Hey y'all, it's me, your not-quite-favorite author of your not-quite-favorite Transformers story. As always: Hasbro and whoever the Japanese company I can't name is owns The Transformers. Now, let's begin.
We now return to The Transformers!
Chapter 4: Dark horse
The decepticons were coming up with a plan to gather resources to convert into energy for themselves. "Scavenger, give me the locations containing the most of each resource," Megatron demanded. "As you wish, my liege," the Decepticon scientist complied before explaining. There was an image of the world with all the key locations highlighted in red. "There are primitive gasses and oils in Texas and The Middle East, primitive nuclear energy in France, a primitive fuel source known by the natives of this rock as 'coal' found in Russia, and advanced technology, at least to these flesh creatures, in Japan." "There is also something they are working on something known as 'solar' and 'wind' power," the scientist's assistant added. "I already know. But we need the energy NOW, not later," Megatron demanded. Thundercracker asked, "how will we ever get to those locations if the Nemesis is no longer capable of flying?" "Scavenger, are there any resources near the place known as 'Texas'," Megatron requested. "Yes, there are pockets of coal reserves scattered around, and nuclear energy further east of the location, though it isn't as much as there is in France." "Excellent! Decepticons, head for the location known as Texas and collect the oils and gasses there, then head east to collect the nuclear energy!"
Do do do do do DO!
At the autobots' new headquarters on Earth, they were slowly building their forces back up to combat their enemy. "Thanks Red Alert," Ironhide said, "we owe ya one." The only autobots who were currently confined to medical beds were Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Optimus Prime. "Optimus should've woken up by now," Prowl stated, "what's wrong with him?" Beth replied, "we don't know, but I think there must be problems with his equivalent of a brain." "I don't care about your yappin', fix him up now," Ironhide demanded. "Calm down, these things take time. We don't want to hurt him any more than we already have." "Can't these medical gizmos help fix him up faster?" Red Alert argued, "Wheeljack always says 'tools are only as good as the bot holding them'." Then Wheeljack muttered, "I didn't say that..., I asked for... no onions and cheese..." Fortunately, they managed to patch him up and reattach his arm, now they just had to listen to his ramblings until he wakes up.
Then, Sunstreaker arrived after delivering the other two humans back to their house. "Sunstreaker is back," she announced, "did you guys miss me?" "Heck yeah, we did," Ironhide complained, "where were you when me and Prowl woke up?" "I'm sorry, people just couldn't get enough of me! This one human asked me to pull over, and he gave me something that had writing on it. I wonder if he was a secret admirer?" "More like highway patrol," Beth corrected as she took the slip of paper. "So they patrol the 'highways' to see pretty autobots like MYSELF?" "No, they patrol highways for autobots going above the speed limit LIKE yourself." "Huh, no wonder those two told me to go slowly when I was taking them home." "You shouldn't be showing off," Prowl chastised, "the natives of this planet might be as unfriendly as the decepticons." "You're actually not far off," Beth joked.
Suddenly, Bumblebee called their attention. "Guys, Teletraan 1 has got something for us!" "What does the magic box have to say," Ironhide asked. The Autobot main computer then announced, "decepticons are on the move towards oil reserves in Texas!" "Oh of course it's them 'cons!" "So, do you have a plan for us Prowl," Bee asked. "We'll go deal with them, while Ironhide should stay here with the human and Red Alert." "Why do I gotta be stuck with babysittin'," Ironhide whined. "Because you have the most firepower," Prowl answered, "now let's go."
Transition to the decepticons.
"Put your servos into it," hook demanded as he was overseeing the loading of oil barrels into Motormaster, "we need to get these resources to the seekers so they can transport them back to Scavenger." "Why do we have to load the barrels into Motormaster," Dead End complained, "it would be much easier to load into the seekers from here." "We don't want to draw suspicion from the natives, now keep moving those barrels." Then, they heard the sounds of cars coming. "Is it the flesh creatures," Breakdown asked worriedly. "Worse," Drag Strip answered, "it's those pesky auto-twerps!" "And they brought a friend," Wildrider giggled. "Motormaster, with me," Hook ordered, "everyone else, hold the autobots off!" When the autobots arrived, they were greeted by some not-so-friendly faces, while Hook and Motormaster took off. "Hey guys, remember us," Wildrider teased. "Why does it matter," Dead End grumbled. "Because we're gonna beat them this time," Drag Strip snapped, "now quit your whining!" "Bumblebee and Sunstreaker, go after the oil," Prowl ordered, "I'll keep them busy." "Roger," the two autobots replied as they drove after Motormaster and Hook. "OH NO YOU DON'T," Drag Strip shouted before transforming and driving after them. "One recently healed autobot against three energon starved decepticons," Prowl said to himself.
"Hook to Starscream, the autobots are pursuing us! Prepare to take off!" As they were in the middle of chasing them, they were stopped by Thundercracker, who landed in front of them, the RIGHT WAY this time. "Long time no see," he said. "Not really," Bumblebee replied. Then Drag Strip arrived and said, "today's the day we beat you losers!" "You take the blue jet, I'll take the sore loser," Sunstreaker said. "Who are you calling LOSER," Drag Strip snapped before charging at the female autobot with her blades. Unfortunately, the deficiency in energon was hampering her combat ability. Every time she would swing, Sunstreaker would dodge. "What's the matter slow poke, you want me to slow down?" "I'LL SHOW YOU SLOW," the decepticon shouted before she scratched the autobot's paint with one of her blades. This then prompted Sunstreaker to attack in anger.
Bee on the other hand was trying dodge lead from Thundercracker, and he was throwing A LOT of it. "Jeez, how much ammo do you have," he asked. "More than enough to take you down," Thundercracker answered. "Well, I don't need firepower to take YOU down!" When he tried to kick the seeker in the face, Thundercracker simply didn't even budge, grabbed Bumblebee's foot, and threw him to the ground. "Neither do I," the seeker replied as he stepped on him and pointed his gun at The autobot. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Sunstreaker warned as she was holding Drag strip with a gun pointed at her. "Actually, you're right," Thundercracker agreed, "in fact, I don't HAVE to do anything besides stall you." "Wait, WHAT," Bumblebee exclaimed. "Aw slag, how could we be this stupid," Sunstreaker said. "Who's slow NOW," Drag Strip laughed.
"Well, see you around," Thundercracker said, as he and Drag Strip transformed and left.
Transition to the Ark.
"Guys, the decepticons took off with the oil," Bumblebee announced, "we need to know where their next target will be." "Ironhide," Red Alert called, "can you get Teletraan 1 to show us where the decepticons will attack next?" "I know where they're going...," Wheeljack muttered, "they're going... to the... ivory tower to..." "How do I work this contraption," Ironhide asked. "I just need you to tell me what the locations are that are being shown." "Why can't you come over and work this yourself?" "HELLO? This human and I trying to save OPTIMUS!" "Guys," Sunstreaker interrupted, "can you just give us the location for crying out loud!" "Alright, sis," Red Alert complied out of annoyance, "Teletraan 1, where are the decepticons?" Ironhide looked at the screen and answered, "they're at some place called a 'coal mine'." "All right, they're not very far from where you are," she told them. "Prowl, you still there," Bumblebee asked. "Yes I am," he responded, "where are they headed next?" "A mine not too far from here, now let's go!"
Do do do do do DO!
When they arrived at the mine, they didn't see any decepticons in sight. "Red Alert, are you sure they are here?" "Of course they are, Teletraan 1 said so." And their genius supercomputer WAS right, they were there, and they were none other than Drag Strip and Thundercracker. "Why did you ask me to come here," the seeker complained, "all it's gonna do, is draw the autobots here." "Exactly, because I want to finish what WE started," Drag Strip clarified, "and there they are!" "Why did it have to be you two," Bumblebee and Sunstreaker complained. "Don't blame me, it was HER idea," the blue decepticon replied. "All right," Prowl began, "we'll take out Drag strip first, then we finish off Thundercracker." "Bad idea," Bumblebee argued, "he's no pushover." "Let's just do what we did last time," Sunstreaker suggested, "only this time, Prowl can help you deal with the big blue doofus." "We won't be able to beat him, but we can keep him distracted from you."
They then executed their game plan, with the Sunstreaker during it out with Drag Strip, while the remaining two were trying to avoid Thundercracker's shots. "I have another idea," Prowl called to Bumblebee, "I'll try to get behind him while you distract him." "I'll TRY." The yellow bot then ran to one side and yelled, "HEY, WHY DO YOU NEED GUNS THAT SHOOT A LOT OF ROUNDS, ARE YOU REALLY THAT BAD OF A SHOT?" Thundercracker simply answered by firing a missile at him that made a fairly big explosion, while Prowl shot at the seeker from behind. Like when Bumblebee tried to kick him in the face, Prowl's gun didn't do a thing to him, and Thundercracker decided to shift his attention back to Prowl. "Those shots should've finished him," Prowl exclaimed. "Like I said, he's no pushover like regular seekers."
There were differences between regular seekers, and unique seekers like Thundercracker. The first and most obvious difference, is Thundercracker is blue and has a name, while regular seekers are all the same color and have no names. The second difference, is unique seekers usually get special equipment, like Skywarp, or, in the case of Thundercracker, increased combat capabilities through weapon and armor upgrades.
"Guys, did you deal with the blue bomber yet," Sunstreaker asked while having Drag Strip in a hold. "We can't even scratch him," Bumblebee replied, "it's like we can't hurt him from the outside!" "Wait, say that again," Prowl said. "We can't hurt him from the outside?" Prowl then remembered what happened to Optimus when the Ark crashed, then looked up at a crane. "We need to hit him with something heavy!" "What?!?!" "His body might be protected from weaponry, but I doubt his internal systems can handle blunt force trauma." "How do we do that?" "Get him to go under the crane!"
Bumblebee then went under the crane and shouted, "HEY, 'THUNDER CLAPPER', I HEARD ONLY COWARDS RELY ON GUNS AND ROCKETS! WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER HERE AND FIGHT?" Like before, the seeker just fired another missile at him. "I don't think he's falling for it, Prowl." "Don't worry, I got that covered!" Their new plan was: whenever Bee distracted the seeker with insults, Prowl would shoot Thundercracker in the face, causing him to walk backwards.
When their target was in position, Prowl and Bumblebee shot at the cables holding up the bucket. "Even IF you can't hurt me with your guns, you missed," the decepticon said. Then, Prowl pointed up at the bucket swinging towards him. The only thing Thundercracker could do was mutter, "oh slag." "YOU GUYS CHEATED," Drag Strip yelled before breaking free of Sunstreaker's grasp and driving off. Then, they autobots heard two cars coming. "Reinforcements," Prowl asked.
When the two cars arrived, they transformed and revealed themselves to be Cliffjumper. "I saw you and came to help," Cliff said, "is the party over?" "Sorry guys, we just kicked their tailpipes," Sunstreaker apologized, "we're just relieved you guys are still online." "Let's return to the Ark," Prowl suggested, "we can't waste any more time."
Do do do do do DO!
"There, that should do it," Beth said, "I've never done brain surgery before, let alone on a giant alien robot." "It won't be long until he wakes up, thanks for your help," Red Alert added. "Anytime, except Monday through Friday, because I have class too." Just recently, the others had finally returned from their mission. "Guess who's back, sis," Sunstreaker announced. "You managed to find the rookie," Ironhide muttered, "yay..." "I also have good news," Red Alert interrupted, "Optimus is gonna live!" The other autobots cheered after hearing the news. "Now all that's left are Wheeljack and Ratchet." They then turned to Wheeljack, who continued spouting nonsense. "SOLDIER," he shouted, "what's a jelly donut doin' in your footlocker?" "And how long you reckon that'll take," Ironhide asked. Red Alert responded, "probably a few days."
Do do do do do DO!
"Scavenger, report! What is the status of the conversion process?" "Lord Megatron, we still need the resources and technology, otherwise the energon we will get will be crude and in small quantities." Just then, Drag Strip arrived, along with Thundercracker, who was covered in coal. "Where were you two," Megatron asked angrily. "Drag Strip wanted to finish a battle with the autobots," Thundercracker answered. "You're not throwing ME under the bus," Drag Strip exclaimed. "I only followed you to talk some sense into you!" "ENOUGH! Thundercracker, I commend you for your actions. As for you Drag Strip, I will have Starscream make an example out of you." "With pleasure, Megatron," Starscream added, as he proceeded to beat her down, while everyone else watched. After he finished, Drag Strip vowed she would never let this happen again.
The Transformers will return!
(The new characters introduced in this chapter are Scavenger, a Decepticon scientist and engineer, and Hook, Scavenger's assistant. I also changed Scavenger's gender for added backstory with HER and Wheeljack (hint hint) which is supposed to build on HER new personality. Also, Scavenger and Hook are none of the hints for new upcoming characters. Plus, I added some of my own lore for seekers to give them more background, and to differentiate them from just being Starscream with a different color and personality. There's also similar background information for Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, so stick around for that. And as always, if you liked it, tell me the things you liked about it. If not, help me by telling me the problems, so I can make this better for everyone hopefully.)