CHAP 5

Sari looked at Prowl. "Go ahead," she said, looking somewhat desperate. "Tell them."

The cyber ninja didn't reply. He seemed to be having a hard time trying to come up with the simplest way to explain what an Autobot was. Come on, Prowl! she thought. If you don't tell them they will throw us in the slammer and never let us out until I'm an old woman and you're a rusted heap!

The Commander and Buzz's team were all looking at him, expectant. They were waiting for an explanation as well.

"Well uh..," he began, trying to think of the right words to say. "It's a fraction."

"A fraction of what?" Nebula asked.

"Well of robots," Prowl answered.

The man made a face. "A fraction of robots?" he asked. "What kind of answer is that?"

Prowl sighed. "It's kind of complicated," he began.

"Well try," the man replied, folding his arms. "and it better be good or I will throw both you and your partner in the can right now."

The cyber ninja sighed again. This could take awhile. "All right," he began. "It's like this..."

So the fembot vampire wasn't super powerful after all. She could damage just as easily as he could. He smiled as he flew behind her. This would be easier than he thought. Lovely.

Shadowstar turned on him, something long and dangling in her hands. A chain. Now where did she get that thing?

While he took a moment to figure that out she threw the chain at him, the end wrapping around him five times, pinning his arms to his sides. "Ha! Let's see you get out of that, you freak!' she taunted.

He glared at her. She was calling him a freak!? She was just as much of a reject as he was! Even more so! "Release me at once!"

"Or you'll do what?" she asked, smirking. "You can't do anything."

His expression switched to match her own. "Really?"

Just then a electric charge shot down through the chain. When it reached Shadowstar it coursed into her, electrocuting her circuits. She screamed in pain and let the chain go. The charge stopped but her thrusters conked out and she fell to the landing pad. Meanwhile Nos-4-A2 easily broke free from the chain. It fell to the landing pad in pieces. He laughed as he did so then shot down after her.

The fembot saw him coming but she couldn't do anything about it or fly out of the way. The charge had shorted out her thrusters. So she fell without stopping, helped along when he slammed his hands into her shoulders then pulled away, until she crashed hard into the landing pad. The impact was so great that she cracked the pavement before bouncing once and landing on her back.

Groaning, she put her hands under her and pushed herself up. Behind her she could hear her rival laughing. She turned her head and glared at him. "That was a dumb move."

She got up slowly, keeping her eyes on the other vampire. He seemed to be waiting for her to stand. This made her think he was dumber than he looked. Surely he knew better than to wait for his adversary to get back to their feet before before he made his next move.

But as it turned out she was the one who was dooped. Before she was even standing upright he flew down at her. He reached out a hand and grabbed her arm, yanking hard on it as he swooped by. She was knocked off balance and sent crashing to the ground. She landed on her back and saw him bank and fly into a neon sigh. Before she could figure out what he was doing or move, he crashed into it, absorbing energy then turned back to her and fired plasma out of his hands.

She moved quickly, twisting on her side to avoid being hit. The charge hit the ground where she'd been sprawled only seconds before. He turned and fired at her again. She scrambled to her feet and shot into the air. The thrusters in her feet finally activating. She faced him, open air the one thing between them.

"Ready to give up?" he asked.

"I'll never give up to such an inferior machine such as you," she snapped.

He looked at her with fake pity. "That's a shame," he said before flying at her like a large bird of prey.

"So anyway that's about it," Prowl said, finishing up his explanation about his Autobot insignia.

The Space Rangers and Commander Nebula had listened to the entire story with strange expressions on their faces. As he talked, he realized that they didn't really believe what he was saying but he didn't care. He knew he wasn't lying. When he was finished with his explanation about Autobots, Commander Nebula spoke up first. "Do you really expected me to believe that you came from a planet full of machines that are in some kind of war because the fractions can't get along?!"

"Well it's not like that exactly," Prowl told him, trying to correct him. "But-"

"And do you also expect me to believe that there even is such a planet that is full of machines?!" he demanded, getting in Prowl's face. The cyber ninja noticed he had gold fillings. "What kind of an idiot do you take me for?!"

"A big one," Sari muttered.

He rounded on the girl. "What did you say?!"

She glared at him and opened her mouth to say something but was cut off when Prowl spoke. "It's the truth," he told him. "Why would I lie about something like that?"

Nebula turned back to the ninja and poked him in the chest. "Because Zurg programmed it into your hardware," he told him. "He made this whole thing up to make us believe you aren't from here and thinks this will make us trust you and when we're least expecting it you'll turn on us. I don't think so!'

"I don't even know who this Zurg person is!" Prowl insisted.

"Oh sure you don't," the commander said, folding his arms. "and I'm sure you don't know who Nos-4-A2 is either."

"To be completely honest I don't," the cyber ninja told him. "Though I was led to believe that he is some kind of machine that devours energy."

"Nos-4-A2 is the vampire you and your partner there let loose on Trade World," the Commander replied. "Why don't you tell us why you did that?"

Prowl stared at him for a moment then replied. "The vampire I accidentally brought to that planet was a female."

Now all of them stared at him. Mira nudged Buzz. "I told you," she said, looking at him pointedly.

Lightyear ignored her comment. "What do you mean the energy vampire was female?" he demanded, stepping toward the Autobot. "Did Zurg build another one?"

"No," the cyber ninja replied. "The energy vampire I am talking about came from my dimension."

Commander Nebula looked at him like he was crazy. "Your dimension?" he asked.

"Yes," Prowl told him. "I am not from this universe."

"Now if that isn't the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard I don't know what is!"

"He's not lying!" Sari shouted, attempting to break free from Booster's grip on her arms. If they weren't going to listen to Prowl she'd make them listen to her. "We fell through a space bridge and wound up here! This whole thing is a big misunderstanding!"

The man turned back to her. "Oh really?" he said. "Then why don't you explain it to us?"

Prowl felt now would be a good time to be totally honest and explain the whole thing. He looked around them, noticing alien people walking by but sneaking interested looks at the two prisoners. He had forgotten they were standing in the middle of the hallway. "Can we discuss this somewhere else?" he asked.

The Commander looked back at him. "No," he said. "This place is just as good as any. Anything you have to say is important enough for all my rangers to hear."
Prowl sighed. Yep, this man definitely didn't like robots that much. "Fine." he had no other choice. "Let me begin by saying that the reason you have never heard of Cybertron is because it does not exist in this universe. It exists in the dimension Sari and I came from." he looked at them all. They seemed to be listening. "Before I met this red alien named Booster, Sari and I were on the roof of her father's workplace. I wanted her to type in the co-ordinance to my Master's old dojo."

"So that's why you wanted to use the bridge," she said under her breath.

Prowl continued. "When she started up the bridge the vampire we are looking for came through the portal and attacked us."

"It could have been Nos-4-A2," Buzz replied. "He could have come through the portal into your world and you sent him back!"

"No," Prowl told him, giving him a correcting look. "It wasn't. From what I can guess, while we were fighting, the location was changed. When we fell through the portal we wound up here."

"How do you know this energy vampire you're after came out here?"

"Because she fell in with us."

"Why do you keep calling it a she?"

"Because it is a she," Prowl told them. "Her name is Shadowstar. She is from Cybertron like I am."

"Wait, you're telling me that your universe also has an energy vampire?" Commander Nebula demanded.

Prowl nodded.

"And she came to our universe with you?!"

The cyber ninja could only guess what the man was thinking by then. He seemed to be listening but he wasn't sure if he actually believed him. "Yes," he replied, nodding. "That is what I am saying. That's why I said this was a misunderstanding." he looked at Buzz and his comrades. "Your people obviously thought I was talking about this vampire named Nos-4-A2. From what I gathered, he is a criminal that has been draining machines."

"You got that right." the Commander agreed.

"So," Sari said, getting into the discussion. "Now that we told you what happened, can you let us go now?"

"Now wait a second there, young lady," he said, putting up his hand like a traffic cop. "I never said I believed you. I just wanted to hear what you would come up with."

"Oh come on!" Sari shouted, annoyed. "What more do you need? A big brass band?"

"What I need is proof," he told her. "and right now I don't have any proof."

"You have our word," Prowl told him.

"Which I trust about as much as I trust any machine," he told him. "as far as I can see, neither of you has on iota of physical evidence that what you are saying is true. Until I see some I can't let you go."

Sari gaped at him, her mouth hanging open. She tried to figure out a way to prove that what they were telling was the truth but nothing came to her. She looked at Prowl. His face was a blank and she knew he couldn't think of anything either.

Commander Nebula didn't looked surprised. "I didn't think so."

"So uh sir," Buzz said, stepping forward. "What should I do with them for now?"

"Put them in a holding cell," Commander Nebula told him. "Then we'll-"

"Wait!" Mira shouted, startling everyone.

The everyone looked at her. "Darn it, Private!" the Commander shouted. "You didn't need to shout."

"Sorry sir," she said, looking nervous. "But I think I know of a way to prove that what they are saying is the truth."

"How?"

She raised her hand, wiggling her fingers. "How about some Tangean mind probing?" she asked.

"Good idea!" he shouted, looking pleased. "Now why didn't I think of that?" he stepped aside. "Go right ahead!"

Mira walked over to the prisoners. She looked back and forth between the two of them. Prowl stared at her, wondering what she was going to do. He got his answer a minute later when she turned to Sari and ran her hand right through the girl's face.

"Whoa!" Sari exclaimed, startled. She looked at the woman's arm, her eyes crossing. "Is this sanitary?"

After a moment Commander Nebula asked. "Well?"

"Well there is some weird stuff in here," Mira replied, her hand still in Sari's brain. "I can see some weird- oh okay that was a little too much there." she moved her hand again. "Ah hah! I got it!"

"What?" everyone else asked.

"Just a minute." she left her hand in for a few seconds longer than pulled it out. Sari looked like she was going to faint.. or throw up.. or both as the woman turned away from her. Mira looked at Buzz and the Commander. The look on her face looked somewhat scared or confused.

"What?" Nebula asked.

She looked at Sari, who was being held up by Booster, then at Prowl. "They're telling the truth."

Everyone's eyes grew twice as large. "What?!"

Warp Darkmatter paused to study his surroundings. He was pretty far into the city by then but he hadn't found the energy vampire yet. He lifted a small, flat pad to his eyes and studied it. Something showed up on the screen. A faint energy spike. Until then he hadn't gotten anything.

He smiled. There you are.

Warp then lowered the pad, raised his gun, and took off toward it.

Shadowstar slammed into the landing pad with the other vampire on top of her. While her face was still planted in the concrete he dug his fingers painfully into her shoulders. She screamed in pain and flipped herself over. She growled into his face, her optics flashing green then back to red. "Let go of me!" she shouted in his face.

"I'd rather not," he said, pushing down on her shoulder to keep her from getting up. He was surprisingly strong. "You see I have a bit of a problem and I'm staring at it. This cities machines are mine. I can't have another vampire feeding on energy that rightfully belongs to me."

She growled at him. "Maybe you should learn to be more generous!" then she grabbed his arms and dug her talons into them.

He felt her fingers dig into the metal, breaking right through the plating as if it wasn't there. A shock went through his arms, sending pain through his entire body. He yelled in agony and she managed to get her legs up and under his stomach plating. With a mighty kick, she launched him off of her and into the air. He didn't have time to activate his wings and crashed into the landing pad. She got up, her legs and other places bleeding internal fluids, and ran over to him, wishing she still had her gun. Thanks to him the chain she'd stolen from the stockade back on Cybertron was broken and useless. All she had left was her own abilities and her teeth and she really didn't want to bite him.

With all her luck he was stale too.

She saw he was starting to get up. She could not have that. She lunged at him, crashing into his back and knocking him down. She grabbed his left arm and pulled it behind him, using her leg to pin it against his back. He wiggled around in an attempt to free himself but she just added more weight to it. She wrapped her other around around his neck, pulling it back. He used his free hand to grab that arm and try to pry it loose. She actually felt her arm beginning to give but she forced it to stay where it was. He might be strong but she was stronger when her will was up. She would not lose to what she considered an inferior machine.

"Do you like that?" she asked, pulling back. "Huh? You might not be enjoying this but I am!"

He let out that strange scream. Shadowstar ground her teeth together as the sound tortured her audio receptors. Why did he have to do that?

"Stop that!"

Stop he did but only because he found another way to get her off of him. His face found her arm. Out of sheer desperation he put his mouth over it and bit down.

Prowl felt a great sense of relief when the cuffs came off. He heaved a sigh and rubbed his wrists which had gotten kind of numb from being bound for so long. The first thing Sari did when her arms were free was punch XR's head off.

"Hey!" the robot shouted. "What did you do that for?"

She glared at him, rubbing her fist. "That was for looking up my dress on the ship," she informed him.

"You sure have forgiveness issues," XR grumbled as his body tried to find his head. "I said I was sorry."

She grinned at him. "and now you are forgiven."

He looked like he was about to comment on that then changed his mind. Mira picked up his head and placed it back on his body. "Maybe you should give her some space?" she suggested.

"Why should I?" he demanded. "It's not my fault she-"

"Hey, don't blame this on me, googleface!" Sari cut him off. "You're the little pervert that decided to poke his optics where they didn't belong!"

Commander Nebula didn't really notice what was happening behind him. If he had he would have seen Sari kick XR in the chest and knock him over. He was too busy talking to Prowl. "So there really is another dimension out there?" he said. "I know there's one with an evil Buzz but I didn't think there was more than a mirror of this world."

"I can assure you that there are more," Prowl told him. He looked at Mira. "The female there already told you that. Until today I didn't even know this universe existed. My master mentioned the possibility a few times but I didn't believe him."

"Anyway," Nebula said. "Why don't you tell us about this vampire you're after?"

Oh yes, Shadowstar. He'd almost forgotten about her. "Well her body is painted in different shades of red and black," he explained. "She can turn into a fighter jet."

"Wait!" Buzz exclaimed, cutting him off. "She can change shape?"

"That's right," Prowl told him. "Just like I can. I told you. I'm a transformer."

"Really?" Booster asked, suddenly interested. "What can you turn into?"

"A motorcycle," the cyber ninja answered, looking at him.

"Can we see?" the red alien questioned.

Prowl wasn't sure about that. "I..," he began

"Oh please please please!" Booster begged.

Prowl slapped his face against his palm. "Oh all right." then he transformed, going into vehicle mode.

Now everyone had their eyes on him. "Oooooo!" Booster and Mira said in awe. Buzz whistled. "Impressive."

XR wasn't as stimulated. "That's not that great," he commented.

Sari gave him a look. "What can you do besides popping out guns?' she asked, slapping his chest. A ray gun popped out of it.

"Hey, be careful with that," he said, putting the gun back.

"Whatever." she walked over to Prowl who went back into standard mode. "You think that is cool you should see what I can do." she said.

Prowl looked at her, noticing she was about to go into battle mode. He instantly grabbed her arm and gave it a jerk, pulling her head until her ear was near his mouth. "I think it's a good idea for you to pretend to be a normal human," he said.

She looked at him. "Why?" she wanted to know.

"They might not know what to think of you and.."

She got what he was saying. "Oh. sorry."

Prowl let her go and turned to the Commander. "Uh, Commander," he said to him. "I don't mean to sound like I am in a rush or anything but I really need to head back to Trade World."

"Oh yeah," he said. "You have to find your vampire."

"Well yes," he said.

"Don't worry about it," the Commander said. "We'll get you back there. In fact we'll help you find it." he looked at Buzz. "Lightyear here is the best Space Ranger we have. If anyone can help you with this he can."

Prowl said nothing. He didn't really want to spend anymore time with the space rangers. Not after what had happened earlier. He didn't feel comfortable with it but he didn't want to offend the man so he said nothing. He only nodded his head.

"Okay then," Nebula said. "Let's get you prepared." he put a hand on his back and led him down the hall.

The other followed. Sari noticed XR was rolling behind her and ran to catch up with Prowl. She fell in step with Mira. "Is that tin can of yours always like this?" she asked, glancing back at XR.

Mira looked back at him too. "He's not as bad as you think," she told her. "He might not look like much but he's actually really nice and a good friend."

The girl folded her arms. "I'll believe that when I see it."

A/N

I am going to continue posting this even if nobody really reds it. As long as one person likes this fic I'm going to keep posting the chapters.