51- Darkest Hour.

The Autobots were in a big bind: the Decepticons captured their friends and brought them to Cybertron. And now, they menaced to expose them to the atmosphere and let them die if the Autobots do not surrender them the Omega Keys. For the moment, they were holding their position without knowing what to do.

May tried to get free kicking the pod without result. "This is not how I expected to be my first trip to Cybertron."

"Starscream." Galvatron called.

He lifted his pod. "Ash, how about if you let your Pikachu to know my pokémon squad for all to play?" He menaced before scratching the glass with his claws as Techbug seemed to crush its hands together as a bully would do.

"Let him alone. For you to get your rusty hands on Pikachu, you will have to pass through me first."

"Ash, no!" Serena exclaimed.

"Careful with what you say, don't give them ideas." Tracey added.

"Come on guys, the Autobots were ready to sacrifice themselves for our planet. I'll do the same for theirs." Ash responded courageously.

"That goes for me too, clanckers." Ritchie followed.

"Yeah, what Ash said." Misty supported.

"So would we." May proclaimed as Max nodded hugging her.

"Yeah." Clemont added alongside his sister.

"You will not get away with this." Iris recalled.

"Axew." Iris's pokémon imitated.

"Pika pika!" Both Pikachu and Sparky cheered.

"Pi piplup." Piplup said getting a brave pose.

"Perhaps we should oblige them." Galvatron suggested.

"If my decision dooms the future of the Autobot cause on Cybertron, so be it. But I will never forsake our friends." Optimus declared before planting the Star Saber to the ground and took a few steps back.

"As well as we. We will never trade with their lives." Elita supported as she signaled the team to surrender.

One by one, the Autobots deactivated their relics and threw them with the Star Saber. The gang could only look sad how their friends gave up.

"Now if you please, the Omega Keys. One at a time." Galvatron demanded.

Knock Out took a step forward with his pod.

"You first, cool Wrecker." The Decepticon medic asked.

Wheeljack looked at Optimus, who signaled him to go nodding. So Wheeljack, after taking one of the keys, walked until he met with Knock Out face to face.

"If I don't get the kids, I'll make sure you'll never fix your finish anymore." Wheeljack threatened slamming the key in Knock Out's hand.

"You're welcome." Knock Out answered giving him the pod.

"Get scrapped!" Dawn cursed.

Next, Bumblebee and Soundblaster met half ways for the next pod-key trade.

"(If I discover that you have harmed them, even a little, you're doom.)" Bee menaced giving him the key and taking the pod. "(Easy, Max. Are you okay?)"

"Yeah, not a single scratch, Bee."

There was only one pod left and two keys. Galvatron smirked.

"If the human called Ash was important enough to entrust with the Matrix of Leadership, he and his friends are worth two Omega Keys." Galvatron declared.

Elita signaled Arcee and Hot Rod to make the trade. They met with Starscream half ways, so he placed the pod to the ground.

"No tricks." The Seeker advised as the Genesect aimed their cannons at the Autobots. "The keys if you please."

Both Autobots gave him the two last keys.

"Guys, we're sorry." Ash lamented as he hugged a crying Serena.

"Pikachu."

"Don't blame yourself, pals. None of us saw it coming." Hot Rod reassured.

"Anytime." Arcee added, making the couple smile.

But their reunion time was ephemeral, because suddenly a ground bridge opened next to them and lots of Vehicon troops came out, aiming their guns at the Autobots. Meanwhile, on the Autobot base, Ratchet kept checking the monitors waiting when he got a call.

He sighed relieved. "Optimus, were you successful?"

"Uh, no Ratchet. It's Delia Ketchum. How are you?" Ash's mother call from her house.

"Ah, uh…busy, miss Ketchum. I'm expecting urgent news from the Autobots."

"Oh, is Ash with them?"

"No. Why?"

"I haven't seen him in all day. And he isn't returning my calls."

"I will have Ash contact you immediately should I hear from him. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must keep the com-lines clear." Ratchet said before hanging up.

"Ratchet?! Hello?!" Delia called, without answer.

At the same time on Cybertron, with Team Prime cornered, Galvatron proceeded to activate the Omega Lock.

"Now bear witness as a new era dawns on Cybertron." Galvatron proclaimed as the four Decepticons inserted the Omega Keys by order. Then, the lock projected a holographic control panel. "Behold the Age of the Decepticons!" Galvatron shouted to the sky.

The Omega Lock started to charge when electric currents flowed through the structure. Next, Galvatron pressed a button, making the lock fired a beam of pure energy at a crumbled building, making all its pieces mixed together. Within a minute, the building was completely restored.

"By the Allspark." Moonracer expressed.

"(Incredible.)"

"Whoa." The children said at the same time.

Sideswipe whistled. "Instant home makeover."

"Shiny." Knock Out observed.

"You have what you wanted, Galvatron. This conflict is between Autobots and Decepticons. Allow me to return the humans and pokémon to Earth." Optimus declared.

"Oh, I wouldn't recommend it. They'll be far safer here." Galvatron advised, making Optimus suspect which was his true intentions. "Is the space bridge locked on target?"

"Per your instructions, lord Galvatron." Starscream confirmed.

"Excellent. Why rule only one world, when I can rule two?"

Then, a space bridge appeared right above the Omega Lock. Galvatron pressed a button and the lock fired an energy beam at the portal.

"No." Optimus said horrified.

The space bridge sent the beam directly to Earth. Meanwhile, Delia Ketchum was still in her house trying to call Ash with her phone. Suddenly, a sudden earthquake startled her and Mr. Mime, so they came out to see what was going on. But what they saw made Delia drop her phone.

"Mime mime mime!"

"Yes Mime, this can't be good. Go and warn professor Oak as fast as you can. Oh, I hope Ash and Serena are fine." She expressed as she observed the energy beam.

That was also noticed too at base.

"Optimus, do you read? An unknown energy spike in Earth's atmosphere is crashing all my systems." Ratchet reported. "Please tell me this is related to the activation of the Omega Lock."

Back on Cybertron…

"If the Omega Lock can restore Cybertron, it'll do the same to Earth, right?" Bonnie asked worried.

"No. It will cyberform your planet in favor of its new matrix. Destroying all indigenous life in the process." Elita revealed.

"So, it's going to destroy our home and everyone in there?" Misty asked in disbelief.

"And turned it into a second Cybertron?" Clemont added.

"Such raw power. What shall I call my new domain? New Kaon, or perhaps Gilded Earth?" Galvatron gloated.

Optimus looked the scene before he looked at the humans sadly.

"No!" Ash protested.

"Leave our planet alone!" Serena added.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu yelled leaking sparks ready for battle.

"You monster! This is not restoration, it's extinction!" Ritchie shouted.

"You'll pay for this!" Iris added.

Next, he looked back to Galvatron, who laughed maniacally like the rest of the Decepticons. With this Optimus had had enough, so he, fueled by rage, pulled out his sword and eliminated the Con in front of him. Next, he sprinted for the Star Saber and grabbed it. Three Cons tried to stop him, but he unleashed a wave of energy that sent them flying. Roaring in rage, Galvatron pulled out his Dark Star Saber and charged for Optimus, so he did the same. But when they clashed their swords, Optimus used all his strength that he took the chance and cut off Galvatron's Prime arm, giving him enormous amount of pain. The arm, still holding the Dark Star Saber, fell to the ground, while Galvatron fell to his knees. Next, Optimus went for the Omega Lock, so the Genesect squad responded firing Techno Blast, Soundblaster fired lasers from his tentacles as Knock Out changed his hand for a blaster and fired, but Optimus continued advancing, deflecting the shots. Starscream tried to hit him with a missile, but he dodged it in the last moment. That allowed him to jump on his face and let out a battle cry as he prepared to hit the Omega Lock control panel. The result caused a big explosion that pushed everyone back, but a least the beam of energy disappeared, something that Ratchet noticed too when all the computers returned to normal.

"Optimus, Elita, can you read?"

"Ratchet, please open a space bridge." The female Autobot leader replied sad, so Ratchet went for it immediately.

Back to Cybertron, the entire Omega Lock was completely in ruins and flames. Fortunately, the Autobots were not harmed by the explosion, as well as the pods. Optimus appeared from the smoke and placed the Star Saber back on his back, just when their space bridge appeared and everyone went in. After recovering, the Genesect went to check Starscream, who got out of the ruble gasping and coughing. Then, he and Soundblaster witnessed in horror how the Omega Lock was now.

"I guess we should cancel the welcome home party." Knock Out simply said, right before Starscream punched angrily him back.

"Attend to our master, he requires medical attention!"

Knock Out did it without arguing because Galvatron was still hurt for his duel against Prime. Infernyphoon signaled to its leader the Autobots escaping in their space bridge.

"PRIME! You will pay for dooming Cybertron to remain a lifeless husk!" Starscream declared furious.

But for everyone's surprise, Galvatron was not mad, instead he started to laugh maniacally.

"They can run, but they can never again run home." Galvatron said smirking.

The Autobots' return to base was too quiet. Ratchet noticed they were carrying the pods with the kids still inside.

"The children? What happened?" Ratchet asked, but no one spoke, only set free the children. "Somebody says something."

"Optimus…destroyed the Omega Lock." Warpath finally said.

"What?! You did…"

"What was necessary." Elita interrupted. "There was no time for another prolonged battle, not with Earth in imminent danger."

"So you destroyed the only device in any universe capable of restoring our home?" Ratchet asked, very shocked and in disbelief. "Optimus…we needed that."

"You weren't there, Ratchet." Moonracer defended.

"And it's not your place to second guess a battlefield decision." Smokey supported.

"It most certainly is! There had to be another way!" Ratchet protested, now mad.

"It wasn't that simple, Ratchet." Max started.

"Galvatron was using the Omega Lock to attack the Earth." Clemont added.

"Optimus saved our planet." Bonnie followed.

"What about our planet?! All of our struggles and energon spilled, countless sacrifices for nothing?!" Ratchet shouted in rage.

"Ratchet, calm down. That's not gonna help in anyway." Hot Rod said, trying to tranquilize him.

"Right decision or wrong, what's done is done. But we have another problem here on this world: the Cons just changed the rules when they put the children into play." Arcee said.

In that moment, the computer beeped, signaling an incoming transmission.

"Prime! The Kanto's defense forces are prepared to go Def Con One! I need to know what we're dealing with!"

"To what do you refer, Ranger Kellyn?"

"Maybe you should step outside and see for yourselves."

"Ratchet, watch the children."

The gang didn't have any clue of what was going on. The Autobots took the supreme elevator to reach the base's top. Right in front of them, in middle of the surrounding forest, was a huge cybertronian structure. At the same time, a Braviary landed next to them, and pokémon ranger Kellyn, who was ridding it, met with them.

"Huh guys, is that what I think it is?" Sideswipe asked nervous.

"Galvatron has managed to accomplish the first phase of his cyberforming of Earth: the construction of his fortress." Optimus observed.

"Next to Mt. Moon? I don't get it. Pewter and Cerulean City are already being evacuated. Why here?" Kellyn asked.

"(Look! Something is coming down!)" Bee pointed.

Everyone saw the Nemesis descending towards them, in front of the fortress.

"Because the Decepticons have discovered the location of our base." Elita realized.

On top of the Nemesis, Galvatron was accompanied by Soundblaster and Knock Out in front of a huge battalion of Decepticon air soldiers with a color scheme similar to Starscream's: a new Seeker armada, his second-in-command and his Genesect squad, now wearing some kind of armor with the Decepticon emblem.

"Our opportunity to revive Cybertron has been lost, due to the treachery of Optimus Prime! But from our fortress of New Kaon, we will instead seize control of this world! DECEPTICONS, TRANSFORM AND RISE UP!" Galvatron proclaimed.

"All hail Galvatron!" The battalion cheered.

"I thought he'd never ask!" Starscream declared cheered.

Starscream changed to his alt mode, the same as the Seeker battalion and his Genesect and started leading a direct assault against the Autobot base.

"Come, my armada! Attack, attack, attack!" Starscream commanded.

The new Decepticon armada fired a barrage of laser shots at the Autobots, but they managed to evade the impacts. They started to defend themselves the best that they could, especially because the next wave was an Insecticon swarm that charged at them and started crawling over their base. The Autobots fought and fired them off the base's stop before the rest of the swarm fired again, so Optimus swung the Star Saber and destroyed all the Insecticons that were on its way. But coming from the explosion, the Seekers and the rest of the armada approached for another round.

"Autobots, into the base." Optimus commanded.

As everyone went back to the elevator, Warpath noticed that Kellyn went back with his Braviary.

"Kellyn, what are you doing?" Warpath asked.

"My job." He answered before he and Braviary took flight. "We need to draw their attention. Use Brave Bird."

Braviary charged against the Seeker armada, taking down at least one, but the Decepticons simply ignored them as they continued attacking the base. That was noticed inside the base.

"What's happening?" Ash asked, just when the Autobots returned.

"What is going on out there?" Ratchet asked.

"The Decepticons have invaded Mt. Moon." Optimus answered.

"And Kellyn seem to think he can hold them off by himself!" Hot Rod added.

"A pokemon ranger against an entire Seeker fleet? There is no way he can prevail." Sideswipe immediately judged.

Just as Sideswipe suspected, things were not going well for Kellyn and Braviary: they were being chased by three Seekers.

"This is pokémon ranger Kellyn to headquarters, I need immediate combat support." He called through his com-link.

Suddenly, one shot managed to hit Braviary, forcing the pokémon to land on a high rock. As he checked the pokémon and gave him a potion to heal, three Insecticons surrounded them.

"Come on, headquarters."

But before they could fire, the Insecticons were shot down by heavy laser fire.

"Did Arceus answered my prayers?" Kellyn asked confused as he tried to see better what saved them.

From the sky, a very familiar ship appeared and continued firing at the enemy ships, taking down the ones after the duo.

"Prime, reinforcements just arrived."

"Ranger Kellyn, your forces cannot prevail against…" Optimus started.

"You didn't think I was going to miss all the fun, did you?" A familiar voice said.

Misty smiled immediately. "Hey, I recognize that voice."

"So do I, haha. It's Seaspray!" Wheeljack shouted happy.

Indeed, Seaspray joined the battle shooting down enemies with his ship.

"Seaspray? But how did you…?" Ratchet started at the moment Seaspray appeared on the screen.

"I detected a strange energy surge, and I saw the entire mess around your mountain. Hope you don't mind some help."

"No, it's just that after everything, well…"

"We're on the same team, Ratchet. Always will be."

Seaspray continued his warpath, eliminating Insecticons and Seekers on his way. Meanwhile, Optimus had to make an importance choice.

"Ratchet, prepare to bridge everyone out of here." Optimus decided.

"We're abandoning the base?" Elita asked.

"The base is lost. Seaspray and Ranger Kellyn can only buy us time to escape. Bumblebee, Max, you'll depart first."

"(Okay.)"

"You're splitting us up?" Tracey asked.

"Shouldn't we stick together?" Max asked.

"All for one and one for all?" Bonnie added.

"We must disperse to avoid capture, until we can regroup and launch a counterattack. Survival is our only priority now." Optimus explained before everyone prepared to leave base.

Back to the outside, Braviary had an Insecticon chasing after him. Kellyn noticed a Seeker heading their way, so they used the smoke from the burning remains of another Seeker to blind them, making that the Seeker and the Insecticon crashed into each other in the smoke.

"It will take more than giant metal bugs to take down a top ranger." Kellyn declared proud.

Suddenly, a large shadow started to raise above the base: it was the Nemesis, which positioned itself above it. Galvatron stood in the edge of the Nemesis's top spotting everything. Inside the base, after saying goodbye to his older sister with a few tears from her, Bee and Max went through the portal. Next, Ratchet rested the ground bridge to another location while Warpath got ready for departure, with Misty and May inside him.

"We haven't much time!" Optimus reminded.

Tracey was already inside Hot Rod while Ash and Serena hug each other.

"Please be safe." Serena begged tearful.

"Fear nothing. You know how strong am I since we met again on Kalos. Besides, I have Pikachu to watch my back, right buddy?"

"Pikachu." Ash's pokémon answered with a thumb-up.

"I will try to reunite with you the fastest I can. Until then, be the strong girl that I now you are." Ash encouraged.

Serena cleaned her tears and smiled. "I will."

"Hey lovebirds, could you please make this quick? Our time is out!" Arcee pressed.

After giving her a last kiss, Ash and Pikachu got inside Hot Rod before he entered the ground bridge. He was followed by Serena and Arcee. Dawn, Piplup and Wheeljack were the next ones, as Ratchet relocated the ground bridge, she spotted Ritchie through the window, getting ready to depart with Sparky and Sideswipe, and looked at him with sadness right when they left base, being followed by Bonnie and Moonracer after she said goodbye to his older brother. At the same time outside the base, Delia was driving toward base and saw Galvatron's warship above it. Unfortunately, a Seeker spotted her and fired at her. The shots caused her to swerve and stop the car. The Seeker transformed in front of her and approached the car. Kellyn's Braviary was near taking down another Insecticon with Hurricane, so he spotted her.

"Miss Ketchum? Braviary, use Hyper Beam."

The Seeker was about to fire, but Braviary hit him first, making his corpse to fall on top of the car. Delia got off and saw Kellyn and Braviary landing near her, so she rushed to reach them. Meanwhile, Seaspray's ship was now being chased by two of Starscream's Genesect: Techbug and Waterspout, which were firing Signal Beam and Dark Pulse in an attempt to damage the Autobot's ship. But that was a distraction so Starscream positioned behind its tail.

"You're scrapped." He said as he launched two missiles at him.

Seaspray saw the missiles incoming, so he steered his ship in a barrel roll and even banked to the left and the right, but as missiles continued following him, he saw Cryotremor and Zapwave in front of the ship and trapped the ship with Electroweb as an Ice Beam hit the ship's engines, slowing it down. That allowed the missiles to impacted on the ship's engines, making it to crash somewhere behind the mountain which was the base.

"A good lesson for you boys: that's how you wreck a Wrecker!" Starscream bragged before laughing maniacally.

Inside the base, it was Smokescreen and Iris's turn for departure. He saluted Optimus before transforming, allowing Iris and Axew to get inside him and drive at the portal.

"Ratchet, now it's your time to go with Clemont. You may be our medic, but now your duty as his guardian must be your only priority. Elita will depart after you." Optimus instructed.

"What about you?" Ratchet asked.

"I will ensure that the Decepticons cannot follow." Optimus replied.

Knowing what Optimus was referring with that, Ratchet walked to the ground bridge, transformed and allowed Clemont to ride with him before departing.

Optimus changed the ground bridge coordinates one last time. "Elita, it's your turn now."

"Optimus, what did you mean with that? We need you to guide us now in our darkest hour."

"If we both leave, the Decepticons would occupy the base, and Soundblaster may possibly discover the locations of our partners within the ground bridge recordings. By destroying it, I will make sure they have no clue of where you may hide."

Knowing his mate came up with his decision, Elita's face looked like if she was about to cry before she hug Optimus, who returned the hug. Once they broke the hug, Elita walked to the ground bridge, but stopped at the entrance with her head down.

"I…never imagined it would end like this." She said sadly before she entered the portal.

"Neither did I, my love." Optimus lamented before looking at the ground bridge's controls.

Meanwhile, the Nemesis opened its lower part and pulled out some kind of antenna-like object that aimed at the base and started to charge with energy: it was some kind of superweapon. Delia and Ranger Kellyn saw that from the distance. Optimus pulled out the Star Saber, with intention of use it. He raised it and hit the ground bridge controls with it, just when the Nemesis's weapon fired a huge beam of energy to the base's top, causing a huge explosion that destroyed the entire mountain. When the smoke cleared, it revealed the entire base reduced to a fiery ruin.

"No." Delia expressed horrified.

Kellyn refused to look. "We can't do anything more. Braviary, let's get out of here."

Galvatron changed to vehicle form and descended to the base, as Starscream did it accompanied by all his Genesect. They all transformed and landed, right in front of the Autobot symbol of the ground.

"This is the place alright." Starscream observed.

"This was the place." Galvatron corrected.

"United we stand, divided they fall."

Not very far from them, in a pile of burning ruble was Optimus's arm stuck out, which looked like if he had fallen.