Author's Note: This chapter was inspired by a PM I had with 23debal01 who gave me the idea to use Scraplets. Tell me what you think and what other ideas you might have for this anthology series.
Any and all comments are welcome.
After a failed mission, Scorpia moped as she approached Starscream and Catra in the hanger area.
"Let me guess." Catra said. "You failed to safeguard the Decepticon storage outpost you were supposed to protect."
Scorpia sighed. "Yeah. Sorry about that."
"And the Autobots and princesses have taken control of it and are in possession of everything that's inside?" Starscream asked.
"Yeah." Scorpia admitted. "But don't worry. I'll get some backup to take it back and…"
"No need, Scorpia." Catra said with a snicker. "We want them to take it."
Scorpia raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh?"
"Force Captain Scorpia," Starscream said, "Do you know why we haven't given you any major Decepticons there, just a couple of Vehicons?"
"Honestly, the thought never came to mind." Scorpia said.
"It's because we wanted our enemies to take the bait." Catra said with a devilish grin. "They were supposed to win. And because of that, they're about to lose."
After claiming their win over the Decepticons and the Horde, the Autobot team returned to Bright Moon. Adora, Hot Rod, Glimmer, Arcee, Bow, and Bumblebee approached the throne room where Angella was having a meeting with Optimus Prime. Though, the meeting was cut short when the gang arrived carrying something behind them.
"Glimmer, what is that?" Angella asked.
"Don't know." Glimmer said. "This large, metal orb thing was just sitting in that Decepticon outpost we stormed. It was the only thing inside when we took it."
Optimus took a step closer to examine it. "Hmm. This seems familiar, but the memory escapes me. I'll have it taken to Ratchet's lab for examination. Until then, great work."
The gang celebrated Optimus Prime's praise while other Autobots picked up the giant orb, but something caught Glimmer's eye. At the doorway they just entered, she found a metal ball just sitting there. While her friends were heading to the hallway, she picked it up. Much to her curiosity, the ball popped open a pair of big, blue eyes cooing at her.
"Aww." Glimmer said. "Where did you come from, little guy? Come on, let me show you to my friends."
Glimmer walked on down the hallway trying to catch up with everybody. Eventually, she caught up at the garden.
"Hey, Glimmer. We missed you for a minute." Bow said before noticing the robot in the princess' hands.
"What's what?" Adora asked.
"I don't know. Still, it's cute, isn't it?" Glimmer asked holding up her robot.
Hot Rod looked over to get a look. He couldn't have seen it for more than a second before he jumped in fright screaming in terror. He went behind Adora crouching down like he was trying to hide. "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?! IT'S DANGEROUS! KILL IT WITH FIRE!" All the other Autobots shared in Hot Rod's fear.
"What? It's just a…"
Glimmer was interrupted by the robot which opened its big mouth and revealed many, many rows of razer-sharp teeth spinning around like a wild blender. It leaped out of Glimmer's hands and ran toward the Autobots on its tiny, spider-like legs. Hot Rod tried to shoot at it, but he was so frightened, he couldn't aim straight.
"FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!"
Adora flashed into She-Ra and slashed her sword to stab the robot in the head. It went offline immediately.
"Oh, Adora, thank Primus you did that." Hot Rod said in relief. "I thought I was a goner."
"From this?" She-Ra asked holding up the dead robot. "What even is this?"
"That's a Scraplet, the most dangerous pests in the galaxy." Arcee said. "Those parasites feed on metal. As a race made up of metal, that made us a banquet of food for them. They feed fast and if Adora hadn't stepped in, Hot Rod would've been a goner."
"I won't deny that." Hot Rod said. "I once saw a Bot get torn apart in less than one minute. No one would want to face those things."
"Yikes. And here, I thought mosquitos were a problem." Bow said.
"I never would've guessed it was that dangerous." Glimmer said. "Thank goodness there was only one."
Bumblebee buzzed in a panic causing the others to widen their eyes.
"You're right, Bumblebee. Scraplets never go alone." Arcee said. "Glimmer, where did you find that thing?"
"In the throne room after we turned in that big machine." Glimmer said.
"This is bad." Arcee said. "That thing must be some old Scraplet trap. It must be leaking."
"Catra." Adora huffed. "I don't know why, but I feel like this was her scheme."
"If that's true then…" Hot Rod gasped. "The Ark!"
They didn't say another word. The Autobots changed into their vehicle modes and their partners got in afterward. They drove right into the castle rushing through its hallways. It was a race against all odds to the center of the castle until they found the Autobots readying to be brought up with the tractor beam.
"STOP!" Arcee yelled out. "DON'T LET THAT ON BOARD!"
The Autobots looked confused at those words, but the tractor beam was already starting. With very little choice, Hot Rod transformed and dropped She-Ra before launching himself right to the orb that they had. Thankfully, he managed to push it out of the tractor beam. Unfortunately, however, as he landed, the Scarplet trap popped open.
"Uh, oh!" Hot Rod yelled out. "Everyone, inside now!"
Everyone turned to run inside. At the same time, a swarm of Scraplets rolled out of the orb. A few of them turned to see the Autobots forcing the gates to be shut. They exposed their teeth and came charging in. It was very close, but in the last second, the Autobots managed to shut the door with the Scraplets still outside.
"That was close!" She-Ra said. "Hot Rod, how did you guys deal with Scraplets on Cybertron?"
"We… kinda bombed the whole place with them inside."
"We can't do that to Bright Moon!" Glimmer cried out. "We live here!"
"Well, I don't know what to do!" Hot Rod yelled out.
"It's all right." Bow said. "All we need is to push them off. I mean, it's not like they can fly, right?" He noticed how all the Cybertronians had their eyes widened and became worried himself. "They… can't fly, right?"
"Well…" Hot Rod said nervously.
The Scraplet swarm was then heard from above. They flew into the castle through the open window. They dashed in towards the Cybertronians who screamed in fright and ran with the others. Still, the Scraplets were fast and a couple of them even got on Bumblebee's back taking their nibbles. Thankfully, Bow used his arrows to blast it off.
Arcee changed into her motorcycle mode with Glimmer riding at her sear. They sped through the hallway desperate to escape the ravenous swarm. That high speed chase ended as soon as they saw two people standing in the hallway. They were Princess Frosta and her partner, Grimlock.
"Whoa, Glimmer! Where's the fire?" Grimlock asked.
"Frosta, what are you doing here?" Glimmer asked.
"Well, me and Grimlock were talking and we would like you to join our super elite team." Frosta said. "I'm thinking we can… WHAT THE…"
"SCRAPLETS?!" Grimlock yelled out just as the swarm came into view. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING?!"
"WE HAVE TO RUN!" Arcee yelled.
"NO NEED TO TELL ME TWICE!" Grimlock yelled out. He was about to change, but Frosta stepped forward. "Frosta, what in the All-Spark are you doing?"
"The Winter's Bane has no need to run from robot bugs!" Frosta declared. She held out her hands and a beam of ice sprayed out blanketing the entire swarm as they flew by.
The ice quickly covered all over the Scraplets freezing them solid. They fell to the ground right at the Autobots' feet. Some of them shattered upon impact. Everyone was very much surprised, even Frosta.
"Wow. I didn't think that would work." She thought to herself.
"Well, what do you know?" Glimmer asked. "I guess they do have a weakness after all: they're not fans of the cold."
"Of course!" Bow cried out. "The Autobots have an internal heating system in their core processor, but since Scraplets are so small, there must be some kind of extra-low tolerance to low temperatures. They can't handle the ice."
Frosta snickered confidently. "Just as I planned."
"You did not." Grimlock said. "That was just lucky."
"You can't prove it."
"Uh, guys…" She-Ra said looking out the window. "I don't think we got all of them."
Outside of the window, the rest of the Scraplets circled around the lake until they ascended up to the direction of the Ark. There was a much bigger swarm than what chased them.
"They're going to devour the Ark and everything in it!" Arcee shouted.
Bumblebee buzzed.
"You heard him, Frosta!" Hot Rod said. "Freeze those pests!"
"I'll lend you a hand." Glimmer said placing her hands at Frosta's shoulders.
One teleport later, Frosta and Glimmer found themselves directly underneath the Ark's underside. Glimmer released the ice princess who plunged down to the direction of the leading Scraplet. Frosta held out her hands getting ready to freeze. As soon as they were within a hair's length, Frosta shot out her hands shooting beams of ice all over the swarm. She landed herself at the top of the frozen swarm and slid herself down the trail while freezing all the other Scraplets in her way. As soon a she reached the bottom, she landed in the shallow water right at the base of an incredibly big stream of Scraplets frozen in midair twisting around the area like a roller coaster. Everyone else left the castle to gaze upon what Frosta has made.
"Whoa. Good work, Frosta." Glimmer said.
"Thanks. I think I'll take this thing home with me as a monument… or a super-fun slide."
"We should probably tell Optimus about this." Arcee said.
"Right." Hot Rod said before giving an evil smirk. "But first…"
After a long drive on patrol, Kyle made it back to the Fright Zone in his large pickup truck. He got out where Catra and Starscream waited for him.
"You said you had something to tell us?" Catra asked.
"Yes! Great news!" Kyle cheered. "The Rebels and Autobots have surrendered!"
"They have?" Starscream asked. "Guess it did work."
"I'm just as surprised as you are." Catra said. "What's the catch?"
"Nothing." Kyle replied. "In fact, they gave us a gift as a sign of their surrender!" He went to the back of the truck to reveal the same Scraplet trap they set up for the Autobots earlier. "So which button opens it again? Is it this one?"
"NO!" Catra and Starscream yelled out at once. But it was too late. Kyle had already pressed a button at the base of the pod and it hissed open.
Both villains turned and jumped over to land on the ground. They braced for the swarm… but it didn't come. They raised their heads to see the trap to be mostly empty. On the inside of the trap, there was a message written in pink glitter that said "Hey, Catra". There was also a little drawing of Adora's face sticking her tongue out.
"Looks like it didn't work." Starscream said with great annoyance.
"Oh, you think?" Catra hissed.