As soon as Strongarm began to droop as she wasn't clamped so hard within the Earth Sideswipe let go of her, letting her scramble upright and cough up copious amounts of dirt.
Without a second thought he bolted up the side of the volcano, the dusty Earth greatly impeding his progress but through determined scrambling and use of his hands Sideswipe left his confused companions at the bottom.
He had to find the missing three.
The ground became easier to traverse the further up he got, but the streams of Dark Energon trickled down to meet him faster forcing the red car to change direction, warily eyeing up the viscous purple ooze.
The whole 'blood of Unicron' deal was still unbelievable to him but you only had to look at the stuff to know not to touch it.
Even Sideswipe knew that.
Purple against dirt-brown was thankfully easy to spot, the dim glow of the Dark Energon only illuminating metal plating with a sickly sheen.
Underbite was sat in an alcove dug into the volcano's side.
No metal, no allies, nowhere to run and not paying attention to him.
It was a perfect chance to remove one of their stronger enemies.
Sideswipe pulled his Decepticon Hunter out, it had barely moved from his back before it shifted into its sword form, already anticipating the Autobot's intentions.
This sitting Decepti-duck was all Sideswipe's.
Beat that Sunstreaker.
His internal gloating and twinge of bitterness were delayed however as someone spotted him.
"Don't bother with him, he's grounded" Sideswipe froze and turned to look up at Galvatron.
Nearer the top of the volcano, Galvatron stood triumphant with Steeljaw at his side, the latter still slack-jawed and glowing purple but both were near-silhouettes against the intense purple glow of the volcano's dribbling peak.
"Yeah, he's gonna be grounded in a stasis pod!" Sideswipe swivelled on his pede's and held the sword out threateningly.
He could take these jokers on.
Totally.
Galvatron lazily waved Steeljaw away and the mindless Decepticon returned to the volcano's peak, watching over it.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that Sideswipe" he locked optics on the Autobot.
"What? Gonna fight me one-on-one? Couldn't do it last time, think you can handle me now?" as if to try and back up his statement Sideswipe twirled his weapon around.
"Twiddle that thing all you like, you're not taking him or ANY of them away from me" Galvatron hissed having switched back to his bipedal form sometime between getting up here himself and Sideswipe's arrival he didn't look as intimidating as a multi-headed beast.
"They're not YOURS you dirty 'con!" Sideswipe found himself shuffling on the spot, he wanted to attack but Galvatron had the high ground "Your zombies are coming with us, Underbite and Ped are going down too!"
Galvatron's expression turned dark.
"I said you're not taking ANY of them away from me, you won't get Underbite and you won't get Ped an-"
"'Cos Ped's your favourite" Underbite huffed from the sides, prompting Galvatron's worryingly dark expression to vanish in a startling instant.
"Oh stop it! I don't play favourites with either of you! You just need to learn discipline and respect!" Galvatron cooed, waving a hand as if dismissing the statement.
"Discipline and respeeeect" Underbite mimicked.
"Now now young 'bot! I was almost going to let you off early to play with our friend here!" Galvatron huffed putting his hands on his hips and tapping his pede moodily.
"What is WITH you? What IS this!?" Sideswipe could barely hold his sword with the force of the exaggerated shrug he made.
"Oh dear" Galvatron's tone seemed more like that of a doddery old mech than the hulking, scarred mech before him, "I think Shockwave said something about it! He, um, yes yes I remember now, the Predacon in me, it was known for having intense bonds with its herd or … family unit? Yes yes, something like that, guess I got that too!"
"You still make no sense!" Sideswipe could still barely wrap his processor around what this guy was blathering on about.
Fearing Galvatron may go off on another bizarre ramble of words, Sideswipe decided to throw caution to the wind and risk an attack.
Sword up high, climbing the few steps needed to level himself with Galvatron was more than enough time for the Decepticon to side-step his attack.
"Now now child!" He scolded "You could just be a part of us! Always room for one more in this family unit!"
"STOP BEING WEIRD!" Sideswipe leapt out, colliding head-on with Galvatron but barely pushing the larger 'bot backwards.
Galvatron's hands were large and only one was needed to grab Sideswipe's back and hoist him into the air to get thrown into the ground, the uneven ground being the only thing stopping him from rolling back to the bottom.
"There is nothing weird about me! Nothing! I don't care what you say! I don't care what anyone says!" his voice escalated in pitch.
It wasn't enough to drown out a startled scream, the familiar voice instantly breaking Sideswipe's concentration to look back down to his friends.
It was Grimlock.
Having grown bored of flying about in circles Cyclonus had swooped down, grabbing the end of Grimlock's tail he was flying low and dragging the Dinobot through the dirt, his body bouncing as it hit into any rocks and outcroppings along the ground.
Not being helped by Strongarm in pursuit firing off at Cyclonus trying to hit him down but instead only making him swerve from side-to-side, and swing Grimlock about even more.
Words died in his vocal unit when Sideswipe came back to reality to find Galvatron had advanced upon him.
So close Sideswipe could stick his glossa out and be touching him with it.
He couldn't make words anyway as Galvatron wrapped his arms around the Autobot bringing him into a crushing hug.
"Awwwwww" He crooned "Isn't he wonderful?"
"Wch-what?" Spluttered out at the ever-confusing Decepticon.
"Him! Strong, proud and just wonderful!" Sideswipe could feel his processor dying from various forms of confusion and the desperation to get away clawing at it as Galvatron cooed over his 'friend'.
"Your friend's a mute freak!" Sideswipe struggled to free himself from the iron-like grasp of his foe.
"He's not mute, just be glad he hasn't spoken yet" Galvatron's grasp tightened as quickly as his tone darkened, and Sideswipe could feel his internal structure's bending under the pressure "but maybe you should be, if you think such disrespect is fine"
Sideswipe wheezed and his vocals spluttered
"Y...yea...h c-cossss I...I'ms… gon…gonna comp…limen…t m-m-my ennnnemy" was the best he could manage.
Thankfully it was more than enough to make Galvatron drop him.
"I am your enemy right now… ME! You do not insult him in front of me! Insult me! Not him!" He roared grabbing the still-struggling Sideswipe before he could recover and flung him behind him.
Sideswipe crashed into the ground and rolled several feet before sliding down the volcano-side.
Desperate and badly coordinated flailing saved Sideswipe.
He'd landed on a large almost-circular plot of land, but it was surrounded by the Dark Energon streaming from the top.
Not liking the area-like feel this new spot was giving him Sideswipe ignored the pain notifications pinging around his processor and the numbness in his joints.
He could still make this jump.
Still aiming for Galvatron, Sideswipe ran, sword up high he was going to get a fight out of him and win if it killed him.
"Ah-ah-aaah!" Galvatron waggled a finger at him before clenching his hand into a fist.
As if responding to this motion the stream of Dark Energon on the side Sideswipe intended to cross leapt upwards sending the Autobot stumbling back.
"Did you not wonder why I was kept away from all Energy sources? I'm infectious baby! And when it's infected to be like this" He gestured to the purple ooze "I have control… him not so much, his specialities are elsewhere..." Galvatron threw a glance downwards.
At the bottom of the Volcano Cyclonus was still fighting Grimlock, only now he was clinging to the Dinobot's back throwing him around and using his struggling form as a battering ram whenever Strongarm got close.
But with his focus elsewhere Thunderhoof had slowed to a near stop, Drift and Bumblebee easily keeping the controlled-con down, easy to the point of Drift breaking off from their small scuffle to try and come up behind Cyclonus.
"But now you should go back to your friends" Galvatron gave a small 'farewell' bow and Sideswipe readied for his attack.
One that didn't come as the ground began shifting and moving around Sideswipe.
"Ugh, it's always me, just… just get it over with…" Frustration and minor defeat furrowed Sideswipes brow as Ped burst from the ground, mandibles buzzing with the energy of his paralysing bite.
And once more, with no control of his limbs, Sideswipe was thrown away, limply rolling down.
"See Underbite? You could've had that if you behaved! Just remember you're not making either of us angry, just disappointed!" Galvatron crossed his arms as the Autobot tumbled away.
Underbite stuck his glossa out and sneered.