Transformation
Chapter 3: The Breaking Storm
The Decepticons had gathered in Trypticon's assembly hall, staring at Galvatron. Scourge had warned them that Galvatron had gone insane, and Cyclonus had told them to go along with whatever he said. If they didn't, there was no telling what he might do. So they had to listen to what Galvatron said whether they liked it or not, or they might be severely punished.
Galvatron paced back and forth in front of the assembled Decepticons, muttering to himself. The Decepticons watched him nervously, shifting their feet and whispering to each other. Cyclonus remained silent, keeping an optic on Galvatron. Scourge was fidgeting nervously.
Finally, Galvatron turned to face the others, his red optics glowing insanely. His voice was shrill with madness.
"We will strike at Cybertron and utterly destroy the Autobots! We will reclaim our rightful world by force!" he bellowed. "We will destroy all who stand in our way! To Cybertron!"
"Hail Galvatron!" the Decepticons yelled, raising their arms. "Hail Galvatron!"
"Decepticons, scramble!"
Galvatron took to the air. The other Decepticons followed close behind. Like a swarm of killer bees they rose in a cloud from Charr's desolate surface, ignoring the howling winds, and flew out into space, heading for Cybertron. Galvatron's insane cackling echoed through Charr's poisonous atmosphere, sending chills down the Decepticons' spines. They had a very bad feeling about this.
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Cybertron:
Rodimus Prime was sitting at his desk, plowing his way through the heaps of paperwork and wondering why his desk hadn't yet collapsed under the weight, when Magnus walked in.
"There's been some activity detected in a remote corner of the sector," Magnus reported. "Blaster isn't sure if it's Decepticons or other beings."
"Tell him to keep monitoring that activity and let me know if he figures out what it is and where it's headed," Rodimus ordered. "I want to know if the Decepticons are moving again."
"Will do." Magnus turned and left.
Rodimus returned to his work, wondering if he should issue a warning of possible enemies approaching. After several minutes of thought, he decided against it and turned back to his reports with an uneasy feeling coiling in his processor. Something was telling him that something terrible was going to happen, and that it would happen soon. He shuddered and tried to concentrate on what he was doing.
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Out in space:
Galvatron cackled to himself as he led his troops into the system where Cybertron was located. The metal planet itself was only a speck in the distance, but it was rapidly increasing in size. He looked forward to crushing the young Prime who had thrown him into a lava pit and who had taken control of Cybertron away from him.
"We have not yet been detected," Soundwave reported as they descended toward Cybertron, heading for where the half-ruined, battle-scarred city-state of Iacon was located.
"Excellent," Galvatron responded, his mad optics aglow with eagerness. He wanted blood.
"Iacon is in sight!" Scourge announced, pointing as the crumbling city rose into view over the horizon.
"Decepticons, attack!"
The Decepticons spread out into a battle line and opened fire on the unsuspecting city ahead. They heard battle sirens begin to scream, and then Autobots began pouring out of the fortress-like complex at Iacon's core and returning fire.
It was total chaos.
The Autobots had been taken by surprise. They had been unprepared for battle. When the sirens had gone off, they had hesitated for a moment, standing frozen in confusion until Rodimus had called them to fight. They had dropped what they were doing, grabbed their weapons, and flooded outside. The Decepticons closed in quickly. Laser fire began to crackle across the distance between the two armies as the counterattack began.
Rodimus was somewhere in the middle of the chaos, shouting orders. Magnus had fought his way to his Prime's side and was covering him while he tried to sort out the general turmoil into something more organized. The Autobots were listening to him and were gradually straightening themselves out, getting into better positions and taking more accurate shots at their enemies. Then Rodimus spotted the familiar, hated purple form.
"It's Galvatron!" Rodimus yelled. "He's back!" A quick glance around located Sideswipe. "Hey, Sides! Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so!"
"Shut up and fight!" Sideswipe yelled back.
His brother Sunstreaker took aim at Motormaster and peppered the Stunticon leader with laser fire. He wanted to take out Motormaster to eliminate Menasor from the fighting. Other Autobots noticed what he was doing and followed his example, concentrating their fire on the combiner teams. Scavenger and Onslaught were damaged badly enough to prevent their repective teams from forming their gestalts, but most of the other team leaders took far less damage. Unfortunately, the other members of their teams did not fare so well. Of all the teams, only two, the Seacons and the Stunticons, managed to combine. Fortunately, the Autobots had three gestalts of their own. Superion, Defensor, and Computron combined to take on Menasor and Piranacon, leaving the other Autobots to handle the regular Decepticons.
"Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Ratbat, eject!" Soundwave intoned as he pressed the button on his shoulder, opening his tape compartment. "Operation: warfare!"
The first cassette out was the purple and silver Rumble, with his red and black brother, Frenzy, right after him. Next out was a black and grey tape, transforming into a black jaguar before it reached the ground. Ravage snarled and raced into battle as the fourth cassette, the red and black bat named Ratbat, took to the skies.
"Oh no you don't!" Blaster opened his own tape comparment. "Come on out, boys!"
His own four cassettes, Eject, Rewind, Steeljaw, and Ramhorn, emerged from the compartment and pounced on the Decepticon cassettes. As they fought, their masters charged and locked in combat. Blaster saw an opening, kicked Soundwave away, pulled out his gun, and opened fire on the Decepticon communications specialist.
Galvatron suddenly emerged from the swirling mass of airborne Decepticons, firing randomly at any Autobot he got within his sights. Then he spotted the Autobot leader, and he cackled evilly. He brought his cannon arm around and took aim at the red and orange Autobot. At the same time, Cyclonus, Scourge, and the Sweeps leveled their weapons at the young Prime.
"Die, Rodimus!" Galvatron yelled and fired. The others fired in the same instant.
Rodimus had begun to turn around when he'd heard Galvatron's voice. He turned all the way just in time to see what was coming his way and realize that there was nothing he could do about it. His eyes widened in horror, his mouth opening in a scream that never made it to his lips.
The combined blasts from Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, and the Sweeps hit him full in the chest. Unable to withstand such a powerful blow, Rodimus's armor shattered and the blast ripped into his unprotected circuitry. He screamed in agony as excruciating pain swept through his body. Fluids pouring out of his shattered armor, he collapsed.
Magnus's head jerked around when he heard Rodimus's scream. Then he sprinted toward his fallen leader, swatting bots out of his way without caring if they were friend or foe. His only thought was to reach his friend. Autobots scrambled out of his way, but the Decepticons didn't. He blasted them aside with his rifle or body-slammed them out of his way as he bulldozed his way to where Rodimus had gone down. When he finally reached his Prime's side and saw the full extent of the damage, he knew there was no hope.
The blast had gone completely through Rodimus's body, entering just under the Matrix compartment and exiting through his back, taking most of his internals with it. His entire midsection had been blown away. Vital fluids were gushing from the horrific wound, and destroyed circuits spat clouds of sparks. A small fire flared and died somewhere in Rodimus's body. Smoke filled the thin air.
First Aid appeared, dashing toward them. Magnus ignored him, his optics glued to the sight of Cybertron's metal surface visible through Rodimus's body. The medic fell to his knees beside the two Autobots, whipped out a scanner, and ran it over Rodimus's prone form. His expression changed when he saw the results. The medic raised his eyes to Magnus's, his solemn gaze confirming what Magnus already knew.
The wounds were far too severe. Rodimus had already lost too many vital fluids and too much of his vital systems. No one could help him now. It was already far too late.
Rodimus Prime was dying.
Tbc...
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