14- Out of his Head.
Ratchet was running through diagnostic on Optimus the next day from when he was cured.
"Follow the light." He instructed as he shone the light in Optimus's optic, which followed it without problem. "Good, good. I wouldn't advise anything strenuous, Optimus, but it appears that your systems have fully recovered from the Cybonic plague."
The braces around Optimus retracted and he stepped out of the medical chamber.
"Thanks to your medical expertise, old friend." Optimus congratulated.
"It was your scout who braved unknown territory to locate the cure." Elita concreted.
"(It was nothing really.)" Bumblebee said a little embarrassed.
"Lucky for us Galvatron was still alive." Arcee admitted.
"I can't believe you actually said that." Moonracer said impressed.
"Yeah, I actually said that."
"What matters is that you are on the mend, Optimus. While Galvatron…"
"(Ratchet, we're not sure if he's gone.)"
"Bee's right. Did my best to finish Galvatron's story. Just couldn't stick around long enough to see how it ended." Arcee told.
No one noticed that Bumblebee was no acting like himself while he walked away from the group and looked at his hands.
"It is a matter of time before Optimus discovers all is not right with you, scout." Galvatron's voice sounded inside Bumblebee's mind. "I must reclaim my body. Which means taking complete and total control of yours."
"Hey Bee!" Sideswipe called, making Bee return from limbo. He saw the young Autobot, alongside Hot Rod, holding the same giant metal ball which they used for lobbing. "We're going to play a human game our friends had showed us. Wanna joint?"
"(Of course.)"
Later, Bumblebee and Hot Rod were ready to play against Sideswipe and Wheeljack in the main hall while the gang were about to watch them.
"Okay everyone, this is basketball, by way of Cybertron. Let the games begin." May said acting like a referee as she blew on a whistle.
Bee spun the ball on his finger and made a shot for the hoop, but Wheeljack intercepted it before making his shot with success.
"Yeah! Go, Jackie, go!" Dawn cheered as she was cheering in her cheerleader outfit.
"Pi piplup." The penguin pokemon followed, doing the same as Dawn.
"I'm surprised: Dawn looks like a true cheerleader." Serena admired.
Ash laughed. "She used to cheer me up during my gym battles while we were traveling around the Sinnoh region."
"Do you think she also has another uniform for me? I would like to try it."
"You would have to ask her about that, Bonnie." Clemont said.
"Come on, guys. Best two out of three." Wheeljack challenged as he threw the ball to Hot Rod.
Hot Rod caught it and made his way to the hoop, dodging Wheeljack, but Sideswipe blocked his way.
"Hot, now is the perfect time to pass it to Bumblebee!" Ash advised.
"Bee, yours." He said passing him the ball.
And Bee caught the ball and made his way to the hoop, evading Wheeljack first.
"That's right, Bee! You're in the clear, dunk it!" Max encouraged.
As Bumblebee was about to dunk it, he stopped. In his mind, he saw Galvatron's memories of the battle at the space bridge.
"Bumblebee, quit hogging the ball." Sideswipe called.
Then, without warning, Bee threw the ball right at Sideswipe, but he dodged it just in time, hitting the wall instead.
"Hey, what was that for?!" Sideswipe demanded.
May blew on the whistle again as she slid down the ladder. "That's against the rules."
"Unless that's dodge ball by way of Cybertron." Ritchie remarked.
"Bee, hoop's over there." Hot Rod pointed.
"(Oh yes. I guess I got confused.)"
"Bee, you okay?" Max asked.
"(Of course, Max. Three out of five?)" He asked showing three fingers.
"Yeah, three out of five." He answered with a smile.
Time later, Bumblebee was walking normally at base when suddenly he stopped when Galvatron appeared again.
"If I am to return to my body, I must first restore its functionality. How did I escape annihilation?" Galvatron asked before remembering the last thing he saw before went out. "Of course, dark energon." And the one who ripped it out from him. "Darkscream."
Talking about Darkscream, he was in the Nemesis's medical bay, knocking the head of Galvatron's body in a funny way.
"Knock-knock." He called knocking two more times. "Is anyone in there? No? Oh well. Seems I possess the only thing that would allow you to rise off that slab and walk again, my dearest Galvatron." He got off Galvatron's medical berth and pulled out the same dark energon piece that extracted from him. "The only scrap left on this planet. Plucked from your very spark chamber, but it cannot restore your mind. The Decepticons need a leader, not a decorative centerpiece. And I will convince them that I am the true heir to your throne. With a plan so epic…!"
"…not even the mighty Galvatron could have conceived it?" Knock Out suddenly asked leaning on the wall of the lab's entrance, making him to hid the dark energon piece.
Darkscream chuckled nervous. "That was the idea, Knock Out. How long have you been there?"
"Long enough. And its commander Knock Out to you, once and future lord Darkscream."
That made Darkscream calm down and stand proudly. Meanwhile, Max and May were waiting outside their house at Petalburg City, waiting for Bumblebee. But by the looks of their faces, they seemed to have been waiting for a while.
"It isn't supposed that Bumblebee was going to pick us up to go to base?" May asked.
"Yeah, that's the weird thing: Bee's never late. I tried to call him with dad's phone, but he isn't responding." Max answered to his sister.
"Wait here, I'm going in the house for the phone. I will let Warpath know we may need the ground bridge." May said as she was about to get inside home again, but stopped when she saw her little brother's face sad and returned with him. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Bee has been acting a little weird since he went inside Galvatron's mind. I wonder if something bad has happened to him."
"Don't worry, Max. I'm sure it's nothing."
Bumblebee was actually in the base main hall. Suddenly he started acting weird again, walked toward the control table and grabbed one of Ratchet's tools.
"Yes. Go on, scout. Obey my will." Galvatron ordered in his mind.
He crushed it with his hand.
"Bumblebee!"
Bumblebee returned back to his own and looked at Ratchet, not very happy.
"I needed that!"
"(I did this?)" He asked looking the tool.
"What has gotten into you?"
"(I don't know. But I'm seeing Megatron's face constantly.)"
"You're seeing Megatron's face?"
Moments later, Bumblebee was in the medical chamber before his optics turned off, powering down. The other Autobots, May and Max were also present.
"Bumblebee's complaining of intermittent visions, waking nightmares if you will." Ratchet reported.
"But you said Bee was fine when you checked him over." Max reminded.
"Physically, but the experience he endured seems to be having a temporary effect on his psyche. This induced power down should force Bumblebee's mind to rest and recover."
A beeping noise brought everyone to the terminal: it was a call from one of their allies, a young brown hair pokémon ranger.
"Prime. Do you know if the Decepticons have been thinking about traveling to Alola for holidays?"
"No, Ranger Kellyn. Why?"
"Because I was hoping you would have a lead on the unidentified beings that busted into the Hokulani Observatory: the place looked like it was hit by an army of wrecking balls."
"Why would Cons break into an observatory?" Moonracer questioned.
"Our agents have checked the entire place, and it seems there is only one thing missing: the main instrument for space exploration."
"The space telescope?" Clemont deduced.
"Exactly. As of last night, it's missing its primary lens."
"It's difficult to guess Darkscream's intent without knowing where the lens has been taking." Optimus said.
"Good thing the lens have a tracking device." Ranger Kellyn revealed before showing them the coordinates of its actual location.
"The North Pole? Great, another chance to freeze our spark plugs off." Arcee said sarcastically.
The screen also showed that there was another thing.
Wheeljack whistled. "That's an ND7-class. Biggest unmineable energon deposit there is."
"Unmineable, until Darkscream melts his way down to it." Elita deduced.
"With the help of the lens." Hot Rod added.
"Melting a glacier of that size would cause sea levels to rise and demolish costal cities." Ranger Kellyn warned.
That made May gasp loudly. "That means some of the cities in which we live will be gone."
"Even if we manage to stop Darkscream's plan, we would need to make sure they don't try it again." Elita deduced.
"Which means being us the ones who will take all that energon. The question is how?" Ratchet asked.
"Hey, how about using the energon harvester? It may can remove all that energon without causing many alterations within the ice."
"Good idea, Clemont. Warpath, take the harvester and keep it until we secure the energon deposit." Optimus instructed.
"After ruining Darkscream's intentions." Elita added.
The Nemesis flew over the frozen surface of the North Pole to the energon deposit's location.
"Let the reign of lord Darkscream begin." Darkscream proclaimed proudly with his arms crossed.
At the same time, Knock Out, who was next to him, signaled a Vehicon, mounted in some kind of machine, to turned it on. The machine was some kind of giant mirror-like structure, which had equipped the lens, that started to canalize sunlight and charged it until it fired a huge beam of heat to the ice. Meanwhile, Max was still at base, next to a powered down Bumblebee, and talking to him.
"And that's how my sister managed to get her last ribbon and enter the Grand Festival." Max was telling until Ratchet arrived.
"Max, I'm afraid Bumblebee can't hear you in power down mode. It's getting late, why don't I bridge you and May home with your family?" Ratchet offered.
"Because I told Bee I'd stay. He's family too."
"Don't be ridiculous. You're not even the same species."
"That's being related. It's not the same thing, like best friends. Ash showed it. I'll show you." Max said before pulling out from his backpack a picture. "This is my family."
Ratchet knelt down to get a closer look: it showed Max, May, their parents and all their pokémon. "Hm, is very nice."
"Indeed. With all the pokémon we have it makes it a very large family. Even some of our pokémon grew up faster than me. Sometimes I talk with them, wishing that I could understand what they say."
"Yeah, yes yes yes." Ratchet mumbled quietly.
"But with Bumblebee is different." Max said, making Ratchet grew a grin on his face. "I can understand him. Not sure why, but I do."
Meanwhile, the other Autobots, accompanied by May's Glaceon, were already on the North Pole.
"Lot different than our last polar visit." Arcee observed.
"Indeed. Feels like summer." Hot Rod added seeing some ice melting.
"You can say that. Take a look on Glaceon." Wheeljack pointed as May's pokémon looked a little affected because of the heat, sweating a little.
"She's not the only one which has noticed it." Sideswipe added looking at a group of Walrein and Sealeo moving toward the water as fast as they could in order to refresh themselves and a pair of Beartic lying down, trying to refresh a couple of Cubchoo, probably their children, the best they could with Icy Wind, but without much effect.
"Poor things." Moonracer said with sadness. "This certainly doesn't look good."
The Autobots reached to an opening and hide behind an ice wall, seeing the cause of that.
"Here. That's another bad thing." Warpath spotted.
They saw the Nemesis firing the heat beam at the ice.
"So, any idea to ruin their summer break in the case they try to protect it?" Sideswipe asked.
"Autobots, remember the end run on Polihex?" Optimus suggested.
Back at the base, Clemont was showing Max and May something on his laptop when Ratchet approached them.
"Guys, I'm going to the supply vault to see if I can find parts to repair this." Ratchet announced holding the broken item. "You know what that means."
"Don't touch anything." They said at the same time.
After Ratchet left, Bumblebee's optics turned on.
"Wait until Bonnie sees the new Pokegear I'm saving for her." Clemont shared.
"Surely she will get speechless." May said.
Immediately, Bumblebee walked out of the medical chamber.
"Bee?" May noticed.
"Bumblebee, wait!" Max yelled.
Bumblebee typed in a set of coordinates and activated the ground bridge. Next, he walked into the vortex.
"Bumblebee!" Max called seeing him disappearing.
Fortunately, Ratchet arrived. "What did you do?"
"Nothing. Bumblebee just got up and…" Clemont started.
"He was in power down. Where does he think he's off to?" Ratchet asked.
The ground bridge transported Bumblebee to the same battlefield where still remained the bodies of the fallen Terrorcons.
"Where is it? Where?" Galvatron asked in Bee's mind as he searched the area.
He saw the memories of when he used the dark energon to bring back the dead. Once they finished, he saw a purple glowing on the ground: the shard of dark energon, which he removed. Ratchet and the others were seeing where Bumblebee went.
"What's that place?" May asked.
"One of the islands of the Orange Archipelago. These are the coordinates for the site of our previous battle with Galvatron's undead." Ratchet recognized.
"Maybe we should call Optimus." Clemont suggested.
"Optimus is busy preventing a polar ice cap from melting. We need to handle this on our own." Ratchet said as he activated the ground bridge.
Ratchet was about to enter the ground bridge when Bumblebee came back.
"Bumblebee, what have you been doing?" Ratchet asked him, but Bumblebee didn't answer. Ratchet grabbed his hand, and saw what he was holding on his hand. "Dark energon?"
Then, Bumblebee punched him hard, knocking him out.
"Ratchet!" Clemont exclaimed as he went next to him.
"Bee, what are you doing?" Max asked in shock.
"Venusaur, come out." May commanded, calling her biggest pokémon. "Use Vine Whip to detain Bumblebee."
The plant type pokémon managed to grab one of Bee's arms, but the Autobot grabbed them and managed to lift up Venusaur. Next, he rotated her around the room before releasing her against a wall. With the pokémon unable to fight, Bumblebee approached Max and May, who put between her little brother and the mind-controlled Autobot. He picked them up with both hands.
"Bumblebee, please! I know you're in there! You have to fight whatever is making you do this!" Max begged after Bee put them near the air vent and ran again through the ground bridge.
"Luxray, touch Ratchet a little with your Electric Terrain." Clemont instructed after calling his pokémon.
And with that, Ratchet returned fast.
"Ratchet, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, thanks Clemont." The Autobot medic nodded, allowing Clemont to retrieve his pokémon. "More importantly is Bumblebee. I fear the time spent in Galvatron's mindscape is causing him to think like a Decepticon." Ratchet theorized.
"Bee's not a Con!" Max defended while Ratchet picked up him and his sister.
"Agree." Ratchet nodded as he put them back on the floor. "But we need to find out exactly what Bumblebee intends to do with that shard. The only one who knew of the dark energon…was Galvatron."
"Bumblebee has Galvatron's memories?" May asked as she and Clemont went to check Venusaur, Clemont gave her an Oran Berry.
"Worse. Galvatron is occupying Bumblebee's mind."
"What?!" Everyone asked in disbelief.
"How is that possible?" Clemont asked.
"How could I have been such a fool? The cortical psychic patch acted as a two-way conduit: when Bumblebee returned to his own mind, Galvatron followed. And now Bumblebee/Galvatron has bridged to nearly the same coordinates Optimus used." Ratchet explained as he activated the bridge again. "Stay here. Clemont, I need you to handle the ground bridge."
"Understood."
"No. Bumblebee needs me." Max said determined.
"Oh no, Max. I'm not going to allow you to get close to Bumblebee, not while he remains in that state." May objected.
"But he's still in there, and maybe he could listen. Bee's gonna need all the help he can to combat Galvatron's influence, and I'm the best person for that task."
"Of course he is." Ratchet surprisingly supported.
May sighed in defeat." Okay Max, but I'll go with you, in case the worst happens."
"Thank you, big sis." He thanked hugging her.
Meanwhile, Darkscream and Knock Out were seeing the beam from top of the warship.
"Yes. I love when a plan comes together." Darkscream proclaimed cheered.
Then he heard engine sounds and saw Warpath, Wheeljack, Moonracer, Hot Rod, Sideswipe and Arcee approaching in vehicle form, with Glaceon on top of Warpath. They even fired his cannon and Shadow Ball in an attempt to take down the weapon.
"Autobots." Darkscream sneered.
"Please, lord Darkscream, allow your second-in-command the honor." Knock Out offered while Breakdown arrived. "Breakdown, total them!"
Breakdown sprinted and jumped of the ship laughing, falling to the ground as a meteor. He impacted on the ground hard near the Autobots, causing a shockwave that sent them flying and forcing them to return to robot form. As they were going to face him, Optimus and Elita were climbing up a glacier close to the Nemesis. At the same time, inside the ship, Ratchet, with both May and Max on his shoulders and Venusaur next to him, came out from a ground bridge.
"The Decepticon warship." Ratchet observed.
They ran down a hall and around the corner, where he spotted a lot of dead Decepticons.
"Did Bumblebee do this?" May asked.
"I fear Galvatron's mind is dominant. And clearly he came here with one purpose: to use the dark energon to resurrect his own body." Ratchet deduced.
"No. Bumblebee won't let him. Like he didn't let Galvatron hurt us back at the base." Max reassured.
"I hope you're right." May expected.
Ratchet put them back on the ground next to Venusaur and made their way to the medical bay, with Ratchet in front. Once in there, they spotted Bumblebee connecting himself the cortical psychic patch's cable, already hooked to Galvatron. Ratchet decided to intervene.
"Ratchet, don't hurt Bumblebee!" Max begged.
"That's not Bumblebee!" Ratchet proclaimed as he tried to punch Bumblebee, but he dodged and hit him hard, sending him against the wall.
"Venusaur, snatch the dark energon from Bumblebee with Vine Whip." May instructed.
Venusaur managed to grab the dark energon piece, but Bumblebee pushed back with same strength, until he decided to tackle the pokémon, pushing him against the wall before knocking her out with a punch on the head. As May went to check up Venusaur, Bumblebee walked back to Galvatron's body.
"Bumblebee, no! Remember who you are, remember me!" Max called.
That made Bumblebee to slowly regain control of himself.
"(Max, is that you?)"
"That's right, Bee. It's me."
Galvatron couldn't believe he was losing control and got mad.
"Unbelievable!"
Feeling that he was trying to control him again, Bee clutched his head in pain and cried out as he fell to the floor. Max came to his side, but when he looked at them it was Galvatron who was now in control again. He pushed him aside, making him to collapse. Then he turned to see Ratchet going for his body.
"Farewell, Galvatron." He said pulling out the life support cable.
Bee grabbed Ratchet by his hand and threw him against the wall again.
"Bumblebee!" Max called again.
He turned as he pulled out the dark energon.
"Bumblebee can't hear you anymore." He spoke surprisingly, with the voice of Galvatron.
"As much as I want you to leave Bumblebee's body, I can't let you go back to your own." Max declared as he grabbed the patch's cable.
He kept swinging around on it until Bumblebee made a sharp turn and Max was sent flying, fortunately his sister caught him in time. Then Bumblebee/Galvatron walked toward his body and injected the dark energon inside his spark chamber. The shard melted into his chest, repairing it and Galvatron opened his eyes. Bumblebee finally recovered his wellbeing as he, Ratchet, Venusaur and the kids witnessed Galvatron getting up. A group of Decepticon soldiers arrived and saw it too.
"Decepticons, your rightful lord and master has returned!" He declared.
Galvatron walked right at the exit before giving the Autobots a last view.
"Finish these pests! I have my own extermination to perform." He ordered while exiting the lab.
The Decepticons followed his command and fired at the Autobots.
"Venusaur, use Petal Dance!" May commanded as Ratchet grabbed her and Max.
Venusaur's attack managed to blind the Cons enough to allow Bee to fire back as they started to retreat.
"(I think is time to get out of here!)"
Outside, Optimus and Elita finally reached the top of the glacier. Next, they ran, changed to vehicle form and speeded up using a ramp to jump off right at the Nemesis. They changed back to robot form in the air when they were close and grabbed one of the ship's wings. Down below, as Glaceon was trying to slow him down with Ice Shard, Arcee and Hot Rod went right at Breakdown with their close-combat weapons ready. He saw them coming too and charged against them. Before reaching him, Arcee jumped high above him as Hot Rod tackled him. But Breakdown managed to kick him back and grabbing Arcee when she was about to strike and threw her against the pokémon, forcing her to stop the attack. Sideswipe and Moonracer fired at him from behind, but Breakdown fired them a missile with his shoulder's turret that impacted in front of them, sending them flying backwards. Next, Breakdown changed his hand for a hammer and charged against Warpath.
"I gonna put you on ice." Breakdown menaced.
"We shall see." Warpath answered with his own hammer ready.
Both opponents ended clashing their weapons, making a so powerful shockwave that made a crack in the ice between them. That allowed Wheeljack to jump over Breakdown and start punching him on the face.
"This…is…for…Bulkhead." The white Wrecker said as he continued punching.
The two Decepticons in charge were seeing everything from above.
"Don't the Bots seem understaffed?" Knock Out asked to Darkscream.
Then they both heard an engine sound coming from behind them: it was Optimus and Elita, who were advancing in vehicle form right at them. That made Darkscream groan in anger.
"What good is a second-in-command who fails to watch the rear?!" Darkscream shouted at Knock Out before going at the cannon and pushing the Vehicon aside. "Get out of my way!"
Darkscream typed some command in the cannon and made it turn around and fired directly at the Autobot leaders. Despite the heat's effect, Optimus and Elita only groaned as they continued pushing through the beam, Optimus on the front covering Elita, until they jumped high, pulling out their swords.
"No!" Darkscream yelled before they hit the cannon.
That caused a huge explosion on the Nemesis, and also a powerful shockwave that sent flying the other Autobots, Glaceon and Breakdown. Fortunately, the Autobots went out of there without injuries, and Moonracer managed to catch Glaceon before she reached the ground, except…
"Optimus, Elita." Hot Rod saw.
Optimus was lying on the ice, tired of the effort he made a because of a quite burns, with Elita a few steps from him in the same state. Then he saw Darkscream flying above him in vehicle mode, and once he was high enough, he started going down, charging at him.
"Arg! Galvatron's greatest mistake was ever allowing you to live, Prime!" Darkscream shouted as he readied one missile.
Elita tried to get up as fast as she could to protect her sparkmate, but she ended falling to her knees. But before he could fire the missile, another starship intercepted Darkscream and tackled him back to the Nemesis. Optimus recognized who was that ship.
"Galvatron."
"He's back." Elita recognized too.
Galvatron tossed Darkscream on one of the Nemesis's wings and transformed in front of him.
"Lord Galvatron? You are…you're healed! Praise the Allspark! It is a miracle!"
"Oh, it will be a miracle, Darkscream. If you survive what I have planned for you!" Galvatron said angry.
Fearing the worst, Darkscream changed to vehicle form in an attempt to escape, but Galvatron grabbed him from behind and threw him against other of the ship's wings. Darkscream returned to robot form while he crashed, soon to be confronted by Galvatron.
"But the Autobots! Optimus! Right there, waiting for you!" Darkscream pleaded.
"My greatest mistake? I've made a few. But there is one I do not intend to make again!" Galvatron reassured as he grabbed Darkscream by the head and dragged him back to inside the Nemesis.
"No, master! NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
As they saw the Nemesis leaving, the Autobots gathered with their leaders.
"Ratchet, we need a bridge." Optimus called by the com-link.
"You are not the only ones." Ratchet answered them as he, Bumblebee, Venusaur, May and Max, which were on Bee's shoulders, appeared from the hole of another glacier.
"Don't worry. Clemont will send us a ground bridge." May reassured.
"Then Warpath, you may proceed." Elita authorized.
The Autobot tank pulled out the energon harvester and started to extract the energon through the ice. Moments later, everyone was back at base and Ratchet ran a thorough scan on Bumblebee in the medical chamber.
"Everything's back to normal." Ratchet rode.
"(If you saw me now as the rest.)"
"Well, normal for Bumblebee."
Bumblebee knelt down at Max. "(Max, I'm really sorry for what happened.)"
"It's okay."
"(Were you scared?)"
"Of course I was."
"(It wasn't me.)"
"I know."
"(Thanks for being there for me, Max.)" Bee said as he held his finger and Max touched it.
"What he said?" Misty asked.
"He said thanks." Max answered.
