Time, a few weeks after Jack's run-in with Skysword. Place, Cybertron – more specifically, Moon Base Two. The communication bots are diligently listening for incoming transmissions, as more and more Autobots arrive, having heard and responded to Optimus' original broadcast.
"Yo! Cybertron! You got your ears on?"
The communications bot frowned. "Ears on?"
The strange communicator gave a hearty laugh. "OK! You just answered my question. So, is it true?"
"Is what true, sir? And who are you?"
"Who am I? Look, junior, why don't you answer my question first. I picked up a message from Optimus saying that Cybertron was alive again. I just journeyed millions of parsecs after wandering throughout the galaxy, fighting and avoiding the 'Cons. Now, I need to know whether that communication was real or was it a joke. So: Is it true?!"
"Sir, I will gladly answer your question, but protocol requires that I first establish your Autobot credentials, if indeed you have any. So please; identify yourself."
He laughed again. "OK, bub. Try this on for size: I'm like a fat ballerina who takes scalps and slits throats!"
The communications bot was completely bewildered. He looked over to his partner, who shrugged his shoulder. "Fat ballerina?" However, as luck would have it, Bulkhead was assisting on Moon Base Two that day, and overheard the comm. He shoved the bot aside and picked up the comm equipment. "I'll take over!" he told him.
"Hound! Is that really you?"
"Bulkhead? Man, they must be desperate on that moon to be using big green Wreckers for communication bots!" he laughed. "So, is it true? I swear, tryin' to get the answer outta that other bot is like tryin' to get an honest deal out of Starscream!"
"It's true, Hound! Oh man, are we happy to hear from you! What's your 20?"
"I'm about 2 parsecs out. Should be there shortly. Where should I land?"
"Meet me and Ironhide on the training grounds just outside of Iacon."
"You got it, good buddy!"
Bulkhead left the communications center and rushed down to Iacon. Heading to the training grounds, he found Ironhide. "You aren't gonna believe who I just heard from!"
"OK, I'll bite," said the weapons specialist.
"Hound!"
"No way! Well, damn! Where's he been?"
"He said he's been traveling this way ever since he caught wind of Optimus' transmission." Bulkhead looked around. "Where's Sideswipe?"
"He and Swoop are across on the other side of the field, training the Skystrikers with Arcee's help."
Arcee, recently discharged from Red Alert's Infirmary, was assisting Ironhide, Swoop and Sideswipe in training incoming Autobots. She decided to postpone her trip to the other Cybertron for a replacement vocorder, given the urgency of the situation on Earth.
Optimus had requested cross-training between the Skystrikers and Cybertron's best fighters, so that when Megatron began his offensive, all could work together as a unit.
Sideswipe had dispatched several dozen high-powered flying drones up into the sky to attack the Skystrikers. "Look alive, Skystrikers! These aren't ordinary drones; I've programmed them to meet or exceed your high skill level!" he warned.
The drones flew tight formations in and around each Skystriker, forcing them to separate and take them on individually rather than together.
When one of the drones attacked Raf, he would turn on his cloaking mechanism, and then make a rapid turn until it passed him by. He then landed on the drone and placing his Unit:E plasma gun on its chassis, fired a shot into its back, putting it out of commission.
Unfortunately, Sideswipe programmed these drones with a group-share learning mod, so after a few of these cloaking techniques, the drones would immediately switch to a heat-seeking sensor, looking for Raf's jet output. It then fired on him, striking his jetpack and blowing out one of his jets. He started spinning out of control, then falling to the ground!
"Raf!" yelled Miko. But he pulled a clever maneuver, using his legs and one remaining jet to jump and carom off drones on the way down, until he was a safer distance to the ground, where he was able to manage a bit of a crash landing, tumbling, until he stood up, a little scratched and banged up but otherwise OK.
("Good recovery, Raf!"), yelled Arcee. Without her vocorder, she was using her Cybertronian digital output (similar to the beeps and boops that Bumblebee had to use when he had no voice). Also communicating digitally, she had no need to mouth the words, and kept it closed.
"Thanks, Arcee!" he smiled, giving a thumbs-up. (Raf, of course, always having understood Bumblebee, had no problems understanding Arcee).
Miko at first had no trouble with the drones. She'd grasp them with her claws and crush their chassis, sometimes several at a time. But suddenly, dozens of them all landed on her at once, doing a pile-on. This was a completely suicidal maneuver for the drones, because the combined weight made flight impossible; but that was the point. Miko couldn't take them all on, and began falling. "Hey!" She yelled, "Get off! Get off!" She started pulling off drones and crushing them, all while the ground came closer and closer. Finally, in a last ditch attempt before crashing, she craned her neck and blasted the drones off her back with the force of her flames. Spiraling, she managed to right herself and fly up just at the last nanoklik.
("Oh, Miko!"), called Arcee, putting her servo to her Spark, ("You gave me palpitations!")
"I think I caught some dust on my belly!" The Predacon girl yelled in response before landing.
As for the Cyber-Ninjas, they had their servos full as well. Sideswipe had programmed the drones attacking them to be particularly knowledgeable about their powers and skills.
Every orb that Jack fired was destroyed midair by a drone blaster! They dodged and avoided every swing of his energy hammer and broadsword. In return, they fired blaster after blaster at him. It was all he could do to keep from getting knocked out of the sky; he was forced to constantly use his Skyboom shield to defend himself, which limited his maneuverability and offensive capabilities.
Jack was getting frustrated, and that proved to be his weakness. Arcee was feeling Jack's frustration, and had a thought to warn him. Sideswipe noticed the expression on her face and knowing that they were Spark Bonded, approached her.
"It must be difficult for you, watching Jack get attacked like that."
The two-wheeler smiled and nodded, realizing where the trainer was coming from. ("Yeah, it's hard. I've gotta let him fail, though, I know.")
Sideswipe nodded. "That's why I program these drones to be tough. Better to fail here on Cybertron among Autobot trainers, than with the 'Cons."
("Yup")
Overwhelmed by the many attacks and distractions, Jack failed to engage his Cyber-Ninja senses to notice the drone rapidly coming at him from behind. It fired an EMP blast - not enough to knock him out, but strong enough to completely disorient him. He threw up his arms in shock and began falling.
Sideswipe called off the drones and turned to Swoop. "Better go check on him."
"On it." And the Dinobot transformed and took off. He got under the falling Jack and caught him between his wings. "Hey, you OK?"
Jack rubbed his helm. "Oh, man, what hit me?"
"That drone gotcha in the back with an EMP blast," said Swoop. Guess ya never saw him comin', huh?"
"No," Jack sighed.
"Hey, better luck next time, eh?" Swoop landed and Jack jumped off. "Thanks for catching me!" he smiled.
"You're welcome! So, how's the other Cyber-Ninja doin'?" They looked up. Sari was holding her own, apparently. She too came to realize that the drones would zap her orbs with their blasters, and skillfully dodge all of her close-combat strikes. Unlike Jack however, instead of using her Skyboom Shield to protect against the blasters, she used Processor-Over-Matter (P-O-M) to deflect them. Once in a while, a stray drone got too close, and she'd deploy her energy blade to slice off a wing; it spiraled down to the ground and crashed. But the central processor that was shared by the drones learned to avoid getting too close, and adjusted their tactic, attacking her from a distance.
"Looks like she's holding her own," said Jack.
"Yeah, but she can't keep that up forever," replied Swoop.
Suddenly, she flew straight up, high into the sky, dodging every blast. The drones followed in pursuit.
"Where's she going?" wondered Miko.
Then, she abruptly turned off her plasma jets and went into free-fall.
("What the…?) Arcee turned to Sideswipe. ("She couldn't have been hit already!")
"That doesn't seem likely," agreed Sideswipe. "But from that height it's hard to tell." He yelled over at the Predacon girl. "Miko! You've got the best optics here; was she hit?"
"Nope!" She shook her head.
The drones, seeing her apparently wounded, and not being told to stop, all swarmed toward the Cyber-Ninja. Which was what she wanted. Once one was below her, she released her energy blades and made slices straight through its cockpit, cutting it in half, then used her legs to launch herself into the thickest group of drones. Turning her pede boosters back on, she fired off her orbs at them like a machine gun. Using her ankles to spin her around, her arms were a blur as she took them all out.
Just then, Hound showed up. Transforming from his alt mode to bipedal, he watched Sari's lightning-orb display high up in the air and was duly impressed.
"Whoa, Nellie!" He whistled, "where'd you get that little firecracker?" Drone parts started raining down all over the training field.
Sideswipe did a double take! "Hound?"
"Hey, bud!"
"Well, well!" They heartily shook servos. "About time you showed up!" He laughed.
("Hey, Hound!") Arcee came up, smiling.
"Arcee! Long time, no see!" He slapped her on the back. "What happened to your pipes?"
("Long story; courtesy of a Decepticon")
Hound grimaced. "Ah, geez! Sorry, kid."
She smiled. ("Thanks. We'll see what can be done")
He then went to shake hands with Swoop. "Hey! How ya doin', bud?"
"Good, Hound! Great to have ya with us!"
"I see y'all have some trainees here," said Hound, looking downfield at the Skystrikers.
"I'll bring you over after their Captain's done," said Sideswipe.
Arcee looked a little surprised. ("She's not done?")
"Oh no, not by a long shot," he smiled. "I figured she'd have no trouble with my strongest drones. I've got something special coming up for her, courtesy of Wheeljack."
Hound laughed. "Oh ho! What'd Jackie cook up?"
Sari put her arms down, watching the drones all drop. Her Cyber-Ninja sense suddenly picked up a huge danger approaching rapidly. She looked to her right. Her optics opened wide!
"Oh, scrap!"
Three battleships approached. Each had huge wheel - like armaments on either side, equipped with a massive array of weaponry. On top was a cockpit, botted by two normal - sized drones; one piloted the attack vessel while the other controlled the weapons.
Sari opened fire on the ships with her orbs, but each one was suddenly met by a Negatronic force field and bounced off. "Figures," she sighed.
The battleships surrounded her, and their circular armaments twirled to let out a fusillade of powerful orbs, aimed straight at their target. Each ship maneuvered its binary spinning orb blasters independently, but all three were linked to a common control processor, which constantly scanned Sari's position, calculating her next defensive move in micro-nanokliks, even firing ahead of where its processor predicted she would go.
Sari was trapped! Try as best she could to avoid them, the first several stream of orbs struck her with what would have been - were this not a training exercise - deadly accuracy. Nevertheless, each hit was a painful sting.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Oww! I've got to get out of this!" She yelled as the orbs tracked her, striking in rapid succession.
Observing from the ground, the Skystrikers' faces winced, watching their captain in this seeming no-win situation.
Holding out her palms, she used P-O-M to divert the orbs, but realized that doing that only postponed the inevitable - the unrelenting stream of orbs came at her from six directions. An offensive attack was needed to shut these ships down.
"They employ a Negatronic force field to protect against attacks from me," she thought, "but what if an attack came from somewhere else?" Looking down, she saw the shrapnel from all the drones she'd destroyed. "Hmmm."
"OK, you three, try this on for size!" And bringing out her Skyboom shield and opening it to its maximum, she then used her P-O-M to lift up several large, sharp pieces of drone from the ground.
Hound saw this and figured out what Sari was about to do. So did Sideswipe.
"Uh, you program that tactical move into your drones, pard?" He asked the trainer.
Sideswipe rubbed the back of his helm. "Well, no; not yet. Next time."
Sure enough, the sharp pieces of fallen drones shot straight up and struck the ships from underneath. They kept on going all the way through, coming out the top. The ships stopped firing and exploded. Falling, they crashed to the ground.
"Whoo! Go Cap!" Yelled Miko. Raf nodded in agreement and smiled under his helmet. "Damn good maneuver!" He thought. Jack chuckled and shook his helm. "Wow. I have got a lot to learn!"
("Well, I...guess Sari's done for now?") said Arcee.
"I'm out of drones," laughed Sideswipe. "Training's done for today."
Sari landed before the group. "Thank you, Sideswipe. I've got to remember about the enemy's use of a Negatronic force field."
Hound came forward. "Nice shootin' there, little missy!"
Sari smiled. "Thank you! Mr…?"
"Mister! Forget the Mister! Name's Hound!"
She laughed. "Well, thank you, Hound!" Sari looked up at this new Autobot arrival. He was definitely a battle bot! It seemed like every square inch of his chassis was covered in one type of weapon or another, from plasma missiles strapped around his arms, to machine gun bullet belts draped over each forearm (was each digit actually a machine gun? She wondered), to guns and knives on his legs, and grenades on his chest, and...just too many to count! And dog tags?
But Hound's most interesting feature was his metallic "beard". Sure, Alpha Trion on her home's Cybertron had a neatly-trimmed metallic beard and mustache, but this one was a series of long, tightly-wound coils that swayed back and forth when he moved his helm. With his rough-hewn (and battle-scarred) face, and belly case filled with - what else? - even more weapons, he would have almost resembled an Autobot Santa Claus, except for what looked like a metallic cigar in his mouth!
"Hound, let me introduce you to the Skystrikers," said Sideswipe. He gestured to Sari. "This is Captain Sari, the one you just saw take down the last of my training drones."
"Pleased to meet you, Hound," she said, flying up to him and holding out her servo.
"Pleasure's all mine, Cap!" He replied, shaking servos.
They walked over to the others. "And here is the rest of the team. This is Miko…"
"Hey, Hound!" Said the pink and purple hybrid girl, bounding forward.
"Well, dang there, Miko! If you aren't the most interesting lookin' flying bot I've seen! You remind me of some creations of Shockwave's that Swoop here and the Dinobots used to fight."
"The Predacons? Yep, I'm one of them, but became one by accident - except I'm with the Autobots."
"Well, as I recall, you're all fierce fighters. Glad you're on our side!"
"Thanks! Say, I've got a question - is that a real cigar?"
Hound laughed out loud. "Naw! Actually, it's a spent bullet casing - I like to chew on 'em. Care to try one?" And he took one out of his packet.
Miko's yellow optics opened and she raised a metallic eyebrow. "Uhh.."
Jack laughed. "Hey, go for it, Miko! Could be a whole new look for you!" And she opened her mouth and took it from Hound. "Hey! Not bad!" She mouthed, as the bullet casing moved around her Predacon teeth. "Hard...to keep in place, though."
Suddenly, the casing disappeared in her mouth!
"Miko! Don't swallow it! It'll wind up in your Energon tank and Ratchet will have to get it out!" said Sari.
"No…" She said, still chewing, "...it's...still in my mouth...but…" [accidentally spits it out] "Ooops." A chewed-up, severely mangled bullet casing lay on the ground. "Sorry. Guess a Predacon's not meant to hold a 'cigar' in its mouth." Everyone laughed!
"Anyway," chuckled Sideswipe, "That's Miko. And this is Jack. Both he and Captain Sari are Technorganic Cyber-Ninjas."
"Pleased to meet you, Hound," said Jack, flying up for a servo-shake.
"My pleasure, Jack," said Hound. "Now, I've heard of Cyber-Ninjas, but Technorganics? What are they?"
"Technorganics are half Cybertronian, half organic," explained Jack. "Captain Sari - she's my Sensei - and I, absorbed human DNA on Earth, and so our organic half is human."
"The Technorganic, CNA/DNA combination has proven to be a powerful thing, Hound," said Sideswipe. "In fact, Shockwave's been experimenting again, producing some Decepticon Technorganics of his own."
"Yeah, we call them 'TechnoCons', said Miko."
"Sari and Jack had a run-in with these TechnoCons, and one of them, who calls himself Skysword, is a powerful bot in his own right."
("He's the one that took out my vocorder") said Arcee. Hound scowled and ground his teeth when he heard that! "Damn bastard!" He looked at her with sympathy and put his servo on her shoulder. That made Jack smile.
"He seems like a really good bot," Jack thought.
"He is, Jack," said Arcee through their Spark-Bond. "Hound's a soft-Sparked bot, who loves his fellow Autobots even more than he loves a good rumble. You can't have a better bot at your side in a battle than Hound."
"Which is why we're so glad you've arrived," continued Sideswipe. "Optimus believes that with Shockwave making these Decepticon Technorganics and more Decepticon Predacons, Megatron's gearing up for another war, and he's aiming to use Earth for his staging ground. That's why we're all training."
"Well, hell's bells, you all know you can count on me!" replied Hound.
"Now the final Skystriker here is Raf," said Sideswipe. "He's Captain Sari's technical specialist, and her super soldier."
Raf saluted. "A pleasure to meet you, Hound."
Hound saluted back. "Likewise, Raf."
"Raf's just about the best hacker we've got," continued Sideswipe. "He's already broken into the Decepticon systems a few times, and thanks to his efforts, we've learned a great deal about Megatron's plans."
Hound nodded to Raf. "Good job there, soldier."
"Thank you, Hound. I'm trying again to break in and learn what the latest plans are for this staging site. They've doubled up on the encryption to their systems, but I'll get in one way or another."
"I have no doubts that you will, Raf," said Captain Sari. "And more and more Autobots are arriving to join in this battle, both in this dimension and in mine."
Hound did a double-take. "Dimension?"
"Oh! I forgot to tell you," said Sideswipe. "Captain Sari's from a parallel dimension, where there's another Cybertron, with other Autobots."
"You don't say! Hey! You got a Hound in your dimension, there, Cap?"
"Actually, we do! He created a hologram that diverted the Decepticons during our Great War, which turned the tide in one of our battles. But right now, he's busy fighting Space Pirates out near my dimension's Barbarossa."
"Is that so? Well maybe I'll meet him someday."
Sari smiled. "I'll be glad to arrange the introduction!"
Alright, Skystrikers," said Sideswipe. "Training's done for today. We meet again tomorrow.
While Skysword was training Osgood, Scott was with JoAnne and Adam. Megatron had deemed Scott to be the one needing more instruction in Decepticon doctrine, so two mentors/sergeants were assigned to him.
"Stop goofing around and concentrate!" Adam growled at the speeding dark-blue dot in the sky. Unlike all the other TechnoCons, Scott had no wing-stabilizers on his back, just simple heat-sinks. He, JoAnne and Scott were a few kilometers away from the Nemesis, engaged in flight training above the clouds.
Scott had barely passed the long-range offensive shoot training. He didn't have much enthusiasm to fight. All he wanted was to start flying. So when JoAnne and Adam gave up and reluctantly started the flight lesson, he took off on a board he summoned from subspace.
"We have to whip him up into a real fighter, otherwise Megatron will have this on our heads." JoAnne groaned exasperatedly.
"WOAH! Yeah! Look at me!" Scott did several barrel-rolls, showing off his skills.
"At least he has the flight part down." JoAnne sighed. "Time to give him a wakeup call."
"My pleasure!" Adam gave a swing with his massive hammer and unleashed an arc of red energy that flew straight at the distracted Scott. The newest recruit barely escaped the hit by a few inches. Adam and JoAnne approached him.
"Hey, what the heck was THAT for?" he protested.
"To remind you that this is a lesson, not a vacation. The Decepticons is for real fighters, not twerps who need nannies to keep them in check." JoAnne spoke soft but mockingly. It was a characteristic she had been more and more known for. Ever since she accidentally detonated the restaurant where she came across her ex-boyfriend, JoAnne had begun to gradually adopt a new persona. Her voice was sweet, but the tone was taunting. Only Megatron, Skysword and sometimes Adam were the exceptions.
"You always insult people with such a cute voice?" Scott muttered.
"Nope, only recently."
"Okay, 'nough chit chat!" Adam thundered, sparks dancing around his hammer. "Since you don't like fighting on the ground, we'll cover that training up here."
"You have to learn how to shoot and fight hand-to-hand while you're in the air. That requires paying attention to both your enemy and your flight." JoAnne continued.
"Question!" Scott raised his hand like a kid in class. Both instructors sighed at those childish antics.
"Yeah?"
"Why do I have a board and you guys don't?"
It was JoAnne who answered that, this time with a more normal tone:
"Shockwave said even though we got our CNA from that Jack Darby guy, our mods were customized to better suit our personalities. We both have wings to balance our jets, but you don't need one because you have a board. While Darby has a sword, Adam has a hammer and I have a whip. You, however, have nothing I can see that looks like a close-combat weapon. Other than your sharp claws. I guess your scratches are worse than your bites." she said the last phrase in her sweet, mocking tone.
"That is why you need more training in close-quarter combat." Adam added. "Shockwave said that while your claws are sharp, they also have an acid that can damage Cybertronian metal. So while in the air, you must rely on your board to get real close to your enemy, as fast as possible. It's important that you stay agile to avoid a counterattack when you're too close."
"Let's try it out." JoAnne came closer and deployed her whip. "You come at me from whatever distance and speed you want. You win if you can scratch me. But I doubt you can do it."
"Oh, yeah? You won't even see me coming!" Scott moved away and began flying mad circles around her choosing a random moment to attack. He picked a time when he was behind her. But before he could even approach, JoAnne turned around and fired her flame throwers. With all that momentum, Scott had no way to avoid the fire.
"AWW! Hot! Hot! Hot!" he cried out, nearly falling off his board. Scott's chassis was scorched but undamaged. Nonetheless it hurt.
"Lesson number one, your opponent is not a deaf, blind rock, Scott. I already knew what your attack was. Next time, don't do the circle-thing; that's dumb. Do a sneak attack. Try it a little closer to spare some time."
"Ow, man! Did you really have to flame me?"
"If she were an Autobot, you'd be worse than flamed, twerp," Adam grunted. "Now get movin'! Because if you don't show improvements, Megatron is gonna crush you personally and shove your remains down Starscream's throat."
"Or maybe he'll feed you to the new Predacons." JoAnne added, enjoying the fear growing in Scott's optics. "I hear Shockwave is almost done with two others. Wonder if they'll like you, Scott," she smirked.
Meanwhile, Osgood was undergoing training and instruction with Skysword. Outside, he did not appear very menacing. Gray and dark-blue, the articulations were dark with red lines. The optics had a sharp ridge of blue between them. His weapon was an electric staff with a clawed end very similar to Knockout's. Like Shockwave, Osgood was a true nihilist scientist, which explained his recruitment at the hands of the Decepticon Cyclops.
But that was where Osgood's failing was. He harbored some pathetic ideals of who was to be the superior. While the young genius was progressing much faster than Scott, he had discipline problems. Osgood followed Skysword's instructions but only after criticizing them, and with a tone that indicated he didn't like Skysword.
They made a pause after flying and target practice. Osgood asked:
"Why are you the leader anyway, Frank?" That was also an annoying habit that Osgood had, of calling his leader by his human name.
"I thought I told you my name is Skysword now," he replied. Osgood scoffed at that, rolling his optics.
"And I'm leader because I'm the more experienced. And, because Megatron commanded it to be so."
"Funny. I got the impression it was because you were the strongest." That sarcasm made Skysword's irritation grow.
"Oh, and you think you can do a better job?" he replied.
"I have the mind for that. I follow logic, while you prefer to 'go with your gut'." Osgood spoke disdainfully.
"If you want, we can settle this leadership dispute right here, right now." Skysword challenged and waved his arms at the environment. They were far from the Nemesis, flying hundreds of meters above the ocean. "Unless you don't think you can handle it."
"I have accepted to become an outcast among Humanity in order to perfect my own biology." Osgood referred to his acceptance of Shockwave's offer to become a Technorganic. "You think I'll back off from you?"
"That's the spirit!" behind his face-mask, Skysword smirked.
"But let's lay down a rule first." Osgood pointed down. "The first to hit the water loses."
"Deal." Skysword revealed his falchions and prepared for the attack. He knew Osgood was the type to let the enemy make the first move. So Osgood would let him make the first move. Skysword had this snob pretty much figured out. In stark contrast, Osgood underestimated the Technorganic leader, something which Skysword was counting on.
Skysword dove for the attack and Osgood dodged at the last minute, intending to stab him with the back with his staff. But Skysword had predicted that and deployed his Skyboom shield for protection. The leader proceeded to kick him in the faceplates and tossed him downwards.
But Osgood wouldn't go down that easily and gained flight again. Skysword fired orbs at him and Osgood used his own Skyboom to protect his advance. The genius took care not to move too fast; he had studied how Kālī had met her demise by running into Sari's orb.
"Coming at me again, Frank?" Osgood teased, "or should I come for you, street rat?"
Skysword knew that tactic well; having come up the gang structure, insults were a common way of getting your opponent to lose their cool and make a mistake. He wouldn't fall for it. Once again, the new recruit's supercilious attitude would be his downfall.
"Your move, Osgood," replied the TechnoCon leader. He gradually lowered himself down closer to the water, putting himself at a tactical disadvantage: the recruit was now overhead, and could very easily launch an attack and shove him into the ocean.
"Bad move, Frank!" Yelled Osgood, and came toward him - watching both of his opponent's arms to make sure he wasn't forming an orb. Skysword wasn't; in fact, he was holding his palms out in a defensive stance. He remained silent, and focused his optics on Osgood.
"Firing an optic at me won't do any good!" Osgood laughed, as he sped toward him. Skysword remained silent.
Then, at just the right moment, instead of firing orbs at Osgood, the leader flicked his wrists and moved his palms down to the ocean, letting loose two powerful orbs, which hit the water, causing a huge wave that crested up and splashed over Osgood! He was caught completely off guard and stopped mid-flight. "What the hell?!"
"Looks like you hit the water first," said Skysword. "You lose."
"What?! No! That wasn't what I meant! You bloody cheating bastard!" He then flew at Skysword in a blind rage, his electric staff forward, charged to the maximum.
"Lost your cool, eh, snob?" snickered Skysword to himself. He held still, until at the last nanoklik, he moved aside so the staff missed him, then he twisted his body and gave Osgood a roundhouse kick to his helm that caused him to fly straight into the ocean.
"That one better for you?" He asked the recruit.
Osgood got himself out of the water and sputtered, "Whatever."
"Good. Now that the leadership question is settled, we continue with your training."
"Understood, Skysword." he said the name in a slightly derogatory way, but at least he finally said it.
"Space bridge ready at this end, Ratchet," said Isaac.
"Very good, Professor," replied Ratchet. "Bridge ready here." The rings on Outpost Omega One glowed blue, green, and yellow, as a red truck cab came out. It transformed into bipedal mode. A lone figure stood waiting to greet the guest.
"Welcome to Outpost Omega One, Optimus," said T:Prime Optimus.
"Thank you, Optimus," TFA:Optimus replied, and the two Primes shook servos. "I understand our Autobots can provide assistance to you in a war that Megatron is preparing to unleash in your dimension?"
"Indeed. I fear a great conflict is on the horizon. Thank you for responding to our call."
"It would be an honor to fight by your side! Let's go and discuss plans for joining forces."
Another cooperative effort between yours truly and TheSealer!
So, preparations are being made by the Autobots and Skystrikers, and training is underway, as the Decepticons gear up for their offensive. All five of the TechnoCons have now been formed, but so far Megatron has only deemed Skysword worthy to bear the Decepticon logo or carry a new name; the other four are in various stages of development. Shockwave is almost ready to unleash more Predacons to join Ripclaw.
New Autobots have joined the cause, and Optimus Prime from TFA (Transformers Animated) is meeting with his counterpart in this dimension (T:Prime) to discuss how they can combine their forces.
Can Raf get more Intel from the Nemesis on Megatron's plans? Where will this battle take place and what will be the outcome? We shall see!
Thanks for reading. Please review.
NOTE: As much as I would like, I'm not able to respond to guest reviews.