It was a strange group that cruised along the road leading away from the Hakusui Dam: a convoy of military buggies, led by a yellow-and-black Chevy Camaro muscle car. They were heading towards the city of Tokirohama, with the intent of using it as a cover so they could get the AllSpark out of the city.
Yuki looked out the window of the Camaro, silent as usual. Mikuru was shivering, hoping for some relief from this chaos. Kyon and Haruhi were in the front seats.
As Bumblebee and the convoy drove around a corner, Takato spotted something in the distance ahead of them. "It's Optimus," he called. Sure enough, coming at top speed towards them was the Autobot Supreme Commander in his Peterbilt semi-truck mode, followed by the rest of his cohorts: a patrol car, an ambulance, a red Volkswagen New Beetle, a Motorcycle, and a black pickup truck.
As the two groups were about to pass, Prime braked and swerved around so that he was in the same lane as Bumblebee, and one-by-one the rest of the Autobots followed suit.
"Is the Goddian with you?" asked Prime.
"Yes, Optimus. However, these days, it's called the AllSpark." Bumblebee responded.
"Erm, guys?" interrupted Arcee, "Don't look now… but we've got company!" Turning around the occupants could see, coming down the highway after them, a group of vehicles that were out-of-place on the road: a Balkan Mk.6 armored vehicle, a police cruiser, a Buffalo Mine-Sweeper, and- was that a tank?!
In a sudden movement Prime swung his heavy body around, Arcee and Cliffjumper following and skidding backwards. Ratchet, Ironhide, and Prowl drove on after Bumblebee; it was a smooth passage through the traffic, mostly due to Prowl and Ratchet's sirens prompting the unsuspecting civilian vehicles to give them a wide berth. Optimus, Arcee and Cliffjumper charged into battle just as Soundwave, Barricade, The Buffalo and the M1 Abrams tank came down the highway.
However, as the Autobots sped forward to meet the Decepticons, Prime slowed; the tank was leveling its cannon at him, about to fire. He quickly spun around and drove off in the opposite direction. Arcee and Cliffjumper, their tires screeching, braked and turned to follow, leaving deep scorch marks in the road.
At that moment the tank fired; the Autobots were barely able to dodge the pulse blast that streaked past them, missing them by inches and blasting a chunk out of the side of the road. Prime, Arcee and Cliffjumper, due to their quick reflexes, managed to narrowly avoid tumbling off the edge. Unfortunately, several civilian cars were not so lucky; unable to stop in time they skidded off the road and plummeted several thousand feet to their deaths.
"Prime, why are we running away now?" asked Cliffjumper.
"We're not; we're going on ahead to lure the Decepticons into an ambush," replied Prime.
Meanwhile ahead Bumblebee sped down the highway. Inside his occupants were at present looking out the back window. "Oh, no…" muttered Kyon, shocked recognition dawning in his eyes, "Not him again!!"
Yuki whipped around to face him. "Who? Who's 'him'?!" she asked.
"That cop car!" replied Kyon, jabbing a finger towards the form of Barricade, who were zooming his way between vehicles in his car modes, not far behind them. "Come on… block them, block them, block them…!!" Kyon chanted, and as though answering his pleas Prime, Ironhide, Prowl and Ratchet moved in front of Barricade, trying their best to obstruct him, while behind them Arcee and Cliffjumper pulled on ahead to pursue Soundwave.
And then, nearing seventy miles an hour down the highway came the Buffalo Mine-Sweeper. the Decepticon known as Bonecrusher did not notice – through the haze of his single-mindedness – that each and every one of those vehicles he was removing from his path contained live humans, nor did he care. Without even slowing down, Bonecrusher transformed, revealing a robotic Igor crossed with a robotic Quasimodo. "BACK OFF! PRIME… IS MINE!!"
Prime, too, did not remain in vehicle mode for long. With screeching tires he also began to shape-shift, the metallic parts of the semi-truck moving around to form his natural bipedal mode. With a grunt he jumped to avoid hitting a car, his feet ripping up tarmac and drawing sparks as he landed.
Bonecrusher, not impressed, ran RIGHT THROUGH a Bus, bursting through the resulting curtain of fire, the Decepticon abandoned the remains of the bus, the flames clinging to his body like children on a parent. His eyes burned with raw, elemental brutality as he neared Prime, and he howled a battle-cry. The Autobot barely had time to turn around before Bonecrusher reinforced his name by crashing into him in a full body-slam.
Through the sheer force of the attack, the two giants ended up rolling off the highway away from the main group, limbs flailing wildly to overcome each other as they crashed into several levels of overpass networks. They finally landed at the bottom, near a lower road, sending tarmac and concrete flying. A mother driving a car with her son in it came to a screeching halt as Prime and Bonecrusher rolled about like children fighting over a toy.
"Cool, Mom!" the boy in the car shouted in awed excitement, as his mother quickly shielded him with her body.
"Take that, Prime!" Bonecrusher slammed his fist into Prime's jaw, and turning around Prime responded, transforming his arm into a sword and slashing off Bonecrusher's right arm.
As Prime left to rejoin the others, Bonecrusher yelled, "Coward! I'll eat your spark!"
Meanwhile Megatron, Starscream and Blitzwing ripped through the clouds in pursuit of the Autobots. Despite being encased in ice for over ten thousand years, Megatron's obsession over the AllSpark had not wavered, and by inscribing the location on the puny organic's prosthetic lenses, he knew that the Autobots would lead them straight to it. He had desired its power from the moment he learned of its existence, and after forming his vast army of Decepticons he then sparked the Great Cybertronian War, murdering the High Council of Elders and slaughtering countless Autobots, so he could obtain the AllSpark.
However, his accursed brother Optimus Prime, along with his cronies had intervened, moving the AllSpark from location to location. Unfortunately for Megatron, while he was distracted, Prime had launched the AllSpark into space, away from Megatron's reach. Megatron followed it until it had landed back on Cybertron, to be found by Arcee, who took it to Prime, who sent it to the stars a second time.
Now, a third chance to obtain it had come… and Megatron was not going to waste it.
Entering the City of Tokirohama, the Autobots immediately stopped, as a F-35 flew overhead.
There were cheers from several of the soldiers, although Haruhi looked on with distrust. Ironhide, who had a bigger inkling than anyone; big enough to transform into robot mode right in the middle of a street full of people and traffic. At first glance of the giant robot, everyone who had a brain with fear as their number one emotion ran like hell, screaming erupting as the citizens ran for cover. Several were brave enough to stand their ground, or were just too frightened to move, as Prowl, Bumblebee and Ratchet transformed too.
"That's no Air Force Jet! It's Starscream!" cried Ironhide. "Bumblebee, Prowl, Arcee: Flanking positions!"
Prowl pulled twin tonfa/battons from his body and held them in a battle position. Ratchet escorted the SOS Brigade to a safe point and then morphed his right arm into a double-edged battle axe. Bumblebee, Arcee, and Ironhide ran over to an abandoned truck full of Furbies and pulled it over to the soldiers who were ready to open fire on Starscream. Ironhide and Bumblebee flipped the truck over, a pile of Furbies tumbling out of the unlocked backdoors.
Starscream took no time for anything fancy and transformed right away, landing right in front of the group, and firing a missile. It streaked through the air and collided with the overturned truck, blowing it into two pieces. The impact sent Ironhide flying into Ratchet, the two tumbling over. Bumblebee was thrown backwards as one part of the truck followed. Bumblebee tumbled across the road, ripping up concrete as he went.
Just then, a familiar Bomber jet and an F-4 Phantom appeared out of nowhere, landing next to Starscream.
"Foolish organics! Hand over the AllSpark!" Starscream ordered.
Just then, Kyon grabbed the AllSpark and ran for his life. Lugnut noticed him, then yelled, "HEY! GET BACK HERE!!" Before taking off after him.
Fortunately, Lugnut was slow as well as big, and Kyon easily lost him.
As Kyon ran, he stumbled and the Allspark fell from his arms and bounced onto the street. As it bounced, a shockwave of energy erupted from its core, the air rippling as the wave spread over a one-mile radius.
Traffic lights morphed into small black robots with spider-like appendages and they attempted to wrench themselves free of their lampposts. A steering wheel developed claws and latched itself onto the face of a driver. In a nearby superstore full of entertainment devices, shoppers were oblivious to the rampaging robots outside. The shockwave shattered the windows, glass flying everywhere. Many of the customers fell to the floor and watched in horror as every television, stereo, video game console, and even the digital watches transformed into deadly robots. A metal cassette player morphed and started shooting cassette tapes at fleeing customers. Across the street in a Starbucks café, a pair of coffee machines went crazy and started launching blasts of coffee and coffee beans at customers.
"Well, that was weird," Kyon voiced his opinions, before grabbing the AllSpark and running again.
The ground seemed to start shaking violently, and all heads turned to see Brawl, the giant tank come lumbering down the road. Epps charged up his sabot missile launcher. Ironhide's arms morphed in a pair of powerful energy cannons, with added gun turrets too, both made out more than 10,000 pieces. Ratchet, although not much of a fighter, braced himself for the predicted onslaught.
Brawl was a heavyhitter in the Decepticon ranks, mindlessly controlled by anger and the core desire to wreak havoc and destroy everything insight. He was once part of a team of Decepticon brawlers named the Combaticons, although all apparently were destroyed during the Great War on Cybertron, with Brawl apparently the soul survivor. Brawl rumbled down the road, crushing cars that were parked in his way. Two armoured army trucks drove on recklessly, firing sabot rounds at the oncoming tank. Brawl fired pulse blasts from his primary cannon, blowing the trucks to pieces, the soldiers inside either leaping to safety at the last moment or burning to death.
Brawl then transformed. His large bulky vehicle mode began to flip up, the whole tanking seemingly flipping backwards and breaking down into smaller pieces. The tanks tracks and armoured pieces moved onto the back of bulky arms and legs. The main cannon shrank back like a telescope and attached itself to the right arm. Brawl body was huge, armoured with a stump of a head on top, a pair of red eyes glowing, full of anger and the urge to just blow something up. Equipped with not only the tank cannon, Brawl also had a primary gatling gun system on his right arm, two missile launcher weapons built into his shoulders, small cannons on his back, and a razor sharp claw-like weapon on his left arm. Brawl was certainly armed to the teeth. The soldiers surrounded Haruhi, Mikuru, Yuki, and Itsuki, Keizan sweating at the thought of taking on this big brute. Brawl aimed his primary cannon at the humans. This was the end so it seemed.
That was until Cliffjumper rushed by, skidding across the road, then backflipped up onto Brawl's back, diverting the cannon to fire at the air. Cliffjumper pulled out a long, silver blade and easily slashed the cannon off, the metal pipe plopping onto the ground. Brawl roared with rage and tossed Cliffjumper off him.
Prowl, Ironhide and Ratchet dashed forward, their cannons ready. On Ratchet's count, they all fired at the same time. The three energy blasts fired hit Brawl clear in his chest, pieces of his armour tumbling off his body. Undaunted, Brawl moved in for the kill, firing every weapon he possessed. Most of the attacks missed, but one blast hit Ratchet, demolishing his cannon. Another struck Cliffjumper, his sword flying out of his hand. Cliffjumper chased and grabbed it. Determined to beat down Brawl, Cliffjumper smirked and raced by his comrades towards Brawl and raced behind him.
"Hey, Mary Sue!" cried Cliffjumper to Brawl, Brawl slowly turning to face him. "Yeah, I'm talking you big boy!"
"Brawl crush Autobot scum!" cried Brawl angrily, his intelligence obviously not so good.
"Yeah, you claim you will," said Cliffjumper tauntingly. "But you still haven't, have ya?! You want to know why?"
Brawl stood there, awaiting answer, although what intelligence he had was just telling him to squash Cliffjumper then and there. Cliffjumper knew Brawl was dumb, and incredibly quick to anger.
"It's because you are weak, a coward and the most unintelligent thing on this planet…possibly except Homer Simpson!" said Cliffjumper mockingly, dancing about in amusement.
"What?!" roared Brawl outraged.
"You heard you big walking trashcan!" said Cliffjumper. "You're weak and stupid. In fact you're not even that! No, you're a two-bit, no-account, second-rate, sewer-breathed baboon with the brain of a pigeon, the face of an eel and the strength of a mouse, so why don't stop this nonsensical blasting and go play a honky tonk piano!"
"Autobot shut his mouth! Brawl smash! BRAWL SMASH!" roared Brawl, firing his weapons upon, Cliffjumper, who somersaulted through the air and slashed more of Brawl's armour off before running back around to fire a blast of energy in Brawl's face.
Suddenly, a loud whooshing was heard as a weird jet flew overhead and transformed. There stood Megatron, towering over both the Autobots and humans. Many civilians watched from shops and houses but soon spilled onto the streets, screaming and tripping over eachother, trying to desperately get away from Megatron. The Autobots stared in horror, each one filled with hatred. Their arch enemy stood before them, his monstrous face grinning with evil.
"Megatron!" Ratchet yelled, "Fall back!"
As the group ran off, Megatron looked around, noticing Kyon running with the AllSpark.
"GIVE ME THE CUBE, BOY!!" Megatron yelled.
Kyon had no intent of doing so, running faster now. Megatron squinted at the human, then took off after him... only to have someone yell his name. Megatron recognized that voice, turning to face his brother, and his greatest enemy.
"PRIME!" Megatron yelled. He then jumped, transforming into his alien jet mode and charging towards Optimus, firing at him. Optimus dodged the shots, and just as Megatron was within range, he leapt up and grabbed hold of his wings. The resulting weight was too much for Megatron to bear, throwing him off course and causing the both of them to crash heavily onto the pavement.
Transforming into his robot mode Megatron let loose a howl of rage, slamming the barrel of his cannon into Prime's face-plate and denting it with its force. "Fool!!" he roared, "Why do you even bother FIGHTING me?!"
"Because..." Optimus said, "... the humans are life. All life is precious, Megatron. You've said it yourself... as my brother, Thunderbolt."
"Thunderbolt died long ago, Orion. Now, only MEGATRON exists! And if you knew what they did to their planet, you'd think twice!"
"Huh?"
"Humans poisoned their planet, and caused the end of dozens of species! They don't DESERVE to live!"
Prime reeled back momentarily before charging forward and tackling Megatron to the ground. "They deserve to choose for themselves!" he retorted.
"Then die along with them!!" Megatron grabbed Prime, and with almost terrifying ease threw him a distance away, the ground shaking as he impacted. Megatron's cannon aimed at Optimus.
"JOIN THEM IN EXTINCTION!!" he roared – and fired an energy sphere straight at his foe.
Quickly Prime dove to one side, the sphere clipping his arm as it seared past him, leaving a deep scorch mark on that limb. Reaching over his shoulders he whipped out his rifles and fired several shots at Megatron. The shots harmlessly grazed Megatron's shoulders, and without warning he unleashed another positron blast from his fusion cannon.
The attack struck home, the sheer strength of it ripping out several layers of Prime's chest armor and sending him flying back an entire city block, before it ended with him crashing right through an entire office building and out the other side, leaving two humanoid-sized holes in the structure. With a groan he collapsed onto his back, the wind completely knocked out of him.
Things were not looking good here.
As Kyon ran for his life, looking for somewhere to get the AllSpark to someone who could hide it, everyone was to distracted to notice him. Everyone except Bumblebee and Arcee.
"Keep moving, Kyon!" Bumblebee yelled, "Don't stop!"
Kyon then passed a large skyscraper... stopping and then running inside.
3 minutes later, Kyon ran into the nearest elevator, and went up. Waiting in the Elevator, Kyon began hearing a new elevator tune. (The Transformers theme.)
"Hmm. Catchy." Kyon commented.
The 'ding' sound as the elevator reached his destination could not have been sweeter to his ears.
Running out the door, Kyon looked around... to notice a couple of helicopters hover above him.
As one docked near the building, a soldier held out his arms. Kyon, getting the message, went to give the soldiers the AllSpark...
only to have a giant hand grab Kyon's leg. Turning around, Kyon saw the snarling face of Megatron himself. Megatron chucked, asking, "Is it fear or courage that compels you, human?"
"Get off of me, you scrap pile!" Kyon yelled.
"Scrap pile. I've been called worst. Give me the AllSpark, and you may live to be my pet. Don't... and it's a LONG way down. Choose."
"Well you can..." Kyon began, and for whatever reason, he flipped the bird at the Great Slag-Maker himself. "... kiss my ass, Rust-Bucket!"
"Such Heroic Nonsense," Megatron commented, as he reached for Kyon.
There was a sudden detonation, but instead of feeling giant fingers closing around him, Kyon heard a roar of pain from Megatron. Opening his eyes he saw Megatron sprawled on the ground, smoke spurting from a wound in his shoulder.
"What in –?" Megatron gasped, and then his eyes widened in shock at something to Kyon's right. "Starscream!!"
Craning his neck as far back as he could, Kyon could see the F-35 robot standing a few yards away from him with a sneer on his face, a raised and smoking cannon in place of his right arm. "I have groveled at your feet, chafed under your blows for far too long, Megatron-'sama'!" Starscream spat. "Your time is over!"
Kyon blinked. "Did not see that coming," he muttered.
To say that Megatron was now enraged would be a severely gross understatement. "You Pit-accursed traitor!!" he roared, and charging forward he tackled Starscream to the ground.
Unfortunately, the impact further damaged the already weakened section of the skyscraper's roof, and with a resounding crack the ground beneath Kyon broke away beneath his person. A scream of despair burst forth from Kyon's lips as he and the AllSpark toppled backwards amidst pieces of falling metal, glass and plastic, plummeting towards the pavement below –
– Only to be stopped halfway as he landed onto metal with a loud clang. "I got you, boy," a familiar voice rumbled; opening his eyes, Kyon found himself looking into the face of Optimus Prime. The Autobot was currently wedged between the skyscraper and the building next to it, and had caught Kyon in his outstretched hand, breaking his fall. Kyon could hardly believe his good fortune – or the fact that he was still alive.
"Hold on to the Cube –!" With those words Prime leapt towards the other building, moving back and forth between the two as he slowly made his way to the ground. Then there was a thunderous bellow from above as Megatron – apparently already having dealt with Starscream – plummeted after them. The Decepticon latched onto Prime as he fell past, wrenching him from the building and resulting in the two giants free-falling the last three hundred feet to the pavement. A huge cloud of dust erupted the moment they landed…hard.
As the smoke cleared, it revealed a momentarily stunned Megatron, and a few yards away a barely-conscious Prime opened his hand to reveal a curled-up Kyon, still holding on to the AllSpark. Apart from a few bruises and his nerves still a scrambled mess, he was relatively unhurt. "Kyon-kun…" the robot murmured, "You risked your life to protect the AllSpark."
Despite the pain of his injuries, Kyon managed a smile. "Hey, it's just like you said before, right?" he replied, "'Freedom is the right of all sentient beings'."
Prime returned the smile with a bleak-filled one under his faceplate. "If I am unable to defeat Megatron… you must push the cube into my chest. I will sacrifice myself to stop Megatron," he said solemnly. Looking behind Kyon he saw Megatron began to stir. "Get behind me, quickly," he commanded.
Kyon nodded, and jumping off Prime's hand scurried to hide under an exposed pipe near the bottom of the crater, just as the two Transformers rose to their feet. "It's you and me, Megatron," the Autobot declared. "At the end of this day, one shall stand…one shall fall!"
Megatron staggered to his feet to return the stare – only this time, there was an expression of genuine puzzlement on his cruel face. "Why, brother?" he demanded, "Why do you throw away your life so recklessly for these weaklings?"
"They are far from weak, brother," Prime countered. "Their structures may be frail, but their spirit burns with a courage stronger than that of steel. They possess valor, honor, compassion and loyalty… virtues which have earned them the right to live!" As though reinforcing his words his hand went to his side, pulling out an energy tomahawk that swiftly opened out into a massive battleaxe, which he wielded with both his hands. "That is why I must defeat you…so that you'll never take that right away from them!"
"Then so be it!" Megatron roared, drawing a HUGE sword, "I will crush you with my bare hands!!"
And then two giants charged one another, a thunderous crash resounding through the area as their blades collided. The final battle had begun...
Author's notes:
The final battle begins. Will the Autobots triump?
Find out next chapter!
Now, REVIEW! Your ribbon-wearing Goddess DEMANDS it!!!!