Chapter 20

Predacons Rising

The three headed beast snarled down at the group assembled before it…

Megatron growled hatefully and narrowed his optics at this hellish monstrosity; just what in the unholy name of Unicron was this thing?! Never before had he heard of any creature that would regenerate three heads when one was severed! His processor was reeling, for this situation did not make any sense! Unfortunately he did not have a long time to think about it because one of the hydras heads set its optics upon him and it lunged straight at the stunned warlord! Megatron managed to dodge out of the way of those snapping jaws and fire off three blasts from his arm cannon. Not that it did any good and after firing off a few more ineffective blasts he had no choice but to transform and fly out of the hydras reach; but while that head had been preoccupied with the Decepticon leader another had focused its attention onto Optimus Prime! This head snarled and opened its mouth preparing to blast the Prime into oblivion, but Songbird had raced forward before flaring out her wings and rocketing straight up and rammed into this head as hard as she could successfully knocking it back and diverting its flame away from Optimus! Afterwards she quickly performed an aerial loop and dove down and grabbed him up before this part of the hydra could regain itself and try again, thankfully the Prime wasn't too heavy for the gryphonformer to carry. The final head was focusing entirely on the airborne Predaking, roaring as it shot blast after blast at the swooping dragon! As he dodged and weaved amidst the hydras hellfire he would unleash his own flame breath, even though he knew that it would do nothing against this creature he just had to try something!

'There must be something else we can do!' He snapped, just as he avoided yet another one of the hydras powerful attacks. 'Fighting it in this manner is useless!'

"Well, I'm open to any suggestions!" Song grunted angrily as she barely managed to fly out of the reach of the head that was now snapping at her and Optimus Prime. The whole situation seemed to be spiraling more and more out of control by the second! How the frag were they supposed to beat this thing?! Songbird's thoughts were still racing, since she had been able to identify what this creature was after it sprang out three knew heads. After all she had read up on many of the human's legends and the story of the hydra was one of them. But curse her processor because she could not remember how that fragging story went!

Suddenly there was a sound, an extremely loud high-pitched whistle that seemed to echo for miles in any direction. The hydra heard it, obvious when all three of its heads perked up when it began and they had ceased attacking their chosen marks. Along with the whistling sound a massive groundbridge also roared to life several meters in front of the beast and without any hesitation on the hydras part it rushed forward and promptly disappeared into the swirling green vortex, which closed right after the beast slipped through. Immediately afterwards the whistling stopped and an eerie, uncomfortable silence fell over the area as the two Predacons landed near the rest of the regrouping Autobots as well as Skylynnx and Darksteel who had fled when the hydra had attacked but ultimately had returned when the monstrosity had disappeared… even with their gripping fear some part of their coding instinctively had them staying close to the other two Predacons and the team of Autobots, as there was safety in numbers.

"What happened?!" Megatron barked angrily before opening his com link to Soundwave who was currently still on board the Nemesis. "Soundwave! Where did you groundbridge the beast too?"

'Negative. No groundbridge was activated.' The Communications Officer answered sounding almost confused at his leader's sudden inquiry. This caused Megatron to growl in frustration and returned his attention to everyone else present at this scene.

"I take it that we will now have a temporary alliance?" Optimus observed.

"Only until as such time as I pull Shockwave's spark from his cold offline body." Megatron responded wickedly as he attached the Dark Star Saber to his back. "What I want to know is what happened to his abominable creature!" Thankfully Predaking was the one to voice his theory before the former gladiator could really start snarling at everybody else.

"I suspect that its master is responsible." He muttered coldly. "Although I cannot fathom why he would direct his beast away from us. He must be planning something else."

"Maybe he has another target?" Arcee asked feeling a chill beginning to creep into her spark at the thought of all that creature wreaking total havoc somewhere else on this world.

"Well, at least on a positive note we know that things can't get any worse!" Smokescreen offered up in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Very poor word choice…

A soft popping and then a hissing sound resounded from directly behind the young mech and no sooner had he turned around did he witness the hydras severed head began to shift and move before suddenly rearing up, its destroyed optics and bio-lights changing, taking on a sickeningly familiar shade of purple. The cyst on its throat had apparently popped, bleeding out dark energon… dark energon that was now reanimating this severed head! It seemed as though Shockwave had truly thought of everything, not only would severing one of the monsters heads results in three more taking its place but the severed heads were each infected with a dark energon cyst that would resurrect them once they were cut! This situation seemed to reach a whole new level of hopeless as the Terrorcon hydra head, although still blind from its earlier wounds, could smell Smokescreen and it dove forward ready to rip him to pieces before the young guard or anyone else even had a chance to react!

"I will not allow this…"

Before the beast's jaws could close around Smokescreen's frame, it seemed to spontaneously combust into searing lavender colored flames! It wailed in pain for a few moments before falling over and burning down to ashes, undoubtedly dead for good this time. Of course this resulted in a great deal of confusion from all parties present; how in the Pit did that thing just suddenly burst into flames like that?

"It appears that things have become far worse than I had originally thought they would." This time when the voice spoke everyone looked down only to see the tiny form of Yue standing amongst them.

"Who are you?" Bulkhead immediately questioned. "And when- how did you get here?"

"I've been watching everything taking place, albeit from a distance. Until now anyway…" She replied simply as her optics looked up at everyone before settling on the forms of Skylynx and Darksteel. A small smile appeared on her delicate young features and she outstretched her hands to the two… As though sensing a great power that was to be feared and respected radiating from this strange child each approached her and press their snouts into her hands, allowing her to pet them.

"Yue, do you know where Shockwave sent the hydra?" Songbird questioned, not caring whatsoever that she was getting several surprised looks to the fact that she not only knew who this strange little girl was, but also to that she believed that this child would know anything about what was happening.

"He sent the creature to the Autobot's base, where it is currently tearing everything apart." She said in an unnervingly calm voice considering the subject matter. The words had barely left her mouth when Optimus's com suddenly received an emergency transmission from Ratchet.

"Optimus! We need you back here NOW!" Not only was Ratchets voice frantic, but there were deafening sounds of roars and explosions in the background! There was one particularly loud screech and then the only thing that could be heard was static.

"Ratchet?! Ratchet?!" Optimus called into his com but he was unable to contact his friend again. Bumblebee immediately began to make his own frightened vocalizations. Addressing his fear for the welfare of their human companions who were all currently back at the base.

"How did he even know where to send the hydra?!" Predaking demanded, fearing for the sake of Moonrise, Freefall and Weaver who were also still back there as well.

"Unfortunately it was you who led him there." Yue answered coldly as the expression on her small face became ominous at best. Without saying another word she held out her hand and the alpha Predacon felt a slight pinprick on his back plating as something flew into the child's hand. It looked to be some sort of computer chip. "Just as the Predacons he created before you, he had implanted a microchip in your body. I know because when I initially healed Songbird I disabled her tracking chip… sadly I had forgotten about it until just now, otherwise I would have destroyed it when we first met." She then crushed the chip in her hand, apparently with a great deal of force as she literally reduced it to dust. As a sickening shock and horror began to course through Predakings frame, Megatron shot Optimus a cold glare.

"Just what kind of pet do you have with this human Prime?!" He demanded. Although his words only earned him a surprisingly hate filled glare from the young girl.

"I am no one's pet, you pathetic excuse for a tin can!" She snapped venomously, actually stunning the warlord to silence! Something that would have actually been funny had the situation not been so incredibly bad. But she suddenly shook her head and returned her focus back to Song, Predaking and the other two. "I fear that even with all four of you, your great strength will not be enough to slay this beast. It has become all too apparent that I will need to deal with this situation personally..."

"And just what do you think you can accomplish human?" Megatron taunted cruelly.

"More than you can possibly fathom." Yue didn't even turn around to face him when she said this but her voice seemed to change... it became less childlike, and far darker. "And allow me to correct you on something, I am only half human… my other half is everything you see in your darkest dreams."

"I hate to be the one to bring up an obvious problem," Magnus spoke getting everyone's attention. "Just how do you propose we get back there? Without Ratchet to operate the groundbridge-" The boss of the Wreckers found himself cut off mid-sentence as an unnatural wind suddenly seemed to flare up out of virtually nowhere! As this gale became increasingly stronger most everyone failed to notice (Spare for the four present Predacons who were currently facing her) the radiant glow shining from Yue's optics and the pulsing lavender light emanating from her horns. This violent surge of wind quickly began to envelop every individual present like some sort of sentient tornado!

When it finally cleared it was revealed that they had all been transported several kilometers away from the base…

And they all had a great view of the hydra levelling it…

It was a horrifying spectacle to behold. As Shockwaves hydra was effectively decimating everything in its path there was a siren resounding throughout the area signaling for either the immediate evacuation or a call to arms for all of the human personnel on the base! Multiple attack helicopters and fighter jets were in the air making fruitless attempts to stop the beast's rampage! What's worse was not only were the creatures' three heads snapping or charbroiling anything that moved in front of them, but all three of these heads were continuously pumping out thick plumes of black smoke from the vents on their necks! This not only was distorting the vision of the pilots but it was making the surrounding air so toxic that a single breath was fatal; but one thing that was so particularly disturbing was hearing on the wind the screams of the individuals who were not able to get out of the way in time turning into gurgles as they began to choke on their own innards from the smog that began to fill the entire area...

"If left alone, there is not a doubt in my mind that this monstrosity will succeed in wiping out all life on this world. I will not allow this…" Yue stated as she began walking in the direction of her target. "If only for the fact that if all the life on this planet is to die… it will be done by MY hand alone!" She roared right before her body literally evaporated into a thick white mist which quickly condensed into a large glass-like sphere tinted slightly with shades of white and purple. Like a flash of lightning, the sphere rushed forward several hundred feet before abruptly stopping and then ascending vertically all while building up a noticeable amount of static-like electricity. Once it reached a certain height it stopped… and that was when the built up electricity suddenly exploded outwards and began carving deep intricate runes into the ground below; summoning circles… The hydra began to take notice of this odd sight and ceased in its path of destruction and focused on what was going on, (Giving the humans forces that had been fighting with it a chance to retreat…) Light began to shimmer from within the circles the sphere was creating and a resounding echo of something powering up began to steadily grow until suddenly there was a blinding white light and something massive exploded out of the ground! It seemed to take several long minutes before the full body of whatever had just appeared was visible…

When it had fully manifested it was revealed that a colossal Imperial Lung Dragon had just appeared from the rune circle on the ground…

The goddess's dragon body was extremely long, longer than the hydras but not nearly as bulky. In fact it was extremely thin and lithe. When it had first burst from the ground the floating orb had merged itself into the dragons forehead and now was positioned on its heavily ornamented helm directly in between a small set of sleek horns, whilst directly behind these horns was a second much larger set that curled backwards behind its head giving it a devil like appearance. Its eyes were burning amethyst and glowed with an incredible ferocity and power, it's partially opened mouth revealed teeth that were razor-sharp and comparable to serrated daggers. The tip of its tail was armed with a fan like protrusion that was comprised of at least seven sharpened blades; the Imperial dragons long body was a gleaming silver with splashes of ivory white along its backbone and decorated with purple bio lights running along the underside of its torso. What was surprising was not only that in spite of having no wings it remained suspended in the air with no difficulty at all, but the fact that at first glance it looked as though it was almost completely organic! But after a moment it was revealed to not be the case, its body was primarily comprised of sleek protoform and giving off the field that even in spite of its ferocious and gargantuan appearance it might still be considerably underdeveloped… Nevertheless any doubts about its power were resolved the second that it opened its massive mouth and roared so loudly that the heavens above seemed to tremble!

"Yue is a Predacon?!" Predaking said in a voice that was unable to hide his shock at this new revelation.

"She can be whatever she chooses to be," Songbird stated her voice… was oddly cold. "She's a goddess with power over mutation and change. She chose to take on this form and I imagine that over time it will become her permanent transformation."

"Bzeep beep beep chirp?" Bumblebee asked as while he never removed his optics from the Lung dragons form.

"Bee makes a good point, do you think she'll be able to kill that thing?" Arcee asked, Song just as Yue snarled again at the hydra rearing up and stretching herself out to her maximum length, the bio lights adorning her body seeming to glow even brighter as though something was about to happen…

"We're about to find out…"

All hell broke loose…

Yue launched at the hydra and head-butted it hard in its chest, knocking the beast onto its back. But before she could strike at it again, the hydras double bladed tail lashed out slicing two wounds deep into her body! Seemingly unaffected but highly annoyed at this the Imperial dragons head whipped around and latched on to that tail and showing a feat of incredible strength managed to heft up and swing the hydra away from her! It crashed hard through another one of the hangers on the mostly destroyed base before shaking itself off and snarling at its new opponent! Rearing back all three heads unleashed their hellish flames, but the dragon was fast and her long serpentine body wove amongst the pillars of fire successfully avoiding them and allowing her to ram the hydra again before abruptly flying straight up and used her bladed tail as a whip to slash a deep wound across the left part of its chest! Roaring in both pain and rage the multi-headed beast pulled itself from the buildings wreckage and hunkered low, all three heads looking up as the Lung Dragon circled overhead before diving straight down with its jaws wide open! This time the hydra did not unleash its flames, but rather reared up to further expose the vents on its neck and all three deliberately forced out thick plumes of smog directly into Yue's gaping maw!

The effect was near instantaneous; having inhaled a large quantity of the hydras poisonous fumes Yue suddenly veered away from the hydra and clumsily landed on the ground where she began coughing and hacking rather violently. Taking immediate advantage of the situation the hydra raced forward and each head sank its teeth into a portion of the dragons' body! She yowled in pain before kicking off the ground and taking to the air but the hydra did not relinquish its grip on her torso and ended up ripping out huge chunks of her body! Lavender blood immediately poured from the gaping wounds, offering a grim look into Yue's internal structures and her disturbingly flesh-like innards… Gritting her teeth and whirling around once again to face her adversary Yue roared before again charging at the hydra! Only this time the monster was ready for her and it reared up to slash at her with its sharp claws but it had failed to foresee that Yue not only endured the vicious slashes but immediately began to wrap her body around the hydras and like a python began to constrict it!

The hydra struggled as with each passing second the goddess-dragons grip on its frame became tighter and tighter, each head began biting at any section of her torso that it could reach although with seemingly little to no effect! As it felt its own body beginning to give under the immense pressure and acknowledging that biting was futile, it seemed to realize that there was only one option yet to try and all three of its heads bent backwards in order to look up at Yue's head which had been directly above its own and unleashed another round of its smog full blast into her face! For several long minutes that's how everything went, Yue constricting the beast while the hydra continuously pumped smog directly into her face… It had become a trial of endurance with no clear indication who would give first.

…a trial which Yue lost…

She had no choice, the billowing smoke was wreaking havoc on her lungs or whatever she had in place of lungs! She released her crushing hold on its body and attempted to retreat but ended up crashing only a short ways away… Where she almost instantaneously began to cough and hack up faintly glowing globs of her own innards as they were still being corroded by the toxins in her system! Now it was the hydras turn to retaliate and it raced forward and smashed into the weakened Imperial Dragon! One of its heads bit down on her neck and began to shake violently, ripping its teeth through the softer metal! Another head clamped down on her right foreleg and like the one on the neck began to thrash in order to inflict as much damage as it possibly could and very nearly the limb off! While the final head managed to get a good grip on a section of Yue's back but unlike the others it did not shake or thrash, it just kept applying more and more pressure to the backbone hoping to snap it! The goddess screeched in utter agony and tried in vain several times to pull away but the hydras grip was far too strong leaving her with no choice but to sacrifice more of her own flesh and she literally tore her body free of those vice-like jaws! The hydra swallowed its token pieces of meat and licked his lips in an almost taunting manner, as though to say it enjoyed the taste and was coming from more… By now Yue was a mess, most of the upper right side of her body was gone exposing raggedy proto-flesh and what looked like damaged silver bones protruding from those grisly wounds! Even in horrible pain she still narrowed her optics and roared in defiance! Her wounds may have been extensive, but she was far from being done!

Something suddenly seemed to clicked inside of her mind and anyone watching would swear that the Imperial Lung Dragon smiled and with some difficulty she managed to get back in the air and she rapidly gained altitude while the hydra readied itself for another round; but that was when something strange began to occur as Yue began to curl in on herself and roll her body up much like an armadillo would and then the curled up dragon began to spin faster and faster! It became apparent what was going on as the blades on Yue's tail had fanned out and were now functioning as the blades of a saw that the colossal Lung had just turned herself into it! Before the hydra could even begin to guess what was about to happen, Yue shot downwards faster than the optic could follow-

And she severed all three of the monsters heads at once…

Barely a second after the heads had hit the ground Yue had unfurled her body and doubled back, opened her mouth and unleashed her own hellish white flames on the beast's body! In the process cauterizing the bloody stumps until a sickly smell of melted metal and ash perfumed throughout the surrounding area… The beast's corpse fell over, charred to the point it was almost completely unrecognizable! Yue stood where she was, surveying her work for several long minutes before a wheezing sigh of relief left her damaged body and she turned and began to weakly limp away, in the direction of Songbird and the assembled Autobot's and Decepticon's. But a sudden shifting sound stopped her dead in her tracks and her large purple optics began to widen in horror; and she didn't even need to turn around to look... because she already knew what that sound was…

The headless hydra stood up again…

Only when it stood at this time it revealed a very large glowing purple cyst that had been previously concealed beneath its thick abdominal plating, had now ruptured and was bleeding out gallons of dark energon! The cauterized stumps began to pulse with a new sickening life as its bodies golden bio-lights shifted over to purple and in a scene that could only have been crafted straight from the deepest circle of the Pit, nine new heads sprang to life, only now there was something… wrong… these new heads were far more skeletal in appearance and were no longer pumping out smog; for they were not truly alive but animated with something else that was nothing but a sickening parody of life! A zombie, a Terrorcon… and to top it all off the severed three heads were beginning to rise up! Being animated by the same dark force as the hydra itself!

Yue didn't even get the chance to turn around before the undead beasts were upon her…

Every minute of this hideous sight was witnessed by the individuals gathered only a stone's throw away from where this madness was raging completely out of control! In fact everyone had been so focused on watching that they only took notice of the multiple approaching forms when they were virtually on top of them!

"Optimus!" Ratchet yelled as he skidded to a halt only a few meters from his comrades. No sooner had he stopped did his back door fly open and the forms of Tripwire, Paradox, Freefall and Moonrise fall out and onto the ground. Pulling up next to the Autobot medic was Knockout who it was revealed had Miko, Jack and Raf in his possession since it was obvious they all would not have been able to fit inside of Ratchet's alt form… (He had been very begrudging about letting them in no doubt.) Directly above them a gold and black helicopter which was undoubtedly Orb Weaver transformed midair but ended up landing flat on her face since she was still not used to her new transformation yet.

Ratchets front passenger door opened and a completely disheveled June stepped out while holding both her crying baby daughter Kole and a military grade walkie-talkie. "I just talked to Fowler, he and some of the other personnel from the base are evacuating Jasper, but it's going to take a few hours to get everyone to safety!"

"It won't do any good." Song stated flatly, although she was visibly relieved upon seeing that both her daughters were alright. "If that abomination isn't stopped there won't be any place on this planet that is safe!"

"Oh, so big, multi-headed, gruesome and scaly isn't a new friend of yours?" Knockout growled sarcastically as the human trio hastily got out of the ill-tempered Aston Martin who quickly transformed and stood upright. Yes he was fully aware of Megatron's presence but he couldn't bring himself to care, as there were far more important going on; right now he surly must not rank very high on the warlord's priority list… Although he did scurry behind Ratchet after the older medic transformed just to be safe. He was right however, but the glare Megatron was giving his turncoat medic pretty much screamed 'I'll be dealing with you later…'

Songbird's optics returned to the fight that was still raging between Yue and the hydra, only by now it was all too apparent that the Lung Dragon was being overwhelmed by the brutal force of her enemy. "Prime…" She said looking back at Optimus. "If I don't come back, take care of my daughters… If we can't kill that thing you take them off this world!"

"What are you going to do?" He asked even though he was fairly sure that he already knew the answer.

"Whatever it takes." She replied coldly before starting to walk forward, but was stopped when Predaking placed his servo on her shoulder and the two locked optics, wordlessly stating his intention to fight alongside her. She merely nodded before transforming into her gryphon form and he his dragon form.

"No! Mama you can't go!"

"Mom please stay here! That thing will kill you! Mom?!" It was so hard, but Songbird chose to ignore Moony and Freefall's pleading words. She didn't answer her children when they begged for her to stay...

'You two can't seriously be thinking that you're gonna fight that thing?!' Darksteel squawked in disbelief. 'If that big Predacon can't destroy it what chance do you have?!' Now at that Predaking angrily whirled around and snarled at both him and Skylynx.

'If you two are going to die, then go off and die! But if you are going to live then fight!' With these words both he and Song spread their wings and flew off towards the two warring creatures… and for a moment the two younger Predacons just looked at each other as Predaking's words resounded through their processors. Words that not only rang true but made them feel like total cowards… words that were a challenge from their King! But that was the key, the brother's courage, aggression and a tidbit of utter idiocy suddenly flared to life, driving away the fear and doubt and they flared out their own wings and took off after Song and Predaking.

They would fight and kill this thing or they would die fighting alongside their brethren!

If anything positive had come from the hydra becoming a full-fledged Terrorcon it was that its attention span had been significantly reduced… So when the four Predacons began bombarding the hydra with their fire and lightning the undead abomination appeared to lose all interest in its previous target began focusing its entire attention on destroying its new attackers and unfortunately for Predaking and the rest of his kind this meant that there were now nine undead snapping and snarling heads that were perfectly capable of unleashing their own all-consuming flames on a whim! However, just as before the Predacon's retained their previous advantage over the hydra of being able to fly; Songbird's maneuverability and speed proved to be exceptionally effective as she would weave amongst the heads causing them to become entangled in each other's necks and one pair were even tricked into smashing straight into each other! Although a far cry from bringing them any closer to taking the beast down it still managed to buy precious seconds of distraction so Yue could retreat and regain herself…

At this point her body was on bordering on being completely ruined, it was apparent that she would not be able to engage the hydra in the same way she had been doing previously. The three severed heads had attached themselves to her torso like lampreys and were progressively ripping deeper and deeper into her! While airborne Yue managed to snap her long body like a whip and detach two of the three, the third she managed to dislodge by scraping it along the ground until most of its teeth broke off and it lost its grip… But no sooner had she managed to get a fair distance away from all of this chaos did she crash headfirst onto the ground! She had become silent and motionless, while her optics stared over at the fight still raging on. The Predacon's were doing their best but it was not going to be enough… all they were doing was merely delaying the inevitable. There were simply too many heads to contend with! Hell it was amazing that the four of them were doing as well as they were! If only there were more of them, then they might have more of a chance!

And that was when a thought flared up within Yue's mind…

She still had a few surprises left within her bag of tricks and she managed to rear up to her maximum height and balanced herself entirely on her tail; she stretched her arms out as best she could considering that one of them had nearly been severed and was not functioning as it should. And a blazing purple light began to emit from the jewel on her forehead...

"Warriors damned to rust and decay…"

Her voice was no longer childlike, now it was thunderous and echoing and undoubtedly that of a mature adult was heard by everyone in the area, temporarily drawing attention back to whatever Yue was doing. White flames had erupted in the palms of her claws and from the look of it one would swear that three different colored orbs had been released from the glowing sphere and were now hovering near these flames. Two were on her left side while one was on her right; what was strange was that these orbs were pulsing brightly for some reason… Perhaps they were being affected by the flames?

"Heed my command, rise and obey…"

The white flames suddenly began to split, each forming two fiery groundbridge like portals and the orbs whether by or against their wills seemed to be sucked through them! Even though there were only three orbs and four portals! Just what the frag was going on no one could even begin to guess…

"Trek unto this mortal door…"

Now the four portals changed, they went from being white in color to deep purple and each began emitting excessive amounts of crackling electricity. And each one began to give off the feeling that something was coming…

"Assemble yourselves, and fight once more!"

And no sooner had Yue screamed these last words did four massive Predacon's come roaring forth from these portals…

Four Predacons, all were dragonformers but each had their own unique look to them. They weren't even out of their portals for longer than a minute before the severed hydra heads came bearing down on them!

The largest of these newcomers reacted first, it was a large mech dragonformer, blue and silver in coloration with golden optics and bio lights, it was only slightly smaller than Predaking and it had a blunt snout with no mandibles. As the beast came crashing down intending to bite, this dragonformer reared up and slammed both of its claws into its face! The sheer strength contained within this blow snapped this head back and temporarily dazed it! With a snarl this Predacon raced forward before getting on top of this Terrorcon and began pounding it with massive claws over and over again until all it was hitting was mangled bits and pieces of metal, far too damaged to ever function again… even dark energon could not bring it back now.

One down…

Two to go…

The second head had engaged one of the other new Predacon's, this one was the smallest of the four, a large blood red mech with extremely long bull-like horns. This creature fought every bit as viciously as the first but was obviously not nearly as strong. It was however able to use its powerful horns to its advantage and was repeatedly goring this piece of the hydra. A loud roar got this Predacons attention as a second one was rapidly flying towards it; the red Predacon immediately abandoned its fight and took cover just as what looked to be two long glowing blades sprang from its wings and it turned its body sideways before slicing this head in half one part falling off to the left while the other to the right. The red Predacon seemed to sigh loudly before turning to the one that had helped it and apparently thanking it. Like the first this Predacon was also dark blue but its snout was long and pointed, while its optics were a deep blood red as were its bio lights and its wings had a bright gold membrane.

Infernal screeching drew their attention to the third and final head that was being engaged by the last Predacon. Only unlike the rest of its comrades, there seemed to be something wrong with this one… it was fighting so viciously and violently that there was little distinguishing it from the Terrorcon it was fighting! In fact it even had purple optics and purple bio lights adorning its body while this beasts plating was green and silver… This Predacon just felt wrong. In fact it was moving like it was rabid; as it fought with its opponent it grabbed a hold of the upper part of the head and ripped it right off! Then it unleashed its own fiery breath down the throat of the still struggling torso, successfully reducing it to cinders! But it wasn't done, no… once it had finished with its target it turned around and was right about to go after its three companions! Thankfully it was stopped when Yue ceased balancing on her tail and came crashing down, trapping this Predacon beneath one of her claws. It continued to snarl and snap up at its creator as though it was unable to tell who was friend and who was foe. Yue brought her head directly above this beast and opened her mouth letting the lavender blood from her internal injuries seep out and onto the Predacons head where it began to crystallize until it looked as though it was now wearing some sort of complex headgear with a dark visor. For a moment it stopped its struggling right before the visor turned blood red and Yue released her grip on this creature. Now equipped with this strange new visor it was no longer violent but didn't seem to be really alive anymore per se. It didn't even react when the slender blue Predacon approached it and made a sad warbling sound, as though trying to get its attention.

In short it would appear that this head gear was now remote controlling this Predacon…

But whatever the situation was happening between those two would have to wait, as the group engaging the real hydra were starting to become fatigued from fighting it! An angry resonating command of "Go!" Came from Yue and even though it was unclear if they were doing it because they were ordered to or if they were just afraid of her… The four new Predacon's took the sky and went to aid their brethren and apparently not a moment too soon! For Songbird had just dodged one of the hydras flames only to end up receiving a lash from the monsters tail! The attack knocked her out of the sky and slammed her to the ground, she tried to stand but her equilibrium was off and her gyros were desperately trying to recalibrate themselves! She was taking too long and the one of the hydras head's loomed over her and was opened its mouth as a light began to glow from within… But the largest of the new Predacon's quickly landed over her shielding her with its body and bringing its own wings up in defense just as the hydras head unleashed its roaring flames which proceeded to consume them both!

'Songbird!' Predaking screamed as he watched in horror as the fire blazed over that entire area, but when the hydra ceased its assault it revealed that not only was Song perfectly fine but so was the other Predacon! This having revealed that he possessed a rather interesting trick, as his wings had joined together to become an impenetrable shield! Once the flames had cleared both Predacon's hastily returned to the sky before the hydra could try to roast them again.

Predaking barrel rolled out of the way of another attack as he flew over to Song and the other new Predacon's who had gathered near their comrade. He was finding himself grateful for the fact that Skylynx and Darksteel were proving themselves to be fast enough and strong enough to hold the attention of most of the hydras heads for a few minutes. 'You have my gratitude for saving Songbird, but who are you?'

'That's a long story best left for another time. For now just tell us what you need us to do!' The more slender blue Predacon with the bladed wings explained just as all of them had to get out of the way of another barrage of searing flames. But before the Predacon King could reply audio-splitting howl came from the injured goddess.

"Sixty seconds!" Yue literally roared as she managed to stagger back onto her feet. "Keep that hellspawn standing right where it is for a single minute and I will end this nightmare permanently!"

Predaking didn't even need to think twice upon hearing Yue's command. 'There is our order! Darksteel! Skylynx! Fall back now!' The brothers clearly didn't need to be told twice, both immediately averted their courses and joined up with the other six of their kind. Now came the big problem of distracting the hydra for a full minute to allow Yue to do whatever she was planning. Predaking looked to his side where Songbird was next to him and to his other side where two of the other Predacon's were. Two of the remaining four were directly above them while the other two directly below them, creating what was an effective fighting formation.

Especially since they were all thinking the exact same thing…

In perfect unison, all eight let loose a barrage of fire and lightning! Revealing that the red and the largest blue Predacons could breathe fire, while the other two each possessed lightning breath like Songbird. Either way their attacks merged together into a single wave of hellfire and it crashed straight into the hydra! The ugly abomination howled for a moment but then all nine of its heads came together and countered by unleashing their own flames which resulted in two raging attacks colliding with each other! The hydra may had the advantage of an extra head making this a battle of nine versus eight but the Predacon's were still managing to keep the flames at a stalemate, but just barely. Whatever Yue had to do she had better do it quick! For it was quickly becoming apparent that they would not be able to hold the attack back much longer!

With the beast engaged Yue went to take flight again but she was struck by a coughing fit which forced even more bloodied and rotten chunks of her insides to be vomited out! Oh, the pain was horrendous! It was a struggle for her just to stay conscious and not surrender to the cold comfort of unconsciousness. But she couldn't, not yet… this was her last chance and Yue knew that this had better work, because she would not have enough strength to try again! Pushing her body to its absolute limit, the Imperial Dragon kicked off the ground and rose into the air as high above the hydra and the Predacon's and then she suddenly nosedived while her body began to spin faster and faster until she was moving so fast that she was only a blur… or more appropriately a drill… And she slammed straight onto the hydras back! She continued to drill through the creature's body and she then erupted out of his chest cavity holding the monsters spark chamber tightly in her jaws!

It was done…

With its link to the dark energon severed for good the hydra immediately sputtered and fell over, allowing the Predacon's wave of flames and lightning to wash over it and set its body alight! It was dead now… for good. Predaking and his brethren had barely set foot on the ground when their attention returned to their considerably larger ally throughout all of this.

Yue hung motionless in the air for several long moments before she leaned her head back and swallowed the hydras spark chamber… right before she fell backwards and landed on the hydras flaming corpse! She did not move, her breathing ceased and her optics remained open and staring as the intense flames latched on to her body and began consuming her… Almost as though she had deliberately landed on her own funeral pyre.

All this was happening just as the Nemesis was coming into view…

"Is… is it over?" Bulkhead asked in a hushed voice as he watched the Imperial Dragon burning away along with what remained of the hydras body.

"I think so. But what's supposed to happen next?" The response came from Orb Weaver who had been kneeling down and allowing Moonrise and Freefall to hold onto her, much like children would normally hold onto an elder sibling while watching a scary movie.

"I can certainly think of a few things." Megatron stated in a surprisingly calm tone… It was a shame no one caught the maliciousness in his voice until after he had whirled around, unsheathed his blade and drove it straight into Optimus's abdomen!

The attack caught everyone so off guard that no really had a chance to react when a groundbridge suddenly appeared and all of the remaining Vehicons, Eradicons and even the few remaining Miners stormed through with their weapons drawn; closely followed by Soundwave and Ravage. Several of the Vehicons immediately made their way over to the fallen form of Steve who was still holding onto Starscream and assuring his Commander that everything would be fine and it was in fact a good thing he was unable to see the full extant of the horrors that were taking place...

Far outnumbered and their leader in the grips of his sworn enemy there was nothing that any of the other Autobot's could do…

And thus in the wake of the horror Shockwave had unleashed, the tables had finally turned in the Decepticon's favor…

But not for long…

The flames burning Yue's body suddenly and abruptly changed color, switching from red to purple and it felt like an electrical charge was building in the air. This charge continued to grow stronger until a translucent wave of purple energy erupted from the pyre! It washed over everything including the Nemesis… and the warship suddenly lost its power and crashed from the sky. (Something that immediately filled Soundwave's spark with dread and he quickly opened another groundbridge that Ravage raced through and after several minutes that seemed far more like hours the teenage mech returned with his baby sister in his arms, thankfully uninjured but very much awake and crying unhappily.) A lavender light suddenly bloomed like an ethereal flower from the flames and Yue's Dragon body began heal itself… by absorbing the hydra's ashes and all of the spilled dark energon. This light intensified with each passing second until finally the light faded and Yue roared as she rocketed straight into the air, all of her wounds having fully healed. With an elegant twirl she twisted in the air and headed back down to earth. But just before she hit the ground she transformed! She landed with such force that the ground shook! Not much of her body could be made out as she was crouching… But when she stood upright everyone could see what she truly looked like…

Yue's true form was positively colossal! Her body was a massive war frame, her full size was easily five times that of Predaking! Her face was very human-like in appearance with very delicate and feminine features that were only further accentuated by her flawless porcelain skin, she had large beautiful amethyst optics from which two lines went from just underneath her optics to her jaw line. Her long white hair which cascaded behind her like a cape and was so long that it actually trailed behind her on the ground. Two massive spire like horns protruded from the top of her head, while a much smaller secondary pair ornamented her forehead along with the eerily glowing lavender orb positioned right in the center. Her shoulders were decorated with a pair of huge silver shoulder spikes that were eerily similar to those of her father… Her upper torso was heavily armored with ivory and silver colored plating, but oddly enough her abdomen lacked the same heavy plating as her chest and instead it was smooth and bore more of a similarity to protoform just like the body of her dragon form… The armor on Yue's legs and arms however were fully developed and was exceptionally thick and was heavily ornamented with sharp edges and spikes…

Still in his beast form, Predaking suddenly noted that Skylynx and Darksteel had quickly hidden themselves behind Songbird who had transformed as soon as she had landed. Song didn't seem overly pleased about this but wasn't verbally complaining. But it was the other four Predacon's that really caught his attention… Since they had not transformed yet, in fact with the exception of the one with the gear on its head they all looked… afraid. Where they scared of Yue? Why would they be hadn't she just created them? Why did it seem that they scared of her?

That question and many others would have to wait as the halfbreed deity looked down at the present gathering of Decepticons, Autobot's and the Predacons and she smiled in a particularly menacing way, revealing a mouth full of exceptionally sharp looking teeth…

"Hello… why don't we all have a nice little chat?"

Yes I am aware that this chapter took FOREVER to get done but in my defense I wanted to really do a quality job with all of the fight scenes and I really hope it came out alright… as I have stated before I have never written really detailed fight scenes like this before so it was a hard chapter to finish and I'd love to have some feedback on how people thought I did with writing it. Anyways I do promise that the next chapter will be out more promptly and as always please remember to Read and Review! ^_^