AN: Hey guys, lyokoMARVELanime here, and we are back for more with Gundam SEED Prime: Chaos Hunters!
Bumblebee: Hey, where're Dearka and Miriallia? I thought they would've been here too.
AN: [coughs lightly] Oh uh...funny story, actually. Remember how last chapter my latest spoiler prevention thing turned Dearka into a puppet, and I asked Miriallia to take care of him until I figured out how to change him back?
Nicol: It's a little hard to forget to be honest, especially when we've still got the pictures.
AN: Yeah well...here's the funny part...I still have no idea on how to change him back, and even if I did, I have no idea where Miriallia went with him. When I tried calling them, it just went right to voicemail, so...I have no clue what to think. But thankfully, they won't have to do much in this story for a while.
Knockout: Well can we hurry this along? I'd like for us to at least get to where Optimus gives Kira...
AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]
Knockout: Ah scrap. [gets blasted by massive laser that kicks up dust cloud]
Lunamaria: He's not going to turn into a puppet too, is he?
AN: Nope. I'm not using that thing anymore until I figure out how to reverse it, but I think you'll like this even better.
Cagalli: Why? [looks to see Knockout has turned into a tiny, human baby with red hair]
All the girls in the room: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwweeeee!
Knockout: [starts crying as girls start cooing over him about how cute he's become]
Shinn: These spoiler prevention things just keep getting weirder and weirder with every new chapter they're used in.
AN: Don't look at me. It's not easy coming up with new stuff that hasn't been overdone or used at least once by now. Anyways, let's roll out to the story!
I do not own anything from any of either of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter 14: Shocking Discoveries
There were some days that Cagalli was certain that there was some sort of spell or higher being looking out for her, because that was really the only explanation she could think of as to how she had survived so much in her lifetime. Obviously she managed to live through the battles in Africa with the Desert Dawn, she lived through being shot down and crash-landing on a small island in the middle of the ocean, she barely escaped Orb before it was completely burned down, she fought in and made it through the battle of Jachin Due, and then there was everything else that had happened during the Terrible Autobot Civil War, so one would have to assume that she had some special charm on her or that she was much more skilled than many would suspect her to be. Of course, after looking over her situation of being trapped in a mountain cave that was likely to explode at any second if she was not careful, the idea of her being charmed quickly became replaced with one of her being cursed, especially given who she was trapped with at the moment.
Predaking was a bit disoriented when he regained consciousness, so Cagalli thought that she had a chance to either get away from the massive beast or finish it once and for all. She was well aware that the former option was much more likely to succeed than the latter; she had seen what that thing had done to her friends in the past, and she was not stupid, but before she could gun the Diamond Akatsuki in any direction, the Predacon leader was able to shake all cobwebs from his head and then fix a ferocious glare on her Gundam. A minute later, Predaking was rising to his feet and slowly charging towards her, barely leaving her enough time to move away and let him slam into the wall that was previously behind her. Cagalli knew that if the mines were likely to explode due to exposure from the Dark Energon reservoir, then it was just as likely to have similar consequences if she used any of her blasters or other long-range weapons in the cave, so she quickly armed both of the Diamond Akatsuki's arm blades, which held a significant similarity to Arcee's, and raised them in defense for Predaking's next attack.
It was a good thing that the blonde had prepared herself in the way that she did, for a moment later, she found herself pinned against another cave wall and just barely keeping the Predacon back with said arm blades. "You will pay for your interference in my battle, worm," Predaking snarled as he pushed down on the diamond and gold mobile suit.
"You're not seriously telling me you're that upset about the fact I accidentally flew into the path of your fight with Grimlock, are you," Cagalli asked in disbelief.
"Grimlock," Predaking repeated, as if he were testing the name on his tongue. "The one who takes on a form similar to my own…a fitting name for the first worthy foe I have faced since I gained awareness."
"So, you're saying that you don't consider the rest of us worthy to fight you or something," Cagalli retorted as she continued to try and push the Predacon off her.
"In the battles I fought against you and others like you, you always fought with an ally by your side, always needing help to fend me off. Can you tell me that you honestly believe you can even push me back on your own," Predaking asked. When Cagalli said nothing in response, Predaking just smirked and replied, "I did not believe so. Though I can guarantee that you will need no help in meeting your end at my hand."
"Keep dreaming, monster," Cagalli snarled, and a minute later, something stung Predaking on his back, much to his surprise, giving Cagalli an opening to finally push the beast off with a hard shove and a swipe from one of her suit's arm blades. Looking back at the Gundam, Predaking was able to see her recall the DRAGOON that the blonde had used to hit him from behind at close range; an unexpected tactic that Predaking had to smile a little at, but not one that he would stand for as he proved by readying his right plasma cannon. Before the beast could fire though, Cagalli immediately raised her machine's hands up in warning and shouted, "NO DON'T! You'll bring this whole mountain down on us if you use that thing in here!"
"If my existence must end in order for you to perish, then so be it," Predaking snarled as he charged up his weapon.
Cagalli knew she had to think fast if she were to stop Predaking from burying them all alive, and that was when it struck her. "You do that, and you'll be damning all of your kind as well," Cagalli then shouted.
That got Predaking's attention, causing him to cease charging his weapon and then lower it as he asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Cerebros told us, himself," Cagalli explained. "This whole mountain is one of the oldest and richest mines on the planet, and if we were to so much as use our weapons in here, it will spell disaster for us and everyone near the mines as well. Last I checked, both of our forces are right outside fighting, so if you really are as much of a leader for the Predacons as your name suggests, than I'm guessing you don't want that."
"You are attempting to convince me of something that is not true in order to secure a victory for yourself," Predaking accused.
"You mean bluffing," Cagalli asked. It was a few seconds until Predaking finally nodded in reply, to which Cagalli replied, "Are you sure you want to take that risk?"
Predaking paused to consider his options carefully for a minute, until he finally changed his plasma cannon back into a hand and stopped over to the rock wall that had trapped him in the mine with his enemy. "I must warn my brethren of this information," Predaking determined aloud. "If what you say is true, then unearthing the Dark Energon reservoir would be disastrous."
"You think," Cagalli asked, rhetorically. When the Predacon started bashing away at the rock wall, Cagalli noticed some more of the cave was beginning to come down, and some of it was about to crush Predaking beneath the boulders. Cagalli would later wonder why she did what she did, only to think that it was something she did out of reflex, but whatever the case, it did not change the fact that the minute she saw Predaking was about to be crushed, she immediately rushed the Diamond Akatsuki over and pushed the Predacon leader out of the way just seconds before the rocks had hit the ground he had been previously standing on.
"You dare to touch me, lowly worm," Predaking demanded once he had pushed the girl off.
"You're right. I'm sorry that I saved you from getting crushed because of the fact that you nearly brought the ceiling down on top of us with your banging on the blocked entrance," Cagalli retorted with absolutely no shortage of sarcasm. When Predaking looked away with a huff, Cagalli just sighed irritably and said, "Look we obviously can't force our way out of here so we'll just have to try and find another way to escape this rat trap, and considering that we have no idea what's down here, then we'll just have to watch each other's back until we do get out, so do you think we can call a temporary truce or something until then?"
Predaking considered Cagalli's suggestion for a few minutes until he finally relented and said, "If I must tolerate your presence, then you will walk ten paces behind me at all times."
"You can't be serious," Cagalli exclaimed. "Are you really going to be one of those kind of people right now?"
Predaking said nothing in reply and just started stomping into the mines, the walls echoing with every one of his footfalls. Cagalli just sighed in response to the Predacon's silence and moved the Akatsuki forward after said beast was a reasonable away from her, and muttered, "This should be fun."
Outside of the mines, Athrun was going crazy as he continued using the Infinite Justice to move the rocks out of the mine entrance, but for every rock he moved, another five seemed to fall down into its place, much to the blue haired boy's irritation. It did not help that the battle was still going on around him, or that the Constructicons seemed to be getting closer and closer to their goal, but at the moment, Athrun could not care less since his wife was trapped in an old mine that was liable to explode at any moment with Predaking. Once he had finally gotten fed up enough with moving rocks by hand, Athrun decided to switch to using the mysterious feature in his Gundam to get through, hoping against hope that it would activate this time, but sadly, he had no such luck in getting whatever weapons system the control activated to work.
"Come on, come on, you stupid piece of junk," Athrun growled, irritably as the machine's monitors displayed the "insufficient power" warning once again with his most recent attempt. "How the hell can there not be enough power?! You run on an Energon Reactor Core! There should be no way in hell that there's not enough power, so just stop saying that's the case and help me get to Cagalli!"
"Athrun, calm down," Heine shouted as the Saviour flew over to Athrun's position, firing it's Plasma Beam Cannons as it did. "There's no use in getting all worked up like this, especially when we've got to deal with…"
"DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME TO CALM DOWN," Athrun shouted. "My wife is trapped in there with a monster!"
"And you won't be able to help her at all if you die in this battle, or if that Dark Energon Reservoir is unleashed," Shiho reasoned as she brought the Rosso Aegis over and out of its mobile armor attack mode. "Once we deal with these guys, we'll be able to do a lot more for Cagalli, but we can't do anything with you like this, so get it together."
"How can I when the woman I love could be dead in there for all I know," Athrun shouted. "I'm not going to just leave her like this when I know that…"
"THAT'S ENOUGH, MAJOR ZALA," Elita shouted, getting all three pilots' attention. "We're all worried about Cagalli, but we can't do anything for her at the moment, so until we are able to, we need to focus on the matter at hand."
Athrun knew that they were right, and after he had calmed down enough he was able to see that much more clearly. Cagalli could handle herself very well, a fact that he probably knew better than anyone alive, save for Kira and Arcee, so he took a calming breath and said, "You're right. I'm sorry guys. I just…I mean…"
"Don't worry about it," Elita reassured him. "We'd all have reacted the same way in your position."
Athrun nodded in thanks to Elita, and then brought his attention back to the battlefield, where Abominus continued to rampage through their friends and allies. Seeing this served as all the reason Athrun needed to arm the Infinite Justice's arm blasters and charge forward with the Saviour, the Rosso Aegis, and Elita right behind him, each firing everything they had at the monstrous Predacon. Athrun took a small notice of some of the remaining Predacons having a similar dispute to the one that he was having earlier with his friends, but he filed it away for later as they finally made it over to where Blaster was taking cover after he pulled Strongarm to safety. After taking another glance at their surroundings, Athrun was able to see Strongarm was being looked after by Brainstorm, and the cadet seemed to be doing much better than he originally thought.
Still, mere appearances did not mean that he should not at least ask how the young Autobot was doing just to be certain, and so Athrun looked to the Headmaster doctor and asked, "How's she doing, Brainstorm?"
"You're ally shall be fine, Athrun Zala," Brainstorm replied. "We've already repaired the most serious damage, and she should be able to rejoin the fight once we're finished with a few last examinations."
"That's not necessary. I can rejoin the fight if you need me to, sir," Strongarm tried to insist. "Tried" being the keyword, as the minute that Strongarm tried to stand up, she found herself unable to keep from groaning a little in pain, even as Brainstorm gently pushed her back down.
"Save your strength, soldier," Athrun ordered the cadet. "Unless you have a full okay from the doctor, I don't want you taking anymore risks like the one you just took a little while ago, or did you forget that's what landed you in your current position? Let Brainstorm give you a clean bill of health, and then you can rejoin the fight."
"Understood, sir," Strongarm muttered in defeat.
Athrun had to smile a little at the fact that Strongarm was clearly eager to do whatever she could to help, but it seemed that her head was not quite as much in the right place as her heart was at the moment, and that always spelled bad news for someone, especially a rookie like the young femme. Athrun was well aware of how ironic such thoughts were at the moment, considering what he was doing just a minute ago, but there was no time to dwell on it, because they needed a plan on how to either take down Abominus or break through the Predacon defensive line to get to where the Constructicons were. It was a matter that everyone was more than open to suggestions on.
"Perhaps one of us could reattempt Strongarm's earlier tactic," Hardhead suggested, throwing a look at the Gundams and Autobots, clearly showing who he had in mind as the ones to charge in.
"No, it's too risky," Elita immediately waved off. "We can't take the chance of losing anyone else for whatever reason in this fight, because if we don't win here, there may not be a planet left to fight for."
"You might want to tell Zarak that," Highbrow suggested. "Maybe if he knew what would happen if he let these guys continue, he'd do something to stop them too."
"I doubt that," Cerebros denied. "Zarak has never cared about the risks involved when it comes to retaining his dominance over this world."
"And it looks like he doesn't care whether or not how dirty his hands have to get either," Chromedome stated. "We've got Hive warriors inbound, and it looks like they brought the rest of their new friends with them."
A quick look up from where they had taken cover immediately told everyone that the Headmaster scout was accurate in his report, for Zarak and his forces were heading straight towards the battlefield with Cyclonus, Demolisher, Blackout, and Astrotrain right alongside them. This was not something that any of them wanted to deal with right now, as it meant the odds were just sinking further and further away from being in their favor. It seemed like the other Headmasters were about to start panicking a little while the Autobots and the humans started to feverishly think of anything that they could do to stop their enemies, but thankfully, Cerebros said something that seemed to stop any sort of frenzied reactions cold.
"It would seem that if we are to survive this, I must do something that I had hoped I would never be forced to do in this long struggle," Cerebros had commented.
"Hey man, I don't get it. What you talking about, Slim-Fit," Blaster rapped in confusion, and even though they would have phrased it differently, the other Autobots and the Gundam pilots were all just as confused by what Cerebros had suggested. That confusion only furthered when Cerebros's fellow Headmasters' eyes widened a little in surprise and then began voicing protests.
"Cerebros, are you sure about this," Highbrow asked.
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Hardhead insisted. "We can still think of something else."
"We no longer have the time to do so," Cerebros argued. "If I don't do this now, then we may not have much of a world to fight for, or even one at all."
"I may not know what's going on, but if there's some sort of risk to your wellbeing Cerebros, then I can't let you do this for our sake," Elita then cut in, adding her two cents to the argument. "This was our battle long before your people were involved, and I can't ask you all to do anymore than you already have done."
"This may have been your battle before our world was brought into the crossfire, Elita One, but it is now our world on which the battle rages, and that same battle now rages within a battle that I have been fighting for many cycles," Cerebros reasoned. The leader of the Headmaster rebels then smiled as he added, "Do not worry, my friends. There is no risk to my wellbeing, as you may fear, and even if there were, this is my choice."
When Cerebros said that, all other arguments had died in everyone's throats. For the Headmasters, it was because freedom of choice was something that they had been fighting for ever since their rebellion had started, and to keep their leader from doing something that he chose to do would be a contradiction to everything they were fighting for. It was the same story for the Autobots and Gundam pilots, as they had always fought for freedom of others, and under the belief that freedom was everyone's right, so if they tried to stop Cerebros now, then they would be hypocrites to one of the very things they had all been fighting for, so in the end, they all found that they could only nod in acceptance of Cerebros's suggestion. After giving his friends and allies his thanks, Cerebros requested that someone help him reach a specific place that he would need to be in order for his plan to work, and Drift was quick to volunteer, given that he could be able to reach the location faster than anyone else, due to his helicopter mode, which he quickly assumed and then allowed Cerebros to grab onto.
As he watched his leader fly off with the samurai Autobot, Hardhead looked to the remaining off-worlders and commented, "You know, I think I'm starting to accept you guys as our allies. You're alright."
"Glad you think so, now let's show these punks what we're made of, bro," Blaster rapped, and he could not help but smile when Hardhead bumped fists with him with a smile of his own.
All smiles quickly vanished when Zarak suddenly stopped and then smirked as the ground rumbled beneath everyone's feet, drawing all fighting to a sudden pause so that the combatants could see what was causing the sudden disturbance. When they saw the source, the heroes of Nebulous, Cybertron, and Earth all gasped in shock at the sight of what appeared to be a robotic scorpion that was massive enough to be an entire city on its own. A minute later, Zarak suddenly jumped into the air and transformed into a black head with a red visor for eyes, and orange colored horns, and his actions seemed to trigger a response in the massive, metal monster, as the beast suddenly began to rise up and shift until a pair of massive legs, arms, and an equally massive body stood towering over the battlefield. The beast stood motionless for a few minutes, and without a head, until the thing that was once Zarak suddenly docked on top of the shoulders of the massive beast, drawing a ferocious roar out of it as a ripple of fear ripped through anyone who was not on this massive being's side. A ripple that grew into a wave as the same beast shouted, "Tremble before our might, for Scorponok lives again!"
"That is definitely not good," Strongarm whispered.
"That's putting it mildly," Shiho retorted. "As if the Predacon combiner wasn't bad enough, now we have to deal with a Headmaster the size of Tidal Wave!"
"We don't know who this Tidal Wave is, but I don't think you'll have to worry about Scorponok for too long, our friends," Highbrow reassured everyone.
Before anyone could ask what he meant by that, a massive shadow suddenly fell over them, and the heroes all turned to see what looked like a large, white, blue, and steel-grey starship flying over their heads towards the battlefield, and upon closer inspection, everyone could see Cerebros was standing atop the massive ship alongside Drift. After Drift had jumped down to his friends, Cerebros leapt into the air just as Zarak had done a moment ago, which seemed to signal the ship he and Drift were previously standing on to suddenly start changing into a being that was just as massive as Scorponok, who also had a number of cannons in his arms, chest, and legs. It did not take long to figure out why the new arrival had no head, and that idea was confirmed when Cerebros suddenly transformed into said head and rested himself upon the titan's shoulders, leading said transformer to draw a massive, red and black saber from his back as he announced, "Fortress Maximus heeds the call of the people of Nebulos."
Seeing that they now had someone just as big as Scorponok on their side seemed to give the Autobots, the Gundam pilots, and their allies quite the morale boost, which only increased when Fortress Maximus opened fire on and seemed to injure Abominus, and thus the true battle for the Dark Energon reservoir of Nebulous began, a battle that Athrun hoped would end quickly so that he could help Cagalli.
Location: Earth
While things were continuing to fall into chaos on Nebulous, they seemed to be looking a little better on the homeworld of humanity, at least in the case of a small village in Thailand that was being flooded after the nearby dam had started to collapse, mainly because Bumblebee, Evac, and Ironhide had just arrived on the scene with the Strike Freedom, Star Force Strike, and Grand Destiny Gundams right behind them. After taking a quick glance at the scene around them, Bumblebee was slightly relieved to see that the villagers had already started to set up something of a temporary dam to slow the flooding of their home, but the work was still slow going, as evidenced by the fact that some of the flood waters had already seeped through and into the town. Once he had finally finished taking in the scene before him, Bumblebee looked to his current teammates and immediately began giving out orders. "Ironhide and Kira, you guys and I will help the people set up the temporary dam," Bumblebee stated. "Mu, I'll need you to do a quick fly over of the village to make sure that no one else is still trapped in there. You find anyone though, you are to evacuate them to higher ground before coming back here to help in evacuating the other people and assisting in building the dam as well. Evac and Shinn, you guys…you okay Evac?"
Bumblebee's sudden question immediately drew everyone's attention to said Protectobot, who was currently holding a hand to his head as he rubbed his optics for a minute. When he felt everyone's eyes on him, Evac shook himself out of what was clearly a sudden bout of tiredness and insisted, "I'm alright, Bee. You guys just go on and help the people. Shinn and I will stop the leak at the source."
"If you say so," Bumblebee said as the helicopter 'Bot transformed and flew off towards the dam, with the Grand Destiny following close behind. Bumblebee was fairly certain that Evac was just trying to cover up how tired he really was after doing so much back-to-back rescue work with his team lately, but if the Protectobot said that he was okay to keep going, then Bumblebee was not going to question him on it. Even if Evac was not at that point though, there was not any time to wait for someone else to come in to take his place, so the Autobot warrior just turned his attention to where the people working on the temporary dam were gathered and immediately raced over with the rest of his team right behind him.
Once they were close enough, Kira transformed the Strike Freedom into its vehicle mode, and piloted his machine over to where the materials for the dam had been gathered for the moment. Once he was close enough, Kira triggered a special control that allowed a large, grey trailer with the image of a Gundam's head on either side to suddenly materialize from the back of the Strike Freedom's truck mode. Seeing what had just happened caused Mu to pause for a minute until he commented, "I didn't know you could do that, kid."
"I just found out about it pretty recently myself," Kira explained as Ironhide started loading the trailer with some of the materials while Bumblebee helped to stack the materials already at the temporary dam's location. "Optimus told me he used to be able to do this with his old alt mode all the time, so one day I figured I'd see if I could do the same with the Strike Freedom, and…there it is."
"Pretty impressive. You keep doing incredible stuff like this, and I might suddenly start to feel a little jealous of you," Mu admitted in a lightly joking tone.
Kira chuckled a little at his friend's comment before reminding Mu of his current task, at which point Mu took to the skies in the Star Force Strike's Sky Grasper mode, and quickly flew off to find anyone who had not evacuated the village yet. Once Mu was well on his way, Kira jumped out to help Ironhide load materials into the truck trailer so that they would not keep everyone waiting for too long, much to the Autobot weapons specialist's relief. As he loaded the large, heavy bags, Kira found that the ill feeling he had earlier before he and the rest of the team had left for Thailand had not faded, leading him to wonder just what was about to happen that would bring about such a feeling.
Evac and Shinn were extremely relieved to see that nothing else had happened to the dam that would have caused it to collapse any further than it already had in the time it had taken them to get there, but they knew that could change at any moment, so they quickly set to work with repairing the massive, stone structure. This was accomplished by having Evac lower a special set of metal patches from his helicopter mode, which Shinn then carefully guided into place before welding them into the dam with the Grand Destiny's blasters set to the appropriate low setting for welding work. The reason why Shinn was guiding the metal sealants into position was because if either he or Evac had done it alone, they would have run the risk of slamming the metal sealant against the dam too hard, which would lead to the dam collapsing further than it already had. That did not mean it would fall apart completely, but it would fall apart enough for the temporary dam that Kira, Bumblebee, and the others were helping to set up to need to be bigger than it currently was.
"That should do it, Evac," Shinn called out once he finished sealing the most recent patch into place and detached the cables connecting Evac to said patch. As the helicopter Autobot flew back, Shinn could not help but notice that said Autobot was more sluggish in his movements than usual, and that immediately caused him to become concerned for the Protectobot. "Are you sure you're okay, Evac," Shinn asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Evac insisted.
Shinn was about to question his friend a little further on the matter, when a sudden lightning bolt suddenly flashed through the sky and struck one of the patches that they had just put in place. The lightning strike caused the patches to immediately be blasted off of where they were, opening up the crack that the two had just sealed a minute ago once more, and causing the water to come rushing forth. "You've got to be kidding me," Shinn groaned. "After all that hard work?"
"Well whoever said lightning doesn't strike twice on this world was clearly mistaken if this is any indication," Evac lightly joked, and he quickly released a new patch as he flew up to where the water was seeping through, with Shinn joining him a moment later. The work was going well, but Evac knew that it could be going better if he was not so tired at the moment. He did not want to admit it, but he did acknowledge that he was very tired after doing so much work, but at the same time, he knew full well that Shinn would not be able to do this job alone, along with the fact that Bumblebee would not be able to get anyone out here any time soon, so Evac continued to solider on and fight back against his exhaustion, all so that he could make sure that he fulfilled his part of the mission.
What Shinn and Evac did not know, was that a small group of people were currently standing at the top of the dam, and if one were to take into account that they were preparing a number of various missile launchers, then it was safe to say that they were not there to help repair the dam, and they were also not supposed to be there at all. When one of the people stood to his full height, the small amount of light that shone through the otherwise cloudy skies allowed one a very good view of the symbol on his chest, which was revealed to be an Autobot symbol that had been twisted enough to look like a skull with a large slash running through it. That same symbol was worn on the shoulders and chest armors of the other members in the group, and once they had finally finished readying their weapons, the first one to stand up looked to his comrade that was currently lying down on the edge of the dam while he gazed through a pair of binoculars.
"Well, what's the word," the man who had stood up first asked.
"There's one of those lousy invaders flying around by the dam along with one of those abominable mobile suits, and another two of each are over in the village right now, continuing on with their act of 'helping the people'," the man looking through the binoculars reported.
"Excellent," the first man grinned. "We'll be able to take out all of them in one fell swoop, and all we have to do is hit those two by the dam first."
"But what about the villagers," another person asked, this one clearly being a woman.
"What's it matter to you, Jamie," the first man, who was now clearly the leader, asked. "They're obviously sympathizing with those monsters, and you know what happens to those kind of sympathizers."
Jamie seemed to look down in shame for a minute before she answered, "They must be wiped out along with the invaders."
"Outta girl," the leader congratulated. "You'll be a real sister to the cause in no time after this little operation."
"Thank you sir," Jamie nodded, and she then raised her weapon up onto her shoulder before joining her comrades in taking aim at Evac and Shinn.
The leader then did the same after ordering the one gazing through the binoculars to move away, and once he had Evac in his crosshairs, he whispered a small mantra. "And now, we shall vanquish the evil monsters from the Earth for good, and reap their souls from their bodies. Hail Whistling Reaper."
He was not sure how long they had been working, it honestly felt like it had been a few hours at least, but Kira was more than happy to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw that they finally finished work on the temporary dam. After a few bursts of extra sealant to keep any water from seeping through, Kira climbed down from the Strike Freedom and gave the temporary water blockade a small kick to test its durability, an action that Ironhide also performed just to be on the safe side. "You really think this pile of sand bags is going to keep the village from getting waterlogged," Ironhide asked, his skepticism showing clearly.
"It doesn't have to hold forever," Kira told his large friend. "It just needs to hold until Shinn and Evac get the actual dam fixed. More importantly, it just needs to keep the village from getting any more flooded than it already is so that we can get everyone to safety."
"Kira's right. We've done all we can here, so now we just have to leave stopping the rest of this flood to Shinn and Evac," Bumblebee nodded. The former scout then looked over to the Star Force Strike, which had returned from its fly-over of the village and asked, "You're sure the village is completely cleared of civilians just in case?"
"Yep, no one in sight of the place aside from the people who stuck around to set up the temporary dam," Mu confirmed, much to everyone's relief. Bumblebee then moved off to help Ironhide in getting the last group of civilians to safety, leaving the two Gundam pilots to themselves, and giving Mu the chance to ask, "So Kira, does that whole thing with the truck trailers only work with that kind of trailer you made a minute ago, or does it have any kind of diversity?"
"It doesn't have any limits, actually," Kira explained. "I found out after my first attempt at making the trailers that I could make any kind of truck trailer I wanted, depending on what the situation called for."
"Would that include a moving-truck trailer," Mu asked, his tone sounding a little too mischievous for Kira's liking.
Of course, Kira knew that whatever Mu was planning, it was probably just as a joke, so he decided to play along and quipped, "You know Mu, I don't think Natarle would be too happy to hear that you're trying to find any way you can think of to kick her out of the house."
"Alright, you got me. I don't know how you could've possibly discovered my evil plan," Mu joked in reply. When Kira did not say anything in reply though, Mu began to get a little worried and immediately pleaded, "You were joking about that, right Kira? Because I was joking when I said that…Kira…Kira?!"
At the sound of Mu's distress, Kira could not hold it in any longer, and immediately burst out laughing, knowing that the older pilot was likely giving him a less than humorous look right now for the Ultimate Coordinator's little prank. It really felt good to be able to laugh right now, especially given the circumstances of the times they were currently facing, but all laughter quickly evaporated when the sound of an explosion caught the entire team's attention. Looking to the source, they all quickly saw smoke rising in the direction of the dam, and a minute later, they all saw a large wave of water heading straight towards them. Ironhide and Bumblebee were both quick to tell the remaining civilians to get away, and the minute the last person was clear, the two were quick to join Kira and Mu at the temporary dam as they prepared to do whatever they could to increase the size of said dam. Before they could get started though, something caught Ironhide's attention, leading him to pause for a minute.
"Hey guys, I think there's something in the water," Ironhide called out as he pointed towards the incoming wave. The other three immediately looked at where Ironhide was pointing, and their eyes all became the size of dinner plates when they not only saw what was in the water, but also when they recognized what it was as well.
"SHINN! EVAC," the team all exclaimed in horror, for there, tumbling through the water as it sped towards the village, were in fact the Protectobot leader and the Grand Destiny. Everyone was quick to try and raise their two teammates on their comm. links, but they were met with nothing more than radio silence on Shinn and Evac's parts. After one last attempt to get in touch with the two, Bumblebee decided to focus on the more immediate matter at hand, and turned to Ironhide as he ordered, "Start handing out as many energy shield generators as you've got! We'll use them to set up a stronger and larger dam."
Ironhide immediately nodded and quickly tossed a pair of said devices to each member of the team. Once everyone had the shield generators in hand, they quickly activated said devices and placed them down on top of the dam, increasing their size to cover as large and as wide of an area of the dam as possible. The minute the shields were at their maximum width and height, Ironhide and the others immediately set the generators to be fully active at all times and placed a series of staffs up against the barriers to help hold them in place for when the water hit. It did not seem like it was going to be enough though, despite having covered the entirety of the temporary dam, but there was not any time left to set up anymore of the generators. That was when Kira suddenly glanced at the other Gundam that was with them at the moment and smirked upon remembering a special feature said mobile suit possessed.
"Mu, fire up the Stark Force Strike's absorption system," Kira called out. Mu was about to ask why he was doing that, since said system could not absorb water, when the Strike Freedom suddenly raised its arm blasters towards him, causing him to raise his shield and activate said system on reflex. Kira then fired a constant blast from the Strike Freedom's arm guns and multi-phase beam cannon, and it was no time at all until the Star Force Strike's shield had absorbed every last ounce of energy that he had unleashed, at which point, Mu finally figured out what Kira was planning.
"Next time give me a little more of a heads up before you start firing on me," Mu told Kira as he brought the Star Force Strike in front of the temporary damn and directed its recently collected, excess energy into the suit's defensive systems, creating a massive energy barrier that covered the entirety of the area before the dam.
"Less whining and more blocking," Ironhide shouted as he and Bumblebee transformed into vehicle mode and placed themselves against the energy shields that they just set up, while Kira moved the Strike Freedom to stand behind the Star Force Strike and provide additional support in its own defense. A few tense seconds later, the water struck the barriers, and with a hard push back from the heroes on the opposite side of said barriers, it was quickly diverted away from the village along with the rest of the water that had flown out before. This was a relief to everyone, but there was still the problem of Shinn and Evac being in the water as well, and the minute that those two struck one of the barriers, both temporary dams would come tumbling down.
"Shinn…Shinn, come in," Kira called into his comm. link while Bumblebee called out to Evac. "Shinn, pull up! Pull up now!"
Through the shield that the Star Force Strike was generating, everyone could see the Gundam and the Protectobot drawing closer and closer with every passing second, and they all immediately braced themselves for impact, eyes shut tight in anticipation, even as the sound of thrusters roared from directly overhead. After a few more tense minutes of waiting, the team was surprised to find that the barriers had held, and they took a quick peek to see that the Grand Destiny and Evac had disappeared from the water. They all spun around frantically in an attempt to find them, until a sudden whoop of joy from above them lead them all to look up and see a small, white and green Autobot ship flying overhead with Evac's helicopter mode attached to a set of capable.
"Oh god, is that you Wheeljack," Mu exclaimed once he recognized the voice behind the excited whooping.
"Who else do you know that handle the old Jackhammer, here, like that," the sword-wielding Wrecker's voice replied.
Kira was happy to see that Wheeljack had managed to pull a last minute rescue for Wheeljack, but his worry quickly returned when he noticed that there was still no sign of the Grand Destiny. "Wait, where's Shinn? Is he okay," Kira called out.
"Not to worry, Kira. I have got him," a familiar, baritone voice then called out, and upon looking to the sky once again, Kira had to smile in relief once more when he saw Optimus flying a short distance from the Jackhammer with the Grand Destiny safely in his grasp. Still, seeing the mobile suit in one piece did not mean that its pilot was okay, and Kira was quick to start calling out to Shinn once again.
Eventually, Kira received a reply, as the crimson-eyed pilot groaned, "This is the Grand Destiny Gundam, Shinn here. I'm alright, over."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at hearing Shinn's voice, and Kira quickly got down to business and asked, "What happened up there, Shinn?"
"The last thing I remember was helping Evac repair the damn when I suddenly spotted something shinning up on top of the dam above us," Shinn reported. "A quick zoom-in of the area revealed that it was a group aiming rocket launchers at us. I quickly alerted Evac to the problem and tried to get away, but Evac didn't seem to react fast enough for some reason, so we ended up getting hit by the missiles. The next thing I knew, Evac's tail was slamming into me and sending my machine hurtling towards the dam out of control and…urgh…I must've blacked out or something afterwards." The comm. link was then quiet for a minute until Shinn suddenly exclaimed, "Wait, Evac! Is he okay?"
"Relax kid, he's out cold, but he's otherwise fine from what I can tell," Wheeljack reassured Shinn and everyone else. "I may not be a doctor like old Ratchet, but I do know when someone is dealing with a major energon depletion like Evac is right now. Nothing too serious or anything, just enough to keep someone in stasis for a long time."
"Unbelievable," Ironhide sighed.
"What? What is it," Mu asked.
"Whatever amount of energon Evac had left in him was being used to help him stay awake, but it was all quickly used up when his personal shields needed to keep him from receiving any serious damage," Bumblebee explained. "To put it simply, he's completely exhausted and has fallen asleep because he couldn't keep himself awake any longer."
Every single human on the team just gaped in open-mouthed astonishment at hearing this, but in the end, everyone could help but laugh it off in good humor until Mu thought of something. "If someone was firing rockets at Shinn and Evac, then something tells me that Whistling Reaper is behind it," the Hawk of Endymion reasoned. "We should get someone up there to take them in."
"Not to worry, Commander Waltfeld and Ultra Magnus have already taken care of that matter," Optimus reassured everyone. "They will transport the terrorists into custody while the rest of you finish repairs on the dam, and Wheeljack brings Evac back to base for a well deserved, long rest, along with a proper examination from Ratchet just to be on the safe side. Once you are all finished however, I will need Bumblebee, Shinn Asuka, and Kira Yamato to report to the Sol Federation's Lunar Base at once. I will meet you all there along with Arcee, Bulkhead, Smokescreen, Crosshairs, Springer, Rey Za Burrel, and Lunamaria Hawke."
Everyone was quickly confused by that last order, and the urgency in Optimus's voice when he gave it was not missed by anyone. "Is everything okay, Optimus," Kira asked. "What's wrong?"
"There is no time to explain now! Carry out your orders, and I will see you and the others at the Lunar Base once you are all ready, Kira," Optimus replied. Seeing as they were not going to be getting any answers out of the Last Prime for the moment, the team just nodded in understanding of the orders and immediately set out to finish their mission, all the while wondering what had happened to get Optimus so worried.
Location: Nebulos Mines
It turned out that moving through the mines was a better idea than Cagalli and Predaking realized, because it was not long after they started moving that they found out that they were not the only ones in said mines. The caves were crawling with various, dangerous creatures that could tear through the cavern walls like they were paper, and it did not take much for the two to realize that the monsters would very much like to either eat them or tear them apart. To be honest, neither Cagalli nor Predaking could have survived unless they were together, a fact that Predaking seemed determined to never admit, much to the blonde's growing irritation. Then again, when you are constantly on guard for a sudden attack from whatever sort of beast that wished to attack you at all times, it would be hard for anyone's patience to not run thin, but when one has someone like Predaking for a partner, that patience runs thin much more quickly.
Eventually, the two had ventured so far into the cave that they could not hear the sounds of the battle that had been raging outside when they had been trapped, but they were not sure if the various earthquakes that shook the caverns around them every now and then were a sign that the battle was still going on or if it were something else getting ready to attack them. Still, there was no denying that they had been down there for too long to have really kept track of such things, so after a brief argument on whether or not they should, the two agreed to set up a temporary camp so that they could take a brief rest. After making sure that her trusted mobile suit was secured, Cagalli then decided to disembark from the Diamond Akatsuki in order to stretch her legs for a minute, an action that she noticed had quickly drawn Predaking's attention.
"What're you staring at," Cagalli asked.
"You are…like Commander Le Creuset," Predaking stated slowly.
Cagalli's face immediately narrowed into a scowl before she snapped, "I am NOT like Le Creuset! I'm more human than that clone could ever hope to be, even if he was human."
Predaking was not sure why the blonde was upset by his words, but he did not let her anger deter him from explaining what he meant. "I only meant that you are the same sort of species as he is," Predaking clarified. "You are both these small, organic life-forms, and yet you wield such large, metal machines. How is such a thing possible, and just what are you?"
Cagalli was stunned at these questions, but she immediately shook it off and replied, "The metal machines are mobile suits, mine and my friends' being in a special class of mobile suit known as Gundams. They're just machines that we drive in order to fight, and in answer to your second question, I'm a human from Earth. You should know what that place is seeing as you helped Galvatron cause something to happen that's now made a mess of the planet."
"What is this…Earth you speak of," Predaking asked, his expression showing that he was completely serious when he had voiced the question.
Now Cagalli was very confused. How could the Predacon not know what Earth is when he had been there before? It did not make any sense to Cagalli, but she figured she might as well answer Predaking's questions in order to help her understand, so she simply replied, "Planet Earth is my homeworld, and that of all of humanity, like Cybertron is for you and other Transformers. You've been there before, or did you forget how you brutally attacked some of my friends while helping Galvatron to set off that Dark Energon volcano?"
"I am not from Cybertron," Predaking snarled, but his expression quickly softened before he continued on to the a statement that threw Cagalli for a loop. "And I do not remember much of my earlier existence. All I do remember are small bits and pieces such as hunting, battle, and the wounding of my pride."
Cagalli was honestly surprised to hear this, but after thinking about it for a minute, it would make sense that Predaking would not be able to remember everything from his life so easily, as he did seem to have only gained his new sentience rather recently. Still, one thing in particular caught her attention. "What do you mean by 'wounding of your pride'," the blonde asked. "I think I'd remember hearing if any of us ever beat you that badly."
"It was not through battle that my pride was wounded, but rather through…other means," Predaking stated with a far-off, yet slightly angered expression. The look immediately vanished and became replaced with a scowl as the Predacon added, "But I have no reason to share such information with you, an enemy of Lord Galvatron and Commander Le Creuset, and by extension, an enemy of mine and my brethren."
Cagalli had to admit that Predaking did have a point in saying that. There was no reason for Predaking to tell her anything since they were enemies, but then again, they knew nothing about each other beyond what they had been told of one and other by their respective allies. Knowing this gave Cagalli what may have been her craziest idea yet, but it was one of those ideas that may have been worth the effort of at least trying, so she decided to give it a shot. "My name's Cagalli, Cagalli Yula Athha Zala," the blonde said to the Predacon leader with a smile.
"What importance should such information have to me," Predaking demanded, but it was clear that his expression was merely hiding a state of confusion at the blonde's sudden introduction.
"Like you said, we don't have any reason to trust each other or tell one and other anything, and the best way to help deal with that kind of thing is to know a little more about the person you're working with, starting with their name," Cagalli explained as gently as she could.
Predaking was finding the blonde to be getting stranger and stranger by the minute, but he did not see any harm in obliging her in this little theory, so he decided to roll with what she was going with. "I am called Predaking, Master of the Predacons, leader of the new generation of my brethren, and the first herald to the Predacons' return to glory," Predaking announced in a grandiose tone.
Cagalli looked at Predaking a little funnily for a minute before she smiled and asked, "Mind if I just call you P.K.?"
Now it was Predaking's turn to give the blonde a funny look, until he asked, "Why would you call me that? It is not how I had introduced myself."
"It's a nickname," Cagalli replied. When Predaking just gave her a blank expression, Cagalli went on to explain, "You know, something that a friend or a certain person calls you as a way of remembering you a little more easily, or just as a sign of friendship."
Predaking just stared at Cagalli for a few more minutes before he finally said, "You have very strange customs, Cagalli-Cagalli Yula Athha Zala."
Cagalli's attempts at covering her laughter due to what Predaking had called her only resulted in a small snort, leading Predaking to ask why she seemed to be laughing. "Because the way you addressed me is a little funny," the blonde explained.
"Funny," Predaking asked, as though the word were alien to him. Of course it turned out that was because it sort of was, because the next thing that he asked was, "What is this 'funny' that you speak of?"
Cagalli just looked at Predaking like he had just grown a second head, truly not believing what she had just heard. The serious expression on Predaking's face only increased her disbelief, but she still attempted to answer the Predacon's question as best as she could by saying, "Well, it's something that makes you laugh. Not like you've probably heard Galvatron or Le Creuset laugh, but really just for the sake of laughing. You know, something like a joke, or when a friends says or does something that is really ridiculous." Predaking did not say or do anything in response to Cagalli's answer, and the blonde took that as an opening to ask the big question that had now found its way into her head. "How do you not know stuff like this," the blonde inquired. "I mean, I get not knowing anything about Cybertron or of your earlier life before this…change, but how can you not know something so basic?"
"Because it has no importance to me," Predaking replied. "The only thing that matters to a Predacon is the hunt, battle, and the honor that comes with both. More importantly, if it does not involve returning the Predacons to their former glory, then I do not see why it should matter to me at all."
"But everyone needs to take a moment to just relax and laugh for a bit," Cagalli argued. "I mean, what's the point of living from just one battle to another, especially when you don't have something to really fight for?"
"You think my quest to restore my brethren's lost glory is nothing," Predaking hollered.
"I never said that," Cagalli countered. "Look, as a leader myself, I get wanting what's best for the people you lead, but there's no point in doing all that if you can't really bring yourself to show them that there's more to life than just fighting day-in and day-out like your suggesting, or that they can find their own reason to live."
The two fell silent at that point, neither saying anything for some time, but the silence was quickly brought to an end when a massive, worm-like creature suddenly burst through the walls, barreling towards them. Cagalli was quick to dive out of the way and try to get into the Diamond Akatsuki, but the creature quickly blocked her path, preventing her from even grabbing the boarding cable. Thankfully, Predaking was able to bash the beast aside before it could cause any harm to the human girl, but such action only lead the beast to draw its attention onto the Predacon leader. Predaking may be a warrior that lives for exciting battles, but even he knew when he should not take such dangerous risks against a powerful opponent, so he was quick to try and avoid the worm-like creature's attacks with surprisingly quick reflexes and a few occasional hard punches, which served to disorient the creature long enough for him to slip out of its grasp. It was not enough to stop the creature, so eventually, Predaking swallowed his pride and called, "Cagalli-Cagalli Yula Athha Zala!"
Cagalli did not need for the Predacon to say anything beyond that, as she had already grabbed what she needed from her Gundam, and she was soon climbing up the rock walls of the cave. Once she was high enough, she spun a cable around in her hand before tossing it towards the creature, where it hooked onto its back, giving her what she needed to swing over and climb onto the monster with her energon pistol ready. A small glance between herself and Predaking immediately let the Predacon know what she was up to, and Predaking had to give a small smirk as he readied his plasma cannon and aimed into the creature's mouth, firing at the exact same time as Cagalli had, and sending a massive amount of blaster fire down its throat. The barrage of attacks from the two warriors served its purpose, and Cagalli considered herself luck that she was able to jump clear from the creature's back before it burrowed away in fear of the two who had just given him a very unpleasant snack.
"I get the feeling that break time is over," Cagalli commented once she had holstered her pistol, and she quickly climbed back into the Diamond Akatsuki so that she and Predaking could move on before something else tried to kill them. After going a little ways further into the cave and not encountering any more creatures, Cagalli thought of something she had not before in regards to Predaking, and she felt that now was as good a time as any to ask him about it. "Do you…have any friends?"
Predaking stopped in his tracks for a moment, leading Cagalli to bring her Gundam to a stop as well so that she would not leave her temporary partner behind. There was a long, strained silence between the at that point, until Predaking finally answered, "What is a friend?"
It was hard for Cagalli to believe that this was the same beast that had attacked her friends on Earth, Velocitron, and Junkion in the past, but considering that Galvatron was his leader, it eventually became not as much of a surprise to Cagalli that Predaking would not know about this particular topic. "Well, a friend is someone that's really important to you," Cagalli tried to explain. "Someone who you can talk to about almost anything, share personal secrets with, and who you enjoy spending time with, no matter what you're doing."
"I have my brethren," Predaking then said, thinking that was what Cagalli was trying to describe.
"Well I suppose that kind of counts, but aren't the other Predacons more like a family to you," Cagalli asked. She was relieved to see that Predaking seemed to know what a family was, if the fact that he nodded in reply to her question was any indication, so after giving a silent sigh of relief, Cagalli then went on to say, "Well it is good to consider family as your friends, but if you don't have any friends beyond that, then you're kind of isolating yourself from other people that would want to form a bond with you. I mean, you can't always talk to family about everything, and you also can't always do everything with family either, but having some other friends lets you really explore more of the world around you while helping you to discover things about yourself and other people you never knew about before. More importantly, it allows you to really connect with others in a way that you can't with family."
Predaking fell completely silent at Cagalli's words, letting them run through his processor for a few minutes once she had finished her speech, and he continued to think on the matter even as they began to walk again, until he finally determined that he did not really have an answer to Cagalli's original question. It was not that he thought the matter was unimportant, but he honestly did not think that he had the time to busy himself with things like friends when it came to his goals as leader of the Predacons and as a follower of Galvatron and Le Creuset. In all honesty, he did not think it was very likely for him to make any real friends, since the only thing he received from those that were not fellow Predacons was harsh words and near torture, namely from those such as Cyclops, who Galvatron had assigned to train Predaking before he had gained his new sentience. Still, the idea seemed strangely appealing to Predaking for reasons he could not understand. He was about to comment on the matter to Cagalli when he suddenly paused his tracks and began looking around the cave, almost as though something had caught his attention.
When she noticed that Predaking had stopped, Cagalli came to a halt as well and asked, "What is it? Please tell me you're not going to go on with the ten paces behind thing again."
"I can sense them," Predaking muttered.
"Sense who," Cagalli asked in mild confusion, or at least mild in comparison to the confusion she felt from earlier when she was talking to Predaking about all the things he did not know before.
"My brethren," Predaking exclaimed in what Cagalli assumed to be the closest thing to joy that Predaking had shown outside of battle.
Still, that left something unanswered. "How could you possibly sense them down here," the blonde asked.
"Predacons are hunters by nature," Predaking stated factually. "As such, we have an acute sense that tells us where others like us are so that we do not mistake one and other for prey. It is a sense that can be picked up at any time, and is almost always accurate. More importantly, from what I can sense, they are just right outside…this wall here!"
Cagalli looked to see that Predaking was pointing at the far wall on her left, and she immediately started up the scanners in her mobile suit. After a few short minutes, Cagalli finally reported, "I'm not picking up on any materials that the Diamond Akatsuki's scanners can recognize in the area, and that's especially true in the case of that wall there, so that should mean that if we were to use our weapons here…"
"There would not be any possibility of us destroying ourselves," Predaking finished for the girl, and he quickly armed both of his plasma cannons while Cagalli readied the Diamond Akatsuki's arm blasters. Before they began to fire on the wall though, Predaking looked to Cagalli and felt the need to ask one more question. "Do you have any…friends?"
Cagalli paused when she heard this question, but it was not because she did not know how to answer, but rather because she was not expecting to hear such a question from Predaking. "Yeah, I've got a lot of friends," Cagalli replied. "They're all people I care about, and I honestly don't know where I would be today if I had never met them. I'd like to think that I'm a much better person just for having known any of them at all."
Predaking stared at Cagalli in contemplation for a minute, until he eventually nodded in acknowledgement of the blonde's answer and prepared to fire his weapons once again. As Cagalli did the same, Predaking could not help but feel as though the young lady had given him much to think about once he returned to the Decepticon base after this mission was over.
If you thought that the battle on the surface of Nebulous would have improved with the addition of Scorponok and Fortress Maximus, then you would be wrong, because in reality, it had actually descended further into chaos. The two titans were so massive that everyone was having to watch out for themselves and each other just to make sure no one ended up getting stepped on as the two titans battled it out, even in the case of Abominus, who had now been split back into the five separate Predacons he was made up of due to an attack from Fortress Maximus. Despite all this chaos that had descended upon them, the Autobots were more than certain that they would soon secure victory in this fight, not only because the Predacons' mightiest warrior was now out of play and the bestial Transformers were also cut off from Predaking, but because Fortress Maximus's addition to the fight was serving to also drive their enemies back little by little, so it would be no surprise at all if they eventually managed to drive the Constructicons away before they even reached the dig site as well.
Sadly, such hopes were quickly dashed when the Constructicon known as Scavenger suddenly paused in his digging, and then moved back to allow a dark, evil, purple glow to suddenly illuminate the area of the dig site. "I've found it…I've found it," Scavenger called out. "We've struck Dark Energon!"
Indeed, the Constructicons finally unearthed the Dark Energon, but thankfully, it was not to the point that it would have erupted like it had on Earth. That did not mean that it could not be mined at this point or that any of the substance's harmful effects could not be unleashed, as the heroes quickly discovered. The minute that the Autobots began to feel the Dark Energon weakening them, Elita immediately ordered her team to activate the shielding devices that Blaster had handed out to everyone, and once they were on, everyone was relieved to discover that the shields worked exactly as they were meant to have, while the Gundams did not seem to suffer from any malfunctions like they had before, much to the pilots' relief. Unfortunately, while the Autobots and their allies were protected, the same could not be said for their opponents. While the Decepticons were a little more used to the influence of Dark Energon, having been around it for so long now, the Hive had never experienced anything like it in their lives, and they were all immediately beginning to feel greatly weakened, much to their confusion.
This sudden bout of weakness ended up providing Fortress Maximus with just the opening he needed to send Scorponok crashing to the ground, and ejecting Zarak from the massive titan's shoulders. As soon as he had been detached from the larger body, Zarak was unable to catch himself before he suddenly began tumbling down into the pit that the Constructicons had dug in their excavation, and into the Dark Energon bellow him. The minute he had struck the substance, Zarak cried out in agonizing pain, as the dark substance suddenly seeped into every crevice of his systems, poisoning every inch of his being, until he finally became unable to take anymore and fell into a deep stasis.
Seeing their leader defeated like this served as enough incentive for the Hive to turn their furry on to the heroes who had defeated him, none of them caring if they lived or died any longer. Before anyone could launch any form of attack though, an explosion suddenly rang out from the mountain, distracting Athrun and the others long enough for the Hive and the Decepticons to attempt to fire everything they had on the heroes, only to find their attacks blocked by a blue energy shield that was suddenly generated from a set of gold DRAGOONs. Any sense of confusion quickly evaporated when a sudden fire blast struck the ground between the two sides, drawing everyone to look and see the Diamond Akatsuki and Predaking flying towards them, much to the relief of Athrun and the Predacons, respectively.
As soon as the two warriors had landed on their respective sides, Cyclonus was more than prepared to give the order for his forces to attack once again, but immediately paused when Predaking raised his arm in front of the Decepticon commander. "What now," Cyclonus moaned.
"Our mission was merely to unearth the Dark Energon, correct," Predaking asked.
"Yeah, so what," Cyclonus retorted.
"If I am not mistaken, that goal has been achieved, and there is no reason for us to remain," Predaking went on to reason.
"You can't be serious," Cyclonus hollered. "We can't just leave it like this! They'll be sure to cover it up and the thing will never erupt then! Besides, we can still take these losers down in no time for the glory of…" Cyclonus was forced to cut his rant short when a transmission suddenly came in over his comm. link, and drew his attention. A few tense moments later, Cyclonus muttered a confirmation into his comm. link and turned to his comrades to announce, "Decepticons, we are to return to base. Lord Galvatron has deemed our mission here over, and he has asked us to bring the members of the Hive with us."
The other Decepticons all nodded in understanding, and soon enough, Cyclonus was leading his troops through a Decepticon Space Bridge, with Astrotrain providing transport for Demolisher, the Constructicons, and a few of the Headmasters of the Hive, while the remaining Hive members moved Zarak onto Scorponok's body and engaged the massive body's space ship mode so that it could follow as well. At that point, the only ones left to stand against the Autobots were the Predacons, who seemed to be ready for a fight, but when the beast-bots looked to their leader for his command, they were surprised to see that Predaking was hesitating to give any orders at all. Such a thing came off as strange to everyone present, except for one person in particular, who Predaking eventually decided to address.
"Cagalli-Cagalli Yula Athha Zala," Predaking called out, never noticing the small snickers that Heine and Shiho could not keep suppressed when they heard what the Predacon leader had called the blonde girl. "Today I owe you my life, so my brethren and I will leave you in peace for now, but rest assured, when we meet again, it will be on the battlefield as enemies, so do not expect that debt to hold."
Cagalli was silent for a moment, but eventually she just nodded both her own head and that of the Diamond Akatsuki, and asked, "Are you really sure we have to be enemies? You may have been created by Galvatron and Le Creuset, but that doesn't mean you have to do what they say. You could come with us and help us stop him."
Predaking seemed to consider her words for a moment, until he finally said, "I am afraid that we cannot do that. Lord Galvatron and Commander Le Creuset have given us life and have promised to help us restore our kind to their former glory, and as I have already explained, that is one of my greatest purposes for existing right now." Predaking then paused for a minute, somehow feeling as though he could sense the blonde's disappointment, until he finally added, "But I will admit…you have given me some things to…think about."
Cagalli had to smile a little at hearing that, and then settled for watching the Predacons turn towards the Space Bridge so they could return to the Decepticon base as well. Before he entered the portal though, Predaking threw one last look over his shoulder in the direction of the heroes' resident Dinobot and declared, "You have proven to be a mighty opponent, Grimlock. I hope to meet you again in battle soon."
Grimlock smirked at hearing that, and then punched a fist into his hand as he said, "Me, Grimlock looking forward to that. Still have punches for Predaking."
Predaking smirked a little in response and then transformed into his dragon mode and led his brethren to the Space Bridge as he said, "Truly a worthy adversary."
Soon after, the Predacons had vanished into the Space Bridge, and everyone finally felt that they could breathe a sigh of relief for the fact that the battle was finally over. Athrun tried asking Cagalli about what had happened down in the cave, but Cagalli just waved him off saying that she would explain later, immediately telling Athrun that she did not want to talk about it just yet. Eventually, the silence that had fallen over the group was broken again when Grimlock asked, "What is ad…adver…what is thing that Predacon call Grimlock?"
No one was sure who had started, but it was clear that everyone found such an innocent question from the Dinobot leader to be funny, and they were all laughing immensely in mere seconds, much to Grimlock's confusion.
It took a while to clean up the mess that the battle against the Hive and the Decepticons had caused, but thankfully, the team was able to eventually straighten things out on Nebulous, and with the Hive now gone, Cerebros was eventually convinced to take over as leader of the planet, at the insistence of the people that he and his friends had fought so hard for. Even though the effects of the Dark Energon reservoir were not so harsh due to how little of it was surfaced before the enemy forces were driven away, Elita and Athrun both agreed that it would be better to not just leave it alone, so they soon set up a security perimeter around the area with a little help from Hardhead that would ensure that no one would be exposed to any danger if there was any still present. Once they had concluded that their business on Nebulous was complete and had gained Cerebros's word that he and his allies would come to their aid should they ever need it in the future, the Autobots and Gundam pilots quickly boarded the Lemuria and set out into space, ready to return home. Everyone was certain that their little adventure had finally come to an end, but they quickly received evidence that said otherwise.
"Sir, I'm not receiving clearance to access a Space Bridge for the return trip to Earth," Strongarm eventually reported, gathering immediate concern from everyone.
"Can you explain why," Elita One asked.
Strongarm's hands were quick to race across the console along with Blaster's, until the former eventually replied, "No, it's like someone's either blocking us or already using the bridge."
Before anyone could ask why they were getting such readings, Blaster reported that something was approaching via a Space Bridge right at that very moment, and the crew was immediately bracing themselves for another battle against their enemies. Luckily, such precautions were not needed, as the ship that emerged from the Space Bridge was one of their own, much to their relief, and not just any ship either. There, coming in to fly alongside the smaller craft, was none other than the Omega III.
Everyone was glad to see what had now become known as the Autobot flagship flying outside, but it did little to hide the fact that said ship would not be out there for no reason. This was quickly confirmed when Optimus's voice suddenly called out through the radio, "Omega III to Lemuria. Please have Athrun and Cagalli Yula Athha Zala transfer over along with their machines at once. We need them for an urgent mission."
"Optimus, what's going on," Elita asked. "Has something happened on Earth?"
"And more importantly, why do you need just me and Athrun," Cagalli asked.
"There is no time to explain now," Optimus half-shouted, much to everyone's surprise. "Please just have Athrun and Cagalli transfer over as quickly as possible. I have located the final set of colony world coordinates that we require, and I will need Athrun and Cagalli's assistance if this mission is to succeed."
"Hold up a sec now, dogs. Is the big boss saying he's going there himself when we make this call," Blaster asked.
"Is that not somewhat risky, Optimus Prime," Drift asked.
"Perhaps, but it is one that we must take in order to succeed, given where we are going," Optimus answered, and if one were to guess from the grave tone in his voice, everyone would say that Optimus was showing some small signs of fear or even worry. Knowing that it would take a great deal to worry Optimus Prime, Athrun and Cagalli both just stated that they would grab their mobile suits and transfer to the Omega III as quickly as they could, much to the Last Prime's relief, and the two then left the bridge to board said Gundams.
Once Cagalli and Athrun were out of the bridge and likely in their mobile suits, Elita faced the monitor once more and asked the all-important question. "Just where exactly are you going to be heading," Elita asked her sparkmate, concern dripping with every word she spoke.
Optimus seemed to hesitate for a minute, until he finally replied with the one name that none of the Transformers ever expected to hear in regards to the worlds they would need to travel to in this mission. "Quintessa."
Every single Transformer immediately felt their energon run cold when they heard that name, and they could do nothing more than act out of reflex like they were on autopilot for everything else that was said and done on both ships until after Athrun and Cagalli had finally finished joining Optimus and the team he had gathered together on the Omega III. At that point, the larger Cybertronian ship moved past the Lemuria to open a Space Bridge behind the smaller craft and depart for its destination, leaving Elita to command her vessel to return to Earth as quickly as possible, all the while praying that her husband would be safe, as Optimus Prime and all those he was traveling with at that moment were about to walk right into the home of the most dreaded enemy in all Transformers' history: the Quintessons.
AN: Well that all happened. Cagalli's had a little heart-to-heart with Predaking, the problems on Nebulous are dealt with, and now Optimus is leading a team right into the jaws of the worst villains in all Transformers history! ...Oh wait, that last one's not such a good thing.
Bumblebee: Ya think?!
AN: Oh relax, Bee. It may not actually be what you think it is in this case. More importantly, I had always pictured Cagalli having a little one-on-one chat like that with Predaking for a little while now, and that in effect would get Predaking thinking a little more about what he's really fighting and living for. In all honesty, some of it was actually inspired by stuff I had seen in other series before, but I just couldn't pass up the chance to use any of it. Especially in the case of the whole "Cagalli-Cagalli Yula Athha Zala bit". [chuckles] Ahem, moving on...
I included that little moment on Earth because I wanted to show off some of the problems that are still going on the home front for our heroes, because if you may have noticed, aside from that one moment in the "Day of Transformation Chapter" where the Autobots are stopping a fire, we haven't really done much more than just elude to what's been happening on Earth. This also allowed me to give Whistling Reaper at least one real appearance in this story, as I know some of you have requested in the past. Speaking of requests, sorry to "Many Faced Mage" that I was unable to have Predaking go into detail about his treatment from Cyclops, but I did elude to it, and I promise that we'll be seeing some of that next chapter.
Finally, Fortress Maximus and Scorponok. Be honest, how many of you thought I wasn't going to put them in here? I did want those guys to show up, since they are both big parts of the Headmasters, no pun intended, and at the same time, it also gave me a chance to have a Metroplex like character in this story without having Metroplex himself in here, as you may have guessed by what Fortress Maximus said when he stepped onto the battlefield, and yes, that is the reason why Cerebros and Zarak do not refer to themselves as "we" instead of "I" like the other Headmasters.
Also, in response to another review, I'm afraid that there will not be any Maximals or really all that much from Beast Wars showing up in this story, but if you do want to see anything like that, I'd recommend taking a look at Secret Wars: Gundam SEED Prime by "UltimateGundamFighter". Trust me, the story may not be all that long just yet, but he's been doing a great job with that little tie-in story so far he's been working on.
Now I know what you're thinking: lyokoMARVELanime, you are so evil to just send leave us hanging like this after the way you ended this chapter! Why do you insist on leaving us in such horrible suspense?! Well let me tell you why with this simple explanation...It's because it helps to make a good story. Besides, considering what's going to happen next chapter, I think you'll understand soon enough. Speaking of which, Onto the Preview!...
The ultimate team of Gundam pilots and Autobots in the Cybertron Cosmic Era set out for the world of beings that Cybertronian history has stated to be terrible monsters, as Optimus soon reveals to his young friends who are unfamiliar with the stories of the Quintessons, and the group cannot help the worry that soon begins to overcome them at hearing such a tale. When they finally arrive on Quintessa, they are slightly surprised to find that Cybertronians are the ones who are considered evil by the Quintessons, but the stated, yet vague reasons are not what they expect. Will a meeting with one of the last Quintessons allow Kira and the others to clear up the confusion in this history? Meanwhile on Chaar, the Predacons find themselves subject to abuse from Cyclops, while Galvatron reveals that the they are entering the final stages of merely the first phase in his ultimate plan. Just what could the servant of Unicron be planning, and how will Quintessa fair in the coming storm? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime: Chaos Hunters…Chapter 15: Tragedies before Nightmares. Optimus, Gundam pilots, seek out the truth before that fire burns all in its path!
Please read and review, and I'll see you next time!