40- Toxicity.
Inside the Nemesis, Galvatron entered in a chamber, one specifically occupied by the Insecticon hive.
"Who is the fiercest among you?" Galvatron asked to the hive.
"There is no greater ferocity than an Insecticon hive. But if you were to choose one among us…" A voice said, until one Insecticon, very different from the others (the Insecticons appearance of TF Prime) landed behind Galvatron and changed to his normal form. "I am Bombshock."
"You will retrieve something for me, Bombshock, and annihilate everything that gets in your way."
Moments later, a ground bridge transported Bombshock and 3 other Insecticons to the destinated place: an open area of Mt. Chimney, at Hoenn.
"Divide, and do not hesitate to conquer." Bombshock ordered.
Bombshock changed to his alt form: a cybertronian flying horned beetle; and took flight alongside the other bugs. Meanwhile, in the Autobot base the events when the first team was about to embark were happening.
"Ash, Ritchie and Dawn will accompany Arcee, Sideswipe, Moonracer and Bumblebee." Optimus said giving up.
"Yujuuu! Thank you so much." Dawn exclaimed cheered.
"You don't wanna come, Serena? I'm sure you would like it."
"Thanks Ash, but I promised my mom that today I was going to help her with some issues at home. Maybe we can go another time, when you're not too busy battling Decepticons."
"Okay then. See you later."
"Oh, I just forgot that today it was my turn to take care of the gym. If something happens during my absence on my watch, my sisters will remind it to me all my life." Misty suddenly remembered.
"Yeah, I also need to return to Pallet Town. I need to check Professor Oak's lab's pokémon." Tracey added.
"I can accompany you and give you a hand." Max offered.
"I will transport you to your destinations right before we departed for the relics." Ratchet reassured them.
"Initiate transport. And triangulate coordinates of the other three relics." Optimus ordered to Ratchet.
"Nice trick you performed up there, Dawn." Wheeljack congratulated as his pal was getting down stairs.
"You mean getting that info right in front of Galvatron's paralyzed head? I just do my best to contribute to the team." She answered before Bumblebee honked his horn. "Oh, sorry Jackie, gotta go. We'll talk about it later. Hey, wait for us!" She shouted running at them.
"Piplup!" Piplup said doing the same.
"Take care of her, Bee." Wheeljack said.
"Take care of him, Dawn." Max said, at the same time as Wheeljack, making them both to look each other and laugh a little.
The group went for their destination.
"Warpath, Wheeljack, prepare for departure." Optimus announced.
"You are headed for Mt. Chimney." Elita added.
Warpath groaned. "We are gonna have to do another cold rock climbing?"
"Not exactly, Warpath. Mt. Chimney is a very known active volcano of the Hoenn region. We managed to take a good look of it when we traveled with Ash around there." May clarified.
"Ha, now that's another thing. We would enjoy some volcanic warm weather."
"I'm thinking about doing some lava surfing: Wrecker style." Wheeljack said cheered.
"Clemont, May, Bonnie and Ranger Lunick will be your communications and transportation hub." Optimus explained as he looked at the kids, who waved their hands, and Lunick, who was still in bed with Minun next to him.
"I can haz cheeseburger!" He said crazy again before going out again, making the kids laugh.
"Communications, huh? I think with only the kids we'll be just fine." Warpath reassured before he and Wheeljack headed for the portal.
"Be on your guard, you two." Elita advised as the Autobot tank and the Wrecker disappeared into the portal.
The ground bridge transported both Autobots in middle of the volcanic area, near the volcano. They immediately recognized that volcanoes didn't smell well, maybe the reason why there wasn't wild pokémon around.
"Aw, what's that smell?" Warpath asked with a disgusted face.
"Urg, smells worse than a Decepticon barracks. Fine place to hide a relic." Wheeljack said observing the area before they started looking around between the volcanic pits with smoke coming out.
After a while looking, they contacted base. "Base, we can't find any sign of the relic. Can you reconfirm coordinates?"
"Triangulating your position, Warpath." Clemont said as he typed some calculations on the terminal. "You are at the correct location."
In that moment, Minun got cheered as Ranger Lunick woke up and got up from the medical berth, but still affected. "Need…coffee."
"Well, the coordinates are wrong, cause there is nothing here." Warpath said.
Suddenly, Wheeljack heard a buzzing noise. "But something's coming."
He saw Bombshock in alt form flying at high speed, coming right at them. The Wrecker tried to shot him down, but the Insecticon dodged the shots, tackled Warpath and dragged him around a rock wall before changing to robot form and throwing him to the ground. Warpath landed hard, and Bombshock prepared to strike again, but Warpath managed to block his attacks and resist until Wheeljack arrived and kicked him backwards.
"So Galvatron decided to send a bug to do his dirty work this time." Wheeljack deduced as Warpath and he started to circle, facing their opponent, who did the same.
"You know a thing or two about dirty work yourself, Wrecker."
"Do I know you?"
"I know your kind, as I have crushed more than a few Wreckers in my time. No one has managed to survive to tell that Bombshock has managed to defeat you all."
"In that case, I'm gonna enjoy tearing your disgusting pieces apart, in memory of all the fallen Wreckers." Wheeljack declared activating his battle mask.
"You know Wheeljack? The thing about bugs of this size, they make a bigger mess when I blow them in pieces!" Warpath said pulling out his hammers and firing his chest cannon.
Bombshock dodged the projectile and charged against the Autobot tank. Warpath threw a few swings at Bombshock, until he stopped one of the hammers with his hand. Then, he slashed him on the chest with his claws and threw him on the ground. Next, he jumped and tried to smash Warpath's head with his foot, but Wheeljack jumped at him, intercepting him, and tackling him against the ground. He tried to nail his swords in the Insecticon's head, but he blocked them with his second set of bug legs and pushed them aside before punching Wheeljack hard that sent him against a wall. At the same time, Warpath changed his hammers for the gatling guns of his arms and fired at Bombshock, who covered himself before charging and punching the Autobot hard on the face. But Warpath countered immediately with his hammers a few times until he finished with an uppercut hit on Bombshock's head, cutting one of his mandibles in the process. The Insecticon collapsed, unconscious, as Warpath wiped a drop of energon leaking from his mouth.
"Not bad for a tank. You battle as a Wrecker." Wheeljack congratulated walking to him after recovering his swords. "You don't look so tough now, bug. I don't know if is worthy disposing of him."
"Nah, it wasn't that hard…for an Insecticon." Warpath said stopping him. "Besides, we have more important things to check."
He pointed to some interesting tracks, so they changed to vehicle form and followed them. Meanwhile, at base, Clemont was busy with another issue.
"Ratchet, the virus is coded. Commencing upload." Clemont reported.
"Clemont, we have a beat on the relic." Warpath called in.
"Sorry guys. Big brother is busy now." Bonnie announced.
"We'll take it from here."
"Lunick. How was your beauty sleep?" Wheeljack mocked, making the girls laugh.
"Fine. I dreamt I finally got a little respect from you." He answered sarcastically.
"He, keep dreaming."
"How are you guys doing?" May asked.
"We came up empty to provided coordinates. But we figured an old lava flow might have carried the relic downhill."
"Wouldn't that just burn it up?"
"These relics survived interstellar transport, May. I'm sure they can withstand molten…oh scrap." Warpath complained.
"Warpath? What is it?"
"I'm leaking energon. It seems Bombshock hit me hard."
"Bombshock?" Bonnie asked.
"Some Insecticon we encountered. Surely Buckethead sent it here after the relic." Wheeljack explained.
"Insecticon?" Ranger Lunick asked confused.
"And…you are doing fine?"
"Probably knocked a gasket loose, none to worry about. Trust me May, he's in way worse shape than I am." Warpath reassured.
Maybe, but Bombshock already recovered consciousness, just when the other Insecticons met with him.
"The Wrecker and the tank left me alive. The last mistake they will ever make." He swore before changing to bug form and started the chase.
Meanwhile, Wheeljack's deduction was right, because they found the relic's capsule right where he supposed it might be. They returned to robot form and walked to it.
"There you are." Warpath said as he tried to open it, but it was harder, even for hands like him.
"Allow me." Wheeljack offered pulling out one of his swords, which used to slice the lid. "It got the lid off." But when he took a look of what was inside, he showed a horrified face as some green smoke came out from some kind of strange green energon. "Uh oh."
"Oh scrap." Warpath said when he saw it too. "Base, we have a problem."
"Guys, what is it?" Lunick asked.
"We found the relic: it's a cash of energon."
"But that's good, right?"
"No no no May, not this kind. It's known as Tox-En. Causes nausea and dizziness upon contact." Warpath started.
"Prolonged exposure weakens us to the point of paralysis, and then snuff off our sparks." Wheeljack ended.
"So, you are saying this Tox-En is some kind of poisonous energon?" Bonnie asked in fear.
"Well, what are you talking to me for? Get far away from that Tox-En, pronto." Lunick instructed.
"Yeah, if it's deadly as they said, the Cons won't want it either." May deduced.
"Wrong. That's why they'll wanted it even more. During the War for Cybertron, Megatron figured out a way to refine raw Tox-En, turn it into a weapon of mass destruction. My pal Bulkhead witnessed an entire unit wiped out by the sickness." Wheeljack told as he remembered a scene of a zone of Cybertron infected by Tox-En, with a group of Autobots dead by the Tox-En effects. "No way we can leave this stuff for the Cons to find and abuse."
"We can bring it here. I will open the ground bridge for you." Bonnie offered.
"Forget it. Even if we had a safe place to store it, the stuff's way too potent to risk exposing to the rest of us. Not to mention what it could cause to you and the pokémon." Warpath objected, until he heard a familiar noise coming. "Urg, we'll call you back."
"We're gonna need to take care of this, Wrecker style." Wheeljack said, pulling out a grenade.
The Insecticons continued searching until they located the relic's container.
"There." Bombshock pointed.
The Insecticons transformed and landed. While Bombshock observed, the other 3 bugs approached the capsule. One of them pushed the other two aside and ripped the lid open. It saw the Tox-En inside and was going to take it, not aware that there was a grenade hidden inside.
"No! Wait!"
But Bombshock's warning came too late: the grenade exploded, making the closest Insecticon to fall backwards to the floor. Bombshock approached to check it out, but it was already dead, not by the explosion, but by the shrapnel of Tox-En, which he identified and covered his mouth while he stepped back.
"Tox-En."
Meanwhile, in other side of the area…
"Wait, you're carrying it? I thought that stuff was toxic." May said.
"It is, but we needed to put some distance between us and the bugs." Warpath explained as he ran with another piece of Tox-En at hand.
"Well, what now?" Lunick asked.
"We're gonna get rid of this steaming pile the only way we can. We're gonna lob it into the volcano." Wheeljack answered, looking at Mt. Chimney.
"What about your insect problem?" Bonnie reminded
"This isn't our first time eluding an enemy patrol, you know?" Warpath answered cleaning some energon which came from his mouth before spitting a little drop.
Back with the Insecticons…
"Lord Galvatron, the object we seek…it is Tox-En." Bombshock communicated to his master through com-link.
"Exactly how much is in your possession?"
"None, my lord. Two Autobots…"
"Are you not the fiercest Insecticon?" Galvatron cut off annoyed.
Meanwhile, Ranger Lunick and the girls were watching the Autobots' progress through the map on the screen.
"Wait. You're moving away from the volcano?" May asked confused
"Exactly." Warpath confirmed as he continued running, leaving a trail of energon behind him without noticing it. Or maybe yes.
"I will been waiting for you when you're done, big guy." Wheeljack nodded, now him with the Tox-En in hand.
The Insecticons continued looking from the air, until Bombshock spotted something.
"Below."
They descended to check the trail of energon. Bombshock tasted one drop as a predator would do with its prey.
"Yes, the tank leaks from his wounds. Find him." Bombshock ordered before they changed back to bug form and continued the search.
As for Warpath, he was trying to reach the top of the volcano in his tank form while he carried the Tox-En on top, but it was taking him harder than expected to climb up a steep slope, even with Wheeljack pushing him from behind. Finally, he managed to pass it completely.
"You left a false trail? That's pretty smart." May congratulated.
"I once pulled that trick when I got separated from my unit behind enemy lines." Ranger Lunick revealed.
"When were you ever behind enemy lines?" Wheeljack asked.
"We pokémon rangers weren't always Bots sitters."
"He, next you're gonna tell me your mother doesn't tuck you in at night." Warpath mocked.
"Not since basic training."
"Training as what? A rodeo clown?"
"I think you and he may have spent too much time in the pokémon demolition derby." Bonnie said to May chuckling.
"Well, maybe a little."
"But she's right. I am one of the twelve Top Rangers, we can deal with the worst offenders by ourselves."
"Who knew you and I were so much alike." Wheeljack said surprised.
Suddenly, someone called in. "Clemont, has Ranger Lunick regained consciousness?"
"Stand by, guys, I'll be right back." Lunick said before pressing the other line. "I'm here, Prime. What's your situation?"
"We require access to a research facility at our current coordinates."
"Let me make a call." Lunick said turning on his com-device.
Meanwhile, Warpath was struggling to drive up another slope, but he was getting tired fast, so he changed to robot form, collapsing on the ground, which made him slid down the slope, alongside the piece of Tox-En.
"Here, you have been carrying it a while." Wheeljack offered taking the Tox-En. "A dirty job…that only a Wrecker can do. Come on." And he tried to help him get up and heading to the top.
Meanwhile, at base…
"This is an emergency: our satellites have detected dangerous solar flare activity. I need that entire station evacuated immediately, do you hear me? Get out of there, now!" Ranger Lunick communicated to the outpost before passing to Optimus. "Base's clear, Prime. Try not to wreck the place."
"Many thanks, Ranger Lunick." Optimus thanked through com-link. With that settled, he switched back to Warpath and Wheeljack.
"Hey guys, are you holding up?"
Even with Wheeljack's help, who was starting to get tired, Warpath was walking slowly and grunting with each step he made, probably because of the Tox-En effects.
"Come on, big guy. Don't become a burden now." Wheeljack said holding his hand. "Any word…from Dawn?"
"Don't worry about her. You need to focus on your own mission." Lunick reassured.
"Right. I…I need to…rest…just for a minute." Warpath said.
"I know its tough, but I need you to stay the course."
Then Warpath tripped over a rock and dropped the Tox-En. Then Warpath was going to handle it.
"Warpath, no!" Wheeljack yelled.
But Warpath already grabbed it, causing him to fall back feeling dizzy.
"Warpath?! Wheeljack, what's happening?" May asked alarmed.
"Answer me, you rust buckets!" Ranger Lunick yelled.
"Uf, I'm here, ranger." Warpath finally answered, making both Lunick and May to sigh in relief.
"You had me scared, pal." May expressed in relief.
"Let's go." Wheeljack said giving him a hand.
"I…I can't do it."
"What? Seriously Warpath? After all that effort you are going to just give up?" May asked in disbelief.
"I do not want to hear that kind of talk, especially from the likes of you." Lunick supported.
"We all know you made it through worse, remember?" Wheeljack told him.
That made Warpath had flashbacks of some times when he was hurt badly: when he was swarmed by the scraplets, when Darkscream used the energon harvester on him, when he and Breakdown clashed their weapons together, when he was caught by the ground bridge's explosion, the many times he received hits from Breakdown.
"Nah. Not worse than this. Not even scraplets." Warpath answered.
"Look soldier: you know as well as I do there is a mission, and the reason why you take the mission." Lunick started.
"Honor, duty."
"Come on, Warpath. You know there is something more important." May said.
"Family." Bonnie finally answered.
"Which is why you need to do whatever it takes to finish this job and come home safely." Lunick explained.
Warpath had more flashbacks, about the times he spent with May.
"May, are you sure about this? You must know that I'm a tough Bot, and Blaziken should at least practice with someone about Bumblebee or Arcee's size first."
"Warpath, you are one of the strongest Autobots of Team Prime. If my pokémon are supposed to battle the Decepticons very soon, what better way to practice than rumbling you?"
"May?!"
"I heaved on your floor mats, sorry."
"When I was a rookie in the Autobots, even I made some mistakes, thinking what I was doing was for the cause, even if others considered them wrong. Ironhide could tell you about."
"But you have become the toughest Autobot I know because of the path you followed. And I want my pokémon to be as great on pokémon contests as you are on the battlefield."
"I feel moved by what you think about me, but that doesn't' mean you always have to take the easy way every time you find an obstacle or setbacks."
"Warpath, I know somewhere inside you always remember me. And I just want you to know I'll never forget you." May expressed hugging Warpath's foot.
"Me and Dawn also had our shared moments, which is why I would do anything for her." Wheeljack added, remembering one of his moments together.
"No, you need to stop, now."
"We can't, Wheeljack. We have to get you out of here."
"Do whatever you want to me, Scream, but let them go!"
"No. We're not leaving you." Dawn said behind Wheeljack's foot.
That was what Warpath needed to cheer up his spirit, and his strengths.
"You're right. I gotta dig deep. For the other Bots. For you, May."
"For them." Wheeljack clarified offering him his hand, which he took and allowed him to help him on the way up.
Meanwhile, the Insecticons continued tracking the false energon trail.
"There is no logic to his movements: his trail is meant to lead us astray. To find the Autobots we must not follow." Bombshock realized as he looked to the volcano and laughed. "We must anticipate."
The two Autobots finally reached to the top. In front of them, they saw a hole with smoke continually coming out, which meant that was the hole where they must drop the Tox-En.
"Finally. Here it is." Wheeljack spotted.
"Almost there." Warpath said continuing toward the hole.
"That's right, soldiers. Dump that rock and come on home." Lunick encouraged when he heard his personal com-link ring, so he answered it. "Lunick here. Dawn, what is it? I'm in the middle of a crisis here and you want me to… Oh. Put him on the line."
The duo continued crossing the covered surface, until…
"Autobots!"
They saw Bombshock coming flying in his alt form before landing in front of them, blocking his way to the volcano's hole, and changing back to robot form.
"Put down the rock and allow us to put you out of your misery." Bombshock advised as the other two Insecticons surrounded their opponents.
"We're gonna swat some bugs." Warpath declared.
"Allow me." Wheeljack said charging against one of the Insecticons.
At the same time, Warpath fired his chest cannon and neutralized one of the Insecticons. Bombshock pulled out two of his insect legs, ready to use them for combat, roared and charged against Warpath. But when he was too close, Warpath used the Tox-En as he jammed it to Bombshock's throat.
"Fair warning, I'm contagious." Warpath joked.
As result, Bombshock fell to his knees trying to catch his breath. The last remaining Insecticon changed to its flying bug form and charged at Warpath, until Wheeljack mounted on it.
"Pass it to me!"
Warpath did what Wheeljack asked and threw him the Tox-En, which he used to hit the Insecticon's head, causing it to crash-land in the crater. Next, he took the chance and put the Tox-En inside the bug's jaws.
"Don't chew this too much. It doesn't taste good."
While that happened, Warpath returned to face Bombshock, only the two of them. At the same time at base…
"Mr. Eric, this is pokémon ranger Lunick. As you already have spotted, there are some kind of last-generation robots able to camouflage as vehicles. They are weapons of a dangerous organization called Team Alien, created as a potential threat to both humans and pokémon. We have managed to confiscate their work, but some of those robots has escaped and gone rogue, acting by themselves. These brave young ones are some friends of us who are helping us to track them undercover. Thanks to them we even managed to reprogram some to help us track their companions. So, consider yourself as an honorary helper of this secret international case." He said hanging up his com-device returning back with the terminal. "Boys, you're still with me?"
"We're in the scrap and you put us on hold?" Wheeljack joked.
"I want you to know Dawn's safe, mission accomplished."
"Ah, that's my girl."
Meanwhile, Warpath charged at Bombshock and punched him on the face, but Bombshock did the same. They continued like this until Warpath gave him an uppercut. As Wheeljack was about to help him, the other Insecticon shook the Tox-En off of it, but it was still dizzy enough to collapse into the ground again.
"It's getting jam. Contact the warship for a containment unit." Bombshock commanded to it as Wheeljack was approaching to hit him again, but he saw him in time to intercept his attack and punch him in the face.
Wheeljack collapsed as he groaned next to Warpath, who was feeling a hard headache as his vision started to get dizzy.
"Warpath, do you read me?" Lunick asked.
Right in that moment, Ratchet was returning to base.
"Ratchet, come here!" Clemont called.
"Wheeljack, please respond."
"The Iacon database?" Ratchet saw.
"It's downloading into our mainframe." Clemont reported.
"Answer me, soldiers!" Lunick called again.
Ratchet laughed by happiness. "Clemont, you're a genius."
"What do you know? I have to agree with him, big brother." Bonnie congratulated.
"Yeah, you are the one who turned the tables against the Decepticons now." May added.
"Will you keep it down?!" Lunick shouted to them, leaving them confused.
May immediately got alarmed. "Is Warpath alright?"
Back to the volcano…
"Your sparks are mine, Autobots." Bombshock proclaimed, preparing to finish them.
Bombshock was about to crush Warpath's head with both fists, but Wheeljack acted first by nailing on his feet one of his swords, making him to shriek in pain, allowing Warpath to grab him by the head and send him right next to the Tox-En piece. Next, both Autobots approached him and pinned Bombshock's face against the Tox-En.
"You want a taste of this, do ya?!" Wheeljack yelled.
After releasing him, Warpath pulled out one of his hammers and hit him on the face. That made Bombshock to fall back, almost at the edge of the hole. Then, he saw Wheeljack grabbing the Tox-En…
"Then all yours!"
And threw it at him. Bombshock did it, but as result he fell into the hole, to the deeps of the volcano. The Autobots approached and took a look inside, and saw the Tox-En being melted by direct contact with the lava.
"At least… this is the last time we see… this kind of energon." Warpath said in relief.
"Lunick, mission accomplished. But you might have to…tuck us in." Wheeljack reported.
"Clemont, open the bridge, now!" May asked.
Clemont went to his laptop to open the ground bridge. The portal opened in front of them, a few meters of distance. Both Autobots walked towards it, but Warpath was too weak that he felt halfway.
"Oh no you don't, big guy. You still have a friend at home to return with. If you managed to survive the Great War, there is no way you cannot make this." Wheeljack said as he helped him up.
But they didn't realize that Bombshock was not gone: he did fell into the volcano, but managed to survive, with his whole body burned and with smoke coming out. He got out of the hole slowly and pulled out a laser gun on his arm and fired at them. The shot made an explosion behind them and sent both flying through the portal to the base.
May gasped in horror. "Warpath!"
"No." Ratchet said as he went to check them, with smoke coming from the back of their bodies.