(Now we come to the next chapter, and it looks like everybody is very busy for the ball. Lets join in and see what happens.)
Preparations and Demise
Up in her room in the tower, Elitarella had gathered all of her animal friends; the birds, owl, and mice bots, to show them something they had never been shown before. As her friends waited, Elitarella pulled out a trunk she had managed to hide away from her step family, and opened it up. She then reached inside the trunk, and to the mice bots, and birds surprise, Elitarella pulled out a dress. It was yellow and red in color, and very lovely. "Isn't it lovely?" she asked them.
"Oh, it is lovely alright." Swipey answered.
"But, how did you get that dress? You don't have any money." Jazzy asked as he came over to feel the texture of the dress. "And, if you don't mind my saying, its a bit old."
"I know, Jazzy. But, this dress is very important to me." She held it in front of her, and a sad smile was seen. "This was my mother's dress before she died. She wore this every Sunday. I used to remember seeing her with it on; she looked like a Princess. Oh, I miss those days." She then wiped away a small tear from her optic and she then examined it. "However, I remember her telling me that she would give this dress to me when I was older, but when she died I had to take it from my step fathers nose plate, because he was giving all of my personal belongings to Starscream and Nightbird. This is the only thing hat I have to remember my mother, and tonight, I will wear it in her honor."
The mice bots and the birds and owl exclaimed in approval as she then laid it down in a folded bundle, as she then pulled out a seeing book. "You took that as well?" Streaky asked.
"I thought i would acquire it for a special occasion, and this is a special occasion. I want to keep the dress simple, but then I want to modernize it." Elitarella said as she sat down and her mice friends all sat on her lap to look through the book with her. They skimmed through several pictures of various styles, trying to pick which one would be perfect to upgrade the dress.
"How about that one? Hidey pointed to one picture of a dress that had long sleeves with little ruffles at the end, pretty laces on the neck line and waist line, and a long flowing, tea-length skirt. "That one looks pretty."
Elitarella petted Hidey's head, congratulating him for finding the perfect inspiration. "Thank you, Hidey. I like this one, too. I do have some partial materials in the trunk I can se to modify the dress, but I am afraid there isn't many."
"ELITARELLA!" cried Nightbird from downstairs.
"Oh, what do they want now?" Elitarella groaned as she looked at the door, now hearing Starscream and Lord Megatron call out her name. She then sighed in defeat; she had to get back to work and worry about her dress later.
After bidding her friends farewell for the time being and left the room and closing the door, Jazzy huffed. "Every time she tries to et a minute to herself, they start hollering and bellowing for her. They just won't give her a break." Jazzy then looked at the dress and frowned. "And besides, there is no way she is going to the ball."
The mice bots and birds all jerked their heads at him, shocked to hear him say that. "Not go? Why would you say that? Elitarella has every right to go." Streaky argued, but Jazzy shook his small head.
"Look, I know how much she wants to, but those three dingbats downstairs are probably keep her busy until the next day. We can't stop them from keeping Elitarella away form her dress." Jazzy said and Hidey started to sob.
"Poor, Elitarella. She will be so sad. She will never be able to finish the dress."
"But, there has to be something we can do." Streaky said as al the four mice bots, three bird bots, and owl bot, began to think hard. They all knew that Elitarella deserved to go, but what could they do to help her. That's when Swipey turned his head to the folded dress and then at the trunk. Just then, he hopped not the air, as if his tiny rear was poked by a sharp needle, but he had a big smile and his optics were wide with excitement.
"I got it! We will do the dress for Elitarella!" he shouted with joy, and the others looked at him.
"How can we do that? We are too small of the job." Streaky was a bit unconvinced, but his brother then pointed out that they were all small, but if they all worked together they could do the entire dress just before the coach would arrive.
Jazzy's smile was instantly returned to his face plate and he joined in with Swipey. "He is right! We can do it! Besides, Elitarella has done so much for us, and we should return our gratitude to her. Who's with me?"
"Aye!" they all cheered.
"Awesome! Okay, lets get started. Moonracer, you and Chromia and Firestar will hold up the dress. Powerglide, you will clip off any extra strings or add the accessories to the dress. Streaky and Swipey will go through the plans for the upgrades and sew the pieces on each part. As for me and Hidey, we will go through the house and see if there any materials we can use, since we have very little." Jazzy told everyone and they soon began their work, the birds and twin mice bots one the dress, and Jazzy and Hidey left the room and began to search odor anything they could also use.
"Where are we going to find all these other materials, Jazzy?" asked Hidey as he and Jazzy went through various secret passages in the walls and stairs, heading down the path that would lead them to the dressing rooms of the step sisters.
"If there is one thing I know, femme's are always fussing about what matches with what." Jazzy chuckled as they came to a hidden hole in the dressing room. They became silent when they saw the shadows of Starscream and Nightbird fussing about the many choices of ball gowns they had.
"Father, I cannot be seen with this ugly sash on my neck cable! It is so old and tarnished! I wouldn't be caught with this thing on even if it was the last day of Cybertron!" Nightbird whined as she threw a red, thin sash onto the floor.
"You think you got an ugly accessory. Just look at these beads! I'm sick of looking at this piece of garbage!" Stascream joined in as she threw her necklace onto the ground. The two then began throwing more and more stuff they thought was either unattractive to their standards or just too plain onto the floor. Jazzy and Hidey couldn't have been more lucky. This was the jackpot!
"Please, settle down, my dears. You will find the proper dress, jewelry, sash, or whatever sooner than you think. Just be grateful that we are keeping Elitarella busy with all the chores we told her to do. Now, come with me. Your imported exotic oil baths are ready. I will not have you girls upset and stressed for tonight." the voice of Lord Megatron said and the two step sisters left the room, slamming the door as they went.
"Cost is clear, Hidey! Let's go!" Jazzy said and the two mice bots came out of the hole and wet over to the pile of tossed materials and looked them over. "These are perfect. We can use these." he then looked over the sash that was first tossed down, and saw that it wasn't as tarnished as Nightbird said it was, and neither were the beads.
"Ooh, these are pretty." Hidey smiled and hugged a few to his chest, adoring the texture.
Just then, Jazzy gasped and hushed Hidey, and pointed over to a small stool n the far side of the room. There, sleeping on the stool was Soundwave, snoring softly and purring in content.
"Keep quiet. We can't carry all of this out. We may need to bring it to the hole and leave it there until we pick up the rest, and so on and so forth, unit lee have all of them." Jazzy said, and he and Hidey soon began to move the sashes, strings, and sleeves, over to the hole, all while being careful not to awake Soundwave, the cat. Unfortunately, Hidey slipped and fell down while carrying some trimmings, is small thud making Soundwave's ear appendages twitch and he slowly awoke.
The cat then saw the two mice and their act, and was quick to charge at them, meowing fiercely.
"Look out!" Jazzy shouted, and they were quick to return to the hole with only half of the supplies. Soudnwave stood by the hole and waited for the little morsels to come out so he could easily gobble them up, but for about 30 minutes he mice bots didn't appear. Yet, that didn't mean that they had abandoned their mission.
They managed to relocate and appear on the other side of the room, and the only remaining items that were left to get were the beads, a neck collar, and a bodice. However, Hidey was excited to see the beads and giggled loudly, alerting Soundwave. The cat then saw what the mice were about to do, and went over to the pile and sat on top of them, smiling at them in a way that said 'What are you going to do now?'. Jazzy and Hidey now had a serious problem; how were they join to get the last items without being killed by Soudnwave.
Jazzy snapped his black fingers and whispered into the ear appendage what he had thought up. Soundwave noticed this and watched them carefully, but he could not hear their plan.
As he watched, Jazzy hopped out and made his way to the drawer on the other side, and Soundwave suddenly gasped when he watched the black and white mouse bot go through all the drawers and tore up all that was in them. Soundwave was just about ready to go after Jazzy when he heard a small grunt from behind. It was Hidey and he was going after the bodice, beaded necklace and neck collar. The cat went back to the pile, stomping his front paws on them and hissed at Hidey, and the red mouse bot scrambled back to the hole.
Soundwave soon figured out what the mice bots plan was. One of them was to distort him while the other collected the times. Well, this time, Soundwave got the upper hand, or upper paw in this case. Before he went to Jazzy, Soundwave used his tail to pick up the necklace, and sat down upon the bodice and neck collar, and began to skid his away inch by inch to the drawer. But before he could attack, Jazzy unintentionally flung out some feminine undergarments out and it landed on the cats face.
Soundwave stood still for a second, and then shook his head free of the undergarment and leapt at Jazzy, yowling angrily, and Jazzy and Soundwave began running all about the drawer, knocking over small mirrors, fans, and cosmetics. What Soundwave did not realize was that as he attacked his tail dropped the necklace and the bodice and neck collar were no longer under his weight.
Hidey got his chance and ran out to collect the bodice and beaded necklace, calling out to Jazzy that he need help to collect the neck collar.
Jazzy then managed to fool Soundwave into charging at him, only to move out of the way and the cat suddenly landed inside a vase, his rear end sticking out as he got himself stuck.
The two buddies laughed as the collected the neck collar, escaped through the hole, and made their way back to the tower, although they could have stayed to watch Lord Megatron and Starscream and Nightbird enter after all the noise and commotion, and the Lord's loud, scolding voice cursing at the cat, blaming him for the mess.
The time passed by as soon as the sun set down, and all the carriages and coaches began to arrive to their estates to pick up the many guests, and take them away to the castle.
It wasn't long before the coach came to the Chateau that Elitarella lived in, and she watched from a window as the two cybertronain stallions pulled the coach the the entrance. She sighed sadly as she went up the stairs, finished with all of the monumental chores from the morning, and entered into her room; the room was dark and only the window showed some light. That light from the window led Elitarella to the window, and she looked out into the distance, gazing at the castle in great sorrow.
"Oh well. What is a ball anyway?" she asked herself as she placed her head on her hands. "I suppose it might be very dull, boring, and...completely wonderful."
Just then, the chirps from Moonracer, Chromia, and Firestar sounded from behind, making Elitarella turn and gasp. "Why? It's...It's my...My..."
"Surprise!" cheered the mice bots from below as the bounced and danced around her. Elitarella's down-sparked spirit was suddenly lifted as she smiled and scooped her little friends into her hands and brought them to her face, nuzzling them with great affection.
"Oh, my little darlings! You did this for me?" she asked.
"Yep. We wanted to return the favor after what you have done for us." Jazzy grinned and kissed Elitarella's nose plate.
"Happy Birthday!" cheered Hidey.
"Hidey!" the mice bots groaned, but the mishap from Hidey was behind them because Elitarella was tearing up with joy. She then placed them back down and went to look over the new dress. It was the same colors as before, but it had a lovely new bodice styled with beautiful, Cybertronian Alencon patterns, a neck collar bedazzled with small bits of gems that were collected from left over jewelry that the step sisters did not want, sleeves with wave-like, translucent, and thin fabric that almost mimicked the movement of calm flames.
"Oh, how can I ever repay you? I can't let this generous offer leave no reward for you all." Elitarella spoked as she slips behind the folding screen; after her male friends turned away to give her privacy, as she dressed herself in her new and improved ball gown.
"The only thing that can repay us is seeing you go to the ball and to see you have the happiest time in the world." Jazzy smiled. However, neither he nor Elitarella were prepared for one hurdle they had yet to overcome; Lord Megatron.
Meanwhile, Lord Megatron was leading his decorated, and dressed up daughter down the staircase to the the front door when he paused and turned to them. "Now, remember this. Once you presented to the Prince, you must.."
"Wait! All three looked to the top of the stairs, and gaped at the sight of Elitarella fully dressed in a lovely ball gown, coming after them. "Wait for me, please!" she called to them as she made it down and went to them, twirling around to show her dress to them. "Do you like it? Will this do?"
Starscream and Nightbird were completely shocked that their father's plan to keep Elitarella from joining them failed, and they began whining and threw a fit about Elitarella having to go with them to the ball, but with a wave of Lord Megatron's hand they got quiet.
"Please, girls. We did make a deal earlier that day, did we not, Elitarella?" the Lord said as he came to Elitarella, looking her over with a suspicious look in his optics.
"Yes, step father. We have agreed and I managed to find a dress jus tin time for the coach to arrive." Elitarella pointed out, but then she saw her step fathers optics. They were staring down upon her with a ominous feel to them. She had seen that look before. That was the look he gave to her the night when she was a youngling when she tried to run away. Those red optics were staring down at her as a youngling as he heated her on that night, and the feeling of the whacks and strikes from the cane came flooding to Elitarella's processor, making her feel very nervous and afraid.
"How is it that you have acquired this gown?" Lord Megatron asked her.
"I...I have kept it with me. I kept it to remember my mother."
"Hmm. Well, your mother certainly has quite some taste in fashion." Lord Megatron suddenly grinned, but his optics remained in the ominous tone as he took hold of Elitarella's necklace, the beaded necklace that Starscream had thrown down. "These beads. They do give a nice touch to your dress. What do you think about it, Starscream? Do you find the beaded necklace fitting for Elitarella?"
Starscream crossed her arms and turned away. "No way! I think that she looks..." She then turned back to Elitarella, a look of anger and hatred in her optics. "Why you thief! You stole my necklace! That's my necklace!"
Elitarella then felt the necklace being torn off her neck, the thin string snapping off and the beads flew to the floor. "No! Wait!"
"My sash! She is wearing my sash! You conniving witch!" Nightbird screeched as she tore off the sash that was sown around the dress's waist line.
Elitarella was gripped with helpless horror as the step sisters ganged up upon her and cried and screamed for them to stop tearing apart her dress, but they persisted, tearing off more and more parts of her mothers dress, calling her wicked names that I dare not mention. All the while, Lord Megatron watched with a wicked grin, like the sadistic monster he was.
Meanwhile, up the foot of the stairs, watching the event unfold were the mice bots. They could hardly believe what was happening. All their hard work was being torn apart, but they dared not to go down and help, for if they were caught the cat would be quick to kill them. It pained them greatly as they watched helplessly as Elitarella was being tormented and humiliated just for the sake of the Lord and his daughters.
"No! Stop it! No!" Elitarella cried out as she was suddenly pushed to the ground, and felt her step sisters feet stomp and kick at her stabilizing serves, her hands, her feet, and her face.
"Enough!" Lord Megatron shouted, and Starscream and Nightbird ended their torture on the trembling pink femme on the floor. "We must be off now. Go to the carriage and compose yourselves. I don't want you to be upset." Lord Megatron cooed to his daughters as he opened the door, and the two monsters left through the door. Lord Megatron was partly out when he looked back at Elitarella. She was getting up from the fabric, beaded, string covered floor, wearing nothing but the very little remains of her mothers once lovely dress. The cruel mech then smiled maliciously. "Good night."
The door closed and locked behind Elitarella, but as it happened she instantly burst into hurtful, defeated, and spark-broken tears. She turned and ran out the back door and out to the barnyard, running quickly, her processor blank and empty in sorrow as she felt her feet trod upon the soil beneath her, her mice bots friends following behind her. Ratchet, the horse, and Hound, the dog, lifted their heads and watched as Elitarella ran past them. They managed to escape the stable and follow the mice bots as they went after Elitarella, but she did not run far.
Filled with a great pain in her spark, she fell to the ground and sobbed hard, feeling her hot tears pour down her cheek plates. She could not bring it upon herself to run away, lest she wanted to feel the step father's cane strike her. She couldn't even think about what else to do. All of her dreams and wishes she had longed for to come true, were gone. What was to happen to her now?
*Authors Note*
(Oh no! Elitarella is in trouble and is in need of help. But, luckily for her, help is on the way. Sparkling Lover out.)