CHAP 41

Booster, Mira, and Warp Darkmatter were close to giving up. They couldn't seem to be able to kill the hornets because others took the places of the ones that fell. This had been going on for quite awhile and they were feeling it. Even space rangers with high stamina wore out eventually.

"I'm getting tired," Booster commented.

":I am too, Booster," Mira agreed, shooting another hornet that got a little too close. "But we can't give up. If we stop they will kill us."

The red alien didn't want that to happen but he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. He glanced over at Warp who looked like he was about to fall over with exhaustion. "Craters, I hate hornets." Darkmatter grumbled before taking out another one.

Suddenly something strange happened. All the hornets suddenly powered down and fell over, crashing onto their sides at the same time. The sound of falling robots echoed around them with a strange finality. They waited for a second but the robots did not get back up.

The space rangers and Warp stared at them with confusion. "Huh?"

"What just happened?" Booster asked, toeing one of the machines sheepishly.
"I don't know," Mira replied, kneeling down and poking another. "But it looks like somebody turned off the power."

"But who?" the red alien asked, looking at her. "Buzz isn't here."

"Not everything done well has to be because of Buzz Lightyear," Warp informed him, frowning. "He's not God, you know."

"Hey, don't you dare say anything mean about Buzz!" Booster shouted, feeling defensive for the Space Ranger. "He's the best-"

"Yeah yeah I know," Darkmatter cut him off, rolling his eyes. "He's the greatest Space ranger on Star Command. Woopdee do." He deactivated the gun and his hand went back to normal. "But he's still not here as you said which means somebody else turned them off."

"That would be me," spoke up a voice.

The three looked toward the monitors which once held Nos-4-a2's visage. Now the screens had a different face. XR's.

"XR!" Mira and Booster exclaimed.

"Hi," he said smiling and waving.

"How'd you manage to gain control of the system?" the Tangean princess wanted to know.

"Oh that was easy," he replied. "Nos-4-a2 took off after Sari pummeled him with a energy sphere."

"Sari?" the space rangers looked at each other. "Sari's back to normal? How did that happen?"

"It's a long story," he replied. "and I'll explain later. Right now I think we'd better go looking for him. He might not have Sari under his control anymore but we can't allow him to get away either. Same with that fembot. Prowl keeps insisting we find her as well and I agree with him. They should both still be in the palace somewhere."

Mira nodded to him. "Then we're on it," she replied. She touched Booster's arm. "Let's go."

They took off, leaving Warp Darkmatter alone amongst a mess of robots. He looked down at them then moved to follow the rookies. "Just where do you think you're going?" XR's voice boomed from the loud speakers.

Warp looked up at him. "I don't think that's any of your business," he stated.

The robotic space ranger grinned evilly. "Oh, I think it is."

Suddenly a whole group opf hornets came back online and surrounded the man, their arms raised, guns aimed at his head. "Hey! Now there's no need for that!"

"I believe there is in this case," the robot responded. "I get the feeling you're planning on helping a certain little femme escape the palace."

"What gives you such an idea?"

"Oh don't give me that," he shot back. "I might be a machine but I'm not stupid. I saw how you were flirting with her. It's obvious you have feelings for her, man."

"So what if I do?" he snapped, folding his arms across his chest. 'There's nothing wrong with someone falling for a machine since you're always falling for organic females." he pointed out.

"True, but none of the ones I fall for are evil, energy sucking psychotics," XR informed him. "and by the way," he added. "If I could see your feelings for her so plainly that means Zurg does too."

"Oh so now you're bringing him into this!"

The robot smirked, leaning back in the chair. "No, I'm not bringing him into this," he corrected, lasing his fingers behind hins head. "but since he doesn't seem to really like her and vise versa, you're in big trouble either way."

"What do you-"

XR waved at him. "Buh bye! Have fun with those hornets." he said cutting the feed before Warp could say another word.

Just then all the hornets XR brought back online started firing, forcing Darkmatter to defend himself. 'I really hate that robot," he grumbled, blowing the head off one of the black and yellow machines.

Prowl and Sari were looking for Shadowstar once again. They knew she was somewhere in the palace and acknowledged that they had to find her. She was the cause of the entire problem after all and they couldn't return to their own dimension without her much as they both desired to. "I wish we could," Sari grumbled. "Then we wouldn't have to worry about her anymore."

"We can't do that," Prowl informed her. "As much as I long to not have to worry about her anymore, these people don't deserve to have another energy vampire loose in their universe."

"I know," she consented, sighing. "But I still think we should."

The Autobot chose to ignore that comment and keep moving. He stopped when they entered another room and looked around. This room was round with four doors placed on all sides. The ceiling reached high above their heads. The Autobot noticed near each door was a large statue of, who else, Zurg.

"Who is that?" Sari asked, staring at each of the statues as they stepped into the room.

Prowl opened his mouth to tell her but at that moment he sensed something. "Somebody else is in here," he stated.

The girl looked at him. "Who?"

But he didn't answer. Instead the Autobot took out two throwing stars and ran toward the place where he signal was coming from. Behind one of those ugly statues. Just as he reached it a big three barreled gun appeared and shot him in the chest, knocking him backward and to the floor. "Oooof!" he exclaimed, landing at Sari's feet.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

He sat up, groaning. "I'm fine," he replied.

"What was that?" the girl asked. "Shadowstar?"

"I-"

"That was me." spoke up a male voice.

Both lifted their heads. A being clad in a purple robe and dark gray armor came into view. Zurg.

Sari raised an eyebrow. "What are you supposed to be?" she asked, clearly unimpressed.

"I am the evil emperor Zurg," the being replied, putting a hand on his chest. "and your demise."

She pinched her lips together. "Oh."

"Oh?" he demanded, offended by her lack of intimidation. "I tell you who I am and all you can say is 'Oh'?"

The girl frowned. "What else should I have said?"
"You should be trembling in fear!" he shouted. "I am the scourge of this galaxy!"

"So you're a pirate then?"

"You'd got a mouth on you, don't you, girly?" he snapped. "and no I am not a pirate!":

"That's what I'm told."

"Argh! Blasted teenagers!" he aimed the gun at her. "How about I give you a second mouth."

She glared at him. "I'd like to see you try it!" she challenged, her hands beginning to glow even as they still gripped Prowl's shoulders.

"Sari," Prowl spoke up. She looked down at him. "Don't bait him. It would not be a good idea."

"But he-"

"No!" he cut her off. "Just don't."

"That's right, listen to your little friend." he advised, walking toward them. "He knows what he's talking about."

The techno organic girl made a face. "So what are you going to do?" she asked. "Shoot us for no reason?"

"I have plenty reason to shoot you," he told her. He moved toward them, having the gun around like it weighed nothing though it was almost as big as he was. "Thanks to you and that bat crazy friend of yours my revenge is ruined and now all my hornets are trying to kill me." he made a sorrowful face, putting a hand on his chest and forcing out a fake tear. "Do you know how horrible it is to be outsmarted by your own creation?"

Sari looked down at Prowl. "What is he talking about?" she asked.

"I believe he means Shadowstar for the most part," he replied, looking thoughtful. "That is the only "friend" I can think of that could be responsible for whatever he's talking about."

"But she's not our friend!" the girl stated.

"I know that and you know that," Prowl said, getting to his feet with some help from the girls. "But maybe he doesn't."

"Are you insulting my intelligence?" the emperor demanded. "Because if you are you're wrong. I know she's not your friend and I know that you-" here he pointed that gun at Prowl."- are something she considers important." he smirked. "Like you're her toy or something. Oh how cute."

The fact that this being out of all creatures knew about the fembots odd obsession with Prowl was unsettling. Had she told him that herself? No, something told Prowl that the female energy vampire would never do something so stupid. But if she didn't who did?

Well there was no time to be worrying about that. More important things were on his mind, like finding said energy vampire and taking her back to Star Command so they could all go back to their own dimension. "Look, Zurg," Prowl said, taking a step toward him.

"Don't move!" Zurg shouted, pointing the gun into the cyber ninja's face. "Take one more step and I will blow off your head!"

The Autobot stopped. "I don't know what's going on with you and the Decepticon but I can assure you that after today you won't have to worry about her anymore," he stated. "Just let us go please. We are trying to find her and take her with us. Now if you would just let us-"

"No!" Zurg shouted, cutting him off. He'd trusted one of these crazy vampire before he wasn't going to be dumb enough to do it again. "I don't want to hear it! I don't need you to do anything for me. I'm going to take care of her myself and you're going to stay out of this!"

"I am sorry, but I cannot let you do that," Prowl stated, not backing down. "Even if she did do something to you, she is not your problem."

"She is my problem!" Zurg exploded, then, without even explaining what he meant, he shot at them.

Prowl and Sari jumped in opposite directions in an attempt to avoid being hit by the plasma shots.

"Well that didn't turn out well," Sari commented, looking over at Prowl.

The Autobot didn't comment. He jumped out of the way of another shot. The evil emperor seemed more intent on hitting him than hitting Sari. The techno organic girl seemed to notice this as well and ran around to the back of him, a glowing sphere of energy charging up in between her hands. Okay, jerk face, let's see how you like this!

She raised her hands to throw the energy but just then Zurg spun around and fired at her.

"Oh snap!" she exclaimed a second before the shot hit her in the chest and knocked her back into the wall.

"Sari!" Prowl threw a star at Zurg who easily dodged it. The Autobot dodged another blast then went into vehicle mode and charged at Zurg.

"Ah!" Zurg exclaimed, dashing away to avoid being hit. "Stop that! Leave me alone!"

While Prowl chased him around Sari got to her feet. Her chest hurt from the blast but otherwise she was fine. He obviously had set the power so that it wasn't fatal. "Ow," she moaned, putting her hand on the sore spot. "What hit me?" she became aware of the sound of Prowl's engine and looked up, her eyes falling on the Autobot chasing Zurg around the room. "Wow."

Just then Zurg lost his footing and tripped. Prowl, to avoid hitting him, swerved to the side then transformed back into standard mode. He placed his hand on the floor and flipped back to where the being was lying.

"Get away from me!" Zurg shouted, scooting away from him.

The Autobot frowned. He opened his mouth to say something then changed his mind. As he turned away something came flying into the room and he ducked to avoid being hit by it as it rocketed over his head. "What was that?"

Sari looked up but didn't see anything. "What was what?" she asked, looking back at him.

"That thing that just flew by," he replied, getting to his feet. "It looked like it had wings."

"Wings?" she knew of only one thing with wings. "Nos-4-a2!" she exclaimed, her fists clenching at her sides. "It's got to be him!"

"How very observant of you," spoke up a voice.

"Huh?"

Prowl looked up. Now he saw the energy vampire hovering over them. He held something on one arm. Shadowstar. She seemed to be offline...

"Hey! What did you do to her?" he demanded.

Nos-4-a2 cocked his head then glanced down at the figure he held. "Oh the wench?" he asked. He glanced at the unconscious robot then back at Prowl. "I just gave what I got. But don't worry, she's not dead. I just drained her energy."

Prowl stared at him, his mouth hanging open. He'd drained her energy?

"So there is no reason to be worrying about your little girlfriend- er I mean mistress." Nos said, dropping the femme. "Here, catch,"

Prowl, out of instinct, rushed forward and caught her in his arms.

"I trust you'll think of what to do with the body," the energy vampire commented, smirking. "Seeing as she and you seem to have some kind of connection." He laughed. "Oh how lovely." then he waved at him and started to move away. "I guess that's it then. I'll just be going now before the space rangers decide to come around. Toodles."

But he didn't get far. Suddenly he was hit by an energy sphere and knocked to the floor. He landed on his stomach, his wings flickering and going out. "Well that was uncalled for," he complained, pushing himself up.

"and that's why I did it," Sari said, moving toward him with another orb hovering over her hand.

"You again!" he growled at her and tried to swipe at her legs when she drew near. She stomped down on his arm, pinning it to the floor. "Ow!"

'There's more where that came from, you creep," she snapped, lifting the orb over her head. "This should teach you to-"

"Sari, don't!" Prowl shouted, turning to her.

She looked at him. "What?"

"You can't do that," he told her.

"But Prowl," she protested. "You don't know what this guy did to me."

"Yes I do," he said, walking toward her, Shadowstar hung limply in his arms before him. "and that is why I'm telling you not to do it. Let the others decide his fate."

"Fine," she consented, lowering her arm. "But can I at least tie him up or something so he doesn't try to get away?"

"Go right ahead."

"Excuse me," Zurg said, getting to his feet. "But I think you're forgetting that I intend to make both of them pay for embarrassing me." he aimed his gun at them. "and you won't stop me from doing so."

Prowl turned to face him. He stood between Nos-4-a2 and the emperor and didn't back down. This guy might be what everyone on Star Command claimed him to be but the Autobot had seen worse and the emperor didn't intimidate him. "You might not believe me," he said. "But we're actually doing you a favor. If you let us take them away they will no longer bother you anymore. Now if you want to risk the chance of them getting the better of you, we can leave them here but if you don't it would be best if you let us do what we're doing. And another thing," he added. "By us taking care of them we're saving you some unwanted agony."

The evil emperor thought about that for a moment then nodded. "You're right," he agreed. "All right, you can take them but if I find out what they did get away." he waved his gun and laughed. "They will be my problem once more."

The Autobot nodded again. "Very well." he consented, looking down at Shadowstar's body. He could see the puncture marks in her neck where the other vampire had bit her. "But if you don't want to get arrested I think maybe you should get out of here."

"I find your concern for me touching," Zurg commented, looking like he meant it. "But you don't have to worry about me. I've been dealing with Star Command for years. I can take care of myself." then he turned away and dashed out of the room.

The Autobot watched him go then focused his attention onto Nos-4-a2 and Sari. The girl had slapped a pair of stasis cuffs onto his wrist. "Where did you get that?" he asked her.

"Oh these?" she asked, pointing to the cuffs. "When Dracula threw Shadowstar at you she dropped them. I figured I'd use them to make sure Fang Face here cooperated."

Prowl couldn't help but smile. She was very resourceful. "I think we'd better find the others now," he told her. "Seeing as we have what we came for."

"Good idea," she said, pulling Nos up. "This place is giving me the creeps."

"Unhand me, you wench!" he shouted at her, trying to struggle free but finding he couldn't do much because the cuffs pacified him.

"Oh shut up," she snapped, pulling him along after her friend. "You don't have me under your mind control anymore, creep, so I don't have to listen to you.. Now." she activated her hammer and waved it menacingly under his nose. "If you want to keep your face in its normal state you will shut your mouth and be a good little vampire and come along quietly."

He roared in her face and she, instead of following through with her threat, deactivated the hammer and slapped him across the face. "Grow up."

"Sari," Prowl called from the doorway. "Stop talking to him and get moving. We have to find the space rangers and let them know we have both vampires."

"Right, Prowl," she said saluting. She yanked rudely on Nos-4-a2's arm then ran to catch up with her friend. "Okay, let's get moving now."

"Ow!" her sudden movement jolted him. "Watch it!" he shouted. "If you're going to arrest me at least try to be gentle about it."

She smirked at him. "Oh I am so sorry," she said sarcastically. "No wait. I'm not." then she started laughing as she ran.

"Ugh, she's back to her annoying self again," the energy vampire grumbled as he was pulled along against his will. "Now I'm going to have to put up with that all the way back to Star Command. Lovely."