately shouted out. Blood started to seep out of his mouth. Sapphire raised her right palm to her face. Her fingers started to morph into mini-vines with tips as sharp as thorns on a rose. They started to wriggle in anticipation. Neco begged, and begged his sister to spare his life.
"Cowards always beg. My family never begged for mercy on Uur'a. They taught me how to deal with a hut'uun like you," The five, pointed vines whipped out and impaled Neco's head. A flash of lightning lit up the sky with a white light. CRACK. The vines pushed on his skull, until it popped like a balloon. Fluids splashed onto her face, and arm, but they were quickly washed away from the rain. His de-limbed body fell lifelessly to the muddy ground. A boom of thunder rolled over the area. Her bloodied vines retracted back to her palm and became fingers again. She stared apathetically at the slashed torso. Blood was pouring out where his neck should have been. Vultures had been patiently waiting from afar and a few ventured out in the downpour to circle around the area. Sapphire deemed his body was too rotten, even for the vultures to feast upon. She made a fist and when she opened it, a green flame appeared in her palm. She blew on the flame and it floated serenely in the air and landed on Neco's remains. It caught ablaze and began to burn it to ashes. She blew four more flames and they found their way to his other limbs. Sapphire turned and ambled her way back to the crowd of mechs who were horrified at what they witnessed. She stopped and laughed to herself.
"Fire doesn't hurt you, eh?" Boom. She continued her rainy trek back to the robots. With each step a hunk of mud stuck to her shoes and her tattered pants. Megatron and Optimus just glanced at each other for a brief moment. They witnessed what would eventually become their fate: Sibling versus sibling. One would stand, one would fall.
Sapphire stopped ten-yards in front of the two faction leaders. She gave Megatron an evil stare, "I kept my word to you. Now leave." Megatron scowled at the injured Cresitian. The Decepticon leader knew she was severely injured, and maybe if he moved fast enough he could blast her into particle dust. Sapphire's eyes narrowed slightly. Another flash of lightning flushed the area white. A fifty-foot-long, segmented, metallic, snake monster loomed over his head. Scars from previous battles were littered all over the monster's dull, silver body. Long and flat appendages stuck out, like an apple stuck in an arrow shaft, on every other blocky segment. The monster's head was broad and flat, and had huge dagger-like teeth molded into its lower jaw. The lower jaw stuck out further than its upper. Angry, red eyes on this monster were set wide apart on its flat skull. The metallic snake monster glared menacingly at the Decepticon leader. Megatron stumbled backwards and just stared in awe at the fearsome monster. Sapphire slammed her arrowhead shaped tail, into the ground and roared in Megatron's face. Her blocky, white teeth used for crushing prey, were finally revealed. She slammed her jaws like the steel traps they were, and created a hair-raising screeching noise when her teeth scrapped against her upper jaw.
"Decepticons! Return to base immediately!" He leapt up into the air, and flew back to their sunken base, The Nemesis, located somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Thundercracker, Soundwave, Frenzy, Astrotrain, and all six Constructicons were the only ones who remained. They gladly followed their leader back to their base.
The gigantic, steel, behemoth watched with weary eyes as the Decepticons vanished out of sight. The rain continued to pound the area, and it did not appear it was going to let up anytime soon. Water was streaming off the jagged edges of the metallic snake like cascading waterfalls. A crack of lightning struck. Sapphire was back to her normal self. She was panting heavily through her nostrils. She glanced at the towering Optimus Prime. He gave her a look that signified he was about say something. She held up her metallic hand that still had blood washing off its fingertips. She let her head fall to her chest, and she sighed.
"Later…" Sapphire's world went black and she collapsed, landing face first into the muddy ground.
Sapphire could hear faint voices, but she could not decipher what they were saying. She saw opaque, blocky shadows moving all around her. Her head was pounding too much for her to focus what these shadows were doing. So, she succumbed to her weakness and blacked out for the nth time. Only this time, she could hear whispers inside of her head. Strange, alien voices were whispering too many things all at once for Sapphire to understand. She only caught something about an eye, a black crystal, and…Sorika?
Sapphire opened her eyes and saw she was in a dark room filled with medical equipment. No…it can't be! Sapphire tried to sit up, but she found out her arms, legs and chest were strapped down with metal restraints. "No! This isn't happening!" She stated to panic but a cold, scaly, two-fingered claw grabbed her right arm. Sapphire traced the claw up a slender arm, and to an aged, reptilian face. The reptile had blue, scaly skin. The scales under its eyes sagged considerably. A very thin, but long, white mustache was hanging off the snout of this reptile. Small, round spectacles sat on its snout. It had a long black cloak concealing the rest of his raptor body. She recognized who this ancient reptilian was: Her father back on Uur'a.
"Be still, my daughter. No one will harm you. The ones you call Autobots had to restrain you because you had to undergo surgery for your arm." Sapphire's head was reeling from confusion, and pain.
"Father, I saw you die! How can you possibly be talking to me right now? How come I can feel your touch, sense your life-force, and hear your voice? This doesn't make any sense!" Sapphire thrashed in her restraints. Horrific memories of her time on the asteroid were pouring back into her mind. She wanted to forget about those days.
"In time, the answer will reveal itself to you, although you may not like it." Sapphire wondered what he meant by that. "I must go now; the one called, Bluestreak is coming to visit you again." Again? "Goodbye, my dearest daughter. You make me so proud." The ancient raptor blended into the shadows and disappeared from sight.
"No, wait! Come back! Father!" Sapphire screamed out her final word. She heard footsteps clank lightly against the metal floor. Bluestreak came running in the med bay and saw Sapphire desperately trying to break free from her restraints. He ran over to the berth she was lying on and felt for the button on the underside that would release her restraints. She kept repeating, "Father, father, please come back." Tears were welling in her eyes that had returned to their normal color. Bluestreak found the switch and pressed it. The clamps quickly retracted back into the berth. Sapphire stood up too quickly and tried to chase her father into the shadows, but her wounds proved to be greater than she expected. She collapsed, but Bluestreak caught her.
"No! Let me go! Father!" Tears came streaming down her cheeks as she tried to punch Bluestreak away from her. She was still very weak from her battle, and did nothing more than slightly dent his chest plating. "Father, I'm sorry, I couldn't save you before…" She was sobbing uncontrollably into Bluestreak's chest. She buried her face into his chest so he would not see how much pain she was in. She held most of her emotions back during the fight, but now, she was behind closed doors. "I was too weak…I failed you. I'm sorry…" Bluestreak knew why Sapphire had never given him strange looks when he went on his famous rants—she lost everything, just like him. His hometown, Praxus was a peaceful town before the Decepticons came and destroyed the entire city, and killed all of its citizens. He was the only survivor from the devastating attack. The attack was a demonstration to show what the Autobots at the time, were dealing with during the early stages of the Great War. But, just like so many other cities, boom! It was erased off the face of Cybertron. All his friends, Gollum, Buzz Shot, Zeta, were dead. His creator, Switch Blade was killed too. The one he thought he would become spark mates with, Bolt—she was dead too. So many mechs he loved and cared about were gone forever. His world was swept away from him, into a land of darkness. Sapphire endured the same thing. All of her friends, her family members were executed…by her own brother. He could never imagine Prowl, a mech he considers to be his brother, being the one responsible for all the deaths of Praxus' citizens. How could a brother do that to his sister? How could family be so cruel to its own member? How could anyone live with themselves after something that horrific?
Bluestreak was brought back to reality when Sapphire uttered a pained, feral roar. "I can't save anyone I love! They're all dead!" She cried harder into Bluestreak's chest. He held her tighter and he could not help but want to break down as well. He fell to his knees and started to cry, a single, blue tear of energon rolled down his cheek. "Father…father, please come back…I miss you…"
"Why did I live?" The two broken beings shared the same haunting memories, felt the same overwhelming sadness, and believed in the same devastating conclusion from their ordeals, "Why did I live? Why did I live…?"
********EDIT********** I didn't realize this when I posted it, but I named a planet wrong in this chapter... ^^;
A/N: Consider this as a late Christmas /New Year's Gift. Who do you think said the last line? Bluestreak, or Sapphire? *eyes reader* That's for you to decide. I really like putting these two together, good things just happen :D
YES! THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN WANTING TO DO FOR LIKE, 2 YEARS NOW! *HAPPY DANCE* AHEM. What I mean is this: I'm really happy I finally made it to the final battle between Sapphire and Neco :D This battle's outcome has changed about 3 times…? ^^;
Yeah =P
ALSO, I'd like to apologize if the fighting scenes seemed…awkward. I wasn't really certain how to write fighting scenes, but I think I did my best. *shrug*… But I don't feel sorry for writing in all those gory scenes! :D
Please, R&R! : )