45- Legacy.
It was a natural day while Smokescreen and Bumblebee were patrolling somewhere on the Johto region.
"Energon signal's getting stronger, above five klicks due north." Smokescreen communicated as he speeded up.
"(Smokescreen, slow down. You're about to overpass the speed limit.)"
"What do you mean speed limit? I have a gage in here that goes to 150. If the humans who designed my vehicle form didn't want it to go that fast, they shouldn't have given me the option."
And Smokescreen continued getting faster, until he almost smashed against a jeep honking, which was coming from the other way.
"Wow."
That forced both vehicles to slow down so sudden and side out of the opposite lane. The jeep's driver, came out of the vehicle really mad.
"Hey, idiot 500! When I'm through with you, you're gonna need more than a pit crew to put you back together." He menaced with a crowbar in hand.
Immediately, Smokescreen changed to robot form, scaring the man a lot, especially when he approached his face to him.
"Bring it! Who's the tough guy now, huh?"
Bumblebee honked his horn and transformed to robot form before pushing Smokescreen away. "(Smokey, what are you doing?! We're supposed to not harm the humans.)"
Smokescreen just laughed. "Relax, Bumblebee. I'm just messing around."
Immediately, the man pulled out a cell phone with intention to capture them with a photo.
"(No! No pictures!)" Bee begged seeing it.
But too late. Moments later, the image was already on the conspiracy website.
"Found it!" Max announced.
"That guy didn't waste any time posting your mug-shots." Misty reported.
"You don't look worried then, Smokey." Iris noticed.
"Fear nothing, I'm sure Clemont will scrub it as soon as they are done with their house changes." May reassured.
"Meanwhile, we should warn the pokémon rangers so they prevent this to reach the news." Ritchie suggested.
"Is this what you learned while serving Alpha Trion?! I highly doubt that he would have condoned such irresponsible behavior!" Ratchet exclaimed irritated.
"Blowing your cover is not okay." Arcee added.
"Sorry guys. I know I really messed up." Smokescreen apologized.
"While Ratchet and Arcee are correct, I believe that we are all equally responsible for this incident." Optimus said.
"I agree with you, dear." Elita supported.
"Us?!" Wheeljack asked in disbelief.
"How?!" Hot Rod followed.
"We weren't even there." Sideswipe added.
"(How is this our fault?)"
"Well, Bee was." Warpath pointed.
"(Hey!)" Bee protested as he hit him a little.
"Our recent efforts have been so intensely focused on averting crises that we have overlooked simple matters, such as teaching Smokescreen how to best function on this planet." Optimus explained.
"It is an oversight that must be corrected."
"Elita, I'm honored to train under you and Optimus. And will do whatever it takes to make things right. To make you proud." Smokescreen swore.
"Perhaps the best way for you to learn about the human world is from a human."
"Smokescreen is going to get his own partner? Like Misty partnered with Seaspray?" Moonracer asked interested.
"Please, is it having eleven humans and their pokémon here enough?" Ratchet asked, causing that everyone looked at him with confused looks during a silent while.
"You know, Doc? Sometimes you should watch what you are going to say." Wheeljack advised, making Ratchet simply groan before getting back to the computers.
"We were referring to one already among us. One who also needs to learn how our human friends operate as well." Optimus corrected, looking at one specific girl.
"Me?" Iris asked surprised. "Huh, right Optimus. That's me. And…what am I supposed to teach him?"
"The usual ones. You know…" Misty started.
"…robots in disguise," May said.
"…traffic laws," Max added.
"…to respect humans and pokémon…those things." Ritchie ended.
"Oh. Well, in that case, I think I can bring Smokescreen up to speed." Iris accepted more confident.
"We've all put in curbside duty. Part of the gig." Warpath said putting a hand on Smokescreen's shoulder.
Smokescreen approached Iris as she and Axew climbed down the ladder. "Then let's go for a drive, teach." He said before changing to vehicle form, allowing them to enter inside and drove into the ground bridge.
"Commander, with all due respect, the pokémon rangers are still upgrading Clemont and Bonnie's house with cloaking devices because the Cons discovered the Lumiose gym. Meanwhile, Smokescreen, in all his wisdom, chooses a vehicle mode with screaming double 38s on the doors, making him an easy target." Arcee summarized.
"What Arcee wants to say is that she is concerned about Iris's safety." Hot Rod added.
"Nonetheless, the fact remains that Smokescreen is in need of instruction, and Iris is in need of orientation." Elita answered.
"But at the end, I know that they both will understand their roles in this team: Smokescreen with the necessity of protecting humankind and pokémon, and Iris the loyalty of her guardian being there when she will need him, or vice versa. I believe that their spark and heart are in the right place." Optimus reassured.
At the same time, Iris was practicing with Smokescreen driving lessons through the streets of Opelucid City.
"Okay, intersection. Let's review, light's green?" Iris started.
"Green for go." Smokescreen answered.
Then, the next intersection's light turned yellow.
"And yellow?" Iris asked again.
"Go faster." Smokey said before speeding up.
"Whoa whoa, Smokescreen!" She said alarmed as Axew hid in her hair.
Fortunately, when the light turned red, he stopped.
Smokescreen laughed. "Just messing around."
"Hahaha, very funny." She answered sarcastically.
"What? I thought as a pokémon trainer you would like tough experiences."
"Of course I do, it's just…Oh Smokey, you're just a little kid."
"A kid which is bigger than you."
Iris blinked her eyes twice at hearing Smokescreen's answer, but then they both started to laugh.
"Okay, that's a good one." She said clearing tears of laugh from her eyes. But then, she saw someone on a bike coming next to them. "Oh no." She recognized the girl who was riding on that bike: her old rival, Georgia. She rolled up the window and tried to hide the best she could.
"What is it? Cons?"
"Just a certain girl I prefer not to talk to." Iris replied.
Georgia tried to look better inside Smokescreen, suspecting who may be inside. She ended recognizing her, and started to pull out one of her poke balls.
"Go!" Iris whispered.
"Red light, Teach. No can do." Smokescreen answered.
Iris groaned. "Why it can't be done when I really need it?"
Iris took another look, and saw Georgia, now accompanied by her Vanilluxe, commanding it something. Next, an Icy Wind flew to Smokescreen's side, making some snowflakes to percolate through the window.
Iris felt it, making her to shiver. "I hate cold."
"Seriously? I was expecting that from a guy, but from a girl?" Smokescreen asked in annoyance as Georgia continued her way.
He was about to follow her…
"No, wait. Just…let her go." Iris stopped him before they continued driving.
"Are you kidding me? Where's your self-respect, Iris? We got to stand up for ourselves."
"We also have to follow Optimus's rule: it's not just about protecting humans, you can't harm them either."
"Who said anything about harming?"
That caught Iris's attention, and made her smirk. Moments later, Wheeljack opened the ground bridge to bring Smokescreen back to base. And when they did, the trio was laughing a lot.
"I know what we did was childish, but…Oh my Arceus, did you see her face? That was priceless." Iris howled continuing laughing with Smokescreen after he transformed, while the others looked them confused.
"Is there something funny?" Hot Rod asked.
"Guys, come, check out Georgia's bike!"
"Georgia? You mean that girl rival of yours, the Dragon Buster?" Arcee asked as she and the other Autobots took a closer to a picture they took.
The picture showed Georgia looking her bike with a shocked look, because the bike looked a little scorched. That caused Sideswipe to laugh a lot, Moonracer chuckled a little and Hot Rod tried to hide his laughter, but Arcee remained without words.
"Leaving a special surprise at home. Classic!" Sideswipe laughed.
"Hey Georgia, what do you have to say now about dragon fire? Not hot enough for you?!" Iris mocked as she and Smokescreen laughed again.
"Let me get this straight. So you taught Smokescreen everything he never needed to know about pranks?" Arcee asked.
"He passed the driver trial. Work hard, play hard." Iris defended before she left followed by Smokescreen.
"Yeah, and no humans and pokémon were harmed in the making of this photo. Honest." Smokey added.
"Looks like to me that those two are starting to connect." Moon opined.
"And more importantly, they enjoyed together. Relax Arcee, it's just a prank." Sideswipe reassured, making Arcee groan.
Meanwhile, aboard the Nemesis, Soundblaster was showing his master his new results.
"You have decoded the next Iacon coordinates? Excellent, Soundblaster. Then it is time to beta test our decoy." Galvatron declared, holding a device that constantly beeped.
Back at base…
"I am nearly finished decoding the next Iacon coordinates." Optimus announced as he continued working on the terminal.
Then a noise came from the terminal.
"You may not need to complete your task, Optimus." Elita observed.
"An Iacon locator beacon."
"It seems the Decepticons have already excavated the next relic." Ratchet deduced.
"Ratchet, triangulate coordinates and activate the ground bridge."
As the ground bridge turned on, the rest of Team Prime reunited with the leaders in front of the portal.
"Let's blow up some Cons." Warpath said smashing his fists.
"Where is Smokescreen?" Elita asked.
"Out training again with Iris." Moonracer answered.
"We cannot wait. Autobots, transform and roll out." Optimus commanded.
The team changed to vehicle form and went through the portal. Meanwhile, the Decepticons were drilling through a mountain site near to Eindoak Town of Unova. Everyone was busy, both Decepticons and Insecticons, some of these scaring any nearby wild pokémon, while Galvatron was coordinating the whole operation giving the orders. Then, one of the soldiers spotted something after moving a big boulder.
"Lord Galvatron!" He called.
"I certainly hope that our new acquisition is of Decepticon origin." Galvatron said as he walked to the place, but when he saw the relic he stopped in shock. "It cannot be."
There was something inserted in the rock, like a sword.
"Power of this magnitude must never be allowed to fall into the hands of Optimus Prime. No matter what."
Galvatron grabbed the relic and tried to pull it out, but nothing happened. Galvatron continued trying to pull it out, with the same result. That made some of the Cons to look between them confused. Galvatron even roared as he tried with all his forces, but nothing. Tired from pulling, he pulled out and fired his fusion cannon a dozen shots at the relic, but after the smoke cleared, he sighed in shock as he saw the relic intact.
"The rock is impermeable. The relic is emanating a protective shield. It will only respond to the power of a Prime." Galvatron realized, and groaned in anger. "We will remove it even if we have to take the entire mountain."
Suddenly, the base's sensors detected the same location.
"Optimus, I just picked up a second Iacon locator beacon." Ratchet communicated, but he received static. "Optimus, do you read?"
The team was searching through the Kalos Canyon covered in fog.
"No sign of Cons." Wheeljack noticed.
Arcee was the one who had the scanner at hand, so she was one guiding the team. But they were not aware that very above them, Soundblaster was carrying the decoy device, the origin of the signal they were tracking. Meanwhile, Smokescreen, Iris and Axew returned to base, laughing again.
"Oh boy, my master is going to freak." Iris laughed.
"That thing we smashed in her room… what was it called again?" Smokescreen asked laughing.
"Berries!" Iris howled, making them laugh again.
"Will you two keep it down?!" Ratchet yelled as he continued trying to reach the others. "Elita? Arcee? Wheeljack? Hot Rod? Can anyone hear me?"
"Ratchet, what's going on?" Iris asked.
"Our sensors detected a second Iacon locator beacon, but I can't reach Optimus."
"I'll go." Smokescreen offered.
"Alone?"
"You have a better option?"
Ratchet had to admit he was right. "Fine." He agreed and opened the ground bridge at the new coordinates.
"He says fine, but I don't think he really wants me to go alone." Smokescreen said looking at Iris, so she understood immediately what he was referring.
Moments later, the portal transported them in middle of a forest of the exact location.
"Hey, I know this place. I have been here when I accompanied Ash in his journey." Iris recognized.
"Then you won't mind being my guide?"
"With pleasure, Smokey."
"That's the spirit, partner. Let's go grab a relic." Smokey encouraged before they advanced.
They hid behind some boulders, with a good view of the excavation site.
"Axew." Iris's pokémon said pointing just where the relic was.
"Whoa, it's a sword." Iris saw.
"Not just any sword. That looks like the Star Saber: a legendary weapon forged by Solus Prime, that's lore would have it. It's rumored to wield the power of the matrix. I'm gonna make Optimus proud."
"That's not a good idea."
"Why?"
"Because there is a big ugly Decepticon right there. It must be the one in charge." Iris revealed pointing at Galvatron.
"That's not just any regular officer, Iris. That's Megatron, or Galvatron as everyone use to call him now."
"Wait, you mean…the evil leader of the Decepticons?"
"The dark lord himself. He won't know what hit him." Smokey swore preparing his fists.
"Smokescreen, wait. Something isn't right. Why doesn't Galvatron just take the Star Saber?"
"Germophobe?"
Iris groaned. "Seriously, don't act like a kid now. We need to wait for backup."
"You heard Ratchet: backup is not available right now." The young Autobot said before jumping over the rocks, leaving Iris and Axew behind.
"Smokescreen, wait!" Iris begged, but it was too late. "Arg, we are supposed to be partners. We need to act together."
"Axew." Axew lamented.
The Decepticons continued mining, until…
"Enough!" Galvatron shouted. "Commence transport!"
A hook cable descended from the Nemesis and grabbed ahold the rock. The ship started to struggle to reel it in. While that happened, Galvatron heard gun shots and saw some of his soldiers firing at a new Autobot who shot them down, tackled, punched, eliminating all Con that was in his way with a battle cry.
"Who in the pits of Kaon is that?" Galvatron asked.
Smokescreen reached the saber, but when he tried to pull it out, he had the same result as Galvatron.
"Scrap. It's really in there tight." Smokescreen said before a Decepticon engineer stunned him with a blast and collapsed to the ground.
Smokescreen recovered fast, but he was already surrounded by the Decepticons, thing that Iris saw.
"No. No, this can't be happening." She said before pulling out a phone Misty gave her. "Ratchet, you got to get Optimus here now. Smokescreen went for the relic; it's called the Star Sab-…"
"Axew." Axew said scared looking at Iris's back.
Axew's fear was caused by two Insecticons which were approaching her from behind. Iris noticed their presence when she heard a hiss and turned to see it, forcing her to jump between the trees running away.
"Where in the name of Cybertron are you?" Ratchet called through the com-device, but he only heard the Insecticon's roars. "And did you say Star Sab…" But one of the Insecticons crushed the phone with one of its feet. Ratchet tried to contact the team again. "Optimus, Elita, please respond." He called again, and again received only static. "I can see that you're alive. Why won't you answer me?"
Back with the team, they continued the useless search.
Sideswipe groaned in frustration. "Every time we get close to the beacon the signal moves. I'm getting sick of this."
"You've said it. All this leg-work is giving me itchy fists!" Warpath shouted smashing his fists together.
"It seems we've been led astray by a Decepticon trick." Optimus finally realized.
Then a ground appeared next to them and Ratchet came from it. "We have a situation."
Back to the forest, Iris continued jumping between the trees and dodging every attack that the Insecticons made with their claws.
"Axew, we need to put more distance. Slow them down with Dragon Rage." Iris instructed.
Axew managed to hit one of the Insecticons on the head, but it only made it more furious. And to make things worse, the Nemesis was starting to transport the rock.
"Bring him to me." Galvatron demanded, referring to Smokescreen, who was dragged.
As for Iris and Axew, they decided to hid inside a bunk of rocks so the Insecticons could not reach them. Meanwhile, Smokescreen was brought in front of Galvatron.
"What is your name, Autobot?"
"Why? Who want to know?" Smokescreen answered, making Galvatron growl in annoyance.
Before Galvatron could smack Smokescreen, he heard more blaster fire behind him. He turned and saw the rest of the Autobots coming from a cloud of smoke, making their way at him.
"Where is Optimus?" Galvatron asked.
Then, he saw Optimus jumping over the rocks, jumping up until he was on stable ground and changed to vehicle form to approach the hanging rock faster. Next, he returned back to robot form to continued jumping up.
"Keep Prime from the relic!" Galvatron commanded before he transformed and went after his rival alongside other flying Cons.
Smokescreen was about to fire at him, but another Con next to him aimed him with his weapon, until a tank shot obliterated him.
"I got you covered, rookie." Warpath said arriving, revealing to be the one who saved him.
While the rest of the team continued fighting the Cons, Hot Rod and Wheeljack spotted the two Insecticons trying to reach Iris's hideout. Axew tried to hit them with Scratch when he had the chance, but do minimal damage. The Insecticons managed to reach where they were, but before they could grab them Wheeljack nailed his swords on one of them, making it to focus its attention of the Wrecker as Hot Rod surprised the other one with rapid fire of his guns, eliminating it.
"Guys, what a relief!" Iris thanked.
"Axew!" Axew added.
"What in the name of the Allspark are you doing here?" Hot Rod asked in disbelief.
Back with Optimus, he changed again to vehicle form to accelerate on his climbing while Galvatron and the other Cons fired at him. He dodged all the shots as he approached the nearest edge of the hanging rock with the saber. As the team saw it from the floor, Optimus jumped right at the rock, but one of Galvatron's shots hit him, making him changed back to robot form. Besides that, he continued approaching and managed to grab the relic, forcing Galvatron and his flyers to retreat, except one that crashed against the rock. Suddenly, the Star Saber started to glow in a blue aura and emanate energy, allowing Optimus to remove it from the rock, and making him fall. Galvatron and the remaining flyer Cons changed to robot form back on the Nemesis's deck and entered the ship, while Optimus landed on the ground. But he did not suffer any damage, he simply stood up with the saber at hand.
"I loosened it for him." Smokescreen muttered.
Galvatron saw that too and groaned. "Drop the mountain on him."
The Nemesis released the hauled rock, so it crashed on a hillside and started to roll down directly toward Optimus.
"Optimus, retreat!" Elita called.
"Now!" Moonracer added.
Optimus turned around to see the mountain, but he didn't look alarmed. Instead, he made one slice with the saber, and the mountain was sliced in two.
"Did he just…?" Sideswipe started.
"(Yes, he did.)"
"No way." Iris added impressed.
"Axew."
Optimus looked at the Nemesis, where Galvatron was distraught, showing real fear on his eyes. Maybe knowing that his rival was seeing him, Optimus ran and spun around before swinging the Star Saber. That move launched a wave of pure energy which impacted on the Nemesis's engines, causing lot of damage. That was felt in the inside too.
"It can do that?" Wheeljack asked in disbelief.
The Nemesis descended a little before it managed to set course again.
"We Decepticons…now face our darkest hour." Galvatron announced worried.
After that, the team returned back to base.
"How epic was that? I saw with my own optics, but I still don't believe it." Smokescreen said imitating the moves Optimus did.
"You know what I don't believe? That after everything you've been told, you still put a human at risk."
"Arcee, wait…it wasn't Smokey's fault. I was the one who went with him. I shouldn't have…" Iris started.
"Don't start with that! Ash was right on one thing about you, you act a little childish sometimes. Send Iris back home." Arcee demanded to Ratchet mad.
Ratchet opened the ground bridge. Iris tried to say something more, but it was no use, so she walked to the portal, but she looked back to Smokescreen before enter.
"Green for go." Smokey simply said.
Iris smiled right before enter the portal.
"We've been in need of another Autobot or Ash's trusted pals in our ranks." Hot Rod told him.
"Not more children." Arcee added.
"Look guys, I was wrong. And I'm sorry, again. And if you need to kick me off Team Prime…"
"Disregard of human safety or anyone safety will not be tolerated. Specially about guardians with their respective proteges. Do you understand?" Elita said strict.
"Fully, ma'am."
"We must never lose sight of the fact that upon this Earth we are titans. And such power must be used wisely." Optimus clarified.
Once Optimus finished talking, the Star Saber started to glow again. Optimus held the sword with his hands and began to look at it in a strange way.
"Whoa." Wheeljack said.
"Eehh, something's happening." Sideswipe warned.
"Optimus, speak to me." Elita asked, but Optimus stood motionless.
"Optimus." Ratchet added.
"I am receiving a message." Optimus finally said.
"From who?"
"Alpha Trion."