Optimus steadily maneuvered around the ancient pillars that held the unstable castle floor above. In tow was his faithful companion, Bumblebee, who was shivering in fear since he first stepped near the ruins of the structure.
The yellow scout seemed skeptical as to why his leader would go through all this trouble alone to save Arcee who had been placed in this hellhole by rebel Cybertronians against both Decepticons and Autobots.
This also reminded him of an old human fairy tale called Dungeons and Dragons or something similar. Apparently, the trapped maiden was guarded by a vicious flying lizard and was supposed to be rescued by a man dressed in a ton of armor with the man killing the monster in the process.
Bumblebee's thoughts went downhill as a roar echoed from the far end of the castle where, from a good view, the tower with sealed windows was. That was the tower where Arcee was.
"L-look, Optimus, could we maybe oh I don t know uh call for backup or something because I m sorry, but I don t think we're going to live through this!" He stuttered as another animal-like noise rang through the shallow halls.
Optimus rolled his eyes, "If you re that afraid then you can wait outside. I'm not leaving without Arcee, plus you saw the message they sent to us. 'You're not allowed to have more than one accompany you on the rescue mission. Otherwise, we'll be able to spot you and we'll feed Arcee to our friend as a result!'"
Bumblebee gulped and kept near his leader's side. He whimpered some more as he heard creaking down one of the destroyed halls.
The Prime unleashed his gun as the creaking turned into a horrid cracking sound. Growling and two red-yellow eyes emitted from the passage locked onto their prey.
As soon as Optimus made full eye contact, it charged until he swiped at it forming a deep gash on its arm.
Bumblebee stared in horror at the figure, noting it was a femme as well as a dragon with tiger coloring. He winced as it yelled a sickening roar.
The femme had a body structure that looked like a mix of Megatron (her legs and shoulders), Predaking (her arms), and Airachnid (her chassis but slightly more wider) . She was masculine and had three-toed pedes like a dinosaur's.
Her tail seemed awfully bulky plus the black spikes lining her spine all the way to her head made her appearance even more fearsome. There were grey and brown cables that were attached to her head almost like hair which even covered the bases of her wolf-like ears.
Her face was like Arcee's but had a more square jaw and a line went across her lips that when she opened her mouth, it separated to reveal rows of sharp teeth. Only when she somewhat spoke did only her lips move and not the entire jaw.
"Whoever you are, stand down!" The Prime commanded.
The femme simply laughed with a male/ female crossed voice that sounded like two different people talking at once, "I am Tigressa and I'm afraid I can't do that."
"Then you leave me no choice!"
With that, Optimus gave a battle cry as Tigressa snarled. Both hit each other with a blinding force. The tiger-dragon unhinged her jaw again and the line connecting her lips to the sides of her face separated once again to show three rows of thick, jagged teeth.
She knocked the Prime back a bit before burying her fangs into his arm and hurdling him towards the tower.
Optimus groaned as he smashed into the base of the structure and saw the femme running at him on all fours. He punched the tiger-dragon away for a second to regain his ground but found himself trying to spread the monster's jaws apart to prevent them from clamping shut on his helm.
Bumblebee immediately climbed her back and pulled on the cables on her head.
She shut her jaws again before hitting Optimus with her tail and trying to buck the scout off of her. She stomped around the ruins for a bit before running up and down the halls madly.
The Prime recovered and nodded to Bumblebee who replied by bringing Tigressa to do the famous horse pose that he'd seen humans do before they went into battle.
Optimus smiled and began to scale the tall tower desperately. He peered down every now and then to see how his comrade was doing. A simple "Yee-ha!" confirmed that the scout was alright.
He continued up until he reached the barricaded window and used his gun to blast open the blockade.
"Optimus!" Arcee shouted with glee as the large mech reached in to give her a hand out.
Arcee took it instantly but was shocked to see the scout riding the tiger-dragon like a bull rider on an angry bull. She smirked as Optimus began to climb down with her resting on his shoulder and Bumblebee who had just driven the evil monster into one of the support pillars.
Another roar sounded from Tigressa as she resumed to get the annoying bug off. Finally, she regained control and skidded the yellow mech's face against the nearest wall. The sparks flying off him didn't bother her as he tumbled from her back and bounced off her tail.
She slid to a halt before positioning herself for attack. Bumblebee got the memo and fled with Optimus sprinting right behind him. Both yelped as a massive fireball flew over their heads and broke what was left of a steel door that barely made the Prime duck as he went through it.
Arcee's optics widened as she noticed Tigressa was gaining on them. "Uh Optimus, any time for a ground bridge would be great right about now!"
"We can't bridge inside the castle, they did something to prevent escape so we'll just have to make it over the canyon and contact Ratchet from there."
Another fireball zoomed past them and the next one they barely dodged. Tigressa was furious but saw the exit within their reach and growled.
Bumblebee quickly shoved the doors open and lingered at the edge of the cliff where no bridge was present.
Optimus thought despite knowing their enemy was on their tails. He viewed down the lava-filled canyon and noticed there was no other way but down until a crazy idea came to mind.
"Bumblebee, go to the right to where you're out of her line of sight, then when she comes through, jump onto her back again and make her leap off of the cliff. Arcee and I will do the same thing but on the left, understood?"
Bumblebee nodded and ran to the opposite side and stayed next to the wall. As soon as Tigressa came through, he did what Prime told him and coaxed her onward. At the same time, the other two joined him and all of them felt the tiger-dragon spring up over the canyon trench.
To the Cybertronians surprise, Tigressa unveiled her wings and glided to the nearest cliff at the last minute. She barely made the platform and had to claw desperately to prevent herself from falling.
As soon as they were up, Optimus realized Tigressa wasn't fighting back and was also surprised that she could hold all of them with him being only fifteen feet smaller than her and almost as heavy.
The tiger-dragon blew smoke from her nostrils and began casually treading on the black rocks on all fours again. Bumblebee stood still the best he could in fear as he believed she had forgotten about them and would immediately try to harm them if they alarmed her.
"Uh Tigressa?" Optimus asked shakily as his body felt the steam flowing through the crevices of her armor as she moved.
"What do you want?" She replied with a stern face.
"Why aren't you attacking us? We're riding you like a mule and yet you aren't as hostile as before. Why?"
Tigressa muttered something before responding, "I'm not really concerned about you right now. I want more revenge on those Cybertronian delinquents than you. They promised me food and yet I didn't get it; they tricked me to protect Arcee whom is a pretty good guest, I might add.
"When I first saw you, I thought you were one of them, especially the yellow one, but I was wrong. As for why I'm letting you ride me like one of those human show-ponies is because I might as well help you since you're one of the last Primes and one of the last Cybertronians out there.
"But be warned, I will not be as generous the next time we meet. I hate Cybertronians as much as I hate humans, so stay clear of my path. Oh and you can get off now."
Tigressa stopped and lowered herself into a camel-like position as the three exited their ride. She returned to her normal height on only her two legs and bowed respectfully to the Prime who did the same. She instantly expanded her wings again and retreated back towards the castle.
"So the knight becomes best buds with the dragon? Humans should rewrite their fairy tales for this," Bumblebee said, breaking the unusual tension.
Arcee smiled as she hopped from rock to rock.
"What did those rebels want with Arcee anyway?"
"Most likely, they wanted to preserve our only future carrier by having someone protect her from us and the war," Optimus countered.
"Hell no!" Arcee shouted, "If I want to be a part of the war and risk dying then that's my choice!"
Bumblebee acknowledged her outburst and sighed, "I wonder though, will we ever see Tigressa again?"
Optimus looked back towards the castle in the distance, "Perhaps, though she'll have to be subdued in order for us to reason with her."
"Yeah, like a knight would actually fight WITH dragons," Bumblebee interrupted.
The Prime didn't respond and continued forward with the others. Would he fight with a dragon?