Transformers Galaxy Force: Thunder Storm
Disclaimer: I don't own Galaxy Force.
Chapter Eight
Coby moaned and put a hand tenderly to his head where he had hit it when he and Lori fell. He didn't black out till they had slid out the other end of the icy tunnel, so he knew Lori was probably safe for now. He moaned again and let out a few Seibertronian curses that included a seven letter k-word and a fifteen letter f-word. Then he opened his eyes. Lori, who was next to him, woke up too.
"Ugh! Damning Heck, Son of Hell's Sister!" she cursed, holding her head in her hands. She opened her eyes and began to stand when Coby stopped her.
"Whatever you do, don't stand up. Try to spread out your body weight as much as possible," he said.
Lori looked at him confused, but did what she was told. She looked around and suddenly understood. They had slid out of the tunnel and out into the middle of what was a frozen over underground pool. At one end, there was a shoreline and an exit to another part of the prison. But the ice wasn't very thick, and they could see the water under it. If either one of them stood up, they would most likely fall through.
Coby pulled of his pack and slid it towards the shore, and then started sliding after it. Lori did the same and when they reached their packs, they repeated the process. They continued like this until their packs were on the shore. Coby, who was going faster than Lori, was almost to the shore himself when he heard two sounds that made his heart stop.
The first was the sound of cracking ice, and the second was Lori's scream.
He turned around in horror. The ice had broken directly beneath Lori. She was floundering in the deadly cold water, unable to pull herself out.
"Lori!" he cried, and began to move her way. Knowing it would do no good to get so close that he fell in too, Coby pulled off his coat. Holding one sleeve in his hand, he threw the other sleeve in her direction. Her had reached out and grabbed it. He tried to pull her out, but he was being pulled toward the break instead.
She's too heavy, he thought. Her coat and boots are weighing her down!
"Lori!" he called out. "Take off your coat and boots!" She quickly complied, and he was able to pull her out. Throwing caution to the winds, they both stood and ran to the shore. Once they got their, Lori fell to her knees and began to cough up the water she inhaled, shivering uncontrollably.
Coby pulled his coat back on and reached into her pack, pulling out her spare set of clothes, a towel, and a blanket. He went over to Lori and began to help her dry off. Her fingers scabbed at her wet clothes, but she was shivering too much to remove them. Coby sighed and got to work, helping her get dry as he pulled off her three pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, sweater, and two shirts. By then Lori was mostly dry, so he turned around as she pulled off her wet underwear and put on the dry clothes Coby had pulled out of her bag. He was glad about that, as he was blushing enough already and really didn't want her to think he was taking advantage of her.
When Lori was done changing, she wrapped herself up in the blanket and shivered while Coby wrung out her wet clothes and towel and sealed them in a plastic bag. Then he joined her in the folds of the blanket, holding her close to warm her. She curled up on his lap, resting her head on his chest as she coughed a little bit more. She wasn't shivering nearly as bad as she was before. She was still cold, but most of her shivering was out of fear of what could have happened. Coby began to ask her navigation and aviation trivia questions, and she answered them all right. He checked her pulse and temperature. Her temperature was normal. Her heart was still beating fast, but within normal allowances for someone who had just had a near death experience.
Coby allowed himself a breath of relief. The danger was past, and Lori was safe.
"Do you think they'll find us?" Lori asked when she stopped shivering.
Coby studied the Transformer characters on the wall by the door. Most were long gone and hardly distinguishable, but what he could read was enough. "From those markings, I'm guessing that this was the water supply for the stasis pods," he replied. They stood and Lori kept the blanket wrapped around her as Coby continued, "I'm sure they'll be able to find us. In fact, we might be able to find them."
"Oh, they'll find you all right," said a new, bitter voice. "But by then, you'll be dead."
Coby and Lori turned just in time to see the middle of the ice blast outward. Thankfully, they were far enough away to not be hit by the water. Hovering slightly in the air above the blast zone was a very familiar female Transformer.
"Chromia," Coby gasped in surprise. To his further surprise, Lori began to snicker.
"What is that, a new paint job?" the Human girl asked mockingly. Coby had to admit that Lori had a point. Chromia used to be purple and blue. Now, she was white and orange. Coby began to chuckle himself as he realized what was so funny.
"So your true colors finally come out," he said with a hoot.
Chromia scowled, "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"A real clown!" Lori laughed. "You're wearing the same colors as a clownfish!"
The couple laughed and Chromia's face darkened. "I'll teach you to make a fool of me, Runt Girl!" she yelled angrily and fired off four missiles. She was so mad that the missiles didn't even come close to the shore, but the two Humans stopped laughing and started to run instead. Chromia cursed and followed. She was a long ways away, but she was catching up.
Coby pulled a PDA and some blue marbles out of his coat pocket and tossed the marbles behind him. He pressed a button on the PDA and the marbles exploded with electrical energy that hit the closest conductor; in this case, Chromia, slowing her down. Coby laughed and grinned at Lori, but the grin suddenly turned into an expression of shock and pain as and electric current shot its way up his leg and through his body.
He screamed. What was this? It was killing him! The current vanished and he collapsed, gasping for breath. Lori bent over him. Her mouth was moving, but he couldn't hear anything. He couldn't hear anything at all. He looked up to see Chromia towering over them, grinning as her hand crackled with electrical energy, the same energy that she had just used on him. He began to yell at Lori, telling her to run. But he couldn't hear himself. Lori shook her head, tears flowing from her eyes. She didn't want to leave him. Chromia threw out her hand, firing another blast of electricity.
As if possessed by some unknown power, Coby grabbed Lori and threw her out of the way. The electricity coursed through his body. He fell screaming. He couldn't hear it, but he knew he was screaming. He could feel the air leaving his lungs. His body twisted and convulsed. Chromia wasn't going to kill him outright. She was going to slowly torture him to death.
He looked around for Lori and spotted her. He yelled at her again, telling her to run while she could. He knew she didn't want to, but he also knew he was finished. He was dying. He didn't want her to see it. He didn't want her to die too. He told that to her, and finally she nodded. She turned and ran, sobbing.
In that brief moment after Lori began running, Coby realized that he didn't want to leave her alone.
I don't want to die, he thought furiously through the pain. I want to protect Lori. I want to live! I will not die here! I will not leave Lori alone! I cannot leave her! I love her! I will not die here for Chromia's amusement! I love Lori! For Lori, I will live!
Far away on another planet, the Planet Force that once resided on Earth began to glow.
