Hi, guys! I've got wi-fi tonight, so I'm going to post this while I can!

Thanks to Ryo551 for the Favorite!

Shadescribe - I know, right? Tronus vs. Optronix is definitely due. I'm glad you think I'm doing a pretty good job with working the Reversed personas - things are going to be pretty interesting with that this chapter. I'm glad that you think Myra's powers are interesting, too. :)

Here's the chapter!

Chapter 35

Maria's POV

It turned out that Optronix and Tronus were fighting pretty close to Iacon - specifically, where the Ark was. There were Auto-cons scattered all over the place complaining about wounds of all kinds - there were a lot of them who were out cold.

"Looks like they're losing enough Energon that stasis lock is startin' to make the rounds," Sir Soundwave noted as he drove along the torn-up road below me. "They must be really desperate to not want to go to their doc if they let it go that far."

"No kidding." I couldn't help but wince when I saw that one of the Auto-cons had one of his legs torn off. "I don't like seeing them like this, though. It makes my gut churn in ways that I don't want it to."

"You're a Reploid, right? So why would you even have a gut moving like that?" Myra stuck her head out one of Sir Soundwave's open windows.

"It's an expression," I replied. "Kind of more of a hold-over from when I was human more than anything else."

"Oh." Myra blinked at that. "Huh. So, I guess we're still a little human?"

"That's what being a Reploid means." I shrugged. "We can still be human, even though we aren't."

Myra gave me a smile and nodded. "Yeah. We definitely are."

BOOM!

"We're comin' up on the fight!" Sir Soundwave warned as a shockwave suddenly flew out and whammed into us, causing me to bounce around in the air until I was able to get my balance properly. "And the False Prime is definitely not holding back!"

I looked up at what was coming ahead of us and I nearly stopped short.

There was a purple-and-green Optimus Prime clone who was a little more boxy around the edges than the one I knew, standing over Tronus with a large, purple axe in place of one hand.

I stiffened, clenching my right hand mere moments before it turned into my Buster. "So, that's what he looks like here."

"Maria, don't get any ideas."

I looked down at Myra, who was looking back up at me with a dark glare on her face.

"That one is too strong for you to handle." She gritted her teeth. "He has no mind."

"No mind?" My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "How can he still be moving if he has no mind?"

"Instinct." Joshua stuck his head out the other side of Sir Soundwave's van. "Sideswipe said he was using Dark Energon, remember? I don't know how long it's been since it's been used, but my guess is that he's used it so long that he's a shadow of what he used to be. Dark Energon is a drug, and with all drugs, there is a point of no return."

Optronix threw his head back and let out a bellowing roar that sent a chill running down my spine.

"It seems that he is well past that point."

I swallowed at that. "Tronus doesn't look like he's doing so hot."

"Hey!"

I turned my head when I heard Wildfire's exclamation, and I caught sight of her and the others standing a short distance away, on the outskirts of Iacon. Ratchet was lying near them, and he definitely looked like he had seen better days, if the sheared-off arms meant anything.

I flew over ahead of Sir Soundwave. "How long have they been going at it? What happened with Metroplex? And why aren't we stepping in, considering that Joshua thinks that Optronix's mind is gone?"

"Tronus and Optronix won't let us get any closer," First Aid replied. She came over as Sir Soundwave came to a stop and let Joshua and Myra out before transforming. "They're treating it like a duel. We can't do anything until one or the other is either offlined or yields." She hesitated. "As for Metroplex...that's somewhat harder to explain."

I gritted my teeth. "At this rate, Tronus is going to die if we don't do something, giant Auto or no!"

"Megatron has a plan." Starscream walked over to us. "He discussed it with me before we went ahead with Joshua's plan of action." His optics flicked down to Myra for a moment, who was watching the Cybertronians with a wide-eyed expression on her face. "Megatron will be able to take care of this. Just watch."

"OPTRONIX!"

I turned sharply when I heard Tronus' bellow, and I saw a chill run down Wildfire's spine out of the corner of my eye as I watched what it was that Tronus was doing.

My eyes widened when I saw Tronus whack Optronix over the head with a glowing pink mace that was connected to his wrist. He moved back quickly and scrambled to his feet as Optronix's helmet sparked while the Auto-con held a servo over what looked like a dent.

"Do you think that you can end me so easily? Optronix?" Tronus' tone was snarling. "I am not going to simply lie down and die."

Optronix snarled wordlessly in response.

"You, however, are dead. The poison that courses through your systems has turned you into something else entirely." Tronus pointed at Optronix with his mace-arm. "It is time that we settled this. Permanently." He held up something in his other servo.

I frowned. "That looks like...some kind of cube."

"Our secret weapon." Starscream looked rather pleased with himself. "Tronus and I worked on it together. We thought now would be as good a time as ever to test it."

"Test it?" I looked between Starscream and the cube that Tronus was holding. "What is it?"

Tronus held up the cube, which was glowing with bright, iridescent colors.

"It's a special mix of Synthetic Energon."

My eyes widened as Tronus threw the glowing cube at Optronix, then moved back as the cube collided with the Auto-Con's chest.

"Get clear!" Tronus yelled, turning and waving at us. "We need to get clear! Now!"

I moved to action instantly, moving in front of the others as they moved behind the buildings of Iacon. Tronus moved behind me as the glowing cube now embedded in Optronix's chest started glowing even more - so much that it was too bright to even see Optronix's body.

"Maria!" Myra looked up at me. "What are you-"

"I'm going to make a shield. Energy blocks energy, right?" I cracked my knuckles. "Fire Shield!"

A wall of flames blossomed from my fingertips, spreading out to cover me and fall to the ground and high over my head, spreading across the area in front of me and where a good deal of the others had been standing...including the nasty version of Ratchet.

"You're not going to be able to do that on your own! Flare Barrier!"

I blinked in surprise when purple flames started weaving their way through my red-orange ones, creating a constantly-shifting mosaic of colors that I found to be almost mesmerizing - except for the bright, iridescent light that had completely overtaken Optronix.

The light suddenly condensed into the cube again, revealing Optronix hovering above the ground like he was being held up by strings.

And then the light exploded, releasing shockwaves of light that went flying in all directions.

Including ours.

I pumped every last bit of energy I dared into the Fire Shield, and I could tell that Myra was doing the same as the shockwaves flew off in all directions. One of the waves slammed into our shield and instantly started pushing against it.

I gritted my teeth as I felt my energy start burning up. "I...don't...think so!" A roar ripped out of my throat, and was joined a second later by Myra's yelling.

"You two aren't going to be able to hold this for long!"

My eyes moved as I saw Wildfire appear on my right, fire licking at her servos.

"Let me lend you a hand." Wildfire held up her servos and forced yellow-orange flames to join the already shifting purple and red-orange flames that Myra and I were providing. Instantly, the push lessened on me, but not by much - the shockwave was still pushing against the Fire Shield, and I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to hold out.

And then, as quickly as the bright shockwave had appeared, it suddenly vanished in the blink of an eye. I nearly fell off my hoverboard because the force that had been pushing against me was gone.

Well, I fell off anyway because I'd burned up so much energy anyway. I started getting black spots in my eyes, and I nearly hit the ground, but someone caught me. It wasn't too long after that that I blacked out completely.

Time Break

I let out a groan as I came back to the land of the living. It felt like everything was aching all over the place, and I definitely wasn't planning on moving anytime soon.

Still, I wanted to make sure that I was in a safe place, so I cracked an eye open in order to see what was going on.

"Oh!" Myra moved out of view. "Joshua, she's awake!"

"About time. I would have thought that she would have been up hours ago," Joshua said with a dry tone.

I grunted. "Well, I didn't see you using all your energy to make sure we weren't going to get incinerated."

"You didn't need to." Joshua moved into my line of vision. "Iacon would have taken most of the damage."

"We didn't know how far the shockwave was going to go! And I wasn't about to let us find out!" I scowled.

"That might be true," Joshua admitted. "However, I doubt that we are going to be able to know whether or not that is true unless the Decepticons tell us what has happened to the rest of the planet."

I nodded. "How long was I out?"

"It's been a few hours since Tronus blew up that crooked False Prime." Joshua pupped something out of my right arm - a needle connected to what looked like a pink IV. "We've given you some Energon transfusions, and your core was going into overdrive and producing more energy than I've seen."

"Wait, what?" I started to move up into a sitting position and looked down at my chest. My eyes widened when I saw that my chest armor had been removed, revealing my inner parts and my brightly glowing Atlantean crystal. "I didn't think that it did that. I knew it was a part of what kept me going, but...I didn't think that it'd produce energy to restore what I'd lost."

"Well, obviously, there's more to your mysterious core than meets the eye." Joshua looked oddly amused at that. "We can't test it now, but I believe that it has to be drawing energy from its source - even if that source is on another world."

"Huh." I raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think that I had a connection like that across worlds." I paused, frowning. "So, what happened out there after we stopped that shockwave? And what happened with Metroplex? We should have been having a lot of trouble with him, not just standing around and watching what was going on."

Joshua and Myra were quick to fill me in on what had happened. Apparently, after Optronix - or, the shell that was left of him after his Ember had been consumed by Dark Energon - had been vaporized, the Auto-cons had pretty much scattered into their own permanent factions or had wandered off into the planet's wilderness alone. Ratchet had disappeared, too - definitely a danger somewhere on the planet still - and Dark Smoke (who had been in the brig ever since we had brought him back) was looking like he was starting to consider his options and whether or not he should try to go out and join the other Auto-cons, or see what kind of punishment Tronus was going to come up with.

"So, what about all the wounded Auto-cons we saw lying around Iacon?" I asked after Joshua finished giving my armor a final once-over. "Did Ratchet take off with them or is Tronus keeping them prisoner somewhere? And what about Metroplex?"

"Knock Out and Aid did repairs. Now they're down in the brig with Dark Smoke." Myra shrugged. "We don't know what they're going to do to them yet, but I don't think that Tronus is planning on killing everybody."

"As for Metroplex..." Joshua held up what looked like a large jar of some kind. "Someone else got to him first, apparently."

I blinked, then raised an eyebrow at the tiny Cybertronian that was trapped inside. He looked like he should have been bigger, but...

"Who managed to shrink a Cybertronian who was already a giant?!" I pointed at the jar while the Cybertronian inside slammed against his prison's walls in an attempt to break out. "That shouldn't be possible!"

"Under normal circumstances, no." Joshua put the jar down on the berth we were on top of. "Wildfire was the only one who actually saw who did it. Apparently, it was another human."

"What? But...how?" I frowned. "Do we have to find this guy and get him back to his home world, too?"

"He disappeared before we were even given the chance to find him." Myra folded her arms across her chest. "Apparently, Starscream found evidence that there'd been a rip in space-time."

"Another World Jumper?"

"I doubt it." Joshua frowned. "The readings were different from when you open portals to other worlds."

"Hmm..." My frown deepened. "So, what are the Decepticons going to do with Metroplex?" I nodded to the jar.

"Tronus is planning on reversing the shrinking process...eventually." Joshua paused. "We have no idea how it was done, and I doubt that Tronus is keen on loosing Metroplex for a while."

I snorted. "I hope not. If he did, then he might actually be as bad as our dimension's Megatron."

Myra frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

"Where we come from, the situation is, in some ways, reversed," Joshua explained. "The Decepticons are actually our opponents where we come from, and the Autobots are our allies."

Myra stared at him. "R-really? There are worlds like that?"

"Yeah." I dug into my left temple with my thumb. "Which makes it really confusing sometimes!" I laughed. "It was bad enough reading about it, but to experience it first hand is something else entirely."

Myra gave a slight nod in response, looking off to one side as I rose to my feet. "Yeah. I can't imagine putting myself in a situation like that."

I shrugged. "Well, it could still happen, so don't be to sure about that. Speaking of which, do you know where it is that you're going yet, Myra?"

Myra blinked at my question, then frowned, cocking her head to one side. "Well...not quite yet. I get the feeling that I'm going to know soon, though."

"We could stay until you know for sure," I suggested. "You're going to want to know the ins and outs about being a Reploid, so I'm sure-"

"Joshua's been telling me a few things that I'm going to need to keep an eye on." Myra gave a smile. "Thanks for the thought, though. I think I'm going to be fine. I mean, we're counterparts, right? If you're able to handle being a Reploid, I'm sure I can, too."

I ducked my head at her statement, and I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. "Right. Yeah, you'll probably do all right." I looked over at Joshua. "So, where's everybody else?"

"Almost everyone's back at where we entered this world." Joshua nodded to the entrance of the medbay. "Wildfire decided to wait around for us so that she could grab you and get us going back to our world."

"Oh. Okay." I paused. "Wait - is Kid Flash-"

"I'm coming with you."

I jumped when I heard the teenage hero's voice right next to my ear; I turned and looked at him in surprise.

"I mean, this place obviously is going to need some help getting back on it's feet, but...it's not home." KF folded his arms across his chest and raised his eyebrow at me. "So you're my ticket back."

I grinned in reply. "Yup. We're probably going to be a few days on my home world before we get you to yours, though - transporting Cybertronians across space and time takes a lot out of me."

"I don't doubt it, since they're so much bigger. At least you don't have to worry about Megatron, Sir Soundwave, and Smokescreen this time." KF smirked. "I'll let Wildfire know you're up. She's in the next room over."

Before I could answer, KF turned into a red and yellow blur as he dashed out of the medbay.

"We should get moving." Joshua looked over at me. "We don't know how much time has gone by back at home, and I definitely don't want to be away for longer than I have to."

I nodded. "Yeah, that's always a big worry." I turned to look over at Myra...only to see a small flicker of green-and-purple sparkles as they fell onto the berth, the Reploid nowhere in sight.

I blinked. "What just...Myra was here just a moment ago! Where did she go?"

"Probably to that next world she said she had to go to," Joshua replied. "We should do the same."

We moved out into the communication hub, and found that Wildfire was standing there alone with Kid Flash, waiting for us.

"You just missed the gladiator team, Sideswipe, and Tronus." Wildfire jabbed a thumb at the open doorway. "Seer and the others are trying to get back to their neutral ways, but I think they've dug themselves in a bit too deep here. Especially considering the fact that the Auto-cons saw us working side-by-side with them."

I hummed worriedly. "Well, I hope that things turn out all right for them."

Wildfire nodded. "Yeah." She smirked a little. "So, are you three ready to go, then?"

It didn't take us too long to reach the place where my portal had spat us out when we had first gotten here; I barely remembered the initial trip to the base because of how much energy I'd used up at first. Considering that it wasn't very long after that Energon light bomb-thing that Tronus had set off, I guessed that I was probably going to be out of it for a couple of days again.

Wildfire rolled to a stop in front of a giant ring that looked like a suped-up Ground Bridge - the Dimension Spanner. Bulkhead, First Aid, Bumblebee, and Shape-Change were standing near it, just like Wildfire had said they would be.

"You're prepared to get us home?" Shape-Change asked as Joshua, Kid Flash, and I stepped out of Wildfire's vehicle mode.

I gave a nod. "Yeah. Let's head back before the Auto-cons around here get any ideas, or we miss too much of the action back home."

"Sounds good to me," Bulkhead remarked. "I hope Miko's doing all right."

Bumblebee snorted. "They probably have their hands full with her right now."

Wildfire and I exchanged knowing looks while Bulkhead chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"Well, we'd better make sure she doesn't get into too much more trouble," Shape-Change commented.

"Yup." I cracked my knuckles and walked over to the Dimension Spanner. "Okay, guys. You remember what happened last time."

Under my breath, I muttered, "I hope this works."

Tapping into my World Jumping abilities again, I concentrated on creating another portal - this one back to the home world that we all knew.

I felt the shattered glass affect again, but this time, the energy that rushed through me felt a lot more right. I could feel it shifting through me and into my fingers mere moments before I threw it out to create the portal that would take us home.

The sky-blue portal that appeared in the Dimension Spanner's ring made me grin.

"Let's go home, guys!" I exclaimed, running towards the portal.

Everyone's going home! And what was that about a shrinking Metroplex? I know who did it, but I'm not going to say who it was that did it until we get there, and that's not going to be for a while. ;)

I'll see you guys next time I update!