CHAP 10

Six hours later

Sari looked out the windshield of 42 at the planet before them. "What planet is that?" she asked. "Is that it?"

"Yes, it's Trade World," Buzz said, turning to look at her.

The girl stared at the planet for a moment, letting his words sink in. "It sure looks different from up here," she commented. "Less crowded looking and not so smelly."

"Well we're in space," Buzz told her. "So from up here, it looks peaceful."

"I know that," she said to him. She returned her attention to the planet. "I wonder why the space bridge sent us there in the first place? I mean your universe has many planets, so why was that one singled out?"

"I don't know," he responded. "But a lot of things happen on Trade World. Maybe because of all the neon lights and robotic energy, it kind of caused a kind of magnetic attraction."

Sari didn't respond to that. She merely nodded. If he was expecting her to confirm that he was sadly disappointed. His theory might be right and it might not be. "If that's true maybe we could try to put a space bridge there."

"That won't be a good idea," Buzz told her.

"Why not?"

"I can answer that," Prowl said, standing beside her. He took the pose he always did when he was explaining complicated things. One arm at his side and his left hand touching his chin. "From the information I gathered; Trade World is full of shady characters," he explained. "If a space bridge were to be constructed there it would cause too many problems because wanted criminals would use it to warp out of the universe and wind up in other dimensions that would not be able to handle them."

"Exactly," Buzz said, nodding, though he also looked a bit surprised that the Autobot knew that.

Sari looked at Prowl. "How did you figure that out?" she asked him.

The cyber ninja looked at her and said simply. "Research."

"Oh," she said turned away and headed back to her seat. There she sat down and folded her arms. Leave it to Prowl to gather information even in a universe he didn't belong in. Well better to be safe than sorry. There was no law that said visitors couldn't gain information about other places."I should do some research too. It wouldn't hurt for me to familiarize myself with the ship too and all of its... advantages."

She looked around and spotted the control panel on the wall that had buttons on it. She remembered XR had been fooling around with it during the trip. She wasn't sure what it was for but it seemed important. Maybe it has some information on it, she thought, getting up and walking over to it. I wonder what kind..

She paused and looked at Prowl and the space rangers in the room. Nobody was paying any attention to her. Good. She turned back to the board and reached out her hand. Her fingers turned into wires and she ran her hands quickly over the keyboard. As she did so images flashed through her mind.

Cool!

She typed a few more things, gaining more and more information as she did so. Wow! These guys sure have gone through a lot. Space worms? Wow, never thought I'd see that.

She was so distracted by what she was doing that she didn't hear XR come up behind her. He folded his arms and glared at her back, offended that she was poking around what he considered his personal space. Only he could talk with the ship so why was she poking around with the control panel? He almost said something then noticed her fingers. They didn't look right. In fact they didn't look organic at all. What in the name of Pluto?!

A nagging feeling at the back of her neck made Sari pause. Somebody was behind her. She looked over her shoulder. XR was staring at her with his mouth hanging open. "What are you staring at, shrimp?' she demanded.

He recovered quickly. "Just what do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

"Nothing," she said, turning around, with her hands behind her back. "What would I be doing?"

"I don't know," he said, rolling over to her. He tried to peek at her hands, poking his head from one side of her to the other. "Maybe hacking into the ship's mainframe."

"Don't be silly," she said. "Why would I want to do that?"

"I don't know," he said, folding his arms. "Why would your fingers look so funny?"

She made an innocent face. "My fingers?"

"Yeah, your fingers." he wiggled his own in front of her face then pointed at her. "Those wiry little fingers. All right. Let's see them."

Rolling her eyes, the girl moved her hands in front of her so he could look at them. Her fingers had returned to normal. "They look fine to me," she said.

"Hmm," he put his hand on the dome covering his head and studied her hands. They looked normal and he wasn't picking up any energy signatures from her. "They look normal."

"See?" she said. "You were seeing things."

XR wasn't willing to admit that. "I know I saw wires coming out of your fingers," he said, giving her a suspicious look. "I'm going to be watching you."

She folded her arms. "Go right ahead," she challenged. "But you won't be seeing anything."

Shadowstar kicked at the bars in her cell, in a vain attempt to break them out. She was barely even denting them and was only succeeding in using up her energy. She rested, glaring at the stubborn bars and cursing her rotten luck. Things had been going bad for her since she'd gotten her lunch stolen by that stupid energy vampire. Oh yes, it was his fault. If he hadn't taken her food she never would have gotten into this mess.

Stupid thieving wannabe, she seethed. When I get my hands on him he'll wish he'd never been activated. She got up and kicked at the bars again. "But first I have to get out of this Pit forsaken cell!"

She began to beat against the bars again, sending hit after rage filled hit into the metal. Still nothing was happening. The dents she had managed to sustain got no bigger and those dents seemed to be mocking her.

After a moment she sighed and sat down on the cot. "Blasted bars."

"Give it up, sweet cheeks." a voice said startling her. She looked up. That purple thing from before came toward her. He pointed at the bars. "These bars are made from reinforced steel. They can't be broken."

He sounds like he's bragging about it. "Oh yeah?" she challenged, getting up and stomping toward the bars. "How about I kick them out just to prove how stupid you sound?"

He laughed at her which only infuriated her further. "If you could do that you already would have," he mocked. "Forget about it, my dear. You're not getting out of there until I say so."

That was the wrong thing to say. She angrily reached through the bars and grabbed the collar of his cape. She yanked him forward until they were face to face. "I think you should say so now," she growled.

"Now now," he said, beating her hands off. "None of that. You wouldn't want me to punish you, now would you?"

She glared at him, disgusted that he was using her own lines against her. "If there is anyone who is going to punish anybody it'll be me," she informed him.

"I am afraid not," he said. He put his hands on his chest. "You see: I'm on the outside of the cell and you are on the inside." he leaned toward her. "Do you know what that means?"

"It means we should switch places," she responded.

"I think not."

She opened her mouth to make a come back then changed her mind. Instead she crossed her arms over her chest and said. "I'm not going to play this foolish game anymore. It's obvious you came down here for a reason besides to antagonize me further. What do you want?"

"Getting to the heart of the matter are we?" he slapped his hands together. "Okay then. I'll tell you."

"This had better be good," she muttered.

He seemed to think so. "Oh I'm sure you'll jump at the chance to do what I am about to propose."

She merely glared at him, her expression saying "Get to the point."

But Zurg wasn't known to get right to the point of things. Oh, he did get there, but in a round about way.

"You mentioned that you were interrupted when you fought a legless wannabe," he said, putting his hands behind his back and pacing. "Mind telling me who this machine was?"

"I don't know his name," she told him. You call this getting to the point?

He looked at her. "So it's a he then?"

"Of course it's a he," she snapped. "If it was a she it wouldn't be alive right now because I would have killed it the moment I laid my optics on it."

"It seems like you have something against your own gender," he observed, putting a hand on his chin. "Why is that?"

"What are you, some kind of psychiatrist?" she demanded. "That really isn't any of your concern."

"Anyway," he said, getting back on topic. "Why don't you tell me about this wannabe you encountered?"

She said nothing. She just glared at him. Why did he want to know about that other vampire so much? "Oh come on," he insisted. "Like it would hurt you to tell me about him."

"Why do you want to know?" she growled. "Why do you even care? After all. You tried to kill me then stuck me in this cell."

He was honest with her. "I am asking because I might know this wannabe," he informed her.

That got her interested. "How would you know this guy?" she wanted to know, leaning toward him.

"Because I might have been responsible for creating him."

That was the wrong thing to say. Her optics flashed green then red as she leaned forward and reached through the bars, once again grabbing the front of his cape, and pulling him toward her until their faces almost touched. "You created that energy stealing thief?!" she screamed, enraged and disgusted. "Why would you do something like that?"

"I don't remember," he said, his eyes getting a weird puppy look to them."Why did your creator create you?"

She could not answer that. She really didn't know. She always figured it was a huge mistake and she never really was intended to be the way she was. But she wasn't going to tell this weirdo that. It wasn't his business. "That does not concern you," she hissed.

Zurg realized they had gotten a bit off topic. He also realized telling her he'd had Nos-4-A2 created was a bad idea. Even if he did pitch his deal to her now she would be unwilling to go along with it. But he wasn't really worried about that because he knew, given more time, she'd change her mind with the right incentive. Right now his biggest worry was getting away from her. She was chocking him!

"Mind letting go of me?" he asked.

She didn't even think about it. "Yes." her expression plainly had murder written on it.

Realizing she really was going to kill him, he freaked. "Ah! Help!" he turned slightly, to look at the person standing behind him. "Get her away from me!"

Warp Darkmatter stepped forward. "My pleasure." he raised his cyborg arm and shot her with the gun.

She took it in the chest and was knocked back, her grip on the evil emperor breaking. She slammed into the back wall of her cell and crumbled to the floor. "Too bad. You know, I was going to let you out," he said to her when she looked up. "But since you're not ready to hear my proposition, you can just stay in here for awhile longer." then he turned and walked away. "I wonder how long you can last without replenishing your energy, miss energy vampire."

"So much for your plan," Warp said as the two headed out of the dungeon. "Now that you told her you're his father she'll never agree to it."

"Oh don't be so quick to jump to conclusions," Zurg told him, waving his hand. "She'll change her mind."

"How?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." then he laughed.

Buzz landed 42 on Trade World a half hour later after he got clearance. "All right, people," he said as they got ready to head out and begin their search. "Let's split into three groups of two. That way we will cover more ground." he turned to the others and named the groups one by one, pointing his finger at each person as he did so. "Mira you go with Booster, Prowl will come with me and Sari is with XR."

Sari and XR looked at each other. "What?!" they exclaimed as one. It was clear neither was happy with his choice.

"Buzz, are you sure that's a good idea?" Mira asked, looking at him. "I usually go with XR and-"

"I don't want to go with pervy bot!" Sari shouted. "He might try to look up my dress or drag me into a strip joint or something just as vulgar."

"What about you?" XR demanded, glaring at her. "You aren't exactly the picture of innocence either!" he looked at Buzz pleadingly. "This is a bad idea. What if she kicks my head off again and it get crushed or something?"

Prowl didn't look too enthralled either. Something told him if they went together it would not end well. "I am not sure that is wise," he told Lightyear. "It's obvious Sari and XR won't do anything except fight if they are forced to go together."

"Thank you, Prowl," Sari said, shooting him a grateful look. She then turned her attention to Buzz. "Listen to Prowl. He's a very wise robot. What he says comes to pass."

"You make me sound like I'm that guy Moses or something," he remarked.

"Naw, Moses parted the Red Sea," she said, giggling at the mental image of the cyber ninja wearing a robe and carrying a staff. "I have yet to see you do something that miraculous. Anyway," Sari went on when she saw the look on his face. "Prowl is usually right about these things."

"Yeah, what she said," XR agreed. "After all; a ten million year old robot can't be wrong all the time."

"Don't tell everyone his age!" Sari shouted, spinning around and kicking off his head.

It landed two yards away. "You see," he said, looking annoyed as he bounced his head around angrily. "This is exactly what I was talking about!"

Booster went to retrieve XR's head. "Maybe you should be a little more sensitive," he suggested as he brought it back to its body.

"Me be a little sensitive?" XR demanded, glaring up at him. "She's the one who keeps kicking off my head! Does she know what that can do to a bot?"

"I guess not." the red alien reached XRs body and reattached the head. "But you could tell her," he suggested, screwing it on.

"Yeah like that will work." the robot grumbled. There was a click and his head went back into place. "That girl is bent on knocking off more than my head."

"Hey, you deserve it," Sari informed him. "Poking your beady peepers where they don't belong."

"You don't have to worry about that anymore, sister," he told her, folding his arms. "You probably wear teddy bears anyway!" .

"What did you say?!" she demanded, kicking his head off again.

"Will you stop that!?" he shouted.

Prowl looked back at Buzz. "You see," he said. "They will kill each other if you keep them together. I know I'm only a visitor here and I'm not telling you how to do your job but it would not be a good idea."

"Let me ask you something," Buzz said, looking over at him.

"Huh?"

"If you did not get along with one of your own partners and your leader made you and that person get together would you do it?"

Prowl didn't have to think about that for long. Out of all the members on his team, Optimus would usually partner him up with Bumblebee. While Prowl didn't exactly hate the younger robot but he did not get along with him most of the time. He knew fighting with the Prime about it wouldn't change his mind about the choice. He would just say he was working with Bumblebee and that was that. "Yes," he replied. "Optimus Prime would partner us up and would say it was to help us learn to get along."

Buzz grinned at him. "Exactly."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Sari exclaimed. "You think pairing me up with Mister underpants fetish here will help us get along?"

"I don't want to see your bear underpants," XR said, when Booster once again reattached his head.

"They're not bears!" she yelled.

He grinned at her. "Prove it!"

"No way!" she protested, doing a stop motion with her arms. "You just want to poke those rotten little google eyes where they don't belong!" she folded her arms and scooted away from him. "If you try to peek at me again I'll do more than kick off your noodle head."

XR rolled over to Buzz. "Come on, Buzz," he said. "You can't be serious about forcing me to partner up with her."

"I am serious," Buzz told him. "Maybe you'll learn to get along."

"Don't count on it," Sari grumbled. "The only thing I'll learn is that your robot friend probably is obsessed with bra sizes too." All the guys stared at her now. "What?" she noticed how they were looking at her. "No, you can't see it!"

"Okay, no more talk about underwear please," Mira said, getting into the discussion. All that talk about bear underpants and perverted robots was making her sick. She looked at one guy then the other, speaking to each in turn. "Prowl and Buzz, why don't you head out first? XR and Sari, you two wait until we're gone and Booster." she walked over to him and grabbed his arm. "You're with me." she started to walk away then turned back to the other two. "XR, keep your mind out of the gutter and Sari please don't give him any ideas. I don't want to meet up with him later and find out he was poking his head in strip clubs."

"Hey," XR said, folding his arms. "That vampire is a girl. She might be there. We have to be thorough"

"What makes you think female vampires work in strip clubs?" Mira and Sari demanded at the same time.

"Nothing," he said. "It just sounds logical."

"No strip clubs!" both girls shouted as one.

He pouted. "You're no fun."

Sari shot Mira a pleading look. "Can we switch partners?" she asked. "Please?"

Mira shook her head. "Sorry, Sari," the Tangean space ranger said, looking helpless. "I can't disobey Buzz's orders. You're stuck with him." she walked away with Booster. "Good luck."

Sari watched the two walk away then sighed. "Rats." she turned to XR, putting her hands on her hips. "All right. We might as well start searching."

Nos-4-a2 ripped the anti-gravity drive from the stop light robot's body with more than a small amount of glee. He smiled with satisfaction. At last! After of hours of searching, he'd finally found the right one. Now he wouldn't have to strain himself anymore.

Laughing to himself, he activated his wings and headed back to his lair. Once I install this I won't have to waste so much energy using my wings all the time, he thought. Lovely.

He was about halfway to the lair when his sensors picked up a very familiar energy signature. Huh? for a brief moment he thought the fembot vampire had returned but then it came to him that the energy signature wasn't other worldly. It was familiar, but not strange. He knew exactly who it belonged to.

The Little One.

He paused in mid-air and scanned the area until he picked up the location it was coming from. Once he had that logged, he went right toward it, resolving to put in the anti-gravity device after he'd had a little fun.

"Okay," Sari said as she and XR walked down the sidewalk. "Where do you think we should start looking for her? and no strip clubs!" she said before he could suggest it.

"You're no fun," he stated.

"Why would I want to go into a strip club?" she asked, putting her one hand on her hip and touching her chest with the other. "I'm a girl."

"You don't have to go in, ya know."

"And neither do you," she said. "Why are you such a pervert anyway? Was your creator real lonely or something?"

"No," he said. "My creators were not lonely."

Sari raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes," he said. "I was built by the LGMs, not some dirty minded mad scientist."

"Those must have been some lecherous LGMs."

"Forget about my creators," he said. "Let's just keep looking. Why don't you tell me something about her that could help?"

"Well she's an energy vampire."

"I know that," he said. "Is there anything else you can tell me about her?"

Sari had to think about that. She had never really paid much attention to Shadowstar, even when the femme had her kidnapped. "She's black and red and can transform into a jet."

"Oh great another one."

"She doesn't transform very often," Sari said. "She likes to scare everyone with her normal mode. I'm sorry. You would have to ask Prowl to tell you more about her. He's the one she's obsessed with. She wants to drain his energy and make him her-" she snapped her fingers. "I've got it! Let's look for a trail of drained machines. That is sure to lead us to her."

"Or Nos-4-a2."

"Who is this Nos-4-a2?" the girl demanded. "You space rangers keep talking about him but you never really specify what he does or what he looks like."

"That's because Nos-4-a2 is our problem," he informed her, pointing into her face. "The only vampire you and your robot pal need to worry about is the one you so carelessly brought to this dimension through your crazy space bridge."

Sari rolled her eyes. "Let's not bring that up again," she said. "You already know that was an accident and.." her face changed. It looked sad. "I don't feel like talking about."

XR noticed her sudden change of mood. "You want to go home, don't you?" he asked.

"Of course I do," she said, raising her hand and wiping her eyes. "My dad and my friends are there."

"I thought Prowl was your friend."

"He is," she said. "But I have other friends too, you know. They're probably worried about us. What if they think we're dead?" unbidden tears started streaming down her face. "I don't want Dad to have to go through that again. Not after what happened before." she covered her face and wept into her hands though she felt dumb for suddenly breaking out in tears in front of him. But she couldn't help it, she sat down on the pavement and just cried.

XR to his credit didn't make a snide comment. He just watched her, unable to say anything. What could he say to her? A girl who was sad wasn't exactly the best person to argue with, even if she was a brat. So he did the best he could. He wheeled over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't be," she said. "It's not your fault."

"I know," he said. "But what you just said now explains your behavior. You miss your father and everyone and just want to go home but you don't know how to tell anyone that so you act like a brat instead."

She glared at him. "Watch it."

"No, hear me out," he said quickly. The robot plowed forward before she had the chance to get angry. "People have different ways they express things. Some of them get depressed about things and act all gloomy. Others tend to cop an attitude to hide how they're really feeling. It's a tough guy thing. You know; telling us how you felt would have been better than acting the way you have."

She sighed. "Maybe you're right," she agreed, standing up. "But its not really any of your business how I was feeling. We have other things to worry about right now, than how I am feeling." she wiped her eyes. "Let's keep moving. We'll never find that freak vampire if I keep breaking down like that."

Nos-4-2 followed the energy signature until he located the source. XR. The little robot responsible for most of his trouble. Well XR and Tye Parsec, but Tye wasn't there. Just XR and..

Hello, who is this? his optics came to rest on the figure the robot was with.

A girl. A girl in an orange and yellow dress. She had red hair pulled back in pigtails and blue eyes. She looked human. But somehow she didn't feel human. He was picking up a strange energy reading coming from her, not unlike the one he'd picked up from the female vampire. There's more than one?

No. If this girl was a vampire XR would not have anything to do with her. Unless she had bitten him but he wasn't getting any abnormal readings from the little one so that meant he was in his right mind and not under any kind of control.

But if she wasn't a vampire, what was she and why did she even have a robotic energy signature?

I must find out.

Without another moments hesitation he dropped out of the sky. His destination: The girl and XR.

A/N

Yes the chapter have been getting longer bwahaha. By the way. Zurg, and the XR and Sari bits are really fun to write about. I so enjoy doing them. Nos picked up the energy signature because his scanner is more powerful than XRs.