Insert usual disclaimer here.

"This place is a mess," Telcatwo murmured to herself as she walked along the edge of the brig, moving dangerously close to the laser bars as she did so. She had given up trying to get someone's attention five minutes ago, and while she had no idea that the Maximals on the bridge were very happy for that fact, she was starting to become annoyed. "My first batch of cranberry muffins, and they're going to end up burnt to a crisp!"

Pouting, she turned so her back was to the bars and threw herself to the floor, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared her drab surroundings. It was a few more moments before she got to her feet again, slowly approaching the back wall of the brig and peering at it curiously. There, at each corner of the wall, were what seemed to be heavy-duty bolts.

An idea now firmly in mind, she reached into the pockets at the front of her white apron and pulled out her trusty stainless steel measuring spoons (because honestly, you should never leave home without them). She smiled happily as she took one off the clip and turned it so that she was holding the spoon end of it, using it as am impromptu screwdriver as she started working at one of the bolts.

~*~

"Honestly Optimus, it's not that bad."

The Maximal Commander looked at Rhinox, his right optic twitching.

"Well okay, maybe it is that bad. But it could be worse," Rhinox pointed out, trying to reassure the other Maximal as best he could.

"Don't jinx it," Optimus groaned, seriously debating going on vacation until Lashana and Insanity Co. had left the dimension. Unfortunately, his daydreams of never having to deal with another Elf for as long as his spark stayed online were interrupted by a loud crash from the depths of the ship, the sound echoing loudly through the numerous corridors.

"Uh... Optimus? I know you don't want to hear this but..." Rhinox trailed off and turned away from the screen he had been studying. "There's a breach down in the brigs."

"Prime. Just.... Prime...."

~*~

"Hey Lashana! Wait up!"

Startled, she twisted in mid-air and blinked at Cheetor as he flew over to her. "What are you doing? I thought I told the lot of you to stay put!"

"We did... for a whole of three seconds."

"Lovely." Annoyed, she had really wanted a few moments alone, she turned and continued flying towards the Pred base, her gaze constantly darting over the ground below them as she searched for the talisman shard. "Ne, don't suppose you can scan for the talisman's signature, can you?"

"Er..."

She rolled her eyes. "Nevermind. I guess we'll just have to do this the hard--ACK!" She jerked to the side as a laser blast skimmed her left shoulder and banked left to avoid another shot. "I think we just lost the advantage of surprise. And... I never knew how ridiculous a flying metallic purple t-rex looked until now. Oh well, Mewtwo!!"

~*~

~Ow!~

"What?" Duncan frowned as the pokemon nearly doubled over, his hands raising to clutch at his head. "You okay?"

~I will be when Lashana stops screaming like that....~ Mewtwo winced, mentally pulling himself away from her thoughts before she yelled for him again. Apparently he had neglected to remind her that he had been keeping telepathic tabs on her since the beginning of this little mission. ~She and Cheetor are being attacked by... a bug and barney's reject cousin? Er... she must mean one of the Predacons.~

"What is 'barney'?" Dinobot growled, his attention divided between the aerial fight that was now very visible in the air above them and Mewtwo's report.

"It's a big stupid purple dinosaur," Duncan explained.

"Ah." The ghost of a chuckle left the raptor. "Then they must be fighting Megatron and Inferno... the other Inferno."

~Right.~ Eyes glowing, Mewtwo crouched slightly, then leapt into the air, using his powers to fly up towards the Elf that was expertly dodging weapons fire while Cheetor. ~Lashana! Would you fight back already?!~

"I can't!" she yelled back, twisting to dodge another shot. "I'm low on energy remember? I can't weave another spell and fly at the same time!"

Damn. Forgot about that... Speeding up, the pokemon readied a psychic attack and loosed it on the Pred that was shooting at Lashana, distracting it long enough for him to dart down and grab her out of the air, smirking as he playfully tossed her onto his back. ~Hold on.~

"What are you... Ack!" Throwing her arms around his shoulders, she could do nothing but hold on for dear life as he rocketed upwards, a blue shield of energy encasing them as he merely ploughed the psychotic flying ant over and then hammerblowed it in the head, leaving it to plummet to the ground below. "Well, one down, one to go. Cheetor! Bud, you okay?"

"Yeah! I'm just singed!" the transmetal cat called back as he banked and turned to fly back to them. "Where's Megatron."

Lashana and Mewtwo exchanged glances. "Uh oh."

~*~

"By the Matrix.... How'd she manage to knock a wall down?!" Optimus growled as he looked into the brig from his position near the edge of the wall that was now lying on the floor.

Rhinox crouched and picked up a large bolt, then darted his gaze over the fallen wall. "She... unscrewed it."

"You have got to be joking. You're telling me, that she took apart a wall, got out, and that she's now loose in the ship?!"

"Um.... yes." Glancing away at the look that Optimus sent him, he slowly straightened and looked into the brig for a moment longer before the sudden slight crackle of the shipwide communicator caught his attention. "What..."

"Wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin', Planning and dreamin' each night of his charms, That won't get you into his arms, So if you're looking for love you can share!"

Optimus grimaced. "What the slag is that?!"

"All you gotta to is hold him, And kiss him, and love him, And show him that you care. Show him that you care, just for him. Do the things that he likes to do. Wear your hair just for him..."

"Um.... I think it's an old earth song..." Rhinox winced.

"Slaggit, she's in the control room. C'mon! We can't let her leave the ship!"

~*~

Telcatwo grinned as she sang along to the lyrics of her favourite song. It always made her feel better to sing while she cleaned and decorated. And lords knew that this place needed a good helping of both! It was just so drab in here! All serious and warlike, these people needed to lighten up a little! And she was just the gal to help them do it!

The sound of heavy footsteps made her turn to look down on of the corridors, smiling as the two 'bots ran onto the bridge. "Why hello! How are you? I hope you don't mind, I just had to tidy this place up a little and give it a little colour. It was just so dreary in here!"

When they skidded to a stop and stared at the control room, she turned and admired her work along with them, loving how the pink curtains, pink cushions, pink doilies, pink wallpaper and the pink tablecloth for that big table really gave the room some life. Smiling, she looked back at them. "Isn't it great?" Getting no answer, she placed her fists on her hands and scrunched up her face as she glared at them, not even paying attention to the blank comatose look in their twitching eyes. "Don't you like it? Hmpft. This just proves that you males have no taste whatsoever."

Still getting no answer, she rose a finger to her lips and nibbled on her fingernail for a moment before shrugging, throwing a few doilies onto them, then heading for the lift. "You're no fun at all. Besides, I really should go try to save that batch of muffins."

Completely mind-numbed by all the pink, all Rhinox and Optimus could do was twitch in reply, neither of them conscious enough to realise that she had just waltzed right out of the ship.

~*~

Back in the air above the wasteland, Lashana was frantically trying to see where Megatron had vanished to. "I mean really, how hard can it be to find a huge purple lizard?!"

~This coming from the person who ran right into Malcho without even noticing that he was there.~

"Hey! That doesn't count, I had just woken up and I hadn't had my coffee yet!"

"Um.... guys? I think the others are having a bit of trouble," Cheetor said, interrupting their bickering as he pointed down to the land party, frantically scrambling for cover as the rest of the Pred gang opened fire on them.

Mewtwo sighed and gathered power to himself. ~Ready?~

Grinning, Lashana clutched tighter at his shoulders. "Go!" Her stomach lurched as he dove from the sky, using a shield to protect them from the air pressure as he picked up speed. When she was certain that he was about to crash head first into a lava pit, he twisted and landed heavily on his feet, skidding to a halt before launching ten black energy balls at the Preds. "Ug... I think I left my stomach back there somewhere...."

~You said you were ready,~ he reminded her with a smirk as he easily deflected a laser blast and leapt out of the way of a missile. ~You going to get off my back so I can fight?~

"No. I'm going to get off your back so I can fight." Thus said, she hopped off and drew her sword, baring her fangs in an insane grin as she looked over at the Preds. "Hello."

~*~

"By the Pit, she's insane!"

"Yeah. You kinda get used to that after a while," Duncan shrugged, looking down at a still slightly out of it Rattrap for a moment before nudging him in the side with the toe of his shoe. "Hey. Wake up already, this isn't the time for a beauty nap!"

"Matrix knows he needs it," Dinobot muttered under his breath as he transformed, ducking to avoid a laser blast that just barely singed his cheek. He waited until there was a brief lull in the barrage, then rose above the rock outcropping they had taken shelter behind, fully intending to return fire....

"What?" Frowning at the look of shock on the raptor-bot's face, Duncan stood up next to him and stared out at Lashana and Mewtwo as they used powers and sword respectively to deflect any and all shots being fired while Cheetor fired at the slightly mind-boggled Preds from above. "Well, what did you expect? Those two love to fight. C'mon!"

"Duncan! Where've you been?!"

"Hiding behind that rock," he grinned, catching Lashana's glance of exasperation as he ran over to her and took a stance next to her. "A little help? This is my favourite katana."

"Right, right. ASTRAL VINE!" Red light played over the blade of his weapon, glowing brightly for a moment before seemingly being absorbed into the katana itself. Thus was the way the spell worked. It rendered anything, weapon or not, indestructible. Being used on a sword made the weapon capable of cutting through anything and even deflecting minor spells. "Have fun! I need a few moments to do the incantation!"

"Incantation?!" Dinobot skidded to a stop behind her and growled. "You cannot weave that Dragon Slave spell here! You could render the ground completely unstable! Haven't you noticed that this is all one huge lava pit?"

Lashana snarled softly and narrowed her eyes. "Read the t-shirt, bub. You're getting very close to pissing me off. Now move." Not waiting for an answer, she shoved him out of the way. "If you want to do something constructive, get Cheetor to land so he doesn't get caught in the line of fire, will you?"

Completely ignoring the glare of sheer rage he was giving her, she walked over to the rock outcropping Duncan and the others had been hiding behind and leapt up to stand on the top of it, grinning at her slightly better vantage point. "Well now, let's see if we can't barbeque us some Preda---" She froze as something brushed her pant leg and slowly looked down...

....right into Tarantulas' face.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! SPIDER!! KILL IT!!! KILL IT!!!"

~Wha-- Ooof! Lashana, what?~ Mewtwo looked up from the Elf that was now seemingly attached to him, and blinked at the large metallic spider that was perched on the rock outcropping she had been heading for, his eyes widening when a second spider - this one obviously resembling a more natural spider - crept up to join the first. ~Uh...~

"....kill it.... you have to kill it...."

"She faces off against the entire Predacon force without fear and yet she's afraid of spiders?" Dinobot rolled his optics and pulled his sword him it's subspace compartment.

"Um... there's nothing wrong with that," Duncan muttered, though there wasn't much conviction in his voice.

"Nothing except for the fact that thanks to her fear, we're surrounded," the raptor snarled.

~Dammit.~ Mewtwo wrapped his arms around Lashana and hugged her gently as he eased himself into her mind, gently calming her. ~Lashana. Lashana, you have to fight them. I can't hold all the Preds off by myself.~ That was a lie and he knew it. But he needed to goad Lashana's protectiveness of himself and Duncan into play so that she'd forget about the spiders and her fear of them and do what needed to be done. ~Lashana....~

Still trembling, she slowly released him and pulled away, the talismans she wore starting to glow as she rose her hands. "'Two, get them all together."

~With pleasure,~ he smiled, looking over at the two Predacon spiders and smirking as he sent a horde of black energy balls at them, easily forcing them to rejoin the other Preds by simply herding them in that direction.

"Uh oh," Duncan breathed, recognising the red aura of Power that was starting to appear around the Elf.

"Darkness beyond twilight. Crimson beyond blood that flows, buried in the flow of time...."

"What's she...?" Cheeter frowned as he landed next to Dinobot, then gulped and started backing away. "Oh no..."

Mewtwo smirked at the fear in the bot's voice and calmed sidestepped to avoid another missile from the Preds. ~You know,~ he telepathed to them, doing what Lashana called his 'wideband' telepathy. ~You really should be running away now.~

"In thy great name I pledge myself to darkness...."

"Ha! You think we're afraid of that little light show," Tarantulas called back as he transformed, chuckling softly. "What fools do you take us for?"

"Very stupid ones!" Duncan yelled back, yelping as he danced out of the way of a laser blast.

"Let all the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess!"

Cheetor dropped to the ground and covered his head, dimly aware that Duncan had done the same. "Fire in the hole!"

"DRAGON SLAVE!!"

Everything happened at once. Since everyone had been paying attention to Lashana, no one had noticed the pink and white form slowly picking her way through the wastelands, her outfit a stark contrast to the ground around her. Upon seeing the Elf start to loose the obviously destructive spell right at her little group, Telcatwo could do nothing else except cry out a warning and run forward to stand between them and the blast, instinctively raising her hands to defend herself as the attack loomed into her line of sight.....