12- Predatory.
Coming from the deeps of space, a huge fireball flew across the stars, and it was heading right toward Earth. The fireball, probably a meteorite, entered the atmosphere and started descending at the surface, crashing against the floor, in middle of the night. But after the landing the smoke revealed that it was not a meteorite, it looked more like a cybertronian ship. All the nearby pokémon left the area, maybe because of the ship's impact, or maybe because of what could travel inside of it. The next day, both Arcee and Serena were scouting the nearby area, in the Eterna Forest, moving in middle of a fog. Some ghost type pokémon moved through the woods, which maybe was the reason why Serena was a little nervous.
Serena groaned. "I wish I had packed some repels. These ghost pokémon are trying to give me a scare as soon as they have the chance."
"I thought being the girlfriend of an adventurer like Ash would have taught you a few things about travelling through wild pokémon environments, or it didn't?" Arcee joked.
"You wouldn't be making fun of my pokémon knowledge."
"Maybe."
"I may have not your awesome scouting skills, Arcee, but me and my pokémon can deal with any challenge we encounter."
"You have your tools, I have mine." Arcee said before her scanner beeped. "That's odd. Ratchet's satellite scans were accurate, but subterranean energon deposits don't cause this kind of surge."
Both partners continued walking through the forest, until the scanner beeped again. Right in front of them, in a clearing spot, they saw a ditch, with a long trail.
"What happened here?" Serena asked.
"Crash-landing." Arcee deduced. "Stay behind me, low and close."
They followed the trail until it led them to its end: right where they saw the same ship that came last night.
"Autobot or Decepticon?" Serena asked again.
"Can't tell. Wait here." Arcee instructed as she readied her blaster and advanced toward the ship.
Arcee approached to get a closer look while Serena watched. Once she was next to the entrance, Arcee prepared for anything and aimed her gun at the inside, but it was no one. Of course, the inside was dark, but that didn't stop her to enter and investigate. After a while, Serena saw Arcee walking out of the ship. But she didn't look well.
"Arcee?" She asked walking at her.
Arcee was experimenting a flashback, memories from the past, but not good ones. A few images passed in front of her eyes, showing some kind of metallic robot with spider-like legs and a female sinister face, following by one of the legs striking, leaving some spots of energon on a wall. Arcee shook her head to return to the real world.
"Arcee! What's wrong?" Serena asked arriving.
"I know who this ship belongs to." Arcee simply said as she activated her com-link. "Arcee to base, I need a ground bridge, ASAP."
"Wait, wait. Why? Who ship is this?"
"Base, do you read?" Arcee called again, but she only received static. "Scrap. Com-link's dead. The ship's gotta be transmitting a high-frequency scrambler pulse."
"Arcee, you're starting to scare me."
"Wait here." Arcee said before entering the forest.
She started looking the ground, looking for any trail to follow, and saw that the trees near her have some scratches marks, and some weird footprints on the ground. That made her pick another flashback: this time she was handing up by some cybertronian cuffs. She tried to break up free, but it was no use. She saw a figure standing in front of her in the darkness, and next some kind of finger approached her face. Arcee only closed her optics as the finger started scratching her face, making her scream.
"Arcee?"
Serena's voice pulled her from limbo. Seeing her next to her, she changed to vehicle form.
"Climb on." She asked.
Serena hopped on her and she started to drive. But she drove at too much speed that Serena even screamed a little. Right in front of them there was a deep trench.
"Arcee?" Serena asked fearing the worse.
And they ended passing above the trench, making Serena scream loud. Once at the other side, Arcee finally stopped.
"Why did you do that?!" Serena demanded as she was catching her breath.
"Arcee to base." She called again, receiving the same static. "Scrap."
"Look, I've seen danger before, whatever this is…" Serena said before Arcee interrupted her.
"Wait here. I mean it this time."
"What? First you shut me out and now you're leaving me behind?" She said as Arcee transformed back to robot form. "I thought I was your partner."
"No Serena, you're a kid. You're only here because this was supposed to be no risk. Got it?" Arcee clarified as she bent down to her, right before she transformed and drove away again.
But Serena knew something was wrong with her guardian, so she went after her to figure it out. After driving a while, Arcee returned to robot form and continued checking her surroundings with her gun ready. Suddenly, she found a tree trunk, cut with some kind of acid, what brought her another flashback. This time, it was a city of Cybertron, in middle of a battle. Arcee was running through the battlefield.
"Arcee to Delta Team, requesting rendezvous coordinates. Do you copy?"
"Arcee, you lost again? Your sense of direction could use some improvement." A male voice responded.
"So is your aim, Tailgate." Arcee answered to the Autobot who she was talking to. "If you tagged that sniper back at the artillery depo, I wouldn't had to break rank and engage the enemy hand-to-hand."
"From the sound of things, I'm guessing you came out ahead." Tailgate listened.
"Try waiting up for me this time and I'll give you the blow-by-blow. What's your position?"
"About half a click from the depo due north. Think you can find it, partner?"
"Trust me, Tailgate. My navigation abilities are…"
Arcee was too distracted that she was caught in some kind of web-like material that trapped her against a wall. She saw what looked like some female Decepticon walking at her before she launched more web from one of her hands, covering her face and turning everything black. Moments later, Arcee was trapped inside a room with her hands chained by cuffs and her legs by the same web. She tried to break free, but it was useless. Her captor was a black with purple touches female Decepticon, with horns on her head, purple optics that looked like an insect's compound eye and with an appearance that resembled a spider, including some legs that came from her back.
"Piece of advice? Make yourself comfortable." The Decepticon said as she prepared on if her fingers, which dripped acid. "You're going to be here a while."
She approached her finger at Arcee's cheek and burned it with the acid, leaving a burn. Once the flashback was over, Arcee knew that the one who did that to her was on the planet too. In other part of the forest, were two Stantler, an adult and a little one, who were playing together. What they didn't know is that they were being watched by a hunter: the same Decepticon that hurt Arcee long time ago.
"My first locals. Time for humankind and pokémon to feel my sting." She said as she modified some parts of her body: she combined her legs, forming like the abdomen of a spider and activated the spider legs of her back.
She approached the pokémon silently, until she saw she was close enough to launch her attack. But in the last moment, when she jumped, Arcee intercepted her in the air and both fem robots rolled down a hill. That stopped when they crashed against a boulder, landing in front of each other.
"Arcee, small universe." She recognized.
"Too small, Airachnid."
"You're still holding a grudge? The war has been over for megacycles." Airachnid said as she crawled around.
"Tell that to the Decepticons." Arcee responded, getting ready to fight.
"These days I travel solo in pursuit of my new hobby." Airachnid simply said.
Arcee knew exactly what she was referring: back when she was checking the ship, she saw a lot of heads of alien species inside some capsules, what made her gash in horror.
"I got a look at your souvenir case." Arcee pointed.
"You mean my trophies." Airachnid corrected. "I collect endangered species. Of course, they aren't really endangered until they meet me. And I have a slot reserved for Earth, dozens for the most rare and special of those creatures called pokémon, and a few reserved for humans."
"Not gonna happen." Arcee reassured as she launched herself against her rival.
Arcee tackled Airachnid against the ground, but before she could start punching Airachnid pushed her against the boulder with her spider legs. Arcee activated and fired her guns, but Airachnid managed to climb at the trees and launched her webs, tying both Arcee's hands together. As Arcee began to struggle, she pulled the web from Airachnid, making her fall to the ground. Next, she cut the webs from her hands with her wrist blades before firing again. This time, Airachnid fired back, shooting lasers from her hands instead of webs. Arcee dodged the shots, jumped high and grabbed a tree branch which used to flip once before she jumped off and pinned Airachnid to the ground. She aimed her guns at the Decepticon's head, ready to execute her. But then, they heard a crumbling noise and turned to see Serena slowly coming down the hill. Airachnid took the chance to smack Arcee off her with one of her spider legs, and next she used her webs to trap her against the boulder.
"Arcee!" Serena shouted.
As Airachnid turned her attention to her, Arcee used one of her blades to break free one of her arms and next shot Airachnid's back, sending her against a tree. The hit was hard enough to left her out of action for a while.
"I've told you to wait for me!" Arcee scold her.
"Well, partners don't leave partners." Serena answered as she started to pull on one of the webs.
"Get this through your head. You are not my partner, you're a liability."
"I don't believe you. I can see it in your eyes. You're afraid, Arcee. And you're never afraid."
Right in that moment, another flashback came to Arcee. She was still in the same room with Airachnid. And by her look, she had been receiving torture for a while.
"You know? For an Autobot, your resilience is quite impressive." Airachnid observed. "In fact, I'm guessing that no matter what I do to you, you'll never crack. Am I right?" Arcee didn't say anything, she only looked her with anger. "That's what I thought."
Suddenly, two Decepticon soldiers entered the room, carrying another Autobot. One that Arcee recognized once she saw him.
"Tailgate?"
Tailgate only groaned in pain as the soldiers dragged him before putting him the same cuffs as Arcee's.
"What have you done to him?" Arcee demanded.
"Not much, yet. Just tell what I want to know, or…Well, you're a smart Bot. I think you can imagine what happens to Tailgate next." Airachnid menaced.
"I don't know the attack coordinates." Arcee responded, making Airachnid put an annoyed look, thinking that she was lying. "I swear upon the Allspark, it's the truth!"
"We shall see." Airachnid simply said as she walked at Tailgate and prepared one of her spider legs.
"No! Please!" Arcee begged.
Arcee could only saw how Airachnid approached her claw, ready for the kill, at Tailgate's head, raised it, and hit him so hard that squirted some spots of energon into the wall.
"TAILGATE!"
As the flashback ended, Arcee was gashing in fear before looking at Serena.
"You're right, Serena. I am afraid, of losing you." Arcee confessed, surprising her.
"You sure have trouble hanging onto your partners, don't you?" Airachnid started, already recovered. "We both know what happened to Tailgate. At some point, you really have to ask yourself, Arcee, is it them or is it me?"
"You get it now, Serena? She's not interested in me; she hunts indigenous species. And she's on Earth, that means pokémon and humans, you!" Arcee specified, causing Serena to start getting scared. "Run!"
As Serena started to do what Arcee told her, Airachnid finished trapping the Autobot with more webs.
Airachnid chuckled as he came closer to Arcee. "And that's why now I prefer to work alone. It's so sad when bad things happen to those close to you." Airachnid said as she talked Arcee face-to-face, even outside down. "But don't get me wrong. I fully intend to snuff off your spark, and believe me: I will make it hurt. But that won't compare to the pain you'll feel knowing I'm adding your human to my collection."
Serena looked back one more time before continued running up the hill, something both cybertronian spotted before Airachnid started chasing her, leaving Arcee trapped.
"SERENA!"
The sun was already gone when Serena was still running through the forest from Airachnid. She wasn't too far, but she wasn't catching up because she enjoyed how she was trying to get away.
"That's the spirit, Serena! Play hard to get." Airachnid said joyfully.
Arcee was trying to set free when another flashback came to her mind. After seeing her partner perish, Airachnid was getting ready to execute her next. But fortunately, an explosion destroyed the door, making Airachnid to change to her spider form and left. Then, Bumblebee slid in the room and eliminated the Decepticon soldiers with his guns. Hot Rod entered next, and released Arcee from her cuffs. Bumblebee helped him to carry her out of the room, but the harm was already done.
"I couldn't save him! I couldn't save my partner!" She shouted very affected.
The flashback ended, making Arcee see what she did was wrong.
"Serena, I'm sorry. I never should have looked back. I should have…kept driving." She said softly before starting pushing against the web.
Once she had enough space, she changed to her vehicle form and started speeding up all she could. As for Serena, she jumped over a fallen tree trunk, completely exhausted. She decided to call Braixen and Pancham in case they'll need to fight Airachnid. Once she arrived, she hissed looking around for her, not knowing that she and her pokémon already saw her from under the trunk. She moved above them, but stopped once she passed the trunk and lowered her head at them.
"Hello, Serena."
Serena screamed, but Pancham went to her need and hit Airachnid in the head with Dark Pulse. That caught Airachnid by surprise and gave Serena and her pokémon enough time to pass the tree trunk and put some distance between them and the Decepticon. Airachnid fired a web shot at them, but Braixen evaporated it with Flamethrower. As for Arcee, she efforts to get out of the web were starting to get results: one by one, the web's supports broke out until she finally escaped and went looking for her friend. They returned to the trench, which was going to be great obstacle.
Fortunately, and idea came to Serena's mind. "Pancham, use Stone Edge at the bottom. Use it to create a bridge."
Pancham nodded and jumped down the bottom of the trench, where he performed the move as Serena instructed and made appear a few rocks in line, close and steady enough to act like a bridge. Serena and Braixen managed to jump above them to the other side and met with Pancham, already climbing up to the other side, right before the rocks disappeared when Airachnid spotted them. Of course, it wasn't hard for her to jump above the trench and continue the hunt. Serena decided to stop behind a tree to rest a little.
"So, do you think we can fight against her?" She asked, but both pokémon looked as scared as she was. "Right, we don't know how to battle this scary Decepticon. Oh, if only Ash was here."
And they continued running away.
"Despite your pokémon' incredible skills, you're making this too easy, Serena. And I don't enjoy being bored." Airachnid expressed.
She continued following Serena until she saw her and her pokémon heading for her ship.
"Oh." She said before hissing maliciously.
She walked next to the ship's entrance, and played pretending she didn't know where Serena was, but she thought she was in the entrance.
"Now, where did you scamper off to?"
Serena released her breath when she was gone.
"Braixen."
Braixen pointed to a hole on the ship's structure. Serena saw it and decide to take a way. In that moment, Airachnid crawled on top of her ship, trying to see if Serena was at the entrance, but she wasn't. She jumped off and changed back to her normal form, looking at the ship's entrance, deducing that her prey sneaked inside.
"If you wanted a tour, Serena, all you had to do was ask." Airachnid said walking inside her ship. "Did you spot the empty spaces? I hope you like it, it's where you'll soon hang your heads."
But Serena and her pokémon were not inside, they were heading toward the ship's engine thrusters. She heard a splash, and recognized the blue liquid below her foot which was leaking from the engines.
"Energon." And that gave her an idea. "Braixen, I need some flames here."
Serena grabbed a stick, and while Braxien generated flames from her own stick, approached it closer. Airachnid heard that inside the ship.
"Serena?"
She got out of the ship and jumped on the top really fast, with her claws ready.
"That's enough." Serena said seeing the flames' size before giving it to Pancham. "Pancham, put it inside the ship's engines.
"Pancham." The little pokémon nodded.
Pancham jumped high in front of one of the ship's engines, the one which was leaking energon, and threw the stick inside. Airachnid arrived too late, the fire from the stick flowed too fast through the energon to inside the ship.
"Serena!" Airachnid yelled shocked.
Serena, Braixen and Pancham started to run away from the ship, which started to explode. The shockwave launched them back to the forest, but without any harm. Seeing the ship completely destroyed, and possibly Airachnid with it, Serena sighed relieved.
"I guess it's over." She said getting up. "Let's go find Arcee."
Her pokémon nodded as they started their way back. But suddenly, Serena heard her pokémon scream, and when she turned at them, she saw them completely wrapped in webs. Then she looked above her and saw Airachnid, covered in flames, on a tree. She fired webs again, leaving her stuck in a tree. Airachnid climbed down and went up to Serena, growled in frustration. She strokes her hand against her cheek before going for the kill. But then, they saw some headlights heading at them, it was Arcee, driving at full speed. She jumped in the air, transformed and hit her in the face. The impact sent Airachnid backwards, and before she could recover Arcee kicked her. She continued hitting her and finished with a powerful kick that sent Airachnid against some trees that took down. The damage was too much for Airachnid, so she laid on the ground.
"Serena! Are you okay?" Arcee asked as she ripped the webs off Serena and her pokémon.
"Yes. That was close, but we're alright."
Arcee smiled, but that didn't last long, because she heard the sound of a drill coming from where Airachnid was. She was using her spider mode to drill into the ground. Arcee tried to shot at her to stop her, but she got away.
"Airachnid!" She yelled.
Arcee, Serena, Braixen and Pancham saw the hole Airachnid left behind. Arcee sighed, knowing she got away.
"So much for closure." She simply said.
"Now Airachnid is stuck here on Earth. I don't think that's a good thing."
"I'm sorry you had to face my demons today. You were pretty fearless there, Serena. All of you."
"Actually, I was terrified. Mostly for you."
"Braixen."
"Pancham."
Arcee smiled at them. "Ratchet, requesting ground bridge."
As her guardian called to base, Serena retrieved her pokémon back to their poke balls.
"Need to get my partner far away from any unidentified scary things." Arcee admitted.
"Partner?" Serena asked confused. "It wasn't Hot Rod your partner?"
"You're like Ash is for him: junior partner. Hot and I can still pull rank." Arcee corrected as the sun was raising.
