Disclaimer: Hello there, my friends. We are friends, right? Anyway, here's another chapter for the story. Enjoy!
As always, I do not own the right to Transformers.
Chapter VI
Joshua was already straight to work, first using the computer to assess the damage done by the Decepticons. He hadn't seen or heard from Unicron for some time after the battle. It wasn't as if he needed to rely on Unicron for anything of importance. Putting thought out of his mind, Joshua went ahead with repairs to the titan ship. No sooner had he started was when he heard heavy metal footsteps. Joshua almost instantly assumed that it was Unicron approaching, but he had no interest in directly addressing him. The footsteps came closer until a great shadow loomed over Joshua, who still hadn't turned around.
Without looking back, Joshua said, "The damage isn't too bad. It won't take me long to fix the problems."
"Do what you must, Joyce. I shall deal with our uninvited trespassers." Unicron said.
Joshua stopped what was doing and turned around. What he saw stunned him beyond belief. "Unicron? Is that you?"
Headstrong lumbered through the thick bushes to the exact location of the recently landed vessel, grumbling to himself as he did so. Finding a reasonable hiding spot, he assumed robot form and took a crouched position. But he didn't want to be there, wishing to be elsewhere on the jungle planet that the Predacons now called home. He heard rustling in the bushes to his far right and deployed a rifle. The robotic jackal form of Tantrum, Headstrong's least favorite bot, emerged from the bushes with a snarling expression. Then Tantrum transformed and started giggling, much to Headstrong's annoyance.
"Heh heh, look who I found." Tantrum chuckled.
"You're the last bot I wanted to see, Tantrum. Go away." Headstrong snapped.
"Aw, why do you have to be like that, Headstrong? I thought we were friends." Tantrum mocked.
Headstrong spun around to confront Tantrum and said, "If we weren't on the same team, I'd rip you to shreds before you had a chance to let another chuckle."
Tantrum stood up to the larger Headstrong and replied, "I don't see Razorclaw here. What's stopping you?"
"Don't push me, Tantrum."
Before they could come to blows, the titan ship started to react. It wasn't reacting to the presence of the two Predacons. It was seemingly acting on its own. Headstrong and Tantrum returned into hiding and waited for anything to happen. It appeared as though a ramp was being lowered, dropping down into the ground and scaring away any wayward alien creatures. Slight rustling in the bushes diverted the attention of the two Predacons, but they lowered the guard once the source was revealed. Razorclaw emerged from the bushes with Rampage behind him. Divebomb and Blackarachnia emerged from the trees and regrouped around the others.
"You two stop with your fighting and take up a position on the left flank." Razorclaw snapped.
"Yeah, yeah." Headstrong said, while Tantrum followed and chuckled.
The Predacons all separated and took up positions in the bushes around the titan ship. Then they waited for whoever or whatever would be coming down the lowered ramp. Every one of the Predacons were ready to pounce at any moment as a figure started to emerge from the ship. Blackarachnia managed to get a good look at the figure and she couldn't believe it; it was apparently Rodimus Prime as she remembered from the last time they saw each other.
From a physical standpoint, it was clearly Rodimus Prime. But Blackarachnia noted the very different color scheme of black and purple. She also noted the more jagged points, and it started dawn on her that something was very wrong. Against her better judgment, she emerged from her hiding spot. The Predacons went to move but she transformed to robot mode and waved them off. The sound of her transformation alerted 'Rodimus Prime' to her presence. That was when Blackarachnia notes the green optics. This was definitely not the Rodimus Prime she knew but she still cautiously approached him. 'Rodimus Prime' turned and took notice of her.
"Rodimus, is that you," she asked, but 'Rodimus' didn't respond. "I haven't seen you in a long time. I can't say I'm liking the new look."
As soon as she drew closer to him, 'Rodimus Prime' grabbed Blackarachnia by the neck and lifted her off the ground. "I… am not Rodimus."
Blackarachnia tried to break free of the grip of Unicron as he held her with one hand. He morphed, not transformed, his free arm into a giant spiked weapon. He reared back and prepared to impale Blackarachnia through the chassis when he heard an animalistic roar. They looked and saw Rampage charging forward in his tiger form. Unicron morphed his spiked weapon into a cannon and fired on the oncoming Predacon.
Rampage dodged the volley of shots and closed the distance. He lunged and crashed into Unicron, dropping him and Blackarachnia to the ground. He then clasped his mighty jaws onto Unicron's right arm and bit hard. Unicron eventually beat Rampage off of him, but it was then that the rest of the Predacons made their move. Tantrum was the closest and jumped onto Unicron's back as he was getting back up, biting into his shoulder. Headstrong lumbered forward and drove his head into the chassis of Unicron.
Divebomb flew in and drove his talons into Unicron's face, while Blackarachnia returned to her spider form and ensnared him in a cyber web. It wasn't enough to keep Unicron contained, and he easily pushed back at the Predacons. He grabbed Tantrum and tossed into Blackarachnia, kicked Headstrong in his bear face, and swatted Divebomb. But he then had to contend with Razorclaw. The great lion and leader of the Predacons stood firm against Unicron before lunging forward and taking a wild swipe at the larger robot. Again, Unicron made short work of Razorclaw and the Predacons regrouped.
"I shall not be so easily thwarted by a band of lowly beast machines." Unicron declared.
Razorclaw growled, "Have it your way. Predacons: UNITE!"
The Predacons spread out and then quickly regrouped before starting the combination process. In their place stood Predaking, towering over Unicron. "I AM NO BEAST. I AM PREDAKING!"
Unicron appeared unconcerned and started approaching the larger Predaking, but he was stopped in place by a cyber web from Blackarachnia. This gave Predaking an opening and he charged forward. He landed a hard right hook that rocked Unicron. Predaking pressed on and pummeled Unicron with repeated blows to the chassis. Unicron didn't fight back. In fact, it seemed like he didn't even acknowledge the hits as they came.
Predaking didn't care if the hits registered to his opponent. He just kept striking Unicron, pushing him back with the added assist of Blackarachnia. Blackarachnia ensnared Unicron by his right leg to hold him down more. Predaking kept up the assault and finally brought Unicron down to a knee. Predaking alted his assault and Unicron seemed to appear defeated, although he didn't seem to register anything at all.
"I DON'T CARE WHO YOU CLAIM TO BE. ON MY THIS PLANET, I AM KING." Predaking declared before throwing one last punch.
That one punch was stopped dead by Unicron… with one hand. "What is a king… to a god?"
All of a sudden, Predaking started to struggle against Unicron as he started to rise back to an upright stance. Predaking felt his own legs buckling under the pressure, while Unicron pressed the newfound advantage against the larger combiner. Blackarachnia shot another cyber web and pulled, but Unicron wasn't budging. Predaking finally dropped to a knee where he was now face to face with Unicron, despite his wearing the face Rodimus Prime. Then Unicron reared back his free fist and slammed it into Predaking's chassis.
All it took was one punch from Unicron to send Predaking crashing into a string of trees. Blackarachnia looked on in disbelief, and then Unicron turned his attention to her. He grabbed the cyber web that was still attached to his (Rodimus Prime's) body and pulled hard. The ensuing momentum yanked Blacharachnia off her eight spider legs, forcing her to assume robot form. She was in the grip of Unicron as he held her by the neck once more. He drew her closer so they were optic to optic.
"Useless." Unicron said before tossing Blackarachnia into the nearby bushes.
"BLACKARACHNIA!" Predaking shouted and charged Unicron again.
Unicron sensed Predaking coming and spun around, resting his palm on the combiner's chassis. Predaking felt something change within him as Unicron stared at him. A series of sickly green surges of energy coursed along every joint on Predaking. His arms, chassis and legs were all bombarded by the green surges. They reached his face and his optics turned the same green shade as those of Unicron. Then, Predaking stopped fighting entirely while, in the bushes, Blackarachnia could only watch in stunned silence. Unicron removed his hand from Predaking, and the combiner stood silent.
"You belong to me now." Unicron said, to which Predaking didn't reply.
Blackarachnia wasn't sure what was happening, but it wasn't like Predaking to cease fighting for any reason. She knew something was done to him by the robot and that vaguely resembled a friend. She ducked under the bushes when 'Rodimus Prime' looked in her direction. Had he seen her? She had no idea what was going on but she knew that this robot that resembled Rodimus Prime wasn't the real Rodimus Prime.
"Unicron!" A voice called out loud and clear, and Blackarachnia was shocked.
"Unicron?!" she whispered to herself, and then she peaked through the bushes to see a humanoid figure emerging from the ship.
Joshua stepped out of the titan in surprise of Predaking and asked Unicron, "What is this thing?"
"A servant of my needs." Unicron replied.
Joshua glared at Unicron and said, "You mean 'our' needs, yes?"
Unicron said nothing to either confirm or deny Joshua's statement. Joshua looked at Unicron as if he'd possibly overextended himself. Predaking, now serving Unicron, walked passed Joshua toward the titan ship. Unsure as he was, Joshua started back to the ship to begin the repairs. Unicron remained where he stood, looking toward the bushes. He knew she was there, hiding in the shrubbery but paralyzed to do anything against him.
Blackarachnia kept a fixed gaze on the false 'Rodimus Prime', but her thoughts were seemingly flailing everywhere. She was certain that she heard the name of Unicron spoken, but he was supposed to be dead. Yet, there Unicron stood apparently in a twisted version of Rodimus Prime's body. Instinct and anger told her to rush Unicron for what he'd done to Predaking, but sound judgment dictated otherwise. At the moment, Blackarachnia could do nothing but bide her time. With luck, she could figure out how to save her fellow Predacons.
The Alchemor was several kilometers from the gas giant Saturn, stopping just outside of the ring. On the bridge, the Autobots took in a visual of the spectacular view. Spike in particular was in awe of the sight. Optimus Prime stepped up front to get the beat view possible and Primal was beside him. Without waiting for a command from Primal, Cheetor and Tigatron brought the Alchemor to rest.
"We're at full stop, Big Bot." Cheetor reported.
"Forward stabilizers functioning at normal levels." Tigatron added.
"Nice work, guys. Keep us at minimum safe distance." Primal said, and they followed their orders without fail.
Then for the first time since leaving Earth, Sky-Byte said, "Alright I'll ask; what in the Pit are we doing here? We should be heading for Cybertron."
"Waspinator also confused. Waspinator not like ugly rings of gassy planet."
"Yeah, we're wasting our time here in my opinion." Sky-Byte said.
"Nobody asked for your opinion, Sky-Byte. If Optimus Prime himself wanted to come all the way out here, then we're here." Metalhawk said.
"That's enough, Maximals. We're obviously here for a reason, so let's focus on the task at hand." Primal said, shutting down the banter.
Optimus Prime stepped forward closer to where Rhinox was sitting. "Rhinox, any changes to that energy signature?"
"The only significant change is our current proximity to the source of the signature. But given these readings as we know them, the source has to be enormous... and I've got an exact fix on its location." Rhinox said.
Primal approached Optimus Prime and asked, "You think it could be that monster ship?"
"It is not the ship that attacked Autobot City." Optimus Prime replied with what seemed like absolute certainty.
"How do you know?" Primal asked, but Optimus .
"Rhinox, can you get a visual of the energy source?" Optimus Prime asked.
Rhinox looked at Optimus Prime with confusion and then at Primal, who gave a telling nod to go ahead. With a few presses of several buttons and switches, the main screen rapidly zoomed into a specific point of the ring. The Autobots gathered, with Drift and Grimlock flanking Optimus Prime. The image of the ring skimmed along before coming to a rest; some kind of faint light was visible. Rhinox didn't wait and magnified the image.
Amid the countless space rocks that made Saturn's ring floated an object that looked nothing the debris that surrounded it. It appeared metallic in structure and yet surprisingly elegant. A bluish white light shimmered from inside a transparent container. While most of the crew could hardly make heads or tails of the object, Primal was able to note something extraordinary: the object was of Cybertronian design.
"It is here. It has been here in the Sol System all this time." Optimism Prime suddenly declared, his voice awash with amazement.
"Optimus, what're you talking about? What is that thing?" Drift asked.
"Yeah, it doesn't look anything like all those space rocks." Grimlock added.
"That's because it's not a space rock. Is it, Optimus?" Primal concluded.
Optimus Prime glanced at Primal and nodded in affirmatively before directly addressing the Alchemor crew. "Autobots, Maximals; that which you are all seeing is the very essence of Primus himself. The Thirteen Original Primes called it the Allspark."
A stunned silence filled the bridge among the Autobots and the Maximals, none of them able to comprehend the magnitude of the moment. Optimus Prime himself said nothing more. He had elected to allow the crew to take the moment to let it all sink in. Primal stayed silent as well, but more because he already knew what Optimus meant. But the rest of the crew just stood in astonishment at the stunning turn of events that befell them.
But not all of the crew reacted in surprise or shock. Sky-Byte and Waspinator glanced at each other and considered their options. Then Sky-Byte started working the console and being as discreet as possible. He was able to sent a coded message to a third party that wasn't on the ship.
The other vessel that had been shadowing the Alchemor since leaving Earth. Sitting at his console, Lockdown waited for a reply from his two moles on the Alchemor. Their cover story as exiles from Cybertron could've only worked for so long. Lockdown was prepared to cut them loose if things went south. Then a coded message came through the console and Lockdown took notice. He studied the coded message but wasn't sure of its accuracy. It shouldn't have been even remotely possible, but the message made it as crystal clear. The coded messaged read: ((THE ALLSPARK HAS BEEN LOCATED))
Lockdown stared at the words and wasn't sure how to react even as he retained a measure of calm. He touched the tip of his metal chin. Then a smile crept across his face. "Well, well. This job just got more interesting."
A separate screen illuminated the console and Lockdown's mysterious benefactor asked, "Lockdown, are you there?"
"What do you want now?" Lockdown asked without even glancing at the screen.
"My agents have ambushed a small group of Autobots here on Cybertron. I'm currently tracking two that have been separated from the main group." said the benefactor.
"Good for you, but I got something better. Apparently, the Alchemor crew has found the Allspark." Lockdown replied.
"The Allspark? Yes, I've heard of it from the information of Cybertron's Hall of Records."
"I guess you're not so uninformed." Lockdown mocked.
"Bring it to me so that I might have a chance to study it."
"Just like that," Lockdown finally turned to face the screen directly. "You don't bother to give me the full details on why you even want the Maximals, and now you want me to bring you the Allspark, too?"
"What do you care? You're getting paid handsomely, aren't you?"
"I want double the pay now... for the Maximals and the Allspark. So don't even think about double-crossing me, you got that?" Lockdown said.
"As you wish, Lockdown." Then the screen went to black.
Lockdown inaudibly grumbled something when the main screen flickered back to life. A new coded message read: ((WHAT'S THE PLAN?))
Author's Note: So that's it for this chapter, which is admittedly a bit shorter than the last few chapter. But I guess less is more, right? So, Hotrod's been warped into a suppose a variation of his Shattered Glass appearance (or Power Of The Primes, whatever works for you) and Blackarachnia does remember him by his old Rodimus Prime persona. Of course, it's really Unicron and LOOK WHAT HE'S DONE TO PREDAKING. Indeed, what is a king to a god?
Meanwhile, the Autobots and Maximals have stumbled upon the Allspark. What role will the Allspark play in the story, and how will Lockdown figure into things? The only way to find out is to stay tuned for the next chapter. So, do leave a few reviews and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Peace out! FYI, I have no idea how to do a haiku, so sorry Sky-Byte fans.