14 – Regroup

"Let them come …"

Iseno gasped in surprise, "Why my lord?"

"Because …" The High Lord rumbled. "I want them to be killed somewhere where I can reach them. And they won't stop until they get back their orb, so they would come anyway. At least this time we are expecting them, unlike another time when they could sneak attack us."

They both glanced at the dull orb. As soon as it had been taken, it started to dim. Unlike the other orbs they had found that continued to glow. This one …

This one was fighting them.

And it was winning.

***

I … just don't get it, Magnus thought. How can me and Optimus stop the new ones on our own?

He had been pondering this question for a while in his quarters. Optimus had gone to tend to the crew, and help then keep track of the enemy ship. Magnus couldn't be bothered going up there because he wasn't any use anymore. Or he seemed to think that, anyway. He did know he was needed for something, but couldn't figure out what it was. He gripped his head in annoyance. He had always been good at this type of thing, so why was it that he could work out how to beat the Stormians?

Then, someone entered his room. He looked up and saw … Starscream?

"Starscream?" Magnus said in surprise. They never really talked, so it took Magnus by surprise when he walked in. "Why are you here?"

"I was just thinking of what the Elder said." Starscream said, sitting down next to the Light bearer, "And something came to mind. I thought I might share it."

Magnus nodded, "go on."

"You know that symbol on the cabinet door, what if it's like that?" Starscream pondered. "Like, you have to combine dark and light together?"

"But, how would combining the elements stop the Stormians?" Magnus asked, but thinking over what he said.

"From what I've heard of Stormus," Starscream said lowly, "The Duel elements don't exist there."

Magnus gaped at him, "But that's - "

"Impossible I know." Starscream said, nodding. "But that's what I've heard; might not be true."

He stood up and said, "Best be off. Electrica has requested that she test her power against me … again." He added with a smirk.

"You like her a lot don't you?" Magnus said, smirking when the seeker whipped around, glaring.

"Ha, ha." He said sarcastically, but then became thoughtful. "There's something odd about her though … something familiar …"

"What do you mean?" Magnus said, surprised.

"I dunno." He said, looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought. "It's like I knew her, and she knew me. I noticed it while I trained her. Some of the things I said seemed to make her remember, and the same for me now that I think of it." He looked at Magnus, who also seemed to be in thought. "Wait …"

"Hey Starscream!"

The red seeker turned to find Electrica in the doorway, wearing a smug smirk. "Are you too afraid to dent up your pretty armour to challenge me?"

The seeker growled and said, "You are just asking for a death wish!" He said and ran over to her, picking her up and slinging her over his back.

Magnus laughed as the two seekers made an exit, Starscream waving over his shoulder and Electrica yelling at Starscream. He can no longer sense anything on the Lightning bearer's mind, due to having lost his mind reading powers, but he knew they had a mutual attraction to each other.

***

"Starscream! Put me dow – oof!" Electrica cried out as the red seeker plonked her on one of the many floors of a room on the ship. Having only just been repaired, the ship was going a bit slower than usual, but it managed to keep up with the Stormians ship. To the Transformers surprise and suspicion, they did not open fire on them, and that was not a good sign.

"You asked me to put you down, you didn't say where." He said, bringing his arms up in an exasperated expression.

She growled and then jumped up, tackling the red seeker down to the ground. He revelled in how muck stronger she had become, and then decided to shock her with a jolt of lightning. The energy shot though her, and that power usually was too much for her to handle, being 2 million volts and all. But Electrica grinned and shocked him back with double the force. He gasped, but the shock didn't hurt, as he was capable of shooting much higher charged bolts, but it surprised him.

"You've nearly tripled your power!" He gasped and sat up, Electrica sitting close nearby, still smiling.

"All down to you." She said, "I wanted to show you, but you went all arrogant on me."

Starscream sniffed and said, "What is it with you?"

"What?" She said in confusion, not knowing what he meant.

"You just remind me of someone, but I cant think of who …" Starscream murmured.

"You do too." She said suddenly, and then …

"Electrica?" He said, grasping the femme's shoulders.

She closed her optics as the pressure built up in her mind …

***

On the control deck, Red Alert looked over at Medivo. He seemed to have phased out again, and he suddenly became aware that his brother next to him had also. They were ready to remember.

"Time to come back, kids." Red Alert said, and he hoped his experiment had been successful. Now, he would now.

***

Don't go, stay here with us!

We could really use your help right now …

You know she's right, Starscream.

I'll have to pass … I don't want to risk betraying you a second time … it wouldn't be fair.

I know you wouldn't do that … you wouldn't betray your friends would you?

Hmm …

Optimus …

As my last request, I want to stay alive. I can't die now … I have so much to live for …

There's only one way to save you now … and that is something never done before, so prepare yourself.

Will I lose my memories?

Only for the time being. They will come back, someday …

You will remember, Alexis. You will remember …

Remember …

Electrica?

Remember …

Electrica!

"Electrica!"

The femme blinked. She slowly registered where she was, and that Starscream was in front of her. Starscream?!

"S … Starscream?" She whispers, trying to figure out what was hers and what had happened. Her mind was so jumbled, but she knew the red seeker. Wasn't he dead? No, he had come back to life …

"What's wrong with you?" He asked, concern tinted in his voice.

Finally, it all clicked. "Starscream!" She yelled, embracing the highly surprised bot. "It's me!"

"W – what are you talking about?" Starscream said, utterly bewilded.*

She pulled away from him and said, "I remember now. I'm – or was – Alexis."

***

"I'm Carlos?!" Medivo shouted, the rush of memories subsiding.

"And I'm Rad?!" Razorblast cried.

Red Alert covered his audio receptors from the outburst. "Yes you are. You asked us to transfer you into the bodies of Transformers, remember?"

They did.

***

" … So after the crash, Laserbeak got in contact with Cybertron and found out that Red Alert had got a message from Optimus," Electrica was saying to Starscream, who was listening intently. "Saying that he wanted us to become Transformers, so that we could live on, as a favour to us. So, we accepted, but Red Alert told us that we might lose our memories. That's what happened, but we didn't lose them, just had them locked away. I guess you made me remember them all." She concluded.

Starscream stared at her for a moment, before muttering, "that is the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

Electrica giggled and said, "Try going though it, then you'll know what weird is." 

Starscream put a hand up ho his head, and aptly fell backwards, now spalled out on the floor. This was too much for him, so that was why she was familiar!

"Um, Starscream?" The femme said, "Are you okay?"

"I. Feel. Weird." He managed to choke out. This new feeling was something he was not accustomed to, and only then did it hit him so strongly.

Electrica crawled over to him and said, "What does it feel like? Can you describe it?"

He turned his head to look at her, and sat up again. "I … no …"

The ship suddenly jerked, ruining the moment. Starscream grasped Electrica for balance, and stood up. "We need to go!"

They ran out of the room towards the command centre. Electrica wondered what feeling it was that Starscream had felt, but decided that she would think about it later.

***

The planet before them was truly unnerving.

Everyone present was staring out of the windscreen of the space ship, gazing at the planet with a mixture of awe and fear. They didn't hear Starscream and Electrica enter, and they both gasped.

Stormus was enormous, and lived up to its name. The planet was black, and about the same size as Jupiter with clouds of deadly red and blue gas covering the planet. Even in space, they could see the immense amount of lightning shooting down onto the surface. Starscream had been right; this planet had no 'Duel' elements.

It only had one.

"The balance of Light and Dark …" Magnus murmured though the silence, and everyone turned to look at him. "The balance has been destroyed somehow."

"I don't know how this happened, but we have to get our orb back." Hotshot said.

"Alright." Ultrasound turned to the ship controls, "prepare of entrance!"

Magnus nodded, and then looked at Optimus, who was next to him. He knew that because this planet had no Light element, it could make Optimus turn into Nemesis Prime very easily, and it seemed he was right. Optimus had his head in his hands, and seemed to be struggling with his element. Magnus put a hand on his brother's head, and used his power to help calm his brother and keep him sane. Optimus looked up and said, "Magnus … I think this is a bad idea …"

"Stay strong," Magnus said, and grasped his seat as the ship started entering the upper atmosphere. "We can do this."

"I sure hope so …" Optimus replied and they entered Stormus.

The landscape looked like a scene straight from hell. The ground was black (which explained the planet's colour.) and there were crude buildings on the horizon. Fiery lava spat up from the ground in arcs and a volcano erupted in the distance. In realty, it looked like a gothic version of Venus.

The ship made a somewhat smooth landing on a flat area. The crew inside disembarked, and looked around. The place looked even less inviting than an enemy base from ground level.

Many people ran around in lines. There was a giant castle on the horizon that looked like the main base for whatever they planed, then Jetfire cried out, "Up there!"

They looked up to see the ship they had been following fly over them. It had disappeared after they had approached the planet, and because there were so many ships around also. None had fired, which unnerved them.

"Lets go," Magnus commanded, and everyone transformed.

***

The monitors glowed as they showed the transformers from many angles. The High Lord lifted his glass of a drink, and sipped it. He put it back down and said to his servant, "Greet them."

The servant nodded and left.

He laughed softly and said, "Come if you will … Optimus won't last here …"

"My Lord?"

"Put the orb down – what the?!" The Lord was surprised enough that he got up, and that was a rare thing in front of underlings.

For the orb had started to glow very brightly, and shot off a blast of light straight into the sky though the roof.

***

"What is that?!" Hotshot cried, transforming and pointing to the castle, which they were much closer to now.

The others transformed, and they saw the beam of light streak from the building, but had no time to ponder on it as a small army stormed out of the doors. They had guns on them, unlike the others; they were of an alien style.

"I don't think this is a welcoming party." Jetfire muttered, focusing his new power. He had learned a bit about it now, and could use it fairly well, as well as the other new elementals in the group.

"Magnus, Optimus," Scavenger whispered to the two. Magnus was holding his brother up a bit, as he was focusing all his power on keeping himself sane. "Get inside the building. The orb is in there; we'll cover you."

"Right!" Magnus answered, and moved backwards and behind the others. He then cloaked himself and Optimus in light and made them invisible.

The Stormians charged; and the Transformers ran to meet them. Skywarp proved his worth straight away by shooting a huge jet of Ice at the small number and freezing them solid, but more came out to meet them also. They fought them also as Magnus and Optimus slipped past them and into the building.

The castle was black also, but with highlights of navy blue and blood red. Magnus followed the light from that beam. He knew it meant something, as if the light was talking to him in some way. All he knew was he had to get to it. He walked along the hallway, and saw a pair of high doors up ahead; the light was coming from in there.

"Magnus," Optimus suddenly muttered, his optics glowing brighter. "That light …"

"What is it?" Magnus said, and his brother stood up as if new power had been put in him. Magnus looked at him and he said, "That light … is the light of Primus."

"Primus?!" Magnus cried. It was lucky they were cloaked or the Stormians rushing past them would have stopped and noticed.

"Yes." Optimus said. "I think … I think I know how this planet works now. While I was subconscious, the darkness of this planet seemed to infect me somehow, or talk to me. I got the feeling that this planet's balance has been destroyed due to its master, and that means …"

"We have to destroy that person." Magnus concluded, understanding. They turned to the door, and they seemed to realise that the elementals were right.

The fate of Cybertron was now up to them.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yes, yes I'm evil and mean to leave it like that, but I'm afraid it was a necessity to keep this story in order. After all, doesn't quality come before quantity?

Kudos to those who figured out that the three newbies were the kids. Have an Xmas hamper!  I put them in there, well … they are part of the Armada story, and it felt right put them in there.

So, the next chapter … shit its gonna be huge!!! So much to put in it … Golly, I hope I can get this done before I go to Torquee! Meh, I'm sure I will.

And a preview for the next chap!

 15 – Reclaim

Magnus and Optimus face off against the High Lord, but will Optimus be able to keep his sanity intact with the darkness of the entire planet threatening to engulf him? The kids get kidnapped, but call on an old ally to help them out. What will the outcome be of this final battle?

This is getting close to the end now folks! Hope I've kept up the suspense and mystery too.  

Keep those Reviews comin'!

ST