41- Hurt.
It was getting dark as the four Autobots and their friends went through the ground bridge back to base. While Ash and Ritchie went inside Bumblebee, Dawn was listening music on Sideswipe's radio.
"Till the end I will be with you, we will go where our dreams come true, all the times that we have been through, you will always be my best friends…" Dawn sang along with the song.
"Whoa, you certainly know this song the verbatim." Sideswipe admired.
"Thanks. It is one of my favorite ones. What kind of music you like, Sideswipe?"
"Huh…let's just say…I have my type."
Dawn chuckled. "Well, it's been fun. I can't wait to tell everything to my unmatched partner. I hope Jackie would like to hear…"
"Piplup!"
"What is it, Piplup? Did something scare you…AAAAAHHHHH!" Dawn suddenly screamed as she saw Wheeljack lying on the floor alongside Warpath.
Immediately, Sideswipe stopped and allowed Dawn and Piplup to get out. As the Autobots changed to robot form, they saw Ratchet using some defibrillators on Warpath and Clemont and Dedenne trying something similar with electric moves on Wheeljack.
"Warpath, respond!" Ratchet begged as he tried again alongside his arm's scanner while May waited next to her unconscious partner with a pleading face.
"Try again, Dedenne. Thunder Shock!" Clemont commanded.
Dedenne used the move on Wheeljack again, but with the same result as Ratchet.
"Nothing Ratchet." Clemont reported.
"Keep trying."
"Wheeljack? Wheeljack?!" Dawn called before Ritchie grabbed her.
"What happened?" Ash asked.
"Tox-En exposure, among other things. Warpath and Wheeljack have suffered a complete systems failure."
"Wait. Did you just say Tox-En?" Sideswipe asked worried.
Ratchet saw their life signal on his arm terminal, and they weren't looking good. "Help me get them into the medical bay, now!"
Immediately, Arcee and Moonracer helped Wheeljack while Bee and Sideswipe carried Warpath by the arms. Neither of them showed any effort to move, with smoke still coming from their backs.
"No!" Dawn yelled getting free. "If I haven't gone to New Tork…"
"There's nothing you could have done. Bombshock sucker punched them while they were down." Lunick said.
"Who?"
"The Insecticon which they faced." May revealed.
"It doesn't matter. Point is it's not your fault, you got that?" Lunick told her.
"Yes." Dawn answered as her friends went to support her and May, watching the Autobots continued helping their injured pals.
Meanwhile, inside the Nemesis, someone was really mad.
"How is this possible?! Four relics, each within our grasp, and yet only Soundblaster has returned with something other than an excuse." Galvatron summarized as he walked next to all the Decepticons who went to relic hunting, until he stopped right at Bombshock. "Tell me, Bombshock, what is yours?"
"I have none, my lord. We failed to retrieve the Tox-En, but the two Autobots, the tank and the Wrecker, have been terminated."
By hearing that, Galvatron calmed down. "Then perhaps this day is not lost after all."
"If that is true. It has been a while since anyone has extinguished an Autobot spark." Knock Out stated.
"Because it has been a while since an Insecticon warrior has been provided to the opportunity to do so." Bombshock defended.
"Really now? Because the bug under my recent command was utterly useless, and this was way bigger than you." Knock Out reminded, making Bombshock snarl out of anger.
"Enough!" Galvatron yelled. "Bombshock, are you certain the ones called Warpath and Wheeljack were exterminated?"
"By my very own hand, lord Galvatron."
Back to the Autobot base, Ratchet hooked the injured Autobots to a life support machine while the rest of the team waited for news. Misty was also there to support the two girls.
"I came as fast as I hear it. You must know that I'm here to help you in any way." She reassured them.
At the same time, Ranger Lunick was talking with someone else by his com unit.
"Yes, sir." He said before he hung up. "Turns out highlights of your adventure on Pokémon Hills got caught on security tape. Headquarters needs me to run interference with the Mayor." He sighed as he looked the injured. "I…tried to stall but…"
"Go where you are needed, Ranger Lunick. There is nothing more you can do for Warpath and Wheeljack at this time." Elita answered.
"Keep me posted. I mean it." Lunick asked before he and Minun entered the elevator.
"Seaspray is on his way." Moonracer reported, not realizing the girls heard it.
"I can't believe you're giving up on them already!" May shouted.
"All I meant was Wheeljack and Seaspray are close, I thought he wanna be here."
"I know what you meant!"
"Come on, May. I don't want to be here right now." Dawn said getting up.
"Where are you going?" Sideswipe asked.
"Home! While Ranger Lunick can still give us a lift." May answered entering the elevator.
"I will better go with them, to make sure they are fine." Misty added as she went with them.
Hot Rod was about to do something, but Optimus stopped him. "They need time."
Time later, Ratchet finally gave them the news.
"They are stable, for the moment. But I had to induce stasis."
In that moment, they heard an engine noise coming from the entrance: it was Seaspray in vehicle form, who entered the main room before changing to robot form.
"What's the damage?" He asked.
"Both have suffered massive trauma to their central nervous conduits, but I fear that Warpath's condition could be more serious giving the fact that he has suffered more." Ratchet reported.
"I've watched your work. No one can rival you."
"The Tox-En exposure has caused system wide-shut down on a sub-micronic level. I can't even begin to operate until they regain some strength."
Then Seaspray's face changed to a mad one as he looked to Optimus. "You're gonna tell me who did this to them?"
"At the moment I believe it is best to focus our attention on their recovery, rather than revenge."
"You do that, and I will make sure the responsible one will not cause harm to anyone else." Seaspray simply said before he transformed and drove out of the base.
"Seaspray will most likely do something rash, you know." Elita told to Optimus.
"And I am not sure we could stop him if we wanted too."
Seaspray's ship blasted off and flew away from the base. He set the coordinates to his destiny and put the ship on autopilot. Then, he heard a noise behind him, so he turned his hand into a blaster weapon and looked for the intruder. And when he looked down, he found Misty, Dawn and May.
"What are you girls doing here?" Seaspray asked.
"Going after the Con who hurt our friends." Dawn answered.
"Not me. I'm just here to make sure they don't get into any mess. And this is what I am referring to." Misty clarified.
"Hey, you said you were here to support us in any way. Are you in?" May asked.
"I'm going to take you three back." The Wrecker said as he retrieved the gun and went back to the pilot seat.
Misty sighed in relief. "Thank goodness he has a right mind."
"Wait, no!" Both Dawn and May begged.
"Girls, I understand. You both want payback, the same as I." Seaspray understood.
"I know that Wheeljack and you are close, but he's also my partner." Dawn defended.
"And the one who hurt him also did the same to Warpath." May added.
"Trust me, when I find out which one of Galvatron's bullies jumped them I'll take care of him. My way." Seaspray reassured showing his harpoons.
"We know who did it." Dawn revealed.
"Who?"
"Take us and we'll tell you." May offered.
Meanwhile, on the Nemesis…
"You should have seen the Autobots' faces as their sparks expired, knowing that they perished at the hands of a true warrior. Lord Galvatron now understands that the difficult tasks are best assigned to an Insecticon." Bombshock retold to other two Insecticons as they passed two Vehicons, who didn't look happy to see them.
"Pit-bound scavengers." The first insulted.
"Scrap-eaters." The other added.
But Bombshock stopped and turned at them, probably because he heard them. "What did you say?"
At the same time, Knock Out was fixing the scratches on his paint job with his buffer. Although he had a hard time to reach his backside.
"Detailing was so much easier when Breakdown was around." Knock Out expressed, just before he heard gunfire and noticed a shake coming from out of the room. "What is going on out there?" He went out to check it out. "How am I supposed to concentrate-AAAHHH!"
He had to close the door immediately, just before one of the Vehicons from before clashed against it. When he opened the door, he saw the Vehicon firing at Bombshock, who felt nothing from the shots and charged against him. But he dodged and Bombshock ended hitting Knock Out instead, who was sent against the wall. He looked fine, until he saw a new scratch on his chest.
"I…just…buffed…that!" Knock Out said mad.
Meanwhile, somewhere on the sea of Hoenn, a Decepticon soldier was guarding the entrance of the Marine Cave, not aware that he was been observed by Seaspray and the girls, hidden between some rocks nearby.
"You know where to find hidden Decepticon mines?" Misty asked surprised.
"You didn't think I've just been sitting on my can since I've been on this planet, right?" Seaspray replied.
"But shouldn't we be looking for an Insecticon hive?" May asked confused.
"The bugs are bound by a single mind. Trying to draw just one of them out is nearly impossible. Instead, we're gonna make some noise."
"And get the Cons to hand over Bombshock." Dawn understood.
"Now you came here to help, right? So you can sneak in there and take a better look to make things easier for me." Seaspray suggested.
Moments later, the three girls were inside the mine inside the cave, in a place with no water. Misty was using her phone as a camera to show the inside.
"We got five, maybe six Cons in the main cavern." May reported.
"And two more keeping an eye on things from the second floor." Misty reported while Seaspray saw the images from inside his ship.
"Good job, girls. Keep going."
"Huh, there's another chamber." Dawn informed as she pointed to a chamber full of energon boxes. "Looks like they're just using it for storage."
Then they heard only static.
"Seaspray, you're there?" Misty called.
Suddenly, they heard an explosion as a Decepticon almost fell upon them, but they dodged. They started to heard shots, and saw Seaspray jumping inside the mine with his harpoons ready. He kicked down a Con before finishing with him and fired one of his harpoons to a sniper that was about to fire above him. Another Con charged at him, but Dawn decided to call Piplup out of his poke ball to assist him with Ice Beam, freezing the Vehicon's feet and allowing Seaspray to send him flying above them, who ran to hid between the energon cubes while the Wrecker continued fighting. Then, a leaper jumped into the cave and engaged Seaspray, but despite his speed, the Autobot was having trouble with the Decepticon's heavy armor. Misty saw how hard this fight was for Seaspray, until she observed how the big Con pushed him hard, sending him to the other side of the cave. Finally, as the leaper was charging his back engines for another jump, Misty had had enough and decided to go and help him.
"Gyarados, give Seaspray an assist. Use Hydro Pump on the Con's back." She said pulling out one poke ball.
Misty's strongest pokémon came out and fired a strong water beam which hit the leaper's back really hard, sending him against the ground. That allowed Seaspray to jump onto him first and dispose of him with his harpoons.
"Thanks for the assist. This must be one of these called water type pokémon." Seaspray thanked to Misty.
"That's correct. So, now what?"
"It's time to call the Decepticons' home."
Speaking of Galvatron, he was on the Nemesis's bridge, listening to Knock Out about the recent incident. Bombshock was present there too.
"Just look what they've done!" Knock Out said pointing the scratch.
"Spare me the dramatics, Knock Out. It's merely a scratch."
"This isn't about me, lord Galvatron. The Insecticons are creating dissention among the ranks. These savages are a threat to this warship and its crew. They should be confined, restrained even!"
Bombshock walked behind Knock Out. "You cannot produce restrain strong enough to hold us!"
"Lord Galvatron, we're receiving an emergency transmission from mine TVC-15." A Vehicon at the communication board reported.
"What seems to be the problem?"
"Unclear, my liege. The caller will speak only to you."
Galvatron went up to the board and pressed the response button. "What is it?"
"Nice operation you got here, Galvatron. Although technically, you might say it's under…new management." The caller responded as Galvatron saw a picture of who was on the terminal's screen.
"Seaspray, the Wrecker who enjoys crawling between wet holes."
"What can I say, chief? Everyone has a hobby. And right now, I'm sitting on top of one of your big, juicy mining ops."
"The loss of one asset is hardly a blow to the Decepticon cause."
"Maybe, but I'm gonna keep on hitting them, one by one, until you give me what I want."
"And what, pray tell, would that be?"
"The Insecticon scum who tried to frag Wheeljack and Warpath."
That surprised Galvatron. "Tried? Are you saying the Autobots live?"
"He is bluffing!" Bombshock immediately protested.
"Wreckers are many things, but liar is not one of them. So, here's the deal, I'm gonna transmit the coordinates of my next target. If Bombshock cares to meet me there, maybe he can save you from another loss. And Galvatron, just in case you ever wondered what 3 tons of exploding energon sounds like…" Seaspray said as he pressed a red button on the control wheel, which Misty looked very clear.
That made Seaspray's ship to launch two missiles that went inside the mine and made it explode while the ship left. Of course, like he said, that was heard on the Nemesis too.
"You allowed the Autobots to live?!" Galvatron said very mad turning at Bombshock.
"Hmph! Bugs. Not all they're cracked up to be." Knock Out smirked.
"Lord Galvatron, I swear upon the Allspark, the Autobots could not have survived their wounds." Bombshock defended as he backed up as Galvatron advanced toward him.
"Then you owe me at least one spark. And if it's not the one belonging to Warpath or Wheeljack, it had better be Seaspray's."
As Seaspray's ship was heading to the meeting location, he saw that May and Dawn were dozing off.
"Maybe you should power down for a while." Seaspray suggested.
"We're fine." May reassured.
"They are gonna make it, right? I mean, Wheeljack and Warpath." Dawn asked.
"Of course, girls. Wheeljack is one of the toughest Wreckers I've ever known. And maybe I don't know Warpath, but I heard he's a true demolition force, hard to break. And they are in the hands of Ratchet, the best medic. So there is nothing to fear." Seaspray reassured them.
"Yeah, there's no way they would miss all the stuff we have planned." May started.
"Like trial racing, coordinated dancing… Jackie and I have been making a list." Dawn revealed.
"Like I said: guys like them are too loyal not to pull through. I know it and I bet you do too." Seaspray said, but he saw May and Dawn sleeping already.
"I think it's better if we let them get some sleep." Misty advised, earning a nod from Seaspray.
"You acted different from them, and yet I can't help but perceive that something is not right with you. You wanna tell me?"
Misty sighed. "Is about what they said: both of them seem to have connected so deep with their Autobot guardians to the point to spend great time with them, making things together. And not only May and Dawn, even the others too. I'm the only one who has not developed a special link with any of the Autobots of Team Prime. And when you arrived the first time, when I knew you also like the sea just like me, I had the hope that we could also interact just like the others. But it hasn't been that way."
At hearing that, Seaspray couldn't avoid feeling sorrow for Misty, and a little guilty for his part: all the time he has been on Earth was ephemeral, and most of it with the other Autobots instead with their native friends.
"Hey, don't take all the blame for yourself. I also have a part on this: still acting as a lonesome, attached to the old days when it was only the Wreckers, with only Wheeljack the one with things to share. But it is never too late to change that. Besides, I'm still the newbie on this planet, and you promised me to show me everything about the ocean. Remember? Once this is over, we may have some time to catch up. Deal?"
That cheered up Misty's spirit, at the point that even made her smile. "Deal."
The ship finally arrived to its destination: in a shore of Monsu Island, in front of a volcano. The landing woke up May and Dawn.
"Eh?! We're up!" Dawn immediately said.
"So, what now?" May asked.
"Girls, if anything happens to me, press this button." Seaspray instructed pointing to a blue button on the command wheel. "I've preset the autopilot to get you back to Prime's base."
"What? No way! We had a deal. You said we could help!" May argued.
"And you did." Seaspray said getting up. "But it ends here."
"This is our fight too." Dawn defended.
"Sorry girls, but Jackie and Warpath are gonna wake up. And they'll file off my rivets if you're not there when they do."
"Seaspray!" Both girls shouted.
Too late, Seaspray exited the ship and it closed its door.
"Easy, you two. He'll be fine, he's a Wrecker after all." Misty reassured them.
"Hurry. Maybe we can see him from the windshield." Dawn suggested.
The three girls climbed up to the windshield to see the outside. They saw Seaspray changing to vehicle form and drive right at the entrance of the volcano.
"You're in there, bug?!"
Bombshock was already there, but not inside there, above him, on top of the volcano. He roared and jumped at him, with intention to smash him, but Seaspray quickly reversed. Next, he charged at him before changing to robot form, jumped and kicked him hard backwards. Seaspray was about to throw a grenade, but Bombshock pushed him against a rock before he could. And before he could counter, he tackled him, making him crash through the boulder in the process.
"Thanks to your crippled friend, I am all too familiar with your Wrecker tricks." Bombshock said, before trying to crush Seaspray again with his fist.
But Seaspray jumped and dodged the attack in time. Next, he pulled out his harpoons and charged at Bombshock, hitting him on the face with a great combo. Next, he kicked one of his legs, trying to make his loss his balance before striking again, but Bombshock was now blocking all the attacks with his arms.
"What's the matter, Bombshock? Not used to fighting a Bot who hasn't been affected by Tox-En?" Seaspray provoked trying to slice him.
He managed to hit him with one of the swords before Bombshock grabbed it with his hand. "Talk during battle is a sign of weakness."
Bombshock punched Seaspray and tried to slice him with his sharp bug legs, but now Seaspray was the one who blocked them.
"Only when you're too primitive to do two things at once."
Suddenly, Bombshock used his fists to use a double uppercut that caught Seaspray by surprise. Next, he changed to his flying bug form and flung him in the air, sending him again to the ground.
"I don't like the look of this." Dawn said closing her eyes.
"Go for the grenade!" May shouted.
Seaspray thought the same thing, but before reaching it Bombshock tried to hit him. After changing back to normal form, the Insecticon tried to hit Seaspray with his bug claws. Seaspray dodged them, but Bombshock kicked him, and before he could recover, he lunged him and while he was in the air Bombshock grabbed him by the head and slammed him into the ground two times.
"Seaspray!" Misty yelled.
Bombshock lifted Seaspray, still holding him by the head, and gave him three powerful punches before throwing him in the air and punched him as he was coming down, launching him many yards away. The Autobot struggled as he saw Bombshock approaching, ready to finish him.
"I can't keep looking." May said looking away.
"No." Misty said, tearfully.
"This can't be happening." Dawn added.
"Go, girls. Get out of here." Seaspray said weakly.
Misty dropped a tear before she walked to the ship's control panel. Once there, she was about to press the blue button, but then she had a feeling, and her face changed to a determined look.
"Your spark will now belong to Galvatron." Bombshock proclaimed as he was about to finish with Seaspray.
But before he could finish him, he heard an unknown roar for him, and suddenly, out of nowhere, a Gyarados, megaevolved, coiled around him and started attacking the Insecticon, biting him with Crunch and burning his face with Flamethrower. That also surprised May and Dawn.
"Why's a Gyarados attacking Bombshock?" Dawn asked.
"I don't know. But it looks like he's acting like…" May realized, until she stopped and both girls turned at Misty. "Misty, is that your…"
"You are not going to hurt Seaspray, not if I am here to do something about it." She said determined before she pressed a button.
Seaspray's ship took off.
"Gyarados, now!" Misty voice sounded from the ship.
Immediately, Misty's Gyarados set free Bombshock, just in the same time as the ship fired two missiles that flew right at Bombshock, hitting him and blowing him to pieces. It turned out that in the end, Misty pressed the missile launcher's button, instead of the autopilot. Seaspray took a piece of Bombshock off him as he took a look to the bug's remains and his ship landing again.
"Nice work, Misty." Seaspray congratulated weakly as Gyarados approached him and helped him back to his feet.
Then they heard a lot of footsteps coming from the top of the volcano and saw the rest of the Insecticons looking at them, and by the sound of their roars, they didn't look happy.
"Seaspray, run!" Misty yelled.
Gyarados helped Seaspray return to his ship the fast he could as the Insecticons flew toward them, but he was going slowly because of his injures. Fortunately, Gyarados used Hurricane to slow their approach. Once they got inside, the girls jumped to their seat and Misty retrieved her pokémon.
"I thought I told you to hit autopilot." Seaspray reminded as he started to pilot the ship.
"I couldn't allow you to end worse than their partners." Misty defended.
The Insecticons fired at the ship, but it immediately took off and started to fly away. Unfortunately, the swarm was not going to allow them to leave so easily.
"Too many to pick off. I'll need something with a bigger blast radius." Seaspray analyzed before pressing the autopilot and opened a canister full with grenades.
"But it isn't supposed that you…" Dawn started surprised.
"We Wreckers only carry one at a time. Didn't Jackie tell you?"
He opened the hatch from the ceiling as their chasers continued firing at them. Seaspray was about to throw a grenade, but instead, he came with a better idea: he launched the entire canister and fired one shot at it, making a huge explosion in middle of the swarm that forced it to disperse.
"Welcome to the Wreckers, girls. You are gonna make Wheeljack and Warpath proud." Seaspray congratulated.
Misty showed a happy smile on her face, but May and Dawn didn't look amazed.
"Then why don't I feel any different?" May asked to herself.
"I also don't feel better." Dawn added.
Misty sighed. "I guess that's what revenge means. Is bad for both the one who seek it and the one who suffer it."
"Yeah. Many good Bots have lost themselves because of that, but we did it for another purpose: to make justice. And to make sure that bug would not cause harm to anyone else." Seaspray clarified.
Moments later, as everyone was still checking the injured Autobots, the girls and Seaspray returned back to the base. The team noticed them at hearing a metal grinding made by Seaspray, who looked so glum.
"Dawn, Misty, May, you okay?" Arcee asked worried.
"They're fine. They are stronger than they look." Seaspray reassured.
"She wasn't talking to you." Hot Rod answered mad.
"How are they?" May asked.
Bee looked them with sad eyes. "(Not so well.)"
"They will survive. Wheeljack's condition is better, but both of them might never be fully functional again." Ratchet informed hardly.
After hearing that, the two girls ran to their partners.
"Girls, I don't think it's wise for you…" Ratchet started, until he was stopped by Optimus.
Everyone looked them sad, until some of them turned at Seaspray, some of them angry.
"I…I am not sure I wanna see Jackie right now. Not like this." Seaspray said sad as he headed for the exit, but he stopped and looked to Misty, who seemed to be the only one who smiled him. "I guess we should leave that guiding for next time, Misty."
"Just for you to know, I live in the gym of Cerulean City. In case you want us to meet in better circumstances." She offered.
"I'll keep it in mind. And thank you." Seaspray appreciated before he transformed and drove out of the base.
After that, the Autobots turned at May and Dawn again, who were now sitting on top of their Autobot partners.
"I am never leaving you again." Dawn said.
"I will never leave you go alone without help again." May swore.
Meanwhile, the surviving Insecticons brought back the lifeless body of Bombshock to their leader.
"The Autobot did this?" Galvatron asked really mad.
"No, my lord. It was…a human girl." One of the Insecticons answered.
That left Galvatron intrigued: if a single human was capable of destroying his fiercest Insecticon, what kind of harm could the others inflict to the Decepticons? Or their pokémon? He already knew how tenacious some of them are, but how far could they reach?