The journey was much quicker now. Less than six hours of driving and two packs of Destrongers later, they came to a Decepticon landmark. An entire city block had been cleared, and within it were the charred remains of whatever they could find - human corpses, most likely. They had burned it all into the shape of that jagged face the Monger knew was not a face. A Decepticon symbol visible to any spacefaring vessel in passing. But it was more graffiti, like the ones left by Bouken's crazies, than it was a flag. No need for a flag when you're a Decepticon.
The Monger defaced it before passing. With Terrorbite's help they trampled on wheels over it, and by the end it was simply another mess. After that they continued onward, across land that now was plowed and mowed, flat and open, ideal for battle. Another pack of Destrongers and a dead Decepticon later, they came within five miles of their destination. As you can imagine, their pace from there was much slower.
The first missile flipped the Monger into a roll, and he stumbled into his humanoid form, Long Haul's guns trained in front and above him. Another shook the world behind him but he did not flinch. Overhead, the fighter jet Transformed to reveal the malformed physique of a previous world: wide, thin frame and twisted chicken knees completed by a semicircular head. Expansive shoulders seemed to widen with every movement of his arms, and he held them out in triumph. The Seeker called out in Japanese.
"Monger-sama!" The Seeker boomed. More like squealed. "I am Starscream, and you will know my name, and you will enunciate it very clearly when you die!" At least he had the courtesy to get introductions out of the way for the both of them. Even as he spoke, the Monger was firing upon him, but the Seeker and Decepticon leader simply leaned out of the way of each one. He'd never been a great shot anyway. Beside him, Terrorbite grunted cautiously. "Your dog is cute. Lucky to have him on your good side, otherwise he'd be staring at your leg and nothing else!" The Monger fired one last time, paying closer attention to the feel of the gun, and the final shot grazed the Seeker's wing. He lost a bit of altitude and cursed in some otherworldly language, inaudible to human ears.
"Enjoy the slaughter to come!" - he pointed towards the sky and his thrusters groaned - "The new arrivals are here!" A mass of magma roughly the size of the Decepticon insignia seen before was hurling at Mach 5 through the clouds. Knowing this world's luck, it would not hit the ground in full force and destroy itself on impact. Starscream retreated, and the Monger Blitzkaiser followed. For as long as he could.
Destrongers were soon upon them. Blitzkaiser Transformed first, and Terrorbite launched himself to his master. The resulting four-armed Gestalt smacked aside the firsts of its opposing pack before being tackled, and a flurry of fangs were upon them. Long Haul's pistols were dropped at this time, and slid away by the hunters. Disengaging quickly, the duo's reverse-combination in that moment allowed the blue Destronger to leap up and swipe his claws towards at least three other dogs. Blitzkaiser Transformed and ran over two, leaving Terrorbite's three and eight more. The Destronger in question had already torn two apart and pounced on the last, chomping into where its jugular would be, and it seemed to have the life hollowed out of it in that instant. He tossed the corpse into Blitzkaiser, hoping he could use it as a weapon. Of course he could.
Blitzkaiser, grabbing up the carcass, swung it and caught two Destrongers, and release the carcass in order to Transform and ram into a third. Now Terrorbite was running toward him, passing Long Haul's fallen pistols. He scooped them up in his mouth and charged forward. Blitzkaiser Transformed again, rolling a dog flat beneath him and getting thirteen five-inch spikes in his back as a result. As a human would say, "I've been trying to reach that spot for months!" He paid it little mind, and rolled off. Now he saw his partner, and Terrorbite's jaws unclamped. He caught one pistol and shot away two Destrongers. That would leave two more. One leapt at him and he reached for it with his shooting hand. The Destronger brought its mouth shut on the pistol and it exploded, destroying both itself and the weapon. Reaching with his other hand, he picked up the other gun and shot the other Destronger as it charged.
They stood over the dead pack. Absentmindedly, the Monger tossed aside the spent weapon and examined his mangled right hand which had held it. The fingers would not close all the way. Just enough force to loosely grip an object. Not good for much anymore. But one Monger before him, the great Slasher, had never had hands to begin with, merely two broadswords attached perpendicular to his wrists and forearms. Mongers were meant to destroy, not push buttons. He muttered some remark to his companion.
"We got out of that one by the skin of our teeth," he had said. Not entirely true, and such an expression was not used in this language. He Transformed, and his companion followed him. Across even flatter wasteland than before, they drove on. They would encounter another pack, and the remaining Decepticons of the first invasion wave, minus the Trainer and Starscream. Starscream's planned rendezvous at base was indeed short-lived. Hook, Bonecrusher, Mixmaster and Scavenger, all dead, plus another dozen Destrongers. There would be much fewer of them at base as well. But of course, the new arrivals would replenish the old, exactly as was their purpose. Devastator II had made contact, as previously mentioned.
...
The aforementioned Devastator arrived in parts, exactly as the first had. Starscream was happy to note that they did not fully accept this world's common form, instead keeping their originals from the last world, as he had. Their combined form would reflect this as well, although he would begrudge their vehicle forms apparently did not. He liked this bunch much better than their predecessors. The campaign where they had come from had ended within hours. But this was much more important.
"Are we to expect more of you?" Starscream asked their leader. He was the only roughly humanoid one of the group, and had no name of this world yet.
"Should this prove to be what we believe it is, the Emperor will arrive himself with his personal Division within one solar week. But we will lay waste to this world long before that."
"Ah, I am so glad to hear it," Starscream responded smoothly. "Do you know of the Monger?" The leader shook his head. "The last of the Autobot squadrons has arrived here as well, and their Monger heads towards us even now while the four others push forward. It is our hope that they will arrive to late, and Devastator can squash them with ease." Now the leader nodded. "The Monger has so far destroyed everything sent at him, including the previous Devastator, so I imagine he will prove quite a challenge. He has a Destronger with him too."
"Observation of the battles would likely show that the two of them handle numerous small combatants fairly well. Conclusion is that it would be best to fight him as your combined form," the Trainer added.
"Consider it done," the leader replied.
"Wait." Starscream held up a hand to stop. The motion disgusted him more than anything else. "I want him closer to the prize when the final offensive takes place."
"This is both arrogant and likely to grant the Monger a wider margin of success," the Trainer commented. Always the annoying little know-it-all, he was.
"We will gather all of your remaining Destrongers, then, and you and I will participate in this battle as well," he responded with some frustration.
"Devastator is not suited for this planet's terrain. Logic dictates that the form must change with each world for the two entities to accommodate each other most efficiently."
"Logic dictates that I will consult you when seeking advice in executive decisions. As it is, I am not, so you can run back to your dogs and ready them all." He shooed the Trainer away and faced the Devastator II leader again. "Apologies," he said dryly. "I want the Monger to be slaughtered quickly, that is all," he lied. "And the Autobots can be wiped out in another fell swoop using similar tactics. Surely this is sound strategy."
"Certainly," the leader commented. "When will he be arriving?"
"Soon enough that preparations should be made immediately. Dismissed."
He Transformed and flew away to rejoin his throne some two-hundred feet above the Gestalt team. He could hear the Trainer's dogs chattering and barking now, and he smiled with smug satisfaction.
You'd imagine one of two things to happen: one, Starscream's strategy works in the end. Decepticons win, game over. Or two, the Monger does his job. Starscream was many things, but he always saw two sides to everything. And he saw the scenario where the Monger beat them, unlikely as that may be. He was not as overconfident as his superiors had been led to believe. He must not let this Monger reach their prize.
...
The Monger and the Destronger found silence to greet them. They drove in silence, and it was unnerving. A great amount of anticipation. He was not at top speeds, nor was the Countach to his right; even Mongers got to relax sometimes. But sometimes it would be better not to relax.
Guilt starts to set in: the weight of murder in the name of war. In retrospect destruction seems less sensational and more of a burden. Countless other worlds, and all of it lost between two sides who in the end don't care what is in the crossfire. Hatred unlike anything else! For everything, including the greatest destroyer of all. How many had it been? How often had he cared? Now it was a losing cause, and he just kept on. Clairvoyant humans? Little children with their legs bitten off, gushing their red fuel and dying horrible deaths. Even to the nonhuman, death in youth was no way to live. They had been running, and he had run them into the jaws of the dogs. And for - ...!
He accelerated a bit without realizing it Terrorbite bumped him, getting his attention. He swerved hard, his cab striking an upturned chunk of concrete and flipping him over. His trailer was undone by force and it tumbled to the side aimlessly. Meanwhile his cab skidded to a halt with a pronounced squeal and uncomfortable scrape. Terrorbite skidded to a stop beside him. His cab mode Transformed, revealing a humanoid figure of average height, bearing a faceplate and his larger body's colors. The innermost body of the Monger got to its feet, and looked to the Destronger. He was staring back with a single fiery orange eye. What must he be thinking? Never mind now.
"Size does matter in battle, and that never changes," he commented hoarsely before retrieving his trailer. He must not let himself get lost in thought again. The Monger's job was to have their wits in combat, but not to think. Thinking would mean too much; be too much to handle after all that.
They continued onward. Now he accelerated meaningfully, and the blue Cosmic Countach had no problem keeping up. He focused on his surroundings with his remaining accessible senses in vehicle form, just to avoid being able to look inward. How he had done this even with the company of the Boto family, he could no longer remember. He must keep his mind clear. That had happened far too fast, and had it not been the open road...
And for what? The cause? He didn't fight for the cause. And something must change if the fight would be allowed to continue at all. Not like size in battle, that never changes, does it? Big always beats small, and that's why Mongers existed.
He Transformed when they were about five miles out. The Seeker - Starscream - was indeed arrogant. But they would be upon him in droves, and they would likely overpower him. And the remaining Destrongers would likely be fresh, no match for his single tired one. And they would be expecting him, and he would be expecting them. There was no option but to walk into it, and get it done quickly.
Beside him, Terrorbite growled sadly. He turned to look at the creature. And in the eyes, like this world's species could see through the windows to the soul, he saw in that one eye that the Destronger knew.
They walked on.
He saw Starscream overhead, observing silently. He still had one gun and one good hand to use it, but even plasma had limited ammunition. He did not know yet how much he was facing. And for now the Seeker was harmless. In his Decepticon pride he would do two things: one, he would not lower himself by changing his form to accommodate this world; two, he would not risk his own life attacking the Monger on his own. And as the commander of the invasion force, he would let his underlings do the dirty job instead. In other words, he was practically a spectator.
He walked another mile when he saw the first of them. A dump truck, bulkier and more disproportionate than Long Haul, oversized and easily taller and wider than his own vehicle form. Another joined it, a truss crane equal in vehicle form to his humanoid height. Joining them, a power shovel also easily his bulk in either mode. These were another round of Devestator components. More joined them. A massive buzzsaw meant to evoke this world's machines while clearly not being one of them. A bulldozer. Front-loader shovel. That was six. Behind them came more.
Moving between them now were Destrongers, with more shining dark silver armor and eyes that glowed with the blazes. In the face of this, the Monger cracked his first grin on this world. From what the scouts had told them, smiling was common, and the physiology to it was uncomfortable. But he'd done this before, roughly. And this was the first time he had a Destronger partner with him.
"Come on!" He boomed now. "You've gathered to kill me! So do it! End this threat to the Decepticon reign forever!"
And oh, they were happy to oblige.
The construction vehicles - nine in total - were starting to move into formation. And they began to mesh. The dump truck and a bulldozer formed the feet, flattening out and squaring back up with a sinister groan. The massive power shovel and a long-bed truck melted together, and a cement mixer climbed up its comrades to the very top; he was the head. Already he was bursting open, and out came a face like a hideous insectoid Destronger dog. Multiple sets of glowing eyes came to life and a jaw wider than the Monger's height snapped open. A truss crane and second bulldozer slammed into one another and became one, and the Devastator II centerpiece shrugged the clawed arm into its chest, roaring madly. The remaining shovel pieces piled together into another arm, and the behemoth completed itself by slamming the arm into its socket.
Blitzkaiser and Terrorbite watched silently as the dogs began to gather around the monster, and as it sprung to full life. Stumbling to all fours, it pressed itself up, straining to keep its head off the ground. With all of its four sets of spider's eyes it saw the Monger, and it roared, revealing a lower jaw that split into two pieces. First it took one lumbering reach forward with a front leg/arm, then another.
"Decepticons, charge!" Starscream yelled. No need to tell them. The Destrongers raced ahead while Devastator was still gaining momentum. Earth car parts ground and sparks flew with every little movement the monstrous Gestalt made.
"Terrorbite, engage," the Monger commanded. His Destronger raced ahead too, while he gripped his stolen gun in his good hand and curled his mangled one into a club. He raised his arm and fired where he stood, picking off a good nine dogs as Terrorbite wrestled with three at the same time; neither could ever get them all. At least five would continue to charge forward. One leapt and he shot, but another leapt and found purchase on his face and chest, digging in for a good six inches and sending him horizontal. The third of the five snatched the gun and bit down hard, most likely knowing full well the resulting explosion would destroy it. But at least it had the respect to spare his hand.
The ground rumbled a bit as the Titan continued advancing, but none of the combatants before it seemed to care, and in truth none of them did. The Monger clubbed away one dog and now with two hands pried another's jaw wide open. And like before, he brandished it as a weapon, tossing it to a Destronger, who dodged it easily but ran right to Terrorbite's own jaws in doing so.
"I command you: Devastator Winds!" barked Starscream. The Gestalt, lumbering forward far too slow for its commander's liking, comprehended the command. Barely. Unhinging its three jaws it opened wide, and the Destrongers remained firm where they stood in the face of the mysterious words.
The giant inhaled.
It was impossibly powerful, all-encompassing, pulling like a pair of Mongers could pull you by the ankles. The remaining dogs scattered now, to no avail. The Monger and his pet? Set adrift in the dusty air and being yanked (feetfirst, likely) into the creature's gaping rows of metal grinders, they made contact long enough to Combine. This did very little at first, but on the plus, now they had four arms as opposed to four clawed legs and the Monger's mismatched pair. As they drew closer, Terrorbite holding one of the Destronger carcasses in what was now the lower left arm, the Combiner brought it forward... at speeds necessary to break the sound barrier, like a more conventional whip. Countering and escaping the creature's air current, the carcass whip found its home in the giant's eye, breaking its concentration and permitting it to release a roar that was for all intents and purposes a massive exhalation. The Autobot Gestalt landed swiftly, but hard. Dirt and the crumbled remains of road were kicked up.
The remaining Destrongers, which here were now somehow six in total, all launched themselves at once. With the upper right arm raised to shield it the Autobot Combiner fended off one's attack while catching another by the throat and launching it at a third. The two remaining arms were used to swing at the dogs, and made contact with at least two. At least one of them would never be able to shut its mouth again. The final Destronger sunk its teeth into the Combiner's leg, and as they had done to Devastator II, their shared concentration was broken. Now Terrorbite and the Monger Blitzkaiser fell apart. The latter was where the six dogs would flock. One was already munching on his attacked leg and he screamed wildly, more out of a rush than out of pain. With his mangled club he batted one away, and Terrorbite bit into the one with the permanently dislocated jaw.
The monster Devastator II managed another step forward. Closer now so that it rattled things into the air, this granted the Monger the chance to catch a dog beneath him and crush it using his own body weight. With that matter set aside, the duo of Monger and Destronger turned their three eyes towards the monster now looming above them. Limping to his feet, the Monger hobbled forward, hoping to gain momentum to run but buckling under himself. Now he tried to Transform. He was halfway to vehicle form when his injured leg refused to separate and he was forced to return to his bipedal form.
Terrorbite Transformed now, slowly, and with some struggle. Understanding quickly, the Monger lowered himself on top of the much smaller Cosmic Countach and together they made their way forward, under the creature.
Starscream was angry, and firing now. But from where he was, the Monger was underneath Devastator, and every frustrated shot only hurt the beast, although it neither knew nor cared. Good thing too, because the Monger was also slow finding a suitable handhold to grip on. The Gestalt stopped now and turned around, seeking to find the insect which had crawled onto it. Terrorbite wheeled away, eventually into range of the Decepticon Gestalt's six eyes. It saw what could easily pass for an intruder, and followed accordingly. Back in the direction the Monger needed to go. He would not get far, but this battle needed to move in the right direction.
"No! No!" Starscream yelled angrily. He Transformed and suddenly glided under the belly of the beast. He got a lock on the Monger and began to fire, forgetting Terrorbite long enough for the dog to Transform and leap upon him. The commander had a wing clipped and he fell with substantial force to knock him offline. The dog jumped off his lifeless - and now maimed - jet body, and repositioned himself as Devastator's quarry.
But now the creature had its front leg/arm raised to take a step, and the dog was caught. Thankfully it only crushed his back half with a very unceremonious amplified popping plastic sound, and its leg stayed there. The Monger saw all this and suddenly thought again of that little girl, Aika. No time to think now, just hang on... and do your job.
The Gestalt took another step, and he hauled himself up onto the monster's back. With no hesitation he held on for dear life with his good hand, and started to club away, smashing what was probably part of the longbed truck. The creature did not take kindly to this, and tried to stoop to pluck him from its underbelly. It failed, losing a whole limb to balance on, and it toppled to one side helplessly, rolling onto its back. Surprising, what a well-placed runt of a Monger can do. Roaring the whole way down, Devastator hit the ground hard; and without a proper grip, the Monger Blitzkaiser was thrown a good hundred feet across flat land. He could not get any part of himself to catch on anything, at least until he hit a sign. Trying and failing once to get up, he found himself reading it as in the distance, Devastator II was disengaging.
"More Than Meets the Eye."
Realizing now was his chance, he brought his fist down onto his leg, smashing it back into place just enough. He purged himself completely of his trailer, and stumbled into a Transformation. The red and blue cab burned rubber against powdered concrete as behind him, the inhuman components of the otherworldly Devastator did the same.
...
He had to deal with Destrongers only once. Transforming with a liberating speed as his trailer was no longer a hindrance, he leapt with the dogs, and used one to break his fall as he slammed into another. Without much of his strength to end them more swiftly, one of the dogs tore into his torso, but it was merely a mesh wound. He slammed them into one another now, and while one was offline he slammed the other's head against the ground until it was a pile of parts. Now he grabbed the other as its processors realigned, slicing his hands but breaking off the creature's jaw cleanly, and bludgeoning it exactly twice before it fell over and shattered back into its car form. Now his 'own' hands were mangled. That was a problem.
He drove on, already hearing the Decepticons' engines roaring and cackling behind him. Pay no attention to them. Focus on racing forward. Trackers were far from another sense, but he knew he was approaching, and approaching fast. Now he knew to move quickly, and without the weight of himself, he had less trouble getting past a whopping 150 mph. He arrived within two minutes. Too slow.
There were more Destrongers to greet him, and the one-eyed Trainer. They did not attack him. But they did obscure his view of the prize completely. He looked up and saw Starscream's throne atop the skyscraper.
"I expected you to stop me. I killed your dogs."
"They will not, and I will not, either. We will simply wait." At that, the Monger's threshold for interference was obviously eroded. The dogs jumped, but he was upon the Trainer, and this was why he had not battled. Now he crumpled and was offlined, likely not by his hand. And as of now, he did not even have the time to kill him. With their master seemingly out of the picture, the dogs backed away, and the Monger Blitzkaiser knew the instant he saw it what the Trainer had meant.
It was a pod. Protoform inside, likely useless to anyone, even more likely to be an Autobot. Holding a whole new life inside. It had proven useless to the Decepticons and was not even worth the bother of getting an Autobot to unlock. He had done this before, too.
Reaching out with his left hand, he touched the featureless metal egg, and it released a web of lasers, scanning him curiously. Confirm Autobot.
And then he hauled it up in his arms, struggling a bit with the weight. Just when he needed it. But it was not a Monger's job to complain.
Behind him, the Decepticons were closing in. He would need to deal with them, and quickly. What was around him? The Seeker's throne building, flat land for at least fifty miles in all directions. Mongers worked with anything. He would work with this.
Climb building, make getaway around them? Unlikely, but the Decepticons' loose ends had all been tied by flattening the land. And with the pod in hand, climbing would be difficult, and he could land in the middle of all of them. Possible still, the building would not support his weight. Never mind all, he would have to go through. Mongers are known for their strength.
As the construction vehicles gained, he ran towards the building. Behind him they were chittering in the language of their last homeworld. They had no problem facing one average-sized Autobot. They were already preparing to swarm him, crush him forever under wheeled and jackhammer feet.
Not hoping to find height bug to find length, however, the Monger climbed only one storey and pushed off - and out. He slammed with full force into the crowd, armored pod held in front, plowing through them as they did not expect. But they adapted quickly enough. He didn't even get through when they were already hounding him, and the pod was torn from his grasp. He Transformed, catching them mostly offguard, and as his humanoid form had plowed into them, the long-nosed cab plowed out of them. He rolled out of his truck form to scoop up the pod where it had fallen when he saw Starscream overhead. His triangular body was missing one arm, and he fluttered and sputtered about. He was angry.
"Monger Blitzkaiser! I will address you in the disgusting native tongue of this world again! Your pathetic attempt at reviving the Autobots ends here! I, Starscream-sama, will grant you a chance for an honorable death befitting a Monger!" Instead, the Monger Blitzkaiser responded by simply running on, faster than he expected, and clipping the pod to his clenched and disfigured right hand. It should survive his Transformation. He jumped and hit the ground again as a truck, and simply sped on. The pod seemed to have held. Another advantage to being in this form.
He had no choice but to continue to race on. And faster now than ever before, on this world, or the last, or any world before it. He was here now, and he was still a Monger. And yes, he was drilling that back into himself. He would not forget it.
The Destrongers were behind him now, and overhead the unbalanced Starscream struggled to get a bead on his target. Damn that traitor Destronger!
The Monger had gotten to the place where the first battle with Devastator had taken place. Here he inherited the ability he had sought in Boto Bouken, and knew deep within himself to Transform. Only thirty feet in front of him was the crippled Destronger dog whose alternate form of this world was a solid blue 1982 Cosmic Countach. Terrorbite looked up to him with pain unlike any other in his eye. He'd had his Aika's leg stolen away. And he would suffer more.
But with his still-functional front legs, the dog offered the Monger something that he had stolen away from another: Starscream's arm, arm cannon still attached. The Monger smiled in pain and sadness at the dog.
"One last time." The dog nodded in understanding.
It was not just the Destronger's new abilities that had allowed the two to combine: it was the Monger as well, and as the Decepticons closed in eagerly, the Monger Blitzkaiser would change again.
Removing the pod from his hand he laid it down, and knelt to take the dog and his offering. Absorbing them into himself, he became a multicolored metallic cloud. Good thing the mangled dog, the maimed alien limb and the injured Autobot cab were all color-coordinated. The Monger had earned his title with this skill, and he would earn it again; a Monger uses what they have, no exceptions. The trailer was a temporary assistant in the end, just like everything else.
A four-armed hulk like an upright scorpion would face the unworldly Decepticons as the guardian of this one, and fired Starscream's own tail into the Decepticons. Enraged at this cannibalization, Starscream swooped unevenly to the Monger's level and was knocked down. He surrendered and feigned death to crawl away when none were looking.
Meanwhile the Monger Gestalt faced the monster Devastator, which had begun to combine again. With the pooled strength from three very different sources, sprinted into them. Everything was a mess. Shoot to one, kick to two others, clank two more's together. One component dropped with his limbs being wielded by separate sets of arms. One gone was all it would take. But he continued, eventually knocking them all over long enough to run. He snatched the pod, and with his mangled right hand continued to cradle it. Keep running, keep yourself and all your parts together. Your job is almost done.
In the end it was too much. He fell, an exhausted and malformed mess, spilling the Destronger and detached arm as he continued to cradle the protoform pod. Forget his companion, forget himself, the pod would be all that mattered in the end.
"Get away while you can," he offered the dog futilely. Now he was more honest. "I don't want you to stay. Get away however you can."
He winked, and shook his head. No moving for me. The Monger turned to look back at the remaining advance. They were relaxing a bit. He would give them fury. So too would the Destronger by his side.
"You will be my weapon. Do you understand?" The Destronger nodded now, and the Monger summoned pistons and engines from his vehicle mode like fresh muscle, taking up the battered and wounded dog. He threw the creature, and threw fast. With the last of his energy the dog tore off one of the Decepticons' heads before collapsing, completely spent and lifeless.
And with the last of his energy, the Monger Blitzkaiser made a wall of himself in stance, guarding the pod with himself. He still had the Seeker's cannon arm; a final gift, and he blended it into his own arm. Struggling to lift it, he propped up one arm on the other, and began firing madly into the Decepticon ranks.
He fell.
And so did they. The Monger had done his job.
