Chapter 9 – Faded Memories: Part 4
North America, Lake Superior
Ratchet slowly drove on the road surrounding the massive Lake Superior. His mind was plagued by thoughts of Silverbolt and Predacon. For the longest time, he searched for his fallen comrade. And now, at the peak of the Cybertronian Civil War, he had finally found him. He was with the God of Chaos, Unicron. And Unicron was currently orbiting the Earth. Thus, all Ratchet had to do was bide his time until Predacon would show himself again.
Fortunately, he wouldn't have to wait long.
He slowly came to a stop, and shifted into his robot mode. Ratchet looked up at the sound of rotary engines, and found Predacon's airborne beast mode glaring down at him. The beast remained in the air for a moment, before shifting into his mech form. He landed hard on the ground, causing it to shake slightly.
"Ratchet." Predacon greeted with a frown.
"Silverbolt." The aged Autobot replied.
"That name no longer has any meaning for me." Predacon replied.
"That's a lie." Ratchet replied. "You are still Silverbolt, despite the changes that have been made to you."
The behemoth snarled. "When Master Unicron reformatted me, Silverbolt died. So please tell me..." Predacon's twisted, angry face softened slightly. "Why do you continue to torture me?"
"Because this isn't who you are." Ratchet said. "You are not Predacon, savage and harbinger of Unicron. You are Silverbolt, captain of the Oasis, and a close friend."
Predacon clenched his hands. "I am not Silverbolt! He died when I was born…" He slowly raised his weapon, and pointed it at the old Autobot.
"And it's time you learn that fact."
AutoBase, Earth
Optimus stood behind a large viewing glass, overlooking the medical bay. Inside, there were three mechs; one was in a stasis tube, one was on a work table, and the other was hunched over the prior. Red Alert worked hard on Jetfire's shoulder as Hot Shot remained in suspended animation.
"How is Jetfire?" Optimus asked through the intercom.
"He's not doing too well, Optimus." The medic replied. "I could use another pair of hands in here… Where's Ratchet?"
"He's outside the base, currently. I'll call for him." Prime activated his comlink. "Ratchet? Ratchet do you read?"
Static filled his audio sensors.
"…" Optimus looked back to Red Alert. "He's not answering." He said through the intercom. "I'm going out to look for him, I'll be back shortly."
North America, Lake Superior.
Ratchet, in vehicle mode, sped past Predacon, narrowly dodging blasts fired off by the giant's cannon. The Herald growled, and shifted into his prehistoric beast mode. He sluggishly gave chase, before his feet flipped into his shins, and were replaced with wheels; turbine jets unfolded from his hips, and he shot after the aged medic.
"Slaggit!" Ratchet swore. He looked around for any kind of escape, when suddenly the woods to the left suddenly looked very appealing. Veering off into the forest, Ratchet immediately began swerving around the trees that came at him. Unfortunately, the pursuit was still on, as the sound of turbine engines roared from above the trees.
"You can't hide forever!" Predacon announced. Gears shifting and parts changing sounded, followed by a large blast disintegrating the trees Ratchet passed half a second ago. The Autobot looked up, and found the giant following him in robot mode. His face was twisted in a snarl, and his hands were balled into fists. Pushing himself into the dense forest, Predacon paid no notice to the trees snapping like twigs against his frame.
Again, Ratchet swore. He continued to weave in and out of the seemingly endless trees, all while dodging devastating blasts, courtesy of Predacon. He couldn't keep this up… Old age was catching up to him, and he was getting more sluggish with each swerve.
"You're getting old, Ratchet!" Predacon called out. "You can't run forever!"
…He's right. Ratchet thought to himself. In a surprising move, the old medic slowed to a stop, and shifted into robot mode.
In turn, Predacon came around in the air, and landed on the ground. "So, you finally accepted your fate?"
"I will accept nothing more than my old friend coming back to me." Ratchet smiled behind his battle mask. "You didn't kill me before, and you won't kill me now."
Predacon reached behind his back, and pulled his cannon out of subspace; he pointed it at Ratchet. "Would you bet your life on it?"
"Yes."
Predacon blinked, and he stared at Ratchet. "… Why are you so determined?" He asked, unknowing his question was in a wondering tone.
"Because Silverbolt is still alive within you." Ratchet replied. "I will bring him back…" Ratchet looked to the ground, before meeting optics with the beast again.
"If it means saving my best friend, I'll gladly die."
Predacon's optics widened.
Silverbolt hunched over as lasers and missiles soared over their cover a large, cracked and chipped sheet of dense metal. Ratchet, Roulette, Skydive, and Fireflight were with him; Ratchet was lying on the ground, a large wound adorning his chest.
"We can't get to the med post!" Skydive proclaimed, as he briefly popped up from the cover to return fire to their enemies.
"We have to!" Silverbolt barked. "If we don't, Ratchet isn't gonna make it to dawn!"
"Whaddya suggest we do?" Fireflight asked, arming the large missile launchers attached to his arms.
There was a pause. "Cover me." Silverbolt stated.
"Woah, wait!" Roulette objected. "You can't go out there on your own, you'll be disintegrated before you hit the ground!"
"Which is why you're covering me." Silverbolt stated. He looked over to Fireflight and Skydive. "Kick some serious ass, mechs. We only get one shot at this." He slowly kneeled down, and gently scooped Ratchet up into his arms.
"But… But…" Roulette continued to attempt to object, but Silverbolt looked at her with a firm look.
"If it means saving my best friend, I'll gladly die."
Predacon took several steps back, clutching his helmet and grinding his teeth. "Slaggit!" He swore. "Stop this!"
"I'm not doing anything." Ratchet stated. "It's Silverbolt."
The behemoth threw his head back. "SILVERBOLT IS DEAD!"
He snapped.
In a rare moment of lost control, Predacon fired off his cannon, and the blast tore through Ratchet's stomach with ease. But before the Autobot even registered that he was fatally wounded, Predacon had thrown his weapon off to the side, and stormed over towards him. The monster wrapped his hand around Ratchet's gasping face, and lifted him off of the ground with ease. With a feral scream, he pulled back, and slammed the medic into the ground; he then kneeled over Ratchet.
"You son of a bitch…" Predacon seethed. He kept his grip firm on Ratchet's face, while slowly tracing down the Autobot's chest with his free hand… Directly over his Spark Chamber.
Ratchet gave out a muffled scream, as his chest was punctured by Predacon's fingertips. He then fought the urge to slip into Stasis Lock when his torso was then torn open like wrapping paper on a gift. He shuddered as the cool wind blew against his exposed, pulsating Spark.
Predacon looked into Ratchet's wide, trembling optics. Slowly, the Herald slipped his fingers around the Autobot's Spark. "This ends now." He stated firmly.
Predacon pulled, and Ratchet's Spark was severed from his body. The Autobot's optics dimmed, and his whole frame went limp in the monster's grip. With a satisfied grin, Predacon stood up, and observed the delicate Spark in his hand.
"Free at last…" He said to himself. His chest seemingly closed in on itself, and slid open like twin doors, revealing his own Spark Chamber. Inside resided his Spark, made up of infinite colors, stolen from countless lives. He brought Ratchet's Spark closer to his own, and when close enough, the monster's 'soul' seemingly reached out, and pulled Ratchet's into itself. His Spark Chamber closed, and Predacon gave out a relieved sigh.
And suddenly he hunched over, clutching his helmet with both hands.
Despite the mental anguish he was feeling, Predacon finally understood… Ratchet's knowledge was his. Ratchet's memories were his. Ratchet's feelings were his. In a way, he was Ratchet, as he was thousands of other beings. But this was different… He knew Ratchet's motives… He knew how Ratchet felt… He knew everything. Predacon knew Silverbolt's and Ratchet's brotherhood. Predacon knew, from when Sideways revealed what happened to Silverbolt, Ratchet's hope. Predacon knew Ratchet's determination just moments ago. Predacon knew Ratchet's sadness just before his death.
And now, with all these brand new emotions flourishing through him, Predacon knew remorse.
Earth's Orbit. Unicron. Within…
Within Alpha-Quintesson's lair, the serpent, Tidal Wave, and Starscream all watched. The table with Megatron's deceased form slowly lifted upwards. The dead Decepticon commander had restraints at his wrists, his waist, and his ankles; he was effectively strapped to the table. Wires coming from unseen places were attached to Megatron's arms and legs.
"Is this really gonna work?" Starscream asked.
"We shall see soon enough." The Judgment face of Alpha-Q stated.
"If it doesn't work, we'll have to start from scratch!" Wrath stated as he took control of the serpent.
"We won't have to; we took all the necessary precautions!" Wisdom stated.
"Am I the only one who's creeped out by that head-switching thing?" Tidal Wave whispered to Starscream.
Starscream merely shrugged, and turned his attention to Alpha-Quintesson. The serpent began typing on a light blue, holographic keyboard, with a holographic statistics screen before his optics; he punched the Enter key, and the screen and keyboard vanished.
"It beginsss." The Death face of Alpha-Q said as Energon started flowing from the tubes and into Megatron's body.
For a while, nothing happened. The two Decepticons looked to each other, both wondering if it was a failure or not. The Quintesson, however, knew differently.
"Ughn…"
Tidal Wave's and Starscream's heads snapped towards the form of Megatron.
And found themselves staring into his active optics.
Megatron groaned, and started to scream as his body was being filled with much-needed Energon. He looked around frantically. Where was he? What had happened? Why was he strapped down? His hands and fingers twitched violently, but slowly balled into fists as he arched his back. With some effort, Megatron broke through his arm restraints, and the shackles clanged loudly against the ground.
He freed his feet in the same fashion, and the green and purple Decepticon stumbled off of the table, and onto the ground. Megatron shakily looked up at the three in front of him, before suddenly screaming out, and dropping to his knees.
"Megatron!" Tidal Wave cried out. He would have gone to the Decepticon's side, had Alpha-Quintesson not stopped him.
"Do not worry. He isss going through a metaporphasssisss."
The said Decepticon bellowed as his body went through drastic changes. His frame swelled, as the tower-like treads on his shoulders exploded; in their place were light green cannons. His arms faded from a dark grey to a light shade of silver, and his hands shifted from purple to cobalt.
His torso slowly morphed into a sleek shape, with blue 'abs' above his silver waist. A Decepticon insignia was proudly showing in the center of his chest. His blocky legs swelled, before bursting, and were replaced with sleek, thick legs.
The tank turret on his back painfully shifted, and when the change was done, he had two large wings residing on his back. Megatron's helmet was the final thing to change; it slowly chipped and cracked, before shattering. In it's place was a round, silver helmet, with a light blue crown adorning the top of it.
The Decepticon's frame slowly began smoking, and he remained still.
Alpha-Quintesson grinned. "It is done…"
Megatron slowly looked up, his crimson optics burning. Resting a hand on his elevated knee, he pushed himself up onto his feet. And with a quick yank, the reborn mech freed himself of the Energon tubes. Tidal Wave and Starscream stared in awe, as Alpha-Quintesson cackled.
"Megatron lives!"
Unknown, Unknown…
I close my optics, and reopen them... I see myself, fulfilling my destiny… I approach the center of the chamber, and towards the most potent source of power in this, or any, universe… Unicron's core…I have been waiting for this since the day of my birth…
I hold out my hands, fully ready to take his power. It will be mine, and I will then truly be all-powerful… I place my palms firmly against the surface of Unicron's core, and it's power immediately begins to flow into my body…
The power is almost unbearable, I am not sure if my body can withstand… It starts going through a metamorphosis, and I can feel everything change. My power, my body… my mind. Bones tear through my shoulders, as my torso grows less blocky, and more sleek. Dear Primus… This is incredible…
The Autobots and Decepticons arrive. I merely laugh
at their mortality, and their feeble attempts to stop destiny. I now
hold all that was, is, and will be Unicron within my very frame. I
turn to face them, a dark grin stretched across my face…
"It's you!" They cry out. "It's been you all along!" I confirm that I had been manipulating this war from the very beginning. Their every action, every thought… All staged… They're like children, so easy to manipulate…
They fire blasts at me, but I don't even feel them. This power has truly made me what I was meant to be the entire time… A god. They continue to feebly attack me, but only now, do they realize, that there is no hope. Their darkest hour will remain dark, forever…
With a wave of my hand, I return the fools to the outside world. Now, they will witness the true power that is my existence. With Unicron's core absorbed into my Spark, I can control his body to do my biding… Unlimited power…