CHAP 26

"Will you hurry up?" Shadowstar called, looking over her shoulder so she could glare at Warp Darkmatter who was lagging behind. "At this rate that stupid wannabe will be gone before we even get there! Why in Primus name are you going so slow?!"

Warp, who was gingerly making his way through the tunnel, grimacing as he stepped through the stagnant water, looked up. "I'm going as fast as I can," he stated.

"You are not," she shot back, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. By all appearances it looked like he was doing it on purpose, just to tick her off. "You're as tender footed as a sparkling! Can't you go any faster or do I have to carry you?"

He stared at her hopefully. "Would you?"

"No!" she shouted appalled at the very idea. "What do I look like?"

He frowned. "You're carrying Nimrod," he stated, pointing.

The femme looked at the Grub clinging to her neck. "Nimrod is small and light," she responded, her optics dimming. "You are big and fat-"

"I am not fat!" he shouted, mortified.

"-and I have no intention of carrying a being that makes up two of me when I stand next to him," she finished as if he'd never cut her off. "Now quite being such a sissy and hurry up before I leave you behind."

"You can't leave me behind!" he shouted. "Remember-"

"Yeah yeah," she said, waving him off. Like she needed him telling her about Zurg's orders. "Whatever. Just save it. Let's go, and if you don't hurry up I'm going to shoot at you just to get you moving."

"Fine!" he started moving faster, though she could tell he wasn't happy. "I'm coming! No need to resort to violence!"

Sari came right at Prowl, completely ignoring the Space Rangers behind him. It almost seemed as if she singled him out. The cyber ninja was forced to defend himself when she swung at his, screaming like a banshee. The cyber ninja put up his arm and blocked the blow, but couldn't prevent the sharp energon blade from cutting a hole in his armor. The impact was so powerful it hurt more thna he thought it would.

Prowl yelped in pain and flee back a step, grabbing his arm which was now bleeding mech fluid. What?!

Sari didn't wait for him to recover. She jumped back then came at him again. This time she kicked him in the stomach, knocking back another step but not putting him off balance. Then she once more lunged at him, swnging her blades. He jerked back, just barely getting out of reach. She moved back and tried it again.

"Sari!" he shouted, trying to defend himself without having to resort to violence. He didn't want to hurt her. "Sari! It's me Prowl! Wake up! This isn't you!"

The girl responded to this by kicking the cyber ninja in the chest again. This time the blow was so great it knocked him back. He crashed into Buzz who stood behind him, sending them both to the floor.

"Forget it, Prowl," Mira said as she and XR ran forward, their lasers ready. "She can't hear you."

The cyber ninja's optics widened when he figured out what they intended to do. "No! Don't hurt her!" he shouted, trying to get back up before something happened..

"We're not," The Tangean said, looking back at him. "We're just going to stop her from trying to kill us."

XR looked at Mira, his expression doubtful. "How are we going to keep her from killing us without hurting her back?" he questioned.

"I don't know," Mira replied, shaking her head. "But we'll do the best we can." She looked over her shoulder, her blue eyes locking with one of her comrades. "Booster! We need you help too!"

"Oh right," he said, moving to help, even though his expression and body language said he would rather not. He didn't want to hurt the girl but he didn't have a choice.

Sari saw the three space rangers coming and stood still, waiting for them to draw near. That wicked smile was still plastered on her face. "Come on, you wannabes," she taunted in a voice that didn't exactly sound like her real one but was close. "Let's have some fun."

"The fun stops here, Sari," Mira said, rushing at the girl.

Sari tensed, waiting for Mira to attack. But the woman didn't hit her or attempt to land any type of blow. She didn't even use her laser.. Instead she ghosted right through the techno organic girl's body and came out behind her. Before she could turn around the Tangean kicked her in the back, knocking her to the floor.

Sari landed on her hands and knees but didn't stay down long. When Booster and XR moved toward her she glared at them then activated her hammer and swung. Both jumped back with a yelp. "I forgot she had that thing," XR said as she got to her feet and moved toward them, brandishing that hammer.

"Come on, rookies," she said provocatively. "Don't tell me that's the best you can do."

"Well actually that's just us getting started," XR said. He then pulled out every gun in his arsenal and started shooting at her with them.

Sari put up her hand to protect her face and then her body suddenly transformed before their eyes. Armor and a helmet seemed to appear out of nowhere, covering her head and chest. Even her hands arms, legs, and feed seemed to change somewhat. Once the transformation was complete she charged, completely ignoring all the blaster fire. "Time for you to die, Google head!"

The sight of the girl coming at him with deadly intentions seemed to completely drain the robot's courage. "Ahhh!" the robot screamed, dropping his guns and spinning around and wheeling away. Sari went after him, not about to lose her adversary so easily. "Get back here, coward!"

"I got a better idea," he said, looking back at her. "How about I keep running and you go after somebody else?"

But the girl wasn't about to be denied. It seemed her dislike for him had upgraded itself into pure hate. She wasn't going to leave him alone until he was dead. "You can't escape me, Little One."

She chased after XR until somebody tackled her, knocking her to the floor onto her back. "Let me go!" she screamed, struggling to free herself from his hold.

"Sari!" Prowl shouted, grasping her arms. "It's me! Prowl!"

She glared into his face with no sign of recognition which hurt for some reason. "Get off of me, Autobot!" she screamed.

He wasn't about to do that. He had to get Sari back. He couldn't let Nos-4-a2 keep his hold on her. It hurt too much. "Sari...."

Suddenly he felt a new kind of pain. The physical kind. It was coming from his chest. He looked down at himself and saw one of Sari's swords had pierced his chest plate. He stared back at her, his optics wide in disbelief. "Sari.."

She kicked at him, knocking him off. He fell, crashing to the wet floor of the tunnel. He groaned, covering the damage with his hand and staring up at Sari who had gotten to her feet once more. At that moment, she didn't even look the least bit like the Sari he knew so well. She looked like a Decepticon. "Serves you right, Autobot," she said, kicking him.

The girl activated her hammer and lifted it above her head as if she was going to use it to smash in Prowl's chest. But before she could, she was hit by laser fire. She yelped in surprise and backed off, dropping the hammer onto the ground and moving away from the fallen Autobot. She turned her head and glared at the one responsible. XR . He'd gotten over his fright and was now coming at her, firing off his guns. "Back away from the Autobot, you zombie!" he shouted. "Or I'll raise the setting and blow your brains out!"

She laughed at his threat as if it was just a joke then rushed him, her face full of murderous intent. "Go right ahead, you dirty machine!"

XR seemed to reconsider for a brief moment then he recovered and wheeled toward her, firing away. Much as he didn't like Prowl he couldn't exactly let Sari harm him, even if she had no qualms about hurting the ninja. She in turn charged, swinging her blades and cutting the ends off the guns like they were made of paper.

XR stared at his ruined guns in shock. "Okay, that is just cheap," he commented, annoyed.

"Who said I was playing fair?" Sari jumped back and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying down the tunnel. She laughed then turned back to Prowl who was trying to get up off the floor but wasn't having much luck. His optics were locked on her face. The cyber ninja looked sad. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you," he said to her.

"What's to save?" she asked, pointing her blades at him. "You weren't going to come for me anyway!"

"That's not true!"

"It is true and you know it!" she screamed. "The one chance you had to save me you chose to run away!"

"Sari-"

"Shut up and die, coward!"

At that moment pain shot up her back. The girl screamed and spun around, spotting Buzz and Booster charging forward, shooting off their lasers. "Hold it right there, Sari!" Buzz shouted at her. "I won't allow you to kill Prowl. Even if you are under Nos-4-a2's control I can't stand by and let you commit a crime!"

She glared at the annoying space rangers then charged at them, screaming her head off.

"Here she comes!" Booster exclaimed, looking panicky.

"Steady, ranger," Buzz told him. "We can't let our feelings cloud what we have to do."

The red alien hesitated. "But she's-"

"Sometimes we have to make sacrifices."

Mira came through the wall and knelt down to to help Prowl get up. "Here," she said grabbing his arm and draping it over her shoulder. "Let me help you." The Tangean noticed the damage. "She really got you, didn't she?"

The cyber ninja didn't respond. His optics were focused on Sari who was in the middle of a battle with Buzz and Booster. She.. she thinks I abandoned her?

"Let's get you out of here," Mira said, starting to move back down the tunnel with him..

Prowl held back. "No," he stated. "I don't want to go."

"But you're damaged!" she exclaimed. "You can't stay down here or you'll-

"I won't go anywhere without Sari!"

Mira looked over at the girl. "That's not the Sari you know."

he looked at her, shocked. "What do you mean by that?" he demanded. "Are you saying the Sari I've known for the past three years is gone forever?!"

The Tangean princess shook her head, realizing what she'd said hadn't come out the way she'd intended. "I'm sorry," she answered, looking at him. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did you mean?"

"Forget it," she said, not wanting to talk about it anymore. "If you're not going to let me take you out of here can I at least move you away from the fight before you get hurt again?"

He didn't have a choice. He nodded. "Only that."

"Wait! Hold it right there, men!" Shadowstar ordered, stopping in her tracks and standing completely still.

Warp Darkmatter frowned at her. "What is it now?" he asked suspiciously. This fembot had the bad habit of yelling "hold it!" whenever she sensed something and it was starting to get annoying.

"I hear something," she replied, her mouth turning up in a smile as she figured out what it was. "Somebody is fighting somewhere."

"What?" he exclaimed. "Then that means-"

She turned back to him, still smiling. "It means we have competition." The thought filled her with a sick pleasure. "and I think I know who." she licked her lip components, a perverted thrill coursing through her body. "and to think I would come upon both of the objects of my wrath in one place."

Darkmatter stared at her, not know what she was talking about. 'What-"

But before he could finish the question she spun around and flung Nimrod at him then, while he attempted to catch the screaming Grub, she transformed into vehicle mode and, with a roar of her engines, shot down the tunnel without waiting for him. I'm coming, my little playthings. Don't kill each other until I've had a chance to dish out my own share of punishment.

"Ow! That girl sure can hit hard," XR commented as Mira and Prowl moved over to where he was. The smaller robot got up and wiped his frame off. "I honestly didn't expect him to make her his slave. I thought for sure he'd just feed on her and-" he noticed Mira glaring at him. "What?"

"Ever try thinking before you speak?' she asked, glancing at Prowl who had his hand over a bleeding gap in his chest.

When XR noticed Prowl he realized what she meant. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," the cyber ninja responded, looking at him with a cold expression. "You are only speaking your mind after all."

The robot space ranger could tell by Prowl's tone that he hadn't been forgiven. "I uh..." he stammered, trying to come up with the right words. He hadn't intended to sound so inconsiderate. "That wasn't what I meant. I was just-"

"Please close your mouth," Prowl said, wincing when his damage shot another wave of pain through his system. That didn't keep the burning resentment out of his optics though. "Before I hurt you."

"You're not really in any shape to hurt anyone," Mira said, her eyes locked on his damage.

"You'd be surprised how much I can still do in this state."

XR opened his mouth to say something but a sudden roaring sound drowned out any words. "What is that?!" Mira shouted, putting her hands over her ears.

Just then something came barreling down the tunnel. It looked like a small black and red jet of some kind. It shot over their heads and past the fighting space rangers and Sari, the sonic boom knocking them all over.

"Whoa!" Buzz exclaimed, getting to his feet. "What in the world was that?"

"It looked like a jet," Booster commented, watching the machine disappear down the tunnel. "But what in the Nebula is a jet doing down here?"

"A jet?" Prowl looked over his shoulder, his expression changing from angry to horrified. "That's Shadowstar!"

"Shadowstar?!" The space rangers looked at each other. "What's she doing down here?"

"She's here to finish the job you people failed to complete." a voice spoke up.

Everyone looked in the opposite direction the jet had gone. All their eyes fell on Warp Darkmatter who stood a few feet away holding a little Grub in his arms. "Warp! What are you doing here?" Buzz asked, surprised to see his former partner here of all places.

"I'm here to capture a vampire," he replied, raising his right arm which changed into a gun. "So I would advice you all staying out of my way while I do my job."

"Capture a vampire?" Mira questioned. "You mean Nos-4-a2?"

"Well I'm not talking about Edward Cullen," he retorted.

"What do you need Nos-4-a2 for?" Buzz wanted to know. He aimed his arm laser at the man. "What's this all about?"

"My, my, always resorting to violence." Warp smirked, unimpressed by the human's bravado. "As for why I want to capture Nos-4-a2.. That's for me to know and you to find out," he aimed his gun at the human's head. "Now stand aside, Lightyear, I have work to do." he walked toward them slowly. "Like backing up my partner."

"Partner?"

"The sleek and sexy little sky-bot that just flew by," he replied. "She's here to take him out for me."

Prowl stared at him, unable to believe what he was hearing. Shadowstar was working with an organic? Why? What was this all about?

"Master!" Sari's voice brought him out of his thoughts. He looked over at her. The girl was scrambling to her feet even as XR, who had jumped in to restrain her, struggled to hold her down.

"Whoa!" he shouted, pressing down on her shoulders. "Hold it!"

The girl wasn't listening. She reached over her shoulders and grabbed his arms then flung him over her head as if he weighed nothing. He flew into Booster, sending both space rangers to the floor. Once she was free, she spun around and dashed down the tunnel, back the way she came.

Shadowstar saw a light at the end of the tunnel. It could either be because there was a open area ahead or she'd reached the end of the tunnel and was going to exit somewhere else on Trade World. Something told her it was the former. He's here, I can sense him. There's no way I could have flown past him without noticing.

So was Prowl. She knew that because she'd passed him on the way. The fembot had been tempted to stop and go back for him but changed her mind at the last second. She'd simply memorized the faces of the beings with him just in case he was gone by the time she finished taking care of Nos-4-a2. If they weren't she could always find him later by recognizing the faces in her memory banks.

Right now I want to deal with that stupid wannabe. I'll teach him to humiliate me!

The fembot burst out of the tunnel and transformed, her optics scanning the area. She found herself in a large, circular room with steeply declining walls on all sides. She looked toward the ground and spotted what looked like a coffin lying on the floor. Though she had never seen that before, something told her that it belonged to the other energy vampire. "And if it's here so should he," she said to herself. "I can sense him. He's in this room."

She looked around herself. There weren't really any places for him to hide. In fact, aside from that coffin, there were none. "Which means he's hiding inside it."

The femme lowered herself to the floor then walked over to the casket. She walked over to the box and reached out a hand as if to open it. But before she could, a roaring sound behind her made her turn around. She turned away just as Nos-4-a2, who'd been behind her the whole time, came flying at her.

Shadowstar activated her thrusters and shot into the air and out of his way. He flew right under her then turned around to glare at her. "You again!" they shouted at once.

"Didn't think I'd come back for you after you humiliated me, you pointy faced legless wannabe?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips."I can tell you I don't forgive people that easily!"

"You can't be real!" he shouted at her, his speech strangely impaired. "I'm imagining you!"

"Imagining me?" She flew at him and grabbed him by the neck. "I can assure you I am very real." she said, coldly. "Hallucinations can't harm people!" Then to prove her point, she kicked him in the chest, knocking him across the room where he slammed into the wall and fell to the floor. She watched him slowly picking himself up off the ground, noticing how slowly he was moving. What is wrong with him?

Just then he recovered and flew at her again, trying to punch at her face. The blows were wide, missing their target by inches. She on the other hand scored another hit, this time punching him square in the face. He fell back with a roar but didn't fall, though she noticed his wings kept flickering as if they were having a hard time staying active.

He came at her again and she braced herself. She shouldn't have worried because he shot right past her, missing the fembot but a full yard. She turned around to face him, expecting some kind of attack. Instead all she saw was him hovering there with his one hand on his stomach plating and another over his mouth, like he was sick and trying his hardest not to blow oil all over everything.

She stared at him, unsure how to react to this strange behavior. What in the pit? Why is he- then from out of nowhere the answer came to her. No! It can't be! He can't be drunk!

"Well this is just perfect," she grumbled, moving toward him, her face full of anger and disappointment. He saw her coming and moved away. "Get back!" he shouted.

She didn't listen and reached out to grab him. He tried to move away but was too slow. She caught him by the front of the cape. "I was going to punish you and enjoy every minute of it as you struggled to defend yourself," she growled into his face. "I was even looking forward to you begging for mercy in a pathetic little voice. But you just had to go and do this to yourself and ruin everything! How am I going to enjoy anything now if you're half out of it, you moron!?"

Nos giggled. "You have a flat nose," he said, raising his hand and poking her face.

She shoved his hand away. "Stop that!" she ordered, hotly. "You're one to talk! You don't even have a nose!"

Something hit her in the back. She screamed more out of surprise than pain. She turned around and glared up at Sari who was standing in the entrance with her hands open, brandishing another rob. "Get your hands off my master!" she shouted.

Shadowstar stared at her. Did she just say what she thought she said? "Master?" she looked bact at Nos. "Master?"

He giggled at the expression on her face. "Surprised?" he looked up at Sari, the energy vampire's expression losing that boozed up expression. "Come assist your master, Little One!"

"Yes!" then she jumped at the fembot, activating her blades as she did so.

A/N

as you can see I am still updating this even if nobody is reading it.