56- Project Predacon.

It was night when Optimus was waiting inside a warehouse as a vehicle drove in. After the vehicle stopped, the driver went out.

"Prime, what we have here is an experimental, all-terrain, expeditionary fighting vehicle. Designed by the finest engineers of the Global Military Forces."

"Thank you, Ranger Lunick. This will most certainly do." Optimus said before he stepped in front of the vehicle and commenced to scan it with two blue beams of light from his eyes.

Next day, it seemed that the Autobots decided to stablish their new base of operations on one of the warehouses of the pokémon rangers's base on the Fiore region. But they didn't do it alone, their human and pokémon friends also helped setting the place up. One example was Clemont, who alongside Blaster, was making sure the new ground bridge was checked and ready for function.

"Return trajectory fluctuations have been stabilized!" Clemont reported.

Blaster nodded. "Ultra Magnus, we are ready to receive you."

A portal opened right in front of them.

"You guys did it. We have a ground bridge once again." May congratulated them.

"Well, it also surprised me. I thought it would take longer for it to properly work." Clemont admitted.

"I guess I did well to show you the ground bridge's schematics, Clemont. You now possess all the knowledge to properly make one even by yourself." Ratchet congratulated.

From the portal emerged a truck similar to Optimus's previous alt form, except that this one seemed a little different, with blue and red touches as color schemes. It was carrying some empty energon cubes, which Bee and Hot Rod took, allowing the vehicle to transform, revealing to be Ultra Magnus.

"How was it?" Elita asked walking at him.

"We didn't find much else in the rubble of the former base." Ultra Magnus informed.

Then Wheeljack emerged from the vortex, carrying a lob-ball. "You call this…not much else?"

Without warning he threw the ball right at Warpath, who wasn't prepared and the ball bounced off his chest plating and directly to Dawn.

"Dawn, watch out!" Ritchie yelled.

Fortunately, Ritchie pulled her out of the way on time, so the ball slammed the wall. Piplup and Sparky didn't need to dodge because they were a few meters from their trainers.

"Wheeljack, you could have caused serious damage!" Ratchet scold.

"To me!" Dawn added.

"Upps, sorry Dawn." The Wrecker apologized.

But the worst thing was that the ball slammed just where Ranger Kellyn's office was. He and Ranger Kate were inside when the ball impact sent them to the floor.

"What in the name of Arceus was that? An earthquake?" Ranger Kate asked, a little stunned by the impact.

"I don't think so. I have a better idea of what did it." Kellyn said after helping her up. He went to open the door, but the ball was blocking the way out. "Eh, a little help here?"

"What were you thinking, soldier?" Ultra Magnus demanded.

"I was thinking Warpath could catch that lob." Wheeljack simply answered.

"Allow me to make myself clear: as Optimus Prime's third-in-command, I have no intention of tolerating Wrecker behavior."

"Some things never change."

All the other Autobots noticed the tension raising.

"Jackie…" Seaspray called.

"Need I remind you that it was Optimus Prime himself who assigned me to command your Wreckers back on Cybertron, and get your loose cannons under control. An effective combat unit begins with discipline. If you won't accept that, feel free to choose the path of least resistance…as you did before." Ultra Magnus said firm.

"If Seaspray's ship weren't a twisted wreck at present, I'd do that. Sir." Wheeljack answered before he passed through everyone and left.

Ultra Magnus sighed before turning at the others. "So, any word from Optimus?"

"He's investigating recent Decepticon activity." Ratchet informed.

"Let's hope it may be an energon mine." Hot Rod added.

"By the way Ritchie, thank you." Dawn thanked.

"Uh…yeah. No problem." He answered, a little red.

"Something tells me Ash and Serena are not going to be the only couple here." Misty noticed.

"Really?" Max asked confused.

Speaking about Optimus, he was testing the flying skills of his new body as he headed to the zone to investigate, which hopefully was also in the Fiore region. Optimus landed at the entrance of the Krokka Tunnel, but he realized his new body was too big to enter walking.

"Hmm."

So he changed to his new vehicle form and drove inside the tunnel. Meanwhile, in the base…

"How awesome would it be if you all had jetpacks like Optimus?"

"Indeed, Bonnie. But the forge has been depleted of its power to do that." Elita reminded.

"Now it's only good for bounding out dents." Warpath pointed.

Then everyone heard a car engine, and a very familiar car entered the room, but this had a new color scheme: it was blue with yellow touches.

"Oh, about time, Smokescreen." Iris called.

The car transformed, revealing to be the same Autobot.

"Aw! Iris, I wanted to give them a surprise!" The young Autobot complained.

Iris laughed. "I know, but I wanted to blow up your cover first. Better luck next time."

"What's with the new look, Smokey?" Moon asked.

"Come on! Robots in disguise, right?"

Ultra Magnus approached him. "Where have you been, soldier?"

"Scanning new war paint. Thought it would be proactive to follow Optimus's lead, and Bumblebee's." Smokescreen answered while Bee heard him.

"(I just only did it to survive.)"

"Well, now you can look your best helping us stacking these empty cubes." Sideswipe called.

"Indeed." Magnus supported.

"Yes sir." Smokescreen accepted. "I was nearly a Prime, but somehow I'm still a rookie."

"What was that about a Prime?" Ratchet asked, revealing that he caught some of his words.

"Uh…time. Time to stop acting like a rookie." He lied before he left.

Arcee went next to Elita One. "Smokescreen, Iris and Axew were the only ones who went back. If it weren't for them, Optimus might not be with us today."

"Arcee, we were under the strictest of orders. All of you have your human partners to protect, but we are fortunate that Smokescreen and his partners are inexperienced enough not to follow protocol." Elita said.

Back inside the tunnel, two Decepticon miners were operating the mining drills, protected by a small group of Insecticons and Techbug. The miners reversed the drills allowing the pokémon to look inside the hole. The Genesect decided to used Metal Claw to finish digging, revealing what they were looking for: some kind of skull. Techbug was about to grab it when…

"Abandon the excavation! Now!"

It was Optimus in his vehicle form, who speeded up towards them. Techbug pointed it to his companions, so three of the Insecticons transformed and flew at him while the others charged on foot. Optimus responded firing three missiles from the upper part of his vehicle form, which took down the three Insecticons. One of the ones which charged at foot fired, so Optimus serpentine, hitting one of the bugs. Then he returned to his robot form before throwing an uppercut on the last bug. As it was getting up, Optimus turned his hand into a new cannon so powerful that left a huge hole on the Insecticon's chest as mark of the shot. Techbug tried to grab the skull, but he broke it and only grab a piece. Thinking it was enough, the pokémon changed to its flying form and left through a hole in the ceiling. Despite that, Optimus could see what he could not take. Moments later, he used a ground bridge to return to base.

"Optimus, glad to see you back." Elita greeted.

"Did you find energon?" Blaster asked.

"No. But I did uncover this." Optimus answered placing on a table the skull.

"It cannot be." Ratchet witnessed.

"Be what?" Ash asked.

"The ancient remains…of a Predacon." Optimus answered.

"Thought it remains unclear why such a skull would be found on your planet, its presence reveals all too much about the Predacon which Galvatron recently sent in pursuit of us." Ratchet said.

"You meant that dragon-type pokémon-like cybertronian creature we sent to the Poles?" May asked.

"A cybertronian dragon pokémon?!" Iris asked in disbelief. "How much did we miss?"

"A few things we forgot to share." Misty answered.

"No. Predacons are not pokémon, just some of Cybertron's prehistoric wildlife." Arcee clarified.

"And the fact that they resemble a lot to your dragon-type pokémon is just a coincidence. Except that Predacons have been extinct since…well…" Hot Rod started.

"Since before most life began on Cybertron." Smokescreen finished.

"So they're like the prehistoric pokémon." Max noticed.

"Which means for you running into one would be like us meeting a wild Tyrantrum survivor." Tracey added.

"So, this means the Dinobots are their counterpart?"

"No Dawn, that's totally different. They told us Shockblast performed some experiments on them, which is why now they have those new alt forms. But Predacons were original ones." Warpath clarified.

"With Galvatron seeing new interest in the excavation of prehistoric skeletons." Elita started.

"And a certain well-known scientist back among their ranks." Sideswipe continued.

"It would stand to reason that Shockblast cloned the beast from one such find." Optimus finished.

"And now Galvatron's looking to clone another." Ultra Magnus added.

"What makes you think Buckethead will stop at just one?" Wheeljack pointed.

"We could have beast wars on our hands." Seaspray deduced.

"And if Shockblast only requires a single strand of CNA from which to clone a beast." Blaster continued.

"He already possesses what he needs to engender this one." Optimus reported. "Autobots, we must become beast hunters."

"One thing still doesn't follow." Smokescreen pointed. "Predacons went extinct on Cybertron. So what would their bones be doing here?"

In that moment, Techbug delivered the bone back to his masters inside the Nemesis.

"On Earth?! I mean, isn't it just a little preposterous?!"

"They are not the remains of Predacons, Starscream. But rather, the remains of Predacon clones." Galvatron explained as Shockblast scanned the bone. "For you see: our recent Autobot hunter wasn't the first beastly super soldier Shockblast ever attempted to breed from prehistoric matter."

A flashback showed Shockblast's lab full with active stasis container pods, each one with a Predacon waiting to rise.

"During the War for Cybertron, I sanctioned the dispatch of a small army of these Predaclones to Earth. To unleash the beasts on unwitty Autobot forces stationed here." Galvatron continued.

The next flashback showed an entire group of Predacons of all kinds chasing the Autobots on Earth in ancient times.

"Once they accomplished their mission, the surviving Predacons held sentinel on this very world for ages to come. Guarding the energon reserves they've managed to secure, while awaiting my arrival."

The last image showed the surviving creatures stood on an ocean cliff, looking at the sunset.

"Of course, our reunion here was much delayed and it would seem we lost the beasts to the ravages of time."

"But not their endo-matter, from which I am logically able to extract their very CNA." Shockblast added holding the bone.

"Pfft, another scavenger hunt? How logical would it really be to locate all the dusty remains of your former…pets?" Starscream asked.

"You are not suggesting that I would send my creations to a distant planet without first having them microchipped?" Shockblast answered.

"Well, I- Well, I was… But seriously, you did?" He asked confused.

Back to the Autobot base, the team was seeing a lot of pictures of many kinds of dragon-like creatures.

"This is all the information we managed to collect from our historical texts." Blaster reported.

"But those are ancient interpretations of legendary pokémon from our mythology and legends." Clemont recognized.

"They do not look like prehistoric pokémon." Serena added.

"It would stand to reason that Predacons did indeed walk upon this Earth in ancient times. As they seem to have been some of the basics for much of humankind's folklore." Optimus interpreted.

"Showing once again, that the past of Earth and Cybertron are inextricably linked." Elita told.

When the night came, some members of the gang were still at the warehouse's rest area sleeping on the couches. Hot Rod, Sideswipe and Moonracer did their best to not disturb their sleep as they walked near them.

"Look at them. Like if nothing wrong happened." Moonracer admired.

"Remind me why they are still here." Sideswipe asked.

"They asked the pokémon rangers to communicate their families they are fine so they could remain here. Ash and Tracey, on the other hand, had to return back to Pallet Town to assist Delia in check things back home. Serena had to return back home by her mother's request." Hot Rod explained.

"Yeah, Ritchie also asked me if I could take him back home. He wanted to see how his family is. Well, let's hope they gave their parents a good excuse."

As they went with their companions, Ratchet was working on something.

"Is that…synthetic energon?" Elita asked.

"Indeed. I am concerned that without access to any energon reserves since our base was destroyed, our ability to deal with impending crisis will be severely hampered." Ratchet explained.

"A wise decision, old friend." Optimus congratulated.

"Just please, manage your expectations. I am working with even more rudimentary hardware than before." Ratchet saw showing the human made materials he had now as his items.

"Prime!" Ranger Lunick called from a corridor's door. "Satellite surveillance just picked two signs of Decepticon activity. One in a natural coal deposit near Remoraid Mountain and the other in an island of Hoenn."

All the fuss woke up Misty and Dawn.

"So don't forget to pack your sunscreen." The pokémon ranger ended.

"We better divide our resources." Elita proposed.

"Agree." Optimus nodded before turning to the team. "Ultra Magnus, lead the Wreckers to Hoenn."

"Yes, Optimus." Ultra Magnus nodded, but he approached his leader confused. "Huh…what's sunscreen?"

Elita looked at the pokémon ranger, knowing about what he was referring to. "Ranger Lunick was referring to a human costume when it comes to places with lot of sunlight. It is best to simply nod and mobilize."

With that clear, Ultra Magnus went with the two Wreckers. "Seaspray, Wheeljack, let's roll." That made Wheeljack groan. As he was making his way, Ultra Magnus stared at the Forge of Solus Prime. "Optimus, I know there are many emotions tied to the forge.

"This is no time to stand on ceremony."

So Ultra Magnus grabbed it. "I would be honored to put this to some practical use."

"Blaster, bridge us now." Optimus commanded.

"At the moment. I was waiting to test my new skill."

Blaster referred to his new ability to open a ground bridge by his own, just like Soundblaster. He opened a portal which took him, Optimus, Elita, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Moonracer, and Sideswipe to the desert surroundings of Remoraid Mountain, right on a rock bridge. Optimus took a look before turning at the team.

"Blaster and I will search this quadrant." Optimus instructed.

"I will inspect it from the ground." Elita joined before looking at the rest. "You go that way."

Optimus activated his jet-pack and took flight as Blaster changed to vehicle form and joined him. Elita changed to vehicle form and went at the same direction as the flyers.

"Okay boys, let's roll." Moonracer commanded before she and the others transformed and followed the path.

In a couple of minutes, the four Autobots found the coal field. So they changed to robot form and prepared their weapons.

"Hey guys, have you ever thought you might wanna be a Prime?" Smokescreen suddenly asked.

"What? What do you mean with that?" Sideswipe asked.

"You mean now?" Moonracer added.

"Not now. Someday." Smokescreen clarified.

"Honestly, I don't think I'm cut out for that post. I mean, yeah, it sounds cool to be in charge of someone, but not an entire faction which depends on your choices. That place is made for guys like Optimus or Magnus." Sideswipe expressed.

"Actually, I never thought of that. All the time I was on Elita's unit, the only thing I was focused on was to act well as a soldier. And I felt good, so I guess if I was pleased with that, what else would I wish for?" Moon reflected.

"Honestly, I thought being Optimus's sparkmate, Elita One should be a worthy candidate of being a Prime. She has quite the leadership touch."

"You're not wrong there. Actually, she also has some part of Prime."

"Huh?!" Smokescreen asked in disbelief. "What do you mean with that, Moon?"

"Some time, after receiving the matrix from Primus, Elita was seriously damaged in battle, and almost out of any conventional medical treatment. So Optimus decided to share a part of the matrix's energy to heal her, an insignificant portion, but still powerful. That's how she became to be known as Elita One, the leader of all female Autobots. The equivalent of Optimus Prime."

"Whoa, that's quite a story, you gotta tell me the details when we have time. What about you, Bee?"

"(Actually, I've always wanted to be warrior class.)"

"Warrior, yeah. You and me both." Smokescreen supported.

"Don't forget about Hot Rod." Moon added.

"But I've seen you in action. Optimus knows you can scrap with the best of them. Why won't he just promote you from scout already?"

"(It was my decision to remain as a scout.)"

"Your choice? Hum, I always thought it was because someone of high rank said no one could change class." Sideswipe opined.

"So, why wait?" Smokey asked.

"(Wouldn't you want to be promoted at home?)"

"Guess it would be more meaningful to be graduated back home, on Cybertron."

"Bumblebee may be young like you, but patience is one of his virtues." Moon said.

"He may be the most patient guy we've ever known." Sideswipe confessed.

"I should take a cue." Smokescreen added saying the last part to himself.

Suddenly, they heard a drilling noise, so Bee pointed them to where the sound was coming as they hid behind a boulder.

"You guys go that way. I'll watch your backs." Moon instructed before she ran behind other boulders.

"And where she's going?" Sideswipe asked confused.

"(I'm not sure, but surely it's for something good.)"

"Let's not let her down." Smokey supported.

They spotted a mining drill and a couple of Decepticon soldiers guarding. The three Autobots moved out, but they didn't notice the Decepticon long-range soldiers on distant rocks who observed them. In the moment they charged their weapons, the Autobots nodded and quickly scattered within a split second, evading the blaster fire. They found some cover and Bumblebee returned fire, taking down one of them, but the long-range soldiers changed to their helicopter forms to get closer and fire at him, but a few quick shots took them down. They spotted Moonracer firing her sniper rifle from a high hill, taking down the enemy snipers even before they could fire at her first. Sideswipe took the chance of them being focused on Moon and changed to vehicle form, drove next to them and stopped in front of a group of tanks. Next, he rolled his wheels the fastest he could and threw lots of mud at them, covering even their visors, what he wanted. With his opponents blinded, he returned to robot form, pulled out his swords and started jumping between them slicing. Smokescreen had a shot for one of the Cons and eliminated it, but two other Vehicons fired at him. He hid and readied his blasters, next he ran out from the cover, a big rock, and fired at it before coming out of it, causing a collapse which created a dust cloud. When the cloud cleared, he disappeared. They stopped to wonder how he vanished, and then they looked up to see him on top of what remained of the rock tower, seeing him jumping at them firing. Before landing he grabbed one of the Vehicons and threw him to the other. The survivor smacked to a rock wall, and when he recovered, he noticed Smokescreen with the arms crossed pointing to look up, but when he did, he saw a big rock falling straight toward him, smashing his head. Bumblebee eliminated a Decepticon tank by shooting his arm off, then his leg and finally his head. Another Con fired at him, but he kicked him at the face, sending him right at Sideswipe, who knocked him down. Another Con, a heavy soldier tried to smash him, but he grabbed him and spun him around, punching his head when he had the chance. Moonracer approached in vehicle mode, ran over the Con's face and in middle of the air, she returned to robot form, pulled out her melee weapons and cut off the Con's head, all really fast.

"And that's why no one should mess with the best defenders of Earth." Sideswipe celebrated, seeing no more enemies around.

"Like I said; Bee got nice chops for a scout." Smokescreen repeated.

"We surely make a good team." Moon added.

Then they heard loud footsteps, so they turned to the excavated hole and saw Shockblast emerging, with the Predacon bone on his hand.

"Well well, look who's here with us. It's nothing but the cruel, cold-sparked and emotionless Decepticon cyclops."

"It is also unpleasant to see you once again, Sideswipe. However, even if you outnumber me…" Shockblast said as he turned his free hand into his recognizable shock cannon. "…it is illogical to you to face me."

Shockblast started firing his shock cannon at them. The Autobots managed to dodge the huge blasts and fire him back. Some of the shots hit Shockblast's cannon, making it to move and accidently hit one of the near coal deposits. As it exploded, it caused a chain reaction for the others to explode. The Autobots ran away from the explosions as fast as they could, jumping into a nearby river and getting into the water. Despite scaring a few Remoraid, the Autobots not received any injury.

"How epic was that?!" Smokescreen expressed as everyone was getting out of the river.

"You've said it." Sideswipe answered.

"(You think Shockblast survived?)"

Suddenly, Shockblast jumped over them in vehicle form covered in flames, and he was getting away. Because of the flames and coal covering his engines, Shockblast couldn't fly out of the area, so he had to escape driving.

"There's your answer." Moonracer confirmed.

The four Autobots transformed and pursued him, but Shockblast turned his cannon around and fired at them, causing them to swerve. Shockblast arrived to the bridge, but then he saw Optimus and Elita coming at him, Optimus approaching faster, so he aimed his cannon at him and fired. The Autobot leader managed to dodge all shots, now being his chance to fire back, so he turned his hand into a cannon and fired a huge laser shot, which impacted in front of Shockblast. The blast launched him in the air, making him roll and return to his robot form. Elita speeded up, jumped, and while in the air she changed to robot form and kicked him hard against the floor, making him lost grip of the bone.

"Woah! And that's why they're leaders." Smokescreen yelled cheered.

Then a ground bridge appeared in front of Shockblast and Elita and one familiar Decepticon came through, firing at the Autobots.

"Soundblaster." Smokescreen recognized.

"Blaster, can you please come here and give us a hand if it's not too much of a hassle?" Sideswipe asked by com-link.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Shockblast punched Elita strong that he sent her to the bridge's edge, but she was able to grab it with her hands, preventing her from falling.

"Hang in there, commander!" Moonracer yelled as she speeded up to her.

With Elita out and Optimus distracted by Soundblaster, Shockblast ran to the bone. But fortunately, Bumblebee transformed once he was close enough, jumped and kicked him on the back. While he was still in the air, both Smokescreen and Sideswipe jumped on him, grinding him to the pavement. Bumblebee tried to grab the bone, but he didn't notice that Shockblast recovered already, until he punched him hard. Sideswipe charged at him with his swords ready, but Shockblast pulled out his own big sword from his other arm and blocked him. Sideswipe tried to push him, but the Decepticon's strength was bigger and ended pushing him backwards. Smokescreen tried shooting at Shockblast, but it was useless because it seemed like he had better armor. And because he got distracted a little by the bone, Shockblast charged his cannon and fired. If it wasn't for Sideswipe, who pushed him out of the way, the shot would have hit the young Autobot. Meanwhile, Soundblaster deployed Buzzsaw to aid him on delaying Optimus.

"Enough." Optimus said as he turned around and fired his gatling gun at Soundblaster hitting him on one of his wings, but he received a few shots from Buzzsaw, who latched onto Optimus's engines and began to electrocute him.

That made Optimus to lose consciousness and start falling while Buzzsaw detached from him. Optimus crashed on the side of a bridge pillar, then the ravine wall and smacked hard to the ground. Soundblaster observed it, but he didn't saw Blaster coming and smashing him in vehicle form.

"Missed me, Soundy? Why don't you pick on someone your own style?" Blaster challenged.

Blaster continued pushing Soundblaster until they almost reached one side of the ravine, where both returned to robot form and continued rumbling. Buzzsaw was going to assist Soundblaster, but it was intercepted by Sundor, and engaged in an air combat. Meanwhile the three Autobots were still trying to get the bone from Shockblast: Bumblebee jumped on top of him, but the Decepticon grabbed him and slammed him down to the ground. Next, he aimed his cannon at his chest, but Sideswipe now jumped on his back and Smokescreen grabbed the cable attached to his cannon and pulled, preventing him from scrapping Bee, but that did not stop him from throwing Smokescreen like a rag doll before shaking off Sideswipe. As he recovered, he saw Shockblast coming at him preparing to hit him with his big sword, so he activated the phase shifter and phased through Shockblast's entire body. He made a grab for the bone, but Shockblast wasn't gonna lose grip so easily. Soon Bumblebee and Sideswipe came to help Smokey, until the bone broke, just as the same moment when Moonracer managed to help Elita up back to the bridge. The Autobot have one piece, but a small tooth was flung in the air and into the ravine. Optimus saw the tooth and took flight. As he was containing his rival, Soundblaster saw it too, so he started charging another portal, one that appeared between Optimus and the bone, which fell through the vortex and into Galvatron's hand. Then the vortex closed.

"No." Optimus said.

"We have all that we need." Shockblast told to Soundblaster.

Once Soundblaster saw coming Buzzsaw, who managed to escape from Sundor, he kicked Blaster back and recovered his Minicon before transforming and getting back to the ground bridge, while Shockblast ran toward it. The Autobots tried to shot them, but it was no use, so they reunited.

"A single strand of CNA." Blaster reminded looking the bone.

"Galvatron already has another Predacon to clone." Moonracer said.

Meanwhile in the Nemesis, Shockblast was examining the tooth when Galvatron entered the lab.

"Shockblast, I understand that you engaged Optimus Prime in the field."

"Only in order to secure the specimen, lord Galvatron."

Galvatron picked up the bone. "I believed that you had perished once, my most prized engineer. And I highly doubt that Project Predacon can be completed without you."

"I shall leave the fetching of bones to Starscream and his pokémon, and confine myself to my laboratory in order to accelerate results." Shockblast nodded.

"Excellent. For I am rather impatient to witness my army of beasts trample humankind and their own apex beasts underfoot." Galvatron declared holding the bone.